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" (Permanent Musical Accompaniment For The Last Post Of The Week From The Blog&amp;#039;s Second-Favorite Canadian) The whole Richie Incognito-Jonathan Martin atrocity down in Miami ought to be scaring Roger Goodell right down to the tassels on his loafers. Between League Of Denial and now this, the entire culture of football has been laid open on the embalmer&amp;#039;s table and the rot within made plain for all to see. Parents who are wondering whether their kid should play Pop Warner are seeing this. People who are wondering whether they should build a new stadium for the high school team are seeing this. Alumni who are wondering whether they should write the checks for the new training facilities are seeing this. And people who get gouged every year for their season tickets are seeing this. The complicity in dehumanization and savagery is getting a little too hard to ignore and the corporate oligarchs who support Goodell&amp;#039;s brand are going to be feeling the heat. And part of that rot is, frankly, what appears to be the utterly testosterone-maddened, completely insane defenses being constructed for Incognito by the Overcompensation Brigade, especially on sports-talk radio. Peter King is an old friend, but aligning his personal brand to this POS apologia that doesn&amp;#039;t even mention Incognito&amp;#039;s track record as a thug, or the racist and misogynistic threats he launched at Martin on social media, is a huge blow to his credibility and that of his site. As always, Dave Zirin&amp;#039;s been ahead of the pack on this story, and the Deadspinners have been very strong, both on their own and in their links, as was my Grantland colleague, Bryan Phillips (&amp;quot;Alpha-pussies&amp;quot;? Damn you, Phillips!). And Jason Whitlock fired up the Enola Gay. And, while this is surely a minor consideration given the issues involved, judging from the performance on the field, all of this manly-man, boys-will-be-boys, suck-it-up-crybaby barbarism has resulted in a very mediocre professional football team. A lot of how Bill Belichick runs his operation in New England drives me straight up the wall, and I do not believe for a moment that the Patriots are run according to the Rule Of St. Benedict (c.f. Hernandez, Aaron), but this kind of outright sadism just doesn&amp;#039;t happen up here. It would be a distraction, and those are not allowed. You may not have noticed but the Great Climate Change Hoax landed on the Philippines in a big way. &amp;quot;Most of the fatalities sustained massive injuries in the head and upper part of the body, indicative that strong waves dashed them against hard objects,&amp;quot; it reported, adding that nine of the dead were minors. Experts predicted the casualty toll would soar once aid workers get to the hardest-hit areas, many of which were totally isolated -- no phone service, no electricity. About 125,000 people took refuge in evacuation centers, and hundreds of flights were canceled. With sustained winds of 315 kph (195 mph) and gusts as strong as 380 kph (235 mph), Haiyan may be the strongest tropical cyclone to hit land anywhere in recorded history. It will take further analysis after the storm passes to establish whether it is a record. The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scaledescribes winds of 252 kph (157 mph) or higher as capable of causing catastrophic damage. &amp;quot;A high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.&amp;quot; In other news, Al Gore remains fat. What the hell? Suddenly, the human body is like the Amazon, where there are things in it that we&amp;#039;re only now discovering? When do we find the part that enables us to fly? A new ligament in the knee? Wonderful. Something else the NFL can rupture. The American Masters episode on Jimi Hendrix is quite good, and that it makes the case convincingly that, not only was he the most talented guitar player in the history of rock music, but an extraordinarily shy, sweet person as well. I look forward to hearing the great Mike Finnigan&amp;#039;s take on the whole business. (Mike, who used to do the Blog Round-up at Crooks and Liars, is a monster keyboardist who was part of the Electric Ladyland sessions, which is a credit for which a lot of musicians would sell their grannies into the coal mines. I met Mike through my friendship with the late, great George Kimball.) There are very few careers that really deserve to be called &amp;quot;meteoric,&amp;quot; but this was one of them, and I&amp;#039;ve never forgotten Tony Glover&amp;#039;s observation that &amp;quot;Jimi played Delta blues for sure, except that the Delta was on Mars.&amp;quot; Extraordinary. And absolutely, gloriously, inexplicably himself alone. Any of y&amp;#039;all who actually saw the man, damn your evil souls, feel free to chip in reminiscences in the comments. Have a good weekend. Be well and play nice, ya bastids, or I&amp;#039;m coming over to your house to make an island. Might even raise a little sand. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a19781/out-on-the-weekend-110813/>