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Trash Talk: Today’s Blowout Game

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[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]

The score of today’s game was mind-blowing. One could reasonably expect last year’s champion to do well again this year but holy smokes.

Ireland kicked Italy’s behind so hard Italy has no dignity left, final score 36-0.

There’s more than one ball game scheduled today. The other one was part of the Guinness Six Nations‘ rugby series, the second round of six to be played by teams representing England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales.

Side note: I’m a bit uncomfortable referring to this series as “Six Nations” because it has been the nickname of the First Nations’ Iroquois confederacy of which Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora were members.

Same also for another marginalized group of Celtic nations, the Celtic League: Brittany, Cornwall, Isle of Man Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

Anyhow, the Six Nations’ series began with Round 1’s first match on February 2, and will run through the last match on March 16.

I bet there was a fair amount of revelry in Ireland today after the blowout smashing Italy.

Because it was rugby, here’s a haka performed by New Zealand’s All Blacks for last year’s World Cup:

Perfect way to prepare for the kickoff in San Francisco in a couple minutes when the Kansas City Chiefs meet their hosts the San Francisco 49ers.

This is an open thread.

[Photo: Keith Johnston via Unsplash]

Trash Talk: The Trashiest Trash Until Next Trash

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It’s warm and sticky here. I don’t feel like doing much of anything except lounge in a chaise beneath a sprinkler. But it’s probably the last hot weekend of the summer; our local forecast shows temperatures dipping to 69 F degrees later this coming week. Football weather, even.

Speaking of which, we have these pro games today:

NFL

Pittsburgh Steelers v Atlanta Falcons — 4:00 PM ET

Los Angeles Chargers v New Orleans Saints — 8:00 PM ET

No Kaepernick? I’m still not watching any NFL.

MLB

As I write this there are 10 games underway — check the schedule.

Team in my backyard — Detroit Tigers — isn’t in the basement (yet), but it needs to cuff baseman Ian Kinsler along the backside of his thick head and tell him to stop mouthing off to the umps. So unprofessional. If he’s got a legitimate complaint about referee performance, take it up with management.

~ | ~

In hindsight, I should probably have a ‘Fuck You’ sports column.

Fuck you, NFL, for your continued racist bullshit toward Colin Kaepernick. Just because you’re not waving the Stars and Bars doesn’t mean we can’t see what you’re doing.

And fuck you, Mitch Albom, because a journalist doesn’t get to decide which expression of free speech is more acceptable than another.

Speaking of Confederate flags, fuck you, NASCAR and your racist fan base because you just won’t move on after more than 150 years.

And finally, fuck you USA Gymnastics for marginalization and erasure of women gymnasts by failing more than 100 who have reported sexual abuse by a single team doctor. How many women does it take to speak out about criminal abuse before anybody takes effective action to prosecute the alleged abuser and fix the system which allowed and perpetuated the abuse?

Highlight of my week: All Blacks beat the Wallabies in the first game of the Rugby Championship. Full video here – haka starts at 06:34 into the video. Other championship news here.

And another end: Mo Farah won his last competitive race. He’s retiring to spend more time with his family in Oregon, which is a really nice way of saying Trump’s racist Muslim travel ban has forced a world class athlete to stay put for fear of future detention. I probably should have added this to the Fuck Yous; Fuck you, Trump, and your bigotry as policy.

That’s a wrap. Consider this an open thread — sports stuff preferred.