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mmhaterade · 1 year

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The 2023 Hater's Guide to the Midwest Region.

This blog is not in any way affiliated with the NCAA, its entities, subsidiaries, or member institutions. This is a humor site and should be treated as such. We're all on our way out -- act accordingly.

1. Houston (31-3). While coaching at Indiana from 2006-08, Kelvin Sampson wasn’t just into some hood shit, he was the chairman of hood shit. During his time at Oklahoma, he and his staff were subject to a three year investigation of their recruiting practices, and he was eventually barred from recruiting off campus for a year. After Sampson was hired at Indiana, he turned around and DID THE EXACT SAME THING, then lied to school and NCAA officials regarding his involvement. Sampson’s continued recruitment of an already committed player rankled some Big Ten coaches, especially because said player (Eric Gordon) eventually decommitted from Illinois to attend IU. Whether you call it a firing or a forced resignation (semantics, right), Sampson was hit with a five year show-cause penalty and landed in the NBA. As soon as the show-cause penalty expired, Sampson immediately rejoined the college ranks, hiring his son and daughter into the Houston program as well. Nepotism, baby! Qualifications be damned!

2. Texas (26-8). This school’s motto should be “Unrealized Potential.” Every coach they fire experiences almost immediate success (see Rick Barnes, Shaka Smart). They fired Chris Beard for tuning up his fiance and everyone assumed he would be out of coaching for a few years…NOPE! Ole Miss snatched him up right away. There’s a non-zero chance of a statement being issued which reads in part “We looked into the Chris Beard situation, we did our due diligence, we didn’t not talk to his fiance, we know more about this situation than Chris Beard himself.” When you’re a power conference basketball program barely sniffing relevance, you’ll be more than willing to trade the shred of your remaining integrity to hire a guy who’ll most likely cave his wife’s head in with a blender someday.

3. Xavier (25-9). Xavier is a dollar-store Marquette. They should not be confused with prominent HBCU Xavier University of Louisiana, which is funny because Cincinnatians love them some good old fashioned race riots - in the 21st century!

4. Indiana (22-11). The glory days of this program are so far behind them, one must squint at images broadcast from a VHS tape to remember when they dominated the old Big Ten. The university has continued to punch themselves in the dick with coaching searches: removing an interim tag after one upset (Mike Davis), taking on another university’s problem (Kelvin Sampson), pretending they didn’t know the 2-3 zone from a team WHO PLAYED 100% ZONE DEFENSE (Tom Crean), or chasing fleeting success (Archie Miller). It took Indiana too long to realize Archie was a bargain basement Knight knockoff who couldn’t cut it in a major conference. Mike Woodson has proven Carmel dads know jack shit about coaching; he is a high-level recruiter, his players love him even when being held accountable, and – surprise – he’s taken three of four from Purdue. I don’t know, could they get hot and make a run? Sure…but there’s too much inconsistency, the defense has fallen off a cliff, and they still can’t hit free throws when it matters. So…FINAL FOUR BABY! (I am ready to be hurt again.)

5. Miami (25-7). If you want to know how little people in Miami think of the Hurricanes’ basketball program, here is the perfect anecdote: the university gave up basketball from 1971-1985 and no one even noticed! The best season in their history ended with a 26-point drubbing to Kansas (2022) – even Marquette waited until the Final Four to get hammered by the Jayhawks. Miami also sports a 28-year gap between NCAA tournament appearances, which is still 19 years shorter than Wisconsin’s gap. Have I mentioned we are ecstatic Wisconsin didn’t make the tournament?

6. Iowa State (19-13). Everyone likes UNI, the small, plucky state school who manages to make some occasional noise in the tournament (see 2nd round upset of Kansas in 2012). Iowa, the flagship state institution, gets a lion’s share of the publicity – even if their football team’s offense is stuck in 1897. Meanwhile, here are the Cyclones, the sad middle child everyone forgets is in the room. Even though the Hawkeyes have not made a Sweet 16 since the Clinton administration (Iowa State has been to three in the last decade), they are the first and last name in Iowa sports. The Cyclones could make the Final Four and most Iowans first response would be “Hawkeyes Big Ten Champs in ’24 – book it!”

7. Texas A&M (25-9). Buzz Williams’ blood type is sweet tea and hooker tears. He has always been the opposite of genuine. He preaches loyalty, cohesion, and talks about his programs being family, then packs his bags when things get tough or when he feels like he’s not getting the love from whichever university employs him. He’ll tell you he doesn’t want the Texas job, but he is always angling for something better while being destined to coach in out of the way places (A&M, Virginia Tech) where folks are easily fooled by his aw shucks charm and phony Bible-beating rah-rah bullshit. Texas A&M is basically a JUCO, so Buzz’ recruiting strategy hasn’t changed one bit. He is nothing but a fraud, a snake oil salesman, a charlatan. Buzz always looks like he just finished a dip, a tug, and a Polish sausage in a Wendy’s bathroom.

8. Iowa (19-13). No one is going to accuse the Iowa offense (basketball edition) of being boring – but they will accuse Fran McCaffrey of being an embarrassing malcontent. “Upset” is Fran’s default setting, as noted on the official FRANCON Alert System.

Iowa has yet to make the Sweet 16 during McCaffrey’s tenure. I hope an Auburn player stares him down like he looked at the ref in that Michigan State game. Lighten up, Francis.

9. Auburn (20-12). This is a de facto home game for Bruce Pearl’s completely forgettable squad, which is odd, since I thought only the top four seeds were protected. All Auburn fans look like Joe Dirt, 77% of them own a pair of TruckNutz and at least half are sitting in the wilderness fantasizing about their cousins.

10. Penn State (22-13). The nicest thing I can say about this school is the ratio of molestations has dropped significantly across all of their athletic programs – that we know of. Their football uniforms are classic and regal while the basketball uniforms all came off the rack from a sporting goods store that’s going out of business.

11. Mississippi State (21-12) or Pittsburgh (22-11). Mississippi State is best known for its storied history of not allowing its basketball teams to accept postseason tournament invitations if they would face African-American players. Mississippi was the second state to secede from the U.S. in 1861; if memes existed then, the most likely response would be the one of Jerry Seinfeld eating popcorn while saying “That’s a shame.”

Pittsburgh. #SadPittBearForLife. Other than wanting Greg Elliott to go for 30 points in an NCAA game, I could honestly give two shits about this team, university, or town. Choke on soggy French fries.

12. Drake (27-7). They didn’t sniff the tournament from 1971-72 to 2006-07 and then again from 2009-2021. Woof! They play their home games in a converted port-a-potty cleaning facility (checks notes)...actually, I’m being told it is a sex offender work rehabilitation center. The average age of their starting lineup is 25.3, which basically makes them a YMCA mercenary league team. The last five years of Drake basketball have easily been the best in program history; unfortunately the youngest students who were alive for their only Final Four appearance are now 72.

13. Kent State (28-6). The Golden Flashes are back! Is Akron a nice place to live? Silence, followed by “Yeah?” When I find out someone willingly lives in Akron, my reaction is a not-sarcastic-at-all “I’m sure it’s a wonderful place full of wonderful people.” How many more train derailments need to happen in this state for Akron to become a “Top 5” city? The over/under is a dozen. It doesn’t really say in Kent State’s recruiting materials, but I am confident there is a Golden Showers Enthusiast Club on campus.

14. Kennesaw State (26-8). Their Division II national championship banner from 2004 was found in a storage closet, which is exactly where the newspapers celebrating their first NCAA appearance will be found in twenty years when they make their next appearance. The official university website states “As one of Georgia’s most innovative institutions in teaching and learning…” Who are they kidding? No one teaches shit in Georgia and the most useful information you can glean from their public school system is how to insert store brand hemorrhoid suppositories.

15. Colgate (26-8). Aren’t they better known for their toothpaste? They gave Wisconsin – not a university, but a bar crawl with housing – quite the scare last season. Their Wikipedia page is the saddest thing I have ever seen.

16. Northern Kentucky (22-12). In Indiana, if you don’t know how to shoot a jump shot by the age of 12, you are forced to move to Kentucky. Their team motto? “I back the Dew.”

#march madness #march #college basketball #college sports

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in-tua-deep · 3 years

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Ok I totally want to hear more about this survivors au/Delores is real! How do the siblings handle having this different version of Five? Five may be better adjusted but he still has to heard his family around like a bunch of stray cats. What happens when Hazel and Cha Cha show up? How do they find out that Vanya causes the apocalypse and how does Five handle that revelation?!

here is the thing, i think the survivors au has the potential to be HILARIOUS

no one knows how to handle a well-adjusted five, and this absolutely includes the commission

So you mentioned Hazel and Cha-Cha?? Five in this au was not nearly as absolutely feral as he is in the show bc he knows how to interact with people - he was raised by a competent adult and a weird best friend and they occasionally saw other survivors as well

please picture old Five hanging around the water cooler and chatting with Hazel

the other funny thing is that Five is competent passing - he is well adjusted emotionally but functionally?? Hazel is out there complaining about dental being cut and office parties and budgets and Five is there sipping his drink having never filed taxes in his life. Five doesn't know what the fuck a dental plan is, he was a child soldier and then lived in an apocalypse.

So please picture for me Hazel being like "okay I know corporate wants us to keep what we're being paid to ourselves but fuck that, workers unite, what do you get paid as a legend old timer?"

and five is like "you're getting paid? i get to not get tossed back into the apocalypse, I think"

"but what about expense forms? what about medical care?"

"I'm like 80% sure i'm being experimented on, actually." Five says nonchalantly, "Don't get me wrong, my idea of medical care is fucked by being a child soldier but I'm pretty sure regular people don't have electrodes attached to their heads every time they get a checkup. Could be wrong though! My ex-dad used to monitor my brainwaves while I slept so like, my idea of appropriate shit is fucked, you know?"

This is a Five who was raised by Rick, he is polite to his coworkers. If Dot asked him if he wanted to grab lunch, Five would have gone and grabbed lunch with her or politely said that he couldn't.

Cha Cha only ever talks to Five when she wants to talk shop, so they've had a couple of conversations about weapons but not much else tbh, Hazel just tends to be more personable

So when they're sent after Five, Hazel is much more hesitant to kill who he perceives as a "work friend" and also is definitely thinking about all the times Five casually revealed a way the commission was being highkey shady about him, such as the potential experimentation, no pay, working under duress etc. He's much more easily turned against the commission because he's even more primed to say "fuck the commission" than he is in canon

Hazel out here like "how did Five break his contract when Five wasn't even being paid? I kind of want to read it."

Hazel out here like "I would unionize if I didn't think the commission was anti-union enough to send literal assassins after me if I suggested it :/"

meanwhile with the siblings

Five just. talks over them a lot and makes so much sense that it's actually really hard to argue with him, and he's weirdly considerate of his family's obligations

Like Diego is like "i have to go see Patch" then Five is like "that's great I'm proud of you buddy, it would actually be really handy to have some law enforcement read into the situation if you think she's up to the task. that goes for everyone by the way! If y'all have people you trust, more bodies would be super helpful I think"

the entire family, collectively, who have like zero trusted social links: uhhhhhhhh

Diego, with this weird permission, probably?? Does? Awkwardly attempt to read Patch into the situation? Patch is, obviously, like "what the fuck, Diego" but probably goes with him to the mansion (????????) because she's concerned and then meets his fucking whacko family with their superpowers and suddenly everything is 100% more realistic

Five is just like "yes hello I'm aware I look like a child, i'm actually in my late 50s or early 60s (apocalypse time amiright) because of time travel stuff. Yes I am Five Hargreeves who went missing in like 2002 or whatever. anyway it's lovely to meet you, i'm so glad diego has someone he trusts, and considering my sibling's shifty looks when i told them to invite anyone they trusted this genuinely makes me concerned that Diego is the most socially well-adjusted of them."

"That cannot be possible." Patch says, like someone who has met Diego Hargreeves.

"You haven't met the rest." Five says sympathetically, "In our defense we were raised in isolation as child soldiers."

"That... explains so much." Is all Patch can say to that, "But you seem..."

"I'm adopted." Five waves away.

"We're ALL adopted." Diego grits out, very aggrieved by this and also not sure if he likes the fact that Patch seems friendly with Five, or at least is listening to him?

"I'm double adopted."

However! With the recruitment of Patch, herding Diego becomes like 90% easier.

Honestly the worst to herd are probably Luther and Allison? Luther because he's Number One and resents Five taking charge and also resents Five's casual dismissal of Reginald and also suspects that Five (or at least the commission) has something to do with Reginald's death?

Allison because she is torn between following Luther and helping him and helping Five but also calling Patrick and Claire at every possible moment while ALSO trying to repair her relationship with Vanya. She's flighty - she'd bail on a Five-apocalypse-assignment if Vanya mentioned being hungry or if Luther called or anything like that

Vanya likes to be included and, if asked, would probably drop as many current obligations as she can. Like she would probably cancel her teaching if Five genuinely and sincerely asked her for her help, which he does because he's 100% sure Dolores would manifest in front of him and smack him if he dared even imply someone without powers wouldn't be helpful

Vanya is like "I'm not sure if i'll be helpful - I don't have powers ):" and Patch is like "wtf are you talking about - my superpowers are Gun, Backup, and Reading Comprehension and i am like the most useful member of this team right now"

Vanya gets a confidence boost just from hanging out with Patch honestly, I think they should be friends

Klaus is thrilled to be included are you kidding?? He says he does it for money but he's just happy to be there and also as one of the most emotionally intelligent siblings he is mildly concerned about the fact that Five looks like he's about to cry and also emotes

Five also gives Klaus positive reinforcement, hugs, and Five absolutely weaponizes the I'm not mad, but I believe that you can do better and I'm going to give you more chances because I love you and fully believe that next time you'll be amazing way that Rick used on him.

I feel like Five ends up saying something along the lines of "I understand that x is really important, and we're definitely going to look into it. Is it something that needs to be addressed right now, or is it something that can wait until after April 1st? If it can wait, I can write it down here on this list so we don't forget. If it can't wait then we can figure out a time to address it and help you" a lot

Like Grace malfunctioning and potentially killing Reginald?

"We don't have to make this decision right now." Five says patiently, "Because Grace is a robot, we have some options. Living with a robot who is potentially malfunctioning and homicidal is dangerous, but Luther saying that means admitting that Reginald might have made a mistake or error with Grace's programming or upkeep. I haven't been here for a long time, but I remember Reginald being very precise. Regardless, this isn't a choice between permanently shutting her off or not. We can shut her down temporarily until we can fully address the issue. We can ask and see if there is a 'system reboot' option or some sort of system check that Grace can undergo. We can try find and hire an expert to take a look at her programming to find the issue."

Five gives this speech while like, organizing the weaponry in the house on a table very nonchalantly

Five out here making buzzer noises at his siblings arguments like "yeah no that's a false dichotomy and a strawman's argument, want to try again?"

(Look apocalypse nights were long and they had games that were literally about arguing pointless shit like ranking types of chairs or the best way to break out of a prison without powers and things could get heated)

"Who died and made you boss?" Luther demands.

"Uh, the world? Were you not listening?" Five asks, looking very purposefully confused.

It gets even MORE delightful when Five reads Rick into the situation because a) he promised and b) his siblings really have like, no connections jeeze

Rick fully believes that this is his son from the future, like Five introduced himself, but Five skipped out on a few key details. Such as being adopted.

So Rick spends a solid chunk of time just staring at Five, who looks basically nothing like him, trying to think like, who is his mother ???? if we save the world will Five stop existing? why would I name my child 'Five'? Does everyone have powers in the future? was there like... a radioactive apocalypse? would radiation give future humans superpowers? when did my life turn into a comic book? am i even allowed to ask these questions? will knowledge of the future fuck things up?

and then when Five comes back and is like "what is up everyone this is my dad Rick who will be joining us, he doesn't have any memories of me thanks to time travel but if anyone is mean to him i WILL kneecap them"

"Your DAD?"

Five does kidney punch Klaus for saying that Rick is a DILF but otherwise everyone just is like, warily looking at this Normal Dad Man in confusion because?? This is the dude who raised Five, who they watched take out like an entire commission team by himself yesterday? He looks so. Normal.

Rick is very confused and like, wonders if he's supposed to be the team mascot? But Five keeps involving him and asking his opinion and in return Rick enforces snack breaks and makes everyone sandwiches and has gentle talks with everyone

Every time Five notices someone about to blow he just lovingly makes sure that that person is alone in a room with Rick

Luther ends up crying on the sofa with Rick gently patting his back as Rick calmly states that Luther seems like he's put a lot of time and effort into his family and making his father proud and that since Reginald isn't here to say it, Rick will have to be the one to say that he's proud and that they've been dropped into a difficult and stressful situation - so soon after Reginald's death when they're still grieving! - and he's doing so well

Luther, experiencing unconditional positive paternal regard for the first time in his life: i don't know why i'm crying so much

honestly this is just a comedy of juggling the gang, having impromptu therapy sessions and discussions, investigating the apocalypse and the eye, leonard trying to meet vanya continuously and failing because she's constantly surrounding by family or rick/patch, the commission trying their best to bust up the dream team/isolate Vanya/kill or remove Five, while Hazel lives out his romcom dreams with Agnes and also says "fuck the commission"

#HUH?#survivors au #well adjusted five au #long post #far tua long #five recruits rick to be team dad #rick is DEEPLY confused #but he's the kind of person that rolls with it #dolores probably ends up tagging along as well on at least one occasion #dolores and patch bond #five pretends that dolores is a new sibling and not his dolores #five calls rick 'dad' and it messes with everyone else #patch is on team fuck-the-apocalypse(-and-reginald)#vanya is never alone so fuck leonard #five finds out that vanya causes the apocalypse and is like #vanya: HUH?#luther: maybe we should lock vanya up -#rick: are there are any other possible actions that might be more appropriate in this situation?#vanya: i could try get more meds to take and we could address the powers thing after april 1st #vanya immediately gets validated that reginald sucks #even luther who has had multiple conversations with rick is like 'dad... didn't always make the best choices...'#everyone: :0 #hazel doesn't kill patch so he probably joins team anti-apocalypse at some point #hazel: why are you a child #five: oh you know i'm young at heart and all that #OH forgot to mention one of the main differences in this au is that five like properly grew up this time #so while he is inconvenienced by his body he's not so deeply uncomfortable or angry about it #just resigned #'this might as well happen' - five #five probably makes jokes about it as well

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multiverseforger · 3 years

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Chris Powell was the teenage son of Mike Powell, a cop, and Grace Powell, a District Attorney. Following his younger twin brothers, Jon and Jason, to the abandoned amusement park across from his home, Chris discovered his father taking a bribe from mob boss Phillipe Bazin.[5][6]

While trying to escape with his brothers from Bazin's henchmen, Chris discovered an amulet that transposed him into the Darkhawk armor. When his father disappeared after Chris saw him, he swore to use the Darkhawk armor as an "edge against crime". Darkhawk's powers included a force blast which emanated from the amulet on his chest, a force shield from the same amulet, a claw cable which could serve as both a Wolverine-like claw, and a grapple cable, glider wings and later flight capability, enhanced vision and strength, and an image underneath the Darkhawk helmet which served to frighten and distract his enemies.[citation needed]

He often teamed up with Spider-Man. As a sometime member of the New Warriors, he befriended Speedball, Nova, and later, Turbo.[citation needed] During his tenure as a crime fighter, he was often trying to rescue his father, mother, or other family members.[citation needed]

He developed quite a roster of enemies: he would fight villains such as Hobgoblin and Tombstone, who were seeking to take his amulet, with the latter succeeding. He was extremely weakened and even dying from having the amulet removed, but still able to use all of his powers except for turning back into human form to heal. Once he retrieved the amulet he was able to put it back in his chest and fully heal. Darkhawk had 2 separate encounters with Venom, who felt that Chris was good natured and held back whereas Darkhawk was greatly opposed to Venom's ideals and way of handling crime, and swore to bring him to justice, despite Venom offering to be his ally. Lodestone: a magnetically-powered villain developed by Bazin, was often pitted against Darkhawk. He also fought against some who would later ally with him, such as Portal, a teleporting mutant who killed another Darkhawk and stole parts of his armor, Savage Steel, which had been created by the secret police cabal that Chris' dad had been a member of, and Damek, a mercenary sent from the future to kill Darkhawk.[citation needed]

Chris learned that his armor was actually an autonomously existing android armor, one of five commissioned by an alien mob lord named Dargin Bokk, being held in a sentient spaceship, Ocsh, in Null Space. When Chris grasped the amulet, it actually caused his body to switch places with that of the Darkhawk body, although his mind remained in control of the 'replacement' body.[citation needed]

After helping them several times, Darkhawk was brought aboard the Avengers West Coast as a reserve member, but saw little action with them after becoming a member, because they were dissolved shortly thereafter. Nonetheless, he did at least start a lasting friendship with Spider-Woman.[citation needed]

Darkhawk 2.0

Later, Chris and Darkhawk actually split into two separate entities, with the armor being updated into the "2.0" form, as it was informally known. This advanced form of armor gave Darkhawk new powers, such as the ability to form a force shield encasing his body, an actual "Hawk" construct (a gigantic force-field shaped like a hawk), and the ability to summon weapons from Osch. Darkhawk 2.0 and Chris re-merged, with the prospect of no longer needing to use the amulet in order to switch bodies.[citation needed]

Loners

Chris joined a self-help group of ex-teenage-super-heroes, the Loners, who admitted to being addicted to their powers. Members included: Turbo, Green Goblin IV (Phil Urich), Ricochet, Lightspeed and later Spider-Woman III (Mattie Franklin). The group was hired by a mysterious benefactor, later revealed to be Rick Jones, to track down the Runaways in Los Angeles.

Powell displayed trouble controlling his anger in his Darkhawk persona, leading to a short skirmish with Turbo. Dismayed with himself, Powell admitted to his teammates that he suffered a nervous breakdown.[7] Powell decided to never turn into Darkhawk again, but this decision did not last long, as shortly thereafter the group battled the notorious Avengers villain, Ultron. Darkhawk delivered the final blow, using a darkforce blast at point blank range to blow Ultron to pieces.[8]

The Loners continued their meetings and Chris was drawn back into heroics by Spider-Woman and made an enemy of MGH manufacturers who had abused Mattie Franklin and the woman running them as well as Nekra, a woman who was getting rich by selling her bodily fluids to them. Chris then got his Darkhawk amulet stolen from him temporarily by an unbalanced Phil Urich but was able to regain it with help from the group.[9]

Secret Invasion

Having registered with the government, Darkhawk was assigned to the position of security chief at Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.. During the Skrull invasion, he worked alongside his old teammate Nova against the Deviant Skrulls.[10]

Fraternity of Raptors

The being known as Talon came to Earth, and offered to teach Chris how to control his amulet. They went to the Negative Zone to fight Annihilus. There, Chris bonded fully with his amulet. This allowed him to learn that the Fraternity of Raptors that Talon represented was evil and that the Fraternity had created the amulets. Evilhawk had been a hallucination caused by his mind, which had been unable to process all the information the Amulet gave him. The Raptor, known as Razor, took over Chris' body and assassinated Lilandra.[citation needed]

Later he fought Gyre another member of the Fraternity of Raptors that had been recruited as a pawn of the Sphinx. Darkhawk, Nova, Black Bolt, Mr. Fantastic and Namorita defeated the Sphinx and his pawns. Darkhawk was able to separate Gyre from his Kree host by using the same technique Talon used to separate Chris from Darkhawk and bring back Razor.[citation needed]

Avengers Arena

Arcade kidnapped Chris and fifteen teenage heroes and brought them to Murderworld, a secluded island where no one could find them, and forced them to fight each other to the death, and only the last man standing within thirty days would be allowed to leave.[11] One night, he was attacked and had his amulet removed, leaving his fate unknown.[12] His amulet would get passed around by others locked in Murderworld.[13]

Chris was later shown in a coma-like state in a strange tank along with the deceased heroes, where Arcade appeared to be healing him. Waking up, he located Arcade and knocked him out. He later reclaimed his amulet and was among the survivors of the battle.[14]

Marvel Legacy

Powell eventually resurfaced back in New York, set to marry a new fiancée by the name of Miranda Cruz. With whom he'd shared all of his exploits while piloting the sentient automaton known Darkhawk. Nowadays his Amulet has become inert, not so much as even changing when he focuses his thoughts on becoming his alter ego again; but lately has been suffering from nightmares of the Tree of Shadows every time he slept. Following in his father's footsteps, he eventually became an officer of the law at the NYPD. Taking to the same beat Micheal Powell used to back when he was one of the police, he reminisced about how his father would listen to people and remember their names while trying to keep the peace on the streets.

Trying to be the every bit as big a man and a better cop than he was by holding the values he once thought Mike stood for before, Chris found out his father was a corrupt cop. All the while ruminating on whether the world needed him as Christopher Powell, police officer or as the cybernetic hero he once was. While on patrol, dispatch sent out notice of a disturbance at Wonderland Amusement Park, where he first found the Raptor Amulet.

While investigating the derelict establishment, Powell was approached by two shady cops right near the area where he first became Darkhawk. Officer Hal Fingeroth and Sergeant Harold Conrad came to Powell offering certain opportunities while on the force which Chris quickly denied, when the latter opted to be a bit more forceful in his persuasion; Conrad was quickly eviscerated by members of the Fraternity of Raptors who were after the young officer's depowered amulet. Canorus and Aceptar created the odd circumstances which led to Christopher retracing his origin as a superhero in order to kill him and take what they believed was theirs by right, but the former raptor didn't go without a fight; discovering that these new raptors were in actuality just armored Shi'ar thugs given how easily Aceptar was stunned by a shock baton.

Though Christopher was eventually subdued by Canorus and his gem taken from him. Canorus was able to activate it again with a damaged Razor taking his place, whom nearly beat Powell's other would be assassin to death until Chris got his attention. The badly broken android grabbed hold of Powell and ported him to a portion of the Datasong he called the "Perch," where memories of previous host pilots were stored within a Raptor's own motherboard.

Razor, now calling itself Darkhawk after the recombinant persona imprinted on itself due to their shared escapades as a hero. Chris learned from his other half that a whole new Fraternity has sprung up in the wake of Novas' decimation, eager to bring the universe to heel under their thrall and had been searching for a means of acquiring the Raptor androids from the Null Space void to cement their dominance. Horrified by this development the now empathetic Razor sought to defy this mandate by said cabal of zealot pretenders by escaping his pod and severing his link to the Tree of Shadows, which was the reason why Powell couldn't become Darkhawk anymore. Severing his brethren's connection to their amulets earned Raptor their ire, however. They nearly hunted it down and executed until he was summoned to Earth by Canorus. Seeing the opportunity to heal itself, and hoping to enlist aid in stopping the renegade Raptor sect, Darkhawk sought union with Chris Powell once again in order to recover and grow in power.

Seeing as the whole of the universe was at stake, including his own homeworld in the long run. Chris knew in spite of his misgivings about space travel and the new life he has on Earth, that since his android had grown a conscience since the War of Kings. That he could not just sit by and pretend what effects the galaxy has no consequences for everybody involved, himself included. Donning the name Darkhawk once more, he took to the skies after blasting the other raptor back to his enclave in space before taking off, wondering how Miranda will react to the change of pace.[15]

Infinity Countdown

After learning from Richard Rider that the Fraternity of Raptors were after the Infinity Stones, Chris wanted to find a way to stop them, but he was stuck on Earth. He was later attacked by the bounty hunter Death's Head who was hired by the Raptors to capture Chris and bring him back to them alive. After learning that Death's Head had a spaceship, Chris was able to convince Death's Head to take him to the Raptors. After saying goodbye to Miranda, Chris and Death's Head traveled to where Death's Head was to meet the Raptors, the planet Arcturus IV; however, the Raptors betrayed Death's Head and destroyed his ship. Chris survived the ship's destruction and confronted the Raptors, but he was quickly overwhelmed by their numbers.

Chris' Darkhawk Amulet was removed from his body by the Raptors' leader Gyre and used in a ceremony to transform Richard Rider's brother Robbie Rider into the being called Dark Darkhawk by fusing him with Ratha'kon, a being supposedly more powerful than the Phoenix Force. The Raptors then left a dying Chris where he was set off to destroy Earth. As Chris dragged himself across the ground, he encountered his other half Razor who revealed to him the origins of the Tree of Shadows and of the first Raptor. After some coaxing from Razor, Chris tapped into his hidden strength and emerged with a new Darkhawk body after fully fusing his mind with the armor. Chris then flew after the Raptors to stop them.[16]

Chris battled the Raptors with help from Death's Head and Nova Prime. Nova made it difficult to fight Dark Darkhawk as he preferred to reason with his brother Robbie than fight him. Dark Darkhawk then shockingly turned on Gyre and destroyed him while stating that he would bring order to the universe, not Gyre. The Raptors were eventually stopped when Death's Head rigged the power core of the Kree ship the Raptors stole to explode. Only Dark Starhawk survived the explosion, though stunned, allowing Chris to reclaim his Darkhawk Amulet. Dark Starhawk then disappeared in a flash of light after striking his Nega-Bands together. Grieving over the loss of Robbie, Nova angrily told Chris to stay on Earth or he would have him locked up. After Chris returned to Earth, he decided stay out of space for a while. Later that night, he was met by Sleepwalker while he dreamed, telling him that the influence of the Infinity Stones threatened the Mindscape and that the only way he could protect it was to become a Sleepwalker.[17]

Young Again

Darkhawk attended Thanos' funeral along with prominent cosmic figures where it was revealed that Thanos had transferred his mind into a new body. However, the Black Order came and stole Thanos' corpse, while opening a rip in space in order to trap them.[18] While trapped there, Darkhawk's atoms began to break apart, affecting his link to the suit. After being captured by the Universal Church of Truth from a possible future, Chris found out that his body was merged with the armor and that he had become younger than when he first found the amulet.[19] Under the control of the Church, Darkhawk and the other prisoners attacked the Guardians of the Galaxy, but Rocket Raccoon was able to free them from the Church's control and sent the church back to their timeline.[20]

After the Void was leading the forces of the Cancerverse into invading the Negative Zone, Darkhawk was among the heroes summoned by Mister Fantastic using his Dimensional Anchor in order to defeat the Scourge. Once the Silver Surfer managed to merge Bob Reynolds with Void back, Nova sacrificed himself in order to defeat the Scourge, ending the threat.[21]

Powers and Abilities

Power Grid [24]Intelligence 2Strength4 Speed*5 3Durability4 Energy Projection*6 3Fighting Skills 2* Armor Transformations

Abilities

Skilled Combatant: Chris is skilled in Kendo and an unidentified branch of Karate.[citation needed]

Strength level

25+ Tons.[15]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Darkhawk Amulet:

Consciousness Transfer: Chris can transfer his consciousness into the Darkhawk's alien android while at the same time, switch the robotic body's place with that of his own body wherever he is at any time.[citation needed]

Darkhawk Android: The Darkhawk Armor is advanced Shi'ar technology meshed with magic, allowing the host numerous superhuman capabilities:

Superhuman Strength: The Armor allows Chris to lift in the excess of 25+ tons. Able to knock out Venom.[citation needed]

Superhuman Speed

Superhuman Durability: Darkhawk is superhumanly durable; he is capable of shrugging off physical impacts, energy blasts, and most artillery fire.

Superhuman Agility

Superhuman Reflexes

Armament Conjuration: The Android can summon weapons from the extra-dimensional expanse from whence they came, or manifest desired munitions from its own body at will.[citation needed]

Flight: The retractable glider wings under his arms allow him to glide on air currents. Darkhawk can also fly at speeds that let him fly from New York to California in only a matter of hours. After the Darkhawk armor attained a new form, Chris is able to fly interstellar distances.[22]

Self Repair: Even major injuries to his Darkhawk body can be repaired by switching back to his human form.[citation needed]

Superhuman Vision: Darkhawk has telescopic and infra-red vision. He can see through most camouflage.[citation needed]

Force Field: Chris can utilize a circular wafer-thin force field.[citation needed]

Concussion Blasts: He can fire blasts of destructive dark energy from the amulet on his chest.[citation needed]

Mode Shifting: Talons can morph their bodies into a host of augmentative forms. Becoming transparent, doubling body armor, projecting greater weaponry, etc.[citation needed]

Formerly *Avengers Identicard

Transportation

Formerly Avengers Quinjet

Trivia

Darkhawk's armor and appearance has been a continued source of debate amongst Marvel "True-Believers." After his series was canceled, his new appearances often reverted back to the original Darkhawk armor. As of his Loners appearances, he is in "DH 1.0" form, although he had appeared a few times as DH 2.0 prior to this.[citation needed]

It has been a misunderstanding amongst many readers and fans of Darkhawk that he was aware of his status as a hero within the Marvel 2099 universe, in which he is known as "The Powell," one of the "most powerful, and feared, heroes in the universe." This wasn't Earth-928 (or Marvel 2099), it was a similar cyberpunk dystopia world within Chronopolis. This was resolved by DeFalco himself within the letter columns in one of the final issues of the ongoing series.[citation needed]

Links and References

185 Appearances of Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

15 Minor Appearances of Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

Media Christopher Powell (Earth-616) was Mentioned in

123 Images featuring Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

13 Quotations by or about Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

Character Gallery: Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

Christopher Powell (Earth-616) on Wikipedia.org

Darkhawk Zone: The Ultimate Darkhawk Fansite

Darkhawk @ New Warriors Continuity Conundrum

New Warriors Message Board

Categories

Other Languages

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.

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whateverisbeautiful · 6 years

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Richonne in Retrospect

#29: The Finding Out (5x11)

So this next interaction between Rick and Michonne paints a shining example of how whipped this man has become. Here for it. 😊

And as R&M have this little discussion in front of everyone about what they do and don’t need to find out, I feel like this is where everyone else around them is finding out, more clearly, that these two have a special kind of relationship.

So Maggie and Michonne are tending to Aaron and then Rick says to sit him up and when Maggie tries to suggest that might not be best, Rick’s still in that tough cop mode so he says, “He’s fine, sit him up.” And Michonne does it, but it’s interesting seeing her be a little frustrated too cuz she knows they don’t have to be this extra with this dude.

(Side note: It’s a cool shot of Aaron surrounded by four of the women in the group cuz it just lets you know they’re just as capable and strong as any 👏🏽👏🏽)

Now, listing a bunch of wide ranging numbers of how many people are in my community to prove how the number doesn’t matter if there’s already a lack of trust, is also not the approach I personally would take in recruiting new members, but again it’s what Aaron does. 😋

And the homie Aaron even goes into an elaborate plan of how he could have ambushed them in order to prove he isn’t trying to ambush them and I was like…

These are some interesting recruitment approaches. 😅 And it’s funny in retrospect cuz Aaron really is a great and genuine guy but he was not making the best first impression in this episode.

Aaron tells them, “You can trust me” and everyone is pretty silent, and then Michonne is the first to take action. Cuz 👸🏾.

And, it’s super subtle, but in re-watching this I notice that even before Michonne moves, Aaron looks to her. It reminded me of Jesus in season 7, in that it feels like both Aaron and Jesus seemed to pick up on the fact that Michonne is the one most capable of reaching Rick.

Michonne turns to Rick and tells him she’ll check out the cars which makes sense for her character who’s always willing to go and see. And there’s also a nobleness of her pretty much saying “I’ll check this out first and see if it’s safe for everyone”.

Like she basically offers to take one for the team and I love that she steps towards Rick and says this cuz out of all of them she is the one who can step in and communicate with him.

Without looking at her, Rick says/growls that there aren’t any cars and Michonne says, “There’s only one way to find out.” to which Rick does look at her and say, “We don’t need to find out.” And Michonne calmly and firmly says “We do.”

Y’all, I mentioned how I feel like Rick and Michonne are like the parents not just of Carl and Judtih but even of the whole group in a way, and I feel like this moment totally resembles a mom and dad having a little disagreement in front of the kids. 😋

Michonne tells him, “You know what you know and you’re sure of it, but I’m not.” It’s a very diplomatic approach cuz it’s acknowledging that Rick has his fair opinion and she has hers and since both are valid she should get to check for herself so that she can be sure of it too.

I love this moment too because it shows that Rick and Michonne don’t have to always agree, but even when they disagree they aren’t afraid to talk it out, which is why this couple is one of the healthiest ones on TV. 👏🏽

And I especially love this moment cuz of the way Rick is looking at her once she says this. W-H-I-P-P-E-D. The whipped-ness is visible, y’all. 🙌🏾

Also the way Homeboy just stares at her, you can tell that her feeling differently matters to him and resonates with him so he’s just looking her right in the eye as she does what only she can do; make Rick really reconsider.

It’s sweet that once again, this man seems to find himself entranced and it’s not till Maggie speaks that he even looks away. And I feel like he would have stayed staring a lot longer if he could’ve but he knows he has to look away otherwise he’s about to give her whatever she wants lol.

And then Maggie is the homie for vocalizing that she agrees with Michonne. You can literally see Rick’s internal struggle of what he feels and what Michonne feels cuz he wants to find a balance of both and he knows she’s worth hearing out.

He looks at Michonne again and says, “Your way is dangerous, mine isn’t.” And it’s sweet seeing this shift in his tone and demeanor. 😊

Like at first when he said there aren’t any cars he was more on defense but after she’s expressed feeling differently, he rightfully switches the style up cuz he remembers who he’s talking to.

You see him go from that more demanding tone to speaking more in an effort to just explain why he wants to do things a certain way. And I appreciate that he’s willing to discuss this with her whereas had it been anyone else, I think he would be much less inclined to do so.

And again, Homeboy stays looking right at her #entranced.

Michonne says, “Passing up a place where we can live? Where Judith can live? That’s pretty dangerous.”

Y’all! It’s super significant that she says this cuz it’s her being the mom. She wants a safe space for her kids. 😭

She then tells him in a soft voice that, “We need to find out what this is.” And then she reminds him, “We can handle ourselves” cuz she knows Rick’s behavior is coming from a place of protection, but she’s like “bruh don’t worry we got this”. 😋

Similar to Rick, Michonne’s solely looking at him during this interaction. And then like a Queen she lays down the law and says “So that’s what we’re going to do.” Y’all, if this isn’t a total husband and wife conversation, I don’t know what it is. 😊

It’s funny cuz then Glenn chimes in about how he’ll go too and it’s like for a second I forgot other people were there watching this, cuz it felt like such a one-on-one moment between Rick and Michonne.

But I don’t think I’m the only one who forgot that others were there, cuz there’s this shot of Rick still looking captivated by Michonne and then when Glenn speaks, Rick too seems to be reminded of the fact that there’s actually a whole bunch of people around.

Like Glenn speaking seems like it snapped Rick out of a little trance lol cuz he was just basking in the fact that his woman was taking on the authority. 😌

It feels like in Rick’s past he hadn’t been around many women who can step up to the plate like this, but he really met his match with Michonne and you know he’s here for it. 💯😊

I know that hearing Michonne explain that Aaron’s offer could potentially mean safety for his baby had to make him grateful that she cares about protecting these kids just as much as he does. He looks like he’s thinking “Look at my wife looking out for and loving our daughter.” That’s a #DirectQuote from Rick’s mind. 😋

Glenn volunteers and Rick knows he has to be open to giving their way a shot, especially cuz this isn’t a Ricktatorship anymore. But he’s also like “if my woman is going out there I want bodyguards” so he has Abraham and Rosita go too. Y’all, basically he enlists the military lol. 😁

So they all head out of the barn and I seriously wonder if some of the OG members who just watched this exchange between Richonne started seeing the clear couple chemistry they had.

Cuz for Sis to call shots and for her expressing her opinion to be all it took for Rick to get on board, the others had to start noticing something between them. 💯

And I feel like Aaron especially had to pick up on the vibe, coming from the outside looking in. I know if I was Aaron watching this and they told me these two weren’t a couple yet I would have been like…

Rick makes sure to be looking right at Michonne when he says, “If you’re not back in 60 minutes we’ll come.” Homeboy wants hers to know that he’s not letting anything bad happen to her and to them on his watch. 👏🏽

One of my favorite things about the character of Rick is how he is always ready to protect the people he cares about. And from Michonne’s nod you can see she’s appreciative that Rick is willing to give her way a try and she also understands the risk their taking.

It’s interesting that Rick says, “Which could be just what they want” cuz that line lets us know it’s not that he no longer has doubts about doing things this way, but he’s willing to trust her even over his own instinct and that’s a big deal for anybody but especially Rick to the Grimes. 🙌🏾

And then with everyone gone except for Rick and Aaron, Aaron brings up how he can tell they’re good people but Rick reminds him that just cuz they’re good doesn’t mean they won’t kill him.

And it’s interesting cuz you can see Rick really tense about the fact that he’s just let them all go cuz, again, it’s not like he thinks it’s a good idea but he trusted that Michonne thinks it’s a good idea.

And as he stays looking out the door you see how serious he is about making sure they’re okay. He tells Aaron if the five of them aren’t back in an hour he’ll put a knife in the base of Aaron’s skull, and this makes Aaron one of the many characters who gets the honor of personally receiving an intense Rick Grimes threat lol. 😋

If something happens to them he’s killing Aaron and you know a big reason why is cuz if Aaron is even remotely related to Michonne getting hurt then the man has got to go, in Rick’s book. 👏🏽

I just really love this public one-on-one moment R&M have because, even more so than just showing that Rick is whipped, it also shows that he really genuinely respects Michonne and trusts her. And the fact that this relationship was built on a sincere friendship and deep respect is what makes Richonne the GOAT. 👌🏽😊

#richonne #richonne fandom #richonne family #twd #the walking dead #michonne #rick grimes #s5 #michonne grimes #not my gifs #5.11

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tkmedia · 3 years

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UCLA Week 1 opponent LSU evacuating to Houston ahead of Hurricane Ida

By Matt Howe, 247Sports: The LSU football team will relocate to Houston because of Hurricane Ida ahead of its Week 1 game vs. UCLA, according to USA Today Sports. The Tigers will have practice and film study at the facilities of the NFL’s Houston Texans. Read the full story…

LSU football team evacuating to Houston ahead of Hurricane Ida 247Sports —Recent News Feed Stories—- `Hearts are broken’ over death of Cal DT Stanley McKenzie’s dad - College Gameday’s David Pollack expects Utah football to have a big season - Rivals Pac-12 preview week: Five impact newcomers from the transfer portal - Rick Neuheisel says Big 12 ‘has to expand,’ lists schools to target - Recapping Arizona football’s historic 12-game losing streak - Petition calls for Arizona State to switch from Sun Devils to Sun Angels - Oregon picked to upset Ohio State in Week 2 by College GameDay’s Rece Davis - Mike Leach’s track record tells us massive turnaround possible at Miss St. - How center Luke Wattenberg is the Huskies’ ‘secret weapon’ - Healthy, relaxed Jeff Tedford returns to visit Cal - UCLA is Kirk Herbstreit’s surprise team for 2021 season - WR Stanley Berryhill to wear No. 1 for Arizona after winning competition - Report: Jaguars trade former Coug QB Gardner Minshew to Eagles - Athlon’s USC football game-by-game predictions for 2021 - Connon: It’s do or die for Chip Kelly, UCLA football in 2021 - Pac-12 seeks move to 8-game Conference football schedule, if ESPN, FOX agree - Dodd: Remade in Cristobal’s image, Oregon aims to muscle its way into the CFP - FOX’s Bush, Leinart pick UCLA, UW as dark horses to win Pac-12 in 2021 - Jackson: Cristobal, Sarkisian, Kiffin possible successors when Saban retires - Colorado adds walk-on quarterback, Lewis still projected as starter - Oregon players DJ James & Jamal Hill to be reinstated - Oregon names Anthony Brown starting quarterback - Versatile Nick Morrow commits to Cal football for 2022 - Nick Rolovich says WSU quarterback decision coming ‘fairly soon’ - Mike Hopkins offers his thoughts on the Husky MBB players that chose to stay - Is Oregon running back CJ Verdell’s durability a concern in 2021? - Numerous NFL scouts to attend Arizona State’s season opener - 5-star shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe taking official visit to Arizona - Athlon’s college football starting QB rankings for 2021 - Williams: Pac-12’s decision not to expand is latest body blow to Big 12 - CBS Sports’ Pac-12 expert picks and predictions for 2021 - Nebraska’s struggles can be traced to Scott Frost’s recruiting strategy - Conference realignment: Big 12 ‘seriously discussing’ BYU, per report - UO’s Moorhead, USC’s Harrell among Yahoo’s 20 CFB assists in line for HC jobs - 2024 USC-LSU showdown forces reschedule of UCLA-LSU game same season - Judge rejects Under Armour’s motion to dismiss UCLA’s $200 million lawsuit - Reubenking: What is Oregon football’s National Championship window? - Report: NCAA interviewing ‘subjects’ for ASU recruiting investigation - Two Washington State football players medically retire - College Football Playoff expansion in jeopardy, WVU president says

The SportsPac12 News Feed does not link to stories behind a paywall. News is added periodically throughout the day, so check back regularly.

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piscesfeet6-blog · 5 years

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Celebrity Admissions Scandal Exposes The Racism At The Heart Of College Sports

“There will not be a separate admissions system for the wealthy,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling vowed Tuesday as he announced his office’s indictment of dozens of people accused of paying huge bribes to help their children gain admission to elite colleges and universities.

The latest college admissions scandal is especially juicy because it involves the corruption-ridden world of college sports. Some of the parents allegedly faked their kids’ participation in sports like soccer, tennis and water polo, and coaches at big-name schools like the University of Southern California, UCLA, Wake Forest, Stanford, the University of Texas at Austin, and Georgetown were among those indicted. But this wasn’t exclusively a sports scandal.

“I wouldn’t single out athletics as being ripe for exploitation here,” said Natasha Warikoo, an associate education professor at Harvard. “What’s ripe for exploitation is the overall system.”

Rich people are going to do rich people things.

And in the cut-throat world of college admissions, one of the most common things rich people do is use athletics to gain access to elite academic institutions for which they might not otherwise qualify.

College sports have long provided a “separate admissions system,” to quote Lelling, that largely benefits the wealthy. Collegiate athletics have helped ensure that the higher education system is rigged in favor of wealthy, white people. Those rich, white, indicted folks who faked their kids’ athletic careers were exploiting a system that privileges even the rich, white folks who don’t cheat.

“The system is broken, and today is nothing but another example of the troubling dysfunctionality of college sports,” Don Jackson, a sports attorney and owner of The Sports Group legal practice, said Tuesday. “Especially because of the fact that none of these kids were really athletes.”

Associated Press

“There will not be a separate admissions system for the wealthy,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said at a March 12 news conference in Boston announcing charges against more than 40 people.

‘Purported Athletic Recruits’

It’s no secret that universities privilege athletes when it comes to the admissions process, and the nation’s most elite institutions are no exception. For years, a large donation to the athletic program or the right academic department has been an easy way for ultra-wealthy parents to get their aspiring young athletes into a school and onto a team.

This is, in essence, legal bribery. It was only a matter of time before a crafty huckster would figure out how to take it even further ― into illegal territory ― to benefit other rich people whose kids weren’t as good at sports or had no interest in filling the role of human victory cigar.

That is precisely what the U.S. Department of Justice says happened.

William “Rick” Singer, the founder of a for-profit college preparatory company, was the mastermind behind the scheme, according to the federal complaint. He positioned himself as a middleman who could take a cut of the money that had otherwise gone directly to the schools by convincing parents to go along with a scheme that benefited him, the coaches who helped, and the parents and students, too. (Singer pleaded guilty to multiple charges in federal court on Tuesday afternoon.)

At USC, one student gained admission ‘as a purported rowing recruit, even though she was not competitive in rowing, but instead was an avid equestrian.’

As Singer knew, schools like USC and UCLA “give consideration” to prospective students’ athletic abilities and may admit sports-focused applicants “whose grades and standardized test scores are below those” of other applicants, the complaint notes. Other schools, like Georgetown and Wake Forest, hold more than 100 admissions slots open annually for their coaches’ picks.

The complaint alleges that the conspirators, in some cases, exploited that system by paying bribes to college coaches to designate students “as purported athletic recruits ― regardless of their athletic abilities and in some cases even though they did not play the sport they were purportedly recruited to play.”

At Georgetown, Yale and UCLA, coaches took bribes ranging from $100,000 to $950,000 to help students gain admittance as athletes even though they hadn’t played the sports in question. At USC, one student gained admission “as a purported rowing recruit, even though she was not competitive in rowing, but instead was an avid equestrian.” Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst and UCLA men’s soccer coach Jorge Salcedo are both facing racketeering charges.

USC water polo coach Jovan Vavic, meanwhile, accepted a bribe “to designate” a student “as a purported recruit to the USC men’s water polo team, thereby facilitating his admission to USC.” Parents sent fabricated awards and statistics to Vavic, who is now facing racketeering charges and has been fired. Vavic then argued to USC’s admissions officials that the student would be “the fastest player on our team.” That student withdrew from the water polo team after just one semester, according to the complaint. In another instance, a parent “sought reassurance that his daughter would not actually have to join the USC water polo team.”

Parents went so far as to photoshop a supposed water polo recruit into an image of someone else playing the sport. The absurdity was evident to everyone involved.

“Last year I had a boy who did the water polo, and when the dad sent me the picture, he was way too high out of the water,” Singer told one parent, according to the complaint. “That nobody would believe that anybody could get that high.”

But the fraud worked nearly every time.

“Is there any risk of this blowing up in my face?” asked Agustin Huneeus, a parent who is facing conspiracy charges after allegedly helping his daughter gain admission to USC as a fake water polo recruit, according to the complaint.

“Hasn’t in 24 years,” Singer replied.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sixty-five percent of Division I water polo athletes are white, an even larger majority than in D-I college sports as a whole.

‘Affirmative Action For Affluent White Kids’

Throughout college sports, and at the most elite institutions in particular, the primary beneficiaries of the privilege of playing on a team have been white students.

“College sports at elite schools are a quiet sort of affirmative action for affluent white kids,” The Atlantic’s Saahil Desai argued last year, adding that they “play a big role in keeping these institutions so stubbornly white and affluent.”

At many top-tier colleges, the admissions structure overwhelmingly benefits athletes. At Harvard, The Atlantic noted, non-athletes are admitted at rates “nearly 1,000 times lower” than athletes with comparable scores on the school’s admissions scale. Twenty percent of students admitted to Ivy League colleges each year are athletes, according to Columbia University professor Jonathan Cole.

This isn’t an accident. As Desai noted, schools value the economic and prestige benefits that come with successful sports programs. That gives coaches leverage to obtain students they want, even if those kids might not otherwise beat out other qualified applicants.

In 2012, a Dartmouth academics adviser told Business Insider that they were “constantly peeved by athletic admissions,” a process under which “coaches submit lists to admissions officers, ranking recruits, saying these are the kids we really want, and as you get to the top of the list you can be more lenient with academic standards.”

Most white student-athletes play sports like baseball and lacrosse, sailing and crew, soccer and tennis. While the Justice Department’s complaint does not mention the race or ethnicity of the more than 40 people charged, most of them were white people pretending that their kids played sports in which the overwhelming majority of Division I participants are white. In 2017-2018, according to the NCAA’s own numbers, 69 percent of Division I women’s soccer players were white. Eighty-two percent of Division I sailors were. For water polo and volleyball, it was 65 percent. (Overall, more than 60 percent of Division I athletes are white. At elite schools like the Ivies, white athletes make up an even larger majority.)

This flies in the face of what we think we know about college sports: The archetypal college athlete in most Americans’ minds is the black male student who makes up the majority of Division I basketball and football teams ― the athletes whose labor draws thousands of fans to arenas and stadiums and fills the coffers of university athletic departments with millions of dollars.

That the majority of black students at top colleges and universities tend to be athletes fosters the biased idea that sports serve as another form of affirmative action for black people ― that were it not for sports, most of the black students on college campuses wouldn’t be there at all.

You can hear this in the paternalistic tone the NCAA’s higher-ups use to remind us how many poor black kids they’ve helped. And you can see the ways that perception of the black athlete as a faux student is reinforced by the sports scandals that do grab our attention: the University of North Carolina’s Afro-American Studies academic fraud scandal that hit the school’s prominent football and men’s basketball programs, former University of Memphis star Derrick Rose’s questionable ACT and SAT scores, or the overly easy tests and fake grades handed to two University of Georgia basketball players in the early 2000s, to name but three.

But Tuesday’s news ought to shift our perceptions of who’s really benefiting from college athletics, or from the sort of bribery that some rich white folks turn to even when their kids aren’t athletes.

Sporting News

Men's basketball is one of just two Division I college sports in which a majority of the athletes are black.

What stood out to Jackson, the sports lawyer, was that each alleged athlete in the latest scandal appeared to get away with cheating so easily.

The NCAA requires anyone who wants to play college sports to register with its Eligibility Center, a clearinghouse that certifies academic eligibility and checks athletes for potential violations ― including suspicious test scores. (This part of the system applies to scholarship and non-scholarship athletes at the Division I and II levels.)

“If a kid makes a 12 on his first [ACT] attempt, and then a 12 on his second, and then a 29 on his third, you should probably red-flag that kid and take a long, hard look at his test scores,” said Jackson, who is also a law professor at Alabama’s Samford University. “On the other hand, I’ve represented African-American kids who took the SAT one time and made a satisfactory score, but the NCAA or a conference red-flagged that score, [and then] the testing service investigated it and canceled that score.” (In 2015, Jackson publicly complained about an instance in which a single test score from a black athlete he represented triggered a review by the NCAA Eligibility Center, telling The Sporting News that the center’s processes were “racist as hell.”)

And yet many of the “purported student-athletes” involved in Tuesday’s complaint apparently passed muster with ease, despite their parents allegedly paying a middleman to falsify their scores or help them cheat on entrance exams. It’s hard to imagine that the fact they were white kids pursuing opportunities in overwhelmingly white sports and, in some cases, overwhelmingly white schools wasn’t a factor.

“I feel to some degree of certainty that these kids, their test scores, were likely not questioned by the NCAA,” Jackson said. “Now that says something.”

The corrupt relationship between so many colleges and their sports programs perpetuates this unequal and racially biased system in one more way.

Especially at larger universities, the money made off football and basketball helps to fund all the other sports. Or as Jackson put it, “The revenue generators are African-American student-athletes, and the people who are benefiting are not.”

A federal government that wanted to ensure that college sports weren’t entirely rigged in favor of the wealthy could take action to fix that, particularly in its other major case involving college athletics. In 2017, the Justice Department obtained indictments against multiple college basketball coaches and shoe company executives as part of an ongoing probe into corruption and bribery within college basketball. The schemes involved alleged undercover payments to basketball players and their families ― a black market result of the NCAA’s refusal to pay players in top sports what they’re worth. But in that ongoing probe, the Justice Department took the side of the privileged and decided to effectively enforce the NCAA’s most pernicious rules.

Most of the basketball players who would benefit if the feds forced the NCAA to fairly compensate athletes for their labor are black.

Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/college-admissions-scandal-sports-ncaa_n_5c892f4be4b038892f49ab93

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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bamby0304 · 7 years

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Victoria Grimes VI: Chaos

Chapter Six: Surrounded

Masterlist

Warnings: Hmm... nada

Bamby

VPOV

Michonne, Heath and another man had come back. Out of everyone I'd been running with, everyone out there, they were the only ones back. The other group were all fine. Tobin and his team. They were absolutely fine. But I'd started to wonder about the others. Dad, Glenn, Nicholas. Daryl, Abraham, Sasha. They were still out there, and we had no way of knowing if they'd make it back or not...

Michonne stood in front of Maggie, Rosita and myself, filling us in with what had happened with the Glenn. "The town was overrun. He split off with Nicholas. He had this idea that if he lit a fire, it would stop the walkers from coming here. I tried to go instead. I wanted to go... The fire never got lit." her voice shook. "We had to keep going. I'm sorry."

Maggie looked to the ground, her hand moving to run over her face. I stepped closer to her, placing my own hand on her back as she leaned against me for support, needing the comfort I offered.

"He said that if he got stuck, he would find a way to send us a signal." Michonne finished.

Maggie perked up a little. "A signal?"

"Open the gate!"

We all froze and turned to the walls. Someone had yelled out, we all heard it. Everyone had heard it.

"Open the gate!"

Someone yelled again.

Grabbing my gun from my belt, I held it in my hands as I ran to the gate, the others right behind me.

"Open the gate now!"

Michonne pulled the gate open, with the help of Maggie as Rosita and I stood, our guns ready, aimed straight ahead. But I froze at the sight before me. My dad, covered in sweat, and dirt, bleeding from his hand, running as fast as he could, with a herd of walkers right behind him. Dozens of them mere steps away from grabbing him.

"Move!" I yelled pulling everyone out of the way as more people gathered.

A walker got close to dad, and without thinking I aimed and pulled the trigger of my gun, shooting the walker right in the head, killing it. Dad just kept running, moving as fast as he could. The moment he was in I helped Michonne and Maggie close the gate as the walkers got closer and closer. Right as the gate closed they pressed against it, reaching in, snarling and groaning at us. The sound was deafening.

...

I stood in front of dad, bandaging up his hand. Aly knew I was home now and had planted herself on the ground, right by my feet as she played with her dolls. We were all silent. Each of us. Even Carl, who was sitting on the table, watching me fix dad's hand up.

"What happened?" I finally spoke.

"I was in the RV, talking to Daryl on the walkie, when this guy." dad shook his head. "This guy with a 'W' on his head came in and shot at me. I killed him, a few others too. But somehow the motor got hit and the RV wouldn't start. The herd came, and I had to run."

I'd stopped my actions as he spoke. "Did they all have 'W's' on their foreheads?"

He nodded. "Yeah. There were five of them." he looked up at me, frowning with curiosity. "Why?"

"People got over the walls." Carl answered before I could. "They started killing everyone, taking things. They had 'W's' on their heads, too."

Dad had turned to Carl but as my brother stopped talking his eyes landed on me. "Did any of them get away? Did you see any-"

Cutting him off I shook my head. "I killed every one I saw." I told him flatly.

Aly looked up at me for a moment, just a single moment, before going back to her toys. I wasn't sure if she'd liked hearing what I'd said, but either way it was done. I couldn't change it now even if I wanted to. But I didn't. I knew what I did was right, and that's what mattered.

"They drove a truck into the wall. Spencer stopped them from getting in, but some damage was made." I shrugged. "I can show you if you want?" I asked as I finished with his hand.

"Alright." he nodded, getting to his feet. "I need to talk to the others. Tell them everything."

"Okay." I sighed, putting everything back in the med-kit. "Aly, you stay home, okay sweetie. Keep Houdini inside, too. Can't have him barking with all the walkers around the walls."

Aly nodded. "Yes, mum."

"Good girl." gesturing to dad I started for the door. "Let's go.

RPOV

Vickie and I walked towards the broken wall. It was still up though which was good. People had already started to build up some reinforcements as well, which was even better. But the gathering crowd of clearly panicked and worried people was not so good. It was clear each and every one of them had no clue as to what they should do now. As far as they were concerned, we were all dead. But that was not the case. I was going to make sure of it.

"You can hear it." I started. "Some of you saw it. They got back here, half of them. Still enough to surround us twenty deep. Look, I know you're scared. You haven't seen anything like this. You haven't been through anything like this. But we're safe for now. The pane the truck it seems intact. We reinforced it just in case. Either way, the wall's gonna hold together. Can you?" I asked, looking to each face. "The others, they're gonna be back."

Rosita nodded. "They're gonna be back."

I went on. "Daryl, Abraham, Sasha, they have vehicles. They're gonna lead 'em away, just like the others. And Glenn and Nicholas are gonna walk back through the front gate after. They know what they're doing, and we know what we need to do. We keep noise to a minimum. Pull our blinds at night. Even better, keep the lights out. We'll try to make this place as quiet as a graveyard, see if they move on."

"This place is a graveyard." Francine spoke up.

We all turned to her as we fell silent, nothing but the sound of the walkers on the other side of the walls could be heard.

Aaron stepped forward. "The quarry broke open and those walkers were heading this way. All of them. The plan that Rick put into place stopped that from happening. We got half of them away." he looked to everyone. "I was out there recruiting with Daryl. I wanted to try to get into a cannery and scavenge. And Daryl wanted to keep looking for people. We did what I wanted. And we wound up in a trap set by those people. And I lost my pack. They must have followed our tracks." he paused, guilt written all over his face. "Those people who attacked us, they found their way back here because of me."

Nodding, I turned to everyone else. "There'll be more to talk about."

"Deanna?" Tobin spoke from behind me. "Deanna?"

I looked over, seeing Deanna walking away, ignoring him. Everyone watched as she just kept walking.

...

Carrying a body of one of the intruders, I'd watched as Jessie dragged a body towards the graves. I'd known it wasn't one of our people in an instant and so I'd followed her, wondering what she was going to do. When I walked around the bushes I found her digging a hole, the body laying beside where she dug the shovel into the ground. The other bodies of the people who had come were off to the side, where they were going to stay until we could get rid of them. They didn't deserve to be buried.

Dumping the body, I carried onto the pile of others, I shook my head. "Don't." she stopped and waited before I went on. "We don't bury killers inside the walls."

She sighed and looked to the bodies. "We aren't going out there. So, what do we do?"

"We wait." I answered simply before walking off.

MPOV

I was getting ready. I didn't care if there were walkers surrounding the walls. I would find a way out. I had to. Glenn needed me, and I needed to know he was still alive.

"You're going out?" Aaron asked as he stepped into the armory. "The flashlights, the rebar, the rope." he sighed. "You lower them off the wall, a good distance apart, maybe spin them. That way the walkers are drawn to each one, and you open up a path."

Ignoring him I continued to gather things I may need for what I was planning on doing.

He moved to lean on the bench near me. "Now you're gearing up. Just waiting for dark, right? What happens when you twist an ankle jumping down? Hmm? Or you just get slowed down by one of them and then you have to deal with all of them?" he shook his head. "I can't let you do this."

Pulling the strap of my bag over my shoulder I turned to him. "You can't stop me." I told him before moving to walk out.

He grabbed my arm, turning me to him. "I'm going to help you. And I know a safer way out."

CPOV

I found Ron sitting on the grass behind his house, messing around with a knife. As much as I didn't want to talk to him, I knew he was the only one that could help me right now. Getting adults involved would only make things worse.

"Hey." I called to him. "You okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked, clearly not okay. He was pissed.

Continuing to walk up to him, I went on. "Have you seen Enid?"

"Not since I saw her with you."

"I think she went over the wall just before the herd came and now she's trapped out there." I told him.

"What makes you think she isn't dead?"

"Come on, man." I shook my head. He just got to his feet with a scoff before walking off. Speaking up again, I stopped him. "Look, I'll go find her. I just need your help. If you maybe climb up-"

He cut me off. "I'm not helping you, Carl."

"This isn't for me." I sighed. "It's for Enid. Your friend."

"My girlfriend. Or, I mean, 'cause she was anyway, right?"

"So, you want to just leave her out there?" I couldn't believe what he was saying.

"I told her to stop going over the wall. I told her there's bad people out there and that it's stupid and dangerous."

"Not if you know what you're doing." I told him.

"Well, I'm not gonna let you go."

Shaking my head, I turned, not caring what he was going to do or not do. I'd figure it out myself, I didn't need his help.

"Carl." he warned, following me. "Carl, you're not going out there." he grabbed my arm.

I spun around and shoved him. "Back off."

He shoved me back.

"Alright." that's all it took.

I stepped forward and grabbed him, struggling to get a good grip as he shoved and pushed me away. But still, I managed to get him to the ground. Once he was down, I turned and started to walk off.

"I'll tell your dad. I'll tell your sister. They'll go out there to find you, then other people will, too." he called, still laying on the ground. "And then somebody's gonna die."

I stopped in my tracks.

He was right. If he told dad and Vickie, they'd come after me without hesitation. Both of them would risk everything for me. It's what you do for family. So as much as I wanted to help Enid, I couldn't risk everyone else...

"You saved my life and now I'm saving yours."

Shaking my head, I moved on, leaving him lying on the ground.

VPOV

I stood in the shower. I needed to scrub off the feeling of dirt and grime off me. Killing people and walkers always had me feeling gross. I guess that's kind of natural really. Standing in the shower I'd washed myself so much my skin had gone red as I cleaned away a layer of skin, needing to feel fresh again.

While the water ran over my body I'd found myself tear up as thoughts of Daryl, Glenn, Sasha, Abraham and Nicholas entered my mind. Everyone was sure Daryl, Sasha and Abraham would be back... But not Glenn and Nicholas. Names of people who had died were being painted on to one of the walls panels outside. Already they'd put Glenn and Nicholas on the list. It had made me feel sick to think one of my best friends was gone.

Even losing Nicholas hurt. He'd killed Aiden and Noah indirectly, and hurt me, but he was still one of our own. Having people was a necessity these days. Losing people was a hurt we all knew well. But it was Glenn that really hurt me. I couldn't stop thinking about him laying somewhere dead. As much as I hoped he was okay, I knew better. In a world like this chances of getting home safe were very slim.

If I lost Glenn, it would crush me. He was my best friend. He saved my life on that highway. I owed him so much. That wasn't all though, he'd also been the first stranger I'd bonded with after the world turned. There was an instant connection between us, one that I cherished. Maggie may be my best friend, but Glenn was practically a brother.

"Mum?" a knock on the door and Aly's voice had me turning the water off.

"Hold on." I called back as I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around me, before opening the door for her. "Hey, what's up?" I smiled lightly at her.

She shrugged. "Can I go look for Tara?"

Leaning against the door frame I thought about it, wondering if letting her leave the house was a good idea at the moment. But I knew and trusted Tara. She'd take care of Aly like she'd done many times before.

"Okay." I gave a sharp nod. "Let me get dressed and then we'll go find her, yeah?"

Her face lit up. "Okay." she nodded before rushing off.

MPOV

"I thought you said we weren't going over the fence?"

"We're not." Aaron told me as I followed him through some long grass that was close to the walls. "We're going under." he knelt by a large drain in the ground. "This lead to a sewer that was part of the old neighbourhood that was here before they built this up. It'll take us under the wall." he unlocked the grate. "And hopefully past the walkers."

"Thanks." I looked down at him as he moved to go into the hole Grabbing his shoulder, I stopped him. "But I'm going on my own from here."

"Maggie."

"No." I wouldn't hear it.

"Please. I can't watch more names go up on that wall."

...

Walking ahead of Aaron by only a step or two, I kept my focus on moving forward. We were moving through the old sewer, the smell still pretty bad as water went up to my ankles. Though if it meant I could get to Glenn I didn't care.

Shinning the torch in front of me, I spoke up. "If he's alive-"

Aaron cut me off. "If?"

I went on as if he hadn't said anything. "He told Michonne he would've found some way to signal us if he got out. If he's alive, he's hurt or trapped, maybe taken. If he's alive, he needs my help. That's why I'm doing this. And if he's dead, I don't want to be waitin' on him." I turned to look at him. "None of this is your fault. You don't need to do this."

Stopping to stand next to me, he just looked me in the eyes. "People are dead. I was a part of that. And I have to live with that." he told me before moving forward.

We walked a little more, turning a corner as we neared what looked to be a crawl space. Though in front of that I could tell that there had once been a ladder that went up to an exit.

Only problem was, that ladder had rusted and fallen. That meant two things. One, we couldn't climb up. Two, it had acted as a barrier and had helped with the built-up junk that sat before us.

"I haven't been down here since the beginning." Aaron shone his light of the mess that was blocking our path. "This ladder must've fallen a long time ago."

"Let's try and get it out of here." grabbing a hold of the ladder, I nodded. "On there, ready?" once he had a hold I began to count. "One, two, three." we pulled, but it didn't budge. "One, two, three." using all our mite we pulled as hard as we could.

The ladder came flying back, causing Aaron to stumble and fall to the ground, hitting his head in the process.

"Aaron!"

"Ah. I'm okay. The ladder caught me."

Before I could move to help him the sound of gargled groans caught my attention. Turning back to where we'd pulled the ladder from I watched as a walker lifted its head from the muck. It had clearly been laying in the water for some time as it's skin was slimy and gross.

Pulling my knife out I moved forward to kill it.

Suddenly another walker appeared, this one just as gross as the other, as if it had been stuck down here and the sewers muck had grown onto the walker's body. This one moved faster, reaching out for me. I back up, trying to hold it back, but its skin was too slimy and simply peeled.

While I struggled against it the other walker had crawled out and moved to Aaron, who was still on the ground. But as much as I wanted to help him, I had my own problems to deal with. Putting all my concentration on the walker in front of me I tried to pull it back and grab a hold of my knife so I could kill it. It's slippery and wet skin didn't help as I continued to struggle to keep its teeth from my skin.

Out of nowhere a blade went through the skull of the walker before the walker fell to the ground, revealing Vickie. Aaron was standing now, leaning against the wall, his walker dead as well. It was pretty obvious that Vickie had killed it for him, just like she'd killed mine.

She just grinned. "Did you really think I'd let you go without me?"

RPOV

"Daryl, Sasha, Abraham, you copy?" I called into the walkie as I stood on the guard tower by the community gate.

From up here I could see a better view of what we were dealing with, and it wasn't good. Walkers stretched along the wall for as far as I could see.

"Rick?" Ron called form down below. "Can I come up?"

"Yeah." I nodded.

He made his way up the ladder before coming to stand next to me, looking down at all the walkers.

"You haven't seen it." I noted.

"No." he responded before going on. "Enid, she, uh...She used to sneak over the walls, spend time out there. You know, I don't know why, she just wanted to. But, um, I think she went out there after the attack."

"What, she's still out there?"

"Yeah." he gave a short nod. "We don't know where she is." he quickly added, "You know, but she knows how to take care of herself."

I highly doubted that.

"And we can't go out there." he added. "Carl wanted to try. I stopped him. I told him I'd tell you if he did. And then, um... I don't know. I just thought I should tell you-"

I cut him off. "Do you know where he is now?"

"Yeah, he's back at the house. I saw him on the porch with Judith."

I looked towards our house before looking down at the walkers, thinking over what I should do. I wanted to make sure Carl- and the rest of my family- were safe. But I needed to keep an eye out for the others.

"I can keep guard if you want." he offered.

I gestured to the walkers. "Down there, they're guarding the place now. This is just about keeping an eye out for the others that aren't back, looking for a sign from Glenn."

"All right." he shrugged.

Turning to him I could see he was serious, and I trusted he'd stay and do what was needed. So, I turned to the ladder, ready to leave.

"Um..." he stopped me. "So, I was thinking about what you said back at the quarry. And, uh, I mean, you're right. I need to know how to protect myself and my mum and brother. This place." he hesitated before going on. "So, can you teach me how to shoot?"

Thinking it over for a moment I then nodded, pulling my gun out, taking out all the bullets, and aiming it at the walkers. "There's your target."

He took the gun and held it in front of him, aiming it at the walkers.

"Just relax." I told him, watching as he listened.

VPOV

After finding Tara and letting Aly hang out with her, I'd decided to take a walk. What I hadn't expected was to see Aaron and Maggie head down into some old sewer. So, me being me, I'd followed. Which is how I'd found them struggling against walkers.

I'd saved them both easily enough, but things didn't run too smoothly afterwards. Aaron had been hurt and his head was bleeding. Both Maggie and I wanted him to go to the infirmary seeing as it looked like he'd need stitches. He- of course- hadn't listened. Now here we were, the three of us walking through the sewers, looking for a way out so we could find the others.

Finally, we came to a gate that lead outside. But as we neared it I felt my heart sink... we were still too close to the walkers.

"We're still too close." Maggie noted, seeing what I saw.

"We just have to get through a few of them, then we're gone." Aaron wasn't giving up.

"No." Maggie grabbed his arm to stop him.

He ignored her, grabbing the gate. "You ready?"

Maggie sighed. "No, we can't."

"She's right." I shook my head. "There's too many, and we're too close."

Aaron looked from me and hen to Maggie. "You both can stay, I'll go."

"No." but when Aaron ignored her, Maggie yelled. "No!"

Aaron turned to her, eyes wide. "Maggie."

"It's over!" she shouted.

Some walkers had heard her and were now pushing up against the gate, blocking our exit as they reached in to try and grab us, snarling and moaning loudly.

"I burned his last picture of me, because I said he wasn't gonna need it any more. Because I was never gonna be away from him again." Maggie was on the verge of tears. I could see it as she went on. "I'm pregnant."

Everything inside me fell deeper as I looked to my best friend. "What?"

Maggie shook her head. "He didn't want me to go out there and I said, 'Yes'. And if I would've gone, if I was with him, maybe I could've helped him." she looked to Aaron and myself. "I don't know if he's alive." she began to cry. "He would've shown me by now. That's what Michonne said." she took a deep breath. "I just want to see his face. I can't."

My arms wrapped around her as I pulled her to me in a tight hug as I felt myself begin to cry. All the fears and anxieties I'd been trying to bottle up inside me seemed to explode at that moment as I felt my own worry for Glenn grow, and my wonder of Daryl begin to turn to heartache. Had we lost Glenn? Had I lost Daryl?

Maggie pulled away, looking at Aaron as her hand slipped into mine. "I don't get to know what will happen. I don't get to know why it happened, what I did right or wrong." she continued to cry. "Not now. I have to live with that. You do, too."

Looking at her, seeing her crying and breaking down like this, it affected Aaron as well. He threw his arms around her, the two embracing as I stood there, watching the walkers, feeling my own heart crumble away.

RPOV

I was walking the streets at night, heading for Jessie's place, when I found Deanna fighting with a walker nearly twice her size. It was on the ground while she stood over it, stabbing its chest with something I couldn't quite make out. Running, I pulled my knife out and crouched down, stabbing the walker in the head without hesitation.

Once the thing fell limp, Deanna stopped. Breathing heavily, covered in blood, she looked down at the walker's head, where a 'W' was carved into the skin.

"Carol said she got one of them. But she couldn't find the body. He must've been under there." I gestured to some lattice that sat by an opening under a house.

Deanna began to get back on to her feet. I reached for her hand, moving slowly and carefully as I helped her up. When she was standing, she looked up at me.

"I want to live." she told me simply. "I want this place to stay standing."

"You need to lead them."

She gave an unamused chuckle. "They don't need me, Rick. What they need is you." looking away she moved to a basket and some food that she must have dropped. As she began to pick it all up I moved to help, crouching down next to her. "What I wanted for this place, was it really just pie in the sky?" she asked, looking to me again.

"No." I reassured her, telling the truth.

With the food, back in the basket, she stood and picked it up. Giving me one last look she then walked off, heading back towards her house.

MPOV

I'd left Aaron at the guard tower by the community gate, telling him I'd be back. I would be, I just had to do something first.

Walking up to the wall where the names of the people we'd lost had been written up I opened my water bottle and poured some water on to my sleeve as I reached the wall. Lifting my sleeve, I began to rub at Glenn's name, washing it away.

He was not gone. I was not going to give up on him so easily. I couldn't.

Aaron came to stand next to me, doing the same to Nicholas' name. "When he gets back, it's worth mentioning that Aaron, Erin, works for a boy or a girl, depending on the spelling." he smiled at me. "Just saying."

I'd stopped rubbing and stood there, looking at the wall as I listened to him. A smile crept on to my face and then, I simply went back to rubbing Glenn's name off the wall.

RPOV

Jessie looked up at me as I walked into her garage. "Those bodies by the graveyard, the reason I wanted to wait was..." I sighed, shifting on the spot. "Was Glenn. We don't know if he's still out there. And Daryl, Sasha, Abraham. I wanted them back by now. I wanted these things gone." gestured to the wall. "I just wanted to wait."

She nodded. "You said it could go on a while."

"I did and it could."

"Rick, it already has. They could still be alive. We're not moving past that. You know, it's just... Right here, in this moment..." she shook her head." This is it, this is what it is."

"'This is what life looks like now.'" I quoted something I'd heard she'd said earlier today.

"You heard about that?" she asked. I nodded and she went on. "I wasn't saying there wasn't a future. There's gotta be. Tell me there's more."

Stepping forward, knowing exactly what I was doing and watching her reaction, I reached forward, brushing some of her hair behind her ear before cupping the side of her head as I leaned forward, pressing my lips to hers.

VPOV

I sat on the front porch step, looking up at the stars as tears filled my eyes. Fingers fiddling with the ring around my finger I found my mind unable to stop thinking about Daryl.

When I was younger I'd always been grossed out by couples. I'd never understood how a girl could like a guy so much that she'd hurt if he hurt. Family was different of course, but the idea of having a boyfriend of my own had grossed me out.

"One day, you'll find a guy and you'll fall head over heels for him." mum grinned as we baked some cookies.

I'd told her how my friend's sister had been kissing a boy while I'd been visiting. It had freaked and grossed me out. Just the idea of my lips touching a guy's had me cringing.

I shook my head. "Boys, are gross."

"Yes, they are." she laughed, nodding. "But you'll still find someone. You'll fall in love and nothing else will make sense."

I'd looked up at her, watching as she looking down at the mixing bowl, deep in thought. "Just like you and dad? You love each other, right?"

I didn't know it at the time, but mum was pregnant with Carl then. It was still early so she wasn't telling anyone just in case.

Nodding, she smiled down at me. "Just like me and dad." resting her hand on my head, she stroked my hair. "You wait and see. I'll be right one day. You'll find someone handsome, and caring-"

"And smart?" I asked.

"And smart." she nodded. "And you'll love him more than you've loved anyone else before."

"Will he love me?" I asked, suddenly wishing more than anything that he would.

I didn't know who this mystery man was, but I knew I wanted him to love me. I felt like it was something I needed.

"Oh, he'll love you. He'll love you so much, and you won't understand why. But he'll protect and care for you. You'll come first, always. Nothing will matter more than your safety." she sighed. "He'll do stupid things, and he'll mess up. He'll get hurt, and sometimes you won't know if he'll come back home some days. But you'll still love him, and he'll love you."

Smiling, I turned back to the mixing bowl, waiting for her to keep cooking. "Well, he better not be too gross." I shrugged, and mum just laughed.

The memory hurt...

They should have been back by now. All of them. Sasha, Abraham, Nicholas, Glenn... Daryl. I should have gone with them. I should have left once the intruders were gone. I should have waited for Daryl by the tractor place and gone with him then. I should have...

It was too late now. I was stuck in here, surrounded by walkers, with no real way out. I mean, I could get out. I could climb the wall, get a distraction for the walkers and then jump down and run. I could climb up and onto the truck Spencer had stopped, and jump off the end of that. I could follow the sewers a little more than Maggie, Aaron and myself had, and find a way out. I could...

But I knew I shouldn't, that I couldn't. The risk was too high and if anything happened to me, it would kill the people I love. If dad found out, or Maggie, or Carl, or anyone... They'd all come after me, and if they got hurt it would kill me. So here I was, stuck.

"Mum?" Aly's little voice called from inside the house.

I turned to look at the front door as I wiped tears from my eyes. "Out here, sweetie."

The pitter patter of her feet got louder until she stopped in the door way, holding Daryl the Deer to her chest. "I can't sleep."

Sighing I nodded and got to my feet before moving towards her. "Okay, come on." grabbing her hand I lead her back towards and up the stairs as I moved us to my room.

Houdini was laying in Aly's door way, his head poking out. At the sight of us he rushed over and into my room, right behind Aly and myself.

"Up you get." I patted the bed.

Houdini jumped up and curled himself into a ball at the end of the bed, while Aly pulled herself up and crawled over to lay on my side. I climbed under the blankets on Daryl's side, letting the smell of him surround me.

"I'm scared." Aly whispered.

"Why?"

"There's walkers, and Daryl and Glenn aren't back. Sasha and Abraham are gone, too." she looked up at me. "Are they dead?"

Sighing, I shook my head. "No."

"How do you know?"

"I didn't see it happen." I answered simply.

"Are we gonna die?" her voice shook as she asked that question.

"Oh, sweetie." I pulled her closer to me. "I will do everything I can to keep you safe. You know that."

Nodding against me, I felt her body shake lightly as she began to cry. "I wish I was as brave as you." she held on to my shirt tightly. "I love you, mummy."

I kissed the top of her head. "I love you, too." stroking her hair I watched her as she slowly fell asleep, curled up against me, holding my shirt with a grip so tight her knuckles were white.

Bamby

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junker-town · 6 years

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Jalen Brunson is a college basketball legend for a new era

Brunson is one of the most accomplished college players of the modern era.

Jalen Brunson hasn’t officially declared for the NBA draft yet, but it’s a reasonable assumption that it’s going to happen soon. For one, Brunson is on track to graduate this spring from Villanova with a degree in communications in just three years.

There’s also just not much left for him to accomplish as an amateur player. This is what Brunson has done over the last five years:

Gold medals with USA Basketball in 2014 and 2015

High school state championship in 2015

Illinois Mr. Basketball in 2015

Big East regular season championship in 2016 and 2017

Big East tournament championship in 2017 and 2018

College basketball national championship in 2016 and 2018

Wooden Award and Naismith Award winner in 2018

You can make the case Brunson is one of the most distinguished college players of the modern era. These are the players who have exited college with two national titles and a player of the year award:

Jalen Brunson

Christian Laettner

Bill Walton

Lew Alcindor

That’s it. But shouts to Tyler Olander and Corey Brewer for coming so close.

A career like Jalen Brunson’s took a perfect storm. It starts with a star recruit who lacked the physicality to be a one-and-done finding with a program known for making its players better over time yet still immediately ready to win a national championship. Three years later, Villanova owns a 103-13 overall record and a pair of banners since Brunson arrived on campus.

If this is it for Jalen Brunson in college basketball, what a career it’s been.

Everyone describes Jalen Brunson the same way. It goes something like this:

“Honestly, he’s played like a 35-year-old man,” said Wright said. “He’s got an old-school game, like his dad. And he’s approached it like a 10-year pro. As a freshman, you can be talented but not do those little things. He just does it like a vet.

That was Jay Wright back when Brunson was a freshman starter on a national championship team. Wright has been saying the same thing from the moment Brunson came into the program. It didn’t hurt to have a father, Rick Brunson, who played nine NBA seasons and drilled him on tape from an early age.

Jalen was an unstoppable scorer at Stevenson High School in north suburban Chicago. He famously dropped 56 points against Jahlil Okafor’s Whitney Young High School team in the semifinals of the state playoffs as a junior (it wasn’t his only 50+ point game that year). As a senior, he scored 48 points against Jayson Tatum and Chaminade Prep and later went on to win a state title.

When he graduated, he went off to Greece to win a gold medal with USA Basketball while being named Most Valuable Player of the tournament. On a team with NBA players up and down the roster, Brunson was creating all the offense when it mattered.

It was obvious Brunson was going to be a problem at Villanova. It just took some time to happen.

As a freshman, Brunson had to learn how to be a role player. He was the fifth starter on a team that included veterans Ryan Arcidiacono, Josh Hart, Kris Jenkins and Daniel Ochefu. Brunson would average nearly 10 points per game, but he rarely went into takeover mode. Villanova won the national championship because of its veterans. When Jenkins hit his instant classic buzzer-beater in the title game, Brunson was not on the court.

Brunson knew his time would come. Patience is the ultimate virtue at Villanova and there’s a very real road map for how it can pay off. As a sophomore, Brunson was one of the best point guards in college basketball. As a junior, he was so much more than that.

Here’s another quote on Brunson, this one from Xavier coach Chris Mack:

“You peel his face off, he’d probably have wires coming out of it.”

If you watched Brunson’s surgical guard play this season, it makes sense. Brunson was back in his preferred role as a go-to scorer as a junior. He didn’t need to carry Villanova’s offense every night because the Wildcats had so many other weapons, but there was never any doubt who was at the controls.

Brunson was a bully from all over the court. He shot 60 percent on twos, 40 percent on threes and 80 percent on free throws on his way to averaging 19 points per game. He was at his best posting up smaller guards, finishing in the 98th percentile in the country in post scoring efficiency. His true shooting percentage (63.5) ranked No. 80 in the country, while his offensive rating (128.5) ranked No. 17.

Brunson swept the player of the year awards because he was the biggest star on the best team, yes. For as stacked as Villanova’s rotation was down the line this year, there’s no chance another national title would have happened without him.

Brunson is now finally projected as a first round pick in ESPN’s latest mock draft. He’ll never be the biggest or most explosive point guard, but he knows how to get to his spots, his feel for the game is elite, he’s a dependable three-point shooter and he’s already been carrying himself like a pro for years.

All of this combined to make Jalen Brunson one of the great college basketball players in recent memory. Doubt him at the next level at your own peril.

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richonnefics · 7 years

Text

Michonne

The second hand of the clock hanging over the credenza in Michonne’s office ticked away as she raced to wrap up her case notes. Next week was the hearing and she never walked into a courtroom unprepared and she wasn’t going to start now. It was five till six in the evening and she promised Rick she’d be home in time to cook dinner for him and the kids. And there lied the issues with the promises of a working mother. She was always stretched too thin and sometimes her promises transformed into rain checks. She was a woman of her word so when unexpected things occurred and she couldn’t hold her end of the bargain, it hurt her to her core. It seemed she always had to be in all places at all times. Thank goodness for her status at the firm. She could pretty much come and go as she pleased but lackadaisical wasn’t her style. She was all in, fully immersed in everything she pursued in life. Work was no exception.

Most people, if they were good at their job and diligent, made partner after being at a firm ten plus years. Michonne did it in seven and immediately began recruiting a team of the best associates in Atlanta, poaching eager first years with gumption and talent from rival firms. She had won two pretty large cases the year before making partner and there was a lot of buzz about her in local papers. The young attorneys were more than willing to jump at a chance to work with her. And once she assembled the perfect task force, she made an effort to treat them in a professional and respectful manner. She was a lady of action, not just mere words and she believed people’s efforts were more genuine if they are treated right.

Little did she know how imperative that move was actually going to be. About a year into her new role as partner, Michonne met the love of her life and within that year they were married. She’d inherited a step-son, Carl, who she immediately fell in love with and since then two little additions have joined their little family; twins, a boy and a girl, Andre and Judith.

Michonne hastily shut the file, gathered a stack of folders and raced towards the door, yanking her jacket and purse from the coat tree as she exited. She fastened the door behind her as one of her new junior associates appeared, removing the pile of folders from her embrace.

“Thanks Ethan,” Michonne stated in a hurry, managing to slide inside her jacket and lock her office door simultaneously. “Get the paperwork for the Van Zandt case filed Monday morning please. I’ll be back Monday evening but until then get with Casey for anything. She is the ONLY person to call me while I’m in and out of court. Got it?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Ethan replied with a smile on his face. “Enjoy your weekend.”

“It’s the first weekend I’ve had off in a long time,” Michonne spouted out quickly, even a bit abrasive. But Michonne paused, catching and checking herself mentally. She turned towards Ethan, looked him in the eyes, a small smile creeping across her face. She’d been rude, rushing and calling out commands and that really wasn’t her way. A peer approach was her go to method with her team, always transparent and open with them but firm and honest. It was the other reason so many of the associates wanted to work with her; her humanity. She treated her team like people and not a means to an end. Even past associates whom she had to let go would still ask for referrals from her and in their world, asking for a referral from the person who let you go was unheard of. She just had a way with people. “Thank you Ethan. I appreciate all that you do for the team.”

“And we appreciate you Mrs. Grimes.”

She smiled back at the young man before spinning around on her heels and headed towards the parking lot. It was colder than usual for late winter. She found herself bundled up in layers. It was a casual day, so she’d paired her favorite pair of jeans with a long sleeved black turtleneck sweater, her trusty thermals underneath it all. Her stylish mid-thigh length, doubled breasted, button closured, red and black houndstooth jacket was lined and extremely warm and she topped off the look with a simple black flannel scarf, diamond stud earrings and black riding boots with pretty quilting detail on the sides.

As she prepared herself to brace the cold, she made her way through the double doors and stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes wide with shock.

“What are you doing here,” she finally uttered after a moment.

Rick

Pulling into the parking space, Rick sat a while and ran through the list of things he was supposed to do before he left the house. He needed to mentally make sure he hadn’t missed anything. The twins were spending the night with his parents and Carl was spending the night with his best friend Duane, so he and Michonne would have the house to themselves for an entire weekend. It had been quite some time since they’d had an empty home all to themselves and he vowed to himself to make the most of their alone time. It had been too long really.

Checking his watch, it was about five minutes until six. He got into his wool lined jacket and beanie before hopping out of the truck and rubbed his hands together vigorously before pulling on his gloves. Leaning against the side of his truck, he patiently waited, his arms crossed over his chest, one boot clad foot over the other. Michonne had just texted him that she was headed out of the office so the wait shouldn’t be too long. His mind wandered to his beautiful wife, her bright smile that made his heart melt would surely be the first thing to greet him once she exited through those huge double glass doors. He couldn’t wait to surprise her. She secretly loved surprises, though she claimed she didn’t. Not once did she get upset at a surprise visit, party or gift and he relished in her usual over the top reactions to his random acts of unexpected occasions or presents.

Michonne made her presence known as her voice floated across the street, causing Rick to snap back to what was before him.

“What are you doing here,” she uttered. “Rick? Where’s Carl? Are my babies ok?”

“Everybody’s fine baby,” Rick returned, walking towards his wife. He kissed her gently on the cheek and took in her heady lavender scent. “Got a little surprise for you.”

Her eyes brightened and it brought a huge smile to Rick’s face.

“You know I don’t like surprises,” Michonne said, grinning as she made her way towards Rick. “But what is it?”

“’Chonne, you really need to stop sayin’ you don’t like surprises while smilin’,” Rick said as he opened up the passenger door. “Get in.”

“Where’re we going,” she asked as she slid inside the truck and immediately started to buckle in.

“I told you… it’s a surprise,” Rick replied before kissing his wife and securing the door closed.

They drove along the highway, soft music playing in the background, keeping them company along with light conversation. Rick glanced over at his wife and clasped one of her hands with his own. He placed a blindfold on her before they left the parking lot and she surprisingly didn’t resist wearing it, though she questioned him the majority of the drive, trying to trick him into giving up their destination.

Suddenly the truck came to a halt and the engine stopped. Rick gave Michonne’s hand a squeeze before opening his door. “Let me come around there and help you out.”

“This better be worth being blinded Rick,” Michonne stated before he closed the door on her.

“It’s totally going to be worth it,” Rick stated as he opened her door. He carefully led her out of her seat and guided her towards their destination. Once inside, he removed the blindfold allowing her eyes time to adjust to the lighting of the space.

She checked her surroundings thoroughly, her smile widening as she took in the sights. Rick loved that look of elation she’d get when she was just happy in the moment.

“The Arabesque,” she questioned a puzzled and delighted look upon her face. “Why are we at The Arabesque?”

“Date night,” Rick replied presenting her with a large white box decorated with a simple lilac colored ribbon. “Right after we got married, I asked my dad how he and my mom managed to keep their marriage afloat for fifty years and his answer was plain and simple. Said he never stopped courtin’mama. So I decided to take his advice. We haven’t been on a real date in some months so I wanted to surprise you with somethin’ you’d enjoy. It’s nothing big but my mama always told us to enjoy the little things. Plus you’ve been stressed lately with that Morley case and so I arranged for a kid free, quiet weekend.”

“Oh but this is a big little thing,” she was almost in tears as she spoke. “Thank you.”

He handed the box to Michonne and guided her to the wooden bench in the small lobby. “Open it.”

Like a child on Christmas, she eagerly removed the ribbon and tossed the top of the large box aside, her eyes widened, gleaming in delight. “Oh, Rick. These are so nice.” She pulled out a shiny new pair of white ice skates with purple laces.

“I’ve been wanting a pair of ice skates for so long.” She reached her hand out for his and pulled him closer to her, motioning for him to sit next to her and of course he obliged. She stared at the skates, examining the shiny new, unscathed blades and leather. A slight frown washed over her face suddenly which didn’t go unnoticed by Rick.

“What’s wrong?”

“Uh,” she mumbled. “It’s just… you don’t skate. Am I skating alone?”

“One of the first things you told me when we started dating was that you enjoyed ice skating and I remember thinking, I ain’t never gonna do that,” he laughed before pulling her into his body slightly. “But last year, when you signed Judith up for lessons and I saw how much fun you had watching her and then watching you two skate together afterwards, I wanted in. So, I asked Judith’s teacher if she’d teach me some basics.”

“Is that why you insisted on taking her to her lessons the last couple of months,” Michonne asked.

He nodded, “Yeah. And apparently, I’m a natural.”

Michonne giggled. “Well, show me your moves on the rink Mr. Natural.”

“Oh, I got this. Just you wait and see.”

Michonne

She couldn’t wait to break in her new skates. She hadn’t had a pair since she was in junior high school. Quickly, she slid her feet inside and laced them up. They fit perfectly. Rick retrieved the rental skates from the bar and came to her side, preparing to put his pair of skates on. They secured their belongings in a locker and made their way towards the ice.

The rink at The Arabesque was one of the few outdoor ice skating rinks in the city and it was Michonne’s absolute favorite. It was also a landmark and a memento to Michonne’s childhood. When Judith expressed an interest after watching some figure skating on television, Michonne jumped at the chance to introduce her baby girl to the world of ice skating.

Michonne hit the ice with ease and glided across several feet before making a quick 180-degree spin to face her husband. The extreme cool from the rink wisped over her cheeks.

“Ha,” she yelled, staring at Rick as he inched towards the edge of the rink. “I’ve still got it.” She covered her mouth in laughter at her husband’s trepidation. “What’s the matter baby? You scared?”

And with that berating statement, Rick flew onto the ice with just as much ease and comfort as she had. She was officially impressed. “Wow!”

“I told you,” Rick said making his way towards her. He got dangerously close to her before he suddenly turned his body to the side, tossing up some shaved ice onto Michonne’s shiny new skates.

“Hockey stop? Impressive Grimes,” Michonne complimented.

“What can I say? I’m good like that,” Rick smiled wrapping his arms around his wife. Her body natural rolled into his, her hands latched onto the lapels of Rick’s coat and she tilted her head up ever so slightly.

“Yes,” she stood on the toe pick of her skates, pulling him even closer than she thought was possible and kissed his lips. “You,” one more kiss, “are,” and another, this one lingering a bit on his soft and plush bottom lip.

She let go of his jacket, grabbed his hand and lead him around the rink for a few laps. No words were spoken. They just went round and round, taking in the serenity of the cloudy night sky, the few tiny snowflakes that floated around them and the draped Christmas lights overhead. They never had moments like this and she just wanted to bask in it for a little while. It was such a simple gesture but so nice. She was sure to enjoy this little moment as Rick’s mother, Bette, had advised. Rick finally broke the silence as they continued their revolutions.

“How old were you when you first ice skated and why did you fall in love with it?”

“Ah,” she began. “Taking me down memory lane… Let’s see. I was around seven I think. It was Andrea’s birthday party. And it was right here at The Arabesque. I was terrified because I just knew I was going to fall but Andrea dragged me out on the ice and it instantly felt so familiar. I glided along the ice effortlessly, like I’d been doing it my entire life. I did end up falling though… three times that day but I just got back up and kept going and… never stopped.”

Rick guided them towards the outer edge of the rink and trapped Michonne in between himself and the wall. She began to giggle as he stared deep into her eyes and caressed her check with the back of his hand. She wasn’t sure where this was leading to but she was sure she was going to relish in her husband’s unabashed attention to her.

“What,” she finally whispered as she placed her hands over his.

“Nothing,” he replied. “I just pictured seven year old you. You must have been the most fearless little girl. That’s where Judy gets it from.”

“You’re getting sentimental on me,” Michonne spoke again, leaning her forehead against his. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, taking in Rick and their surroundings. This was such a treat, being here at one of her most favorite places in the world with her favorite person in the world. “A few more laps? Race ya.”

“What does the winner get?

“Hmm,” she hummed. “Good question. How about breakfast in bed and sex anywhere in the house this weekend?” “Oh, you’re so on.”

“I’ll give you a head start… newbie,” Michonne taunted. “You being fresh to this and all.”

“I won’t need it,” Rick answered confidently.

They stood side by side behind an imaginary line, both in a race ready stance.

“On three,” Michonne announced.

“One,” Rick started.

“Three,” Michonne yelled as she took off full steam ahead, leaving Rick behind in her ice crystal trail. She looked back once to see Rick making long strides to try and catch up but she was a good twenty feet ahead of him. There was no way he was going to catch her. Showing off, she did a little twirl and a quick figure eight just to see if she still could. Just as she began to move into the curve of the rink, Rick cut across and grabbed her by the waist, accelerating them both to the cold hard ice, though he landed on his back and she, directly on top of him.

“Rick,” she yelped while laughing. “Are you insane?”

“You started this,” he returned, his face inches from hers. She watched his eyes move from her own to her nose and landed at her lips. She could feel the blood rush into her cheeks at his glare. She wanted to take him home now and do all kinds of naughty things but they hadn’t been there that long.

“If you don’t stop looking at me like that, we’re going to get kicked out of here for indecent behavior,” she whispered, as his eyes averted back to hers. She gave him a quick peck before rolling off of her husband and coming to a stance.

She aided him up and he held onto her waist tight as he whispered in her ear. “You know that’s not beneath me. Besides, I know a good lawyer.”

She laughed. “Oh you do?”

“Yep,” he smiled as Michonne shuddered in his embrace.

“You cold baby,” Rick asked, getting a bit serious now.

“A little,” she replied, though I wouldn’t be if you hadn’t catapulted us to the ground, a grin creeping across her lips.

“Let me make it up to you,” he said, looking down at his watch.

“You have somewhere else to be,” Michonne asked.

“As a matter of fact,” Rick stated, a slight grin appearing. “We do.”

He took her hand once more and led her off the rink and towards a small private birthday party room. Once inside Michonne found a beautifully dressed, candlelit table, two café au laits, nutella crepes and a bowl of various berries. He pulled out her chair, always the gentleman and helped her out of her jacket. Taking the seat next to her, he pulled off his beanie and jacket before kissing her gently.

“I thought you’d like a little warmth and some food before we hit the ice again,” Rick spoke as he relaxed in his chair. Michonne picked up her large mug and took a nice long sip of her drink, savoring the coffee, the atmosphere and the company. She needed this more than she even knew and Rick was just the absolute sweetest to plan all of this. She leaned into him as he swathed his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. He was totally going to get some good, good loving anywhere he wanted in their home tonight but first, she’d hit the ice and glide and spin and twirl for another hour or so like the ice princess she always dreamt she’d be.

Author’s Notes: Thank you all so much for taking the time to read. I hope you enjoyed this tale and all of the Rendezvous Date Night stories in the series to come. Special shout out to @severelybabykryptonite and @carolina-bleus for indulging and venturing down the path with this project with me. I heart you two so much! :)

#rendezvous #date night series #january #rtnrbs #fanfiction #richonne #long post #au fanfiction #figure eights and snowflakes

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lvmcn · 4 years

Photo

{brec bassinger, cis female, dc/stargirl} look who is spotted around ha'ina it's courtney whitmore. a eighteen year old human. they spend their time around ha'ina as a college student. the last thing they remember is spending christmas with her friends & family after defeating the isa. and people describe them as bubbly, impulsive, brave.

“life isn’t that black and white, henry. people can be bad, but people can be good too, and kind and compassionate. maybe some of the thoughts you read, maybe, they are bad. i mean, sometimes we’re hurting or afraid and we think awful, awful things. have you tried looking a little deeper? i bet you’d find something better. behind the pain and the fear, it’s all about love. people want to love and be loved.” courtney to henry

basic facts:

full name: courtney elizabeth whitmore

nickname: court

birthday: december 31st

sexuality: pansexual

abilities: peak human condition, master acrobat, expert martial artist, abilities via cosmic staff (stellarkinesis), photokinesis, & flight

occupation: college student

canon up to: defeating the isa

+ traits: kind, talented, loyal, & artistic

- traits: shy, stubborn, naive, & innocent

intro:

courtney is the only child of barbara whitmore and sam curtis. her father was never really in her life. he was always in and out till she was five.

for christmas when she was four, he gave her a locket with his picture in it, that he had a matching locket. then the next christmas, he didn’t show up. it broke courtney since she wanted to see him, but he never showed up, not that day or any other day.

ten years later her mom got married to a man named pat dugan and she got a younger step-brother mike. they moved from valley village, california to blue valley, nebraska.

right after moving there, courtney wasn’t too pleased, not only did she leave all her friends in california, there was no gymnastic team there like there was in california.

then one night she went into the basement where she found a crate and inside was the cosmic staff. pat had the staff since he was starman’s sidekick and after starman’s death he kept it safe.

the staff freaked her out when she saw it glow. then it dragged her away from her house to town where she uses it to do a gymnastic routine, then sits on it and the staff flies through the sky and she crashes in the woods near the drive-in.

there she sees henry and his friends bullying a kid she goes over with the staff to deflate his car’s tires. but when they notice her, the staff helps her fight them off, blowing up henry’s car in the process.

she rushes back home where she is caught by pat. he takes the staff which deactivates when he touches it, he is surprised to see that it worked for courtney since he had only seen it work for starman. he explains what happened to starman and the jsa. and since the only jsa and starman died ten years ago, on the same day her dad disappeared, and since her dad was a striking resemblance of starman, courtney was convinced that he is her dad. pat tries to convince him that he wasn’t, but for courtney the coincidences were just too much.

later that night courtney goes out with the cosmic staff again, as she was flying on it she was hit by a tire and lands in a stack of tires. she was surprised, thinking at first the staff did it, but she soon learned it was caused by an isa member called brainwave.

he tried to figure her out through his powers of telepathy, but the staff knocked him in the chin and he back up. then he starts to throw tires at her using his telekinesis, courtney, with the help of the staff is able to dodge them all and sends a beam of light at him which explodes and he disappears, she goes out to see pat in his giant robot he built.

pat then explains more things about the jsa & isa to courtney and courtney tells him about how brainwave is in the town.

the next day at school, courtney uses the sewing room to transform starman’s costume into one for her.

then while at the school’s open house with her family, brainwave figures out who she is, he was there since he was henry’s father. he threatened to kill her mom if she didn’t meet him at school later that night.

courtney goes because she needs to protect her mom, even though she isn’t equipped to fight him. while she was being beat by him, pat shows up in his robot and helps to fight brainwave.

the staff creates an incredible light at brainwave that it created an anti-gravity ball that floats all around him, with so much energy and force it causes him to pass out and go into a coma.

the next day courtney was walking home from school where she saw a patch on the ground frozen over in the shape of a star and she knew it was caused by icicle. her and pat got to where it was out where they get into a fight with icicle. during the fight, icicle kills a school mate of courtney’s, joey, to not only scare her but to get revenge on the isa member’s who was his father for turning his back on the isa.

the death of joey really affected courtney since she knew that the icicle and the isa were really dangerous if they were okay with killing children. that night pat shows her the jsa meeting spot and all the things left by the jsa after their deaths. later that night courtney breaks in and takes all the stuff knowing the only way to defeat the isa is to create a new jsa.

the first person courtney recruits is yolanda since she is a skilled fighter just like wildcat was. at first, yolanda blew courtney off, but she didn’t give up. together they broke into the hospital where brainwave was to see who has been visiting him, curious if any of the isa was.

after yolanda returns the wildcat suit saying she wasn’t wildcat and goes home. courtney goes to her house and leaves the outfit in her room, later that night courtney sees yolanda outside her window in her costume, which makes courtney smile knowing the plans to rebuild the jsa was working.

on halloween her and pat get stranded and one of courtney’s schoolmates rick walks by. she notices the hourman hourglass glowing when he was around. once he leaves courtney follows him. and tries to explain about the hourglass, but he thinks she is insane and walks away.

when courtney gets home she finds beth in her room wearing the dr mid-nite goggles, she tries to lie about them. but the ai a part of the glasses tells beth the truth. through the goggles they learn that rick is hourman, rex tyler’s son.

courtney, beth, & yolanda go to find rick at a halloween party, knowing that they need him for the jsa. courtney gives him the hourglass and once he sees that it does give him strength he leaves them saying he’ll do his own thing.

the girls all but on their costumes and go to the tree with rick’s parents crashed into it and died. there dr. mid-nite’s goggles show them what really happened that night, it was a car malfunction, but solomon grundy who caused their death. and then rick agrees to join them.

when pat finds out that courtney gave out some of the jsa stuff he asks for it back, not want any of the kids to get hurt or killed by the isa. courtney does not want to tell them about getting the stuff back. but after school she does, they refuse to give it back since it has become a part of who they were. however, they put courtney asking it back aside when they figure out the isa was planning something that night. the all suit up and try to stop the isa members from stealing something from a satellite company.

they get into a fight with sportsmaster & tigress and while they are all much newer than the adults and don’t exactly win the fight, they are able to hold their own and get out without too much damage done.

one day when pat was trying to train them using a course he set up, courtney was impulsive and tried to show off and destroyed the course which upset her friends since she didn’t think about them before doing it.

at a football game that night courtney notices principal bowen leave and she followers her thinking she might be a part of the isa. but before she could figure anything out, she is attacked by one of her classmate cindy, who wants to kill stargirl so that she could join the isa. the two fight and if it wasn’t for the school janitor, justin, courtney would’ve been killed by cindy. pat gets to courtney and takes her to the hospital and lies to everyone that they were in a car accident.

once courtney gets home, cindy shows up, and tells courtney that she knows she is stargirl and that she was going to defeat her. courtney then texts yolanda telling her that cindy knows she is stargirl. she doesn’t hear back so she heads over to cindy’s house, where her friends were. there she fought cindy again and was struggling to fight her, luckily henry saw what was going on and freaked up and used his powers that he was starting to develop to stop the fight and allow courtney to get away.

after that day, courtney tried everything to convince her friends to allow henry to join the jsa, they weren’t convinced that he was good, but courtney believed in him. courtney goes to henry’s father’s hospital room where she knew henry would be to try to recuit him. he figures out courtney caused her dad to be in a coma and caused her to experience a terrible headache, she calms him down, but it doesn’t last long so she has to leave.

that night one of courtney’s classmates, cameron, and his dad and grandparents come over for dinner. it was during the dinner that courtney figures out cameron’s dad, jordan, is icicle after he touches a burning hot pan with his bare hands and doesn’t feel any burning.

after the leave she goes downstairs to get her staff and pat follows, and while they were in the basement with the staff, courtney’s mom walks him and the explain to her everything. she gets angry that pat kept that side of his past from her and got his daughter involved in nonsense.

the staff comes to courtney wanting to go fight, she turns it away because of how mad her mom was. and the staff leaves, when courtney realizes it’s gone and no one knows where it is she goes to her friends. they agree to go to the underground tunnels that they found, where the isa met, to look for it. and courtney is able to convince them to let henry come with them since he wants to save his dad who woke up and didn’t remember anything too bad and was a different person.

in the tunnels they get to dr itos lair and fight his henchman and henry tries to disconnect her dad. after defeating the henchman, dr. ito fights courtney himself and before he can defeat her, yolanda is able to get her the cosmic staff that helps her fight him. henry gets his father off the machine, but they all learn it’s too late, they gave him all his memories back. they run off and meet up with rick and beth. right before they get out of the tunnels they are stopped by brainwave, and henry sacrifices his life so courtney and her friends can get out. it crushes them all to see, but gives them another reason to keep stay strong with their cause.

the next day, courtney’s dad, sam curtis shows up in blue valley to talk to her. at first courtney doesn’t want to believe it’s him since she wanted to believe her dad was starman. but she learns that he is her dad and tries to get to know him. but she learns why he is really there, he wants to sell her necklace for money and it’s when courtney realizes who her dad really is. she gives him the necklace and leaves. at home she cries to pat about what happened.

she goes to the staff, but it doesn’t light up anymore and courtney believes it’s because the staff knows now she isn’t starman’s child, so it doesn’t want her. she tells her friends that she is no longer stargirl because the staff doesn’t want her. at home, she begs the staff to light up and pat tries to reassure her that it wasn’t because she wasn’t starman’s child but because she lost faith in herself. and later him, barbara, and courtney go there they take a deep breath and courtney picks up the staff, it glows brighter than it ever did before because know she believes in herself and the staff choose her because of her and not because she may be starman’s child.

the family starts to pack up knowing that because henry knows who she is that him and the isa would attack their house and they have to get away from the town. tigress shows up at their home while courtney and her mom were packing. courtney was able to stop her before she killed anyone and made it to the safe house where they met up with beth, rick, and yolanda.

while at the safe house they did everything they could to figure out what the isa’s plan was since they didn’t have long left. once rick finally decodes his dad’s journal they use dr. mid-nite’s goggle’s to figure out the exact plan. they learned that the isa is planning on using a machine to use brainwaves ability to control and change all the personalities and minds of millions of adults. they head back to blue valley to stop the isa.

while they were walking through the tunnels, beth was at barbara’s work with her trying to hack into the computer to figure out more things about the isa’s plan and how to stop it. while the ideas they want to change them to are good things like getting rid of hate, it would kill one fourth of the people it affects, if that person has a strong will and fights them reprogramming.

when the machine first starts up, brainwave controls pat to attack courtney since he is in his mind. pat is able to fight it enough to not kill courtney when she calls him her dad. but it causes him to start to die for fighting brainwave, but beth is able to save him by putting the shields the tunnels have back up which makes it so brainwave can’t affect pat anymore.

they all start to fight the isa and once they are able to defeat them, courtney and yolanda head to destroy the machine, they are attacked by cindy. courtney fights her as yolanda goes on and kills brainwave. once courtney catches up with her. courtney destroys the machine by slicing it up into pieces. her and all her friends get out of the tunnels as all the adults snap out of the trance they were in and are all fine.

they all meet up outside barbara’s work and celebrate. icicle comes to attack them, mike hits him with the car, destroying him. that was when they knew they won.

a few weeks later everyone is at courtney’s home enjoying christmas. courtney gives pat the present she kept for her dad since she was five, since she saw pat as her dad. the present was a mug that said world’s greatest dad, pat was so happy to get it. courtney then heads out after they took a group photo and sits on a water tower looking at the beauty and peace of the forest. pat flies up in his robot and sits next to her and they enjoy it together.

that was the last thing courtney remembered before showing up in ha’ina. she isn’t exactly super happy to be here since she doesn’t know why or how she is here and is worried for her friends and family. though she is happy to be able to relax and not worry about villains.

she has the cosmic staff with her and isn’t afraid to use it to help people.

#hainahq:intro #☆•.¸♡ people can be bad but people can be good too and kind and compassionate | courtney muse ♡¸.•☆#☆•.¸♡ sometimes we’re hurting and we think awful. have you tried looking a little deeper | courtney muse ♡¸.•☆

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douglasacogan · 4 years

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After extended resistance (and likely lots of legal fees), Lori Loughlin and her husband agree to plead guilty in college admission scandal with fixed short prison sentence

As reported in this CNN piece, headlined "Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli agree to plead guilty in college admissions scam," perhaps the highest profile remaining defendants in the college admissions scandal have now finally capitulated the prosecutorial pressure and decided to plead guilty. Here are the details:

Actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges in connection to their role in the college admissions scam, the US Attorney's Office in the District of Massachusetts said.

Loughlin, 55, and Giannulli, 56, had been accused of paying $500,000 to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California as fake crew team recruits. They had pleaded not guilty for more than a year and moved to dismiss charges as recently as two weeks ago.

As part of the plea agreement, Loughlin will be sentenced to two months in prison and Giannulli will be sentenced to five months in prison, subject to the court's approval, according to authorities. In addition, Loughlin faces a $150,000 fine, two years of supervised release and 100 hours of community service, and Giannulli faces a $250,000 fine, two years of supervised release and 250 hours of community service.

They are scheduled to plead guilty on Friday at 11:30 a.m., prosecutors said. Loughlin's publicist said she had no comment.

Loughlin will plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, and Giannulli will plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and honest services wire and mail fraud. The actress, best known for her role as Aunt Becky on the sitcom "Full House," and her husband had previously been charged with three counts of conspiracy.

"Under the plea agreements filed today, these defendants will serve prison terms reflecting their respective roles in a conspiracy to corrupt the college admissions process and which are consistent with prior sentences in this case," said US Attorney Andrew E. Lelling. "We will continue to pursue accountability for undermining the integrity of college admissions."

Loughlin and Giannulli were some of the most famous names wrapped up in the brazen scheme to cheat, bribe and lie in the hyper-competitive college admissions process. They allegedly paid $500,000 as part of a scheme with Rick Singer, the scam's mastermind, and a USC athletics official to get their two daughters into the university as members of the crew team, even though they did not participate in crew....

If Loughlin and Giannulli had gone to trial and been convicted, they could have faced up to 20 years in prison for the conspiracy charge. "The stakes at trial were really high for these two," CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said. "Had they gone to trial and lost, they were looking at several years each. So they really cut their losses here by cutting these pleas."

They are the 23rd and 24th parents to plead guilty in the case. Actress Felicity Huffman pleaded guilty to conspiracy last year for paying $15,000 to the scam's mastermind as part of a scheme to cheat on the SATs and boost her daughter's test scores, and she ultimately served 11 days in prison.

The way that this plea is described in this press release form the US Attorney leads me to suspect that this is a Rule 11(c)(1)(C) plea in which the agreement states "a specific sentence ... is the appropriate disposition of the case [which] ... binds the court once the court accepts the plea agreement." Sure enough, the Loughlin plea agreement makes clear that it is a (c)(1)(C) plea. I do not recall many of the other defendants in the college admissions scandal who entered plea agreements having a fixed sentence built into the agreement, though that may well have been because, earlier, neither defendants nor prosecutors were inclined to lock in a particular sentence when it was unclear just what "sentencing price" judges were inclined to attached to this conduct. Now that a few months seems to be the "norm," these latest defendants and the prosecutors now may have been content to lock in the sentence via the plea deal.

As for the "sentencing price" set here by the parties, Lori Loughlin seemingly got a pretty good deal given how much money was spent seeking to get two kids into college. On the surface, her case seems somewhat similar to Toby MacFarlane's case; as noted here, he spent $450,000 to get his two kids into USC as fake athletic recruits and received a sentence of six month back in November. But, were anyone concerned about a possible "celebrity discount," it is important to realize that the "Loughlin family" is getting a total of seven month and federal prosecutors may have had many reasons to believe that Loughlin's culpability was reduced compared to her husband and MacFarlane.

A few prior posts focused on these defendants:

US Attorney in college admission scandal makes plain how trial penalty works even for celebrity actresses

The trial penalty on fine display as parents in college admissions scandal get hit with new federal bribery charges

Notable Wall Street Journal commentaries decry injustices highlighted by college admission scandal prosecutions

A few of many prior posts on other defendants in college admissions scandal:

Mapping out next possible celebrity sentencings in wake of indictment in college admissions scandal

Big batch of federal plea deals (with relatively low sentencing ranges) in college admissions scandal

Federal district judge rejects feds request for significant prison term in first sentencing of college bribery scandal

Feds recommending incarceration terms from 1 to 15 months for parents involved college bribery scandal

Noticing the interesting (but perhaps not too consequential) guidelines "loss" issue lurking in the college bribery cases

Next parent sentenced in college admission scandal gets four months in federal prison

Next parent up in college admission scandal sentencing also gets four months in federal prison

BigLaw partner gets one month federal time as latest parent sentenced in college admissions scandal

Napa Valley winemaker gets five months of imprisonment, the longest sentence so far in college admissions scandal

Catching up with another round of sentencings in "Operation Varsity Blues"

Reviewing the sentencing dynamics as more parents get (minimal) prison time in "Operation Varsity Blues" college admissions scandal

Longest prison sentence (six months) imposed in college admission scandal on big-spending dad

Nine-month federal prison term (the longest yet) given to former CEO who paid nearly $1 million to benefit four kids in college admission scandal

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8247011 https://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2020/05/after-extended-resistance-and-likely-lots-of-legal-fees-lori-loughlin-and-her-husband-agree-to-plead.html via http://www.rssmix.com/

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yahoo-the-dagger-blog · 6 years

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Western Kentucky's Rick Stansbury hires top 10 prospect's guardian as assistant coach

Western Kentucky’s Rick Stansbury landed five-star basketball recruit Charles Bassey last month (AP)

It’s becoming increasingly clear how Western Kentucky coach Rick Stansbury managed to persuade top 10 prospect Charles Bassey to commit last month.

Stansbury announced Tuesday evening that he has hired Bassey’s legal guardian as an assistant coach on his staff.

Hennssy Auriantal brought Bassey from Nigeria to Texas three years ago via his organization that takes promising international basketball prospects to the United States. In addition to raising Bassey and playing a leading role in his education and basketball career, Auriantal is also the uncle of former Western Kentucky guard Junior Lomomba and the guardian of current Hilltoppers forward Moustapha Diagne.

Western Kentucky’s press release announcing Auriantal’s hire makes no mention of his relationship to Bassey, Lomomba or Diagne. It instead focuses on Auriantal’s background as a player at Wisconsin from 1995-1999 and an assistant coach at Jackson State from 2014-2016.

“We’re happy to have Hennssy join our program,” Stansbury said. “He brings coaching and playing experience at the D-I level in all areas. Besides that, he’s a terrific person and has a beautiful family. We’re excited to have him as part of our team.”

While Stansbury has recruited Bassey since he was still an assistant coach under Billy Kennedy at Texas A&M, it’s difficult to believe he could have landed the prized 6-foot-10 forward at Western Kentucky without hiring Auriantal. Questions about Bassey’s college eligibility scared off some of sport’s elite programs, but the Hilltoppers still had to beat out the likes of Kansas, Baylor, Cal and Wake Forest to land him.

Stansbury is not breaking any NCAA rules hiring a prospect’s guardian as an assistant coach. This is an age-old tactic in college basketball, from Larry Brown hiring Danny Manning’s father at Kansas, to John Calipari hiring DaJuan Wagner’s dad at Memphis, to Andy Enfield hiring the father of top recruits Isaiah and Evan Mobley earlier this spring.

Nonetheless, seldom has the rationale for such a hire been anymore transparent than this one.

Auriantal has spent the past three years working at the prep schools Bassey has attended. Now he is parlaying that relationship into a college job.

– – – – – – –

Jeff Eisenberg is a college basketball writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @JeffEisenberg

#_author:Jeff Eisenberg #_uuid:190a48ab-47f0-3dc2-967e-8435c023fb97 #_lmsid:a077000000CFoGyAAL #_revsp:497660ab-6a82-4a53-b16c-6a93638f82dc #_category:yct:001001076

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1magazin · 6 years

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Meet Tennessee’s ‘Renaissance man’ who is the Vols’ top player and a star off the court

WATCH & READ

Vols’ Barnes: Teams can still change, improve late in season

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There are a lot of impressive basketball things about Grant Williams, the tough, hard-working sophomore power forward who has led No. 15 Tennessee – a team that was picked to finish near the bottom of the SEC but now has a real shot at a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament – to become one of the biggest surprises of this upside-down college basketball season.

But we’re not going to start with the basketball things.

Because when a 19-year-old potential NBA player can call himself a "Renaissance man" and not at all be exaggerating – and when his AAU coach used to call him a "Renaissance man," too – you don’t start with the basketball things. You start with the other things.

Like with music. Music has been a central part of Williams’ life since he was born. You can’t be a member of his family without a heavy music influence; his father, Gil Williams, worked for years in the music industry, serving as a bodyguard for pop stars like Michael Jackson and Prince. His grandfather lived just down the street in Charlotte, and growing up, Grant and his four older brothers would spend hours at Pop Pop’s house, listening to him play the piano. Pop Pop got his first piano in 1951.

He took some money from his job painting houses, walked into Parker Garner Music Store in Charlotte, and bought a piano on a payment plan. Now his house has a baby grand piano and a dozen keyboards. Pop Pop would play improvisational jazz every morning. Grant grew up listening to Pop Pop playing John Coltrane’s "Giant Steps." That song is on Williams’ pregame iPod mix. So are "I Smile" by gospel singer Kirk Franklin (one of his mother’s favorites), "Can You Stand the Rain" by the R&B group New Edition (one of his father’s favorites), "Call Casting" by the rap trio Migos (one of his brother’s favorites) and "Wild for the Night" by the rapper A$AP Rocky (one of his other brother’s favorites). His Tennessee teammate Brad Woodson has been trying to get him into country music. Williams can now sing along to the Jason Aldean song "Big Green Tractor."

"It’s something I take pride in," Williams told CBSSports.com. "I like to be up to date and enjoy different things with different groups of people."

But a Renaissance man does not just enjoy music. A Renaissance man plays music, too. When Williams was 7 years old, his grandfather gave him his first instrument: A clarinet. Over the years, he’s learned to play 10 different instruments. He estimates he can play four well: Piano, drums, violin and clarinet. When Williams chose Tennessee over Ivy League schools such as Yale and Princeton, his grandfather gave him one of his keyboards and an amplifier. Williams has it in the living room of his apartment. He tries to practice a half hour a day, but that can get difficult during the basketball season.

There are other things that make Williams one of the most fascinating players in college basketball.

Like chess. All of his brothers – Grant’s the youngest of five boys – play chess. He was once nationally ranked at chess. He believes it helps him at basketball; chess is all about knowing your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and exploiting them.Or languages. Williams is minoring in Spanish. He just started Spanish 323 this semester, Composition and Grammar, and he’s writing papers all in Spanish. It’s hard. Last summer, Tennessee took an international trip to Spain, and Williams loved conversing with the natives. His goal is to be fully bilingual soon. In a few years, he hopes to be trilingual: Maybe French, maybe Chinese.Or dancing. Williams can dance. His fifth grade teacher taught Williams how to do the traditional Irish Riverdance-style dancing. As a high school senior, Williams dressed up in a sailor outfit and sang and tap-danced in one of the lead roles of the Cole Porter musical "Anything Goes."Or academics. Alongside his basketball trophies at his mother’s house is Williams’ Math Bowl trophy. He stood in line for the release of new Harry Potter books. At AAU tournaments, he’d be the only player who’d be sitting in the stands with his nose in a 5-inch-thick book between games.

"He’s one of a kind, one of those kids who has the ability to light up the room when he walks into it," said Brian Field, Williams’ high school coach at Providence Day School in Charlotte. "He gets along with all different types of people. He’s hard on his teammates but they all got along, and beyond that he got along remarkably well with faculty members and all kinds of kids, the athletes, the non-athletes, the kids who are into drama or the arts. He wasn’t just the star basketball player. He fit into so many different circles on our campus."

But he certainly was the star basketball player in high school. Yet amazingly Tennessee was the only high-major school recruiting him. Williams wasn’t even considered a top-150 recruit coming out of high school. His decision came down to Tennessee or an Ivy League school, which Williams thought as deciding between chasing a professional basketball career or using basketball to prepare himself for another career. His parents wanted him to go to Yale. But he hit it off with Tennessee coach Rick Barnes and his staff, who gave Williams a clean plan for basketball development as well as an academic plan that will get him a master’s degree in four years. Plenty of high-major coaches have since returned to Field’s gym and told him they flat-out screwed up in not recruiting Williams because they thought he was undersized.

Barnes had another player in his Texas coaching stint that he thought would be great to model Williams’ career after: P.J. Tucker.

"No one in the state of North Carolina recruited P.J.," Barnes told CBSSports.com. "And he came to Texas and was the Big 12 player of the year. I saw that in Grant. Like P.J., he didn’t do it all the time. The next step is, Can he get consistent? Can he get hungrier? If he is satisfied, he lays off. P.J. Tucker had the same thing. Because those guys are a little undersized, so they need to work for it."

"If Grant continues to move forward," Barnes said, "he hasn’t even scratched the surface. The league is full of those guys who weren’t rated with big stars coming out of high school. But you gotta be able to continue to work."

So far so good for Williams. This season he’s been nothing short of one of the most impactful players in the country. He’s averaging 15.9 points and 6.0 rebounds for a Tennessee team that’s tied for second in the SEC and has wins over Purdue, Texas A&M and Kentucky (twice). Tennessee has a stingy defense and an aggressive mentality on the boards, and it’s Williams who sets that tone. Tennessee doesn’t always win pretty. But they win the way you’d expect a team with zero top-100 recruits to win: By sharing the ball and outworking their opponents. With the toughest part of its SEC schedule out of the way – the only team remaining on Tennessee’s scheduled that’s ranked in the top 50 on KenPom.com is Florida, who the Volunteers host Feb. 21 – this team has a realistic shot at continuing to rise in the polls.

Williams comes by the basketball skills as naturally as he comes by the musical talent. Four of his five brothers play basketball. Williams’ dad is a basketball Hall of Famer at Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minnesota. His great-uncle played for the Harlem Globetrotters, and his uncle played basketball at Fisk University in Nashville.

"He was a late basketball bloomer," his father said. "I always believed he’d be something special. He had the hands, the body. But I remember watching him as a kid. He was always on the ground, just constantly on the ground. That’s why I knew he was going to be a player."

One of Williams’ greatest abilities as a basketball player is that he knows who he is. What his strength is now is dominating the inside. He knows that stretching out his game will make him more appealing to NBA teams, but for now he’s living in the paint. When you ask him what player he emulates, he doesn’t name some superstar. He’s working on becoming more like Tony Allen, the tenacious defender.

And if the NBA doesn’t work out, it sounds like he has plenty of other options. Who knows – maybe he could follow in his mother’s career path. She’s worked as a NASA engineer for more than 30 years.

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flauntpage · 7 years

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Dabo Swinney Yelled and Screamed and Turned Me Into an NFL Wide Receiver

I guess you could call Dabo Swinney a visionary. Forward thinkers can see people for what they are before we even see it ourselves. That's what happened with Dabo and me. In a sense, I owe my NFL career to him. And having known the man since he was just an anonymous position coach, since before Clemson became a national powerhouse and then national champions, I can't say that I'm surprised by any of it.

Before the Russell Wilson, 6-foot African American quarterback became a phenomenon, but well after Mike Vick dazzled us with his jaw-dropping plays, I was cemented in the thought that I could be a star quarterback in the NFL—a black, 5'11", 185-pound star quarterback. I grew up playing high school football in Warner Robbins, Georgia, and watching Woody Dantzler play at Clemson. When it came time for recruiting, Clemson's coach at the time, Tommy Bowden, sold me on the vision that I could be the next Woody Dantzler.

At the time, Dabo wasn't even on the Clemson staff. He had been fired from his previous job at the University of Alabama and was working at a real estate firm. That's where he was while I was a freshman, redshirting while I watched Charlie Whitehurst and Willie Simmons take the snaps at quarterback.

My first encounter with Dabo was at the beginning of the next year, 2003. He was replacing somewhat of a "legend," or so we thought, as the coach of the wide receivers. Rick Stockstill was a great recruiter, especially for the state of Florida, and was responsible for many of the great players at Clemson up to that point. Clemson was known for wide receivers back then—still is. In our minds as players, for the first practice, all eyes were on the new coach.

This guy is gonna be roadkill, we thought. I know that's what I thought as a backup QB. There were some highly touted wide receivers already on the roster. No way a new coach was going to be able to come in and establish himself. And yet that's exactly what Dabo did. He got after guys from the opening practice. He yelled, he screamed, and he challenged guys. The thing with Dabo was that you knew he loved you, and you knew that's why he was coaching you so hard. He had that charisma. I found myself gravitating toward him and I couldn't understand why. I watched him take ordinary guys and make them really good and really good guys great. He had a knack for the details and being better prepared than anyone I had ever met.

Chansi Stuckey with Clemson teammates after a touchdown. Photo: David Kalk-USA TODAY Sports

The quote these days is "best is standard." That's the motto on the t-shirts at Clemson. The one written on the walls in the locker room. But that was the case for Dabo even before he wrote it down. From the outside, everyone saw the receiver group as a bunch of primadonnas. But internally, they became the locomotive that drove the team. They held themselves to a higher standard. Slowly, everyone else started to do that too.

When I was being recruited out of high school I was dead set on staying at the quarterback position. First of all, it was the only thing I'd ever known. Second of all, I wanted to avoid the stereotype. There was a player from nearby named Jaquez Green, who I grew up watching on Friday nights in Fort Valley, GA. He played quarterback in high school, and ended up being recruited by Steve Spurrier to play for the University of Florida where he had a great career...as a wide receiver. Spurrier, at the time, loved to turn athletic black QBs into wide receivers. They usually turned out pretty good. (Even if he did try to recruit Cam Newton as a tight end.)

Yes, I was 5'11". Yes, I could throw. But I could also run, which at the time was an automatic qualification for a position switch. Back then, there had only been a few black quarterbacks who could throw well enough that it could overcome both their own running ability, and the ingrained stereotypes of NCAA and NFL coaches about what a quarterback should look like. Michael Vick and Randall Cunningham come to mind. So when Dabo asked me about switching positions, I was reluctant. Was it personal? Of course not! I knew that in Charlie Whitehurst, there was a really, really good QB ahead of me by one year who just had great season.

But in that moment, I had a couple choices I could make. I could sit behind him for three years. I could transfer to another school and sit out a year. Or I could make the switch and begin playing ball. I trusted Dabo. I had seen his body of work. Looking back, after a five-year NFL career, it was an obvious decision. At the time, as an immature and stubborn 19-year-old, it was a lot tougher.

I was exceptional in the open field running with the football, I had good ball skills, and decent anticipation in tracking the football in the air after it was thrown. Naturally, I thought the transition to wide receiver would be seamless. I also felt that I had an ace in my hand in Dabo himself. He was the wide receiver coach, and he recruited me to switch positions. I saw myself as an instant All-American. Not so fast. Imagine your dad is coaching the team, and you're the best player. You're thinking, Wow, this is going to be so great, but then you show up to practice, and suddenly your dad is a totally different person and you have it harder than anybody else. Or maybe you love dogs and always wanted a South African Mastiff. At first, he's a cute and clumsy ball of fun as a puppy, but then a few months later he's 180 pounds and reality sets in. That's what it was like for me and Dabo.

My initial thought was Do I know this dude?! Yeah, you know him, his name is Dabo Swinney and he's your new position coach. And wide receiver is a grueling, grueling position. There are so many intricate details that go into the preparation. This was stuff that, when I was playing quarterback, I took for granted. Understanding your body, how to start and stop, body lean, showing your hands at the last possible moment to catch the deep pass so the defender doesn't knock it away, depths of routes, timing, catching the ball in traffic etc etc etc. Wow this is going to be so great quickly became What did I get myself into?

Wasn't this the guy that vouched for me? Had he been lying to me? Was Dabo bipolar? Whatever it was, it worked. I worked harder than I ever even knew I was capable of working.

A classic selfie with the championship trophy, and Nick Saban. Photo by John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

To understand this you have to understand Dabo. He was the first in his family to graduate from college. He survived as a walk-on on a national championship team at Alabama. He went from sleeping in his car to coaching the best college football team in the country. Dabo always leads with love and compassion. That's why Clemson keeps winning now, and that's why players keep playing for him.

When he got on me, which he did often, I never once thought it was personal. As I got to know him more he began to remind me of my father (except a lot louder). He was teaching me to be a better man. Success in football, whether as a wide receiver or a quarterback, is a byproduct of being a responsible, intelligent, and trustworthy person. Understanding those things off the field helped me on the field. I think that's how I began to see him as a father figure away from home and I believe that's what today's recruits see in him. The authenticity is there. The kids he's recruiting now are coming from a place where everybody wants something from them—to make a buck, lift their program, whatever it is. I believe Dabo stands apart because he's willing to put his players' success as people over wins for the program.

If you asked Dabo about the process of my switch from quarterback to wide receiver now, he would probably have a million stories about how hard it was turning a little scrawny quarterback into a two-time All-ACC, polished NFL-caliber wide receiver. I'm sure he would have one of his patented one-liners ready. Dabo and I talk and text often to this day. Writing this article means a lot to me because through all the years and all the players, he still has a picture of me up in his office (Coach, if you took it down put it back up). I know that if any of his former players, or players remotely associated with Clemson need something, he'll do everything in his power to make it happen. In my case, he already helped give me an NFL career.

Dabo Swinney Yelled and Screamed and Turned Me Into an NFL Wide Receiver published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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buddyrabrahams · 7 years

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Top 10 NBA Rookie of the Year candidates

One year ago, who would have guessed the 2016-17 NBA Rookie of the Year would be awarded to Malcolm Brogdon?

The Bucks swingman had a nice career at Virginia, of course, but the odds were stacked against him. He was the 36th pick in the draft, and the award traditionally goes to a top pick. Additionally, Brogdon isn’t a flashy offensive player, and he doesn’t put up jaw-dropping numbers. He’s not a spotlight grabber. He’s more of a “glue guy.”

Brogdon’s charge to Rookie of the Year may have been the most surprising in NBA history — it was certainly the most unexpected in my lifetime.

As we look ahead to the upcoming NBA season, will we have another shocker this year? Or will Rookie of the Year go to a top pick, as it does most years?

Below are my top 10 candidates, as it stands today, to claim 2017-18 NBA Rookie of the Year. Just missing the cut: Josh Jackson, Caleb Swanigan, Bam Adebayo, and Luke Kennard.

10. Kyle Kuzma, Los Angeles Lakers

Kuzma surprised a lot of people in Vegas this summer. The No. 27 overall pick averaged 21.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, and he played with incredible efficiency. He shot 51.4 percent from the field and 48 percent (!) from deep. The 22-year-old forward from Utah was named the Summer League’s Finals MVP and second-team All-Summer League.

Though Kuzma was overshadowed by Lonzo Ball in Summer League and will continue to play in Ball’s shadow throughout this season, he’s looking like an early candidate for “Steal of the Draft.” Additionally, the two look like they may form a dynamic young duo for the Lake Show. Ball and Kuzma ran the floor well together, and Kuzma’s ability to stretch the floor made him a weapon even when he didn’t touch the ball.

The 6-foot-9 Kuzma is also versatile on defense; early indications are that he can switch most positions on the floor. Though the Lakers are a bit log-jammed on the wing (with Brandon Ingram, Luol Deng and Corey Brewer), Kuzma in Summer League looked like a guy who will get minutes for Los Angeles.

9. John Collins, Atlanta Hawks

The 19th overall pick improved tremendously from his freshman to sophomore years at Wake Forest, and he stood out in Vegas.

During Summer League he averaged 15.4 points and 9.2 rebounds — but get this: he did it in 23 minutes per game. Those are some impressive numbers. Lonzo Ball averaged 32.5 minutes per game and Jayson Tatum got 32.0. Think about the gaudy stats Collins could have put up if he had played 10 more minutes a game.

In addition to his impressive all-around showing, Collins absolutely posterized New Orleans’ Cheick Diallo and Keith Benson. He put the internet on alert: pay attention to Collins this year, because he might blow up Twitter.

Also helping Collins’ candidacy for ROY: he’ll have an opportunity to play in Atlanta. The Hawks traded Dwight Howard and let Paul Millsap leave for Utah as a free agent. There might even be an opportunity for Collins to start, depending on how the Hawks plan to utilize their weak 3 spot.

8. Markelle Fultz, Philadelphia 76ers

Though you can’t blame Fultz for missing much of Summer League due to a sprained ankle, it was a little scary to see yet another 76ers top pick miss time with a lower leg injury. With that being said, shutting him down seemed like a precaution, and we have no reason to believe he’ll miss time this year.

The pendulum on Fultz has swung quite a bit this offseason: first he was the consensus No. 1 (he’s the next great!), then the Celtics traded the pick and everyone wondered why they didn’t want Fultz (something must be wrong with him, it’s his jump shot!), and now popular opinion seems to be somewhere in the middle.

Fultz is a shifty athlete reminiscent of James Harden, and he has a similarly zoned-out mentality, which has caused some analysts to nitpick at his game.

The reality is that Fultz was picked first in a loaded draft for a reason. He’s going to be great, and he fits beautifully with Philadelphia’s roster. Though he might not post head-turning numbers now that he’s surrounded by other competent players, Fultz should be an immediate contributor.

7. De’Aaron Fox, Sacramento Kings

Fox is another guy who’s seen his stock go up and down this summer. The No. 5 overall pick had an OK Summer League — not great but not terrible. A few times he showed the impressive burst that we watched with amazement during his year at Kentucky. He had five steals in his first game.

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In Vegas, Fox averaged 11.8 points, three assists, and 2.3 rebounds in 21.3 minutes per game. He shot only 1-for-8 from three-point range, but that’s a limited sample size, and we already knew outside shooting wasn’t the biggest strength of Fox’s game.

What people love most about Fox, besides his freakish speed and fearless game at the rim, is his fire. He cried in the locker room after UNC eliminated Kentucky from the NCAA Tournament. In a day and age when many guys want to look cool on the court, Fox brings the passion.

That’s why so many have compared him to Russell Westbrook. Like Westbrook, it might take Fox a year or two to figure out his game as he adjusts to the NBA.

6. Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics

Is Jayson Tatum Paul Pierce 2.0? It might be too early to make such a bold declaration, but the guy has an incredible offensive repertoire that is certainly reminiscent of “The Truth.” Though Tatum’s defensive abilities will probably always leave something to be desired, he was excellent offensively in Summer League.

Tatum, a 6-foot-8 forward, averaged 18.7 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. He had eight turnovers in three games, and his plus-minus was -20, but all in all Tatum played wonderfully, and he gave Celtics fans plenty of reason to be excited.

With the clock winding down and his team trailing by one, Tatum went off the dribble and hit the game-winner in his debut.

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Though he’s an explosive athlete, Tatum has an old-man game around the basket; he really knows how to maneuver his body and create open lanes. And though his shot wasn’t really falling in Summer League, Tatum is a reliable scorer. Given the Celtics’ depth chart, it seems likelier that Tatum will break out down the stretch this year (like Jaylen Brown last season) or in his second year.

See Nos. 5-1 on Page 2

5. Malik Monk, Charlotte Hornets

I think Monk is still mad he didn’t get picked until No. 11. In the fall, back when he was dropping 47 on the eventual national champions, he was looked at as a can’t-miss top-five pick, and it’s hard to comprehend how scouts’ opinion on him shifted so heavily during the pre-draft process.

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Though this year’s ROY (Brogdon) got there with defense, leadership, and a balanced game, the award typically goes to a guy who can hang big offensive numbers. Have a look at the last nine rookies of the year before Brogdon:

2015-16 Karl-Anthony Towns 2014-15 Andrew Wiggins 2013-14 Michael Carter-Williams 2012-13 Damian Lillard 2011-12 Kyrie Irving 2010-11 Blake Griffin 2009-10 Tyreke Evans 2008-09 Derrick Rose 2007-08 Kevin Durant

Those are all offense-minded guys who love to get buckets. Monk fits that mold. The five-star recruit from Arkansas averaged 19.8 points per game in his lone year at Kentucky. He shot 40 percent from downtown and attempted 6.9 threes a game.

Though I’m not fully convinced of his fit in Charlotte, Monk will likely hang some big numbers this year. Don’t be surprised if he goes on a vendetta to stick it to the NBA and average 17 a game.

4. Donovan Mitchell, Utah Jazz

In the week leading up to the draft, several NBA insiders told me Mitchell was the player who was being most slept-on. The 20-year-old from New Hampshire, who played two years for Rick Pitino at Louisville, went 13th overall.

He’s another guy who improved tremendously during his two years in college and benefitted from the decision to come back to school. He improved his per-game averages for points (from 7.4 to 15.6), assists (1.7 to 2.7), and rebounds (3.4 to 4.9). Additionally, he shot an impressive 35.4 percent from beyond the arc.

There are a few things in particular about Mitchell that have enticed NBA personnel. One is his unusual maturity. Another is his off-the-dribble shooting and skill in the pick-and-roll. And then there’s his 6-foot-10 wingspan.

That’s right. The 6-foot-1 guard has a 6-foot-10 wingspan.

Mitchell played in only two games but led the Summer League in average scoring with 28.0 points per game. He should be a valuable addition to Utah’s fascinating backcourt of Ricky Rubio, Dante Exum, and Rodney Hood.

3. Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers

Simmons is the curveball of this group. He didn’t play in Summer League this year, and we still don’t really know what kind of player he’ll turn into. Remember, at one time he was touted as the next LeBron James.

Simmons recently turned 21, and though we haven’t seen him in a regular season game yet (he missed the season due to a foot injury), hopes for him remain high. There’s even a rumor that Simmons has grown 2 inches since he was drafted and now stands just under 7 feet tall.

Simmons presents an intriguing all-around skillset. During his tumultuous year at LSU — which I think we can all now say was not the right place for him — Simmons filled up the stat sheet, averaging 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 4.8 assists.

Simmons is a world-class caliber basketball player and potential All-NBA guy. Basketball fans are hoping he stays healthy this year, because it should be plain fun to watch him play.

2. Lonzo Ball, Los Angeles Lakers

Ball, the No. 2 pick in the draft, is the favorite to take the rookie crown, and he showed why in Vegas. The former UCLA Bruin was named Summer League MVP and he posted impressive numbers, averaging 16.3 points, 9.3 assists, 7.7 rebounds, 2.5 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game.

His showing in Vegas was a message to the sports world: now we can stop talking about his dad and just focus on how great this kid is going to be. (OK, maybe we’ll keep talking about his dad, too.)

Lonzo has sky-high potential. He makes everyone on his team better. His outlet passes are so beautiful they might make a tear run down your cheek. And though there are concerns about his effort (“he just wants to look cool too badly”), Ball has enough talent to eclipse any emotional shortcomings, be they real or perceived.

And here’s something to consider: Magic Johnson, who’s known to value competitiveness above all else, loves Ball. He looks at him as the future of the organization. He’s given the reins of his team to the 19-year-old. And based on what we’ve seen to date, the young Big Baller seems up to the task.

1. Dennis Smith Jr., Dallas Mavericks

John Collins had the best dunk of Summer League, but Smith had the best almost dunk. Feast your eyes on the near devastation:

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Smith had some moments at NC State, such as the Wolfpack’s win over Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium, in which he posted 32 points, when he looked like the best player in the draft. Smith was named Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year and second-team All-ACC.

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Averaging 18.1 points per game as a freshman in the ACC is quite an accomplishment. He even set the conference’s career triple double record.

So, why’d he fall? For one, he has a torn ACL in his past. Secondly, some had concerns about his defensive effort and ball-dominant playing style.

The assumption heading into the draft was: if Smith ends up with a team that’s the right fit, he could far outplay his draft position. And it seems like he will, as Dallas, which needed an explosive scorer, appears perfectly suited for Smith.

If the Mavs unleash the young guard and just let him be himself, Smith — the ninth pick in the draft — could very well lead all rookies in scoring.

Bettors are counting on it. Smith has the second-highest odds of taking ROY, per Oddshark, and he’s my early favorite.

Aaron Mansfield is a freelance sports writer. His work has appeared in Complex, USA Today, and the New York Times. You can reach him via email at [email protected].

from Larry Brown Sports http://ift.tt/2vKWr8W

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junker-town · 7 years

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19 college football recruits to know from Charlotte’s Nike camp

Lots of great players came to Charlotte this weekend. Here are some of the best.

I spent Sunday at Nike’s Charlotte regional camp for The Opening, one of college football’s top recruiting showcases. This was the third Opening regional of the year for me, and it was the best of them in terms of quality of play. I’d also been to the camps in Cleveland (great line play) and Washington (great running backs and DBs), but the overall quality in Charlotte was really outstanding. Great players came from all over, and I suspect we’ll see a lot of them playing big roles for Power 5 teams soon.

There were more than 300 players in Charlotte. It’s impossible to track all of them, and this list is non-exhaustive. But here’s a sampling of the players I liked:

Quarterbacks

Cartersville (Ga.) product Trevor Lawrence is the No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2018. That’s for good reason. Lawrence throws a different-looking ball than you’ll almost ever see from a high school quarterback. He just has an incredible, incredible arm, and I’m sure he’ll use it to ruin defenses for Clemson in the coming years.

Behold the majesty of a Lawrence deep ball:

.@wanyamorris64 The No. 1 overall recruit for 2018, Clemson QB commit @Trevorlawrencee, throws a beautiful deep ball. http://pic.twitter.com/zhgXKoqKDX

— SB Nation Recruiting (@SBNRecruiting) May 8, 2017

The camp had a couple of four-star dual threats. I was a fan of Earle’s (Ark.) Gerry Bohanon and Fort Dorchester’s (S.C.) Dakereon Joyner. Both are athletes, but both can sling it, too. Bohanon likes Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Auburn, and Louisville. Joyner is down to South Carolina and NC State and plans to commit next month.

Ohio State QB commit Emory Jones is very much the real deal. Jones is still drawing heavy recruitment from other teams. He has a particular zip on his throws that looked better than any other QB at this camp’s — with the exception of Lawrence.

I also liked Texas A&M commit Cade Fortin, Auburn commit Joey Gatewood, and uncommitted Tennessee dual-threat Woodrow Lowe.

Receivers

Four-star Green Hope (S.C.) target Jordyn Adams is great. Adams isn’t big, but he’s fast, and he’s got quite a pair of hands. He worked well with Lawrence, who told me he’d like to bring Adams with him to Clemson. That might happen, although Adams’ dad, Deke, is on staff at North Carolina, and the Heels are pushing for him, too.

Clemson commit Derion Kendrick is lightning-fast. He’ll be the beneficiary of many a Lawrence bomb over the next few years. Be afraid of this, ACC fans.

I loved Virginia Tech receiver commit Bryce Thompson. He strikes me as a potentially dominant slot receiver, with the route-running ability to shake nickel corners and run for huge chunks of yardage after the catch.

Offensive linemen

Class of 2019 Florida State tackle commit Wanya Morris is just a sophomore. It’s really hard to evaluate line play at these camps, but Morris has everything one looks for in this setting: fluid movements, body control, and a big frame.

Good player at the Charlotte Opening regional: 2019 #FSU offensive tackle commit @wanyamorris64. Very smooth. http://pic.twitter.com/pIYt5nlHEf

— SB Nation Recruiting (@SBNRecruiting) May 8, 2017

Tank Jenkins, a 2018 prospect from Park Crossing (N.C.), was named the camp’s offensive line MVP. Jenkins is a big kid and, one rep I watched, practically set down a pass-rusher, like he wasn’t even bothered and was just trying not to hurt him.

Defensive linemen

Five-star West Forsyth (N.C.) end KJ Henry was as advertised. Henry is a smooth, strong pass-rusher who’s going to notch a lot of sacks at the next level. Clemson is widely considered the favorite to land the country’s No. 18 overall prospect.

Keep an eye on three-star Millbrook (N.C.) end Joseph Boletepeli. Every time I looked up and Boletepeli was at work, he was easily cruising past some poor tackle.

Four-star Concord (N.C.) defensive tackle Rick Sandidge Jr. was outstanding. Sandidge is big — a listed 6’5 and 270-plus — but he moves like an end. South Carolina is considered the favorite for Sandidge, but he gave me the impression that his recruitment is still pretty open. Some team will get a good one.

Four-star NC defensive lineman Rick Sandidge Jr. (@rickyo_90) has tackle size and glides past people like he's an end. So hard to stop. http://pic.twitter.com/gik4qqQQyb

— SB Nation Recruiting (@SBNRecruiting) May 8, 2017

Linebackers

Four-star Lakota (Ohio) backer Xavier Peters is one of those recruits who, physically, looks like he could show up at the NFL combine as a teenager and do just fine. Peters is an athlete, and he looked strong at both linebacker and tight end (or, in a camp context, receiver.)

Peters is still waiting on a few offers and says he doesn’t have “favorites.” It sounds like Ohio State, Penn State, and Notre Dame could enter the picture for Peters pretty quickly if they pull the trigger on offers.

“I look up to Ray Lewis. I feel like I’ve got that motor like Ray Lewis,” he said. “I’m glad that I’m out here, because I know that I’m gonna be aggressive and hard, because that’s how I play in the game. I’m a leader on the field. I call out plays and stuff, so I’m really efficient with the game.”

Five-star Loganville (Ga.) linebacker Owen Pappoe is an excellent athlete. He was one of the youngest players at last year’s Opening finals, and he’ll be a highly sought national recruit until the moment he puts pen to paper in 2019.

I didn’t get a long look at the camp’s defensive backs or running backs. Franklinton (N.C.) RB Ricky Person drew rave reviews from people who watched him, and he won the camp’s running back MVP award. Person is a four-star committed to NC State.

The defensive back MVP was three-star Alpharetta (Ga.) product Jaycee Horn. He’s considered an Alabama lean.

The day’s top athletic testers:

Here's the top 33 unofficial Nike Football Ratings from today's testing @TheOpening Charlotte regional. Full marks later this week!✔️ http://pic.twitter.com/4B4q4GskJ5

— Brian Stumpf (@Stumpf_Brian) May 8, 2017

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