It was interesting witnessing, in real time, the Twitter mob calling for prayers for Mr. Hamlin. These are the same people who have no problem verbally assaulting any praying Christian who opposes any of their warped agendas. Yet now, praying is a good thing, in fact ESPN devoted many camera angles to Bills players praying for their teammate, as if this is an isolated, solemn event.

As it turns out, to avoid rupturing the fragile sensitivities of some viewers, liberal networks immediately end their broadcasts and never show what happens after almost every game: players from both teams, together, kneeling in prayer and giving thanks they made it through another Sunday relatively whole.

While serving on the USS Midway, I remember two catastrophic, peacetime events with loss of life. In each case, the carrier conducted searches for survivors before continuing on with the mission. And that pales in comparison to those fighting on the ground who witness their buddies being horrifically injured and/or killed. No one on Twitter called for the suspension of battles.

Did anyone on social media call for the suspension of the Afghanistan airlift after the bombing? You know, so that fellow soldiers could mourn? No. As in countless examples, our soldiers carried on their mission and received little genuine concern for their understandable mental health trauma.

In fact very few on Twitter even care that, to this day, we have veterans who are homeless and in need of financial assistance. (In case you wish to donate to a more-than-worthy and effective group that helps veterans in need, please go to Code of Vets.)

But I was dutifully reminded that there is a difference between war and entertainment.

Thanks for the tip.

Yes, there IS a difference. Soldiers are compensated at a very low rate of pay considering the possible risks. Professional football players are offered millions of dollars for their services and unlike soldiers, and can opt out of lucrative contracts any time. Athletes acknowledge the risks and most choose to take the money and assume those risks. Those who will remind us about the difference are clearly acknowledging that those who entertain us are more important than those who keep the nation safe, and let’s also not forget those underpaid police officers whom the Twits are quick to vilify.

As a matter of consistent disclosure, I am a lifelong New England Patriots fan and was watching the Bills-Cincinnati Bengals game because the outcome has a profound effect on our final game of the season, which just happens to be this coming Sunday in Buffalo. Most of those who were commenting on Twitter after the incident were not watching the game, merely reacted to what was “trending”, saw and reacted to #DamarHamlin, and to show what good people they are, decided to donate to his charity that provides Christmas gifts to underprivileged children.

When the game was officially postponed, a GoFundMe for his charity “Chasing M’s” started circulating through social media.

The online toy drive fundraiser was started by Hamlin in 2020 with the then-goal of raising $2,500. Since his collapse, fans have raised more than $3 million as of Tuesday morning.
— WGN 9, 1/3/23

Charity is a good thing, when sincere. Seeing how we’re over a week removed from Christmas, where the hell were these benefactors before Mr. Hamlin’s injury?

As usual, it’s not all about the cause but about participants feeling good about themselves. Again, most of those commenting on social media were not watching the game as it was unfolding and know virtually nothing about the sport, team and players. One Tweet proved that point from one of the platform’s most notorious attention whores.

While making a point to tell others to belatedly donate to the toy drive, Alyssa Milano couldn’t even spell the man’s name correctly. What does that say about her knowledge of the topic and those involved?

There have been many sensational injuries in professional sports over the years, so this sudden concern for putting players first is so fake, especially coming from sports and some social media users. On any given Sunday, local and national sports segments highlight the best “hits” of the day and on YouTube, there are hundreds of video compilations of football collisions and hockey knockouts. In not one of those examples has a game been suspended, no matter how horrific the injury and emotional distress clearly displayed by the players and fans in attendance.

Look up the deadly Dale Earnhardt Daytona 500 crash, the football hit that left Darryl Stingley a quadriplegic, the infamous Joe Theismann leg break, goaltender Clint Malarchuk whose carotid artery and jugular veins were slashed during a hockey game, or the more recent Gordon Hayward ankle-snap heard through the stadium that left players and basketball fans in attendance visually disturbed.

In none of those cases was the race or games suspended or cancelled. In Earnhardt’s, Stingley’s, Malarchuk’s and Theisman’s case, the Internet as we now know it did not yet exist. In Hayward’s case, users on social media generously shared the video of him in justifiable agony. Teammates, in the latter cases, composed themselves as professionals and played on. And as the life-is-more-important game is being played, let’s not leave out the fan who was seriously injured by shards of a broken bat at Fenway Park. The game was resumed and completed.

It’s not clear if the Mensa class in the NFL front office and the Players Association thought through the ramifications of this precedent-setting decision to “suspend” the Bills-Bengals game. This didn’t just affect the two teams on the field and the suddenly-triggered on social media.

There are still five teams in the American Football Conference who, going into the last week of the season, have a chance at making the playoffs and last night’s game could’ve made a difference on whose season may have officially ended, and who will have to face who on Wild Card Weekend and seeding. The questions going forward are is last night’s game going to be replayed, will it be “erased”, and how fair will that be to all the affected teams? Anyone on social media even hinting at these very valid questions was mercilessly descended on like flies on shit.

And lastly, many on Twitter sought to shut down and threaten to “cancel” anyone who brought up anything about Hamlin’s vaccination and/or booster status. Over the last few years, many of the things we were told to ignore as “conspiracy theories” turned out to be true. Given the documented increase in Myocarditis in young, healthy vaccinated males and the many videos showing players dropping on the field, asking if Hamlin was recently boosted is a valid question. Most NFL players were required to get vaccinated and boosted and Buffalo’s own superstar receiver Cole Beasley missed all of last season because he refused to get vaccinated. He’s only played in a few games this season so that topic is even more pertinent within the Bills organization.

So have we now reached that pinnacle moment in professional football where estrogen has overtaken testosterone and emotions have supplanted the toughness the NFL promotes? Is any game now subject to suspension when a player gets hurt and who decides how bad that injury will be to stop a game? Other sports that have longer seasons may survive such instances but these decisions in a sport like football will have ripple effects that can impact teams and careers.

And to have it dictated by the sports-ignorant on social media would be the biggest travesty of all.

UPDATE

Now that the emotion has begun to subside, reality has now set in and the aforementioned precedent has now become the real issue.

Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn was not happy with playoff proposals approved by the NFL’s competition committee on Thursday night. She urged other members of the committee to vote against the approved scenarios in a memo obtained by ESPN’s Seth Wickersham.

“The proper process for making rule change (sic) is in the off-season,” Blackburn wrote. “It is not appropriate to put teams in a position to vote for something that may introduce bias, favor one team over another or impact their own situation when the vote takes place immediately before the playoffs.”

Blackburn’s main issue is that the traditional standard of seeding in this scenario is getting thrown out in the middle of a season.
— Sports Illustrated, 1/6/23

Maybe those who demanded I either take down or rewrite the headline of this post, now take the time to reread what I wrote and maybe see that this wasn’t meant to be insensitive to the injury of Damar Hamlin just because I didn’t join the chorus of emotion over ramifications. The decision made last Monday night soothed the immediacy of emotions of the broadcasters and social media and created the predicted clusterfuck.

The Buffalo Bills are officially out of contention for the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs, as the Kansas City Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes trounced the Las Vegas Raiders in a 31-13 win at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday to secure home-field advantage and a first-round bye.
— Sports Illustrated, 1/7/23

It turns out, the cancellation had everything to do with how a long-fought season would end for one deserving team, clearly screwed by those in the NFL and NFLPA who should have had leveled heads at a time when they were sorely needed.

The cancellation helped the league avoid late-season logistical nightmares. As for the Bengals, playing 16 games instead of 17 did guarantee them the AFC North title, but it also meant that they no longer had a shot at the No. 1 seed.
— Sporting News, 1/8/23

What would happen in the days to follow was never considered and that’s why we find ourselves where we are now.

But because of one game, many are bitching about the league’s overtime rules for all the wrong reasons.

It’s time for the NFL to change its overtime rules
Chiefs-Bills shows why NFL must change unfair overtime rule
Overtime rule undermines NFL’s best weekend ever
NFL needs to change its overtime format
Chiefs-Bills Leaves NFL Fans Wanting to Toss Out Overtime Rules: Data Viz
Chiefs-Bills masterpiece decided on a coin flip shows NFL’s overtime rule is awful and must be fixed
Chiefs-Bills Thriller Sparks Debate: Is It Time To Overhaul Overtime?
Bills Notebook: NFL’s overtime rules fall under the spotlight after classic playoff game
NFL overtime rule under attack after Kansas City walks off on first-possession TD
Even winning coach Andy Reid questions NFL’s overtime setup
Patrick Mahomes leads Chiefs to THRILLING overtime playoff win over Bills – but fans demand change to ‘terrible’ coin toss rule that ‘decides the winner’

Spare me the “it wasn’t fair” whining as scoring-first-because-of-winning-the-coin-flip is of no documented clear advantage.

Under the current OT rules, there have been 163 OT games. Teams that won the OT coin toss have a record of 86-67-10 in those games (won 52.8 pct of the games)
— Ian Rapoport, 1/24/22

The NFL overtime rules are quite clear and both teams knew what was expected from the onset.

Both teams must have the opportunity to possess the ball once during the extra period, unless the team that receives the opening kickoff scores a touchdown on its initial possession, in which case it is the winner, or if the team kicking off to start the overtime period scores a safety on the receiving team’s initial possession, in which case the team that kicked off is the winner. If a touchdown is scored, the game is over, and the Try is not attempted.

If the team that possesses the ball first does not score on its initial possession, the team next scoring by any method shall be the winner.

If the team that possesses the ball first scores a field goal on its initial possession, the other team (the second team) shall have the opportunity to possess the ball.
— National Football League, RULE 16. Overtime Procedures

The “Overtime Procedures” references “teams”. Let’s be more specific.

After the coin toss, it’s up to one team’s defense to stop the opposing team’s offense. In this case, it was up to the Buffalo Bills’ defense to stop Mahomes and the Chiefs from scoring a touchdown. Had they done so and either forced them to either kick a field goal or punt, Josh Allen and the Bills would get the ball and an opportunity to either kick a field goal or score a touchdown and win.

The overtime rules didn’t deny Allen an opportunity to get the ball; his defense did and it was obvious why. They were gassed. During the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, both teams’ defenses were visually exhausted giving a clear advantage to both teams’ dynamic offenses. That’s why the NFL rule for overtime (since 2010) is the way it is as opposed to making them play a whole 15 minute overtime period where the play would deteriorate even more and possibly risk player injury.

Maybe it was inevitable that we’d have such an exciting game end the way it did, but again it wasn’t the rules that beat the Buffalo Bills. It was their defense’s inability to stop the Chiefs’ offense. Had the Bills won the coin flip, the counter scenario could have happened as the Chiefs’ defense was exhausted as well. Either way, it’s not about making sure each team’s offense has a fair chance to score. The defense also has a job to do.

Buffalo’s defense ran out of gas and there’s no remedy in the rule book for that. Had New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick’s team lost in a similar manner, he would have said “We didn’t do our job” and not bitch and moan about the rules that both teams knew going into the game.

Take the kneejerk emotion out of it and you have to conclude the outcome was fair.

Deal with it.

Disclaimer: I am a New England Patriots fan and have no dog in this fight.

This may be a very hard concept for most of the #woke to absorb but the National Football League is not a progressive nonprofit that doesn’t need to show positive results. The NFL is a business, and in keeping this as simple as possible, it’s a league of 32 teams and only one can attain the ultimate goal which is winning a Super Bowl.

Then again, that may change. Stand by….

There has been much dismay by the activist left that no team, since the Baltimore Ravens in 2018, has offered Colin Kaepernick an opportunity. It’s not solely because of his Black Lives Matter activism, but because of his on-the-field numbers just prior to his being cut from the San Francisco 49ers; numbers probably few (if any) supporters of Kaepernick could tell you off hand.

There is also a major issue with any team that even makes mention of possibly acquiring Colin Kaepernick.

Kaepernick was supposed to work out for NFL teams at the Falcons’ facility earlier this year, but after disagreements over various aspects of the session, Kaepernick moved the workout to an Atlanta-area high school.

Despite looking good in the session, Kaepernick wasn’t offered a contract by any NFL team.
— Yahoo Sports, 6/28/20

For shits and giggles, let’s just say the Atlanta Falcons signed Kaepernick. Do you really think he’d be expected to sit on the bench behind Matt Ryan? No way, José. The team would be pressured into starting Kaepernick which means Matt Ryan would be looking for a new home, and there would be teams who’d offer him tasty contracts within days.

Two weeks ago, Los Angeles Chargers coach Anthony Lynn said Kaepernick is on the team’s workout list. With team facilities shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s unclear when the Chargers might be able to bring in Kaepernick.

“Unclear” as this is not the greatest of situations seeing how the Chargers picked Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft to replace Philip Rivers, and also have a proven starter in Tyrod Taylor.

“I haven’t spoken with Colin, not sure where he’s at as far in his career, what he wants to do, but Colin definitely fits the style of quarterback for the system that we’re going to be running. I’m very confident and happy with the three quarterbacks that I have but you can never have too many people waiting on the runway,” Lynn said, via ESPN. The Chargers currently have Tyrod Taylor, No. 6 overall pick Justin Herbert and Easton Stick in their quarterback room.
— NBC Sports, 6/17/20

A very safe way of Coach Lynn’s saying the safe thing: he wouldn’t mind having another option… (but he doesn’t really need Kaepernick).

First round picks are seldom told they’re going to be benched when they get that call on Draft Day. If Kaepernick started and is moderately successful, Herbert may wish to look elsewhere for playing time resulting in a wasted first round pick by Los Angeles. Tyrod Taylor would be the most logical starter for Los Angeles while Herbert learned and wasn’t thrown into that infamous rookie trial-by-fire that’s maimed many careers.

And again, if Kaepernick doesn’t play well, Coach Lynn would be well aware of the social activist backlash if he did what most teams tend to do to a player who’s not performing: sit him down on the bench and replace him with someone who may do better.

Kaepernick visited the Seattle Seahawks in the spring of 2017 after he opted out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers, making him a free agent. Head coach Pete Carroll’s reasoning for not signing him at the time was that the Seahawks felt he was a starter and they already had one in Russell Wilson.
— ESPN, 6/11/20

Here’s the reality of any Colin Kaepernick situation in the NFL

Most teams already have a starting quarterback, and yes, some are better than others. But if a team signs Kaepernick, it’ll be demanded by forces outside of a team front office, that he be the starting quarterback for Week 1 and the head coach’s ability to choose his quarterback will be circumvented by the sports-ignorant in social media.

But bored sports writers with no sports to report are just left to their musings and speculation.

Colin Kaepernick could help five NFL teams if they’d give him contract

Pittsburgh Steelers
Franchise staple Ben Roethlisberger turned 38 in March, and likely doesn’t have many starter-quality years left in the NFL. Kaepernick is six years younger — and with Big Ben coming off an injury — the ex-49er could help keep the offense afloat for Pittsburgh in case Roethlisberger can’t return to his previous form.

New England Patriots
This likely would provide Kaepernick the best opportunity to be a starter right away. Franchise icon and proverbial GOAT QB Tom Brady departed this offseason in free agency, and many expect coach Bill Belichick to hand the keys over to untested young quarterback Jarrett Stidham. Kaepernick at the very least could give Stidham some stiff competition in training camp, if not win the starting job outright.

Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars have dealt with ineptitude at the quarterback position for many years. Gardner Minshew didn’t exactly set the NFL on fire in his rookie season, but 21 touchdowns with just six interceptions over 14 games did inspire some hope in Jacksonville.

Detroit Lions
Matthew Stafford only played eight games in 2019 after breaking bones in his back. Stafford reportedly is 100 percent recovered from the injury, but has taken plenty of shots over his 11-year career. Trade rumors swirled around Stafford early last season, and he even put his $6.5 million Michigan home on the market in May. Kaepernick would be a nice insurance policy for Stafford, and even has a similarly powerful throwing arm.

Atlanta Falcons
Matt Ryan did win the NFL MVP just four years ago, but he hasn’t returned to near that level since offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan departed for the 49ers. Ryan’s numbers have declined, and he led the NFL after being sacked 48 times in 2019. Although Matt Schaub has been a serviceable backup, including throwing for 460 yards in his lone start last season, he’s 38 years old and likely isn’t much of an upgrade over Kap, if at all.

Kaepernick’s added athletic ability also could bring a different element to Atlanta’s offense in case of Ryan’s absence.
— NBC Sports, 6/6/20

Neither Pittsburgh nor New England, especially with their respective exposure to drama queen Antonio Brown, are going to want to bring off-the-field issues into their cultures. Both do have quarterback issues but both franchises also tend to land on their feet, not initially on a knee. Detroit is oh-so-slowly becoming New England West, so again, paying for drama unrelated to the field won’t be easily considered. Atlanta won’t bench Matt Ryan for the unknown Kaepernick is today.

Jacksonville is used to mediocrity so they may be a possibility. The problem is most of those pushing for Kaepernick’s return couldn’t tell you what conference Jacksonville is in, don’t buy game tickets, and wouldn’t know if the Sunday games are on CBS or Fox Sports. From a business standpoint, there’ll be as much monetary return if Kaepernick plays poorly as if he plays well and that’s not a good reason for giving any player a respectable contract.

Then there’s another reality, borne by facts: very few players who’ve missed three or more consecutive seasons have returned to the field with any modicum of success. There are, of course, exceptions but that number is very small, those players were elite, and none of them returned commanding what Colin Kaepernick and outside forces will want today for him to put on an NFL uniform.

Keeping it simple (again), very NFL team enters the season with one goal and only one goal: to win the Super Bowl. They hope to focus on that goal like a laser. Distractions are the last thing wanted in a locker room, and very few bring on a player who’ll bring off-the-field drama with them. Of course, there ARE players whose skills make them tolerable exceptions.

Colin Kaepernick is NOT one of them.

Yes, they’re human but they’re also supposed to be the best the National Football League has to offer. But as they also say in football, “On any given Sunday”….

Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores ran across the field after his team lost, went to the nearest official and told him with an expletive what he thought of a pass-interference reversal that cost his team a win. And you thought that would be the worst moment for NFL referees on Sunday

If there’s one truth about the NFL, it’s that the officials can always lower the bar. On Sunday they deserved every word Flores said to them, and whatever Bill Belichick said to them too.

Sunday’s New England Patriots loss turned into a fiasco. Fans often believe officials call games to favor the Patriots, but the officials showed Sunday that their mistakes have no bias.
— Yahoo Sports, 12/9/19

…
Some teams are trying to back into the playoffs, thus players and coaches hope to justify their jobs for next season.

“This isn’t about me at all. It’s about those players, the coaches, the cafeteria people and the equipment staff and everybody in this organization. We all put a lot into this. Winning is important to us.”
— Brian Flores, Miami Dolphins head coach

Some teams are vying for playoff seeding. These goals should be determined by said players and coaches and not referees; some who can barely make it up and down the field, let alone see plays unfold mere feet from where they’re standing.

It was a huge loss for the Patriots. They now have almost no chance to get the No. 1 seed in the AFC and could end up losing the No. 2 seed to the Chiefs. Had the officiating been better, they might not have lost.

Instant replay was supposed to make sure referees got the call right, but if everyone in the stadium (not to mention nationally-televised audiences) can see what happened on the field and bad calls are allowed to stand, what good are they?

Full disclosure: We are pre-2001, lifelong New England Patriots fans.

The Kansas City Chiefs announced they were cutting Hunt on Friday, after video of the assault was published by TMZ. In the video, Hunt and the woman trade words in a hallway and are separated by several people on multiple occasions. Hunt pushes the woman, who responds by hitting him in the face. Two men escort Hunt down a hallway before he charges out, colliding with a man who then knocks the woman over. Hunt also kicks the woman in the leg.

The Chiefs said Hunt was not truthful in his discussions with the team about what happened, leading to the decision to part ways with him. Sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter and ESPN’s Chris Mortensen that the NFL did not interview the woman in its investigation.
— ESPN, 12/2/18

As in the Ray Rice incident, we have no idea what a “19-year-old” woman was even doing at 3:22AM in an Ohio hotel and later said to get this all started prior to what “TMZ Sports” posted online.

She clearly wasn’t there to sell Girl Scout cookies.

Again, this brings up the whole notion that a woman can say or do anything to a man without repercussions.

Remember the word we were all told to avoid when it comes to such occurrences and a woman goes too far: provoke.

As New England Patriots supporters, we are in no way fans or sympathizers of the Kansas City Chiefs or Kareem Hunt. We are well aware of the ramifications of the Chiefs losing one of their top two players going into the winter months and the possible effect on playoff seeding which will determine the possible climates the Chiefs may have to play through in January.

But if this happened last February, why are we just hearing about it now?

While it’s politically incorrect to question the motives of a “victim”, a reasonable person could rightly ask how you’d address your 19-year-old being in a hotel after three in the morning, what you could possibly have said to an NFL millionaire to so piss him off as to shove you away and why in the world you’d proceed to ramp it up with violence of your own?

Young professional athletes are warned what to look out for when it comes to the opposite sex.

When educating players about the evil that lurks in skirts, it’s important to teach humility, says Satch Sanders, who runs the NBA’s player programs (including a 4 1/2-day seminar similar to MLB’s). “I remind rookies of their physical, uh, prowess and the money they make. Then I say, ‘If you were not that attractive to ladies growing up, believe me, you didn’t turn into Denzel overnight. If two or three women are discerning enough to see your good points, fine. But 30 or 40? Can so many women be so perceptive?’” Of course, convincing a $10-million-a-year 22-year-old forward that he’s not quite as “all that” as the ladies say may be the biggest lost cause in history. Keeping pro ballers out of their own way — at least when it comes to the opposite sex — may just be a task for greater powers.
— ESPN Magazine, 3/18/13

As the woman in the Kareem Hunt incident has not been questioned, we have no idea what she said and what she was doing at the hotel in the first place. The whole “a man should never hit a woman” becomes a convenient and necessary cover if the woman decides to go too far, especially when it can result in a significant payday.

Motivation and incentives are very important (see: Erica Kinsman).

Meanwhile, the complexion of the NFL seeding have been affected and not in favor of the Kansas City Chiefs. And as this incident happened and has been sat upon since February, who leaked this to TMZ Sports at a time when the cold weather/running game factor enters the NFL equation going into the last month of the season and playoffs? Taking running back Kareem Hunt out has serious implications for a moderate temperature-Kansas City team that may have to go to an arctic climate down the stretch.

The Chiefs have won just one playoff game in 24 years, and that was against Brian Hoyer. The Chiefs were the winningest team of the 1990s, and only made it as far as the AFC Championship Game once. Since 1990, no team has lost more playoff games while winning fewer.

Since the NFL playoffs expanded to the current format, teams with a first-round bye have won 74 percent of the division games. The Chiefs are 0-5 in that spot. Twice they’ve had homefield advantage throughout the playoffs, and bupkis.
— Kansas City Star, 1/4/18

So, a very public verdict of Kareem Hunt’s guilt and punishment has been meted out to appease that flaky court of public opinion; many of whom couldn’t tell you what division the Chiefs are in.

As we first reported, the woman repeatedly told Cleveland PD officers who responded to the scene she wanted to press charges. In the bodycam video we posted, she asked to see the surveillance footage, and also asked the police to look at it. So, the question is … WHY has she gone silent? We’ve reached out to her several times, but no reply.
— TMZ Sports, 12/2/18

Hmm… is there audio with that surveillance video that might be inconvenient?

The so-called victim may eventually be lured into coming forward, receive fawning national attention, maybe cash-in with a GoFundMe, and exploit the potential for a huge settlement for doing absolutely nothing aside from looking for trouble at the wrong time and opening her big mouth at the right time.

NFL Still Clueless Involving Players Abusing Women

Obviously, NFL players aren’t defended as competently as Hollywood actors and certain politicians.

It makes one wonder if Kareem Hunt is a Republican. We all know if he’s a Democrat, he could assault a woman and even be elected attorney general.

Go figure.

UPDATE:

Like the Ray Rice incident, more was made over the publicly-distributed video than what precipitated the controversy because, according to PC rules, we’re NEVER to ask what the woman did to “provoke” and/or escalate tensions. It would appear the rush to judgment regarding Kareem Hunt may have resulted in a different outcome had ALL of the details been publicly put forth prior to the disciplinary actions of the Kansas City Chiefs and National Football League.

In interviews they would later give to police, as captured in police video and reports, Hunt and his friends say everyone in their group was getting along fine throughout the evening of Feb. 9. It was only when they got back to the hotel that things deteriorated.

“I only know those girls through a friend,” Rayshawn Watkins, Hunt’s teammate from Toledo, tells officers in the video. “They invited us to a club tonight. We got to the club, and they were overly drunk, as you can tell. But come to find out, they’re not even 21. They’re 19 years old. We were like, ‘Can you guys please leave us alone?’”

Watkins tells police Abby Ottinger, a 19-year-old Kent State student from Middleburg Heights, Ohio and her friend, Dominique Hamilton, got along fine with everyone throughout the evening, but that ended inside Hunt’s residence. According to Watkins’ account, Hunt said Ottinger and Hamilton couldn’t stay the night. Watkins says he offered $20 when they said they didn’t have enough money for an Uber ride home. “We’re college students, right?” Ottinger says.

The women somehow got themselves to Cleveland but it was going to be someone else’s responsibility to get them back to their residence.

Got it.

After he sent them into the hall, Ottinger began to scream and pound on the door, according to his account.

“They’re in the hallway, like standing by the elevator,” Watkins tells police. “I come out and I’m like, ‘You guys are being too loud. Please just leave us alone.’ She started freaking out, grabbing the back of my head. She broke my necklace. She tried calling me the N-word. She called us niggers and shit like that. We’re like, ‘There is no point of you to do that. We just want you to leave us alone.’ Then they started getting aggressive, hitting us.”

Ottinger could not be reached for comment by Outside the Lines.
— ESPN, 12/7/18

Why should she when the damage was done, she was prematurely pronounced the victim, and she gets to walk away?

The alleged victim in the February 2018 incident involving former Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt initially wanted to press charges. Now, 19-year-old Abby Ottinger simply wants to be left alone.

A comprehensive review of the situation conducted by ESPN’s Outside The Lines included an effort to speak to Ottinger. A member of her family told ESPN on Wednesday that “the whole incident has been very difficult for her and that all she wants now is her privacy.”

Some league insiders have speculated that Hunt and Ottinger reached a settlement.
— Yahoo Sports, 12/7/18

At the end of the day, when it comes to these cleat-chasers, it’s all about getting paid one way or another.

Kareem Hunt has entered “anger management” training however no word if Abby Ottinger will be required to attend sensitivity training because some women get a pass no matter how far over the line they cross.

Colin Kaepernick’s girlfriend, Nessa, is among those who believe the NFL is intentionally keeping the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback out of the league. She wasn’t the only one to insinuate as much, as former NFL player Charles Woodson told TMZ, “There’s a lot of guys that are in the conversation to be picked up. We know the reason [Kaepernick is] not one of those guys … but he should be.“

TMZ also noted former cornerback Antonio Cromartie suggested Kaepernick is better than the list of quarterbacks Washington brought in to work out after Alex Smith suffered an injury in Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans.
— Bleacher Report, 11/19/18

So inconvenient for Nessa, but Kaepernick may have been playing on an NFL field today had it not been for her opportunist “activist” big mouth… and more.

Of course, the media and the activist left will never admit that Nessa’s direct interference in the Baltimore Ravens deal is THE reason Colin Kaepernick is not throwing footballs on an NFL field for an NFL team today.

As the entire world knows by now, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the National Anthem in Friday’s pre-season game against Green Bay because he was protesting ‘black oppression’ in the United States. We’re now hearing that it was actually his girlfriend Nessa’s idea for Colin to protest.

Fox News also looked into the couple and found evidence that seems to show that his “conversion to social activism” happened only after he began dating his girlfriend, DJ Nessa Diab. Her social media account has plenty of photos and posts related to her job as a DJ but it also shows her stance as a black rights activist and Islam defender.
— The Grio, 9/3/16

As written before, NFL teams are businesses and their main goal is to win as many football games as possible; not absorb those who have an unrelated off-the-field agenda. Calling a team owner racist with nothing to back it up is also in that things-not-to-do list; especially when your previous on-the-field record was questionable at best.

Especially coming from a girlfriend who may just up and leave her boyfriend once someone of a higher profile and value is available.

VIDEO: Josh Gordon Traded to Patriots!

Not making excuses for Gordon’s numerous off-the-field issues but his head should turn around in New England. He knows, like many before him, he’s got a golden opportunity to be with a team that consistently wins which is huge compared to where he’s been for all of his career.

“We’ve done all we can do for Josh,” said Cleveland coach Hue Jackson, who didn’t provide any specifics about Gordon’s issues over the weekend. “We tried to provide the right environment. It just didn’t work out. Sometimes you just need a change of scenery and hopefully things work out for Josh.”
— YourErie.com, 9/17/18

They did all they could for Josh. Winning would have helped and let’s also allow holier-than-thou sports writers to pontificate.

Make no mistake – the 27-year-old Gordon is an athletic freak. If he can indeed buy into the Patriot way, he could be just the football answer they’ve been looking for. His production when he’s on the field is ridiculous. Among active players, Gordon’s average of 92 receiving yards a game is fourth only to Julio Jones, Antonio Brown, and Odell Beckham Jr., otherwise known as the three best receivers in the game.

Of course the operative phrase is “when he’s on the field.” Gordon missed all of the 2015 and 2016 seasons because of suspensions and rehab for substance abuse (he has admitted to regular use of marijuana).
— Boston Globe, 9/17/18

Not sure how many football games the Globe’s Tara Sullivan has under her belt, but anyone who’s played any team sport knows how deflating and toxic a consistently losing environment can be, especially when the losing occurs for years.

Imagine being one of the most talented players in the league, playing for a Cleveland Browns team that hasn’t won a regular season game since December 24, 2016, which incidentally ended a 17-game losing streak. The Browns are 1-32-1 since 2016. Which one of us wouldn’t take a toke or two?

When reminiscing over previous troubled players who had their careers turn around in New England, remember that they almost all had one thing in common: they were immensely talented and played for reliably shitty teams. We’re dealing with successful athletes, most of whom are initially drafted into consistently bad organizations. Sometimes a great paycheck isn’t enough, especially when everyone around you, from the top down, are numerically-proven losers.

Josh Gordon isn’t stupid and it would have been illuminating to hear his phone conversation with Coach Belichick prior to the trade being inked in stone. The Patriots seldom make personnel moves out of desperation so they, as usual, see something the rest of us missed.

When Gordon plays, he is one of the NFL’s best players. He just rarely does. But when veterans get to Foxboro, the Patriots tend to bring out the best in them. That has the rest of the league terrified of the possibilities of what Gordon might do as a Patriot.
— 24/7 Sports, 9/17/18

Gordon knows if he’s dumped by the Patriots, his career is as good as done. He’s now walking into the day after years in the night; something he’s never experienced until now and buying-in to a winning, no-bullshit culture should be a refreshing motivator. It’s all up to Josh.

For all the geniuses who said this trade would never happen, imagine Gordon lining up near Rob Gronkowski with Dez Bryant on the other side of the field. I’m not the only one thinking this.

Tom Brady barks out signals from the shotgun. Rob Gronkowski is on the line of scrimmage as an in-line tight end. Julian Edelman is in motion. Chris Hogan is already wide on Gronkowski’s side of the formation. Dez Bryant is on the opposite side of the field on an island. If Bryant is doubled, that would make life difficult for any defense that wants an extra set of eyes on Gronkowski or Edelman. If he isn’t, then Bryant has an opportunity to feast in one-on-one coverage.
— NBC Sports

The Patriots are not done yet. They have a workout planned with Dez Bryant this week.
— Adam Schefter Tweet, 9/17/18

Josh Gordon proved the doubters wrong and his skills were a noticeable contribution to the team, while he was allowed to play.

VIDEO: “Josh Gordon – Every Catch as a New England Patriot”

UPDATE

It looks like there could be good news for Patriots Nation and Josh Gordon.

Brady posted a GIF of himself throwing to Gordon on Instagram Wednesday with this caption alongside it: “Practice makes perfect.”
— Boston.com, 6/19/19

And seeing how little with the New England Patriots happens randomly, the following news story makes a lot of potential sense.

It’s unclear when receiver Josh Gordon will be cleared to return to the NFL. It is clear that Gordon is trying to get back in. Charean Williams of PFT reports that Gordon has applied for reinstatement.
— Pro Football Talk, 8/3/19

Josh appears to have gotten his mind right and Tom Brady wouldn’t be devoting valuable off-time with him if he wasn’t someone who’d be a target in a few weeks.

UPDATE

What a coincidence…

New England Patriots wide receiver Josh Gordon has been reinstated to the National Football League on a conditional basis. Effective Sunday, Gordon may rejoin the Patriots to attend meetings and engage in conditioning work and individual workouts.

Gordon will be permitted to participate in team activities, including practice, as long as he makes the appropriate progress on clinical care and other arrangements. However, he will not be allowed to play in the Patriots’ Aug. 22 preseason game against the Carolina Panthers because he will not have had sufficient conditioning and practice time, the NFL said. Gordon will be allowed to attend the game at Gillette Stadium.
— WCVB Boston, 8/16/19

How many covering the National Football League have suddenly had to reassess the whole thing about Tom Brady not having any reliable wide receivers to throw to in 2019?

Teams can interview any assistant coaches from other teams who are not in the playoffs. They must, however, request permission if a coach is under contract with another team. Teams are also allowed to interview assistant coaches who have a first-round bye in the playoffs. However, the interview must take place that week. Candidates can choose to decline the interview to focus on preparing their current team for the postseason.

If an assistant coach’s team loses in the Wild Card round, the candidate can interview with any team that goes through the proper channels to secure an interview. However, if the assistant coach’s team wins, teams need approval for an interview, which has to take place before the divisional round.

No initial interviews can be requested or granted for candidates whose teams are still in the playoffs after the divisional round, i.e. anyone from the four teams vying for a conference championship.
— SB Nation, 1/10/17

Yeah, like this is faithfully adhered to.

Sad how the NFL’s so-called “anti-tampering policy” is respected more on the college coaching level than on it’s own, especially during what’s arguably the most important part of the season.

This is an unnecessary distraction inflicted by losing franchises on teams that should be preparing for the well-earned chance at the Super Bowl. This unfortunately happens and repeatedly every season as the teams contacting these coaches aren’t affected because they weren’t good enough to get past December.

The Patriots lost Super Bowl XXXI to the Packers after it was announced, the week prior, that their head coach would be leaving to coach the Jets. Could this have also affected the Vikings who got humiliated in the NFC Championship?

That was then; this is now….

Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur named head coach of Giants
Steelers Todd Haley is the new Browns offensive coordinator
Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, Colts, Heading Towards Second Interview For Head Coach Position
NE special teams coordinator Joe Judge may join fellow departing Patriots assistant coaches

And can a coach effectively concentrate on two teams at the same time, one of his teams now in the Super Bowl?

Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, Soon-to-be Lions head coach, reportedly already letting assistants go

At the end of every National Football League, “Black Monday” is the prelude to the sabotage of those teams that were competent enough to make it to the playoffs. With nothing to lose, owners and team general managers begin that search for someone, anyone, to take their teams from perennial losers to playoff hunters. But by doing so, they’re interfering with the chemistry of a team now trying to concentrate on winning a Super Bowl and the losers could care less.

If a team can endure a 17-week season of mediocrity or worse, it can wait another five weeks until the best teams play towards that big game undisturbed by losers.

2018 UPDATE

It didn’t take more than a few hours after the official end of the 2018 regular season for the interference to begin anew.

Green Bay Packers expected to request permission to interview Patriots play-callers Josh McDaniels, Brian Flores

Again, teams that couldn’t complete the mission disrupting those in the current process of winning.

Bob and Silvio Canto, Jr. discussed the inconvenient root of the issue.

The sad truth is that these ignorant, multi-millionaire players will never address the real reason behind “police brutality” in the black community because it will hit too close to home.

Blacks struggle with 72 percent unwed mothers rate

But the liberal media still glorifies the “struggle” when it comes to sports.

15 Best Pro Athletes Raised By Single Mothers
14 Athletes Who Grew Up Without Their Biological Fathers

And sadly, the cycle repeats itself.

The Top 10 Athletes with the Most Illegitimate Children

UPDATE

Denzel Washington added to the conversation on the “prison-industrial complex” and black men being disproportionately running afoul of the law. I’m honored to be on the same page with him while the interviewer found his response “surprising”.

It starts at the home. It starts at home.

It starts with how you raise your children. If a young man doesn’t have a father figure, he’ll go find a father figure. So you know I can’t blame the system. It’s unfortunate that we make such easy work for them.
— New York Daily News, 11/27/17

The conversation with Silvio in its entirety can be found here.

Matters only got worse after the press conference in question when the exchange between Newton and aggrieved sports journalist Jourdan Rodrigue continued after the fact.

The conversation, according to Rodrigue, was not taped but went something like this: she asked the quarterback if he really didn’t think a female could understand routes.

Newton said she wasn’t really seeing specific routes when watching the game, she was just seeing if somebody was open. She argued that he didn’t know what she saw nor how hard she had studied football, and that maybe the two of them needed to have a deeper conversation.

Newton said that maybe he should have said it was funny to hear “reporters” talk about routes and that, if she actually did know about them, then she knew more than most reporters. Then he gestured toward the locker room, still filled with her colleagues.

Rodrigue ended by asking Newton — whom she had introduced herself to on the first day of her employment with The Observer in October 2016 — if he knew her name after she had covered the team almost every day for the past year. Newton said he did not.

“Jourdan Rodrigue, Charlotte Observer,” she said, and then walked away.
— Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 10/14/17

Our position regarding women in sports journalism roles are known: we don’t believe women, most of whom have never set foot on a field with cleats and pads, should be reporting on professional sports.

Of course, all hell breaks loose when the obvious is stated for obvious reasons.

A rule that prohibits women from entering locker rooms is the right thing to do. The absolute right thing to do is to ban all reporters from locker rooms. The place where men shower and shave — the bathroom, essentially — is no place to be conducting interviews in the first place. It’s an outdated notion. And when TV networks send their perfectly made up, beautifully dressed reporters into a locker room filled with naked sex symbols, they’re creating sexual tension and courting potential conflicts of interest.

Yeah, I know female sports reporters are a beacon of morality and professionalism. So are priests and presidents and Jimmy Swaggert. So come on, let’s be honest.
— Jason Whitlock, Sex and the locker room

When you watch CNBC, Bloomberg, or Fox Business for the closing numbers on Wall Street, you’ll normally see them interviewing people who’ve actually been CEOs or traders. You don’t see women with plunging necklines, hair bleached Fox News blonde, and hooker-length heels they quickly remove once the segment is over if leg shots were involved. Aside from the show hosts (which is another topic altogether), we see and hear from people who have practical experience in the field in which they speak.

Except in sports.

      
Last year, we met a woman who ran a nonprofit that took in used furniture donations and gave them to those in need. She invited us to see the operation and there we met a young black man who worked for her. He was a former NFL middle linebacker for two seasons whose career was essentially ended by a knee injury.

The conversation obviously diverted from furniture-altruism to pro football and for the next hour-plus, we were kids in the candy store, asking questions we’ve never heard asked and in that time we got more behind-the-scenes insights than in ALL the years of reading, watching, and hearing the “professional” commentary presently issued by heavily made-up women as well as old, fat, balding or skinny, scruffy millennial men who’ve also never set foot on a field as a player.

If only the sideline reporters and sports channel talk panels were populated by former players, knowledge about our favorite sports would be so much more enhanced than to have a field reporter intercept a head coach going to the locker room at halftime and asking him something as vapid as how he feels or a player about his emotions.

While Rodrigue was briefly hoisted as America’s latest female victim of “gender equality”, the Twitter equalizer of all things unearthed items that proved to be embarrassing, if not hypocritical.

Female reporter who was insulted by Cam Newton’s sexist comments apologizes herself after tweets surface of her using the N-word and enjoying her ‘father’s racist jokes about Navajo land’

Of course, the enormity of Newton’s gender crime almost excused what normally gets any racist male fired and if you look at it from the liberal prism, the white woman is almost always more valued than the predator black male. Cam Newton has lost and may lose a lot more while Rodrigue will walk away almost unscathed.

“Gender equality” in sports journalism. Yeah, right.

Disclosure: We are New England Patriots fans and normally have nothing good to say about Cam Newton or the Carolina Panthers.