F#CK the NFL

[Belligerent Savant]

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There are many reasons one may be inspired to say, "Fuck the NFL", but this may be in the running for the top 5 (I mean, in addition to being a blatant sponsor of the MIC and Big Pharma, helping to lead the U.S. to its 'fascist-esque' dystopia).

How many here believe these allegations -- if true, and they likely are -- are isolated to only this one team?

NFL Silent On Brian Flores' Explosive Allegations Of Attempted Game-Fixing By Dolphins Owner

There's no question that the allegations of systemic racism and "token" hiring practices levied against the NFL by Brian Flores (in a class-action lawsuit that was filed on the first day of Black History Month) have gotten most of the attention in the MSM.

But as the press delves further into the details contained in Flores' lawsuit, which was officially filed with the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, it's clear that Flores' allegations don't stop at racism, and also include allegations of game-fixing levied against one of the most powerful people in the League, Miami Dolphins' owner Stephen Ross.

The mainstream press was mostly preoccupied with Ross's claims that he was tricked into a "sham" job interview by the New York Giants because the team had already made up its mind to hire Brian Daboll as the new head coach of the New York Giants before interviewing him, allegedly to satisfy the "Rooney Rule", a league policy requiring that minority candidates be considered for top coaching jobs. As evidence, he cited a series of "mistaken" texts sent by Patriots coach Bill Belichick. He also claimed in the lawsuit that the NFL was managed "like a plantation". But his claims didn't end with the allegedly racist policy.

He also spilled some inside dirt from within the Miami Dolphins organization, from which he had just been unceremoniously fired. Specifically, he accused no less a figure than Miami Dolphins owner and NYC real-estate developer Steve Ross of offering him up to $100K per loss, a price-fixing scandal purportedly borne of a strategy to protect the team's draft pick position.

Flores claims his resistance to ownership's demands (he instead led the Dolphins to their first back-to-back winning seasons since 2003) eventually led to his firing.

Here's what the lawsuit claims:

The Dolphins owner, Stephen Ross, was unhappy with this performance not because it was under-performing. To the contrary, Mr. Ross wanted the Mr. Flores to “tank” the season to put the team in position to secure the first pick in the draft. Indeed, during the 2019 season, Mr. Ross told Mr. Flores that he would pay him $100,000 for each game lost that year. Then, when the Dolphins started winning games, due in no small part to Mr. Flores’ coaching, Mr. Flores was told by the team’s General Manager, Chris Grier, that “Steve” was “mad” that Mr. Flores’ success in winning games that year was “compromising [the team’s] draft position.”

Allegations of game-fixing should be explosive - for all we know it could be the most explosive scandal to rock the league since 'deflategate'. Flores' allegations undoubtedly conjure images of shady organized-crime characters trying to fix the World Series. The former head coach claims he was asked to throw games to protect the team's "draft position". But as Flores correctly claims, allegations like this compromise the "integrity" of the game, which is why he decided to disobey. But it certainly should make NFL fans wonder how much of what they're seeing is real, genuine competition, and not pre-arranged match-fixing.

He expanded on this in an interview with CBS This Morning, where he again claimed he felt like the request was an attack on his "integrity" which is why he refused to comply. Still, as Gayle King correctly asserts, the look at what goes on "behind closed doors" isn't good.

Flores also alleged rule-breaking on Ross's behalf when he was later pressured to illegally recruit (in violation of league rules) a quarterback. When he declined to pursue a meeting with the player, Flores claims Ross tried to "set him up" for a meeting with the QB on the billionaire's yacht. Instead of holding the meeting in contravention of league rules, Flores claimed he left immediately.

After this, he claims he was "treated with disdain" by the organization.

After the end of the 2019 season, Mr. Ross began to pressure Mr. Flores to recruit a prominent quarterback in violation of League tampering rules. Mr. Flores repeatedly refused to comply with these improper directives. Undeterred, in the winter of 2020, Mr. Ross invited Mr. Flores onto a yacht for lunch. Shortly after he arrived, Mr. Ross told Mr. Flores that the prominent quarterback was “conveniently” arriving at the marina. Obviously, Mr. Ross had attempted to “set up” a purportedly impromptu meeting between Mr. Flores and the prominent quarterback. Mr. Flores refused the meeting and left the yacht immediately. After the incident, Mr. Flores was treated with disdain and held out as someone who was noncompliant and difficult to work with.

In its response to the lawsuit, the NFL didn't even mention Flores' claims about Ross's behavior.

"The NFL and our clubs are deeply committed to ensuring equitable employment practices and continue to make progress in providing equitable opportunities throughout our organizations. Diversity is core to everything we do, and there are few issues on which our clubs and our internal leadership team spend more time. We will defend against these claims, which are without merit."

Whether the NFL ever is forced to reckon with these charges remains to be seen. It's certainly something that might interest federal prosecutors, with echoes of the baseball steroid scandal in the 1990s. But one prominent sports journalist was likely correct when he claimed Flores risked being forever "blackballed" from the sport with the game-fixing comments alone:

@RobertKlemko

To be clear, in accusing NYG of violating Rooney and the Dolphins owner of match-fixing, Brian Flores, 40, is risking being blackballed from ever coaching in the NFL again. The courage he’s showing for the benefit of the game and every Black person in football is monumental.

@SInow

In the lawsuit, Brian Flores says that Bill Belichick accidentally let him know that the Giants had already chosen Brian Daboll, three days before Flores was set to interview for the position
https://buff.ly/34oLm07

Of course, there are still five head coaching vacancies in the NFL, so there's plenty of room for this story to continue. But for some reason, while the sports press has focused so intently on Flores' allegations of racism, the response to the game-fixing allegations has been much more tepid.

Readers can find a copy of the lawsuit below:

https://www.scribd.com/document/5564498 ... from_embed

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/nfl ... hins-owner

[JackRiddler]

But but that game with KC and Buffalo. Mahomes, sidearm, never saw the like! What are you telling me, F16s and game fixing and endless ads and halftime shows with fascist aesthetics and leading the way in brain damage for thousands of young men in high school and college with false dreams?

[Belligerent Savant]

Yes! Some of the talent on display - the spectacle to behold! 'The Greatest Show on Turf', coined some years ago.

Overt entertainment shrouding underlying corruption, greed, and criminality (with a heavy compliment of long-term health consequences, both in physical and pharmaceutical-induced -- pain treatments, etc -- damage). The American Way.


Football is truly America's sport.

[DrEvil]

At least no one outside the US gives a flying eff about it, so it doesn't end up bought out by corrupt, fascist regimes (other corrupt, fascist regimes I mean) that kills thousands of slave laborers to build the stadiums and infrastructure for a few weeks of sponsored tribal warfare. Nike vs Coke! Fight!

[norton ash]

NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, IOC, FIFA. Populated by parasitic crooks and scum from top to bottom.

[MacCruiskeen]

Call it Armorball, Helmetball, Shoulderpadball, Carryball, Boringball, WhyHasItStoppedAgainBall, Cacophonyball, Advertizingball, Dollarball, TrenchWarfareBall, Wimps' Rugby, or Pass Me The Melon, but please stop calling it football.

As everyone knows, football is the game played with the feet and an actual ball, the skilful game, the free-flowing game,The Beautiful Game that is played and loved throughout the world.

Also, please stop calling football sacker. It's disrespectful.

I come in peace.

[streeb]

[Belligerent Savant]

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please stop calling it football.

You're right, of course. And my father, if he was still around -- born in Naples; lived his teen years in Argentina -- would be very upset at me for such sacrilege.
(Still fondly recall the madness during those Maradona years @ Napoli, despite my pre-teen/teen years).

Also, gotta love Norm Macdonald. Gone too soon.

[Belligerent Savant]

Nike vs Coke!

Quite right. It's rather quaint to call out the NFL specifically when in many respects, they're simply playin' ball like so many others. Enabled and incentivized.

[Joe Hillshoist]

Call it Armorball, Helmetball, Shoulderpadball, Carryball, Boringball, WhyHasItStoppedAgainBall, Cacophonyball, Advertizingball, Dollarball, TrenchWarfareBall, Wimps' Rugby, or Pass Me The Melon, but please stop calling it football.

As everyone knows, football is the game played with the feet and an actual ball, the skilful game, the free-flowing game,The Beautiful Game that is played and loved throughout the world.

Also, please stop calling football sacker. It's disrespectful.

I come in peace.

POTY

[Joe Hillshoist]

Yes! Some of the talent on display - the spectacle to behold! 'The Greatest Show on Turf', coined some years ago.

Overt entertainment shrouding underlying corruption, greed, and criminality (with a heavy compliment of long-term health consequences, both in physical and pharmaceutical-induced -- pain treatments, etc -- damage). The American Way.


Football is truly America's sport.

Have you ever played it? At school or whatever?

[Belligerent Savant]

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In school --and in the streets/park fields (scrimmage, etc) I played, in turns, basketball, baseball, football, and 'soccer'. I grew up in greater NYC (Queens) though, so football wasn't as common as a school sport as it was in the suburbs. Sometimes I QB'd (as a lefty), but normally I was wide receiver or running back. I was quite active as a young lad. Now I mostly stick to cycling, long walks and hikes.

[Joe Hillshoist]

I played it for a year in melbourne after i left high school in an amateur comp. WR mostly and running back too. I doubt the level of skill in our comp was a s high as junior high school in the US tho.

Jeeze its a shit game to play.

I played Australian footy across 5 decades, sometimes only a few games in that decade. Plus other sports like BBall, cricket, bit of league and touch footy, soccer football, field hockey. i was an elite athlete as a kid and good at most sports.

Aussie rules goes for around two hours and you are flat out the whole time except for breaks between quarters. US footy goes for 4+ hours and you're onfield for about 20 minutes ... if that. WhyHasItStoppedAgainBall indeed. Admittedly in Aussie rules you're only gonna have the ball for five minutes at most if you dominated the game but you are always playing.

With NFL/gridiron its like the players are chess pieces for the coaches and its more war like than rugby codes. (You can see how rugby developed as a game based around trench warfare and especially lines of soldiers with early firearms firing then reloading then eventually fixing bayonets.) It really is a game for coaches not players.

I used to sometimes talk about this with HMW (I wonder what he's up to these days.) Usually around the ideas Wilhelm Reich expressed about football in the Mass psychology of fascism. Reich was primarily exposed to FA football, which has buckloads of skill and individual creativity but not many peak experiences from scoring. Hugh often said all sport was fascist programming tho, he missed the point of all of it and didn't really get what reich was on about in terms of peak experience and the repression of orgone/chi/prana and FA football's low level of scoring.

Maybe more military like is the wrong term maybe ... Grid Iron is a game centred around being a drone for an authority figure and blindly following your role in play whatever else unfolds. There is so little room for players to be creative, to take the game on in their own way and on their own terms and just do wild stuff onfield.

It certainly programs players and supporters to be rigid in their thinking, do what they are told and "play their position" not improvise and do creative stuff. They used to poach former AFL players because we can punt kick a footy properly and learn how to when we are about 5 years old. They go over there and all they do is come out onfield for about 30 seconds every now and then to take one or two kicks. 15 or so years ago one guy (Sav Rocca) who was playing as a kicker made a tackle on the return player and everyone thought is was something special.

Insect like levels of specialisation in that game.

[JackRiddler]

from a few years ago, a post on fuckbook:

The unnamed religion of this empire is National Consumerism. The associated rituals and practices are countless, contradictory, and vary individually, but there is a high holiday: Super Bowl Sunday, an advertising exhibition and a patriotic mega-church service fused with a football game. The game is a theatrical performance on the relationship of violence to industry, law, masculinity, domination, the primacy of winning, the disappearance of losers, and popular assent to all of the above. The pre-game service seeks to manifest the power of its god on the final note of the national anthem, at the moment when warplanes fly over the colosseum filled with those privileged to be present in person. A hundred million people watch on the television. As befits the tenets of the faith, the NFL receives tax money from the U.S. military for including these displays of the deity's shock and awe.

wait, this one was better, from last year, especially if you recall the pregame show which is when I posted it:

February 7, 2021 ·
Starship Troopers Day!

Here's one from 2015, on the occasion of the release of the Will Smith film, Concussion. Still 5 to 25 years for the prediction to come true, but I'm guessing I'm being optimisic about how the medical science findings will affect what mothers and others think and do.

Will the next 20-30 years see the fall of both MLB and NFL? My beloved baseball once loomed larger in U.S. culture than any other sport or popular entertainment. Levels of attendance and earnings are still at historic highs - a product of intense niche marketing. But interest has seen a radical decline among the young, including potential players (outside the Caribbean, of course!). Most people find the games boring, and nowadays infested with endless commercial breaks (the ballpark experience is little different in that regard). The NFL, meanwhile, is bigger than ever. The Super Bowl is a national holiday more representative of what "America" is today than Christmas: the game, the advertising industry's annual film festival, the half-time concert, the militarism. But the NFL's obvious and bloody secret has been laid bare by a science that cannot be denied. It will take no more than a fraction of Texas mothers determining that football is too dangerous for their sons to set off a process of eventual demise. This movie, meanwhile, is really good.

(It was pretty conventional in form, but still good.)

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[Belligerent Savant]

^^^^

Insightful perspectives, Joe H and Jack.

Absolutely, the game of 'football' is very much akin to chess or medieval-era battle strategy: references to flanking maneuvers, misdirection; use of deception and gamesmanship to gain an edge; 'battle is won and lost in the trenches', 'take one for the team', etc.

Some of this isn't bad: at the more junior/less violent levels, sports-related activities generally cultivate teamwork, social bonds, self-sacrifice, collective strategy tactics, loyalty, etc.

Of course, much of this is compromised/corroded as it veers closer to the 'professional' levels, at which point a player becomes little more than a chess piece in most instances, though some -- usually the QBs -- can break through this and obtain a measure of autonomy.

One other thing, though -- putting aside the 'game-fixing' probability for at least some of these matches: professional level sports may be one of the few remaining, perhaps the ONLY remaining, true instances of MERITOCRACY in action. Playtime and pay are quite explicitly tied to performance and ability -- or sheer will -- which, on the field of play, CANNOT BE FAKED (again, there may be certain exceptions/fakery at an individual athlete level, though this is mostly in baseball with 'spiked' balls or stealing signs, etc. -- welcome other examples).

Conversely, in the corporate/white-collar world, "fake it 'till you make it" is a key aspect of potential success. Either that or blatant office politics, favoritism, nepotism, etc. (once more, there are many exceptions to this). It's not about MERIT, but rather, aligning oneself accordingly with those that are influential, or being savvy enough to convincingly lie to clients or your superiors about what you do and your actual levels of competency.

Team Sports -- when not rigged (and it may be that the percentage of rigged games goes up quite a bit when the games are 'meaningful') -- may be one of the few "honest" displays of merit and ability, which is part of the reason it can sometimes be so appealing to watch. Anything can happen, on any given game, in any given team sport.