#Arkhaven INFOGALACTIC #Castalia House
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.
NFL players are hammering Jimmy Kimmel over the Epstein Client List. He may not be on the actual list, but he’s almost certainly a ticket taker who is connected to some truly awful people.
Jimmy Kimmel claims Aaron Rodgers is a “tin foil hatter” for wanting to know the names on the Jeffrey Epstein client list.
DAVID BAKHTIARI: Tell me you’re on the Jeffrey Epstein client list, without telling me you’re on the Jeffrey Epstein client list….
AARON RODGERS: “That’s supposed to be coming out soon. A lot of people — including Jimmy Kimmel — are really hoping that doesn’t come out.”
JIMMY KIMMEL: Dear Aasshole: for the record, I’ve not met, flown with, visited, or had any contact whatsoever with Epstein, nor will you find my name on any “list” other than the clearly-phony nonsense that soft-brained wackos like yourself can’t seem to distinguish from reality. Your reckless words put my family in danger. Keep it up and we will debate the facts further in court. @AaronRodgers12
JIMMY KIMMEL THREATENS LEGAL ACTION, Outkick the Coverage, 2 January 2024
Well, that’s not at all suspicious, is it? Spoken like a truly innocent man, is it not? I don’t know that I’ve ever read a flat-out denial that raised so many more questions than it answered.
Longtime NFL players at the level of Bakhtiari and Rodgers, and well-connected former players who are now in the media like Pat McAfee, are all well-acquainted with celebrities like Kimmel. They also know a lot about who is, and who is not, a ticket taker. It should not be a surprise that many of them, perhaps most of them, whose success is derived from intrinsic talent and hard work, should openly despise those whose “success” is handed to them by nothing more than their willingness to do terrible things and serve Satan.
Kimmel has long been a mystery to NFL fans. His career was hugely elevated through the NFL pregame shows as some sort of “comedian” despite the fact that he was nothing more than Adam Carolla’s sidekick, he wasn’t funny, and he didn’t know anything about football. It was really jarring at the time, as if some twenty-something loser was selected at random and inflicted upon NFL fans for no reason that anyone could understand. And since then, he’s become one of the richest and most famous talking heads in Hollywood.
His hypersensitive public reaction to Rodgers tends to suggest that he is not at all happy about the Epstein Client List coming out, perhaps because a large number of his personal connections are going to be on it even though he himself is not. It’s pretty clear that a lot of NFL players know something about Kimmel, and it is something that they consider to be despicable.
It’s fascinating to see the NFL attempt to erase the C-word from its broadcasts during the Steelers-Bengals game. Everything is “holiday” and there was even a little “Mike Tomlin has Festivus grievances” vignette that was even lamer than it sounds. There were a handful of references in the ads, but even there, they were few and far between despite the fact that nearly every ad was Christmas-themed.
Only the broadcasters actually said “Christmas”, for which they were presumably disciplined later.
Corporate America sold its soul to the Devil and it observably hates and fears Jesus Christ, as well as Christians and the spirit of Christmas.
This shouldn’t outrage us, rather, it should encourage us beyond all measure. The wicked fear even the merest mention of the child in the manger. How much more must they fear the full majesty of the King of Kings!
Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!
I suspect we’re going to be witnessing some fascinating financial shenanigans as more and more of Western tech and politics fall under the influence of individuals from the subcontinent.
How could this happen? That question swept through the offices of NFL teams last week after The Athletic broke the news that Amit Patel, 31, a former employee in the finance department of the Jacksonville Jaguars, allegedly stole more than $22 million from the team over a four-year period.
Patel was a mid-level employee who worked for the Jaguars from 2018-23. He allegedly created fraudulent charges on the club’s virtual credit card and then covered his tracks by sending falsified files to the team’s accounting department. According to a charging document, he used that money to buy vehicles, a condominium and a designer watch worth over $95,000. He also purchased cryptocurrency, splurged on luxury travel for himself and others and used the funds to keep a criminal defense lawyer on retainer. Patel’s attorney said that the vast majority of the $22 million he stole were gambling losses; Patel allegedly placed bets on football and daily fantasy sports with online gambling sites.
Patel is expected to plead guilty to multiple charges — wire fraud and an illegal monetary transaction — in a court appearance Thursday, his attorney, Alex King, said.
And what we’re already witnessing is the rapid transition from a high-trust society to a low-trust one. Western equalitarians are far more culturally solipsistic than they can possibly understand; they literally cannot imagine that other people with other cultures genuinely prefer their own way of doing things.
An English Premier League game was stopped after the captain of one of the teams collapsed:
The Premier League game between Bournemouth and Luton was abandoned after Luton captain Tom Lockyer collapsed during the second half. The players were taken off the pitch by referee Simon Hooper and after a lengthy delay, the Bournemouth staff doctor confirmed that Lockyer was ‘alert and responsive.’
Lockyer, who collapsed in the play-off final earlier this year, dropped to the floor in an off the ball incident in the 62nd minute of the game between Bournemouth and Luton. Luton manager Rob Edwards immediately ran onto the pitch as the players surrounded Lockyer before the paramedics stretchered him off after treating him on the pitch for over ten minutes.
Half an hour after the incident, the game was officially called off.
Luton captain Tom Lockyer ‘alert and responsive’ after collapsing against Bournemouth, 16 December 2023
To put this in an American context, it’s comparable to the Bills-Bengals MNF game that was cancelled, if Josh Allen had collapsed instead of Damar Hamlin.
3 Minnesota Vikings
0 Las Vegas Raiders
I’d love to be able to say that the Purple People Eaters are back, but in truth, the game was the epitome of a battle between two overmatched third-string quarterbacks. It wasn’t so much a defensive struggle as a display of complete offensive ineptitude, as well as the lowest-scoring game since the infamous Snowplow Game of December 12, 1982 without the excuse of being played in a driving blizzard.
I don’t think I’d ever seen multiple 2-and-17 situations in a game before. And all three quarterbacks combined for an average rating of 64.5. That’s not QBR either, that’s the old school rating that tops out at 158.3, and in which Brock Purdy currently leads the league at 116.1.
In other NFL news, a once-burning question has been resurrected. It has to be asked in light of the man’s 3 TD, 311-yard performance in a victory over Jacksonville with playoff implications.
Is Joe Flacco elite?
UPDATE: This is how elite he is. Per ProFootballTalk:
The situation is unprecedented. Coach Kevin Stefanski named Flacco the starter for the rest of the season. Even though Flacco isn’t really on the team.
Now that’s what you call “leverage”.
There is absolutely no chance that Sports Illustrated is the only mainstream media publication using AI-generated articles attributed to nonexistent individuals whose headshots are also AI-generated:
There was nothing in Drew Ortiz’s author biography at Sports Illustrated to suggest that he was anything other than human.
“Drew has spent much of his life outdoors, and is excited to guide you through his never-ending list of the best products to keep you from falling to the perils of nature,” it read. “Nowadays, there is rarely a weekend that goes by where Drew isn’t out camping, hiking, or just back on his parents’ farm.”
The only problem? Outside of Sports Illustrated, Drew Ortiz doesn’t seem to exist. He has no social media presence and no publishing history. And even more strangely, his profile photo on Sports Illustrated is for sale on a website that sells AI-generated headshots, where he’s described as “neutral white young-adult male with short brown hair and blue eyes.”
Ortiz isn’t the only AI-generated author published by Sports Illustrated, according to a person involved with the creation of the content who asked to be kept anonymous to protect them from professional repercussions.
“There’s a lot,” they told us of the fake authors. “I was like, what are they? This is ridiculous. This person does not exist.”
“At the bottom [of the page] there would be a photo of a person and some fake description of them like, ‘oh, John lives in Houston, Texas. He loves yard games and hanging out with his dog, Sam.’ Stuff like that,” they continued. “It’s just crazy.”
The AI authors’ writing often sounds like it was written by an alien; one Ortiz article, for instance, warns that volleyball “can be a little tricky to get into, especially without an actual ball to practice with.”
According to a second person involved in the creation of the Sports Illustrated content who also asked to be kept anonymous, that’s because it’s not just the authors’ headshots that are AI-generated. At least some of the articles themselves, they said, were churned out using AI as well.
“The content is absolutely AI-generated,” the second source said, “no matter how much they say that it’s not.”
After we reached out with questions to the magazine’s publisher, The Arena Group, all the AI-generated authors disappeared from Sports Illustrated’s site without explanation…
The Arena Group is also hardly alone, either. As powerful generative AI tools have debuted over the past few years, many publishers have quickly attempted to use the tech to churn out monetizable content. In almost every case, though, these efforts to cut out human journalists have backfired embarrassingly.
We caught CNET and Bankrate, both owned by Red Ventures, publishing barely-disclosed AI content that was filled with factual mistakes and even plagiarism; in the ensuing storm of criticism, CNET issued corrections to more than half its AI-generated articles. G/O Media also published AI-generated material on its portfolio of sites, resulting in embarrassing bungles at Gizmodo and The A.V. Club. We caught BuzzFeed publishing slapdash AI-generated travel guides. And USA Today and other Gannett newspapers were busted publishing hilariously garbled AI-generated sports roundups that one of the company’s own sports journalists described as “embarrassing,” saying they “shouldn’t ever” have been published.
Sports Illustrated Published Articles by Fake, AI-Generated Writers, FUTURISM, 27 November 2023
This is yet another reason why your standard assumption should be that every bit of news that is reported by the mainstream media is, at best, misleading, and and worst, outright fiction concocted by artificial intelligence that is attributed to people who don’t even exist.
It’s going to be very interesting to see how Peter King, the former Sports Illustrated NFL reporter, will react to this, especially given his recent two-week jihad against fabulist sideline reporter Charissa Thompson due to the way that he felt her fake halftime interviews called the legitimacy of the sports media into question.
The lesson, as always, is this: everything in Clown World is fake.
Peter King is an excellent football reporter. While I could do without his occasional editorial sallies into politics, which reliably offer typically retarded left-wing takes, he follows in the well-respected tradition of Paul Zimmerman. If he reports on something football-related, you can guarantee that it is honest, legitimate, and well-sourced, and it is probably true.
But he clearly has no idea how flagrantly dishonest most of the mainstream media is on a regular basis, or he wouldn’t be calling for sideline fabulist Charissa Thompson’s pretty little head:
We live in a time when the media is more distrusted than I ever remember. Thompson is a high-profile person who hosts the Thursday night pregame show on Amazon Prime, who hosts a Sunday pre-game on Fox, who co-hosts a podcast with Erin Andrews. She says on the Pardon My Take podcast that in her former role as a sideline reporter at Fox she would “make up the report sometimes.” It’s outrageous. It’s fireable. Thompson’s not covering the White House, but I don’t care if she’s covering the Chula Vista Little League. Her job is to report the truth, and she admitted she made up things. When Thompson says that, it’s fodder for media-haters to say, “See? They all lie.” Now, in these high-profile roles at Amazon and Fox, how do you trust she’s not inventing some of the things she’s saying? And where are the programming people, the bosses, particularly at Fox, where Thompson said these sideline reports occurred? The silence says one of two things: Sideline reports don’t really matter. Or the truth doesn’t really matter. Or both.
Thompson’s statement after the firestorm didn’t solve anything. Thompson didn’t say on Pardon My Take that she’d almost make it up, or use some qualifying words. She said she “would make it up.” And she repeated it: “No coach is gonna get mad if I say, ‘Hey, we need to stop hurting ourselves, we need to be better on third down, we need to stop turning the ball over and do a better job of getting off the field.’ They’re not gonna correct me on that. So I’m like, it’s fine, I’ll just make up the report.” In her Instagram statement the next day, Thompson said: “I understand how important words are and I chose the wrong words to describe the situation. I’m sorry. I have never lied about anything or been unethical during my time as a sports broadcaster.” Twice Thompson said she’d made up reporting. A day later she said she never lied or was unethical. So, what’s true? What she said on the podcast? What she said in a clear CYA statement that made things worse?
So she lied a few times. And then she lied about having lied. So what? The vast majority of reporters lie, or at the very least report things they don’t actually know to be true, on a daily basis. It’s not as if Congress is sending tens of billions of dollars to the Carolina Panthers because she gave them cause to believe they might possibly be able to win a few games.