#casinos mikes: deadline

[insertsona]

a new project approaches .. but is this really the side of the universe you want to be on?

[theolivetree123]

Welcome, foolish mortals...

To Halloween Town!

☆ My 150+ follower event/raffle! ☆

Event Summary

THIS EVENT IS NOW CLOSED!

Deep within the forests of Briar Valley, there's a small town home to barely 2,000 residents. This town is rumored to be the most haunted town ever, home to 999 ghosts! This town is known as Halloween Town, as the residents both alive and dead celebrate Halloween almost every night. The people who live there pride themselves on their Halloween spirit and never stop from celebrating the paranormal and spooky. This month, however, mayor Mike Esqueleto and his lovely wife, Camila, have decided to send out an invitation for you to come and visit their monthly Hallows Eve Party!

Locations

Town Square

The Town Square holds the most important things to the Esqueleto family, including the large fountain in the center of the square. People say that there's phantoms in the fountains' water, and if you give them an offering, you'll receive good luck. This is where the Hallows Eve Party will take place.

Boogie Man's Palace

Run by the Piker family, this casino and party venue is the perfect destination for those who enjoy loud, sensational parties and taking risks. The place is lavish and full of things to do, such as play in the arcade, have dinner, and, of course, gamble all of your thaumarks away! Though, only people who are 18 and older can go into Boogie Man's Palace.

La Miel Boutique

Run by the Miel family, this boutique is quite famous in Halloween Town. They make almost every single outfit for the Esqueletos and act as their personal tailors. In the boutique, you'll find many... unconventional outfits made by the Miel family.

The Nightmare Graveyard

This graveyard is the only one in Halloween Town, facing directly into the night sky. The mayor put the graveyard in that location so the spirits of the dead could cross over easily, or that's what he said. The Nightmare Graveyard, despite the name, is a very bittersweet area, with flowers growing and gifts given to the departed on their graves. If you come here, remember to bring gifts.

Rules

Here in Halloween Town, the people are very strict when it comes to following their customs, so be sure to read the rules carefully!

Content

Please, no NSFW!

Everyone, whether you're following me or not can participate!

Everyone is invited, whether they're OCs, yuusonas, or canon characters.

You can participate by making cards, fanart, fanfics, edits, whatever!

If you decide to participate, tag me and use the tag, welcometohalloweentown!

The deadline for this event is August 30th!

Outfits

For this event, please dress up in something gothic and (somewhat) fancy. Here's some examples below.

Of course, your outfits don't need to be all black, but as long as you keep it spooky and mysterious, you'll be fine.

If you decide to make a card, please use the base below.

Visitors

Constance Sanderson by me!

Yuuki Kamiyama by me!

Ryuuni by @the-rini-rush

Alieen Mooncoult and Yukai Kitigawa by @beezonia

Belladonna Wiccavir by @beezonia

Baxton Piker by @readsrandomstuff67

Reese Kingbit by @kickasscentral

Sidney by @babyghoul138

Yuya, Astrid, and Flori by @cheerleaderman

Albert and Eugenio by @the-trinket-witch

Jewel Imerladi by @jewelulu

Deuce and Yuuki fanart by @spade-12

Yuuna Perla by @crystallizsch

Jade Leech by @mirioho

If there's anything you need me to elaborate on, or let me know about this event, don't hesitate to send me a dm or an ask!

I'm excited to see what you create!

Now onto...

The Raffle!

THIS EVENT HAS ENDED!

During the Hallows Eve Party, there will be a competition to fight for the love of the Corpse Bride. In this competition, a random person is picked from the crowd to be the bride, while other random people choose to be the grooms. The bride must choose which groom they like best before sunrise or else they suffer bad luck for all eternity! (Or, that's what the mayor said.)

This month, Yuuki has been chosen as the Corpse Bride! And you are free to choose/make a character to be Yuuki's one and only! I will randomly choose a winner, and whoever made the character will also get a special piece of fanart of your character and Yuuki.

Rules

No NSFW!

Yuuki is pansexual, so any person of any gender can be a groom!

Yuuki is also 18, so please don't make your character have a huge age gap!

Everyone is only allowed to make one entry for the raffle! (one character)

Only people who are following me can participate in the raffle!

Make art for your groom, tag me, and add the tag, corpsebrideraffle!

Please draw your groom in a tuxedo or a dress!

If you decide to make a card, please use this as your base:

Please only use this base if you're participating in the raffle!

The raffle will start on the 22nd of August and end on the 30th, where I'll randomly pick a winner!

Now it's the for the sappy note lol.

Thanks to everyone who's supported me and this blog. Whether you're a mutual, follower, or just a person who liked one of my posts, I'm so SO happy to see people who like what I do. I've always had trouble finding people who like the same things as me, and even now, even though I have irl friends, even they don't understand some of the things I'm really passionate about. But here, I feel so free to share my interests and my drawings with all of you! I hope to keep making all of you smile and feel like you have a home here since you all did the same for me. Thank you all again!

Sincerely, Olive 💙

[8-bit-cookies-blog]

Slot News

Slots Proponents Commit to Rewrites

Three groups are being made to rewrite their slot machine legalization proposals.  This past Wednesday the attorney general informed them that the language used in their original proposal was not par with state requirements.   In order to get the proposals on the ballot, the wording would have to be redrafted.  

Attorney General Jim Petro wrote his grievances with the proposal in a letters addressed to the groups.  Problems include the lack of mention in proposal summaries of slots parlors possibly operating 24 hours a day, or the inability of local government to control their operations.  

The slot machine legalization groups are facing an August 9th deadline of collecting 322,899 signatures of registered voters required to get the proposal on the November 7th ballot.  Petro is allowing the groups to submit a new draft of their summaries.

Before groups can seek out any signatures for their petitions, they must receive Petro’s approval of “fair and truthful” ballot language.  Currently none of the summaries clearly inform petitions signers that local government would have absolutely no power over the hours of operations of tracks and slot machine parlors.  

Petro elaborated in his letter, “This provision overrides the home rule and other regulatory authority of local officials to control the operations of businesses located within their jurisdictions.”

One of the proposals is dedicated to allowing Ohio’s seven racetracks to offer slot machines.  The other two proposals are aimed at establishing a free-standing slots parlor in Cincinnati and two more in Cleveland.  Portions of the wagered money at the tracks and parlors would be invested into college scholarships.  

Learn and Earn are one of the groups lobbying for slots parlors in Cincinnati and Cleveland as well as slot machines in the state’s racetracks.   Spokesperson David Hopcraft says of the rewrites, “I think it can be addressed in a timely fashion.”

Both the Learn and Earn proposal and the proposal put forth by the Greater Cleveland Partnership would give voters in slot machine communities the right to vote on the acceptance of additional casino games after four years.  

There are more limitations on the submission from Penn National Gaming.  Slot machines would be limited to racetracks and they do not currently have a provision that reserves the right to expand gambling.  Penn National Gaming own Agrosy casino and Raceway Park.  Penn National is based in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.  

Eric Schippers, the Penn National spokesperson, speaks optimistically of the rewrites as well, "We certainly plan to refile and will move very swiftly."

Outside of the rewriting hassle, it could be an up hill battle for the gambling proponents.  Gambling expansion proposals for Ohio were decisively defeated twice in the 1990s.  Gambling expansion opponents include current governor Bob Taft, Senator Mike DeWine, Senator George Voinovich, as well as the three leading gubernatorial candidates, including Petro himself.

- Back to Slots Latest

[viralafeed]

Donald Trump Doing Boxing Commentary For 9/11 Holyfield-Belfort Bout – Deadline

Donald Trump Doing Boxing Commentary For 9/11 Holyfield-Belfort Bout – Deadline

Donald Trump has long fancied himself a boxing expert. In the ’90s, he put on the Mike Tyson-Michael Spinks bout at his Atlantic City casino. As the 45th President of the United States, he pardoned heavyweight champion Jack Johnson in an Oval Office ceremony attended by Lennox Lewis, Deontay Wilder and Sylvester Stallone. He also claimed to have won $20 million betting on Evander Holyfield when…

[ledenews]

6@6 - May 22, 2020

Gov. Justice Announced Re-Openings.

During his COVID-19 media briefing Thursday, West Virginia Governor, Jim Justice, announced the re-opening dates for pools, movie theaters, and indoor amusement. The re-opening date for swimming pools and indoor amusement will be Saturday May, 30. Indoor amusement includes bowling alleys, pool halls, roller rinks and other type places. May 30 is also the same day spas and massage businesses can re-open as well as limited video lottery retailers. On June 5, movie theaters are able to re-open in West Virginia, which is the same day that casinos can open in the Mountain State.

Eden Taking Orders.

The owners of Eden Family Restaurant on Wheeling Island will wait to re-open its dining room until May 29. The eatery will continue offering carry-out service. To place an order, call 304-312-2200. Eden Family Restaurant is located at 135 Virginia Street.

Play Ball!

Following closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Wheeling’s ballfields will be re-opening to the public today for recreational use only. No league play is permitted at this time. The re-opening excludes the J.B. Chambers Complex in East Wheeling and the I-470 ballfields, which will remain closed. Assistant City Manager Bill Lanham said appropriate precautions are necessary for those using ballfields and the posted rules should be followed. Signage with new rules will be posted at each ballfield. Lanham said the rules are not optional and must be adhered to for continued operation of the ballfields. The rules are as follows: A maximum of 25 people are permitted on the ballfield at one time.Please be courteous to others and limit your time on the ballfield when others are waiting.The ballfield is NOT being sanitized on a regular basis. Please bring your own hand sanitizer with you and use it frequently.Avoid touching your face.Follow social distancing guidelines and remain six feet apart. The playground rules were developed in conjunction with the City of Wheeling and the Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department.

Health Department Guidelines.

Starting May 21, 2020 several businesses will be allowed to reopen or expand their current capacity following state guidelines to mitigate the exposure and spread of COVID-19. The Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department is reminding businesses, including Restaurants and Bars (starting May 26th), large retail stores and tanning businesses that measures have been developed and need to be followed. Among the guides is the requirement that all employees wear a face covering as well as monitoring employee health through screenings and temperature checks. Indoor seating for restaurants will be limited to 50% of the establishment’s seating capacity.

St. Clairsville Summer Concert Series.

Members of the St. Clairsville Council have confirmed with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s office that the summer concerts are canceled through the month of June due to the coronavirus and social distancing mandates.

Deadline Approaches.

The Wheeling Police Department extended the deadline to apply to be an officer to May 31. If you applied before March 21, you're OK. To apply online, visit: wheelingwv.gov/policejobs. Read the full article

[x-enter]

Paramount's Sammy Davis Jr. Biopic Moves Forward with Writer Charles Murray

Paramount Pictures is ready to move forward with their Sammy Davis Jr. biopic, and they’ve hired Charles Murray to write the script.

The film is being produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura; fellow musical icon Lionel Richie, who was instrumental in getting the rights from Sammy Davis Jr’s estate to make the movie; and Mike Menchel. The film that’s being developed is based on several resources, including the singer’s 1965 memoir Yes I Can: The Story of Sammy Davis Jr, which Davis wrote with Jane and Burt Boyar.

Apparently the studio looked long and hard for the right writers to take on this project, and they ended up hiring Murray, who has been a writer/producer on shows such as Sons of Anarchy and Luke Cage. According to Deadline, the “writer had read pretty much everything written about Davis Jr and came in with an encyclopedic knowledge of the iconic entertainer’s life and pretty much all dance movies.” That’s what landed him the job. Murry said:

“If you saw me, I’m 6’4″ and 290 pounds, maybe 300 if I’m being really honest. So it might surprise you that I grew up loving musicals, and gravitated to Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Elvis and James Cagney, and this little black dude I would see on TV, who held his own alongside Frank Sinatra.

“I would see movies like Ocean’s Eleven and Sammy just stood out. Singing with Frank, dancing like Fred and Gene, with none of those cats looked at him any different in those movies because he was black. I think I made the proclamation to my parents around eight that I wanted to make movies when I grew up. They’re from the South and knew all about what racial tension was and they said, ‘good luck.’ There weren’t a lot of actors on TV who looked like me. I would watch Bill Cosby as the gym teacher Chet Kincaid, and sometimes we would see Diahann Carroll in Julia. But of all those people, Sammy stood out. There was something completely unique about him and I never forgot him.”

This movie is obviously his dream project, and it seems like the kind of film he was born to be a part of. The report went on to offer the following rundown of Davis’s life and what he went through:

Davis was plenty provocative, a mix of out-sized talent and ambition, courage and defiance, with a need to constantly prove his worth at all times that led to a lot of loneliness. Murray is convinced the singer/dancer paid a price earning his way toward being the only black man on those sets and on the stages of casinos where he wasn’t allowed to book a hotel room. James Brown could support Richard Nixon, but Davis Jr took heat when he did. Davis Jr. was forced to hide his love affair with Kim Novak, and faced a backlash when he married the white Swedish actress May Britt at a time when interracial marriage was illegal in many states. Davis made his stands when he could, eventually refusing to work for companies that engaged in segregation, an effort that was helped by the likes of his Rat Pack pals Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, who did not see the world through skin color. Davis Jr marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr numerous times during the Civil Rights movement and when a 1954 car crash in San Bernardino nearly killed him and took his left eye, Davis began studying Judaism as he recovered. He converted along with wife May in 1961.

It’s said that the film will cover all of this stuff, “from his vaudeville origins to becoming a star as a member of The Rat Pack, and the highs and lows in Las Vegas and Hollywood.” Murray went on to talk about Davis Jr. more saying:

“James Brown didn’t get the same flack for bonding with Nixon because James was seen as the ultimate independent black man. Sammy had to ask himself, how do I become normal to the majority, and do I subjugate my ego and personality to do so, even when my talent is equal to or better than most everyone else? He was proving himself, every moment he was in the public eye. Imagine the toll that must take? His father and uncle would take him on walks through the city while touring, where no hotel would take them in, even ones they performed at. He understood what they are trying to avoid saying to him, as he saw the shame in the face of his father and uncles. He thought, eventually my talent will equalize the situation, but imagine being told you can be just as talented as the others, but you’ll never be equal. If I had to deal with that type of his today, at least I know I have rights and that there is a majority of people who embrace equality, so it’s only words that you can say or clandestine actions you can take to keep me from getting a job. But people were open about it back then; you’re black, stay back. You’ll never get a lead role in a studio movie ever, no matter how good you are. And this diminutive dude kept getting stronger.

“All this drove him but was his demon. He was constantly trying to impress people, and did not like being alone because that’s when the insecurities and terrible thoughts played in his head. That is what most fascinates me about him. In public he could be defiant. When threatened about dating white women, he dives in deeper. He spends money he doesn’t have. The act becomes your life. It was only during the course of interviews later in his life that he realized this, and only found peace with himself when he stopped worrying whether or not he fit in, and realized that fame doesn’t erase how people mistreat you. Being told you can play The Sands, but take your ass over there, to sleep. That colors the great time you are having and makes you not enjoy the times his life that were fabulous, those moments with Frank and Dean, making a ton of money and doing plays. What drives us can damage us. We saw it in Rocketman, the painful time Elton John went through in finding his sexual identity. And he was on top of the world.”

This Sammy David Jr. biopic is a movie that I’m very much looking forward to watching, and Murray seems like the guy that is going to deliver the kind of script that Davis Jr. deserves.

source https://geektyrant.com/news/paramounts-sammy-davis-jr-biopic-moves-forward-with-writer-charles-murray

[junker-town]

The Grizzlies pulled off the perfect small market rebuild

Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

The Grizzlies are the NBA’s team of the future that is pretty damn good in the present, too.

The Memphis Grizzlies had to feel good about the state of their rebuild from the moment they hurdled six teams in the lottery to land the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Memphis’ transition out of the Grit-n-Grind era was already in full swing at that point: Zach Randolph and Tony Allen were long gone, and Marc Gasol was sent to Toronto at the trade deadline. The next generation of the Grizzlies would be shaped by 30-year-old general manager Zach Kleiman, and soon 35-year-old head coach Taylor Jenkins. Securing the No. 2 pick was all Memphis needed for the second phase of its bold makeover.

Despite season-long speculation that Duke wing R.J. Barrett would be in contention for the second pick, Memphis acted quickly and decisively with their promise to Ja Morant. Nabbing their point guard of the future allowed Memphis to trade off the last vestige of its bygone era, sending Mike Conley to Utah for the No. 23 pick in 2019, a future first with varying protections, and veterans Jae Crowder and Grayson Allen.

The Grizzlies spent the rest of their offseason trying to build, if not necessarily trying to win. This would be one of the NBA’s youngest teams, one free of the burden of expectations while figuring out exactly what they had. We predicted the Grizzlies would be fun. No one expected them to be good, especially not the oddsmakers in Las Vegas.

The Grizzlies opened the season with a win total over-under set at 26.5 by Draft Kings and select Vegas casinos. Only the Cavaliers and Hornets were expected to be worse. Those prognostications looked safe when Memphis started the year 6-16. Since then, they made them look incredibly foolish.

As Memphis shot past the Washington Wizards for another victory Sunday night, the Grizzlies picked up their 27th win of the year and moved one game over .500. That meant the Grizzlies stayed 2.5 games ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers for the eighth and final playoff seed in the Western Conference. It also meant the Grizzlies eclipsed the regular season win total set by bookmakers.

Since hitting 10 games under .500 on Dec. 7, the Grizzlies have the eighth-best record in the NBA at 21-10. It’s a remarkable achievement for a team that is already years ahead of schedule. This is how the Grizzlies soared past their expectations sooner than anyone expected.

Morant has been a star from Day 1

Morant is going to be Rookie of the Year, but he’s so much more than that, too. Based on his scoring efficiency while carrying a major usage burden and his impact on team success, Morant already fits the rough qualifications of a star. That is so rare for a rookie, especially one playing point guard.

The last decade of league history is littered with point guards who took their lumps as rookies. The Cavs won 19 games with Kyrie Irving. The Lakers won 17 with D’Angelo Russell. The Kings won 27 with De’Aaron Fox and the Hawks won 29 with Trae Young. There’s a long line of first-year point guards failing to lead their teams to wins. Morant has changed that.

Morant’s 57.1 percent true shooting and 35 percent assist rate stacks up well against any rookie point guard to enter the league in recent memory, from Derrick Rose to Russell Westbrook to John Wall. Every trait that was promised in the pre-draft build up has translated. Yes, his athleticism is functional and it allows him to pressure the rim at will. His passing vision is superb. He also plays with a creativity that can’t be taught, finding new openings for himself and his teammates that no 20-year-old would be expected to uncover.

The Grizzlies are ahead of schedule largely because Morant is. What he’s doing as a rookie starter is truly unique.

The rest of the Grizzlies’ young core is also ready to win

Jaren Jackson Jr. was the first piece for the Grizzlies’ rebuild as the No. 4 pick in the 2018 draft. While Jackson went after Deandre Ayton and Marvin Bagley III, sharp observers viewed him as the best prospect in that draft after Luka Doncic. After an up-and-down rookie year where he battled injuries and consistent foul trouble, Jackson has made huge strides in year two to start becoming the player he always held the potential to be. Read Mike Prada’s deep dive into Jackson’s sophomore year for more on that.

Jackson’s combination of volume three-point shooting — 40 percent on 6.4 attempts per game — and shot-blocking makes him the perfect modern big man. While Jackson’s skill set is tantalizing, he does have some holes in his game in terms of rebounding and vertical explosion that aren’t ideal in the front court. Memphis helped cover those up by acquiring Brandon Clarke with the pick originally sent over by the Jazz in the Conley deal.

Clarke was one of the great college basketball players of the decade, and he’s picked up exactly where he left off at Gonzaga. A ridiculous athlete with a sharp feel for the game and rare touch around the basket, Clarke was overlooked because he was too small and too old for the NBA. The Grizzlies pounced, and now should have a great complement to Morant and Jackson in the front court for years. Clarke is already a super efficient scorer, versatile defender, and human highlight reel waiting to happen. The rest of the league’s loss was Memphis’ gain.

There’s also De’Anthony Melton, the second-year shooting guard acquired from the Suns at the start of the season. The Grizzlies’ rise has coincided with Melton’s insertion into the rotation, giving Jenkins a bulldog perimeter defender who forces turnovers and often blankets the man he’s covering. Memphis fans who watched Allen’s best work for the last 10 years will have a special fondness for Melton’s ball pressure defensively. Paired with the skill of Morant and Jackson and the two-way play of Clarke, Melton appears to be another core piece who can push this Grizzlies’ rebuild forward.

The veterans played their part, too

The young Grizzlies get all the attention, but the vets deserve some love, too.

Jonas Valanciunas has given Memphis a more traditional center complement to Jackson who can score inside and control the glass as a rebounder. Tyus Jones, nabbed from Minnesota with an offer sheet in restricted free agency, is one of the league’s better backup point guards. Dillon Brooks has come into his own in his third season as a physical 6’7 wing with scoring touch. The Grizzlies did well to lock him up to an extension last week before he hit free agency, too.

Add in Kyle Anderson, and the minutes Jae Crowder was playing before he was dealt to Miami at the trade deadline, and there’s more a veteran presence here anyone noticed in the preseason. Memphis couldn’t have exceeded expectations without them.

The Grizzlies’ future is only getting brighter

Memphis added another piece to its core when it acquired Justise Winslow from the Miami Heat for Andre Iguodala at the deadline. Winslow gives Memphis another big, physical wing defender with some rare playmaking skills on offense. He adds another intriguing player to a Grizzlies’ rebuild that suddenly looks like it’s produced arguably the most promising young core in the league. Jackson, Morant, Winslow, Clarke, Jones, and Brooks are all 24 years old or younger.

That Memphis pulled this off in essentially only two years in one of the league’s smaller markets is a testament to how a modern rebuild is supposed to work. A little lottery luck was all a young front office needed remold this franchise seemingly overnight.

The Grizzlies are one of the teams of the future in the NBA. Turns out, they’re pretty good in the present, too.

[insertsona]

breaking complex

[andrebearakovsky]

To Our Sunshine Boy

There are no words to express how heartbroken I am. The world isn’t fair. None of this is fair. There was no way to protect everyone we loved, and in the world’s cruelest act yet, you suffered the consequences. You didn’t deserve this. You didn’t deserve anything that happened to you from the trade deadline on. You deserve so much more. You deserved to be appreciated by the Capitals and the coaching staff and to be a top-4 defenseman, but you were ripped away from us. And now we’re in shambles without you. I honestly don’t know how we’re going to cope (spoiler alert: we won’t).

In your years here, you were absolutely one of the best people to watch. You don’t go anywhere without brightening everyone’s day. You radiate sunshine. So smiley, so pure, so happy. 

You have such a kind heart. You care a lot, you’re hilarious, and every time I see you, no matter what you’re doing, you look like you’re having the time of your life.

Whether you’re at casino night,

riding segways,

playing video games,

or playing your heart out on the ice,

you are the guy out there having the most fun. I love your energy and enthusiasm. We all do. You make being a fan of the Capitals and hockey much more fun.

And I say from the bottom of my heart, that you deserved so much better from us. You may have been the player most overlooked within our organization. Your defense is so good and so electric, and yet you were always the one getting sat over veterans who just couldn’t keep up. You deserved more. But I want to tell you that even if the organization didn’t respect you as much as it should have, we sure did. Everyone I know absolutely loves you and believes you should have been treated better. I mention Nate Schmidt and their eyes light up. You are so, so loved, Sunshine. You’re so loved that your shirts at Kettler are sold out and I couldn’t buy one. You have the fans behind your back.

So I guess this is goodbye. I can hope beyond hope that somehow the trading gods will take pity on us and bring you back to us, but I’ve never been that lucky. So here’s to you, Schmidty. Here’s to your smiles, your laughs, your jokes, your warmth, your friendship with Chorns and your friendship with Holts, and your everything. I really don’t want this to be goodbye. It’s taking everything I have to write this, but I think it needs to be done. I’d say this is me letting you go, but it’s not. I’m going to follow you relentlessly wherever you go, and I will buy a shirt of yours from wherever you land. And when that team comes to the Verizon Center, I will drop everything I’m doing to come and see you. Because you mean so much to me and to this team. Of all the recent losses, like Mike Green, Joel Ward, Jason Chimera, Brooks Laich, and Michael Latta, this one stings the most. We’re going to miss you so, so much. But most of all, I want you to be happy and to play every single game. If you can do that and be happy, I might just be able to get by.

Thanks for everything, Sunshine.

[rickhorrow]

10 TO WATCH : MAYOR’S EDITION 52719

RICK HORROW’S TOP 10 SPORTS/BIZ/TECH/PHILANTHROPY ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF MAY 27, 2019 : MAYOR’S EDITION 

with Jacob Aere

1. The Big Ten conference recorded nearly $759 million in revenue for the 2018 financial year. This figure represents a year-on-year revenue increase of 48% for the Big Ten and exceeds any comparable annual figure amongst its NCAA rivals. A major factor is this boosted revenue is Big Ten’s new television rights deals which resulted in payments of around $54 million to the 12 longest-standing schools of the conference’s 14 teams. Maryland and Rutgers received smaller revenue share amounts but this was topped up with loans from Big Ten against future revenue shares. Compared to other NCAA athletic conferences, the Big Ten is way ahead in terms of revenue. The SEC reported revenues of around $660 million for 2018, with an average of $43.7 million afforded to each of its 13 member schools. The Big 12’s revenues didn’t even reach half the value that the Big Ten generated, with the conference securing $374 million for 2018. TV rights remain king, as shown by the Big 10 data and the recent announcement that Conference USA has made a 4-year deal with the NFL Network for a 10-game package of C-USA football games.

2. Indy 500 has a new broadcast partner: NBC. Viewership for the crown jewel of American racing events has been on a steady decline since 2015, but all of that may change with a new partnership. All IndyCar broadcasts will now be shown on NBC networks and will cover the racing series with improved marketing and a bigger approach to race-day coverage. According to Indianapolis Business Journal, the network has run dozens of IndyCar ads since March — many for the Indy 500 – and TV ratings have been up. IndyCar ads have been running during other major sporting events such as the Kentucky derby and the NHL Playoffs with a new approach to grab some more casual viewers. Thank to the new partnership, viewership is up 21% for the first four races. Under NBC’s contract, eight IndyCar races will be on broadcast TV this season, up from five last year on ABC. Indy has started to also market to a younger demographic as the sport owns one of the oldest audiences across all major us-sports; to date, its has been paying dividends.

3. The 2019 NBA playoffs have been lacking in action and ratings. According to The Atlantic, this year’s playoffs started on April 13 and won’t end until sometime in June making it roughly as long as Major League Baseball and the National Football League's playoffs, COMBINED. Through the first two weeks of the 2019 postseason, the rating numbers were down by 18 percent. One reason for the decline is the absence of now Laker, Lebron James, who missed the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade. However, the boost of second round ratings, which were the highest TV numbers since 2012, indicate that fans are still compelled to tune in to more competitive matchups. Another issue with extended playoffs is the stress and fatigue it puts on the players: the Golden State Warriors won their last series against the Portland Trail Blazers without Kevin Durant due to injury. Although adding extra games may draw in more money for the league, the long term effects of losing fans to “boring” playoffs may seriously hurt. The NBA may need to start looking into reverting to the previous 5 game format for first round basketball playoffs to help quell the extensive playoffs or potentially give a bye-round to the top ranked teams in each division.

4. The Blues win the West to create a rematch 49 years in the making for the NHL. The St. Louis Blues are marching into the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in decades and have revived expectations for the team in the midwest. The Blues were one of the bottom teams in the NHL as of January 3 and now they are in the Stanley Cup Finals. According to The Star, the turnaround came after Craig Berube replaced Mike Yeo as coach in November and Binnington took over as the starting goaltender in January. St. Louis has went 0-12 in its three previous Stanley Cup appearances. The last time these two teams met in the Stanley Cup, the Blues dropped the series 0-4 with an enshired goal from a flying Bobby Orr that is still one of the greatest hockey pictures of all time. The Bruins are the likely favorite to win the cup after having come in second overall in the regular season. The St. Louis Blues are the oldest active team to never have a Stanley Cup win and in a year where the improbable has happened for a last place team entering 2019, a win against the Bruins could seal one of the greatest turnarounds of all time.

5. NBA Playoffs help to display big tech and provide a glimpse into the future of sports in Seattle. Seattle is getting an NHL franchise and a high-tech arena in 2021. According to GeekWire, tech executives from companies based in the Pacific Northwest have been attending private VIP events for potential season ticket holders. Meanwhile, during Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals at Oracle Arena, Google displayed its voice assistant to help “turn down the lights,” play music, and provide stats for the Golden State Warriors. After the game, all 19,596 fans walked away with a free Google Home Mini device. At $1 million, it was hailed as “the largest and most valuable giveaway of a Google product at a live sporting event in history.” Silicon Valley plays a big role in the Warriors’ success as players like Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and Jonas Jerebko all noted the region’s forward thinking as a partial reason they chose to play with the team; they all have investments in a range of tech ventures. Looking at the success of the Warriors, the new NHL team in Seattle would provide an opportunity for the region’s tech companies, like Amazon and Microsoft, to further plunge into sports.

6. The NFL draft is headed to Cleveland in 2021 and Kansas City in 2023. In conjunction with the relocation of the Oakland Raiders and opening of their new stadium, the 2020 draft was awarded to Las Vega. Now, the Browns will be celebrating their 75th anniversary with the draft events taking place around FirstEnergy Stadium in 2021. According to ESPN, the Kansas City Chiefs plan to host the draft near Union Station and the National World War I Museum and Memorial for their draft in 2023. Since last holding the draft in the traditional New York location in 2014, the NFL has taken the event on the road to five different cities. The league still has not moved on bids for the 2022 draft, saying about 20 cities are interested in hosting that year. This year’s draft in Nashville, Tennessee had more than 600,000 people attend over the three days which marks a dramatic increase from 250,000 in Arlington the year prior.

7. NASCAR acquires ISC for $2B with a dozen more tracks. NASCAR announced the $2 billion purchase of International Speedway Corp. which will give it control of key racetracks and set itself up for sweeping changes that could save America’s popular racing series which has been in decline for several years. This deal should close by year’s end. ISC is one of two major facilities companies that host NASCAR races, along with Speedway Motorsports Inc. According to AP News, NASCAR gaining control of a dozen tracks would seemingly make it easier for the racing league to alter its schedule, including the possibility of hosting fewer events in order to maximize its profit. The parent company of Speedway Motorsports made an offer last month to acquire all its outstanding common stock, which would privatize SMI and make it better positioned for an anticipated NASCAR overhaul. Many big sponsors have left NASCAR in recent years — Cup Series title sponsor Monster Energy is in the final year of its deal — and television ratings hit all-time lows at 26 events last season. Because NASCAR is a private company it won't have to publicly report attendance revenue and other financials allowing the company more leeway in their attempt to rebuild the iconic racing series.

8. OTT platform FuboTV and FanDuel form a sports wagering partnership in New Jersey. According to Deadline, the deal makes FanDuel the exclusive sportsbook, online casino, exclusive advertiser, and horse racing and daily fantasy sports partner of the live TV streaming service. It will also expand FuboTV’s sports offering for consumers when FanDuel’s betting data is integrated on the Fubo platform. Initially, odds and other gambling information will only be added to the mix in New Jersey, though general sports data will be integrated more broadly afterward. Additionally the TVG and TVG2 horse racing networks affiliated with FanDuel will be available to Fubo subscribers nationwide, joining the 90-plus channels in the $55-a-month base package. TVG2 will be on the Sports Plus tier, which brings more than 20 additional channels for an extra $9 a month. This is huge as it is the first real push for a OTT sports platform to incorporate sports wagering into its properties and could open the floodgates for others to follow suit.

9. CC Sabathia’s charity softball game brings together stars in New York. Aaron Judge, Michael Strahan and other notables like Didi Gregorius, Tino Martinez, Action Bronson, Tiki Barber, Johnny Damon, and Aroldis Chapman joined in for CC Sabathia’s second annual charity softball game hosted in the Bronx. According to Feeling the Vibe, team Michael Strahan took on Team CC Sabathia and came out victors by a score of 8-2 with all proceeds being sent to the PitCChIn Foundation led by CC and his wife Amber and the New York Yankees Foundation. The Sabathia’s charity runs multiple initiatives that span baseball clinics, delivering backpacks to kids in need and renovating baseball fields. On the other hand, the Yankees Foundation has done everything from helping a teacher in need of supplies, to refurbishing a neighborhood sports facility, giving $500,000 for Hurricane Sandy relief, or providing assistance in Haiti and Japan. CC Sabathia is a veteran presence on a now young and injured Yankees roster and his leadership is felt both during and outside of game time.

10. Nike is launching an official guide to sustainability for brands. Nike recently partnered with Central Saint Martins to create a manual for designers that lays out the principles for materials that can be indefinitely recycled called circular design. The company has also has researched case studies from companies that have done groundbreaking work on these fronts including Patagonia, Outerknown, For Days, and Eileen Fisher. According to Fast Company, Nike’s guide is deliberately formatted as a kind of textbook. It lays out 10 principles that take you through the life of a product, including elements like picking low-impact materials, designing with recyclability in mind, minimizing waste in manufacturing, prolonging the lifetime of a product through repair and durable construction, and using more thoughtful packaging. Nike is dropping this guide during the Copenhagen Fashion Summit, an annual gathering organized by the sustainability-minded Global Fashion Agenda. Although none of these steps are revolutionary to eco-friendly practices on their own, this outlines a plan for fit a comprehensive eco-friendly system which could potentially change the norm of the fashion and sports industries.

[instatrack]

Casinos, sports wagers, session deadlines and even a few laughs on the set of Capitol Connection today with state Reps. Bob Rita and Mike Zalewski. @repmikezalewski23 http://bit.ly/2VYjGt0

[instapicsil2]

Casinos, sports wagers, session deadlines and even a few laughs on the set of Capitol Connection today with state Reps. Bob Rita and Mike Zalewski. @repmikezalewski23 http://bit.ly/2VYjGt0

[orendrasingh]

The first crack in Donald Trump’s red wall came on Christmas Eve when not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse, except for Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who said she was “disturbed” by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s promise of “total coordination” with Donald Trump in his impeachment trial in the Senate. “It’s wrong to pre-judge,” she said of McConnell working “hand-in-glove” with Trump.Straightforward and conscientious, so press-reluctant her name auto-corrects to “Murrow skis,” the daughter of a former governor breaking publicly with McConnell is like her donning a lampshade and popping open the Champagne on New Year’s Eve. When she opposed the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, rather than dramatize her struggle—by contrast to Sen. Susan Collins, who went on about how hard it all was but finally voted as Trump told her to—Murkowski voted “present.” It didn’t change the outcome—Kavanaugh’s approval was in the bag—but by going against Trump and McConnell she stayed true to her conscience, something the rest of her caucus lost in 2016, bearing out Sen. Lindsey Graham’s warning to his party that, by nominating Trump, “We will get destroyed… and we will deserve it.”  Murkowski wouldn’t have gone so far as to be “disturbed” had McConnell not committed one of the few mistakes of his political life in no longer simply doing everything Trump tells him to do, but doing it the way Trump tells him to. McConnell, left to his own devices, wouldn’t have revealed that “Everything I do during this [trial] I’m coordinating with White House counsel. There will be no difference between the president’s position and our position.” When defending Trump, it must be done loudly and immediately. He keeps score. Trump is driven so mad by impeachment—he claimed not to have been impeached in one of the hundreds of unhinged tweets he’s issued since the two articles were passed in the House—that he not only needed to be assured of acquittal, he had to have it blasted out prematurely to buy him a night or two when Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t disturb his dreams. Even before Murkowski’s rebuke, McConnell had inched back from the ledge Trump lured him on to. He told Fox & Friends Monday morning that he hadn’t “ruled out” witnesses. He had, of course, calling it an untimely “fishing expedition.” The cagey, sphinx-like McConnell realized too late he shouldn’t listen to Trump, a creature of impulse and immediate gratification. It’s McConnell, not Trump, who’s stacked the federal courts with 175 judges, setting a new indoor record when he got confirmed his seventh  “unqualified” nominee: 37-year-old Kentuckian Justin Walker, who lacked any time in a courtroom or practicing law since graduating. The Obama administration and most other administrations have had none.   McConnell has a point that impeachment is a “political process” but not that “there’s not anything judicial about it.” We’re all political and partial: Some people swear by the Mets over the Yankees or Dunkin’ over Starbucks, but no one admits to favoring wrong over right. It’s why we have trials, and as anyone who’s watched Law & Order knows that means witnesses and exhibits, direct testimony and cross-examination, and an impartial judge. McConnell keeps citing Clinton’s impeachment as precedent for what he’s doing. The 100-to-0 vote in that trial kept open having witnesses—and three were called ultimately called—even though there was already a stack of deposition testimony from the Starr Report. McConnell argued that “every other impeachment has had witnesses,” and that Clinton’s should include at least three. There might be some holiday sympathy for McConnell. Imagine what Trump would have done had McConnell held the door open for testimony from Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who may be escaping to run for the Senate in Kansas—not to mention former National Security Council chief John Bolton, who saw a “drug deal” going down in the Situation Room. There’s still time before the Jan. 28 deadline to recruit a new primary opponent for McConnell’s 2020 re-election bid.Before going all in with Trump, McConnell should have talked to those who’ve left his White House, or read the shelf full of books recounting life inside the West Wing and how, no matter how bad we think it is, it’s worse. Former White House Counsel Don McGahn packed up his belongings rather than carry out Trump’s orders to end the Mueller inquiry. Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned rather than carry out Trump’s deadly Syria policy. John Kelly predicted impeachment should Trump have only “yes men” like Mulvaney and Pompeo around him. Rex Tillerson never took back calling Trump a “moron.” While  Bolton may be exaggerating his superpowers, without his containment of Trump and Trump’s penchant for photo-op summits, North Korea’s beautiful leader might be even closer to leveling Detroit. If Trump played his cards as well as the majority leader had until now, his casinos would not have gone bankrupt. He might not have made that perfect call and 90 minutes later ordered congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine halted. He wouldn’t have sent Mulvaney out to admit everything and advise everyone to get over bribing a foreign leader, or told Mulvaney  to take it back and then disappear. He wouldn’t have Pompeo lie that he wasn’t in on the “perfect” call only to have to deny his denial when the truth came out. If only McConnell hadn’t blurted out his plans, he could have done everything he said he would with impunity. Now, with Murkowski questioning McConnell throwing his lot in with Trump, he’s lost the first post-impeachment round to Nancy Pelosi. At worst, by holding on to the articles of impeachment, Pelosi chose a slow death over a quick one in the craven Senate. At best, she may get a fairer, if not a fair, trial, a witness or two that if she had waited—and waited—for court rulings to compel their testimony that would have been met with cries of outrage for daring to continue hearings in the midst of an election. Pelosi has also exposed that when McConnell swears an oath to be impartial at the opening of the trial, in the sight of his Baptist God and Chief Justice John Roberts, he’s either had an unbelievable change of heart, like Saul on the road to Damascus, or he’s perjuring himself. If we had a functioning Senate, McConnell would have to recuse himself. Alas, with Trump as de facto majority leader, that won’t happen.Senate Republicans didn’t ask for a spine for Christmas, but Murkowski showed what having one is like. “If it means that I am viewed as one who looks openly and critically at every issue in front of me, rather than acting as a rubber stamp for my party or my president, I am totally good with that,” she said.  And so are we. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2MwezdR

[7newx1]

The first crack in Donald Trump’s red wall came on Christmas Eve when not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse, except for Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who said she was “disturbed” by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s promise of “total coordination” with Donald Trump in his impeachment trial in the Senate. “It’s wrong to pre-judge,” she said of McConnell working “hand-in-glove” with Trump.Straightforward and conscientious, so press-reluctant her name auto-corrects to “Murrow skis,” the daughter of a former governor breaking publicly with McConnell is like her donning a lampshade and popping open the Champagne on New Year’s Eve. When she opposed the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, rather than dramatize her struggle—by contrast to Sen. Susan Collins, who went on about how hard it all was but finally voted as Trump told her to—Murkowski voted “present.” It didn’t change the outcome—Kavanaugh’s approval was in the bag—but by going against Trump and McConnell she stayed true to her conscience, something the rest of her caucus lost in 2016, bearing out Sen. Lindsey Graham’s warning to his party that, by nominating Trump, “We will get destroyed… and we will deserve it.”  Murkowski wouldn’t have gone so far as to be “disturbed” had McConnell not committed one of the few mistakes of his political life in no longer simply doing everything Trump tells him to do, but doing it the way Trump tells him to. McConnell, left to his own devices, wouldn’t have revealed that “Everything I do during this [trial] I’m coordinating with White House counsel. There will be no difference between the president’s position and our position.” When defending Trump, it must be done loudly and immediately. He keeps score. Trump is driven so mad by impeachment—he claimed not to have been impeached in one of the hundreds of unhinged tweets he’s issued since the two articles were passed in the House—that he not only needed to be assured of acquittal, he had to have it blasted out prematurely to buy him a night or two when Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t disturb his dreams. Even before Murkowski’s rebuke, McConnell had inched back from the ledge Trump lured him on to. He told Fox & Friends Monday morning that he hadn’t “ruled out” witnesses. He had, of course, calling it an untimely “fishing expedition.” The cagey, sphinx-like McConnell realized too late he shouldn’t listen to Trump, a creature of impulse and immediate gratification. It’s McConnell, not Trump, who’s stacked the federal courts with 175 judges, setting a new indoor record when he got confirmed his seventh  “unqualified” nominee: 37-year-old Kentuckian Justin Walker, who lacked any time in a courtroom or practicing law since graduating. The Obama administration and most other administrations have had none.   McConnell has a point that impeachment is a “political process” but not that “there’s not anything judicial about it.” We’re all political and partial: Some people swear by the Mets over the Yankees or Dunkin’ over Starbucks, but no one admits to favoring wrong over right. It’s why we have trials, and as anyone who’s watched Law & Order knows that means witnesses and exhibits, direct testimony and cross-examination, and an impartial judge. McConnell keeps citing Clinton’s impeachment as precedent for what he’s doing. The 100-to-0 vote in that trial kept open having witnesses—and three were called ultimately called—even though there was already a stack of deposition testimony from the Starr Report. McConnell argued that “every other impeachment has had witnesses,” and that Clinton’s should include at least three. There might be some holiday sympathy for McConnell. Imagine what Trump would have done had McConnell held the door open for testimony from Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who may be escaping to run for the Senate in Kansas—not to mention former National Security Council chief John Bolton, who saw a “drug deal” going down in the Situation Room. There’s still time before the Jan. 28 deadline to recruit a new primary opponent for McConnell’s 2020 re-election bid.Before going all in with Trump, McConnell should have talked to those who’ve left his White House, or read the shelf full of books recounting life inside the West Wing and how, no matter how bad we think it is, it’s worse. Former White House Counsel Don McGahn packed up his belongings rather than carry out Trump’s orders to end the Mueller inquiry. Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned rather than carry out Trump’s deadly Syria policy. John Kelly predicted impeachment should Trump have only “yes men” like Mulvaney and Pompeo around him. Rex Tillerson never took back calling Trump a “moron.” While  Bolton may be exaggerating his superpowers, without his containment of Trump and Trump’s penchant for photo-op summits, North Korea’s beautiful leader might be even closer to leveling Detroit. If Trump played his cards as well as the majority leader had until now, his casinos would not have gone bankrupt. He might not have made that perfect call and 90 minutes later ordered congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine halted. He wouldn’t have sent Mulvaney out to admit everything and advise everyone to get over bribing a foreign leader, or told Mulvaney  to take it back and then disappear. He wouldn’t have Pompeo lie that he wasn’t in on the “perfect” call only to have to deny his denial when the truth came out. If only McConnell hadn’t blurted out his plans, he could have done everything he said he would with impunity. Now, with Murkowski questioning McConnell throwing his lot in with Trump, he’s lost the first post-impeachment round to Nancy Pelosi. At worst, by holding on to the articles of impeachment, Pelosi chose a slow death over a quick one in the craven Senate. At best, she may get a fairer, if not a fair, trial, a witness or two that if she had waited—and waited—for court rulings to compel their testimony that would have been met with cries of outrage for daring to continue hearings in the midst of an election. Pelosi has also exposed that when McConnell swears an oath to be impartial at the opening of the trial, in the sight of his Baptist God and Chief Justice John Roberts, he’s either had an unbelievable change of heart, like Saul on the road to Damascus, or he’s perjuring himself. If we had a functioning Senate, McConnell would have to recuse himself. Alas, with Trump as de facto majority leader, that won’t happen.Senate Republicans didn’t ask for a spine for Christmas, but Murkowski showed what having one is like. “If it means that I am viewed as one who looks openly and critically at every issue in front of me, rather than acting as a rubber stamp for my party or my president, I am totally good with that,” she said.  And so are we. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

[insertsona]

To me at least you're also the person who's art tastes like taffy :) /vpos. You have a really recognizable artstyle and I love seeing anything from you pop up on the dash, Yellow Addison or other OCs or otherwise!

can i offer you some doodles from the whiteboard i did the other day in return for your kind words

[flauntpage]

Four Mock Drafts for the Vegas Golden Knights

Protected lists! They are here! It's Christmas morning!

That is, it's like Christmas morning if you were a bad kid and your parents got you nothing but socks and sweaters to teach you a lesson. Yeah, you need socks and sweaters, but no matter how many packages you tear open, there will not be a Nintendo (or whatever the kids play these days).

Likewise, the NHL is giving fans a new team with the expansion draft this week, but when we finally open it up, it's not going to be what we wanted.

The (Not Las) Vegas Golden Knights have until Wednesday morning to submit their draft list, which must contain one player from each team in the league. The roster will be revealed that night during the NHL Awards show (and probably throughout the day in the form of leaks to the media). The 30-player team must have at least 14 forwards, nine defensemen, and three goalies, and it must also be salary-cap compliant.

In the spirit of fun content, I imagined four different expansion drafts for the Golden Knights, each using its own unique criteria: one team designed solely for tanking, one team for comedic purposes only, one win-now team, and one team that represents the best possible outcome for Vegas. (And thanks to TSN's draft simulator for making this easy.)

THE RACHEL PHELPS MEMORIAL TANKING TEAM

In the 1989 movie Major League, Rachel Phelps inherits the Cleveland Indians from her dead husband. Like any sane person, she does not want to live in Cleveland, so she puts together a roster she hopes is so bad that it will drive down attendance to the point she can enact a clause in the lease with the city that would allow her team to move to Florida.

This would be the Vegas equivalent of that team.

Forwards: Jared Boll, Zac Rinaldo, Brandon Bollig, Jordin Tootoo, Matt Hendricks, Shawn Thornton, Dustin Brown, Ryan White, Steve Ott, Cody McLeod, Luke Gazdic, Cal Clutterbuck, Chris Neil, Tom Sestito

Defensemen: Josh Jorges, Eric Gelinas, Jack Johnson, Dylan McIlrath, Kevin Klein, Andrew MacDonald, Brenden Dillon, Robert Bortuzzo, Jason Garrison

Goalies: Anders Lindback, Kari Lehtonen, Cam Ward

Utility: Luca Sbisa, Brooks Orpik, Mark Stuart, Garrett Sparks

Cap hit: $69,135,476 Players under contract for next season: 20

How many games does this team win? If I set the over/under at seven, you probably need to think about it for a while, don't you? Remember: the expansion Ottawa Senators won ten games, and that team was trying.

If we're sticking with the Major League theme here:

Zac Rinaldo is Ricky Vaughn. Rinaldo is probably better suited for some sort of penal league, and it's not hard to imagine his teammates referring to him as Vedge Head.

Just a bit outside. Photo by Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Brooks Orpik is Jake Taylor. Orpik should be in a league outside of the United States and his knees are shot.

Jack Johnson is Roger Dorn. There's something here with both players being concerned about making as much money as possible at this point in their careers.

Steve Ott retired, but I bet he could be enticed to play one more season centering a line with Luke Gazdic and Chris Neil.

THE MITCHELL FRIEDMAN "WHO ARE THESE GUYS?" TEAM

Also in Major League, there's a scene where an Indians fan is looking over the roster and says, "Mitchell Friedman?" It's because no one has heard of those guys. If Vegas went strictly off that philosophy (I swear, this is the last Major League reference here, and this is only because it's been on HBO a lot lately), here's that team:

Forwards: Nicolas Kerdiles, Tyler Gaudet, Justin Kea, Turner Elson, Alex Broadhurst, Mark McNeil, Corban Knight, Andrew Crescenzi, Patrick Cannone, Chris Terry, Ben Thomson, Ben Holmstrom, Daniel Catenacci, Casey Bailey

Defensemen: Linus Arnesson, Tyler Wotherspoon, Dillon Simpson, Brad Hunt, Will O'Neill, David Warsofsky, Dan Kelly, Andrew Campbell, Andrey Pedan

Goalies: Daniel Altshuller, Mac Carruth, Edward Pasqualle

Utility: Mike Angelidis, Liam O'Brien, Ryan Olsen, Jordan Binnington

Cap hit: $18,529,918 Players under contract for next season: 22

When you're the biggest star on the team. Photo by Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports

As you might have surmised, this team is technically invalid because it falls way below the salary cap floor—but who cares? Mock expansion drafts should be enjoyable and picking these random names (Is Chris Terry the most recognizable name here?) was too much fun. They played a combined 60 NHL games last season!

And what if I told you some of the names on here aren't NHL players and are names I actually made up or grabbed from somewhere in pop culture?

Is Casey Bailey an Ottawa Senators center or a fringe character on Dawson's Creek?

Is Andrew Crescenzi a Los Angeles Kings center or Diane Lane's love interest in Under the Tuscan Sun?

Are Alex Broadhurst and Jordan Binnington hockey players or romantic rivals in Downton Abbey?

I guess we will never know, because you're not looking up these names and we both know it. [Editor's note: We looked up the names, and rest assured they're all actual hockey players.]

THE MARC BERGEVIN "WE NEED TO WIN NOW" TEAM

Admittedly, I have lost the feel for what the Montreal Canadiens are doing these days—they're big and tough, but they also traded for Jonathan Drouin. That said, all of GM Marc Bergevin's moves in the past year would indicate that he wants his team to win immediately. What if Vegas GM George McPhee decided he needed a playoff team in Year 1?

How would that team look?

Forwards: Alex Burmistrov, Matt Moulson, Lee Stempniak, Mikhail Grigorenko, Benoit Pouliot, Jonathan Marchessault, Trevor Lewis, Eric Staal, Tomas Plekanec, James Neal, Michael Grabner, Jordan Weal, Bryan Rust, David Perron

Defensemen: Sami Vatanen, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Jack Johnson, Dan Hamhuis, Thomas Hickey, David Schlemko, Nate Schmidt, Martin Marincin, Colin Miller

Goalies: Petr Mrazek, Michael Hutchinson, Andrew Hammond

Utility: Cedric Paquette, Reid Boucher, Troy Brouwer, Beau Bennett

Cap hit: $72,172,143 Players under contract for next season: 30

This was tricky. I originally scooped about $83 million in contracts on my first pass and had to make some hard decisions about where to spend and where to save (sorry, Bobby Ryan). Everyone is under contract for next season so no one can escape McPhee's clutches as he builds the most mediocre ship possible.

And Jim Rutherford doesn't have any agreement in place with me, so he can keep Marc-André Fleury.

Here are potential forward and defense combinations:

Perron-Staal-Neal Moulson-Weal-Marchessault Pouliot-Plekanec-Grabner Boucher-Paquette-Rust

Johnson-Vatanen Hamhuis-van Riemsdyk Schlemko-Miller

Mrazek Hutchinson

This team suuuuuuuuuuuucks! The forward group is fine enough, but once you get past Vatanen, it's just terrible on the back end. This is why McPhee can't get caught up in appeasing fans off the bat with the idea of a winning team, because it'll be a bigger disappointment when the team is bad—and there's no way of getting around this team being bad. If it's going to be bad, at least have it be bad with potential going forward.

There's no point in even drafting Vatanen and Neal (more on this when we get to my amazing team), because they can be the Norris Trophy and Rocket Richard winners next season and this team still isn't cracking 70 points.

And if you're wondering how Johnson can be on both the tanking team and the win-now team, think of that as insight into how general managers view Johnson versus his actual value.

So what is the ideal Vegas team?

THE DAVE LOZO IDEAL VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS EXPANSION DRAFT TEAM

We know we can't win now. We know this is going to take forever. So we want to sprinkle the roster with motivated veterans at the end of contracts and young players who have long-term value. How will this team, which is just as bad as any of the others, look?

Forwards: Jonathan Marchessault, Alex Chiasson, Andrej Nestrasil, Mikhail Grigorenko, Lukas Sedlak, Benoit Pouliot, Carl Hagelin, Colin Wilson, Jacob Josefson, Brock Nelson, Michael Grabner, Jordan Weal, Nick Shore, David Perron

Defensemen: Josh Manson, Zach Bogosian, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Jamie Oleksiak, Matt Dumba, Nikita Nesterov, Chris Wideman, David Schlemko, Jason Garrison

Goalies: Petr Mrazek, Michael Hutchinson, Louis Domingue

Utility: Reid Boucher, Martin Marincin, Nate Schmidt, Malcolm Subban

Cap hit: $51,489,940 Players under contract for next season: 30

Years from now, you'll hear stories about how someone like Joe Thornton was a member of the Golden Knights and you'll wonder how it happened. It will be because Vegas wanted nothing to do with that roster, so they drafted a player who wasn't under contract and who they knew wouldn't join the Knights to avoid taking a bad contract or wasting a roster spot.

Hands off Marchessault. Photo by Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

For my terrible roster with potential for helping the franchise down the road, I'm assuming I have blackmailed the Ducks and the Predators out of high picks to not take Vatanen and Neal. If the Panthers want to blackmail me out of Marchessault, too bad. He's mine. You can't have him.

I'm sure if this were real life, I'd do more blackmailing, but the point is this: I want draft picks. I want them now or I want them at next season's trade deadline for rentals like Grabner or Perron. I would assure every veteran that he was on display for a trade to a contender next season, so don't half-ass it because you're miserable. Bust your ass for 20 minutes a night and hit the tables at the casino later. It's impossible to be miserable in Vegas.

With just about everyone else, I'm looking for long-term potential (Weal) or players who can do more in bigger roles (Josefson) who I can also swap. I do not—I repeat, I do not—want Bogosian, but he's a young right-handed defenseman and I think we can pump and dump him to some other team later.

I'm also taking all players I have under contractual control. Would I like Antti Raanta? Sure, but I'd rather take the 30-goal guy on the cheap contract I can flip either immediately or later and then maybe take a run at Raanta in free agency.

This team would still finish dead last next season, but I'd have like, a thousand picks in the draft. I'm trying to lay a foundation in Vegas and that foundation doesn't need Vatanen, who will be a million years old by the time the team is good, and it doesn't need Brown's contract, because getting to the cap floor is easy.

This team is going to stink no matter what, but it will stink on my terms.

Four Mock Drafts for the Vegas Golden Knights published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv