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seeksstaronmewni · 5 years

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Joel R. Valentine: An Under-Appreciated Sound Designer

Note before reading that, for the sake of privacy, NO PICTURES of Joel IN HIS STUDIO are allowed in this post. I respect him as a humble artist enough to obey this.

Joel Valentine is a sound designer who is usually credited for only sound editing, usually under the name of his company “Twenty-First Century Entertainment, Inc.” (AKA “21st Century Sound Design Corp.)--a private contractor who seems fairly under-appreciated. He created “The Producer’s Sound Effects Library” (according to Trademarkia), which is used by Hacienda Post, Jeff Hutchins, Atlas Oceanic, and maybe even Advantage Audio.

In more familiar context, Joel is the sound designer of mostly cartoons, namely Cartoon Network projects and the works of Craig McCracken and Genndy Tartakovsky, like The Powerpuff Girls and Samurai Jack, as well as Dexter’s Laboratory (Joel is credited for sound design on the package design/summary of Dexter’s Laboratory: Ego Trip, however, and as a sound editor on the special). Joel Valentine is responsible for the soundtrack to many of my favorite childhood cartoons... or cartoon cartoons, to be a bit more specific.

"Edits fast, sounds great, and doesn't break. The DM -80's multilayering capabilities and simultaneous recording on all tracks gives us the flexibility to do whatever we want."

This is a quote from Joel Valentine on the DM-80, from a supplement to a March 1994 issue of BROADCAST engineering / BE Radio.

Jeff Hutchins, the sound designer behind Spongebob Squarepants and a creative at Hacienda Post/Sabre Media/Flash Bomb Audio and Warner Bros. Sound/Audio Circus, was an assistant to Joel Valentine. They both edited sound on 2 Stupid Dogs and Dead in the Water. Jeff Hutchins made a number of tweets to me that compliment and reference Joel Valentine:

“Joel was a master of recording and funny sounds. He is still the a pillar of cartoon sound and I wish to recognize him. I believe he was working and had credits prior to 1985. Few people enter the business as a mixer. Look up Harmony Gold. Things should pop up”

“Joel is an incredible talent and I think the world of him. Rock on Joel!”

“Joel has a crisp & distict style. He had moved on to Samurai Jack and Hacienda started to do the FX for Dexter’s Lab. I did a few of them and really tried to retain Joel’s style. Not an easy task.”

“Joel gave me a copy of his “Producer’s SFX Library”. Joel also gave me his ADAP Library in exchange for transferring it to .wav files. I would give him any SFX he asked for.”

“In the “2 Stupid Dogs” days Joel was at the heart of everything. There wasn’t another like him. To this day, I thank him for being so out side the box as to redefine “out side the box”. Thx my brother in sound. Joel was creating the sound tract for a show called “Northern Exposure” at the same time. I am still in awe of his accomplishments. Joel rocks!”

“When I met Joel in 1986, my life changed. His over the top way of creating opportunity out of baking soda and “whatever you’ve got” is incredible. He is an innovator. Thanks for taking the time out of your life to be my teacher. Thanks Joel!”

“He [Joel] was working on those shows [Northern Exposure and Bakersfield P.D.] at the Lantana building in Santa Monica. I worked for Joel during that time period in a suite he had in the building. I worked on 2 Stupid Dogs. After 2 Stupid Dogs I went to work for other studios & Joel went his own ways. Those days were awesome, but all good things come to an end at some point. As one door closes, another opens... somewhere.”

Eric Freeman also shared some facts with me back in 2017:

“[Wander Over Yonder] Season 2 was all done by Joel Valentine. My schedule became way too busy to do the sound fx. Craig McCracken has long history with Joel and enjoys his work, so he wanted him to do the season 2 sfx... 21st century is/was Joel Valentine's personal company. He would do all the sound design and then send it to me at Hacienda for the final mix. He is not affiliated with Hacienda. Joel is a private contractor... [Joel] worked out of his home... he was the sole sound designer and editor for [Wander Over Yonder] season 2. There were NO other uncredited post-sound folks on the show. The whole series was just Joel and Myself... Joel is working on S5 of Samurai Jack. He would be the sole editor on that. The mix will be done at Hacienda Post. Current PPG is being edited and mixed at Hacienda Post. Joel is not involved with the new PPG... I did some editorial on PPG movie and worked with the editors you listed (Tom Syslo, Roy Braverman & Daisuke Sawa). I can't remember what I edited on the movie, but it was sound fx. I worked on Dexter's Lab, PPG, Fosters, Symbionic Titan, and Samurai Jack. Any editorial I did would have happened during the mix. A lot of times, Genndy or Craig will want to try different SFX when they hear final music and final dialog play together with Joel's sfx. Sometimes the original SFX just don't work well... Joel definitely IS a master sound designer. I respect his work very much... I've worked with Jeff [Hutchins] since the 1990s. He's extremely talented. I believe Joel trained him... Joel only worked on the pilot of Chowder. He did NOT do the series. All the sound design came from Hacienda Post.”

Grant Meuers, “the sole sound editor” on Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal, replied to my emails of my questions on the show’s sound: “all sound design you hear is either me or Joel. I worked for Hacienda for 2-3 years as an assistant sound editor before venturing out into the freelance world. They are great people over there, and I'm still close with them, although neither Joel or I are very involved in the mixes. Joel is a really talented guy, and I'll be sure to pass your compliments along!” The latter referred to my desire for anyone with Joel to send compliments from me to Joel. Grant continued: “the line between "sound design" and "sound edit" is pretty fluid to me (and I think Joel feels the same way). Joel and I split up responsibilities of what we each cover each episode fairly evenly, but Joel definitely has final say and final cut over whatever we do together, and obviously Genndy has final say over everything. How we are ultimately credited isn't really up to us. (In fact, Joel initially wanted us to be both credited as sound editors, but Genndy and Adult Swim gave him his own title card, which I am happy about, because he definitely deserves it. Joel is a humble guy and often likes to fly under the radar.) We both work remotely on our own, and each have our own respective companies we use for billing purposes.” The credit of Joel for sound design on Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal is well-earned, but ultimately he remains private in his work, and that privacy must be respected.

Genndy Tartakovsky himself said meaningful words about Joel Valentine, who did sound design on all of his Cartoon Network shows: “I’ve worked with Joel since the days of ‘Dexter.’ He’s got an amazing library and he knows how to blend sounds together to make them something very unique. For the fourth episode he went outside the norm and he found these vocal monster libraries that were done in the ’60s or something in Germany... for the mastodon episode, he found this library where some guy started a Kickstarter and then went to India to record elephant sounds for a year... all the mastodon sounds are so much more than what’s out there that a lot of people are using. I think we’re taking the extra effort for everything to make it sound unique and specific.”

Shane Houghton, co-creator of Big City Greens, compliments sound editor/designer Joel Valentine as part of “a killer sound team! They don't get enough love! Eric and Joel are amazing!”

Someone on Twitter asked @crackmccraigen “how was the noise used when the powerpuff girls would suddenly fly off made? The fwOosh/pew!! noise, yanno?” Craig replied: “It was comprised of a few different sound fx that were put together by the PPG sound designer Joel Valentine.” When I noted that Joel was usually uncredited, Craig told me that “The name Twenty-First Century Entertainment, Inc. listed under Sound Editing is Joel. That’s his company, [and] he wanted to be credited that way.” Another person appreciated the sound design of Kid Cosmic, and Craig highlighted that he’s been working with him for 27 years.

As of May 30th, 2021, Owen Fishback’s Kippie short, “Guard Duty Doggy”, was released. I saw it the next day, and it acknowledges Joel Valentine for sound effects (some of his sound effects are used in it, probably sourced from the Sound Effects Wiki pages for his sound effects, to which I contributed info but not the audio samples used in the video).

The sound effects that Joel created are very meaningful to me as I grew up heavily on the works of Joel Valentine for Cartoon Network, namely Dexter’s Laboratory. When I heard his sound design on Samurai Jack Season 5 back in 2017 (namely EPISODE XCIV), I was so impressed with his array of realistic soundscapes of atmospheres and animals that I began to consider Joel the next best creative in sound post-production sound services, next to those of Skywalker Sound and Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services.

I’m not sure what will become of The Producer’s Sound Effects Library, though I got a copy from ebay on 1/23/2020 A.D. as an upcoming birthday gift and immediately preserved it by ripping the files off ( the link for proof read Producers-Sound-Effects-Library-13-cds-Great-Value-Free-shipping/283736597492?hash=item421004e3f4:g:rLkAAOSwAGxeE8ql ). Thanks to @wiley207 and SqueakyCartWheel for notifying me on the Sound Effects Wiki!

Here’s a close-up of the main CD’s cover, used for the 101 SOUND EFFECTS CD...

...and here’s the label of the CD. They all look like this due to distributor S.O.S.

I made a page for The Producers Sound Effects Library on the Sound Effects Wiki, of course, to celebrate this amazing, obscure library. I recognize a number of sound effects on that library, like “IN Cricket Single” (as often heard in Spongebob) and “ROBOT MOVES #1[-3]” One of my absolute favorite sound effects on that library is “SPACE BEAM DOWN.” It’s a deep drone with a mysterious, enticing musical tone; it’s on PSEL CD SY-01 - “Science Fiction”.

Regarding preservation of the PSEL: due to the copyright warning requiring “written legal documentation from the owner of the Producers Sound Effects Library” (that’s probably Joel)--though I think that the company of the same name as the SFX library, PSEL, is defunct--I believe that I can not upload the audio files online “unauthorized” “by any information or sampler storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented”.

Aside from the PSEL, I hope and pray that Joel’s library will be in good hands when he retires. Sound Ideas or Pro Sound Effects deserve to preserve this amazing library of sound!

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greywindys · 6 years

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It’s that time of year again! I, and possibly a good number of you reading this, just spent the whole of 2018 in the Gorillaz fandom. Congratulations! You made it! Because this year...kinda sucked. Not just for the Gorillaz fandom but, if this Washington Post article is any indication, for the rest of the world too. Maybe on an individual level there were moments of light. Maybe Gorillaz was your moment of light. If it was I’m genuinely happy because that means you probably found a way to avoid or ignore all the chaos that went down this year. But overall? Fandom was rife with disappointments, confusion and conflict with some good parts (for me, at least) sprinkled in here and there. Below is a personal reflection on the top 10 significant events in fandom of 2018.

1. Murdoc Goes to Prison

2018 started out peacefully for fandom. We were just finishing up sharing our scans of G-Magazine and theorizing over the next album when we’re treated with this - a nineteen second mocap of a frantic Murdoc accepting a Brit Award with an “oh by the way I’m going to prison.” We didn’t know why or for how long, and, though fans were confused and Murdoc going to prison is a tired, overplayed storyline at this point, it was cherished as any new Gorillaz content, especially animation, is cherished. Memes were made, most notably the #FreeMurdoc hashtag complete with a petition which was acknowledged by creators and caused the first big outburst in fandom for its messy tag. I did what I always do with Murdoc videos and went through the entire thing frame by frame to collect screenshots. Little did I know that this would be the only time I would get to indulge in this beloved past time. Little did I know that I would be wearing the same expression as Murdoc is in this screencap this entire phase.

2. Murdoc hate

Murdoc hate has always existed. It’s also generally accepted. However, when it was confirmed that Murdoc was going to be in prison for an undetermined amount of time and that he may not even speak this phase (thanks a lot, phase 5 plot!) it reached unprecedented levels of viciousness. Some fans took every opportunity to drag him in the main tag, start debates with anyone who might mention one positive thing about him and expressed how they genuinely wanted him to die and/or never come back. It kinda reminded me of this season of MTV’s The Challenge when everyone ganged up on Johnny Bananas. Like, yes he’s an asshole and yes this was probably long overdue but also omg when is there and end point? Is there an end point? It was like some people hated Murdoc more than they liked Gorillaz. For some additional context - this tense environment was born out of an astoundingly severe conflict that happened in spring where three separate fandom storms that had been brewing since late 2017 collided into one huge mess. Discords were raided, friendships were lost, the police were called (I’m not even exaggerating). I won’t go into it more but if you were there, you know what i’m talking about. Murdoc wasn’t the cause of this, but his character was at the center of one of those storms and the canon sending him to prison only reignited the ire towards him. For awhile Murdoc fans weren’t sure were exactly they stood with the greater fandom, and new fans were confused as to why this one green character was the source of so much grief for haters and fans alike. This continued for most of the year (and still continues today), hence why it’s getting a mention now.

3. Ace

Believe it or not Murdoc and Ace are confirmed #friends. You wouldn’t know that from all the Murdoc vs Ace content that sprung out of this year but Ace was the one who joined Murdoc for hot chocolate after he got out of prison, “they go way back” etc etc. Ace was a big deal because it was probably the only time the fandom guessed something correctly this entire year. Jamie began posting cryptic pictures of Noodle with this unidentified man, then another with only the Ace card visible. “It a Powerpuff Girls crossover!” Some people claimed. But that seemed so random? Really? A B-list cartoon villain from a cartoon targeting an entirely different demographic? More likely than you think! Ace never spoke a word and he wasn’t allowed to smoke or have sex. People obsessed over him anyways. To this day I still have no idea who he is or what kind of personality he has or really anything. But he wasn’t a bad guy (more on that later) and he was Murdoc’s friend so he’s alright with me.

4. Messaging Denholm

By now the fandom was fraught with distress on so many levels. We were lost. We needed someone to guide us, to show us the way, to show us the #truth. I don’t know exactly who started this trend but it soon spread around Reddit and other social media sites that Jamie’s son Denholm was replying to dm’s on Instagram and soon, he was graced with a deluge of of inquiries from casual fans and Murdoc stans alike. The thing is though - he actually *did* answer them. Many of us had spoilers re: Murdoc and Ace’s friendship, Murdoc getting out of prison, etc. MONTHS before they happened. I believe he even told us that 2D was fine back in like, June or something. Denholm knew! Eventually we pissed him off but it didn’t stop him from answering. He just answered angrier. It also caused fans to argue more because people started accusing others of photoshopping his responses and nothing can ever be done peacefully here. I haven’t followed up on this story singe the end of summer but I think fans have finally scaled back on the messaging. But I hear he’s working on a Gorillaz documentary for 2019 so...I’m sure we’ll be talking again soon.

5. Noodle

I want to take a moment here to also acknowledge the struggle AMA Gorillaz hosted on, of all places, Youtube. Thankfully, diligent redditors compiled a google doc of all the answers otherwise they would lost thanks to Youtube’s confusing interface. ANYHOW. The answer that stirred up the biggest milieu of debate and confusion came from Noodle. This isn’t exactly my lane - I don’t wade into Noodle issues and I don’t id as part of the LGBT community - so I’m not going to say much here other than, at the very least, this was the second or third time she has officially denied any interest in dating her bandmates.

6. 2D’s journal/2Doc

Okay first of all: 2DOC...jk, jk...jk? But no, honestly, this actually did become a big story this year, much bigger than expected. The release of 2D’s journal was the catalyst here, revealing a number of drawings and images of Murdoc. “Souk Eye,” a song that came with visuals featuring close ups of Murdoc’s face and vaguely romantic lyrics was depicted in 2D’s journal next to yet another drawing of Murdoc. We were confused! 2D didn’t care that Murdoc was gone, right? 2Doc shippers were intrigued. I was hesitant. We were all called delusional. However, “Souk Eye” was later confirmed to be a love song by Damon Albarn, and Murdoc and 2D have both claimed their relationship is “better” since the end of phase 5 (hhMmMmM). Obvi, take this with a grain of salt because it’s Gorillaz but the journal was instrumental in confirming how closely The Now Now (and the entire plot of phase 5, really) was tied to Murdoc and 2D’s relationship, particularly what 2D thinks of Murdoc. Think of it as platonic if you want but they share a closeness on SOME level and the content of 2018, from interviews to the Murdoc chats to the album itself, supports this. I rest my case.

7. Lost theories

Pour one out for all the lost theories. If you were a new fan this year you probably came up with a theory, or you got really invested in a theory. Some examples: HIM from PPG orchestrating the destruction of Gorillaz by possessing 2D and getting Murdoc framed with Ace as a double agent, or Murdoc’s imprisonment being tied to his trouble with EMI from phase 4, or phase 5 being about time travel, or Murdoc crashing Demon Dayz fest and fighting El Mierda on stage, or 2D being the one to frame Murdoc or Murdoc’s inmate number (24602) being a Les Mis reference implying that he’d get a character arc similar to Jean Valjean...you get the idea. But there are dreams that cannot beeee, and there are storms we cannot weather. You can argue about the budget or G-Shock or whatever but the truth is Gorillaz is just disorganized. This is their Brand™.

8. The Murdoc Chatbot

Gorillaz did an interesting thing this year - it let us talk to Murdoc! Sometime around June, he writers decided that the plot of phase 5 would be best spent, not on exploring the band’s dynamic with Murdoc gone or developing Ace’s personality, but on Murdoc! Fandom spent most of the summer following Murdoc’s experience in prison and helping to “free” him via a chatbot you could access through Kik, Instagram or Facebook. Basically, Murdoc was Paddington from Paddington 2, and we the fans were supposed to be the Browns trying to break him out and prove his innocence. Other fans begrudgingly used the chatbot to make fun of him or tell him to die and follow along with the story (it was the only place you could get plot updates). It was a neat idea as well as a funny experience to pretend to be talking to him, and the plot was very engaging at times. It was the chatbot that revealed the very dissatisfying (albeit happy) conclusion that Murdoc is no Paddington and had lied about everything - being framed, El Mierda etc. - but felt really bad about it. His apology was basically this. I’m going to also tag the #FreeMurdoc merchandise debacle, how overpriced it was and how it ended up being pointless anyways because Murdoc wasn’t framed and didn’t need to be “freed” onto this, because it all falls under the same event. Oh, and you got to talk to Noodle sometimes, too.

9. G-shock ends phase 5

I put “ends phase 5″ in strikethrough because G-Shock on its own is actually pretty cool, and made up for the lack of videos (2 in total) that were released this year. The now Murdoc inclusive band goes to space and starts an alien war! That’s fun! Completely removed from whatever phase 5 was, but fun! (And I say that genuinely) What was messy about G-shock was that it came out of nowhere. The final Murdoc chat, that was SUPPOSED to reveal the ending to the prison arc, hadn’t even happened but suddenly, Murdoc was back to sell watches to aliens with the rest of the band and Ace was gone. But the final chat was delayed by a month and G-Shock came out anyways. Out of this came memes about how phase 5 ended so Gorillaz could try to sell us watches.

10. Cass Browne Tells us the True Plastic Beach Ending

We ended 2018 with not one but two major interviews from the fancast, Hallelujah Monkeyz but I’m choosing to cover their latest interview with Cass Browne, writer of Rise of the Ogre. If you were new this year you probably heard older fans mention ad nauseam how much they missed this guy name Cass. Well, Cass came back and dropped actual bombs about the true ending of phase 3, Murdoc’s lost backstory and the Plastic Beach book he found AND that a sequel to ROTO was planned and dropped. Understandably, this sparked a lot of discussion and also revealed just how important Cass was to the continuity of the Gorillaz storyline. Back then, we had ROTO and Plastic Beach. Today, we have “Murdoc drowns in poop and reunites with the band offscreen”

And that’s the year! And look I’m not saying this because I’m a stan but this was a Murdoc year. He was at the center of like, at least 80% of the angst and joy of fandom and I could make separate “top 10 Murdoc moments” or “top 10 2Doc moments.” I guess for me, on an individual level, it was an alright year. For one, I actually talked to more people this year and met some really great friends (something I don’t typically do in fandom). I also get to check “write a fanfic” off my bucket list (it’s still a WIP but it’s the first WIP I’ve ever had so I’m counting it). And personally, my life has changed and without getting into too many details I’ve overcome a lot, grown professionally and...I think I can be kinda proud of myself for that. I expect 2019 to be a slower year than this one, and, I think the fandom needs that. Hopefully I’ll still see some of you around because I’m going to be here for at least the next few months while I finish up you know what.

Honorable mentions: 2D “Dies” of Ligma and other 2D memes, 2D writes The Now Now, Benjamin Clementine says he regrets working with Gorillaz, Noodles old VA confirms Jamie ghosted her and recast Noodle without telling her, Gorillaz delay the final Murdoc chat by a month, Demon Dayz doesn’t get streamed, Music video releases - “Humilty” and “Tranz”, Cyborg Noodle returns with boobs and causes debate, the “Let Ace Speak” petition,

#endofyear #long post /#there's a 2doc mention in here just fyi if you want to avoid #not as organized as last year's that's for sure #but here it is!#again this is more for my records and tradition but also here to read if you want

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flauntpage · 5 years

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Recapping the Sixers’ Wild Free Agency

Free agency is the most manic, drama-filled period on the NBA calendar. And this year certainly didn’t disappoint in both its overall activity and potential paradigm shifting. Brooklyn is now the center of the basketball world in New York. The Knicks had the summer of nightmares. The Jazz are looking like legitimate contenders in the West. And the Celtics didn’t have the dream offseason they thought they’d have (lol).

Oh, and we still don’t even have a decision from a certain Kawhi Leonard. If you haven’t heard, he’s pretty good at basketball.

The Sixers found themselves in the middle of all this. Everyone knew what was at stake this time around. Three-fifths of a starting lineup that was quite possibly a quadruple doink away from the Eastern Conference Finals was on the open market. And it was going to take much more than a couple Benjamins to ensure that Jimmy Butler, Tobias Harris, and JJ Redick all returned.

I personally was all for running it back. For one, it’s not my money. Plus, we all saw what an Embiid / Simmons / Butler / Redick / Harris lineup was capable of doing in the 21 combined regular season and playoff games they played in. They were starting to build some serious chemistry towards the end there, and who knows what they could accomplish in a full season together.

What transpired was yet another re-haul of the lineup which actually improved the overall outlook of this team.

Let’s recap to this point, after the jump:

JJ Heads South

Free agent guard JJ Redick has agreed to a two-year, $26.5M deal to join the New Orleans Pelicans, league sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 30, 2019

Not an ideal start to the evening!

Losing a guy like JJ is tough. Defensive shortcomings and age aside, there were times throughout the season when he looked like the 2nd option on offense. The dribble hand-offs he ran with Joel were some of the most effective actions they ran all year. He is still a very lethal shooter, and had the highest scoring season of his career at the age of 34 (18.1 PPG).

It’ll be interesting to see how Elton Brand goes about addressing the hole he leaves in the Sixers’ perimeter game. Their spacing will not be the same.

Tobi Decides to Run it Back (x5)

Free agent forward Tobias Harris has agreed to a five-year, $180M contract to return to the Philadelphia 76ers, his agent and father, Torrel Harris of Unique Sports Management, tells ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 30, 2019

This was a no-brainer. If Jimmy was all but gone (we’ll get to that in a little), locking up Tobias long-term was Elton’s top priority, and he got it done.

A lot of people aren’t fans of this deal, and it’s understandable. It’s a lot of money committed to a guy many consider to be a “borderline All-Star” who has also played for five different teams in his eight-year career. But the Sixers almost had no choice but to ensure that he re-signed given how much they gave up for him (chiefly Landry Shamet, two 1st-round picks, and two 2nd-round picks).

With that being said, I think a full year with this team will serve Tobias much better. He had to be relegated to the 3rd or 4th option a good majority of last season with Jimmy and JJ in the starting lineup. With their departures, Tobias will be relied upon a whole lot more to provide some instant offense. Yeah, his shooting from deep dipped after the trade, but he still shot just under 40% from long-range. He can still effectively create his own shot, is a good ball-handler, and can back down shorter defenders.

Plus, I just think Tobias finally having some long-term stability will do wonders for his productivity. He’s only 26, and is right there on the Ben and Joel timeline.

The Mike Scott Hive Lives On

Sources: Free agent Mike Scott has agreed to a two-year, $9.8M deal to return to the Philadelphia 76ers.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 30, 2019

This one made a lot of people (including myself) extremely happy. Mike Scott has firmly entrenched himself in this city and its culture, so seeing him come back, especially after him expressing his desire to do so in his exit interview, is awesome.

Memes aside, he’s going to be a key guy off the bench as additional depth at the four. He can be streaky at times as a shooter, but he still shot 41% from three following his arrival from the Clippers. Plus, he’s the guy you want on your side when things get testy.

Mike Scott Hive stand up!

Out Goes Jimmy, In Comes Josh

Sources: Philadelphia has signed-and-traded Jimmy Butler to Miami, with Heat sending Josh Richardson to the 76ers.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 1, 2019

I can’t lie, this threw me for a loop. Call me naive, but when you think about everything we heard about Jimmy being a virtual lock to return if the 5-year max was on the table, which it turns out it was, I was convinced they were running it back with him.

But it wasn’t meant to be, and Jimmy is now in South Beach.

To be clear, I don’t hate the guy. I’ll never hate him. He made a clear lifestyle choice, and I don’t think anyone can fault him for that. I’m only upset at him trying to portray himself as being the “realest out there” and “all about winning”, only to make a move like this. That’s my only criticism.

Basketball-wise, it’s obviously another tough loss. Jimmy was far from a perfect fit, but he was a guy this team could turn to in tough situations. It’s going to be hard to replace both his late-game and defensive chops.

Getting Josh Richardson in return, though, is huge. Not only is he probably a more seamless fit than Butler, he’s someone the fans are going to love. He plays tough perimeter defense, can knock down shots from deep, and can serve as a secondary creator on offense.

And to top it all off, he’s on a very team-friendly contract. The Sixers have him locked up through 2021 and will only have paid him around $21 million to that point, providing even more financial flexibility. So overall, it’s very good compensation for losing Jimmy.

Average Al Comes Aboard

Five-time All-Star F/C Al Horford has agreed to a four-year, $109M deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, agent Jason Glushon tells ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2019

I despise all things Boston, and Horford, like many other Sixers fans, caught the brunt of my ire. He was by far Joel’s biggest kryptonite the last two years or so, and now he joins forces with the same guy he frustrated for so long.

Horford is the present-day Shane Battier: very good, not great, at a lot of things, doesn’t post gaudy numbers, but makes all the right plays. He’s the ultimate glue-guy, someone who would bore the casual fan. He was integral to the Celtics’ success thanks to his smart play, smart defense, and good shooting.

He makes for an interesting fit. Him and Joel are going to wreak havoc in the front court on defense. He’ll help to further space the floor, and he will provide another trustworthy option as both a down low presence and a playmaker. His occupying virtually the same space as Joel is worrying, but they should work that out.

There are some legitimate concerns. His contract has the potential to age very poorly. Horford is 33, and despite still being a very effective player, is bound to decline at some point. The Sixers are going to be paying him over $26 million by the time he’s 36, and who knows how productive he’ll be by then.

Despite these worries, he’s going to fit fine, and most importantly, he’s going to be an excellent locker room presence for this team. He’s a true leader and is a seasoned playoff vet (every team he’s played on in his 12 seasons in the league has made the playoffs). Joel’s development as well as Ben’s development are going to benefit greatly from him.

It also gives us all another thing to troll Boston about.

Filling in the Gaps

The Sixers are signing Kyle O'Quinn, I'm told.

— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) July 2, 2019

O’Quinn is a very solid pick-up to solidify the Sixers’ 2nd unit. The Sixers were rumored to have been interested in him last offseason, but he ultimately signed with the Indiana Pacers. He’s a bruising big who can get at it down low and is a good rebounder. He can provide insurance for both Joel and Al Horford as essentially the third-string center.

Free agent James Ennis has agreed to a two-year, $4.1M deal to return to Philadelphia, with second-year player option, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. Ennis turned down more salary from multiple teams to return to a championship contender.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 2, 2019

Another great move by Elton. Ennis was a major contributor for the Sixers off the bench in the playoffs, and being able to retain him at a discount was huge.

Ennis’s ability to knock down open shots along with his defensive versatility were invaluable during the Sixers’ playoff run, and they now keep him in the fold for at least another year. Keeping some financial flexibility in the process helps as well.

Also, to think that the Sixers have now become a destination for ring-chasers is insane.

The Sixers are signing Shake Milton to a four-year contract using their remaining salary-cap room, I am told.

— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) July 2, 2019

I’m really excited to see what Shake has to offer in a slightly bigger role this season. He showed flashes of great potential in the minutes he did get in the regular season. He can handle the ball, shoot a little, and is a solid passer. His defense will need some improvement, but he has the length and size to be a good defender. He’s going to compete for backup point guard minutes depending on who else the Sixers bring on.

I’m also so ready to watch him tear up the Summer League.

(also, Kevin wrote about Raul Neto this morning)

What’s the Overall Outlook?

After letting the dust settle from all the madness of the last few days, and you get a chance to look at this team, it could very much be better than last year. They have the potential to be an absolute juggernaut on defense and on the boards. The amount of length and sheer size of the roster is crazy. Consider this:

The wingspan rundown:

Zhaire: 6-10 Richardson: 6-10 Ennis: 6-11 Scott: 6-11 Tobias: 6-11 Simmons: 7-0 Thybulle: 7-0 Shake: 7-0 Shayok: 7-0 Horford: 7-1 Bolden: 7-3 KOQ: 7-5 Embiid: 7-5

— Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) July 2, 2019

That’s preposterous. Zhaire Smith and Josh Richardson are tied for the shortest wingspan at 6’10”. They’re just stacked with dynamic, switchable defenders who are going to wreak havoc on lesser teams.

The offensive side of the ball potentially has a lot more questions. For one, they obviously lack a true lock-down shooter with JJ’s departure. Plus, with Jimmy no longer in the fold, they’re down not only a reliable ball-handler, but a guy they can turn to in crunch-time.

Additionally, the guys who look to be the top options off the bench are very young. Matisse Thybulle is a rookie, Zhaire Smith essentially red-shirted last season, and Shake spent a majority of last season in the G-League. I don’t see it being that much of an issue, but it’s something to keep in mind.

I think they’ll ultimately work out all the kinks in their lineup. Everyone they have is a competent-enough shooter to at the very least get them by. Plus, they still have plenty of offensive weapons to be dynamic on that end of the floor. Joel is still a beast, Ben is only getting better, and Tobias looks primed to have a great year. I’d expect them to try and add either another shooter or a legitimate backup point guard via free agency or a trade in the coming weeks to solidify their depth.

Fans should be extremely excited about this squad. They look primed to be one of the Eastern Conference top dogs not only this coming year, but for the foreseeable future.

The post Recapping the Sixers’ Wild Free Agency appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Recapping the Sixers’ Wild Free Agency published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

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365footballorg-blog · 6 years

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Armchair Analyst: A run through all of Sunday's Week 34 MLS action

October 22, 201812:08AM EDT

And now for something completely different:

Eastern Conference

Atlanta United 2, Chicago Fire 1

The Five Stripes stayed atop both the Eastern Conference and Supporters’ Shield race with a pretty drama-free win over the visiting Fire. But while it was drama-free and professional and comprehensive and there was really no doubt, at any point, who the better team was… meh. Since autumn began Atlanta haven’t much looked like the “We’re gonna stuff you into the woodchipper” Atlanta of the summer.

For as good and solid as they are right now, they’re not explosive in any sense of the word, and the biggest and easiest way to sum it up is that they miss Miguel Almiron badly. No one else on the roster has shown the ability to both cut players out of the play off the dribble while making the game vertical.

To be fair, who wouldn’t miss Almiron? He’s arguably the best player in the league and not easily replaced. But they’re almost certainly not going to have him next week, and maybe not for the playoffs, and while this team as it’s constructed is still good, they are by no means favorites without their No. 10. This is all compounded, of course, by an ill-timed slump from Josef Martinez.

Tata Martino tried to compensate by giving Andrew Carleton just his second start of the year – he can’t run away from players like Almiron does, but he’s a visionary chance creator – but things didn’t quite click. They feel like a team that’s searching for a Plan B right now.

Chicago weren’t good enough to take advantage of that and punish them. TFC, next week at BMO Field, might be.

Philadelphia Union 0, New York Red Bulls 1

And if Atlanta do slip up next weekend, then RBNY will almost certainly take their third Shield in six seasons. They’ll have done it for a lot of reasons – the league’s best defense, a few game-breakers in midfield, and a match-winner in goal being three.

That said, the team’s best and most important player remains striker Bradley Wright-Phillips. Yet even on a day in which BWP was neutralized like we seldom see…

The Union held Bradley Wright-Phillips without a shot (on target or otherwise). It’s the first time BWP has had a start without a shot since June 24, 2017. String of 43 starts.

— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) October 21, 2018

RBNY found a way.

This was their 11th win of the season against playoff teams, which is an obscene number (Atlanta are second with eight). They know how to make games against good teams into 50/50 battles, and then they are better at winning those battles than anybody else.

And mind you, Philly are really good. Since fully integrating Borek Dockal and Cory Burke in mid-May, they’re 17-9-3 across all competitions. That’s not quite a Shield-winning pace this year, but it’s not far off. And the Red Bulls went to Chester, walked out onto the Union’s home field, and outlasted them.

D.C. United 3, NYCFC 1

And yet you could argue that neither Atlanta nor the Red Bulls are actually the best team in the East right now. United toyed with NYCFC (to be fair, everybody’s doing that lately) in their final home game of the regular season, capping off a magnificent 11-2-3 stretch in which they climbed from dead last overall to fifth in the East, and with the possibility of getting up to fourth place – and thus earning a home game in the Knockout Round – if things go right.

They did it with style, too. LOOK AT THIS!!!!!1111

Say a prayer for all the defenders that Lucho Acosta turned into ghosts on that play. May their souls find peace in the afterlife.

This was basically more of the same thing we’ve seen over the course of the last three months from D.C., and that applies equally to the Pigeons. NYCFC are 2-6-4 since the end of July, and could drop from third to fifth next week if they lose to Philly at home on the final day of the season, and if D.C. beat Chicago in Bridgeview.

The one ray of light here is the presence of Yangel Herrera, who picked up an assist in his return to action. It feels like too much of NYCFC is broken – they don’t pass the ball from the back like they used to, they don’t combine through midfield like they used to, they don’t get the fullbacks into spots to create danger in the final third like they used to – for one guy to fix everything. And Herrera probably won’t.

But he wins a ton of 50/50s in the midfield, and turns those wins into chances pretty often. In a tight game, that might be enough.

Orlando City 2, Columbus Crew SC 1

Whoever grabs that third spot in the East hunt – Philly if they win at Yankee Stadium next week, and NYCFC if they just get a result – will likely, but not certainly face the Crew. And they it’s only likely because Columbus switched off twice when defending deep against a team that had one win in five months. And now the Purple Lions have two.

Simply put: Lack of individual quality in the attacking third is what separates Columbus from the other playoff teams (or the other playoff teams from Columbus, more accurately). The Crew do just about everything you’d want to see from a contender, and still play some of the prettiest soccer in the league. But the guys they rely upon to turn possession into production aren’t up to it and haven’t been for several months now. It’s been hard to watch as the wheels have pretty thoroughly come off their season.

On this day it looked like the strain of protecting yet another razor-thin margin wore on and eventually wore out the backline and defensive midfield. Credit to OCSC for the fightback (and to James O’Connor for trotting them out in a rather effective 5-4-1 formation) for sure, but they were gifted two penalties from Crew defenders who’d mentally switched off.

And like that it’s not homefield advantage in the playoffs on the line anymore: It’s a trip to the postseason.

Montreal Impact 2, Toronto FC 1

The Impact don’t control their own destiny, but they’ve done well to put themselves in a position to capitalize should Columbus continue on their current massively downward trajectory. They did it by – stop me if you’ve heard this one before – sitting deep and countering their way to a win.

There’s not a ton to say about this game. TFC had chances that they missed, and on the flip side an unnecessary penalty (probably don’t want to pull a guy’s shirt in the box) and more, um, questionable goalkeeping from Alex Bono sealed the Reds’ fate.

Montreal have to go to New England and win next weekend to have a shot.

Western Conference

FC Dallas 0, Sporting KC 3

What do we make of FC Dallas? Their defense is still very good – this game’s scoreline wasn’t a mistake, but neither is their season-long goals against total – but their attack has gone entirely AWOL over the past two months since moving Maxi Urruti to that “nine-and-a-half” spot. Urruti works hard and delivers a killer set pieces, but he’s an inconsistent (at best) finisher and he doesn’t create chances from open play.

To that effect: FC Dallas have scored one open play goal in the past six games, and it was against Orlando City (literally the worst defense in league history). They’ve won some games in that stretch because of that defense, and because they’re devastating on set pieces, but this time of year, against teams like SKC, that’s not enough. It’s not all or even mostly Urruti’s fault – Dom Badji had his chances on the day, as did Michael Barrios, as did Santiago Mosquera, as have countless other FCD players over the past couple of months. None have delivered.

Dallas are now 6-6-4 with an even goal differential in the second half of the season. They’ve been a perfectly mediocre team since July.

SKC look to be much, much more than that. Getting Khiry Shelton back onto the field has absolutely elevated them:

Shelton doesn’t score much – he has just 8 goals in 3600 career minutes. But his movement opens up the field for SKC’s wingers and attacking midfielders to push forward into space, and his passing touch means those attackers tend to get the ball played directly into stride, running at a scrambling defense.

They’re top of the conference and will, at the very least, avoid going on the road for the Knockout Round. It’ll be their first time avoiding that fate since 2013, which happened to be the year they won MLS Cup.

LAFC 2, Vancouver Whitecaps 2

To be honest SKC should be sitting in second place tonight because LAFC should’ve beaten Vancouver. But they didn’t despite playing at home, despite taking a 2-0 lead, and despite playing a ‘Caps team without their leading goalscorer.

The Black-and-Gold’s defining characteristic at this point isn’t their comfort with the ball or their surfeit of attackers. It’s their ability to take the foot off the gas at inopportune times during games they should win:

#LAFCvSKC xG. LAFC cough up some more points. pic.twitter.com/5xEUFCowOe

— Ben Baer (@BenBaer89) October 22, 2018

It is at least a little bit weird to criticize an expansion team that’s on 57 points, is certain (not mathematically, but still) to have a home playoff game and still has a chance to win the Conference. But I’d argue that they should’ve had the conference wrapped up by now, and the fact that they’re giving away leads like this at this point in the season is not exactly encouraging for what’s to come on the other side of Decision Day.

Vancouver’s playoff hopes officially ended in this one, but damn it was nice to see Alphonso Davies have one last monster game in the league. ‘Caps fans should give him a 90-minute standing ovation next weekend.

Houston Dynamo 2, Seattle Sounders 3

Try this one out: Seattle have gone 13-2-1 in the second half of the season, and with a win at home next week against San Jose will have posted the single-best half-season PPG in league history. They have been solid at the back and rampant in the attack, and in Nicolas Lodeiro they have a player who is A) recognized as one of the league’s best orchestrators, and B) still somehow underrated/underappreciated.

Lodeiro’s role, as seen against Houston and really throughout the second half of the year, is told by his passing map:

Go wherever the game takes you. Find the ball. Do sorcerer stuff with it.

Seattle’s other players understand that the best way to make the above work is to work for the above – i.e., to be planets orbiting the sun.

This was not a vintage performance by the Sounders, for what it’s worth. But they were on their second road game in four days and didn’t miss a beat.

Portland Timbers 3, Real Salt Lake 0

Here is Jeremy Ebobisse’s version, which I’m calling our Pass of the Week, of that Khiry Shelton hold-up play above:

Ebobisse’s provided exactly the above – rugged target play that frees up the wingers – as he’s worked his way into the rotation over the past two months. And that’s allowed Gio Savarese to go back to the beginning and finally settle on a pretty basic, but pretty effective 4-2-3-1.

The strength of the formation is that it allows Diego Chara to play in a double pivot, which means 1) he’s still a or even the primary backline shield, and 2) he can still push forward on occasion and overwhelm disorganized teams.

The other strength is that it allows Sebastian Blanco and Andy Polo – the wingers – to provide the width. Portland had been relying upon overlapping fullbacks through much of the year, and had gone well past the point of diminishing returns in that regard. Both Timbers’ fullbacks get into the play when opportunity presents itself now, but not at the expense of breaking the overall team shape.

And with that they broke RSL’s season. As Mike Petke said after the game it’s a one-in-a-million shot that they make the playoffs now.

It is understandable that the first thing they’d look at is this end-of-season home-and-home with Portland, and there’s zero doubt about this: The Timbers were the better team.

RSL didn’t lose that playoff spot to the Timbers, though. They lost that playoff spot to themselves on September 15 when they could only manage a 1-1 home draw against visiting Minnesota United. If RSL had done the job then, they’d already have clinched.

Minnesota United 1, LA Galaxy 3

As it is, RSL need Houston to give them a miracle next week in Carson because the Galaxy went to Minnesota and beat the hell out of the Loons. Please note that it is easy to beat the hell out of a team that does not mark Zlatan Ibrahimovic at the back post:

The Galaxy have played gory and glorious Dom Kinnear-style soccer – keep in banks of four, don’t get fancy in the middle of the pitch, trust your stars to make game-winning plays – over the past month, going 3-0-1 with 10 goals scored and only two conceded while pulling to within a single point of RSL, and with a (home) game (against the Dynamo) in hand. For the first time in two years, a playoff spot is theirs to lose.

It certainly doesn’t look or feel like they’re going to lose it. It’s not just Ibrahimovic doing the things he does, and the other attackers playing their parts. It’s also (or even primarily) come from Sebastian Lletget playing his best soccer since 2016, and Jonathan Dos Santos finally looking like a DP midfielder.

The other big change is even more obvious: Dave Romney and Daniel Steres have been mostly pretty good at center back. That’s a damn sight better than what the previous starters brought to the table.

San Jose Earthquakes 0, Colorado Rapids 0

I still love the 2012 Goonies with all of my heart:

Never Say Die. #WeAreSanJose | @ChrisWondo pic.twitter.com/Y50I6biKE8

— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) October 22, 2018

There’s our Face of the Week.

Series:

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seeksstaronmewni · 5 years

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Samurai Jack Season 5 in Review: EPISODE XCII

Here is my absolute favorite Samurai Jack episode, because it’s not the end. It’s only the beginning of the end.

I was on the hype train for the return of @cartoonnetwork’s Samurai Jack after I saw the Season 5 trailer on February 8th, 2017 A.D. (I made a recent post to celebrate it) One reason was that I became obsessed about The Powerpuff Girls during the nostalgically incorrect Season 7 (the first “reboot” season) due to a liking for the Season 5-6 designs and animation, a part of the "Cartoon Cartoons” I grew up watching... and I was right to expect former PPG creatives on it! This post highlights the events of the episode and why it’s one of the best Samurai Jack episodes ever--and how much I binged on it at first! You can check the episode out here (Season 5 reran Sunday mornings at 3:30A on Adult Swim), and soon on HBO Max. Also, if you’re on Twitter, check the links to my tweets in the underlined text! They’re old tweets and need some love!

If you saw not this episode yet, be aware of SPOILERS!

/!\ SAMURAI JACK This Program is rated TV-14-V. Intense Violence.

The day of the season’s premiere, March 11th, 2017 A.D., too late found I that [as] was doing a streaming of Season 1-4 (I came in during EPISODE XXXIII’s “Wild Ride”). Following was a Q&A livestream with Genndy Tartakovsky, during which I tried again and again to call, but the line was always busy. Luckily Season 5′s premiere was going to be for free--online--via the stream at 10:40P! I was so there for it! Of course I watched the televised premiere on @adultswim, but the stream first!

While I began ceasing from trying to get Genndy on the PPGs again, all of a sudden...

...it began, and I was totally there for it.

A view of a distant town (not Townsville) appeared. All quiet.

That is until an explosion or 2 set off (and not with the stereotypical H-B/Universal “powah-wahh” explosion sounds either). There goes the giant windmill.

Partially and slowly revealed is that some aliens are on the run from the town...

...from those “beetle bots”. GIANT beetle bots, I might add.

There is this precious little moment where, being surrounded by the giant beetle bots, the mother and daughter visually--not by speech--exchange “I love you!” to each other with hearts in place of “love”. Oh, and there’s a baby too.

As the beetle bots come to a stop, the sound grows quiet. A motorcycle is heard approaching. When the motorcycle is revealed close-up, Tyler Bates’ bass-filled music is sparked: a warrior with a serious, menacing face is riding on these hot wheels...

...and he aims his machine gun out... only to launch a projectile at these familiar foes...

...resulting in the first explosion Jack caused in this glorious 5th season.

He slowly circles around with his gun. Is he a threat to the aliens?

Nope. Just pwning more evil scrap metal.

Once I heard the Looney Tunes-esq “pshhh...” of smoke from his guns, I became more certain that Joel Valentine was back on the show... unlike the PPG “reboot”.

As the Season 5 sneak revealed late in February 2017 shows, the warrior’s motorcycle is packed with punk tires that can scrap these pests up! All of his guns are just as lethal... with all of those cool action shots and poses and all.

The warrior then reveals another weapon: not a sword, exactly, but some manner of pitchfork on one tip and a taser on the other. Graphically, he destroys one beetle bot by twisting the wires inside, and proceeds to scrap the rest until one of them knocks... the mask off?

That warrior is none other than the samurai called...

“...?”

Just another day in the life of the samurai! Shouting a charging yell, Jack continues smashing the wires out of the beetle bots with a front scruff that fits perfectly with the mane... a look that is very appropriate, new and fitting for Jack.

The daughter gives a symbol of either “Is it dead?” or disgust. Because of the emoticons that are a major part of their visual language, I suppose that these aliens should be called... emoji-fawns?

“50 years have passed, but I do not age.”

As the samurai continues onward into the sunset, a new intro is revealed for Jack to explain how much worse things are become. The former intro started with Aku’s prologue before the theme song, but Season 5′s intro is pretty much a prologue. This feels true to the nature of of The Powerpuff Girls’ former intro which also started with a prologue, but PPG Season 7-9 has a shorter, different intro (although the extended version has an updated version of the prologue with most of its original Tom Kenny narration, “DJ Avalanche” score, and few of Joel’s SFX).

Regarding Jack’s opening statement, creator Genndy Tartakovsky said that 50 years were passed apparently between the events of EPISODE LII, “Jack and the Baby”, and EPISODE XCII. I think, however, that Jack meant that 50 year passed since he ended up in the future in EPISODE II, “The Samurai Called Jack”. There could be more seasons of this show to explore more adventures of Jack, regardless of the time that passed; if anything, turn those comic books into episodes!

Anyway, for some reason, the rip in time Aku created to send Jack into the future caused Jack’s body to supposedly not grow old, though I believe that, slowly, he still aged to a point. Aku’s still the bad guy (with a new voice, but I talk about this in XCIII’s post), and hope seems lost unless Jack can return to the past.

The intro ends with a slow reveal of the shows title, burning red in the dark, sporting an epic, exciting, modernly cinematic feel to the show. What follows, of course, is a scene just as cinematic...

A quiet, eerie chant of the name “Aku” subtly fills the dark, fire-lit room. This reveals the worship of a great evil which reminds us of how dangerous and powerful Aku truly is... given that “Jack vs. Aku” is the previous episode where Aku has a speaking role (you know... “EXTRA THICK!”), though he vocalizes in a following episode “Seasons of Death”.

The episode’s opening credits reveal that Bryan Andrews and Genndy Tartakovsky are the main board artists for this season, still directed by Tartakovsky himself with art direction by Scott Wills. Apparently, character design was very crucial to this season, so the main character designer of the season, Craig Kellman, is listed at the beginning on all of these episodes. This’s rare for cartoon shows, but this isn’t much different from old CN shows of the 1990′s like Dexter’s Laboratory crediting the model/character designers on the episode’s opening credits.

“They will succeed where so many others have failed, and we will find favor in your glory.”

Seven daughters?! Is that kind of physical labor even possible?! That explains all of Grey Delisle-Griffin’s screams, but she’s soon back on her feet... to raise her children to serve pure evil.

BTW, it’s a good thing that the baby vocals that Joel used are not the common Sound Ideas Series 6000 cries, since that recording is far more annoying. Anyway, I find the scene very intriguing and exciting because it’s all really dark, and that’s something that “kids” shows often weren’t in the past. It all just feels so epic that it sucks you in; am I right?

Back to Jack: the score revs up quickly in this montage of Jack riding around the country, wherever he is, as if he’s on some epic quest. Is he looking for a time portal or Aku’s place?

It’s Fall at this point and Jack’s in a pretty forest. The lighting is beautiful, cinematic and very realistic in this shot--one of my favorites from this episode. The paintings are still by art director Scott Wills; they’re just digital.

Such scenes as this are long periods of no dialogue, where music and sound can help to set the mood--sometimes, a very peaceful mood...

...until, slowly but surely, Jack’s mind is hauntingly messed up. This’s where Tyler Bates’ music hits on the slow, hardcore, eerie, electronic percussion that subtly drives the intense situation that’s not like what kid’s action shows used to be. This would be frightening to younger children, but the sheer terror of this scene is awesome, and the music is hardcore hot!

Some days later, we go to another sequence that occurs at night, where we focus first on a cute little owl hooting (and not the cliche, classic H-B/Valentino SFX Library owl hoot that many cartoons use, including past episodes of Samurai Jack). This goes to show just how realistic Joel’s sound design can be, and I admire him greatly for that attention to detail.

Jack endured another vision that night, where his father claims that he never came back, though Jack revealed that “Aku destroyed the way home!”

The way? How many time portals or such were there?

“He destroyed everything! Everything is burning!”

Woah. Was it something that Jack ate? It may be that that rat was under-cooked...

Anyway, every time Jack was haunted by the visions, a mysterious figure appeared afterward. Now Jack was motivated to find the village that he previously noticed was under attack. Time for a commercial break... and a breather for us fans of this nostalgic series!

As we return from commercial, we see the progression of the 7 daughters in training. They kind of remind me of Pokey Oaks Kindergarten’s students... but taller.

Training is tough on these little munchkins, though--but Ashi is distracted by a light that comes from the outdoors... to which her mother slowly objects. Her strength endures some real testing over time with her mother’s harsh treatment!

“Are you weak?!”

I mean... I felt like it was almost all over for Ashi at this point.

Luckily for her, “Aku’s fire stirs inside”. The art direction on the following scene is very interesting in terms of lighting: black, white and some red. It helps for the simply-detailed designs to stand out more. Since I saw very little of Sym-Bionic Titan at this point, Ashi’s hairstyle reminded me somewhat of Ilana (who has the same hairstyle and same voice actress, Tara Strong).

Meanwhile, Jack walked through the village to find whoever caused the destruction. He comes to a shady figure in the smoke, revealed to be a hot-shot assassin robot who goes by many names...

“Scaramouch the merciless! The Pied Piper of Ruination! The Crooner of Carnage! The Ambassador of Annihilation! The Eradicator of All, baby!”

The chipper, upbeat, overly positive attitude of “Aku’s most favorite assassin” made him instantly lovable. I loved this tin man from pretty much the very beginning. I immediately tweeted about this guy during the online premiere. I took a little while to know who voiced this guy (kind of sounded like Jimmy Gourd to me for some reason), but it was certainly familiar. Tom Kenny is the groovin’ voice of Scaramouche--another iconic voice from the man who narrated The Powerpuff Girls and voiced the Mayor of Townsville, Spongebob, Bon Bon the Birthday Clown and so many other great voices!

“Wait. Back off, beardsly. Where... is... your sword?”

You were probably wondering about that... so was I.

“You... lost... your sword!”

Well, the coloring on the handle of the sword is reversed in this shot, and it was just brown for the previous shot of the sword, but... yeah. Flashback to an episode that appeared not in Season 4. Destined to become an episode in the next season if CN makes any to explore the pre-Season 5 events.

Jack’s new pitchfork/taser thingy still makes the same “ching” sounds that his sword makes (and not the cliche Hollywood Edge recordings), though.

Anyway, Scaramouch was about to tell Aku the news (Aku apparently forgot about Scaramouch ‘cause he’s all like “Who is this?” First line since “Jack vs. Aku”!) when Jack and Scaramouch dance in a duel of musical magic.

“Ooh, nice choreography, baby!” Scaramouch replied. In a tweet I made of that line, I was thinking of cinematography instead and noted this to art director Scott Wills. I probably meant to note this to board artists Bryan Andrews & Genndy Tartakovsky.

Oh I just LOVE that “fffwwwhOOMP!” sound there on the ease-in. Joel Valentine packs the perfect punch into the sound of an object’s weight with those big whoosh sounds.

More important, perhaps: how can Scaramouch play the flute when he’s just a robot? He hasn’t any lungs or lips... that I know of... though he apparently has teeth and a tongue, and I can hear breath sounds during his lines... and his voice sounds not at all robotic!

Jack can really throw some real weight around as he battles against a monster made by music and of building parts...

“That samurai has gone beaucoup cuckoo!”

...but his haunting visions distract him from his heroic efforts...

...once again seemingly attributed to that shadowy figure. This is a “CinemaScope” ratio for this shot, while the show is in standard widescreen (1.78:1 “matted”/”flat”). Those ratios can change a lot, kind of like IMAX (in movies in IMAX, one often sees certain shots of a 2.39:1 movie turning into 1.78:1 on a large screen, and the ratio goes back and forth). Still, ultimately the show is not in “letterbox” widescreen / “scope” format, like most Cartoon Network DVDs say; perhaps Warner Bros. Home Entertainment says this because Star Wars: The Clone Wars (the Dave Filoni series, only produced for Turner networks) was in 2.39:1; this caught on to some [as] shows like Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal and Tigtone (the logos are 1.78:1, however), but most CN shows are just in 1.78:1.

Anyway, knocked out of his mentally overwhelmed state, Jack was back into the fight, but, even though he sliced the flute in half, Scaramouch was the real “musical magic”. He just goes all “Scatman John” on Jack and can control wherever his sword goes, striking it right at Jack!

This is definitely one of my favorite shots from the episode... a slow-mo shot.

Jack seems to be fighting the sword itself until he comes closer to Scaramouch, who soon pulls another cold blade out...

“Dig that beautiful sound, baby!”

...a split blade whose very tone of ring when clashed against an object can cause the clashed object to explode!

Luckily, Jack has good aim for his sword... so good, that it just blows Scaramouch away.

“Looks like you’re the headliner now; huh?”

Was...

...is...

...and always will be.

Before the end of the episode, we see the last of the 7 daughters’ training. The music here just rocks. Its long, harsh percussion and bass-blowing beats really drive all of the action in this sequence.

This shot has great animation and angles, where Ashi shows an opponent who’s boss as she grabs the 3rd arrow shot and kills her with it.

For more sensitive viewers, first note that this and the following shot are violent/bloody enough to earn the episode its “TV-14-V” rating “for some intense violence” (I’d think that “TV-PG-V” might fit it, since it’s not as strong as it could be). However, CN aired some “TV-14-V” rated movies on their “Action Flicks” block back in early 2009 (i.e. Batman: Gotham Night). That’s right: CN, not [adult swim]! Since, like, 2007 or 2008, they aired a lot of TV-PG rated cartoons like Teletoon’s edgy Total Drama franchise, Regular Show, MAD, Teen Titans Go!, and even The Tom and Jerry Show (though that one seems overrated). I can understand why they often rated certain programs TV-PG-V: even a kick or punch could be a bad influence if a kid was prone to imitating action (The G-rated Garfield’s Pet Force strangely earned this rating too). The point is that CN needs to air Samurai Jack Season 5 on, even if some of the episodes are bloody (only few deserve the TV-14-V rating IMHO). They might be able to cut EPISODE XCII down to a TV-Y7-FV, perhaps.

It’s nice to see that Darrick Bachman from Paul Rudish’s Mickey Mouse still served on this lovely season. He’s the head writer for the 5th season... and the upcoming video game Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time.

As a devote fan of “Cartoon Cartoons”, I personally point the sheet timers out since CN’s traditionally animated shows have lesser animation these days, namely SMIP-animated shows. I mean, that Robert Alvarez and Randy Myers did the “Sheet Timing” on this episode of Samurai Jack (animated by Digital eMation) and animation direction on Seasons 7-9 of The Powerpuff Girls (the “reboot” episodes, animated by SMIP). Compare the action sequences of both shows, and the animation/timing will stand out; unlike Samurai Jack, the 2016-2019 PPG episodes (like SMIP’s work on Infinity Train & Ben 10) usually lack weight in their rather gentle, slow-paced animation. Those PPG episodes animate not at all like The Powerpuff Girls Movie or any PPG episode where Genndy Tartakovsky directed.

Here’re some of the new people on Genndy’s team for Season 5: Susy Campos, Andy Flexner, Jackie Sheng and Dick Grunert. Production Assistants (or, in this case, maybe production coordinators) can turn into major creatives for the story or art of the show, so watch for those names in future CN Studios projects! Team Cartoon Network Studios rules!

This season’s prop design is in the hands of @heydusty, who also contributed effects design and some character design / design clean-up. Dustin D’Arnault and others are new talent that live up to the work of Genndy Tartakovsky! The late and great Chris Reccardi returned, starting off with some prop designs as well. The design clean-up artists were also new to the team; these people clean the character, props and effects designs up after the respective designers did their designs, so they’re just as much designers as the designers listed. These “Clean Up” people are not to be confused for animation clean-up, however.

Next up are the background artists: “Layout Keys”/background designer Lou Romano (The Powerpuff Girls, Cats Don’t Dance, Ratatouille) and art director/Background Painter Scott Wills (The Ren & Stimpy Show, Quest for Camelot) bring the beautiful, colorful locations to life. Leticia Lacy, a former Spümcø member like Wills and Reccardi (and many other Cartoon Network Studios creatives), returned as a color stylist, who chooses the specific colors for the character, props and effects designed.

The voice credits are a bit lacking, since lesser characters are only listed as “ADDITIONAL VOICES”, compared to Seasons 1-4. This happened on Seasons 7-9 of The Powerpuff Girls too; i.e. Ms. Keane play supportive or minor roles in an episode, but Jennifer Hale is just credited as “ADDITIONAL VOICES”, though Keane is an important character to that series. Tara Strong is uncredited for voicing young Ashi since she only vocalizes--no lines. Greg Baldwin is in place of Mako as Mako passed away years before Season 5′s dialogue was recorded. Ultimately, though, Jack and his parents are still their respective voices, and it certainly is Phil LaMarr’s best.

Unlike Seasons 1-4, Genndy Tartakovsky himself served as the voice director; previously Colette Sunderman handled the voice direction. Aku may no longer be voiced by Mako, but Genndy was able to direct Greg Baldwin’s “Aku” voice himself. Robert Serda still served for engineering the dialogue recording equipment at CN Studios.

The score composers score with their super awesome hardcore score. Tyler Bates composed music for Genndy’s Sym-Bionic Titan (I can’t believe that I never watched that show when it aired). Joanne Higginbottom co-composes with Tyler on Primal. Dieter Hartman also contributed score on Samurai Jack Season 5. For this episode, no score mixer is listed. Music Editors are uncredited in this season.

The animation company on most episodes of Season 5 is Digital eMation, which looks much smoother than the designs in the digital animation of Rough Draft Studios (lines looks slightly blobby on close-ups). The animation directors credited on the series are generally the overseas animation directors; in Season 5 they’re listed on the end credits since they relate to the animation studio.

Regarding post-production, I was very happy to see Joel Valentine credited for “Sound Editing” (He used to prefer being credited by the name of his company “TWENTY FIRST CENTURY ENTERTAINMENT, INC.” AKA 21st CENTURY SOUND DESIGN CORP.). I was afraid that it would be like Dexter’s Laboratory Seasons 3-4 (or 5-6) and The Powerpuff Girls Seasons 7-9, where mixing studio Hacienda Post/Sabre Media would do the sound design, but luckily Joel was on it. This time, former Supervising Re-Recording Mixer Timothy J. Borquez, CAS is just a Re-Recording Mixer with Alex Borquez (former Hacienda mixer Eric Freeman moved to mixing and editing sound at Disney Television Animation in 2014); both Tim & Alex were Supervising Sound Editors and mixers on PPG’s reboot era. Also credited for the final mix is Taylor Pierce, then a Mix Assistant. Currently, Genndy’s shows credit Hacienda Post’s facility, Sabre Media Studios, Inc., as the “Audio Mixing Facility”, rather than referring to Hacienda/Sabre as Post-Production Sound Services (Joel Valentine/21st Century Entertainment is just as much a sound service, NOT just editing!). I’m not sure if any other editors are involved at Sabre/Hacienda, but someone was recording and performing foley for this show, and, due to time, they get no credit, which is a crime in my opinion since that brings the show to aural life. Paul Douglas remains as the Supervising Editor and Jim Hearn as the Dialogue Editor for CN.

The Cartoon Network Studios logo for this season was visually simple, as it was just the face reveal scene show inside the logo (CN tends to use episode clips more often than animatics these days). Joel Valentine fit the sound effects to this well, though, with the sounds of a sword (not the ones Joel tends to use) and an anime-like accent. As for the “reboot” PPG episodes, they just did something weird... (couldn’t they show, like, the Hanna-Barbera swirling star inside the CN Studios logo instead?! at least for nostalgia?)

The Williams Street logo ([adult swim]’s production company), complete with the Mark VII jingle, follows since it was produced for that often junky block of CN...

...but, on the digital copy prints, the 2016 Cartoon Network ID follows! Nostalgically, though, I prefer the 1999 “Cartoon Cartoons” ripple ID, which Samurai Jack and even PPG Seasons 7-8 used to show. I mind the 2016 ID on the PPG “reboot” episodes, but I mind it not on Samurai Jack because it proves that, while considered “Adult Swim”, the amazing Season 5 still remains a part of the “new new new new” era of Cartoon Network.

Any viewer of Samurai Jack could start with this episode as Jack’s adventures are just beetle bots here and Scaramouch there, occurring over few days. The other side of the episode, the youth of Ashi, occurs over probably years; this only sets the main events of Season 5 into action with the next episode.

As for me, I did all that I could with the streaming marathon of EPISODE XCII. It went on from, like, 10:48P or something until, like, 7:30A that morning. I couldn’t help but observe the episode again and again and again... I binged on it. I update the credits on IMDb. I tweet much about this episode and its team. By the end of over 8 hours of the episode’s stream, I felt that this was an appropriate response:

Before the end of this post, here’re reasons why EPISODE XCII is one of the best Samurai Jack episodes ever:

This “Cartoon Cartoon” returned after 12 years, 14 months and 5 days. According to Genndy’s forward on the Season 4 DVD, “The big question as we neared the end of production was, ‘Should we end the story and send Jack home?’ At the time, I felt that the proper way to end it would be to do a full-length movie - and still do. Hopefully, that movie is somewhere in the near future...” CN Asia-Pacific did this “Sayonara Samurai Jack” marathon for Season 4, but they were hasty, since the return came a dozen of years later, and Season 4 wasn’t the true end of the story. I feel the same about Disney Channel calling Star vs. the Forces of Evil Season 4′s finale “Cleaved!” the “series finale”, and both Daron Nefcy and fans look forward to more episodes in the future.

The nostalgic design and animation of Genndy’s Cartoon Network Studios team was something that the then-current Powerpuff Girls episodes were certainly lacking.

The action is just as intense and detailed as ever, with the right amount and style of music too. Perhaps even more wicked than before, though I miss “DJ Avalanche” James L. Venable, who wasn’t on it because he was busy with Clarence. Paul Rudish wasn’t on this season either, probably due to his hilarious vision of Mickey Mouse of course. Still, the stakes are high and handled well.

The precious moments of our little emoji-fawn family and the haunting fears of Samurai Jack are draaamaaa

The wonderful Scaramouch is our comic relief for the episode. Thanks, Tom Kenny!

“WATCH OUT!” There’s that classic closing to most of the episodes, just like we remembered it. The credits look just as simple as they looked before, too.

Next Episode’s Review

Tweet version here.

Tweet version as a shoutout to Tom Kenny & Greg Baldwin here.

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Armchair Analyst: LAFC on the march, Impact's new D & more from Week 18

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July 1, 20189:20PM EDT

Happy Canada Day, and Happy 4th of July, and Happy Let’s Take a Break from Arguing About Messi vs. Ronaldo Weekend.

Let’s take a look at MLS Week 18:

Bring the Noise

LAFC ran over, past and through Philly, winning 4-1 on Saturday night in downtown LA. Adama Diomande had a hat trick, and now has seven goals in 297 MLS minutes.

They have now won three straight, and are tied for second in the West in PPG, and are outright second in the West in goal differential, and are third in the West on total points, and it’s still at least a little bit tough to pin down what, exactly, makes them so good beside “boy they sure do put a lot of skill players out there.”

But I gave it a shot:

My colleague Bobby Warshw was also generous enough to provide his own take:

Keep the ball moving simple – be brave to give and get the ball in tough spots – because in doing so, at some point a player will get the ball in a good pocket or area. When we get that moment with a player in space, we need to take advantage; we can’t settle. The runs off the ball have to change from checking as a passing option to moving to become a threat, either directly on goal or to a more dangerous zone.

So it’s really a principle rather than a system, and what’s been telling so far is how applicable the principle has been with given personnel. To that point: When LAFC play with a true center forward (either Marco Ureña or Diomande), they’re 8-2-0 with a +10 goal differential. When they play without one of those two guys, and thus by default with a false 9, they’re 1-2-3 with an even goal differential.

Does that mean what they’re doing can’t work without a center forward? No, not really. But build-up play is always more complicated without a true center forward, and the margins in MLS are always paper thin given the parity in the league.

As for what the center forwards do that makes build-up play easier, to me it’s as simple as occupying defenders instead of occupying space. Guys like Ureña bring the defense with them, which means said defense can’t get busy ballhawking in lanes or hunting the pockets to slow down the likes of Carlos Vela, Benny Feilhaber, Diego Rossi, Lee Nguyen et al. With either of those No. 9s on the field, nobody’s been able to figure out how to stop LAFC, and more to the point the series of principles turned both guys into juggernauts.

Ureña was a Giovinco- or Almiron-level chance creator before he got hurt. As said above, Diomande is averaging better than two goals per 90 minutes. And as said above, the team keeps winning.

Of course, there’s only room for one of them out there, which presents Bob Bradley with a dilemma. We talked about that a bit:

All due respect to Ureña, but Diomande’s scored 32 goals in 32 games under Bradley. When you produce like that the decision makes itself.

Shut ‘Em Down

The Impact have posted shutouts in four of their last five games, and have won four of their last five games, and are just two points below the playoff line in the Eastern Conference.

Here’s the thing: the first of their four wins was against the Dynamo’s reserves. The second and third were against an Orlando City team that’s very clearly cratering in an even more spectacular fashion than last season (and yeah, I’m pretty surprised by that – they have more, better and more balanced talent than last year). And so when it came to really assessing the Impact, my stance was “well, let’s wait til you beat somebody for real.”

On Saturday they beat somebody for real, taking down Sporting KC 2-0 at Stade Saputo. The eye-test strong defensive performance matches the underlying numbers, which have seen Montreal perform better on the defensive end over the past seven weeks. Since May 21 they’ve allowed 1.03 expected goals per game, and just five goals. In the 10 games before that they shipped 27 goals on an xG against of 2.47.

Here’s what this weekend’s win looked like:

#MTLvSKC xG. Impact defense didn’t give up much. pic.twitter.com/R8CMblzuxx

— Ben Baer (@BenBaer89) July 1, 2018

If you stop allowing goals you start winning games. Or at least you give yourself a chance to win games, and the Ignacio Piatti-led attack is starting to oblige themselves.

So how have they stopped their opponents, exactly? On Saturday it was a compact, relatively low-block 4-3-3 that never allowed any penetration through the middle – they’ve gotten very good at preventing third-line passes. In part that’s because their central midfield no longer takes any risks pushing forward. Piatti & Co. are largely tasked with creating everything themselves.

The other change is simply personnel. Rod Fanni and Rudy Camacho are healthy now, and so the Impact are better in central defense than they were. This is especially manifest on restarts, as Montreal aren’t getting dunked on every single week anymore.

Is it enough for me to start believing this team’s destined for the playoffs? Nah, not really. There’s just not enough depth pretty much anywhere, and not much dynamism aside from Piatti.

They’re capable of getting some results, though, and they’re definitely out there to ruin somebody’s day. Nobody’s gonna be afraid of the Impact or anything, but at this point nobody should look at them and think “well, those are three points on the schedule.”

A few more things to ponder…

9. Atlanta took Orlando out behind the woodshed, a 4-0 win in front of 70,000 – the first real blowout in this rivalry that’s not yet a rivalry, really, because the Purple Lions haven’t held up their end of the bargain. Got to win at least once against a team before you’re their rivals.

New head coach James O’Connor’s got a great track record in USL (similar to Gio Savarese’s in NASL), and I still believe there’s plenty of talent on this roster to do the job. And it’s important to understand: This is not a team bereft of young talent. Chris Mueller is 21. Cam Lindley is 20. Josue Colman is 19. And of the veteran guys, none is so long in the tooth that they’re at the very end of their days.

I’m not sure O’Connor can or will do it this year. But I expect this team, in the coming weeks and months, to start performing much better than they have been.

8. RSL’s bizarre. They avoided the mistake of playing Kyle Beckerman & Damir Kreilach together in central midfield, but Mike Petke… started Kreilach as a false 9? Even Jorge Sampaoli is confused by that one. They lost to Crew SC, 2-1, and were much (much much much) better once an actual forward got out onto the field.

Eduardo Sosa, the 22-year-old Venezuelan No. 10, looked very good in place of Federico Higuain even aside from the goal. The question I’ve got is “Can he play on the wing?” Because a guy who can finish like that would help this team, which has been bereft of goals from that spot.

7. Our Pass of the Week comes from Nicolas Lodeiro in Seattle’s 3-2 loss to Portland, their first MLS regular season home loss to their southern neighbors. You should watch this whole video, or just scroll to 1:56 if you want to hurt my feelings instead:

Seattle’s pretty close to fully cooked. Portland, meanwhile, picked up their sixth one-goal win of the year (out of seven total), and could perhaps make a run at Colorado’s record of 14, set two seasons ago.

The Timbers are unbeaten in 10, and 12 across all competitions. They’re feeling quite a bit like a rich man’s version of that Rapids team that made a serious Supporters’ Shield run.

6. New England got a much-needed 3-2 win over visiting D.C. on Saturday night, a result that keeps them comfortably in 5th place in the East. But here’s a trend to be worried about: Over the last nine games (5 at home), the Revs have conceded 18 goals. Over their previous eight games, they conceded nine.

Teams have figured out how to play through the press and create a few chances, and Matt Turner hasn’t been able to be Superman every single week. It’s a concern.

As for D.C… can Wayne Rooney play defense? Because that’s where they need the help.

5. I think I’m gonna buy Chicago stock. They’re 3-1-3 in the last seven, and unbeaten (2-0-3) in their last five since switching back to the 4-3-3 full-time. Obviously getting Dax McCarty healthy has helped and he gave fans a throw-back moment with his seeing-eye throughball to spring Nemanja Nikolic for the game’s first goal in a 3-2 win over NYCFC (McCarty was, once upon a time, a No. 10).

The big question now: What do they do with Aleksandar Katai? The Serbian winger has been awesome over the past few weeks, and destroyed the NYCFC left side all night (pour one out for the memory of Ben Sweat). The Fire now have to decide whether or not to extend his loan/buy him outright, and while it seems an easy decision… there’s a reason Katai’s bounced from team to team all decade, and why a guy of his considerable skills has never found a permanent home.

They have to be sure that the Katai who’s just been rewarded with a big contract will play the same way as the Katai who’s hungry for a big contract.

4. The midsummer California Clasico at Stanford Stadium pretty much always delivers. Chris Wondolowski and Zlatan Ibrahimovic both got themselves a brace, Romain Alessandrini scored a banger, Vako got on the board, and nobody could defend worth even half a damn in a 3-3 draw.

TFW you’ve got to go back for seconds:

I didn’t know Wondo had this in his soul but I blame Twitter for it. pic.twitter.com/eaKUAMdeIE

— Bobby Warshaw (@bwarshaw14) July 1, 2018

That’s obviously our Face of the Week even though we can’t really see his face.

San Jose still haven’t beaten anybody but Minnesota United this year. LA will be disappointed they kept letting the lead slip away, but they’ve lost just once in their last six.

3. Alex Bono gave up a soft goal. Luis Robles stood on his head. Sebastian Giovinco missed a penalty – why is he still taking penalties, by the way?

Toronto FC played well, but they lost again, this time 1-0 to the visiting Red Bulls. They have 18 games left, and my guess is they need to take somewhere from 30-34 points from those in order to make the playoffs.

The Red Bulls weren’t great, but Robles was. Sometimes that’s enough.

2. Break up the Rapids! They bunkered into a 5-4-1 – center back Danny Wilson was, no joke, a central midfielder – got themselves an own goal, and then rode a magnificent Tim Howard performance to a 1-0 win at Vancouver. It’s their second straight win, and they’re now three unbeaten.

The new Rapids way seems very much like the old Rapids way, but at least it gives me a chance to use this Howard gif one last time:

Tim Howard’s had his best 45 mins of the year, which is fitting as it’s come on the 4-year anniversary of this… pic.twitter.com/Df2EQM5zdU

— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) July 1, 2018

He finished the day with 10 saves.

The ‘Caps are still above the playoff line on total points (23, 6th place) but are below it on PPG (1.28, 8th place). And since a 3-1-1 start to the year they’re 3-6-4.

1. Friday was a special end to Pride Month, as Minnesota United midfielder Collin Martin came out to the world as a gay man. It was a shame we didn’t get to see him play – he’d started three of the previous six Loons games, and played in six of the past eight.

And look, MNUFC fans could’ve used something to celebrate on the night. Their 1-0 loss to visiting FC Dallas was their third straight, and they’ve won just once in their last seven, and are actually behind last year’s pace with 16 points through 16 games (they had 17 at this point last year). I don’t think anybody expected them to compete for the playoffs this year, but nobody should’ve expected them to be worse.

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