#I don't have to watch every interview

[coffee-at-annies]

Maybe it's just me about sports in general, but it feels like fans are quicker to gloat about the players even though they've been contributing in other ways (on ice and off ice) when a team is struggling. Scenario: Team A is on a 10 game winning streak in November, all is good from the outside, every player is praised. But come February they hit a massive losing streak and the wheels come off: depth players are scapegoated despite all their efforts, players shuffled around the lineup with some not fitting in their new lines, chemistry is off and every player is getting blamed even unfairly. Then comes along the hindsight takes of should've kept this, should've traded for that when nobody has no clue whether the team would've been better off had they done that.

And while we're at it, is it unpopular to feel bad for BJC? Ever since Hextall protected him over Canner + signed his extension, the fanbase at least from Pens Twitter quickly soured on him when he couldn't sustain his hot start. A one year extension would've been more reasonable instead of two, I get why they wanted him exposed to Seattle instead, he's played decently but he's getting a lot of flak whenever the Pens are slumping. To quote a random post online I came across from a fan of another struggling team, it's easy to say that a team needs to replace a depth player (esp when he is an older player playing beyond his actual capabilities as a fill in for injury) even though he's not been bad, but fans wouldn't say that if the team is on a roll. Y*he tweeted out his pre-extension vs. since then which is why I shared this.

Hey sorry its been over a week. My brain was pretty broken when you sent this and then I forgot it existed because ADHD is like that sometimes. I’m gonna do my best to address some of what you said and my opinion on it.

it feels like fans are quicker to gloat about the players even though they've been contributing in other ways (on ice and off ice) when a team is struggling

I’m a little unsure what you mean here. Gloat is the word that’s throwing me off. I think you’re talking about fans talking shit, but usually when I think of the word gloat, I think of I told you sos or I was rights and I don’t really associate talking shit with gloating unless you’re saying I called it, I knew they’d be terrible. Currently Ren and I are gloating because we were right that the pens would figure their shit out and all we needed to fix the PK was for Teddy to come back from war. I’d consider shit talking a player gloating if you’re gloating about being right about someone sucking.

Sports fans are fickle. They’re quick to panic and quick to react. They’re quick to bet and quick to fold. A cold streak gets people scared really easily. A hot streak gets people euphoric in a way that makes it feel like we can never lose again. Hockey is an inherently silly sport. Ice is slippy. Sometimes bounces just don’t go your way. The Devils had a franchise record win-streak snap on Wednesday because of 3 no-goal reviews. Matt Murray technically got a shutout despite the puck hitting the back of the net. Shit happens. You gotta roll with the punches.

As for the scenario you outlined, that was basically the pens last season. We can what if and speculate but that’s all it is, speculation. The thing is you can’t stop fans from speculating. What ifs are a part of sports. So much of sports is up to chance that you can’t predict everything so well what if this happened or this happened or this happened. Its a talking point. Sports has a lot of those.

A thing I think that’s worth mentioning is that fans aren’t the only ones doing these sorts of talking. Reporters are people to and they’re some of the people driving the narratives. Of course they are, its their jobs. They’re paid by the word and by the click. The reason everyone was talking about Geno’s contract woes after R*ssi broke the story is because it was easy money in a slow offseason news cycle.

These people are paid to tell us stories, but that doesn’t mean they’re unbiased. I personally really like JFresh on twitter because he’s very up front about how ZAR is his emotional support defensive analytics darling. R*ssi has always been really up Geno’s ass and Y*he has always been weirdly hard. A lot of reporters like to be hard on players and call it tough love or objectivity and I’m like nah. I’d honestly prefer a reporter who tells you their favorite player than pretend they don’t have one. They’re fans with opinions too and if they view someone negatively then it will embolden some fans who are fickle.

is it unpopular to feel bad for BJC

I’d say no but I already talked about him vaguely here. Look you can’t make people say nice things about a player they’ve decided to hate. Look at how pensblr feels about archibald and desm*th. Pens twitter has decided to hate BJC and there’s not much you can do about that. You can’t make a worstie into a bestie even with the best playing. Plenty of ppl still don’t like Archibald despite the fact that he’s playing pretty good for us.

it's easy to say that a team needs to replace a depth player... even though he's not been bad, but fans wouldn't say that if the team is on a roll

Fans absolutely can and will. We’ve been on winning streaks and I’ve still criticized desm*th. He can get a shutout and I’d still think he’s a streaky goalie and we need someone with more consistency. People love to assign blame and find fault. The team being on a roll will quiet some of the opportunistic haters but it won’t quiet everyone and people will always talk shit. There’s always something someone could do better and those sorts of people will find it.

The best you can do is curate your online experience and block people. You are not obligated to give everyone the time of day or every thought the same amount of weight. If all they post is negativity about BJC and they don’t have a nice thing to say then what is the point of continuing to listen to them? They obviously aren’t going to change their mind so why keep giving them space and a platform. Its not even worth it to argue because arguing online is using your own platform to give them more visibility. This is why people who send Anon hate won’t block you first, they want you to platform their assholishness and validate them by responding publicly, by getting upset.

If this is making you mad, then take steps to remove yourself from it. I’ve got ppl in hockeyblr blocked because they wouldn’t have a nice word to say about the pens if it killed them. I’ve got ppl in pensblr blocked because I didn’t like how they talked about players and fellow fans and I didn’t want to see it on my dash. Curation of online experiences is hard, but if something is making you mad or angry, you can take steps to distance yourself from it. Its kind of the same principle as don’t like, don’t read, but for the shit people say online.

[treasureplcnet]

inverness here they come!!!!

[deerest-deer]

it's 3 am and i'm over here going absolutely insane over assad getting nervous while answering questions about the looks™ between armand and daniel in dubai

and some of those looks are actually love and some of them are "what's for lunch?" - assad about the looks™ <3

[anastacialy]

alright as much as everyone (including me) has been nitpicking and critiquing season three of bridgerton i have to hand them one thing and that's no other season has made me this insane

[naivety]

sorry but i hate that claudia's dress is hung up like it's in a museum. i know why it is, and it's sweet and tragic and i don't blame louis for trying to both honor and grieve her in this way, but i hate it <3 that her clothes fitted perfectly just for her by her immortal companion, just like her diaries, her own private thoughts penned down throughout her life, have been preserved and made perfect in bright open spotlight for gloved hands and watching eyes to feast on even in death. kinda hate it here

[justablah56]

they should invent a job that I can do and I don't have to drive super far to get to

[eggmeralda]

do you ever feel casually suicidal? like you're not depressed or anything you're doing fine but also it feels like a convenient option

[diseaseriddencube]

THE AKUDAMA DRIVE STAGE PLAY IS NOW AVAILABLE!!!!!

[sandinthepipes]

I propose: gaslight gatekeep girlboss on daylight queerbait.

What? You didn't know these two characters are in love? The author said it in an interview, they said it was so obvious it's ridiculous that they have to show the two of them kissing each other. They are in love romantically but will never act on it because they don't think enough of themselves and that's why you never see them in a healthy, stable and committed relationship apart from their friendship. They've written it like that on purpose. The author said it.

[things-methinks]

FilmCooper should actually stop making videos on serious topics. He has a lot of shit takes on sensitive matters. There's this intense "guy who paints his nails to seem progressive" energy. I don't think he is a horrible person per se, but he is not as nuanced as he tries to come off as. Saying Justin Baldoni should have just "sucked it up" because he asked an important question to keep himself safe from injuries? Man, you should sit this one out. And the comments about Chappell Roan releasing statements telling people to stop stalking her as "statements after statements" "like 30 posts" is very weird from someone who bends over backwards to defend women because he is the only doing "some research" and looking at stuff from a different angle. Honestly, if being wrong multiple times in the expanse of one video was a tournament, his video would be the top contender.

[cementcornfield]

Poor Ja’Marr…Joe won’t look at him and Justin won’t return his calls 😂

he's really going through it 🥲 but they love him don't worry 💜

[altruistic-meme]

The atla no war in ba sing se was a satire article

to call it a satire "article" is an overexaggeration as it is actually just a fake quote from a satire "news" twitter account, but yes

that said, not really sure why you came to me about this lmao

[doverstar]

suffered through a rewatch of Power of Three and Dinosaurs on a Spaceship last night and I wanted to scream the entire time. I am nobody and have never run a 60-year-old television show. but. Chris Chibnall does not know how to write. he is bad at it. he is bad at it. who gave him control of the entirety of Doctor Who? why? he had Amy narrate the first and last scenes of Power of Three like she's in some kind of early-2000's romcom because he doesn't know how to write dialogue or how to show-not-tell. the last line of Power of Three sounds like a preteen who has no idea how to end her oneshot fanfic and I know this because I have been one and I would never have let 12-year-old me write a single episode of an actual show on tv. the Silurians are a crutch. the Doctor got sucked into a Wii game? Kate Lethbridge-Stewart has zero personality outside of the Brigadier. Brian is an empty, emotional-exposition robot. who let this man run the entire show for years, I want names and addresses-

[yepthatsacowalright]

Baffled and pissed that Ted Lasso doesn't have a physical release either. No blooper reels?? No deleted or alternative scenes?? No insight into the story structure shift from a half-hour to an hour over the course of the series (a wild change for a show to even be allowed to do)?? This show won awards. It's nominated for more. They really think not enough people will care about it to physically buy a copy with extra stuff on it?? I hope there's at least a YouTube video or podcast out there somewhere, but why do I have to scour the internet crossing my fingers for something that an officially released physical copy of it could easily provide? Studios want film & TV production dead, is what it really feels like. How do you pass along knowledge of how an industry works, how do you inspire future generations to learn more about and pursue it, if you suck the energy of current workers in it dry and slam the door behind them so no one else has a way in?

[movementsofmylife]

okok i feel fucking insane, but like, first's acting is so good that it kind of, stresses me out?

like i knew, in my brain, that first played both yok and akk before i started watching the eclipse. yet it took me like 3-4 episodes of the eclipse to like notice that akk was played by first. which sounds antithetical to the first statement, but it's like the difference between hearing someone describe a taste and tasting the taste? like, my brain could not overlay yok and akk, and see that they were being embodied by the same person.

i still kind of struggle with it. and it's wiiiild to me. like wtf is first doing with his body to make me read him so differently. because that's definitely the point where he differs from other actors.

i read people's bodies more than faces to recognize them, like it always confuses me when people can't recognize friends from the back, because they stand in the same way as they always do. but also i will struggle to recognize faces. so actors, even good ones, still read mostly like, the actor, just one emoting accurately and contextually.

but first kanaphan!!! he does some shit that makes his entire body language read like a new person. idkidk i've been slightly losing my mind over this the entire time i was watching the eclipse. i think khao is also quite good at doing this, but khao's acting doesn't make my brain hurt.

i am entranced by seeing first be yok and akk and have both of them feel genuinely like fully formed people and also completely different fully formed people.

[ilostyou]

5sos said it's so hard to watch everything i want spinning down the drain which is true however. even worse than that is not even getting to watch everything spin down the drain bc you thought everything was actually fine and the drain was plugged and nothing was going anywhere so your attention wanders a bit and you come back thinking everything is still fine except it's not bc everything you ever wanted disappeared while you were weren't looking while it was completely out of your control while you were under the assumption it was all fine so you didn't even have the chance to process the fact that it might ever go away that everything you want could spin down the drain or is actively spinning down the drain bc everything was fine it was all supposed to be fine