Tag: sports

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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Ski-U-Mah

24 Minnesota
17 USC (#11)

So that was fun. Minnesota hasn’t beaten USC since 1955. I was a Gophers fan when I was a kid, Tony Dungy was the quarterback, and upsetting a #1 Michigan team 16-0 in 1977 was the most exciting thing about growing up in Minnesota prior to The Miracle on Ice in 1980. I even went to a few games at the old Memorial Stadium, including the 1976 season opener that was a win over Indiana.

But too many seasons of losing 45-0 to Big Ten rivals and 73-0 to Nebraska, in company with the incredibly stupid move to the horrible Metrodome, caused me to lose all interest in college football, except for keeping an eye on future NFL players. They didn’t even make it to a single bowl game, no matter how lowly, between 1987 and 1998.

However, the new stadium is really cool – the Vikings played there in Brett Favre’s last year – and the expansion of the Big 10 means that the Gophers are now getting the chance to play teams like USC and UCLA that they seldom played without getting to the Rose Bowl, which hadn’t happened since 1962. In fact, this was only the sixth time the two maroon-and-gold teams had ever played in my lifetime… and the first time was the year I was born.

Because my mother is a football fan who grew up in Pasadena and attended USC, I spent many a late Saturday afternoon watching USC play, although I tended to prefer UCLA. PAC-8 football always seemed a little exotic compared to Big 10 football, although SWC football, with its tearaway jerseys, was the most exciting. I was a bit of a Texas fan, mostly because my parents’ friends, who were huge Arkansas boosters, were so annoying, with their “Pig-sueey” nonsense. The Michigan upset notwithstanding, 1977 was a tough year.

Most people think the development of NIL-related professionalism is a terrible thing for college football, and I certainly have my doubts about the evolution of the Big 10 and the SEC into superconferences. The disappearance of the PAC-12 is certainly to be regretted and I wonder if USC will one day regret its move to the Big 10 for the same reason Arkansas misses the now-defunct SWC. But it is at least possible that the money-related dispersal of talent across dozens of universities may end up having a very positive effect on the general level of competitiveness across the NCAA. After all, it’s a lot easier for teams like Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State to stockpile talent when all it costs them is a scholarship.

Because this certainly wasn’t happening before the NIL era. In fact, it’s been 118 years since Vanderbilt scored this many points on Alabama.

40 Vanderbilt
35 Alabama (#1)

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Shots Fired

Mike Florio takes a very serious and very public shot at Panthers’ owner David Tepper:

And the incoming quarterbacks have more power than ever before. Their money is the source of it. They have earned plenty. They have (or should have) banked a lot of it. They can make it clear to the Panthers, privately or if need be publicly, that they won’t sign a contract with the Panthers. That whoever is drafted by Tepper’s team will sit out for a year, live off his NIL money (and possibly earn more of it), and re-enter the draft the next time around. That’s how it works. If a player is drafted and doesn’t sign a contract, he re-enters the next draft. If he does it again, he can pick whichever team he wants after the next draft…

It’s high time for incoming quarterbacks to take a stand when it comes to being forced to play for an inept organization. And there’s always strength in numbers. The Panthers should be the first target for a collective “no thanks” by the top prospects.

Florio tends to be a little too inclined to tell other people what they should do for my liking. But for once, his inclination toward interference in the business of others is both justified and sound. David Tepper always looked like he’d be a disaster as an NFL team owner and a disaster is exactly what he’s turned out to be. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising if there are more influential NFL figures speaking through Florio’s voice here.

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DWFC: 25 for 25

Dorking Wanderers Football Club – of whom Castalia Library is a sponsor – has announced a new ownership program called 25 for 25, which involves the sale of 25 shares of the club plus a special limited edition retro jersey. Here’s a video of Marc White himself announcing the program and here is the link if you’d like to join the ownership club and join what I can attest is truly an absolutely fascinating ride.

I can also announce something that will not yet be apparent, since it was only settled this morning, but the limited edition 25th Anniversary retro jerseys will, like the three 2024-25 season jerseys, sport the Castalia Library logo on the back. It’s a smaller logo above the number, since there is no need to leave that space for the players names.

It would certainly make for a very cool and unusual Christmas gift, even if you’re not into English soccer. The price of the shares and shirt is around $460 at current exchange rates, which is a very good price for being able to genuinely tell people that you own a real English football team with short, but already legendary history.

Forget Wrexham. Imagine when DWFC makes it to the Premiership in 15 years or so…

UPDATE: Here is the retro jersey. The logo on the back signifies that it is truly elite.

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The Judgment of Paris

To the surprise of absolutely no one who has been there in the last ten years, Paris has completely flopped as a host of the Olympic Games. The news that immigrants, filth, and crime are not tourist attractions appears to have somehow been missed by the organizers, who were too occupied with figuring out how to alienate Christians with their satanic little rituals and ushering in the Mark of the Beast with a cashless payment system to bother with catering to potential attendees.

Paris is an easy trip, even easier than going from Minneapolis to Chicago. And literally no one I know even considered going there, not even athletes and coaches who are involved in some of the relevant sports at an international level. In fact, no one ever discussed the Olympics at all, very much unlike the recent Euros.

But one good thing did come out of the Olympics. This meme.

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Suddenly at the Olympics

The sporting world will be fortunate if the Summer Olympics ends without losing an athlete or two to the vaxx:

Slovakian athlete Tamara Potocká collapsed after completing a swim at the Olympic Games this morning, leaving spectators at the Paris Aquatics Centre shocked as she was hurriedly carried away on a stretcher. The 21-year-old competed in a heat of the women’s 200-meter individual medley at 10:30am BST this morning and clambered out of the pool having come in seventh, missing out on qualification for the later rounds.

But moments later her legs buckled and she tumbled to the ground, managing to sit down for a few seconds before falling backwards. Potocká was seen in distress at the side of the pool even as another eight swimmers lined up in preparation for the next heat, until organisers realised something was wrong and medical staff descended on the scene.

I’m not saying it’s the vaxx, but…

Speaking of the Olympics, Andrei Martynov is enjoying the spectacle of the ongoing collapse of the subverted West:

This is the triumph of post-modernism. As I stated not for once–remove all limitations on doping, proclaim transgenderism a virtue in sports and let the third wave feminists and their cuckold admirers with male genitalia enjoy the spectacle. Let the fires rise high and illuminate the remnants of the Western Civilization being consumed by insanity and perversion. For those who didn’t get the news–Olympic Movement is dead, as are or nearing death most of the so called Western “institutions” ranging from financial to military.

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Yeah, We’re Back

The team closed out last season fairly strong despite finishing in the middle of the table. Among other things, we beat the team that was in top place and thereby gave the title to the team that had been in second. I finally scored for the first time in the spring half of the season, hitting a rocket that went from the top of the box to the upper corner and gave the keeper no chance to save it. Not a top ten all-time goal, but definitely in the top 25. More importantly, since scoring isn’t my primary job anymore, I picked up three assists in the last game and the season-ending league tournament; the family showed up strong in the latter, as we literally contributed all of the team’s goals except three, and we had assists on those three.

My objective for the season was to run more and help out the attack more in addition to my primary responsibility for protecting our weakest defender. I mostly managed to do that all season, and even managed to close it out injury-free for the first time in four years. I started every game but one, but I played a bit less in the second half than before, so my minutes being down a bit may have helped me stay healthy.

I don’t know why our captain decided to get an early start this summer, as it’s usually late August when we start practicing for the new season. Perhaps he was inspired by the Euros and was itching to get back to action, I don’t know. In any event, we had our first practice tonight in a blistering heat, and although everyone’s touch was a bit off, I was pleased to discover that I’m definitely not done yet. My team won 9-3 and I contributed three of the goals, although I did put one mid-range shot wide and lazily lost my man once in a way that cost us a goal.

At my age, every new season and every new return from injury raises the question: can I still do this? After all, I’m 27 years older than my youngest teammate and one of the three oldest players in the league. So, it’s very satisfying to know that this season, at least, won’t be a problem. One thing I like about soccer is that it’s very binary. You can either do it or you can’t, and everyone knows it. You don’t have to be the star, but you do have to do your job or the team will suffer.

One thing that was kind of funny was that right before the last game, the captain told me to spread the ball around more, because the previous two games I’d tended to pass almost exclusively to our star striker. Which was fair criticism; I usually look to give either the one striker or the Magician the ball, and the Magician had missed both games. So, the game starts, I get the ball almost immediately, go down the right side, and send in a cross to the striker, who heads it emphatically home. 1-0, and I turn to the captain and spread my hands in a “hey, what was I supposed to do” gesture. He just shook his head and laughed.

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Why the Media Hates Aaron Rodgers

The man doesn’t merely throw bombs, he drops them in public:

How many Jeffrey Epstein type people are out there? And who is pulling the strings on that? Ghislaine Maxwell has a lot of ties to the Mossad. That would make sense. I mean Jeffrey didn’t seem to get some of the appointments based on merit, someone was putting him in the right spots. I don’t think he’s the only one. I think there is a weird bizarre problem that has a sex component with the elites. There’s a pedophile component to it as well which is really sick…

I would like that to be exposed. Jeffrey Epstein had the goods on everybody. There’s a lot of people that didn’t want him to be alive. The wild story around multiple people being asleep, him not being watched at the time. I just don’t believe in that many coincidences.

The Ghislaine Maxwell trial had next to no coverage. Trafficked to nobody. She is indicted for trafficking kids and nobody who she was trafficking kids to got indicted or named. And all the files still haven’t been released. Super prominent names on the flight log. I’ve seen some interesting things. Been around some interesting parties and gatherings that are strange. Not anything like Diddy party. Even at an Oscar party seeing how some of these people act, a little strange. Parties within the party that always kind of weirded me out a little bit. Getting into conspiracy stuff.

Then you know about secret society stuff the Bohemian Grove. The secrecy around that. That’s not the only secret society. The Skull and Bones at Yale which has produced all those Presidents. And the Freemasonry at its highest level. There is a sexual component to a lot of that. Obviously with Epstein, it was blackmail to get them to do what they want.

How many people are compromised by that that are in positions of power today? You are naive to think it’s none.

It’s a lot. No wonder even the sportswriters are always looking for ways to bring him down and to play up how he takes crazy drugs in the desert, while ignoring everything he says, even when doing so leads directly to their own demise.

It’s easy to see who belongs to Clown World and who doesn’t. Because athletes become successful almost entirely through their own talent and efforts, they aren’t as easily controlled by Clown World as the actors and writers, who can be manufactured and then controlled. And, if necessary, protected when their wrongdoings come to light, as we’re currently witnessing in the case of Neil Gaiman.

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Reject the Olympics

And all its wicked pomps. But, as Owen Benjamin observers, the Christian Right is always more interested in complaining about what the wicked do than they are in either eliminating the wickedness or establishing an alternative to it.

Christians are targeted for mockery with the Olympics because marketing research says they’ll tweet about it with outrage but still watch. Which means free advertisement with no drop in viewers. In fact more will probably tune in to join in on the rage.

It’s actually smart. Most other demographics would then not watch. White Christian’s will not only watch but send it to everyone they know with a “we are under attack” or “disgusting.” As they watch and share. And when the Christian’s share all of these clips but never share local community projects or anything inspiring, the people that enjoy seeing Christianity mocked because of their upbringing will see it and remember to watch the Olympics.

Hope that helps! And you can pretend that I’m attacking Christianity but I’m not, just telling you the truth as to why corporations and politicians love to troll you. They just had an obese woman as Jesus in the last supper and a bunch of trans as apostles. And every right wing grifter is promoting it furiously.

Well, that’s one reason Christians are targeted for mockery. The other, more important reason is because Clown World is quite literally satanic, the people who produce big Clown World events like the Olympics, the Oscars, the Grammys, and the Gotthard Tunnel opening ceremony are satanic servants of Clown World, and the events are used as part of their “revelation of the method” rituals, which is why the 2012 London Olympics hinted at the 2020 pandemic and why the “white rider” that appeared riding over the waters of the Seine likely presages a future depopulation program.

Don’t complain about these things. Just recognize them for what they are and turn them off. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with the sports themselves. But at the very least, skip the opening and closing ceremonies. Let them wallow in their filth. We focus on the Good, the Beautiful, and the True.

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Che Cosa?

We knew the Azzurri were mediocre, but we didn’t know they were this bad.

Switzerland 2, Italy 0

Both Swiss goals were quality. And the Swiss back 5 were excellent. But the combination of Scamacca for the Italians and Embolo for the Swiss may have been the worst pair of opposing strikers that I’ve ever seen at this level.

I sent a text to one of my Italian friends, asking what’s up with the Azzurri. His response was six – no less than six – facepalms.

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