Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category

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Your Friday loser update: week 3, 2025.

Friday, October 24th, 2025

I had to go to the eye doctor this morning for a treatment, so I’m a little late getting this up. Also, my eyes are kind of messed up, so please to forgive any mistakes: if you leave a comment, I’ll fix them.

NHL teams that still have a chance to go 0-82:

None.

The San Jose Sharks won their first game of the season last night, and are now 1-6. This is the same record as the Tampa Bay Lightning. Just sayin’.

One door closes, another door opens.

NBA teams that still have a chance to go 0-82:

Boston Celtics
Detroit Pistons
Miami Heat
Indiana Pacers
Cleveland Cavaliers
Washington Wizards
Brooklyn Nets
Atlanta Hawks
New Orleans Pelicans
Denver Nuggets
Houston Rockets
Portland Trail Blazers
Sacramento Kings
Los Angeles Lakers
LA Clippers
Dallas Mavericks

“What we know about the Billups-Rozier NBA gambling cases” from ESPN.

Bonus quote of the day (well, yesterday, I think):

Director Patel responds to Stephen A. Smith claiming today’s NBA gambling takedown was revenge from President Trump: “That may be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard from anyone in modern history, and I live most of my time in Washington DC. It’s right up there with Adam Schiff.”

Posted in Loser, Sports | Comments Closed

Firings watch (plus, bonus legal news!)

Thursday, October 23rd, 2025

I know I’ve been quiet the past few days. There just hasn’t been much going on. But today is shaping up to be interesting.

ESPN is reporting the arrest of Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. Also arrested: Terry Rozier, guard for the Miami Heat.

According to the NYPost:

Billups, an NBA Hall of Famer, has been charged with partaking in an alleged illegal poker ring tied to the Bonanno, Genovese and Colombo crime families, sources told The Post.
A total of 31 people across the country are charged with running rigged games, which took place in Manhattan, the Hamptons and Las Vegas, sources said.
The players involved were being paid by mobsters to play in card games fixed with technology and card shuffling machines to give the house the advantage, sources familiar with the case said.
The athletes were told to take a dive when they had to and win when they were told. It didn’t appear as if they were attempting to pay off any debts, sources said.

Rozier’s arrest is tied to another case.

Sportsbooks in multiple states flagged suspicious betting interest on Rozier’s statistics ahead of a Charlotte Hornets-New Orleans Pelicans game on March 23, 2023. An unexpected surge of bets — including 30 wagers in 46 minutes from a professional bettor totaling $13,759 — came in on the under on Rozier’s points, rebounds and assists, causing sportsbooks to halt betting on the veteran guard. Rozier, then with the Hornets, played just 10 minutes before leaving the game, citing a foot injury.

ESPN is suggesting this might also be tied to the Jontay Porter case.

Porter pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and admitted in court to manipulating his performance in two games during the 2023-24 season. He is awaiting sentencing in December.
Four men, including Porter, have pleaded guilty in the case. Two other men have been named as conspirators and have been in plea negotiations, according to court filings.

And I did promise a firing, didn’t I? This is a sports firing, but it’s an odd one: Ken Williamson has been “permanently suspended” as a SEC referee.

…following eleven complaints against the seasoned official and his crew during the Auburn-Georgia game on Oct. 11, sources told Yellowhammer News on Wednesday.
“According to sources, nine of those complaints were validated by conference officials,” the outlet wrote.
The game’s biggest controversy came late in the second quarter, when Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold lost the ball near the one-yard line during a QB sneak and was recovered by Georgia cornerback Kyron Jones.
Though multiple angles from ABC’s broadcast appear to show Jackson crossing the goal line before the ball was punched out, officials ruled it a fumble — awarding the Bulldogs possession after the recovery.

Posted in Firings, Law, Sports | 4 Comments »

Your NFL loser update: week 7, 2025. (Plus: firings!)

Sunday, October 19th, 2025

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-17:

NY Jets

And the Sharks are 0-5 in the NHL.

Next week: the Bengals in Cincinnati. Cincinnati is 3-4, and a slight favorite at the moment.

The worthless Bills had a bye this week. The game with the worthless Chargers is in progress at the moment, and what is up with that alternate uniform?

In other news: Billy Napier out as head coach of the University of Florida. 22-23 overall in “three plus” seasons, and the team is 3-4 this season. ESPN.

Jay Norvell out as head coach at Colorado State. 18-26 overall, the team is 2-5 this season, and lost to Hawai’i yesterday. ESPN.

And a non-firing, non-loser update that I don’t have room for anywhere else: Curry College is a D-III school. They beat Nichols 71-27 yesterday, and rushed for 522 yards.

Oh, wait: did I say the team rushed for 522 yards? I mean one guy, running back Montie Quinn, rushed for 522 yards by himself. 20 carries, seven touchdowns, and a NCAA record.

Posted in Firings, Loser, NFL, Sports, Urine | Comments Closed

Your NHL loser update: week 2, 2025.

Friday, October 17th, 2025

NHL teams that still have a chance to go 0-82:

San Jose Sharks

So we’re down to the Sharks in the NHL, and the Jets in the NFL.

It’s like “West Side Story” up in here.

Posted in Loser, Sports | Comments Closed

Callahan!

Monday, October 13th, 2025

Brian Callahan out as head coach of the Tennessee Titans.

Under his leadership, the Titans finished 4-19 and ranked among the league’s worst offenses in most meaningful statistical categories.

He was coach for roughly a season and a half. The Titans are currently 1-5. Additional coverage from ESPN.

Posted in Firings, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Firings watch.

Monday, October 13th, 2025

Trent Dilfer out as head coach of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

(Sorry this link is so mangled. ESPN, if you prefer.)

2-4 this season, 9-21 in “two plus” seasons.

UAB actually tried to shut down their football program a while back, but there were mass protests, etc. and they went back on that decision. Maybe it is time to reconsider.

Posted in Firings, Sports | Comments Closed

Your NFL loser update: week 6, 2025. (Plus: firings!)

Sunday, October 12th, 2025

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-17:

NY Jets

Denver 13, NY Jest 11. It was closer than I (kind of) expected, but I did say these foreign games are unpredictable.

Next week: Carolina. At the moment, the Jets are a slight favorite.

And, in an attempt to put all the norts spews in one place for everyone:

James Franklin out after 12 years at Penn State. 104-45 overall, “the second winningest coach” in PSU history, but they lost to Northwestern 22-21 yesterday. PSU was a heavy favorite in that game.

Under Franklin this year, the Nittany Lions sit 15th in the Big Ten with the 70th-ranked total offense in the country and 27th in total defense.

They are 3-3 this season, and it looks like they lost their starting quarterback for the season. More from ESPN.

Trent Bray out as coach of Oregon State, which is 0-7 this season. 5-14 over “less than two seasons”, lost 13 of his final 14 games, and OSU was defeated 39-14 by Wake Forest yesterday. ESPN.

Edited to add: Lawrence pointed out that the Jest finished with…-10 yards passing. That’s not a typo: negative 10 passing yards. 45 yards passing, 55 yards lost to sacks.

It was also the fewest in any NFL game since the Chargers had minus-19 against the Kansas City Chiefs in Ryan Leaf’s third career start in 1998.

Wow. Ryan Leaf.

Posted in Firings, Locks, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Your NHL loser update: week 1, 2025.

Friday, October 10th, 2025

NHL teams that still have a chance to go 0-82:

Tampa Bay Lightning
Buffalo Sabres
Detroit Red Wings
New York Islanders
Columbus Blue Jackets
Philadelphia Flyers
Washington Capitals
New Jersey Devils
Chicago Blackhawks
Winnipeg Jets
Utah Mammoth
St. Louis Blues
San Jose Sharks
Edmonton Oilers
Anaheim Ducks

I don’t have much to say right now. It is early in the season, and, to be honest, I don’t know that much about hockey. Any predictions I would make are guaranteed to be wrong.

Posted in Loser, Sports | 2 Comments »

Loser update update.

Wednesday, October 8th, 2025

I think I am going to try to do a loser update for the NHL. (Hattip: Angus McThag.)

However, looking at the NHL schedule, I think I should hold off on doing this until Friday. While the regular season has started (as I understand it) it looks like most of the games are Thursday night.

This might become a regular Friday thing.

Posted in Loser, Sports | 5 Comments »

Your NFL loser update: week 5, 2025.

Monday, October 6th, 2025

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-17:

NY Jets

The worthless Bills lost.
The worthless Chargers lost.
New Orleans won, but they were playing the New York Football Giants, so that wasn’t exactly a titanic achievement.
And Tennessee narrowly defeated the Cardinals.

This leaves the Jets as the last team standing. Their next game is against Denver in London early Sunday morning. Denver is a heavy favorite, but in my opinion there’s never anything certain about London games.

I’ll try to get the loser update up as early as I can on Sunday.

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | 4 Comments »

Mendoza!

Friday, October 3rd, 2025

It is perhaps easier to say who the NY Mets didn’t fire: manager Carlos Mendoza.

Out:

  • Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner
  • Hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes
  • Bench coach John Gibbons
  • Third base coach Mike Sarbaugh

NYPost. ESPN.

Posted in Firings, Sports | Comments Closed

Firings watch.

Wednesday, October 1st, 2025

Brian Snitker is out as manager of the Atlanta Braves.

This is questionably a “firing”, as the team says he’s moving into an “advisory role”. He’s been around the organization for 49 years, and won the World Series in 2021.

He posted a record of 811-688 as manager and ranks third in franchise history in wins, trailing Hall of Famer Bobby Cox (2,149) and Frank Selee (1,004).

But Atlanta was 76-87 this season, which seems to have made the retirefiring decision easier.

(I apologize for the ESPN link, but the AJC is unreadable without a subscription. And my attempt to archive the story resulted in garbage.)

Bill Schmidt out as general manager of the Colorado Rockies. That’s the 119 loss Colorado Rockies, for those of you keeping track at home.

Schmidt has been with the organization since 1999, including the past four seasons as general manager. The Rockies turned in their third straight 100-loss season as they missed the postseason for a seventh year in a row.

Posted in Firings, Sports | Comments Closed

Firings watch.

Tuesday, September 30th, 2025

Ron Washington out as manager of the Los Angeles Angels.

Interim manager Ray Montgomery also will not get the full-time manager role in 2026, a source confirmed to ESPN, as the Angels will search for their sixth manager in nine years.

Mr. Washington had medical issues that caused him to miss a large part of the season. ESPN quotes him as saying this wasn’t based on health, but on performance. He was 99-137 in two seasons.

Somewhat related: the City of Anaheim gets $2 for every ticket the Angels sell above the 2.6 million ticket mark.

The city’s cut this year? $31,012.

In better times — amid a run of six postseason appearances in eight years — the city received more than $1 million annually in ticket revenue. The high point: $1,613,580 in 2006, when the team sold a record 3,406,790 tickets.

…

The Angels have not made a postseason appearance in 11 years — the longest drought in the major leagues — and have not posted a winning record in 10 years. Attendance dropped sharply after the pandemic, and Anaheim has received a share of the Angels’ ticket revenue only twice in the past six years: this year, and $81,150 in 2023.

And the city has a $64 million budget deficit.

The Angels pay no rent under their lease, since Disney paid all but $20 million of a $117-million stadium renovation. The city said it would make its money back from development of the parking lots around the stadium, which has not happened in the three decades since the lease took effect.

Posted in Firings, Sports | Comments Closed

Your NFL loser update: week 4, 2025.

Tuesday, September 30th, 2025

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-17:

NY Jets
Tennessee
New Orleans

The worthless Bills are 4-0.
The New York Football Giants actually beat the worthless Chargers?
And the Packers and Cowboys tied? Not just a tie, but it was also a Scorigami.

In other news, the firings will continue until morale improves. Bruce Bochy out as manager of the Texas Rangers. This is being spun as “by mutual agreement”, but I always wonder how much “mutual” there is in these.

Bochy went 249-237 with the Rangers.

That was over three years: the team was 81-81 this year.

Posted in Firings, Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Firings watch.

Monday, September 29th, 2025

The MLB regular season is over. Time for the baseball version of “Bloody Monday”.

Rocco Baldelli out as manager of the Minnesota Twins. 70-92 this season.

Baldelli finished his seven-season tenure with a 527-505 record (.511 win percentage). The only Twins managers with more victories are Tom Kelly (1,140-1,244) and Ron Gardenhire (1,068-1,039).

ESPN.

Bob Melvin out as manager of the San Francisco Giants.

Under Melvin, the Giants went 80-82 last year and 81-81 this season, which wa president of baseball operations Buster Posey’s first in his new position.

…

In 22 seasons, Melvin has a 1,678-1,588 record with the Mariners, Diamondbacks, A’s, Padres and Giants.

He was 161-163 in two seasons with San Francisco.

ESPN.

Posted in Firings, Sports | Comments Closed

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