'NFL Fantasy -> ESPN Fantasy'

My days of playing fantasy American football could be done.

Late last night, I received an email from NFL Fantasy with the subject line 'NFL Fantasy -> ESPN Fantasy' indicating that, from the upcoming season, ESPN's fantasy offering will be the official home of fantasy football.

That wasn't welcome news for yours truly. 

As I've written in the past, I have been in a league for at least thirteen years. I'd even go so far as to state 2026 could be my fifteenth season (at an estimate). Even though I've been playing in the league for so long, I don't know any of the other players in real life. 

In fact, outside of the league, I don't even know them virtually. 

I have no way of reaching out to them if the league isn't carried over from NFL Fantasy to ESPN Fantasy.

It has been a dire situation for fantasy NFL over the past few years. First, DraftKings pulled out of the UK, thus ending the fun I had playing DFS each weekend. 

Now regular fantasy is being compromised with ESPN taking over NFL Fantasy.

I hold out hope that the league manages to cross over. It'll be something to watch out for as the spring summer turns to early autumn. 

3 Down, 1 To Go In 'Hulk Hogan: Real American' Viewing

As soon as I had everything sorted out this morning, I switched on the new Hulk Hogan docuseries that has been released on Netflix today.

The four-episode programme covers the rise, fall and death of Terry Bollea - the man the world knows as Hulk Hogan.

All Hulk Hogan projects requires taking a punch (not a pinch!) of salt because some of the stories he recounted range from exaggerations to flat out lies. I have taken the same approach to this series and, so far, I have felt it has been the best way to enjoy the content.

I've watched plenty of Hogan documentaries over the years. This one is obviously the first to be released posthumously. It doesn't feel like a memorial piece, however. Well, not yet. I am three out of four episodes in.

Each instalment has ended with a song from the Hulk Rules album playing along with the credits. The first was 'Hulkster in the House'. Episode two had 'I Want to be a Hulkamaniac' (Dave Sullivan's WCW theme tune) while the third ep closed with 'American Made' - Hogan's early WCW theme. I suspect the final part will close with Hogan's ballad, 'Hulkster in Heaven'. 

One of the most fascinating additions to this document, contrasted with previous ones I've seen through my lifetime, is there are a lot of video from Hulk Hogan's home life with now ex-wife Linda, Brooke (Daughter) and Nick (Son). This footage, as far as I'm aware, hasn't been seen publicly before. It added to the abundance of other film from Hogan's actual career.

The choice of talking heads has a balance. They range from friends like Jimmy Hart through to some of his political adversaries like Bret 'Hitman' Hart and Jesse 'The Body' Ventura - two people who have been outspoken about Hogan.

Speaking of politics, albeit not of the wrestling kind, Donald Trump was interviewed for the series at the request of Hogan himself. The current President of the United States spoke glowingly about Hulk Hogan and the way he worked a match. Trump refused to do Hogan's finger point spot, when prompted by the interviewer, though. He did so by pointing out he had already given them enough.

As I've stated, I am three episodes deep. The final part will cover Hogan's fall from grace. I'm intrigued to see how that will be spotlighted.

Draft Mode '26

The 2026 NFL Draft begins on Thursday. 

It is possibly the most perfect time for it because I had WWE WrestleMania over the weekend and now can tune myself immediately into Draft Mode.

Having Mania immediately followed by the NFL Draft days later is one of the silver linings of having late WrestleManias.

Well, that's how I feel about it as of this moment. 

The Post After Mania 42

WrestleMania 42 is now in the history books. 

I was so tired after the two-night event I couldn't find the will to publish a post immediately afterwards. I thought it would be best to do it with a clearer, less tired, head.

With that said, I have just let out a gigantic yawn. I still haven't caught up with the weekend. Yet. 

I'll start with the bad. 

As a whole, this year's WrestleMania was crap. It's simply not the pro wrestling I have grown to love. It has felt like this for some time. There are too many commercials. I know this might be a contradiction considering WrestleMania has always had celebrity involvement, but - the Manias of the current period have far too many outsiders involved. Unlike the most historic Manias, I know little about a lot of those people. I don't think that's a me problem, either. 

I know this is how it is nowadays.

The other day, I read somebody run with the 'if you don't like it, switch off' notion to complaints about the modern WWE product. One response summed it up beautifully. They likened WWE wrestling to a sports team that you follow through thick and thin. I suppose that's what I do. When you follow something for so long, you root for it to overcome the lows.

With all that said, and bearing in mind I disliked a lot of this weekend's offering, the main event was amazing.

CM Punk and Roman Reigns put on a classic. It ended with Roman Reigns winning the World Heavyweight Championship.

Wrestling is doing a bit crap right now (in my opinion!), but the team still has some great playmakers.

Back To Scratchin'

It had been quite a while since I bought National Lottery scratch cards. 

There I was on Friday afternoon in the queue at the newsagent. I looked at the cannister with all the scratch cards. A thought struck me.

'Maybe I should buy five of the them,' I thought. 'It'll be something to put up in Sunday's post so I don't have to write about the first night of WrestleMania 42.'

Here they are.

They're just the regular £100,000 jackpot cards. A scratchin' I shall go...

Card 1
1) £2
2) £50
3) £1,000
4) £10
5) £1,000
6) £2
7) £100,000
8) £50
9) £100,000

Bonus Game: It was a wad of cash. I had to find crossed fingers

Card 2
1) £100,000
2) £100,000 (Oooh, here we go!)
3) £5,000
4) £50
5) £20
6) £100
7) £5
8) £5,000
9) £5

Bonus Game: Diamond (I remember the days when this would have been a winning symbol)

Card 3
1) £10
2) £100,000
3) £2
4) £5
5) £5
6) £4
7) £50
8) £4
9) £20

Bonus Game: Throne

Card 4
1) £2
2) £20
3) £50
4) £2
5) £20
6) £100
7) £10
8) A THIRD £2!
9) £50

Bonus Game: Another wad of cash

Card 5
1) £5
2) £2
3) £10
4) £1
5) £2
6) £100,000
7) £5
8) £100
9) £10

Bonus Game: Crown

A £3 loss overall. When I cash in, I may as well buy another two cards. I'll publish an update once I do.

It's Mania 42 Weekend (It Sure Doesn't Feel Like It)

It'll be 12AM BST, on Saturday 18th April, when this post sees the light of day.

WWE Smackdown will be an hour away. It'll be the final show before WrestleMania 42 which will dominate this coming weekend.

Dominate?

Maybe that's too strong a word.

WWE has been anything but dominant this WrestleMania season. In all the years I've watched Mania, I haven't felt this negative to what is usually one of my most favourite weekends as a fan. 

There's a huge problem with World Wrestling Entertainment right now. 

Ever since TKO took over the business, there seems to be less emphasis on the wrestlers and more on the outsiders they bring in for the marquee event of the year.

Ironic as this might seem, one of the biggest outsiders for this year's Mania is Pat McAfee.

Yes, Pat McAfee who has been working for WWE as commentator, on-and-off, for many years.

He recently returned for the build to the show and has been playing a heel character calling out how crap the business is nowadays and even used words like 'Mark' - an archaic carny term used for a person who believes in the con. The word has evolved to mean anyone 'outside' of the business, which makes it ironic that McAfee used it in his diction.

An AI image of carny wrestlers and their 'customers' from another era

People INSIDE the business protects it all costs. They would never use the word 'Mark' in view of the buying public (you know - the marks).

If McAfee - or the people telling him what to say for that matter - knew that, the word would not have made it to TV.

It shows a lack of awareness for all involved. A disrespect for the business and its history, too.

I predict long-term damage from this naivety. Tickets aren't selling well as it is. 

This isn't the business I grew up following. That's for sure.

I Try A KFC Pickle Burger Meal Which Doesn't Seem To Have Many - Or Any! - Pickles

In late-February, I tried KFC's Cheesy Melt Burger and was recently alerted to the fact that a new pickle burger has been released.

I was in two minds whether to bother ordering the latest limited edition burger. I eventually concluded I would, so here goes.

I ordered the Pickle Burger Box Meal which comes with the pickle burger that consists of an 'Original Recipe fillet spiked with pickle seasoning, paired with tangy sliced gherkins, creamy pickle ranch and crispy pickle cucumber pieces' inside a glazed bun.

Fully aware that gherkins are pickled cucumbers, seeing it written like that was one of the reasons this cucumber hater wasn't completely sold on the idea of this meal. I also state that with the conviction of being a gherkin lover. Make sense out of that one.

As you can see, in the image above, the writing on the box gives off a 'pickle' thing with the green-coloured font and prominent green colouring on the packaging.

The burger, you could say, looked nothing like the image on the website. Here's mine:

And here is the promotional picture:

I know that this happens all the time - the burgers never look as good as the poster. On this occasion, however, there was a gigantic chasm between the promised goods and what met my hands.

It looks like I wasn't given any gherkins in my burger now that I've compared what I was given and what is on the poster! I suppose there is one on the left if you look hard enough.

With that HUGE annoyance aside, I did enjoy what I was given. I won't have it again, however.

That's not all.

While ordering the fries that come with the meal, I opted for the add-on where I can have them pickle-themed.

The pickle loaded fries come with the fries (obviously!) but they're given the spiked pickle sauce treatment along with a few gherkins and popcorn chicken on top.

Here's what I was given...

..now compare it with the website:

If there was doubt about there being a lack of gherkins in the burger. There can be no argument with the loaded fries. 

Are there any!?

I legitimately didn't begin this post to complain about a lack of gherkins. However, upon comparison with what the KFC website promotes, I've evidently been stiffed here, haven't I?

With that said, I did enjoy the loaded fries even with one of the evidently missing components.

In February, I called the Cheesy Melt Burger meal 'a fine mess'. It's follow-up wasn't fine at all. Not with the benefit of hindsight thanks to those photographic comparisons.

I suppose you could call this one a pickled miss.