#american league championship series

[vibezzonerrythang]

BREAKING: The Houston Astros sweep the New York Yankees in the ALCS; 4-0 with the score of 6-5 🧹. The Astros will face the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series🛎⭐️. The Astros are 7-0 in the Playoffs this Postseason. This win makes a back-to-back trip to the World Series and wins the ALCS pennant 4-out-out-6 seasons.

Game 1 of the World Series will take place on Friday, October 28. Who’s your winner in the 2022 World Series? 🤔

[flareonfloof]

my favorite sports team¹ lost a very important game² and now I need lots of pets³ :(

¹ The Colorado Avalanche (formerly Quebec Nordiques) are an NHL⁴ franchise located in Denver, Colorado. They have won the NHL championship⁵ three times, most recently in 2022.

²The NHL playoffs⁶ are conducted via a series of 4 7-game rounds, with the winner of each round advancing to the next. The game in question was game 7 of the first round. By losing, the Colorado Avalanche have been eliminated.⁷

³ Soft, consentual stroking of a creature's fur.

⁴ The National Hockey League (NHL) is a North American professional ice hockey organization, made up of 32 teams across the United States and Canada.

⁵ The NHL championship is also colloquially known as the Stanley Cup, after the trophy awarded to the winning team. Every member of the winning team's organization has their name engraved into a section of the trophy, with bands being added and removed as space is required.

⁶ The term "playoffs" here refers to a tournament held after a regular season of scheduled games of a sport. The season determines qualification and seeding for the playoffs.

⁷ From the playoffs. The players were not killed.

[jaimexbrienne-fic-finder]

Sports Fic

I don't celebrate Superbowl Sunday, but still, here are stories inspired by sports:

Sports featured more or less prominently!

Completed; Summaries from AO3

Baseball

you, just like heaven by theworldunseen

Jaime is an All Star pitcher on the King's Landing Crowns, and Brienne is the girl he gives free tickets to and sleeps with sometimes. That's it, she tells herself. And yet.

With All Your Faults by sea_spirit

In 1943, small-town slugger Brienne Tarth is recruited to play for Tywin Lannister’s newest business venture: the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. There, she meets Jaime, a maimed former Major League pitcher who’s been talked into managing one of his father’s teams. She can't stand her arrogant coach, and he is definitely not interested in his annoyingly principled star player. They don't like each other at all, really...until they do.

Loosely inspired by "A League of Their Own," with slightly less baseball and lots more love story.

Diamond in the Rough by cardinalgirl75

All Brienne Tarth's ever wanted to do was play baseball. All the world's ever given her is scorn for thinking a woman could be as good as a man--until she's drafted by the King's Landing Royals. Now she's got a chance to make her wildest dreams come true.

Jaime Lannister overcame a rocky start to his career to become the premiere pitcher for the King's Landing Royals. He thinks a woman playing professional baseball is ludicrous--until he meets Brienne Tarth.

Stealing Home by PrettyThief

It was cold, he was warm, she'd polished off a very tall beer, and the night was full of happiness. Besides, they were friendly colleagues now, so surely there was no harm in a platonic hug between two fans.

Coaches Jaime Lannister and Brienne Tarth find themselves seated together watching the losingest team in baseball, Brienne's beloved Storm's End Stags, compete in the final game of the World Series.

these warm summer evenings where we once and again shall meet by sdwolfpup

This summer, the fourth since they'd parted after college, Jaime's coming for a month, and Brienne's already dreading having to say goodbye at the end of it. But there's no alternative, because they're simply baseball buddies, no matter how many nights Brienne might fall asleep talking to Jaime on the phone about work or how often he texts her random non-baseball thoughts during the day. Regardless of too-long hugs and extended vacation stays.

It's been eight years since they met. She's sure she's missed her chance to try to make it anything more, so she's going to be happy with the time she gets. Just as soon as she stops dreaming about him.

Right Off the Bat by hillaryschu

to be read in 90s Movie Trailer RomCom Voice

Meet Jaime. He used to be the most infamous player in Major League baseball but a career-ending injury brought him back into the family business. He hates it. What he doesn’t hate is coaching the best Little League team in Kings Landing.

Meet Brienne. After her father’s death, she left behind a successful career in women’s competitive fastpitch to start over. She’s trying to balance life and love in a new city, all while coaching a down-and-out Little League team.

In a world where everyone is looking to connect, Jaime and Brienne discover the best way to meet someone is to never meet at all. What they don’t realize, is that they already have.

This fanfic exchange season, follow along with Brienne and Jaime as they take to one another on Twitter and battle on the ballfield. Then find out what happens when those worlds collide.

(a You’ve Got Mail AU)

Change-up by Lady_in_Red

Jaime is used to reading signs and changing his play accordingly, but baseball and relationships are two entirely different games.

Formula 1

Heart Full of Gasoline by sdwolfpup

Jaime Lannister is a Formula 1 driver with a sordid past, dubious future, and nothing left to lose as he hits the far edge of his career. He thinks all he wants is the world championship title he’s never quite been able to reach and to finally give up smoking. What he finds to his great surprise is what he really wants might be Brienne Tarth.

Brienne Tarth is an unknown mechanic eager to make the jump to the big time of Formula 1. When Jaime hires her as Chief Mechanic for his team of misfits, she discovers she’s ready for the work, but is she ready for Jaime?

Bull Riding

Fever by Lady_in_Red

As a professional bull rider, Jaime Lannister cheated death, eight seconds at a time, for more than a decade. When his luck finally runs out, Brienne Tarth becomes his unlikely savior. A slow-burn romance set against a backdrop of dangerous sports and pop culture geekery in a Westeros-flavored United States.

What he loves might kill him But he's got no choice, he's a different breed With a voice down deep inside That's screamin' he was born to ride - "The Fever," Garth Brooks

Dancing

I Owe It All To You by theworldunseen

Fresh off another World Cup title with the United States Women's National Team and heading into retirement, Brienne Tarth lets her friends convince her to join the newest cast of Dancing With The Stars. Mostly she doesn't want to embarrass herself. When the show pairs her with veteran dancer Jaime Lannister, she gets even more than she bargained for.

Hockey/Dancing

when the sun shine, we shine together by cardinalgirl75

Brienne spent one incredible weekend with hockey superstar Jaime Lannister, only for him to break her heart when it was over. Four years later, she's moved on with her life and made a name for herself as the lead choreographer for one of the hottest shows on television--Lip Sync Battle. The last thing in the world she wants is for the show's creator to announce that he's pursuing Jaime to be one of the contestants.

Tennis

Grand Slam by LadyRhiyana

In which Jaime and Brienne play tennis, fool around, and fall in love.

Football (Soccer)

Playing Defense by RestedAbandon

Jaime and Brienne are always on opposite sides of the field, until they're not.

Kiss Cam by SeeThemFlying

Jaime and his girlfriend Cersei go to see a football game.

There's a kiss cam.

Jaime doesn't kiss Cersei.

This Is The One by disappointed_turtle

Jaime, Brienne, football, feminism, friendship, dogs, cake, sex. Good things, basically. No one is getting crushed by bricks after a wildly unbelievable 'relapse' in this story. No one is ending up celibate and having to spend their life playing the diplomat between lots of men who have failed upwards. Modern universe, this world. It'll probably be quite crude. Title from The Stone Roses song. I'll update very soon as it's almost finished.

Football (American)

Stannis Baratheon, Fantasy Football League Commissioner by ikkiM

Stannis Baratheon is the new Fantasy Football League Commissioner.

This is completely an exercise in fun. If you're looking for heavy angst or a deep exploration of the characters, this fic is not for you. If you are looking to have a laugh, come on in.

Basketball

My Best Friend is the Centerfold by PrettyThief

Five years since last they spoke, Brienne does not expect to see her old best friend, Jaime Lannister, modeling underwear on her social media feed.

Swimming/Football (American)

Beast and the Beast by SigilBroken

___________________

This is unfinished but it is great until it stops

Make Love Your Goal by lionswench

When the arrogant, widely-reviled and recently-relieved war veteran Jaime Lannister starts pulling the reins at his father's factory, he finds himself tiptoeing around the ire that munitionette Brienne Tarth seems to reserve only for him.

Careful to contain the explosive potential between the two of them, Jaime gradually begins to win Brienne over with a little help from the beautiful game. If a war can momentarily cease for a bit of football, surely a bit of workplace bickering can too, right?

A retelling of the history of Dick, Kerr Ladies FC with slightly less football, and many more feelings.

[guentzel]

BASEBALL PRIMER: Playoffs

Here is the tag where you can find all the posts.

The MLB playoffs are an elimination style tournament. There are several series within the MLB Playoffs: the division, championship, and world series.

The divisional series are the American League Divisional Series (ALDS) and National League Divisional Series (NLDS) respectively. Winners of the divisional series then move on to the championship series.

Then, there is the American League Championship Series (ALCS) and National League Championship Series (NLCS), in which the winner of each series will face the other in the World Series. This is the first time in this tournament an NL team will see an AL team, and vice versa.

WHO QUALIFIES?

Five teams from each league qualify (making it ten total). Six are the winners of each division--NL West, NL Central, NL East, AL West, AL Central, and AL East--and automatically qualify for the playoffs. The four remaining ones are known as the 'wild card', and these are the teams in each league that had the best record but did not win the division.

WILD CARD

The wild card round makes up the first round of the playoffs. This is a single elimination game, so you only have one chance to make it into the playoffs. One winner will be from the AL, one will be from the NL.

DIVISIONAL PLAY

At this point, eight teams remain, four from each league. This series is either known as the ALDS or the NLDS. Whoever won the wild card game then goes on to play the team with the best regular season record in their league. The other two remaining teams in the league play each other. At this point, the games are best of five--first team to three wins in a series moves on to the NLCS or ALCS respectively.

CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

This series works just like the others, but at this point, there are only four teams remaining, two from each league. This time, these play off in a seven game series, and first one to four wins.

WORLD SERIES

The winner of the ALCS and the NLCS face off against each other in a seven series game, first to four wins it all and will be crowned World Series Champions.

Back at the very beginning, what the team won wasn't a trophy, but a pennant that they then could fly over their stadium. Times have changed and they win a trophy now, but it's still called the pennant race.

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

The Senator from Cancun is so desperate for attention that he actually went on social media to defend himself against this.

🤡

[petoskeystones]

well guys in light of recent events i guess i'll tell you about Champions Day, when detroit was so goddamn good at every single major sport in 1935-36 that governor frank fitzgerald said fuck it let's have a day about it. 89 years ago today—

the tigers won their first world series. genuinely an insane lineup with hank greenberg, charlie gehringer, goose goslin, and mickey cochrane as player-manager. known wifeguy schoolboy rowe pitched a great season but he was also a pretty good hitter! anyways we won the world series in game six over the cubs and detroit celebrated until six am. it was the first baseball championship in detroit since 1887 (when the detroit wolverines won the national league pennant).

the red wings won their first stanley cup under the coaching of my worstie jack adams, but we beat the leafs to do it, so yippee! this season for the wings featured future hall of famers ebbie goodfellow, marty barry, herbie lewis, and syd howe (no relation). notably, this was the season that the longest hockey game Ever was played— in the stanley cup semifinals the wings went to SIX OVERTIMES against the montreal maroons, and won when mud bruneteau scored the only goal of the game. they were scoreless from 8:30 pm to 2:30 am. what the hell. anyways yeah we beat the leafs in the best of five series, 3-1.

and the lions won their first nfl championship. that's what they called it in the 1930s, just the nfl championship. the lions won 26-7 over the new york giants. however people simply did Not care about pro football in the 1930s, college football was much more popular and it was the least attended championship game ever (in national peacetime). the weather was miserable and they all got $300 and that's it. glen presnell, the last surviving player from that game, said "it was a way to make a living during the depression" okay!

the nba didn't exist yet. but other sports did! detroit was a majorhub for boat racing, and gar wood wasat the center of it all with his company, garwood industries, which made wooden pleasure or racing boats. he was the first man to travel at 100mph on water, which he did a few years before champions day, but they celebrated it anyways. joe louis was the athlete of the year and the number-one ranked heavyweight boxer in the world (in june of 1936 he would get knocked out for the first time in his career by max schmeling, reportedly because instead of training he got really into golf. i mean he later was pivotal in desegregating the professional golfers' association, and he knocked out max schmeling in 1938, so really it was all fine). and detroiter eddie tolan had won two gold medals in sprinting at the 1932 olympics, which was considered a huge success for the city (he had his own eddie tolan day that year) and for black americans. of the 307 races he competed in during his career, he won 300.

anyways. in the middle of the great depression detroit got to shine for a minute, and to this day is the only city to win the championship for three of the four major american sports in the same year. happy champions day folks!

[coimbrabertone]

Champ Car: the World Series that Actually Was.

There's the old joke that Europeans always throw around, that we Americans invent our own sports that only we play, and then we call it the World Series. Now, nevermind that the baseball World Series features playing talent from all across the world - Shohei Ohtani, the top player right now, is Japanese, for instance - because there was an American sport that truly was a world series.

Champ Car.

The Champ Car story begins in 1978, when, following a plane crash that led to the deaths of eight top USAC - United States Auto Club - officials, Dan Gurney wrote the White Paper, calling for massive reforms. Dan Gurney was not only a team owner in CART, but his All-American Racers - under the guise of Anglo-American Racers - bad previously competed in Formula One.

In the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix, Dan Gurney won in his own car, the Eagle Mark 1, also known as the T1G. This beauty of a car, with its Weslake V12 engine, marked the only time that an American car with an American driver won a Formula One race.

When that guy says that your series is fucked, it's fucked.

So, Dan's White Paper led to the creation of CART - Championship Auto Racing Teams - which marked the team owners taking control of the series and organizing it on their principles. For more detail on this era of CART, I recommend Elizabeth Blackstock's Deadly Passions, Terrible Joys podcast, which recently did an episode on this.

For our purposes, the important thing to note is that, by the late 80s, CART was doing business as the "CART PPG Indy Car World Series" and began putting on events inside the US, but also outside of it. Toronto came first in 1986, there was a failed attempt to race in Fuji in 1989, a successful race in Surfers Paradise, Australia, from 1991, and a race in Vancouver from 1990.

There was a problem, however.

The reason that the Fuji race in 1989 failed was because the FIA intervened against CART racing outside of North America. CART's attention soon shifted to Surfers Paradise, where the FIA put pressure on the Confederation of Australian Motorsports to prevent Surfers Paradise from going ahead. Nevertheless, by 1991, CART was able to put on the Gold Coast IndyCar Grand Prix, which would soon become a mainstay on the CART calendar.

Shortly afterwards, CART and the FIA would reach a settlement: Surfers Paradise would be grandfathered in, CART had freedom to race anywhere they wanted in North America, but everywhere else in the world, CART would be restricted to ovals.

The first of these international ovals came at the 1.9-mile trapezoid known as "Emerson Fittipaldi Speedway" at Jacarepaguá, the former Formula One track in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This came in 1996, as CART was experiencing the split, where the Indy Racing League broke away and took the Indy 500 with them.

In 1998, backed by Honda, Indycar would see another international oval in the form of Twin Ring Motegi, finally giving the series its race in Japan.

The loss of the Indy 500 seemed to mark CART doubling down on the international expansion, because in 2001, two additional international ovals followed: Lausitzring in Germany and Rockingham Motor Speedway (no relation to Rockingham Speedway, formerly known as North Carolina Motor Speedway) in the UK. Additionally, the 2001 season opener was on the Fundidora Park street circuit in Monterrey, Mexico.

Between Monterrey, Motegi, Toronto, Vancouver, Germany, Rockingham, and Surfers Paradise, seven of the series' twenty events were held outside of the US. It was supposed to be eight of twenty-one, however, the Rio 200 was cancelled in 2001 and the event never returned.

2001 was generally a season of disasters for CART, as its showpiece European doubleheader of Germany and Rockingham was overshadowed first by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and then by Alex Zanardi's paralyzing crash at the Lausitzring.

2001, between various disasters, teams defecting to the IRL to get into the Indianapolis 500, and the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement placing stricter limitations on tobacco advertising, marked the beginning of the end for CART.

However, two things happened.

First, the European Commission's Competition Directorate began a probe into the FIA in 1999, accusing them as acting as a monopoly on motorsports. They believed that the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone were using Formula One and their other series to block competitors, prevent rival series, and prevent contracted circuits from hosting competing events. By 2001, the FIA and EC would settle, and the FIA would no longer have a monopoly on motorsports.

In the short term, this allowed CART to replace the struggling Rockingham event with a "Champ Car London Trophy" at Brands Hatch for 2003, in the long term...well, I'll get to that in a moment.

Second, after the 2003 CART season, the series went bankrupt and it was eventually bought out by a trio of team owners, Gerry Forsythe (Team Player's), Kevin Kalkhoven (PK Raving), and Paul Gentilozzi (Rocketsports) who rescued the series. Buying a supply of Ford's Cosworth engines, they put together the Champ Car World Series as a successor to CART.

The 2004 CCWS season consisted of fourteen races, of which, Monterrey, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Surfers Paradise, were outside of the United States.

In 2005, Vancouver was replaced by Edmonton.

In 2007, Montreal would be replaced by Mont Tremblant, additionally, a Belgian race at Zolder and a Dutch race at Assen were added. Monterrey was lost, but it was not seven events in the US, seven outside.

The 2008 Champ Car World Series that never was, was due to add Jerez to the calendar, making for six US races to eight outside of the United States.

Instead, however, Champ Car merged with the IRL to create the modern Indycar series.

In 2008, Edmonton was retained, Surfers Paradise was a non-championship finale, and there was also the race at Motegi, which had joined Honda in defecting from CART to the IRL in 2003.

In 2009, Surfers Paradise would go away, but Toronto would return.

Motegi would persist until 2010, but the oval would be damaged in the 2011 Japanese earthquake and the resulting tsunami. A final race in 2011 - appropriately called "Indy Japan: the Final" - would instead be held on the Motegi road course, as seen in MotoGP.

Edmonton would last until 2012.

From 2010-2013, Indycar put together its own overseas race, the Sao Paulo Indy 300 on a street circuit in Anhembi Parque. Thus 2014 was the first time since 1990 that there was not an Indycar race of some form outside of North America.

To make up for this, 2014 had three doubleheader races, at Belle Isle, Houston, and in Toronto.

Since then, there was an attempt to return to Brazil in 2015 at the other Autodromo Internacional Nelson Piquet, this one in Brasilia, but that one failed to materialize.

Likewise, there was supposed to be an Indycar exhibition race at Termas de Rio Hondo in Argentina in either 2024 or 2025, however, the controversial President Javier Milei slashed government spending, which ultimately killed not only the Indycar Argentina event, but also the long running Argentinian Motorcycle Grand Prix in MotoGP.

Champ Car was a flawed series. It was the spectre of CART dragging out the American open wheel racing split for another four years. In those four years, Sebastien Bourdais won the championship each time, him and his Newman/Haas Racing team often seeming like the only competent team in a sea of Brazilian paydrivers and Formula One rejects.

That being said, it marked the high point of Indycar racing overseas and, despite only existing for four years, managed to build a completely new car - the Panoz DP01 - to replace its aging Lola B02/00 chassis.

There is a lot that modern Indycar is doing right - the return of ovals with doubleheaders at Iowa and Milwaukee in addition to the Gateway race, and now the season finale at 1.3-mile Nashville Superspeedway is great - however, one area where it is supremely lacking is international events.

The 2024 NTT Indycar Series has drivers from all over the world - my last blogpost was about a Kiwi doing 234.2 miles per hour around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - but it does not have the schedule to back it up. The fact that one of the most popular stars in the series in Pato O'Ward is literally from Monterrey, Mexico and the series hasn't even seriously considered going back there is downright foolish.

NASCAR is making moves to potentially go to Montreal, Canada and Mexico City, Mexico as early as 2025. If NASCAR, with exactly two foreign drivers - Daniel Suarez and Shane Van Gisbergen - beats Indycar to international expansion, then the Penske Entertainment regime will have truly failed.

And that makes me sad, because like I made clear in the last blogpost, Team Penske is an amazing team with so much history and so many successes.

I just wish their series ownership was as successful as their race teams.

[gaymormonmike]

STUDS TERKEL

I am reading Terkel's book Coming of Age. It is a chronicle of interviews he had with people who shaped the 20th Century. These aren't the people you would be familiar with. Stud's hung out with and was friends to the marginalized . He fought against any prejudice aligning himself with Blacks such as Mahalia Jackson, gay and lesbians, downtrodden workers, unionists, and was comfortable with anyone that was open, honest and willing to speak out. He had a Chicago radio program that interviewed people (we would call them podcasts today) from 1952 to 1997. He wrote oral histories of his famous people and of the everyday person. His oral history of people on the home front during WWII won a Pulitzer prize and made me love the way he wrote and spoke and how much he wanted to record the unspoken stories of everyone. He understood that everyone had a story to tell. I am sharing this because if you never heard of Studs Terkel, you are missing an American treasure. Check him out. Here is part of his story from Wikpedia:

A political leftist, Terkel joined the Works Progress Administration's Federal Writers' Project, working in radio, doing work that varied from voicing soap opera productions and announcing news and sports to presenting shows of recorded music and writing radio scripts and advertisements. In the late 1940's he voiced characters in WMAQ's Destination Freedom series, written by Richard Durham.[5] His own well-known radio program, titled The Studs Terkel Program, aired on 98.7 WFMT Chicago between 1952 and 1997.[6] The one-hour program was broadcast each weekday during those 45 years. On this program, he interviewed guests as diverse as Martin Luther King Jr., Leonard Bernstein, Mort Sahl, Bob Dylan, Alexander Frey, Dorothy Parker, Tennessee Williams, Jean Shepherd, Frank Zappa, and Big Bill Broonzy.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Terkel was also the central character of��Studs' Place, an unscripted television drama about the owner of a greasy-spoon diner in Chicago through which many famous people and interesting characters passed. This show, Marlin Perkins's Zoo Parade, Garroway at Large, and the children's show Kukla, Fran, and Ollie are widely considered canonical examples of the Chicago School of Television.

Terkel published his first book, Giants of Jazz, in 1956. He followed it in 1967 with his first collection of oral histories, Division Street: America, with 70 people talking about the effect on the human spirit of living in an American metropolis.[7][8][9]

He also served as a distinguished scholar-in-residence at the Chicago History Museum. He appeared in the film Eight Men Out, based on the Black Sox Scandal, in which he played newspaper reporter Hugh Fullerton, who tries to uncover the White Sox players' plans to throw the 1919 World Series. Terkel found it particularly amusing to play this role, as he was a big fan of the Chicago White Sox (as well as a vocal critic of major league baseball during the 1994 baseball strike), and gave a moving congratulatory speech to the White Sox organization after their 2005 World Series championship during a television interview.

Terkel received his nickname while he was acting in a play with another person named Louis. To keep the two straight, the director of the production gave Terkel the nickname Studs after the fictional character about whom Terkel was reading at the time—Studs Lonigan, of James T. Farrell's trilogy.

Terkel was acclaimed for his efforts to preserve American oral history. His 1985 book "The Good War": An Oral History of World War Two, which detailed ordinary peoples' accounts of the country's involvement in World War II, won the Pulitzer Prize. For Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression, Terkel assembled recollections of the Great Depression that spanned the socioeconomic spectrum, from Okies, through prison inmates, to the wealthy. His 1974 book, Working, in which (as reflected by its subtitle) People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do, also was highly acclaimed. Working was made into a short-lived Broadway show of the same title in 1978 and was telecast on PBS in 1982. In 1995, he received the Chicago History Museum "Making History Award" for Distinction in Journalism and Communications. In 1997, Terkel was elected a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters. Two years later, he received the George Polk Career Award in 1999.

[unmanageably]

whats the tea on kd leaving the warriors? i was a casual fan at the time it happened so i don't know the situation

well... let me be brief (1/278)

lmao jk but.... well a lot! and most of it is speculation, etcetc ofc we'll never truly know until 20 years later when the last dance-esque documentary comes out about the warriors in the steph curry era lmao-- but the story goes like this:

kevin durant was the superstar of okc thunder and was steadily building up the franchise over the years to become serious contenders for a championship. they were always close, but had never quite made it. but with a good FO/org behind him, westbrook by his side, they were always really close— but again, as we all know, it was never enough (made the finals in 2012. lost. would make the playoffs but always got defeated). in 2016, they once again get really close at the western conference finals where they led the series 3-1 against the warriors. despite that they lose. a mere month later, he joins the warriors: a team that's obviously at the beginning of a dynasty— they won a championship in 2015 and made it into the finals in 2016. but more importantly, the team that beat kevin durant and okc thunder at the conference finals.

there were layers to this "betrayal" and to this day people still think this one decision "ruined the sport" (lol). people saw it as a betrayal on KD's part and it took an incredible hit to his reputation. you almost make it to the finals, you have an incredible teammate in westbrook by your side, an org that supports you and is willing to uplift you to your highest star potential, and you leave? to join the team that BEAT you? to the team that has steph curry, klay thompson, draymond green, andre iguodala?

already a hugely successful team without KD, but with him, it was undeniable. a superteam. yeah, a lot of team has duos or trios. lebron and kyrie, lebron and dwade, harden and cp3, etcetc. but this team was different levels. a whole team full. the team was 73-9 without KD. massively talented already. but now? steph, KD, klay as offensive threats. draymond and andre as defensive threats. insanely good roleplayers like shaun livingston.

everyone was livid. not just OKC fans. everyone in the league! the warriors, and KD's name specifically was tarnished. how disrespectful for the warriors to even think about creating a team like this. how disrespectful for KD to leave an org that's done so much for him. sports media was tearing into them, fans were tearing into them, they were quite literally, the most hated north american sports team. fans were burning jerseys, making videos threatening KD, etc.

we all know how KD with the warriors went. winning fixes all, right? arguably the most dominant team in nba history (2017 warriors vs 1996 bulls a common debate to this day), the warriors absolutely dominated the nba, and went on to win the 2017 and 2018 championships. KD finally gets his two rings and a FMVP. and the warriors still stay the most hated team in the league. you either loved the warriors or hated them! no in between. the narrative is that KD's rings were called into question because he "had a superteam" so they weren't "valid".

2018-2019 is when it all kinda starts falling apart. the warriors are plagued with injuries, and it's just clear they don't have the synergy and chemistry that they did before. it was most clear during a game against the clippers where draymond and kd visibly fought after a bad play at the end where draymond refused to pass to kd. draymond had allegedly yelled at kd and told him to just leave the warriors, and that they didn't need him (kd's contract was up that year as well). KD has said in later years that that argument was kind of like the ~last straw for him and the nail in the coffin for him leaving. he had already been having feelings of being "the odd man out"— though they were winning together and had good synergy on court, the core3 plus the other players were already a tight knit family long before he had arrived. after the incident with draymond, the team never really sat down and talked about it: just brushed it under the rug (dray was suspended for one game but nothing was talked about). KD felt like it was a slap in the face, all this stuff about how gsw is known for good team chemistry and good culture but they just wanted to brush that very public incident under the rug? after that he started playing more selfishly— less like how they would play as a team and more in isolation. KD gets injured during the finals, and as we know, klay gets injured as well: we lose the finals. we don't get the sought after three-peat. KD signs with the brooklyn nets and the rest is history.

i talked a lot about the beginning of KD signing on to the warriors because i feel like that was really the root of why he left. he became one of the most hated players in north american sports. his own fans tore into him. sports media all tore into him. calling him mentally weak, pathetic, etc. and does winning fix all? i feel like KD with the warriors was proof that... it doesn't. KD gets two rings that he basically sold his soul to the devil for AND two FMVPs and people still don't respect him. on top of that he wins it with the warriors: which has always been and will always be Steph Curry's Team. yeah he was integral to those wins, but you can't compete with how steph has built the dynasty, yk? what steph has given to the warriors.

so at the end of the day, the story goes like this: KD "betrays" okc by going to the team who beat him in the conference finals, creates the first real "superteam" in the nba (the superteam discourse is a whole other thing smh like teams aren't trying to do that now but i digress). the whole sports world is going in on him, he's basically sold his soul for these rings. he gets his rings, he gets his FMVP. but his legacy and reputation is still called into question: he's integral but still won his rings and his FMVPs on STEPH CURRYs team, not his. Steph's. on top of all the outside noise, internally he's not happy either. he doesn't feel protected within the team. he has beef with draymond, and steph/klay + the franchise will clearly always have their loyalty to draymond. he doesn't buy into the team culture anymore, and he feels like the odd one out. the only thing that could make him stay would be to keep winning more rings. but the two rings he has didn't fix anything. so why stay? what does he have going for him?

(he goes on to bounce between different teams, tries to build his own superteams but never comes as close as he did. meanwhile steph klay and draymond go through a tough two years, considerably the lowest two years in the steph/core3 era, and come out on top: they win the '22 finals, against a celtics team that had an 84% chance of winning the finals. they save their dynasty, their legacy. steph proves that he won a chip BEFORE KD, during KD, and AFTER KD as well.)

[laresearchette]

Monday, January 01, 2024 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: MAS*H: THE COMEDY THAT CHANGED TELEVISION (CTV) 8:00pm AMERICA'S GOT TALENT: FANTASY LEAGUE (City TV) 8:00pm 90 DAY FIANCÉ (TLC Canada) 8:00pm TAKING ON TAYLOR SWIFT (CNN) 9:00pm KIDS BAKING CHAMPIONSHIP (Food Network Canada) 9:00pm CELEBRITY IOU (HGTV Canada) 9:00pm HGTV DREAM HOME 2024 (HGTV Canada) 11:00pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT?: 2023 ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTION CEREMONY (ABC Feed)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

CBC GEM BOOKSMART GRAND DESIGNS AUSTRALIA (Season 10 B)

CRAVE TV THE HANGOVER HOUSE OF KARDASHIAN (Episodes 1-3)

DISNEY + STAR FX’S AMERICAN HORROR STORY: DELICATE (Season 12A)

NETFLIX CANADA ANNIE (1982) BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE BITCONNED BRAVEN CHAPPIE FOOL ME ONCE (GB) LOURDERMILK (Seasons 1-3) MAHALIA MANDY ONE PIECE: MARINEFORD SEX TAPE SOMETHING BORROWED WAR DOGS YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT: A TWIN EXPERIMENT

PWHL HOCKEY (SN1/TSN/TSN3/TSN4) 12:00pm: New York vs. Toronto

NBA BASKETBALL (SN1) 3:00pm: Timberwolves vs. Knicks (SN/SN1) 7:30pm: Cavaliers vs. Raptors (TSN2) 8:00pm: Pacers vs. Bucks (SN/SN1) 10:30pm: Heat vs. Clippers

NHL HOCKEY (SN) 3:00pm: Knights vs. Kraken

MURDOCH MYSTERIES (CBC) 8:00pm: Murdoch investigates the shooting of a local construction company owner who was executed in a barber shop.

DESIGNING CHRISTMAS (CTV2) 8:00pm: Complicated and unexplored emotions may jeopardize everything between Stella and Pablo, co-hosts of a home renovation show, as they work together during the holidays.

A CHRISTMAS… PRESENT (Super Channel Heart & Home) 8:00pm: Knowing that this is to be Paul's first Christmas alone with his daughter, Ashley, since his wife's passing, Maggie decides to bring Eric and the kids for a visit to spread some Christmas cheer.

MISS SCARLET AND THE DUKE (CBC) 9:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): The sister of a missing woman hires Eliza to find her, but the case was already closed by the police -- creating new tensions between Eliza and the Duke.

GOLD DIGGERS (W Network) 9:00pm/9:30pm (SERIES PREMIERE): It's 1853, and two ratbag sisters from Sydney travel to the Australian Gold Rush in search of their own treasure: newly rich idiots.

TO CATCH A SMUGGLER (Nat Geo Canada) 9:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): An HSI stakeout leads to nearly $500,000 of meth and fentanyl in San Diego; CBP finds concealed cash and a carload of cocaine at the El Paso border.

LETTERKENNY (Crave) 9:00pm/9:30pm/10:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): MoDean's hosts a night of standup. In Episode Two, the Skids engineer a country music hit. In Episode Three, Dary gets in with a bad crowd.

[hangmanbradshaw]

After reading your incredible fic I wanted to get into NFL world but I have no idea where to start 🥲 Do you have any suggestions for beginners ? It would be great ❤️

OH MY GOD YES. I'm vibrating in excitement over this. Okay so the easiest way to start is probably with game break down and rules, some good resources:

But the league has been around for a long time (the 20s). The Super Bowl league has been since 1967. There's a lot of history there, but it's okay! There's two conferences: AFC (American Football Conference) and NFC (National Football Conference) (fun fact- the Chiefs which are my beloved team were the first AFC team. Our founder Lamar Hunt started that conference and the AFC Championship trophy is called the Lamar Hunt trophy. His son is still our owner today- Clark Hunt).

The Super Bowl is played between the winner of each conference.

There's 17 games a season (Sep to Feb is Super Bowl) with one bye week. Each Conference has 4 divisions.

I could go on and on and on, but maybe some hype videos are also the best place to start? There's a ton on youtube, but there's also a show on Netflix right now called Quarterback that is SO good (one of the people it follows is my QB Mahomes then Kirk Cousins for the Vikings and Marcus Mariota for the Falcons. Three VERY different players who are all QBs). The Chiefs also have their own documentary series on youtube called The Franchise that follows the team through the season which is cool to watch. HBO does a show called Hard Knocks that follows a diff team each year too.

The Franchise Super Bowl Ep:

Most recent super bowl highlights (such a good one, you'll have to watch on youtube though)

NFL Pump UP Video

Craziest moments last season:

Sorry that was an essay. Hit up my messages or ask box any time and I'm happy to go into any more detail, or with any questions!! I was born & raised a massive football fan so I'm always around if you have questions. I'd say to start:

Pick a fave team. Whether it be a city you like, colors, mascot, player, the Giants cuz of Jake ;), whatever. Follow your heart.

Learn that team's history and traditions (I'm super biased so if you go with the KC Chiefs well...I'm around and can blab about it all day)

The rest you'll get as you go!

Youtube has tons of cool videos, game recaps, etc. They do mic'ed up for each game too and behind the scenes stuff. It's like a game of chess, truly, and there's so many amazing moments and games with comebacks, emotion, heart. It can be the most amazing thing if you get into it (like any sport.) The last super bowl was between the Kelce Brothers (who have a podcast called New Heights that's on youtube, also good) and that was such a cool moment. Seeing your team win a crazy comeback or a Super Bowl....there's nothing like it.

[pittsburghbeautiful]

The Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates Originally known as the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, the team was founded in 1881 as a member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1887. They were a part of the National League East from 1969 to 1993. With five World Series championships, nine National League pennants, nine National League East division titles, and three appearances in the Wild Card Game,…

[gayelectro]

📝🏷️❤️!!

"Imagine Your Self Insert was Canon" Asks!

📝: How would your story in canon go? How would you influence the events of the original story?

I've always believed that Bull Armor had been working at the Leaguer Hospital for a long time prior to the start of the series. A few years, at the least. I've always thought we met there, as coworkers, where I was oblivious to his infamy because of my total ignorance of American Football.

I left that job probably a year (or maybe two) before the events of Shippu! Iron Leaguer.

Then, I think we would run into each other again after the events of the main series-- post Silver Castle winning the world championship. Our story would basically, uh, delete the post-series OVA entirely and supplant it! XD

If we really did get a new post-series continuation of some sort, I would genuinely hope it wasn't just about me and Bully. I'd love more from the whole main cast and the Stray Leaguers as well! We'd get to see how the world changes for everyone in an Iron League without violence. (And, what changes for Silver Castle after winning such fame...?)

🏷️: What is you and Bull Armor’s ship name?

So, I call and tag it "Buruburi" based on how our names would be pronounced in Japanese and mashing them together. But this isn't the typical naming convention at all in this fandom! The fandom would probably just call it BullBridge or BridgeArmor.

If this fandom did Pokemon-style or Danny Phantom-style ship names, I haven't the slightest clue! I've never been good at understanding or conceptualizing those!

❤️: How popular is you x Bull Armor? Are you a rarepair?

I would think it would be something people either love or are annoyed by!

Bull Armor in general is not popular in the shipping scene. MagBull and Jet Setter/Bull Armor seem to be the most popular ships in the Japanese fandom, though neither is really popular by any means. In the western fandom, BullJoy is easily the most popular Bully ship, and I love it! It's personally my favorite Bully ship, tied with my own selfship. But Bull and I have a similar dynamic to BullJoy (with some obvious differences), so whatever makes BullJoy not show up on the radar to Japanese fans might still be present for us!

I think the popularity of our ship would mostly come down to if people like our writing and dynamic! If you're not into human/robot, big size differences, fluffy romances where people help each other grow from their own baggage, then we simply won't appeal to some folks! But if I was in the show, I'd like to think we wouldn't be a total rare pair!

[47burlm]

Longtime Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield died Sunday morning at age 57, the team announced in a news release.

No cause of death was provided, though the team issued a statement earlier this week acknowledging that the former pitcher was battling a “disease,” and requesting privacy for the Wakefield family.

“Our hearts are broken with the loss of Tim Wakefield,” the Red Sox posted on X on Sunday. “Wake embodied true goodness; a devoted husband, father, and teammate, beloved broadcaster, and the ultimate community leader. He gave so much to the game and all of Red Sox Nation.”

Red Sox legend and baseball Hall of Famer David Ortiz posted a photo on Instagram of him hugging Wakefield, writing, “I can’t describe what you mean to me and my family, my heart is broken right now because l will never be able to replace a brother and a friend like you.”

“He was real. He was CLASS. This is truly horrible news,” longtime Boston sportswriter Bob Ryan wrote on X.

Wakefield was drafted out of college as a first baseman but when his career stalled he turned to a rarely thrown pitch to make the majors. He became a right-handed starting pitcher famous for being one of the few big leaguers to feature a knuckleball and in his career he won 200 games,

Wakefield played two seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates before beginning a 17-year stint with the Red Sox. He won a pair of World Series championships with the Red Sox, including their win in 2004 after a historic rally in the American League Championship Series and their subsequent MLB title in 2007.

He was the recipient of the 2010 Roberto Clemente Award recognizing “extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.”

[beardedmrbean]

Helsinki Areena in Ilmala has been empty and out of use since EU sanctions affecting its Russian owners made it impossible to pay them any money.

It's a big facility, and it leaves a big hole in the capital's sporting and music calendars. It has caused a problem for Jokerit, who had played in Russia's KHL league and used the arena as their home venue, but will now return to the second-tier Mestis league for the 2023-24 season.

The ice hockey world championships were held at Tampere's brand new arena for the last two years, with the capital unable to offer a suitable venue.

But there might now be a chance to take the arena back into use.

Ilta-Sanomat reports that the owners have failed to pay July's instalment on the ground rent, and a reminder has been sent. If the bill is not paid after a further reminder, the city could start proceedings that might lead to new owners for the venue.

If the city began to recover the debt, it could eventually lead either to the cancellation of the rental agreement or sale of the asset to raise the unpaid rent.

The municipality could also make use of legislation to execute a compulsory acquisition of the hall, which mayor Juhana Vartiainen (NCP) says he wants to see in western — or Finnish — hands.

Health centre problems

The last government brought in long-awaited reforms to Finland's system of managing health and social care. Rather than the 300 or so municipalities in the country, services outside the capital are now arranged by 21 wellbeing services counties.

Helsinki retained its right to organise these services, as the largest council in the country containing around ten percent of its population.

The goal of the reform was to save money and rationalise services, but the details are only now being thrashed out and those who think they might lose out are not happy with the plans.

Aamulehti reports that in Pirkanmaa, the region around Tampere, smaller towns are concerned about the plans. The local health authority plans to shut down 19 of the region's 40 health centres, increasing travel times to get medical care for large numbers of patients.

Now municipal leaders in many of those towns set to lose their health centres have signed a joint statement criticising the plans. They claim their residents are sicker than the average Pirkanmaa community's, and therefore it would be foolish to shut down their local health centres.

They also question the financial calculations underpinning the move to shut down their health centres, asking if it is actually cheaper to centralise services than to maintain smaller health centres' operations.

Inappropriate baseball

Helsingin Sanomat has a lengthy expose on harassment in the world of Finnish baseball (known as pesäpallo in Finnish). The sport resembles its American cousin and is mostly played in provincial, inland regions of the country.

The paper has interviewed numerous women playing in the top flight, finding evidence of unsolicited explicit photos being repeatedly sent, players being propositioned, sponsors making inappropriate comments and girls as young as 15 being targeted.

One of the interviewees reported being targeted by a male elite player who sent explicit pictures and videos. The interviewee had also been sent inappropriate messages from a series of unknown, prepaid mobile numbers. As soon as one was blocked, another would start sending explicit messages. She was under 18 at the time.

"As a child, I accepted it thinking that I just have to put up with it," said the interviewee. "As an adult, I've received several explicit pictures."

Research also supports the interviewees' statements. In 2020 the sports ethics body FINCIS found that 46 percent of female players at the highest level had experienced harassment of some sort. The same study found that 25 percent of male players had experienced something similar.

[fishing-lesbian-catgirl]

I think it’s extremely funny when a sports organization with a lot of money buys out all the best players to create a “super team” because they very frequently fall flat on their faces. I just watched the NALCS’s (North American League of Legends Championship Series) big money organization TL (Team Liquid) with their 7 million dollar super team fail to qualify for one of the 3 NA spots at worlds by losing to a couple rookies and I think it’s the funniest goddamn thing