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henqtic · 4 years

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Draco takes care of you when you tear your acl in quidditch and after surgery too

𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 || 𝒅.𝒎

word count: 945

warnings: tearing your acl- that’s a given, mentions of breaking your bones, kissing ish?, I think that’s about it.

a/n- I’m sorry this took so long lol- I’m a bit of an over achiever so I did ‘research’ before I started.

+masterlist | draco malfoy masterlist

The day had been annoyingly long, each sympathetic look weighing down your mood more than it already was. In simpler words, it was utterly exhausting. The only thing that could possibly make it better was a relaxed afternoon cuddled up with your boyfriend.

When you were younger, you always yearned for the attention others got when they broke a bone and came back to classes with a cast, prepared for anyone and everyone to sign.

Now that you were older, you realized that all the attention and ‘longing’ stares of pity just weren’t the best thing in the world, especially when they were coming from Gryffindors who’s whole existence was hating your house. You know what? You wished you had broken a bone, it would’ve been better than this.

Draco did try his best to help when he noticed you looked uncomfortable. But scowling at ninety percent of the school that were genuinely sorry that you had gotten hurt so bad had only drew more attention. It was out of sweetness really but sometimes he needed to read a room.

A week ago ago in a Slytherin versus Gryffindor game, a quaffle was directed right at you, and out of instinct you moved out of the way. Or at least tried to. Seconds later a blinding pain struck the middle of your right knee; a loud popping sound following.

Draco swooped in and grabbed you before you lost grip, disregarding both the snitch and the game at hand. You were about to complain that it wasn’t that big of a deal but once you looked down, you realized it was. Your knee had already started to swell up and looked very- obscure.

“Be honest with me Draco. How bad is it, ‘scale of one to ten?” You asked worryingly, half listening to what Madame Pomfrey was saying. Your hand was tightly latched with his big ones as he peaked at it. He grimaced before looking back at you.

Truth was it was an eight and very close to being a nine but the worry was practically oozing out of you. “Let’s not worry about that love,” he said sympathetically, wiping a fallen tear from your face.

Out of all things that could've happened in your time in Hogwarts, you didn't think tearing your acl was going to be one of them. You also didn’t expect to be transported to st. mungo's for a surgery.

When it was done, you were informed that you would be able to go back to Hogwarts the very next day and someone would have to help you around. But the only part you were focusing on was if you were going to be able to play quidditch again.

You knew what torn acls did to a lot of athletes and you didn’t want that to happen to you- the fact that you had magical healers at your fingertips slipped your mind. You’d be able to play quidditch again just not in the next six months and maybe some time after that.

A downside was that you had to go around wearing both a cast and knee brace and crutches, which undoubtedly earned unneeded attention. Everything was better with Draco there. At some point he went as far as to bribe the physical therapist to be in the same room as you and promised to ‘not be a distraction’.

He had to leave after about ten minutes when he had gotten bored and decided to play with your crutches. He lost balance and fell face first, earning a bloody nose in the process.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

“Draco you really don’t have to do all this.” He had already put pillows under your leg to keep it elevated and was going to grab an ice pack too. “What are you gonna do? Get up and stop me for carrying for you?” He asked rhetorically with a small chuckle placing the ice pack on top of your knee.

“Ha-ha you’re such a comedian Draco, the funniest guy out there” your tone was full of sarcasm; getting an infamous scowl. He caught sight of the school uniform you were still wearing, “Stay here and let me get you something more comfortable to wear yea?” He hadn’t given you a chance to answer before going to one of the dark dressers that decorated his room.

Stay here? Where does he expect me to go? You wondered looking down at your injured leg. Your thoughts were interrupted by a familiar emerald green jersey getting thrown onto the bed.

At any other given moment it would be comforting to wear a piece of his clothing, especially one you had been wearing since fifth year when you two started dating.

But seeing as it was closely connected to the whole reason you were in this position in the first place, you’d rather be wearing nothing at all.

“It is supposed to be some sick joke,” you laughed, picking up the quidditch jersey. It wasn’t much of a joking matter but watching him scramble to get it out of your sight was nothing less of amusing.

“Are you- are you laughing at me?” He asked feigning offense, making you shake and bite your lip to contain the giggle that wanted to pass your lips.

“I’m going to get you back for that,” he threatened making you laugh louder and widen your eyes to fake being scared. He scoffed before grabbing your face in his hands and peppering kisses in every place he could.

The rest of the afternoon was filled with giggles and kisses and occasionally him trying to practice walking on crutches again. This time not giving himself a bloody nose.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

general taglist- @90smalfoy @ch0kemedracomalfoy @dracosaccount

draco malfoy taglist- @turn-to-page-394-please @clownybrit @aguamvnti @callmesasha

if your name is crossed out that means I couldn’t tag you for some reason.

+Taglist form →here

#draco malfoy #draco fluff #malfoy #draco x yn #draco x slytherin!reader #draco x reader #draco blurb #draco fic

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made-me-deep-blue · 4 years

Text

high school au poppy x bea - things i want to tell you.

based on @somewillwin ‘s post: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/somewillwin/626841598185160704

tw; injury, hospital

In the span of about an hour, Poppy Min-Sinclair found herself in the brightly-lit hallway of Eastwood General Hospital, along with Bea’s parents tapping their feet and bouncing their legs in anticipation of the doctor attending to their daughter’s exit from the ward.

She slid against the wall and hugged her knees close to herself. She inhaled with counts of three, and shakily exhaled, gripping her arms as her knuckles turned white.

Never in Poppy’s high school life had she ever experienced this kind of a brawl during a football match, and Bea had to get herself injured in the process.

It was the most anticipated game against their arch-rivals in the Class AAAAA State Championships. Everyone in the state knew that Eastwood and Acadia had a history in their football matches, especially who Acadia’s captain calls “mad dog”, Brent Kaylen. The nickname is pretty self-explanatory, but he is the decoy of Acadia Academy’s football team.

“You will be careful, won’t you?” Poppy crossed her arms as she said, watching Bea tie her cleat’s laces on the bench in the locker room. “You know Acadia’s reputation, especially with “Mad Dog” Kaylen in the starting lineup.”

Bea scoffed, tucking her helmet under her arm and faced Poppy as she stood. Poppy had already gotten used to the height difference, but something was different with Bea today. It was as if she could see a menacing shadow of someone inhuman looming over her lean, well-muscled body over Poppy’s small stature.

“You don’t have to worry about me, Poppy,” Bea smiled softly, the corners of her eyes crinkling. She bent down and gave a small kiss on the shorter girl’s cheek. Thank god they were alone.

When the two girls walked out of the locker room and before they left to take their positions, Bea wore her helmet and looked back at Poppy.

“I’m a beast in this sport, remember?”

“...not like the mad dog, babo*-yah.”

Nearly half of Acadia’s boys got a red card and sent off the field after the brawl, along with some of Eastwood’s players too. Bea, unfortunately, knocked hard in the side of her scarred head and went in and out of consciousness before eventually passing out by the time the paramedics arrived.

Poppy had never screamed and ran so hard ever in her life when she saw Bea collapse.

Poppy had nearly dozed off when she felt something laid atop her shoulders. When she looked up, it was Bea’s dad putting Bea’s varsity jacket just in case she got cold because she was still in her cheerleading uniform.

“Come on, kiddo,” Bea’s dad smiled. “We’ll let you know how Bea’s doing when you get back, alright? Go freshen up yourself and changed, Poppy.”

The head cheerleader nearly burst into tears at his words, but managed a nod and hurried out of the hospital.

After a well-deserved, long shower at Bea’s place and changing into the clothes she had left in Bea’s bedroom (just in case she was staying over), Poppy clutched onto Bea’s varsity jacket as she walked to the ward with her eidetic memory.

“Naomi,” Poppy sighed in relief as she engulfed Bea’s mom in a bear hug.

“Oh, Poppy dear,” Naomi gave Poppy gentle pats on her back.

“How’s Bea?”

“The doctor said that there was no serious damage done to her old injury, but they still need to keep an eye on her,” both women looked through the window. Kevin, Bea’s dad, watching silently at her daughter, sleeping peacefully under the blankets. “Kevin and I will head back home first, we’ll leave you to watch over our precious girl.”

“Thank you so much, Naomi.”

Poppy walked in hesitantly after seeing Bea’s parents off, closing the door gently behind her. She dropped her schoolbag by the nightstand and plopped onto the cushioned chair opposite Bea’s bed.

“The things you’d do for the person you lo-” Poppy muttered under her breath, before stopping on the last word and thought back. “Do I…?”

The past year had been a whirlwind with Bea Hughes. From the cheerleader that would exchange snide remarks with the rookie football prodigy, she was now heads over heels for that same girl. They would be careful with how they were together in school; maintaining their ‘rivalry’ on campus, only to be affectionate when no one was looking and having a secret sign language between them that no one could decipher.

The spot behind the big oak tree behind the stadium was their favourite spot to be together, with Bea’s head on Poppy’s lap as they listened to their mixtape they made together.

It sure was the cliche popular girl and athletic jock kind of a love story, but Poppy and Bea hadn’t explicitly stated where they stood together in this relationship. Frienemies? Friends? Best friends? More than that? Do friends let you stay over when you have a family drama? Do frienemies even let you into their house?

Poppy pulled out her phone and played the mixtape and moved her chair to the side of Bea’s bed, laying her head on the lap.

The familiar tunes of their favourite song filled the air as the cheerleading captain left her phone on the bedside table and interlaced hers and Bea’s cold fingers together.

“A few stolen moments is all that we share,” Poppy started singing lightly. “You've got your family and they need you there.”

She played with Bea’s fingers as she continued. “Though I’ve tried to resist, being last on your list. But no other man’s gonna do, so I’m saving all my love for you.”

Poppy let the song continue playing as she shifted her legs to let it rest on the head of the chair, looking up to gaze at Bea’s face. Because of the subtle moments they only could share with each other in school, this was probably the first time she could properly look at Bea’s face in detail.

Other than the purples and blues that decorated the right side of her face, Poppy’s eyes trailed to Bea’s defined eyebrows (must’ve gotten those from Mama Hughes), down her nose, and along the sharp jawline of the sleeping girl. And the scar that cut across horizontally at the side of Bea’s head. Poppy wished that she would dress as Commander Shepard for Halloween.

She silently laughed to herself, the warning sting around her eyes and the tears starting to slide down her cheeks.

“You idiot…”

Poppy wanted to tell Bea how much she wanted to be together with her in school without the reputation. To tell her how much she craved her touch whenever they weren’t together. How much she longed to see her at the end of a school day or once practice ends. How much she wanted to stay over at Bea’s place forever.

And most importantly…

“I love you. I love you so much, you big, beautiful idiot.”

*Babo (바보) - Korean for fool

taglist: @poppy-sin-clair @simpforpoppy @uhh-the-green-thing @somewillwin @malvinghlein @nightwhite13 @origmansello @kamilahsbaby

#playchoices #choices stories you play #queen b #poppy min sinclair #poppy x mc #poppy min sinclair fanfic #angst #high school au

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nissakii · 3 years

Text

Scent. a Haikyu!! Fanfiction pt.12

[want to read all chapters right now? Our fanfictions get updated every monday on our blog, click here to continue reading!]

“No, I haven’t tried it out yet. I’m thinking of doing a blind playthrough”, I muttered into the mic after catching the question about an upcoming game in the chat. My eyes flickered over the messages that were incoming quickly, but most of them were just reactions or weird requests, so I took a sip from the energy drink on my table and kept my eyes on the monitor. “Shirois joining us for Among us later, you guys can ping her on the server”, I stifled a smile because I knew she was going to get spammed, but it was technically her fault for being late again. I had the feeling that I heard someone come in, so I retracted one side of my headset from my ears to catch who it was. “Who is it?”, annoyance in my voice as I was pretty sure I hung up my ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door. “Who do you think it is?”, Kuroo’s voice boomed through the room, not caring for a second that people might see him. “Ah guys, it’s just Kuroo” “What do you mean just Kuroo?”, he stepped closer to tower over my chair and leaned in closer to read the chat box, “Oho? That’s a lot of people! Hello~”, he chimed and grinned into the camera. “Alright, alright nobody missed you, go away!”, I grumbled, looking at the chat filling with messages for Kuroo now instead. Hearts everywhere. “Hmm~”, he got closer again, his hands clasping my shoulders on each side. I knew he wanted to get a reaction out of me, that idiot, but I’m not going to give him what he wants. “Looks like I’m more popular than you want to admit!” He pushed his weight onto me and I almost slumped into the chair, I forgot how massive that dude is. Annoying With a direct movement, I shoved my elbow somewhere into his direction as I heard a gasp followed by a low groan. Confused, I looked at the chat typing ‘oh’s and ‘shit’s as I turned around to find Kuroo clutching his shoulder with an expression that looked foreign to me. With s quick motion I pressed the button to disable my camera and muted my mic. Kuroos face tried to quickly turn into a grin as he rubbed his shoulder, but the strained muscles of his arm showed me something different. I scented the air and normally I would be met with the warmth of apples and cinnamon, a scent I found way too intense since childhood, but all that was left of it was a stressed and fouled apple. The cinnamon became so intense to a point that it hurt my nose and I stood up from my chair. With a couple of clicks I ended the stream prematurely, and my head snapped to the alpha still holding his shoulder. “Why did you end the stream?”, with a last hope of not starting this conversation he glued his eyes to the now black monitor. “What happened”, I snapped, sounding more angry than scared or confused. But I felt all of those emotions. Was it as bad as I thought? Maybe it was just a sprain? But the shoulder is such an important part of playing volleyball. Kuroo opened his mouth without looking at me and I shook my head, “look at me”. Reluctantly, he matched my gaze and I hoped my tired expression would overshadow my anxious mind. “It was a couple of weeks ago”. I kept quiet, urging him to continue. He sighed and sat down on the bed, his arm still supporting his shoulder. “I was just a small sprain in the beginning, the coach told me I could keep training. We played mock games a lot and had some matches outside of training. I think I either sprained it again or it got worse some other way, beacuse when I went for a block one day my arm was pushed back”. I winced and made a face and Kuroo nodded. “The athletic trainer and the doctors said it’s just inflamed, but that means no hard training for a month” A month. That’s way too long. “What about the tryouts?”, I mumbled. “I don’t know, I don’t think I can make it till then ya know”, he tilted his head back and a loose laugh came out of him, “Tryout are next week, I don’t think my shoulder will suddenly be all buddy buddy with me”. My eyes stayed on his shoulder, and I just now realised I actually hit him directly into it. My vanilla scent stifled, and Kuroo caught that. “It

doesn’t hurt anymore. Just when I move it too much”, a grin etched onto him, “or when I get hit into it”. My pity for him dissipated for a moment. Cracking jokes now, is he even an adult? “I guess I’m sorry”, I grumbled with a disgusted expression. “Hm”, he huffed out and his demeanor shifted back into a serious one. “Bokuto doesn’t know anything”. “Hah?! How?”, I took my headphones off completely and turned my chair closer to the alpha. “We were in different teams that day, the camp was almost over so I just sayd to him that I would train something else”. I.slumoed back into the chair. “Let me guess, yiu were actually doing physical therapy right?” Kuroo nodded, his head snapping to the door as someone came in. White chocolate wafted into the room as she walked in, her eyes trained on Kuroos shoulder. “Shiro”, I chimed. Her face contorted into a mix of no emotion and too much emotion, as she sat down next to Kuroo and kept looking at his injury. Slowly, she touched just above his collar bone, leaving the alpha to twitch a little and press his teeth together. “You”, clasped her hand on her mouth and stood up again. Walking toward me with a vacant expression and her scent getting almost mouldy she stood still and took in a deep breath. “Shir-” “HOW MANY TIMES DO I TELL YOU TO BE CAREFUL? HUH?”, her voice feeding into a screech and Kuroo winced and ducked his head. Her voice was not only angry, but incredibly soothing to me. Yet for Kuroo, it felt like nails on chalkboard. Sigma voice. Designed to let alphas have a taste of their own medicine and the only feature of voice thta calms betas. I almost snorted if it weren’t for the situation. Serves him right. “It was an accident”, Kuroo whisper yelled. “Then don’t get into accidents!” “That’s doesn’t make sense!” She huffed and plopped herself back onto the bed. “I really wanna hit you”. “Oh, go ahead Kenma already had his turn!”, Kuroo snickered and I groaned. A sudden silence fell over us, as we all contemplated what would happen next. It was pretty obvious that Kuroo would have to varsity out this semester. Technically, that wasn’t too bad. Still I knew that Kuroo would beat himself up anyway. Especially when Bokuto finds out, as they had both been roaring about the fact they could finally be in the same team. If the doctors estimate was correct, his shoulder should be better in one or two weeks, it would still not be the best idea to start a training as hard as varsity. “So, what are you going to do?”, Shiroasked, her voice calming down to her natural base. Exasperated, Kuro pushed his hands through his mess of a hair, pausing for a moment. “I’ll have to find something else to do for the meantime”. “What if you talk to the coach? They might let you try out later?”, Shiroinquired, but I already knew how Kuroo would react to that. First of all, the coach wouldn’t agree to that. Not he was overly mean or strict, but he was sure to give out few chances and not let others in whenever they wanted to. When the try-outs are over, they are over. And taken by Kuroo’s puzzled expression I was correct in my assessment. Kuroo won’t take pity chances. “The coach won’t do that anyways”, I muttered. “Exactly”, Kuroo let himself fall down onto the bed, “I’ll just try next semester”. “That sucks, I really wanted to watch the games”, Shirogrumbled and quickly caught her mistake as we both snapped our head towards her. “Oho~ So you like watching me hm?” “Stop I didn’t mean it like that!”, She shrieked as Kuroo loomed over her with his left arm spread out imitating some sort of monster. “I will fight you!”, Shiro put her hands up and readied herself. “Okay, you both forget that the big nerd is injured”. “Ah-” “Yeah right” Shaking my head I turned around in my chair, trying to leave the gnawing feeling of anxiousness behind me as I turned on my computer again. Let’s start this stream again.

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writlit19 · 4 years

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Pitch Fanfiction: “The Pact”

I wrote this more like an epsiode. This is taken place after 2 months after Ginny’s Injury. After epsiode 1x10.

It was 6 am and Ginny was already up. It's hard to sleep given what today is. She hopped into a shower. She then threw on her bra, pair of leggings, a tank, and sweatshirt. She pulled her hair through her baseball cap and placed her headphones on. Baker left her hotel room for the stadium before most people got up. The clubhouse was quiet. It reminded her of when she first started at the Padres.

Ginny began with a warmup and stretched when Mike came in with two coffees.

“Please, hurt yourself before you even get back on the mound”, Mike teased. “Aww. Miss me already?”, Ginny teased back. She got up and went to grab a coffee when Mike slid it away. “What makes you think this for you? This for the doc, you need all the help you can”, he said. “Very funny. I really wouldn’t want to pitch if a mocha was the deciding factor”. All fun and games faded from Baker’s smile as when she remembered. Mike saw it, the fear.

“What if I’m not better? What if I can’t pitch?”, Ginny panicked. She put her hands on her forehead trying to focus her reality. “Look at me, Baker”, Mike said. Ginny turned around and got ready for a speech. “I’ve seen injuries and the worst thing you can do is doubt yourself. You made it through surgery, you made it through recovery, you can make it through this, but only if you keep your eye on the ball”, Mike explained. “You and you’re freaking speeches”, Ginny said. They shared a laugh and then hugged. “Seriously when those old kneecaps give out you should take up motivational speaking. “I’m sorry who is getting a physical test today”, Mike said. They shook hands and began to prep. Today Baker was being tested to see if she’s physically fit to pitch in the next game, the wildcard game.

The doctor came in along with Al and Oscar for the physical. There was running and weights and all the things the puts pitching together. Oscar ran out of nail to biteby the time they were ready to pitch. Mike set up at the backboard. He and Ginny looked eyes. She breathed according to his glare. It’s the same glare he gave her when Ginny had to go into surgery. The glare said, “Don’t worry”.

Ever since Ginny’s injury, Mike has been there. Probably for the first time in his life he was there for someone fully. Mike and Rachel didn’t end well. After their one night stand, Rachel went back to her fiance. She told him that it was a flunk, and that she was searching for something familiar, not forever. Usually Mike would find himself in a bender of booze and attention, but nothing seemed to matter when his friend was hurt.

Ginny stared down the line of the bullpen. She focused on the call sign. She started with a combo of fastballs. It was impressive enough when her fastball topped out in the high 80s, but with rehab and refined technique, Baker has reached the 90s. Fastballs weren’t the problem. When Mike called for her screwball, Ginny swallowed. She remembered the pain from her fingertips through her shoulder from that day. She remembered how Blip and Mike had to help her walk off the field because it was too painful. She remembered the one less inning that could have made history. Her chest started to tighten and her throat became sore. So she closed her eyes. Ginny held onto the ball. She felt in the stitches and the curves. She focused her two fingers and held on. As she opened her eyes heard clapping in the background. She saw her teammates cheering on, even the new rookies she hasn’t met. Ginny flared her nostrils and looked at Mike. She gave him a nod and went into a wind up……. One, two, three. She threw 5 strikes before the doctor called it. She had one more private physical before final word. Ginny bid her teammates goodbye for a bit. The doctor and Ginny went to the physical therapy room to finish up.

“Okay everything is looking good. I’m just going to examine your shoulders and back. Just tell me if you feel any pain”, said the doctor. Ginny lied on her stomach as the doctor worked her muscles. “Seems you have a lot of support”, said the doctor. “Um yeah”, said Ginny. “It’s a key to recovery especially considering”. “Considering what?”, Ginny asked. “Most of my patients, even the athletes don’t have the recovery time you do. Not to mention a very starting date”, the doctor said. “I don’t feel any pain”, Ginny said to appease the doctor. “That’s good. Could you sit up? Lift your arms in front of your hands”. Ginny did that and the doctor scratched down some notes. “Any tingling in the fingertips?” “No. I feel good”.

“I know you’re scared, but we want you to be better. Do you have support outside of work?”, she asked. “What do you mean?”, Ginny asked. “Here you have PT, managers, and teammates. But outside do you have family, friends?” That was a loaded question. Her mom and brother stood by her through the surgery. Evelyn and Blip practically adopted her and Mike…..well. She knows she has people, but sometimes when she goes home to her hotel, she can’t help but feel like a burden.

“Yeah I have friends. I have support”, Ginny said. “Your pain response is good. Your arm looks good and you have a good support system”, the doctor began. Ginny’s face lit up as the doctor began to speak. “And because your scans showed repair. I’m clearing you to pitch with a required physical after your first game. You still had a rushed recovery time so we will revisit after the game”, said the doctor. Ginny was already a glowing star because she was pitching in the wild card game. She went to the clubhouse where they all were waiting. As she entered the room, everyone had their eyes on her. She was quiet for a second. “What are you all looking at? We have a game to win”.

* * *

Ginny was staying with Evelyn and the kids. Blip was hanging out with the guys after watching the kids all week. After Evelyn lost the restaurant, Blip and Evelyn decided that they needed to be each other in their marriage. Evelyn had started going back to school and Blip started being home. Actually Ginny helped watch the kids as they went to couples therapy. Even Mike helped out.

“I’m just saying I know that your minors gutter years were bad, but I would trade it all for never seeing a reference page again”, Evelyn said. “But are you happy with going back? With no having another kid”, Ginny asked. “I am. It’s the most me I’ve felt in awhile. I don’t regret being there for Blip, but I regret not being there for me. Can't just keep living away your pride because there will be none left when you need it”.

“Yeah I feel that sometimes”. Ginny played with her popcorn while Evelyn nestled with her wine. Evelyn looked at Ginny waiting for more explanation. “Before the injury, it just felt like I had to be Ginny Baker for everyone. For every little girl that wanted to play professional sports. I think being injured helps reset more than my arm. I feel like I can breath”, Ginny explained. “Speaking of resetting. Have you spoken to Amelia?” Ginny rolled her eyes at Evelyn’s prying. “You don’t even like her!”, Ginny said. “Hey, she kept from getting into a con deal. Does it have boundary issues? Yes. Was she good at her job? Notice how the press didn’t watch you during surgery. Amelia scared them off from across the country, I’m just saying”, Evelyn explained. “I didn’t know that”. Amelia left San Diego after her and Ginny fought. She returned back east to New York. She hasn’t taken any clients since, not that she hasn’t had beggars.

“Maybe it’s time to bury the hatchet”. Ginny did owe a lot to Amelia and things have changed. “I’ll think about it”, Ginny said. The doorbell rang. “Pizza!” Ginny got up and went to the door to pay for the pizza. She opened the door and there was a camera flash coming at her face. A photographer tried getting inside. Ginny closed the door and locked it. “Okay I’ll call her later”, said Ginny.

* * *

Today is the day. Today the Padres have the chance to make history by making it into the World Series. Everyone was in the clubhouse by sunrise. Oscar probably never left the stadium. Not only being in a wildcard game, but it also being at home puts the pressure on. Ginny was pitching in the bullpen when Duartve came in to catch. “Welcome back, mami”, he said while gearing up. “Good to be back”, Ginny said. “Let’s see what you can do”. Duarte setup for the pitch. Ginny went into the windup and let out the pitch. “Wow. Looks like someone found a fastball”, he said. “Really?” “No. But it’s better”. Ginny sarcastically laughed the very back hand compliment as she finished her warmup. “Are you catching today?”, Ginny asked. “Relax. Wouldn’t want to break but the Bawson dream team”. “Bawson? Did you come with that all by yourself?” Ginny asked. “It’s what all the blogs are calling your guys”. “Oh, great”. Ginny and Duarte go back to the clubhouse. Ginny went and checked her phone in her dressing room. Amelia had texted her back:

I’ll be in town tomorrow for business. We can grab lunch.

Ginny put her phone away and focused on what’s at hand. She pulled off her hat and her hair tie. She used her finger to combs through her sweaty curls. She twisted her hair into a ponytail and put it through her hand. Ginny left her dressing room and entered into hyping in the clubhouse. She greeted Blip who was chugging gatorade number five. “Be careful you’re exploding out there”, Ginny said. Blip squirt the bottle towards her as Mike joined the conversation. “Ok so where is the speech?”, said Ginny. “Believe it or not I don’t always have something to say. I’m new to this as you are a rookie”, Mike snapped. “Man, chill”, said Blip patting her friend on the back. Mike was more than worried. This probably his last chance to make it into the world series. He felt as if his entire career was flashing before his eyes. Mike got up and knocked the hair behind him. He stormed out of the clubhouse holding the attention of the room. “What’s up with him?”, Blip asked Ginny. “Nerves?”, Ginny suggested. “Uh Ginny. Sorry to break it to you, but you're the nerves wreck of the Padres. That’s something more”, Blip said. Ginny rolled her eyes and such as a comment, but accepted the truth behind it. Ginny went after Mike because his behavior was definitely not normal. She found him in a PT room with his head resting on a wall. “Mike, are you okay?”, Ginny asked in a concerned voice. Mike turned from the wall and faced Ginny. “Just needed a minute”. Mike whipped her face and put his hate back on. “Come on. Something’s bothering you”. Mike exhaled while avoiding eye contact. “It’s nothing,'' Mike said, avoiding himself. “If it’s nothing then tell me”, Ginny said. She didn't let Mike leave with whatever was going on. “This is it for me”, Mike said. Ginny looked at him, listening. “This probably my last chance to get a ring for the Padres. What if I have nothing to show for it? I mean I’ve already failed once”, Mike said. Ginny had this familiar feeling on the day of her first start. “That pit in your stomach where it feels all your hard work and potential seem to drain into, that’s everything else. That’s everyone else telling what this is to you when you need to be doing for yourself too. A great man told me that. Same one who’s led the Padres the closest it’s been to the World Series in a decade”, Ginny said. Mike smiled at Ginny’s speech. “Trying to make me feel old, rookie”, Mike joked. “Shut up and get moving. We have a game to win”. They hugged and went off to the game

* * *

The Padres and Memphis Redbird were tied in the 11th inning. Ginny was starting her 3 innings with no hits on her. SHoulder feeling good, but her stomach turned as the hitter came up to the plate. She had thrown multiple screwballs. She didn’t know what to do next. If buffing was the way to go or not, but she knew this was it. Mike called timeout and walked up to the mound. Al joined him. “You need to throw the fastball”, Mike said. “What?”, both Ginny and Al said. “This hitter will throw your screwgie, but you’ve haven’t used a fastball yet”. Ginny held her mit up to hide the extreme worry on her face. “You have to trust me”, Mike pleaded. Al nodded in agreement. Ginny, though hesitant, nodded to. She took the ball as Mike went back to setup. Ginny took in air as she went into a windup. She gripped the ball while looking at Mike. With every feeling in her arm, she threw the ball……

She didn’t hear anything. She couldn’t understand beyond the loud roar of the packed stadium. The moment when her team surrounded her, she knew. It was a 95, btw.

* * *

Celebration was an understatement. It started with an entire club being rented out, a certain musical guest, and a stolen disco ball. Most of the night is probably a flip book on social media and the morning news. At some point, it was utterly stupid to stay out. Mike and Ginny had tossed Blip into a cab and notified Evelyn of the incoming comatose package. “Are you gonna grab a cab?”, Mike asked. “I’m just gonna walk. The hotel is not far”, Ginny said. “You really need to get an apartment”, Mike said. “I like living near the stadium plus you never know when you’ll get traded”, Ginny said in her slightly tipsed state. “I think you’re safe for now. Come on, I’ll walk you home”.

The walk home definitely seemed a lot more fun when tipsy and winner. Ginny invited Mike up for a drink after they got to the hotel. They got to Ginny’s room. She dropped her jacket on the chair and went to grab drinks. “Water”, Mike said. “Got it”. Mike has been at Ginny’s place before, but something felt different. Maybe because they were alone, maybe because it was reaching the early morning hours, or maybe it was the way he noticed her fall onto her shoulder when she took out her hair tie. She handed him a bottle of water. “That call you made about the fastball, genius. I sure as hell didn’t think it would work, but you did”, Ginny said. Her drunkenness was definitely a factor in her sharing and the beer in her hand wasn’t helping. “It’s my job”, he said without any ego attached. “Hey I want to ask you a question. Before the game you said, you already failed once. What did you mean?”, Ginny asked. “It’s nothing really”, Mike deflected again. “Then tell me”. He took a large sip of his water as if it was liquid courage. He wouldn’t look at Ginny. He couldn’t look at her and lied. She took a sit on the couch next to him making it harder for him to deflect. Then he looked at her. “Your arm. That game. Before your injury, Al and Oscar asked if I should shut you down and I said know. Somehow Blip knew. He knew you’d push yourself too far, but I encouraged it”, Mike admitted. Ginny put the bottle down on the table, probably showing she was serious. “There was nothing you could do”, Ginny said. “But I”- “There was nothing you did”, Ginny interrupted. She looked Mike in the eyes to emphasize her point. “Look, I may be a rookie, but I’m not a kid. Even if you needed to shut me down I would have found a way to pitch. It was my choice, not your fault”, Ginny explained. There was something different about being there. Ginny leaned towards Mike and they kissed. Starting with a peck, it got deeper. Mike held onto Ginny’s waist as she pushed his jacket off. They fell back onto the couch. At first they laughed and continued making out. A second passed when something felt different to Mike. He slowly pulled away from Ginny. She seemed concerned and then uncomfortable. “Sorry”, he said sitting up. “Um. It’s fine I get it”, Ginny said scurrying to get up. She felt her embarrassment flush in her stomach with disgust for both herself and Mike, but mostly what just happened. “Ginny, wait”.

“There’s nothing to wait for”, Ginny said standing up from the couch. “Would just listen to me for a second?”, Mike snapped. Ginny stood still and looked at him. “I don’t know what that was, but I know that wasn’t insignificant”, Mike began. Ginny crossed her arms while feeling a little naked from what nearly happened. “That didn’t feel casual and right now, that can’t happen”, Mike said with fear in his eyes. “What are you talking about?”, GInny said. “You’ve always been bigger than the game and right now, we are bigger than just us. I’ve been working for the chance at the World Series for forever and so have the Padres. I don’t want to ruin those chances or our relationship”, Mike explained. Ginny understood where he was coming from. Their pairing in public or private would present challenges, but the familiar of a guy trying to protect her didn’t sit well. “I get that and I want to win. It’s literally what my life has been, but living for someone or something else without thinking of yourself isn’t a way to live”, Ginny said. “Okay, you really need to stop with”.

“I thought you loved hearing your words”, Ginny teased. Mike laughed. Ginny sat down on the table across from Mike. “How about this? We got out, we won, and if we find ourselves in this position again. We let go?”, Ginny said. Mike looked at Ginny and nodded. He knew something was different and he knew as he hugged Ginny goodbye. It was different because it meant something, but felt different from when he met his ex-wife. They let go of each other and stood up. “I should go”. Mike grabbed his jacket and Ginny walked him towards the door. For a second they held hands, but let go as Mike opened the door. As he opened the door, Amelia stood in the hallway.

Tell me if you guys want me to continue this storyline. Let me know what you think about int comments.

#pitch #ginny #lawson #mike lawson #ginny baker #bawson #blip sander #pitch fandom #fanfic #cancelled #bawson fanfic

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tyrannosaurusrexdale · 4 years

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TIMUR AND HIS FRIENDS

Every time I walk past my old apartment on Wallace Avenue I think about my former neighbours, who lived above me on the upper floor of a split level home. When I moved in, the apartment upstairs was home to three Russian guys, living in what I assume to have been a two bedroom apartment. I rarely saw them or heard from them. They would usually wake up extremely early in the morning, before six, return in the evening, and quickly go to sleep. Occasionally I'd detect the odor of garlic emanating from the apartment, or they’d leave empty bottles of Slivovitz by the recycling bin. I rarely thought about them. After a few months, Timur moved in, and after that, life was very different.

Timur was from Kazakhstan, which he told me upon our first meeting, and later I confirmed by the enormous Kazakh flag that he hung in the front window. I came to understand it to be an act of provocation. It became apparent quickly that Timur and the his Russian roommates were not on good terms. He would play Kazakh folk music loudly throughout the day, and often into the night. Shouting matches would happen regularly, which was shocking, as previously the Russians seemed too exhausted to make a commotion. I began to intermittently hear glass breaking, the circumstances of which I didn’t want to think about. One night, at approximately one in the morning, one of the Russians moved out dramatically (the youngest one, who looked like Pavel Bure), packing all his belongings into two duffel bags and throwing them into the back of a cab while launching a burst of what I assume to be obscenities back at the house before the cab sped away. Around this time I felt compelled to purchase a pair of expensive noise cancelling headphones, though when the shouting upstairs started, I rarely put them on.

One night, in the dead of winter, I was finishing a gin & tonic while preparing for a date with a former coworker. Stephanie and I had previously worked together in the same store for roughly a year before she left for a job with the government, and after nearly four months of messaging back and forth, she’d agreed to meet me for drinks. As I tied the laces of my boots and prepared to leave for the short walk for the bus stop, I heard a loud crash outside of my window. I threw my coat on and went outside to find Timur, wearing a t-shirt and ancient Soviet-era athletic shorts, shivering on the concrete next to the overturned garbage cans. He had a large scratch on his arm and both his bare feet looked to be injured, swelling up quickly despite the cold. I asked him what had happened, and after nearly a full minute of groaning and cursing in his native Kazakh, he responded. “Sergei, that dog” he said between pants, “he locked me out of house and I try to climb back in.” The narrow ledge outside his window above him was at least twelve feet high, and it appeared he’d fallen from that height. I asked what he wanted me to do, if he needed me to call and ambulance, but deflected the question. His pace of breathing quickened and he seemed on the verge of hyperventilating.

I decided to run upstairs and see if anyone was home. I banged on the door, to no response, before running back down to check on Timur. I darted into my apartment and grabbed a blanket I could use to cover him. When I emerged outside, Timur had been joined by two passersby, a woman who was already speaking at an incredibly high volume, and an older man, who from what I could tell, seemed to be calling for the assistance of the Lord. "Have you called an ambulance?" the woman shrieked at me. "He needs to be in the emergency room, right now!" I had refrained from calling an ambulance, out of concenrs over the price, and potentially Timur's immigration status. I asked Timur if he wanted me to call an ambulance, and he said he did not. The woman did not seem satisfied by this. "His blood is on your hands!" she shouted into my ear. The gentleman had produced a small bible from his backpack and appeared to be scanning through it. The situation appeared to be deteriorating.

I climbed the stairs for a second time and attempted to find one of Timur's roommates, thinking that even if they loathed him, they could at least help translate. I banged on the door, and once again receiving no response, decided to open it. Broom, cleaning supplies, snow shovel, vacuum, I'd been banging on the door of a supply closet. I felt exceptionally foolish. I could have been vacuuming my apartment this whole time? Now that was upsetting. I realized that the door to Timur's apartment was further down the hall. I cursed myself for not venturing upstairs before. But why would I ever have the need to hang out up here? That didn't make a ton of sense either. I walked down the hall to see that the door was open. I went inside to see a large Russian gentleman, sitting at a desktop computer wearing headphones, playing a military video game I've never seen before. It was unclear who was more shocked to see the other. "Hey, do you live with Timur," I said. He grunted affirmatively. "I think he's hurt outside, can you come help?" We stared at each other blankly before I began to leave, hoping he would follow. As I descended the stairs I glanced at my phone to see a message from Stephanie that said simply "???". I'd never received one like that before but it seemed ominous.

The woman waited for me as I walked down the stairs, her glare increasing with every step. "Don't worry, an ambulance has been called," she spat at me, contemptuously. "Someone is taking charge of the situation." Timur groaned upon hearing this, though I suspect it was the right thing to do. His ankles had swollen even further, the right in in particular beginning to resemble a large kaiser roll coated in blueberry jam. I leaned in to Timur. "They'll take care of you buddy, you'll be okay." I saw the worry on his face as he continued to whimper. I could tell from his reaction that his health coverage in this country was minimal. His roommate emerged from the building and handed him a hooded sweatshirt and a pair of sneakers before asking, I assume, if he was okay. Timur responded coldly in the affirmative, and the roommate stood over him for a few seconds before heading back inside. The older gentleman with the bible had moved to the other side of the street and was observing the situation from a safe distance. I glanced at my phone again. No further messages.

The ambulance came not long after that, and the paramedics began to move Timur to a gurney. They addressed most of their questions to me, though I had few answers, to their disappointment. The woman continued to glare in my direction while muttering under her breath that I was "disgraceful", and that I'd failed Timur in his hour of need. "His blood is on *your* hands!" she bellowed from a distance. The older gentleman had returned to the scene, and was investigating the cab of the ambulance with great fascination. The roommate emerged one last time to drop Timur's wallet into his lap before returning upstairs and turning off every lamp in their apartment. The ambulance turned on its lights and drove away. The woman had left without me noticing, though the older gentleman continued to read his bible on the sidewalk with a look of deep concentration on his face. I glanced at my watch. Only 35 minutes late. I almost began to run to the bus stop before remembering to grab a coat and lock my door, which had remained wide open this whole time.

I boarded a bus after a short wait. I quickly sent a message to Stephanie. "You're not gonna believe what just happened to me" I sent, adding "I'm so sorry : (" a minute later. No response to either. I got off the bus and nearly sprinted to my destination. 9:06. No sign of Stephanie in the bar. I sat down at a stool and ordered a beer. "Hey man," I asked the bartender, "Did you see a brunette in here by herself a little while ago?" The bartender eyed me down. "She was sitting right where you are bro" he responded contemptuously, as he placed a pint down on the counter. "She's gone." I gave him a ten dollar bill as my shoulders sank and I checked my phone in vain. I ended up getting pretty drunk that night before grabbing a falafel and trudging home.

I saw Timur again a week later, sitting on the stoop in front of the building with his leg in a cast. I inquired how his leg was though it was unclear if he recognized me. I refrained from pressing the issue any further and I went inside my apartment. Two weeks later, on a Saturday night, Stephanie sent me a message asking what I was doing at the moment, and that she'd love to see me. I responded quickly but my phone died not long after that, and I was unable to find a charger. By the time I got home that night, the message was gone, and it appeared that Stephanie had erased any existence of our virtual friendship. I never saw Timur again, and one day a few months later, the blue and gold Kazakh flag was gone. A year later I moved out, and not long after that, the house was sold, and renovated extensively back into a single family home. I take a look for the Kazakh flag whenever I walk past and the only thing I see are children's toys and chalk drawings, and a miserable, mousy-looking father working fruitlessly on a tiny, barren planter. Although once, cycling past late at night, I did see a lone bottle of Slivovitz in the recycling bin, which made me smile.

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lovelyirony · 5 years

Text

Touchdown

@ragnarokdad has excellent ideas and i can’t pass them up

No one expected Bruce Banner to work in the world of sports, mostly because Bruce couldn’t give a rat’s ass about any championship, score, or method of getting the points.

“Why?” Tony asks after Bruce says he can’t make Thanksgiving until late. “Why go for it?”

“Athletes will forever be injured, and I will forever have a job,” Bruce says. “Also, nice dental benefits.”

Bruce has been bounced around a couple of teams although he stays in New York for his permanent home. They finally relocate him to the New York team, where there’s a new player in town.

His name is Thor. They call him “Thunder” after he collided with one of the biggest men in the NFL and there was an audible “boom” as Thor broke his helmet by sheer force.

Bruce didn’t really care. He was just in charge of making sure athletes stayed healthy, got rest, and stopped being whiny about ice baths.

When he sees Thor, he blinks. He’s used to seeing the muscled-guys, some of them being cute.

But none of them like...like that. Thor looked good, and his smile was killer. Bruce just put down his glasses on the counter.

“Thor, right?”

“Correct, Dr. Banner. I am here for a deep-tissue massage?”

“Yes,” Bruce says, voice going slightly higher. “Yes you are.”

It’s honestly only awkward for Bruce because Thor is his type. It’s easy to massage people, and Bruce gets over it as he asks Thor about his life.

“Anyone to get back home to?”

“My brother’s snakes,” Thor says. “He’s out of town, in Italy. Has to work on some fashion line or other. I’m not sure, he says I’m not allowed to see.”

“Not the sports type?”

“Never,” Thor says. “I wasn’t even going to play football, but I’m good at it and people like it. So why not? I think I’ll play for another two years and resign.”

Bruce nods, and hits a particularly tight spot. Thor grunts as he twitches on the table.

“Hold still,” Bruce murmurs.

“What about you? What got you into sports?”

Bruce laughs for a moment, pausing.

“Oh, I’m not the one into sports. I don’t know anything about this sport other than the points-system and the fact that it takes too long for my taste. I was originally going into radiation science. Still might later on, if my friend Tony has anything to say.”

“What prompted the change?”

“A bit of outside world experience,” Bruce says. “That, and a steady paycheck. You guys like to stay injured, I swear.”

Bruce waves goodbye as Thor leaves, getting to his car.

Thor can’t stop thinking about the doctor, Bruce. He was cute, with a nice smile. He has to feed Lacey and Finnish, who are trying to break out of the cage. Thor gets their food, sends a picture to Loki, and gets an immediate response.

u were ten minutes late home. they could’ve DIED thor

relax they were fine, just drama queens. made a new friend

you make a lot of friends why mention this one?

ohhhhhhh

a friend ;)

it’s not like that

no it is. otherwise you know my time is valuable and you wouldn’t waste it

have fun being a loser lmfaooooo i’m telling val

Thor rolls his eyes, setting his phone down to make his own dinner. He can’t wait for Loki to return and take his pets with him.

He returns to practices and meetings and games and starts noticing Bruce more. He talks with him too, which is nice. He’s funny as all hell, a sardonic smile on his face as some of the team brags about their skill.

“Sure, yeah, I don’t care,” Bruce says, waving a hand in the air. “I have a dinner with friends to get to at seven, and I will not be staying late tonight. It’s sushi, and it’s good.”

Thor is also surprised, because he has a dinner to get to as well. Sushi, same as. But he shakes his head out of the thought. No use in entertaining dreams when there’s things to be done.

Bruce nearly spits out his water when he sees Thor enter the restaurant.

“Good to see you again,” Thor says smoothly, sliding in next to Jane and Helen.

“I’m wondering how you’re in this group and I’ve never heard,” Bruce answers, dabbing at his mouth with a napkin.

“He was in our psych class in college,” Helen says. “He was the only jock who actually didn’t have to use a sign-in sheet for classes and he knew jokes about Freud.”

“Good guy,” Jane says. “Helped me and Helen get together, so he’s gonna be my best-man-of-honor.” Bruce laughs, smiling.

“Well, good to know.”

The dinner is enjoyable. They all get new jokes in, Bruce gets Thor’s number out of it, and Helen and Jane have to leave a little bit earlier due to a very frantic-sounding voicemail from someone named Darcy about the “science doo-hickey-thing-jig that has the rainbow duct-tape on it.”

“One of Jane’s,” Helen says, digging cash out of her purse. “We really have to go.”

“We’ll be fine,” Thor says. “Have fun.”

“My machine!” Jane yells, already rushing out the door. Her wife rolls her eyes and chases after her.

Bruce turns to Thor, laughing.

“Quite the emergency, the two of them.”

“Yes, it is. But you mentioned someone named Sam earlier. You wouldn’t happen to know Sam Wilson, would you?”

“No fucking way.”

As it turns out, their friend-group is one and the same, mostly. Bruce and Thor both don’t know why the friends never mentioned each other.

“We can surprise them by knowing each other, maybe,” Thor says. “Loki says I need a plus-one for his show in Milan. You up for coming as my date?”

“Only if I get to have the window seat on the plane,” Bruce says. “But yes. I would love that.”

Thor nods, and starts texting Loki.

bruce and i will come and see your show in milan

finally had a change in mind about travel because of your little interest? how nice. can’t wait 2 embarrass u. how comfy are u with ur sixth grade pictures

nvm flight cancelled

can’t cancel it, see ya there ;) val says hi and that ur a lil bitch

“What are you laughing at?” Bruce asks, eating the last of the dessert roll.

“Just my brother’s responses,” Thor says, putting his phone away. “He’s excited to meet you since you know how to care for snakes. He might try to convince you to take them next time he has to travel without them.”

“I’m sure that would be fine,” Bruce says. “But when do we need to be on the flight?”

“Five in the morning,” Thor says with a wince. Bruce nods.

“Piece of cake. Unless you’re not up to it,” Bruce teases.

“Nonsense,” Thor says, slinging an arm around Bruce’s shoulders. “I’d be up to anything as long as I got to do it with you.”

Bruce looks up, startled.

“You mean--?”

“I rather like introducing you as my date. And my boyfriend, potentially.”

“I’m okay with that one.”

Thor grins, sending an update to Loki.

dating now!

you act as if i’m supposed to b shocked. lozer

:))

#thorbruce #this went every which way but i personally LOVE it #thor #football au #bruce banner #helen cho #jane foster #thor is GOOD okay #loki's gay and a disaster but more importantly is in italy and i love that #lovelyirony writes

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thesportssoundoff · 5 years

Text

A Dumb Draft Exercise

It's a Friday night and we're all locked in so I decided to do something a touch different. I took the current NFL draft order and then looked up the last five NFL drafts (2015-2019) to see who was picked at spots. Using the teams as they stand after one long (and it feels it) week of free agency, I picked ONE player selected at that set position to try and do a retro draft. Each team picked ONE player picked over the last five years at that specific spot (so at 1 overall, you could only draft 1st overall). How different would your favorite team look? Welll.....

1. Cincinnati- QB Kyler Murray (2019)

The first round picks of the past five years consist of four QBs (Jameis Winston, Jared Goff, Baker Mayfield and Murray) alongside premiere edge rusher Myles Garrett. As is often the case with top pick QBs tasked with saving bad franchises, each becomes less and less attractive as the years go by and they hit the ceiling of "damn good but not quite franchise saver" over and over. I went with Murray because while I think Goff is vastly underrated by most fans, Murray's got the ability and personality to drastically change an organization that feels like it's been hankering for a chance over the past five years. Murray was one of the NFL's brightest stars last year and figures to only improve, especially if you put him under the watchful gaze of an offensive guru (of sorts) in Zac Taylor.

2. Washington- DE Nick Bosa (2019)

Was REALLY torn with Carson Wentz and Nick Bosa for the Redskins. There's a lot of dead-ish weight here with Mitch Trubisky and Marcus Mariota and while Saquon may be the best player in theory, no team needs to take a running back in the top 5 (or in the first round at all). Assuming the Redskins are truly comfortable with Dwayne Haskins then taking Nick Bosa and pairing him up in the front four along with the likes of Montez Sweat, Matt Ionidis and Daron Payne would probably be a formidable ass crew. Basically the Chase Young strategy.

3. Detroit- DE Joey Bosa (2016)

How about the Bosa Bros going back to back! One would assume tht if the Lions wanted a QB, they're GOING to have their pick of the proverbial litter on the back end. After all after Cincy, they'll have Tua, Herbert and Love at their disposal if taking a QB so amuses them. Instead operating under the belief that the Lions feel comfortable with Stafford for MAYBE one more year, it leaves us to choose from Joey Bosa, Solomon Thomas and Dante Fowler. Bosa is likely on his way to a multiple pro bowl career while Thomas may just grade out as average and Fowler is on his third team now. Easy choice if ya ask me.

4. NY Giants- WR Amari Cooper (2015)

The Giants would be picking from a variety of offensive players; two of which are current Dallas Cowboys. You have Amari Cooper, Zeke Elliott, Leonard Fournette on offense and then Denzel Ward at cornerback as pretty much your only other option. Give me Amari Cooper as he'd immediately step in and make an offense consisting of Daniel Jones, Barkley, Golden Tate and a two tight end threat of Evan Engram and Kaden Smith a pretty damn formidable one.

5. Miami- OLB Bradley Chubb (2018)

This WOULD be easy in theory. Cornerback Jalen Ramsey would've been a FINE choice here but the Dolphins have Xavien Howard and Byron Jones on the back end. With Jalen Ramsey out of the picture, you have an interesting linebacker in Devin White, a superb guard in Brandon Scherff and my selection Bradley Chubb. With so much locked in on the defense, Chubb (if healthy) steps in as an immediate premiere pass rusher. Barely edges out Brandon Scherff. BARELY.

6. LA Chargers- OG Quinton Nelson (2018)

Man! The Chargers would have their glut of talent to choose from if they so desired. Want an elite strong safety? Jamal Adams was picked 6th in 2018. Want a QB to groom and develop? Daniel Jones went here in 2019. If you want a flexible havoc inducing DL piece? Leonard Williams in 2015 went 6th overall. Ronnie Stanley is a pretty damn good tackle as well. Quinton Nelson is a top 3 guard in just two seasons and figures to continue to improve. It's not a premiere position for a lot of people but Nelson bucks the trend.

7. Carolina- QB Josh Allen (2018)

Funny bit? We have two Josh Allens here as Josh Allen from Wyoming and Josh Allen from Kentucky both went 7th overall. Both would be tremendous picks given the Panthers needs (an elite edge or a QB). Deforest Buckner finally hit on his potential and got paid paid for it as well, fitting in interestingly here as a potential flexible front line piece. The Panthers just paid Teddy Bridgewater relatively big time money but if you have the chance to take a really athletic strong armed QB who has shown strides in two seasons, you should do it. Imagine Allen throwing it to the likes of DJ Moore and Christian McCaffery.

8. Arizona- RB Christian McCaffery (2017)

THIS one was hard given the lack of obvious options. Do you need more receiving options? If so TE TJ Hockenson was picked 8th. Christian McCaffery is probably the best player at this spot but again, running backs and top 10s and etc etc etc. Nuke Hopkins, Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk are on paper a superb trio of WRs and you also have Kenyan Drake at RB. Vic Beasley is a good pass rusher who has sort of lost his way as a player (hence the one year prove it deal). Give me McCaffery I guess. I think he'd do wonders in Kingbsury's offense and I suppose you can make he and Drake work together. That's why head coaches get paid.

9. Jacksonville- OT Mike McGlinchey (2018)

There's not a lot of obvious fits for a tanking team like the Jaguars. DT Ed Oliver would be intriguing but I have no idea how he fits in with the Jaguars defense. The likes of Leonard Floyd (recently released), Ereck Flowers (failed tackle turned kinda failed guard), John Ross (oft injured speedster) are other options. Lastly there's Mike McGlinchey who was starting at right tackle for the Super Bowl 49ers. The Jaguars have spent picks at both tackle spots but McGlinchey is better.

10. Cleveland- QB Patrick Mahomes (2017)

Fuck. Would the Browns even with Baker Mayfield flirt with taking Patrick Mahomes? Who cares. Mayfield can be traded. If you have the chance to grab the best QB in the NFL, you do it. Easy peasy.

11. NY Jets- CB Marshon Lattimore (2016)

This one came down to Lattimore or Minkah Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick can do so much across a secondary and his swiss army knife toolset was amplified in a Pittsburgh secondary that left to his devices where he could roam free and fuck shit up. On the other hand, Marshon Lattimore represents one of the NFL's rare commodities; a star shutdown cornerback. Plus with Marcus Maye and Jamal Adams tie up the safety spots pretty well.

12. Las Vegas- QB Deshaun Watson (2017)

The Raiders are openly flirtatious with moving on from Derek Carr. Deshaun Watson would step in and be a massive upgrade. There's also not much here either given how 90% of the players are DL and the Raiders have plenty of names and faces they like there. Maxx Crosby, Maliek Collins, John Hankins and Clelin Ferrell to name a few.

13. San Francisco f/IND- OG Laremy Tunsil (2016)

Take the 49ers OL with Joe Staley, Mike McGlinchey and Laken Tomlinson and then slide in Laremy Tunsil at RG. That's an absurd OL. There also weren't many options to really delve into either depending on how you feel about Da'Ron Payne and Vita Vea.

14. Tampa Bay- DE Marcus Davenport (2018)

Pick 14 over the past five years is a bit of a dry spell unfortunately. The best player on the list is DeVante Parker and the Bucs clearly have a collection of damn good WRs. Shaq Barrett and JPP are in place for 2020 but could the Bucs use Davenport as a third rusher and move him inside on pass rush downs. Not a lot of good ideas here unfortunately.

15. Denver- RB Melvin Gordon (2015)

Easy peasy! I mean Denver just signed him! That's a bit of a cheapie but let's keep with it. Gordon fitshere (and nobody else does).

16. Atlanta- LB Tremaine Edmunds (2018)

Edmunds with Deion Jones? Sign me up! The only other option that makes sense here is Marlon Humphrey at corner which would be an equally fine pick.

17. Dallas- S Derwin James (2018)

Given that Arik Armstead and John Allen would be 3-technique types in this defense, it makes sense we would ONCE again look at the safety market! Yay! The Cowboys scheme in 2018 apparently didn't like Derwin James as much as the media thought they did but this is a brand new scheme and a new way to play. Derwin James would edge out Keanu Neal (who BTW when healthy is an amazing safety) by virtue of being more of the chess piece the Cowboys need.

18. Miami f/PIT- C Ryan Kelly (2017)

Again there's a glut of corners here but the Dolphins have their fair share. As such, turn your attention over to a glut of centers---who they also just signed a guy for. Ryan Kelly is a pro bowl center though and you can make exceptions for that.

19. Las Vegas f/CHI- LB Leighton Vander-Esch (2018)

One of the better linebackers in the NFL prior to his neck injury, LVE was a friggin' elite athlete who could still redefine what NFL linebackers look like. His defensive coordinator is there as well (as the DL coach) and I bet Gruden would love his leadership and his ability as an off ball linebacker. This one is easy enough.

20. Jacksonville f/LAR- TE Noah Fant (2019)

The Jaguars are in the midst of a rebuild of sorts but unfortunately there's no immediate building block pieces at 20. It came down to Frank Ragnow (a versatile OL with upside) or Noah Fant and I opted for tight end Noah Fant since Minshew could use a reliable safety blanket. Assuming Fant can control his drops of course.

21. Philadelphia- WR Will Fuller (2016)

The Eagles could REALLY use some targets for Carson Wentz. Last year in clutch games they were relying on JJ Arceaga-Whiteside and Boston Scott for targets outside of their tight ends. Wouldn't have a problem going with FS Darnell Savage either who also went at 21.

22. Minnesota f/BUF- DE Bud Dupree (2015)

I don't know if the Vikings NEED an edge but even if they don't, there's really no options here. Josh Doctson was a flop in Washington, Charles Harris was a flop in Miami, Rashaan Evans plays the same spot as their glut of damn good linebackers and Andre Dillard is an unproven tackle for Philly to this point. Hit or miss here.

23. New England- Isaiah Wynn (2018)

I mean they drafted him here. Easy enough. Although would they take TE Evan Engram all things being equal?

24. New Orleans- WR DJ Moore (2018)

The Saints did grab Emmanuel Sanders but DJ Moore, Sanders and Michael Thomas is a whole different world of WR depth. There's also pretty much nobody else here worthy of snagging either.

25. Minnesota- WR Marquise Brown (2019)

HOLLYWOOD! The Vikings just traded away Stefon Diggs and could use an infusion of playmaker at their WR spot to help assist their TE room, Dalvin Cook and Adam Thielen. Marquise Brown would give Kirk Cousins a souped up version of Jamison Crowder; a WR-3 he relied heavily on in Washington.

26. Miami f/HOU- DE Montez Sweat (2019)

So the Dolphins have signed a lot of DE and we also gave them Bradley Chubb earlier BUT Montez Sweat is going to terrorize the NFL for the next 5-10 years and so he and Chubb combined? That's big time pass rush. Also, again, not much to really select from here either.

27. Seattle- CB Byron Jones (2015)

If you drew up a make and model for a Seahawks DB? It looks like Byron Jones. Byron just got paid big time money by Miami It's Byron vs Tre White and Byron fits the mold a bit better. Could also see Seattle liking Kenny Clark. Lots of good defensive players at 27.

28. Baltimore- OG Laken Tomlinson (2015)

Let Tomlinson battle it out with the interior OL the Ravens have currently. There's really not much here, it's either Tomlinson or DT Jerry Tillery.

29. Tennessee- TE David Njoku (2017)

Funny story, the 2016 1st round pick here was forfeited via deflategate. With just four names to choose from (and not really much to talk about either way), the Titans take David Njoku. Njoku has struggled with his role in Cleveland and the Titans do have some solid tight ends already in place but Njoku would be a pretty nice flier. Most of the guys here at 29 are just not good unless you're a Taven Bryan truther.

30. Green Bay- LB TJ Watt (2017)

And Cowboys fans across the globe shudder in horror. Yes, the Packers have two really good DEs in the Smith brothers. There's nobody else here who comes remotely close to the pure value TJ Watt has. Let him rush from the left side and rack up the sacks. You can figure it out somehow I figure. Let Preston Smith play 3-tech or something!

31. San Francisco- LB Reuben Foster (2017)

On one hand, the less said about Foster the better. On the other, there's really nobody else here who would come close. Unless you're a Germaine Ifedi fan?

32. Kansas City- DT Malcolm Brown (2015)

For any other team in any other league, this is Lamar Jackson. The Chiefs are really set at QB for the next 10-15 years so we'll have to take a pass. Instead Malcolm Brown is pretty much the only other really good value play. Big thumpy 1-tech/nose tackles are usually found later on in the draft but Brown is a good one and the Chiefs truthfully don't need much else either.

#NFL #Draft #Thought exercise #fuckin' around

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laracroftsleatherjacket · 5 years

Note

Flower Asks: all of them >:3€ (forgive me)

(this is so many omg but I’ll allow it only bc i love u)

Alisons: Sexuality?

Gay af (ace lesbean)

Amaranth: Pronouns/Gender?

Waman (she/they)

Amaryllis: Birthday?

November 2nd

Anemone: Favorite flower?

Funnily enough anemones are one of my favs but i think my top favs are chrysanthemums and morning glories but I really love many flowers and flowers in general

Angelonia: Favorite t.v. show?

As of right now, stranger things duh

Arum-Lily: What’s the farthest you’d go for a stranger?

Like favors or? I mean I really do try to be a kind and helpful person but if I don’t know somebody or haven’t at least seen them a couple times before I usually don’t do much bc of anxiety

Aster: What’s one of your favorite quotes?

"The extraordinary is in what we do, not who we are.” Lara Croft mostly bc I cant think of anything else right now and that stuck with me

Aubrieta: Favorite drink?

Like a really good cup of black tea with cream and sugar or sweet tea

Baby’s Breath: Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?

Never been kissed before but I definitely have someone in mind I would kiss ;3

Balsam Fir: Have you ever been in love?

Hell yeah I am right now and I don’t think I ever have been before now

Baneberries: Favorite song?

Oh hard question... currently really digging We Fell In Love in October by Girl in Red

Basket of Gold: Describe your family.

My family is supportive (for the most part) and very loving, even if they express love in weird ways sometimes. We also like to joke around a lot and make fun of each other but in a good way? Like we all have a good time mostly and I get along better with everyone since I started college

Beebalm: Do you have a best friend? Who is it?

My girlfriend is my best friend uwu I also have a lot of good friends but yeah

Begonia: Favorite color?

Purble but specifically like a pastel purple and purples that lean more towards blue than pink

Bellflower: Favorite animal?

Lynx! I love so many animals tho and I also like many cats and domestic cats in general

Bergenia: Are you a morning or night person?

Night!

Black-Eyed Susan: If you could be any animal for a day, what would it be?

Probably would love to just be a loved house cat who gets to lay in front of the fire all day or a lynx bc i love them

Bloodroots: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A veterinarian (or a special agent lmao)! I also still plan on being a vet tho even tho I get discouraged at least once a month

Bluemink: What are your thoughts on children?

I mean I like kids and I was a camp counselor for a summer, but I dont really want any of my own

Blazing Stars: What are you afraid of? Is there a reason why?

Oh god so many things.. Biggest thing would maybe be death/dying? Like if i think about it too much like the possibility of there just being nothing after death freaks me out. That and throwing up/nausea

Borage: Give a random fact about your childhood.

I played soccer and then I was a competitive swimmer so i was kind of an athlete? even tho i hated sports

Bugleherb: How would you spend your last day on Earth?

I think I would like to go to waffle house, have the perfect cup of tea, spend lots of time with my loved ones and pet my kitties, play video games with my gf, and sit under a tree in the mountains preferably on a warmer day in the fall and watch the sunset

Buttercup: Relationship Status?

Very happily taken

Camelia: If you could visit anywhere, where would you want to go?

Always wanted to visit Norway

Candytufts: When do you feel most loved?

Really big long hugs, good morning or goodnight messages, and I also really love cards

Canna: Do you have any tattoos?

I have 6

Canterbury Bells: Do you have any piercings?

Yup! I have an industrial, orbital, and 3 earlobe piercings

California Poppy: Height?

5′2 or maybe a little less

Cardinal Flower: Do you believe in ghosts?

Yeah I think so, but I do also get freaked out easily lmao

Carnation: What are you currently wearing?

Red flannel, jeans, fuzzy socks, and big dyke boots

Catnip: Have you ever slept with a nightlight?

Yeah I did for a long time and I still sometimes sleep with one or like a bathroom light on if Im sleeping by myself in a new place

Chives: Who was the last person you hugged?

Either my mom or my dad I dont remember technically who was last bc my parents are visiting me at college

Chrysanthemum: Who’s the last person you kissed?

Again, never kissed or been kissed! but maybe soon... :0

Cock’s Comb: Favorite font?

Font? I like the font in Night in the Woods?

Columbine: Are you tired?

Pretty much always either sleepy or tired lol

Common Boneset: What are you looking forward to?

Christmas, getting to see my gf again, and Magfest!

Coneflower: Dream job?

Like a veterinarian but having my own practice and also being able to take in injured wildlife if possible

Crane’s-Bill: Introvert or extrovert?

Introvert for sure

Crocus: Have you ever been in love?

Oh repeat question, hell yes

Crown Imperial: What’s the farthest you would go for someone you care about?

Depends what it is but I would go pretty far for somebody I care about and Im also a crazy person and would drive/travel no matter what distance for someone I love

Cyclamen: Did you have a favorite stuffed animal as a child? What was it?

Yup! I had a ballerina bunny, named Bunny because I was very creative and I still have her

Daffodil: What’s your zodiac sign?

Scorpio

Dahlia: Have you done anything worth remembering?

I think so? I did a lot of cool stuff with my GS troop like our bronze award project and going ziplining and to sliding rock.

Daisy: What do you feel is your greatest accomplishment?

My GS gold award for sure, that shit was hard work and stressful af

Daylily: What would you do if your parents didn’t like your partner(s)?

Umm??? I would tell my dad to eat shit and die and I cant imagine my mom being anything but sweet and supportive so I dont even know

Dendrobium: Who is the last person that you said “I love you” to?

You! This morning uwu

False Goat’s Beard: What is something you are good at?

uhh Im pretty good at making sense of stuff in my science labs and reasoning and im sometimes good at art? I feel like I do traditional better but Im getting better at digital

Foxgloves: What’s something you’re bad at?

bad at not being impulsive sometimes and bad at dead by daylight

Freesia: What are three good things that have happened in the past month?

a little over a month but officially got a girlfriend who i love very much, my gf came down to visit and we got to chill on the mountains together, and I had a pretty nice birthday

Garden Cosmos: How was your day today?

Good! Got breakfast at a diner with my parents and got coffee and a donut at my fav coffee shop so thats all i really need in life tbh

Gardenia: Are you happy with where you’re at in your life?

Yeah Im happy even tho Im stressed with school at times

Gladiolus: What is something you hope to do in the next year or two?

Get a job after graduation and hopefully get into vet school on the first or second try

Glory-of-the-Snow: What are ten things that make you happy/you’re grateful to have in your life?

My kitty, mom, wonderful gf, sister, dead by daylight, heated blanket, apartment, waffle house, my sisters kitty, and my dog

Heliotropium: What helps you calm down when you feel stressed?

Donuts, coffee or tea, blankets, video games, and loud music

Hellebore: How do you show affection?

Hmm... I really like to draw art for those i love, tell them how much i love them even though i can be bad with words, and i just try to spend a lot of time with the people I care about no matter what we are doing

Hoary Stock: What are you proudest of?

uhhh trying to open up more? and Im really proud of my gf

Hollyhock: Describe your ideal day.

Going to waffle house. Go to a mountain and hike a little, sit on the top with girlfriend. Admire beauty of mountain countryside. Admire beauty of girlfriend while they admire the beauty of the mountain. Then warm up together with hot chocolate and play video games

Hyacinth: What do you like to do in your free time?

I like to doodle and do the arts, play video games, and I like to bake sometimes

Hydrangea: How long have you known your best friend? How did you meet them?

uuuuuuh I have a good friend I’ve known since kindergarten or first grade when I first moved to where I currently live

Irises: Who can you talk to about (almost) everything?

My gf uwu and my mem

Laceleaf: How many friends do you have?

probably like less than 10

Lantanas: What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received?

I think its really cute especially when you compliment my laugh

Larkspur: What do you think of yourself?

??? I think I am an okay person? And I try to be a good person and be kind and polite to people

Lavender: What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

Umm... I mean I like that Im kind? and Im not fake and I try to be a good person

Leather Flower: What’s your least favorite thing about yourself?

I hate that I procrastinate and that I can get frustrated easily at myself and at situations like crowds and traffic

Lilac: What’s something you liked to do as a child?

I liked to play ‘restaurant’ with my sister with our littlest pet shops

Lily: Who was your best friend when you were a kid?

I had a really great best friend named Rachel :c

Lily of the Incas: What is something you still feel guilty for?

Losing a lot of friends and for being distant for a long time

Lily of the Nile: What is something you feel guilty for that you shouldn’t feel guilty about?

Cutting off a friend that was bad for my mental health and who didnt treat me well even though we were best friends for a long time

Lupine: What does your name mean? Why is that your name?

My name is literally my parents ship name... like they even told me they chose my name by putting their names together lmao but I mean I like my name so i guess its okay..

Marigold: Where did you grow up? Tell us about it.

Small town in new jersey when I was really, it was nice and family was closer. Then we moved and that was difficult but I ended up adjusting and it was good, had a decent amount of friends and the schools i went to were good

Morning Glory: What was your bedroom like growing up?

For a long time I shared a room with my sister and we had a bunkbed and I had the top bunk of course, when we moved out of the apartment and into a house I got my own room and it was baby blue only because I told my dad that no, I didnt want a fuckin pink room and that was a whole thing lmao

Mugworts: What was it like for you as a teenager? Did you enjoy your teenage years?

It was good? but also sucked a lot. I had a lot of issues with my mental health and struggled for a long while with something. I was bullied and stuff at home wasnt always that great. And i got outed so that was fun. Other than that I enjoyed swimming competitively and I got into art

Norwegian Angelica: Tell us about your mom.

I love my mom!! she is the most Mom mom and is so sweet and always there for me. She helps me out so much with so many things and I just love my mom so much

Onions: Tell about your dad.

I mean I love my dad? And hes better than he used to be, but he still doesnt help with shit and irritates me a lot.

Orchid: Tell about your grandparents.

I never got to know my grandfather on my moms side bc he passed away a few months before i was born and I sort of knew my grandmother but she lived far away and passed away 10 years ago. I usually see my gramma on my dads side the most and I try to visit often and help her out with stuff and I love her even though she can be a bit... racist and shit.. and I sometimes see my grandpa and step grandma but they can be strict about weird shit and always ask a lot of uncomfortable questions

Pansy: What was your most memorable birthday? What made it be so memorable?

I dont really do much on my birthdays? Ive had a lot of nice birthdays and it usually involves going out to dinner or having a nice dinner at home and having birthday cake and playing games like jenga or yahtzee.

Peony: What was your first job?

I did some petsitting for a while but my first real job was being a camp counselor/tower belayer/lifeguard at a girl scout camp

Petunia: If you’re in a relationship, how did you meet your partner(s)?

Met online after following them for a long time and drawing some arts for them, but didnt really start chatting until stranger things 3 came out bc I saw they had just watched it. Didnt meet irl until fursonacon and I just remember seeing them walking up to my car when I got there and just being like .... oh no. I had already had a crush but at that point I was just heart eyes

Pincushion: How do you deal with pain?

Its a little fucked up but depending on the type of physical pain I like it? Like getting tattoos and stuff.. emotional/mental I just curl up in blankets and listen to sad music lol

Pink: Where is home?

I feel like I have many homes? I feel really at home in the mountains, at home with my family, and when Im with my girlfriend

Plantain Lilies: If you could go back in time, what is one thing you would stop/change?

Every event no matter how shitty shaped me into who i am today and Im pretty content and lucky with what I have today so maybe nothing?

Prairie Gentian: Who is someone you look up to? Describe them.

My GS leader Miss Kristin. So incredibly kind and outgoing and just willing to do whatever she can to help others. Shes so adventurous and outgoing and made my gs troop so amazing. She is such a wonderful lady and shes basically like another mom to me.

Primrose: Describe your ideal life.

To be with my SO in a nice cabin in the mountains with a nice fireplace. Its cozy and we have pets (especially kitties but also maybe a dog and chickens and such) and life is okay and we’re happy

Rhodendron: What is something you used to believe in as a child?

God and Santa Claus (i was so heartbroken (over santa not God lmao))

Ricinus: Who’s the most important in your life?

My girlfriend and my mom

Rose: What’s your favorite sound?

My gfs voice and their laugh c: and I also really like the sound of thunderstorms and rain

Rosemallows: What’s your favorite memory?

Sage: What’s your least favorite memory?

Snapdragon: At this moment, what do you want?

To see my gf again and for winter break to just be here already I am so done with school lol

St. John’s Wort: Is it easy or difficult for you to express how you feel about things?

Difficult? I try really hard to express how I feel but I usually mess up and I get anxious but I try my best lol

Sunflower: What is something you don’t want to imagine life without?

Any of my loved ones and my cat

Sweet Pea: How much sleep did you get last night?

I wish I got more sleep but it was an okay amount

Tickseed: What’s your main reason to get up every morning?

Good morning texts from my gf and my gf in general

Touch-Me-Not: How do you feel about your current job?

I dont currently have a job but I occasionally do art commissions which is usually fun and gives me something to do

Transvaal Daisy: What’s your favorite item of clothing?

Any of my flannels and my leather jacket (also not mine but my gfs hoodie they gave to me to borrow)

Tropical White Morning Glory: Describe your aesthetic.

mountains, cabins, flowers, fall, flannel, small coffee shops, pastels

Tulip: What would be the best present to get you?

Im not one to be picky about gifts? I just love anything that someone put some thought into and thought I would like or reminded them of me but i feel bad if it was something expensive or anything lol

Vervain: What’s stressing you out most right now?

Final exams and graduation

Wisteria: How many books have you read in the past few months? What were they called?

0 lmao I used to read a shit ton but Ive been picky about what books I want to read lately

Wolf’s Bane: Where do you want to be in life this time next year?

Working towards applying to vet school and maybe thinking about moving out depending on a lot of things.

Yarrow: Do you know what vore is?

Unfortunately

Zinnia: Give a random fact about yourself.

I like collecting pins, pennies, and postcards which is funny to me

(So in conclusion,,, I love my gf)

(wow that was long as hell and took forever but done!)

#long post #ask #sapphicfinalpam

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andrewuttaro · 5 years

Text

New Look Sabres: GM 41 - TBL - Warm Bodies

6-4 Regulation Loss

The season is now halfway over. It’s also got halfway to go. I suppose it’s a glass half full, half empty kinda situation. I imagine the first half of this season has evoked some pretty strong feelings along those lines of optimism and pessimism one way or the other. There’s a lot to unpack there and Midseason Thoughts will be out tomorrow so read that. This is only going to be an incomplete lookback on the first half that was. After all, there was a New Year’s Eve game last night and a big narrative coming into that game. Jeff Skinner got injured in one of the games against Boston and here we find ourselves once again down another forward. And here comes the snide remarks about the surplus of defenseman that don’t really help the problem with forwards dropping like flies. Well guess what: I’m there. I’m ready to be mad about this shit too! It’s January when you’re reading this. January 2020! Jason Botterill was hired in May 2017. He’s closing in on three years on the job. Sure he didn’t get the coaching choice right the first go around and we restarted the rebuild and yatta yatta yatta; but how has Rebuild 2.0 gone so… uh… terribly? There were poultry changes in summer 2018 after the accidentally super shit season that got us Rasmus Dahlin and then in 2019… uh… he moved out Nylander for Jokiharju. You can’t look past the Jeff Skinner trade and signing, the risk and reward of that, but barring the Henri Jokiharju trade that was far and away his best move. The defense is changed but the forward ranks are… actually remarkably similar to Dan Blysma’s last game behind the bench. That whole conversation was brewing and then came the Skinner injury. The Sabres are now the furthest out of a playoff spot they’ve been all season at five points back. That’s something we’ll talk about in Midseason thoughts. The team was up and down in the first half but mostly down. Meanwhile everyone is sorta thinking one move for a top six forward saves the day. True or not we were hungry for a move when… *drum roll*… Rochester American Dalton Smith is signed to a two-way contract so he can be called up to the NHL… uh… say what now?

This is literally the kinda thing you joke about a lazy General Manager doing. At first glance he’s just a goon you’re signing for the kinda things boomers dribble about on Facebook: he’ll bring grit to a roster the Coach and GM say doesn’t need any more grit! Smith wasn’t at Training Camp you see! His game is improved dramatically you see! He’s got… lots of penalty minutes in the AHL! Okay, I give up. I don’t know what they’re doing now. If you’re going to tell me with a straight face Smith was brought up as a Skinner replacement I guess I’ll agree he is in fact a warm body. This is just a team of Jack Eichel and a bunch of warm bodies right now anyway, eh? The most logical answer is a very unwelcomed one: the idea he was brought in to “take care of unfinished business” with the Tampa Bay Lightning. That is, the Sabres needed a guy to avenge the Dahlin injury back in November. So we used up a contract on a guy to come up from the A to punch Erik Cernak in the face? Is that the plan? Look Jason, we understand trades maybe risky, but we’d prefer you make one before going with the lowest common denominator within the organization. Remember a dozen games back or so when I theorized it was never the plan for the team to make the playoffs this season? I put together some pieces including the opinion of John Vogl who said exactly this. The huge salary opening this summer allow a lot of room for movement… but they’re also somehow in cap hell too? Is that what’s stopping you from taking this season seriously, Jason? The theory is basically confirmed now and I’m not going to lie: I am very turned off by it all. Other NHL clubs should take note: this is how you turn off your fanbase. You’re already on a pretty ugly skid? Make a really bad roster move when the obvious choice is clear as day for all to see and make it about fighting. Honestly, who was dying to see Dalton Smith fight Erik Cernak? Whose opinion of this club’s season is now changing because of him skating four shifts all game and almost getting into a scuffle? We even got a video of Cernak getting fighting pointers from a teammate at the Bolts practice! You have one of the most talented rosters of the decade coming to town for a New Year’s Eve game your billing as a big deal and you’re intending to give them a punching match? To top it all off about an hour before puck drop Joe Yerdon at the Athletic broke the news that Evan Rodrigues asked for a trade upping that number to three players who want out. Summer 2019 Sabres twitter would have gone to Defcon 5 with that news but five months without a GM has made us cold, hopeless husks. On that cheerful note, let’s do that hockey!

To be clear I am not, nor have I ever been a hockey player. Anyone who makes the NHL, even for a single game like Dalton Smith, is a better athlete than I will ever be. Each and every player on that ice could murder me quite easily. However what unfolded in the first and third periods of this game was a glorified badminton match. The shots were 10-3 in favor of Buffalo in the first, but the game did not even kinda look that way. At least two of those Bolts shots were off the post, the team MVP candidate hot on Jack Eichel’s heels. Ding-Ding-Ding. The Sabres got another impotent powerplay early on after Steven Stamkos tripped Eichel. Ralph Krueger did a very interesting interview this morning on WGR550 where he was asked about the lackluster powerplay. One quote sticks out: “Whether we score or not [on the powerplay] is irrelevant.” There is very little additional context needed, that’s the quote. He was making a point about how even fruitless powerplay help team confidence 5 on 5. I’m no hockey coach either but… uh… I think that’s some motivational bullshit, Ralph. Luckily I didn’t actually rear end the car ahead of me in the Tim Hortons drive thru when I heard that line. The slight edge the home team developed in this game became apparent late in the first and the Sabres got a goal almost by accident. Curtis Lazar peeled a puck off the Lightning as they attempted to exit the zone and shot it over to Conor Sheary. Sheary, tardy on getting out of the zone evidently, almost one-timed it and the shot snuck past Andrei Vasilevskiy to put Buffalo up 1-0.

Steven Stamkos and Jack Eichel both had shocking misses in the first; like wow, you had the whole net and didn’t get it in kinda misses. Both visibly realized their mistakes. In the second period Conor Sheary got an early assist when he put the puck on net where Marcus Johansson edged the puck in. All of the sudden the Sabres were up 2-0 and I doubt many of those assembled in Key Bank Arena thought this would be the way it would go based off everything going on off ice. Linus Ullmark and a tough defensive scheme wouldn’t hold up forever and almost inevitably Andrei Palat shot one in five hole. The powerplay goal for Tampa felt as mocking as it did inevitable. But then somewhere deep down in this team they revived the clap-back energy, just for a little bit. A minute later Jimmy Vesey takes the puck over after a fortuitous bounce and gets his first goal since the dawn of time. If you took even a minute to be shocked you’d be forgiven but you’d miss Jake McCabe doing what Dalton Smith got an NHL contract for: fighting! McCabe got into a bloody boxing match with Andrei Sergachev after a hit on Eichel he took issue with. To be fair to the cavemen not reading this, Dalton Smith did have a little spat with a player in a white jersey earlier in the period, but McCabe was the one who really brought your almighty grit. The lengthy penalty record now somehow put the Sabres on the penalty kill. Enter Jack Eichel stripping a Tampa forward on a botched pass before charging down the ice, undressing two defenseman and a goalie to backhand it in for the 4-1 lead and a shorthanded goal. That was at about the halfway point of the game. That beautiful Jack Eichel goal that will certainly be in the season highlight reel… was halfway through this game. Before the second period ended the disaster would begin: five unanswered goals started with another powerplay goal for Alex Killorn followed by Tyler Johnson snipe about three minutes later. The second period ended 4-3 Buffalo. The game would end 6-4 Tampa. The Lightning completed their season sweep of the Sabres in a comeback fitting of the next level shitty decade this club just concluded. Shattenkirk, Killorn again and then Anthony Cirelli with an empty netter, I’m not going to torture you with the details, it’s easy to imagine how that went just off experience.

Like, comment and share this blog. Tomorrow we’ll be discussing the first half of the season in Midseason Thoughts. We’ll be looking ahead to the back 41 games as well although it seems very clear they don’t matter to the Front Office. This club is within spitting distance of a playoff spot and are posturing to try and get further off by the end of the month. When I say this team is a collection of warm bodies and Jack Eichel, I mean it! I think I speak for a large swath of this fanbase when I say I’ve lost confidence. A move was necessary six months ago, but it never came. Sure I still like the Coach but if he’s going to pass off motivational smart talk as a definitive strategy for a hockey team to win enough games to make the postseason even he is going to lose me at some point! Tomorrow we get Edmonton coming to town and I doubt they’ll succumb to the Sabres quite as easily as last time. I have no more confidence in this club and honestly I feel like they’ll need to win us back when there is a playoff team in town! Well… that’s all folks. Happy New Year! Talk to you tomorrow. Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. The Winter Classic was fun this year. I wish somebody had told me Dallas and Nashville hated each other two years ago.

#buffalo sabres #nhl #hockey #blog

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fantroll-purgatory · 5 years

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World: Alternia Name: Agleas Platar Age: 7.5 Sweeps

Theme/Story: Agleas used to be an ordinary troll, until some dickbrain violetblood beat her into a pulp for sport, breaking her bones and horns and covering her whole body with scars. She was found by a rustblood, who became her moirail and began nursing her back to health. Only Agleas, her moirail, and the violetblood know her blood color. (I’d like to make her olive but then people would scream Polypa clone at me) Before the incident, Agleas was an avid sports player, competent in many different arenas. Now, she can only watch sports on her morail’s tv. Her favourite to watch is wrestling, so she can see someone else get beaten up for once. To avoid being culled, she has to stay inside, not that she could just get up and walk outside anyway.

I have to warn you right off the bat that you’re falling into some ableist stereotypes here. A disabled/scarred/disfigured troll isn’t an ‘unordinary’ troll, first of all. And the whole ‘character becomes disabled and is now meek and feels guilty about being dependent’ thing is a stereotype, too. Alternia actually seems, for the mostpart, to be rather disability-friendly. A disabled person could thrive there more than on earth, even, probably! There are disabled sports- those are something she could pursue or look into after her recovery to continue pursuing her passions. You can create a character who both is realistically limited by her abilities and experiences realistic levels of burnout from dealing with chronic conditions while also not having to rely on infantilizing and stripping independence from that disabled character.

You say at the end of this review “I know bandages isn’t really a personality”, and I have to agree. This story definitely has potential, but is barebones and, as the children say colloquially, the character is “woobified.” I have a few avenues to look at in this review that will help you craft something more interesting, so here’s where we play our Choose Your Own Adventure Game.

RUST: The EZ says that Rusts are hard to kill and I think she could benefit from that here. Maybe she could have been an up and coming athlete and high bloods were threatened by her presence in the sportosphere. She was beaten within an inch of death and just barely survived, because she’s always struggled to win despite the difficulties, she IS a survivor. Under this blood, she would still be ready to take on the world after everything. Her moirail would have to fight to keep her from trying to get back into sports right away, to take her time and rest.

OLIVE: The EZ states that olives are lucky, and luck could just be what saved her from death. The EZ states olives never fall too far into hopelessness, but also that they keep a grudge like nothing else. Under this blood, she could be somewhat revenge motivated. She could really benefit from having a story that ISN’T just ‘she’s disabled and sad about it’. Disabled people are people beyond their disabilities. Tracking down the guy who tried to gank her and kicking their ass could be great fun.

HIGHBLOOD: Somewhere in the cerulean-purple range, though I’m leaning Cerulean. Here you could craft a story about a rival highblood fucking her up. Maybe she was famous and she’s embarrassed about her fall from her previous position and that’s why she wants to keep her blood and identity a mystery from most everyone else? Her narrative could center around her learning that typical-ability isn’t the end-all be-all of worth and that she is perfectly talented without having to strive to change herself or push past her disability.

Now that we’ve discussed the paths we can take, I’ll jump into the rest of the review! Goals: Everything Strife Specibus: Not anymore. Fetch Modus: Her morail, *dadum crash*

Not a great joke. A disabled person can still use a fetch modus! Even a recovering one. They’re a metaphysical thing that doesn’t require the use of your hands to utilize. You could do an archery modus or a chess modus or a basketball modus or a Heartrate Monitor Modus (has to get her heart to a certain rate to unlock particular items, like a Fitbit but it controls her inventory), or you could pick something simpler and less involved. Blood Color: See that little section in Theme/Story Symbol and Meaning: See Blood Color Handle: Undecided

I’m thinking of something goofy like interminableJockstrap Quirk: quie+ly, as +o no+ move +oo much. uses + signs +o symbolize +he bandages.

We return once again to Bandages Aren’t A Personality. Her WHOLE identity doesn’t change just because she’s injured. If she’s dealing with chronic pain, maybe you could represent this with her making more typos. I know when my wrists are acting up, I am much less likely to go back and edit my mistakes. Special Abilities: None Lusus/Guardian: Her lusus is dead, so her morail’s badger lusus helps take care of her. Interests: Sports like arena stickball, wrestling, and whatever troll hockey is called. Also has an interest in medicine, ironically.

An interest in medicine isn’t ironic, it’s just a neat additional idea. If she was interested in physical therapy for sports injuries, it’s something she could take into her new situation and try to adapt to help herself recover!

Personality: Agleas is often jaded and unfriendly, pushing anyone away who tries to help. She isn’t very happy about having to ask her morail for everything, viewing it as her being weak. A little bit of her thinks being so badly injured was her fault, so she has to make up for it.

How did her and her moirail get together if Agleas is jaded and unfriendly? You have to understand that it’s a mutual relationship. It’s a kind of romance. If she pushes people away, how did they end up pale dating? And what does Agleas bring to the relationship? Disabled people put into relationships, too, they don’t only take. How does she feel about her moirail? What does she do for them? Are they healthy or unhealthy as a pair? Does her moirail make her feel like it’s an inconvenience to need help?

Like I said up above though, you’ve got a couple different blood routes you could take that’ll help you set your personality course in stone a little more. Lunar Sway: Derse probably. Title: Dunno.

I’d probably call her a Maid of Life, sticking in the life range makes the most sense because of the potential to grow and change, that directive energy that you could give her.

Land: I’m absolutely AWFUL at lands.

Land of Turf and Tournaments, maybe?

Okay, so yeah, “bandages” isn’t really a personality, but I tried my best. Any sort of ideas would be great. Sorry for submitting so many trolls lol.

Design time:

This is something of a major overhaul, but she needed the help. The way you word things implies that there’s been enough time since the injury that she was able to forge a new relationship with someone. And if this is the case, she’s probably not going to be absolutely covered in bandages. The only recovery process I can think of that would involve that would be from burn scars, not broken bones. I kept her leg casted up just as a nod to it, though.

Otherwise, I gave her an active wheelchair (crutches are NOT comfortable to use for any extended period of time) and put her in some real blank basics, allowing her to hide her blood color!

I hope this all helps!

#oliveblood #rustblood #maroonblood #burgundyblood #ceruleanblood #review #submission #agleas platar #agleas #platar #cd review #buttercup-n-stuff

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candiedtoast · 6 years

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After the Rain

🌧 Genre: Angst (Hurt/Comfort), Fluff, Self-Insert // childhood friends!au

🌧 Pairing: Taehyung x Reader

Note: Very little Taehyung in this chapter, but I wanted to introduce some key aspects first :)) very heavy on ocs!! sorry if this chapter is boring ><

🌧 PART 1 🌧 PART 2

Childhood was a full bliss of moments, our innocence always contradicting the cold reality we might’ve faced. Summers felt so carefree back then, not having to worry about volunteer work or land a job to get noteworthy fashion for the school year. Those summer days consisted of walking two blocks or so to a day of play dates, cold sweets, and whatever you felt like pestering to Ms. Gahn.

“Taehyung, dear, please eat your pie more slowly.”

Or whatever Ms. Gahn felt like pestering to you guys.

“Grandma, why don’t you start sellin’ your pies? I bet they can make a whole lotta money.” Taehyung chobbled down the last slice of pie fairly quickly, ignoring Ms. Gahn’s request. Satisfied yet sad how there’s no more of the sickly sweet, he patted his stomach contently while staring grimly at his empty plate.

“Now, if I started selling ‘em, then they won’t be as special anymore, wouldn’t it?”

At the time, you didn’t understand what she meant. “Ms. Gahn, what would you mean by not special?”

“I make these pies for you guys to enjoy. When you create something with the thought and adoration of who’s going to indulge in it, you wouldn’t want anyone else to have it too.”

You both stared at her blankly.

“What I mean, kids, is that… well, you still watch Spongebob, don’t you?”

“Yea.” You both made a return.

“It’s like if I sell these pies, there’d always be a Plankton who’d wanna get the recipe, ‘n I’m not willing to give anyone my secret recipe.”

She stopped to give a long hard look at us as we sensed that she’s not finished.

“But that’s not the whole reason why. I don’t want to lose the special meaning for making these here pies. It’s like if everyone knew how they’d taste like, it won’t be our little secret anymore wouldn’t it? Some things are just more special if it’s between you n’ a loved one. Once you grow older, you’d understand.”

One bite and the McDonald’s apple pie tart was out of your mouth.

“You couldn’t have given me some of your fries?”

Natasha just chewed on the last bit of her fries with no remorse, a big wide grin spread across her face. For someone who’s athletic, she should be watching her calories. Yet she’s intaking way too much sodium and fat than recommended, with little to no signs of a food baby whatsoever. No fair.

“Don’t even try, y/n. You know how much I adore McDonalds and how Ms. Dubose would kill me to see if I’m even in near radar of fast food.”

Ms. Dubose, the boys and girls’ basketball coach, treats the juniors as seriously as the seniors. Her strictness is worth all the wins our team gets, though. You knew that the ballers understood this, but also how they’re still young adolescents who shoot given advise the other way instead of keeping it in mind. But who’d wanna give up McDonalds?

Except for their apple tarts, of course.

“It’s almost summer anyways, I have time to go on a diet when the next season is near.”

You nodded your head inattentively. “Hey Tash, what’re your thoughts on Taehyung?”

She smirked, raising her eyebrows. “On who?”

You rolled your eyes, about to discuss on the events of yesterday when a ruckus occurred that consisted of the basketball girls. A herd of them came out into the courtyard, and by the looks of it, they were heading to your table. Despite their loud voices blending into the crowd of conversations, heads were turned and people greeted them. The girls mere presence creates a stir, making you wish you were that powerful. Natasha greeted them with handshakes accustomed to the team and immediately occupied herself in conversation as they helped themselves with whatever room’s left at the table. Everyone was talking about the last game, a topic you couldn’t join in conversation since you were absent.

It’s usually like this, you and Natasha having your own time until her teammates come and join since it’s customary to talk to people you had similar interests too. Not that you disliked basketball or anything, it’s just that they were Natasha’s friends and not really yours. You found yourself joining in the small talk, but you were more engrossed on your phone that you took out after being bored from observing.

Questioning why you and Natasha were best friends was not thought on occasionally, or ever, but you couldn’t help but find it funny how despite that you’re polar opposites, you seem to get along like you knew each other since childhood. It was that kind of friendship: where the greediness lies when you want to bus home together or need attention. You remember how you’ve complained to her on why haven’t you become besties sooner, showing her the appreciation for the love and support she gives you. Natasha would always end up beating you up for being too shy to approach her at first, which always ended up with screaming and laughing like a bunch of maniacs. It was a friendship you felt like you needed ever since…

…ever since Taehyung stopped talking to you.

“Hey y/n, you coming to watch us verse the boys after school?” Mary, the leader and one of the nicest girls you knew, was attentive with your unheeding with the group.

“You guys have a game after school?”

She said it was more like a casual-with the use of air quotes-game as a practice before their big tournament coming up. Of course you knew about this game through Natasha begging you for days to come and watch, but you didn’t want the awkwardness of saying no and wanted a diversion to think upon your answer.

Concluding that maybe this is fate telling you to go out more, you nodded.

“Make sure to tape us beating the guys ass for me, okay?” Mary was ambitious. It took you with surprise though at how un-Mary like it was for her to swear. Maybe she was very passionate about feminism.

The bell rang, signalling all the students who were too engaged in lunch that the last block was about to start. You started to pack up, catching up with Natasha as you both walked to class. When you told her about your change of heart, she slapped your arm for only changing your mind now. It was a nice feeling to share a laugh and experience bliss, despite the smack you had to injure from Natasha’s powerful arm. You rubbed it gratefully though, thankful for having someone who cares about your attendance after school. Only the wish that others might feel this feeling was all the selflessness you could do, for you wanted to dwell on this feeling simply forever.

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northshorehealthandfitness · 7 years

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[caption id="attachment_64929" align="alignnone" width="620"] Photo courtesy of The North Face[/caption] Consider your favorite activity of all time — the one you could do all day, every day. Then imagine being #blessed enough to spin that into your dream job. That’s exactly how freeskiers Maddie Bowman, Aaron Blunck and Devin Logan feel about spending time on the slopes. It’s not a 9-to-5 for The North Face-sponsored athletes — it’s a lifestyle. As they put it, they’re just three ski bums turned Olympic medalists who want to laugh with their friends down the mountain. And they do — right before speeding off to vie for another spot on the podium. This year, that competitive stage will be in PyeongChang for the 2018 Winter Olympics. (They’ll find out the final Team USA roster on January 22.) But these three skiers have already earned top medals, a few times over. California native, Bowman, 24, snagged gold at the 2014 Olympics in halfpipe and four from the X Games. Vermonter turned Utah resident, Logan, 24 — who competes in both halfpipe and slopestyle — won silver in Sochi. And Blunck, a 21-year-old from Colorado, won gold at the 2017 Winter X Games in the men’s superpipe. While the hardware provides a little incentive to work harder, Bowman, Blunck and Logan still gush that it’s their love for the sport that really keeps them going. Here’s a glimpse into their lives, on and off the snow, and why they’re stoked to hang at the start gate of the 2018 Olympic Games. RELATED: 20 Questions with Olympic Skier Gus Kenworthy

Olympic Hopefuls Talk Fitness, Nerves and Their Passion for Skiing

http://ift.tt/2DnkdfQ

On their love of skiing...

Maddie Bowman: “I love it because, honestly, it’s the place where I feel I can be myself. It’s very freeing and challenging — and there’s just nowhere I’d rather be. We’re all just ski bums at heart. I think I’d be doing this even if it wasn’t my career. I know I’ll be a skier for the rest of my life. That really makes me happy.” Aaron Blunck: “I never expected to be a pro skier. Obviously I had dreams as a kid. I loved skiing. I started at 18 months old. But it wasn't that I was doing it because I needed to get to the next level... At the end of the day, there’s really nothing better than sliding down the snow as fast as you can and flying through the air. It’s the closest thing to being a bird that you could do.” Devin Logan: “The friends I made through skiing are my closest friends. It’s just a level you connect on — being outside and being silly, going fast. All I wanted to do was be Picabo Street and go fast and not have poles. It’s that freedom that not a lot of people can get. You can express yourself in different ways. You can just fly and get away from everything… The wind in your hair is the best therapy you can get.” RELATED: 8 Signs You’re Way Too Stressed (And How to Deal)

On doing it for family…

DL: “My brothers went to a ski academy five months out of the year, so I followed in their footsteps. [My family] believes in tough love. My brothers were always saying, ‘You're doing this trick and you're doing it now or else you're not eating.’ So I definitely progressed quickly and then started going to bigger competitions and realizing that my skill level was above norm... The biggest thing was the approval of my brothers. [My relationship with them] made me who I am today. It made me tough in this sport — which is a tough one. You definitely take some hits.” AB: “Just like Devin's brother, my older brother kind of paved the path for me in skiing and every sport I did with him. I’m still always super thankful I grew up skiing with him because, I don't get to ski with him all the time, but when I do, it's typically the best days out of my year. He's always someone who's cared about not necessarily me as a skier, but me as a person.” RELATED: 21 Signs You’ve Found Your Fitness Swole Mate

On what their gym sessions look like...

DL: “A main focus in our sport is the landing. We try to focus on the hips to take the impact off our knees. And you need to be ready for single-leg landings... I’ve gotten a little bit more gym time to buckle down, get strong, and help me get through the season. In the last year or two that's what I've focused on and I've really felt a difference. [It’s helped me] make it through the whole season, feeling good and strong. Competing in two events takes a lot out of you.” MB: “We do a lot of lifting, like back squats, front squats, deadlifts, cleans and then core work. With lifting, we’re not trying to max out. Being powerful is the most important thing.” AB: “I do a lot of cardio and more bodyweight exercises, just because we don’t want to be the biggest.” RELATED: 275 Bodyweight Exercises to Shake Up Your Workout Routine http://ift.tt/2DmCQ3p

On their favorite way to cross-train…

MB: “I am an activity addict. I like to go mountain biking or go to the beach or go out on the boat. Then in the winter, I go to the gym...When we're not skiing or training for an event, we’re still skiing, whether it's just around the resort, or hiking and then skiing.” AB: “I mountain bike, as well as skateboard, and then I recently got into running. It’s cool getting out of my comfort zone, because I’ve never trained for running before. Now that I have a trainer, she actually helps me with my mechanics — like learning how to have less impact on my heels, ankles and knees.... I’ve also recently started doing hill sprints, which is brutal. I’d almost rather do that than a 10-mile jog, though, because it’s only 500 yards up a hill. You get back a lot quicker.” DL: “I actually just bought a road bike. I’ve been getting into that for cardio, and I’ve been getting into running a little bit, too. I’m definitely not a long-distance runner. I try to ride the bike for 20 minutes, then run a mile and get back on the bike.... But also, I’m a big proponent of sleep and rest. I’m always go, go, go, so when I get the time, I just sit. I’ve learned now, over the past few years, that the best recovery for me and my body is to rest. I know deep down I need to physically just rest my body because the next day, it will be even better.”

On coming back from injuries...

MB: “I've had two major knee surgeries... And you just try to do as much as you can with the rest of your body while you're waiting. I think that really helps you when you start going back to the gym. You have to start out doing small movements, like learning how to do a squat... Then, when you take your first step again, you’re like, ‘This is the best day of my life.' You do take those things for granted [when you’re not injured], but when you get back, it’s a big realization of, ‘Wow, walking is pretty awesome.’” DL: “The injury was an eye-opening experience that the gym is a crucial part of our sport to maintain strength and overall abilities. It's kind of a shocking realization when you get hurt and then your life is the gym. Mentally, it's exhausting. You try to do something that seems normal, like walking, and you can't for a little bit. It takes a lot of mentally strengthening... Slowing down is super hard for me. I had to occupy my time with other things.” AB: “I have such a hard time taking myself out and it’s come to the point where — Devin has done it to me a couple times — she’s come up and said, ‘You need to stop skiing.’ I've had some back issues for a few years now, and doing core exercises has been the best thing I could have ever done. I swear to it now. I do it every single day, even if it's really quick, like a set of 50 crunches and push-ups, and a two-minute plank.” RELATED: 50 Ab Exercises to Score a Stronger Core http://ift.tt/2DoxvZC

On what it’s like right before a big run...

MB: “I think we still get nervous, but for me personally, I like to just keep it light and fun at the top of the halfpipe and joke around and chat with people. Everyone’s super nice and fun up there... You’re up there with all your friends and you’re genuinely happy to see everybody and talk. It’s nice.” AB: “I definitely found out that the more I mess around and joke about things [at the start], the better off I am.” DL: “I mean, the nerves have definitely calmed down, but they're still there. I think it just means you're still passionate about it. You still care. You still want to do well. But I express it, again, in a fun, joking way. I also have to listen to music when I ski. Either you have that pump-up song [often DMX], or you're too pumped up and you need to calm it down a little right before your run. So I'm up there listening to music, most likely singing out loud, being tone deaf, hurting everyone's ears. But again, I just can’t think about it too much. When you’re relaxed, you perform better.” The Opening Ceremonies for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games will air on Friday, February 9 on NBC. Read More Inside the Mind of an Ultrarunner: Meet Dylan Bowman 8 Exercises Trainers Never Do (And What to Do Instead) The 10-Minute Rowing Workout This Olympian Swears By

The post Olympic Preview: Meet 3 Team USA Skiing Hopefuls appeared first on Life by Daily Burn.

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ted-hyung · 7 years

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Wonpil gets injured due to a fan, and sungJin's reaction

jessichan, dang. thank you for waiting for like weeks. thank you.

oh becaUSE FROM FANACCOUNTS I COULD UNDERSTAND THAT MYDAYS ARE AMAZING, i’m borrowing my own AU in which sungjin is a korea’s hottest soloist, and wonpil as this ‘the man with the golden ears in the indie k-music industry’ so here we go:

1.3k of fl00f and subtle tenderness only bob is capable of. i hope you’ll see this and like and reblog lmao.

wonpil watches the morning news. usually when the damage is severe or the idol group has nationwide recognition, all tv stations will broadcast the mob of fans with their weapon-like cameras and their screaming and extreme moves such as climbing the barricade or cursing the law of enforcement that is doing their job to protect the idol group’s members.

sungjin is not an idol.

he travels with one manager-hyung, one stylist-noona, and a part-time sound engineer slash business management university student called kang brian. wonpil brings himself, a sling bag, and a face mask brian gave to him because unless you’re confident with your face getting photographed in candid action by sungjin’s fans, then, well, go ahead.

brian, manager-hyung, and stylist-noona are all wearing the matching, unassuming black mask. wonpil follows suit.

but no one told him about how wild anyone’s fans could be. sure wonpil watches the morning news, the official video of a very popular idol group commuting to KBS music bank and almost got mobbed by no less than a hundred fans is still replaying freshly in his mind. he didn’t know that sungjin’s fans, who’s not an idol, is just as wild when they arrive at the venue’s parking lot where sungjin is going to perform at busan international music festival, the only reason why wonpil tagged along is because sungjin still owes him a bowl of seafood jjampong and his agency allows sungjin to take a plus one to the music festival.

it hurts, really. wonpil has never been the athletic one in the family. the only sports he does is playing game online. his nice dress pants are scraped on the knees, the left one bleeds a little. his sunglasses get knocked off to the ground as he falls, and someone with a pair of nice doc marten boots is cracking them into two. another one hits his head with a heavy bag and wonpil vaguely hears brian yelling at them to be careful and amidst the confusion, the stinging on his knees and the ringing in his head, wonpil is hauled up to his feet by strong yet gentle hands, and then he’s functioning like a normal person once again; he’s speedwalking with brian’s help, who, for the first time ever since wonpil had befriended him months ago, is frowning and cursing in english under his breath.

brian keeps dragging him and he’s only stopping once they reach a group of people wearing the festival’s official lanyards surrounding sungjin, checking him for any injuries.

when sungjin turns around and sees him, wonpil watches the lights disappear from his pretty, pretty eyes, a glint of something akin to anger and worry are taking over as he, calmly, reassures the officials and manager-hyung that he’s alright.

“sir, my friend needs medical attention,” brian says, his tone is ice cold. one official who seems to be the leader immediately talks to his walkie talkie and wonpil doesn’t even realize that he’s been holding his breath until stylist-noona brings him a cup of water.

wonpil finishes it in one gulp, his hand is apparently trembling. now that sungjin, the main subject of concern, is clearly unaffected by the overexcited fans, the officials are slowly dispersing, leaving the leader who’s waiting for the medical staff.

“please follow me,” the leader addresses brian, pointing to a room with STAFF ONLY sign on the door. there’s a folded chair and wonpil is directed to sit there but the room itself is empty with a long conference table, a huge screen, and heaps of choco pies placed right in the middle. sungjin and brian are sitting close with manager-hyung and stylist-noona, who are all looking upset.

the leader nods at wonpil, his round, hipster glasses are slipping on his nose; his smooth face is sweating and the tips of his wet, blonde fringe are making him blinkblinkblinking cutely. he kinda looks like a cartoon character, wonpil thinks.“we’re really sorry for what happened. are you one of park sungjin’s staffs?”

wonpil smiles.

the leader sighs, “honestly, we’re really, really sorry. no excuses.” he offers a hand. “i’m park jaehyung, head of riders. but just call me jae.”

“kim wonpil,” wonpil says, shaking jaehyung’s hand. “and it’s okay. i’m just a little bit shocked.”

“and bleeding.”

“he he he.”

“you’re weird, but thank god you’re okay. you don’t want to imagine how crazy it would be if an idol group is attending this festival,” jaehyung sniffs. “anyway, kim wonpil? sounds familiar.”

“i write songs, mostly indie bubbly pop,” wonpil clears his throat, taking off his sling bag and placing it by his feet. he glances at his left knee and pouts. “um, maybe you’ve listened to baek ayeon’s ‘sweet lies’ ? that’s mine.”

“holy shit,” jaehyung exclaims, then covers his wide smile with a fist that’s holding the walkie talkie. “pleased to meet you! i posted a cover of ‘sweet lies’ on my youtube. damn, the man himself. what is it, ‘cindyman’, right? that’s your pseudonym, right?”

wonpil giggles, forgetting the blood seeping on his nice dress pants. jaehyung’s reaction is so genuine and it warms his heart.

“that’s me,” wonpil says, and he locks eyes with sungjin who’s been staring. “sungjin-hyung, can i give him a spoiler?”

“we’re collaborating for my new album.” sungjin gives jaehyung his professional smile, and wonpil wonders why.

“awww, i wanted to tell him myself!” but wonpil will save his question for later, because there are heavy footsteps coming close and closer and then there’s a kid with permed black hair who speaks in a loud baritone apologizing to jaehyung, with a box of first aid kit and a wince when his focus finally shifts to wonpil’s bloodied knee.

“this is dowoon,” jaehyung introduces the kid and wonpil sends him a smile to tell him that he’s not mad even though he’s been waiting.

“hi, i’m kim wonpil.”

“um, hi, sorry, this is gonna sting, yeah?” the kid says in heavy satoori and he’s right. it stings. a lot, in fact, that wonpil almost kicks dowoon in the face and sungjin hurriedly goes to his side to hold his hand.

“i’m so sorry,” wonpil squeaks, squeezing sungjin’s hand. dowoon laughs, but proceeds to tend to wonpil’s knee diligently. he puts a dinosaur printed band-aid and makes a kissy face to it before he stands up and getting a playful bop on his nose from jaehyung.

“yah, that’s the genius behind your favorite singer’s hit song! show him some respect, geez.”

“whoa,” dowoon blurts out, his ears are red in an instant and wonpil giggles again. “really? can i get your sign? you’re ‘cindyman’? i listened to your synth in b minor mixtape the minute you released it last year!”

wonpil rubs his thumb on sungjin’s knuckles before letting go, and in return, sungjin strokes his head before he gets back to his seat next to brian, plopping down with a quiet sigh.

“really?” wonpil allows his heart to skip a beat because of the tender gesture sungjin doesn’t really show too much in front of people—but he just did, and wonpil is already in love, remember?

“what’s your favorite track?”

“‘urban green’!” dowoon gushes in awe, and jaehyung and unsurprisingly brian (this hyung is always so weak for cute things) are smiling fondly at him.

“aww, thank you!” wonpil claps his hands, excited, because it’s not like he gets this kind of interaction everyday.

“wait, this has been great and all, but sungjin-sshi, what time is your stage?” jaehyung asks, grimacing at the clock mounted high on the white wall.

manager-hyung curses and everyone else laughs and suddenly it’s time to part ways. dowoon asks for wonpil and sungjin’s autographs, and they sign theirs on his red lanyard with a black permanent marker. jaehyung asks on a piece of wrinkled paper he finds on the front pocket of his jeans, and brian volunteers to take their group photos using wonpil and jaehyung’s phones. before they leave with jaehyung to the artist’s waiting room on the west wing, wonpil gives dowoon his name card and dowoon asks if he can follow wonpil’s instagram.

#day6writersnet #sungpil #wonpil #sungjin #day6 #jaehyung #jae #brian #dowoon #day6 fic #day6 scenarios #kpop fic #drabble #* answered thank you #* le post

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junker-town · 5 years

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Michael Vick reflects on forgiveness, his football career, and what’s next

Fox Sports analyst Michael Vick spoke with SB Nation just before Christmas to discuss a little bit of everything.

Michael Vick is one of the most electrifying players the NFL has ever seen. Along with becoming one of the most popular athletes in Atlanta sports history, Vick set the standard for mobile quarterbacks during his 13-year NFL career, paving the way for guys like Lamar Jackson.

Vick is also one of the most polarizing players in NFL history. His career was put on pause in 2007 after he pled guilty for involvement in a dogfighting ring and spent 21 months in federal prison. His comeback in 2009 with the Philadelphia Eagles yielded the best season of his career, which he pursued until his retirement in 2015. He now spends most of his time as an analyst with Fox Sports on Fox NFL Kickoff (as well as other FS1 programming) and working with the Team Vick Foundation.

Vick sat down with SB Nation to discuss his career, his time in prison, forgiveness (and the lack thereof), along with what he wants to do in the future.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

SB NATION: Some quarterbacks ran well before you, but you were the first Michael Vick. Which players did you admire growing up, and did you ever envision becoming a player that never existed before?

MICHAEL VICK: I grew up admiring Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Deion Sanders, John Elway, Randall Cunningham, Warren Moon. Elite players who were all game-changers. I saw that there was room for that in the game of football. Even when I was young, when I first started attacking the field and running the football the way I did in high school, I just told myself I’d never change my style. And then I told myself when I go to the National Football League, if I made it one day, that I’d use the same style. I didn’t think that it was something different, I was just like, ‘This is the way I play. And it’s special, and it’s different, and I’m gonna use it.’

SBN: At what point did you realize, “I’m a different quarterback,” in the sense that you’re making plays that have never been made before?

MV: I think it was my second season, and we went on an eight-game run after a tough start. We went on an eight-game winning streak, and I just felt like I was the best player on the field when I stepped on the field. It’s different when you feel that way, and you know that, and you come into a game saying, ‘Nobody on the field is better than me. Even if it’s Ray Lewis out there, if it’s Charles Woodson. No offense, but I’m the best player on the field.’

SBN: And that said, Dec. 1, 2002. Vikings, in overtime, the 42-yard touchdown run. What was the huddle like before that? What do you remember about the play, and where does that rank for you among the best plays that you’ve ever made?

MV: It’s funny because that play versus the Minnesota Vikings don’t even rank among my top plays. I think it’s probably a play that I can be proud about because I didn’t pre-determine that I was going to run. They played a defense that I thought they was going to play, so I think part of being a good quarterback — a great quarterback is being one step ahead and always having a backup plan. And the backup plan just worked. I just made a great play, but an even better decision.

SBN: From your perspective, in terms of comfort and fit, what were the most significant differences in playing for Dan Reeves and Jim Mora? Do you wish you could have gotten more time with Reeves?

MV: Dan drafted me with a plan of what he would do long-term — he just never got the shot. He was fired after I made a comeback after an injury in my third season, and it was a really rough time because what he did in 2002 showed me that he was going to take advantage of my talent.

Even though it’s not what you see today, it was still him using my athleticism and my abilities. It worked for our team, and we had a somewhat average football team. I think our defense was probably better than our offense, and we was able to make the playoffs. But it was different when Jim came in and he brought his offensive coordinator that he had known in San Francisco. They introduced me to this West Coast system and it was like they was just trying to turn me into a passer. It took everything away from me. Everything I got, I had to earn. It certainly wasn’t easy because I was always in scramble mode, and always had to improv.

SBN: How frustrating was that for you? Because you had such a rare gift, and you said you felt like you were the best football player out on the field, and they’re not playing to your strengths.

MV: It wasn’t frustrating because I made it work. I was good enough to take a system, learn it, go out on a professional football field, and make it happen. We went to the NFC Championship game. I didn’t get frustrated until teams started picking up on tendencies and what we was doin’. It was just no change in direction, so everything was like, ‘This is the way it’s going to be.’

But the frustration wasn’t there because I was able to make it work. I think once I rushed for 1,000 yards in 2006, I felt like I had so much responsibility I knew I needed a change in the offense. I started to feel it myself, the coaches felt it, and I think ownership felt it as well.

SBN: That’s part of what made you great — you made things work. Now being from Newport News, getting drafted No. 1 overall by the Falcons —moving from there to Atlanta is a pretty big jump. How was the adjustment, being in Atlanta and signing a big contract, for you? What was your lifestyle?

MV: The great part was that I was raised humbly and I felt everything that I had to work for — high school, college — there was no need to change. I still like to go back home; I still like to be around my mom and my sisters and my family. Going to Atlanta, it wasn’t a culture shock — it was just more being so focused and not wanting to be a bust.

My only concern coming into the National Football League was just be the best player that you can be, earn a second contract, and prove that you’re not a bust. Any distraction that I had as far as going to a new city, a new culture, a place where hip-hop and entertainment was at its peak and pinnacle — I was just able to fall right in.

SBN: I think one of the most interesting aspects of your career that goes over a lot of people’s heads is that you peaked in Atlanta during a significant time for this city, culturally. Trap music godfathers were coming up and Atlanta was getting its respect as the place for hip-hop. What was it like being in the “Rubberband Man” video with T.I. and Usher, and how did that come about?

MV: Being in the “Rubberband Man” video was so cool, man. Me and T.I. kind of hit it off early. Ludacris, I used to run into him all the time — Usher, 2 Chainz, back when he was young, Gucci Mane, Outkast, you know — it was so fun to be out in the city and to know these guys that I respect what they do on so many levels. And here we are, together, changing the culture. I was just able to come around with the football aspect of it, and the sports demographic of it. I’ll tell you this, the hospitality from all those guys, even though most of them was from Atlanta — they welcomed me in like I was one of them.

And Atlanta will always be my second home. Those guys are all still friends to this day, and we did something great for the city at a time when times was changing.

SBN: You talked about your relationship with the city in your Players’ Tribune article, how difficult it was watching the Falcons draft Matt Ryan, including how you still follow the Falcons. How passionate are you about the Falcons and how often do you get back to Atlanta?

MV: I get back at least once a month. I still root for the guy; I still root for the fans, most important — that they get the entertainment. So it’s great to see, man. Arthur always has me around; we still play golf together. I just continue to pray that they get it together and that they keep working through trying times. You know, better days are ahead, and I hope they keep head coach Dan Quinn. I think he’s a great guy. I had a chance to meet him personally, and I really like him. It’s more about the entertainment for the city and putting on for the city. That’s what’s most important.

SBN: I think one of the most iconic pictures of your time in Atlanta that best explains how important you were in making the franchise relevant is the one of Arthur Blank pushing you in a wheelchair when you were injured in 2003. What has your relationship been like with him over the years?

MV: When people ask me about my relationship with Arthur, I always tell them it’s consistent. He’s always the same person, always full of energy, always positive, and always caring. If it was ever a more honest man that I’ve ever met in my life, it was Mr. Blank. I think every player on the Atlanta Falcons team and every person that ever worked with him could probably say the same thing if you didn’t rub him the wrong way because he can be snappy too.

So that’s what creates the respect level, and that’s why people love him, because you talk about being a true boss. He’s a true boss. He’s a guy you want to work for.

SBN: Your time here obviously came to an abrupt end when you spent 21 months in federal prison. You had your humble beginnings; you reached the top of the top. How did being in that atmosphere change you as a person?

MV: It’s scary — when you first go in, and you don’t know what to expect. Anybody who don’t come from that type of lifestyle, or never put themselves in a position where you can be sent off to prison — I couldn’t adjust, I couldn’t relate. But I did because I knew enough, and I knew people, and I knew how to handle myself. It was life-changing, because I had to get to know more about myself personally, and the everyday challenge of pushing yourself to take your mind outside of the prison.

Your goals and your ways of thinking are always more vibrant, I think, when your back is against the wall. I can’t speak for other people, but I just came out a better person. More understanding, more loyal, more trusting — I had a better understanding of life. I always knew I needed that. I always wanted to be a person who wasn’t always shying away from the big opportunities and the rooms that I could be around, and the people I could be around. I always shied away from that. I thought I didn’t need it. It’s like, man, I gotta take advantage of some of the great things that God has put into my life. I came back more of a people person and I respect that more than anything.

Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images

SBN: Was there a single moment for you where you decided you wanted to be better?

MV: Nah, every day made it tough. You know, first of all, you’re sitting in the cell and you’re asking yourself, ‘Why am I here?’ And you feel like the scum of the earth. So all you can do is aspire to do great things.

I was able to think in the short-term because I didn’t have a long way to go. I had so many people in there who supported me and pushed me to be better, pushed me every day. As crazy as it may sound, and I know it’s ironic, I always tell people I wouldn’t change that part of my life for anything because I learned so much about people, so much about myself, and it made me a better person.

SBN: What was it like to finally leave?

MV: I was happy to leave. I was so ready to leave. I was more than ready. I made notes and read a lot of books and wanted to stick to my script. And I did it — and I had a chain of events that happened in order to get back into the league and to accomplish certain things off the field, to build my family and restore my legacy on and off the field. That was more important to me than anything, more important than football because that came easy. The hard work was all the things that I had to think about and put together mentally.

SBN: There have been a lot of signatures and various petitions to keep you out of the Pro Bowl as a captain. For people who haven’t forgiven you for your involvement in dogfighting, what would you say to them?

MV: I understand the forgive-but-not-forget mentality. That’s supposed to be logical and the way we supposed to live. Just know that I’ve done everything in my power to make amends, and that’s about all I can do. And I’ll continue to do that for the rest of my life because it’s a lifetime commitment. The person I have to make happy at the end of the day is myself; only God can judge me just like he’ll judge everybody else.

So I’d say to those people just let God judge me and kind of ease on out of it. I’m finding my way in life. Allow me to find my way and everybody do them. Fight for their cause, but do it with integrity — do it without bringing down another individual or another man who has a family to feed and a lot of opportunity in life to help. We’re all human, and we all make mistakes.

SBN: Do you think it’s fair some people haven’t forgiven you and also probably never will? Do you understand where those people are coming from?

MV: No — I mean, I don’t really understand where these people are coming from. Honestly, I don’t. I don’t know them personally; I haven’t hurt anybody or any animal that’s connected to them. So that shows me that it’s just pure hatred. I can’t hate you because you’ve committed a crime — I can’t do that, you know? Now there’s a bunch of things that I don’t believe in, and there’s a bunch of things I do believe in. But when somebody breaks the law, I can’t hate them for it. I don’t know the reason why they went through that, and they don’t know the reasons why I went through what I went through. Or do they care to even entertain or research it? It’s too much; it’s too much.

SBN: Have you forgiven yourself?

MV: I forgave myself upon [the end] of my prison sentence. The entire time I was in prison, I knew why I was in there. Every day I was hurtin’ and cryin’, and my heart couldn’t take it anymore. It wasn’t until I knew that every dog was taken care of upon paying the $1 million restitution. I got clarity on that, and once I walked out of them doors and walked away, I left my life there in that prison. I left everything behind me, and I moved forward. That was the day I forgave myself. That was May 22, 2009. That was the day.

SBN: Coming out, did you expect to see success as quickly as you did? I’m sure it was difficult to try to stay in decent NFL shape in there.

MV: Yeah, I was just so hungry to get back, man. I used to always tell my wife, ‘If I could just get one more chance — I just want one more chance to start again.’ Because you don’t know if you’ll ever get another chance, I just wanted to be a starter again, and when I got it, I was just super-focused and so determined to be the best player on the field. There was nothing that was going to come between that.

SBN: Going through that first season back and your big success the following year, what was that experience like for you?

MV: I had to overcome a lot of adversity. First, getting my body back in shape and being able to test it out on a football field and knowing that the hard work over the last year and a half paid off. And then I looked at the competition I was about to face once Kevin Kolb went down. I had the chance to go up against Donovan head-to-head, and Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, head-to-head with Jay Cutler. Me and Matt Schaub, my former backup, had a chance to go back-to-back at each other on a Thursday night. All I could do was look up at the sky before the games and thank God that I was back out there. I was just watching it from prison. Real moments.

SBN: When you came back to Atlanta with the Eagles, what was that like for you?

MV: It was a tough week, man — just being the guy who was the starter in that city, and now you’re on another team and you’re not starting anymore. It just wasn’t a cool feeling because you know the reasons why. You feel sorry for the fans more than anything, the people you let down. Football will go on, but people will never forget the excitement and the things we was able to do. Now you’re on the other side, and it’s difficult. It was just a tough day for me. But I enjoyed it, and we won the game. That was even better. [laughs]

Photo by Todd Kirkland/Icon SMI/Icon Sport Media via Getty Images

SBN: I’m curious, because I have a specific player in mind, who is the one player you hated facing during your career?

MV: Warren Sapp. Regardless of who you put in front of him, right guard or left guard, he’d beat them up for four quarters. He’ll be in your ear for four quarters, and he’ll hit you for four quarters, and it’s not fun for four. [laughs] So I just played against the Bucs twice a year, and I knew the night before the game, coming into the game, I’m gonna get hit. I have to get prepared for it, and be ready for it — be a man. He made me grow up as a quarterback, too, so that was a good thing.

SBN: OK, that was my second guess, I was going to say Simeon Rice. Back in the day, it always seemed like he was causing the most issues. I remember when I was a kid, and being annoyed with the Buccaneers defense twice a year.

MV: I would say Julius Peppers before Simeon Rice. Simeon Rice was good, but Julius Peppers was hard to get away from too.

SBN: 12-year-old me hated Simeon Rice.

MV: He was good off the edge. [laughs] Big dude No. 97 on over there. He was a monster.

SBN: Speaking of a monster, I have to ask: Along with Tecmo Bowl Bo Jackson, what’s it like being the greatest video game athlete — Madden NFL 2004 Vick — of all time?

MV: [laughs] Yeah, it’s an honor man, because I idolized Bo in Tecmo Bowl. The best ever. To be labeled as one of the best video game players ever, it says a lot, man. It’s something my kids will hear, and it’ll last for a long time. It’ll be a part of my legacy forever.

SBN: When the game first came out, were you putting in work on the big screen with yourself and the Falcons?

MV: [laughs] Nah, I could never play with myself. That was one thing I couldn’t do; that was very difficult. Now, ironically, I can play with Lamar Jackson on the game and beat everybody.

SBN: I’m glad you brought up Lamar. Do you have any kind of relationship with him?

MV: Yeah, we talked coming out of college. And you know, I’ll probably want to pick up the phone and call him. If I want to get to him, I can. Lamar’s doing his thing, man, and that’s what’s most important right now. His focus is through the roof right now, and people are trying to leave him alone, they’re trying to limit all his contact. And I know what it’s about, man. I know what it’s about, we’ll catch up. But Lamar’s an amazing talent, and the NFL is blessed to have him right now.

SBN: You tweeted about him a few years ago saying he was five times better than you, which was a big deal — you’re you. But then this year happened, and he’s got a good chance to win MVP. Do you still think he’s better than you?

MV: I don’t think anybody’s better than me at the quarterback position. Now, I can say that you can do it better than me. And that’s what it is; he’s doing it better than what I did in the offenses that I was in versus the offense that he’s in. He’s doing it at a high level, man. He’s showing that he’s competent and capable, and he knows how to play the game at a high level. That’s what you want from a starting quarterback. That’s what you want your guy to look like, and build an offense around a guy like that, you’re gonna win Super Bowls.

SBN: You’ve mentioned many times that you felt you could have worked harder in your career, describing yourself as the last guy in and the first one out. Do you ever think about how much better you possibly could have been with different work ethic?

MV: Yeah, I think about how much better I could have been. But for me to be better, I would have had to become a coach on the field and call my own plays and change the offense up. You see what I’m sayin’? When you’re only doing so much, how much more can you allow to happen within the offense other than you being more vocal and more verbal and saying, ‘All right coach, I don’t like that, we need to do this.’ That’s not trusting the coach and everything he calls.

So I’m studying to make sure I understand everything that he calls. How about studying to call my own? And design my own.

Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images

SBN: Do you want to get back into the NFL as a coach or in another capacity, perhaps?

MV: Not until my kids grow older, so I can’t do that just quite yet. Down the road, man, I’ll coach college football down the road for sure. Head coach, that’s it, get some kids ready to go to the league. Have fun with it, win some games, win a bunch of bowl games, make whatever national championship. We’ll be that good.

SBN: Now, where is a lot of your energy focused these days?

MV: Working with the Boys & Girls Club, remodeling, rebuilding Boys & Girls Clubs all across the world. That’s what our charity is doing — Team Vick Foundation — that’s what we do. We give kids things to wear and places to be, places to go hang out, places to go learn.

SBN: Lastly, I just kind of want to know how you feel about where you’re at in life right now? You had an amazing career with its ups and downs, incredible life lessons. People talk about you, whether it be good or bad. I just want to know how you feel right now.

MV: I feel great, man. I got a family that loves me dearly. I got a wife that’s amazing. I have a great relationship with the NFL, and I have an incredible job working with Fox as a sports analyst. I’m around a ton of people that care about me and appreciate me and respect me. When that’s how you live your life, and simplifying, you put your family first, and then you work as hard as you can to be the best that you can be at your profession, to fulfill all your obligations, you can sleep at the end of the night. I’m proud of myself because I’m still learning in life, still educating myself, I’m still working to be the best person that I can be. Those are things that nobody can control but me. I appreciate that because that’s like playing quarterback — gotta get it done baby. So that’s what I do.

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