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slamdunk-headcanons · 5 months ago

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Fights, haircut and basketball - Imagine Mitsui Hisashi

Hello guys! So I decided to bring my SD imagines to this blog. They were originally written in Portuguese, and I used AI to do the most part of translation and revised it after to do some corrections and adaptations. So this is the very first one I wrote for SD, in 2016, for my favorite character, Mitsui Hisashi. My writing style is in third person, not second person. I hope you all like it!

Posted on Spirit Fanfictions, Wattpad and Nyah!Fanfiction (all Portuguese version) Word count: 3.6k Warnings: fem!reader, mention of gang fights, a bit of cursing, angst Cover by @ezrealsicons

Synopsis: Mitsui and [Name] were unseparable friends. But when their feelings became something more than just friendship, everthing caved in. With the Mitsui's injurey and his subsequent withdrawal from basketball, his personality began to be dominated by resentment and anger. The boy started to despise everything related to the sport, including [Name]. However, two years later, a fight and and old dream would finally make him remember how important she was for him.

“You did what!?"

[Name] looked at Mitsui with wide, horrified eyes. The boy had shown up at her mother's beauty salon that late afternoon without warning, his face covered in bruises and dried blood. The girl had quickly pulled him to the back of the establishment so he wouldn't draw attention in case a client arrive. The last thing she wanted was for Mitsui's problems to spill over into her mother's business. Now they were talking in the break room, which was fortunately empty.

The boy still had the same intimidating appearance that [Name] had seen the last time they met. The face that had once been marked by the features of adolescence was now almost entirely covered by his blackish-blue hair that cascaded down to his shoulders. His navy-blue eyes, once so bright and full of energy, were now dark and heavy. And to top it off, [Name] couldn’t even remember the last time she had seen Mitsui smile.

Faced with his friend's accusatory question, the senior kept his head down and his hands buried in his pockets. The shame he had felt earlier, in front of the man who had given him the determination to win the regional championship, now seemed to weigh ten tons on his broad shoulders. He could endure the accusing looks from everyone, even from Kogure and Akagi, but from [Name]...

"Hey! Answer me, Hisashi!"

He hunched his shoulders even more. It was hard enough to confess what he had done, let alone repeat it. Besides, didn’t [Name] already have enough reasons to despise him?

"I decided to get revenge on Miyagi... I wanted to do it by disqualifying Shohoku from the Nationals through a fight. If the rumor that the players were involved in a gang fight at their own school spread, they would surely be banned from the championship. So I gathered the judo team members and asked for help from a friend of mine, Tetsu-"

Mitsui didn’t get a chance to finish. A sharp, resounding slap stung his already bruised face, causing him to stagger back two steps. His hands instinctively covered the spot where he had been hit, and his navy-blue eyes rose in shock to meet the girl in front of him.

"Are you serious!?" she shouted angrily. "Didn’t I tell you to never speak to me again? And you, not only you disrespect that, but you also come and tell me something like this!?"

The high schooler lowered his gaze again and returned to his previous dejected posture.

[Name] had been his friend for years, and they had met because of basketball. She always played on the neighborhood’s public court, and it was there that he saw her for the first time. He clearly remembered being captivated by how she smiled while playing, and that made him interested in the game. He really wanted to experience the joy that made that girl seem so happy.

Mitsui then asked [Name] to introduce him to basketball. Reluctantly at first, the girl agreed to be his tutor. She taught him everything she could, from basic movements to the tricks of faking and three-point shots, which were her pride and joy. It was on that quaint basketball court that their friendship flourished.

Over the years, Mitsui and [Name] became inseparable, and their friendship began to take on new dimensions. However, neither of them had the courage to make a move, as neither was sure of their own feelings.

And that’s when everything caved in.

After Mitsui’s accident and his subsequent withdrawal from basketball, his personality started to be consumed by resentment and anger. The boy began to despise everything related to the sport, including [Name].

One day, the girl invited him to watch a street basketball game that was going to take place on the same court where they had first met. With disdain, he laughed in [Name]’s face and said he had better things to do.

"I'm not going to waste any more time with stupid things like basketball," he said with a mocking smile.

The girl looked at him in horror, unable to believe that those words had come out of Mitsui's mouth.

“What!?” she shouted, shocked.

“That’s exactly what you heard,” he spat. “I’m not wasting another second on basketball.”

And without giving [Name] a chance to ask any more questions, he spun on his heels and walked away.

After this episode, the high schooler began getting more involved with gangs and street fights, and the chasm that had formed between him and [Name] grew ever wider. Finally, one incident in particular completely ruined their friendship.

Angry after the beating they took from Mitsui’s gang, some troublemakers from Kainan High investigated Mitsui’s connections and discovered [Name]. After obtaining her address, they observed her routine for a few days. After a week, they ambushed her as she was heading home in the late afternoon. Meanwhile, one of them was tasked with delivering the message to Mitsui.

As soon as he found out, the boy was overcomed with an intense feeling of guilt and rage. He never imagined he would end up involving his friend in his fights, let alone as a hostage. Blinded by anger, he ran without hesitation to the agreed location, making a decision along the way: he would distance himself from gangs once and for all so that she would never be at risk because of him again.

When he finally reached them, he realized the true extent of the trap he had fallen into. [Name] was at the back of the alley, held by two burly high schoolers with contemptuous expressions. As soon as they spotted Mitsui, the other gang members blocked both exits of the alley, giving the boy no chance to escape.

“I knew he would come,” their leader sneered. “Let the girl go. We’ve got what we wanted.”

A momentary sense of relief washed over the student, and he searched for [Name] with his eyes. The girl was rubbing her forearms, marked by the strong grip of the thugs, and as soon as she processed that she was free, she looked for Mitsui among the figures present. When her eyes locked on his face, distorted by a mask of conflicting emotions, she marched toward him with determined steps, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

How? How had it come to this? How had he let something like this happen? And to her, of all people!?

Everyone turned to look at the slender back of the girl, who was walking forward with clenched fists. As soon as her childhood friend's face was within reach, she raised her right fist and delivered a solid punch to his left cheek.

"Bastard!" she shouted, tears streaming down her cheeks. "How did you get to this point? When did you stoop so low as to drag me into these stupid fights!?"

Mitsui kept his face turned away, his dark blue eyes vacant and empty from the shock.

"Never again..." she said through gritted teeth. "Never speak to me again."

Those words from [Name] hurt more than any punch or kick he'd ever taken in a fight. They hurt more than his knee injury. They hurt more than giving up basketball.

Even when he had given up on everything, she hadn’t. She believed that one day, the bitterness from what had happened in his first year would fade, and Mitsui's passion for basketball would resurface. And even as he sank deeper and deeper, she tried to support him, tending to his wounds so that he wouldn’t have to hear so much from his parents.

And he had simply dismissed all of it.

That day, the beating he took after being insulted and humiliated by the Kainan thugs didn’t compare to the pain of losing [Name] completely. He had deluded himself into thinking she would stand by him despite the stupid mistakes he’d been making. What else would he lose?

Since then, [Name] had never spoken to him again, and Mitsui had no choice but to respect her decision. In her absence, he continued to get involved in more and more trouble and fights, and the little hope hidden in his heart of returning to basketball disappeared completely.

However, the incident in Shohoku’s gym that day awakened old memories of basketball for Mitsui. The feeling of sinking the ball with a simple flick of the wrist, the euphoria filling his chest as he drove past opponents toward the basket... Remembering all of this, Hisashi Mitsui finally realized just how much he missed basketball and, most of all, how much he missed the person who had brought that wonderful sport into his life.

God! How he wanted to play basketball again! How he wanted to play with [Name] and see her smile in that unique and captivating way...

It was because of all this that he swallowed his pride and ran to see the girl he had dismissed out of pure arrogance and selfishness. He had to make things right. He would never forgive himself if he didn’t try.

Mitsui lifted his melancholic dark eyes to [Name] and took a deep breath.

"I know what I did was unforgivable. I really was a selfish idiot, only thinking about my whim of becoming Shohoku’s ace... and it ruined everything." He squeezed his eyes shut tightly and then reopened them, this time with a determined look. "But I need to tell you something."

The girl straightened where she stood and crossed her arms. Her eyes shifted to the floor, filled with pain and anger. She wanted so badly to believe Mitsui’s words. She wanted so badly for him to have truly recognized his mistakes and turned things around... But what he had done wasn't that simple.

With a furrowed brow, she bit her lip and lowered her head.

"I'm going back to playing basketball," Mitsui blurted out, as if the words were forcing their way out of his mouth. "I don’t want to keep pretending that I don’t want to."

[Name]'s eyes widened, and she immediately locked them onto her friend’s face.

"I know it might be a little late since I’m in my third year. But I still want to make the most of the time I have left in high school. I’m going to...

The sentence weighed heavily on his tongue, and he had to press his lips together to prevent the words from spilling out awkwardly. He wanted to show [Name] that this was once again his dream.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes, then opened them to look at his friend with a crease of determination on his forehead.

"I'm going to help Shohoku conquer Japan."

[Name]’s lips parted in a small “o,” but not in horror or anger, but rather in surprise. Before her eyes, she finally recognized the determined expression of the Mitsui she had known on the court in their old neighborhood. The boy she had taught to play basketball, who had become much more than just a good friend, was once again standing in front of her.

"Hisashi..." she murmured, her eyes widening further.

Mitsui straightened his shoulders, pulling his hands out of his pockets. He raised a hand to his neck and scratched it, looking down at the floor as shyness took over his gaze.

"So... [Name]-chan... I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to say or do all those stupid things to you. I know it’s not something that can be fixed with just an apology... But today, I really need you."

As soon as the last sentence left Mitsui’s lips, both felt a rush of heat rising to their faces. [Name] averted her eyes to the floor and began rubbing her fingers together with her thumb. The teenager scratched his neck even more quickly and continued:

"It’s-it’s just..." He blinked and, with great effort, looked back at the girl standing in front of him. "Since you helped me take the first step in basketball, I want you to do it again. I want you to help me take the first step back into basketball."

[Name] shifted her weight to her left leg and looked at her friend with a mix of insecurity and suppressed hope. She wanted so much to say yes. She had dreamed so many times of this moment—the moment when Mitsui would tell her that he was going back to basketball, returning to being the boy who had won her admiration in such a simple, genuine way...

But [Name] was fully aware that Mitsui's mistake was almost unforgivable, and she wasn’t going to let him think it would be easy to make everything right.

"I'm not going to play basketball with you, Hisashi," she said in the sternest voice she could muster.

The high schooler flinched as if he'd been punched in the gut. My God! How those words hurt. [Name]’s disdain was worse than any beating he had ever taken. But he deserved it; after all, he had also treated her with disdain... and in the worst possible way.

"I know," he said sadly. "But I need something only you can do."

[Name] furrowed her brows and waited. Mitsui raised his left hand until his fingers reached a lock of his dark hair.

"Could you... cut my hair?" He paused, trying not to stumble over his words, and laughed nervously. "Don’t worry. I’ll pay."

[Name]’s eyes widened so much that Mitsui thought they might pop out of their sockets.

Since girls tended to do this more often, she knew the significance of a haircut at a moment like this. Mitsui really wanted to change and wanted to leave a physical reminder of his new goal: to conquer Japan wearing Shohoku’s jersey.

After a few seconds, [Name] lowered her head and, turning on her heels, said, "Come here."

Surprised that he hadn’t received a harsh response from the girl, Mitsui promptly followed her with an astonished expression. She led him to the bathroom used by the staff and opened a cabinet containing a stack of white, fluffy towels. Grabbing one, she pushed it against the broad chest of the teenager and said, "Wipe off that blood so you don’t scare the other customers. When you’re done, go to the salon. I’ll be waiting there."

Mitsui nodded promptly and quickly cleaned himself up. When his face finally lost the most alarming signs of the fight, he folded the towel, leaving it in a corner, and headed to where [Name] was waiting. The girl was already dressed in a smock, with a cape draped over the same arm holding a pair of scissors.

"Have a seat," she said, her face wearing an indecipherable neutral expression.

Mitsui obeyed and sat down. [Name] adjusted the chair’s height and looked into the mirror to meet the boy’s blue eyes reflected there.

"So, what will it be?" she asked, running her fingers through the teenager's overgrown hair. Her touch sent involuntary shivers down Mitsui’s spine, and a slight blush spread across his cheeks.

"Ahm..." he muttered, glancing at the countertop cluttered with beauty tools. "You can cut it all off."

"All of it!?" she replied, her expression once again showing shock.

"Yeah. I mean, really short. It’s more comfortable for playing..."

The girl ran her fingers through Mitsui’s hair once more, taking a few measurements, and nodded.

"I’ll cut it little by little, and you can tell me if it’s okay, alright?"

"Uh-huh," he murmured, trying to stay still as he heard the first snips of the scissors cutting through his hair.

[Name] worked in silence, avoiding Mitsui’s deep blue eyes whenever she checked the cut in the mirror. However, it was impossible for her not to notice his features as the long hair stopped covering his face. Now that the black curtain had disappeared, [Name] could finally see the changes puberty had brought to her friend’s face. His jawline had become well-defined, but in a gentle way. Dark circles under his eyes marked the edges of his cheeks, which were covered in bruises and scratches, yet this detail still gave him a certain maturity. His straight nose had the same effect. His thick, black eyebrows perfectly crowned his pair of navy blue eyes, which had always captivated [Name] in a way she would never admit. Now they were much more visible, and this pleased her deeply.

In the end, Mitsui’s new haircut suited him very well, giving his face a more playful and determined look.

Yes... This was the Mitsui she had known.

"So?" she asked after making the final touch on the left side. "What do you think?"

He turned his head from side to side to see the new hairstyle from different angles and then smiled, satisfied. [Name] went to the counter and grabbed a square mirror so Mitsui could check the back of his hair too.

"Oh!" he said, smiling even more. "It really looks good! Thank you so much, [Name]-chan!"

While the teenager admired his friend’s work, [Name] couldn’t help but notice his features again. Mitsui had turned out much more handsome than she had anticipated.

Realizing this, her cheeks involuntarily heated up, and she lowered her face, afraid he would see her embarrassed expression.

"You’re welcome," she murmured, moving to the counter to put away the mirror and the brush she had used to remove the excess hair.

As soon as she removed the cape that had covered him, he stood up and quickly reached into his pocket, pulling out some green bills.

"How much do I owe you?" he asked, checking the amount he had.

[Name] had her back to him, organizing the counter and sweeping some leftover hair onto the floor. She bit her lip at Mitsui’s question, and the phrase he had said earlier echoed in her mind:

"I know. But I need something only you can do."

"Could you... cut my hair?"

Now that she could finally see Mitsui's eyes without his long black hair in the way, she was certain that he wasn’t just talking for the sake of it. She recognized his stubborn determination in the navy blue of his eyes. The haircut was his way of telling himself that he wanted to, and would, become who he once was. If she charged him for it, Mitsui's request would lose all its meaning.

"Nothing," she said, reaching out for the broom that was leaning nearby. "It's on me."

"But...!" he blinked, stunned as he stared at the back of her head. "I said I’d pay!"

"Shut up and accept it, idiot," she replied, too afraid to turn around and meet his eyes.

A whirlwind of emotions tore through her chest. Her head was spinning with confusion. She wanted so badly to celebrate this, to support him at his games, and to train with him... But at the same time, she couldn’t forget what he had done. And that stopped her from showing what she truly felt.

The teenager remained silent for a few moments before saying, "[Name]-chan... Please, let me pay for the haircut. I'll feel really bad i—"

"I already told you it’s on me!" she exclaimed too loudly as she turned her body and began sweeping with her eyes fixed on the floor. She walked past Mitsui and bumped into his shoulder hard. "I’m done here. You can go."

Mitsui didn’t move. His eyes went blank, staring into nothing as he digested [Name]'s harsh words. He had known from the start that he wouldn’t win her trust right away, but that didn’t lessen the weight of being treated like this by her.

However, even though she was clearly resentful, [Name] had granted his request. And if she didn’t charge for the service... it meant that, deep down, she wanted to do it for him and was happy that he had come back.

A slight smile curved Mitsui's lips as he realized this, and he quietly approached [Name] until he stood just behind her.

"[Name]-chan," he called, letting the gratitude he felt fill her name.

Hearing his voice so close, [Name] tensed up, feeling her cheeks flush once more. Trying to sound as harsh as possible, she turned sharply and growled, "Hisashi, I already told you to—"

But she couldn’t finish the sentence. As soon as she turned around, a soft, warm touch on her left cheek silenced her instantly. Mitsui was leaning in, his hand gently resting on her left shoulder as his lips placed a very sweet kiss on her blushing face.

The touch lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough to make all the hairs on [Name]'s body stand on end. Internally, she wished Mitsui’s touch had lasted a little longer. Pulling back slightly, he whispered, "Thank you."

He then straightened up, running his hand through his hair in a slightly awkward manner.

"Well, I’ll be going. See you later, [Name]-chan."

He turned on his heels and headed toward the exit of the salon. The girl remained frozen, staring at the back of her childhood friend. She hated herself for being so affected by his gesture, and even more for knowing that deep down, she really wanted Mitsui back... for herself.

Maybe it wasn’t the right time for them to reconnect, but they could start, right?

She went back to sweeping, and just as he stopped to open the door, she raised her voice: “Hey, idiot.”

Startled, the teenager turned his torso enough to look at [Name] with a questioning expression. “If you don’t make Shohoku rise to the top of Japan, I swear I’ll beat you to death".

Mitsui's eyes widened, and gradually, a smile replaced his shocked expression. He chuckled quietly as he remembered the countless times he had said he would conquer the nation. There was no turning back. This time, he had to succeed.

Widening his smile even further, he looked at [Name] defiantly and said, “I’m on it.”

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batsplat · 4 months ago

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Do you have any thought on the podcast that vale just did with Mig. I had never come across someone that had the Marc fell on purpose in Sepang narrative but I’m just wondering how much of what he’s saying now aligns with what he’s said over the years and is anything new information that’s he’s never bought up before? I also saw that he mentioned Casey and Dani apparently but I haven’t seen that bit yet.

I'd say it more or less aligns with the stuff he's said previously, but he's expanded on some points. him kinda implying there was something fishy about marc's fall itself was a pretty popular theory at the time, enough to be referred to by journalists, though as far as I can recall valentino has stayed clear of it (always getting handlebars caught up in inconvenient places in controversial racing incidents, eh). as for the other stuff:

argentina: valentino hasn't spoken much about pre-sepang incidents in general, at most referring to them with half a line (including races that usually aren't integrated into the timeline of the 2015 collapse, like silverstone and misano). I've talked about it here, but valentino's line about marc's riding there should be read in context of another past comment - that valentino was told marc believed vale had cost him the title, which you would assume to be a reference to argentina (more on that in a moment). while it was obviously deemed a racing incident, it should come as no surprise that narratives accusing one or the other of ill intent were discourse points at the time (see here). both valentino and jorge seem to think that marc felt valentino deliberately crashed him out (here). if they are to be believed, it leaves you with a version of argentina where both parties thought the other was deliberately attempting to make them crash. this version positions argentina 2015 less as a precursor of things to come and more as a breaking point neither party ever moved on from

assen: valentino has spoken about this as a turning point before, saying back in 2016: "at assen I realised he was only my friend when he beats me"; plus in october 2015 saying more broadly that marc was "angry about assen". he hasn't spoken about a direct conversation between the two of them before, though the words he attributes to marc do broadly align with what we have footage of marc saying in the actual press conference (for instance, marc feeling he had won the race, see here). so yes, the stances they both take according to valentino basically match up with the stances we know they publicly took at the time, but again: this is the first time he's talked about this conversation, and we have no evidence for it occurring (certainly not in parc fermé - my best guess is that this would have happened when they were at race direction). all of this is in line with reading assen as essentially the point of no return as far as that relationship was concerned - from then on, the collapse is locked in

alzamora: his involvement is something I've been wondering about for ages now (here, here and here). as is discussed in those posts, valentino said way back in october 2015 that alzamora had told him after sepang that marc "behaved as he did because I caused him to lose the world title". this had always felt bizarre to me, because the description made it difficult to judge the tone of the encounter - surely, you would have to have good reason to harm your charge by running your mouth like that. valentino's version presented in the podcast, which now explicitly attributes active malice to alzamora, does make more sense than alzamora just... randomly approaching valentino to worsen the conflict. the notion that alzamora spoke openly in the paddock about damning valentino's championship bid, as well as this getting back to valentino via spanish friends, is also new. alzamora did have a troubled reputation of his own, as a lot of these managers tend to, not least as a result of the honda in-fighting he was involved in (see here). he has at times been seen as... overeager in getting mixed up in his charges' business - see also how he dealt with reporters and photographers. reporting of valentino's alzamora claim in the immediate aftermath of sepang 2015 mention "yet another disagreement between crew chief santi hernandez and alzamora", the "questionable" role played by alzamora, and alzamora's "very different priorities than honda" (see here and here). alzamora's alleged insistence on being at the meeting, even when valentino thought it was not his place to interfere, does seem to gel with his general conduct. to my eye, there are no obvious inconsistencies between how alzamora's influence was discussed at the time and what valentino is saying now, though the detail of this confrontation including a verbal fight at race direction is also new

at race direction: the details of the look exchanged between marc and alzamora are new too. valentino has spoken about a conversation between himself and marc where marc stared blankly at him, and just based on my own conjecture I did think race direction was the logical place for this conversation to take place. this is in large part on the basis of two media scrum answers marc gave in late 2015 that make explicit reference to this conversation, which I should probably get around to uploading (and valentino likewise spoke about it at the time) (so we can be reasonably confident that it happened and that marc was not best pleased by what valentino said). but the smile is new, yes

that was all I saw in terms of additions! other stuff like uccio's involvement and how valentino describes marc as a rider are basically what he's been saying for years. the most interesting bits to me personally were the alzamora comments because, again, that element of the story was odd enough that I was kinda hoping someone would eventually expand on it. much obliged

#the casey bits will be Further Addressed. don't think there was anything about dani. the jorge bits i will talk about at some point #i kinda got burnt out on that rivalry after finishing the Long Post but i do still owe that post a follow-up. it's sitting in my drafts #//#brr brr #batsplat responds #idol tag

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dragon-ball-meta · 1 year ago

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Akio Iyoku And The Future Of Dragon Ball

Got a huge news drop last night, courtesy of @SupaChronicles on Twitter. I've linked the full tweet if you want to read his translation of the original article sans editorializing, but I wanted to attempt to explain a few things here. This is unprecedented for the franchise, and we're in untested, but very exciting times right now. The short version is this: Akio Iyoku and Capsule Corporation Tokyo have succeeded in gaining control of the rights to the Dragon Ball Franchise, in all but the manga side of things, for the next ten years. DAIMA is actually their first project. Now, some excerpts from the translated article: "Indomitable Dragon Ball, Inheriting the Mission: A Global Strategy to Reach the Next Generation" featuring Akio Iyoku, the President of Capsule Corporation Tokyo 'Dragon Ball' will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2024. Dragon Ball is a unique and amazing work. Rather than thinking of the work in relative or uniform terms, the keynote is to think about how it should be done as a work of art. As the Executive Producer of a work with unprecedented longevity, my mission is to expand and convey what the original creator, Akira Toriyama, has created. I will continue to produce works, such as anime series, movies, and games, over the next 10 years. (...) Adopting what is popular at the moment does not increase the probability of success. I will not be swayed by the current trends, but will create works that I feel will be 'good enough'."

Iyoku is saying that, in his new capacity as the executive producer of Dragon Ball, he's doing this as a means of protecting the Dragon Ball IP as a work of art, and wants to release content that he feels upholds that integrity, rather than trying to use the IP simply to chase current trends and try to cling to relevancy. He says he also wants to keep the spirit of the series Toriyama intended. Now what's especially interesting to ME is this bit. He stops short of making any sort of direct confirmation, but this really, REALLY seems to lend credence to the reports that Shueisha was deliberately leaving Dragon Ball out to dry in favor of One Piece. "There was a time when the Dragon Ball craze, which had spread around the world over the past 40 years, had died down. When I became the head of Shueisha's Dragon Ball Room in 2016, I could not visualize what was really happening. 7-8 years ago, I went to a huge event in Brazil called "CCXP." I was told that Japanese anime were popular in South America, but there was a discrepancy from what I was told. The feedback from fans was weak. It may have been at the peak of its popularity when it was on-air in South America. (...) I also thought it was the result of relying on old-fashioned zeal. Therefore, starting with the 'Dragon Ball Super Broly' movie in 2018, we took steps such as actively participating in events. I felt concerned that Dragon Ball has not been expanded worldwide. Originally, we didn't see the strength and diffusion power of the work. We need to take a closer look at this and see if we can do more. We are not looking for a "one-size-fits-all" approach, but rather, we are looking for events such as the Dragon Ball World Championships, the expansion of games, creating facilities, and anything else that we can do. We will work on them in parallel."

And this bit: "Never before was there such a simultaneous worldwide reception of anime. (...) It can be said that we are now able to do things that we had not even considered before. From the beginning, I began to think about the overseas expansion of Dragon Ball. With 'Dragon Ball DAIMA,' which will be released in Fall 2024, we are taking on the challenge of creating an anime series with a completely original story. I am glad that all our works have been well-received overseas. 'DAIMA' was announced at New York Comic Con. The 'Dragon Ball' series is recognized around the world. It makes no sense to announce it somewhere domestic. Comic-Con is a great place to announce your work. People who understand the value of the culture are gathered there, to begin with, and we chose Comic-Con because of its ability to spread our work throughout the world. Overseas expansion is currently being considered as a necessary means of spreading the word about our work. If we compare the flow of manga titles selling in book format and then finally becoming anime to a river, the overseas developments were the ones that followed the river, meaning that in the past it was a "fan" (in the sense that the overseas expansion followed later.) I am convinced that Dragon Ball has pioneered many things as a Japanese anime. I have a sense of mission that if there is something that no one else has done, I must continue to challenge it." That sounds to me as if this was done at least in part because he felt the series was being mishandled, both on a promotional and quality control front. He also feels that there needs to be content created at least semi-regularly to keep the franchise relevant, as opposed to announcing something and then leaving long gaps of nothing, as almost happened after the Super anime went on hiatus. There's also some more implication about the series not being promoted to its fullest. "- The industry is over-competitive. It is tough to see the competition among anime (due to the emergence of streaming sites, etc.). Competition has become excessive. We must not create a situation where a manga becomes anime, and when the anime is over, the content ends as is. The ideal situation is to create a situation where the average viewer sees the content. We are in a cycle of consumption, and in some aspects, the cycle is becoming short-lived. I don't think it's good at all to have a boom that builds up and then burns down, which can be a factor in the content not lasting long. It will be tough if we do not create a place to compete differently from anime as content. It is advisable for works that are popular now to be distributed simultaneously around the world to repeat generations and reach the next stage of popularity. (...) In order to bring in overseas strength, a leading role is needed. In order for a producer to take on this role, they must transcend the boundaries of the corporate organization. There must be someone who has a "birds-eye view" of the work and is in a position to say to each company, "I think you should do this." I push myself to be a catalyst for this through various discussions. For Japanese content to continue, it is necessary to have someone who can say, "The status quo is not good enough."" So essentially, we're going to see more content. We're going to see more quality control ON said content. Both are being done to respect Toriyama's work, and to actually try to be competitive as opposed to simply relying on the legacy and the baked-in fandom to carry it in the sea of anime and manga franchises out there. He also feels that they shouldn't try to solely rely on adapting things, and create original content as well, while keeping it in line with the spirit of the series as opposed to just chasing whatever's popular. That's the intent, at least. Now we just need to wait and see how this all shakes out.

#Akio Iyoku #Capsule Corporation Tokyo #Dragon Ball #Akira Toriyama #Dragon Ball Daima #DBS #Dragon Ball Super #DBZ #Dragonball #Dragonball Z #Dragon Ball Z

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georgegraphys · 5 months ago

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[GP3 & F2 LIVE]

-George mentioned he loves Montoya for his aggressiveness (also said he admires Verstappen for the same reason and his overtaking, in another interview as well), Hamilton for his strength in pace. But overall, he picks Schumacher as his all time favorite. He said it's a difficult pick!

-Because George has only previously driven the night race thrice (Bahrain, AD quali, AD race), he actually makes a gamble of undercutting De Vries during AD18 to try and take the lead back. No one had any clear idea of how long the tyres were going to last and he managed it! He compromised a bit by managing the tyres when he could've pulled a +10s gap but with the risk of the tyres being gone due to how the Abu Dhabi circuit is

-The press commented on how George had a really good attitude and they're excited to see how he goes in the future

-George names Maggots and Becketts (Silverstone) as his favorite corner. But also mentions Parabolica (Monza) as one of the greatest ones.

-George Russell said he won't participate in the 2017 Macau GP because he'd have to seal his championship win before the final in Abu Dhabi and he's not sure if he can do that. Later, He did win it before Abu Dhabi and had the chance to participate in the 2017 Macau GP but by Jerez, he was sick with ear infection and even then, he had to drive while being sick in Jerez. So, no Macau GP 2.0 in the end for him

-George's favorite race track in the GP3 calendar is Silverstone because that's where he got his first F1 test and it's his home race but his favorite race track in the world is Macau because it's one of a kind street circuit, "nothing can ever come close to it"

-F2 Era George drives a Mercedes A200. He also would like to drive Senna to Mansell, early 90s Williams F1 car if he had the chance!

-On other interviews, George mentioned liking Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United but he didn't in this specific interview. George mentions football player Ronaldinho as his favorite player in the past though!

-George asked for the press to include Alex Albon in the championship photoshoot of him and Lando at Sochi 2018. He also kept reminding the press of Alex's achievement throughout the 2018 F2 season and also talks about his rivalry/friendship with Alex.

-George's lows on F2 season was Baku FR, when Nyck De Vries locked up and crashed to George who was in the lead, causing George to drop down to P12. Although everyone backs him, he felt like he could do something or compromise a bit to minimize the accident that day. While his overall lows is the Monaco GP where he had engine failure during the practice, qualifies P16 and +1s from pole, and DNF-ed in both races. He also mentions Baku SR as his memorable race as he managed to fight to P1 from his initial P12 starting position.

-Other than not participating again at Macau GP, George also opted out from Race of Champions because he didn't want to risk sustaining any serious injury that might have an impact on his upcoming racing schedules.

-George mentions about being interested in oval track racing after watching Fernando Alonso in Indy500 and that he'll be interested to try that out in the future

-George did not play F1 2016 or other racing related games due to his busy schedule with being the sim driver. He mentions he plays the "upgraded version" of it with the Mercedes F1 Simulator instead.

-A fan asked about how the sim works had helped him in GP3 races and George said the sim works did not help him much for race prep as the set up for the simulator is for an F1 car while he drives a GP3 cars but it gives him more laps and experience under his belt on different circuits.

-The celebratory chocolate brownie that he ate after Austria 2017 (the one where he took a pic with Valtteri) did not taste that good. He flew back with the Mercedes team and they offered everyone champagne or chocolate brownies. George had to opt for the brownies.

-George was asked by a fan about his opinion on what Liberty Media is doing in F1 😭😭 He responds to it maturely with saying that Liberty Media aims to have more publicity for the Formula One by having more coverage of the sport and he respects that they are trying to do so as well with the feeder series. He said he looks forward to what they'll do in the future.

-Another fan asked him about the Mercedes powertrain plan (as well as Mercedes' GT3 powertrain plans 😭😭). Again, he answers it maturely by saying the fan should ask Mercedes that as George didn't have much knowledge about it.

#george russell #gr63

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5and3nevermind · 3 months ago

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hey do you have a list of official BTS videos with yoonmin content to watch?

Hi anon! Sorry, I don’t have a complete list. There have been hundreds of yoonmin moments spread out over the years, so it would be a real project to compile a list of them all. I can recommend some, if that helps…

Debut era: BB: Tom and Jerry Jimin&Suga, BB: Jimin’s Tumbling Skills, BB: Let’s Speak English!, BB: BTS Match Omok (Suga vs Jimin)

2014: Festa, especially Jimin and Yoongi making a cake together

2015: BB: BTS Jenga Championship Thanks to Twitter, BB: BTS Suga Birthday Present for Fans, MNetM2: Q&A BTS MCOUNTDOWN Backstage 150625, BB: Singer J-Hope and Suga (this was when Yoongi sang My Love By My Side to Jimin), BB: Shooting Guard Suga with Cheerleader Jimin

2016: Yoongi birthday vlive (“you know, I know”), BB: Blood, Sweat & Tears MV Reaction, anything from MAMA 2016, Bon Voyage season 1

2017: Hollywire: BTS Members Reveal Who Their Favorite Member Is (AMA red carpet), Festa 2017, Bon Voyage season 2

2018: Festa 2018, BB: BTS at Billboard Music Awards 2018, Bon Voyage season 3, Episode: BTS at MMA 2018 (Yoongi tells Jimin “I love you” before he leaves)

2019: Bon Voyage season 4, Run ep 82

2020: ITS season 1, Jimin and Yoongi’s radio live from May 2020, BE Comeback Countdown, BTS BE-Hind Story, BE Album Review (3x3 Unit Version), Yoongi’s audio-only live (post-surgery) when he talks about Jimin calling him, “Dancing” live with Yoongi, Jimin, and Jin, Billboard red carpet interview at the Grammy’s

2021: BTS Butter Jacket Shoot, Festa 2021, ot7 live from 210629, Episode: Permission to Dance MV Sketch (Jimin helps Yoongi), BB: Suga and Jimin Visit Hybe Insight

2022: Korea tourism ads + behind the scenes, BB: RM’s Cyanotype Experience with Suga and Jimin, Jimin/Yoongi/Namjoon live from February, BTS MBTI Lab

2023: Suchwita with Jimin, Suchwita with Taemin (and Jimin), Ddeun Ddeun: It’s Just an Excuse That They Are My Close Friends, BB: Suga and Jimin Video Call, Episode: D-Day Tour in the US, Episode: D-Day Tour in Seoul, Yoongi and Jimin’s post-concert live from Newark in April (“your bare face is pretty too”)

Ok, this is already a long list and this is barely scratching the surface. I didn’t include many Run episodes or their group vlives/lives or social media posts or concert moments or award show moments. And I didn’t link to anything…but these are (mostly) the real titles so you should be able to find them easily on YouTube.

Hope that helps! 💛

#yoonmin #ask

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moonshynecybin · 10 months ago

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top taylor swift songs that were actually written about rosquez?

they are many they are myriad they are legion.... no order and non exhaustive ofc

wouldve couldve shouldve. ouegh ough aough aoueg. ouregh. and i damn sure never would've danced with the devil. at nineteen. and the god's honest truth is that the pain was heaven. i mean JESUS CHRIST dude. songs that make me want 20 mins alone in a room with valentino rossi and a baseball bat.

all to well ten min. i think the longer version is inferior generally but adding the lens of a slightly fucked up age gap pushes this up the list. so many insane rosquez details in this one. i was thinkin on the drive down hes gonna say its love you never called it what it was. (hello.) the idea you had of me, who was she? a never-needy, ever-lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you. (HELLO?) charmed my dad with self effacing jokes like youre on a late night show. (HELLO!!!) my friend valentino did that to my buddy marc. i was there i SAW IT. my friend @repsol-ariel made gifs.

i bet you think about me. jussssst the right amount of insufferable for them in the bitter post divorce chaos of it all... truly like. vale you fucked UP dude. i think this plays in marc's head for every championship he wins 2016-2019. when you realized im harder to forget than i was to leave. crazy. bananas. fun to think about if youre nasty... i also love indulging the side of marc that is kind of fucking mad at vale lol. my cuntress... this is why we cant have nice things also fits in this category. its the fun parts of divorce: like spite!

forever and always. you ever think about 2015 and how crazy marc probably felt when he realized his whatsapp thread with valentino post ranch visit was all messages from HIM. like truly before that season he said vale is my friend all is good between us :) then in midseason he says its a different relationship not quite a friend one just absolutely white knuckling it. and all this happened with little public indication of off-track conflict. WHAT HAPPENED. anyways did i say something way too honest that made you run and hide? like a scared little boy??

story of us. a fixture of my imaginings. but you held your pride like you shouldve held me. how did tswift know. what did she see. was there a psychic on her staff. did she perhaps have a prophetic dream of some sort.

haunted. YOU AND EYE WALK A FRAGILE LINE I HAVE KNOWN IT ALL THIS TIME.... CMON CMON DONT LEAVE ME LIKE THISSSSSS i thought I had you figured out... something's gone terribly wrong.... you're all I wanted.... hello. is this thing on. like truly maybe the most rosquez of my rosquez songs. this one is THEMMMM to me. its dramatic its tense its yearning its a little PISSED OFF.

back to december. RECONCILIATION ANTHEM. your tanned skin your sweet smile so good to me so right.... GOD. truly like before they reconcile but after vale has turned the corner. wistful regretfulness!! pride swallowing by someone not used to it!!!

cowboy like me: twin flames!!!! FUKC!!!! IM NEVER GONNA LOVE AGAIN!

#motogp #callie speaks #asks #rosquez #taylor swift #there are so many others. so many

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silenthowls · 6 months ago

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⸻ 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 ,

JIN YOHAN — the black rook of 2016

yOOO!! Super excited to bring to you my muse! I ... have a knack for being super wordy, so feel free to ready the "summary" below. I have an ( almost ) full background on his page, as well as profiles for him during both time periods, though there's not too much different there! Please give this post a little smooch and we can plot. In the meantime, I'm gonna browse through everyone's apps and profiles!

wait till you hear about this next nominee: JIN YOHAN, born on the 8th of APRIL, 1994 and bears a striking resemblance to WOO DOHWAN. they’re a FOURTH year BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION student and TWO TIME NATIONAL TAEKWONDO CHAMPION — impressed yet? rumor has it they’re hoping to be a REAL ESTATE BROKER, but personally, i think they should aim a little higher — something like the king’s club, for one. now, that suits them a little more, don’t you think? guess we’ll just have to see if they’ve got the talent for it in our upcoming recruitment round.

BACKGROUND ,

Jin Yohan was born in the spring of 1994, and adopted in the first month of 1995 by a real estate chaebol and his wife during a time of public scrutiny. They saved him from the clutches of his abusive mother, is how the story goes.

Yohan is lucky. What child ( what person ) would not be thankful to be in such a well off family? He has everything he can ask for. The only caveat is that his parents are rather content reminding him just how fortunate he is. After all, he is not their real son. Just a poor, adopted boy.

His childhood is relatively uneventful and normal. But his temper is just like his father's, despite not being of the same blood. He sets out to prove himself in different ways. Anyone would get a little insecure if they had parents like his — especially his father, the cold bastard he is.

As a teen, he acts out here and there to get their attention. Any attention is good, right? But when he's bored playing little delinquent, he goes back to diligently attending his taekwondo classes and acting the filial role they require him to if he wants to stay in the family.

2012 is something of his break out year. He wins the national taewondo championship. ( Maybe it's the way he gets into the head of his opponent the night before, but it's best not to speculate. ) It is his ticket into attending SNU. In 2015, he wins once more. On these days, his father finally seems a bit proud.

Once accepted, he throws get togethers at his off campus apartment and the empty properties owned by his family's company. The sole aim being building rapport and connections. He has something of a knack for socializing and using his wits to talk himself into things, connections, deals, despite his stoic nature. Not too long after, he is approached to be an initiate for the King's Club.

Meeting Noh Hyungseo is an intriguing event. In him, he thinks he sees little bits of himself or, rather, a much better version. Ambitious and stand-out enough to get his attention. Somehow, Yohan gets to him first. It's best to get him where he wants to be, even with his caveats. Something in him knows he will feel more than a hint of pride when Hyungseo inevitably makes it in. He's destined for it... Until he isn't.

His death shakes him to the core. He is unable to contend with the fact that his mind is convinced it is all his fault that he drowns. He thinks of all the things he should have done to keep it from happening. The guilt is enough to make that mask slip. If only he didn't let him go through with it. He thinks it's his fault, and the cover up does nothing to help his worries.

He makes quite the outburst at Hyungseo's funeral ( where he quite loudly called him a "fucking idiot" among other things he doesn't remember ) , and has a subsequent major mental breakdown after his parents drive him home. ( Read: punching a hole in the living room wall. Chill? )

Yohan is "urged" by his mother to enlist in the military shortly after graduation, where he trains in special forces. It helps him simmer down only so much, and he develops quite the smoking habit.

When he returns, he lands a job in his family's company as a real estate broker, what his father always expected of him, even if he craves more and knows he will move up the company slowly but surely.

By 2024, he's holed himself up in a 7 acre property purchased with his own money. ( How he got it is an easy answer. Through sincere means, of course, but it doesn't mean he knows how to bend a few morals to stay at the top of his game. ) He's also taken it upon himself to raise two wolfdogs. For extra protection.

The real unfortunate thing is that awful birth mother of his somehow finding his number and calling him until he picks up. He meets with her, against his better judgement ( finds it eerie they have the same eyes ), and she wants to weasel her way into his life... and his wallet. Or else. :)

PERSONALITY ,

2016 : Well, he likes to think of himself as more cunning than he, perhaps, truly is. Somehow, he manages to get by. He has that sort of smile that used car salesmen wear when they lock eyes on you in the lot. The cadence of someone trying to sell you on something. What he wants from you, he may well try to get. But it's easy to get turned off by him. His temper is short, and he is as vindictive as they come as the smallest slight. He learns that intimidation can earn him advantages, and a silver tongue can get him all the way there. But he is rather serious for his age, and his insecurities about his standing may be obvious. Have you ever seen someone so defensive and snippy?

2024 : He is if stoicism is a man made flesh. The mask is heavy. He tries his best to keep his cool, and he is quite the ball of stress and bitterness. The extroverted, social young man prefers retreating into himself and spending time at home or working. He has no time for frivolous things. The person he once was is still there, but he finds himself looking over his shoulder far more, trusting people far less than the little he already did. He carries a significant amount of guilt about Hyungseo's death. It's a sensitive topic for him, so tread lightly ( or.. don't ).

The type of guy who doesn't fuck around that much. Not to say he is incapable of having fun or relaxing, but his future is important to him.

Relationships come difficult for him. What kind of person performs background checks and suggests STD tests to their prospects? He hopes the question alone is enough to scare away those who are only out to take advantage of his status. That naïve yearning to be loved has vanished in those years. ( Mostly. ) If anything, he does the using.

It's also of note that he's in the bi closet, and he does not discover this until a revelation while in the military.

Unhinged but masks it. There's always a thin layer above seeing his sanity slip. Will blackmail and intimidate you at the drop of a hat. Fuck around and find out.

Grump who just needed a hug from mommy and daddy to fix him. Too bad it's too late for that.

Chaotic Neutral type beat. He's not inclined to always follow the rules, and prefers to do things to keep his position secured, but he's not above acts of kindness or generosity. Rules are meant to be broken if you can find a loophole. Has plenty of thoughts of doing fucked shit but only acts on half of them... sometimes.

Aries. The fire sign vibes run so deep. He is passionate, argumentative, and can hold a nasty grudge that he will get you back for. Fr you could have just stepped on his foot in the hall without apologizing and he'll put a scorpion in your pocket. That being said, there's deffo some Scorpio in there for him but idk where

Picks up well on the behaviors of others and is the first person to point it out or say something about it. Very observant and aware of his surroundings. It's just all about if you want people to believe that or not.

Lowkey will tell you what he hates about you. Will be your #1 hater. ( Just ask Rh1 ) xo

Will never, ever be past throwing hands. 🤚

Trust no one, not even yourself.

CONNECTIONS ,

While I prefer to brainstorm, I'm putting a few base ideas I have.

I love a good frenemies type beat, and it's easy to see how Yohan could be simultaneously hostile, yet oddly attached to certain people.

Past relationship that has gone wrong. ( It's most likely all of them, I fear. ) Abandonment issues. Check. Short temper? Check. Daddy issues? Check. And Jin Yohan doesn't get broken up with. He breaks up with people. ( Allegedly (2). 🙄 )

A secret sorta fling could work out for him. If I'm gonna be real. Very deep deep deep down, he just wants to feel wanted. Even if that person is not great for him or committed, as long as they make him feel wanted in the moment and not dumped on the curb, he'll appreciate it while it lasts.

Obviously this guy is a bit aggro so, it stands to reason he's made a few sour bonds in his lifetime. And nearly fought quite a few people, I'm sure. That's a thing...

Actual, sincere friends. He will have very, very few. It's difficult to get his trust because he's so slow to and thinks everyone's going to turn around and leave him or do something to him.

He basically cut everyone off after graduation. Catch him sprinting to avoid you in the grocery store if you try to talk to him.

Hyungseo was Yohan's pick for an initiate. Are you a fellow Chessmaster who didn't exactly approve of his choice? Good luck talking him out of it. Though, in current day, you have every right to say "I told you so".

I am brain farting for ideas so that's it for now. LET'S BRAINSTORM.

#cm:intro #uhhh i cba to find gifs but the sentiment is there ok #sorry this is just a word vom

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thankyouforthememoriesworld · 4 months ago

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Updated Version 2.

They were both overlapped in Minnesota for the North Tartan Summer Jam-June 2016. They had a lot of basketball overlap in June/July 2016 but again, separate age groups, with Azzi playing in a higher age group than Paige.

USA U16 Trials in May 2017 when they met.

Won Gold together with U16 on June 11, 2017.

Flew to Minnesota together where Azzi probably spent the summer doing her camping and State Fair in August 2017. Before this though: they participated in the North Tartan Summer Jam-June 2017 but different groups. I think that first birthday post from Azzi is probably from this tournament. Also, they may have also had an EYBL tournament in Indianapolis in July 2017. This is also when those crush snapchats were most likely sent because the song itself was released July 7, 2017.

Generally, they always have a lot of overlap in the summer because of AAU

Their visit to Maryland, Notre Dame and UConn in Fall 2017. Offered scholarships by UConn at that time.

Azzi and Paige were together at the beginning of Feb, training. Azzi's high school is WCAC Champs at the end of Feb 2018 and Azzi was also player of the year as a Freshman.

Late March 2018, both participated in the 2018 USA Basketball 3x3 U18 National Championship. Paige’s team got first, and Azzi’s got second. Paige’s team went on to rep in the youth Olympics.

April 2, 2018 Paige and her Hopkins teammates watched the UConn Notre Dame 2018 Championship game. Paige apparently watched this match up twice by April 2019 and Azzi watched the 12/3/17 game against ND in Hartford. Maybe overlap?

Paige and Azzi played in the Nike Boo Williams Invitational for their separate AAU teams in Virginia on April 20-22, 2018. Azzi's team (Fairfax Stars 17s EYBL) won platinum undefeated in their division where she stood out as one of the best players at 15 years old. Paige's team (North Tartan 15s EYBL) won platinum undefeated in her division. Geno was apparently at this tournament from what I read.

Paige was in DC to play in the Capitol Classic on April 28, 2018. You can watch the entire game if you want.

Reunited in Colorado May 2018 for USA trials.

The 11th annual North Tartan Summer Jam in Hopkins Minnesota was held June 15-17, 2018, where both Paige and Azzi's AAU teams played against each other. Paige’s team beat Azzi’s team 79-63 but both ended with a 3-1 record with Paige's team getting second place. Azzi watched Paige's final game.

Basically, together all of July because training was July 4-20, with a pre-tournament invitational in Latvia. Afterwards, won Gold with U17 on July 29, 2018.

Azzi attends her first Curry Camp in August 6-7 2018. She blows up after the three point contest. At this point I also assume Minnesota cabin trip and state fair was spent together. Azzi was recognized while on a cruise with Bueckers family after the contest (Date unknown but assuming summer). Azzi also helped with Paige's charity clinic at the end of August in Montana.

Azzi and her family were also in Minnesota for a family wedding in September 2018.

11/2/18 Visit to UConn together. Azzi’s sweet 16 on 11/11/18. We know Paige was there.

March 2019 Azzi is presented Gatorade National Player of the Year for Basketball. Azzi's team is 2nd in the nation.

Paige wins state championship on March 16, 2019. Azzi is there supporting (she's in that day after vlog episode of Paige's teammate wearing her St. Patty's day necklace and referred to as National POY which she just got beforehand).

Both of them flew to Montana and I'm guessing that's when the Yellowstone trip happened. Probably Spring Break.

Buckets with Bueckers camp in Montana - March 25, 2019. Azzi was there.

April 1, 2019, Paige commits to UConn (signs letter of intent in November 2019). I think this is also the day Azzi got her puppy Stewie.

April 4-6, 2019 Azzi’s high school team makes the Geico Nationals final but loses. Not sure if Paige was there.

April 13, 2019 Azzi tears hear ACL/MCL at USA 3x3 championship. Surgery on May 29, 2019 in Indianapolis. Paige was with her before surgery (video proof from Azzi herself).

April 26-28, 2019 AAU together (Azzi not playing).

June 2019 – Paige participates in Summer Jam 2019 with Metro Stars.

July/August 2019 – After Azzi attends the ESPYS and SC30 Select Camp for both of them, Minnesota tradition (they have tiktoks from that time at the cabin and started their joint account that summer). I also think this is when that one Overtime video was filmed with the competition.

10/10-16/19 – Paige is in Doha Qatar for USA Basketball 3x3 tournament. Then she went to First Night at UConn and I think visited Azzi before she went to LA for ESPNW. Azzi visited UConn the week before First Night supposedly.

Dec 16, 2019: First HUDL recruiting video. End of December 2019, Azzi was presumably training with Mamba family in NYC.

Reunited in January 2020 in DMV. Azzi’s first games back from ACL were around this time and Paige was there (they filmed tiktoks together and there are videos of her in the stands). During her visit, Paige's second HUDL recruiting video for Azzi was published.

Azzi’s high school team wins state championships in early March 2020. Azzi travels to Minnesota in mid-March 2020 for Paige’s final but Covid shutdown occurs.

Paige stays with the Fudds from the end of April until June 2020 where she goes back for her graduation in early June and I think possibly packing up her stuff because I know her family was relocating to DMV at this time. She rejoins the Fudds in late June and stays with them and travels with them for Azzi’s GTS team up until end of July. Paige also gets her Gatorade award presented to her at the Fudd’s house on July 24, 2020.

Azzi is in Minnesota with her GTS in August of 2020 and Paige starts UConn.

Azzi visits Paige on her birthday and I believe tells her she’s committing to UConn in October 2020.

Azzi's Togethxr video of her day in the life with the facetime call was filmed November 5, 2020 (pop quiz had a date).

Azzi commits to UConn in November 11, 2020 and turns 18.

Paige's UConn season starts with her first games being cancelled because everyone is in a 14 day quarantine when one person tests positive. This was the reality of that time - they had to contact tracing and couldn't risk getting Covid during the season. They didn't have anymore cancelled games after the end of January but it certainly was an issue early on. UConn had nearly 75% of their courses online or hybrid for entire Fall 2020. Out of state students enrolled in online courses didn't live on campus. This was the reality of Paige's first year. Most likely not as social as people think and really just FTing Azzi at 1 AM apparently.

Azzi attends UConn-Tennessee game on January 21, 2021 to cheer on Paige.

Azzi attends UConn Final Four on April 2, 2021 and also attends the final (while being on FT with Paige).

Paige has ankle surgery afterwards and hanging out a lot with the Fudds as she rehabs during April and May 2021.

Azzi has USA U19 Trials in May 2021. Then graduation and prom for high school at the end of May (Paige was present during this time). Then summer session at UConn. Paige has her ESPY award speech in July 2021.

Azzi wins gold with team USA before landing back in Mn in mid August 2021 and reunited with Paige and heading to UConn.

My God, you did it 👑. Here's Pazzi's updated timeline for the people.

#this is why I need you for Willannès too 😈#pazzi #timeline #did you have fun at the game #azzi fudd #paige bueckers

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kevinskorchinski · 3 months ago

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sameee I'm so happy to see all my goofy little guys back on the ice 🥹

I've been interested about getting into f1 but at the same time I don't really have time to watch it or learn rn loll

F1 for en is difficult to watch because I am Australian so most of the races are at midnight and with f1 I found it easier to get into because there are more people talking about it/a bigger fan base

if you want to get into it i linked some info

A primer by @lina-corsasa breaking down the teams, tracks, calander etc. she also has one for team history

But there has been so much to happen this year that i will give you a very basic run down.

Red Bull: Something to note with Red Bull is that they have a junior team called "Visa CashApp RB" terrible name i know but it used to be known as AlphaTauri and Toro Rosso. And these two combine for lots of driver change drama. like this year Liam Lawson (the rb reserve driver) replaced Daniel Ricciardo (fan favourite driver) after the singapore drama. This sparked a lot of drama because no one knew for certain if it was daniels last race and it was only announced a week after the race finished that it was.

RED BULL AND VCARB DRIVERS:

Red Bull; MAX VERSTAPPEN (Dutch): he has 3 drivers championships (2021,22,23) he is the youngest ever f1 driver (joined the sports in 2016 when he was 17, that is why the fia added that you have to be 18 and over to get a super license), hes currently on top of the championship and his closest rival is Lando Norris. Also his dad is a piece of shit that made max sacrifice his whole childhood to be the driver he is today.

Red Bull; SERGIO PEREZ (Mexicain): he is in the second red bull seat which is seen as the cursed seat because so many people have been in that seat than replaced. And compared to max, checo is not performing well and this is what give him a lot of unnecessary hate. (well in MY opinion sergio is so hated and not for good reason most of the time its because he's in a good team but is driving like shit, but that isn't a good enough reason for him to be on of the most hated people).

VCARB; YUKI TSUNODA 角田裕毅 (Japanese): he was very crash prone in his earlier years but he has cleaned up his act. and he is one of my personal favourites. He is a very intense driver and oftentimes not taken that seriously because if his earlier years which suck :(

VCARB; LIAM LAWSON (kiwi): his first f1 race actaully wasn't last weekend (Austin GP) but was the Dutch GP 2023 when daniel ricciardo (second race back) crashed and broke his hand so liam being the reserve driver he got a shot. And so far in is very short f1 career he is doing well. Also one of his biggest inspirations growing up was lightning mcqueen.

MCLAREN DRIVERS:

LANDO NORRIS (British): jack hughes but f1 driver version (but less injured and more egotistical (sorry ln4 fans))

OSCAR PIASTRI (Australian): Oscar is my goat and the reason i got into motorsports. He is consisdered a generational driver. And because of that fact he caused a whole legal meltdown between mclaren and alpine. He was in the Alpine junior driver program and was their reserve driver, then when fernando alonso announced that he was leaving alpine announced oscar but he had already signed a contract with mclaren. so of course alpine wasn't happy took oscar and mcalren to court but oscar and mclaren ended up winning. also oscar is very funny and i love him.

ALPINE:

Esteban Ocon (french): he is leaving the team at the end of te year to go to haas. people don't like ocon because he is a teammate... annoyeer? idk none of his teammates like him. But that doesn't mean his story of barley having any money but making it to f1 is any less inspiring.

PIERRE GASLY (french): pierre... idk how to describe pierre. he's like a very competitive tiktok fuckboy that just so happens to be an f1 driver.

ASTON MARTIN:

FERNANDO ALONSO (Spanish): has two world championships (2005,06). he has been in the sports since 2001 and is one of the GOATS because he can extract everything out of the car. also his tiktok is hilarious check that out

LANCE STROLL (Canadian): not many people like him because he is a pay driver to the highest degree as well. His dad literally bought racing point (now aston martin) so lance is never leaving the sports until he gets tired of it.

FERRARI: i'm not a ferrari fan but you cannot deny there would not be f1 without ferrari

CHARLES LECLERC (monegasque): a fan favourite driver and he can genuinely fight for a championship but he has the worst luck

CARLOS SAINZ JR (Spanish): his dad carlos sainz sr is a world champion rally cross driver. Carlos isn't driving for ferrari next year after it was announced lewis hamilton is driving for the team next year (that caused an absolute meltdown btw). Next year he is driving for williams.

WILLIAMS:

ALEX ALBON (Thai): he is a dual citizanship driver he was bron and raced in britain to a thai mother but he doesn't like being called a british driver and called people out on this. They mention his dual citizenship when he does well. also he has a lot of pets and his gf lily is very cool as well.

FRANCO COLAPINTO (Argentine): his first race was Monza (italian gp) this year after he replaced logan sargeant. Franco immediatly became a fan fav because he is funny a charismatic and people really want him to get a seat next year but the only place avalible is the sauber but no one likes sauber.

STAKE F1 KICK SAUBER TEAM (i actually don't know their name most people just call them stake or sauber):

VALTTERI BOTTAS (finnish): one of the most famous second drivers because at his time at mercedes he was always behind lewis hamilton. he's just idk there ig he likes to show his ass.

ZHOU GUAYNU 周冠宇 (Chinese): the first ever chinese driver. and i have a soft spot for him even though he cannot qualify well but it's not helped when the sauber is an actual tractor.

HAAS:

NICO HULKENBERG (german): he is amazing at qualifying but since that haas is a trashbox (to note: less so this year) he can barely fight in the race. also something that is mentioned when hulk is mentioned is he has the most race starts without a podium. also he is racing for sauber next year because sauber is being taken over by audi in 2026.

KEVIN MAGNUSSEN (danish): he doesn't have a seat for next year, sadly. because this year he has been an ontrack terrorist to make sure nico gets points. Kevin Magnussen you will be missed next year.

MERCEDES:

LEWIS HAMILTON (British): 🐐 (he also has a dog called roscoe)

GEORGE RUSSELL (British): idk who to describe george i genuinely don't. hes a good-solid driver and his humour is underrated (imo).

DRIVER TRANSFERS FOR THIS YEAR AND NEXT YEARS:

VCARB: 2024

Danial Riccardo -> Liam Lawson

WILLIAMS: 2024-25

Logan Sargeant -> Franco Colapinto -> Carlos Sainz

FERRARI: 2025

Carlos Sainz -> Lewis Hamilton

ALPINE: 2025

Esteban Ocon -> Jack Doohan

HAAS: 2025

Nico Hulkenberg -> Esteban Ocon

Kevin Magnussen -> Ollie Bearman

MERCEDES: 2025

Lewis Hamilton -> Kimi Antonelli

NEXT YEAR DRIVERS:

JACK DOOHAN (Australian): he was the alpine reserve driver and is replacing esteban ocon next year. he also was a twitch streamer and did some pre and post race commentary for sky sports.

OLLIE BEARMAN (British): Ferrari junior driver. Already a fan favourite and is racing for has next year.

KIMI ANTONELLI (italian): he is also generational and that is why team owner and principal of mercedes wants kimi in a seat so bad. and so when lewis dropped the ferrari bombshell people were already speculating that kimi would be announced. But there was a slight issue he was 17 so he wouldn't be eligible for a super license. but he turned 18 so he's now eligible (idk if he got it i think he does)

#ummm idk what possessed me to make this #f1 #user perfectlysaltycat32

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dystini · 2 years ago

Text

Indycar Driver Lore

Indycar Driver Lore Masterlist

Josef Nicolai Newgarden

His name was originally Joseph Edgar Newgarden but it was changed when he was 6

Birthdate: Dec. 22, 1990 Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Residence: Nashville, Tennessee Height/Weight: 6’0/177lbs

Rookie Year: 2012

Team: Penske

Follow him on: Instagram Twitter YouTube

Career Stats

2012: Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing - 23rd Overall 2013: Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing - 14th Overall 2014: Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing - 13th Overall 2015: CFH Racing - 7th Overall 2016: Ed Carpenter Racing - 4th Overall 2017: Team Penske - 1st Overall 2018: Team Penske - 5th Overall 2019: Team Penske - 1st Overall 2020: Team Penske - 2nd Overall 2021: Team Penske - 2nd Overall 2022: Team Penske - 2nd Overall 2023: Team Penske - 5th Overall

Cohosted (as of 2024 on indefinite hiatus) fan-favorite behind-the-scenes video series Bus Bros with teammate Scott McLaughlin. Bus Bros Playlist

Behind-the-scenes race weekend videos. Admit1 playlist

SRX - 2022 Nashville, 2023 Motor Mile

IMSA 2023 - Tower Motorsports - Daytona 24 | Porsche Penske Motorsport – Petite Le Mans 2024 - Porsche Penske Motorsport – Daytona 24 win

-a versatile athlete, who appeared on a 2016 episode of “American Ninja Warrior” with other NTT Indycar Series drivers and has participated in the NFL Combine and the Indiana Pacers Slam Dunk contest. He played baseball and basketball before turning to racing. -Listens to R&B and dance/EDM and is a fan of Twenty One Pilots, The Weekend, Skrillex, and Diplo -Avid gamer; is a brand ambassador for Forza Motorsport and is featured in voiceovers for multiple versions of the game, including Forza Motorsport 7 -Is an outstanding ping pong player and hosts an annual celebrity ping pong tournament around the Music City Grand Prix. It serves as a fundraiser for SeriousFun Children’s Network -Enjoys rock climbing and most outdoor activities; an avid Forza player

-cannot resist chocolate chip cookies or brownies

-doesn't like heights

Iconic/memorable moments

The rainbow cake deep throat at 15:00 "I may just put this in my crotch." 11:55 (keep watching for shirtless, sweaty Josef) Pullups with chains around his neck 0:15 (plus other drivers working out and highlights) The infamous Milk Gimp Indy 500 ad (viewer discretion advised) Drivers of the Corn - starring: Simon Pagenaud & Josef Newgarden BUS BROS Episode 12: We Got You My Favorite Summer Salad! (Because the world needs Josef Newgarden squeezing the life out food to make a salad.) starting at 0:50 Josef and Sage Karam at the 2015(?) NFL Combine 2022 INSIDE THE RACE // JOSEF NEWGARDEN Josef Newgarden shares BBQ Turkey Burger recipe LET THERE BE MILK. IndyCar off-season training hits different. Indy 500 Champ Josef Newgarden Shows Us His Workout | Train Like | Men's Health Josef Newgarden and James Hinchcliffe Visit Space Camp 2023 Indy 500: Josef Newgarden Victory Celebration Speech Josef Newgarden relives 'the worst wreck I've ever had' at Texas | 'I Survived' | Motorsports on NBC Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin are teammates, friends, competitors | Motorsports on NBC PLAYING THE NEWLYWED GAME WITH THE BUS BROS: SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN & JOSEF NEWGARDEN!!!! Josef Newgarden: Defending a Championship Google Search - Josef Newgarden IndyCar Chronicles with Josef Newgarden INDYCAR 101: Driver Fitness with Josef Newgarden Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud | No. 1 Josef Newgarden III (Incognito 3) INDYCAR FANswers: Josef Newgarden INDYCAR Travels: Josef Newgarden in Milwaukee Josef Newgarden Undercover

The INDYCAR Off-Season with Marco Andretti, James Hinchcliffe, Josef Newgarden and Conor Daly IndyCar: Robin Miller with Josef Newgarden at Road America Driver Josef Newgarden Red Carpet Interview from the INDYCAR Championship Celebration Josef Newgarden | Christmas Movie Quotes Reddit Asks Josef Newgarden Anything! 2022 Edition Reddit Asks Me Anything! Part 1 Reddit Asks Me Anything! Part 2 Josef Newgarden goes INTO THE CROWD to celebrate his Indy 500 victory! James Hinchcliffe talks donuts, mac & cheese and chocolate with Josef Newgarden , Romain Grosjean Will Power and more. Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin | Hot Seats with Hinch

2024 Cheating scandal Team Penske hit with penalties over Push to Pass use; O’Ward declared St. Petersburg winner How Team Penske took push-to-pass beyond the limit

Penske Perfect and Details Matter are two phrases often used in conjunction with the Penske organization. And when they can be used to dunk on Ferrucci, all the better.

Josef is a perfectionist. This is a combo of his highly competitive nature - which has been said about him from a young age - and the Penske Perfect motto which he has taken to heart. He is highly critical of himself - getting very down on himself if he makes a mistake and taking the blame for things not wholly under his control. But he tried to maintain a genial if slightly arrogant image in public. He slips sometimes - there have been a few angry Twitter interactions that he later apologized for and on occasion after a race, his temper will get the better of him and he'll say things he probably shouldn't.

He can be goofy as hell as seen on Bus Bros. Scott McLaughlin has brought this out of him since becoming teammates. Josef has said that Scott makes him feel more comfortable being his real self.

I would be remiss if I did not point out Josef's thighs. He is a specimen in general but those thighs should get special attention.

Fanfic Lore

Frequently paired with teammate Scott McLaughlin. As of 2024 there has been a cooling of their friendship as Josef pulls back to focus on racing/the championship.

Historically paired with Conor Daly. They raced together in karts and lower-series cars.

#indycar rpf #indycar #fanfic #driver lore #josef newgarden

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batsplat · 7 months ago

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hi batsplat! i would like to say that you are an absolute pillar of the motogp community on here, like you are truly so so appreciated. both for your knowledge and also for the way you write about things (i think you could write 3000 words on a grocery store trip valentino took in 2003 and still make it super interesting reading)

i was reading your post about your favourite rivalries that didnt include one of the aliens, who would you personally include as part of that list? (versus who is really good but not quite alien status) id also really like to know if (and who) youd count as aliens from the pre-motogp era, and if theres been a difference over time about how often we are seeing aliens or if theyre easier/harder to spot as technical developments have sped up

hope you have a great day!

that's so sweet... thank you that's such an incredible compliment dsdkhfkhfd

about the aliens, the way I use the term is entirely as a historical descriptor, not as a qualitative assessment of any riders. it's a useful shorthand for a specific riders in a specific era, but to me it has limited relevance outside of that era. so to be clear we're talking valentino, casey, dani, jorge and marc - and according to common wisdom this usage originated from colin edwards' 2009 comment:

“But as I’ve said before, I’ve got to be pleased to be finishing next best behind those four guys, or should I say aliens. “They are riding out of this world and to be right behind them means I’m doing the best job I can and that’s about as good as I can hope for at the moment.”

(jorge discusses valentino as an alien in 2007, see here. which might be complete coincidence, but has always made me kind of curious whether the word was floating around in the paddock in some capacity before edwards 'coined' the term)

the thing is, right, it made sense to treat those four (and later -casey +marc) as distinct from the field, because they were winning almost everything. one reason for this was that they were very good, very skilled riders. another was that from 2007-15, only four to six bikes were capable of regularly challenging for wins at any one time. it was a massive field disparity that quite frankly was partly enforced through machinery. that's why it makes sense to include marc in that term: it's not just the fact that he was very good, it's the fact that he was riding a repsol honda that was the best or second best bike by a long way for his first three years in the premier class. in 2016, motogp returned to michelins and introduced new technical regulations - and for all intents and purposes, the alien era ended. it ended when eight different riders won in eight races that season. yes, marc, valentino and jorge were still the top three in the championship... but it's the difference of whether you go into a weekend convinced you know the winner will come from a list of four riders, or if you very much do not know that. between 2008 to 2015, apart from the aliens, a grand total of two riders claimed wins - dovi on a repsol honda in 2009 and ben spies on a factory yamaha in 2011. both of those were wet races (which of course are generally more open than dry ones). so just to reiterate: a greater number of riders won in 2016 alone (9) than in 2008-15 combined (7). (in 2007, a further two different riders won races - capirossi on the championship-winning factory ducati and vermeulen on the suzuki.) yes, obviously the aliens were very good riders, nobody is going to argue with you over that... but those numbers? they're only possible in a specific version of motogp - one that only existed for a few years

honestly, I don't even really use the term 'alien' to describe valentino pre-2006 or marc post-2016. it's just not that useful to me... aliens to me is a 'pack hunter' thing, where even if some of them are injured or are having a bad day or whatever, at least one of them will basically always be there to pick up the pieces. marc and valentino might have dominated the sport as a whole - but not all of their championship seasons were completely dominant, and there's only so much any one athlete can dominate in the sport... you're not going into every single weekend thinking 'oh yeah they're definitely going to win' (yes, yes, there were two times per year where you did very much do that with marc). which is different when you compare it to the aliens as a pack, where you could be confident that ONE of them would end the weekend on the top step of the podium

which is why I just don't apply the alien term to anyone pre-valentino - it's not because I think they were less good or less talented or less anything, it's because for me it's a term that's more about an era than it is about individual riders. you have to treat each era on its own, and I'm not really a big fan of inter-era comparisons. it's just kind of impossible to say whether a rider in the 1970s is more talented than one in the 2020s, whether ago's numbers are more or less impressive than marc's and so on... the sport has just changed in so many ways over the years. of course, in sports you do generally have this upward momentum where each generation is 'better' than the last. sports has gotten more professionalised, there's been massive advances in terms of pedagogy and sports medicine and exercise science and all of those things - all of which already affects how athletes train from childhood onwards. the young aren't more 'talented' in the sense that they were born with an innate superior ability to compete at the sport, but they are more 'talented' in that their ultimate ceiling will be higher as a result of all these gradual changes over time. these things can change quite quickly even (and if other sports is anything to go by, I wouldn't be surprised if the nineties/early noughties brought some big changes in that regard) - so already between, for instance, valentino and marc there'd probably been a real shift in how young talent is being nurtured

(the most blunt illustration of this is that young valentino's lifestyle was completely different from that of young riders today, in terms of how much time he spent training in the gym, sleeping habits, nutrition etc etc. athletes now can't get away with that much deviation any more, and indeed valentino had to massively change his approach in the 2010s to remain competitive - but of course it's different if you haven't been doing this stuff since you were a kid. I think we can safely assume valentino's 2003 supermarket trips looked rather different from marc's 2017 ones)

being good in pro sports may in some ways be harder now than it was in, say, the eighties, and the level of competition you're facing might be higher now - but of course, it would also by extension be unfair to judge those athletes by the standards of today. also, different eras are going to lend themselves to different profiles of rider depending on competitive trends, type of machinery and so on - even very basic stuff like how tall you are might have helped you in a certain era and hindered you in another... so what does that mean for talent? if we're discussing 'talent' at all, how can we possibly treat it as anything other than relative to the era we're discussing? to me, it just makes these comparisons between different generations pretty pointless... or well, I like talking about some of this stuff in a more holistic 'isn't this interesting' kind of way, not a 'this is why xyz is better than xyz' approach... this kind of thing is also why I finds goat debate such a uniquely boring way to spend your time, incidentally

this is a very long way of saying, I don't have a metric by which I judge athletes pre-2000 as 'alien' or 'not alien'! I think you have similarly dominant athletes, though again it is so tough to decide how much of that is down to talent and how much of it is down to bike advantage. if you take doohan's title winning seasons for instance:

yeah, look, sure, you can call him an alien as far as I'm concerned - if I'm watching these races live I will be expecting doohan to win in any given weekend. I'm still kind of missing the pack hunter feel in some of these seasons, so I won't know for certain the winner is going to come from a very short list. like take 1998:

not really one group vs the field, is it? and yeah, even if I consider doohan an 'alien' in some of those seasons, I'm still not going to call him that - because the term was essentially coined in 2009 for a specific group of guys that one other guy was later added onto. the competitive landscape and demands of doohan's era were so different that it feels off to try and go back and label him or any other past riders aliens... they were phenomenally talented, yes, they were great champions, yes, they can be called as good as the aliens, sure - but why wrench the term out of its historical context? is it still an analytically useful concept if you do so, except as a way to generically refer to a rider as 'very talented'?

which is also why I personally don't describe anyone since then as an alien. this doesn't mean I don't think fabio or now pedro aren't as good as those guys were, I just don't think they've been given the opportunity to have that kind of hold over the sport. fabio won five out of eighteen races in 2021 - and he did so on a yamaha that basically only he was able to consistently get a high level of performance out of. which is deeply impressive - but unlike say casey in 2007, he didn't have those other riders to dominate all the other races. eight riders won a race that season! it's just a fundamentally different competitive landscape. personally, I'd be perfectly content if we don't get another alien era. of course 2007-15 isn't all bad, but for good reason most fans' most fondly remembered eras are either 2001-06 or 2017-19... yes, at times one rider was too dominant, but it still felt like more riders had a shot at victory - and most importantly the quality of the racing was generally very high. this kind of domination by a few mega talents on the best machinery can get drab pretty quickly (though of course a lot of the blame for decreased race quality needs to be assigned to the 800cc era 2007-11, not to any of the aliens themselves)

I'd be quite happy to retire the term alien going forwards... except as a useful shorthand for a specific group of guys who have mostly retired. it shouldn't be used as a way to bash the young stars, as if they just can't measure up to the legends of the past. which would be dumb! again, plenty of ways in which motogp is harder now than it ever has been, though the most important thing is that it's just... different. not better, not worse, just different. sure, maybe we'll get another equivalent to the alien era, even though I personally think it's quite unlikely. if it happens, yeah, let's discuss cranking the term out again (and, yes, if you look at the current season and ignore sprints... if this current trend continues then we can have the debate at the end of the season. pecco and jorge despite all their apparent inconsistencies are currently building a pretty solid case for themselves) (now I've said that they're both gonna crash out of assen huh)

that being said! I don't exactly neatly follow this principle myself, because sometimes I do use something like the term 'alien-like talent' to refer to fabio or pedro... obviously, you can argue this is basically the same as calling them aliens in everything but semantics. so what's the criteria there? when do I use this term? I think to me it's just... instant, 'in your face' talent. they arrive to the premier class and they shine basically immediately. valentino got a relatively sedate start to the premier class by alien standards - which is fitting, because he's not really about that blistering raw pace. still, he wasn't far from being a rookie champion, got ten podiums, two wins... not too bad. casey was on a satellite team, but he got pole in his second ever race and came painfully close to winning his third. dani got a podium on debut and fought for the championship for almost the entire season. jorge got pole in his first three races and won his third. marc won the second time out and of course secured the title in his rookie season. compare that to fabio - pole in his fourth ever race on satellite machinery, fighting for wins in his first season. pedro got a podium in his second ever race and is handily outperforming everyone else on that bike

so it's about how quickly these guys pick this stuff up, how quickly they make that step from one level to another - though again, it's important to stress you can't just neatly compare these achievements! valentino's first two seasons were on 500cc bikes, which were notorious for being kind of evil. some of these riders started on satellite bikes (we're not counting valentino here), and there's also plenty of talk about how the bikes have become more complicated to ride now, making pedro's rapid adjustment even more impressive. but in every case, there is just this ability to 'be fast immediately', whatever the circumstances... and it's worth pointing out that even though pecco had a mediocre rookie season, he was incredibly quick in 2019 pre-season testing. jorge martin secured his first pole position and podium at his second race in motogp

speaking of, those two were already a touch older when they joined the premier class. there does generally seem to be something to the idea that in motorcycle racing, if you are not already very fast at a certain age, you will have a quite definitive ceiling... and from valentino onwards, the age by which you need to already have reached that standard of 'very good' seems to have gone down. when we're talking about talent and throwing around the term alien, this feels like another important change to mention - doohan was not winning his titles as a 22 year old! neither was rainey! or schwantz! or lawson! or... actually spencer was very young, yeah. but I think you get the point. I cannot tell you definitively why this changed, but it clearly has changed. in the 21st century, only two riders have won titles when they were older than 26: valentino (29-30) and jorge (28). valentino and marc were both 27 when their dominance over the sport ended (even if valentino secured titles after that point and marc will very probably do so as well). casey was 27 when he retired. (fun fact: pecco bagnaia is currently 27 years old.) so overall it's pretty rare in grand prix motorcycle racing to operate at the top of the premier class for more than a certain number of years - but the precise age window in which you are likely to be at your best does seem to have shifted pretty radically this century. which should demonstrate how hard these things are to compare... like I said, talent is often assessed by how quickly you are good at something - but if we called mick doohan a late bloomer, it would be wildly ahistorical

and yeah, look, this idea of 'you have to be good young or you will have a certain ceiling' is hardly unique to motogp, lots of sports are like that... another measure of this precocity that's perhaps more useful than just 'age' is looking how long it took them to win a title from when they joined the premier class (if they did so at all, of course). it's generally very fast! marc year one, valentino, casey and joan year two, jorge and fabio year three... and, well, pecco and hayden year four. of course, there's exceptions to this 'be fast immediately' rule - athletes who ended up being very good and title contenders who had slightly different paths getting there. the sete's and dovi's of this world - and to a lesser extent hayden too, who unlike those two was only even really a title contender in a single season... but generally speaking, those riders seem more heavily reliant on circumstances playing out just right to have a shot at a title

or perhaps! perhaps it's going to change! especially if you look at repeat champions, pecco does become a bit of an outlier in how he got there this century, doesn't he? compare the numbers he was posting in his rookie season vs valentino, casey, jorge and marc. and in some ways, you can extend this even further and say he's a massive historical outlier in terms of any premier class champions. there was an article about this in late 2022:

and some more about how historically unusual he is:

isn't that great? you don't become premier class champion with that kind of a rookie season, but pecco did! hey, aleix was a serious title threat in that season, which is a far more remarkable story still! and the thing is, right, if you're studying the current era and are labelling some riders aliens but leaving out pecco... then no offence but what's the point? look, who knows, maybe marc and pedro and david alonso are going to dominate the next twenty titles and pecco will have been a weird blip. but isn't there something fun about believing that a bunch of different riders could eventually develop into title threats? wouldn't it be kind of cool if you don't have to just write someone off age 22 any more? I don't know, I think it's a neat development! I hope it sticks around! there'll be plenty of alien-level talents in the future, but personally I wouldn't mind at all if there were no more aliens

#hope you have a great day too anon and again that is an INCREDIBLY sweet comment #'aliens' is just my way of avoiding the term 'fantastic four'. but that's basically how I use it #obviously this is all my personal read bla bla... if you want to call fabio or schwantz or surtees an alien go ahead none of my business #it's not something i feel THAT strongly about. i do feel strongly about talent discourse though!!#i mean relative to other sports pecco's already pushing it for me... that moto2 title is a bit sus #in a different way fabio was FANTASTIC!! what a surprise! what a revelation! people had written that kid off and they were so wrong!#motogp #//#brr brr #batsplat responds #alien tag #i'm very jekyll and hyde about this in motogp because in sports in general i'm not into the wunderkids #but i just HAPPEN to like a few specific guys in motogp a lot who HAPPENED to dominate the championship for like two decades #that's not me!! i'm all about smarts over natural talent about getting gradually better rather than showing up fully formed #shaking my head while watching 2001/2007/2010/2013 to show everyone i don't agree with what's happening

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sunskate · 1 month ago

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"The fan in me is a little sad," three-time Olympic champion Scott Moir told Olympics.com on Tuesday (3 December).

Moir was reflecting the mood of many inside the figure skating world as the news of Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron's decision to retire spread.

"La note finale" was the simple headline from French sports publication L'Equipe, blaring what had long been whispered but not confirmed until a press release Tuesday: That Papadakis/Cizeron would not, indeed, try and defend their gold medal from the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 at Milano Cortina 2026.

"It makes me emotional, even if I was not surprised," Papadakis and Cizeron's longtime coach, Romain Haguenauer said from Grenoble, France, where the Grand Prix Final is set to take place later this week (5-7 December).

"I'm not someone who looks backwards a lot because I don't like being too nostalgic, but I was thinking about the past 15 years," Haguenauer shared. "And especially the past ten years that we've been together in Montreal. It's a lot of very good memories."

Papadakis/Cizeron have the numbers of greatness: Olympic gold, Olympic silver, five world titles, five European titles, two Grand Prix Final wins and seven French championships.

But what made them so great? Ice dance had really never seen another duo like them.

"As soon as they touched hands, it was just magic," continued Moir, having trained alongside the French in Montreal with his partner, Tessa Virtue, from 2016-18. "They just knew how to be there for each other. What they were able to create was just so elegant and beautiful."

"What they brought the sport was this extremely athletic version of artistry," Moir added. "They were the strongest and fastest, and because of that they were able to push themselves to be these artists who could really... rise to the occasion."

When Papadakis and Cizeron claimed gold at Beijing 2022, it marked the first time France had won a figure skating gold at the Olympics since another ice dance team, Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat, captured gold at Salt Lake City 2002.

Already superstars within the sport, the duo shot to further fame in their home nation, and were feted at what would turn out to be their final official competition, winning the 2022 World Championships in front of a boisterous crowd in Montpellier weeks after the Beijing Games.

"Gabby and Guillaume are very, very well known in France, and are particularly appreciated by the general public," explained Haguenauer, who coached the duo since they were juniors.

"The culture of dance and contemporary dance is huge in France and I think people recognised that [about them]. Yes, they were Olympic champions and world champions, but more than that, they touched people who are not particularly following sports."

Their retirement will loom large over this week's Final in France, which Moir said now represents a pivot point for the ice dance discipline in particular as teams skate closer to the coming Winter Olympics, in February of 2026.

"The world starts to rotate now around Milano and how you set up Milano," Moir said of the competitive figure skating realm.

He harkened back to the 2017 Grand Prix Final, when Papadakis/Cizeron beat Virtue/Moir just two months prior to the coming Olympic Games.

"I don't think we would have won the Olympics in 2018 if we hadn't lost to Gabby and Guillaume in 2017 at the Final," he said.

"I look back and reflect on our career," said Moir, "And I think we are so grateful for the rivals that we had. We able to measure ourselves against two of the best teams in the history of the sport" in Meryl Davis and Charlie White and Gabby and Guillaume.

For Haguenauer, Papadakis/Cizeron represent a team who trusted the process - and the people around them. He convinced the team to move from France to Montreal in 2014 as the coach was setting up a new academy with the Canadian duo Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon.

Now, the Ice Academy of Montreal is one of the premier skating schools in the world.

"Everything started at I AM with them," Haguenauer said. "They were the first stone" we built with.

At this week's Final, four of the six ice dance teams train in Montreal at the Academy, including two-time and reigning world champions, Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S.

"They brought ice dance to excellence, to the excellence of what ice dance should be," Haguenauer said. "They were at the top of their game for eight years - that's a long time.

He continued: "They have brought a style, a unique elegance and a unique sense of artistry in ice dance... no, in all of figure skating."

"I just dont think we can ever have the conversation about the best ice dancers of all time and not have their names included," Moir concluded. "I just don't think that's possible."

#papadakis cizeron #scott moir

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