#2019 Preseason

[vetteldixon]

daily seb 337/365

[kylewalker-peters]

seeing random non football twitter accounts using the "i had chills" meme like you have to delete this rn I'm gatekeeping this image I'm so sorry you don't know the things I've had to deal with you can't just use a pic of japhet for your tweet are you crazy?

[ofpucksandsticks]

Pens v Blue Jackets Preseason Game, Oct. 3 2024.

[hensunrik]

*coughs* *gently taps the sign*

[mydaddywiki]

Kirby Smart

Physique: Husky Build Height: 5'10" (1.78 m)

Kirby Paul Smart (born December 23, 1975) is an American football coach and former player. He is the current head football coach at the University of Georgia, his alma mater. As head coach, he led the Bulldogs to back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022.

Handsome, solid body, nice dick sucking lips (dsls) and if you look closely you will note that he has a ferociously furry arms. So he's possibly hair. I must of had blinders on before because I never realize how hot Kirby is. I don’t know why I haven’t notice him til now. Oh I know, I haven’t seen a Georgia game in who knows how long. Now I’m going to change that.

Born in Montgomery, AL, and grew up in Bainbridge, GA. Smart began his playing career at Bainbridge High School and went on to play college football at the University of Georgia. Smart graduated from the Terry College of Business in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in finance. He went undrafted in the 1999 NFL draft and signed a free-agent contract with the Indianapolis Colts. He spent the 1999 preseason with the team but was cut before the start of the regular season. In 2003, Kirby attended Florida State University for graduate school.

Smart began his coaching career with the University of Georgia in 1999, Valdosta State in 2001, and at Florida State while pursuing a master's degree from 2002 to 2003. Smart then spent one season under head coach Nick Saban in 2004 before following to Miami Dolphins in 2006 then to the University of Alabama in 2007. On December 1, 2015, it was "reported" that Smart had been hired as the next coach for Georgia.

Again married… aren't all the hot ones? He pretty much seems to have lived and breathed football his entire life, when he wasn't marrying his college sweetheart, Mary "Beth" Elizabeth Lycett (awww) and having three kids. There isn't much else I can say about him. He's good looking and I'd love to fuck him until his head caved in. Well, he would probably disagree.

Head Coaching Record Overall: 100–17 Bowls: 9–2 Tournaments: 5–1 (CFP) National 2 SEC (2017, 2022) 6 SEC East Division (2017–2019, 2021–2023)

Accomplishments and Honors Awards: George Munger Award (2017) 3× SEC Coach of the Year (2017, 2021, 2022) Broyles Award (2009) AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year (2012) First-team All-SEC (1998) Second-team All-SEC (1997)

[grantmentis]

Women's Hockey Roundup: October

Woof, I fell off of these for a while. Blame baseball and college! Anyway, I'm going to just do what happened in women's hockey in October (and maybe the last few days of September) for all leagues. This is only confirmed news and games, so rumors are not included

If you're new, i recap the top stories from around club play women's hockey (so not collegiate) and try to give more detail on european women's hockey, since that's less reported on in north america :-) Feel free to add if i miss anything!

PWHL (USA/Canada)

The PWHL schedule has been released! We have a few TBD's in venues, most likely for playing select games in bigger venues or neutral sites. we do not currently have streaming/television info, so stay tuned for that. There will be a preseason, but not open to the public.

Training Camp Begins November 12, with preseason/mini camps The 19-22. New York's training camp roster is here. Boston's is here. Minnesota's is here. Montreal is here. Ottawa's is here. Toronto's is here.

Nov. 27: Deadline to finalize rosters of 23 players and 3 reserves

Abigail Boreen signed a three year deal with the Montréal Victoire. She played with the Minnesota Frost last year, including in the playoffs, as a reserve player.

Ronja Savolainen signed a three year deal with the Ottawa Charge. She played with Luleä most recently and is a star of the Finnish national team.

Sarah Lefort, most recently with Montréal Victoire, has announced her retirement

The PWHL has begun the process of expansion for 2025-2026, targeting two new cities

SDHL (Sweden)

Fanni Garát-Gasparics signs with Brynäs IF, though is still rehabbing the injury she sustained last year with the Ottawa Charge

Dutch national team legend Savine Wielenga signs with Leksands IF

Rookie Reece Hunt of Luleä is out for the season with a torn knee ligament

Frölunda general manager Kim Martin Hassons is extended to 2028, and head coach Erika Holst is extended to 2026. Frölunda has been massively successful thus far this year, currently in second place in the standings and coming off a big win against firs place Lulëa

While Luleä and Frölunda are at the top of the table, MoDo is making noise in third place, having won six of their last eight.

A couple key story lines: -> Finish National Team forward, Elisa Holopainen (Frölunda) is lighting the league on fire in her first year in the SDHL. She has 9 goals and ten assists in 13 games -> We have a few wonderful comeback stories this year. Hanna Olsson (Frölunda) is back to her old self after missing most of last year with injury, with 16 points in 13 games, good for fourth in the league. Erica Reider, (Luleä) who did not play for two seasons, looks like she never left, currently leading all defenders i the league in points. And Kassidy Sauvé (SDE), who missed almost two full season's with a hip injury, currently leads all goaltenders in save percentage. -> MoDo Hockey is being powered almost entirely by a youth movement: top producers Ebba Hedqvist, Adéla Šapovalivová, Mira Hallin, and Lovisa Engström are all 18 or younger and playing prominent roles on the 3rd place team

Auroraliiga (Finland)

Canadian Emma Hall joins KalPa after playing in the NDHL (Sweden's second division) last year

Kärpät will retire the number 20 in honor of long time legend Saija Tarkki. After 21 seasons with Kärpät as well as the Finnish national team, Tarkki retired in 2019. She will be honored Novembe 23rd.

A Couple key storylines: -> 18 year old Czech forward Barbora Juříčková i having a breakout year with HPK, already surpassing her point total from last season with 22. She joins Emma Ekoluoma (Ilves), who was a star on the U18 Finnish team last year, as one of the young players to keep an eye on in this league -> Kiekko-Espoo sits at the top of the table, with Ilves right behind. Last year's champions HIFK are feeling the loss of several star players and sit in fourth place. -> Sister's Jennika , Joanna and Jatta Ojala all played for the same team together for the first time at the top level for Team Kuortane

SWHL A / Postfinance Women League (Switzerland)

Not technically league play, but since they play in this league too ill put it here: EV Zug won the EWHL Euro Cup, which is played at the beginning of the season including select club teams across europe! They bear the German league's Memmingen to do so. Noemi Neubauerova, who is set to play with the Toronto Sceptres when the PWHL game begins, scored the game winning goal

Sponsor PostFinance announces that in 2025/2026, they will only financially support men's club teams that have a women's counterpart

Nadine Hofstetter of EV Zug is out three weeks with a broken finger. She is one of the team's veteran defenders who also plays for the Swiss national team. Vanessa Ryhner, Nina Harju, and Julia Näf are also out with injury for EV Zug, though Rhyner should be back any day now.

ZSC Lions Fraun is hit with injuries: Slovakian forward Tereza Lahova is out for the year with injury, and Aurela Thalmann and Alena Polenská (aka Alena Mills) are also injured. They are calling up Univ. of Saskatchewan alumni Sophie Lalor

A few storylines: -> Elizabeth Lang (HC Davos Ladies) is leading the league in points in her rookie year and scoring at a goal per game pace. She graduated from University of Calgary last year -> Lara Stalder (EVZ Women's team) continues to do Lara Stalder things and is tied with Lang in goals, but newcomers Michaela Pejzlová (HC Ambrì-Piotta Girls) and Clara Rozier (SC Bern Fraun) who were stars in last year's finnish league are close behind. The top scorer race for this league will be exciting, and that's not to mention old friends like Rahel Enzler and Estelle Duvin, among others. -> HC Davos Ladies is currently at the top of the standings, but EV Zug and SC Bern Frauen are very close behing them -> 18 year old Ivana Wey (EVZ Women's Team) has been off to a blistering hot start, a lot of hype surrounding her after a strong performance at both u18 and senior worlds. Another interesting young player is Lucie Tenenbaum, an American set to play at Minnesota State next year but is spending this year in Switzerland. The 18 year old has 5 goals and two assists with HC Davos Ladies so far

EWHL (Central/East Europe)

EV Bozen Eagles are currently dominating the league, with the help of players such as import Kristin Della Rovere, who has 16 points in 9 games. The Bozen eagles are part of a larger plan to help get italy's women's national team ready for the 2026 olympics

HK PSRZ Bratislava are undefeated thus far this season, after winning last year's title.

Canadian USport alumni are thriving in this league; Cassidy Maplethorpe, Hannah Tait, and Lauren Nicholson among top goal scorers

Slovak Ema Tothova continues to be the young player to watch, after her breakout seeason last year the 17 year old forward has 10 goals in five games. She is also competing in a boy's league in Slovakia while playing in the EWHL

OTHERS

watch this space for Czech forward Adéla Mynaříková to mak the u18 team this year. She's 15 and just steamrolling people in the Czech top league, with 15 goals and 5 assists in 8 games playing against a lot of grown adults

Norweigan forward Une Bjelland Strandborg, who was arguably one of the best NCAA DIII players of all time and graduated last year, is killing it in Germany's league with newly added Austrian team HK Budapest. She has 7 points in 6 games

[toasttt11]

sad

September 19, 2019

Hayden nodded to what the coaches were saying and then what Connor was saying to the team from where she sat at her stall. Hayden stall was next to Connor and the stall was the same one her father use to use.

Hayden followed the team onto the ice for her first preseason game, she genuinely smiled for the first time since she got in to Edmonton once she saw Quinn on the ice.

Hayden and Quinn get to play their first preseason against each other and Hayden’s first NHL game she gets to play against Quinn too.

Quinn looked over as he heard the Oilers getting on the ice and smiled seeing Hayden on the ice and skating towards him.

Quinn skated right to her and pulled his sister into a tight hug and they both let out happy sighs as they hugged each other.

Unfortunately Quinn had came right off the plane to the game and would be going right back to Vancouver after the game so he didn’t get to see Hayden besides on the ice.

“I missed you.” Hayden softly whispered making Quinn squeeze her tighter before they reluctant pulled away, “I missed you too.” Quinn told her back softly.

An Oilers photographer asked for a picture and they leaned against each other and smiled at the camera.

Leon and Connor shared a look noticing how happy Hayden looks around Quinn and it’s the happiest they have seen her in the past two weeks. They haven’t seen her smile until right now.

Hayden and Quinn shared a look before skating off to their own benches and focusing on their own games.

Hayden managed to score the only goal for the Oiler’s but Vancouver scored six so the Oilers had lost.

Hayden honestly didn’t even care about the loss just because she was so happy seeing Quinn.

Hayden luckily got out of media as it was her first game and the veteran’s took the media instead. She showered and changed back into her white dress pants and navy blue long sleeve.

Hayden was sitting at her stall brushing out her wet hair already feeling little pieces of her hair curling and wanting to put it up.

“Hey.” Connor softly spoke as he came back from the shower and sat down next to her in his stall.

“Hi.” Hayden mumbled back her eyes flickering over to Connor to let him know she was listening.

“You played a damn good game today.” Connor honestly praised her, since the moment he got to watch her step on to the ice and they practiced together she has just continued to surprise him with her skill and how amazing of a player she already is at 18. She was quick and she didn’t let anyone knock into her or shove her around, she held her ground well.

Connor could not wait to see what Hayden will do in the NHL and he is glad to be able to watch up close.

“Thank you.” Hayden nodded truthfully appreciating the compliment from him.

“If your not busy i was hoping you would go to the family room after, Lauren has been dying to meet you.” Connor asked hopeful. Since Connor told Lauren about Hayden she has begged to meet her and Connor had feeling Lauren wanted to adopt her.

Connor also knew Leon had tell Celeste about Hayden and Celeste is so sad she will be gone for a few more months and won’t be able to meet Hayden for a little while.

Hayden paused as she stopped brushing her hair, She didn’t really want to go back in the family room but also knew she couldn’t shut out the entire team forever. Her parents would want her to get close with the team so slowly she could try and let herself get close to some of her team.

Hayden nodded making Connor grin crookedly, “Awesome. Are you ready?”

Hayden nodded to his question again and grabbed her phone and keys slipping them into her pocket and her post game drink and followed Connor out of the locker room.

Connor noticed Hayden’s eyes drawn to mural of her father as they walked out but he didn’t say anything and continued walking with her up to the family room.

Hayden let out a small sigh of relief realizing Lauren was standing out side of the family room and Hayden didn’t have to go into the room.

Lauren lite up seeing Hayden follow Connor. She gave Connor a small kiss on the cheek but her attention was fully on Hayden. Lauren noticed first was his sad Hayden’s eyes are and it made her sad to see someone so young with such sad and dim eyes.

“Hi Hayden. I’m Lauren.” Lauren very kindly said as she smiled at the young girl, she was very excited to meet Hayden but kept calm wanting to make sure she didn’t overwhelm Hayden.

“Hi.” Hayden mumbled back and felt warmer from the kind smile from Lauren.

Lauren managed to make some conversation with Hayden for a good few minutes, much more conversation that Connor or Leon had gotten from Hayden yet.

Connor watched the two talk with a fond smile, well more Lauren talking but Hayden seemed content to listen and nod along. Connor noticed that some of the tension from Hayden’s shoulders seemed a bit loser.

Connor understood completely that Hayden seemed more comfortable around Lauren, he felt the same way where he met Lauren. Lauren just has a comfortable presence for everyone.

“Oh my gosh we have to have the dogs meet!” Lauren gasped excitedly as they Connor and her had just recently gotten Lenny and they absolutely adore their dog.

Hayden’s face softened thinking about her dog, “Archie would love that.” Hayden truthfully answered as Archie loves playing with dogs and meeting new people and dogs.

“Perfect we will have to plan a day!” Lauren clapped her hands happily, “Oh and there is a really good dog park close by to Arena.”

Hayden nodded agreeing with Lauren to plan a day.

Hayden said her goodbyes to the couple and headed out of the arena.

Lauren and Connor watched Hayden walk away, “She’s so sad.” Lauren whispered feeling terrible as you can tell Hayden’s spark is just not there and it was because of losing her parents.

Connor nodded looking just as upset about the fact Hayden just doesn’t look happy and she should be, she just got drafted first overall to the NHL and it should be the best time for her life but it was obvious she was still grieving.

[sweetdispatch]

Pittsburgh - J. Marino

THE TRILOGY OF LOVE

next part

pairing: John Marino x fem!reader

summary: John and Olivia just moved to Pittsburgh. How their separate celebrations in the same bar bring them together?

warning: mentions of toxic friends and family, mentions of covid, argument

words: 2.6k

note: first chapter is here! enjoy it❤️‍🩹

---

July 2019, 19 years old Olivia moved to Pittsburgh. In August, she was starting college. That was a huge step for her because Olivia’s home city was Monterey. At first, she was mortified about moving out on the other part of the country but she knew it’s the best for her to change the environment and cut off her toxic friends and family if she wants to work for big corporations in finances. None of them supported her decision, thinking that she’s gonna fail but she was motivated to prove them wrong. As soon as she made new friends from her group in college, Olivia started going out to bars just to take a break from her busy life in college and work.

August 2019, 22 years old John left college ranks and signed his first NHL contract with Pittsburgh Penguins. That was his chance to make big things in hockey. All his focus was keen on this sport. Just like Olivia, he wanted to succeed. he had still two months to go around the city to find good spots for dinner, coffee or after-match celebration, before start of the season in October. He was hanging out with his teammates that was helping him to adapt to Pittsburgh’s life before all his focus will be put on hockey.

September 2019, Olivia and John met in one of the bars. She came to celebrate her promotion at work with friends and he was with his teammates to celebrate big win in preseason game. When John saw her sitting at the bar, his world stopped. She looked beautifully just by sitting and sipping her drink. In that moment, he decided to ditch his friends and make a move.

“Hello there, I saw you sitting all by yourself. Do you mind if I join you?” He asked very politely.

“Hi, well I’m waiting for someone…” She said rudely thinking it’s another drunk man that wants to hook up with her but when she turn around and saw John, she changed her mind.

“But a company would be nice”. She said smiling now.

“I’m John and what’s your name?” He reached out his hand.

“I’m Olivia, it’s really nice to meet you”. She shook his hand.

“So Olivia, tell me, what are you doing here?”

“I came to celebrate my promotion with my friends but they are running late like always”. She laughed at this fact.

“Oh congratulations! Where are you work?” John said with a huge smile.

“I’m working in a coffee shop as a waitress but one of the managers decided to quit the job so I got the role now. Okay, but enough about me. What are you doing here John?” She asked.

“I’m here with my friends to celebrate a win but when I saw you, I knew that I have to talk with you”. She blushed at his confession.

“Oh, that’s so sweet of you but I don’t want to keep you away from your friends and celebration”.

“It’s not a problem Olivia. I’m already spending with them every single day so I think they are fine without me for now”. When he ended his sentence, she saw her friends coming through the door.

“Well, it was nice to talk with you but my friends just came”. She told him.

“Wait, before you leave, here’s my phone number”. He took napkin and wrote his number.

“Thank you. It was nice to meet you John. Have a nice night”. She left and run to her friends.

Her friends saw her talking with a guy and decided to ask.

“Who was it? Spill the tea Liv”. Jade asked exited.

“That was John. We talked for a couple minutes before you came”. She said smiling.

“Why does he looks familiar?” Ben asked.

“I don’t know. All I know is that he came with his friends to celebrate a win. Whatever that means”.

“That’s John Marino! Rookie in Penguins. You just talked with a hockey player.” Arthur screamed.

“Yeah, whatever. Can we start celebrating? I really want to get drunk today and celebrate Liv as a manager”. Becky said and Olivia laughed.

The next day, Olivia was debating if she should text John. After she learned that he’s a hockey player, she was scared to make a move. She called Jade for the emotional support.

“I don’t know if I should do it. Yes, he gave me his number but what if he only wants to hook up with me? Or what if he did it just because he felt sorry for me and wanted to be nice?” She was panicking.

“Liv, calm down. Just write to him something like it was nice to talk with you. Everything’s gonna be fine. Trust me”.

“Okay, but if he will laugh at me and my desperation, you are dead”. Jade giggled at her words.

Olivia decided to sent him a short message.

“Hi, it’s Olivia from the bar yesterday. It was really nice meeting you and sorry that I suddenly ran away. Hope you had fun with your friends tho”.

After couple of minutes, she got response.

“Hello. I thought you never gonna write to me haha. It’s fine that you ran away, I get it. You wanted to celebrate with your friends and not a guy that you just met. How about grabbing coffee so we can meet again and have a proper conversation?”

“I would love that! How about tomorrow at 11am in the coffee shop next to the bar we met?”

“Perfect! Can’t wait to see you”.

Olivia smiled at his text and already started picking up her outfit for tomorrow. She was at the coffee shop punctually but John was running late. After 10 minutes, she thought he was just messing with her and decided to get ready to leave, when John run through the door. When he saw her in her coat, he said.

“I’m so sorry Olivia for being late. I had training earlier and had to do an interview. I completely forgot to send you text that I might be late because the minute I left locker room, I went to the car to be here as fast as I could”. He said breathing heavily.

“It’s fine. At least you made it when I was still here because I was about to leave”.

“As a payback, let me pay for your coffee”. He proposed.

“You don’t have to do it”.

“But I want to so tell me what would you like”. He insisted.

They’ve talked couple hours about their lives. Olivia told him why she moved out all the way from California to Pennsylvania and about her interest in finance. John told her about his times in Harvard and he tried to explain hockey to her. They quickly became very comfortable with each other. After the coffee, John decided to drive her back to her dorm and from now on, they talked with each other every single day.

When John had time, he was picking her up from work so she doesn’t have to come back at night by herself. When she had free evenings, she was attempting his hockey games. They gained feelings for each but none of them wanted to make a move thinking they might ruin their friendship. Everything changed in February 2020.

Pittsburgh played against Tampa Bay Lightning. Penguins lost the game 4-2 and John’s ended up with broken cheekbone. Olivia couldn’t attempted this match but when she found out about his injury, she freaked out. The next day, she went to his apartment to check on him and when she saw how miserable he is, she knew that she has to take care of him. At first, he didn’t wanted to be burden for her but she insisted to help him. Olivia was trying to be there for him as much as she could with her crazy schedule in college and at work. Thankfully, it wasn’t that bad but still she was always checking on him. In that moment, John knew she’s a keeper.

When COVID hit in America, Olivia’s life changed. She couldn’t get back home in Monterey and she couldn’t stay in her dorm. No hotels were taking guests and no one was there to rent her apartment. She was stuck in Pittsburgh without place to live. In desperation, Olivia asked John if she can stay at his place. He was more than happy because he was also stuck in Pittsburgh all by himself. She felt guilty that he’s paying all the rent because she lost her job so she decided to pay him back by cleaning the apartment and cooking for him. Every evening they had movie nights. She was teaching him how to prepare meals and he was teaching her how to drive a car. They acted like old married couple. Everything they’ve been doing felt natural for both of them. After a month, John finally found the bravery to talk with her about their relationship.

“Hey, you have a minute?” John asked.

“Yeah, what’s up Johnny?” She called him by the diminutive of his name that he loved to hear.

“I was just thinking about what we are”.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, we live together, you are caring towards me and…” He paused.

“And?” She was confused.

“I have a feelings for you Liv. You are the best thing that happened to me since I got here and I was just wondering if you also have feelings for me”. He said on one breath, scared of her reaction.

“I also have feelings for you Johnny”. She admitted.

“Please say that you’re not joking now”. He said thinking that she’s just messing with him.

“Does it looks like I’m joking?” She grabbed his cheeks and kissed him.

“No… Does it means… Well no, I’ll just ask you. Would you like to be my girlfriend?” He asked shyly.

“I would love to be your girlfriend”. She said.

“Can I kiss you again?”

“You don’t have to ask, you are my boyfriend now”. When the words left her mouth, he thought he’s gonna pass out. He put his hand on her cheek and kissed her. The kiss was full of love. When they finally pull out, they looked on each other and started laughing.

“You are adorable Johnny”. She said to him and he blushed.

Olivia never returned to her dorm. She decided to live with John. This was a huge step for them but they knew that it’s the best solution looking on their schedules. First year of their relationship went smoothly. It was year full of love and support. Both of them were grateful to have each other. In 2022, they had a crisis. Olivia was putting all her focus on her final exams. She was graduating in May and couldn’t attempted Penguins games. At first, he was understanding but with time, he was tired of this and wanted her to attempted at least one game each month.

“I just don’t understand why you can’t come to my games”. He said when she haven’t showed up... again.

“I’m trying to graduate! I have to study hard to get the best marks and results so I can get my dream job.” She answered honestly.

“So your dream job is more important than me? Got it”. He said with venom in his voice.

“That’s not what I said John and you know it. I’m always watching your games in TV, I just don’t want to waste half of the day just to sit at the stadium and look pretty. I want to be productive”. She started getting mad at him.

“You know what? I’m leaving, I can’t this conversation with you right now”.

“Typical, always running away instead of having a conversation”.

“It’s better for us if I leave now before I say something I might regret later. Trust me”. He said heading into front door.

The moment he left, Olivia broke down with tears. She felt like a bad girlfriend for not supporting him. She decided to take a shower and go to sleep knowing that he won’t return for the night. The next morning, she woke up alone in the bed as she expected. Olivia decided to go and make herself a cup of coffee. To her surprise, she saw John making breakfast. When he heard her steps coming to the kitchen, he turned around and went to approach her.

“I’m sorry love for what I said yesterday. You didn’t deserved that. I know how stressful you are about your finals and I shouldn’t been so hard on you”. He said, voice filled with guilt.

“No, you are right Johnny. I should come to your games, I was a bad girlfriend for ignoring you…” Before she could finish her sentence, he stopped her.

“No. Stop right here Liv. You are an incredible girlfriend. I can always feel your support and I really appreciate the fact that you are watching every game even when you have to study”. He said truthfully and continued.

“I guess I was a little bit jealous that other guys have their girlfriends and wives with them”.

“Trust me, if I could, I would drop everything just to go and watch your games”. She said.

“Can we just forget about the fight and eat breakfast?” John asked.

“With pleasure Johnny”. Olivia said and kissed him.

After Olivia’s graduation, they finally had all the time for each other but their honeymoon haven’t lasted long. In July 2022, Penguins decided to trade John to New Jersey. He didn’t know how to tell her that.

“Liv, we have to talk”. He said when he came back.

“Are you going to break up with me?” She asked scared.

“What? No, never. Why would you think that?” He said surprised at her reaction.

“Well, you said that we have to talk with very serious tone”. She felt ashamed for even thinking about that.

“I don’t want to break up with you Liv, but you might not like what I’m about to say”.

“Okay…” She was confused.

“They traded me to New Jersey”. He sighed. She was looking at him before she spoke.

“What are we gonna do now?” She asked with tears in her eyes.

“I don’t know love. I was thinking that maybe you’ll come with me to New Jersey? I mean, nothing keeps you here anymore. You graduated and with your brain and degree, you can easily find a job there. Plus it’s super close to New York and Wall Street where you want to work”. John said, hoping that she’s gonna agree to move out with him to a different state.

“You really want me there with you?” She asked shyly.

“Well of course I want you there with me. I can’t imagine my life without you in it. What have you thought? That I’ll leave you here and try to handle long distance? John was surprised by her question.

“I don’t know. It’s a huge step for us and our relationship and I guess I was scared.” Olivia said embarrassed. He went and grabbed her cheeks so she can face him. He looked into her eyes and said.

“Liv, you know that we barely see each other when we live in the same apartment. I don’t want to risk losing the love of my life just because of the trade”. He poured every emotion in his speech.

“So what do you say? Will you move with me to New Jersey?”

“Yes!” She said excited.

“Looks like we are stuck togehter.” He said and she laughed.

“Oh I love you so much John Marino. Can’t wait for the new chapter.” She said.

"I love you too Olivia". He leaned down and kissed her.

But they don’t know, how tricky the next years are gonna be for them in New Jersey and how many problems they’ll face. Can their relationship survive this?

[coffee-at-annies]

Everyone saying this was Sid’s first fight since 2019 is forgetting when Sid wrestled a guy to his knees for Tanger’s honor in the preseason

[race-week]

2019: Williams late to preseason testing

2020: Rokit pulls out of title sponsorship deal with Williams before the season starts

2021: AR car got leaked after their app got hacked, ruining their car launch

2022: Williams starts the season with no previous testing of the new tyres

2023: 2 months before the start of the season Williams don’t have a Team Principal, Technical Director or a Senior Aerodynamicist

[belmottetower]

just one more question, promise!! this isn't so much me wanting info as it is wanting your opinion. how do you think jamie's loan came about? he made it to the first team but he wasn't good enough to get regular minutes yet, is what they said iirc. was he the one who pushed for a loan? do you think he was struggling with "dominating" or did that only happen at richmond with the gaffer pushing him to be the star? just interested in hearing your thoughts

Fun question! Let's start with the facts. Much like player sales, player loans can only happen during the transfer window - the period of time when it’s agreed teams can conduct business of adding players to their roster. These happen twice a year. The main one is in the summer, usually from mid June after the season ends, until the end of August. And then there is a shorter one in the middle of season, from 1 - 31 January. The summer transfer window starts during the off-season and extends into the beginning of the season - this is how Richmond was able to sign Zava in the first few weeks of the season. (When Jamie signs with Richmond at the start of season 2, it’s October, and that’s outside the transfer window BUT Jamie is also a free agent. He has no contract with another club. Teams can sign free agents at any time.)

Ted Lasso season 1 begins in early January 2020, so during the January transfer window. Jamie’s loan would have been agreed upon either the summer before the start of the 2019/2020 football season, or a few days before Ted joins Richmond in the winter transfer window. Given how settled he seems with the team, I think it’s pretty safe to say Jamie's loan started in the summer of 2019, six months before Ted came, and that he arrived in the same transfer window as Sam and Dani. This is Sam’s first season in the Premier League and he’s been there long enough for his stats to drop, so more than a couple of weeks, ergo, he came in the summer, and Dani is said to have arrived in the summer transfer window and immediately gotten injured. Jamie didn’t seem to know Dani at all when he arrived in 1.06, so it could be that Dani came to the UK in July and got injured in preseason training before Jamie arrived at Richmond. This would imply that Jamie’s loan was decided late in the transfer window, maybe in August, right as the season was about to get underway. 

There is the slight possibility that Jamie’s loan was longer than a single year and that he actually arrived at Richmond in the summer of 2018, or the January of 2019. I don’t actually believe this is the case, mainly because Jamie had not attended the For The Children gala before - the one in 1.04, February 2020, was his first time, and he would have been present for the February 2019 one if he’d been at Richmond earlier.  I also think if Jamie had been at Richmond for 12 or 18 months by the time Ted arrived, the vibe would be different between him and Roy - their tension is still fresh enough for it to have only been a few months. The main reason I am bringing up the possibility of a longer loan is just to say that they theoretically can happen. They aren’t a strict one-year thing.

As for the personal circumstances… I don’t think Jamie would have pushed for it. City was always his team growing up, and going through the Academy I think he would have always wanted to stay with City. But City has such a deep squad. They have players who would be starting every single game if they played at another club sitting on the bench week after week, just because of how talented the whole team is. They have more talent than they can use.

There’s actually a situation happening right now at City with Cole Palmer. He's one of their former academy players who is now 21, and he was called up to the senior team a few years ago. He has been training with them and getting some minutes, but just not enough time on the pitch to keep developing. He’s played in 28 first team matches across all competitions since 2020, he hasn’t started most of them, and to give some context, City played 61 matches across all competitions JUST THIS SEASON. He’s had very little game time in the past 3 seasons. City don't want to sell him, they see him as an academy success story, so the rumour is that now the summer transfer window is open, they’re going to send him away on loan so he can get good minutes and get more confidence and experience, and then at the end of the 2023/24 season, the club will reassess and maybe recall him to the main team, or maybe loan him for longer. 

I think it’ll have been a similar situation with Jamie. They couldn’t give him the minutes he needed but they didn’t want to sell him, so they sent him on loan to a club where he’d start every match, get a lot of minutes and develop more, then bring him home. But a couple of things make this a bit unusual for Jamie in terms of football realism: 

1) His age. 23 is very old for a loan from City. Even if he was 22 when it started, that’s still old. Cole’s only just turned 21 and his situation, of actually being called up to the senior squad and then loaned, is one that I haven’t seen happen in a while at City - while Ted Lasso was airing, there weren’t any players in that situation, so this is a brand new comparison I can now make for Jamie, and Cole is still a fair bit younger than Jamie would have been. The fact that Jamie was loaned out when he was almost 23 means that he was either lingering on the City senior team bench for YEARS, or that he was a bit of a late bloomer - that he actually hadn’t been called up to the senior squad very often, and he was one of the older players on City’s Elite Development Squad (the reserve team of young pro players, I wrote about them in the first answer) until he was about 21. If you click there, you’ll see quite a number of EDS squad are on loan. This is far more common than loaning out players who have already been called up to the senior squad. 

2) The fact he was loaned to another Premier League team. This is rare and weird for City, usually they send loanees to a lower league or to another country. Some Premier League teams DO loan to other Prem teams, but City doesn’t tend to, so this is something they fudged for the sake of the show. Important note about this: if you ever write a season 1 canon divergent fic where Jamie does NOT get sent back to Man City in 1.06, he could not play for Richmond against Man City in that final match of the season. Players on loan cannot play against their parent club - Jamie would have had to watch that match as a spectator. He could not have sat on the bench or been in the dressing room or anything, he would have literally not been allowed to be a part of the Richmond team in any way. (I included this situation in my season 1 do-over fic “jeff bridges.”)

A bit more on the age thing - sometimes, a really stunning young teenage player will be called up to the senior team almost immediately after signing their pro contract. The best real life example of this for Man City is Phil Foden. He’s a local Manchester lad, an academy product called up to the senior side when he was only 17. He didn’t always play that much, but he was never loaned out. Over the years, Pep Guardiola was criticised by some for not loaning him, pundits said Foden should demand a loan. But Pep wanted to keep him close and oversee his training development himself - he thought he was the most talented young player he had ever seen and the future of Man City. Over the years Foden rose through the ranks and started becoming a starter and a main part of the squad, and also the England squad - he debuted for England at 20. He’s just turned 23 and he is now seen as a main player, an established regular City star and Pep is now in a similar situation with Rico Lewis, a defender who went from captaining City’s Under 18 team in the 2021–22 season to being called up to the senior team in August 2022. Rico is also not going to be loaned, he is going to be kept close.

But this Magical Teenager Thing was very much NOT how the show portrayed Jamie’s story. The show acts like Jamie is an inexperienced youngster on the rise at 23, not an established superstar with six years of Premier League glory like Foden. It’s kind of unusual that at 23, Jamie still wasn’t getting enough minutes to get experience and yet City still wanted to retain him. By 23, the club really should have made a decision about keeping him or selling him. So this is what makes me think that he’d been playing a major role in the EDS team til he aged out of it, and only had a short time on the senior side - maybe one season, when he was 21 turning 22 - before his loan to Richmond.

There is a world in which Jamie WAS a teenage rising star who was getting the Phil Foden treatment - being kept around the first team by Pep but not playing games - and that after several years of that, he did actually request a loan so that he could play more. But I just find it really hard to imagine that he was lingering unused on the first team for 5 years. Jamie seemed to think Richmond was really shit - tragic he called them, he clearly thought he was above it and didn’t want to be there. That doesn’t fit for me with Jamie requesting a loan. But it’s possible he requested one and expected to be sent to a team in Germany or something and instead got Richmond. If someone wanted to write a fic in which he requested a loan, there would be specific ways to make it plausible, but it’s just not how I see it going.

Side note: I like to imagine that most real footballers are also in the Ted Lasso universe, especially as people like Pep and Southgate and Marcus Rashford are real, but Phil Foden is one of the players that I DON’T include as existing in the Ted universe, because his story of being that young superstar, even younger than Jamie, who Pep wanted to keep close, makes Jamie’s story so angsty in comparison - Jamie not making the same progress in the team as Foden, Jamie getting loaned when Foden wasn’t. Phil Foden would be, as @scoatneyhall likes to put it, a stick that James would use to beat Jamie with, and that’s not the kind of angst I enjoy, and Man City also didn’t have another local lad on the team at the time, it doesn’t quite track logistically. So for me, Jamie replaces Foden as the Man City Academy Product retained by City. (I also don’t think Jack Grealish exists in Ted world, sorry! Jamie is styled too closely on Jack, with the hair and with the low socks and shin pads. And Jamie is an original, he wants to be known for himself. He would never copy the famous style of another, more established player who was currently playing in the same league. He would never want to be known as a Grealish copycat, ergo, Jack does not exist in the same universe as Jamie.)

Re: Jamie “dominating” - given that it's the real Pep who was City’s manager on the show, I just can’t imagine this having happened on the City senior squad. Jamie could have been a leader and a star player on his EDS team, but a bad attitude would have counted against him, and with Pep on the City first team, it’s very much a no egos allowed zone. Jamie would have been a small fish in a big pond and whether he liked it or not, he would have had to be a team player in order to get to play at all. He would not have gotten away with acting like a prick to people off the pitch and he would not have succeeded in getting more minutes if he acted like a selfish player at City. He could have tried to prove himself and “dominate,” and be responsible for great solo goals, but he probably would have gotten in trouble for it - Pep does not offer players a lot of freedom to take control of the game. He has a system, he wants them to do exactly what he’s planned and stay exactly where he’s told them to go. 

City already play a version of Total Football, and what I think was happening is that James was “backseat driving” Jamie and telling him what he should do and how he should play, with no actual understanding of professional football or of how Pep specifically was playing the game. We talk about Jamie's history with Pep and Total Football on Subjectify, in our conversation review of episode 3.07, but Pep uses a really high rotation of players and I just think that James was in Jamie’s ear saying stuff that was stupid and uneducated in terms of City’s actual tactics. It could be that Jamie didn’t fully love or understand Pep’s Total Football system either, and he himself wanted to play different football, but given that he’s the one who explains to everyone that he’s actually NOT best used as a striker but rather as a central attacking midfielder, I think he knew perfectly well that his dad didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, but that his wrong opinions were wearing on him anyway. 

I have a personal headcanon as well that someone at club - maybe one of the coaches that had been around him a lot as he worked his way through the academy - saw James start to hang around more after Jamie signed his senior pro contract and could see the impact it was happening on him and they played a role in suggesting the loan, hoping maybe some distance from James would be good. I don’t think Jamie got the loan as “punishment” for being a prick, or not being a good team player - they definitely would have sent him away EXPECTING him to be playing a much more major role at a club that needed him - but I also don’t think he was happy about it, because even if HE understood the reason why it would benefit him in the long run, his dad would act like Jamie had failed to do well enough to earn a place in City’s starting lineup. And Jamie may have felt this way too, even if he had more understanding as to why. We know that Jamie never really agreed with James, he hated his dad’s opinions - James’s commentary on Jamie’s playing was something Jamie was pushing back against, not trying to live up to. But he would still have to agree with the basic assessment of “you’re not good enough to play for City so you’re getting loaned.” That’s the objective truth, there’s just a lot of different ways someone could say that or feel about it. Pep’s approach to that concept will be very different from James’s, and Jamie probably ended up feeling pretty shit about it.

So yes. I think the majority of the issues we see in season 1 with Jamie are because Jamie is bitter about being sent away, about being deemed not good enough to get the minutes with City, and because of how George Cartrick used him at Richmond. In the conversation review I linked above, I said "I see George’s mindset as being so similar to the way James thinks Jamie should act and play. So if you have Jamie feeling resentment over being sent away, and then being managed by George who would have just reinforced every nasty thing James had been saying over the years, it really makes sense why he would act the way he did." He took a young, talented player trained by Pep Guardiola who could operate in a variety of attacking roles but who was used to being a small part of a Total Football team and put him up front by himself as an out and out striker, a classic 9, and used him to coast, basically saying, “this kid is better than all of you, just get the ball to him,” encouraged Jamie to take over, and Jamie was almost forced to lead the team that way and therefore feel responsible for everything they achieved. It's exactly like the formation with Zava in season 3 except that Jamie would not have had the power to request that formation, it would have been thrust upon him.

We talked about this in the conversation review of 3.03, how he had no discipline and how his raw talent was being exploited. And how that situation both fed Jamie’s ego and made him feel VERY stressed about the wins and losses - the thing is, even with Jamie as the team’s best player, Richmond still wasn't doing well! They were mid-table and had lost 3 of the last 4 when Ted arrived. Jamie is struggling with all of this, the losses hit him hard just like they hit Roy hard. It’s one of the things they have in common in season 1 - those two are really angry about the team’s losses and about Ted being hired, far more than the rest of the team. I think the Jamie we meet in season 1 is the worst Jamie has ever been, but I also don't think that he has been acting like that for years on end or anything. I think it's recent. I think the reason he bounces back to having a better attitude so quickly, in the middle of season 1, is because it’s a reversion, a return to his more natural sense of self, even if his ego is very real.

This is a bit all over the place but I hope some of this makes sense or resonates with you!

[vro0m]

Midseason driver changes 2010's

(in red what's essentially due to bad performance)

2010

Chandhok (bad performance?) -> Yamamoto (4 races, illness and/or sponsorship issues) -> Klien (1 race) -> Yamamoto (2 races) -> Klien (2 last races) (yeah idek what happened there either)

Senna (sponsorship issues and/or rude email???) -> Yamamoto (1 race)

De la Rosa (bad performance) -> Heidfeld (to the end)

2011

Heidfeld (bad performance) -> Senna (to the end)

Perez (crash) -> De la Rosa (1 race)

Trulli (bad performance?) -> Chandhok (1 race) -> Trulli (to the end)

Karthikeyan (bad performance) -> Ricciardo (8 races, replaced Liuzzi) -> Karthikeyan (1 race) -> Ricciardo (to the end)

Liuzzi (driver programme ? Unclear) -> Ricciardo (1 race)

2012

Grosjean (race ban) -> D'ambrosio (1 race)

2013

Raikkonen (back surgery) -> Kovalainen (last 2 races)

2014

Kobayashi (just because) -> Lotterer (1 race)

Ericsson (replaced after Caterham was saved from administration) -> Stevens (to the end)

2015

Alonso (preseason accident) -> Magnussen (1 race)

Merhi -> Rossi (shared seat all year because Merhi drove for another serie at the same time)

2016

Alonso (crash) -> Vandoorne (1 race)

Haryanto (sponsorship issues) -> Ocon (to the end)

Kvyat (bad performance) < - > Verstappen (to the end)

2017

Alonso (Indianapolis 500) -> Button (1 race)

Palmer (bad performance) -> Sainz (to the end)

Wehrlein (injury) -> Giovinazzi (1 race)

Massa (illness) -> Di Resta (1 race)

Kvyat (bad performance) < - > Gasly (to the end)

Sainz (replaced Palmer) -> Kvyat (1 race)

Gasly (superformula race) -> Hartley (1 race)

Kvyat (bad performance) -> Hartley (to the end)

2018

None

2019

Gasly (bad performance) < - > Albon (to the end)

[dear-ao3]

A different anon but as someone deeply fascinated by Esteban Ocon and the redbull musical chairs here are some extra notes:

Estie bestie is currently at Alpine formerly Renault since 2020. And back in 2018 (ie when he was in Racing Point) there were rumors linking him to the Renault seat Daniel would take in 2019 so that’s possibly why his and Lances friendship survived

Unrelated but Alpine/Renault is currently the Frenchest team to ever French. It is (or at least was) partly owned by the French government through their stake in Renault (Alpine got renamed cause Alpine is the sports car brand of Renault. Not that they make any sports cars I believe they made maybe one in 2017). The current two Alpine drivers are the aforementioned Estie bestie and Pierre Gasly (both French. Also childhood friends to enemies to they have to tolerate each other now) and while their current reserve driver is an Australian, he will hopefully for his own good take a page out of his countryman’s Oscar Piastris book and hightail it out of there for his own good. The most likely replacement for him would be Victor Martins. Also French. The Alpine factories are in Enstone (UK) and Viry (France) so that’s the least French part of that team

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming of rbr 2nd seat:

So rbr started by buying the Jaguar team in mid 2000s after afaik getting fed up by Sauber who they used to sponsor. Also at that time Sauber was sponsored by Petronas, Mercedes’ current title sponsor. Fun fact

The two drivers that they started with was David Coulthard who no one cares about in this story and Mark Webber, Australian, first victim of rbr 2nd seat shenanigans

At some point (for the 2009 season I think?) Seb Vettel, German, certifiable little shit at that time, replaces Coulthard

Insert a highlight reel of Seb Vettels warcrimes between ~2010 - 2013, which culminate in Multi-21 Mark Webber retiring after the 2013 season. He gets replaced by Toro Rosso driver/Red Bull junior Daniel Ricciardo, Australian, happy go lucky guy and our next victim in a couple of years

2014 brings new regs for the cars and Red Bull struggles to adapt. For context Seb went from a 9 win streak at the end of 2013 to no podiums in 2014. Yeah. So he runs away to Ferrari for 2015 to become a victim of Italian incompetence instead

He gets replaced by Daniil Kvyat, Russian, the most forgettable man in this story. Also he is pretty new into F1, it’s his second or third year there

2015 is sorta meh for rbr but the two Daniels are sorta even. And then 2016 happens

Here’s the thing; Daniil decides to play bumper cars in Russia and China right off the bat at the beginning of the season, one of the victims being former rbr golden child Seb. Now there’s more lore that I don’t remember but it culminates in him being replaced for Spain 2016 by Max Verstappen, Dutch, aged like 18 at that time

Max goes on to win his first race with Red Bull because Mercedes (the best team on the grid) is in the throes of a civil war and their drivers take each other out. There could be novels written about those two drivers btw

The next two and half years are a slow process of the garage slowly going from preferring Danny Ric to preferring Max. Highlights include Baku 2018 and then Dans redemption win in Monaco the same year. There could be novels about this as well but we culminate in Dan leaving for Renault

And then we get to the real musical chairs. He gets replaced by Pierre Gasly, French, third victim of rbr 2nd seat

He has a shite start to the season and ends up getting replaced by Alex Albon, Thai, a rookie that year, midway through the season after Christian Horner, Mr Ginger spice, swore up and down he won’t

Intermission: Toro Rosso liked playing musical chairs as well and Pierre Gasly only got an F1 seat at the last few races for 2017, Alex got told he’s racing in 2019 (his first season) days before preseason testing. With no experience in an F1 car. And there’s a world of difference between a shit car (Toro Rosso) and a good car (Red Bull). Yeah they were ultimately victims of rbrs shitty management, especially Alex since he does wonders in a Williams now

Rbr decides to drop Alex after 2020. Except they usually promote Toro Rosso drivers and the two Toro Rosso drivers right now? Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat. Yeah

So they end up hiring Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez, Mexican, who knows if he will be racing next year. Idk if he got an extension or if they hired him for four years, either way his contract is supposed to last until end of 2024 season but right now how Mr Ginger spice is acting… yeah

Also, Daniel just came back to rbr as a driver for Alpha Tauri (former Toro Rosso) after a mid season swap that was widely regarded as shittily done so there are very little contract issues that would stop Red Bull from hiring him, a marketing departments golden boy, a good friend of Max, as the second driver to maybe finally have a good team

(Red Bull has never ended 1-2 in drivers standings. Checo is currently second but Sir Lewis Hamilton can do wonders sometimes)

So to reiterate the seat movements:

It’s Webber -> Ricciardo -> Gasly -> Albon -> Perez in that metaphorical seat which when rb had a clear first and second drivers it was usually second drivers seat

And (Coulthard ->) Vettel -> Kvyat -> Verstappen for that other seat. The one that if rb had a clear first and second drivers was usually first (Vettel, Verstappen after ~2018)

Bonus fun fact about Liam Lawson, one of the threats for Checos seat:

He is born in 2002. He’s younger than Fernando Alonso’s career by several months, upwards to a year

He is the guy that knocked Verstappen out of quali in Q2 in Singapore and consequently broke the several year long streak of at least one car always in Q3 that Red Bull has been holding

There is always a debate if he has a guaranteed seat from rbr or not at some point. There were rumors of a guaranteed for 2025 a while ago but who knows…

Sorry for rambling so much I have thoughts haha

forgot i’ve been sitting on this ask for a month lol but yes. red bull second seat drama is indeed fascinating. and now there is aparently another rumor that arthur leclerc might come up to f1 through racing bulls (alpha tauri) which would disrupt the process again.

[workingforitallthetime]

no more trevor/jamie contract anons please. everybody needs to chill out. just a couple of general points to bear in mind:

the sky is not falling because they're not at camp. this is not the thing that is going to drive trevor out of anaheim. tk missed the start of camp in 2019 and then he signed for six years. quinn hughes missed camp and most of the preseason waiting on his contract two years ago and now he's the captain. william nylander held out until december when he signed his last contract in 2018, and now he's in negotiations again and giving quotes about how he wants to be a leaf.

this is not just about "the ducks have cap space and they should spend it on trevor and jamie." the ducks have a ton of young stars coming and they have to plan for the long term. how these two contracts shake out affects mason mctavish and leo carlsson and olen zellweger etc. etc., both in terms of cap space and as precedent.

pat brisson knows what he's doing. sit back and watch him work.

[taylorrepdetective]

You’ve been spot on with everything so far, including her jet being tracked like the NORAD Santa tracker, so any guesses for what transpires post Super Bowl?

I said it was pretty obvious, and it was.

Well, we’re entering a transition phase, so I would never say I can guess anything very far in advance. But similarly to how it all became really clear in November where things were going, I feel like I can make a pretty good guess at what I think we’ll see next. The main caveat being that she is unpredictable and there are a million things I can’t know. But I think we have seen that her and his schedules are easy to see and are set in stone, so it makes predicting things easier that it was from say 2019-early 2023. And none of the below is mind blowingly novel. This is exactly what everyone expects to happen:

I think most likely after he takes a week or so✅, he’ll head to her shows in Australia✅. Probably Sydney✅ for a couple of shows. Then he’ll head home to his offseason routine✅, whatever that looks like. He’s gotta go find those abs with his trainer and shoot some commercials etc. Then she’ll be back and I think she’ll join him wherever that is✅ (possibly Florida with his trainer, that idea was already put out into the universe.) Her next tour break will be their first opportunity to really spend a lot of time together while they’re both off✅. So her jet will park where he is and they’ll make occasional appearances there. He will also probably be seen in her spots (NYC, Nash, LA✅.) Then she’s off to Europe and his offseason/preseason work begins in full. I don’t think she has any real time off at all during the Europe leg so she probably won’t come home but I think he’ll head over there for a couple of shows, probably early on✅. If he’s allowed with camp and stuff he may try to make it to a London✅ show, an important market for him to be seen in (for his post football A-list movie star future or whatever it is he has in mind.). But I’m not sure it can be swung. Then she’s off again in time for his early games, but then she’s back on the road again and he’ll probably have a bye week where he can go to a show. And then she’s done with tour just in time for her birthday, the holidays and the road to the playoffs/playoffs and engagement season. So really great timing all around. Then it’ll be time for TS11 full of songs everyone will attribute to him, and joe and maybe a bit of Matty. I’m really looking forward to a song about how Travis is a love that is really something, not the idea of something. And maybe he’ll retire. But that is so far away. Look at what happened unexpectedly in the last year. So no bets here, just stating obvious thinking. And even if all this does happen, there will be other things I can’t predict.

Alternatively, if their goal is to end it sooner, that April to June timeframe is probably the best time. After they’ve spent quiet time together and found they have nothing to talk about and then their busy schedules make it too hard. That gives enough time to make it feel plausible that it wasn’t fake and only going to last until the SB. But I think they’ll give it another season, because it’s working so well and all the timing for her tour lines up super well. And it’s clear that for whatever reason, she’s allergic to being single.

[sunskate]

cpom's RD feels like an upgraded version of their 2016/17 SD and their 2019/20 Too Darn Hot RD. Fun and bubbly and swingy has been a strength of theirs for awhile even with Igor choreo. The danciness of this RD is carried all the way through- with other RDs coming out this season yea there's a lot of disco, but also the "social dance" aspect is not always very consistent, it'll get dropped during the elements. Cpom dance right through their elements, it's imo their best RD yet in terms of composition. They spend a lot of time in hold and its packed but they've still noticeably improved their speed and ice coverage, its impressive!

aww baby CPom - they're really fun to watch as juniors - the swingy part of the 2016 SD at JGPF:

speaking of the 2019 RD i think she wore one of her dresses from that program for the performance the other night:

this new program is SO good - they really are dancing start to finish. the way the step sequence is choreographed to the accents in the music, the way they use their arms (once this is more in unison, it's going to be amazing), the way the holds for so much of it are part of the dance. they look sharp and free at the same time. and this is preseason!