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“NFL–ALL THINGS VIOLENT”
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It is a big, fast, physical games.
NFL fans enjoy the action, big plays, big hits.

But when a player steps over the line, the NFL needs to do an intervention.

You want to see a horror hit that can have all types of implications?

His name is Azeez Al-Shaair of the Houston Texans.
A big history of a big hitter.
And a history of cheap shots that keep happening.

The victim, Jaguars high priced QB-Trevor Lawrence.

The incident, Lawrence scrambles left racing for a first down.  He gives himself up, slides and is automatically downed-play over.

Al-Shaair, closing in full bore, dives head first into Lawrence, helmet hit, and forearm to the face mask.

The force of the blow is so violent, Lawrence’s head snaps back and full force from the hit of the 240-pound LB, crashing onto the turf.  He suffers a concussion, his hands coming upright shaking, the first signs of trauma

Jaguars players jump onto the Houston linebacker in response.

Lawrence is down 7-minutes and carted off.  A concussion, and who knows how long he is out

It took nearly 18-hours for Al-Shaair to apologize, saying it was not his intent.

But the video shows the Houston linebacker had a clear picture of the slide, and took nearly two steps before he delivered the blow to a prone QB already down.  The slow motion picture speaks thousands of words about intent.

And now video surfaces of two other hits from early in the season that resulted in (2200) fines each time to the Texans player.  And a video also surfaces of him grabbing Tom Brady in Tampa by the throat in a tackle too.

Al-Shaair could have pulled up; could have now issued a forearm shiver; could have dove over Lawrence, who was already down on his wallet.

The rage around the NFL is everywhere.  Jaguars coach Doug Pederson, ‘there’s no place in the NFL for that’.  Houston coach D’Amico Ryans, ‘we don’t teach that there’.

And the past history of this player, should lead to a lengthy suspension and loss of game checks.

For the NFL-how long do you let this stuff go on?  Till somebody breaks a neck?  Till there is brain damage?

Repeat the offense, the penalty needs to get more severe.  For all the NFL has done to eliminate kill shots and hits on players, defenseless players, it still happens.

Oh by the way, at the end of his Monday apologize, he pulled out the ‘race card’ and the ‘Islamic religious card’ saying he has been buried on social media with all type of slants from haters across the country.

The Texans player intentionally tried to hurt the Jags QB; he violated a code, an honor, a rule to respect the other player.  And he compounds it after repeating these hits to bring up his color and his religion.

Cop out crap from a guy who should be taken off the field because that was his intent, and has been his intent for the way he has always played.

The NFL needs to stop this borderline violence under the banner of fast-furious-tough football.

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Hacksaw’s Monday Bonus Podcast-1pm
You Tube Channel-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
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“REACTING TO A FOOTBALL WEEKEND”
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CHARGERS-FALCONS..Not sure what was worse-the Chargers battered offense, the play-calling by the suddenly mediocre Falcons…Atlanta QB-Kirk Cousins’ awful decisions..or just the overall tone of the game.  The Chargers went 10-drives without a TD.  The Falcons QB threw picks in the end zone, the 24, 36-38.  His kicker missed a field goal.  The Bolts now have no run game, and Ladd McConkey has both knee and shoulder issues, and JK Dobbins is gone go to the IR list.  Hard to say the Chargers are (8-4) and in trouble, but they are not the same team that started (6-3).

EAGLES-RAVENS…Lost in all the hype about Lamar-vs-Jalen…Henry-vs-Barkley…and coach vs coach was the fact these defenses could slug it out and slow the offenses down, and did.  Philly looks complete.  Hard to believe the Ravens have 5-losses.

RAIDERS NATION..How deplorable the end of game theatre, the botched snap, the failure to go for a field goal earlier that would have given them a win a snap earlier.  Wasted a 340Y-passing day from QB-Aiden O’Connell against the Chiefs, who continue to be unimpressive despite an (11-1) record.

BILLS-49ers..Tough enough to go face Josh Allen and Buffalo at Highmark Stadium, but San Francisco had to also play the weatherman in the December-Sunday night game.  Took them 11-hours to clear more than 2-feet of snow off the field and some of the seats and it started snowing hard at kickoff.  Bills Mafia showed up with its beers.  So did Brock Purdy-Christian McCaffrey and the Niners.  Throw the game plans out the window.  Awful picture McCaffrey injuring his knee early in the game.

STEELERS-BENGALS..Russell Wilson and Blitzburgh are now (9-3).  Joe Burrow’s team is (4-8).  Organizations win games.  The same leadership loses games, as Joe Burrow is finding out wasting his career away surrounded by alot of listless roster talent.  Wilson-Mike Tomlin-Arthur Smith-team chemistry.  Quite a job the Pittsburgh front office has done.

SEAHAWKS-JETS..Imagine a 290-pound DT going 92-yards with a pick six, but Leonard Williams did that for Seattle against his former team.  Imagine an Aaron Rodgers team being (3-9).  Sure does look like Rodgers career is ending like Brett Favre’s did after they both left Green Bay.

MINNESOTA-ARIZONA..Sam Darnold saves the Vikings, who are now (10-2) though it sure looks like he will be leaving at the end of the season as a free agent with Daniel Jones signing.  Arizona, the road trips are catching up to them.

CHICAGO-MIAMI..Tua gets them another gritty win.  Matt Eberfluss gets fired after a (14-32) record, the poor handling of Caleb Williams and the firing of the last two offensive coordinators, all that plus bad clock management week by week.

BROWNS-DENVER..QBs going in opposite directions in Monday night’s game.  Bo Nix-hot.  Jameis Winston wants to stay with the Browns.  Cleveland cannot find a way to get rid of Deshaun Watson.

AZTECS..Coach Sean Lewis keeps saying “I didn’t do a good enough job”.  Okay by me if he wants to ‘fall on his sword’ but by saying that weekend after weekend, fans-alums now say ‘Why should we retain you’.

USC..Lincoln Riley (6-6) season.  No run game.  Up and down wide receivers.  Not much defense yet.  Not what we thought.  Oh by the way, Notre Dame took interceptions back 99-and-100 yards on back to back series late in the Saturday Irish win at the LA Coliseum.

UCLA..A mountain of athletic department debt (16.7M)..an AD with an extension…a football team that is celebrating beating Fresno State, so their resume would say (5-7).  Bruins-not what they used to be.

OHIO STATE-MICHIGAN…Awful home loss to a 23-point underdog, even worse the player fights after the game after the flag plant incident at midfield.  The worst, Ryan Day walking off the field doing nothing to try and get his team off the field during the height of the brawl.  Oh by the way, OSU-four losses in a row to the Team up North.

ILL WILL..The fight for the Old Oaken Bucket, Indiana-Purdue wound up a (66-0) Hoosier trashing of the Boilermakers.  Bothered by the fact IU-coach Curt Cignetti had his 6-TD Quarterback Nathan Rourke in the game with 2-minutes left with a (582-87Y) edge in offense-going for more scores.

BAD BLOOD..Post game celebrations led to issues in the Florida-FSU game..North Carolina-NC State.  Did not happen in Texas-Texas AM-because Steve Sarkisian ran to midfield and hauled his players off the field.

SMALL COLLEGE..Lost in all the big games this weekend was the fact the small college playoffs began in 1AA-Division II and III.  The storyline of that weekend, was Illinois State going on the road to win against SE Missouri State, whose QB Pax Delaurent threw for (567Y-4TD) but he threw 5-interceptions and lost.  Ferris State scored 78-points in their win in the Division II playoffs.  Division III-Linfield-Oregon scored 63 in their win.

UP NEXT..Bring on the Conference championships, then the final College Polls, the arguments and then the playoffs.  Interesting times ahead.
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Hacksaw’s Great Sports Weekend Podcast…Friday..1pm
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“AZTECS FOOTBALL–IT’S ALMOST OVER”
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It started with great expectations.
It’s ending with greater disappointment.
It means there’s alot of work to be done.

San Diego State faces Air Force on Saturday, in the season’s final game of the season, a matchup of a team that has underachieved (Aztecs) vs a team in the midst of a rebuild season.

We didn’t expect this to be this bad for Sean Lewis.
For Troy Calhoun it is a blip on the radar, an odd poor season in an accomplished career.

For SDSU, it’s a myriad of problems.

10-different offensive line starters wrecked everything upfront.
The defense has caved in, giving up (505YPG) in the last four blowout losses.
A season of non stop penalty flags.
The transfer portal defections stripped experience.
Not everyone who arrived made an impact

A coach trying to be optimistic in the face of what has to be termed a failure.

Positives, a few.
QB-Danny O’Neill competes like hell.
RB-Marquez Cooper plays with great heart heading to his final college game.
LB-Trey White has been spectacular

But when your kickers turned out to be the MVP on your team, it’s not a good year.

Add on, the fans have stopped coming, and even the media (TV) does not show up to cover the coaches’ press conferences, any longer..

And we thought the final year around Brady Hoke was a disappointment.

SDSU (3-7) drags a 5-game losing streak into action.  Air Force is (4-7) but have won 3-in a row, with a very young team.

So much worse than we could have ever imagined.
Alot to be done in the off season.

Coach Sean Lewis-Press Conference:
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Want to end the season for these kids the right way
Air Force has done a great job changing thier season
They find a way to win with the run

Obviously AFA committed to what they run the triple action
We know the value of each yard they get
3rd and long is a key to impacting them
We must make them pass the ball

All 11 of our guys need to be tied together against their run
Stress is to win 1-on-1 matchups..play connected
We need good practices without stopping practice to re-teach them
Need efficient reps

I played against Triple Option teams in past..first and second down keys
We lean on our experienced coaches on our staff who have coordinated

Air Force lost 7-in a row but resolve and fight
Great job running ball
They have forced 11-fumbles
They are disciplined-loved to rally to the ball
QB-Austin Hayes makes alot of decisions

Academy teams-unique individual..why are they there..something bigger
Those players are dedicated something special
We play for wins, but the energy those kids bring to the game
Service academies kids play for something bigger than a win
The internal motivation of those young men amazing
Tough times don’t last..tough people do

Marquez Cooper-one of best ever to do it..5,000-career yards
Testament to who he is
1-of great players to be around-has made a difference
Lights come on-he plays his best
He has another level to play to
You don’t stumbled out of a bed and be 1-of-23 RBs to do this
There will be opportunity for Coop to be Coop next season

Not doing a team banquet..team scattered at the end of the season
Saturday will be last time this team has been together
Life gets rolling-going for these kids
My personal decision

Not thrilled…not thrilled..not shocked
Wins are very hard…winning is hard
Appreciate how important wins are
We did not get it done this year
Work as hard as we want but have to produce on game day
There are only 12-days that really matter

Last week comment on wanting NCAA compensation for losing transfers
Everyone agrees this is not an ideal situation
Coaches conversation-we can discuss this
I can be the point man in that room-discussion

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Happy Thanksgiving
Hacksaw’s Podcast moves to Friday-1pm-this week
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“THE DODGER WAY”
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They have a World Series ring coming
And now they have the hottest pitcher in free agency coming too.

You can pick any words you want to describe Dodgers baseball right now.
The best team that money can buy
Tradition lures talent
We all need insurance policies, and yes they are expensive.

And so 2X-Cy Young Award winning lefthander Blake Snell signs with the Dodgers.
Dominant, erratic, overpowering, enigma.
Any and all words describe the mercurial lefthander, now on his 4th team

But he brings with him credentials.  The awards, a dazzling no hitter, overwhelming velocity, limited innings per start, and up and down performances too.

A great acquisition, at a big price tag?  Probably so.
A big insurance policy acquisition too?  Definitely.
But only if there are more good Snell outings than bad ones.

A Scott Boras client who held out all spring, collected 30M from the Giants last year, and gave them half a season of good pitching.  They burned thru that money, failed to trade him, failed to win many games, and lost him for nothing in return.  The GM, who made all those decisions is gone.

Snell had a (9.20-ERA) the first third of the season, got hurt, came off the DL, and was dazzling.  But then Jekyl-turnned-Hyde and he compiled a (1.23-ERA) in his final 14-starts.  That is who he is, and has been for alot of his career.

The Dodgers need this insurance policy pitcher to last the entire season in 2025.

On paper, what a pitching staff.  Tyler Glasnow, Snell, Yosh Yamamoto at the front of the rotation.

The belief ex Angels ace-Shohei Ohtani will be ready to pitch by June 1st.
Young phenom Bobby Miller looks to rebound after a lost year.

Then there is Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin, both coming off surgeries, and who knows if they hold up or get hurt again.

Unsigned at this hour are Walker Buehler (47-22) in his career that includes two surgeries, a stud now also being pursued by the Yankees-Braves-Red Sox.

Also still out there is Jack Flaherty, who carried them thru the back end of the season and into the playoffs, still an unsigned free agent, but rock solid reliable.

Clayton Kershaw, coming off shoulder-back-toe woes, wants to pitch another year, his role still to be determined.

And the Dodgers figure to be in the middle of the Roki Sasaki bidding battle in January when he is posted by Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan.  Does the lure of pitching for the Dodgers, surrounded by their history of Japanese stars, and their tradition of winning, convince him to join the LA culture?

There’s the young minor league hard thrower Landon Knack, and yet to prove himself prospect Michael Grove.

Of course the Dodgers somehow earned-won a World Series despite having 9-pitchers have surgeries last season and won’t have Gavin Stone, River Ryan or Kyle Hurt this year.

This starting rotation sure looks superb compared to the 29-pitchers the Dodgers had to put on the mound last season, with the injury crisis being front and center from the Cactus League right up to the Fall Classic.

The rotation looks phenomenal on paper, but how many can stay off the disabled list becomes the next big storyline at Chavez Ravine.

And we have not even touched the collection of 8-relievers they trusted last year, who saved them late in the season, but some of whom have more injury issues.

Dave Roberts-Mark Prior, meet Blake Snell.  Electric stuff sometimes.  Eclectic personality other times.  Trustworthy as can be for 5-innings and 103 pitches, but not much beyond that.  Hope you can swallow and handle the long innings, hi pitch counts, and the splash of bases on balls too.  He is really unique.

A (182M) investment, over five years,  for the front of the rotation.  As I said, ‘insurance these days’ is expensive.  Adding back Flaherty-Buehler-Sasaki would give them the best pitching staff in baseball.

All this, and the Winter Meetings have not even started.

The ‘Dodger Way’..fun to follow right now

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=======”BASEBALL–NEVER ENDING PROBLEMS”
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Baseball is coming off a phenomenal Dodgers-Yankees Fall Classic, a World Series win for LA.

The Shohei Ohtani-Aaron Judge seasons.

Baseball’s attendance rocketed.  So did it’s TV ratings, here and in Japan.

Baseball free agency is off and running with all time record  payouts likely coming for Juan Soto and others.

But baseball continues to deal with problems.

The ball-strike, home plate-umpiring issues, that stained the summer season.
The need for possible Instant Replay Challenge on Balls and Strikes-Robo Umps.
The move of the Athletics to play 3-years in a minor league park in Sacramento.

And now the crisis in Tampa Bay:
The hurricane destruction of the roof and the field at Tropicana Field.
The loss of City-County share of financing for a new Stadium for the Rays.
The relocation of the Rays home games next summer to a minor league stadium
The doubt about where they would play in 2026-27-28.

MLB has intervened but new problems keep arising, almost daily.

The latest via Front Office Sports-website from Tampa Bay:
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The Rays and MLB are now adjusting to the team playing the 2025 season at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, and in the case of the schedule, literally so.

Less than two weeks after a deal was finalized for the Rays to play their home games next year at the Yankees’ spring training complex, MLB has changed two parts of the schedule to account for the outdoor locale. A home-and-home series with the Angels in April and August was flipped in which the earlier games will now happen in Tampa and the later ones in Anaheim, Calif. The same reversal was also done with a separate set of home-and-home series with the Twins in May and July.

The shifts now further concentrate the Rays’ 2025 home schedule to the very beginning and end of the season, when the likelihood of extreme heat and rain in Florida is lower. The Rays will now play 47 of their first 59 games overall at home, and then go on the road for 69 of the final 103.

The extreme nature of that schedule will no doubt put a premium on the team getting off to a strong start competitively. But in the club’s nearly three decades of play, it’s never played home games outside of a domed facility, and MLB said “these proactive schedule adjustments have been made to optimize the number of games played in the best weather conditions given the Rays’ transition to an outdoor ballpark.”

Steinbrenner Field is also the home facility for the Tampa Tarpons, a Yankees minor league affiliate. That club has had to deal with the vagaries of Florida weather playing outdoors, and with the Rays’ arrival next year, will shift to a back field at the Yankees’ complex.

Other planned modifications by the Rays at Steinbrenner Field include covering up much of the existing Yankees signage at the ballpark and potentially tweaking some game start times to avoid some of the worst of Florida’s rainy season.

Political Tension
Those activities, meanwhile, are happening while the relationship between the club and Tampa-area public officials continues to deteriorate. Earlier this week, Pinellas County, Fla., commission chair Kathleen Peters issued an ultimatum demanding the team detail in writing by Sunday its intentions on a proposed $1.3 billion stadium.

That stance closely follows both the county and city of St. Petersburg delaying votes to issue public-sector bonds covering nearly half of the stadium cost, and the retraction of an appropriation to replace the Tropicana Field roof shredded by Hurricane Milton.

Rays co-president Brian Auld responded to the county’s demand with a fairly noncommittal statement, saying, “We are eager to work with all partners on a solution for the 2029 season that keeps Major League Baseball in Tampa Bay for generations to come. As we always have, we will maintain contact with the city and county as we navigate our future.”

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