SI's found something on the Browns and Hue Jackson:

People forget that the NFL is 32 franchises working together for an entertainment product.  It appears we have evidence that the Browns intentionally went 1-31 in 2016 and 2017.

The SI article, today's Daily Cover, details a January, 2020 hearing in Manhattan, an arbitration hearing the NFL held with Hue Jackson of the Cleveland Browns because he believed the team was setting him up to fail and destroying his professional reputation over the last two seasons by intentionally losing games. 

I, on this blog, have called for no less than the dissolution of the team.  Jackson won 3 games in his final 2 1/2 seasons in Cleveland.  He has never head-coached again.

The Browns claim to have a signed document from Jackson agreeing to terms upon his firing, etc.  Of course, none of that is valid if it is clear that the document is signed in bad faith -- one of the reasons Joe Stafford is arguing in this league-arbitration hearing.

Stafford is trying to pull an evidentiary situation, attaching 38 pages of further documents to the transcript of the hearing, rather than burying them in the record.

The league is resisting, the arbitrator appears leaning to that situation, but this is the crux of a LONG hearing on the question.

Why?

What did they find when Sports Illustrated looked at those 38 pages, and about 1,000 more surrounding this case, filed when Jackson opted to negate the arbitration and seek an open-court lawsuit, under pain of bad faith?

It is clear that there is much evidence that the Browns were either going on a long rebuild process or a full-out tank job and taking a dive.  That much is clear.  The record would seem to indicate same.  The 11 games the Browns won in 2020 are the same number Jackson won in 3 1/2 seasons in Cleveland.

And a contract which many agents found unusual does seem to have language indicating peculiar bonuses which appear to incentivize losing.

The league attempted, as part of the Flores lawsuit investigation, to effectively depose Jackson, and he began the process to agree in March -- but his lawyers thought the better of it and laid out reasonable conditions, especially given the rancor between Jackson and the league.  They were met with silence.  No meeting ever occurred, at which point Goodell exonerated the Browns.

No one cooperated with Sports Illustrated on this story.

So what DID they find?

The Browns officially, as a team, had what was called "The Four Year Plan".  It was a document, created upon Jackson's hiring in January of 2016, laying out goals for the franchise (and SI only saw small parts of it), and the contract offered Jackson up to $750,000 a year, at the discretion of ownership, for following "The Four Year Plan".

Jackson was not shown the document for another month, and the bonus package pertaining to it for another three after that.

At least a view of The Four Year Plan, vis-a-vis bonuses, is a fair piece down the article.  I'll link to it again here.  Not only should SI get credit for finding it, but you need to see this for yourselves:

Year One (among others, the charts have been reproduced in the article, read them there):

1. Beat five teams in total record.
2. Have 11 draft picks, five in the first three rounds.
3. Youngest half of teams.
4. Bottom 25% of salaries for the squad, carrying over 15% of the salary cap.

And a number of other things which appear endemic to the first year of such a plan.

The problem being:  You know how you get good players in the NFL.  YOU PAY THEM...

Year Two:

1. Beat 12 teams in total record.
2. 10 picks, four in the first three rounds.
3. Still in the youngest half of teams.
4. Carry over 12.5% of salary cap, and you must have a higher winning percentage than your salary for the squad.  (Meaning, for example, this clause only triggers if, hypothetically, an 8-8 Browns team is in the lower half of salaries.)

Year Three:

1. Must go at least 10-6 and meet various other conditions.
2. 10 picks, four in the first three rounds.
3. The team must now get even YOUNGER, going from youngest 16 teams to being one of the youngest 12.
4. Must rank higher in team win % than salary rank percentage for the squad for the aggregate of the first three years of the Plan.
5. Must have higher than expected value from the first two drafts.

Year Four:  Parts 1 and 2.

You can see why Jackson spoke up, people:  Anyone with a working knowledge of the NFL knows the ownership's expectations were completely out of sync with any sense of reality.  SI notes especially the salary considerations and accumulation of draft capital (four extra picks in the first year, three in the other two) are completely out of sync with any expectation of winning.

If this wasn't "tank to lose", it was certainly "purge ALL veteran talent from the team and start over".

(Which should've happened after 0-16, not two years previous!)

It is not known whether the NFL ever saw The Four-Year Plan, and only a cursory extension of what is allowed contract-wise MAY have allowed the bonus structure to go forward.

Most everyone who saw the table knows this is "pay to tank", but it may actually pass muster, in it's own merit, that it did not directly call for losing of games.  The call to lose games comes in the kind of team owner Jimmy Haslam wanted -- a young, draft-ladened, unproven bunch of men who were going to take serious growing pains.  And 10-6 by Year Three was an abject impossibility in this reality!

It is believed that Jackson knew, pretty much immediately, he was taking the fall for effectively killing the on-field Browns.

The SI article then goes on to explain what was SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN:  The NFL's version of Moneyball.

Moneyball only works when you have diamonds in the rough looking to prove themselves and, somehow, not getting the chance.  It should take about five seconds to realize why this does not work in the NCAA and ESPN-ladened exposure of top-level college football and the "men" therein.  Anyone who's good enough, in that sense, is going to want to get paid.  And this system disincentivizes that, in the strongest possible terms -- as a union between Legal, Analytical, and Coaching arms.

One veteran league executive, after SI lists what happened in the 1-31 years, was quoted by SI as saying it was the worst roster in the history of the league and an obvious attempt to tank.

Around a dozen former Browns, similarly believing The Four-Year Plan blew up their NFL careers, also are considering legal action.

------------------

You really need to read this article and take a look at what's being presented here.  It will definitely take some time.

We now have an answer as to why the Browns went 1-31 those two full seasons under Hue Jackson -- the Browns were attempting to Oakland A's their way into prominece.  That's only feasible in a sport where the second level of play is largely silent to the national mindset.

In short, anyone who has knowledge knows this can't work here.

If this is the extent of the charges Jackson brings, he has the worst of both worlds.  Not only can he not prove a direct link between losing and a bonus, but -- on the other side of the ledger -- it is so obvious to anyone with even a modicum of knowledge on how the NFL, salaries, and rosters actually WORK that this was destined to fail, and spectacularly.

There are only a very few men who can win at the professional level.  I'm not talking quarterbacks or anything else here.  I'm saying that there are far fewer men, at ANY position, who can win in the NFL than even the number of teams in the league.  It's one of the reasons that the loss of even one key starter can submarine an entire season.

When you disavow any meaningful veteran talent and gut salaries, you are left not being able to get any real players.  That's the reality in the NFL.  Take that trade last weekend as one example:  Philly gets the big star WR from Tennessee who the Titans won't pay after he goes FA end of the year, Philly then immediately announces a new contract at $25M a year for 4 years, over half guaranteed.

I know it's a running joke and that I'm one of the few people to believe it:  But this is such a disastrous and utterly-shambolic attempt that no one takes it seriously.  I think it's clear that any of the top college teams of those two years could've made mincemeat of these Browns.

The sickest part is, Haslam probably gets away with it, partially due to the fact that he is not directly telling the Browns to lose, but also partially due to the fact that Haslam accepts that as his role in the cooperative nature of the NFL.

Jackson probably has no case in arbitration or court, sadly.  To do that, such a venue would have to have at least a good deal of knowledge of a functional NFL roster.  Most courts, especially in such an inconvenient result as officially impinging the integrity of Our Holy National Religion Of Football Man, have no interest in taking up such an endeavor.

Day 782

• Brittany Griner has finally been declared as illegally detained by the US State Dept.  Gee, took ya long enough.  Now, do we have guarantee Putin has not already executed her?    
• Took one night, we already have an NHL Playoff suspension:  Toronto's Kyle Clifford sits Game 2 against Tampa for an illegal boarding hit.
• Quirk of the standings:  Not only is Arizona in last place in the NL West, they're already 4 1/2 games out.
• However, in any other division, Arizona's 11-13 record...

1. AL East:  4th, 6 1/2 from the Yankees.
2. AL Central:  Tied for 2nd, 3 1/2 from the Twins
3. AL West:  4th, 4 from the Angels
4. NL East:  4th, 4 1/2 from the Mets
5. NL Central:  3rd, 4 1/2 from the Brewers 

• On the first Tuesday of May, with most teams now playing about a month of games, there are 15 teams above .500 -- with nine at least five over and two more four over.
• The NFL is preparing to absolve itself and the Browns franchise from tanking for 0-16, but Sports Illustrated has documents which may raise serious questions on the situation.  The NFL is so trying to close ranks on it, they've offered arbitration on the Flores lawsuit, with the Ginger Executioner Roger Goodell at it's helm.  Flores has said, "Nice try."  This is getting it's own post.  
• An in-person PAX East "Enforcer" -- an operations person during the convention, has died of COVID she caught during the convention April 21-24.  She passed away over the next weekend.  If anyone wants more and more evidence that I believe The Republican Plague has killed at least 5,000,000 Americans and probably more, here you go.  THERE IS NO WAY, even 26 1/2 months through, we should be holding events such as PAX East and the like.    
• And yes, if you want to whine that question to me, I do believe there's a real question as to whether we ever should again!!!    
• The athletic director of Ohio State wants the NCAA out of college football completely -- let the CFP run it instead. 
• We may have our first intentional attempt to shape the NBA champion.  Gary Payton II of the Warriors has a broken elbow at the hands of Memphis' Dillon Brooks with a flagrant shove in the back.
• Not the only incident during the game.  Draymond Green of the Warriors had to get stitches over his eye on the next play -- and, as he departed the floor, shot Le Fingers du Middle at the Memphis crowd.
• People better get real:  Intentional injury IS an acceptable tactic to shape a championship run -- whether it is for your team to win or to ensure the other team does not.  Cleveland lost a run in one of the most flagrant examples.  I believe the Dodgers lost one to an intentional injury last year in Game 162.    

 

Roe/Casey Reversal Part II: The Worst Part Of This

What you saw tonight, and Politco is confident their source and the information (the draft decision can be read on the GO-Media Jezebel site in this article) are high-level valid, is unprecedented in the history of the United States Supreme Court.

And, yes, this conspiracy-theorist will actually agree with the Republicans on one very prescient point they're already making:  Some personally-dissenting jurist working with one of the Justices of the Court leaks this to start the protests and violence now.

(I've heard one claim that this might actually be a concurring jurist, forcing the 5 votes to lock in, but I'm skeptical because of the current makeup of the Court.

ON EDIT:  One enemy on ZeroHedge actually makes a very good supposition:  With Justice Breyer retiring, what if he were to believe this decision so repugnant that HE decides to blow up the Court's protocols on the way out and tell everyone else to go to Hell?)

Yes, there ARE already barricades at the SCOTUS building -- they expect trouble and fast!

This is a virulent breach of conduct by whomever did it at the Court.  This was done for a REASON.

And I think that reason was that the shit starts NOW.

Watch your backs, both sides.

EDIT TO ADD 5/3 4:45 PM PDT:  There appears to be one precedent.  Ironically, it's Roe itself, leaked within about a month of it's January 22, 1973 release.

Here we go, people: Roe and Casey have been overturned.

There is now a series of barricades at the Supreme Court. 

SCOTUS has officially overturned Roe vs. Wade and Casey vs. Planned Parenthood.

Politico has obtained a draft of the final opinion of the case.

The decision, according to the draft, will be 5-4.  It appears Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan join Roberts in dissent.

EDIT TO ADD 8:55 PM PDT:  Roberts will only dissent in part.  He would like to see the line moved to Mississippi's current 15 weeks.

Unexpectedly, it appears Samuel Alito writes the decision, which fully repudiates the 1973 Roe decision and it's 1992 counterpart in Casey.

(Many felt that Amy Coney Barrett would write the decision, as did I.)

Politico notes these highlights:

1) The Constitution does not refer to abortion in any way, hence there is no Constitutional provision to protect it.

My Note:  This would probably also mean a complete repudiation of the bedrock of the Roe decision, in that there is no Constitutional mention of the concept of privacy either -- this would also allow the Court to reverse Loving, the Texas Sodomy Decision, and Obergefell.

2) Unexpectedly (and I also believe against the Court's precedent in Obergefell), this decision WILL return the question to the States.

My note:  I fully expected a 50-state illegality, under the same Establishment Clause protections (that if a fetus is an unborn person with innate Constitutional right not to be aborted, the Establishment Clause applies there, as it did in Obergefell).  This almost certainly indicates that, once a sufficiently-religious right-wing party can get an Obergefell reversal to the Court, the Court is prepared to reverse that as well.

3) Roe imposed the same "highly restrictive" (pro-abortion) "regime on the entire Nation".

My note:  Which would completely make sense under the Establishment Clause.  To go the other direction cannot punt this question to the States, but must grant a fetus the same right to "life" in California it has in Arkansas, as an example.  That this decision, apparently, does not do this, indicates the Court is prepared to revoke similarly imposed rights in other cases.

4) The punishment of abortion as murder is correct common law since the inception of this country until 1973.

My note:  This clause basically opens the door to the prosecution of anyone involved in an abortion, as a concept of murder.  And how anyone, given that concept, does not go back to the Court and question how any state can actually allow abortion when others see it first-degree and perhaps capital murder, is beyond any semblance of my comprehension.

5) "Our nation's historical understanding of ordered liberty" allows this to be punted to the States.

My note:  Why?  Especially given previous court precedent (which it now certainly implies will be revoked, first chance SCOTUS gets), does this mean that the physical geographical state of the fetus' mother determines what rights the fetus gets, if any?  Why, then, did this same court rule otherwise in decisions like Obergefell?  You now have question as to whether one state can actually sanction, as murder, an abortion performed in a legal state on and at the behest of the mother from a state where it is illegal.  It would appear that question is answered in the affirmative, if the mother is living in a state where abortion is illegal.  You have now stated that, contrary to other court opinion, neither fetus NOR mother has Establishment Clause protection.

6) The revocation is meant to be the final Constitutional word on abortion, because this Court believes this is the only way it can be settled correctly, stare decisis be damned.

7) The Court points to other decisions similarly revoked.

My Note:  And, IMODO, points that this Court will gladly add to that number.  Obergefell and Texas Sodomy probably go next, and a Texas Sodomy reversal probably eventually reverses Loving.

8) Casey called on the sides to close the debate and closed the door on the anti-abortion movement improperly.

My Note:  The Constitution is nothing more than an imposition of rights against the majority toward the minority, lest the minority be ostracized at minimum and murdered at maximum.  Most of the highest-level civil rights discussions in this country are impositions, not rights already granted.   This is a tradition stemming back to the 1868 ratification of the 14th Amendment -- a point which many Rightists believe upon that the country was lost.

9) The Court cannot bring a final end to this, though it desires to (See #6).

My Note:  And therein, though not quite to the extent I felt it would, is the true matter of this decision.  The Conservative Court will use it's majority, even sans Roberts, to reimpose many of the same limitations, as they and their political heralds were voted into office to do.

This decision is basically not only a reversal of Roe and Casey, but nullifies any future attempt to impose rights under the Establishment Clause on states and persons unwilling to accept them.  This Court must now reverse Obergefell and Texas Sodomy, using this Roe reversal as precedent.

10) The Court disavows any authority to have knowledge on how society will rue this reversal, nor to have it influence the decision.

My take:  And there's your reversal of Obergefell -- for, though I believe correctly, that is EXACTLY what the Court did in Obergefell by imposing it as a 50-state situation.

The Court knew what would happen if gay marriage was thrown to the States, and let that influence it's decision.  This decision throws the barn door wide to reverse every meaningful civil and human rights imposition on the right wing of this country over the last 60 or so years.

Suspension Blotter: Scrub the Cardinals off the list

• Arizona Cardinals:  DeAndre Hopkins, six games, PEDs, anabolic agent.
  

Might explain the Brown trade.  Could see Hopkins cut at the end of the suspension.

Might also explain why Hopkins felt his rehab was ahead of schedule too.

Day 781

• An argument at a middle-school spring football game in Virginia yesterday ended all-too-predictably:  3 shot in the fracas.
• The suicide death of Lauren Bernett has had James Madison University decide it is probably better not to have a softball season this year.
• A four-team tournament to offset fines and losses for the Super League soccer rebels, which was to be held in the United States over the summer, appears off.
• Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid still think a separation from the rest of domestic club football is needed for the top teams.  ... even though it would kill domestic soccer across Europe.    
• Once again, Draymond Green showing why the NBA is not crazy about the Warriors being champions -- ejection for "unnecessary and excessive contact" on a Memphis Grizzlies player.
  

Day 780

• One day before The Judds went into The Country Music Hall of Fame, Naomi Judd passed away.  Suicide or some form of elective departure through mental health is suspected, as her condition was declining.  She was 76.
  
• Wynonna and Ashley accepted the Hall of Fame honor on the family's behalf.
  
• Rafael Nadal has joined Novak Djokovic in condemning the Russian/Belarussian Wimbledon ban.
• The NHL regular season has finally ended successfully -- the playoffs begin Monday.
• The Cincinnati Reds are 3-19.  Only the 1988 Orioles at 1-21 are worse through 22 games.  Three other franchises also had a season start at 3-19.
• Keyontae Johnson is going to enter the transfer portal after he graduates from the University of Florida.  He wants somewhere to play next season as a graduate student to establish he's healthy and skillful enough to be drafted to the NBA in June of 2023.  Johnson collapsed December 12, 2020, leaving the huddle of a game.
• Johnson does have a safety net.  If he's unable to play, he has a $5,000,000 insurance policy he's taken out (several months before the incident) which would pay out.
• Wigan Athletic are back in the Championship as the champions of English League One, in an effort to hopefully win their way all the way back to the Premier League.
• The Khans' Fulham team has already won promotion back to the Premier League.  Some begin to wonder if, in truth, Fulham is like a "AAAA" team:  Not good enough to hang in the top level, but too good at the second.
• Ben Joyce of Tennessee has thrown the fastest pitch in American organized baseball in about 12 years.  105.5 MPH, a college record.  The only pitch faster was a 105.8, rounded to 106 on the scoreboard, for Aroldis Chapman, when he was with the Reds in 2010.