 . Yeah, Tommy Rees left for Alabama, so what? I appreciate everything Tommy has done at ND, whether it be as a player or as a coach but I'm going to be honest here, it doesn't seem like the biggest loss in the world to me. I'm not saying Rees was a bad coordinator because in no way shape or form do I believe he was. Rees sure as shit made some questionable calls during the season. For me going into this season it was "Oh, Rees got handcuffed by Brian Kelly now he's going to let it fly" he didn't. Yeah we lost Buchner in the second game of the season and had to ride with Drew Pyne the rest of the year, for Rees to make Drew Pyne into a 9-4 starter and to look average to above average at time, is nothing short of a miracle. But I don't know maybe Rees being the o-coordinator was just cool because he used to be a QB in South Bend. Now Marcus Freeman can hand pick his guy to lead this offense and with Sam Hartman coming in? Damn is this offense going to be fun to watch. So who is it? Who's next? Let's take a look at some realistic and some pipe dream candidates to lead Notre Dame's offense next.
Gerard Parker(Notre Dame Tight End coach) Parker and coach Freeman worked together at Purdue. Before Notre Dame parker was the offensive coordinator at West Virginia. Parker was not great as far as stats go at West Virginia but he has done a tremendous job with the tight ends since being at Notre Dame and clearly coach Freeman has some kind of trust in him. Joe Moorehead(Akron Head Coach) Moorhead was actually a candidate to be the Irish offensive coordinator back in 2020 after leading Oregon's offense for the prior 2 seasons but the job went to Rees. He can for sure lead an offense but he was best known for what he did at Penn State from 2016-2017 where Penn State went 22-5 and scored nearly 40 points per game during that time frame(source Irish Breakdown/fan nation) Joe Brady(Buffalo Bills QB Coach) Now this is what I want. As a Panthers fan I was over the moon when Carolina hired him as the OC until Matt Rhule blamed him for everything and fired him. Brady worked with Joe Burrow during his National Championship season at LSU. When at LSU Brady had an offense that put up 48.4 points/game and 568.4 yards/game as the 2019 LSU is team considered one of the greatest college football teams of all-time. Apparently Brady has made it clear he prefers the NFL to college but I mean he's too good not to try and go after, plus the rumor is that's who Sam Hartman wants. Andy Ludwig (Utah offensive coordinator/QB coach Utah's offense has been pretty explosive in the 4 years Ludwig has been there averaging just over 35 points a game. He's got 2 back-to-back Pac 12's titles. Utah has also averaged over 200 yards a game the last 2 years and with the fire power ND has in the backfield? Off that gives me a quarter chub. This is just a few of the names that have been thrown around and for me these are 4 of the top candidates. Will this change? Probably. Byron Leftwich, the former Tampa Bucs offensive coordinator has already called to inquire and he will be on campus next week for an interview. Another name that has been mention heavily is Brian Johnson, the quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles is also supposed to be scheduled for an interview in South Bend. With the fire power ND has on offense and with Sam Hartman coming in at QB, it's going to be a real interesting time for the Irish and I for one am here for it. The Notre Dame faithful trust Marcus Freeman and trust him to make the right decision. Notre Dame has a strong shot to make the college football playoffs this year and with the right offensive coordinator this team could be nothing short of explosive
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 I've been to Notre Dame, I've been to Sabres games and I've been to Sabres playoff games(really to only two teams I genuinely care about) but there was something about this night that made it more special than all the other ones put together. Something about seeing Ryan Miller, the greatest USA goaltender in the history of the NHL, he was our guy....Buffalo claimed him as our own and to seem him come back on the KeyBank center ice, not as an opponent but as our guy? It sure had my eyes swelling up. Yes I know Hasek was one of the greatest goalies ever and he is a Hall of Famer but Miller was my guy, he was Buffalo. To see all of his teammates come back to salute him, names like Vanek, Pominville, Roy, Kaleta(my guy), Stafford, Dumont and so much more showed how respected he was in the locker room. Everyone outside of Tim Connolly seemed like they had a great time, side not I know Connolly came out on crutches but god damn he could have at least clapped for Miller from time to time. Miller much like Hasek was the sole reason the Sabres made deep playoff runs, when he was on his game we knew the other team had no fucking chance to win the game, Millsy was locked in? Then it was an easy dub for Buffalo. Not only was Miller a stud on the ice but off the ice too, doing much work for the Courage for Carly fund which worked with pediatric cancer patients. Miller made it a point to always go to Roswell Park, even after his playing career in Buffalo was over. He truly is the saying of "he's not just a great player he's a great human being." RJ even came out to give the crowd one last "MILLLLLLLLLLLEEEERRRRR" and holy shit the tears rolled down my cheek like a bitch. I'm not embarrassed or ashamed to admit that I love Ryan Miller, he is my favorite Buffalo Sabre of all-time and to be in attendance when his jersey got raised to the rafters alongside of legends like LaFontaine, Hasek, RJ, Gare, The French Connection and Tim Horton....it was long overdue for a guy like him. For the game? It was everything the Sabres stand for now. Fighting back, never giving up and getting the win to cap off an amazing night. Sorokin was on his game for the Isles that night for sure but that wasn't going to stop the Sabres from capping one of the most memorable nights in Sabres history. Goals by Tuch and Olofsson in regulation had the game tied 2-2 going in to OT. Dahlin, Thompson and Cozen came out to start overtime. Twelve seconds is all it took to send New York back to the Isle with an overtime loss. Dahlin made an incredible hail mary pass to Cozens who on this night, you just knew.....you just knew Cuzzy wasn't going to miss on this night. Cozens made a little move on Sorokin and buried it to send the crowd into an absolute frenzy. I for one yelled so loud and hard that I had to sit down for a second because I was dizzy. Then I stood back up and clapped and I yelled and I cried, literally cried. I don't know where this team is going to end up this year but god damn it are they fun to watch. There wasn't a single chance the Islanders were going to win on this night, something about the arena felt different, almost as though we were untouchable that night. Me being the big Killers fan I am, they played Mr. Brightside right before we went to OT, I looked at my fiance and said "this games over, we got it" and boy we had it for sure. Thank you to the Buffalo Sabres for an amazing night and one I won't forget for a long time. I wish I had more words to say but I still can't put into words how incredible it was to be apart of that crowd. Hope, is the one thing I can take from this team and that night.....Hope, something us Sabres fans haven't felt for a long time now Relive it all here:  Ok, I did a Mock Draft for the first time in 2021 I believe it was, sure I was awful and probably got the majority of the picks wrong. I mean give me a break I'm not Todd McShay or Mel Kiper Jr, so get off my ass. I'm going to give it another shot this year to figure it all out. I'll probably be wrong on the majority of this draft too but what the hell I might as well have some fun. A lot of teams have a lot of needs, when I say a lot of needs I mean the team needs to be a whole new team. There are for sure some teams picking early who desperately need a QB but if I'm being honest, I personally don't think any of the top QB's are the answer for any franchise in need of a QB, I could be wrong though it's happened before, just look at my first marriage. It's a deep draft for the front 7 on the defensive side of the ball for sure, O-line isn't as deep as previous years but don't sleep on some of these dudes. Defense is much deeper in this draft than offense and it's not even close, but I'll shut the fuck up now and show you how wrong I get this.....
1) Indianapolis Colts, Bryce Young, QB Alabama I don't think there is any chance the bears keep the #1 pick in this draft, Again, like I said before I don't think any QB in this draft is going to be a star in the NFL but Bryce Young is the #1 QB in this draft and the Colts need a QB, along with a lot of other things. I think the Colts trade the #4 pick, next years first round and a couple later round picks in this year and next years draft to the Bears for the #1 pick 2)Houston Texans: Will Levis, QB Kentucky The Texans are an absolute train wreck, I think Levis is the pick here, he's coming off a dreadful year at Kentucky, I personally think he is going to be Zach Wilson 2.0 but we will see. I can't see the Texans being relevant at least for another 4 years. 3) Arizona Cardinals: Will Anderson, EDGE Alabama Anderson is a monster coming off the edge, the Cardinals defense is awful and this will definitely give them a boost of athleticism. I think if Anderson was in the 2022 Draft he would have went #1 to Jacksonville. 4)Chicago Bears, Jalen Carter, DL Georgia Perfect for the Bears, Carter is a monster and a big time run stopper as apart of the back-to-back National Champion Georgia Bulldogs. He will be a great scheme fit for Chicago moving forward and a star tackle in the NFL. 5)Seattle Seahawks: Bryan Breese, DL Clemson Breese is an absolute UNIT, 6 foot 5 and 300lbs and not an ounce of fat on this dude. He can help Seattle's awful run defense and can also line up as a defensive end to put some heat on opposing QB's. 6)Detroit Lions: Myles Murphy, DE Clemson Lions had no problems scoring this year, it was defensively they struggled. Murphy is another Clemson guy known for stopping the run. Murphy is a great edge rusher which is a big need here for Detroit. 7) Las Vegas Raiders: CJ Stroud, QB Ohio State With the news that Derek Carr won't be a Raider next year, this means they need a QB. Stroud could be that guy because I doubt the organization thinks Jarrett Stidham is the future in Las Vegas, Stroud could be good if McDaniels doesn't ruin him. 8)Atlanta Falcons: Nolan Smith, EDGE Georgia I think the Falcons are in big trouble going forward, I don't think they are set up well at all anywhere and I don't think Desomnd Ridder is the answer in Atlanta but Nolan Smith is a 6 foot 3 235lb edge rusher who plays sideline to sideline and can maybe help ease the pain of Atlanta fans who have seen just awful defenses over the last decade. 9) Carolina Panthers: Peter Skoronski, T Northwestern Yeah, I know I'm a Panthers fan, yeah I know we need a QB but I refuse to think we take a(In my opinion) HUGE reach here on Anthony Richardson from Florida. Skoronski is a freak in the pass protection game and he can keep whatever QB we have back there upright. Maybe we just sign a QB, suck next year and draft Caleb Williams(who I hate) #1 overall next year? EH? 10)Philadelphia Eagles: Cam Smith, CB South Carolina Philly had a big problem it seemed staying healthy in the secondary last year, QB's avoided throwing at Smith this year, he had 3 interceptions and 9 pass breakups this season. He allowed just 9 catches on 22 targets. 11) Tennessee Titans: Paris Johnson, OT Ohio State: Taylor Lewan, odds are will not be back with the Titans next year. Johnson would be a nice fit to replace Lewan if they decide to split with the former Michigan tackle. 12)Houston Texans: Quentin Johnston, WR TCU Drafting Levis at #2 why not give him a big play threat like Johnston? At 6 foot 3 Johnston can really extend the field for a young QB like Levis. 13) New York Jets: Broderick Jones, T Georgia Whoever the QB is in New York next year they have to make sure he doesn't get murdered like the other 45 starting QB's the Jets had this year. Jones may not be the best offensive lineman in the draft but the Jets don't need defense so this is the route I think they go. 14)New England Patriots: Brian Branch, S Alabama The Patriots need to bolster there secondary, there front 7 isn't bad but their secondary needs work so I think they go with Branch here from Alabama. He's good and sound in every facet of the game. 15) Green Bay Packers: Michael Mayer, TE Notre Dame With the emergence of Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs, I think the Pack are confident in those two as their 1 and 2 wideouts. So why not add THE GREATEST TIGHT END IN THE COUNTRY. NOPE! I didn't stutter, Mayer is an absolute beast. His blocking has become absolutely tremendous and he has some of the best hands on a tight end I've ever seen. To be honest I for sure think he can go higher, if Kyle Pitts went #4 then Michael Mayer should be the #1 pick 16) Washington Commanders: Kellee Ringo,CB Georgia Ringo is a big corner who plays with a lot of physicality on the outside, Georgia just keeps racking up 1st round picks, seems to be a theme lately. 17) Pittsburgh Steelers: Tyree Wilson, Edge Texas Tech Wilson is a 5th year senior from Texas Tech and is a big boy. At 6 foot 6 and 275lbs with a 7 foot wingspan, Wilson made the right call coming back for his senior year, big time upping his draft stock. 18)Detroit Lions: Christian Gonzalez, CB Oregon Gonzalez is a big, speedy and lengthy corner that can help the Lions defense tremendously, he could very well be a day 1 starter for Detroit. 19) Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Bijan Robinson, RB Texas With Blake Corum from Michigan staying in Ann Arbor, Robinson is without a doubt the consensus #1 running back in this years draft, in my opinion I don't think it is really close. Leonard Fournette isn't getting any younger and I think this would be a great pick at 19 for the Bucs. 20) Seattle Seahawks: Joey Porter Jr, CB Penn State It's time for Seattle to get back to their roots and build a strong defense. I have them taking Breese from Clemson at #5 now I have them re-building their secondary with this pick at #20 with Joey Porter Jr from Penn State. At 6'2 and 198lbs Porter is disruptive to wideouts at the line of scrimmage and is just the corner Seattle needs. 21) Los Angeles Chargers: O'Cyrus Torrence. OL Florida At 6'5 and 347lbs Torrence is an absolute mammoth of a man and is not easy to push off the ball, Torrence will most likely be a guard in the NFL and there is nothing wrong with bolstering the o-line for the Chargers to keep Justin Herbert upright. 22) Baltimore Ravens: Devin Witherspoon, CB Illinois Witherspoon is an absolute dog on the defensive side of the ball and plays with a ton of intensity, another team who needs to get back to what made them successful, play good defense and win games. 23) Minnesota Vikings: Lukas Van Ness, EDGE Iowa Van Ness is a prototypical power rusher who can just bull over any offensive lineman. Now that being said he did that at the college level, let's see what he can do in the pro's because for once it was he Vikings defense that sucked this year, offensively they still have Kirk Cousins under center so that sucks too though. 24) Jacksonville Jaguars: Anton Harrison, OT Oklahoma Harrison a left tackle who's started ever since he was a freshman in Norman, great pass protector and we've seen they need to keep Trevor Lawrence protected to be successful. 25) New York Giants: Jaxon-Smith Njigba, WR Ohio State It looks like Danny Dimes is the guy in New York, why not get him a real wide receiver, I wouldn't say Njigba has break away speed but his route running is tremendous and his hands are the best in college football, you can't teach that. 26) Dallas Cowboys: Andre Carter III, EDGE Army Now I don't know if Carter III will even be drafted in the first round but something about this kid I love. He's 6'7 and 260lbs, just an absolute freak. With his length he can really give tackles some problems. 27) Cincinnati Bengals: Dalton Kincaid, TE Utah Dalton Kincaid is just like any new age tight end, you can line him up at tight end or wide out. Second best tight end in the draft, I mean it's a huge gap for me between him and Mayer but Kincaid has come up big on the big stage as he was a huge part of Utah beating USC twice because he absolutely torched them. 28) Denver Broncos: Anthony Richardson, QB Florida I don't know about this dude, Richardson is a freak athlete and can ball out in college. He has a decent upside but I do think he will definitely be a project in the NFL. Good thing is Russel Wilson is signed for another 55 years for 1.2 billion dollars so he has someone to sit behind until he's ready. 29) Buffalo Bills: Isaiah Foskey EDGE, Notre Dame This might be a pipe dream for Foskey to even go in the first 2 rounds, but this guy I feel no matter where he gets drafted he's going to have a real good pro career. He's ND's all-time leader in sacks and with the bills defensive woes and injuries why not get an EDGE rusher. 30) Kansas City Chiefs: Zay Flowers, WR Boston College Flowers in an absolute burner, racking up of a thousand yards and 12 TD's for a terrible BC team is saying something for sure. 31) Philadelphia Eagles: Laiatu Latu, EDGE UCLA Another monster athlete on the edge with a lot of speed and power. The big weakness if any for Philly is the defense and more specifically the front 7. Adding some pressure to the QB will help them solidify them as one of the top 3 teams in the NFL.  Welp, this was a wild year for the Irish to say the least. To be honest with you, I didn't know what was going to happen week to week, whether we played the #1 team in the country of the worst football team ever assembled. I genuinely at no point knew what was going to happen or where this season was going to go and how it was going to end, all in all? Not to mad about Marcus Freeman's first season.
Let's start with the bad, Notre Dame lost 4 games this year and some were not pretty...not pretty at all. We start the season against Ohio State, at the Shoe....not the easiest game for the start of the Freeman Era. Tyler Buchner started at QB and looked pretty capable going 10/18 for 177 yards, the Irish ran the ball well at times and the defense played well in the 21-10 loss to OSU, so yeah we lost wee one but fuck Ohio State is real effin good so, we should be Marshall next week.....right? RIGHT?!?......FALSE! We in fact did not beat Marshall, we lost to Marshall and to very blunt we looked awful. Buchner had 2 awful picks and got hurt for the rest of the year, Drew Pyne came in after the Buchner injury and looked just as bad. Yeah sure Pyne threw a TD but shit if Michael Mayer was my tight end I probably could too. So yeah, we start off the season 0-2 and I will be honest, I'm mildly proud of myself because Yeah, My hand was hovering over the Panic Button HARD but I never hit it. Before I jump into the rest of the schedule chronologically, let me first touch on our only other losses this year. After hitting a bump in the road we get better, then we hit a big speed bump when Stanford comes to town, now this to me was the worst loss off the year. Is Stanford better than Marshall? Probably but we had every single fucking chance to win the Stanford game and offensively we were just bad, real fuckin bad. Pyne was 13/27 for 155 yards.....13/27 for 155 yards, against a terrible Stanford defense. Diggs and Estime were running at over 5 yards a clip but we still kept passing the ball, why? No idea, but if memory serves me correctly this was during Estime's 3 game fumble streak so we may have steered away from the run game then. We lost 16-14 and we just had no fight at all, Pyne looked awful and I thought this was it, really I didn't know if we would win another game all year. Last loss of the season, which was actually our last game of the regular season was to USC. All I am gonna say from this game is Drew Pyne played maybe the best game of his career 23/26 for 313 yards and 3 TD's, unfortunately Drew threw 1 pick and that pick was absolutely back breaking for our comeback, gave USC a short field and they punched it in. Also. despite being a giant douchebag Caleb Williams is just real real real fucking good, OK, finally we can get to the good, gooder and goodest parts of the season. After starting 0-2 we pick up a dub against Cal at home, yup we battled from behind most of the game, it wasn't pretty, we looked average at best, but Coach Freeman got the proverbial monkey off his back and got his first win. Next we go into UNC who's undefeated at the time and I don't care what the score line says (45-32) we kicked their ass I mean kicked their ass. We ran up and down the field on them with Estime and Diggs, Pyne was flawless throwing or 289 and 3 TD's, this was the first real sign of life for me from Coach Freeman and the boys. BYU was next, the Cougars were ranked in the top 20 I believe and this was a good opportunity for the Irish to show something here and for me they did. Estime, Diggs and Tyree again put on a clinic and ran up and down the BYU defense just absolutely gashing them, Mayer did his thing per usual with 11 catches, 118 yards and 2 TD'S. Drew Pyne also put in a solid performance to get the Irish the dub and move them to 3-2, this is where my concerns stared with the Irish closing out games though, BYU was hanging in, hanging in and almost stole it from the Irish. Then after the loss to Stanford were back home against UNLV, a game I attended. When I say I've never been more pissed at a 44-21 win in my life I truly mean it. Logan Diggs was an absolute work horse carrying it 28 times for 130 yards, Isaiah Foskey was the man though, huge on defense and adding 2 blocked punts which you'll soon see became a theme for the Irish this year. But as far as the game goes it was just blah, you'd think a 44-21 game you'd see huge plays, big chunk yards and nope, none of that at all. Mayer was Mayer again with 6 catches for 115 yards and a TD all while making one of the best catches of the season for ND. Then we walk in to play Syracuse, who's riding high off the strength of a big performance against Clemson the week prior, Cuse hung in with Clemson the entire game eventually falling to at the time the #3 ranked team in the country. I had an opportunity to go to this game with it being just an hour away from my house but I said "nah, if I spend the money to go to this game and they get their asses kicked I'm gonna be super pissed". By the end of this I wasn't pissed. I wasn't pissed at all. Frist play off the game was a pick 6 by Brandon Joseph, easy money. Again the Irish dominated with Diggs and Estime, 208 rush yards combined for these two including 3 TD's. Like I said before the Irish did it again, blocking a punt to set up and easy TD for the Irish to put the game away. At this point the Irish have blocked 5 punts on the year. We move on to #3 Clemson and holy boner city, population me. Notre Dame absolutely decimated Clemson. The defense was tremendous, the corners shut down and edge the wideouts had, the front 7 were relentless and I hate Dabo. Different game same story, Diggs and Estime combine for 218 yards rushing, Pyne didn't have to do much but he didn't need to....he just didn't make a mistake. This game was the emergence of Freshman corner Benjamin Morrison who was all over the place including 2 picks, one being a pick 6 that sure up the game essentially for the Irish. I would be remissed if I didn't mention the BALLS on Coach Freeman, knowing that we ran all over Clemson all game, then calling a pop pass to Mayer to absolutely shit all over Clemson's chest. Then Navy, what the fuck happened here? Notre Dame was up 35-13 at the halg absolutely dominating Navy. The second half comes we couldn't do diddly dick, we get outscored 19-0, we had about 7 total yards and almost lose but escaple with the 35-32 win. Then we absolutely destroy Boston College 44-0, the game was never in doubt and freshman sensation Benjamin Morrison had a 3 INT day. The three headed monster of Estime, Diggs and Tyree ran for 243 and just murdered BC it was an absolute blood bath. Then we come to maybe the game of the year, the Gator Bowl against the Gamecocks. What a game this was, we had the return of Day 1 starter Tyler Buchner after Drew Pyne had recently announced his decision to enter the transfer portal. This was a fun and holy shit frustrating game. Buchner looked ok, he had 5 total TD's but at the same time threw 3 terrible interceptions and 2 were taken to the house. Again the running game was tremendous and adding Buchner to the mix was great to see. The Irish win an absolute thriller 45-38 and give Marcus Freeman his bowl win as a head coach. FINAL THOUGHTS: I think the Irish are in good hands with coach Freeman. The recent transfer of Wake Forrest QB is absolutely huge. Some key losses may hurt the Irish but good teams don't re-build, the re-load. I don't think It's crazy to say, especially given the new 12 team format that will come into play next college football season that the Irish have a very realistic shot at the CFB playoffs.  Listen, I don't care that he left JSU, I really don't but the shit he's doing is making it harder and harder to root for him. He did so much for JSU and HBCU's, he honestly did....but now that he left....what happens? Yeah sure he brought a ton of notoriety to Jackson State and all of the HBCU community, I was even tuning in to watch JSU and other SWAC school football games. He's gone now and he's taking all the big recruits with him and basically making JSU start from square one. He's taking JSU's QB with him aka his son Shedeur Sanders with him, basically already said the kid is going to be the starting QB, even though he said he'll have to compete for it. We all know god damn well he doesn't have to compete for the starting job. Travis Hunter was one of the top recruits in the country a couple years ago that went to Jackson State, it seems pretty apparent that he's going to follow Deion to Boulder too. I'm sure that won't be the last of players leaving to go to Colorado from JSU. I mean let's be honest the transfer portal has completely turned college football on it's head and good for Deion for taking full advantage of it, much like Lincoln Riley did at USC.
Now, let's get to his first talk with his new Colorado team, I mean could Deion look like anymore of a douchebag? I mean this is just my opinion and who really gives a shit about that but the way he came in and talked to these kids like they're nothing was just absolutely absurd. First at his introductory presser he says "Where's Shedeur? He's back there, that's your quarterback right there" what the fuck is that? I'm not saying Shedeur shouldn't have been playing for a power 5 school as it is, but for this clown to come in and say "yup, that's my kid he's the QB now". I feel also Deion gets a get out of jail free card every time he acts like a complete prick because always preaches shit about how god speaks to him and all this other bullshit, so people think he's spiritual and it's ok to act like an asshole. Then when they show his first talk with the team, he say's bullshit lines like "We got a few positions already taken care of because I'm bringing my luggage with me and it's Louis" all the while his turd son is giggling while recording it so he can post it on all of his social media platforms. Then he proceeds to tell the kids to "go ahead and jump in that portal", then what the kids transfer, then they look like they didn't want to be there and "compete" for a job that you already said you had filled? Fuck that. Yeah ya know what? Colorado was horrible last year, posting a record of 1-11 but there's no need to come in and act like a complete asshole. I'll give credit, Deion can recruit that's for sure, he's already flipping 3-5 star players from Big Time Universities to go to Boulder to play for him but I'll be honest I cant sit here and lie and say I'm rooting for Deion to turn around this program, because to be honest? I hope he fails.....and fails miserably.  We all wanted it to be MJF to be the one who was the joke and got the poker chip but I wasn;t 100% sure for some reason but holy shit. Stokley Hathaway came out and grabbed the chip and called out the "masked joker", we were all waiting for the reveal.....then he waved his finger at the crowd and said nope not now. So I thought ok maybe after the main event the reveal will happen, it got later and later and later.....to be honest I passed out. Get off my ass I had to be up at 430 for work this morning. Of course while I was getting ready the first thing I looked up on twitter was MJF.....and god damn it he was the Joker. The reveal was amazing, from having a voicemail from Tony Khan begging him to come to all out, a quote from CM Punk back when he was in ROH....then he took the mask off, put the fuckin scarf on and he was back.
He might not be everyone's favorite but CM Punk really might be the most popular and over heel we've seen since the attitude era and I don't think I'm crazy for saying that. AEW was in Chicago, CM Punk just won the world title, He's standing in the ring holding the belt, they did the promo for MJF and they started chanting "MJF, MJF, MJF, MJF". When is the last time that has ever happened? I'll tell you when....never. MJF is a heel that never shuts it off, he's a dick....all the time. He's a dick to kids at autograph signings, he's a dick to fans all the time, he's even a dick to fans in wheelchairs. Maybe it's all just one huge work and I'm sure he's a great dude. On the other hand maybe he is just a dick, people hate to work with him, Tony Khan and CM Punk actually can't stand him. The thing is MJF is a great technically wrestler and an amazing heel, which is something no other wrestling organization has currently. I'm praying this fucking guy will fight CM Punk for the belt and win the belt because to be honest I'm kind of sick of CM Punk and his holier than thou attitude toward everyone. So let's hope MJF can dethrone this fucking guy  Are we just gonna admit that Israel Adesanya may be the best middleweight of all time? I don't care if the guy didn't finish Cannonier, it wasn't flashy, he didn't get the finish but he dominated him. The rest of the card was I'd say....good. I personally don't think there was anything too memorable about the card from top to bottom but it was overall a damn good night of fights. Now let's break it down
Main Event- Israel Adesanya(C) defeats Jared Cannonier VIA UD Izzy is awesome, he just is. The undertaker walkout was just fucking amazing and his performance versus Cannonier wasn't dazzling but it was clinical and absolutely dominate. Maybe Izzy isn't the greatest middleweight ever but he's real fucking close. He talks the talk and he goes out and walks the walk. Like I said Izzy may not be getting every knock out but his fights aren't even fucking close. I'm the kind of guy who is all for a dominate champ, whether it be by finishes or just a 5 round domination. The next defense here for Izzy is clear and it's Alex Pereira, his former kickboxing foe who he's currently 0-2 against. CO-MAIN- Alex Volkanovski(C) defeats Max Holloway VIA UD I do not care and I'll say it, Alex Volkanovski is the best featherweight of all time. I know, I know, "but what about Aldo".....I don't give a shit I said what I said. He put the absolute stamp on the Holloway trilogy, that was 5 rounds and Alexander The Great made it look real easy. To do that, to Max Holloway who is an absolute savage was a literal work of art. What Volkanovski has done in this division is just unreal. This guys has beaten the likes of Mendes, Aldo, Holloway(3 times), Brian Ortega, Korean Zombie. I know he's talked about going up to 155lbs but I still think there is some interesting fights for him at 145lbs. Alex Pereira defeats Sean Strickland VIA KO Holy shut was this a huge bullet dodged by the UFC. Let's be honest Sean Strickland is an absolute dog, but some of this shit this guy says? Can You imagine him being or even fighting for a title? Alex Pereira did the UFC's dirty work with an absolute violent KO of Strickland. Just a perfectly timed counter right hand by Pereira followed by a stiff jab to a downed Strickland to finish the deal. Bryan Barberena defeats Robbie Lawler VIA TKO Now this was an absolute war but good lord how many of these does Lawler have left in him? In the first round Barberena threw 190 strikes! Yeah 190! Lawler looked good for the majority of the fight but late in Round 2, Lawler looked gassed and Barberena had him staggered and pummeled him for the TKO finish. Sean O'Malley v's Pedro Munhoz ends in a No Contest Nothing, there was nothing in this fight that got me very excited. O'Malley wasn't really "dominate" in the fight and Munhoz didn't show much either to be perfectly honest. I guess they should run in back after Munhoz had his cornea scratched and couldn't see out of his eye which was visibly fucked up. So....yeah, I guess run it back? OTHER NOTABLE FIGHTS ON THE CARD: Jalin Turner defeats Brad Riddell VIA guillotine submission Jim Miller defeats Donald Cerrone VIA guillotine submission (Cerrone retired after the fight) Ian Garry defeats Gabriel Green VIA UD Maycee Barber defeats Jessica Eye VIA UD(Eye retired after the fight)  Today it was announced that a letter sent by commissioner Rob Manfred to the New York Yankees detailing a 2017 investigation involving a cheating scandal will become a public document, two years after a judge ruled it should be unsealed.
"The plaintiffs in a lawsuit over the daily fantasy ramifications of electronic sign-stealing in baseball allege that a 2017 news release from commissioner Rob Manfred hid the full findings of what MLB discovered the Yankees had done. The letter's impending release will reveal any differences between what Manfred said in public about his findings and what was revealed in private. Manfred wrote the letter to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, and it is alleged to contain proof of the team's sign-stealing methods from 2017, when New York was busted for improperly using a dugout phone and the Boston Red Sox were found to be using Apple Watches to pick up on signals from opposing teams" Per ESPN it will be at least two weeks before the letter is made public. ESPN also reported that "Yankees team president Randy Levine argued against the release of the letter in December 2020, saying it would raise "serious" privacy issues and that letters by the Houston Astros and the Red Sox, filed as confidential in the suit, weren't being made public. Levine also said that the letter would harm the Yankees' reputation" Dude, whaattttttt. The New York Yankees? The morale compass of the MLB? CHEATERS?!?! HOW COULD THIS BE?! Honestly fuck this entire franchise, they are the morale compass of the MLB and they are some of the biggest pieces of shit in the game. Their closer is a "allegedly" shot his gun 8 fucking times at the wall near his girlfriend and choked her but who the fuck cares he's a Yankee. Hal Steinbrenner who owns the Yankees literally said "everyone will forget about it" because it's no big deal because its the New York Yankees. Like this organization has been filled with pieces of shit but it all gets swept under the rug because it's the Yankees and they're above everyone. I'm not saying these guys were with the Yankees when they were arrest but Jesus H Christ they have had some real pieces of shit play for this organization. Yeah, I'm a Mets fan, Yeah, we've had some REAL PIECES OF SHIT play for our team but we admit it and we don't act like we're better than the rest of the fucking baseball world. John Wetteland? Yankees Legend, world series winner....oh yeah he was arrested for child sex abuse chargers for sexually assaulting a child from ages 4-6 for 2 years. Joba Chamberlin, who fucking sucked by the way but Yankees fans LOVED him, had about three thousand DUI's but who cares he wears pinstripes. Steve Howe? Never heard of him? Yeah he sucked too but in 1991 he got arrested for felony cocaine charges, still played 5 more years with the franchise. Have we talked about some of the legends?! Mickey Mantle? You guys know him right? Yeah, big time alcoholic and outside of baseball, cheating on his wife seemed to be his favorite sports. He's got a plaque though in whatever the fuck the Yankees call their shrine thing. Honestly I hate this entire franchise, Randy Levine literally didn't want this letter to come out because it would ruin their reputations. Yeah no shit, you cheated....the same organization who's been talking about the Astros for years, the same fan base that can't let it go that the Astros cheated, were doing the same shit. Yeah, the Astros are giant pieces of shit but now maybe we can see the Yankees aren't the morality police of the MLB  Let's be honest with ourselves as Sabres fans, this game....this game was our playoffs. We circled this game on the calendar, we wanted to win and we wanted to shove it up Eichel's hoop....and we did just that. This game could not have played out any more perfectly in my opinion. Eichel was a -1 with 0 goals and 0 assists, it was almost clear that he was a bit rattled during the game as I've never seen him back check or play any kind of defensive game like he did on Thursday night. Say what you want, I watched the game Eichel was rattled, I don't care how you saw it but the guy was rattled.
The scoring started with Peyton Krebs, one of the pieces Buffalo got in the Eichel trade. Buffalo completely controlled most of the first period, completely dominating the shots and taking a 1-0 lead into the second period. Craig Anderson stood on his head in the 2nd period and throughout all of the game, 1-0 still for the good guys going into the 3rd period. Halfway through the 3rd Ben Hutton had a weak shot from the point that somehow got past Anderson, a lot of traffic in front may have prevented Anderson from making the save. With 3 minutes and change left Victor Olofsson sniped one on the Power Play and you can say what you want but Olofsson for sure did the Jack Eichel celebration with his hands up. Then....then we come to the climax of the game, I can guarantee you more than half of Sabres fans are still stiff thinking about this moment. Vegas pulls the goalie.....6 on 5......Vegas is in Buffalo's zone....they whip it around the net.....and it comes to Jack Eichel at the point.....he tries to hold it in.....and here he comes....our guy.....our future captain.....a man I am not afraid to say, I would take a bullet for......Alex Tuch picks Jack Eichel's pocket a he tries to keep in in and flies down the wing on a bad angle shot to seal the 3-1 victory. This was our playoffs, John Buccigross said it perfectly....."Tonight, we dine in hell!" Now, Let's get to the focal point of this. Jack Eichel is such a little shit. He's an entitled, self absorbed, spoiled little brat. The worst thing Eichel could have done after the game was speak to the media, this guy just continues to make himself look like a complete asshole. He showed his true colors last night, he showed exactly who Buffalo Sabres fans knew he was. He such an embarrassing asshole, he makes a comment like "Maybe they're booing because I'm not here anymore"? Dude are you fucking kidding me? That's so fucking embarrassing, he's an absolute joke but good lord stop doing media. Ever see him do an interview? He just looks around, he looks at the ceiling, he's so disinterested in being there. Eichel is such a mental head case he literally cannot stop looking like an absolute shit head. Listen, he never had the best rep around town in Buffalo, he was never a lead and should have never been captain, he's so fucking far from a leader its almost laughable to think of him ever wearing a C anywhere else. Then he says "That's the loudest I've heard them in 7 years, all it took was 7 years and me to get traded". This is probably the first time, the first time in that time frame the attendance has been this bad, Sabres fans are one of if not the best fan group in all of hockey, Eichel took a cheap and emarrassing shot that was a wide miss. The Sabres spoiled the Jack Eichel parade and spoiled it good, The Knights have been horrible since Eichel has come back to the lineup. He's an absolute locker room cancer, you're seeing a guy who's been told all his life that he's the best and he's the greatest. People have been tugging Eichel off his entire life and this is the first real taste of adversity he's ever gotten and he can't handle it at all, he's becoming more embarrassing every time he opens his fucking mouth and Christ almighty can we talk about his gross ass facial hair for a second? It looks like the bottom of the shower stall at the YMCA on 65 and up day, he suck.....we hate him and I'm glad we shove it up his ass on that Thursday night.  I think we all wanted a little bit more from this fight card, not a bad fight card.....just not the one we wanted. Colby Covington did what we knew he had to do to win the fight and he did it masterfully. Seeing Greg Hardy get KO'd....again was most definitely my highlight of the night. We wanted a war that we didn't get, so let's take a look at the break down of a grudge match years in the making.
Colby Covington defeats Jorge Masvidal VIA unanimous decision In a match I personally have been wanting to see for years, ever since Colby randomly started to talk shit about Masvidal....to me it didn't live up to expectations. Covington completed weaponized his pace, like I've said in the past and it really seemed to hurt Masvidal in the later rounds. Jorge had some chances, he knocked Covington down twice and when he did it in the 4th round I think he made a fatal error not just emptying the gas tank to get Colby out of there. Hate him or love him though, Colby Covington may in fact be a top 10 fighter in the world. Yeah we all wanted to see Jorge beat the fuck out of Colby but at the end of the day we didn't get it . Rafael dos Anjos defeats Renato Moicano VIA unanimous decision I mean, just a clinical beat down by the legend dos Anjos. Hats off to Moicano for taking the fight on 5 days notice, but the vet dos Anjos did whatever he wanted over 5 rounds v's Moicano. Rafael was upset over the fact the fight wasn't stopped and I gotta be honest, I don't blame him one bit. Renato offered little resistance to anything dos Anjos threw at him. Just a complete and utterly dominate performance by the former champ. Bryce Mitchell defeats Edson Barboza VIA unanimous decision Bryce Mitchell had the biggest test of his UFC career Saturday against Edson Barboza and he may have put in his best UFC performance of his short career inside the octagon. Mitchel dominated Barboza on the ground and was relentless. Barboza is a master striker but just couldn't get all three judges scored the fight for Mitchell(30-26, 30-25, 30-27). Mitchell is a force reckon with in the featherweight division. Kevin Holland defeats Alex Oliveira VIA TKO Holy shit did Kevin Holland need this win. Holland went 5-0 in 2020 but then proceeded to go 0-2-1 in his next three and was dominated in each of his losses. Holland looked really good on the feet in this one, he ended the first round knocking down Oliveira then finished him early in the second after knocking him down and lading vicious elbows while on top. Big win for Holland to get back on track in the welterweight division, Sergey Spivak defeats Greg Hardy VIA KO DUDE, Greg Hardy fucking sucks. This was Hardy's last fight on his contract so hopefully this bullshit experiment is over. This fucking guy keeps getting PPV spots and the only reason people have to be tuning in to watch him is to see him get knocked the fuck out. Yeah I know this was a "TKO" but I watched the fight, Hardy was on queer street and he was knocked the fuck out. Spivak is an absolute fucking KILLER and Hardy shouldn't be in the cage with this dude. He should go to regional scenes if he really wants to do this shit for real because right now he's a fucking joke. |
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January 2025
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