February 8, 2023 News and Notes

• LeBron did it.  Only needed 3 quarters to get the 36 he needed to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and become the NBA's all-time leading scorer.  A fade-away with about 11 seconds to go in the third did it against the Thunder.
• I have never seen such an uninspired team as this Lakers mess.  Good...   God....
• The game was stopped for about 15 minutes, the first commercial afterward was a specially-prepared Nike ad for the achievement.
• On the other side of the coin is a high-school game in Oklahoma.  17-1 team played a 2-3 team, so the 2-3 team decided to try to slow the game down -- to an abject STOP.  Final score?  Weatherford Eagles (the 17-1 team) 4 - Anadarko Warriors 2.
• Beggings for the coaches to be suspended or fired, a shot clock in Oklahoma basketball (the NFHS, this year, has placed a national allowance for states to implement a high school shot clock -- Oklahoma has not), etc.
• More details on the debacle:  The first quarter was completely scoreless.  The third quarter had one possession which literally lasted seven minutes before a foul.  Sophomore CJ Nickson, who has 1,000 points for the Eagles in just under two seasons, scored both baskets for his team.
• OK, #1:  There was a rule, back in the day, to handle something like this, and the NFHS took it out -- the Lack of Action Rule.  The team that was behind (or the offense, IIRC, in case of a tie) had the impetus under the rules to make a degree of action, and the referees had the authority to order a team to do so -- failure to do so would result in a technical foul.
• #2:  At some point, isn't there the authority of the officials to take nearly unlimited action (up to forfeiture) if it is clear that the game is an abject farce?
• #3:  Did anyone's eyebrows get raised at a team which has played 18 games and won 17 playing a team, in early February (so we're quite a bit into the high school boys' basketball season here) which has only played five games????  
• COVIDIOT-12 wants some time to himself -- he says he may have a decision on his career after a four-day "darkness retreat".
• Michael Irvin has been expelled from the NFL Network and it's coverage of the Super Bowl -- an interaction with a woman on Sunday is the reason, but no other details have been noted.  It apparently took place in a hotel lobby and is claimed not to be sexual in nature.

Super Bowl "Best vs. Best": Some legal gambling numbers...

• Estimates have 50,000,000 people in this country laying legal bets on the Super Bowl...
• Purported handle:  $16,000,000,000.
• $320 per person, eh?
• ESPN Chalk reports that a 2,000-prop betting sheet for Caesar's Sportsbook actually had the majority of it concocted at an employee's house over pizza and wings in Las Vegas.
• As of this morning, some of the largest bets:
• Largest prop bet:  Caesar's. $35,000 that no punt or kickoff return touchdown occurs (-1400), the ESPN Chalk article does the math wrong, though -- that's a $2,500 win if it comes through.
• Some idiot, at 10000-1 (and the math is done wrong again), bet $8 that the Eagles would score exactly four points.  The $80,000 payout would be the largest prop payout (so far), but if you're that interested in throwing away your money, I'm sure I can find an anonymous way just to give it to me!
• On the other side of the coin (and far more likely), someone bet $1,000 that Jalen Hurts throws five touchdowns in the game.  (+6000)
• PointsBet sees a bet hedging on the absurd, and if seven specific different players all score touchdowns, the $1,000 bet would make this person a millionaire (and would make me want to know where he got the actual script for the game!!!).
• The first million-dollar bet on the game was taken by MGM on Saturday:  Money-line on the Eagles for a million (-125).
• As of Saturday, the current best scenario for the bookies is the Chiefs win and the game goes over 52, though they do not believe that will be the case by game-time.  That's kinda how I see the game going.   
• In the "If You Think About It, It May Not Be THAT Ridiculous" Department:  Someone laid $100 on two different players being the MVP of the game:  both backup quarterbacks.  Gardner Minshew in +25000, Chad Henne is +10000.  And remember that ankle for Mahomes!  
• The analogue which IS a bit more ridiculous (because it's never happened) is the Ontario, Canada person who bet $500 on the teams' kickers in the same respect.  If that somehow cashes, $100,000.  But if the game is like 12-7 or something...

Super Bowl "Best vs. Best": The Madden Verdict is in

The annual official Madden simulation of the Super Bowl has been done (and, shockingly, the game didn't glitch out during it.

Eagles 31 - Chiefs 17.

February 6, 2023 News and Notes

• Myles Garrett, dislocated toe at the Pro Bowl Games.
• The Eagles and Chiefs have landed in Arizona for next Sunday's Super Bowl.
• Several associates of Ja Morant have been banned by the NBA after an altercation with members of the Indiana Pacers, and some of the Pacers are going so far as to say a laser sight of a rifle may have been pointed at one or more of them after the most recent contest between the two teams last week.  I'm sorry, but I do think this needed to come down more on Morant too -- as in "GET YOUR FUCKING POSSE UNDER CONTROL!!!!"
• Speaking of people who need to be gotten under control:  It now appears that Gary Bettman has dropped the mask.  He's come out in support of the bigots, regarding the recent Pride Night disasters in New York and Philly -- as well as the All-Star Weekend just held in Floriduh.
• It appears we are about to lose a minor-league hockey team.  Yesterday afternoon, the Quad City Storm went to Danville, Illinois to face the Vermillion County Bobcats in a Southern Professional Hockey League game.
• Except for one problem...
• Vermillion County no-showed their home game and forfeited.
• Dave Eminian gave the particulars:  In a season and a half, the expansion franchise has won nine games, drawn 7, and lost 70.  They have only 10 skaters.  Attendance averages about 400.  They're done.

Super Bowl "Best vs. Best": A message for the Chiefs radio announcer:

"You can doubt the Chiefs!

 You can disrespect the Chiefs!!

 But you're going to have to deal with the Chiefs!!!"

-- said last Sunday, after the Chiefs "won" (more like, were given) the AFC Championship.

Yeah.  And the referees, and the Commissioner, and anyone else who's instructed to rig or throw the game.

What really makes me sick is that, as of now, it appears that shithead Andy Reid is getting another "chip".

February 5, 2023 News and Notes

• Kyrie Irving has won his trade -- to the Dallas Mavericks.  Him and Markeiff Morris for two players and three picks.
• COVIDIOT-12 has another championship -- instead of the Pro Bowl, Aaron Dimwit went to Pebble Beach and won the pro-am part of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.  
• Josh Allen had a pairing, and they finished four shots back.  
• Second place went to a team which included the now-retired president and CEO of FedEx.
• Vontae Davis has added his name to the ex-NFL crime blotter -- charged with DUI in Florida.
• Something I was wondering about:  The man who was arrested for brandishing a gun and disrupting a Corona, CA girls' basketball game -- step-parent of one of the Centennial players, and this would be his third "strike".
• It is also at least the sixth (possibly SEVENTH) time he has been arrested for a major felony...
• 2002:  Drug possession
• 2006:  Battery, serious bodily injury (Strike One)
• 2009:  Criminal threats (Strike Two)
• 2012:  Another drug possession
• 2016:  Illegal ammunition possession, pled down.
• 2022:  Child abuse, illegal possession of a gun, brandishing a deadly weapon, gun on school grounds, assault and battery, and animal cruelty (and I don't think that list is all-inclusive!)
• And it is believed this isn't his first police foray with basketball -- the name and age matches up with a 2017 arrest for a fight at a youth basketball game.  The man was not prosecuted.
• The game was officially called off and declared "no-contest".
• OK, several questions:  How was he out in 2009 for the third arrest?  How was he out in 2012 (for a combination of #2 and #3) for #4?  And given repeat-offender and the other two, how is he out in 2016 for #5?  And when, given his criminal record, did he have time to get married at all????  The only four "habitual offender" situations under the law in that state are sex offender, juvenile, traffic, and Three Strikes.   
• Another bad chant has gotten a college basketball fanbase in trouble.  One of the players for Utah State, Max Shulga, is from Kyiv in the Ukraine.  The Colorado State opposing fans started chanting "Russia!"  This isn't going to stop until forfeitures are the standard punishment, followed by empty arenas.   

And if you want to see how nuts it's getting for LeBron and the scoring record:

With LeBron James now 36 points away from breaking Kareem's scoring record, this from the resale market, through The Spun on Sports Illustrated:

Two tickets between the Lakers bench and the scorers' table are now going for six figures EACH.

Lakers-Thunder tickets are going for upwards of $100,000

Just for a CHANCE to see LeBron break the scoring record… pic.twitter.com/vzKXRnvuaW

— PointsBet Sportsbook (@PointsBetUSA) February 2, 2023