The Buscher

Yeah that’s right. Fanatics has deals with a bunch of the leagues now and they give the leagues equity in the company, leaving little incentive for them to make a quality product. The skeptic in me also wonders if the smaller names on the back is meant to open up more advertising space.

Damn, they came up with a better cast than mine

Not liking what I've seen out of the Spring Training uniforms. Seems to be a leaguewide thing. The logos and lettering look flat instead of stitched on, which is what you'd see in a knockoff jersey. Also the names on the back seem to be smaller and more scrunched together. Just looks very cheap. Hope it's just a spring thing and not a trial run of how the regular season uniforms will look.

Yeah I've definitely noticed it. It's kinda taking me out of things. When there's a casting change it's one thing. It still trips me up a bit when I hear Dr. Hibbert or Carl but I'm OK with it because they properly gave those roles to Black voice actors and that's worth hearing a long familiar voice go through a slight change. But now everybody's voice sounds different and it does seem like a pretty predictable outcome given the mileage on their voices and the age of some of the cast. I never agreed with people who for years have yelled for the show to go off the air because "the best years were long ago" but what I did fear was that it would stay on to the point where the vocal changes got a bit jarring. Julie Kavner sounds like she's in pain doing the Marge voice, it makes me sad.

I could see that. For whatever it's worth, Scott Hanson has said that he thinks 5-6 games is an ideal RedZone window. He knows people love the idea of the Octobox or even 9-10 games but 5-6 games still gives you a lot to flip to without it being too overwhelming for the producers, plus they're less likely to just totally ignore a game like they are when there are a lot on at once.

Yeah they'd have to re-configure the network agreements I'd guess. NBC has a lot of power with being able to pull any game except for one of FOX and CBS' protections but now you've got Monday night flexing and Amazon in there too and I'm sure it all just really comes down to who is willing to pay the most for better bumping rights. Maybe in a 20-week schedule you give each of the 5 networks (Fox, CBS, NBC, ESPN, Amazon) 4 weeks where they get a guaranteed locked in pick for games. 4 weeks where they get the #2 choice, etc. The NFC on FOX/AFC on CBS thing quietly got shunted to the side a few years ago so maybe it'll be a free for all. Of course, knowing the NFL they'd put execs from all 5 networks in a room and make the game selection its own special broadcast on the NFL Network.

40 Years of WrestleMania showcase mode is 21 matches in length which feels lazy at a glance but isn't too hard to explain away considering they did basically this same showcase 10 years ago so they'd be having you replay the same matches with the same cinematics. There's definitely a few token repeats for the more "iconic" stuff but from the looks of things heavy emphasis was put on Mania matches from the last 10 years. Unsurprisingly no Lesnar shown, he'd presumably be in a few of the 21 matches unless the 21 matches is a lower number than planned if he got scrapped. Stuff like Eddie/Angle is in too which they couldn't do a decade ago.

There's a belief that a big to-do for the league this year is to try to work with (aka ultimately bully) the union into an 18-game schedule this offseason with an eye toward beginning it in 2025. They'd need to work out the logistics of how to handle it. An idea I've heard often is stretching the regular season calendar to 20 weeks with 2 byes per team, cutting down to 2 preseason games and maybe early season expanded rosters. People have always joked that the day after the Super Bowl should be a national holiday. If the league can set the schedule in a way to make the Super Bowl be the third Sunday in February, it finally would be.

Shanahan said he wanted to ensure they'd get the ball a 2nd time in sudden death which I'd understand except I think the scenarios where it would've played out that way are a lot less than he thought. If they managed to have the Chiefs at 4th and long in FG territory then maybe they send Butker out to tie it and go to sudden death but anything remotely close they were gonna go for it. And, as Chris Jones said, they were always going for 2 if it came to it. Because of course they would, when you have Mahomes you'd rather win or lose with him out there. I don't care how tired the defense was, putting Mahomes in an situation where he was in automatic 4-down territory was never going to end well.

It's been a thing throughout sporting history that the best players over time wind up getting additional help from the refs. In some ways it's human nature. If it's a close call, wouldn't you assume one of the best players in the league was probably right? The NFL takes it even further with the way they protect QBs but it's other sports too, it's why the best NBA players will get favorable foul decisions, why the best MLB pitchers might get an extra inch on the strike zone, etc. Over time, these players definitely start to figure out they get some more wiggle room that others don't have. But it's always sort of an unspoken thing. Where a lot of people "turned" on Mahomes was when he moaned about the offsides call in the Bills game in December. His comments very much made him sound like someone who expected preferential treatment he'd gotten used to and was annoyed he didn't get it.

Say it every year but the lamest tradition in sports will always be the owner getting to hold the trophy first

Mahomes has officially entered GOAT territory. Needs to win a few more to pass Brady but it’s extremely possible. This team is scary in January.

I thought we were gonna avoid it but nope, another year of having to hear a Zach Braff/Donald Faison T-Mobile singing ad all year. I give up, bring on the alien invasion.

Well as least the Kennedy campaign is now broke after that ad

Most of my betting money today is on the Chiefs. Don’t feel too good about them right now. That said the last couple of weeks I’ve been emotional hedge betting against them because I’m sick of them so if they lose, I’m OK with it.

Dre Greenlaw with possibly the most depressing SB injury of all time.

There’s my first lost bet of the night (albeit a free one). Thought Carl Weathers was gonna push it fair.

Vegas is offering +100000 odds on the Super Bowl ending in a tie due to an alien invasion

It boggles the mind that the Giants are, if the beat writers are all correct, going to pass on trying to get a QB and put the whole season on Year 6 of the Daniel Jones experiment. And I say that as someone who had no issue with him getting paid last year. He looked good in the Daboll offense, got them to the playoffs, played his best game ever in the road playoff win. As easy as it was for everyone else to be like "LOL $40 million a year for Daniel Jones" this is basically fair market value now for a QB you feel you can win a big game with, plus they structured the deal in such a way they can get out of it 2 years in. Baker Mayfield is going to get a likely very similar deal from Tampa now in similar circumstances. However, with that said he looked awful in his limited time last year. The team spiraled out of the gate and he was unable to keep it together at all. But more alarmingly so, he went right back to being injury prone as he was every year before 2022. Why should I trust a guy with multiple neck injuries and now a torn ACL to stay healthy? I realize they're stuck with him on the books this year no matter what but I just can't see how you can justify to the fanbase that you're not picking a longer-term QB this year. While a lot can change, the 2025 QB class doesn't project to be great at all. I think fans like the idea of Daboll picking a QB he can mold to his scheme from the jump. You'd think Daboll and Schoen would view this as a job security deal, if they take nobody and put it all on Jones they need to get canned if the team sucks.

Finished up with season 2 of The Bear. Largely brilliant all around. "The Review" and "Fishes" were the clear stars of their respective seasons. Very excited to see season 3. There's really one character I have real issue with because she feels so out of place compared to everyone else to the point where she almost kills the immersion, and in looking around I'm hardly alone in this critique:

First off, it just highlights how messed up the tax code is in this country that deleting the already completed film will give this big studio a tax write off. But moreover, the idea of just deleting art is grotesque. The move to digital just makes it easier for providers to do this. Pretty sure there are already stories out there about video games being deleted from digital libraries including games the user already paid for. You never paid to own the game, you paid to rent it from them until they decided they wanted it back. Hope this film leaks. Leaks and piracy are ethical when they’re giving you no way to legally enjoy the content.

One of the best videos of the year Seeing Mongo like that made me sad but all the same I'm much happier he's still around to know it happened and knowing his legacy is secure Much better that they go to the homes of the players now instead of forcing all the finalists to sit in a hotel room for hours waiting for a knock that might never come

I think it's known every team does this, but the Mets poked the bear by doing it with the frequency they did. I think I even posted here around April or May last year that it was hilariously obvious with a string of roster moves they'd made. Any time a player out of options was the most logical choice to be removed from the roster for a call-up but they didn't want to lose them, they would magically end up on the injured list with something that happened on the off-day. And always happen to return right when it made the most sense for the team. The whole "player must be in the minors for 10 days before they can return unless replacing an injured player" rule went out the window because the Mets would just throw a back-end guy on the injured list. Tommy Hunter would throw two or three innings of mop-up duty one day and then go on the IL for a fresh arm because they could always cite his history of back injuries. They had Tim Locastro on the IL with an injury that was going to deliberately sideline him until they got an extra roster spot in September, presumably with an eye toward being a late inning pinch runner for the stretch run. Funny enough with a depleted roster and the season over he ended up actually playing a lot in that final month.

Wink Martindale is the new defensive coordinator of the Michigan Wolverines Not that working for the defending national champions is anything to sneeze at but it would point to the thought that NFL teams believe Wink is just as much to blame for his issues with the Giants as Daboll. Moreover that's now two teams he's had pretty ugly fallouts with so that's set off some red flags. Tough to imagine a guy with his track record wouldn't have been able to land another DC job in the league otherwise.

I'm both surprised and not surprised. There aren't many TE's in the HOF to begin with so with any underrepresented position I can't be that surprised when they are left out when only 5 modern era guys get in per year. At the same time, he's clearly the 2nd best HOF eligible TE ever. You don't even need to look at this to know that, but Pro-Football Reference's HOF TE Scores have him as 4th all-time and after this snub I find myself wondering if even Gronk will be the first-ballot slam dunk I assumed he would given the closeness in the "score". Looking at the scores for the other modern era guys: The DE Scores also fall right in line with Peppers and Freeney. Peppers was an obvious first-ballot choice. Some are arguing Jaren Allen's raw stats were better than Freeney's over a shorter career but the longevity is impressive and this score very heavily factors in awards and championships as well. ILB scores put Willis right in the wheelhouse where it was just a matter of time. Very similar on-field stats to Kuechly who is first eligible next year but has a higher score because of awards earned. Wouldn't be surprised if he's first ballot even though Willis had to wait. WR scores are the only place where there's controversy this year. Nothing against Johnson but Wayne and Holt both seemed to get screwed here. Holt in particular has been waiting ages. This feels almost like the committee just wanted to not have the Texans be the only team without a HOFer.