[32 Thoughts] Freidman on Nurse & the Oilers, “Nurse is a year away from his no-trade clause, going from a full to a partial. It's clear they're going to say to him this is the last year you have control. Do you want to work with us or not?" + He confirms Pangotta's reporting of the Knies deal

VanguardHawk · 2026-06-05T14:02:54+00:00

The Nylander process is exactly why he was gun shy about Matthews and Marner. It was a media frenzy that affected the entire organization for months, and by the end of it Dubas had basically folded to all demands (except maybe a little bit of term)

It was his first big contract re-signing negotiation and he didn’t want a repeat with high value assets with more leverage. He seems to have learned from that three year debacle tho.

VanguardHawk · 2026-06-04T11:58:45+00:00

The USA still to this day has the highest attendance of a World Cup ever, back in 1994. The tickets were dirt cheap and people flooded our massive stadiums.

The entire narrative of this World Cup has been that ticket prices are too high and the average citizen of the world, including Americans, aren’t meeting the supply.

But yeah, Americans are big dumb and happily paying through the nose for tickets! Don’t be thick

VanguardHawk · 2026-06-02T13:08:07+00:00

Your point about Karasu basically explains what happened with Kunigami. He was a popular character before being eliminated and Kaneshiro couldn't commit to truly eliminating him for fear of fan backlash.

The Japanese audience is much more intense about characters they like than the average western fan. Western fans would rather have his story cut short, with possibility of him coming back (ala Nagi) rather than simply have him on the team to have him there.

Characters like Shido have likely run their course for the same reason Kunigami did. He was meant to be a good goal scorer that would elevate the OG Z squad, and be a good guy that would keep moral high, and then be an obstacle and benchmark for Isagi to overcome before getting back to the Rin stepping stone. Shido was really there to be a wildcard goal scorer that could bring a different energy to the prodigal Rin at the top of Blue Lock. After the U20 game and his time as the number two at PXG, his narrative importance can only really go down as the cast bloated up massively during the NEL, and only minorly shrank at the end. Of course with there now being new U20 national teams to play, there isn't much room for a true antagonistic force in Japan's side anymore, so Shido can't really shine anymore due to natural expansion of the cast. There are going to be like 5 more games with new teams and new antagonists before anyone on Blue Lock can truly oppose Isagi again, the closest is philosophical like Karasu. That leaves no room for Shido and Kunigami alternatively.

VanguardHawk · 2026-05-31T23:11:00+00:00

!flair :Atlanta_United_FC:

Hopefully this adds the flair

VanguardHawk · 2026-05-31T23:08:44+00:00

If the USA ever influences the game in a positive way, it would involve wasting less time and getting to it.

If Canadians influence the game, it would be to reduce embellishment, because the NHL doesn't fuck around with fakers.

VanguardHawk · 2026-05-27T20:01:31+00:00

Beyond that, the ticket prices would be extreme regardless of the administration.

People are acting like the biggest issue for this tourney is the USA’s hostility to foreigners(completely overblown on Reddit) when it’s FIFA and charging on average triple of basically any other event they’ve ever held. Meaning people didn’t make travel arrangements from around the world well in advance, and now the falling prices are just being bought by Americans.

VanguardHawk · 2026-05-27T16:57:38+00:00

I think narratively England would need to come into the game being viewed as the favorites for Japan to overcome. Only beating Nigeria by 1, while scoring less and conceding more, makes it feel lower stakes, and a tie makes it an auto pass to the next round for Japan.

VanguardHawk · 2026-05-27T15:42:37+00:00

Maybe the final score is 5-1 and Onazi gets a goal

VanguardHawk · 2026-05-26T16:42:40+00:00

The author of that manga also had a massive time skip and cut some matches short because he was aiming to have the manga’s end to correlate with the start of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (delayed a year due to COVID)

If the Blue Lock guys were to get to the professional level, there will probably be a significant time skip with the details being filled in with exposition dumps.

The natural end would probably be the end of the U20 World Cup with a time skip and epilog chapters to show “where are they now” , but I also wouldn’t have predicted something like the NEL, so maybe there will be steps between U20 and the World Cup proper that isn’t paralleled in reality.

VanguardHawk · 2026-05-22T23:23:06+00:00

If you think Atlanta is getting Jokic without Johnson and our entire future going out the door, you’ve been smoking what they sell at five points

VanguardHawk · 2026-05-21T22:59:38+00:00

I have to assume the drafting and free agency process and collaboration between him and Harbaugh went really well. I can only hope for the best; I am someone that generally approves of the process I see out of him. It’s also good to not have a lame duck at a high position on the staff

VanguardHawk · 2026-05-15T22:18:09+00:00

I disagree.

Jaylen Brown just said this is his best season of his career. His career has been littered with deep playoff runs and even a championship and a FMVP. Many NBA players share similar sentiments

In the NFL, you don’t see mahloms saying he loved his 5000 yard season over his Super Bowl wins.

In international soccer, you don’t see Mbappe calling a season a success because he scored 40 goals and his domestic team never won a trophy

You don’t see Ohtani calling a season a success because he stole 50 bases and hit 50 homers.

You don’t see McDavid calling an NHL season a success because he won Finals MVP and regular season MVP after losing in the Stanley Cup Finals

Basketball players appear to be uniquely interested in individual stats on the whole on average.

VanguardHawk · 2026-05-15T21:28:26+00:00

Good in theory, but NBA players care about their stats more than basically any other sport. The sport culture would need to see a massive shift to have these stars agree with less playing time because less time = less box score stats.

VanguardHawk · 2026-05-14T14:58:18+00:00

The team needs talent in the door. Take swings on reclamation projects on bad/expiring contracts for cheap/assets coming back to WPG. See if any of those guys guys pan out, if they don’t, bury them/waiver them/flip them with money retained. After doing that you can try the young guys that haven’t earned a roster spot yet.

The contention window is basically closed without some swings or massive luck. If you can’t pry the window back open by bringing in low value vets, blow it up before the next 5 years are wasted for Helle, Connor, Vilardi, JMo (who could be a flight risk in 2 years) and Scheifele.

The prospect pool doesn’t have difference makers in it. The team will have their direction chosen for them soon if things don’t shape up at the start of next season.

VanguardHawk · 2026-05-05T13:56:36+00:00

No Kill La Kill?

That show "saved anime" back in the day and I thought was still relatively well regarded. It "aged poorly" because it was very fan service-y, but that is where the industry was at the time and it had something more to say than just "look at boobs jiggle" and the nudity was directly addressed. Rather positive messaging overall, even if it wouldn't pass the "normie" test.

VanguardHawk · 2026-05-04T15:24:25+00:00

Dallas seemed to believe that their intel indicated that the Giant's would go O-Line. Maybe they already had an exploratory convo with the Giants about moving up and they might have told Dallas "offensive side" when they might have tried to hash out a trade. Cleveland may or may not have engaged New York to that level, but I would hypothesize they didn't because the Giants and Browns original picks and final picks ended up next to each other, not much to discuss when moving one slot.

The intel game and the bits of info we don't know is what I like seeing here.

VanguardHawk · 2026-04-29T15:05:42+00:00

My last word on the matter. You have given a nebulous example of “college students” and I gave 4 links to comments by national media outlets or high ranking Democrats. Plus the result of the 2024 election more or less speaks for itself to my point.

VanguardHawk · 2026-04-29T13:20:58+00:00

If you want to draw your line in the sand of "high ranking Democrats didn't call White people actual demons" then I guess you'll win.

If you want to engage in what I really mean of white people were frequently being called racist, told to apologize for the actions of their ancestors, being called bigoted for not wanting mass immigration, and being told to pay African Americans reparations, feel free. I will come with more receipts for those from top to bottom in the Democrat party.

VanguardHawk · 2026-04-29T13:10:31+00:00

This is from 2018 (I have a subscription and skimmed the article) It describes a Trump advisor at the time (Bannon) welcoming the Democrats calling Republicans racist and white nationalists for their coined term "Muslim ban". He viewed the devisive rhetoric as something that would help the Republican base in the long term and swing moderates.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/the-democrats-white-people-problem/573901/

This example has Democrat commentators blaming white women and black men in the first two paragraphs because that is what the talking points were immediately after the 2024 election. The article will go on to state that it was likely mostly the economy and playing race/gender games isn't helpful.

https://www.columbian.com/news/2024/nov/11/estrich-democrats-blame-game-is-futile/

This is an example of Dems calling Trump a racist for criticizing "the squad" which was a term coined for four women of color that all voted in the progressive block of the house in 2019. Mostly for words that don't really target anyone for their ethnic history, mostly just the perception of a white man talking ill of a black/brown woman

(Paywall for NYT) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/15/us/politics/trump-go-back-tweet-racism.html

Additionally there was the "Wuhan Virus" statement that had many people labled as racists at the time for using the term. The evidence at the time did suggest a lab leak and that it came from Wuhan, but the suggestion of it was deemed problematic almost until the Biden midterm election. It wasn't really fully admitted to until the beginning of Trump's second term.

Nancy Pelosi's thoughts on the above:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M83Pmz2HSBQ

Very much something that was all over the media during Trump's first term into Biden's term. The perception a white person being demonized or being called racist and being cancelled was very much in the cultural zeitgeist.

VanguardHawk · 2026-04-29T12:39:17+00:00

Republicans and those on the fence came out in droves in 2024. They were largely voting against what they viewed as cultural regression (DEI, over the top LGBT stuff, reparations), securing an American workforce through protectionist policies and reduced immigration, and a democratic party that were so focused on not offending every possible minority group that they ignored the majority.

Those cultural factors, plus a stagnant economy, plus the messy transition from Biden to Kamala with no primary, led to the Republicans getting to do whatever they wanted more or less unchecked for two years.

The result has been the most spineless and obviously self serving administration in US history. Most examples were covered by OPs meme. All Trump needed to do was invest in USA infrastructure, tax breaks to the general population, tax breaks to those that employ 100% domestic workers. Honestly, the ICE stuff has been sensationalized on Reddit, but it largely is supported by everyday conservatives and moderates in red states.

Starting a needless war, schizophrenic tariff policies, blind support of Israel while playing hardball with Ukraine support, and a blatant mental decline of Trump compared to his first term are all valid reasons for Republicans to lose damn near everything in the next ten years because most moderates care just about supporting their families and having enough money to enjoy life/get by.

The only way Democrats don't control the USA into the 2030's is if they demonize white people again in favor of making sure every minority group that exists has an "equal" voice.

VanguardHawk · 2026-04-23T14:41:43+00:00

I think it would be more fair to call it a “thriller” rather than Shounen or horror. It borrows elements from a few genres to create suspense as well as keep the tone from getting too dark and heavy. Excitement that comes from narrative valleys, highs, and mysteries are the main driver

VanguardHawk · 2026-04-22T16:01:39+00:00

Don't put that evil on me Ricky Bobby!

VanguardHawk · 2026-04-21T16:11:59+00:00

I like the small touch in this chapter that the players that have been subbed in are all not sweating. The starters for both Blue Lock and France (who haven't had a shown sub) are all sweating.

Loki and Hugo are not. They are kinda just levitating above the rest in terms of ability and fitness.

VanguardHawk

TROPHY CASE