The Warren Commission Report issued in 1964 was doomed for failure before it got to work. The reported purpose of the investigation headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren was to reveal who was responsible for the assination of President John F. Kennedy. In fact, the purpose of the report was to confirm that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and the only three shots fired into the Lincoln that day came from the gun of the designated assassin.
Any discovery that refuted that theory was discarded in favor of landing on the preconceived premise of a single gunman acting alone. An episode of a Dick Wolf crime drama would discard this conclusion before the first commercial. The facts just didn’t support that Oswald acted alone or that only three shots, the number of shells found from where Oswald fired from a book depository building perch, were the only ones discharged.
Thus, to stick with their theory in light of conflicting evidence, the report submitted by the committee in 1964 not only discarded conflicting evidence but also created the concept of the magic bullet that bounced around in the open air Lincoln and left all the wounds the three-bullet premise couldn’t support. This contention would have been better written by Walt Disney than the Chief Justice of the United States because it was pure fantasy.
The Warren Commission Report had a preconceived mandate to prove what they wanted to prove, and the facts be damned.
Tonight’s football game is like that.
Before the teams even arrive at the stadium the opinion of most football followers is that the Buffalo Bills are going to beat the Detroit Lions tonight while they open their new stadium.
Case closed.
Now go find me evidence to support that claim.
Okay. Bills Quarterback Josh Allen is 42-9 in starts on his home field since 2020 and an even more impressive 29-5 over the past four seasons. The Bills are at home tonight and coming off an impressive victory on the road over the highly regarded Houston Texans.
Their opponent tonight, Detroit, narrowly won at home last Sunday when the suspect New Orleans Saints missed a game ending two-point conversion which allowed the Lions to escape their den with a 31-30 victory.
Oh yeah. The Bills beat a strong opponent on the road and the Lions barely slipped by the Saints at home. Give me the Bills.
Not so fast Earl.
There is more evidence to consider before confirming Buffalo the choice tonight.
Did the jump to Buffalo fail to take into consideration that when the point spread is factored into the equation and the Bills are favored by five points or more at home their record since 2020 dips from 42-9 to 28-22-1? Did the public backing the Bills consider that since Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell engineered his first winning season with Detroit in 2022 that his team is 5-4 straight-up and 6-3 against the point spread when getting five or more points on the road? Or that the Bills gaudy 30-6 mark at home over the past four seasons is shifted to a losing 17-18-1 when factoring in the point spread?
If we began the look at tonight’s NFL Week Two opener with the assumption that only one team has a chance of winning, we would land on the Bills. If we consider all the facts objectively, without bending to the prejudice going in, we see a contest a lot more competitive than most.
Enough to jump to the Lions side?
No.
But enough to stay off the Bills.