The NFL has condemned Cam Newton for comments he made to a female reporter.
From ESPN's David Newton:
"Statement from the NFL on Cam Newton's comments to a female reporter
today: ‘'The comments are just plain wrong and disrespectful to the
exceptional female reporters and all journalists who cover our league.
They do not reflect the thinking of the league.''"
Could always call bullshit because I think the league is misogynistic, but that's for another time.
A female reporter at Cam's press conference today asked about Carolina receiver Devin Funchess, the physicality he sometimes shows on his routes, and whether it's something Cam likes to see.
Well, Cam somehow took exception to a woman asking an intelligent football question:
"That's funny to hear a female talk about."
REALLY, CAM...
REALLY...
I mean, as many problems as I've had with women, one of the real things that makes some of these women attractive to me (in fact, I consider an intelligent woman a great turn-on!!) is when a woman who knows what she talks about can come in and ask intelligent and probing questions, while many of the old-school male guard wouldn't know an intelligent thought if it hit them in the fucking head!
Hey Cam, you think that lady I was talking about on that week-ending post about The Uncivil Race War is an idiot too?
"[Asking about] Routes... That's funny..."
Gee, Cam, we finally beginning to see ol' $Cam come out again?
The reporter, Jordan Rodrigue of The Charlotte Observer, saw that $Cam was catering to the Good Ol' Boy Network after the conference too!!
I spoke with him after and it was worse. I chose not to share, because I have an actual job to do today and one he will not keep me from.
Rodrigue is a beat reporter for the Panthers for the newspaper. Cam Newton stated to her that, though she had covered the team every day for a year since the paper hired her, he doesn't know her name.
It is now the lead news story on the NFL.com sidebar -- the question now is any action against Newton.
He clearly has committed conduct detrimental to the league, whether admitted as such or not.
I think it is fine-able and probably suspendable!
In 2010, when the NFL created the Personal Conduct Policy, the league said this:
"All persons associated with the NFL are required to avoid “conduct
detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the National
Football League.” This requirement applies to players, coaches, other
team employees, owners, game officials and all others privileged to work
in the National Football League."
Cam Newton is guilty, with these misogynistic comments and attitudes, of conduct detrimental to the public confidence of the National Football League, and is, hence, guilty of a violation of the Personal Conduct Policy.
So I'm left to the Kansas City Chiefs as my only chance for 19-0, four weeks in, eh?
Ugh. Well, there's no D in Patriots, but still... Ouch. I think it's clear the NFL is faking it til it makes it at this point.
And evidence for that came in Week 3...
In what probably will now be the most controversial play so far this season, Detroit came what some accounts will say is six inches from being undefeated.
But you be the judge... Has the NFL screwed the Lions again?
Though it will be hard to initially see, this is an important reverse angle from somebody in Ford Field that game. The importance will come when you see the actual play slowed down later.
(Ball is snapped at about 11 seconds)
Matthew Stafford drops back, throws a slant route right at the goal line, it's caught for an apparent game-winning touchdown in the last ten seconds to Golden Tate as he's going down.
Play goes upstairs, the call is reversed. And, on top of it, since the play happened in bounds, by rule, a 10-second runoff finishes the game and Atlanta wins.
This is some of what FOX viewers saw, including the rather incredulous reaction of the announcers that the game had actually ended by the application of the rule (which was correct if the TD was not scored!) of that 10-second runoff...
If you wish to save yourself some time, go to about 1:03 on the video for the instant replay and you'll see why giving you that first video might be important... (Unfortunately, this video, the only one I've found that I can embed with this, annoyingly puts it's advertising right in the key area of the video!)
Tate is already being contacted somewhat as he's going down by Atlanta's Brian Poole (as you would also see from the first video), but the key here is that Tate:
Has to catch and gain possession of the ball.
For it to count as a catch, he has to retain control all the way to the ground. (This is the rule and the riggings that drove Calvin Johnson from the NFL.)
And then for Tate to be down, he must have possession of the ball and be touched by a Falcon AFTER he gains possession of the ball.
He has possession of the ball, controls it all the way down, and Poole is touching him before and as he has possession, so all that would be satisfied. So now, you go to the tape and find out if the ball broke the front plane of the painted goal line for the score...
(This is where being able to download the video would help, especially with that annoying watermark.)
Yeah, he's down (don't watch the knee, watch Tate's shin as he catches the ball and is being contacted), but the replay also shows Poole holding Tate on the other side before he catches the ball!
He's clearly down about 18 inches short of the line, but if you back that up...
At the start of the replay, Poole is attempting to turn Tate by holding him before the ball comes in, defensive holding on the other side.
THERE'S YOUR RIG JOB.
Poole is committing a penalty to attempt to prevent Tate from scoring the winning touchdown, and because of two different applications of the rules (not only the correct time runoff, but the fact the replay official cannot call the defensive holding), the touchdown is not only reversed, but Atlanta's win assured, because the refs missed TWO calls on the play to ensure the result.
NFL Films actually admits and plays up that the Lions are cursed, and have been over 50 years. So is this a funny joke on Lions Fan???
The Veil Falls: The Truth About
College Basketball
It's almost too bad, in only the way of
the timeliness of the breaking of the news, that this story broke
while Donald Trump has been having diarrhea of the anus that is his
mouth as Puerto Rico is being destroyed, Houston rebuilds, and the
NFL actually has the high road for the first time in less-than-recent
memory!
But, on Tuesday, the FBI might well
have just destroyed NCAA Basketball.
Because, with a Federal indictment,
they may just have finally lifted the lid on the absolute farce of
collegiate athletics (especially in basketball) as an amateur sport.
The FBI is currently in the middle of
an investigation of NCAA basketball, as it relates to at least two
sets of allegations against a number of parties with a number of
universities, plus financial advisors and sports agents.
The first set involves direct cash
bribes to assistant coaches at Arizona, Auburn, Oklahoma State, and
USC. These bribes were designed to move top-level players at those
schools to certain agents and advisors.
They are Chuck Person from Auburn (yes,
that Chuck Person), Emanuel Richardson from Arizona, Lamont Evans
from Oklahoma State, and Tony Bland from USC. All four coaches have
been suspended, in various capacities.
According to the Department of Justice,
they could get 80 years behind bars for at least six Federal
felonies.
The second set states that James Gatto,
on behalf of what the indictment refers to as a “sportswear
company” (though it almost certainly is Adidas, of whom Gatto is
the director of global sports marketing), paid six figures to at
least three NCAA players to play at Adidas-sponsored schools, and it
appears that at least one of the schools involved is Louisville –
yet another problem for Rick Pitino!
Or at least that was apparent until
Wednesday morning: Pitino and Louisville athletic director Tom
Jurich were placed on leave by Louisville, but the writing is on the
wall. Both, and who knows how many more, are gone.
On Thursday, sources indicate Pitino is
actually in the Federal complaint.
Nike has also been subpeonaed for
information on Thursday, according to sources in the media.
Also, Auburn University is refunding
season tickets for their basketball program for anyone who wishes to
request it.
Gatto, Merl Code from Adidas, Christian
Dawkins (former NBA agent), financial advisor Munish Sood, and two
others were all arrested on Tuesday.
The investigation is continuing, and, I
believe, if it goes to full fruition, that will be the end of college
basketball.
Why?
Because you cannot tell me this isn't
going on at EVERY DAMN MAJOR INSTITUTION IN THE COUNTRY.
The first problem with believing
otherwise is that doing so ignores the sickening reality of corporate
sport, going back to the days of the Foolish and Wretched
One-Dimensional Ballhog.
Without Nike, jordon does not happen.
People forget that the whole jordon mystique was actually being
promoted while he was at North Carolina. It was clear that something
– we didn't know it was going to take the extent it did – was
being planned for him.
It's kind of like Tiger Woods in the
PGA: People knew that he was a prodigy, and then, as he was
preparing to go pro, it was clear the greats of the game were
tailoring him.
Why? Because he was selected by the
American sports machine for greatness – and that includes the
involvements of the corporate arm of this machine. I've always
believed that anyone who becomes great for any period of time,
especially if they are being fast-tracked, has a multidimensional
array of people behind him.
You do not succeed in this country
without the “stroke” behind you to get it done, and Task One is
how to capitalize that into profit for the people who end up making
those decisions. That happens on small scales in every job in this
country, and on grander ones in situations like this.
As such, the elite athlete is being
explored, recruited, and groomed, some as early as AAU youth teams
and some getting viewed by colleges (still the main pipeline in the
major sports to the professional ranks) as early as seventh grade.
So if someone wishes to try to tell me
this isn't going on at every elite school in the country, I think
they would be ignorant of the realities of what college sports are in
the United States, at least with respect to the only two college
sports that matter: The main minor-league pipeline.
Brian Tuohy is right: The only way to
fix college sports in this country is to rid this country of college
sports.
(BLOGGER'S NOTE: The next several posts are going to be some of the stuff I'm catching up on after taking a week for closer chronicling of the race protests in the NFL, including my normal content. I wish the Featured Post thing had actually defaulted it's picture to the Olbermann Twitter post, as it was closer to the statement I wished to make, but there you go...)
Well, that was an interesting Week
Three.
With the backdrop of all the protests
and everything like that, it turned into a most interesting week.
There were some Goodell-isms brought back into the fray, but one very
interesting statistic hit the table that made it one of the biggest
weeks for the Vegas casinos in a long, long time.
Average per game for the week was
49.975 (Last year, 46.94. 48.31 two years ago.)
Doesn't cut much into the
defensive advantage for the year, as the 3-week average is still
only 43.787. (Last year, 45.688. Two years ago, 47.104.)
Home teams 10-5 for the week,
26-20 for the year. (Last year, 10-6 for 27-21. Two years ago, 8-8
for 26-22.)
With no surprise in the scoring
department, the Over had a good week. The Over was 11-4-1 for the
week, but both the prime-time weekenders ended Under. 20-23-4 for
the year. (Last year: 9-7 for 26-21. Two years ago: 10-5 for 25
and somewhere between 20 and 23, depending on where you shopped.)
Last year was also a big week for
underdogs in Week 3. Favorites this week were only 8-8 straight up.
(Favorites lost the first five games on Sunday.)
But the big news was Vegas' HUGE
WINS with the favorites getting absolutely SHELLACKED against the
number. 4-12 against the number.
For the year, 19-28 against the
number, 29-18 straight up. Last year: 20-23 ATS, 25-18 SU.
251 penalties this week. Almost
16 a game. Number would've been far higher if not for a wild
statistical anomaly: Carolina and New Orleans had two penalties in
their game, one each. The last time an NFL game, according to Pro
Football Reference, had that few penalties was San Diego @ Tampa
Bay, November 11, 2012. Also 2. According to the Pro
Football Hall of Fame website, there have been three NFL
contests with no penalties, but none since 1940.
The team with more penalties was
6-9-1 for the second consecutive week. 21-22-4 for the season.
Last year: 5-8 for 17-26.
5 non-competitive games this week,
down from 7 last year. Still however makes 19 out of the 47 games
this year so far that have not been within 8 points at any point in
fourth quarter. There were only 12 such games this far last year.
3 games were not within a score at
the end but within a score at the fourth, meaning 8 games that were
within one score at the gun. That means only 20 of the first 47
games this year have ended within one score. 29 last year.
Cliffhangers: 4, including the
first two doubles of the year. Green Bay's overtime win was a
double (TD pass to tie it for GB, FG to win it in the new 10 minute
overtime). Philadelphia's win over the Giants was a double, with
two field goals in the last 51 seconds, including a 61 yard walk-off
that might've netted that kicker the quarterback's paycheck for the
week! New England and Chicago got Cliffhanger wins as well. 7
total for the year. 4 for 11 total last year. 6 total two years
ago, none in 2015 Week 3.
Last Chance Misses: You have that
whole debacle in Detroit, which will get it's own post (maybe with
the San Francisco game as well). Seattle missed an onside kick at
1:50 for one. (San Francisco got an onside kick at 2:13, but went
nowhere.) So 2 total Last Chance Misses for 8 for the year. 3 for
14 last year.
Interesting anomaly: Philadelphia
and the Giants combined for 37 fourth-quarter points. The NFL
record for the 4th quarter is 48 – any quarter is 49.
As many who read this blog know, I have an affinity for Las Vegas.
I usually travel there and play at many of the casinos on that south end of the Strip.
A reader of my blog asked me this early morning: "Time stand still. Can't we have nice things?"
So I ask of each and every one of the few of you who reads this....
If you have someone or something as special as Debbie was (and still is!!!) for me, hold and cherish her. Do not make the same mistakes I have made.
I am a brash motherfucker, as more than a few of you probably know by my invective here. It has it's merits: Being that unpopular frees me to call it as I see it, without having merit to tie myself to anything need being said as a political statement that might cloud what you see in front of you.
But, at the same time, it is threatening, and you do risk losing everything you hold dear. And, at the end of the day, some single acts can be that unimportant in the final analysis -- be it a minor screwjob for your favorite team, or watching that lovely C-list celebrity get eliminated...
But to see events like what we had last night... Reminders that, with every mistake made, we can lose everything we hold dear.
So if you have someone in your life that is of that value, and it is appropriate to do so, hold and cherish that person. Especially given the culture we have, each day is a day closer that someone can rip it out of our hands -- or, worse, as in mine, we do it to ourselves in the name of trying to make what we believe to be a point.
Speaking of reality television and of cherishing that value, I leave this post with the contestants from the season of The Voice, the show just after the Sandy Hook mass shooting. Performing with the judges and the hosts, holding the names of the victims.
(IMPORTANT BLOGGER'S NOTE: The inclusion of certain topics is not meant to express overimportance to anyone but the writer. There may be one subject that might be considered particularly subject to overinterpretation (especially if it draws certain people to reading this post), but I will ask for a slight indulgence from my regular readers. I am intending to make a point!)
When my anonymous friend came to me, and we've been talking a lot about these subjects (both as they relate to the NFL at large and to our supposed "President"). My friend gave me the wonderful idea to suspend most of what turned out to be a very busy week on the blog to make this the sole subject of the week, to expose this Orange Oompa-Loompa as a racist motherfucker who is stirring the pot of violence against any race, color, creed, sexual orientation, economic class, or anything else he and his White Male Christian Pussygrabbers are not!
So, first and foremost, DONALD TRUMP CAN KISS MY WHITE, MALE, CHRISTIAN ASS.
"My people" = Me.
Me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me pic.twitter.com/30hNMhfWzh
I have decreasing reasons to stay sane, out of trouble, and out of jail or prison these days. The main one is a friend of mine I caretake for who is suffering from PTSD, CTE, and numerous other maladies. On top of this, my friend is in the crosshairs of many of Trump's policies AND supporters. Hence, sleep has become a real further issue for my friend (and I've now picked up the insomnia too!!!) -- and I have to spend 3 hours a night in a "sanity break" to help my friend, as I have had to become my friend's caretaker on a more pronounced basis than normal.
This FUCKING BASTARD needs to get off his golf cart and stop the effective slaughter of Puerto Rico.
This FUCKING BASTARD needs to get off the KFC and the like and understand that there is a Constitution and a concept of HUMAN FUCKING RIGHTS.
This FUCKING BASTARD needs to get that these NFL players (and players in other sports) ARE, factually, role models to many in America (even for those in America that can keep things in proper perspective!), and that their speaking up to protect themselves and many around them is a Constitutional situation that represents them saying "We will not be victims."
We are headed for a violent situation. This NFL situation is not going to end cleanly. It cannot.
We now have an increasing amount of not only viewers, but businesses, who are now heading to that fascist land of "YOU WILL RESPECT THE COUNTRY OUR WAY OR PAY!!!"
Many of these players are damaged goods to begin with -- many of their bodies and minds mangled beyond all semblance of recognition. And the fact that many of these "disposables" are Black (and many, either as a result or otherwise, undesirable) just gives a racist element that is boiling over in this country the means to want to be violent.
And why do they want to do this and pursue negative ends to bring this country to the negative view of THEIR America??
Well, speaking of role models (and far less importantly in general to the real problems of this nation)...
I am asked by many Internet trolls and others, over the course of nearly 20 years, why in the Hell would I hurt this woman...
Slag me.
Kick my ass.
Do what you need to do.
But there are a lot of people who I could've hurt even far worse if not for my role model. That leggy force of nature named Debbie Gibson. That woman kept a monster from coming out of me three times: Once in my first college in 1989 (up to and including Title IX actions), once to get me to graduate a degree after getting in similar trouble in a second Wisconsin college in 1992, and then protecting she herself in 1998 (with many of those concerns wiped as irrelevant in 2005).
And if you don't see why she's a force of nature within fifteen seconds of the attached video, I cannot convince you.
I can also convince you why I got in all sorts of trouble. There's a lot of talk of fantasy vs. reality. Well, the fantasy is certainly still there! But any appropriate conduct, or even attempt of same, on my part, came with a heaping dose of reality still attached. Unfortunately, that came with an increasing amount of speculation, eventually proven effectively correct (self-fulfilling or otherwise, and there was more than a bit of eventual justification from the aforementioned incidents I had in my real life!).
But she was voted off that show on the basis of that night's competition, placing almost DFL.
Why? Because this country (and I'll take this either as an actual after-effect of the votes -- because I think it does relate to how our country operates -- or the producers) wants to give more credit to the connected and well-liked rather than those who are right.
This woman has had to deal with not only Lyme Disease and it's continuing lingering after-effects (which is one of the reasons I think this was far larger than a competition for her and the early elimination a continued slap to her face and to her efforts -- a contention people will find creepy from my past actions!), but she's also, among other things, had to break her body in half and take dangerous measures to ensure another performance in an eight-show-a-week schedule back in the day, with effects I saw with my own two eyes.
And I hurt that woman. My role model, and probably the only reason I'm sitting here today with a sports-conspiracy blog. For her being my role model, there is still a place in my heart for her. But in that and for the criminal act, I continue to stay away -- and not for any semblance of law (the orders on all that ended over 15 years ago -- they were not permanent (in many cases, they are)!).
So why have I taken this indulgence (other than the fact I'm pissed off she's off that competition and I feel her discovery half-finished (she would definitely say otherwise -- but I'm pissed she always seems to have to say "the right thing" at times like this...))?
Because if I read it once, I read it 100 times... She was basically being told by a lot of people I read on the subject to shut the fuck up about her Lyme Disease.
And now we've moved on to the Great Point And Laugh at another contestant -- same show -- lady has a medical condition that made her fluctuate 80 pounds (she still looks quite good in a dance dress, thank you very much and shut the fuck up!).
Just like these footballers should shut up and get their asses kicked by the police when (and we all know, for many of them with the CTE, it IS "when") they act out.
Just like many of us who believe that our President needs to get off the golf course and prevent THREE MILLION PEOPLE from being exterminated by the hurricane for the crime of not being White Orange...
Just like many of us who believe that our President needs to shut the fuck up about people protesting the Anthem because it really isn't their damn America in the first place (even as rich people given many perks because they are Football Man)....
This is NOT my America. Those troops they purportedly say fought for my freedom DIDN'T, due to that we were not fighting the real enemy.
I AM White. I AM Christian. I AM straight. I am NOT connected, I don't suck dick very well, and I have a few too many damned opinions.
It's NOT my best friend's America, and my best friend is broken in half over it. And I don't even think it's Debbie's America... Because, even given this opportunity, America doesn't want anything but docile servants for the rich, powerful, and connected -- as long as you suck dick when you're commanded (in whatever metaphor that comes as).
This is no longer even Tiger Woods' America. After finally admitting that his back probably will no longer permit a professional golf career, some idiot Internet commenter told him to suck it up -- after back surgery #4 -- SPINAL FUSION Back Surgery Number Four.
AND I'M SICK OF ALL OF IT!
And this attitude is led by God-Emperor Oompa-Loompa Pussygrabber I who wants "Great anger." from the Honkies and the Crackers against the rest of us. There was a reason I posted, on Trump's election, that I didn't think I'd make it through 2017.
There's three months left. What I say here might actually get people started. If that's the case, let me assure you: She's the LAST person who needs to worry about me unless she does find it in her heart. That's her choice, as it always has been and will continue to be. I do have to trick my mind otherwise, but I recognize that as a trick I have to do to cope day to day sometimes. I love her anyway, and I will stay away from her as a result -- unless she finds it in her heart (which I do not expect).
I have real-life work here to caretake for someone, and that work will continue.
And why do I have to so cope? "Me me me me me me me me me me me me me...", just like Olbermann said. And that's true for many Black football players who might get run out of the NFL at the rate things are going!
Mornings I end up frozen in place 20 minutes just to take the last steps to go to bed because of one injustice or another -- far beyond the usual purview of this blog! Nights I am sometimes not asleep until 5 or so AM because of those "freezes".
I do openly wonder when the day comes we either "respect properly" or go to jail or worse.
Interesting, if a bit silly, story coming out of NFL discussions on how to deal with the protests after last week: The better number of the owners didn't want to get into direct conflict with Donald Trump (and, after the SON OF A BITCH IN CHIEF has now called the residents of Puerto Rico "politically motivated ingrates", it's not hard to see why!), so they were trying to figure out a way to have unity without becoming such a lightning rod.
One proposal that was forwarded was actually to have all the players wear "Team America" patches.
You may insert your laugh track right about..... here.
The Baltimore Ravens tried a new tack today, and it didn't go over well. According to the Deadspin article on the subject, the Ravens tried to compromise with a prayer for what is quoted as “kindness, unity, equality and justice for all Americans.” The Ravens then knelt, and were booed for doing so.
The Ravens then stood for the Anthem.
Fans in New York booed the Jets for roughly the same reason.
Are we now clear on something here?
Anyone who is not MAGA has to bend over and take it until America is great again! This isn't respect, it's subservience, fealty, whatever you wish to call it!
Three members of the Dolphins knelt in London this morning in protest of the Anthem.
Most other players stood, but a group of six Buffalo Bills knelt in Atlanta.
Two Detroit Lions knelt, and a Tennessee Titan left the field before the Anthem.
ESPN, for better or worse, is chronicling the continuing protests in a catch-all here.
