March 4, 2023 News and Notes

• The demand for two-at-most ticket codes for the July, 2023 Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival in Las Vegas (where the next expansion and probably one new job in it get first announcement) outstripped the supply, and, by some reports, by a factor of at least SEVEN.
• Why is this important?  They're holding the event at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and it has apparently gotten out that FIFTEEN THOUSAND TICKETS (at $200 each -- meaning a $3,000,000 gate!) will be made available, meaning over 50,000 players submitted for application for the drawing, if the numbers reported are correct.
• How crazy is it?  Square-Enix just announced the second Fan Festival, for London in October -- same process to apply for a ticket code as the Las Vegas one, but you must be a European Square-Enix account to actually apply!!   
• (Disclaimer:  Yes, I applied.  No, I did not get an e-mail, so I won't be attending.  It may not matter anyway -- any travel considerations (I've even had to scrap Mania Week in LA this year due to both COVID and ethical concerns -- looking at you, Vince and Saudis!!!) are based still on COVID safety.)   
• And, yes, "Unknown", that does include the summer Debbie Gibson tour announced last week.  You can find ticket details on her social media.  Nyah.    

March 3, 2023 News and Notes

• Once is an anomaly, twice is a coincidence...  Another major incident early in Championship Week.  Three ejections in an Ohio Valley Conference tournament men's basketball game after one of the players basically went "My pits in yo' mouth..." on another.  Punches thrown.  Gee, what's going to happen when the games REALLY count?  
• Kirby Smart, coach of the two-time defending champion Georgia Bulldogs, has to defend his culture after his star quarterback is busted for weed and his star defensive end may spend life in prison for double vehicular manslaughter!
• Max Scherzer is trying to fuck with the new rules -- he was called for a quick-pitch balk today for trying to pitch immediately after receiving the ball, the clock starting, and coming set.  The batter used his one time-out, the umpire reset the clock, called for it to start, and Scherzer pitched.  Lindsay at Close Call Sports is gonna have to explain that one...   
• Scherzer also had a double play wiped out when his clock ran out on the pitch where it was hit..
• Yesterday, a Yankee reliever got three strikes on a batter in twenty seconds!
• Chase Elliott suffered a leg injury snowboarding -- he's out for Sunday's NASCAR race in Las Vegas -- and, with surgery, it sounds like Josh Berry may be in the #9 for some time while the new most popular driver is recouperating.  Nice job, stupid...  Another one... 
• Someone has posted a fake video of Adam Silver suspending Ja Morant indefinitely.  Though I will say that some degree of investigation, with that direction being one possibility, should be taking place already for at least two major incidents in the last month!   
• UFC jackass Jon Jones tries to win the heavyweight championship in his first fight in three years on PPV tomorrow.

March 2, 2023 News and Notes

• Story out of Memphis with Ja Morant is getting worse by the week!  Now, reports that Morant punched a 17-year-old in the head...
• This, weeks after his posse apparently threatened an opposing team after a game.
• Couldn't happen to a nicer program...  The disrepair at Louisville's men's basketball program is epic.  They are 4-25, and the halftime shows even stink.
• This one quite literally...  They had a frisbee dog perform on the court -- except the dog decided to, appropriately, do his business on said same court.
• The Medusa lives another week on The Masked Singer, but only because Nicole Scherzinger opted to unilaterally keep Medusa in the competition (each judge gets one:  "Ding Dong, Keep It [The Mask] On") after she was defeated by a five-person "California Roll".  Yes, they dressed up a team/group of five as a sushi roll.
• The one person eliminated this week?  The Polar Bear:  Grandmaster Flash.
• The PGA Tour is downsizing events to about 80 players starting next year (at least some of the events) with no cuts.  The LIV Tour is noting the imitation.
• Another comeback win for #2 Alabama.  Down 17 halfway through the second half, they forced overtime and beat Auburn 90-85 for the SEC regular-season title and the #1 seed in the conference tournament next week.
• Murder suspect Brandon Miller:  17 points in 39 minutes.
• Two Alabama players were ejected during the game...
• but that pales in comparison to the eight women's players ejected from an SEC first-round matchup in an altercation between Kentucky and Florida.

An eye-opening NFLPA "report card" indicates major trouble for a number of NFL franchises.

Wall Of Text Warning

The National Football League Players Association released a report card today, grading all 32 teams, A+ to F- (yes, F-minus, and there were more than a few of those) in eight categories.

1,300 NFLPA members were polled about their current teams, with them giving letter grades on the treatment of their families, nutritional services, the weight room, the strength staff, the training room, the training staff, the physical locker room facilities, and travel considerations.

Some high and low lights:

Family Treatment:

A+:  Only Dallas gets the full marks.
A:  CAR and MIN get A's.
on the other end of the scale:
F:  ARI, CIN, JAX, and WSH get F's.  No F-'s.

Nutrition:

A:  Four teams get A's:  DAL, GB, PHI, MIA.
F:  The Chargers got an F, but three teams got worse!
F-:  New Orleans, Arizona, and Cincinnati get F-'s.  If Arizona could get worse, they would -- they actually charge on-site food against the player's salary, especially off-season!

Weight Rooms:

A+:  Four.  DAL, MIA, the Raiders, and BUF
A:  Four more, three in the NFC North.  MIN, GB, CHI and HOU.
One grade below a D, and it's an F- for Arizona.

Strength Coach:

A+:  Nine teams got full marks from their players:  DAL, MIA, Raiders, BUF, MIN, PHI, WSH, LAR, and CLE
Seven got A's, 11 got A-'s, meaning, of the 32 teams, only 5 got a B+ or lower:  NYG (B+), NE (B+), NYJ (B), ATL (D-), BAL (F-).  Baltimore's grade does not surprise me.

Training Room:

A+:  Miami, Minnesota, and Chicago
A:  Las Vegas
F-:  Three.  WSH, ARI, and the Chargers.

Training Staff:

A+:  Eight full marks.  MIA, MIN, NYG, HOU, IND, CAR, PHI and the Rams
Six A's, seven A-'s.
D-:  The champs!  A D-, the lowest grade, scored by the Chiefs!

Locker Room:

A+:  Four.  MIA, MIN, DAL, and the Raiders.
A:  CHI, NO, BAL
A-:  BUF, SEA
F:  ARI
F-: WSH

Travel:

A+:  Three.  Raiders, NO, HOU.
A:  MIA, MIN, BAL, GB, DET
A-:  SF, NYG, ATL
F:  Four teams.  IND, TEN, TB, and KC.
F-:  WSH

And here are the NFLPA rankings, alphabetical order:

ATL:  23rd.  Too cramped, and the strength coaches suck (D-).  They do think owner Arthur Blank is going to try to make them better.

ARI:  31st (yes, one team actually did worse).  If there is worthy of an NFLPA grievance, three F-'s and two F's, plus no confidence in the owner to improve, should be worthy of one.  

BAL:  17th.  Understaffed training room, no individualized strength plan.  I do wonder if the former is part of Lamar Jackson's injury issues the last couple of years.  At least the F- in strength coach has been fired.

BUF:  9th.  Only two weaknesses are a C in nutrition (nutritionist double-dips with the Sabres) and a D+ in travel considerations (not enough room to spread out, and some players probably not happy that the Bills are one of the six teams which have young players have roommates).

CAR:  12th.  A D in nutrition (not half the players believe there's enough food for everyone in the cafeteria) stops them from being much higher.

CIN:  27th.  Facilities and resources SUCK.  The manpower, including the coaches, is well-respected.  No dinner, no vitamins, no supplements.  No outlets for charging, the hot tubs are too small...  Another NFL grievance?

CHI:  13th, with nutrition (timing and quality), treatment of families, and travel as the weaknesses.

DET:  15th, with a D- in nutrition (not enough food nor options) and a D+ in the training room (too small, no steam room) the main impediments.

DEN:  20th, D in nutrition, and D+ in family treatment and the locker room.

DAL:  5th.  Understaffed training room, and you'd think Jerreh would get his players first-class seats to and from games in the air!

GB:  6th.  Understaffed training room, and, to no one's surprise, the team does think the Lambeau locker room needs modernization.

HOU:  4th, surprisingly.  No grade below a B, and the NFLPA gave special positive mention to their travel philosophy -- veterans can stay in their homes for home games and training camp, no roommates...

IND:  16th, right in the middle.  Nutrition a D, and an F in travel (no first-class seats for players, roommates for younger players).

JAX:  28th, and a damned well needed league grievance:  Rats in the locker room and in the laundry!!!  Wives have had to breastfeed their children on the floor in the public restrooms of the stadium.

KC:  Perhaps as a testament to the belief the players are getting too much, the "dynasty" Chiefs rank 29th of the 32 teams.  Two D+'s, two D-'s, and an F.  The D- for the training staff fears retaliation for reporting injuries and a lack of care when they do get hurt.

Raiders:  3rd, with a lot of other teams' players looking at Vegas' facilities as a model they should imitate.  No grade below a B.

Chargers:  30th, and is it any surprise?  The bastard brother to the Rams draws two D-'s, an F (NONE of the players think there's enough cafeteria room), and an F- (no hot tub, no cold tub, no steam room).

Rams:  25th.  Like the Chargers, they still haven't gotten to permanent digs yet in LA for at least the practices and training.  Two D+'s, two D's.

MIA:  #2.  Only gripe is they'd like a better post-game gathering area for their families (C+, with five A+'s and two A's).  That's the only thing which gets them beaten by...

MIN:  The winners.  The #1 graded team.  Four A+'s, three A's, one A-.  Nothing below that -- if there was one thing that could've gotten them graded down, it was a head trainer who some players had problems with -- he's moved on.

NO:  10th, and would be much higher without the F- in nutrition (does not provide three meals, food is ranked 29th in the league).  Otherwise, an A+, two A's, two A-'s, a B+, and a B.

Giants:  8th.  Lots of solid B+'s (five of them), no grade lower than one B.

Jets:  19th.  Nothing terrible (Everything in the C-range, give or take), but seen as an inefficient franchise.    (Which leads to stuff like the Buttfumble and a few other things...)

NE:  Probably another believed example of "champions believe the players have too much".  24th in the card.  Nothing obliquely terrible, but a D+ and a D...  Stuff needs to be renovated, in most players' opinions.

PIT:  22nd, with two D-'s (second-to-last in postgame gathering facilities for the family, no sauna).

PHI:  14th.  C- in the training facilities, way too small.

SF:  7th, and would be higher if the training room was worth a damn (C+)

SEA: 11th.  Travel the worst of it with a C.  No first-class seats unless SOME road wins...  You'd think there'd be more of that with some of the trips they have to take.

TB:  If there's one case for Tom Brady to retire, it's a 26th ranking in this report card.  F in travel (no first-class seats, roomies required), D+ for families (no daycare, no family room).

WSH:  The last team on the list is also the last-placed team.  Dan Snyder has this team ranked DFL, 32nd on the report card.  An A+ for the strength coaches and a C+ in the weight room.  After that, no grade higher than D+, an F, and three F-'s (worst-staffed training room in the league, tubs way too small, so is the locker room, travel is a bear).  NFLPA, grievance this owner.  NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone who wants to think your team cares about it's players, read this and know better.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO! We may FINALLY have The Day of Armageddon for the NFL, at least in one respect...

Four words, Roger Goodell:  Discovery Is A Bitch!!!

And now, it appears, Brian Flores is going to get at least to Discovery in his racial-discrimination suit against the NFL and three former teams.

A judge rejected arbitration before Goodell with respect to three of the four teams Flores is suing, charging widespread racial discrimination in the league.  He can go before a jury against the Broncos, Giants, and Texans.

Sadly, it appears the most damning claims:  The "Tank For Tua"-fest in Miami (and the $100,000/loss bonus Flores alleges the owner of the Dolphins offered him that season), the judge will allow to go before Goodell.

But there is a very central fact to all of this:  Now that Flores can go before a jury on three of the teams, he can at least get Discovery and show the complete farcical nature of the Rooney Rule -- and perhaps how the largely-White ownership of the league REALLY feels about the 70% of players who are Black!

In fact, the judge used that concept -- that there was only one Black head coach in the league where 70% of the players were Black -- as a key concept in ruling that she does believe some of the claims Flores have at least merit a jury trial, rather than league arbitration.

Stay tuned.

We Could've Told You This Was Coming, Part Floriduh "Man"...

The Republicans in control of the state of Florida have put forward a bill to outlaw the Democratic Party in the state.

No joke.

Deathly serious.

The news story is right here, with a hat-tip to my anonymous friend!

Now, they don't have the fucking balls to TELL YOU they are outlawing the Democrats by name, nor that they consider the sane people in this country a terrorist organization...  They are doing this under the cover of the pre-Civil War Democratic Party and their support of slavery, but let's not kid ourselves...

It's coming, and damn soon.  And I wouldn't be surprised that, if Florida goes the one way, I could think of a number of states (or at least portions thereof) which would go the other -- it's one of the reasons that a real effort to throw the eastern 2/3 of Oregon into a Greater Idaho IS taking root!

March 1, 2023 News and Notes

• Hadn't done this in a few days, so I missed doing this note...  A full house in Melbourne honored Olivia Newton-John with a memorial service on Sunday.  The state memorial event featured several aboriginal guests (not surprising, given Olivia's environmental advocacy), eulogies from her widower John Easterling and daughter Chloe Lattanzi, several songs, several picture tributes spanning both career and family/friends, and honors from the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center.
• For a few days, the government of Victoria had provided a place to rewatch a stream of the service.  It was taken down, as scheduled, March 6th morning.
• It appears a major draft prospect is about to either go to prison or have major questions to avoid it.  The deaths of two University of Georgia football "family members" has apparently been put on the back of star defensive player Jalen Carter -- and racing appears to be involved in the January 15 crash!  An arrest warrant (reckless driving) has been put out for Smart today.  Start the bidding at two counts of second-degree murder on top of it, and we may talk!   
• Carter was supposedly to go to the Bears, and the Bears trading the #1 pick down because teams are lining up for quarterbacks.
• Speaking of criminal college athletes, the next Alabama game, the basketball rivalry game with Auburn, is today.
• Kobe Bryant's wife has settled the lawsuit surrounding improper taking and usage of photos of her husband's fatal helicopter crash by the LA Sherriff's Department for almost $29 million.
• Interesting incident in Spring Training yesterday.  Kinda the opposite of what you see sometimes with the Spring Training ties.  After yesterday's game between the Orioles and Pirates was decided with the home team winning, the two managers got together and played the bottom of the ninth anyway to get some more pitching work in.
• In Spring Training, this would make sense -- except for one thing.  The umpires had none of it and left!!  So the teams had to improvise doing a half-inning of work without them!
• Umpire-school YouTube channel Close Call Sports and Lindsay are correct, though:  One word answers why:  Liability.  Of course, if it's that much a problem, then maybe MLB should prohibit it outright -- even though it has no problem with nine-inning ties in Spring Training.
• An NCAA panel is looking into shortening college football games -- many of the clock stoppages now have games with about 20% more plays than their NFL counterparts.