I’ve been told that The Plain Dealer boards, where they seem to moderate and have saner people, have been volcanic. Vesuvius-level. With the hatred. Going back to Bernie Kosar and Schottenheimer (maybe even farther) as sources of anti-Modell rage.

As someone said, these Cleveland fans are turning purple with suppressed rage working its way out, ironic seeing as how purple is the main color of … Modell’s Ravens.

Something about moving the franchise and only then winning a Super Bowl is bound to bring out the rage from big guys who wear dog masks to football games and Congressional hearings.

Regardless of his status as anti-Christ or god’s gift to greedheads, Modell was on a looping cul de sac to the same place. Kind of like how Yogi Berra’s house was on a loop, such that when he said “when you come to a fork in the road, take it” he was being entirely accurate b/c you’d get to his house either way. In Modell’s case, a warm berth in Hell.

Yes, my inner and outer Stiller fans are showing.

That “parting shot of epic proportions” is wonderful.

One question did come up for me after reading it: is Kluwe related to Marcy or is he related to bmaz?

Naww. The Kitties can’t really get to use that Rage Issues logo until one of the defensive players up and bites off a piece of some opponent’s ear after pile-driving him into the turf.

Not to worry if you miss it live – the No Fun League will let it slip out on a video they’ll profit from and launch (heh! “launch”) a whole line of t-shirts, posters and fatheads featuring the hit and the bite.

@bmaz: That would be ‘COOGS’ sir and that is hitting way, way below the belt. I’m going to stop off at the local church this morning, light a candle, maybe say a novena or something, praying that Texas Tech and Oklahome State join the PAC(whatever the number is now insert here)so you have to make yearly road trips to either Lubbock or Stillwater.

Yes, it was a rather bewildering start. We can take losing but we can’t take only 13 points a game and less than 300 yards of offense. We gave that new offensice coordinator one game and that was all we needed to see. Out with the old and in with the new. We’ll see how it goes tonight.

I see where Vegas has the Texans as the second highest rated team in the AFC. We’ll see. If Schaub goes down they’re a little thin at QB but it’s a weak division so they should at least make the playoffs.

I guess you heard about the Rocket’s comeback. Word down here is he may want to pitch a game with the Astros before the end of the year so he can push back the 5 year window on Hall of Fame voting to save himself the embarrassment of not going in on the first ballot. Apparently he had his buddy Toby Keith with him in Sugarland last night and the crowd was given red solo cups for the performance. Must have been quite a sight.

On this brain injury thing. Has anyone seen any statistics on whether this is getting worse in the modern age as opposed to what it has been in the past? I know there are good statistics on life span decrease of former players but I haven’t seen anything specifically related to head injuries. As players get bigger and stronger seems reasonable to assume collisions of increasing force will cause these types of injuries.

Go Florida – kick the shit out of the Aggies.

The 49ers have a modified offense for the Green Bay match tomorrow. The 2nd string quarterback on one play appears at the halfback position; He receives a lateral, then executes a pass run option in an offense featuring two tight ends and two wide ends. Kap fakes the pass, hands off to fullback Gore, who then forward passes 7 yards beyond scrimage to a lineman eligible receiver. By then Kap is alongside the lineman but does not block for him; the tight ends do that service; the lineman then laterals to Kap, who scampers past a nonplussed defense. The 9ers also muster a swarming sack defense. As for the rest of that game, the non-union, fill-in zebras have iPhones for access to the rules, which are stored in a League diatabase.

There’s a similarity, to me, between boxing sparring headgear and early leather football helmets. Guys only gradually realized what was going on. Facemasks’ advent also was controversial, as the mask itself was a new source of injuries to wearer and other players. Even the single spar protection afforded a handle for illicit tackles. There was one NFL playoff game 20+ years ago in which slow-motion replay revealed a quite robust and heavy appearing lineman had developed so much muscle bulk at the expense of weakening bone, a signature characteristic of steroid metabolic effects, that he broke both front legs pushing off from scrimage. But those are million $ salaries, too. I forget whether the gent who got 2 broken legs was a brown dog, nor do I have an explanation of why a dog seems more mascottish than cheese. Maybe the problem was deciding whether to put a bull in the Green Bay Wisconsin logo, kind of a rodeo bull who works in a dairy.

@JohnT: Yeah, after I wrote that I hoped Greg Roman had similar ideas.

@bmaz: Nope. Just that he demonstrates the same penchant for nuance, subtlety and understatement that is often on display around these parts.

@emptywheel:

“We’re requesting those wishes. . .” Is the Browns VP saying that the Browns requested that the Modell’s ask the team not to pay tribute?

Actually, now that I think about it, that does make sense. The Browns’ request probably went something like . . . “You really don’t want us to give Art a tribute, do you? Please, for the love of all that is holy, you need to ask us not to do this, so that both you and we can avoid looking like idiots.”

well lookee there, Wash St 10 / Wisconsin 0, 3rd Quarter…

@emptywheel:

Never seen smiley-face fireworks before? You need to get out more, Marcy.

@Bay State Librul:

Ooops – Forgot to mention that McCann was talking about Ryan’s
claim of less than 3 hour marathon run.

Go 9ers:)

Wonder whether King Roger the Clown will fine the Patsies’ DB who got away with a head-to-head hit in that sandwich on the Titans’ receiver – the one where the Patsies picked up the ball and Locker made an excellent football play to tackle him. James Harrison would have had his wallet cleaned out for that hit. It knocked the receiver silly.

Naww.

I should know better. He plays for New England. And they get away with shit just like a bankster.

@rosalind: (why yes i did mean to type Oregon State…gah)

@emptywheel (also @scribe:

Re Marcy’s point B: Bingo.

See also (h/t BustedKnuckles) the well-crafted words of Dave Zirin on the lockout of the NFLRA:

However, like the high-skilled workers at a Honeywell uranium plant in Metropolis, Illinois, learned after a fourteen-month lockout, today’s bosses rarely listen to appeals about safety. Furthermore, as they learned, the longer the lockout drags on, the more time employers have to increase the quality of their replacement workers. The quality of the godawful refereeing on display will, with time, improve as well.

John Paul Smith, who was one of those Honeywell workers that suffered through the lockout, which ended in August of 2011, says now that having been through the pain of a lockout himself, there is no way he could watch the NFL this year. John Paul Smith is now calling on other fans to boycott watching as well, knowing that the only way to make the owners back off is if they feel it in their wallets.

“I have been a Dolphins fan since I was in the fifth grade and I can’t watch shit. It’s killing me,” said Smith. If Goodell and friends don’t care about the refs, the health of their players, or the quality of the games, then maybe they’ll care about that: people like John Paul Smith turning away from the game until NFL owners remember that owning the game doesn’t mean owning the people who officiate it.

On Fox, the announcers of the 9ers/Cheeseheads game noted that the coaches scouted the refs via preseason films. The announcers also don’t seem terribly surprised at the late calls, no calls, and bad calls. They’re not calling out the replacement refs and belaboring the point, but they’re not letting bad calls go unnoticed.

ok, that was one of the funniest things i’ve seen. SF goes for a 63 yard field goal at end of half. kicker kicks, ball sails, hits goal post, launches straight up then…falls over on the “field goal” side.

3 points.

@bmaz:

I sure got a good laugh out of it.

contrary to popular opinion, al davis is the anti-crist
art modal might qualify as an imp

if you want to stop head injuries in football, ban helmets
that would stop players from using their melons as weapons

and I can’t believe I’m saying this;
how bout them forty fookin niners

Yet another delay as a call that was overruled on the field is being reviewed . . .

(Why do I get the feeling that the announcing crew is laughing their heads off during the commercial, so as to get it out of their system by the time the game resumes?)

Not one but two blocks in the back by the Cheeseheads on the kick return for a TD were not called, and they end up with 6+2, and are climbing back into the game.

If the Niners lose this game, I think Harbaugh may be the coach that writes the $25,000 check that scribe mentioned above.

@Peterr:

Meanwhile, the NFL is already announcing that they are pleased with the performance of the replacement refs. From NFL.com:

The initial review of replacement officials’ performance in Sunday’s early games “went well with no major issue,” said Ray Anderson, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations.

The replacement officials already have been assigned to Week 2 games, Anderson said.

The NFL is clearly missing a marketing opportunity. They should be selling tops for kids, because they can spin better than almost anyone.

And, on cue, another “you talk about a late call!” and “inconsistent at best” in what gets called from the niners/cheeseheads announcers

@emptywheel: There was helmet-to-helmet contact.

James Harrison got fined for less.

I’m betting that Titans receiver will join Silverback in not deigning to piss on a flaming Goodell. Once he comes to, of course.

Go 9ers, Great win:) Thanks to dog for replaement refs, please everyone send an email send the nfl an email about please pay the Big Kids and what a sad day around the league. Oh as I 9er fan I now move over to red wine after drinking white during the game:)

Why not, maybe you got more head injury than you think already, so why’s it so good a thing to be taht competetive anyways?

One player I don’t hear much about is Mike Webster. from Wikipedia;

” After retirement, Webster suffered from amnesia, dementia, depression, and acute bone and muscle pain. He lived out of his pickup truck or in train stations between Wisconsin and Pittsburgh, even though his friends and former teammates were willing to rent apartments for him. In his last years Webster lived with his youngest son, Garrett, who though only a teenager at the time, had to act as the parent to his father. Webster’s wife divorced him six months before his death in 2002. He was only 50 years old.”

Aaron Rogers loses bet, has to wear an Alex Smith jersey

PS freep if you’re reading, when I called the Raidahs a darkhorse last week, I meant a darkhorse to get to the playoffs