Chiefs at Cowboys Thanksgiving Game Officiating Debacle

Please stop.

Please, stop. It'd be nice if more people knew what is going on.

Stop. Really, please stop. Forgive me but it is simply foolish to not stop saying foolish things. It is just as foolish to just try to slough aside what's really happening with a sneering "Don't blame the refs. Don't make excuses. Get over it." Please stop. It is contemptibly foolish.

I get that the players, coaches, and other kinds of people must say the painfully conciliatory things. That is thoroughly understandable. Their livelihood depends on the facade, whether they make their money legitimately or illegitimately -- not going to say anything about the latter.

But everyone else? Everyone who actually wants there to be something of a competitive integrity...

Please stop.

Please stop blaming anything in these Chiefs losses on anything unrelated to the officiating. We did not lose yesterday to our lack of talent, focus, or desire.

Please stop blaming "the little things," like those times we fumble or don't get a fumble at inopportune times. We aren't losing these games because of an inordinate number of unfortunate twists.

Please stop blaming the coaching, and while I too have blamed the Chiefs coaching staff for not doing one thing or another at the right time, every team has those things happen.

Please stop blaming absolutely anything except the one single thing that is afflicting the Chiefs this season -- in fact what has afflicted the Chiefs quite often over the course of the past couple of years --

The NFLer-driven wildly unfavorable officiating.

Really, what should Patrick Mahomes say instead of what you see in that Arrowhead Pride headline posted there? It really should be "We have no margin for error because the officials are making so many terrible calls against us. We played well enough to win, in all these games, really. But the officials are crushing us very clearly in every single game." Again he won't because he knows he shouldn't, he fears they'll make worse calls in the future because they'll all take it personally, and he's supposed to comport himself as above it all. That's fine, we all know that.

What should Andy Reid say in his postgame presser? As he typically does he said, "We've got to clean up the penalties." Further in he did actually say he personally didn't like those calls, but what if he went all the way and said, "There is something going on with the officiating because so many of those calls in critical moments were not penalties." The headline really should read "Reid blames antagonistic officials for loss..." He won't say that either, understandable.

In my game post from yesterday I expressed a hope that people would call out all this. Well, peeking around, guess what, some are. Some are actually saying something meaningful about it.

I happened to catch a number of them, and this one from Dan Orlovsky is typical. (Orlovsky is a former NFL quarterback and is now some kind of regular television commentator.) Another mentioned how the officials simply do not know what PI really is. There have got to me much more than just these things I've found, if any of these pundits are honest about what we are all seeing clearly. Okay, good. Now go further and start examining why they are doing that so much against the Chiefs. Now let's hope they start calling out why it is happening.

Some will say the Chiefs lucked out last year and got favorable reffing since they won an NFL record 17 straight one-score games -- that has to be result of favorable officiating, it has to be. No, that doesn't follow, and sorry, it is foolish to think so. Yet so many do. No, the truth is the officiating went against the Chiefs in spite of our winning -- in fact (a point I've made before) we should have won many more of those games by blowouts but couldn't because of the detrimental officiating.

So please stop, again, stop saying anything about this team not being good enough. No. The truth is this is a phenomenally good team, all around, across the board. Do we have certain weaknesses in some areas? Of course, all teams do. But the Chiefs weaknesses are really not nearly as debilitating as the foolish bleats like "Blow up this team and start over!" I even saw one that said "Fire Brett Veach!" What idiocy. 

It is indeed why when I do look at those comments in each of those Arrowhead Pride stories I don't get very far because most of them are just idiotic. It is hard to take. The good thing is, about every tenth comment (glory be!) will actually be an intelligent remark about how much it is truly the officiating that is killing us. 

When will there be more?

I mean, I do think most in the Kingdom who don't put anything in comments sections of web things do know what is happening.

Funny, at one point in the game, I believe it was the Jaylen Watson officiating call on the non-PI (which again was actually an offensive PI, which makes all this so galling), afterwards you heard a very clear moan from the crowd. Yes, there was a sea of red there, enough to make their abject disappointment known when they saw the play on the big screen in the stadium. You could hear their boos over the broadcast audio.

That's something.

The Kingdom knows.

I'd like to think most of them are intelligent and observant and insightful and get it. Ultimately it is not because the Chiefs are deficient in that area or that area, it really is because they are too good. A 40-17 drubbing of the Cowboys in a major holiday game broadcast is death to the NFLers. So we get what we got yesterday. Whether or not it is just something we need to accept, I agree, is one thing. It is another thing to be in denial about what is happening.

I can't neglect to post right now about all this because writing this now is mostly just therapy, I get that. I accept what's been happening and move on. But I need to comment just as much as the next guy. I get that I like my Chiefs too much, but I also can't give in to the silliness about what the NFLers and many blithering fans are telling us we're supposed to believe about what is going on. 

The main thing related to all this is the idea about why I get so intense about all this, because, yes, it is true: There are indeed so many other things more important than a silly football game.

It doesn't mean I don't care about those things. I do put efforts into making my world a better place for all the other not-so-good things that need to be addressed all around us. There is indeed so much deceit and dissipation with really destructive things out there, but then again, this football stuff is kind of the point -- it is indeed a microcosm of those things, and if we just shrug and make excuses for the rotten things that happen out there, then why can't they be reflected on the football field?

How about we don't have deceit and unfairness anywhere? If we can't work to have that on a simple football field how much harder is it for us to have that out in real life? Yeah I could be making more of this than it is, I get that too.

But just blogging about it, that's all. Would love to see rightness happen everywhere, whether on the football field or some benighted battlefield out there somewhere. Pounding out words to process it isn't a bad thing.

Truth and Grace will reign no matter what anyway.

___

Chiefs at Cowboys - Week 13 - Record: 6-6

Typing this out in the middle of the 2nd quarter -- don't know how much I'll put in later. Right now we are ahead 14-10 and we're doing okay, but there was a play that drove me crazy about our team and what Patrick faces.

We had a, I believe 2nd-&-long but it was a long way to a first down, and Patrick escaped the rush. He's juking everyone to get himself free to get a nice pass off --

And he can't find anyone. 

They showed a replay of our receivers, this one with Hollywood and Xavier and they refused to do the one thing to help out Patrick.

Run like blazes to the open space.

When you have a quarterback like this and you're not running like blazes to get open, it is not hard to get why Patrick is not getting as untracked as he did in 2018. In my last blog post I'd mentioned it might be because he's getting hammered too much. It may also be because the opponents are keying on him so much, working their defenses better because they know how to defend him (at least a little) -- and it is certainly because the officiating regularly makes rotten calls or non-calls that seriously mess with our chances for success.

Granted Patrick also had to look for receivers looking in the sun through that stupid giant window at the end of the Cowboys' stadium, a very good reason for Patrick just not matriculating in that play set.

The problem is the Cowboys then got the ball and just drove for a touchdown to go ahead 17-14. On that drive they didn't have to be blinded by the sun. That's nice.

They say this game may be the most watched regular season game in NFL history. There're also a zillion Chiefs fans in the stands here. The Cowboys "America's Team"? Maybe the Chiefs can make a claim to that title.

Since it is Thanksgiving I'll be enjoying the game, then dinner with family. I'll post something when it is all said and done later.

___

Okay I absolutely cannot neglect to remark about this. I cannot. Yes, it drives me crazy. The rotten rotten rottenest calls that go against the Chiefs is one thing -- the narrative that those things don't hurt the Chiefs is another.

To start the 2nd half, again down by the 17-14 score, we got the kickoff, and moved the ball. At about midfield we got a nice first down play to Hollywood, and sure enough, penalty against us. Turns out Xavier ran his route, but they interpreted it as running it into their guys too much so they called a PI against him.

Here's the even-more insane thing. Tony Romo, the color announcer, said they should pick this flag up.

This means it really should not have been a foul. Even after the commercial break Romo emphasized it was just not a foul. Not only that, but Romo went on about how much the Chiefs have to routinely work their butts off to overcome those crappy calls.

Needless to say we had to punt.

Really, I guess all I can do is just keep enjoying the fact that the Chiefs will do the really hard work to let them go and play hard and still try to win football games in spite of it. That is not a bad thing, really.

Our team is a good team, not just with their play but with their hearts.

Today that is something to be thankful for.

No matter what happens, it's good for Thanksgiving, really.

___

Now for after the game.

Fine, I'm okay with watching Dak and his receivers playing very well. That's nice. Good to play against a fine playing team. We still should have won going away.

Their backs did well too. We still should have won this game, easily.

Their coaching was good, had a fine game plan. We still should have hammered this team.

This was once again, yet again, yet another exasperating experience watching our beloved team get thoroughly ratfluppered by the officiating.

We lost two of our offensive linemen to injuries throughout the game. Added to Trey Smith who was already out, we lost our two tackles, Josh Simmons and Jawaan Taylor. And yes, we still should have won.

Even with all the ridiculous little things that happened -- late in the game we dropped an easy interception and didn't gather up a fumble when we really needed to, we still should have taken this game.

Taken altogether, avoiding a few more of those little bad things and having an actual fair officiating effort for once, we should have won 40-17, at least, but then, they admitted something critically important right in the middle of the national broadcast. That in a moment.

But at the end of the game our metal was shown in brilliant colors when we were still within striking distance, Patrick evaded the rush, slipped out of two ankle tackles, and hit Xavier for a big play. A few plays later threw a strike to Hollywood who barely got both feet in bounds in the back of the end zone. Both incredible plays -- but just ones that showed how much we had to do to try to overcome the even more exasperating idiocy of the way this game was called by the NFLers.

Trent McDuffie had the most horrific PI calls against him. Three critical ones that replays showed the Cowboys receivers pushed off, but when McDuffie worked hard and properly just to stay close and make a play on the ball, they called the PIs against him anyway. I could talk about the Watson nonsense PI call late, or the non-call for worse PI action against Kelce earlier.

All of it so wretchedly debilitating for a team that lost by a scant three points. Yet again.

But then, I could go on and on and on.

Here's the thing.

They shared on the broadcast the Cowboys needed this game more than the Chiefs to stay in contention in their conference. The truth is, the Chiefs were expendable. 

The Chiefs were never going to win this game.

The NFLers want it that way because they feel they need new blood deep into the AFC postseason. So they are systematically taking care of business now, keeping the Chiefs as far from even getting there as they can.

Yeah, it's a fool's hope to think anyone who people listen to would be courageous enough to call it out, but I still hope it will happen. But then, why. It is what everyone wants. Why fight it and rail against it all the time in this blog effort. Maybe someone will read it and look. Maybe even mention it. Maybe.

But yeah, just to have truth shared. When it isn't over and over and over again whenever the Chiefs play football, it is just another wicked immersion in exasperation. I know, why do that, why put myself through that...

I just like my Chiefs, that's all, and I hate what they are doing to them out on the football field.

Yeah, back to family time. It is good to hang with them.

___

Colts at Chiefs - Week 12 - Record: 6-5

From the middle of the 4th quarter to the end of the game Patrick, Rashee, Xavier, Kareem, our D, and, okay, everyone else in the Chiefs Kingdom willed us to win this game. Before that, we were lost. More on that in a minute. But up to the end of regulation our defense got three straight 3-&-outs on the Colts offense, and one more in overtime. Our offense started their last regulation drive from their own 15, and it've been nice if after matriculating the ball into the red zone with a minute left, our offense had 87 plays to score a game-winning TD to close it out then and there but couldn't -- we still get the dubya in OT.

Wow. I can't. I just can't. Wow.

Good to have a game at home with the crowd being a 12th man to help the defense. On the Colts opening drive they got their offense all discombobulated and they were penalized a number of times to keep them from going past midfield.

Thing I heard from the announcer, though, was not good, the Chiefs defense gives up a 112 rating to the opposing quarterback on 3rd downs. That stinks. Our defense is a top-tier defense, but that. Ugh. Then he tells us we're terrible with penalties on special teams, and a holding call with their punt (the first of what seemed like 20 on us in the game) got us started with our first drive at the 4, after which Patrick threw a pick, him just not fully getting how that D-lineman could just swallow up his pass. Ugh ugh. This was the kind of stuff that just set this game up for yet another major exasperation.

It continued when Travis Kelce scored a wildcat formation touchdown, but, yep, nullified by another crappy officiating action against our guys, this one against the embattled Jawaan Taylor. Thing is the infraction just wasn't there. Yet again, the Chiefs are screwed by the typically antagonistic officiating. We got a field goal instead of a touchdown. 

They are indeed going out of their way to find anything they can call against the Chiefs. Sorry, yeah, broken record again, forgive me...

But that whole thing messes with the Chiefs, as it is indeed intended to do. 

They may say it all evens out and look at the penalties it is pretty even and all that blap, but the reality is you must look at particular calls in particular instances and see how much they impact the game, the rhythm -- in some ways forcing the Chiefs to play with an extra crick in their necks because they're afraid they're going to be hammered by some officiating call.

Later on we get more ugliness from other Four Horsemen: Trey Smith went down with an injury, Kareem fumbled in the red zone with the game still in reach early in the 4th quarter. Yeah this does feel like 2017 when we got blitzed in the middle of the season but the team managed to make a decent recovery to get into the playoffs. The rest of our schedule this year is a bit lighter, so we'll see if we can still snatch a playoff spot.

One thing I just wonder about is why Patrick has never been able to regain that 2018 form, you know, when he amazed the world and threw 50 touchdown passes on 5,000+ passing yards. Yes he's been amazing since winning three Super Bowls and getting us to two others. I got that.

But this Patrick Mahomes? While still the best quarterback in the NFL, he is just off. He really is. He is just missing too many throws. I wonder now, is he relegated to just being one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL? How sad is that? And it hasn't been just this year. Again, with a 2018 Patrick Mahomes playing with the most brazen death-defying, ferociously take-no-prisoners excellence, we'd be clobbering every team. Absolutely. But we're not. We haven't for a few years now, all our phenomenal success aside.

Harrison Butker with the game-winning field goal in overtime

And some of my thinking in this has to do with the shots he is taking. In today's game he was crunched by a Colts defender after the play, eliciting a flag. The dude did one of those slamming the 400-pound body-on-top-of-the-quarterback things, and got penalized. Well, good thing, I guess. Another one had the Colts dude slamming into Patrick's knees, drawing another penalty flag. Patrick gets shoved, crunched, pounded all the time back there and while most of it isn't a penalty, I just wonder. 

In 2018 he just had that wild-abandonment play that was so much fun to marvel at. Is it because he doesn't have the receivers? I don't think so. I know back in 2018 we had Tyreek, he was incredible, when healthy he still is over at Miami -- but now we have excellent receivers in Rashee, Xavier, Tyquan, and Hollywood, even JuJu has been good. And we still have Travis.

Well, with the help of a defense that would simply not be denied in keeping the Colts from doing anything in the second half, these guys got the job done. We're 6-5 and still in the mix with, again, a bit of a lighter schedule coming up. This Colts team was very good and we held their amazing running back Jonathan Taylor to 58 yards rushing. I was just told on the broadcast that the Colts got a total of 18 yards in the 4th quarter.

One more thing, looking at the standings coming into this one. I happened to glance at it and noticed the Points For and Points Against. Look. The Broncos are three games up on us, actually four because they beat us last week, yet compared to Denver the PF are about exactly the same, and PA are better for us! The Chargers were a game-&-a half up on us, and we are better than them in both areas, by far! (Yes both teams have played one more game than we have, but the point is still taken. We're really even with the teams way ahead of us in the standings at this point in the season.)

We play against Dallas on Thanksgiving Day, and having this win today will make enjoying that at least a little bit better.

__

From the official Chiefs website, the first photo is from Jacob Rice, the second from Kyle Rivas. Thank you. 

__

Chiefs at Broncos - Week 11 - Record: 5-5

This game should have been an easy Chiefs win at the very end of the game. We had the ball in decent field position with four minutes left, tie game. That was all the time we needed for Patrick to matriculate methodically right down into field goal range with seconds left to kick that game-winning field goal. Here was what happened.

1. Incomplete pass to Kelce, nearly intercepted.

2. Incomplete pass to Kelce, couldn't stay in-bounds.

3. Mahomes sack.

4. Punt.

Meanwhile the Broncos got the ball themselves with about the same time remaining (since the Chiefs did nothing to chew clock.) And they marched down the field, getting a few key first downs including one on a 3rd-&-15 and another requiring a virtual measurement that was almost 4th-&-1 from mid-field. The measurement said they got the 1st down.

The Broncos then got a clutch big-play pass completion, wound the clock down, kicked the game-winning field goal, and that was that.

A ton more could be said about this game, the fine Broncos defense aside. Give them credit for that.

But dang. 

Our coaching staff. Handling that situation with a prime opportunity to win -- wretched. And that was just the second three-&-out in a row there in the latter part of the 4th quarter. This was definitely an Exasperating Reid et al moment, for sure. The Broncos, on the other, actually wanted to win. This was obvious the whole time, especially when it came down to it.

And just the inability for us to do anything throughout the day. Dropped passes, missed throws, blocked PATs, silly penalties, and so much more. The whole thing was one big aggravation.

Just ugly.

I'm tired.

___

Chiefs at Bills - Week 9 - Record: 5-4

Sorry, I know I'm committed to putting together a decent blog post, but I don't really feel like writing much here. You may know why. Just very discouraged, and it has less to do with the Chiefs failures than what is happening in a world living by the sweetest, richest deceit.

To their credit, the Bills are a good team, and they were at home. They played a fine game, making well-designed plays from their coaching staff. They made our defense work hard out there. And their defense, especially their D-line, did fine work stuffing our offense.

The Chiefs were indeed impeded again by the familiar rotten officiating we get once every three or four games. Today it favored the opponent frequently enough. There were a number of instances, but I can mention the one when they did not observe and call the batted pass that was called intentional grounding, putting us into a nasty 3rd-&-long we didn't need to be in. And they tell us that's a play that is unreviewable. So we get screwed.

Mahomes, our O-line, and yes, our play-calling coaches (Reid, Nagy, whoever) had an off-day. From our first offensive play those coaches did nothing to keep the Bills guessing and on their heels. Nothing. And yeah, Patrick missed a wide-open Travis when we had the ball at the one. Got a FG. That's nice. We really needed a touchdown there, 1st-&-goal from the one. Yeah.

Our pass rush did not do its job to pressure their fine QB, Josh Allen, so yeah, those who are screaming for us to get D-line help may be right. Chris Jones was holding his own, but we have no one off the edge doing anything meaningful. They have a terrific running back who we contained a bit, but he got enough good runs to give Allen enough to get untracked.

When we were in the game Rashee Rice was on fire, so that was nice to see. Only thing, he was really the only one who really did anything. Travis and Hollywood got some nice long grabs, but it didn't mean anything.

We now get a bye week to rest.

Nuff said for now.

___

Commanders at Chiefs - Week 8 - Record: 5-3

"AI Makes Me Doubt Everything."

This was the blog post by fine evangelist Tim Challies, published on May 21, 2025, coincidentally the very day after Google introduced its Veo 3 graphics art creator program making any video-generated human beings look about as real as anything. I myself blogged about this reality -- as it were -- here.

The reason I bring this up because as much as the real-world truth that now we really will be questioning the veracity of anything that is exhibited to any thoughtful truth-respecting human being, we will pretty much be doing the same with big-time professional sports outcomes. It now looks something like this:

"Exposed illicit gambling involvement by high profile or deeply embedded sports figures makes me doubt everything that happens on the field or court."

Yes, even with the Chiefs.

I dread feeling like implicating any Chiefs anything in any questionable activity, especially when I have shared my consideration that the Chiefs are so good they really should be winning every game by a lot. Welll... yeah. what happens when they struggle on the field? What happens when they lose? 

Will I doubt that?

And what would happen if this blog effort had more than a handful of people paying any attention? I almost fear writing anything else about this.

I've made some notes about a dozen other things to say, point out, demonstrate, mention, illustrate, but I'm not going to, at least not here and not now. Again, so much of it must be left unsaid... or else. Yes, I can't say any one thing or another about anything, not implying anything except the truth that when people are proven to screw with the game and its competitive integrity, and there are specific instances everyone knows about when that happens, then there is no reason why people shouldn't wonder. About any of it.

You just can't upset the powers-that-be in ways the mainstream media can't spin. This still doesn't keep many people from saying, pointing-out, demonstrating, mentioning, illustrating, and just flat-out being openly honest about what they know is happening out there. There is indeed just too much of it to ignore, as much as so much of it is ::hush-hush:: don't mention names -- don't get too specific -- don't ask the players anything else, or, you know...

So enough of that. As always I'll cheer on my team, and they are playing right now. Not even going to say anything except just to wait until this game is all said and done and make a few remarks. 

Yeah. It is hard. I love my team and love having a decent blog effort here...

But yeah. Maybe it is a good thing I don't have many readers.

It is hard when deep in your heart you can't help but question...

Nuff said about that. 

___

Now to the game. We did handle things, won going away. It was a scoreless 1st quarter with turnovers afflicting both sides.

But wow, Rashee Rice back in there really makes a difference. Our first touchdown was set up by a very fun wildcat formation run that came a half-yard from getting the TD. As a receiver -- just his command of the field, routes and after-catch-runs. Just unparalleled.

The Commanders were without their very good quarterback Jayden Daniels. Even so, they did get two amazing catch-plays from Terry McLaurin, one of them the Commanders touchdown. But with our defense playing as well as they have, and the Commanders losing one of their fine offensive linemen to injury early, it was going to be hard for this team to compete.

And, well, yupp, this is indeed the 11th Chiefs win of 12 games overall against the Redskins/Commanders, since they started interconference play back in 1970. This is their ninth in a row over this team. The only time they lost to them was in September of 1983, in a game the Chiefs led 12-0 at halftime. Didn't score another point to the eventual NFC Champion Redskins. I looked at the box of that game, and Carlos Carson had over 100 yards receiving. 

Notable because they were saying the Chiefs so far this year do not yet have any receiver who's reached 100 yards. Much of that is just the phenomenal work of Patrick Mahomes getting everyone involved. Yet again, he was really the key. He kept all kinds of plays alive with his legs, and found everybody everywhere when he needed to.

The real tests are coming up. We have the Bills next week, then our bye, then ::yikes:: the Broncos and Colts, both playing lights-out football right now.

And right there at the end of the game here, they were saying Travis had 99 yards receiving. Rashee, by the way, had 93. Still no one with 100 this year. Oh well.

As long as we go on to win the Super Bowl.

___

The photo is by Sam Lutz at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

___

Gambling is Evil. Get it Out of All of This. Part II.

(I wrote quite a bit about the news from yesterday in this blog post. Just posting more thoughts here, today...)

Remember that classic scene in the classic film Casablanca? The one where Inspector Renault, played by Claude Rains, rebukes cafe owner Rick Blaine -- the Humphrey Bogart character -- after a police raid complaining, "I'm shocked, shocked there is gambling going on here!" On cue an errand boy steps up to him with a wad of cash and tells him, "Your winnings, sir."

What a picture of what is going on in major North American professional sports now. In fact it has very likely been a part of all of any major organized sports in any part of the world when there is some substantial amount of cash involved in some way.

Someone who is rich and powerful and wicked wants in on the action.

It is comical if it weren't so idiotically lethal. The news has spewed this NBA gambling involvement scandal all over the place, and the association is now working overtime to try to wipe the rotted scrambled egg off of its face. Comical. Why? Easy. This stuff has likely been going on for eons, with many many many more people involved than have ever been exposed.

What else is going to come out into the open? Will it? Will there just be more dissembling and showcasing partial hangouts to keep people from seeing the reality of competitive duplicity in all its forms? I say all its forms because, ironically, as the World Series begins tonight there is no way on earth the Los Angeles Dodgers would be there without the free agency-enabled MLBer powers-that-be many-of-them-certainly-not-so-wholesome helping them out immensely. 

How long has all this been happening, especially the gambling related revelations of late? How much of it has been standard yet very hushed procedure? For years? Decades? For always? The comical: Now everyone's squawking about it? We've all been that blind to the power and infiltration of criminal syndicates in all of it? We've never even looked at what casinos do to destroy lives and livelihoods, we've never bothered to observe what life is like for people in Native American Indian reservations when we told these people to just make casinos and let them generate the wealth. "You don't have to do anything, you poor dumb Indians!" was the message served them. It destroyed their communities.

Thing is we've already seen much of it, already. Social media is now posting clips of various people involved -- athletes and whoever else intimately involved with the games -- from years ago, admitting they've had pressures from everywhere about this shit. That they've had conversations or reacted or addressed at the time these things, shared them with someone in some way, again even being recorded in video-taped confessions! Incident after incident after incident that clearly reflected game action being compromised.

There have been those few people who have already even been prosecuted for this stuff, like that NBA official some 20 years ago who confessed to manipulating outcomes. This is not even to mention how screwed teams like the 2000 Sacramento Kings were when they were dominating the Lakers in that one critical playoff game, but the officials simply couldn't keep from hosing the Kings. It was so plainly obvious it was sick. That's just one. But it is true, making sure a Los Angeles team or a New York team is successful means more of the gravy train for whoever calls the shots.

Just the whole massive operation with implicit enablement or even willful empowerment forcefully shaping any outcome the way they want is a house smothered in lies.

All the connections to organized crime, to organized gambling operations whether they are casinos or mob syndicates or the sweetest nicest online sports betting sites, anyone involved with any of that, from the desperate slot player to the cigar-smoking casino mogul enjoying the spa treatment in his luxury suite, from top to bottom, it infects the soul of the individual, the family, the community, the nation.

We've even been talking about the pros, but it seems the most vulnerable are the big-time college programs. Oh my, how gruesome it was for these people to do anything NIL, portals, and even shifting their schools all around the country to try to get into better money-generating conferences. All of that is part of the same stupidity.

What was ever wrong with student athletes getting a full-ride scholarship going to the same school for four years, playing hard for the team against other teams from the same general region, and enthusiastically preparing for a fine future life, livelihood, and family after those four years extremely likely not anywhere near the pros, and being genuinely grateful for the opportunity? Instead, we had the most immature, irresponsible children whining about this or that inconvenience, and children in big-people bodies pretending to be mature, responsible adults gave in.

Now with all that nice new crap you've got to deal with the influences. And now it is very young, gullible, impressionable people who are thinking of having their families taken care of financially for some time if they just take a good chunk of change for simply doing certain things on the field that will make some very real and threatening "influencer" happy.

What are those in power going to do with that? Are they going to stand up to those influences, or do too many of them have too little courage and principle to do it? Are they all just too immature and irresponsible and foolish as children pretending to be adults to not take pride in just doing the right thing here?

I've also argued for years, on other web platforms, that baseball should get rid of, or at least modify to a dramatic extent, the free agency that shapes the competitive duplicity in major league baseball. The whole thing is just as wicked, with the Los Angeles Dodgers' main players all bought and paid for. Speaking of Shohei Ohtani, there were still many questions surrounding his scandal from a year ago that involved money and possible related illicit associations. But I do understand, nothing will ever happen with any of that because the Dodgers' money stream is flowing well for everyone in major league baseball -- it is made to be that way so everyone gets their cut.

The NFL's Kansas City Chiefs players, on the other hand, are all legitimately assessed, drafted, and developed, all within the confines of an expertly managed salary cap. Still, with all the questionable associations coming to light, could any of them be compromised? Of course they could! Not saying they are or aren't or anything, but what we do see there is a distinct difference in the respect for the overall integrity of the whole enterprise.

In my devotional time this morning I read the 101st Psalm. (Here, read it too, click the link, it is well worth it.) What a terrific piece to bring to the table in all of this. It is merely about really wanting one's own house to be managed with righteousness and probity, simply to take pride in honoring God with active respect for truth and honesty and integrity in that way.

The whole gambling and duplicity thing in professional sports almost everywhere seems to be founded on the idea that one must show everyone around them how special they are by getting lucky in something, and it doesn't matter if they do it unethically as long as they can cover for it in some way. The exploiters take gratification in making so many people addict-er-happy.

Benjamin Franklin once remarked, "Nine men in ten are suicides." Some people, particularly men, live such miserable lives, failing so often, or at least considered failures, bored half the time, that it is the biggest thrill to have a chance to get that big score that will just make them, give them a thrill and just earn the favor of some young lady or someone they need to impress. If not, well, "Who cares if I lose and even die because my life is so miserable, that's just fine."

Otherwise, the substance of Psalm 101 applies to everything, not just this little sports thing. If we as a nation don't take care of business in the big-time sports house, and there at least just plain respect truth and faithfulness to God and His just and righteous behavior in all we do, it is likely everything else is infected with that wickedness too. 

So yeah, there are a hundred other things that have nothing to do with sports that are so critically more important in life and livelihood, but it can't be denied that this sports thing is a microcosm of the wickedness and stupidity that is out there afflicting all of us.

Might want to think about considering the Living Word Who is that Love and Justice in that 101st Psalm, The One Who is the joy and deliverance out of the deceit and death mentioned there.

Will these people "conduct the affairs of [their] house with a blameless heart?"

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By the way, since this is a Chiefs blog, here's the Chiefs thing.

The Chiefs are thriving, working and playing the game on the straight-&-true with how their team is built with the organizational excellence top to bottom, from owner to water boy, given no advantages not available to anyone else to be successful. Let's look at each player group, from left to right, and you will see. (Just using first names for brevity and -- yeah -- some laziness, it isn't that I'm all best buds with them or anything.)

Running backs: Isiah and Kareem, both drafted by the Chiefs, even though Kareem took a detour to the Browns for a while.

Quarterback: Patrick, drafted and slowly developed spending a whole year on the bench learning from Alex Smith. This after decades of never being able to draft and develop a good QB.

Offensive line: Four of the five starters were drafted, with two of them, Creed and Trey demonstrating the Chiefs really did their homework. Rookie Josh is said to be another amazing selection from the draft.

Tight end: Travis, drafted. Noah, drafted.

Wide receivers: Rashee and Xavier, drafted. They did get Hollywood, JuJu, and Tyquan as free agents, but Rashee and Xavier are their main targets. Oh, and that great WR they had a few years ago, Tyreek? Drafted, even selected in the fifth round.

Defensive line: With a starting four of Mike, Chris, Omar, and George, you've got an all-drafted D-line. We did lose Omar to an ACL injury in the last game. Charles is a free agent who does start.

Linebackers: Leo and Nick are excellent and, yes, drafted. Drue is also very good yet a free agent.

Defensive backs: With starters Jaylen, Trent, Bryan, and Chamarri, it's all drafted. Throw Noah in there for the nickel package, still, all properly and deftly drafted with every team having the same chances as anyone to have players like this.

Every one of these players were drafted fairly, developed appropriately from within the organization, and rewarded with playing for people who not only do things with integrity but work that much harder to evaluate those players and get them to play well because they know the NFLers really do not want the Chiefs winning as much as they want other teams to win.

Now for the Dodgers. I pay no attention to any major league baseball because as we all know (or yes, should know) it is thoroughly rigged to favor the Dodgers, the Yankees, and a bit for teams like the Red Sox and Mets (all of whom made it to postseason play this year). Because I pay no attention to any of it, I do not know every player on the team -- actually I know very few of them. But I do know some of the players. Here are the ones I know are the better players on the team, and yes

They are all free agents poached from other teams who are exploited and unable to afford them.

The ones I know are Shohei Ohtani, arguably the very best baseball player ever to play the game, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Blake Snell, some guy named Hernandez, and a Japanese pitcher who is supposed to be outrageously good. I know they have another very good pitcher, someone Glasnow, I've heard is really good. That's it, those are really the only players on the team I can identify. (To be fair I will admit I do know their catcher is Will Smith and he too is a very good ballplayer, but I think he came from within the organization. And I know I could look up Mr. Glasnow's first name and include it here, but I just want to be fair about what I do know without looking it all up.*)

Those are the only ones I know about, and I do know every one of them is exceptionally good. I also know every one of them was once a fine player for another team then as a free agent signed with the Dodgers because they were given the power to do so at the expense of other teams really having a fair chance to have them play for them.

This is competitive duplicity, plain and clear.

But it doesn't matter to most people because -- the main point to all of this --

It is because powerful people who like getting a piece of the expanding gravy train make it happen and conceal the duplicity. The gambling thing is just a particularly ugly part of it.

Is the way pro baseball is arranged a bit different than the way pro football is arranged? Of course. But it doesn't change the reality of the massive duplicity involved by anybody who is an MLBer, or even an NFLer or NBAer for that matter, who are too willing to succumb to the powers and principalities that tempt them.

Once again, quite a contrast to the Kingdom where Christ reigns with nail-scarred hands to invite all those wounded by any of the duplicity anywhere, not just in the sports stuff, to live rich, meaningful lives in spite of it.

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(*I should add a further note for those skeptical of my claim I pay no attention to any of the baseball stuff, yet at the same time here I am demonstrating that I am aware of those particular baseball players. I live in the Los Angeles area and cannot help but see and hear some sports things -- on televisions in restaurants, from news reports popping up on the radio, from acquaintances who tell me things, and through various other sources. I never deliberately inquire about any of it. Out of that I'm actually surprised I know that much, and I may indeed have some things incorrect about what I've shared about the Dodgers and its players. I should add that I do know the afore-not-mentioned Clayton Kershaw is also on the team, but he came from within the organization, and really the only reason I knew after all these years that he was still on the team was because the news of his retirement announcement this year was everywhere. There are just some things you can't miss.

I should also add, with full disclosure, that I'd already known about people like Freeman and Betts because they each played so well for other teams, the Braves and Red Sox, respectively. Again I'd only known about them for reasons just mentioned, some because they'd both played in, and won, previous World Series. I watched none of any of them, but again it is hard not to pick up the things that get out there about them in those instances. One more note: Obviously in watching Chiefs games and picking up some of the things that do happen with the team, I do know which players were drafted and which were not. I have at times in April peeked in to see who the Chiefs did draft.)

Furthermore it may go without saying that the reason I contrasted the Chiefs and the Dodgers was because recently both teams have been so wildly successful, and this is a Chiefs blog effort with some input about how it'd be nice if these sports efforts, which I do enjoy in and of themselves, would heed the principles elucidated in that 101st Psalm. It is because they don't and things like the gambling thing are so prominent that I do indeed scale back my sports attention to zero as much as it is within me to do so. As I've shared before, I do enjoy watching Chiefs games, but that is pretty much it. I can't help but see other things about them, much like I can't help but catch some things about the Dodgers. Of course I can't stand the patently stupid things that presently occur in the NFL and MLB, so I try my best to abstain. Because I've followed these sports things for so long and so passionately, my mental radar can't help but register some of them no matter how much I very intentionally stay away from most of it.)

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