This is exactly why Kanye West’s recent antisemitic interviews are so dangerous. Ye has over 50 million followers on Instagram and Twitter combined. His words carry weight and it’s his failed responsibility to know others would adopt his belief because of his lofted and unworthy celebrity status. At the end of Georgia and Florida’s neutral-field SEC game in Jacksonville, someone projected the statement “Kanye was right about the Jews!” onto the TIAA Bank Field scoreboard.
West lost his partnership with Adidas and other brand deals after his repeated antisemitic remarks. The message seen in Jacksonville was incredibly similar to the one seen last weekend on a banner hanging over the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles, with another asking passing cars to honk their horns if they agree, all while giving Nazi salutes. The Anti-Defamation League, whose mission is to stop the mistreatment of Jewish people and provide equal treatment for all, found 2,717 antisemitism events in 2021, a 34 percent increase from 2020. That averages to more than seven such incidents per day.
It’s another disturbing example in a recent awful trend of antisemitism boiling to the surface, joining examples of Jason Whitlock and Kyrie Irving posting antisemitic content on social media. TIAA Bank Field is home to the Jaguars, who luckily don’t play in Florida this week and could expose more fans to the antisemitic rhetoric. They’re in London to play the Broncos. That message was far from a mistake. Someone with access to the scoreboard intentionally put it there and should be disciplined. Nothing else is acceptable for posting that. If I worked at the Southeastern Conference, I’d want to be sure no one from the Bulldogs or Gators athletic departments was involved. If not, I’d consider moving the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” to a campus site next season.
The likely AL Cy Young winner didn’t look great in Game 1 of the World SeriesImage: Getty Images
Justin Verlander has a great shot at winning the American League Cy Young award this year. He pieced together a dominant season — at age 39 — after recovering from Tommy John surgery and helped lead the Houston Astros to another World Series.
Despite the regular season dominance, Verlander once again struggled in what was his eighth Fall Classic start. A Game 1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies — the righty hurler gave up six hits and five runs in five innings of work — left the Houston Astros ace with an 0-6 record and 6.07 ERA in those eight appearances.
He has never gone deeper than six innings in any of them and his 2.75 strikeout-to-walk ratio in those games is worse than he’s had in any season since 2014 — arguably the worst season of his career.
It’s crazy to think about all the people in history with immaculate regular season records but horrendous showings in the postseason. Why does Aaron Judge go through one of the greatest regular seasons in MLB history just to record a .490 OPS while striking out 15 times come October? Why did Jorge Soler hit under the Mendoza line with the Royals in 2021, yet go berserk with Atlanta on his way to winning the World Series MVP? Why does Clayton Kershaw, arguably the greatest left-handed pitcher of our generation, have a career 4.22 ERA in the postseason and a 4.49 ERA in the World Series?
Baseball is weird, and sometimes the heroes and failures we witness in October don’t make any sense at all. Although, does any of that really affect how we perceive players? I know it might be easy to say “YES! Absolutely!” based on what we’ve seen recently, but if we really think about it, how much has postseason/World Series success really changed the public’s perception of a player?
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Is Madison Bumgarner going to be enshrined in Cooperstown after he retires? Not at his current pace. If he were to reach the World Series next year and surrender 23 consecutive runs without recording an out, he’d still have a better World Series ERA than Justin Verlander, but how many of you would take prime Bumgarner over prime Verlander when building their teams? If any of you aren’t Giants fans and chose Bumgarner, I would heavily suggest getting your brain checked out. There isn’t any universe where prime Bumgarner is the better option over the course of multiple seasons. Hell, even after his incredible 2014 World Series MVP performance, when Bumgarner hype was skyrocketing faster than Elon Musk’s ego, MLB general managers still claimed that they would’ve rather had Kershaw than MadBum, and at that point in his career, Kershaw had a 5.12 postseason ERA and had never appeared in a World Series.
The same goes for others in similar boats. Cole Hamels was never seriously thought of as a better pitcher than CC Sabathia. Pablo Sandoval was never considered a better hitter than Robinson Canó (OK maybe immediately following the 2009 season). And Lord knows David Freese was never on the same level as David Wright. Despite all the latter players having struggled mightily in their postseason careers, most of them are held in rather high regard in fan circles, while the earlier players might be looked back upon fondly, but never given a second thought when it comes to Hall of Fame credentials.
It goes both ways though. While postseason excellence certainly doesn’t hurt a player’s legacy, most of the time, that success becomes a footnote rather than the forefront of the player’s greatness. Unless said player had a legendarily good stretch spanning multiple postseason runs like Reggie Jackson or Derek Jeter, the postseason gets forgotten about in most players’ careers. Everybody knows Willie Mays was on-deck when Bobby Thomson hit the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” and went on to be a world champion that same year, but do we ever talk about how Mays then went on to record pretty mediocre numbers the rest of his postseason career? No. We remember 660 regular-season home runs. We remember 12 top-six MVP finishes in 13 seasons between 1954 and 1966.
When discussing Barry Bonds’ Hall of Fame credentials, do we talk about how he never won a World Series and hit .245 across 48 career postseason games? No. The discussion usually revolves around PEDs and/or him being the all-time MLB home run leader and the only member of the 500-500 club.
Justin Verlander might not have what it takes to be an elite postseason pitcher, but that doesn’t take away from anything else he’s done. Are we forgetting that he was undoubtedly the best pitcher in the American League this year? Are we forgetting that he’s a 39-year-old, soon-to-be three-time Cy Young winner who’ll likely command $25-$30 million if he hits the open market next year? No, and no amount of poor World Series starts will take away from his Hall of Fame candidacy. If we’re being real, he’d have to have a 20.00 ERA in the World Series for him to not be a first-ballot entry at this point.
Do you know how easy it is to not promote antisemitism? If you’re even uncertain as to whether a tweet or a message of any kind would be controversial and alienate the Jewish people, Google it. Give a little bit of effort. And Kyrie Irving didn’t do that, or didn’t care to. And both are awful.
In now-deleted messages on his social media, Irving promoted the book and documentary Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, which pushes several lies about the Jewish people and their mistreatment of people of color. Rolling Stone states the film and text are “stuffed with antisemitic tropes” and equates itself with the Black Hebrew Israelites, a group with a long history of sexism, racism, and most frequently antisemitism. A former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan once described the group as their Black counterparts.
Irving hasn’t stated why he deleted the messages, beyond the obvious idiocy of the post and public pressure to not be an outed bigot. He did take to Twitter to address the situation.
Brooklyn Nets owner Jose Tsai did issue a statement on Friday condemning his guard’s decision to promote the antisemitic projects. It’s the latest example of hatred toward Jewish people getting a louder voice from celebrities in recent weeks, joining Kanye West and Jason Whitlock.
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“The Brooklyn Nets strongly condemn and have no tolerance for the promotion of any form of hate speech,” the team said in a statement Friday.
There are two major problems with the frequency of antisemitism from athletes or other famous people involved in sports having an uptick. They’re either of the groupthink mentality where to fit in with the crowd, it’s better to push what others are saying instead of standing up for what’s right. The uglier part of that pair is these lies being adopted with no falsehoods attached to them. The Irvings and Whitlocks of the world projecting them as fact is and has always been harmful to the Jewish people. The Anti-Defamation League, whose mission is to stop the mistreatment of Jewish people and provide equal treatment for all, found 2,717 antisemitism events in 2021, a 34 percent increase from 2020. That averages to more than seven such incidents per day.
Irving’s been labeled with certain theories he’s pushed for years as a “free thinker” and that’s fine if his thoughts aren’t dangerous to others. His long refusal to take the coronavirus vaccine was always beyond comprehension. But the dangers of being unvaccinated mostly affected those within the Nets’ organization. Now the hatred of an entire group of people is a whole different story. More than 10 percent of the world’s Jewish population lives in the New York metropolitan area, where you suit up for home games. And Irving went out of his way to degrade them.
Marcus Maariota and Tyler Allgeier of the surprising Falcons.Image: Getty Images
Another week means another heavy underdog getting tons of money thrown its way. This is interesting because the dog seems to win when bettors throw a lot of money behind it. Just this season, most of the reviews I’ve written about have surrounded the 6-1 New York Giants. Big Blue has an incredible ability to control the pace of play, dominate time of possession, yet still manage big plays — a big reason for their success despite an obvious lack of talent.
The G-Men have worked their way out of the underdog hole it seems. Instead, a new contender has joined the fray— the Carolina Panthers, who are being quarterbacked by a former XFL MVP, P.J. Walker.
According to OddsChecker US, 60 percent of moneyline bets on the upcoming Panthers-Falcons game have gone in favor of Carolina, who will be the road team in this contest.hat might actually be an advantage. The Panthers have won their last two road matchups against Atlanta and within this series, the road team has wound up winning each of the last four and five of the last six.
Furthermore, it’s hard to pass up on the Carolina Panthers after Walker and company just dominated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 21-3. That said, the Falcons are 2-1 at home this year with a win over the 49ers, so how reliable is the betting trend really?
The Dirty Birds run the ball at the second-highest rate in the NFL (60.6 percent) — ahead of only the Chicago Bears (64 percent). The Carolina Panthers have one of the best run defenses in the NFL, at least in terms of yards allowed per carry (4.1 yards allowed per rush — seventh in NFL). They’re also top-10 in defensive first down rush percentage (23.4 percent), and actually lead the NFL in expected points added by their rushing defense (22.17), according to Pro-Football-Reference.
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After everything I just said, you’d probably think I’d be leaning heavily into Carolina’s favor as well, but I’m not. Why? Because San Francisco also has an elite run defense, and the Atlanta Falcons dominated the Niners.
Using the run game to open up the passing attack is what made Atlanta so dominant in that game. The Falcons weren’t very effective running the ball. Caleb Huntley and Tyler Allgeier averaged less than four yards per carry. Sure, that’s pretty par for the course for any team playing against the 49ers, but unless you’re averaging close to five yards per carry, most teams tend to run the ball less as the game progresses. Not Atlanta. The Falcons ran the ball with either Huntley or Allgeier 31 times, with 14 of those carries coming in the first half before any normal team would start giving into game script. That doesn’t include runs by QB Marcus Mariota or Avery Williams either. That number would be way higher if that was the case.
In the passing game, Mariota went 13-for-14 through the air. We all know he isn’t the most accurate quarterback, but even he was able to dissect the 49ers defense. Was a lot of it due to great play design by head coach Arthur Smith? Probably. However, at least in the first half, most of Atlanta’s big pass plays didn’t come off play action or quick screen passes. They were just either good pre-snap reads, Atlanta receivers finding a hole in coverage, or Mariota stepping up and making a play with his legs. Sure, the touchdown to MyCole Pruitt was off play action, but in terms of the drive down the field almost all of these aerial plays were on basic dropbacks. Same goes for the Falcon’s second touchdown drive capped off with a Mariota rushing TD.
While Carolina’s offense looked somewhat potent last week, I’m not ready to call a team led by Walker, DJ Moore, and D’Onta Foreman better than San Francisco. Atlanta’s defense was able to handle a Christian McCaffrey-less 49ers team and shouldn’t have a more difficult time with a Run CMC-less Panthers team. There’s just no way I see the Panthers handling the Falcons as well as bettors seem to assume. Considering the San Franmanhandled the Panthers just a few weeks ago, I’m leaning heavily in Atlanta’s favor. Sure, Carolina has arguably a better quarterback now, but that won’t be enough to grant a win. Give me Atlanta minus-four.
Nowadays, in the NFL, it feels like there’s a record broken every week in almost every game. Once the league moved to an 18-game schedule, certain records — such as most catches by a rookie, or a team’s single-season mark — have been surpassed. But then there are those feats that have — and will — stand the test of…
Noted frontrunner LeBron James has switched his NFL allegiances because it’s clear the Cowboys aren’t going to win the Super Bowl — oh, wait. He’s actually dropping Jerry Jones and Dallas because of the owner’s stance on players kneeling. If the story stopped there — and of course, it doesn’t because there are levels to this shit — it’s a laudable reason to stop supporting a team that he really didn’t have any reason to root for other than they were really good when he was growing up, like the Yankees, who James also is a fan of.
During an Instagram Live conversation with Maverick Carter, James officially denounced the ’Boys.
“Nah man I had to sit put on the Cowboys man,” James said when asked about his fandom. “It’s just a lotta things that was going on, when guys were kneeling…[The] organization [was] like ‘If you do that around here, you won’t play for this franchise again.’”
So many questions. First, how long ago did he stop pulling for Dallas? The whole Jerry Jones anti-kneeling thing happened 15 billion news cycles ago. Second, which team has curried the King’s favor now? The New England dynasty is gone, so there’s not an obvious successful NFL team for the current Los Angeles Laker — who also likes (or liked) the Evil Empire (Yankees), the Cowboys, the Ohio State Buckeyes, and Michael Jordan — to root for. (You don’t wear No 23 growing up if you hated MJ.)
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So who is this lucky organization that James likes now? And how’s their record on human relations?
Well, LeBron’s new team is the shit franchise he should’ve been stuck with as a kid from Akron: The Cleveland Browns. No one can accuse him of sandbagging this time because that team has been a Factory of Sadness.
The catch, of course, is if James wants to lob self-righteous shots from his throne, he might want to check the recent history of his new favorite team. And judging by the fact that he’s switching his allegiance to Cleveland, he’s not up to date with current events. Allow me to fill in the timeline.
There’s been a pretty well-covered story surrounding the Browns involving their new quarterback, a couple of dozen massage therapists, and alleged sexual misconduct. (Deshaun Watson has denied all accusations, most of which have been dropped despite masseuses popping up like daisies with civil suits.)
But there’s a tweet for everything, including LBJ’s excitement over the Watson trade.
Reprehensible. (Does he seriously not read any news? Watson had more open cases than the Zodiac Killer when he was traded to Cleveland and given a substantial amount of guaranteed money.)
If you want to go obscene galaxy brain with it, this is another move by LeBron to further ingratiate himself to the city and the Cavs. He’s not going into the Hall as a Laker or member of Heat culture, and he desperately wants to be revered the way Steph Curry is in the Bay Area. L.A. fans got the tail end of his prime, yet their appetite is only satiated by spending your meaty prime in purple and gold. (You hear that, Anthony Davis?) And while Miami fans wouldn’t say no, as long as Pat Riley is there, I don’t see him relenting. (Little known fact: Did you know Riley opens up training camp every year by pulling a Bugatti across the Key Biscayne bridge — WITH HIS TEETH?! It’s a real treat if you’ve never seen it.)
All I want LeBron to do is admit he’s a Browns fan now because they’ve got a solid, young team with the infrastructure in place for a superstar to turn them into a title contender. We know he’s good at identifying that, and it should tell shrewd gamblers something about the Browns’ Super Bowl odds before they drop after Watson is rolled out onto FirstEnergy field Hannibal Lecter-style and unleashed upon the NFL.
Say it, LeBron. Say this is an opportunistic team jump like the several others you’ve made throughout your career. SAY IT!
In the summer of 1986, Bo Jackson and Kevin Seitzer played side-by-side on the Memphis Chicks, the Kansas City Double-A farm team. And although there wasn’t any noticeable animosity, the men — now teammates on the 1988 Royals — shared little in common. Unlike Jackson, blessed by the Gods to be an athlete, Seitzer was your prototypical (aka: cliched) scrapper — the white small-college kid (Eastern Illinois) who was drafted fairly late (eleventh round), but lived and died in the cage. Also unlike Jackson, Seitzer stapled every emotion, feeling and opinion to his forehead. During his rookie season, for example, Seitzer’s hometown of Middletown, Illinois, planned on throwing a parade in his honor — until Seitzer made it clear he didn’t like his hometown of Middletown, Illinois. “I doubt they’ll ever have a Kevin Seitzer day,” he said — more threat than reaction.
Seitzer was brash. Loud. Obnoxious. If you had a whitehead on your nose, he told you. If you farted, he was the first to announce it. “He was a gnat,” said Danny Tartabull, the outfielder. “You know, the busy bee in everyone’s conversation. Most guys, before they said something, took the temperature. Not Kevin.”
“Kevin was annoying,” said Jeff Montgomery, a young reliever. “Not a bad person. But he pushed things when it was better to walk away.”
Because he largely kept to himself, Jackson could be hard to read. Were you his pal? Were you not his pal? Sometimes he could be heard laughing. Other times he flashed the sternness of a judge. His size made him intimidating enough that rare was the Royal who challenged him. “The only time I actually saw someone stand up to Bo was [pitcher] Steve Farr,” said Montgomery. “Bo had been told Steve was talking trash about him and he was mad. But that annoyed Steve. He went straight to Bo and said, ‘Do you have a problem? If so, let’s go — me and you.’ Bo could have wrapped Steve up like a pretzel, but he didn’t because he respected Steve holding his ground.”
Bo did not, however, respect Seitzer. “He’s one of the biggest ass-lickers we’ve got on the team,” Jackson said. “He always puts his two cents in. And guys are like, ‘Will you shut the fuck up?’ ”
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One day, early in the 1988 season, the Royals held pre-game batting practice indoors, at the cages beneath the stadium. The team broke into groups of four, and Jackson’s quartet included Seitzer, catcher Ed Hearn and infielder Bill Pecota. “[Kevin] is always the first in the cage,” Jackson said. “He has to be the first to hit. So we’re all back there, he takes his hacks, and I look down. I don’t have nothing [on] but my sliding pants.”
Jackson retreated to the clubhouse and threw on his shorts. When he returned, Hearn was wrapping his swings. Spotting Jackson, Seitzer theatrically jumped into the cage.
“Excuse me,” Jackson said, “but didn’t you just take your fucking turn?”
“Well,” Seitzer said, “you should have been here . . .”
Three or four coaches, as well as a handful of teammates, were standing nearby. Jackson thought Seitzer was (as always) trying to peacock. “Look, man,” Jackson said, “will you just shut the fuck up and get out?”
He then entered the cage, where Seitzer — inches away — continued to lecture on protocol. “Kevin said to Bo, ‘Fuck you — you weren’t here,’” said Brian Watley, a Royals batboy. “Saying ‘fuck you’ to Bo seemed a little risky.”
Jackson was not happy.
“Look, you better stop talking at me,” he said.
Seitzer continued to bark.
“This is my last time telling you,” Jackson said. “Don’t say anything else to me, or I’m going to kick your ass.”
Seitzer exited the cage, Jackson grabbed his Louisville Slugger, stepped in and missed the first pitch. Seitzer snickered.
Jackson threw down his bat, walked toward Seitzer (“With fire in his eyes,” Hearn recalled), grabbed him around the throat with his left hand and shoved his head against the concrete wall. No one with the Royals had witnessed this fast of a Bo metamorphosis. Within seconds Seitzer’s eyes rolled back.
“Look, you picked the wrong motherfucker to fuck with on the wrong day!” Jackson screamed. “As long as you’re breathing air, don’t you ever talk to me like that again! Motherfucker, I will break your neck!”
Dating back to his boyhood in Bessemer, Alabama, Jackson’s philosophy on dishing out an ass-kicking was fairly simple: If anyone steps in to end the ass-kicking, the ass-kicking intensifies. As several of the coaches and players tried separating the combatants, Jackson’s grip grew vise-like.
“Bo!” screamed Bob Schaefer, the first-base coach. “Bo! Bo! Let him go! Bo!”
Jackson wasn’t listening. He was overcome by rage. Too much Kevin Seitzer. His arms, Schaefer recalled, seemed to be growing in thickness by the second. The veins bulged from his left bicep.
“The harder I squeezed, his eyes rolled back in his head,” Jackson said. “And the harder they pulled on me, the stiffer my arm got.”
By now Seitzer’s feet were off the ground. His face was purplish-blue.
“It was like a horror movie,” said Tartabull. “Bo was Jason in Friday the 13th, and Kevin was the camp kid about to be murdered.”
Finally, after what felt like an hour, Jackson released his hold, dropped Seitzer to the floor and stormed back to his locker. He picked up a bat and swung at the nearest wall. Wood and plaster exploded into little chunks.
Seitzer, meanwhile, was escorted to the training room, where he rested with an ice pack affixed to his neck. A still steaming Jackson rose from his stool and entered the room — followed by a half dozen curious/terrified/ wildly entertained teammates. Jackson stood over the battered Seitzer.
“Don’t you ever cross me again,” he lectured. “If you do, I am not going to give those coaches time enough to grab me. I’m going to rip your asshole, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Don’t you ever cross me again.”
Seitzer nodded. About a half hour later, he tiptoed up to Jackson. The cocksureness was gone. “Bo,” he said, “can we just forget what happened back there and be buddies?”
“No,” Jackson said. “The shit don’t work that way. You have said what you want to say, and you mean it, but now you want to come back and ass lick with me and say you’re sorry? No.”
Years later, Seitzer referred to Jackson as “a very good teammate, but not someone I knew that well. We weren’t close.”
Tom Brady’s playing career isn’t over, but his marriage to Gisele Bündchen is, according to TMZ Sports.
Brady isn’t contesting the divorce, which was filed today in Florida by the former supermodel, TMZ reported.
This comes on the heels of an ultimatum Bündchen gave Brady — to leave football or she’s leaving him — according to Us Weekly.
It’s a yet another loss for Brady, who has experienced plenty of losing this season as his Tampa Bay Buccaneers dropped to 3-5 after a 27-22 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday Night Football. This is the first time in the seven-time Super Bowl winner’s career he is two games under .500.
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The couple has allegedly been living separately since last month and have been spotted in public without their wedding rings on.
Attorneys began working on the split last month, TMZ reported, and the couple has reached agreements regarding property and custody of their children.
The pair, who wed in 2009, reportedly suffered marital strife since Brady ended his retirement after nearly six weeks to return to the Bucs.
“We have grown apart and while it is, of course, difficult to go through something like this, I feel blessed for the time we had together and only wish the best for Tom always,” the 42-year-old Brazilian beauty wrote in an Instagram Story.
Brady also took to the social media app to say, “We only wish the best for each other as we pursue whatever new chapters in our lives that are yet to be written.”
