"RESTING STARTER" CYNICISM, COULD IT TOPPLE THE WHOLE ENTIRE EMPIRE?

The real reason Goodell, who represents the legal interests of the league and is responsible for ensuring these owners, these fat cats, make a lot of money, the reason he is so worried about this issue with "resting starters" is because he knows he risks anti-trust lawsuits up the ying yang, when stuff like this happens.  There has become such a focus on the league, so much money now involved that the NFL is really, in my opinion, having a tough time, or going to have a tough time keeping the integrity of their league intact.  I am the type of guy who will stop watching a sport that is not 100 percent true competition.  Now, when the Colts and Saints do not play their starters, there is much more room for manipulation of the outcome of games that no one gives a crap about, right?  We all knew the Colts would not play their starters vs the Bills, we did not know what they would do for sure against the Jets?  They never clearly told us, but I can guarantee you that the NFL knew (and most likely the legal bookies in Vegas knew too). 

I am a conspiracy theorist, but if the league is only about the money, they should shut down the league, everyone says "its a business", well if that is 100% true, there is no way you will be able to sell true competition, because the ultimate outcome is to make the most money you can, no matter what.  That is why you saw bad calls against the Steelers when Manning was on his best Colt team, in the 2005 season.  Sponsors lose out if the guy in their commercials cannot continue to be regarded in a "God-like manner".  In my opinion, all endorsements by athletes should be managed by a review board, or something, because this way we would not have to read articles like "WHY CBS WANTS THE COLTS TO BEAT THE JETS".  I could give a shit about CBS, OK, we want to know that these were the two best teams on each day they won in the playoffs, not worry about how good the network's ratings will be vs. the competitors.

Now there is another dangerous aspect regarding all of this, Gambling on NFL games.  Can you believe there was an article that Vegas Casinos lost so much money on some of the games due to a large number of bad teams this year getting blown out, totally demolishing their line predictions?   I cannot believe someone wrote this article.  If you have ever gone to a casino, have you ever lost money?  Most likely, hell yes... and if you do it too much, people should stop gambling right?  That is what everyone says, "you have a gambling problem".  Well, then the most degenerate entities on earth must be these casinos and legal sports books (we already know who runs illegal sports betting, people that will take a finger, or more if you cannot pay up).  So you tell me, why should we have any interest in reading about how much was lost by these casinos, say, each time the Rams got blown out?  I mean, if you gamble, you put your money at risk.  Normally disposable (or more than that, like gas money, food for the kids, unfortunately for many out there) income, and when you lose, who cares about you right?  you better pay? right?  Well all these casinos/on-line entities do is gamble, that is what they do for a living....   So if they lose, I SAY so be it, DONT YOU TOO?  Now would you not think that they would like to, even a little bit, go ahead and have some kind of influence on these games?  Hell yes, and they sometimes do, in my humble opinion. 

It is unfortunate that most of the networks now have huge controlling interests in many of these casinos.  That is a dirty linkup.  Take the Steelers, one of the most popular teams in the league.  Does it not look bad that they lost to the Raiders, Chiefs and Browns, the probability of that happening like 0.9% or something.  Well it happened, and since the Steelers are a team with a huge amount of "action" on their games, action being, large number of people betting on their games, so, it is very suspicious to me.

Do you realize, all the money these degenerate gambling organizations lost on those bad teams could have been made up on these three games alone.  The reason being, if you had the Steelers, you lost everything, and casinos won everything.  They won the straight-up bets, the bets on the number (spread), every parlay, where someone had the Steelers winning, they won most other bets too (teasers), but I am not sure about the Over/Under, though someone go look back, it would not surprise me if more people lost than won on the over/under, by more than like 20 percent because of the media influence... you know statements like "there is no way the Steelers are going to lose to the Browns after blowing those other games against bad teams"... and "Expect a very low scoring game in this one"...   Well, I had my conspiracy theory already thought out, because I love the Steelers, and well, I may be biased, but is it not interesting, that my favorite quarterback, who, if he had any brain cell in his head left, should know better than to hob-knob with a casino owner or president or whatever, it now looks very bad that he sat out a game he should have played in (that fake concussion, or real concussion, but he plays football, what does he expect?).

The point is, we cannot have it all ways, worry about making money, but do not do so so much that you will ruin the integrity of the game, the competitive aspect because then, no more money, except those that loved that league "He Hate Me" played in... you are just watching pro wrestling or something, soap operas for men.

Oh, I bet Big Ben got setup by all of them, even the casino workers also getting sued, what better way to help ensure the Steelers do not succeed, right?  Makes perfect sense, because by a large margin, more people bet in favor of the Steelers every game than go against them.  How can a Casino make money if their 3:1 pick to win the Superbowl, actually wins?  meaning, since most bet on the Steelers to repeat, than they bet on any other team, the casinos and books would have had to pay a huge amount of money out, 3x the largest number of bet amounts made, is a lot.  Paying 1000 guys that picked the Saints this season, who probably were 8:1 or something, is a lot better than paying the 3,000,000 that threw in a "pretty smart" bet on the Steelers, to win the Superbowl, say at 3:1 odds, for example, since I made up these numbers, just to illustrate my point, but it is a representative illustration.

It gets to you, if you love the game, and think that this stuff has any influence on the outcome.  Roethlisberger is an idiot.  What if fans questioned his integrity now, hearing he has a friendship with the Casino President of Harrah's puts into question for many like me, whether they could have made a backroom deal for Big Ben to make sure he does not win another super bowl this year, Ben has second thoughts and tells his friend, he must go against what they agreed, he just cannot do that, so, suddenly some ugly baby-momma is suing him for rape.  Not saying this happened, but it is more of a possibility than most would like to believe. 

Hope I do not get shot for writing this article... now, take it easy, and Go SAINTS because you kept the Favre-Manning match-up from not happening.... that ratings boon CBS wanted, ESPN wanted, and even the casinos wanted, because more interest, more bets, more ability to have a good feeling for what you set your line at, etc., because all of this is based on the number of bets made each way, the casino obviously, always fixes it so they will have the best chance to make money, or lose the least money.  Because they make money off the juice anyway, more bettors more juice.  That is how it is supposed to work.   They will not take bets that are so lopsided, that they could lose a lot of money, yet make a lot of money, if they won, cause everyone bet on the loser of a game, that scenario is just too risky, even though the reward is astronomical for them, so to would be the losses.

I said USUALLY they do not take these bets.... BUT THEY TOOK THEM FOR THE STEELERS VS. RAIDERS, CHIEFS, BROWNS, DIDN'T THEY?  THEY MADE A KILLING ON THESE THREE GAMES ALONE.  The Sports books probably made all the money back that they lost and then some.  That is why, well, it is not surprising for an issue of "resting starters" to rub people the wrong way.  It is just not right, for one, if people are going to be betting on the outcome of games, scores, seasons, playoffs, everything.... so, who knows what will happen.  Maybe the asteroid will be here sooner than we think, and we will see just how meaningless all of this talk really is...  HOW IS THAT PESSIMISTIC/NIHILISTIC VIEW OF THE WORLD, COHEN BROTHERS, STEP ASIDE, HERE I AM.

Good Night NFL fans.