#Michael Yu straight up goes

[shimmeringweeds]

Captivating how “盗火者” (Prometheus) ends with three solos. Li Tianchen’s bit ending with a breath out- snuffing out a light; Liu Xiao ends with a whisper-putting someone to sleep; Li Tianxi with her piano gets one last action- a sharp rolled chord- a certain finality.

Beautiful how “3,2,1!” Includes singing and clapping together as a means to stir up the old dust into a tiny whirlwind. Come together and find rhythm and music together. We will create together. We will do this together. The future will be alright.

Anyway Michael Yu and Fan Ka did it again with the lyrics, and if you haven’t watched their interviews about the process yet, you really should consider it.

[nehswritesstuffs]

Sounds like you having lots of fun things to write about 😊I wish I could read your One Piece fics but I haven’t ever watched that show (I’m sure it’s good though) 😄No worries if not but any Whouffaldi fic updates soon?🙂

To answer the last part of the ask first: I plan on it, but I also plan on there being a lot more updates during the year-end holidays, so there’s a bit of hoarding that shall commence until later on in the month and December. There is actually a plan lol pls be patient or the groove will be thrown off

Now the rest of this is going to be me as a not-quite-One Piece-evangelist, because it is one of those things that I recommend with a HUGE caveat, and not for the reason people think.

A lot of people fear it because it’s so long (I just read the newest chapter, 1066, early yesterday morning and sobbed like a baby). That’s actually not the thing I warn against the most! If you can read long-form fics like The Time That We Love Best or The Thick of UNIT, or are able to sit through long and storied shows like Doctor Who, then I don’t think the length is what’ll be the potential problem.

It’s that the series is rather high on the Anime Bullshit Scale.

What is the Anime Bullshit Scale? It’s a scale that goes anywhere from low on the list with slice of life and mild whimsy (Kiki’s Delivery Service, Chii’s Sweet Home, Yotsuba&!, etc) to balls-to-the-wall-runs-on-nonsenseoleum (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, Excel Saga, etc). One Piece is not at the tip-top of the scale due to some genuinely emotional and grounded moments, but it’s staggeringly up there thanks to how wacky it gets. There are even some people who really love anime who can’t go too high on the scale, and that’s fine, and I think not knowing about this scale is what creates bad recommendations that turn people off to anime and manga as a whole. You don’t go straight into Attack on Titan as your first anime, more like Cowboy Bebop or Azumanga Daioh, since those are milder than some of the other offerings. Not unless you’ve got a very specifically-tailored rec, such as Sakamoto Days if you’re a fan of John Wick (or so I’ve heard; never seen the Wicks), despite it being up there on the Scale.

Did you like Sailor Moon as a kid? Maybe up through the Ancient Egypt arc of Yu-Gi-Oh? Most of Naruto ‘cause we don’t talk about that show’s filler? Maybe you enjoyed stuff like Chowder or The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack or the Amazing World of Gumball or even a good chunk of early Spongebob Squarepants? Chances are that you might like One Piece. Personally, my attention is usually better with reading, so I’m a mostly-manga person (and there’s many websites with decent-to-great quality scans and translations that beat what I had available to me in high school, so you don’t have to worry about buying +100 volumes if your budget/living space isn’t ready or your local library isn’t carrying it (despite not being the longest manga series, it is the best-selling, so don’t feel bad)), but there is something to be said about watching. Go with the Funimation dub (which I think is on Crunchyroll and Netflix). It does have a bit of filler and it does exaggerate... erm... certain artwork quirks a bit more, but it is overall fairly loyal and coherent in comparison to the manga. Plus the pace is different--more cinematically measured in a way--and you can leave it on in the background if that’s what you need.

(Please take this time to pour one out for Mayumi Tanaka and Colleen Clickenbeard’s vocal chords, holy fcking shit.)

So, yeah, I do recommend One Piece if you’ve got a tolerance for wacky and long-form and lots of emotions everywhere. It’s pretty easy to start too: just go with chapter and/or episode one. Then you too can confuse the hell out of people by making references to it out of context, like saying how Worst Hypnotist Michael Jackson’s best friend is a wine pun who he met by defeating in a dance battle and now they simp together because that’s what bros do, naturally.

[tanoraqui]

okay I have to do this today because even I wouldn’t do it after the godforsaken finale airs, and it’s basically my specialty and I did spend like an hour thinking about it last night while washing dishes. Definitely partly inspired by @words-writ-in-starlight​‘s insightful post on everything Supernatural did wrong, and apologies in advance to all the characters for dragging them into anything related to Christian mythology:

Wei Wuxian’s parents die in a house fire when he’s 6(? I refuse to look anything up) months old

Jiangs are a hunter family I guess? That whole disaster of a family dynamic, except WWX dips out at some point to be idk an environmental activist bc at the time, that seems like the larger threat to the whole world. “Mom and Dad went on a hunting trip and they haven’t come back”, “bitch” “jerk”, 2 brothers in a beat-up old car, you know the drill

Jins are also an old hunting family, but more Men of Letters energy - they have a fancy bunker and do research and avoid getting their actual hands dirty. Jiang Yanli ducked out of the active hunting life a few years ago to be happily married to her peacock and settled down with a baby and she’s fine. We’re not going to bother Yanli. She’s safe and happy and doesn’t need to involved in any of this

so, WWX is the demon blood child developing exciting new abilities like telekinesis, mind control, exorcising demons by sheer force of will...etc, and Jiang Cheng is the Righteous Man. Lucifer, Michael, etc.

s1-3 probably proceeds more or less as spn canon...which I more or less remember...by the time they find their parents at the end of s1, Jiang Fengmian is...ugh, we probably shouldn’t kill him offscreen, I mean, we should probably meet him before he dies. I guess. Madam Yu lasts longer because I’m way more interested in her. But we do know that both Jiang parents are totally inclined to fling the boys into a metaphorical or literal escape boat and go hold the line for as long as possible, so...that’s spn energy...

Xue Yang is the one who’s like “fuck yeah, demon powers” and opens the gates of Hell, because I want him to have nice* things

*nice for Xue Yang

from characterization rather than memory, I’m 90% sure that Dean tried to hide his crossroads deal from Sam, but Jiang Cheng does it...better. I think it does come out, though. Right before the hellhounds do.

here’s where it starts to go farther off from spn canon. Jiang Cheng crawls his way out of the grave, gets stalked by a menacing presence that explodes windows for an episode, incidentally can’t find WWX...*Lan Wangji voice* “I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from Perdition” (a baller line then and a baller line now)...and then the next episode starts with them all awkwardly standing around, and JC is like, “ok well let’s go find my brother then”, and you think there’s going to be an mdzs-riffing JC+LWJ Roadtrip To Find WWX...and they’re immediately attacked by like a dozen demons

in fact, the first time we see WWX in s4 is here, wherein he goes toe to toe with an angel and...holds his own. that’s new and terrifying! also is leading a squad of demons??

because here’s the thing: for the last 3(?) months, there’s been war in hell

because unlike Some People Mooses, upon finding out that his brother’s soul was legally nearly-owned by a crossroads demon, heir-apparent-to-Satan!WWX went, “actually fuck that” and kicked open the door of Hell (metaphorically, not loosing any demons this time) and was like, “who do I have to beat the shit out of to get a specific crossroads contract around here”

this did not work, obv. He didn’t know until it was too late, Lilith had already snapped up the contract, etc. etc.

obviously he also tried to offer himself instead, and got rejected for some reason

Since Jiang Cheng died, however, there’s been a war for control of Hell. Leading one side, Lilith, the Original Babe, who wants to break all 666(?) seals keeping Lucifer bound and in the meantime, break the Righteous Man so Heaven won’t even have Michael’s destined host ready for the Final Battle. Leading the other side, Wei Wuxian, infamous upstart, who wants to rescue the Righteous Man and restore him to life, tear Lilith’s guts out through her nose, and also stop her from doing the Lucifer thing because Wen Qing explained that yes, that’s a Thing, and it’s Bad.

Wen Qing! I’ve decided to combine Bela and Ruby’s roles and let WQ be both the cool badass example of how demon deals can go Bad and the demon deliberately leading our heroes astray for most of s3-4. Wen Qing is a very new demon; she used to be some sort of herbalist/witch but then she sold her soul in a crossroads deal to cure her brother of some lingering illness. 10 years of happiness and then boom, hellhounds. WQ is so obviously competent, though, that they (Lilith, I guess?) immediately offers her a job, with the promise threat that gee, that’s a nice brother you’ve got there, even with his Designated Chronic Health Condition getting all relapse-y. It’d be such a shame if something were to...happen to him...

we find this out at some point in last s3 I guess? some Monster of the Week case involves WN as a witness or something, or possible next victim, and WQ shows up to be A Normal Amount Of Invested In This, while desperately trying to avoid actually interacting with her brother (who thinks she’s dead). YES, the truth comes out; YES there’s a tearful reunion

now in s4, Wen Ning is fine actually, health-wise, bc he maybe made a crossroads deal with Wei Wuxian personally, and Wen Qing may or may not have admitted that she’s supposed to be working for Lilith to get WWX ready to host Lucifer? Or potentially that comes out later, idk. Either way, she’s 100% his top lieutenant in this exciting Hell War they’re waging

[insert whatever the hell (ha) happened plot-wise in s4 of supernatural]

we obviously mix up the relationships, too, bc it’s like, *LWJ internal monologue* I’m too young to remember my brother Lucifer as he was before he Fell, but surely Wei Wuxian is his Heir and Destined Vessel in truth, for he is Charismatic and Charming and Makes Me Feel Things, with his Clearly Feigned Righteous Drive and Compassion for All God’s Creatures and - why does heat keep pooling in the lower abdomen of my vessel when I look at his lips, which I am definitely doing a Normal and Not-Weird Amount - I’m just keeping an eye out for the famed Silver Tongue, and not in any way wondering how it would feel in my own mouth -

it’s actually DEFINITELY plausible for Lucifer to still be released even if our designated Heir Apparent is using his demon powers to his full potential and no one’s lying to each other about their motives. You just need to let Lilith be more scary too, and especially bc by “no one” I mostly mean Wen Qing; the angels are still totally hiding the fact that they, too, want to jumpstart the shit out of this apocalypse.  LWJ decides at the last minute that that’s a bad idea actually, gets himself discorporated to send JC to intercept WWX because he accidentally releases Lucifer, etc. etc. Oh yeah, the boys were def fighting before this, bc JC has actually fairly reasonable concerns about the sort of things WWX is getting up to in his quest to become King of Hell...

SO

...I neither know nor care what happens in s5

it does end with both Lucifer and Michael locked in the cage probably, bc I rather liked that solution. Fuck both of ‘em, basically.

I was toying with the idea that WWX also found Madam Yu in whatever hellish torment she was suffering after making a deal so her idiot son(s) would survive, and she was leading forces for him in the war against Lilith as well. If she came back to life somehow, body and all, it’d probably be compelling if she offered her own body to Michael - bc it’s her lineage! - and we’re all led to believe that she’s, uh, being a bitch and actually wants to risk destroying the world in order to destroy all demons...but then she seizes back control and flings herself/Michael and Lucifer into the Pit, because she’s just That Hardcore?

which means we’d actually have had her around and having characterization for most of s4-5, too, which would be fun

More importantly, it ends with newly crowned King of Hell Wei Wuxian appointing Wen Qing as Queen-Regent and ditching to go on an indefinite honeymoon with his new angel boyfriend (they’re going to fuck for like three weeks straight, then roll up their sleeves and go conquer Heaven in the name of free will), and Jiang Cheng gets to live out his hitherto-unknown-to-himself life’s ambition to be the sugar baby of the Queen of Hell. It’s very Hades/Persephone, except he goes back down to the underworld at least once a month. He gets his own demon squad whom he trains up in all the hunting techniques and it’s gr9. Wen Qing is reforming the crossroads deal process to make it more fair to the humans.

the end

Addenda:

it should go without saying but Jiang Yanli is definitely a recurring character, like, at least once a season there’s a filler episode where they go to Jiang Yanli’s for dinner and have to get along as a family, and also do the much easier job of defeating some sort of terrible demon that gets loose in the bunker and turns the evening into a horror movie. She’s their main research/emotional check-in person, a la Bobby, more often appearing in later seasons when there’s, uhhh, more to emotionally check in about.

Jin Zixuan is actually a perfectly competent hunter; he’s just a priss and we don’t Like him

we like Mianmian, though. Oh, I guess the official Hunter’s Guild or w/e tries to declare WWX a public enemy on account of the whole “King of Hell” thing and she’s like “actually what if you’re morons and assholes?” and joins hte team in s4 or 5? Yeah.

idk how the 3zun disaster happens in this ‘verse but I do encourage it to be happening in slow motion as a recurring subplot for several seasons. NMJ is a hunter, LXC is obv an angel, and JGY is...I wanna say one of the more human monsters, like a vampire? Or, you know, something that could be born from JGS sleeping with someone/something he shouldn’t have

[thesportssoundoff]

The Curious Case Of Miguel Andujar

Joey

November 21st

Let's begin by going back to the start of this whole kerfuffle:

“I’m definitely getting a lot of interest in Miguel Andujar while I’m sitting down here,” Cashman told The Michael Kay Show on ESPN Radio on Wednesday while in Scottsdale, Ariz., for the MLB GM Meetings.

“I’ve got clubs asking me, ‘What are you going to do with him? We'd have an interest in him. Mark us down.’”

Andujar played just 12 games last year, his season ending early thanks to surgery to repair a torn right rotator cuff.

https://www.nj.com/yankees/2019/11/mlb-trade-rumors-yankees-miguel-andujar-a-hot-commodity-right-now.html

One of the first things to keep in mind I suppose is the connotation and terminology used here. Cashman saying he's "getting a lot of interest" is different than him doing what he said about Sonny Gray and outright admitting that he was going to trade him. Just because Cashman has GMs calling, it doesn't mean a trade is inevitable or even remotely close to being discussed. Every team talks about every player just about. We know that GMs "had interest" in Gleyber Torres in the midst of an all star breakout season because reports immediately came out that the Tigers asked for Torres in exchange for pitcher Matt Boyd. Conversations do not mean action. It also doesn't mean nothing is happening either.

Lets be fair and admit outright that the Miguel Andujar and Yankees marriage may not be long for this world. Realistically speaking, teams can probably see what we all see:

-The Yankees had concerns about Miguel Andujar long before his debut. They were so worried about his defense and his long term future at the position that they had discussions about Gleyber Torres at third base prior to Torres making a full time commitment to 2nd. They went out and traded for Brandon Drury from Arizona because they had concerns about Andujar's defense.

-Andujar's bat exploded in his rookie year and he took off, finishing ahead of Gleyber Torres and just behind supernova Yu Darvish in the ROTY race.  He was at times the most consistent Yankee hitter on a team chocful of great hitters like Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, Didi Gregorious, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez.

-Andujar was a BUTCHER with the glove. Pick your defensive metric and he was bad at it. Andujar's range is borderline nonexistent, he's got a superb arm but a throwing angle that compromises his accuracy and his footwork was pretty substandard as well. Long story short, Miguel Andujar's defense was so bad that facing elimination against the vaunted and hated Boston Red Sox, Miguel Andujar was sitting on the bench while the Yankees watched Boston close out on the show on their homefield.

-In 2019, Andujar worked hard on his fielding in the winter but admittedly made no changes to the throwing motion he had that caused many of the problems defensively. He got hurt (which is really unfortunate), rushed back (or the Yankees misdiagnosed him) and then he was finally shut down. In his time away, Andujar watched as Gio Urshela broke out big time to the tune of a .314/.355/.534 with 21 homers and some really solid defense behind him. Even when Urshela offensively took a slip, his defense remained steady and gave the Yankees the hot corner presence they had been dying for.

All of this creates for an easy enough story to follow. The Yankees got their taste of competent 3rd base play after years of Andujar and Headley and feel compelled to give Gio Urshela every opportunity to win the job outright next year. In every sport on every team there are "competitions" where the die has been cast long before someone takes the field or court and this is one of them. It would be a borderline catastrophic failure (or success for Andujar) if the Yankees walk out here on opening day with Miguel Andujar at 3rd base. He still has immense value as a bat but where do you play him at if Urshela is your 3rd base guy? Andujar can't be a defensive replacement at 3rd so that's out of the question. You're probably going to DH Sanchez/Stanton/Judge/Voit at times so there goes that spot as a meaningful place to play in a perfect world. Can Andujar play 1st base? Let's be fair and point out that the Yankees have at least 3 1st basemen on the team now with Voit, Ford and DJ LaMeheiu all getting starts there. Do you need a 4th 1st basemen who hits right handed? The outfield is an option and one Andujar supporters have wrapped their arms around, partially for good reason. Baseball has quite a few 3rd basemen who if athletic enough have made a comfortable move to the outfield such as Ryan Braun, Alex Gordon and even the aforementioned Brandon Drury. If Andujar's problems can be mitigated by moving him away from the ball then maybe you've found a spot for him. For this team though, don't they already have a shuntsy defensive outfielder who hits the ball well? Does this team need two Clint Fraziers?

So why keep Andujar?  Well for starters, it's going to be tough to find a straight up fair match right now. You're not trading Miguel Andujar after a year of bad defense and a 2nd place finish for AL ROTY. You're going to be dealing Andujar with close to two years of bad defense off a torn labrum with questions about his position on the field. On their own, you can maybe forgive injury, maybe forgive the suspect defense and maybe forgive the fact that he might not have a position to play. You can't do that on all at once. Also let's not forgive that the Yankees cut the Gerrit Cole talks short with Pittsburgh because they weren't willing to move Andujar in those deals. They WITHHELD Andujar because they valued him as being (at least in terms of a headliner) a bridge too far for Cole. You don't give up on that kind of a player a few years later just because what you thought would happen is actually happening. Andujar's value is at its lowest and you want to be buying when somebody is at rock bottom, not selling. The last time the Yankees were in a situation like this; they wound up moving Jesus Montero (a big bat questionable position b ad defense guy) for Miguel Pineda in a deal that sort of floundered for both parties. The difference is Montero was coming off a fun little cameo for the Yankees and Pineda was the epitome of the big arm big frame potential ace the Yankees were chasing at the time. Andujar's value is ROCK bottom and teams are sniffing a bargain, not prepared to pay retail because "retail is for suckers." Unless you get lucky or find a broken for broken deal, Andujar gets you some 40 man fliers or low A arms.

And why trade him? This is the tanking era of major league baseball. Seriously. More teams than ever are tanking and packing it up and packing it in. The haves and the have-iest and the have nots are the have not-iest they've ever been at least for me as a fan of the MLB. That affords you a lot of time to develop and figure out what a player is or isn't. Some team will look at the Yankees, see the lack of a spot for Andujar but the talent and will say "Hey we've got a long time to go before we're competitive, let's work on him!" A team like the Marlins (they know this system), the Pirates (could they use a 3B with a sweet swing?) or the Mariners might be interested. Cleveland has been discussed a bunch by Yankees fans in exchange for one of their many young arms. There's options here if Andujar is available to move him. Also maybe the Yankees just want to get out from under the Andujar stigma. As long as he's in the sytem, there's going to be people who want him to play and as long as he CAN'T play defense, there's really no point. Like Clint Frazier, why should he linger in the minors beyond his expiration date or beyond the point of value?

Today the Yankees said good bye to the former heir apparent at first base when they waived Greg Bird. They may be making a similar decision soon to say goodbye to the tremendously talented but flawed Miguel Andujar.

[thepoolscene]

The Pool Scene - Albin Ouschan, Bader Alawadhi, Carlo Biado, Chang Yu Lung, Chih Nien Rong, Dang Jinhu, David Alcaide, Francisco Felicilda, Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz, Hoang Duong Quoc, Hsieh Chia Chen, Jalal Al Sarisi, Jeffrey de Luna, Jeffrey Ignacio, John Morra, Joshua Filler, Klenti Kaci, Ko pin Yi, Ko Ping Chung, Konstantin Stepanov, Liu Haitao, Lo Li Wen, Mateusz Sniegocki, Maung Maung, Niels Feijen, Radislaw Babica, Roland Garcia, Thorsten Hohmann, Tomasz Kaplan, Warren Kiamco, Woo Seung Ryu, Wu Kun Lin - World Pool Billiard

New Post on http://thepoolscene.com/?p=22715

​IT’S DOWN TO THE FINAL 16 IN DOHA

Ouschan, Ko, Filler and Kaci, advance. Hohmann goes back to his ‘old lady.’

By Ted Lerner WPA Press Officer Photos Courtesy of Bo Bader

(Doha, Qatar)– Every pool player has a lucky charm, a secret superstition, a favorite cue or shaft, a special gadget or pendant that they take with them wherever they go to try and give them that extra edge. For Germany’s Thorsten Hohmann that lucky charm this week is his ‘old lady.’

No, the two time World 9-ball champion didn’t bring his girlfriend to Qatar this week. The ‘old lady’ Hohmann refers to is a cue stick that brought him his original glory in the sport and helped him to make a Hall of Fame career for himself.

It was back in 2003 when the pool world had yet to hear of this young hot shot from Germany. But then one week in late July in Cardiff, Wales, playing with a cue from German cue maker Michael Vollmer, the then 24 year old Hohmann went on a tear through the toughest field of the year and shocked the pool world, winning his first World Pool Championship. 

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Albin Ouschan of Austria

Thorsten Hohmann of Germany

John Morra of Canada

Roland Garcia of the Philippines

Success brought sponsors and Hohmann put away the Michael Vollmer cue for a Lucasi, who sponsored ‘the Hitman’ for the last 12 years. Recently, though, the contract with the cue maker ended, and with few successes to speak of in the last two years, Hohmann decided to dig into his closet and bring out his old friend. It was love a second sight.

Together with his ‘old lady,’ Hohmann today advanced to the final 16 at the 2017 World 9-ball Championship, winning two matches and exuding the confidence and joy for the game he exhibited in 2003 and again in 2013 when he won his second World 9-ball crown in this very venue. Can the ‘Hitman’ do it again, over the next two days, and become only the second man, with Earl Strickland, to capture three World 9-ball crowns? Hohmann knows better than to get ahead of himself. But with the ‘old lady’ in his hands, the German great is feeling better than he has in years, and clearly can’t wait to get out on the blue pitch and compete at the highest levels.

“I’m happy with the way I played,” Hohmann said after a heart thumping 11-10 win against Taiwan’s Chang Yu Lung in the final 32. “I’m breaking pretty good. I made a few mistakes and if I want to win I can’t make those kinds of errors.

“There are so many great players in this tournament so anything can happen. But I’m very confident now. I got my old cue back, the one I used to win my first World 9-ball Championship back in 2003. My contract with Lucasi ended, 12 years I’m grateful for the time with them, but now I’m back to my old lady and I’m just enjoying it, hitting the ball solid and I’m really having fun playing the game. That’s what I’m really looking forward to. Everyday I’m really looking forward to playing. I’m excited, I got my cue back, I like the tables, I like the conditions, but I take it match by match.”

Hohmann is right to keep his expectations in check , for there are 15 other monsters left out of the 64 who started the days play at the Al Arabi Sports Club in Doha who could just as well find themselves lifting pool’s most prestigious crown come Thursday. Hohmann will face off with Taiwan’s Hsieh Chia Chen, who is one of four Taiwanese to make up the final 16 players.

Defending champion Albin Ouschan certainly knows how to get the job done, and his two wins today will certainly bolster his confidence from here on in. The Austrian first grinded out a win over Kuwaiti Abdullah Alyusef, 11-6, in the round of 64. He then went toe to toe with Korea’s Woo Seung Ryu, winning 11-9 in a match that took nearly three hours. In the final 16 Ouschan will duke it out with up and coming 23 year old Taiwanese Wu Kun Lin.

Ko Pin Yi preceded Ouschan on the winner’s podium here in 2015 and has been quietly showing his superb class in Doha this week. Today the amazing Ko first manhandled Austria’s Max Lechner, 11-3. The former World 9-ball and World 10-ball champion then went out and crushed fellow Taiwanese Chih Nien Rong, 11-4. In the final 16 Ko will take on the Philippines Roland Garcia. Garcia, who was once a protégé of the legendary Efren Reyes, and even comes from the same hometown as Reyes, has reached his best effort at a world championship this week in Doha.

Ko’s younger brother Ping Chung had a heart stopping day as he first squeaked by Lithuanian Pijus Labutis, 11 – 10, then outlasted Polish veteran Radislaw Babica, 11-9.

The Philippines’ Carlo Biado and Jeffrey Ignacio will square off in an all-Pinoy final 16 match. This is an intriguing matchup as the 34 year old Biado is the veteran in the group who’s been knocking on the door of big time success for three years, while the 25 year Ignacio has wowed Filipino fans with his awesome talent, but has yet to produce long term success. Biado will certainly come in as the favorite, as several months back he won a gold medal in the World Games and seems to have finally picked up a knack for closing out big matches.

A massive surprise in the final 16 is Myanmar’s Maung Maung. The 23 year old has been a revelation all week and kept up the superb play under immense pressure today.  In the round of 32, the Philippines’ Jeffrey De Luna threw everything he could at Maung, but Maung never flinched and closed out the match nicely, 11-9.

Venezuelan-Jordanian Jalal Yousef is very well known on the pro circuit. Yousef is enjoying his best ever success this week in Doha. After his second straight win today, Yousef revealed that he came to Doha brimming with confidence.

“I’m playing good,” Youself said. “I’m breaking good. I was in the States for two months I played in a lot of tournaments. Ten days ago I played in a tournament in Dubai I played really good. I’ve been practicing a lot and I’m playing good and I’m excited to play. I feel like I’m in shape. I’m playing my best game right now. I hope I can keep it up.”

Yousef will match wits with China’s Dang Jinhu, another hard-nosed player who plays under the radar.  Chinese veteran Liu Haitao joins Dang in the final 16. Today Liu barely escaped the round of 32 with an 11-10 win over Spain’s Francisco Sanchez Ruiz.

Despite the plethora of upstarts, veterans and current and former world champions in the final 16, fans in Doha and around the world can’t help but keep turning their attentions to the two young superstars remaining in the field; Germany’s 20 year old Joshua Filler, and Albania’s 18 year old Klenti Kaci.

Filler continued to cruise at his usual lightning pace in two matches today, seemingly playing without a care in the world, shooting lights-out pool, and keeping that determined look that speaks of a champion in the making.

In terms of styles, Kaci is the polar opposite of Filler; clinical, methodical and deliberate. But the Albanian seems absolutely impervious to pressure and exudes pool playing class at all times during a match. Nobody would be surprised if Kaci found himself raising the trophy come Thursday evening.  

Kaci, however, will have his hands full against Canadian John Morra, whose confidence seems to be soaring. Morra first turned back world number one Chang Jun Lin, 11-9, then beat Russia’s Konstantin Stepanov by the same score line to advance.

The final 16 and quarter finals will take place on Wednesday, December 13. The round of 16 begins at 10am Doha time(GMT +3), while the quarterfinals begins at 2pm. All matches will be race to 11, alternate break.

Live stream:  http://www.esnooker.pl/live/en/video_new.php?stol=1

Live scoring: http://www.esnooker.pl/live/en/tsnew.php

Complete Brackets:  http://esnooker.pl/turnieje/2017/w9bc/en/show_drabinka.php?id_t=197

The players will compete on Wiraka DYNASTY  Tables with Simonis 860 Cloth, Electric Blue Color and using Aramith Tournament  Pro cup TV Pool Balls featuring the new Duramith Technology.

The 2017 World 9-ball Championship is hosted by The Qatar Billiard and Snooker Federation(QBSF), and is sanctioned by the The World Pool Billiard Association, the governing body of the sport of pool.

Fans can interact with us through the WPA’s official Facebook Page for the event at this link;https://www.facebook.com/worldpoolbilliardassociation/

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Final 16 December 12, 2017 10am Doha(GMT +3) Race to 11, Alternate Break

Albin Ouschan (AUT)  vs. Wu Kun Lin (TPE) Thorsten Hohmann (GER) vs. Hsieh Chia Chen (TPE) Carlo Biado (PHI) vs. Jeffrey Ignacio (PHI) Liu Haitao (CHN) vs. Ko Ping Chung (TPE) Ko Pin Yi (TPE) vs. Roland Garcia (PHI) Jalal Al Sarisi (Yousef) (VEN) vs. Dang Jinhu (CHN)   Maung Maung (MYR) vs. Joshua Filler (GER) Klenti Kaci (ALB) vs. John Morra (CAN)

Results Final 64 Albin Ouschan (AUT)  11 – 6 Abdullah Alyusef (KUW) Woo Seung Ryu (KOR) 11 – 10 Samuel Santos (POR) Warren Kiamco (PHI) 11 – 4 Kong Dejing (CHN) Wu Kun Lin (TPE) 11 – 4 Hiroshi Takenaka (JPN)

Bader Alawadhi (KUW) 11 – 8 Alexander Kazakis (GRE)  Hsieh Chia Chen (TPE) 11 – 8 Martin Daigle (CAN)  Chang Yu Lung (TPE) 11 – 8 Mieszko Fortunski (POL) Thorsten Hohmann (GER) 11 – 5 Xu Xiao Cong (CHN)

Carlo Biado (PHI) 11 – 6 Daniel Tangudd (Sweden) Tomasz Kaplan (POL) 11 – 9 Wojciech Szewczyk (POL) Jeffrey Ignacio (PHI) 11 – 4 Lo Ho Sum (HKG) Francisco Felicilda (PHI) 11 – 7 Naoyuki Oi (JPN)

Francisco Sanchez Ruiz (ESP) 11 – 6 Martinez Gerson (PER) Liu Haitao (CHN) 11 – 3 Israel Rota (PHI) Radislaw Babica (POL) 11 – 8 Yu Li Si (TPE) Ko Ping Chung (TPE) 11 – 10 Pijus Labutis (LIT)

Ko Pin Yi (TPE) 11 – 3 Max Lechner (AUT) Chih Nien Rong (TPE) Hayato Hijikata (JPN) Niels Feijen (NED) 11 – 9 Kwang Chan Keng (SIN) Roland Garcia (PHI) 11 – 4 Md Al Amin (BAN)

Jalal Al Sarisi (Yousef) (VEN) 11 – 6 Ruslan Chinakov (RUS) Hoang Duong Quoc (VIE) 11 – 10 Chieh Liu Cheng (TPE)  Lo Li Wen (TPE) 11 – 7 Nguyen Anh Tuan (VIE) Dang Jinhu (CHN) 11 – 8 Fischer Sparrenlov (SWE)

Jeffrey De Luna (PHI) 11 – 7 Maksim Dudanets (RUS) Maung Maung (MYR) 11 – 8 Chu Bingjie (CHN) Mateusz Sniegocki (POL) 11 – 10 Nikolaos Malai (GRE)  Joshua Filler (GER) 11 – 6 Ahmad Naiem (JOR)

Klenti Kaci (ALB)11 – 6 Roman Hybler (CZE) David Alcaide (ESP) 11 – 5 Wiktor Zielinkski (POL) Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) 11 – 7 Marco Teutscher (NED) John Morra (CAN) 11 – 9 Chang Jung Lin (TPE)

Results Final 32 Albin Ouschan (AUT) 11 – 9 Woo Seung Ryu (KOR) Wu Kun Lin (TPE) 11 – 8 Warren Kiamco (PHI)

[junker-town]

The Nationals, Dodgers, and Cubs were all preseason favorites, and they’re all in very different spots now

The only thing we knew for sure in March is who would win each division in the National League. About that ...

Baseball is hard to predict. If you don’t believe me, check in with my preseason predictions, in which I’m a) wrong a lot and b) fond of mentioning that “baseball is hard to predict” seven times before the end of the first paragraph.

The National League before this season, though, wasn’t so hard to predict. Slap the Dodgers in first in the NL West, the Cubs in first in the Central, and the Nationals in first in the East, and figure out the other dozen teams later. While I’m sure there have been three clear divisional favorites in a league before, the lack of ambiguity in these divisions seemed unusual. The Dodgers were going to win because they’ve won four straight division titles, and they improved in the offseason. The Cubs were going to win because they were a freakishly young championship team. The Nationals had the pitching and the lineup.

A few months into the season, though, and these three teams are separating themselves. Not only that, but it turns out that they were capable of surprising us. Sometimes for better. Sometimes for worse. Here’s a midseason check-in on the three (supposed) beasts of the National League.

Chicago Cubs: Any day now, fellas

If the Cubs were in the NL East, they’d be nine games behind the Nationals. If they were in the NL West, they’d be 17 games behind the Dodgers, closer to the Padres than second place. They still have a chance to make good on those near-unanimous first place predictions from the preseason, but only because of the relatively weak Central.

The Cubs have been hovering around .500 so consistently since the very beginning of the season, it’ll be wildly inappropriate to use the term “hovering around .500” for any team over the next decade. Twice they’ve pushed four games over .500. Both times, a four-game losing streak sucked them right back.

Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo both look like the perennial MVP candidates the Cubs were expecting, and they’re still going to form the core of a team that will contend for at least five or six years. The problems are with almost everyone else. Jason Heyward is hitting like Ben Zobrist this year, which means there’s a finger curled up on a severed monkey’s paw somewhere. Other than Ian Happ, the young hitters haven’t progressed nearly as well as the Cubs had hope, with Kyle Schwarber going back to the minors to tinker with his swing, even.

By ERA, Eddie Butler has been the Cubs’ best starting pitcher. Everyone they’ve tried has been astoundingly mediocre or downright awful. The adjusted ERA for every Cubs starter this season (before Jose Quintana’s brilliant debut): 52, 81, 99, 101, 103, 105, 107. That’s like a mathematical proof for a .500 team.

The Cubs are the Ghost of Baseball Past, then, a formerly dominating team with the same roster and young players, most of whom are young and were expected to improve. They can’t stop winning as many as they lose, though, and it’s made for a much more confusing season than anyone was expecting.

Washington Nationals: A near-flawless team ... with one exception

Ah, this is when we go back and time and talk to a Nationals fan from six months ago.

Hello. I’m a Nationals fan from six months ago.

Right. I’m guessing you have questions.

How’s Max Scherzer?

A Cy Young contender.

The rest of the rotation?

Gio Gonzalez has been eerily effective. Stephen Strasburg has been fine. They’ve had injuries and inconsistency at the back end, but the starting pitching has been an overall strength.

Is Daniel Murphy still doing a Rod Carew impersonation?

Yes.

Is Bryce Harper better?

Much. He’s back to his old self. His old, young self, which is great news for you.

Any surprises you want to spoil for me?

Ryan Zimmerman is reborn, and his OPS is pushing 1000. Anthony Rendon might be the best hitter on the team. Even Jayson Werth and Michael Taylor are hitting a little bit.

Wow! What about the bullpen?

Whoa, look at that, it’s getting late. I have to go back to my own time now.

The hell was that? You just looked at your wrist, but you’re not even wearing a watch.

Sorry, just out of time. Hope I helped make you feel better.

WAIT. IS THE BULLPEN BAD AGAIN?

[looks at wrist again]

HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? HOW CAN THEY HAVE ONE FLAW AND NOT ADDRESS IT IN THE OFFSEASON? HOW HOW HOW HOW

The good news for the Nationals is that they just filled two spots in their bullpen with one trade, nabbing Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle for Blake Treinen and last year’s second- and third-round picks. The two relievers have combined for 70 strikeouts and eight walks in 60⅔ innings, which vaults them immediately to the top of the bullpen depth chart. And, considering that the trade didn’t devastate their farm system, they can still afford to make another deal.

The story of the Nationals before the season was “great roster, suspect bullpen.” It wasn’t a secret. And this season has been a tale of a great roster and a suspect bullpen. While that seems like a sad tale, it’s not. It’s a completely fixable problem, and Washington just got a huge jump on the repairs. Contrast that with the Cubs, who have no idea how to fix whatever’s broken. Contrast that with the Red Sox, who have wobbled at times, and can’t shake the Yankees or Rays. The Nationals built a huge lead in the NL East, and now they get to address their biggest problem.

The rest of the National League should be scared. Even if it’s right to wonder why in the heck the team with multiple Drew Storen postseason memories waited until the middle of the season. They’re the Ghost of Baseball Present, getting better at the only part of the roster they could still drastically improve. They were a scary team already, and they’re getting scarier.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Calm down, guys, jeez

Before the season started, FanGraphs projected the Dodgers to win more games than the Cubs. It seemed possible, but unlikely, and I’d like to think there were a lot of arguments in the FanGraphs Computer Labs.

Instead, the Dodgers look like the best team baseball has seen since the 2001 Mariners. Clayton Kershaw might win the Cy Young, but Alex Wood might go 20-0. Kenley Jansen is in the middle of one of history’s great relief seasons. The next home run Cody Bellinger hits will give him as many home runs as any Giants hitter has hit in a season since Barry Bonds left. Corey Seager will be an MVP candidate for the next 10 years, and Justin Turner is somehow getting even better at age 32.

The Dodgers are 29-4 over their last 33 games, which is the best such stretch in franchise history. Of all the teams in franchise history, from Duke Snider and Sandy Koufax to Steve Garvey and Fernando Valenzuela, no Dodgers team has had success like this. And while the other two preseason favorites have already made big trades, the Dodgers can still improve the rotation (Yu Darvish?) and the bullpen (Zach Britton?), or they can sort of hang back and gloat like the 64-29 team they are, clutching their prospects tightly to their chest.

I’d make fun of the part where they’re prospect-huggers, except you know that every team has been asking for Seager and Bellinger for the last three years, and they’re probably okay with the decision to hang on to them.

The Dodgers are the Ghost of Baseball Future, unconscionably young and improving, with untapped potential to address whatever weak spots they still might have. They’re going to win the NL West by a million games, and they’ll have home-field advantage throughout the postseason unless something goes screwy.

My point with all this? Well, I guess it’s that of the three obvious contenders, one of them was far worse than anyone predicted, one of them is almost exactly where they were supposed to be, and one of them is threatening to be one of baseball’s all-time great teams. This is a rough spectrum of baseball and baseball-related expectations, then. The Cubs could be worse (see: the smoldering crater in San Francisco), but this is about as reasonable of a worst-case scenario as presumptive favorites and defending champions can have.

Before the season, we didn’t know much, but we did know that the Cubs, Nationals, and Dodgers were going to win their divisions. Now that we’re here, it’s a good reminder that baseball is never that easy.

Unless it’s even easier.