DG_ThenNowForever

I think everyone wanted it to be Caleb Williams, and when it wasn't it was hard to switch gears to someone else.

Great game tonight! AD showed up big time, and the Lakers were dominant to the first NBA Cup. For people who liked it, it was a lot of fun -- even if the games were visually challenging to watch. The NBA hit on a winning concept. In other news, Pat Bev is never going on NBA TV ever again: https://streamable.com/f6b22p Good question though. He should ask Josh himself next time he plays the Thunder.

Congrats Columbus. All season long it looked like Columbus, Cincinnati, and some rando out of the West had the best shot. The Crew fought to keep their team and they've been rewarded with two titles. That's not bad. Can you imagine, however, a couple of earlier lucky bounces this season with Messi in the final?

Ohtani almost making soccer money. Wow!

I've been posting about the NBA on this website for the better part of a decade+. I wish I had been paid all this time. It would have been a better use of my time.

You're saying that NBA fans are enjoying compelling NBA games at a time of year they normally don't? "this sucks" is a bad conversation anyway. Where are you expecting that to go? Nbacirclejerk may be more up your alley.

I wouldn't be paying as much attention if the Lakers weren't excellint, but they are and it's been a lot of fun. It's weird to say there's an astroturfing campaign though. I don't know what that's about.

The Lakers are finally healthy and they're up 40 on the Pelicans after 3. They might be actually good this season.

I can't take this primary blue and red court seriously. People would like this a whole lot more if they could see it.

The NBA is so lucky the Lakers made it. They're probably the only team Vegas works for in this capacity.

I understand what people are saying about why Alabama is in over FSU. I just think it's stupid and speaks to systemic issues within college football. And is a big part of what I generally don't care unless the team of my childhood (Syracuse) or my grad school (Washington) are playing well. Every year it's the same arguments and every year it's OSU, Alabama, Georgia or LSU getting the benefit of the doubt in one way or another. It starts with early rankings and continues the entirety of the season. If you believe in "tradition" and can work your way backwards from that, NCAAF is for you. If you want the results on the field to dictate the results at the end of the season, the NFL is better.

For a not insignificant portion of the fanbase, the injustice is part of the appeal.

Bills at Chiefs will still be a good game; all of Buffalo's games have been interesting. It's just that the stakes are a lot different than expected. Bills by 3, lol.

LeBron said last night that if it exists, he might as well win it. The Lakers performance in the IST games have show they want it, that's for sure. I think it's hard to argue the IST games haven't been more compelling than traditional November/December games. It's already a win there. I was also dubious -- and I still hate the courts -- but I love that they're introducing round robin pods and point differentials to American pro sports.

The IST has been great. Some people enjoy complaining more than enjoying.

Reffing has been bad forever, but I feel like the quality of everything took a nosedive in the COVID years. Our expectations of professionalism are down across the board everywhere, and it doesn't seem to matter that much. (I am now a boomer)

This all gets a lot easier when college football is just the Big Ten and the SEC, right? That's the direction we're headed in anyway.

Each player on the winning team gets a $500k bonus. For the max guys that's nothing. For the end of the bench and minimum guys, that's huge and most definitely a motivating factor.

That was nonsense too. The net effect is they kind of evened out, but still. Just get it right the first time. There's 7 years in between plays in the NFL. Just get it right.

Can't the NFL do something about its clear and obvious officiating problem? We all have eyes and every close game can't keep on coming down to whether the officials get the calls right or not. Can't there be a "common sense" third party that overturns really stupid penalties or adds pass interference when it's clearly happening? EDIT: I'm not rooting for the Chiefs, but they should have had 1st and goal at the end there. That was horse:censored:.

No kidding. The days when a team could be effectively eliminated with a loss -- like an Alabama -- were refreshing. Now we're facing the very real prospect of a Zombie Alabama team winning a title it had almost no shot at a week ago, and also a Texas/Alabama final that will do incredible ratings, but reflects a second chance for those teams Washington and Michigan didn't and wouldn't get.

I understand totally what you're saying and to a sense I get it. But the ultimate tiebreaker should always be wins. And the expanded playoff definitely helps this.

I don't know college football all that well and I know I always show that ignorance by expecting logical outcomes based on performance on the field. Actual wins counting less than good losses is the craziest thing about the sport.

I wonder what would have happened had Oregon beat Washington Friday night. You probably get to Michigan, FSU, Alabama and Georgia that way.

And they'll have a legitimate claim. If you win your conference and every other game and you're in a P5 conference, you get to be called champion.