#i have a bunch of more version that you can find in my rb

[deadbutnostink]

They are shutting it all down

(click for good quality)

[ratwars]

Can I ask you about shipping? Do you ship every ship you rb to your blog? Is there a reason you don't tag ships? Are there any bsd ships you don't like?

Sure. No I don't. Yes there is. And yes.

Extended explanation (warning: long)

I will pretty much rb most fanart I find something I like about or looks nice irregardless of the ship or intention of the artist (whether it is ship art or not). I also don't care about a lot of ships (more in a "yeah sure whatever floats your boat" or "that could be fun, sure" type of way), or have such a casual attitude towards them it doesn't matter to me.

For fic, if the tags match up with what I like or think would be interesting, don't include any of my hard no's, and the summary catches my attention I will read whatever if I feel like it. Though for mutuals or ppl I talk to sometimes I have tried to read things that I wouldn't usually, sometimes it has been a happy surprise, other times I can't really get into it or there is something about it I just can't fuck with even though their writing is good. With art it matters even less though.

I have also been "sold" on ships by other people through fic and art as well. Because I will consider *mostly* anything, at least for a moment.

I decided early on to not tag ships. This is for multiple reasons.

1. My tagging system is detailed and organized but tagging ships makes it more complicated.

2. I would have to determine if the art was intended to be ship art or not before tagging just because of how I am. This is an extra step which gets more complicated if I am rbing from someone else because it means I have to click through every time to see the OPs original tags assuming they exist.

3. I never have the desire to search my own blog by ship. Only by character.

There are bsd ships that don't exist to me, ones I don't like, and there are bsd ships I am completely indifferent to/don't get it. I'm not going to list everything, I don't know every pairing that exists, I am surely forgetting things, and you didn't ask for specifics. So I will keep this part shorter than I could but me not listing something doesn't mean I like it or actively ship it. It just might fall into the "doesn't exist to me" or "have never thought about/don't really give a shit/forgot it existed even" category.

Any ship involving underage characters (or underage versions of characters who are presently adults) do not exist to me. As in, I'm pretending it doesn't happen for my own peace, and if I have the misfortune of seeing it I block with the quickness.

I don't like Morizai or Dazaku (in any interation including Beast version).

I am not okay with Fukuran at all.

I am not a fan/don't understand Kunichuu or Kunichuuzai or Kunichuuwhatever Kunikida and Chuuya polyship of the hour is.

I'm really mid on Kousano though I will rb art of them because I am always happy to see art for bsd women. Would probably never read fic with them though specifically/intentionally as I don't understand the pairing much.

Odazai is not something I ship but when he dies he is 23 and Dazai is 18 so I don't understand ppl who give others serious flack for shipping them in dark era (when Dazai is an adult though), or shipping Beast Odazai or AUs where Oda lives and they are both adults.

I mention this because this one I have seen just get thrown around a lot with a bunch of moral outrage with it, and I personally don't get it.

[archived-and-moving]

Ok so one of the main godesses in Hindu mythology is Durga (godess of war , strength), Durga Mata is famous for being one of the top fighter gods . So this myth starts of with Durga fighting a couple of irritating demons (in some versions of the myth there was only one demon ) one of these demons had a particularly irritating boon through which whenever his blood touched the earth a copy of him spawned

Now this demon was irritating Durga so much that her rage fromed its own entity (cool amirite ) Now this entity is known as Kali Mata (godess of rage , bloodlust,chaos and since she's a form of Durga they both share the title protecter of women also she's the goddess who crushed another god with her toe)

Rage is a powerful emotion and a goddess's rage is even more powerful now Kali Mata as soon as she was formed she was out for blood she killed the irritating demon and right before his blood hit the ground she drank it . Now once Kali Mata gets blood she can't stop so she went on a murderous rampage and nearly destroyed the world (she also danced on the bodies of the dead demons ) Shiva (god of destruction) noticed she was destroying the world which was his job (keep in mind that Durga is a form of parvati shiva's wife and Kali is a form of Durga so that makes her shiva's wife too) he now came up with a plan , so he laid under Kali Mata's feet and when she realised she was about to crush her husband with her foot she stopped

What a legend.

That's all I can think to say. This goddess just goes around fighting demons, and when a demon pissed her off, she made another entity out of her rage??????

I actually thought of you earlier because I saw a Hindu myth on my dash and I was like!!! Rtc!!!! I'm thinking of you!!! But I didn't rb or like it so I can't find it and am now sad because it was a dance off of some sort. I'm 90% sure that it had something to do with Nataraja but scrolled through that tag on Tumblr, but couldn't find it.

(Side note: I also scrolled through the Hindu Mythology tag in hopes of finding it and I gotta say, I may have gotten distracted for a bit. I thought it was really cool, because a lot of it were a bunch of people asking about Hinduism, artwork of the gods, some incorrect quotes, and stuff like that. So. Yeah. I had a lot of fun with that.)

Anyway yeah, I also tried Shiva, since I think Nataraja is his cosmic dancing form? I couldn't find anything there either so I am. stuck.

But!! Back to the actual myth you're telling me now!!!

I love that Kali Mata caused so much destruction that Shiva was just like "Hey, listen, this is cool and all, but leave destruction to me."

The only thing I could think about while reading that last part was about how much of a trust test that is. Like yeah, Durga/Kali probably wouldn't crush him but also. She could have.

All around 10/10 I am fully fascinated and informed, thank you.

[nonbinarychaoticstupid]

just leave the party with me (and never go home): fic notes

aka i try and make sense of this fic so you can make sense of this fic!

(before you start, read it here and check out this AMAZING art by @mcalexburger!!) rb link | fic playlist

i don't think it shows, but i. tried?? to reflect catra + adora's thought processes in the writing style? a lot of the tricolons and repetition in description etc come from how i think they process thought + emotion, and i don't really know if it benefits the fic itself, but i kinda like it :)

adora doesn't remember exactly how they fell apart, nor does she particularly want to. catra, however, has a near-perfect understanding of what happened from her end. stress.

i mentioned this in the tags, but both adora and catra have adhd, and in this fic, catra is a nonbinary woman who uses she/her pronouns, and melog uses they/them!

originally i wanted to have glimmer and bow meet adora, catra, and entrapta at the cafe™, but i couldn't really figure out how to make that fit, and i didn't have the time to think about fitting them in, because this section is all about adora and hand-holding.

a lot of the scenes/part endings feel unfinished (at least to me), and that's because i really want to come back and write some bonus scenes and/or spend some more time with this particular story! i'd also really like to go into what happens with catra (aka the catra flashback bit) from adora's perspective, because 99% of that is just Catra Panicking And Overthinking dkjhbdnkjfndf

the scene where adora decides that exercise is going to solve all her problems is. meant to be a reflection of the scene in launch (s5 ep 2) where bow walks in and finds her face down on the floor? dkjhfgdbf

also the entire concept of catra consistently coming and leaving food + water for her is meant to sort of reflect don't go? i wanted to sneak that in but i don't know if you can tell when you read it

they hang out a LOT over those two weeks inbetween. adora doesn't go more than 10 metres from her house, but they spend a lot of time together dlksjhnd

am i projecting my trauma wayyyy to hard onto both adora and catra? YES.

i sort of... had to sacrifice the quality of quite a few scenes to get this finished on time slkjnjdkfn (in my defense, i didn't think it was going to be quite as long as it was)

the ending was supposed to be a bit different but i sort of lost the original outline for it and had to make it up on the spot. if/when i find it again, i'll write it out and put it up on ao3! i really want to come back and explore this world because i'm oddly attached to it now

within ten minutes of posting, the relief wore off and now i miss writing it lskiughbdjdhjklIUHDJH (and now i'm thinking of writing an extended version as well as a bunch of other versions, because. boy was that a fic)

[strawberricloudz]

To Help You Get Around!

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Got a discord server to share aes and stuff if you want, too! It's a WIP but ;]

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@primalsailor

|| Bonus Blog : ACNH Journal || [Back Next Month!]

Says in the title! Got ACNH and will do logs and stuff on this blog of Sailor Sin Island and it's journey! Probably will get updates frequently for a moment and then be dead the next - as the traditional way of playing Animal Crossing lmao ((psst, you can totally play with me if you want too. hmu on Discord 🍓))

@ghiblibeck

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--

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I'll post about my King Boo/Prince Terrence au here as well as just talk about my Luigi/Bowser/Wario brainrot I get. :]

[lizacstuff]

7x04 Anons

I have a ton of asks so I’ll answer a few under the cut.  A lot of them deal with negativity over the ep and season so be warned and don’t click if you don’t want to read that.

Anonymous said:Liza, have you watched tonight's episode? What did you think of the Rumbelle send off? And of Alice being Roger's daughter?

I had zero emotional reaction to Rumbelle’s story in this episode. None. It’s been too toxic and gross and I have never really cared about it so it didn’t make me feel anything at all. I was curious what they were going to do. Now I know. 

As far as Alice being WishHook’s daughter. Eh. So they take the only interesting character and now she’s a fake Wish person too?  I just can’t with this nonsense. I’m having  a lot of problems with WishHook, so I’m not thrilled she’s tied to his story. 

Colin is still hot and an awesome human being and a terrific actor, but the plot... it’s a no for me.

Anonymous said:Sometimes I think Adam and Eddy believe they are the most clever people to ever write, and that everyone else are simple minded peasants. Like that one post-7x04 interview where the interviewer asked if Alice is wish Hook's daughter. "You're very perceptive." Uh, no, Adam and Eddy. You just have all the subtlety of a freight train. You had Alice and Rogers play chess. Wish Hook and his daughter played chess. It's obvious. Don't talk to people like they're stupid for figuring the obvious out.

This show has always been pretty obvious about some things, but they used to pull off some twists. I remember a time when fan speculation was way more wrong than it is right.  

However, season 7 is just really obvious in terms of some of the “big twists.”  Take Alice being the LGBT character, the entire fandom speculated that from the first second she appeared in shooting spoilers based on stereotypes. I have been hoping it’s not her because of those stereotypes, but nope! They had no surprises up their sleeve with it. Then most people immediately assumed she was Roger’s daughter the second we found out he had one... and apparently no twist there either. 

I guess the days of the entire fandom being shocked by finding out Hook is the Dark One and Dark Swan did everything for Hook... are over. 

Of course we should have known this reboot lost all subtlety in the second episode when everyone and their mother kept asking Henry if he was in love with the random woman he just met.  

Anonymous said:I know the promo pics didn't spell anything good for Belle, but I'm still surprised that they actually had her die. I kept thinking that there would be some twist to it.

As I was just saying... no twists, no turns. It’s exactly as everyone predicted. 

Anonymous said:I didn't watch the ep, but shit Henry and ivy have so much more chemistry than the other girl. Cinderella I think lol damn talk about epic romance also I saw comments that also agree with the Henry and ivy

If you haven’t watched how do you know they have more chemistry?  Seriously, that’s kind of ridiculous. What are you basing that on?

Anonymous said:ouat is a weird show, it requires you to pay really pay attention but not to close of attention or you will notice all the plot holes

100% accurate.  This reboot is creating so many more plot holes with all the magic mcguffins that are suddenly in play.  I guess you either have to accept it and go along for the ride, or recognize it for what it is. 

Anonymous said:hey liza, who are your favourite characters from the new cast? some of them don’t really impress me but i quite like ivy and tilly.

Both of those characters have some interesting aspects to them.  It may have a lot to do with the performers.  I haven’t been impressed with Gabriel, Dania or Mekia’s choices so far, but Adelaide and Rose have interesting screen presence. 

Anonymous said:Drizella really is a Mean Girls version of Regina. I'm between finding her general attitude annoying and finding her somewhat sympathetic considering she has to deal with Tremaine all day.

You mean Regina when she was a girl and under Cora’s thumb?  I could see that comparison.  Lets hope Drizella doesn’t follow in Regina’s footsteps and become the mass murdering rapist in town.

Anonymous said:Did Rumbelle build the house in Storybrooke?

Um... I’m not sure I understand this question.  In the show I believe that Up-inspired cabin where they were living isolated from everything and everyone else (do people really find that a happy ending?) was in the edge of realms. 

Anonymous said:I'm almost mad that we got to see more of Belle and Rumple's story than we did of Captain Swan. We all know they are living their happy ending but it would still be wonderful to see a little clip of Emma sitting on the beach with their daughter waiting for Killian to show up and join their picnic. Just some good ole domestic Captain Swan on scene would make me so happy. *sigh*

I have a number of anons like this, and just NOPE.  

First, we did not see more of Rumbelle than CS on this show.  Rumbelle was a backburner story that was most often characterized as a cautionary tale of abuse and manipulation and the pair were mostly apart and had very little focus through the run of the series. 

The showrunners decided that going forward they needed viewers to feel good about Belle and RB so after making them a gross, toxic mess for seasons now (it was just last year that Rumple was fucking the Evil Queen while Belle ran and hid for her life as he stalked and threatened her) they gave fans a bunch of twee scenes of her growing old (a life she lived isolated from everyone but two people) and dying in order to get rid of her and give Rumple motivation for this idiotic S7.

You’re jealous of that? Seriously? Fuck no. 

Also you need to understand that 7.02 and 7.04 were very different episodes.  7.02 was still really Henry's story and a moment in time where he called for help and got to see his parents for a few minutes and we all found out that Emma and Hook are doing great and gonna have a baby and living a blissfully happy life together.  It was just a check in where it was confirmed for us that Operation Happy Beginning has been a success and things are amazing. Also it spun off WishHook and completely separated the plot of S7 away from CS.  7.04 was 100% Rumple plot and his story. It explained why he's there and what is motivating him in Hyperion Heights.  Very different.  For 7.02, CS were not the focus because they didn’t need to be. Nothing in S7 requires knowing exactly what is going to happen to them minute by minute.  I'll take less screen time and my OTP being completely disentangled from this mess any day of the week.

Anonymous said:Lol my jealousy of Rumbelle having more focus than CS has dropped to 0%, that episode was eh. CS is expecting a baby, and Belle is dead after spending her life trying to fix rumple's. Nice.

Yep.  Look, I’m happy for any fans of Rumple or Belle that are happy about this episode and found peace in Belle’s life, but the writers did too much damage to this pairing over the years for me to care about it at all. 

Anonymous said:While I can't stand rumbelle I feel for the shippers. They did get some happy scenes but their ship is going to spend the rest of the season apart and in pain until the half alive dies.

Yeah... I would not like that, I don’t think. It’s just kind of creepy and icky and ew-ey. However, to each her own.  

Anonymous said:Agreed with that anon, there some good moments, but this was definitely not even close to one of the best episodes of the series. I have to respectfully disagree with Colin on this one. (Actually season 7 in its entirety lol)

Oh dear sweet Colin. Just trying to do his job.  So many cast and crew and media have shot their hyperbolic wad with this episode. Calling it the best EVER!!!!!  What will they say for the rest of the season?  “This is the second best episode EVER!!!!!” Or will they keep one upping every time they have to promote an ep?

No one with an economic interest in S7 can be trusted when talking about the quality of this season (and I include Mitovich and NA in that.) 

Anonymous said:I didn't watch the episode but I'm curious: are we supposed to believe that when Belle dies Emma and Killian are old too or was there some timeline glitch and Emma and Killian are still young in Storybrooke at the time of HH events? 

Who knows. Belle and Rumple were off living at the Edge of Realms for the last years of her life.  Rumple said something about time standing still there except for Belle??? I think. (my mind kept wandering duiring those scenes becuse they were so boring) Then after she died he opened a portal thingy to go to the time and place where the Guardian (the deux ex machina that is going to cure him of the Dark One curse) lives and Rumple was then transported to the newEF (that looks exactly like the old, I mean couldn’t they have given this new storybook’s fairy tale land some stylistic differences???)  on the night of Cinderella’s Ball and we see Henry drive by on his motorcycle. 

So yes, I think some of the flashforwards could have been from far in the future, and some could have been not all that distant because they were in a weird realm with weird time mechanics. 

However, I think Rumple and Belle left Storybrooke well before Henry did (they talk about it at Gideon’s first birthday and Henry still would have been about 14 at that time) so by the time this Hyperion Heights stuff is happening they would have been off in Fairy Tale land “traveling?” (ie living their lives in dusty libraries searching books for a way to cure Rumple.)

It hurts ones head to try to sort it all out. 

Anonymous said:After watching this episode, all I think is how sad it is how far this show gone from greatness. Going back 3 years, I would’ve never imagined ouat would be like this now. Sorry for being dramatic, it’s all just so jarring.

I think one of the most unfortunate things about this is that I really think OUAT could have been a valuable and viable franchise for years to come.  However, they tried to reboot it too soon.  As I’ve said since last spring, I think it would have been much better to let it rest a year or two and then come back with 10-13 episode event series for ABC.  

However, this experiment will probably negate any opportunity for that.

Anonymous said:I think it's a little sad that in real time, Belle died like 5-10 years after the s6 finale. I know it was longer for her but to everyone else that knew her, it'd be like she died young.

Yep. I’m not sure if in Hyperion Heights or Storybrooke in 2017 if Belle is dead, dead, or still living out her life at the edge of realms or wherever and Rumple traveled back in time???  

I don’t know. 

Anonymous said:Do you think killing Belle off is going to decrease the ratings more?

Nope. If ratings do decrease, I don’t think that will have been a factor.

Anonymous said:They lost viewers even with the episode they promoted the most wow 

They did and yes, other than the premiere, this has been the most promoted episode.  As I’ve said since the premiere, ep 5 ratings should be the most telling. I’m guessing that will be the baseline for the rest of the half season. At that point anyone in the audience who was just curious if they would preserve our favorites happy endings from the first 6 season will know and there won’t be a bump from that.  We’ll see. 

[taonsil]

mmm I locked my twt last night to say most of this but I feel better about saying it here now, though it’s prob still a bit disorganised OTL

you probably wouldn’t anyway but please don t rb~ and ok this is literally a novel so you could prob see it that the twt version was..a draft lmao 

sometimes I really hate not having a more personal space to unload for fear of being called out (which I couldn’t deal with) and/or being misunderstood. or just the basic fear that people who once thought I was nice would turn on me, if I vented for one reason and it looked like another. since I lost a lot of confidence in myself I take it harder than I should if people unfollow after I’ve said something. fandom really really matters to me, it’s basically why I’m still around and the only Thing I really have. the environment has changed to be so unforgiving, quick to judge and morally absolute, it’s so overwhelming and scary at times to go against a polarised view. I can’t just tag Everything with ‘I’m mentally ill and probably not upset about what you think’, and I don’t like worrying about if I need to add some disclaimer or will need to list my whole history of nd issues and trauma every time I just wanna complain about something from a perspective different to the one currently in favour half the reason I got so exhausted over the past few days was just from constantly unpacking and dealing with my own feelings every time the issue came up, to the point that it didn’t even matter what was being said, just the subject started me off again. which of course isn’t rational behaviour, but, that’s what happens on garbage brain days. what started as two small issues I was frustrated about flared up into me eventually making myself sick obsessing over everything. I wanted to vent my own feelings on it, and I wanted to say something for all my quiet buddies out there who may feel the same and weren’t seeing anything reassuring, but instead I just got more and more worked up about it

(I’m saying this in general, not about any specific issue) I know so many nd people who are so great, but they silence themselves out of fear of how they’ll be perceived. it sucks but I do it too. it sucks that it’s hard to even be reassuring to each other out of fear of having to try and justify why you feel the illogical thing and why you’re offering comfort instead of reform. (and then it’s silly, because we’re all out here thinking we’re the only ones orz). it’s why ‘any nice/good person has this opinion’ movements generally stress me out. some are obviously unarguable true, yes. but sometimes people have complicated reasons, and they’re usually people who are already isolated and quiet/scared/guilty, just dealing with their own feelings or finding comfort in things. but because we’re predominantly an anxious, quiet bunch it’s never really allowed for or discussed fandom environment has changed, but back when it was more closed off it was full of people with issues and trauma and garbage brains who were seeking out some comfort. it still is, but in all of the easy access and the aggression and fighting, whatever the subject, no one ever thinks about that. people seem to assume everyone is just a gross bad person. people have issues that they don’t want to deal with or unpack publicly and fear makes them hide away and doubt their comforts. (this is a smaller example, but it surprised me how many people asked why I have issues with alcohol. I feel like there’s some pretty obvious reasons you could take a guess at? if you can’t even take a good guess at why someone may have an issue, that’s..kind of how we’ve ended up with such an extreme call out culture and so many people having to use their personal trauma to defend themselves). 

I’ve been in fandoms similar to this one for fifteen years. I’ve gone from being the confused anxious guilty teenager to finally finding words and explanations for the things I felt, and becoming someone who can help other people lost and trying to figure this stuff out. in the years I’ve had this account, that’s ended up being what I’ve /wanted/ to do. as well as enjoying the boys and the content itself, I’ve always been in fandoms for comfort and for a safe, happy space. I know from personal experience, friends, and all of the amazing people I’ve spoken to on here over years, that there are so many people out there who are constantly feeling like the only person who feels the way they do, or are worried they’re doing something wrong, or feel guilty/upset/worried about something they find comfort in. so many of you have reached out to me when I’ve felt brave enough to talk about things, letting me know you feel similarly even on issues I thought were probably only my own. due to limitations I have bc of my mental health I’m never going to be able to be active in my own local communities, so if the only way I can reach out to and help queer and nd kids is through fic and soft meta and trying to keep a quiet little safe spot then it matters so much to me. there are so many of you who’ve been too afraid to talk, or even have anons published, or really break my heart by having to /ask/ me if it’s alright for you to feel a certain way or find comfort in certain thing. I’m old and crusty and have enough time and knowledge to want to be able to help with these things and I wish I was braver, and that I could be more outspoken about things or let people know that they’re not being fair, or just feel comfortable talking in hope of someone who needs to see it seeing it. idk where I’m going with this now;; I just, really enjoy meeting new people and making friends through fandom, but in the end fandom has changed and it’s changed why I’m here. it just used to be purely for fun and creating content, but in the end I’m here to hype taozi and try to make people like me who may have found me feel a lil better about things, and I just hate that despite having words and little communities for things now it’s still rough and hard to deal with for a lot of us, and that despite so much love and support I still struggle a lot with thinking sharing things is helpful rather than annoying and feeling worthy of trying to do anything;;

[possiblyimbiassed]

John’s blog is a gold mine for Sherlock’s EMP!

I really don’t know what happened to this post, but @sarahthecoat alerted me that it seemed to be un-rebloggable. Then I tried to rb it myself, but, strangely, it was cut in half. Weird. I mean, what’s happening here; is the Tumblr Ghost protesting because I try to make a blog post about a blog post from a site that is no longer updated? :P Anyway, sorry about the mess - here’s a new version, this time with pictures and an addition:

I was reading John’s blog post The Empty Hearse when I spotted this:

“I was out having dinner with my girlfriend when he sauntered back into my world. He was dressed as a waiter. BECAUSE HE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUNNY. He genuinely thought it would be funny to surprise me. I think he was more surprised when I nutted him. But let's not dwell on that because again, as the saying goes, life goes on”.

Now, doesn’t this sound just a little bit too familiar? Some points that especially stand out to me:

John: “I think he was more surprised when I nutted him”. In TLD John beats Sherlock to a pulp in the morgue.

John: “He genuinely thought it would be funny to surprise me”. John in TLD (talking to Lestrade after having beaten up Sherlock): “We always saw it coming. But it was fun”.

John: “But let's not dwell on that because again, as the saying goes, life goes on”. In TLD they did not dwell on that; in fact, the next time they talked to each other it was like the beating in the morgue hadn’t even happened; Sherlock seemed to have somehow harmed himself…

And there’s more:

“Only, of course, he comes back into my life which means I find myself being attacked, kidnapped and stuck in a bonfire. We still don't know why that happened. It had nothing to do with the terrorist plot. It was terrifying though. One of the scariest moments of my life. Trapped. Unable to move. I could hardly breathe. And all I could hear were children! Singing and laughing like they were in a horror movie. Not knowing that I was trapped in the bonfire. And then someone set it alight and that was me gone. Just about. Sherlock and my girlfriend turned up in the nick of time and saved me. It was probably Sherlock himself. Set it all up just so he could save my life so I'd forgive him about what he did. Nah, I know it wasn't really”.

John describes how he felt like he was in a horror movie. In TFP we all feel like we’re in not just one horror movie, but a whole bunch of them!

John is trapped in a bonfire, but Sherlock saves him. In TFP John is trapped in a well, but Sherlock saves him.

John: “It was probably Sherlock himself. Set it all up just so he could save my life so I'd forgive him about what he did. Ghost!Mary in TLD: “Basically he trashed himself on drugs so that you’d help him ... so that you’d have something to do, something doctory. You get that now, though?” (reversed roles, but basically the same idea)

We know from TAB that Sherlock was reading John’s blog – something he has actually been doing since day 1: 

In this case on the blog he even comments: “I see you haven't spent the last two years working on your writing technique”.

To me it seems quite likely that this is the ‘John stuff’ Sherlock bases his EMP scenes on in S4; he has read and re-read John’s words in his blog after his own return, to try and figure out what John is thinking and feeling. Then he re-hashes these ideas in different scenarios to see what the results might be.

The blog sequence could also be read metaphorically, as in John being terrified by the onslaught of emotions when Sherlock ‘saunters back into his world’ and all the conflicting feelings regarding Sherlock resurge in John’s mind. He can hardly breathe, and his heart is on fire…

And once you’ve started this it’s hard to stop; John’s blog is a gold mine! :) Here’s another one from The Hollow Client blog post where Sherlock’s wild imagination is demonstrated (my bolding):

As we stared at the suit, Sherlock quickly formulated a number of solutions. Alan had been winding Jack up to the point where Jack genuinely believed he was invisible. Jack had wrapped himself in a complex set of mirrors so that it appeared as if he was invisible. Or had been wrapped up in the mirrors by Alan. He briefly considered invisible paint. Perhaps Jack and Alan were highly-advanced scientists (they weren't, they were media students). We'd been drugged on the way in and taken to an exact replica of 221B Baker Street where a camera was projecting the suit into the chair. I did stop him at that point and ask who'd have done that. He shrugged and suggested ninjas. Then he continued... the suit was a hologram, Jack had never existed, Jack was dressed up in the same fabric as the chair...

So, we’ve had a lot of mirrors in S3 and S4, haven’t we? Both literal mirrors and other characters mirroring Sherlock and John. A complex set of mirrors indeed. There are so many, in fact, that I won’t even bother to seek them out; even if you only watch a small part of the episodes, you can hardly miss them. And, in fact, I strongly suspect that in S4 Sherlock’s been drugged and brought to his own MP version of 221B.

And the ninjas? Well…

And then we have this invisible guy who dressed up in the same fabric as a car seat…

I don’t know, but Sherlock seems to use almost every idea he’s ever had in his MP S4.

[pauperpedia]

Tuesday Brewsday 02:

Exhume the Position

Welcome to the second article where I attempt to introduce you to new & interesting brews, as well as new takes on established decks. This week I’m continuing down the brewing rabbit hole to bring you a fun Exhume deck. Reanimator has always been a powerful deck in modern as well as legacy, but you don’t see it very often in pauper. The problem is there isn’t a payoff card that pretty much wins you the game on the spot that you see in other formats. There is also the problem of having access to very few reanimate spells, exhume being the most popular one of the bunch. So what you get are either UB variants that rely on counterspells to protect your investments, or RB versions that go more all in for turn 2 or 3 kills with an Ulamog’s Crusher suited up with a Dragon Breath. I was going to post an interesting take on a UB decklist this week, but a notable YouTuber (congrats to the person behind Stompy MtG Blog) ended up beating me to the punch and went 4-1 in a league a better decklist than what I was trying to come up with. This got me to thinking outside the box and got the brewing gears running. After a bunch of tinkering I present to you this fun mono black exhume deck.

4 Peat Bog

10 Swamp

2 Witch's Cottage

4 Exhume

4 Horror of the Broken Lands

3 Street Wraith

4 Viscera Dragger

1 Greater Sandwurm

4 Gurmag Angler

3 Ash Barrens

4 Grisly Survivor

1 Mountain

1 Ghastly Demise

2 Disfigure

2 Twisted Abomination

1 Syphon Life

2 Ransack the Lab

3 Faerie Macabre

2 Sign in Blood

2 Snuff Out

1 Monstrous Carabid

You’ll notice right away that this deck relies on cycling, the sweet ability that can’t be countered which draws you a card. We are running two creatures which benefit from our constant cycling, Grisly Survivor and Horror of the Broken Lands. I absolutely fell in love with these guys after a few playtests and found the deck to be very organic and synergistic. Your gameplan is pretty much cycle your creatures to draw cards, play one of your pay off creatures, and exhume big creatures that you cycled into the graveyard. So now that we have identified what our game plan is and which creatures really play well with cycling and discard, let’s get into the rest of the deck.

We will start off with Exhume, one of the main reasons we’re playing this deck. For one colorless and a black each player returns a creature from their graveyard to the battlefield. A sweet line of play will often times be to play a Peat Bog on turn 1, then on turn two play a swamp, cycle Horror of the Broken Lands and then cast Exhume to bring it back to the battlefield. A turn 2 4/4 is nothing to sneeze at, especially one that you can pump by pretty much just playing out your deck naturally. Other great Exhume targets are Street Wraith if you’re facing opposing swamps, Greater Sandwurm, Twisted Abomination (so long as you have regeneration mana up), and if you really need to get in damage quick there is Monstrous Carabid.

We’re running an abundance of cycling creatures to help fuel our payoffs, draw cards/swamps, and fill the graveyard for Gurmag Angler. Street Wraith in this deck can act as a combat trick for free at the cost of 2 life that draws you a card. Viscera Dragger can cycle and then be Unearthed from the graveyard to put even more pressure on your opponent. Horror of the Broken Lands can be cycled for one black mana till you can either exhume it or hard cast it. Twisted Abomination has the unassuming swamp cycling ability but here’s the sweet kicker - Witch’s Cottage can be fetched which allows you to return a creature from your graveyard to the top of your library so long as you have 3 other swamps in play. There is Faerie Macabre which can be cycled for free as a combat trick or get rid of creatures from your opponents graveyard when you cast Exhume so that it benefits you more, and finally we have Greater Sandwurm & Monstrous Carabid.

Our removal package consists of 2 copies of Disfigure, 1 copy of Ghastly Demise, and 2 copies of Snuff Out. I’m still on the fence about Snuff Out and think that maybe Victim of Night might just be better, but often times I’ll tap out trying to cast creatures and cycling so it fits my play style best. Obviously in a mono black heavy environment this removal package won’t work all that well, and in that case I’d go 3 Disfigure and 2 Defile. If tokens start making a comeback it might even prove necessary to run one Echoing Decay mainboard with one in the sideboard as well. You could also get cute and use Wasteland Scorpion as removal which has the added benefit of being able to cycle as well. There are tons of options out there, but what I have been running works well enough.

Rounding out the deck we have 1 Syphon Life, 2 Sign in Blood, and 2 Ransack the Lab. You’ll notice that by playing Street Wraith and Sign in Blood that your life total takes a serious hit, so to mitigate that and also add in a little inevitability we are playing Syphon Life. It’s also one of those cards that synergizes well with the deck when you cast it from your graveyard by paying its cost in addition to discarding a land. Why the split between Sign in Blood and Ransack the Lab you might ask? Well, as previously mentioned we lose a lot of self inflicted life by drawing cards, and it just seemed too risky to play 4 copies of Sign in Blood, so we are playing Ransack the Lab alongside it. I love what Ransack the Lab does for black, it digs three cards deep to help you find exhume or a relevant card for the situation, and fills your graveyard for Gurmag Angler. It might be correct to just run 4 copies of Ransack the Lab, but I felt like the deck needed a couple of advantage spells instead of cantrips.

Finally I’ll touch on the mana base really quick before getting into the sideboard. Peat Bog is essential because it allows you to cast Grisly Survivor on turn 2 and can help “ramp” you into some nice plays early on. After you’ve exhausted the usefulness it also fills to graveyard for Gurmag Angler which is another added benefit. Another interesting addition is Ash Barrens instead of Barren Moor. My reasoning for this is that in a pinch Ash Barrens can come into play untapped ready to go, and it can also fetch our lone mountain if we ever wanted to hard cast our Monstrous Carabid. I’ve already mentioned Witch’s Cottage, but the value it offers the deck is worth mentioning again. It gives extra life to our cycled creatures and can be fetched by Twisted Abomination, something I found to be amazing.

1 Faerie Macabre

4 Geth's Verdict

2 Crypt Rats

2 Vampiric Link

2 Monstrous Carabid

1 Victim of Night

2 Disfigure

1 Raven's Crime

The sideboard is built to fight burn, hexproof, and aggressive decks. Crypt Rats is my favorite card to bring in post board and almost warrants a spot in the main as well, the only thing I don’t bring this in for is Tron and hard control decks. Raven’s crime is a card that is brought in against control decks as well, being able to be recast by discarding a land and boost your Grisly Survivor or Horror of the Broken Lands.

Now start cycling some creatures and forcing your opponents to “Exhume” the position. I’ve had a lot of fun coming up with this decklist and bringing another article to you as well. If you have any brews you’d like me to write about, please email them to pauperpedia@gmail.com. As always, I play the decks in the free tournaments hosted by gatherling every Tuesday night and do a quick report on how the deck fared. Till next time folks, have a happy Brewsday!

[flauntpage]

The NFL Isn't Swinging Back to Superstar RBs Anytime Soon

Welcome to the NFL Underground Mailbag. Ask Chris your question about the NFL, general sports, or cultural minutiae at HeyHarris@HarrisFootball.com. Follow him @HarrisFootball.

Sam P.: Do you think offenses like the Cowboys—where one workhorse running back is featured—are remnants of the past, or will the NFL eventually swing back to workhorses?

Everything goes in cycles. First we aren't wearing shower caps as part of our outfits, then we are, then we aren't again. What makes strategic NFL sense in 2017 will look like the Wildcat in 2027, by which time our robot overlords will control flesh-and-blood quarterbacks via joysticks and rectal implants.

Right now it's hard for you to imagine a pro-football-viewing public that doesn't prefer the five-wide, spread-out offenses of today, but that's only because you don't realize that we're just a couple years away from letting defenders carry homemade implements to snip the Achilles' tendons of opposing receivers. That oncoming trend will simultaneously slow down passing games and indulge in our collective bloodlust. Win-win.

Just gotta break through. Photo by Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

For as long as the NFL remains incredibly pass-happy, though, NFL teams aren't incentivized to build around a single expensive running back. Better to employ a team of interchangeable parts, none of whom carry the full burden of surviving 20-plus car crashes per week.

Frankly, you don't need to be excellent to play running back in the league right now. There are great rushers, but perhaps only…five of them? If that? Most teams have a bunch of meh in their backfields and shuffle them around both to keep them healthy and to lessen the impact when one of them decides he's worth a mint.

As recently as 2012, five running backs eclipsed 300 carries in a single season; six RBs have done so over the four combined seasons since. Ten years ago we used to talk about the Curse of 400! Zeke Elliott was excellent as a rookie—and the only rusher to top 300 totes last year—but he has two possible career paths: one where he's a bell-cow for a few years, gets hurt and/or expensive, and flames out early, and one where the Cowboys prolong his career while also giving sportsball morons an excuse to gripe about the old days.

I guess I do believe that everything old is new again, and eventually NFL offenses will realize they can kill dime defenses with great power rushing like Dallas did last year. When that happens, RBs will be superstars once more—but we're not there yet, and we're probably not close. Wake me when the Achilles' snipping starts.

Taylor C.: I'm curious about John Ross with the Bengals. Do you see him having a similar effect as Tyreek Hill did with the Chiefs last year, or is their only similarity that they can each outrun a train?

On my podcast, one of the most annoyingly incoherent things I regularly say—among many!—is "We can't legislate usage." Especially when it comes to one of the NFL's daffiest franchises, it's impossible to definitively state how John Ross's rookie season will go. A.J. Green gets fed first in Cincinnati, but I just got through talking about how insanely pass-happy the NFL is. Even if Green stays healthy and tops 180 targets, there'll be 400 more available for everyone else.

John Ross with the Bengals. Photo by Sam Greene/Cincinnati Enquirer via USA TODAY NETWORK

Ross is probably faster and quicker than Hill. His one year of collegiate dominance featured dozens of highlights showing off ridiculous acceleration and change-of-direction that remind me of Antonio Brown. What's interesting about the Hill/Ross comparison is that each guy had a tough time finding a position: Hill was a too-small running back who gradually shifted to a utility role, while Ross was a corner in his freshman year. As such, neither guy is a finished product, but each is a total game-wrecker with the ball.

The questions about Hill are whether he can become polished enough getting off the line as an outside receiver to become an Odell Beckham–type superstar, and whether the conservative Chiefs will give him the chance; in '16, 27 of his 83 targets were thrown behind the line, making him the screen-heaviest WR in the NFL by percentage.

I have more faith that the Bengals will give Ross more clear-out duties, and that he'll make big plays down the field (whereas last year Hill had only 11 targets that traveled 20 or more air yards). Of course, I can't know whether the Bengals will bomb it to Ross as a rookie any more than the Chiefs did for Hill last year, because—say it with me now—we can't legislate usage.

Mike M.: What's the best concert you've ever been to?

In researching my big music novel, War On Sound, I saw hundreds of shows and talked to dozens of bands. Many of the stories I experienced myself or heard about wound up in the book. Who am I kidding: most of them did. I'm not that creative.

I wish these stories made me look cool (Milla Jovovich once stepped on my foot at a Toad The Wet Sprocket show—hi, I'm old!), but that's not my lot in life.

My standard response to this question has always been: Cracker. This was the mid 90s in Austin, at the long-gone Liberty Lunch. Counting Crows opened, and nobody had ever heard of them, and we thought they were pretty good. (As it turned out, we were probably wrong.) Then Cracker came on.

They rocked, but as the show wore on, it became obvious they couldn't hear themselves very well. David Lowery launched into "Eurotrash Girl," a deep cut hidden on their "Kerosene Hat" record that made me feel cool for knowing it. But the band stopped partway through, and Lowery shouted into the microphone, "These monitors are for shit!" Then he picked up one of the monitors (speakers that face the musicians so they can hear what they're playing or singing) and passed it into the crowd, where we surfed it out over our heads into the middle of the club.

The Liberty Lunch bouncers were not amused. They tore into the audience, shoving kids aside, punching one dude who was unlucky enough to be holding the monitor over his head, and wrenching away the speaker. Someone reinstalled it back on the stage, and Cracker somehow wasn't kicked out of the club, and resumed their set.

It was great. They said thank you. They did an encore. They said thank you. They did another encore. The Liberty Lunch lights came up, everybody yelled and turned away from the stage, the crew relaxed as we beat our retreat…and then the band came out again. Lowery said, "We never finished this song," and proceeded to play "Eurotrash Girl" from the beginning, an eight-minute number, as one final fuck-you to the L.L.

Being a drunk idiot who fancied himself an anti-establishmentarian, but who was actually a wet-behind-the-ears school newspaper editor, I shouted along gleefully and went home happy. And with some of my hearing intact!

Tore B.: How well do you think you'd do as a real-life NFL GM?

I'm sure I'd suck.

My NFL analysis often amounts to: stop retrofitting reasons for things. Usually good players play well and bad players play poorly, and good teams play well and bad teams play poorly, and usually the reasons those things happen don't involve where the game was played or who had extra motivation or which players can't stand each other or any other of the million clichés with which sports fans are bombarded because the media is basically a bunch of lazy assholes who don't think you can tell when they're picking stuff out of their asses.

Don't get me wrong. The interpersonal stuff does matter. It matters bigly! My point is just that we never get the real truth. As fans, we're privy to lies and political answers and little else.

A leader of men. Photo by Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

The hardest thing to do is to get the members of any complex organization to pull in the same direction, let alone a complex organization filled with violent alpha males with the collective IQ of a loaf of raisin bread. You have to do stuff like bury footballs and chop off your punter's foot in the name of motivation.

It takes a one-in-a-million leader to be able to spout that garbage or just flat-out scare players into fucking up less than their opponents. I think I have a pretty decent handle on the talent evaluation side of the NFL, but managing to keep 53 knuckleheads out of prison is almost certainly beyond me.

Michael R.: How in the world are the NBA playoffs more popular than the NHL playoffs? Has the world suffered a collective massive head wound?

The NBA playoffs blow. They are terrible. Super-teams often make for exciting finals but everything before those finals are a joke. Nice of the Rockets to show up Thursday night, huh? Nice of the Bulls to look like they gave a crap, too. Home teams on the verge of elimination are now 0-10 this year. The average margin of victory in those ten games is 16.2 points. Overall, 17 games have been decided by at least 20 points. Warriors–Cavs III has been foreordained since last June, and the media have been trying to distract us with MVP talk for months.

By contrast, the NHL playoffs are awesome. The games are close. Road teams sometimes win. Underdogs sometimes win. For a fan of the two teams, a hockey Game 7 is the closest humankind has yet come to collectively shitting out its own heart. If you like the NBA playoffs more than the NHL playoffs, you're (a) a hopeless idiot; (b) Charles Barkley; or (c) both.

Tom M.: You planning on coming back to Austin in 2017?

It's already over 90 degrees there, with three months of 100-plus looming. Cracker better be doing a fantastic version of "Eurotrash Girl."

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The NFL Isn't Swinging Back to Superstar RBs Anytime Soon published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[racingtoaredlight]

Another RTARL way too soon NFL first round mock draft 2017

It’s NFL Draft season! Next weekend will be dominated by the NFL Combine, which would be dominated by the troops if they all showed up but will instead be just a bunch of football players hanging out in shorts and t-shirts. I thought it would be fun* to do another mock draft now before the disappointments and surprises that the combine often affords.

I had this whole thing about punching strict Constitutionalists worked out in my head but I lost the urgency of that feeling. This would have been the header image for that post. Forget you ever read this if I get around to doing that post.

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Myles Garrett knows what I’m talking about. He’ll be punching Consitutionalists on the reg in Cleveland. Both on the field and, if he’s truly heroic, off the field. But I swear I’m not writing about that now. Just doing an awesome mock draft about all of the awesome matchups that I come up with based on sources** that are proprietary to RTARL. I’m drafting based on perceived team needs and will take credit for direct hits: if I get the right player to the right team, if I get the correct position, if the player drafted is from the same college as the one in the same position on my draft, if the players share a first or last name, if the team drafting is the one I have listed, if there is a trade.

1  Cleveland Browns

Myles Garrett, DL, Texas A&M

He’s the best player and the Browns need everything. It’s sad that he will spend all of his career battling injuries but such is the lot of a Browns.

2  San Francisco 49ers

Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson

The 49ers will have zero QBs under contract once Colin Kaepernick opts out of his contract (why is that happening, by the way? He won’t get as much money and he won’t start anywhere else.) Watson doesn’t really strike me as an NFL star but I don’t think that even matters at this point for the 49ers. If he can be soul crushingly boring like Alex Smith that’s good enough.

3  Chicago Bears

Jonathan Allen, DL, Alabama

The going theory among people that, no shit, make a living writing about the NFL Draft is that Allen is going to drop closer to the tenth pick. The Bears suck all over and I’m just sticking him here because I forget what they really should do.

4 Jacksonville Jaguars

Leonard Fournette, RB, LSU

The hottest thing in draft blogging is to overvalue Dalvin Cook. I may be blinded by how much I hate Dalvin Cook but I really think his medical profile is going to be a lot worse than people realize. Well, shit, I guess that’s a possibility for Fournette, too. What the fuck ever, it’s the Jaguars.

5 Tennessee Titans

Mike Williams, WR, Clemson

I think the way Williams plays works pretty well with the way Marcus Mariota plays and he’ll be a 100-catch machine in no time.

6  New York Jets

Patrick Mahomes, QB, Texas Tech

From what I’ve seen Mahomes is the consensus fourth QB in the draft but he’s got the best arm and he’s got, in my eyes, the best chance to be a huge bust. If that isn’t a Jets player I don’t know what is.

7  Los Angeles Chargers

Jamal Adams, DB, LSU

If Adams is as good as his recent press then this is the best pick in the draft. I can’t wait to buy a last minute ticket to watch him in front of 20,000 other slightly invested fans playing on a field built for boxing.

8  Carolina Panthers

Corey Davis, WR, Western Michigan

I’m 95% certain the Panthers will not pick a receiver here but it seems like a good fit to me and all I keep hearing about is how shitty the OL prospects are for this draft.

9  Cincinnati Bengals

Malik McDowell, DL, Michigan State

Huge, insanely athletic, maybe not always motivated but awesome when he is. This is a Bengals if ever there was a Bengals.

10  Buffalo Bills

David Njoku, TE, Miami

I’m gonna level with you: I have no idea what any team actually needs. Playing in Buffalo the Bills should just have a bunch of TEs and run some version of the Run & Shoot that involves 5 TEs on the field at all times. Njoku could totally be the Haywood Jeffires of that arrangement.

11  New Orleans Saints

Reuben Foster, LB, Alabama

Back in the late 80s and early 90s the Saints had the best collection of LBs of any team in the NFL and that seems impossible based on every other era in team history. Foster is getting hype that makes me imagine him fitting in with Rickey Jackson, Sam Mills, and Pat Swilling. Is he that good? Who the fuck knows. Aaron Curry was supposed to be the safest pick in NFL history and he sucked horribly.

12  Cleveland Browns

DeShone Kizer, QB, Notre Dame

Kizer is way too good to be held down by the screaming murderer in charge of Notre Dame to hold him down any longer. Hue Jackson will get the most out of him.

13  Arizona Cardinals

Garrett Bolles, OL, Utah

He’s already old which fits in with what the Cardinals are doing as a team.

14 Indianapolis Colts

Forrest Lamp, OL, Western Kentucky

This might actually be the Eagles pick. It’s going to be decided by a coin flip. I like putting Forrest Lamp here because he has a good name and I wanted to write it. The Colts are an Andrew Luck injury away from complete disaster so an OL pick seems likely.

15  Philadelphia Eagles 

Dalvin Cook, RB, FSU

Cook and Wentz can be 8-8 together for years to come.

16  Baltimore Ravens

Marshon Lattimore, CB, Ohio State

I’m totally just pulling names out of the air right now. It seems crazy that there would be no CBs picked until 16 but I didn’t have an OL go until 13. That isn’t happening.

17  Washington Redskins

Quincy Wilson, CB, Florida

Washington needs to find a QB of the future but there isn’t anybody left to rate this highly.

18  Tennessee Titans

Cam Robinson, OL, Alabama

This makes sense, right?

19  Tampa Bay Buccaneers

O.J. Howard, TE, Alabama

Remember that year the Jets and Giants both wasted first round picks on shitty tight ends? Howard reminds me of Derek Brown.

20  Denver Broncos

Ryan Ramczyk, OL, Wisconsin

I think Ramczyk is having hip surgery but the Broncos are taking an OL in the first round come hell or high water and this is the name that stood out to me from the list of names I was looking at as I wrote this.

21  Detroit Lions

Takkarist McKinley, LB, UCLA

I wanted to give the Lions something nice and I think McKinley is a star.

22  Miami Dolphins

Zach Cunningham, LB, Vanderbilt

The Dolphins seem like the flukiest team in the league and I don’t remember them being very good anywhere but on the defensive line. I might not even be correct about that.

23  New York Giants

John Ross, WR, Washington

Ross could be a great deep threat opposite ODB’s greatness and if they can stay healthy the two of them together could really help the first pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Is this a good pick or something the Giants would actually do? Probably not. I’m not good at predicting.

24  Oakland Raiders

Soloman Thomas, DL, Stanford

The Raiders need a ton of help on defense and this is theoretically the best draft in a long time to address that side of the ball. Thomas is a top-10 level talent but I think there’s such a glut of front 7 talent that a lot of those guys are going to fall quite a bit.

25  Houston Texans

Budda Baker, S, Washington

I listened to some podcast about the draft that had the Texans taking a QB here and I laughed at the idea of an NFL team being willing to admit so quickly how badly they planned last season. Those same guys described every pick as an interesting situation and made Budda Baker seem like the second coming of Ed Reed. So I’m stealing part of their jive.

26  Seattle Seahawks

Antonio Garcia, OL, Troy

Everybody on the planet expects the Seahawks to draft an OL and then not know how to develop him. I’m picking names out of a hat when it comes to OL guys here, if you weren’t aware.

27  Kansas City Chiefs

Christian McCaffrey, RB, Stanford

I haven’t seen anybody put McCaffrey here but it seems like an awesome fit to me. Andy Reid could put him to good use all over the field.

28  Dallas Cowboys

Haason Redick, EDGE (!!!), Temple

Last year the Cowboys got all of my pre-draft favorites so I’m gonna make that continue and give them one of my favorite players in this draft. Redick is a preposterous athlete who came to college as a cornerback and then grew into a defensive lineman. He’ll probably be more of a linebacker in the pros but he should be a total nightmare in the best of ways wherever he lines up.

29  Green Bay Packers

Teez Tabor, CB, Florida

I listen to / read way too much online scouting. Tabor isn’t falling this far.

30  Pittsburgh Steelers

Jordan Willis, DE, Kansas State

The Steelers also grab a lot of the guys I really like. Year after year they do that, actually, and they mostly don’t end up as good as I expected. Willis is like the platonic ideal of a pass rushing end so expect him to turn into a linebacker somehow in Pittsburgh and get a bunch of sacks in 2021 on his way to a crazy contract in Jacksonville before he gets cut a year later.

31  Atlanta Falcons

Taco Charlton, DE, Michigan

Good lord there are too many good pass rushers in this draft. I don’t see any consensus yet on which ones stack up where but I do know that I don’t really like Charlton as anything more than a space killer in the NFL. He’s big enough and strong enough to not be a sinkhole but I don’t trust him to rack up stats, either. Atlanta needs some guys like this.

32  New England Patriots

Corn Elder, CB, Miami

I have every bit of confidence that Corn is going to come out of the combine with a lot more fans in draft world than he has now. It’s not like he’s a low-rated player but he’s going to test a lot faster than people realize. Did I just make it through the first round without about 20 players that I think should be first rounders? Yes I did.

* stabbing yourself in the eye with a protractor is similarly fun if you’re looking for things to do today

** other mock drafts

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[junker-town]

The music college football players listen to, and how teams pick what to play

Migos and Future are in. Country is (usually) not.

College football teams are collections of more than 100 young people from all over the country, with different backgrounds and music tastes. Sometimes, the players blast music over a stereo that fills an entire weight room or practice field. Others, they put on headphones and listen to the one song that gets them right before a game.

SB Nation talked with dozens of players and asked a bunch for their favorites, the songs that are always bumping in their teams’ shared spaces, the ones they need to hear for themselves, and their songs of the summer.

The short version: locker rooms love Migos and Future, but playing Drake or country might be a risky move.

What players like and don’t like

Vanderbilt RB Ralph Webb

Vandy strength coach James Dobson lets Webb pick the music on Mondays.

Favorite: “I might play some Future radio. Migos. Some of the o-lineman like to listen to the country music, so I can roll.”

Webb says he “adjusts” to country.

Kentucky QB Stephen Johnson

Favorite: Kodak Black

Worst: “Sometimes somebody will put on real slow Drake songs, like from the Take Care album, and it’ll get everybody down, and we’ll have to change that immediately.”

Arkansas OL Frank Ragnow

Favorite: Oldies, ‘70s, ‘80s, AC/DC

Least favorite: Slow jazz

Florida DB Duke Dawson

Favorite: “Of course rap.”

Least favorite: “I cannot listen to country music at all.” According to Dawson, strength coach Mike Kent puts country on to mess with the players.

Illinois WR Malik Turner

Last year, the rift between Drake and Future threatened to tear the program apart.

“As an entire team, we’re pretty diverse in our music choices. There’s some guys that like country. Some guys are like, ‘Oh, country’s on.’ They don’t all like that.”

Arkansas DB Kevin Richardson

Least favorite: N/A. “They’ve got me on country music now too, so I’ll listen to almost anything.”

Georgia RB Sony Michel

Favorite and not-so-favorite: “I like Young Thug, the artist. And me, I’m not really an old school kind of guy, so like if Ice Cube comes on — and I respect Ice Cube, and what he does, the music he puts on — but I’m just a part of this generation.”

Florida OL Martez Ivey

Favorite: “Probably rap. I just know every lyric to it. When I’m grinding, like say when I’m doing abs, I hear a song come on, I could just sing along to it. And when I’m in pain, my stomach is cramping, I’m just like, ‘Alright I’m Ok, I’m gonna just rap along to this song, and it’ll make it go by faster.’”

Least favorite: “No country. I can’t listen to country while I’m working out. I love country, though, other than when I’m working out. Or Taylor Swift. No Taylor Swift in the weight room.”

Georgia RB Nick Chubb

Favorite: Future, J. Cole, Drake

Least favorite: “I don’t like metal music.”

Mississippi State WR Donald Gray

Least favorite, but also favorite, kind of: “I’m weird. I kind of listen to a lot of music. Some music that I hear I might not know the name of it, it kind of gets me going. It may strike a nerve, and I might just go even harder, so I can’t even say, ‘It’s bad music to hear in the weight room,’ you know? It can be something slow, it can be something fast, it could be funeral music — I’ll find a way to get going to it.”

Florida S Marcell Harris

Favorite: Migos

Least favorite: Anything slow.

Cincinnati S Carter Jacobs

Favorite: “We played ‘Throw It Up’ by Lil’ Jon. That’s one of our greats in the weight room. It gets everyone going.”

Least favorite: “Bad songs? They play some old techno sometimes on Tuesdays, Techno Tuesdays, and it gets very repetitive.”

Alabama OL Bradley Bozeman

Favorite: AC/DC or Guns N’ Roses

Least favorite: The same song over and over.

Cincinnati OL Korey Cunningham

Favorite: Webbie

Least favorite: “We got a kid named [OL] Kyle Trout, and he plays a lot of cartoon songs and stuff like that ... like Dragon Tales. It gets him going, because we work out at 6 in the morning, we’re done like 7:45 to 8, and that’s like the last thing you want to hear in the mornings after a workout. It’s probably the worst part about it.”

Georgia LB Roquan Smith:

Favorite: Pastor Troy

Least favorite: “R&B, just slow stuff like that.”

Kentucky LB Courtney Love

Favorite: “I like listening to Future. Future is awesome.”

Least favorite: “Sometimes somebody will put on like some BPM or something, and like, I like it, but not to work out to. We have some interns that put that on.”

Kentucky S Mike Edwards

Favorite: Hip-hop, 21 Savage

Least favorite: Slow music

ECU WR Jimmy Williams

“Future, Migos, we got Drake going sometimes,” Williams says. “One day we walked in there and had Bryson Tiller on. We in there singing, but we lifting weights. Everybody just vibing out to it. It’s just a switch up, change of mood. It put everybody in a good mood, you know? We walk in there some days, and it’s old school rock ’n’ roll; it ain’t usually country. Regardless of race, when you hear somebody playing music, it’s usually hip-hop music.”

At most programs, the power of the stereo is first-come, first-served.

Indiana’s one of the teams that lets the first man to the cord decide.

“It’s in the equipment room, and it’s hooked up to a computer, so you can go in there and turn whatever song you want on,” QB Lagow, who’s from Texas, says. “But if I were to go in there and turn on Toby Keith, it would get taken over pretty quickly.”

“It’s whoever grabs the phone,” Arkansas’ Ragnow says. “[Strength coach] Herb’s got the overall say — no one’s going to argue with that — but anyone can go put on a song.”

Ragnow added that Coach Herb being a fan of Johnny Cash means “Ring of Fire” has been heard in the weight room before. The strength staff often controls the auxiliary cord.

“It’s controlled by one guy mainly, and you can make requests,” Georgia linebacker Smith says.

Another way of deciding on music: “White Boy Wednesday.”

In a bunch of locker rooms, including Cincinnati’s, country songs are OK, but only on a specific day.

“For the most part, somebody from Florida” controls the Bearcats’ aux, Alabama native Cunningham says, “until it’s White Boy Wednesday. That’s always the best day. You get a lot of country music.”

And sometimes, the head coach makes executive decisions.

"The first song [at practice] is 'Smooth,' Santana," Syracuse coach Dino Babers says. "The last song: 'I Feel Good,' James Brown. Every black guy, white guy, pink guy, green guy will learn the words of those songs. Now, in between those two songs, they get to play whatever they want, as long as there's not cuss words or N-bombs."