#AT LEAST HE SCORING 70 THIS SEASON

[nylwnder]

they hate the latinos fr

#asg lb #FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK #AT LEAST HE SCORING 70 THIS SEASON

[total-drama-takes-takes-2]

celebrity manhunt

Inside a small studio, a large desk wraps around two seats, an orange striped background and TV monitor decorating the set behind them. In one seat, a tight-faced, full-lipped gentleman with stark black hair holds a bouquet of cue cards. Next to him, a tight-faced redhead in a blue dress is holding a clearly empty mug. 

“It’s a beautiful night here in Toronto, perfect temperature for the TV event of the season- that’s right, everyone- it’s time for the Gemmy’s!” 

The gentleman fixes his bowtie. “We’re reporting live, just a block away from the action- it’s your faves, Josh-”

“And Blaineley!” the ginger cuts in. “Welcome to a very special episode of Celebrity Manhunt! Tonight is the night, folks- it’s time for gossip, cheer, and chatter about this year’s nominees!”

“Who will be taking home the gold? Stay tuned to find out!”

“Josh, that was my line,” Blaineley hisses. He rolls his eyes. 

“In only half an hour, our field reporters will be walking the red carpet with this season’s celebrity stars- until then, let’s catch up with the juiciest gossip from the past year,” Josh grins. “With a special focus on our personal faves, and the audience choice’s- the Total Takes Island cast!”

“Those teens braved it all on the newly-resurfaced Wawanakwa island, competing in death-defying challenges and looking fly while doing it!” Blaineley squeals. “Just to come back for another season of screams, screams, and crazy teens on the set of Total Takes Action!”

“Those are some brave contract holders, especially after watching what happened to the other casts,” John winks. “And like our blasts from the past, these teens have scored a nomination in the category for Best Reality Ensemble.”

“Let’s cross our fingers for them this time, Josh,” Blaineley chuckles. Her smile seems forced. “But before then, let’s catch our audience up to speed with everything that’s happened since Total Takes Action closed its doors- or should I say, gates?”

"Sure thing, Blain- from breakups to makeups to arrest records and more, our stars have had a lot going on for them!" Josh grins. "O has been living the high life back home, but not before starting an advocacy group for those who were negatively affected by the psychiatric healthcare system. Peter was spotted giving a promise ring to his girlfriend, Lois- still going strong! And Kitty's been banned from at least eight national parks in the United States so far,"

"Speaking of spectacles, let’s talk about Alistair’s award-winning performance as Disco Horatio in the viral Broadway musical 70’s Hamlet, a pop-infused retelling of the classic play,”

“Alistair’s performance was so good that he even found himself a brand new fanbase of Hamlet-crazed fangirls- some of which have been taking things a little too far,”

An image of Alistair’s character in a Miku binder fixes itself on screen. It's been autographed.

“Yikes- but hey, if he's owning it, then more power to him! Next up, we're talking about the pop sensation band that’s been on everyone’s minds- that’s right, guys, we’re talking the Takes Three trio!”

Blaineley grins as a sequence of images of McLovin, Sha-Mod, and Joner starts overlaying the screen. “Our Total Takes faves shocked the world when they released their first album, Boi Tearz, to widespread critical acclaim,”

“The rap-swing-darkwave fusion has been called “surprisingly tolerable” by critics, leading the Takes Three to their own claim to fame outside of reality TV. Make sure to stay tuned, because we'll have them right here after the break!”

---

The Celebrity Manhunt logo flashes across screen and then fades as the studio comes into focus. McLovin, Sha-Mod, and Joner are all sitting beside each other at the end of the table, wearing matching outfits.

"Takes Three- you've been called international pop sensations by at least six Twitter users. How do you respond?"

"We're just grateful for our fans," Joner says, shrugging. "Making music for the world to enjoy is a rite of passage where I'm from."

Blaineley blinks. "The Midwest?"

"Yeah, it's been crazy. We've been signing all kinds of notepads!" Sha-Mod nods. "Big ones, little ones, ones shaped like circles..."

"I didn't even know you could make circle paper," McLovin shakes his head. "Our tour has been world-changing."

"Eye-opening," Sha-Mod agrees. "And to thank you for inviting us on the show, we wrote a song for you. Ready, guys?"

All three reach under their chairs and pull out three sets of bongos. They look between each other.

"I though I was bringing the bongos," McLovin says.

"No, you were bringing the synthesizer. I was bringing the bongos!" Joner responds.

"I thought you were taking the triangle!"

Blaineley and Josh look at each other, then back to the trio.

“So, boys, how has skyrocketing to commercial and financial success affected your bonds on a scale from “a lot” to “IMPOSSIBLE to ignore!”?” Blaineley asks, grinning widely. The three stop bickering and immediately turn to her.

“You know, we’re actually closer than ever,” McLovin states, matter-of-factly. “Our music is a really hands-on creative process.”

“Yeah, can’t have rap-swing-darkwave without the swing!” Sha-Mod smiles, setting down the bongos. "Or the rap- or the darkwave!"

Joner nods. “It's been chill. Our new album-”

“BORING!” Blaineley shouts, pulling a lever behind her. The floor under the three musicians disappears and they scream as they disappear. "All I heard there was "blah blah blah" let's get to the real juicy gossip, shall we? It looks like it’s finally splitsville for Patjulia.”

Josh chuckles. “Oh, yes, after months of vicious dating, our sources indicate that those villains-to-be have finally called it quits- and publicly, at that. Our undercover reporters came across this juicy little tidbit. Roll the tape!”

---

The monitor fizzles to life and focuses on the inside of a restaurant that looks like a tornado went through it. A chair flies across the screen and the camera whirls around to one side of the room, where Julia is screaming and throwing furniture. 

“I should’ve NEVER even TALKED to you!”

The camera pans around to the other side of the room, where Patrick throws a handful of spaghetti back. “You should be HONORED I gave you the time of the day!”

“Your hair looks like a dead rat got glued to your head!”

“That’s rich, coming from a fake blonde!”

“IT’S NOT FAKE! We are so over!”

“You’re not breaking up with me! I’m breaking up with you!”

Julia throws a table and it sends Patrick flying across the room and straight out the back wall, creating a him-shaped hole in the plaster. He screams one final "YAHHH OH HOO HOOEY!!" as he goes flying.

---

“Yikes,” Josh chuckles. “That’s gonna leave a mark!”

“Where’s Scruffy during all this, you may ask? Well, they’re busy interning for Sierra of Reality, Weekly!” Blaineley announces. 

An image of Scruffy wearing a pair of sunglasses and an earpiece, walking beside a woman with dark brown hair in her 30s flashes across the screen. 

"What an upgrade from Total Takes, wouldn't you say?"

"Oh absolutely- especially after Wawanakwagate,"

Blaineley nods. "But, speaking of relationships- Bonsar- to date or not to date?”

Josh grins. “That IS the question! The two best friends were seen holding hands downtown, sending fans WILD! In a recent press statement, Caesar did little to calm the masses,”

---

The monitor changes scenes to a press conference. Standing before a crowd of reporters and microphones, Caesar adjusts his bow tie and clears his throat while Bonnie is sitting on the stage, playing on their Switch. 

“I just want to restate that Bonnie and I are under no obligation to explain anything to the press,”

A reporter waves his hand. “So are you dating or not?”

Caesar smacks his forehead.

---

"Looks like trouble in paradise to me, Blain!"

"You said it, Josh! You know who's been sailing on smooth seas lately, though? Maxchela!"

"OMG, totally! Fans are still swooning over Max and Michela after they were named Reality couple of the year by Reality, Weekly,"

“Unfortunately, we here at Celebrity Manhunt were unable to reach the two for comment. Luckily, our star reporter under the pseudonym “Noco”, was able to get the inside scoop!” Blaineley smiles.

The camera pans over to Noco, who’s half-shadowed to protect his identity. He clears his throat. “I just want to say, first of all, that my findings have reliable and true evidence behind them,” 

He stands and pulls a poster down behind him- revealing a screen covered in images of Max and Julia with strings between them. “Let’s say, hypothetically, that Maxchela was staged,”

The light above him suddenly flickers on. He sighs.

“OOOKAY THEN!” Blaineley says, redirecting the camera back over to her. “More on that later! In the meantime, we have a very special guest joining us today- one you Canadian viewers at home might recognize right away as the household name of the month!"

Josh grins. “When Chris McLean’s arrest became an international media sensation, sparking thousands of internet “memes” after his mugshot went viral, there was one name to take the claim to fame,”

“Toronto Environmental Coalition’s own leader, Albert, led an independent investigation of Wawanakwa after former contestant Scary came forward with a case- but it was him who found evidence of illegal radioactive materials on the island,” Blaineley continues, images of the investigation flashing across the screen. "The case brought international attention to the Coalition, and to Albert himself."

“The scandal broke the Wawanakwa mystery wide open. Here with us today is Canada's sweetheart, Albert,”

The camera zooms out and reveals a third person at the table. Albert- a teenage boy with dark brown hair, wearing a gray windbreaker- adjusts his lav mic and then smiles awkwardly. 

“So, Albert- since your case went viral, you’ve been called a top-notch advocate, a genius, even a national hero. How does it feel to be getting all this attention?”

He thinks for a moment. “Um… well, I suppose at the end of the day the only thing that matters is the coalition, and the attention has drawn in a lot of donations!”

“Yeah, whatever,” Blaineley chuckles. “You’re the star of an international scandal- you’re a hero! How does it feel?”

“Uh… fine. I guess. What I’d really prefer talking about is the monthly agenda for the TEC, we’re planning on hosting a protest at a meat processing plant in-”

Josh clears his throat. “Our sources indicate that you and Scary were an item at one point. Is this true?”

Albert goes pale. “I- um, no comment, thank you,” he then leans in to whisper. “I thought we were going to be talking about the coalition.” 

“On this show? No chance!” Blaineley shouts, startling him and sending him flying backwards. “Celebrity Manhunt is about the drama, drama, drama!”

Albert cringes. “Is there anything else we can talk about, then?”

"We can talk about the juicy, juicy drama happening on the red carpet right now," Blaineley chuckles. "Looks like the first of the cast has arrived to the Poultry Pals sponsored Gemmy's!"

Albert holds up a finger. "Um- what was that last part? The sponsor?"

Josh leans in, his palm against his face. He whispers. "Since ratings have gone down, award shows have corporate sponsors now. Turns out the meat industry is bananas for awards!"

"That's- that's the business I'm supposed to be protesting," Albert stands. "I have to go!"

He runs out of the room, and Blaineley rolls her eyes. "Guess we know why Chris McLean was acquitted and found innocent, huh?"

Josh chuckles. "That we do, Blain. That we do. But let's talk about these red carpet looks, cause honey these contestants are serving!"

---

The red carpet outside the Gemmy's is surrounded by shouting fans and photographers. O waves as he walks inside the building, followed shortly by Alistair, then McLovin, both so preoccupied with waving to the crowd that they crash into each other.

Another limo pulls up on the scene and Peter steps out with a short ginger. She shows off her promise ring to the paparazzi and giggles.

Peter and Alistair fistbump as they reach the door.

"Aw, how sweet. Friends forever!" Blaineley's voice overlays the scene.

"It's nice to see those teens getting along," Josh adds. "Ope- and there's Scary, just released from the lead prison she was stuck in from radioactivity!"

Scary arrives next, her hair dyed a warm honey brown. She makes a show of coughing and wheezing as he exits his limo in a wheelchair, then rolls up the carpet.

"My, my, aren't they looking just proper?" Blaineley tsks. "I love that shade of brown on her!"

A photographer gets too close with his camera and Scary stands, beating him over the head with her wheelchair, before sitting back down in it and rolling indoors.

"What a stellar start to the most anticipated award season EV-AR!" Josh squeals. "Let's check in with Noco on the field."

---

“Reporting live from… wherever I am,” Noco says, squinting. He’s holding a microphone and looking around, slightly annoyed. The cast looks relatively tame, most just merrily chatting with each other. “Here's, uh, I don't know. Austin or whatever. Hey, Austin, you and Kelly get back together?"

"No, baby, I've been single and free! To hell with monogamy!" Austin shouts, flipping on a pair on sunglasses, tearing off his shirt and running off screaming.

Noco stares into the camera. “Now can I do my Maxulia bit?”

“Um. No,” Blaineley says, still in the studio. “What is UP with these drama-less hacks?! Someone get Ass and Courtney here, pronto!”

Noco rolls his eyes and walks down the carpet, approaching Courtney, who’s catching up with Bonnie. “Comment?” Noco asks. 

“Hm?” Courtney turns, then blinks. “Um, comment on what?”

“Ass,”

“Ugh. None, thank you!”

“I heard that!” Ass shouts from across the carpet. Courtney rolls their eyes. 

Staci and Mal walk down the carpet next to each other, arguing about welding. Noco sighs. “Now can I-”

“NO!” Blaineley and Josh yell in unison. 

Michela, walking alongside Max, stops suddenly and puts her hands on her hips. “Does this venue feel a little empty to anyone else?”

The camera zooms out- the group is on a carpet, but there's no reporters, no photographers, no fans to be seen.

“No, I see what you mean. I was thinking there’d be more… I don’t know, people,” Max says, then sighs.

“Did we get the right address?” Scruffy asks. “I mean, we’re all here, so we got sent the same e-vite, right?”

Mal pulls out her phone and reads intently. “Yep. This is the place,”

Another limo pulls up and Julia and Patrick stumble out, shouting at each other and having a slap-fight.

Joner and Sha-Mod look between each other. "Hey," the latter says. "Did we lose McLovin?"

Kelly walks up to the two and puts their hand right above their eyes, shielding their vision from the fluorescent lighting. "I don't see him,"

"Who else are we missing?" Michela asks. But before anyone can do a head count, a voice rings out from the distance.

"WAIT! WAIT! DON'T GO IN YET!" it shouts. The crowd turns in the direction it's coming from and Albert runs up, then collapses on the carpet, wheezing. "Don't go in..." he coughs. "Protest..."

"What's this supposed to be?" Ass asks, putting their hands on their hips.

Albert takes a moment to compose himself, then stands. He dusts off his windbreaker and pants, then pulls a small card out of his pocket. It reads "TEC Charter: LEADER".

"My name is Albert, and I am condemning this award show on behalf of the Toronto Environmental Coalition!"

"What award show, Einstein?" Ass snaps. "There's nothing out here!"

Albert looks around. Nothing but crickets. "Oh,"

Bonnie sighs and walks past him, approaching the doors of the supposed venue. “Let me guess-” they open one and the entire front of the building collapses. "Yep. Thought as much," 

“It’s CARDBOARD?!” Caesar shouts. “My hair took FOUR HOURS to do!”

“This has got to be some kind of Chris thing,” Staci says, crossing her arms. “Maybe it’s a scavenger hunt.”

“Oh, no, no way. I am not playing these little games again,” Ass says. “I’m going home.”

“Hey, everyone, we're still missing people,” Kelly says. 

Austin pops out of nowhere. “Yeah, baby, where’s the rest of the party at?”

Courtney does a quick headcount, then thinks for a moment. "I don't see O, Scary, Kitty, McLovin, Alistair, or Peter,"

"Kitty's in an Australian prison," Patrick says nonchalantly. Everyone turns to him. "What?"

"Never mind that. We need to figure out what's going on," Michela says, hands on her hips again.

Mal chuckles from across the carpet. "Guys, you should see this,"

The crowd hesitantly approaches her, peering over her shoulder to see a live broadcast of the Gemmy's on her phone.

"And the award for Best Reality Ensemble goes to... the teens of Total Takes!" the announcer shouts.

Peter, O, McLovin, and Alistair look nervously around their seats, as if trying to catch a glimpse of where everyone else disappeared to.

"Oh, crap," Julia sighs. "We got sent the wrong damn address."

"Are you guys watching the Gemmy's?" a voice from ahead pipes up. The crowd diverts their attention from Mal's phone to see a scrawny boy standing on the street in front of them, drinking a slurpee loudly. "Cause it's a total hack. It's rigged by the woke police."

"Who are you?" Ass asks, crossing their arms.

"I'm Phillip, but you can call me Alejandro," he says confidently. "I was just out training, to fight SJWs. You know how it is."

He does a few karate punches. No one seems very impressed.

"Do you know where the Gemmy's are?" Courtney chimes in.

"Oh, yeah. They're way across town. They're wrapping up soon, anyway, you shouldn't bother with them. Everything comes to an end, after all,"

"Ooookay," Michela says. Max rolls his eyes.

"Do you guys ever think about how red slurpees make your mouth look like you've been drinking blood... heh... just me, then... I have a twisted mind,"

"Am I dead?" Ass turns to Courtney. "Did I die and go to hell?"

"Enough whining. I'm going home," Bonnie snaps.

"NOT so fast!" A voice shouts. The sound of a helicopter hanging overhead makes everyone jump and turn skywards. Chris McLean pilots the aircraft, making a smooth landing in front of the teens (but not before sending Phillip and Austin flying in the wind).

The disgraced host steps out of his helicopter, grinning. "You teens have a contract to uphold!"

"What is going on?" Caesar demands. "This wasn't in my contract!"

"Oh, right. You're "exempt" because of your "lawsuit"," Chris air quotes, rolling his eyes. "Bonnie, on the other hand..."

Caesar pales. Bonnie chimes in. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about a brand-spanking-new season of Total Takes- that's right- we're doing TOTAL TAKES: WORLD TOUR!"

No one makes any noise besides Scruffy, who squeals in delight.

"Thank you. Glad to see someone's excited,"

"Okay, let me get this straight," Julia starts. "You lie to us about the Gemmy's location, drag us to the middle of nowhere in Toronto, make us hang out with these freaks-" she gestures to Albert and Phillip. "And Now you're saying we have to do ANOTHER SEASON?"

"Man, you guys need better lawyers," Chris chuckles. "You have a long, long few weeks coming for ya."

The teens look between each other nervously.

"And not only you- as your contract dictates, any and all at the time of casting are required to join- that means you," Chris points to Albert. "And you," he points to Phillip, plastered against a nearby wall.

"You cannot be serious," Ass says. "I want to talk to your lawyers!"

"No can do, buddy. This is set in stone. See you all soon!"

He chuckles as he gets back into his helicopter and starts off, leaving the cast abandoned. They look at each other one last time before the screen fades to black.

#total takes action #total takes world tour #tta #ttwt #celebrity manhunt

[sebastianstangirl01]

Could you do a Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x teen!daughter!reader where she's in highschool and falling behind in her classes, he gets mad and she does too, they fight, she runs off to Maverick's house and he's worried sick because he can't get a hold of her (just pure angst at this point). He finds her, they talk it out and then just pure fluff? I love the way you write Rooster with a platonic reader!

Runaway

Title: Runaway

Pairing: Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw x Daughter!Reader

Summary: After getting a bad grade tensions rise at the Bradshaw house leading the reader to runaway.

Warnings: language, angst, happy ending

Authors Note: The reader is 16

From the moment you woke up this morning you knew it wouldn’t be a good day.

The past few days tensions have been high in the Bradshaw house, between your dad working hard as a new instructor at Top Gun and you with school work and playing both Softball and Soccer neither of you have had a lot of extra time. Which means housework has been neglected, last night you both had an argument about how the dishes haven’t been done in days and the laundry needed to be caught up.

With it being the end of the school year you had a bunch of tests you had to study for and with it also being Softball season you have been too busy to do any of your normal chores around the house.

You got your temper from your father and with your teenage moodiness anyways that didn’t help the situation that ended with you being sent to your room to prevent either you or your father from saying something rash.

Your dad was already gone to work by the time you made it downstairs to leave for school but he left you a note next to a blueberry muffin saying he loved you and hoped you have a good day at school. You smiled at the note and made sure to put it in your backpack before grabbing the muffin and a bottle of water and hurrying to your car so you wouldn’t be late.

You were anxiously sitting next to your best friend Bella waiting for your online test results from your math test, math was never your strongest subject so you felt extremely nervous about how you did even though you studied really hard.

“I’m sure you did fine Y/N, you studied so hard!” Bella reassured you with a supportive smile

“Ok class, your tests have been graded and your results were sent to your emails. If anyone has a problem with their grades then you try to find a better way to study for your final at the end of the month.” Your teacher Mr. Olson said, he was a mean old man who wasn’t a very good teacher he never helped students when they asked just told them they should know the content by now.

You anxiously opened your email and chewed on your thumb nail waiting for it to load, when it finally did you felt your breath hitch and your stomach drop.

56%

You gaped at the screen with wide eyes you had studied so hard for this test and thought you would at least pass.

“What’d you get?” Bella asked you trying to sneak a peak at your screen

You quickly shut the computer making Bella jump at the abruptness.

“It wouldn’t load.” You said embarrassed, especially when you saw that she got a 90 on the test

“Ms. Bradshaw I need to speak with you. Class dismissed.” Mr. Olson said making you gulp as the rest of the students left. “You are the only student who got below a 70% on my exam. Care to explain why?”

“I don’t know Sir. I studied so hard you can ask anybody, I don’t know what happened.” You shook your head in disappointment

“I’m afraid that if you do not score at least a 80% on the final that you will fail my class. Unfortunately I am going to have to call your father and hopefully you two can work out a solution to your less than acceptable work. That will be all.” Mr. Olson said nodding his head to the door

Your face was red with embarrassment as you grabbed your things and hurried out the door, luckily it was the end of the day and you quickly made your way to your car before anyone could see the tears of frustration.

You just knew that when you got home you would be in so much trouble, not just because you failed a test but because your teacher called your dad while he was in the middle of training like he always is. Part of you thought maybe you could hide away at your uncle Hangman’s house until he gets home from training so he can be a buffer between you and your dad, but logically that wouldn’t work.

When you pulled into the driveway you were surprised to see your dads bronco in the driveway, instantly paling thinking about how much trouble you were going to be in since he was already home. You sighed and turned off the car before making your way into the house and closing the door behind you.

The house was quiet which is very unusual since there is always something playing on the tv in the background because neither you or your dad like the house completely silent. You walked into the kitchen and saw your dad sitting at the table with his arms crossed watching the doorway for you to step through.

“Your teacher called me.” Bradley told you with a blank expression making you even more nervous.

“I figured since your home so early.” You said with a sigh

“He said you have been giving zero effort in class, that you always goof off and never pay attention and then end up doing bad on the tests. You know the rules, as long as you give your school work 100% of your effort then I don’t care what grade you get because I will know that you tried your best. But you are smarter then a F, Y/N! That’s not your best work! All I ask is that you do your best in school, sports, and help out around the house that’s all I ask of you!” Bradley exclaimed making you furrow your brows

“I wasn’t slacking off dad! I tried really hard on that test, I studied for hours, I did the best I could but the test was hard! I’m sorry if I haven’t been helping out around the house as much but it’s smack dab in the middle of softball season, it’s my junior year so I have the stupid ACT I have to study for. It’s been a lot and you don’t even care!” You exclaim, feeling all the built up frustration explode

“Don’t raise your voice at me young lady! I work my ass off everyday to make sure you can have your own car, and play 2 sports, and have everything your heart desires! The least you can do is help me out around here!” Your dad said frustratedly making you shake your head

“I try dad! I really do, but it seems like nothing I ever do is good enough for you lately.” You said with tears in your eyes

“Well maybe you should grow up and try harder and stop being such a disappointment!” Bradley exclaimed before his face dropped, you felt your throat burn as tears rolled down your cheeks at your fathers words. “Baby.”

“I hate you.” You said as your voice broke before rushing out the door

“Y/N! Baby I’m sorry!” Bradley exclaimed running after you but you had already gotten in your car and drove off. “Fuck!”

Bradley stood in the driveway with his hands on his hips as he sighed and looked up at the sky trying to blink away his own tears. The last few weeks have been really stressful at work and it didn’t help that the anniversary of Goose’s death was coming up next week.

“Talk to me dad. I screwed up.” Bradley sighed before pulling out his phone, he didn’t dial your number because he didn’t want you looking at your phone while driving so he called around to some of his friends that you were close to hoping that maybe you ran to one of them.

You tried to wipe your tears as you drove down the street but they were falling down your face rapidly to the point that you could barely see where you were going. You never in a million years could have imagined that your dad would call you a disappointment, especially since you are so close he always calls you his little miracle.

You are just so hurt. So you went to the one person you knew you can count on.

Pete Mitchell was sitting back on the couch with a beer as a baseball game played on the tv, it was one of those very rare moments when he didn’t have anything to do. Penny took Amelia out on a boating trip, he didn’t have to teach any classes at Top Gun, he finally finished building his plane last week, and you and Bradley were doing your own thing.

He was ready for a night of peace and quiet. Until there was a repetitive knocking on his front door. Pete furrowed his brows before getting up to answer the door, before he could speak a word a force crashed into his stomach almost knocking the breath out of him. He looked down and saw you nuzzled into his chest with tears falling down your cheeks.

“Hey. Hey. What’s wrong kiddo? Your shaking.” Pete said wrapping his arms around you and pulling you into the house closing the door behind you. “Talk to me sweetheart.”

“Me and dad got into a fight. He called me a disappointed, Papa Mav.” You hiccuped making Pete frown as he pulled you over to the couch to sit down beside him

“You know your dad didn’t mean that right? He loves you so much, almost as much as I do.” Pete teased poking your side trying to get you to smile

“Then why did he say it?” You asked leaning into his side as he rubbed your back soothingly, exactly the way he did when you were a baby and couldn’t go to sleep because of colic.

“When people get frustrated we say things that we don’t mean. Trust me I’ve done it enough, me and your father have had our fare share of fights and said things in the heat of the moment that we didn’t mean. But that doesn’t mean that I love him any less.” Pete told you as he placed a kiss on your forehead. “Why don’t you go make you a snack and I’ll call your dad to let him know your ok.”

“Ok.” You sighed before making your way into the kitchen, Pete always had snacks for you when you came over it was one of the main reasons why you loved spending time at the house with him.

You grabbed a blueberry pop tart and a Yoo-hoo from the fridge before making your way back into the living room where Pete was sitting on the couch and plopped down next to him.

“Want to watch a movie?” Pete asked putting his arm around your shoulder

“Tombstone?” You asked with a smile, it was one of your and Pete’s favorite movies ever since he introduced you to the world of Western Movies when you were 6.

“I’m your Huckleberry.” Pete smirked making you laugh as he turned the movie on

“Have you ever noticed how much Doc Holliday looks like Uncle Ice?” You asked as Doc Holliday came onto the screen for the first time in the saloon playing a game of poker.

“Huh. I guess he does, you’ll have to tell Ice that I’m sure he’d get a kick out of it.” Pete told you with a chuckle

Suddenly there was a knock on the door before it cracked open and your fathers head poked into the room making you tense.

“Hey. Uh, sweetie can we talk please?” Bradley asked you making you look at Pete who gave you a encouraging nod

You sat your snacks down on the coffee table and stood up following your dad out to the front porch you both sat down on the swing.

“I’m so sorry. I never in a million years should have said that to you. You are without a doubt the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I never want to imagine what my life would be like if I didn’t have my little girl.” Bradley said rubbing your cheek when he noticed your eyes getting watery

“I really am trying my best dad. I promise, I studied so hard for that math test and I thought I did good on it but I guess not.” You said looking down

“I know you are, I should have never doubted your work ethic I know how serious you take your studies and sports. How about I talk to Uncle Bob and see if he can help you study, he’s really good at math and you might feel more comfortable getting help from someone you know well.” Bradley suggested and you nodded liking that idea much better than trying to ask your teacher

“Ok.” You nodded and Bradley smiled pulling you into his arms

“I love you so much.” Bradley said kissing your forehead

“I love you too dad.” You said hugging his waist. “Do you want to come in and watch Tomb Stone with me and Papa Mav?”

“Sure.” Bradley said letting you pull him back into the house where Pete sat with his beer in his hand

“All good?” Pete asked the two of you

“All good Mav. Thanks for watching out for her.” Bradley said sitting on your other side

“She’s my number one girl, of course I watch out for her.” Pete said nudging your shoulder before handing you your snack and pressing play on the movie

The rest of the night was spent watching movies and ordering pizza with your two favorite people in the world.

Taglist:

@daughterofthereaper02

@luckyladycreator2

@calpurniatypes

@littlebadariell

@qnfluvr

@raefoxiegirl

@maverick-wingman

[stereax]

I know the details might be messy if some of Pettersson’s salary is retained by the Canucks and/or a third team, but what do you think a trade to the Canes would look like?

To clear the air first: this anon sent me this ask BEFORE the extension went down. I just have a little backlog and a pounding headache. Everyone who's still in my inbox, fret not, you WILL get answers, I promise.

So clearly Petey ain't getting traded no more. That being said, let's speculate under the cut what a Petey to CAR trade could have looked like. For science!

Science under the cut, woot! Okay, so. First off. No way Vancouver trades Pettersson before the playoffs at its current state. Teams expected to be Cup contenders do not trade off their star centers in the middle of the season. Much more likely would have been a trade prior to or during free agency to send his rights to Carolina. (Petey is still an RFA at the end of this season, so his rights are easily flipped.)

Now, what would that trade look like? Pettersson is a franchise player. The price tag on him should reflect that value. We know Carolina's offer was "overwhelming", but Sebastian Aho (the lesser) was not involved in any such offer. So, here's my guess.

I think the talk started with Nikishin and Necas. Nikishin, if you don't know, is widely regarded as Carolina's top prospect, an LD who plays in the KHL and whose rights are thus indefinite. There's no guarantee he would ever come stateside, however, which drops his value significantly. If he does, though, he is touted as NHL ready from the jump. Necas is a center who often plays wing and has been a Cane for several seasons now, scoring 71 points last season. I mostly know him from Canes twitter always going "can't spell Canes without Necas" whenever he does anything. Annoying.

As "untouchable" as Nikishin is claimed to be, this alone doesn't get it done at all. There was almost certainly at least one first-round pick involved, probably multiple, and perhaps a few later-round picks or lower-tier players and prospects as well.

So could it have been Nikishin's rights, Necas, CAR 2024 1st, CAR 2025 1st? Maybe. Maybe a second in there too. But there's another intriguing piece available, one that could certainly blow away Allvin and co. And no, I'm not talking about Kotkaniemi. He's kind of a bust and we all know that.

What if the overwhelming part of the offer... was Svech?

Okay, I know. Svechnikov is one of the Canes' best offensive players, a premier power forward when he's healthy. Emphasis, however, on "when healthy". Dude gets hurt. A lot. In the last five seasons including this one, he has played over 70 games only once and has not broken the 70 point mark. It's not great. That being said, if you can keep him healthy, you have an offensive dynamo. There's definitely a level left to be unlocked there.

Would Waddell move one of his best forwards for Pettersson? Who knows. Go big or go home, right? Zito did the unthinkable two years ago with the Tkachuk trade, selling a 100+ point winger and a franchise defenseman for Tkachuk, and see how well that ended up for Florida. (And how badly for Calgary.) Could Waddell have tried a similar trade?

To review, the Tkachuk trade was:

To FLA: Matthew Tkachuk, 4th round pick

To CGY: Jonathan Huberdeau, Mackenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt [prospect], 1st round pick

Could the Pettersson trade have been:

To CAR: Elias Pettersson, 4th round pick

To VAN: Andrei Svechnikov, Martin Necas, Alexander Nikishin [rights], 1st round pick

?

Who knows. But what's certain is that it spooked Petey enough to re-sign in Vancouver.

#stereanswers #stereanalysis #elias pettersson #vancouver canucks #carolina hurricanes

[iseeweirdthings]

Thoughts and Notes on Netflix's 2024 Live Action Avatar the Last Airbender (spoilers!)

Good:

The Casting overall I think is good, I have some problems with characterization but overall everybody looks the part -azula.

The Effects good all the way through actually

Some of the Added Scenes, such where Zuko gets his platoon from

The Score, it's the same score

Bad:

Incredibly Show and Tell, like illude to something, foreshadow something, don't just show me it and explain it right away, not every plot thread has to be on screen.

Pacing, condensing 20 24 minute episodes into 8 one hour long episodes really hurts character moments and overall story progression.

The War!!! 70% of the dialogue is about THE WAR. That's not really what the original story is about, so much focus is about the war and you lose so much of the necessary innocence of the characters

The Live Action why do we doing this.

Nobody seems like friends when the camera is on, the chemistry isn't working sadly, I think it has to do with Dialogue and Pacing of Dialogue, they need to actually talk to each other rather taking turns performing one liners and monologues. There's too much space in between lines.

Every character is playing their trauma as if it's their first card in the deck, and pouring it out to everyone immediately, it's lazy, and unemotional when it should be.

I feel like I just watched 8 episodes of this show and followed this group but I don't know any of them, we're not given time to spend with them.

Character Notes

Avatar (the war) Aang, this isn't a child, he is played by a child but sadly he isn't allowed to be one. He's too weighed down by his trauma and responsibilities that he isn't given the space to have fun, and he does have a nice smile and he does look like Aang but they're playing him as a fucking rock. A Rock who can fly???

Also all the past Avatars give him such shitty advice which he always disagrees with and then when he leaves the spirit world he's like "they're absolutely right!" stand up for your own beliefs baby!

He gets so boiled down to being a hero and having to save everybody that he loses his own essence and appeal.

Katara (the prodigy) It just doesn't feel like the same character, she doesn't feel motherly, she doesn't feel angry, she isn't shown to be hard working, idk she's just there, so much of her original struggle was learning but through some nice words from Aang and Jet she's already a master before she gets to the North Pole.

Sokka (😐 this is the face he's making) I think he just needs to be more expressive and charismatic, I want to like him but he's just too stiff. Get that man high before filming or something idk. Should've been more sexist. it's a plot point.

Appa and Momo aren't characters, they're just there but not even there.

Zuko!! he's cute! I think he might be my favourite casting. He's frustrated and whiney and annoying in all the right ways. He's by far the most rounded character so far and that's helped by more screentime from not only him but Ozai and Azula. But! that's at the cost of their own mystique and characterisation.

He's also not funny enough, like original Zuko's dialogue is 90% "My Honour!!!!" and new Zuko at least to my knowledge doesn't say it one time. Like they're both hyper-fixated on the same task but one is just naturally funnier. idk maybe that's an easier thing to pull off in animation.

And like most people I think adding the platoon he thinks shouldn't be sacrificed as his crew is a good decision, I just wish he made it himself, rather than Ozai gifting/pawning them off to him. would've made it just all that better in my opinion.

Iroh! loved you at first! great casting, but you're allergic to smiling, I get it this first season we're really playing into the RIP Lu Ten but like Zuko is right here and you need to spend time spending time with this kid, show him that war ain't all that. there's joy and love in this world man, and so many amazing wonders. be happy just to live in a world like that. be happy man please. you're too old to not know how to grieve.

I think Azula's casting has yet to prove itself. The young girl playing her just seems like a really nice person, who doesn't at all look crazy enough.

They're also fucking her character, where is her self confidence? where is her unwavering faith in herself? Why is Ozai doubting her?? She's the mother fucking queen? why isn't she acting like it??? She just isn't giving crazy bitch.

Ozai, fine, but why are we seeing ur face??? sit in the chair!!!!

I think overall i want to give this show the benefit of the doubt, you're not doing a terrible job. Just give us more character moments and relaxation, it's not all about the war. it's about kids and growing and friendship and shit. also like write faster dialogue you can get more lines in like always. Especially for Sokka! he's the filler to any dead air. In 50 minute episodes there shouldn't be this much silence.

I'll keep watching, for season 2 I just hope that even as the show gets more serious, they can still create the beautiful moments of quiet and calm and fun. The show needs more fun, and the kids should have more too.

#hi kathryn #im sorry Meli #tumble time #tumble #oh boy oh man #Avatar #avatar the last airbender #avatar live action #atla #my expectations werent high but i think the showrunners expectations were lower #natla #tumbles #Aang #Zuko #Iroh #Sokka #Katara #I still had fun watching i think mostly when i had a second thing to do #enough of live action adaptations #its still way more avatar then the movie is #fucking m night shamylan #its the best live action avatar adaptation to date! good thing the bar was on the floor before hand

[detroit-grand-prix]

Wildest Dreams Chapter 25 - Holy Ground, Part 1

Chapter summary: Bee has been pushing all season towards one goal - doing well at her first-ever home Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, but she feels the pressure building, and a lot of things are changing.

Content warning: N/A

Chapter word count: 6,009

Author's Notes: This is the beginning of the end of the main story arc. This chapter had to be split into two parts because it was so long. I started planning this story in May and finished it in August, and I had a ton of fun writing it out. I'd grown attached to it to the point where I am still writing little one-off chapters and side stories for it. Anyway, not too many notes this chapter, other than the elements from Bee's custom helmet. The Spirit of Detroit statue, which is one of my favorite landmarks in Detroit. The We Can Do It! poster, which you will definitely be familiar with if you're from the US. Maybe even if you're not, it's a pretty iconic image by now. I also referenced it in one of the Monza chapters, in one of the fake tweets. Super Bee logo - The Super Bee was a muscle car produced by Dodge for a few years in the 60's and 70's, and then they brought the model name back for a trim package for the Dodge Charger in the late 2000's. I think the emblem is cute, but I don't know if Bee would have to get permission to use the emblem on her helmet or not, but this is fanfiction, so I can do what I want (within reason).

Grove, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom Mid-September 2021

The season was just over halfway through, and Bee was starting to feel the pressure of meeting her goal of getting on the podium. She’d been so close. God, so close. She finished as high as fifth. It was in Monza, of course, which she thought was her best chance, and it would have worked, and it would have been second if she hadn’t screwed up timing on the safety car after the crash that took Lewis and Max out of the race. She and George tried to double-stack to change tires, but she was a few seconds too late to come out into the pits in second and couldn’t manage to make up the places she’d lost. 

The worst part was it wasn’t her crew’s fault - she was concentrating so hard on making a good exit that she somehow missed the green light from the pit. She’d never seen anyone do that, let alone her. She felt awful.

She felt like she’d blown the opportunity with the two main podium contenders out. The frustration rattled her harder than she expected it to.

At least George had managed to secure a podium before that, in Belgium. There was barely a race run, but George put on a spectacular qualifying in the rain, qualifying in P2. They ended up only racing for two full laps, and the top 10 finishers were only awarded half points, but it was Williams’ first podium since 2012. On the bright side, Williams was an astounding sixth in the constructor’s championship now. It was their highest placement in years, and meant hundreds of millions in prize money for the team. The year before Bee joined, they weren’t even able to score a single point, now they were absolutely a midfield team.

It was a bittersweet occasion, though, because three days before, George had signed with Mercedes for the 2022 season. It was announced a week later, but Toto had told Bee already, because they were starting discussions for her contact for the next year as well.

“I’m really happy for him.” She told Toto. “He absolutely deserves it, but… I’m a little selfish and will miss being on a team with him.”

“Well, in a way, you are still on a team with him - that is what I told him when he had his incident with Valtteri earlier this year. You’re still a Mercedes driver.”

“I know, but it's not going to be quite the same, but I’m more excited for him than I am sad for me, trust me.”

As far as her contract with Williams, Bee opted to only seek another one-year agreement. She was starting to feel like her career had an expiration date that was sooner than most drivers, and she wasn’t sure how she would get along with the incoming team principal, who was Williams’ current CEO, Jost Capito. 

She hadn’t actually worked with him very much, not yet. He seemed like an amenable guy. He was German, and had come from the world of rally car racing. The person that was originally tapped to be Claire’s replacement had backed out, so Jost decided to absorb his role and be CEO and Team Principal instead of hiring someone else. At least he was going to be hands-on.

The only alternative that Bee was willing to confront was if Lewis won his 8th WDC at the end of the season, surpassed Schumacher’s record, and retired. The sport would be bereft without Lewis, of course, but Bee would certainly be in consideration for his spot. Not that she could ever think to replace Lewis Hamilton or even start to fill his shoes, but an open seat at Mercedes would be an open seat at Mercedes.

Some drivers would take a seat for any team that would have them - they just want to race, and they don’t care who’s name is on the car. Bee wasn’t one of them. She only wanted to stay in the sport if she could represent Mercedes. She knew she wouldn’t be happy elsewhere. 

She had a session with Natalie after Monza. Emilia suggested it - she’d noticed that Bee was on edge after that weekend, and it had apparently been a while since she’d had a check-in with her therapist. 

“You know that your performance is as much mental as it is physical, and I know you’re not at your best right now. It couldn’t hurt, at least before we leave for Sochi.” Emilia said gently. They’d just had a training session, but Bee had almost gone overboard trying to work out her frustration. Emilia only had her stop because she was afraid of Bee injuring herself.

“Okay, you’re right.” She said, trying to catch her breath. “I’ll call her later.”

“I just… I can’t believe I fucked up like that.” Bee said to Natalie on FaceTime. “I was concentrating so hard on trying to get away from the pit as fast as possible - like, how hard is it to focus for literally three seconds? But I looked away for a fraction of a second and it was already too late.” 

“That’s tough. I know in F1 those little margins matter, but… if I remember, you got 5th in that race, right? Isn’t that still one of your best results?” 

“Actually it is my best result in Formula 1. But I’m mad because if I hadn’t lost focus, I would’ve come out in the pit in 2nd place. And my goal this season is to get on the podium. And it was Monza! If I was going to get on the podium anywhere, Monza would be ideal - and Lewis and Max crashed each other out, so it seemed perfect. I mean, I don’t know how long I have left in this sport, and I don’t want to leave without feeling like I haven’t accomplished anything.” Bee said.

“Ah, okay, that’s something. What makes you say that you haven’t accomplished anything? As far as I know, you’ve accomplished quite a lot. You’re the first woman in a long time to make points finishes, first American woman to race in F1 - I think that’s -”

Bee interrupted her. “I mean, yeah. Okay. That’s all fine and well, but if I weren’t a woman, I would be having an incredibly mediocre career so far, but because I am, everything I’ve done is groundbreaking.” She was getting annoyed. She felt a surge of frustration creeping up the back of her skull, like a series of pinpricks.

“Would you, though? I don’t think anyone other than, say, Lewis and Max was any good in their first few seasons. You even outscored your own teammate - you managed a point in your first season, and he didn’t, and he’s considered a potential world champion.” 

“I know, but the car he had to try to compete in was way worse than the one I got in my first season.”

“I still think you’re underestimating yourself. But I’m also hearing a few things here. Number one is that you don’t to be remembered just because you’re a woman, which I think is very fair, but in a sport like this, that is a significant barrier to overcome, and I think it has required a lot more than people realize. Think about it this way - do you think anybody would know who Max Verstappen is if he was a woman?” Natalie said.

“Probably not.” Bee conceded.

“Right, because he didn’t have the kind of hurdle you did to get into this sport in the first place. And you think Susie is a good racing driver, right?”

“Yeah, of course.” Bee said, like it was a foregone conclusion. “I’ve seen her lap times, her telemetry data, her onboards, she definitely knew what she was doing. If she was racing now, she’d be better than almost a quarter of the grid.”

“Right. Of course. But Bee, even she couldn’t surmount the walls you have. I grant you, she has helped you a lot in your career, so she boosted you over that wall. Plus, I think timing was more on your side than it was hers, but I’m just saying - you’ve overcome a lot of things that not everyone would be able to, and I think that’s what makes your career so far exceptional.” 

Natalie sounded absolutely solid in her conviction, to the point where Bee forgot she was her therapist for a moment.

“The season is not over yet, and you’ve come within striking distance of a podium. So, you made a mistake. Every driver has. Some people make even bigger mistakes - at least all you lost was a split-second of a pit exit. Do you remember what happened when Lewis forgot to remove that... brake… magic… thing? I don’t know what it was. But, in Baku this year? He didn’t even finish in the points. Some drivers have even made mistakes that have destroyed their entire car. A few seconds on a pit exit seems like nothing in comparison, right?” 

Bee laughed. “Now you actually sound like a sports analyst. But, okay. I get your point. You’re right. The season’s not over.”

“Is there another race you’d want to aim for the podium for? Surely Monza wasn’t -”

“Austin. The US Grand Prix. How amazing would that be? To be the first woman on an F1 podium, as an American driver, in America? I’ve always wanted to… but we didn’t race there last year, and F2 never raced there.” Bee was resolute. 

“That sounds like a good plan. It’s a home race for you, it might be easier to get a good result with a home crowd.” Natalie said, thoughtfully. “I know in other sport, home-court advantage really can swing things. I’m not sure how it affects you drivers, though.”

“I think it does make a difference, honestly.” Bee said. “I think that’s why Lewis always manages to do so well in Silverstone, truthfully. And also speaking of Austin… This was a long time ago, but do you remember me telling you about that woman, on the airplane? It was way back in 2016, I think. The one who said she was my first fan? That was on my way back from the US. I always think about that. I think that was one of the first times I realized that I was on the right track.”

“Oh, I do remember you telling me about that. You should see if you can track her down, maybe, and see if she’s going to the race. I’m sure she’d love to see you again.”

“Natalie, that’s genius.”

“What is?”

“We have a limited number of paddock passes we can give out to guests, as drivers, and I gave you one for Silverstone this year, and I’m giving some to my parents for the US GP, but I think I still have a couple to use, so if I can track her down, I can give her one.” 

“Oh, that’s a great idea. She shouldn’t be impossible to find, right? You know her first name, at least, and approximately where she lives. This isn’t a big country. But, you have to hurry.” Natalie said. 

Bee went home that night and put in her best efforts on Google trying to find the Adelle that lived in Leeds that shared that flight with her. Apparently “Adelle” was a more common forename in the UK than she’d anticipated, but she had narrowed it down to a few options, until she got lucky on LinkedIn, of all places. She recognized the woman from her profile picture, and she still had the same bright red hair. Once she had a surname, finding an address was easy. Hopefully it was still current.

When she went to the factory in Grove the next day, Bee put together a package of Williams items - two shirts, a hat, and a keychain, along with a letter and two paddock passes, two of her collectible driver cards, both signed. 

Dear Adelle,

I don’t know if you remember me, but we shared a flight together five years ago, coming back to London from the Mexican Grand Prix in 2016. I told you I was a junior driver for an F1 team, and was trying to find a feeder team and wanted to make it into F1.

If you still watch the sport, you are probably aware that I did make it. It hasn’t always been easy. Something you told me that day, on that flight, has stuck in my mind. You said that there was probably a girl out there who was good enough to make it in motorsport, but just wasn’t told enough that she could. When I was 19, I thought that was me. But since then, I’ve come to realize now that I’ve been very fortunate to have a strong group of people - mostly women, supporting me in my journey, and you, in your own small way, whether you know it or not, are among that number. But the story you told me about your daughter - it made me realize that no matter how hard this journey has been, the trouble is worth it if I can bring some visibility to the women that participate in this sport and make the sport more open and welcoming for female fans.

You mentioned, at the time, that you liked to go to the races in North America on your holidays, and I was hoping you were planning on going to the US Grand Prix this year. I have enclosed two paddock passes and two pasess to the Williams garage and hospitality area. If you happen to be there, I’d be honored to have you as my guest in the garage, and you can feel free to bring someone. I hope this makes it to you in time, and that we get to see each other. It would mean a lot to me. 

Thank you again.

Phoebe Stallard

She listed the return address as the factory and hoped the package made it safely to its destination.

There were two races to go until the United States Grand Prix; Russia, and Turkey. 

Russia was not kind to Bee. She qualified well, ending up at the top of Q2, even though the track was wet and rapidly drying. George, however, qualified third. Not Q3, actual third place. It was stunning to see, and the paddock was almost buzzing about it - Williams still wouldn’t be in the championship running for a while, but their return to form over the past 2 seasons had been impressive.

Rain started falling on the last 5 laps of the race. As soon as Bee saw the track conditions changing, she cursed out loud on the radio, forgetting it was live - she was in for a points finish, but weather conditions always had the possibility of reshuffling the deck.

Bee pitted for intermediate tyres right away, but spun out on one of the last laps and had enough damage from the resulting collision that she had to retire. She didn’t finish the race, but was still classified because she’d completed more than 90% of it. At least George had gotten himself into the points with a sixth-place finish. 

Turkey was an interesting race. Bee hadn’t ever been to Turkey, and actually would have enjoyed spending more time in the country itself. But they were getting to the point in the season calendar where grid penalties were plentiful - each car was only allowed a certain number of component swaps per season, be they for replacing power units (which consisted of the gas engine, electric motors, and an energy recovery system) elements or engines. 

Every swapped major component or engine over the allotment for the season meant that your car incurred a grid penalty, no matter what your qualifying result was. Replacing an engine over the allotment would set you back ten places on the grid, no matter what your qualifying place was. Other components could mean having to start from the back of the grid. 

Bee knew her car was about to exceed the allotment for engines, so she begged Claire to have the swap done for her car for Turkey instead of risking the penalty for the United States GP. They weren’t in contention for the championship, so it really didn’t matter where or when she got the grid penalty, but she wanted every chance to podium in Austin she could get. 

Claire agreed, and Bee took a 10-grid-place penalty in Turkey. She had managed to qualify in 10th, which means she’d made it into Q3. It was a shame to be knocked back down to 20th (or 17th, really, because of other drivers incurring penalties) but it meant that she was able to get to Q3, which was important for Austin.

It was the first race she’d ever remembered running, at least in F1, without a single retirement. George placed 7th, and she placed 10th. She wondered how things might have shaken out if she hadn’t taken a grid penalty, but it had to be done. 

Austin, Travis County, Texas, United States of America October 18th, 2021

Bee landed in Austin a few days ahead of when the rest of the team would be arriving, but the bulk of her extended family had flown down from the Midwest - most of them from Michigan, but she had cousins that lived in Illinois and Ohio as well. Her parents would be flying in from Stuttgart as well.

Emilia decided to come early with her - normally, they mostly traveled separately, as Emilia still primarily resided in Germany, but she wanted a little more time to prepare. This was the first of the long flyaway races, so they’d be gone on a longer trip, and she was intrigued by the United States. 

“So what is your family like? I’ve met your parents, but this is your entire extended family, right - like, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins?” Emilia said on the flight over.

“They’re… loud. Friendly, but loud. And most of them like to talk. They’ll probably ask you a lot of questions. They’re all basically the opposite of anyone from Germany, so if you want to pretend you don’t speak English to get out of socializing, you’ll need to decide now and commit to that.”

Emilia scoffed. “I’ve met plenty of Americans. You’re American, in case you’d forgotten”

“Ah, you say that,” Bee said, trying hard to hide her smile. “but you met me after I’d been raised in Germany, and you met my parents after they’d lived and worked in Germany for over a decade. It’s not the same.” 

“This should be fun”, Bee thought.

“I will give you one piece of advice. If anyone asks ‘How are you?’, it’s more of a greeting and not an actual question. You can just give a non-specific answer, like ‘Good’, or ‘I’m fine.’ That should make things a lot easier.”

Emilia looked confused. “But… Why would they ask if they don’t want to know? Why ask a question you don’t want an answer for?” 

Bee laughed. “Like I said, it’s not an actual question. Just treat it as a greeting, and the response is ‘Good, and you?’ If you say any more than that, you might invite a conversation that might become way longer than you want it to be.”

Emilia shook her head. “Okay. I’ll take your word for it.”

Once they landed, they went to their hotel to unpack and get ready to meet Bee’s family. They were all meeting for dinner at a restaurant called Vivo. Bee’s parents had made a reservation so they could all eat outside together on the restaurant’s patio. 

It was a strange experience - Bee hadn’t seen a lot of her relatives in-person for years, aside from her grandparents - even that was three years ago now. They peppered her with questions, mostly about Drive to Survive (because they’d started watching it when it debuted, just like everyone else did, and Bee suspected that most of them still didn’t actually watch the races.)

It was a bit funny to Bee - people that were real, her coworkers, more or less, that she spent so much time with - were television characters to them, like they were being played by actors. She did her best to answer their questions, but it felt like being in a rapid-fire press conference.

“That Daniel Ricciardo seems so nice, is he like that for real?” 

“Yes. He’s exactly how he is on the show, but he’s also kind of… the class clown, I guess. Always playing pranks.”

“Do those engineer guys really talk to you through the entire race? How can you focus like that?”  

“They’re not talking constantly, and they have important information. My engineer’s name is Gaetan. He’s French.”

Emilia, meanwhile, had either ignored or had forgotten Bee’s advice, and had found herself trapped in a conversation with one of Bee’s aunts that she hadn’t necessarily meant to get herself into. Bee turned around at one point and saw the thinly-veiled expression of anguish on Emilia’s face, and decided to jump to her rescue.

“Hi, Aunt Debbie. Nice to see you again. Oh, I’m doing great! Happy to be back in the US for a few days! Yes, I’m excited you’re here for the race, too! I just came to see if Emilia had decided what she wanted to eat. Come on, let’s grab a menu.” 

“Thank you,” Emilia said, relieved, as they left Lisa to talk to one of Bee’s other aunts. “She was telling me about her gallbladder removal, in great detail.”

“See? I told you this would happen. She’s an oversharer anyway. But in all seriousness, have you looked at the menu?” Bee said, as they sat at a picnic table by themselves, heads together, poring over the listed fare.

“I don’t know what any of this is,” Emilia said, puzzled over the Spanish names for the dishes. “I’ve never had this food.”

“Okay, well, you like chicken, right? Try the fajita taco plate - that’s always pretty safe, and… ooh, beef enchiladas. That’s what I’m getting. You can try it, if you want.”

So, Emilia had her first encounter with Tex-Mex food. She loved the fajitas, (“These are so good. Why can’t we have these in Germany?” “I could make them for you, if you want, next time you’re in Oxford.” “But your cooking is…” “Okay, fair.” ) but thought Bee’s enchiladas were a bit on the spicy side. (“You eat currywurst, how is this spicy to you?” “It’s a different spicy!”)

They had some drinks (not too many for Bee, at least), which made Bee’s family a little easier to take for Emilia. After the dinner party had dispersed, Bee and Emilia stayed and talked to Bee’s parents for a while, because they were all on European time and weren’t quite ready to head back to the hotel for bed, yet.

While they were sitting and talking, they all had a few more drinks, too. Emilia had quite a few more, and ended up more tipsy than she probably would have liked to have been. She was a clingy, huggy drunk, as it turned out. It was difficult, though - Emilia was eight inches taller than Bee, and practically toppled her over as she was hanging on to Bee for support as they were waiting for their ride back to the hotel. 

She didn’t take Emilia back to her room - Bee’s room had two beds, so she poured Emilia into the extra bed and pumped her full of water and ibuprofen, just so she could keep an eye on her.

“You���re my favorite,” Emilia said, in slurred German. She was splayed across the spare bed, and had asked Bee to tuck her in. Bee thought it was silly, but was oddly charmed by it. She sat on the edge of Emilia’s bed, talking to her until she fell asleep.

“I’m so glad I get to travel with you like this, because you’re my favorite client and probably my favorite person. I love spending time with you so much.” Emilia’s eyes were glassy and unfocused, but she was smiling at Bee.

“But I’m your only client right now.” Bee said. It was true. Emilia still worked for a performance coaching company, but like most F1 drivers that used that company’s services, Bee had hired her exclusively, a necessity of her busy schedule.

“I had other clients before you hired me!” She said, “But none of them have been as nice! Or as pretty. You’re very pretty. Did you know that? You have such pretty dark hair. And your blue eyes. I noticed you and your dad have the same eyes. Is that weird that I noticed that?”

“No, it’s true, I do have his eyes.” Bee was trying not to blush. “You should go to sleep, though. We have a long week ahead, but we have some time to do a few fun things tomorrow. And we can get some real barbecue for lunch, just like you wanted.”

“Okay. Goodnight, liebes.” Emilia said, drifting off to sleep.

“Liebes?” Bee thought. 

It was a term of endearment in German - the same as calling someone “sweetheart”, “love”, or “honey”, in English. It was startling, and Bee wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, but decided to let it go - Emilia probably had no idea what she was saying.

Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Travis County, Texas, United States of America October 22nd, 2021

It was only Friday, and it had already been a long week for Bee. It had been a fun week, though. She and Emilia had explored a little bit of downtown Austin on Wednesday before Bee had any media or team obligations. Emilia had woken up only a little worse for the wear, but a barbecue lunch had fixed that. (“This is so good, and you get so much food with your order.” Bee had almost expected her to make a “this is why Americans are fat” joke like most Europeans would, but she passed on it.) 

Emilia had virtually no memory of returning to the hotel that night, and said she was surprised when she woke up in a room that wasn’t hers.

“So she doesn’t remember flirting with me, or whatever that was, I guess.” Bee thought. She was surprised at how disappointed it made her feel. It wasn’t possible that she was falling in love with her performance coach… was it?

On Wednesday, she’d filmed a few things for Williams’ social media channels, including the reveal for her special Austin GP helmet, and a challenge with George where he had to try to guess how American towns were pronounced. She also was scheduled out for a bunch of interviews and other videos with some American TV broadcasters, like ESPN - they had her and George do a basketball free throw challenge. Bee was never very good at basketball, but she did better than George did.

George had also made a special helmet for the Austin GP, that was cowboy-themed. It didn’t suit him at all, but Bee thought it was endearing. Bee’s helmet was a little more personal and didn’t have much to do with Texas at all, but she’d been planning it out forever and it was gratifying to see the final product. It was strange to see him - a buttoned-up, stereotypical posh Brit wearing a 10-gallon cowboy hat and shooting basketball free throws. 

She spotted Susie in the paddock before free practice, and was ecstatic. 

“I wasn’t actually sure if you were going to come to this race!” Bee said, giving her a hug.

“Well, surprise! I knew this was a big race for you, and I didn’t want to miss it. I didn’t get to see your first race, but I’ll get to see your first actual home race. I’m going to be in the Williams garage on Sunday, too!” 

“Oh, that’s fantastic!” Bee said. “My parents are here as well, they’ll be excited to see you. They’ll be in the paddock tomorrow.”

They chatted a bit longer, but Bee had to go to Free Practice. She really liked seeing Susie at races, but it seemed like they never got long enough to sit and talk before either one of them had to be running off to something. 

She headed over to her driver’s room, where Emilia had finished getting everything set up for the weekend and was ready to start Bee on her warmups. She had to change first, but then it was always usually the same routine - a little bit of light, in-place cardio work with resistance bands to get her heart rate up and blood moving, then some neck strength work, some reaction time work with a series of buttons that had lights that flashed in different colors on them. 

Then, Emilia always helped her with some assisted stretching, some breathing exercises, and some light massage to keep Bee relaxed and loose, if she needed it. Every driver had their own little ritual and routine, and this was simply what she found had worked for her. 

Finally, it was time for Bee’s first practice runs on the circuit. She hadn’t ever driven on it, and it looked like it was going to be a challenge. The track had a whopping 20 turns - most tracks had 10-13 of them, and ran anti-clockwise, which was the opposite direction of most tracks. Not only that, but the first corner off of the start/finish straight went up a steep hill, with a bump that could disrupt your braking, and you had to downshift very quickly into the turn. And that was all just on the first turn, never mind the rest of it. 

Plus, it was hot the morning of Free Practice 1, which would mean that Free Practice 2, in the afternoon, would be even hotter. The challenge was going to be tire management - keeping the tires cool and not letting them degrade, which would mean punctures. It was the end of October, but it was still Texas. 

Bee looked at the grandstands during her first out-lap - it was packed, already, even for a Free Practice session, which meant that the audience for qualifying and the race would be absolutely massive. The last time she was here, in Austin, they had to throw a Taylor Swift concert to entice people to come - it didn’t look like that would be necessary this year. 

Williams Racing YouTube Channel

Phoebe Stallard reveals her helmet design for the United States Grand Prix

91,307 views October 23rd, 2021

Transcript: Hi everyone! I’m Phoebe Stallard from Williams Racing, and I just want to talk about my helmet for the US Grand Prix this weekend. It’s my first US GP! I joined Formula 1 last year, but the 2020 US Grand Prix was canceled because of COVID-19. I’m the only American on the grid, other than honorary American Daniel Ricciardo. This is my home Grand Prix, and obviously, I had a special helmet made! I just wanted to talk through some of the details, because this helmet is really kind of… well, it’s deeply personal to me, and it’s probably my favorite custom design yet.

So, on the top, we have the emblem from the Dodge Super Bee, which was a classic muscle car made in the late 60’s by the Chrysler Corporation, one of the Big 3 car companies based in my home city of Detroit. It’s kind of been a… nickname for me for a long time? I think Danny Ricciardo is the one that started calling me that, and it caught on over the years with fans, and I always liked it, even if Danny started calling me that to tease me because I was so scrawny as a teenager. Plus, it’s kind of a tribute to my dad, who was the one that got me into racing in the first place. He started his career at Chrysler as an automotive engineer. I did make a subtle change to it, though, to make it a little more personal - the bee has a little ponytail coming out of her helmet.

And then on the right here, we have the iconic “Rosie the Riveter” poster from World War 2, with the classic “We Can Do It” text on the top. I always thought it was pretty inspiring, because it shows a woman doing what was traditionally considered men’s work, and racing used to be kind of considered a man’s world. On the bottom of her coveralls, I put the signatures of both Lella Lombardi and Susie Wolff, who are both women in racing that I am inspired by. 

Lella Lombardi was the first woman to ever earn a point in the Formula 1 series, and until Monza this year, she was also the only one to have a top six finish in a World Championship race. 

Susie Wolff, as most people know, was a test and development driver for Williams, and was the first woman to take part in a Grand Prix weekend in 22 years when she participated in Free Practice 1 the 2014 British Grand Prix. She’s basically been my mentor since I was in Formula Renault. She’s an inspiration for all women wanting to compete in motorsport - I literally do not think I would have made it to Formula 1 without her kind of… advice and guidance. She also founded the Dare to Be Different foundation that works to get more girls interested in motorsport, and I’m really happy to be an ambassador for the organization. I definitely would have been remiss if I didn’t put some sort of tribute to Susie on this helmet. 

On the back, we’ve got an image of the Spirit of Detroit statue. I am originally from the Detroit area, and this statue is right downtown on Woodward Avenue. It’s always kind of been an iconic symbol of Detroit, it’s a really important landmark, I’ve always really loved it. And there’s the motto of the City of Detroit on it - “Speramus Meliora” and “Resurget Cineribus”, which means “We Hope For Better Things / It Shall Rise From the Ashes”. Detroit is a tough city, but it’s a city that’s always kind of… been out to prove everyone wrong, you know? A lot of people wanted to write it off entirely a few years ago, when the auto industry went bust and the city itself had to declare bankruptcy, but it’s still there, and there’s so much going on there now, it’s great. I don’t make it home very much, but I’m always really proud to represent it.

On the left side, we have my number, number 50, on a field of red, white, and blue stars, because it’s America, right? Had to show a little patriotism for my first US GP. Plus, it matches the current Williams livery which is handy!

And then, under my visor, we have the letters J & J S, which is for my parents, John and Josephine Stallard, because they’ve always been really supportive of my racing career. My dad was the one that got me into karting, because he thought it was something we could do together - he was always my mechanic, because he’s an automotive engineer. He never really pushed me into it, he just introduced me to racing and I kind of fell in love with it on my own, but both my mom and dad were really supportive of it. 

My dad used to work for Chrysler, and we moved to Germany because of his job, but when we had the option to move back to the US, he took a job with Mercedes so we could stay in Germany because I liked karting, and it’s a lot easier to advance in Europe. So, my parents made a lot of sacrifices, living so far away from home, so we could stay in Europe so I could keep racing, so I had to put some sort of tribute to them on here, too. 

#f1 fanfic #f1 oc fanfic #formula 1 fanfic #original character #female oc #female f1 driver #toto wolff #george russell #my fanfic #series: wildest dreams #susie wolff

[watching-pictures-move]

Put On Your Raincoats | Prisoner of Pleasure (Costello, 1981)

This review contains mild spoilers.

I'm always looking for movies to give me images I haven't seen before, and this has a few:

Shots of the heroine bound and ecstatically humping a basketball on a darkly lit soundstage to open the movie.

Long Jeanne Silver making inspired, graphic use of her amputated limb during a sex scene, which does turn the movie a bit into a geek show, but I suppose that comes with the roughie territory and Silver seems like an assertive enough performer in this situation that helps mitigate some of the queasiness around exploiting her disability. (I understand this was one of her go-to moves, but I had not seen her deploy it in the handful of things I'd seen her in previously.)

Shots of the heroine bound and ecstatically humping a basketball on a darkly lit soundstage to close the movie.

This doesn't exactly hit the "three great scenes, no bad scenes" mantra of Howard Hawks (especially as two of these images are actually the same one), but I can respect the effort.

If the movie has one big problem, it's that the heroine doesn't have much of an arc. The premise, wherein she's kidnapped and through some "tough love", learns to love BDSM, is precipitated on her lack of agency, but even that eventual affinity isn't sold convincingly. We get a bunch of narration about how her "ultimate fantasy was fulfilled" and that now she "was a victim", but after her kidnapping, we get exactly one rape scene and then she becomes entirely auxiliary to the proceedings, as her husband fails to come up with the ransom and the kidnappers proceed with fucking and sucking each other and what have you. (Most of the sex in this is consensual and vanilla, which probably makes it easier to watch for the average person but directly undermines the premise.) There's also the issue that the heroine's husband is supposed to be desirable enough not just for her to want to have more sex with him but for her friend to betray her so she can steal him away, but the guy looks like Art Garfunkel and offers some pretty wretched line readings even by cheapo porn standards. Luckily, the movie presents us with some more seasoned, charismatic performers, like the aforementioned Silver, the great George Payne doing a bit of his classic psycho shtick, and Dave Ruby as the head kidnapper, who keeps repeating "I like pretty girls", but then admits under stress "I dunno, I'm worried. I get horny when I'm worried." Lots of layers to Ruby's character, especially when he stutters like Porky Pig as he's about to climax.

This was directed by Shaun Costello for Avon Productions, and as a result feels cheaper and more crude than some of the films he'd made since at least the mid-70s. (This lacks the relative slickness of The Passions of Carol, Dracula Exotica, Hot Dreams or even Water Power.) And I don't think he's able to imbue the proceedings with the same street level energy of those films, as the few street scenes are in broad daylight, failing to add much urgency or menace to the surrounding film. (One pretty amusing moment does have Carter Stevens' appearance marked by a dramatic guitar chord.) That being said, Costello still imbues the movie with a certain amount of stylistic flair, largely through the use of (probably stolen) music, getting great mileage by cutting to a prog rock track and a flute-tinged funk track, the latter of which feels like a score from a blaxploitation movie. The peak of the movie, both stylistically and sexually, comes with the climactic BDSM scene with the kidnappers, with one of them being slapped, spanked and felt up while the others watch ecstatically, the submissive's reddening body swaying toward and away from the camera, enrapt as it circles the action, the cutting getting faster and faster as the music crescendoes and the sweaty faces, bound wrists, bruised flesh all dissolve into one. Whether or not you're into this stuff defines how much you'll "enjoy" this scene, but there's a stealthy artistry in its gutter level prurient intensity.

Thanks to @thechurchofsplatterdaysaints for the recommendation!

#film #put on your raincoats #movie review #prisoner of pleasure #shaun costello

[skorchinq]

Bows Only: Another 5-star?

[IDs in alt text]

I... really need to update more often, huh...

Since the last update, DavidBowie’s outrider crew has been through a lot. Including thrilling combat, captivating adventures, and even pulling another 5* character...

well! Let’s just get right into it! First up, 3.1′s Hyakunin Ikki event!

I figured I’d show what teams I used:

Something I discovered is that Kujou Sara is really good with aggravate teams, and with Tighnari specifically. He can fit his skill, three charged shots and burst within the duration of Sara’s buff, and at least in this case he was getting enough energy to repeat the cycle after another buff from Sara. Seriously, that duo was destroying.

Of course, maybe it’s unfair to compare them to what was mostly soloists, but... eh.

Anyway! I finally finished Kaeya’s story quest!

You know, I somehow didn’t realize the difficulty of the domain would scale with world level. I’m not sure why. Most story quests do that. But for some reason I was surprised by this.

Back to Hyakunin Ikki!

So, these were my final scores. Bronze is enough for all the primos, so I didn’t bother reattempting to try and get anything higher. I was actually surprised that I’d managed to get a few silvers...

And then, I finally hit AR 45.

Which means I can finally farm 5* artifacts! Ooh boy, artifact farming!

pspspsps Yelan when is your rerun. Come home I have something you’ll love

With all the primos I’d saved up in 3.1, the start of 3.2 meant another chance at Yoimiya, the character I had failed to get when this account was still new. I wasn’t going to let what happened before happen again, getting up to 70 pity and never seeing gold. I knew, I had to get a five star.

The wish turns gold. Was it finally happening? Would I get Yoimiya this time around?

...

...

...

I hate this game

On the bright side, I did get a weapon either Yoimiya or Tartaglia would appreciate:

unfortunately, it seems it will have to be Tartaglia’s, for as much as I kept pulling on her banner Yoimiya simply would not come home.

I... guess we’ll just have to get her on her next rerun, then... Yoimiya, the one who got away...

While my wishing hasn’t been too lucky, my artifact farming’s been going okay! Venti’s got a full VV EM set now, which is more than I can say for my main account

Venti is absolutely destroying everything in the world now, but I still don’t want to do the ascension quest until all my characters are at A4, and Gorou’s still only A3, so... still need a bit more time. At this rate I fear my AR will shoot straight up to 50...

Yoimiya season may be over, but that just means it’s Tartaglia season now! He’ll be great for this account, being our first hydro character and only melee fighter! He’s basically a must-pull. I’m sure we’ll get him. Just look at my savings!

...Yeah. We’ll get him.

#Bows Only #Genshin Impact #Kujou Sara #Tighnari #Yoimiya #Tartaglia #Venti #If I get Tartaglia I'll probably pull for Faruzan next patch #but if not then I don't want to risk getting Wanderer or Itto #But no need to worry because of course I will get Tartaglia!

[gofigureelectra]

Kao Miura - Japanese Nationals 22

Program: MichaelAngelo 70, Muerte del Angel

Elements:

4S (fall) | 3A | FCS4 | 4T (fall, combo) | SS4 | StSq3 | ChCoS3

Sadly a rough skate for Kao jump wise today, but I’m so impressed with his spins and step sequence and overall energy and commitment, because (at least on the surface, not necessarily level wise) you never would have been able to tell that he was off his game or having a rough skate.

Seriously, even though he has had a very up and down season (and overall, a fairly up and down career as of yet), you can see such a rapid level of growth and maturity in his skating and the way he performs. All of this high level competition, even if not always “fruitful” result wise, has been HUGE in terms of his growth, and I really think he will be one to watch out for come ‘24-25, as he works to some of his chaotic energy and gain more consistency.

Score: 71.12 into 8th

#kao miura #figure skating #japanese nationals 2022 #jnats 2022 #japanese figure skating #team japan

[mygreatadventurehasbegun]

It’s Oscar Night tonight!

I was able to catch up a bit on some of the nominated movies, but sadly didn’t get to check them all off the list (which is kind of ok, because I have no desire to see Avatar, Top Gun or Blonde).

Anyway...here’s my personal ranking of the Best Picture nominees, from best to worst (for me personally).

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once

2. Women Talking

3. All Quiet on the Western Front

4. The Fablemens

5. Tar

6. Elvis

7. Banshees of Inisherin

I really wanted to like Banshees, but honestly...I was so bored.  I may like it more if I watch it a second time, but it felt longer than it’s 1 hour 54 minute runtime. While I didn’t particularly like Elvis, the amount of spectacle at least kept me engaged, and I could be impressed by Austin Butler’s singing. 

For me, Women Talking is the most underrated movie of the year.  I really wish it had gotten more recognition...particularly in score, director and the acting categories...but it’s pretty much a lock to win Best Adapted Screenplay, and rightly so.

Best Supporting Actor

I think this is the only 100% lock in the acting categories tonight.  While Ke Huy Quan didn’t sweep (thanks BAFTA’s...seriously?), he’s been nominated and winning pretty much everything, so I can’t wait to hear his speech, because he’s probably going to make me cry.

Best Supporting Actress

This is probably the toughest one of the night...I honestly don’t know who is going to win.  *And I love that we have an honest-to-God race in three of these categories*  Angela Bassett won the Globe and Critic’s Choice, Kerry Condon won the BAFTA, and Jamie Lee Curtis won the SAG.  It’s really anyone’s guess at this point.  Angela Bassett is probably the least likely of the three, because she lost the momentum she had at the start of awards season.  Some people think Kerry Condon is going to win because of the BAFTA (it’s apparently a better predictor), but actors really like Jamie Lee Curtis and they do make up a large portion of voters.  What I would love to see happen (it’s not going to, but I’d love it), is for those three to split the votes and the award ends up going to Stephanie Hsu, who I believe gave the Best Supporting Actress performance this year...she’s who I would vote for.  Gold Derby is predicting Kerry Condon, but we’ll see...it’s funny, because if they had campaigned Michelle Williams in Supporting instead of Lead Actress, she’d be winning this year.

Best Actor

This is another tight race!  If you go on Gold Derby, you’ll see that Brendon Fraser is behind Austin Butler by about 70 votes (in terms of who is ranked first or second in likelihood to win) so I feel like it’s too close to call.  Austin Butler won the Golden Globe and the BAFTA, while Brendon Fraser won the Critic’s Choice and the SAG...it’s really anyone’s guess which way it’ll go...I wish I had been able to see The Whale before tonight so I could at least have an opinion on who I’d like to win, based on performance!  I kind of want Brendan Fraser to win...but Austin Butler did give a very strong performance, so it would definitely be a deserved win if he does.

Best Actress

Cate Blancett?  Michelle Yeoh?  Another tight race...though I do think the winds have shifted a bit in Michelle Yeoh’s favor (I HOPE BECAUSE I REALLY WANT HER TO WIN).  Did Cate Blanchett give the best performance of her career?  Probably...and in any other year, I’d want her to win her third Oscar...but Michelle Yeoh’s performance 100% deserves that award.  I am totally here for an EEAAO sweep.

We shall see how the night goes!!!

#Academy Awards #oscars #everything everywhere all at once #women talking #the fabelmans #tar

[ikram1909]

About Frenkie's possible departure, reports are saying that the club expects at least 70-80M for him and people are not totally convinced because they want much more for him (i understand them, he was expensive for us and many PL clubs bought mid-players for 100M, why they can't buy one of their main targets for years for that amount or more?) but I think im okay if we sell him for that amount because first, he really hasn't been performing how we expected since he came here: his most memorable game was against Napoli in Europa League and what rubs me off is that it seems h is immune to these g/a discourses our youngsters are always there, he doesn't score, assist or defend (which cost us many games btw), maybe he helps for build up, but that's the only thing I can recall from him and that tells you enough about this player. He said that he prefers to play deeper, receive the ball from defenders, yet he never creates, and he never shone in that position (also he forces other midfielders to play out of position for him and expect to do a worse job) so he isn't really a worthy #8, his defensive awareness is disastrous and can't defend if there isn't any other player covering his flaws so he isn't fit to be a #6, any other position in the midfield is also not enough for him if there isn't a specific player and dynamic with him. As I said, he forces our other midfielders to play out of position only to accommodate him and that is not beneficial for the developing of our players and even worse is that we play worse because Frenkie's isn't that kind of player. I think he just doesn't work for Barça, maybe another club is better for him. Our most valuable players (the younger ones) have been receiving tons of hates for doing ten times the job of Frenkie and more successfully, I don't understand how we got into the narrative that he is our best midfielder by miles when he really has 0 highlights, and he is always exempt of G/A arguments for some reason. This season people started to realize his biggest flaws not because of some kind of downgrade, but because when we needed him the most he never stepped up. What I think why he should leave is because of his mentality, e gives up easily and when we lose a match it's always "we did our best" it's quite frustrating seeing how our youngsters are always giving full interviews showing how mentally strong they're and their desire to win and give their own self-criticism, but one of our captains can't even give some words of encouragement? Yeah no, we have to move on from the players we signed from 2018-2020 because they are always the same; mid-players with big PR, eternal losers that will never fight for this club.

And that leads to clubs realizing that his performances aren't that great, and they're not willing to throw money for someone like him, much less for a 26 years old who has been rejecting them for years. If we get 70M or 80M for him, I will be more than happy because many people don't realize that his deferred salary is a big problem for other clubs to sign him because his wages are so fucking big that not even oil clubs aren't so convinced to pay for him. Really, if we can get rid of him that would mean we could get much more space for FFP, people don't realize how Frenkie is making us struggle with his wages, Also I want to add that finally his fan base would leave and that means they won't be there to compare him to Gavi and Pedri and throw them shit.

I just hope we can get some good deal for him and sign a DM with the money we get or a LW/fullback

I say take the money and run 🫣 I like Frenkie and he's a good player and all but nothing he does on the pitch justifies his insane wages AND wasting the development of two of the biggest midfield talents in the world right now. It just doesn't. The guy has been here for years and I genuinely can't think of one memorable performance from him whereas I can think of many for both Gavi and Pedri who started playing for us much later than him. So on what basis should THEY be the ones sacrificed for his sake? It just makes no sense to me. He's a player who needs too much to be comfortable and even then his output isn't really impressive. I don't want to be harsh on him but I really don't see why we should keep making so many sacrifices for his sake. I also don't know why he skips the g/a criticism while Pedri and Gavi and constantly harassed over it constantly. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not one to judge midfielders by g/a but the double standards of this fanbase never fail to piss me off. It's like you said, I think it's better for all parties if he goes somewhere else where they can play to his strengths the way Ajax did. That reunion with Erik ten hag would fix everybody's problems me thinks 🫣

And yeah another big positive would be seeing his satanic fans leave with him. Words cannot explain how much I hate that lot they're so fucking nasty. They fucking love to being up injuries and celebrate they're fucked in the head istg.

[bongaboi]

Saint Mary's: 2023-24 West Coast Men's Basketball Champions

LAS VEGAS – It’s not a coincidence Gonzaga’s two lowest-scoring games of the season came against Saint Mary’s.

The Gaels rank second nationally in scoring defense (58.7 points per game), first in rebounding margin (11.9) and eighth in field-goal percentage defense (39.8%). All three were major factors in the Gaels’ 69-60 victory in Tuesday’s West Coast Conference Tournament championship game.

Gonzaga connected on 44.4% from the field, including 2 of 11 behind the 3-point arc. That’s well below GU’s season averages of 51.8% shooting and 35.7% on 3s.

Saint Mary’s owned the glass 39-22, including 12 offensive boards that led to an 11-4 advantage in second-chance points. A few of those extra possessions came at critical times in a close contest.

Saint Mary’s post Mitchell Saxen led the way with 15 rebounds, six at the offensive end. Graham Ike was limited to 20 minutes due to foul trouble and Gonzaga’s leading rebounder finished with just five boards.

“That could be it (stretches without Ike on the floor),” Zags forward Anton Watson said. “And (Mason) Forbes and Saxen are good rebounders, they kind of sit next to the hoop and they’re strong. I didn’t know Saxen had 15 rebounds.

“We got pounded on the glass.”

Saint Mary’s handed GU a 64-62 defeat at the McCarthey Athletic Center. Gonzaga won the rematch 70-57, thanks to a 44-point first half when it was able to get out in transition in the regular-season finale.

Ike, who came into the tournament riding a seven-game streak with at least 20 points, scored 20 points in two games.

“It was just incredibly physical in there,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “You let Saxen be that physical, he’s tough to score on. It was a sumo wrestling match down there. If that’s the case he’s probably going to win. He’s the biggest and strongest of these guys.”

Ike made just 9 of 23 shot attempts in two tournament games. The Gaels’ approach was a little different than San Francisco’s.

“Maybe just a little bit more one-on-one,” Ike said. “They were bringing another guy, not like three guys (on Monday night). The paint was a little clogged. That’s all right, we’ll learn.”

Saint Mary’s limited the Zags to four fastbreak points. Nearly every possession came down to execution in the half court.

“It’s a different type of team,” GU point guard Ryan Nembhard said. “You don’t play a team like that too often.”

Asked if it’s tough to stay patient against the Gaels, Nembhard said, “Yeah, I think I took a couple of shots, some bad 3s. I have to go watch film and figure out what I need to do better.”

Marciulionis tourney MVP Saint Mary’s dominated the all-tournament honors, much like it did with the regular-season awards.

Guard Augustas Marciulionis was named tournament MVP after averaging 13 points, seven assists and four rebounds in two victories.

He was joined on the all-tournament team by Gaels Aidan Mahaney and Saxen. Mahaney scored a game-high 23 points and made five 3-pointers in the championship game. Saxen added 19 points and 15 rebounds.

Gonzaga was represented by Watson and Nembhard. The two carried GU’s offense most of the night against the Gaels. Watson finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and three assists. He posted 17 points and seven boards in the semifinal win over San Francisco. Nembhard had 13 points and 11 assists in the title game, one night after finishing with 16 points and 12 assists .

#2024 #march madness #saint mary's gaels #saint mary's college #west coast conference #college basketball

[rubyroboticalt]

https://www.tumblr.com/rubyroboticalt/727267145704259584/the-current-final-page-i-dont-really-have-any?source=share

I NEED MORE OF THIS??? PLEASE tell me about this au omg

OH BABY I WAS SAVING THIS FOR WHEN I HAD THE BRIAN FOR IT! including bolding and italics for easier reading on my part

i am SO fond of my witch in the well au. the connection was between witch!lying and witchcraft smp being, well, witches. the basic concept was one of the witchcrafters accidentally summons/awakens an old power, which freed lying from the well. originally it was actually going to be scott who freed them, by trying and failing to contact an ancient power, but then joey literally fell into a well. and that was just too poetic to ignore. i think lying was going to be a fear witch specifically.

>i dont have significant plot beyond the comic, which is why it's ended (tentative, if i get ideas i may continue), but i and some friends did have ideas for interactions beyond it. if it had continued, joey was going to make some deals with the witch for more power. to quote my own discord msgs on it, "maybe he does want to be the supreme witch, but is it worth this? lying makes him uneasy. he can't help but feel he's in danger, whenever he's around them. like there's something off" (mar 2023). so joey ends up in an uneasy sort of alliance, in part because after he escaped the well by digging/building out (not bound by the magic lying was, free to move and craft as he pleases), they look very much like a wet cat.

>cleo would recognize that dealing with the fear witch is a bad idea, but also treats them more as a nuisance than a threat until given evidence to the contrary. she also antagonizes them a little, because cleo in witchcraft (and in general) refuses to be intimidated even when given good reason, and the witch is all about intimidating people.

something something slapfight between the fear witch trying to intimidate and cleo's refusal to be scared. cleo doesn't tend to overestimate themself, so how well that slapfight goes for her depends on if she realizes it won't go well for her and plays cautious or if she leans in to the slapfight and sees what lying is capable of. if it's the latter, they probably get taken out of commission long enough to preserve the critical mistake moment for others. lying, to cleo, seems a little like a jokey thing and there's a significant chance she underestimates them.

part of what makes cleo and lying's interaction/slapfight so interesting is both of them spec'd into defense and retaliation instead of offense, meaning there's a tense waiting period to see who strikes first. there might be social tension because witch!cleo and lying the witch are similar, but cleo has friendly allies and lying has only the hesitant alliance with joey. that could be dug into and inspected closely for good plot points.

another angle that was discussed was cleo, being the time witch, may have met other lyings/at least be aware of them, giving her a reason to be wary. if she has, then she probably plays cautious, and during the crux of the intimidation slapfight she makes an escape. she honestly may have been friends with other lyings in other timelines!

and, tbh, from what ive seen and heard of lyings in general, they are mostly posturing and intimidation. witch!lying has gotten their ass kicked both times ive seen an actual fight (priest!lying, maid!lying, for example). they have a lot of defensive power but there's not much to back up that posturing. in contrast, cleo is closer to 70% posturing, but has power to back that up. the witch is scary and smart, but cleo is on a server with a bunch of maniacs who kill each other for fun (civil war, house war, demise, turf war, whatever the hell season 8 was, tag, decked out 1 & 2, demise 2, etc) where the witch was on a server where folks killed in self defense or to settle scores. this means the way they approach conflict differs!

>cupquake keeps her distance because the trees give her a quick psa to Stay Away From That Thang, depicted in the comic as the trees becoming more storybook horror gnarled branches the closer cupquake got. another funny quote from the outline for the comic "for once it is the trees who speak for the lorax" (mar 2023). iirc i may have written stuff in the branches but idr? ik i wrote things in the fog but the fog was specifically lying luring ppl in to free them. cupquake nopes out and plays avoidance hardcore, bc what i recall from watching her as a kid is while she has a lot of magic power once she gets into the midgame of botania, she's also very easy to startle/scare.

>an interesting point brought up is the ravens, tameable ravens from the modpack! el had a conversation with one in her first episode and shelby tamed one. the witch can see through ravens' eyes iirc. el thinks they're crows but based on how they're tamed they're bewitchment ravens. i didnt go too deep into this one for the comic but theres potential there.

>i never fleshed out the end of the story/plot regarding the supreme witch but i imagine the goal is getting the witch back to their home server or something. maybe they partake in the competition to be supreme witch, maybe they dont. honestly feel free to riff off of what i have written! witch in the well was made collaboratively and id love to see how other folks play in the universe!

#witchcraft smp #witch in the woods lying #witchcraft joey #witchcraft cleo #witchcraft el #witchcraft shelby #witchcraft cupquake #witch in the well au #ironically i dont think any of the comic posts are tagged that. but you can find them by searching witchcraft smp on my blog i hope #looking back at the posts i forgot to fucking link the prev/next pages on them. oops. #long post

[pumathoughts]

Buffalo Bills 2023 Season: Roller Coaster of Emotions

What a long strange trip it has been this season aye Bills fans? We love the stress of rooting for this team and I don’t know why. The playoff drought changed us for sure BUT these Buffalo Bills are different. They have to be at least, right!? But I mean if you told me in July that the Bills would: lose week 1 to a Jets team with Aaron Rodgers not playing after the first series, lose in London to the Jags, lose to the Pats in Foxboro, lose a sluggish game to Denver on a last second field goal they missed but 12 men on the field gave them another chance, fire Ken Dorsey, lose in OT to Philadelphia, THEN have to win 5 straight just to get the 2 seed in the playoffs because the Dolphins got to 11 wins first….I would’ve said, “Jesus that’s a lot going on but I’m not surprised they made it hard on themselves.”

This has been a real test of patience this season. I mean we all have people we talk to each game day, group chats, phone calls, etc. and we all exude the same emotions during a game, “Go Bills, I hate this team, Fire McDermott, Big W Go Bills!” through every Facebook post, every meme, every Tweet, Retweet, sub tweet (the platform is called “X” now yet we still say Tweet and Retweet, weird right?) we have seen it all, everything has been said some true some not but opinions are out there. Whether it’s Colin Cowherd making proclamations, Nick Wright dropping his stupid ass banners, Stephen A. Smith screaming, Mad Dog Russo yelling, there hasn’t been a hot take unheard. But we’ve been hearing it since early this summer.

Josh Allen started by saying he’s 100% committed to football, then went on a getaway with his celebrity girlfriend the paparazzi caught on a balcony. I read some doozy of hot takes on this, like he should be more focused, not on vacation. Um, he’s allowed to go on vacation with his girlfriend in the OFFSEASON! No one in this world makes their job their life. It’s not something you do 24 hours a day 365 days a year. You take vacations, you go places, you do things. Josh Allen is allowed to do that too. Then we get past this to training camp when hope springs eternal and optimism is just at a fever pitch. Super Bowl or bust was the attitude, a Lombardi trophy banner was put in the field house to motivate the team! That was met with scoffs from national media members but McDermott being the master motivator he is (I’ll get to Ty Dunne’s article in a minute) it’s about the bigger picture. The trophy is what you work for, obviously. But then the season starts.

Aaron Rodgers had a season ending injury after 4 plays into his first game as a New York Jet. The scene was set for the Bills to assert themselves as a team that would show no mercy. They should’ve rolled the Jets with Zack Wilson at QB. Instead, I held my newborn son who was hours old by the time that game started, and watched this team bumble over themselves and lose on a punt return to get shocked by the Jets. I mean Rodgers went down and the air left MetLife. That game was over right there EXCEPT it wasn’t. This vaunted Bills offense only mustered 16 points in that loss. I was angry for 4 days after this game. I shouldn’t let this team dictate my mood but I do and I hate myself for it.

Then, all the questions, all the chatter of McDermott’s game management, Josh Allen’s turnovers, what will happen now, is the sky falling? Answer was no, they smoked the Raiders and Commanders setting up a showdown with the “greatest show on surf” Dolphins….and absolutely put on a clinic of defensive mastery. The Dolphins scored 70 points the week before on Denver so of course that’s all you hear about the Dolphins the rest of the year. The Bills beat Miami by 28 points. Then over to London to lose Matt Milano, Da’Quan Jones, and the game to Jacksonville and the funk begins. Frustration is the best way I can describe the 5 weeks following London. A 14-9 win against the Giants which I was there for, loss in Foxboro to New England, win against Tampa, losses to the Bengals and Denver which get Ken Dorsey fired.

Don’t get me wrong by this point in the season I wanted McDermott gone. I knew it would be an end of season firing. But instead, I get Ken Dorsey’s head on a platter and a beat down of a sad Jets team, then the Bills go to Philadelphia. Now when Allen fired it to Gabe Davis in overtime and he missed it, I was mad but IT SHOULD HAVE NEVER GOTTEN TO THAT POINT! Allen threw a INT in a bad moment late in regulation, but gunslingers throw picks. Sean McDermott elected to not give his superstar QB a chance to lead a game-winning drive with 20 seconds left and 1 timeout. Instead, he elects to take a knee and go to overtime where he AND Josh Allen are 0-6. Not to mention the Eagles rushed onto the field for a fire-drill field goal attempt that McDermott CALLED A TIMEOUT TO ICE THE KICKER FOR! I mean, what the hell are you doing!? Let it ride maybe he misses it, but we’ll never know now. Instead, they let Jalen Hurts waltz into the endzone in OT to go into the bye week with a season on the brink.

Then Ty Dunne of Golongtd.com drops a bombshell expose of Sean McDermott and his management of the team and how he isn’t the coach to bring this team to a championship. The most odd and controversial tidbit from this article is in 2019 at training camp McDermott tries to make the point of the team coming together and communicating like the 9/11 terrorists did in achieving their goal. This leaves me with so many more questions but this almost confirmed it that if the wheels fell off the final 5 games McDermott was gone. The Bills won 4 games out of the bye week, in Kansas City, ran all over Dallas, nail biters against the Chargers and Patriots (those didn’t inspire confidence) then a showdown in Miami for the Division and the 2 seed in the playoffs.

They left A LOT of points on the field, that game should’ve been 48-14 but it wasn’t. the Bills outgained the Dolphins and just all around bullied them off the field. Tua’s quest to be taken seriously as a QB took a hit with a pedestrian night and a game sealing INT and now the Dolphins get the pleasure of going to KC instead of having a home game. The Bills get the suddenly hot Steelers.

What can be said other than this season has been typical Bills through and through with a surprise or two. I felt anger, joy, confusion, shock, dismay, hilarity, and overall content with this season. The talk of Allen’s turnovers gets super annoying but he keeps turning the ball over so I can’t be too mad at it. Now we look forward to a matchup with the Steelers who have had their own issues this season and also fired their offensive coordinator. This should be a game where the Bills win by 10 but honestly it can go either way for me. But that is another post for another day. This regular season is over and the Bills somehow salvaged 11 wins. It truly is a week to week league and with this team the roller-coaster of emotions just seemingly never stops, but what a ride it is.

#bills #nfl #billsmafia #nfl playoffs

[theultimatefan]

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Milwaukee Jersey Worn During His First Two NBA Seasons Debuts at Heritage

In 2018, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar penned an open letter to that year’s NBA Draft class in which he welcomed them to the “rollercoaster ride that is your rookie year.” Abdul-Jabbar, as accomplished a writer today as he was a scorer during his basketball career, warned the newbies about the “rush of confusing paradoxes, conflicting emotions, competing options, and dubious advice from crusty been-there old-timers. Like me.” At which point, Abdul-Jabbar turned his attention toward his rookie season in 1969, when the 22-year-old still known as Lew Alcindor out of UCLA was drafted first overall by the last-place Milwaukee Bucks thanks to the flip of a coin.

“I found that the best way to deal with the jitters was for me to focus on setting personal goals rather than think about the expectations others put on me,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote. “And, man, were there a lot of expectations: I’d been the first person drafted and the media directed intense attention at me about what I was going to do and how I was going to do it. All the hype left me thinking that this was mine to screw up.”

Of course, Abdul-Jabbar did anything but screw it up: During the 1969-70 season, he led the Bucks to second place in the Eastern Division and was named Rookie of the Year. One season later, he was the league’s scoring leader; the Bucks swept the Baltimore Bullets in the NBA Finals; and Abdul-Jabbar was named the Most Valuable Player for the regular season and in the Finals — of which served as prelude to a legend, as both a Buck and a Los Angeles Laker.

For the first time, Heritage offers in the Nov. 16-18 Fall Sports Catalog Auction a road Milwaukee Bucks jersey worn by Abdul-Jabbar during those historic seasons when the center snagged a league championship and a scoring title — each, the first of many to follow. Photo-matched by multiple third-party experts to crucial moments throughout Abdul-Jabbar’s days as a legend-in-the-making, the jersey serves as a thrilling offering in an auction abounding with palpable reminders of historic achievements and magical memories shaped by titanic athletes.

Resolution Photomatching confirms it was at least worn during an April 1971 Western Conference Finals versus the Lakers and an April 1971 NBA Finals game against the Bullets. Sports Investors Authentication turned up likely matches to several regular season and post-season games, dating from March 18, 1970, to the Game Four title-clinching contest against the Bullets on April 30, 1971. It is graded a MEARS A10 and also comes with a letter of provenance from Patrick McBride, a former Bucks equipment manager.

The jersey is joined in this auction by the 1969 Look Magazine College All-America Basketball Team ring presented to Alcindor in 1969. It hails from The Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Collection.

Here, as well, is more jewelry awarded to another pro-basketball great in 1969: the NBA Championship ring Bill Russell received when his Boston Celtics won their 11th title in 13 seasons. Auctioned by the two-time NCAA champ and Olympic gold medalist shortly before his death last year, this was the final title ring of Russell’s storied 13-year run as the Celtics’ center (and, for a while, player-coach), earned when the Boston basketball squad entered the Finals as underdogs to their arch-nemeses Lakers (featuring Wilt Chamberlain, natch) and emerged victorious after seven heated hardwood tussles.

It’s a wonder to behold: ESPN once marveled at the “colossal jewel” at its center and noted how “BOSTON CELTICS and WORLD CHAMPIONS are separated by the year: 1969, Russell’s last as a professional.” The words “WILLIAM” and “RUSSELL” are etched on opposite sides of the prized piece.

“With the opening of the basketball season upon us, we are delighted to offer these incredible pieces from the greats of the game,” says Chris Ivy, Director of Sports Auctions at Heritage. “And it doesn’t stop with these two pieces, either: Here are Michael Jordan’s 1984 Olympic game-worn Converse sneakers and one of the nicest examples of one of the rarest cards, a Wilt Chamberlain 1961 Fleer rookie bearing a Mint 9 signature. This auction is one hell of a tip-off to the new season.”

Among the auction’s other top tops, you’ll find a 1958 Los Angeles Dodgers white home flannel that throws nothing but heat: Sandy Koufax’s game-worn jersey dating to the team’s first year in the City of Angeles. The Left Hand of God also signed the gamer, into which Rawlings stitched “Koufax 58” below the manufacturer’s label.

Koufax was the first three-time winner of the award named for Cy Young, who is represented in this event by a card that needs little pitching: a twice-signed 1893 cabinet card from the hard-throwing righty’s collection. The card was made by Pifer & Becker, among Cleveland’s most renowned photo studios, which counted among its clients Young’s Cleveland Spiders. Only six of their cabinets have been to auction.

“This relic is an absolute unicorn,” says Heritage’s Executive Vice President of Sports, Joe Orlando. “The provenance is remarkable, as is the rarity and quality. There has been a massive surge in the popularity of signed cards, but signed cards from this era are so few and far between.”

There are the modern icons and gems here, too, among them: card No. 41 of the 100 signed Tom Brady rookies from the Playoff Contenders series issued in 2000; the only 2017 Panini Contenders Patrick Mahomes II Super Bowl Ticket Autograph rookie card, graded BGS Mint 9 and Auto 9; and the one-of-one 2011 Bowman Chrome Bryce Harper Prospect Autograph-Superfractor, graded BGS Gem Mint 9.5 and Auto 10. They’re the chase cards of which young collectors’ dreams are made.

So were these once: Topps’ limited run of cards made for the Venezuelan market and aimed at that country’s profoundly passionate baseball fans. They existed for a short time — seven years, on and off, between 1959 and 1968 — and looked like their American counterparts, save for the darker, rougher and less shiny stock. The numerous websites devoted to the subject all say the same thing: You almost have to hold the cards to tell the differences. But they are decidedly rare, and the more than 110 offerings in this auction — including a 1959 Venezuela Topps Mickey Mantle graded PSA Excellent 5 and a 1960 Venezuela Topps Carl Yastrzemski Sport Magazine Rookie Star) graded PSA Excellent+ 5.5 — are decidedly impressive, especially since finding these cards in a high grade is challenging, at best.

This offering, though, is impossible to find anywhere else: a photograph of Babe Ruth he signed on June 28, 1947, and gifted to a young ballplayer named Paul DeKovessey. Ruth had been diagnosed with throat cancer the year before, and Paul’s mother was the Yankees legend’s nurse. When Ruth signed that photo, he was undergoing experimental treatments at New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital using an anti-cancer drug made from brewer’s yeast. This photo comes from the DeKovessey family’s collection.

Here’s another family heirloom with a New York baseball legend connection: Early 1960s Jackie Robinson Used Los Angeles Brooklyn Dodgers equipment bag, which he gifted to a would-be Dodger during a 1964 tryout — in this case, our consignor’s father.

Dodgers scouting director Al Campanis invited 19-year-old Mike Mathwig to a Dodgers Rookie Stars of Tomorrow tryout on June 23, 1964, at John Galvin Field near Los Angeles. The teen carried with him a glove, his shoes and a uniform. Robinson saw the kid without an equipment bag and offered him his — a blue Dodgers bag upon which was stenciled one of the sport’s most famous numbers, 42. Before becoming a high school coach, Mathwig played eight years in the minors, including six seasons in the sun as a Dodgers prospect. In time, the bag made its way to Mathwig’s garage, where it sat for decades until his son-in-law discovered it in 2013. Mathwig was asked where it came from. His response, according to a letter provided by his daughter and the bag’s consignor, Sarah McKay: “Oh yeah, Jackie gave that to me.”

This auction is rife with stories like this — footnotes deserving of whole chapters. Look no further than the bat Ty Cobb signed in 1947 for Juanita Jennings, the mother of Babe Ruth’s daughter Dorothy. For decades, Dorothy was introduced as Ruth’s adopted daughter with his first wife, Helen. But in her 1988 biography My Dad, The Babe, Dorothy revealed she was, in fact, his biological daughter — the result of Ruth’s affair with Jennings in 1920. As the catalog notes, Cobb knew nothing of this backstory, only that Jennings was a close friend of Ruth’s.

From the world of horse racing comes another marvel with a backstory provided by Hall of Fame jockey Ángel Tomás Cordero Jr., the first Puerto Rican inducted into the United States Racing Hall of Fame: his “magic saddle,” which he used to win eight Triple Crown races. As Cordero says in a lengthy missive accompanying the saddle, which he signed, it was made specially for the jockey in 1978 and was first used “in winning the 1978 Stuyvesant Handicap on Seattle Slew in what was the last race of his career.” He used it until 2020, by which time, Cordero writes, it had become “the most famous saddle in horse racing history.”

The Nov. 16-18 Fall Sports Catalog Auction abounds with extraordinary stories like that. Our advice: Saddle up.

#auction #jabbar

[anthonybialy]

Buffalo Bills Win Meet's Only Medal

Is this the Pro Bowl?  Both competitors played along with the track meet narrative for the sprint’s first segment.  The common suggestion regarding how the game would unfurl was limited in the best way by one team getting winded.  Miami really should quit smoking no matter how cool they think it makes them.

The gentlemen’s agreement to not defend was eventually disregarded by one racer.  Frenzy participants were at least correct that one team in this game would score incessantly.

The game the league wanted to feature scoring at will featured sort-of compliance.  Miami participated at least for a little while.

Surprise takes the form of a different style for setting up a barrage.  A commitment to rushing first allowed the Bills to show both aspect’s respective virtues in the same game.  An offense can be two things simultaneously just like I can be charmingly cranky.

October’s opening complied with the theme.  For one game per year, defense is illegal.  The Purge counts as a scary movie in honor of Halloween month.

Getting just enough touches for running backs doesn’t merely justify their salaries.  Freddy and Jason aligning means trouble for partying teens.  The flashier aspect functions best when accompanied by grinding.

Handing off is like blackjack where players have to expect frequent lack of gains.  Players just need to come ahead a little bit.  Play correctly, and royal cards will show up as if by magic.

The offense is certainly not leaving receivers out of it.  These are the Bills in the 2020s, after all.  Find ice and throw your hat on it to honor the Stefon Diggs hat trick.  The middle touchdown impressed the most as his uncommon strength paired with legendary speed allowed him to reach the best decathlon score.

Rushers gained more than ground.  The Bills only ran for 104 yards, which was actually fewer than the team they beat.  But providing a distraction is the top contribution.  The more workmanlike aspect sets up glamorous throws.  Backs and receivers complement each other like Wozniak and Jobs. I wonder if anything became of the Homebrew Computer Club.

Defensive coordinators have to worry about something unexpected with a team that throws touchdowns at will.  Opening the game with more runs than expected offers another dimension which future foes have to spend extra time in therapy addressing.  There’s no option to decline facing fears.

The City of Pushy Neighbors is a compliment.  The variation on Philadelphia’s Brotherly Shove showed a quarterback helping in any way he can.  Josh Allen doesn’t have a sack, yet.

It’s tough for Miami to cope with this weather.  Their players are not used to the football being this hot.  That burning feeling explains the turnovers.  After a week of hearing how Miami is unbeatable, it turns out they're not the Cobra H.I.S.S.

Miami helped the score almost get to 70.  Their foes contributed a significant majority.  Sunday’s blowout brought to mind tallying 58 points against Miami in their first matchup. Respect history by aspiring to match welcome precedents. 

Time’s flying like the football. We’re already slightly less than one-quarter through the season thanks to a prime schedule.  It’s not to get cocky, beating Miami feels like a crucial early item crossed off a divisional championship to-do list.  Early results affect the outcome just as surely as outcomes at season’s end.  Spike Spiegel copes with his past in the present, which is set in the future.

There will be a time soon when this result will weigh heavily without being able to affect what happened.  The regrettable opener was an outlier that counts equally.  This club must continue to make a particularly sad night in New Jersey as irrelevant as possible.

Empathy feels particularly acute when we watch the humans in question coping with hurting.  On the promising side, we’re thrilled about one potential legendary comeback.  London might be even luckier than anticipated if they get to see the 2023 premiere for a future Hall of Famer.  The Dolphins were so intimidated by the mere thought that Von Miller might practice this week that they couldn’t focus.  If you’ve correctly been impressed by Leonard Floyd, imagine him aiming at the quarterback with an all-time pro on the other end.

The thought of seeing one subject of admiration again is balanced with feeling sick for another who’s basically going to miss three years.  There are an innumerable number of ways to show concern for Tre White other than the present cruel one.  The only thing more unfair than one horrific leg injury is a second.

White is the prototypical adopted Buffalonian who shows up for a career and becomes beloved as a person.  We cheer for graduation from the Tre White Speedy Recovery Academy just for his well-being.  Every single fan offered an Achilles tendon.

An underwhelming teammate can take the unwanted opportunity offered by a devastating moment.  If Kaiir Elam wants to prove he can fit in this defense and/or the NFL, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium would be the place to start.

We’ve already seen the Comeback Player of the Century claim his award.  There’s never been a more cherished appreciation of special teams participation than Damar Hamlin.  He won even before kickoff. A single play served as the biggest triumph.  Ultimately drubbing their rival is just a bonus, albeit a rather sweet one.

#Buffalo Bills #Stefon Diggs #Josh Allen