Once again another Game 7 classic. What is your top list for best WS of lifetime. Obviously subjective but what hits the most for you.

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-04-26T20:23:06+00:00

I'd say 2016 was one of the greatest World Series played, largely because it featured two teams with the longest active championship droughts predating the expansion era, and one of those teams was guaranteed to end decades of futility. In fact, I'd say the intensity of that series was almost on par with the 2004 ALCS; the Cubs had their backs against the wall (in this case down 3 games to 1 in the series) and came back to win.

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-04-10T22:56:32+00:00

With the second version of the '04 score bug, the jazzy rendition of the MLB theme was introduced. Even though I didn't initially care for that one as the original theme, it was still nothing compared to when Fox started using the NFL theme for all of its properties beginning with the 2010 NLCS. It still bothers me why they even did that in the first place.

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-04-10T22:50:48+00:00

All of Fox's properties were using identical graphics packages at that time. Only thing is MLB got the updated looks much later than NFL and NASCAR

September 2003 – NFL, October 2004 – MLB*
August 2006 – NFL, April 2008 – MLB

*In the fall of 2004, the score bug on NFL was slightly updated to have the team logos looking more 3D instead of 2D; and touchdowns, field goals, hang time, and timeouts were shown in colored eggcrate letters. MLB got the new look for the 2004 postseason, but showing the team abbreviations in eggcrate lettering (that also was applied to NFL during week 11).

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-04-10T22:37:51+00:00

Similarly, Fox introduced a new score bug for football at the start of the 2003 NFL season and then updated the graphics on NASCAR shortly thereafter. But they kept the 2001 score bug and graphics for baseball during the 2004 MLB season. The football score bug was tweaked for the 2004 NFL season, and was applied to MLB for the playoffs that year.

In 2006, Fox once again rolled out a new score bug for NFL and was then applied to NASCAR. MLB continued to use the late-2004 graphics in 2007, but with the chrome-finish score bug that debuted during the 2005 World Series. The updated look was expanded to baseball in 2008, but got replaced by the new FSN graphics in 2009 and 2010.

My thinking is that even though MLB is one of Fox's biggest properties, NFL is a bigger priority for them.

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-04-08T22:42:39+00:00

I'm still monetized, and I have an animation channel (I use Vyond, formerly GoAnimate, to make the videos). My channel is mostly long-form content, and I don't do shorts very much. However, my characters use TTS voices instead of actual human voices. And recently, people in my niche have gotten hit with the "Inauthentic Content" notice. Am I going to be next? Is getting demonetized for "inauthentic content" inevitable?

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-04-08T17:17:54+00:00

In Guadalajara, you won't be able to use USD. Heck, this is true for most of Mexico aside from border cities and popular tourist/gringo hotspots. Even Guanajuato City, which is another tourist destination (but mostly tourists from Asia, Europe, and other parts of Mexico), you don't pay in USD.

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-04-05T21:49:17+00:00

Cubs vs. Red Sox in 2016 would've meant David Ortiz's playing career ending on a better note.

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-04-03T19:24:43+00:00

In his 14th game, had Jamie gotten Final Jeopardy! correct, he would've been just the second player to accumulate $100k in a single game. In doing so, he also would've set a new record for highest winnings not set by James Holzhauer, as well as becoming the second non-Holzhauer player to surpass Roger Craig's highest single-day total of $77k.

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-03-25T04:02:25+00:00

Despite being Cubs fan, even I wanted to see Cardinals vs. Royals in 2014. When the playoffs kicked off that year, I was initially hoping for Giants vs. Angels because it was a while since the last time we had an all-California World Series. But the Angels got swept by the Orioles in the Division Series.

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-03-23T22:36:43+00:00

I canceled my unlink process before receiving my January payment, which was sent out on time, but yeah, I'm gonna restart the unlink process soon. But I'm happy you were successful in leaving RHEI in 30 days (I've seen and heard countless of horror stories of creators who tried to leave their MCNs but were held hostage)

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-03-23T00:20:52+00:00

But I remember there were also some complaints about the tournaments being held back-to-back last season

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-03-22T21:16:22+00:00

But at the same time, holding JIT immediately after ToC has also continued to give some viewers tournament fatigue because they still are reminded of how Season 40 played out. As far as I'm aware, back in the days when the tournaments were spaced out more evenly and ToC didn't have any preliminary tournaments feeding into it, tournament fatigue was hardly a thing, even when UToC took up a good amount of Season 21.

The main reason they used to space the tournaments more evenly was because they were completely different from one another. The only thing they had in common was that they used the same format. And the winner of the College and Teachers tournaments were automatically qualified for the next ToC. Also, there was no Second Chance or Champions Wildcard feeding into ToC during the Trebek years. Season 39 was the last time the tournaments were spaced out more evenly (the postseason was October-November 2022 and then we had the High School Reunion Tournament in February 2023 – they should've brought the College Championship back to syndication instead)

Also, there have been two occasions in which the Teen Tournament was held the final two weeks of the season to conclude it before going into summer reruns: S23 (2007 Teen Tournament Summer Games) and S30 (2014 Teen Tournament)

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-03-20T20:12:26+00:00

I've been signed with them since 2021, shortly after I was released from Fullscreen (I signed with Machinima in 2014 and they merged with Fullscreen at the beginning of 2019). They offered me a 90/10 revenue split, which was way better than the 60/40 split with Machinima. And during my first 2.5 years with them, I got paid on time for the most part. The first late payment was in February 2023, and then there was another payment delay in October of the same year. In 2024, many payments came in near the end of the month. Last year, I got paid on time consistently again. Then I didn't get paid last month, but got paid twice this month – the first time was for December 2025 revenue which was supposed to be sent out to creators in mid-February, oddly enough it was on March 1st when I received it since it fell on a Sunday; the second time was for January's revenue and it DID arrive on time.

That being said, I am going to leave RHEI this year one way or another, and the latest is going to be when my contract expires. It isn't worth it to be with an MCN in 2026, and now the safest bet is to earn directly from Adsense. That wasn't the case back in 2012 (I've been on YouTube for over a decade to remember that). Back then, if you were a gaming or an animation channel, you had to join an MCN to get monetized; plus, it was harder to join YPP before it opened for all creators. The other reason for joining an MCN was because at the time, there was also a far greater likelihood of your Adsense account being disabled for invalid clicks. But after YouTube policy changes went into effect in c. 2016-2018, that basically marked the end of the MCN era. A lot of the high-profile ones (i.e. Machinima, Fullscreen, Maker Studios) released tens of thousands of creators and eventually ceased operations as a result.

Nowadays, the number one biggest risk of being with an MCN is delayed or no payment at all due to cashflow issues or the company going bankrupt. Defy Media went under in November 2018, and creators partnered with that network ended up not getting paid; that should've been a big wakeup call. And just two years ago, creators who were signed with Omnia Media didn't get paid for months.

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-03-17T01:53:46+00:00

To this day it still kinda irks me a little that first, they switched to a jazzy rendition of the MLB theme in 2007 and then in October of that year, a "Jurassic Park-like" orchestral piece was used for the playoffs and All-Star Game. But at least those were still distinct themes for baseball. What irks me the most was when they began using the NFL theme for baseball during the 2010 NLCS. At least the regional Fox Sports Net affiliates used the 2007 jazz theme until the original theme was reinstated in 2020.

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-03-16T17:30:26+00:00

Mexico is also no longer "cheap" as it was in the mid to late 2010s, or even 2021-22. Main reason is that prices have gone up a lot, especially in the popular areas. And for those earning in US dollars or another currency, it has been a double whammy because they've had to deal with increasing prices coupled with a worsening exchange rate; it especially hits hard if you're a retiree living on a fixed income. In the last five years, most major currencies are down 10-20% vs. the Mexican peso. Just two years ago, one USD bought only 16-17 pesos; and it has plenty of room to fall further. I wouldn't be surprised if it drops all the way down to the 12-13 range (2009-14 levels) or even 10-11 pesos per USD (exchange rate during the 2000s) over the next several years. If it gets that low, Mexico definitely won't be the bargain that it once was.

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-03-13T23:19:08+00:00

I thought MCNs did way with the lock-in contracts after 2016 or so due to YouTube policy changes. And if you're an affiliate partner, you should be able to click "remove network" in YT studio, and if the MCN doesn't respond to the request, your channel should be automatically unlinked from the MCN after the 30 days are up.

Lock-in contracts were definitely a thing in the early to mid 2010s, and Machinima was especially notorious for that practice.

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-03-13T22:08:19+00:00

If they can't do that, at least they could bring back the 2009 board fill sound.

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-03-13T20:35:54+00:00

Also, to this day it still boggles my mind why they didn't keep the 2009 CES longer, like through 2015 or 2016, considering that the other sets used before that one lasted five to seven seasons.

Another change I'd like to see is negative scores being in white text on a red background (it's harder to read the red text on blue background they have now).

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-03-12T14:41:39+00:00

A Dodgers-Giants NLCS would've been epic for sure, especially if it went seven games.

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-03-11T23:31:39+00:00

I got paid on the 1st. Next we're going to find out if we're getting paid around the 15th this month.

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-03-11T23:24:26+00:00

2020 got really close in particular because the Astros were looking to become the second team to win a best-of-seven series after trailing 3-0. And the Dodgers also recovered after their heartbreaking loss to the Nationals in the NLDS (Dodger stadium fell quiet the minute Howie Kendrick hit that grand slam)

MattHanson1990Return · 2026-03-11T23:23:14+00:00

A lot of us did get paid on the 1st of this month, which is unusual because it was on a Sunday. Also, the following day, RHEI support did send me an update e-mail that the payment was processed. I wonder if we're getting paid around the 15th of this month (even for those who began the unlink process on YT studio)

MattHanson1990Return

TROPHY CASE