#his revenge for not being allowed to play football lol

[music-art-sport-and-more]

When you hate the sport you're doing but you're gifted:

[rememberingnoah]

The Dougie raising the lab rats concept.

I think they would be a lot different because since Dougie's redemption arc kinda comes from loving his kids. So I feel like if Bree had asked to go to school he would've agreed a lot sooner than Donald but would do it in a deeply unethical manner. For example he would probably have developed some version of one of the many memory erasing devices and use it whenever they used their powers but they'd also probably have to move schools a lot so people wouldn't get suspicious.

I feel like Adam would be more into art like he was in the AU. Since Douglas did encourage Marcus in theater and even tried to convince him to take it further. He also would probably be less violent and more prank leaning since I doubt Douglas would encourage that behavior with the kids (outside of sparring) since it would remind him of his Donald issues. I think he would also be in the Cheer Squad or something similar.

Bree would probably be a lot more socially developed because she is an inherently social person raised in isolation in canon since I feel they would be let out sooner. She would probably be at least somewhat popular and having been in school longer would probably have made it into at least some of the things she wanted be in. I.e. the cheer team, Australia.

And Chase would have a very different relationship with the Commando App since Douglas has a way better understanding of what it is. Chase would also probably have received the upgrades as well. Which would mean he would likely be less insecure about his strength. I have no idea if he would be into sports like his AU counterpart though, he might if Douglas encouraged him to attempt to take leadership roles. He would also probably build robots and androids more.

They would also probably all be kinda less moral in the same way Douglas is.

love love love this nonny!!!

however hmm idk. the main reason he gave them bionic abilities in the first place was for ~evil purposes~ right?? i don't necessarily think he'd want them doing anything that doesn't benefit him in the long run (at least until he starts viewing them as his children instead of play things) like going to school or whatever. i mean he only created marcus to gain their trust so he could obtain them (and get revenge on donald blah blah) he allowed him to go to school and do 'normal' things but like.. wasn't that just to make him appear to be a normal kid and not an android? like a manipulation tactic?? in this au he wouldn't really need marcus to try to 'win them over'. i mean he already has them. skip straight to what he wants. but ignore me idk what i'm talking about lol.

if he did let them go to school, i agree with your portrayal of everyone tho. maybe let adam be more jock bro. on the football team??

bree would 100% be the *IT* girl of the school. pretty princess that isn't afraid to make you cry to get what she wants. headstrong and outgoing.

i can picture chase being a more confident version of himself. more abilities = level up baby!! he's the leader, treat him like it for once. he's probably does hella more menacing science experiments- just to push the limits a little. def dougie's right hand man.

[racingtoaredlight]

RTARL’s 2020 NFL Season Week 14 Extravapalooza

The Week 14 slate of games is straight doo-doo until the AFC North rescues us in primetime. As a result of this, I found it pretty difficult to get up for this week’s Extravapalooza. I know what you’re thinking: I’m a professional being paid ludicrous sums of money to show up on the weekend and give it everything I’ve got. But, I’m only human. My assistant puts my pants on me one leg at a time, just like everyone else. Frankly, I think this lackluster effort falls more on the coaching staff than it does on me. 

My picks are in BOLD, and the lines come to us courtesy of our friends at Vegas Insider. I use the “VI Consensus” line, which is the line that occurs most frequently across Vegas Insider’s list of sportsbooks. Your sportsbook of choice may offer a different number, and if you’d like my opinion on said number A) you are insane, and B) leave a comment below and I’ll try to answer at some point before things kickoff today.

EARLY GAMES

Houston Texans (-1.5) at Chicago Bears

Hey, did you know that the Bears traded up in the draft to take Mitchell Trubisky over DeShaun Watson? It’s true! Today, it’ll look like it was the right move. LOL, not really. But, I’m putting my faith in the ability of the Bears defense to bottle Watson up just enough to allow Mitchell a brief afternoon of sweet, sweet glory.

Dallas Cowboys (-3) at Cincinnati Bengals

OH BOY, ANDY DALTON REVENGE GAME!! This game could’ve been a fun time with Dak Prescott and Joe Burrow calling the signals for their respective squads, but sadly what we have in reality is a hideous slopfest that only the most degenerate among us would dare gaze upon.

Kansas City Chiefs (-7.5) at Miami Dolphins

I think the Dolphins defense can do a reasonably good job holding K.C. down, relatively speaking. The problem is that I’m not sure their Tua-led offense can keep pace. They’re still adjusting to life with Tua as their triggerman, and losing their best RB, Myles Gaskin, to the COVID list is a tough blow.

Arizona Cardinals (-2.5) at New York Giants

The Giants have won 4 in a row, while the Cards have dropped 3 in a row and 4 of their last 5. These twin developments are most unexpected. I just can’t bring myself to pick against my beloved Kyler Murray in this one, even though he’s been scuffling and the Giants made Russell Damn Wilson look like crud just last week. Daniel Jones is expected to be back in the saddle for the Giants, which provides another reason to pick New York that I’m choosing to ignore.

Minnesota Vikings at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-7)

The Vikings are agents of pure chaos capable of both thrashing anyone and being thrashed by anyone, while the Bucs haven’t strung together two good halves in over a month. I truly have no idea what to expect from this game*. 

*Judging by my picks record, I have no idea what to expect from any game

Denver Broncos at Carolina Panthers (-3.5)

Here we have an incredibly resistible force meeting an exceptionally moveable object. The Broncos will be without their top 3 CBs, which is less than ideal. Carolina won’t have RB Christian McCaffery or WR DJ Moore, but I still like their odds of hitting a big play on offense and/or capitalizing on a Drew Lock mistake enough to pick them to win by more than a field goal.

Tennessee Titans (-7.5) at Jacksonville Jaguars

Derrick Henry is the jewel of my fantasy team, and since my playoffs begin this week I’m putting the idea of him cranking out a hilarious yardage total while grinding out the clock out into the universe. 

LATE GAMES 

Indianapolis Colts (-3) at Las Vegas Raiders

The most non-descript game imaginable.

New York Jets at Seattle Seahawks (-15)

The Seahawks need a get-right game after losing to the Giants last week, and lo and behold the Jets are coming to town. The only thing giving me pause here is the non-zero chance that Pete Carroll got sidetracked during the week and the team spent their preparation time learning the TRUTH about a totally different New York jet situation.

Green Bay Packers (-8) at Detroit Lions

Somebody on Twitter (possibly Jim Harbaugh Scramble?) pointed out how much the FOX cartoon graphic for Packers TE Robert Tonyan looks like White Michael Vick from the infamous “What If Michael Vick Were White?” story from a few years ago, and it cracked me up for a solid 10 minutes.

LOL

New Orleans Saints (-8) at Philadelphia Eagles

I’m morbidly fascinated by this game. Saints QB Taysom Hill has looked shockingly competent...when playing against the Atlanta Falcons. How will he do against a different, larger species of bird? I don’t know what to expect out of Eagles QB Jalen Hurts in his first start, but at the very least I think he’ll take off running to try and gain SOME yards if his first couple of reads are covered, as opposed to holding the ball and waiting to get creamed a la Carson Wentz. The Saints defense is a brutal first matchup for him, though.

Atlanta Falcons at Los Angeles Chargers (PK)

I’m following my “Don’t Pick the Falcons If Julio Jones Is Out” rule here. I have no idea if that rule has actually served me well whatsoever. 

Washington Football Team at San Francisco 49ers (-3)

As of this writing, I can’t find any solid info as to whether or not Football Team O-linemen Brandon Scherff, Morgan Moses, and David Sharpe are going to play. Even if they manage to get out there, they’re pretty banged up. The o-line injuries combined with the loss of studly RB Antonio Gibson has tamped my enthusiasm for Washington down considerably. 

SNF: Pittsburgh Steelers at Buffalo Bills (-2.5)

FIRE TOMLIN! Seriously though, this is Pittsburgh’s third game in 11 days, which is ridiculous. They’ll also be without CB Joe Haden, which will only tempt Josh Allen to chuck it up even more. Whether or not this is beneficial for the Bills depends on how you feel about Josh Allen, I suppose.

MNF: Baltimore Ravens (-3) at Cleveland Browns

The Browns and their fans are riding too high right now. The laws of the universe require them to be knocked down a peg or two, possibly due in large part to former Ohio State Buckeye JK Dobbins returning to Ohio and running roughshod over the home team.

Last Week’s Record: 8-6

Season Record: 82-91-6

[lilaclovestowrite]

Arcade Chaos (Katsuki x Cheerful!Reader)

“ Bakugo oneshot with cheerful!reader at arcade plz? ”

Type: Request from Quotev

Words: 2556

Fandom: My Hero Academia

Pairing: Katsuki x Reader

Genre: Hint of fluff, lots of Katsuki rage lol, and mainly humor

Summary: Somehow, you’re able to drag your crush, Katsuki Bakugou, to an arcade for the day. Of course, this creates chaos, since the Bakusquad happens to be there as well. But maybe, after all the chaos, you’ll finally be able to confess your true feelings to him!

Warnings:

None

💥💥💥

 “Why the heck are we in this lame place!?” questioned an irritated Katsuki.

“Cuz arcades are fun!” I answered, leading him in by the hand. He was very resistant—but he was no match for my nonexistent strength.

 “Fun? This place is for nerds who live in their mom’s basement. Just like stupid—”

 “Deku, yeah, yeah,” I finished for him with a blasé attitude. “I’ve heard it all before. Why don’t you just focus on something else besides Midoriya?”

 “Pfft, like what?”

 “Uh, something that actually matters. Video games, obviously.”

 “I’m leaving.” Just as he tried to escape, I pulled him back.

 “Get yer hands off me!” He flicked his wrist away from me, and huffed as he scanned the arcade’s interior.

“Come on, please stay with me for just an hour? PLEEEEEAAAASSSEEEEEE~!?” I forcefully smiled, holding my hands together in a purposely pathetic pose.

 “Well, you already kidnapped me so—whatever. And what’s the difference between these games and the ones on my phone? Only geeks play these chunky, 8-bit fossils.”

 “Trust me. You’ll see,” I vaguely left as an answer.

After I dragged Katsuki around the building, I asked him if anything caught his eye. “So, do you know what game you wanna play?”

 “’Nuke the Zombies’ didn’t look too trashy, I guess.”

 I blinked once. “Uhh, how about something more child-friendly?”

 “Fine. How about ’Blow up the Bunny’ then?”

 Why did I ever think this was a good idea?

 “Let’s not.”

But what we didn’t know, is that our other friends happened to be here as well! Eijiro, Denki, Hanta, and Mina approached us all at once.

 “Wow! Hey, guys! Nice to see you here,” Eijiro greeted.

 Hanta laughed. “Didn’t really expect to see you two here. . .specifically, together.”

 “The heck you mean by that!?” Katsuki nearly erupted, but I held him back.

 “Oh, y’know—just figured you’d be at home plotting your revenge for Midoriya or something.”

His response only earned him a snarl from Katsuki. But Mina, on the other hand, decided to push all of Katsuki’s buttons without thinking.

 “Maybe they’re on a date!!” she gasped. “WAIT, ARE YOU—”

“SHUT YOUR MOUTH!! This isn’t a heckin’ date!” Katsuki debunked. “She bugged me nonstop about coming to this trash hole, and finally got on my nerves, so I came.”

 By the smug look on my friend’s faces—they were obviously not buying it. Truthfully, I wouldn’t have minded it if were a date. Considering I’ve always had a thing for Katsuki. People may have thought I was crazy for liking someone so spastic with anger management issues—but there was more to him than just his atrocious personality. He had a lot of admirable qualities like uh, well, I’ll think of some later.

 “Alright then~” Mina giggled.

 “Guys, when can we play some games?” asked Denki.

“Right now!” Eijiro made an immediate beeline for Whac-A-Mole. “Bakugou, you gotta try out this game! I used to play it when I was younger, and it’s so much fun.”

 “The heck is it?”

 Katsuki stormed over and studied the attributes of the vintage game, while Eijiro explained the rules of it to him.

 “And when the mole thing rises up, you just hit it with this mallet!”

 “Pfft, sounds like a baby game. Pass.”

 “Aw, c’mon!” I joined in, trying to convince him to try it out.

 Hanta agreed, “Yeah! Don’t be such a wet blanket, man.”

After all our nagging, he eventually gave in and reluctantly picked up the game mallet. “Gross, a thousand brats probably got their diseased germs all over this thing.”

 “They’re not as diseased as your attitude, that’s for sure—”

 “COME AGAIN, KNOCK-OFF PIKACHU!?!”

 “Hey, hey,” Eijiro tried calming. “Just try one round at least!”

 “Ugh, fine.”

Once the game started, the plastic moles slowly rose up from their holes, and each one was hammered by Katsuki. He displayed his obvious boredom through stance and expression.

 “This game is about as fun as watching paint dry.”

 “Oh, it gets harder,” I snickered.

 “This is about as hard as using Deku as a football.”

But he was soon showed otherwise—as the game’s difficulty increased. The moles now only stayed up for half a second now, and even Katsuki was having a hard time keeping up.

 “C’mon, dude! Whack them!” Eijiro cheered.

“THIS STUPID MALLET ISN’T WORKING!!!” he screeched, causing the rest of the people around us to stare. It was a bit embarrassing. But that’s my penalty for going out in public with Katsuki. “DIE, RATS, DIEEEEEE!!!!” So, he dropped the mallet, and just started exploding the moles with his hands.

 And of course, the result was he melted the arcade machine. All the moles were now nothing but liquefied plastic, which was totally uncalled for compared to the games standards.

 I walked back to my friend’s table with Katsuki by my side.

“Alright, I just called Katsuki’s therapist and he was able to, er—scream out his issues. So, I think we’re good!” I informed with a thumbs up.

 “My therapist can bite rocks.”

 I let out a sigh of disappointment at his rude response.

 “Hey, (Y/N)! Did you see any games that caught your eye?” Hanta wondered.

 I answered with, “Hmm. . .well, I did wanna play Whac-A-Mole. But now it’s melted into the flooring, so. . .”

“It wasn’t even fun,” Katsuki downplayed. “I have more fun beating Deku. Wait—they should make a game called Whac-A-Deku. Now, I’d play that.”

 We only stared at our friend, mildly disturbed.

 Hanta said, “Pac-Man it is, then.”

 After playing a few more games, we headed to the eating area. We ordered some pizza and soda, so we just chatted as we ate.

 “You guys, what do you think is better? Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man?” asked Mina.

 “They’re the same thing, Raccoon Eyes.”

 “NO, PAC-MAN IS A MAN, AND MS. PAC-MAN IS A WOMAN.”

 I awkwardly nibbled on my pizza, watching the conversation between them take a nosedive for the worst.

 “Guys, is butter a carb?” Katsuki asked us.

 Denki replied, “I don’t know—I don’t watch Gordon Ramsey.”

“Whatever, I’m getting cheese fries.” He launched his pizza in the trash can (which he carelessly missed), and headed back to the ordering station.

 Just as Katsuki got out of earshot, Mina immediately began interrogating me.

 “So. . .ya sure you two weren’t on a date~?”

 I went red with total shock and embarrassment. “What? No way! He doesn’t like me like that.”

 Hanta chuckled. “He liked you enough for you to literally drag him here. That’s like, a deathwish for most people.”

 I knew he had a point.

 Eijiro said, “Plus, he needs a girlfriend. He needs someone to keep him fairly sane.”

All their talking had me blushing. Yes, I liked Katsuki a lot—but I never thought it’d go any further than that. However, you never know about these kind of things.

 “So. . .should I ask him out or something?” I hesitantly questioned.

 “Go ahead! I mean, there’s not a line of girls trying to date him, that’s for sure.”

 I took it into consideration. Maybe today, I should try to make a move. I mean, YOLO, amirite?

 “Alright, I’ll try next time I see him,” I gulped.

 They all smiled uncontrollably, but instinctively stopped once Katsuki returned to the table.

 “Why’re you idiots all staring at me like a bunch of idiots?”

“Oh, uh—well. . .” I mentally prepared myself for rejection. I knew all my friends were bursting at the seams, waiting for me to confess my feelings to Katsuki. But it was just so awkward. So, I chickened out. “I uh, wanted to know if you were gonna share your cheese fries with me.”

 “What does share mean?”

 I could hear Eijiro facepalm. So, I ended the awkwardness with, “Nothing! Just eat your fries—”

 Later, we all continued searching for what else to play.

 So, I cleared my throat to get everyone’s attention. “Ahem. How about we do something that’s multiplayer?”

 “You mean like a competition?” Katsuki wondered, a psychotic smile forming on his face once the idea of winning first place entered his mind. Now, we were all scared.

“Uh, you’re smiling like a psycho again—I MEAN, uh, yeah! We just need to find a game that allows two players. . .and one that isn’t taken.” As I examined the room and every one of its consoles, I found one that caught my eye.

 Dance Dance Revolution (DDR).

 “Hmm, I know! That one!” I excitedly pointed to the one I was referring to.

 “OMG, that one is so cool! I used to play it when I was younger!” Mina beamed.

“Oh, great. Dancing? I thought you’d pick something that would actually hold my interest. Like no-scoping zombies or something.”

 I crossed my arms and said the thing I knew would make him do what I wanted. “What? You think you can’t beat me? Think I’m gonna win instead~?”

 “Pfft, in your dreams. I’d beat you at any game at any time of the week. You’re a lame gamer.”

 “You think so, eh? Well, let’s just find out!” I skipped over to the DDR machine and patiently waited for the two children to finish up their round. However, patience wasn’t an idea Katsuki could process in his arrogant brain.

 “Hit the road, punks! I’ve got a game to win!” He shoved the two kids off, and cleared the platforms for both of us. I tried mouthing an apology to the two schoolboys, but they had already escaped to find their parents.

 Katsuki extended his arms and stretched out his fingers. Eijiro and Hanta approached me, asking if I was sure this was a good idea. I knew Katsuki was unhealthily obsessed with winning, but that only made it more fun being his opponent, at least in my opinion! (Plus, seeing him fail was ten-times funnier).

 “Go easy on her, dude,” Denki tried helping out.

“No way, Calamari. I’m not a braindead loser like you.” Finishing up his mini exercise, he stepped onto the dance platform. “What’re you waiting for, girly?” Katsuki snarked at me with a confident smirk.

 I stepped on mine as well, and scrolled through the list of songs to perform. “We could start with easy mode,” I offered.

 “No way. Go for the hardest mode you can find.”

 Someone was going to break their legs, and it wasn’t going to be Midoriya this time around.

 “Oh. . .well, uh—alright!” I landed my finger on this Vocaloid song called The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku, which was apparently the most challenging one on this menu. “Alright, there’s the modes: Beginner, Intermediate, Pro, Master, and uh, Death.”

 “Choose Death then.”

 With a cloud of anxiousness looming over my figure, I pressed that option. I didn’t know what to expect—but I was scared.

 “How bad can it be?” chuckled Eijiro.

 Oh, but it was pain. It was the most torture I’ve ever experienced in my entire life.

When the gameplay started, it wasn’t too hard in the intro of the song. But when the fast part came, it was like we were dancing to save our lives. People in the building came to spectate us and our anguish—but our friends cheered us on the entire time.

 “REEEEEEEEE, END MEEEEEEEEEE!!!” Katsuki screeched as he barely managed to touch the flashing tiles on his platform.

I felt as if I was jumping across a room full of nails sticking straight up. I could barely keep up with the beat of the song, and I was already exhausted. But we weren’t even halfway into it.

 “BEATING ALL FOR ONE IS EASIER THAN THIS TORTURE MACHINE!” roared Katsuki.

 “You’re almost to the beat break!” Hanta reassured.

Finally, the first verse of the song ended. So, our legs could take a break for a few seconds. Katsuki and I were desperately trying to regain oxygen, since it was such a rush. When we looked at our current scores—I saw that I was luckily five points higher than Katsuki.

 “WHAT THE HECK!? HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!?” he raged.

 “HA.”

 Everyone cheered for me at the moment, but Katsuki wasn’t having it. He was more than determined to beat me now.

When the gameplay resumed, we continued to push ourselves to dance on the correct tiles. Our scores were nearing closer together, and it was only a matter of time before one of us passed each other for good and won.

 “ALMOST THERE,” Katsuki spoke to himself, as he glimpsed at his own score.

But just the moment before it was all over, Denki accidentally activated his Quirk due to the hype building up in his system—and it shot out at the DDR machine, causing it to short-circuit and die.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” Katsuki bellowed out, as he fell on his knees and placed his hands on the now black screen. “I’M GONNA KILL YOU, STUPID PIKACHU!!!”

 However, it was pointless because Denki already fried his brain and went dumb. “Wheyyyy~”

Eijiro couldn’t help but laugh hysterically, along with Hanta and Mina. It only made Katsuki’s blood boil—and frankly, I couldn’t help but giggle too.

 “I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS PAIN.” Katsuki stood up and stalked out of the arcade. Of course, I followed him.

 “Katsuki! Don’t be upset. It’s only a game.”

 “I WAS SO CLOSE TO WINNING!” he fumed. “I COULD HAVE BROKEN THE STUPID RECORD—”

“Shh, just relax! They’ll probably fix it, and we can always come back later.” I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, which he surprisingly didn’t flick off.

 “Hmph. I’m never playing that demon game ever again.”

 I laughed softly. “Well, there’s plenty of other games. But other than the fact Denki shut off the game—did you have fun?”

 He turned his head to me, and for I moment, I swear I saw his eyes soften by a fraction. “Maybe a little—but not that much.”

 I’ll take that as a yes, coming from him.

But now that we were together with no other distractions, I decided to take a risk and slide my hand into his. He widened his eyes—since affection was probably a concept far removed from his unfriendly mentality.

 I looked down at the floor and smiled, saying, “I was thinking, Katsuki. Would you uh, would you consider being my Player Two?”

 I didn’t even care how cheesy I was being at this point.

 “The heck does that mean?”

 Our friends screamed from a distance, “SHE’S ASKING YOU OUT, GENIUS!”

Katsuki stiffened up, since he was struggling to find a riposte to throw back in my face. But it was relentless. Instead, he let out a sigh and told me, “That’s the sappiest and most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard—but sure. You’re not as annoying as the others.”

 I strained my cheeks from smiling so much, and I threw my arms gleefully around Katsuki. The others were probably afraid he’d blow up or something, but thankfully, he didn’t. Instead, he returned the favor by awkwardly rubbing my head.

 “They’re so cute together~” sighed Mina.

 “Yeah, Bakugou better not screw it up,” Eijiro added with a smile.

 “It’s Bakugou, he screws everything up.”

 “True.”

 Maybe coming to this place was a good idea after all~

[thecollegefootballguy]

The Top 25 Teams of the Decade: #7 LSU

Hello everybody, we’re celebrating the arrival of the 2020′s by looking at the 25 best programs of the previous decade.

We’re on to the top ten to celebrate the #7 team from the 2010′s:

Louisiana State University Tigers

Record: 103-28 (.786) Division Titles: 2 Conference Titles: 2 Bowl Seasons: 10 Major Bowls: 3 Playoff/BCS Berths: 2 Final Top 25 Finishes: 9 Final Top 10 Finishes: 4 Final Top 5 Finishes: 2 National Championships: 1 Best Season: 2019

The present champions clock in just outside of the Decade’s Top 5. LSU was consistently good in the 2010′s, and occasionally the best team in the sport. LSU began the decade as one of the biggest names in college football. The Tigers had won two national championships in the 2000′s (’03 and ‘07) under two different coaches. Les Miles was well established as one of the preeminent head men in the game, though Nick Saban, Miles’ direct predecessor in Baton Rouge, was already threatening that supremacy by winning the national title in 2009 for Alabama.

LSU began the decade strong. The Tigers didn’t blow anybody away to begin the 2010 season, but they won. #21 Louisiana State beat #18 North Carolina in Atlanta 30-24 to begin September and capped the month off with a 20-14 win over eventual Big East co-champion #22 West Virginia. LSU was now flirting with the top ten, but the Tigers kept getting caught up in close games. Louisiana State had a couple one score games with Tennessee and #12 Florida, but stayed unbeaten until the end of October when they went face to face with fellow unbeaten #4 Auburn. #6 LSU fell at Jordan-Hare 17-24, briefly tumbling out of the Top Ten. Two weeks later, the Tigers knocked off #5 Alabama 24-21 to leap back in to the top ten. The win over the Crimson Tide put Louisiana State comfortably in second place in the division standings, and if Auburn ended up winning out and going to the BCS Championship, then LSU would get the SEC’s bid to the Sugar Bowl. It didn’t happen. The #6 Tigers lost to #12 Arkansas in Little Rock 23-31. The 10-2 Razorbacks then took the spot in the Sugar Bowl, where they lost to Ohio State. Louisiana State was relegated to the Cotton Bowl, where they beat #18 Texas A&M 41-24. LSU finished 8th in the AP Poll, the 2nd highest SEC team after national champion Auburn.

2011 was different. The Tigers began the year ranked 4th in the nation, and ended up being better than that. #4 Louisiana State outpaced #3 Oregon 40-27 in Arlington. It was a great start to the year which also saw LSU beat #25 Mississippi State and #16 West Virginia before the month was out. The offense was exploding and the defense was even better, only allowing more than 11 points three times before the BCS Title Game (spoilers (lol)). Needless to say, they were up to #1 at this point. The Tigers absolutely mauled #17 Florida and #19 Auburn in October before their fateful date with fellow unbeaten Alabama. In the most recent regular season #1 vs #2 matchup, Louisiana State was able to edge out Bama 9-6 in overtime in Tuscaloosa which opened the door to a 12-0 regular season. LSU destroyed #3 Arkansas 41-17 to seal the undefeated record. In the SEC Championship Game, the Tigers shut down #12 Georgia 42-10 and were on their way to the national championship game. With no other undefeated teams left from the BCS conferences, Bama ended up as the #2 pick in the rankings. The rematch, a first in the Title Game, didn’t go Louisiana State’s way. This time, the offense was completely shut down by the Crimson Tide. LSU lost 21-0 in a near unwatchable shutout. It was a horrific, embarrassing way to end what was shaping up to be one of the easiest open and shut, national championship, undefeated seasons of the BCS era. In a way, LSU never recovered under Les Miles.

Football teams rarely ever go 13-0 in two consecutive seasons, the Tigers were no different. Louisiana State started the year ranked 3rd in the AP poll, and fully were expected to contend again. After beating a bunch of nobodies and the worst Auburn team in a generation, LSU fell to #10 Florida, severely wounding the Tigers’ chances to repeat as SEC champions. #9 Louisiana State rebounded by beating #3 South Carolina and then turned around the next week and were the last team to beat then-#20 Texas A&M, who by the end of the season were perhaps the hottest squad in college football. LSU climbed back to #5 in November, and could have taken control of the SEC West with a win over #1 Alabama. In a hard fought contest, the Tigers lost 17-21 to officially fall out of the race. Louisiana State did win out over rivals #22 Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Arkansas to finish 10-2. #9 LSU faced off against #15 Clemson in the Peach Bowl and lost 24-25 in a close bout. 10-3 with a final #14 ranking isn’t a bad follow up to a near championship season, but it was still disappointing especially with Alabama romping over Notre Dame to win their second consecutive title.

2013 was a pretty similar result. The Tigers started strong with a win over #20 TCU 37-27 in Arlington and then pretty easily beat eventual SEC Champion Auburn 35-21 back before anybody thought they were good. However, #6 Louisiana State fell to #9 Georgia 41-44 before the month of September was out. LSU climbed back to 6th in the polls with a 17-6 win over #17 Florida, but were then upset by rival Ole Miss to officially end their championship aspirations. A listless, 17-38 loss to #1 Alabama delivered the Tigers their third loss. Louisiana State rebounded with a commanding 34-10 win over #9 Texas A&M to recoup some of their prestige. A win over Iowa in the Outback Bowl delivered LSU their second consecutive 10-3 record and #14 final ranking in the AP Poll. 

The Tigers really began to disappoint in 2014. It would end up being Les Miles’ worst or second worst season in Baton Rouge depending on who you ask. Louisiana State was expected to be their usual competent selves, beginning the year ranked 13th. A win over #14 Wisconsin in Houston kicked things off well, but they lost their first SEC game to Mississippi State 29-34. Two weeks later, #15 LSU was completely demolished 7-41 by #5 Auburn. It was their worst loss in years. This horrible pants-ing in the Tiger Bowl knocked the Bayou Bengals out of the AP poll for the first time since 2008. The indignities didn’t stop there. The Tigers beat #3 Ole Miss 10-7 in the Magnolia Bowl to push their way back into the spotlight, but then suffered back to back losses to #4 Alabama and unranked Arkansas to fall back out of the rankings. It was an even worse gut punch that they took the Crimson Tide to overtime before losing 13-20. 8-4 Louisiana State might have been the best 8-4 team in the nation, but it didn’t help them against 7-5 Notre Dame. The Irish beat LSU 31-28 in the Music City Bowl, putting Les Miles on the hot seat heading into 2015.

The revenge tour started pretty well. The Tigers began the season with wins over #25 Mississippi State and #18 Auburn. In October, Louisiana State beat #8 Florida 35-28. LSU was undefeated through two months 7-0 and climbed up to 4th in the rankings, but you know how this went. The Tigers suffered a trio of successive losses to #7 Alabama, Arkansas, and #25 Ole Miss, which dropped them all the way out of the rankings. Wins over Texas A&M and Texas Tech in the Texas Bowl propped Louisiana State back to 9-3, but the embarrassing way that the team fell from Playoff participant to unranked was a real stain that still threatened Miles’ job.

2016 was the breaking point. LSU began the season ranked 5th in the AP Poll, expectations were high. The Tigers immediately lost 14-16 to unranked Wisconsin in Green Bay and at the end of September they lost to unranked Auburn. That was it for Miles. The head coach who had guided Louisiana State to their third ever national championship in 2007 and would have won another title in 2011 if not for the extreme circumstance that pitted them against Alabama in a repeat matchup. Defensive line coach Ed Orgeron was promoted for the interim. LSU was able to hold serve through October with a 38-21 win over #22 Ole Miss before losing to #1 Alabama as expected. The Florida game was postponed to the end of the year due to Hurricane Matthew. A 10-16 loss to the #21 Florida was a black eye which threw Orgeron’s ability to retain the job in doubt. The Tigers rebounded with a 54-39 win over #22 Texas A&M to end the year which, with intensive lobbying from the players, helped Orgeron keep the gig as the full time head coach. Good move.

Louisiana State in 2017 looked pretty much the same under Orgeron as they did under Miles in 2015. Well, not quite. Miles never lost to Troy. Miles did lose to Mississippi State. Once. Through 12 years in Baton Rouge. Orgeron’s Tigers lost to both in September. It wasn’t a hot start to his first year as the official head coach. LSU rebounded with back to back wins over #21 Florida and #10 Auburn. Of course, they lost to Alabama because that’s what happened through most of the 2010′s. #16 LSU lost 17-21 to #14 Notre Dame in the Citrus Bowl. A #18 final ranking and a 9-4 record is what eventually tanked Miles. It was a black cloud hanging over Orgeron.

Things started to trend back up in 2018. #25 LSU opened the year with an easy win over #8 Miami. By the end of September, the Tigers also scraped past #7 Auburn. #5 Louisiana State suffered their first loss to #22 Florida, but the Gators turned out to be better than anticipated that year. LSU rebounded with a commanding 36-16 win over #2 Georgia. The Tigers then shut down #22 Mississippi State 19-3 to climb all the way to 3rd in the rankings. But, yet again, in came #1 Alabama to ruin the Bayou Bengals’ season. The Crimson Tide blanked LSU 29-0, the Tigers’ worst loss to Bama since 2002. Louisiana State did rebound, and finished the year on a three game win streak, capped off with an epic 7 overtime win over #22 Texas A&M. LSU was selected by the Playoff committee to play against #7 UCF in the Fiesta Bowl. The Golden Knights were undefeated in the past two seasons and would have a very real claim to a second straight national title with a win in Phoenix. The #11 Tigers won 40-32 and ended the year in the top ten for the first time since 2011.

Everything came together in 2019. LSU’s offense bloomed in a way never seen in all of college football before Joe Burrow took the field in Baton Rouge. The Tigers passed their first test in Austin when they scraped past the #9 Longhorns 45-38. Louisiana State climbed up to 6-0, scoring 42 or more points every game. The meat of the SEC schedule proved a stiff challenge, but LSU was up to the task. The #2 Tigers beat #7 Florida 42-28 and managed to put away #9 Auburn 23-20. After a bye, Louisiana State faced off against #3 Alabama, the team that had tormented LSU every time since that 2012 BCS Championship Game. The Tigers outpaced the Tide 46-41. Louisiana State was 9-0 and the path was wide open for their first West Division title since 2011. Undefeated LSU was pitted against #4 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. The Tigers easily handled the Bulldogs 37-10 to cement their place in the Playoff. As the #1 seed, Louisiana State hosted #4 Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl. LSU dismantled the Sooners 63-28 in one of the most lopsided semifinal games in the short history of the Playoff. In the National Championship Game, the Tigers faced off against Clemson. Those other Tigers from South Carolina were the scourge of Alabama, and kept the Tide and the SEC as a whole from utterly dominating the 2010′s unlike anything ever seen in college football. It wasn’t a very interesting game. Louisiana State was measurably better in every way and LSU cruised to a 42-25 win to finally earn their elusive national championship this decade in the last possible year.

I think some people will take issue with me placing the Tigers so far down the list. After all, only 7 or 8 teams actually won national championships and only a few played for it twice in the 2010′s. But, as has been painfully aware to Louisiana State fans from 2012 to 2018, LSU didn’t win anything special for most of the decade. All of the teams above the Tigers on the list have won their division more than twice as many times as LSU in the same span. All but two more than double Louisiana State’s conference champions. LSU was a good team in the 2010′s, they were great for most of the decade in fact. They just weren’t among the best outside of 2011 and 2019. Only winning 2 division titles in 10 years won’t put you in the top 5.

I’m optimistic for Louisiana State in the 2020′s. They seem to have a great foundation upon which to build yet higher plateaus. As for the rivalry tally I’ve been keeping...

Louisiana State absolutely dominated most of their rivals: 7-3 against Arkansas, Auburn, AND Florida, 8-2 against Ole Miss and Mississippi State. But, the most important rivalry would end up mostly frustrating the Tigers. LSU went 3-8 against Alabama in the 2010′s, which kept them from being higher (likely much higher) on this list.

[junker-town]

The Assassination of Arsenal Football Club by the Coward Helios

Photo by Harriet Lander - Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images

Sure, it might LOOK like Chelsea women beat Arsenal, 4-1, but that’s only because they unfairly invoked the powers of the sun.

When Graham MacAree, SB Nation’s editor in chief, and I arrived at Meadow Park to watch Arsenal take on Chelsea in the women’s division, we stood by the barrier surrounding the field after entering from the right side of the main stand. He is a Chelsea fan, and I am an Arsenal fan. He bought the tickets for my birthday, and I was sure going in that Arsenal, the best team in the league, would win easily.

While I was comfortable with the prospect of watching the game from there — this is before we were told you could not stand by the barriers but had to be in the stands proper — Graham squinted while trying to look at the goal by the North Terrace and complained that from our vantage point the glare of the sun would make enjoying the game difficult. It was at this moment I should have known who the true enemy would be.

In Plato’s Republic, Socrates criticized the poets for their depiction of the gods. For him, the gods were perfect beings in body and behavior. The gods of Homer and Hesiod resembled humans in that they lied, were vain, selfish and frivolous, and therefore not true gods. They were a corruption of the godly ideal. Socrates’ gods were the source of good but not evil, while the gods of the poets could be just as flawed and malicious as ordinary human beings.

In the same book, Socrates makes a distinction between the visible and invisible gods. The likes of Zeus, Hera, and Athena were invisible. They were the gods of the civilized world who cared about human life and might manifest themselves to people when they wished. Visible gods were gods whose presence was etched in the heavens forever — they are everlasting. These gods were celestial objects like the moon, the planets, and the sun, which Socrates calls the “child of goodness.”

If Socrates’ sun is akin to goodness, then it was replaced by an imposter when Chelsea’s women beat Arsenal, 4-1. A perfect being would not have interfered. It was rather the sun god of the poets, Helios in particular, the coward, who decided to tip the scales in a simple football game. For reasons unknown to us mortals, he made sure Arsenal suffered a heavy defeat on the day I visited.

The evidence is in Sam Kerr’s goal, Chelsea’s second. Kerr is known as one of the best players in the world but hadn’t scored since moving to Chelsea, and there was nothing about her play before the goal that was particularly threatening. At one point, she even miscontrolled the ball with her knees. Then a long cross from the left wing came into the six-yard box, a cross the goalkeeper should have easily collected. She didn’t, and it floated perfectly into the far post for Kerr to head in.

#BarclaysFAWSL account: OPENED ✅@samkerr1 is up and running for @ChelseaFCW #ARSCHE pic.twitter.com/1eT1Wg9h9c

— Barclays FA Women's Super League (@BarclaysFAWSL) January 19, 2020

At first, it looked like the Arsenal keeper, Manuela Zinsberger, misjudged the flight of the ball. But Graham and I were standing right behind her goal throughout the first half. It was not a mistake of judgement. She was blinded by the sun.

When the ball was high in the air, Zinsberger couldn’t see it. She was looking in the sun as she tried to track it, which comes with the obvious painful consequences. It is why she stuttered about as the cross came in, knowing the ball must be somewhere close but being unable to see exactly where. And when it did appear, it’s too late. Kerr got her first goal not because of anything she did, but because of the spiteful god of the sun.

In myth, Helios is rarely portrayed as behaving badly. Maybe because the sun was naturally associated with goodness as the bringer of life, or maybe because Helios was eventually replaced by Apollo. In most of the stories in which he is involved, however, he resembles the exalted god of Socrates more than a god of the poets.

The most famous story of Helios involves his son Phaeton. Phaeton, in a bid to prove he is the son of a god, asks his father for a favor. Helios promises to do anything his son wants. The boy asks to drive the god’s chariot. Since a god cannot take back a promise, Helios reluctantly abides by the deal and tries to instruct the boy on how to properly drive the sun around the Earth. The horses, quickly realizing the son was not the father, run out of control and Zeus is forced to kill the Phaeton in order to prevent the destruction of the world. Accidentally setting up your son’s death is bad, but all Helios could really be blamed for was loving Phaeton too much.

The cruelest thing he did came after he disclosed the affair of Aphrodite and Ares to Aphrodite’s husband Hephaestus. In an act of revenge, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, makes Helios fall in love with Leucothoe while he was courting another woman, Clytie. Clytie, becoming jealous, spreads the rumor of someone defiling Leucothoe, word of which reaches her father, who then buries his daughter alive.

Clytie believes the elimination of her competitor would win her Helios’ love again, but he hates her instead. He shuns her, refusing to allow the light of the sun to fall on her. She wastes away in sorrow, always turning her head toward the sun in hope of a glance. After her death, she is transformed into a heliotrope, which follows the sun throughout the day.

Though he is generally shown being better than the rest of the gods around him, Helios is still capable of cruelty. If he was a perfect being, the height of goodness, hatred would be an emotion beneath him. Even if we didn’t have the story of Clytie to look at, a fair assessment of Arsenal’s match against Chelsea would be ample evidence for his capacity for cruelty.

Two of the four goals Chelsea scored came from the left side, where the keeper couldn’t see because of the sun. They were the second and third goals, which put the game beyond the Gunners.

Just as with Kerr’s goal, Sophie Ingle’s incredible volley lost its shine (editor’s note: LOL) because of the simple fact Zinsberger had a hard time gauging where the ball was. In high-level sports, every millisecond counts in order for a player to be effective. That Zinsberger constantly had to hesitate before trying to make a save was fatal to Arsenal’s chances. Rather than turning away from Arsenal, leaving the team to shrivel up in the shadows, Helios turned his blinding glare to the team and its goalkeeper, allowing their weaker opponents (editor’s note: LOL), Chelsea, to put the game beyond doubt.

Helios’s final bout of hatred came when Chelsea scored their fourth goal. Arsenal had been dominating the ball and creating chances, and the goal came against the run of play to deny all hopes of a comeback. As Chelsea were celebrating, the sun went behind the south stand. I looked at Graham and laughed. If I had a bow and arrow at the time, I would have shot it toward the coward in charge of our solar system. Coincidentally, if there could be any coincidences in that game, Arsenal scored their only goal in the encroaching darkness of late afternoon.

As we walked out of the gates and away from the stadium, I wondered whether I had done something to incur Helios’ displeasure. Arsenal were top of the league going into the game, and no one would have imagined they would get beaten by Chelsea in that manner. The only change from all of their games and the one I watched was I was present. I had come to enjoy the exploits of Vivianne Miedema and Kim Little. Had I brought the wrath of the sun upon them?

But to blame oneself for the cruelties of a god is egotistical. It’s to assume I am the sun around which the worlds revolves around. It’s to also forget Helios is one of the gods of the poets. He is not a perfect being, and no matter how well he is written of, he still retains the capacity for maliciousness. He doesn’t need a reason, nor would those reasons be available to mortal men like myself. Maybe Chelsea had called on him for help. Maybe he was angry at being made insignificant by Apollo. All I can do is speculate.

As Graham and I went home and he boasted about his team’s victory, I thought of a scene from the video game God of War 3 in which Kratos, the protagonist, finds the wounded Helios in the city of Olympia after knocking the god from his chariot. Helios pleads for his life but eventually Kratos rips off the god’s head and begins to use it as an enhanced flashlight.

When I was young and first played the game, I thought the scene was too brutal and unfair to Helios. Now, after watching Arsenal improbable defeat to Chelsea, aided by coward Helios, which is the only sensible explanation for the defeat, I dream of being able to defeat the god in the same way. Then I could use his head to light the way forward for Arsenal’s eventual league title.

[ramenfallsbutnotudon]

Riverdale Raw Thoughts

Binge watched Riverdale last night as my Netflix membership for the month was expiring. (Not renewing again until early November to watch S2 The Crown and other stuff I’m waiting on) - Like I literally stayed up from 9 pm to 6 pm this morning watching the show straight and then went to bed and woke up at noon.

Cheesy dialogue aside, it was pretty great for what it was.

But it suffered from the same thing Scream Queens did - interesting core plot, but cheesy cringy writing and too many pop culture references to pander to their target audience demographic (I’m assuming 18-34)

Wishy-washy social commentary: 

FP Jones ain’t shit but Jughead has a cute beenie and is sensitive so he’s a-okay.

 Alice Cooper grew up on the “wrong side of the tracks” but married well so now she’s determined to keep south side trash out by joining the “neighborhood watch” and using her white woman hood, white feminism and ‘come-uppance’ privilage to publish edgy think pieces.

Betty Cooper has some pent up rage that is sorta overlooked because it was “for good” (doing it for the girls and trying to get revenge for Polly - and because the guy was Black, thinly veiled anti-blackness) until it isn’t overlooked but simply mentioned . Then she initally starts using Jughead and Jughead calls it out and she kind of agrees and says she has “darkness” in her - until something happens again and she decides to “let the darkness out” and be selfish and blame it on something else again.

Jughead getting dealt a piss poor hand, being okay at the South Side school (he’s a gang member - arguably gang leader or liutenant’s son...of course he’s fine jesus fucking christ Riverdale) until the trio of good show up to...talk to him and comfort him? and they realize he’s fine.

Betty making a white feminist speech about the town needing to do better because yes although her boyfriend’s dad is a Serpent he’s a good person and although her parents told her to shut her mouth she feels it’s the right thing to do. [She actually did not care about the Serpents before and her buds Veronica and Kevin  heckled them during the last drive in movie screening.but whatevs] After the speech she has no solution or propsed ways the town can “do better” and there’s this awkward silence and everyone’s favorite punching bag has to clap it up so people blindy accept that lackluster speech. (I don’t expect a teenage girl to fix the towns problems but if you wanted to tackle the issue and get people talking shouldnt’t you also have some thoughts other than people not being mean to your boyfriend?)

Jughead not having shit and the gang seeing him enter the trailer with a girl and (maybe wanting to keep a pg 13 rating) stop him before their steamy make out session leads to something more give him a jacket to become a serpent and Betty is angry that he’s trying to survive and embracing the gang life that he’s essentially grown up around and will be surrounded by until he comes of age.

Archie’s dad’s forhead. my god. not social commentary but damn it bugged me.

Archie and his hottie teacher banging without impuity and her being allowed to quietly leave after obviously being a predator and dangerous person. (did they ever give her back her gun??? IS that what Alice uses when Hal breaks back in? Did Hal ever mention he stole the evidence to the sheriff even after it came to light FP was innocent?)

Archie wanting the pussy cat’s to use his song so he manipulates one of the band members (Valerie), dates her, uses their connections, ignores her, and when she dumps him and tells him why he isn’t shit he somehow doesn’t get it.

Valerie being acceptable to date because she has blue eyes and light skin but she’s rarely heard from when she’s no longer helping archie’s ‘music career’ but simply dating him.

Archie playing along with Cheryl’s crazy ass family “for his music” as an excuse to be selfish.

Archie trying to be a tortured soul when his dad point blank asked him why he’s lying if he wants music that’s cool it’s just unstable; someone else (Veronica I think?) kind of saying why are you being like this no one is making you choose between Football and music; someone bringing up he was only music when he was banging his hottie teacher; the football team heckles him once but they seen he’s Troy Bolton & they accepted him - everyone fucking accepted him but himself like christ and he spent the whole season searching for validation of his self worth in women and girls.

Just Archie I mean christ lmfao. You don’t like Betty, You make out with Veronica, you decide your really into your hottie music teacher and manipulate her into music lessons (although she manipulated the hell out of him as well), when your dad starts getting a boner for her you try to cut contact with her short, people find out, you decide the pussy cats are your answer, they explain they are black and because of the culture they have had to fight hard and they can’t have a white man just step in and run shit, archie the white man steps in and runs shit, archie breaks them up, Archie says he can’t perform alone and manipulates Valerie playing on her insecurities to leave the band, archie decides “he was wrong” and Veronica decides to help him, he ditches Veronica because he looked within himself and realized he wasn’t shit, he patronizes jughead and only resumes their rocky friendship because he wanted him to keep the secret about him banging their hottie teacher, he’s semi jealous that jughead is dating Betty, archie then really wants Veronica and wants to make sure Betty isn’t jealous. He keeps playing the hero...something which probably got his dad killed at the end - If there’s a s2 I haven’t seen it yet)

Veronica Lodge is hella famous by name and it’s a small town everyone knows who she is and she even points out that she expected more people to talk to her and acknowledge her divine presence but Kevin is like “lol you got overshadowed by another rich person’s death” /s but... Ethel Muggs truly has no fucking idea who she is? No incling? No rumors? Is she really that much of a rock-dweller?

The whole incest baby thing....the josef mengele joke...the fact that Jason and Cheryl were twins.....the eugenics joke when Cheryl’s face says them damn well know they practice eugenics and ethic breeding and need to keep up the “blossom apperance” (Her dad’s red wigs, using Archie as a stand-in for Jason...but I digress -  just touch on the topic to sound edgy and draw controversy but leave it shallow eh?)

The whole “lol let’s ship our pregnant daughter away to a literal convent in 2017 because I was shipped to a convent in the late 80′s early 90′s- but why is she mad at me I love her I’d never do anything to hurt her like ambushing her and having her dragged away against her will as an underage expecting teenager lol”

Hyping big bad black football player up to fuck shit up at Archie’s party and in reality he kinda did...nothing? lmao  (a la Jughead’s aminous V.O. about “no one expected what happened at that party” or some shit )

The whole “the sins of the father don’t or shouldn’t reflect on the daughter” but Veronica gets away scott free essentially and Cheryl literally loses everything because I mean fuck those Blossoms amirite lololol /S

Archie looked like Jason, got his number initially before retiring it (lol kind of insensitive to have his doppleganger become team captain for plot purposes later on ) and the Blossoms essentially used him because he mirrored Jason at the tapping ceremony.

The name Hermione Lodge lmfao she’s not old enough for the HP book reading mom boom.

Hermione Lodge and Hiram Lodge’s intials on that stupid fucking bag.

Veronica being rich and intelligent but her morals making her real fucking dumb. (I wanna go home but I also wanna coddle everyone my daddy hurt but I still wanna be rich lol but I’m implicating my mom and she’s literally begging and pleading me to stop and having crying fits but lol justice and my chanel bags hahaha and I’m gonna go clubbing and shopping even though my mom is working as a waitress and flirting with her old hs boyfriend to secure a job so we can continue to float and not drown and not be taken down by the families my dad hurt lololol omg archie is a hot prince harry hipster ginger amirite lololol the met gala lalala rich girl things new york lol)

The whole plot demand that Veronica win the impromptu HBIC dance off when big red Cheryl actually killed that shit and Veronica danced like a fucking robot.

ARCHIE HURT HIS HAND PLAYING FOOTBALL AND CRACKING THICK ICE WITH HIS BARE BLOODY KNUCKLES HOW DOES THE GINGER WONDER STILL HAVE USE OF THAT HAND ? The body heals but it’s never the same after repeated exposed trama’s to the same area in a short period of time.

.....I’ve ranted enough about this and I didn’t even mean to.

The last two episodes seemed to have been steamrolled for the sake up tying up loose ends to create a cliffhanger for another season.

Again, good for what it was....but... I truly enjoyed that the real villian was capitalism. Good job millenials.

 (not sarcasm. Capitlaism destroyed Jughead’s future a la his father FP and Fred Andrews - The Coopers and the Blossoms - Josie McCoy’s mom - “Criminal” capitalism Hiram Lodge ruining his associates lives, the small town not working for everyone -  Archie’s mom moving (after seperation), Jughead’s mom moving, Veronica’s mom moving back because she can survive in their economy on the nest money Hiram left....) etc etc

These small cosy “uppercrust white” town just isn’t safe anymore.

I mean have you seen that new negro mayor? That wealthy latina woman and her daughter?That negro coach and his star player son?

Remember - without Capitalism there is no social inequality, systematic racism, white supremacy, classism, etc etc

(also my personal issues with one of the actors colored this a bit biased....but on how things went it was cool.)

Also our culture has a real hardon for the 1950s eh? I know it’s based on the Archie Comics but Stranger Things, 13 Reasons Why...other media where we’re going for the small town america aesthetic and “traditional values” and sprinkling in some social issues and people of color for kicks.

On to season 2 I guess lol.

Don’t put too much stock into my raw thoughts, I just think shows (especially in our current political climate and reality) should commit to what they really want.

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 34 - NYI - Clap Back

3-2 OT Loss

Coming into this game it was the Eastern Conference’s two 2nd place teams in their divisions. You might have guessed the New York Islanders would be in this position before the season began; but the Sabres being in second place in their division in December is entirely new for most of us younger fans in Buffalo. Colin Miller sneaks an OT winner against Edmonton and next time you look over the Sabres are on a three-game winning streak. Though it may be a streaky stretch since Thanksgiving don’t say they haven’t been tested. None of the opponents on this three-game banger have been slouches. Say what you will about Nashville and a recent slump from St. Louis, they’re not the beneficiaries of a weak part of the schedule. They’ve faced adversity, often early on, in each of those contests. The formula we’ve seen in wins this season is… well not all that consistent. Ralph Krueger has experimented with the deployment so much that is feels pretty normal to see Jeff Skinner dragging any number of different line mates. There only line that seems consistent is Eichel’s. The experimentation has had a very positive impact on the defensive ranks where players who literally asked out in the offseason like Rasmus Ristolainen has seen his career as a Sabre resurrected by the ascendant Brandon Montour. Colin Miller has saved Jake McCabe. Henri Jokiharju has saved Marco Scandella. Weird world, eh? If it gets us win streaks I can’t say I’m complaining. The point here is in a variety of situations this hockey teams has weathered adversity. That’s a big component of championship team. I don’t know if this club is that caliber yet, but they are showing the signs. Today they weathered the adversity with their special teams: can you think of any other game this season where you can say they’ve accomplished that specific feat? Where they weathered adversity WITH THEIR SPECIAL TEAMS? You might look to a few games back in October but its no secret the powerplay has never been totally stellar. Using your weakness as a strength? That’s clap back energy. They had it today.

The first period adversity hit hard today. The Islanders came out with speed and dekes. Linus Ullmark was tested frequently early on. The Isles forecheck was something out of a playoff game. It was so killer that about five minutes in when Ullmark opted to keep the puck in play hoping for a zone exit he was immediately punished. Jeff Skinner kinda laid the puck off the Ullmark who put it back to the boards hoping for Rasmus Dahlin to move on with it and instead Anthony Beauvillier scooped it up and sent it to the streaking Michael Dal Colle. Colle sunk it. It was 1-0 Islanders and the visitors began finding their moments. In the back half of the first period they were able to make more successful zone exits before it degraded back into the dump-in-chase show. What do the tough do when going gets tough? Well… I guess they get tough on the boards. Marco Scandella laid a hard but legal hit on an Islander on the boards and Josh Bailey came after him shortly thereafter for what they call extracurricular activities. It is Saturday though so idk if that’s what you call it, LOL. Both ended up entangled on the ice, but it was the Sabres who went to a powerplay that gave them some momentum that carried into the second period. They got another powerplay early in that period and it was just okay at first. You don’t like the Sabres spending a full 35 seconds of it without the puck but we’re at a phase with this team’s powerplay where you just need to count your blessings. After they got the puck for a sustained time Captain Jack got the puck over to Dahlin at the point who blasted it to Victor Olofsson for the one timer. It went top shelf in and out. With that it was tied and Jack Eichel’s point streak moved to 16 games.

The Sabres penalty kill hasn’t been terrible since Thanksgiving. It got a full workout as the second period went on. One, Two and Three calls against the team from Buffalo. The Risto holding call was very late and Johansson interference call was weak if you ask me but I’m not one to waste time complaining about the refs. Beauvillier certainly sold it hard. Nothing came of those chances and it was a tie game going into the second intermission. Just like all the games in this recent stretch, it could have gone either way by the feel of it. Now I know I just said I’m not the one to complain about refs but one of the things that can decide a game that goes either way are the calls… or the ones you don’t get. There were several egregious non-calls that hurt Buffalo in the third period. For the sake of appearing like I sincerely don’t want to talk about officiating I’ll only point out one of said non-calls. The Sabres are on the powerplay on the only call they got in the third and are doing battle along the walls to the right of Semyon Varlamov in the Islanders net. Jack Eichel gets held and hauled down to the ice. The puck battle is still going on and he looks around in shock that it wasn’t called. He got up and got back to work on the powerplay. A few moments later he got the puck in a frantic stick-whipping match right in front of Varlamov before whipping it into the netting with less than two minutes left in regulation. That’s leadership. That’s not just assurance of his league-leading point streak, that’s the most palpable example of this team’s new clap-back energy. It got this game into overtime. The phrasing of the change we’ve seen in the Sabres under Ralph Krueger was “play connected” but something now plainly obvious after 34 games is that you can complete the sentence: “Play Connected and Clap Back!”

The OT was as consistent as the Sabres overall effort today: on point. Buffalo carried the possession in the extra frame and had some sick chances including one where the puck ended up on top of the Isles net. Nonetheless this game was one decided by momentary mistakes. Jack Eichel fanned on a pass in just such a way to allow Beauvillier to pick it up to go off on the breakaway and end the game. The Sabres were narrowly the better team in this game but as fans its hard to feel hard-done-by when their effort throughout was so good. I mean if you want to get pissy about the refs this game feels like the right one to do so. Nonetheless this was a great game. Rasmus Dahlin had a decided lead among defenseman in time-on-ice and while you may know exactly whose second in that category without even looking Dahlin’s play was a very encouraging sign today. Perhaps one player’s absence was very felt on this Sabres team. No, I know Miller was benched in the rotation, but we’ve talked that one to death. How about Zach Bogosian? I think we have to be thankful he wasn’t in this game. Alleged trade request aside he would’ve gotten the Islanders so many more powerplays in this tight game. The guy is more of the Islanders style of fighting a dangerous physical battle when you can just win the right way instead. Hey… what can we get from New York for Bogosian? I digress: after a Post-Thanksgiving resurgence defined by revitalized 5-on-5 play the Sabres almost won this game because of a determined edge in special teams. How wild is that? The Captain’s point total reached a league high on the season at 16 games and apart from the full win what more can you really ask for out of this game? Don’t say better officiating, we all know that won’t happen in this league.

Now we once again find ourselves staring down another tilt with Toronto on Tuesday. This road trip is stacked with a closer against the surging Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. Toronto is the main course as they’ll have just gotten home from the Western Canada road trip that gave us a hurting last week. They lost to Calgary on Thursday and hopefully Edmonton tonight. You could say they’ll be hungry, but I like to think they’ll feel defeated. Get two points. If the special teams play like this for us on Tuesday I don’t see why not. It just so happens that of right now the Sabres and the Flyers happen to have the same number of points in the standings. Surging or not I like our odds against them too. I was wrong in Western Canada but hopefully the mid-Atlantic treats me better. In the meantime: like, share and comment on this blog. I think the Bills can pull it off on Sunday night football. Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. Considering the snooze-fest that was that early November game against the Isles back in Buffalo I’ll consider this one some revenge.