I've made no secret of the fact that I believe that this NFL season is illegitimate. The league's response, and continued mishandling of COVID-19 has made an absolute mockery of the sport of professional football. The NFL has officially abdicated its position as a legitimate competitive sports league, and has crossed over into the realm of sports entertainment.

I've lost count of how many games have been rescheduled this season due to COVID-19. The official schedule has gone out the window. Some teams have benefited tremendously due to the situational fluidity of the schedule, while other teams have been royally screwed. All pretense of fairness has been abandoned; it only matters to the league that the games are played.

This would be a big story if the media would actually cover it. It would be a huge deal if the TV networks would show some integrity and insist on showing the best product or no product at all. However, everyone just goes along, because there's money to be made. It's hard to blame the media and the networks, what with the depressed economy. The league, however, is supposed to be a steward of the game, and they're only interested in appearance.

Look at this week's game between Baltimore and Pittsburgh. For many years, contests between these two teams have been marquee matchups, must-see viewing for any fan. The Week 12 game between these two bitter divisional rivals was scheduled for Thanksgiving Thursday, but due to COVID-19 issues, the game was moved to Sunday, then Monday, then TUESDAY. And, as an extra added twist, Baltimore's Week 13 game was supposed to be on Thursday, so THAT  will have to be rescheduled as well.

It's a joke, right?

The real joke is this entire season.

The entire 2020 NFL campaign eerily parallels the incompetent way that the Republican-controlled government bungled the COVID-19 response. In much the same way, the illegitimacy of this NFL season mirrors the illegitimacy of a Trump administration that has failed to adequately protect its citizenry, not because it couldn't, but because it couldn't be bothered to.


Week Twelve Picks
Winners in Bold
 
Miami at NYJ
Arizona at NE
Carolina at Minnesota
Cleveland at Jax
Tennessee at Indy
NYG at Cincy
LABolts at Buffalo
LV at Atlanta
San Fran at LAAries
NO at Denver
KC at Tampa
 
 
Sunday Night
 
Chicago at GB
 
 
Monday Night
 
Seattle at Philly
 
 
Tuesday (FFS!)
 
Baltimore at Pittsburgh
​

​I’m very confident saying that any “reasonably” intelligent person can see that the soon-to-be-former president is a pretty awful person. I’m also confident that I don’t even have to say what it is about him that I think is so terrible.
 
It’s really THAT obvious.
 
Soon, he’ll be out of office. Whether he will be gone from the political scene is another matter. I believe he’s too influential, and is too much of a narcissist to quit politics, but that’s a subject for another time.
 
Yes, Trump is a malignancy that will be difficult to excise, especially considering the extent to which his cancerous influence has spread through the country.
 
We may not be rid of him so easily, but there are still lessons to be learned. One of these is how we reckon with the way that the media has enabled Trump and helped spread his malignancy.
 
I’m not talking about Fox News, either. They’ve been so obvious, that they’re generally accepted as more a propaganda and entertainment channel than a news source. Nor am I talking about relative upstart OANN; that organization’s partisanship makes Fox News seem truly “fair and balanced.”
 
No, I’m talking about more mainstream organizations. Most of these, to some extent, have this strange idea that being fair means giving equal coverage to both sides of what they see as a philosophical difference. Whether you call it “bothsidesism,” or “false balance,” or whatever, it’s not fair at all.

Venerable institutions like the New York Times buried Hilary Clinton in 2016 with their relentless attacks (Maureen Dowd was the NYT’s Clinton assassin-in-residence), while Trump’s numerous flaws were given short shrift.
 
After the 2016 election, reputable news agencies continued to abet Trump’s horribleness. Whether it was through reporting his every vile tweet with bated breath, or airing his lie-filled press conferences, the so-called “mainstream media” normalized Trump’s insanity.
 
In the interest of showing “both sides,” the news outlets gave column space and airtime to vile personalities. The NYT gave editorial space to extremist points of view. CNN hired the execrable Rick Santorum as a political commentator. Pool reporters continually took Trump’s abuse with little or no pushback. Numerous atrocities were reported and forgotten as the media just moved on to the next story. And when it came to grotesqueries, with Trump, there was always a next story.
 
Why did they do it? Readership. Viewership. Access. Ad dollars.
 
The media failed. They failed to do their jobs. They failed their country.
 
Do not forget this.
 
Demand better.
​
 
 
There are plenty of things that I don’t like about the NFL. I’ve written about them extensively. One of the things that really irks me is how the media covers the league. I’ve written extensively about this, too.
 
Sports media organizations mostly ignore the worst aspects of the league, whether it be player misdeeds, organizational misconduct, player safety, what have you. Instead, they act like de facto cheerleaders for the league, hyping the product, and glossing over the warts.
 
Why do they do it? Readership. Viewership. Access. Ad dollars.
 
I don’t kid myself when it comes to the NFL. I know it’s awful. I watch it because I enjoy the games. Sometimes I have to plug my nose, so to speak, but that’s why I call this column “Hate-Watching…” and not “Happy NFL Fun Time.”
 
One thing I really hate is when the people broadcasting the actual games detract from my enjoyment. There are certain people who I absolutely dread seeing and hearing on my TV. Insipid comments. Self-glorification. Telling meaningless stories and ignoring the game. Missing plays. These things drive me nuts. I put up with a lot just to try and enjoy a football game or two or three on Sunday. DON’T RUIN IT FOR ME, NUMBNUTS!
 
Sometimes, I think I overreact to things like this. That’s why it was so affirming for me to hear Pat McAfee’s comments this week. Without going into too much detail, he’s frustrated too, and as a former player, that means something.
 
Here’s a tweet from McAfee that features a clip of his comments. (I’ll include a longer video below.)

Week Eleven Picks
Winners in Bold
 

​Sunday
 
Cincy at Washington
Atlanta at NO
Pittsburgh at Jax
NE at Houston
Philly at Cleveland
Detroit at Carolina
Tennessee at Baltimore
NYJ at LABolts
Miami at Denver
Dallas at Minnesota
GB at Indy
 
 
Sunday Night
 
KC at LV
 
 
Monday Night
 
LAAries at Tampa

​It’s been a week since they called the election for Biden and Harris. Now, it’s time to call it what it is.
 
306.
 
Landslide.
 
We can call it a landslide because it’s our choice to do so. The numbers back us up. Biden-Harris won the popular vote by, at last count, over 5 million. They flipped some red states blue. The announcement of their victory last week resulted in a national paroxysm of joy, as people took to the streets all over the country (and other countries, too), to celebrate the beginning of the end of a long national nightmare.
 
And do you want to know the best part about it?
 
The other side can’t argue with us on this one.
 
Sure, they can whine, and complain, and cry, “No fair,” until they’re red in the face. They can march, and they can shit-post. They can threaten and they can insult. They can do anything and everything that they, in their limited imaginations and intelligence, can think of.
 
But they can’t argue.
 
And why not?
 
Because the one they worship called it what it is.

​306
 
Landslide.
 
And, as an added bonus, because the soon-to-be former president was an incumbent on the wrong side of a “massive landslide,” that makes him the biggest loser ever.
 
 
Week Ten Picks
Winners in Bold:
 
Sunday
 
Philly at NYG
Jax at GB
Washington at Detroit
Houston at Cleveland
Tampa at Carolina
LABolts at Miami
Denver at LV
Buffalo at Arizona
San Fran at NO
Seattle at LAAries
Cincy at Pittsburgh
 
 
Sunday Night
 
Baltimore at NE
 
 
Monday Night
 
Minny at Chicago

This Sunday is the perfect day to watch football.
 
The past four years have been a waking nightmare. Our minds would have barely enough time (maybe?!?) to process whatever atrocity was being committed by the president, his criminal family, and the GOP, the evil cabal that enabled the evil, when another fresh horror would be unleashed upon us.
 
The campaign and lead-up to the election was fraught with tension, as Trump and the GOP sought to sow the seeds of doubt in an election process that they had to know that they couldn’t win.
 
Election night was nerve-wracking, as Trump voters, who had turned out at the polls in droves (as is the statistical tendency of Republican voters), inflated the early return percentages to make it look like Trump was winning.
 
Then, as the millions-upon-millions of early votes were counted (in a slow, delayed process that the GOP actually CREATED in an effort to steal an election they knew they could not win fairly), we watched with bated breath as results trickled in, as Biden inched closer to victory.
 
Even when the numbers showed us that Biden would surely win, we still couldn’t be sure. Trump’s team filed frivolous lawsuits. News outlets, gun-shy, hesitated for days to call the results. Good people, bludgeoned into numbness after being held hostage for four years, could barely dare to hope that what they saw, what the numbers told them, could be true. They’d seen the snake slither away from trouble too many times.
 
Then, Saturday.
 
Overwhelmed by unchallengeable math, the media had no choice. They called it. It was as official as we needed it to be.
 
What followed was a release. But not the relieved sigh that some expected.
 
No.
 
This was an explosion. It was an eruption.
 
All over the U.S., and all around the world, people cheered. They clapped. They howled. They danced. They danced in the streets. They drank. They smoked. They let it all hang out.
 
People celebrated. It was incredible. And, it was Saturday.
 
On Monday, those who can will head back to work. Biden, Harris, and their people, will begin the work of getting ready to take over a country that needs leadership to overcome a great many problems.
 
Sunday will be a day of rest for many people. A day to sit, relax, recover.
 
Sunday will be a perfect day to watch football.

​Whatever you do, have a great Sunday.
 
 
Week Nine Picks
Winners in Bold:

Sunday
 
NYG at Washington
Chicago at Tennessee
Detroit at Minnesota
Carolina at KC
Houston at Jax
Baltimore at Indy
Seattle at Buffalo
Denver at Atlanta
LV at LABolts
Pittsburgh at Dallas
Miami at Arizona
 
 
Sunday Night
 
NO at Tampa
 
 
Monday Night
 
New England at NYJ


P.S.: Thank you to each and every person who voted for reason, and who rejected chaos.

So, did you miss me?
 
Sorry I didn’t post last week. I was quite ill. I’m better now, though, all things considered.
 
Today is Halloween. Had a great visit today with my nieces. They were so cute in their costumes. Then I did one of my absolute favourite things; I handed out treats to the trick-or-treaters.
 
Now, this being 2020, I did things a bit differently. Usually, I would wait for the trick-or-treaters to knock on the door, then I would answer and give them treats. In the interest of exercising safe social distancing, I set up a “treat distribution station” on our front step. I set up a table, placed a container full of treat bags on top of it, and sat in a chair behind it. When trick-or-treaters approached, I put on my mask (the safety kind), and used a grabber tool to place the treats in the kids’ bags. The kids loved it, and I had a blast. Sure, it was cold out, but I bundled up to keep warm. The main thing is that the kids had fun (and so did I), and everyone was safe.
 
That’s what a society is, folks; you can look after yourself, and still care about others.
 
 
OK, let’s get to the picks.
 
But first, some shout-outs:

To Nnamdi Asomugha, Mike Holmgren, Megatron, Brandon Lloyd, Sage Rosenfels, and Ryan Shazier (and also Mick Foley and Martina Navratilova): Thank you!

To Jay Cutler, Mike Ditka, Brett Favre, and Herschel Walker (and also Chris Jericho, Jack Nicklaus, and Mariano Rivera): Fuck you!
​
To Bobby Orr:

Week Eight Picks
Winners in Bold:
 
Sunday

Pittsburgh at Baltimore
LAAries at Miami
NYJ at KC
Minnesota at GB
Indy at Detroit
LV at Cleveland
Tennessee at Cincy
NE at Buffalo
LABolts at Denver
San Fran at Seattle
NO at Chicago

 
Sunday Night
 
Dallas at Philly

 
Monday Night
 
Tampa at NYG
​
 
To those of you who have already voted, I hope you voted BLUE!
(If you voted red, I mean, what are you even doing here? Fuck off! Seriously.)
 
To those of you who haven’t voted…

Always do the right thing. Got it?

​I'm gone.