The Nuclear Winter Olympics, Day -1: Freeze-Out

• Greeeeeeeeat.  Donald Trump wants a military parade.  Can we please have at least one regiment or whatever break into "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" or something to make a fool of this jackass masquerading as President?
• The CAS will announce it's decision to appeal the bans of over three dozen Russian athletes tomorrow.
• Competition actually begins tonight our time, with mixed-doubles curling.   The curling and skating programs have so much to do in their different disciplines that the events now have to start two days beforehand.
• The IOC has announced no new winter sports for the next Winter Olympics in Beijing (should we survive these...).
• The 2024 Paris Games have been moved up a week.
• Temperatures for the open-air Opening Ceremonies have been revised upward...  to between -2 and -5 with wind chills of -10!

Thank you to Inside the Games for that list.

A couple others this morning...

• The norovirus outbreak could be a major issue in these Games, with the number of confirmed cases now up around 90. (ESPN)
• The International Paralympic Committee is allowing clean Russian athletes the same right to complete in the Pyeongchang Paralympics as their Olympic counterparts on the Olympic Athletes From Russia. (ESPN)

The Nuclear Winter Olympics, Day -2: This is getting sickening...

• Plunge Protection Team had to stave off another 600 point loss in the Dow video game score this morning.
• The headline is quite literal.  Deadspin reports this morning that over 1,200 security workers in Korea have been sent home, days before the start of the Games, with norovirus.
• According to Inside the Games, reporting from the IOC convention:  There is talk Russia may be allowed to march as their own country in the Closing Ceremonies in PyeongChang.
• Russia was a huge subject on the first day of the IOC meeting, but the USA Gymnastics scandal was not spared.  It does not appear, though, the IOC will do enough to force reforms on USA Gymnastics, as a lot of that discussion appeared to be useless hand-wringing.
• Sports Illustrated is telling Americans who wish the USA at the top of the medal table to save their breath.  Their projections have the USA a distant fourth on the medal table, Canada actually defeating them both in total and in Olympic criteria (golds first, silvers and then bronzes to break ties).  The skiing events have Norway their projected table-topper, and by a fair distance, with the sliding events aiding Germany to second. 
• CNN's projections have the USA a distant third to Germany and then Norway.

The Nuclear Winter Olympics, Day -3: The Dow Jones Video Game Score Plummets

I don't usually go full economics here.

And, yes, I do understand there was a significant legal action in which the government has frozen the market size of Wells Fargo, the third largest bank in the country, to end-2017 levels, a significant action which has dropped the stock itself 10%, and probably more to come.

But still...

About 2 Eastern this afternoon, market was only off about 350 points.

I say "only", because by 3:10, the market was off over 1,400 points.  (For the record, they were STILL a thousand points from a circuit-breaker shutdown!)

On the close on January 26th, the Dow 30 was at 26,616.71.

Today, after losing 1,175 points today (and 830 or so of them in the last 2 hours, in which the market went from down 350 to down 1400 to about 700 down to about 1,200 down to a final loss of 1175 for the day at 24,345.75.

That's 2,275 points or so since the 26th, about 8 1/2%.

Why am I going through all this on a sports conspiracy blog?

Well, it'd be one thing to find out that the Patriots' dynasty had a lot of money in the stock market, and they know what happened and all...  That'd be almost comedic to what I think this is...

Wells Fargo this is NOT.  It'd explain maybe part of today's 1175, but you not only have 1000 more to account for, but there's a lot more to be said.

What I think this is is what I've feared for this next month, only accelerated after the Hawaii false missile scare:  Something's going down in PyeongChang.

And I think it might make Berlin 1972 tame in comparison.  This Olympic movement has dodged numerous bullets (literal and figurative) in the last 20 years or so.

You now have a Russian puppet as American President, with a Russian dictator pissed off that a state-sponsored doping situation to rig an entire Winter Olympics has his government disqualified from the Olympic movement.

This ain't ending quietly -- and, like "Bettor X", I think people know about it.

Super Bowl LII(E), For The People: Forgot About This Little Sideplot

Malcolm Butler has certainly played his last game for the New England Patriots.

Distraught in the post-game, saying he felt he could've changed the result, both he and the NBC commentators (who mentioned this at least twice!) are wondering why Butler was not in the defensive scheme at all for the game, and only played in one punt.

Bill Belichick said it was not a disciplinary situation, and that it was a matter of putting the people out there who could win.

The Patriot defense could not stop water last night.  Something is badly wrong here, and I can't think any intelligent person is buying the public line here.

Butler, for those of us who remember, was the recipient of that classic goal-line interception that finished off the Seahawks three years ago.

Belichick's line was the classic "We put the people out there who gave us the best chance to win." stuff.  It was a deliberate coach's decision, and announced as such.

That's the kind of decision that screams, in normal parlance, that the coach has lost all confidence in the player and wishes rid of him -- NOW.  That he said or did something and is done with the New England Patriots.  NOW. And that it's Belichick's decision.

So this might be the first post-Super Bowl subplot to watch.

One Deadspin commenter is thinking a hooker might be involved.

I'm wondering if Butler wasn't going to go along with the company line and lose to the Eagles.

Super Bowl LII(E), For The People: A Circus With An Unexpected Result

For two weeks, I had deliberated whether I wanted to do my annual tradition of an upscale sports bar to watch the game, for respect of friends of mine near where I live who have disowned football.

I decided, about 45-60 minutes before kickoff, to do so.

I'm glad I did -- had I not, there'd be about a mile-wide crater where my jaw dropped.

Vegas has just shit itself.

• Only one favorite covered this playoffs.  (IIRC, it was the Patriots in the division round.)
• Eagles won.
• Game went over well before the end of the 3rd quarter.

I can't believe I'm about to say this:  The NFL finally rigged a game for the people.

This NEVER HAPPENS.  But it happened today, as a nation finally sick of all the Patriot hype finally got one, and the league made sure it was a circus that the one-time viewers of the NFL would not forget.

• Last Chance Miss:  Hail Mary to tie it at the gun fails.
• Ends within one score, but no Cliffhanger.
• An NFL record for the most yards in ANY GAME -- regular, post, or Super Bowl.  (1,152)
• If the Eagles didn't get smart and run seven minutes off the clock for the winning touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, Tom Brady would've broken Norm van Brocklin's record for passing yards in a game, any game.  He was at 403 yards, 3:23 to go in the third, and 457 9:22 in the 4th.  I think he ended with 503.

And I'm sure I already have people saying that this proves it's not rigged.

You have three questions to answer me then:

• Why was the hit on Brandin Cookes which eliminated him from the game not penalized?  First play of the drive after New England got away with a defensive pass interference (which they got several of those no-calls in the game, let's be honest here -- they got away with a lot of nit-and-pick, but there are three calls that decided the game for the Eagles that raise serious questions...). Cookes catches for 23 yards, turns to look up field, and is helmet-to-helmet ANNIHILATED by Malcolm Jenkins.  Out for the rest of the game, head injury -- Brady's biggest deep threat gone.  No call, no penalty, and Cris Collinsworth trying to cover it up as a non-defenseless situation.  That was a penalty, and, if the league rumors are right, next year it's a toss!!!
• How is that Zach Ertz touchdown a touchdown in Minneapolis, but Jesse James in Pittsburgh was not?  This is the call that basically clinched it for me, once everything had happened, that the league actually was handing one to the general public and to the Eagles.  Two and a half minutes to go, 33-32 New England, 3rd and 8 on the New England 12.  Foles to Ertz, Ertz clearly gets three feet down field of play, then is taken to ground, but the ball pops out, far more obviously than James' "no catch" did.  After lengthy deliberation, touchdown to Philadelphia.  Now, don't get wrong:  The call was right.  But how is THAT a touchdown in the Super Bowl and James' was not in the game which might well have made Pittsburgh Philly's opponent today???  
• And, for the record, that was not the only Philadelphia touchdown which Cris Collinsworth felt ran afoul of all the Calvin Johnson chicanery either.  (The Clement touchdown in the third quarter was also similar -- but, also, to my failing eyesight, a touchdown.  The Ertz one was far more obvious, though.)
• And then, lastly, one which might get under people's radar.  NBC showed a replay of the Hail Mary, as the celebration began for the Eagles.  If you can find it again, watch the ground-level replay of a New England receiver on the play getting completely WIPED OUT of the play at about the 35.  No illegal contact??? (The camera is following Gronkowski, obviously, but the fact is that you can see, I think it's #17 or something for New England just get ERASED from the play illegally.)
  
• There was, in fact, an additional huge no-call in the Ertz TD drive for the Eagles as well...  2nd and 9, about midfield, completed pass for 10 by Foles, but only because James Harrison was being MUGGED in the open field.

EDIT TO ADD:  Why I did the overstrike above:  Someone found it and posted the still on his or her Twitter:  It was #15, Chris Hogan...

I’m more concerned about @ChrisHogan_15 getting talked 15 yards down field on the final play. #rigged pic.twitter.com/SSWHUraA7T

— Chris Howell (@NDgolfpro) February 5, 2018

As Brian Tuohy well pointed out, they were setting the table for you -- there were a number of questionable no-calls benefiting the Patriots...

• The Defensive Pass Interference on the Philly drive early 2nd quarter on 3rd down, where Foles also could've run for the first down on the same play!
• A forearm to the head by Steven Gostkowski on a kickoff return at the 2 minute warning of the first half.
• That whole reverse to wide receiver pass to Foles thing would not have been necessary if the pass interference on the 3rd down play was called (made no difference -- they got the six anyway).
• Possible intentional grounding on Brady 2nd and 6 at the Philly 22 on the first drive of the 2nd half.
• For the record, both defensive holding calls which aided drives for the Patriots were good calls.
• A bad pass-interference on the last 2 point conversion to keep the lead five.

At the end of the day, though, the NFL actually went with the public and made Anti-Patriot Nation happy.

So I'm now left with three questions of my own:

• First, to "Bettor X", who has another $10 million or so to collect:  What do you know, and who do you know?  Between that World Series and this Super Bowl, you're somebody who has the inside info on the major events.  It's clear that you have pre-information as to who's going to win and all after some of this chicanery.  You can bet (pun intended) a lot of people are going to continue to watch you in the future!
• Secondly:  Why the reversal?  The clearest answer would be to whipsaw the conspiracy theorists such as myself.  I'd agree with this to a certain extent, until you look at the three defining no-calls of the game all going to Philadelphia in a game in which one call could make the entire difference.
• And finally, and what might turn into the biggest sporting event in years:  Does the NFL have information on Alex Guerrero?  As I have said for a number of weeks, it would've taken something huge for the NFL to change off the Patriots, especially after how obviously the Patriots were installed as favorites after the debacle in Pittsburgh.  Lacking a #MeToo, it appears the cleanest route to it is that the league has information it chose not to disclose on Tom Brady's doctor Alex Guerrero which indicates Brady is not clean.  I do, however, still believe that this has been Tom Brady's last game, and I now believe that Brady's dirty and the NFL knows it.

I mean, be happy, NFL Nation...  This doesn't happen every day.  The underdog babyface usually does not win in the Roger Goodell National Religion Era.  So be happy, but understand, this was a change -- and the real news may come if we ever find out why...

Some side thoughts on Super Bowl LII(E), For The People...

• Justin Timberlake:  Meh.  2002 called, they want you back.  NEXT!
• Pink:  Good to hear you, but, as usual post-Whitney, the Super Bowl Anthem is now over-produced dreck in most cases.  (Not your fault, Pink, you did fine.)
• No protests of the Anthem -- the NFL probably told the Eagles to behave.
• Best set of commercials in years.  The "Tide Ad" arc was really good.  Even got the Australian Tourism Board to do a nice one in response.
• Liked the "Bud Light Knight" ones too...
• But, once again, near where I live...  Scientology.  REALLY???
• Somebody fucked up big in one of the commercial breaks, leaving a nice space of dead air hanging around...
• NBC promoting #NBCFail a lot...  Don't worry, I'll get to you guys this Nuclear Winter Olympics...  (The World Cup in Russia gets the boycott treatment this year!)

The Nuclear Winter Olympics, Day -4: The scars of Sochi loom large...

Yes, unlike the Homophobe-lympics, this blog will cover the PyeongChang Games.  And my blog title is no accident.  As I will state later, I do believe an incident will mar these Games on a level not seen since at least Munich, and the two major players will be Putin and God-Emperor Cheetolini I.

And no, I did not post this during the Super Bowl.  I'm using the Schedule function to put the Super Bowl posts on top and this first Winter Olympics post below it...

Again, I would like to thank for a lot of the information you will see these next three or so weeks the blog Inside the Games -- an international blog (so the whole "USA! USA!! USA!!!" crap that mars NBC's coverage here won't happen) covering some of the side stories the IOC might not want you to know about...

Like THESE:

• 28 Olympic Athletes from Russia cleared by the Council for Arbitration of Sport to compete in PyeongChang have been redisqualfied by the IOC unilaterally, and the IOC President Thomas Bach wants the CAS looked at too...

Well, if that's the case, Thomas:  Then why the Hell are there going to be ANY Olympic Athletes From Russia, if the accepted clearinghouse for disputes is not going to be respected by the IOC???

• Especially because Russia has not begun to pay it's $15,000,000 fine to the IOC as part of the McLaren Report...

• We may finally be rid of Olympic boxing.  AIBA, the international sanctioning body for amateur boxing, just recently named an interim director who (SHOCK!!) has ties to organized crime!!!  

Gafur Rakhimov of Uzbekistan was recently elected Interim Director of AIBA.  (And weren't the Uzbeks one of the countries buying medals or the like at recent Summer Games???)  He is purported to have ties to organized crime.

AIBA has 60-90 days to submit a new report on sport governance and the like which will satisfy the IOC, or they are prepared to strip boxing from the Olympic program immediately!

More, obviously, to come...