Daily Archives: February 26, 2022

College students navigate the world of online sports betting – WKAR

Posted: February 26, 2022 at 11:10 am

EAST LANSING - Michigan State graduate Bailey Adkins morning routine includes brushing his teeth, taking a shower, making breakfast and gambling on sports.

I became involved with online sports betting when I was about 16 or 17 because that is when I found websites that I could gamble on, said Adkins. However, Ive been betting (my) friends on sports since I was probably 12.

Gambling has become more accessible as technology improves and allows people to place bets on their mobile devices. Sports betting is no exception, becoming a starting point for younger bettors to branch off to other forms of gambling.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the Lawful Sports Betting Act in Dec. 2019, legalizing sports betting in Michigan by the end of 2020.

On March 11, 2020, sports betting launched in Michigan allowing sportsbooks to function in casinos and online within state lines. This has proved to be a monumental decision for much of the population. According to playmichigan.com, there have already been over $4 billion dollars

Sports media has been infiltrated by the sports betting business. For example, Bally Sports bought the rights to the regional Fox Sports channels across the country. Bally is a casino company. Ads for new promotions of different sportsbooks seem to air during every commercial break and even during the game in some instances.

College students in Michigan who are 21 in sports gambling have been put in a vulnerable situation. Journal of Gambling Issues reported that the unsettling health risk of Internet sports betting appears to be justified. A mixture of this pervasive nature, Coronavirus keeping people at home and online classes make this demographic a hot-bed for creating gambling hobbies.

Adkins graduated from Michigan State University in Dec. 2022. Adkins said he would consider himself an avid sports bettor and that he places at least one bet on sports everyday.

Adkins said online sports betting has resulted in becoming more invested in sports he never previously cared about. Soccer, hockey and even foriegn professional basketball leagues are some examples.

MSU senior Mateo Fernandez turned 21 in October last year. He said that he made an account on FanDuel and placed a sports bet the day he was legally allowed to do so.

Fernandez, however, said he places bets very rarely and has bet on sports just a handful of times. He also says that sports betting did not alter his gambling habits very much.

If it had an influence it was a very small one, said Fernandez, I have only gambled around ten times in my life.

Bradley Cholette, an MSU senior, shows a similar pattern. Cholette became the legal age to bet on sports when he turned 21 in May 2021.

Id say I place about one sports bet a week, he said.

Sports betting is not the only thing that apps like FanDuel, DraftKings and others offer. Online casinos in Michigan were massive money-makers as well. In Michigan alone, these online casinos made a total revenue of $1 billion in 2021.

Adkins says that he plays casino games like blackjack, roulette and slots on these apps. Apps like DraftKings strategically place a button in the bottom right corner of its mobile phone interface that will lead users directly to a blackjack game. This button stays on the screen even if the sportsbook is what is being used.

MSU senior Jack Blackledge turned 21 in June 2021, coinciding with the rise of online sports betting.

I will gamble a few times a week if I have some extra money, said Blackledge

The online casino snuck up on Blackledge too as he began his sports betting hobby. I would not have used the online casino if not for sports betting, he said.

Promotions are often offered by online sports betting services to entice new users. Michigan State senior Allie Sawyer took advantage of these promotions.

I recently downloaded the Barstool Sportsbook app right before the Peach Bowl because of a promo they had for being a first time depositor, she said.

Online betting is much easier for people who have free time and extra money. College aged adults who were financially stable during the heights of the pandemic and online classes were just the group of people who fit this description.

Adkins said online classes and favorable options in terms of a satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading scale allowed him to stay up and watch sporting events he had bet on that started later in the night.

Blackledge used money that he had made through unemployment benefits after being laid off to gamble when he had free time.

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Sports betting bringing more attention to NBA stat corrections – ESPN

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It was a fundamental, two-handed chest pass from Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine to DeMar DeRozan in the third quarter of a Feb. 9 game in Charlotte. Big bucks were at stake, and the NBA's most-invested fans were watching closely.

DeRozan caught the pass from LaVine on the move, took a dribble to get into the paint and hit a running jumper off one leg while drawing a foul. The bucket put the Bulls up 67-56 on the Hornets with 7:18 left in the third quarter. It appeared to be a textbook assist from LaVine, but it wasn't scored that way.

Hundreds of statistical data points -- assists, rebounds, steals, blocks and more -- are recorded during an NBA game, many of them requiring interpretation in real time. These days, there's money riding on seemingly every one of them, including LaVine's chest pass to DeRozan.

LaVine was not credited with an assist on the play. Sportsbooks had offered the over/under on LaVine's assists for the game at 5.5. He finished with five assists.

Large online betting communities had teamed up on LaVine's over on assists, including it in long-shot parlays with big payouts. They thought a stat correction was warranted. The NBA did not.

Kenny McAndress, a 28-year-old bettor and social media personality in Philadelphia, looked back at the LaVine decision two weeks later and said, "That one just felt like it was so cut and dry. I have to rethink how I do my bet construction, because I want to avoid assists."

Frustrated bettors have taken to social media routinely to question how plays that impact their bets are scored. A lot of the time, there's disagreement over the interpretation on a close play, like whether a pass truly does "lead directly to a made basket" to qualify as an assist. A handful of complaints, however, have prompted the league to issue corrections. When that happens, some sportsbooks end up paying out on both sides of wagers: the side that was the winner by the initial ruling and then the other side after the box score is corrected.

"Our fans are obsessed with statistics," Scott Kaufman-Ross, a senior vice president for the NBA who oversees the betting space for the league, told ESPN. "We agree that it's critical that we get it right. We've felt this way for a long time, even before sports betting was legal. Of course, there is a brighter light being shined on some of our statistics given the rise of sports betting, but it's always been critical for us to get our stats right."

It's a conundrum with no definitive solution for the league, bookmakers or bettors. Human error is inevitable. Ultimately, most stakeholders realize that stat-keeping mistakes are -- and always will be -- part of the game.

Stat corrections happen in every sport. The NFL, for example, releases weekly reports on stat changes. Recent corrections made by the NBA have received more attention, though.

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The NBA refutes any notion that there has been an uptick of stat corrections. According to Elias Sports Bureau, the league's official statistician, the NBA has issued far fewer stat corrections over the past three seasons than in prior seasons. Neither the NBA nor ESB provided the percentage of games that receive corrections, but both entities -- and multiple sportsbooks -- characterized them as "rare," especially considering that millions of data points are inputted throughout the season.

In the final week of January, however, the NBA issued multiple corrections. At least two of them were preceded by an outcry from bettors on Twitter and in media coverage, including from ESPN. An assist erroneously credited to Chris Paul was given to Mikal Bridges a day after a Utah Jazz-Phoenix Suns game on Jan. 24, and, three days later, the NBA awarded a steal to Minnesota Timberwolves forward Anthony Edwards that he initially wasn't credited with during a game against the Golden State Warriors. Bettors brought attention to both.

"There is no rash of corrections in terms of volume," Kaufman-Ross said in a February phone interview. "I think people are paying attention to it more."

Indeed, they are. In a way, the increased fan engagement the NBA predicted when pivoting its position on sports betting is now evident when bettors are pointing out the league's mistakes. No one expects them to stop, but more transparency and communication from the league is needed, bettors say.

"I don't know where this goes, if policy doesn't change, because, right now, there's nothing that forces them to do anything," McAndress said.

Basketball is a difficult sport to score live. The action is fast-paced with fewer and shorter breaks than baseball or football. Upward of six people make up the stat-collection teams that are assigned to each NBA game. Four are on-site: a primary and secondary caller, and a primary and secondary inputter provided by the home team. At least one NBA employee from the league's New Jersey office is assigned to each game and is connected directly to the secondary caller on site via a headset. They all have access to video replay from approximately a dozen different angles and the ability to communicate with each other about judgment calls. Still, even with all the technology, mistakes happen, and they cost bettors and bookmakers money.

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For decades, the standard house rule for sportsbooks in Las Vegas has been not to recognize stat corrections. Wagers are traditionally graded on the stats initially released. But newer bookmaking companies, like FanDuel and DraftKings, have taken a new approach to corrections, even if it costs them.

"There are probably a handful [of stat corrections] a year that are higher-profile that maybe people notice," Karol Corcoran, general manager of FanDuel's online sportsbook, said. "We appreciate that it's difficult for our stat providers to get everything right 100 percent of the time."

FanDuel's rule on stat corrections is centered on the official box score distributed by the NBA and is written generally enough to allow for changes. The sportsbook ended up paying out on both sides of recent bets impacted by stats corrections.

"What we're trying to do is ensure that the experience our customers are having is not negatively impacted by some of these mistakes," Corcoran said. "It's -- excuse my language -- kind of a s----ty experience when you lose a bet just because of a mistake. Sometimes it's blatantly obvious that you have the mistake; other times it is discretion, so we try, where it's feasible, to kind of make it up to the customers."

McAndress, a young Philly sports bettor and media personality, has more than 3,500 members on his Discord server, Moonshot HQ. On Feb. 9, he recommended a five-leg parlay featuring LaVine to get more than 5.5 assists against the Hornets to the community.

Moonshot HQ buzzed after LaVine's pass to DeRozan in the third quarter. Username alopbanana was among the first to notice that LaVine had not been awarded an assist, posting, "bro wtf."

21EnerG weighed in next: "They robbed Lavine of an assist on the and one."

"That's 100% an assist," added simm.

Guy summed up his feeling with, "They hate us."

The chatter gravitated to twitter with scorned bettors posting videos of the play and tagging the @nbastats account.

Here is a video of the LaVine-to-DeRozan play:

Here is a video of an example of an assist on the NBA's website.

Both plays look similar, but the NBA did not issue a correction.

In an email response to a fan questioning why an assist wasn't awarded to LaVine, an NBA representative wrote, "Thank you for contacting us about a play in the Feb. 9 Bulls-Hornets game. Please know that assists are credited at the discretion of the arena's in-game statisticians. Additionally, please note that the NBA Operations team does not credit or remove assists postgame; only assists credited to the wrong player are updated."

McAndress says inquiries to questionable scoring decisions often go unaddressed by the NBA, which fuels the betting community's frustration.

"Other than someone like us, if we lose a bet on a particular example, other than us finding it and going to fight about it, who else is complaining about a missed rebound or a missed assist?" McAndress said. "I'm sure that this is something that's probably happened naturally for as long as they've been keeping stats."

The NBA says it is always looking for ways to improve its process, but there were no changes planned for stat collection at this point.

"Unlike some other sports, where you have a play then 30 seconds between pitches or 40 seconds per play, our game is happening in real time -- a steal, a block, an assist, a 3, a turnover ... all that stuff is happening at a really fast pace. It is challenging to do," Chris Berrisford, director of basketball operations for the NBA, told ESPN. "We have a lot of statistics, and they're happening quickly. I think given how many stats we have and the pace of our game, I think we should feel pretty good about it's rare, but it will happen."

And when the stat-keeping mistakes happen, it's a good bet that gamblers will be the ones to spot them first.

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Cavs partner with Caesars Sportsbook as team prepares for sports betting launch in Ohio – News 5 Cleveland

Posted: at 11:10 am

CLEVELAND As sports betting in Ohio draws nearer, the Cleveland Cavaliers have begun making preparations for the official launch in the state, partnering with Caesars Sportsbook that will soon see a retail sportsbook built inside of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Caesars Sportsbook has been named the "Official Sports Betting Partner" of the Cavs, while Caesars Entertainment has been named the"Official Casino Partner" of the team.

The partnership is a multi-year deal that will allow fans to access betting windows for cash wagering at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse while accessing points and experiences for Caesars Rewards members.

Construction on the 10,355-square-foot venue will begin soon, the team said.

While renderings of the design are not yet available, the plans for the venue include a full-service bar and VIP lounge, a wide-ranging food menu, and wall-to-wall TVs for viewing games while placing wagers.

Costs of the project will be footed entirely by Caesars Entertainment and the Cavs.

Caesars Sportsbook, once completed, will be located inside Rocket Morgage FieldHouse on the street level in the northwest atrium, near the Huron Road and Ontario Street intersection. It will be open year-round on both event days and non-event days. Fans will not need tickets to an event to place wagers at Caesars Sportsbook inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

The new betting site is expected to be open by the end of the year but will be subject to regulatory and other approvals.

Additionally, when mobile sports betting is launched in Ohio, fans will be able to download the Caesars Sportsbook app and will then be able to make a bet through their platform from anywhere in the state.

Legal sports betting will be launched across the state after Gov. Mike DeWine signed a sports betting bill into law in December of 2021. Legalized betting is expected to begin by Jan. 1, 2023, with hopes it will begin even sooner than that deadline.

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Claim the 4 Best New York Sports Betting Promo Codes – Sports Betting Dime

Posted: at 11:10 am

This week is full of New York sports betting promo codes from all of the top sportsbooks in the nation. With New York teams in action across the NHL, NBA, and MLS, bettors in the Empire State have plenty of options for how to use these bonuses and odds boosts this weekend.

Each of the New York Rangers and Islanders in the NHL, New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets in the NBA, and New York Red Bulls and New York City FC in MLS will play over the next few days. Use these great New York sports betting promo codes for these games or others to get a huge bankroll boost.

Click one of the links below to sign-up and claim your bonus from Caesars Sportsbook, BetMGM, FanDuel Sportsbook, and DraftKings Sportsbook.

Your ticket to a massive $1,500 deposit match is at Caesars Sportsbook New York this week.

All you need to do is deposit $50 or more as your first deposit and youll get a deposit match of up to $1,500 with the Caesars Sportsbook promo code SBDIMECZR.

One of the best BetMGM promotions this week is their bet $10 to win $200 promo in the NBA.

This BetMGM promo allows you to grab 20-1 odds on any team to hit a three-pointer. Simply bet your team to win on the moneyline and if they sink at least one three-pointer, you win, even if the team loses. With a $10 max bet, thats 20-1 odds with this BetMGM promo.

The top teams in the NBA by threes-made-per-game are Utah, Golden State, Minnesota, Milwaukee and Charlotte.

This FanDuel promo code will unlock a sweet $1,000 risk-free bet for new customers this week!

Sign-up at FanDuel New York and if your first wager loses, youll be refunded up to $1,000. This is a great opportunity to swing for the fences with a big underdog this weekend.

One of the top New York sports betting promo codes is the DraftKings Sportsbook promotion where you can get 150-1 odds on any NHL or NBA team to win.

It doesnt get much easier than that. Just pick any team on the ice or the court the rest of the week and with a max bet of $1, if that team wins the game, youll cash in with 150-1 odds. That turns a $1 bet into a huge $150 pay day!

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Ryan is SBD's resident soccer pro, though his repertoire is by no means limited to a single sport. His articles have been published by the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), Ontario Hockey League (OHL), and the Kitchener Rangers, and outlets like SportsXpress and Shredthespread.com

NFL NBA NHL Soccer Tennis

Ryan is SBD's resident soccer pro, though his repertoire is by no means limited to a single sport. His articles have been published by the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), Ontario Hockey League (OHL), and the Kitchener Rangers, and outlets like SportsXpress and Shredthespread.com

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Oliver Luck, Andrew Zimbalist Clash Over Impact Of Sports Betting In College Athletics – US Bets

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Is this the end of college sports as we know it? Will we feel fine?

Yes and (mostly) no, according to the panelists assembled for a Thursday afternoon webinar dubbed The Disintegration of the NCAA: The Price of Rejecting National Governance. The discussion, presented by the Drake Group, revolved around the NCAAs recent decision to delegate rule-making authority to its three divisions, which some predict could lead to further segmentation in Division I sports.

Instead of the NCAA being a traffic cop, the NCAA walked away from the intersection, Name-Image-Likeness attorney and former University of Texas swimmer Julie Sommer said during Thursdays discussion.

The trail that led to Januarys decision by the NCAA started blazing with a June 2021 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that lifted the cap on the amount of benefits student-athletes could receive, essentially rendering moot the NCAAs definition of amateurism. This has led to lucrative NIL deals for some student-athletes, as well as lawsuits seeking to have them reclassified as employees.

The respected Smith College economics professor Andrew Zimbalist raised the issue of NIL deals on Thursday, saying various athletic departments could see decreasing revenue, as sponsorship payments are diverted from athletic departments to players.

He added that this new financial environment will create stronger pressures for athletic departments to align more closely with revenue opportunities from sports betting, such as signing up with sportsbooks, the way pro teams are doing, and opening betting parlors in their facilities.

Im scared to dickens at whats going to happen, Zimbalist continued. Its one thing when you introduce betting at the professional sports level. Theyre well-compensated and pretty immune to taking bribes. College athletes are not very well-compensated, with a few exceptions. Theyre targets, and the referees are targets, too. Theres a very slippery slope that this could all go down, and Im not sure how its going to be regulated.

Oliver Luck, the former NFL quarterback whos since held posts such as XFL commissioner and West Virginia University athletic director (his son, Andrew, was also a pretty good QB), took exception with Zimbalists forecast, saying, There have been bookies for the past 50, 60 years taking bets on college games all across the country. One of the arguments [for legalization] is to bring sports gambling out of the shadows, use AI and all the data to determine if theres a game thats being thrown. Its happened in the past in college rarely.

Is there a way to keep student-athletes out of harms way? I dont know the answer, but I do know that sports gambling has been happening for decades.

Underlying Zimbalists rationale is what he and others call the arms race in college sports one that could very well intensify if higher-profile schools elect to splinter off from the rest of Division I.

There will be a group of 20 to 30 schools at the top that break off, Zimbalist predicted. And as they break off, they will have to deal with different lawsuits that seek to declare athletes employees. And once they do that, the schools will have to pay Social Security, unemployment compensation. The athletes themselves will have to pay income taxes. There are going to be a lot of other changes.

One of these changes, Luck proffered, is the College Football Playoff, which is an LLC unrelated to the NCAA, may decide its going to run the regular season.

Taking the perspective of institutions that arent in an arms race, Jasmine Ellis, an associate athletic director at the University of Akron who previously held a similar position at Central State University, called the NCAA a warped system when it comes to redistribution of wealth and funding, but feared that the organizations diminished stature could have perilous effects for smaller D1 schools.

Those are the institutions that come to mind when it comes to these huge shifts in governance, she cautioned. Things like ripple effects, conference realignment it seems that these changes are happening by the minute. Even the footprint of a conference can impact things like missed class, student well-being. For an NAIA school transitioning to Division I, what does that conversation look like? We must create a true access point for these colleges.

While some panelists feared that divisional fractures could lead to swimming and track-and-field becoming club sports, Luck, who generally took the most optimistic tack throughout the conversation, said, At least theoretically, I think that NIL should keep a lot of potential Olympians on collegiate campuses.

And while Luck acknowledged that theres currently an unprecedented level of disruption and uncertainty in NCAA athletics, he added, I think college athletics has incredibly strong roots and huge equity across the country. Parents are tripping all over themselves to get college scholarships to play sport A, B, and C. That wont change. People are competitive in this country.

Photo: Kirby Lee/USA TODAY

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When we talk about Penn swimmer Lia Thomas, were listening to the wrong voices | Opinion – The Philadelphia Inquirer

Posted: at 11:09 am

Lia Thomas, a 22-year-old senior on the Penn womens swim team, holds the fastest swim times in the country among NCAA women in two freestyle events. She also happens to be a trans woman. Last weekend at the Ivy League Championships, Thomas won three titles. Her success has put her in the center of a national debate on trans womens right to play sports.

As a nonbinary trans person myself, and a former swimmer, I cant help but notice that only a few voices are weighing in on this topic. Few have anything original to say.

Olympic champion Michael Phelps said on CNN that the issue is very complicated. Caitlyn Jenner, a trans woman and Olympic gold decathlon champion, said on Fox News that we need to protect womens sports and that Thomas participation is not good for the trans community. Jordan Peterson, a former professor of psychology, likened trans lives to satanic ritual abuse and a sign of the end of civilization in a conversation with former MMA fighter Joe Rogan on his podcast.

Michael Phelps, Caitlyn Jenner, and Jordan Peterson are being asked to weigh in on an issue that they havent worked on in any substantial way. Phelps hasnt committed his life to trans activism and civil rights. When I listen to Jenner, I cant help but feel that even though she is trans, she is isolated. She doesnt have much other than the spotlight, and under that glare, she repeats what other people say. Peterson has never published peer-reviewed work on gender, bodies, or anything of relevance to the topic of trans women in sports.

The exclusion of substantive voices and a lack of understanding about the topic of trans life has consequences. This month, state legislatures in Kentucky, Indiana, and Iowa passed bills that limit trans women and girls from participating in sports. Alabama lawmakers also passed a bill banning transgender students from using school bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity.

Many people dont realize that the real impact of these anti-trans bills will be a spike in depression and a risk of suicide for trans kids fueled by rejection, marginalization, and hate. We owe it to trans kids to do better.

My recommendation is that those having conversations about trans people whether at home, in the news, on the deck of a swimming pool, or in a state legislature consult experts with a known track record in what they are talking about. There are many fantastic voices to choose from.

Veronica Ivy has done a stellar job addressing inexpert arguments about unfair advantages in sports. Historian Julian Gill-Petersons 2018 book Histories of the Transgender Child addresses the medicalization and racialization of childrens bodies. Anne Fausto-Sterling has a long record of publishing peer-reviewed papers on the topics of sex, gender, development, and biology. Reubs Walsh has committed her academic career to investigating the links between neurodiversity, transness, and mental health. Sari van Anders researches sex and gender as it relates to the study of hormones and culture. Their work is all too often ignored or overlooked.

We need to invite real experts into any conversation or policymaking discussion that impacts trans people.

The true conversation has nothing to do with testosterone or science, and everything to do with fear specifically, peoples fear about their own gender identity and fear of people who dont have a gender identity thats easy to read.

Maybe, someday, well all be able to swim together.

Mal Pool is a trans nonbinary founder of a collective that mediates nonviolent conflict and discrimination at music events in Berlin and a former swimmer from Indiana.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, The Trevor Project at 866-488-7386, Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860, or text TALK to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.

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Kansas hires former Akron interim head coach Oscar Rodriguez Jr. as analyst | Boyer on the Beat – KUsports

Posted: at 11:09 am

Kansas coach Lance Leipold reacts during the first half of the team's NCAA college football game against TCU on Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021, in Fort Worth, Texas. TCU won 31-28. (AP Photo/Ron Jenkins)

The Kansas football team has hired Oscar Rodriguez Jr., a Kansas native who finished last season as Akron's interim head coach, as a defensive analyst.

Rodriguez will work with the defensive backs, though as an analyst, he is not allowed to coach players on the field. Jordan Peterson has been the Jayhawks' defensive backs coach the last two seasons.

His roots in Kansas are deep. Born and raised in Liberal, Rodriguez played safety at Emporia State in 2001, transferred to Coffeyville Community College in 2002 and then played two seasons at Fort Hays State. He then began coaching, first at a high school in Texas, and earned a master's in educational administration in 2008 from Washburn, where he was the defensive backs coach. He then coached at Baker, Hutchinson Community College, Emporia State and Garden City Community College and served as the defensive coordinator at each school.

Rodriguez then left Kansas before the 2015 season and spent three seasons at La Verne, a Division III university in California, where in 2017 he was named the Division III National Assistant Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches' Association. He then became the assistant head coach and inside linebackers coach at Chattanooga in 2018 and moved to Akron the following season, when he was the safeties coach before coaching the inside linebackers beginning in 2020.

Akron coach Tom Arth was fired in November after nine games and Rodriguez was named the interim coach for the final three. The Zips lost all three, and new coach Joe Moorhead did not retain Rodriguez after he was hired on Dec. 4.

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Trudeau Announces He Will Retain Ring Of Power Indefinitely – The Babylon Bee

Posted: at 11:09 am

OTTAWAPrime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the House of Commons Tuesday to announce his intent to retain the Ring of Power.

The ring, which he obtained last monthon the field of battleat the base of Mt. Logan in the Yukon Province, was freed from itsmaster when Trudeau slew a halfling ring bearer and took it from him.

"This ring... this precious ring... it is a gift," said Trudeau before the House of Commons."We can wield its power against the forces of white supremacy and transphobia!"

According to sources, Trudeau had a chance to destroy the ring when former Canadian intellectual Jordan Petersonimplored him to cast it into the fires from which it was made.

But Trudeau, who has been using the ring to quell anti-vaccine protests, today said he would bear it indefinitely.

"This I will have as compensation for the microaggressions I experience every day. Was it not I that dealt the Enemy his death-blow?" he said in his address.

Members of the Canadian parliament were mystified given that there is no ongoing emergency but opted to support their leader to avoid being canceled.

This woman - er, wymxn? - was pulled over for driving alone in the carpool lane. But she's got a surefire way to get out of the ticket: her preferred pronoun is they!

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The problem with the populists "free thinkers" they are just lazy – Salon

Posted: at 11:09 am

There are few things so terrible that a white man can do that the media won't still find a way to romanticize him. Even Ted Bundy and David Koresh got the Hollywood treatment that portrays them as glamorous and sexy. In an environment where even murderous sexual predators get romanticized, I suppose it's no surprise that the standard-issue American dirtbag is getting a media glow-up, reframed as daring rebels because they stand up for the millennia-long tradition of letting men skate by with the bare minimum of effort. And yet, it's still annoying.

"Populist flamethrowers rock media," blares a headline at Axios. The text describes "Joe Rogan, Elon Musk, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy," as well as Substack writer Bari Weiss and comedian Dave Chappelle as people who "brand themselves 'free thinkers' untethered to political dogma." The piece goes on to quoteSaagar Enjeti, a supposedly "anti-establishment" YouTuber: "They explicitly say: 'Screw you.'... I would say that is the heart of a lot of their appeal." Weiss, in a particularly goofy bit of self-congratulation, describes herself as committed "Wrongthink," even though her newsletter is largely dedicated to conservative nostalgia for the days when one's dumbest prejudices could be expressed without discomfort.

RELATED:Why Joe Rogan's vaccine misinformation is so dangerous and dangerously appealing to his audience

Even in our bullshit-heavy era, this Axios article is truly off the charts. Repeated self-assertions of rebellion from these figures does not change the basic fact that they are, in reality, the opposite of freethinkers, rebels, or any of the other self-aggrandizing terms they may apply to themselves. On the contrary, the appeal of Rogan, Weiss, Musk, and others to their fanboy base is simple: They are selling validation to a lazy, incurious men who fear change.They are soothing figures, stroking the heads of their D student audiences, telling them that they are in the right to react to any intellectual challenge or threat of social change with a childish tantrum.My god, Weiss wants to start a fake university, so tender-minded conservatives can get an "education" without ever having to grapple with an uncomfortable idea. Not exactly a profile in courage, there.

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Sadly, it's not just Axios who insists on recasting whiny reactionaries are rebels, and the people they hate feminists, anti-racists, LGBTQ activists who are the real rebels advocating for real change as the "establishment." As the article notes, Atlantic writer Derek Thompson fell into the trap of labeling these figures the "DGAF Populists." Which....no. These folks very much do give a f*ck, especially when their unearned status or privilege is challenged, or they are asked to actually learn a thing or two about an issue before opining at length about it.

The laundry list of recent or ongoing controversies these folks kick up demonstrates how much a big ol' whiny f*ck they give if the "right" of crappy white men to impose their ignorance on others is challenged in any way. Musk, for instance, recently drew criticism when he tweeted a comparison of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Adolph Hitler, because of the measures Trudeau took to stop the far-right blockade of Ottawa. The blockaders were making life hell in the city, constantly honking horns and harassing residents, all in an effort to force their fringe, authoritarian views as well as to demand the "right" to spread COVID-19 by refusing vaccination on an unwilling public. By siding with the blockaders, Musk was siding with the view that a fanatical right-wing minority should be able to rule by fiat on everyone else not exactly the view of a DGAF person who believes in freedom and democracy and doing your own thing.

RELATED:Bari Weiss' field of right-wing dreams: Will the "University of Austin" ever actually exist?

With Chapelle, the situation is equally dark, as he's built his resurgent career on being an obsessive jerk about trans people, doing an entire Netflix special built around his outrage that anyone dare challenge his reactionary attitudes about the issue. The ensuing fallout led to a trans worker at Netflix getting fired for objecting to the anti-trans orthodoxy and Chappelle getting a bunch of new specials, where he and his snowflake-delicate new fans can wallow in their shared anger at having their hidebound ideas about gender and biology contested.

As for Rogan, the two biggest controversies of late involve behavior that would have read as outdated and reactionary a century ago, much less today. First, there's the racism.Rogan bizarrely ranted on a recent episode about someone "100% African from the darkest place where they're not wearing any clothes all day," which is a stereotype that even white people in the early 20th century clocked as over-the-top racism. He also was recently exposed as a frequent dropper of a certain racial slur, as well.

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Then there's the anti-science crap, which is so bizarrely reactionary that it's reminiscent of the medieval church's reaction to Galileo saying the Earth revolves around the sun. Rogan and his guest Jordan Peterson another whiny reactionary who largely focuses on throwing tantrums over challenges to patriarchal authorityand threatens to sue feminists who question him recently unleashed a bunch of complaints about the science of climate change that really would have felt comfy to a 16th century priest defending heliocentrism. And, of course, there's Rogan's ongoing campaign against the Covid-19 vaccination, which is rooted in a fear of scientific advancement that's so out of control that one would not be surprised to next hear him come out against germ theory.

There's, of course, a strong thread linking the priests who locked up Galileo, the 19th century doctors who rejected germ theory, and Rogan's weird paranoia about vaccine technology. All are rooted in a desire for the simplicity of patriarchal authority, where "truth" is whatever rich men in charge want it to be, and the mind is unbothered by troubling questions about evidence, research, and the discomfort of having to abandon prior assumptions in the face of new facts.

RELATED:Elon Musk's Tesla factory in California sued (again) as alleged racist work environment

Despite the surface claims to be somehow non-partisan, the actual arguments of the Rogan/Weiss/Peterson world are, in actuality, no different than what's coming out of the openly right-wing world of Fox News. Just Tuesday, Tucker Carlson was making a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin a man who literally has journalists murdered on, uh, "free speech" grounds.

Carlson's desires aren't mysterious. He wants a world where one can be racist without being confronted or challenged, where white nationalist and misogynist ideas aren't questioned. And he sides with dictators who will literally use violence to silence dissent. But when knee-jerk reactionaries are recast as "rebels" and fear of robust discourse is rewritten as "free speech," is it any wonder that Carlson feels he can get away with this kind of doublespeak that paint his censorious, authoritarian urges as "freedom"?

But there's also just old-fashioned laziness and entitlement. Thinking is hard. Learning is even harder. Dealing with new ideas from the socially constructed nature of gender to the scientific theory of mRNA vaccines requires work. A lot of that work can be genuinely uncomfortable, especially if it also requires confronting your own prejudices. Picking up a feminist text or reading the history of how the vaccine was developed means giving your brain lots of exercise, some which can be disagreeable as previous assumptions get questioned and cognitive dissonance is suffered. Easier to tune into Rogan's show or read Weiss's newsletter, wrapping one's self in the comfy blanket of never having to the mental work of contending with novel ideas.

Axios marvels at how much money these faux-populists make peddling intellectual lethargy to their audiences, but they shouldn't be. Pandering to laziness has always been profitable in a capitalist society. It's not a surprise that so many of these folks also market supplements or fad diets, such as Peterson's "meat only" nonsense. Such products rely on the wish to have a fit body without the bother of exercise and a balanced diet. Rogan, Weiss, and others are playing the same game, but for the mind: Selling the fantasy that one can be an "intellectual" and a "freethinker" without ever doing much in the way of actual thinking. It's opportunistic and exploitative, but certainly not romantic. Dull people pouting because others find them tedious is nothing new, and it certainly isn't any form of intellectual rebellion.

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The problem with the populists "free thinkers" they are just lazy - Salon

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Religion events in the San Fernando Valley area, Feb. 26-March 5 – LA Daily News

Posted: at 11:09 am

Ash Wednesday observance on March 2 at North Hollywood First United Methodist Church on Tujunga Avenue. (Google Street View)

Here is a sampling of religion events in the San Fernando Valley area.

Final Sunday in Epiphany at Prince of Peace Episcopal Church: In-person services at 8 and 10 a.m. (10 a.m. service is live stream; click on the link from the website). 5700 Rudnick Ave., Woodland Hills. 818-346-6968. http://www.popwh.org. http://www.facebook.com/POPWH. Details on this Sundays services: http://www.popwh.org/happenings.html

Respect Honor Above All: The Rev. Rob Denton delivers the message, part of a sermon series Character Still Counts, at the 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. services. The 10:30 a.m. service is live stream on the website. West Valley Christian Church, 22450 Sherman Way, West Hills. 818-884-6480. http://www.facebook.com/westvalley.christianchurch; http://www.wvcch.org

Joshua Lay It on the Line: Pastor Jim Sillerud explains the message, based on Joshua 24:14-18, at the 9 and 11 a.m. Sunday services. Watch the service on YouTube from the website link. Read more about the church in the February The Spire newsletter here: bit.ly/3L8uATK. First Presbyterian Church of Granada Hills, 10400 Zelzah Ave., Northridge. 818-360-1831. http://www.fpcgh.org

What Are You Thinking? Transfiguration Sunday: Pastor Timothy Jenks delivers the message, based on Hebrews 3:1-6, at 9:30 a.m. Masks required. Sermons also available to watch on the churchs Facebook and website. Canoga Park Lutheran Church, 7357 Jordan Ave. 818-348-5714. http://www.facebook.com/canoga.park.lutheran.church; http://www.cplchurch.org

Transfiguration Sunday with St. Luke Lutheran Church: Lay leader David Primuth delivers the message online, 9:30 a.m. Readings: Exodus 34:29-35; Psalm 99; 2 Corinthians 3:12 to 4:2; Luke 9:28-36 and 37-43a.Click on the YouTube link on the website to watch the service or follow the Facebook directions for watching on Zoom. The church is located at 5312 Comercio Way, Woodland Hills. 818-346-3070. http://www.stlukelutheran.com; details on the service and the bulletin to download, bit.ly/3HkuW6N

Do You Want to Be Well?: The Rev. Joseph Choi explains the message, based on John 5:1-9, at 10 a.m. (in English) and at 11:30 a.m. (in Korean). Also, service are available to watch online here: youtube.com/numcvideo. The churchs February newsletter: bit.ly/3olx7QJ. Northridge United Methodist Church, 9650 Reseda Blvd. 818-886-1555. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/northridgeumc. http://www.northridgeumc.org

Turning Christians into Followers of Jesus: The Rev. Bill Freeman discusses the topic online at 10 a.m. Find the Zoom link on the website. 616-796-5598. church-ish.org

Sunday at Woodland Hills Community Church (United Church of Christ): The Rev. Craig Peterson delivers the message in-person, 10 a.m. Also, watch live on the churchs Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/whccucc or on Zoom (see the recent announcements page for the Zoom information). Recent announcements: bit.ly/31AhfP1. Location, 21338 Dumetz Road, Woodland Hills. Voice mail, 818-346-0820. Email: whccucc@gmail.com. http://www.woodlandhillscommunitychurch.org

Between Realities Transfiguration Sunday: The Rev. Steve Peralta delivers the message, based on Luke 9:28-36, at 10:30 a.m. First United Methodist Church, 4832 Tujunga Ave., North Hollywood. 818-763-8231. http://www.facebook.com/nohofumc1

Liberation of Spirit Power to Change the Things We Can: Sabbatical Minister Joshua Berg delivers the message, 10:30 a.m. Make a reservation to attend in person from the link here: bit.ly/3BOBgCh. Options to watch the service on Zoom at live.emersonuuc.org or listen by phone, 669-900-6833 and use ID: 8581092800 and Password: chalice. Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church, 7304 Jordan Ave., Canoga Park. Voice mail, 818-887-6101. emersonuuc.org; details on this service: bit.ly/3BOBgCh

Living the Story: The Rev. Stephen Rambo explains the message, 10:30 a.m. Watch on Facebook by using the link here: bit.ly/3Ij7iJ3. Center for Spiritual Living-Simi Valley, 1756 Erringer Road. 805-527-0870. http://www.facebook.com/cslsimi; http://www.cslsimi.org

Love Responds to Me: The Rev. Michael McMorrow delivers the message, 10:30 a.m. during an online-only service. The centers February theme is The Power of Love. Click on the link to watch a service here: http://www.youtube.com/user/CSLGranadaHills. In addition, the Rev. Michael McMorrow often gives a Mid-Day Reset, around noon Monday-Friday on the centers Facebook (www.facebook.com/csl.granadahills). Center for Spiritual Living-Granada Hills, 17622 Chatsworth St., Granada Hills. 818-363-8136. Check the centers Facebook page for updates. Details on this weeks online service: conta.cc/35lglL4

The Shining: The Rev. Beth Bingham, PhD, explains the message, based on Luke 9:28-36, at the 10:30 a.m. service. Bingham or the Rev. Curtis Peek give a devotional and prayer, 10 a.m. Monday-Friday on the churchs Facebook page. Congregational Church of the Chimes, 14115 Magnolia Blvd., Sherman Oaks. 818-789-7124. Email: office@churchofthechimes.org. http://www.facebook.com/ChurchofChimes; churchofthechimes.org

Sunday at St. James Presbyterian Church: The Rev. Erik Daily, PhD, delivers the message, 10:30 a.m. 19414 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana. 818-345-2057. http://www.stjamespres.org; http://www.facebook.com/stjamesprestarzana/

Ash Wednesday at North Hollywood First United Methodist Church: Imposition of Ashes, 7-9 a.m. (Boyer Chapel) and a service, 7 p.m. (in the sanctuary) Details on Ash Wednesday, and also a Lenten Study beginning 7 p.m. March 3: conta.cc/35rXQoo. 4832 Tujunga Ave., North Hollywood. 818-763-8231. http://www.facebook.com/nohofumc1

Ash Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church of Granada Hills: Imposition of Ashes, 7:45-9 a.m. and 11:45 a.m-1 p.m., and also at the end of the 7 p.m. service. 10400 Zelzah Ave., Northridge. 818-360-1831. http://www.fpcgh.org

Ash Wednesday at Prince of Peace Episcopal Church: Holy Eucharist and Imposition of Ashes, 8 a.m. and noon (in the chapel) and 7 p.m. (in the sanctuary and also live stream). 5700 Rudnick Ave., Woodland Hills. 818-346-6968. Email: office@popwh.org. http://www.popwh.org. Details on these services and Lent observances: http://www.popwh.org/happenings.html

Ash Wednesday Online: Hear the message from Congregational Church of the Chimes, 10 a.m. on the congregations Facebook page (have Communion elements ready to use at 10 a.m. or whenever youre able to watch the brief service). 818-789-7124. Email: office@churchofthechimes.org. http://www.facebook.com/ChurchofChimes; churchofthechimes.org

Ash Wednesday at St. Luke Lutheran Church: Pastor Brian Hiortdahl, from Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, leads the service, noon. 5312 Comercio Way, Woodland Hills. 818-346-3070. http://www.stlukelutheran.com; details on the service, bit.ly/3HkuW6N

Ash Wednesday at Canoga Park Lutheran Church: Pastor Timothy Jenks delivers the message Witnesses John the Baptist, based on John 1:29-34. The service is available to watch on the churchs Facebook and website. Lent services, 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays through April 6. The church is located at 7357 Jordan Ave. 818-348-5714. http://www.facebook.com/canoga.park.lutheran.church; http://www.cplchurch.org

Ash Wednesday at Woodland Hills Community Church (United Church of Christ): The Rev. Craig Peterson leads the service, 6:30 p.m. Also, watch live on the churchs Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/whccucc or on Zoom (see the recent announcements page for the Zoom information). Recent announcements: bit.ly/31AhfP1. Location, 21338 Dumetz Road, Woodland Hills. Voice mail, 818-346-0820. Email: whccucc@gmail.com. http://www.woodlandhillscommunitychurch.org

Ash Wednesday at Northridge United Methodist Church: A service with the Imposition of Ashes, 7 p.m. The service is also available to watch live stream on the congregations YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/c/NorthridgeUMC). 9650 Reseda Blvd. 818-886-1555. http://www.northridgeumc.org

Ash Wednesday at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church: Pastor Brian Hiortdahl leads the service, 7 p.m. Also available to watch live from the congregations Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sovlc. 23838 Kittridge St., West Hills. 818-348-8343. http://www.sovlc.org

Shabbat at Temple Judea: A service, 6:15 p.m. Must show proof of Covid-19 vaccination, valid ID and wear a mask to attend. Outdoors (if weather permits) at 5429 Lindley Ave., Tarzana. 818-758-3800. portal.templejudea.com/event/erev-shabbat-service-.html

Shabbat at Temple Beth Hillel: 7 p.m. Details on attending in-person or online here: bit.ly/3sghsVe. 12326 Riverside Drive, Valley Village. 818-763-9148. tbhla.org

Holy Spirit Retreat Center events: Lenten Silent Saturday, 9 a.m.-noon. An introduction to the centering prayer given at 8 a.m. (for those familiar with centering prayer, arrive by 8:45 a.m.). A donation/offering is appreciated for participation in this retreat. 4316 Lanai Road, Encino. 818-784-4515. Email: officemanager@hsrcenter.com. Details and about the events, click on One-Day Retreats, here: bit.ly/3oTrCJy. http://www.hsrcenter.com

Send information at least two weeks ahead. holly.andres@dailynews.com. 818-713-3708.

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Religion events in the San Fernando Valley area, Feb. 26-March 5 - LA Daily News

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