#No offense to the kid who played Luke on the D+ show like he was great and all

[aussied]

I'm cosplaying as Book!Percy Jackson at a con I'm going to soon and if people come up to me and call me Luke I'm gonna launch myself into the sun

[artracoon]

PJO SERIES HOT TAKES/UNPOPULAR

OPINIONS. Sorry if I offend anyone, it's just an opinion. NO HATE I LOVE RICK AND THE ACTORS 💙(I just don't like Disney directing tbh)

The Athena kid in me is screaming at the top of their lungs because they think they could make a better script than Disney. BRO FINISH 2

Chapters in like 5 minutes- AND THE FIGHT SCENE BETWEEN MS DODDS AND PERCY

WAS RUUUUSHED Slow down Disney that was a good bit. They also made it happen outside instead of having her lead him inside. How hard did the mist have to work with all those people there???

Is it just me or is Sally kinda mean, where's our mom figure? Im crying over Luke's acting it was so good but also why are you dropping bombshells on us the second episode??

No offense to the actors but some of the lines felt like they were from Disney channel in the 2000s. It feels almost like a completely different story I understand why but I thought it was going to be more accurate

Love Annabeth’s "you drool when you sleep" but why was the scene setting so weird??

1 I drastically miss the Hellhound scene. It was one of my favorite scenes. They should have made the first two episodes *| accidentally vaporized my math teacher" and "My mom teaches me bullfighting" then they wouldn't have had to rush it so much. So much information was thrown at us in the first episode I couldn't process it. Also the convo between Percy and Sally in the Cabin was really unrealistic... Why did she have to drop that on Percy so fast I thought Mr. D and Chiron were supposed to have that conversation with Percy.

The bathroom scene was fine but I really wish Annabeth could have been there, instead of making her look like a huge stalker. We could have had her show him around camp like I get we want to build that relationship with Luke so it hits harder but Idk I personally wouldn't want her on my team if all she did was go "Im stalking you to see if your worthy" ditch me and watch me fight 3 v1 and then push me in the ocean. The Ares kids bashing... but Clarisse's acting was great. That scream of anger was amazing.

I feel like they took the first book and went

"eh don't need this, or this hmmm nah that doesn't seem important" and then shook it all about. They changed so much to save time but they didn't even make it a movie so there wasn't much point??

The intro was fine. I didn't really like the dialogue between Percy and Sally at the beginning. The museum was okay but we didn't get a lesson about Kronos so no foreshadowing for that at all. No one really seems to remember this but Percy didn't keep the pen and it doesn't make sense for him to as-well with getting kicked out of school. In the Book Percy was given the pen while fighting Miss Dodds. Afterwards he was still unknowingly clutching the pen when he went to talk to Mr.Brunner who took his pen back saying he should bring his own pen next time, making Percy more confused because Mr.Brunner had given him the pen.

Later when he's leaving for the quest Chiron gives him the pen saying it was from his dad. That means Percy wouldn't have had the pen during his time at camp and his fight with the minotaur. So it wouldn't make sense for him to defeat the minotaur with its horn rather than his pen if he had the pen. In the book he HAD to defeat the minotaur with his own horn because he had no other weapon.

He had a hard time on the beach and during sword training because no other sword felt right. I could rant forever on everything they overlooked.

Sorry no one asked for this rant i'm just so upset because Rick said it was going to be accurate and he chose these Actors because they would be able to play the parts more accurately but the script doesn't work so I there's no point in having actors who would do a good job if the script doesn't do a good job

[innytoes]

im so damn in love with kidnapped by the fae AU. especially willex. I'm on my knees i just need a little bit more

Some loose Kidnapped by the fae!AU headcanons inspired by conversations with @floating-in-the-blue and @legolasghosty

-Willie is friends with the crows. Ray has accepted this. He's glad Willie is making friends, even if they're not human. He's also glad the crows never poop on his car anymore.

-Willie has a hard time with the whole concept of money. He's been raised by fairies. His entire life was a series of complicated rules about trades, kindness that is rewarded, except when you try to reward their kindness and it's seen as an offense, and sometimes there's tricks where you're punished either way, and other times Caleb is just amused he's asked for something interesting, and now they're telling him you can just... slide some paper and coins to someone and they do or give you specific things????

-Yes they had several long conversations about it because Shoplifting is Bad, even if they don't see you, if you want more strawberries you can just put them on the grocery list. No teleporting inside the greenhouse and eating them there is still stealing. Yes even if you clean their house for them. Please don't break into random farmers' houses to clean them, buddy, this is America, people have shotguns.

-Between Willie trying to eat things before paying for them while at the supermarket and Alex getting overwhelmed with all the choices and Luke just staring at everything modern (he really liked the automatic doors once Ray promised they weren't magic), Reggie is the only one who gets to come grocery shopping if he's in a hurry.

-Yes Reggie absolutely adores father son bonding time shopping with Ray. And also getting to pick special treats for his boys.

-But when Willie starts asking to come with because 'I have your silly papers now, I want to pick my own fruit please, I promise not to eat them until we're in the car' Ray is like: okay. And then: where the hell did you get money.

-Willie: =D The crows give it to me. Ray: You taught the crows to pickpocket??

-Willie just shrugs. "When you go to the place with the Fast Food you give the people in the weird hats the papers and they give you fries. I started giving the crows fries for the silly papers, and it works." He leans over to whisper: "Sometimes they get a fry just because they're good birds or they bring me something shiny instead."

-Ray is still in an existential crisis on if his new foster son and his empire of Crime Birds is something he should try and stop, when Willie is like: Like this rock!!!

Ray: WILLIE THAT IS A DIAMOND.

Willie: Oh is that good? You can have that one, I like this one better. And then he proudly shows Ray a random pebble with some pink bits in it.

-Listen four extra supernatural mouths to feed is a lot but also he doesn't want to get arrested trying to pawn it but also he can't go to the cops and say: the crows brought my kid this in exchange for a french fry. So the diamond ends up in like, a junk drawer.

-Now that they've all worked out that Sharing Is Caring Willie is no longer wanting to hiss in jealousy at Julie and they become good friends. She makes him flower crowns that he proudly wears everywhere.

-When Ray insists he has to wear a helmet to skateboard he pouts because it will crush his flower crown, so Julie makes him one that fits over his helmet.

-The boys all love Flynn and let her play dress-up with them until they 'find their signature styles'. Alex likes pink and comfy clothes and fanny packs, Luke will cut the sleeves off anything.

-Flynn teases Reggie that is he sure he came from the 90s and not the 50s and Reggie is just like: I already have a signature style and it's served me well thanks.

-Willie will wear whatever and makes everything look good but he likes crop tops because of the way it makes Alex go all flustered.

[seblaine-rph]

While you're looking into rps can we talk about Devereux Academy for a minute? A basic look at their main and rules reveals Kristin Stewart as an FC but she's asked repeatedly not to be used in rp, people getting originally tested for being Dom Switch or sub at 17, the rp wording is almost an exact replica of another rp that ran for a while, and they are allowing the Motta family to be whitewashed with a white Robert Pattinson FC. I'm sure theres more i was just too disgusted to keep looking.

This isn’t the first time I’ve been told to take a look at @devereuxacademy or heard about it being problematic. I can’t tell you about the dash and I’m not going to troll through everyone’s blogs, so if there is something on the dash that anyone would like to share with me (problematic plots, not tagging triggers, admin behavior,etc) then feel free to send another ask. 

More than one person came to me when this rp first hit the tags, asking if I thought they had stolen parts of their rp. I reported this by answering multiple different asks about it and they never responded, which is very telling. Honestly, I think they did. Intentionally or not, they do have a lot of parts of other, existing roleplays in their plot and there are so many copy and pasted things that it looks to be done on purpose. You can say, “but it’s a D/s academy rp and there’s only so many ways to rp in a school, so of course it looks similar to other rps of the same genre” except for the part where even academy rps have their own unique plot points, including the history of the world, social economics, and the school as well as the history of the administration. And that wasn’t the last time it was brought to my attention, or the only reason. I do see it, if we’re looking for my opinion on the matter of stolen plot content. I can see at least three different roleplays that were already in the tags for a long time, weaved together to make this group. I don’t really see anything that is original in the plot or worldview info, aside from maybe the intense details on IVF as the reason for there being so many triplets. Don’t quote me on that, though, it may have been used before. I just haven’t seen it. 

It weirds me out that they have all of their characters being thrust into nsfw situations before 18, with what should be an 18+ concept like BDSM, and at the same time they’re a discord rp as well as a tumblr rp. It says on their application that the characters are tested to find out which mark they are at 17. That’s a minor, being tested in a nsfw way because however you slice it BDSM and D/s are nsfw and nobody under the age of 18 can legally or morally be allowed to even dip a single toe in and that includes taking a test to find out what kinks they like and whether they’re going to want to be catching or receiving when it comes to sex. It just makes me wonder what’s being hidden in the discord. I’d also like to mention that they do have the option to play teachers as well as students, which is just weird and gross to me in this instance. The content is nsfw, clearly some students are going to get with teachers. It’s weird enough when it’s a sfw college rp and students do not smut with teachers, but being a teacher is a respectable character choice so I can see why you’d want to do it. If you were going to focus on talking to other teachers and developing plots with other teachers. In this instance though... the power dynamic between teachers and students are way different and there is a sexual overtone automatically because this is a kinky smut rp. You can also play a character as young as 21, which just makes me hope there are no relationships being written out by naive 21 year olds with their 30-40-50+, way more mature, could be their parent teacher. That might sound like I’m making up something that would never happen, but I have seen someone try to play a 62 year old lesbian that was predatory towards 19 year olds and even claimed one in a D/s rp like this. We all know how Glee rps work, we all know this line has already been crossed. We all also know why that’s gross- it’s an abuse of power and there is no way that a teacher/student dynamic could be cute because there will always be a sense of one person being way more mature than the other and being in a seat of power. Another reason to wonder what’s being hidden on this discord.

There are incorrectly casted families. In particular, I’m seeing POC families with fcs that should not belong because they do not match. I’d really like to know how it is that two Filipino girls and a black girl are twins. As a general note to the admins, you can’t erase half of someone’s ethnicity either. There are other families where one or more character is half right but also half wrong in an offensive way. And some families that are just wrong. I do give them props on some of this being right, but that doesn’t erase the other problems. You can’t whitewash people. Not all Asians are the same. Not all Latinx people are the same. Brown people aren’t interchangeable. Let me just list these so they’re easier to fix:

In the Adams family, Alex Newell is African-American but the fc has a sister that’s  British, Polish and Caribbean. That might be picking at straws but I always find it offensive when people pick and choose how to group ethnicities- like deciding all Asians are the same so they can be related. Either way, she’s over half white which doesn’t match up. 

Laura Harrier is Rachel Berry, she is half black and half white with Jewish background so that’s a really nice choice but then she’s twins with two Haliee Steinfeld fcs? Hailee who is Filipino... She’s also been accused of using the N word and being racist so she’s on a lot of people’s banned lists for the same reasons as Lea Michele. 

Brianna Tju is in a Chinese family but she’s half Indonesian. She’s also a Disney Channel star, so some people find that problematic from the start, because most of her resources are from kid’s shows at an age that is too young to be roleplaying. She’s only 22 now, which is old enough to rp, however the only real resources she has are from something that aired in 2015 and was likely filmed in 2014 or earlier. When she was definitely a minor. 

Kaya Scoldelario is Brazilian. She’s whitewashed by being placed in the Clarington family.

Zoe Deutch is Jewish. Her siblings are Matthew Daddario (Slovak, Italian, Irish, Hungarian, and English) and Haley Lu Richardson, who has a white background that doesn’t include Jewish. This is the Corcoran family as well, which should be Jewish, since they’re all related to Idina Menzel.

Victoria Pedretti is Jewish and she’s in the very white Evans family.

None of the older Fabrays are Jewish, and Ashley Johnson is Native American but also somehow a twin of the white Frannie Fabray.

Principal Figgins is played by someone that is Pakistani but the Figgins on the masterlist is played by Dev Patel, who is Gujarati Indian. 

Tyler Hoechlin is also partially Native American, but he is placed in the Flangan (Irish, like straight out of Ireland) family that has Rory recast as Thomas Dogherty (Scottish) with an Ariana Grande (Italian) twin as well. 

Kristen Stewart is on the masterlist but she has asked numerous times not to be used in roleplay because it makes her uncomfortable. I just covered this for another roleplay, and I’ve seen other people mention it, so it’s common knowledge at this point. She has been saying this for a long time. She’s also placed as the twin of Danielle Campbell, who is Mexican and Cajun French while Kristen is just white and the canon family member (Gilbert, so Adam Lambert) is Jewish.

Zendaya is also placed as a twin to Samantha Ware. Zendaya is mixed race, half black and half white, while Samantha is black. 

Yvette Monreal is the twin to Demi Lovato. Yvette is Chilean. Demi is Mexican and Portuguese. 

Avan Jogia is a Hart, but he is Gujarati Indian and white. He would be a better family relation to Dev Patel than anyone else on the masterlist and vice versa. As a refresher, Samuel Larsen (the canon fc for the Hart family) is Mexican, Danish, Spanish and Persian.

Maddison Jaizani is Iranian, but she’s listed as a Holliday which makes her related to Gwyneth Paltrow... a blonde, white woman.

Jacob Elordia is Basque and his sibling on the masterlist is Marie Avgeropoulos, a Greek actress. 

Rafael Silva is Brazilian, but he is a Lopez triplet, related to a Mexican-Irish sister (Lindsay Morgan) and a Mexican-Jewish sister (Alexa Demie).

Sugar Motta is played by Vanessa Lengies on Glee, an Egyptian actress. Her family is whitewashed with two white fcs, Kelli Berglung and Robert Pattinson. 

Kaylee Byrant is Japanese but she is twin to Madison Beer (Jewish) and Daisy Ridley (white).

The Puckerman family has lost its Jewish heritage. The only two on Noah’s side are Adelaide Kane (white) and Luke Pasqualino (Italian). Jake Puckerman has been recast as Justice Smith, who is half black and half white but is not Jewish. His sister is Samantha Logan who is half Trinidadian and half white and Pauline Singer, who is full Fijian.

Antonia Gentry is cast as a Weston. She is Jamaican, her listed twin is half white and half African-American. The newest acceptance for a Weston is for an African American fc. 

Lili Reinhart is on the masterlist, but she’s problematic. She’s defended the abusive behavior of her cast mate, Cole Sprouse, who was very publicly accused of sexual assault and abuse. She’s also been accused of blackface annnnnnnd she’s used queer baiting to get people to watch the show. (She teased a girl on girl relationship publicly, telling people to watch the show because they might finally get to see something between Betty and Veronica, knowing that the fans wanted it, but then when she was asked about it in a later interview she scoffed and acted like it was absolutely impossible and would never happen, some would say she even sounded offended by the thought-- which is what everyone got mad at Melissa Benoist for doing with Supergirl.)

David Corenswet is Jewish, cast with Emily Browning as a sister, who is not.

I applaud the Brazilian change for Lauren Zizes, but Ashley Fink was a welcome representation of plus size actresses and the new fc is less than half her size. She’s still plus size technically, but she’s “model plus size,” which is not at all the same as Lauren’s body type. I ran this by someone that this change would affect and they were not pleased. They were the one that pointed this out to me, because it bothered them as a plus size person to see one of the few plus size characters recasted with a skinnier fc. 

Dove Cameron is also on the masterlist, but she’s on a bunch of people’s banned lists. She replied to a fan that said they wanted her to notice them that they were stupid and had no life if that was one of their goals. She’s been rude to cast and crew on set. Dove has also been accused of throwing a fit and making the writers change the Descendants script to take the relationship that was written out for a black actress. She’s being accused of yellow fishing, which I believe is the term for trying to look Asian. She wore a Native American headdress in a cultural appropriation type of way. She’s been accused of being fatphobic and hiding behind photoshop on her social media while saying she doesn’t photoshop, so she’s giving off a false sense of reality to her fans. She’s been talking badly about someone that is trying to get their sexual assault story out there. The latest thing that’s come out about her is a rant about how mental health isn’t real and that people just need to logic their way out of depression? Which would be coming from a seat of high privilege. She wrote a series of tweets on the topic, calling negative mental health and the feelings they cause “a choice.” There’s a whole hashtag on Tumblr for her. 

I’m not at all surprised to see that all of the diverse characters are open. No Artie, no Unique- who could definitely be recast as an actual trans woman, now that we’re living in the age of recasting for reasons of problematic natures- if we can have a new Puck, new Finn, new Rachel, and new Santana why not an appropriate Unique? She is literally the only canon trans woman, why not treat her with respect? They recasted Cooper to better fit the proper ethnicity, so... 

[zoefandom127]

Hands Up With Me Pt. 3

part 3!!! show some love to this on AO3 and Fanfiction.net

"Can you please look again?"

 "I'm sorry Miss but we've looked everywhere."

 They'd been at the airport for at least an hour, waiting at baggage claim. Most everyone has gathered their belongings and left but Julie couldn't leave until…

 "But I swear I brought it with me on the plane," Julie murmured more to herself. In reality, it shouldn't have been that serious. She was 20 years old for goodness sake. But she'd had it since forever. The old fabric and loose stitching forever etched into her mind. It's one of the only living relics her mom had given her before she passed. The thought of it being gone isn't something she could fathom.

 "Miss, we haven't seen a stuffed animal in any of our ports. If we hear anything, we'll let you know." With that, the baggage handler walked away leaving Julie in a mess.

 Honestly, it's just a bear. An old, worn out bear that had been in her life for a long time. She never went anywhere without, always bringing with her on tours and keeping it backstage as a good luck charm before performances. Sometimes it would almost be as if her mom was there with her.

 She knew mentally that her mom would always be with her no matter what. Somewhere in her mind or heart or whatever. But emotionally, that bear was the only other thing that made her feel close to her mom besides music. Mr. Harmelody (when she was younger she stumbled over her words and accidentally combined harmony and melody, somehow the name stuck) was there all the time. And she doesn't know why but she needs it with her.

 "Come on, Julie, it's getting late." Luke laid a hand on her shoulder, pulling her out of her reverie.

 "But…" Julie looked towards the boys and they were almost falling asleep on their feet. It had been a long flight and they still needed to wake up early the next morning for their interview with Carrie. Glancing at her phone, she winced when she saw it was a quarter ‘til one am. "Yeah, okay. Sorry for making you guys wait so long."

 Reggie, who had been leaning on a concrete column, slowly waking at the sound of Julie's voice being directed at him, Alex, and Luke. "No worries, Jules." He gave a tired smile and kicked Alex, jolting him awake.

 "Are we at the hotel yet?" Alex yawned.

 "No, but the cab's outside." Luke grabbed his suitcase and started towards the exit with the boys dragging their feet behind. Julie was lagging behind the three of them sleepily as she tried to rub away the stinging behind her eyes. It's not that serious. Everything will be alright.

...

Everything was not alright.

 Luke had been sitting with Julie for hours trying to come up with lyrics but the girl was dead on her feet. Ever since she lost Mr. Harmelody (he could imagine 3-year-old Julie saying that name in all her adorable cuteness) she'd been so reserved. Her answers would be 3 words or less. And she looked so distracted lately, always looking at her phone anxiously. Like she was waiting for it to ring and tell her the best news ever.

 He knew the significance of the bear, how much it connected it to her mom. But he didn't think the loss of it would affect her this much. She was barely functioning what with all the singing and touring and late nights but she did it all with a smile on her face. Now she had a blank stare and barely said a word to anyone.

 Yeah, he needed to fix this.

 Once Julie left, Luke pulled out his phone and went straight to his text messages, clicking on the group chat with the boys.

 Luke: guys we gotta help julie

 Alexander: Yeah…

 Reginald: Help her with what?

 Alexander: Haven't you noticed that she's been kinda…

 Luke: d e p r e s s e d

 Alexander: ^^^

 Reginald: Oh i thought she was just thinking. I mean thats what i look like when i think too hard.

 Alexander: Nah you look more constipated

 Luke: ANYWAY

 Luke: we need to find Mr. Harmelody

 Luke: any, ideas?

 Reginald: Oooooo maybe we could bribe them

 Alexander: With what? Your stupidity?

 Reginald: *gasp* I take that very offensive

 Alexander: You should

 Alexander: Calling the airport would probably be the best option

 Alexander: Though I think if they found it they would've called

 Luke: right but maybe we just have to be more insistent

 Alexander: Oh wow Luke, broadening your vocabulary lately?

 Luke: haha

 Luke: instead of calling we could like go in there and demand the bear

 Luke: that could work right?

 Alexander: Not if we want to be carried away by airport security

 Reginald: Ngl thatd be kinda fun

 Luke: idk guys but we have to find it. Julie is not okay

 Reginald: Awww yeah for Jules we gotta find Mr. Harmelody

 Reginald: ...I still think bribing them could work

 Alexander: Wait maybe we could bribe them with a concert.

 Alexander: If they search, we play

 Luke: yeah that could work!

 Luke: i'll call flynn so she can set it up. that girl is more intimidating than our actual manager

 All the details would be figured out now but for now…

 "We're coming for you, Mr. Harmelody."

...

Julie was bummed.

 Well to be honest, she was bummed all the time now. It had been a little over a week since Mr. Harmelody has been gone. The fact that she was this upset over a stuffed animal made her feel like a child again. She was reminded of the time she lost Mr. Harmelody when she was 9 years old. Her mom had taken her and Carlos to the town fair and her mom warned her not to bring Mr. Harmelody but at the time she was at the age where her attachment to her belongings was fierce. Julie didn't have a good grip on her bear for the dropdown ride and Mr. Harmelody went flying from her hands and through the air.

 As soon as her legs were on solid ground she went running in the general direction of where the bear flew, leaving her mom and Carlos to follow behind her as tears trailed down her face. After an hour of crying and searching, Rose found Mr. Harmelody lodged underneath a vendor cart for funnel cake.

 Maybe she had been a little dramatic back then, especially when she cried "my life is ruined" in her mother's embrace. But all the memories and love engraved in that bear seemed to be lost without it with her.

 Just as they seemed lost right now.

 Walking through the hallway of her apartment building, Julie heard voices from behind her door.

 "Shhh."

 Furrowing her eyebrows, she placed her ear against the door gently so as not to alert the people inside the apartment of her presence.

 "Okay, I'm gonna set up the camera."

 "Reg, we don't need to record this."

 "Are you kidding? The fans will eat this up. A touching JATP moment, if you will."

 "I will not."

 Hearing enough, Julie unlocked the door and wandered in.

 "Julie!" Luke yelled, surprised.

 There Alex, Luke, and Reggie stood looking as suspicious as ever.

 Hesitantly, Julie continued her trek inside. "Hey…" She spoke wearily.

 "Did we figure out how we're gonna present it to her?" Alex asked after a brief moment of silence as Julie stared at them skeptically with her arms crossed.

 "Uh no. Not really." Reggie responded, still looking at Julie with a smile on his face.

 "What's going on?"

 The boys looked at each other as if making a small agreement as they nodded their heads slightly. Luke had both his hands behind his back, clearly holding something. He stepped up to her and proceeded to show her Mr. Harmelody in all of his stuffed glory.

 Everything was the exact same. The same worn clothes and stitches that were begging to be replaced, albeit a little dirtier than before. Julie reached a hand to touch the fluffiness of the soft bear, tears pricking the corners of her eyes.

 "How did you…"

 "Let's just say we're gonna be performing a private concert at the airport on Thursday." Luke smiled, proudly at her.

 Julie barely even heard him. She quickly gathered the bear from Luke's hands and clutched tightly to her chest, closing her eyes at the familiar yet nonexistent embrace of Mr. Harmelody. She bent her legs until her knees were fully folded against her chest, pushing the bear closer against her as her arms tightened around it.

 Tears streamed down her face freely and she almost didn't register the feeling of her boys kneeling around her. The proximity brought even more comfort.

 "Thank you." Julie croaked out, her eyes still shut firmly.

 "Anytime, Jules." Alex rubbed her back as she cried softly.

 Once her cries ceased, Julie looked up with puffy eyes at each of the boys who surrounded her. "Mr. Harmelody says thank you too." She grinned brightly.

 "Aw," Reggie spoke as he placed his arms around all three of them. "I can't wait to put this on Instagram."

...

The next day Julie got an Instagram notification that she was tagged in a post from Reggie. The caption read:

 "JATP moments like this>>>"

 Julie smiled down at her phone when she saw a picture of the four of them kneeled on the carpet floor of her apartment gathered in a warm hug. Obviously, he chose not to post the full video, wanting to keep some parts of their lives separate from their fanbase.

 After taking a look through the comments, she finally decided to comment one of her own.

 “Mr. Harmelody is back in commission!"

 lukepatterson replied to your comment: "damn right!"

 alexmercer replied to your comment: "The unofficial member of Julie and the Phantoms"

 Julie grinned happily as she laid her phone on her coffee table. Mr. Harmelody may have been her source of comfort then but now? She had her boys.

hope yall enjoyed!

[grigori77]

Movies of 2020 - My Pre-Summer Favourites (Part 1)

The Runners-Up:

20.  DISAPPEARANCE AT CLIFTON HILL – first up is this sneaky little psychological mystery thriller from writer-director Albert Shin (In Her Place), a semi-autobiographical piece inspired by his own childhood experiences at his family’s motel at Niagara Falls.  Sense8 star Tuppence Middleton delivers magnificently as a troubled young woman whose long-buried memories of witnessing a child-abduction in the area are stirred up following her mother’s death, while Shin weaves a palpable atmosphere of dread and doubt as the twisted narrative confounds our expectations.

19.  BEASTIE BOYS STORY – Spike Jonze, undeniably one of Hollywood’s most outside-the-box directors, is the perfect choice to tell the story of one of music’s most live-wire bands (he did, after all, helm their greatest music video, the incendiary Sabotage).  Unfortunately, MCA died in 2012, but Mike D and Ad-Rock are on-hand to remember their best friend during this endlessly fascinating live-recorded stage-show in which they recount their tale with the aid of Jonze’s quirkily edited montage of archive footage and crappy animations.

18.  THE RHYTHM SECTION – Blake Lively follows in the footsteps of Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman to reinvent herself as a kickass action heroine in this dark and edgy revenge thriller from rising star female director Reed Morano (Meadowland, TV’s The Handmaid’s Tale), but she does things a little differently, portraying an instantly relatable, refreshingly vulnerable amateur warrior who enlists the help of Jude Law’s disgraced MI6 spook to train her to kill after her whole family die in a terrorist attack.

17.  BOMBSHELL – the #MeToo movement gets its strongest cinematic ammunition to date with this challenging true-life drama chronicling the very public fall of media mogul Roger Ailes (portrayed with loathsome brilliance by John Lithgow) and the beleaguered women from Fox News who brought him down (represented here by the spectacular triumvirate of Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie).  It’s hard to watch at times, but that’s the point, and the choice of comedy director Jay Roach (best known for Austin Powers) is not so surprising after thought-provoking films like Trumbo.

16.  JOJO RABBIT – the year certainly got off to suitably eclectic start with this leftfield black comedy from Taika Waititi, following the misadventures of Hitler Youth cadet Jojo Betzler (an incredible debut from Roman Griffin Davis) and his imaginary friend Adolf (Waititi in his wackiest screen role to date) as they negotiate the final days of the Third Reich.  In less assured hands this film could have been an offensive mess, but ultimately proved to be one of the year’s most rewardingly entertaining and surprisingly powerful films.

15.  THE LAST FULL MEASURE – writer-director Todd Robinson delivers a powerful slice of true-life drama with this account of the 32-year struggle to secure a posthumous award of the Medal of Honour for the Vietnam War sacrifice of US Air Force pararescueman William Pitsenbarger.  Sebastian Stan stars as the Pentagon staffer embarking on a frustrating battle against decades of red tape, and there’s first-rate support from William Hurt, Ed Harris, Samuel L. Jackson and Peter Fonda as the traumatised veterans determined to see their fallen comrade finally get the recognition he deserves.

14.  BLOODSHOT – right now, the 2020 award for my biggest guilty pleasure goes to this gloriously OTT ultra-violent superhero flick, intended to be the opening entry in a big-screen shared-universe based on the Valiant Comics properties.  Vin Diesel is no-brainer casting as brutally murdered US marine Ray Garrison, brought back to life using nanotechnology which grants him superhuman strength and massive regenerative abilities that render him virtually indestructible.  This is big, loud, dumb cinema at its most fun, and I’m DEFINITELY up for more.

13.  THE LIGHTHOUSE – rightly winning awards from all quarters and garnering massive praise and recognition, writer-director Robert Eggers’ second feature EASILY eclipses the low key brilliance of his debut horror flick The Witch, thoroughly outdoing it in terms of sheer nerve-shredding anxiety and mind-scrambling WEIRDNESS.  Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson both deliver career-best performances as the 19th Century wickies suffering increasingly crippling cabin fever in their remote New England lighthouse.

12.  A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD – like many kids of the 1980s, I have strong formative memories of Fred Rogers (I may be Brit, but my dad was in the RAF, so we spent three very key years of my childhood living in St Louis, Missouri), so I was FASCINATED by the prospect of a biopic, especially if the great man was going to be played by one of my very favourite actors, Tom Hanks.  He thoroughly deserved his latest Oscar nomination for effortlessly bringing Mister Rogers to vivid life under the expert guidance of writer-director Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) in this spellbinding emotional extravaganza.

11.  DANIEL ISN’T REAL – undoubtedly destined to become a future cult classic, this quietly unnerving and insidiously disturbing psychological horror from indie writer-director Adam Egypt Mortimer (Some Kind of Hate) is certainly one of my top under-the-radar hits for the year so far.  Patrick (son of Arnie) Schwarzenegger oozes toxic masculinity as Daniel, the decidedly malevolent imaginary friend who’s suddenly resurfaced in the life of emotionally fragile New York student Luke (Blockers and Halloween’s Miles Robbins), knocking his life into a nightmarish spiral of Lovecraftian existential terror.

[hazyheel]

WWE Monday Night Raw 9/16/19 Review

Well, this episode was certainly bad. There was a whole bunch of stupid soap opera stuff in the middle that honestly made this show feel like a cold shit. I normally say that Raw was decent or fine or boring, but I can safely say that this was a real bad one. But it wasn’t without it’s diamonds in the rough. So, if you’re willing to swim through the crap that is the rest of my review, then here it is. If you’re not, then Corey Graves would call you a beta cuck. 

Seth Rollins Promo: Rollins came on out and recapped Clash of Champions. He said that it was neither his nor Strowman’s fault for losing the Raw Tag Team Championships. Then he put Strowman over hard by describing how much it took to keep him down. He then talked about how the Fiend attacked him, and officially accepted his challenge for Hell in a Cell. Wyatt then came on the Titantron, in his usual creepy Firefly Funhouse. Rollins told him that he was messed up and needed help, when Ramblin Rabbit told Rollins that he didn’t know what he was dealing with, and told him to run, before Wyatt punched him. Wyatt then told Rollins that the Fiend does not forget anyone, and maybe he will appear again tonight. As Wyatt signed off, and said “see you in hell.” The music continued to play. 

Grade: B+. I thought this was just shy of great. I loved the inclusion of Ramblin Rabbit, whose storyline I’m honestly more invested in than the Kevin Owens/ Shane McMahon feud. Wyatt was perfectly creepy and threatening, and Rollins looked genuinely concerned about someone attacking him from behind. Rollins is treating Wyatt like a threat, and it was awesome. The more he is treated like a monster, the more he will be perceived as one. If they keep this up, this will be a great feud. Highlight of the night. 

Also, before the next segment, they ran down the card for later on, but the graphics were upside down the entire time. Renee Young pointed it out, which was funny. 

Braun Strowman interview: Strowman said that the only reason he was here was that he was pissed, and would beat up whoever was in in the ring next. 

Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode promo: I guess this was some sort of a summit, because the Revival showed up right away as well. Roode put himself and Ziggler over for winning the tag team championships so soon after becoming a team. However, as they were talking, Braun Strowman came out. The Revival attacked him in the aisle, but he tossed them around with ease. Stromwan then cleared the ring. Roode was actually able to get out of the way unscathed. 

Grade: C. I wasn’t a huge fan of this, because I don’t see what it did. I still don’t know where Strowman will go from here, and he beat down three of the four tag team champions. In terms of action it was fine and kinda exciting, but I don’t really know where this is going. I’m not going to rate it lower because this could be the start of the story, but right now I don’t know what is happening. 

Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross backstage: They kinda made fun of both Mandy Rose and Sasha Banks. They then put over their tag team titles, and said that they are very important, sorta as a counter to Banks crapping all over them a few weeks ago. That was it. 

Cedric Alexander & The Viking Raiders vs. The OC: AJ Styles started things out with Alexander, and the two layed into each other in the corner right then the match started. Alexander tagged in Erik, who kneed Styles in the face, before Styles tagged out to Karl Anderson. The Viking Raiders then teamed up on him a bit, but Luke Gallows quickly tagged in to duel with Erik. Erik was then beaten down by the OC after Styles threw him into the barricade. Ivar got the hot tag after the commercial break and beat down the whole OC. Alexander then nailed a springboard clothesline to Anderson for a near fall. However, Styles then tagged in, nailed him with the Phenomenal forearm to win the match.

After the match, the OC continued the attack. Ivar destroyed Anderson, Gallows and Erik with a senton off the top. Styles then went for something on Alexander off the top, but Alexander met him there. Alexander went for a rana, but Styles caught him and nailed the Styles Clash off the second rope. 

Grade: C+. Fine match with fine action. But this didn’t really forward much of a storyline other than the Viking Raiders vs. The Good Brothers, which will have to happen eventually. Styles pinned Alexander again, so that feud is done, and we will need a new challenger for Styles. But this match didn’t really do a bunch for me and was too short to really get going. It ended as it was picking up, so not awesome. 

24/7 shenanigans: Truth and Carmella visited the Women’s basketball hall of fame. Truth joked a bunch, it was funny. Then Kane showed up, because they are in Tennessee. They joked about it, but turns out Kane wasn’t in character. He just called himself Glenn Jacobs, and offered Truth a tour around. This is not over!

Baron Corbin vs. Chad Gable in the finals of the 2019 King of the Ring: this was done up all pretty with official announcing and such, but it was still on in the first hour. As things started up, Gable tried to go for some technical exchanges, which Corbin was having none of. Gable eventually forced his way to the mat, and tried to power up Corbin for some suplexes, but he couldn’t get him up and took control away. The two fought to the outside, and Gable charged at Corbin, only to eat a huge back body drop into the timekeeper’s area. When we came back to the ring, Gable barely beat a countout. Corbin continued to absolutely destroyed Gable with strikes, including a huge big boot to stifle a comeback. At one point, Gable locked in an armbar over the ropes, but Gable just picked him up and powerbombed him back into the ring. Gable did a great job of selling the fact that he was desperate, and at one point was able to pick the ankle, only for Corbin to post himself. Gable then followed up with a missile dropkick, and several running flip kicks, until Corbin popped him up into a slam for a near fall. Corbin then took the fight to the outside, where Gable dodged a shoulder tackle that sent Corbin into the steel steps. Gable then rolled Corbin into the ring and started to target the leg a bit, only for Corbin to stop him dead in his tracks with a deep six for a near fall. Corbin then went for his around the post clothesline, but Gable dodged it and nailed the Chaos Theory, only for Corbin to kick out. They then scrambled a bit, with Gable baely able to pick the ankle. There was a tense submission sequece, with table even locking up the leg, only for Corbin to still force the break. They then battled a bit in the corner, and Gable went for a running flip kick again, only for Corbin to twirl him around his body and hit the End of Days for the win.

After the match, Corbin posed near the throne. They didn’t even give him time to put on the props. 

Grade: B. It almost made it to a B+, but I couldn’t get it there. There wasn’t enough back and forth early on in the match for it to get there, but the finish was really really good. Gable had just enough comebacks to keep things interesting. Corbin beat him down at every turn, so those moments when he nearly won were really good. The Chaos Theory looked awesome, and the ankle lock actually got me a bit. And of course that tilt a whirl finish looked super cool, so I can’t complain. Corbin did a good job in this tournament, so all hail King Corbin. 

Maria Kanellis Gender Reveal party: The Street Profits were hosting this for some reason. Maria said it was a boy, and then that it was Ricochet’s. Ricochet did some sitcom BS to not actually confirm that the kid isn’t his. Mike Kanellis slapped him and challenged him to a match. Then Titus O’Neil and the Street Profits made a bunch of sex jokes. This was stupid but kinda funny.

Mike Kanellis vs. Ricochet: Ricochet was a bit apprehensive about fighting Kanellis, but Kanellis insisted. Ricochet then beat him down with all of his signature offense and won with Recoil. 

Grade: D+. What was this? Why Was this? Who decided they should do this? And for a nothing filler match? They could’ve taken the time from the party and added it to the match to give them some time for a nice match. I’m giving this a pretty low grade, but no F or anything because I did think it was kinda funny, although ultimately pointless. Ricochet is a dad, and I’m sure Kacy Catanzaro is thrilled. 

Firefly Funhouse: Bray Wyatt put up pictures of all the people that he destroyed as the Fiend, and then left the Funhouse. Ominous. 

Maria Kanellis being mean to Mike: After the commercial, Maria came out and yelled at Mike a whole bunch in an attempt to motivate him. She said that Ricochet wasn’t the father, but it was Rusev. So this was Rusev’s big return. Mike tried to stop him from beating his ass, and just congratulated him and tried to run away. Rusev ran him down and kicked his ass. Also, Corey Graves called Kanellis a beta cuck. 

Mike Kanellis vs. Rusev: Rusev hit the Machka kick, and tapped Kanellis out to the Acolayde. During this time, Michael Cole was being a dick to Renee Young about her mentioning the match was underway, and she said she was mansplaining. 

Grade: F. Yeah, this was only funny because the commentators had to talk about this as it was happening. Rusev is married, which is something that they actually mentioned on commentary, and this is the worst story for him to come back to. Why did Mike need to lose twice? Ugh, I hope to God he goes back down to NXT, because while this was funny all around him, all the stuff with him in it was just sad. Even Michael Cole called him a loser. This is bad

24/7 Shenanigans cont: Truth and Jacobs visited a football stadium. They talked a bit, and Truth was being dumb and weird. A cop then popped up, but turns out he was a ref. Truth tried to run away, and ran right into the goal post. Glenn Jacobs pinned him and won the championship. Pretty funny, but this was a crazy ass second hour. 

Rey Mysterio vs. Cesaro: Before the match started, Cesaero crapped on Mysterio’s kid, and they brawled a bit. Cesaro was absolutely beating down Mysterio for a while after showing some great offense, and we cut to commercial in the middle of it. Cesaro continued to destroy Rey, and at one time caught Mysterio out of a 619 and dropped Mysterio on his knee for a near fall. Mysterio then hit the 619, and tried for a flying rana to close things out, but Cesaro caught him, only for Mysterio to hit a sunset flip powerbomb for the win. 

Grade: B-. Above average B- match, but there wasn’t a lot of back and forth for me. The action was still good enough to be a positive, but I was mostly just happy to have a good match after all that crap. 

Firefly Funhouse again: Bray put up Rollins’ picture, and things were creepy. 

AOP Video Package: It’s sure as hell been a while since they’ve been shown on TV. They demanded competition, called the WWE Tag Division soft, and threatened to take the opportunities that were owed to them. They need a mouthpiece.

Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. Bayley & Sasha Banks: Bayley and Bliss started things out, and Bliss quickly took control by giving Bayley and Banks a somersault sneton to the outisde, seeming to irritate her leg. Cross soon tagged in and got beat up. As she was about to tag Bliss, Bayly dragged Bliss off the apron and started to viciously assault her leg. Bliss looked to be very hurt, but then they cut to commercial. As we came back from commercial, Cross was desperately fighting a two on battle, and looking pretty good as she did. She was absolutely wild in her offense, and was actually able to beat down the champions by herself for a bit. Bayley fought back against her foe, but Cross refused to let up. Cross even hit a hangman’s swinging neckbreaker on Bayley, but Banks broke it up. Banks then tagged herself in and locked in the Bank Statement for the win. 

After the match, Banks was going to beat down Cross with a chair, but Becky Lynch ran down to make the save. Her and Banks fought with the chairs, until Bayley ran in to help Banks. Charlotte then showed up, and Bayley ran at her, only to eat a big boot and some chair shots. Back in the ring, Lynch gave Banks some chair shots, and Charlotte and Lynch stood tall together, but warily.

Grade: C. This was an odd match, with Bliss being carted out in the middle for an injury that may or may not be legit. But Cross looked pretty good fighting alone, but it was pretty much just a random match to give Lynch someone to save. Also, if the Boss n’ Hug connection don’t get a match for the Tag Team Titles, then I will riot. They beat the champions, they get a shot. 

Sasha Banks Backstage:  She just said that she challenges Lynch to a rematch at Hell in Cell. They didn’t confirm the stip, but it’ll probably be a Hell in a Cell. 

24/7 Shenanigans: Glenn Jacobs got out of a limo, and Truth hopped off the top of the limo and pinned him. Then they talked about how Monday Night Raw was Jacobs’ home, and they walked in together. 

Becky Lynch backstage: Lynch said that Banks wanted a fight, but she wasn’t willing to step her game up. So Lynch escalated things, and challenged her to a Hell in a Cell match. Super into this, very excited. 

Lacy Evans vs. Dana Brooke: Evans attacked before the bell, which made Brooke super mad so they beat into each other. Evans quickly fought back into the match and hit some of her signature offense. Evans quickly hit the Woman’s Right, but she didn’t make the pin. Instead, she locked in the sharpshooter, and called out Natalya as she did. Brooke tapped out.

Grade: C+. Squash squash squash. Loved to see Brooke though!

Robert Roode vs. Seth Rollins: The two started out with some chain wrestling, before picking things up. Rollins destroyed Roode with a series of fast paced strikes and kicks, but Roode took him down with a vicious knee to the gut. At one point, Rollins was going to go for a suicide dive, but Ziggler hopped up on the apron to stop him. However, that didn’t half Rollins’ momentum, until Roode gave Rollins a forearm to the outside, and then Ziggler hit him with one of his own to give Roode control. Roode continued to maintain control, until Rollins countered a spinebuster into a Falcon Arrow for a near fall. In the finish, Rollins slipped out of a superplex to deliver a buckle bomb, superkick to the stomach, and then a stomp, only for Ziggler to break it up and give Rollins the win by DQ. 

Rollins and Ziggler brawled after the match, when the OC all ran down to help in the beatdown. He ate a magic killer, a Styles Clash and a Superkick. Then they continued to stomp on him, but Kane came out and beat everyone down. He gave Gallows and Anderson and Styles chokeslams. But after he cleared the ring, the lights slowly went out, the Fiend showed up once again and took Kane down with the mandible claw. Then he cradled a basically unconscious Rollins. The show ended with a demonic and long rendition of the Firefly Fun House song.

Grade: B. The match was good, not really spectacular. But the post match beatdown was fun, and Bray Wyatt showing up to beat down Kane was great. This is what should’ve happened last week with Austin and Taker. Cradling Rolllins was super creepy, and then a rendition of the Firefly Fun House Song to close it out. A hell of a way to close out Raw. 

Overall Grade: C

Pros: opening promo; KOTR final; main event

Cons: Random Strowman attack; all the baby stuff; women’s tag; 

[blackkudos]

Stuart Scott

Stuart Orlando Scott (July 19, 1965 – January 4, 2015) was an American sportscaster and anchor on ESPN, most notably on SportsCenter. Well known for his hip-hop style and use of catchphrases, Scott was also a regular for the network in its National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL) coverage.

Scott grew up in North Carolina, and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He began his career with various local television stations before joining ESPN in 1993. Although there were already accomplished African-American sportscasters, his blending of hip hop with sportscasting was unique for television. By 2008, he was a staple in ESPN's programming, and also began on ABC as lead host for their coverage of the NBA.

In 2007, Scott had an appendectomy and learned that his appendix was cancerous. After going into remission, he was again diagnosed with cancer in 2011 and 2013. Scott was honored at the ESPY Awards in 2014 with the Jimmy V Award for his fight against cancer, less than six months before his death in 2015 at the age of 49.

Early life

Stuart Orlando Scott was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 19, 1965 as the son of O. Ray and Jacqueline Scott. When he was 7, Scott and his family moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Scott had a brother named Stephen and two sisters named Susan and Synthia.

He attended Mount Tabor High School for 9th and 10th grade and then completed his last two years at Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, graduating in 1983. In high school, he was a captain of his football team, ran track, served as Vice President of the Student Council, and was the Sergeant at Arms of the school's Key Club. Scott was inducted into the Richard J. Reynolds High School Hall of Fame during a ceremony on February 6, 2015, which took place during the Reynolds/Mt. Tabor (the two high schools that Scott attended) basketball game.

He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and was part of the on-air talent at WXYC. While at UNC, Scott also played wide receiver and defensive back on the football team. In 1987, Scott graduated from the UNC with a B.A. in speech communication. In 2001, Scott gave the commencement address at UNC where he implored graduates to celebrate diversity and recognize the power of communication.

Career

Following graduation, Scott worked as a news reporter and weekend sports anchor at WPDE-TV in Florence, South Carolina from 1987 until 1988. Scott came up with the phrase "as cool as the other side of the pillow" while working his first job at WPDE. After this, Scott worked as a news reporter at WRAL-TV 5 in Raleigh, North Carolina from 1988 until 1990. WRAL Sports anchor Jeff Gravley recalled there was a "natural bond" between Scott and the sports department. Gravley described his style as creative, gregarious and adding so much energy to the newsroom. Even after leaving, Scott still visited his former colleagues at WRAL and treated them like family.

From 1990 until 1993, Scott worked at WESH, an NBC affiliate in Orlando, Florida as a sports reporter and sports anchor. While at WESH, he met ESPN producer Gus Ramsey, who was beginning his own career. Ramsey said of Scott: "You knew the second he walked in the door that it was a pit stop, and that he was gonna be this big star somewhere someday. He went out and did a piece on the rodeo, and he nailed it just like he would nail the NBA Finals for ESPN." He earned first place honors from the Central Florida Press Club for a feature on rodeo.

ESPN

Al Jaffe, ESPN's vice president for talent, brought Scott to ESPN2 because they were looking for sportscasters who might appeal to a younger audience. Scott became one of the few African-American personalities who was not a former professional athlete. His first ESPN assignments were for SportsSmash, a short sportscast twice an hour on ESPN2's SportsNight program. After Keith Olbermann left SportsNight for ESPN's SportsCenter, Scott took his place in the anchor chair at SportsNight. After this, Scott was a regular on SportsCenter. At SportsCenter, Scott was frequently teamed with fellow anchors Steve Levy, Kenny Mayne, Dan Patrick, and most notably, Rich Eisen. Scott was a regular in the This is SportsCenter commercials.

In 2002, Scott was named studio host for the NBA on ESPN. He became lead host in 2008, when he also began at ABC in the same capacity for its NBA coverage, which included the NBA Finals. Additionally, Scott anchored SportsCenter's prime-time coverage from the site of NBA post-season games. From 1997 until 2014, he covered the league's finals. During the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals, Scott did one-on-one interviews with Michael Jordan. When Monday Night Football moved to ESPN in 2006, Scott hosted on-site coverage, including Monday Night Countdown and post-game SportsCenter coverage. Scott previously appeared on NFL Primetime during the 1997 season, Monday Night Countdown from 2002 to 2005, and Sunday NFL Countdown from 1999 to 2001. Scott also covered the MLB playoffs and NCAA Final Four in 1995 for ESPN.

Scott appeared in each issue of ESPN the Magazine, with his Holla column. During his work at ESPN, he also interviewed Tiger Woods, Sammy Sosa, President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign. As a part of the interview with President Barack Obama, Scott played in a one-on-one basketball game with the President. In 2004, per the request of U.S. troops, Scott and fellow SportsCenter co-anchors hosted a week of programs originating from Kuwait for ESPN's SportsCenter: Salute the Troops. He hosted a number of ESPN game and reality shows, including Stump the Schwab, Teammates, and Dream Job, and hosted David Blaine's Drowned Alive special. He hosted a special and only broadcast episode of America's Funniest Home Videos called AFV: The Sports Edition.

Style

While there were already successful African-American sportscasters, Scott blended hip-hop culture and sports in a way that had never been seen before on television. He talked in the same manner as fans would at home. ESPN director of news Vince Doria told ABC: "But Stuart spoke a much different language ... that appealed to a young demographic, particularly a young African-American demographic." Michael Wilbon wrote that Scott allowed his personality to infuse the coverage and his emotion to pour out.

Scott also integrated pop culture references into his reports. One commentator remembered his style: "he could go from evoking a Baptist preacher riffing during Sunday morning service ('Can I get a witness from the congregation?!'), to quoting Public Enemy frontman Chuck D ('Hear the drummer get WICKED!') In 1999, he was parodied on Saturday Night Live by Tim Meadows. Scott appeared in music videos with the rappers LL Cool J and Luke, and he was cited in "3 Peat", a Lil Wayne song that included the line: "Yeah, I got game like Stuart Scott, fresh out the ESPN shop." In a 2002 segment of NPR's On the Media, Scott revealed one approach to his anchoring duties: "Writing is better if it's kept simple. Every sentence doesn't need to have perfect noun/verb agreement. I've said 'ain't' on the air. Because I sometimes use 'ain't' when I'm talking."

As a result of his unique style, Scott and ESPN received a lot of hate mail from people who resented his color, his hip-hop style, or his generation. In a 2003 USA Today survey, Scott finished first in the question of which anchor should be voted off SportsCenter, but he also was second to Dan Patrick in the 'definitely keep him' voting. Jason Whitlock criticized Scott's use of Jay-Z's alternate nickname, "Jigga", at halftime of Monday Night Football as ridiculous and offensive. Scott never changed his style and ESPN stuck with him.

Catchphrases

Scott became well known for his use of catch phrases, following in the SportsCenter tradition begun by Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann. He popularized the phrase booyah, which spread from sports into mainstream culture. Some of the catchphrases included:

"Boo-Yah!"

"Hallah"

"As cool as the other side of the pillow"

"He must be the bus driver cuz he was takin' him to school."

"Holla at a playa when you see him in the street!"

"Just call him butter 'cause he's on a roll"

"They Call Him the Windex Man 'Cause He's Always Cleaning the Glass"

"You Ain't Gotta Go Home, But You Gotta Get The Heck Outta Here."

"He Treats Him Like a Dog. Sit. Stay."

"And the Lord said you got to rise Up!"

"Make All the Kinfolk Proud ... Pookie, Ray Ray and Moesha"

"It's Your World, Kid ... The Rest of Us Are Still Paying Rent"

"Can I Get a Witness From the Congregation?"

"Doing It, Doing It, Doing It Well"

"See ... What Had Happened Was"

Legacy

ESPN president John Skipper said Scott's flair and style, which he used to talk about the athletes he was covering, "changed everything." Fellow ESPN Anchor, Stan Verrett, said he was a trailblazer: "not only because he was black – obviously black – but because of his style, his demeanor, his presentation. He did not shy away from the fact that he was a black man, and that allowed the rest of us who came along to just be ourselves." He became a role model for African-American sports journalists.

Personal life

Scott was married to Kimberly Scott from 1993 to 2007. They had two daughters together, Taelor and Sydni. Scott lived in Avon, Connecticut. At the time of his death, Scott was in a relationship with Kristin Spodobalski. During his Jimmy V Award speech, he told his teenage daughters: "Taelor and Sydni, I love you guys more than I will ever be able to express. You two are my heartbeat. I am standing on this stage here tonight because of you."

Eye injury

Scott was injured when he was hit in the face by a football during a New York Jets mini-camp on April 3, 2002, while filming a special for ESPN, a blow which damaged his cornea. He received surgery but afterwards suffered from ptosis, or drooping of the eyelid.

Appendectomy and cancer

After leaving Connecticut on a Sunday morning in 2007 for Monday Night Football in Pittsburgh, Scott had a stomachache. After the stomachache worsened, he went to the hospital instead of the game and later had his appendix removed. After testing the appendix, doctors learned that he had cancer. Two days later, he had surgery in New York that removed part of his colon and some of his lymph nodes near the appendix. After the surgery, they recommended preventive chemotherapy. By December, Scott—while undergoing chemotherapy—hosted Friday night ESPN NBA coverage and led the coverage of ABC's NBA Christmas Day studio show. Scott worked out while undergoing chemotherapy. Scott said of his experience with cancer at the time: "One of the coolest things about having cancer, and I know that sounds like an oxymoron, is meeting other people who've had to fight it. You have a bond. It's like a fraternity or sorority." When Scott returned to work and people knew of his cancer diagnosis, the well-wishers felt overbearing for him as he just wanted to talk about sports, not cancer.

The cancer returned in 2011, but it eventually went back into remission. He was again diagnosed with cancer on January 14, 2013. After chemo, Scott would do mixed martial arts and/or a P90X workout regimen. By 2014, he had undergone 58 infusions of chemotherapy and switched to chemotherapy pills. Scott also went under radiation and multiple surgeries as a part of his cancer treatment. Scott never wanted to know what stage of cancer he was in.

Jimmy V Award

On July 16, 2014, Scott was honored at the ESPY Awards, with the Jimmy V Award for his ongoing battle against cancer. He shared that he had 4 surgeries in 7 days in the week prior to his appearance, when he was suffering from liver complications and kidney failure. Scott told the audience, "When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live." At the ESPYs, a video was also shown that included scenes of Scott from a clinic room at Johns Hopkins Hospital and other scenes from Scott's life fighting cancer. Scott ended the speech by calling his daughter up to the stage for a hug, "because I need one," and telling the audience to "have a great rest of your night, have a great rest of your life."

Death

On the morning of January 4, 2015, Scott died of cancer in his home in Avon, Connecticut, at the age of 49.

Tributes

ESPN announced: "Stuart Scott, a dedicated family man and one of ESPN's signature SportsCenter anchors, has died after a courageous and inspiring battle with cancer. He was 49." ESPN released a video obituary of Scott. Sports Illustrated called ESPN's video obituary a beautiful and moving tribute to a man who died "at the too-damn-young age of 49." Barack Obama paid tribute to Scott, saying:

I will miss Stuart Scott. Twenty years ago, Stuart helped usher in a new way to talk about our favorite teams and the day's best plays. For much of those twenty years, public service and campaigns have kept me from my family – but wherever I went, I could flip on the TV and Stu and his colleagues on SportsCenter were there. Over the years, he entertained us, and in the end, he inspired us – with courage and love. Michelle and I offer our thoughts and prayers to his family, friends, and colleagues.

A number of National Basketball Association athletes—current and former—paid tribute to Scott, including Stephen Curry, Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Jason Collins, Shaquille O'Neal, Magic Johnson, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Bruce Bowen, Dennis Rodman, James Worthy and others. A number of golfers paid tribute to Scott: Tiger Woods, Gary Player, David Duval, Lee Westwood, Blair O'Neal, Jane Park and others. Other athletes paid tribute including Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson, Jon Lester, Lance Armstrong, Barry Sanders, J. J. Watt, David Ortiz and Sheryl Swoopes. UNC basketball coach Roy Williams called him a "hero." Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians said: "We lost a football game but we lost more this morning. I think one of the best members of the media I've ever dealt with, Stuart Scott, passed away."

Colleagues Hannah Storm and Rich Eisen gave on-air remembrances of Scott. On SportsCenter, Scott Van Pelt and Steve Levy said farewell to Scott and left a chair empty in his honor. Tom Jackson, Cris Carter, Chris Berman, Mike Ditka and Keyshawn Johnson from NFL Countdown shared their memories of Scott.

During Ernie Johnson, Jr.'s acceptance speech for his 2015 Sports Emmy Award for Best Studio Host, he gave his award to Scott's daughters, saying it "belongs with Stuart Scott". At the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards and at the 2015 ESPY Awards, Scott was included in the "in memoriam" segment, a rare honor for a sports broadcaster.

Filmography

He Got Game (1998)

Disney's The Kid (2000)

Drumline (2002)

Love Don't Cost A Thing (2003)

Mr. 3000 (2004)

Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005)

The Game Plan (2007)

Enchanted (2007)

Just Wright (2010)

Television

Arli$$ (2000)

I Love the '80s (2002)

Soul Food (2003)

She Spies (2005)

I Love the '70s (2003)

One on One (2004)

Stump the Schwab (2004–06)

Dream Job (2004)

Teammates (2005)

I Love the '90s (2004)

I Love the Holidays (2005)

I Love Toys (2006)

Black to the Future (2009)

Publications

Scott, Stuart; Platt, Larry (2015). Every Day I Fight. Blue Rider Press. ISBN 978-0-399-17406-3. 

Wikipedia

[seven-oomen]

Hi, Ben!  I hope your day is going a bit better than yesterday, despite the financial woes.  I spent a large chunk of yesterday trying to pay a bill a day late (because with everything else going on it just kinda snuck up on me and it was past midnight before I realized I’d forgotten it), only to find out I have to now wait until NEXT month’s bill posts and it will combine them, but at that point I can split it into two payments instead of paying two months at once?  Which is really stupid to me, and I don’t know why it won’t just let me pay now, but oh well.  Can’t do anything about it now.

We seem to maybe be past the worst of the storm?  At least, it hasn’t rained or anything all day so far.  The biggest concern by far has been ice build up, because most of what we got was freezing rain and wintry mix.  I’ve included a lovely collage of some of the sights from my adventures taking out trash and trying to remove the ice from my windshield this morning (I figured since I was already dressed and outside anyway, why not have less to do before work tomorrow?)  It wouldn’t have been so bad if it hadn’t involved draping myself across my still ice-coated car to get the middle of the windshield.  I ended up soaking wet from my ribs to almost my knees (yay for being short.)  Also, I didn’t bother looking for my gloves, but then my nails were actually fairly useful for prying up some of the ice, so.  And I’m really kind of digging masks as a scarf alternative.  All the face and breath protection, none of the accidental choking or not staying in place.  (Scarves are pretty and all, but they’re far better on someone like Isaac, who is tall and slender and elegant.  I am none of those things.  XD )  I’m half tempted to reread The Way I Tend To Be or the last couple chapters of If You Want This Dance to not feel like the only one suffering. XD  Although sadly I do not have access to the more successful warming methods present in either of those fics.  XD

And from the looks of it I got about half the descriptions from the links.  Everything else showed fine, I think it was just because those were longer.  And now I definitely feel like Dichali would not be helpful in the least to this overly serious hunter who shows up trying to muscle in on his territory (whether you’re considering it in the literal, figurative, personal, OR professional sense. ;D )  Especially once he realizes that he’s a hunter (no, it doesnt matter how hot he is. XD )  Will Faron know that he’s a wolf when they meet?  (Or will he be suffering from the far more mundane issue of “how are you both so cute, yet so goddamn annoying?!  Fml.” XD )  Will seeing Faron’s interactions with Nate be what helps him realize his own feelings, or will it be something else?  (How will the presence of a new contender affect the betting pool?  XD )  Also, now curious about the other parent of his twins, too.  (I know, I know, I ask that everytime, but I can’t help it.  There’s always so many possibilities, some of which could come back to haunt them [possibly even literally…])  Is he the wolf that was videoed, or was it someone else?  Does he know who it was if it wasn’t him?  Are either of his kids werewolves (or are they too young to know yet?)  Are wolves only born or only made or both in this universe? Also now wondering if Old Faithful is just like an ancient sleeping dragon or something, instead of a regular geyser.

Also, a question occurred to me, and I really, REALLY hope it doesn’t come across wrong, I REALLY don’t mean it to, but if, theoretically, a person’s scent, to a werewolf, if comprised of both things like pheromones and chemosignals, as well as more, uh, physically based, bodily fluid-type scents, if you will, could a werewolf potentially tell if someone is trans by their scent?  (This mostly came from randomly remembering the scene in Pitch Black where Riddick outs the girl who’s been disguising herself as a boy, and then my brain wouldn’t let it go.  Again, I’m really sorry if it comes across weird or offensive in any way.)  And I also wanted to say that if you’d really rather not post any of this stuff (re: your novel) online, you are more than welcome to just email a reply if you want.  I just tend to send stuff this way out of habit.  :D

Glad you liked the DinLuke idea.  It was mostly inspired by a GIFset of scenes of Din not understanding Jedi stuff in the least.  I just figured he’d never be able to fully believe that Luke could just KNOW nothing was there, and, well, no one is supposed to see his face, right?  And he strikes me as just enough of a himbo to completely forget about covering anything else.  One day I will finally see the show, if only to see how correct some of the impressions I’ve formed actually are.  XD

Also, OMG, the “hunters using an adult shop instead of an outdoors/sporting goods shop” thing is brilliant.  And I was thinking of it in regards to TW, because I feel like there’d likely be some classist issues at play there, too.  Like I feel like the Argents would never think to do something like that (well…maybe Kate…), just because they already HAVE all those stockpiles and connections to military-esque supplies, and there’s a certain level of dignity they tend to reinforce (the Winchesters ain’t really all that proud, for all their infamy.)  But then, say, when Noah starts helping Chris with investigating stuff, he’s thinking of all the stuff he’s heard over the years from the vice cops about what they’ve found and seen, and some of the stuff he’s seen on DV calls that turned out to just be neighbors misunderstanding what they were hearing, (and maybe one or two sneaky trips to an out-of-county shop so that he could attempt to be more prepared once Stiles was old enough to start asking questions because he knew it’d probably get weird), so when he decides to stock up on some equipment of his own that’s where he goes, because it’s high quality, specifically designed for what they need, and likely far more affordable.  And the first time Chris sees some of it he thinks it’s both brilliant and kinda hot (and he can’t decide if he wants to know what some of this stuff is actually intended for or not.  Noah is totally willing to help him learn if he’d like. ;D )

Anyway, I’m rambling again.  I hope your day is going as well as it can, and that you’re generally feeling as good as possible.  (And hey, it doesn’t always matter so much if what your eating right now isn’t as healthy as it could be, as long as you’re trying to eat reasonable amounts on a regular schedule to help keep the habit going.  And either way you can always try again.)  Take care, stay warm and stay hydrated!  (I’m not much of a mom friend, but I do my best at being the aunt friend.  XD )  *Hugs to you both!*

Okay, I will email you some stuff since I don’t want to share too much info on Tumblr, but I def want to share a few things.

As for how I’m doing, it’s going okay today. I feel like I accomplished some things with my characters even though I wrote little, but the story and world is a lot clearer and lively in my head. And I know how I want to start this story now.

Physically, I could be better. I got little done physically, and I def had a few moments where I just laid on my couch and couldn’t move. My chessboard has a lot of dark pieces moving to the middle today. It’s a metaphor I have in my house, an actual mini chessboard on my coffee table, where I am the chessboard. The dark pieces are my dark thoughts, and the light pieces are my happy thoughts.

Some days, white moves forward the most. Some days black has the upper hand. But whatever day I have, I am never just the pieces; I am the board and I am the one constant dealing with those pieces. But they are just there, there are never me. Good or bad, they are just pieces. Having the physical element in my home reminds me of that.

Sorry, I went off on a tangent there.

And I definitely get the short problem when having to clean cars, or wearing scarfs. Although I think I pull my green one off relatively well. (I am 5′4 though, so anything long becomes a choking hazard)

The ice is pretty and dangerous though; I guess that’s its duality. But it sucks that everything is so slippery, hope that clears up soon. I think it’s slowly thawing here, so hopefully, my groceries can be delivered properly today. Fingers crossed.

Hope work tomorrow also goes well. Please be careful on the road?

Also, that’s a nice car, looks really reliable. ^^

And I hope that you too will be in better financial waters soon <3 We got this my friend.

And the Mandalorian is soooo good though, I highly recommend it! 

Yeah honestly, I thought that idea was quite brilliant and I kinda feel like putting it in the first draft as well. Though it could definitely work for a lot of TW fics too! 

Noah would be more than happy to teach Chris all about his new toys I’d feel like. And Chris would not mind one bit XD.

[ledenews]

Still Some Gems Left in Area's Class of 2020

Some of the Ohio Valley’s top basketball talent has come off the board recently. Wheeling Park’s Alex Vargo made his decision to play Division I ball at Youngstown State while Shanley Woods is keeping her game close to home and will suit up for Wheeling University next winter. Both of those announcements came within the last month, while other area seniors like Barnesville’s Luke Powell, Magnolia’s Kyndra Pilant, Beaver Local’s Jenna Riccardo, and Wheeling Central’s D-I duo of Eden Gainer and Kaylee Reinbeau made their selections known earlier in the school year. But not all the players have made their choices, and the Valley still boasts some top-notch talent waiting to find that perfect fit. While the ongoing coronavirus saga has grounded athletic competition to a screeching halt nationwide, it hasn’t hampered potential recruits' abilities to talk sports.

Wheeling Central's Hannah White showed no signs of her injury slowing her down senior year, and became one of the area's best two-way players, showing a tenacity on defense to go with a versatile offensive skill set.

Wheeling Central's Kaylee Reinbeau earlier signed to play at Division-I Bucknell

More Exposure Couldn’t Hurt Though

The conclusion of high school basketball season usually signals the start of travel and AAU seasons. While representing their schools is how players make a name for themselves locally, it’s on the road, at travel tournaments and collegiate ID camps where players are more visible to scouts and coaches. That’s obviously not an option presently with the sports’ hiatus. Bellaire’s Katrina Davis had planned on one finals season of AAU ball. The senior recently was named the Player of the Year in Ohio’s Division III and was a finalist in the voting for Ms. Basketball. She averaged 27.1 points a game this season and finished as the Big Reds’ all-time leader in steals (433) and wins (79) while she totaled the third-most points (1,564) and second-most assists (301). She’s on multiple radars, but a little more "out there" never hurts. “I was planning on playing AAU to get more exposure, so it’s put a hold on other offers that could’ve been coming my way,” Davis said. “But I’m focusing more on the schools that contacted me.” Davis is communicating with a number of schools, including Mountain East Conference teams like Wheeling and Glenville State, along with former WVIAC member Bluefield State in Division II; Marietta and Misericordia in D-III along with Rio Grande. Wheeling Central's Hannah White is another of the area's top seniors, who, as of yet, has not made her collegiate selection. White, who scored a career-high 33 points in the Maroon Knights' regional final win against Ritchie County, is keeping her decision close to the vest. Though White, too, could have benefited from one more season of AAU. As a junior, White suffered a season-ending knee injury that forced her to miss her junior track season, as well as travel basketball during the all-important junior-to-senior season transition. She finished with 980 points, despite missing most of her junior year, and averaged 18 points a game as a senior. But like Davis, her talents had long been known to college coaches, including the Horizon League's Cleveland State University, which had the then-sophomore in for a visit in October 2018.

Finding the Proper Fit

Davis was set to play in Ohio’s North-South all-star game which was recently canceled, as it was for another OVAC senior whose services are still available in Shadyside’s Kelly Hendershot. Hendershot capped a fine senior season with a 19.2 ppg scoring average, becoming the school’s all-time boys’ leading scorer in the process. He also earned honorable-mention all-Ohio as a receiver during football season and is quite adept on the baseball diamond as well. Hendershot has multiple avenues he could pursue, but he’s currently weighing his options as well, both in school, and in sport. “If I do get the opportunity to play at the next level, I would like to play at a school that will be the best fit for me,” Hendershot said. “I’ll play whatever roll the coach would want me to fill to help the team win.” Davis is hoping her roll consists of running the show from the point guard position. That’s where she feels her size and skill set can contribute best on the collegiate level and the interested coaches have agreed. “I see myself running the point guard position at the next level and the coaches and I have been on the same page with this,” Davis said. “Being as small as I am, that’s the position that best first me and my style of place, especially in college.” That fits her play style, but Davis is equally concerned about finding the right fit for herself academically. Davis carries a 4.16 grade point average and noted she intends to study occupational therapy, a degree field not every university offers. In fact, of the schools Davis is currently exploring, only Misericordia, a Division-III program in Northeastern Pennsylvania, offers an undergraduate program in OT. Whichever schools gains the services of either of these athletes will be acquiring welcome additions that could help their respective programs immediately. “The Ohio Valley has seen countless athletes come through over the years. In my opinion, I would put Katrina Davis, Hannah White and Kelly Hendershot up as some of the most talented, dedicated, and humbling athletes this area has ever seen,” said Jeremy Hays, owner and CEO of Fadeaway Fitness. “Their tireless work ethics and desire to be the best athlete he/she could become has really been put on display this year. Leading their teams to numerous wins but also demonstrating tremendous leadership for their teammates to follow. It’s hard not to root for kids like that. In addition to their athletic achievements, they are even better people.” Since starting his training and skill development company, Hays has worked with some of the best high school and collegiate athletes in the area and beyond, working to develop their skills and prepare them for the next level.

Shadyside's Kelly Hendershot was Eastern District Player of the Year and finished as the school's all-time leading scorer in boys basketball after averaging 19.2 points per game.

Keeping the Skills Sharp

Hendershot was likely prepping for baseball season, so AAU basketball wasn’t in the plans. Like his counterparts across the valley and beyond, those plans are on hold at this point, with it growing increasingly likely that spring sports will be a no-go. In the meantime, he’s resorting to what many have to keep his skills sharp—a little backyard hoop. “I have a court in my back yard so I just go out there and work on the things I struggled with this past season,” Hendershot noted. Davis has also seen her senior softball season put on hold as she was again looking to double-up AAU basketball and Big Reds’ softball. The break has given her an unexpected amount of free time. The trick is finding places to work out. “I try to keep in shape and get out and run about four times a week,” Davis said. “I haven’t really been able to get in the gym because of the virus, but I try to keep up on my footwork and quickness as much as I can.” Read the full article

[dukereviewstv]

Duke Reviews Tv: Smallville 1x17 Reaper

Hello, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome Back To Duke Reviews Tv, Where We Are Continuing Our Look At Smallville. Sorry I've Been Gone For A While I Had To Take A Break From Writing Here And Focus Mainly On My Main Tumblr Page, Duke Reviews For A While Because It Got To Be Too Much For Me...

I Couldn't Focus On Both Pages And Not Live My Life Which Is What Running Both Sites Were Doing To Me And I Just Had To Stop For A While. If Any Of My Followers Feel Like I Betrayed Them Because I Left Them Hanging I Would Like To Say I'm Sorry But Anyway While I Was Gone, This Happened...

(Start At 2:33, End At 3:05)

And While My Thoughts On This Are More Mixed Than What Other Smallville Fans Think About This, I'm Just Going To Shut Up And Get To Today's Episode Which Is The 17th Episode Of Season 1, Reaper..,

This Is About A Guy Named Tyler Randall Who Is Resurrected After A Piece Of Meteor Rock Collides Into Him At His Time Of Death, Granting Tyler The Ability To Turn Anyone He Touches Into Ash. At First He Uses His Powers To Help The Terminally Ill By Putting Them Out Of Their Misery...

But "Absloute Power Corrupts Absolutely" And Soon Tyler Gains An Addiction To What He Does, Can Clark Stop Him Before He Kills Whitney's Ailing Father?

Let's Find Out As We Watch Reaper...

The Episode Starts In A Hospital As Tyler Randall Visits His Ailing Mother Who Has Asked Him To See Her Because He Wants Him To Help Her Kill Herself And That If He Loves Her He'll Do This For Her...

And So, Even Though What She's Doing Is Wrong In This Reviewer's Opinion, He Does Help Her Die, Only For A Nurse To Call Security Who Ends Up Knocking Tyler Out Of A Window...

To His Death...

With His Body Taken To The Morgue, The Coroner Finds A Metor Rock Shard Embedded In His Wrist (From The Bracelet He Had On) Which He Decides To Remove Only For The Energy From The Rock To Be Enough To Bring Tyler Back To Life...

Turning The Coroner To Ash With His New Powers, Tyler Gets Off Of The Table And Walks Away...

A Few Weeks Later In Smallville, Martha And Clark Are Delivering Produce And Flowers To The Home For The Sick And Elderly Where They Talk About Clark's Upcoming Fishing Trip With Jonathan Which Clark Is Not Looking Forward To...

(Start At 0:51, End At 1:08)

Going Inside, They Visit An Ill Woman Named Mrs. Sykes Who Has A Dog Named Pepper Who Clark Feeds While Martha And Tyler Deliver Her Produce And Flowers...

However, When Mrs. Sykes Goes Through A Bout Of Serious Pain, She Takes A Liking Of Tyler When He Gives Her Her Pills And Promises To Bring Her Some White Roses Tomorrow...

Meanwhile At The Luthor Mansion, Lex Gets Another Visit From Lionel's Assistant, Dominic Who Is There For An Internal Audit As There Has Been Some Accounting Irregularities In His Division And Lionel Wants To Know Where The Money Went...

Which Leads Lex To Tell Dominic To Tread Carefully As Though He Denies It, He Still Is Lionel Luthor's Son...

Visiting The Talon, Lex Runs Into Clark Who Is Reading A Fishing Magazine For His Fishing Trip With His Father Which Leads Lex To Tell Clark About The Time He Went Fishing With Lionel...

(Start At 1:48, End At 2:25)

Seeing Lana Cry, Clark Goes Up To Talk To Her Where She Tells Him That's Whitney's Dad Has Just Had Another Heart Attack...

But Despite That Bit Of Bad News, We Cut To The Kent Farm As Dominic's Investigation Leads Him There, Introducing Himself To Jonathan, Which Leads To Him Asking Questions About The Crash Involving Lex's Porsche Before Telling Jonathan That While Lex Was Researching The Crash He Ordered An In-Depth Profile Into The Kents...

Having No Clue About This, Dominic Leaves Despite Jonathan Asking Him About What Lex Found During His Research?...

Visiting Whitney's Dad In The Hospital, He Tells Clark And Lana That Whitney Hasn't Been By To See Him Yet Which Has Lana Wondering...

Andrew(Singing In The Style Of Rockapella) Where In Smallville Is...Whitney Fordman?

Returning To The Farm Afterward, Clark Tells His Dad About The Metropolis Sharks Tickets That Lex Gave Him For Them Only For Jonathan To Relay His News That Lex Was Doing A Profile On Them, But Clark Tells Him That He Knew But Lex Promised That He Moved On...

One Thing: How Did Clark Know This?

Only Thing I Can Remember Was One Argument When Lex Asked Clark Questions About The Crash But He Never Outright Told Clark That He Was Investigating Into His Family So How Did Clark Find This Out?

Mad That Clark Didn't Tell Him Or His Mom About This, It Leads To An Argument Between Father And Son Which Leads To Clark Telling His Father To Stop Treating Him Like A Kid And That He Doesn't Like Fishing And That The Only Reason He Does It Is Because It Makes Him Happy...

Clark Tries To Apologize, But Jonathan Just Walks Away. Meanwhile At The Old Folks Home, Tyler Pays Mrs. Sykes Another Visit...

(Start At 3:09)

The Next Day On The Farm, Clark Gets Breakfast With Martha, Who Has Decided To Not Play Referee On Jonathan And Clark's Fight But Suggests To Clark That They Work It Out As She Doesn't Want To See Them To Drift Apart Like Jonathan Did With His Father...

A Few Hours Later At School, Chloe Tells Clark About Mrs. Sykes, Telling Him That While The Official Story Is That There Was Some Sort Of Fire And All They Found Were Her Ashes, She Thinks That It Was Spontaneous Combustion Which Leaves Clark And Pete Skeptical...

Visiting The Kent Barn To Talk With Jonathan About The Sharks Game On Sunday But Jonathan Tells Lex That He's Still Going Fishing On Sunday With Or Without Clark.

(Start At 1:53)

Finding Whitney At School, Clark Talks With Whitney About Why He Hasn't Visited His Father At The Hospital (Despite Whitney Knowing That It's Really Lana Asking And Not Clark) And Whitney Tells Clark That It's Because It Hurts Him To See His Father So Weak In That Hospital Especially Since He's The Strongest Man He's Known In His Life Also He Doesn't Want His Last Memories Of His Dad To Be The Sick Man In The Hospital Now...

After Finishing Talking With Whitney, Chloe Finds Clark To Show Him A Story In The Daily Planet About Tyler Turning The Coroner Into Ash And Disappearing Which Leads Them To Investigate Mrs. Sykes Room, Where Chloe Takes Pics Of The Ashy Shadow On Mrs. Sykes Bed..

While Clark Wonders Where Sykes Dog, Pepper Is As He Doesn't Hear Her Barking And....

Yep, Turns Out Tyler Also Killed Pepper...

You Know, Joe Bob Briggs That Did TNT'S Monstervision And Is Now On Shudder Doing Stuff, Once Said That One Of The Main Rules Of Horror Films Is That You Can Kill As Many People As You Want To But You Never Kill A Pet Because It Makes People Upset And Boy, Was He Right...

Yeah, I Know We Didn't Actually See The Dog Killed On Screen But No Offense, I Just Don't Like It When People Kill Dogs In Movies And Tv Because 1. It's Not Needed And 2. It Just Pisses People Off, Hell, Look At All The Animal Organizations That Jump At The Drop Of A Hat...

Seeing The White Rose On Sykes Dresser, Clark Believes It May Have Been Combustion But It Wasn't Spontaneous...

Dropping Off Some Extra Produce That She Didn't Want To Go To Waste At The Old Folks Home, Martha Runs Into Tyler Who Turns The Food To Ash When He Forgets To Wear His Gloves...

Telling The Manager To Call The Cops, Tyler Turns Him To Ash Too And Intends On Doing The Same To Martha As He Follows The Oliver Queen Method Of "No One Can Know My Secret" But Luckily Tyler Is Stopped By Clark Who Scares Him Off...

Taking Martha Home, Jonathan Tells Clark That She'll Be Fine And The Police Are Looking For Tyler, However Clark Doesn't Think They'll Be Able To Find Him Because 1. He Had No Heartbeat And 2. He's Too Powerful With His Powers...

In Fact, If Anyone Should Be The Spectre Right Now It's Tyler...

A Few Hours Later, Clark Visits The Talon To Warn Lana About Tyler Only To Say Thank You For What He Did With Whitney As He Wants To Get Together With Her After Work To Talk...

As Lana Takes Off, Lex Enters To Tell Him That He's Rescinding The Offer On The Sharks Game So Clark Can Go Fishing With His Dad As It's Obvious That Jonathan Wants To Spend Time With Clark And It's Not Something He Wants To Come Between...

Too Little, Too Late, Lex...

(Start At 2:40)

Later At The Graveyard, Lana And Whitney Have A Meaningful Talk Which Ends With Whitney Deciding To Go To The Hospital To See His Father. But As Whitney Leaves, Lana Runs Into Tyler Who Tells Her That He's Not Going Hurt Her Or Anyone And He Wants To Do Is Give People Peace...

Overhearing Whitney's Conversation With Lana, Tyler Promises To Help Whitney And His Dad Move On Before He Disappears...

Meanwhile At The Luthor Mansion, Dominic Continues His Audit With Lex, Who Offers Him A Drink Before Telling Him That He's Getting Tired Of This Game Dominic Is Playing...

(Start At 2:45)

Getting The Toxicology Report From A Friend Who Works With The Medical Examiner, Chloe Reveals That It Was A Bunch Of Painkillers In His System And The Fragments Of A Meteor Rock In His Skin That Made Tyler Come Back From The Dead, She Also Discovers Some News That Might Get Tyler To Back Off Of His Crusade...

But There Are More Important Matters As Lana Enters To Tell Clark That Tyler Is On His Way To The Hospital To Turn Whitney's Father To Ash...

Entering His Father's Hospital Room, Whitney Is Confronted By Tyler Who Throws Whitney Into A Sink So He Can Get To Work But Before He Does, Clark Zooms In...

(Start At 2:22)

The Next Day In Metropolis, Lex Talks With Lionel At A Secret Location...

Later That Evening, Lex Arranges For Whitney's Dad To See His Son Playing With The Metropolis Sharks On The Smallville High Field As Jonathan Arrives To Tell Him What A Nice Thing He Did For The Fordmans...

(Start At 0:53, End At 1:20)

Talking With Clark, He Admits To Lana That He Got Lex To Get The Sharks For Whitney As Lionel Owns The Whole Team Which Leads To Lana Kissing Clark On The Cheek...

Talking With Jonathan After, Both Him And Clark Make Up As The Episode Ends...

And That's Reaper And It's A Good Episode...

The Story Was Interesting, The Characters Were Mostly Well Written, The Villain (If You Can Really Call Tyler A Villain, It Seemed Like He Wanted To Help People More Than Just Kill Them Willy Nilly) Was Good And I Didn't Have That Many Problems With The Episode So I Say See It...

Till Next Time, This Is Duke, Signing Off...

[daleisgreat]

Wrestlemania 34

Happy Wrestlemania (WM) week everyone and happy birthday to me, and what better way to celebrate the big day than by doing my annual write up of the prior year’s ‘showcase of the immortals.’ Wrestlemania 34 (WM34) gets the dubious honor of being WWE’s sole 2018 BluRay release in North America due to the declining sales of the home video market. In my entry on last year’s BluRay I chastised it for skipping out on the usually included pre-show matches. For the WM34 BluRay, WWE heard the feedback and included all three pre-show matches……..but decided to cut the usually included Hall of Fame ceremony, and once again save on budget costs and skimp out on subtitles two years in a row! Shame! I would have been furious for WWE cutting out the Hall of Fame ceremony from the BluRay, especially since two of my all-time favorites Mark Henry and Bill Goldberg were inducted last year and both delivered tremendous speeches in addition to the Dudleyz having a surprisingly fun acceptance speech courtesy of D-Von’s late discovery of humor, but last year’s ceremony will be notorious for having the Hillbilly Jim induction. Hillbilly Jim got the HoF spot usually reserved for fun opening act talent to come out and have a few laughs and share a few career highlight moments and be out of there before you know it while getting the crowd started up for the rest of the night, much like an actual opening match. I was originally looking forward to Jim’s speech because I recall him being the only highlight on Legends House with his affable light-hearted levity in that train wreck of a show. Instead, Mr. Jim had the longest speech of the night at nearly 35 minutes where he meticulously laid out his entire career and droned on about his action figure payday.

Because of Jim’s speech I found myself surprisingly gracious WWE excluded it this year, and I can always watch Henry’s and Goldberg’s speeches on the Network or YouTube. WWE had key excerpts from Henry’s speech in an excellent retrospective they recently put on the network you can check out by clicking here, so watch that instead. The DVD version of WM34 includes a code for a digital copy of the HoF ceremony, but since that is absent from the BluRay version being covered here, and for my own sanity, we will be omitting my usual Hall of Fame coverage. There is a good substitute bonus feature for the HoF, but we will get to that in a bit. The trio of kickoff matches for WM34 featured both the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and first ever Fabulous Moolah Memorial WM Women’s Battle Royal. The men’s match sadly saw Jim Ross’s and Jerry Lawler’s only commentary for the night. It paled to previous year’s editions with only a few notable eliminations like Ryder getting pounced out by Mojo. The end saw Bray Wyatt return after an absence from his ‘Ultimate Deletion’ match with Matt Hardy only to join forces with him here and help him win the Andre cup! The women’s royal featured half the participants padded out with NXT and Performance Center filler. It had an awful clunky beginning that dragged on and the only spot of note from it was the ending that transpired in the middle of Sasha’s and Bayley’s hard-to-watch rivalry where Bayley instantly turned on Sasha and disposed of her. She was then stunned by Naomi’s presence and essentially laid down for her so she could easily eliminate her in a head-shake inducing moment of the night to emerge the winner of the….curvy hip trophy. The women delivered a far superior battle royal effort at the Evolution PPV later in 2018 that told a fantastic story beginning to end so watch that instead. The cruiserweight title match between Cederic Alexander and Mustafa Ali was the sole highlight of the WM Kickoff. Ali debuted his glowy Sub-Zero-esque ring attire here, and the bout told a gripping narrative of the two representing the heart and soul of the 205 division. After some intense near-falls, Alexander walked out victorious after hitting his Lumbar Check finisher.

Onto the main card, it opened with what turned out to be the best pure match of the night with the Intercontinental title triple threat between Miz, Seth Rollins and Finn Balor. I completely forgot about the Miz-tourage until I saw them here. Unlike a lot of other triple threats, there were rarely any lulls here and several near-falls that got the crowd rocking with the highlight being Finn breaking up a pin with his Coup de Gras. Ultimately, Seth won the title after hitting his Stomp for the pin. The SmackDown Women’s Title was on the line next that saw Charlotte Flair end Asuka’s record-setting undefeated streak. I recall being stunned at this outcome as Asuka had a ton of momentum at the time and following a couple equally bummer losses to Carmella on the following PPVs she has never really recovered. She got a paper champion reign recently where she was rarely seen on TV throughout it until she suddenly dropped the title to, surprise, Charlotte. Despite it being a great WM match for the women, I will remember this as being the beginning of the end for Asuka. So in-between WM33 and 34, believe it or not Jinder Mahal got a half year title reign as WWE Champion and WWE will tell you it was not because he got suddenly jacked while they were trying a hard market push into India. Mahal lost the title a few month prior, but he got a nice consolation prize leaving WM34 the new US champion in a Fatal Four Way match between him, Randy Orton, Bobby Roode and Rusev in a solid, but forgettable match-up. Speaking of forgettable multi-person title matches, the SmackDown tag title triple threat between the Usos, New Day and Bludgeon Brothers fit that billing in what was a showcase for the on-the-rise Bludgy Bros. Unfortunately, the Bludgies specialize in plodding, big-man offense that did not capture this WM crowd when they eventually hit their top-rope powerbomb on Kofi to win the titles. The Bludgeon Brothers eventually evolved into a decent team and were starting to have some seriously good matches by Summerslam, but then Luke Harper suffered an ill-timed injury and the team was forced off TV. On a quick aside, I will give my sympathies to the Usos have only wrestled on WM entirely in pre-show matches for nearly a whole decade before finally making their primary WM card debut here to only lose the tag titles in a quick get-it-over with match.

What was not forgettable transpired next to be my overall best match of the night. While the IC title match was the best ‘pure’ wrestling match, the mixed tag between Triple H & Stephanie McMahon against Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey had the unbeatable combination of great charisma, energy, wrestling, action and moments to produce an enthralling encounter I did not foresee to be anywhere near this entertaining. The huge X Factor going in was how good would Ronda Rousey be in her WWE debut, especially with only several weeks training going in and reports of her training at the WWE Performance Center being curtained off so no one could see or take video. Rousey surpassed all expectations and premiered a WWE star-making effort as soon as she tagged in. Steph was tremendous in playing Ronda’s foil in sneak attacks and begging for mercy. Ronda was exceptional with her ruthless offense on Steph and even a memorable encounter with Triple H. Props to the announcers who accentuated the match with classic calls by Corey Graves like ‘call the cops’ as soon as Ronda was tagged in and on the precipice of unleashing her fury. I vividly recall going nuts along with the crowd throughout this match with all the big moments that played out in a brilliantly booked match-up that saw Rousey & Angle win when Rousey made Steph tap to her armbar. The much anticipated match between John Cena and Undertaker happened next and I am still trying to make sense out of it a year later. This has been a longtime WM dream match, but it featured an awkward TV buildup with Cena repeatedly calling out the Undertaker to answer his challenge on TV for several weeks only to have no response back. Cena then said he would enjoy WM in the crowd with the fans and did just that and partook in some brewskis with the fans for the first five matches before an official informed him that Undertaker was in the building. Cena darted to the back to prep up and came out at this point ready for the ‘Taker, but ‘Taker once again did not show. Eventually acoustic-savant Elias came out and sang a diddy trashing Cena until John heard enough and sent Elias packing. Cena was about to leave the arena until the trademark gong hit and eerie special effects occurred with a nice nod to the end of WM33 which was where we last saw the Dead Man. A perplexed Cena ran to the ring for the now official match…..and was promptly ‘routed’ (as Cole appropriately called) by Undertaker in less than three minutes before succumbing to the Tombstone in a one-sided match that was all Undertaker. I know Cena has been focusing more on Hollywood efforts and Undertaker is especially up there in years and perhaps this quick match was all his cardio was capable of. That was what I thought anyways until Undertaker delivered fleshed out matches later on in the year at both Saudi Arabia shows, so ultimately I have no idea why this match turned out like this. One day I hope we get interviews from both Cena and ‘Taker filling us in on what the hell happed that determined the match play out this way. That said, both individuals are mysteriously absent from the WM35 card, and if ‘Taker winds up not on the show it would be his first time missing WM since 2000. With WM35 already ridiculously overbooked currently at 15 matches, I still would not mind seeing another impromptu chapter play out between these two in someway this Sunday.

Next up was the obligatory roll call for the previous night’s HoF inductees. Mysterious by his absence was celebrity wing inductee Kid Rock (though a couple of his songs were played throughout the night as the official WM34 theme songs). I could not help but chuckle at an off-handed backstage comment by Goldberg earlier in the night from the WWE 24 special on WM34 where Goldberg stated he intentionally showed up a few hours past his expected call time to avoid idle boredom. What was not a chuckling matter was Daniel Bryan overcoming WWE doctors’ three year ban on him from competition to wrestle again in a WWE ring. His long overdue return saw him tagging with Super Shane-O Mac to take on Amazing French Canadians 2.0 Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn. I am still shocked to see Shane McMahon compete here considering within the preceding month he survived a helicopter crash and suffered a hernia he postponed surgery on so he could make his WM and Saudi Arabia paydays. Shane played the partner-in-peril to perfection building up to the white-hot reaction for Bryan returning with fire hitting all his vintage moves, and somehow Shane was able to recuperate and pull off his Coast to Coast too. Eventually Bryan hit his running knee for the feel-good win of the show. WWE tried to build up the RAW Women’s Title match as another feel-good moment of overcoming bullying between Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss. It was difficult to convey this though because until a few weeks before Nia’s whole shtick for her near two years on WWE TV was using her size advantage to bully others, and all of a sudden cameras picking up on Alexa disparaging Nia’s size one time was suppose to get everyone sympathetic for Nia. It did not click and it resulted in a weak reaction for this despite both putting in a considerable effort for a good match that saw Nia win the title with a Samoan Drop from the middle turnbuckle. It did not help matters that within several weeks Nia was back to being a villain again so Rousey could have a metaphorical monster to slay (in all seriousness, Nia legit gels with Rousey and so far this past year I feel Rousey’s best matches have been with Nia) in her quest for gold.

Another disappointing match followed between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Title. I recall getting burnt out and in desperate need of a break at this point in the night of my original viewing and was hoping it held up better second time around. That was not the case, as the bout had a good initial chapter, but the two rarely got out of second gear until the closing minutes of the contest where things really amped up. It was a little better watching this with a fresh set of eyes, but not much and a far cry from their epic NJPW encounter at the beginning of 2016. Shinsuke’s heel turn though was well executed and fun to relive where he could not handle defeat and therefore delivered his first of many to come low blows to ‘The Phenomenal One.’ Re-watching the following RAW tag titles match next though with a fresh set of eyes was interesting where everyone wondered who the hell Braun Strowman would pick to be his tag team partner against Cesaro and Sheamus. I had no idea either and thought WWE would resort to a retired legend or celebrity and was taken aback when Braun wandered the crowd aimlessly before settling on a ‘fan’ in the form of a middle schooler going by Nicholas who later on was revealed to be the referee of the match’s son. This was the perfect placement for this type of match because I was in serious need of levity and needed something like this to recharge me for the remainder of the night. I got a kick when Braun tagged in Nicholas briefly for an awkward eye contact moment with Cesaro before Braun quickly tagged back in and finished him off with his powerslam to make Nicholas the youngest ever tag team champion....until they had to relinquish them the next night due to Nicholas’s school obligations. Turns out Corey Graves was correct when he had the line of the night upon their victory when exclaiming “Doesn’t he have Algebra and stuff?”

As bizarre and befuddling as the John Cena/Undertaker match was, I was doubly befuddled at the conclusion of the main event Universal title match between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. The crowd was dumping on this match throughout with nasty chants and eventually having more interest in executing the wave. Brock had a prolonged beatdown on Roman which saw a total of 10 overhead/german suplexes and six F5s. It was reminiscent of the Summerslam 2014 throttling of John Cena. I (and the crowd) felt the beatdown on Roman was foreshadowing Roman ‘hulking up’ for the eventual win. Every Roman kickout lead to more and more boos because presumably I/they did not want another rah-rah Roman win to end WM. Roman took some nasty blows from Brock to open him up BAD as he was gushing all over the ring that was the catalyst for his comeback until he was caught with a sixth and decisive F5 from Brock for the abrupt end to the match that I think no one saw coming and I am still scratching my head over. A big part of me was relieved when it happened, but another part was shocked that WWE pulled the trigger on that finish. Even more jaw-dropping to me is when watching the aforementioned WWE 24 special on WM34 that shows after the match Brock emerging backstage and giving the cold shoulder walk past Vince and literally tossing the championship he could not care a single iota about directly onto Vince’s lap and Vince yelling at him ‘YOU ASSHOLE’ to Brock’s back. I know I always heard Brock is only there for his limited days for the big-money contract and keeps to himself, and seeing his genuine not give a damn reaction to Vince and the rest of the staff was a real eye opener. I will still root and cheer for Brock and his unique style he brings to his matches , but damn was this a way to end WM with the rare occasion where a heel left WM champion. I mentioned earlier WWE had a decent alternative to the HoF as extra features on the WM34 BluRay. That came in the form of the entire day-after RAW and a couple key moments from the next SmackDown. The entire RAW was just over two hours since there are no commercials. I am not going to recap the whole thing here, but it was cool reliving it for the raucous WM-weekend crowd and the expected NXT call-ups that debuted that night and looking back on the past year to see how far they have come. This was a nice substitute to the HoF, and as much as I jest about being relieved it was left off this year, I do hope the HoF is included in next year’s BluRay. Overall, I would have to give WrestleMania 34 a thumbs in the middle. Of the 14 matches only four of them are must-see (205 title, IC triple threat, Mixed Tag, RAW Women’s title) and a few matches underperformed/disappointed. Add to the fact the bonkers nature of the Cena/Undertaker and Universal title matches and it tallies up to a WM that can be best to jump around to the key moments of. Past Wrestling Blogs Best of WCW Clash of Champions Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2 Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 3 Biggest Knuckleheads Bobby The Brain Heenan Daniel Bryan: Just Say Yes Yes Yes DDP: Positively Living Dusty Rhodes WWE Network Specials ECW Unreleased: Vol 1 ECW Unreleased: Vol 2 ECW Unreleased: Vol 3 Eric Bishoff: Wrestlings Most Controversial Figure Fight Owens Fight: The Kevin Owens Story For All Mankind Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection Impact Wresting Presents: Best of Hulk Hogan Its Good to Be the King: The Jerry Lawler Story The Kliq Rules Ladies and Gentlemen My Name is Paul Heyman Legends of Mid South Wrestling Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story Memphis Heat NXT Greatest Matches Vol 1 OMG Vol 2: Top 50 Incidents in WCW History OMG Vol 3: Top 50 Incidents in ECW History Owen: Hart of Gold RoH Supercard of Honor 2010-Present ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery Scott Hall: Living on a Razors Edge Sting: Into the Light Straight Outta Dudley-ville: Legacy of the Dudley Boyz Straight to the Top: Money in the Bank Anthology Superstar Collection: Zach Ryder TLC 2017 TNA Lockdown 2005-2016 Top 50 Superstars of All Time Tough Enough: Million Dollar Season True Giants Ultimate Fan Pack: Roman Reigns Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe War Games: WCWs Most Notorious Matches Warrior Week on WWE Network Wrestlemania 3: Championship Edition Wrestlemania 28-Present The Wrestler (2008) Wrestling Road Diaries Too Wrestling Road Diaries Three: Funny Equals Money Wrestlings Greatest Factions WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2015 WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2015 WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2016 WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2016 WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2017

[ddcjas]

okay, i said i was gonna do this eventually but right now i cannot wait. here is a list of black males that y’all in this community need to make some damn resources for instead of the same ass pasty white boys or gif packs of reece king every time he updates his damn snapchat.

trevante rhodes — he is god. thats all

mahershala ali — HE IS THE FIRST MUSLIM ACTOR TO WIN BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN THE ACADEMY AWARD WINNING FILM MOONLIGHT, LETS GET ON IT

ashton sanders — my smol son, despite his looks, is 21 years old. he is my lil king. also, see above.

jharrel jerome — he is my second smol son. he is 19 years old. i love him. get on it.

tory lanez — hes small but he has more than enough for yall to make some damn icons or gif icons from. so far, only one person has contributed to the cause and thats @sculglitch. ilu boo

partynextdoor — i’m aware that this man moves in silence but he got four music videos under his belt, instagram videos, and a couple interviews. show my husband some love.

mike colter — UM??????? SELF EXPLANATORY.

bryson tiller — he literally has but one source for gif icons like what the actual fuck is wrong with y’all.

quavo*  — all of the migos, actually.

tyler the creator — he a lil weird but he a ball of sunshine.

asap rocky — listen, i’m aware he has two gif resources but no offense, they are outdated. yall can thank me for the static icons but more, pls.

frank ocean — if he has more resources, i sure ain’t aware of em.

isaiah rashad — i need more gifs of my king.

kendrick lamar — BOY. FREEDOM, CUT ME THE FUCK LOOSE.

j. cole — most of his resources are old and outdated. lets get on it, folks.

roy woods — a wonderful man.

asap ferg — HE HAS LIKE NO RESOURCES LMAO I’M PISSED OFF.

chance the rapper — believe it or not, my king has very little resources and i wanna fight all y’all tonight.

dom kennedy — google him if u don’t know it.

kid cudi — all of his are outdated. c’mon, folks. i’ve seen all of two cudi muses.

miguel — he may not be black but he sure needs some resources.

andre 3000 — lmao why not???

sampha — LMAO WHY NOT?????

v**tor p**e jr — i’d be careful with this but i love my honey bear.

d*metr*us h*rm*n — same. just remove the asteriks and figure it out. hes eighteen also, btw.

algee smith — FAVOR PEACE AND BLESSINGS.

woody mcclain — he been poppin on social media before new edition, folks.

luke james — A MAN, A LEGEND.

elijah kelly — yall dont remember hairspray???

bryshere grey — he more than just hakeem, now.

trai bryers — HE MORE THAN JSUT ANDRE.

jussie smollett — HE MORE THAN JUST JAMAL LYON.

if anyone can think of anymore lovely mens who deserve to be on this list, please do let me know and add this shit on. but i’m bout tired of seeing the same diet poc characters on y’alls blogs. y’all need some melanin, y’all need some Men. stop playing games with me with that “theres just not enough!” when urban rph blogs can make entire gif hunts just off of snapchat videos of social media stars and thats the tea on that.

[1inawesomewonder]

Finishing a youth hockey season that lasted for more than 6 months, it was remarkable to witness the progress. Even though this team still struggles with spacing, structure, and strategy, I think that is okay for 9-year-olds. The personal growth and development per individual skater is obvious.

The #4 seeded Flames finished their season with three losses in the EMHL playoffs. They lost to the #1, the #3, and the #5 seeds in the postseason. They played hard right through to the final whistle of the tournament even though they knew their fate had been sealed, scoring a goal in the last 40 seconds of their final game. That I love, not just because of the goal, but because they just kept playing hard, shift after shift. In essence they were making the effort to get better regardless of the outcome, or the wins, or the losses. Winning is not the only measurement for improvement.

I know that the tryout weeks for the upcoming season, which is still 5 months away, can be stressful. I believe this is mostly because Americans in general want games, and wins. They are not patient enough for practices and development of skills. Many coaches get caught up in the wins despite looking you in the eye and saying they aren’t. Actions tell the true story. These shallow measurables, especially at young ages, drive the process in almost all of the competitive youth sports. I find it interesting that this is such a big deal when only a fraction of all athletes end up playing sports in high school, college, or certainly the professional ranks. Still, so many coaches, and parents, look to circumvent league and community processes so they can load up teams and cater to the very few. It’s incredibly narrow minded, and it doesn’t even work. Nevertheless, the process re-begins at the end of hockey season, to make a team for the upcoming fall/winter.

If we’re fortunate, which I believe our group has been very fortunate, we get to tryout for a team where a coach philosophy is more about a safe place to land, and an environment that allows young kids to flourish. Instead of winning at all costs, with the costs including blowing kids out of sports entirely, strained relationships with many people in the community, and undo stress on young psyches trying to fulfill someone else’s almighty agenda. Seriously, if the best of your coaching run peaks at anything under the age of 15, who cares? Especially if winning is more important than development. Because, really, few, if any players, peak physically, mentally, and athletically before the high school ages, or more likely college age. Kids get burned out or blown out, and quit sports at all ages, even before they have a chance to fully develop as athletes and young men or young women. Then, on top of that, why would they give back to something that didn’t give anything to them in the first place.

So I choose not to get caught up in whether my player makes team one, or team two, but rather having a team for a player to land on at all. At these young ages; Who can say that the player who was ranked 15th on a roster of 15 last season, won’t be a force to be reckoned with by the time they are 15 years old? Perhaps we will never know because that player was cut from a team concerned with their won-loss record in the next season and will never play sports again. It happens that way more than you think.

Back to this team, and to the group we have enjoyed so much fun with over these several months. What a great group of people. The players have all improved. More than that, most of them have fallen in love with the sport, with the team aspect, and enjoy working hard together. That’s what it’s all about. They all played in virtually every game scenario you could imagine over the season. Line after line, shift after shift, all the kids played. They are better for it. And, if given the chance, they’ll be even better by this time next year. Best wishes to all of the 2010 Flames players and families from this team, no matter where you end up next season. Hopefully all the kids want to keep playing the wonderful sport of hockey. Our family has had a blast this season. Thank you all.

EMHL Game One

Jax and Ian get back on defense together, just like their 2-man bobsled practices.

Teddy gets distracted by what appears to be a great ice fishing hole.

After Teddy mentioned ice fishing, Austin found an even better spot.

James and Luke seem to have no trouble with the gale force winds in the rink, but the ref? I am a little bit concerned.

Jax and James hustle back on defense while Travis gets ready.

Travis takes matter into his own hands and gets ready to shut the door.

Save made. I got it boys, at ease fellas.

Travis takes his eye off of the puck when he notices all the snow drifting his way.

Austin shoots on goal while Drew and Gavin skate in support.

Flames goal! Austin scores.

Austin and Teddy were not prepared for the marching portion of the game.

Jordan leads the rush. Drew looks over to the bench wondering wear his ‘eye red’ is, after seeing the ‘eye green’ behind him.

Jordan’s eyes looking one way while skating the other.

Austin gets tied up in a battle for the puck.

See here kids, if you can use your edges like so, you can cut back against the grain.

Austin makes the next move by accelerating through the seam behind the defense and ahead of the back check.

Drew carries the puck while Teddy hustles and Jax covers their backs.

Three Flames in a row, skating in sync.

Kayden and the boys hangin on the bench.

Finley looks for any trouble brewing on the horizon.

Travis causes a ruckus by hiding the last roll of tp, and the place goes crazy.

Ian sets up his famous backhand and Logan looks in from a zone away. Pear Tree gets ready for a puck in a pear tree.

Just a line change. I am going to miss these players for the next few months.

Drew has a look around while surveying the offensive zone.

Right before the end of the period the ice crew asked the players to hold up the end boards until help arrived.

  EMHL Game Two

Luke and Logan look for open space and a pass to create some offense.

Jax is back on D while Ian and Gavin hustle to help out.

Ian gets momentarily mesmerized by the stripes on his blade, but continues forward.

Colby decides that since he can’t legally check the player, he had better just play the puck. On the other hand, his fencing classes are really making a difference.

Next season this will be a twenty foot pass with both players skating up ice. The progress will continue.

James notices a disturbance off to one side of the zone and Travis is already on it.

Squirt Minor defensemen. Hearts bigger than their games, and it’ll all even out if they keep pushing themselves. Love it.

This is Travis, he is a hockey goaltender. He lists sitting down on the job as one of his life goals. Well done.

Oh, this young lady. Look for her series of inspirational kids books under the title of, “The Adventures of the Mighty Fin’ in a virtual bookstore near you.

Travis mutters, “Hey guys don’t even waste your time coming over here. I got this. I’ll just flip this to myself and we’ll take a breather.”

Drew continues to improve at the face-off dot.

Travis makes a save on a random puck being fired at him, from out of nowhere. Ninja like.

This here, is a little something we like to call the, ‘Jax Jig’. A difficult condensing of steps allowing him to move in two directions at the same time. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.

James keeps the puck in at the blue line. Meanwhile this extra referee was added just to shadow the penalty prone Banana Beal.

Special Edition of a stock face-off photo when the referee throws the puck at the face-off dot like he’s throwing a twig into a bonfire he’s afraid of.

The opponent shoots the puck on net. Drew demonstrates how he would form an A-frame over the previously discovered ice fishing spots. Then Jax, and the swaying strings.

Finley plays the puck like a yo-yo, but I might have her checked out because it looks like something striped is sticking out of her mouth.

Garrett plays defense in the corner but gets drawn in, looking straight down, by another good ice fishing spot

Face-off photo and the boys are in motion immediately.

Coach Scott shows the kids the motions that Novak Djokovic uses after winning a match. Colby sees it. Coach Tim looks on, “He’s not kidding.”

This is the cover photo for Drew’s tell-all book coming out this summer, entitled, “I Hear No Whistles”.

Logan asks Jax, “Do you think Ian sees the puck? Or is he sneaking up on it?”

Austin takes his per puck for a roll while Gavin winks at more adoring fans in the crowd.

Travis is ready for hockey despite the Terriers yelling, “Red Rover, Red Rover, send Logan right over.”

There are a whole bunch of kids here, and I bet they all are missing some hockey right about now.

Honestly, if there were a movie running in the back of my consciousness, it would likely be full of images like this one. I simply adore kids loving, playing, and enjoying their sport, a possible introduction to the times of their lives.

    EMHL Game Three

In the end we must compose ourselves to respect our opponent, and the game.

Up and down the ice they go. Creating waves, their own ebb and flow. Maybe they’re still growing, and moving kinda slow. But stick with it, I say, and faster they will go.

James shows off some fancy skate work. Gavin agrees, “Groovy James, I can dig it man.”

3) That’s a Flames goal for Logan, back on offense.

2) The cut back served Logan well as he hits an opening in the defense.

1) Logan sets his edges and turns toward the slot.

I was so close to this shot that I almost got it from the other side.

This picture is faded because I took it in 1993, in pure anticipation.

Drew skates through center ice with the puck. Look Mom, one hand.

At this age, reaching for the puck might be the same as reaching for the stars, or even reaching for greatness. The road starts somewhere.

The players wait while Travis works on his sleight of hand skills with the old city street standby, the shell game.

I was in good position I thought, but I still missed whatever had Jordan so wide-eyed.

Up close action as Jax throws some snow for good measure.

Finley shows off her long locks of hair while giving her opponent an eye test.

Jax leads an impromptu game of keep away.

The players from both teams are excited to be skating as ‘extras’ in Gavin’s first Disney photo shoot.

In the old Sesame Street days, this would be a quiz on which one of these pairs of socks don’t belong.

The Flames get back on defense and somehow Garrett falls asleep mid stride.

James plays some tight defense along the boards.

Finley is flying. Ian picks his spot. Jax lies in wait.

“Ugh! My kingdom to be a right hand shot right now!!!!”

I love these pictures. Kids, sports, guidance, coaching. Team. Together. All for one.

2010 Flames Finish Their Season Finishing a youth hockey season that lasted for more than 6 months, it was remarkable to witness the progress.

[paradoxicalca]

(OC) Don Cherry Drafts the Toronto Maple Leafs (An Alternate Reality)

(Previous parts of this series include: Tom Wilson-Proofing the Penguins, Dundon DIYs the Hurricanes, Re-Chiarelling the Oilers, Moneyballing the Sens, Covertly Tanking the Wild, and Frenchifying the Canadiens.)​This is way longer than I thought it would be - turns out 2004 is longer ago than I thought.~~~~~~~~~~~Part INobody remembers exactly how it happened.According to the contract, it was the 20th of December, 2003. The Maple Leafs had just defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-2, their fourteenth consecutive game without a regulation loss. General Manager John Ferguson Jr. was riding high, and he didn't care who knew it. He was just months into his tenure with the Leafs and he was already almost certain to be the first GM to bring a Cup to Toronto in 36 years. So he decided to celebrate with friends and a few bottles of wine at the best restaurant he could think of: Wayne Gretzky's, just a few blocks away.Half-remembered through the haze of cigar smoke and wine, it was one of the best nights of Ferguson's life. The soirée was a who's who of hockey royalty - incredible stories were being passed around over freshly microwaved meatloaf and cheese-sprinkled nachos. But the life of the party was CBC's Don Cherry. He had regaled the group with anecdotes about Ferguson's father - "one of the toughest guys you'll ever see in the National Hockey League, and he could put pucks in the net! Ya don't see that much these days!" But he also had a lot of concerns with the direction the league and the Leafs had taken - drafting gutless players who'd never win a Cup like Alex Steen in the first round. "If I was in charge of scouting", he assured Ferguson, "teams wouldn't be excited to be playing the Leafs I tell ya!"The next morning, Ferguson awoke with a splitting hangover and checked his answering machine. Don's voice bellowed out:"Hey Johnny, glad we could work things out last night. I won't let you down I'll tell ya that much!"Ferguson had no idea what he was talking about until he received the email from Cherry's lawyer. Attached was a picture of a hand-written but impeccably worded contract with both men's signatures on it.The signing parties of this legally binding contract recognize the following stipulations: 1. That Mr. Donald Cherry be vested with the full and final power to decide who the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club drafts in the first round of the National Hockey League entry draft. 2. That the Toronto Maple Leafs not trade their first round pick in the NHL Entry Draft without the express permission of Mr. Cherry. 3. That the Toronto Maple Leafs not trade players that Mr. Cherry has drafted without the express permission of Mr. Cherry. 4. That the existence of this contract not be disclosed to the public unless the Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup or the contract is violated. 5. That the violation of the above stipulations will result in the payment of $50,000,000 CDN to the estate of Mr. Cherry. 6. That the above be valid each year for the remainder of Mr. Cherry's life, regardless of changes made to management or ownership. To their horror, the Leafs' lawyers could not figure out a way out of this. From that day on, Don Cherry was the most important scout the Leafs had.Part II2004While Cherry was tempted by the notion of receiving Brian Leetch from the Boston Bruins, he was keen to make a swift impact on the Leafs' future. With the 24th overall pick, the Leafs selected G David Shantz of the Mississauga Ice Dogs. When he asked if this pick was solely based on that fact that Shantz played for the OHL team Cherry owned, Ferguson was assured that Shantz is a beautiful kid and a hell of a goalie, and always willing to sacrifice the body to block shots.2005When the Leafs' scouting department told Cherry that they wanted to pick some Euro named Tooka Rask, he was amazed that a guy as smart as Ferguson had hired those morons. They wanted to pick a goalie outta Finland? Guy probably had never even faced a slapshot before! Not to mention that Shantzy was already their franchise goalie of the future. Instead they drafted a real big kid with #1 defenceman potential: D Matt Pelech, a 6'4 member of the Sarnia Sting. He may not be an offensive guy, but 74 penalty minutes in 31 games? This guy's a Hall of Famer in the making.2006The Leafs barely missed the playoffs, in large part due to bad goaltending. When Cherry heard that Ferguson had tried to trade Shantz to Boston for Andrew Raycroft he was mad. When he heard that his scouts wanted some guy named Yeery Taloosty outta Checkaslovakia he was furious. You gotta beautiful kid like LW Chris Stewart on the board and you're gonna take some wuss? Ridiculous.2007The backstabbing son of a bitch tried to do it again. What is it with Ferguson and these Finnish goalies? You wanna give up a first for Vensa Toksala? Unbelievable. He told Cherry that it was a shallow draft and that the pickings would be weak at 13th overall. Ya wanna call LW Colton Gillies weak to his face? Here's a beautiful kid, big kid, 6'4 207 with size and a hell of a shot, plays the game the right way, nephew of a good guy: Clark Gillies.2008Ferguson was fired in January, and Cliff Fletcher was hired as his interim replacement. The team finally had a top draft pick, and Cherry was ready for a fight. Luckily, everyone could agree that they had to pick up a beautiful kid named D Luke Schenn. He can hit, he'll drop the gloves, and his tendency to ice the puck will give Cherry plenty of opportunities to complain about touch icing on Coach's Corner.2009Chris Stewart, Luke Schenn, and Colton Gillies made their NHL debuts and boy did they look big out there. Viewers of Hockey Night in Canada wondered why Cherry was constantly advocating ferociously for the Maple Leafs to call up David Shantz from the ECHL. New general manager Brian Burke, when informed by his predecessor of the Cherry contract, was completely non-perturbed until he realized it would stop him from trading away first round picks.The 7th overall pick demands real reflection: so many beautiful kids available. You got Jared Cowen, Zack Kassian outta Windsor - now there's a guy who stands up to his teammates. And then there's Kadri. TALK ABOUT HEART this kid is a hardworker, gets to the tough areas, God love ya. Cherry decides to let Burke take C Nazem Kadri.2010No way in hell is Don gonna let Burke trade those precious picks for some American guy who doesn't even defend. The Leafs, led in scoring by Chris Stewart, finish second last in the NHL. Brian Burke invests a full month trying to convince Cherry to let him take Tyler Saygenn. But it's no use. Sure Seygen's flashy, and Cherry's sure he's a nice kid, mum and dad raised him well, but when you've got D Erik Gudbranson on the board you're taking the 6'5 defenceman every day of the week.2011Another big season by Chris Stewart keeps the Leafs out of the basement but the rebuild continues. By the end of the season they end up with the 7th overall pick. Cherry tells the scouts he's considering two players: Sam Couttserier and Dougie Hamilton. The scouts try to sell him on the Bathurst product but it was never really in doubt: Hamilton is a beautiful kid, plays the game right, big shot from the point, 6"6, and plays for the Ice Dogs. D Dougie Hamilton is the guy. Fortunately for Hamilton, his parents unwittingly helped his career prospects by concealing his love of reading and museums from Cherry when they met at the CHL Top Prospects Game. Cherry also fully supports Burke's picks of RW Tyler Biggs and D Stuart Percy.2012At this point, Cherry can hardly watch a Leafs game without bursting into tears at the beauty of it. Kadri and Stewart at forward, Schenn, Phaneuf, and Gudbranson on defence. Sure the team is absolutely terrible, but they're losing the right way. The Leafs end up with the 3rd overall pick, and appear poised to draft talented centre Alex Galchneeyuck. Instead they pick up a real good guy: D Griffin Reinhart.2013With Stewart falling off a cliff and no offensive star to replace him, the Leafs do not make the playoffs in 2013. Instead, they draft LW Max Domi at 10th overall, good kid from a great family, an absolute beauty, you know his dad, his dad always left it all out on the ice, still a good friend, loves the troops, good stuff! The scouts don't even bother trying to talk him into taking a Russian guy named Valerie.2014Shanahan is now in charge and is furious that nobody mentioned this arrangement to him before he promised fans a full rebuild. William Neelander was never gonna be Cherry's guy. It's LW Nick Ritchie. He’s 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds. Only three players scored more than this guy. He is tough. He can score. He has beautiful hands. Leafs have enough weak wingers.2015The Maple Leafs take a guy with size and skill D Noah Hanifin with the 4th overall pick, and Cherry almost dissociates at the thought of drafting an American over a beautiful Ontario kid like Marner.2016The Leafs finally bottom out. Shanahan begs Cherry to take a guy from the Southern USA who plays in friggin Switzerland of all places, Austin Matthews, 1st overall instead of LW Matthew Tkachuk. Beautiful kid, and what a family I tell ya what I REMEMBER yknow Keith now there's a hockey player they send him down to the desert, what a disgrace, there's a great player!2017With the 10th overall pick, the Leafs take D Cal Foote, big kid from a beautiful family, his dad, Adam, big friend of the show, always finished his checks, and that's why, yknow that's why he's got those rings! These goofs really wanted some girly looking Euro called Timoth Linegren, forget about it. Cherry is really starting to hate these hippy pinkos in charge of the Leafs.2018Leafs go off the board and select C Ryan McLeod outta Mississauga in the mid-1st round instead of trading down for Rasma Sandy (again with the Swedes? It's a nice place to visit sure but quit sending us hockey players!). John Tavares chooses to sign with the San Jose Sharks, a contender, instead of the mediocre Leafs. Desperate for a 2nd pair left defenceman, the Leafs sign Jack Johnson to a 5 year, 4 million AAV contract.EpilogueThe Maple Leafs now have this lineup :​Matthew Tkachuk - Max Domi - Zach Hyman Patrick Marleau - Nazem Kadri - Andreas Johnsson Tyler Ennis - Brandon Leipsic - Josh Leivo Tyler Biggs - Dominic Moore - Leo Komarov Noah Hanifin - Dougie Hamilton Jack Johnson - Erik Gudbranson Griffin Reinhart - Luke Schenn Fredrik Andersen Garret Sparks Shanahan decides that enough is enough. Bringing his new General Manager Kyle Dubas with him, he summons Cherry for a meeting in the Maple Leafs war room. Grapes mockingly wears a pink three piece suit dotted with Shanahan's face."Don, we're here to negotiate. We need to get out of this contract.""Oh THAT'S what this is about then eh? Ya need more Swedes and Soviets out there? That's not how ya win a Cup!""We're willing to offer you 25 million dollars in cash right now to void the agreement."After a couple minutes of thinking, Cherry realizes that could buy every team in the QMJHL and fold them for that money. "Awright ya punks, you gotta deal. But these team's goin' nowhere if you pack it full of Euros and weaklings." He stares directly at Dubas and barks "Kids, you gotta always keep your head up out there or you're gonna get hit""Are you threatening him?""He knows I'm kiddin' around! I swear, these guys out here, can't take a joke anymore. Ya know Shanny, you were a real good player hard in the corners good Irish kid God love ya. Dunno why ya went so soft."Shanahan shakes his head "Don, the game's changed. You need speed and skill, not just big tough guys out there to win. It's not like when you were playing anymore."Don gets up and walks towards the door, but turns around before leaving. The old man's face is as orange as the jersey Bobby Clarke used to wear, now there's a player, eat your heart out yknow when we used to play the Flyers ya had to watch out for that guy because he's small sure but what a warrior he'd drop the gloves no questions asked. He has tears in his eyes."Yeah whatever Shanny. This isn't the first time I've gotten in trouble for putting too many men on the ice."~~~~~~~~~~~~~Next time: The Islanders accidentally give Mike Milbury a second chance. (OC) Don Cherry Drafts the Toronto Maple Leafs (An Alternate Reality) Source

[crisscolferfanforever]

Jock 9.13 Season finale

Jock

9.13

With you in my dreams

Written by smoothie smith

   We see Curtis and matt sleeping in bed we go by Curtis who eyes are shut as his beautiful face sleeps we see a dream sequence

We enter the nursing home we go into a home

Curtis

“darling sit down we have company “

Matt

“but I making lunch dear “

Curtis gets up with his Kane

Curtis

“then make more Albert and hazel are coming over with the kids “

Matt

“honey come over here”

Curtis touches his butt and kiss his love of 51 years

Matt

“I love you “

The happy couple and the kids come

Alec

“hello grandpa “

Mangus

“hello granddad “

Hazel

“hi dad and papa”

Matt

“who wants lunch “

They all sit as Curtis wakes up

Curtis looks up and then at the love of his life and gives him a kiss then goes and gets ready for work

 We see Albert doing choir practice before leaving for the gym

Albert

“what would I give if I could live out these waters? what would I pay a day warm on the sand?”

Luke and Zach entire quietly

Albert counties

Albert

“what’s a fire and why does it – what’s the word? burn? When it my turn ? wouldn’t I love love to explore that world up above ? out of the sea wish I could be part of the world “

He stops

Zach (sign)

“you need this “

Luke (sign)

“thank you “

He gives him a tissue

Albert (sign)

“what’s up “

Luke(sign)

“you ready to go down stairs “

Albert

“yes”

They go down stairs

Zach

“have you looked at the music program at Wagner “

Albert

“yes”

Luke

“what are you talking about “

Zach

“your right next to us”

Luke

“I know but you want to be in music “

Albert

“Actor/signer “

Luke

“do a double major “

Zach

“that isn’t a bad idea “

They go into the locker room “

 We see Rebecca and her staff getting ready for state finals against NY Norte dame

Rebecca

“all right we are back to where we need to be now let’s show the State who we are “

Craig

“you know we got this “

Hazel

“what are they running “

Rebecca

“um girls they are running 1-2-2 matchup zone “

Craig

“destroy it like you eat your favorite food “

Everyone looks at coach Mcahut

Craig

“attack in all direction I mean “

Amanda

“wow “

Rebecca

“all right let’s watch some film before we watch the boys game “

They watch film

We see everyone in the locker room at New York South division

Jake

“all right start out in 20 offense we got to play the way we got here “

He looks at the board

Jake

“1. Tough d 2. under 60 points and 3. Have fun”

Albert

“win on three one two three win”

We see Jake and the coaching staff watching the starting five as the pa announcer speaks

PA

“the starting line ups first for New York Rufus King starting at Guard a 6”1 Senior number 24 Albert Halpet starting at  the other guard a 6’3  number 13 Zach Mootz starting at forward a 6’7 number 12 Luke Jackson starting at forward a 6”6 junior number 4 Chase Jonson and starting at Center a 6”11 senior number 44 Evan Johnson and the head coach of the generals is Jake Schalow asst by Curtis Anderson ,John Carter ,Diana hardy ,Josh bonnell , and David Jeffers  “

Jake

“all right boys let go man to man and run our offense and team on three one two three “

Everyone

“family “

Jake

“ok then “

Jake crouches down  

We see Rebecca and her staff watching the to

Rebecca

“here we go”

Craig

“14-11 vs 12-13”

Amanda

“wow”

Rebecca

“you said it “

The team comes in  

We see the student section

We see west Harlem Central coming on the court

We see the tip off

Jake

“New York there running zone”

Curtis (sign)

“Luke New York “

They get a turnover

Jake

“20!”

The generals get a steal and a layup on the other end it’s 9-11 west Harlem

Albert

“KING!”

The crowd noise is epic

Curtis

“cut to the basket “

Chase hits a three

We are tied

Jake

“time out!”

Ref grants them a timeout

Ref

“what does he want “

Curtis

“what do you want Jake”

Jake

“full “

Ref

“Full”

Bob

“it’s a full time out with 10:15 to go in the first half the score is tied at 11 “

 We see a full timeout with the score tied at 11 in the first half

Jake

“hey we got get our tempo just a little bit more to where we want to be they want you to slow you down don’t do that on defense set up in 1-2-2 matchup zone for one series if it doesn’t work go back into 20”

Ref

“first horn Gold “

They break out the hudl

Curtis

“keep it going “

Jake

“do you think the 1-2-2 will work for the whole game “

David

“will find out “

Diana

“ALBERT! GET IN THE MIDDLE”

Jake

“CHARGE! “

REF

“you got it offense foul number 24 maroon”

24 seconds left in the first half 9-11 WH

Jake

“Rufus!”

 Luke (sign)

“RUFUS”

Luke passes to Albert for three misses rebound even gets the shot good we are tied at 11 at the half

Albert

“nice job “

  We see half time at New York South Divison

Jake

“0-0”

Diana

“oh dear”

John

“hey 0-0 we just need to play better get some post touch to even get Luke drive to basket “

Diana

“coach do you want to go back to 1-2-2 “

Jake

“what do you think guys do you think our guys can handle it “

Curtis

“I would switch it up”

John

“you think that is going to work “

Jake

“all right let’s go to work “

They go into the lock room/War room

Jake

“hey great job on defense keep that up on offense we just got pick up our tempo “

 We see half time at New York South Divison in audience

Drew

“great were tied “

Heller

“what do you really expect “

Mike

“what are you guys talking about “

Drew

“we should be blowing them away”

Harry

“they will change it up a bit “

Thomas

“I think they will”

Felix (sign)

“well were about to find out “

Drew(sign)

“yes, we are”

We go to the second half

Jake

“all right come on”

The crowd gets louder as the second half is underway

A layup by albert puts the generals up 20-18 with 16 mins left in second half

Diana

“Jake, we need to go back to 20 “

Everyone nods

Jake (sign)

“yes, hey over there we are in 20”

Everyone gives them the thumbs up

They play on

 We return with 5 mins left in the fourth quarter with the score 34-29 King up 5

Jake

“hey 12 down here if you make it “

West Harlem scores a three

Jake

“20”

King shots a two and one going for a three-point play under 3 to go

Diana

“timeout Jake if he makes it “

Jake

“yes”

He makes it

Jake

“timeout!”

Ref

“time gold what do you want “

Jake

“full”

Ref

“full time out “

We go into the hudl

Jake

“hey I know it’s loud but we got 2mins left that is all I want this but the question is do you we are up 41-37 keep running 12 ok all right let’s go “

David

“coach you have one full one thirty “

Jake

“thanks “

Jake crouches down coach’s style

Jake

“matt take a charge if you can “

Diana

“Jake 2 fouls for each player “  

Jake

“thanks “

David

“marquis get over here “

Marquis

“what up coach if we get tight you’re going in”

West Harlem scores to make it 41-39

Jake

“run it!”

Refs

“technical foul “

Jake

“who!”

Hands out in disbelief

Ref

“don’t worry not you technical foul white 12 who do you want to shoot “

Jake

“that was close, Tom Tracy!”

Tom

“thanks “

Tracy makes two shots makes the score 45-39

Jake looks at the bench

Jake

“Four of you get in leave Tracy “

Cade, Gunner, Demetrius, and harry check in

Jake

“hey this is for defense only “

They all nod

Fouls Rufus king 1 West Harlem 3

Jake looks up

30 seconds later

Jake

“starting 5 get in there “

They sub in and out

 We see the end of the 2 mins in the second half the score Rufus king 47-42

Jake

“you five back in “

They go in

Diana

“you have one timeout left “

Jake

“thanks “

They watch as the clock ticks to 55 seconds

Jake

“be ready to check in “

Rufus king dribbles in the front court

Ref

“foul! “

Jake

“guys check in, Pat Sub “

Ref (sign)

“come in “

Jake gives the thumbs up

We go the student section

Drew

“smoothie! Smoothie! smoothie!”

Everyone

“smoothie! “

John  

“Diana “

Diana

“yes”

 John

“is drew screaming smoothie “

Diana

“I am afraid so dear”

John

“Curtis, can you hear this “

Curtis (sign)

“yes”

David

“let’s coach guys “

Diana

“if we win were you’re going to make out with me “

David

“I would but Sarah would dump me”

We go back to Jake

Jake

“kick it out back to albert “

Albert

“ball! Ball!”

30 seconds 47-42

Foul Is called

Albert is going to the line

Albert makes the first

Jake

“come on albert make this one “

Student section screaming

Drew

“Come ON!”

The buzzer sounds

Final score Rufus King 49-43 to West Harlem

Everyone cry’s in joy

Jake hugs his staff

They shake hands with the other coaches

 We see the corny

Pa

“and now would head coach Jake Schalow of Rufus king please step forward to reviced the sectional plague “

Jake walks up

Jake

“Seniors! “

The seniors walk up and then show it to the student section in joy

Jake and Morgan look at each other

 Morgan

“wow your amazing “

Jake

“same too you “

They kiss

Jake

“I will see you when I get home “

They all go to the locker room

  We see Madison square garden where the lady generals are in the state championship game against NY Norte Dame

Rebeca comes in to the coach’s office at MSG

Rebecca

“ok Harrison is going to run a 1-3-1 “

Craig

“yes, I thought so do you want to run Diamond or New York “

Rebecca

“let’s do both “

Amanda

“boys won 49-43 “

Pin drop silence

Craig

“15-12 holy cow”

Hazel

“welcome to march”

They get ready for the game

Zach

“hey albert you want to car pool “

Albert

“yes, you got your ticket’s “

Zach

“yes “

They go to Luke and even

Albert

“you guys want to go with us to MSG”

Luke (sign)

“MSG”

Albert

“oh, Madison square garden “

Luke (sign)

“sure, what are you taking “

Albert

“Zach van”

Luke

“oh, sure see if Tracy and the others want to drive with us “

Albert

“will do “

We see Curtis and matt talking after the game

Matt

“wow so who do we play “

Curtis

“we play Mt. Verona “

Matt

“you’ll play good with them “

Curtis

“yes dear “

They kiss

Diana comes in

They hug

Curtis

“yes baby “

They get ready to go to MSG

we see the Girls state championship as the girls warn up the students poor in

PA

“welcome to the Class a Championship game between Lady Generals New York Rufus King and the Lady Irish of New York Norte Dame

Crowd cheering

Pa

“first for the Lady generals of New York Rufus King starting at Guard a 5”8 Junior Hazel Anderson”

Hazel walks up to center court

Pa

“a 5”8 Guard number 21 Kerry Boyd a 6”0 forward number 21 Kathy Jennings a forward 5”11 senior number 14 Jessica Johnson and at center a 6”4 senior number 34 Stacy gilbert “

The team goes to center court

Pa

“and the head coach of the generals is Rebecca Fisher   Astride by Craig mahcut, Amanda Johnson, and Alana Cunniham “

Rebecca

“let’s go lady’s “

They get ready for the jump

We see the student section going crazy

Hazel

“41! “

Rufus king starts with the ball

Ref

“moving screen “

Hazel

“ok Tim “

Ref

“Anderson “

They meet center square

Ref

“it’s just a legal move don’t worry keep playing “

Hazel

“ok”

Rebecca

“20”

Hazel

“let’s go “

 Defense gets a rebound

we see them going back and fourth

Rebecca

“hey keep playing “

They get a deal and basket by Gina Thompson

Craig

“hey hazel watch her don’t let her go to her left”

Hazel nods

Rebecca

“you three sub in give hazel Thompson and Stacy a blow”

Subs come in

Rebecca

“22”

Turnover by the generals another 2 points for the generals as the score is 12-2 in the first half

Ref

“timeout Norte Dame”

Rebecca

“that way”

They hudl up

Rebecca

“hey we got 5 mins to go before half time score Is 12-2 keep playing d the way we are “

Ref

“first horn”

They break up

Rebecca

“full court?”

Amadea

“go hockey “

Rebecca looks at the first five

Rebecca

“you five check in “

Ball check in

Rebecca Counties

“Now”

Five players await to check In

Norte dame scores a three to make 14-5 Generals

Rebecca

“King”

Hazel

“KING!”

They get an easy three by Kathy Jennings to make it 17-5 with 4:30 to go in the half

Rebecca

“that two close “

We go up to the stands as Curtis and the rest of the boy’s staff are watching

Jake

“we got to speed it up”

Alan

“she Is doing fine “

Diana

“Norte dame leads the state in points with 60 PPG”

David

“this going to get in tense “

We go back to the game as the score is Rufus king 29 Norte Dame 16 with 1:30 to go

Ref

“traveling “

Ball goes back to Rufus king

Hazel brings it up

We see the student section

Albert

“let’s go “

Luke

“come girls “

21 seconds Thompson with the ball

Rebecca

“one Shot”

Score 29-21 Rufus king

Rebecca

“go “

Thompson to Jennings to hazel for the three she’s got

Announcer

“its 32-21 at the half “

The team goes into the locker room

Hazel

“YES BABY!”

The coaches talk outside the war room

Rebecca writes stuff on her board

Craig

“we are out rebounding them 14 to 9 “

Rebecca

“what Free throw and field goal %”

Amada

“we are shooting 50% from the field and 50% from the free throw line”

Rebecca

“what do you guys think we should do we let them go on 12-6 run to end the half “

Alena

“we got to keep playing those shots will full be patient “

They go into the war room

We go back to the men’s coaches and the student section

Drew

“this is insane “

Peter

“what is “

Cade

“let me answer that for my brother, boys are in the state tourney and girls are 18 mins away from winning a goal ball “

Drew

“yes, what he said “

The boys team just stay silence and watch the talking go on

Luke

“albert “

Albert

“yes “

Luke

“what do you think we will see in the second half

Albert

“more of the same “

Zach

“you’re kidding, Tracy”

Tracy

“yes Mootz”

Zach

“what do you think will happen to game in the second half “

Everyone looks at Tracy

Tracy

“my Niece is going to kill the defense “

Thomas (sigh)

“ugh “

Albert (fingerspelling)

“Details!”

  We see coaches and players walk out

The second half Norte dame starts with the ball they a three

Rebecca

“what was that”

Hazel hits a three to make it 35-24

Hazel

“Come on ball ball !”

Thompson

“I need help “

They look for a trap

Donna

“Butler!”

Rebecca

“hands up!”

Ref

“5 seconds “

Rufus king bench claps

 We see the 2min the score is Rufus king 57 Norte dames 42

Bench clears for both teams

Rebecca

“hey 20!”

Hazel and the starting five on the bench cheering them on

The final gun sounds

Final score Rufus king 59 Norte dames 47  

The team goes to the center court

Rebecca is seeing hugging her coaching staff

We see trophy cemoery

Pa

“Ladies and gentlemen the board of control would like to invited you to see the award ceremony to these two outstanding teams making the prestation is board of director’s chairman and Bradley tech Principal Sally Rozeck, Zach Hayes Principal of Long Island Bay High school, and John Anderson Director NIAA”

They get to Rufus king

PA

“now will the lady Generals of New York Rufus King please step forward when your name is called to reviced your induvial team medal Kathy Jackson, Sandy Wallace …, hazel Anderson-Gosz…, Kerry Boyd …, Kathy Jennings …, Jessica Johnson, Jessica Hattic, Density blue, Nicole Johnson, and Stacy gilbert “

They all form a line

Pa

“now will head Coach Rebecca Fisher please step forward to calm the team Thproy “

Rebecca

“thank you! Team here you go ”

They hold the gold ball

Rufus king Divison A state champions 28-1

Crowd Cheering!!!

 We see hazel and albert the next day

Hazel

“you’re going to state and we are state champs “

Albert

“that’s a whole new world “

Hazel

“what?”

Albert

“I mean it’s a wonderful life we have”

Hazel

“yes darling”

They kiss

 We see Curtis and matt

Curtis

“you know Rufus king had a pretty good week”

Matt

“yes, now I get to spend time with you “

Curtis

“what a great night “

They kiss

 End of 9.13