End of the day, all you can really do is try to put together a team that's going to get as many chances at the crapshoot as possible. That was always the problem with the mid-00s Cubs: The moves weren't awful in a short-term sense, but they gave the team such a tiny window, with no margin for error or random chance.…

I'm not 100% sure, but I am sure that John Tortorella should be fired. Doesn't matter what job he has. Fire his ass.

I mean, I could trot out some shit about storytelling and artistic expression — which are real and true reasons I like it so much! — but yeah, I'm not so straight that I can't cop to enjoying a bunch of muscular dudes getting sweaty.

Thanks Jay S. Godspeed.

This feels like as good a chance as the Cubs have had in decades, but the MLB playoffs really are the crapshootiest crapshoot of all crapshoots, so it's tough to say.

Like the lovable scamps in Team North America, I was just too good to last. Also my coach arguably fouled up the larger strategy by not playing for a win in regulation, but that's beside the point.

Sports can be awesome! Wrestling can be awesome for reasons that are vaguely similar to but decidedly distinct from the reasons sports can be awesome. I don't really see the conflict, but I concede that plenty do.

Character development? We're into the seventh season of a show Simpsons-esque family dynamic (minus the cynicism of course), we know what we're getting out of every character. Sometimes a TV show is just a TV show, even in an era where the bar is set very high for them.

Yep, looks like you're right. And I thought I'd double-checked it and everything. Ah well.

It's good to have ya back aboard, Core Concept.

Yeah, that's just me being dumb. Will go fix.

I hear ya, but it'll all be over very, very soon, so one more week's begrudging tolerance is appreciated…

Granted I'm a newbie, but I liked Natalya a lot when feuding with Charlotte at Roadblock and then again at Payback. Once it became clear that there really wasn't a story there for either wrestler and it was just kind of killing time until they were ready to give the belt to Sasha, the whole thing devolved *quick*, but…

Alexa Bliss is a national treasure.

I do like other things about Carmella! That thing I mentioned just seems super useful in this particular context.

The one thing I like about Carmella is that the Code of Silence is a neck-targeting submission, which means Nikki (and Becky after tonight, I think?) are absolutely perfect targets for her.

I think the calf crusher — on the announce table, Jericho-style! — is probably the best option there. In any event, I don't disagree with your overall point. I just like the general principle that we don't see someone major take the Clash for the first time unless it's in a PPV match.

We all feel for Bret Hart, but he really does say the strangest things.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind if Raw started a companion division to the Cruiserweights that was *technically* called the Super Heavyweights but was always just referred to as HOSSFIGHTS, because it'd be nothing but HOSSFIGHTS, yessir. Mark Henry would obviously be the HOSSFIGHT ace.

I hear the need for a more impactful ending, but I'm glad they're saving the Styles Clash for the PPV. (They *better* be saving the Styles Clash for the PPV.)