The Buscher

I generally like Rapaport but he was especially annoying during the draft this year. He's said he's not allowed to spoil draft picks on air (anyone can go to Twitter for that if they want to) because the NFL wants maximum drama for the viewing audience, but he does tell the producers when to throw to him when he's got info to share. And he made it a point to jump on 30 seconds before the Falcons pick was announced to be like "I know most people expect the Falcons to go defense here, but I just want everyone to know they did a significant amount of work on the QBs even after giving Kirk Cousins $100 million, it's all about a succession plan at the most important position." He didn't give a name of course but it was as close to tipping a pick as you could get. Apparently Falcons/Penix rumors were actually a thing 48 or so hours leading into the draft and Falcons fans were afraid it could actually happen, but for the other 31 fanbases I don't think it was on anyone's radar at all. That was arguably the most surprising draft pick in recent history and this guy just had to get ahead of it.

My takeaway from all 3 of Joe Schoen’s drafts so far is that he very much adheres to the “Team Needs”. Love what he’s done in this class. Tyler Nubin will go straight into a starter role, might be the best pure safety in the class. Worst case is if he doesn’t work as a starter, his floor is as a special teams ace and probably a future captain. Andru Phillips didn’t have great production but is the type of corner that fits right into Shane Bowens’ scheme, has versatility both outside and in the slot. Theo Johnson is gonna get a lot of playing time, especially with Darren Waller still mulling retirement. Frankly, Waller’s probably a lock to get hurt again even if he plays so yeah, he’s gonna see a lot of snaps.

It always feels lazy to just post Trevor Dame’s thoughts instead of my own but Was Tony unhinged in that interview? Sure. Is it gonna actually hurt AEW in any way? Almost certainly not. For as great as AEW have done there’s little evidence they’ve actually expanded their audience beyond the very loyal base they’ve had since the beginning and that’s clearly been more than enough to get them by. By and large the people who still watch AEW are only gonna stop watching if the booking sucks, not because their owner went on an unhinged ramble. Cringe? Sure but again it’s not gonna hurt them at all as they weren’t gonna gain or lose any fans from this. My only annoyance is it’s now gonna set off more discourse from the usual people who shit on everything AEW does. But they’d have found something else to say about AEW anyway. You’ve got podcasters twisting themselves into pretzels trying to explain why they thought Danielson vs Ospreay sucked. This just gives them easier ammo to focus on.

I know Pat took some shots at AEW during WM weekend because he’s towing the company line but him even uttering the phrase “Meltzer Driver” on a broadcast is hilarious

Tony being acknowledged by Rich Eisen. My heart is warm.

Giants fans who said “trust Joe Schoen to do the right thing at QB” for months switched right to to “fire Joe Schoen for sticking with Daniel Jones” in the blink of an eye and it’s infuriating It’s been widely reported they tried very hard to get Maye. The Pats didn’t want to make the move. Takes two to tango. They wouldn’t have tried for Maye if they had full confidence in Jones. But not having full confidence in Jones =/= thinking JJ or Penix were better choices for them. They would’ve taken either at #6 if they felt that way. Drafting a QB would’ve given Schoen and Daboll 2-3 years job security automatically and they still passed. That’s how little they thought of the rest of the QB field. Nobody knows how it will pan out but having that restraint should be commended IMO. Having a bad QB room isn’t good, but force drafting a QB you don’t actually believe in is about the dumbest fucking thing you could do.

The Falcons taking Penix makes me think they know they’re gonna lose their 2025 1st rounder on tampering charges and they will try to flip his draft rights for a 2025 1st rounder this weekend. Of course that’s still hilarious considering signing Cousins is a win-now move and yet they instead punted the pick.

Happy with the Nabers pick. They needed a #1 WR and got one. Of course, I’m not exactly thrilled with a Jones/Lock pairing and feel like the Giants will probably be right back at the top of the draft next year. But it is what it is. I’m glad we didn’t get McCarthy at that price point.

Yeah now it sounds like the Pats are 100% taking Maye at 3 Giants fans are ripping Tommy DeVito for winning 3 football games last year and putting them in this position. First off, the Commies and Pats were way worse than the Giants - it would’ve been hard to NOT win those games. The Packers game was another story but if you weren’t happy seeing this team win a comeback MNF game against a better team after YEARS of being humiliated on primetime, you’re no fan. Yeah it’s a shitty situation but it’s on Schoen and Daboll to work with the hand they’re dealt. Players don’t tank. Don’t kill a kid for winning games, let alone on the team he grew up wanting to play for.

As we sit here 2.5 hours before the draft, I’m thinking the Giants might actually trade up to #3 for Drake Maye. But this can go in so many directions. I’m still gonna trust Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll until I have a reason not to. Still feel like they might both be thinking getting a QB in this draft whether it be Maye, McCarthy, Penix, or Nix will at least get them some job security beyond 2024 as they can sell the fans on needing a year to build everything around the QB.

I didn't have Jackson Holliday having statistically the worst start to a big league career since Gary DiSarcina in 1990 on my bingo card. Not even a case of bad luck either, he was making contact with less than 70 percent of the pitches he was swinging at in the strike zone, which is pretty unheard of for a consensus top prospect with a 70/80 hit tool. He did lace a hard single yesterday and called MLB pitching the first actual challenge he's faced in his baseball career, so he's got the right mindset to sort this out before long.

The Knicks and Islanders gave me the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in the span of 15 minutes. Wow. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

Brunson is the biggest reason the Knicks got the 2 seed but he’s been ass these first two playoff games. I never realized how much Embiid complained until this series. It’s literally after every play.

These guys aren’t getting basic human element stuff wrong, they’re getting the most blatant shit wrong and having the biggest egos about it because the union makes them impervious. Things like this and Angel Hernandez seemingly going out of his way to get every call wrong make me wonder if before the year is done, someone’s gonna lose it and strike an umpire.

I know some of the AI stuff is cringe but this is just so firmly in my wheelhouse in every way.