TimLivingston

I have to imagine the Reds will answer the call. He’s still such a good fit even if he’s not an everyday player.

Same, but I feel like if I didn’t, it wouldn’t be Christmas.

It seems like the next domino to fall will be Bellinger: Kiermaier back to Toronto for 1/10.5, which means the Blue Jays will be dependent on two glove-first OFs who are LHHs, when they really need LH power. With the Jays seemingly out, you wonder if the Cubs just don’t bring Belli back. The Giants got Lee and seem like they wouldn’t go get Bellinger, but maybe they hedge and feel like Bellinger in CF and Lee in RF would be enough. And by enough? 84-78.

Ive been more lurker than poster here recently, but as I think back to what I’ve liked around the holidays over the years, one of the offbeat things I loved was DEAN~! starting this thread many years ago fresh off a visit from Jolly Old St. Nick each December 25th. I saw @S.K.o.S. was the last starter of one of these threads seven years ago, but in honor of DEAN~!, I figured we’d bring it back. Yes, it’s a day late, but I’m chalking it up to needing to do inventory all day since we were all so good and brought in giant hauls…AND including our English/Canadian brethren for Boxing Day. Without further ado… -A pizza stone, pellets, and extra set of probes for my smoker -Run The Jewels 4 (vinyl) -Various grooming gag gifts from my partner -Gift cards/certificates, including one to the Skunk Train in the NorCal Redwoods -SO many Matcha Kit-Kats But more than all that, it was my first Christmas with my daughter for our little family. The best gift of all. So…whatdja get???!??

Really happy my anxiety decided to crush me for the first two hours of this game; at least the Ravens wrapped it up early to bring me back down to earth. The talk around the 49ers is gonna be nauseating these next few weeks though.

PJ Walker, obviously.

Activating Wayback Machine in 3…

Verhei? An editor there.

Bill’s the one. Veteran Presence forever.

Of all the Sliding Doors DEAN opened when he started DVDVR, me and @Matt D having a bet as a result of the Punk/EVP drama to be settled on via originally a Segunda Caida article but then settling on a long post here, on the board where we made our silly little wager in the first place, is probably not as big as “the world’s biggest NFL writer used to go to wrestling shows with us when he was in college” but it’s probably pretty damn close. If it weren’t for the board? I would have never met @EricR after realizing we were both North Bay locals, and I would have never been friends with Matt had it not been for meeting Eric, although we crossed paths more impersonally on various boards and offshoots of this place. DEAN’s legacy is a thousand stories like this: Some lead to content on a wrestling blog for two decades, others lead to the creation of a billion-dollar wrestling company. Potato, potahto. So when that company hosted their All Out PPV last year and the brawl nobody wants to talk about (legal reasons or otherwise) became a thread so long and contentious we actually thought this might be the end of the Board, Matt and I instead saw a way to Create Content amongst ourselves by making a friendly wager on what the ultimate result of that brawl would be. In a selfish way? It’s how I get back on the site after somehow, some way, finishing Lucha Underground with Eric by taking over for Matt! No, I don’t know how we did it. It’s all there to read if you want to. Of course, we then came to the conclusion that since the bet was made here, we might as well have the result of that bet here. Alas, my plan is foiled. The bet was simple enough: After the fight, would that rascal CM Punk actually (be allowed to?) return to AEW? I was absolutely confident that he would. His impact on AEW over a year-plus span was too much for even a fistfight against the homeschoolers and The Personification Of Wrestling Otaku to dissuade. I also still like to believe the fight basically took place like the brawl in Anchorman; Ace Steel as Brick Tamlin, of course. Matt was less convinced Punk would return; for many, as it turned out, valid reasons! Two things happened since that bet came to be, unchronologically. The first is I became a dad, the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me and something I still don’t believe has actually happened. The second is that DEAN died. In the must-hear Exile on Bradstreet retrospective pod on DEAN’s life, the Phils and Kris talked openly about how much DEAN meant to them and where wrestling may have began the friendship for the Playaz, but it sustained through DEAN’s constant adoration and support for his friends and everything else in their lives. It was always more than just wrestling to DEAN when you interacted on the Board or the myriad chats he was a part of. As was said in the pod, it was about what he did to share his life with others, especially with the things he loved. And when he saw something where that love was equally expressed, he was always there to back it up or lend support. That was his legacy, more so even than the tildebang~! I personally remember posting with pride about my broadcasts when I was in Dunedin with the Blue Jays what seems like a lifetime ago in 2009-10. My first pro broadcasting gig ever. And when DEAN of all people responded with an affirmation of how cool it was, it really did mean the world to me. That was one of thousands of times he did that for people, as many anecdotes have described, on the Board and off. But they also talked about him as a father. And how much his kids just adored him and how much he supported them and how proud of them he was. I’ve talked with a few fathers in our community that reinforced that gleeful anticipation I had for when I became one and the two months since my daughter was born have only made that joy stronger. That particular part of the pod just absolutely broke me, as did his daughter’s response to all our support after his passing. We all know how good DEAN was to us and how he built up this community; it was only fitting we supported the amazing community he built in his home. So. This bet began on DEAN’s Board. About an incident that happened in a company that wouldn’t exist without him creating this incubator of talent on the internet. And I obviously won. So Matt now has to review three matches of my choosing, and in our original talks, the goal was to throw matches to the other person that would be a chore to watch, not unlike most of the discourse that happened after the incident. We had some spirited discussions of what routes to go that veered very much into the sublimely banal. Matt watches so much for posterity and enjoyment that the idea is you gotta make the other guy suffer as counterbalance. Or so it may have been. In the end, I went more thematic around the incident itself. Since supposedly a chair was thrown when it all went down, and I didn’t want to have Matt review an episode of The Boondocks, I figured I’d give him a match with some of the most insane chair throwing I’ve seen. Since Punk not only came back but got his own damn show AND got the supposed worst offender in the brawl his job back after being fired, he and Steel were the “winners” of the brawl, so I figured a match with the two of them was a shoe-in. Finally, as tribute, a match fit for the Sport of Kings: A DEAN special all the way. In the end, we all win because we found our way to this corner of the internet; DEAN just made sure it was enjoyable for all who wanted to be there. Here’s to bets between friends, both won and lost.

Joe and Punk can do so much better, can’t believe they only got 15. But Joe choking Punk out was phenomenal.

I’m still peeved they aren’t playing up Joe/Punk more than they are. Legit one of the marquee matchups you have left for both guys and it’s on a Saturday night with a week build and nothing else behind it to promote. Should be treated as way more of a big deal than it is.

I’m now pretty convinced the seizure spot was on the fly considering it was right after the elbow drop. And that his quip about the magician not revealing his secrets was along those lines.

Supposedly the plan was Dragon/Ishii on Wednesday, which is just terrible luck.

Broken arm for Danielson, out 6-8 weeks. Wrestled last 10 minutes with it.

@Matt D if this thread gets out of hand like the All Out one, might be time for another bet.

Eddie not matching up with Taichi is criminal. Also, Ishii has faced so many Americans over the years the luster is gone, and he’s lost a step from when he was at his peak. The Shingo match has a really good chance of being good, but I wish there were more chances for Eddie to show out. I mean, come on, you couldn’t match him up with Yano?!?

I’m in awe at the list of donations. Not just Tony K, but Bill Barnwell, who talked football on here and did the site with Phil et all (EDIT: Veteran Presence!) before Football Outsiders snagged him. And a decade later he’s the biggest football writer ESPN has. Lance. Bryan. That’s why I can’t dwell on “influence.” Dean just built this place to give folks a chance to voice opinions and talk about what they love. Or in Lance’s case, argue. And look at what writing on a website and starting a message board as a way to reach out to folks did! All that terminology just sells him short. He just did something and hoped other folks would like it like he did. And they absolutely did.

DEAN’s writing was something I emulated in my early writing days (and straight up lifted stuff from, the power of the tildebang) mainly because I don’t think I ever saw someone write about wrestling with so much unbridled passion and enthusiasm. There are folks I read for their opinions, for their perspective, for their candor, but DEAN has done something really nobody else had done in this community: he finds something good in basically everything he watches. Even if he doesn’t like a match, he’s quick to point out a punch or a selljob that made you watch it for but that single moment. It’s not just the joy DEAN has shown over the years; it’s him saying that wherever or however you get your wrestling, the only thing required when you watch The Sport of Kings is that you find something you can take away from every match that matters to YOU. Big Man, you got this. We’re all pulling for you. You have built something incredible.

Yeah, you wonder if Denver was laughing at how much he probably wanted

And multiple reporters backed that up, too. Still, Denver gonna Denver.

So the word now is Vic Fangio had offers but didn’t sign due to waiting Payton out. Now it seems like he’ll go to Denver with him. Which should open Wilks up to sign with San Francisco. So really, everyone wins, except, as always, Denver.

Bryan Danielson vs. Timothy Thatcher on national television in one week’s time. Year made. Reach for the skies.

It’s everything you want from a 90s JRPG with the best possible modern touches. It’s well written, it’s engaging, the combat is challenging, just a total blast. I’d been wanting to play it since the first trailer many moons ago and it absolutely has lived up to the expectations. On another front, I just 100 percented Xenoblade Chronicles 3 after 233 hours of play. I don’t think the story was as good as 1, but the gameplay was definitely better than 2. It’s an easier game to cheese out in battles than the others, where you had to really work for it in a lot of ways, but it’s still a hell of a game and a fitting end to the trilogy. No idea what Monolith comes up with next, but it’s going to have a lot to live up to. Still To come: Sports Story, finishing my Horizon Forbidden West play through, and then starting Elden Ring. With the hope to finish all 3 by the time Zelda arrives.

Meltzer got on LeBatard the other day which is hilarious given Dan has Ariel on for a lot of big MMA stuff, but Ariel is much better at his job than Dave is. It’s the wrong perspective to tell the story.