A Wake Up

I watched almost all of the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft in the early hours of Friday morning. 

It's always interesting to watch the new players find out where their professional careers will begin. However, as a Colts fan, there was nothing in regards to that team for me. That's because the team gave up their first round pick (and next year's as well, for that matter) to the New York Jets in order to bring Sauce Gardner into the fold.

Indianapolis had picks in the second and third rounds, so I tuned in last night's coverage to watch. 

I didn't make it. Well, not in the way I had planned.

I must have fallen asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. 

Anyway, as per usual, I was given a wake up call by Oreo. He often stirs me up in the middle of the night wanting me to lean outside of the bed and give him a belly rub before he jumps in beside me. 

He did it again last night. Only this time, as I was manoeuvring my way to lean over the side of my bed to see Oreo, I caught a glimpse of the TV.

Pat McAfee was on the screen and was about to announce the Colts' third round pick.

I would say that was perfect timing. It wasn't, however. It was PURRRRfect timing.

Indianapolis selected Georgia linebacker - CJ Allen - and A.J. Haulcy, who played safety at Louisiana State University, with the 53rd and 78th overall picks.

Another Fake DPD Text Message Received

I received another scam text message this afternoon.

As you'll see immediately below, the scammers claim to be the DPD parcel company and allege that a delivery was attempted at 12:26 today. The fake parcel handoff couldn't be completed 'due to a missing signature and unconfirmed recipient details'. 

I am then expected to click on the link to reschedule the delivery. I must do it ASAP because they stress that my item will be 'held until 25 April 2026'.

I obviously didn't click on the URL because reading the text is as far as I'll go in reacting to it. Well, that and writing this blog post about it.

The text has been reported as spam. 

'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.