Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category

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Go big or go home.

Friday, December 8th, 2023

I have written advice to those with a crooked bent before. I don’t advocate stealing or other criminal activity, but if you’re going to do it, steal big. Don’t throw away your life for some candy bars or a case of scotch. Steal enough money so you can live out the rest of your life comfortably in a country with no extradition treaty with the United States.

Two recent examples of people who followed this advice:

Amit Patel is a former office employee with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was fired in February, and was charged this week with embezzling $22,221,454.40 from the team.

The filing alleges that Patel became the sole administrator in October 2019 of the Jaguars’ VCC program, which is a payment method that functions like a traditional credit card account but without a physical credit card. Certain employees were allowed to use the VCC program for business-related purchases and expenses. Patel is accused of duplicating legitimate expenses in an electronic ledger, inflating amounts of legitimate transactions and entering fictitious transactions, and then using the money for personal purchases.

Those personal purchases allegedly include “a condominium in Ponte Vedra Beach, a Tesla Model 3 sedan, cryptocurrency, chartering private jets, luxury hotel stays, a country club membership and luxury wrist watches.”

While Mr. Patel is, of course, innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, his attorney says he has a gambling addiction and was betting at FanDuel and DraftKings.

“approximately 99% of the misappropriated funds” were related to gambling losses.

By the way, NFL policy prohibits team employees from sports betting. I think NFL policy also prohibits embezzling $22 million from your team, but I don’t have a pointer to that section of the policy.

(Hattip to Lawrence on this, though I’m using a different link.)

Janet Yamanaka Mello was a civilian employee of the United States Army, working at Fort Sam Houston (down in San Antonio). She’s been charged with embezzling $100 million from the military 4-H program.

The alleged scheme took place while Mello worked for the Army as a civilian financial program manager at Fort Sam Houston. As part of her job, Mello determined whether 4-H Military Partnership Grant program funds were available for organizations that applied. Her supervisor would approve the funding award which she would sign off on and send to the Defense Financial Accounting Service. The service would cut and mail a check to the appropriate organization.
As part of Mello’s alleged scheme, she directed the funds to be sent to a UPS Store mailbox near San Antonio which she rented. Mello allegedly deposited the check into her own bank account.

Again, Ms. Mello is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Posted in Law, NFL, Sports | 1 Comment »

TMQ Watch: December 5, 2023.

Tuesday, December 5th, 2023

No clever introduction this week. Just this week’s TMQ (which you won’t be able to read in its entirety unless you subscribe to “All Predictions Wrong”, which is the actual title of Gregg Easterbrook’s Substack) after the jump…

(more…)

Posted in Christmas, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | 1 Comment »

TMQ Watch: November 28, 2023.

Tuesday, November 28th, 2023

Looking over the hysterical records, the last real TMQ watch we did was December 11, 2018. So it has been very close to five years. We’re not even sure we remember how to do this.

But a gift is a gift, a promise is a promise, and after the jump, this week’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback (which you won’t be able to read in its entirety unless you subscribe to “All Predictions Wrong”, which is the actual title of Gregg Easterbrook’s Substack) after the jump…

(more…)

Posted in NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | Comments Closed

Well, that’s done.

Monday, November 27th, 2023

Frank Reich fired as head coach of hapless the Carolina Panthers. ESPN for the archive challenged.

The Panthers are currently 1-10. Which, by a curious coincidence, is also the number of games Frank Reich coached.

Reich is the third full-time head coach to be fired by Tepper since taking over as owner in 2018. He chose not to hire former interim head coach Steve Wilks — who went 6-6 during his run last year — in favor of Reich this offseason.

Posted in Firings, NFL, Sports | 2 Comments »

Firings watch.

Sunday, November 26th, 2023

Tom Allen out as head coach of Indiana. (“Sources say”)

Seven seasons, 33-49, and 18-43 in conference. Indiana lost their final three games and went 3-9 this season.

According to ESPN, Indiana will have to pay a $20.8 million buyout, since they fired Allen before December 1st of this year. If they had waited until next year, the buyout would have been only $8 million.

ESPN is reporting (“sources say”) that Dana Holgorsen is out at the University of Houston. I have been unable to find any backup for this on the HouChron website or the two local TV station websites I checked.

Houston went 4-8 in its inaugural Big 12 season, which included a loss at Rice in September and three straight losses to end the year. The Cougars finished 2-7 in the Big 12, with their wins coming in overtime against Baylor and on a last-second 49-yard touchdown against West Virginia.

31-28 over five seasons. The buyout is estimated at $14.8 million, but there’s an offset clause if he gets another coaching job.

Edited to add: the Holgorsen firing seems official now. HouChron

Edited to add 2: Some additional firing updates I ran across on ESPN. I’m just going to cover them quickly:

Terry Bowden gone as head coach of Louisana-Monroe. 10-26, 5-10 in conference, and 2-10 this season.

Frank Cignetti Jr. out as offensive coordinator for Pitt.

Dana Dimel out as head coach of UT-El Paso. 20-49 in six seasons, one bowl appearance in 2021, but 3-9 this season.

Posted in Firings, Sports | 1 Comment »

TMQ Watch watch.

Sunday, November 26th, 2023

Well. Well well well. Well.

We were, as a matter of fact, sitting in church this morning, waiting for the service to start, when we received an email.

Someone who wishes to remain monogamous anonymous has gifted us a one-month subscription to Gregg Easterbrook’s Substack.

Our first reaction was: we’d really like to know who this person is. Perhaps they will out themselves in comments?

Our second reaction was: what a kind and thoughtful present to kick off the season of giving. Thank you, masked man!

Our third reaction was: how are we going to work this? At the very least, we feel an obligation to do a TMQ Watch for each new TMQ going forward. Should we go back and do the ones from earlier in the season? That’s doubtful, because the temptation to view them through the lens of hindsight is very high. Also, we currently have two major projects we’re working on for the Smith and Wesson Collector’s Association, so we don’t have as much time as we would like.

But we will promise to TMQ Watch TMQ, starting with this coming Tuesday’s entry. And, even though it is only a month subscription, we will promise to TMQ Watch TMQ through his post-Superb Owl column, which should wrap up the TMQ season. Even if we have to pay out of our own pocket. (That is not to say that we will not accept another gift subscription for another month, but even if that doesn’t happen, we’ll take on the assignment anyway.)

Posted in NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | Comments Closed

Firings watch.

Friday, November 24th, 2023

Jack Del Rio out as defensive coordinator of the Washington NFL team.

The Commanders’ defense ranks last in points allowed and 29th in yards allowed — one year after ranking seventh and third, respectively, in those categories. The Commanders consistently gave up big plays and failed to make many of their own.
Washington has allowed a league-high 49 pass plays of 20 yards or more. The Commanders haven’t intercepted a pass in the past six games or caused a turnover in the past three.

Washington lost 45-10 to Dallas yesterday, is 4-8 this season, has lost three games in a row and eight out of the last 10.

Posted in Firings, NFL, Sports | 1 Comment »

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 22nd, 2023

You know, I always say “It’s just not Thanksgiving until the Detroit Lions lose.”

But this year, the Lions are 8-2. And they are favored by a good margin over Green Bay. While I am generally sympathetic to the Packers because of their unusual structure (as you know, Bob) they are 4-6 this year, and I kind of resent the way the team is being run.

Plus, pigpen51.

So I find myself in the unusual position this year, in terms of rooting for laundry, of actually hoping that..the Detroit Lions win.

What mad universe is this, anyway?

Posted in NFL, Sports | 3 Comments »

Obit watch: November 22, 2023.

Wednesday, November 22nd, 2023

Willie Hernández, relief pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. ESPN.

The left-handed Hernández had a 13-year career but is mostly known for his role as the closer on one of the most dominant teams in the past 40 years. The 1984 Tigers, led by Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker and Jack Morris, opened 35-5 and cruised to the AL East title with a 104-58 mark before sweeping Kansas City in the AL Championship Series and beating San Diego in a five-games World Series.
Hernández had a 9-3 record and 32 saves in 33 chances in 1984, with a 1.92 ERA over 80 games and 140⅓ innings. He is among just 11 pitchers to win the Cy Young and MVP in the same year, edging Kansas City’s Dan Quisenberry for Cy Young in 1984 and Minnesota’s Kent Hrbek for MVP.

(Thanks to pigpen51 for the tip.)

Herbert Gold, novelist.

Carlton Pearson. I had not heard of him previously, but I find his story interesting. He was a prominent evangelist who ran a megachurch in Tulsa. He was a board member of Oral Roberts University. And then…

While watching a TV report in the 1990s on children starving during the Rwanda genocide, Bishop Pearson had an epiphany. He could not believe that God would consign innocent souls to hell who had not accepted Jesus Christ as savior before their deaths. He concluded that hell does not exist, except as earthly misery created by human beings; that God loves all mankind; and that everyone is already saved.
It was a view he shared in interviews and preached at his church, the Higher Dimensions Family Church, which he co-founded in 1981 and which grew into one of the largest in Tulsa, known for its multiracial pews in a city and a faith, evangelical Christianity, that was largely segregated.
“I believe that most people on planet Earth will go to heaven, because of Calvary, because of the unconditional love of God and the redemptive work of the cross, which is already accomplished,” Bishop Pearson told The Tulsa World in 2002, adding that he included Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists among the loved. “I’m re-evaluating everything,” he said.

This led to him being branded a heretic, leaving the denomination he’d been ordained in, and losing his megachurch.

Mr. Bogle, Bishop Pearson’s agent, said he often asked him about whether he regretted the loss of prestige, income and worshipers that followed his turning away from Pentecostal Christian orthodoxy.
“I said, ‘You’ve lost a lot of money, don’t you think you should have just shut up?’” Mr. Bogle said. “He would always say, ‘No, I don’t believe I made a mistake.’”

Posted in Books, Obits, Religion, Sports | Comments Closed

Blame Canada! Blame Canada!

Tuesday, November 21st, 2023

Matt Canada out as offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Non-archive link, extremely aggressive about turning off your ad blocker. Archive link, which may not work for some people. ESPN, which will probably work for almost everyone.

Posted in Firings, NFL, Sports | 2 Comments »

Firings watch.

Sunday, November 19th, 2023

Dino Babers out as Syracuse head coach.

Eight seasons, 41-55 overall, 20-45 in the ACC. One bowl appearance in the last five years.

The Orange (5-6) have lost six of their past seven games, marking the second consecutive year that featured a precipitous slide to end the season. Last year, Syracuse lost six of its last seven games.

Am I delusional, or didn’t Syracuse used to be called “The Orangemen”? Now it seems like they are just “The Orange”, and I can’t find any explanation for the name change online.

Edited to add: and shortly after I posted this, I found out that East Tennessee State had fired George Quarles as their football coach. 6-16 in two seasons, 3-8 this season.

Posted in Firings, Sports | 2 Comments »

What to do? What. To. Do?

Friday, November 17th, 2023

I could do three, maybe four, very short posts covering and updating about various news items.

Or I could do one post hitting all of those items, even though it wouldn’t be as organized as doing multiple posts. But it’d just be one post, and maybe slightly more substantial. So one post it is.

Obit watch: A.S. Byatt, noted British author (Possession).

George Brown, drummer for Kool & the Gang.

Non-flaming non-hyenas watch: Mike the Musicologist sent over a link (but I’m using the Post‘s instead) stating that the gun charges against NYC Councilwoman Inna Vernikov are going to be dropped. Turns out that her gun was unloaded and also missing the recoil spring assembly, so it couldn’t be fired.

“In order to sustain this charge, it must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the weapon in question was capable of firing bullets,” Brooklyn DA spokesman Oren Yaniv said in a statement. “Absent such proof, we have no choice but to dismiss these charges.”

This actually makes me feel less sympathetic to her. It seems like she was carrying the gun as a prop, not because she felt a need for protection. And that doesn’t strike me as being very smart.

Firings watch: Chris Partridge, linebackers coach at the University of Michigan. This does seem to be tied to the ongoing scandal.

There are somewhat more than hints in that article and this one that UMich has found out some things about what’s been going on that are causing tsuris.

Sources told ESPN that university leadership this week has shifted its tone from the stern rebuke of the league’s sanctions to a growing acceptance that the football program may be dealing with significant NCAA infractions that could include a failure to properly monitor the program on Harbaugh’s part.

Posted in Books, Firings, Guns, Law, Music, Politics, Sports | 1 Comment »

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