Heartwarming / UrinatingTree

• Regardless of what your favorite team is or whether or not they made the playoffs for their particular sport, whenever he discusses them in his various "Haters Guide" focused on championships, he always puts them over and makes them sound like legitimate contenders to win it all, in spite of how they performed in the rest of the season, or if at all, how much of a lolcow they've been known for. It's also not unheard of for him to hand some praise to teams who lost in earlier rounds if said teams pulled noteworthy turnarounds or accomplished new milestones in their franchise's history during their run. Both the Colorado Avalanche (who made it to the NHL Playoffs one year after one of the worst seasons in league history, and even gave the Presidents' Trophy-winning Nashville Predators a run for their money while down their two best players) and the Winnipeg Jets (who KO'd the Preds and made the Conference Finals for the first time in the history of Winnipeg hockey) got some of this in "The Haters Guide to the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals", as well as the Minnesota Twins in "The Haters Guide to the 2017 World Series" and the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2019 edition.
• In his first lolcow video ever, "The Cleveland Browns: Professional Football's Lolcow", Tree makes it pretty clear that the Browns are the punchline for unabashed incompetence in sports. After spending most of the video making everyone laugh at all the crap they pull, he expresses his honest hope that the Browns, one day, will be the great franchise it once was.^note In their first ten years as a franchise, they made it to the league championship in all those years and won seven of them. They only posted one losing season from their inaugural season, 1946, to 1973 (1956), and practically invented modern football as we know it.
• His monologue on Marc-André Fleury in "The Haters Guide to the Vegas Golden Knights Expansion Draft", which cuts footage of the "Next Generation" video from the mid-2000s into the hype reel from the Expansion Draft telecast.
  UT: This one stings me a bit - not for his performance, but for more sentimental reasons. This guy was the last tie to the '03-'04 squad, the dark ages for the Pens. The team was absolutely awful, bankrupt and on the verge of moving to Kansas City. Fleury was the glimmer of hope for us that year. He was the future. It came eventually, but he struggled in the postseason for a bit. This year was a revival of sorts for him. Take care of him, Vegas, he's got at least a few years of starting left in him.
• After the Houston Astros won the 2017 World Series, Tree released a "Congrats, Astros!" video that, by his own admission, was "a bit different than the rest". Though the video starts with a montage of lowlights - every postseason series loss in their history^note  To the Phillies in the 1980 NLCS, the Dodgers in the 1981 NLDS, the Mets in the 1986 NLCS, the Braves in the NLDS in 1997, 1999, and 2001, the Padres in the 1998 NLDS, the Cardinals in the 2004 NLCS (blowing a 3-2 lead), the White Sox in the 2005 World Series (in a sweep), and the Royals in the 2015 ALDS. (with particular focus on Astros fielding gaffes and opposing batters scoring home runs), plus a few regular season embarrassments^note  Including a bench-clearing brawl in 1996 after Danny Darwin hits the Expos' Henry Rodriguez with an errant pitch, and a humiliating loss to the Pirates in 2013 when, in the bottom of the ninth with the score tied, two outs, the bases loaded, and a full count, Jake Elmore collides with James Paredes as they go for the same fly ball, allowing Pittsburgh to get the winning run home. - it concludes with the final out in Game 7 as the Astros defeat the Dodgers for their first ever World Series. As the players celebrate on the pitcher's mound and then in the locker room, instead of saying "Conglaturation!" in a mocking tone, the video says "Congratulations!" in a sincere tone. Although, it looks less sweet now that it's been revealed the Astros won by stealing the Dodgers' signs illegally. Even more so since not only have the Astros failed to repeat their championship run (with or without the stealing signs problem), but the other Houston teams in the Rockets and Texans have failed to capitalize on success of their own so badly that he had to make a rare three-in-one video on each Houston team in a video called "Houston: The City That Sold Its Soul".
• During "This Week in Sportsball: NFL Week Fourteen", he dropped all pretenses of humor and snark when talking about Ryan Shazier's possible career-ending injury to his spine and neck:
  UT: The Steelers claim this victory in honor of Ryan Shazier, whom unfortunately seems to have suffered all but the worst-case scenario. At this rate, I don't even care if he comes back to the NFL; I just want him to be able to live a full and healthy life without limitations. And you should, too. This sort of thing always transcends the world of sport, regardless of team and affiliation, and it sucks to see such a great player be struck down in his prime. Take care, Ryan.
• In "The Haters Guide to the 2017/18 NHL Western Conference: All-Star Edition", UT expressed his disgust with the Calgary Flames, not just for trying to squeeze the city of Calgary for every dime that it had to get a new arena, but because they waived "Old Man Jágr", sending him to a Czech hockey team, calling him a National Treasure.
  Caption: I don't care if he's slow and has nagging injuries. This hurts the feels.
• In his "Congrats, Patriots!" video, after the Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl LII, there were a few shots of Fandom VIP eatdatpussy445 crying Tears of Joy from watching his team win. For all of the times that Tree has mocked EDP as a source of Cringe Comedy, it was a nice touch.
• In the 2018 NBA Playoffs, the San Antonio Spurs were disposed of pretty easily by the eventual (back to back) champion Golden State Warriors. But as if that wasn't bad enough, head coach Gregg Popovich's wife Erin passed away the day before Game 3 of the series due to extended illness. In his Haters Guide to the 2018 NBA Finals, when he gets to the Spurs, the very last thing he does before moving on is to take a brief moment to send Popovich his condolences.
• In a spiritual sequel to the "Congrats, Astros!" video from 2017, Tree released a "Congrats, Capitals!" video after the Washington Capitals won the 2018 Stanley Cup with a montage of past disappointments, including (almost) every postseason series loss in their history,^note  After a clip from a Team USA game that appears to have been mistaken for an early 1980s Islanders-Capitals series, the video shows the Capitals losing to the Islanders in 1985, the Rangers in 1986, the Islanders again in 1987 (in a quadruple overtime Game 7 known as the Easter Epic), the Devils in 1988, the Penguins in 1991 and 1992, the Islanders yet again in 1993, the Rangers again in 1994, the Penguins again in 1995 and 1996, the Red Wings in a sweep in the 1998 Stanley Cup finals, the Penguins yet again in 2000 and 2001, the Lightning in 2003, the Flyers in 2008, the Penguins again in 2009, the Canadiens in 2010, the Lightning again in 2011, the Rangers yet again in 2012, 2013, and 2015, and the Penguins yet again in 2016 and 2017. followed by a montage of their successful Cup run. Tree has made no secret of his dislike of the Capitals - not just because they're division rivals of the Penguins, but also because he personally hates coach Barry Trotz and multiple Capitals players - but he was willing to set that aside to acknowledge the significance of the end of four and a half decades of heartache for Washington.
  [over footage of Alexander Ovechkin skating the traditional Stanley Cup winner's victory lap]
  The cycle is complete.
  The legacy of failure is broken.
  The memes are dead.
  May you drink my salt from the finest of Cups for generations.
  [under a Capitals logo] Congratulations!
• "The Los Angeles Chargers: Professional Football's Diamond Dogs" takes a look at the rocky recent history of the Chargers, after being dragged to Los Angeles, a city whose denizens wanted the Raiders as their second team after the Rams returned, how they "played 16 away games" in the '17-18 season due to their meager stadium being mostly full of their opponent's fans, to how they may or may not be forced back to San Diego, to just how anyone who isn't ownership has just been jerked back and forth...
  UT: Do you want to know who I truly feel bad for in this situation? The players! They didn't ask for this! They didn't choose this fate for themselves! They merely wished to fulfill their childhood dreams of playing in the NFL. Little do they all know they are locked into a total quagmire. Let's say the Chargers get buyers' remorse and move back to San Diego. If you thought the attendance in StubHub was pathetic, wait until they return to Qualcom. Remember, their last game in that city was dominated by Chiefs' fans. San Diegans had enough of the Spanos family and their shit. The only way that San Diego reembraces the Chargers is if Dean Spanos is gone or walks around in a cardboard box. Even then, what are the options? LA doesn't want anything to do with them and the NFL will stubbornly try anything to make sure this venture isn't a failure. Remember, all but one team approved of this move, this slap in the face of every San Diegan by the league. This team is Metal Gear Survive: an entity that nobody wanted, that's years late on trends, and suffers deserved backlash as a result. They chased after a market that didn't have a football team in 20 years, and already has a team establishing dominance. Yet, many of their old players will forever rue their name or call them the San Diego Chargers.
• Beginning with the 2018 NFL season, the ending segment of UT's "This Week in Sportsball" videos is dedicated to listing off the players who were injured over the past week while "Taps" plays in the background. The whole thing is treated as some kind of candlelight vigil and, satirical or not, works pretty well as a tribute to those who were injured. In the Week Six video, he expands on this by playing tolling bells to honor the deaths of Seattle Seahawks owner Paul Allen and San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers owner Alex Spanos, and also notes "There will be no fucking of Spanos today."^note  He specifically notes in the video that his vitriol is directed not at Alex but at his son Dean, as Alex had nothing to do with moving the Chargers back to Los Angeles. This is repeated in Week Twelve when the Houston Texans' owner Bob McNair dies, and Week Two of the 2020 season with the deaths of former Chicago Bear Gayle Sayers and the father of the New England Patriots’ James White.
• The end of Episode 7 of "Days of Our Steelers" has a message in memory of the victims of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting, which happened in Tree's home city of Pittsburgh. It's treated fully seriously — no sounds are played.
• "Peterman: The Man Behind the Meme" examines the much-maligned Buffalo Bills quarterback Nathan Peterman's career, from his time in the University of Pittsburgh, where he became a powerhouse in their program, to being picked by the Bills, where he was thrown in over his head, not helped at all by an unhelpful Bills management. UT is genuinely hurt by Peterman's decline, hoping that he can recover somehow.
• His 2018 "State of the Tree" video as a whole is this, between his sheer astonishment that so many people like his content to the revelation that he's finally become consistent enough after over a decade of video making to finally quit his waiter job and make videos full-time. The crowning moment, however, is his statement regarding his viewers, if not for how uncharacteristically sincere he is about it.
  UT: At the end of the day, all I can say is thank you. It's cheesy and cliche as hell, but I seriously can't say it enough. People like you are the fuel behind this channel. (Caption: No, those aren't tears. That's vodka.) You are the impetus of this shitposting machine. It doesn't matter if you're a subscriber or not, someone who comments or doesn't, a passerby, or a long-time watcher, the fact that you made it this far into this rambling is what gives you my utmost respect. (Caption: That or to see NHL '94. Don't blame you for that one.)
• In "This Week in Sportsball: NFL Week Sixteen Edition (2018)", Tree takes a moment to express his genuine dismay at Patriots receiver Josh Gordon's struggles with mental health issues and his relapse into drug addiction, which had led to a second indefinite suspension by the NFL:
  UT: I would talk about how you [the Patriots] were the benefactor of an even weaker division than usual, but you have bigger pills to swallow. It involves Josh Gordon, the best receiver they have. He's taking a break from football to focus on his mental health and has been indefinitely suspended by the NFL. Again.
  Headlines: Report: Josh Gordon is dealing with "mental health and anxiety" issues
  Patriots' Josh Gordon suspended indefinitely by NFL
  Josh Gordon Reportedly Had Multiple Drug Policy Violations Before Suspension
  Report: Patriots Created A Security Team To Prevent Josh Gordon From Relapsing
  UT: He relapsed, despite a round-the-clock security detail the team had on him. All this story does is make me depressed. An amazing talent undone and wasted by his own demons. As a result, he may have played his last snap in the NFL. Mental illness is a fucking bitch, and I only wish for his recovery from whatever ails him. Sport never takes credence over this sort of thing. What a shame.
• In "This Week in Sportsball: NFL Week Seventeen Edition (2018)", he highlights the end of legendary Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Kyle Williams' 13-year career, especially capping it off with an interception against the Miami Dolphins in a 42-13 blowout.
• After the 2019 NFL conference championships, both of which were marred by controversial penalties, Tree decides that neither the Saints or the Chiefs deserve to be mocked, as their losses were not their own fault. Instead, he posts "Congrats, NFL!" to point out the officiating issues that have plagued the NFL in the 2018 season.
  UT: (via captions) The refball has always been bad. But never like this. It's now nearly every week with repeated incompetence. Player safety? What the fuck is that? ... These penalties and non-calls are what people think of when they think of the shield. And it's your own goddamm fault for it. The rules are too vague. Too many judgement calls. The refs have no idea what to call or not call because everyone's judgement differs. We knew it was going to irreparably ruin the outcome of a game. But in no way did we think it would be like this. ... The NFL completely deserves this controversy. This is what you get for inconsistent rule enforcement. All hail refball.
• In "Revisiting the 2016 NHL Free Agent Class" Tree makes it clear that he does not blame the players involved for taking what to Tree are inflated contracts. As he states in a screen that appears for 8 seconds:
  UT:Disclaimer
  I am not blaming the players in question for accepting these contracts.
  They have families to provide for. They're going to take the best offer available.
  If it were up to them, they'd rather still be performing at an elite level. Just saying.
• In his video on the Los Angeles/St Louis Rams, who had just moved from St Louis, Tree spends the first part of the video mocking the Rams for their general mediocrity and terrible front-office decisions...and when he gets to the whole relocation debacle, he utterly tears into Stan Kroenke for completely screwing St Louis over, as well as representing the worst of NFL owners in general:
  UT: What truly makes this team a malignant tumor on the NFL, however, is their owner, Stan Kroenke, The longer you look into his history and actions as owner, the more you see him as a colossal piece of shit. Look at how the man cried crocodile tears for the past few seasons in order to get sympathy from the NFL; meanwhile, he trots around St Louis, going, "I love this town, I wanna keep the Rams where I grew up and tradition and dynasties and—FUCK THIS FUCKING CITY, THIS TOWN IS CANCER!" [multiple articles show up of the Rams' owner's proposal trashing St Louis and their stadium] Yes, what you are seeing is Kroenke throwing the entire city under the goddamm bus. Here's a theory, Stan: maybe the fans aren't coming out to see the Rams because they've been as lively as that fucking hairpiece of yours for the better part of a decade. Regardless, the city of St Louis offered you everything you wanted and then some, yet you still fuck them over at the eleventh hour and move to Los Angeles. St Louis, let's be honest, you're lucky he didn't accept. You don't deserve this man dangling you and your money by a string. He is a top hat and a twirly mustache away from being a stereotypical villain; not those cool ones, mind you, one of those cheesy Saturday morning cartoon villains who punch babies and close the orphanage for a few extra bucks! The worst part is, that description isn't too far off!
• Tree's video on the AAF's demise tones down the snark in the SeatGeek promotion, claiming that the snark would be "rather tasteless". He continues to mention the effects on the demise on players and coaches, who were left without jobs, medical insurance or even flights home. Tree also attempts to defend Tom Dundon, stating that, for the shitty way he folded the league, without his help the league would have folded after a couple of weeks and that Charlie Ebersol and Bill Polian deserved more of the blame for the downfall.^note Tree would eventually be vindicated in his vitriol towards Ebersol and Polian; around a month after the AAF ceased operations, Reggie Fowler, the league's initial primary investor, was arrested on charges of financial fraud.
• For his video of the 2020 XFL's postmortem, Tree felt dismayed that the revival was the first sports casualty of the COVID-19 Pandemic, feeling that the new XFL only lasted a few weeks over what the AAF or even the 2001 version of the XFL was rather heinous by comparison due to the fact that they did nothing wrong on their end to justify such a punishment outside of the rotten timing on when they started out their revival. He especially felt sympathetic for restaurants, bars, small shops, and other vital businesses, since the stoppage of work in those areas felt the same as what the new XFL went through in that time. Thankfully for the new XFL, they appear to have earned a new lease on life due to the league's sale going to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson himself, with a new commitment to reviving the league by the time the pandemic's nearing its end in 2023.
• In the same vein as "Congrats, Astros!" from 2017 and "Congrats, Capitals!" from 2018 came "Congrats, Blues!" from 2019 in honor of St. Louis' first Stanley Cup. As with the previous two videos, the first half is a montage of the franchise's history of heartbreak, with over two dozen playoff series defeats,^note Losing to the Canadiens in the 1969 Stanley Cup finals, the Bruins in the 1970 Stanley Cup finals (represented, naturally, by Bobby Orr's Game 4 overtime winner), the Canadiens again in the 1977 Quarterfinals, the Rangers in the 1981 Quarterfinals, the North Stars in the 1984 Division Finals (in an overtime Game 7) and the 1985 Division Semifinals, the Flames in the 1986 Conference Finals, the Maple Leafs in the 1987 Division Semifinals, the Red Wings in the 1988 Division finals, the Blackhawks in the 1989 and 1990 Division Finals, the North Stars again in the 1991 Division Finals, the Maple Leafs again in the 1993 Division Finals, the Stars in the 1994 Conference Quarterfinals, the Canucks in the 1995 Conference Quarterfinals, the Red Wings again in the 1996 and 1998 Conference Semifinals, the Stars again in the 1999 Conference Semifinals, the Sharks in the 2000 Conference Quarterfinals, the Avalanche in the 2001 Conference Finals, the Canucks again in the 2003 Conference Quarterfinals, the Sharks again in the 2004 Conference Quarterfinals, the Canucks yet again in the 2009 Conference Quarterfinals, the Kings in the 2012 Conference Semifinals and the 2013 Conference Quarterfinals, the Blackhawks again in the first round in 2014, the Wild in the first round in 2015, the Sharks yet again in the 2016 Conference Finals, and the Predators in the second round in 2017. a nod to the franchise's near relocation to Saskatoon in 1983 that required NHL intervention to overturn, and losses to the Blackhawks and Avalanche at the tail end of the 2017-18 regular season.^note The regulation loss in Colorado in the final game of the season resulted in the Avalanche beating the Blues to the final playoff spot by one point. For the second half of the video... cue Laura Branigan's cover of Umberto Tozzi's "Gloria" as the Blues beat the Jets in six games, the Stars in seven games (with the deciding game being won in double overtime with a goal from Patrick Maroon), the Sharks in six games, and finally the Bruins in seven games to claim the franchise's first ever Stanley Cup.
  [over footage of the Blues' celebrations, including watch parties in St. Louis at both Enterprise Center and Busch Stadium (in the pouring rain)]
  It is done
  Years of futility and cheap ownership finally vindicated
  The legacy of failure has finally ended
  A long struggling franchise finally has its moment
  And all it took was an unprecedented run
  Welcome to the Cup club, boys
  [under a Blues logo] Congratulations
• After the death of Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs, Tree briefly eulogized him and expressed sympathy for his teammates and family. As in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, it's treated seriously; the Background Music stops for the rest of the Angels' segment.
  UT: From a teammate perspective, I just don't know how you recover from losing one of your brothers. Even worse, he leaves behind family and friends way too early in life. For as much as we bitch about sports, life is far more precious. My condolences go out to the team and his family.
• "Revisiting... The Indianapolis Colts" tones the down the snark, as Tree sees the sudden retirement of Andrew Luck and his continuous injuries as manifestations of the missteps of former Colts' GM Ryan Grigson and Colts owner Jim Irsay. As for Luck himself, Tree wishes for him to enjoy his retirement, and for success in Luck's future, ending with the clip of his game-winning touchdown pass against the Kansas City Chiefs during the 2013-14 AFC wildcard game, where the Colts overcame a 38-10 deficit and won 45-44.
• "Days Of Our Steelers - Vanguished Leader of Men": Despite his harsh criticisms of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger over the years, Tree still wishes Ben the best for him after suffering a season-ending injury in week 2 of the 2019 NFL season.
• "Congrats, Dodgers!" is mostly unbridled vitriol directed at the title organisation after a seventh consecutive NL West title once again failed to translate into postseason glory despite the vast amounts of talent and money at their disposal, but Tree is far kinder to their conquerors in the 2019 NLDS, a team that inspired his then-longest "Legacy of Failure" video:
  UT: And you wanna know something? I'm happy for the Nationals. I was tired of that Groundhog Day meme. They've earned the right to move on to the NLCS.^note For only the second time in franchise history and the first not to happen in a strike-interrupted season. The Nationals would go on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS, and beat the Houston Astros in the World Series, thus defeating the two teams with the best records in the 2019 season.
• After the Eagles' 2019-20 season that saw them lose games in ways as mortifying and embarrassing as they did, comes to an end against the Seahawks^note QB Carson Wentz, who was making his postseason debut, was outed in the first quarter off a highly controversial hit from Jadeveon Clowney, and 40-year old backup QB Josh McCown entered the game after, he says he'll lay off from them because of the staggering amount of injuries they dealt with all around and how they had no business being in the postseason, yet stayed in it and did not give up to the very end.
• In the Week 6 video of 2019's "This Week In Sportsball", although Tree's previous video "The Detroit Lions: The Franchise of Eternal Irrelevance" savagely skewered the Lions for their futility in the Super Bowl era, Tree sympathizes with the Lions, emphatically stating that the NFL needlessly deprived the Lions of a deserved win against the Green Bay Packers thanks to not one but two questionable calls which set the Packers up for a game-winning field goal. It gets even sadder since this loss sent the Lions into a downward spiral through the rest of the season, losing all but one of their remaining games.
• "The Haters Guide to the 2019 NFL Season: Debriefing" ends with a tribute to the late Lakers star Kobe Bryant, after the segment on the Los Angeles Rams (where he avoids making a joke about burying the team in the new SoFi Stadium). The last video clip that's seen is a moment of silence held before the New York Knicks-Brooklyn Nets game held on the day of Bryant's death, and the video avoids the usual ending video clip, fading to black as the moment of silence ends.
  This is still hard for me to believe.
  I wasn't even a fan of his, and it's hard to swallow.
• Continuing the line of heartwarming Congrats videos is "Congrats, Chiefs! (2020)". Once again, the first half is a montage of the Chiefs' postseason defeats and embarrassing moments since winning Super Bowl IV,^note  Losses to the Dolphins in the 1971-72 Divisional Round, the Browns in 1979, the Bears in 1977 (courtesy of a remarkable run by Walter Payton), the Raiders in 1986 (a game marred by a brawl between the players), the Jets in the 1986-87 Wild Card Round, the Dolphins again in the 1990-91 Wild Card Round, the Bills in the 1991-92 Divisional Round, the Chargers in the 1992-93 Wild Card Round, the Bills again in the 1993-94 AFC Championship, the Dolphins yet again in the 1994-95 Wild Card Round, the Colts in the 1995-96 Divisional Round, the Broncos in the 1997-98 Divisional Round, the Colts again in the 2003-04 Divisional Round, the Colts yet again in the 2006-07 Wild Card Round, the Ravens in the 2010-11 Wild Card Round, the Colts yet again in the 2013-14 Wild Card Round (previously featured from the Colts' POV in "Revisiting: The Indianapolis Colts"), the Patriots in the 2015-16 Divisional Round, the Steelers in the 2016-17 Divisional Round, the Titans in the 2017-18 Wild Card Round, and the Patriots again in the 2018-19 AFC Championship. interspersed with Andy Reid's defeats as the video advances.^note  Losses with the Eagles to the Rams in the 2001-02 NFC Championship, the Buccaneers in the 2002-03 NFC Championship, the Panthers in the 2003-04 NFC Championship, the Saints in the 2006-07 Divisional Round, the Cardinals in the 2008-09 NFC Championship, the Cowboys in the 2009-10 Wild Card Round, and the Packers in the 2010-11 Wild Card Round; after this loss, the two parades of failure merge. The second half is packed full of the Chiefs' highlights throughout the 2019-20 postseason to the tune of Wilbert Harrison's "Kansas City"^note Famously covered by Fats Domino and referenced by Dwayne Johnson as he introduced the Chiefs taking the field for the Super Bowl.
  [over footage of the Chiefs scoring 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LIV to go from trailing 20-10 to leading 31-20, followed by Andy Reid raising the Lombardi Trophy]
  Another one bites the dust.
  A half-century of failure brings about redemption.
  It also marks the end of another certain legacy of failure
  Andy Reid. Finally breaking the curse and winning it all.
  Good work. Now go and eat the best damn cheeseburger you've ever had.
  I think you'll be back here soon enough. What with Patrick Mahomes as QB.
  [under a Chiefs logo] Congratulations!
• Towards the end of A Yinzer At Spring Training: Tales of Clumsiness and Clickbait Tree gives shoutouts and thanks to everyone who came with him to the games, but at the end he especially thanks the Miami Marlins for allowing remarkable levels of access during the game, even giving him a seat to watch from the dugout. Even though they're a team that he's mocked and called out for their mismanagement, fire sales and repeated tanking, he still gives them credit for going above and beyond to be as hospitable and professional as they could.
• Basically the entirety of the RE: Coronavirus video when not talking about the facts of how COVID-19 affected the sports world in the short-term (and a bit of the long-term as well). Especially the stuff he expressed from 1:31 into the video until the end of the video itself.
  • On a similar note, the This Week in Sportsball: Cancelled Edition takes a more harboring note on how serious the COVID-19 Pandemic truly affected the sports world throughout 2020. Even his honest, cynical thoughts of the COVID-19 problem lasting for months instead of weeks felt more optimistic on how long we would really take to control the virus beyond just its impact on the sports world. Even then, he did express his hopes that many of the leagues that were discussed in that video would continue on at some point in the future and expressed his sympathies to the leagues that couldn't, including the aforementioned XFL. On a brighter note, he did end the video on a funny quip with him being "cancelled" as well.
  • Not only that, his This Week in Sportsball: Restarting Sports Edition can be seen as the heartwarming sequel to the previous video for at least North American sports leagues with a majority of them returning to action in some way, shape, or form by the end of the summer. Even the MLB managed to get a positive note to themselves... after getting into serious arguments on what they wanted to do for their 2020 season. He also supports the student-athletes for not just college football, but also other sports in general on the notion that if they can't even attend their colleges or universities in-person for their classes, they should not be required to play, regardless of popular opinion on that notion. While his personal ending is less hopeful or optimistic sounding than his response to the Coronavirus existing in the first place, it still gives him hope for the future with not just the sports world, but a bit of the real world also.
• "Marty Schottenheimer: A Legacy of Pain" spends its first 11 minutes looking at Schottenheimer's failures in the playoffs, but after his firing from the San Diego Chargers in 2007, Tree expresses his remorse that, for all the well-run teams Schottenheimer headed, most of those playoff failures were not his fault, citing the massive amounts of bad luck and miscues that had prevented him from getting to the Super Bowl. He ends the video with Schottenheimer's time with the United Football League's Virginia Destroyers. The Destroyers win the 2011 UFL Championship, finally giving Schottenheimer some form of victory.
  UT: He technically resigned from the team due to contract issues and he wasn't getting paid, but let's pretend he had a storybook ending. I think that's what's best here.
• The end of "Days of our Steelers: Corvette Corvette" has a silent tribute to the late Hall of Fame linebacker and defensive end Kevin Greene.
• In the final episode of 2020's "This Week in Sportsball", after the Miami Dolphins fail to make playoffs despite a solid 10-6 record^note the last team with 10+ wins that missed playoffs were the 2015 Jets, and that was with two wild card slots per conference - 2020 was the first season to have three, Tree decides to send them off with a few comforting words instead of a typical verbal thrashing.
  UT: Miami, I hate to say it, but you were the odd man out this time around. Don't feel discouraged; you performed a hell of a lot better than any of us expected you to. You'll be back around soon enough. I'm proud of you, boys.
• When UT released a very rare political video about the January 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol building by rioters, he fully expected the comment section to be a political shitshow. What he mostly got instead were dumb (if topical) football jokes.
• UT reflected on the Predator Poachers' sting of EDP445 (a favorite comedy target of Tree's) in "EDP445, Predator Poachers, and Social Media Ego", in which he reprimands the Predator Poachers for not bringing their evidence to law enforcement in favor of marketing their channel, and expresses sympathy for EDP for his ruined YouTube career, before noting that ego is the enemy of good social media. Tree tells other social media creators that they are not special and easily replaceable, and to keep themselves grounded. He also tells his viewers that if he himself falls into the trap of ego, to call him out on it.
• After previously feeling so exacerbated by how the NBA Playoffs had gone down throughout the last few (or more) seasons, he actually felt pleased with how the 2021 NBA Playoffs went down in The Haters Guide to the 2021 NBA Finals, even with the admittance that some of it was probably due to injuries with key players in mind this season.
  • You could tell through these lines below he felt pleased with the results of the NBA Playoffs for once.
    UT: This might be one of the first times I've been able to say I thoroughly enjoyed these Playoffs. Things weren't predictable! We got intriguing matchups all around! It wasn't LeBron or Golden State mowing through everyone for the seventh year in a row!
  • The same can be said for when he actually got into the prediction of who's going to win the NBA Finals this time around.
    UT: This is feeling like Phoenix's time, but it doesn't seem anywhere as clear-cut as it usually is. No matter what happens, a team is winning their first NBA championship in at least 50 years!
    Caption: Not to mention most of their rosters weren't major FA [free agent] Signings
    UT: If the Suns win, it's their first in history. We must embrace this piece of non-fuckery. A combination of CP3 [Chris Paul], Devin Booker, and Deandre Ayton or Giannis [Antetokounmpo], Khris Middleton, and Brook Lopez will walk out of this with a ring.
    Caption: And it will be more entertaining than the Stanley Cup Finals. Did I Just Say That Out Loud?
    UT: What a time to be alive.
• The return of SeatGeek as a sponsor of a video in "Arte Moreno: LA's Dark Angel (of Anaheim)". For context, it was nearly 18 months since the company was featured as a sponsor because of the COVID-19 Pandemic keeping fans out of stadiums until recently. Tree sounds elated that fans can return throughout the first minute of the video, with both him and commenters citing how much they've missed using the service.
• In something that can be considered a tearjerker as well, his segment on Henry Ruggs III being involved with a fatal car crash near the end of his "This Week in Sportsball: NFL Week Eight Edition (2021)" video, he expresses his remorse over the lost life in the incident and vouches for people to stop drinking and driving. His anger towards Ruggs was also seen as very serious against his reckless behavior that ruined the rest of his life and career.
• After the sexual assault scandal surrounding the Chicago Blackhawks, Tree put out "Hockey Has A Culture Problem", a 9 minute condemnation of the many ways the "Boys' Club" mentality and culture of the National Hockey League harms its players, down to the junior and minor leagues, leaving many players injured, unable to adapt to life after hockey, addicted to drugs or alcohol, or with severe brain trauma.
• During the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Minnesota Vikings (December 9, 2021) - The 500k Shittacular!, where Tree is streaming the Steelers-Vikings game, news breaks during the middle of it that former Pro Bowl Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas died suddenly at the age of 33 (the same age as Tree at the time). At the end of the stream, Tree decides to pay tribute to him by playing a clip of Demaryius Thomas catching an 80-yard receiving TD against the Steelers in the 2011-12 Wild Card game, which is significant considering Tree himself admits that moment is painful for him as a Steelers fan.
  Tree: Rest in peace, brother. Have a good night everyone. And rest in peace, Demaryius Thomas. Always cherish life because it's short and you never know when you're gonna go. I love you all. Have a good night, everyone.
• This Week in Sportsball: NFL Week Sixteen Edition (2021): The first video after the death of John Madden has two tributes to the legendary Raiders coach, NFL broadcaster, and namesake for the Madden NFL video game series:
  • The SeatGeek sponsor segment is framed using "Greg and Ted" characters in the middle of a mock football game commentary. Greg uses several of John Madden's mannerisms and catchphrases during the segment.
  • And after the game reviews, Tree decides to spend a good amount of the video at the end commemorating Madden. He goes out of his to highlight the impact Madden had on the sports world in his 85 years of life, as well as his nice character and notable personality.
    UT: This passing is too large to simply glance over in an injury roundup. We lost a giant. This past Tuesday, a legend was called upstairs.
    Headline: JOHN MADDEN, FACE AND VOICE OF THE N.F.L. ON THE FIELD AND IN THE BROADCAST BOOTH, DIES AT 85
    UT: John Madden has died. He lived a full life, making it to 85 before ascending to the Pearly Gates.
    Caption: AND IRONICALLY A FEW DAYS AFTER HIS DOCUMENTARY AIRED ON FOX
    UT: A man of wit, taste, and a damn impressive appetite, Madden might be one of the few men more known for his contributions off the field than on it, which is a shame since he was a solid coach in the 70s for the Raiders.
    Caption: NEVER HAD A LOSING SEASON AS COACH, WON A SUPER BOWL, A HALL OF FAMER ON THAT ASPECT OF HIS CAREER ALONE
    UT: Even for his accomplishments and Super Bowl ring they dwarfed to his true influences. The broadcast booth. Video games. What is football without his mark in these fields? How else is Madden a household name than with him and Pat Summerall in the booth? When they called games back in the day, you knew it was a heavyweight matchup. With his name donning the most successful sports franchise in video game history?
    Caption: IT'S NOT ABOUT WHAT IT IS NOW. IT'S ABOUT HOW IT CAME TO BE.
    UT: NFL football may be an institution but John Madden transcended it in his influence. He hated flying but his career soared to incredible heights. I've never heard anyone say a bad thing about his character. Only in his love of good food. Especially the six-legged turkey and the legendary turducken. I want one of those things sometime in my life, if only for making them mainstream. Dude, a duck, inside a chicken, inside a turkey? Holy shit, just put me in a damn food coma immediately. I feel bad for waxing poetic, but it won't do him any justice. This man influenced football in more ways than he could imagine, and the sport as a whole will never forget what he meant to it. Decades of excellence forged in football immortality. The gods got a good one up there this week. I have a hunch they may have wanted the Summerall-Madden tandem back for the playoffs. He may have never embraced it, but here's to celebrating in the truest sense possible: an All-Madden life.
    John Madden: [from his eulogy for Pat Summerall] This is the third goodbye.^note The first two being the last game the Summerall-Madden tandem called for CBS in 1994 and the last game they ever called (Super Bowl XXXVI on FOX in 2002) It's the toughest. Bye Pat. Rest in peace. I love you.
    Caption: YOU'RE WITH HIM AGAIN, JOHN. I KNOW IT IN MY HEART.
    [under an image of Madden from his coaching days]
    JOHN MADDEN
    1936-2021
• Days of our Steelers: Seven's Farewell is unlike any other episode of Days of our Steelers. In what is likely Ben Roethlisberger's final home game at Heinz Field, Tree takes this opportunity to say thank you to "The Greatest Quarterback I may possibly ever see on the Steelers in my lifetime".
• The main takeaway UT has from the Colorado Avalanche winning the 2022 Stanley Cup is that former Penguin Jack Johnson is now a Stanley Cup Champion.
• "Re: Damar Hamlin": After all the traumatic events of NFL 2022 Week 17 (generally for the NFL with the on-field collapse of Damar Hamlin, and personally for Tree with the sudden death of former NFL player and personal friend Uche Nwaneri), there was good news on the Hamlin front as he woke up and began to recover.
  • In this video, Tree notes that the situation caused the NFL to stop, emphasizes that Tee Higgins did nothing wrong (at a time when he was getting death threats for the routine play which, as speculated in the sports media, just so happened to hit at the right time to cause commotio cordis), as well as seeing the entire NFL world uniting for Damar (and his toy charity, which had ballooned to over $8 million by the time of the video) and hopes over everything else that Damar can live a normal life and wishes that his audience can cherish their loved ones more.
    UT: And I know it sounds corny as hell, but I'm gonna say it anyway: I love you all. And don't you ever forget it. Take care, and have a good night.
  • And one more thing about Uche: In "This Week in Sportsball: NFL Week Eighteen Edition (2022)" Tree credited Uche for the Jaguars clinching the AFC South and, with it, a playoff spot.
    UT: They did this for you, man. I hope you're running the longest victory lap known to man up there. You've earned it.
• The sincere "Congrats!" videos returned after the 2023 World Series with "Congrats, Texas Rangers! (2023)" as yet another team profiled in a "Legacy of Failure" video finally won a national championship. As in the previous videos, the first half is a montage of past disappointments,^note Two losses from the Senators era plus a radio commentary of the crowd invasion that marred their final game in Washington against the Yankees in 1971, a loss to the Angels on their way to losing first place in the AL West to said team in 1986, the Angels' Mike Witt pitching a perfect game in Arlington in 1984, a late 1980s loss to the Yankees, the Cleveland Indians scoring a home run after the ball bounces off Jose Canseco's head in 1993, Nolan Ryan getting into a fight with the White Sox' Robin Ventura after hitting him with an errant pitch later that same year, losses to the Yankees in the ALDS in 1996 and 1998, a 2001 loss to the Blue Jays, a 2004 loss to the Athletics on the way to throwing away a division lead to the Angels again, an 11-0 loss to the Angels in 2009 en route to throwing away yet another division lead to their hosts, losses in the 2010 World Series to the Giants and the 2011 World Series to the Cardinals (despite having St. Louis down to their final strike twice in Game 6), flubbing a 5-1 lead against the Athletics in the final game of the 2012 season and then getting humiliated at home against the Orioles in the Wild Card game, losing a Game 163 to the Rays in 2013, losing the ALDS to the Blue Jays in 2015 after an embarrassing series of fielding gaffes in the seventh inning in Game 5, a fistfight between Rougned Odor and the Blue Jays' Jose Bautista during the regular season and getting swept by Toronto in the ALDS in 2016, losing 12-1 to the Orioles in 2017, losing to the Giants in 2018, and losing to the Red Sox and the Mariners in 2022. many of which were spotlighted in their "Legacy of Failure" video, while the last minute shows the Rangers coming back from 5-3 down to win in extra innings in Game 1 of the World Series against the Diamondbacks, followed by their decisive 5-0 win in Game 5.
  [over footage of the Rangers celebrating their win]
  After 63 years and two locations
  The legacy of failure is vanquished
  It was quite the rough journey
  But it only makes victory sweeter
  Cherish this win, the summit has been reached
  Well done!
  [under a Rangers logo] CONGRATULATIONS!

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