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fullmetaldevil-blog · 5 years

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A Musical Babysitter (Stitched AU short)

*Aurhors notes: This is a short I wrote entirely on my cell phone during my lunch breaks starting from 12/25/2018. If you haven’t read Ch. 5 of the Stitched Au please stop now, and read it before you read this short!*

Summary:

Sammy wished he never picked up the phone, now he found himself spending the weekend babysitting, but it was who he was babysitting. Benny the Stitched Demon. The little devildoll was known by his family to be an absolute sweetheart and loving toon, but even he isn’t as always sweet as everyone claims he is. A 30 year old grudge crawls back to the surface alongside a father’s troubled past.

I hope you ladies and gentlemen enjoy the short.

Now on with the show~!

Sammy wished he never answered the phone, now he found himself committed on a one hour drive to baby sit. Now he wouldn’t have complained considering that not only was it for an old coworker and that he was being handsomely paid, but it was who he was charged with looking after. Benny the Stitched demon.

It had only been a little over a month since everyone’s escape from the studio and admittedly some members of the group was still wary of the two demons that escaped with them, Bendy the dancing demon and Benny the stitched demon. While Bendy was the primary problem child of the studio, Benny wasn’t anything to sneeze at. The stitched devil was just as dangerous as his counterpart, but unlike Bendy he suffered from separation issues after the escape and nearly wrecked portions of the house due to horrid nightmares. While Bendy had similar problems after his escape as well, he wasn’t the one that was gonna be left alone for a few days. Henry nearly became a complete home body for the past few weeks to take care of Bendy alongside his wife Linda.

Naught but a few hours ago he had received a phone call from Tom. The man sounded exasperated and deeply worried, telling him that Allison was out of town due to a movie shoot and he got a large remodeling job that will have him out of town for at least the week end. He begged if Sammy could watch Benny for the weekend not wanting to leave the plushtoon alone through the night. When asked why Norman or Wally couldn’t babysit the demon he was told that both were regrettably busy as well and couldn’t make the trip in such short notice. Henry was left out of the question since he was still trying to get his own demon to recover from the mental blows the studio had done to him, as well as repair the bond between them. There were a few other notes that had been added onto the conversation but Tom told him to see for himself what was going on.

Sammy sighed inwardly as he turned down the road heading for the hills. It was still early morning out and the entire area was coated in Tule fog making the hour drive even longer. Relief was insight as he came across the fork road leading to the hills and carefully made the accent, he took each turn with care as he climbed higher and higher eventually clearing the fog blanket. He passed a few homes that dotted the hills here and there, including the largest home that was simply called ‘grandmas’ house. He knew that once he passed that house he needed to look for a small driveway that led further into the hills. He spotted a small driveway and he turned to the drive and made his way up, silently cursing why the family had chosen such an isolated area.

The modest English style home quickly came into view. The house had a long driveway and sat on a sizable property with the hills just behind it. The front yard was decorated with flower beds and fruit trees of different types. Towards the back side of the home was a large ring of weeping willows and shrubs that outlined the property. It was perfectly isolated, yet at the same time was only a 10 minute drive from the closest market and town center.

He pulled up next to Toms car noting that it was already loaded nearly to the floor with tools and equipment, the man clearly needing a truck rather then a car. He shut the engine off and mentally prepared himself to be stuck at the house for the weekend with a living stuffed animal toon that he didn’t really know much about say for the conversations he had with the toon’s respective parents. He could only hope that he wouldn’t loose his mind by the end of the weekend.

Resigning to his fate Sammy approached the door and knocked a few times before standing back to look over the doorway. Just as he was admiring the architecture the door slowly crept open revealing what Sammy thought was a monster. The man backed up ready to run when he realized it was Tom.

“You look like you’ve seen hell.” Sammy cocked a grin while he chuckled looking at Tom. The man looked worse for wear and had very clear bags under the eyes.

“Rough night.” Tom sighed stepping aside gesturing for him to enter. Taking the invite, Sammy entered the home with worn out man closing the door behind him.

Sammy noted that the interior of the house looked like a wreck. There were open boxes, papers and materials scattered everywhere. “I take it you’ve been busy.” Sammy spoke while staring at empty toy boxes.

“Yeah…It’s that having to find a home for more the just 2 and am still trying to get the place livable.” Tom wandered to the kitchen with Sammy in tow. He gestured to a chair for Sammy to take a seat while he drifted through the kitchen. Tom grabbed 2 coffee mugs and filled them both with the dark brew and sat in front of Sammy passing him a mug which he gladly accepted. Tom on the other had had his face thoroughly buried in his mug.

“Well we all had to relocate, and didn’t you and Allison always want kids?” Sammy lifted a brow taking a sip of coffee.

“Yeah we did, before the studio bullshit happened, now both Allison and I are too old to try now.” Tom let out a heavy sigh “It’s just a lot has happened.”

“Well we all are trying to used to the outside world.” Sammy fiddled with the rim of his mug “I mean, we were trapped there for years, the world continued on without us and now everything is so different. It takes time to cope with what happened and now we have to adjust to our new world.”

“Well aren’t you the preacher man.” Tom shot a sly grin across the table.

“That’s the last time I try to sympathize with you Mr. Connor!” Sammy crossed his arms in a huff. “Besides I’m no preacher!”

“No, you were some half-baked Bendy obsessed prophet.” The older mans grin nearly splitting his face, clearly enjoying pushing Sammy’s buttons.

“Oh for God’s sake man, won’t you and Henry let that go?!” Sammy’s face blazed red with a mix of embarrassment and anger.

“For a second I though you would say 'Oh My lord’, and the answer is no.”

“You’re a devil.”

“Thanks, I live with one”. The mechanic tipped his mug in a small cheer while waggling his brow in sheer pride. His already too wide a grin seemingly getting wider.

Sammy sat with his mouth gaping like a fish trying to come up with some sort of retort, but instead resorted to simply glaring at Tom knowing full well he was not winning this little game with the man. Tom was very quick witted and had an even faster mouth.

Sammy let out a sigh running his fingers through his blond hair. “So in all seriousness, how is your little devil doing? I know Henry is knee deep dealing with Bendy, plus he had to move as well.”

Tom took a long swig of his coffee chugging nearly all of it before setting the mug down, taking a beep breath before sighing. “Slow.”

“Slow how?” Sammy raised a brow.

“Neither Bendy nor Benny have seen the world beyond the Studio, so everything is new to them. Both are excited about the world but at the same time withdrawn. They both suffered a lot in different ways, Bendy’s little sessions and Benny being nearly killed twice, all at the hands of our former boss. Thanks to that bastard, the toons are scared of new people. Getting them to go outside beyond the comfortable barrier of their home and yard can be tricky.” Tom rested his head on one hand while the other lazily traced the rim of his mug. “Bendy seems to be handling social interactions better, after all he was the star of the show, so he knows how to put on a brave face. Benny didn’t have that luxury. He didn’t have any additional material during his creation, unlike Bendy, so he didn’t have a 'predetermined personality’ if you will.”

Sammy waved a hand in front of Tom stopping his explanation. “I hate to interrupt, but what do you mean by 'material’? They are just living ink aren’t they?”

“True, but the ink needed a base. With Bendy we used a massive collection of film reels with every scene of Bendy we had at the time. That was combined with every individual cell and sketch, hell joey even went and found one of Henry’s first drawing of Bendy. All that information served as the mold for the ink to fill and gave Bendy his personality matching how he was in the cartoons. Benny on the other hand was merely a doll that was fed to the machine to test the conversion process. None if us thought it would actually make a living toon, a 3D toon maybe, but not one that was alive. So Benny had no predetermined mind set so he started from scratch. But as you already know Joey tried to kill him so that first memory of near death left a lasting impression on him. He is a bit withdrawn and clingy, in any situation that stresses him out he will latch on to Allison. You should have seen the first time she had to leave the house for an extended amount of time.”

“That good, huh?” Sammy lifted a brow.

“He transformed into his what we dubbed 'ragdoll’ form and pitched a hell of a tantrum. Him crying in his little form I can handle no problem, but when he’s in his bigger state that is another story. He clung to her wailing away in his bigger state and the sounds he makes in that form I won’t soon forget. Trying to pry a 3 foot tall devildoll is easy, trying to pry a 7 foot tall broken ragdoll is a major pain in the ass.”

Sammy leaned back in his chair clearly looking like he wanted to just get up and leave. “And you called me all the way out here to babysit your personal nightmare because?” The musician looked at Tom, his eyes saying 'you better have a good reason or I’m leaving’.

Tom let out a tired sigh and gestured to Sammy “Cause he recognizes you.”

Sammy rubbed the space between his eyes, completely bewildered by the mans answer. “Tom, I never met the devil.”

“Not personally no, but he does know you. Allison apparently carried Benny to her recordings everyday once they figured out to transport him safely. So he was able to see slightly out of the bag, he saw your face from time to time and he knows your voice. He should at least be a bit more comfortable around you versus a total stranger. Plus very few people know of the toon and we don’t want anything bad to happen if he’s with someone he isn’t comfortable with.”

A deep sigh escaped Sammy as he looked towards the ceiling. “Fine. I’ll watch your personal hell spawn for the weekend, but if anything happens expect to shell out more money”. He firmly pointed a finger at Tom.

“Deal”. Tom got up from his seat and offered a hand to Sammy, the man was hesitant but ultimately shook it sealing the deal. “Now. I got to get dressed to head out. I’m gonna get Benny up and feed him before I go, just make yourself at home.”

With a small nod Tom excused himself from the table disappearing down the central hallway stopping at the first door letting himself in. Sammy sat back in his chair at the table and resumed his survey of the kitchen and parts of the den and living room. The place looked like it didn’t have all the furnishings yet as there were boxes of appliances unopened and china sets yet to be used. He knew the couple had a time finding a new home and furnishing it proper seemed to be an even longer process. It wasn’t a secret that both Tom and Allison had no choice but to use most of the little savings they had prior to the studios downfall to buy a house. With most of their money gone on at least a roof over their head, they had to go from paycheck to paycheck to slowly buy food, furnishings, clothes and other necessities. All the while trying to care for a little toy toon. Henry offered to help, but was turned down since he too had a toon to care for and had to move to a larger home.

The musicians blissful silence was shattered by a horrific wail, the sound sounded like nails being dragged across a chalk board combined with a low rumbling like noise that made the floor vibrate. The man froze in his seat contemplating on whether or not he should escape while he could, his eyes glued to the hallway where the sounds were emanating. It took quite awhile for the wailing and rumbling to die down and a shuffling sound replaced it. Tom emerged from the hallway looking even more tired then before with a large pair of hands clinging to his lower legs, the man struggling with every step. Tom stopped and grabbed the hands clinging to his legs and managed to pry them off but not letting them go.

“C'mon Benny, you acting like a baby.” Tom now pulling on his hands straining from the amount of resistance he was getting from the devildoll.

Sammy watched in horror as the presumed right arm split apart at the wrist with an eerie ripping sound, exposing large cords of some sort of black material mixed with what looked like ink. Tom kept pulling and the the cords seemed to just keep stretching. The left arm split at the elbow area and was doing the exact same thing at the right, exposing the interior of the limb which was a oddly white inside with what looked like ink swirling within. Tom kept pulling on the threads all the while grumbling curses under his breath.

After a time it seemed that the strands couldn’t stretch any longer and there was a dragging sound coming from the hall. Tom had since neatly rolled up the the black cords and segments of hands, and arms and had finally succeeded in reaching the body.

The ebony torso was larger then a normal humans with a round head sporting 2 long curved horns. The figure appeared to be laying face down as hints of yellow was facing downward and what looked like a bow tie was at the base of the slender neck.

“C’ mon Benny you’re making this harder then it has too”. Tom sighed while bending down to pet the creature’s horn getting a strange gurgling sound.

Sammy had little clue what he was looking at. He knew Bendy had his ink demon and beast form, but he never really saw Benny, let alone another form except for the loose descriptions he had heard. Words couldn’t have prepared him for the reality of it all. His face was frozen in a mix of fear and curiosity and took a chance to get up from his chair to slowly approach Tom and demon, yet kept at a safe distance on the off chance Benny turned violent.

Tom continued to caress the horns with one hand and then with other tried to turn the demon over finding that Benny was heavier then he looked. Failing. He used both hands to turn the large demon on his side revealing the front of the face and body.

If Sammy had reservations about taking care of Benny, they were on overdrive. Benny’s face was sepia yellow with a large singular black eye and yellow iris with what appeared to look like stitches crisscrossed across the left side of his forehead and over half of the eye. His mouth was turned into a very prominent frown and the left side was warped in comparison to his right revealing hints of his large triangular teeth. The most frightening part of all for Benny’s body was his chest and stomach area. He was nearly split in half by a large gash and the edges had large white teeth lining the rim. Large cord like threads were the only thing keep the maw of his stomach mostly closed with a small amount of inky drool oozing out the opening which oddly resembled a frown. The demon seemed to making strange groaning noises from both mouths now that he was looking at Tom properly.

“C’ mon little guy. I know you’re tired and frustrated, but do this for me? Please.” Tom put on his best warm smile for the demon while he went back to petting him between the horns resulting in more gurgling noises from the demon. Tom finally decided to sit on the floor and wait for Benny to eventually revert back. Benny was looking up at Tom with a singular tired eye with what looked like a little blush and black smudges around his cheeks. Tom looked up at Sammy “Give him a few minutes, he’d been crying all night when he realized that both of us are gonna be gone for bit. He cried himself to sleep”.

Sammy nodded and backed away from the over-sized demondoll, giving Tom and Benny as much space as they needed. The tired mechanic continued to caress Benny’s horns while whispering small comforting words and even hummed a few times while the demon tiredly watched him. Sammy watched in shock as Benny closed his eye and scrunched his face slightly before his stomach mouth shut tightly before opening suddenly and ink poured out if him like someone opened up a faucet on full. Ink washed over the area and Tom’s clothes before dissipating leaving a tiny toon laying on his side in the middle of the remains of a puddle. Despite the amount of ink the devil expelled, the area was spotless including Tom’s clothes, the magic of toon logic.

“Good boy.” Tom tiredly smiled while he got up from the floor groaning, his body protested his waiting game with Benny. He reached a hand under the toon lifting him into his arms. Benny was completely unresponsive and hung limp in the man’s hold, his eyes tightly shut and a prominent frown on his face.

With Benny is his arms Tom retreated to the kitchen and motioned for Sammy to follow. While a bit hesitant Sammy returned to his seat at the table while Tom got a empty box for Benny to sit on and set him in the chair. The demon still hung limp all the while, even when sat at the table. Benny’s head just stayed on the table lightly rolling from side to side while the rest of the body sat limp in the chair like a broken toy. Sammy could see the regret on Tom’s face along with exhaustion, the mechanic sighed and cracked a few eggs over a sauce pan to cook them while grabbing 2 slices of bacon to cook in a separate pan. While Tom was busy fixing breakfast Sammy decided to try and start a conversation with the clearly pouting toon.

“So….Benny. How have you been?” The musician tried to smile.

His only answer was merely a single half lidded pie-cut eye looking at him and a groan before he closed his eye again. Benny clearly was still throwing a tantrum and wasn’t in the mood to socialize.

Sammy didn’t say anything more, but just slumped in his seat the only thought that ran through his mind was that it was going to be a long weekend.

Tom finished cooking the eggs and slid them onto a plate along with 2 pieces of butter and jelly toast and bacon. He set the plate in front of Benny’s head before heading to the cupboard. He pulled out a small glass and set it on the counter before grabbing a bottle of milk filling the glass part way and set the glass of milk in front of the toon. All the while it was clear Benny had no interest in the food and just had his head resting on the table with his eyes closed.

Tom sighed while he rubbed his temples, the grim reality was Benny was irritating him with the childish antics. Allison was far better at handling upset children then he was, but she wasn’t present to talk some sense into the upset demon. Tom sighed at looked at Sammy mouthed a small 'good luck’ before heading to his room to get dressed, leaving Sammy alone with Benny.

Sammy truly felt like he was caught between a rock and a hard place. He always wrote music intended for children, he never had the time nor inclination to take care of a child. He could tell Tom was at his wits end with Benny, and he frankly couldn’t blame the man. He and Allison had to hit the ground running with getting jobs and finding a home, all the while taking care of a refugee of the studio. Benny didn’t seem to understand that now that they are no longer prisoner of the studio that Tom and Allison have to support a home and its occupants, that food isn’t something that is found randomly on a shelf, and shelter, even if it is leaking ink, isn’t guaranteed. That life outside of the studio is supported by a form of currency and if you didn’t have money you had no home, but in order to get money you have to leave home to earn it. However with Benny’s separation issues it was making it difficult for both Allison and Tom to leave home even if it’s just long enough to get a day’s paycheck.

Sammy just sighed at looked at the little plushtoon in question. Benny was still ignoring his food along with anything and everything else going on around him. It almost felt like there as an invisible wall around the toon that he didn’t want anyone to enter.

A few minutes later Tom came out of his room dressed and ready for work. He frowned when he noted that Benny had yet to even touch his food. Tom sighed and looked at Sammy “All right, well I’m off. Benny be good for Sammy while I’m gone, ok?”

He didn’t get an answer. He sighed and gave Sammy a small nod before heading to the door. As soon as his hand touched the door knob and turned it something slammed into his leg grasping it tightly. The sheer force of the impact nearly toppled the man. Tom let out a yelp of surprise from the hit and immediately looked down to see a familiar sight. Benny. The demon and firmly attached himself to Tom’s leg and was refusing to let go. “Benny!”

The demon shook his head and tightened his grip on Tom.

“Benny, look we’ve already talked out this. I gotta go.” Tom tried to plead with the barnacle of a toon, his voice stern and trying not to show the growing frustration that was building within the man. Benny was not even looking up at Tom had maintained his face buried in the mans pant leg. Sammy got up from his seat to relief tom of his cling on when a loud voice made him stop in his tracks.

“Benny! Get off of me now! You are acting like a child, do you honestly think I like having to bust my ass running around?! I want nothing more then to stay at home and rest from the bullshit of the studio, but I don’t have that luxury!” Tom near shouted at the top of his lungs, his face full of anger and disappointment. His patience had finally run out.

Tom’s sudden outburst instantly made Benny look up at the man, his face full of heartache and twinges anger, small inky tears started to form in the edges of the toon’s eyes. Benny released Tom’s leg and backed away from the man slowly before running at a full sprint down the hall to his room slamming the door roughly.

All the anger instantly melted away to regret as soon as Tom saw the look on Benny’s face. He didn’t want to yell at the plushtoon, but when Benny was being stubborn about the situation he just couldn’t take it anymore. He had honestly tried taking the long road and practice patience, but he didn’t have the luxury of waiting all day for the demon to understand why he has to leave to work. Without saying a word Tom grabbed the door knob and looked back at Sammy for a brief moment of apology before opening the door and leaving.

Sammy stood there shell shocked which was soon relapsed by exasperation, he really was going to be in for a long weekend. He ran his hands on the sides of his face and let out a long groan, he steeled himself and turned to head to Benny’s room.

As soon as Sammy reached the door he could hear sobbing coming from within. He quietly opened the door and peered inside. The sight before him made him sigh as he thought to himself 'No wonder Tom had a long night’.

Benny was curled up on his bed once again in his ragdoll form, the demon clearly too large for the child sized bed which was sagging from his weight. Inky threads were laced throughout the room reminding Sammy of a spiders nest. He could hear small sobs from the demondoll as he seemed to be unaware of Sammy’s presence, swallowing his nervousness he decided to approach the demon.

“B-Benny?” Sammy tried to hide the underlying fear in his voice. He couldn’t lie that the plushtoon was making him nervous given the fact that he was in his more dangerous form, with Benny being as upset as he is, he didn’t want to take any chances.

“Go AwAy.” Benny’s voice came out garbled and deep, a clear threat in his tone. He didn’t even bother facing the man.

Sammy took a step forward to try and reason with the demon and stepped on one of the threads that lay on the ground. This triggered a snap reaction from the devildoll. “I sAiD gO aWaY!!!!” Benny spun his head around and roared at Sammy, both mouths speaking in unison made the entire room rattle from the sheer volume.

Fear and adrenaline kicked in and Sammy stumbled backwards and ran down the hall to the front door, nearly slamming into it as he tried to open the door. His hands fumbled the door knob in panic, he quickly unlocked the door throwing it open and dashed outside. He didn’t stop running till he reached his car and jumped inside ready to start the car to get away. He threw the key in the ignition and was about to start the motor when he realized the door was wide open, but there was no figure giving chase. Benny didn’t go after him. He waited nervously wondering if Benny wasn’t nearly as quick to chase as Bendy was, but the more time passed by the more he realized that Benny wasn’t going after him. He left the key in the ignition to state his own concerns and laid back in his seat keeping a watchful eye on the doorway.

Amber hues colored the sunset sky and the last fading beams of light managed to get the final blow to Sammy’s face waking the man before they faded. He sat up hastily realizing he had fallen asleep during his watch, but his brief burst of energy gave way to a yawn. He stretched as best he could in the car and looked towards the house rubbing the sleep out of his eye, surely Benny must have calmed down by now. He waited a bit longer inside the car before finally mustering up the courage to go inside. He frowned when he realized that the door had been left wide open, but then again considering who lived in the house, only a complete and utter fool would try to rob the place.

With caution at his side Sammy slowly walked into the doorway looking around the halls. The house was as still as he had left it, he quietly closed the door and headed towards the kitchen. As predicted Benny’s breakfast still lay upon the kitchen table, the food long since cold and milk warm. He inwardly sighed and cleaned up the kitchen table pouring out the milk and throwing away the cold breakfast. Benny hadn’t come out of his room once which meant he hadn’t eaten anything all day. Sammy had been told by Allison several times about the plushdemon’s love of anything edible so he really was throwing one hell of a tantrum to forgo eating.

The musician sighed and thought to himself 'well If Benny isn’t gonna eat, I’m sure as hell gonna’. He rolled up his sleeves, made sure his hair was pulled back, grabbed a pan and got to work. While Sammy wasn’t much of a cook as his skinny frame was testimony to his culinary 'talents’, he knew how to make a few basic meals well enough to pass muster.

All the while Sammy was twirling pots and pans a small figure had emerged out of a bedroom hearing the familiar sounds of the rustlings of the kitchen. Benny peered around the corner with a small smile on his face hoping to see Allison at the stove, but frowned when he saw the tall skinny blonde man named Sammy. He turned around and headed down the hall towards Allison and Toms bedroom and curled up on the couple’s bed. He really wanted Allison home.

Sammy had pretended not to notice the little yellowish face and pie cute eyes looking at him before they disappeared. He knew Benny was probably drawn by the sounds of him cooking, which to the demon was most likely sounds he associated with Allison. Since he knew that Benny had now stirred by this point in the evening hours he should be quite hungry, and hopefully easier to deal with. After all either an empty or full stomach makes someone easier to sway and deal with.

Sammy pulled out an extra few slices of bread and tossed them in the batter he made with egg, sugar and cinnamon before laying them in the pan. While the french toast was cooking, he grabbed 4 more eggs and 4 slices of bacon and tossed them in a separate pan to cook. He made up a stack of french toast figuring that Benny would eat the rest, or at least he had hoped so. Allison had eluded to him that Benny could eat enough for 2 full grown adults in a single sitting if given a chance. Once the food was all prepared Sammy laid out two plates and utensils facing opposite ends of the table, giving Benny as much space as he needed. Satisfied with the makeshift set up he now needed to find the little demon in question.

After wandering up and down the hall in silent contemplation, but not wanting to wait too long lest the food will go cold, Sammy cautiously approached Benny’s room to find that Benny’s bed was empty. The ink threads were gone and the demon in question was nowhere within the room. He then searched the living room and den which yielded no such luck. The last place he didn’t really want to look was the couples bedroom. It was always a unspoken taboo to enter another’s bedroom, but he at least needed to know where the devildoll was hiding and to inform him food was ready.

He cautiously cracked the door open and sure enough nestled between the pillows, lay Benny curled up. He was in his normal toon form which to Sammy gave him the glimmer of hope that the demon had calmed down. He wasn’t up for spending the night in his car in comparison to how he spent a good chunk of his day. The car wasn’t the best place to nap as his back’s cracks and pops were testimony to the uncomfortable position.

Sammy edged into the room slowly as to not startle the plushdemon. “B-Benny, there’s dinner on the table.” No response, but Benny buried himself deeper into the covers. The man sighed and walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge of the bed.

It was still quite obvious that Benny was still not wanting to deal with Sammy. The man felt a twinge of annoyance and now had a better understanding as to how Tom was feeling earlier. He could hear the toons stomach occasionally growl which would make the demon curl in on himself more. Benny was being just as stubborn as Tom about everything, it would be funny to laugh about the similarities between the two if one of them wasn’t in such a foul mood. Sammy crossed his arms and searched his memory about any clues about how Allison or Tom deal with their demon’s occasional fits.

His mind drifted to a phone conversation he had with Allison about her singing and movies role she had just got the job for. He remembered her telling him about Benny’s separation issues and had taken residence in her suitcase before she had to leave. She tweaked a song Benny knows ever so slightly, be it off key or missing notes, and that would got the demons attention. He actually got annoyed to a point where he started singing the song himself to show how it is supposed to sound and came out of his hiding spot. Only after he was coaxed out through irritation was she able to pack her bags properly and explain the situation to him.

A smile crept across the former musical director’s face prompting him to get up and head out the room. Sammy left the house and went out to his car grabbing his trusty banjo. With musical instrument in hand, he returned to the house and room sitting back on the edge of the bed. He was happy to see that Benny hadn’t moved, but he made sure to leave the door open just in case the demon had a bad reaction to what he was about to do. He didn’t know if Benny would have a repeat 'performance’, but considering he’s a toon he does abide by some toon logic, and falling for some tricks over and over might be one of them.

He rest his fingers upon the banjo and started to play one of Alice Angel’s songs. He would have preferred to play one of Bendy’s more lively dancing songs, but Benny was drawn to Allison whom sang quite a few of the Alice Angel songs, the songs he should be more then familiar with. He deliberately played a note off key randomly along with singing the song ever so slightly off pitch. Through the course of his butchering the musical piece which as the former director would have had his own temper doing a workout, he watched as Benny started to writhe under the sheets. The music was getting on the demons nerves, earning a smile from Sammy, but also with twinge of concern. He double checked to make sure the door was open in case he had a repeat response from earlier.

“That’s enough!” Benny threw off the sheets glaring at Sammy, anger and disgust all over his face, startling the man. “You were the director of Joey Drew’s Musical department and yet, you can’t play for beans?! If you’re gonna play a song, then play it right!”

Much to Sammy’s surprise Benny hopped off the bed and pulled open his stomach hammerspace and buried his hand within, with a bit of strain he pulled out a second Banjo allowing the void to close up again. He checked it’s tuning then started playing the song properly and sung all the while glaring disapprovingly at Sammy. The musician inwardly chuckled at the outburst of the demon and picked up his own banjo and played the harmony while Benny played the melody. He thought it was amusing that Benny had this insistence on a proper musical performance and could tell from sound alone if something was off. He must have picked that up from Allison.

By the time they reached the end of the musical number Benny had forgotten his earlier frustrations and fully leaned into the music. The demon stilled while he held the banjo looking up at Sammy, he opened his hammerspace and returned the Banjo to its void. Benny lowered his head in shame and rocked on his heel. “I’m sorry for snapping at you Mr. Lawrence”. he mumbled, realizing he had been deliberately set up.

Sammy scratched the back of his head and stood up. “It’s Sammy, and I’ll accept your apology after you eat your dinner. I did not just spend 30 minutes slaving over a stove for nothing.” He gestured towards the door and Benny quietly followed the musician to the kitchen after he too put his banjo away.

Benny stood dumbfounded at the pile of french toast that sat in the middle of the table. The demon’s eyes glistened at the sight before him, but he didn’t make a move. Sammy noted the reluctancey of the small toon and lifted a brow while clearing his throat gaining Benny’s attention. “Thank you Mr. Law-, I mean Mr. Sammy.” He sheepishly grinned.

Now Benny really felt ashamed for his earlier actions towards Sammy. He knew he was there to take care of him, but he hated the idea of Allison not being there. He still had mixed feelings about Tom, but the mere thought of Tom’s parting words brought tears back to the demon’s eyes. He didn’t know if he was angry or sad, his emotions were at war within him. He couldn’t bring himself to truly hate the man, but couldn’t find it within himself to support him wholeheartedly either.

Sammy noted Benny slightly shaking and the tears forming at the edges of his eyes. “L-look before you start the water works, why don’t you eat something first then we’ll talk about it afterwards. Ok?” The last thing he wanted was for Benny to all emotional again and not eat anything. He still couldn’t understand how children worked, but then again neither Bendy nor Benny were human children. Yet they seemed to have the mentality of a child despite their physical age. That was something he couldn’t understand, much be a toon logic thing.

Benny nodded and shuffled to the chair helping himself up while Sammy went to sit at his own seat. He watched Benny try and reach for the french toast failing cause of his short arms. Sammy let out a sigh and got up from his chair and dished out a helping of the sweet toast to Benny before sitting back down. Benny said a small 'thank you’ and quietly dug into his food. Sammy sat back enjoying his food and bliss of the twilight hours say for the occasional having to get up and add more food to Benny’s plate to make the demon stop reaching for the plate. Once Sammy was sure he had his own fill, he slid the rest of the breakfast for dinner to Benny who smiled slightly at getting the reminder of the meal. Sammy sat back and watched as Benny downed one toast after another and couldn’t help but wonder how he was able to pack in so much food. He had been warned by Allison about the toon’s food consumption but didn’t really see it first hand.

Once Benny finished the dinner Sammy took his plate and set it in the sink to soak and went to sit back at his chair. He leaned forward with his hands folded and looked the demon in the eye making Benny squirm slightly with the sudden attention. “Do you want to talk about earlier?”

Sammy’s inquiry made Benny bow his head with a sorrowful expression “Not really.” He leaned back in his chair trying to avoid the man’s gaze. He wasn’t up for rehashing the days earlier events.

Sammy raised a brow and decided to push the demon a bit. “Well from my stand point you were being overly stubborn.”

Benny mumbled “I wasn’t being stubborn.”

“Then what do you call it then? Cause I say you’re being inconsiderate about the whole situation.” Sammy leaned back in his chair crossing his arms.

Benny looked up at Sammy, tinges of a building anger in his eyes and no longer mumbling “I wasn’t being stubborn and I’m being inconsiderate how? If anything, you’re being inconsiderate by meddling in things that don’t concern you. You are only here to make sure I don’t wreck the house.”

Sammy was briefly surprised by the sudden snappy response, but could tell he struck a nerve. He himself was used to having his buttons pushed by others and often got to the root of the problem, and it was amusing to see that Benny was no different. The demon was getting agitated and defensive. “For starters you made it my problem when you snapped at me earlier. Also you weren’t taking into account that Tom and Allison have to do things to support themselves and you since they are out of the studio. You were only thinking of yourself and what you wanted, not what they needed. In short you’re acting like a spoiled brat.”

“Well it isn’t your problem Mr. Former Musical Director that fancies himself a musician.” The demon raised his voice slightly and waved his arms around as he spoke. “I’m not a spoiled brat, and I do care about what they need not just what I want. I’m more considerate about their situation then what you seem to think.”

Sammy leaned back in his chair with a smug grin on his face. Benny was acting exactly like Tom when the man starts to get angry, he starts coming up with insults mixed in with his arguments. “I beg to differ you spoiled brat. You can’t take care of yourself and need everyone to do it for you. Look at poor Tom, he’s doing his best to keep a roof over your head by doing back breaking work at his age and you aren’t the least bit thankful. Allison has to constantly go out to look for work regardless of how much she wants to stay home cause you can’t be left alone.” The musician watched as Benny covered the sides of his head with his hands as if trying to shut the man out.

Benny’s teeth slowly started taking on a more triangular appearance instead of the normal flats, ink drizzled on the side of his head slowly covering his right eye.“I am thankful for what she does and I can take care of myself just fine. I’ve done so for 30 years you ignorant pathetic excuse of a man.” Benny knew full well he could care for himself. He survived the horrors of the studio just fine even if he was often skirting the edges of life and death, but it was a reality he had come to accept. After all he was hated upon birth and had many near death attempts, yet he thrived and will continue to do so. By no sense of the word did he appreciate the man sitting before him openly mocking and insulting him.

Sammy instantly caught on to the lack of mentioning his appreciation of Tom’s efforts to house the demon. The man was a considerable amount of engineering jobs and construction to bring in large sums of cash and yet Benny seems to be ignoring that fact and only focused on Allison’s efforts. Something was causing him to have an cold attitude toward Tom. What happened so long ago to eat away at such a once sweet toon?

He remembered the phone conversation he had with Tom at the start of the month about how the man was tired and stressed from Benny’s unusual antics. The demon was very clingy and didn’t like to separated from Allison for extended periods, not to mention the occasional cold shoulder which was peculiar for the sweet devil. Tom loved Benny like he was his own, but something in Benny made him put up a wall towards the man. He was on his best behavior when Allison was involved or around, but if it were just him and Tom, he was unusually cold. Even Allison noticed the strange behavior of the demon and deliberately left Benny alone with Tom just to see how he behaved and it was very different from how she remembered her time with him. Allison alluded to her suspicion as to the root of the problem, but wasn’t in a position to confront the demon. Time to test that little theory.

“Admit it Benny the Stitched Demon, you can’t do anything without them, you’re a helpless little baby demon who needs coddling from mommy.” Sammy sneered at the frustrated devildoll. He made sure to pour on as much salt to the wound as possible emphasizing some words more then others.

“I aM nOt A bAbY.” Benny firmly growled out starting to bear his teeth.

This was perfect for Sammy, the demon was completely agitated and would be more likely to slip up. “Yes, you are. You’re a little baby demon that has mommy issues and doesn’t like daddy. You turn your back on daddy when all he does is hold you up to the best of his ability.” He taunted in a childish tone and as soon as the words left Sammy’s mouth Benny reared up in full Ragdoll form.

“He LeFt Me, Ok!"Benny bellowed out. ”I wAs LeFt BeHiNd! I wAs AlOnE fOr 30 YeArS bEcAuSe He FoRgOt Me, HoW aM I sUpPoSeD tO DeAl wItH tHaT?! HoW aM I SuPpOsEd To DeAl wIth HiM!? He BrOkE hIs PrOmIsE!!“ The stitched demon stood at his full height bearing down on Sammy while looming over the table with both mouths speaking in unison, both snarling at him.

The musician shakily stood his ground, cause this was the answer he was looking for. Tom had told him that Benny had two mouths in Ragdoll form. He speaks from his normal mouth and on rare occasion the second joins in. The mechanic had figured out that what Benny says is what’s on his mind, but when the second mouth speaks it’s what is in his heart. While the second mouth is silent most of the time its only when his emotions spike is when it talks, and as of the moment his emotions needed to be sorted out. If both speak then that is how the demon truly feels.

"So this is how you feel.” Sammy tucked his hands in his pockets to keep his legs from shaking under the table. While he was certain Benny wouldn’t hurt him, he’d be lying if he said Benny didn’t scare him. “I feel sorry for you, but don’t blame Thomas for what happened. He didn’t know, and it wasn’t like he did anything bad on purpose.”

Benny scoffed at Sammy bearing his teeth. Benny was still sore with Tom with what happened in the studio. He told himself for 30 years it wasn’t the man’s fault but the more he tried, the more it hurt. The more years that passed the more he felt like the toys in the factory he came from, doomed there to sit and gather dust. To be forgotten and never have a family to love or to love him in turn. The memory of Allison, the band and Norman were the only few lights he had is his small world and they too had gone out once the studio fell. He had never expected to be reunited with Allison and Norman 30 years later, he had assumed they left the studio behind and never looked back. It never occurred to him that they were imprisoned like he was, but despite that new knowledge he still couldn’t find it within himself to forgive Thomas Connor for what he did.

“I do know that Thomas loves you very much. He deeply regrets what happened in the past and is doing his best now to fix it, but you have to be the one to open the door for him. If he doesn’t know what key to use then you two will always be on opposite sides.” Sammy let out a long sigh, trying to steady himself against the overbearing devildoll. “You have to talk to him and tell him your side of the story or things will never heal.”

Sammy’s words seem to sink in and Benny’s snarling died down, his body and face frozen while he looked down at the man. His mind drifted to the many times he watched Tom come home after a long days work completely exhausted but happily handing his paycheck to Allison for her to buy food, furnishings and to pay the bills. He remembered the first big check Tom had gotten he ran out and came back with a child sized bed just for him. The man made sure to get the best the store had to offer and all the pillows, sheets and warm blankets that came with it. He had bought him a bed before he and Allison bought their own. The man wanted to the toon to be completely comfortable before he and Allison could enjoy their own comfort. The days they spent sleeping in sleeping bags on the floor before they had a couch or a bed, while Benny had his own bed and all the timings. Benny realized that all the earliest purchases that arrived in the house were for him and that Thomas had put Benny’s well being before his own.

After several moments of silence the demon’s body started twitching and large inky tears formed at the edge if his eye. The next thing Sammy saw was black. Benny wailed away with large inky tears pouring from his eye and ink expelling out of him in large messy globs, like someone had opened the faucet on his emotions and everything was draining from him. After a few moments the familiar shape of the plushtoon sat on the floor crying. The ink somehow disappearing leaving not a single trace behind.

“I-I really am a s-spoiled brat.” Benny stuttered and hiccuped on his words. “All this t-time Tom has done nothing but ensure my own well being before his own, but h-how can I apologize t-to him when he’s mad at me?” He looked up at Sammy with large inky tears streaming down his face. “I hated him for so long when it was an accident. I blamed him for something he didn’t know. H-How am I supposed to make up for that?”

Sammy sighed and bent down to look at Benny near eye level. “You first need to apologize for your actions then tell him how you feel.” Sammy reached out his hand and gently rest it between Benny’s horns “I’m sure he won’t be mad. Tom is more understanding then you know. It’s not a fast recovery but you two have to start somewhere.” Sammy chuckled at his own words. Sure he and Tom didn’t always see eye to eye, but he knew the man very well. He was sure Tom would better understand his little demon if they talked things over.

Benny nodded in understanding of the musicians words and his weeping died down. Sammy watched Benny start to nod off a bit, the demon now having a hard time sitting up. Sammy smiled 'All the transformations and yelling must have worn him out’. Then his thoughts drifted to the pile of french toast he made earlier 'or food coma if he can get that’. He gently lifted Benny up by his sides and was surprised at how light the demon actually was in comparison to Bendy whom was a bit heavier.

He cradled Benny in an arm and headed for the toons bedroom. Benny’s room was a bit of a mess from the toon’s earlier tantrum, but Sammy rummaged around inside the dresser and found a large orange night shirt and tried to have Benny slip into it. The demon was too tired to argue with the musician and was more and more like a rag doll in the mans arms as sleep was rapidly taking him. Sammy ultimately laid Benny down on the bed to dress him since the plushtoon was no longer responsive. The musician silently cursed as how it was like trying to play dress up with an over-sized doll, and was thankful no was around to watch him the last thing he needed was someone with a camera. Sammy grabbed a little plush Bendy doll and placed it next to the toon which slowly grasped the toy giving it a light squeeze. He covered him up with his blanket and watched little Z’s start floating above the toon’s head telling him that the devildoll was out like a light. He turned on his heel and quietly left the room after turning the light off.

Sammy retreated to the living room not before grabbing the blankets and pillows Tom left out for him. He pulled out the compartment under the couch turning it into a full sized bed. He was thankful the couple planned ahead and got a couch that folds out into a bed for any guests that would be spending the night. He figured that Tom and Allison knew that both of them wouldn’t have a choice but to occasionally leave Benny alone and with his issues they needed to have someone watch him. He laid out the blankets and pillow before turning off the light and called it a night. He had no trouble falling to sleep since he had a pretty long day.

———————–

Sammy didn’t know how long he was asleep before he felt something tug at his blanket stirring him. He turned over and sleepily looked at Benny standing at the edge if the couch looking very upset. “Ugh, whaaat” Sammy groaned out. “Benny? What are you doing here?” He rubbed his eyes trying to get them to focus. He looked at the illuminated hands on his watch, his eyes nearly bugged out when he saw the unholy hour. He groaned and looked back at Benny wondering what the demon wanted in the dead if the night.

Benny wrung the bottom of his night shirt and had plush version of himself tucked under his arm. “I-I had a bad dream…” He looked down sheepishly squeezing the plush gently to where it made a soft squeak. He was hoping he could sleep with Sammy to try ease his nerves, but after his tantrum earlier he didn’t have any high hopes. He knew he really was acting like a 'spoiled brat’ as the musician called him, but at the moment he didn’t know what else to do. He was simply too afraid to sleep alone.

Sammy tiredly sighed rolling his eyes “Fine, c'mon.” he lifted up a portion of his blanket in invitation.

Benny was shocked that Sammy was inviting him despite his earlier behavior. He made a small happy squeaky toy noise and gingerly crawled under the raised sheets and whispered a small 'Thank you’ which earned a chuckle from the musician and a small 'Good night’. Sammy looked at the small figure now nestled against his side. He reached over and made sure Benny was tucked in before he rest his arm pulling the toon closer to himself and closed his eyes and letting sleep take him.

———————–

Morning came and Benny found himself being irritated by a constant nudging to his shoulder. The demon lazily swatted at whatever was bugging him and rolled back over under the covers to continue sleeping. Sammy had heard that Benny was a challenge to get up in the morning, but had never seen it. He could only inwardly laugh at how similar Tom and Benny truly were, it was like dealing with a sweet child version of the snarky mechanic. However he was thankful of Allison’s book of 'how to feed Benny" detailing how she prepares foods for the demon through the course of the day.

Leaving the demon curled up within the blanket, Sammy wandered to the kitchen and rolled up his sleeves, grabbed a few pans and set the fire to the stove. He threw 6 eggs in one pan and made 5 mini pancakes in the other. He was so thankful Allison left him a mini cookbook detailing how to make in large quantities to feed Benny. When he skimmed the cookbook his eyes nearly bugged out when he read that Benny can eat up to 15 6" pancakes, along with 6 eggs, 2 sausages, and 2 slices of bacon in a single sitting. However after such a large meal he seems to suffer harshly from food coma and will fall asleep for a few hours, but eats very lightly for the remainder of the day. It was best to divide up his portions evenly versus the over sized single portion. Sammy couldn’t help but smile at this little tidbit, it partially explained why Benny tired out so quickly after his outburst the previous night.

The smell of the pancakes drifted through the air making the kitchen smell divine. Sammy finished off stacking off the last of the pancakes when he heard the small pattering of shoes. He looked over his shoulder and saw Benny sleepily creeping into the kitchen in his over-sized night shirt trying to rub the sleep out if his eyes.

“Morning Mr.Sammy” Benny stumbled past him to the kitchen table.

“That’s Sammy to you young man”. The musician jokingly scolded while he watched Benny slowly lift himself onto his chair struggling, the groggy demon only getting one foot on the chair while the other dragged behind him. Sammy walked over and assisted the demon in his scaling the chair so he could eat properly at the table.

Benny rested his head on the table while the rest of his body hung limp in his chair, he was not ready for the morning by no sense of the word. It didn’t help his night was plagued with thoughts on how he was going to deal with Tom once he returned home. He was now feeling guilty about his treatment of the man who did nothing but love and care for him. His memories of the studio and what happened to him clashed with the recent ones of him and his family. The only thing that gave him peace was Sammy’s words; 'You have to talk to him or things will never heal’. The demon quietly groaned as his head lightly rolled to the side on the table. He had never really spoken of the hell he had seen and gone through and didn’t really know where to begin. In truth he didn’t want to talk about it, but it was the elephant in the room that needed to be addressed.

Sammy looked over at the little devildoll he was in charge of. He figured the demon didn’t get much sleep after yesterday’s events and he couldn’t blame him. His own memories of what happened in the studio were foggy, but Benny and Bendy both remembered everything vividly. Both demons literally had their own pasts to deal with at it would take time to fully understand how they feel let alone what they went through.

Sammy walked to the cupboard and pulled out a glass and a mug setting both on the table. He poured himself a cup of coffee and Benny a glass of milk. He set the glass in front of the toon, but Benny looked too sleepy to register it’s existence. A sigh escaped the man and he and used the glass to gently nudge Benny’s head waking the toon somewhat as his hand gently grabbed the glass and he lifted his head up to start drinking. Making sure Benny wasn’t going to spill his drink with how incoherent he seemed to be, Sammy placed the finished breakfast in front on the toon.

Benny quietly dug into his food his pie cute eyes barely open. Sammy wanted to laugh at the sight before him. He watched Benny occasionally fumble his food or simply drop it all together. Clearly failing with a fork Benny just rest his head on the table and opened his mouth wide shoveling his food in rather then sit properly and eat. Once he was done he finished off the last of his milk and laid his head back down on the table exhausted.

A glance at the clock ticking in the corner served as a small reminder as to the fact that that Tom should be home later in the evening. Sammy took the opportunity since it was peaceful in the house to clean up the table around Benny and wash the dishes making sure the kitchen was restored it it’s former working order. While he worked he occasionally looked over his shoulder and watched Benny’s head nod off and on occasion a small 'Z’ would float above him before it would disappear and his eyes would open slightly then he would nod off again. The toon was still tired and wasn’t ready to be up yet.

Sammy returned to the living room and cleaned up the bed removing his borrowed sheets, blanket and pillow. With a tug of a handle half the bed collapsed and slid under it’s counterpart restoring it back to a couch instead of a bed. Satisfied Sammy set the pillow against the side of the couch and laid out a blanket to lay under while he planned on enjoying his book he had brought to read. He returned to the kitchen and scooped the now sleeping toon and cradled him in an arm. Sammy returned to the couch and laid down setting Benny on his chest covering himself and the toon back up in the blanket. Benny seemed to be having a fit full sleep at the table, but once he was on Sammy’s chest he relaxed and curled up sound peaceful asleep.

Sammy looked down at the demon that lay on him. It was hard to believe such a small character was also a monster of fabric and ink. Sammy couldn’t lie that both Benny and Bendy scared him, but seeing one of them have so human like problems felt surreal. He had thought that since they were toons that they would always be happy and energetic regardless of what came their way. However seeing them getting angry, sad or throw tantrums it was oddly endearing. They truly felt real with real problems and not the cartoon characters they were meant to be. He lightly rest his hand between Benny’s horns gently scratching the area getting a small purr from the sleeping toon. He couldn’t help but smile, they aren’t so scary when they have the same emotions as a child, and like a child they need an adult to help them. At least they each had a set if adults that were willing to take the time to learn about them and care for them.

Sammy opened up his book and got more comfortable on the couch committing himself to a light read occasionally glancing past his book at the little toon snoozing on his chest. The longer he read the more his eyes drooped and soon he too fell asleep with the book firmly glued to his face.

————-

“Hey sleeping beauty, wake up.” a gruff voice chuckled shaking Sammy’s shoulder.

Sammy groaned turning his head to be met with a pair of tired brown eyes and a smug grin. “Wha…oh!” Sammy immediately sat up eyes wide at Tom standing before him. “How long was I out?”

Tom shrugged “A few hours I guess.”

“Oh…” Sammy’s eyes opened wider and immediately looked at his chest to find that Benny was no longer on him. Brief panic set in and he quickly looked around before his eyes settled on a little figure curled up in Tom’s arm.

Tom noticed Sammy’s brief frantic search before his eyes settled on Benny in his arm. “Yeah I found the little one curled up on you out like a light with a book on your face, makes a good picture by the way. I’m looking forward to it being developed.” A grin crept across the mans face as he looked as Sammy whom was rapidly turning red.

Sammy’s eyes were wide in a mix of disbelief and anger. “That’s dirty pool Thomas!” Sammy shouted, but immediately shut up when Tom held a single finger to his lips shushing him and pointed at Benny. Sammy took a deep breath to calm himself down and looked back up at the smug man. “That by no sense of the word fair and that had better not be used as blackmail later. I demand that photo.”

Tom wagged his finger from side to side. “You’ll get a copy of the photo, but the real one is going in the photo album.” Tom’s words left Sammy quietly seething yet at the same time a small grin had peaked at the edges of his mouth.

With Benny in arm Tom excused himself for a moment to put Benny to bed leaving Sammy to straighten the couch back up and he pocketed his book. The man relaxed on the couch and waited patiently for Tom’s return already knowing he was gonna get an earful. With a certain level of predictably Tom returned to the living room looking exhausted. He sat on the other end of the couch and took a long deep breath before turning to look Sammy in the eye.

“What happened while I was gone? His room was a mess.” Worry all over the mechanics face.

Sammy leaned back on the couch and looked up at the ceiling as he let out a deep sigh. He slowly recounted the events that followed Tom leaving the home for work and Benny’s snappy and erratic behavior that ultimately lead to him bellowing at the man. Tom’s eye’s were wide and he muttered small apologizes for the toons bad behavior, but was surprised when Sammy waved his hand as if it wasn’t a bad thing.

“How come your being so nonchalant about the whole thing? I mean for as sweet as Benny is he could have easily hurt you in a fit of rage. Unless you forgot our warnings about that 2nd mouth if his and his very long reach.” Tom threw up his arms in confusion. He simply couldn’t understand why Sammy was abnormally calm about the encounter. The man should be huddled in a corner or locked away in a room demanding compensation for the nightmarish weekend.

"He left me, I was left behind.” Sammy calmly uttered, his eyes dead focused on Tom. His words made the man freeze in place wide eyed. Tom lowered his arms and turned away from Sammy causing the musician to raise a brow. “I take it you’re familiar with what he meant?”

Tom leaned forward and rest his elbows on his knees staring at the floor. “Yeah…”

Sammy looked over his shoulder and saw a small figure looking just past the corner, a smile crossed the mans lips. “Care to elaborate?”

Tom let out a deep sigh “See back when I made the prototype ink machine they had me use any object to test the machine. I picked up a cute little Bendy doll that would have been scrapped due to it being considered off model and gave it to the machine. To my surprise it produced a living toon that was very much like a newborn child. Joey hated him on sight and struck him with an ax to kill him. I protected him and he escaped. I was thoroughly convinced the toon died from the injury sustained. I wouldn’t have thought that the body was fabric and managed to hold itself together softening the blow. Somehow he ended up with Allison, but I had no clue. Once I got forced to make the 2nd ink machine upon completion Allison asked me to bring home a Plush Bendy doll she claimed someone made for her.” Tom’s voice slowly shrank and he started to choke on his words struggling as he kept going. “I-I had no clue it was Benny, t-that he was supposed to have been brought home with me that day. I-If I had known and wasn’t so ignorant to the realities behind the doll I held in my hand I-I would have never left him there.” Tom paused and took a deep breath to try and calm himself. “A-As we all know the studio fell after that and he never got out until now. H-He was left alone by himself in that studio for 30 years because of my neglect.”

Tom fell silent for a short while fiddling with his hands while his eyes never left the hole he burned into the floor. “To be honest Sammy, I’m not surprised he hates me. It was my fault he was stuck there instead of having a proper family he deserves. I’m not the most qualified person to be considered a father or father figure, so the least I can do is provide him a roof over his head. I think it’s oddly fitting” he leaned back on the couch a small chuckle escaping his lips as a few traces of tears picked at the corners of his eyes. “I didn’t acknowledge him then and he doesn’t acknowledge me now.”

Sammy quietly listened as Tom bore his chains of grief, the years of guilt and regret he carried brought to the surface. He wasn’t known for being a real emotional man and often hid his feelings behind a mask of logic and reasoning, but hearing more in depth of what happened made Sammy truly pity the man. He laid back on the couch and peeked over his shoulder at the figure that remained in the doorway. Benny stood partially hiding behind the wall and large inky tears were streaming down his face. He must have heard Tom’s confession. The toon looked too timid to come over and Sammy slowly waved a hand at him to encourage him to come over. Benny nodded and slowly but surely made his way to the couch out of Tom’s sight.

“Well I think someone would like to have a word with you.” Sammy spoke to Tom gaining the man’s attention. He looked back at the musician confused and followed Sammy’s gesture till his eyes laid on the little toon slowly walking to him with tears streaming down his face.

Tom wanted to get up and scoop Benny up to see what was wrong, but the memory of him snapping at the toon the previous day kept him grounded to the couch. He by far wasn’t the best person to try and call himself a parent.

Benny walked right up to Tom just before his legs, a gloved hand gently pulled on the pant leg. “I’m sorry about the other day, I was acting like a little brat. I was inconsiderate for all those times you worked yourself to the bone to make sure I had everything I needed. I-I really sorry.” the toon looked up at the man tears starting to reform at the edges of his mismatched eyes. “Back when I was left behind in that room I sat at the desk waiting. I waited for a long time until I realized you weren’t coming. I told myself it was an accident or some sort of mistake, but the more time that passed the more it hurt. I convinced myself it was all your fault and that you were to blame for my misery. I’m not the best toon in the world let alone a toon of my own and only an image of one, but..” Benny’s voice trailed off and he started to choke on his words, the stitching on his stomach openly slightly and both mouths spoke in unison. “I’m NoT QaAlIfIeD tO bE CoNsIdErD a ChIlD, BuT… CaN I CoNsIdEr YoU My DaD? I’m SoRrY AnD I FoRgIvE YoU.” the toon broke down crying sounding like a broken squeaky toy while gently clinging to Tom’s pant leg.

The man bent down and scooped up the distraught toon into his arms and gently rocked back and forth whispering small words of 'thank you’ or gentle shushing sounds. Tom himself was quietly crying while trying to comfort the toon in his arms. He felt like a huge weight was taken off his shoulders. Benny forgave him. The one thing he felt he didn’t deserve after 30 years of abandonment.

Sammy sighed at the sight before him and a smile crept across his face. It was comforting to see that the man and toon had reconciled. The process to truly heal from the damages was going to be slow, but at least they have a start. With a small groan Sammy excused himself from the couch and figured it was time to head home, he could hit Tom up for the bill some other time. He quietly snuck down the hall and saw his way out the home making sure to lock it behind himself. The drive home didn’t feel so long after how his weekend had gone. A few new pieces of music danced in his head as he hummed new songs down the length of road.

——– 3 Days later ———–

After dodging the postwoman for the umpteenth time Sammy collected his daily post and slipped inside his home. The mail was nothing but ads and the occasional bill with a pale blue envelope with a black trim mixed in. The envelope caught his attention and he set the rest of the post down to further examine the piece of mail. The envelope was a simple pale blue with what looked like a little stitched pattern had been drawn on the edges. The senders had been none other then the Connors as their names and address had been carefully written in delicate cursive. Amused Sammy opened up the letter and proceeded to read it’s contents.

Dear Mr. Sammy,

I’d like to apologize for my actions during your stay at the house. You left so abruptly I didn’t have a chance to apologize, to thank you or to say good-bye. I thank you for what you did, it really helped. Tom and I had a really long talk about what happened and we are on much better terms now. Things are still a little strange between us every now and then, but we’ll figure it out. Though Tom wasn’t happy when you disappeared on him. He said something about a photo and that if you wanted it you have to come back and get it. I don’t know what he’s talking about, but he did mention something about showing Henry some photos. If anything I look forward to seeing you again and will you bring your banjo? I’d like to play with you again.

Yours truly,

Benny

Sammy chuckled at the 'Mr. Sammy’ and thought 'that’s Sammy to you’, but that smile and chuckle gave way to a scowl upon reading about the photo that Tom had taken. His face morphed to a mix of anger and horror upon reading that he was going to show Henry. 'That blasted Thomas is a real demon, using blackmail photos.’ Sammy scowled to himself, but that frustration gave way to a twinge of amusement. 'Then again he is the father of a little devil, even if it happens to be a sweet little devil. Like father, like son.’ He tucked the letter away and found a smaller note tucked behind the letter. He set the letter aside and pulled the small note out and opened it revealing $40 and a message.

Hey Mr. Drama Queen,

Here’s a little thank you for watching Benny and for what you did, but next time let me know when you leave. If you do that again I’ll have Benny 'play’ with you and I don’t mean with musical instruments. He loves a mean game of tag.

Thanks again,

Thomas Connor

A whistle and hum floated through the air as Sammy pocketed the money and carefully put the 2 letters away for safekeeping. Despite Tom’s little dig at him he couldn’t find it within himself to get too angry at the rough and tumble mechanic. In the end despite how the weekend crumbled at the start, it came through in the end and a little step towards understanding was made. He may no longer be a 'crazed preacher man’, but he was devoted to the few people he cared for and now the 2 little toons that came with them.

#batim stitched au #short story #sammy lawrence #batim sammy #sammy lawrence batim #sammy #benny the stitched demon #benny the stitched devil #benny the stitch devil #benny the stitch demon #benny #thomas connor

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junker-town · 4 years

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Here are the biggest NFL veterans who could be cut this offseason

Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images

NFL teams looking to save some money means some familiar names will be looking for new homes.

The NFL’s salary cap leads to plenty of roster churn every year. Franchises are tasked with balancing expensive proven veterans with cheaper talent. That means some pricy athletes could find themselves looking for new homes — even if they’re still in their primes.

Last year, we saw former Pro Bowlers like Gerald McCoy, Demaryius Thomas, and Justin Houston excised in advance of free agency. This offseason has already seen All-Pro tight end Greg Olsen left to ponder his football future.

These are the other veterans who could join him on the free agent market, ranked by order of how much they can save their respective teams by leaving this spring.

Already gone

Josh Norman, CB, Washington

Savings from cutting Norman: $12.4 million

Norman was just one of many things that went wrong for Washington in 2019. He suffered through his worst season in the league, where he gave up more than 11 yards per target and accounted for -1 points saved, per SIS. That’s the lowest score among any cornerback who started at least five games last fall.

This sudden downturn at age 32 could put Dan Snyder’s former prized signing on the chopping block. The 2015 All-Pro has failed to reach that standard since joining Washington in 2016. As a result, the club plans to release him and make him a free agent this offseason.

#Redskins are releasing CB Josh Norman, source says. Intriguing situation to watch, as he now has time to find his new team ahead of free agency.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) February 14, 2020

Wide receiver Paul Richardson, who lasted just two seasons into his five-year, $40 million contract with Washington, will be released as well. Ryan Kerrigan, 31 years old and headed into the final year of his contract with none of the $11.6 million owed to him guaranteed, could also be up for discussion.

Prince Amukamara, CB, Chicago Bears

Savings from cutting Amukamara: $9 million

Amukamara has been a steady, if unspectacular cornerback in his nine seasons as a pro. While he made 42 starts for the Bears the past three years, Chicago felt it could better spend the additional $9 million owed to him elsewhere. Like perhaps on a veteran quarterback to push Mitchell Trubisky for the starting job?

Marcell Dareus, DL, Jacksonville Jaguars

Savings from cutting Dareus: $20 million

Dareus, at his best, is worth $20 million+ annually. The problem is, he hasn’t been that player in several years. Even if he was, the 2020 Jaguars — currently with negative cap space — probably couldn’t afford him. As such, they declined his 2020 option and made him a free agent on the eve of the Scouting Combine.

Dareus broke through with a 10-sack season in 2014 that he’s been chasing ever since. In just six games, he averaged a career-low 2.2 tackles for an underwhelming Jaguars defense in 2019. More telling, those tackles came an average of 4.2 yards past the line of scrimmage, which is an untenable mark for a player who is supposed to be pushing blockers backward and creating chaos in the trenches.

While he can still be a useful presence in the middle of a defensive line, he’s due for a major pay cut this offseason.

Russell Okung, OT, Los Angeles Chargers

Savings from cutting Okung: $13 million

Okung’s release would have been a surprise. The veteran left tackle played well in 2019 when he was on the field — but that only lasted six games due to a pulmonary embolism and, later in the season, a groin injury.

While he was capable, he didn’t fit in with LA’s rebuild. Rather than release a Pro Bowl-caliber blocker, he’ll be traded to the Panthers in exchange for guard Trai Turner.

The deal is tentatively agreed to and is expected to be processed at the start of the league year: The #Chargers are trading LT Russell Okung to the #Panthers in exchange for standout OL Trai Turner, sources say. A swap of big-time OLs. Nothing is final until it’s official.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 4, 2020

Turner is signed through 2021 compared to Okung’s 2020, and his $12.8 million cap hit for the upcoming season is less than Okung’s $15.5m. His cap number jumps to $15.4m next offseason, however — so we could see Turner wind his way to this list in 2021.

A.J. Bouye, CB, Jacksonville Jaguars

Savings from cutting Bouye: $11.4 million

Like Dareus, Bouye is a highly paid defender who has seen better days. And like his colleague, he’s looking at a change of venue this offseason thanks to the Jaguars’ cap crunch. He was traded to the Broncos for a fourth-round pick after news leaked about his imminent release in Jacksonville.

Bouye could be a boon for Denver, but he’ll have to put a disappointing season behind him. The former Texan allowed opposing QBs to post a 106.0 passer rating against him in 2019 while completing two-thirds of their passes with him in coverage.

With Jacksonville eager to find a way around Nick Foles’ cap-clogging $22 million average salary, Bouye’s departure may be the next step in a mini-rebuild of the Jacksonville defense.

Jimmy Graham, TE, Green Bay Packers

Savings from cutting Graham: $8 million

Graham wasn’t the red zone panacea the Packers hoped he would be when they signed him to a three-year, $30 million contract in 2018. After scoring 10 touchdowns in his final season with the Seahawks in 2017, Graham has just five scores over two years in Green Bay.

The Packers drafted Jace Sternberger in the third round in 2019 to take over as Graham’s replacement, but injuries limited him to only six games as rookie — and one target from Aaron Rodgers, which he dropped. Still, head coach Matt LaFleur must believe the second-year tight end is ready for a promotion, because Graham’s tenure in Wisconsin is over after two seasons.

Xavier Rhodes, CB, Minnesota Vikings

Savings from cutting Rhodes: $8.1 million

The Vikings have some very difficult decisions to make this offseason. After coming into the offseason with -$12.3 million in cap room — worst in the NFL by a significant margin — Minnesota had to cut some expensive veterans. First on the chopping block was Rhodes, who signed a five-year, $70.1 million contract extension in 2017 and struggled mightily in both 2018 and 2019. Per SIS, he gave up a 122.9 passer rating in coverage last fall.

Releasing Rhodes still left the Vikings over the cap, however. That led to DT Linval Joseph’s release as well. Together, they trimmed more than $20.5 from Minnesota’s 2020 salary cap.

The #Vikings have terminated the contracts of DT Linval Joseph and CB Xavier Rhodes.https://t.co/VIg4PYgTK7

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) March 13, 2020

Joe Flacco, QB, Denver Broncos

Savings from cutting Flacco: $10 million

The Joe Flacco who led the Ravens to a Super Bowl XLVII win is no more. This is the era of a Joe Flacco who is barely a replacement-level passer.

The former Super Bowl MVP has been mostly forgettable the past five seasons, recording an 83.0 passer rating and a 26-33 record as a starter. He also had his lead role usurped in both Baltimore (Lamar Jackson) and Denver (Drew Lock) after midseason injuries. Rather than keep him in town as an extremely expensive backup, general manager John Elway decided to run with free agent signee Jeff Driskel as his No. 2, sending Flacco to the open market for the first time in his career.

Broncos just informed former Super-Bowl MVP Joe Flacco that he is being waived with a failed physical designation, per source. Flacco now joins a group of free-agent QBs looking for work. Three Super Bowl MVPs in headlines this week: Flacco waived, Foles traded, TB to TB.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 19, 2020

Dontari Poe, DT, Carolina Panthers

Savings from cutting Poe: $9.8 million

The Panthers are a Matt Rhule-Teddy Bridgewater team now. The focus on the rest of Carolina’s offseason has been clearing out its ballast tanks and absorbing new talent into the cap room it’s created.

A 30-year-old Poe didn’t have much of a role in a Panther renaissance. The space-clogging tackle would have been the third-highest paid player on the roster after a good, but not great season. General manager Marty Hurney declined his contract option for 2020, allowing him to sign with the Cowboys instead.

Andy Dalton, QB, Bengals

Savings from cutting Dalton: $17.7 million

Dalton gave the Bengals nine seasons of mostly good, never great quarterbacking. Now he has no place on a team that drafted Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow with the No. 1 overall pick. Dalton’s career in tiger stripes is over.

Bengals are releasing QB Andy Dalton, per source.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 30, 2020

Even though Cincinnati will need a veteran quarterback to help ease Burrow’s transition from LSU to the NFL, it’s time for both sides to move on. The money saved by releasing the Pro Bowl quarterback can be spent acquiring weapons and bolstering the offensive line tasked with keeping Burrow’s jersey clean in 2020 — especially now that remaining free agents can be signed without affecting next year’s compensatory pick balance. The Bengals had already released one expensive standby before Dalton offensive tackle Cordy Glenn was jettisoned before the official start of the league year, clearing $9.5 million in cap space in the process.

Sticking around

Sammy Watkins, WR, Kansas City Chiefs

Savings from cutting Watkins: $14 million

Watkins has shown flashes of star-making play throughout his six-year career, but has ultimately failed to live up to the potential that made him the fourth overall pick in 2014. This past season was no different. He began it with a three-touchdown, 198-yard performance in the Chiefs’ season opener, had just one 100-yard game in the next 13 games, and finished the year with 14 catches for 288 yards in the postseason.

That makes it hard to justify Watkins’ $21 million cap hit for 2020 — especially now that reigning Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes is eligible for what’s sure to be a massive contract extension. With Chris Jones careening toward free agency, the team’s decision may come down to either its second-best wide receiver or the defensive lineman who helped save a Super Bowl win.

Then again, in the biggest game of his life, he put Richard Sherman on roller skates.

Sammy Watkins diced up Richard Sherman, then Patrick Mahomes just had to drop a pass in the bucket pic.twitter.com/ezEyARIu26

— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) February 3, 2020

That’s why the two sides came to terms on a restructured one year, $9 million contract that could pay him up to $16 million should he meet certain incentives. That move will shave at least $5 million from the team’s cap this fall.

Janoris Jenkins, CB, New Orleans Saints

Savings from cutting Jenkins: $11.3 million

The Saints claimed Jenkins after he was released by the Giants for a combination of on-field malaise and off-field concerns. He performed well in New Orleans despite the team’s sudden playoff exit, but his one-year, $11+ million cap number was too steep for the team’s liking. Not wanting to lose him in 2020, the team worked out a two-year extension that lowers that cap hit for the upcoming year but also allows head coach Sean Payton to walk away from him in 2021 with minimal dead salary cap repercussions.

Faced with a big cap number for CB Janoris Jenkins, the #Saints chose to sign him to an extension that could keep him in the fold in the future: It’s a 2-year, $16.75M extension based on new money, source said. So, 3 years, $27M overall with $10.2M guaranteed — all in 2020.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 25, 2020

No official decision yet

Derek Carr, QB, Las Vegas Raiders

Savings from cutting Carr: $13.6 million

Carr’s future with the Raiders is very much up in the air. Reports suggest the franchise is interested in making free agent Tom Brady the face of its Las Vegas debut.

Brady may be a long shot, but this year’s free agent crop includes plenty of veteran alternatives should the Raiders want to swap out QBs. Las Vegas could also package its two first-round picks this April and move up to select a rookie quarterback at the draft.

The team has a lot of spending room this offseason, so moving Carr isn’t a priority, even if it lures a young QB to Nevada. He remains an efficient, if low-impact passer who could bring back a decent return via trade. There isn’t really a glaring reason for the Raiders to cut him loose, but this is Jon Gruden we’re talking about. You can’t rule out any splash-making move in advance of his team’s first season in Vegas.

Malcolm Butler, CB, Tennessee Titans

Savings from cutting Butler: $7.4 million

While he’s been steady in two seasons with the Titans, Butler is far removed from the form that made him an All-Pro with the Patriots in 2016. He’s been a good, if inconsistent, corner when healthy — and Tennessee is paying him like a great one.

The Titans have two major priorities at hand with both Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry barreling toward the open market. Carving out extra space for them could mean cutting Butler, who didn’t play a snap for the club in 2019 after Week 9 and thus missed the team’s Cinderella run through the first two weeks of the postseason. Dion Lewis, another former Patriot lured south with a big contract, has already been informed he’s no longer part of the team’s plans:

#Titans release Dion Lewis and Cameron Wake Roster Moves » https://t.co/56J1hYazCv https://t.co/ubnTnfqrE4

— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) March 12, 2020

Three other notable veterans — Wake, tight end Delanie Walker and kicker Ryan Succop — were each served their walking papers this offseason as well. Butler’s been better than Lewis was as a Titan, but if he can’t convince leadership he’s due for a bounce-back year, he could be next on the chopping block.

Nate Solder, OT, New York Giants

Savings from cutting Solder: $6.5 million

Solder was the first big-ticket signing of general manager Dave Gettleman’s tenure. He hasn’t panned out the way the Giants hoped, though. His 37 blown pass protection blocks were the most in the NFL in 2019.

He’ll turn 32 years old before the upcoming season, so last year’s struggles could either be an outlier in an otherwise solid career or the beginning of an age-related decline. He was the most important piece of an offensive line that allowed Daniel Jones to get sacked 38 times in 12 starts last season, a number that threatens to stunt the young QB’s growth if it isn’t remedied.

If Solder isn’t cut in 2020, this could be the former blindside protector’s last chance to prove he’s still an upper-tier blocker.

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tricksters-captain · 7 years

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Young!FP Jones/Riverdale imagines - Small Town Part 1

A/N: Look, I know it’s cliché but I feel this story could be really great. I hope you guys stick around for this because I’ve got a good plan for this and I hope you like it as much as you liked ‘Oh Dear’. I rewatched the whole first season to see what I could pick up about the parent’s past and I’m trying my best to include what I can but most of this will be my own creation.

Overall Summary: Being the new girl is hard when all the attention seems to be drawing back to you even when you’re determined to stay under the radar.

Pairing: FP Jones x reader, Alice x FP, Alice x Hal, Fred x Hermione, Fred x Mary, Hermione x Hiram, basically a lot goes on in this fic

Word count: 2,607

Warnings: Some strong language

“Honestly, Mom, you are the only woman I know who didn’t improve her situation by getting a divorce.” You shared a sideways look with your mother as you carried in the last of the boxes to your new house.

“Stop being so dramatic, (Y/n). The town is lovely, I grew up here, everyone here is nice, it’s got a decent school. You’ll love it.” Your mom rolled her eyes at you, dusting herself down as she brought in the last box.

“It may be lovely, Mother but it’s not Chicago or Los Angeles. Somewhere exciting. If you had just fought Dad a little harder we could have gotten enough money to live like celebrities.” You fell back onto the couch, heaving out a sigh.

“Yes but it would have gone on forever and I didn’t want that. Fighting with your father would have been like punching through a brick wall, long and painful even if in the end you get through. I wanted this over and done with so I could move on with my life.” Your mother told you, tossing you a rag so you could start wiping down windows and tables so rid of any dust. “And in the end, I won you, didn’t I?” Your mom cupped your cheeks and you shrugged her off.

“Only because dear ol’ Dad actually didn’t want me.” You swung your arms as you turned dramatically away from your mother.

“That’s not true, he’s just a busy man and––”

“––An asshole, Mom. He’s an asshole. You can say it, you don’t have to protect me, I’m not a kid anymore.” You leant on the dining room chairs, raising your eyebrows at your mom.

“You’re still my kid.” She stuck her tongue out at you and you just rolled your eyes.

“Oh, and head over to Pop’s, I called ahead to see if I get you a job there. You know, some weekends, some days after school.” Your Mom called after you as you started to ascend the stairs.

“Pop’s?” You asked,

“A small diner!” Your Mom answered, you slumped against the stairs banister and groaned.

“So, a waitress job?” You called back.

“Exactly, now get cleaned up and head over there. It’s a few blocks across.”

“Can I take the car?” You asked. There was a small pause as your mother thought before she gave in.

“Fine.”

“Yes!” You whispered to yourself before hurdling up the stairs to get changed.

You pulled in at the diner’s parking lot to see a gaggle of teenagers all sat around a car a few spaces down.

You tried to ignore all the eyes you felt on you as you exited your car and made your way to front door.

You pushed open the door and pursed your lips into a thin line. There was a faint sound of Sammy Hager playing from the jukebox but the place in general was pretty quiet, but then again, it was a Monday evening.

You set yourself down at the counter and waited for anyone who seemed to work here approach you.

“You must be (Y/n).” A young man approached you with a toothy grin, holding his hand out.

“I am.” You smiled politely.

“I’m Pop. My daddy used to run this joint but now I do. Your mom called ahead, said you be looking for a job?” Pop introduced himself to you,

“Nice to meet you. And, that’s right.” You nodded,

“Okay, well, lucky for you, I do have a waitress opening if you be willing.” Pop offered,

“I would be willing definitely. Um, what days would I work?” You asked, tucking your hair behind your ears, leaning forward eagerly.

“Starting tomorrow after you finish school because Kimberley is off due to her engagement party. I tend to leave the night shifts to my employees that aren't still in school but you will have to do some weekends and basically fill in for any shift that isn't taken.” Pop explained, beckoning you behind the counter to the kitchen.

“Sapphire, here, will help you with anything you need and Henry will help if Sapphire isn't here.” Pop introduced you to a middle aged woman and a younger man.

“Try not to give out freebees to your friends because in the end it’ll be taken out of your pay check. You get paid every Friday and a little extra if you ever take a shift on for someone else. Now, you do have to wear a uniform but lucky for you, it’s pretty comfortable.” Pop took you into a back room where he got you a uniform. “Hair up at all times because no one wants hairy food.”

“Sure thing. Thank you so much.” You beamed a smile as you took the uniform from him.

“Don’t thank me, thank your Momma.” Pop held his finger out to you, cocking his eyebrow with a smile.

“I will.” You went to leave through the kitchen but Pop stopped you.

“And (Y/n), always use the back exit if you’re working.” Pop guided you to the door and you blushed a deep red.

“Of course, see you tomorrow.” You waved goodbye before rounding the side to your car and driving back home, this time able to ignore the rowdy teenagers.

“(Y/n), do you really want to be late on your first day? Let’s go!” Your mother called up the stairs as you were finishing getting ready.

“I’m coming!” You yelled back.

You sighed, staring at your appearance in your full body mirror.

Riverdale High. A different town, another fucking high school. How perfect.

You picked up your walkman and headphones and then rushed downstairs, snatching an apple from the kitchen before making your way to the bus stop.

It was days like this when you wish you had asked your dad to keep your car but no, of course, he took it from you. At the very least, you managed to steal away his walkman and that would do if you didn’t get your car.

You kept to yourself on the bus and you managed to keep your head down all the way to the office where you would get your locker and schedule.

“There you are, Miss (Y/L/N).” The short lady who sat at the front desk handed over you a couple pieces of paper and you made your way to your locker.

New school, don’t make a fool of yourself.

You managed to do pretty well for the first half of the day but by lunch, you had managed to lose your winning streak of not being an idiot.

You had slipped and dropped your lunch, the loud clattering of you dropping your tray drew everyone’s eyes to you and you just had to laugh it off before taking what you could salvage out onto the stands by the football field. At least, there you could sit by yourself and it wouldn’t be odd.

By your final period, someone actually acknowledged your existence. Well, everyone all day had noticed you were new but were too busy whispering about you to actually introduced themselves.

“You’re new!” A beautiful girl with thick dark hair and full lips sat back-to-front on her seat in front of your desk, with a smile.

“Good observation.” You nodded your head, looking up from your notebook.

“So, where you from? What’s your name? Why’d you move here?” She asked, wiggling her eyebrows, intrigued to hear your life story.

You chuckled and ran a hand through your hair as you sat back.

“(Y/F/N), moved here from Virginia because my parents split, my so-called-father took off to New York and my mom is from here so decided to move back to her old town for a fresh start. You?” You explained,

“I’m Alice, lived here all my miserable life but on the Southside.” She introduced herself, holding out her hand lazily to which you shook with another small chuckle.

Alice went to talk again when you noticed a few eyes had drifted to you both from the front of the class. Alice looked back to where you were looking and scoffed, flicking her thick hair over to one side.

“You’re typical high school psycho’s, Penelope is the red head, Hermione is the latino and the other girls are the troops they carry around with them. The cute red head boy is Penelope’s, his name is Clifford so don't bother with that.” Alice informed you, you laughed again and shook your head.

“Don’t worry about that, I just want to keep my head down and finish my last two years of high school. Boys and bitchy girls aren't exactly on my agenda.” You admitted. Alice grinned at that.

“Tough shit, sweet cheeks. It’s a small town, you can't escape it and you being new definitely can't escape it.” Alice laughed before the teacher gathered everyone’s attention.

After school, you went home and changed for work. This was the time of day where you really couldn’t escape people and since the diner was the only decent hang out spot besides the drive in, you didn’t realise there would be so many there.

“Ya take the orders, you bring ‘em to the window, you wait for the bell, you take the food to the customer. They pay at the end, you take the money to the cash register and you put the tips in the jar under register, each jar has a name and you put the money in your jar. Got it?” Sapphire explained, not stopping for breath as she handed you a notebook and pen, you slid the pen on top of your ear and nodded your head.

“Good. Here’s ya first customer.” She urged you forward to where a very attractive young boy had sat at the counter.

“Hey, can I help?” You asked, taking the pen from your hair.

“Yes, you can.” The boy smirked. “You're the new girl, right?”

(Part 2)

All fp writings tag:

@itsfangirlmendes @always-blame-jefferson @jugheads-lawyer @marveling5sos @bugheadedarchie @rhyxn @the-raegan-whittemore @ffremontt

Small town tag list

@thealipower @angelicaleonamichelle @vinttage-misery

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kansascityhappenings · 4 years

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After Super Bowl win, Chiefs already eyeing repeat next year

MIAMI — It took the Chiefs five full decades to bring the Lombardi Trophy back to Kansas City.

They don’t intend to wait that long again.

With confetti still swirling and their thrilling Super Bowl triumph over the San Francisco 49ers mere minutes old, most of the Chiefs were already talking about next season. They got a taste of reaching the AFC title game last season and it drove them to make it back this season, and now that they’ve had a taste of winning the championship, the organization’s mindset is quite simple: Why stop at just one?

“Next year we’re coming back,” Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones said. “We’re coming back for a repeat.”

There’s plenty of reasons to believe they can do it. The Chiefs will return just about every key piece that delivered the city its first championship in 50 years, including Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, breakout star Damien Williams and the core of their rebuilt defense, along with a coaching staff that’s gotten plenty of interest for head coaching jobs elsewhere.

So perhaps it was no surprise that most Las Vegas sports books already have installed the Chiefs as 6-to-1 favorites to win the Super Bowl next season. The Baltimore Ravens and NFC champion Niners were close behind.

“I’m really excited about it. You get one, you want to get another,” said Andy Reid, who finally got to bask in his first Super Bowl championship after 21 years of coaching. “But we’ve got to backpedal a minute and enjoy this one, and then we’ll get busy on the next one.”

There certainly will be plenty of time to celebrate. The Chiefs wrapped up some media obligations in Miami on Monday, then were to head back to Kansas City, where an entire city was prepping for a victory parade Wednesday.

Not long after that, though, expect Reid and general manager Brett Veach to get down to business.

The Chiefs are likely to make Mahomes the NFL’s highest-paid player this offseason, the first opportunity he will have to sign a contract extension. The Chiefs also must decide what to do with Jones, one of the league’s premier defensive linemen, who is eligible for free agency but has expressed his desire to remain with the team on a long-term deal.

“Why wouldn’t I want to be here?” he asked. “We have a chance to be a dynasty.”

The Chiefs also had a number of role players whose deals are expiring, and bringing them back or unearthing replacements will be crucial during free agency. Among them are defensive linemen Terrell Suggs, Emmanuel Ogbah and Xavier Williams, wide receiver Demarcus Robinson, and cornerbacks Bashaud Breeland and Kendall Fuller.

Another question facing the Chiefs: What will they do with Sammy Watkins, who proved his worth with a massive playoff run capped by five catches for 98 yards in the Super Bowl. He is due to count $21 million against the salary cap next year, so the Chiefs are likely to ask him to take a pay cut or restructure his contract or be forced to release him.

“If we keep going the way we’re going, the sky is the limit for this team,” said Watkins, who contradicted reports he might even sit out next season by insisting he’d return. “Why not? We’ll come back and win next year.”

But even with all those holes to fill, the Chiefs are still in enviable shape. They have arguably the league’s best quarterback and one of its most electrifying pass-catchers in Tyreek Hill. They have one of its premier tight ends in Travis Kelce and a running back in Damien Williams, who gashed the 49ers for 104 yards rushing with TDs on the ground and through the air.

On defense, they have elite pass rusher Frank Clark and safety Tyrann Mathieu — the prize acquisitions last offseason who came up big in the Super Bowl — signed to contracts that will keep them in Kansas City at least two more years.

“It will be important to keep a couple of those other guys and obviously continue to get better, whether that’s through the draft or free agency,” Mathieu said. “The most important thing is our core is intact. We’ve got a hell of a football team, so we are looking forward to next season already.”

There have been seven franchises that have won back-to-back Super Bowls, including the Pittsburgh Steelers, who did the trick twice in the 1970s. That now becomes the goal for a team that sees a window of dominance opening in the AFC, where the Chiefs and Ravens already have begun to replace the New England Patriots as the gold standard.

“I think as long as we keep the people that we have in this organization on this team, with the coach that we have, I think we have a chance to be good year-in and year-out,” Mahomes said. “It’s not going to be easy. We’re sitting here right now, and I know that going back, we’re going to have next year to play a lot of great football teams. There’s a lot of great teams in this league, so you understand that. But at the same time, just try to get better every year.”

Not just to reach the pinnacle of the game. At long last, the Chiefs finally have accomplished that.

The task facing them now is staying there.

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2020/02/03/after-super-bowl-win-chiefs-already-eyeing-repeat-next-year/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2020/02/03/after-super-bowl-win-chiefs-already-eyeing-repeat-next-year/

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avva-rm · 5 years

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Jean Seberg Talks Breathless–Back in 1968

Harry Clein May 28, 2010 8:30 am

Back in 1968, veteran Hollywood publicist Harry Clein recalls, he visited the set of big-budget musical Paint Your Wagon to interview young actress Jean Seberg (star of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless, which is being reissued). A transcript follows, including a visit from her co-stars, Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood (with whom Seberg denied having an affair).

As the Summer of Protest rocked the Chicago Democratic Convention and feminists stormed the Miss America Pageant, I was in Baker, Oregon reporting on the big-budget musical Paint Your Wagon as a leg man for Los Angeles Times columnist Joyce Haber. Like Jane Fonda, Seberg was on J. Edgar Hoover’s subversives list, due to her involvement with the Black Panthers. After I left Haber in the spring of 1969, Haber ran a destructive blind item that ruined Seberg’s life: The blond and beautiful “Miss A,” she wrote, was pregnant by “a prominent Black Panther.” At the funeral for her stillborn daughter, Seberg displayed the white baby in a glass coffin; her husband Romain Gary claimed the baby as his. After that, the fragile actress repeatedly tried to commit suicide, often on the anniversary of the baby’s birth. In 1979, at age 40, she was found dead of a prescription overdose in the back seat of her car in Paris, holding a suicide note.

But that dusty August day back in 1968, I was just a callow young man infatuated with the beautiful, sexy and worldly star of Breathless, who although she was my age, had already played opposite Belmondo, Beatty and Connery. Munching two green apples for lunch, Jean, in blue jeans and a red shirt, sat on the stairs to her trailer and harmonized on “My Funny Valentine” with a couple of hippie extras strumming a guitar and rubbing a washboard.

Jean Seberg: They come over for an occasional shower. I’d never deny that to any hippie. I do see a healthy movement among the scruffy young in the sense it is the first generation whose values aren’t material. But the whole drug scene is a drag. It’s a cop out. I’d rather see a friend run down by a car than on drugs like heroin or speed.”

Harry Clein: Breathless put you at the center of the French New Wave. Were you surprised?

JS: I was out of work and needed the money. The producer asked Columbia, which then owned my old Preminger contract, if I was available. He gave Columbia a choice of $12,000 or 50% of the world profits. With great foresight, Columbia took the $12,000. It was shot for $76,000 in five weeks. Most of the time we worked half days. We’d break and sit around in cafes. One day the producer saw us, it was his last card, and he got into a fistfight with Godard because we weren’t working.

HC: Why did the French fall in love with you?

JS: I know they loved the short hair. It was very daring then because of the concentration camp memories. Maybe they were happy because I married a French man [Romain Gary]. I’m just happy people think of me at all. I’m just happy to get jobs.

HC: What was it like making Saint Joan after winning the big talent contest?

JS: I didn’t do it. Some pimply-faced kid from Iowa did it.

HC: Are you still in touch with Otto Preminger, who discovered you?

JS: We nod across crowded commissaries.

HC: You also made Bonjour Tristesse with him. Was that a better experience?

JS: I was in it, but I was all tied up with that dashing young playboy [Francois Moreuil] who dashed away. I would have broken your heart. I was a pathetic soul. Everyone disapproved. Which naturally pushed me on. He was a good friend when I didn’t have good friends. He’s a very nice man, and when we were married, he was a very nice boy. I was a crazy girl. It was really a baby marriage, not even a childhood marriage. He did a foolish thing. He wanted to meet Romain Gary, the French Consul General in Los Angeles. We made a call on him with the beautiful eyes, who became the father of my son (Diego).

Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood came over as junket reporters from Oakland and Charlotte trailed after them. Eastwood’s vocabulary to the press in those days consisted of pleasant hellos, yeahs and nos, and there was absolutely no indication he would become a two-time Oscar-winning director. Marvin and Eastwood had flown down the night before to Los Angeles for a party honoring Toshiro Mifune who had made Hell in the Pacific with Marvin.

Lee Marvin: You and Claudia Cardinale are Mifune’s favorite actresses!

JS: Toshiro Mifune likes me! If he comes up, I’ll bake him a Japanese pie. What was I doing here in Baker? I wish I had gone with you.

LM (playfully): “No. You couldn’t have. I paid for the plane.

JS (haughtily): That proves you’re not a star.

LM: I don’t have to take that from a runway starlet.

My Baker interview ended when the six actresses who played French whores made a sensational helicopter landing on the set. The hormone-stoked male crew and cast cheered as the voluptuous women stepped out onto the Oregon dust in their high boots and their lavender, orange and yellow micro-dresses.

JS: It looks like Raquel Welch hitting Viet Nam!

My interview continued on Election Day, November 5, 1968 at Jean’s rented pink California colonial house on Coldwater Canyon. By the backyard pool, Jean was barefoot, wearing a floppy gray hat, jeans and a red gingham shirt tied at the waist. But she was not as fancy-free as she had been on set. A darker more reflective mood had set in.

JS: Bobby Kennedy is the guy I’ll be thinking about most today. I found him very candid and, surprisingly, he didn’t think he had a hope in hell of getting the nomination in Chicago because of the Johnson-Humphrey machine. Politically, as they say on television, there’s a breakdown in communications between the electorate and the candidates. But this is still the country where people live the best, despite the gaping flaws. I’ve friends who live all over. But after they leave America, they realize it. They come back.

HC: Didn’t you go to a White House dinner when John Kennedy was president?

JS: Kennedy was a pragmatist. We can only speculate, but I think he would have seen earlier that there would be no military conclusion to the war. That would have saved the maimed and killed on both sides. My God, on television each night the body counts are like racking up scores for either side.

HC: Despite the problems on Paint Your Wagon, how do you feel about it?

JS: I’ve finished all my work. Lee and Clint took me out to lunch the other day. I was sobbing. It was kind of like leaving summer camp. I was a basket case. I had freedom by the end of the picture. Lee is hard to work with. He plays broad, but it doesn’t look that way on the screen. Working with Lee is like being in the Army for four years. He enriches your vocabulary so much. It’s turned into such a big picture. When the weather was bad in Oregon, there was the rumor Paramount was negotiating to buy God.

HC: Any other films on the horizon?

JS: I’ve a second commitment to Paramount. Jim Brown has asked me to do Lions Three, Christians Nothing (a love story about a black NFL quarterback and a white actress). But I’ve got to have a big powwow with him about it. It could say good things, but it’s a firecracker. There are strong truths in it that I’d hate to see sensationalized. I had a talk with Sammy Davis. We agreed it would be ten years before the right story of an interracial romance could be told as it is. The point being that when people are in love they are color-blind. But we’re so hung up on the black-white sexual obsession.

HC: Is Romain coming to Los Angeles while you’re here?

JS: Romain’s film Birds in Peru opens soon in New York. It’s breaking records in Paris. I hope it does well here. It’s about non-compassionate love. It’s a ritualistic dance of fate of a frigid woman who seeks a man who will be the key to awakening her. She has periodic crises of nymphomania. She has a pact with her husband that if her nymphomania happens again, to kill her. It may be shocking to some people. Romain’s work is very impressive. I was terrified working with him. I wanted him to do it with someone else. But he turned out to be more visual than I expected. He is a very sensitive director. I hope to work with him again.

HC: What is the state of your marriage?

JS: We reached an ideal with what marriage should be. But the pressures of our careers kept us from it. We remain the closest of friends. Loving friends. The three month period he was in Majorca and I was in Baker was a trial separation. He’s basically a loner. We can accept our relationship on every level but the marriage level. The marriage was over when I spoke to you in Baker…The French have a nice way of putting things. Whenever a man presents his woman, he refers to her as ma femme. It’s the same word for both mistress and wife. The French also say ‘never apologize, never explain.’ The French say an awful lot of dumb things…The superb thing about Romain was that he created this Frankenstein. He pushed me to develop my own tastes. This inevitably created conflict. I have this character flaw. I’m a ship without a rudder if there’s not a man there. It’s my nature to mold myself around a man.

HC: Have you ever thought of moving to Los Angeles?

JS: Only when I am very tired like right now, I say ‘why go, why not stay?’ This town… Los Angeles, Hollywood… I find beautiful. I’m overawed by the variety of plants and flowers. But I find the total preoccupation with the industry to be a drag. Since my son is raised as a European, I’ll spend time there. I made a oath to Romain that Diego would be raised in Europe. I feel as if I’m a cork in the middle of the Atlantic. When I come back here, I realize I’m so American. To the French, I am a French actress. But my roots are here in America. Even if I wanted to think they aren’t, they are very much so. Do you know the old story about the chameleon? Put the chameleon on green, he turns green; put him on black, he turns black; put him on red and he turns red. Place the chameleon on plaid, and he explodes.

HC: What’s next?

JS: This is a paid advertisement. Any man who sends me flowers every day can have me. No diamonds, no jets, no Bentleys. Also I am hooked on good manners. I don’t mean opening car door good manners, I mean opening of hearts good manners. But I’ve learned a little on the way. I’m a lot less selfish, more giving. And if he’s someone who wants children, I’m now prepared to have piles of them. Maybe it’s a biological thing. Maybe the career just means less at a time when it should mean more. That, too, is a paid advertisement.

The next time – and unfortunately last time – I saw Jean Seberg I took her a single white rose.

#Jean Seberg #Breathless #Paint Your Wagon #Harry Clein #Actress #Interview #1968 #IndieWire

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brido · 6 years

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In Defense of Sammy Sosa

I never loved Sammy Sosa. I just want to be clear about that from the get-go. My favorite player growing up was Andre Dawson. And I used to have to defend that choice, even to other Cubs fans who favored Ryne Sandberg and Mark Grace. But Dawson was always my guy. Then to see Sosa come in, play the same position and completely eclipse everything Dawson ever did was almost personal to me. Like, the right field bleachers is doing the ‘salami’ to Sosa? That was Andre’s Army! I almost felt a sense of betrayal.

On top of an unnecessary personal loyalty to Dawson, I felt like the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 brought out a bandwagon element to the Cubs that I was uncomfortable embracing. And I thought all the anticipation over Sosa’s home runs made fans at Wrigley stupid - cheering for any ball hit into the air, only to get faked out by easy fly balls. Cubs fans got a bad rap for being drunken idiots who didn’t know the game, didn’t follow the game and were just there to be morons. I heard it all the time from Cardinals fans and White Sox fans. And I hated that it was at least partially true.

Here’s the thing though: none of that is Sosa’s fault. He didn’t make new fans stupid or tell them to get drunk at the ballpark. Hell, a lot of that was the culture of the park, the culture of the city and the fact that every national broadcast of a Cubs game from 1982-1997 was announced by a beloved grandfatherly figure who also happened to be slurring every word by the 7th inning. I mean, I’ve been drunk at Wrigley Field a number of times. I love that park. I love that city. I loved being drunk there. And I loved Harry Caray too. At least in hindsight. So why not try to love Sosa?

Before I start naming the reasons to not love Sosa that I assume you’re probably thinking of, let me remind you as much as I need to remind myself; There were many times Sammy Sosa made you happy. REALLY happy. I mean, those bleacher bums in right kinda had a point. And so did the bandwagon dipshits. Sosa was pretty goddamn exciting sprinting out to right and doing the pop-and-hop after he crushed one onto Waveland. There was also the playful way he tapped his chest and blew kisses to the camera. He gave us June of ’98, when he hit 20 home runs in a month, which is an all-time record. And that home run chase was actually fucking great. The whole country got swept up in it, no matter how clouded it seems now in 20/20 hindsight. And it could be argued that the ’98 season helped to erase the memory of the ’94 strike and put the game back in the good graces of the fans.

There was also the American flag home run in the first game at Wrigley after 9/11. And the two-run home run in the bottom of the 9th in Game 1 of the NLCS in 2003. Yeah, that series isn’t fun to think about now, but Sosa hit .308/.455/.577 in those seven NLCS games. So you can blame Steve Bartman or Alex Gonzalez or anybody else until the cows come home. But nobody in their right mind can blame Sosa.

Okay. Now that we reminded ourselves how happy he made us, we can go further into just how good he was.

Sosa was the best player on the Cubs (in terms of fWAR) from 1994-1996 and then from 1998-2002. He didn’t really qualify in ’92. Grace was better in ’93 and ‘97. Moises Alou surpassed him in 2003. And we’ll get to 2004. But during his overall time in Chicago, Sosa was almost twice as good as the next best player (Grace) in Wins Above Replacement. If you go off of Bill James’ Superstar accomplishments list, it breaks down like this…

1993. Member of the 30/30 Club (33 home runs and 36 stolen bases). 4.1 WAR.

1994. .545 SLG. .300 AVG.

1995. Member of the 30/30 Club (36 home runs and 34 stolen bases). 119 RBI. .500 SLG. 5.3 WAR.

1996. 40 home runs. 100 RBI. .564 SLG. 5.4 WAR.

1997. 36 home runs. 119 RBI.

1998. He briefly held the single-season home run record. Named the National League MVP. Led the league in RBI (158). Led the league in Runs scored (134). 66 home runs. .647 SLG. 6.5 WAR. .308 AVG.

1999. 63 home runs. Started in the All-Star Game. 141 RBI. 114 Runs. .635 SLG. 4.8 WAR.

2000. Led the league in Home Runs (50). .406 OBP. Started in the All-Star Game. 138 RBI. 106 Runs. .634 SLG. 5.7 WAR. .320 AVG.

2001. Led the league in RBI (160). Led the league in Runs scored (146). 64 home runs. That made him the only player in history with three seasons of 60 home runs. .437 OBP. Started in the All-Star Game. .737 SLG. 10.3 WAR. .328 AVG.

2002. Led the league in Runs scored (122). Led the league in Home Runs (49). Started in the All-Star Game. 108 RBI. .594 SLG. 5.7 WAR.

2003. 40 home runs. 103 RBI. .553 SLG.

2004. 35 home runs. Started in the All-Star Game. .517 SLG.

Boy, look at all that selfish play. James ranks him as a bona fide superstar from 1998-2003. He hit more home runs over a 5-year period and over a 10-year period than any other player in Major League history. He’s the all-time Cubs leader in home runs (545). Of the 10 players with the most-comparable stats, 9 (Jim Thome, Mike Schmidt, Reggie Jackson, Ken Griffey Jr., Harmon Killebrew, Eddie Mathews, Mickey Mantle, Willie Stargell and Willie McCovey) are in the Hall of Fame. He was Sports Illustrated’s co-Sportsman of the Year in 1998. And, not for nothing, Bill Clinton invited him as his guest to the 1999 State of the Union address, where he sat in between Hillary Clinton and Tipper Gore and was one seat over from Rosa Parks.

Advanced stats tell a slightly different story than the standard ones do. If you look at Sosa only in terms of WAR, he basically only had two elite seasons (1998 and 2001) and JAWS ranks him as the 18th-greatest right fielder of all time, below the average standards for the position amongst Hall of Famers (which are higher standards than any other position, anyway due to Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Stan Musial having played in right) and behind non-Hall players like Larry Walker, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Dwight Evans and Reggie Smith.

However, Sosa’s peak (WAR7) is right above the average for all 25 hall of famers at the position. Which isn’t nothing. He’s also 5th all-time in WAR for all Cubs players (behind Cap Anson, Ron Santo, Ernie Banks and Ryne Sandberg, but ahead of Billy Williams) and the Hall of Stats site puts him in their Hall of Fame, considers him the 16th-best right fielder of all time (one spot behind Dawson, which I don’t mind) and the 6th-greatest Cub of all time (behind Anson, Santo, Sandberg, Banks and Gabby Hartnett).

Okay. Now that we reminded you how happy he made you, and how he ranks as an all-time great, especially an all-time great Cub, we can talk about some of the negatives.

In 2003, Sosa got caught with a corked bat. Fine. I probably don’t need to find a physicist to tell you how corking a modern bat doesn’t really do anything besides make it lighter. But the league already disciplined Sosa for that and, in the process, examined 76 of his bats and found nothing else. Maybe it was an honest mistake. Maybe he doctored one bat for batting practice, thinking it did anything. And then maybe he accidentally used it in a game. So what? How that negates everything I’ve already listed above is beyond me. The corked bat should be a nonissue.

Now we can talk about 2004. At the end of the disappointing 2004 season (where the Cubs actually won one more game than than their previous NLCS-bound season), Sosa showed up late to the final home game, asked to sit out the game, never even dressed for that game and then went home early. He claimed he didn’t leave until the 7th inning, but security footage showed him leaving shortly after the start of the game. Then one of his teammates (rumored to be Kerry Wood, Paul Bako or Todd Walker) smashed his salsa-blaring boombox, which apparently sent the message to the organization that his teammates wanted him gone. Or that they hated him for playing the same CD every day. Either way, the Cubs shipped Sosa off to Baltimore in January, to make for a pretty inauspicious ending to his pretty spectacular tenure in Chicago.

So maybe Sosa shouldn’t have done all that in 2004. And he probably shouldn’t have criticized manager, Dusty Baker the next day either. But he and Baker patched it up pretty quickly during the offseason. And Sosa has since apologized for everything and even paid a $87,500 fine for the incident. And listen, that season was frustrating for everyone involved. Especially when the long-suffering Cubs had gotten so close the year before. Sosa, who had suffered bizarre injuries and slumped for large portions of the season, felt like he was taking the brunt of the blame for his team’s failures. He also felt humiliated by being dropped to 6th in the order by Baker. There are better ways it could have been handled. But fans booing his image at the Cubs Convention the following winter is just as fucking petty.

Look, those were really dark times for the Cubs fanbase. And I mean downright ugly. I cringe even thinking about the way the Wrigley Field fans treated Bartman during Game 6 the previous year. I cringe thinking about those fans during the NLDS in 2008 after Ryan Dempster gave up the grand slam to James Loney in the 5th inning of Game 1. And I think it took multiple years and a major cultural change in the organization before it even started to get better.

But don’t tell me Sosa walked out on the fans. He walked out on Dusty Baker. And you don’t even like Dusty Baker. It was a meaningless game the Cubs won 10-8 anyway. Nobody can honestly tell me they still give a fuck about that game. And you also don’t give a shit about the precious Cubs fan base. Especially not after the way you treated Bartman. Oh, look at us, the precious Cubs fans! We wanted to kill one of our own just because he was easiest to scapegoat for all our hurt feelings and years of frustration.

I think the reality of the situation is that Sosa came to symbolize an era of dashed hopes and futility to the bandwagon contingent, too fickle to deserve calling themselves Cubs fans to begin with. If you hate frustration and futility, as a Cubs fan, you can also hate Ernie Banks, Fergie Jenkins, Billy Williams, Greg Maddux, Ryne Sandberg and any other Cubs player who was unfortunate enough to play for that team during the miserable 108-year drought.

And we still haven’t talked about steroids.

Fine. During a time the Cubs fanbase decided they hated Sosa, anyway, he appeared in those infamous Congressional hearings and had his lawyer read his incredibly vague statement for him due to English being his second language. You want to be mad about that? Cool. Do you know how much money the U.S. government wasted trying to catch Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens in a perjury case? Well, they came up with exactly nothing for all their efforts. And the same shit would have happened with Sosa too.

His lawyer read his carefully worded statement in English. The statement left room for him to have technically taken steroids orally, in pill form, from a prescription from a doctor in the Dominican Republic. Sosa didn’t have to trip up on the wording in the hearing. And your tax dollars went to a road or a school instead. Or a war in the Middle East. Whatever. You get my point.

Then there’s the 2009 article in the New York Times naming Sosa as one of the ‘anonymous’ players who tested positive for PED’s in 2003. Ugh. Do you know how many problems there are with citing that story as your reason Sosa did steroids? Okay sure, Doctor SuperFan, what drug did he do then? What was the source of the information? Can the test you’re citing distinguish between PEDs and over the counter, legal drugs? You have no earthly idea.

And this was in the Wild West days of the league before they even had a PED policy, in an era of almost total complicity, from the fans and all the way up to the commissioner’s office. Sosa never actually failed a drug test. He was never actually disciplined by the league. And all you have is your eyeballs and the thoughts and opinions of other clueless fans who are also not biochemists, don’t really know how PED’s can even affect baseball performance, don’t know about Sosa’s dogged work with Jeff Pentland in the batting cages after the 1997 season, don’t even lift fucking weights to know how that works and probably still get a red ass over his corked bat for the same ignorant reasons.

Don’t get me wrong. He totally did steroids.

But I can’t prove it. And either can your buddy from work or the four guys you know who still try to say Barry Bonds’ head got three times bigger or whatever. That’s my point. And by now you’ve already forgotten that Sammy Sosa, on several occasions, made you really, really fucking happy.

So what else? What other anti-Sosa arguments could you possibly have? Tom Ricketts wants an apology from him? Tom Ricketts has $900 million. Why doesn’t Tom Ricketts apologize for the wage theft and economic scarcity that allows him to have that type of money in the first place (to paraphrase a meme I saw posted about Bruce Wayne one time). But talk about cheating. Dude is an investment banker. I don’t think he gets to star in his own morality play on this one.

Sosa put asses in seats for 13 years in Chicago. For the Tribune Company. He owes Tom Ricketts fuck all. Especially since Ricketts, like your buddy from work, can’t prove a goddamn thing about his PED use. He doesn’t have special information about it because he’s rich. Plus, the same phony-pearl-clutching, butt-hurt Ricketts allowed the Cubs to hire twice-busted steroid user, Manny Ramirez, as a hitting consultant in 2015 and 2016. That’s him in the photo above smiling like he didn’t get caught taking female fertility drugs in 2009. Meanwhile at the 100-year celebration at Wrigley Field, as well as the Cubs’ World Series celebrations, everyone had to pretend Sosa never existed, that he never did all the wonderful things he did for the team and that he never made you really, REALLY happy. The only thing Ricketts should be mad about is that he didn’t own the team when Sosa was making them millions in merchandise sales. Shut up, rich kid.

As Cubs fans, it’s time we let all this shit go. Just like we let most of the rest of the old culture go. Thankfully, “That’s Cub” and other Maddonisms replaced the “Cubby Occurrences” of Lou Piniella or the frustrations of the Dusty Baker era. Or any other era, for that matter. We weathered the storm of Game 7 in 2016. Literally and figuratively, thanks to Jason Hayward. We watched Kris Bryant slip on the grass and throw a ball to Anthony Rizzo that could have easily sailed over his head, kept the inning going for Cleveland in the 10th and added to our collective list of miseries. But it somehow didn’t happen. The throw found its way to Rizzo’s glove. The Cubs won the goddamn World Series. They had a giant parade. Even Bartman got himself a ring. And I’m supposed to be mad that Sammy Sosa took a pill to make himself better at baseball over 14 years ago? Beat it, nerd.

Barry Bonds is getting his number retired by the Giants later this year. Mark McGwire has been back in Major League dugouts. Roger Clemens has too. And his number 21 jersey hasn’t been used by the Red Sox since he left in 1996. Sammy Sosa had to hit his 600th career home run off of Jason Marquis, while Marqis was wearing Sosa’s rightful number 21 jersey for the fucking Cubs. How’s that for irony?

Sosa’s already been punished long enough. They all have. Sosa isn’t getting into the Hall of Fame any time soon. He got less than 8% of the vote last year. In his 6th year on the ballot. And he’s basically been banished into baseball exile for over a decade like he was named an enemy of the people in some Stalin-esque purge. It’s been 14 years. Contaminating food or water for terrorist purposes only gets you 10 years. Jesus Christ.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. By now the Cubs can put the ugliness of the drought years behind them and actually honor a man who turned so many people at Wrigley into fans in the first place.

Forgive Sammy Sosa, everyone. He took nothing from you. He only gave to you. And remember, he made you really, really happy.

(Decide later if this was all just a trick so the Cubs also retire Dawson’s number and honor him with his own appreciation day... Since, you know, they can’t really do it honestly without taking care of Sosa first.)

#cubs #sammy sosa #sosa #wrigleyfield

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flauntpage · 7 years

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Some Thoughts On The Jordan Matthews Trade

I’m gonna start this post by stating clearly that I love that the Eagles obtained Ronald Darby, a third-year cornerback who had a fantastic rookie season but came back down to Earth, along with most of the rest of the Bills’ D, last season. If you could’ve hopped into your Madden create-a-player machine and came up with someone to fill a need for the Eagles, it would’ve been a starting caliber cornerback with speed and upside and two years remaining on his rookie deal.

What they gave up for him, Jordan Matthews and a 2018 third round pick, isn’t a massive haul.

The trade, itself, is reasonable, and potentially a good one for both teams. The Bills are hitting the reset button a bit, and they got themselves a good wide receiver to replace Sammy Watkins, whom they traded yesterday, and a pretty good draft pick. The Eagles filled a need and traded a player at a position where they have some ostensible depth.

But there are a few specific circumstances that make evaluating this trade a bit less black and white.

The groupthink on Eagles Twitter this offseason seems particularly strong. Sixers Sam Hinkie strong (I like Sam Hinkie!). The mob mentality, which squashes any dissenting voice, has stood out as Howie Roseman’s moves have been almost universally lauded by the Eagles faithful. Indeed, on paper, he’s done a pretty good job. He improved a receiving corps that badly needed improving, bolstered the defensive line substantially, had a good draft strategy, obtained a successful running back, and traded for a starting corner. But some are turning a blind eye to Howie’s history as a GM and talent evaluator and failing to recognize that his good-on-paper moves have rarely, if ever, worked out in the past. And so for that reason alone I think it’s fair to question every move he makes, up to and including the decision to go balls-out to trade up for Carson Wentz (which I was, and am, in favor of!).

I also loved his moves this offseason to obtain Alshon Jeffery (super talented, if healthy) and Torrey Smith (some upside), and his draft strategy of going for the sure-thing early (Derek Barnett), the risky-upside guy in the second round (Sidney Jones), and then stockpiling offensive talent later (Donnell Pumphrey, Mack Hollins). I am, and remain, less excited about the LeGarrette Blount signing, mostly because he’s struggled to have success anywhere but New England, comes with a non-insignificant list of character concerns, and is exactly the sort of player who could prove to be a huge letdown to a fan base placing undo expectations on him. Like Jeffery, there’s a reason why the market for Blount was less than what many might have expected from a player who put up his numbers last year.

And now there’s this trade.

I said it two weeks ago, I said it last week, and I’ll say it today: the notion of trading Jordan Matthews because you were impressed by the early training camp performances of Nelson Agholor, a hugely unproven and nearly cut-bale entity, and Mack Hollins, a fourth round rookie, seemed foolish. Though Matthews is in the last year of his contract and many figured that he wouldn’t have re-signed here (an admittedly likely scenario), there was a non-zero chance of it happening, especially if Matthews proved himself to be a top-5 slot receiver in the league, something I think was (or is) more than possible once he was no longer the top receiving option for a bad or rookie quarterback. With Jeffery taking up defenses’ attention, Matthews, who is better than he gets credit for, could’ve excelled and been a big part of a feared passing attack. They would’ve turned a huge negative into a positive, partly due to the addition of Jeffery and Smith, but also because Matthews becomes that much better as the second option. A top-5 slot position would’ve paid him next year somewhere around $10 million per year– a hefty sum, but one that teams like the Patriots, Seahawks and Packers have no trouble paying their slot receivers. Never mind the fact that Matthews was a beloved locker room presence, hard worker, and close friends with and a favorite target of Carson Wentz, to whom the Eagles brass have hitched their wagons.

Here’s Wentz today talking about Matthews being traded:

“I spoke with Howie shortly before it was news. He told me is was already done,” Wentz said. “He obviously knew how I felt with Jordan being one of my best friends. On the personal side its tough. He knew that, he was prepared for that and I told him that.”

Doesn’t sound happy. And though I think it would’ve been unconventional to consult a second-year QB on a personnel decision, everything about the way the Eagles have treated Wentz has been unconventional since the moment they went to dinner with him in North Dakota. Trading his friend and favorite target, coming into a year where the top offseason priority was giving him weapons, seems like an oddly tone-deaf and hostile move, especially for a team that preaches “emotional intelligence.” This feels like a sort of I’m-smarter-than-you trade Chip Kelly would’ve made. If you disagree with that line, I think you’re looking at this through Green and Silver colored glasses.

Could this turn out to be a great trade? Absolutely. If Darby returns to his rookie form and becomes a legitimate #1 CB in the league – a designation that is being thrown around a bit too loosely on Twitter today – and Matthews continues being… whatever it is Matthews is… then this is a win for the Eagles. But what if Darby turns out to be at best a middling cornerback – like almost every other secondary player Howie Roseman has ever obtained – Matthews flourishes once he finds himself in a situation where he’s not the top (or only) option, Alshon Jeffery struggles with nagging injuries, Nelson Agholor continues to be exactly the player we think he is, and Mack Hollins struggles with consistency during his first few seasons? The whole reason that the Eagles needed depth at wide receiver is because they have so many unknowns. Both Jeffery and Smith are far from sure-things, though they do carry high upside. Agholor will need to prove, over the course of a season, that he’s not a talented head case who can’t translate his abilities into games. Hollins is already being written in as a starting receiver because of literally one preseason stiff-arm. And then there was Matthews, who had proved himself to be a capable, above average wide receiver when playing out of his role with bad and rookie quarterbacks. Remember 2015 when Sam Bradford nearly got him decapitated once per game? Matthews has had success as the focal point of bad offenses. I actually think he will be quite good with some consistency and complementary receivers, which is why the notion of trading him felt foolish from the first whisper of Agholor looks good at camp.

Again, this is a logical trade, and perhaps a good one. But the notion that it can’t be questioned is downright ridiculous. God forbid one judge a trade on the merits of anything but analytics or the cap. Somehow calling attention to the human element has become taboo. Keep in mind, this is an organization that lambasted Chip Kelly for lacking the emotional intelligence to do just that. The trade looks good on paper. The collected works of Howie Roseman moves could win a Pulitzer. But yet the movie versions always seems to suck. So excuse me for not doing backflips over yet another offseason Super Bowl. It turns out none of those rings last very long.

Some Thoughts On The Jordan Matthews Trade published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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newagesispage · 7 years

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MAY 2017

PAGE RIB

*****On March 31st Robert Redford did a nice op-ed piece on the times. I had been waiting for his wisdom during this countries troubling turn of events. It is worth a look up.

*****I am sort of liking HBO’s Big Little Lies. It has great music but the characters can be a bit ho hum. I must say that I never thought I would see Reese Witherspoon puke so much and that it would be so green!!

*****Thanks NPR for reminding us that Pat Buchanan campaigned on Trumps platform first but didn’t make it to President. It is like we have stepped backward in time.

*****The NFL draft was a big deal with The Packers picking Kevin King and the Vikings picking Dalvin Cook. The Browns go crazy with Deshone Kizer, Myles Garrett, Jabrill Peppers and David Njoku.

*****Why do we not have Days of our lives and Late night with Dave box sets? There is a market for them. What is up NBC?

*****Days alert: It was nice to see Vanessa A. Williams (Dr. Valerie Grant/ Days) on Major Crimes. **A scene from Days: Kate: What am I doing? Marlena: You’re having a drink with your best friend… Who would have thought that you’d hear Marlena say that about a former wife of Stefano? OMG, times sure have changed on Days. .. Thank goodness that awful couple in Canada are history. But what the fuck is up with Nicole? First she trusted some stranger when her and her daughter’s life depended on it and then hiding stuff from Brady who is the only person she can trust and now she just wants to settle in to a place that has been compromised. What happened to her street smarts, her radar?? Also..Lani sips champagne with a psycho pimp while working undercover with no back up? What are they saying abut the women of Salem? Are we supposed to believe that they have all become idiots? I guess Kayla and Hope are still acting sane.**. A. Martinez is out as Eduardo so that hurts. **So glad that Sonny and Paul are back together but surely something will tear them apart. It is good to see them together at the Kiriakis mansion. They should be running the place, what a power couple!!** The slow moving love story of Ciara and Theo will be so sweet when it finally comes to be.** Sammy is back!!!

*****Oh Scandal!! Portia? How could U????????

*****Hackers, known as the dark overlord seem to have the next season of Orange is the new black as well as other things.

*****Disneyland got real when Johnny Depp dressed as Jack Sparrow appeared at the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

*****Cate Blanchett will star in All About Eve in London.

*****Aidy Bryant is engaged to her partner of 9 years, late night writer Conner O’Malley.

*****Scary Clown 45 has a red button added to his desk to summon a butler.

*****3 Isis fighters were killed by wild boars!

***** It is scary to see that it is not just the U. S. struggling with shady elections. The Philippines had concerns with vote-buying and gender equity. In Zambia there were stories about harassments of private media and abuse of office. Elections in the Congo have been postponed but many citizens are being trained to observe their own elections. Voting in France has led them to 2 outsiders for the run off but with worries about tampering.

*****Blondie’s ‘One way or Another’ is being over used in advertising. Thank goodness the new stuff is out there. Blondie will be at London’s Camden market from April 29 to May 3 with some Chris Stein photography. Pollinator is due our may 5 and it is sounding good.

*****Why can’t Scary clown 45 talk to this nation in a normal manner? Does this country deserve nothing but tweets and snipes? And what is with all this covert golfing??

*****Charlie watts wins the Gold award at the Jazz FM awards!!

*****The writers at Law and Order SVU did a great job the last week of May on the HNT episode. This episode was about sexual abuse at a fictional TV network. They slipped a line in about the network, HNT and how when the news personalities work together they are in the “fox” hole. Nice!!

*****Helen Mirren is working on the new movie about Sarah Winchester..It will be released in spring 2018. Yeow!!

*****Main Squeeze will be at the Summer Camp festival in Three Sisters park, Chillicothe,Il. And in a private message: Finally the three sisters will be together at the three sisters times two. I am a lucky girl!!!

*****It is nice to see Bill O’Reilly out but he was well paid for it. He gets a settlement, he still writes books and still has his podcast so we are never really rid of the pecker head. Most of the allegations against him were of a sexual or abusive nature and yet most of the upright evangelical brigade stood by him. How can this be acceptable to so many? Bloomberg and Wendy Walsh are asking for a full investigation into Fox’s workplace. A lot of advertisers had pulled out but some were resistant like Hulu, Trivago, Terminex, Flonase, Capital One, Honda and Nutri system. Of course many of those that did stop advertising just moved their dollars to other Fox shows. Mia Farrow said it best: “One less lecherous racist on national tv”Birds of a feather flock together so Ailes.. O’Reilly.. all the old pussy grabbing white men who have been in their glory may finally get some small discomfort. Do they not understand that nobody wants to fuck them? Power does not get you everything, at least not for free. Scary Clown 45 should be out next, yet Michael Moore predicts we will not be rid of him until he is impeached in his 2nd term. OY!

*****Rex Tillerson : “The Syrian people will determine their own future.” The Trump team seems so used to being sneaky and dishonest that they do it when they don’t even have to.

*****Many merchants are fighting against the Illinois healthy workplace act. The bill asks for 5 sick days a year when employees work 20 hours a week. Why can’t we all get on board with that??

*****Dale Earnhardt Jr. retires from racing!!

*****Sandy Wexler is just loaded with stars like Conan and Jane Seymour!

*****Harrison Ford gets to keep his Pilot license.

*****Crashing will be back for a second season and thanks for the Zevon music.

*****Liam Neeson will play Mark Felt in the deep throat movie, Felt. OOOOOOOO Can’t wait!!

*****Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice seems to be getting the “blame the black woman” treatment from the Trump administration. They don’t like the fact that she requested the identities of Americans caught up in the election fiasco.

*****McMasters seems to be adding experienced persons to the National Security council after Steve Bannon was removed as one of the principals. Getting rid of Flynn’s personnel seems to be a move in the right direction. Insiders have suggested that Trump and Bannon laugh behind the scenes for he may be less visible to the public but he is still there.** Insiders are also commenting about the comparisons of former WH staff and political shows like The West Wing, Veep or Scandal. WH staff used to laugh about how much calmer the White House really was compared to those shows and the way they make it all look so chaotic. Now reality has caught up to its fictional counterpart as the chaos ensues under scary Clown 45 and the family.

*****The senate changed the rules to get the Supreme Court they wanted so that it is not really a true representation of our country. It is no longer a requirement to have 60 votes for a Justice. Gorsuch was added to the court with the smallest number of votes in history. Are we finding out now that he is a plagiarist?

*****The US has dropped from 4th to 6th as a tourist destination worldwide.

***** Devin Nunes is under investigation after recusing himself from the Russian investigation.

*****Since E! is experiencing some serious falling ratings, they are looking for some new reality blood. They seem to be looking in the direction of Harry Hamlin and Lisa Rinna and their 2 beautiful daughters Delilah and Amelia.

*****Neil Young was ill so Dave Letterman inducted Pearl Jam into the Rock and Roll hall of fame. But no matter what else happened, the J. Geils band was still not inducted which is an outrage and now we have lost the man himself so Geils will never be there to drink it in. Every year I rail about one of the best bands of all time not getting enough votes to be inducted. What the Hell?????

*****Jimmy Kimmel was so broken up about the loss of Don Rickles. The moment was raw and touching and since I have always been more of a Newhart fan, I was glad to hear a Bob Newhart story. Adam Sandler even wore a suit.

*****Duck Dynasty is history.. Finally!!

*****Let’s stick to policy.. We didn’t like when they made fun of the name Barack so why is it ok to make of Reince for his name. There are plenty of other things to belittle him about. A for instance is the way he insists that “nobody cares” about Trumps tax returns. Every single day I hear people say they want him to release them. He lives in denial and spin.

*****Oh what casting: John Waters as William Castle on Feud!! I am sad it is over but that was a hell of a show!!

*****Thank you to The Americans for the wonderful use of the Stones song, ’Slave’.

*****On April 8th the Dallas emergency siren was hacked with no computers involved. It was done old school!!

*****The Washington Post won a Pulitzer prize for its reporting on Trump’s charitable foundation. The NY Times won 3. The Salt Lake Tribune won for its investigation of rape at Utah colleges.

*****The Pope gave free laundromats to the poor in Rome.

*****There was a beautiful guitar shaped floral arrangement sent by the Stones to Chuck Berry’s funeral.

*****Sergio Garcia golfed his way to a championship.

*****Law and Order SVU show runner Warren Leight, who has been there since Meloni left, will be leaving the show.

*****Sean Spicer had to apologize for telling us that even Hitler didn’t sink to the level of chemical weapons. If you don’t know history, you are bound to repeat it.

*****President Obama deported more immigrants last February than Trump did this February but Trump is moving them through faster. Scary Clown supporters are getting less than they bargained for. I know those voters don’t seem to understand why we have trouble accepting the new way of things. It is very hard to adjust to a laughingstock after such a reasonable and honorable President.

*****The University of South Carolina took the NCAA Women’s basketball championship.

*****The Lost City of Z from James Gray is with us starring Charlie Hunnam.

*****Barbara Bush has 8 toes.

*****Kharma is a bitch. South Carolina congressman Joe Wilson who yelled ‘you lie” to Obama in 2009 in his state of the union was drowned out by those same chants at a town hall. Nevertheless he is still committed to repealing the ACA.

*****There has been some controversy over a clown sketch with Louis CK on SNL. It is very similar to a sketch that Tig Notaro started in 2015 and still uses on her tour.

*****MTV is bringing back Fear Factor.

*****It is now known that 7 countries picked up Russian intels of contact with the Trump team.

*****Korn has hired 12 year old Tye Trujillo, who I mentioned in an earlier tumblr page, as a temp .

*****Scary Clown 45 signed an order allowing states to defund all Planned Parenthood services.

*****Julian Lennon has a new children’s book with Bart Davis and Smiljana Coh titled Touch the Earth. They hope to teach children about the environment and ocean life protection.

*****Harland Williams has a new LP, Cousins. He is also on the Disney channel with Puppy Dog Pals.

*****The Glen Campbell LP, Adios that was recorded after his alzheimer’s diagnosis is due out June 9th.

*****Best fake United ad I saw… Board as a Dr: leave as a patient!

*****The Cooking channels Food: Fact or Fiction has a great host in Michael McKean but it is a bit hackie. It does have some interesting food history though, like Fairy floss( which it is still called outside of this country) that was introduced by a dentist, then later tinkered with by another dentist before it became cotton candy!

*****Trudeau proposes legal recreational pot in all of Canada.

*****Hasan Minhaj hosted the White House correspondents dinner that the President and his staff would not attend. I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting much from Minaj but he did a terrific job!! Trump gave himself a boner by throwing himself a rally instead and the press and his cult followers fell for it. I came home that evening to find him on every fucking news channel. Really?? Horrifying!! Samantha Bee had held a charity event, not the white house correspondent’s dinner which was funny. She really handed it to CNN who deserved it because most of the time, they are unwatchable because of the amount of people who are talking. Even Anderson Cooper never calls these idiots on the ridiculous things they say. Jordan Carlos did a small blurb, which was exciting. The real dinner honored Woodward and Bernstein and yet all were focused on the clown. He repeats himself with the repetition you see in a toddler so why keep listening? Fight his policy, zero in on the offensive things he says, it is all out there IF you want to listen but why every channel every time he speaks? Nobody in history has gotten more coverage except perhaps Hitler and Lincoln. C’mon!! As long as journalists keep interviewing him and showing his clips on a fucking loop we will never be rid of him .They are giving him exactly what he wants. Just let him implode, give him no ink and he will get bored. Nobody seems to get this except Dem strategist Tara Dowdell. I was so happy to finally see a smart talking head who was saying exactly what I was thinking. But back to the WHCD: The reporters on the red carpet were joking about the lack of celebs and how boring it was. Some celebs had opted not to be there from the start because it is a Trump Presidency. His celeb supporters , of course followed their leader and did not attend. Others probably thought with less press coverage, less prestige and less schmoozing with the top , why go?? But that all sort of offends me.. We need to shine a light on some of the great journalists and stories that won awards. We may not know about Trumps lies about his charitable giving if it weren’t for these brave souls. What about the students, the journalists of tomorrow who were recognized? Julie Whiston, who has been throwing these dinners together for years is retiring and she was honored. In the audience, there was a guy who seemed to be falling asleep so there was a bit less bang than usual. But in the end, Minhaj hit hard at the administration but nothing they did not deserve. He got some hateful looks and a fair amount of groans, which I did not understand but genuine laughs as well. He roasted all the news teams but gave such an eloquent moment at the end about how important the press is and how wonderful our country is. ** The next morning the Sunday shows catered to Trump and his 100 days and barely mentioned the WHCD except for This Week. This Week showed various clips but that may have been because they had WHC Association President Jeff Mason as a guest. Meet the Press had Pence on looking apprehensive as he prepared to spin. He told us all how terrible the last 8 years have been and thank God that things are going so well under Trump. He chuckles like this is all a game as their healthcare stalls again. He sounds more like his cult leader every day preaching that Trump has gotten so much done by signing all those bills and just look at all the crowds he gets!! I suppose it is true that his followers don’t care what he actually gets done. They seem to just care that he keeps up the’ fuck you’ to things like the WHCD or that he caters to dictators and welcomes freaks like Phillipines leader Rodrigo Duterte who once called Obama the son of a whore. Hs base loves that shit. **The Sunday morning shows should put a real dream team panel together for a season. I would love to see some real brains up there like say Bernie, Michael Moore, Colin Powell, Marco Rubio, John Kasick.

*****Aaron Rodgers and Olivia Munn are over.

*****What is going on with Dr. Phil’s eyes?? They seem unusually OPEN!!

*****Ivanka dined with Xi Jinping and now has provisional approval from the Chinese Government for trademarks that would usually take a lot more time.

*****Kevin Spacey will host the 2017 Tony awards on June 11.

*****Shouldn’t Trump know where his aircraft carriers are before he starts shooting off his mouth? North Korea? Australia? It matters!

*****Serena Williams is pregnant.

*****Richard Simmons may be clever like a fox. Word is he has been working on a tell all book and building suspense for big bucks.

*****Trumps sanctuary cities order has been blocked by a Federal judge but I like the way Colbert tweeted about it better: “Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A judge walks into a courtroom and blocks Trumps executive order.”** BTW.. Has anyone celebrated the fact that Colbert has a female announcer??

*****An inquest is being held about the death of Terrill Thomas. He died after being deprived of water for 7 days in a Milwaukee isolation cell last year.

*****GOP lawmakers want to exempt themselves from their redo of the ACA. They want to keep Obamacare for their staffs and themselves.

*****It was great to see Nathan Fillion on Brooklyn 99 and that he uses his voice on Cars 3.

*****Marc Edwards was on the Daily Show but he is not the Marc Edwards I know!! The Daily Show interview was with the engineer who helped uncover the Flint Michigan water problem. The ‘problem’ has caused 600 million in damage. The administration is looking for something to do with the leftover $ they had with the 107 mil they got from the inauguration, they could start there.

*****Speaking about places with small crowds, Trump got another one when the Patriots came to town. The picture of the super bowl winners with Obama was huge but a small bunch gathered this year with Trump.

*****So SNL sort of blew my mind, Harry Styles playing Mick Jagger. It was like a 2 for 1 sale of YUM!!

*****Domino’s pizza changes itself every time they turn around. New menu, new sauce, now a new look.. Why don’t they just give it up. I don’t think I have ever met anyone who likes their stuff.

*****Nugent, Palin, Rock.. Time for the apocalypse!! Ted and David Crosby have been in a twitter war. Ted calling Trump a ‘ball of fire’, being so proud of his Pres. and Crosby calling Nugent a ‘brainless twit’.

*****Thank you Billy Barr for your obsessive climate records in Colorado. You give us proof positive of our climate problems.

*****Scientists tell us that about 110 million tons of plastic trash is in the ocean and into the food chain.

*****Brad Paisley has a new LP, Love and War, with help from John Fogarty and Mick Jagger. Paisley set a Johnny Cash poem to music for the album.

*****Michael Moore at the Tribeca film fest: “Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hate. Trump knew that part of the equation really well. And hate leads to violence.”** Hillary was also at the fest to talk about elephant poaching. She was there for a Kathryn Bigelow film, The Protectors. I hope she does a lot more of this. Support the Clinton global initiative!! She also talked of her support for the March for science. I was so glad to attend our own smaller Science rally.

*****So Trump summoned all the Senators to him by bus to have a classified briefing about North Korea which they say told them little. What a waste of money. He couldn’t go to them?

*****Pagans and Wiccans among others are finally recognized faiths in the military. Welcome familt members, U R now recognized!!

*****Fox is being investigated by the justice department and the USPS for the payouts to all those women and their business practices. **Roger Ailes man, co- President of Fox news, Bill Shine is being defended by Sean Hannity in some ranting tweets. **There has been a quiet outreach for a new head of the news division, preferably a woman.

*****The new Gong show is shaping up to be something special. They won’t admit it but the scuttlebutt is that Mike Meyers is hosting as Tommy Maitland. The host has an entire back story in a crazy nod to Chuck Barris. Andy Kaufman used to appear on the original show and this seems so Tony Clifton. Will Forte’s production company is in charge and he will appear as a rotating judge. Also judging will be Jack Black, Zach Galifianakis, Alison Brie, Andy Samberg, Elizabeth Banks, Joel McHale, Dana Carvey and Anthony Anderson. The Gong show premieres on ABC on June 22nd.

*****Will there be a writers strike??

*****Scott Baio is getting some backlash for his comments on the death of former girlfriend, Erin Moran. In an interview he stated that if you do drugs and drink, you die. She did reportedly have a drinking problem but died of cancer. He is now blaming the backlash on the liberal hate of him because of his Trump support. Seems like a typical angry Trump supporter response.

*****I still can’t believe that the daytime Emmy’s, which honor television, are not on TV anymore but I found them. They streamed live on Twitter and Facebook. Right before they were to start, things froze up but that may have just been my computer. When it suddenly jolted into the action, I was bombarded with dancing daytime stars and the Crenshaw high school choir. Eric Martsolf( Brady Black) and Nadia Bjorlin (chloe Lane) were singing with other actors as well. The hosts were Sheryl Underwood and Mario Lopez whose sexual banter was a bit uncomfortable and seemed to go on forever. I never understand the bitching about the length of these shows when this chatter could be cut. They were right, however when they talked of how hard these daytime stars work. One good thing about no network would seem to be no commercials but they still stopped for breaks. **Larry King was there and I saw Meredith Scott Lynn (Anne Milbauer) jump up to lead a standing O for his 60 years in the biz. Another legend, Nichelle Nichols was there but did not win. ** Even daytime Emmy’s can get a little political. Gaby Natale won and gave a nice FU to intolerance. Kate Mansi won for her former portrayal of Abby on Days. They had a march of basset hounds that were adorable but many of the short legged dogs had trouble getting up the stairs. All the hounds are up for adoption. Tim Allen did not seem t care for them and told us he was a cat person. He introduced his friend Mary Hart for her lifetime achievement award. She droned on for over 10 minutes and told us her life story. I don’t know if she thought she would never have the chance again or is going into seclusion or what but it went on and on. Perhaps she thought this show was just for her. Congratulations! ** Steve Harvey won twice but was not there. Maury was nominated for his first Emmy but did not win. I will be honest, I did not recognize most of the winners. ** Best dressed for me were : James Reynolds, Nadia Bjorlin, Susan Lucci, Aisha Tyler, Kathryn Kelly Lang, Jane Pauley, Gina Tognoni (glad she won) and Lamon Archey. Worst dressed were: Vanna White and Natalie Morales.

*****RIP Jonathon Demme, Francine Wilson, Connie Brooks, Gilbert Baker, Erin Moran, J. Geils, Don Rickles, James Rosenquist, Dorothy Mengering, Charlie Murphy, Dan Rooney, Sylvia Moy, Cuba Gooding Sr., Aaron Hernandez and the victims of the Syrian chemical attacks.

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junker-town · 4 years

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Here are the biggest NFL veterans who could be cut this offseason

Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images

NFL teams looking to save some money means some familiar names will be looking for new homes.

These are the other veterans who could join him on the free agent market, ranked by order of how much they can save their respective teams by leaving this spring.

Already gone

Josh Norman, CB, Washington

Savings from cutting Norman: $12.4 million

#Redskins are releasing CB Josh Norman, source says. Intriguing situation to watch, as he now has time to find his new team ahead of free agency.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) February 14, 2020

Prince Amukamara, CB, Chicago Bears

Savings from cutting Amukamara: $9 million

Marcell Dareus, DL, Jacksonville Jaguars

Savings from cutting Dareus: $20 million

While he can still be a useful presence in the middle of a defensive line, he’s due for a major pay cut this offseason.

Russell Okung, OT, Los Angeles Chargers

Savings from cutting Okung: $13 million

While he was capable, he didn’t fit in with LA’s rebuild. Rather than release a Pro Bowl-caliber blocker, he’ll be traded to the Panthers in exchange for guard Trai Turner.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 4, 2020

A.J. Bouye, CB, Jacksonville Jaguars

Savings from cutting Bouye: $11.4 million

With Jacksonville eager to find a way around Nick Foles’ cap-clogging $22 million average salary, Bouye’s departure may be the next step in a mini-rebuild of the Jacksonville defense.

Jimmy Graham, TE, Green Bay Packers

Savings from cutting Graham: $8 million

Xavier Rhodes, CB, Minnesota Vikings

Savings from cutting Rhodes: $8.1 million

Releasing Rhodes still left the Vikings over the cap, however. That led to DT Linval Joseph’s release as well. Together, they trimmed more than $20.5 from Minnesota’s 2020 salary cap.

The #Vikings have terminated the contracts of DT Linval Joseph and CB Xavier Rhodes.https://t.co/VIg4PYgTK7

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) March 13, 2020

Joe Flacco, QB, Denver Broncos

Savings from cutting Flacco: $10 million

The Joe Flacco who led the Ravens to a Super Bowl XLVII win is no more. This is the era of a Joe Flacco who is barely a replacement-level passer.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 19, 2020

Dontari Poe, DT, Carolina Panthers

Savings from cutting Poe: $9.8 million

Sticking around

Sammy Watkins, WR, Kansas City Chiefs

Savings from cutting Watkins: $14 million

Then again, in the biggest game of his life, he put Richard Sherman on roller skates.

Sammy Watkins diced up Richard Sherman, then Patrick Mahomes just had to drop a pass in the bucket pic.twitter.com/ezEyARIu26

— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) February 3, 2020

Janoris Jenkins, CB, New Orleans Saints

Savings from cutting Jenkins: $11.3 million

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 25, 2020

No decision yet

Andy Dalton, QB, Bengals

Savings from cutting Dalton: $17.7 million

Dalton gave the Bengals nine seasons of mostly good, never great quarterbacking. Now he has no place on team ready to draft Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow with the No. 1 overall pick. Dalton’s career in tiger stripes is almost certainly over.

Even though Cincinnati will need a veteran quarterback to help ease Burrow’s presumptive transition from LSU to the NFL, it’s time for both sides to move on. The money saved by releasing the Pro Bowl quarterback can be spent acquiring weapons and bolstering the offensive line tasked with keeping Burrow’s jersey clean in 2020. The Bengals have already released one expensive standby this offseason; offensive tackle Cordy Glenn was released before the official start of the league year, clearing $9.5 million in cap space in the process.

Derek Carr, QB, Las Vegas Raiders

Savings from cutting Carr: $13.6 million

Carr’s future with the Raiders is very much up in the air. Reports suggest the franchise is interested in making free agent Tom Brady the face of its Las Vegas debut.

Malcolm Butler, CB, Tennessee Titans

Savings from cutting Butler: $7.4 million

#Titans release Dion Lewis and Cameron Wake Roster Moves » https://t.co/56J1hYazCv https://t.co/ubnTnfqrE4

— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) March 12, 2020

Nate Solder, OT, New York Giants

Savings from cutting Solder: $6.5 million

If Solder isn’t cut in 2020, this could be the former blindside protector’s last chance to prove he’s still an upper-tier blocker.

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