Tag: sports

The Thumb on the Scale

While I stopped subscribing to NFL Game Pass and playing fantasy football after the NFL went woke, I still watch all the playoff games. But one thing that made it easier to invest considerably less time in the sport that I’ve followed since childhood was the observation I’d made around the same time, which is that the NFL Commissioner’s office appears to have gotten more aggressively involved in influencing the end results than in previous decades.

While there were a few plays over the years that struck me as highly questionable, for the most part they appeared to be sporadic and generally free of any larger pattern. (See: Drew Pearson a) catching the ball out of bounds, b) pushing off in the 1975 Minnesota – Dallas game, and c) the two non-holding calls on both plays.) The approach has definitely changed, because it’s now become regularly recognizable which team the league would prefer to win the game by the end of the first drive by each team. Note that I said “drive”, not “possession”, because it’s usually impossible to learn anything from an initial three-and-out.

A lot of this year’s playoff games were really good. And the NFL isn’t dictating or scripting the games, it appears to be content to simply put a thumb on the scale, giving the preferred team a small advantage that is worth somewhere between 3 and 7 points in the end. This is an advantage that can be overcome fairly easily by a superior or very well-coached team, but in contests in which the “game of inches” description is apt, it tends to make the crucial difference. The usual reason for assigning the advantage is to help the inferior team and keep the games close, except in those cases when the league has a larger narrative to protect.

For example, in the conference championship games, it was immediately clear that the refs were favoring Philadelphia and Kansas City. I didn’t initially understand why, since the “Andy Reid Bowl” story didn’t seem to justify it, until I read this line from Peter King’s regular Monday morning column.

Historic game: It’s the first of the 57 Super Bowls with two starting Black quarterbacks facing off. Mahomes plays in his third for Kansas City, Jalen Hurts in his first for Philadelphia

And there’s the missing piece. The narrative drives everything.

Philadelphia had absolutely no need of the assistance, as even an excellent 49ers team couldn’t hope to overcome the loss of both its quarterbacks to injury. (The NFL really should go back to 14 game regular seasons and 10 teams in the playoffs. They won’t, but they should in the interest of the quality of the games.) But Kansas City needed every bit of the thumb-on-the-scale in order to eke out a 23-20 win over Cincinnati; the Chiefs also required a failed two-minute drive by the Bengals offense plus an incredibly dumb but 100-percent legitimate penalty by a Bengals linebacker in order to kick the winning field goal in regular time.

As strange as it might sound, recognizing this pattern of subtle intervention tends to make the sport a little more interesting to me, not less. Now it all makes more sense, and I find myself particularly interested in the first two drives, just so I can work out which team is going to get the benefit of the dubious calls at the important moments. Because it’s also observable that the referees attempt to cover what I presume is their league-ordered bias by making a dubious call or two in favor of the disadvantaged team late in the game if that will help make the game closer. See: the ridiculous roughing-the-passer call against the Giants at the end of the Minnesota – New York game.

Now, I can understand if die-hard fans of the game find this hard to believe. But so far, the hypothesis has not been falsified.

UPDATE: These penalty statistics are interesting, especially the comparison with the two previous games between Cincinnati and Kansas City.

  • 4-30, 2-11
  • 6-55, 4-35
  • 9-71, 4-55

The statistics are similar for the NFC Championship game between San Francisco and Philadelphia.

  • 11-81, 4-34

These discrepancies are particularly intriguing given the fact that the Bengals were the 2nd least penalized team in terms of yardage whereas the 49ers were the 12th least penalized team. The Eagles were 8th and the Chiefs were 20th.

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They Know and They’re Scared

An NFL player sends his friend a damning request:

Today I received this message from a former NFL player

So many current & former players are scared of what this vax is doing to their friends & they’re not allowed to discuss it publicly

I promised him I would be his voice

But my God what is happening to us

This is horrible

You could see what the players on the field at the Bills-Bengals game were thinking: there, but for the grace of God, go I. And a lot of Americans are now beginning to realize what they have done to themselves, and worse, to their children. That’s why the government and the media are pulling out all the stops to save the Narrative.

But it won’t work. The truth will come out.

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The Most Likely Scenario

Steve Kirsch consults a series of medical experts and reaches a logical and informed conclusion about the recent NFL incident.

There is a lot of speculation on the Internet about whether or not Damar Hamlin will recover from his injury.

I am very sad to report that this is unlikely.

While I very much hope that I am wrong about this, the evidence that is known is not favorable.

The medical experts I consulted believe that there is a high likelihood that Damar Hamlin was brain dead within 10 minutes after he dropped to the ground.

The primary reason for this conclusion is the 9 minutes of CPR. It is simply very rare for someone not to be brain dead at that point. Nobody I talked to has ever heard of such a case. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. It just means it is rare.

I assume that the reason no information on the unfortunate Mr. Hamlin has been released is because the hospital and the league know perfectly well that he has, for all intents and purposes, passed away. However, this is precisely the sort of highly public incident that the pro-vaxx forces have feared from the start, and they are now promulgating as much confusion and nonsense as they can in order to convince people to deny the evidence of their eyes and linking the young man’s sudden death to his vaccination status.

Now, perhaps this is not true and Mr. Hamlin will be released from the hospital tomorrow. We’ll have to wait and see what happens, but Occam’s Razor suggests that reports of Mr. Hamlin’s death due to cardiac arrest will be delayed for a day or three as the Official Story is concocted in order to hide the fact that it was caused by an elevated heart rate + the adverse effects of the vaxx.

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NFL Game Stopped Mid-Game

A statement from the National Football League:

“Tonight’s Buffalo Bills-Cincinnati Bengals game has been postponed after Buffalo Bills’ Damar Hamlin collapsed. Hamlin received immediate medical attention on the field by team and independent medical staff and local paramedics. He was then transported to a local hospital where he is in critical condition.

“Our thoughts are with Damar and the Buffalo Bills. We will provide more information as it becomes available. The NFL has been in constant communication with the NFL Players Association, which is in agreement with postponing the game.”

The time in which the media and the medical community is going to be able to credibly deny the pernicious nature of the vaxx is rapidly vanishing. The government, of course, may be a different story, given the way that they’re just beginning to get around to admitting some aspects of the truth of a famous event in 1963.

UPDATE: We know the media is attempting to cover this up because the “tremendous hit” narrative is totally false. On Sunday, Brock Purdy, the quarterback of the 49ers, was hit by the Raiders approximately 200 times harder than Hamlin was.

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The Greatest is Gone

Pelé, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died Thursday. He was 82

Pelé was the epitome of the Beautiful Game. He was as gracious as he was graceful, and he was less beloved for his unparalleled athletic abilities than for his joyful and magnanimous spirit. He will not only be remembered by Brazilians, but by soccer fans around the world.

Requiscat in pace.

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When There is Nothing to Play For

Play to win anyhow. Peter King writes about a meaningless game from fifteen years ago.

Fifteen years ago this week, on Dec. 29, 2007, the 15-0 New England Patriots traveled to New Jersey to try to finish an undefeated season against the New York Giants, who, in a playoff sense, had nothing to play for. They were locked in as the fifth seed in the NFC playoffs, due to play at Tampa Bay in the first round of the playoffs, win or lose in Week 17.

It’s one of the best regular-season games I’ve covered as a football writer, which is paradoxical. Why was a game with two teams locked into their playoff positions so good? The Patriots had clinched home-field advantage through the AFC playoffs entering that night, yet played like it was a playoff game because of the potential for an undefeated season. The Giants, after beating Buffalo the previous weekend, also had nothing to play for.

Tom Coughlin doesn’t play meaningless games, however. I’m glad to see the Giants’ coach that day has written a book now, A Giant Win (written with Greg Hanlon, Grand Central Publishing) to commemorate that championship season for the franchise—with special attention paid to the Saturday night game on the final weekend of that regular season.

Coughlin on the game, and on his decision to play his full team against the Patriots:

“As soon as we won the previous week, you know how this goes because it’s scripted somewhere for the writers. ‘OK, coach, you gonna play your starters against New England?’ It started right away. I listened to that a little bit. I thought to myself, ‘We are the New York Giants. We are the flagship team of the National Football League. We are red, white and blue. I am not going to allow that future historians would look back upon this game, where the Giants would play the Patriots, the Patriots having a chance to have an undefeated season, and the New York Giants do not put their best foot forward. We are going to play our starters. We are going to play to win.’

“When I told our team that on Monday, they rallied. They wanted to play against the 15-0 New England Patriots. If you remember, we’re leading in the fourth quarter. We got the lead. It’s one of those games where, they beat us, but when we walked off, we knew we could play with them.”

In the eyes of many, it was a 35-38 Giants’ victory over New England. Coaches hate moral victories, but this was one for the Giants. It was also memorable for New England, of course, finishing a perfect 16-0 regular season by beating back a gallant bid for a big upset by a heavy underdog. I remember Tom Brady and Randy Moss in the New England locker room post-game. They couldn’t stop smiling. Brady was downright giddy.

He wouldn’t be giddy five weeks later, but that’s another story. When I spoke to Coughlin recently about the game, it was a pre-dawn memory the next day that stood out.

“I gotta tell you one more story because this is what will be most meaningful,” he said. “It was a great performance. I’m really proud of my team. That’s a team that’s 16-0, we know we can play with them. All that stuff. Next morning at 5 o’clock I come into my office and I see the red light’s on the phone. A voicemail. I pick up the phone and it’s John Madden. He’s saying, ‘Tom, I just wanted to call. Because I want you to know that is the greatest thing that’s happened to the NFL in the last 10 years.’ He said, ‘This is the National Football League—we don’t NOT play our players. We owe a responsibility to our fans to perform every day. That’s what you did. I’m just so proud to be a part of that. I’m so proud of what you’ve accomplished and what your team has accomplished.’ He said, ‘I’m very emotional right now. But I want you to know how I felt.’ I played it for my team in our next team meeting. It was moving. Very moving.”

The two teams met in the Super Bowl. The Giants beat the previously 18-0 Patriots, 17-14.

This historical anecdote is a useful reminder that excellence has its roots in effort. And success isn’t just luck combined with talent, it’s also a consequence of positive philosophy.

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2-2 (4-2)

Argentina have won the World Cup. Congratulations to the Albiceleste and their fans. It’s good to see a national team that actually represents its nation win, instead of the team that represents the state that successfully imports the best Africans. And while it was a fun and exciting tournament, one is left with one conclusion.

Too many penalties. So many penalties.

The game really should not be designed to encourage teams to build their offense around playing for fouls in the box.

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Death at the World Cup

We don’t know it was the vaxx… but it was the vaxx. Grant Wahl, the dean of American soccer journalism, is dead at 48.

Grant Wahl, a former Sports Illustrated senior writer, died Friday in Qatar while covering the 2022 World Cup. He was 48. Wahl is survived by his wife, Dr. Céline Gounder, and two dogs, Zizou (named after French soccer legend Zinedine Zidane) and Coco, who readers came to know over the years through Wahl’s coverage of the sport.

In a joint statement, SI’s co-editors in chief, Ryan Hunt and Stephen Cannella, said: “We’re shocked and devastated at the news of Grant’s passing. We were proud to call him a colleague and friend for two decades—no writer in the history of SI has been more passionate about the sport he loved and the stories he wanted to tell. Our hearts go out to Céline and his family, as well as everyone who loved his work. He will always be part of the SI family.”

Wahl spent 24 years at SI, joining in November 1996. Two years in, as a budding reporter, he volunteered to cover a growing game that few around SI’s offices cared about: soccer. He covered the World Cup in France that summer and quickly worked his way up to a senior writer for the publication in 2000. Eventually he would become one of the most respected soccer authorities in the world.

He was an excellent sportswriter, and he died with his boots on:

American sports journalist Grant Wahl, who died unexpected while covering the World Cup in Qatar, was in good spirits and joking with colleagues just minutes before his sudden death, an eyewitness said. Wahl, 48, died after he “fell ill” at the Lusail Stadium in the final minutes of the FIFA World Cup quarterfinal game between the Netherlands and Argentina Friday, a Qatari spokesperson said.

His SI colleague John Wertheim remembers him. RIP.

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Goodbye Brazil

And this is why no Brazilian has ever considered Neymar to be anywhere near Pele’s level despite setting the all-time scoring record for the Selecao. Nice goal in extra time, to be sure, but scoring just one goal in 120 minutes is a very bad idea against a team as good at taking penalties as Croatia.

FIFA’s dream final of Portugal (Ronaldo) vs Argentine (Messi) is still possible.

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The Ultimate Troll

“It truly has been a second home to me.”
–Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, on Soldier Field, after the Packers beat Chicago 28-19

You really have to keep in mind the context here. Because, with yesterday’s victory, the Green Bay Packers finally surpassed the Chicago Bears for the most NFL wins by a franchise. Both teams entered the game with 786 wins; the Packers now have 787. The New York Giants are in third place at 713. This is the first time the Bears haven’t led the NFL in all-time wins since 1921, when they were known as the Decatur Staleys.

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