Code:
/***********************************************************
* ircbot.c
* currently having issues with sprintf()
* don't think it's actually sending the defined values
* work on it after I'm not wasted
*
***********************************************************/

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <netdb.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>

#define IRCSERVER "blah.net"
#define PORT 6667 
#define PASSWORD "blah"
#define IRCNICK "blah"
#define USERINFO "blah blah blah :blah"
#define OnCONNECT "PRIVMSG NickServ :IDENTIFY blah"
#define MAXDATASIZE 300

char *grabpong(char input[]) {
	char find_string[] = "PONG";
	char *pass1, *pass2;

	pass1 = strstr(input, find_string);
	pass2 = strtok(pass1, find_string);
	printf("%s\n", pass2);
return(pass2);
}

int main()
{

	char pong[MAXDATASIZE];

	int sockfd; // for recieve
	int len; // for send  
	char buf[MAXDATASIZE];
	struct hostent *he;
	struct sockaddr_in their_addr; // connector's address information 


	if ((he=gethostbyname(IRCSERVER)) == NULL) {  // get the host info 
	    perror("gethostbyname");
	    exit(1);
	}


	if ((sockfd = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0)) == -1) {
	    perror("socket");
	    exit(1);
	}


	their_addr.sin_family = AF_INET;    // host byte order 
	their_addr.sin_port = htons(PORT);  // short, network byte order 
	their_addr.sin_addr = *((struct in_addr *)he->h_addr);
	memset(&(their_addr.sin_zero), '\0', 8);  // zero the rest of the struct 


	if (connect(sockfd, (struct sockaddr *)&their_addr, sizeof(struct sockaddr)) == -1) {
	    perror("connect");
	    exit(1);
	}

	
	sleep(3);

	len = strlen(buf);
	sprintf(buf, "PASS %s\r\nNICK %s\r\n", PASSWORD,IRCNICK);
	send(sockfd, buf, len, 0);	

	sleep(3);

	recv(sockfd, buf, MAXDATASIZE-1, 0);
	printf("RECIEVED DATA:%s", buf);

	if (strcpy(pong, buf) == 0) {
		perror("strcpy");
	}
	char *PONG_DATA = grabpong(pong);
	
	sprintf(buf, "PONG %s\r\nUSER %s\r\n %s\r\n",PONG_DATA,USERINFO,OnCONNECT);

	// buf[numbytes] = '\0';

	close(sockfd);

	return 0;
}
This is my very sloppy, unapologetic, irc-bot. Just go wild. You see an error, you show me who is boss. It's actually not even working now. Hence the post