#Arkhaven INFOGALACTIC #Castalia House
If you want to watch the Super Bowl in person without a ticket today, here’s a pro tip:
Just tell the security guards at the ticket gate that you’re an unaccompanied minor from Mexico. I’m told they have to let you in, seat you, and give you a hot dog, a coke, and season tickets to the NFL team of your choice, no matter what.
In which a subject I never thought it would be necessary to contemplate is addressed, as apparent Owen has set the Internet on fire again.
Why would a rich famous guy marry a 34-year-old woman? If you started immediately you MIGHT be able to have two kids. And she’s publicly had sex with a ton of guys. Despite her wealth she’s very low quality for any successful male. Just seems weird and almost like he’s a gay guy. Why would a successful man want a middle-aged woman who’s always on tour? Is it…could it be…because he’s gay?
I can think of a few possible explanations:
Frankly, I’m a little shocked that Big Bear went for the lavender interpretation and not the last one. He must be mellowing out now that he’s not being cancelled every five minutes.
I can’t believe I’m actually going to be pulling for the 49ers this Super Bowl. I will never forgive Clown World for this. And in other Chiefs-related news, there has been a mysterious lack of agitation at ex-KC Offensive Coordinator’s annual failure to get a head coaching job this year.
Ah, yes, I remember well the terrible stress of 9th grade. That dreadful combination of teenage hormones and all the new challenges of high school were just too much for some young hearts to bear. We must have lost nine or ten of our freshman class to fatal heart attacks that year, most of them healthy and fit young girls.
Oh, wait, no, we didn’t…
A 14-year-old died last week after she collapsed on the court during a high school basketball game. Amari Crite, a freshman at Momence High School in Illinois, was playing a junior varsity basketball game Jan. 25 against Tri-Point when she fell and later died.
The Kankakee County Coroner’s Office said the cause of death is under investigation, according to The Daily Journal. Reports say Crite was running back to the defensive side of the floor when she collapsed.
“We are deeply saddened to confirm the heartbreaking news of the passing of one of our 9th-grade students on January 25, 2024,” Momence Superintendent Shannon Anderson said in a statement.
High school basketball player, 14, dies after collapsing on court during game, 3 February 2024
Back in the day, a “broken heart” in high school meant that a girl had been dumped by her boyfriend of the previous three weeks. These days, thanks to the mRNA vaxx, it means myocarditis, if not a fatal heart attack.
I wonder what that “investigation” will reveal? Presumably nothing that is even remotely related to the truth. But I understand Black Warrant may have something to say about this sort of thing…
Peter King, the longtime Sports Illustrated football writer, pens a tribute to the once-beloved magazine:
Nothing describes how the sports media business has changed better than the precipitous decline of Sports Illustrated. More than a bit of melancholy washed over me Friday, processing the news of the battered place. Because even if SI survives 2024, it will do so as a skeleton of what it was.
I have only good memories of my 29 years with the franchise. In the midst of the sadness and bitterness over SI’s demise, I want to share a few of the reasons why I will always consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth because I got to work for the greatest sports journalism franchise for the guts of my career.
I remember the phone call—absolutely, totally out of the blue—from managing editor Mark Mulvoy in spring 1989. I was 31, covering the Giants for Newsday. Mulvoy asked if I was interested in interviewing for a job at the magazine. It’s still one of those things to this day that I can’t quite believe happened. I went into the mag’s Rockefeller Center offices, across from Radio City, and Mulvoy got to the point pretty fast. He wanted me to write the “Inside the NFL” column and, in fact, there wasn’t much of an interview. He asked me if I wanted the job.
Outer voice: “That’s fantastic. I’ll talk to my wife today and get back to you tomorrow. That okay?”
Inner voice: Are you bleeping kidding me? WHERE DO I SIGN BEFORE YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND?
Much excitement when I got home. My wife, Ann, asked me: “What will they pay you?” I told her I had no idea. I never asked.
FMAI Divisional, Peter King, 22 January 2024
SI was the victim of changing technology as much as it was of its own convergence and corporate financialization. But it remains the great historical record of American sports, covering the period from 1954 to 2024, which in those 70 years included Peak America. It was also evidence of how excellence leads to success, as it brought together talented and truly-dedicated writers with first-rate photographers.
Unfortunately, it also serves as a cautionary example of what lies ahead for America.
Speaking of favorite Sports Illustrated covers, this one from November 10, 1975 was definitely mine.
At some point, even these reality-challenged sportswriters have got to find themselves thinking, “you know, maybe Novak Djokovic knew what he was doing when he gave up his chance at two Majors in order to avoid taking the vaxx.” The irony, of course, is that Djokovic didn’t even metaphorically die, as he is now widely recognized as the greatest tennis player of all time, whereas the journalist Dixon is now, quite literally, dead.
I’ve followed sports my entire life, and I don’t ever recall seeing coaches, journalists, and players collapsing and dying the way they have been since the vaxx was pushed them.
Green Bay is up 41-16 and it’s not even the fourth quarter yet. There is no way Mike McCarthy is back in Dallas next season after this debacle.
Also, it is looking disturbingly like Green Bay has a third-straight generational talent at quarterback. This is irksome in the extreme.
UPDATE: Quote of the night from Ahmed Fareed, who grew up in Michigan, when asked to pick the Rams-Lions game.
“I’m a journalist. I have to pick with my mind, not my heart. Lions 56-10.”
Saban. Belichick. Carroll. All out in one single 24-hour period.
I doubt Belichick is done, but I expect the other two are. Great coaches, but also ruthless men; we’re not talking Bud Grant and Tom Landry here.
But regardless, it’s the end of a football era.
This is why you should listen to your father. Especially when he knows very well what he’s talking about:
Antoine Winfield Jr. was named NFC defensive player of the week for Week 18.
One of the best defensive plays of the year was made by Winfield Sunday against the Panthers: With Carolina receiver D.J. Chark seemingly set for an easy touchdown, Winfield ran him down just before he got to the goal line and knocked the ball out of Chark’s hands. The ball went into the end zone and out of bounds to give it back to the Buccaneers, a huge turnover and touchdown-saving play.
According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Winfield was 23 yards away from Chark at the time the pass was thrown. For Winfield to make up that much distance and force a fumble before Chark got to the end zone was an extraordinary effort.
Extraordinary effort runs in the family. His father was my favorite Viking since Fran Tarkenton. Despite being exactly my size – 5’9″, 180 pounds – he was one of the hardest hitters in the NFL. He wasn’t a shutdown corner, but there has never been anyone you would rather have defend the first down marker in the open field. It didn’t matter if it was a slot receiver, a tight end, or a fullback coming out of the backfield with the ball, the ballcarrier would absolutely be cut down hard, with all momentum extinguished, before he could make it past the invisible line. And despite being a starter, Winfield wasn’t too proud to play special teams; look at how he laid the smack down on a Packer’s punt returner.
Winfield made two of the greatest defensive plays I’ve ever seen, in the same game, against the Packers. The first play, facing a big halfback running behind a pulling guard, he dropped to his knees, let the guard fall over him, then popped up and dropped the ballcarrier. The second play, there were two blockers between him and the running back who’d just caught a screen pass. He twisted sideways between the two lineman, then dropped the ballcarrier.
Anyhow, it’s a lot of fun to see Winfield’s son not only following in his footsteps, but even exceeding his NFL accomplishments by winning a Super Bowl. Their relationship is an object lesson in excellence in fatherhood, and they’re obviously close to this day.
Also, his dad is 100-percent correct. Budda Baker making the Pro Bowl over Winfield Jr. this season is a ludicrously bad joke.
