Dilbert

Didnt see a thread for talk about the minor leagues here so I figured Id add one. AHL, ECHL, SPHL, FPHL I guess the junior leagues are welcome too. Anyway there seems to be some issues in the SPHL right now with the Vermilion County Bobcats. The team is in their second season and has never been good, drawn well or properly run. How they survived to this point, I dont know but anyway. The Bobcats may have played their final game. (Jan 22, a 5-2 loss at Peoria). The team had been scheduled off last weekend. But I guess there are some internal issues with the team right now. This weekend they were originally scheduled to play Friday and Saturday at Quad City. The league announce before Fridays game that there would be a change of opponents for the Storm. Peoria (who was off this weekend) would now be playing Friday and Saturday night at Quad City instead of Vermillion County. Peoria was originally scheduled to play at Vermilion County on Sunday. Quad City would instead play at Vermilion today instead. The Storm bused the team to Danville to take on Vermilion County this afternoon. The arena opened, the very few fans showed up and the Storm took to the ice for pregame warmups. The Bobcats never took the ice. A short time after the puck was supposed to drop, the league announced the game would be declared a forfeit. The Storm ended up staying for a while to do a skate with the fans. Nice of them to do that. Im not entirely sure whats going on with the team. The head coach, marketing director, broadcaster are no longer listed on their website. Their twitter has barely been active this season, the last being a like back in January, and before that in August of 2022. Today, their facebook page was deleted and rumors are that they have folded earlier this morning. No official word from the SPHL or the team as to whats going on but I think it may be safe to say they are done.

Im honestly dreading their city connect uniform

Im guessing the teal home alts will become the primary home , while keeping the black alts, red alts, road grays, and city connect.

Brady retired on February 1 last year too.

Actually the 3rd coming. They came back after the first shutdown

Looks like the Arena Football League is giving it a third try in 2024 https://www.ballysports.com/national/news/arena-football-league-prepares-comeback-in-2024-with-16-franchises

PBLA has postponed the remainder of their first season to reorganize. Teams managed to play between 3-5 games. https://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/pbla-postpones-all-remaining-games-for-the-2022-2023-season/n-5920101

The way the Bengals played tonight they didnt deserve to win. On to soccer season for me. I have no interest in watching the NFL milk the hell out of the Kelce Bowl.

To no ones surprise, LAFC announced their head coach and introduced their new MLS Next Pro club LAFC 2. Enrique Duran will be the head coach. He coached the Las Vegas Light, who were LAFCs affiliate last season in the USL Championship. The team will play most of their games at Titan Stadium in Fullerton. Only Charlotte hasnt revealed their MLS Next Pro club for 2023. Montreal and DC do not have clubs in MLS Next Pro. Montreal has their team in the Première Ligue de Soccer du Québec as the CF Montreal Reserve. DCs club Loudoun United was originally going to join MLSNP but a legal issue is keeping them in the USL Championship for 2023.

Fred McGriff also got in. Rolen got in on the BBWAA vote.

1996 Wild Card game. Lost to the Jaguars. In fact coming into today it had been the only home playoff loss for the Bills in Orchard Park. Bengals however were 2-0 against the Bills in the postseason. Overall, a fun game. Love a good snow game. The Bills organization and the Bills Mafia, I give nothing but respect. We may be enemies on the field but we are brothers off the field. Now lets beat Mahomes again.

Thats honestly a downgrade for me.

Two stadium name changes in three days. Tuesday PNC Stadium in Houston has been renamed Shell Energy Stadium. Today, Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles has been renamed BMO Stadium.

So here are the possible opponents for the international games: Jaguars (Texans, Colts, Titans, Ravens, Bengals, Falcons, Panthers, Chiefs, 49ers) Bills (Buccaneers, Jaguars, Giants, Cowboys, Raiders, Broncos, Jets, Patriots, Dolphins) Titans (Texans, Colts, Jaguars, Ravens, Bengals, Falcons, Panthers, Chargers, Seahawks) Chiefs (Broncos, Chargers, Raiders, Bills, Dolphins, Bears, Lions, Bengals, Eagles) Patriots (Bills, Dolphins, Jets, Commanders, Chiefs, Chargers, Eagles, Colts, Saints) Now lets narrow that down removing the Jaguars, Bills, Titans, Chiefs, and Patriots as opponents. NFL has never had a team play two international games in a season, and I doubt they will: Jaguars (Texans, Colts, Ravens, Bengals, Falcons, Panthers, 49ers) Bills (Buccaneers, Giants, Cowboys, Raiders, Broncos, Jets, Dolphins) Titans (Texans, Colts, Ravens, Bengals, Falcons, Panthers, Chargers, Seahawks) Chiefs (Broncos, Chargers, Raiders, Dolphins, Bears, Lions, Bengals, Eagles) Patriots (Dolphins, Jets, Commanders, Chargers, Eagles, Colts, Saints) Now the 49ers, Broncos, Buccaneers, Giants, Saints and Seahawks all played International games for 2022 so more than likey they wont be going abroad again this year so lets remove them: Jaguars (Texans, Colts, Ravens, Bengals, Falcons, Panthers) Bills (Cowboys, Raiders, Jets, Dolphins) Titans (Texans, Colts, Ravens, Bengals, Falcons, Panthers, Chargers) Chiefs (Chargers, Raiders, Dolphins, Bears, Lions, Bengals, Eagles) Patriots (Dolphins, Jets, Commanders, Chargers, Eagles, Colts) This would leave the following options, (last International appearance): Bears vs Chiefs (2019) Bengals vs Jaguars/Titans/Chiefs (2019) Chargers vs Titans/Chiefs/Patriots (2019) Colts vs Jaguars/Titans/Patriots (2016) Commanders vs Patriots (2016) Cowboys vs Bills (2014) Dolphins vs Bills/Chiefs/Patriots (21) Eagles vs Chiefs/Patriots (2018) Falcons vs Jaguars/Titans (2021) Jets vs Bills/Patriots (2021) Lions vs Chiefs (2015) Panthers vs Jaguars/Titans (2019) Raiders vs Bills/Chiefs (2019) Ravens vs Jaguars/Titans (2017 ) Texans vs Jaguars/Titans (2019) The Dolphins and Raiders have played Internationally 5 times.Chargers 3 times. Bears, Bengals, Falcons, Jets, Lions and Texans have played 2 times. Colts, Commanders, Cowboys, Eagles, Panthers and Ravens have only played 1 time. My prediction: -Patriots vs Commanders- Washington has only played Internationally once back in 2016. They are due for an International game. - Chiefs vs Eagles- A very compelling matchup of possible Super Bowl contenders. Eagles have only played Internationally once in 2018. -Bills vs Cowboys- A historic 90s Super Bowl matchup. The Cowboys are overdue for an International game only playing once before back in 2014. - Jaguars/Titans vs Colts/Ravens/Panthers- Jaguars and Titans share a similar schedule. Colts, Ravens and Panthers have all only appeared once in 2016, 2017, and 2019 respectively.

Ive only heard the Padres and Red Sox. The umpires already had crypto company FTX as a sponsor patch on their uniforms last season. Safe to say they wont be back for 2023

On Saturday the Rosie Reds (a Reds supporters group) held their annual luncheon at Great American Ball Park. Their keynote speaker was Phil Castellini (ya know, the guy who stuck his foot in his mouth on opening day last year saying "Where ya gonna go?") Well once again he spoke and its a hot mess. Some highlights: - He claimed that ownership runs the team like a non-profit organization. -He called baseball "an industry in crisis" He lamented guaranteed contracts asking the group "is anyone here getting paid not to do their job?" He also cited economic disparity between franchises due to individual tv deals among other factors. - He did a a slideshow with graphs. One slide revealed that their is a 75% increase since 2019 in teams not in contention for the playoffs on Opening Day, with criteria including teams listed as having a 25% chance or less of reaching the playoffs when the season begins., the Reds being one of those teams. Another economic inequality was new rules that allowed teams to sell advertising patches on uniforms, explaining that the Reds received $5 million for their advertising space, while the Red Sox received $17 million - He said the teams goal is "progress" - He celebrated the teams farm system. noting the team had promising prospects who would one day become Reds- and then joked afterward that they would be ex-Reds saying "of course we're gonna lose them." - He was unaware that the Rosie in Rosie Reds was actually an acronym (Rooters Organized to Stimulate Interest and Enthusiasm in the Reds) and asked if anyone in the group knew that, claiming he only just learned of it. The Rosie Reds are a philanthropic and social organization formed in 1964 amid rumors that then owner Bill DeWitt wanted to move the team to San Diego. It was founded as a womens group, but has been open to men since 1967.

Just need Tampa for the wild card sweep. Also that Sam Hubbard fumble return for touchdown broke the record for the longest in NFL playoff history. It broke the record set in 1975. The team who gave up that fumble also happened to be from Baltimore.

WILD CARD San Francisco 34 Seattle 21 Jacksonville 28 Los Angeles 25 Buffalo 36 Miami 17 New York 21 Minnesota 18 Cincinnati 32 Baltimore 10 Tampa Bay 17 Dallas 14 DIVISIONAL ROUND Cincinnati 41 Buffalo 38 Kansas City 35 Jacksonville 12 Philadelphia 32 New York 24 San Francisco 21 Tampa Bay 20 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND Cincinnati 30 Kansas City 27 San Francisco 28 Philadelphia 21 SUPER BOWL Cincinnati 38 San Francisco 34

The Las Vegas Lights delayed their home opener two months later to May 5 to accomodate the XFL at Cashman Field. The Lights will get their home back with a more than likely torn up turf.

I dont think Ive ever seen a season collapse as bad as the Titans did this year. OOF

The Bengals are also upset over potentially losing a home playoff game to a coin flip, despite winning the division. Had the game continued with a Bengals win they would have won the division (without it being handed to them), they would have tied Buffalo for the two seed (Cincinnati holding the tiebreaker based on head to head). If the Chiefs lost both week 17 and 18 and the Bengals won both 17 and 18 they would have been tied for the number 1 seed with Cincinnati holding the tiebreaker based on head to head. (a longshot, but possible outcome)

Didnt realize they were gonna play football in a baseball? soccer? stadium