Various Odds and Sods, October 6

• As can probably be expected, the referees' union has appealed the suspensions from Sunday.
• There have been 963 accepted penalties in the first 64 games of the NFL season.  That's an average of 15.05 penalties per game.
• It is also a recorded record for the NFL -- records for that situation go back to about 1978.
• UEFA may want another crack at Man City after the Premier League's process is done.  There is RUMOR the sanctions could come out next week, but no confirmation on that end.  The first round of appeals will probably go until March.
• 6:50 PM PDT:  The entire Greek system of the University of Arizona has been provisionally suspended.  Every fraternity and I believe sorority as well.  Misconduct allegations across the board.

An ESPN study into tanking, taken for the new draft rules going into effect this year, has come out:

• Four of the last five seasons have broken records for games with margin of victory over 20 points.
• 22% of all games last year in the NBA were decided by more than 20 points.
• From the All-Star break on forward, teams identified as tanking teams were getting blown out 20 or more at a rate well over 30%.
• By the April part of the regular season, it was over FORTY PERCENT -- of all games those teams played.

There's plenty to say about it, and I'll get to that if I have the want to.

Various odds and sods, October 2...

May be added to throughout the day, please check back...

• Manchester City has officially appealed the findings, as fully expected.  The appeals have a 120-day window to occur, at which point the decision is due in another 30.  So, March appears to be the next bellweather.  Apparently, their first match back from the international break next week is at Liverpool -- which could have the potential of going VERY south.   
• And, on the pitch, Man City are the only unbeaten, undrawn team through five rounds, entering said break.  Scored 13 goals, gave up five.
• For his DUI over the summer, Tony Romo has now been officially fired from CBS Sports.
• The Portland Trail Blazers, yesterday, hired Braiden Bell as their new announcer.
• The Portland Trail Blazers, yesterday, FIRED Braiden Bell as their new announcer.
• For 2012-2013 racist social media posts.  Well, for various topics, that renders me COMPLETELY unemployable...  In ANY field...   
• The ABS challenge system resulted in the reversal of about 54% of ball-strike calls challenged under the system this season.  As a result, the largest cause of ejections went to check swings this season.
• An interesting NFL schedule quirk:  Jacksonville will not be playing a home game this entire month.  After playing Cincinnati, they go to London for two games.  Then their bye.
• Not only that, but they lose two home games this year because of the schedule.  And they requested it.
• Why?  They have to perform renovations on their stadium in-season (probably due to Florida weather), and need that entire month to try to get it done.

Various odds and sods, October 1...

• John Calipari, head basketball coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, has reported that nine of the twelve players on his roster earn more money in NIL contracts than his assistant coaches, with the other three even eclipsing his entire staff!  And if you think that's not going to translate to behavior in practices and games, I got some swampland to sell you in Little Rock!  
• Still no word from South Carolina about Dylan Stewart after this week.  Coach Shane Beamer (who may not be the coach much longer!) has gone silent on Stewart's future with the team, and will almost certainly remain silent until, at minimum, after the game with Kentucky this week.  This, after Beamer said upon the indefinite suspension that he would probably have announced it Monday or Tuesday at the latest what happens after the Kentucky game.  More evidence Dylan Stewart has played his last game at South Carolina, and it's not going to matter whose choice it is.  No word yet on the claim of the South Carolina NIL collective, seeking $167,000 a game back from Stewart for the suspension.   
• This probably should get its own post, but one of the major indications in the appeal by Manchester City may surround that many of the payments may have come directly from the United Arab Emirates government, making the team state-owned and state-financed.  And am I the only person in the world who believes that might not make the situation WORSE???   
• The Northwestern Marching Band, the Athletic Marketing citing lack of attendance at the games, will no longer perform pregame at Northwestern home football games.  At least this week, they will perform at a Chicago food festival instead, "where the fans are"...  Well, if Northwestern had a relevant college football team, maybe this would be different, right UCLA and USC?   
• According to at least one member of the band, this is NOT a decision of the band itself, but of Athletic Marketing.  Which causes my statement above to go double. 
• The Big Sky Commissioner finally admits it:  That there's a chance that if the power conferences break off completely from the rest of FBS, the Group of 6 (the remaining FBS conferences) will probably blend in at the top of FCS.
• Since a lot of this is about college football, I'll leave this here in closing:  Ratings for college football are down double digits from last year -- -11%.

England may not be the only major soccer power in Europe about to lose their top domestic league...

This has not been a good international break for European soccer.

A long-standing probable match-fixing scandal regarding the dominant run of the then-most (if not only) relevant team in the Spanish top league has resurfaced.

Barcelona stands accused by UEFA of undue influence, from 2001-2018 of paying 7 million euros to a company owned by a former vice president of refereeing in the Spanish Federation, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.

Real Madrid has said this is evidence that Barcelona have basically bought their entire run with crooked refereeing.

Barcelona maintains their innocence.

This is all that's involved:

• 10 La Liga titles, including five in a row, and six of seven.
• 9 Copa del Rey (the national cup) finals, eight in a row.  6 Copa del Rey championships.
• 4 Champions League titles

Oof.  What is it in the water over there?

Manchester City: A Tragic Day

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has thrown in behind the Arab owner of Manchester City, and, hence, has thrown in for the end of the Premier League, if not the EFL with it:

“I would be really concerned to lose them.”

Those were the words of Prime Minister Andy Burnham, concerning Shiekh Mansour and the other owners of Manchester City.

We know why.  Mansour being the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, rumors have been flying for 24 hours.

Jurgen Klopp, two years ago, said it correctly...

"There are 3 clubs in world football who can do what they want financially. Nobody can compete with that. Liverpool cannot act like them."

(Which makes me wonder who the other two are.)

That said, to PM Burnham:

1) Even in the best case scenario vis-a-vis that the Premier League would have a future (see below for that), why would 3/4 of the teams in it now even field a side, at minimum against Manchester City and at maximum at all?

2) How would the Premier League, as presently constructed, even handle so much as an injurious foul on the pitch, given this controvertion of any real authority on or off the pitch?

3) What stops players from taking the law into their own hands, and laying it right on the feet of the League and His Majesty's Government when taken before disciplinary tribunals?

4) Why would anyone want to watch other than Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, and at least one team I've forgotten that's above the glass ceiling?

5) What stops Mansour from suing (or being given!) the Premier League and all of its assets as compensation?

6) Remember that Mansour has gone public in saying he's sick of propping up the lesser teams.

This is no less than a call to end the English Premier League because of the political position of one of the team owners.

You may get your Super League.

EDIT TO ADD 8:45 PM PDT:  I sent a semi-respectful (more than they deserve) question of "Where are you playing if you win this?" to the Man City Reddit.

Not only did I get banned from the subreddit instantaneously, it was a shadowban.  Never even the ability to tell the mods their team is corrupt and to fuck off.

Manchester City: The UAE basically calls for the abolition of the English Premier League...

Oh shit...  At least two major diplomatic ramifications of the today's Premier League ruling regarding Manchester City.

🚨 BREAKING: UAE officials are reportedly considering measures against the United Kingdom following the Premier League’s decision to find Manchester City guilty of 115 of 115 alleged breaches.

Prominent UAE figure (@reynaMCFC) has reportedly threatened to push for increased…

— Danis (@DanisMCFC) September 29, 2026

I don't think people get the ramifications of such an event.

First, I think people need to understand why the UAE is so adamant.

The majority owner of the team is Sheikh Mansour bid Zayed Al Nahyan.  He is the deputy prime minister of the country and a UAE royal.

If that doesn't raise every red flag in the book, comments were made, which are probably deep in X's archives, that Mansour said he was going to financially break the Premier League, because he felt the remaining clubs were negligent in proper spending -- an action now seen as that he believed Financial Fair Play was a constriction of competition.

So that explains the political nature of the problem.

Second, now you need to see why the penalty must be fatal to the club and Mansour and his group get NOTHING...

I'm going to give you a short and not all-inclusive list of entities which now would all but require compensation:

• Every other Premier League team since 2009 on a baseline level.
• Goes double for any Premier League team which lost a Premiership, a Cup Final, a Champions League place (remember, City have been to every Champions League except one in this run)...  At least three teams are considering actions of 100 million pounds, and Stoke City has already raised a fair degree of Cain over their 2011 FA Cup loss to Man City, as just two examples.
• And then consider what is now called the Two Hundred Million Pound Game.  Though applied to the concept of the Championship Playoff Final for the final spot in the next year's Premier League, the difference in relegation from the Premier League to the Championship is now estimated at TWO HUNDRED MILLION POUNDS.  And a sum commensurate to that for every relegated season since 2009 is now applicable to any team who finished within whatever number of points they did not get from Manchester City's matches to be safe from relegation.
• Then you get to the broadcasters and sponsors.  From the day Aguero slotted in the goal in the fixed match with Queen's Park Rangers for their first championship, the Premier League has been able to sell itself on the concept that the glass ceiling of Manchester United, Arsenal, and Chelsea has finally been broken.  It is now clear that the entirety of that truth is FRAUD.  Meaning that the broadcast rights holders and the sponsors have been paying increased fees probably well beyond the Premier League's station.  They would have a claim.  And oh crap.  As crooked as I believe that QPR match was for Joey Barton's antics to get sent off, would I rule out that Sheikh Mansour paid Barton handsomely to get sent off and throw the match?
• In fact, at least one expert now believes that every Sky Sports subscriber in England may well have a claim against Manchester City for inflated subscription fees as a result of the above, as just one further example of it!
• And then we get to Europe on a larger scale:  Prize monies and sponsorships, etc., through Champions League advancements and Manchester City's two Champions League titles???

Are we getting warm yet?

Here's one more someone in the Arsenal Reddit brought up:  The complete explosion of player salaries due to illegal payments, etc. alleged in these charges.  Again, remember Mansour's statement that the rest of the teams are not paying the players properly -- so he blows up the entire corporate salary structure of the entire league to become its face and most dominant team.

Just THAT would be enough for dissolution, liquidation, owners get nothing, probable criminal charges, up to and including the Prime Minister of the UAE.

But here's one more thing to keep in mind.  This is the attitude many City fans have, because of Sheikh Mansour's positions with the team and in the UAE royals:

Man City won’t be relegated or punished in any meaningful way.

If the PL relegated City, it would instigate the start of the European Super League. They wouldn’t join the EFL. The PL need City more than City need the PL.

— Jake 🦁 🏁 (@Villa_F1) September 29, 2026

Consider three things if that happens:

1) It would immediately expose the English Premier League as completely unable to police the game, off the field and eventually on it.  It would effectively make Manchester City the sole existence of the English Premier League.

2) It would basically demand an immediate full-scale player boycott -- at minimum, of the Manchester City matches.  At maximum, of the Premier League itself.

3) Frankly, it would jailbreak the league, IF IT SURVIVES.  You would literally have Middle Eastern oil barons worth billions taking every team in the league they can, and the rest go well below even Championship-level.  You would get a Super League.

In short (as I told Jake in a response), you get your Euro Super League anyway.  Because, at that point, there is no Premier League.

The punishment has not been determined -- but for there to even be a CHANCE, and it's only a chance, for the survival of the English Premier League...

• Criminal charges of all relevant parties, up to and including the Prime Minister of the UAE, come what may in international relations.
• Dissolution of the Manchester City Football Club
• Seizure and liquidation of ALL Manchester City assets
• The owners get NOTHING
• The money is completely put into a fund for a small fraction of the damages done

ANYTHING short of this nullifies FFP and declares at least one club above the law and all ability to be enforced against.

Manchester City: It's now official, and it's worse than first said.

In a scheme the head of the Premier League said "systemically broke Premier League rules for a decade", the Premier League has officially found Manchester City GUILTY of all 115 charges against them.

They have 72 hours to appeal, they will obviously do so, don't fool yourself.

What's the penalty?  That wasn't announced today.  The independent commission will have to meet again, and there's zero chance, even if the appeal of the main charges goes through, that it consummates during the season.

But, as I said, there is only one apt penalty...

A points deduction would technically result in their demotion to about the regional leagues (the seventh tier).

This is going to set off all kinds of lawsuits where literally billions of pounds are going to be in play.

There is only one proper solution:  Expulsion, dissolution, liquidation.

And HOPE that the result doesn't kill the Premier League outright.

Because there's something a lot of people don't get:  The Premier League itself has all but hitched its future, and the resultant explosion in television rights fees both domestically and internationally, on Manchester City blasting the glass ceiling back when this run started.

And it's now all been declared against the rules by the Premier League.

Expulsion, dissolution, liquidation.

Manchester City Found Guilty Of Financial Foul Play

But it's so serious, the question is:  What can really be done, short of expulsion from the English soccer pyramid?

ESPN has received information that Manchester City has been found guilty of basically all of the 115 Financial Fair Play charges which have been literally hanging over its head for the last several years.

Manchester City has not denied, in concept, they have been found guilty of all of the charges except one.

Obviously, City will appeal any determination as such, and any sanctions as a result.

The initial investigation took four years, and to get to this point took another three and a half.

The charges of violation of Financial Fair Play rules span from 2009 to 2018.  Manchester City won three Premier League championships directly in that span -- then, in 2018-19, they won the domestic treble:  Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup.  The finished in the Champions League positions four of the other five years in that span.

And that's before they won four in a row from 2020-21 to 2023-24.

Throw em out.  Part and parcel.

It can very easily be concluded the entire Manchester City championship run of the last FIFTEEN YEARS has been due to Financial Foul Play.

This isn't one or two guilty verdicts -- this is ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN.

What other penalty can there be but expulsion from the Premier League and from English soccer?  Even if the ramifications of it mean the end of the Premier League, which some pundits think might be a good thing.

There is no basically zero basis nor legitimacy in ANY of this fifteen-year run of dominance.

Since 2009:

• 8 Premier League championships
• In the Champions League every year since 2010-2011
• 6 FA Cup Finals
• 2 FA Cups
• Only 2 Champions' League finals, one of which they won, both in the 2020's.

And not a shred of it legitimate.

Not one.

After Further Review, Week One, Part Two: The Packer Fan's Lament

Said I'd cover this if I found it, and I did.

Found it on Reddit.

One drive, four different plays.

And only one of them MIGHT have been a 100% good call as it had a part to play in the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter for Minnesota.

It's 22-17 Green Bay.

Play One:  3rd and 11, 11:03 to go.  First down for illegal contact, #7 Green Bay.  A sack is negated.

He has a five-yard zone, but appears to be committing defensive holding on the play -- not illegal contact.  The contact appears to begin at the five yards.

Play Two:  3rd and 3, 9:15 to go.  First down for roughing the passer, Clay Matthews Rule.

Watch that he's gonna get fined for this.  You can't put weight on the quarterback.  Your only possible mitigation is if you believed #74 Minnesota shoves him into the quarterback.

Play Three, no call.  3rd and 3, 9:09.  Jaire Alexander is mugged by #76 of Minnesota, no call.  Vikings gain 28 on the play.

Play Four:  3rd and 5 at the Green Bay 6.  Defensive holding negates an interception.  That may have been the only 100% call of the four.

Discipline Blotter: Argentina Trump Cup Aftermath

Someone please explain to me why Argentina was not disqualified from the World Cup for the altercations at and after the Final.

If I go any further as to rationale, it would violate the blog's boycott.  But let's just say that Argentina walked around like it owned the place, and threw a violent hissy-fit when they found out they didn't...

Today, the suspensions came down:

Leandro Paredes has been banned from all international play for one year (10 matches) and fined $90,000 for assaulting two Spain players after the match.

Nahuel Molina was banned seven matches and fined $90,000.

Thiago Alamda was banned one game, fined $30,000.

One of the coaches has also been banned three games and fined $30,000.

The Argentinian federation has been fined $210,000 for an array of offenses in the semifinal and final.

#1, why is Argentina not disqualified, stripped of all ranking, and it's $32,000,000 runner-up prize money?

#2, why are they not disqualified from the 2030 Centennary Cup?

The INFANT cries all the way home. WAH!!!!!

The FIFA plans for monetizing the World Cup toward the likes of Jared Kushner will not go forward.

Losing Europe would be too much.

Now, fire INFANTino.

Sounds like the boycott of the World Cup may be getting larger, and existential!

The plans to sell stakes in the World Cup to Trump-aligned parties isn't going over very well.

In fact, it might kill the entire process.  UEFA is ready to boycott.

And without UEFA, there is no World Cup.  Any sane thought of a top tier of the World Cup would have 13 European countries, Brazil, Argentina, and Morocco.  And that's IT.

If UEFA actually considers a boycott of the World Cup, that's it and full stop.

The only way you stop this, though, is to drum the Trump INFANTino out of the equation.

Otherwise, soccer is corrupt enough that he would go through with it without question.

It sounds like the World Cup boycott may be permanent...

The next step in INFANTino's plan to Trump-ize the World Cup is that he wants to sell a 20% stake in the tournament to corporate investors.

Trump ally/toadie Jared Kushner is involved.

Anyone who knows my stand on what comes with paying the bills understands the next thing I'm saying:  Within some degree of reason (else, the fraud that is the United States would've won this tournament), the investors will almost certainly have a say in who wins.

sigh

I think this is one of the reasons I've hard a dark fantasy of receiving an international letter from FIFA personally -- banning me from all relevant soccer events.

PS:  I will be shocked, if not stunned, if either the IOC or the LA Organizing Committee doesn't similarly ban me from the Los Angeles Games.

Two words:  They'd better.  (Or they'd better hope my situation holds that long -- I don't expect it to.)

Day 6 of the Trump Cup

• In a move surprising NO ONE, Donald Trump will be presenting the trophy to the winning team.
• Iran's team has been thrown out of the United States after it's first match, they'll be expected to train in one of the other host countries until being brought in for it's next match next week.  Fucking FIFA Peace Prize, am I right?
• We have a VAR official under investigation for a White Power symbol...  Like begets like, I guess.  Being as he is in the United States, one of the burgeoning White Right Power nations...  

I'm sure there's more, but I've been trying to avoid as much as I can about the Trump Cup...

This is going to be a LONG month. (Day 2)

Two things today:

1) Joe Rogan is noting the booing Donald Trump and the American flag are receiving in a number of sporting events, and is telling the Shithead to stay with similar Shitheads with the UFC.

Tomorrow is the debut of his possible White House execution chamber.

2) Yesterday, Mexican shirts all over downtown of my city.  This is going to be a long fucking month, isn't it?

May It Burn To The Ground, Day 1

It is of no wonder that the headline picture on ESPN's website on Mexico's group's opening day of the World Cup is Trump and FIFA tyrant bitch Infantino (yes, that is his name, and it's so appropriate) shaking hands at the draw last December.

This is not the world's cup.  This is Trump's.  And saying anything more on that vis-a-vis result may infringe on the boycott.

That said, I'm not necessarily going to do such a post every day of this tournament, but some thoughts to keep in mind at least periodically thereto:

Like a thought which resurfaced yesterday that the Pigfucker had when he said that the trilateral trade agreement between the three hosts of this World Cup (US, Mexico, Canada) might not be renewed.  You probably know his feelings on Mexico through his immigration scowling.

Here's a thought or two from the Asshole on Canada:  (from comments at the World Economic Forum four days after his reinstallation last year)

"We don't need them to make our cars. And they make a lot of them. We don't need their lumber, because we have our own forests. 

"We don't need their oil and gas. We have more than anybody." 

His eventual stated goal is to seize Canada, Mexico, and the entirety of what we now know as CONCACAF, from Greenland to Panama.

And it's his Cup.  Not yours, not the game's.

Enjoy your political farce, fuckers.

The shit is officially hitting the fan...

Just a general round-robin of stories with one overreaching thread -- the plates are wobbling and about to fall off:

Karmelo Anthony (named after, obviously!!!) will spend 35 years in prison for the high-profile murder of a White track athlete in Texas.  They didn't wait to sentence him.

The NBA is being forced to condemn the actions of Knicks fans against Spurs fans in these Finals.  Monday's game was marred with several viral attacks on Spurs fans by Knicks fans on New York's streets.  (ESPN)  If the Spurs come back and win this series, you don't need to know the two reasons why.

After two days of meetings of concern among Big XII officials, Texas Tech is doubling down on the "gambling addict" angle with Brendan Sorsby and states he is going to play this season. It was largely immediately recognized, as an example, that the Debbie Gibson incident I had in 1998 was believed fueled by mental illness. I really wish people would understand not only the hypocrisy, but the danger, of Texas Tech going this route. Sorsby should be in prison for his gambling addiction and the obvious sports bribery which resulted from it. Additionally, this kind of an angle, if successful, renders the future policing of fair play impossible across American sports, with devastating results.

But this is nothing compared to the debacles on the soccer pitch:

The Trump Administration has made complete mincemeat of the World Cup.  At least two teams (Senegal and another) have detailed mass security efforts on American soil.

One of the assigned World Cup officials, a Qatari man, has been expelled from the World Cup, banned from the United States, and declared with terrorist ties.  Gee, you think that might not apply to MOST OF THE PEOPLE ASSOCIATED WITH FIFA, YOU ORANGE PIECE OF SHIT??   

Need I go into the Iran situation, especially with Trump bombing Iran just two days before the tournament is scheduled to begin?  Juicy, juicy terrorist targets all over the United States, Canada, and Mexico, by the way...    

Protests in Mexico appear ready to impact the fan experience in THAT host nation.

And, lastly, one on-the-pitch women's moment:  Last night, an edgy high-end international friendly between the United States and Brazil went VERY UNFRIENDLY in Brazil.  In the last 30 minutes of the match, the official sent off basically every coach for Brazil (four of them) and eventually sent off four players (including two after the whistle -- technically leaving Brazil with the minimum contingent to avoid an embarrassing abandonment of the match).  The United States won on a second-half own goal, 1-0.

The 2026 Trump Cup Boycott Post

This is the official Super Fraud boycott post of the FIFA 2026 World Cup in North America.

The homophobia and transphobia and murderous nature of FIFA in past World Cup locations would be enough.

But this particular Cup, I call it the Trump Cup for a reason -- and there's a far larger story developing across sports which is going to fold into the boycott post:

The fact that President Pedophile Pigfucker Donald Trump is trying to insert himself into the national culture.

And recent stories indicate that I can come up with at least FIVE DIFFERENT SPORTS in which this is becoming apparent -- and I'm not counting the Trump Transphobe Games in Los Angeles in 2028 on this list:

The first is the recently completed "Enhanced Games" in Las Vegas, NV -- partially financed and supported by the Trump family, led by Cocaine Donald himself, Don Jr.

There are two major problems with what went down at the event:  The first is that only one world record was actually beaten by a steroided athlete:  The 50-meter butterfly.

But that leads directly into the second major problem:  If there's anything apparent, at least to date, that only one world record was actually bested at the event, it indicates the amount of rampant abuse almost certainly under the table across the gamut of the relevant sports (which, for these Games, included track, swimming, and weightlifting).

I have long believed, as one example, that Usain Bolt is barely human at all -- that he is in fact the first successful genetically perfected athlete.  For him to so completely dominate at 100 meters to the point that I actually believe his best time was actually done with him all but pulling up 10 meters before the finish before someone saw something absurd like 9.39 (instead of the 9.58 he actually ran) and started asking real questions -- remembering that the sprints contain some of the most chemically-abusing athletes in the sport...

But if the Enhanced Games, at least the first ones, showed anything, it showed almost certainly how much drugs are still married to even supposedly "legitimate" races.

The second is that Donald Trump is going to go to Madison Square Garden and support his friend James Dolan, owner of the New York Knicks, in his shock (politically rigged???) berth to win an NBA Championship.  He goes to see Game 3 on Monday.  Knicks are up 2-0.

Fans are being told to prepare for a thousand or more security force at Madison Square Garden.

The third is Pigfucker's UFC Birthday, his UFC "Freedom 250" (*SNORK*) card on the lawn of the White House.

And we could add two things to that monstrosity right now, since he's not planning on taking down the cage afterward:

1) Execution chamber/Gladiator Games?  He's already said he wants trained MMA fighters to kill illegal immigrants for entertainment.

2) The ballroom is for the elite to have a protected place to watch and spend money for methods, in the style of The Purge?

The fourth, just down the figurative street, is Jaxson Dart and the introductions he's made of Trump, much to the chagrin of some of his team's fans.

Be real, people:  Many people are trying to position themselves in the political realities of sports and entertainment, with President Pigfucker being the centerpiece -- perhaps kingmaker.

And that gets to the fifth and final different sport of this, and his 2026 magnum opus:  The FIFA Peace Prize Donald Trump Cup, as known to the rest of the world as The 2026 Men's FIFA World Cup.

Fuck the World Cup.

Fuck FIFA.

Fuck Trump.

Etc. and so forth and so on.

If there's any way he can get himself named the champion of the 2026 Men's FIFA World Cup, he will do so.  There's obviously believability in both literal and figurative senses to this, but this could end up stinking far worse than the last two did!

Sports and Politics: Why We Can't Stick To Sprots

Part of this, and only part of this, may be considered a breach on the boycott on the Transphobe Games, because a large part of this has come from Italy and several American Olympic athletes speaking out against Trump, ICE, and, basically, their place on the US Olympic Team.

Since this does raise to a larger question, however, I'll speak on it.

What finally motivated me on it was Karl Denninger's post on the subject on his White Right website The Market Ticker. 

His stand has a number of problems, not just with the Olympics, but I'll state the ones evident with the Olympics as they come up:

• Anyone who does not believe the Olympics specifically haven't been abjectly taken over by politics has their head so far in the sand, it's in proverbial China (that it went all the way through and came out the other side of the world).

This could go any of a number of different directions.

Anyone who lived through the Cold War had to know that the Olympic Games, and especially the National Dick-Waving Contest which is the top of the medal table, especially in the Summer Games, and doubly especially between the United States and the Soviet Union, was a national propaganda exercise as to the superiority of one or the other of the two systems.  (Though this has also occurred on a lesser extent with the Summer Games between the United States and China in more recent years.)

A prominent example can be given through the Miracle On Ice.  How much of the actual morale boost came from the fact that it was specifically the Russians that the US college boys defeated in Lake Placid?

We could also discuss the entire regime-led drug rigging of the Sochi Games, and the attempts by Russia to completely manipulate the home Games medal table using a state-sponsored doping ring which has partially led to the to-date permanent expulsion of Russia from the Olympic movement.

We could even decide to discuss the Transphobe Games themselves, since the movement to expel transgenders and anyone of Differences of Sexual Development in the different disciplines -- and eventually the IOC itself -- comes from the Donald Trump Movement in the United States.

• This extends beyond the Olympics, as has been evidenced even this week.

We could even, as Denninger notes, speak of the recent Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show, and the White Right-led controversies that they believe that an existential fraud has been committed as to how many people watched the game (Terrorist Point) and the halftime show.

People who've read this website basically know of a continuing political movement by the NFL (in some concert with the Federal government -- though, after last Sunday, there is some question as to just how much) to exert political propaganda into the presentation and into who wins and loses.

(Which makes it completely hypocritical that Boomer Esiason has come out in support of Donald Trump and ICE and in opposition to the Olympic athletes speaking up.)

• The entire existence of women's sports (Title IX) and it's end (see boycott post) is political. 

-----------

I am of three different minds with respect to 2026 politics and the athletes speaking out.

1) This is the United States Olympic Team, so the argument can be made that it's athletes do need to be allegiant to the United States.

I have always believed that, by the Trump Olympics in 2028, a loyalty test to Trump will be required to be a member of the team.  I am doubly certain of that fact now.

2) Especially vis-a-vis the Olympics, politics and sport will forever be aligned.  A key component of politics is propaganda, and sports have always been used as propaganda instruments:  East, West, Nazi, etc.

3) There's a very real problem no one else is going to say.  Because of the nature of the United States Sexual Assault (Olympic/Paralympic) Committee and said political ties, every athlete on the Olympic Team is compromised -- as a function of being on the Olympic team.  

The United States has no place on the Olympic movement, as I've said before, because of the number of it's athletes which are on drugs (note that, just before the Transphobe Games started, Trump signed a bill withdrawing all dues-paying from the World Anti-Doping Agency, months before a Trump-family sponsored Enhanced (Steroid) Games event in Las Vegas), as well as the rampant sexual-assault screening of athletes to the team.

I applaud those that speak out against the Piece of the Ultimate Shit and ICE -- even though, in many countries (and soon to be here), that will be a death sentence to do so with that platform. 

Hell just fucking froze over.

Someone suggested that soccer fans should not travel to the Trump Cup -- this year's FIFA World Cup.

Sepp...  Blatter...

Let that process.