#unrelated but I watched a football game at any level for the first time in two weeks today and now I wanna cry 😀👍🏾

[litwhorees]

mini rant time !

okay so sometimes I find myself annoyed when Joe burrow comes across my tl/explore page and that had me confused because he’s part of the reason why I started watching the NFL and I like him. so I’m like wth is causing this !? then it hit me. besides the obvious d-riding that the media does with the cringy nicknames and whatnot, it’s also bc certain things he does/says get positive reactions yet if Jalen Lamar or Justin said/did them the general reaction would be a lil… different

[solitaryandwandering]

15 people, 15 questions

I was tagged by @wen-kexing-apologist (here) and @telomeke (here), always glad to arrive late to a tag game!

1. Are you named after anyone?

I share a middle name with my paternal and maternal grandmothers (and coincidentally with an aunt who married into the family). As for my first name, my dad used to tell everyone that I was named after Meg Ryan, who he had a crush on and my mom really disliked (unrelated to the crush). It's a slightly creepy story and entirely untrue. I believe in reality they just thought the name sounded nice and chose it over the alternative, Kate (thank GOD).

2. When was the last time you cried?

I honestly can't remember the last time I full-on cried. Usually I only really cry when reading, watching shows or films or otherwise engaging with emotions in that way. When I was visiting family in Ohio I was feeling pretty unlike myself and stifled (the majority of the family are Trump supporters or centrists, if that gives you any idea of the kind of stuff being said). Whenever I visit them and the attention turns to me, the only things they tend to focus on are my love of reading (which I can no longer do very often) and disabilities. I am the first to assert that I am not ashamed of being disabled but there's very little agency I feel around this group of people (and though I love my immediate family they weren't always very helpful), made all the worse by the fact that my sight has considerably worsened in the last year, so any and all attention and vicarious grieving was a bit more difficult to swallow this time around. So, the night before we left, I did sit in the bathroom and tear up for a bit. But, no crying! Legitimately, one of my intentions of the new year is to let myself fully feel my emotions so I can more consciously heal from more of my PTSD and be more mindful in my life, which necessitates more tears. Lots to unpack there.

3. Do you have kids?

No, and I'm unsure if I ever want any. Definitely don't ever want to be pregnant. But I do love kids a lot.

4. What sports do you play/have you played?

I consider myself to be naturally pretty athletic, despite it all. When I was growing up I played a wide myriad of sports, like tee-ball, ballet (is that a sport?), track (usually 200m), and volleyball, with lots of swimming, gymnastics, rock-climbing (usually in the context of hiking), basketball, baseball, and football thrown in there. I'm still pretty proud of the fact that I can throw a perfect spiral (though getting my hand around the football is a bitch). I used to do a decent amount of weight-lifting, too. I was asked to play rugby at one point in middle school by my history teacher but had to decline due to the risk to my cochlear implant. But by far my number one sport was soccer; I played 19 seasons before I graduated high school, though it was always on a club level. I was actually pretty good (and very fast), if inconsistent (Usher + ADHD + low confidence + toxic sports environment led to some apathy on my end). My nickname was "bulldog" because I was so effectively aggressive and quick. I usually played as a defender (all positions, but left-winger typically), though I was also a midfielder due to my speed. Pretty sure I played every position at least once. Only scored one goal, and it was not an auspicious moment lmfao. I really loved the sport, even if I was bullied/ostracized by many of the girls. Right now, I don't play sports and am in the worst shape of my life, so a 2024 intention is to slowly get back into exercising as regularly as possible, even if I can only regularly keep up with PT workouts.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

I am almost entirely made up of sarcasm and dark humor. I've had to soften this, though, since a large majority of people in my life are not super receptive to either due to either some neurodiversity or trauma.

6. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

Depends on the environment, haha. If it's crowded, loud and unfamiliar I am usually noticing people's position in relation to me, if they're looking at me, and if they're trying to say something to me. So, a lot of looking at people's mouths. Otherwise, I think I still notice people's proximity, their body language, their eyes and smile/facial expressions. I grock on to people's emotions pretty quickly so I notice their general mood, too.

7. What’s your eye color?

On the brown side of hazel. I actually think they're a pretty color, especially when sunlight hits them. Then they can look golden, with some streaks of green or copper.

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Weird dichotomy, but ok. I'd say I largely prefer happy endings, especially if they're earned. I'd actually argue that some scary movies do have happy endings, just depends on your definition of "happy." I like horror quite a bit, especially as a genre to discuss and learn about, but my OCD does not enjoy watching them, so I am pretty particular about the ones I see.

9. Any talents?

Yes, I suppose? I think I am good at analysis, critical thinking, listening to others, media literacy/reading comprehension, coming up with creative ideas, and learning new things. I also like trivia, though it's been a long time since I really exercised that talent. I think I'm a pretty good writer, too. Really had to resist sarcasm and self-criticism, there.

10. Where were you born?

In a hospital in Northern Virginia, strangled by my umbilical cord and forcibly pulled from my mother with forceps.

11. What are your hobbies?

Watching BL and scrolling Tumblr, of course. But I also love watching films, in general, and reading media analysis and criticism. I also like reading social critique (that's my sociology degree talking) and lightly keeping up on psychological research in areas I'm interested in (trauma, sexual health, mental illness/health, developmental psychology, etc.) as much as I can. I also listen to a lot of podcasts (mostly fiction) and listen to music. Another intention for the new year is to slowly get back into reading books, however I can. And I also want to write more about BL on here :)

12. Do you have any pets?

Technically no - we have one dog which was passed on to us when my high school Braille teacher died, but she is with my dad, whom my mom is in the process of divorcing. He is holding on to her both as emotional support and collateral. So... I am not sure if I will see her again.

13. How tall are you?

Sort of average, around 5 ft 4 in

14. Favorite subject in school?

English, first and foremost. Followed by history (though my teachers usually were not great), most sciences (even if the mathematical sections caused some grief), and anything artistic or creative, such as a film studies elective I took in high school. In college I liked most of my psychology and sociology classes, thankfully, since those were my majors. Basically anything but math. I could always get behind the theoretical enjoyment of mathematics but (undiagnosed) dyscalculia REALLY made me suffer in those classes.

15. Dream job

If I ever get enough money and stability to do so, I want to go to grad school to become a clinical social worker. Otherwise, my actual "dream job" is to work in some way in media analysis, though I have no idea what that would entail or what it would look like.

Not tagging 15 people, I don't even know that many who would do something like this lol. Do if you want!

[cyrusgoodboye]

A bully is mean with Cyrus ( not necessarily because of his sexuality) and TJ is pissed.

Basketball Day - a Tyrus fanfiction

I apologize for the extremely long wait.  I really liked this idea, and it was a very fun idea to play around with.  I hope you enjoy it!

On the third Friday of every month, Jefferson Middle School’s gym coach allowed (forced was a better word in Cyrus’s opinion) his students to partake in a monthly game of basketball. This usually enabled the Good Hair Crew and Jonah to form a group of their own (mostly Buffy and Jonah played, although Jonah was admittedly not that great at the sport, while Andi and Cyrus would stand idly by, making sure it looked like they were participating whenever their coach threw a glance their way.)  It was the perfect setup; everyone got the chance to spend time with their friends, and no one got hurt!  However, on the third Friday of April, the group’s normal routine did not play out like they had expected it to.

“Cyrus, come on!” Andi groaned, dragging her best friend Cyrus towards gymnasium.  Getting Cyrus to come to gym was probably the biggest chore of all of the responsibilities that came with being Cyrus’s friend.  That boy did not like PE.

“I don’t wanna!” he whined.  He stumbled over the threshold as she dragged him towards his inevitable doom.  Oh, how he despised gym class.

By the time that gym had rolled around that Friday morning, Cyrus’s day was already off to a bad start.  He had missed another opportunity to possess one of the much coveted chocolate chocolate-chip muffins, he hadn’t gotten the grade he had wanted on his most recent algebra test, and, even worse, Buffy was missing school.  

It was a rare occurrence for his best friend, and Cyrus felt naked without her at his side.  Of course he missed her, and it was tough to face the day without her random quips about Ultimate Frisbee, or her unrelenting support, but nevertheless, Cyrus wholeheartedly approved of her absence.  She was finally getting the opportunity to spend the day with her mom, who had just returned from her lengthy deployment, and Cyrus knew how far and few between chances like this came for his best friend.  His only worry was that him, Andi, and Jonah might have to find a fourth team member that they didn’t really know well, or one that didn’t know them that well, either.  Those people usually made fun of him.

Once Andi finally got Cyrus past the entrance and into the gymnasium (Andi had to bribe him with tater tots from The Spoon, but the trade was well worth it in her opinion), she ordered him to stay put while she went to go look for Jonah.  Cyrus watched her run off into another direction, and he felt his heart begin to pound.  He hated being by himself.

In order to calm his nerves, he began glancing around at his classmates, looking at potential prospects for a fourth teammate.  This is good, he told himself as his heart rate began to decrease steadily.  Just keep…oh.

Cyrus’s eye caught on a certain basketball player, and his heart stopped altogether.  T.J. Kippen.

Cyrus watched T.J. run a hand through his effortlessly tousled hair as he talked to a group of what Cyrus assumed were his friends, and he felt an unexplainable urge to touch the boy’s wavy, chestnut locks.  Why did it look so soft?  

Cyrus blushed when T.J. fleetingly glanced his way, and he ducked his head to conceal his flushed cheeks.  That was a close one, he thought to himself.  Be more careful!

Post-bar-mitzvah, Cyrus could admit that his feelings for T.J. had grown into something…different.  Something that made his heart pound in his chest, his palms sweat, and his words to get stuck in his throat.  And, maybe, something he couldn’t entirely label just yet.  

Somehow, it felt a little different for what he felt for Jonah, or used to feel, that was.  Whatever feelings he had harbored in his heart for the Frisbee player were now shifting to T.J., the most recent object of his affections.  It was all so confusing, and even more so when he couldn’t talk to anyone about it (besides Andi and Buffy).  Cyrus longed for the day where he could be open about his huge secret with everyone; especially his family.  It was starting to become really hard to keep such a huge secret from his four shrink parents…

Before Cyrus could finish his thought, a bell-like laugh emitted from the basketball player, and the butterflies in his belly stirred uneasily at the sound.  He loved it when he witnessed T.J. being happy and lighthearted.

Prior to having been introduced to him (he was still calling him Scary Basketball Guy at this point), Cyrus caught glimpses of the brooding basketball player in the halls or in their few shared classes.  He had always wondered what T.J.’s problem was.  Was being the captain of the basketball team too much pressure on him?  Was he struggling with family problems?  Or was he just a jerk that didn’t care who he hurt?

However, upon meeting him, Cyrus was surprised by how kind T.J. was to him, a complete contrast to how he treated Buffy.  He never would have guessed that the same basketball player who was so spiteful to his best friend would even be capable of being caring and comforting, let alone to him.  

In the end, Cyrus learned that T.J. had a learning disability, and he also felt inferior compared to other students (like Buffy) academically and physically, which caused him to lash out.  It was almost hard to believe that someone that held himself up so high and mighty on the outside was actually hurting pretty badly on the inside.  

Cyrus was broken from his thoughts when he noticed T.J. begin to slowly turn towards him, and suddenly everything felt like it was in slow motion.  His heart rate began to climb rapidly; this was like the part in the cliche rom-com where the main protagonist met her love interest’s gaze from across the room, both of them thinking about how they were each other’s true love.  Granted, Cyrus wasn’t a girl, and T.J. would never be into him like that, but still, a boy could dream.  

When T.J. fully faced him, he caught Cyrus’s eye, and the corners of his mouth upturned in a slow smile.  T.J. raised his hand and waved endearingly at him, and Cyrus internally swooned.  He grinned widely back, beginning to return the sweet gesture, but T.J.’s friend pulled him back into their oh-so-important conversation before he got the chance.  

At the sudden loss of interaction with T.J., Cyrus frowned. You can always talk to him later, he thought, trying to console himself.  It’s not like it’s the end of the world.  Except it was.  It always was the end of the world in his mind.

In order to hide his disappointment, Cyrus busied himself by untying and retying his shoelaces.  In his case, they could never be knotted too tight!  It was a good distraction, too, from all the surrounding rambunctious students that were making his stress levels rise unnecessarily.

When the remaining students finally joined their peers in the gymnasium, dressed and ready to go, their gym coach stormed in with a clipboard in his hands.  

Instead of waiting for them to settle down their chatter naturally, he blew sharply into his whistle, and the noise pierced the air with its shrill tone.  Cyrus winced at the sound, and he shrinked back as the coach glared at all of them.  He didn’t think he’d ever seen the coach so mad.  Well, except for yesterday, he added in his mind.

“Everyone quiet!” the coach demanded, causing a group of eighth-grade boys to pause in their obnoxiously loud conversation.  They smirked at each other, not seeming to care about their obviously frazzled coach. “Because of an incident that occurred during yesterday’s game of flag football,” Coach Anderson said, shooting a not-so-subtle glance at the boys that were just talking, “Dr. Metcalf has requested that I assign teams instead of allowing you to do it yourselves.”  

At first, the students were baffled into silence.  They weren’t allowed to pick their teammates?  It was the most absurd thing they had ever heard!  Then, all at once, the middle schoolers outburst at the new rule, causing chaos within the spacious gym room.  

“You can’t do that!”

“That’s not fair!”

“Why should we all get punished?”

A jumble of complaints and cries about the coach’s decision went on and on, and Cyrus prepared his ears.  He didn’t have to be a genius to predict what was going to happen next:  one, two…

The coach blew whistle, effectively silencing the middle school students. “Enough!” Coach Anderson barked as the middle schoolers covered their ears in discomfort.  “Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?”  As the students shuffled nervously, shifting from foot to foot in anticipation, the coach began to call out groups.  “Team 1 is Andi, Gus, Denise, and Jonah.”  

Cyrus gulped, and his panic began to rise in his throat.  How had Andi and Jonah been put together but not him?  And what was he going to do?  What if he got stuck with someone he didn’t know?  Or even worse…someone who would tease him…  

Cyrus tried to shake his worries away, albeit unsuccessfully.  Why was he born with a tendency to worry about everything?  

He glanced over at T.J., and he longed for the boy to be on his team.  T.J. always knew how to make him feel calm with his presence (except when Cyrus allowed himself to get worked up about his feelings for the boy), which was a welcome change from the constant anxious frenzy inside of his mind.

As the coach continued down the list, Cyrus got more and more distressed.  He had originally hoped that he would get paired with some of the classmates in his grade (at least he’d know them), but most of them had already been called.  Even T.J., his last hope, had been assigned to Team 4.  The day seemed determined to be a nightmare specifically designed for Cyrus to endure, and painfully so.

After calling a few more names, Coach Anderson finally gave the answer to the question that Cyrus had been uneasily waiting for.  “Team 6 is Cyrus, Kyle, Aaron, and Cameron.”  

Cyrus felt his stomach clench.  He had never even talked to any of these boys, but he had a feeling that they wouldn’t be too accepting about having him as their teammate.

Aaron was the only one out of the bunch that was from his grade, although they had never talked.  Aaron seemed decent enough, from what Cyrus could tell.  He was quiet, and he kept to himself, but that wasn’t a bad thing.  

Cameron, on the other hand, was a different story.  Cyrus hadn’t talked to him either, but he knew that Cameron was the captain of the soccer team.  From the horror stories that Cyrus heard about him through Buffy, he was even more ruthless than T.J. had been just a few months ago.

Even so, Kyle was the most callous of them all.  In fact, Cyrus and the rest of his peers had witnessed the boy’s cruelty first-hand during flag football yesterday.

It had started out as a normal, innocent game; Buffy was dominating as usual, Jonah was attempting to follow Buffy’s strict commands in order to appease her (she was the team captain, after all), Andi was continually trying to keep up with their teammates (how exactly did one play flag football, anyway?), and Cyrus was cowering in the corner in order to stay out of everyone’s way.  He wasn’t really sure how to play the game, and it looked too intense to actually partake in.  And there was a lot of running.  He couldn’t deal with lots of running.

However, the one rule Cyrus did know about the sport was that there was no tackling allowed.  But, as the game progressed, it was apparent that this rule was not being followed by his classmates.  By the end of the class, one kid had a bloody nose and the other had her glasses broken beyond repair.  All because of Kyle and his corrupt band of jerk friends.

When inquired by Coach Anderson and Dr. Metcalf, Kyle played off his offense as ‘an accident,’ claiming that him and his buddies had gotten excited in the midst of the game and tripped, crashing right into their poor victims.  Dr. Metcalf and Coach Anderson suspected foul play, but because there was no evidence to support their suspicions, they were forced to go along with it.  However, this clearly was not stopping their principal from taking the matter into his own hands.

“Cyrus?” Andi asked, nudging him.  Cyrus shook himself from his thoughts.  When had she shown up beside him?  “Are you going to be okay?”

Cyrus glanced worriedly at the coach, who was already chastising a student that had requested a switch.  He frowned, but tried to hide his trepidation from his best friend.  You’ll be okay.  “I’ll be fine,” he insisted, reiterating his own thoughts aloud.  He wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince more: Andi or himself.  “Go have fun with Jonah.”  Cyrus forced a smile upon his face, but he could tell that she saw the insincerity behind it.  

She looked questioningly at her friend.  “Are you sure?” she asked.  “I can talk to Coach Anderson if you want…,” Andi offered unsurely.  Her eyes wandered over to the coach, and Cyrus saw her corners of her lips dip down as she watched the teacher reprimand their classmate.

“It’s fine,” Cyrus promised, feeling his stomach churn even more.  He couldn’t believe he was going through with this.  “Go, I’ll be okay.”

Andi gave him one last worried glance before squeezing his arm.  “Good luck.”  

Cyrus bit his lip as she jogged away, running towards her teammates.  He needed more than good luck for what he was about to endure.  

As Cyrus began to stroll over to his own teammates (reluctantly, he might add), he took deep breaths, only focusing on taking one step at a time.  Right foot, left foot, right foot… He was so concentrated on walking that he didn’t even realize when he bumped into Kyle.  At the contact, he ricocheted off of the boy’s freakishly tall body like a pinball in a pinball machine, and he stumbled backward, barely managing to catch his balance.

“Watch where you’re going, Goodman,” Kyle said cruelly, still chuckling.  Cyrus ducked his head to hide his bright red cheeks, and he silently cursed his entire existence.  Why did he have to be so clumsy?  

After he got his brutish laughter out of the way, Cameron nudged Kyle.  “Come on, man, let’s get started!”

Kyle agreed.  “Okay, how about me and you versus Owens and the dweeb?”  Cyrus winced when the bully referred to him as ‘the dweeb’.  More than anything, he wished that Buffy were here to defend him.  Even if he hated confrontation, being insulted to his face stung more.

Cameron shrugged.  “Sounds good to me.”

As the team began to play two-on-two, Aaron and Cyrus versus Cameron and Kyle (like the latter had arranged, with no objection on Cyrus or Aaron’s part), Aaron tossed the ball to Cyrus, who hurled the ball towards the basket as well as he could possibly manage.  The basketball missed its intended target completely, landing pathetically three feet away from the goal.

Kyle snickered at the sight as he plucked the ball in one fluid motion, and Cyrus almost envied his gracefulness.  “I bet you can’t even hit the backboard!” he taunted, laughing harshly.  Cyrus grimaced at the sound.  He wasn’t one-hundred percent sure what the backboard was, but he was certain that whatever Kyle had just said wasn’t a compliment.  “Why do you even take gym if you’re such a girl?”

Cyrus resented his comment, and not just because Kyle was insinuating he was girly.  Taking gym wasn’t even a choice.  If it had been, Cyrus would’ve definitely would’ve taken any other class.  He tried to point this out, too.  “Actually, it’s a state requirement-” he tried to input.  Before he could finish his statement, he was cut off by Cameron.

“What a loser,” the boy remarked, sniggering along with Kyle.  Those two had sure become fast friends, Cyrus noted.  If only they hadn’t bonded over making fun of him.

Cyrus looked helplessly towards Aaron, but the boy wouldn’t look him in the eye.  Aaron’s reluctance to help him made his throat tighten, and tears pricked at his eyes.  How was he going to handle anymore of this by himself?

As Kyle and Cameron bickered about who’s turn it was to check the ball (whatever that meant), Cyrus took a deep breath to calm his nerves.  You can do this, Cyrus, he assured himself.  Just ignore them.

It was easier said than done.  While Cameron was trying to pass the ball to Kyle, Cyrus shuffled across the gym floor awkwardly, hopping from side-to-side.  He wasn’t trying to block Kyle from receiving the ball; in fact, he was trying to get out of Kyle’s way so that he didn’t have to encounter his wrath, or be his next victim of PE crime.  However, in the midst of his getaway plan, Kyle stuck out a leg, causing a clueless Cyrus to trip and stumble onto the hard gym floor below with a loud thud.

Cameron and Kyle chortled at the sight, both exchanging a sadistic smirk.  “Look, he can’t even stand up without falling over!”  

Cyrus squeezed his eyes shut, wishing that he could be somewhere, anywhere else other than right here at this very moment.  Their grating laughter consumed his senses entirely, and he almost missed the squeaking of sneakers echoing from the gym floor behind him.

When Cyrus felt a hand come down on his shoulder, he apprehensively opened his eyes, seeing none other than T.J. Kippen himself staring down at him with a worried expression, his lips dipped downward and his brow furrowed.

T.J. bent down to his level, maintaining eye contact with the boy in front of him as he did so.  “Are you okay?” he asked Cyrus in a quiet, yet urgent, voice.  Cyrus felt a sense of security wash over him as he stared deeply into T.J.’s gorgeous green eyes, and he felt a warm tug in the pit of his stomach.  No.  Please help me.  I need you.

When he opened his mouth to answer him, Cyrus found that no words would come out, so he settled for a trembling shake of the head.  At that single motion, T.J. rose, bringing Cyrus up with him.  

“What did you guys do to Cyrus?” he asked accusingly.  His hand never wavered from Cyrus’s shoulder, and Cyrus gulped as the butterflies in his stomach swirled uneasily.  

Kyle put on an innocent facade, speaking fluently without guilt.  “I have no idea what you’re referring to, T.J.,” he said, giving an easy-going shrug.  Cyrus couldn’t decide if this kid was a good actor or a pathological liar; probably both.  “Goodman here just has a little trouble with sports.  I think he’s a tad girly.  Or should I say she,” he joked, getting Cameron to laugh along with him.  Cyrus felt T.J.’s grip on him tighten in anger, and he wished that he could grab the basketball player’s hand to help comfort him in return.

“Says the guy who didn’t make the basketball team this year,” T.J. shot back.  Kyle choked during his fit of laughter, and his face turned an angry red at T.J.’s comment.  Someone has a bruised ego, Cyrus thought to himself.

“You’ve become so lame since you’ve been hanging out with this loser,” Kyle sneered in retaliation.  

T.J. was clutching onto Cyrus so tight that he was bunching up the boy’s gym uniform in his hand.  “You guys are the losers,” he retorted, releasing Cyrus of his grip.  “Come on,” T.J. urged him, seizing his hand defensively.  “You’re playing on my team today.”

Cyrus was completely floored.  It was one thing for T.J. to risk his reputation for him, but for him to risk getting in trouble, too?  It was too hard to comprehend.  “But…Coach Anderson said-”

“I don’t care what Coach Anderson said,” T.J. interrupted, tugging Cyrus forward.  He paused in his tracks, consequently causing Cyrus to stop in front of him, only mere inches from his face.  T.J. searched Cyrus’s eyes, and the basketball player’s mouth melted into a gentle, sweet smile that made Cyrus’s heart leap in his chest.  “You’re playing on my team today,” T.J. confirmed, as if to relieve any of the lingering anxiety in Cyrus’s mind.

Cyrus took a deep breath before relenting.  If you say so.  “I’m playing on your team today,” he repeated, the words passing softly from his lips.  Maybe Cyrus had a newfound appreciation for basketball day after all.

*sighs dramatically* WHEW!  Glad I finally finished writing that.  I’ll be working on my other prompts, and I’ll try to get those done for y’all soon.  Thank you so much for reading this prompt and don’t forget to comment below or to read it on AO3 or fanfiction.net.  Thank you!

~emmagrace13

[thetrashbang]

Officer Benny and Characterisation in Stealth

There's a very special NPC in Thief II: The Metal Age. In the dimly-lit games room of the Truart Estate, surrounded by the discarded playing cards and abandoned dartboards of the recent party held by the Sheriff and his debaucherous toff friends, a lone drunken City Watch officer disconnectedly rambles to the barmaid on duty. His name is Officer Benny, and I love him.

"I can't believe that s-some (hic) taffer went and spilled mead all over that rug!" he yells as you approach unseen, his model swaying unsteadily in a dramatic display of intoxication. The barmaid, clearly worn out by a harrowing work shift, sighs wearily.

"Benny... you spilled the mead on the rug," she explains patiently. "Anyway, someone is on the way to clean it up already."

"But you don't understaaand!" Benny wails, now clearly, inexplicably on the verge of tears. "These (hic) taffers have no respect for such... b-beautiful things!"

Around this point, it’s likely that you’ll start to tune out and skulk around in the gloom, looking for the telltale glint of loot to funnel into your pockets. Stacks of coins and rings litter the gaming tables, tempting you to sneak a hand under the hanging lamps. One of Karras’s Children—a hunchbacked steam-powered automaton with a head like a brass football —clanks around the room, mindlessly praising its creator to the heavens. It’s not much of a threat, but it’s certainly an annoying little contraption. One water arrow to the boiler grate usually does the trick.

"Benny, I think you've had too much to drink. Aren't you supposed to be on duty?"

“Hah. So what if I am, huh?” he says, sounding more than a little defensive. “Anyways, I work mm-better when I’m drunk. It makes me fearless! If I see a bad guy, I’ll just point my sword at him, and saaaaaay… HEY, BAD GUY!”

You freeze, momentarily worried you’ve been spotted trying to snaffle the discarded goblet from beside the fireplace. Benny continues with his charade, utterly oblivious.

“You’re not s’posed to be here! G-go home or I’ll stick you with my sword ‘til you go ‘Ouch, I’m dead!’ Ah-hah-hah-hurgh!” He makes an indescribable sniffing, gurgling, chuckling noise, and momentarily falls silent. “See? Ain’t no one gonna be messin’ with ol’ Benny.”

“Whatever, Benny. I think you should sleep it off. No more mead for you.”

In the grand scheme of things, it’s a fairly trivial exchange: it doesn’t tie into some larger arc, it doesn’t impart any useful information about objectives or security system vulnerabilities, and neither Officer Benny nor the barmaid will ever be seen again. Benny’s emotional ping-ponging is unconvincing at best, and while his delivery certainly isn’t lacking in vigour, the only character in the room with exceptional voice acting is Garrett, the Master Thief; the one surreptitiously pocketing everyone’s gambling winnings during this exchange. And yet, Benny’s rambling accomplishes something very special. It’s the perfect, emblematic example of a quality present throughout the Thief games; one that shapes how we approach them, and in turn, the experiences they provide.

Thief II gives you a sword. Not a discreet little knife, fit for a slippery cutthroat, but a proper blade; the kind for lopping off soldiers’ limbs on a muddy, arrow-strewn embankment. It’s a silent acknowledgement that you may have to kill men, not in a surprise scuffle where you jump them from behind the bins, but in a full-on fight with multiple assailants. It’s the kind of thing you defend yourself with when things are rapidly going downhill and there’s nowhere to run; a tool for when the halls are filled with the sounds of alarm bells and clattering jackboots. In the right hands it can be quite effective, and it’s entirely possible to hack n’ slash your way through a legion of aggravated soldiers, provided they’re courteous enough to approach you in a narrow corridor or something.

Something doesn’t add up here, does it? Stealth needs reasons for you to stealth, so to speak. There have to be incentives to keep you in hiding, and those incentives usually start with some sort of punishment for being caught. You’re supposed to be outmatched and outgunned, or at the very least, have some higher-level motive for not wanting to be seen. If Garrett can accomplish his goals by going where he pleases and stabbing everyone who looks at him the wrong way, what’s stopping him, really?

Well, it’s kind of a dick thing to do, of course, but gamers have never been above murdering NPCs for slightly inconveniencing them. It’s also a flat-out fail state on many missions if you attempt them on a higher difficulty setting, but by the time you get around to them you’ve almost certainly put the idea out of your head long ago in any case. Dishonored, Thief’s darling modern protégé, would invisibly bump up the Chaos meter—a hidden metric that determines whether Corvo’s been naughty or nice—but Thief itself has no such system, and other than occasionally dropping remarks along the lines of “remember, murdering people is for poser scrublords”, does little to impress upon you the moral wrongness of your actions. A corpse is functionally identical to an unconscious body—indeed, were it not for a single line of HUD text, they’d be impossible to differentiate at all—and sure, people might be a bit more screamy if you clobber them over the head with a blade rather than a blackjack, but what does that matter if you’ve already established you’re not interested in being quiet?

No, Thief II chooses instead to work with characterisation. Who, of the people you encounter throughout its missions, are your enemies? Not the tired watchmen trudging through the halls on a cold evening; not the harmless peasants, trying to prosper in an industrial revolution even as it crushes them between its wheels; not even the Mechanist underlings, suckered into a fad cult and set to work fulfilling Karras’s insane agenda. Your foes are far away, clinking glasses in rooms full of light and music, and most of them will never meet you face-to-face. What direct quarrel do you have with the guards who patrol the game’s moody locales, besides the fact that they’re between you and your goal?

Right. They’re not your enemies, so Thief doesn’t characterise them as enemies. Engendering sympathy to discourage murdering NPCs is hardly a novel concept, but Thief’s approach stands out, primarily because it’s less about pre-emptive guilting and more about subtle humanisation. While you creep around behind their backs, guards will hum, whistle, recite passages, moan about the cold, mumble to themselves, even wonder aloud when they’re getting dinner. You’ll find guards cracking jokes, trash-talking each other’s employers, discussing financial management, complaining about the weather, worrying about being replaced by the new-fangled mechanical eyes, and a thousand other ordinary things totally unrelated to the here-and-now of their work shift. They’re not goose-stepping around shouting “boy, I sure hope nobody stabs me in the back while I’m pacing back and forth, how would my wife and three children ever survive on the streets without a loving father like me?”; they’re just… well, bored, usually. Wouldn’t it be terrible to have to cut down a person like that, just because they made the mistake of investigating some footsteps a little too closely? Thief makes you want to stay unseen, not for your own sake, but for the sake of those who might see you.

And Officer Benny? He’s the epitome of this humanisation. Not only is he drunk, chatty, skiving off work and chewing the scenery with an unprecedented level of unhinged abandon, but through his babbling, he offers an insight into his attitude. There’s no black, tarry pit of hatred boiling away somewhere in him, fuelled by some personal vendetta, waiting to bubble over in fury at the sight of a wayward miscreant; he’s just doing what he’s supposed to. Benny sees himself as the cop in the proverbial cops and robbers: a figure of authority in a simplistic world, out to stop the scoundrels and ruffians in a game where everyone mutually agrees on the rules. His inebriated cry of “HEY, BAD GUY! You’re not s’posed to be here!” is born of this position, announcing what he sees as incontestable truths, spoken more out of convention than anything else. And what’s his ultimatum? Go home, or get stabbed. Go home. Even faced with someone absolutely, undeniably in the wrong, in his morally black-and-white world, his first thought is of telling them to scarper; to leave peacefully, without accountability or interrogation. He’s not smart, or nuanced, or even—if you catch his attention—particularly true to his word, but Officer Benny’s attitude is charming in its simplistic naivety, devoid of real malice or antagonistic ideals. For that, I could no more swing my sword at him than kick a puppy, and that’s why he holds Thief II’s formula together—along with countless other watchmen, guards and Mechanists.

Thanks, Benny. I hope your hangover wasn’t too rough.

[effablyso]

Credit where it is due

I dont put a whole lot of weight on sporting events anymore. I used to think that professional athletes were the most physically superior specimens alive. And while it is true that there training has afforded them certain abilities and luxuries, they are not superior in every way. I watched most of the football game tonight, with about the least amount of vested interest as anyone watching. I didnt have any loyalties to either team, and Atlanta had my cheer only because I think matt ryan deserves a ring. He didnt get one, and tom brady did...for the fifth time in his professional career. He will be remembered as the greatest QB to ever play the game. And with the records he holds, its really not up for debate. Of course you will always be able to debate it if you want, he hasnt played with a spotless resume’. there is spygate and deflategate to name a couple of talking points. But however you shake it, he has won more when it mattered than any other to play the position. We are living in a wonderful time to be a sports fans. The Cubs won for the first time in over 100 years, we get to witness Brady at the height of his career, and the NBA has two super teams, one of which has the greatest/second greatest basketball player of all time. Not to mention that Tiger Woods guy. Say what you may about his personal life, but the man can flat out play golf. Or could anyway. We are seeing the pinnacle in every major sport. Every major American sport that is. 

This led me to think about all the non professional athletes that may never be mentioned outside their immediate sphere of influence. Lets think outside the box for this one. Because it is easy to think of athletes as sports figures, and rightly so, but let us not forget those men and women who will never play a sport in any relevant capacity. Im talking of course about the men and women who spend their lives, or a good portion of it, in the service of man. Soldiers, Firefighters, Police Officers, Paramedics. Of course, these professions are not without the marginal, or even less than desirable, but that does little to tarnish the names of the elite. Is Brady looked at less because a minuscule percentage of college athletes ever play professionally?  Quite the opposite. I have had the privilege of serving among some of the finest men this country has to offer. And I mean that literally.  My deployment to Iraq transpired in such a way that I was able to work in direct contact with members of both the private, and public sectors. Men who were among the most elite soldiers available to America, and members from other countries as well. Ill let that sink in for a second...Ok good. Now let me start of by saying that I know why a great many people view our military in a bad light, and they have good reason to. Soldiers are the face of a conglomerate of men at the very top of the food chain who need an army to do their bidding. To see a man or woman in uniform, is to put a face on wars, conflicts, or policies that you may not agree with. But the soldier that you see, the soldier that most likely has a wife or husband, kids of their own, or at the very least parents and/or siblings that care greatly for them, has sworn under oath to sacrifice their life in the name of freedom. They did so willingly, and 99% of them did, and will do so, with the greatest amount of pride they will likely ever feel. I know I did. Soldiers, particularly those who deploy, have the weight of a country on their shoulders. And the elite men that I was privy to working with took this responsibility to another level. They had a work ethic that was unrelenting. As though they were chosen to be set apart and were programmed differently than others. I have seen them, and all soldiers, carry more weight, further distances, through harsher terrain than most people would think possible. We have dragged comrades to safety through enemy fire. These men in particular were almost always ahead of the front lines, under cover of darkness, gathering information to benefit the larger forces behind them. They did not view situations in three dimensions like anyone else would, they had access to a fourth dimension for processing the needs of others in such a way that the only time their personal needs were thought of, was for the success of a mission. These men were tactical savants, physical specimens, and ambassadors for freedom.

These men, and most all soldiers, have put down their personal needs on more than one occasion. Missed holidays, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, funerals, first steps and just about any other meaningful milestone you can think of...and here is the best part, the part that still blows my mind...they have done, and continue to do this to protect your freedom to spit in their faces, to call them murderers, baby killers, genocide soldiers. They...we...took an oath to protect, with our lives, your right to hate us. It amazes me that this aspect of freedom is so often glossed over. Maybe I am in the minority, but before I served, I never gave much thought to the fact that my way of life was made possible by men and women giving their lives to protect America. Say what you will about our Government, I have opinions of my own, most of which are not in high regards. But the military, the actual people, are pretty bad ass. 

C.A.

[nuadox]

Q&A with Harvi Sadhra from Hashtag Investing

- By Phil Siarri , Nuadox -

I spoke with Harvi Sadhra, founder of Hashtag Investing, a real-time community of investors to discuss US and Canadian stocks.

Hi Harvi, nice to meet you. Can you please tell us about your background and professional experience.

Hi Phil, pleasure to meet you as well!

Definitely. It’s actually funny because I studied Biology in university which is completely unrelated to what I have done in my career as far as work experience. By the end of school I realized that my interests and focus were more so related to communication, networking, relationship building, sales, and digital marketing. From there I was lucky to land a position doing online sales for an ecommerce company and then went on to do digital marketing consulting for small businesses. I also started my first side projects around this time. The most notable was a website that tried to make random acts of kindness go viral through kindness cards. I guess in a sense I have this internal drive to connect people through helping each other and community building.

Image: Headshot of Harvi Sadhra. Provided by Harvi Sadhra.

Tell us about Hashtag Investing, what led you to create this community?

Once I began working, I also started reading a lot of books on investing and reading about value investing and Warren Buffett’s methodology and style. I also began trading stocks for the first time and just wanted to learn as much as possible to ensure I was limiting losses to ultimately increase my returns. While I kept soaking in content from videos, books, articles, and podcasts,I kept having this feeling that it wasn’t a natural and a great way to learn. I needed to discuss with other people what they were doing, and most importantly why they were doing it.

From a very basic human level, we learn best through experience. Experience is typically either doing it yourself (trading), or through seeing someone else do it first hand, interactively (coaching). I think the fundamental level of community is the social experience that people get out of it to discuss together, interact, and see and experience firsthand what others are doing. This allows for not just learning, but true natural growth. There is a popular quote out there, “Two minds are better than one”. My vision is to create a community where it’s not one, not two, but 100’s or 1000’s of minds working and discussing together.

Are you targeting specific demographics, or is anybody welcome to join?

Not at all.

If I were to focus on a certain niche, every member would be extremely similar in terms of their demographics, locations, life experiences, etc. To exaggerate this point, what good is a community of 1000 people if each person is exactly identical?

The true strength of community, in my opinion, is very well a diverse group of people. That means different skill levels, different demographics, different locations, different investing styles, and different amounts of money to invest. Sometimes an expert trader can learn an extremely simple yet valuable lesson from someone who knows nothing about investing. Whether it is from the new comer asking a question that challenges a well-known assumption, or an interesting idea that they have about investing. Everyone can learn from everyone. Everyone has their own mind and when you can share these minds together, cool ideas, discussions, and actions take place.

Currently membership is 500+ strong, do you have any tips regarding community building?

Like any community, there needs to be a strong story that brings them together. I think it is extremely difficult to bring 1000 people into a stadium and not have a purpose for them being there. There has to be something they all connect with. Some belief that allows them to feel a part of something larger. When we go to a music concert, everyone is a fan of the band's music. They have a commonality. Same with sports games, the ability to bring people to watch a football game is because you either cheer for one team or the other. Otherwise, if their is no common story that they all believe, you get something that looks more like a city square. A lot of people, but everyone is split into sub-groups, and small packs, usually with people they already know or are related to. If there is one tip, it’s to find that commonality, and create a strong story and belief that ALL members relate to. For #Investing, the story is to build a community of people who truly desire to learn more together, and ultimately, earn more together.

I see Hashtag Investing as a modern day investment club, where people meet and socialize besides talking numbers. Is that a fair description?

I’d say that is a fair assessment. If we just talked about numbers, it wouldn’t be any different from reading earnings reports. The glue that keeps the community together is the social aspect of learning why someone is doing something and being able to interactively discuss with them, and challenge them and then applying that discussion to your own personal styles and methods. Many of our members now even have phone calls together over the chat platform to discuss further. It’s really cool.

Image: Screenshot of #Investing platform.

What’s next for the community in 2017 and beyond?

My first goal is to hit the 1000+ member mark without compromising the quality of the community. Right now the members we have are extremely accepting, cooperative, and enjoy helping and adding value for each other. That is the tricky part, enhancing growth, while at the same time staying true and keeping the integrity of the community. We have some interesting partners in the mix that could bridge the gap between real life investing communities and bringing them online to our community. That would be great because it would accomplish the goal of growth while keeping the quality of the community really high. My vision for the community long term is to be the most authentic, and highest quality social resource for investors to learn, connect, and improve their returns together.

Read Also

Focus on Personal Capital

[flauntpage]

“I Definitely Should Have Walked Away Before it Got to That Point,” Says Mike Scott of F Lot Encounter

Mike Scott spoke to Sixers media today, the first time he’s been in front of a microphone since the altercation that took place with Eagles fans at Lincoln Financial Field back on September 8th. The fracas in the parking lot resulted in the dissolution of the ‘F Lot Crew,’ the group of tailgaters who traded punches with Scott after a verbal argument turned physical.

Dan Gelston from the Associated Press broached the subject with Scott at media day, which resulted in this response and two follow-up questions:

Gelston: You embraced your role as sort of a man about town with the fans this year. What exactly happened in the Eagles parking lot and will that affect –

Mike Scott: Straight to it.

<everybody laughs>

Gelston: Will that affect the way you conduct yourself with the fans moving forward?

Scott: I don’t know; looking back on it, I always play devil’s advocate with myself. I definitely should have walked away before it got to that point. I’m the professional, be a bigger person and walk away. But once you keep going, and he was popping hella shit, you know what I’m saying? He was going off. I don’t know; maybe it was the microphone. I walked up in there and once you take it to that next level, once you start throwing other slurs out there, now I gotta see if you match that energy. So that’s what happened. I definitely have to be the bigger person and it should have never got to that point. Definitely should have walked away. But I didn’t; he was talking crazy and took it to the next level so I had to see if he’d match that energy. Y’all saw what happened with the rest of it. But yeah, gotta be the bigger person, gotta be that, but as far as sympathy for them, I don’t feel any for those individuals. What a day (laughs).

Gelston: Will that affect how you interact with fans?

Scott: Nah, nah. I don’t feel no way towards any fan, any Eagles fans. Those guys don’t represent –  I’m not stupid – that doesn’t represent everyone. I still had a ball. I still had fun, took pictures with fans, throwing balls in the parking lot and enjoyed the game. The Redskins go up 20-7 and I’m looking around like ‘aw shit come on Eagles, help me out now, can’t fight the whole stadium.’ Shit, they would have been out there waiting for me with pitchforks. I still had fun and you have to let social media have their fun with it. It definitely doesn’t look good on my behalf, embarrassing the organization and my family, but once you take it past that point, god damn, I mean what are going to do, you know? But no I don’t feel any type of way towards Eagles fans. It’s Philly, we had a brawl before noon and then went and enjoyed a football game. What a day.

<unrelated question in between>

Crossing Broad: Mike, have to ask one more question about the F Lot situation; the microphone guy went on the radio and said he reached out to the Sixers, that they wanted to apologize to you, to talk to you –

Scott: Yeah that’s cool.

Crossing Broad: – did you have any contact with them?

Scott: Nah, nah, I had brought a guest with me that day and I told her ‘if I was to see those same people that same day, I would have dapped them up, gave them a handshake, signed something for their kids, took a picture. I’m not tripping on that. We had our little differences then went to go watch a football game. I feel like they shouldn’t have taken it to that point but I don’t have no beef towards them. If you want to apologize and we kick it, take pictures, do the pose, I’m all for that. I’m not really trippin’ on that. I had fun that day. It didn’t really hit me until that night when I went, ‘man I fucked up maybe I should have just walked away’ when I saw it all over social media. Then I’m going back and forth like ‘hell naw, he was talking too crazy, I gotta go see about it.’ But I don’t feel no type of way, if I ever see them again and they want to apologize, and they don’t have to apologize, just dap it up, I’m all for that.

I thought it was a great response from Scott, who took responsibility for his part in the altercation while reiterating that the F Lot crew did indeed cross the line. But for him to harbor no ill will towards microphone guy and his friends while leaving the door open for some sort of reconciliation seemed like a mature way to approach the aftermath of the situation.

Mic guy did go on Missanelli’s show and admit that somebody used a racial slur, so it’s very clear that they were in the wrong. That aside, Mike Scott, in my mind, just had more to lose as an under-contract professional athlete who is held to a higher standard than a couple of random blokes in the parking lot.

Time’s yours.

Here’s Mike Scott on the fight at the Eagles tailgate. He has some thoughts. pic.twitter.com/24bZkbK9sP

— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) September 30, 2019

The post “I Definitely Should Have Walked Away Before it Got to That Point,” Says Mike Scott of F Lot Encounter appeared first on Crossing Broad.

“I Definitely Should Have Walked Away Before it Got to That Point,” Says Mike Scott of F Lot Encounter published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[racingtoaredlight]

The degenerate’s guide to college football TV watch ‘em ups, 2019 season, week 5

I just spent an awfully long time looking for a specific thing to steal as a header image only to give up and use a basically unrelated picture.

Hi, are you ready for some college football? Are all of your rowdy friends coming over? No? Mine, either. We’re in this alone and in the dark, lordt willin. Let’s get drunk and gamble and pretend life is just this. I’ve got 20 or so hours to kill, a TV, and a cable subscription with internet access.

There are times and places and football teams. These things intersect at appointed schedules as listed below. The times are eastern and the football teams are pre-determined. All of the scheduling information is pilfered from FBSchedules. Yell at them if anything is wrong. The odds are determined by bookmakers, many of whom are based in my fair city of Las Vegas, NV. NV is pronounced Nuh-vadd-duh. The duh stands for stupid. I get mine odds given to me for free at Vegas Insider. What you do with this information is entirely up to you, friend.

Saturday, September 28

Matchup                                                       Time (ET)                TV/Mobile

NIU at Vanderbilt                                          12:00pm                   SECN

Remember that kid from Western Kentucky saying “they supposed to be SEC!” on the sideline? That was seven years ago this week. He wasn’t saying that about Vanderbilt. Nobody has ever said that about Vanderbilt, even though they have been in the conference since its inception. 

Buffalo at Miami (Ohio)                                12:00pm                  ESPNU

The line has completely flipped on this game. I’m not sure what happened and I refuse to do any research to find out just know that betting on Miami OH is apparently an awful idea.

BYU at Toledo                                               12:00pm                   ESPN+

In my memory BYU’s uniforms are always a lighter shade of blue than any photographs will ever support. I know I’m not alone in this weird trick of the mind. That’s all I’ve got to say for this game. It could be interesting to watch.

Central Michigan at Western Michigan      12:00pm                  CBSSN

CBS Sports is the official station of degenerate watchin’ up of football and it is a moral travesty that it is sullied with MACtion.

Holy Cross at Syracuse                               12:00pm                  ACCN

Huge matchup between the Ringer and ESPN. I find any positive notice for either of these schools to be most distasteful.

Kansas at TCU                                              12:00pm                   FS1

I think I’d probably rather watch Gary Patterson and Les Miles yell at each other for 3 hours than watch this game but that isn’t really a disparagement of the entertainment value contained herein. I can’t bring myself yet to publicly espouse my thoughts on this game but they are historically significant in a sense. No, I don’t expect Kansas to win but that’s not as far from what I think will happen as I’m comfortable with.

Middle Tennessee at 14 Iowa                       12:00pm                 ESPN2

Life is never easy for the middle Tennessee. You have the older Tennessees (mostly) acting exactly like your parents and you have the younger rebellious Tennessees acting out and forging their own paths, sucking up all the attention. A good way to be noteworthy would be a big road upset! But that’s not going to happen. Beat the spread (-23.5) and at least the gamblers will remember you fondly. 

Northwestern at 8 Wisconsin                        12:00pm                   ABC

I don’t know exactly why I’ve always hated Northwestern but I hope Jonathan Taylor runs for 500 yards and 10 TDs today. Pound the over.

Rutgers at 20 Michigan                                   12:00pm                  BTN

Often lost in all the talk of Michigan being overrated and Jim Harbaugh being a shitty recruiter is the fact that Michigan has never really been much better than they are right now on a consistent basis and they’ll stay at this level until a superstar QB signs there and makes the then OC look like a genius. That’s how things work now for all but the very top of the top programs. Having said all that, the line is moving towards Rutgers and that should never happen. Wolverines by 30.

23 Texas A&M vs. Arkansas (in Arlington, TX)   12:00pm           ESPN

aTm isn’t great but Arkansas is deep in the trash can right now. This is a sad and hollow SWC rivalry revival. Is it worth gambling on Arkansas to make the Jimbo 10-year guaranteed contract continue to look bad? No, it is not. Aggie by 50.

Texas Tech at 6 Oklahoma                                  12:00pm           FOX

I am easily swept up in hype, especially on offense, but I have this creeping idea that Oklahoma is the second best team in the country this year. And I’m not looking at the line or anything when I say this but take the Sooners and the points this week and every week until the playoffs.

Delaware at Pitt                                                    12:30pm            RSN

The loser of this game gets the Joe Flacco statue. It’s just Joe Flacco. He did end his college career at Delaware so it’s fitting that they’ll be stuck with him for all eternity.

Mississippi at 2 Alabama                                     3:30pm             CBS

There was an implication left open in the Oklahoma writeup. It’s applicable to this game. Still, don’t bet on Alabama games. Nick Saban hates you as much as his buddy Bill Belichick hates you. So the final here? 38-14. Bama won’t score for the last 24 minutes.

18 Virginia at 10 Notre Dame                               3:30pm             NBC

This marks the second week in a row that Notre Dame will play their third football match against a team from a school with claims as America’s first “public” university. I have an exceptionally bad feeling about this one for the Hoos. At least Bryce Hall one-on-one against Chase Claypool is interesting from a scouting perspective.

Wake Forest at Boston College                           3:30pm              ACCN

ACC acction, it’s just like football!

Iowa State at Baylor                                              3:30pm              ESPN

Baylor has been a secret weapon for gamblers so far this year but the line on this one has flipped and now Iowa State is a road favorite. I go mostly off gut here and I’m not going out of my way for a Big XII game that doesn’t involve Oklahoma but my feeling so far is that Baylor is a top 25 team that voters are too embarrassed to vote for. Maybe Iowa State did some really hard training this week and it’s expected to pay off.

Coastal Carolina at Appalachian State               3:30pm              ESPN+

I don’t think I’ll actually seek this out on ESPN+ but there are two things about this game that interest me, Darrynton Evans and these glorious helmets that App State will be wearing (that twitter thread is worth reading if you like this stupid sort of thing):

Minnesota at Purdue                                             3:30pm             ESPN2

The nation’s consensus worst undefeated team is a road underdog against the one-man band that is Purdue football. I’m inclined to say bet Gophers (?) at +1.5. Sorry in advance.

21 USC at 17 Washington                                     3:30pm               FOX

The last time these old conference foes (since 1923, in the Pac precursor the Pacific Coast Conference) was 2016 when USC wrecked a perfect season for UDub and exposed Jake Browning as not particularly good. Washington still went to the playoffs but Jake Browning never fooled anybody again. What does this have to do with this game here, today? Glad you asked. Absolutely nothing.

Indiana at 25 Michigan State                                 3:30pm              BTN

I hear this is the game of the week in Guantanamo.

Florida Atlantic at Charlotte                                   3:30pm            NFLN

Something about this game just makes me laugh. Like it’s a joke. It’s a clown here to amuse me.

1 Clemson at North Carolina                                  3:30pm             ABC

Carolina got up for this one by losing to App State. Clemson is favored by 27 on the road which just a little high considering that Trevor Lawrence may have befriended Jameis Winston’s bookie in the offseason.

Akron at UMass                                                        3:30pm        FloSports

Fuck this game.

Georgia Tech at Temple                                           3:30pm         CBSSN

Georgia Tech may have to rebuild their roster entirely after a decade+ of Paul Johnson option ball but at least they’ve also already forgotten how the option works. Future Miami head coach Rod Carey has the Owls poised for another bowl loss and his 2-1 team is favored by 8.5.

SMU at USF                                                               4:00pm         ESPNU

I don’t know what the people of Austin did to Charlie Strong but it hurts my heart. SMU didn’t even get a top 25 ranking for beating TCU last week but if they beat the spread this week they’ll be 5-0 and (probably) ranked for the first time since... when, 1986?

Towson at 9 Florida                                                   4:00pm          SECN

Florida is a talented team overall but their QB situation is pretty dire. Towson is the best team they’ve played in weeks but I’d still feel pretty good taking the Gators -36.5.

Cincinnati at Marshall                                                5:00pm        Facebook

The winner of this game will go mostly unnoticed. Marshall is a slight underdog at home and off the top of my head that seems like good value.

Louisiana at Georgia Southern                                 6:00pm        ESPN+

Ragin Cajuns and Southern Eagles - this game belongs on CBS Sports. This is trash but it’s beautiful trash.

New Mexico at Liberty                                                6:00pm        ESPN+

RTARLsman alert! Antonio Gandy-Golden plays for Liberty for some reason and he’s easy to spot in games like this. He’s huge and tends to make highlight reel catches even when he doesn’t need to. In 4 games he has 24 catches for 544 yards. That’s stupid and a pace that should continue for the rest of the season.

Arkansas State at Troy                                               6:00pm        ESPN+

I hate that all of this great Sun Belt inanity is hidden behind a paywall. 

East Carolina at Old Dominion                                  6:00pm        ESPN+

ODU is in a perfect position to completely crumble after failing to take down either Virginia Tech or Virginia when they had a chance. ECU started as a slight favorite and now they’re +3 but that’s just homefield advantage. So these teams are even. Roll damn Pirates.

24 Kansas State at Oklahoma State                          7:00pm        ESPN+

Kansas State has SMU’s rightful ranking. Chuba Hubbard mostly sucked against Texas but the man still worked him senseless with 37 carries. I wouldn’t bet on either team but under 60.5 seems reasonable.

Louisiana Tech at Rice                                                7:00pm        ESPN3

The Mailmen -9 seems like theft to me but I am openly bad at this.

Mississippi State at 7 Auburn                                     7:00pm        ESPN

I’m not sure the Barners are ready to drop a seemingly easy win but one must be ever mindful of the possibility. If not now, when?

Nicholls at Texas State                                                 7:00pm       ESPN+

With no bookmaking numbers to draw from I really couldn’t begin to tell you what’s happening here.

Stanford at Oregon State                                              7:00pm     Pac-12N

Stanford and the under. This conference could use a big shot of boredom.

UAB at WKU                                                                    7:00pm      ESPN+

UAB is going 12-0 without ever getting a top 25 ranking.

UConn at 22 UCF                                                            7:00pm      ESPN2

The Civil ConFLiCT! UCF is a 43-point favorite and, honestly, that’s too low. The trophy will go in the trash again.

UTEP at Southern Miss                                                  7:00pm       ESPN+

In the days before there were 100 D-1A teams this would have been a nice little off-the-radar kind of game. It’s pretty bad now, though.

South Alabama at ULM                                                  7:00pm        ESPN+

ULM is a 15.5-point favorite. Holy shit, USA must be putrid.

5 Ohio State at Nebraska                                               7:30pm         ABC

Nebraska seems light years away from competing in the B1G and they don’t really look any better to me now than they did last year or the year before but they are 3-1 so I must be missing something. I thought Ohio State would slip a little post-Urban but so far they’re the statistically best team in the country.

Colorado State at Utah State                                        7:30pm       CBSSN

A true beauty. USU has been scoring 40ppg but Jordan Love hasn’t had a big stat padding game yet. That should change here as Colorado State is pretty bad. Stay away from the line but over 70.5 is definitely in play.

Kentucky at South Carolina                                          7:30pm        SECN

This slate of primetime games is a great excuse to get some chores out of the way. Call your parents. Talk to your wife. Pick out a nice Christmas gift for your bookie. You won’t be missing anything worthwhile. This isn’t even the worst of it.

NC State at Florida State                                                7:30pm        ACCN

I can’t confidently say this isn’t the worst of it. FSU is rounding into shape for quite the painful showdown with Miami in five weeks. That game is going to be a sad reminder of what once was. This game is just painful for the sake of being painful. ACC action, I can’t believe it’s not cancelled!

Houston at North Texas                                                  8:00pm      Facebook

If you watch this one up, keep in mind that you could be watching along with the next Edward Snowden. Who’s watching you. So don’t be too libertarian with your browsers.

Fresno State at New Mexico State                                8:00pm       FloSports

I don’t know what FloSports is but it sounds like it has to do with Florida. Maybe they got confused when they saw Fresno State listed as FSU or something and it’s too late to change it now.

UNLV at Wyoming                                                         8:00pm           ESPNU

Take Wyoming on everything. UNLV is a horrible team and nobody looks good on the road in Laramie. Wyoming is no great shakes but they’re at least 10 points better than UNLoVed.

Washington State at 19 Utah                                    10:00pm             FS1

Everything else can be trash, the Pac-12 After Dark is good this week.

Hawaii at Nevada                                                      10:30pm          ESPN2

MWC After Dark isn’t a thing but this definitely fits in the same genre as the games listed above and below it.

UCLA at Arizona                                                       10:30pm            ESPN

UCLA came back from 32 down to win a game 67-63 in regulation against a ranked opponent last week, I missed every second of it, and there is absolutely no feeling whatsoever that the program has turned any sort of corner. Well, somebody has to win this one and here’s to hoping the combined store goes over 100 again.

[goshreduk]

YOU SOMETIMES NEED TO LOOK ELSEWHERE: MAYBE THAT 6 - 1 WIN HAD MORE ABOUT IT THAN JUST A GOOD PERFORMANCE     

I have always been a huge sports fan, playing football, cricket and both codes of rugby as a kid, then playing, coaching and managing American Football teams for the last 30 odd years.  Since starting Go Shred in 2013, I have always tried to look at my experience in sport, as well as business, philosophy and history to guide the company in the right direction.  

I mention this because I have a couple of great examples of successful England coaches who were also eager to learn from beyond the sphere that they occupy.  Sir Clive Woodward used the example of American Football to split his team down into positional elements and concentrate on coaching each phase of play with specialist coaches.  This led directly to their World Cup victory under Woodward’s leadership and at the same time revolutionised the coaching of a sport steeped in over one hundred years of history, but at the same time willing to embrace new methods in order to gain success at the highest level.

So, it was with interest that I noticed Gareth Southgate attending the Super Bowl in Minnesota earlier this year.  The BBC managed to get him into the booth with the award winning Chappers, Osi and Jason to have a few words and it was then that my ears pricked up when I heard he was in the States visiting NFL teams to look at how they operated in talent recognition prior to the draft (makes sense for a coach looking at many disparate players and attempting to quantify and qualify their performances) and also looking at how they worked coaching positional groups.

This makes what has happened recently with the England team suddenly take on a new look when we take into consideration a couple of seemingly innocuous and unrelated events, but given the above, seems to have a huge bearing.

Firstly, the (at times incredulous) squad choices for Southgate’s team.  Although only two games and two wins into the World Cup finals, we have seen two different, but nevertheless impressive wins for the team.  A young team, a team devoid of heavyweight international experience and, for the first time in decades, a group of kids not carrying the weight of expectation demanded by the tabloids and the nation.  

One has to ask, has there been some extremely clinical number crunching done behind the scenes a la Moneyball (I urge you to watch this amazing Baseball film or read the equally brilliant  Michael Lewis book)?  Since the World Cup qualifiers, has there been an NFL draft war room scientifically choosing the best of the best youngsters to populate the England squad?.  Well, as the tournament advances, it seems that may have been the case in some way as their cohesion and communication seems to be light years ahead of any modern era England team, with preparations, to the layperson, pretty much identical to previous squads.

Secondly, and most explicitly true, it seems that Southgate has brought in some specialist positional coaches to separate his team from the rest of the competition.  Most notably, the man behind much of the success in the first two games, with his “Strikers Coach” moniker, is Alan Russell.  Never known at the highest levels as a player (St Mirren and Macclesfield anyone?), Russell moved to the States to work as a Strikers coach and quickly made a name for himself before moving back to the UK, most notably with Chelsea where he came to the attention of Steve Holland the England Assistant Manager.

I know all this because as I watched the first few England set pieces of the tournament and then the first John Stones headed goal from a corner I just had to keep hitting rewind and play to see something I thought I recognised.... A classic Basketball screen play.... and I had to hit the internet and find out if what I had just seen was more than just a huge coincidence.  It wasn’t. 

Did you wonder just how Stones got so much room?  Well, the photo above shows the space he had, but you need to see the play at full pace to appreciate the work his colleagues put in to create that space.  It was no fluke.  This is where Russell is making the difference and his influence, with the blessing of his coaching colleagues one would imagine, has meant that the England set pieces for the remainder of this World Cup should continue to threaten opponents and bring goals galore for the team.

As I can attest to, as well as Southgate and Woodward, it is always worth looking beyond the sphere you occupy to find inspiration in sports, business and life.  Keep your eyes open....

[robgrayofficial]

HAPPPPPPY SATURDAY, PATRIOTS!This is your girl u/IvaginaryFriend back at it again with a weeks worth of spice for you lovely Deplorables! (◠‿◠✿)Before we officially get this recap started, if you happened to miss any past recaps you can catch them here!Also, don't forget about our Header contest coming up on Monday, June 11th!!! The winning submission will be proudly presented at the top of the DOM for the next few months!!!Now, let's get on with the show!Sunday, June 3rd:🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:Jesse Watters “The only thing Trump obstructed was Hillary getting to the White House.” So true!As only one of two people left who could become President, why wouldn’t the FBI or Department of “Justice” have told me that they were secretly investigating Paul Manafort (on charges that were 10 years old and had been previously dropped) during my campaign? Should have told me!....Paul Manafort came into the campaign very late and was with us for a short period of time (he represented Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole & many others over the years), but we should have been told that Comey and the boys were doing a number on him, and he wouldn’t have been hired!Mark Penn “Why are there people from the Clinton Foundation on the Mueller Staff? Why is there an Independent Counsel? To go after people and their families for unrelated offenses...Constitution was set up to prevent this...Stormtrooper tactics almost.” A disgrace!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:WINNING! U.S. Beats Singapore & Hong Kong To Become The World's Most Competitive Economy Again - #MAGA!Roseanne Barr is off TV but Samantha Bee is still on -- just another example of the media’s double standardThis timeline is unexpected. In 2018, I have already skipped a Star Wars movie in the theatres and paid money for a Kanye West Album.THE MADMAN-Probably the best quote in human history to date🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:"oh they're so good, oh they're so sweet."Today is Trump's 500th day as POTUS so here is a commemorative $500 bill.This triggers leftists.FITTON: My first official meme for the TD"Cuz we hate him"Monday, June 4th:TODAY'S ACTION:Vice President Pence Delivers Remarks at a Reception Promoting a Hemisphere of FreedomPresident Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Personnel to a Key Administration PostPresidential Memorandum for the Secretary of StatePresidential Memorandum for the Secretary of StateEight Nominations Sent to the Senate Today🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:This is my 500th. Day in Office and we have accomplished a lot - many believe more than any President in his first 500 days. Massive Tax & Regulation Cuts, Military & Vets, Lower Crime & Illegal Immigration, Stronger Borders, Judgeships, Best Economy & Jobs EVER, and much more... ....We had Repeal & Replace done (and the saving to our country of one trillion dollars) except for one person, but it is getting done anyway. Individual Mandate is gone and great, less expensive plans will be announced this month. Drug prices coming down & Right to Try!“This is the best time EVER to look for a job.” James Freeman of WSJ.As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong? In the meantime, the never ending Witch Hunt, led by 13 very Angry and Conflicted Democrats (& others) continues into the mid-terms!China already charges a tax of 16% on soybeans. Canada has all sorts of trade barriers on our Agricultural products. Not acceptable!The U.S. has made such bad trade deals over so many years that we can only WIN!Farmers have not been doing well for 15 years. Mexico, Canada, China and others have treated them unfairly. By the time I finish trade talks, that will change. Big trade barriers against U.S. farmers, and other businesses, will finally be broken. Massive trade deficits no longer!The appointment of the Special Counsel is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Despite that, we play the game because I, unlike the Democrats, have done nothing wrong!#500Days of American Greatness: http://bit.ly/2MaRAmV Fake News Media is desperate to distract from the economy and record setting economic numbers and so they keep talking about the phony Russian Witch Hunt.In many ways this is the greatest economy in the HISTORY of America and the best time EVER to look for a job!Big Supreme Court ruling for Baker just out!The Philadelphia Eagles Football Team was invited to the White House. Unfortunately, only a small number of players decided to come, and we canceled the event. Staying in the Locker Room for the playing of our National Anthem is as disrespectful to our country as kneeling. Sorry!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Supreme Court rules 7-2 in favor of Colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple on religious grounds. SCOTUS finds that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission did not consider this case with religious neutrality and violated the Free Exercise Clause.Stand for the Anthem or don’t come. I love this President.Watch Bernie Sanders Run From Alex Jones At LAX Airport29 Years ago Today. This is Communism. Never Forget.The media was all about an outgoing Obama pardoning Incoming Hillary. Then they were cool with Hillary pardoning herself. But now, because it’s DJT, now it’s a “constitutional crisis.” Sorry ass complicit jerk-offs.PRESS BRIEFINGS, INTERVIEWS, RALLIES:Press Beating🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:worst boycott ever #MAGAJust saw this on another sub. Pretty accurate tbhThis is America.BREAKING: In a narrow 2,623-487 county decision, Trump wins the US electionBREAKING: In narrow 77-0 decision, Oklahoma goes entirely Republican.Tuesday, June 5th:TODAY'S ACTION:President Trump Participates in the Celebration of AmericaHerschel Walker at the White House Sports and Fitness DayNatalie Gulbis at the White House Sports and Fitness DayPresident Trump Participates in the Signing Ceremony for S. 292🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:What is taking so long with the Inspector General’s Report on Crooked Hillary and Slippery James Comey. Numerous delays. Hope Report is not being changed and made weaker! There are so many horrible things to tell, the public has the right to know. Transparency!The U.S. has an increased economic value of more than 7 Trillion Dollars since the Election. May be the best economy in the history of our country. Record Jobs numbers. Nice!We will proudly be playing the National Anthem and other wonderful music celebrating our Country today at 3 P.M., The White House, with the United States Marine Band and the United States Army Chorus. Honoring America! NFL, no escaping to Locker Rooms!We have had many Championship teams recently at the White House including the Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, Pittsburgh Penguins, New England Patriots, Alabama and Clemson National Champions, and many others. National Anthem & more great music today at 3:00 P.M.The Russian Witch Hunt Hoax continues, all because Jeff Sessions didn’t tell me he was going to recuse himself...I would have quickly picked someone else. So much time and money wasted, so many lives ruined...and Sessions knew better than most that there was No Collusion!Meeting in Singapore with North Korea will hopefully be the start of something big...we will soon see!....@NASCAR and Champion @MartinTruex_Jr were recently at the White House. It was a great day for a great sport!Separating families at the Border is the fault of bad legislation passed by the Democrats. Border Security laws should be changed but the Dems can’t get their act together! Started the Wall.In High Tax, High Crime California, be sure to get out and vote for Republican John Cox for Governor. He will make a BIG difference!Get the vote out in California today for Rep. Kevin McCarthy and all of the great GOP candidates for Congress. Keep our country out of the hands of High Tax, High Crime Nancy Pelosi.Vote for Congressman Devin Nunes, a true American Patriot the likes of which we rarely see in our modern day world....he truly loves our country and deserves everyone’s support!Senator @RogerWicker of Mississippi has done everything necessary to Make America Great Again! Get out and vote for Roger, he has my total support!Terrific new book out by the wonderful Harris Faulkner, “9 Rules of Engagement.” Harris shares lessons from a military family. Enjoy!The HISTORIC Rescissions Package we’ve proposed would cut $15,000,000,000 in Wasteful Spending! We are getting our government back on track.Imagine how much wasteful spending we’d save if we didn’t have Chuck and Nancy standing in our way! For years, Democrats in Congress have depleted our military and busted our budgets on needless spending, and to what end? No more.Wow, Strzok-Page, the incompetent & corrupt FBI lovers, have texts referring to a counter-intelligence operation into the Trump Campaign dating way back to December, 2015. SPYGATE is in full force! Is the Mainstream Media interested yet? Big stuff!(Retweeting Robby Starbuck) Fox News has been #1 for 197 months straight. In the latest ratings disaster for CNN they lost another 25% of their viewers. Fox has 10 of the top 15 shows and even hold the #1 spot in the younger key demo. The public is loudly rejecting @CNN.(Retweeting Eric Trump) #MakeAmericaGreatAgain 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸(Retweeting Brad Parscale) Since the #FakeNews is full of distortions, underreporting, and lies, we launched a platform tonight presenting a comprehensive record of @realDonaldTrump’s administration. The truth will be told about a remarkable 500-day record of accomplishments!Great interview by @LouDobbs with Chris Farrell of Judicial Watch concerning the governments counter-intelligence operation into the Trump Campaign. SPYGATE at the highest level. Who would believe? 10,534 replies 12,776 retweets 50,227 likesChris Farrell, Judicial Watch. “They were running an operation to undermine a candidate for President of the U.S. These are all violations of law. This is intelligence tradecraft to steer an election. There’s nothing more grave when it comes to abuse of our intelligence system... ... ...This is a level of criminality beyond the pale. This is such a grave abuse of power and authority, it’s like nothing else we’ve seen in our history. This makes the Nixon Watergate burglary look like keystone cop stuff....The greatest Witch Hunt in political history!Mitch McConnell announced he will cancel the Senate’s August Recess. Great, maybe the Democrats will finally get something done other than their acceptance of High Crime and High Taxes. We need Border Security!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:For the first time in recorded American history the U.S. Department of Labor reports: Job openings exceed number of job seekers. (That.... Mr Obama is a fucking magic wand)TRUMP ON MIDTERMS: WE CANNOT BE COMPLACENT. GET OUT AND VOTE AL, IA, MS, MT, NJ, NM & SD!!Page/Strokz emails including the changing of the verbiage to exhonerate ClintonAndrew McCabe seeks immunity for testimony in congressional hearingTHIS IS YUUUUUUGE:U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell canceled the Senate's traditional August recess, citing Democrats' "historic obstruction" to pass legislation.PRESS BRIEFINGS, INTERVIEWS, RALLIES:Press Beating🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:The Blue Wave. Proof. It's Happening. The Democrats are "unstoppable".Different kids of diets😂 This past weekend #Antifa came out to play in the Pacific Northwest and did they ever get a surprise!GeniusDon't let the world forget KateTfw the OIG is taking so long with the report on Crooked Hillary and Slippery James ComeyWednesday, June 6th:TODAY'S ACTION:President Trump Participates in the Signing Ceremony for S. 2372 – VA Mission Act of 2018President Trump Signs VA Mission Act of 2018 into LawPresident Trump and Vice President Pence Attend the 2018 Hurricane Briefing at FEMA HQPresident Trump Delivers Remarks After the 2018 Hurricane Briefing at FEMA HQPresident Trump Hosts the White House IFTARPresident Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate and Appoint Personnel to Key Administration PostsPresident Donald J. Trump Announces Appointments for the Executive Office of the President🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:Great night for Republicans! Congratulations to John Cox on a really big number in California. He can win. Even Fake News CNN said the Trump impact was really big, much bigger than they ever thought possible. So much for the big Blue Wave, it may be a big Red Wave. Working hard!Gold Star father, Ceejay Metcalf, whose great son Michael was just honored at the White House, was fantastic this morning on @foxandfriends. He is a special man!The Fake News Media has been so unfair, and vicious, to my wife and our great First Lady, Melania. During her recovery from surgery they reported everything from near death, to facelift, to left the W.H. (and me) for N.Y. or Virginia, to abuse. All Fake, she is doing really well!...Four reporters spotted Melania in the White House last week walking merrily along to a meeting. They never reported the sighting because it would hurt the sick narrative that she was living in a different part of the world, was really ill, or whatever. Fake News is really bad!Many more Republican voters showed up yesterday than the Fake News thought possible. The political pundits just don’t get what is going on out there - or they do get it but refuse to report the facts! Remember, Dems are High Tax, High Crime, easy to beat!Congratulations to Dana Rohrabacher on his big California win. We are proud of you Dana!Today we mark another milestone: the 74th anniversary of #DDay, the Allied invasion of Normandy. On June 6, 1944, more than 70,000 brave young Americans charged out of landing craft, jumped out of airplanes, and stormed into hell...We must always protect those who protect us. Today, it was my great honor to sign the #VAMissionAct and to make Veterans Choice the permanent law of the land! http://bit.ly/2sPrX1O you to everyone at @FEMA HQ for today’s briefing on preparations for the upcoming hurricane season. Disaster response and recovery is best achieved when it’s federally supported, state managed, and locally executed – this is the successful model we will continue to build.SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Seventy-four years ago today American patriots fought and died by the thousands to stop real fascism, racial genocide, and oppression. Let's remember these brave Americans who gave it all so Soy Boys today can claim every patriotic American is a fascist and racist without a hint of irony. D-Day 44Steve Scalise back on the field today.BOMBSHELL REPORT: The Obama administration granted a license letting Iran access the United States financial system despite officials’ pledges that they would prohibit itPromisesKept.com | President Donald J. Trump's AccomplishmentsHenry Winkler says he was among 118,000 voters 'left off' Los Angeles County rosters | Fox NewsThe Most Ignored Bombshell of 2017: Samantha Power was caught using her security clearance as a UN ambassador to review private conversations by U.S. citizens 260 times in the 2016 election year... She said that someone else in the Obama White House did this, using her security clearance.PRESS BRIEFINGS, INTERVIEWS, RALLIES:Press Beating🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:This is AmericaThe most important comment I've ever made. If this message resonates with even one person then I will have made the world a better place.Commander of CheeseheadsMiss America crowned in advance! Judges cite her YUGE brains and charity work with mentally impaired media as key factors! Beautiful person!Thursday, June 7th:TODAY'S ACTION:They Said It Couldn't Be DonePresident Trumps Meets with the Prime Minister of JapanPresident Trump Hosts a Joint Press Conference with the Prime Minister of JapanPresident Trump Welcomes Prime Minister Shinzō Abe of Japan to the White House[]()🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:Isn’t it Ironic? Getting ready to go to the G-7 in Canada to fight for our country on Trade (we have the worst trade deals ever made), then off to Singapore to meet with North Korea & the Nuclear Problem...But back home we still have the 13 Angry Democrats pushing the Witch Hunt!Good luck to Alice Johnson. Have a wonderful life!Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law Professor: “It all proves that we never needed a Special Counsel....All of this could have been done by the Justice Dept. Don’t need a multi-million dollar group of people with a target on someone’s back. Not the way Justice should operate.” So true!When and where will all of the many conflicts of interest be listed by the 13 Angry Democrats (plus) working on the Witch Hunt Hoax. There has never been a group of people on a case so biased or conflicted. It is all a Democrat Excuse for LOSING the Election. Where is the server?How could Jeff Flake, who is setting record low polling numbers in Arizona and was therefore humiliatingly forced out of his own Senate seat without even a fight (and who doesn’t have a clue), think about running for office, even a lower one, again? Let’s face it, he’s a Flake!Looking forward to seeing my friend Prime Minister @AbeShinzo of Japan at noon. Will be discussing North Korea and Trade.Our Justice Department must not let Awan & Debbie Wasserman Schultz off the hook. The Democrat I.T. scandal is a key to much of the corruption we see today. They want to make a “plea deal” to hide what is on their Server. Where is Server? Really bad!When will people start saying, “thank you, Mr. President, for firing James Comey?”The Obama Administration is now accused of trying to give Iran secret access to the financial system of the United States. This is totally illegal. Perhaps we could get the 13 Angry Democrats to divert some of their energy to this “matter” (as Comey would call it). Investigate!“Total jobless claims running at lowest level in 44 years”“$3 billion payoff: 101 utilities cut rates, credit GOP tax cuts”MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!It’s my great honor to welcome Prime Minister @AbeShinzo back to the @WhiteHouse!🇺🇸🇯🇵Today, I am greatly honored to welcome my good friend, PM Abe of Japan to the @WhiteHouse. Over the past 16 months the Prime Minister and I have worked closely together to address common challenges, of which there are many...PM Abe and I are also working to improve the trading relationship between the U.S. and Japan, something we have to do. The U.S. seeks a bilateral deal with Japan that is based on the principle of fairness and reciprocity. We’re working hard to reduce our trade imbalance...Great day of meetings with Prime Minister @AbeShinzo of Japan!Please tell Prime Minister Trudeau and President Macron that they are charging the U.S. massive tariffs and create non-monetary barriers. The EU trade surplus with the U.S. is $151 Billion, and Canada keeps our farmers and others out. Look forward to seeing them tomorrow.Prime Minister Trudeau is being so indignant, bringing up the relationship that the U.S. and Canada had over the many years and all sorts of other things...but he doesn’t bring up the fact that they charge us up to 300% on dairy — hurting our Farmers, killing our Agriculture!Why isn’t the European Union and Canada informing the public that for years they have used massive Trade Tariffs and non-monetary Trade Barriers against the U.S. Totally unfair to our farmers, workers & companies. Take down your tariffs & barriers or we will more than match you!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:OUTRAGEOUS! New IG Report - Social Security Benefits paid to DACA! Illegals are receiving OUR Social Security Benefits!The Kent State 2A girl is a god-tier shitposter.MSNBC Calls Daughter Of Pardoned Alice Johnson — She Can’t Stop Thanking TrumpTime Magazine honors Trump again!!! Beautiful cover. The left can’t meme.LOL! Sean Hannity is trending on Twitter because he jokingly told "witnesses" to smash their phones with hammers before handing them over to Mueller. Stupid Liberals are saying he is tampering with evidence. They probably dont know thats what Hillary actually did.PRESS BRIEFINGS, INTERVIEWS, RALLIES:Press Beating🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:This is AmericaGrandfather was born a slave, mother was born a refugee, I was born freeThere are only 2 genders, and if you disagree then you're an Islamophobe. Leftist SJWs BTFO!Mirror, Mirror on THE WALL, who's the WOKEST of us ALL??Friday, June 8th:TODAY'S ACTION:President Donald J. Trump Proclaims June 14, 2018 as Flag Day and the Week Starting June 10, 2018 as National Flag WeekPresident Trump Delivers a Statement Upon DeparturePresident Trump Participates in an Expanded Bilateral Meeting with the Prime Minister of CanadaPresident Trump Participates in a Bilateral Meeting with the President of the French Republic🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:Obama, Schumer and Pelosi did NOTHING about North Korea, and now weak on Crime, High Tax Schumer is telling me what to do at the Summit the Dems could never set up. Schumer failed with North Korea and Iran, we don’t need his advice!Canada charges the U.S. a 270% tariff on Dairy Products! They didn’t tell you that, did they? Not fair to our farmers!Looking forward to straightening out unfair Trade Deals with the G-7 countries. If it doesn’t happen, we come out even better!Congratulations to the Washington Capitals on their GREAT play and winning the Stanley Cup Championship. Alex Ovechkin, the team captain, was spectacular - a true Superstar! D.C. is popping, in many ways. What a time!I am heading for Canada and the G-7 for talks that will mostly center on the long time unfair trade practiced against the United States. From there I go to Singapore and talks with North Korea on Denuclearization. Won’t be talking about the Russian Witch Hunt Hoax for a while!My thoughts and prayers are with the families of our serviceman who was killed and his fellow servicemen who were wounded in Somalia. They are truly all HEROES.(Retweeting G7 Canada) Day 1 of #G7Charlevoix in 60 seconds.SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:President Trump confirms intent to sign states' rights cannabis bill that was introduced in Congress yesterdayPewdiepie reuploads video exposing CNN and Hillary Clinton after it got copystriked and deleted!BAHAHAHAHAHA.............BAHAJSJSKGLGOGICSteam refuses to bend the knee to SJWs, choosing to stand with community - All content that is legal will be allowed.BREAKING: Trump tells kneeling NFL players to recommend people to pardon, since that's what they're supposedly protesting. Their reason to kneel just died. LOL🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:When you're surrounded by globalistsPresstitutesHookers for Hillary, I should have known...ARCHIVE: "Sleeping with your source- especially a vindictive congressman?" - Ali Watkins, 2013Saturday, June 10th:TODAY'S ACTION:President Trump delivers a statementSIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Ali Watkins not getting the probe she had hoped for; Feds have seized her email and phone records for investigation on James Wolfe!HOLY SHIT Last night Bill Maher said what every lefitist truly thinks but might not say out loud: That he HOPES FOR A RECESSION to hurt President Trump. They'd rather see our country fail if it means Trump won't succeed. This is peak Trump derangement, folks. SAD!James Wolfe Leak Investigation: Journalists Insist on a Double Standard - Andrew McCarthyNew italian PM Conte on Facebook: Historic alliance, new friendship 🤝 - Can't get tired of all this winning, MAGA and MIGA!!! 🍝🍔BREAKING: Seth Rich's Brother's Attorneys Subpoena Twitter to Turn Over All Direct Messages from: Wikileaks, Julian Assange, KimDotCom, Cassandra Fairbanks, Gateway Pundit, etc🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:The God Emperor and his court JesterUSA and Canada 🇺🇲🇨🇦Not a drill: European Union banning memes (seriously).Dressed up for me best friend Melania.So Much Winning, STILL NOT TIRED OF IT!!As always, some tunes to get you jamming through this long list of winning;Ghost Town4th DimensionNo MistakesWatchWhat Would Meek do?MAGA ON PATRIOTS! #robgray

[jodyedgarus]

Why Kevin Durant’s Shoes Keep Falling Off

IT’S DEC. 6 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a sold-out crowd files into the Spectrum Center. The world champion Golden State Warriors are in town for their lone trip to the Tar Heel State this season. And though Queen City native Stephen Curry isn’t in uniform, due to a right ankle injury he sustained just two days prior, Kevin Durant is doing his best to make up for whatever gap in enthusiasm might exist. Durant is drilling one rainbow jumper after the next while piecing together what will ultimately become a 35-point, 11-rebound, 10-assist triple-double on the way to a wire-to-wire 101-87 road win.

But for how easy Durant makes it all look, on this night, he manages to dominate while overcoming the greatest on-court obstacle he’s ever known.

Kevin Durant loses his shoes more than any player in NBA history.

Indeed, if one could identify an Achilles’ heel in Durant’s game, it might be the feckless nature of the shoes that swaddle his Achilles’ heel. Just after halftime, with Golden State up 55-43, Durant backpedals in transition following a Warriors’ turnover, then successfully contests a Michael Kidd-Gilchrist layup. And then, as he grabs the rebound and begins a fast break going the other way, Kidd-Gilchrist steps on the back of his foot, causing Durant’s black-and-white, yellow-swooshed KD10 to briefly soar into the air.

And nine minutes later, it happens again — this time as Durant launches a baseline fadeaway over Nicolas Batum, who also comes down on the back of Durant’s right shoe. After the whistle, Durant bends his 7-foot-tall, Gumby-like frame, reaches down, and slides the shoe back on his foot without as much as re-tying it.

It’s almost as if it’s something that happens so much, it hardly merits notice. Which is exactly the case.

THE 2017-18 CAMPAIGN had just begun, but Kevin Durant was already in midseason, shoe-shedding form.

Immediately after halftime on Oct. 20 in New Orleans, with Golden State down by 13 points, Durant finished a tough layup off the wrong foot after Tony Allen stepped on the back of his left heel, losing the sneaker in the process. Durant hustled to grab the shoe as the Pelicans pushed the ball back down the floor, but then — after realizing he wouldn’t have enough time during the play to put it back on his foot — opted to fling it toward the sideline. The choice to free up his right hand ended up being a wise one: After a New Orleans misfire and offensive rebound, Durant swatted not one, but two of Allen’s shots at the rim with just a single sneaker.

Three nights later in Dallas, as Durant was going up for a defensive rebound in the second period, he lost his left shoe and could only watch as future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki put back a Mavericks’ miss. Fast forward six days, back home at Oracle Arena against the Pistons, and Durant lost the left shoe again during an awkward first-quarter fall while trying to swat an Andre Drummond layup. He managed to shed a sneaker on consecutive nights in March, too, jumping out of his right shoe while jostling with San Antonio’s LaMarcus Aldridge for a rebound, then losing a shoe on that same foot the next game after getting stepped on by teammate JaVale McGee while guarding Moe Harkless in Portland.

It’s happened in blowouts, like the 21- and 24-point laughers against the Mavs and Nuggets on back-to-back nights last season. And just as often, it’s happened in some of the biggest, most scrutinized games of Durant’s pro career.

His shoes ran away from his feet twice during that epic 2016 Thunder-Warriors Western Conference finals, in which Oklahoma City lost a 3-1 lead and set the stage for Durant to join Golden State in free agency two months later. He blew a tire two times during the Olympic Games in Rio that summer, including once in the middle of the gold-medal game against Serbia. Durant’s right shoe came off during his wildly hyped, highly contentious first game back in OKC. The right kick also went flying last June during Game 5 of the NBA Finals — the same night he would go on to win his first NBA championship and be crowned Finals MVP.

And then, in Game 5 of the just-completed Western Conference Finals, it happened not once … but twice: The first time, Durant’s right shoe came loose with a minute left in the first quarter as he finished a layup. The second came just 30 minutes of game-time later, when the same right shoe came all the way unglued after biting on an Eric Gordon head-fake at the 3-point line — a foul that gave Houston three free throws — and an 84-80 lead — with just under seven minutes left in the game.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/kdshoe_2017-18_final.mp4

All told, an extensive video analysis of Durant’s games from the past three regular seasons and postseasons reveals that the four-time scoring champ has come out of his shoe at least 31 times since the beginning of the 2015-16 campaign. That number, compiled against 20 different NBA teams, equates to losing a sneaker roughly every eight games or so — a mind-bogglingly high figure considering that Durant has had his own signature Nike shoe, designed to fit the unique contours of his feet, dating back to 2008.

“His shoe comes off more than anyone I’ve ever seen,” says teammate Draymond Green.

The question, of course, is why.

THE THEORIES FLY as fast and as far as the footwear that flings from the forward’s feet.

Perhaps it’s the shoes? With all due respect to Spike Lee, it’s gotta be the shoes, right?

It is, for sure, worth considering the changes that have been made to Durant’s signature sneaker in recent years. Leo Chang, the designer behind Durant’s shoes for more than a decade, told ESPN sneaker expert Nick DePaula that he loosened the bootie — the part of the shoe you slide your foot in through — to make them easier to put on and take off. The push to make the shoe more accessible with a tongueless design happened with the release of the KD9, which came out in 2016 — timing that meshes with when Durant began conspicuously losing his shoe at a noticeable clip. (A Nike spokesman declined comment for this piece.)

Or maybe it’s the feet?

Indeed, Kevin Durant somewhat famously possesses some of the longest, narrowest feet that anyone who’s witnessed them has ever seen — ones that, when paired with his chicken legs, look a lot like the blades at the ends of hockey sticks.

“My feet are so weird, man. I’ve got flat feet. I’ve got all sorts of calluses and corns on my feet,” says Durant, who wears orthotics and two pairs of socks during games in hopes of reducing friction.

But longtime Warriors equipment manager Eric Housen, who, despite being in his mid-40s, has worked 29 years with the team, has an altogether different theory.

Having seen everything that Durant is asked to do for Golden State — be a primary scorer who can attack at all three levels, a switchy perimeter defender capable of handling the opposing club’s No. 1 option and occasionally even a rim protector who cleans up back-end mistakes — Housen feels the superstar’s versatility is a factor in the shoes coming off so frequently. No player, aside from perhaps Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, is called upon to do as much.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/kdshoe_2016-17_final.mp4

“He constantly has to change direction because of the different roles he plays,” says Housen, who’s taken a rather keen interest in this subject, which sometimes makes extra work for him. Housen recalls racing through the arena in New Orleans during the play where Durant tossed his sneaker toward the Pelicans’ sideline because Housen wanted to ensure no one disadvantaged the Warriors forward by playing Keep Away with his shoe as action on the court continued.

Like countless other young basketballers, Durant developed a fascination with sneakers at a young age. But getting new pairs of shoes on a regular basis wasn’t realistic at times for the superstar forward, who’s spoken openly about his humble beginnings in Seat Pleasant, Maryland.

“We couldn’t afford the Pennys, the Pippens, the Jordans,” Durant told The Oklahoman in 2011. “I had one pair of Team Jordans and I wore them everywhere. I hooped in them, played football in them. I had some Shaqs from K-Mart and a pair of Tim Duncans. But I couldn’t get a bunch of different ones like I wanted.” He was an Eastbay magazine die-hard, but the only size-11s his mother could get him from the catalogue were Lisa Leslie’s and Sheryl Swoopes’s Nike models.

It’s perhaps not unrelated, Housen notes, that for a star player — one who’s literally provided an endless supply of sneakers by Nike, and could wear new kicks every game if he truly wanted to — Durant very rarely moves on to a different pair compared to other NBA players.

Thunder star Paul George said he prefers the feeling of a new shoe when he steps out on the court. “Fresh out of the box,” he says. Ex-Warriors guard Larry Hughes was the same way during his time in Golden State. Dwyane Wade used to go through as many as three pairs in the same game, citing how sweaty his feet would get in certain sneakers. Durant is the opposite.

“Kevin really hates wearing a pair that’s brand new. He likes them boys worn, and then he’ll stick with them consistently, for a long time,” Housen says, adding that he even prefers to use the same pair for both practice and games. “He doesn’t care if they match the uniform that night. He’s just, ‘Those are my shoes — the shoes I practice in, the shoes I play in.’ So I just bring them back and forth for him, and he lets me know when he’s ready to start over with a new pair.” (One indication of all this: Durant’s brand-new sneaker, the KD 11, is available for him to wear now. And Nike’s initial plan was for him to market the shoe to the basketball world by playing in them during the high-profile Western Conference Finals against Houston. But true to form, Durant has yet to wear the shoe, which is slated to be released to the public in June.)

For as long as he uses the same pair of shoes now, Durant actually used to wear them for even longer stretches during his first few years in the league. Chang, the Nike designer, has said that Durant used to only switch out his shoes three or four times per season, the equivalent of once every 23 games. So perhaps, instead, Durant is not giving himself enough time to break in the sneakers — a premise that seems more plausible given that almost 40 percent of his shoe-shed incidents have taken place during the first month of a season, when he’s still getting used to wearing them.

Durant’s explanation for this is simple. “If I feel something is right, I just like to stay in it,” he said. Asked how long he’ll stay in the same pair, Durant thought for a second. “Usually about three weeks — maybe every eight games?”

Here’s a fun fact: That’s the exact frequency with which he sheds a shoe out on the court.

There is one other possible explanation, though.

NEARLY EVERY VETERAN teammate of Durant’s who’s played with him at least a few months — after initially wondering why the hell he loses a shoe so often — has busted his chops over the habit. (Well, nearly every teammate, save for Steph Curry. “I give him shit all the time about stuff, but no, I don’t go there — it’s … a sensitive subject,” Curry says, an apparent reference to the rival sneaker brands that the players promote.)

And while there’s evidence that he lost a shoe during a game as early as 2010, most all observers of this streak of sole-baring agree that it wasn’t always this bad. Those who played with Durant prior to him becoming NBA royalty express genuine bewilderment over how he suddenly began losing his sneakers so often these past few years.

“It never happened at all when we were in school,” says Orlando Magic guard D.J. Augustin, who starred at the University of Texas with Durant before becoming a lottery pick in 2008. “The funny thing is, I never realized exactly how much it happened until I played with him in Oklahoma City his last year there. And there it felt like it just kept happening every few games.”

Nick Collison, Durant’s teammate for nine seasons in Seattle and Oklahoma City, says he and others stayed on him about it constantly. “The funny thing is, I know it’s not the shoes, because I wore the KDs for years, laced them up tight, and literally never had a problem with them,” says Collison, who recently announced his retirement. “But we were constantly telling him to tie his shoes. All the time.”

And still: Durant continues to opt against re-tying his shoe whenever one falls off. Instead, he simply stuffs his foot back in and continues playing as if nothing happened.

Every now and then, if a student of the subject studies hard enough, they might see a look of frustration cross Shoeless Kevin’s face. Review the video from that last season he spent with the Thunder, and they’ll find an instance of him losing both shoes — on his left foot, and then his right — within the same minute or so of action during a November game in Houston. Upon collecting the second shoe, he stands straight up and briefly stares into space before grabbing the right sneaker as if it’s somehow betrayed him.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/kdshoe_2015-16_final.mp4

On a chilly April morning in Indianapolis, after months of studying the phenomenon, I finally got around to asking Durant about all this. Upon hearing the question — basically, how can anyone’s shoes fall off as often as yours do? — he laughed before unfolding an enormous ear-to-ear grin. Then came the moment of sole-searching truth; the reason he finds himself picking up left-behind sneakers more frequently than a Payless Shoes store associate.

“Anything too tight on my body as I play, I feel like it restricts me a little bit. I don’t wear the arm sleeves, the undershirts, the finger tape, the wristbands, or none of that stuff,” he said. “I’m already skinny as it is, and I don’t need anything else weighing me down. I want to be aerodynamic out there, and I guess that’s how I think of my shoes as well.”

And so it is, that to achieve that featherweight feeling, Durant wears a size-18 while on the court — one full size bigger than what he wears when in casual settings.

“These are like slippers, man, and I just try to be as efficient as I can when I create what I want out there. I don’t want something that’s too bulky. So, sometimes they may come off, but the good thing is, I can slip them back on and keep playing.”

All of which seems like a slightly crazy notion — and one that would benefit the opposition — until you realize the extent to which it’s the opposite.

On a per-100 possession basis, Kevin Durant has averaged 114 points when occupying the court without a shoe1 — more than triple the 36 points per 100 possessions he posted this past season. Looping in his other stats, he logged five dimes and five turnovers per 100 possessions sans a shoe, while shooting 9-for-12, or 75 percent.

So perhaps there’s really little mystery at all to why Durant sees little need for both his sneakers. If you could morph into the next coming of Wilt Chamberlain, you might not find it vital to tighten your shoes up, either.

from News About Sports https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-kevin-durants-shoes-keep-falling-off/

[newstfionline]

The Parachute Generation

By Brook Larmer, NY Times Magazine, Feb. 2, 2017

When I first met Yang Jinkai, two days before he boarded a plane for America, the smog hanging over his industrial home city, Shenyang, had turned the sun into a ghostly orb. The 16-year-old paced around the family apartment as his mother labeled his suitcases and packed them with the comforts of home: quilted pajamas, chopsticks, instant noodles. She gestured toward a lone memento that would remain in his bedroom, a life-size needlepoint portrait of her only child, woven in shimmering gold thread. “I worked on that all year,” she said. “I knew this moment would come.”

Yang had never traveled outside China. But he had already chosen a new first name for his life in America, Korbin (“That sounds American, right?”), and was daydreaming about the adventure ahead. “It will be magical,” he said. “I’ll make lots of American friends. I’d like to have an American girlfriend. Maybe”--he shot a glance at his father--”I’ll even get a gun.” Over the summer, Korbin had been working on his English by watching, perhaps too zealously, the American television series “Criminal Minds.”

To help Korbin escape the competitive straitjacket of the Chinese education system, his father had paid nearly $40,000 to an education consultancy to get him enrolled in a public high school in Michigan. The Yang family’s ultimate goal was for Korbin to attend a top American university, and the name of his new high school, Oxford, only added to the allure. It didn’t matter that the place had no connection to the British university or that this Oxford was a small town north of Detroit. “My father,” Korbin said, “really likes the idea of an Oxford diploma.”

Even as U.S.-China relations have slipped toward mutual antagonism, the flood of Chinese students coming to the United States has continued to rise. Roughly 370,000 students from the mainland are enrolled in American high schools and universities, six times more than a decade ago. Their financial impact--$11.4 billion was contributed to the American economy in 2015, according to the Department of Commerce--has turned education into one of America’s top “exports” to China.

It is a strange historical moment when the elites of a rising power send their only sons and daughters, products of China’s former one-child policy, to the schools of a geopolitical rival. Yet the idea of a liberal Western education exerts an almost talismanic hold over China’s ruling classes. While the country’s educational emphasis on rote memorization churns out some of the world’s best test-takers, many Chinese families harbor worries that diverge sharply from those of the tiger parents of popular conception. They fret about the toll competition exacts from their coddled offspring; they wonder if their child’s creativity is being stifled. Even President Xi Jinping, who is presiding over a crackdown on Western influences in China’s schools, allowed his daughter to attend Harvard. According to a 2016 survey conducted by a Shanghai-based research firm, 83 percent of China’s millionaires are planning to send their children to school abroad. The average age, according to the poll, has dropped to 16 today from 18 in 2014--the first time it has reached the high-school level.

In 2005, only 641 Chinese students were enrolled in American high schools. By 2014, that student population approached 40,000--a 60-fold increase in a single decade--and it now accounts for nearly half of all international high-school students in the United States. “Parents realize that they have to start earlier if they want their children to get into a top U.S. university,” says Nini Suet, founder of Shang Learning, a boutique consultancy with headquarters in Beijing that charges $25,000 to $40,000 to help Chinese kids prepare for and apply to American boarding schools. “Families are looking for any edge they can get.”

As a new administration vowing “America First” settles into the White House, there is uncertainty about how long this phenomenon can last. It already faces headwinds within China. A slowing economy has cut into family savings, and a depreciating currency makes American educations more expensive. There are also fewer Chinese students to go around: The population of 18-to-23-year-olds has dropped by nearly a quarter in the last decade.

But the exodus of Chinese students continues for now, driven not just by a push from China but also by a pull from the United States. For each rich Chinese kid who enters an American school--whether public or private, college or high school--the multiplier effect means that entire communities can be buoyed by the buying power of the world’s second-largest economy.

That’s the hope, at least. The reality is more complicated. Much of the money spent by Chinese families desperate for American diplomas ends up with the intermediary companies that connect them with cash-hungry schools. These matches have yielded unusual results. According to an article in Foreign Policy magazine, nearly 60 percent of the high-school students end up in religious schools, despite coming from the world’s largest atheist state. (Their parents welcome the messages of safety, discipline and moral values that emanate from these faith-based institutions.) Another cohort winds up in what are effectively diploma mills, which confer visas and credentials but little adult supervision.

Public high schools are the newest frontier: Less than 5 percent of all Chinese “parachute kids” (as they’ve come to be called) are currently in public schools, but certain U.S. school districts have begun to rely on them to offset budget cuts and increase cultural diversity at the same time as private academies are reaching saturation points.

Few public school districts have deeper ties to China than Oxford, Mich., outside Detroit. In 2010, the town sought to create the first pipeline of Chinese students into a public high school, one that embodied its high school’s motto--”where the globe is our classroom”--even as it brought tuition money to the school. As the number of foreign students grew, other Midwestern schools sought to emulate Oxford’s success. But when a Beijing education company proposed building a multimillion-dollar dormitory for Chinese students on the Oxford campus, a community battle ensued.

Chance put Korbin’s family at the starting point of Oxford’s experiment, in Shenyang. His parents grew up without proper educations in rural villages haunted by the memories of famine. His father, Yang Huaiguo, migrated to Shenyang and scavenged for scrap metal before finding success in the boiler-repair business and real estate. But he worried about Korbin’s education and the almost unrelenting pressure to study for the two exams that determine a Chinese student’s future: the high-school entrance exam, the zhongkao, and the university-entrance exam, the gaokao. There seemed to be no way out, until Korbin’s school opened an international wing in partnership with Oxford. The pitch was enticing: After spending 10th grade in the program, Korbin was guaranteed a place at Oxford High School for two years, until graduation.

His father insisted that this wasn’t just about family prestige or future job prospects. “I also want my son to understand, in a way that I never could,” he said, “that the world is bigger than Shenyang, bigger than China.”

On his first days in Oxford, Korbin marveled at the blue skies, so different from northeastern China, and the absence of skyscrapers. All of America, in his TV-fueled imagination, was supposed to look like New York. Beyond its main street and century-old storefronts, Oxford (population 3,500) is a patchwork of gravel pits and horse stables, wooded subdivisions and a strip mall containing a single Chinese restaurant. Korbin’s host family lived in a house on a leafy cul-de-sac, with two basketball hoops in the driveway and a trampoline out back. Suddenly Korbin had four blond American siblings and a host mother he called “Mom.” His host father worked as an engineer in an automobile industry that blamed the loss of thousands of jobs in the last recession on a single culprit: China.

Korbin immersed himself in Americana: football games, big-box stores, even a Christian megachurch with its own rock band. He was hardly alone in his American adventure. Michigan has become a particularly popular destination for Chinese public-high-school students in the United States, and more than a dozen kids from Shenyang lived nearby. Even at Oxford, where Korbin and 23 other students ended up because their academic program in China and its agent, the BCC International Education Group, had partnered with the school, there were another 19 Chinese kids brought in by a Beijing-based company, Weiming Education Group. The two crowds didn’t mix much, in part because most of the Weiming students lived in a dormitory at Rochester College, a liberal-arts Christian school half an hour away. Korbin felt lucky with his American home stay.

His life in America was very different from that of his predecessors. When the first Chinese students arrived in the United States in the wake of the Cultural Revolution--and later, after the 1989 Tiananmen massacre--many were so poor that they collected aluminum cans or worked janitorial jobs to survive. Today’s Chinese students tend to be far wealthier than their American counterparts, particularly in public high schools. Even among the middle-class students at Oxford, the Chinese kids stirred up envy, and some resentment, by flaunting multiple versions of just-released iPhones. (Korbin had only one.) The Chinese boys carried hundreds of dollars in cash and often wore a different pair of designer sneakers--Nike, Puma, Adidas--each day. Korbin’s Chinese housemate, Oscar Kou, who liked to talk about his father’s fleet of luxury cars, spent several thousand dollars on a laptop so powerful that it blew out the fuses in their host family’s house.

Making American friends wasn’t as simple as Korbin had imagined. In the hallways at Oxford High School, whose student body numbers 1,845, the Chinese kids clustered together, chattering in Mandarin. Korbin longed to interact with his American classmates, but every time he tried, the conversations fizzled when he couldn’t understand their cultural references or slang. Still, Korbin made no secret of his mission. “I’m a Chinese boy,” he told his classes, “but I really, really want to make American friends. It’s the most important thing to me.”

Perhaps his best chance came at the homecoming dance that fall. As he walked across the floor under the spinning lights of a disco ball, Korbin worked up his nerve and asked an American girl to dance. She just laughed. Another girl, another rejection. Finally, the third entreaty succeeded--just as a slow song started up and the dancers turned into a tangle of embracing couples. Korbin’s feet stopped, and his arms locked at his sides. “I totally froze,” he says. The girl drifted off to rejoin her friends, leaving Korbin alone, wondering if a Chinese boy could ever find his footing in America.

If your initial encounter with William Skilling took place in the Beijing Capital International Airport, as mine did, it would be easy to take him for a missionary. Dressed in crisply ironed khakis and a white button-down shirt, his short hair meticulously combed, he was headed to a dusty city in the Chinese interior. As superintendent of Oxford Community Schools, Skilling did see himself as a sort of evangelist for global education. On this trip to China, his 19th, he was reviewing plans for Weiming to build its multimillion-dollar dorm on land bordering Oxford High School. “It will be the first of its kind at any American public school,” he said.

For Skilling, a former high-school government and economics teacher, the dorm project was the culmination of years of networking with Chinese officials, educators and businessmen. His first foray into the China market came in 2008, when with the Chinese government’s help he started what would become one of the largest Mandarin-language programs in American schools. Today more than 2,300 students in Oxford schools, K through 12, take daily classes in Chinese. “The greatest challenge we face in American education,” Skilling said, “is preparing students to work and live in a global world that is changing 24-7.” The Mandarin classes were also part of a local government plan to lure Chinese investment to southeastern Michigan. “There was a reason that we, as a state, weren’t making inroads into China,” Skilling told me. “The Chinese knew Michigan was negative, blaming China for its woes. The way to turn this around was to pay China the highest compliment: by building a world-class Mandarin-language program.”

Beijing returned the favor. In 2013, Hanban--the state agency that runs China’s network of controversial Confucius Institutes, which promote Chinese culture, language and propaganda worldwide--recognized Oxford Community Schools as the “Confucius Classroom of the Year.” Skilling parlayed such recognition into sister-school agreements with 20 Chinese schools. Over the past seven years, at least 40 different Oxford teachers and administrators have visited China. One major deal was struck with Korbin’s public school in Shenyang, which opened an international school for Chinese students, like Korbin, aiming to go to an American high school with a famous name.

With that deal, Skilling had lined up his first supply of Chinese students for Oxford. He also devised a way around the United States regulations that restricted international students to just one year in public high schools. By inviting a local college to sponsor the F-1 student visas for Chinese students in their second year, Skilling maintained that they could remain at the high school--and keep paying tuition--so long as they were also enrolled in and paying tuition for full-time college-level courses. The second year was important: Chinese families want their children to have enough time to prepare for the American college process. The Department of Homeland Security raised no immediate objections, Skilling told me. “This had never been done before, so there were no regulations or road maps to follow,” he said. “This was literally a blank slate.”

Soon, Oxford was attracting Chinese companies with even bigger ambitions. In a trip to Michigan in late 2012, Weiming’s president, Lin Hao, laid out a vision in which 10,000 Chinese students would enroll in high schools in the United States, starting with experimental districts in the American heartland. Weiming, which bills itself as one of China’s largest private education companies, has followed a similar strategy at home, building 15 campuses with more than 30,000 students in nine provincial cities. As Lin told a visiting superintendent from rural southern Ohio: “In China, we have an old saying: ‘Revolution begins in the countryside.’”

Within a year, Oxford signed a memorandum of understanding with Weiming that ensured an even greater supply of Chinese students--up to 200 of them annually for the next 20 years. For each student, Weiming would pay Oxford Community Schools $10,000 a year. It was a boon for a district facing budgetary pressures, but it was significantly less than the $40,000 that Chinese families paid Weiming for the full package of tuition, room and board, insurance and English-support classes. (The company says its fees have since gone down to about $30,500, as it competes for China’s middle-class market.)

Weiming also offered American public schools a bigger prize. If the number of Chinese students reached a certain threshold--from 80 to 100 students--the company promised to build a multimillion-dollar student center and dormitory, at no cost to the school. As the Weiming contingent at Oxford grew, architects in Beijing and Michigan began drawing up blueprints for the dorm. Shortly after I met Skilling at the airport in the spring of 2014, he returned to Beijing to pore over blueprints of the proposed dorm with Lin. They met in Lin’s office, which was designed to replicate the room where Chairman Mao met President Nixon in 1972 to re-establish relations between their two countries. The wall behind Lin’s desk is covered with antique maps, one for each Chinese province where Weiming has built a school. It wouldn’t be long, perhaps, before a map of Michigan adorned the wall. “Lin Hao and I understand each other,” Skilling told me, “because we’re both visionaries.”

The loudspeakers in Oxford High School started blaring halfway through Korbin’s music-appreciation class. “This is a lockdown!” a voice announced. “An armed intruder has entered the building!” Korbin’s classmates leapt from their seats and, crouching low, rushed toward the door.

Korbin didn’t understand the commotion. His English had improved, but his vocabulary was limited--and the loudspeakers were always a challenge. He had gotten used to the rock music that played between classes, creating the kind of happy chaos that would never be allowed in a regimented Chinese school. But this time the tone was grave: “Teachers, secure your classrooms!” Korbin’s confusion only deepened when the music instructor hustled everyone into the girls’ bathroom next door. “Hurry up!” she yelled. When Korbin made it to the bathroom stalls, the teacher locked the door behind him--and they waited, in hushed excitement, until the drill was over.

Later, Korbin laughed about the experience. He had nearly forgotten that his mother’s fears about American life--the guns, riots, school shootings--had almost scuttled his chances of studying in the United States. His father had made a reconnaissance visit to the country before he started, largely to reassure his wife that it was safe enough for their son. The only dangers Korbin faced in Oxford came from his innocent campaign for American friends.

One day, a group of jocks and slackers invited Korbin into the boys’ bathroom for a few puffs from an electronic cigarette. The initiation was unusual for a strait-laced Chinese kid, but he was thrilled to be part of an American posse. “Cool kids never study,” he was told, so Korbin, until then a conscientious A student, eased off his schoolwork. He started lifting weights, thinking he might attract a girlfriend “after I build some muscle.”

But when his new friends began pressing Korbin to join in hazing other kids, he pulled away. He wanted nothing to do with shouting racial epithets at the school’s few African-American students or taunting other Chinese kids with curse words in Mandarin. “I tried so hard to make American friends, but I lost all of my own Chinese style and character,” Korbin told me last year. “I am not that eager to be part of American culture anymore. I would like to be myself, Chinese.”

Korbin and Oscar left their host family and moved in with four other Chinese students under the care of a local grandmother. Korbin stopped lifting weights. He no longer wanted an American girlfriend. He barely interacted with American students anyway, because everyone in his college-level classes--the requirement to maintain his visa during his second year--was Chinese.

Still, Korbin remembers his senior year fondly. After he regained his academic focus, his grade-point average rose to near the top of his class--a 3.96--and his standardized-test scores climbed just in time for his college applications. It felt good to be a nerd again. “I realized that I’m an only son, the last of my family,” he told me. “My parents pay a lot for me to come here, so why shouldn’t I study hard?”

Until October 2014, Oxford’s move into China’s orbit--the Mandarin-language program, the influx of Chinese students--had met little resistance. But the proposed dorm for Chinese students hit a nerve.

Behind the scenes, a group of Oxford citizens began looking into the international program. “I don’t think the community objects to having foreign students here,” says Kallie Roesner-Meyers, a horse-stable owner who started the group, known as Team 20. “But there was so much secrecy and misinformation around the whole China setup that we needed to find out more.” In the spring of 2015, Team 20, which sent the district a flurry of Freedom of Information Act requests, discovered, among other things, that the school board had agreed to a 20-year deal based on Skilling’s recommendation.

In response to communication from Roesner-Meyers, federal agents questioned Skilling about his consulting work for Weiming. One of them also wanted to know more about the visa maneuver by which Chinese students were staying for two years instead of one.

Skilling retired later that year, and Weiming, without giving any explanation, put the dorm project on hold.

By November, the Department of Homeland Security offered a verdict. The visa maneuver would not be permitted in the future, a blow to the model Oxford pioneered.

Oxford has not been punished, but it will no longer be allowed to keep Chinese students for more than one year on its campus. The current crop of 41 second-year Chinese students has been allowed to stay, though they must now take all of their classes at Rochester College, the institution that sponsors their visas, instead of Oxford High School. In June, after a semester of isolation, these kids will even earn their high-school diplomas. The future of the first-year students is up in the air. They may not be able to graduate from Oxford next year, and it is too late to re-enter China’s gaokao system. So they and their families may be back on the international-student carousel, scrambling to find another school to attend next year.

Korbin graduated summa cum laude. In the fall, Korbin headed to Pennsylvania State University. His parents were proud that he had gotten into a Top 50 university where almost 2,500 Chinese students were already enrolled.

When I visited Korbin last summer in Shenyang, he took me to an American-style craft-beer pub his father partly owns. Over a game of pool, he spoke positively about his experience at Oxford. Still, he admitted, he left Michigan after two years without a single American friend. That surprised him. “Weirdly, I think the experience made me appreciate Chinese culture even more,” he said. It’s a common sentiment among Chinese students abroad, who find that their foreign experiences sharpen their sense of national pride. Over the summer, Korbin started delving into Chinese history books and training in kung fu. In America, he found his Chinese core.

Now halfway through his first year at Penn State, Korbin can spend entire days without speaking a word of English. “I’m around my Chinese friends all the time,” he says. “I can’t get a chance to know American friends.” The current political climate may only isolate him further. Korbin is in America legally, studying hard and leaning toward a major in electrical engineering. But how welcoming is a country that increasingly regards his homeland as an economic and security threat? If Trump is serious about being tough on trade, Chinese students, while not in the foreground of such a fight, could be an easy lever for either side to pull. The collateral damage of restricting visas would be devastating, not only for the students themselves but also for high schools and universities, especially across the Midwest, that have become dependent on the billions of dollars the Chinese contribute economically every year.

An even bigger threat may lie within China. Late last year, President Xi’s ideological campaign against foreign influences targeted the kind of schools that prepared Korbin for America. How this crackdown will affect the flow of Chinese students overseas is unclear. Parents may be compelled to send their children abroad at even younger ages to escape the closing cage.

For Korbin, the lack of American buddies and reawakened sense of national identity notwithstanding, high school in America still left a deep impression on him. Last Christmas, after exams, he went back not to Shenyang, but to Oxford. His second host mother gave him two hoodies and some of his favorite chocolate, and cooked a Christmas meal. Korbin presented her with a mug and played with the dogs he had helped care for as puppies. “I definitely wish I was still there,” he told me, and he sounded like just another first-year college kid, missing home.