#and 11 years later nick and jess did it again

[becky5203]

The OG golden standard Grumpy/Sunshine couple and their successors

[dankusner]

DID YOU GO THERE?

Help us name a lost Austin bar on East Sixth Street

Somebody should write a history of East Sixth Street.

To be fair, Allen Childs did produce the slender yet instructive volume, “Sixth Street,” for Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series.

Crackling tales of Sixth Street turn up in books by Jesse Sublett, Michael Corcoran and Joe Nick Patoski, among others.

A comprehensive history, however, is waiting for an ambitious author.

(Don’t look at me. I’m busy finishing the fifth volume of the “Indelible Austin” series. Expect a box set by the end of the year.)

The subject of Sixth Street history came up again last week when reader Jess Airaudi asked Austin Answered about one of the many long-gone joints on the iconic way.

“I wondered if anything recent has come up about a place I had asked you about some time ago, a bar on Sixth Street near Congress run by two Lebanese brothers, ‘Benny,’ for one, which I think gave the bar its name, at least informally,” Airaudi wrote. “The long bar in front was popular, but it seems a back room was exclusive to highly-placed men who met there gathered round the potbelly stove to eat chili and spin stories. Maybe a poker game, too. I was invited in once in the mid-’70s. Any information would be appreciated!”

My first impulse was to consult Sublett.

If there was even a hint of illicit gambling, this master of Austin noir would know about it.

“I don’t suppose the guy was referring to JJJ’s Tavern?” responded the author of “The Last Gangster in Austin” and other deliciously lurid books. “It wasn’t that close to Congress but it fits the bill in several other respects.”

Airaudi replied that JJJ’s “brings back fond memories of many afternoons I spent with pals at the old ‘Three Hooks’,” but no, it was not the Lebanese establishment of his original query.

Later, Patoski had better luck: “Sounds like Benny’s Tavern, the last ‘men’s’ beer bar on Sixth, on the same 100 half block as the original Antone’s, OK Records, Moma’s Money, the adult book store and Catman’s Shine Parlor.

Margaret Moser broke the gender code and had a draw.

Soon afterwards, Pat Conway, a retired AP reporter, bought the bar and renamed it Don Politico’s.”

Airaudi responds: “Yup, that’s it. Joe’s ‘the last ‘men’s bar’ cinched it.

My young wife once entered to leave some cash as a surprise gift for me and my pals to celebrate getting my Ph.D. from U.T., and Benny and his brother had a good laugh at how timidly she peeked in at the door.

One other thing I remember, even as a ‘men’s’ bar, it was the cleanest, tidiest bar I’ve ever been in.

There must be pictures out there.

It would be great if some showed up. Go!”

The man in the Sixth Street picture.

That is my daddy!

Our exchange about a vanished Sixth Street bar reminded me of several Austin Answered columns from years past.

Two of them involved today’s featured photograph, taken by Hans Beacham in 1958, that appears to capture a part of Sixth Street’s palpable past, that included a jumble of nightlife, retail outlets and entertainment.

The following excerpt ran in a followup column about the photograph on Feb. 11, 2017 under the headline: “The man in the picture. That is my daddy!”

“Geneva Campbell Perius and Bill Campbell, both in their 70s, separately identified the man in a hat — turning and putting his right hand into his back pocket — as their father, the late Heber Campbell.

“Previously, reader Doug Dawson had quipped: ‘That fella looks like he’s fixin’ to draw.’

“‘He was reaching for his billfold,’ Geneva admonishes. ‘Not a gun.’

“Turns out that the elder Campbell, a stone and brick worker, loved walking the lengths of Sixth Street and Congress Avenue on the weekend.

“’My mother would go shopping at Scarbrough and Levine’s,’ Bill says. ‘My sister and I would go to a movie.’

“Geneva says the movie theater was probably the Cactus, located across the street from the Ritz and owned by entertainer Cactus Pryor’s father.

“She also names the young man walking into a bar as her brother, Arthur ‘Bubba’ Campbell.

“’Daddy knew everybody on Sixth Street,’ she says. ‘They’d go to Jo Jo’s place or Freddy Jabour’s.’

Either of those spots still open when Airaudi visited that bar in the 1970s?

What was Sixth Street before it was ‘Dirty Sixth’?

Since the question comes up all the time, I’ll include in the full answer to a reader’s question about Sixth Street’s history that ran in this column on Feb. 15, 2018:

The road east.

Called Pecan Street for its first 50 years, East Sixth Street was the dirt road to Bastrop, hence the principal route toward the most settled parts of Texas since the 1830s.

This roadway stood generally above the high water mark when the Colorado River flooded badly.

A second Main Street.

Other than Congress Avenue, Sixth Street was the most densely commercialized Austin thoroughfare well into the 20th century.

It hosted grocery stores, apparel shops, dry good spots, liquor stores, barber shops, furniture stores and movie theaters as well as saloons, restaurants and inns, including the grand Driskill Hotel in 1886.

Melting pot.

As Austin became more segregated in the early 20th century, East Sixth Street, along with Red River Street, was where African-American, Latino, Lebanese and Chinese merchants and customers could potentially mingle, although along one block, African Americans kept mainly to the north, Hispanics to the south into the postwar period.

Bourbon Street.

After World War II, as more residents and businesses moved out to the suburbs, East Sixth Street increasingly was lined was bars, clubs, brothels and tattoo parlors before inking was considered a near universal rite of passage.

Music Row.

By the 1970s, when liquor laws were liberalized, East Sixth Street was one of the primary magnets for live music, including the original Antone’s.

At the same time, against all odds, the first new downtown residents moved into the upper floors of the vintage brick buildings.

Electric Street. To

borrow a term from composer Sterling Price-McKinney, East Sixth Street became wonderfully electric and eclectic in the 1980s.

Waves of curious tourists, game day celebrants, old hippies, SXSW guests and offduty military personnel joined poets, comedians, entertainers, street food vendors and, for a while, feuding street gangs on this Avenue of Dreams.

Dirty Sixth.

We don’t know who first applied the adjective “Dirty,” as popularized by hip-hop culture, to “Sixth.”

Yet as Central Austin spawned a half dozen other, nattier nightlife districts, East Sixth Street acquired a reputation — embraced by some, reviled by others — for a certain level of intentional rowdiness.

[papermoonloveslucy]

MRS. COOPER’S BOYFRIEND

February 10, 1950

“Mrs. Cooper’s Boyfriend” is episode #75 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on February 10, 1950.

Synopsis ~ Liz decides that the only way to keep George's mother from coming over on Valentine’s Day is to get her a boyfriend.

“My Favorite Husband” was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942). “My Favorite Husband” was first broadcast as a one-time special on July 5, 1948. Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman played the characters of Liz and George Cugat, and a positive response to this broadcast convinced CBS to launch “My Favorite Husband” as a series. Bowman was not available Richard Denning was cast as George. On January 7, 1949, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Cooper. On this same episode Jell-O became its sponsor. A total of 124 episodes of the program aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951. After about ten episodes had been written, writers Fox and Davenport departed and three new writers took over – Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and head writer/producer Jess Oppenheimer. In March 1949 Gale Gordon took over the existing role of George’s boss, Rudolph Atterbury, and Bea Benaderet was added as his wife, Iris. CBS brought “My Favorite Husband” to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Cooper. The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953 through December 1955, running concurrently with “I Love Lucy.” It was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season filmed (ironically) at Desilu and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown.

MAIN CAST

Lucille Ball (Liz Cooper) was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning, she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.

Richard Denning (George Cooper) was born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. When he was 18 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles. Plans called for him to take over his father’s garment manufacturing business, but he developed an interest in acting. Denning enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. He is best known for his  roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. Although he teamed with Lucille Ball on radio in “My Favorite Husband,” the two never acted together on screen. While “I Love Lucy” was on the air, he was seen on another CBS TV series, “Mr. & Mrs. North.” From 1968 to 1980 he played the Governor on “Hawaii 5-0″, his final role. He died in 1998 at age 84.

Gale Gordon (Rudolph Atterbury) and Bea Benadaret (Iris Atterbury)  are not heard in this episode. 

Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid) was also later seen on “I Love Lucy.” She first played Mrs. Pomerantz (above right), a member of the surprise investigating committee for the Society Matrons League in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25), as one of the member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3), and also played a nurse when “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). She died in 1996 at the age of 96.

Bob LeMond (Announcer) also served as the announcer for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy”. When the long-lost pilot was finally discovered in 1990, a few moments of the opening narration were damaged and lost, so LeMond – fifty years later – recreated the narration for the CBS special and subsequent DVD release.

GUEST CAST

Eleanor Audley (Leaticia Cooper, George’s Mother) previously played this character in “George is Messy” and “Dinner for 12″. She would later play Eleanor Spalding, owner of the Westport home the Ricardos buy in “Lucy Wants To Move to the Country” (ILL S6;E15) in 1957, as well as one of the Garden Club judges in “Lucy Raises Tulips” (ILL S6;E26).

Hans Conried (Mr. Anderson) first co-starred with Lucille Ball in The Big Street (1942). He then appeared on “I Love Lucy” as used furniture man Dan Jenkins in “Redecorating” (ILL S2;E8) and later that same season as Percy Livermore in “Lucy Hires an English Tutor” (ILL S2;E13) – both in 1952. The following year he began an association with Disney by voicing Captain Hook in Peter Pan. On “The Lucy Show” he played Professor Gitterman in “Lucy’s Barbershop Quartet” (TLS S1;E19) and in “Lucy Plays Cleopatra” (TLS S2;E1). He was probably best known as Uncle Tonoose on “Make Room for Daddy” starring Danny Thomas, which was filmed on the Desilu lot. He joined Thomas on a season 6 episode of “Here’s Lucy” in 1973. He died in 1982 at age 64.

Hal March (Mr. Jenkins / Mr. Crockett) first appeared on the “I Love Lucy” in “Lucy Fakes Illness” (ILL S1;E16) using his own name to play an actor posing as the doctor who diagnoses Lucy with ‘golbloots.’ March got his first big break when he was cast as Harry Morton on “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show” in 1950. He eventually lost the part to Fred Clark who producers felt was better paired with Bea Benaderet, who played Blanche, and here plays Iris Atterbury. He stayed with the show in other roles, the last airing just two weeks before his appearance as Eddie Grant in “Lucy is Matchmaker” (ILL S2;E27). In 1966 he was seen on “The Lucy Show.”

Frank Nelson (J.Q. Williams, Chairman of the Bank) was born on May 6, 1911 (three months before Lucille Ball) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He started working as a radio announcer at the age of 15. He later appeared on such popular radio shows as “The Great Gildersleeve,” “Burns and Allen,” and “Fibber McGee & Molly”. This is one of his 11 performances on “My Favorite Husband.”  On “I Love Lucy” he holds the distinction of being the only actor to play two recurring roles: Freddie Fillmore and Ralph Ramsey, as well as six one-off characters, including the frazzled train conductor in “The Great Train Robbery” (ILL S5;E5), a character he repeated on “The Lucy Show.” Aside from Lucille Ball, Nelson is perhaps most associated with Jack Benny and was a fifteen-year regular on his radio and television programs.

EPISODE

ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Coopers it’s morning. George Cooper is eating breakfast, while Liz in the kitchen talking to Katie, the maid.”

Liz is planning the menu for an intimate Valentine’s Day dinner with George.

LIZ: “Hearts of beef, hearts of artichoke, hearts of lettuce, heart-shaped candy, and heart-shaped cake.” KATIE: “That oughta give ya heart-shaped heartburn!” 

Liz joins George for breakfast and notices that he has nicked himself shaving - several times.

LIZ: “You look like you have your face up in paper curlers.”

Liz confesses she used George’s razor to string beans! Liz apologizes with a smooch. She brings up Valentine’s Day, and George breaks it to her that his mother is coming. George reminds Liz that his mother always spends the holidays with them. 

LIZ: “It’s Valentine’s Day, not Halloween!  Can’t we give her a rain check until Groundhog Day or something?” 

Groundhog Day is an American folk tradition established in Pennsylvania around 1840, that supposes that if a groundhog comes out of his burrow and sees his shadow, we are in for six more weeks of winter. The tradition has inspired a Hollywood film and a Broadway musical.  Since the date is traditionally February 2 (before Valentine’s Day), Liz is really extending her hospitality into 1951! 1955′s “Lucy Goes to a Rodeo” (ILL S5;E8) opens with Ricky penciling in Lucy for a kiss on February 2nd, which Lucy notes is Groundhog Day. 

Liz is upset that her romantic dinner for two will become a threesome. she suggests that if his mother wants to celebrate Valentine’s Day she should get a boyfriend. George says she has no interest in men.

LIZ: “Well, she did once. Or did she win you in a game of Canasta?”

Canasta is a card game of the rummy family devised around 1939. It is most commonly played by four in two partnerships with two standard decks of cards. The game was mentioned several times on episodes of “I Love Lucy.” 

George comes around to the idea of getting his mother a boyfriend - but who? 

LIZ: “Gee, all I can think of is the Smithsonian Institute!” 

In “Never Do Business With Friends” (ILL S2;E31), Ethel complains that her washing machine is old enough to belong in the Smithsonian Institution. Dubbed ‘the Nation’s attic’, the Smithsonian museums (located primarily in Washington DC) will be mentioned again in reference to the antique Cadillac that Fred buys for the trip to Hollywood.  

George rushes off to work. The new bank Chairman is visiting. Liz tells Katie to plan to serve three for Valentine’s Day dinner. Liz says that her mother-in-law uses any excuse to visit - even Boys Week. 

Boys (and Girls) Week was a movement to help build citizenship among youth. The movement began in 1920 with boys. In 1934, Boys Week became known as Youth Week, and in 1936, Boys and Girls Week. A project of the Rotary International, their sponsorship ceased in 1954.  

Liz has invited Mother Cooper (Eleanor Audley) over to talk about the idea and before they know it, she has arrived.

LIZ (to Katie): “Well, speak of the devil-in-law.” KATIE (hushed): “How does she get in the house so quietly?” LIZ: “She’s got a muffler on her broom.”

No sooner is she in the kitchen when she is telling Liz that there’s dust on top of her bookcase.  Liz quickly changes the subject to dating.

MOTHER COOPER: “It would be nice to have dates, but not a man!”  LIZ: “Not a man!?!  Well, I don’t know any kangaroos!” 

Mother Cooper is intrigued by the idea, but doesn’t think anyone would be interested in a woman of her age.

MOTHER COOPER: “The man isn’t man living who’d have plain old me!” LIZ: “Well, we’ll dig someone up.”

Mrs. Cooper describes her ideal man. Liz urges her to compromise. Mother insists he is only 41 years old. As she leaves, she tells Liz to forget the whole thing. 

Katie tells Liz to try looking at the Sheridan Falls Friendship Center, where her sister found all her husbands. 

LIZ: “Katie, I’ll do it!  I’m going to get a man for Mother Cooper if I have to get an Erector Set and build her one!” 

Erector Set was a brand of metal toy construction sets which were originally sold by the Mysto Manufacturing Company in 1913, a successor to wooden Lincoln Logs and a predecessor to plastic LEGO. 

END of PART ONE After a short Jello-O commercial featuring announcer Bob LeMond providing a macaroon pudding recipe, the story resumes. 

Liz has embarked on her manhunt and we find her downtown at the Sheridan Falls Friendship Center. The building is marked by a large neon sign that says “Lonesome?” The doorbell sounds “Here Comes The Bride”. 

Thomas ‘Cupid’ Jenkins (Hal March), the founder, opens the door. 

LIZ: “I’d like to order a man!”

Liz immediately states that it is not for her, although Mr. Jenkins clearly doesn’t believe her. 

MR. JENKINS: “I understand perfectly. He’s a gift for a friend.”

Liz tells him it is for his mother-in-law. The phone rings and Mr. Jenkins answers it congratulating the caller on her success and promising to remove her card from his file. 

MR. JENKINS: “Goodbye, Lady Ashley.” (hangs up) LIZ: “Was that THE Lady Ashely?”

Sylvia, Lady Ashley (1904-77) was an English model, actress, and socialite who was best known for her numerous marriages to British noblemen and American movie stars. On December 20, 1949, she married Clark Gable, the fourth of her five husbands. The pair divorced in 1952. 

It turns out to be a different Lady Ashley. Liz and Mr. Jenkins fill out an application card for Mother Cooper. Although Liz describes her as ‘41, attractive and wealthy’, Mr. Jenkins immediately interprets that as ‘65, old battle axe, and broke’!  Liz wants someone to come to the house tonight. Mr. Jenkins promises the perfect man will come with a written 30-day guarantee!  

At the bank, George is visited by the new Chairman of the Board, J.Q. Williams (Frank Nelson). He wants to get to know the employees and George invites him over for dinner that evening. Unfortunately, their home phone seems to be out of order so he can’t alert Liz. He tells Mr. Williams the address to meet him there.

That evening, Mrs. Cooper is preparing to meet the gentleman Mr. Jenkins is sending over. The doorbell rings. It is Mr. Williams from the bank. Liz immediately assumes that he is from the Friendship Society and that the Mrs. Cooper he has come to meet is her mother-in-law.  

Liz doesn’t want Mother Cooper to know that he is an arranged suitor, so she asks him what they should say about his professional life.  

MR. WILLIAMS: “Let’s just tell her I’m Chairman of the Board at the Bank.” LIZ: “Come, now. Let’s not overdo it.”

Believing Mother Cooper to be George’s wife, he sits down next to her. Just then George comes home from work. Liz heads him off at the hallway to tell him that she’s arranged a Lonely Hearts prospect to come over for dinner. George is sure he’s a bum. 

LIZ: “You’ll die when you see him!” 

Before going into the living room to meet him, George tells Liz that he’s invited the new Chairman of the Board of the Bank to dinner - a Mr. Williams. Liz screams in horror and explains what she’s done.  The doorbell rings again. 

While George takes Mr. Williams aside to explain things to him, Liz answers the door. It is Mr. Crockett (Hal March again). Before he can get a word out, Liz immediately assumes him to be the man from the Lonely Hearts Club. She quickly instructs him to act like an old friend of hers and ushers him in to meet Mother Cooper.

MOTHER COOPER: “I liked the other one better.” 

The doorbell rings again, it is Mr. Anderson (Hans Conried), the man from the Sheridan Falls Friendship Center. He immediately assumes that Liz is the woman that Mr. Jenkins has sent him to meet!

MR. ANDERSON: “After 15 years of sending me lemons, he’s finally sent me a peach!” 

Liz is confused, but shows him in to the living room to meet Mother Cooper.  

MR. ANDERSON: “Shucks. Back to Lemons again.”

Having explained the confusion, George returns with Mr. Williams, who eagerly agrees to be Mother Cooper’s escort for the rest of the evening. Liz tells Mr. Anderson and Mr. Crockett to go back to the Friendship Center, but Mr. Crockett is confused. 

MR. CROCKETT: “What Friendship Center? I just came here to fix the telephone!”  LIZ: “Oh, no!!!”

END of EPISODE

In the live Jell-O commercial, Lucille Ball and Bob LeMond go South of the Border, where all the ‘J’s are pronounced like ‘H’. 

Lucille is Hosephine and her brother is named Himmy, who is strong as Jerkules. She reads a poem:

I know a little café It’s a perfect place to go  Because they always serve Jell-O vanilla tapio- Ca pudding. It’s delicious and tempting And you sap,  You also ought to order some Jell-O chocolate tap- Ioca. It’s so rich the kids all say it’s good I cannot rhyme Jell-O orange vanilla tapioca, I wish I could. 

Bob LeMond sums up her poem with one succinct line.  But Lucille concludes:

Those lines they tell the story, They cut the time in half.  They talk of Jell-O pudding, but they don’t get any laughs!

[fvckyouimaprophet]

Salty Asks! 1, 2, 5, 11, 19, and 22! Am I supposed to send you a fandom with these? Idk. Pick whichever one you feel like talking about!

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

Harry Potter: Dramione. I’m aware they basically Drarry but heterosexual, but they nonetheless rub me the wrong way, and I feel like so many of the fics involving them have Draco using literal slurs! Also, Harmony because they work really well as friends. They moment when they dance to O Children by Nick Cave is such a pure friendship moment.

Glee: Brittana. Brittany was the equivalent of a child, so it just always felt very weird to me. I feel like they wanted her to be quirky, but she just came across as stuck at six years old, and yikes.

Riverdale: Barchie. I’m sorry. I just find them really boring. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Star Wars: Reylo. TROS just didn't need to happen like that. We didn’t need to redeem him, and they didn’t need to be a thing!!

Marvel: Stony. This is mostly because I can't see past Stucky. But I also I just feel like I cannot picture Tony Stark as bisexual or queer or anything other than straight. I know this is controversial, but I just can’t.  🙈

The L Word: Shane and Carmen. Listen, I know this is queer woman blasphemy. But the writers wrote Shane so that she’s just a chronic cheater, and it feels impossible to get past that. She treated Carmen awfully. Plus, Sarah Shahi is great, but it was painful to watch her try to be Mexican.

2. Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?

Nuna (Luna/Neville): Listen, I love them so much as friends, but they just don’t vibe as a couple. They’re the perfect examples of outcasts finding each other and bonding.

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

You probably were wondering why Klaine wasn’t up above. Well, it’s here. The show ruined them too, of course, starting in season three. But I used to love Klaine in season two! The first three Glee fics I wrote were Klaine, and I think to date my longest Glee fic is an abandoned Klaine fic (~70K).

But I have never seen any other fandom fight over ships the way that Glee did. It was just stressful, and it made me turned off to the ship and the show.

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Harry Potter: Lavender Brown and Cho Chang. Of course, the writing with Cho is racist—of course. I want to acknowledge that and not minimize it as a valid reason to be frustrated with her character. However, I feel like both of them (and Ginny to a lesser extent) are hated because they’re women and love interests.

Buffy: Dawn Summers. I actually really related to her growing up, and I felt like she’s a good portrayal of a younger girl who goes through a lot of trauma and needs to adapt. She’s funny, and she just gets slammed for getting herself into trouble and needing attention, but frankly with her life, she turned out remarkably okay. I also have a million problems with Xander, and I refuse to acknowledge that they get together in the comics, but I really appreciated (in an older brother sort of way!) the moment in the last season when he bonds with her over feeling helpless.

Buffy (again): Riley Finn. This may be my most controversial take. Listen, I don’t love him. And I think he wasn’t the right match for Buffy, and he definitely has issues he needs to work through. But considering that one of her boyfriends was a horrifying stalker and the other big ship was ruined by a really bad writing choice involving attempted rape, Riley gets more shit than he deserves. He also was super manipulated by his professor, and that clearly messed him up. When you see him with his wife later on, he seems to have gotten the therapy he needed and be much healthier. 

Mad Men: Pete and Betty. Neither are good people, but you know what, they're really fucking fun as characters. Also, Betty deserved so much better than she got.

Friday Night Lights: Julie Taylor. Okay, she definitely had her moments where I got frustrated with her. But much like Dawn, she's just a teenage girl, and a lot of the hate definitely stems from that.

19. What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

Broadly, I feel like there’s a push toward sanitized art that frustrates me. I don’t think that a piece of art needs to let you know that something is “bad” when they depict it. I think art can show something that’s morally reprehensible and not have it be explicitly condemned without condoning it.

There certainly is art that shows bad things and condones it, but I don’t think that it’s a given with every piece of art.

I’m especially seeing a weird wave of artists getting cancelled for dealing with AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL topics in complicated ways. There was a whole wave of comics people who wrote autobiographical graphic novels dealing with CSA, incest, and other topics, and they were told they were basically evil for depicting it and that by drawing the art, it made... them... pedophiles?

Listen, it’s just... let people deal with their traumas in complicated ways. Understand that just because a show or a book or a comic doesn’t explicitly have another character say, “Why, this is evil!” that the creator doesn’t necessarily agree with it.

There’s plenty of good art that gives you a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach without telling you that you should feel that way. Trust that it’s intentional. Approach art in good faith.

22. Popular character you hate?

Glee: Blaine Anderson. In my rewatch two or three years ago, I will say that I didn’t hate him, just disliked him. I think fandom amplified my feelings while I was watching, but I certainly still found him annoying. Sorry to all my followers who like him!

Angel: Fred Burkle. She was a nerdy boy's wet dream, and she never felt like a character to me. It felt like a weird wish fulfillment fantasy on Whedon's part to have her end up with Wesley (before dying of course). I love Amy Acker and think she did what she could with the role, but I think there was no salvaging the character. Everything from her voice to the way she held herself felt like the vague outline of a shy, nerdy girl who every incel nerd jerks off to.

Breaking Bad: Jesse Pinkman. I want to clarify that I'm not in the fandom. I actually didn't like Breaking Bad and thought it's a pretty empty show barring a few episodes and scenes. Everyone found him to be a softie who Walt manipulates, but frankly, I think he's just as shitty of a person as Walt, and I found him so annoying. I think without fail the worst episodes of the show are centered around him (thinking about the episodes where Jesse’s a cartoon version of a depressed person and has a giant party at his house), and it's where it's most clear that their biggest problem with writing was giving any actual soul or depth to their main characters.

[boazpriestly]

One of the worst dropped plotlines in Supernatural is Jesse Turner, the Cambion/Antichrist from season 5. 

I mean, in his episode Castiel says that Jesse is incredibly powerful and that his powers increase in magnitude because Lucifer is topside. Like, he’s always had powers, but he was able to start altering reality in his episode specifically because of Lucifer. He was literally able to exorcise a demon just by telling it to get out of the body it was in! And then he just fucked of seemingly to Australia (at least that’s fandom’s headcanon) and is never mentioned again. 

But let’s think about this. Let’s think about how amazing of a character he could’ve been regarding his ties to Lucifer, and his potential regarding Jack’s storyline. 

Jesse is half demon and has probably always had powers since birth. But it is canon fact that those power are magnified incredible when Lucifer is on Earth. They didn’t say that Lucifer had to have abilities as well (because there are several times where he’s basically powerless on Earth), just that if Lucifer is topside then Jesse’s powers are amplified. So after Jesse disappeared at 12 years old there would’ve been a period from then until Lucifer was locked up in the cage that Jesse was unbelievable powerful and could alter reality dramatically with a thought. And because he was just never spoken about again, from anyone despite his incredible power, I’m assuming/headcanoning that Jesse, at his peak, was able to cloak himself everything in existence. 

But once Lucifer was gone, Jesse’s powers would’ve diminished in strength. He probably wouldn’t have been able to alter reality, like he did in his episode, anymore, but could still do some things because he was born with these abilities. But because he was no longer a threat without the the ability to destroy angels and demons with a thought, because Lucifer wasn’t on Earth anymore, no one cared about this cambion anymore and just left him alone. 

Except about 5+ years later, when Jesse is probably about 17/18, Lucifer returns to Earth, which would most likely suddenly magnify his powers back to how the strength they were in his episode, if not stronger because of he’s older. So imagine that this forgotten anti christ child just suddenly blips back into existence and then goes dark again because he has the ability to cloak himself. Imagine that on top of all the Darkness and Lucifer bullshit, you’ve got this immensely powerful teenager somewhere on Earth, but also super well hidden. Like, the angels and demons probably wouldn’t believe that the blip was even worth looking into because it was only there for like a day and then it was gone. And so no one would realize that the most powerful weapon -- even stronger than God, most likely -- is back on the board. 

Lucifer stays on Earth from Season 11-14 (actually the end of season 13), which would mean that from about the age of 17/18 to about 20/21 (give or take because Supernatural is so bad with consistent timelines, and I don’t want to do the actual math to incorporate all the time skips they’ve done), Jesse would’ve been the most powerful being in existence BEFORE Jack came along. So imagine if Jesse had actually been utilized because of this. Imagine that because Jesse has the ability to cloak himself from literally everything (probably even from God/Chuck), he became Dean, Sam, and Cas’ hidden ace. Obviously it would be by his own choice because no one would be able to find him unless he wanted to be found, which would make things even better. Because it would be Jesse choosing to return to Sam and Dean, and Cas, to help fight the good fight. But also, there’s no way Jesse wouldn’t hold some sort of resentment and anger towards the three guys because the last time he saw them his entire life was displaced and ripped away from him. That’s traumatizing for anyone, let alone a 12 year old who’d still believed in the tooth fairy. 

So like, we’d get this all powerful kid/young adult who just wants to use his incredible powers for good, to help people and stop the bad guys (like the X-Men, because c’mon), and no one but Sam, Dean, and Cas know he exists because that’s the way Jesse wants it. And he does help. He does use his powers for good. It takes a lot of stress off of Sam, Dean, and Cas. But then Jack is conceived and Jesse can feel Jack’s power even before he’s born because he and Jack have a special connection: Lucifer. Much like Cas does, Jesse would feel a kinship with Jack and want to be there for him. But unlike Cas, Jesse wants to be there for Jack because Jack is literally the only being like Jesse (that Jesse knows of). Yes, Jesse is half demon and Jack is half angel, but they are still both the most powerful people on Earth. 

Now imagine how different things would’ve been if when Jack was born Jesse was there as a big brother, in a way, to guide him. Imagine that Lucifer still went to the other universe with Mary (even though Jesse being there would’ve probably thwarted that because he’d fill the guys in one what was happening and that Jack was opening rift without meaning to which would’ve prevented a lot of things), and Dean is still angry and wants to kill Jack because Cas is gone. But instead of Jack just wandering around naked until Clark and his mom find him, Jesse is the one who steps in, after Sam, and just teleports himself and Jack to a safe place where he can talk to Jack and explain things to him without Dean and Sam interfering because neither of them know what it’s like to be as powerful as Jack is. Imagine how different season 13 and 14 would’ve been if Jack had had Jesse as a big brother figure to teach him how to use his powers correctly, instead of Jack just trial and erroring it all. Imagine how Lucifer would’ve failed so hard at manipulating Jack because Jesse would’ve seen through the lies and protected Jack because he was once exactly like Jack and easily manipulated to, and he’s not about to let that happen to Jack. Also imagine that once Lucifer was killed, Jesse’s powers diminished again, and then increased a bit again once Nick woke him up in the Empty. 

Like just thinking about how good Jesse’s return could’ve been and how important Jesse would’ve been to Jack’s storyline is super upsetting. Because he was this child who was so powerful that Cas’ only way to control him was to kill him, and yet they just let him disappear without a trace and never mentioned him ever again. What bullshit! How do you just get rid of a character like that, only to write another character exactly like him, but on the opposite end of the spectrum, and not have them meet once? It’s fucking stupid, and I hate it. 

Jesse Turner deserved to be in more than one episode. He deserved to be as powerful of a character as his single episode implied he was by being a reoccurring character.  

[canaryatlaw]

OKAY. today was pretty nuts but almost entirely in a good way. I had set my alarm for 10 but ended up waking up at 9:30. I still hadn’t gotten a call back from the people about the cat yet so I called them and they picked up. I did a short “phone interview” then where I was asked questions that seemed like questions but actually weren't lol because they’d be like “do you plan to keep her inside or let her go inside and outside?” and I was like “oh probably just inside, I live in an apartment building” and they were like “good, outside is too busy in the city” and then basically the same thing about declawing, I knew it was bad and said as much and they very emphatically agreed. So we decided we’d go there at 11 and check out what the situation is. at this point when I get off the phone it’s like 9:40, I’ve been texting Jess all through this so when I got off I was like okay let’s get breakfast and then we can walk over to where they are because they’re legit in walking distance of our apartments, lol, so we got breakfast at our usual place (I decided I was going to abandon my approach of trying everything and just got the banana bread french toast again, which was very good. at like 10:47 we started walking, not terribly far to a house a few blocks west that had a cat flag out front, lol, so we knew it was the right one. so we rang the doorbell but didn’t hear it and we were like oh did it go? But a minute later a woman came and opened the door and welcomed us in. It smelled very strongly of cat, which is probably to be expected because apparently they had a shitton of cats both inside and outside. They seemed to have all their stuff together like regulation and code wise though so I wasn't worried about it being a bad environment. the kitty we had asked about was right there in the front room and immediately warmed up to us and was letting us pet her, and even sat in my lap at one point. according to the people there she was very friendly and had no major issues, she’d already been vaccinated and spayed and microchipped and all that good stuff so she was good to go. Apparently she’d been one of a litter of kittens that had come there earlier in the summer to be adopted and she had originally been placed with a family who really loved her, but at some point (I’m not sure how much time passed that she was actually with them) the man’s mother became ill and had to move in with them, and she was highly allergic to cats, so they had to “tearfully” return the kitty, so she was the last one left now with mostly older cats. she seemed good to me so we planned to walk back to Jess’ place and take her car to petsmart where we would buy all the things we needed while they got all the adoption papers ready, then come back and pick her up. so we headed out and drove to the petsmart that wasn’t terribly far away from us, so we set out to get all the things we would need. a litter box and kitty litter, obviously, I had food and water dishes and an old brush we could use so we were good on that, apparently they’d been feeding her a combo of wet and dry food because its been shown that cats who eat only dry food are more likely to develop kidney problems apparently (and like, we just lost our yorkie to kidney problems) so we got both wet and dry food, along with a small scratching post, a soft carrier that’s basically like a duffel bag but with netted fabric so you could see the cat and she could breathe obviously, and it was good for like airports and trains and shit. we got one toy thing, and then a collar and a tag, which they had this giant machine that was supposed to do the engraving on the tags after you bought them. So we got this cute one that says “hello my name is _____” on the front and then planned to put my phone number on the back. so we buy everything, then go to the engraving machine and have it scan the barcode for the tag- but oh wait, it’s not scanning.....not scanning....try again, still not scanning. so we’re like huh. so we got an employee who continued to try to get it to scan to no avail, then tried to take it into like employee mode or whatever and ended up having to like, open the entire thing up to reset it and at this point there was us and another girl who happened to also be getting a cat today and was waiting for it to work lol so we waited and it rebooted and they were like yeah, we don’t know how long it’s going to take.....and we were prepared to leave for another petsmart because apparently they all have the machines, but just as we were walking out it restarted and was working so we ran back in and started to use it. we had to open the little door and stick the tag around a little raised section that went through where the hole on the top is, then when it recognizes the tag you type in the info you want and it engraves! so I hadn’t mentioned up to this point what we were actually planning on naming our kitty, but we basically decided we wanted a kitty named NICKZANO, spelled just like that, one word and all caps, because that’s how the human Nick Zano’s twitter handle is. I figured we could use “Nicky” as a nickname and tell that to people who aren't legends stans and wouldn’t understand why a kitty named NICKZANO is fucking hilarious. So we got it engraved so it says “hello, my name is NICKZANO” on the front and then my phone number on the back, which was really fucking hilarious honestly. we got everything in the car and drove back over to the house, signed some papers and sent them a donation through paypal, then got the kitty and stuck her in our carrier and headed out! unsurprisingly, kitty was not terribly happy about being put in a bag and taken away by strangers, and she meowed basically the whole ride back to my place, which thankfully was only a few minutes lol. So we grabbed what we could and took her upstairs, let her out and let her explore the apartment a little, then went back to the car to grab the rest of the stuff. bad plan. we got back up to my apartment and.....kitty was nowhere to be found. there were no windows open, no doors open, no way she could’ve gotten out, so she HAD to be in the apartment, but we looked and looked and looked and looked and could not find her for our lives, at which point I was like WELP she’s gotta come out sooner or later so we tried to stop stressing about it (probably not terribly successful at doing so) and watched Brandon’s fireman cat movie on the logic that maybe hearing other cats in the movie would help her come out? or something like that, lol. the movie was actually really cute, and of course Brandon looked amazing as a firefighter, which I’m sure is not a surprise to literally anybody. so when that was over I was like okay, let’s regroup and do some more searching. I had checked under my bed before and hadn’t seen anything, but I thought if I pulled my bed away from the wall (it’s in the southeast corner of my room currently if you’re standing in the door) so I pulled it away from the walls and then suddenly heard a “meow” and I was like AHAH! GOTCHA! so we were able to coax her out and got her out of my bedroom, then closed the doors to the bedrooms and bathroom so she could stay in the main area with us, which probably would’ve been the smart thing to do all along, but hey, we’re new at this. she started to become more sociable and played with us a bit, she went ahead and used the litter box without any prompting being needed by us which I was relieved about because the prospect of having to clean up anything that didn’t make it to the littler box was probably my biggest concern at that point, lol. we had had a conversation at the petsmart with an employee over the types of kitty litter, apparently at the place they had been using pellets which doesn’t like clump together but instead you basically just have to toss the whole batch of it after a while which doesn’t sound terribly practical, so we went with the clumping clay-based one instead, but were somewhat concerned to see if she would transition to it okay, and she did, so that was a relief. we kind of settled down after a bit and Jess wanted to show me “Fling”, a movie starring Brandon and Courtney, some sort of indie film they decided to do not long after getting married and well. this movie was....something. I’ve seen a lot of odd and quirky movies and indie films over the years, mainly in college because I hung out with all film majors most of the time and they love their quirky movies. but this one was....unique, to say the least. the basic premise is that Courtney’s character is in an open relationship with this guy, and she starts seeing Brandon’s character while the guy she’s in a relationship with starts seeing his best friend’s 18 year old sister, which as I’m sure you can imagine goes horribly wrong, Courtney’s character ends up pregnant and not sure whose child it actually is but basically decides to leave her original boyfriend to be with Brandon (which was a good choice because her original boyfriend was shitty) and then it ends with “five years later” boyfriend gets an invitation to the opening party of a boutique owned by Courtney, so he comes and he sees them all, and he sees there kid and like......that child looks overwhelmingly more like boyfriend than he does Brandon. like it was obvious they specifically cast him for that reason. So the boyfriend’s just kinda like WELP and leaves and that’s pretty much the endV of it. So yeah...unique. after that we discussed what we wanted to watch and decided on Superman Returns because I hadn’t seen it in like at least 10 years and didn’t have that great of a memory of it, I remember watching it at our family friend’s home theatre (and they have a VERY serious home theatre) during a party at some point (they have a big italian family so the parties are frequent) and basically just remembered Lois’ kid is actually Superman’s son because he shows he has powers at some point. I’ve obviously become much more familiar with Superman lore since I’d last seen the movie given that I got entirely obsessed with Smallville, so I’m a lot more invested in the characters and such much more. A lot of characters can be done justice by different interpretations, such as Jimmy Olsen who has been played by a lot of great actors, but for me nobody will ever be as good as Michael Rosenbaum as Lex and Erica Durance as Lois. Rosenbaum’s Lex was just perfect in every way. we got to see his entire transition from actually being a good hearted person to very intentionally choosing a path of villainy, often spurred on by Clark continually lying to him about his identity. As for Lois, god Durance just had the perfect rapport and attitude for Lois, she embodied her so well, and her dialogue and relationship with Clark was spot on. When Supergirl was casting Superman some people wanted it to be Tom Welling, but it would obviously have to be a different Superman than Tom Welling’s one on Smallville because it’s an entirely different world and like, I wouldn’t want that, I would want him to be the character he actually established. Erica Durance as Lois and Michael Rosenbaum as Lex are characters I’d 100% be okay with them portraying in different universes, because they just embody them so well, and nobody can ever match them IMO. But I say all this to say that while the actors in Superman Returns did a fine job, many of them just didn’t stack up to my opinion of the characters and how they should be portrayed. It sucks that Brandon didn’t get a better quality Superman story to work with, because his portrayal of Clark Kent is spot on, and with a better script and better external factors he could’ve been absolutely stunning. Apparently now that Henry Cavill is supposedly not coming back as Superman, some people want Brandon to play him again, and apparently Brandon likes this idea quite a bit lol. I doubt that would happen though. But anyway, this movie. I completely forgot Kevin Spacey was Lex, and he was pretty meh for me. Lois was alright I guess, she didn’t quite have the journalistic prowess that is so emblematic and iconic of Lois as a character. the story is really like 75% exposition up until the actual climax, where Lois for some reason takes her like 5 year old child on a secret mission to infiltrate Lex’s boat and ends up getting them stranded and basically volunteered to be hostages. the best scene really though is when the little boy is playing the piano and got the henchman to join him for a second while Lois tries to send a fax with their coordinates, then the henchman sees and he attacks her, and the little box starts breathing heavily (it was already established he has asthma) and looks like he’s going into an asthma attack, then all of a sudden the entire damn piano goes flying across the room, crushing the henchman who was attacking Lois. And like, there’s just this moment afterwards when everyone (audience included) is just like oh shit, did that really just happen?? And it’s really such an epic scene to realize that he’s actually Superman’s son. The rescue at the end and all of that is also very cool of course. but yeah, I enjoyed it, even if I am somewhat critical. After that finished Jess had to leave, so it was just me and NICKZANO for a bit. I started watching more episodes of the baking show I started on netflix a few days ago and NICKZANO did random funny things which I took pictures of. She curled up in my lap at one point which was really damn cute. Some time after 10 my roommate got home, and she was of course enthralled with the cat as well, and was able to move one of the lower pantry shelves so her litter box could fit in there perfectly which is much better than it just sticking out. She said she keeps seeing all these DIY pinterest posts about making stuff for cats like scratching post-bed-climbing things so she might try to make some of that. Then she got in the shower and I started writing this, paused midway to take a shower myself, then came back and finished it and here we are. I know that was a lot of details already so I won’t keep you any longer, plus it’s 1 am and I’d like to be asleep now. Goodnight my dears. Have a lovely Thursday. 

[ramajmedia]

The Worst Thing Each Main Character From Supernatural Has Done

Over its 14 seasons, Supernatural presented us with many characters, amd it can be hard to determine the main characters aside from the brothers, Sam and Dean, Cas, and Jack. Still, there were characters that were closer to the story in recent seasons, and others that had a lasting effect on Sam and Dean, making them main characters.

RELATED: 5 Ways Supernatural Has Aged Poorly (And 5 Ways It's Timeless)

That said, all of these characters have performed good deeds (yes, even Ruby and Lucifer), and all of these characters have done horrible things (yes, even and especially, Dean and Sam). Even the angels are tainted in Supernatural. 

13 Lucifer: Stealing His Son's Power

We would expect everything that Lucifer did to be bad, so it is hard to choose the worst. Could it be when he tortured Sam? Could it be when he killed Cas? When he brutally killed Rowena? Or when he treated Crowley, literally like a dog? Then, there were all the angels he eviscerated. All these and more are horrible, but the worst thing he ever did was stealing Jack's (his son) grace. It had seemed that he was interested in his son, but his son was just another way to get power.

12 Lucifer's Human Vessel, Nick: Dooming His Wife

When Lucifer leaves Nick's body, Nick comes back.  First, he begins to search for a way to avenge his family, his wife, and child who had been murdered. He kills people and demons to do this, sometimes innocent people, but this isn't his worst thing.

Finally, he goes back into his old house, and there he sees his wife's ghost. She tells him that she's trapped in the house due to the unfinished business of her murder and his path with Lucifer. She begs him, "Reject Lucifer right now. If you do, I can leave. I can find peace." Nick won't do it, turning his back on his wife.

11 John Winchester: Getting Jo's Dad Killed

Normally, we would say that John's worst thing was how he raised his boys, but his teachings made them into men who can save the world. If he hadn't given them the tough love and the field experience with hunts, they might very well have turned out like their half-brother, Adam, first killed by a standard ghoul.

RELATED: Supernatural is Finally Bringing Adam Back 

On top of hist list of worsts is getting Jo's dad killed. From what Ellen, Jo's mother, says, her husband went on a hunt with John, and John used him as bait and left him. Ultimately, this left Jo without a father, and Ellen without a husband.

10 Rowena: Attack Dog Spell

When we are introduced to Rowena in the series, we see a quirky red-haired witch intent on creating her own coven. While she's powerful, the Grand Coven rejected Rowena for her odd and often extreme ways. At first, she seems decent, rescuing two prostitutes and wanting to introduce them to power. However, when threatened, she uses one as a prop for her escape. She turns the woman into an attack dog, who quickly bleeds out after the spell runs its course.

9 Crowley: Killing Those Sam and Dean Had Saved Before

Since we like Crowley in the later seasons and consider him more of an ally to Sam and Dean, we forget that he started out as a big bad. In Season 8, he threatens to kill someone they had previously saved until they stop the trials. One of his victims is Sarah Blake, a charismatic side character we met and loved in Season 1. Had Sam met her at a different time (he was still grieving Jess), they might have become an item. Horrified, Sam has to watch Sarah killed despite all the wards and protections he and Dean put up to try to protect her from Crowley.

8 Chuck/God: Bringing The Dark Spirits

Chuck/God has been mainly a side character even though he is the mastermind behind it all. In Season 14, he tries to manipulate Sam and Dean into killing Jack. Sam notices how Chuck watches with glee as Dean almost kills Jack. In the end, Chuck kills Jack. Sam and Dean discover that Chuck has been playing their lives for entertainment all this time. Angry with the brothers, Chuck decides to bring back all the dark spirits they vanquished over the seasons, even back as far as Season 1. He's decided to end this world and to make that ending painful and tragic.

7 Ruby: Using Sam to Bring Lucifer

Ruby seems the anomaly, a demon with a heart of gold. She trains Sam to take down Lilith, feeding him demon blood to make him more powerful.

RELATED: Supernatural The 10 Strongest Female Leads

In the end, she wanted Sam to kill Lilith because she knew that Lilith was the last seal needed to be broken in order to bring Lucifer into this world. She played all sides convincingly, betraying both brothers in the end, who had come to trust her.

6 Bobby: Becoming a Vengeful Spirit

After Bobby dies, his spirit stays attached to his whiskey flask, which Dean keeps in his honor. Initially a helpful entity, Bobby points out research that helps the brothers in their demon hunting. However, he starts to develop into a vengeful spirit, like the ones that they all have vanquished before. Right now, he is still Bobby, but Sam and Dean realize that he won't be for long if he doesn't cross over.

5 Mary Winchester: Killing American Hunters

The British Men of Letters recognize Mary as the perfect tool for them to get rid of the American Hunters. Not only is Mary a good and strong hunter, but she is also trusted by the other hunters. This means that when she shows up at the doorstep, they will let her in. While Mary was brainwashed to do this, she still did it, and she effectively whipped out many hunters and allies.

4 Jack: Killing Mary Winchester

While Dean feared Jack from the start since he was the son of Lucifer, Jack initially is good. When he has his powers, he saves people constantly and sees Dean, Sam, and Cas as his idols. Even when his powers are taken away and he becomes fully human, he still puts his life on the line to help others.

RELATED: Supernatural 10 Times the Show Broke Our Hearts

But a soulless Jack is different. It's not that he is bad, it's that he doesn't feel morality. He kills Mary because he wants her to stop talking. He didn't intend to kill her, and he even tries to bring her back. However, he can't, and Mary remains dead.

3 Cas: Tries to Become God

Season 7 Cas takes in souls, making him more powerful. He becomes full of ego and power. This leads him to kill the angels and people that don't support him. He becomes dangerous in his own idea of right and wrong, believing that he must rule with a firm fist. Later, he does sacrifice himself (luckily, he survives), but for much of Season 7, he is the villain.

2 Dean: Kills Amy Pond in Front of Her Son

Early Dean had a strong sense of right and wrong, seeing the world only in black and white. When he finds out that Amy (a kitsune) was killing to help her sick son (another kitsune), he sees her as evil and without much hesitation, kills her. She had been a friend of Sam's when they were teens, and she saved Sam. She lived her life trying to live off dead blood, until her son got sick. Sam tells Dean to let her go, as she stopped killing and won't again. Dean goes anyway and kills her in front of her young son.

1 Sam: Kills Dean's Daughter and Feels No Remorse

Dean has a one night stand with an Amazon woman (though he doesn't know that she is an Amazon at the time). This results in her conceiving a child, who grows to be a 16-year old girl in only a few days. As part of her initiation, she must kill her father. Sam stops her by killing her. While this is bad, what is worse is that he tells Dean that Dean went soft by not doing it himself.

Adding one more thing to our favorite brothers, they also left Adam, their half-brother, behind.

NEXT: Supernatural 10 Reasons Why God/Chuck Is The True Villain of the Series

source https://screenrant.com/supernatural-main-characters-worst-things-done/

[junker-town]

Grades for all 32 picks in the 1st round of the NFL Draft

Denver, San Francisco and Washington get high marks.

The first round of the 2019 NFL Draft is over, and grades for all 32 picks are in. The first round was filled with some shocking selections in the top 10, providing plenty of value after it. Into the 20s, trades started coming fast with teams targeting the players they wanted.

These grades are based on a combination of factors starting with player value. After that, filling need and personnel fit are considered. Of course, these are way too early. We’ll re-visit them in a few years to see the true value.

1. Arizona Cardinals: Kyler Murray, QB, Oklahoma

Grade: B

This pick is something of an indictment on Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim one year after trading up to take quarterback Josh Rosen with the No. 10 pick in the 2018 draft. But the pairing of Murray with new Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury is a natural fit. He is capable of operating Kingsbury’s high-octane offense. Now the Cardinals just need to build around Murray correctly and figure out what to do with Rosen.

2. San Francisco 49ers: Nick Bosa, DE, Ohio State

Grade: A+

When the Cardinals took Murray, this became an easy choice for the 49ers. In Bosa, they get the best player in the 2019 draft. He’s a pass rusher teams need to scheme against. As long as he can stay healthy, the 49ers optimized value and need with the second pick in the draft. Maybe now, finally, the 49ers can stop taking defensive linemen in the first round.

3. New York Jets: Quinnen Williams, DT, Alabama

Grade: A

The Jets tried to trade the third pick to no avail. There’s nothing wrong with getting Williams, though. He’s a powerhouse defensive tackle who splits gaps with ease and can disrupt the pocket. Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams likes to create pressure up the middle. Now the Jets have that, mitigating the concern about their outside players. The only slight issue that the Jets still have Leonard Williams, and the makeup of their defensive line remains a little puzzling.

4. Oakland Raiders: Clelin Ferrell, DE, Clemson

Grade: D+

This was the first true stunner of the night. Most figured that Ferrell would be around in the 15-25 range of the draft. That makes this a reach of pretty great proportions. The positive about this pick that he Ferrell fits Oakland’s defense perfectly as Ferrell is a true 4-3 end. And Oakland had the worst pass rush in the NFL last year, totaling just 13 sacks. But Ferrell didn’t profile as a top five pick. He could be a fine pro. But the expectations are sky high now that he’s a top-five pick.

There were teams with 2nd-round grades on Clelin Ferrell. #Raiders may have just outsmarted everyone, but "bold" would be an understatement for the first pick of the Mayock/Gruden era.

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) April 26, 2019

5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Devin White, LB, LSU

Grade: A

This is the player the Buccaneers needed. After losing Kwon Alexander in free agency, Tampa Bay needed a linebacker who can do everything. That’s White, the best linebacker in this draft. He works sideline-to-sideline with ease and he covers tight ends and running backs well. He’s also a great character person who will quickly become the leader of Tampa’s defense.

6. New York Giants: Daniel Jones, QB, Duke

Grade: D-

Look. Here’s what to like about this pick. The Giants get their successor to Eli Manning with Jones, a quarterback who had practically zero NFL talent around him at Duke. Jones throws a decent deep ball and has solid athleticism. But this is a reach. A huge one. Most thought this pick would happen at No. 17, not No. 6. Unless the Giants were convinced a team like Washington or Miami would take Jones they probably could have gotten him later.

7. Jacksonville Jaguars: Josh Allen, DE, Kentucky

Grade: A+

No one was considering this pick because most thought Allen would be long gone by this point. Getting Allen trumps taking an offensive tackle. He was the best player available and give the Jaguars potentially their own version of Khalil Mack. This is how the Jaguars can help fix a defense that just two years ago was arguably the best in the NFL.

8. Detroit Lions: T.J. Hockenson, TE, Iowa

Grade: B

If Lions head coach Matt Patricia is adamant on recreating the New England Patriots, he just got his Rob Gronkowski. Just a little smaller. Hockenson is the most complete tight end in the draft with his ability to block and catch the ball. Hockenson is a good athlete too and will make some plays after the catch. The only thing that makes this strange is the Lions just signed Jesse James in free agency.

9. Buffalo Bills: Ed Oliver, DT, Houston

Grade: A

The picks of Ferrell and Jones allowed Oliver to drop right into Buffalo’s lap. Oliver can be the Kyle Williams replacement for the Bills, with even more of a pass rush playing three-technique. Even if he’s discount Aaron Donald that is still really, really good. Now the Bills need to focus the rest of their draft surrounding quarterback Josh Allen with talent.

10. Pittsburgh Steelers: Devin Bush, LB, Michigan

Grade: B-

The Steelers made a trade solely based on supply-and-demand, jumping all the way up from No. 20 to No. 10 to take Bush. From a need standpoint, this is a move the Steelers had to make. The loss of Ryan Shazier created a hole in Pittsburgh’s defense. In this draft, there are two high-level linebackers in Bush and White. In that regard, it was smart for the Steelers to get Bush because the supply just isn’t there. But giving up that much draft capital for a linebacker is tough to defend. It won’t matter when Bush makes a Pro Bowl though.

Pittsburgh trades 20, 52, and a 2020 3rd to move up to the 10th pick. That's a lot -- based on my draft value chart, Pittsburgh paid at least 150 cents on the dollar for that move. https://t.co/gADjTSgh92

— Football Perspective (@fbgchase) April 26, 2019

11. Cincinnati Bengals: Jonah Williams, OT, Alabama

Grade: B

Bush might have been the guy for the Bengals. But here they are again taking another offensive tackle high in the draft. Can Williams be the player that Cedric Ogbuehi and Jake Fisher were not? Williams is a sound, consistent blocker who can hold down left tackle for Cincinnati for years. Hopefully. Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins could have seriously been argued for the pick here because Andy Dalton has been average. But a blocker like Williams should ideally maximize what Dalton can do.

12. Green Bay Packers: Rashan Gary, LB, Michigan

Grade: B-

Gary, at 277 pounds, was announced as a linebacker. That’s a little dubious. Gary is a lengthy edge player filled with traits. His get off and acceleration are incredible. But at Michigan he never put it together consistently. For Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, Gary should be a player who can line up at end, work some inside and, yes, maybe even stand up at linebacker. But after signing Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith, Gary’s snaps might be a little limited.

13. Miami Dolphins: Christian Wilkins, DT, Clemson

Grade: B

The value is there with this pick by the Dolphins. Wilkins was graded by me (and others) as one of the 10 best players in the draft. Wilkins is a tough, athletic player with a magnetic personality. He is quick off the block and plays with a ton of hustle. And don’t forget, Clemson played him a lot at defensive end as a sophomore. But is a defensive tackle the biggest need for Miami?

14. Atlanta Falcons: Chris Lindstrom, G, Boston College

Grade: B-

With the run on defensive tackles, the Falcons were left going after the offensive line at No. 14. Lindstrom is a solid player. A starter in the NFL without question. Lindstrom is an aggressive blocker who doesn’t mind driving defenders into the ground. He’s not on the same level as Quenton Nelson last year, but he will improve Atlanta’s run offense in a big way.

15. Washington: Dwayne Haskins, QB, Ohio State

Grade: A+

Washington owner Dan Snyder got the player he wanted. And he did the right thing? That’s weird to say about Snyder. It was speculated that Washington would trade up for Haskins. That didn’t have to happen. In Haskins, Washington has its franchise quarterback of the future. When you can get that in the middle of the first round you’re doing something right. Haskins may be limited as a pocket passer only, but those players can still be plenty successful in the NFL.

16. Carolina Panthers: Brian Burns, DE, Florida State

Grade: A

The Panthers, in need of pass rushers, were fortunate to see Burns drop all the way down to No. 16. Burns’ get off and bend around the edge are special. In that regard, he’s comparable to Bruce Irvin. As a pro, Burns needs to get stronger and play the run better. But he fits a big need for the Panthers at a premium position. Carolina was one of the worst teams in the NFL at getting after the quarterback. That should change with Burns.

17. New York Giants: Dexter Lawrence, DT, Clemson

Grade: C+

Instead of taking a pass rusher, the Giants took a powerful nose tackle in Lawrence. While Ferrell and Wilkins got most of the attention on Clemson’s line, Lawrence was the one eating up blocks letting them beat single blockers. What’s odd about this pick is that the Giants shouldn’t have had to make it. In October nose tackle Damon Harrison — one of the best players at his position in the NFL — was traded for just a fifth-round pick. That makes this choice strange. It’s nothing against Lawrence. He’s a good player. This is more about how the Giants are constructing their roster.

18. Minnesota Vikings: Garrett Bradbury, C, North Carolina State

Grade: B+

A year after giving a massive contract to Kirk Cousins, this is the player the Vikings needed to take. That’s why it became so popular in mock drafts. Bradbury is an athletic center who will get up on the second level in the run game. As a pass blocker, he has quick feet to mirror defenders. With him at center, Pat Elflein can move to guard. Suddenly the Vikings have bolstered their interior in front of Cousins.

19. Tennessee Titans: Jeffery Simmons, DT, Mississippi State

Grade: B

This pick is obviously a huge risk since Simmons might miss the season after tearing his ACL after the season. When he’s healthy, Simmons is arguably one of the four or five best players in this draft. But in a year where the Titans really need to figure out if quarterback Marcus Mariota is their future, this pick doesn’t help answer that question.

Multiple teams viewed new Titans’ DT Jeffrey Simmons as a top-5 pick, even though he went at No. 19. One even called him “the best player in this draft.” Of course there are well-documented disturbing issues with him.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 26, 2019

20. Denver Broncos: Noah Fant, TE, Iowa

Grade: A

It was smart of the Broncos to trade back and get Fant here instead of rushing him with the 10th pick. For several years Denver has been trying to land a tight end. It just didn’t work with middle-round picks like Jake Butt and Jeff Heuerman for various reasons. Fant is a different type of player. For new Broncos quarterback Joe Flacco, he can be a weapon and a safety valve. Fant might be one of the frontrunners for Rookie of the Year.

21. Green Bay Packers: Darnell Savage, S, Maryland

Grade: C+

This pick surprised a lot of people. When the Packers traded up with Seattle, the assumption was that it would be for a wide receiver like Marquise Brown or an offensive tackle. Savage was a late riser in the draft process. He’s a quick and active safety who closes on the ball in a hurry. After the signing of safety Adrian Amos, the Packers now have a loaded secondary.

In terms of the trade, it’s not bad for Green Bay giving up two fourth-round picks and No. 30 to get up to No. 21 for Savage. I just didn’t personally have as high of a grade on him.

22. Philadelphia Eagles: Andre Dillard, OT, Washington State

Grade: B-

It’s imperative that Carson Wentz stays healthy. When Jason Peters retires, Dillard should be able to step in immediately and keep Wentz upright. The Eagles had to make a trade to make this pick happen.

The #Texans targeted athletic OT Andre Dillard at No. 23, but the #Eagles jumped ahead of them and took Dillard at 22. Their next Jason Peters.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 26, 2019

But is it a good idea to trade extra picks to take a backup? That’s the risk built in with trading up and taking a player who might not be on the field until 2020.

23. Houston Texans: Tytus Howard, OT, Alabama State

Grade: C

Houston got played by Philadelphia. Dillard was the player Houston needed and wanted. But instead of being aggressive, the Texans sat back and got leapfrogged by the Eagles. That left them to reach on Howard. He’s a fascinating player. He’s a highly athletic tackle and he held his own when Alabama State played higher level teams. But he was more of a second-round player for most. But Houston had to come out of the first round with a player who can keep Deshaun Watson from getting plastered. Howard played right tackle in college. If Houston was fine with that, why not take Florida’s Jawaan Taylor?

24. Oakland Raiders: Josh Jacobs, RB, Alabama

Grade: A

This pick has been expected for months. After Philadelphia took an offensive tackle, it became destiny for the Raiders. Jacobs is the draft’s running back by a wide margin. He’s a well-rounded player who runs with balance and vision. He gets downhill in a hurry and will run through arm tackles. He’s a factor in the passing game too. The only knock is the positional value of a running back in the first round.

25. Baltimore Ravens: Marquise Brown, WR, Oklahoma

Grade: B+

The Ravens smartly traded back and filled a big need with a speedy, vertical wide receiver. Brown is a player who can take the top off a defense and help the development of Lamar Jackson as a passer. Baltimore even got some extra draft picks to boot. The issue with Brown is his size at just over 5’9 and 166 pounds. Brown will be one of the smallest wide receivers in the NFL. But he’s a player who can work out of the slot or outside.

26. Washington: Montez Sweat, DE. Mississippi State

Grade: A

Washington didn’t have to give up much to get back into the first round, sending No. 46 and a 2020 second-round pick to the Colts. Only giving up that much, it landed them Sweat, the best player available and a big need fill. This type of move is what the draft is all about.

27. Oakland Raiders: Johnathan Abram, S, Mississippi State

Grade: B

In Abram, the Raiders got a tone setter in the back half of the defense. Abram is a violent hitter who has several highlight reel tackles to his credit. Along with Karl Joseph and free agent signee Lamarcus Joyner, the Raiders now have three safeties who will give them a lot of versatility in the secondary.

28. Los Angeles Chargers: Jerry Tillery, DT, Notre Dame

Grade: B

The Chargers had a lot of options at No. 28. They could’ve taken an offensive tackle or cornerback and it would’ve been fine. Tillery is a fine choice in his own regard. Los Angeles needed defensive line help in the middle. Tillery gives the Chargers a player who can keep some attention off Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram.

29. Seattle Seahawks: L.J. Collier, Edge, TCU

Grade: B-

This is very much a Seahawks type of pick. Not viewed by many as a first-round player, Collier was a consistent and power defensive end who can be a versatile player on the line for Seattle.

30. New York Giants: Deandre Baker, CB, Georgia

Grade: B-

The Giants made a jump back into the first round to take the first cornerback off the board in Baker. But is he best cornerback in the draft? From an aggression standpoint and scheme versatility, that argument can be made. Of New York’s three first-round picks, this is the best one.

31. Atlanta Falcons: Kaleb McGary, OT, Washington

Grade: C+

Atlanta is another team that jumped into the back half of the first round and took McGary, a pure right tackle. He’s a powerful blocker who played in 53 games at Washington. Doubling up on offensive linemen in the first round, and not having any picks on Day 2 now, is quite a gamble for Atlanta.

32. New England Patriots: N’Keal Harry, WR, Arizona State

Grade: B

The Patriots had a ton of great options at No. 32. And of course they did. They’re the Patriots and things aren’t fair. New England had their choice of wide receivers like Harry, D.K. Metcalf or Hakeem Butler. A cornerback like Byron Murphy of Washington would’ve been fine. Harry gives the Patriots a physical presence at wide receiver who will pull down difficult passes.

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Hedman, Trocheck, Gibson, Neal, Zibanejad, and More – August 24

  The summer has seemingly disappeared behind us as we enter the final weekend in August. For those putting off getting your fantasy hockey preparation underway, now would be a good time to start. Head to the Dobber Shop and grab your copy of the 2018-19 Dobber fantasy hockey guide now! It includes projected production, projected lines, a bevy of articles, and a whole lot more. It is also updated as new information is available.

*

A few days ago, I was fortunate to take part in a fantasy hockey mock draft with a lot of smart people from around the hockey industry. These people were as follows:

Chris Meaney – Various spots, NHL at Fantrax

Chris Wassel – Dobber Hockey and Sporting News

Drew Livingstone – Sportsnet

Esten McLaren – theScore

George Kurtz – Roto Experts

Jamie Zadow – Dobber Prospects and Winging It In Motown

Mike Omelan – Freelance Reporter

Neil Parker – Fantrax

Scott Levy – NHL Breakdown

Eric Young – WWE Superstar and Fantasy Enthusiast

Andrew Reid – FNTSY Network

Eric Young is on WWE’s Smackdown program, which was running concurrently with our mock draft. He can be forgiven for a few auto-picks here.

A few notes about the mock draft format:

12 teams with 25-man rosters, 300 players drafted

Roster construction is as follows: three centres, three left wingers, three right wingers, four defencemen, three utility skaters, two goaltenders, seven bench slots.

Scoring for skaters: goals, assists, special-teams points (PP+PK), shots on goal, hits, blocked shots, takeaways

Scoring for goalies: Wins, GAA, save percentage, shutouts

Scoring like this lends itself to different picks in a different order than you’ll see in some other drafts. In this particular format, in 2017-18, Connor McDavid ranked lower than Jamie Benn, Vincent Trocheck was the #2 skater behind Taylor Hall, and Seth Jones was more valuable than Sidney Crosby. Before getting angry in the comments, just understand that this will be unique compared to, say, Yahoo standard formats.

Anyway, to the draft!

The entire draft board can be viewed here. This was my final roster, in order they were drafted:

    The thought process on some of my picks.

First, I hate drafting in the middle of a round. It’s good in the sense that you don’t get caught out on runs, but quite often you find yourself taking a player maybe a round or two earlier than you wanted. For example, when we got to the 10th round, we were getting into the range where I wanted to grab Kyle Palmieri. On the other hand, there were other right wingers, and many skaters, still left on the board that ranked ahead of him. But did I want to take the chance of letting him slide another round and go for someone else? I had Clayton Keller queued up behind him and was basically going to choose one or the other. Had I chosen Keller instead, would I have gotten Palmieri in round 11 with 10 picks between? Maybe, maybe not. I didn’t get Keller, landed Palmieri, and had to walk away with it. Were I on the turn, or near to it, it would have been an easier decision.

  Top Three Picks

Victor Hedman – Some people might say it’s too early, but he was the #3 defenceman in this format last year (#2 was Carlson, whom Hedman should probably surpass this year) and I wanted to try Laidlaw’s strategy of grabbing a stud defenceman early.

  Vincent Trocheck – In this type of format, Trocheck is a monster. It’ll be another season with loads of minutes featuring top-end wingers and top power-play minutes. Sign me up.

  John Gibson – This is another instance where picking in the middle of a round both helped and hurt. The goalie run started in round 2 with Vasilevskiy, Andersen, Rinne, and Hellebuyck going off the board, and Bobrovsky and Quick in round 3 before this pick. Had I not taken Gibson, I’m likely going with Tuukka Rask or Antti Raanta as my top goalie, which might be fine but I didn’t want to take too big a gamble. Then again, I was forced to take Gibson earlier than I wanted, so again, it’s that double-edged sword of being in the middle of a round.

  Rickard Rakell and Jonathan Marchessault – Both scoring wingers who should be featured on the top line of their respective teams and can chip in with a lot of hits and shots. That helps provide a safety net for those with concerns about regression.

  Mika Zibanejad – It’s not talked about often, but Zibanejad is usually good for triple-digit hits in full seasons (he had 92 in 72 games last year). He should play a lot of minutes on a good top line with top PP minutes. Getting him outside the first 10 rounds was a gift.

  James Neal – Neal’s biggest problem the last couple seasons are his assists. If he skates on the top line with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan, as well as the top PP unit, that’s a problem that should correct itself. If he’s on the second line, maybe not. I though it worth the gamble in the 14th round.

  Milan Lucic – I know we make fun of him a lot because of his contract, but his shooting percentage was less than half his three-year average. He had his highest expected goals number (via Corsica) since the lockout season, it just so happened to be in a season with a five-on-five shooting percentage under six percent. With his monster hit totals, just 20 goals and 20 assists would be fine. Another gamble worth taking just inside the 200th pick.

  Jesse Puljujarvi – I’ve said before that he’s the team’s best right winger and I stand by it (though I’ll admit Kailer Yamamoto could prove me wrong this year). In a just world, he’ll be in the top-6 by November and hopefully top PP minutes with it. At pick 222, it’s worth finding out if I’m right.

  Tomas Tatar – He had a bad year last year which is why his ADP was depressed. He still has four consecutive seasons of at least 20 goals, two shots per game, and 65 hits, which includes his brutal 2017-18. He’ll likely line up with Paul Stastny, which is a fine centre to get him the puck. Even a modest rebound this year should pay dividends.

  Ryan Pulock and Nick Leddy – I grabbed Pulock earlier because I think his peripheral contributions will be much stronger and he can do it while being a 35-point defenceman. When Leddy was still there at the end of the draft, I figured why not get myself their PP quarterback.

  Those are my thoughts on some of my picks. If you want thoughts on the others, just hit up the comments.

  Now, let’s look at the rest of the draft.

  Brayden Schenn – I’m a big fan of this pick in this format at the Round2/3 turn. With a healthy Vladimir Tarasenko and a (hopefully) improved top PP unit, Schenn could be the Vincent Trocheck of 2018-19. He has legitimate top-5 upside.

  Auston Matthews – Here’s the long and short of it: If the Leafs split PP units again, we cannot hope for more than 20 power-play points from Matthews. In formats that count hits, it’s a huge knock to his value (Matthews has 37 career hits). In formats that don’t include hits, he’s probably a top-10 pick, but that, along with the PP uncertainty, is why he slid so far. If all breaks right, though, there clearly is upside to grabbing him early in the third round.

  Vladimir Tarasenko – I was rattled he got snagged; I took Joe Pavelski three picks later and had hoped for Tarasenko. Tarasenko had what would be called a down year and he still managed both 30 goals and 30 assists with over 300 shots and a hit per game. Like Schenn, if that power play turns around for the Blues, and Tarasenko is healthy, there’s upside even as a mid-fourth round pick.

  Colton Parayko and Alex Pietrangelo

I’m sure some people are a bit confounded on Parayko, the guy not on the top PP unit, going ahead of Pietrangelo, the guy on the top PP unit.

Here’s the thing: Parayko had 80 more hits and the same number of takeaways in 2017-18 as Pietrangelo. Yes, Pietrangelo has the production edge, but Parayko has the peripheral edge. Also, if Parayko’s shooting percentage were to ever improve (he’s shot under 3 percent in back-to-back seasons), he’s a 40+ point defenceman with 200+ shots and triple-digit hits/blocked shots. That’s valuable.

  Nico Hischier

Little-known fact: Hischier was just the fourth teenager since the 2012 lockout to finish a season with at least 20 goals, 30 assists, and 180 shots. The others are Nathan MacKinnon, Jack Eichel, and Clayton Keller. Hischier accomplished this with just six power-play points. Assuming he moves to the top unit, there is a lot of production upside here. Not to mention he chipped in 56 hits, which isn’t mind-blowing, but won’t hurt a fantasy roster, either. If he’s attached at the hip with Taylor Hall all season, at all strengths, there could be a big year in store.

  Rasmus Dahlin and Rasmus Ristolainen

The Buffalo Rasmuses (Rasmusi? RasmusiI? Rasmii?) had a massive gap in ADP, with Ristolainen going 69th overall and Dahlin in the 12th round. I have written recently that I think Dahlin will be over-drafted but this draft slotting is a lot more palatable. Were he to be drafted where he’s been picked in some mock drafts and in other rankings, he would have been in the same range as Ristolainen, Tyson Barrie, John Klingberg, Mark Giordano, and Colton Parayko. To put him in that company right away is a mighty lofty expectation.

  Jordan Eberle

There is a reasonable chance that Eberle lines up on Mat Barzal’s right wing both at even strength and on the power play. They need to replace Tavares on the power play, and just moving Barzal into Tavares’s role and Eberle into Barzal’s role seems to make a lot of sense. Eberle isn’t a stat-stuffer, which is why he was taken just inside the top-200, but we could see 30 goals and 60 points from him this year. 

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-hedman-trocheck-gibson-neal-zibanejad-and-more-august-24/

[flauntpage]

Your Monday Morning Roundup

No Wentz. No Wiz. No problem.

Despite a really shoddy performance by the defense, the Nick Foles-led Eagles improved to 12-2 with a 34-29 win over the New York Giants. With the win, the Eagles have clinched a first round bye. All they need to get the top seed in the NFC Playoffs is either a Minnesota loss or an Eagles win in the next two weeks. That should happen.

Many people thought the offense would be a huge concern entering the game. But that was not the case. Foles threw for four touchdowns and spread the ball out very well between Alshon Jeffery, Nelson Agholor, and Zach Ertz. And even Chance Warmack did a great job filling in for Stefen Wisniewski.

Instead, it was the defense that floundered, giving up 504 yards against Eli Manning and his depleted group of wide receivers. Sterling Shepard had 139 yards receiving and a touchdown on 11 catches. Jalen Mills and Ronald Darby did not have good games, even though Darby’s interception in the first half was huge.

At times, the team lacked discipline too. On fourth down with the Giants punting in the third quarter, Najee Goode went offsides and that gave New York a first down, which resulted in a Tavarres King touchdown. That can’t happen in the playoffs.

If we’re worried about something, it should be the defense, which looked solid earlier in the season. Maybe a return home can revive their old form for a long period of time, which could be until February.

One note from last night: Patrick Robinson is in the concussion protocol. We might get more info on his injury and Wiz later today from Doug Pederson.

But first, a word from our sponsors:

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  The Roundup:

The Sixers had one game over the weekend, which was a triple overtime loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was a great game filled with great action and even some barbs traded by Joel Embiid and Russell Westbrook, who was getting a ton of attention from the team. They play each other once again in late-January.

It was also the debut of ESPN’s All-Access feature that had the Worldwide Leader cover the Sixers for the entire day. We also got another great gift from Joel Embiid.

The Sixers are in Chicago to take on the Bulls tonight. It’s a homecoming for some, including Robert Covington, who had one of his childhood friends shot and killed last month:

“I’ve seen it growing up. Know people that have gotten killed and know people who have done those type of things but it’s just how Chicago is,” Covington said Monday.

Covington, who started the season shooting 48.7 percent from three-point range through the first 15 games, has seen a decline in his production. Since Nov. 27 he is shooting just 32 percent from deep.

“It was tough for a while seeing how it affected me,” Covington said Sunday. “Overall, I’m in good spirits now. It’s unfortunate that he’s not here anymore, but he’s in a better place.”

Covington wasn’t able to attend the funeral and said that he is hoping to see his friend’s family when he arrives.

Embiid and Trevor Booker won’t play. And we won’t see Furkan Korkmaz for quite some time. He suffered a left Lisfranc injury while with the 87ers.

—

On the ice, after beating the Buffalo Sabres, the Flyers beat the Dallas Stars 2-1 in overtime. Both tallies were scored by Shayne Gostisbehere on the power play.

Tonight, they host Jeff Carter and the Los Angeles Kings. The team looks to improve their win-streak to seven games. With a win, they could join the 1967 Toronto Maple Leafs to win seven straight after going winless for 10 or more games.

—

The Phillies also made some news on Friday. They traded away Freddy Galvis to the San Diego Padres for Double-A pitcher Enyel De Los Santos. The team also signed former Indians first baseman Carlos Santana to a reported three-year, $60 million deal. Enjoy the Santana jokes for the next three years.

—

In college basketball, Temple edged out Drexel 63-60 Saturday in a City 6 battle. Shizz Alston, Jr. led the way for the Owls with 12 points and five rebounds, while Drexel’s Alihan Demir had 16 points.

Yesterday, La Salle made 16 three-pointers in a 95-85 win over Mercer, and 19 points from Shavar Newkirk and James Demery helped St. Joe’s to a 72-59 win over Maine.

The Dragons are the lone local team in action tonight, as they’ll host Quinnipiac at 7 PM.

Mike Jensen profiles the legendary Speedy Morris, who’s coaching tree is prominent throughout Philadelphia basketball.

And some sad news from over the weekend, as former Owl Big 5 selection Marty Stahurski passed away Saturday morning at the age of 61.

—

In other sports news, Carolina Panthers founder and CEO Jerry Richardson announced he will sell the team after the season is over after allegations of workplace misconduct arose last week. Diddy wants to buy the team, and Steph Curry wants to tag along too.

In action that happened on the field, it was a normal NFL Sunday. In the Patriots-Steelers game, it looked like Jesse James scored the go-ahead touchdown, but after a review, it was reversed:

#Steelers fans, you're going to blame replay but you should blame Jesse James. You must control the ball all the way to the ground. Bobbling the ball when you land is not control. Plain and simple. #NFL #NEvsPIT #Patriotshttp://pic.twitter.com/vX2hYDPmvq

— Bleacher Preacher / Sports (@BleachrPreachr) December 18, 2017

It was still goal-to-go, but Big Ben’s attempt for another fake spike for the win failed. Thanks to a break up by Eric Rowe. Yes, the former Eagle Eric Rowe.

INTERCEPTION!!! DURON HARMON LET’S GOOOO!!! #PATRIOTS WIN!!! #NEvsPIT http://pic.twitter.com/cbY97Xj0UL

— Casey Baker (@CaseyBake16) December 18, 2017

The ruling was correct, but it’s a dumb rule. Joel Embiid knows:

Steelers definitely got screwed.. Those rules don’t make sense

— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) December 18, 2017

Meanwhile on Sunday Night Football, this happened:

The Cowboys won the game by the way and are still in the playoff hunt. By this, ANOTHER DUMB RULE (and a dumb decision by Derek Carr):

WOW. #DALvsOAK http://pic.twitter.com/aOZnBTfflR

— NFL (@NFL) December 18, 2017

This is stupid. And Ezekiel Elliott returns next week.

Cam Newton owned Clay Matthews:

http://pic.twitter.com/uYeBjXeMfB

— Nate Freeman (@NateFreemanNFL) December 18, 2017

Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis will reportedly step down as head coach following the end of this season. He denied those reports after the loss to the Vikings.

Atlético Madrid star Antoine Griezmann decided to go full blackface for a costume party. It did not go well and has apologized for it.

In the NBA, Cavs point guard Isaiah Thomas won’t return before Christmas.

Over in Austria, there was a fight off the ice between two players:

An off-ice fight between Chris DeSousa (HC Bolzano) and Tom Zanoski (Medvescak Zagreb) in the Austrian #EBEL league. http://pic.twitter.com/Rgn7bvY2YB

— Aivis Kalniņš (@A_Kalnins) December 18, 2017

The XFL might be coming back?

—

In the news, this year’s reenactment of “Washington’s Crossing” might not happen.

Power was lost at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport due to a possible fire, but has now been restored.

One of North Korea’s high-ranking officials is missing.

Your Monday Morning Roundup published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv