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akitsune-lune · 4 years

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a lukewarm defence of Blossomfall

or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the IvyBlossom

Hi there. Do you have a minute to talk about Blossomfall?

My goal here

Analyse Blossomfall’s behaviour in OOTS. Clear up misconceptions and aim to change people’s minds regarding the relationship between Millie, Briar, n Blossom, as well as making a case for IvyBlossom not in fact being A Toxic Evil Ship Propagated by Abuse Apologists. This is going to be an extremely long post and hopefully THE Blossomfall Defence Post. Fly, my pretties, share it around, this took so long.

1: The Text

let’s go over everything single thing Blossomfall has done in OOTS so that there’s no way for us to be in disagreement over what she’s done. It’s gonna take a while. This will be everything vaguely important to Blossomfall’s character, but not including shit like characters noticing Blossompaw sitting with her mentor or whatever. You are free to ctrl-f “Blossom” your way through all of OOTS to see if I’m cherry picking passages for my clever scheme to make everyone think about Blossomfall. (spoilers, I’m not)

Fourth Apprentice:

Literally nothing of note. Just filling in random background bits.

Fading Echoes:

P.68 This is pretty much our first look at Blossomfall. She squabbles with her littermates and maybe has a crush on Toadstep.

P.128 next is our first interaction between Ivypaw and Blossompaw. Ivypaw thinks Dovepaw is getting special treatment, and Blossompaw disagrees.

P.149 And a first interaction between Millie and Blossompaw. Blossompaw jumps onto the Great Oak and hurts herself, then Millie fusses over her. This is a pretty good set-up for showing Millie to be a bit of an overbearing mother and no spoilers, but if Millie’s attention suddenly vanished, you could imagine that would leave Blossompaw off-kilter.

P.174 Now we have an antagonistic interaction between Ivypaw and Blossompaw; Blossompaw is rude and thoughtless and it plays directly to Ivypaw’s deepest insecurities. Throughout the assessment, Blossompaw treats her like she’s useless.

P.235 A quick acknowledgement of Briarlight’s siblings cheering for her

P.248 another moment of sisterly affection between them

P.258 The first mention of Thornclaw in relation to Blossomfall. I’ve heard it cited as evidence of Thorn/Blossom set-up, which... seems like a stretch, but maybe.

P.361 And to round out Fading Echoes we get Ivypaw and Blossomfall working together in battle, and Blossomfall being appreciative of Ivypaw’s abilities.

Night Whispers:

P.33 The very first moment of Blossomfall in Night Whispers is an in-text, explicit acknowledgement that Blossomfall and Ivypaw have put their previous quarrels to rest. After that, (P.111) we get a quick moment of Ivypaw and Blossomfall talking like chill Clanmates, which might further support that their previous animosity is gone.

P.114 We get another instance of Blossomfall complimenting Ivypaw, then an exchange which leads Ivypaw to think No wonder Hawkfrost doesn’t visit [Blossomfall’s] dreams.

P.143 After that, we hear Millie bemoaning how her daughter’s life is meaningless now, followed by

P.143 Which would imply that Bumblestripe and Blossomfall would take issue with how Millie talks about Briarlight and her life.

P.327 another moment of Blossomfall showing concern for her littermates, and that rounds off book 3 of OOTS.

Sign of the Moon:

P.178 Blossomfall is now training in the Dark Forest and Ivypool is very upset by it, later thinking ThunderClan cats are loyal.

P.179-180 In Blossomfall’s first training exercise in the Dark Forest, Ivypool interferes and risks punishment to save Blossomfall from injury.

P.181 Blossomfall is ungrateful, but Ivypool doesn’t really react to her remark.

Next, Ivypool wants to speak with Blossomfall about her training in the Dark Forest. Before she has the chance, however, Blossomfall’s old mentor Hazeltail notices that Blossomfall is injured and tries to draw Millie’s attention to it.

P.273 This is our first hint that Millie has something to do with Blossomfall’s training in the Dark Forest. I’d like to point out that it’s Millie ignoring her and not Briarlight that provokes the anger from Blossomfall.

P.276 Twofold - First, Blossomfall doesn’t jump to Thornclaw’s defence when Ivypool calls him bossy, rather she agrees. Blossomfall also rebuffs Ivypool’s efforts to check on her.

P.277 Next, we have Ivypool pushing further, and Blossomfall seems edgy. Ivypool expresses more concern in her head and is scared for Blossomfall.

Now we have the big scene. Ivypool and Blossomfall go exploring in the tunnels and Blossomfall’s character finally gets her moment.

P.279 Blossomfall makes a remark about losing the use of her legs, which could be interpreted multiple ways, a dark joke about what happened to Briarlight, jealousy over the attention that her sister’s condition has resulted in, etc

P.312-313 Now we cut to the heart of the matter. Blossomfall doesn’t even know if Millie loves her anymore.

P.313 “I hate myself for feeling jealous of Briarlight. I can’t help what I feel, and that proves I’m not a good cat.” Because of jealousy and attention-seeking urges, Blossomfall has decided that she’s a bad person and deserves to go to the Dark Forest.

P.313-314

P.323 Then they get back to camp after having been missing for several hours and after Blossomfall has been injured, and Millie lectures her.

P.323 and then there’s the nail in the coffin. I’d also like to draw attention to the fact that Blossomfall doesn’t lash out. She just accepts Millie’s lack of concern for her and her lecturing, while relying on the Dark Forest for validation. She especially is never shown to lash out at Briarlight. That’s the end of Sign of the Moon.

The Forgotten Warrior:

P.247 In book 5, Blossomfall is shown to be again antagonistic, though this time toward Dovewing, and very protective of her littermates, in a negative light this time. This is pretty much the only moment of note for Blossomfall in the whole book.

The Last Hope:

P.67 Now we get the magnum opus of Blossomfall and Thornclaw being chummy and Lionblaze misinterpreting this as meaning they’re going to end up as mates, then realizing it’s actually because they’re training in the Dark Forest together. This is the third time Blossomfall and Thornclaw have been mentioned in the same sentence, and the first time they’ve ever interacted with each other. It’s the first time where they’ve been explicitly friendly; the first BlossomThorn moment was a mention of Thornclaw’s mannerisms rubbing off on Blossomfall and the second was Blossomfall indirectly calling Thornclaw bossy. This is why I say with relative confidence, BlossomThorn in AVoS was not planned in OOTS. Our ‘evidence’ is

Blossomfall thinks he’s bossy

Blossomfall imitated him once

They’re friends because they trained in the Dark Forest together

She has a similar number of moments with Mousewhisker and Toadstep, but I haven’t included them other than the very first moment with Blossomfall because those aren’t the ships that end up canonized. Even with Toadstep, Bumblepaw explicitly says that she’s mooning over him, which is far more indication of future romance than BlossomThorn gets.

ADDITIONALLY in the reprinted version of The Last Hope...

He’s replaced with Mousewhisker! Which knocks BlossomThorn mentions in canon down to just two, only one of which is at least neutral, and they never even interact before she’s nursing his kits! *screm* Erins WHY?

and uh... that’s actually about it for Blossomfall’s moments in Last Hope. She’s lumped in with Mousewhisker, Birchfall, etc with Ivypool and ThunderClan trying to track them down and make sure they don’t fight for the DF, etc, and then she doesn’t, n book ends.

Alright let’s analyse some data.

2: The relationship between Ivy/Blossom

It's toxic and unneeded- just because it's not heterosexual it doesn't mean it's healthy. Blossomfall bullied Ivypool for almost the entire first half of OotS, and just because she supported Ivy once it doesn't mean that they're friends. It means they've moved on and forgiven each other.

Forum post on January 14th, 2019

Alright, I’ve heard some crazy shit about BlossomIvy and I’m here to tell you, forget it. You don’t have to ship them, but if you’re gonna call them toxic, I’m gonna call you full of shit.

Ivypaw and Blossompaw’s first big conflict is during Blossompaw’s assessment, at which point she calls Ivypaw a bad hunter and Ivypaw gets upset. Now pay close attention, folks! This is the only time Blossompaw and Ivypaw argue before Blossomfall starts training in the Dark Forest. After this, once Ivypaw has been training in the Dark Forest, Blossomfall compliments her on her skills and the text explicitly suggests that now Ivypaw and Blossomfall have ‘put their quarrels behind them.’ After that, once Blossomfall begins training in the Dark Forest, Ivypool intervenes on her behalf to save her from injury and is called out by Brokenstar. Blossomfall is ungrateful, but Ivypool shows no regret for helping her.

Then we get the big moment between them in the tunnels. Blossomfall, after being injured, asks Ivypool if she thinks Millie will miss her. Ivypool realizes why Blossomfall is training in the Dark Forest, and Blossomfall confesses that she knows that the Dark Forest is bad news but feels that she deserves to go there because she’s a bad person (cat?).

Something I want to pay special mention to is the fact that Blossomfall is confessing all of this to Ivypool rather than any other main character, because they understand each other. Whether or not you like the ship, it is an undeniable fact that Blossomfall and Ivypool have a great deal of common ground.

They were both taken advantage of by the Dark Forest because of their jealousy over their sisters, they both know that the Dark Forest is up to no good but don’t leave it, and they both acknowledge in no uncertain terms that they’re jealous of cats that would also want something that they themselves have--in Blossomfall’s case, her able body, and in Ivypool’s, her lack of super-powers and involvement in the prophecy. Blossomfall and Ivypool can relate to and understand each other on a level that they cannot their other Clanmates.

Blossompaw and Ivypaw have a moment of animosity in Night Whispers, when Blossompaw says Ivypaw is a bad hunter and that she’d prefer Dovepaw, and Ivypaw is very upset. Then later, again, we get an in-text acknowledgement from another character that Blossomfall and Ivypaw have put their quarrels behind them. After Blossomfall’s assessment, she and Ivypaw only have friendly or neutral interactions. The next time they argue is when Blossomfall joins the Dark Forest, is out of her depth, and Ivypool intervenes to save her. Blossomfall argues that she can take care of herself and Ivypool thinks she’s full of it, but doesn’t push the point.

Then later, they have a bit of an antagonistic interaction where Ivypool is scared that Blossomfall is making the wrong choice by training in the Dark Forest and wants to help her, while Blossomfall rejects her help.

And then of course, the big scene. Blossomfall admits her deepest fear, that Millie no longer loves her, to Ivypool, and Ivypool immediately understands, thinking of her own jealousy of Dovewing.

That’s pretty much a summary of the evolution of the BlossomIvy relationship. For all you visual learners, here’s a handy chart

It’s hardly scientific, but arguing that Blossomfall and Ivypool don’t move from antagonistic to emotionally vulnerable with each other would be a hard stance to take given the sharp difference between the argument during the assessment and the conversation in the tunnels. Even when Blossomfall is telling Ivypool that she can take care of herself after Ivypool saves her from Ratscar, it doesn’t necessitate an interpretation of them as hostile--it can be read as either “I don’t want your help” OR “I can take care of myself” the latter of which invites a lot of classic romance tropes.

If you don’t read their relationship as potentially romantic, they still go from not understanding each other to understanding each other the best out of any other cat in their Clan. That’s a pretty significant development (especially for Warriors oof) so even if you still think Blossomfall is a brat or spoiled or emotionally stunted because of her jealousy of Briarlight, the text shows that Ivypool and Blossomfall at least have the potential to be extremely close friends and confidantes.

And if you DO read their relationship as potentially romantic, first of all welcome to the club, here’s your club-sanctioned hat and waterbottle with an engraved picture of em, and second of all, it’s really not a stretch. Again, they have a great deal of common ground. Blossomfall tells Ivypool her deepest insecurity and Ivypool understands. She doesn’t lecture Blossomfall and disagrees when Blossomfall says that she’s a bad cat. Despite not having a whole lot to go on, what we do have 100% shows them trusting and understanding each other.

Overall, what I want to argue is that THE BlossomIvy argument in Night Whispers is absolutely not enough to write them off as toxic; in fact, it later shows how much their relationship has developed. Additionally, it’s not just some random ship where we picked two she-cats out of a hat and then made a bunch of fan art; they have a legit connection, whether or not you think they have chemistry or are a better ship than say, FernIvy. They are in similar enough situations that they’re able to sympathize with each other more than Lionblaze, Jayfeather, Bumblestripe, Toadstep (?) or any other important cat in their lives can. That’s a helluva lot more to go off of than just “they trained in the Dark Forest together” or “they’re friendly sometimes” like we have for other major ships for the two of them. (Let me also explictly say that I’m not trying to argue that BlossomIvy is more canon than BlossomThorn and FernIvy, because no shit--the latter two have kits and are canonically mates. I’m just arguing over what makes most sense and who would work best as a pair)

3: Blossomfall’s family

Here’s the other major point of Blossomfall’s character; her relationship with her sister and her mother. Let’s answer a few questions. Is Millie actually ignoring Blossomfall or is Blossomfall being unreasonable? Does it matter if Millie is neglecting Blossomfall and should Blossomfall be self-sufficient as an adult? How does Blossomfall’s jealousy of Briarlight affect Briarlight herself, and what is Blossomfall’s relationship with her littermates? How does Blossomfall react to Millie’s perceived neglect?

And we’ll knock em off one by one:

Q: Is Millie actually neglecting Blossomfall or is Blossomfall being unreasonable?

A: This isn’t an easy question to answer. There are arguments to be made on both sides; Blossomfall is a young adult by the time Briarlight is injured (around 18 if you use my AU lol) and therefore probably shouldn’t require her mother’s constant attention. On the other hand, Millie is shown to be very attentive to her children and very concerned when they’re hurt or potentially going to be hurt (149, Fading Echoes). After Briarlight becomes disabled, Millie’s concern for Blossomfall vanishes. Blossomfall is injured training in the Dark Forest (and let me point out that Blossomfall is not the one who seeks out her mother’s attention; Hazeltail does it on her behalf) and Millie doesn’t care. (273, Sign of the Moon) Later in Sign of the Moon, Blossomfall has hit her head pretty hard and turns up after hours of being missing and Millie’s reaction is to chastise her for not hunting on Briarlight’s behalf. It’s sharply contrasted in-text with how Whitewing reacts to Ivypool, who hasn’t even been hurt. (323, Sign of the Moon) This is a pretty definitive display of how Millie does not care about her other daughter’s well-being anymore. If you’re thinking, “Well, Blossomfall was being irresponsible by running off into the tunnels, so she’s not innocent here” I agree, however let me employ my good friend Extremely Detailed Metaphor to explain why Millie isn’t either.

Let’s put this in terms of a human situation; a high school AU, if you will. I’ll paint a picture; it’s mid-winter, Sunday night. Blossomfall, her mother, and her sister Briarlight, live on a block where everyone is expected to shovel the snow in front of their house. Briarlight and Blossomfall get to school by walking to the bus stop at the end of the street. Millie tells Blossomfall to shovel the snow outside of their house that night so that Briarlight will be able to get to school on Monday in her wheelchair.

Instead, Blossomfall goes to a party, gets drunk, tries to drive herself home, gets into a car accident, and gets a concussion. Millie arrives at the hospital and, without making sure Blossomfall is okay, goes off at Blossomfall, telling her that she should have shovelled the entire block instead of going out to party.

Now, we’re once again in a situation where Blossomfall has been irresponsible, Millie is putting unreasonable expectations on her other daughter out of pity for Briarlight, and Millie is unconcerned about Blossomfall’s well-being. Unquestionably, Blossomfall did the wrong thing by going to a party/exploring the tunnels. BUT. That does not excuse Millie’s reaction. Millie is justified in being upset that Blossomfall is shirking her responsibilities, but not even bothering to find out how seriously she’s been injured is appalling behaviour from a previously-attentive mother. And you don’t need to take my word for it; from Whitewing and Brackenfur’s reactions, it’s obvious that no one thinks Millie is behaving in an acceptable fashion. She blatantly disregards Blossomfall’s well-being.

Seriously, I know it’s a pretty dire accusation, but with both examples of Blossomfall being injured post-Briarlight-injury and Millie either ignoring her or lecturing her, I don’t really know what other conclusion can be drawn. And let’s not villanize Millie utterly; Graystripe gets absolutely no mention in any instance despite being their father, so ??? what’s up with him. Overall, though, Blossomfall is not making up shit. There is literally no example post-Briarlight-injury of Millie showing concern for Blossomfall, only ever ignoring or admonishing her.

Q: Does it matter if Millie is neglecting Blossomfall and should Blossomfall be self-sufficient as an adult?

A: Again, not an easy question to answer. This is highly subjective, but if an adult’s mother suddenly lost all concern for their well-being, I’d argue that would be pretty damn destructive to that adult’s self-esteem. When you turn 18 or become a warrior, you don’t magically become self-sufficient and totally independent from your family, no matter what Warriors wants to tell you lmao. Those relationships are still very important, particularly for Blossomfall since as I’ll argue later, one of the most consistent points of her character is that she is extremely family-oriented. To go from her mother fussing over her and always being concerned for her health to her mother giving less than a shit about her when she gets lost and injured... I don’t care if she’s technically an adult. It’s not about her being attention-seeking or childish, it’s about her being completely cut off from one of the main relationships in her support system for no fault of her own. It does matter if Millie no longer cares about her daughter, whether or not the daughter in question is 16 or 18, an apprentice or a warrior. Blossomfall has lost an important relationship in her life, and it does a big hit to her self-esteem.

Q: How does Blossomfall’s jealousy of Briarlight affect Briarlight herself, and what is Blossomfall’s relationship with her littermates?

A: Oh good, an easy one at last. First, Blossomfall doesn’t blame Briarlight. She blames Millie. Second, Blossomfall is only ever shown to be loving and caring toward her sister. Third, (again) the most consistent thing about Blossomfall is that she puts her family first. The first two points can be supported in tandem; if Blossomfall truly blamed Briarlight for Millie’s disregard of Blossom, then why are all her interactions with her sister warm and loving? Very unfortunately, we don’t have many interactions between Briar and Blossom of any kind post-Briar-injury, but Blossomfall and her brother are the first to cheer for her at Briarlight’s ceremony (235, Fading Echoes) and Blossomfall eagerly brings fresh-kill to share with Briarlight (248, Fading Echoes). Later, Dovewing and Poppyfrost overhear one of Millie’s little monologues about how Briarlight’s life is ruined and Poppyfrost remarks that it’s a good thing Bumblestripe and Blossomfall didn’t overhear her. Draw your own conclusions, but to my understanding, this is a pretty plain demonstration that “Millie thinks Briarlight’s life is ruined and Bumblestripe and Blossomfall vehemently disagree, to the point at which they would start a big argument with their mother over that point” is common knowledge in ThunderClan. (143, Night Whispers)

Time and time again, Blossomfall loves and supports her sister. There’s no instance of Blossomfall putting the blame of Millie’s behaviour on Briarlight, only on Millie herself. In the big moment in the tunnel, Blossomfall doesn’t say “Do you think Briarlight would happy if I died and she got all Millie’s attention to herself?” she says “Do you think Millie would miss me?” followed by “I can’t bear seeing [Briarlight] suffer.” (312-313, Sign of the Moon) It’s not about Briarlight. She loves her sister and at the same time, cannot help being jealous of her, because it’s about Millie’s attention.

Finally, Blossomfall’s family is incredibly important to her. She and her littermates are continuously used for Dovepaw to angst about how she and Ivypaw are no longer close. For example, we get Blossomfall fretting over both of her siblings (327, Night Whispers), then Blossomfall being petty and upset because Bumblestripe chose to train with Dovewing instead of her and Bumblestripe dismissed her as being ridiculous (247, Forgotten Warrior). I’m not saying Blossomfall was in the right, there, but it does show Blossomfall’s devotion to her family and her expectation that her littermates do the same. There are also all of the above examples of them cheering at Briarlight’s ceremony, Blossomfall bringing fresh-kill to share with Briarlight, and the implication that Blossomfall and Bumblestripe would object to the way that Millie talks about Briarlight.

Q: How does Blossomfall react to Millie’s perceived neglect?

A: Another fairly easy one. Blossomfall puts on a front of not caring. When Millie admonishes her for daring to get lost and hurt, Blossomfall doesn’t lash out at her mother, much less Briarlight. She never fights back, she doesn’t tell her mother that she’s being callous and neglectful, she accepts it silently and then tells Ivypool, verbatim, “Whatever. This is just the way that it is now.” She rolls over and accepts it, as much as it hurts her, and the Dark Forest takes advantage of that unresolved pain. (323, Sign of the Moon)

Even earlier in Sign of the Moon, when Blossomfall has just begun training in the Dark Forest (suggesting she has been ignored by Millie long enough that the Dark Forest has been able to draw her in) she wakes up injured and Hazeltail notices. Blossomfall brushes it off, which I would infer is because she’s adjusted to her pain and injury being ignored but you can read as an isolated incident if you really want to, but Hazeltail insists on bringing Millie’s attention to it. Millie dismisses it and Blossomfall is angry, but silent, which again, I would infer is because that’s what Blossomfall expected from Millie and is hurt to have her expectation confirmed (273, Sign of the Moon). This can’t be read as an isolated incident, because Blossomfall is already training in the Dark Forest, therefore Millie has been ignoring her for a while now.

4: Is Blossomfall a bad person?

In conclusion, no.

Blossomfall is upset when her mother stops caring about her well-being and believes that she deserves to go to the Dark Forest because of her jealousy over her sister (313, Sign of the Moon). I’m not saying that her self-hatred means she’s a good person, but it’s obvious that she wouldn’t choose jealousy if she had the option to not feel this way.

Critically, what I want people to take away from this, is that Blossomfall, like all of us, doesn’t have complete control over how she feels. She cannot choose to wake up and simply not be jealous of her sister and be fine with her mother’s indifference to her well-being. She believes that feeling this way makes her a bad person and would, of course, change if she could. The only thing that is within Blossomfall’s control is how she reacts to her jealousy and hurt. And the way that she reacts is by taking it out on herself, by training in the Dark Forest, and by mentally beating herself up for feelings outside of her control. There is not a single example of her lashing out at Millie, or god forbid her sister Briarlight. She is silent in the face of Millie’s bad treatment of her and supportive and loving of Briarlight. Self-hatred is of course, not a virtue, but our society prefers it to harming others.

That’s why I can say with confidence: Blossomfall is a good person, if prone to occasional self-hatred, pettiness, and thoughtlessness. Those are not flaws that make someone evil, just normal and struggling. She is not perfect and completely loveable, but she is not toxic, or spoiled, or unreasonable. She’s just a person who has been hurt by others’ behaviour and punishes herself for things outside of her control. She loves her family, tries to take care of herself, and doesn’t always perform perfectly.

Thanks for reading. I hope you’re at least thinking a little more about previously formed opinions on Blossomfall and that we all continue to read critically in the future.

End note: So why did I call this a lukewarm defence, anyway? Other than making reference to one of my favourite video essayists, Blossomfall is a complex cat often misunderstood by the fandom, but she’s also a shithead. Post-OOTS, she’s pretty unequivocally a kitty-racist. But she’s also Thornclaw’s wife, so it’s not like that’s the only way her character gets yanked out of its previous characterization for the convenience of the plot. Consider this a defence of Blossomfall in Omen of the Stars by a person who would rather pretend she died just after it and A Vision of Shadows (and later books) has another character in her place. I’m not interested in debating Blossomfall’s behaviour post-OOTS. She’s bad, whatever, but don’t smear the good name of her character development in OOTS.

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bomberqueen17 · 4 years

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i’m not even supposed to be here today

Last night’s Witchering was brief, as the children kept getting out of bed so DF kept playing his glitter-robots shoot-em-up game until pretty late. (Witcher is... much scarier to a tiny person who is not supposed to be downstairs and may be unnoticed at the other end of the long hallway for a moment or two while the adults attempt to determine whether the noises are the pitter-patter of little feet or something needlessly atmospheric on the surround sound.)

After the 5 year old had come down to complain that it was getting dark and she didn’t like that (what she’s felt about nightfall on every other day of 1,800some days of life, we leave up to the imagination of the reader here; we’re not sure why this was a surprise) and had been elaborately shooed back upstairs, DF finally booted up the Witcher 3, and we settled in for... mostly a bunch of mopping-up of the smaller low-level quests around Velen, preparatory to going to Novigrod for More Plot Shit.

Immediately, we found a collection of Bad Dudes. “Oh,” DF said, “that’s adorable. A level 3 cannibal.” He shredded the encampment, picked up exactly two crowns from each corpse (nice of them to have split it so evenly to begin with?), opted not to loot them of their blackjacks, moved on. Bizarrely, the game opted to do a slow-mo cinematic of every single kill? Which were all quite dramatic, as Geralt’s got a bunch of dismemberment bonuses apparently, and so he was just cutting bodies diagonally and sending heads flying and whatnot. But like, we really didn’t need to see slow-mo cinematics of every gory kill. It wasn’t... bad, it was just sort of baffling.

So we carved our way through a bunch of low-level bandits and cannibals and deserters and whatnot.

Sometimes when you’ve cleared out an encampment of Bad Dudes, once they’re all dead you get a touching little cutscene that says something along the lines of “Area Cleared! The Populace Can Return!” but what’s hilarious is that the cutscene is the same three burly men walking slowly toward the buildings every time. The outfits change but the character models don’t. And additionally, it happens immediately, so Geralt is going back and looting the bodies of his kills of their swords and money and chicken legs and such while children are playing around them and women are bustling by and getting offended when he bumps into them and so on. So it’s deeply bizarre, in general, as a scenario.

But you get a shitload of XP most of those times, so that’s great. It’s just bizarre. Additionally, there’s often a merchant right there immediately so you can instantly sell all the junk you’ve just looted from the dead bandits. (”Nine Novigrod Longswords for this fellow, so he can sell them to the next round of bandits...”)

“Haaay guyss,” DF lisped at one point, “we’re going to Bandit Camp.” A few moments later he was like, “Man all this hits different when you’re ten levels above your enemies. Is this what it’s like to play on Story Mode?”

Having run out of raw meat to use as his eat-this-to-regen-health-during-combat, he perused his options of food items he’d picked up or been gifted or looted or whatever. “Hey,” he said, “I have a shitload of beer. It’s got stats, it’ll work, I should try that.” So he equipped beer into his quickdraw slot to use to rehydrate during fights.

This gave me a hilarious mental image of a modern a/u where Geralt’s in a fight and pauses mid-melee to shotgun a beer from a can, crushes the can on his forehead, and then kills a monster with it. “Witchers can’t get drunk, can they?” DF asked. “Uhhhh,” I said, “they absolutely can and it’s plot-significant, at least peripherally.” “Huh,” DF said. “Well, we’ll see how many beers it takes to get Geralt drunk during a fight.”

One. The answer is one. Against a bunch of level 9 deserters (Geralt is currently level 11), DF consumed the beer in the quick-use slot and instantly Geralt’s vision went dark and blurry and his reaction times slowed. “Oh this is great,” DF said. He was at that point attempting to use Igni against a shieldman and the beehive behind him, trying to line it up so he could get both in one shot.

He succeeded.

“I guess I’ll put this dumpling I got from the cannibals into the quick-use slot instead,” DF said. “Uhhh... should we... not eat that?” MM asked. DF shrugged. “I mean, it’s already a dumpling, why waste it?”

As we worked our way southward in Velen, nominally being led by the Defender Of The Faith quest (somebody’s vandalizing shrines and an old lady begged us to fix any we found that were damaged), we started running into things we could Not handle. A corpse with a key and a letter on it led us to an old house where a Level Red Skull Death Grave Hag materialized, so we ran away and eventually Got Into The Sea in a desperate bid to lose the thing. We swam a distance, got out of the sea, and were immediately beset by... something high-level enough that looked like a Drowner but we just ran instead of trying to read the label because it also had the Red Skull Of Way The Fuck Above Your Level on it (mucknixers, apparently), and we ran through that and found an abandoned site that didn’t seem to have any monsters in it but was... just full of freshly-dismembered corpses.

“I Did Not Ask,” said DF, and proceeded to collect all the loot before running the fuck away from an unspecified life sign that appeared off to one side.

Something killed us, and we had to redo the Getting Into The Sea (and Then Out Of It) portion. DF cast Quen for the first time all game, preparing for a fight, and then was like oh. No, this is the abandoned campsite, where Everybody’s Dead, Dave. So he re-looted it, and the Quen expired, unused.

We kept going, heading for a shrine, and found a shitload of Level 23 ghouls. “Hey big ghoul, hey big ghoul, hey big ghoul, heyyy byyyye,” DF singsonged as he ran the fuck away.

The shrines were being vandalized by a trio of drunken Oxenfurt college kid Edgelord Atheists, who we were unable to pacify whilst still stopping your rampage. So the game has you fistfight them.

“If you lose this do you just fail the quest and get super embarrassed?” DF asked. “I mean... I’m the Punching Champion of Velen by now, it’d be super humiliating to go down to a trio of punkass undergrads.”

He beat them, and then looted them, but he didn’t take any of their money. He only took their booze. One of them had a lootable item called Green Mold so we took it; it’s either an undergrad science experiment or it’s just gross but either way he didn’t need that in his pockets and now we have it so later we can be like what the fuck is that?

Then, DF intended to use the nearest fast-travel point to get back to the safer neighborhoods of Velen, and realized on arrival that that was where the Level 23 Ghouls were hanging out. Like, literally touching the post. “Maybe if we run?” he said, and ran in, and it turns out that you cannot use a fast travel marker while in combat. “Well fuck,” he said, and kept running, regenerating health as fast as he could because even being fucking near those critters was bad for one’s constitution.

A creepy house with... mm.. that’s some spectral light, those are probably wraiths, let’s see the level... Red skull of death! Keep running. Run away! Run away! “I’m not even supposed to be here today,” I wailed. (I was gonna put in a gif but it’s goofy. Listen I’m referencing the ancient move Clerks. It’s fine. Ignore me, I’m old.)

We had to cut through a pack of wolves and wargs to escape, but then we had more Raw Meat to equip to replace the long-gone cannibal dumpling. (”Maybe Geralt should be drunk for this part,” DF mused, as we kept running the fuck away.)

Finally we got to a fast-travel marker that wasn’t beset by Death Critters. Went up, visited the pellar again, bought some esoteric herbals, crafted a bunch of new recipes from various loot drops.

“All we need for Enhanced Beast Oil is bisongrass and a cockatrice heart,” DF said. He pondered it. “Is the Shrieker a cockatrice?”

It is. That’s the next quest we gotta do anyway.

So, bed.

#the witcher #witcher 3 #wee precious flower prince geralt #enhanced beast oil

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carlatsukinamistolemyhamsandwich · 6 years

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My Ranking of Shin’s Drama CDs

Oh boy did this get long so I’m putting it under the cut. Updated as of July 2020.

Some quick notes before I start: -I am only including main series full drama CDs so no bonus CDs or mini-dramas (which means I have not included the Operation X CD as that features different versions of the song and a mini-drama). -I am ranking these CDs as someone who is deep in Shinhell, therefore I'm only really focusing on interactions with him in these CDs -Expect mild spoilers -And lastly this is all based on my own preferences so if you have a completely different order for these CDs then that is 110% okay With that out of the way, let’s go (^^)ｂ

11) Lost Eden Vol. 3 Tsukinami

It may come as a surprise that this CD is ranked lower than CL when it features both of the Tsukinami brothers, but I had to put it here as it’s the only CD on this list that I can’t see myself relistening to very much (if at all). Unlike their DF CD, which I would recommend listening to even if you’ve played Shin and Carla’s DF routes, I would not say the same for this CD if you’ve played their LE routes. I don’t feel like we really get any new information or interactions out of it, even if it is always nice to have some scenes with Shin and Carla. I also don’t feel like the writing was terribly strong here as there were a lot of very short scenes, particularly in the beginning, which made it feel a little choppy. Additionally I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a Diabolik Lovers CD with so little bloodsucking, I think Carla and Shin each bite you once and that’s it (which means I can’t even recommend it on fanservice grounds). I would only recommend getting this CD if you’re a die-hard Tsukinami fan and you already own most of the CDs on this list as well as some of Carla’s and you don’t mind the slightly sad tone to the ending (tbh I would actually recommend getting the Operation X CD over this one).

10) Chaos Lineage Vol. 3 Orange

I think if you’re a fan of the Tsukinami brothers as a duo rather than favoring Shin, you’ll probably enjoy the LE CD more than this one, but if you want a good Shin x you/Yui scene then I think this is probably the better pick. Although there’s only one bloodsucking scene with Shin, it’s very hot because he actually likes the taste of your blood. It was also fun to see the relationship dynamics between the characters in this different set up (although this might be a bit redundant if you’ve played CL). That being said, this CD isn’t any higher on this list because none of the other guys in it are that high up on my favorites list and as the boys’ memories have been altered there’s no romance with any of them either because they have no clue who you are. The conclusion feels very unsatisfying as this CD is just a set up for the game, although at least unlike the above it doesn’t have a sad undertone.

9) Versus III Vol. 2 Laito vs Shin

Honestly I’m sad that I had to put this CD so low down but I just like the others more. It’s interesting to see Shin interact with Laito, especially as they really don’t get on that well. There’s also a scene where Laito gets EXTREMELY distressed which really hits you the first time you listen to it, as it’s such a break from the usual facade. However like all of the versus CDs I’ve listened to, there isn’t really a conclusion and there isn’t that much plot to this one either (or least not compared to the other CDs on this list in my opinion). If you’re looking for some hot bloodsucking (or a very anguished Laito) then this is a really good CD but if you’re looking for something with a bit more feeling on Shin’s part then I’d say other CDs on this list are better for that.

8) Versus II Vol. 4 Carla vs Shin

This CD has a special place in my heart because it’s the first CD I ever heard with Shin in it and one of the first DL CDs I ever bought oh how far I have fallen. It’s also the first drama CD the Tsukinami brothers appeared in, and as a result they’re not exactly nice to you. Still, I like that it offers a slightly different version of their first meeting with you/Yui than we get in dark fate and as their opening CD I think it does a good job of introducing them. This is a really good one to get if you’re a Tsukinami bros fan and you like mean founders because there’s no romance here.

7) Versus IV Vol. 1 Ayato vs Kino vs Shin

I was very torn as to whether to put this CD higher or lower as it contains one of my favorite tracks of all time, but that’s just the problem; I only really like one track. The track in question, features a very desperate Shin and it is such a treat to listen to. My problem with this CD is that Ayato and Kino are not terribly high up on my favorites list and so tracks with them, while still enjoyable, are not ones I choose to listen to that often. My other issue is that this CD is set up as though the heroine has chosen Ayato, which is great for Ayato fans but not so much for me (T_T) As much as I like hearing Shin sound desperate, I prefer it when he knows he’s loved.

6) More, More Blood Vol. 4 Tsukinami Shin

Okay I can’t really explain why this CD is where it is without majorly spoiling it but I’ll try my best. First off, I love the first two tracks of this CD, it’s almost pure fanservice and the scenes feel like they’re straight out of one of the scenario chapters from the games. I was super invested for the rest of it and it was interesting to see Shin deal with the plot of the CD, but then there was the twist that takes place towards the end and I just spent the rest of the CD like ( ﾟoﾟ). I do think it’s good from a writing perspective because I really didn’t see it coming (that might just be because I’m an idiot though) but it also made me feel slightly disconnected from the story. To be fair, I felt a lot better after listening to the bonus Another Story track that came with the deluxe edition, but I think if I’d just bought the regular version then I would have found the ending a bit unsatisfying.

I think how much you like this CD will be entirely dependent on how much of a fan of the twist at the end you are (but I can’t say anymore without spoiling it >_<). If you can spare the extra cash I would 100% recommend getting the deluxe edition over the regular one just so that ending feels a bit more rounded out.

5) Dark Fate Vol.1 Chapter of Eclipse

It might seem strange for me to put this CD so high up as only two of the four tracks feature the Tsukinami brothers directly interacting with the listener while the other two are flashbacks to when they were trapped in Banmaden. However it is a really good source of information on the Tsukinamis if you haven’t played Dark Fate (in fact I think it might actually go into more detail on some aspects than the game does). The flashback scenes include Giesbach’s death (although he does not have a speaking role) and how the Tsukinamis discovered that they could break the seal keeping them trapped. On top of all of the information, you do also get a very nice track with Shin which features quite a bit of bloodsucking and menacing behavior. I will say however that I would recommend this to fans of darker content as there is no fluff/romance to be found.

4) Zero Vol. 4 Tsukinami Shin

I enjoyed this CD in a very different way to how I thought I would. Originally I thought I’d like it for the bloodsucking fanservice scenes with portrait!Shin but I actually just enjoyed the tracks with the real Shin. The final fight scene between Shin and portrait!Shin sounds incredible and I like that this CD has a satisfying conclusion (unlike the versus CDs where it just ends on a bit of cliffhanger after bloodsucking with multiple boys). While the concept is refreshing and I like that Shin has to defend you from an actual villain, I guess I just prefer the CDs that focus on your relationship with Shin.

3) Born to Die Vol. 2 Tsukinami Shin

Okay if you’re a fan of soft Shin content and you haven’t got this CD yet, do yourself a favor and get it because it’s 47 minutes of pure Shin fluff. I do think that if you prefer the darker side of DL then you’d enjoy his Zero CD (or his MMB CD) more than this one but for me personally, partly due to the animosity I felt towards Shin’s portrait counterpart, I like this one more. The final two scenes are really romantic (and they actually made me cry) and the conclusion is satisfying. That being said, I also like my fluff to have a side of angst, which is why I can’t rank this CD above remaining two, but if you just want to have a romantic date with Shin then this is the CD for you.

2) Bloody Bouquet Vol.7 Tsukinami Shin

This CD makes me so emotional ;-; It distresses me a bit because Shin sounds like he’s dying for a good part of it but I like that emotional aspect of it. Some of Shin’s dialogue in the penultimate track is pretty romantic (even if you are in a terrible situation) and the final track just makes me melt (ﾉ∀`♥) Morikubo always does an exceptional job as Shin but this CD is the one that sticks out in my mind the most for the voice acting, it is sooo good. The reason this CD is not number 1 is because as much as I enjoy it, listening to Shin suffer is pretty painful (made worse by the brilliant acting).

1) Para-Selene Vol.4 Tsukinami Shin

This is honestly my favorite drama CD of all time. The main reasons for this are that I like the concept a lot and, to me, it perfectly showcases the aspects of Shin’s character. You get some hot bloodsucking in the first track, some tracks where he gets really angry (which is great if you’re a huge masochist like me) and towards the end you get to see his softer side. Overall I feel that it showcases his faults as well as his good points in an interesting way which is exactly what I want out of a drama CD with my favorite character.

So what do you think? Which of these CDs is your favorite? My askbox is always open for discussing Shin related topics

#own post #I suspect the spot of his MMB CD is perhaps the only likely point of controversy #but I really really can't explain anything else without spoilers #I was very torn because I think most other fans will like that CD more than I do #but I mean this is my ranking so...#I definitely stand by his PS CD being first and BB being second #I think if you like the MMB twist then that CD would probably go after BB

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simracer22 · 2 years

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Imagine, your a sim racer, reaching the half way point of a GSRC season, and due to a regretful situation, forced to relocate and lose your sim gear as a result.

Thanks to the generosity of some club members, I have new wheel and pedals on its way to be delivered next week. Have a desk to mount it on to get back out on track while i work out options for a new rig.

While the situation can be soul crushing, the motivation & process to get back and as soon as possible has been an enjoyable one.

After missing all last week's action & copping a drop round in the 3 series I'm taking part in, thoughts turn to next week.

Fair chance of new wheel not arriving by Tuesday evening for the social series. It a round a needed to make sure I was in, one way or another with a DNF & a DNS already in the series. Even IF the wheel is here after WORK Tuesday, I'll be jumping in with zero practise in the Supercar.

Clipped to my sons play table was an old Logitech DF Pro. This bad boy was made long before iRacing was even thought of. Made for ps2 & 3's and sold for $90 brand new at the time I think.

How much slower would I actually be using such ancient equipment? That was made before sim racing on pc was even a thing & the most realistic sim was Gran Turismo 4.

The short answer. About 3 seconds a lap slower. Whilst the wheel gives some force feedback, it doesn't really correlate to what the car is doing or help you have any feel for the car or the tires. You're effectively using a round joystick that has a rumbly motor in it.

But the worse part was the pedals. So soft, with zero resistance, absolutely no feel or throttle control.

With such a simple basic design, I pondered ways to modify it. And this is the masterpiece I came up with. Cheap car sponges, cut up and cable tied to the bottom of the pedal. Gives the pedals that resistance and surprisingly alot more throttle control. Still able to push the brake pedal flat with abit of force, but the accelerator would only go to about 90% throttle with the sponges wedged underneath it. Simple recalibration to make it full throttle still when flat with abit of force.

The stupid part. This gives me just as much throttle control and feel for the brake percentage and lock up point as my g27 pedals with the upgraded springs I had.

Still 2 seconds slower using this gear, just so hard to be on the limit with zero feel for what the car is doing and relying on sight rather than the feel of the wheel. But, it's good to still be turning laps. And do abit of practise in the Supercar around Sandown. Should I get to Tuesday night and not have the new wheel, do I still get out there using this?!?!?! Imagine if I could get a decent result and this is what I was using 😂😂

Stay tuned for how this week turns out 🤭

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mayramoss-blog1 · 6 years

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Mexicans abroad Hector Herrera wins Europeo of the Week after red-hot form at Porto

Herrera, right, was exceptional in both games this week as Porto advanced in the Portuguese Cup and remained top of the league.

More than ever before, some of the top names in Mexican soccer are playing for clubs abroad. With several key figures playing week in and week out in a number of top European leagues, keeping track of all the high-profile stars can at times be daunting.

In order to help keep tabs on those across the Atlantic, we've created a weekly award that will be given to the most outstanding player. Along with a few honorable mentions --- and a "dishonorable mention" prize --- here are the noteworthy performances from Mexican players in Europe last week.

Europeo of the Week: Hector Herrera, MF, Porto (Portugal)

Two matches, two excellent performances from Herrera.

During last Tuesday's Portuguese Cup quarterfinal match against Leixoes, Herrera emerged as a game-changer for Porto. In the 2-1 victory, the Mexican captain provided his side with an early advantage with an impressive goal in the 11th minute. With Herrera taking charge in the midfield, Porto secured a place in the semifinal round of the cup competition.

Three days later, Herrera was once again influential for Porto in the 4-1 away win against Chaves. As a constant distributor of the ball, no player on the field finished with more passes than the 28-year-old, who never appeared to run out of energy. It's no surprise that the tireless worker has consistently been surrounded by recent transfer rumors.

If you believe the whispers from tabloids, Arsenal, Roma, Wolves, Inter Milan and Tottenham have all reportedly shown some interest on the player whose contract with Porto is about to expire this summer. Thanks to his experience and well-rounded abilities as a box-to-box midfielder, it wouldn't be a shock if Herrera makes the leap to a bigger club in the near future. At the very least, he'll have an opportunity to increase his notoriety next month in the UEFA Champions League. With a place in the knockout round for Porto, Herrera now has a chance to grab even more attention.

Honorable mention: Hector Moreno, DF, Real Sociedad (Spain)

Playing three games in one week alone should be enough to include Moreno in this week's list. In just seven days, the central defender helped guide his backline through a win and a draw in two La Liga matches and a draw in the Copa del Rey. However, what helped him truly stand out was the goal for Real Sociedad during Sunday's 2-2 draw against Rayo Vallecano.

Honorable mention: Raul Jimenez, FW, Wolves (England)

After kicking off the week with a difficult 3-0 loss to Manchester City on Monday, both Wolves and Raul Jimenez bounced back with a subsequent 4-3 win over Leicester City last weekend. The striker, who provided the assist for the game-winning goal, did an excellent job of connecting with his attack through his decisive passes.

Honorable mention: Nestor Araujo, DF, Celta Vigo (Spain)

Despite the fact that things are beginning to look more and more bleak for Celta Vigo, who have yet to collect a victory in 2019, Araujo has recently stepped up as an unexpected source of goals. After scoring in last week's 2-1 loss to Valencia, the central defender now has two La Liga goals in January.

Dishonorable mention: Diego Reyes, DF, Fenerbahce (Turkey)

Once considered one of the most promising young defenders in Mexican soccer, the 26-year-old has since failed to live up to his high expectations. Now with Fenerbahce, Reyes has yet to be featured in the starting XI for a league match since early October. In fact, during the recent 1-1 draw with Bursaspor last week, Reyes couldn't even earn a place on the bench. Ouch.

Source link

https://www.manutdnews.online/mexicans-abroad-hector-herrera-wins-europeo-of-the-week-after-red-hot-form-at-porto/

#europeo #form #hector #herrera #mexicans #porto #redhot #week #wins #mainposts

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fyhjjxxn-blog · 8 years

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Top Ten Bias Tag

I was tagged by @idontknowibangtagon, thanks! This was fun lol.

Rules: Go to this site and enter in your top ten biases from any groups and randomize them. The order they are displayed to you becomes their number (this just ensures that the process is random) and you just have to choose between the biases for each scenario!

Biases: (as given to you by randomizer)

Wonho of Monsta X

Suga of BTS

Kyuhyun of Super Junior

Sungmin of Super Junior

Xero of ToppDogg

Chen of EXO

Donghae of Super Junior

Hojoon of ToppDogg

Shownu of Monsta X

Hyungwon of Monsta X

This is a long post. More under the Read More cut.

Scenarios:

Go to a baseball game with 4 or 10. Sungmin or Hyungwon. I think Hyungwon would be more into baseball idk.

Play a game of twister with 1 or 7. Wonho or Donghae. Donghae, because Wonho would find a way to cheat lol.

Eat ramen at 2am with 2 or 8. Suga or Hojoon. Hojoon! Is that even a question lol.

Watch a Disney movie in theaters with 5 or 10. Xero or Hyungwon. Xero would look like he would enjoy it more haha.

Go hiking with 5 or 9. Xero or Shownu. Shownu seems more the outdoorsy type. And if I faint from exhaustion, he could carry me lol.

Swim with the sharks with 4 or 5. Sungmin or Xero. Sungmin knows martial arts, soooo... Not like that would matter in a match against a shark D:

Swim with the dolphins with 7 or 10. Donghae or Hyungwon. Donghae! He seems the most fun and he enjoys the water, so there’s that.

Fall asleep talking a 4am with 3 or 9. Kyuhyun or Shownu. Ugh.... I would say Kyuhyun cuz I liked him longer, but he’s such an evil maknae that he would probably hang up on me or refuse to take my calls. Shownu would probably stay up to talk with me though.

Wake up next to 2 or 7. Suga or Donghae. I don’t even like Suga so what’s the question again? Donghae all the way. Next!

Be stuck in rush hour traffic with 4 or 9. Sungmin or Shownu. They’re both patient, so either one would be okay :)

Build a snowman with 7 or 8. Donghae or Hojoon. Why?! Why would you pit them against each other?! ;____; /after thinking it over for 30 minutes, answers meekly...Hojoonah

Spend a day baking with 5 or 7. Xero or Donghae. Haha I would say Xero. I love Donghae but baking with Xero seems more fun?

Be stranded on a desert island with 2 or 9. Suga or Shownu. Haha didn’t I say I don’t like Suga? Shownu was on that reality show where he was stuck in a jungle or something so he’s my bet to help me get off that island. Just not anytime soon.

Be hit by a car by 1 or 9. Wonho or Shownu. Wonho would be the type to tweet about the accident before helping me, so definitely Shownu. He’d see that I was okay, and even take me to the hospital if need be.

Hit 3 or 4 with a car. Kyuhyun or Sungmin. This is a kind of messed up question knowing what happened to Kyu :( So I guess I would say Sungmin (sorry babe)

Kiss 4 or 8 in the moonlight. Sungmin or Hojoon. HOJOON <3 Like is that even a question? I love Sungmin, but Hojoon!

Dance in the rain with 2 or 4. Suga or Sungmin. Fine, I’ll finally pick Suga for this, because of reasons.

Be kidnapped with 1 or 5. Wonho or Xero. Neither? lol. Xero, probably because he would seem like the type to find us a way to get rescued.

Arm wrestle 1 or 3. Wonho or Kyuhyun. lmao Kyu. Wonho would break my arm.

Go to an art museum with 3 or 5. Kyuhyun or Xero. Xero looks like he would appreciate art more.

Have a picnic with 2 or 3. Suga or Kyuhyun. Kyuhyun, because I’d think it would be amusing af.

Buy a puppy with 1 or 10. Wonho or Hyungwon. Hyungwonho :p Hyungwon would pick a really cute one but let me pick out the name.

Get a forehead kiss from 7 or 9. Donghae or Shownu. Ooh, tough choice. Donghae’s my ultimate bias, but Shownu has nice lips and he’s tall. I’ll go for Shownu this round.

Pick up 2 or 6 from the airport at 5am. Suga or Chen. Chen is worth waking up early for, even though I live like 5 minutes from the airport lol. (finally get a #6 in here)

Go on a roadtrip with 3 or 8. Kyuhyun or Hojoon. Bruh, Hojoon all the way.

Have an all night study session with 6 or 8. Chen or Hojoon. Like I said, Hojoon all the way :p (sorry Chen Chen)

Sing karaoke with 8 or 10. Hojoon or Hyungwon. My answer is Jeon Hojoon of course.

Climb a tree with 6 or 9. Chen or Shownu. Da fuq? I can’t climb a tree to save my life. Shownu would be able to help me more though.

Go to the zoo with 2 or 5. Suga or Xero. Even though I don’t like him, I’d have to say Suga. I think I’d have a good time with him.

Go bowling with 3 or 6. Kyuhyun or Chen. Remember that time on EXO Showtime where they all went bowling? lmao I’d like to bowl against Chen.

Have 1 or 8 do your make-up. Wonho or Hojoon. lol Hojoon looked amazing as a girl so I would say him.

Swim in the rain with 4 or 7. Sungmin or Donghae. Who would go swimming in the rain haha. /thinks back to Super Junior in Hawaii and both of them swimming. Why should I have to pick amongst them :( If I had to, then Donghae.

Share your favorite food with 6 or 10. Chen or Hyungwon. My boy Hyungwon needs to put on weight.

Go ice skating with 1 or 4. Wonho or Sungmin. Wonho, so I can laugh at him when he falls.

Get lost on vacation with 2 or 10. Suga or Hyungwon. They’d both get us lost, wouldn’t they. I’d say Hyungwon because he seems to need more protecting than Suga.

Get locked out of your car in the middle of nowhere with no cellphone signal with 4 or 6. Sungmin or Chen. Sungmin would look for a way out of that spooky situation.

Rob a bank with 5 or 8. Xero or Hojoon. They’d both be terrible bank robbers, but if I had to be locked up for my crimes, I’d rather choose Hojoon.

Have 8 or 9 write a song about you. Hojoon or Shownu. HOJOON flsdfj;adjfsaf;aak

Be embraced by 9 or 10 after you cry. Shownu or Hyungwon. They both look like they would give amazing hugs D: I’m gonna have to go with Hyungwon on this one.

Have 6 or 7 cook for you. Chen or Donghae. Ooh, probably Chen (sorry UB). I’ve seen Chen on ROS, and it looks like he’d take more time in prepping a good meal.

Have 1 or 2 be your sidekick. Wonho or Suga. lmao Wonho would be more fun

Star in a K-drama with 1 or 6. Wonho or Chen. I’d think Jongdae would be taken more seriously as an actor.

Build a dresser from Ikea with no instructions with 3 or 7. Kyuhyun or Donghae. Kyu would probably come up with all kinds of excuses on why it’s not working, and he’ll give up before fully committing. Donghae would at least attempt to work on it.

Be in a zombie apocalypse with 5 or 6. Xero or Chen. I think Xero would be able to handle the situation better. And if he turns into one and bites me, I wouldn’t mind :p

Run a YouTube channel with 3 or 10. Kyuhyun or Hyungwon. al;jd;fja;df; either would be amazing. But Kyuhyun loves to talk more, so he can do more of the talking. And I could record him being scared of a million things lol.

Phew, that was long, but really fun.

Tagging: @cream-and-suga, @pgooned, @spicyramyeonmonbebe, @bryony-raylene, @beebeecee, @not-berrie, @daehyunny, @hojoonahaf, @chuhyeokjin and anyone else who wants to do this (optional)

#idontknowibangtagon #tagged #thanks for tagging me (:#long post #bias post #if you don't mind long posts have at it #text #Sorry sorry random posting ppajyeo ppajyeo beoryeo baby

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bharatiyamedia-blog · 5 years

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MLB Energy Rankings: Week 10

http://tinyurl.com/y6h45mro Welcome to the Rotoworld MLB Energy Rankings, a weekly function that can run each Tuesday by way of the top of the 2019 common season. These rankings will not be fantasy-driven in any means, although I’ll embody nuggets of extra summary fantasy recommendation right here and there inside the person group write-ups. Who’s sizzling, who’s not — that kind of factor. Ship any and all complaints to me on Twitter: @drewsilv. Please imagine me once I inform you that I don’t hate your group. 1. Los Angeles DodgersDocument: 42-19Final Week: 2 Walker Buehler led the way in which in Monday evening’s 3-1 victory over the Diamondbacks, placing out 11 batters whereas yielding solely two hits over eight innings of one-run ball as Los Angeles gained its sixth straight sport. This group hasn’t suffered consecutive losses since dropping two straight towards the Cubs again between April 23-24. Every part is clicking. The mixed rotation ERA: 2.88. The mixed group OPS: .818. Cody Bellinger is at 4.7 fWAR by way of 58 video games, a near-historic tempo. He at present leads all certified main league hitters in batting common (.376), slugging share (.733), OPS (1.195), OPS+ (211), and whole bases (154). Is it too early to crown him the 2019 Nationwide League MVP? OK, sure, in all probability. 2. Minnesota TwinsDocument: 40-18Final Week: 1 Minnesota misplaced 14-Three in Thursday’s collection opener towards the Rays however went on to win the ultimate three video games of that four-game weekend set at Tropicana Discipline. Because it stands right here on Tuesday afternoon, the Twins are the one group within the AL Central with a successful file, they usually’re up 11 1/2 video games on first place within the division, with the chance to additional bury the second-place Indians in a three-game collection this week at Cleveland’s Progressive Discipline. Nelson Cruz was activated off the injured listing Monday after lacking the second half of Could with a strained left wrist. The veteran slugger had an .862 OPS with seven house runs and 22 RBI by way of 35 video games when he landed on the IL on Could 14. 3. Houston AstrosDocument: 41-20Final Week: 3 Houston earned a three-game sweep of the Athletics over the weekend earlier than outlasting the Mariners by a rating of 4-2 on Monday evening in Seattle because the bullpen delivered six scoreless innings behind a shaky Corbin Martin begin. Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Wade Miley, and Brad Peacock get a lot of the love when individuals speak in regards to the Astros’ pitching employees, however how in regards to the aid corps? It is the one bullpen group within the majors with a mixed ERA beneath 3.00. Ryan Pressly has been particularly dominant with a 0.64 ERA and 32/2 Okay/BB ratio in 28 1/Three innings this season. Since becoming a member of the Astros final summer time, Pressly has a 0.70 ERA and 64/5 Okay/BB ratio in 51 2/Three frames. Editor’s Observe: Keep forward of the competitors from wire to wire with rankings, customizable projections, commerce evaluator, unique columns and extra in our Season Pass. And begin utilizing optimized lineups on Yahoo!, DraftKings and FanDuel with our DFS Toolkit!. 4. New York YankeesDocument: 38-20Final Week: 4The Yankees took two of three from the arch-rival Red Sox over the weekend and now have 20 wins over their final 27 video games, regardless of Giancarlo Stanton (shoulder, calf), Aaron Judge (indirect), Luis Severino (lat), Didi Gregorius (elbow), and Dellin Betances (shoulder) all sitting on the injured listing. James Paxton returned to motion final Wednesday after lacking 4 weeks with left knee irritation and threw 4 hitless, scoreless innings towards the Padres on 66 pitches. He’ll begin Wednesday in Toronto and may be capable to push nearer to 90 pitches. Acquired from the Mariners over the winter, Paxton boasts a 2.81 ERA and 59/15 Okay/BB ratio in 41 2/Three innings with New York. 5. Tampa Bay RaysDocument: 35-22Final Week: 5 Tampa Bay had its five-game successful streak snapped by the Twins on Friday and in the end misplaced the ultimate three video games of that four-game collection at Tropicana Discipline. However the Rays enter play Tuesday with the fourth-best run differential (+78) within the main leagues, due largely to a pitching employees that at present ranks first total in mixed ERA with a 3.10 mark. Tyler Glasnow is on the 60-day injured listing with a proper forearm pressure, however he lately resumed throwing and needs to be again across the center of July. Yonny Chirinos has helped decide up among the slack with a 2.78 ERA in 35 2/Three innings as a starter. He has a 3.91 ERA in 25 1/Three innings this yr as a reliever. 6. Milwaukee Brewers Document: 34-26Final Week: 8 Milwaukee slid again into first place within the Nationwide League Central standings over the weekend whereas taking three of 4 from the Pirates. Prime second base prospect Keston Hiura was optioned to Triple-A San Antonio on Monday in a considerably stunning transfer — the 22-year-old had batted .281/.333/.531 with 5 house runs by way of his first 17 main league video games — however the Brewers have Travis Shaw getting back from a strained proper wrist and did not need to quit on him regardless of a tough first seven weeks. Jimmy Nelson will likely be referred to as as much as pitch Wednesday towards the Marlins after lacking all of 2018 and the early a part of 2019 whereas recovering from a serious shoulder damage. 7. Philadelphia PhilliesDocument: 33-27Final Week: 6 Philadelphia suffered its fifth consecutive loss Monday evening at San Diego’s Petco Park, in a battle between the 2 highest-compensated gamers of the 2018-2019 offseason: Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. Harper has the higher total numbers this yr, however he went 0-for-Four with a strikeout on Monday whereas Machado blasted a sixth-inning grand slam as a part of an 8-2 blowout victory for the Padres. Aaron Nola suffered his first official lack of the yr in that one after permitting six earned runs on eight hits and three walks over 5 1/Three innings. Philly’s injury-riddled bullpen might use some upgrading forward of the July 31 commerce deadline, however there are bloated ERAs within the rotation as nicely. 8. Chicago CubsDocument: 32-26Final Week: 7 Jon Lester bounced again from three dreadful outings to ship seven innings of one-run ball in an 8-1 defeat of the Angels on Monday, however the Cubs are recent off a three-game weekend sweep by the hands of the arch-rival Cardinals they usually’ve misplaced 12 of their final 19 video games courting again to Could 15. This sudden downturn has allowed the Brewers to leap again into first place within the Nationwide League Central standings, and St. Louis is hanging round too. For some time there, earlier than Lester’s sharp outing on Monday, it was Kyle Hendricks holding collectively the Cubs’ rotation all on his personal. The best-hander went 5-1 with a 1.81 ERA and 37/5 Okay/BB ratio over 44 2/Three innings (six begins) in Could. 9. Atlanta BravesDocument: 32-27Final Week: 9 The Braves took two of three from the Tigers over the weekend, and their subsequent 10 video games are towards groups with dropping data: seven versus the Pirates, three versus the Marlins. After that may be a huge three-game set towards the Phillies, who at present maintain only a half-game lead over Atlanta for first place within the NL East standings. It is solely early June, however this appears like an important stretch for the Braves, who’ve had a really up-and-down 2019 season to this point. Now that the MLB Draft is underway and Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel are now not tied to draft-pick compensation, there needs to be heavy curiosity in each. Braves starters have pitched to a 4.16 ERA, and the group’s relievers maintain a mixed 4.41 ERA. 10. Colorado RockiesDocument: 31-27Final Week: 18 The Rockies have gained a season-high eight straight video games — all at house in Coors Discipline — and can now attempt to carry that momentum right into a pair of three-game street collection towards the Cubs and Mets. Nolan Arenado received off to a comparatively disappointing begin this yr, possibly on account of added inner strain after signing an eight-year, $260 million contract extension in late February, however he has posted an absurd .421/.472/.781 batting line with 10 house runs and 31 RBI in 28 video games for the reason that starting of Could. David Dahl has picked it up, too, with doubles in three straight video games and a .331/.383/.528 slash line for the season. Colorado’s offense is starting to blow up in predictable style. 11. Boston Crimson SoxDocument: 30-29Final Week: 10 Boston has cooled off considerably after occurring a tear between late April and the center a part of Could, however David Price earned a win at Yankee Stadium on Sunday for the primary time since becoming a member of the Crimson Sox, and the defending World Collection champions are actually again above the .500 mark with a comparatively favorable schedule main into the All-Star break. Value scattered two runs over 6 1/Three innings Sunday within the Bronx whereas retaining his season ERA at 2.83. Rafael Devers was simply named the American League Participant of the Month after batting .351 with a 1.021 OPS, eight house runs, and 24 RBI in 26 video games between Could 1 and Could 31. The file is not fairly, however the Crimson Sox are harmful. 12. San Diego PadresDocument: 31-29Final Week: 12Manny Machado broke out of his droop with a sixth-inning grand slam in Monday evening’s 8-2 win over the Phillies. Machado nonetheless has a comparatively weak .763 OPS for the season — which might be a five-year low — and the Padres as a bunch at present rank 24th amongst all 30 main league groups in runs scored. However there’s assistance on the way in which within the type of rehabbing shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr., who batted .300/.360/.550 with six house runs and 6 stolen bases over his first 27 main league video games earlier than touchdown on the injured listing on the finish of April with a big left hamstring pressure. He started a minor league rehab project Monday at Double-A Amarillo and went 1-for-Three with a double, a stolen base, and two walks. 13. St. Louis CardinalsDocument: 30-28Final Week: 13No group was happier to see the calendar flip to June than the Cardinals. They went 9-18 in Could, after tallying a franchise-record-typing 18 wins in April. However an enormous three-game weekend sweep of the Cubs has St. Louis proper again within the thick of issues in each the Nationwide League Central and Nationwide League Wild Card standings. Adam Wainwright labored round a career-high seven walks to ship eight scoreless innings in Sunday’s finale versus Chicago. Kolten Wong lit it up all the weekend, rising from a dreadful month of Could to go 6-for-10 with two doubles, two RBI, and two runs scored throughout the three-game set. He additionally made a pair stellar defensive performs at second base. 14. Texas RangersDocument: 30-27Final Week: 19 The Rangers have gained 5 of their final six video games and are 13-5 since Could 15, however they’re going to should survive the subsequent couple of weeks with out breakout star Joey Gallo, who landed on the injured listing Sunday after struggling a strained left indirect throughout a plate appearances on Saturday. Gallo was already a longtime slugger — he hit 41 house runs in 2017 and 40 house runs in 2018 — however he is actually put all of it collectively this season with a .276/.421/.653 total slash line. Gallo is an enormous purpose the Rangers are second amongst all main league groups in runs per sport (5.67). Danny Santana, a profession .259/.297/.385 hitter on the huge league degree, might be going to should take common at-bats. 15. Oakland AthleticsDocument: 29-30Final Week: 11 The Athletics rattled off 10 consecutive victories between Could 16-27, however they’ve since misplaced 5 straight and are again beneath the .500 mark for the season. The bats have gone somewhat quiet, however Khris Davis was activated off the injured listing over the weekend and might clearly assist that trigger. He was out for 10 days with a contusion alongside his left hip and indirect — an damage that lingered for weeks earlier than the A’s lastly determined to close him down for an prolonged interval. Davis averaged 44 house runs per season between the 2016-2018 seasons, and he is on tempo for 33 this yr regardless of being hobbled for principally all of Could. There are additionally reinforcements on the way in which for the beginning rotation. 16. Cleveland IndiansDocument: 29-30Final Week: 16Cleveland misplaced three of 4 to the White Sox over the weekend to fall one sport beneath .500 and 11 1/2 video games again of the Twins for first place within the American League Central standings. It is going to take an incredible surge for the Indians to seize their fourth straight division crown, and having to tug that off with out Corey Kluber (arm) makes it a good taller activity. The excellent news is Mike Clevinger (again) has begun to make important progress and could also be cleared to go out on a minor league rehab project this week. Jose Ramirez confirmed some life towards the top of Could, however he’s 0-for-7 thus far in June and batting simply .206/.308/.313 with 4 house runs over 58 whole video games this yr. 17. Arizona DiamondbacksDocument: 30-31Final Week: 14 The Diamondbacks took two of three from the Mets over the weekend, however a five-game dropping streak preceded that they usually managed simply three whole hits in a 3-1 loss to the Dodgers on Monday. Generally, the D-backs have fared higher than anybody anticipated them to, however the lack of Luke Weaver will damage going ahead — he was identified final week with a gentle proper flexor pronator pressure and a gentle proper UCL sprain — and it appears possible that veteran ace Zack Greinke will likely be shopped forward of the July 31 commerce deadline. The 35-year-old is owed round $95 million on a contract that runs by way of 2021, but when Arizona is prepared to eat some money, there might be a pleasant haul of prospects on the market on the market. 18. Pittsburgh PiratesDocument: 28-30Final Week: 15 The Pirates dropped three of 4 to the Brewers over the weekend and are actually 4-10 courting again to Could 19, after they had been simply three video games out of first place within the Nationwide League Central standings. Nevertheless it might all be a lot worse, because the Bucs have a -68 run differential and a 23-35 pythagorean file. In different phrases, they’re fortunate to be simply two video games beneath .500. Josh Bell continues to shine — he is as much as 18 house runs and 53 RBI with a .332/.395/.681 total slash line — however he cannot carry the offense all on his personal. Pittsburgh’s hitters have mixed to slash .255/.314/.400 as a bunch, even with Bell’s numbers included. That mixed OPS of .714 ranks 22nd amongst all 30 groups. 19. Los Angeles Angels Document: 29-31Final Week: 21 The Angels have gained seven of their final 10 video games to climb close to the .500 mark and presumably into competition for an American League Wild Card spot. They’ve began to embrace the opener in Anaheim, which is wise technique for a group that lacks dependable beginning pitching. As an entire, the Angels’ rotation has produced a 5.51 ERA, — fourth-worst amongst all 30 main league groups. Andrew Heaney has offered a lift since lacking the primary eight weeks of the 2019 common season due to a left elbow subject. He struck out 10 batters over six innings Saturday towards the Mariners and owns a 4.09 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, and 18/1 Okay/BB ratio in two begins protecting 11 whole frames. 20. Chicago White SoxDocument: 29-30Final Week: 22 The White Sox have gained six of their final seven video games and might attain the .500 mark for the primary time since April 5 with a win over the Nationals in Tuesday evening’s collection opener in Washington. Lucas Giolito continues to appear like an rising ace with an 8-1 file, 2.54 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and 78 strikeouts by way of 67 1/Three innings (11 begins) this season. He struck out 9 batters and issued zero walks over 7 1/Three innings in his final flip by way of the rotation Sunday towards the Indians — a sport which the White Sox gained 2-0. Jose Abreu is tops amongst all American League hitters in RBI (50), regardless of a comparatively underwhelming .797 OPS. Is he nonetheless a commerce chip, or would possibly the Pale Hose be consumers in July? 21. New York MetsDocument: 28-31Final Week: 17 The Mets struggled on the street towards a few Nationwide League West opponents final week, dropping three of 4 at Dodger Stadium after which two of three towards the Diamondbacks at Chase Discipline. New York’s pitching employees at present ranks 19th within the majors in mixed ERA with a tough 4.60 mark, and the offense is 18th in each group OPS (.738) and runs scored. That is clearly not a recipe for fulfillment. Robinson Cano (quad) is predicted to be activated off the injured listing Tuesday, nevertheless it’s truthful to surprise how a lot of a lift he can present. The 36-year-old offseason commerce acquisition has batted simply .248/.287/.371 with three house runs and 13 RBI in 45 video games this season. 22. Cincinnati RedsDocument: 27-32Final Week: 20 The Reds sit in final place within the Nationwide League Central standings, however they’ve a greater run differential (+36) than the first-place Brewers (+18), the third-place Cardinals (+19), and the fourth-place Pirates (-68). Once they win, it is usually in blowout style. Once they lose, it is normally in nearer video games. For instance, the Reds beat the Nationals on Friday evening by a rating of 9-3, courtesy of a five-run outburst within the backside of the primary inning, however then went on to lose 5-2 on Saturday and 4-1 on Sunday. If they can not proper the ship and play to their true expertise over the subsequent five-to-six weeks, the Reds will in all probability be among the many most energetic sellers main into the July 31 commerce deadline. 23. Washington NationalsDocument: 26-33Final Week: 25 The Nationals swept a two-game set in Atlanta final week after which took two of three towards the Reds this previous weekend at Nice American Ball Park. Washington has gained 4 of its final 5 video games and 7 of its final 9. Do not name it a comeback? Max Scherzer was terrific in Sunday’s collection finale in Cincinnati, racking up a season-high 15 strikeouts whereas yielding simply three hits and one stroll over eight innings of one-run ball. And the Nats’ offense lastly gave him a little bit of run assist as his file improved to 3-5. Total, the Nationals are 3-10 this season in video games began by Scherzer, even if he leads all main league starters in strikeouts (117) and FIP (2.12). 24. San Francisco GiantsDocument: 24-34Final Week: 26 San Francisco snapped a seven-game dropping streak final Thursday in Miami, behind a pointy outing by starter Tyler Beede, after which took two of three from the Marlins over the weekend. However because it stands right here on Tuesday afternoon, the Giants are in final place within the Nationwide League West standings — 16 1/2 video games again of the first-place Dodgers — with a run differential (-76) that ranks third-worst amongst all main league groups, behind solely the Tigers (-96) and Orioles (-121). It is crucial that first-year president Farhan Zaidi will get a good haul of expertise for Madison Bumgarner (4.01 ERA, 1.189 WHIP, and 74/14 Okay/BB ratio in 74 innings) earlier than the July 31 commerce deadline. 25. Seattle MarinersDocument: 25-38Final Week: 23 Seattle had one of the best file in baseball on April 11 at 13-2, however this group has gone 12-36 since and hyperactive common supervisor Jerry Dipoto has already launched into promote mode. Anthony Swarzak was shipped to the Braves in late Could and Jay Bruce was moved to the Phillies on Sunday, with the Mariners protecting about 85 p.c of the remaining $21.6 million on a three-year, $39 million deal he initially signed with the Mets in January 2018. It seems like Edwin Encarnacion is perhaps the subsequent to go. He is owed round $20 million within the last yr of a three-year, $60 million contract he signed with the Indians again in 2017, however there needs to be heavy curiosity given his energy output. 26. Toronto Blue Jays Document: 21-38Final Week: 24 The Blue Jays have misplaced six straight video games and 10 of their final 11. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has turned it on with a .942 OPS and 6 house runs over his final 18 video games, however many of Toronto’s different bats have fallen right into a deep droop. When it comes to mixed group OPS, the Jays rank second-to-last for the season with a mark of .661, forward of solely the Marlins at .634. Randal Grichuk, signed to a five-year, $52 million contract extension again in early April, is batting .222 with a .282 on-base share by way of 241 plate appearances. Cavan Biggio, referred to as up on Could 24 after a powerful seven-week exhibiting at Triple-A Buffalo, is 5-for-23 (.217) by way of his first eight main league video games. 27. Detroit TigersDocument: 22-34Final Week: 27Detroit had the fifth total decide within the 2019 MLB Draft, which started on Monday evening, and went with outfielder Riley Greene from Hagerty Excessive College in Oviedo, Florida. Greene has been on the Tigers’ radar since he was 15 years old and was thought of one of the best prep hitter on this class, although there are some questions on his protection. The Tigers’ prime decide final yr, No. 1 total choice Casey Mize, has registered a dominant 0.89 ERA, 0.64 WHIP, and 65/10 Okay/BB ratio in 70 2/Three innings (11 begins) this season between Excessive-A Lakeland and Double-A Erie. Tanking isn’t any enjoyable within the current, nevertheless it’s the way in which fashionable baseball groups rebuild, and the Tigers appear to be getting some issues proper. 28. Miami MarlinsDocument: 21-36Final Week: 29 Drafting fourth total on Monday, the Marlins picked outfielder J.J. Bleday from Vanderbilt College. Bleday led all NCAA Division 1 gamers with 26 house runs throughout the 2019 common season and in addition produced a .353/.467/.739 batting line and 68 RBI throughout 62 video games. Thought-about one of the best pure energy bat on this class, he is a pure match for a Marlins group that at present ranks final within the majors in house runs (43) and slugging share (.341). After all, it is going to in all probability be not less than a few years earlier than we see Bleday in Miami. Derek Jeter and Co. additionally had two different picks on Day 1 and went with outfielder Kameron Misner from the College of Missouri and high-school shortstop Nasim Nunez. 29. Kansas Metropolis RoyalsDocument: 19-40Final Week: 28 If you have not caught on, we’re specializing in the long run this week with most of those bottom-of-the-barrel golf equipment. As a result of there aren’t many good issues to say in regards to the present on-field product. Kansas Metropolis had the second total decide within the 2019 MLB Draft and chosen high-school shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., a five-tool expertise who may need been in consideration for the No. 1 total decide had Adley Rutschman not torn it up this yr at Oregon State. Witt Jr., the son of 16-year main league veteran Bobby Witt Sr., gained the Excessive College Dwelling Run Derby at Nationals Park final summer time and in addition almost hit a ball out of Wrigley Discipline within the 2018 Underneath Armour All-American Recreation. The 18-year-old might be a fast-riser. 30. Baltimore OriolesDocument: 18-41Final Week: 30With the No. 1 total decide within the 2019 MLB Draft, the Orioles chosen catcher Adley Rutschman out of Oregon State College. There was some speak of the O’s presumably going with a participant who would not require the sort of signing bonus that Rutschman figures to command, as additionally they carry the 42nd, 71st, and 79th total picks, however Rutschman was simply too good to cross up. Labeled as “one of the best MLB Draft prospect since Bryce Harper” by Baseball America, the 21-year-old Rutschman is an incredible defender behind the plate and batted .418/.580/.764 with 17 house runs and 58 RBI over 56 video games this season for OSU. One thing to sit up for in Baltimore. Source link

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Dose: The LeBron & Lonzo Show

Saturday’s seven-game slate provided plenty of highlights, including LeBron James and Lonzo Ball becoming the first pair of teammates to record triple-doubles in more than a decade, James Harden posted one of his own, and Russell Westbrook just missed joining the trip-dub festivities.

After recapping the important storylines from Saturday, we’ll wrap up the Dose by taking a quick look at a handful of players that are facing injury issues for Sunday’s games.

However, before we detail the standout individual performances from Saturday evening, let’s first discuss the fallout from the trade between the Suns and Wizards.

After the proposed three-team deal involving the Grizzlies fell apart Friday night due to a baffling misunderstanding over which Brooks (Dillon or MarShon) was included in the trade, Phoenix and Washington consummated the deal themselves on Saturday morning. Trevor Ariza is headed to the Wizards in exchange for Kelly Oubre and Austin Rivers.

Ariza was averaging just under ten points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.9 treys in 34.0 minutes for Phoenix. I’d expect him to post similar numbers in Washington. In fact, he’ll probably get a slight bump in fantasy value playing alongside John Wall, Brad Beal and Otto Porter. Ariza was shooting just 37.9 percent from the floor over 26 games with the Suns, but that should rise in D.C. He posted some of the most efficient shooting stats of his career when he played for the Wiz back in 2012 through 2014, when he camped out in the corner and knocked down 3-pointers off kick-out passes from Wall. Ariza shot a career-high 40.7 percent from 3-point range in 2013-14. In addition, he's now playing for a team committed to making a run at the postseason and will play him as many minutes as he can handle. He won’t get any of those random DNP-rest days in D.C. Ariza has a chance to post top-75 overall numbers in nine-category leagues over the rest of the way.

Oubre is going to be a restricted free agent in July, so the Suns will undoubtedly want to see what he can bring to the table by putting him in a position to succeed. However, he is joining a Phoenix squad that has an overabundance of small forwards. Oubre will have to compete for playing time with Mikal Bridges, Josh Jackson, and T.J. Warren. Still, he was able to post close to top-125 overall numbers while logging 26 minutes a night in Washington and should be in that same neighborhood with the Suns.

Austin Rivers had no fantasy value coming off the bench for the Wizards. However, the Suns are in desperate need of players capable of running the point. While certainly not a true point guard, Rivers will likely be asked to facilitate the offense on occasion for Phoenix. Last season, Rivers logged over 33 minutes a night for the Clippers and finished the year ranked 140th overall in nine-category leagues. The poor field goal and free throws percentages will hurt, but if you can swallow those negatives, he's probably worth taking a flier on in deeper leagues, as there's a decent chance he returns late-round value. Unfortanuley, this trade (and the return of a healthy Devin Booker) means that Suns rookie De'Anthony Melton will likely see his minutes reduced dramatically.

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Saturday’s Standouts: LeBron James recorded his second triple-double of the season on Saturday, racking up 24 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists and three turnovers. However, he wasn’t the only Laker to tally a trip-dub. Lonzo Ball racked up 16 points, ten rebounds, ten assists to go along with five steals, two treys and two turnovers in 35 minutes. This is the type of performance from Ball that Lakers fans and fantasy owners have been pining for. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Lonzo and LeBron are the eighth pair of teammates with a triple-double in the same game in NBA history. They are the first since Jason Kidd and Vince Carter did it for the Nets in 2007, and the just second pair of Lakers, joining Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1982.

Nikola Vucevic, whether in the U.S. or south of the border, has been solid all season long. Vooch scored 15 points, grabbed a season-high 19 rebounds and added five assists, one triple, two blocks and two turnovers in the Magic’s victory over the Jazz in Mexico City on Saturday. It was Vucevic’s third game with at least 15 points, 15 boards and five dimes in 2018-19. The only two players with more 15/15/5 games this season are Giannis Antetokounmpo (9) and Anthony Davis (6).

Blake Griffin stuffed the stat sheet once again on Saturday, tallying 27 points (8-of-16 FGs, 10-of-13 FTs) eight rebounds, six assists, one steal, and one 3-pointer in 36 minutes. Griffin has scored at least 26 points in each of his last five games. During this current five-game stretch, he’s averaging 29.8 points (on 51.4% shooting), 8.8 boards, 5.3 dimes and 2.0 treys.

Andre Drummond also played a crucial role in the Pistons’ victory over the Lakers, snapping Detroit's six-game losings kid, while posting a monster double-double: 19 points, 20 rebounds, one assist, three steals, and five blocks. It was the second consecutive contest with five rejections for ‘Dre. The last Pistons player with five-plus blocks in back-to-back games was… Andre Drummond in 2014.

James Harden, fresh off a 50-point triple-double, had “only” 32 points (9-of-14 FG, 11-of-13 FT), 12 rebounds and ten assists on Saturday night. The Beard was remarkably efficient in this one, shooting 9-of-14 from the floor and 11-of-13 from the charity stripe. So, that’s a total of 82 points, 22 rebounds and 21 assists in 76 minutes over Houston’s last two games. That seems pretty good.

Russell Westbrook was just one 1-of-13 on 2-pointers but knocked down three of his four 3-point attempts and just barely missed yet another triple-double in Saturday’s win. Russ registered 13 points, nine boards, 16 assists and, as a sweet cherry on top, six steals… Not to be outdone, Paul George posted some impressive numbers as well: 33 points (11-19 FGs), seven boards, six assists, one steal, one blocks and five treys.

Devin Booker (hamstring), who had been sidelined since December 2nd, returned to the lineup on Saturday and looked terrific. He poured in 28 points (on 10-of-16 shooting) and tacked on three 3-pointers, seven rebounds, seven assists and two turnovers. Best of all, Book logged 36 minutes and didn’t appear to suffer any setback with his hamstring issue. The Suns play four games next week, so make sure he’s in all starting lineups.

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On The Radar: Kemba Walker has come crashing back down to earth this month and landed with a thud on Saturday. He scored just four points on 2-of-13 shooting in a blowout loss to the Lakers, adding one rebound, three assists and three turnovers in 25 minutes. Over the Hornets first 16 games, Kemba averaged 29.6 points (second in the NBA) and 4.1 treys, while shooting 46.5 percent from the floor and 38.9 from downtown. In the 13 games since, he’s averaging 19.2 points and 2.1 triples, while shooting 35.1% from the floor and 27.% from 3-point range… Malik Monk scored 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting Saturday, to go with two 3-pointers, five rebounds, one assist, but much of that came in garbage time.

Evan Fournier scored a team-high 24 points (on 7-of-15 shooting) on Saturday and tacked on two 3-pointers, seven rebounds, one steal and one turnover in 33 minutes. Fournier has struggled with his shot all season, so hopefully, he can use this encouraging performance to build some momentum… Aaron Gordon was disappointingly quiet, finishing with just eight points, two 3-pointers, two rebounds, three assists and one steal in 28 minutes… Jonathan Isaac was held scoreless, missing all three of his shots but was able to record seven boards, one assist, one steal and three blocks across 34 scoreless minutes.

Derrick Favors started and scored 21 points (on 8-of-16 shooting) with eight rebounds, two assists and three turnovers in a loss to the Magic... Donovan Mitchell also scored 21 points, but it was mostly empty calories. He shot just 8-of-21 from the field and had one rebound, one assist and one steal… Ricky Rubio also struggled with his shot, missing 11 of his 14 FG attempts. He finished with 15 points, four rebounds, four assists, two steals and two turnovers… Rudy Gobert registered six points, 13 rebounds, two assists, two steals, two blocks and one turnover across 33 minutes.

Kyle Kuzma entered Saturday on fire but cooled off a little bit in the Lakers blowout victory over the Hornets. He tallied 14 points, two 3-pointers, three rebounds, three assists, one block and four turnovers in 28 minutes… JaVale McGee (illness) was questionable but ended up playing and played well, finishing with 19 points (on 9-of-10 shooting), six boards and three swats in just 18 minutes… Josh Hart had only five points on 2-of-8 shooting with three rebounds, one assist, one steal and two turnovers across his 26 minutes.

Reggie Bullock (left ankle sprain) returned from a five-game absence on Saturday and didn’t look the least bit rusty. He scored 15 points (5-of-11 FGs, 1-of-2 FTs) with three rebounds, one assist, and four 3-pointers in 30 minutes… Reggie Jackson had 12 points, two rebounds, four assists, one block, and three turnovers in 24 minutes.

Kyrie Irving struggled with his shot (11-of-25 FGs) but did more than enough to keep fantasy owners happy. He finished with 26 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals, and two 3-pointers in 33 minutes… Gordon Hayward (6/2/2) had a dud and was just 3-of-11 from the field… Marcus Smart stellar: 21 points, eight boards, three dimes, five triples, and three steals.

Clint Capela banged out another double-double with 26 efficient points (10-of-14 FG, 6-of-7 FT), ten rebounds and two blocked shots in 35 minutes on Saturday… Chris Paul was erratic from the field (3-10 FGs) and finished with ten points, ten assists, two steals, one rebound and two 3-pointers in 34 minutes… Gerald Green scored 17 points (5-of-6 FG, 3-of-3 FT) with one rebound and four 3-pointers in 22 minutes off the bench.

Mike Conley topped the 20-point plateau again on Saturday. He poured in 22 points (8-of-17 FG, 5-of-5 FT) to go along with six assists, two rebounds and one three-pointer in 37 minutes. He was dealing with a hamstring issue and a finger injury earlier the week but looks perfectly healthy at the moment. This is just the second time in his career he’s had more than 20 points and more than five assists in three consecutive contests… Marc Gasol stuffed the stat sheet: 17 points (7-of-12 FG, 2-of-2 FT), nine rebounds, four assists, three steals and one three-pointer in 32 minutes… Jaren Jackson Jr. logged 31 minutes and finished with nine points, seven boards, three assists, one steal and three blocks.

Kris Dunn helped carry the Bulls to a shocking comeback victory over the Spurs in San Antonio on Saturday. Chicago was down 21 at one point but came all the way back. Dunn was huge down the stretch, scoring the Bulls final two buckets to secure the victory. He finished with 24 points (11-of-19 FGs, 2-of-2 FTs) seven rebounds, three assists, and two steals in 36 minutes. His minutes restriction is a thing of the past, and his buy-low window has probably already slammed shut, but I’d throw an offer out there… Lauri Markkanen scored 23 points (9-of-18 FGs, 2-of-2 FTs) with seven rebounds, one assist, two steals, two blocks, and three 3-pointers in 37 minutes. With Zach LaVine (ankle) sidelined (see below), Dunn and Markkanen will be the focal points of the offense… Wendell Carter Jr. (8/2/0) fouled out in 21 minutes… Jabari Parker was a DNP-CD. He is out of the rotation and can be sent to the waiver wire.

LaMarcus Aldridge scored a game-high 29 points (on 10-of-16 shooting) and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds… Rudy Gay had 12/6/4 in 26 minutes… DeMar DeRozan scored 21 points but needed 23 shots to do so (8-of-23 from the field). He also added five boards and three dimes… Spurs starters Derrick White and Bryn Forbes were a combined 0-of-7 from the floor.

Danilo Gallinari was excellent on Saturday, finishing with 28 points (on 10-of-16 shooting), seven boards, two assists, and four treys. The only blemish on his nightly resume was committing seven turnovers… Tobias Harris had 22 points (9-of-14 FGs), nine rebounds, one assist and three triples… It was good to see Montrezl Harrell snap out of a mini-slump. ‘Trez tallied 21 points (8-14 FGs), six rebounds and three dimes in 26 minutes off the pine.

Deandre Ayton (18 points, 12 boards) recorded another strong double-double during Saturday's win over the Timberwolves. He also added two assists and one block across 26 minutes… Mikal Bridges needed 12 shots to scored 12 points (4-of-12 shooting) but did tack on five rebounds, two 3-pointers, five rebounds, two assists, two steals, three blocks and one turnover in 40 minutes. However, with Kelly Oubre on the way to town, Bridges will have increased competition for minutes… T.J. Warren did his thing: 21 points on 8-of-18 shooting, three 3-pointers, five rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block.

Karl-Anthony Towns came up big with 28 points, 12 rebounds, one 3-pointer, four assists, two steals and two blocks in 38 minutes… Dario Saric started in place of Taj Gibson (personal) and delivered 15 points, 11 rebounds, two 3-pointers, two assists, one steal and one turnover in 35 minutes… Robert Covington (knee) was able to suit up, but he did struggle, shooting 1-of-8 from the field four points, three rebounds, one assist, two steals, one block in 26 minutes.

Injury Tracker: Zach LaVine (ankle) did not play Saturday vs. the Spurs, as he returned to Chicago to have his left ankle injury further examined. Lavine initially injured the ankle late in Thursday's game vs. the Magic. He downplayed the severity of the damage on Thursday night, and ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Friday that the injury was "not serious." However, KC Johnson of the Chicago Tribune wrote that "LaVine may need to rest the injury for a couple of weeks." Yet, it is believed that surgery won’t be required. LaVine will miss at least one more game, Monday’s matchup vs. OKC, and may not be able to play in their upcoming two-game homestand either.

Al Horford (sore left knee) did not play Saturday vs. Detroit. It was Big Al’s fifth straight game on the shelf. Earlier this week, coach Brad Stevens said that Horford would miss at least a few games and that the Celtics would err on the side of caution after he was diagnosed with patellar tendinitis.

Kyle Anderson (left ankle sprain) did not play Saturday against the Rockets. Anderson turned his ankle in the second half of Friday's loss to the Heat and was able to only play 16 minutes in that contest.

Zaza Pachulia (illness) missed his first game of the season Saturday night. Jon Leuer logged 14 minutes off the bench behind Andre Drummond.

Injury Notes for Sunday’s Games: Jimmy Butler (strained groin) is questionable for Sunday's game in Cleveland. Butler injured himself Monday vs. the Pistons and has been sidelined for each of the Sixers previous two contests. Furkan Korkmaz is averaging 33 minutes a night starting in place of Jimmy Buckets.

Nikola Mirotic (sore right ankle) is listed as doubtful for Sunday's game against the Heat. Mirotic has been fighting through the pain in his right ankle since November. The Pels sat him down on Wednesday and will likely do so again on Sunday. Hopefully, the rest allows him to heal. Julius Randle and Cheick Diallo will continue to see increased playing time in his absence.

E'Twaun Moore (left leg strain) is listed as questionable for Sunday. Moore has sat out each of New Orleans previous two contests. After a red-hot start to the season, he’s shooting just 33.3 percent from the field and 26.3% from downtown over his last seven appearances.

Otto Porter (knee) was unable to practice on Saturday and will be a game-time decision for Sunday's matchup vs. the Lakers. Otto was hurt on Monday has missed each of the Pistons last two games due to his nagging knee issue. If Porter is unable to play, the Wiz will be shorthanded on the wing as both Austin Rivers and Kelly Oubre are in the process of being traded to Phoenix. Markieff Morris, Jeff Green, Tomas Satoransky, and Sam Dekker would all be asked to log extended minutes if Porter is ruled out.

Frank Ntilikina (ankle) and Trey Burke (right MCL sprain) are both listed as probable for Sunday’s game vs. the Pacers. The Knicks were shorthanded, with only eight healthy bodies in the second half of Friday night’s game in Charlotte, which enabled Emmanuel Mudiay to eat up minutes and pour in a career-high 34 points. However, it looks like New York will have their full complement of point guards available on Sunday. This likely means that we are looking at an ugly timeshare situation at PG, limiting the fantasy value of all three players. Burke may be on the outside of the rotation looking in.

Damyean Dotson (sore right shoulder) and Lance Thomas (knee) are questionable to play Sunday against the Pacers. Dotson missed his first game of the season on Friday. With the three point guards healthy and Courtney Lee back in the mix, New York’s backcourt is getting crowded… Thomas has been out since Nov. 5 and will not see consistent minutes even when he’s healthy.

Mitchell Robinson (left ankle) has been ruled out. Mitch Rob turned his ankle when he landed on Frank Kaminsky after grabbing a rebound in the third quarter of Saturday’s game vs. the Hornets. X-Rays came back negative, but it would not be surprising if he missed multiple games. Luke Kornet stepped in and played the entire fourth quarter and all of overtime in Friday's impressive comeback win over the Hornets. The Uni-Kornet scored a season-high 13 points with six rebounds, two steals, three blocks and three 3-pointers in 24 minutes. He likely earned a chance to see minutes backing up Enes Kanter on Sunday.

Allen Crabbe (right knee) is listed as doubtful for Sunday's game against the Hawks. Rodions Kurucs started in place of Crabbe on Friday and registered 15 points, six rebounds, one assist and one triple. He’d be an intriguing dart-throw in DFS is Crabbe is out again.

Pascal Siakam (back stiffness) and Kyle Lowry (left thigh contusion) are questionable for Sunday's game vs. the Nuggets. Fred VanVleet started in place of Lowry vs. Portland on Friday and scored a season-high 21 points, adding eight assists, four rebounds, three triples and four turnovers in 38 minutes… Siakam injured his back in a scary fall Friday night and did not return to the contest. However, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweeted that tests on Siakam came back clean and that he was day-to-day. Fortunately, getting the questionable tag, as opposed to being ruled out, seems to support the belief that Siakam is only dealing with a minor injury. If he is unable to play Sunday, O.G. Anunoby and C.J. Miles will divvy up extra minutes.

Dennis Smith Jr. (wrist) and Dirk Nowitzki (ankle) are probable to play Sunday vs. the Kings. DSJ returned from a four-game absence on Thursday and finished with four points, eight rebounds, one assist, three steals, five turnovers and two fouls in 27 minutes against the Suns. Dirk made his season debut on Thursday, scoring two points with one rebound in six minutes.

J.J. Barea (ankle) is questionable for Sunday's game. Barea injured the ankle on Wednesday night and did not return. The X-rays came back negative, but JJ sat out Thursday's game against Pheonix. Jalen Brunson will soak up additional playing time if Barea is sidelined.

Tyreke Evans (bruised right knee) is questionable for Sunday's game against the Knicks. ‘Reke has been a major disappointment this season, even when he was starting in place of Victor Oladipo. Now that ‘Dipo is healthy, Evans belongs on waivers in standard leagues.

Dwyane Wade (general soreness) is questionable to play Sunday. Wade was ruled out of Friday’s game due to the same illness.

Goran Dragic (knee) is being listed as "out" for Sunday's game in New Orleans. This will be Dragic’s third straight game on the sidelines and his 12th game missed over the last month. Tyler Johnson (hip) is probable to play Sunday and should continue to soak up extra minutes.

Omari Spellman (hip) and Alex Poythress (ankle) will not play on Sunday vs. the Nets. No fantasy impact to note from either or these two.

Iman Shumpert (left hip contusion) is questionable for Sunday's game against the Mavericks. Shumpert slipped and fell late in the third quarter on Friday, went to the locker room, and did not return. If Shumpert is ruled out on Sunday, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Buddy Hield, and Justin Jackson will see extra time.

Brandon Ingram (ankle) and Rajon Rondo (fractured right hand) will both miss at least the two games for the Lakers. Rondo has been cleared to resume basketball activities but will not join the Lakers on their current road trip. Ingram was re-evaluated on Saturday, and while he's making solid progress and is being listed as day-to-day, he will also not join the team until they return to Los Angeles. The earliest these two would be able to play would be Friday at home vs. New Orleans.

Source: https://sports.yahoo.com/dose-lebron-lonzo-show-123700238--spt.html?src=rss

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thrashermaxey · 6 years

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Eastern Edge: Deep and Shallow League Options for Playoffs

First of congrats to those who have made the playoffs and are now in the middle of their week one matchup. It’s hard to concentrate on all the other players in the league when you’re rooting so hard for the guys on your team right now. If you’ve followed my advice on how to lineup your team to take care of the open spots in your roster; well done now comes the fun part – monitoring your matchup nightly to make moves at 3 AM to beat the other managers in your league for first waiver grabs. For those in category leagues I’ve pinned down a player in deep (14 team) and shallow (8-10 team) leagues by category. If you’re looking for one last move of focused desperation – look no further. For once I am going to slightly stray from only the East – I’ve heard from enough people to make an exception since it is such an important time of the year. I hope these guys can bring home a week one win for you.

If you’re hanging on to SJS and PHI this week – make sure you recalibrate after Tuesday night’s games to make sure you’re not leaving yourself short by a lack of man games.

Goals

Deep – Dustin Brown – Brown has four goals in his last five games. His multi-cat upside won’t leave you just chasing goals. LA plays four times this week and once on Sunday giving you last one chance to close the category.

Shallow – Jake DeBrusk – Since David Pastrnak has gone down DeBrusk has scored in seven of the last nine games. Don’t sleep on his four game scheduling – if you’re looking for an immediate lift come this weekend this is where I’d be stacking my chips.

Assists

Deep – Anthony Mantha’s promotion since Nyquist departed for SJ has been great for the big guy. If you read the midseason guide you would have seen that Dobber himself was quite high on the second half production of Mantha. In the last two weeks Mantha six assists in his last six games. Mantha plays on Sunday this week so expect him to be picked up.

Shallow – At a deep position like center, there are a lot of options, Eric Staal has been hot as of late with six assists in his last eight games. Staal’s resurgence could be the result of the season ending injury to Mikko Koivu.

PPP

Deep – Jason Spezza has put together three power play points in the last seven days. With limited options in this category sometimes you have to dig deep and swing for the fences. At the very least PP1 exposure to Benn and Seguin has to be better than most of the other options out there.

Shallow – Justin Schultz could still be sitting out there in deep leagues even with the Letang injury in play. If he is out there the Pens have been relying on Shultz for big minutes as Dumoulin and Letang get healthy. This is the type of move that helps you move on to the next round – treating the playoffs like DFS.

SOG

Deep – Oskar Lindblom fills this category nicely. If SOG is a category you think you’ll need help – the off night game on 3/5/19 from Lindbolm could be just the lift you need for your totals. Better to start early in the week before you’re swinging for the fences on Sunday.

Shallow – Jason Zucker has 24 SOG over his last 8 games – Minnesota plays Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. A nice B2B stream for this category so that you know where you stand going into the weekend could make you rest easy – if not you have time to make moves Friday night before it is too late.

PIM

I’m going to include both league formats here since it’s not a heavily used category but there is one play I have had eyed up for a couple of weeks assuming he is healthy. Mark Borowiecki is the perfect option on home and away Tuesday and Thursday. If there isn’t a fight on Tuesday, I would be shocked if he doesn’t get after it on Thursday to settle some scores.

Goalies

Deep – Starts are hard to find and should Ullmark pull out a W (Monday night vs EDM) – he’ll likely see a start against Colorado or Chicago. Both have the potential for a W – but may not be kind to your save percentage.

Shallow– For a quick win look no further than streaming Thomas Greiss against Ottawa. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see these starts split to give Lehner some rest against this gutted Ottawa team.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-home/eastern-edge/eastern-edge-deep-and-shallow-league-options-for-playoffs/

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goonsquadme-blog · 6 years

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phooll123 · 4 years

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New on Sports Illustrated: UFC Fight Night: Jessica Eye vs. Cynthia Calvillo - MMA Betting & DFS Preview

A women's flyweight bout between Jessica Eye and Cynthia Calvillo highlight this UFC Fight Night main card. MMA expert Casey Olson runs down the best bets & DFS plays.

In just a couple more weeks, we head to the much anticipated “Fight Island,” where the UFC will host four events live from Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. The cards are already being announced, one of which includes UFC 251, which will feature not one, not two, but three title fights just on this one card alone.

Before we get too excited about the marathon on deck, we have fights to watch live from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas Saturday night! In the main event, No. 10 Cynthia Calvillo (8-1-1) will move up a weight class and take on former title challenger, and No. 1 ranked flyweight Jessica Eye (15-7). This is a match that experienced some scrutiny by being billed as a main event. Expect the ladies to bring some excitement though, as Eye looks for back-to-back wins in the octagon, but to do so, she must fend off the prospect Calvillo, who, as mentioned, will move up to the flyweight division for the first time in her pro career.

Small cage again, and you know what that means! Tons of action, along with the probability of more finishes than the norm.

The card gets underway at 6 pm ET and is scheduled for 11 matches in total, which will air live on ESPN/ESPN+ for the entire card.

UFC Fight Night Saskatoon Details

DATE: SATURDAY 06/13/2020 BROADCAST: ESPN+ VENUE: UFC APEX LOCATION: Las Vegas, Nevada # of MATCHES: 10

MAIN CARD

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT, 125 LBS

#1 JESSICA EYE 15-7 VS #10 CYNTHIA CALVILLO 8-1-1

MIDDLEWEIGHT, 185 LBS

KARL ROBERSON 9-2 VS MARVIN VETTORI 14-3-1

BANTAMWEIGHT BOUT 135 LBS

MERAB DVALISHVILI 10-4 VS GUSTAVO LOPEZ 11-4

FEATHERWEIGHT BOUT 145 LBS

ANDRE FILI 20-7 VS CHARLES JOURDAIN 10-2

BANTAMWEIGHT BOUT 135 LBS

#13 JORDAN ESPINOSA 14-7 VS MARK DE LA ROSA 11-4

PRELIMS

LIGHTWEIGHT, 155 LBS

CHARLES ROSA 12-4 VS KEVIN AGUILAR 17-3

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT, 125LBS

MARIYA AGAPOVA 8-1 VS HANNAH CIFERS 10-5

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT, 135 LBS

JULIA AVILA 7-1 VS GINA MAZANY 6-3

FLYWEIGHT, 125 LBS

ZARRUKH ADASHEV 3-1 VS TYSON NAM 18-11-1

WELTERWEIGHT, 170 LBS

ANTHONY IVY 8-2 VS CHRISTIAN AGUILERA 13-6

Eye vs. Calvillo

Jessica Eye looks to continue the momentum as she welcomes Cynthia Calvillo to the women’s flyweight division Saturday night.

When it comes to Jessica Eye, unfortunately, the first thing that comes to mind for many is her wearing a bulletproof vest at faceoffs, only to be slept by Valentina “Bullet” Shevchenko the next evening. Eye had been on a three-fight win streak until that nasty head kick put the breaks on her run. She followed up the loss with a decisive victory over Viviane Araujo last December, and will now look to make it two in a row against the prospect Cynthia Calvillo. Calvillo, who’s had some inconsistency making weight at 115, moves up to flyweight to take on the former title contender in the night’s main event. Oddsmakers have the match up almost a pick-em, and in my opinion rightfully so. I believe eliminating the tough cut to 115 will only help the crafty Calvillo. This test will validate if she can be a contender in the division moving forward, or if she should re-evaluate a move back to 115.

Eye has faced more notable names (Tate, Correia, Kaufmann, McMann, Shevchenko) and has the experience in the main event spot, coupled with the size advantage. That said, on the feet, the two fighters will be both very active trading shots, with Eye the more technical, which will eventually cause Calvillo to look for the takedowns. This will be an advantage for Calvillo, and a chance to lock in a submission attempt or two if she can weather the size disparity. Eye weighed in at 126.25, just a ¼ pound over the limit, yet vocalized that she was done cutting and didn’t even think she could stand. With a fresh Calvillo at this new weight class, and her ability to display some of her craftiness on the mat and five rounds to work, I’ll take a shot with the smaller fighter moving up, in what would be the biggest win of her career.

PREDICTION: CYNTHIA CALVILLO -110

Other Wagers to Consider

Marvin Vettori has been chomping at the bit for this match up. This matchup has already been canceled twice in the past, once due to the pandemic, and then most recently in May, as Roberson fell ill after the weight cut. Friday morning, Vettori was the first fighter on the scale, ready to go, and just 10 minutes into the weigh-ins, Roberson came out to weigh in 4.5 lbs over the limit. An obvious tell that Roberson wouldn’t be cutting weight utilizing the weigh-in window. Expect Vettori to be even more heated than he already was back in May, when the two almost came to blows in the hotel lobby, after Roberson withdrew. As long as Vettori can keep his emotions in check, he should cruise.

PREDICTION: MARVIN VETTORI -200

Loser leaves town match? The loser could be seeing a pink slip after this one. Espinosa is the much better athlete and will have the wrestling advantage, along with power on the feet. As long as he can avoid the submissions, Espinosa should be able to take at least two of the three rounds and get back on track.

PREDICTION: JORDAN ESPINOSA -175

Quick Predictions

CYNTHIA CALVILLO defeats JESSICA EYE

MARVIN VETTORI defeats KARL ROBERSON

MERAB DVALISHVILI defeats GUSTAVO LOPEZ

ANDRE FILI defeats CHARLES JOURDAIN

JORDAN ESPINOSA defeats MARK DE LA ROSA

KEVIN AGUILAR defeats CHARLES ROSA

MARIYA AGAPOVA defeats HANNAH CIFERS

JULIA AVILA defeats GINA MAZANY

TYSON NAM defeats ZARRUKH ADASHEV

ANTHONY IVY defeats CHRISTIAN AGUILERA

Last event prediction recap: 6-6 Fight card predictions overall: 173-95-6 (65%) Targeted matchups (wagers): 62-26-2 (70%) Avg. odds -107

MMA DFS Plays & Strategies

Choose active fighters. Coupling an active fighter on his or her way to a unanimous decision will give you key points for your team. Just like any other DFS traditional sport, you want the active, offensive player that scores. Key metrics here are SLpM and TD AVG/15min.

Play the heavyweights. The approximate overall finish rate in the UFC is 54%. Most of the weight divisions range from 40%-60%, while the heavyweights push a 75% finish rate. You will receive bonus points for finishes inside the distance.

Try always to include the main event or title fights. Five round fights mean more time to rack up points if you pick the right fighter. In some cases, even if you have the loser, the points can be more than a three-round winner.

Don’t get excited and rush a pick based on stats, consider sample size. Some fighters have limited fights compared to their opponents when looking at metrics. Stats could be exaggerated. Do your research. Watch for spots with debuting fighters as well. Always check the records of the opponents they faced on their way to the UFC. Always pull fight tape as well. You’d be surprised at what you will find.

Review methods of victory. I supply the finish rates within this article, and as you dive in even more, you can compare method of victory to method of loss for the matchups. For example, you can find matchups where Fighter A has a high percentage of submission victories matched up with Fighter B, with a high percentage of submission losses.

Need to Know - APEX Venue

A narrative for DFS players to consider going into his card is the UFC's decision to roll with the use of its smaller, 25' octagon at the APEX, instead of the standard 30' cage. The use of the smaller octagon has historically increased fight finish rates, and shortened average fight times, due to the ability to create more action and engagement between the two fighters.

As mentioned in the tip sheet above, here’s my MMA DFS Heat Chart for UFC Fight Night. As you can see, the chart is ranked based on fight finish odds. Fight finishes are where the points are in MMA DFS. Take a glance at the stack, and we will break down the individual matchups below.

Two key offensive metrics are strikes and takedowns. They get off on their opponents and watch your points rack up quickly. Here's my Offensive Output Meter for the card. With this chart, you can compare historical fighter averages in these two key metrics as I rank all fighters participating Saturday.

Final Recommendations

Remember the smaller cage is being used. Fighters that typically press the action, land takedowns, and/or high finish rates matched up against those that get finished, roster. (see my charts above)

Take a look at the main event obviously with the five rounds and higher probability for a finish. I like CALVILLO and her salary.

DVALISHVILI and his average 7.8 takedowns per 15 minutes, against the very late replacement, should be huge. He’s already been bet up to -1000 in some spots.

I like AGAPOVA. Huge size advantage.

No disrespect, Gina Mazany probably should be on the roster. Julia AVILA all day.

Fights favored not to go the distance include IVY/AGUILERA (-230) and AVILA/MAZANY (-140).

Top-tier fighters to build around include DVALISHVILI and AVILA.

Mid-tier fighter considerations are FILI and AGUILAR.

Live dogs are CALVILLO AND JOURDAIN.

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swimmersdaily · 6 years

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Spain, Croatia join Italy and Serbia in the quarters

After Italy and Serbia had already completed their missions in two rounds, world champion Croatia and host Spain also booked their respective berths in the quarter-finals. The Croats beat Greece with a superb performance while Spain played a thrilling draw with World League winner Montenegro and that was enough to finish atop in its group. Hungary was almost upset by Germany, the Magyars had to be the happier team after the 4-4 draw.

11 GOUNAS Alexandros GRE CRO – GRE Croatia (white caps) vs Greece (blue caps) Barcelona 20/07/18 Piscines Bernat Picornell Women qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

LEN_WP_EC_BCN2018/Deepbluemedia

1 BIJAC Marko CRO (Red Cap) CRO – GRE Croatia (white caps) vs Greece (blue caps) Barcelona 20/07/18 Piscines Bernat Picornell Women qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

ESP – Spain Team MNE – ESP Montenegro (white caps) vs. Spain (blue caps) Barcelona 20/07/18 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

4 GHEORGHE Mihnea ROU RUS – ROU Russia (white caps) vs Roumania (blue caps) Barcelona 20/07/18 Piscines Bernat Picornell Women qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

LEN_WP_EC_BCN2018/Deepbluemedia

4 RANDJELOVIC Sava SRB SRB – SVK Serbia (white caps) vs Slovakia (blue caps) Barcelona 20/07/18 Piscines Bernat Picornell Women qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

8 GUILLAUME Dino AR FRA MLT – FRA Malta (white caps) vs. France (blue caps) Barcelona 20/07/18 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Pasquale Mesiano/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

1 GARSAU Remi GK FRA 4 BACHELIER Mathias AR FRA 6 VERNOUX Thomas FP FRA 9 MARION-VERNOUX Roma DF FRA MLT – FRA Malta (white caps) vs. France (blue caps) Barcelona 20/07/18 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Pasquale Mesiano/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

5 MINGUELL ALFEREZ Mar FP ESP 8 FERNANDEZ F. W ESP MNE – ESP Montenegro (white caps) vs. Spain (blue caps) Barcelona 20/07/18 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Pasquale Mesiano/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

3 SENEMOGLU Oguz Berk D TUR TUR – NED Turkey (white caps) vs. Netherlands (blue caps) Barcelona 20/07/18 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Pasquale Mesiano/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

7 ERGIN Tugay CF TUR 5 VAN IJPEREN Guus CF NED TUR – NED Turkey (white caps) vs. Netherlands (blue caps) Barcelona 20/07/18 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Pasquale Mesiano/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

1 KIL Huseyin Kagan GK TUR 11 KOOPMAN Jesse AR NED TUR – NED Turkey (white caps) vs. Netherlands (blue caps) Barcelona 20/07/18 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Pasquale Mesiano/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

4 IMNAISHVILI Revaz GEO 6 VELOTTO Alessandro ITA GEO – ITA Georgia (white caps) vs. Italy (blue caps) Barcelona 20/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

10 BODEGAS Michael ITA celebration GEO – ITA Georgia (white caps) vs. Italy (blue caps) Barcelona 20/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

11 BEDO Krisztian HUN 4 REAL Julian GER GER – HUN Germany (white caps) vs. Hungary (blue caps) Barcelona 20/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

12 EIDNER Dennis GER 7 JANSIK David HUN GER – HUN Germany (white caps) vs. Hungary (blue caps) Barcelona 20/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

HUN Coach MARCZ Tamas GER – HUN Germany (white caps) vs. Hungary (blue caps) Barcelona 20/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

4 REAL Julian GER celebration GER – HUN Germany (white caps) vs. Hungary (blue caps) Barcelona 20/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

1 SCHENKEL Moritz GER (Red Cap) saves a penalty of 10 BATORI Bence HUN GER – HUN Germany (white caps) vs. Hungary (blue caps) Barcelona 20/07/2018 Piscines Bernat Picornell Men qualification 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships – Barcelona 2018 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

The evening session drew more than 3,500 fans to the stands who were ready to enjoy the very best of water polo, featuring four of the world’s best teams – playing for the top spots of their respective groups and direct berths in the quarter-finals.

The first duel was rather a power demonstration from the world champion Croatian team. They shut out the Greeks in the opening period, then came an action-packed 9-goal quarter when the margin grew to three goals and in the third they rolled over the Greeks and built a 6-goal lead. Despite a short spell when they missed three man-ups in a row, it was a great performance from the world champions. The Croats netted three counter-attacking goals and sent some rockets to the net from the distance (Javier Garcia netted 4 goals), while killed a series of 6 on 5s on the other end. In fact, the Greek team is built around Champions League winner Olympiacos Piraeus but in this match they missed brilliant goaltending, effective shooting and defending on the centre-forwards – these were mostly delivered by their three Croatian players in the season…

The last match catered all demands, it was the first real thriller of the men’s tournament, between Spain and Montenegro. Aleksandar Ivovic led the Montenegrin charge, he scored four goals in the first half and played pivotal role in pushing his team to a 5-3 lead while they were dominating the game. When they had back-to-back 6 on 5s to go three goals up, all looked bright but missed both and all of a sudden Spain gained ground. In 49 seconds the host were back to even and soon with a fine man-up play they went ahead for the first time in the match.

The Montenegrins’ attack fell apart, in the fourth the Spaniards had a man-up to double their lead but the post saved their rivals. And this time Montenegro played the role of the Phoenix, after a drought lasting 13:19 minutes, they regained the lead in 1:41 minutes at 7-6. But one more twist was still to come, Alejandro Bustos netted Spain’s last man-up, halting the team’s 8:59min long silence after the brilliant third period. The Montenegrins couldn’t score in the remaining 82 seconds and the draw was enough for the Spaniards to land in the quarter-finals.

Earlier Germany caused the first ‘semi-upset’ of the championships by holding Hungary on a 4-4 tie in the game played for the second place in Group A. The current Magyar team visibly lacks the same quality and depth it’s been admired for (four players remained on board from those winning the world title here five years ago). They could net a single goal in the first half, were unable to do serious damage to the well-composed German defence where Moritz Schenkel posted 15 saves on 19 shots in their goal (78.9%), including a penalty stop.

In fact, at times Hungary was saved by its second goalie Soma Vogel who had 16 saves on 20 shots for 80.0%. In the good old days a Hungarian team would have destroyed its rival with such a goalie performance in the back, this time they needed to survive two man-downs to secure the draw and their second place (thank to their better goal-difference) which set up an eight-final against Netherlands – otherwise they should have played with Greece for a place in the best eight.

The other matches saw France booking its eight-final berth with a convincing win over Malta and the Netherlands achieved the same by beating Turkey with ease. Russia outpowered Romania for the second place in Group D, here Serbia earned its third win by beating Slovakia. Italy also maintained its clean sheet by delivering another demonstrative victory over Georgia.

European Championships, Day 7 – Men’s Round 3

Group A Hungary v Germany 4-4 Georgia v Italy 3-14

Rankings 1. Italy 9, 2. Hungary 4 (21-21), 3. Germany 4 (15-27), 4. Georgia 0

Group B Malta v France 6-12 Montenegro v Spain 7-7

Rankings 1. Spain 7 (35-15), 2. Montenegro 7 (32-18) 7, 3. France 3, 4. Malta 0

Group C Turkey v Netherlands 5-22 Croatia v Greece 11-7

Rankings 1. Croatia 9, 2. Greece 6, 3. Netherlands 3, 4. Turkey 0

Group D Serbia v Slovakia 13-5 Russia v Romania 12-7

Rankings 1. Serbia 9, 2. Russia 6, 3. Romania 3, 4. Slovakia 0

Eight-finals on Sunday, 22 July 17.00 Hungary v Netherlands (winner faces Serbia in QF) 18.30 Germany v Greece (winner faces Spain in QF) 20.30 Montenegro v Romania (winner faces Croatia in QF) 22.00 France v Russia (winner faces Italy in QF)

For places 13-16th 13.30 Georgia v Turkey 15.00 Malta v Slovakia

Fixtures, Day 8 – Women’s Round 5 14.00 Serbia v Turkey (B) 15.30 Hungary v Germany (B) 17.00 Israel v Croatia (A) 18.30 France v Italy (A) 20.30 Greece v Netherlands (A) 22.00 Spain v Russia (B)

Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of Deepbluemedia/Giorgio Scala

BCN2018 WP Europeans – Summary, Day 7 – Men’s Prelims, Round 3 Spain, Croatia join Italy and Serbia in the quarters After Italy and Serbia had already completed their missions in two rounds, world champion Croatia and host Spain also booked their respective berths in the quarter-finals.

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grapsandclaps · 6 years

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Before I talk about the matches the ring announcing has to be mentioned. Quite simply the worst ring announcing ever, and I mean EVER! I do believe the man doing it had never done it before and was doing it as a favour to help out assumingly in a way of keeping costs down which is understandable buthe clearly knew nothing about wrestling.

He had a clipboard with 7 or 8 pieces of paper on it and kept flicking between them, he was struggling to read what was written down occasionally asking the referee, getting confused which match was next, announced Jack Bandicoot as a WWE UK superstar (maybe one day) instead of Amir Jordan, didn’t know anyone’s nicknames, pronouncing Amir Jordan as the Banjra badboy (Poor Amir got a raw deal here) announcing a tag match that we had just seen andother faux pas that need to disappear if he is to do it again. It really was atrocious but I have got my smarkiness out of the way

MATCH 1 EL Ligero DF Boris Koslov in a Falls count anywhere match

Decent match this. 2 guys very well known and both babyfaces with the crowd. I really am not sure about the stipulation of falls count anywhere but for marketing it was a good idea with the fight going outside onto the streets and a few locals walking by wondering what was going on but hopefully havingtheir interest piqued. Boris took the beating to Ligero with a six pack of Walkers crisps before coming back into the venue and wrestling in the little 8 by 8 ring for a few minutes. The roof was so low at this point over the little ring the ref went down for the 3 count and hit his hand on the roof.

As the action went back towards the ring El Ligero used “cowboy” John Parker who was in the crowd watching as a stool and splashed Boris after jumping off John’s back.

They got back in the ring with action back and forth and Ligero got the win via pinfall. After the match

Boris got on the microphone and told the crowd that if any wrestler in the UK deserved his WWEUK shot it was Ligero. This got a good reaction from the crowd and it is hard to disagree with. To prove this Ligero walked out and drove down to Birmingham to have a 2/3 falls match with Chris Ridgeway which was, by all accounts, exceptional.

Match 2 Jack Bandicoot DF Amir Jordan to become new LPW 24/7 champion Brand new belt and a new title. Not really sure what the 24/7 title is but looking at the first 2 to challenge for it I am assuming it is a Cruiserweight/X Division type title.

This was another good match. Both wrestlers had some fun at the beginning with Jack being announced as a WWEUK superstar. He act shocked and very happy about this but Amir Jordan put him right. This was another babyface vs. babyface match with both guys well known by the fans and doing some good high flying (as much as was allowed with the roof) I enjoyed this match a lot and I enjoy watching Bandicoot always looking for ways to hit high flying moves. on a side note, the last 2 times I have seen Bandicoot in RISE and Tidal he has hit 2 of the most unique and devastating DDT’S I have seen.

Bandicoot was taking some punishment and Jordan was lining up for his finisher before Bandicoot got the roll up win.

After the match Jordan got on the microphone and told Bandicoot that if he keeps doing what he is doing he will go far in pro wrestling and a handshake was shared. On a personal note I have now seen Jordan in RISE, TIDAL, PCW and LPW and I know he has wrestled for Progress and others. The juxtaposition of Ligero with near 3000 matches and Jordan with just 2/3 years of wrestling is fascinating but his position is no less deserved and I really am a big fan of Amir and look forward to seeing him more.

Match 3 J Graves w/ Ruby Radley & Ivy DF Ragnar with use of a baseball batBoth of these wrestlers were new to me and frustratingly didn’t leave much of an impression. Ragnar seemed to be a powerhouse type wrestler but wasn’t really big enough or jacked enough to pull it off. J Graves’ character was more rounded off playing the 80s rocker type but coming off a bit Adam Rose like. Technically they appeared fine in the ring and this was the first heel vs. baby face dynamic of the show. The real stars of this match were Ruby Radley and particularly Ivy. Ivy would get in any fans face and shout at them, threatening to batter one young fan with her bat. She was Scolding the referee continuously and interfering where possible. Real heel heat and when Graves won it felt like the right result and the crowd were not happy which was good.

Match 4 Persephone DF Rhio Not a lot to say about this match as I didn’t watch a lot of it. I didn’t leave my seat I was just worried for Rhio getting seriously hurt. This match had changed from Thursday with Little Miss Roxxy vs. Lizzy Styles to this so it was a last minute booking but it was not a good match and became scary to watch. Rhio was trying her hardest and in all fairness none of the danger was her fault but Rhio seems to be able to have a good match when she is in with someone better (vs. Viper at PCW) but when she isthe better talent in the ring it can be messy. Intermission During the show a lady had come round doing a football card. We entered this but never heard a draw being done and never found out who won. Tony went for a cigarette and I found that the bar did sell alcohol, which was needed after that last match. As ghastly as Heineken is it was £2 a can and really cold on a hot day so it hit the spot.

Match 5 Drill & Drake Winter DF Jimmy Jackson & Jack Flash A real baby face vs. heel dynamic in this match, mostly because of Drake Winter looking and dressing like a fat Jon Snow (and the crowd let him know) although his gear looked a lot cheaper than Jon Snows. I knew none of these wrestlers and spent the match thinking Drill was actually called Trill (like the budgie food) because of the announcer and thinking what a terrible name. Tony was excited to see Jack Flash as he was a regular on the EBW shows around Rotherham/Sheffield and Drake Winter, withthat weird Shane Taylor midriff/leg weight thing going on was pretty good with some hard hitting moves and got good heat from the fans. This was a pretty standard match but I would enjoy seeing any of these again, Bandicoot vs. Jack Flash could be a good match in the future.

Match 6 Lexi Olivia DF Ruby Radley, Ivy and Alfie Rose to become new LPW women' s champion Really fun match. This started as a triple threat match with Ivy on the outside. As Alfie and Lexi teamed up against Ruby, Ivy was getting mad and forced the ref to let her enter the match and make it afatal four way(although we had to assume this as the announcer didn’t explain anything) and the ref obliged. If he didn’t he probably would of took a baseball bat to the head so who can blame him? Ruby and Ivy regularly teamed up with it often ending up with miscommunication and bumping each other. Lexi Olivia, another EBW regular, seemed very new. Lots of her moves looked good but not great transitions and each moved seemed obviously set up but I believe she is 18/19 and lots of potential. Her Elbows look legit badass and her running knees were good and drew gasps from the crowd. Lexi took advantage of miscommunication and got the pin on Ruby to win the title from Alfie Rose who wasn’t hurt as she was not pinned and lots of ways for this story to go. Really fun stuff.

Match 7 the Lion Kings DF Son of Ulaid - Rory Coyle and Big Lou from England ’ s hardest men.This was a very good match with 4 talented guys who will all be at the next RISE show. I have no idea what happened to Bas Ban the other SON of Ulaid but I like this idea of Rory Coyle having to team with someone different at all these shows. Almost a cult, disciple thing and hope he runs with it. The Lion Kings are firm fan favourites around the Leeds area and work really well as a tag team. This was a good solid tag team match and did exactly what you would expect and with the fan favourites going over. There isn’t really much to say about this as it was exactly what it should have been - a hard hitting tag match. Enjoyed it and always enjoy seeing any of these 4 guys.

Main event Matty Mayhem vs. HT Drake for the LPW title ended in a no contest afterinterferenceDrake has been on every Tidal, Rise and Defiant show I have been to but I did not know Matty Mayhem and did not know how long he had been champion. This was a good match with both guys working over the other and some good high flying. Drake took the match to the outside and Mayhem threw him over the chairs which were not folding chairs and it looked painful and drew a good reaction. The match was back in the ring and it felt like Drake was going to win before a man in a Michael Myers mask and boiler suit jumped into the ring and super kicked both Mayhem and Drake and left them lying. The crowd were stunned and the mask came off to unveil Sean Only! Only drew the boos and was interviewed in the ring but the sound wasn’t great and we couldn’t hear what was being said (should of just give Only the mic) the show finished with a match announcement of Only vs. Mayhem for the title at the next show which should make for a good match and also Only can draw legit heel heat. HT drake was one of only 2 wrestlers I saw pull double duty on my 3 show weekend also appearing at Defiant in Sheffield on the Monday and he is certainly a solid hand.

The doors opened and we left. It was a nice little show and a good start for the NEW LPW and I will certainly keep my eyes out for their next show. I hope they improve their social media presence as it would be good to see a few more in the seats next show as the promoters have clearly tried hard to put a good card together. But please improve the announcing .

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