The Buscher

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.

Damar Hamlin, runaway betting favorite for Comeback Player of the Year all season, loses to Joe Flacco. Vegas does it again.

2024 Hall of Fame class: Dwight Freeney, Randy Gradishar, Devin Hester, Andre Johnson, Julius Peppers, Patrick Willis, and MONGO MCMICHAEL! Art Powell and Buddy Parker did not make it despite being nominated from special committees. Guess it’s not a formality anymore.

The Knicks are actually giving me hope and it scares me.

I understand why people would think that. The Chiefs defenses' one real struggle was zone runs which is where CMC can make a killing. If they get off to a lead especially he should be just handed the rock as many times as his body allows. However, we've also seen this before with Shanahan getting away from the obvious in big games. Moreover, Mahomes in general seems to have the same ability Brady did to instill enough fear in opposing coaches that they overthink. A couple of early TD drives from Mahomes and it's "crap, we have to beat him in the air". Something like 80% of public money has gone to the Chiefs so far and yet not only has the line not swung, they made the Chiefs bigger dogs yesterday (-2 to -2.5) It has to be one of two things and it's likely both: first off they probably suspect the high-spending sharps are going to back the Niners but that won't happen until closer to gameday. But the much bigger thing is the Niners might have one of the largest SB futures liability Vegas has seen in recent history. It would suggest they actually do view this game as a toss-up and are now just doing what they can to beg for Chiefs money so they can break even.

It’s weird to me that the line really hasn’t moved much at all. I really thought enough Chiefs money would’ve poured in to the point where it got closer to a pick ‘em. No signs of it yet. Like I understand the Niners being favored as they were the best team in the league all year but the Packers narrowly beat them, they needed both a Herculean effort and a generational Lions chokejob to get past the NFC Title game. The Chiefs meanwhile played tight games against the Bills and Ravens but their defense has been standing on its head and the offense has looked the best it has all year. Given what I’ve seen in these playoffs I’m not sure what I’m missing.

Mets have "had dialogue" with JD Martinez. This feels like agent speak for "we're gonna float it out there that Steve Cohen wants to make a last minute big signing so someone jumps in last second and overpays". I'll believe they sign him when I see it. My guess is he winds up elsewhere. Ironically, Mets fans spent most of this offseason complaining about the lineup looking like a punt season and now they're in a spot where they could possibly add a guy who hit 33 dingers in 113 games last year and it's "nope, it's the Mets and an old guy, we've seen it before, guaranteed his back injury gets way worse and he sucks and becomes a bust. Play the young guys." Again, the Mets already blew past the CBT this year. A 1-year deal costs Steve Cohen nothing but money and if he's really that bad he's easy enough to cut/trade/bench. There is virtually no risk to doing this. The upside is getting a legit All Star power bat behind Alonso, which they've badly needed his entire time here. I don't know how any fan can think seeing Mark Vientos for 140 games sounds like a fun idea. He's only 24 but he was worth -1.1 WAR last year with zero plate discipline and completely unplayable defensively. Anyone with eyes can see he sucks.

The only two things known so far about the 2024 NFL schedule. The first is that either the Niners or Chiefs will open the year with a Thursday home game as is tradition. The second, just announced, is that the Eagles will play on Friday night in week 1 as the designated home game in Brazil.

The most expensive ACLs on the planet playing in MetLife. What can go wrong?

When the Bears didn’t hire Kingsbury as OC it had me thinking the smoke around Caleb really not wanting to be in Chicago was legit. If Kingsbury goes to Washington it feels like a lock that the Bears will milk an extra pick out of Washington (swap 1/2 picks and get Washington’s 2nd rounder) so Washington can get Caleb and Chicago can still have their pick of whoever else.

I have to assume Vince getting removed from this game is a lock. And that includes the playable Vince, any NPC Vince that can be a manager/GM/appearing in 40 Years of WrestleMania, any archive footage for that mode etc. The game is only a month away from release so it'd be less him actually removed from the game and more that his models are hidden away in the files. But I can't imagine a scenario where he'd be allowed to be in the game in any official capacity. 2k just removed Brock from their Supercard game so there's a non-zero chance he'll be taken out of 2k24 as well. Same thing, his current model and retro models would likely be found by modders within a few days. Would have a definite ripple effect on the 40 Years of WM mode which surely won't have any new content added to it, if their intention was to feature every Mania it probably won't happen now but oh well. I always used Vince as my personal punching bag to test out new CAWs. Much happier seeing that asshole out of there entirely.

Corbin Burnes to the Orioles!!! @gunnar hendershow

Bullpen management has largely always been a problem with the game but it feels even worse now. On Operation Sports they've mapped out how to take the game's logic and use it to ensure the best relievers get used. Your closer is your closer and your 8th inning/best setup guy is SU1. The CPU largely knows when to use those guys as they are in real life. But everything other than that is counterintuitive. The CPU almost never touches the SU2 so that's actually where you want to put the worst reliever on the roster. They rarely will see the field outside of extras. MR4 is for your 2nd worst reliever for the same reason. On the contrary, the CPU can't help but throw the LR1 in anytime 7th inning or earlier. And since most teams roster an actual SP with SP stamina in that spot and they recover stamina accordingly, the CPU will just run those guys in day in, day out for multi-inning outings and they'll rack up comical numbers of innings over a season. The prevailing thinking then is to put your 3rd best reliever in the LR1 spot. The CPU will generally turn to them most games and, since it's a reliever with normal reliever stamina levels they can't be abused the way a SP in the bullpen would be. The issue for all of this though is to truly get accurate BP usage across the league you need to do 30-team control and not only set the roster like this on Opening Day but monitor transactions and police the bullpen layout if a team calls somebody up or there's an injury. It's far too much work. I kinda just accept the BP numbers are gonna be broken and worry about my own team. I'll sometimes use my 2nd controller to make pitching changes for my opponent so the games I'm playing at least feel realistic. I'll do stuff like throw the closer in for the 8th against my 3/4/5 hitters if it's a big game. Still an issue with doing this because if you forget to actually switch from CPU to 2P before the next inning starts the CPU will ignore the pitcher you had warming up and put in whoever its default algorithm decides it should.

I think Adam Peters will end up being a good GM in terms of player acquisition which at the end of the day is the most important part of building a team. Pretty hilarious though that his first two weeks as GM sees him whiffing on all the sought-after candidates and settling on a retread their own division rival is happy to lose.

Dennard Wilson was who I wanted as Giants DC. I can't blame him for taking the Titans job instead - not super familiar with their roster but a brand new HC there means Wilson will have some time in the role. Daboll just a year removed from COTY is possibly entering 2025 on the hot seat and if there's a regime change that means everyone's at risk. Plus with the fallout from the Wink Martindale stuff, sounds like there was a lot of blame on both sides there I can see why coaches might fear Daboll's an asshole to work for and not want to deal with it. With that in mind I guess the Giants will eventually promote DB coach Jerome Henderson. Nothing against him, it'd be a bit of an uninspired choice with him being not only internal but also not somebody any other team was trying to interview. But I guess he's popular among players and clearly isn't afraid of Daboll so it'd make sense.

Well, that side quest destroyed me.

New game drops March 19th. Definitely not getting it since I only just got the latest one at Christmas but just a heads up for the thread. Lots of moaning about the fact the game will be out on PS4 again (basically just assuming they can't really make a greatly enhanced PS5 version if they're still working on a PS4 one). The PS5 shortage seemed to finally end last year but sports games generally are always among the last to be released on old consoles because a lot of people can't afford a console upgrade and the money is there.