Tag: sports

The Potential Patriots Boycott

It’s going to be interesting to see what happens when Robert Kraft forces NFL fans to choose between endorsing his rabid support for Middle East genocide and their support for a particular NFL team:

Ed Sheeran has lost 200,000 Instagram followers in 24 hours as he faces a growing campaign to cancel him amid a Palestine row over his US tour. All of the remaining opening acts on his tour have dropped out in response to rapper Macklemore being kicked off the live dates following a ‘free Palestine’ speech.

Macklemore was due to open for Sheeran at eight of the remaining ten shows on his tour in America, which continues on Friday in Philadelphia, but on Tuesday it was announced that he had been dropped. Ed has now lost his remaining support acts – Billie Eilish’s brother and music partner Finneas, his close friend Myles Smith, Aaron Rowe, Lukas Graham and Beoga, who have put out separate statements announcing that they will not continue with their dates on the Loop Tour.

Breaking his silence amid the backlash, Ed, 35, said that his audience is often young people ‘from different backgrounds’ who do not expect his shows to be a political forum. While his Instagram follower count stood at 47.6million on Monday, it has now dropped to 47.4million.

Macklemore faced a boycott petition to remove him from the tour after he delivered a politically motivated speech in support of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank during his performances at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on September 4 and 5.

Responding with an Instagram statement after it was confirmed that he will not be the opening act for the remainder of the Loop Tour, the rapper claimed that Ed told him billionaire Robert Kraft orchestrated the move after ‘rallying stadium owners and issuing an ultimatum’. Kraft is the CEO of the Kraft Group, which owns the NFL team the New England Patriots, as well as the Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts where Sheeran is due to play later in September.

My sense is that a number of influential Jews in the USA have wildly overplayed their antisemitism card. It’s not the 1970s anymore. Young people around the world are much better informed than the Boomers were back in the day, when their opinions were guided by Roots, the construction of Holocaustianity, and the “plucky little Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, and the USA’s Greatest Ally” narrative. And even for those who still hold sacred one or more elements of that propaganda, none of it grants Israel moral cover for either the Gazacaust, the invasions of Syria and Lebanon, or dragging the Trump administration into defeat and economic disaster.

That’s the thing about power. If you don’t use it well, and use it for the material benefit of others, eventually you’ll be held accountable for that. Robert Kraft has been a remarkably effective NFL owner, but now he is abusing his power as a well-connected venue owner and every opening act on Ed Sheeran’s tour has rejected that. Sheeran himself doesn’t need them, but I very much doubt that given his own heritage, he’s going to be terribly inclined to sacrifice his career for Robert “Five Dolla” Kraft and Kraft’s staunch support for imperialist genocide in the Middle East.

And the longer the economically suicidal War to Save Israel From Iran continues, the more likely it is that NFL fans are going to see that Robert Kraft has played his part in their own economic suffering and react in a similar fashion to the music fans.

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Skol, Baby!

Fire everyone! Send the O-line into the sun, and throw the rest in jail. That was the biggest collapse I’ve seen since the playoff game last year. 29 unanswered points against the Minnesota Vikings! Look guys, the good news is, it wasn’t the O-line’s fault, because the whole ‘let’s not block anybody while Brian Flores sends everyone on a blitz is a great game plan!” The biggest collapse I’ve ever seen. I’ve just… absolutely pathetic. Fire Matt Fleuer! I never want to hear about that extension ever again. I am so done with this team! – Annie Agar, Green Bay Packers fan

I’m not going to lie. There was a moment when Carson Wentz failed to hit an eight-yard throw over the middle, followed by an inept attempt to complete a screen pass behind the line of scrimmage, that I said “FFS, I CAN MAKE THOSE THROWS!” To say it was not looking good was an understatement; Flores was repeatedly sending the house, but Jordan Love was getting off his throws just in time before getting leveled and his WRs were repeatedly beating our unassisted cornerbacks.

But sometimes, one has to be patient. In the fourth quarter, the Packers’ offensive line wore down just enough that the blitzes started getting home, and once that happened, Love understandably fell apart. The final five minutes were absolutely brutal, and should terrify every offensive coordinator in the league.

Wentz was still terrible. I honestly think Nine should be the backup instead since for all his flaws, he can complete an eight-yard pass, he isn’t going to throw that retarded interception in the middle of the end zone that was bailed out by the refs and he isn’t going to hesitate to throw it long to JJ when there is a free play because the Packers jumped like Wentz did.

Anyhow, a much better start to the season than I’d expected when Kyler Murray went out early with a concussion. The Vikings will have to win games with their defense, but they certainly look capable of doing just that.

My favorite moment was when the Vikings took a 25-22 lead and the announcer said: “How much heat will Brian Flores put on Jordan Love right here? Will he back out into zones.”

No, no, he will not. Because Brian Flores is not a defensive coordinator, he is a madman. He promptly sent Dallas Turner on the blitz off the end. Tackle, sack, fumble.

Love was blitzed on 87 percent of his dropbacks – Pro Football Focus

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It’s Just Different

You can see why the SEC really didn’t want that 9th intra-conference game.

Other than LSU clubbing the hollowed-out husk of a Clemson powerhouse and Auburn stumbling past a mediocre Baylor team, this is who the SEC beat in Week 1: Arkansas-Pine Bluff, UTEP, Tennessee State, Texas State, Missouri State, East Carolina, Furman, Kent State, Youngstown State, North Alabama, Austin Peay, Louisiana-Monroe and Florida Atlantic. Average margin of victory against those 13 opponents: 46.7 points.

East Carolina. I remember East Carolina. I ran track against them once. I always enjoyed their name. Anyhow, it’s been fascinating to see how the other conferences can suddenly keep pace with the SEC now that everyone is openly paying their players.

Big Ten looks less dominant than SEC out of the gate

I wonder why…

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The NFL and CTE

It’s not looking great for ex-football players:

A new study from The BMJ finds that at least 24.5 percent of all former NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 had CTE. Of the 878 who died during that period, at least 215 had CTE. Of the remaining 663, 643 of the players’ brains were not studied for the presence of CTE. Which means that the real percentage could be much higher.

It almost certainly is. A friend of mine married, and eventually divorced, a former college football player whose personality and behavior changed drastically over time. She suspects that he’s got CTE, but of course there is no way of knowing for sure until he dies. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it turns out that more than half of the former NFL players had it.

It’s a violent game. And the players should be given every opportunity to know what they’re getting into.

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An Apology

Stephen A. Smith publicly apologized to Kyrie Irving yesterday.

“When it comes to Kyrie Irving, I can’t apologize strongly enough,” Smith said.

The ESPN star admitted he didn’t want to take the vaccine either but did because his job and livelihood could have been threatened. Athletes like Irving, Aaron Rodgers, and Novak Djokovic were ridiculed for refusing.

“I looked at it as being selfish,” Smith said on his show. “And I watched Dr. Fauci on Capitol Hill yesterday. And the person I thought about most was Kyrie Irving.”

Irving refused vaccination at the time and missed 53 games as a member of the Brooklyn Nets under New York City’s vaccine mandate. The Nets banned him for 35 home games before eventually allowing Irving to play on the road. Since Irving missed so many games, the Nets revoked an extension offer valued at over $100 million. Reports suggest that Irving missed out on $300k per game he sat out.

Smith then brought up his own battle with COVID-19 and shared that the virus nearly killed him. The ESPN personality was in the emergency room before New Year’s 2022 with double pneumonia. Smith not only flipped his opinion on Irving but also called him brave for his stance.

“It didn’t make him stubborn or selfish,” Smith said. “It made him brave. “It turns out that no matter what the truth is behind all of this, Kyrie Irving did nobody wrong. We did him wrong. I did him wrong. And for that, I’m sincerely sorry.”

There are a lot of people who are owed apologies. Not me, because I was fortunate in that my immediate family was 100 percent in accord with my absolute rejection of the vaxx and even my friends who got vaxxed were entirely respectful of my

But for all of you who suffered for your refusal to submit to the global psyop, go ahead and take a private mental victory lap. You have been vindicated. You were right all along. You did the right thing. And never again will you feel the same sort of social pressure on you, even when Clown World tries something similar again, because now you know that you not only can stand against it, but you must do so in order to show others that they can too.

And full credit to Stephen A. Smith for being brave enough to do what very, very few public figures are willing to do, and admit in front of everyone that he was wrong.

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The Revenge of Aaron Rodgers

Steelers’ fans have to love seeing this side of Aaron Rodgers come out on camera. The man hasn’t forgiven, he hasn’t forgotten, and he’s not afraid to take shots at Fauci aka “The Science”.

“Can you tell us about your mindset coming into your last season?” McAfee asked.

The ESPN personality couldn’t have guessed where the four-time NFL MVP was about to take this.

“I’m gonna plead the Fifth,” Rodgers said, as McAfee and the Steelers fans watching at training camp laughed in unison, “like that absolute coward Tony Fauci. Absolute coward. Are you kidding me? You get a pardon and you’re and you pleaded over 100 times at the White House? What are you scared of, Tony? I thought you were the science. ‘I am science,’ and you get up there and can’t answer a question? What are we doing?”

Rodgers is referencing an infamous remark by Fauci during a 2021 interview, where he defended his public health policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying “I am the science.”

Fauci pled the Fifth 111 times during a Senate hearing, on the advice of his attorneys, to answer questions from the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. He was questioned over his response to the pandemic and his policy decisions, where the former White House COVID advisor was accused of funding gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China.

Paul argued Fauci using the Fifth Amendment was unsupported because former President Joe Biden, whom Fauci advised during the pandemic, pardoned him. Paul said the committee will vote this week on a resolution to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress.

“Spending the entire time writing in his diary about how fun it is to be famous. You gotta be kidding me,” Rodgers’ diatribe continued. “What are you going to say about me now? Seriously, what are they going to say about me now? Now, you can’t talk about the COVID stuff because obviously it was made in a lab in China. That’s like not even questionable anymore. Tony Fauci is an absolute criminal. It’s been a great life and a great career, and it’s nice to be sitting on this side now especially after that coward pled the Fifth over 100 times. I thought you had a pardon there, Tony. Why couldn’t you answer one question the entire time?”

But Rodgers wasn’t just airing out his grievances with Fauci, which he’s had many since the days of the pandemic. He pointed the finger directly at the network he was being interviewed on. No matter how McAfee and his supporting cast tried to get the conversation back on track, Rodgers took aim at ESPN, the sports network giant which airs “The Pat McAfee Show” daily.

Rodgers was vilified for his own 2021 COVID saga, where his “immunized” remark in August, months prior to testing positive for COVID-19 in November of that season, led to immediate backlash in the media.

“How much time did the network spend on that? How much time did they spend on my responses every week? On my vaccination status? On Taylor’s [Swift] and Travis’ [Kelce] wedding? Did they do even a minute on Tony Fauci? No, I bet they didn’t,” Rodgers said on Monday.

Rodgers even brought up the Dianna Russini scandal and the lack of coverage from ESPN with it. Russini, who worked for ESPN before joining The Athletic, was entrenched in a scandal as an inappropriate relationship with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel was exposed this offseason, ultimately leading to her exit from The Athletic and Vrabel leaving the Patriots during the NFL Draft to enter counseling.

There are a lot of people who would like to sweep their words and actions during the fake Covid crisis under the carpet. No one should permit them to do so. Rodgers clearly throws rhetorical bombs with the same degree of accuracy he throws the football.

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UEFA Rejects Privatization

UEFA and its 55 member associations stand as one. We unanimously and unequivocally reject FIFA’s proposal to transfer ownership interests in the World Cup and other FIFA competitions to private investors.

The World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product. It is one of football’s greatest sporting legacies. It has been built over generations by players, national teams and supporters across every continent. No part of it should ever be surrendered to private investors. The World Cup is not for sale.

It is both irresponsible and indefensible that a proposal of such significance for football was conceived in secret and brought to the brink of approval without any meaningful consultation with those entrusted with stewarding the game. This is not merely a profound failure of leadership, but an abdication of FIFA’s duty as the custodian of world football.

National associations around the world are now presented with an ultimatum: accept the irreversible capture of football’s greatest competitions or bear the consequences. This is not a “democratic decision”, but governance by intimidation – an act of coercion unworthy of an institution entrusted with the stewardship of the global game.

Europe’s position is clear. We will never lend this model our legitimacy. No one has the moral authority to sell what they merely hold in trust for the next generation.

As a result of today’s discussion, no UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership.

The proposal is absolutely absurd. FIFA is astonishingly corrupt, but this is hitting new heights of corruption. UEFA and the other Football Associations are correct to reject it completely.

In other international football news, the Milan family is in mourning. Riposa in pace.

The former Milan and Italy defender Franco Baresi, one of the most recognisable players of the ⁠golden era of Italian football in the 1980s and 1990s, has died at the age of 66. “The entire history of ⁠AC Milan is in ⁠tears following the ​passing of Franco Baresi,” his former club said on Friday. “His example and integrity will be forever etched into the club’s DNA.”

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Che Cavalo!

In further confirmation that Italy remains Italian.

  • Paolo Maldini and Leonardo have resigned from their FIGC positions following disagreements regarding the selection of Italy’s new head coach
  • The duo’s tenure lasted just 16 days, having been officially appointed on July 11

I’m not going to lie. I was genuinely excited about the possibility of Maldini and Guardiola joining forces to return gli Azzurri to international prominence.

Efforts to name the next head coach encountered difficulties when Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola, both leading candidates, declined the opportunity. Andrea Pirlo emerged as a subsequent option; however, his candidacy was swiftly dismissed due to his role as a global brand ambassador for Russian betting company Fonbet. This connection posed both moral concerns and legal complications, since advertising gambling is outlawed in Italy. Reports indicate that Giovanni Malagò intervened to veto Pirlo’s appointment, despite opposition from Maldini and Leonardo. The ongoing disagreements on coach selection reportedly intensified strain within the leadership group.

(makes Italianate hand gestures)

Meanwhile, in France…

Zinedine Zidane Announced As France Men’s National Team Manager

This juxtaposition suffices to explain a disturbing amount of European history.

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The Thumb on the Scale

Come on boys, stay calm. Everyone stay calm. The principle, the main thing, let’s stay calm boys, stay calm, composure. Let’s just think about playing, stay calm. Let’s forget about everything, eh? Let’s just play, let’s just focus on playing, stay calm. Come on.

Those words from Messi show how it appears that he and the rest of the Argentina squad learned right before the game that the wind at their backs they’d been enjoying was going to be benefiting Spain. It also explains why they turned their backs on the trophy presentation ceremony; most of the squad are serious Catholics. Why? Well, as one man has demonstrated, it appears the game itself, indeed, the entire tournament, was a Clown World ritual that was set up more than two decades ago.

There is a lot more than that; the Economist cover is not proof of anything, but it is consistent with the theme, and, of course, we know that FIFA is wholly owned by Clown World, as is most of the so-called “entertainment” industry. And the humiliation ritual of Donald Trump at the end would also appear to have been staged as part of the whole act. Whatever was going on, it was almost certainly a little darker than WWE-style scripting.

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Spain 1, Argentina 0

Great game. Spain showed the weakness that I observed, being unable to punch it in despite a 65-35 edge in possession and a 12-0 edge in shots on target, but despite that, their midfield and defense almost entirely shut down the Argentine attack. Argentina threw in everything, up to and including the kitchen sink, but all of that plus Messi wasn’t enough to balance the Spanish dominance.

Spain should have scored at least one more goal, and I didn’t like the way they stopped pressing the last 10 minutes of extra time, but it did make the end of the game a little more exciting. But the better team deservedly won, and the fact that they only allowed 10 shots on target all tournament underlines that they were the best team of the entire tournament.

The scary thing is that most of this very young team will be back for the next World Cup, and if they can find a world-class striker somewhere in their developmental system, they can get even better.

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