Today Bill Simmons was suspended for 3 weeks by ESPN for calling out Roger Goodell for his “fucking bullshit” on a podcast regarding his handling of the Ray Rice situation. It happens to be a podcast I listen to every week and while Simmons can also drive me crazy with his homerism, I must profess that his suspension is “fucking bullshit”.

Without getting into the whole Ray Rice issue again, I think it’s worth pointing out that First Take presenter/host/troll king/relentless moron Stephen A Smith was also suspended back in August 2014 for comments he made that suggested that women were to blame for domestic violence. He then tried to apologise for it and during the process of apologising, accused women again of inciting violence against themselves. A classic mistake! Its the age old ‘women shouldn’t dress provocatively’ defence. For anyone who’s interested in his apology:

“But what about addressing women on how they can help prevent the obvious wrong being done upon them? In no way was I accusing women of being wrong. I was simply saying what that preventive measures always need to be addressed because there’s only but so much that can be done after the fact … once the damage is already done.”

After these words of wisdom, Smith was suspended for 1 week. So, for those counting at home; 3 weeks for calling the commissioner of the NFL a liar, 1 week for accusing women of domestic violence. I’m sure ESPN would cite the 2-3 times in the past where they’ve suspended Simmons for similar infractions but they must realise the symbolism of what they’ve done. We just went through this with Rice’s 2 game ban vs. Josh Gordon’s season ban for marijuana. Simply put, Simmons’ suspension comes down to the USD15bn ESPN-NFL relationship vs. the promotion of women’s issues.

I hope this is the last time I have to address this saga, it has certainly thrown up a lot of#HotTakes but this is getting out of control. Of course, as I write this and check Twitter at the same time – Jeff Taylor of the Charlotte Hornets has been arrested for…domestic abuse! Good job there Jeff. Watch now as Adam Silver and the rest of the NBA come down on him to make a statement. It helps that he’s not a star, plays for the Charlotte née-Bobcats and people barely know who he is. They could run him out of the league and no one would care.

As an Eagles fan, I’m hoping for both teams to somehow lose tonight in the NY Giants @ Washington Football Team game. I’ll be interested to see if Giants can get pressure on Kirk Cousins and to see how he plays. Last week he had all the time in the world to throw the ball all over the field, with the Eagles’ cornerbacks playing about 10 yards off the receivers on every play. Washington might be shaping up to be a good team with Cousins, and he seems to fit Jay Gruden’s system better. Too early to tell at the moment but it unfortunately looks positive for Washington in that regard. I’m picking Washington (-3.5), because they’re at home and these Thursday night games usually mean a blowout. It’ll either be NY by 10 or Washington by 10, not anywhere near the spread. My heart is hoping for a tie and for Chris Baker to beaten up all night by the Giants O-line.

In the mean time, let’s get away from this domestic violence nonsense and support Emma Watson’s HeForShe campaign.

http://www.heforshe.org/#take-action

I like Tampa (+7) against Atlanta tonight. I’d feel better about this line if Clayborn and McCoy were playing but still, Tampa could be 2-0 at this point, if not for some terrible QB play of Josh McCown and a dropped pick-6. Bobby Rainey playing RB tonight might actually benefit Tampa as Doug Martin has looked out of sorts.

I don’t necessarily think TB is as bad as its been so far, but they certainly haven’t been as good as my pre-season projections.

There’s not much to add to the out of control Ray Rice story that a million people haven’t said already. It’s one of the few occasions where sports crosses into the mainstream and even rarer than that, everyone shares the same view on the subject. Everyone except Ray Rice and Roger Goodell that is.

There are two things that unsettle me from this series of events and are moral dilemmas that I can’t get my head around.

1. After all the events of the past week or so, I’m still going to tune in on Sunday at 6pm sharp and look forward to an evening of football. Millions of people around the world will do the same thing, despite their aversions to Ray Rice, Roger Goodell and the culture of protecting the integrity of a league which has no integrity. Javon Belcher, Terrell Suggs, Greg Hardy, Donte Stallworth, Josh Brent. That list includes murderers, DUI killers and alleged domestic violence perpetrators. The Belcher story in particular is horrifying and yet the fallout lasted a week and everyone got on with their lives. Josh Brent was found guilty of intoxication manslaughter in Jan 2014, killing his teammate as he crashed a car while driving at 110mph in a 45mph zone. But of course, he’d already been driving under the influence back in 2009. He’s also tested positive TWICE for marijuana while on parole/in jail since the car crash with his teammate in December 2012. Oh and by the way, he was driving with a suspended and expired driving licence. He’s signed to the Dallas Cowboys reserve list and received a suspension for the first 10 games of the 2014. So week 11, he could be back on the field. Either way, I’ll still hate the Cowboys and I’ll still watch football.

2. Second chances. Does everyone deserve a second chance? I don’t honestly know the answer to that. I look at Michael Vick, who is still one of the most hated athletes in US sports today. He was given a second chance and has parlayed that into making a difference. Some people will never forgive him, and I understand that. But he’s also kept entirely on the straight and narrow since he was released from jail and become a model for second chances in the league. Will Ray Rice be given a second chance? I’d be more surprised if Ray Rice never plays football again, than if he does. Obviously it may be a year or so down the line but some team will bring him in to the practice squad and kick the tires on him.

Right now, I’ll tell you that he doesn’t deserve a second chance. I’d like to see some remorse from the guy but he has not shown an ounce of it thus far. Take a look at some of the quotes from his press conference after the event:

“I want to first off apologize to [owner] Steve Bisciotti, [general manager and executive vice president] Ozzie Newsome and [head] coach [John] Harbaugh, and I also want to apologize to my fans, to the kids, to everyone who was affected by this situation that me and my wife were in.” 

I’m sorry Ray, what “situation” is it that you AND your wife are in exactly?! The “situation” where you, a person who spends their entire job getting bigger and stronger, punch a woman in the face and knock her out cold. Is that the “situation”? In the first part of his statement, he actually says that he usually gives conferences off the top of his head but this time, wrote his thoughts down. So his thought out apology is one of the most crass and insincere apologies of all time. It’s an insult to apologies everywhere to call that an apology. But then he takes it one step further with this:

“But I won’t call myself a failure. Failure is not getting knocked down; it’s not getting up.” 

Unforgivable and thoroughly insensitive choice of words. Would you call your wife a failure because she was unable to stand after you knocked her unconscious and had to drag her lifeless body out of the elevator to your hotel room? Show some remorse and accept responsibility for your actions, you spineless coward.

Roger Goodell likes to use the phrase “protect the shield” in reference to how he protects the “integrity” of the NFL. Why exactly does one need to protect a shield, isn’t a shield a protective device in itself? No one brings a shield into battle and then uses another shield to protect the original one. He’s bungled so many decisions now, he’s out of control. From 18 game schedules, to Thursday night games, to expanded playoffs, the handling of player punishment. This might be the only time ‘protect the shield’ is relevant, because he’s going to require a shield protecting another shield to save himself from the disgrace he’s caused himself.

And yet, they’ll both continue on as if nothing has happened. Will Goodell step down? Earning $44mn a year and bringing millions/billions to the owners he represents, presents a strong case that nothing will change and he’ll continue to squeeze every cent out of the players and fans that he can. Will Ray Rice be given a second chance by a team? I’m sure he will once his suspension is lifted.

Nothing changes in the NFL in spite of the disgrace Goodell, Rice, Brent, Suggs, Hardy, Stallworth, etc have brought to the league.

And on Sunday at 6pm, I’ll still be watching and I can’t tell you why.

Pittsburgh (+3) tonight over Baltimore.

Time to make relatively unfounded predictions for the year. I printed off the entire schedule for the year and went through to project every result, finishing with eventual divisional winners, playoffs and a Super Bowl champion, which I already mentioned in the previous post. What I believed would be a 30 minute job, turned into roughly 3 hours of work – 512 games, picking 256 winners. While I started off thinking about each game in detail, by the end I was over it and guessing wildly. Particularly the AFC North division which I have no feel for whatsoever. 

Here we go:

I ended up with the following playoff teams and seeds. I feel unconfident about most, if not all, of these picks. 

Seattle to win it all again. 

BOOM

7 months ago the NFL season ended, talking points erupted over a number of issues and I had a lot of thoughts on this.

6 months ago I created this blog, paid £20 to register the website and wrote a post entitled ‘Test’…nothing else.

5 months ago I had a fantasy baseball draft and the season started.

4 months ago nothing much happened, to be fair.

3 months ago the NBA Finals.

2 months ago dead quiet.

1 month ago….meh.

In just over 2 hours, the NFL season kicks off and despite all the time elucidated above, I have left my opening post to the last possible minute. My intention had been to write a dedicated season preview but it looks like I’ll have to pass in favour of a roughshod post at 11pm to give my prediction for tonight’s opening game.

Quite simply, I’m taking Seattle (-6) over Green Bay. I can’t look past a Seattle Super Bowl repeat, and anytime Seattle are at home, I’m favouring them whatever the points spread. Unlike the past few years where we’ve had ‘hot’ teams make a surprising run to a championship, Seattle and Denver were expected to meet in the Super Bowl back in August 2013. The Giants and Ravens were never dominant teams and they lost a bunch of key guys to age, free agency, injuries in the aftermath of their victory. Seattle returns just as a strong, with Russell Wilson still on his rookie contract and the core gang back together. Specifically to this game, that 12th man crowd is going to be ready after 7 months and the Packers D won’t hold up.

Poor baseball. About to become irrelevant as the NFL kicks into gear. They’re not even trying to compete tonight and have about 5 games on the schedule. Fortunately, I’m still rooting for my fantasy baseball teams, so lets go Scherzer tonight @ Cleveland!

Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following blog, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favour; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.

If Thomas Paine were alive today, he’d be a Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia Phillies and Philadelphia 76ers fan and he’d be sad that his city had never won a Super Bowl. In 1776, he published Common Sense, a strong defence of American Independence from England. The Common Sense pamphlet was so popular that as a percentage of the population, it was read by or read to more people than today watch the Super Bowl. That it was written by an Englishman brought a unique perspective to American thought at the time and ushered in centuries of growth and prosperity (for some at least and ignoring centuries of slavery, terrible race relations and proxy wars in far off countries).

More importantly for my purposes, Common Sense eventually brought about the creation of new sports, which much like the ignoble creations of McDonalds, KFC and Wal-Mart, have permeated markets outside of its borders, landing on the shores of the UK. As an Englishman who has emigrated his sporting interests to the NFL, the NBA and the MLB, I will provide my own uniquely English perspective on typically American sporting issues and events, although without the blessing of wonderfully written prose and/or any semblance of an audience, likely until such time when I get bored and give up.