The Zoo Continues Unabated, Part 2

Two more stories where the excrement has hit the air circulator...

First, it is no longer desirable (it's not outright banned, but the state association doesn't want it going on anymore), at a high school sporting event in the state of Kentucky, to engage in the handshake line, according to Yahoo! Sports.

Not for the reason you think, but the exact opposite:  The KHSAA (the Kentucky High School Athletic Association) has registered over two dozen major incidents of poor sportsmanship in the handshake lines the last three years (with incidents in all three major fall sports this year), and can no longer justify their continued usage, given they can no longer trust the students of the state of Kentucky to act like human beings (forget the parents and coaches and the like!).

Here's a thought, Kentucky:  Don't worry yet about how you can "marry the importance of sportsmanship to an event where their players can't shake hands with their opponents", as the article puts so many Kentucky athletic directors struggling to do.

You have to get the first half of that equation down first.  Force sportsmanship into the equation (and, yes, I used "force" intentionally), or you have nothing to marry to this situation, and no need to continue high school sports at all, at that point.

I fear that the KHSAA may have few other options should this continue.  If this step is necessary, the termination of high school sports (on a case-by-case basis or in general) must then also come.

--

And then you get to the latest UFC news, and showing why Dana White doesn't take any shit from anybody.

Like him or not (and I know people in both camps), it's clear that Dana White is not afraid to make a statement.

Dana White has, permanently and forever, thrown Rousimar Palahares out of the UFC.

Why?

Because Rousimar Palahares, on more than one occasion, doesn't realize Rule Zero of MMA, and one of the main reasons that MMA is always on the edge of getting banned in a number of North American jurisdictions:  This is not Thunderdome.  When the match is over, THE MATCH IS OVER.

He has, twice now, excessively held a heel hook (his main submission hold) after the fight was declared over.  The second incident marred a victory this week on a live UFC telecast.

Heel hooks are some of the most dangerous submission moves out there.  It does not take much (and I know from a single angry incident where a misplaced kick bruised a heel and set off plantar fascitis) to bust something up seriously in the heel or foot.

Dana White is making it clear:  That's not going to in the Octagon.

The Zoo Continues Unabated

I've always said it's a miracle that we haven't had another celebrity murder like the one of of Rebecca Schaffer.

Now, I think, I have to say it's an even BIGGER miracle in that the celebrity involved hasn't been a professional athlete.

The latest example of fans taking the sport way too damn far (Source:  Sports Illustrated, hat tip, as usual, to my anonymous source) comes from the Houston Texans.

Someone tried to confront Matt Schaub at his home and bitch at him about his (and the team's) poor play.

NFL Security has been contacted.  The Houston Police Dept. is involved, though they were not able to deal with the incident initially.  (Given the current state of the NFL fandom, if the guy's going to show up at the house, you have to be ready for anything.)

And people thought I was crazy.  I guess since the victim was a man (and a "tough" football player), the guy in his driveway shouting obscenities wasn't arrested on the spot.  (You know, "course of conduct intended to harass", blah blah blah, "with no legitimate purpose", yadda yadda yadda...)

Or is it the corollary of the sixth principle of Howard Cosell's "Sports Fan Syndrome", once again...

"The fan is sacred, even as sports are. He pays the freight, thus he is an entitled being. The media people tell him this every day. Therefore, once within the arena, his emotions whetted by the Sports Syndrome, the fan adopts what John Stewart Mill found to be the classic confusion in the American thought process, the confusion between Liberty and License—a natural and probable consequence of which is fan violence."

And he wrote this in 1985...

Score Update: Week 5

The fourth-highest scoring game since 1940 in the NFL (Denver 51 - Dallas 48) aided this week to average 49 points a game for Week 5.

Highest per-game average since Week 1 of last year.

6 more games this week decided by a score or less.  Cliffhanger Index:  3.

(Would've been 7 and 4 if the Chargers weren't beyond redemption at this point.)

Total is 40 out of the 77 games this year decided by one score or less.

The total Cliffhanger Index for the year is now 18.

18 of the 77 games have been decided by a score in the final two minutes or in overtime.

Monday night could've counted for two:  Atlanta's lead-changing score to 28-27 ALSO came within the two-minute warning.

Oh My... Tell Me The True/No-Heart Dupes Didn't See THIS Coming...

Only two games on the late schedule.

No one gave a shit about Carolina vs. Arizona.

But then you have Denver and Dallas -- rivals for decades, Romo vs. Peyton...

And you can guess what happened...

FIFTY-ONE TO FORTY-EIGHT, FIELD GOAL AT THE GUN TO DENVER.

(By the way, that makes 5 games this week decided by a score or less, and the Cliffhanger Index is at 2 with the Ultra-Late-Night Baseball Special from Oakland and the Monday Nighter left.)

Thanks to a little ingenuity and our friends at Pro Football Reference, we were able to find out that this was the highest scoring NFL game since Cincinnati defeated Cleveland 58-48 on November 28, 2004.

(That even beats the playoff record:  Arizona defeated Green Bay in the Wild Card round of the 2009-2010 season, 51-45.)

Washington defeated the New York Giants 72-41 on November 27, 1966.

The San Francisco 49ers defeated the (football) Brooklyn Dodgers 62-40 on November 21, 1948.

Those three games are the only three games in the history of the NFL (according to the chart that was pulled up) in which the teams combined for more than 100 points).

So this means (and I checked -- there were a couple 98's in there) that today's game is the 4th-highest scoring in the history of the NFL, going back to at least 1940.

Peyton had 4 more touchdowns -- 20 in 5 games.  Tom Brady's record of 50 is most-certainly in danger.

Tony Romo passed for 506 yards in the loss.  (The team gets credit for 470 when you take out the sacks.)

According to Pro Football Reference, this is only the 30th time since 1940 that a team has passed for at least 470 yards.  Those teams are now 17-13.

And you are going to try to tell me, Mr. or Mrs. or Miss Football Fan, that NOBODY COULD'VE SEEN THIS COMING...

Are you out of your fracking mind???  Seriously!

Additional Fact:  Peyton Manning's 414 yards passing without a sack represents the 15th time in NFL history that both teams passed for over 400 yards.

NINE have happened 2010 or since.

A Fine Blotter Full of Reasons Roger Goodell's Letter to the Fans is Full of Shit (Week Four)

So, yesterday, Roger Goodell decided to continue to propagandize to the True Heart Football Fans by actually saying that things are being done about Player Safety.

Here's my "Republican Response":

• In what has to be one of the most inconceivable decisions, the league actually agreed with it's announcers that the Goldson hit last Sunday was, in fact, shoulder-to-chest, and, hence, legal.  (Of course, this also had a large portion to do with Arizona's 13-10 win, but let's not let the facts get in the way of a good story.)  If you watch the final reverse-angle, you will see the head come in under the face mask.  No fine for Goldson -- he skates this time.  *BOO!*
• San Francisco 49ers:  Donte Whitner was fined $21,000 for his illegal hit on St. Louis' Chris Givens.  Not only does this make Whitner a TWO-TIME LOSER this season in just four games (a Week 2 uniform violation), but he, to mock the entire process, has actually apparently filed paperwork to legally change his last name to "Hitner".  Now, (W)Hitner has decided to sell $28 T-Shirts with that move, which should not only be illegal under NFLPA rules, but also encouraging this dirty bullshit.  *BOO!*
• Boo!  Boo Wendy!  Boo Wendy Testaburger!!  Boo!!!
  
• Atlanta Falcons:  Two for unnecessary roughness:  First, William Moore, $15,750 for a hit on New England's Kenbrell Thompkins.
• Atlanta Falcons:  And Thomas DeCoud, $15,750 for an end-zone shot on Aaron Dobson.
• Detroit Lions:  Rocky McIntosh, $15,750 for a horse-collar on Chicago's Devin Hester.  That's TWO-TIME LOSER for him as well (with a Preseason-Week 3 Personal Foul).  Basically, any more fines at all this season for the Lions, and they go to Level 3 for dollar-for-dollar.  (No word on whether Suh's appeal from Week 1 was denied or not.)
• Arizona Cardinals:  Yeremiah Bell, $15,750 for a helmet to helmet.
• Arizona Cardinals:  Darnell Dockett, $15,750 for a horse-collar tackle.

Those were from an early NFL.com article.  Some more I was able to find from other sources:

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers:  Team-only situation, and this one will get ugly.  Now-former Buccaneer Josh Freeman was fined three times last week for missing two meetings and conducting an unauthorized interview.  The fines were approximately $10,000 each, and probably aided in leading to his termination from the team this week.  These fines are not included in the normal total, because they do not fall under the league's Player Remittance Policy.

Some that do:

• New York Jets:  Two for hits on Tennessee's Jake Locker:  Muhammad Wilkerson gets $15,750 for roughing the passer.
• New York Jets:  And Quinton Coples gets $7,875 for unnecessary roughness.  NEITHER HIT WAS PENALIZED ON THE FIELD, according to the Washington Post.

AS A RESULT:

• New York Jets:  Become the fifth team (see my catch-up, below) to reach Level 2 on the Player Remittance Scale, and the team has been fined $50,000 as a result.

More:

• Buffalo Bills:  Jim Leonhard, $15,750 for the defenseless player rule.
• Tennessee Titans:  Michael Griffin, $21,000 for a concussion hit.

And Still More on Saturday from a Fine Tracker on SpoTrac:

• Jacksonville Jaguars:  Jason Babin, $15,750 for roughing the passer.
• Jacksonville Jaguars:  Jordan Todman, $7,875 for a late hit.

And some back fines that I didn't find earlier on that tracker:

Week 3:

• Pittsburgh Steelers:  Antonio Brown was a TWO-TIME LOSER in Week 3 -- add another $7,875 for a face mask violation in the same game he got $7,875 for a late hit vs. Chicago.
• Baltimore Ravens:  Bryant McKinnie, $7,875 for unnecessary roughness.

Week 2:

• Chicago Bears:  Charles Tillman, $15,750 for a horse-collar foul.
• Washington Redskins:  Will Montgomery:  $10,000 for a peel-back block.

And that means that, by the end of week 2:

• Washington Redskins:  Became the second team (move the others down one notch) to reach Level 2 on the Player Remittance Policy and has been fined $50,000 as a result.

Week 4              :  $    233,750
Jets Level 2        :  $      50,000
Redskins Level 2:  $      50,000
Back Fines:           $      41,500
To Week 3:          $ 1,331,375


TOTAL:               $1,716,625

Methinks Brian Tuohy has pissed some people off...

First, the national reports of game-fixing by the drugged-out New York Knicks in the 1980's...

This is one of the explosive claims Brian Tuohy has made in his new book Larceny Games.

Now, I have deliberately avoided getting the book (though probably will today with reward points -- I do hope that the program I am getting them from is compensating Brian.  If not, we'll have to figure out something.), partially because I'd be too tempted to spill many of the beans here (and Brian took a tremendous amount of time and energy to do this, and should be well-compensated for his work), and partially just out of respect for Brian.

But there are a couple of early public off-shoots of his work in Larceny Games...

First, this interview with WFAN's Boomer and Carton (and, yes, that is Boomer Esiason) on September 19, 2013.

Now, Brian asks to keep an eye on something Boomer said in the interview.

I can only think it's one of two things:

It did seem like there was one key question in the interview that Carton asked that Boomer pre-empted the answer of by Brian.

The second thing from this interview would be far more interesting:  An aside by Boomer Esiason after the interview ends, but before the clip stops.  Boomer goes into some detail on a number of people in New York sports (he talks about the possible cocaine addictions going through the New York Mets, as well as the possibility Lawrence Taylor was compromised), as well as Stanley Wilson.

Stanley Wilson was a running back for the Cincinnati Bengals (the team Esiason played for during this time period) who was banned from the NFL because he could not comply with the drug policy.  His third and final strike was just before the Super Bowl when they were to play the San Francisco 49ers.

Esiason appears to imply what some believe about Wilson:  That his cocaine addiction left questions as to whether he actually fixed games.  Though he was left off the roster for the Super Bowl after his third strike, one would have to ask if Wilson was prepared to throw Super Bowl XXIII.

Listen to the interview.  It's a very interesting discussion on the subject.

The second public off-shoot, though, is quite a bit more disturbing, and Brian just announced it in the last couple of days.

Let's set a few things up:

• Brian notes in the aforementioned interview that the plurality of things he discovered in the FBI files pertained to dealings in the NFL.  (Which should come as no surprise to anyone other than a "true"/NO-heart football fan.)
• If you read several people on the subject, you saw what happened to Dan Moldea's investigative career after he went after the NFL for the book Interference.
• There are certainly a number of things the NFL does not want made public -- for example, a second Baltimore Raven, Terrell Suggs (and he's active!!) now believes that Roger Goodell orchestrated the blackout to fix the result of Super Bowl XLVII to make it closer.
• Finally, here's how Brian got most of the files in question:  He filed Freedom of Information Act requests with the FBI regarding Sports Bribery.

So, now, he finds himself, by his own admission, on the "Vexsome Filer List", basically a list compiled by the FBI to purportedly deal with such requests that become troublesome, due to their frequency.

Gee, you don't think the NFL hasn't had something to do with this?

Next step, probably threats against Brian???

2013 Score Update Week 4

Week 4 2013 average per game:  47.27

Week 4 has been a historically high-scoring week the last few years, for the most part.

4 Week per-game average:  45.71.  The gap has lowered to about 1.6 points less than last year.