KarateKen

Excellent news!!

Social media reports that the Chicago Bears will be renamed Indiana Bears were put to rest. ESPN reported that even if the Bears do move to Indiana, they will remain the Chicago Bears, just as the New York Jets/Giants play in New Jersey but are still called New York. The possibility remains that the Bears could relocate to Hammond, Indiana, a city right on the Indiana/Illinois border, about 25 miles south of downtown Chicago. While the reports are that things are "moving forward" with the city of Hammond to find a stadium location for the Bears, things are still in the early stages. On top of everything else the league owners have to vote on it. You can't just get up and move a team on a whim. For the vote to pass it would need at least 75% approval from the owners, or 24 YES votes. In other NFL news Roger Goodell has confirmed that he wants multiple NFL teams outside of the USA. The NFL has increased their number of international games to nine this year, one more than last year, and is looking to make it 10 games next season. "At some point there will be NFL teams outside the USA. I have no doubt this will happen," Goodell said in a recent interview. It appears this is still many years away, but there is no doubt that Goodell and the NFL want to expand and there is also talk of having the Super Bowl overseas (possibly London), but Goodell said he wants to see a team in that city first. The NFL puts money and profits about all else, so as long as they see more money in expanding that is what they will do. It might take a generation or two, but I think we will eventually see teams in Europe. South America, and Australia, as well as exposing their North American teams to Canada and Mexico. This will eventually lead to a worldwide NFL competition that will result in the Super Bowl being a world championship game that could be moved from one country to the next year after year. Personally, I miss the old days of the NFL. I was watching a game from 2012 last night and thought "this era of football was so much better." No gambling ads, fewer weekday games (which means more football on Sunday) a 16-game schedule which I thought was perfect, and it was much more about the game instead of the side show. I am sure the NFL will continue to set record profits year after year and use that to claim their product is better than ever, but to me the NFL peaked years ago and the golden era is gone. It won't be coming back.

It was for me. When I first started, I tied my belt wrong several times. Once sensei even looked at my belt at the start of class and said, "let's begin by making sure everyone is tying their belt correctly." We all took the belts off, even black belts, and had to retie it. I was just thinking "sorry, this is all my fault." I was embarrassed at the time but it's kind of funny now.

Congratulations on winning @P.A.L I do not think we have interacted before so nice to see you here.

At the risk of regretting this post come January, I am here today to post my 2026 NFL predictions. If I did not pick your team to do well, it is not personal, don't get mad, I am just guessing. Many of these will be wrong, so it doesn't really matter what my predictions are. The only time I ever had a preseason Super Bowl prediction come true was in the 2004 season when I had the Patriots over the Eagles. I am going to predict the final standings for each division, the wild card winners (they will have a * next to the team name) the AFC and NFC Championship games, and the Super Bowl. Here we go: AFC East 1. Patriots 2. Bills 3. Dolphins 4. Jets Note that either the Patriots or Bills have won the AFC East every year since 2009, Dolphins won in 2008 and Jets last won it in 2002. I think it will come down to the same two teams, with the second-place team missing the playoffs. Both teams will regress. Bills changed coaches which I think will set them back, also Patriots have had a lot of offseason drama with their coach, could be a distraction. Tough call on this one. North 1. Bengals 2. Ravens 3. Steelers 4. Browns Browns are the worst team in this division, but I think it is up for grabs with the other three. If Burrow can stay healthy, I like the Bengals. South 1. Texans 2. Jaguars* 3. Colts 4. Titans Texans and Jaguars both return to the playoffs, but swap standings position. West 1. Chargers 2. Chiefs* 3. Broncos* 4. Raiders Raiders are well behind the other three; Chiefs are tough to call but I think they get back into the playoffs. Broncos will regress but still get in. Chargers to take it. AFCCG: Chargers over Bengals NFC East 1. Cowboys 2. Eagles* 3. Commanders 4. Giants On paper Cowboys look to be the best team in this division, they picked up Von Miller and they have the talent. Let's see if they can execute it enough. North 1. Bears 2. Lions* 3. Packers 4. Vikings Bears I think will repeat as division champs Ben Johnson in year two. Lions will bounce back after missing the playoffs last year, Packers and Vikings are both solid, but someone has to finish third and fourth. South 1. Bucs 2. Saints 3. Falcons 4. Panthers Worst division in the NFL last year, Panthers won it with an 8-9 record. I don't see a clear favorite. No wild cards here. West 1. Rams 2. Seahawks* 3. 49ers 4. Cardinals NFCCG Rams over Bears Super Bowl LXI Rams over Chargers. The Super Bowl is in Los Angeles, and I will predict it will be the first time in NFL history two teams from the same city meet in the Super Bowl, and it will be in the home stadium of both teams. Rams will become the first team to win the SB in their home stadium twice, and Chargers will be the first team to lose the SB in their home stadium. Also note that for the past 36 seasons, at least four teams that missed the playoffs the previous season made it the next year. I have five that did not make it a year ago going: Lions, Cowboys, Bucs, Bengals, and Chiefs. They replace the Packers, 49ers, Panthers, Bills, and Steelers. Remember, it is just for fun.

Unfortunately, there is a long history of that type of behavior at NFL games, and the Raiders fans have historically been among the worst offenders. At least nobody got shot this time. There was a preseason game many years ago when they were back in Oakland and playing the Bay rival 49ers where multiple people were shot in the parking lot after the game. A few years ago, a Patriots fan was killed in a fight with a Dolphins fan in during a game in New England. Then there was the famous NY Giants snowball game in 1995 where fans were throwing snowballs at the visiting Chargers sideline, one hit the Chargers equipment manager in the head. That fan was later arrested and convicted of assault. At the old Eagles stadium there were so many arrests made that a jail was built into the stadium where over the course of a season hundreds of fans would be arrested and held there. I do not know if the new stadium has the jail, but the old Vet was notorious for rowdy behavior. There are too many examples to mention, but there are fights in stadiums all over the NFL. Many of them now end up on YouTube.

Atlanta Falcons defensive lineman James Pearce has been suspended 8 games for off the field conduct. Pearce was arrested and charged with three felonies including domestic violence and running from the police. He will be eligible to return week 9 when the Falcons face the Bengals. The Falcons are also without LB Jalon Walker, who tore his ACL during a training camp drill and will miss the entire season. Two of their top pass rushers out, so a tough week for the Falcons.

Detroit Lions backup QB Teddy Bridgewater has retired for a second time. The Lions quickly signed Josh Dobbs to back up Goff. Bridgewater was drafted by the Vikings in 2014 and made the rounds of the NFL over the years, playing for about a half dozen teams. This was his second time with the Lions. Bridgewater was with the Lions in 2023 when he retired the first time. He spent the 2024 season coaching high school football, then returned to the NFL in 2025. In 83 career games Bridgewater had 15,182 passing yards, 75 TD passes, 47interceptions, a completion percentage of 66.3, and a career passer rating of 90.3 He also ran for 848 yards, 11 touchdowns, and had 19 career fumbles, seven of which were recovered by the opponent.

CBS has placed Tony Romo on leave "until further notice." JJ Watt will be taking over the job until/if Romo returns to the network. If Romo were to be fired he could lose the rest of the money on his contract, over 70 million dollars, according to Yahoo sports. That is an expensive DUI. Romo is scheduled in court on September 21.

How about this heat?? Much of the USA has been under a heat dome for the last ten days or so, especially the midwest and southwest. Depending on where you are you might be seeing record or near record highs almost daily. It has been a hot and dry summer in the midwest, and in many desert aeras of California, Arizona, and Nevada, where summer is always extreme, there have been many hot days and little to no rain for months. The hot and try temp has lead to wildfire spreading and the smoke has been disrupting air travel on the east coast. It has been a hot and dry year for much of the country. I can't tell you anything you don't already know about the importance of staying safe and keeping hydrated, just hope everyone is doing those things. I have spent most of my summer inside, though we had some nice nights where I went for long walks. Staying hydrated with water, carbonated water, and sugar free flavored drinks like Cascade Ice. I like the lemonade flavor.

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was injured in a car accident recently. He suffered a concussion, broken nose, three broken ribs, a broken hand, and needed 40 stiches. Shanahan admitted fault, saying he was distracted while driving, admitting he had dropped his cell phone and was looking for it instead of being focused on the road. The other driver was a 21-year-old woman who suffered minor injuries. Her name and injuries have not been released. Shanahan has been an observer at practice and will return to his full coaching roles once he has recovered from the injuries. Lots of questions as to why it took so long for this story to be reported. The accident happened July 14, yet ESPN sat on the story for almost two weeks before reporting it. Now many questions are coming up about the integrity of ESPN and how they will cover the NFL. Earlier this year the NFL obtained 10% ownership in ESPN, and concerns about how that would impact the coverage immediately arose. Now we have a controversy about it. With public trust of the media being at an all-time low, anytime there is a story that doesn't feel right there will be an uproar among people saying it is a cover up, not true, or whatever. This situation is too long for me to write about here, I encourage you to look into it if interested, but I think there are valid reasons to be suspicious, including an early report that the other driver was a fault, which was later changed.

More than four months after his death, a public memorial was held for Norris at the Rio in Las Vegas on July 18. Why so long and why Las Vegas? Well, I guess Norris was an annual attendee of the event, which is an International Training Conference for World Championship of the United Fighting Arts Federation (UFAF). About 5,000 people attended the event. I am not familiar with this event or these organizations, but I guess Norris was involved. Also, Norris launched opened a Tang Soo Do school in Vegas back in the last 60s after the success of his schools in California, furthering his Vegas connection. Norris did not live in Vegas; he was born in Oklahoma and spent his adult life mostly living in California and later Texas. He died in Hawaii, but the family has not realized a cause of death.

He's probably wishing he had done that last week. Just as a fun fact it was a year ago today, I quit energy drinks, having my final one at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Yes, that is in Wisconsin. To date it is my only time at Lambeau. My first time at Lambeau and my last time having an energy drink both in the same moment.

Congratulations on 20 years on the staff, @bushido_man96 That shows a tremendous amount of dedication to the forums. Your input is appreciated and your loyally is incredible. You've made a major impact here and I know you will continue to do so.

Russell was an absolute bust and is definitely in the conversation. Might very well be the biggest bust in history. I believe he was a first overall selection as well. A bad pick like that can set the franchise back years. Maye the Raiders made a better selection with their #1 overall QB this season. It is not just quarterbacks who are busts, though they get most of the attention. Lawrence Phillips was a running back out of Nebraska who was selected in the top ten and was discussed as a possible #1 overall pick (it ended up being Keshawn Johnson) but Phillips dropped in part because of off the field issues. Phillips struggled on the field with inconsistent play and was out of the league after a few seasons. He was even worse off the field where he had a laundry list of legal problems including arrests for domestic violence and stealing a car. He died in prison ten years ago. Another Raiders bust was WR Henry Ruggs. Ruggs was a first round pick in 2020 who only played 20 games and had less than 1200 career receiving yards. In 2021 he was cut by the Raiders after he drove drunk and caused an accident that killed another driver in Las Vegas. Ruggs was convicted of felony manslaughter and is serving time in a Nevada prison. Vernon Gholston was a top ten (top six I think) pick by the Jets who was a highly ranked DE and LB from Ohio State. He was a massive bust who was out of the league after three seasons. He averaged less than one tackle a game for his career. In those years with the Jets, he recorded 0 sacks, 0 fumbles, 0 recovered fumbles, and 0 interceptions.