NEW INFO 5 Results from share redemption are posted. Less than .2% redeemed. Very bullish as investors are showing extreme confidence in the future of PLBY.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/playboy-mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-120000721.html
NEW INFO 4 Definitive Agreement to purchase 100% of Lovers brand stores announced 2/1.
https://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Playboy+%28MCAC%29+Confirms+Deal+to+Acquire+Lovers/17892359.html
NEW INFO 3 I bought more on the dip today. 5081 total. Price rose AH to $12.38 (2.15%)
NEW INFO 2 Here is the full webinar.
https://icrinc.zoom.us/rec/play/9GWKdmOYumjWfZuufW3QXpe_FW_g--qeNbg6PnTjTMbnNTgLmCbWjeRFpQga1iPc-elpGap8dnDv8Zww.yD7DjUwuPmapeEdP?continueMode=true&tk=lEYc4F_FkKlgsmCIs6w0gtGHT2kbgVGbUju3cIRBSjk.DQIAAAAV8NK49xZWdldRM2xNSFNQcTBmcE00UzM3bXh3AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA&uuid=WN_GKWqbHkeSyuWetJmLFkj4g&_x_zm_rtaid=kR45-uuqRE-L65AxLjpbQw.1611967079119.2c054e3d3f8d8e63339273d9175939ed&_x_zm_rhtaid=866
NEW INFO 1 Live merger webinar with PLBY and MCAC on Friday January 29, 2021 at 12:00 NOON EST link below
https://mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/press-release-details/2021/Playboy-Enterprises-Inc.-and-Mountain-Crest-Acquisition-Corp-Participate-in-SPACInsider-ICR-Webinar-on-January-29th-at-12pm-ET/default.aspx
Playboy going public: Porn, Gambling, and Cannabis
!!!WARNING READING AHEAD!!! TL;DR at the end. It will take some time to sort through all the links and read/watch everything, but you should.
In the next couple weeks, Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp is taking Playboy public. The existing ticker MCAC will become PLBY. Special purpose acquisition companies have taken private companies public in recent months with great success. I believe this will be no exception. Notably, Playboy is profitable and has skyrocketing revenue going into a transformational growth phase.
Porn - First and foremost, let's talk about porn. I know what you guys are thinking. “Porno mags are dead. Why would I want to invest in something like that? I can get porn for free online.” Guess what? You are absolutely right. And that’s exactly why Playboy doesn’t do that anymore. That’s right, they eliminated their print division. And yet they somehow STILL make money from porn that people (see: boomers) pay for on their website through PlayboyTV, Playboy Plus, and iPlayboy. Here’s the thing: Playboy has international, multi-generational name recognition from porn. They have content available in 180 countries. It will be the only publicly traded adult entertainment (porn) company. But that is not where this company is going. It will help support them along the way. You can see every Playboy magazine through iPlayboy if you’re interested. NSFW links below:
https://www.playboy.com/
https://www.playboytv.com/
https://www.playboyplus.com/
https://www.iplayboy.com/
Gambling - Some of you might recognize the Playboy brand from gambling trips to places like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Cancun, London or Macau. They’ve been in the gambling biz for decades through their casinos, clubs, and licensed gaming products. They see the writing on the wall. COVID is accelerating the transition to digital, application based GAMBLING. That’s right. What we are doing on Robinhood with risky options is gambling, and the only reason regulators might give a shit anymore is because we are making too much money. There may be some restrictions put in place, but gambling from your phone on your couch is not going anywhere. More and more states are allowing things like Draftkings, poker, state ‘lottery” apps, hell - even political betting. Michigan and Virginia just ok’d gambling apps. They won’t be the last. This is all from your couch and any 18 year old with a cracked iphone can access it. Wouldn’t it be cool if Playboy was going to do something like that? They’re already working on it. As per CEO Ben Kohn who we will get to later, “...the company’s casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth.” Honestly, I stopped researching Scientific Games' sports betting segment when I saw the word ‘omni-channel’. That told me all I needed to know about it’s success.
“Our SG Sports™ platform is an enhanced, omni-channel solution for online, self-service and retail fixed odds sports betting – from soccer to tennis, basketball, football, baseball, hockey, motor sports, racing and more.”
https://www.scientificgames.com/
https://www.microgaming.co.uk/
“This latter segment has become increasingly enticing for Playboy, and it said last week that it is considering new tie-ups that could include gaming operators like PointsBet and 888Holdings.”
https://calvinayre.com/2020/10/05/business/playboys-gaming-ops-could-get-a-boost-from-spac-purchase/
As per their SEC filing:
“Significant consumer engagement and spend with Playboy-branded gaming properties around the world, including with leading partners such as Microgaming, Scientific Games, and Caesar’s Entertainment, steers our investment in digital gaming, sports betting and other digital offerings to further support our commercial strategy to expand consumer spend with minimal marginal cost, and gain consumer data to inform go-to-market plans across categories.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tMDAA1
They are expanding into more areas of gaming/gambling, working with international players in the digital gaming/gambling arena, and a Playboy sportsbook is on the horizon.
https://www.playboy.com/read/the-pleasure-of-playing-with-yourself-mobile-gaming-in-the-covid-era
Cannabis - If you’ve ever read through a Playboy magazine, you know they’ve had a positive relationship with cannabis for many years. As of September 2020, Playboy has made a major shift into the cannabis space. Too good to be true you say? Check their website. Playboy currently sells a range of CBD products. This is a good sign. Federal hemp products, which these most likely are, can be mailed across state lines and most importantly for a company like Playboy, can operate through a traditional banking institution. CBD products are usually the first step towards the cannabis space for large companies. Playboy didn’t make these products themselves meaning they are working with a processor in the cannabis industry. Another good sign for future expansion. What else do they have for sale? Pipes, grinders, ashtrays, rolling trays, joint holders. Hmm. Ok. So it looks like they want to sell some shit. They probably don’t have an active interest in cannabis right? Think again:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/09/24/playboy-gets-serious-about-cannabis-law-reform-advocacy-with-new-partnership-grants/?sh=62f044a65cea
“Taking yet another step into the cannabis space, Playboy will be announcing later on Thursday (September, 2020) that it is launching a cannabis law reform and advocacy campaign in partnership with National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Last Prisoner Project, Marijuana Policy Project, the Veterans Cannabis Project, and the Eaze Momentum Program.”
“According to information procured exclusively, the three-pronged campaign will focus on calling for federal legalization. The program also includes the creation of a mentorship plan, through which the Playboy Foundation will support entrepreneurs from groups that are underrepresented in the industry.” Remember that CEO Kohn from earlier? He wrote this recently:
https://medium.com/naked-open-letters-from-playboy/congress-must-pass-the-more-act-c867c35239ae
Seems like he really wants weed to be legal? Hmm wonder why? The writing's on the wall my friends. Playboy wants into the cannabis industry, they are making steps towards this end, and we have favorable conditions for legislative progress.
Don’t think branding your own cannabis line is profitable or worthwhile? Tell me why these 41 celebrity millionaires and billionaires are dummies. I’ll wait.
https://www.celebstoner.com/news/celebstoner-news/2019/07/12/top-celebrity-cannabis-brands/
Confirmation: I hear you. “This all seems pretty speculative. It would be wildly profitable if they pull this shift off. But how do we really know?” Watch this whole video:
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/playboy-ceo-telling-story-female-154907068.html
Man - this interview just gets my juices flowing. And highlights one of my favorite reasons for this play. They have so many different business avenues from which a catalyst could appear. I think paying attention, holding shares, and options on these staggered announcements over the next year is the way I am going to go about it. "There's definitely been a shift to direct-to-consumer," he (Kohn) said. "About 50 percent of our revenue today is direct-to-consumer, and that will continue to grow going forward.” “Kohn touted Playboy's portfolio of both digital and consumer products, with casino-style gaming, in particular, serving a crucial role under the company's new business model. Playboy also has its sights on the emerging cannabis market, from CBD products to marijuana products geared toward sexual health and pleasure.” "If THC does become legal in the United States, we have developed certain strains to enhance your sex life that we will launch," Kohn said. https://cheddar.com/media/playboy-goes-public-health-gaming-lifestyle-focus Oh? The CEO actually said it? Ok then. “We have developed certain strains…” They’re already working with growers on strains and genetics? Ok. There are several legal cannabis markets for those products right now, international and stateside. I expect Playboy licensed hemp and THC pre-rolls by EOY. Something like this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/842996758/10-playboy-pre-roll-tubes-limited?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=pre+roll+playboy&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&organic_search_click=1 Maintaining cannabis operations can be costly and a regulatory headache. Playboy’s licensing strategy allows them to pick successful, established partners and sidestep traditional barriers to entry. You know what I like about these new markets? They’re expanding. Worldwide. And they are going to be a bigger deal than they already are with or without Playboy. Who thinks weed and gambling are going away? Too many people like that stuff. These are easy markets. And Playboy is early enough to carve out their spot in each. Fuck it, read this too: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimosman/2020/10/20/playboy-could-be-the-king-of-spacs-here-are-three-picks/?sh=2e13dcaa3e05
Numbers: You want numbers? I got numbers. As per the company’s most recent SEC filing:
“For the year ended December 31, 2019, and the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s historical consolidated revenue was $78.1 million and $101.3 million, respectively, historical consolidated net income (loss) was $(23.6) million and $(4.8) million, respectively, and Adjusted EBITDA was $13.1 million and $21.8 million, respectively.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Licensing segment contributed $44.2 million in revenue and $31.1 million in net income.”
“In the ninth months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Direct-to-Consumer segment contributed $40.2 million in revenue and net income of $0.1 million.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Digital Subscriptions and Content segment contributed $15.4 million in revenue and net income of $7.4 million.”
They are profitable across all three of their current business segments.
“Playboy’s return to the public markets presents a transformed, streamlined and high-growth business. The Company has over $400 million in cash flows contracted through 2029, sexual wellness products available for sale online and in over 10,000 major retail stores in the US, and a growing variety of clothing and branded lifestyle and digital gaming products.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
Growth: Playboy has massive growth in China and massive growth potential in India. “In China, where Playboy has spent more than 25 years building its business, our licensees have an enormous footprint of nearly 2,500 brick and mortar stores and 1,000 ecommerce stores selling high quality, Playboy-branded men’s casual wear, shoes/footwear, sleepwear, swimwear, formal suits, leather & non-leather goods, sweaters, active wear, and accessories. We have achieved significant growth in China licensing revenues over the past several years in partnership with strong licensees and high-quality manufacturers, and we are planning for increased growth through updates to our men’s fashion lines and expansion into adjacent categories in men’s skincare and grooming, sexual wellness, and women’s fashion, a category where recent launches have been well received.” The men’s market in China is about the same size as the entire population of the United States and European Union combined. Playboy is a leading brand in this market. They are expanding into the women’s market too. Did you know CBD toothpaste is huge in China? China loves CBD products and has hemp fields that dwarf those in the US. If Playboy expands their CBD line China it will be huge. Did you know the gambling money in Macau absolutely puts Las Vegas to shame? Technically, it's illegal on the mainland, but in reality, there is a lot of gambling going on in China. https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/10/19/magic-johnson-and-uncle-buds-cbd-brand-enter-china-via-tmall-partnership/?sh=271776ca411e “In India, Playboy today has a presence through select apparel licensees and hospitality establishments. Consumer research suggests significant growth opportunities in the territory with Playboy’s brand and categories of focus.” “Playboy Enterprises has announced the expansion of its global consumer products business into India as part of a partnership with Jay Jay Iconic Brands, a leading fashion and lifestyle Company in India.” “The Indian market today is dominated by consumers under the age of 35, who represent more than 65 percent of the country’s total population and are driving India’s significant online shopping growth. The Playboy brand’s core values of playfulness and exploration resonate strongly with the expressed desires of today’s younger millennial consumers. For us, Playboy was the perfect fit.” “The Playboy international portfolio has been flourishing for more than 25 years in several South Asian markets such as China and Japan. In particular, it has strategically targeted the millennial and gen-Z audiences across categories such as apparel, footwear, home textiles, eyewear and watches.” https://www.licenseglobal.com/industry-news/playboy-expands-global-footprint-india It looks like they gave COVID the heisman in terms of net damage sustained: “Although Playboy has not suffered any material adverse consequences to date from the COVID-19 pandemic, the business has been impacted both negatively and positively. The remote working and stay-at-home orders resulted in the closure of the London Playboy Club and retail stores of Playboy’s licensees, decreasing licensing revenues in the second quarter, as well as causing supply chain disruption and less efficient product development thereby slowing the launch of new products. However, these negative impacts were offset by an increase in Yandy’s direct-to-consumer sales, which have benefited in part from overall increases in online retail sales so far during the pandemic.” Looks like the positives are long term (Yandy acquisition) and the negatives are temporary (stay-at-home orders).
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921006093/tm213766-1_defa14a.htm
This speaks to their ability to maintain a financially solvent company throughout the transition phase to the aforementioned areas. They’d say some fancy shit like “expanded business model to encompass four key revenue streams: Sexual Wellness, Style & Apparel, Gaming & Lifestyle, and Beauty & Grooming.” I hear “we’re just biding our time with these trinkets until those dollar dollar bill y’all markets are fully up and running.” But the truth is these existing revenue streams are profitable, scalable, and rapidly expanding Playboy’s e-commerce segment around the world.
"Even in the face of COVID this year, we've been able to grow EBITDA over 100 percent and revenue over 68 percent, and I expect that to accelerate going into 2021," he said. “Playboy is accelerating its growth in company-owned and branded consumer products in attractive and expanding markets in which it has a proven history of brand affinity and consumer spend.”
Also in the SEC filing, the Time Frame:
“As we detailed in the definitive proxy statement, the SPAC stockholder meeting to vote on the transaction has been set for February 9th, and, subject to stockholder approval and satisfaction of the other closing conditions, we expect to complete the merger and begin trading on NASDAQ under ticker PLBY shortly thereafter,” concluded Kohn.
The Players: Suhail “The Whale” Rizvi (HMFIC), Ben “The Bridge” Kohn (CEO), “lil” Suying Liu & “Big” Dong Liu (Young-gun China gang). I encourage you to look these folks up. The real OG here is Suhail Rizvi. He’s from India originally and Chairman of the Board for the new PLBY company. He was an early investor in Twitter, Square, Facebook and others. His firm, Rizvi Traverse, currently invests in Instacart, Pinterest, Snapchat, Playboy, and SpaceX. Maybe you’ve heard of them. “Rizvi, who owns a sprawling three-home compound in Greenwich, Connecticut, and a 1.65-acre estate in Palm Beach, Florida, near Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg, moved to Iowa Falls when he was five. His father was a professor of psychology at Iowa. Along with his older brother Ashraf, a hedge fund manager, Rizvi graduated from Wharton business school.” “Suhail Rizvi: the 47-year-old 'unsocial' social media baron: When Twitter goes public in the coming weeks (2013), one of the biggest winners will be a 47-year-old financier who guards his secrecy so zealously that he employs a person to take down his Wikipedia entry and scrub his photos from the internet. In IPO, Twitter seeks to be 'anti-FB'” “Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia looks like a big Twitter winner. So do the moneyed clients of Jamie Dimon. But as you’ve-got-to-be-joking wealth washed over Twitter on Thursday — a company that didn’t exist eight years ago was worth $31.7 billion after its first day on the stock market — the non-boldface name of the moment is Suhail R. Rizvi. Mr. Rizvi, 47, runs a private investment company that is the largest outside investor in Twitter with a 15.6 percent stake worth $3.8 billion at the end of trading on Thursday (November, 2013). Using a web of connections in the tech industry and in finance, as well as a hearty dose of good timing, he brought many prominent names in at the ground floor, including the Saudi prince and some of JPMorgan’s wealthiest clients.” https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/technology/at-twitter-working-behind-the-scenes-toward-a-billion-dollar-payday.html Y’all like that Arab money? How about a dude that can call up Saudi Princes and convince them to spend? Funniest shit about I read about him: “Rizvi was able to buy only $100 million in Facebook shortly before its IPO, thus limiting his returns, according to people with knowledge of the matter.” Poor guy :(
He should be fine with the 16 million PLBY shares he's going to have though :)
Shuhail also has experience in the entertainment industry. He’s invested in companies like SESAC, ICM, and Summit Entertainment. He’s got Hollywood connections to blast this stuff post-merger. And he’s at least partially responsible for that whole Twilight thing. I’m team Edward btw.
I really like what Suhail has done so far. He’s lurked in the shadows while Kohn is consolidating the company, trimming the fat, making Playboy profitable, and aiming the ship at modern growing markets.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-ipo-rizvi-insight/insight-little-known-hollywood-investor-poised-to-score-with-twitter-ipo-idUSBRE9920VW20131003
Ben “The Bridge” Kohn is an interesting guy. He’s the connection between Rizvi Traverse and Playboy. He’s both CEO of Playboy and was previously Managing Partner at Rizvi Traverse. Ben seems to be the voice of the Playboy-Rizvi partnership, which makes sense with Suhail’s privacy concerns. Kohn said this:
“Today is a very big day for all of us at Playboy and for all our partners globally. I stepped into the CEO role at Playboy in 2017 because I saw the biggest opportunity of my career. Playboy is a brand and platform that could not be replicated today. It has massive global reach, with more than $3B of global consumer spend and products sold in over 180 countries. Our mission – to create a culture where all people can pursue pleasure – is rooted in our 67-year history and creates a clear focus for our business and role we play in people’s lives, providing them with the products, services and experiences that create a lifestyle of pleasure. We are taking this step into the public markets because the committed capital will enable us to accelerate our product development and go-to-market strategies and to more rapidly build our direct to consumer capabilities,” said Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy.
“Playboy today is a highly profitable commerce business with a total addressable market projected in the trillions of dollars,” Mr. Kohn continued, “We are actively selling into the Sexual Wellness consumer category, projected to be approximately $400 billion in size by 2024, where our recently launched intimacy products have rolled out to more than 10,000 stores at major US retailers in the United States. Combined with our owned & operated ecommerce Sexual Wellness initiatives, the category will contribute more than 40% of our revenue this year. In our Apparel and Beauty categories, our collaborations with high-end fashion brands including Missguided and PacSun are projected to achieve over $50M in retail sales across the US and UK this year, our leading men’s apparel lines in China expanded to nearly 2500 brick and mortar stores and almost 1000 digital stores, and our new men’s and women’s fragrance line recently launched in Europe. In Gaming, our casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth. Our product strategy is informed by years of consumer data as we actively expand from a purely licensing model into owning and operating key high-growth product lines focused on driving profitability and consumer lifetime value. We are thrilled about the future of Playboy. Our foundation has been set to drive further growth and margin, and with the committed capital from this transaction and our more than $180M in NOLs, we will take advantage of the opportunity in front of us, building to our goal of $100M of adjusted EBITDA in 2025.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
Also, according to their Form 4s, “Big” Dong Liu and “lil” Suying Liu just loaded up with shares last week. These guys are brothers and seem like the Chinese market connection. They are only 32 & 35 years old. I don’t even know what that means, but it's provocative.
https://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1832415.htm
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-ii-002600994.html
Y’all like that China money?
“Mr. Liu has been the Chief Financial Officer of Dongguan Zhishang Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd., a regional designer, manufacturer and distributor of LED lights serving commercial customers throughout Southern China since November 2016, at which time he led a syndicate of investments into the firm. Mr. Liu has since overseen the financials of Dongguan Zhishang as well as provided strategic guidance to its board of directors, advising on operational efficiency and cash flow performance. From March 2010 to October 2016, Mr. Liu was the Head of Finance at Feidiao Electrical Group Co., Ltd., a leading Chinese manufacturer of electrical outlets headquartered in Shanghai and with businesses in the greater China region as well as Europe.”
Dr. Suying Liu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp., commented, “Playboy is a unique and compelling investment opportunity, with one of the world’s largest and most recognized brands, its proven consumer affinity and spend, and its enormous future growth potential in its four product segments and new and existing geographic regions. I am thrilled to be partnering with Ben and his exceptional team to bring his vision to fruition.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
These guys are good. They have a proven track record of success across multiple industries. Connections and money run deep with all of these guys. I don’t think they’re in the game to lose.
I was going to write a couple more paragraphs about why you should have a look at this but really the best thing you can do is read this SEC filing from a couple days ago. It explains the situation in far better detail. Specifically, look to page 137 and read through their strategy. Also, look at their ownership percentages and compensation plans including the stock options and their prices. The financials look great, revenue is up 90% Q3, and it looks like a bright future.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
I’m hesitant to attach this because his position seems short term, but I’m going to with a warning because he does hit on some good points (two are below his link) and he’s got a sizable position in this thing (500k+ on margin, I think). I don’t know this guy but he did look at the same publicly available info and make roughly the same prediction, albeit without the in depth gambling or cannabis mention. You can also search reddit for ‘MCAC’ and very few relevant results come up and none of them even come close to really looking at this thing.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gOvAd6lebs452hFlWWbxVjQ3VMsjGBkbJeXRwDwIJfM/edit?usp=sharing
“Also, before you people start making claims that Playboy is a “boomer” company, STOP RIGHT THERE. This is not a good argument. Simply put. The only thing that matters is Playboy’s name recognition, not their archaic business model which doesn’t even exist anymore as they have completely repurposed their business.”
“Imagine not buying $MCAC at a 400M valuation lol. Streetwear department is worth 1B alone imo.”
Considering the ridiculous Chinese growth as a lifestyle brand, he’s not wrong.
Current Cultural Significance and Meme Value: A year ago I wouldn’t have included this section but the events from the last several weeks (even going back to tsla) have proven that a company’s ability to meme and/or gain social network popularity can have an effect. Tik-tok, Snapchat, Twitch, Reddit, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter. They all have Playboy stuff on them. Kids in middle and highschool know what Playboy is but will likely never see or touch one of the magazines in person. They’ll have a Playboy hoodie though. Crazy huh? A lot like GME, PLBY would hugely benefit from meme-value stock interest to drive engagement towards their new business model while also building strategic coffers. This interest may not directly and/or significantly move the stock price but can generate significant interest from larger players who will.
Bull Case: The year is 2025. Playboy is now the world leader pleasure brand. They began by offering Playboy licensed gaming products, including gambling products, direct to consumers through existing names. By 2022, demand has skyrocketed and Playboy has designed and released their own gambling platforms. In 2025, they are also a leading cannabis brand in the United States and Canada with proprietary strains and products geared towards sexual wellness. Cannabis was legalized in the US in 2023 when President Biden got glaucoma but had success with cannabis treatment. He personally pushes for cannabis legalization as he steps out of office after his first term. Playboy has also grown their brand in China and India to multi-billion per year markets. The stock goes up from 11ish to 100ish and everyone makes big gains buying somewhere along the way.
Bear Case: The United States does a complete 180 on marijuana and gambling. President Biden overdoses on marijuana in the Lincoln bedroom when his FDs go tits up and he loses a ton of money in his sports book app after the Fighting Blue Hens narrowly lose the National Championship to Bama. Playboy is unable to expand their cannabis and gambling brands but still does well with their worldwide lifestyle brand. They gain and lose some interest in China and India but the markets are too large to ignore them completely. The stock goes up from 11ish to 13ish and everyone makes 15-20% gains.
TL;DR: Successful technology/e-commerce investment firm took over Playboy to turn it into a porn, online gambling/gaming, sports book, cannabis company, worldwide lifestyle brand that promotes sexual wellness, vetern access, women-ownership, minority-ownership, and “pleasure for all”. Does a successful online team reinventing an antiquated physical copy giant sound familiar? No options yet, shares only for now. $11.38 per share at time of writing. My guess? $20 by the end of February. $50 by EOY. This is not financial advice. I am not qualified to give financial advice. I’m just sayin’ I would personally use a Playboy sports book app while smoking a Playboy strain specific joint and it would be cool if they did that. Do your own research. You’d probably want to start here:
WARNING - POTENTIALLY NSFW - SEXY MODELS AHEAD - no actual nudity though
https://s26.q4cdn.com/895475556/files/doc_presentations/Playboy-Craig-Hallum-Conference-Investor-Presentation-11_17_20-compressed.pdf
Or here:
https://www.mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/default.aspx
Jimmy Chill: “Get into any SPAC at $10 or $11 and you are going to make money.”
STL;DR: Buy MCAC. MCAC > PLBY couple weeks. Rocketship. Moon.
Position: 5000 shares. I will buy short, medium, and long-dated calls once available.

Trigger Warnings: This series contains racial abuse which may upset. This isn't my intention, it is just to provide an unfortunate realism to todays Urban culture in the U.K. There is also references to drugs and violence.
This is more of a true crime story than a horror story. County lines drug trafficking is an ongoing issue in the U.K.
Large scale organised crime gangs manipulate kids from broken homes to run their drugs up the country into smaller seaside and market towns to bolster their profits.
This is a story about a young man who begins working for an CLDTG and soon rises through the ranks. The things he is forced to do to prove himself are in themselves horrific.
Episode 1 and 2 are written, with more episodes to come as I write them. Please give me feedback on what you think.
Episode 1 – Taken.
As I sit here trying to type this out, my fingers continue to slip off the keys. So, if there is any spelling or grammar errors then please give me a break. Sweat and adrenaline aren’t ideal when you are trying to type your dying declaration.
Why am I like this? That’s because I know what happens to people, who inform on this or any similar organisations.
Looking at my current predicament, I highly doubt that I will get to tell this story myself, in court and alive. That was the initial intention but due to unforeseen circumstances, I really can’t picture it.
Why? because I was sold out. Ironically by the people who are quoted to ‘protect and serve’.
Right now, I’m holed up in a dimly lit basement. Barricaded inside the local public house. I can hear the vehicles screeching to a halt, outside. They have come for me.
I run and pile as many heavy looking items, as I can, against the basement door. I take a step back, trying to calm my breathing, looking at the barricaded entrance to my hideout, desperately and rationally trying to assess, if this is enough. The noise outside distracts me.
The small 50 by 30, barred window on the wall parallel to the door, allowed me to see on to the backstreets. A black Range Rover, tinted windows, attended by a white Transit Van, were parked up outside the pub. The vehicle doors were open and a small group of handy looking men, dressed in dark balaclavas, combat gear and bomber jackets had emerged from the convoy.
Three of the men were focused around the back door of the tavern. The easiest, and likely the less public way of getting into the building. They were violently kicking at the lock. Luckily, I had the wherewithal to wedge the beer barrels in the doorway and create a sturdy barricade.
The other 4 men, held various items in their hands. Given the poor state of the window, the steel bars and the fact, I’m a 17-year-old kid who’s never met 5 foot 8, my vision and the vantage point trying to peer outside was poor. However, I’m semi-confident, I could make out a pair of baseball bets, one with barbed wire, one with nails. The other items appeared to be a pair of bolt cutters and a machete. The bolt cutters and machete were highly likely tools to get into the building, but I had no doubt that I would be seeing how efficient they were, once the men got inside.
‘I’m sorry, I had to do it, Will. They give me no choice...’
The words of Judas, AKA Detective Inspector Mark Neill, continued to ring in my mind. Almost in sync with the sound of the back door of the pub bursting and splintering.
I press the catch and let the magazine of the Glock, slip out in to my hand. 3 rounds. Even, if I was Butch Cassidy, the mathematics we’re not on my side.
Decisions, Decisions.
Going down in blaze of glory, putting three criminals in the ground to be then beaten, pulverized, mutilated and then mercifully, murdered.
Or, end it right here, don’t give them the satisfaction. But then everything I have put myself through over the past 2 years, would be for nothing.
I sat back and reminisced, how I got where I am right now.
I pull this laptop off the desk in the corner and decide to kill the time waiting for these bastards to get in, by writing what can only be described as the memoirs of a A* student, turned drug dealer, turned police informant, turned dead man. Strap in, it really is quite a ride.
If the CPS read this online or hear it on YouTube then please consider this tale a dying declaration and thus, must be treated as such if this story is being told by anyone other than me. I do this so that it may be entered into evidence and be deemed admissible in crown court.
My journey to this point right now, started 2 years ago. I was 15 years old and I was walking home from school.
My name is Will Cassidy. Also known as ‘Casper’ to my criminal associates.
This started in 2018, When I was attending Moss Heath High School, West Yorkshire. I was in my last year before graduating.
Despite Moss Heath being a literal holding pen for the Jeremy Kyle show, I was different. I didn’t smoke, do drugs, fight. I was on for A*s across the board in Math's, English, Applied Sciences, History, Business Studies and Design Tech. I was the head teachers prize asset. My SATs score was one of the highest in the whole nation. I earned my school more in additional funding, in 4 years I've attended this place, than any of the last 250 charity events the PTA managed to fumble together.
A 162 IQ and a photographic memory certainly make test and homework easy but I still found it extremely difficult to make friends. For the most part, people were friendly enough, but It didn’t take me long to realise they just wanted to take a peek at my answers. When it came to being invited to the movies or to play games, no one had much use for my intellect then.
If I wasn’t being used, I was being abused. You know, you really can spot the kids, who bully others out of some sort of transferred self-esteem issues, a mile off. School clothes never look as clean as they did on Monday, black eye just about fading after a bank holiday weekend and boy, they sure can’t eat their food fast enough at dinner time. Either way, they see someone like me. Clever, looked after, on the way up, the entire world at my feet. They hate it, they despise it, as it’ll never be them because their parents drink, shoot and gamble and would sooner pour a mug of boiling water over them than help them with their algebra homework. So, they call me names, hit me, bully me because they think I’ve got everything they want. Jesus, they don’t have a fucking clue.
Thursday 23rd March 2018. The day my life was truly blown apart. Jake Hamer had done his usual ‘funny to him and his arse licking friends, yet not really all that funny to anyone else’ routine. This consisted of throwing pencils and pieces of screwed up paper at the back of my head, then him burying his head in his work, once I turned around. Pfft, like he could actually read. Not that he was really trying to convince me.
He then followed me out of the classroom, once the bell rang. There was a section of the school where for some reason the teachers never supervised. Too busy stood around near the gates, sucking the life of a pack of Marlboro, moaning how they are all underpaid by the government.
Hamer was a creature of habit; he always utilised this blind spot to overtake me and cut off my path. He would always ask rhetorical questions like where did I think I was going? And who did I think I was? It never mattered whether or not, I answered back. He always did the same thing. Left hook to the body. Right hand then on my throat, pinning me hard against the wall. His minions stood in the background, laughing away, flicking their wrists so their index fingers slapped against their middle finger.
‘Ya lucky ya know, Willy. My boys ere have got a bag of fat spliffs and we’re gunna go blaze em. Otherwise, I'd be banging you out ya little mug. So go on, get yaself gone!’
Declan Burrows was the school bad boy. Everyone knew his brother, Ian, was the towns drug kingpin. That’s probably a strong word. He grew his own weed, stole ketamine from the local farms and picked up the odd batch of borderline talcum powder from his uncle in Liverpool. Ian was the supplier. Declan was the dealer. Everyone in school bought their gear from Declan. Jake, being Declan's best mate, got his fair share of freebies. His home was also used as what you’d call a trap house to ‘bag up’ the goodies and in return, Declan and Ian paid Jakes mum and dad for the accommodation. And, the award for the Parents of the year, goes to...
Jake let go of my neck. He let me move away but he’d give me a stiff boot in the small of my back, as I walked in front again. Sometimes I fell, Sometime I didn’t. Today, I fell.
I heard the laughter once again and the name calling. Declan throw a half bottle of Fanta at my head. I fought hard, harder than ever, to hold back the tears. I bit down hard, I swallowed the lump in my throat and I walked out the school. I nodded like a robot when Mr Bell asked if I was ok. Like he’d give a shit, Jake is his star rugby captain and Declan is his football golden boy. Cheek turning Prick. Deal drugs on school grounds obviously not an issue, as long as you can boss the left wing.
Declan shouted an insult at me that didn’t quite resonate properly until I was out of immediate harm's way. ‘Absolute pussy, just like his brother. He went down like a sack of shit as well!’
Not quite sure what that was meant to mean. Nathan had only recently come back to live with me and mum. He’d lived with his dad for the best part of the last 10 years. His father had recently been arrested, charged and prosecuted for assault and driving under the influence. As a result, me and my brother had been reunited.
I hurried home as fast as I could. Jake was more aggressive when he was stoned, and there wasn’t much to do on the estate other than terrorise the local Asian corner shop. If I wasn’t at least within sprinting distance of my home, before Jake finished his first joint, I could be in further trouble.
As I approached my mother's 2-bedroom council house on the London Park Estate, I couldn’t quite tell you the point that I knew something was definitely wrong. However, I knew immediately that something was off. My mum always said to keep the doors locked. Day or Night. Yet the door was wide open. 3.30 in the afternoon. Mum had an appointment at the job centre. Nathan usually spends most of time out of our house so I was starting to threat - any Tom, Dick or Harry could just waltz in and help themselves to our belongings and, on this estate, they bloody would too!
I cautiously entered the house. Signs of a struggle were obvious. Small drops of blood made a trail that led upstairs, I followed. Nathan and mines bedroom had had its door kicked in. My computer desk was trashed. Mattresses were flipped, all our draws pulled out, a couple of bloody teeth lay in the middle of the floor, Nathans. Shit.
I turned in a panic to search the rest of the house, frantically searching for any sign of my brother's whereabouts. I tried to think hard. C’mon you’re meant to be smart! Not so brainy, now are you?
Police, I need to get the police. Phone? Phone? WHERE’S MY FUCKING PHONE?? Battery flat! Of course
I began to cry; 9/10 kidnappings result in a fatality if the victim isn’t recovered within a short amount of time. I looked at my flat phone and Nathans iPhone 7 smashed to smithereens in the corner of the room and wondered what on earth I was going to do.
Two things entered my head almost simultaneously. I saw Nathan take a call once as I walked past our room. It wasn’t an iPhone, looked smaller and older. Never thought much of it at the time but seemed highly significant now. The second thing was I once entered the bedroom while Nathan was in the wardrobe, he totally flipped out. Screaming about I should knock.
I ran to the wardrobe. The doors were ripped off the sliders, clothes ripped off the hangers and launched across the floor, draws tipped out.
Clearly whoever took Nathan, was looking for something, something valuable. Question was, did they find it? I re-searched the wardrobe, with what was likely much less violence and aggression.
Take your time, find what they missed. I focused, like a missing person investigation, I covered every blade of grass so to speak and then, I got my break, there it was. A frayed piece of carpet in the corner of the wardrobe. This floor had been pulled up. I ran downstairs, leaping down 6-5 steps at a time, swung myself off the bannister and launched into the kitchen. I forced open the utensils draw and equipped myself with a butter knife.
I flew back up the stairs in the same manner. I slide the knife in-between the carpet and the wall and pried the carpet up until I could grip it. I pulled back the carpet and was greeted by three floorboards. They were all loose. I used the same knife and lifted up all three boards. What I saw, made my heart sink.
A square cardboard box, sat in the floorspace. Inside the box were 6 mobile phones. I picked one out. A sticker was attached to the back of this particular phone. ‘H’.
Another one, ‘Cr’. The other phones had the stickers ‘Co’, ‘Ox’, ‘PU’ on the remaining phones. This left one more phone. I picked it up. 23 missed calls from a random number. I was just about to call the number back when I heard a scream. My mother.
‘Will! Will!’ She was hysterical. I grabbed the phones and stuffed them in my school bag and replaced the floorboard and carpet.
‘I’m fine, mum. We’ve only been gone and robbed’. I prayed she hadn’t noticed the blood and I kicked the teeth under the bed. My mum cracked; she began to wail.
‘No, Will. It’s not a robbery! It’s Nathan, him and his mate Dave have pissed somebody off! I’ve just seen Daves mum. She’s absolutely black and blue. A van pulled up and 4 men in balaclavas jumped out and kicked her door in. They smacked her about and stabbed her dog. They beat Dave within an inch of his life in front of her until he told them where Nathan lives. They said if they called the police, they’d come back and put her in a wheelchair and him in the ground. They taken him haven’t they? oh my god! What are we going to do?? We need to call the police!’
I was 15, naïve and in to fortnight but Jesus Christ, even I knew that would do more harm than good. ‘Mum, it’s ok. Nathans already rung. He says he’s sorted it and he’ll be home soon.’
Did she believe that?
She looked at me confused. ‘People don’t beat innocent women, kill dogs, threaten families and abduct people, for it to be just ‘sorted out’ in an hour!’ she barked.
‘I know, but it was some misunderstanding. I think they thought he was stealing from them but he’s proven his innocence now.’ Believe me, please.
‘Fucking hell. That boy! Always in shit. He needs to fuck off back to Birmingham. Just brings trouble.’ She said frustrated, looking at the mess, not knowing where to begin tidying. Frustrated, but satisfied. She bought it.
I didn’t know If I could get Nathan home safe but I knew I had a better chance of doing so, with the 6 phones in my bag, than with the help of the West Yorkshire police service.
I sat in my room and pretended to tidy up. I took out one of the phones with the ‘H’ on the back. I opened up the call history. There must have been at least 60 different numbers that called the phone in the last 2 weeks. I checked the other phones, the number of calls varied but the ‘H’ ‘Co’ and ‘Cr’ phones seemed the most popular. The ‘Pu’ phone hadn’t made a call in 9 months. The phone with no sticker now had 26 missed calls. 3 more in the time, I’d been trying to convince my mum Nathan was fine. I never heard a ring or a vibrate. Maybe that’s why they never found it.
I considered the fact, that if Nathan had given up these phones then he’d be dead. Perhaps he was hoping Dave would use them as currency to buy his safety. Well, unfortunately Dave was in the ICU after he slipped and fell down his stairs, early today. Yeah, fell right into 4 baseball bats and a meat clever.
So, they will have to make do with me. The number called again. I looked at the green answer button for around 4 seconds. If I could see into the future, knowing the path my life would have taken by pressing that button, would I have still pressed it?
You’re fucking damn right I would.
I answered the phone.

Going through old issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and posting highlights in my own words. For anyone interested, I highly recommend signing up for the actual site at f4wonline and checking out the full archives.
PREVIOUS YEARS ARCHIVE:
1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000

1-1-2001	1-8-2001	1-15-2001	1-22-2001
1-29-2001	2-5-2001	2-12-2001	2-19-2001
2-26-2001	3-5-2001	3-12-2001	3-19-2001
3-26-2001	4-2-2001	4-9-2001	4-16-2001
4-23-2001	4-30-2001	5-7-2001	5-14-2001
5-21-2001	5-28-2001	6-4-2001	6-11-2001
6-18-2001	6-25-2001	7-2-2001	7-9-2001
7-16-2001	7-23-2001	7-30-2001	8-6-2001
8-13-2001	8-20-2001	8-27-2001	9-3-2001
9-10-2001	9-17-2001	9-25-2001	10-1-2001
10-8-2001	10-15-2001	10-22-2001	10-29-2001
11-5-2001	11-12-2001	11-19-2001	11-26-2001
12-6-2001	12-10-2001	12-17-2001	12-24-2001

• "2001 will never be looked back upon as being a great year for wrestling," so writes Dave Meltzer. And with that, we have come to the end of the Observer Rewinds.
  
• The issue opens with a long recap of the major stories of the past year. Throughout the world, every single professional wrestling organization did worse than the year before it. In 2000, Time Warner attempted to sell WCW for $600 million. A year later, they sold it for $2.5 million. And realistically, WCW was actually sold for a loss, because Time Warner was still on the hook for $15 million in wrestling contracts that WWF didn't pick up. And of course, ECW folded as well. A bunch of struggling start-ups began in their place and Dave doesn't seem hopeful for the long-term prospects of WWA or XWF. All in all, 2001 was the year that changed the wrestling industry forever. Anyway, Dave recaps the entire year, going month-by-month in great detail on all the top stories throughout. It's pretty much just rehashing old news, so let's keep it moving...
  
• Dave gives a long recap of the latest PRIDE show and man, this is shaping up to be a kinda slow issue to end the Rewinds on. The only notable wrestling related news out of the show was Antonio Inoki hyping up his New Year's Eve show, which Dave says is on the verge of falling apart because people keep pulling out and of course, IWGP champion Kazuyuji Fujita had to back out due to injury.
  
• Speaking of MMA, Dos Caras Jr. (Alberto Del Rio) had to pull out of a scheduled fight after suffering a shoulder injury days before. He was replaced by Mexican wrestling legend Canek, fighting at 49 years old. Canek fought with his mask on and defeated another pro wrestler in the shoot. Canek was said to look impressive, especially considering his age (eh, I dunno about all that. Judge for yourself:)
  

WATCH: Canek vs. Osamu Kawahara

• Keiji Muto vs. Toshiaki Kawada for the AJPW Triple Crown title has been announced for February. Dave expects Kawada to win the title. The original plan, when Muto won the belt back in June, was for him to be a short-term transitional champion and drop the belt to Kawada a month later. But then Muto started having amazing MOTY quality matches and got super over. So AJPW decided to delay the Muto/Kawada match for as long as they could and now Muto's planned short transitional reign is currently going on 6 months and counting. But Dave thinks they've put off the Kawada match as long as they could (indeed, Kawada wins the title from Muto in February).
  
• The main event of NJPW's upcoming Jan. 4th Tokyo Dome show has been changed to Jun Akiyama vs. Yuji Nagata for the NOAH world title. Needless to say, having NJPW's biggest show of the year headlined by a title match for another promotion is pretty strange, but Fujita's injury left them with few options. As for the IWGP title, Fujita is expected to vacate it and the fate of the belt will be decided in February. There will likely be a tournament, but they aren't making any plans yet because they're waiting to see how Yuji Nagata does in his shoot fight at the New Year's Eve Inoki show (in other words, if he gets his ass beat, chances are they aren't going to put the IWGP title on him a month later).
  
• Inoki is hinting about coming out of retirement. Reportedly, he wants somewhere between $500K-$1 million to do a match and no word if anyone is going to pay it (apparently not, because he never did).
  
• Superstar Billy Graham was hospitalized all of last week due to cirrhosis of the liver due to Hepatitis C. Dave notes that Graham needs a liver transplant (he gets one in 2002).
  
• Hulk Hogan appeared on an episode of ESPN's Unscripted and what a mess that was. The show was hyped as Hogan revealing his true feelings about Vince McMahon and WWF and host Chris Connelly hyped up all the dirt Hogan was going to spill. Instead, Hogan showed up and pretty much kissed Vince's ass in an attempt to get himself rehired by WWF, all while Connelly looked as though he had been bamboozled. Hogan was his typical self, portraying himself as the biggest star in the business today (maybe in the past, but it's 2001 now). He also pretty much buried all of today's generation of wrestlers in general, but when specific names were brought up (Rock, Austin, Triple H, etc.) Hogan was quick to praise each of them individually. Of course, it wouldn't be a Hogan interview without some big dumb lies. He claimed his recent XWF match with Curt Hennig was only supposed to go 10 minutes but once he got in the ring, he felt so good that they ended up going for 30 minutes instead (in case you're wondering, the full unedited match was actually less than 6 minutes). He claimed that at Wrestlemania 3, Andre The Giant was 700 pounds (no) and that he "pressed Andre over his head" and slammed him in front of 94,000 people. Hogan heaped praise on Triple H, which Dave says is smart for a guy trying to get rehired because Triple H has a lot of political power backstage these days. The host tried to get Hogan to say anything negative about Vince McMahon, but Hogan wasn't biting. Talked about how steroids were legal back when he used them (they weren't) and on and on and on.
  
• After Randy Savage tried to challenge Hogan to a match for a children's hospital charity without consulting Hogan, Savage went ahead and donated $10,000 to the hospital anyway. WWA promoter Andrew McManus held a press conference with Savage and also donated an additional $10,000 to the hospital and then announced Savage was joining WWA and that he will appear on their February PPV (Savage was scheduled to face Jeff Jarrett at that show in the main event but he no-shows and is replaced by Brian Christopher). Dave is glad they donated money to the hospital, but they pretty much just did it to promote their event. But that's a time honored tradition in wrestling. In the 90s, every time Vince McMahon got into trouble with the media about something, there would always be some highly publicized charity donation soon after. Anyway, aside from one appearance in a WCW battle royal back in early 2000, Savage hasn't made an appearance in wrestling in almost 3 years. Dave thinks it'll be interesting to see if Savage's name still means anything when it comes to drawing on PPV for a promotion without TV.
  
• Vader was supposed to work a match against Samoa Joe for UPW but had to pull out due to knee surgery. He's promised to work a make-up date for them when he's healed. Instead, Konnan was brought in to face Joe in the main event. Shinya Hashimoto was there as well and cut a promo issuing an open challenge for the NWA title. A bunch of UPW guys came out and Hashimoto basically laid all of them out by himself. Yuji Nagata and Don Frye were also backstage (Dave notes Nagata has been training in Los Angeles for the Inoki show). UPW is also planning to do a worked-shoot type of show in conjunction with UFC fighter Tito Ortiz.
  
• More on Comedy Central reportedly buying the AWA tape library. I guess there's something to this. Comedy Central is working on a pilot for a show called The Huge World of Wrestling which is basically expected to be old wrestling footage with studio commentary to make fun of it or something (this obviously never happened and WWE later bought the footage from Gagne, which leads me to believe Comedy Central didn't actually buy the library, they probably just leased rights to some footage that they never ended up using).
  
• Former WWF star Ahmed Johnson made his acting debut in a VH-1 television movie about the life of MC Hammer. Johnson played the role of Suge Knight, the head of Death Row Records. Dave hasn't seen it but hears Ahmed's acting ability was somehow even worse than his wrestling ability.
  
• Jake Roberts was booked for an indie show in England but when he showed up, there were only 32 fans in the audience. Roberts reportedly told the promoter that he has a hard enough time getting motivated to work in front of 400 people, much less 32, and walked out of the building, never to return.
  
• Kevin Nash is still trying to play WWF and WWA against each other. Reportedly, WWF has very little interest in Scott Hall and originally, Nash refused to go to WWF if they wouldn't bring in Hall. But he's said to have softened his stance on that and may be willing to come in alone and may also be willing to work more dates, since that's the big hurdle between he and WWF. But Dave suspects he might just be telling the WWA side this in order to get them to up their offer for him.
  
• In the XWF wrestling section, Dave slips in a brief story about the XFL. Nothing newsworthy or anything, just recapping some article about the XFL that was written in a sports journal magazine. But I just find it funny that Dave can't even be bothered to throw this into the WWF section and puts it under the XWF section instead because, fuck it, 2 out of 3 letters is close enough right?
  
• Eddie Guerrero has had talks with XWF about coming in soon, but nothing has been finalized as of press time (never happens).
  
• The autopsy of Russ Haas has revealed that his cause of death was a heart attack, which was suspected after the previous one he had suffered a couple months prior.
  
• The planned WWF brand split has once again been delayed. It was tentatively scheduled to take place on next week's Raw from Madison Square Garden, but no longer. It will likely be sometime after the Royal Rumble but no word when. As a matter of fact, Dave heard an idea for how to split the brands and he actually thinks it's a pretty decent idea. You put the entire roster in the Rumble, (which would probably be around 50 wrestlers rather than the usual 30 but whatever) and all the even numbered wrestlers end up on one side while the odd numbers end up on the other. That would add excitement to the entire Rumble match (rather than the usual long, dull spots that the match often has) and would make every entrant matter. Doing it this way would also mean they could avoid doing a draft, because if they do a draft, that means all the lower draft picks are automatically seen as jobbers. This way, it seems random and nobody is made to look like the last kid picked for a team. None of this will happen of course, but it's an idea someone mentioned to Dave and he thinks it could work (I still like this idea).
  
• The Hardyz and Lita have been taken off TV, which is why they were pretty much beaten like jobbers and buried by Undertaker on TV last week. In particular, there's been issues with Jeff Hardy lately, which came to a head when he no-showed a house show in San Jose a couple weeks ago. Jeff has also been late for a few shows lately and his in-ring work has been below par (Dave says, given all the insane, career-shortening bumps he's taken over the years, it's surprising it took this long). After the Jeff vs. Matt angle flopped, Vince McMahon called all 3 of them into a meeting and said he was taking them off TV for awhile to give them a chance to breathe and go away for awhile so fans will miss them a little bit. They're still expected to work house shows for now, but no TV. Dave says there's always a shelf-life to certain acts and the Hardyz have been floundering for awhile, particularly after Triple H cut Jeff's momentum off at the knees and Lita got treated like a jobber by Chyna before she left. If this was still the territory days, it would be time for them to move on and go to a new territory but alas, that's no longer an option (they're only off TV for a few weeks. They work the Rumble at the end of January and then disappear from TV for another month before returning to TV full-time in February. Together as a tag team again, with no mention of the fact that they were supposedly split up the last time we saw them. Anyway, yeah from all reports, this is around the time Jeff's personal issues first really started to show. He eventually gets fired from WWE in 2003 for refusing to go to rehab).
  
• Notes from Raw: the show was pre-taped since it was on Christmas Eve. Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo are basically doing a "Dude, Where's My Car?" gimmick with a slightly gay twist. Dave thinks Palumbo looks ridiculous with bleached blonde hair and says Billy Gunn looked like Stan Lane "in need of charisma bypass surgery." Arn Anderson made an on-screen return in a backstage skit. Tough Enough winner Maven worked a match with Booker T and got a big pop and actually showed more in-ring skill than half the people on the show, but that's a pretty low bar because this was a bad episode for wrestling. The show was in Miami and Rock came out wearing a Miami Hurricanes jersey (he played football for them in college) and he got a monstrous reaction for that. Otherwise, not much to this show.
  
• Earthquake/John Tenta got a try-out match at the latest Smackdown tapings. He's 38 and word is he looked really slow (he has a couple of tryout matches during this period, but he doesn't get hired).
  

WATCH: Earthquake 2001 dark match tryout

• On the Sunday Night Heat tapings, they had Billy Gunn beat Albert. As mentioned, Gunn and Palumbo are doing a gay gimmick now and during the match, Albert actually called Palumbo a "little f*ggot" which Dave seems pretty disgusted by. Yikes.
  
• WWF has booked a few shows in Asia for March, including one in Japan for the first time in 7 years. Dave notes that WWF does have a television deal in Japan, but it only does about half the ratings that NOAH does and maybe 1/3 of what NJPW does, and all three shows are in similar time slots. So WWF is just really not that popular there. Regardless, if they bring both Rock and Austin, Dave suspects they'll still do pretty well.
  
• There was another incident with Perry Saturn beating up a jobber, but this time it may have been deserved. It was a match with Saturn against a guy named Brian Gamble. During the match, Gamble stopped selling and started telling Saturn that this was his hometown and he had to win the match and couldn't look weak. So he started refusing to go off his feet and on two different occasions, he double crossed Saturn on planned spots and kicked him in the head instead of doing what they were planning. At this point, Saturn kicked Gamble's face in, forced him onto the mat, and put his submission on him. Gamble refused to tap and wouldn't cooperate, so Saturn had to really cinch the move in and twist his arm and finally, Gamble tapped. Backstage, people could tell something was wrong and when Gamble came back and they asked what happened, he said he didn't want to look weak and lose in front of all his friends and family who were there. Naturally, Vince McMahon was furious. Afterwards, both men were being checked by the trainer and they almost got into another altercation. Saturn mentioned the incident a couple years ago with jobber Mike Bell (look it up if you're not familiar) and told Gamble that he's lucky he didn't beat the shit out of him the same way he did Bell. Saturn was almost fired over the Bell incident and that's why he was hesitant to beat the shit out of Gamble, even though this time, the jobber actually deserved it. Gamble responded that Saturn was the lucky one because he would have beaten the shit out of him instead. Some people got between them and Gamble was then thrown out of the building and Dave doesn't expect we'll ever be seeing him again (nope).
  

WATCH: Perry Saturn vs. Brian Gamble

• There have been talks between WWF and Rey Mysterio but nothing really agreed to yet. Obviously, Mysterio's size works against him in WWF and as far as his career prospects, it's probably not the best place for him to be, unless WWF decides to start seriously pushing smaller guys. And Dave doesn't see that happening. But money-wise, WWF is pretty much the only game in town and he'll make a lot more money there than he would in Mexico or working indies.
  
• And with that.......the Observer Rewind is in the books. I have a lot more to say though, so if you'll indulge me one last time, please follow me to THIS LINK.
  

Thank you Wreddit. <3

With the new CBA approaching, I found myself day dreaming about the PERFECT NFL PLAYOFFS. How could we extract even more fun and excitement out of an already gripping league? How could we extend the playoffs into TWO whole months of nail biting, every touchdown matters football? How could we include EVERY TEAM IN THE LEAGUE to whip up a maximum fervor from sea to shining sea?! Well in my fever dream, I found a way. Welcome to the future of football.
First things first, lets talk about the big changes and highlights.

• All 32 teams makes the playoffs.
• 3 preseason games
• 14 week regular season
• 7 rounds of playoff football
• An additional holiday bye week, right before playoffs.
• The bottom 8 teams compete for the #1 draft pick in The Draft Kings Pepsi Co #1 Draft Pick Tournament, held at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Now how does all that work in practice? After several feverish hours scribbling on paper... After digitizing my feverish notes. I can show you...
32 Team 7 Round NFL Playoffs
Awesome right?
Now lets break it down week by week to really get a feel for how the season would shake out in this new format. For the sake of timing, I'll map it out as if the 2019 season was played this way.
Regular Season
Opening weekend remains unchanged, with the first game being played on Thursday, September 5th. The regular season is shortened to 14 games played over 15 weekends. The last game is played on Sunday December 15th. Every team gets 1 bye week. Every team's record will factor into their playoff seeding, but no one is eliminated from the playoffs in the regular season.
League Bye Week
In preparation for a long and arduous playoffs, we give the whole league the week off to rest up, and spend time with their families over the holidays. It's a merry time across the world, as each and every NFL fan still holds out hope that their team can win the super bowl. We watch the NBA and are truly happy one last time. We have achieved the dream of a second bye week.
Round 1 - Opening Weekend
It's Sunday December 29th and every team in the league is playing. 32 teams. 16 games. 16 winners and 16 losers. Teams play other teams in their conference based on their seeding. No one is eliminated today, but if you lose here, you have to win 6 straight games to reach the super bowl
Round 2 - Making the cut
The second round of playoffs is played over two days. Saturday January 4th and Sunday January 5th. The 16 winning teams from round 1 duke it out to enter the elite 8, with winners earning a bye in round 3.
The 16 losing teams duke it out to stay alive. The winning 8 teams survive, while the losing 8 teams are eliminated from Super Bowl competition and relegated to fighting for their chance to play in the Draft Kings Pepsi Co #1 Draft Pick Tournament.
Round 3 - Elimination Weekend
The weekend of January 11th and 12th is the end of the road for 12 NFL teams. Lose now and you're done for the year.
The elite 8 takes the weekend off with a well earned bye while the other 16 teams in Super Bowl competition duke it out. Winners advance, losers are done for the year.
The 8 winless teams are out of the playoffs, but the fun is just beginning. The 8 teams play each other, with winners advancing to the The Draft Kings Pepsi Co #1 Draft Pick Tournament in Las Vegas. Because these teams are no longer in super bowl competition, we'll be spicing things up with lots of rewards and exciting twists from here on out!
Round 4 - The real tournament begins
Some say if you don't make it to Round 4, you didn't even make the playoffs. From here on out, things get real in a single elimination tournament as the elite 8, freshly rested off their bye, battles the 8 surviving teams. Played over two days on Saturday January 18th & Sunday January 19th. Winners advance. Losers are done for the year.
The 4 teams headed to Las Vegas for the Draft Kings Pepsi Co #1 Draft Pick Tournament have the weekend off. They head to Vegas early where the NFL has arranged accommodations for all 4 teams to stay at the same hotel. NFL media is on hand to capture all the kooky hijinks.
Round 5 - The competition thins / The Draft Kings Pepsi Co #1 Draft Pick Tournament
The single elimination tournament continues on January 25th and 26th. The eight surviving teams square off. 4 advance. 4 are done for the year.
Meanwhile The Draft Kings Pepsi Co #1 Draft Pick Tournament kicks off in Las Vegas. The four teams play in back to back games at the freshly christened Allegiant Stadium (it was magically completed ahead of schedule in this timeline). Fans from all 4 teams flood the arena for a unique experience where 1 ticket gets you 2 games, plus an exhilarating between game show featuring every washed up musician currently playing a residency in Las Vegas. This years show features Aerosmith, Rod Stewart and Mariah Carey fighting over a single microphone.
The The Draft Kings Pepsi Co #1 Draft Pick Tournament also gives the NFL a unique opportunity to lean into sports betting in a controlled environment. Real time betting odds are integrated into the game as fans at the stadium and at home can gamble and cash in on every play. As an added incentive to players and a nod to fantasy football, individual player stats are rewarded in real time with cold hard cash. Players who score a touchdown even receive a briefcase full of cash in the end zone.
Not surprisingly, ratings for the The Draft Kings Pepsi Co #1 Draft Pick Tournament handily surpass the actual playoffs.
Round 6 - Championship Weekend
It's Saturday February 1st and we start off the weekend in Las Vegas as the The Draft Kings Pepsi Co #1 Draft Pick Bowl kicks off. Joe Burrow is himself in attendance as the Cincinnati Bengals play The Miami Dolphins for the coveted #1 draft pick. At the coin toss the captain of each team hand delivers their teams requested #1 draft pick to Roger Goodell, who then flips the coin himself, a move that immediately sets off wild conspiracy theories on twitter. After the game, the winners pick is revealed and they immediately receive the player of their choice for the #1 draft pick. Joe Burrow runs onto the field and proudly puts on a Miami Dolphins cap, as he joins the team for a night of revelry and debauchery on the Las Vegas strip.
On Sunday February 2nd, the 4 surviving teams in the actual NFL playoffs compete for 2 spots to the super bowl.
Bye / Media / Pro Bowl Week
It's Sunday February 9th and you're at home depot, because you've got a lot of shit to catch up on after 6 weeks of playoffs. Remember to grab flowers on your way home.
The Super Bowl
So there's only one improvement being made to the super bowl, and oh boy are you going to like it. We're moving the Super Bowl to Sunday February 16th on President's Day Weekend. America rejoices as we rightfully get the holiday we truly deserve, and an excuse to go even harder on the super bowl, and a national hangover day. You're welcome America. You're welcome.
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Edit: Updated to replace my fevered scrawlings with a real diagram!

Meta: No offense intended to our American cousins in my comparison of the footballs...
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ELECTRONIC MESSAGE TO OVERSEER ([email protected]):
FROM: Biological Unit 47 ([email protected]), Research outpost 48277:
RE: Human habits report 87w41po “Sports”
Overseer. Please see my report on the human pastime of 'sports'.
Sports appear to be a reflection of the highly competitive and aggressive evolutionary process of their home world, Earth. As our studies show, their genetic progress relies on an adaptive, yet slow, form of inherited mutations.(Karl assures me this is known as 'kill or be killed'. I noted his demeanour was not aggressive, though his facial muscles seemed to display a certain pride in this.)
As a species that developed on a deathworld, with high gravity, dangerous and highly aggressive and intelligent predators, and all manner of venomous fauna and poisonous flora, it appears that they celebrate both mental fortitude and physical strength. Despite their limited intelligence due to their common ancestry (see entries 'Ground Apes'; 'The Dark Ages' ; 'Politicians'), their robust physicality is well known.
I have deduced that sports, and their associated fervour by which other humans view and follow these games, are an unconscious desire to feel as part of a tribe, and to have a means of venting their inherent, deep-rooted violence and challenging nature.
Karl, our previous test subject, took me to a sport-game called 'boxing'.
In this sport-game, two humans, usually of similar genders, weight and height, face each other in a square (for some reason called a 'ring'), and proceed to assault one another with padded hand coverings. This continues until a ceremonial bell rings, a rotund human in terrible striped camouflage waves madly, or one of the humans is rendered unconscious.
When pressed as to the reasons for this battle to occur (it is apparent the two humans fighting do not know each other at all, and aside from the forced conflict have no call to destroy one another), Karl assured me that it is 'fun' and 'exciting', quote: "They smack each other about, gets the blood pumping. Now shut up, I got money on this" (see entry: ‘Gambling’).
Despite the obvious barbarity on display, the human crowd grew excited enough for me to lower my aural receptors, and my scans showed elevated levels of adrenal fluid and cortisol, as well as increased respiratory and circulatory functions.
The next day, Karl, with his winnings from the game (see entry ‘Gifts’), took us to a game of 'football'.(He assures me this is different to 'Damned Yank Football', which illogical involves the hands and only once or twice appears to involve the human lower limbs, aside from occasional stamping of head organs, sexual organs, and running.)
Two teams of garishly clad humans, always of the same gender as their opposition, line up in varying battle formations. A human in similarly garish clothing blows a high pitched whistle, and a small sphere of indeterminate composition, inflated with dense air mixture of nitrogen and carbon dioxide or oxygen, (not as light as helium, but not as heavy as neon nor argon), is passed around, apparently with the aim of hitting said sphere with the lower part of their anterior limbs, into a netted area.(Karl, in an effort to assist his chosen team of humans, would often shout directions such as ‘kick it, you twats’, and ‘boot it’. I am still studying the etymology of these phrases, and how much each phrase does, in fact, help the team, if at all.)
Again, I detected high levels of adrenaline from the observing humans, as well as high levels of volume and alcohol.
Despite my best efforts, I failed to understand the 'off side rule', and Karl quickly surrender to the futility of his explaining it to me.
Once more my aural sensors were overwhelmed.
As stated previously, these sports seem to be both physical and metaphysical surrogates for human conflict, with one or more humans representing tribes, states or nations, with which humans can experience the trials and issues faced by their ancestors in a relatively safe environment (see entries: ‘Football Hooligans’; ‘Rioting’; ‘Alcohol Poisoning’).
In an attempt to help me understand these sport-game rituals, Karl showed me what he calls 'nerdy shit'.
I found these more palatable, and see them as an example of how, despite outward appearances, humans do, in fact, possess a quiet faculty for excellent logic.
'Chess' is a miniaturised, physical representation of a battle. Several pieces, matched on either side of a board and often of opposing colours, take turns moving in sometimes odd patterns. Rules exist to prevent some pieces being misused. It requires logic, and 'forward thinking' (see entry: 'Preparing for the Worst').
This game, for want of a better word in digital, is 'fun', and something I excelled at.
I have attached the rules and schematics for the game to this message.
I must warn the Servers and all units in contact with humans, however, of the risks of playing with any test subjects or otherwise.
Karl accused me of ‘cheating’, and stated I was a 'rotten computer bastard', and on one occasion flipped the board in anger.
I found this quite pleasing, though I am not sure why.
As of yet, Karl has not communicated with me verbally.
It is my intention to take him to his favourite establishment, and 'bury the hatchet'.
I am taking credits from the financial units in this sector.
I am also taking a small axe, in case I have misinterpreted yet another human idiom and it is expected of me.
I hope sincerely I have not. I have grown quite fond of Karl’s company.
Humans are curious, but I would like to recommend we continue to follow their customs. They may further our own endeavours with their incredibly different approaches to existence.
I will broach the subject with the test subject when his neurotransmitters have reset to their usual levels.
Karl is, as he often says I am… 'a good lad'.

Prologue
I am a 35-year-old gamer. I’ve been lucky in being around long enough to have gone through many different eras in the world of computer games, and it has been an absolute blast.
But folks, there is a horrid disease running amok in the world of gaming. There was a time when gaming was an innocent past-time. Now, the industry is worth a whopping $107Billion worldwide, and climbing fast. There’s nothing innocent about it anymore. And obviously, EA want a piece of that juicy pie. Everything is now about greed. A company will do anything they can to get you hooked on their particular intellectual property. And with it, comes a very nasty surprise. Once hooked, your wallet becomes the sole target of these companies, taking whatever means necessary to get you to open it to them.
If you skim over this post, you’ll see that it is incredibly long. But that’s because it took this long to put into words everything that’s wrong with not only EA, but also this community. So, I hope you’ll join me in going through this post.
 
Introduction
Simply put, EA are a publicly floated company partly owned by banks and major investment funds. They habitually and aggressively implement anti-consumer practices, while simultaneously shovelling out cynically produced titles whose only purpose is to make money at the expense of quality end-user experience. But then again, that can be said for any gaming company, right? Replace EA with Activision or Ubisoft and you get the same thing. But this post is all about our good friend EA. So, let’s crack on.
The subject of EA has been discussed and shouted about ad-nauseum. Personally, I simply roll my eyes any time I hear new information about how EA have once again shafted the gamers etc. Simply put, EA are a money grabbing monolith. Make no mistake about that. So how did EA get so big?
More importantly, the number 1 question to ask is:
WHY DO EA TREAT YOU LIKE A LITTLE BITCH? – The answer is: BECAUSE YOU ARE ONE.
Now, before you reach for the down-vote button and walk away from this post for feeling angry and butthurt by that comment, please do read on. I will try to justify it.
It would be very easy to lay into EA for all the wrong things they’ve done. In fact, if I mention every single wrongdoing, this post would be 10 times as long. So, I will keep things in context.
 
Worst company in America 2012 – 2013
The consumerist poll taken back in 2012 and 2013 put EA at the top of the tree in regards to being the worst company in America 2 years in a row. But are they really? There are many organisations worldwide that pile on the misery on their fellow human beings. Some are willing to kill for profit. BP, Exxon, Nestle, Monsanto, cigarette companies, all the banks, and so on.
Let’s be honest here. EA may be an immoral money-making machine, but by no means are they making money from people’s deaths, or going out of their way to destroy the planet, or profiting from ecological disasters etc. You think EA are robbing you? How about we talk about the likes of Ticket Master or Verizon. By no means am I defending EA. Instead I’m trying to show the bigger picture in regards to the large number of unethical and immoral companies who operate and benefit at the expense of human misery worldwide.
When you think about it, EA are simply just another company who were fortunate enough to have come up with an idea that no one else had thought of, albeit an unethical idea at that – and I’ll explain why shortly.
 
EA’s Obligations
Let’s get things absolutely straight here. EA only have obligations to 2 things.

1. To their profit margins
   
2. To their investors
   

 
Outside of this, EA have absolutely no obligation to anything else whatsoever. That includes YOU. When you think about it, that’s just business as usual, albeit unethical. You have to be amoral (not immoral, although some companies choose this path too) in the world of business to survive. If you have morals, you won’t last a day in the high-flying world of dog-eat-dog capitalist society. EA will employ every known tactic in order to make you part ways with your money.
 
FIFA in A Nutshell
Disclaimer: I want to make it absolutely clear that there should be mutual respect between us all. And just as I have expressed my opinion freely, I accept your opinions openly. Therefore, everything I mention in this section in regards to us gamers, is simply said from the perspective of being constructive criticism. If it offends you, then with all due respect, the onus is on you to solve the issue constructively.
 
Folks, as much as we like to shit on EA for being a money hungry capitalist corporation (which they are), we are also to blame for the state of things as they stand.
Want to know what’s more inconsistent than the horrendous inconsistency of this game? It’s the way us players see-saw between “fuck EA, I’ll never buy this game again!” to “Ooooh! New shiny packs!... WANT!”
Think about it. We have absolutely no credibility left in us after 7 years of repeating the same process of coming on here moaning and whining about the game and its problems, yet before we even finish our sentence, we end up buying packs and getting hyped for the next set of shiny cards or the next iteration of the game. It speaks volumes about how fickle we are as gamers, which means any company can and will manipulate us at will.
Seriously, grow a backbone and stick to your principles. Have a bit of control and self-respect in not opening your wallet so easily to the next set of shiny packs that are dangled in front of you. Give yourself the slight bit of dignity that you deserve and keep your money in your pocket.
We went from a whole 10 months of hating on EA for how bad FIFA 17 was, to instant hype prior to the release of FIFA 18. The voice of those who were cautious about the new game got drowned out by all the hype. Is it any wonder we get laughed at by other communities? We look dumb to the outside world. This community gets called toxic for a reason. We squabble amongst ourselves whilst EA gets richer at our expense. In case anyone forgot, the fat Ronaldo Super-Duper Deluxe Icon Edition 3000 cost up to £90 on release. Ask yourself. Was it worth it? And personally, I think those of us who romanticised the game pre-patch are simply in denial at having paid such a hefty sum for the game in the first place, and are trying to justify the cost.
Most players have a defeatist attitude towards EA, not knowing that they have the power in their wallet. It’s been said many times: Vote with your wallet. How's #FixFIFA working out?...
It may not be easy to create a boycott, considering those who frequent Reddit are the minority, but at least do your bit. Just as it’s easy for you to spend £20 instantly on FIFA points, why not buy PES to give KONAMI a larger share? Let EA know where you stand as a disgruntled customer. But let’s admit it folks, we’re all addicted to the toxic nature of this game. That’s where the problem is.
 
The Psychology of FIFA - Emotions
Folks, I’m no psychologist, but it’s easy to see that FIFA, NHL, Madden, NFS, NBA etc are all built around a certain set of psychological stepping stones – all geared to try and get a player to be heavily invested emotionally. I’ll try to point out something that doesn’t get discussed often, but that’s because it’s very subtle.
Make no mistake about it folks, EVERYTHING that’s wrong with FIFA has a purpose. All the bugs, the glitches, the sudden passing that goes astray, the lack of control, or the horrendous moments of EAids encountered daily, which is littered across this sub in video form:- all these things happen for a reason: it’s purposefully incorporated into this horrid game to tilt the player, to PURPOSEFULLY frustrate you. Why you ask? Simple. Because an emotionally unstable player who has been left frustrated by faulty mechanics in a game will be more likely to open their wallet due to their inability to think rationally in that moment. Ask yourself. Have you ever played FIFA in the last 7 years without ever coming away frustrated? Most likely every session of FIFA has tilted you to some degree.
It’s been well documented that when emotions and tensions run high, a person is likely to have far higher level of flawed logic, and therefore may make rash decisions. In the case of this game, a person may think to themselves: “Aaaargh!! If only I had Messi and Ronaldo, I’d be winning these games with ease!!!…” and so, they end up opening their wallet for a chance to pack those players.
Furthermore, if you’re the kind of player who gets totally frustrated after a session of FIFA to the point where you end up selling your multimillion coin team in a fit of rage, then you my friend, are the exact kind of player EA are targeting. Reason being that they know, we know, and most of all, YOU know that you’ll be back… After selling your team, maybe a day, or 2, or even a few weeks later, you’ll return to the game with fresh hope and a clear head. And so, with a newly established club, you go through the process all over again. And as we know with everything in regards to dynamic difficulty and slider manipulation, the game will start off essentially giving you free wins. Just enough to lure you in. Enough to caress your ego. And enough for you to be invested to the point of opening your wallet to EA once again.
HERE’S ex-EA CEO John Riccitiello speaking about how a player who is heavily invested in a game will be more willing to part with their money in order to continue their gaming experience. The premise is simple in regards to games containing microtransactions. Whatever game you are playing, the game rewards you left right and centre at the beginning to get you hooked. Suddenly halfway through the game, several hours in, just as you’re heavily invested, the rewards dry up, and the game introduces microtransactions in order to get the bigger, more powerful guns / powerups etc. without having to grind for them. AKA pay2win. These are abhorrent unethical tactics deployed by the gaming industry as a whole, but unfortunately gamers are none the wiser.
At every turn, EA are trying to manipulate us to open our wallets to them. They will nickel and dime us for all that we’re worth. All roads lead to buying FIFA Points. Even the way FIFA Points are set up is a psychological trick. Think about it. When you spend £79.99, you get 12,000 FP. This is an arbitrary number that no longer has the same connotation in comparison to having the price of a pack written in its true value underneath it, thereby removing the logic you might have if you initially saw the pack price before pulling the trigger. This sort of tactic is very effective on young children who do not know the true value of money. As an example, the lightning round packs go for 100,000 coins, or 2000 FP. In case you forgot, that’s £15 for a Bas Dost…
Even when opening a pack, you have long been exposed to another psychological trick. You’ll notice that if a pack contains a gold stripe in the animation phase, then you will have a board opening walkout, therefore a higher rated player (84+). I mention this because I’ve seen countless YouTube videos where the OP instantly skips the pack if it doesn’t contain the gold stripe. Think about how this influences the young demographic watching their video. It is creating a feedback loop. One that only benefits EA.
EA must be so thankful that the majority of us are so keen to open our wallets so easily at the drop of a hat, or in the case of FIFA, at the drop of new shiny cards on a weekly basis. Since when is spending £79.99 on FIFA Points considered a “micro” transaction? That’s what you would call a major transaction! Remind me again why I shouldn’t call you EA’s little bitch, when you’re willing to open your wallet to them so easily.
On top of that, whether you realise it or not, EA are mocking us. For the last few iterations of FUT, the FIFA Points button within FUT is a picture of a goalkeeper diving towards the FIFA Points icon. EA know they have us by the balls, and are shamelessly taunting us. Yet we’re too addicted to break the cycle. That’s our fault. We have no one to blame but ourselves.
But then again, EA are feeding on our emotions as mentioned earlier. From the avid Real Madrid fan who swears death on their Barcelona rival, to the old man who turns up and stands on the by-line to watch his non-league team play in the pouring rain, we all love football. We turn to football as a form of escape. EA don’t see the beautiful game in the same way as we do. They see it as a money grab. These two different viewpoints do not bode well together. They collide badly.
EA have bought out all the licences, have jazzed up their game to look as realistic as possible, yet the game plays anything but realistic or beautiful. It is solely built for instant gratification. There are many players who have quickly accustomed themselves to the mechanics of the game and even go as far as playing the toxic Weekend League consisting of 40 games packed in a 3-day cycle, all for the sake of getting the shiny cards. As long as people play the game, EA will continue to profit. It is up to you on whether you want to continue down this path, or to free yourself from the misery of the perpetual cycle of stress and pure frustration that this game dishes out.
 
The Ugly Side of Gambling & Addiction
Gambling within gaming is a grey area. As soon as it gets discussed, people come to its defence by saying “you get what you pay for” – That may be very partially true, but the downsides to it are far greater. People who are too young are ending up getting addicted to the nature of opening loot boxes. FIFA is rated ESRB 3+ yet contains predatory gambling mechanics. By buying the game, we are accepting these gambling mechanics as the norm.
In FIFA, the razzmatazz and fireworks when packing a high rated player are greater in presentation than the celebration and ticker tape shown for winning a hard-fought online season on FUT. Where do you think EA’s priorities lie?...
Think about it. If I buy a lottery ticket in the UK, I am actively choosing to part with my £2 for a chance of winning £millions. More importantly, I KNOW precisely what my odds are. The chances of winning the lottery in the UK is set at approximately 1 in 14 million. Now that may be a veeeeeeeeeeeery minimal chance, but hey, at least I KNOW the odds, right? Ask yourself, do you know the odds of packing Messi or Ronaldo?? The answer is NO, yet most of us keep opening our wallets and pumping money into this shitpit. Is that not what addiction is?
EA must be laughing their ass off at us. We are seen as morons. Why then should they listen to any complaint we may have about the game when we have absolutely no credibility left? We are all essentially barrel-scraping addicts. I truly hope you can all see the major problem we have here.
When you think about it, every post on this forum complaining about the game is actually a cry for help by the addicted masses.
Meanwhile WHALES like THIS individual went and spent £1000 due to their addiction, and the best card he could shout about was Chiellini. That’s absolutely insane, but this sort of spending has now become the norm. Just look at all the Youtubers who get sponsored to open packs and shout and scream in a fake manner in order to hype their 12-year-old subscribers, who then try to emulate their YouTube heroes with their parents’ credit card unbeknown to the parent. Take a look at the responses in that post above to see the cognitive dissonance and denial in full effect. Sickening.
But in the end, the onus is on us. The gaming industry is now all about predatory gambling mechanics and opportunities. Every company is at it. It’s up to us to be aware of the pitfalls. But we are alone in this. For example, in the UK, anything that is aired on TV needs to be accepted through OFCOM prior to broadcast. OFCOM are essentially the governing body who control what can be shown on TV. We have no such protection in the gaming industry, and most publishers and developers are pushing forward with unethical tactics and predatory gambling methods.
Heck, even China, a country that is not exactly well known for its human rights record seems to have a better handle on gaming by requesting that all companies that participate in their market to show odds of loot boxes etc. It’s why EA won’t release FIFA over there, as they would have to show the odds.
Maybe through FOI (Freedom of Information Request) we can get more information about the pack weights and such. As gamers, we simply don’t get told what rights we have.
 
Hidden Mechanics
Remember Slider Manipulation from last year? Back then it was just a theory, without much proof. Well how about this year? A quick look at all THESE examples should tell you that sliders are a thing. It is the basis for all the bullshit in this game. All the inconsistencies, every instance of horrid EAids seen on Squad Battles and Weekend League can now be attributed to the sliders changing as well as the RNG being set high. We need to call it Slider Manipulation. Don’t call it scripting. That word confuses people and derails any discussion about it.
HERE's a video showing how the supposed Vision stat works. After watching this video, it’s clear to see that there’s quite a bit of coding going on behind the scenes at every step. But have you considered the fact that even though Fabregas has greater vision than the other midfielder, all it takes is a slider to reduce his vision in-game on the fly for the pass to go astray? That’s exactly what happens at certain moments with the different stats in matches, therefore making this game a nightmare to play due to its inconsistencies.
The Halloween cards are something else that needs to be mentioned in the same regard. How were EA able to increase the base stats on Halloween cards during the period that they went up in stats? They injected code into the game via server-side coding. After the period, the cards returned to normal ratings. Why isn’t anyone questioning how this was done without any patches being downloaded? Imagine what EA can do in terms of server-side manipulation of stats. Especially hidden stats that we know nothing about. I suggest folks research into SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) EA can see everything going on at any given time. The number of simultaneous games, goals scored, money spent, hidden stats changed etc.
AI programming in gaming is most likely a nightmare. I won’t take anything away from the developers. But developers lack the ability to program true AI. So instead, the lazy route is taken. In the case of FIFA, players stats are maxed out to 99 in Squad Battles on Ultimate difficulty. Think of how pointless this makes the game. For example, imagine if you have been grinding and spending so much money and time in order to acquire Ronaldo, and you finally have him in your squad, only to end up watching him get chased down by a 54-rated bronze player on Squad Battles who has been juiced up. That should never ever happen. It renders having Ronaldo as useless.
The same form of buffed up AI exists in other games. For example, Forza 7’s "Unbeatable" difficulty level is the same as Ultimate difficulty on FIFA. The AI cars get buffed up beyond their overall maximum horsepower that a car can technically have. This seems to be the new trend with programming, and unfortunately, it’s ruining gaming.
Games such as FIFA, NHL, Madden, NBA2K etc are all part of what’s called Shovelware. These games are recycled on a yearly basis, with a small update, new skins and rosters etc, and a hefty price tag is slapped on and sold as a brand-new game. The marketing teams then step in to hype the masses, and it’s smooth sailing from there. We really do get manipulated far too easily unfortunately. And as things stand with the game currently, we can all agree that it is in an atrocious state. But EA are about to make a killing from profiting further from sales. It’s Christmas, and all the parents will be buying this game for their children as a present. Then come January, the game will most likely receive a further patch to streamline the game even further for the casuals. Then there’s all the TOTY, TOTS cards being released etc. Prepare for the hype. Things are going to get worse before they get any better.
 
The Future
As a community, we are disjointed and broken. We have one or two of us, who are truly helpful individuals, who go out of their way to help others. We have a larger number of individuals who simply play the game regardless of the issues. We have the majority who use the sub for making complaints about issues with the game (understandably). And finally, we have those of us who are considered as ‘shills’ or griefers who supposedly come to the defence of EA as well as troll in posts with the “git gud” comments etc. The point I’m trying to make is that we are not a force overall. If you look at other subs, there’s a greater discord amongst gamers. See Battlefront or Forza, or any other gaming subs for examples of a better organised community.
When Forza 7 was released, as per the unethical money-making schemes that EA has deployed throughout the years, Microsoft tried to get in on the action this year. The Ultimate Edition of Forza 7 is similar to FIFA 18’s Icon edition, costing an eye-watering £90 on release. Those who bought Forza 7 were left with a bad taste in their mouth due to the limitations that Turn 10 and Microsoft had placed on the player base. For example, the game only allowed players to earn double XP for the first 25 races of career mode instead of throughout the lifecycle of the game like the previous versions. Understandably, this angered the community. It was a slap in the face of those who were loyal to the franchise, having spent such a hefty sum of money.
But the difference is there to be seen. The community made their feelings known and made enough noise in order for Microsoft and Turn 10 to take notice and revert the changes. One of the reasons this was able to occur is because of the demographic that plays Forza compared to FIFA. Forza has an older, more mature demographic than FIFA. As a result, the community took a strict stance against Microsoft. The news quickly spread to outside sources. And as we all know; bad publicity can quickly ruin a company. And so, changes were made in an instant patch that rewarded gamers better.
There are many other similar examples, such as how Square Enix royally screwed Eidos and the players when it came to Deus Ex. At the last minute, unbeknownst to the developers and gamers, Square Enix had introduced microtransactions to the game. And while it wasn’t mandatory, it did enough damage for the game to fail in being sold well. As a result, the Deus Ex franchise is now shelved without the final chapter to be released any time soon.
Want more examples? Take Two decided to stop gamers from being able to mod GTA V on the PC, which was the sole reason players bought the game on the PC in the first place. The player base retaliated by giving the game negative reviews on Steam, lowering the game’s overall rating and giving the publisher a bad reputation.
When Hello Games initially released No Man’s Sky, it was seen as a cash grab. The game was essentially only 50% of what was shown at E3. Understandably, gamers let their feelings be known through negative feedback on Steam, thereby lowering the rating of the game. It got to the point where Hello Games were being investigated for false advertisement here in the UK. However, credit where credit is due, Hello Games stuck at it and have managed to incorporate many of the features initially shown, albeit 2 years later.
EA were responsible for changing Battlefield 1 in a similar way. Prior to the release of the game, EA touted Battlefield 1 as a proper shooter, where no loot boxes existed. This excited the gaming community. Finally, they could play a game that was solely about skill, where ranking up required true investment of time and skill. Once the game was released, the reviews catapulted the game to the top of the charts as a classic shooter. Everyone was happy. But this is EA we’re talking about. And true to form, once the dust had settled and all the reviews had come in, EA executed their usual switch and bait tactic, and introduced loot boxes into the game, thereby making the game pay2win. The community were enraged. But nothing could be done by that point.
Need I say anything about Battlefront 2?...
There are many other examples of gamers getting shafted. But the point remains. We as gamers, are getting nickel and dimed at every turn. We’re seen as idiots by these companies. Isn’t it time we changed things?...
If you want to play wholesome entertaining games that provide pure unadulterated joy, there are many out there without all the bullshit. Take the Nintendo Switch line-up of Zelda, Mario Odyssey, and Mario Kart as an example. Or Horizon Dawn. And the exceptional Witcher 3 by CD Projekt Red.
Want to know why some games are amazing while others are cash-cows? It’s to do with the passion that the company has for making the game in the first place. For example, The Witcher 3 is an outstanding game with incredible longevity, and free DLC to boot. It’s a game created by gamers, for gamers. Imagine that… a company that actually cares about their game. Sounds a lot more attractive than working for a coding department in a large company like EA, who are hell bent on increasing their quarterly profit, doesn’t it?...
The developers at EA simply do enough to have a semi working game, while hanging on to their jobs in order to take a pay packet home to their families. That’s the difference. This was portrayed in a recent post by an EA developer. People may have mocked his response and subsequently created the “actionable feedback” meme as a result, but everyone seems to have missed the subtle message that maybe, just maybe, the developer in question didn’t have much passion for his job and didn't give a shit. Who can blame him.
Nintendo on the other hand, have a different philosophy altogether. As a Japanese company, they try to remain loyal to their customers by releasing a fully working package without trying to nickel and dime their customers in comparison to most Western hemisphere companies, who are hell bent on making profit.
 
Final Thought
And so, for the 7th year in a row, the same vicious cycle repeats itself. Hype and excitement turned to anger and rage. Once again EA have shafted everyone. Releasing a completely different game compared to what was showcased in the demo and the beta. Are you surprised? The same exact sequence of events has occurred in the last 6 iterations of the game, but we obviously didn’t learn our lesson.
This is absolute insanity on our part. After all, insanity is defined as: Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different outcomes.
 
Edit: Good God. This blew up. Thank you all for the gold. I truly appreciate it, I'm humbled, thank you.
We've been plagued by the abhorrent problems year on year. It is up to us whether to put up with it all and carry on, or walk away from it once and for all and swap it with a far more rewarding game.
Lastly I'd like to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year

What is the dirtiest NFL game you've ever seen? How many incidents did it feature? How many of them saw repeat offenders? Regardless of the answer, it's probably not as chaotic as what happened one November day in 1920.
On November 7, 1920, the Decatur Staleys (now Chicago Bears) visited Rock Island to take on the Independents. The Staleys' center George Trafton, wearing lucky #13, had himself a fairly eventful day. Not just game, but day. Considered one of the NFL's meanest players of his time, Trafton was involved in numerous incidents that took out Rock Island players, resulting in him having to get out of the city with his life on the line.
Think that sounds wild? Well, you can count on the media to make things even crazier as two newspapers eventually battled it out in their articles over the matter. In fact, their beef is probably funnier than the original story that sparked it since it takes up more than half this writeup.
Trafton was a very interesting man. So interesting, in fact, that just giving a summary of his career in this post is not enough, so expect a more fleshed-out bio on him in the future. For now, I'll just give the following rundown: 1964 Pro Football Hall of Famer, the first center to snap the ball with one hand, and perhaps the nastiest player of the era. In fact, his reputation was probably already set just months into the NFL's first season of existence.

Game Day

November 7, 1920 in Douglas Park. The 5–0 Staleys went to Rock Island, Illinois for their second-ever game against the 5–1 Independents. The two teams had met earlier in the year, with Decatur winning 7–0.^[1]
The Independents entered the game without team captain Rube Ursella, fullback Arnie Wyman, and tackle Walt Buland due to injuries.^[2]
Rock Island won the coin toss and received. With Wyman out, backup Fred Chicken and quarterback Sid Nichols tried to penetrate the Decatur lines, but neither could not get any offensive momentum going. For the Staleys, Dutch Sternaman and Jimmy Conzelman led the way, yet also couldn't score. On one play, Sternaman broke through for a first down before Chicken pushed him out of bounds; Nichols injured his left knee on the play and was replaced by Ursella.^[2]
In a 1985 article for The Coffin Corner, Pro Football Hall of Fame executive Don Smith wrote Trafton had received word of the Independents assigning a player to try to take him out (like a goon in hockey). Said player was eliminated early in the game. While the player's identity was never specified, it would line up with the time of Nichols' injury and the ensuing events.^[3] The Rock Island Argus' Bruce Copeland also described Nichols as being "marked, to all intents and purposes."^[2] Since Nichols was only 5'7" and weighed just 177 pounds, while Trafton stood at 6'2" and 230 pounds, having him as your goon was probably not a good idea in the first place.
Shortly after the injury, Rock Island punted to begin the second quarter. Sternaman recorded a five-yard run before play was stopped again for another hurt Independent; this time, Hal Gunderson was down. According to Copeland, after the whistle blew, Trafton swooped in and his knee slammed into Gunderson's left eye.^[2] The Professional Football Researchers Association's description of the incident elaborated it occurred as the players were piled up, which suggested it was more incidental than intentional, but either way, it nearly took Gunderson's head off and forced him to have multiple stitches under his eye.^[4]
Umpire John "Stub" Barron attempted to eject Trafton for the injury, but referee Williams decided against it and ruled it was accidental. Had the penalty stood, in addition to Trafton's ejection, it would have resulted in the yards becoming half the distance to the goal. Ursella and teammate Bob Marshall protested the case, causing an eight-minute delay in the game. After a conversation with coach/captain George Halas, Williams decided to issue a "Running into opponents" penalty of ten yards. Gunderson was eventually carried off the field and replaced by Freeman Fitzgerald, while Charlie Mockmore took over Fitzgerald's slot at guard.^[5]
With Mockmore blocking, Chicken continued to push through on the ground. On one play, Mockmore knocked Trafton aside and hurt Staleys player Jerry Jones, forcing Decatur to call a timeout.^[5]
A few plays later, Chicken became the next Rock Island player to suffer an injury. In a 1967 journal entry for the Chicago Tribune, Halas described the incident as follows: Trafton was chasing down Chicken and clobbered him, sending him out of bounds and into a wooden fence along the sideline, breaking his leg in the impact.^[6] He was helped off the field to applause from the stands.^[5]
At this point, Trafton had injured three players, though The Davenport Democrat and Leader pointed out he was also involved in Okie Smith's third quarter knee injury, making it four victims.^[7] Needless to say, the Rock Island crowd was not going to be happy with him. As for the game itself, neither team could score as it ended with a 0–0 tie.
In other news, part of the stadium's bleachers collapsed during the game. Unlike the players on the field, no one was harmed.^[8]

Escape from the City

Put yourself in the shoes of a Rock Island fan. Your team was involved in a tie, particularly a scoreless tie, and one of the other team's players injured three, if not four of your guys. You would probably be pissed, and Independents fans that day definitely were.
As the fourth quarter progressed, Trafton noticed the spectators were becoming more rabid, hurling insults at him. He consulted Halas about the situation, who told him that when the game ended, he was to report to the bench.^[6]
The center obeyed, running to the bench and meeting up with trainer Andy Lotshaw when the game came to a close. Lotshaw gave him a sweatshirt and told him to wear it over his jersey to hide his number. Trafton also grabbed a milk bottle, which was being used as the team's water jug, as a self-defensive measure. Since the team took taxis to and from the game, one was already waiting for him.^[6]
Spotting the exit, Trafton made a dash for it and spotted the cab. He hopped in the back seat and joined some of his teammates, but the driver could not get away before rocks and soda bottles suddenly smashed through the windows and pelted them, forcing Trafton to escape by another means: on foot. Everyone else in the car was unharmed.^[6]
He scrambled out of the taxi and started running. After about 200 yards, a blue Mercer pulled up to him; the driver, who had not seen the game, asked him where he was going. Trafton responded Davenport, Iowa and that he was "in a heluva hurry!"^[6]
The driver told him to get in before driving off.

Battle of the Newspapers

The Sportscope Speaks Out

Today, sportswriters are expected to maintain a semblance of professionalism regardless of whether they are writing game recaps or offering their opinions.
Well, unless you're Bruce Copeland. He did not hold back when writing about the Staleys and Trafton in his Sportscope column. In an article titled "Staleys Win World's Dirt Title." that was published the day after the game, he wrote:^[2]

Stone-age football tactics, by which the ancient cave-dwellers sought to hold their own by sheer brute force, threaten to lock all gateways of clean sportsmanship to the Staley Athletic club after the flagrant exhibition of rowdyism against the Independents yesterday at Douglas park.
The fact that three Independents are crippled seriously today are the result of such disgraceful tactics of a team composed of players from several of the most reputable colleges in the country is obvious that their fate was premeditated and injuries imposed with wanton execution.
With a foul player like Trafton, the Staley's best gutter champion, roaming the field at large against teams whose ideals are cloaked in nothing but clean sport—win or lose strictly upon one's merits—the Staleys wills soon find the best professional elevens in the country turning their backs on them.
No team in the country will book games that will virtually endanger the lives of its players. Still, several sporty teams have suffered greatly at the hands of the Staleys. Ursella and [Walt] Buland have been out of the game for three works as a result of foul play in the previous game at Douglas park. Yesterday the Staleys eliminated four others.
Such tactics must cease or the Staley A. C. won't be able to meet a decent football team. One thing is certain: no matter who are what they become in professional football, they will never get another chance with Rock Island.

When discussing the penalties, he even accused Trafton of attempted murder:

The fact that the Staleys were penalized for a total of 40 yards for unnecessary roughness indicates that they were out to get all the Independents they could and put them out of the game. Nothing could have been more obvious. Their dirty tactics point to a premeditated system for disposing of the Islanders as quickly as possible.
Hard football cannot be classed with foul football. They are distinctive. There is no complaint from a good sportsman who is struck with injurious effect when such is necessary to keep him from advancing. But when it is clear that a runner cannot advance the ball after being downed, it is murderous to pile up on him or otherwise jeopardize his life by such tactics as Trafton used yesterday to put Gunderson out of the game.
Muckers is not the word for such miscreants, who literally seek an opposing player's life. Today, Gunderson is out of the game for three weeks with 11 stitches over his left eye, two stitches in his under lip and a broken left hand. Lying prone as he was, it is only a miracle that a big brute like Crafton [sic] didn't finish his foul determination and kill Gunderson.

Copeland eventually turned his ire on the officials, particularly Williams while voicing his support for Barron:

Umpire "Stub" Barron was the official who called the foul on Trafton. His penalty, under the rules, was to disqualify the player and penalize the Staleys half the distance to their goal line; which he did. Naturally, the Staleys raised a great howl that Trafton's violation of the rules had been purely unintentional. However, they did not stop to think that no knowledge of the law may be given as an excuse.
Williams, who had refereed the previous game, was completely dominated by the Staley team. At one time during the argument that ensued he was heard to remark to Captain Halas:
"Don't worry; I am looking out for our own interests."
The remark was overheard by a Rock Island player who was lying near the men as they passed. The fact that Williams finally compromised by penalizing the Staleys only 10 yards for “running into opponents” proved there was at least some ground for the conviction that Trafton's violation had been intentional and should have been within the jurisdiction of section 1 of rule 23 of the football code.
Umpire Barron called the penalty as it should have been. There was noting [sic] else for him to do, as it was entire unnecessary for Trafton to have been in the play. The Staleys claim that Trafton had stumbled over the pile-up. If he had merely stumbled, he would have gone on and over Gunderson, without sliding and cutting his face almost to ribbons.
Such bandits should remember that there are eyes on every field that can detect such gross insults to the name of fair sport, and football brains that can discern between intentional and unintentional fouls.

By the end of his rant, the lone Decatur player Copeland did not target was quarterback Pard Pearce.

Pearce, always a gentleman, did his utmost to keep the game clean and the Staley team beyond reproach, but he was outnumbered 11-1, including Referee Williams, who might as well have been a paid employee of the Staley aggregation.
The fact remains: if you can't be a thoroughbred, don't travel. The writer cannot be too vindictive on this score, because next to the surething guy comes the slugger, in his estimation. If these gutter earmarks are entitled to a place in the sporting sun, what is the world coming to, as Rupert Hughes says.

A Gambling Circle?

Oddly enough, a day later, Copeland wrote Trafton probably did not possess malice in his mind during the game. Instead, he suggested Trafton and the Staleys might have been dragged into a local gambling ring.^[7]

On second thought, a Rock Island gambling tout might or might not have been directly responsible Sunday afternoon at Douglas park for the unfortunate indiscretion of Trafton. Staley center. It is a spirit of absolute fairness that impels to give Trafton the benefit of such doubt.
It is a known fact that this gambling tout, without a dime of his own to wager, accosted Trafton in the Davenport hotel on Saturday night with the malicious suggestion that he bet $100 even that Gunderson would put him out of the game intentionally in the first quarter.
This might have been a vicious misrepresentation to Trafton and the rest of the Staleys, impelling them to come to Rock Island and not be caught napping. In other words, they might have resolved to get us before "we could get them," wholly at the intimation of this disreputable gambling tout.
The menace of such a character being among the first to greet visiting players not only threatens to counter-act Rock Island's good reputation in professional football but it also serves to stimulate the ill will that was apparent Sunday in the unsportsmanlike tactics of the Staley eleven.

Copeland continued on by explaining his column had "already exposed the perils of overt gambling demonstrations" that took place in Rock Island, urging the Independents to stamp down on gamblers for threatening players. At the very least, he wrote, it was for the "protection of women and children from this wholly obnoxious method of attempting to stimulate more interest in the games."^[7]
"Usually the person who advertises a weakness for public gambling is among the first to become disgruntled over the slightest reverse of the Independents."^[7]

The Democrat Responds

Here's where things get interesting.
Remember Trafton telling the Mercer driver that he's heading to Davenport? One of city's sportswriters, writing for the The Davenport Democrat and Leader, mocked Rock Island fans for how they treated Trafton, both during the game and when chasing him out of the city, in the paper's November 8 edition.^[8]

The bets of "enthusiastic" fans that Gunderson would "get" Trafton before the end of the first quarter ended disastrously for a Swede center and a number of other players as well.
The only time the Staley center was in danger was when some rowdy threw a pop bottle into the taxi in which Trafton and several others were riding after the game. Fortunately none were injured by the missle [sic] or broken glass.
It's a foregone conclusion, however, that what the Independents did yesterday was offset by the unsportsmanlike "fans" who displayed their prejudices in such a cheap manner as to disgust all lovers of good, clean sports.
For the sake of a few cents, or probably dollars, which they had bet, one of the most rowdy, maudlin, filthy and ungentlemanly volley of unclean and unwarranted cheers was made that put even the hard fighting Independents in a bad light.
It's a certainty that Rock Island has many "short sports." Rather than suffer defeat they evidenced the fact that there was nothing too mean and vile for them to say or do, and the majority of the crowd, which was only 20 per cent from Rock Island, was completely disgusted with the rowdyism that leaves a stain on clean sports and especially professional football in the Island City.

The writer went on to directly call out Copeland, proclaiming his pre-game articles helped stir fan attacks against Trafton:

Much of the dirty work on the side-lines is said to be the result of the sentiment fostered during the week by Rock Island's only sport writer, who for the entire week has been quoting Trafton, Staley's center, to the effect that he would "get" the Rock Island line during the game.
Trafton was personally challenged, in the Davenport hotel Saturday evening, and a handful of these birds from Rock Island heckled and "razzed" him into bets that he would be forced to take time before the end of the first quarter. Trafton bet till his money was gone and went into the game yesterday hammer and tongs. He took no time out during the entire game and is said to have personally accounted for Gunderson, Chicken, Smith and Nichols. Trafton was approached at the hotel in the presence of a Davenport Democrat representative, who witnessed the allegations made by the Rock Island men.

He then turned his attention back to Independents fans for their behavior, though maybe some of his comments were crossing the line:

If Referee Williams, who the "backers" of the Independents claim was unfair, had been just, he would have penalized the home team at least 20 yards when a cyclone of cheers in the grandstand made it impossible for the visitors to call their signals. This the referee has the power to do and it no doubt would have stopped the noise.
When a crowd cheers because a player has been injured, especially if they player has been clean, as it did when Pierce [sic, was referring to Pearce] was temporarily winded, there is little sportsmanship in its makeup.
Isn't it too bad these former "barrel-house" supporters could not have been under that section of the bleachers that collapsed.
Decatur fans who came a long way to see a real football game, took home with them something new in the form of "rooting" and it's more than likely they'll spread the news.
Probably no one was more disappointed with the methods used yesterday than Walter Flannigan [sic], manager of the Independents. He has at all times stood for good, clean football and it is known that he was not in accord with the tactics of those who could not think of losing their money, if there was a possible means of preventing defeat.

After proclaiming Rock Island should stop making excuses for not beating Decatur, he concluded:

The Independents and their management covered themselves with glory yesterday, but—well the least said about some things the better. Any person that loves clean football rooting had a bad taste in his mouth following yesterday's game.

Copeland Fights Back

At the end of his possible Rock Island gambling ring story, Copeland briefly acknowledged the Democrat’s comments on him:^[7]

In commenting on Sunday's football game, The Davenport Democrat calls us "an over-enthusiastic, altho prejudiced sport writer." As far as over-enthusiasm goes, we are glad we can still enjoy life. As to prejudice, which is almost identical with incapability, we would stoop to advise that persons with narrow shoulders should never wear suspenders.

In his November 10 column, however, Copeland went all-out in his retaliation:^[9]

In reading this column, Argus readers are humbly requested to bear in mind that prior to last Sunday there had been no grievances between The Davenport football writer and The Sportscope. However, during the Independent-Staley football game at Douglas park, the Democrat football expert (?) took occasion to defile Rock Island fans their sportsmanship. Above all, he condoned Trafton's foul tactics and as much as said by innuendo that Gunderson got what was coming to him. Money, this same writer continued his tirade in his sport pages[...] Perhaps he is just one of those "who never could know and never could understand." A vast majority of Davenport fans are "salt of earth," and their presence at any sporting event in Rock Island is always cordially invited. Please excuse them from this dissertation, which is designed wholly for the enlightenment of The Davenport Democrat football writer, who with no stint of verbiage, has insulted the intelligence of Rock Island fandom and the experience of the writer of The Sportscope.

Copeland proceeded to answer much of the article, though to save time and character space, I’ll provide his breakdown of some of the Davenport writer's comments above. For starters, let’s focus on the paragraph where he talked about how Williams could have penalized Rock Island fans 20 yards for being too rowdy. Copeland’s response is extremely long, but I found his snide tone hilarious enough to include:

Turn to the football code, Nodrog, and let's have a little skull practice. We shall begin by reading section 3 of rule 15, whose text is:
"No delay arising from any cause whatsoever shall continue more than two minutes." Is that perfectly clear? Simple enough, isn't it? Well, let's proceed. Under "Penalty" we see:
"Unreasonable delay on the part of the side not in possession of the ball—Loss of 5 yards, the scrimmage following to remain first down.
"Unreasonable delay on the part of the side in possession of the ball—Loss of 5 yards, the down and the point to be gained for first down remaining the same as they were at the beginning of the scrimmage during which the delay occurred.
"Refusal of either side to play within two minutes after having been ordered to do so by the referee—Forfeiture of the game."
Do you know what is the score of a forfeited game? No? Well, as this is a primary class in football, know you hereafter that it is 1-0.
Cheering so that signals cannot be heard should be classified under rule 15 (Delay of Game), shouldn’t it? The wording of the rule itself does not interpret "from any cause whatsoever." It leaves that broad interpretation to the judgment of the referee and field judge. In a way, you are right because the rule contains no specific factors for penalization, neither players or spectators.
Infliction of the penalty is confined wholly to the players, but no mention is made of the spectators. Still, a referee or a field judge might exercise the prerogative left for their interpretation and impose a 5-yard penalty.
See any reference to "at least 20 yards" there? See any reference to the referee having the authority to penalize for such a "delay?"
And, lo, under "Penalty," it is stipulated that only team delays are to be adjudged. Remember, Nodrog, that to report a football game for your newspaper, you first have to possess some knowledge of the rules. Then, perhaps, you will never again make such a ridiculous assertion that a team, either with or without possession of the ball, can be penalized 5. NO "AT LEAST 20 YARDS," because the jubilant or outraged fans persist in cheering or JEERING for more than two minutes. Remember, Nodrog! That is, unless the referee is a broad interpreter of the rule.

Copeland called him "Nodrog" approximately 30 times in his column. While the writer's name is never specified, "Nodrog" is "Gordon" backwards. Make of that what you will. I'll call him by the name as well for convenience.
Nodrog's defense of Williams' decision to not eject Trafton for the Gunderson incident was next. I think the funny part is that most of it was in bold and even all-caps.

As to the "fairness" of Referee Williams, which you allege, Nodrog, here is a specimen (remember, you implied as much):
The moment Trafton committed his flagrant fouling of Gunderson, Umpire Barron ran in, disqualified Trafton and motioned to Referee Williams to advance the ball half the distance to the Staley goal line. Why? Because Trafton had struck, kneed and kicked Gunderson. You saw it, didn't you?
Well, Nodrog, did you see Captain Halas of Staley run toward your sanctimonious Mr. Williams, crying: "Are you going to stand for that?" Did you see Williams falter, consult with Halas and then stride toward Umpire Barron? Did you hear Williams declare, "That foul was unintentional?" Did you see him consult with Halas again? Do you believe they were discussing THEIR return trip to Decatur?
[Copeland lists off rules on hitting with certain body parts like the elbows, along with how the umpire should enforce penalties for such incidents. For my sanity, I'll provide them in this image.]
You know that Williams finally proposed a compromise penalty [the ten-yard "Running into opponents" one], don't you, Nodrog? Isn't a compromise proposed by one who is subject to frequent attacks of cold feet? Doesn’t he admit he is wrong by proposing a compromise? If he weer [sic] courageous, wouldn’t he stick to his convictions? Williams violated the code himself by misinterpreting rule 27, section 1, and disregarding rule 23, section 1, under "Duties of the Referee["]: and ignoring rule 23, section 1, under "Brief of Rules Where Umpire Has Jurisdiction."
Williams' compromise was based on rule 23, section 6, under “Conduct of Players,” which reads: “There shall be no running into opponents after the ball has been declared dead. “Usually, Nodrog, this rule is interpreted to apply to fouls committed where both players are on their feet. Williams had only to view the result of Trafton’s willful foul to determine which penalty should be imposed.
The Sportscope has attempted to correct your assertion that Referee Williams was fair. It hopes you understand, Nodrog!

Remember when Nodrog said the rowdier Rock Island fans should have been under the stands when they collapsed? Copeland addressed that as well:

You don't mean that, do you, Nodrog? If you do, there is murder in your heart. Why, the very idea of wishing anything that breathes—good, bad or indifferent—to be in such a fatal predicament! You must give your intelligence more exercise, Nodrog! If that is an example of your mentality, you are living in stoneage times, not 1920 A. D. It is dangerous to reputation to print a statement in which you infer it is pitiful that human beings cannot be killed off. Did you stop to think of that before you began to write?
As to Decatur's "outraged" fandom at the game, The Sportscope daresays they witnessed only the culmination of a series of black-guardly fouls on the part of their own "oppressed" football team during the game. The Sportscope also daresays that such thrilled turned to shivers when they suddenly awoke the fact that they weren't on their own lot, and saw a frenzied mob chasing their beloved, self-appointed midwest football champions from the field. Otherwise, The Sportscope cannot imagine how they could take home "something new."
On Aug. 23, 1980, the writer saw his first professional baseball game. He had that memorable date jotted down in his memory book and will never forget it. His first impression of professional sport was the spectacle of fully one thousand fans in the act of chasing a single umpire to the clubhouse on the Polo Grounds, New York. That was a little more than thirty years ago, and The Sportscope further daresays that similar incidents have occurred frequently ever since. It has occurred in Davenport more often than The Democrat writer cares to admit, and everywhere else at times when foul tactics incite general fandom to run riot.
You cannot stop it, Nodrog; so what are we to do?

In the Democrat article, Nodrog provided an image of Trafton tackling Chicken. Copeland called him out by saying it is really a photo from a USC/Occidental College game.^[9]
As a bonus, Copeland even wrote jazz song lyrics mocking Nodrog as part of his Sporting Jazz segment (among other insults).
"USE WELL, NODROG, BEFORE SHAKING."

The Democrat Responds 2: Electric Boogaloo

The next day, Democrat writer Bob Feeney answered back in his Homade Hooch column:^[10]

TWELVE REASONS WHY YOU SHOULDN'T PAY ANY ATTENTION TO COPELAND.
(1) Because he gave 12 reasons why the Staleys couldn't win, and 12 why Rock Island couldn't lose before the first game.
(2) Because the Staleys won anyway.
(3) Because he thinks a team gets penalized 15 yards for having three men off-side.
(4) Because he don't write in English, and his stuff isn't worth translating.
(5) Because he might throw a pop bottle at you if he got too close to you.
(6) Because he believes you ought to "score" a prize fight just like a baseball game.
(7) Because he is vulgar, and accuses his colleagues of wearing suspenders.
(8) Because he isn't a safe man to have around—he is a jazzing fool, and specializes on "Sporting Jazz".
(9) Because he gets personal, and that isn't nice a-tawl!
(10) Because after this issue of "Homade Hooch" gets around his reputation wouldn't be worth 30c.
(12) Because everybody around here knows he is a has-been, and most suspect that he is a never-was.
(13) Because what he has to say doesn't make any difference anyway.

After the list, he began his counterattack:

The Rock Island Argus devoted seven of its eight columns on the sporting page to the Davenport Democrat yesterday. We have not that amount of space available for an answer—Democrat space is too valuable—but we do devote a good part of this column to the subject, not to answer such ridiculous questions but to show the public at large how little some sporting experts know of their own subject.
WE DEFY YOU TO DENY THIS:
We recall a little incident at the Rock Island-Staley first game [the 7–0 Decatur win]. Rock Island was penalized 15 yards.
"Oh!" chirped Rock Island's only sporting editor, "what is the matter? Is someone off side?"
"Yes," replied a Democrat staff member, "three men off side."
The Rock Island editorial pencil lit upon the page.
"Hey, Bruce," called a more charitably inclined Democrat representative, "don't put that down, they were holding." Thus was the Argus once more saved from making a "Sporting Jazz" of its news stories.
The Argus Editorial
We wonder what the Argus editorial department thinks about this malicious attack on the Democrat. In their editorial Monday night, they did not agree with "by Bruce Copeland" at all.
The Argus gave the ferocious Rock Island fans a severe "sacking" on the editorial page, while Bruce was loudly praising them on the sport page. He has never, to our knowledge, even mentioned the pop bottle episode, except in a general way, where it was his plain duty to devote several columns under his journalistic methods to disapproving of it.
Bruce seems to think it is quite the proper thing to throw pop bottles at the visitors. Probably he learned that at the first professional baseball game he attended back in 1865, or else he inherited it from a long line of baboons who threw cocoanuts [sic] at the visitors in the jungle. To sum up, however, we agree with the Argus editorial department, not with the sports department.

Feeney also included a recap of the day's scores:

Democrat, 88; Bruce Copeland, 0.
November, 11; Germany, 0.
What-we-say, 100; What-he-says, 0.

To round out his piece, he wrote:

YOU CAN'T ARGUE WITH A GUY THAT TALKS LATIN.
(From the Rock Island Argus.)
[Feeney repeats the note added by Copeland at the end of his gambling ring article (the one about suspenders)]
A free translation of the Argus panning follows: "Our spirit is young, even if we are bald-headed. Lay off on the rough stuff." The sentence about the suspenders, however, cannot be translated—it is Latin idiom, that is, written by a Latin idiot.
We now reply to the R. I editor in his mother tongue, so that he, too, may understand:
Having never matriculated from either Yale or Harvard, we are inclined to view with suspicion the urbane metaphors of the self-admitted, over enthusiastic and prejudiced only sport critic of the neighboring community.
Comparisons are always odious, but we have always been taught that a well groomed man never wears suspenders, and unaccustomed to their weight on our narrow shoulders we will consult the ouija board immediately in order to determine whether some malicious minded person has been using vile appelations [sic] in connection with our personality.
Judging from the continued bleating of Mr. Copeland, R. I.'s alleged sport writer (?) one would almost believe that he not only condones but approves of pop bottle episodes and riots.

The Aftermath

All of this over a football game? Imagine this happening in today's age with social media. Those two would have quickly been ousted from their jobs due to the PR nightmare both papers would have to endure.
As far as I can find, Copeland did not answer back to Feeney as he appeared to have moved on from the situation. Probably.
On November 17, ten days after the Staleys/Independents game and six days after Feeney's column, The Sportscope focused on the upcoming Rock Island/Dayton Triangles game, though Copeland also wrote a poem. It was innocuous for the most part; that is, until you reach the closing line:^[11]

When ladies would a-bowling go,
Man wants but little here below.
No matter how they fall from grace
And throw the balls around the place,
Men overlook their sickly score,
But not the hosiery that they wore.
He didn't break his collar-bone
Beneath a wagon-load of stone!
No flivver hit him in the neck!
No, it was not a railroad wreck!
A harder fate was his, 'twould seem:
He played against the Staley team!

Sports feuds are fun, aren't they?

Future Rock Island Battles

The Pro Football Hall of Fame's bio on Trafton states the following: "One writer reported that Trafton was strongly disliked in every NFL city, with the exception of Green Bay and Rock Island. In those places, 'he was hated.'"^[12] Not surprising about Green Bay considering the Bears/Packers rivalry and definitely not surprising about Rock Island. Interestingly, Trafton's escape from the city was not the only time he clashed with the Independents.
A year later, the newly-christened Chicago Staleys visited Rock Island. Immediately after the game ended, Halas gave an envelope containing his team’s share of the ticket revenue to Trafton.^[6]
"It seemed like a prudent thing to do, because the Rock Island fans were in a characteristically unhappy mood," Halas wrote. "If they started looking for trouble, I figured Trafton would be running for his life, whereas I would have had nothing to run for except the $3,500."^[6]
The two eventually reached their hotel without problem and Trafton returned the money to Halas.^[6]
In another meeting between the teams, Trafton and Independents center Lou Kolls repeatedly committed personal fouls on the other. Rather than penalize or eject them, however, referee Bobie Cahn decided against it, figuring the countless infractions would just slow down the game. "We figured we might as well let them kill each other," he quipped.^[3]
Ironically, in 1923, Walter Flanigan attempted to sign Trafton and fellow Bears playequarterback Joey Sternaman (the younger brother of team co-owner Dutch Sternaman).^[13] Both declined.

What About Copeland?

As for Copeland, The Sportscope stopped covering the Independents following the 1920 season as he focused on serving as a baseball umpire starting in June 1921. The Davenport Democrat was thrilled as they wrote: "It can't be! Yes, By Gosh! It is our old friend Bruce Copeland with a mask on his face and a chest protector down his facede [sic] acting as arbiter in the Three-I League. [...] 'Good Luck, Bruce! An' Call 'em Wen 'er over!'"^[14]
Considering the paper, it's probably Nodrog who wrote it.
Before he was officiating baseball games and during the APFA offseason, however, he wasn’t shy in getting jabs at the Staleys. For his 1920 league All-Star Team, he refused to list Trafton, not even as an honorable mention. Although he praised him for his "peak physical conditioning" and for being "the unanimous call for all-star center," Copeland wrote "Trafton's popularity was impaired greatly by his unnecessarily rough tactics, which will be passed over without further comment."^[15]
In January 1921, the Independents played an exhibition game against the Chicago Thorns, a team that featured many Staley players like Halas and Trafton. Despite being the favorite, playing on their home field, and scoring the first points of the game, the Thorns lost 14–7.^[16] A day later, Copeland criticized the Chicago Tribune's game recap:^[17]

The victory also proved the utter disregard of Chicago newspapers for a football team which in every way is superior to the Staleys, conceded national champions after playing the Akron Indians in a scoreless tie. A game of that kind would have packed Madison Square Garden, New York, from tanbark to girders and filled columns of space in New York newspapers.
There is an insidious influence in Chicago which never wished the Islanders any great amount of weal. It is also probable that the Staleys did not wish to see a detailed description of their utter rout as inflicted by the Independents. Somebody put on the soft pedal.
[Some proclamations about the superiority of Rock Island's players and arguing the Independents could have won the 1920 APFA title if they "[showed] more fight" like they did in the exhibition]

Copeland’s column proceeded to mock the Tribune for... calling the Independents the Independents?
According to him, they had agreed to play the game under the name "Rock Island Professionals", though the newspaper apparently didn't get the memo. On that note, he also made fun of the Staleys some more:

Chicago AFTERNOON newspapers, who showed a greater inclination to recommend the classic than their contemporaries, and also handbills and scorecards advertised the locals as the Independents. The Staley's, however, took the wise precaution to disguise themselves as the Chicago Thorns without even being hyphenated to their rightful identity.
Today's Chicago Tribune printed an obscure article supplied by Joe Prendergast Sunday night after it was learned that the early editions of both Chicago morning dailies contained no mention of the Independent-Staley contest. Prendergast called both offices on the phone at 11 p. m. and both professed great surprise that there had been such a game. They didn't even know the score.
The Tribune stated today that the Staleys had disbanded previously. Nine of their regular players in Sunday's lineup fails to corroborate the fact. Seeing as how nine Staleys and two others were defeated by eleven representative Rock Island Independents, who had sought to protect the record of that organization by billing themselves previously as the Rock Island Professionals, it is no more than hair, as they were advertised by the game promoters as the Independents, that they should be credited with having defeated the Staleys, not the Chicago Thorns.

Guess some grudges never die.