Mark Wesley Pritchard
Bio
You can call me Wesley. Former cosplayer, retro gaming fanatic, die-hard Texas Rangers fan, and nostalgic freak. Need I say more?
Threads: @misterwesleysworld
Instagram: @misterwesleysworld
Stories (394)
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Good Riddance and Goodbye!
February 2025 wasn't a great month for the Dallas Mavericks. Why? They were at the center of a controversial decision that would eventually haunt the team for a long time: trading fan-favorite Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. Once the news made headlines, Mavericks fans were furious and belted their frustrations online and also held protests. Just to remind everyone that the Mavericks were in the NBA Finals a year prior to this disastrous firestorm that would eventually unfold. Doncic averaged 37 points a game before the trade occurred. The growing backlash was too much for the Mavericks front office to handle and they decided to fire General Manager Nico Harrison. In an open letter to fans, Patrick Dumont acknowledged how the team is committed to become a winning team. While he didn't go into specific detail about now ex-General Manager Nico Harrison, he's heard the genuine concerns of fans and is confident about the future of the Mavericks.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 2 months ago in Unbalanced
Best MLB Managers of the Last 25 Years
A Major League Baseball team is never complete without a manager. I've gone over the best World Series games, best quarter century team, and players over the last 25 years in previous stories. I'll have links below to those stories down below in case you missed reading them. In this story, I'll highlight some of my favorite managers since the year 2000. I'll only highlight managers between the years 2000-2024.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 2 months ago in Unbalanced
Why Did I Always Feel Like This?. Content Warning.
Trigger warning: the following story will discuss weight and other weight-related topics Growing up in Texas, my childhood, while parts of it were great, the household was both toxic and abusive. My parents, whom I've been estranged from for nearly 15 years, were verbally and physically abusive towards me. They would ridicule and belittle me about everything: they way that I looked, talked, and anything that they saw about me as weird. I'm the oldest of three children (younger brother and sister) and I always was the target of my parents' wrath. I was a skinny kid, and they would make horrible comments about my body, saying things like I needed to eat. For context, I was in high school and weighed almost 110 pounds. Sure, it's not a healthy weight for a teenage boy. However, at the same time, it's not nice to body shame your own child. No matter what I ate, I was still slim. The constant critique of my body from my parents stuck with me and my self-esteem drastically decreased, especially when I entered adulthood.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 2 months ago in Longevity
Final Thoughts About the 2025 MLB Postseason
The 2025 MLB Postseason should've been called the Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani Lovefest, because those were the center of attention, selfishly overshadowing other teams who deserved to be highlighted more. There were some teams who truly deserved to be in the playoffs and others who I felt weren't October Ready. The Postseason isn't supposed to be about one specific player or team. Everyone deserves to be acknowledged and recognized for their performances. I blamed and accused MLB and these major networks for being heavily biased towards a single team and player.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 2 months ago in Unbalanced
Wesley's Favorite Forgotten Texas Rangers Players
2026 will mark 25 years as a Texas Rangers fan for me. Since 2001, I've enjoyed watching many Rangers players by attending my first game in person and on watching them on TV. For the following list, I'll be highlighting a few of my favorite players who you might know by name, either in passing or vaguely, but never heard of them in years. The following are not in any particular order. So, players like Hank Blalock and Yu Darvish will not be on this list, since we're already familiar with them. If you don't see a forgotten Rangers player that you loved on this list or if you have more than one player, please comment down below. Now, on to the list.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 2 months ago in Unbalanced
Thoughts About the Release of the 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot
Last year, I shared my thoughts about the 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. There was a plethora of players that I recognized, and Ichiro was one of them. He eventually got inducted into Cooperstown, making him the first Asian-born player to do so. Major League Baseball recently revealed the candidates for the 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame. Shown above are eight players on the ballot, but two of those players aren't deserving of being on it: Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. It makes me give MLB and the Baseball Hall of Fame committee the huge side-eye. Why these two cheaters, because that's what they were, are on the ballot baffles me. I don't care how good they were as players. We shouldn't praise those who used performance enhancing drugs to gain an advantage and the "Everyone else was doing it, too" excuse doesn't hold up and it's a weak argument. Just because someone took PEDs, doesn't mean that it was right and it's acceptable now. That's why rules regarding the use of performance enhancing drugs exist today. I've said the same thing last year when Alex Rodríguez appeared on the 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, but unfortunately, he wasn't selected to be inducted this past July. Baseball fans like me still care about the integrity of the game. There are plenty of players and even managers who were well-respected but still aren't in the Hall. One example being Atlanta Braves great Andruw Jones. I've seen his name pop up a lot in the comment sections of many baseball videos and videos about the Braves. I believe that he should've appeared on this ballot over Bonds and Clemens. Six months ago, Commissioner Rob Manfred lifted the lifetime bans of Pete Rose and 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson, among other players. Both men will be eligible for the Classic Baseball Era Committee as early as December 2027. However, it's not a guarantee that they'll be inducted into Cooperstown. The reaction to this news was mixed.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 2 months ago in Unbalanced
Oh What a Night! The First of November 2023
Baseball in November is a rare occurrence, especially a team taking a single game to win a World Series title. However, it adds more excitement to the game. Question: Where were you on the evening of November 1, 2023? If you were either a Texas Rangers or Arizona Diamondbacks fan, most likely, your attention was on Game 5 of the World Series. This past Saturday was the two-year anniversary of the Texas Rangers capturing their first World Series title in franchise history. To celebrate it, I watched the aforementioned game again. Two years ago, I didn't have access to any sports apps where I could watch the games on TV, resulting in me being unable to watch any Postseason games and the first three games of the World Series. Luckily, I was able to watch games four and five. When baseball fans think of the World Series, the teams that come in mind are the Red Sox, Yankees, and Dodgers. No one expected the Rangers and Diamondbacks, two small market teams, to reach the Fall Classic.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 2 months ago in Unbalanced
The Hatred Is Real, Y'all
The 2025 World Series has come to a close and now, it's the dreaded offseason. We're already missing baseball and are in a deep depression. At least we have Spring Training to look forward to in February. Recently, I've made my predictions on who will win their divisions and clinch Wild Card berths in 2026. I'll have links to those stories down below. I'll be comparing my pick to what FanGraphs has predicted sometime before the regular season begins, so be on the lookout for that whenever that story is published on here.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 2 months ago in Unbalanced
Taking a Different Approach on Birthdays. Top Story - November 2025.
Hello November! It's my birthday month, meaning that I'm a Scorpio, if you're into that sort of thing. One of the best traits about my zodiac sign is that I'm competitive and want to succeed in life. I love celebrating my birthday, which happens to be on November 13. In case you're curious how old I'll be. I'll be turning 38 years old. If you look at my profile picture on here, you must be thinking that I don't look my age and you're right. I've been mistaken for a high school student and a college student. I'm fine with that and looking youthful works to my advantage. You've heard the saying, "Black don't crack." It's another way of saying that black people don't show any signs of aging. As I near 40, I've since outgrown birthday parties. The last time I had a birthday party was at home after school and 14. Nearly 25 years later, someone throwing me a party, while the gesture is admirable and with good intent, I don't feel the need to dress up and attend my own party thrown by someone else. I turned 18 in 2005 and my friend at the time took me out to miniature golf, then had my birthday dinner at Olive Garden. Besides, who doesn't love their endless breadsticks? The staff surprised me with a chocolate cake. After that, my friend and I went to Best Buy, and I chose my first country CD. That album was Toby Keith's Honkytonk University. I couldn't wait to go home and listen to it. I wore that CD out on a daily basis, because no songs from that album were skippable. It was so good and had since fallen in love with country music. Unfortunately, I ended my friendship with my long-time friend and classmate in 2021 after nearly two decades, due to his anti-gay views. I came out to him in the summer of 2012, several months after I came out of the closet. We're no longer friends, but that was one of the best birthday memories I've ever had.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 2 months ago in Critique
Their One Shining Baseball Moment Is Within Their Reach
Rookie pitcher Troy Yesavage (pictured above) had the most outstanding performance of his career Wednesday night, going against Blake Snell, who thought he was going to be untouchable during the duration of the Postseason. He made World Series history by recording an incredible 12 strikeouts, which is a new record for a rookie in a Fall Classic. Also, he made Postseason history for becoming the first rookie to strike out 10 batters or more in multiple games. The Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-1 in Game 5. Now, they're just one win away from capturing their first World Series title since 1993. 22-year-old Yesavage made his MLB debut in mid-September after being drafted last season. He has a bright future with the Blue Jays moving forward. Game 6 will return to Toronto on Friday night, meaning that they have two more chances to clinch a World Series title. Kevin Gausman will take the mound, while Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers is expected to start.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 2 months ago in Unbalanced
Best Quarter Century MLB Team: Boston Red Sox
There have been some outstanding moments that happened in Major League Baseball over the last 25 years. So, who is my pick of the best MLB team that made the biggest impression since the year 2000? They are none other than the Boston Red Sox. Why? It's because they had some of the best players we enjoyed seeing over that span. Players such as David Ortíz, Pedro Martínez, Dustin Pedroia, Jason Varitek, Josh Beckett, and the late Tim Wakefield. The Red Sox won four World Series titles in a span of 15 years (2004, 2007, 2013, 2018). The Red Sox-Yankees rivalry dates back to 1919, when legendary Yankees player Babe Ruth was traded to the Red Sox. Around this time started one of baseball's most well-known superstitions: The Curse of the Bambino. The Red Sox didn't have a World Series title for the next 86 years until 2004.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 3 months ago in Unbalanced
Post Cosplay Life: One Year Later
October 27, 2024: a date that I'll always remember forever. If you're new to Vocal or my page, welcome aboard. After 10 years of doing cosplay, I made the decision to retire from this wonderful craft. I loved meeting so many people on social media and at conventions. Not only that, but I loved showing off my cosplays to everyone. I participated in many cosplay contests, winning two of them. So why did I decide to walk away from the thing that I enjoyed so much, you ask? Three reasons were deciding factors in making this decision: the almost three-year absence of me not attending cons, the tragic passing of my grandfather back in 2022, and experienced signs of burnout. I attended my first con in nearly three years in late September 2022, then attended my final two conventions in 2024 before closing out my decade-long cosplay journey. I didn't see myself cosplaying well into 2025 and beyond, because I wanted to seek and pursue other interests and hobbies. 10 years was a really good run, but I want to explore new things that I always wanted to try. For example, I've always had a huge fascination with photography. My amazing experiences with cosplay photographers at and outside of cons made me curious to try this skill. I had a digital camera over 15 years ago while I was attending college, but I ended up losing it. Now, I'm eager to learn how to be skilled in taking picture perfect photographs. My ultimate goal is to photograph at fan conventions and possibly do cosplay photoshoots somewhere down the road.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 3 months ago in Geeks
