Category Archives: Archive

Cautious Optimism for WWE’s New Era (And the Brand Split)

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Up until this morning, I was going to title this column, “The Hypocrisy of WWE’s New Era.” What followed was going to be a lengthy tirade about how the “New Era” was nothing more than a shiny paint job covering the same product that WWE has been cranking out for most of the decade: an authority figure running Raw (usually a McMahon),  cliche storylines being favored over quality wrestling matches with stakes and the wrestlers that the smarks preferred constantly being cast aside and buried in favor of the “face” of the company. I had intended on being wonderfully cynical and brutally sardonic.

But then I woke up the other day and heard about the upcoming brand split. Heard how Smackdown is going to be a live show now and will feature its very own roster of superstars. Supposedly, this will help make Smackdown relevant for the first time in years, a move that many fans have clamored for since… well, for a pretty damn long time. It also suggests that maybe WWE isn’t just spewing out empty promises when it refers to the New Era and that it actually plans on capitalizing on its talented and promising roster.

Of course, there’s always the chance that WWE could blow this. They have an uncanny knack for doing just that.

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Are the Nuggets Stuck in Basketball Purgatory?

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Since I am living in Cleveland at the moment I decided to make a deal with Jesse. I’m jumping on the Cleveland Cavaliers bandwagon until either A. I move away from Cleveland or B. The Denver Nuggets make the playoffs. Since I’m only planning on staying in Cleveland for 2 years it looks like the former option will come first.

Why such a gloom analysis of a young Nuggets team? It’s simple really, the Nuggets have been stuck in purgatory. No, not the place where everyone hung out in season 6 of LOST (spoilers?) and not the place your Catholic Priest says dead babies go to. No, they are stuck in basketball purgatory which is the worst place to be in the NBA.

You see in basketball, unlike other some other sports, you are only as good as your best player (unless your team is coached by George Karl and your best player is Ty Lawson (!!) and you somehow manage to beat the franchise record for most wins in a season but even then your team decides to clean house and start over because…reasons??) Rarely does a team sustain success without a (or three) star player.

Don’t believe me? Why don’t we turn to the best player in the NBA over the last 13 seasons, LeBron James. For years this dude dragged some terrible basketball teams to the playoffs, one year he even dragged them to the Finals! Eventually he saw the rival Boston Celtics gather three superstars on their way to two Finals appearances. James decided this was a good idea and found himself some superstar teammates in Miami.

If the greatest player since Michael Jordan decides he needs more superstars in order to be successful in the NBA then it stands to reason that is the best path for any team right?

Now this is where it gets tricky. To get a superstar you have three options: hope your team either wins the NBA Draft Lottery, woos a superstar in free agency or trades for one.

And how do you win the Lottery? You play really, really bad and get a little lucky. Don’t want to tank? Well then you better hope you have a superstar on your roster in order to attract that other superstar to your team because he is not signing without one or two. Don’t have a superstar and you don’t want to tank? Well I hope you have accumulated a ton of assets. Even that’s probably not enough. You also need a superstar somewhere in the league that is upset with his current situation (like how Melo was upset that Denver wasn’t New York).

So there you have it. It’s easy right? If you don’t have at least one superstar, get one, and then get some more. And there are many avenues to do that right? It’s so simple. Except it’s not. Sometimes teams get stuck in the middle. They aren’t any good and have no shot at competing for a championship. But they also aren’t incredibly bad either. This middle ground is pretty infuriating as a basketball fan. You want your team to make moves to get better but those moves come with a lot of risk. You feel destined to forever be the team that easily miss the playoffs but not quite bad enough to have a real shot at the lottery. You start feeling jealous of teams that are tanking. You look at their 12 win season and you imagine what it must be like to have hope for your future. It’s a dark place really.

Which leads me to where the Nuggets have been the last few seasons. Purgatory. They haven’t been bad enough to tank a season (and were too stubborn to do so under Brian Shaw). They haven’t had a superstar built in to attract another to sign here. And while they’ve had some attractive assets thanks to the Melo trade there hasn’t been a good opportunity to trade for a superstar.

As we go into the offseason I can’t help but wonder, are the people in charge of the Nuggets ready to take this team to the next level? Or are they happy moving sideways in purgatory?

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Broncos QB’s Will Be Better in 2016 (Seriously)

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If you’ve been watching SportsCenter lately, you know that the experts don’t think much of the Broncos’ chances to defend their Super Bowl title. Apparently, the team is about to endure its first losing season since 2010, when some guy named McDaniels was sent by Bill Belichick to ruin the Broncos flaming out as a head coach. The losses of Brent (or is it Brad?) Osweiler, Malik Jackson and Danny Trevathan are insurmountable. Never mind the fact that the Broncos had some of the worst quarterback play in the league last season, or that Super Bowl MVP Von Miller and members of the No Fly Zone still spearhead the NFL’s no. 1 defense. The “experts” have spoken and 2016 is going to be a horrible year at Mile High, right?

Well, maybe for Sports Authority, but for the team? Not so much.

I don’t think I have to defend the idea that despite the loss of two starters, the defense will be pretty good again this season. Probably damn good. I also believe that it won’t be overly difficult for the Broncos to improve on their quarterback situation from a year ago, and that is indeed an idea worth exploring. Hit the jump and we’ll take a look.

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Pegboards’ Fourth Annual NFL Mock Draft

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Mock drafts are a waste of time. Not only do Kevin and I rarely get more than a handful of picks right (and that’s on a good year), we also barely know any of the players in this year’s class. But that’s not why we do one for every NFL draft.

We do it because it’s fun, entertaining and Kevin likes taking some light-hearted jabs at me with inside humor. You probably enjoy that too, so let’s just get on with it.

The rules are the same as always. This year I’m drafting for the odd numbered picks and Kevin is doing the evens. We can make any trades that we want with our own picks, but must agree on a deal in order to swap an odd for an even.  Continue reading →

Survivor Kaoh Rong Episode 8: Don’t Check Me Boo

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Come on in guys for my Survivor Kaoh Rong Episode 8 review where I use classic Survivor quotes to assess the latest episode.

I must apologize for the late update and for pull a Joe (disappearing) for Episode 7’s boring sad episode. But I am back and so are you! And so is another episode of Survivor so let’s get it started.

Alright click below before I start talking to buddha. Spoilers below.
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Survivor Kaoh Rong Episode 6: The JV Squad

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Come on in guys for my Survivor Kaoh Rong Episode 6 review where I use classic Survivor quotes to assess the latest episode.

People are often perplexed about my love for Survivor. They think this makes me a strange, reality TV obsessed, obnoxious and terrible person. They don’t respect the show as real TV entertainment, instead they believe it to be dramatic garbage that isn’t worth anyone’s time or brain cells. Obviously these people are wrong and I’m going to use this most recent episode as an example that this show has real character driven depth.

Survivor is a massive beast to edit. You have 24 hours of 39 days recorded by numerous cameraman, catching every little conversation that is going on between 18 ish players. That’s nearly 1000 hours of footage that they need to whittle down to about 14 hours of entertainment. Talk about an overwhelming job.

Which makes this last episode even more amazing. Through the first five episodes of the season we were given three very strong and important characters in Tai, Debbie and Jason. They had the most confessionals and seemed to be having the largest impact on the game. This last episode the editors seemingly turn it over to their JV squad. We learned a lot about Nick, Michele, Julia and Aubry, players that were invisible as of last week. And they managed to make them entertaining and compelling television. Now going into a presumed merge next week, we have mostly fleshed out characters in everyone besides maybe Joe. This isn’t reality TV garbage, this is damn good storytelling.

Alright click below to continue reading and I promise to tell you about my modeling days. Spoilers below.
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Survivor Kaoh Rong Episode 5: The Art of Strategy

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Come on in guys for my Survivor Kaoh Rong Episode 5 review where I use classic Survivor quotes to assess the latest episode.

Ahh I love the smell of a tribe swap. It switches things up nicely and makes the post merge game more unpredictable. Plus it gave us a great episode strategy wise. Don’t mind me as I nerd out about all the great strategy moves from this week.

 

Alright drop your buffs and click below to read my analysis of the episode. Spoilers below.
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Mark Sanchez Won’t Ruin the Broncos Next Season (Probably)

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A day after the Broncos introduced Mark Sanchez as their most notable offseason acquisition, it’s understandable if there is a general feeling of angst permeating throughout Denver. That’s what happens when a future Hall of Famer rides off into the sunset, his supposed successor walks out the door and the next signal caller brought in is the infamous Butt-Fumbler. It’s a good time to mention that the Broncos are the defending Super Bowl champions.

Although defections are taking place all over the roster, quarterbacks always draw the most attention and set off the loudest alarms. That’s why Brock Osweiler’s desertion hit the hardest and why Sanchez’s arrival is treated with the most scrutiny. Never mind the fact that Osweiler and Peyton Manning quarterbacked the Broncos to the second-worst passer rating in the league last season. Those guys are gone, Sanchez is here and everything is horrible, right?

Well, not really. Truth be told, there are a few ways the Broncos can improve on offense even if Sanchez is under center next season.

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Survivor Kaoh Rong Episode 4: The Rise of (Dr.) Joe

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Come on in guys for my Survivor Kaoh Rong Episode 4 review where I use classic Survivor quotes to assess the latest episode.

This week we…hold on a second I need water over here! We have a writer down! The entire Pegboards staff are essential and we need them out here now! Grab umbrellas, water, ice, a helicopter, whatever you can find!

Whew okay that was a close one, looks like she’s going to be okay. As I was saying, this week on Survivor we had a…uh oh…two more writers are down! We need medical attention stat! Jesse hold onto this guy’s legs! And use a notepad to fan him down!

Damn okay. We lost one. I think that just proves that here at Pegboards our writers are giving it their all.

Alright dig in the sand below to find the button and click it to read my analysis of the episode. Spoilers below.
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Survivor Kaoh Rong Episode 3 Review

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Come on in guys for my Survivor Kaoh Rong Episode 3 review where I use classic Survivor quotes to assess the latest episode.

This week we saw Brawn battle over an idol, Beauty choke the chicken and Brain outwitting each other.

Click below and I will tell you how smart, good looking and lovable I am. Spoilers below.
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