THREAD: Congress & The Football Penalty

Anyone else find it remotely odd that every name mentioned in this article matches one in Congress?

Notice it was published at roughly noon today, 1/11/2021 - this is important and we'll come to back to

2) Let's look at the names listed...

Browns > Anthony G. Brown > Maryland [D]

Baker > Dave Baker > Minnesota [R]

Mayfield > Debbie Mayfield > Florida [R]

Steelers > ref to Steele dossier

3) Joel Bitonio > Joel Fry > Iowa [R]

Cleveland > George Cleveland > North Carolina [R]

Michael Dunn > Neal Dunn > Florida [R]

Blake Hance > Blake Moore > Utah [R]

Peter King > Pete King > New York [R] (just left office on 1/3)

New York Jets > Joe Jett > Arkansas [R]

4) Now that we've got all the names sorted - let's looks at the comms...

emergency offensive

25 years thanks to some real luck > 25th amendment

forced to play > backed in a corner

held up their end of the bargain

late in the game

5) Steelers defenders > Steele dossier defenders

had just met him in the locker room

stepped up in the fourth quarter

documented

arrival

signed off

practice squad

Week 17

within driving distance of Cleveland

regular testing program

signed with a new team > flipped

I was sent a copy of the so-called Super League document earlier today and have spent the afternoon doing some number crunching on it.

A few key takeaways

(1/)

The plan would guarantee massive income to a 15 club elite and cement financial gaps not only between those competing in the Super league and those not, but within it.

(2/)

The plan envisages one off payments of up to €350 million to the fifteen founder members, but only six clubs would receive the full amount with five of the initial members receiving just €100 or €112.5 million.

(3/)

The 15 breakaway clubs have generously deigned to allow 5 merit based qualifiers each season. But the system is totally skewed against them. They have no say in running the Super League and are entirely excluded from a commercial pot worth 15% of income

(4/)

Moreover, there is an 'equal' share of revenue that is not equal at all. The qualifiers are excluded from half of this pot of money (worth around €1.85 BILLION)

(5/)

Female athletes are still subjected to the equivalent of a sex test, based on whether they appear feminine.

Dutee Chand in her successful appeal against the validity of the IAAF’s hyperandrogegism regulations, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) originally began investigating her after complaints that she “ran like a boy”.

Chand was banned in 2014 after the AFI decided that her androgen (testosterone) levels were above the 10 nmol/L permitted by the IAAF’s hyperandrogegism regulations, resulting in her missing the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Androgens, including testosterone, are naturally produced in significant – but varying – levels by both men and women.

Endocrine profiles in 693 elite athletes in the post-competition setting’, found that 16.5% of the ‘male’ athletes had low testosterone levels, and 13.7% of the ‘females’ had high testosterone levels, ‘with complete overlap between the

The Premier League schedule can just about handle the games that have been postponed... so far.

But the league is on the brink of a fixture crisis, and the failure to entertaining agreeing curtailment / abandonment options may come back and bite them hard.

From the initial fixture build there were three Premier Lague catchup dates built in - the midweeks of March 2, April 20 and May 19.

However, these placeholders were primarily for teams which reached the Carabao Cup final and/or the FA Cup final.

Added to that, even without COVID postponements, if a PL team were to get the semis of the Champions League or Europa League and the final of both domestic cups there aren't enough spare midweeks to fit those games in.

Looking at you, Man City, Man United and Tottenham.

Now it looks like we have the added complication of Tottenham v Fulham being postponed.

If at least one of those clubs remains in the FA Cup through to Round 5, the game can only be played on March 2.

But it could get even more complicated.

If Tottenham reach the Carabao Cup final, they also have to rearrange (coincidentally) Fulham v Tottenham which is due to be played April 24.

If Spurs go far in the UEL and to the FA Cup final, they will have nowhere to play TWO matches before the season deadline of May 23.

#JusticeFootballLeague #JFL #EyeDropMedia
#JusticeIsComing #Trump #DarkToLight #NFL
A sporting analogy. RedPill Camouflage? #RedPilled

💥💥💥30 TEAMS - THE JUSTICE LEAGUE💥💥

👇👇👇👇 SEE TEAMS BELOW VIDEO👇👇👇👇

The Gameweek 11 Preview {THREAD}

Covering:
⭐️ Ones To Watch
⭐️ Captaincy
⭐️ Match Ups

With help from @fpl_shaker

#FPLCommunity #FPL

1) ⭐️The Watchlist⭐️

First off let's update the watchlist, focusing on players that you should keep an eye on going forward.

Quick reminder of last week's additions:

DEF: Cancelo - A bit punty since he is not nailed. Now it seems like he's playing midweek UCL games while Mendy plays the PL ones

MID: Jota - Looked good once again, bargain!

FWD: Vardy - Should be good going forward

DF: Lamptey (£4.8m) - Brighton started the season looking like one of the worst defences in the league, but seemed to have figured things out somewhat, only conceding 6 goals in their last 6 games which included tough tests against Spurs and Liverpool.

Facing four favourable fixtures in their next 5, Lamptey could have a baseline of clean sheets to support his penchant for attacking returns.

Marseille’s Morgan Sanson is the latest rumoured Villa signing, with a number of respected outlets reporting the signing today, but what can the midfielder bring to Villa Park, and where would he fit into the side?

Sanson began his career with an excellent reputation and with a lot of expectation – earning10 caps for the French Under-21 side. A serious injury to his cruciate ligament, however, set the midfielder back somewhat. Since 2016, however, Sanson has stayed relatively injury free.

As a player, Sanson is a very active player. His statistical profile, compared to Ligue Un central midfielders this season, shows a healthy number of both defensive and attacking actions, a significant creative output, the will to enter the box, and a lot of ball carrying.

The big question around Sanson is that of who he would replace in our midfield. Whether it would be in preparation for Douglas Luiz to return to Man City, to compete for place with John McGinn, or to replace Ross Barkley if his deal did not become a permanent one?

Stylistically, John McGinn makes the most sense. Looking at Sanson’s profile again, this time with McGinn’s, the similarities are clear. Both players are ball-carrying, box-to-box midfielders whose passing isn’t a strength. Both can score, create, and love to enter the box.

Back in 2004, Ricky Williams, the American football player, left the Miami Dolphins after a third strike for smoking weed and disappeared. He’d had a notable career besides, but this was the capper: He said goodbye to his coach from Hawaii and vanished off the face of the Earth.

I was like, I want to be the guy who finds him. My memory is a little foggy here, but I think I got Ricky’s email address from the godfather of one of Esquire’s editors. It was an AOL account, I remember. I wrote Ricky and asked him if he’d talk to me if I found him.

He replied! And he said if I found him, he would tell me everything. AMAZING. But first—finding him. There were reports that he’d been in Italy, Fiji, Japan, and, most recently, Australia. A guy who’d felt trapped was now making the most of his freedom. Ricky was on THE MOVE.

I asked Peter, my editor, if I could go searching for Ricky. I didn’t really think I would find him. But I figured I’d get some crazy travel out of it, giving chase. That’s what I was calling the story in my head: “Chasing Ricky.” I imagined I’d always be one step behind.

Peter asked me what I thought my chances were. My brain calculated, “Less than one tenth of one percent.” My mouth said, “50-50.” I don’t like to think I was lying so much as my brain and mouth had been in disagreement. Anyway, a coin toss was good enough for Peter: Go.

What do you see?

Ball is a Son/Sun?

Purple+Orange=Dark or Light? [D]?

8 Stars, 5 Stripes, Stars+Stripes= ? and ?

See the Shadow on the Sun/Basketball?

See the Crescent Moon?

Distance is important?

Names are important?

Phoenix?

Suns?

THEY NEVER THOUGHT WE WOULD THINK ?!

1.
"Pull the brakes" comms

09/10/2018 SHOCK: Italian Motorcycle racing star does the unthinkable by grabbing a rival's brakes at 140mph in Race on Live TV!

Moto2 star Romano Fenati SACKED by team for sabotage and endangering a

Dear Steve, I wrote you but still ain't callin',
I left my cell, my pager, and my home phone at the bottom,
I sent two letters back in autumn, you must not-a got 'em,
There probably was a problem at the training ground or somethin'...

Sometimes I scribble addresses too sloppy when I jot 'em,
But anyways, fuck it, what's been up, man. How's Lee Charnley?
Bet he wants you to quit, with that contract they have to honour,
I bought your book for my daughter, you’re a great author,
Next I’ll buy her Sweeper!

I read about Joelinton too I'm sorry,
You ain’t the first manager to have player who didn’t want him,
I know you probably hear this everyday, but I'm your biggest fan,
I even sung your name when we won away at West Ham,

I got a room full of your posters and your pictures man,
I like the shit you did with false 10s too, that shit was fat,
Anyways, I hope you get this man, hit me back,
Just to chat, truly yours, your biggest fan
This is John Carver

Dear Steve, you still ain't called or wrote, I hope you have a chance,
I ain't mad, I just think it's fucked up you don't answer written media,
If you didn't wanna talk to me outside the training ground,
You didn't have to, but you coulda signed an autograph for Steve Stone,

The U.S.-China Rivalry

The US and China are the 2 greatest rivals in the 21st century. It’s American democracy vs Chinese socialism at the level of Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal in the 2008 Wimbledon Men’s Final. Who’s the better player? American democracy or Chinese socialism?

2/Probably no people have scrutinized American democracy more than China has, the world’s oldest civilization. “American exceptionalism” is under Beijing’s microscope. American democracy has catapulted the US into becoming the world’s greatest superpower in less than 200 years.

3/China, whose momentum will overtake the US in GDP by mid-century, has the same drive as Nadal (who proclaimed Federer was “the greatest player in the history [of tennis]") going against Federer at Wimbledon Final in 2008. Ever cautious, patient and wise, China respects its

4/opponent (as did Nadal) for its achievements. In order to better the US Beijing knows it must be more competitive, up its game and improve its skills. The US-China rivalry is one wherein “iron sharpens iron”. Yet whereas Beijing views American democracy thru an objective,

5/ideologically unbiased lens, the same can’t be said of US Congress, many of whom fear/think China wants to “take over the world” (to wit SoS Mike Pompeo) to “spread communism”. Having 5,000 years of culture, including Confucianism, China has the clearer and more objective view

Lots of discussion on media coverage of BIG BETS this week. They’re click-bait-y. Novel. Maybe there’s some envy or schadenfreude at play. But that’s not the real issue. The problem is how operators control media coverage.
👇

I don’t find big bets nearly as problematic as, say, coverage of someone hitting a 12-leg parlay, but the reason we are inundated with this type of coverage is the same: the operators are deciding what is newsworthy and what isn’t.

The issue is pretty fundamental. Most sports betting media entities exist only because of operators. They are literally paid by operators. That’s how the affiliate model works. Would we be ok if a newspaper covering the Trump White House were funded by the administration?

We’d expect some bias, wouldn’t we? As a result, the sports betting media is mainly a marketing arm for operators right now. Journalists have relationships with operators, who feed them information they want published. Operators understand the accessibility bias & exploit it.

Back to that 12-leg parlay. Operators *love* the 12-leg parlay because their theoretical hold multiplies as the number of legs on the parlay increases. Do operators want to see parlay success stories covered? YES!

WARRIORS-CLIPPERS REWATCH THREAD

Okay, thought I would get into the Warriors' unbelievable comeback win over the Clippers last night. Let's dig in.

Steph Curry's first 3 of the night came off an unnecessary Nicolas Batum gamble. Shouldn't have gone for the deflection.

This is a good use of Curry as an inbounder in ATOs. Leveraging his gravity to get Oubre a drive to the rim from a fake handoff, made easier by the Clippers not having anyone to help on the drive.

Really crafty pushoff by Curry on Patrick Beverley here. Forces Beverley under Looney's screen, and that's all the space Curry needs.

Hedging/trapping Curry has become the norm now, especially with the kind of roster Curry has to work with (i.e., average-to-below-average shooting).

I absolutely love this wrinkle they've put in to prevent hedging/trapping. Somewhat of a screen-the-screener/DHO action.

I've noticed Kerr likes to go with a 2-2-1 zone press with the 2nd unit every now and then. Really cuts into the shot clock and forces the opposing offense to rush. Case in point: Reggie Jackson doing god-knows-what and dribbling into nothingness. Warriors eventually force a TO.

(Sorry, long, rambling, unthought-out thread here) I've lost count of the amount of times I have been proud to call myself an Unioner, and of their commitment to direct, and often local action instead of parrotting nebulous and often ultimately meaningless phrases.

I know personally people at the club who take very seriously their commitment to eradicating racism from the club, as well as from football itself. But I have seen and heard racism in the stands, as well as on the way to and from games too many times before.

I have always shied away from acknowledging it. I've accentuated the positives, I've said it comes only from a small minority (which is also true), all because I don't want my own romantic image of the club to be tarnished, and I don't want to be guilty through association.

Or, to be honest, to endanger my privileged position of being able to write about the club I adore in the city I love.

When it happens it is a reflection of a broader racism in Germany, and in football, but that is no excuse for my inaction, for my sitting on my hands and hoping the problem goes away, so I can just go back to hailing them as a rebellious club from a rebellious city.

I'm starting to think Marvin Lewis is one of the more underappreciated NFL coaches of the past couple decades. Staying 16 years in one place is TOUGH, and I feel like people have forgotten a lot of context along the way.

In the 12 years before Marvin Lewis arrived, the Bengals were 55-137. In the two years since he left, they are 6-25-1. That's 14 years and 0 playoff appearances.

Lewis was 131-122-3 with 7 playoff appearances.

Lewis took over a 2-14 team in 2003. His first three years, he went 8-8, 8-8 and 11-5.

He got his QB in Year 2 in Carson Palmer and reached the playoffs in Year 3. But on his very first throw, Palmer tore his knee.

So, we begin the narrative that Lewis was 0-7 in playoff games. Fair criticism to a point. But here were his seven QBs for those playoff games:

Jon Kitna after 1 throw
Carson Palmer
Andy Dalton
Andy Dalton
Andy Dalton
Andy Dalton
AJ McCarron

The Bengals, who have a cheap owner as GM, not only struggled to find Marvin Lewis a QB but also struggled to get him much of anything. They consistently let good players walk, from Carson Palmer to Marvin Jones to Kevin Zeitler to Eric Steinbach to Leon Hall to Reggie Nelson.

INSPIRING JOURNEY OF TIM PAINE

- Debut in 2010 with Smith, scored 104 in 2 tests.
- Included in BGT. Third highest run-scorer for Australia with 183 runs in the series.
- Broke his right index finger batting in the Australian Cricketers Association All-Stars T20 match.

- Done Surgery. Broke his finger again. Surgery again.
- Made a comeback in Australia's domestic circuit but never managed to deliver as a batsman.
- In 2017, he made up his mind to retire from FC cricket.
But, life always has something more in the bag than what you expect.

- Tasmania knocked on his door with a lifeline. They extended Paine's contract but he was not their first choice WK.
- Did not play the first two matches of the 2017-18 Sheffield Shield.
- But, When he was finally selected, he made the most of the opportunity.

- Picked to play in the warm-up matches before the 2017-18 Ashes. Scored 52 vs England.
*Biggest Turnaround*
- Paine was selected as a WK for the 2017/18 Ashes at home. 
- Answering his critics and the people who doubted his selection, he delivered both with bat & gloves.

- Paine averaged 48 and made 26 dismissals behind the wickets (25 catches and 1 stumping) in 2017-18 Ashes.
- Ball Tampering incident. Australia was going through a rough phase. Paine was asked to lead Australia vs SA in the last test. Australia lost the series by 2-1.

A simple solution for Welsh rugby, achieved by splitting the administration and control of the community and professional game......1/

The professional game owns the competitions it plays in (so the actual clubs are the shareholders) and form an organisation similar to PRL in order to best serve their commercial interests. Competition & broadcast income no longer flows through the accounts of the WRU but 2/

rather is paid to the incorporated organisation owned by the clubs (with the WRU having a share, so an interest, in that organisation). The WRU share isn't dividend paying, however. That organisation then deals with all aspects of the professional game 3/

from dealing with CVC, to negotiating competition and broadcast income, to sponsors for the Autumn International series, to working with World Rugby on the World Calendar - everything. 4/

From the funds of that corporation, a licence fee is paid to the WRU for the use of the stadium. This licence fee replaces the grant the professional game pays (north of £10m at the moment) to the community game each year. This money, plus whatever the community game 5/