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Playboy going public: Porn, Gambling, and Cannabis
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.
Hey Guys, so I thought I'd share this letter here so you can all spam the SEC on their policies and what brokerages can get away with now that there's so much attention on the market and activity. Feel free to adjust the letter and spam to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) and put the subject as day trading rules. These are what I personally feel would help, but the main thing is we should have access to the market as we see fit: Dear Commissioners of The SEC and Chairwoman Allison Herren Lee: I will first provide the substance of the pattern day trader rule: Anyone who buys and sells a particular security in the same trader day (day trades), and does this four or more times in any five consecutive business day period is considered a pattern day trader. A pattern day trader is subject to special rules. The main rule is that in order to engage in pattern day trading you must maintain an equity balance of at least $25,000 in a margin account. If you are flagged as a pattern day trader and do not maintain a balance of $25,000 your account will be frozen for 90 days. As a citizen of the United States of America, I am petitioning for the repeal or amendment of the pattern day trader rule. The rule, which is designed to protect unsophisticated investors from the high risk of day trading, is instead increasing risk by limiting the number of stop positions one can take, driving traders to more volatile markets such as futures and forex where no pattern day trader rules exist, and driving traders into offshore brokerages who do not adhere to the SEC pattern day trader regulations. Additionally, this regulation among others is contributing to a divide in this country on who can utilize and invest in the stock market. Due to this tension the gap between the lower, middle and upper classes continues to grow as Day Traders also can utilize technology and programs to automatically buy and sell shares to secure a profit. As Americans, we should have the right to purchase and sell on the market to allow it to grow so we may also profit as desired and re-invest this profit into our economy. Most recently on the social media platform Reddit, users gathered on this forum together to purchase shares of GameStop Corp. (GME) and caused the price of shares to grow by 3700% which allowed users to secure a profit that they will invest in the economy. While I understand the basis for this rule, it does not protect investors anymore with the evolution of communication technology. As shown recently after gaining a profit, several applications that offer free trading were forced to remove Gamestop Corp(GME) and AMC Entertainment Holdings INC (AMC) and void all orders placed on the previous day. This further demonstrates that the market is not about providing investors the opportunity to grow their income by investing as multiple brokers have removed the Reddit Markets from their platform and have expressed dissatisfaction and seek to file a complaint with the SEC about users communicating on forums and purchasing shares or seeking legal action. As of now, if one user has thousands of followers and posts a stock symbol each user is free to decide if they will invest, similar to those with subscriptions to Yahoo Finance, The Motley Fool or a Bloomberg Subscription and their stock recommendations. The driving force behind this decision was to spite a hedge fund seeking to make a profit which furthers the evidence of the growing disparity between the lower, middle and upper classes. Additionally, If I open an account on multiple brokers, the highest risk is opening a margin with an account which is what can drive an individual into debt. As of now, if I sought to gamble, I can seek out the nearest Casino or Casino Cruise in the State of Florida to secure a profit with any amount of money and there is no policy in place to prevent me aside from being over the age of 18 and nor should there be. As I have worked to earn the money, I should have the right to spend or invest the money as I see fit without restriction. I propose the following actions to fix the problems with the current disparities in the market caused by NASD Rule 2520, create a truly fair market and address the risk to investors on the stock market. 1) Repeal Rule 2520 and allow all traders to day-trade online and if platforms offer a program for automatically trading or application programming interface (API), they must fill out a form acknowledging they understand the risks they are taking. 2) Create new federal guidelines for Margins to be treated like a credit line where rather than based on leverage such as 1:10 it will be a fixed line of credit in the account minimizing the risk determined by the financial institution and based on creditworthiness. 3) Institute a policy where brokerages cannot restrict the sale of any stock without first filing a notice to the SEC and allowing the Trade day to close and 2 business days to elapse and must publicly provide justification for removal from the market. I thank you for the time to review my email and hope you’ll consider the aforementioned actions, as this would be in the best interest of truly having a fair market while protecting our citizens and allowing them the opportunity to invest at their discretion. Thank You, (Insert Name Here)
New deaths by county: 97 F Jefferson, 69 M Warren, 96 F Fayette, 82 M Perry, 97 M Warren, 88 M Warren, 84 F Warren, 62 F Warren, 97 F Bell, 94 F Warren, 89 F Warren, 86 F Christian, 90 F Jefferson
Alright, what do you think about including or not including University cases in considering community spread? -- You know I believe a university is a part of a community. Those kids go to restaurants, they go to bars, they go to different places in the community. Now, there is a challenge here, and it's one that we've got to discuss and it especially impacts where I went to school, Fayette County Public Schools. Right now, UK has so many cases that it may push Fayette County red, and if UK stays open and continues to have those amount of cases, they could potentially keep it red and then you've got Fayette County Public Schools saying “Wait. No, we need a, we need a community spread that our kids can go to school” that is a real issue. I talked to the superintendent about it the other day and we're continuing to have discussions. I talked to Mayor Gordon about it as well. And the answer, can't be “the university cases just don't count” because they are in the community. The question is how we can make sure we're taking the right steps so K-12 students don't miss out on opportunities because of other decisions. But this also makes us rise up, elevate our thinking, that it's more than just the institution or institutions we serve, it's the communities around us that can be impacted.
You have recently loosen some restrictions on visitations for long term care homes, is there any discussion about loosening in-person visitations for state inmates?-- The question is, given that we have loosened restrictions on visitation for long term care facilities, is their discussion on loosening it for inmates? There is discussion, it hasn't moved beyond any of those stages yet, so we don't have any step to announce, nor should it suggest that we're going to have a step to announce but it is being discussed, understanding that people very much especially in that situation rely on those personal interactions.
Governor, are you still looking at the release of your guidance on Trick or Treating by the end of the week? -- We are still working on releasing our guidance for Halloween. And, part of that's everything going on at the moment. But the other part is trying to find a safe way to do it, given the CDC said “don't do trick or treating at all.” And so we still want to give our kids an opportunity, and we're trying to figure out what that opportunity can be. You know, Halloween, I used to say my kids look forward to that 364 days a year, they're a little bit older now, I will again reiterate though- No adult parties, no block parties, that's something that we can't do and if you do that we can't try to create a trick or treating experience because then we brought even more people together in a close area.
The churches and civic groups that do those trunk or treating in parking lots. That would be ok? -- So one one option that we're looking at is to have civic groups do things outside in a way to where kids can get individually wrapped, you know bags would be better, if you think about it like some people give out birthday parties, at the end. And having our civic groups step up to do that in a safe way that they have really thought through, is one of the best ways we believe that that there could be that experience, but again we don't want to bring a whole bunch of people inside for it, either. COVID makes everything, not difficult but can make everything dangerous and it seems to attack the things that we like and love the most.
Alright, It is 4pm, that time we provide our update on our battle against COVID-19, each and every day. Today, I'm representing the Caywood Comets, this is a school in the Kenton County School District. I know they are working to get back safely to the classroom. Now we're going to jump right into the report today, go pretty quickly open it up for questions.
Positive cases today: 745
Probable cases: 7,550
Total confirmed cases: 64,158
Children Under 18: 107 - Again, it seems like we are seeing a larger and larger and larger portion of positive cases being our young people.
Total tests conducted: 1,301,407 (PCR: 1,226,385, Serology: 52,994)
Positivity Rate: 4.57%
Total hospitalized: 5,119
Currently hospitalized: 543
Total in ICU: 1,499
Currently in ICU: 122
On a ventilator: 71
Total recovered: 11,570
New deaths today: 13
Total Deaths: 1,137
New deaths by county: 97 F Jefferson, 69 M Warren, 96 F Fayette, 82 M Perry, 97 M Warren, 88 M Warren, 84 F Warren, 62 F Warren, 97 F Bell, 94 F Warren, 89 F Warren, 86 F Christian, 90 F Jefferson
Toughest part of today's report: 13 new deaths. These are 13 individuals whose families will be mourning them. It's a hard number for any given day, 13 individuals, and note on here's a friend of mine from Northern Kentucky that I just learned about an hour and a half ago had passed away after a multi-month battle with COVID-19. Remember this virus is very real and it's still out there. So let's make sure that we light our homes up green. We ring those bells at 10am, and that we try to reach out to these families that may be needing help or other families that while they might not have had somebody passed away, may be suffering from food insecurity, you may be worried about a child in that household, there may be a domestic violence situation, let's make sure that we are thinking about what we can do for others who need our help at all times during this virus. This is a time that takes more compassion than any in my lifetime and that's with every challenge we face right now. So, let's remember that. We've got to listen to each other. We've got to help each other. And every day that we have a lot of cases, 745 today. We know that they're going to result in a lot of deaths. Thankfully, our mortality rate continues to creep down, but still higher the volume of the cases, the more Kentuckians we lose. So let's make sure we wear that mask, we socially distance, we cut our contacts down, we do what it takes.
Racial breakdown of all cases: 80.10% Caucasian, 11.88% Black or African-American, 1.62% Asian, 5.90% Multiracial
Ethnicity breakdown of all cases: 89.08% non-Hispanic and 10.92% Hispanic
Racial breakdown of all deaths: 83.27% Caucasian, 12.98% Black or African-American, 1.15% Asian, 2.60% Multiracial
Ethnicity breakdown of all deaths: 96.41% non-Hispanic and 3.59% Hispanic
Long Term Care Facilities (PDF): 40 new residents and 37 new staff positive from yesterday, and 14 more deaths, 3 new facilities.
Total facilities: 332
Total deaths: 647
Active cases: 573 residents, 421 staff
Total cases: 4171 residents, 2754 staff
K-12 Update (PDF): 166 new students and 59 new faculty/staff positive from yesterday, 177 new schools.
Total facilities: 527
Active cases: 577 students, 288 faculty/staff
Total cases: 956 students, 342 faculty/staff
K-12 schools, a big jump here as you all know, I think we have close to seven high school football teams that are under quarantine multiple other sports, we are seeing a significant number of cases, some that we wouldn't have known about but for a different injury. You can get our full report online, remember it is behind the news that you would get. And coming up on Monday is when every school has to report to that dashboard that will go live on that Monday with a school having to update that every day so people should be able to get, not in real time, but every day, an update of what the situation is in their school, and in surrounding schools
University Update (PDF): 33 new students and 0 new faculty/staff positive from yesterday, 8 new facilities
Total facilities: 58
Active cases: 1395 students, 45 faculty/staff
Total cases: 2919 students, 84 faculty/staff
Before we open it up for questions. one I mentioned, the two LMPD officers last night that were shot. They are LMPD major Aubrey Gregory, he has been released from the hospital, I got a chance to talk to him personally last night. He was surrounded by family and friends, he's going to have a full recovery at least to my knowledge. The other is officer Robin, and I think it's this Desroches? and I apologize to him if I mispronounced his last name- he is stable and recovering, I talked to his mom last night- during a period where they were still working to ensure his stability. I want to condemn this act of violence in the most stark terms, it is absolutely wrong. And the answer to violence can never be violence. And we want to make sure that these individuals that were out there last night and will be out there again tonight are safe. And we need to ensure that any type of activity or demonstrations remain non-violent and remain peaceful. We have to understand just one person can mar something that otherwise is done the right way. And that means we need to make sure those around us are also doing things the right way.
Alright. With that, we'll open it up to, to questions started over here yesterday I think Shelby we'll start with you.
QUESTIONS
President Trump tweeted and said he spoke to you, can you give us some insight into the conversation with him? -- Right. So, last night after I learned of the injuries to our two law enforcement officers I returned to the Capital where I was here for several hours ensuring that they were okay, that we had the situation under control. Talked to the Mayor, talked to the Chief of Police, talked to one of the individuals that had been shot and then the family members of the other, also talked to the President of the United States, who initiated the call. His comments were that it appeared that we had things under control. He did make an offer, if at a later point we needed additional assistance, he would provide it. But, he stated and I agree that at this time we have appropriate levels of law enforcement or peacekeepers there, and that if necessary, we have the ability on the state level, to increase that level of support. It was a good call. I appreciate him, making it.
For tonight, what is the level of National Guard troops that are available in Louisville? -- The question is, how are we preparing for tonight? What's the number of National Guard troops in Louisville? We're not going to disclose the number, that's part of the operational security of those individuals, we will again be conducting limited missions, that are there for public safety and to protect critical infrastructure, like our hospitals. We will adjust accordingly to ensure our people are safe and we can keep other people safe. I want to say again that presence is in no way intended to stifle people's first amendment rights to give voice to any anger, frustration; but it is there to both keep people safe and ensure things, like our hospitals, can continue to operate when last night they were absolutely needed for these two officers and for those that might be suffering from COVID, or other injuries. It's important that those that do want to give voice, and do want to do that outside and in Louisville, do so before the curfew. And I would ask everyone to respect that curfew, the curfew is being applied to anyone that is out, I know that it was applied last night to one of the militia groups that showed up as well. And remember that those and other groups are also in the city, and I'm not sure it's them but there are always individuals that might want to turn something that is peaceful into something that's not, that may just like everybody, including law enforcement and demonstrators, and we got to make sure that that that that we don't allow that to happen. And that does take a sufficient presence, which will be out tonight.
You have recently loosen some restrictions on visitations for long term care homes, is there any discussion about loosening in-person visitations for state inmates?-- The question is, given that we have loosened restrictions on visitation for long term care facilities, is their discussion on loosening it for inmates? There is discussion, it hasn't moved beyond any of those stages yet, so we don't have any step to announce, nor should it suggest that we're going to have a step to announce but it is being discussed, understanding that people very much especially in that situation rely on those personal interactions.
Governor, given the indictment yesterday, does this give you any more impetus to equip the KSP with the body cameras?-- Now the question is, given the indictments yesterday. Is it any more impetus for KSP and body cameras? I mean that's a question we absolutely have to address, as we see more and more law enforcement out there wearing them. We've got to talk with the Kentucky State Police about it, I believe that body cameras can protect an officer, or in this case it would be a trooper, as much as anything else. I can tell you, aside from some of these tragic situations where body camera footage is needed just to know what happened, in many instances there can be complaints against an officer or trooper that if you have the body camera footage, you can dismiss them pretty quickly. Remember these sometimes are heated exchanges and sometimes having the video with that officer being professional, which is almost always the case, can be very helpful. The other thing that it can be is a tool, whereby supervisors can ensure that people are following the training they've had. I remember being in Washington DC for a national Attorney General's Association meeting and the then chief of the DC police, she talked about how she would take that footage home and watch it and see that there were instances- She talked about one domestic violence situation where one of the officers turned their back. Now, that wasn't anything between the individuals, but could have compromised their safety. And so it was a check on different ways that she thought that she could use to improve the department. I am for body cameras where appropriate, there are some instances where I don't think that they would be, based on the particular mission of that individual unit.
I want to ask about some comments you made on MSNBC earlier today in regards to your request for the Attorney General to publish more information about the Breonna Taylor investigation online. You said the release of those details wouldn't impact the federal civil rights investigation. How is that possible to not impact that investigation by making some of those details public? -- So today, the question is on one of the cable news shows, I talked about how I believe that the Attorney General can release the information from his criminal investigation, without impacting the federal civil rights investigation. I believe that there are very different investigations that set out to determine very different things, I don't think a ballistics report, for instance, is going to have an impact on a civil rights investigation. And if they believe that it does, I think that that the federal prosecutors can come forward and explain the specifics of that; but at this point with the Attorney General saying he is not pursuing certain things, then I believe it makes it appropriate to provide the facts, the information, the evidence, and It's about trusting the people of Kentucky. I trust them, that if they have all the facts, the evidence, and maybe some explanation, if needed, that they can process it. And I know the Attorney General talks about the truth, and I talk about the truth, I think we ought to let the people of Kentucky see all of that, evaluate, and come to the truth. I believe that it is fully appropriate to do at this point in time, I've been a prosecutor, I withheld judgment on that until we've reached the stage but at this point, put it all online. Put everything that would not impact, now there has been one indictment with three charges in it, put everything online that wouldn't impact that and that's really about apparently shooting into a different apartment building, and let people see it, and it's been done in other places. It was done several months later in Ferguson; it's been done by other prosecutors; it's an attempt to be transparent. And I've seen firsthand, that when you are willing to be transparent with the people of Kentucky, they will look at the information, they will try to understand the decisions you've made, they may disagree, but at least it's not a vacuum, where different emotions, or theories, or others can come into play. I'm sorry we made you wait, is it John? Okay, welcome.
I had a question for you about coronavirus: cases are higher now than earlier in pandemic when we've had more severe restrictions. But over the past two months those restrictions have been rolled back a little bit. So, I'm just curious to know, you know what would it take for you to include new restrictions for the things like public gatherings and things that you had earlier? -- So the question is with us now being at a higher level of total cases than we were earlier, but obviously we've gotten better at treating when we look at it, we also follow our hospital data, and right now I would say we are at a place where we can handle more cases than previously. We're also testing more to find more people who have it and that's a good thing, but you are right and that with loosening restrictions, that means people have more contacts, and we will see the virus spread more. What it would take for me to implement new restrictions would be what we saw when we had to cut restaurants for a period of time, and bars, and that is a proof of, or indications of, a real escalation. And not something that might be, you know, kind of up and down- and remember, our plateaus aren't entirely flat, and not something just very gradual where it'll take a couple weeks to see, but if we started seeing what looked like an escalation especially one, that looks like it could turn into a severe escalation like we saw in Florida and Arizona, once you start seeing that curve, that's when we would take additional action, that's when the White House would ask us to take additional action. And they're keeping track like we are, we use somewhat different data but we're in about the same place right now in that, mainly what we need people to do is be a little bit better, more people wearing the mask [holds up mask] and the white house again says we not only should have a mask mandate but I should be encouraging it every day, engaging in that social distancing, and remember, moderation, and not moderation like we had before March, but moderation in, on the same day if you're going to work, and going to the gym, and going to dinner that's just too many contacts. We got to spread them out. And make sure that those gatherings, which we still have that 10 person limit, we keep at that level. We do see a lot of spread and those. It's not necessarily backyard barbecue but it's house parties and as it gets colder and people drive inside that's going to be more important than ever.
So many parents are at home helping their children with virtual school but history is unfolding outside. How can they explain what is happening to their children? -- The question is with so many kids at home but history going on outside, how do they explain what's happening to their children? First, I was worried I was going to be a little late, because I was dealing with sixth grade geometry, with my son Will. Being governor doesn't stop your obligations, nor your duty as a parent. And boy, we certainly appreciate our teachers, when we're asked to step up and take a bigger role. I think that parents need to be able to have age-appropriate conversations with their children, and that they ought to be based in values, about the type of world that we think we should have, about true dignity for all people, about the fact that I believe that God calls on us to build a world that is free of inequities and oppression and racism. And then need to be able to talk to their kids about our country's history and the fact that we have had to make changes and take strides and many points in our history, and right now that we're being called on to do more. You know it's a conversation with what's going on there and also with what's going on in COVID-19 that's going to shape so much. But I'd like to think that every challenge gives us an opportunity to build a better day, and maybe to raise better people. Part of that calls on us to recognize what we're living through, both the pandemic and calls for a more equitable society, and then to make sure we're instilling the right values in our kids. And I just remind people, because I have to remind myself, that our kids are always listening, and my kids are always hiding behind the door listening to everything. And so, we got to really make sure in our heart and in our mind, we're not just saying the right things, but we believe them. And if we start feeling ways that we think “Wait a minute, I shouldn't” I mean that's the time that we're called on to be a little better. And so much of what we see, because we are inside, is on Facebook and Twitter which, I mean, it's turned into poison in so many ways, let's remember that if we're writing something down that contains hate or anger or making enemies out of one another, our kids are gonna read that one day too. And maybe if we write it, we ought to look at it, we outta realize that we need to change too, and be a little better, and maybe we just need to turn it off entirely.
Alright, what do I think about including or not including University cases in considering community spread? -- You know I believe a university is a part of a community. Those kids go to restaurants, they go to bars, they go to different places in the community. Now, there is a challenge here, and it's one that we've got to discuss and it especially impacts where I went to school, Fayette County Public Schools. Right now, UK has so many cases that it may push Fayette County red, and if UK stays open and continues to have those amount of cases, they could potentially keep it red and then you've got Fayette County Public Schools saying “Wait. No, we need a, we need a community spread that our kids can go to school” that is a real issue. I talked to the superintendent about it the other day and we're continuing to have discussions. I talked to Mayor Gordon about it as well. And the answer, can't be “the university cases just don't count” because they are in the community. The question is how we can make sure we're taking the right steps so K-12 students don't miss out on opportunities because of other decisions. But this also makes us rise up, elevate our thinking, that it's more than just the institution or institutions we serve, it's the communities around us that can be impacted.
What’s your reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling that historical corporations are gambling devices are essentially no different than slot machines and illegal. -- The Supreme Court today ruled that certain types of instant racing games are not parimutuel, and therefore, I believe that they believe that they were unlawful. I will tell you that I believe that decision, while not criticizing the legal aspects of it, not having analyzed it, is devastating for so many Kentucky jobs, for the horse industry, and for the budget, the state budget, which it adds about $21M to every year and that's growing. So, I've already begun discussions with various partners about finding a path forward. We've now had this in the Commonwealth for several years, we have not seen the ills that people claim would come from it, coming from it. There is widespread gaming, much more than this over just about every single one of our borders right now. If it's going to take a legislative change we need to make the legislative change to keep our horse industry competitive but to keep our Commonwealth competitive. Listen, we need a lot more types of gaming to compete with those around us. I mean, Indiana, using our money to build the roads, and other states around us, Missouri, they can pay for their health care costs. And in this period of COVID-19, revenue from those sources, for the most part, hasn't gone down or not nearly as much once things reopened. And so we're gonna find ourselves at not being competitive in what is otherwise a free market that's out there. And so I hope that we will get the necessary changes to move forward, and when we make them, I hope that maybe we can make a lot more.
Jesse Jackson just called for athletes to boycott the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville, and other economic boycotts in Louisville over the grand jury not deciding How do you respond to that? -- I'm told that Jesse Jackson has asked athletes to boycott UK/UofL because of the grand jury decision. I respect Reverend Jackson, but they didn't have any control, UK or UofL, over what the grand jury did. I believe that they are trying, through programs and efforts, to build a better world. And so while I very much respect Reverend Jackson, I don't agree with a boycott of those that have had no control over this. Now, what I do think we ought to do is see all the information. I think the Attorney General can post it online, if he if there is some that needs to be held back because of the one indictment then that's a discussion and an explanation he can provide, but it's time to give the information. And I think that if he did this call for a boycott wouldn't have happened yet because I think everybody would be sitting down, and would be trying to process the true facts and evidence that's out there, and I think everybody benefits from the truth.
Governor Holcomb in Indiana has issued an order that beginning Saturday, all restaurants and bars can fully open in Indiana. Do you have anything that's, you know, in the works for our bars and restaurants here in Kentucky? -- So I haven't seen, it's apparently an order from Holcomb further opening bars and restaurants, that's something I'll have to talk to him about. With us just about to start opening schools, we've got to get that done first concern, or any other capacities.
Let's see this is wanting a response to this quote about AG releasing more info: “We appreciate governor Beshear’s team providing assistance to our office in the Commonwealth over the last few days in preparation for yesterday's announcement. However, releasing that information would compromise the federal investigation and violate a prosecutor, prosecutors ethical duties.” -- We did work well with the attorney general's office in communication leading up to it. I don't have an argument there. I've tried not to criticize the other parts, having not seen the file myself, but I've been a prosecutor, and I've been in that role and if you are no longer pursuing those charges there is not a duty, there is not a jury, that you could compromise. There is no criminal investigation there that you can compromise and so I do not think there can be a violation of those duties. I'm not the only one in my office, I have the former Deputy Attorney General and a former district judge, and he agrees too. I just, I don't agree with, with that view other prosecutors have done it. Let's just put it out there and let people see it.
Do you feel like the nine o'clock curfew is actually effective at minimizing the tension in Louisville in regards to the protests that are happening out there. -- The question is on the 9pm curfew in Louisville, and I think it’s necessary. I know a lot of people may not like it but as we see that the nights go further along there is just more of an opportunity for, for those that would want to incite violence, or take advantage of an opportunity, and I believe that it's necessary. But remember, it applies to everybody. And so for instance, these groups that claim that they are keeping the peace that are heavily armored, walking around Louisville with, what I understand is, no tactical training at all, and no specific mission, it makes them go home too. And from somebody that has dealt with them firsthand I think then going home is a really good idea. I just don't think that they ought to show up in Louisville, in the first place.
We mentioned schools just now and I wanted to ask, are we still on track to have the successful real thing that you're envisioning and are there any trends that could put that at risk that you guys have spotted? -- (Can we, if we do have the incident map for today, James if we don't, that's okay.) Every day we update our incident rate map on http://kyCOVID19.ky.gov/. What that shows is we have many counties that are in the yellow, or the green, that are we think in a good position to start some in-person class activities. We have others in the orange that need to be careful. And small groups would be best, a hybrid model after that. And then we have those in the red- that I do not think should be starting in person class and if they are in in-person class, they ought to move to virtual until they can move out of the red. I believe that in many places there can be a successful reopening but what a successful reopening is in COVID doesn't look like what it did before. It's our kids in masks all day long, because that's going to be required to lessen the spread, it's going to be fewer kids in a classroom, it may be them not being there as many hours of the day. But it is more direct interaction with their teachers, which we know is important. But the other thing is we got to be fluid, and we got to be flexible. We have seen, as we've been here, that there are counties that will have very few cases and then boom, you know 60, 90, 100 in just a couple days or over a week. And so we got to understand that you could even be in the green or in the yellow and by this time next week you could be in the red and you got to be prepared to move from that in-person back to NTI and then come back again. The two things we got to continue to defeat this virus is to be strong, to have the endurance to do this, as long as it takes. But number two, to be flexible, and knowing the conditions on the ground in your county, and your area can change really quickly so we've got to be able to change our approach.
I'll do one more set if you all have them, let's see, Did I respond to the President's offer for federal assistance to respond to the protests? -- The president and I agreed that right now we had sufficient assets, didn't need that help, and again, it was a positive conversation about what was already in place.
Last week, nursing homes were given federal guidelines saying they could resume indoor visits, and now if they're in a red zone, that county’s in a red cell, how does that affect them? Who do they follow the state or federal?-- On nursing home visits, The or long term care facilities, they have to follow the state guidelines that have been put out there. We think that they are very reasonable following the incident rate map as well. And I think it also allows our communities to know how safe or unsafe, it could be. You know, just because someone tells you you can do something, sometimes you shouldn't do something and this also gives more information to two family members. I know so many Kentuckians that will choose not to go see somebody in-person at different times because they love them. And that's a hard thing to grasp that you wouldn't see somebody in person because you love them, but you don't want to have even that potential of exposing them, depending on what you do. And you might want to think about it, depending on on your regular day and how many people you come into contact with. If you've got a job that has significant contact with other people, again you might want to be more careful.
Going through old issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and posting highlights in my own words, continuing in the footsteps of daprice82. For anyone interested, I highly recommend signing up for the actual site at f4wonline and checking out the full archives. FUTURE YEARS ARCHIVE: The Complete Observer Rewind Archive by daprice82
Dave’s been following wrestling for 17 years at this point, and sometimes it’s easy to think you’ve seen it all with that kind of experience. But after seeing All Japan Women live, he realized he’d seen nothing. The shows he saw during his trip to Japan had the best wrestling he’s ever seen, so much so that nothing before comes even close. The atmosphere and the action have Dave struggling to find words, and he’s just as dumbfounded by how good Chigusa Nagayo and Dump Matsumoto are at their jobs. 90% of AJW's audience is teenage girls, a demographic you don’t really see as a focal demographic over here, but to these girls the wrestlers are so over an American fan has to see it live to really get it. Dump’s the best heel in the world by a distance and as for Chigusa Nagayo: “the reaction she gets not only can’t be duplicated by any wrestler in this country (Hulk Hogan certainly comes the closest and at best his isn’t half as good) but you’d probably have to use Madonna or Bruce Springsteen at their peak for comparison. The crowd literally lives and dies with every move she makes.” At one show, the crowd were all crying, and then the main event of the 3-hour show was a fast-paced 50 minute match where every move was a high spot and the crowd never let up for the whole match.
Dave’s therefore changing his vote for Wrestler of the Year to Chigusa Nagayo. He’ll still vote for Hogan for best babyface, since Hogan has broader appeal and is a bigger draw, but Chigusa's sheer level of overness with AJW fans and her skill are huge. Strictly in terms of business and drawing power Hogan should win Wrestler of the Year, and should have won 1985-1986 as well (Ric Flair won those years in landslides). Dave personally figures ring-work for 60% of the equation, with impact at the box office to be 40%. Dave will not be putting Flair in his top three for Wrestler of the Year, even though his promos and ring-work merit it. Allowing his drawing power to be cut so hard and the destruction of his perception among the marks when he has the ability to call the shots about his presentation means he doesn’t deserve to be considered for Wrestler of the year at all this year (Riki Choshu winds up winning for 1987, breaking Ric Flair's 5 year streak).
A lot has changed during the week Dave was in Japan. Fritz Von Erich sold WCCW. Ken Mantell and a group with him have bought the company, and there are conflicting stories about the exact breakdown of the ownership (Dave keeps hearing either 30% or 51% of the stake is owned by Mantell), but Texas newspapers are reporting Fritz is out entirely and Mantell now signs the checks. Kevin and Kerry still own a lot of the company, so they’ll still get big pushes. Mantell still owns Wild West Wrestling, and the plan for now seems to be to run both promotions. That’s not going to be good for them in the long run, since they’re competing in the same area of Texas. Expect a merger when they figure that out. A lot of guys are returning to World Class now that Mantell’s in charge, like Missing Link, Bill Irwin, Terry Gordy, and Buddy Roberts. Looks like Fritz finally wanted out of the business, because everything suggests he contacted Mantell. Mantell was the booker for World Class during their heyday in 1983-84, so there’s obviously the hope he can rescue things, but his time in UWF in 86-87 saw him repeat the World Class booking from in UWF and it didn’t work and killed business enough that Bill Watts had to sell to Crockett. If he tries to relive 1983 in 1988, it’s not going to work. If he can build new stars and remove the focus on the Von Erichs, there’s a chance of World Class becoming a major power again.
The February 1988 issue of Penthouse will do a story on the Von Erichs. Dave doesn’t know what’ll be in the story, but Fritz is apparently worried about it and how it will portray him.
Kazuharu Sonoda, who teamed with Great Kabuki in World Class and would sometimes play the Great Kabuki character when the real Great Kabuki was double booked, died in an airplane crash on November 29. He was 31 years old and had been in the business since just after he turned 18. The airplane had a fire in the cargo hold that caused it to break up in mid air and killed all 159 on board. Sonoda’s trip to South Africa was to be a working honeymoon as a gift from the Great Kabuki - Kabuki was sending him in his stead to do a tour under the Great Kabuki name and gimmick and enjoy a vacation at the same time. Raja Lion, the 7’2” supposed martial arts champion working for Baba, was also supposed to be on the same plane, but canceled at the last minute and avoided disaster himself.
No numbers yet for Starrcade and Survivor Series. Starrcade did sell out in Chicago and drew well on closed-circuit on the East coast, but the Crocketts seem disappointed by the final gate. Dave speculates slightly more than $1 million for the final gate. While he was in Japan, Dave heard Survivor Series did $4 million, which sounds reasonable but he can’t vouch for the accuracy of it. What Dave can say is that Survivor Series was definitely a financial success in addition to being good. In terms of impressions of the shows, Dave’s heard from hundreds about Starrcade and the reaction has been mixed. Many thought it was great. There was near universal dissatisfaction with the UWF Title match. And the TV title unification was largely unpopular, which Dave blames on the build up ruining the match. Dave has heard that the UWF Title match was different from what it was supposed to be, which restores a little of Dave’s faith in Dusty as a booker. The majority was disappointed, and about 20-25% of responses said the show was terrible. Dave falls in the disappointment camp. If it hadn’t been Starrcade, it would have been fine. But Crockett needed a great Starrcade, or at the very least to outperform WWF’s show in quality, and that did not happen.
Business is still not good coming out of Thanksgiving. Ted DiBiase and Hogan’s matches just aren’t drawing as much as they should. The Bunkhouse Stampedes have so far been disappointments at the gate, enough that Crockett needs to reevaluate their entire model or they’ll cease to be a major promotion entirely. The November 28 Saturday Night’s Main Event is the best life sign in these times: an 11.3 rating and a 30 share are what Dave has heard (not official), which would be the second highest rating the show has ever gotten and third highest rating for that time slot in tv history. TV ratings are the biggest indicator of public interest right now, so even if live crowds are down, this shows that WWF is still very interesting. They’re just not turning that into a rabid desire to be at the show. Crockett’s ratings are dropping, though, and they need to get fans watching tv again before they can worry about getting live attendance back up. In syndicated ratings, WWF gained viewers leading toward Survivor Series, while Crockett remains out of the top 15 and has a below 5.0 combined rating, putting them behind the AWA and Pro Wrestling This Week, which combined have a rating in the low 5s.
Dusty is throwing everything he can at the booking to break out of the fall, and that includes turning Lex Luger. Luger turned on December 2 at a Miami Beach Bunkhouse Stampede. The match came down to Luger, Arn, Tully, and J.J. Dillon. Dillon asked the others to let him win so he could go down in the record books as a stampede winner, and Arn and Tully eliminated themselves. Luger then threw Dillon over the top to win. Turning Lex is a good move, but Dave figures it’s the second best move they could have done and that’s the difference between Crockett and WWF - WWF generally goes with the best thing they can do, not the second best. Another year as a heel might have been good for Luger and helped him shore up his skillset, but Crockett is in desperation mode and needed to make a major move. And Luger has the potential to be a great face, and could make a lot of money for Crockett with Flair if they handle things right. But if nobody’s watching tv, it won’t matter how hot he gets as a face. Other major things happening to try and get things righted: Kevin Sullivan’s group with Rick Steiner, Mike Rotunda, and Steve Williams is one; another major turn is coming soon; lots of new angles that aren’t being spelled out yet. They’re going to change up their tv as well, but if the shows all remain basically duplicates that might keep ratings down and make them worse. And the plan is currently for every hour they tape to go to two different shows, with a different commentary team depending on which show. Nikita might do an interview with Gregory for the Florida show and then immediately do a simiar interview with JR for UWF. Dave thinks basically duplicating tv shows with only interviewer and announce team differences is going to tank ratings when fans figure it out. On the pus side, the shows have improved.
Paul Boesch has come out of retirement and is trying to rebuild the Houston market with Crockett.
New Japan and All Japan have concluded their tag tournaments. New Japan’s was in Osaka on December 7 in front of a crowd of 6,120 and shown live on tv. Fijunami & Kimura were tied for second with Masa Saito & Fujiwara and had to face them in a battle to determine who would face Inoki & Dick Murdoch in the final. The final was a bloody and excellent match, and Kimura bled a lot before he and Fujinami won. With Choshu and Maeda not involved, the tournament lacked interest.
The biggest story of the New Japan tournament happened on November 19 during a match between Choshu/Masa Saito/Hiro Saito vs. Maeda/Takada/Kido. Japanese Wrestling Journal reports that Maeda wouldn’t sell for Choshu at all and Maeda shot on Choshu. Choshu eventually figured out what was happening, and at one point Choshu had Kido in the Scorpion Deathlock when Maeda kicked him in the eye legit. Choshu went after Maeda, and the rest of the teams had to break it up. Eventually the match ended with Choshu pinning Takada with a lariat, and nobody knows why Maeda did it. The crowd was mostly UWF Japan fans, and they cheered Maeda on the whole time because they wanted to see a shoot. This took both out of the tournament, and the Journal reports it destroyed the tournament and left Choshu with two broken bones under the eye.
The match was taped, but it’s understood that it will never air on tv and has caused a major PR shitstorm for New Japan. How do you explain suspending someone for a kick to the face to the public when that happens in every match? You can’t do it without going into the distinction between shooting and working and toward no semblance of kayfabe at all. Maeda has only kept his job because New Japan decided to spin an angle out of it. He’ll be punished and knocked down a few pegs and do a lot of jobs to keep his job, no doubt there. Seiki Sakaguchi believes Maeda’s style is hard for fans to understand and may be why ratings are so low, so they’ll be phasing down on Maeda’s shoot style. Dave believes Choshu and Saito was supoosed to be the winning team.
All Japan’s tournament final took place on December 11 before a crowd of 13,200. Jumbo Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu beat Brody and Snuka in the final, with Yatsu pinning Snuka after pulling a midair reversal of a dragon suplex.
Dusty Rhodes is “thinking” about retiring. For a long time, it’s been said Dusty was going to retire after Starrcade 1988, so this may be legit. Then again, Dusty saw how over Terry Funk got when he announced his retirement, and Dusty never misses a trick.
The winners of all the Bunkhouse Stampedes will participate in the big one on Januay 24 on ppv. Dave wishes them good luck on their first national ppv attempt, because they need it.
JCP ends too many tv shows with main events in progress. Dave’s not opposed to the idea in theory, since leaving your audience wanting is proven to work. But with where they are, they need to satiate their fans’ want for a little while.
Steve Williams hasn’t made his heel turn yet, but expect it before year’s end. Williams does introduce some problems, like contacting New Japan to add four weeks per year to his schedule, which now is up to 16 weeks. He’s been threatening to quit the NWA on and off for the past year but never goes through with it. So until something concrete happens, Dave’s not going to take it too serious. 16 weeks in Japan at the rate Williams gets paid is about $92,000, which isn’t bad for someone with 36 weeks of leisure time outside that.
JCP is full of injuries now. Rick Steiner has a separated shoulder. Barry Windham’s collarbone is broken, and Ricky Morton’s got a bum back.
The UWF Tag Belts have been forgotten. No idea what the status of the Sheepherders is, but they aren’t the champions anymore and the belts (along with the Florida tag belts) will simply no longer be referenced. Steve Keirn also quit the promotion, apparently to go to either Memphis or Global.
[Stampede] Jason the Terrible turned face and things are heating up and they’re selling out more often than not right now. Jason beat Zodiak in a mask match and unmasked Orton, who then left the territory. The Badnews Allen attacked Jason and sprayed paint through his mask into his eyes, before unmasking him.
Stampede are kayfabing Hiroshi Hase’s return to Japan as forced retirement due to injuries inflicted by Jason.
The Iran-Iraq war isn’t enough to stop pro wrestling in the Middle East. Foreign wrestlers are being kept out right now, though.
Curt Hennig had to be hospitalized after AWA’s show on November 28. He was wrestling Wahoo McDaniel in an Indian Strap Match for the title when Adrian Adonis interfered and used a knife to cut the strap, but wound up cutting Curt’s finger. Somehow this wound up with Curt getting disqualified over the interference (I guess since Adonis was attempting to act on his behalf), and it was thought for a bit that he might lose some of the finger.
AWA was supposed to do the tournament for their women’s title on November 28, but have delayed it. Instead, Madusa pinned Bambi in a shitty match and the tournament final is scheduled for December 27 in Vegas. Madusa vs. Candi Divine.
Verne Gagne and Larry Hennig will not be wrestling on the Christmas show for AWA. It’ll be Greg vs. Curt with Verne handcuffed to Larry at ringside.
WCCW’s Christmas card is shaping up. Al Perez vs. Kerry Von Erich for the world title will headline. No second guesses who wins there. The Six-man tag titles will return as well.
The big question for WCCW is how they handle the return of Lance. He’s under contract with David Manning to work independents and eventually Manning’s promotion if he can get it off the ground, but in the meantime he was working for Wild West. No idea what Manning’s relationship with the new WCCW will be like, so who knows what Lance will wind up at.
WCCW’s Thanksgiving show drew 6,000 at Reunion Arena in Dallas. It’s less than Dave had anticipated (ticket prices were way down - general admission was $5 for adults and $3 for kids). Kerry’s comeback match (he’d been back for several weeks, but don’t expect honesty from Von Erich promotion) was 57 seconds against Thing, then Brian Adias, and finally a non-title match against Perez. He won all three matches. Perez then lost another non-title Texas Death Match against Kevin.
Memphis unified all their singles titles in a tournament on December 7. They had Lawler (Southern Champion), Jeff Jarrett (Mid American Champion), and Manny Fernndez (International Champion) in, and the goal was to get rid of all the titles and declare a Continental Wrestling Association Champion. They’re still recognizing Curt Hennig as World champion, so this isn’t a world title. Lawler beat Jarrett then beat Fernandez by DQ to win the tournament.
The Rockers are the Southern tag champs in Memphis and have turned heel. Their reputation for being great workers is clashing with the reports of them in Memphis as basically doing almost nothing in Memphis. After seeing their work in Alabama, Dave thought they just had an ego and thought they were too good for the area. Folks in Memphis are blaming it on their wild partying. Fans weren’t going for them as faces anymore due to their cocky interviews and because they see the Rockers as ripoffs of the Fabulous Ones (a comparison Dave does not get in the slightest), so they needed to be turned.
World Organization Wrestling in Florida are talking about running shows in direct competition with Memphis wrestling. One of the guys they’ve got is a muscular guy managed by Don Fargo by the name of Bob Holly.
Former Kansas State footballer and wrestler Curtis Hughes (the future Mr. Hughes of WCW/WWF) has been refereeing in Alabama and is training to start wrestling.
Shunji Takano (Ninja in Oregon) was on trial in mid November for allegedly hitting a fan with his nunchucks in Eugene, Oregon back in July. He was found guilty and fined $250. His jail sentence was suspended and he has been instead sentenced to community service.
Dave doesn’t know what’s aired and what hasn’t, so here’s what he knows about the DiBiase/Hogan program. DiBiase offers Hogan “7 figures” for the World Title, and Hogan considers it and says he could help his family with the money, but he turns down the offer because he can’t let down the Hulkamaniacs. Then DiBiase makes an agreement with Heenan and Andre that if Andre wins the title, he’ll sell it to DiBiase and get the deal Hogan turned down. Dave thinks the idea of buying/selling the belt is stupid, but it’s less stupid with WWF since they don’t pretend to be a sport. This would be worse in NWA. Anyway, this should all be building toward Wrestlemania and Hogan’s scheduled to leave for a few months to film a movie after Wrestlemania, so rumors will fly that Andre will beat Hogan and sell out to DiBiase. It’d be the first time in WWF history the belt was around the waist of a great wrestler, at least.
WWF taped the Saturday Night’s Main Event for January 2 in front of 11,000 fans. The attendance has to be a disappointment considering the hype. Hogan beat Bundy again, which led to Andre attacking and stealing the belt before beating up several other faces and even no-selling Duggan’s 2x4. Strike Force beat the Bolsheviks in two straight falls to keep the tag titles, Jake Roberts beat Sika (who’s back because Killer Khan disappeared and they needed a foreign guy, and whatever got Sika fired was apparently not major enough to make them forget about him), and Greg Valentine beat Koko B. Ware.
A source at the last MSG show said the Jumping Bomb Angels got twice the reaction for their match as Savage did for his. Dave isn’t sure WWF will ever get a number 2 face over enough he can draw gates on his own. Aside from Rock/Austin falling in their lap and doing just that through sheer force of will, I think this is something they never did figure out.
That’s the length of a regular issue, but this is a double and Dave is going to tell us about his trip to Japan for the next ten pages. It’s a fascinating place. Nobody knows who Joe Montana is, but everyone knows Abdullah the Butcher. Wrestling is big business in Japan, and they tend to set the trends that come to the U.S. several years later. Toys, action figures, records, even Hulkamania were a big deal in Japan well before anyone in the U.S. envisioned it. Vince McMahon gets a lot of credit as a genius in marketing pro wrestling, but he toured Japan several times before 1984 and recreated what they had there. Hogan as an American hero is just the American version of Inoki, with just as big an ego. The albums, t-shirts, action figures, and the rest are all extensions of what Japan had from the 70s on. Vince’s failed attempts to push women’s wrestling came as a result of seeing that they could do big business in Japan. The only thing Vince hasn’t copied from Japan is the work ethic of the wrestlers.
While wrestlers in Japan are on tv commercials and talk shows all the time, that doesn’t make the industry stable. Dave’s first trip to Japan was in December 1984, and a lot has changed since then. All Japan was on top and clearly outclassed everything else, and while New Japan was suffering from its arrangement with WWF it still had a big audience on tv. The Crush Gals were the rock & wrestling idols of Japan for the teen set, and their posters were all over record stores and merch available everywhere. Dave didn’t go to an All Japan Women show in 1984 and regrets that deeply, but in every record or book store he went to, the Crush Gals’ popularity was inescapable.
Compared to UWF and Crockett in 1987, it’s hard to look at Japan as in a bad way, but this year’s trip was different. In Tokyo there were ten stores that catered specifically to wrestling fans back in 1984, compared to five now. Only three weekly magazines are left standing and one monthly, and the monthly is strictly joshi. The Chigusa Nagayo and Riki Choshu calendars are around, but gone are the Crush Gals, Tiger Mask, Stan Hansen, and Choshu records and the posters of the joshi. The most they found was a new 45 by Fujiwara. The lack of the joshi posters is probably due to idol culture in Japan, where they can take a teen, turn her into a rock star, and spit her out in two years. Nearly every teen idol name Dave remembers from his trip three years ago has disappeared from the stores and replaced with new 17-year-olds. The fact that Chigusa Nagayo has managed to increase in popularity and maintain a hold in the mainstream now that she’s 23 has to do with, in Dave’s mind, her improvement of her wrestling to become the best there is in the entire business.
If wrestling has declined over the past few years in Japan, that doesn't mean it’s not still the ultimate experience for a fan. The sheer volume of wrestling coverage is unfathomable to an American. The daily newspaper had a full page devoted to Starrcade and Survivor Series, while American newspapers ignored the results. The death of Kazuhau Sonoda was the lead story in several newspapers, and even though he was just a mid-card guy his death was covered more than American newspapers would cover the hypothetical of Hogan going down in a plane crash. Dave spends a lot of time going over the Japanese wrestling magazine landscape. He managed to work out a deal on getting a lot of magazines to bring back to America for people to be able to buy cheaper than by import subscription.
Dave talks at length about the presentation of wrestling and the fan demographics in Japan. It’s much more sports-like in presentation, and lack the surreal characters, skits, promos, etc. that attract audiences in the U.S. Ticket prices are higher in Japan with the cheap seats as low as $16 (the bigger shows cost $75 for ringside). So the audience is wealthier and more white collar than in the U.S. In the major cities, the fans are almost entirely boys and men between the ages of 15-30. The audience grows older in smaller towns, accounting for the continuing popularity of guys like Baba and Inoki.
He next explains the basics of men’s wrestling in Japan: what New Japan and All Japan are, who their big stars are, etc.. All Japan is more reliant on foreign stars and New Japan relies more heavily on feuds between Japanese wrestlers. He compares Inoki to Dusty, in that he’s popular and pushes himself high on the card, and hardcore fans don’t like him much but unlike Dusty he’s really considered a legend by everyon in Japan. That is one of four reasons people in Japan gave Dave for why New Japan has been suffering in the ratings. The other big reasons are that Japanese culture is still interested in seeing the Japanese prevail over the big, monstrous Americans and New Japan has almost none of those. There’s also a feeling that New Japan’s style is perhaps too esoteric and too heavy on submissions for the casual fan to catch on to. Lastly, they aren’t fans of people changing jobs and bouncing between promotions. Nobody minded when Choshu jumped to All Japan in 1984 because he said a lot of things about Inoki that fans took as true. Jumping back to Inoki purely because he wanted more money and thus breaching contract and making a whole legal thing of it has not been received well in Japan, though, and the jump is popularly felt to have almost killed wrestling in Japan.
The five New Japan shows Dave went to while in Japan made good money at the gate, but the big issue is tv. TV-Asahi has lost interest due to bad ratings and have turned down the request to host the Crockett Cup in April, and New Japan’s tv is in danger of being moved to midnight Mondays or off the air entirely. Landing an afternoon slot on the weekend would be the best goal.
The tv ratings issue is pushing Inoki to try some wild things, the most controversial of which is currently an angle involving a comedian named Mr. Takeshi. Takeshi was once the most famous comedian in the country and is analogous to a Don Rickles or Johnny Carson now, and he’s doing a Cyndi LaupeAndy Kaufman type of angle with Inoki, saying he’s putting together a group to beat Inoki, with a probable end point of a Tokyo Dome show in April. New Japan’s fanbase hate this angle. But New Japan needs to hope the fans stick around and they can get new eyes on the promotion and convert them to fans. It’s the same gamble Vince made with Cyndi Lauper and Mr. T, and it helped cement Hogan. Masa Saito is involved with Takeshi in the storyline and the first involvement of Takeshi will be at the December 27 show, with Takeshi being given the role of bringing over a massive guy named Leon White in as Saito’s partner against Fujinami and Kimura.
All Japan is more stable than New Japan right now. Choshu leaving certainly hurt them, but they’ve recovered and are doing steady business now that Tenryu is hitting his stride as a heel. Bruiser Brody and Abdullah the Butcher returning has been a big boon. Tv ratings arent spectacular, but they’re safe and doing better than New Japan (New Japan’s range from 6-9, All Japan sits in a consistent 11-12 range).
The last promotion Dave covers is All Japan Women, and he finds it hard to explain. The best explanation he can give is this description of an event on December 6 at Korauken Hall:
about 2,400 teenage girls log-jammed in an 1,800 seat building breaking every fire law known to mankind. It was the best live card I’ve seen in at least three years and the main event was by far the greatest match I’ve ever seen live. In fact I’d say without question it was better than any match ever held in the United States in the history of this business. It was a 12-girl tag team match with the most falls before curfew deciding the winner, and he rates it 5 stars. The match went 50 minutes of nothing but high spots and the crowd was screaming at about double the level of a Hulk Hogan posing routine for the entire time. When Chigusa Nagayo was squaring off against Lioness Asuka, the roar was louder than you’d here [sic] in the seventh game of an NBA championship series with 18 seconds left and the home team down by one. I’ve never experienced anything like the energy that comes out of the crowd, and the girls in the ring worked every bit as hard as the crowd. The girls are on TV on the Fuji network and while they consistently draw 7s plus on Saturday afternoons, the week we were there they drew an 11.3 rating. To give you an example of the popularity of this group in Japan--that rating for one show is higher than the rating of all McMahon’s syndicated shows in the United States put together. In fact, it’s roughly the same as the rating that McMahon’s best Saturday Night Main Event NBC special drew, so when I compare the importance of Chigusa with Hulk Hogan it is not an outlandish statement at all.
Despite putting on the best wrestling in the world, AJW’s audience is almost 100% teenage girls. They live and breathe Chigusa Nagayo. The fans who go to men’s cards don’t go to women’s cards in Japan, and the fans and reporters Dave met could not understand why he and his group were so interested in an AJW card. There’s a negative stigma about women’s wrestling in Japan among the fans, probably because the show is designed to appeal to a teen girl’s interests. But it wouldn’t surprise Dave if AJW was as profitable as any other major promotion. They have the ratings (Japanese promotions are paid by their networks, rather than the other way around like in the U.S.) and more importantly, they have major merch - about 15 minutes before the show mentioned above, only 150 people were seated. But then one of the guys Dave was with pointed him to the lobby, and about 1,500 girls were buying all of the merch. Videos, cassettes, posters, keychains, purses, wallets, Dump Matsumoto gym shorts, shopping bags, books, programs, streamers - you name it, they were buying it. Given ticket prices, Dave estimates the gate at about $75,000, and they probably more than doubled that with merch and concessions. There were also other Americans at the AJW show, which you don’t see as much at men’s cards. Based on American reactions to Dump Matsumoto, Dave believes if she were given quality opponents and allowed to work without restriction, she’d make women’s wrestling huge in the U.S. She and Chigusa have drawn several times gates of more than $200,000 (Crockett only did that twice this year - the WarGames matches in Atlanta and Miami, and Hogan did it about a dozen times this year).
The main attraction of the show was that it was Devil Masami’s retirement show. AJW has a mandatory retirement age of 26 (only Dump Matsumoto has been granted an exception by the promotion), and Masami turns 26 on January 7. Dave’s not clear on the reasons, but he figures it probably goes back to the idol culture thing - promote them young, wring out every drop of marketability, spit them out and bring the next fresh crop in. It keeps the stars relatable to the audience, Dave supposes. Some argue that they like their female stars young and cute, but Dave doesn’t see that as a major reason if there’s no men in the audience. Masami’s final match was a five minute exhibition with Chigusa, and the crowd went silent for it out of respect. Chigusa bumped for Masami for the most part, and in the final 45 seconds or so of the match, when Dave thought they’d turn on the intensity, both women broke down in tears together, and the crowd broke down with them. Masami is expected not to stay retired, but to leave Japan to continue her career.
Dave does note some positive things that come out of the age rule AJW has. For one thing, pro wrestling is part of pop culture, but pro wrestling promoters have a really bad understanding of pop culture. Some musical groups have long runs, but most groups that get hot don’t last long and the fizzle quick. The average run for any kind of teen heartthrob to last in pop culture is about two years. Hogan cannot simply sell out a building by showing up. The Rock & Roll Express and Road Warriors can’t draw big numbers by themselves anymore. By having the age rule, AJW forces the constant development and pushing of new talent to the top, which keeps things from getting stale. It keeps you from having a Dusty Rhodes who is still popular and somewhat legendary, but turns other people off. Dave isn’t in favor of the rule at all or any kind of mandatory retirement - he’d still love to watch Bockwinkel or Masa Saito five days a week, but it’s undeniable that the business has been hurt by guys staying long past their prime and using what political power they have to stay on top. It’s hurt by promotions who don’t build stars and only think about the upcoming card, never realizing you need to sometimes tear the whole business down and rebuild and freshen things up to keep alive in the long run.
Anyways, Dave runs down some of the key wrestlers in AJW and talks about them. You’ve got Lioness Asuka and Chigusa Nagayo, Dump Matsumoto, the Jumping Bomb Angels, Yukari Omori (nearing retirement age), Yumi Ogura and Kazue Nagahori (both very young and coming up as a top babyface team), Bull Nakano (19 years old and already a top tier worker), and Condor Saito.
Dave then gives complete results and ratings for every card he saw during his trip. I’ll stick to negative stars and 4+ star matches for matches of note. December 11 All Japan had Tenryu/Hara vs. Hansen/Gordy go to a double count out in the tag tournament. 4.5 stars. December 6 AJW had Dump Matsumoto vs. Yukari Omori go to a double count out. 4.5 stars of an absolutely bloody match that went all around the arena and included a fork (American fans started cheering Dump after she got out the fork, and she blew them kisses in response, though Dave makes a shitty joke about Americans cheering for a fork after having to use chopsticks). The 12-woman tag match mentioned above gets 5 stars and is the best thing Dave’s ever seen live. December 3 New Japan has Shiro Koshinaka & Kazuo Yamazaki & Keiichi Yamada beat Hiro Saito & Norio Honaga & Kensuke Sasaki in a six man match. 4.5 stars. They had another 6 man the next night where Yamazaki & Nobuhiko Takada & Yamada beat Hiro Saito & Honaga & Dynamite Chris. 4.5 stars. Antonio Inoki & Dick Murdoch vs. Masa Saito & Fujiwara went to a 30 minute draw on the same show. 4 stars. Lastly, New Japan saw Fujinami & Kimura beat Masa Saito & Fujiwara in the tournament semi-final on December 7. 4 stars.
Watch: Hansen/Gordy vs. Tenryu/Hara THURSDAY (last issue of 1987):1987 in review, Observer expanding to two columns of text per page, WWF riding high, projections for 1988, on the importance of PPV, and more.
So let’s start with the fact that support is telling us that not being able to use emoji charges is a “glitch”. We as a community have noticed these apply to upcoming events emojis. If this is the way the game is heading, that means we have to buy diamond boxes to level up emojis we could have used our charges on. Lets look how the diamond boxes work in a more realistic sense. When you go to a casino and play poker, you basically exchange money for chips to bet with. When you go to buy a diamond box, you have to exchange your money for gems to buy them with. These diamond boxes are a chance. If you are this far, I’m assuming you know what the word gambling refers to. And I’m assuming you understand what a gambling addiction is. With these newer updates, Jam City is trying to make the deciding factor to buy a diamond chest a no brainer decision at this point. If you have Luke Skywalker at level one, and you have an emoji charge, you cannot level him up. Also, if you ran out of coins trying to buy the gold box he is in, you cannot level him up. The only way to level up is with the diamond box. Now I’m not saying Jam City is the devil trying to give you a gambling addiction, but this is a DISNEY GAME. Now let’s get into the fun part. The fact that Disney World spent more than 20 MILLION DOLLARS to fight casinos being build in Florida. This happened in November of 2018 during the voting period. This is in the news, you can read all about how Disney and the Seminole Tribe spend millions to get the approval of an ANTI-CASINO AMENDMENT. This amendment makes it harder for casinos to pop up in Florida, Disney stated they want Florida to be a “family-friendly vacation destination”. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/11/07/disney-and-seminole-tribe-score-big-win-in-florida-on-election-day-with-gambling-amendment.html Now, after reading this how do you feel about the gambling state of this Disney game? It started out as Disney, then went to Jam City. Jam City has effectively turned this into a game that Disney(from their public stance on gambling) would disapprove of. They spent millions fighting gambling, but allow minors to gamble in a game that is technically run by Jam City, with their product being used. Their product is the only factor to this game even being a game in the first place. Also, before we talk about the minors gambling, I want to point out that support one time said the game was for people 13 years and older. First of all, gambling is only legal unless you are 17 or 18 in most places of the world. Second, these laws are actually sometimes bumping up the age to 21 years. Third, I guarantee you a ton of parents out there see their child playing DISNEY Emoji Blitz, and they could CARE LESS because they think this game is SAFE for their child. At this point I have become disturbed by what is happening. I know this is a game that you don’t have to play, but once you have invested a lot of time and some money into it, you shouldn’t have to be turned away from such greed and terrible game design. I am going to contact anyone at Disney that will listen, I highly doubt anything will come of it but this just seems so wrong. Disney publicly fought against casinos in Florida, almost making them a hero, but I know for a fact children out there are learning how to gamble with this game and their parents credit cards. I was one of those kids with that FarmVille game. If yo have a kid who is playing this game, monitor them a little closer. In FarmVille I probably spent over 200-300 dollars as a kid, and that’s hard to choke on.... If only my parents had known about that and reasoned with me. And if you want them to stop(or you need to stop), you don’t have to tell them to stop. There are so many games out there on console that ends up being way cheaper than mobile games. I have had an Xbox One for years, and I have barely bought any games for $60 straight up. And with the DLC to extend a games lifetime I think I have only paid about $120 for a single game on Xbox. That $120 game lasted about 5 years. Without doing the math you know that 5 years for a $120 product is great. I don’t want Disney to cut off Jam City from using their product, but I also don’t want to be upset every time I play an event/every time they update the game. (The constant adding of emojis and constant adding of glitches proves they only care about revenue at this point) If you take the Disney out of Disney Emoji Blitz, you would have Emoji Blitz and I guarantee a huge amount of you would drop off if they lost the licensing to the Disney characters. Sorry this was such a long read, hopefully this made some of you more aware to the state of this game. And I hope this might have helped some of you to maybe start looking into other things to make you happy. Right now I am not happy with this game but I am willing to play through (start exploiting) to see if it gets any better.
Around the Alliance 07.20 ROOKIE ROUND UP and 2020 PROJECTIONS
In this important (and delayed) edition of Around the Alliance:
Recapping the 2020 UFFA Rookie Draft
UFFA 2020 Season Projected
RECAP of 2020 UFFA ROOKIE DRAFT
Quarterbacks Joe Burrow (1.02) Lincoln - After a blockbuster trade that saw Lincoln move up, it was believed the move was to get Burrow. The young QB will have plenty of time to develop alongside Sam Darnold as the veterans Ryan, Newton, and Rivers helm the Johnsons' first season in the heartland. Tua Tagoviola (1.05) Swansea City - After some surprise that Tua wasn't taken at #4 overall, the Ducks made sure he didn't fall farther. The pick eases pressure on Ryan Fitzpatrick to perform when starters Baker Mayfield and Jimmy Garoppolo need a break. QB and RB were Swansea's biggest needs coming into the draft, and walking away with Tagoviola is a great feeling. Justin Herbert (1.08) St Louis - While Herbert was never mocked higher than #8 overall, it was by no means a reach. The rebuilt Clydesdales are fully moved into their new headquarters across the river in Illinois and excited to see what a new signal caller can do for the Gateway City. Jalen Hurts (3.06) Hawaii - Hurts lands in a great position in Hawaii with starter Drew Brees entering into his last season and Derek Carr and Marcus Mariotta unlikely to coexist long in the SF slot. Though currently slotted for the Taxi, it would not be surprising to see the Volcanoes move Hurts to active for emergency starts given his 3 year contract option. Jordan Love (3.09) Northwoods - Love will ride the taxi for the Hoes for possibly two years, given the team's strength and youth at the position. By selecting at the end of the 3rd round, Northwoods now effectively controls Jordan Love for possibly 5 years before entering into extension talks. Hindsight may look back quite fondly on this pick on day. Jacob Eason (5.04) Alaska - Headed to the great white north, Eason will look to ride the taxi for 2020 in hopes of getting a shot on the active roster in 2021. For the time being, he'll need to progress in the minors before getting his Alliance shot. Running Backs Jonathan Taylor (1.01) Alaska - Despite half-assed smokescreens, Taylor goes 1st overall to the Kodiak. While the addition of McCaffrey was a major transaction (in a continuation of Alaska going all-in on 2020), Taylor gives a small glimmer of hope for the future at RB with the looming unknown of Aaron Jones career arc. Clyde Edwards-Helaire (1.03) San Juan - Adding CEH at #3 overall has helped cement the Shrimp as a real player in the 2020 Extior. While some are ready to hand over the championship to Alaska, San Juan has a strong case that the division is still up for grabs. Safely playing Flex behind Mixon and Drake will give Edwards-Helaire time to acclimate to the Alliance before needing to produce. Cam Akers (1.04) Albuquerque - The first true Roadrunner, Akers was a bit of a surprise, but not a reach. While the majority of mocks had Albuqueque landing CEH or Tua, the fiesty expansion team gave a boost of confidence to Tannehill and Bridgewater as they turned toward RB over QB. Akers should sure up the Flex, if not outright challenge Conner or Ekeler for starting RB. J.K. Dobbins (1.09) Northwoods - After missing out on landing Dalvin Cook via trade, the Hodags were able to grab Dobbins at the end of the 1st. With a strong backfield already, Dobbins will have time to sit, but is unlikely to ride the taxi. De'Andre Swift (2.02) Dunedin - With their second pick, the Rangers landed top talent with Swift. Given the age and shaky injury history of Dunedin's backfield, it makes sense why GM Koch was thrilled to send in the pick. Zack Moss (2.03) San Juan - Somewhat of a surprising pick at #13 overall, GM Ramos got his guy in Zack Moss. Moss was unlikely to fall into the 3rd round, and San Juan has always been cautious with trades, so the pick only raises eyebrows on ADP. Should Moss produce at the goal line, as the Shrimp hope, then no one will worry about this selection. Ke'Shawn Vaughn (2.05) Swansea City - The Swansea City Ducks addressed a position of need when they drafted Ke'Shawn Vaughn in the middle of the second round. Vaughn will hope to be a depth piece behind Saquon Barkley, Nick Chubb, and Kareem Hunt and may even get consistent game time this season depending on how the Ducks plan to line up. (DonJuaN64) Darryton Evans (2.09) Hawaii - The 8th RB off the board, Evans leapfrogged several backs that he was projected behind. While the pick was unexpected given some of the other names available, GM Alexa has received resounding praise for his alertness in reading the room and pulling the trigger ahead of the curve. Antonio Gibson (3.01) Oklahoma City - The defending Alliance champs didn't get their first pick until the beginning of the 3rd. With that 21st overall selection, the Storm strengthened their RB room with the versatile Gibson. While OKC only has 7 rostered RBs, all of them, including Gibson, are in contention for snaps this season. A.J. Dillon (3.04) Lincoln - Selected with the 1st of the Johnsons two picks in the 3rd round, A.J. Dillon joins a running back group already led by Derrick Henry and Josh Jacobs. If he plays, he will most likely be in the mix with Phillip Lindsay and Mark Ingram II for backup snaps and he'll be hoping his large frame will allow him some limited goal line work behind Henry. (DonJuaN64) Joshua Kelley (3.10) Albuquerque - After a long wait from their first pick, the Roadrunners ended the 3rd with another RB. Kelley is a prime taxi target given the depth of the position for the team. Lamical Perine (4.04) St Louis - A depth pick for sure, Perine could get in the mix for 2020 snaps should starters Melvin Gordon, Leonard Fournette, or Kerryon Johnson experience prolonged injury. Anthony McFarland (4.08) Lincoln - While likely to make the team, McFarland will have to fight for his spot on the active roster against declining veterans Rex Burkhead and Dion Lewis. Eno Benjamin (5.02) Hawaii - A move for the future, Benjamin has already been declared a taxi target by the Volcanoes. The hope is for Benjamin to pick up some wisdom from elder backs Freeman, Bell, and the like. Lynn Bowden (5.06) Dunedin - Mired in some legal trouble, Bowden is a swing for the fences you like to see at the end of the draft. If he is able to play in the Alliance, he could easily turn into a star for the Rangers. DeeJay Dallas (5.10) Albuquerque - Mr. Irrelevant 2020 goes to DeeJay Dallas. Despite the moniker, the Roadrunners are hoping for early return on Dallas thanks to his return skills. This is likely the only path to keeping him off the taxi/roster bubble. Wide Receivers CeeDee Lamb (1.06) Dunedin - Taken 6th overall, CeeDee Lamb was one of the two most hyped wide receivers in this stacked draft class for the position. The 6'2" 21 year old joins a Rangers wide receiver group led by 'Bama boys, Julio Jones and Amari Cooper. Given his talent and high draft spot, CeeDee BLAM will no doubt be competing with Brandin Cooks for a starting spot. (DonJuaN64) Justin Jefferson (1.07) Lincoln - Lincoln was the only team with two 1st round picks. The first pick was chalk (Joe Burrow, 1.02), but Jefferson was a heart pick at #7. With other highly touted names still available, the Johnsons addressed a position of need with the guy they clearly believe in the most. Jerry Jeudy (1.10) Hawaii - Closing out the 1st round, Hawaii took Jeudy as part of their air raid offense. With Drew Brees in the final act of his career, the front office is surrounding him with all the talent possible. Jeudy's route running and high football IQ should help him instantly mesh with the veterans of the corps. Henry Ruggs (2.01) Alaska - Taken as the first pick of the second round by the Alaska Kodiak, Henry Ruggs III comes into the Alliance boasting one, of if not the, fastest speeds of any receiver. Even with his speed and upside, Ruggs will face an uphill battle to make it into the starting lineup on a weekly basis, as the top 3 spots will most likely be filled by Tyreek Hill, Deandre Hopkins, and Mike Evans. He may have to settle for being 4th receiver in the Flex, if he makes the starting lineup at all. (DonJuaN64) Jalen Reagor (2.04) St Louis - Reagor adds some depth behind a star studded starting WR corp. Expect the Clydesdales to call on the rookie a few times this season for Flex play. Michael Pittman (2.06) Hawaii - Grabbing their second WR in as many picks, the Volcanoes continue to go all-in on their passing attack. Playing alongside minor league teammate Parris Campbell will also be a boon to Pittman's value. Tee Higgins (2.07) Northwoods - GM Smith has an affinity for WR, and it must have hurt passing on Jeudy in the 1st. But patience paid off as the Hodags snatched Higgins at a great value. There's little pressure on the rookie to produce early, but he may still see some action in 2020. Laviska Shenault (2.08) Alaska - A favorite of co-owner Peele, Shenault brings versatility to an already stacked starting line up. It was well known that the Kodiak needed to come out of the draft with several WRs to bolster their depth, and Laviska falls perfectly in line. Denzel Mims (3.02) St Louis - Taken 2nd in the 3rd round by the Clydesdales, Denzel Mims is most likely a depth pick. The 6'3" man out of Baylor starts his UFFA career buried in the Clydesdales depth chart. (DonJuaN64) Brandon Aiyuk (3.03) San Juan - Brandon Aiyuk starts his UFFA journey with the Shrimps after being taken 3rd in the 3rd round. Taken as the first WR to the Shrimps, the 6'0" man out of ASU is far from being guaranteed a start, with the Shrimps starting wide receivers being relatively established, but don't be surprised if the YAC monster makes a push up the depth chart. (DonJuaN64) Chase Claypool (3.05) Swansea City - Claypool is a nice pick at a relatively strong position for the Ducks. His $3 rookie contract makes him a likely candidate for active roster, but Swansea City has no need to press him into the lineup. That said, recent news about starter Deebo Samuel's foot injury could make Claypool an interesting depth piece. Devin Duvernay (3.07) St Louis - The 2nd wide receiver taken by the Clydesdales in the 3rd round, Devin Duvernay faces the same uphill battle as earlier pick Denzel Mims for a starting spot. Duuuuuvernaayyyy however, is at a height disadvantage compared to his fellow 3rd round draftee at only 5'11". (DonJuaN64) Bryan Edwards (4.01) Alaska - In what was a truly bizarre pick (traded twice in a matter of minutes), the Kodiak came away with Edwards. Rumor has it Alaska was itching to get back into the 3rd to grab the WR. Obviously they see something special, as they valued him equal to a 2021 2nd rounder. Antonio Gandy-Golden (4.03) San Juan - Gandy-Golden is a nice depth piece, but comes into a crowded (and talented) WR room. Given the Shrimp's roster construction and cap situation, AGG might go unsigned come August. K.J. Hamler (4.06) Dunedin - Rumored to be half-hobbit, the 5'9" WR will hope to make a big impression to the coaches as the Rangers look to transition their corp from aging veterans to younger talent. Tyler Johnson (4.07) St Louis - The Clydesdales used their last pick on Johnson (their 4th WR taken). While a potential taxi target, Johnson could also be thrust into action to see if he's worth the flier or could be a cut candidate in seasons to come. Donovan People-Jones (4.10) Alaska - The Kodiak came away with 4 receivers as expected from mocks, but People-Jones may be best suited on the taxi rather than a depth piece on the bench. Van Jefferson (5.05) Swansea City - One of the most surprising falls in the draft, Jefferson was expected to late 3rd/early 4th. The Ducks got great value on the pick and even have the luxury of possibly putting Van on the taxi to extend his rookie 2 year deal. Gabriel Davis (5.08) Lincoln - While the Johnsons need WR depth, Davis is very much on the roster bubble given that Lincoln is 2 players over the max. Tight Ends Cole Kmet (2.10) Dunedin - Selected at the tail end of the 2nd round by the Rangers and as the 1st tight end off the board, Cole Kmet joins a crowded tight end group led by Darren The Wallerus. Kmet fits the mold that the Rangers look for at the position, having similar measurements to the majority of their current tight ends. Given the other tight ends on the roster, it is very possible Kmet starts at some point in his rookie season depending on how his competition performs. (DonJuaN64) Adam Trautman (3.08) Lincoln - Adam Trautman became just the second tight end to be drafted when he was selected by the Lincoln Johnsons near the end of the 3rd round. He comes into an already crowded tight end room, and given when he was taken in the draft, he will be hoping that competition for a starting role will be lessened by roster cuts. At this time though, the 6'5" man out of Dayton may just be a piece for the future of the Johnsons. (DonJuaN64) Devin Asiasi (4.02) Hawaii - Over the moon to get their guy, Asiasi becomes a Volcano. After Northwoods traded into the 4.01, it seems certain that Asiasi wouldn't make it to Hawaii, but with a second trade of the pick to Alaska, GM Alexa was able to get his guy at tremendous value. Thaddeus Moss (4.05) San Juan via Swansea City - The son of Hall of Fame wideout Randy Moss, Thaddeus was drafted in the middle of the 4th round to the Ducks as a tight end out of LSU. There were negotiations behind the scenes to bring Moss across the pond to San Juan to join the Shrimps and the two teams reached an agreement in the days following the conclusion of the draft. The deal sees veteran tight ends Rudolph the Red Zone Danger and Cameron Brate the Great head the other way to the Ducks. With this deal, the Shrimps are back within roster requirements and get a young, exciting prospect with future potential even if he doesn't start this year, while the Ducks receive two very capable backup tight ends with reasonable deals that have the ability to step up and start if needed. Moss will hope to get some game time this year or at very least get acclimated with San Juan and the Shrimps and be their tight end of the future as the joint youngest tight end on the roster at 22. (DonJuaN64) Albert Okwuegbunam (4.09) Northwoods - With the strong duo of Kittle and MAndrews, Albert O will have no pressure to produce anytime soon and is a prime taxi target. Josiah Deguara (5.01) Albuquerque - The only non-RB taken by the Roadrunners, Deguara may be pressed into duty with injury concerns around Gronk, Eifert, Dissly, and Graham. Harrison Bryant (5.03) San Juan - A solid upside pick, Bryant may not get the chance to take the field in San Juan given the team's full roster. Brycen Hopkins (5.07) Oklahoma City - Only the second pick for the defending champs, GM Reynolds had to pinch himself to believe Hopkins fell into their lap. If capturing the imagination of one of the owners isn't enough, Hopkins is likely to have a comfortable rookie (and maybe even sophomore season) on the taxi. Dalton Keene (5.09) Northwoods - Joining a stacked TE room, Keene will have the opportunity to grow in a potentially killer group of young TEs. Trades 1.02 - Lincoln was able to acquire the #2 overall selection (along with other assets) the day before the draft. Trading away Christian McCaffrey is a bold move, but the Johnsons are still a solid team with a bright future thanks to Burrow. The trade also saw the defending champion Storm give up the pick in order to acquire Dalvin Cook, a move that I'm sure any team in the Alliance would make. 4.01 - In what will go down as one of my more bizarre draft day moments, Albuquerque traded out of of the pick for Northwood's 2021 3rd only to see the Hodags immediately flip the pick to Alaska for a 2021 2nd. When reached for comment, GM Spira said, "I was enjoying a show with my wife and checked my phone when she went to the bathroom. I saw the trade, saw Bryan Edwards on the board, and immediately knew this was our chance to get our guy. [GM Smith] was lucky to have gotten to [GM Williams] ahead of us." Bryce Love - Late in the draft, Alaska began shopping around roster bubble players. While the team would have needed to cut someone to clear room for the incoming rookies, Hawaii took a flyer on RB Bryce Love and his $1 contract for a 2022 5th. The low risk play works out for both sides, as Hawaii gets a high upside depth piece and Alaska got back $1 and roster space. Wentz/McLaurin et. al. - Within hours of the draft, the heated rivalry of Northwoods and OKC cooled for a moment as the teams announced a major trade to shake up the Interior. The Storm took on WR breakout star, Terry McLaurin, unproven TE Jace Sternberger, and RB Alexander Mattison (a great pairing with minor league teammate, Dalvin Cook). In return, the Hoes get high upside TE depth behind starters Kittle and MAndrews in the form of Irv Smith, who just received a major payday this past free agency with a $5 contract from OKC. Northwoods also received QB Carson Wentz, creating a 3-headed monster at the position with Jared Goff and Dak Prescott. Should Dwayne Haskins (and/or the long term stash of Jordan Love) pan out, the Hodags could be looking at a generational QB room. Thad Moss/Rudolph & Brate - Despite being a mid-4th round pick, Moss gained the attention of the Shrimp. A fateful combination of cap and roster gymnastics left San Juan needing to make some creative moves. Swansea City benefits by surrendering their dart throw TE rookie for proven veterans at the position, Kyle Rudolph and Cameron Brate. While Moss may have glimmers of long term success, Rudolph and Brate both are looking to prove they still have some gas left in the tank. Grades Alburquerque Roadrunners: B+ Cam Akers (1.04) / Joshua Kelley (3.10) / Josiah Deguara (5.01) / DeeJay Dallas (5.10)
Holding only 4 picks in this year's draft, none in the 2nd or 4th rounds, and none of their own, the Roadrunners focused on the running back position, accounting for 3 of their picks. The only non running back chosen by the Roadrunners was TE and gadget player Josiah Deguara. The highlight of their draft was undoubtedly 4th overall pick, Florida State running back Cam Akers. Though largely not "flashy" picks, every one of the Roadrunners draftees has the potential to surprise this year. The Roadrunners needed to address a lot of areas from being one of the two expansion teams. The first area that needed help was the RB position, and they addressed it with two great picks. They did a great job addressing the biggest hole in their team, but didn’t address anything else. Akers is a solid pick and may be a better long term asset over Tua, Lamb, or other RB options. Kelley and Dallas also could find a niche after some minor league seasoning. The big unknown is Degaura who will likely be called to action given the fragility of the other TEs on the team.
Alaska Kodiak: B+ Jonathan Taylor (1.01) / Henry Ruggs (2.01) / Laviska Shenault (2.08) / Bryan Edwards (4.01) / Donovan People-Jones (4.10) / Jacob Eason (5.04)
The Kodiak did not need much from this draft other than depth. They have stars everywhere at every position. The first 4 picks might be able to make a splash their rookie year, but they probably won’t do better than the starters. Peoples-Jones was an interesting pick, and Eason was a bit interesting as well. The first pick of the draft could have been many different choices, CEH, Taylor, Jeudy, Lamb, Burrow, or Tua. This draft went well, they were able to get some depth pieces if a star were to fall to injury . Holding none of their original picks, including one extra, the Kodiak looked heavily to the wide receiver position in a historically stacked wide receiver class. Their first overall pick of Jonathan Taylor out of Wisconsin came as little surprise as they had been linked to him leading up to the draft. The rest of the Kodiak draft consisted of signing depth pieces with potential including a late flier on Washington quarterback Jacob Eason. The Kodiak addressed a clear positional need in this draft by taking 4 WRs, but how many of these will truly standout? Ruggs and Shenault were coin flips with many other 2nd & 3rd round receivers, making it hard to give lots of credit to the team. Spending a future 2nd on Edwards was bold and possibly foolhardy. Eason and Taylor seem to be the only picks to escape critical eyes.
Dunedin Rangers: A Ceedee Lamb (1.06) / De'Andre Swift (2.02) / Cole Kmet (2.10) / K.J. Hamler (4.06) / Lynn Bowden Jr. (5.06)
The Rangers went into the draft trying to shore up multiple positions including running back and wide receiver and they came out of the gates with intent, selecting 1st round wide receiver stud CeeDee Lamb followed by running back D'Andre Swift. Both can make an immediate impact while their other 2nd round pick Cole Kmet has a chance to be a factor in the tight end room. The Rangers also added additional depth through the draft, picking another running back and wide receiver, concluding a very successful draft. Dunedin absolutely crushed this draft. They came away with the #1 WR (Lamb) and #1 TE (Kmet), along with grabbing a top tier RB in Swift as the top of the 2nd. Hamler in the mid-4th was a steal and a great slot weapon, and getting the gadget talent of Bowden in the mid-5th definitely offsets the potential baggage he carries. The Rangers really needed to get a QB with their first-round pick but chose to go for a WR here which was a bit of a shocker when Herbert was still available. They were able to get Swift and address their RB need and the rest of their picks did a good job addressing the depth they needed for their team.
Hawaii Volcanoes: B+ Jerry Jeudy (1.10) / Michael Pittman Jr. (2.06) / Darryton Evans (2.09) / Jalen Hurts (3.06) / Devin Asiasi (4.02) / Eno Benjamin (5.02)
Hawaii is one of the two expansion teams and needed a lot from this draft, but the main points of emphasis needed to be WR, RB, and QB. Hawaii did a good job to get some depth pieces. Pittman and Jeudy are looking to make a splash for their rookie seasons, but Hurts, Asiasi, and Benjamin are pieces for the future and are going to be mainly depth pieces. Hawaii still has a bit of a hole at QB that needs to be addressed as soon as they can, but with what was available, Hawaii made the best picks for their team. Their future is bright! Holding an extra pick in this year's draft, the Volcanoes spread out their picks fairly evenly amongst the positions. As an expansion team, this was to be expected. The Volcanoes landed absolute stud wide receiver Jerry Jeudy at the end of the 1st round and followed that up with another talented wideout in Michael Pittman Jr. They would have hoped to land a running back in one of the first 2 rounds, but the Volcanoes did well with who was on the board at the time of their picks and late running back pick Eno Benjamin may surprise people. Quarterback Jalen Hurts and tight end Devin Asiasi will also be players to watch. Hawaii may be the team whose draft changes the most when hindsight rolls around. Jeudy and Pittman both have potential to make rookie splashes, but may need some time to adjust to pro ball. Meanwhile, Evans, Hurts, and Asiasi are all positional gambles looking to get a lucky break in the minors. GM Alexa closed the tiers with Jeduy and Asiasi, which is always a good sign of evaluating BAP (best available position).
Lincoln Johnsons: A- Joe Burrow (1.02) / Justin Jefferson (1.07) / A.J. Dillon (3.04) / Adam Trautman (3.08) / Anthony McFarland Jr. (4.08) / Gabriel Davis (5.08)
The Johnsons drafted every position this year and were helped by the fact they held an extra pick. A big surprise was the selection of Joe Burrow 2nd overall. He joins an already talented quarterback room, but they must see something special in Burrow they didn't want to miss out on. LSU wideout Justin Jefferson was another notable addition, being selected 7th overall with the Johnsons 2nd pick in the 1st round. Running back A.J. Dillon and tight end Adam Trautman were also intriguing additions to the Johnsons. Lincoln had a mixed draft. They surprised everyone by moving up in the draft to the second overall pick. They then took Burrow who was the perfect pick for this team. They have some good QBs, but Burrow has the possibility to break out. Justin Jefferson was a bit of an interesting pick. Reagor, Pittman, and Jeudy were all still available and ranked higher than Jefferson, so I am unsure about that pick being the best pick they could have made. They also got some depth pieces with every other pick, so that should help them out. Lincoln seems to be embracing the "reboot" over "rebuild" model, as they rounded out their roster across the board. Going in, it was expected they would make a strong push at WR, but waited until the closing moments to grab a second in Gabriel Davis. Choosing Justin Jefferson over Jerry Jeudy was a bold move in the 1st, but is balanced by the chalk pick of Burrow at #2. Perhaps Lincoln would have taken another WR in the 3rd had the tier not closed one pick ahead, but "settling" for Dillon isn't too bad.
Northwoods Hodags: B J.K. Dobbins (1.09) / Tee Higgins (2.07) / Jordan Love (3.09) / Albert Okwuegbunam (4.09) / Dalton Keene (5.09)
The Hodags had all of their original picks this year aside from swapping one. They addressed a need with their 1st round pick J.K. Dobbins, who will undoubtedly play a major role in their team in the coming years. Their swapped pick turned into wide receiver Tee Higgins who will be at least a depth pick, joining a crowded wide receiver group. Although not an immediate need, The Hodags decided to use their 3rd round pick on quarterback Jordan Love. Depending on how things shake out, that pick may come in handy. A position of need was addressed in the 4th and 5th rounds when the Hodags drafted tight ends Albert Okwuegbunam and Dalton Keene. Both will be fighting for backup spots but were necessary depth picks at the position. GM Smith took advantage of some key situations and came out of the draft a big winner. He snatched top RB talent that got pushed down thanks to positional needs in the late first, grabbed a fringe top-tier WR in Higgins in the mid/late 2nd, and sniped Jordan Love for their taxi squad at the end of the 3rd, functionally giving them 5 years of Love on a rookie deal, When Northwoods had its first pick, the best RB available was who they should have taken, and that is exactly what they did. This was a smart pick backed up by another smart pick with Tee Higgins. The real hard part about the rest of the picks is that these are guys who won’t be making any splashes in the league anytime soon unless something happens that no one expects, so it’s hard to rank those picks that high, because of that
Oklahoma City: B- Antonio Gibson (3.01) / Brycen Hopkins (5.07)
This was a very hard draft to grade due to only two players being drafted. They had the second overall and should have gotten Burrow but chose to trade it away in a blockbuster trade that involved Dalvin Cook, Christian McCaffrey, and others. Due to this and many other trades made in the offseason, they lost a lot of picks. Gibson is not a bad pick, but it’s a very risky and quite interesting pick. He has a lot of talent but got drafted to a Washington team with so many different RB options, it’ll be hard to see if Gibson plays in the next two or maybe even three years. They really need to figure out how to get some QBs in the future, because they missed out here. The Storm only had two picks this year and neither of them were their original picks. With their 1st pick coming in the beginning of the 3rd round, the Storm drafted running back Antonio Gibson. With an already stacked running back group, it was a surprise they took Gibson here. Their second and last pick came near the end of the 5th round with Purdue tight end Brycen Hopkins. Hopkins is a depth piece that the Storm hope will be able to contribute in the future. In only having a mid-round and end of draft picks, OKC gets no star power to smooth the grading curve. Gibson and Hopkins are both solid players with room to flash on their minor league squads in the next few years. That said, Gibson was taken while A.J. Dillon was still on the board, and Hopkins felt like a homer dart throw when selected ahead of Dalton Keene. Neither player was the consensus BAP at their position, but then again this draft grade is of little importance considering Dalvin Cook was the reward the Storm got for selling their rookie draft down the river!
San Juan: A- Clyde Edwards-Helaire (1.03) / Zack Moss (2.03) / Brandon Aiyuk (3.03) / Antonio Gandy-Golden (4.03) / Harrison Bryant (5.03)
Sitting pretty at 3rd overall, the Shrimp were in prime position no matter what. Going CEH over Tua or Lamb feels good, but there was no wrong answer among them. Grabbing Aiyuk in the early 3rd as the last WR of the startable tier was a great spot as well. That said, the Zack Moss pick at 2.03 felt like a reach, given the WR options available and that similar tier RBs Gibson and Dillon went a full round later. Keep an eye on Harrison Bryant who might make waves as a do-it-all H-Back for San Juan... provided he makes the final roster. San Juan really needed to address their RB position, and they more than did so with Moss and CEH. They were able to address every other position they needed. The biggest shame here is that they did not take a TE earlier, they took the TE late and the TE they got might not be the best to what they needed. One of the only 2 teams with all of their original picks, the Shrimps focused on increasing depth during the draft, with running back being their clear priority, accounting for their first two picks, followed by wide receiver, making up the next two. Their quarterback room may need a new addition in the near future depending on when Brady and Rodgers decline or slow down and how the young, unproven Kyle Allen and Jared Stidham perform. But for now it seems they aren't in too much of a hurry and picked the best of who was available, without loading up on one position, and added depth along with taking a chance at the tight end position.
St. Louis: A- Justin Herbert (1.08) / Jalen Reagor (2.04) / Denzel Mims (3.02) / Devin Duvernay (3.07) / Lamical Perine (4.04) / Tyler Johnson (4.07)
With the first pick, the Clydesdales looked to get a depth piece for their QB spot, but could have used this pick better to get a WR to make an impact for the upcoming year, and Jeudy was still available, so the QB pick was not as helpful as it could have been. They did bounce back and take 4 more WRs before the end of the draft, so that was a good idea, but they really needed a RB for depth, and could have managed the draft a little better to address everything they needed. St. Louis came in hot and heavy for the WR! Herbert in the 1.08 wasn't a surprise, but fans may debate if this was gamesmanship by GM Steinke over BAP. Though Jerry Jeduy was unlikely to fall to 2.04, there would still be top-notch WR, but Herbert wasn't getting past Hawaii at 1.10. Regardless of how calculated it was, the Clydesdales still got three solid WRs with Mims, Reagor, and Duvernay. Perine and Johnson are likely to dress as emergency relief if they even manage to avoid the Taxi. The Clydesdales held an extra pick in this draft and none of their own. They entered the draft needing a quarterback and a wide receiver and the Clydesdales addressed both. After Burrow and Tua were off the board, the Clydesdales made sure to get their man Herbert. They followed this up by picking talented TCU receiver Jalen Reagor in the 2nd round. Out of their draftees, Reagor is the one tipped to have the biggest immediate impact.
Swansea City: A- Tua Tagovailoa (1.05) / Ke'Shawn Vaughn (2.05) / Chase Claypool (3.05) / Thaddeus Moss (4.05) / Van Jefferson (5.05)
With many in the UFFA industry mocking Tua to the Roadrunners, the Ducks had to be pleasantly surprised to snatch up the young QB. While it must have hurt to pass up on all the WR talent in the 2nd, gettting Vaughn was necessary to adding a possible RB Flex not named Kareem Hunt. This was the right call given the entire 2nd tier of RBs was gone by 3.05. Claypool, Moss, and Jefferson are all medium-ceiling picks, but there's not too much invested should they flame out early. The second of the 2 teams holding all of their original picks, the Ducks went into the draft wanting to address the quarterback and running back positions and that is exactly what they did. The Ducks drafted Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa 5th overall, which would have been of little surprise to those close to the organization. They followed up by drafting Vanderbilt running back Ke'Shawn Vaughn, who was the highest rated running back available at that spot. The Ducks remaining picks were used to increase wide receiver depth along with a surprise pick of LSU tight end Thaddeus Moss, who shortly after the draft, was traded to the Shrimps for 2 veteran tight ends who can make an immediate impact. The Ducks did everything right at the beginning of the draft, but then came in with a very interesting pick with Claypool. Moss and Jefferson were really good picks for the depth of this team. The Ducks were able to do a good job with their picks.
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