Yesterday, a Missouri circuit court judge in St. Louis handed down an initial decision on St. Louis v. NFL (which we spent 3 podcast episodes reading and discussing when it was filed in April).
This is the big news on today's podcast. We also talk secondarily about the ongoing NASL-USSF case and the related USSF Presidency race. We call out the Eastern New York State Soccer Association's recent Twitter actions. (Side note: the association's Twitter account has been shut down because they went too far.)
Fair use: Today, we unleash Senor Stan 2.0, so apologies to Arsenal Fan TV, Star Trek, South Park, HOTM, and Bernie Miklasz.
This evening, the Green Bay Packers were eliminated from playoff contention.
Mike - whose sister is one of the 360,760 fan-shareholders of the Packers - picked them to win the Super Bowl. Since that is not happening,
Mike, BATSU GAME!!!
The batsu game will be issued next time we can get together for a podcasting session.
Mike could also be issued a second NFL batsu game had he formalized his assertion that the LA Chargers would at least finish with a better win-loss record than Senor Stan's Cadre of Professional Liars. That will, sadly and very surprisingly, not happen. He also calls major shenanigans on Stan's team's sudden success - which was EASILY ATTAINABLE WHEN THE TEAM WAS IN ST. LOUIS!!!
Regarding the guys' NFL picks:
- Mike currently has 3 confirmed good picks, with a maximum possibility of 6.
- Keith currently has 2 confirmed good picks, with a maximum possibility of 9.
Keith's Super Bowl champs - New Orleans - is currently leading the NFC South and will likely clinch a playoff spot.
As we know by now, Mike had a huge batsu game to cover a lot of bad, bad picks from earlier this year: play a game of Twilight Imperium, a science fiction board game that is notoriously long (average game 6 hours).
It took a while, but it finally happened this evening at Mike's normal board game night.
To clarify, it was actually the newly released 4th edition, not the 3rd edition pictured above (which Mike actually owns but has yet to play).
It was a three-player game that was slightly shortened and played with a tremendous learning curve. Mike was playing as the Federation of Sol (aka the humans - coincidentally, the one race he was most looking forward to playing as) and finished tied for first with 8 victory points.
Twilight Imperium is a very long game, but its gameplay justifies the length. It is very complex with a lot going on.
Since last time we checked in on NASL v. USSF, the trial judge denied the league the preliminary injunction it sought to try to stay alive. That decision has already been repealed.
Mike talks about this development and other soccer-related news that relates to this case, including the Columbus-Austin-San Antonio cluster-mess, the betrayal of one NASL owner, and the USSF Presidency being opened for business.
We at the WSC podcast support Eric Wynalda in his bid for USSF President. He is the only candidate so far that has called for #ProRelForUSA and fixing the broken US soccer system.
Today is a greatest hits edition of the podcast. You will hear the following moments from the podcast:
Tim giving Mike a certain batsu game (Tim's favorite moment)
Tim (as part of a batsu game) enthusiastically yelling out "FUJI!"
Ryland bestowing the nickname "Everyone's Favorite High School Team" to Preston North End FC
"The List" on athletes who need to just go away, ending in a coin toss between Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Steve Smith
The immediate aftermath of the Los Angeles NFL debacle
Mike and Keith's discussion on whether the Arizona Cardinals should be Mike's new team (Spoiler: they are now)
One last thing: if you want to help out the podcast and other independent media projects, please consider donating to the podcast via Patreon at patreon.com/mikeczerniewski. Thank you!
Fair use: Nothing that hasn't been used on this podcast before.
Congratulations to the Houston Astros on winning their first World Series title!!
Before the season started, Mike had picked the 'Stros (a team he has great affinity for) to win the World Series this year... and he got it right.
SAFEty never felt so good. Especially since Twilight Imperium still looms large.
Fun fact: Astros manager A.J. Hinch was briefly a catcher for the Royals, where one of his teammates was outfielder Carlos Beltran - who is still playing and on this year's Astros roster.
Thanks to exchanges on the Facebook page of St. Louis sportstalker Randy Karraker (whose voice has been heard on our podcast a few times), we now know who the two teams were that voted no in that infamous 30-2 Los Angeles vote that unconscionably ripped a team out of St. Louis, gave the Chargers an option (since exercised) to leave San Diego, and opened the door for the Raiders to move to a backup relocation city in Las Vegas.
Team #1: Arizona Cardinals
Team #2: Carolina Panthers
One of these two teams is on Mike's 13-team short list for new NFL teams, and the other isn't.
Here is what Mike has said about both teams in question. Both are transcriptions from Episode 235 of our podcast:
Arizona Cardinals: "Okay, Arizona, I would consider. That's another team, of course, they were in St. Louis for a while. Originally, they were in Chicago - a lot of people tend to forget that they were in Chicago before going to St. Louis and now Phoenix. The Cardinals are on my short list because, if for no other reason, Mike Bidwill, the current president of the team, is pro-St. Louis. In fact, I've heard recently that he's picking up the slack where the Rams left off in terms of charity work in the St. Louis area. It was fairly recently that their current stadium (University of Phoenix Stadium) opened (in 2006). And, (another) St. Louis connection, they got to a Super Bowl with Kurt Warner at quarterback."
Carolina Panthers: "Absolutely not. Look, I respect Jerry Richardson for what he tried to do for St. Louis. But, we had this discussion in our last podcast (Episode 234) about Steve Smith (who, let's never forget, lost a coin toss on our List of athletes who need to STFU to Zlatan Ibrahimovic) being a thug and my overall impression of the Panthers is their players being thugs."
Thanks Randy for making this decision - a long, tough decision - an easy one in the long run.
Mike's new team: the Arizona Cardinals. We will discuss on the podcast.
Shortly after the NASL filed its lawsuit against the USSF over its loss of D2 sanctioning, one of the more important NASL owners, New York Cosmos owner Rocco Commisso, officially chimed in on the issue via legal brief. Mike will be reading the brief on today's podcast.
First off, there has been a recent influx of spam comments on the blog, mostly on some of our older posts.
The spam comments have been removed and comments have been disabled on this blog. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we cannot tolerate people posting spam on our blog.
Now on to something fun:
At the beginning of the MLB season that's about to wrap up, Mike made his picks:
NL East: Washington
NL Central: Chicago Cubs
NL West: San Francisco LA Dodgers
NL Wild Cards: NY Mets, St. Louis Arizona, Colorado
AL East: Boston
AL Central: Cleveland
AL West: Houston
AL Wild Cards: Toronto, Seattle NY Yankees, Minnesota
Since this is a solo, Mike needs 50% to avoid a batsu game.
As of 9/27/2017, Mike is 5/10 - all five of which would be division winners. The season ends on October 1.
On the subject of batsu games, Mike still needs to get his game of Twilight Imperium scheduled.
Last week, the North American Soccer League (NASL) - which was recently
desanctioned by the US Soccer Federation (see Episode 242) - filed an
antitrust lawsuit against USSF in US federal court.
The basics of the lawsuit: that USSF co-conspired with MLS, SUM and USL to destroy the NASL.
Consider this: NASL, which is currently a second division league,
applied for resanctioning asking for only 2 waivers of USSF guidelines.
USL, also (and inexplicably) a second division league, asked for 20 waivers. Need I say more?
This, combined with the lawsuit before the Court of Arbitration for
Sport brought by one NASL owner over USSF ignoring FIFA bylaws, could
hopefully mean that USSF is finally in deep, deep trouble.
Mike will be reading and giving his thoughts on the lawsuit. It is a 71 page document, so it will take a while.
Last week, the North American Soccer League (NASL) - which was recently
desanctioned by the US Soccer Federation (see Episode 242) - filed an
antitrust lawsuit against USSF in US federal court.
The basics of the lawsuit: that USSF co-conspired with MLS, SUM and USL to destroy the NASL.
Consider this: NASL, which is currently a second division league,
applied for resanctioning asking for only 2 waivers of USSF guidelines.
USL, also (and inexplicably) a second division league, asked for 20 waivers. Need I say more?
This, combined with the lawsuit before the Court of Arbitration for
Sport brought by one NASL owner over USSF ignoring FIFA bylaws, could
hopefully mean that USSF is finally in deep, deep trouble.
Mike will be reading and giving his thoughts on the lawsuit. It is a 71 page document, so it will take a while.
Yesterday, the North American Soccer League (NASL) - which was recently
desanctioned by the US Soccer Federation (see Episode 242) - filed an
antitrust lawsuit against USSF in US federal court.
The basics of the lawsuit: that USSF co-conspired with MLS, SUM and USL to destroy the NASL.
Consider this: NASL, which is currently a second division league,
applied for resanctioning asking for only 2 waivers of USSF guidelines.
USL, also (and inexplicably) a second division league, asked for 20 waivers. Need I say more?
This, combined with the lawsuit before the Court of Arbitration for
Sport brought by one NASL owner over USSF ignoring FIFA bylaws, could
hopefully mean that USSF is finally in deep, deep trouble.
Mike will be reading and giving his thoughts on the lawsuit. It is a 71 page document, so it will take a while.
Yesterday, the North American Soccer League (NASL) - which was recently desanctioned by the US Soccer Federation (see Episode 242) - filed an antitrust lawsuit against USSF in US federal court.
The basics of the lawsuit: that USSF co-conspired with MLS, SUM and USL to destroy the NASL.
Consider this: NASL, which is currently a second division league, applied for resanctioning asking for only 2 waivers of USSF guidelines. USL, also (and inexplicably) a second division league, asked for 20 waivers. Need I say more?
This, combined with the lawsuit before the Court of Arbitration for Sport brought by one NASL owner over USSF ignoring FIFA bylaws, could hopefully mean that USSF is finally in deep, deep trouble.
Mike will be reading and giving his thoughts on the lawsuit. It is a 71 page document, so it will take a while.
The group stage of the 2017-18 UEFA Champions League starts this Tuesday, and Mike has his picks in just in time.
Before we start with the picks, here's the fair use stuff used in today's episode:
- three chants that are anti-Man United, anti-Chelsea, and anti-Tottenham
- "Juve Storia de un Grande Amore," the official song of Juventus
- "You'll Never Walk Alone" by Gerry and the Pacemakers, in recognition of Liverpool
- "Lyudi Invalidy" by t.A.T.u. - a Russian group but we use it to talk about a Ukranian team (to demonstrate how similar the two countries' languages are)
- "Manchester United Can All F@#$ Off" - I'm sorry, I don't know who did the song but it is a parody of "No Matter What" by Boyzone
Here are the picks - as always, subject to batsu game:
Want more proof that USSF is irredeemably corrupt? Exhibit A: our men's national team. This pundit is correct - the US team as presently constituted is not a good team, and a big reason for that is our system. #ProRelForUSA
Earlier today, the US Soccer Federation denied the North American Soccer League its rightful status as a second division league in the North American "pyramid."
Instead, USSF - at this point a completely bought subsidy of MLS - handed D2 status to USL, a league and organization so inept that they really shouldn't exist.
If you're a conspiracy theorist, you could make the argument that this is MLS/USSF attacking NASL, specifically Miami FC and their owner Riccardo Silva - he of the #ProRelForUSA lawsuit that sits before the Court of Arbitration for Sport. If true, this demonstrates how irredeemably corrupt USSF is.
In his rant today, Mike puts out a call for action: the time has come to boycott MLS and USL and continue to fight for #ProRelForUSA. This may mean an alternative federation - one more in line with FIFA standards than USSF/MLS is - with NASL, NISA and NPSL that features promotion and relegation.
NASL was a champion for the #ProRelForUSA cause, the upstart NISA is being started with pro/rel in mind, and the amateur NPSL is vocally pro-pro/rel.
Fair use: It's been a while since we "meddled with the primal forces of nature," so we "will atone" with the classic soundbyte from Network.
(The lyrics to "Senor Burns" from The Simpsons, altered for our purposes on the podcast)
Special thanks to Micah Husereaux, a friend of the podcast, for bringing this video to our attention. Here are some things about the LA debacle and Stan's other egregious behavior that were omitted from the video:
That Stan refused to even meet with St. Louis officials after an arbitration hearing ordered $700 MILLION entirely in public money to completely revamp the Dome at America's Center - which would have only extended their lease through 2025!
That the Peacock-Blitz group in St. Louis was the ONLY group in the three cities at risk of losing teams to put together a viable stadium plan - which was rejected in part because the league front office bought the arbitration nonsense.
That the NFL owners' own committee on LA voted 5-1 in favor of the Carson plan - which would have helped out two teams in actual need of stadium relief (Chargers and Raiders) and kept the Rams in St. Louis in what would have been the final result of Peacock-Blitz: National Car Rental Field.
That the NFL, under pressure from Jerry F. Jones and the completely bought front office, IGNORED THEIR LA COMMITTEE and voted 30-2 in a SECRET BALLOT to rip the team out of St. Louis and give the Chargers a one-year option to also move (the Chargers, who had been a lot more honest about their stadium situation than Stan ever was, have since exercised that option after they lost a public stadium referendum in San Diego).
That the actions of Stan, his professionally lying lackey Kevin Demoff, and the league triggered the St. Louis lawsuit against the league and the team earlier this year - and that the team is now trying to get out of appearing in court USING THE LANGUAGE OF THE LEASE THEY F@#$ING BROKE IN THE FIRST PLACE! I really hope this case DOES go to trial.
That, following the debacle, Stan bought the Waggoner Ranch in north Texas and evicted the entire settlement of Lake Diversion. This resulted in one resident committing suicide.
That Alisher Usmanov, who owns about 30% of Arsenal, tried to buy Stan out - and the greedy SOB said NO!
This post is being made less than 24 hours after a preseason game where Stan's team lost to the now LA Chargers 21-19 in front of a HALF-FULL LA Coliseum (and the idiots in LA complain that St. Louis didn't support the team?!) and just minutes after Arsenal lose a Premier League match to Liverpool 4-0. The Gunners are currently 16th in the Premier League - 2 spots shy of relegation. (Relax, the season just started.)
We at WSC strongly encourage you to not support any of Stan's businesses, including anything having to do with Wal-Mart or Sam's Club (as Stan is married into the Walton family). For Kansas Citians, this includes whatever the former Metcalf South Mall site in north Overland Park will ultimately become.
...now for our long overdue look at how the baseball season has gone so far.
As of August 20 at 11:10 pm Central time, Mike has 5 of his 10 playoff picks correct - all of the division leaders save the NL West (no way in Hell would he pick the Dodgers, while his pick for the division - the Giants - are 39 GAMES BACK!!!) He is also 0-for on all 4 wild card teams so far.
Congratulations are in order for a certain resident of the Arlington Maximum Security Penitentiary, as Adrian Beltre became the 31st member of the 3,000 hit club. The next active player closest to 3,000: Albert Pujols (at 2,927 as of this post - 73 to go).
First, we talk about a recent curiosity of basketball: the Big3
If you are not familiar with this, it is a new 3-on-3 halfcourt basketball league started by the rapper Ice Cube. This seemed like a good topic for discussion.
Since it is a basketball league, we also talked about offseason happenings in the NBA.
At one point, Mike makes a bold pronouncement: the NBA needs to expand beyond its current 30 teams, and one of those teams needs to be a rebirth of the Seattle SuperSonics.
Fair use: Because we're talking about Ice Cube, we open with "Bow Down" by Westside Connection, which Ice Cube was part of.
Now that we have a definitive short list of NFL teams that Mike would consider following, let's look at the following factors for the 13 teams on this list:
- age of current stadiums
- all-time win/loss records
- number of Super Bowl wins (and/or pre-Super Bowl championships)
- past relocations
Here we go:
Team
Current Stadium
First Year for Team in Stadium
All-Time W/L Record
Super Bowl wins
Pre-Super Bowl champions
Past Relocations
Arizona Cardinals
University of Phoenix Stadium
2006
542-732-40
0
2
Chicago to St. Louis 1960
St. Louis to Phoenix 1988%
Chicago Bears
Soldier Field
1971 (opened in 1924, renovated in 2003)
744-568-42
1
8
Decatur, IL to Chicago 1921
Cincinnati Bengals
Paul Brown Stadium
2000
344-408-4
0
n/a
None
Cleveland Browns
FirstEnergy Stadium
1999
462-466-10
0
8
None*
Denver Broncos
Sports Authority Field at Mile High
2001
465-393-10
3
0
None
Green Bay Packers
Lambeau Field
1957 (renovated in 2003 and 2015)
730-553-37
4
9
None
Houston Texans
NRG Stadium
2002
106-134-0
0
n/a
None
Indianapolis Colts
Lucas Oil Stadium
2008
502-441-7
2
2
Baltimore to Indianapolis 1984
Minnesota Vikings
US Bank Stadium
2016
457-387-10
0
0
None
New Orleans Saints
Mercedes-Benz Superdome
1975 (renovated in 2006)
338-427-5
1
n/a
None#
New York Giants
MetLife Stadium
2010
684-572-33
4
4
None
Philadelphia Eagles
Lincoln Financial Field
2003
555-591-26
0
3
None%
Pittsburgh Steelers
Heinz Field
2001 (renovated in 2007 and 2015)
601-535-20
6
0
None%
* Technically, the Browns were on hiatus from 1996 to 1998 as a direct result of Art Modell moving the team to Baltimore. The Ravens - not on this list because they are not being considered - are treated as an expansion team while the "expansion" Browns are considered a continuation of the old Browns.
# During the 2005 season, the Saints - as a direct result of Hurricane Katrina - played 4 games in Baton Rouge and 3 in San Antonio.
% Not included here are two WWII temporary merged teams: Phil-Pitt "Steagles" (Eagles and Steelers) in 1943, and Card-Pitt (Cardinals and Steelers) in 1944.
This is the third and final part of our series on the recent lawsuit by two American lower-division soccer clubs to get FIFA to institute promotion and relegation in American soccer.
Today we give you the second part of our three part series on Miami FC and Kingston Stockade FC going to court to get FIFA to get USSF to institute promotion and relegation in North American soccer.
Last week, two American lower-division soccer clubs - namely Miami FC (NASL) and Kingston Stockade FC (NPSL) - approached the Court of Arbitration for Sport - the highest court on sports in the world - with the intent to force the United States to join the rest of the world football community and implement promotion and relegation.
Mike got a hold of the lawsuit and will be reading it as well as giving his thoughts on the proceedings.
Suffice it to say the Winning Side Coaches support #ProRelForUSA. It's been a cause we've been behind since this podcast started, and it's beyond time that the United States and Canada get on board with the rest of the world. Unless and until promotion and relegation happens, the US and Canada will continue to struggle on the world stage, both at the club and country level. We need to STOP Americanizing the world's game and get with the program.
Even though Mike is still livid over the NFL's decision to unjustly rip a team out of St. Louis, he is slowly taking a step toward finding a new team to pull for.
In today's episode, Mike and Keith look over the entire NFL and whittle the list of possible teams for Mike down to a more manageable size. This is the post-Raiders-to-Vegas re-evaluation we promised a while back.
Here's the short list of possible teams we came up with and the reasons why these teams are on the list:
Arizona Cardinals - a team that left St. Louis in 1987 for completely different reasons from the more recent departure, Cardinals President Michael Bidwill was pro-STL in the LA debacle and has given time to the St. Louis community since the departure.
Chicago Bears - Mike was hesitant to put this team on the short list due to his bad experiences in Chicago (ask him sometime about his 2008 trip to Minneapolis), but when two of the co-hosts (Keith and Tim) are Bears fans you know they'll find their way on the list.
Cincinnati Bengals - The Bengals are a Maybe due to their recent regular season successes.
Cleveland Browns - Mike was at the Browns' first game back from the Modell stunt - the 1999 Hall of Fame Game in Canton, contested between Cleveland and Dallas (and the origin of the "Jerry's going back to Texas in a golf cart" story). He sat in the famous Dawg Pound, and was treated quite well. On that experience alone, the Browns are on the list.
Denver Broncos - This team has resurfaced as a Maybe on the list because of their history of winning. The fact that they tie in to two of the most well-known adult cartoons today (South Park and The Simpsons) is an added bonus.
Green Bay Packers - As has been stated time and again, the Packers are the only fan-owned team in the major American pro sports leagues - and Mike's sister (a Packers fan) owns a share of the Packers.
Houston Texans - Most of Mike's late mother's side of the family lives in Houston. They felt the sting of relocation once before when the Oilers left for Tennessee in 1997 (ironically, Jeff Fisher was the Oilers' head coach for that move). Texans owner Bob McNair was on the ill-fated LA committee and personally advised the St. Louis stadium task force on their ill-fated plan (in a related moot point, we're still waiting on such detailed plans from San Diego and Oakland).
Indianapolis Colts - The Colts have long been Mike's second team, having shared ownership (Carroll Rosenbloom) and Hall of Fame players (Marshall Faulk and Eric Dickerson) with Mike's former team. The fact that the city is just further down I-70 doesn't hurt. Mike is willing to look past Colts owner Jim "the Mad Tweeter" Irsay's pro-Stan stance and give this team another chance.
Minnesota Vikings - This one has more to do with the fact that Mike likes Minneapolis than it does with the team itself, as Zygi Wilf was pro-Stan in the LA debacle.
New Orleans Saints - The Saints are on here because of Mike's Cajun roots as well as the team's post-Katrina commitment to winning.
New York Football Giants - The Giants are on here because of owner John Mara's role on the LA committee.
Philadelphia Eagles - While their owner was pro-Stan, Mike has always been a closeted Eagles fan. This was especially true when Donovan McNabb was on the team.
Pittsburgh Steelers - Mike's father is from Pittsburgh and almost everyone on that side of the family are Steelers fans. Also, owner Art Rooney II was on the LA committee.
Teams not on this list are not here for a variety of reasons, but that LA situation does play a huge part in it. Also, the other two teams that have moved - the now LA Chargers and the soon-to-be Las Vegas Raiders - were excluded out of respect for fans in San Diego and Oakland, respectively.
Fair use: Arsenal Fan TV and "Senor Stan" make comebacks because reasons.
For those of you who are not board gamers, Twilight Imperium is a space-based game that infamously takes at least 6 HOURS to play. Mike actually bought a copy around Christmas and that was good timing, as the game is currently out of print.
For the third year in a row, the NBA Finals featured the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Golden State won it two years ago. Cleveland won it last year.
This year's champs: Golden State.
It wasn't even close. The Warriors dominated the Cavs 4 games to 1.
Mike correctly picked Golden State for this series. He is SAFE!
Which is good because Mike still has 4 batsu games outstanding because of no promotion for Aston Villa or Sheffield Wednesday; Manchester United winning League Cup; Barcelona crashing out of Champions League; and the Dukies playing like total crap.
Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins on winning their second straight Stanley Cup.
The Penguins beat Nashville 4 games to 2.
This is Pittsburgh's 5th overall Stanley Cup, which ties them with Edmonton for fifth most championships. Only 5 of the Original Six have won more (Montreal 24, Toronto 13, Detroit 11, Boston and Chicago 6 each).
Mike's prediction was indeed Pittsburgh. He is SAFE!
Meet "Controversy" Keith Lott. Keith is a Chicago native now living in the Kansas City area who loves the Chicago teams and sports in general. We're glad to have Keith on the podcast.
The English football season is now completed. Here's what has happened:
- Chelsea won the Premier League
- Arsenal won the FA Cup
- Man United won the League Cup and Europa League
Champions League 2017-18 bound: Chelsea, Tottenham, Man City, Liverpool, Man United
Europa League bound: Arsenal, Everton
Relegated from Premier League: Hull, Middlesbrough, Sunderland
Promoted to Premier League: Newcastle, Brighton, Huddersfield
Relegated from EFL Championship: Blackburn, Wigan, Rotherham
Promoted to EFL Championship: Sheffield United, Bolton, Millwall
Relegated from EFL League 1: Port Vale, Swindon, Coventry, Chesterfield
Promoted to EFL League 1: Portsmouth, Plymouth, Doncaster, Blackpool
Relegated from EFL League 2: Hartlepool United, Leyton Orient
Promoted to EFL League 2: Lincoln City, Forest Green Rovers
Fair use: we finally found the "OUT" chords from Gaki no Tsukai, and some interesting audio from Arsenal Fan TV regarding the Gunners' performance this year.
You may not remember this promised batsu game, but here it is:
At the end of the 2015-16 English football season, Aston Villa were relegated to the English League Championship, which Sheffield Wednesday failed to win promotion from (losing in the playoff final to Hull City). Mike - who follows both clubs - vowed to take a batsu game if BOTH clubs did not win promotion to the Premier League in 2016-17.
The Championship season ends today.
The top two finishers - who won automatic promotion - were Newcastle United (who, like Villa, were relegated last year) and Brighton and Hove Albion (who will be playing their first year of top-flight football in the Premier League era).
The playoffs (spots 3 through 6): Reading, Wednesday, Huddersfield Town (the team of choice for one Sir Patrick Stewart), and Fulham (which gets a lot of grief on this podcast due to their being co-owned with the Jacksonville Jaguars and the lack of success for both). Wednesday still have a 1-in-4 shot at promotion.
Villa finished 13th in the 24 team league. Not only is that outside of the possibility for promotion, it's 2 spots lower than "Everyone's favorite high school team" Preston North End, 6 spots above their fiercest rivals Birmingham City, 8 spots above fellow past European Cup winners Nottingham Forest, and 9 above relegated former Premier League champion Blackburn Rovers.
Joining Blackburn in League 1 next year will be Wigan and Rotherham.
So, Mike takes another BATSU GAME!!! - which now makes 4 to be assigned.
Other English pro/rel news:
- The Great Blue Satans of West London are in position to win the Premier League this year, a full 4 points better than North London's Shite Half. Arsenal are presently 6th (there that whole Senor Stan's teams not competing on the field again), behind the aforementioned Chelski, Tottenham, City, Liverpool, and the Great Red Satans of English Football. Defending champions Leicester City are currently 9th.
- Guaranteed relegation from the Premier League is a club Mike has little love for, especially the way they "handle" matters "internally": Sunderland. Currently in the relegation zone: the aforementioned Hull City and Middlesbrough.
- League 1 promotions: Sheffield United and Notlob - I mean Bolton - won automatic promotion; the playoff will be Scunthorpe United, Fleetwood Town, Bradford City, and Millwall (better known for its infamous hooligans than its on-the-pitch product). Relegated to League 2: Port Vale, Swindon Town, Coventry City ("It is after all a trick question; Coventry City have never won the FA Cup."), and Chesterfield.
- Speaking of League 1, AFC Wimbledon finished their first season of third-tier football in 15th, 3 spots behind their "franchise" rivals MK Dons and 1 spot above Shaq's Northampton Town.
- League 2 promotions: Portsmouth (now fan-owned), Plymouth Argyle, and Doncaster Rovers (whose biggest fan is that One Direction guy whom Villa's Gabby Agbonlahor tackled so hard in a charity match that he threw up on the pitch).
Playoff spots: Luton Town, Exeter City, Carlisle United, and Blackpool (they of the crappy ownership that allowed this club to fall this far).
- Being relegated from this league to non-league football: Hartlepool United (as an American I look at this word and think "hart-uhl-pool" and don't get where the English come up with their pronunciation) and Leyton Orient (which said time and again they felt threatened by West Ham moving into the Olympic Stadium due to geography).
- Promoted to the League from the non-league: Lincoln City (who had a good FA Cup run this year). The second promotion spot will be one of the following via playoff: Tranmere Rovers, Forest Green Rovers, or Dagenham and Redbridge.
- It's been recorded but not yet edited, but Mike's pick for the FA Cup Final: Arsenal over Chelski (because duh!).
Yes, Mike heard about St. Louis v. NFL et al. And, yes, we will finish talking about it today.
This part is coming 2 weeks later so that everyone had the opportunity to listen to Part 1 in a timely manner.
Last
week, St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and the St. Louis RSA (Regional
Convention and Sports Complex Authority) filed a lawsuit in Missouri
state courts against the NFL and all 32 teams and the owners - because
of the whole Los Angeles debacle that resulted in three NFL teams being
moved in the span of 15 months. Of the three cities that lost teams,
the NFL did the dirtiest work against the Gateway City.
Today,
we will be sharing Mike's final thoughts, as well as the thoughts of experts on the issue.
We at WSC encourage you to send Imo's Pizza
to the team's LA offices, care of Kevin Demoff (who infamously
disrespected St. Louis cuisine). The team's address is in the legal
brief.
Fair
use: Randy Karraker's speech at the October 2015 NFL relocation meeting
in St. Louis, as well as "Senor Stan" open this and all parts of our
three-part program on this matter. All three also end with "I Can Take
Anything" from Planes, Trains and Automobiles. (Coincidentally,
the scene in the movie that uses the song takes place in St. Louis.)
Starting with this episode, we also accentuate the idiocy with clips
from "Bernie and Randy: the Podcast" and "Heart of the Matter."
We're not the only ones talking about the St. Louis lawsuit against the NFL. Please check out this video and listen carefully to what St. Louis Post-Dispatch football writer Jim Thomas (who broke the news about the lawsuit) has to say about the history of the former St. Louis team in St. Louis as well as the lawsuit. Sounds a lot like what we've been talking about, doesn't it?
Yes, Mike heard about St. Louis v. NFL et al. Yes, we're still going to be talking about it.
Last
week, St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and the St. Louis RSA (Regional
Convention and Sports Complex Authority) filed a lawsuit in Missouri
state courts against the NFL and all 32 teams and the owners - because
of the whole Los Angeles debacle that resulted in three NFL teams being
moved in the span of 15 months. Of the three cities that lost teams,
the NFL did the dirtiest work against the Gateway City.
Today,
we finish reading the legal brief. We tackle all five counts of the lawsuit, which we'll briefly explain in layman's terms:
Breach of Contract (against all defendants) - St. Louis acted in good faith to satisfy the NFL's relocation policy to try to keep the team in town. Further, the league themselves kept encouraging the region to continue to work on the stadium project. The team, on the other hand, failed to even TRY to do so.
Unjust Enrichment (against all defendants) - The region is making the argument that the league's teams made money (due to a $550 million relocation fee) and the team's jump in value upon moving (an increase of about $700 million) was at the expense of the St. Louis area.
Fraudulent Misrepresentation (against the former St. Louis team and Senor Stan) - This is where "(Professional Liar) Kevin Demoff's Greatest Hits" strongly comes into play.
Fraudulent Misrepresentation (against all defendants) - This is where statements made by the league about the city's ability to keep the team come into play.
Tortious Interference with Business Expectancy (against all defendants except the former St. Louis team) - The argument here is that the league - namely Jerry F. Jones - intentionally (and without justification) interfered with St. Louis' ability to get a final stadium deal done to keep the team in town.
Next time, you will hear Mike's opinions on the suit as well as comments from experts.
Starting with this episode, we at WSC encourage you to send Imo's Pizza to the team's LA offices, care of Kevin Demoff (who infamously disrespected St. Louis cuisine). The team's address is in the legal brief.
Fair
use: Randy Karraker's speech at the October 2015 NFL relocation meeting
in St. Louis, as well as "Senor Stan" open this and all parts of our
three-part program on this matter. All three also end with "I Can Take
Anything" from Planes, Trains and Automobiles. (Coincidentally, the scene in the movie that uses the song takes place in St. Louis.) Starting with this episode, we also accentuate the idiocy with clips from "Bernie and Randy: the Podcast" and "Heart of the Matter."
Last week, St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and the St. Louis RSA (Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority) filed a lawsuit in Missouri state courts against the NFL and all 32 teams and the owners - because of the whole Los Angeles debacle that resulted in three NFL teams being moved in the span of 15 months. Of the three cities that lost teams, the NFL did the dirtiest work against the Gateway City.
Today, we start reading the legal brief. We only have time today to read or go over the petition, parties, jurisdiction and venue, and - most importantly - allegations.
In layman's terms, the plaintiffs are calling out the NFL over its (joke of a) relocation policy as well as the former St. Louis team's quotes regarding trying to stay in St. Louis, contrasted with particularly damning quotes following the move to LA - all of this happening while St. Louis did what the NFL continually asked them to in terms of putting together a viable stadium plan (which neither Oakland nor San Diego did). Think of the quotes as "(Professional Liar) Kevin Demoff's Greatest Hits."
Next time, we'll go over the five counts.
Fair use: Randy Karraker's speech at the October 2015 NFL relocation meeting in St. Louis, as well as "Senor Stan" open this and all parts of our three-part program on this matter. All three also end with "I Can Take Anything" from Planes, Trains and Automobiles. (Coincidentally, the scene in the movie that uses the song takes place in St. Louis.)
Before we get to the meat of today's podcast (recorded on an iPad while driving - Kids, we're professionals. Don't try this at home.), we announce that Mike and Tim both have pending batsu games - Mike has 2 (League Cup Final and NCAA brackets), while Tim has 1 (Arsenal winning Champions League). Mike's will come as soon as a new host can be found (we're still looking), while Tim's will be issued once he is able to return to the podcast.
On to the serious news: the Raiders have officially been approved to move from Oakland to Las Vegas. The vote was 31-1 and, unlike last year's blatantly corrupt LA vote, not a secret ballot - Miami was the lone no vote with the most hypocritical explanation you can possibly imagine.
If you think this move was unavoidable, you haven't been paying attention. Here are the facts:
Oakland did - and continued to do - nothing but provide lip service to the NFL.
The Oakland Coliseum, opened in 1966, is not in need of massive repairs AND has sewage issues.
The political will to get publicly financed stadium projects done DOES NOT EXIST in California, as evidenced here and in San Diego, where the Chargers had been playing in the equally obsolete Jack Murphy Stadium (opened in 1967).
The Chargers had a number of stadium plans over the past 16 years go down in flames, including one that was on the ballot in San Diego in November; the Raiders have been trying to get relief for about as long.
Contrast that with St. Louis: the Dome at America's Center (as it's now officially called) opened in 1995(!!!) AND the city was able to come up with a viable plan in Peacock-Blitz in about 1 YEAR - yet the team refused to negotiate and later lied their way out of town, no thanks to a poorly written "top tier" clause in their lease on the Dome.
With all of these considerations, the NFL's own LA committee voted 5-1 in favor of the Carson plan, which would have provided much needed relief to the Chargers and Raiders while taking into account the viable Peacock-Blitz plan in St. Louis.
Instead, Jerry F. Jones and the NFL's front office - in collusion with Senor Stan and his butt monkey Demoff - rigged the process and went with the secret ballot. To this day, we don't know who the two brave owners who said "no" to the final plan were. The owners ignored their own committee in the most corrupt and dishonest way possible.
All of this happened without adequately addressing the issues the two California teams were still left to face, making the Chargers' decision to exercise their LA option in January and today's vote inevitable.
As for Miami: owner Stephen Ross has to explain his rank hypocrisy for allowing St. Louis to lose its team yet pulling the "established communities" card to justify his no vote today.
As a result, THREE cities - St. Louis, San Diego, and Oakland - are now former NFL cities, while LA is unjustly given a second chance and Vegas - which, until the very recent announcement of the NHL expansion Vegas Golden Knights, had never been a major-league city - is finally welcomed to the party. All because of California stadium politics intersecting with Wal-Mart greed.
Fair use: "Senor Stan" returns, and we'd like to share a message from Bernie Miklasz (one that Mike identifies with in spades) to the idiots, especially the pro-LA idiots: "Don't vote, don't drive, don't procreate - because you are impossibly stupid."
Mike makes his tourney picks for the 2017 NCAA men's basketball tournament.
Here's Mike's Final Four:
Duke, Gonzaga, Louisville and Kentucky
No surprise that Mike has the Dukies winning it all.
You can challenge Mike, Tim and others on the official Winning Side Coaches tournament bracket. Click here to sign up.
Note: Even though they didn't make the Big Dance (which is what these picks are all about), congratulations to the University of Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos - Mike's alma mater - on making their first postseason tournament as a Division I program. The Roos will host the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix on Wednesday in the College Basketball Invitational tournament.
Tim may be taking a sabbatical from the podcast, but when he returns he does so with a BATSU GAME!
Tim had picked Arsenal to win the 2016-17 UEFA Champions League.
In the round of 16, the Stan-owned Gunners got destroyed by Bayern Munich 10-2 on aggregate. As in identical 5-1 thrashings at the hands of Germany's most successful side.
We will announce Tim's punishment when he returns.
Mike may not be immune either. His pick, Barcelona, are down 4-0 on aggregate to PSG with the second game tomorrow.
Tim will be leaving the podcast for a while, so we decided to have some fun.
Because of this, Mike needs a new co-host!
If you are interested in becoming a co-host for the podcast, you can easily contact Mike via Facebook or Twitter (direct messaging only, please).
Interested parties must:
(a) live in the Kansas City metropolitan area,
(b) be willing to meet up once or twice a month for recording sessions, and
(c) have a good working knowledge of all sports with special emphasis on: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, college football, college basketball, UEFA Champions League, and English football (Premier League, English Football League, EFL Cup, FA Cup); other sports are welcome to the discussions as well.
We would like to have a new co-host in time for the 2017 NCAA basketball tournament in mid-March.
One bit of picks to talk about involves Sunday's EFL Cup Final.
Mike's pick: Southampton (because f@#$ Man United)
Tim's pick: Man United
Fair use: Tim brought up Keith Olbermann, so we went back to Keith's time at MSNBC (specifically when Billo tried to get Keith fired in the mid-2000's). Also, because this is a farewell of sorts, "Somnia Memorias" makes a comeback.
We're neither Hall of Fame voters nor NFL owners, but we as fans can scrutinize their actions. And that's exactly what we're doing on today's podcast.
First, the Halls of Fame in Cooperstown and Canton adding new members.
Secondly, as a segue to a certain owner being voted into Canton (who has no business being there, save for riding out of the stadium in a golf cart on his way back to Texas) and his responsibility for the NFL's Los Angeles mess, which now sees two cities screwed out of teams and likely a third, and one team (the Raiders) in logistical limbo.
On today's podcast, Mike and Tim discuss the Super Bowl, their safety, and some important announcements:
- Tim will be leaving the podcast until further notice. We will hear from him for at least two more episodes (recorded last week, along with this one).
- Mike is looking for a new co-host to replace Tim. You can easily contact Mike via Facebook or Twitter (direct messaging only, please).
Interested parties must:
(a) live in the Kansas City metropolitan area,
(b) be willing to meet up once or twice a month for recording sessions, and
(c) have a good working knowledge of all sports with special emphasis on: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, college football, college basketball, UEFA Champions League, and English football (Premier League, English Football League, EFL Cup, FA Cup); other sports are welcome to the discussions as well.
We would like to get this taken care of in time for the 2017 NCAA basketball tournament in mid-March.
Super Bowl 51 - Atlanta vs. New England - became the first Super Bowl to ever go overtime.
The Dirty Birds dominated in the first half; New England came back to tie it in the second half.
New England went on to win in overtime 34-28. This is the fifth Super Bowl win (3-way tie with Dallas and San Francisco, 1 shy of Pittsburgh) for the Patriots in their ninth attempt (most SB appearances by a team). Atlanta is now 0-2 in the Big Dance.
With a New England victory, Mike and Tim are both SAFE!!!
Yes, we heard about the USSF decision to sanction 2 second division soccer leagues in 2017: the incumbent D2, NASL, and the former third division USL, which effectively got "promoted" in the most corrupt way possible.
Did we mention that USL, a league and organization with a history of team failures that lead to the spinning off of NASL, is mostly filled with MLS B-sides (Swope Park Rangers, anyone?)? Or that NASL has been tag-teamed by MLS and USL, almost to the point of non-existence?
It took a little longer to get this podcast done, but we did, and in it Mike and Tim discuss what this could mean for the future of soccer in the US and the continued need for soccer reform.
By the way, for the #ProRelforUSA community, Mike strongly favors the following:
a national D1, 20 teams (FIFA standard for top-flight leagues), single table (i.e. NO conferences, divisions, etc.)
prefers a national D2, 20 teams, single table; this is the highest level at which regionalization should occur
regionalized D3 leagues (think "conferences" starting here) and so on
promotion and relegation between all levels, hybrid of Scottish and Japanese systems
the firings of, among others, Sunil Gulati and Don Garber from their current soccer-related jobs
The Deloitte report referenced by Mike can be found here.
Lastly, we go slightly off subject and talk about the documentary series "The Religion of Sports," with special focus on the Old Firm Derby (Celtic-Rangers) and the current eSports phenomenon (we're still trying to get Mike's brother Dan, who knows a lot about eSports, to come onto the podcast to discuss the subject).
It's now been about a year since the NFL gave St. Louis - and Mike as a fan of St. Louis' NFL team - the finger by allowing the team to move to Los Angeles. They also kept two other teams, both in California, in limbo as their stadiums crumble with no hope in sight.
The NFL's blatantly corrupted and rigged relocation process resulted in the following:
lower TV ratings in Los Angeles for the former St. Louis team than in St. Louis (8.8 in LA, 8.3 in STL)
a last-chance stadium bill in San Diego that failed to get 50% support
stadium deals being discussed and seriously considered in Las Vegas
(this officially happened shortly after the podcast recording) the Chargers moving to LA as their second team (for the morons insisting that the team change their name, the team originally started in LA as the AFL Chargers)
We discuss the situation in detail here.
We also end with an update on Mike's search for a new NFL team. Still no decision has been made, but one team did find its way back on the list based on its owner seeing the reality of this mess: Indianapolis.
Fair use: Senor Stan, "Jackin' It in San Diego," and Arsenal fan interviews make appearances here.
It's a new year, so the free passes are fully restored.
And it didn't take long for Mike to use his for his bad NFL picks. The reason: he didn't want to do a Cowboys or Chiefs themed batsu. Coincidentally, that's exactly what he would have had if he didn't use the free pass.
Which brings us to the college bowl pick batsu. In honor of USC (a school that has personally been a thorn in Mike's side since last year), Mike had to eat a strawberry-cream Twinkie.
Important programming note: Tim will be taking the rest of this year off to focus on other more important things, so we will be looking for a new permanent co-host. Qualifications:
must be in the Kansas City area
must have a good working knowledge of sports
must be willing to work at least once a month for free
must be okay with doing light punishments for bad picks (batsu games)
If you want to be part of WSC as a co-host, please email Mike or message him on Facebook.
As stated earlier, Tim's good picks (his adjustments) cancel out his bad picks, which tie with both of Mike's sets. Mike will get the batsu game.
There is only one batsu team this year: New England. We at WSC wish the Patriots good luck in the playoffs and hope for their 5th Lombardi Trophy.
Note: the teams are officially set now, with Green Bay and Detroit playing this evening for the NFC North. However, both teams have clinched playoff berths.
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