Tag: sports

Don’t Bet Against Him

On Wednesday, the unbelievable happened. Bill Belichick agreed to become the head coach at North Carolina. It’s an incredibly exciting and interesting development for the football world as a whole, and there will be many eyes on Chapel Hill over the next 12 months as the all-time great NFL coach makes his mark in the collegiate realm.

So much has changed in college football that it wouldn’t be even remotely surprising if Belichick managed to figure out how to game the system and take UNC to the college football playoff. I don’t think this would have happened in the time before NIL, the transfer portal, and the professionalization of college football. And I have to admit, I’m more interested in college football than I’ve been since I was nine and watching SWC teams play the option with tearaway jerseys.

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Suddenly in Serie A

A Fiorentina midfielder collapsed in the middle of the game against Inter yesterday. Medical experts, as you might expect, are totally mystified and baffled as to the cause:

Fiorentina midfielder Edoardo Bove is in a medically induced coma after collapsing on the field during his team’s Serie A match at home to Inter Milan on Sunday, with the game abandoned shortly afterward.

Bove’s teammates immediately called for medical help and both sets of players surrounded the 22-year-old while he was being treated before he was swiftly stretchered off to an ambulance near the pitch and taken to Careggi Hospital in Florence.

“Fiorentina and the Careggi University Hospital announce that the footballer Edoardo Bove … is currently under pharmacological sedation and hospitalized in intensive care,” Fiorentina said in a statement.

We don’t KNOW it’s the vaxx… Speaking of which, I’ll be sharing my theory on the true purpose behind the vaxx on a UATV-exclusive Darkstream tonight, which I suspect some of you will find interesting.

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Too Egregious for Employment

The Chicago Bears uncharacteristically, but quite rightly, fire their head coach in the middle of the season:

After yesterday’s debacle, the Bears have done what they had to do. Chicago has fired head coach Matt Eberflus, according to multiple reports. He ends his tenure as Bears coach 14-32, including a 4-8 record in 2024. This is the first time in franchise history that the Bears made an in-season coaching change. But after what happened on Thursday, unprecedented action was warranted.

After I watched what had to be some of the worst clock management in history, I was not even remotely surprised that Eberflus was fired. It was so bad that I suspected the league had ordered the Lions to let the Bears back into the game after halftime, with the assurance that the Bears would flop at the end. Which flop Eberflus duly provided; he was a dead coach walking anyhow, so perhaps he was just being a good league soldier rather than exhibiting dyschronometria.

In a league where a good quarterback can get a team in field goal position with only 13 seconds and no timeouts, failing to even get within field goal range when you’ve got 1 and 10 on the 50 with two minutes left and two time outs is terrible. And to run out of time on fourth down without snapping the ball when you’ve still got a time out is absolutely inexcusable. In the last 30 seasons, there have been 1500 games when a team is at or inside the opponent’s 30 with a time out at the end of the game. This was the only one of those 1500 games where neither the special teams unit came on to the field nor was a time out called. To put that in perspective, you’re 45 percent more likely to die by drowning in the next 30 years than to see that happen again.

“That guy is so fired,” was my immediate response yesterday after watching the debacle play out. And I’m a little disappointed that I was correct, since I would have preferred to see him coaching the Bears for the next 20 years. The NFC North is already difficult enough with LaFleur and Campbell in the division.

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Excellence in Everything

The pursuit of excellence, in even the most humble of responsibilities, is never a waste. Indeed, it can be recognized and celebrated, even in the most humble of responsibilities:

It’s been quite the week for Trevor Skogerboe. Skogerboe, an assistant equipment director at Cal, went viral over the weekend for tackling a fan who was trying to steal a helmet as the Golden Bears faithful stormed the field following a 24–21 victory over rival Stanford at California Memorial Stadium.

That tackle—which has gained the praise of many across the college football world, including Cal head football coach Justin Wilcox—earned Skogerboe a spot among the sport’s greatest talents in February.

Jim Nagy, the executive director of the Reese’s Senior Bowl, announced Wednesday that Skogerboe accepted his official invite to the annual showcase set for Feb. 1 at South Alabama. No, Skogerboe won’t be suiting up at linebacker at the 2025 Senior Bowl. But he will be a part of the equipment staff responsible for working the postseason college football All-Star game.

Don’t ever be content with just doing the minimum required. Pursue excellence, even if you’re the only one who will know the difference. Persistence plus excellence will not guarantee success – nothing short of taking the ticket will do that – but it lays the foundation that makes success possible.

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Refuse to Play, Refuse to Lose

The Boise State women’s volleyball team are demonstrating courage that very few other female athletes have been willing to show by refusing to play against men pretending to be women.

In a stunning turn of events, the Boise State Broncos women’s volleyball team announced that it will forfeit its semifinal match in the Mountain West Tournament against San Jose State. Although the team did not specify the reason for the forfeit, that’s obvious: SJSU has a trans-identifying biological male player, Blaire Fleming, on its team. The Broncos forfeited twice against SJSU during the regular season, but the prevailing thought was that the team wouldn’t forfeit during the conference tournament and end its hopes of reaching the NCAA Tournament. However, that’s exactly what the women decided to do.

Equality does not exist. Women cannot compete with men in the vast majority of sports, nor should they. The point of sports is competition, not winning, and there is no competition when men and women compete on physically unequal grounds; this is why there are weight limits in sports like boxing and weightlifting.

Since the politicians, the courts, the conferences, and the schools won’t do the right thing, it therefore falls to the athletes to shut down the whole charade. Let the deranged baphomites collect as many fake “tropies” and “championships” as they like; so long as women refuse to compete with them, they will win nothing.

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Narrative Status: Exploded

“A big, big thank you to President Donald Trump for being here tonight. I’m proud to be a great American champion. I’m proud to be a Christian American champion.”
– Jon Jones, UFC heavyweight champion

Don’t tell us how racist President Donald Trump is. Tell Mr. Jones. And notice how Christian nationalism is rising everywhere. Both Christianity and nationalism are, quite literally, for everyone. The satanic globalists are vehemently and viciously opposed to both.

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You Can’t Beat Father Time

Not even Iron Mike Tyson. He had two rounds to put Jake Paul away, and when he didn’t, the outcome became inevitable. Still, it’s good to see the younger generation showing due respect to their elders, even when they’ve passed them by. Jake Paul may have won a unanimous decision, but he also knows greatness when he sees it.

It took a fair amount of courage for Mike Tyson to get back in the ring, even against a show pony fighter like Jake Paul. Paul, like it or not, is a legitimate boxer now. He’s put in the time, he’s put in the training, and if he’s not about to take on a top-ranked fighter, well, he’s first and foremost an entertainer. But that doesn’t make him any less legitimate or dangerous. He’s got knockout power. And in the ring, anyone can hurt you; there are no guarantees and people get injured even in sparring. I’ve seen ankles broken, noses broken, and was even knocked out myself once in training.

I’m only two years younger than Iron Mike, so I know exactly how much he has slowed down over time. On the soccer field, I’ve been dealing with my inability to reach balls I would have easily gotten to first for the last 23 years; I remember the very practice at which my top gear, upon which I’d always relied, simply vanished. It just wasn’t there anymore. It doesn’t matter how well I keep myself in shape or how smart I play, I’m just a role player now. I don’t worry about scoring goals or providing assists anymore, I just try to keep my wing in order and protect my defender; it’s up to the younger players to win the game now and all I can really expect to do is prevent us from losing it via my side.

It’s certainly painful to watch our youthful sports heroes “embarrass” themselves by showing their age and how their greatness has departed them. But they’ve earned their right to go out there and compete with their successors, and to confirm what they already suspect about their decline. And as Jake Paul demonstrated with his obvious respect for the former world champion, what a thrill it is for the younger men to test themselves, even against the faded shadows of their great elders.

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Play to the Whistle

Whether it is the so-called Prevent Defense in the NFL or the various tactics used to waste time in international football, these are counterproductive tactics that serve absolutely no purpose except to allow the other team back in the game.

Have some confidence in yourself! If you’ve dominated the game for 80 minutes, or three-and-a-half quarters, keep doing what you’re doing! Don’t let up the gas and let the other team back into the game!

This season, our team had a problem with this. We’d go up one or two goals and the midfield would go passive while the defense would go to sleep. We lost three games we absolutely should have one before the guys seemed to get the message and keep pressing; we won the next game 10-0. The final game of the season, we were up 3-0 when the defense relaxed again; at one point one attacker went right through three defenders without any of them making a serious effort at stopping him. Fortunately, after going into halftime 4-4, we went back on the attack and ended up winning 8-5.

The key is that the team leaders need to stress the need to keep attacking, and the scorers need to keep taking their shots rather than getting cute and clever with their chances as they often do when the game – or the practice – start to feel easy. The best teams always blow out the bad teams instead of relaxing and playing down to their level. In those two high-scoring wins, our star striker took control and scored 9 goals in the two games.

The problem is that the human psyche doesn’t permit simultaneous passivity and aggression. If you start trying to waste time, you’ve stopped trying to actively win the game. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t practice wise clock management, and sometimes injuries force you to take off a key player and implement more defensive tactics. But the best defense is always a good offense; a team that is constantly rocked back on its heels isn’t one that is likely to get back into the game.

Every sprinter is taught the importance of finishing strong. Run THROUGH the tape. Save the celebrations for after the race. Always focus on finishing strong, never be content to just hang on.

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No Flags for Lebanon

At 2-3, the Jets haven’t been great this year, but I really fail to see how losing 23-17 to an undefeated Vikings team is a reason to fire a man who hasn’t had a functional quarterback situation since he became their head coach:

“This morning, l informed Robert Saleh that he will no longer serve as the Head Coach of the Jets,” team owner Woody Johnson said. “I thanked him for his hard work these past three-and-a-half years and wished him and his family well moving forward. This was not an easy decision, but we are not where we should be given our expectations, and I believe now is the best time for us to move in a different direction.

It would appear that expressing support for a certain countries and organizations is now grounds for being fired. Which is why it is imperative for everyone to immediately alert Roger Gooden about the support that Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur has been seen expressing for Hamas.

UPDATE: Even Mike Florio is wondering what’s going on. But, of course, no one dares to observe the obvious.

Timing of firing of Robert Saleh makes no sense

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Don’t Tell Them About the Helmets

Apparently it is now a “huge controversy” to display your nationality:

New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh sparked controversy during the team’s NFL game against the Minnesota Vikings in London on Sunday. The 45-year-old was spotted on the sidelines at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium wearing a Lebanese flag below the Nike logo on the sleeve of his team hoodie.

The night before Sunday’s game – the first of the NFL’s international fixtures this season – Israeli bombing continued on Beirut, the Lebanese capital, amid the Israel-Hezbollah war. The Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut was hit by more than 30 strikes overnight, which were heard across the city, with smoke still seen billowing from the site after dawn, Lebanon’s official National News Agency said.

Saleh, who is of Lebanese heritage, previously wore a similar patch last October but his decision to bear the flag Sunday raised eyebrows as the anniversary of the beginning of the war in Gaza approaches.

Saleh is Lebanese. Naturally, he doesn’t support Israel invading and attacking his homeland. But he’s not doing anything more than EVERY SINGLE NFL PLAYER is doing; look at the back of their helmets. Most players have US flag stickers because they are US citizens, but foreign players wear the flags of their countries; there is a German tight end – I don’t recall which team – but he has a German flag on the back of his helmet.

If the NFL is smart, they’ll leave this one alone. Because you know Robert Kraft is just itching to turn every Sunday into a massive advertisement for supporting Israel’s wars against a) Palestine, b) Syria, c) Lebanon, d) Iran, and now e) Pakistan? I have to admit, I’m lost on the latter.

It’s too bad Martin van Creveld felt the need to suspend his blog in August, as it would be very good to get his thoughts on the matter as a military historian. I’ve been reading his intriguing history of Israel, The Land of Blood and Honey, and I suspect he might not be very optimistic about the way in which the Netanyahu regime has gone about waging its wars, which appears to be based upon a strategy of escalate, then escalate again.

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