FINAL MIAMI 115 Washington 109

Happy of course.

J-Winsavior had a complete game. He is doing well at PG for Goran Dragic. Justise finished with 13 points 5/9 (1/3), 10 assists only one TO, 3 boards. Hassan: 21 points 9/13, 18 rebounds. Well done you guys. Erik stuck with JJ in the second half and it paid off: 17, 6/12 (3/6). J-Rich had 18 points but didn’t shoot well, 6/16 (2/8), did have five boards. D-Wade was back, hit two clutch FT’s down the stretch and had 13 on 5/11 with 6 assists. D-Wait was a DNPCD so he’s going to be pissed. “Heat”’FINALLY get over .500.

Lots Of Us Think Trump Is A Motherf**ker Who Should Be Impeached. Rashida Tlaib Just Said It Out Loud.

(HuffPost)

Lots of us aren’t members of Congress and for a member of Congress to say that is confirmatory of the stereotype that Palestinians wherever they are, are not responsible enough to be democratic. Confirmatory of Abba Eban’s adage that “The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity,” in this instance to demonstrate that most of them do not wear turbans with a bomb underneath and a lit fuse sticking out. Lots of us think that too and Rashiba Tlaib just said out loud why we do.

"Heat Zones" (18-18) lead (16-23)"Spent Bullets" 61-58 at the half.

Happy of course.

Not entirely happy, of course. 58 points at the half is not what a team should have against Miami if Miami is to prevail ultimately. Not what a bad team should have especially.

Dare I check the half time box score to see the devils in the details. I dare.

"Bullets" shot mostly blanks, That does surprise me given their 58 points, 43.1% from two; 29.4% from three. BAD!

So what accounts for the "Zones" insignificant three-point lead? Let us see.

"Heat" much better from two, 49%; iron city though from downtown 25%. YoungWhiteside accounts for the "Heat's lead. 15 points, 6/7, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks. Dare I extrapolate over 48 mins? Sure: 30 points, 18 boards, 4 blocks. (Don't take that to the bank.)

Now somebody wearing black and red or fuchsia and whatever must have been clanking, who it be? Ah, Johnson & Johnson are Clank and Clank tonight.T-Jo 6 points 3/9 (0/2); JJ 8, 3/7 (2/4). And J-Rich 7, 2/7 (0/4). J-Winsavior has had a productive half, 9 points, 3/3 (...Ah, the second half has commenced and Wershington has already taken the lead, now the "Heat" have just tied it, 68-68. Gonna be one of them games looks like. At AA where the Fuschia Heat choke and barf on the floor.) I'm not into following this bullshit any further. I need my beauty sleep. Toot-a-loo.

Brits, show an American football coach film of the typical way tiki-taka is defended and ask him what he thinks.

"Prevent defense..."

"Loosest prevent defense I've ever seen"...

"How much time's left in the game here?...The game just started?!"

"You guys don't rush the quarterback...the passer...that little guy with the ball on his foot? We always put nominal pressure on the quarterback...Can't give the QB all day to pass...Pick you apart..."

"What, they can't pass very well with their feet?"

..."Ever blitz?"...It means you gang rush the the quarterback, the guy with the ball!"

"It is dangerous but sometimes you rush the passer into throwing...kicking...an interception. Then you'd have a frigging five-on-one break."

"You guys don't ever play man-to-man?"

"No?! How 'bout a box-and-one like in basketball?"

"How about when the offense gets into the red zone, that frigging big rectangle there?"

"Do teams win playing that prevent defense?"

"We say in the States that the only thing a prevent defense prevents is winning."

How to Beat Manchester City

Right, nobody listens to me, an ignorant colonist, I understand (you fucking brain dead limeys), so here: The Guardian okay? The fucking Guardian, your own Guardian.

Again, City looked uncomfortable when pressed hard, their pass completion rate was down to 80.8% against a season average of 88.7%. This has become a recurring theme of late. Southampton unnerved City in a similar way last weekend. In slightly different ways, Leicester and Crystal Palace had shown City can be got at. It is a risk: play aggressively against them and you might end up being thrashed as City exploit the space that will inevitably be left behind the midfield (just as Sané’s winner came from a rapid transition) but there is a vulnerability there that can be exploited.
...
Again the lesson is clear for teams playing City: if they are prepared to risk humiliation, pushing a forward high against Fernandinho disrupts City’s rhythm.

Okay? This isn’t New World Genius—or arrogance—you’re just stupid.

LIVERPUKES, LOOK!

It Couldn't Happen AGAIN...could it?

Liverpukes! Let's watch a movie, a comedy, and sing a song together!

                                                               Ode to Steve Gerrard

Now I know! that if I get on the Echo or some other Liverpool echo that those racist, low life, Trumpist scum are going to be carrying on like little bitches.

So I won’t. I’m just going to go right to it. Hey Liverpukes!

The great art critic Arthur Danto wrote once in an aside in one of his books that the 1970’s were as culturally desolate as the tenth century, which really hurt my feelings.

1972. ‘Bout the best damn thing that ever came out of the ‘70’s.

Man, that was a great song. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nXiQtD5gcHU

Then, in the chaotic moments directly afterwards, time seemed to pause and it was incredible that Liverpool did not have a goal to celebrate. As John Stones’s attempted clearance came back off Ederson and started looping towards an exposed net 

it felt as if the entire stadium held its breath, 

expecting it to conclude with a barely conceivable own goal. The technology showed nine-tenths of the ball had crossed the goal line 

but not, however, the final tenth. 

Stones had somehow got back to hook the ball, brilliantly,

Papa was a rolling Stones, well, well, well.


from beneath his crossbar and City were spared by a matter of millimetres.


When Liverpool’s players watch the replay of that moment they will barely comprehend how Stones’s final swing of the ball missed Salah, from point-blank range, when even the merest of touches would have resulted in a goal.

Oh sure. Ball never had a chance.

...for long spells [City] discovered here why Liverpool had the best defensive statistics in the league, why the team in red had conceded eight goals from their previous 20 fixtures and why Virgil van Dijk has been attracting so much acclaim for his performances.

In addition Liverpool always had the attacking players to ensure danger was lurking, exemplified when, with the game goalless, Mohamed Salah set up Sadio Mané for a shot that thudded back off the post.

Yes, but look: Before you coronate van Dijk remember: That androgynous mo-fo did everything he could to gift City a 1-0 win at Fenway. He brought down Bad, Bad Leroy Sane in the 85',  City was rightly awarded the PK but Pep went all James Franklin and chose newbie Riyad Mahrez to take the game winner. Except Riyad knocked a moon shot halfway to Riyadh.

Liverpool are however an amazingly intelligently constructed side. All credit to owner John Henry and his soccer people. Van Dijk was the key signing last year that has made Liverpool unquestionably one of the best teams on the planet.

For Pep Guardiola and his players there is still a game of catch-up to play at the top of the table but they will like to think this victory could be a decisive blow.

That is from Daniel Taylor of The Guardian and I do not know how anyone, much less a football professional pencil, could pen that without blushing. 

FT Manchester City 2 Liverpool 1

Oh my goodness. Liverpool had the better time of possession! That is certainly a first. 51%-49%. Liverpool are a first rate team, first rate.

                                                          I've been badder than Leroy longer. 

I COMPLETELY forgot about The Main Event until my son texted me a moment ago.

It was Kun Aguero in the 40', Firmino for Liverpuke in the 64' and then that bad man, that bad, bad man, the baddest man in the whole damn town got the winner in the 72'.

It is 'Puke's first loss in the Premier League, City also drew with them early in the season at Fenway. It reduces the gap at the top of the table from a daunting seven--which would have been a nigh impossible ten with a loss--to a manageable four. The two clubs are dead even in goal difference. What a race!

BA-LOO!

CITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Main Event

MANCHESTER CITY
                 vs
      LIVERPOOL

This is a Systemic Problem

With title-game ticket prices plummeting more than 90 percent, should college football be worried?

(Dan Wetzel, Yahoo)

“Prices are trending lower than we have ever seen before,” SeatGeek.com’s Chris Leyden told Yahoo Sports. “Demand is down.”

And that’s just part of it. The semifinal games weren’t competitive and delivered comparatively low television ratings.

Unbeaten 2018 champion Alabama vs. unbeaten 2017 champion Clemson. It’s their fourth consecutive playoff encounter, third in the title game.

“This is clearly the two best teams,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “I mean, this is the way it should be.”

And yet, in what may be the ultimate embarrassment, the game could be played in front of empty seats at Levi Stadium.

That isn’t the way it should be.

No, it is not the way it should be and yes, the conservators of the game should be worried.

The bowl system is cannibalizing game. So many bowls that followers get inured. Attendance was down, sometimes drastically, at five or six bowl games that I noted in a previous post. 

And weirdly, the playoff has decreased competitiveness, not increased it. Where are the the upsets like in the NCAA basketball tournament that generate so much interest? "#4 Oklahoma stuns Alabama." Doesn't happen. "Boise State stuns Oklahoma." There has never been a game like that in the playoffs (Truth, though:There has never been a game like that.) Instead we get Alabama-Clemson every damn year. It's not competitive, it's predictable. So yeah, there are going to be empty seats at the national championship game. Yes, be worried. Be very worried.

Trumpie’s Artful Dealing

Mr. Trump tried creative ways to persuade the Democrats that they should support his wall. At one point, he said Ms. Pelosi should back it because she was “a good Catholic” and Vatican City is surrounded by a wall...

Oh masterful, Trumpie, masterful.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/02/us/politics/trump-congress-shutdown.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Top five by minutes played:

J-Rich 32, 24, 9/16 (4/7).
De-J 31, 13, 4/8 (3/4), 7 reb.
K. O. 28, 10, 3/3 (2/2), 6 reb.
J-Winsavior 27, 10, 3/11, 7 assists.
T-Jo 26, 16, 6/10 (1/3), 4 reb, 4 assists, 3 steals, 3 turnovers.

D-Wait played his first minutes in over a year.  He only played 22 minutes but he was active: 7 points, 3/9 (1/6), 2 rebounds, 3 assists.

D-Wade was no place. Out ill.

I bet the "Heat" would be over .500 if they played the "Cavs" every game.

This Is a Problem

It is not just the Outback Bowl. College tackle football has a real problem here:

Empty Seats Galore
Empty Seats Galore
@EmptySeatsPics
From last night: Announced crowd of 47,007 for the 2018 San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl at SDCCU Stadium -- the smallest since 1992. #BowlSeason


Empty Seats Galore
Empty Seats Galore
@EmptySeatsPics
Announced crowd of 38,206 at the 2018 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl at TIAA Bank Field -- the smallest since 1952. #BowlSeason

Empty Seats Galore
Empty Seats Galore
@EmptySeatsPics
Announced crowd of 40,518 for the 2018 Outback Bowl at Raymond James Stadium -- the smallest in the bowl's history. #BowlSeason

Empty Seats Galore
Empty Seats Galore
@EmptySeatsPics
Announced crowd of 57,246 for the 2018 PlayStation Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium -- the first sub-60,000 crowd since 1979.

Empty Seats Galore
Empty Seats Galore
@EmptySeatsPics
Announced crowd of 30,212 for the 2018 RedBox Bowl. #BowlSeason

This is a big problem.

James Franklin made the correct call to kick a field goal instead of going for the touchdown trailing by six with four minutes left on 4th and 7 from the Kentucky 15. He had three timeouts and four minutes left, enough time to stop Kentucky, get the ball back and score. The problem was PSU's defense didn't stop Kentucky. But PSU's kicking game was shit today. He was banking on getting two field goals in 4 minutes when his kicker was 0-2 in the preceding 56 minutes. That is not smart banking. Again, he took the ball out of his best player, Trace McSorley's, hand and put it on the foot of not his best player. But it's 4th and 7, man. Fourth and 7 from the 15! Let's say McSorley gets the first down. You get no points for crossing the 8-yard line! McSorley's got to do it again and the clock's going tick, tick, tick. And what if McSorley doesn't do it, or doesn't do it again? And Franklin got one!  He got one of the two field goals he needed to get in 4 minutes. He would have had to have gotten again about as close with seconds to play as he was with 4 minutes to play. That would have been tough and it is cutting it awfully close and it would have resulted in a tie and overtime, not a clean win, but if McSorley had scored the TD, Kentucky would have gotten the ball back with ~3 minutes left. PSU's defense couldn't stop "Benny Snell" after PSU got 3 points. If Kentucky had needed a TD I bet Benny Snell would have been highly motivated to get them that. So, I still think Franklin made the right call. 

In the VRBO Bowl #14 Kentucky of the SEC beat #12 Paterno-Sandusky (B1G) 27-24. PSU was a 4.5 point fave.

Kentucky led 27-7 with 1:35 left in the 3Q! "Pedobears" made it 27-24 with McSorley, McSorley, McSorley, Trace McSorley, their star quarterback, playing in his last collegiate game.

The difference was three points. And PSU could have had those three points in a couple different ways, but didn't. First...Well first, before we even get to playing the football game, why is James Franklin such an arrogant dick? At a pep rally yesterday or some time before the game James said,

"They are going to be wearing blue and white. WE WILL be wearing the real blue and white."

Now, both teams' colors are blue and white, Kentucky's are blue and white...What colors would James have had them wear? You're going to get huffy about which blue and white is the "real" blue and white? I mean, that is just bizarre. So, Kentucky's coach, after the game, threw it back in James' face:

“Don’t anyone question who the real Blue and White is.”

Arright, fine James, be a penis. Coach a good game. But he didn't. 

First, James gave Kentucky three points.  On PSU's first possession of the game, 4th and 2 at their own 33 James calls a fake punt.

Kentucky stops it. Kentucky gets down to the PSU 9 and kicks a field goal. 3-0 Kentucky.

There is something about fourth downs that causes James to go all Deez-Nutz.

There needs to be an intervention here. The PSU coaching staff must needs conspire together and pull the chord on James' headset whenever it's fourth down.

So one way PSU could have had three points is not having Deez Nutz as their coach to do nutty things.

Few minutes later PSU is down at the Kentucky 22, 4th and 13. They missed the field goal.

So the kicking game is another way PSU could have gotten those three points.

Forty five seconds left in the 1Q PSU 4th and 13 at their own two yard line. Punt. Punt return for
touchdown. 10-0 UK. 

So special teams gave Kentucky seven more points. 

At the end of the first half, trailing 10-7, PSU was again deep in Kentucky territory with 4th and 5. 36 yard field goal blocked.

So take away Deez Nutz, special teams, and the kicking game and you take away 16 points from Kentucky's margin of victory, which was only three.  The final score would have been 30-17 PSU.

In the Playstation Bowl, I was all prepared to root for Central Florida against LSU in the Playstation Bowl. But UCF is a dirty team. They were trying to injure LSU QB Joe Burrow. That pissed me off so I started pulling hard for LSU. They won 40-32 handing the "Dark Knights" their first loss in two years. Good. Screw UCF.

The Outback Bowl is a pretty good bowl. New Year's Day bowl. Payout is pretty good. And today they had two pretty good teams, #18, 8-4 Mississippi State from the SEC and 8-4 Iowa from the B1G. And they had a good game which Iowa won 27-22. What they didn't have was people interested in attending. 40,518 turned out in massive Raymond James Stadium, home field of Manchester "Buccaneers" football franchise. Ray Jay seats 65,618. It was 62% full. 38% empty. It was the lowest attendance in the 33 year history of the game.

New Year's Resolution

Mao Zedong used to tell his aides to disregard any orders that he gave after he had taken his sleep medication. Mao knew that his judgment was impaired when he was under the influence of a sedative. I have to stop writing after taking temazepam at night, it jumbles up my brain. In my right mind I know who Antonio Bryant is and I know who Antonio Brown is and I also know what the phrase "a corner was turned" means. But under the influence of temazepam last night Antonio Brown was Antonio Bryant and the night before "a corner was turned" became "a turner was corned"! Which sounds like something I would write in my right mind but I was not and I did not intentionally. I have noticed this previously: after being on adderall, which causes intense focus, all day when I take temazepam at night my mind feels liberated, free, fresh, open. I don't feel dyslexic.Those are mental phantom limb sensations that temazepam causes. A drunken, jumbled stupidity is the real product.

Stanford beat my Beloved Pitt Panthers yesterday in the Sun Bowl 14-13. Don't know who Pitt was this year.

Professorial tackle football is different from professional tackle football. Take the way coaching changes are made. In the pros they fire your ass as they did six times yesterday. In college however there are so many damned head coaching jobs that resignations are more common than in the pros. Coaches have more power of choice and can jump before they are pushed. Take Miami. Manny Diaz left as defensive coordinator to become head man at Temple. Then Mark Richt "retired." Umm, Mark retired before he was fired. Then Manny abandoned Temple to come back to scUM as head coach. Temple made something like $6.5 mil from this abandonment and one previous and they can comfort themselves by using that money to repair their reputation but that is vain comfort. Temple was humiliated by Diaz and Miami, Temple has always been badly used in football coaching and it really angers me. Miami is an outlaw university and that disgusts me.

Take Randy Edsall. Take Todd Graham, a serial abandoner. Take Dana Holgorsen, today. Dana had been head coach at West Virginia (renamed Trump University in 2017) for eight years, his first head coaching job. Dana is not an abandoner but Dana may have made a decision today under the influence of something (knowing a little of Dana's history, it would have been moonshine if anything) for Dana has resigned at WVU/TU to take the job at the "University" of Houston. See, WVU/TU is a member of a Power Five conference, the Big XII. Coaching in a Power Five conference is the head of the class in professorial tackle football. It's where national champions are. Houston, however, is not in a Power Five conference. Houston is in the "American" conference. National champions are not produced in the American. Abortions are produced in the American: Edsall's UConn, Temple, Tulsa, Wichita State. You flee the American, you do not flee to the American. And Dana did pretty well at WVU/TU in the Big XII: won 61 games, lost 41, finished ranked 18th one year, seven bowl games. Dana was never mistaken for no Knute Rockne, now; never mistaken for no rocket scientist, neither. But Dana's a pretty good coach when he's not on the hooch. So why would pretty-good Dana Holgorsen, not-under-the-influence Dana, leave the Big XII for the American? This here: $$. Dana had a higher opinion of his coaching acumen than did officialdom at WVU/TU. Thought he should be compensated in line with his opinion of hisself. WVU/TU balked and so Dana jumped. What Houston does have is plenty of Texas Tea. Dana gonna drink some of that now.