Someone explain how this goes down without him being on the gas, and for what appears to be much longer than with the Giants?
Melky Cabrera is gone. Various reports have him signing with... The Toronto Blue Jays.
Gee, the Blue Jays are getting involved in their share of smarmy stuff.
But here's the thing, Mr. I'm Cracking Down on Steroids Bud $elig:
How does this guy get 2 years and $16,000,000 unless he was on the gas last year to "win" (before the rules were thankfully changed) the National League batting title?
I mean, don't get me wrong: Anyone who knew anything knew Melky was done with the Giants.
But how does this guy get $8,000,000/year off a 50-game drug suspension, and NO ONE bats an eyelash at how he got that batting average?
Friday, November 16, 2012
Collusion, Bribery, and Extortion: The Latest MLB Fraud
Meet Jeffrey Loria, the owner of the Florida/Miami Marlins AAAA "major league" baseball team.
Meet one of the biggest assholes in baseball.
The guy just oozes "asshole", and he's already been responsible for the literal death of baseball in one of the two Canadian markets Major League Baseball has penetrated, Montreal.
He was the owner that basically fire-saled a team which could've been relevant in the beginnings of the Steroid Era (it had the best record in the majors before the strike in 1994! -- 3 1/2 games better than the mighty Yankees), leading to the eventual farce that was the Puerto Rico Expos for a period of time (leading to an absurd, though beautiful for the park, traditional doubleheader for the Giants that was necessitated because they could not reschedule one of the Expos' Puerto Rico games which was rained out!) and, eventually, the team fleeing to Washington.
It is clear that Jeffrey Loria has no regard for the fans, other players, or anyone but his smarmy fuck of an art collector self.
And this shithead got a World Series ring with the Marlins, and then promptly firesaled that!
Then he screams for a new stadium, extorts it out of the taxpayers, and says he'll make the team competitive again if and only if he gets the new stadium.
That lasted... about a third of a season.
The final straw has apparently fallen on the relevance of the Miami Marlins. This "trade" with the Toronto Blue Jays: Basically all their remaining star players (and most of the salary) for a cup of coffee, a malcontent, and some prospects.
A friend of mine who's a baseball historian has actually heard estimates that Jeffrey Loria is actually going to try to trot out a team with a payroll of about $35 million next year, if Loria can unload any salaries he finds too expensive and too constrictive to the creation of the new Jeffrey Loria Art Museum or somesuch folly.
I mean, it's so bad, and anyone watching ESPN that first home game could've seen it. His idea of a "first pitch" was to bring out Muhammad Ali.
Now, God bless Ali and he's still The Motherfucking Greatest and will be For All Time.
But the Parkinson's and the like is advancing at a frightening rate, and what was supposed to be a wonderful feel-good moment (and Ali certainly deserves that, and none of what I say is to be taken one iota of fault of his!) turned into a pathetic display of a physical shadow of a man. The fans were so saddened to see how he was doing that they couldn't even rouse a cheer, and the PA announcer was left to try to force an "Ali! Ali! Ali!" chant out of the crowd.
On the Opening Night of the stadium...
On ESPN...
And this motherfucker basically extorts what could be hundreds of millions out of the taxpayers to pay for a minor-league baseball stadium, because this shithead is going to pocket the revenue-sharing and profit from this sham of a team.
Speaking of "credible sanctioning bodies" as I have before, where the fuck is Bud $elig on this one? This is in the Best Interests of Baseball to literally watch a man repeatedly gut a team to the point that no one wants to come and watch, even when they ARE good?
If I were $elig, he either fields a competitive team, or, since he has no interest in doing so, either must sell the team or it dies, under BIoB.
Fuck Jeffrey Loria. Fuck his smarmy ass. And if that's not good enough for him, he can basically take his minor-league traveling show elsewhere, as far as I am concerned.
Meet one of the biggest assholes in baseball.
The guy just oozes "asshole", and he's already been responsible for the literal death of baseball in one of the two Canadian markets Major League Baseball has penetrated, Montreal.
He was the owner that basically fire-saled a team which could've been relevant in the beginnings of the Steroid Era (it had the best record in the majors before the strike in 1994! -- 3 1/2 games better than the mighty Yankees), leading to the eventual farce that was the Puerto Rico Expos for a period of time (leading to an absurd, though beautiful for the park, traditional doubleheader for the Giants that was necessitated because they could not reschedule one of the Expos' Puerto Rico games which was rained out!) and, eventually, the team fleeing to Washington.
It is clear that Jeffrey Loria has no regard for the fans, other players, or anyone but his smarmy fuck of an art collector self.
And this shithead got a World Series ring with the Marlins, and then promptly firesaled that!
Then he screams for a new stadium, extorts it out of the taxpayers, and says he'll make the team competitive again if and only if he gets the new stadium.
That lasted... about a third of a season.
The final straw has apparently fallen on the relevance of the Miami Marlins. This "trade" with the Toronto Blue Jays: Basically all their remaining star players (and most of the salary) for a cup of coffee, a malcontent, and some prospects.
A friend of mine who's a baseball historian has actually heard estimates that Jeffrey Loria is actually going to try to trot out a team with a payroll of about $35 million next year, if Loria can unload any salaries he finds too expensive and too constrictive to the creation of the new Jeffrey Loria Art Museum or somesuch folly.
I mean, it's so bad, and anyone watching ESPN that first home game could've seen it. His idea of a "first pitch" was to bring out Muhammad Ali.
Now, God bless Ali and he's still The Motherfucking Greatest and will be For All Time.
But the Parkinson's and the like is advancing at a frightening rate, and what was supposed to be a wonderful feel-good moment (and Ali certainly deserves that, and none of what I say is to be taken one iota of fault of his!) turned into a pathetic display of a physical shadow of a man. The fans were so saddened to see how he was doing that they couldn't even rouse a cheer, and the PA announcer was left to try to force an "Ali! Ali! Ali!" chant out of the crowd.
On the Opening Night of the stadium...
On ESPN...
And this motherfucker basically extorts what could be hundreds of millions out of the taxpayers to pay for a minor-league baseball stadium, because this shithead is going to pocket the revenue-sharing and profit from this sham of a team.
Speaking of "credible sanctioning bodies" as I have before, where the fuck is Bud $elig on this one? This is in the Best Interests of Baseball to literally watch a man repeatedly gut a team to the point that no one wants to come and watch, even when they ARE good?
If I were $elig, he either fields a competitive team, or, since he has no interest in doing so, either must sell the team or it dies, under BIoB.
Fuck Jeffrey Loria. Fuck his smarmy ass. And if that's not good enough for him, he can basically take his minor-league traveling show elsewhere, as far as I am concerned.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
If you ever need another indication of how NA$CAR is run, I submit to you the end of this past weekend's race...
Sometimes, the farce just becomes so obvious that who won and who lost become basically irrelevant.
Take last weekend's NASCAR race in Phoenix.
What most YouTube clips won't show is an incident with about four laps to go in which Clint Bowyer rubs Jeff Gordon into the outside wall, popping his tire and ending what very easily could've been a good run.
This was, apparently, the last fucking straw in a season full of this shit for Gordon, who, though black-flagged because he could not be up to speed, elected to stay on the track and TAKE OUT BOWYER. (right at the start of the clip)
Then Gordon saunters to the pit road, where he is immediately summoned to the race officials' truck.
All Hell breaks loose before he gets there.
You see, in wrecking Bowyer intentionally, Jeff Gordon eliminated Clint Bowyer from the season-long championship. Brad Keselowski is about to win his first such championship, barring a blown engine or something like that in the last race in Homestead, FL.
But no one is going to care!
The first controversy that should've been handled (but, again, no one cared about) is that had race leader Kevin Harvick (who _did_ eventually win) taken the white flag, the race ends there. Since they "withdrew" the white flag before he got it, apparently, for Gordon taking out Bowyer (and Joey Logano and a third car), we got one of those Green-White-Checkered finishes.
But, again, no one cared because of what happened the moment Jeff Gordon made it to the infield.
The moment Gordon gets out of the car at about 1:26, Bowyer's crew is waiting for him, and a mass brawl erupts!
At 2:18 of the clip, Clint Bowyer gets out of his car, and enacts at least a 300-yard sprint for blood. He has to be held back by several NASCAR officials as the melee continues to be cleaned up in the garage and the race (purportedly for the material on the track, but I think, more, for the melee) was stopped!
So, basically, the brawl goes on, everybody is summoned inside, and these are the penalties:
This is why. This incident pretty much did in the 2012 championship, barring something with Keselowski this week.
But here's the doubling of the problem: You have a deliberate take-out, a mass brawl, and NO ONE GETS THROWN OUT FOR NEXT WEEK...
If there were ever a case that it's simply 43 billboards running around the track and that the sponsors run this sport, there it is.
And now everyone is going to expect Round2 either at Homestead or 2013 Daytona...
Take last weekend's NASCAR race in Phoenix.
What most YouTube clips won't show is an incident with about four laps to go in which Clint Bowyer rubs Jeff Gordon into the outside wall, popping his tire and ending what very easily could've been a good run.
This was, apparently, the last fucking straw in a season full of this shit for Gordon, who, though black-flagged because he could not be up to speed, elected to stay on the track and TAKE OUT BOWYER. (right at the start of the clip)
Then Gordon saunters to the pit road, where he is immediately summoned to the race officials' truck.
All Hell breaks loose before he gets there.
You see, in wrecking Bowyer intentionally, Jeff Gordon eliminated Clint Bowyer from the season-long championship. Brad Keselowski is about to win his first such championship, barring a blown engine or something like that in the last race in Homestead, FL.
But no one is going to care!
The first controversy that should've been handled (but, again, no one cared about) is that had race leader Kevin Harvick (who _did_ eventually win) taken the white flag, the race ends there. Since they "withdrew" the white flag before he got it, apparently, for Gordon taking out Bowyer (and Joey Logano and a third car), we got one of those Green-White-Checkered finishes.
But, again, no one cared because of what happened the moment Jeff Gordon made it to the infield.
The moment Gordon gets out of the car at about 1:26, Bowyer's crew is waiting for him, and a mass brawl erupts!
At 2:18 of the clip, Clint Bowyer gets out of his car, and enacts at least a 300-yard sprint for blood. He has to be held back by several NASCAR officials as the melee continues to be cleaned up in the garage and the race (purportedly for the material on the track, but I think, more, for the melee) was stopped!
So, basically, the brawl goes on, everybody is summoned inside, and these are the penalties:
- Instead of being thrown out of the final race at Homestead for deliberately wrecking someone out of the championship, Jeff Gordon was simply fined $100,000, docked 25 points, and is on NASCAR's "probation" for the Homestead race. (Technically through December 31)
- Rick Hendrick, for being the owner, docked 25 owner points.
- The crew chief, Alan Gustafson, is now on probation until December 31 for failing to control Gordon.
- Brian Pattie, Bowyer's crew chief, fined $25,000 for getting into the fight and probation until December 31st.
- And Brad Keselowski fined $25,000 for carrying a cell phone (illegal under rules basically covering computers and the like), but nothing for a profane press conference slamming the media for his apparent actions in Texas while all this garbage is going on.
This is why. This incident pretty much did in the 2012 championship, barring something with Keselowski this week.
But here's the doubling of the problem: You have a deliberate take-out, a mass brawl, and NO ONE GETS THROWN OUT FOR NEXT WEEK...
If there were ever a case that it's simply 43 billboards running around the track and that the sponsors run this sport, there it is.
And now everyone is going to expect Round2 either at Homestead or 2013 Daytona...
Friday, November 9, 2012
Week 9 Fine Blotter: A couple interesting ones here...
- Pittsburgh Steelers: The team was fined $35,000 and Emanuel Sanders $15,000 for faking an injury to gain an extra time-out in their game against the Bengals.
- San Diego Chargers: Team fined $20,000 for failure to comply with a game official. It was believed that illegal stick-em was on some of the towels that the team had used, and the officials wanted them confiscated. It was determined that the charge had no merit.
- Baltimore Ravens: Dannell Ellerbee fined $10,000 for striking a defenseless Cleveland Brown (Trent Richardson) in the head.
- Philadelphia Eagles: Michael Vick (yes, THAT Michael Vick) was fined $7,875 for a low block on a pick-six end-to-end return of one of his interceptions in the loss to the Saints.
- Tennessee Titans: Michael Griffin: $20,000 for a horse-collar vs. the Bears. That makes him a TWO-TIME LOSER.
- Tennessee Titans: Matt Hasselbeck: $15,750 for another horse-collar. According to the NFL.com article sourced at the Vick fine link, he's appealing.
- Carolina Panthers got two as well: Haruki Nakamara, $21,000 for striking a defenseless player in the head and neck.
- and Greg Hardy, $15,750 for roughing the passer, Robert Griffin III of the Redskins.
- Oakland Raiders: Tyron Branch, $15,750 for another horse-collar against the Buccaneers.
- Green Bay Packers: Ryan Taylor, $21,000 for a blind-side illegal block.
- Arizona Cardinals: Same game, Quentin Groves, $15,750 for, you guessed it, a horse-collar tackle!
- Indianapolis Colts: Cassius Vaughn, $7,875 for a late hit on Miami's Reggie Bush.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
And another no-shit moment for the NFL...
A couple weeks ago, SI released a poll which indicated that Tim Tebow was the most overrated player in the NFL, and his starter, Mark Sanchez, was second.
Well, during my trip to Las Vegas, we found out that Rex Ryan has completed the trifecta.
A second survey, this one done by The Sporting News, of 103 players, has found Mr. Animal House to be the most overrated coach in the NFL, and by a similar wide margin to the overrated-players survey.
One surprise: Bill Belichick was rated second on the most overrated coaches poll.
Well, during my trip to Las Vegas, we found out that Rex Ryan has completed the trifecta.
A second survey, this one done by The Sporting News, of 103 players, has found Mr. Animal House to be the most overrated coach in the NFL, and by a similar wide margin to the overrated-players survey.
One surprise: Bill Belichick was rated second on the most overrated coaches poll.
And getting the scoring caught up: Week 8 and Week 9
Finally getting the rest of this caught up:
Scoring Update:
Week 8's 14 games averaged 41 1/2 points exactly.
Since 2001, only 2001, 2003, and 2007 had fewer points on average for Week 8.
Week 9's 14 games averaged exactly five points more than Week 8: 46.5 exactly.
Since 2001, 2007 was higher by a small fraction, 2009 lower by a similar small fraction, and only 2004 was sunstantially higher.
For the 9 weeks, the average NFL game scored 45.72 points.
This is about 1 1/3 points higher than last year's record.
Scoring Update:
Week 8's 14 games averaged 41 1/2 points exactly.
Since 2001, only 2001, 2003, and 2007 had fewer points on average for Week 8.
Week 9's 14 games averaged exactly five points more than Week 8: 46.5 exactly.
Since 2001, 2007 was higher by a small fraction, 2009 lower by a similar small fraction, and only 2004 was sunstantially higher.
For the 9 weeks, the average NFL game scored 45.72 points.
This is about 1 1/3 points higher than last year's record.
Monday, November 5, 2012
OK, been a bit lax... The last two weeks' Fine Blotters...
Was in Vegas this weekend. Had great time until the little shit on the Greyhound trip home (and the bus breaking down on the way over and the fire which caused a 25-mile traffic jam (2 hour delays each way!) on the way back...).
Will have an article about that in a bit.
But some stuff I have to catch up on.
Week 7:
Week 8:
Will have an article about that in a bit.
But some stuff I have to catch up on.
Week 7:
- Chicago Bears with two uniform violations for $10,500 each for orange cleats: Brandon Marshall and Earl Bennett.
- Arizona Cardinals: Rashad Johnson, $21,000 for an illegal blindside block against the Vikings.
- St. Louis Rams: Cortland Finnegan: $7,875 for a facemask on Jordy Nelson of the Packers.
- Baltimore Ravens: Bernard Pollard: same fine, same penalty, against the Texans.
- Detroit Lions: Alphonso Smith: $15,750 for a horse-collar of Chicago's aforementioned Brandon Marshall.
- Ndokamung Suh was NOT fined for his hit on Jay Cutler. (Nor, IMODO, even with Suh's reputation, should he have been.)
- Carolina Panthers: Charles Godfrey: $7,875 for a chop-block against the Cowboys. This makes Godfrey a TWO-TIME LOSER.
- Washington Redskins: Tyler Polumbus: $7,875 for a leg-whip against the Giants.
- San Francisco 49ers: Dashon Goldson: $7,875 for taunting the Seahags.
Week 8:
- Earlier in the season, it was announced that week that the Rams were fined $20,000 for not disclosing Stephen Jackson's injury against the Redskins. (Gee, after a weekend in Vegas, I wonder why???)
- New York Giants: Chris Canty: $15,750 for roughing the passer (Tony Romo of the Cowboys).
- Oakland Raiders: Richard Seymour: $15,750 for roughing the passer (Matt Cassel of the Chiefs).
- Chicago Bears: Chris Conte: $21,000 for a hit to the head on Carolina's Brandon LaFell.
- New York Jets: Marcus Dowtin: $15,750 for roughing the passer (Matt Moore of the Dolphins).
- Tennessee Titans: Mike Martin: $15,750 for... you guessed it!!! Roughing the Passer! (Andrew Luck of the Colts).
- Miami Dolphins: Jonathan Martin: $10,000 for excessive chipping and clipping against the Jets.
- Minnesota Vikings: Jared Allen: $7,875 for fighting...
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Donald Penn, who got the same fine.
- Pittsburgh Steelers: Antonio Brown: $10,000 for taunting, as he ran the last 25 yards (last fine of the list has an animated GIF of it, and, again, that forum is the source for these lists, Footballsfuture.com NFL News Forums) of a touchdown punt return backwards. The return was nullified with another penalty.
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