Part I of this read covers my dream picks from #31 through #72 and my thoughts on the Leafs actual selections.

Part II of this read covers my dream picks from #92 through #182 along with some honorable mentions.

A Nobody vs. The Dream Team - Part II

This is the continuation where of the storylines above where I offer my two outdated cents on the Leafs actual selections from #92 through #182.

Would Adam Brooks pass through his third draft making him a free-wallet UFA? It's doubtful, but many said the same about Sebastian Aho three years running and he slipped through once again into UFA'dom.

Would Jack Walker have slipped too, with only 59 picks left? Were the odds greater than 50/50% and worth the risk to grab an 18-year old instead of d-man turned forward?

Again, only time will tell... but if we go by Mark Hunter's track record, rest assured, all of us doubters who don't toe the line and blindly follow where no draft hunter has gone before, will definitely be bathing in poop rather than enjoying the spoils.

As for the picks themselves, if you haven't read the latest on Mapleleafs Hotstove which were very eye-opening articles, do check them out, as they definitely remove a lot of the bitter taste. Or trying going full Dangle and say what's really on your mind ;-)

Bigger...Older...??? - Greenway / Woll / Matthews - Bobylev / Walker - Overager Numbers

• Adam Brooks

The guy scored 120pts last year and absolutely dominated in the playoffs scoring 23pts in 13 games. Is he a late bloomer? I'm going to say that chances are "very high" this iis n his favour, as it's not for lack of foot speed or hockey IQ that he couldn't do this before. Size maybe, but he's not incredible small either, just smaller than I'd like him to be at 20 years old.

Will

Have none of you people seen a holiday movie? Of course it will seem unlikely that the thing everyone hopes will happen will come true.

We are in the final stretch now, so be prepared for some seasonal magic to hit, no matter how ridiculous and contrived. Perhaps it will happen when the Grinch character in your life (A douche brother - in - law perhaps?) will say something dismissive like "You should never have wasted your time and money with something as foolish as crypto".

Then you will see the numbers start to shoot up. His eyes will go wider and wider as he realizes his mistake. (You giggling when it hits $69K won't help any). When it finally hits $100K, his heart will grow 3 sizes that day and you will be vindicated.

This happening is inevitable. The only chance of it not happening would be if our lives are not a work of fiction, and that seems very unlikely.

Welcome back Punt Fans to the return of the internet's best special teams analysis digest – yes it’s /r/NFL’s own painfully protracted and statistically questionable Punt Rank. If you haven’t been here with me before, the concept is both simple and fantastically over-engineered. Lemme break it down:

• Each punter’s performance against five vital punting metrics is ranked against every other punter in the league.
• Those rankings are combined into a weighted average ranking – giving us the 2021 NFL Punt Rank. Punt Heroes rise to the top; Punt Zeros sink to the bottom - and then I write 1500 or so words explaining it all that hardly anyone reads.

Punt Rank Week 16 – an absentia apology

Well well, look who has come crawling back (spoiler: it's me). I am embarrassed to say that for the first time in four years of Punt Rank, I failed to file an update last week. I was travelling for Christmas and New Years - and faced with the choice of packing either my kids orrrrr the giant dedicated server that stores my punt archives and analysis bits and bobs into the trunk of my small family car, I chose the kids. I’m sorry. You didn’t miss much in Week 16, other than Tress Way (WFT) doing THIS ABSOLUTE PIECE OF WIZARDRY.

Yes Way.

In other Week 16 news (fraternal special edition) Johnny Townsend (41st in Punt Rank) was a generally poor replacement for his brother Tommy (2nd in Punt Rank) for the Chiefs while the latter was on the COVID list, which is (as far as my roughly six minutes of loosely thinking about this can tell) only the second instance of one sibling directly replacing another sibling at the same position. Anyone know the first one?!

I'm back in harness for Week 17 and I’m excited to get your perspectives on your team’s punter, so please reach out in the comments below with your feedback and questions, as well as pointing out anything you think I missed. Let's do this thing.

Week 17 Punt Rank standings & Punt Performance summary

2021 Punt Rank Overall Standings - Week 17

Week 17 Punt Performance Summary

Tan highlight - COVID reserve. Grey highlight - IR/NWT/Part Time Punter.

Go

Brief excerpt from his HOF ballot article(paywalled)

> There’s a good chance we don’t see anyone elected by the writers again this year, which is a mild embarrassment given the number of qualified players still on the ballot. With one no-doubter coming to the ballot next year in Carlos Beltrán, we shouldn’t have another shutout in 2023, at least.

Personally I feel like the cheating scandal is enough to prevent him from being a first ballot HOFer, and certainly not a no doubter

My faith crisis began about 3 years ago and I kept it a secret from my spouse for about a year, and that is probably one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made. Having always been super believing and "the good kid" I was ashamed and afraid of how this would affect my relationships with my loved ones. I let this hinder me from sharing with my wife; I wanted to spare her the pain and I didn't want to drag her down with me. When I finally did tell her, I was already neck deep in doubts and couldn't go back. On top of her dream of a "happy Mormon family" being dashed, she also struggles with feelings of betrayal that I could keep something so important from her for so long. Sure I could blame decades of conditioning which led to intense shame, but I feel I should have known better in the end.

I just want to put my story out there in case someone else finds themselves in a similar situation. It is generally already very difficult to tell a spouse about your doubts, but don't make it harder by hiding it for any period of time.

Yes, he has faults; I understand sometimes he doesn't throw to the best option which leads to check-downs, and that people think he is 'soft' under pressure. I think too often, though, people assume Cousins' soft-spoken demeanor is indicative of his play on the field. This season, it really hasn't been. He has been consistently converting on 3rd and longs brought on by dumb O-line penalties and runs for a loss. He has led multiple game-winning drives with next to nothing left on the clock just to be let down by his defense. And his touchdown to interception rate: 25 to 3, is clinical. People say Cousins is a pocket quarterback, but he has played to an elite level this season with the second-worst PFF graded pass blocking in the entire league (we sit just above the giants last time I checked). I can understand the fanbase wanting him traded in anticipation of a forthcoming rebuild: that, I have no problem with. But knocking Cousins play at this point is ludicrous. He is literally doing what people claim he needs a great O line to do with the second-worst O line in the league. Imagine if he actually had time to throw and wasn't constantly pushed back by penalties. This franchise would be screwed without Kirk. Skol.

1 month ago I made this post https://www.reddit.com/r/strongblock/comments/r4b4la/the_degen_of_all_degen_plays/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

TL;DR I took out $22,000 of student loans with a total interest accrued of over $20,000 (ridiculous right?)

I owe the private lender $44,802 within the next 20 years. I currently have 5 nodes running because of the leverage I have received, and make ~ 1200 a week give or take a few from gas.

This means I am on track to completely paying off my loan in less than a year living extremely frugally.

I’m a college student. Living frugally is the name of the game.

I wanted to make this post to the 80% of the comments in that thread. “The doubters”

It worked out, like I knew it would. This is the true power of doing your own research. Be an enigma, and do things that have never been thought to be done in your family history. I am now building generational wealth for my poverty stricken family.

To all of the doubters here saying how idiotic this is, I will make another post in 11 months when I have my loaned paid off and portfolio steady.

It's done, 5 CAP. Midterms - Aced. Finals - Easy clapped.

I know, I know, settle down everyone. I know y'all have never seen a CAP of 5 before but calm down, this is only the beginning.

The journey here was treacherous. I remember the times when there were people here that did not believe in me. I remember the times when I did not believe in myself. I remember the times that I was complaining about everything, but yet I did so little. BUT I NEVER GAVE UP. I came to a point that I recognised there was so much more that I could do. I reformed. I grew up. I became a changed man. Every time I even remotely thought of social media, I slapped myself. With 1 hand I crushed my iPhone 12 into pieces. I was DETERMINED. 100% try hard, I was headed for the top.

And here I am now at the top.

But much more than flexing my 5 CAP on you plebs, what I want y'all to takeaway from this was that it's about drive, it's about POWER, we stay hungry we DEVOUR. Put in the work, put in the hours, and take what's ours. Black and Samoan in my veins, my culture bangin' with Strange. I change the game so what's my mxxxxxfxxxxx name?

It’s all laughs and jokes until the day it isn’t, just remember that.

The DD is done, the facts are there, if you’re bitter now, you will be a raging ass clown once we 🌝!

Diamond Hand Apes!

All of them.

Apes - yesterday the price jumped over 30% in after hours literally on zero news!

„But the WSJ article…“

• nothing new in there. We apes are talking since ages about this NFT thing. Gamestop even has ab official NFT pages for months now. I mean they were looking for creators 2 weeks ago!

Why didn’t the price jumped back then?

Now imagine: Gamestop announces NFT platform. Officially. The price must explode then for real!

Stay the course. Listen to some gme sea shanties. Buy hold drs.

RC has a plan. So do we.

Ape out

I can’t find a straightforward, comprehensive thesis of why AMC will eventually squeeze. I’m too lazy to write it all out myself, and I’m tired of trying to overcome doubters’ endless questions about it.

At this point, isn’t there a clean presentation somewhere with an index of FAQs “Isn’t that illegal for the hedge funds to do?” etc.?

Any tips for dealing with people who insist demisexuality isn’t real? The people who insist it’s a made up label for people who want to feel special?

Can’t wait to hear what dumbass nick wright says tomorrow

I don’t think people are even considering this.

And for the fans who don’t want Kirk, you’ll probably be all giddy to this idea, yet objectively, you’re wrong.

WHAT IS KEEPING KIRK WANTING TO PLAY IN MINNESOTA? This is like talking to two girls at once, and losing out on both because you were blinded by what could be.

Kirk Cousins may want out of Minnesota. And we won’t have a QB for a very long time. Kirk is the only reason we don’t have 2-3 wins max.

You can pin MAYBE 1 game on him. And in what universe does an NFL QB not lose you a few games a year.

IMO, and the data backs it up, he’s literally the sole reason (with Adam and JJ) that these games are even close. It’s why every game is a nail biter.

Has our fanbase become so used to a spongebob porosity of a defense, and horrible coaching, that they expect Kirk to single handily win every game by himself?? Realize what we have here and be grateful and hopeful he still wants to play here.

Again, if you want Kirk gone, there’s no common sense or data that will prove you wrong in your eyes at this point. I question how long you’ve been a football fan with that opinion.