Day 540, Part 3

10:30 in the morning, it's already time to break this up:

• Team President Jed Hoyer and Manager David Ross of the Cubs, breakthrough COVID positives.  A lot of the Right asks what good the masks still are for us vaccinated?  It's because you won't, fuckers.  If you want to prove the vaccines don't work, get the compliance rate above 90% and then see how many breakthroughs we have...   
• Johnny Bench will be unable to attend Hall of Fame festivities.  He's also COVID positive.
• As is Jamison Crowder of the Jets, endangering him for Week 1 a week-plus from now.
  
• Add Oscar de la Hoya to the list.
• It appears the four teams for the Big XII expansion will be Cincinnati, UCF, Houston, and BYU...  That's pretty much all the remaining "non-AQ" teams...   
• Rocky Thompson is going to have to quit hockey for the foreseeable.  He cannot perform his duties as a San Jose Sharks assistant (due to new NHL protocols coming out) because a medical condition prevents him from getting the COVID vaccine.  And here's another angle for you Right-Wing Fucktards:  There ARE people who CAN'T take the vaccine, even if they otherwise wanted to.   

Hey, it only took til Thursday of Week One before our first Targeting of the Week -- AND the first rigged game of the year!!

You know, when you have to make it THIS obvious, Big Ten, it's pretty clear you know where your bread is buttered.

About four minutes to go last night in Minnesota, and #4 Ohio State has rebounded from a 14-10 halftime deficit to lead 45-31 over the Golden Gophers.

2nd and 10 from the Minnesota 39, a pass is thrown and completed for 20 yards, where the receiver is laid out by an Ohio State defender.

Not only was he ruled to fumble the ball, but he fumbled it and stayed down because of an uncalled helmet-to-helmet targeting shot...

If you're having trouble, go to the reverse-angle replay at 55 seconds.  #22 Minnesota clearly catches the ball and begins to head upfield.  He gets three steps before #12 Ohio State (Lathan Ramson) gets helmet-to-helmet on the Gopher player's head, forcing the fumble to clinch the Ohio State win.

Rigged game, people -- and this is how it can also be done.

Day 540

• Again, thank you to my anonymous friend for an update on a tragic story: Part of the message Shannon Spruill (Daffney) left on the last night of her life, according to TMZ, was to have her brain donated for CTE research in the CTE Center in Boston.  This not only basically confirms suicide, but CTE-laced suicide.  DAMMIT!!!    
• For the "crime" of forcing several contact tracing students of a COVID positive in an Arizona school (Newsweek does not differentiate whether the positive was a student or teacher), three adults with zip-ties attempted a citizen's arrest of principal Diane Vargo.
• And now we have clear admission of the "right to infect" on the Right side:  Here's what Tucker Carlson said, in response to increasing pressure for the COVID vaccine, last night (from MSN):

"So in good conscience, they've risked their careers to preserve their right to bodily autonomy, and now they're in jail for that. Now these arrests will be used to justify digital health passports for the entire American population, that is true. Save this tape. In fact Cyrus Vance has already enlisted big tech to help root out the disobedient in New York," he said.

Tucker then quoted Vance, who pointed out that "Making, selling and purchasing forged vaccination cards are serious crimes, with serious public safety consequences." 

 Then he continued: "Buying a faked vaccination card is not a quote 'serious crime,' it's not even close to a serious crime. Buying a fake vaccination card is an act of desperation, by decent, law abiding Americans who have been forced into a corner by tyrants."

"You know what's a serious crime," he continued. "Forcing Americans to take drugs they don't need or want. That's a very serious crime. And let's hope, in the end, someone is punished for it."

• For the second time in a week, I've been put in Facebook jail (3 days this time) for telling some of these fascists that they're going to need to shoot me if they want the type of country they want.  (Note:  I am NOT telling them I will do something to them -- though that may eventually become necessary to beat some sense into these fuckers...  I am only saying that their brand of liberty WILL require my death.)  THIS KIND OF STATEMENT IS WHY.  I'll probably have a longer post on the general subject of the American Taliban and it's complete bastardization of the entire situation.  But the fact is is that Tucker Carlson is basically saying anyone not only demanding action to stop this virus, but not actively promoting it's SPREAD, should be arrested.    
• And don't me started on that bullshit in Texas!!!  If I don't get this blog blocked for what I eventually say about that, the chances are that I didn't get my point across.    
• John Sterling was nearly killed Wednesday night by the New York flooding when he got stuck in the water on the way home.  He had to be saved by the Spanish-language Yankees announcer Rickie Ricardo.  (Yes, that is his name...)
• Michael Kay has been forced to relocate to Fordham University when he couldn't get home.
• Racist incidents directed at non-White England players in Hungary during the first UEFA World Cup qualifier.  England won 4-0.
• For the first time in the apparent recorded history of such affairs (Elias Sports Bureau says they started tracking pitch counts in 1985), the Marlins and Mets each hit a first-pitch home run against the other in the same game.
• Trevor Bauer is having his administrative leave extended yet again, according to reports.  Another report earlier this week, however, indicates he's "digging in his heels", preparing for eventual MLB discipline.  Another week, Sept. 10.
• We've lost two former NFL'ers in the last 24 hours.  David Patten, who got three (Brady-rigged) Super Bowls with the Patriots, gone this morning at 47, motorcycle crash.
• And Keith McCants, gone to a suspected overdose, the #4 1990 draft pick was 53.
• The NHL players have reached an agreement to play in Beijing next winter at the Olympic Games.  However, vaccinations will be required.
• The Big XII is trying to save itself -- the latest plan reported appears to be four schools added, including Houston and BYU.

The COVIDLympics, Day P9

• Sounds like someone wanted to play a bit "rules lawyer" here and got away with it!  A Ukranian protest of three F20-division shotputters for arriving less than three minutes late to the backstage "call area" athletes had to be at before they entered the stadium was upheld, and Malaysian Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli had his gold medal taken away by officials as a result.  Even with the disability, the Referee in charge did not find the excuse acceptable.
• The F20 division is for intellectually-disabled athletes.  Look, I get there has to be a limit and rules about this kind of shit.  But, ESPECIALLY IN THIS DIVISION...  *sigh*   

Day 539

• More on "Bishop Sycamore".  Apparently, on a previous trip to Canton, the Ohio fraud team wrote bad checks for a hotel in the area where they were staying and stiffed the hotel.
• And there will be no more supposed "Bishop Sycamore" football this year:  The school has been dropped from all remaining schedules by the other schools involved.  (Thanks to my anonymous friend for finding that info.)
  
• The CFL has banned Jacob Ruby, not allowing any other teams to sign him -- misrepresented his COVID vaccination status.
• A Florida diner will now refuse service to any Biden supporter, and has asked them in a sign posted to the door to take their business elsewhere.  Gladly!   
• Another victim of Hurricane Ida, the other iconic part of The Dukes of Hazzard than Catherine Bach's wardrobe:  One of the General Lees used in the show was crushed by a tree.  A second was blown up another tree!  Both were kept by Hazzard star John Schneider.
• Speaking of Ida, it's remnants have left torrential flooding in New York City -- the catastrophe could be massive.  It's so bad that even the field at Yankee Stadium was completely flooded out.
• The rain is so bad that not even the roofs on two show courts at the US Open could hold it back, washing out play even there.
• As of yesterday, all MLB employees must be vaccinated.
• Meaning John Smoltz and Al Leiter are off the air until they do get vaccinated, banned from MLB Network studios.  They are doing their work remotely, for the time being.
• And the Nationals have parted ways with Bob Boone, as he quit rather than got vaccinated.  Jail these fuckers.  Fuck this shit.   
• Over 500,000 kids 11 and younger have tested positive for COVID-19 since school started, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.  Time to go nationwide virtual.   
• 200,000 just this last week.
• Right-winger Joe Rogan has the coronavirus -- and he's gone the Right-Wing Route -- Invermectin, etc.
• Oh fucking no...  Last night, former WCW star Shannon Spruill, who played the goth "Daffney", posted what many believed to be a cry for suicide, and many were conflicted in having it publicized from her Instagram.  Emergency services were trying to find her.
• Today, word is she has died.  She was 48.  One of the Japanese women's promotions, at the request of the family, made the announcement.
• Game show expert Steve Beverly has said that the Goldberg piece of Mike Richards on The Price is Right may constitute the greatest threat to game shows since the 1950's rigging scandals.

As bad as we all thought Mike Richards was, the day he gets fired might just kill an American institution not named Jeopardy!, once and for all...

Mike Richards, you fucking idiot.

It's enough to chronicle the missteps and idiocies which have finally led the man who wanted to rule game shows to be fired yesterday as the Executive Producer of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!  

And a lot of us had enough issues with the man and his belief system with The Price is Right that we stepped away from the show during his oversight/reign of terror on the CBS program.

But a highly-damning Lesley Goldberg report today in The Hollywood Reporter indicates a number of further criminal and civil missteps by Richards on his eleven years as the head of Price.

Goldberg interviewed over a dozen staffers of the show during his reign...

• Many still do not believe they can speak publicly, for fear of retribution from the industry.  And since Syd Vinnedge, the head of Fremantle Media, put together the search for the new executive producer after he fired Roger Dobkowitz (and, thanks to Monty Hall and JD Roth, it went little further than Richards!), they're probably right.  And admitting there's a lot more of that elsewhere where all that came from!
• The sexual harassment was far more pervasive than first reported.  The "Beauties" would often be paraded in front of show staff and critiqued on their looks and sexuality.  Those who fared better got better assignments, etc.
• The lawsuits got a fair degree of questions, and it's clear that Drew Carey openly supported Richards, up to and including his attempt to seize the hosting of Jeopardy!  
• Richards' "new directions" for Price basically were a complete throwing baby out with the bathwater in firing basically all of the "old guard" of the show, from announcer Rich Fields to Kathy Greco, after Syd Vinnedge fired long-time show-runner Roger Dobkowitz.
  
• Most were replaced by those under the age of 27 -- a group later called "The Brat Pack".
• Long-standing traditions favorable to the staff under the Barker Era were excised from the show and it's calendar.  Though the show still taped only four days a week, staff were required, now, to do all five days -- not clear what was done on the Fridays.  Large parties for holidays, which would include name performers like Frank Sinatra Jr. and KC and the Sunshine Band, were also cut.  Paid hiatus periods were also removed.
• At least one staffer quit the entertainment industry altogether for what Richards and his minions did to Price and staff morale there.
• One staffer of 18 years finally left after trying to report Richards to the HR department at CBS and got rebuffed.

And if that's bad enough, what he did with the Prize Department is another thing entirely:

• First, it was clear that he wanted to change the show from a middle-class demographic to probably something more akin to Bill Cullen's 1960's Price is Right, seen Saturday mornings on BUZZR.
• He would ask them to try to get prizes at a discount -- and if the manufacturer didn't cooperate, he'd try to find them at outlet stores to get them cheaper.  This led to C&D's from various companies to stop the practice.
• But here's a kicker which, if it's investigated (and it better damn well be, by CBS AND outside authorities), could have wide-ranging legal ramifications on at least two fronts.  As he replaced the Prize Department with sympathizers, he would often make leftover prizes available to himself and to his sympathizers on the staff.

That's illegal.

In fact, that's FUCKING ILLEGAL.

And it would appear this would be true under at least two concepts.

The first is the concept of "payola". where a show (or the people working on it) could not profit from anything they had put on the show personally.  

47 USC Section 317 covers payola and the identification of sponsors.  This section requires that if any consideration was given to the show for the placement of a product or service, that consideration had to be notified to the audience.  It often is in the credits of shows like Price.

Section 507 of the same outlaws any provision of money or services (including prizes) to directly place a product on a broadcast, without advance notice that the placement was, in fact, done with that provision in mind.

This runs afoul of at least Section 507.  They're basically taking and purchasing (with the show's prize budget) products and services which are ending up in their own hands at steep discounts.  This is the same kind of thing which felled Alan Freed -- in fact, the FCC site on the law basically gives the music industry as an example -- ignoring the complete end-around which has become the industry's complete extent!

But there's another law in play here.  Yes, your good friend and mine, Prohibited Practices in Contests of Skill and Chance -- the game-show rigging law.

It was never a secret that Mikey Richards was trying to move the needle away from the longtime even VIEWERS of the show -- the "LFaTs" -- Loyal Friends and True, as Bob Barker would call many of us who watched the show, if not every day, as often as we could.

It often paid to watch The Price is Right every day -- as the ability to memorize prices and gameplay quirks was allowed.  (Explicit physical price lists are not and never have been.)  If you knew that can of Campbell's Soup was $1.07 (as my anonymous friend, a clear LFaT, did and helped a contestant win a prize when we attended a taping), that was kosher!  Bringing a list of prices, including the $1.07 Campbell's Soup, was not!

All that went away under Richards, and it really appeared his quest was to get the home audience to see LOSERS, not winners.

Now, with this information in mind, it's clear he had a vested interest in making the games as difficult as possible so that he would then funnel the prizes to himself at a steep discount, or one of his "Brat Pack" sympathisers.

That's rigging the show.  It's something I had a smidge of a suspicion that, at least to an extent that would be under-the-table enough to keep going, Richards WAS, in fact, doing.  But this indicates to me there was a vested interest in contestants losing -- a DIRECT vested interest in violation of at least two major Federal communications laws.

It also defrauds CBS -- they didn't provide this money for a cornucopia of discount outlet "The Price Is Right Losers Shop" items for Richards and his crew...

In contrast, Dobkowitz made the point that if "Contestants not appearing on stage received a gift from Kentucky Fried Chicken" and the show put a picture of a full bucket of chicken on the screen which they had procured in studio, no one associated with the production could even eat that chicken, as insignificant, comparably to the price of, say, Random Fucking Designer Shoes which Mikey or his Brat Pack procured for themselves at a deep discount through the CBS Prize Budget (and where did the sale money go, as well??) after the contestants lost enough times to flush them through the system.

(In fact, it was so obviously stupid in the case of the KFC and the then-ten-dollar or so buckets that Dobkowitz said later the show did basically look the other way and had the crew eat the chicken.  What other realistic option was there?  The chicken was already prepared and could not be held in camera-able condition for any substantive length of time!)

And, under Richards, this happened CONSTANTLY!

And here's a final kicker:  There could be at least TWO MORE major exposition articles on Mike Richards' campaign against game shows and for himself in the likes of The Daily Beast and The Ringer.  The latter is almost-certainly going to be another Claire McNear piece -- she's already done one highly-damning article about Richards manipulating his way into hosting Jeopardy!.

Stay tuned.  There's more to this.

Day 538

• There was some discussion the surprising cut of Cam Newton from the Patriots might have been because Newton is unvaccinated.  Bill Belichick has shot down those rumors.
• It appears more players and parents from "Bishop Sycamore" are speaking out about conditions at the "school"...  Hoo boy...   
• I'm sensing some tap-dancing, Coach Meyer...  Now, with the NFLPA on the Jaguars' back for Meyer's comments about player cuts being partially laid on players' vaccination status, word from the Jaguars no such cuts were made...  Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure....   
• The Packers-Saints Week 1 game has been moved to Jacksonville.  Best game that stadium will probably get all year!   
• Mets Acting GM Zack Scott, busted for DUI yesterday morning in White Plains!  ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL METTING.  Though, if you left the driving out of the equation, we'd all understand -- the Mets can drive even the strongest man to drink!   
• He was at the team owner's house for a charity function for a Mets charity, and several players were there as well.  He will not join the team for the next games, while the team evaluates what to do with him.
• Unvaccinated NBA players will not be allowed to play in games at the Chase Center (Golden State), Madison Square Garden (Knicks) or Barclay's Center (Nets).