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Welcome Back, We’ve Missed You!

It’s been one heck of an offseason and after all of the moves, holdouts, overseas games, and more… hockey is finally back! Plenty of stories to follow but keeping with my rebuilding Habs (who lost to the Bruins last night but shutout the Leafs on opening night), it looks like an incredibly young team is FINALLY ready to take a step forward. Across the NHL the Oilers, Canucks, Stars, and Avalanche are all trying to get back to the Stanley Cup Finals. In the East, the Rangers, Leafs, and Lightning are all hoping to make strides and bring Cup dreams to life. Regardless of who you are cheering for, I’m just happy the league is back up and running. Who do you think is going to surprise you this season? Let us know on the Socials!

Maye-hem

Welcome New England Patriots fans to the Drake Maye era. Normally my hopes would be higher for news such as this, yet that’s no fault of Drake. The hype I had for Mac Jones to come be the heir apparent was something I got lost in and I’m scared to hitch my wagon to another burn-out. Drake Maye is far more physically gifted than Mac ever was, he’s got young weapons to develop with, and that seemed to work out pretty well for CJ Stroud. The team still has a ton of flaws, and I really wasn’t expecting to see Maye this early in the season but I do understand moving away from Jacoby. You want the kid to get live bullets in games. You want him to develop in front of our eyes.  You want the Patriots to pull themselves out of this five year skid that was ushered in by the exit of the GOAT (7-21 in our last 28 games). What you don’t want is to hinder the development of a franchise cornerstone player by putting him around mediocre weapons and an absolutely porous offensive line. 

It’s a new regime this time around, and I haven’t exactly had faith instilled in me yet but a couple of good performances from the kid could change that. Jacoby took this decision like the consummate professional he is and honestly he probably needs a couple weeks off to rest his body after the bludgeoning he’s taken through the first month. Jerod Mayo says this was always the plan… but he says a lot of things. The Patriots are spiraling towards another top pick in the draft and the roster needs an infusion of talent to be competitive. 3/4th of a season with Drake Maye under center might give the team a better idea of players they’re going to want to target in free agency and the draft to implement around him and build a “system”. While I’m excited (even more so because I’ll be in attendance AND they’re wearing the red throwbacks), I still have a feeling of hesitation. It’s like wearing new shoes. You bought them to be worn but you don’t want to get them dirty either. Give me a couple weeks and I’ll be right back with the rest of the Pats propaganda parade preaching that the future is now but for now let’s just see some positives from the kid out there. Remember HE IS A ROOKIE. Not every QB is CJ Stroud or Jayden Daniels. There’s no set path in developing a franchise QB if there was a correct answer to this problem than every team would follow the same formula. Give him time, Patriots fans. We’re not going to be a contender over night and if the franchise believes this is the next step to getting back to the promisedland, let’s just believe them (FOR NOW) and enjoy the ride. We’ll see ya Sunday, Drake.

P.S. I hate that they announced he was starting. We should’ve had a John Cena 2008 royal rumble-esque entrance for the kid but I digress. 

If you like my writing, please share it out with your friends or other sports fans. Check out The Sportsocracy: Great North Sports on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter every Wednesday at 8:00 EST. Check out mine and Armchair’s social media, keep an eye on the twitch notifications, stay stoned, and we’ll see ya next week. 

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Weekend Wagers!

We’ve got some Sunday Funday wagers for your football enjoyment!

Bets from the one and only Dubs:

MHJ Tuddy (+money)

Caleb Williams over 250 passing yards (+money )

Commanders +6.5 every 6.5 point underdog this year has covered

And that’s it for us this week! Don’t forget to check us out on YouTube and X