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timotheetea · 7 years ago

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Could you write a post "50 unusual facts about Timmy"?

Don’t know how ‘unusual’ these are, but here’s 50 facts/quotes:1. “To love someone is to become them, and that love is an act of empathy, and that to take on your [lover’s] name in an expression of love is to totally reveal yourself as a human being and to offer yourself as a compassionate lover and friend.” 2. “(Happiness is) that feeling of flow. I think you can accomplish flow doing anything, it can be stapling papers, it can be playing sport, it can be the way you drive a car. If you can achieve that kind of ow where it becomes mindless, sensory and instinctive – that’s happiness.” 3. He grew up in hell’s kitchen, Manhattan, 43th and ninth, in a 33-floor high-rise so close to the clouds that ”it felt like we were literally floating in the sky”. & “I grew up in this melting-pot of cultures in the 33th floor of a tower floating above the sky, and I felt like it let me be free to find myself.”4. Favourite actor: mainly he mentions Joaquin Phoenix, but one time he said it was Louis de Funès. 5. “This is the dream, to be at the forefront of any film… I get to be a part of something that is beyond any sort of acclaim, affecting people on a visceral level when they see it, or at least some members.”6. What does love feel like to you? “The definition changes by the day, and what I can think of today as far as what love is to me would be having the security to receive warmth.” 7. “I was in college for a little bit and it felt like a clear decision to not [finish]; it was scary because I didn’t want to rob myself of growing as a human. But it’s been the exact opposite: going from set to set, working with creative, open people, having mentors rooting for you. There’s education within that, I guess.”8. His father’s side of the family is from La Chambon-sur-Lignon and saint-Agréve in France 9. “I want to pursue other things creatively, not so much music, but definitely writing and directing. I’m going to be very, very patient about that. The dream as an actor is to be economically self-sustainable and what this year has been is beyond that now. I’m getting a creative license of sorts.” 10. How did your parents meet? “My father, who’s French, was on a business trip in New York for Le Parisien. He’s a journalist, who now works for the United Nations. My mom was a dancer, now she’s in the real estate business. I can’t tell if my sister and I feel more French or American. I stayed in New York while she’s been living in Paris for quite some time. I spent every summer in France until I was 15 years old, but New York is my home.”11. What do you read in your spare time, do you prefer essays or literature? “Literature. I’m currently obsessed with Russian authors. Tolstoj, but also Dostoevskij. Crime and Punishment is a gut punch.” Also he said he’s read Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Homer, and Lord Byron, books mentioned in Prodigal Son. About reading: “Maybe the deep narratives that comprise most books are really daunting.” 12. He’s really good at improv 13. Timothée Chalamet’s high-school drama teacher Mr. Shifman on the naturalism of his acting: “He just happened to come to my room for the callback audition, and I remember his audition because I gave him the highest score I’ve ever given a kid auditioning.” 14. He mentioned James White as his favourite film. 15. He watched interstellar 12 times.16. Blue Valentine is his favourite romantic film. 17. “I saw The Dark Knight when I was thirteen, before I applied for LaGuardia, and Heath Ledger made me want to act” in another interview: “When I was 12 years old I petitioned my mom and grandma to see Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight with me. I left that theatre a changed man. Heath Ledger’s performance in that film was visceral and viral to me. And I now had the acting bug.”18. His favourite reality tv show is I love New York 19. He said La La Land was so inspiring, it felt like an ode to his grandma’s life. 20. He wanted to be a famous footballer growing up. “I am French, after all.” & “I was a coach at a soccer camp in France. I coached 6 to 10-year-olds when I was around 13. I was good at it, but the pay was not acting money.” 21. Up until he was 15 he went to France in the summers to visit his father’s side of the family. 22. His sister Pauline is 26. 23. His great great grandparents were jewish immigrants who were fleeing prosecution. 24. His mom once called their family a ‘nuclear family’. 25. He’s got a turtle named ertle. 26. His parents have been married 32 years - I believe their anniversary is on October 13th. 27. His grandfather is Harold Flender, who wrote Rescue in Denmark28. He went to the elementary school ps87 29. He went to J.H.S. 54 Brooker T. Washington on the upper west side which he called a “miserable, miserable 3 years” 30. His old roommates were Giullian Gioiello and Kristina Reyes 31. He once said about his high school LaGuardia: “Truthfully I went because I thought there’d be less academic work!” 32. “I naturally have a me-against-the-world mentality and I’ve been fighting it since I was 13. It’s felt like it’s only gotten me in lonely, angry places.”33. He studied Cultural Anthropology at Columbia University. He said about Columbia: “I felt like I was another product on the factory line.“ 34. He used to live in the Bronx on the Grand Concourse 35. “Fourteen was the worst year of my life. Sixteen was the worst year of my life. Seventeen, 18 and 19 were pretty bad, too, but 15 was excellent for me. I know what the “special, beautiful room in hell” means. It just speaks to John’s genius in seeing the world through the eyes of this age.” 36. “LaGuardia was my Thomas More in that I was surrounded by kids like me who were outgoing and obnoxious and needed a ton of attention.” 37. Did you have support from your parents, Timothée? “Oh yeah, I’ve been very lucky. One article [about Prodigal Son] started by saying that I had a “challenging upbringing in Hell’s Kitchen,” and my mom was incensed. She said, “What are you talking about? You had babysitters!” But we all have our issues. Whatever genetic loading I had put me through trials and tribulations I almost didn’t make it to the other side of, but I’m here now. I wouldn’t be able to do a play like [Podrigal Son] without having gone through that.” 38. “The most humbling part of these experiences is realizing how ladder-oriented it is,” he said. “And that’s only fair. It’s a testament to gatekeeping, I guess, and you do have to earn your stripes.”39. “Columbia takes a wholehearted academic commitment that I think I have in me, but it was just not where my mind was at the time.” 40. About Prodigal Son: “It’s been kicking my ass, but in the best way possible,” he says of the run, with its eight- and even nine-show weeks. “There are some days when I go home, especially during the rehearsal process, and I’m like, ‘Wow, this is really hard,’ but the lower the lows, the higher the highs. When I have those days where I feel like everything clicks, it’s the most exceptional feeling in the world. The ups and downs are crazy, but it feels like every muscle is being used on stage.” & “I have to get up on the nights when I feel like I don’t have it in me and find a way to wrench it out of me and get through the nights when it feels amazing. The story is so emotional and it hits so close to home. I was living in the Bronx last year and I was losing my mind, and I get to exercise those demons every night.”41. “I’ve always had that smaller guy’s mentality, and I fought my entire life and tried to assimilate more, but [acting in Prodigal Son] is like a mental exercise that I get to be this guy and people are watching. I feel like it serves a purpose and my me-vs.-the-world mentality is not just dragging me down like I usually feel. In fact, it’s being put to some good use.”42. “I’m going to enjoy every second of this—it sounds cheesy, but I think of myself as an actor third, an artist second, and a fan first,” he said. “But I have genuine fear of having the inability to replicate this moment again.”43. Similarities with Elio: “An openness to life—to the universe, a yearning for deep experiences, hopefully.”43. “New York in the summer is my favorite time of the year; there’s something special about it.”44. About borrowing Call Me By Your Name (the book) at a college library: “I didn’t give it back for a year and I had a fine of $100, so before this movie gave me a career it took money from me.”45. “When you’re suffering, or grieving, the only thing you can control or protect yourself from is the added layer of shame, beating yourself up over heartbreak, or forbidding yourself the pain.”46. “No sexuality, just love.”47. Do you have a secret party trick?“A capacity for self-loathing.”48. He auditioned for Spider Pan, “I read twice and I left sweating in a total panic.”49. “Now that my foot is in the door, I’m locked and loaded. I’m focused.” 50. “The villain in Call Me by Your Name is the tragedy of love—what seems to be part of the deal you sign with someone when you experience an amazing time with them.”

#timothée chalamet #timothee chalamet #cmbyn #call me by your name #lady bird #beautiful boy #miss stevens #prodigal son #the EFFORT to write this lmfao

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falconsandfishes · 6 years ago

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platonic relationship

i have a bone to pick with plato. see the socratic method is basically the scene in montynpython in which a woman is weighed against a peice of wood to determine if she is a witch. and this is pretty much also the measurement system women use for me judge a cardio junkie by his ability to withstand smoke fumes. ive been up all night listening to eminem because i wish that i had the mysogny that he had because logically i should be mad at these females who lie to me but apparently developmentally theyre limited.

so pretty much i just want my neck not to hurt and my side and platonic love isn really the kind which could support my lumbar spine but if you think im angry you are right and maybe if i rhyme my brain will work this time and ill finally be able to explain was never targeted at my objects of affections at all i like to walk around the mall see a cutie with a skirt on and she sees me looking at her tells her grandmother to leave her there because this place looks fun as she smiles at me there comes abu my friend who judges me and judges you and as i stare at her i can tell she wants me too probably more emotionally mature than my mom and a virgin with her skirt on and its workun but i have the confidence of a plastic bag floating in the wind shes cheesing while i hide behind her even though shes 4 11 and im 6 4 and because he was there i didnt pass because i dont cross paths but even thinking about having a girlfriend makes him mad. if shes too young for me i would have figured that out but it doesnt help that no matter how young or how old even the weather lady im told shes not right for me so will you make up your mind please can someone define maturity because apparently there is a reverse correlation between it and age and socrates was no sage im not really impressed that he drank poison similarly i smoke weed which takes me back to age three and birthday parties then i think about how much my life failed but only because everyone always stood in front of me. so snitch on me when i talk to you when youre in front of me at your desk and say your story about butterflies is the best begging middle and end. meawhile i havent even gotten to the first page of my legend of the sword it had a much more compliated plot which was cut off. then tell me i didnt count to tenthousand while you were listening to the teacher say the is spelled t h e and put me in a remedial reading class with a bunch of girls and address us as the girls so we can read books about a mouse who lives with his family in a house but if girls and boys are the same how can you explain i was the only one in that group to be bumped up to the advanced on by 2nd grade. i guess reading the encylopedia of animals wasnt a wase memorized their latin names bufo sativa phylobates. so by third grade i was getting so good at math that they took me out of class and had me testing material meant for 5th graders and it was really lame how can i explain all the flaws in the system to all the other people who were also ruined by it.

finally one girl who was definitely old enough for me waved at me when i looked at her and i got a boner and walked over to the ladies at the tea shop who looked at me with a disgusted look on their faces then some gangster looking dude older than i am replaces me with his hand on her shoulder.

before i was 18 i could beat up my dad and ever since then i knew not many people in my generation had much of a chance against me but i looked so thin they were not understanding. high iq causing depression have anothe smoke session even though you have athsma everyone remember to complain that i prefer to get high off one big hit i stayed in high school till i graduated but i left.

unfortunately with brain damage i could still make straight as which made me think i was ok gpa jumping above 3.68 when i only show up an agerage of 3 days.

practice your sky hook do your pushups get embaressed when an asian princess sees you do them 20 hanlaps perfect form and im not even a jock wow id better stop. next thing the girl i like is sitting on my lap in class telling me she likes me back shes sitting on my desk shes rubbing my face my life isnt gay justnsaynsomehing and youll get laid.

nah ill let some kid with adhd steal her seat and ill help him with math instead because i didnt tell her this but im alread braindead. my soul probably died with my pet lizard or my kitten perhaps it was internet addiction.

what makes you think youll be make it as a porn star? you know im hot. well maybe i just didnt want you to act like a slut. i still remember the blonde who waves at me and smiled my freshman year it was clear that the world was my oyster the only problem was i couldn make my own choices.

i wanted to be an actor but i was so good at acting nobody got it. was so good at debating everyone liked to argue. was so succinct couldnt get the last word. so fast nobody would pass me the ball so dominant in wrestling i had to pretend i couldnt win just to have a friend.

pretty much i feel like the last cro magonon stuck on an island without charlotte saisselin bounce baby bounce three story house you look so cute in a blouse. hey look theres charlottes stalker i think il wave my arms around.

bounce baby is a reference to eigth grade i was watching a 100 meter race and then some black guy said that she never raced again. weed turned her from a goth into a wigger and after that i figured id become one too but it wasnt till 2009 i started to dress like you. what happened was i got some clothes from olympia sports to wear as warmups on the basketball court and to work as a salesman i shaved my head smiled knowing i was dead but still i couldnt even say i wanted to kiss girl without that not being cool enough for my nephew and her bowl broke too

it fell from her car on the pavement and she said that he didnt even get to hit it.

so now im living in my dads room on the floor and finally my back isnt sore i have a well paying job im away from mom i have iron lungs and dad still doesnt approve because now i play too much basketball.

hi im interested in going to california. i meant connecticut but califonia will do since its warm there. sure steve come on out west but read the fine print your 20s are dead.

prove you wrong shame on me. dont prove you wrong brag proudly. stay out west and let your dad die. watch him act like an asshole at home back east one more time. your reward for having surived on the street for years as a middle clas kid

your friend says he thought you were dead. by the way he has this girlfriend in connectiut. oh you were the one who set him up with her? theres a whole website or three centered around her?

better get you to spend your money on heroin and make you seem like a jerk in front of my dad. my excuse is im skitzophrenic.

all because my dad shamed me for growing up even crazier than him. thats why i called up my friend and asked him to date my girlfriend.

there must have been something in those amphetamines which made me keep stopping at her house. i found them up on the shelf years after i tried to spill them out.

it was the first time an adult had ever called me immature. he also said my handwriting was bad and i needed a cure. talking to him i began to get red where even to begin? i have a lot of prblems at home and this isnt fair. see my dad camps in the yard and gets drunk watches us through windows andmy sister punches me in the head. mom pretty much works till shes in bed.

every day she watches the same soap opera and oprah which i record for her on tape. my sisters friends call me gay so i go over and play with the kids from the other neighorhood all day.

one of them listens to a lot of eminem. his favorite song is if you dont like it you can suck my dick. hes in reform school and proud to be off his meds. when i talk about biking down a steep hill and blending into traffic he thinks i meannliterall blend in.

two gay twin brothers end of the road honor roll kids. play baseball and have alcoholic parents. hey ill tell the girl steve likes he likes her then she will never talk to him again. accept his chalenge to a fight and he will bang my head into a tree which is the same thing i did to another kid who tried to jump me but got sperated from his friends.

refuse to dance with the only girl in middle school who has hips. make fun of the girls intelligence who sits next to you in math and has giant tits. refuse to eat candy off the first girls tounge then your science teacher who pushed pills on you flips on the tv its 911

stare at a girl all day and say you dont like her. girls think youre gay if you have a boner. telll me a calculator doesnt mattrer for a test but i do worse without one. make a flag pencil it isnt cool enough for the other kids.

sit with the retarded kids timmy and jimmy. watch nick all night fresh prince and bill cosby.

your sister wont stop torturing you so hold her at knife point. buy knives at school try to resell them and for the first time ever the kids you sold them to ge caught witth knives.

stay in the program with three teachers who gave up on you. one leaves to become a dean suddenly your grades go up. kids are jealous because you dont do homework. girls smile at you knowing that your test scores are high despite that.

throw shotput as far as a high school kid without any exercise or practice. run around the track dozens of times in pants you still arent good enough yet.

go to an alternative program reluctantly in high school its sort of like jail. everyone smells like cigarettes the air is stale. this isnt good for you but we will make you think if you leave you will fail.

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littleharpethcrossfit · 4 years ago

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Saturday, 2 January, 2021 !! Run/Row....Push Presses....2 AMRAPS.....Run/Row

Our 1st workout of 2021 !! It was a dreary, cloudy, chilly morning.

Manny led us in a different mobility warmup. Different because it was primarily DYNAMIC, instead of STATIC stretching. Manny knows what he’s doing.

Warmup #2: A surprise !! You were sent out the gate to run 800m in the Arboretum, or you could Row 1000m.

Strength WOD: 3 Push Presses EMOM X 10 Minutes. Begin light and increase.

Larry/Armando/Shane/Brendan=185 Robert/Aiden/Ed=165 Nathan=155 Jack/Dyer/Scott/Forrest/Timmy=135 Scotty=125 Rodney/Tom=110 Angel/Warren A=105 Coach/Chase=95 Linda/Angela=65 Shannon=55 Manny=Dynamic Presses Paul=present

The WOD: Two 8 Minute AMRAPS Score=Total Combined Reps

10 Power Cleans (95/65)

10 Slam-Balls (50/30)

4 Minutes Rest

10 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (95/65)

10 Pullups

RXers:

Larry=260 Shane=248 Brendan=235 Robert=207 Timmy=197 Jack=180

The Rest:

Linda=260 Armando/Chase=230 Ed=229 Angela=208 Shannon/Coach=206 Rodney=205 Angel=203 Nathan=193 Scott/Warren A=192 Forrest/Aiden=189 Tom=180 Dyer=177 Paul=170 Scotty=130 Manny=Static Exercises

Cool-Down Surprise !! A repeat 800 run or 1000m Row. It looked like everyone participated.

Notes:

In a well planned operation, 3 of our maintenance fellows totally re-did the anchoring system for our picnic table party lights. In addition, they greatly enhanced our ability to turn the lights on and off. Now, instead of having to climb on a stool and plug the extension cord into the ceiling outlet, we now have only to flip an eye level clapper switch. Most of this effort was instigated by the fact that OLD TOM habitually cheats his Wall-Balls by bouncing his ball off the Maple tree near where the light string was formerly anchored. Rather than have OLD TOM change his cheating to a different tree, the codependent trio moved the anchor. I wonder if I could get one of them to occasionally bring me ice to cool my beer.

Brendan returned. He had been vacationing somewhere in the Rocky Mountains with family. While there, a CrossFit box he visited did “MURPH”. Even tho’ he was not acclimatized to the 8,000 ft elevation, he managed to beat everyone by 20 minutes. (Not for just anyone at LHCF would this be printed as FACT). He was wearing a LHCF T-shirt, but he didn’t tell them that the average age of the people he trains with is over the half century mark.

Once upon a time, someone commented on this blog that “A CrossFit that is free can’t be worth anything”.

Sunday at 1 PM. Temp in the mid 40′s. No rain.

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whatifitscool · 4 years ago

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PPV Impressions – AEW Full Gear 2020

By Timmy Daytona

Despite the continuing pandemic, All Elite Wrestling has achieved a level of consistency that competitors in the wrestling industry have struggled to match. In their final PPV event of the year – Full Gear – it featured a sizeable card featuring some possibly exciting match-ups. Did it help them go out with a bang?

World Title Eliminator Tournament Final: Kenny Omega vs Hangman Adam Page

Prior to the match starting, it’s worth noting that Omega’s entrances have gotten longer since his and Hangman’s tag team championship loss at the hands of FTR. His introduction to his ring entrance included these digs at Hangman:

“He has headlined more PPVs, scored more AEW singles wins, has a better AEW winning percentage and has 8 more years’ experience than Hangman Page.”

Kenny’s interviews before the tournament presented a version of himself that is laser-focused on returning to singles glory. To demonstrate this intent, see his squash of Sonny Kiss. All business, his attempts at sportsmanship after the match looked insincere and the flashes of arrogance on the way to the final may be teasing a heel turn at some stage.

Since their days in NJPW, the Elite have enjoyed success in their storylines of friendships disintegrating and they have not disappointed when incorporating that drama into their matches. Omega and Page’s tag team match against The Young Bucks at Revolution is still the top-rated match of 2020. Their chemistry shines whenever they face one another.

That chemistry was evident in this match which felt realistic in its depiction of a competitive match-up of two former partners who know each other’s arsenals so well. It was hard-hitting, they countered each other repeatedly throughout but towards the end, Page missed a Buckshot Lariat and was hit with two V-Triggers and a One-Winged Angel before succumbing to the 3-count. This was perhaps Page’s best singles performance in AEW’s young history. The man can go and because we haven’t seen the two former partners really explode since Page betrayed the Bucks and was kicked out of the Elite, there is a sense that there could be more confrontations down the road.

The camera lingered on Page’s lost and dazed expression following his defeat. Omega barely acknowledged him and did not wait for Page at the end of the match. And Page appeared later, watching from a distance following the Bucks’ match. These subtle but significant developments are as exciting as the matches themselves.

Orange Cassidy vs John “4” Silver

In the second match of the night, Orange Cassidy and John “4” Silver would settle their short feud. As number 4 in The Dark Order, you’d think that he’d just be a generic villain but it’s great that AEW remain committed to giving opportunities to wrestlers – who aren’t main draws – their moments to shine. Silver definitely did shine – the man is a beast. The way he manhandled Cassidy, unleashed those roundhouse kicks and how he powered out of a swinging DDT, Silver showed potential that he is quickly becoming a threat. Also, how great was it that he ripped out Cassidy’s pockets and put them in his mouth? His loss to Cassidy was never in question but AEW consistently teases that unexpected wins could happen at any time. The presentation of the product is that it is a place of elite wrestlers so hypothetically, anyone could win (see Private Party’s elimination of the Young Bucks).

TNT Championship Match: Cody Rhodes (C) vs Darby Allin

Darby Allin and Cody Rhodes battled for the TNT title and the honour of being the face of TNT. Including the latter brought even more focus on AEW’s intent to elevate the TNT title to a level of importance. The package for this match was brilliant. Cody exaggerated his “victories” over Allin, casting doubt on whether Allin could be the face of TNT. They tried to sell that Darby’s unconventional appearance is not suitable to be that face while Cody came across as someone believing too much in his own hype. He stated Darby could be the face of TNT but the silent shake of his head at the end of that sentence negated that sentiment. Awesome.

Cody hadn’t handily defeated Darby twice. So it was fitting for the championship to go to Allin. He’s the first wrestler to be portrayed as confounding Cody. Cody’s overconfidence and showboating tendencies were on full display. During his first run with the title, he was once the babyface but in a reversal of roles and in particular on this night, he had become the bully in an almost David vs Goliath encounter.

Some complaints were that Darby was shown to be too resilient and while he took a beating, he got a lot of his trademark offence in throughout the match. It was a great touch on Cody’s part to drop to a knee to present the title to Darby and later put it on his shoulder.

Whatever comes next, it is great that Cody went out on a high note and his hold on the TNT title is over. It will be exciting to see what comes next during Darby’s reign for AEW’s strong and diverse mid-card.

AEW Women’s Championship: Hikaru Shida (C) vs Nyla Rose

Nyla Rose and Hikaru Shida’s last championship meeting was a decent outing. There were reasonable expectations that they could deliver a solid match in this next instalment in their feud. The result was solid, if unspectacular. There was the avalanche Falcon Arrow but it didn’t pop as much as the sight of Shida V-Triggering Nyla into a casino chip back at Double or Nothing. Also, Nyla’s “claw” to the knee looked silly and unbelievable. This could be wrong but Nyla’s diving knee drop onto the back of Shida’s knee looked like it actually connected. Was this a botch? In a more obvious botch, Vickie Guerrero was seen visibly failing to catch Shida’s foot in her attempt to trip her up. The ending sequence also looked like both competitors were gassed. And were the cameras meant to show Nyla asking Vickie to slap her? Let’s hope this feud is over as the overall performances when these two meet are mixed.

AEW World Tag-Team Championship: FTR (C) vs The Young Bucks (Stipulation: If Bucks lose, they can never challenge for the tag team championship again)

With the stipulation in place, the result of this match was telegraphed well in advance. There was no doubt that the Bucks would walk away with the titles. Cody had already fallen on his own sword with his stipulation for the World Championship so AEW and The Elite couldn’t afford to put themselves in a similar situation for the Young Bucks. How could they demonstrate they are The Elite if most of them are ineligible to challenge for titles?

Though the result was predictable, arriving there was very fun to watch. In a love letter to tag team wrestling, both FTR and the Young Bucks brought out finishers from tag teams that have likely influenced both. Seeing FTR use Meeting in the Middle to the Bucks performing the Hardy Boyz Twist of Fate – Swanton Bomb finisher was just a sample of the awesomeness on display. Despite their high-flying tendencies, it was a simple Superkick from Matt’s injured leg that ended it. Fitting because that was the leg FTR attacked prior to the PPV but you knew it was going to factor some way into the match’s finish.

While the Young Bucks have looked better in other matches, they certainly put over FTR who looked great. Let’s see what happens next for FTR – some sites have suggested they could form a new iteration of the Four Horsemen stable but they will likely be challenging for the tag team titles again in the near future.

Elite Deletion – Matt Hardy vs Sammy Guevara

With good reason, many were probably worried as to what could happen in this match. From Hardy getting hit by the wrong prop chair to the near-tragedy suffered at All Out.

In this COVID-era, cinematic matches remain a viable alternative to a live match and with the seemingly cursed combination of Sammy Guevara and Matt Hardy, this pre-recorded match in a controlled environment was possibly the safest option to see them conclude their feud.

Some of it was genuinely fun to see. Sammy’s golf cart was crushed by Hardy’s monster truck. Sammy performed a moonsault off the top of one of the monster truck’s wheels. Fireworks were used. Calling on his past, Gangrel appeared in support of Sammy while the Hurricane appeared in support of Hardy. The Lake of Reincarnation allowed Helms to transform twice. A small touch that was nice to see was Sammy’s creative counter out of a Twist of Fate. It was mostly the level of bonkers befitting a Matt Hardy match.

Entertaining goofs included seeing the cameraman’s shadow as Sammy drove up the driveway, the skull on the Staff of Mephistopheles flew off when Matt swung it and the fireworks disrupted the audio feed preventing Matt’s voice from being recorded. If there were minor criticisms, the commentary fell flat in spots.

In terms of major criticisms of the match, there was the near replication of Matt and Sammy crashing through a table, instead busting Sammy’s head open in a reversal of their roles from All Out. Sammy then staggered trying to get to his feet, appearing punch-drunk. Up to this point, all that could be said is that Matt has always drawn on stories or situations from his personal life. The breakdown of his and Lita’s relationship and her cheating on him with Edge became a feud in WWE. So it stood to reason that he would draw on his history with Sammy including the dangerous botch at All Out.

But then it ended with a Con-Chair-To to Sammy’s head on the floor. While some could accept them recreating the All Out botch, this ending was likely what turned most people off. It was a horror movie ending that was so shocking that it really took viewers away from this cinematic match. It was so brutal, verging on snuff and it’s a wonder they chose to end it on this note.

While these attacks or finishers have been seen on other wrestling shows or in films like The Raid, it shouldn’t have to be part of AEW simply to elicit shock. And then it ended with fireworks and a shower of Alize. Talk about tonally jarring.

Le Champion Chris Jericho vs MJF (if MJF wins, he joins the Inner Circle)

After seeing the end of the Elite Deletion, a traditional match was a good call to move on to and Le Champion and MJF had a decent outing. Jericho received a hero’s welcome during his entrance, smiling while the crowd sang Judas acapella. It was so great seeing Jericho utilise the camera to flip off MJF. It was even better seeing the Jericho of old hit the Lionsault before yelling “come on, baby!” He even brought out the Frankensteiner. But in a battle of the heels, Jericho would be outdone in this capacity. MJF’s influences have seen him look like the dirtiest player in the game but he definitely called on Eddie Guerrero when he played dead towards the end ,before rolling up Jericho for the 3-count. Simple but effective storytelling. This match served its purpose and it will be fun to see how it all blows up. Please let there be a big hoss fight between Wardlow and Hager.

Or have Jericho reveal to MJF and Wardlow that while they’re part of the Inner Circle, there’s an Innermost Circle within it that they aren’t a part of.

I Quit Match for the AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley (C) vs Eddie Kingston

“You’re gonna have to kill me! You better get ready to kill me! You better get ready! This is real! This is real!”

Eddie Kingston is still one of the best signings for AEW. He isn’t a ring technician but he’s as venomous as a freestyle rapper on the mic and harder hitting in the ring.

With that promo in particular, Eddie Kingston was at his most captivating. The barely contained rage as he said those words with Moxley behind him likely had many on the edges of their seats. Kingston sounds like he is one of the hardest bastards in the sport.

This was a stiff-looking match with plenty of the clubbing blows that Kingston makes look real. It had the violence that Moxley has loved to put on display since leaving WWE. They were both on the receiving end of attacks using barbwire. Schiavone even asked, “What the hell are we watching?”

This was not athletic or as protracted as the Lights Out Unsanctioned Match Moxley had against Omega at Full Gear last year. It certainly had less plunder. But this looked just as painful. The rubbing alcohol poured over the wounds Moxley incurred on the thumbtacks would have had many wincing, as if they felt the pain themselves.

You’ve also got to love Kingston’s defiance. Casually flipping Moxley off, he then had to endure being choked with barbwire before quitting. The measure of respect Moxley had at the end for Kingston was also believable. These two put on a brutal showing and tore the house down in a style that suited them both.

Did Moxley just tease Blood and Guts at the end?

It could be argued that this is the strongest main event Moxley’s had since Full Gear 2019. While his title match at Revolution was fun when he revealed that he wasn’t blind in one eye, his chemistry with Kingston and their physicality should be applauded. They seem convincing as brawlers and this was a great brawl.

Conclusion

This was yet another strong PPV card for AEW. While nothing screamed instant classic or was anywhere near the fun of Stadium Stampede, it’s the long-form storytelling that is the key strength to AEW’s dominance in professional wrestling. The seeds laid out for feuds-in-progress or setting things up for the future are as tantalising as the matches on display.

In terms of what they had, the opening bout, the tag team championship and the main event were easily the strongest matches on the card with Cody vs Darby III being the next best. Despite a weak Women’s World Championship match, everything else that could have been seen as filler either progressed or ended storylines appropriately.

AEW ends their 2020 PPV run on a high note. But the year isn’t over yet. As they’ve said in recent weeks, “Winter is coming”. Can’t wait to see what they do to close out the year.

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junker-town · 5 years ago

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TITLELESS: 16 NBA teams that flamed out too soon

Were Gary Payton’s Sonics the best team to never win an NBA championship?

Our quest to uncover the best NBA team to not win a title begins with the teams that suffered mind-boggling playoff disappointments.

Our quest to uncover the best NBA team to not win a title begins with the teams that suffered mind-boggling playoff disappointments. These 16 clubs fell short of their ultimate goal due to an early-round upset, a brutal collapse, or both. Meet the Flameout Division.

As always, we will count down from worst to best. We begin with a long-forgotten upstart and end with one that has become a cultural icon.

16. 2012-13 Denver Nuggets

ERA: The Post-Carmelo trade.

RECORD: 57-25

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +5

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in first round to No. 6 Golden State Warriors (4-2)

KEY STAR(S): None

COACH: George Karl

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Ty Lawson, Andre Iguodala, Danilo Gallinari (injured in playoffs), Kenneth Faried, Andre Miller, Wilson Chandler, Kosta Koufos, Corey Brewer, JaVale McGee

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: None

These guys were the victims of Stephen Curry’s loud arrival on the league’s biggest stage. The Warriors’ eventual rise and the Nuggets’ immediate demolition conspired to turn this Denver squad into a footnote. Too bad, because they were innovative, a joy to watch, and a cool example of the power of depth. If only Danilo Gallinari didn’t tear his ACL late in the regular season...

15. 1986-87 Atlanta Hawks

ERA: Dominique.

RECORD: 57-25

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +7.2

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in second round to No. 3 Detroit Pistons (4-1)

KEY STAR(S): Dominique Wilkins.

COACH: Mike Fratello.

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Kevin Willis, Doc Rivers, Randy Wittman, Tree Rollins, Cliff Levingston, Spud Webb, Mike McGee, Jon Koncak, Gus Williams, John Battle.

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 1987-88, 1993-94

Dominique Wilkins’ inability to even advance to a conference finals is framed as a casualty of the deep Eastern Conference. He was great, the argument goes, but his teams didn’t have enough to beat the Bostons and Detroits of the world.

That’s largely true, but 1986-87 was different. Nique’s Hawks earned the No. 2 seed in the conference, and he was lauded for improving his all-around game. With Boston wobbly due to injury and Detroit still a year or two away, this was Atlanta’s chance.

They didn’t lack for confidence. Before their second-round series with Detroit began, Hawks power forward Kevin Willis was asked if the series would go the distance. “No, I think it will go five,” he replied.

Technically, he was right. Atlanta lost Game 1 at home after Wilkins shot just 7-18 from the field, then fell behind 3-1 after Isiah Thomas drove from the top of the key for a layup in the closing seconds of Game 4.

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Atlanta then blew a double-digit fourth quarter lead in Game 5 when they suddenly forgot how to score. That was their title shot, and they blew it.

14. 1946-47 Washington Capitols

ERA: Red Auerbach, pre-Boston

RECORD: 49-11

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +9.9

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in BAA semifinals to No. 2 Chicago Stags (4-2)

KEY STAR(S): Bob Feerick

COACH: Red Auerbach

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Bones McKinney, Fred Scolari, Johnny Norlander, John Mahnken, Irv Torgoff

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 1948-49

Meet professional basketball’s original chokers! Coached by Red Auerbach – yes, future Celtics legend Red Auerbach – the Washington Capitols were the standout team in the inaugural season of the Basketball Association of America, a precursor to the NBA. They were known for their excellent team play, high-octane offense, conditioning, and unique triangle zone defense that toed the line of legality. A skinny forward named Bones McKinney was the fulcrum, while a quick guard named Bob Feerick was the offensive star.

Feerick in particular was a stylistic marvel for his time. If you have 30 minutes to spare – and I know you do – this rare footage of a 1949 Capitols-Baltimore Bullets game is a delight.

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Heat check!

And contrary to popular belief, Tracy McGrady wasn’t the first player to try to pass it to himself off the backboard.

Let’s talk about that zone more. Midway through the season, the BAA banned zone defensive styles that attempted to slow the game down. (Remember, this was the pre-shot clock era.) But the Capitols’ triangle approach was still legal because it actually sped the game up. Here’s how a 1947 New York Daily News article described Washington’s strategy:

“Standing zone defenses were banned earlier this month by the progressive BAA, in the interest of more action for the fans, but this stratagem is a triangle of weaving tall men the Caps use under either backboard that insures them of nearly every rebound. The other two are used for fast breaks or give and go plays.”

So, cherry-picking. What visionaries!

So how did these dudes not win the title? After losing just one game at home during the regular season, they inexplicably dropped the first two games of their conference finals series against the Chicago Stags by double digits. Told you they were chokers.

13. 1968-69 Baltimore Bullets

ERA: Wes and Earl the Pearl, pre-Elvin Hayes.

RECORD: 57-25.

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +4.3

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in East semifinals to No. 4 New York Knicks (4-0 with home court)

KEY STAR(S): Earl Monroe, Wes Unseld.

COACH: Gene Shue.

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Kevin Loughery, Gus Johnson, Jack Marin, Ray Scott, Leroy Ellis.

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 1969-70

The Bullets of the late 60s and 70s were one of the league’s forgotten powerhouses. Ironically, it was their worst regular-season team — an aging 44-win unit that turned back the clock in the 1978 playoffs — that gave D.C. its lone title. I considered the 1973 trade for Elvin Hayes as the line of demarcation between eras, which made these Bullets of Earl Monroe, Gus Johnson, and a rookie Wes Unseld the obvious choice.

Their four-game series loss to the hated Knicks had a slight asterisk because Johnson missed the series due to injury. Still, the Bullets had the NBA’s best record that season thanks largely to Unseld and Monroe. They should not have been swept.

They got their revenge on the Knicks two years later to reach the Finals, but that Bullets team was just 40-42 in the regular season. The 68-69 edition was much better.

12. 2017-18 Toronto Raptors

ERA: Kyle and DeMar

RECORD: 59-23

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +7.8

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in second round to No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers (4-0)

KEY STAR(S): DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry

COACH: Dwane Casey

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Serge Ibaka, Jonas Valanciunas, Delon Wright, Pascal Siakam, O.G. Anunoby, Fred VanVleet, CJ Miles, Jakob Poeltl, Norman Powell

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 2015-16, 2016-17

I toyed with the idea of excluding all Raptors teams due to last year’s title, but considered the Kawhi Leonard-DeMar DeRozan trade and the firing of Dwane Casey as significant enough changes to split the era up. That means we get to flash back to a time when the Raptors were known for choking in the playoffs and getting owned by LeBron James. Ahh, memories.

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11. 1976-77 Los Angeles Lakers

ERA: Kareem before Magic

RECORD: 53-29

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +2.8

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in West finals to No. 3 Portland Trail Blazers (4-0)

KEY STAR(S): Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

COACH: Bill Sharman

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Lucius Allen, Cazzie Russell, Don Chaney, Kermit Washington, Don Ford, Tom Abernathy, Earl Tatum, Mack Calvin

OTHERS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: None

The only decent Lakers team of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar era before Magic Johnson showed up was exposed as a one-man band in an embarrassing Western Conference Finals sweep. The contrast between Bill Walton’s speedy, team-oriented Blazers and Kareem’s slow, battered Lakers was stark. Kareem outscored Walton, but none of Kareem’s teammates showed up.

It didn’t help that starting power forward Kermit Washington missed the series (this was before he became a pariah after punching Rudy Tomjanovich) and point guard Lucius Allen barely played due to a toe injury.

10. 1994-95 San Antonio Spurs

ERA: Admiral, pre-Timmy

RECORD: 60-22

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +6

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in West Finals to No. 6 Houston Rockets (4-2)

KEY STAR(S): David Robinson

COACH: Bob Hill

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Sean Elliott, Dennis Rodman, Avery Johnson, Vinny Del Negro, Chuck Person, J.R. Reid, Terry Cummings, Doc Rivers, Willie Anderson

OTHERS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 1989-90, 1990-91, 1993-94, 1995-96

This was the best of the David Robinson teams Before Timmy, and also the one that suffered the most humiliating defeat. The 1995 title race was wide open, and San Antonio had home-court advantage throughout the playoffs and the league’s MVP. In the end, that MVP was outplayed by Hakeem Olajuwon in a Western Conference Finals where the Spurs dropped all three of their home games.

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This was one deep team. Dennis Rodman got weird by the end, but he was still a force during the regular season. Nine players averaged at least 15 minutes a game, and each position had a top backup. They could go big or small depending on the matchup and the needs they had during each game. But all of those advantages faded away as Olajuwon dominated.

9. 2015-16 San Antonio Spurs

ERA: Post-Big 3

RECORD: 67-15

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +10.6

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in second round to No. 3 Oklahoma City Thunder (4-2)

KEY STAR(S): Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, Tim Duncan (last season)

COACH: Gregg Popovich

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Tony Parker, Danny Green, Manu Ginobili, Patty Mills, David West, Kyle Anderson, Kevin Martin, Jonathon Simmons

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 2016-17

You’re probably wondering why this team (and the 61-win version the year after that lost to Golden State when Zaza Pachulia slid under Kawhi Leonard’s ankle) is eligible for the tournament despite retaining four key core pieces and the legendary head coach from the 2013-14 title squad. Two reasons

The 2015 signing of LaMarcus Aldridge qualifies as a core-altering event.

This was the year the Spurs became Leonard’s team. His usage jumped nearly three points from 2014-15 and would leap up to beyond 30 the next season. Meanwhile, Tim Duncan ended up retiring after the season.

This was a forgotten powerhouse due to the presence of the 73-win Warriors. Ultimately, they were a paper tiger who couldn’t raise their level to get past a Thunder team that coasted in the regular season.

8. 2008-09 Cleveland Cavaliers

ERA: Young LeBron

RECORD: 66-16

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +8.9

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in East Finals to No. 3 Orlando Magic (4-2)

KEY STAR(S): LeBron James

COACH: Mike Brown

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Mo Williams, Delonte West, Anderson Varejao, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak, Daniel Gibson, Joe Smith

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 2009-10

The regular-season fundamentals of these Cavaliers are as good as any in the tournament. Sixty-six wins, a differential approaching nine, and arguably LeBron James’ best individual season. Putting them as a No. 8 seed seems tough.

On the other hand, Mo Williams was their second-best offensive player.

7. 2013-14 Los Angeles Clippers

ERA: Lob City

RECORD: 57-25

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +6.9

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in second round to No. 2 Oklahoma City Thunder (4-2)

KEY STAR(S): Chris Paul, Blake Griffin

COACH: Doc Rivers

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: DeAndre Jordan, J.J. Redick, Matt Barnes, Jamal Crawford, Darren Collison, Jared Dudley

OTHERS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 2012-13, 2014-15, 2015-16

Choosing between Lob City teams was tough. The 2014-15 team was nearly as good as the 2013-14 edition and fell in much more excruciating fashion. The 2015-16 team wasn’t as good, but their title window was briefly opened by Stephen Curry’s ankle injury before both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin got hurt. The 2012-13 version under Vinny Del Negro has a great case, too, though there was plenty of dysfunction lurking beneath the surface.

But I chose the 2013-14 edition for three reasons:

It had the best point differential of the bunch.

It was the most well-rounded thanks to J.J. Redick’s arrival, Matt Barnes’ underrated season, and DeAndre Jordan’s improvement.

Their playoff run was the weirdest of all, from Donald Sterling’s demise to Paul’s out-of-body experience in Game 5 against the Thunder.

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6. 1999-00 Portland Trail Blazers

ERA: Pre-Jailblazers

RECORD: 59-23

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +6.5

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in West Finals to No. 1 Los Angeles Lakers (4-3)

KEY STAR(S): Rasheed Wallace, Scottie Pippen

COACH: Mike Dunleavy

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Steve Smith, Damon Stoudamire, Arvydas Sabonis, Detlef Schrempf, Brian Grant, Greg Anthony, Bonzi Wells, Jermaine O’Neal

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 1998-99

If you want to break Portland fans’ hearts, send them this video.

5. 1992-93 New York Knicks

ERA: Patrick Ewing’s Knicks

RECORD: 60-22

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +6.2

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in East Finals to No. 2 Chicago Bulls (4-2)

KEY STAR(S): Patrick Ewing

COACH: Pat Riley

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: John Starks, Charles Oakley, Charles Smith, Anthony Mason, Doc Rivers, Greg Anthony, Rolando Blackman

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 1991-92, 1993-94, 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999-00

It’s easy to wonder in hindsight how a team with John Starks as its second-leading scorer had any shot against Michael Jordan’s Bulls. At the time, though, the Knicks seemed to have Chicago’s number, pushing them to seven games in the 1992 playoffs before upgrading their roster the next season. They led 2-0 in the East Finals and had a chance to win Game 5 before Charles Smith was stripped, stopped, stopped, and STOPPED AGAIN right under the basket.

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That denied Patrick Ewing his best shot at a ring – the 93 team was comfortably better than the ‘94 team that lost in the NBA Finals and a tad more formidable than the ‘97 club that added Allan Houston and Larry Johnson to their regular core – and our chance to watch a repeat of one of the wildest brawls in NBA history.

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4. 2006-07 Dallas Mavericks

ERA: Dirk, Before Carlisle

RECORD: 67-15

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +6

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in first round to No. 8 Golden State Warriors (4-2)

KEY STAR(S): Dirk Nowitzki

COACH: Avery Johnson

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Jason Terry, Josh Howard, Devin Harris, Erick Dampier, Jerry Stackhouse, Devean George, DeSagana Diop

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 2002-03, 2005-06

It was tough picking between the 2006-07 edition of the pre-Rick Carlisle Mavs and the 2005-06 one that was 2-0 up on Miami in the NBA Finals before Dwyane Wade’s never-ending free-throw parade turned the tide. The 2002-03 edition that went 60-22, beat the Kings in Round 2, and battled San Antonio despite key injuries deserves more love too.

The 06-07 team ended up getting the nod because they were the clear favorites that year and because this was Dirk Nowitzki’s finest regular season. Maybe things would be different if they played anyone other than that weird We Believe Warriors team that matched up so well with them.

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3. 1990-91 Portland Trail Blazers

ERA: Clyde’s prime

RECORD: 63-19

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +8.7

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in West Finals to No. 2 Los Angeles Lakers (4-2)

KEY STAR(S): Clyde Drexler

COACH: Rick Adelman

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Terry Porter, Jerome Kersey, Buck Williams, Kevin Duckworth, Clifford Robinson, Danny Ainge

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 1989-90, 1991-92

The other two Portland contenders of the Clyde Drexler era made the NBA Finals, but this was their best team of the bunch. They went 27-3 to start the season, handily beat the eventual champion Bulls twice, and also won 16 in a row to end the year before giving their starters limited minutes in the season finale.

But after slipping by Seattle and routing Phoenix, the Blazers blew a double-digit fourth-quarter lead to the Lakers in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. Terry Porter missed a three that would’ve tied the game, and Buck Williams bricked two free throws with 30 seconds left. The Blazers elected to defend the Lakers straight-up on the ensuing possession instead of fouling, but surrendered an uncontested dunk to Sam Perkins at the shot clock buzzer.

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They never recovered from that collapse and fell in six after Magic Johnson flung the ball down the court to nobody in the closing seconds.

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Imagine these Blazers in the 1991 Finals instead of a Lakers team that didn’t have a healthy James Worthy. Wouldn’t they be the favorites against the Bulls?

2. 2018-19 Milwaukee Bucks

ERA: Giannis and Bud

RECORD: 60-22

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +8.8

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in East Finals to No. 2 Toronto Raptors (4-2)

KEY STAR(S): Giannis Antetokounmpo

COACH: Mike Budenholzer

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Khris Middleton, Malcolm Brogdon, Eric Bledsoe, Brook Lopez, George Hill, Nikola Mirotic

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: None

Is it harsh to put last year’s Bucks on this side of the bracket considering Toronto’s eventual title? I don’t think so. Milwaukee had the league’s best point differential by a mile, a 2-0 series lead, and had Toronto on the ropes in overtime in Game 3. What happened thereafter is a collapse, even if history rewrites it as Kawhi Leonard’s triumph over a too-green Giannis Antetokounmpo.

(Interesting question: if the 2019-20 edition fails to win the title, would they be this tournament’s No. 1 overall seed?).

1. 1993-94 Seattle Supersonics

ERA: Kemp and Payton

RECORD: 63-19

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +9

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in first round to No. 8 Denver Nuggets (3-2)

KEY STAR(S): Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp

COACH: George Karl

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Detlef Schrempf, Kendall Gill, Sam Perkins, Nate McMillan, Michael Cage

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 1992-93, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98

It was tough choosing between these Sonics and the 95-96 edition that made the Finals. The 95-96 team won more games and went deeper in the playoffs. Their two stars, Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp, were better versions of themselves. Maybe they’d have given the 72-10 Bulls more of a series if George Karl put Payton on Michael Jordan from the start.

But the 93-94 edition had a better point differential (+9 to +7.8) in a season without expansion teams, as well as a stronger supporting cast and a much scarier trapping defense. Kendall Gill was an emerging star, Nate McMillan wasn’t injured, Sam Perkins could do more, and Michael Cage was significantly better than Ervin Johnson in the middle. Plus, Bob Kloppenburg, the architect of Seattle’s famous SOS pressure defense, was not on the staff by 1996.

It’s easy to forget how monumental that Nuggets first-round upset was at the time. Michael Jordan was retired, so the title was up for grabs. Seattle’s net rating was higher than any other team and nearly double of the eventual champion Rockets. They won 16 of their first 17 games and 30 of their first 35. They had blown out the Nuggets in each of the first two games of the playoff series. This was the peak version of one of the most enthralling non-champions in NBA history, not the 1995-96 version.

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flauntpage · 7 years ago

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Your Wednesday Morning Roundup

Zach Eflin started perfect. But the Phillies floundered against the fish in Miami in a 2-1 loss in 10 innings.

Eflin took a perfect game into the sixth inning before giving up a leadoff double to Miguel Rojas. It later ended with a pinch-hit home run to Justin Bour to tie the game at one. Eflin finished giving up that one run on three hits and four strikeouts in his season debut.

But the Phillies couldn’t get any offense going, save for Rhys Hoskins breaking his slump with an RBI double in the fifth.

Yadiel Rivera recorded the game-winning RBI in the 10th with a walk-off single.

The team also had another scare with Scott Kingery getting hit by a pitch and did not return. Let’s hope for nothing serious from the rookie.

With or without Kingery, the Phils take on Miami to wrap up their three-game series tonight at 7:10 PM. They will look to snap their four-game losing streak and end Miami’s four-game winning streak with Aaron Nola on the mound.

The Roundup:

Want to win tickets to Monday night’s Game 4 against the Celtics? Enter here to do just that.

We’re not see a ton of at-bats with Nick Williams, so could a demotion to Triple-A happen soon?

“I don’t think there’s a point at which that decision has to be made,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “I’ll say that the most important thing is that he continues to work a strong process every day, that he continues to focus on his professionalism, and that when he gets his opportunities, he’s ready for them.”

As one player is struggling, another in Clearwater is catching Kapler’s eye.

Mike Schmidt apologized for a statement he made during Sunday’s telecast.

Check out a brand new episode of Crossed Up!

After a bad first game against Boston, the Sixers try to put that in the rearview mirror with Game 2 on the horizon.

It was more of a problem for the team’s defense than offense. In fact, they did pretty decent on offense.

There were also some knee jerk reactions, such as the lack of Markelle Fultz and Robert Kraft cheering for the Celtics.

Brett Brown wanted to let everyone know Fultz could still have a role in this series:

Brett Brown said his decision to give T.J. McConnell the backup point guard minutes over Fultz, the first overall pick in last year’s draft, “shouldn’t shock anybody, given how we arrived and where we’ve arrived.”

“To say he’s dead and buried, that’s not true,” he said. “But I got a decision to make, and I’ve made a decision,

“That doesn’t mean it’s etched in stone. It’s always something that you review and I think about. And the care for Markelle Fultz and his future is always on my mind.”

Could Kawhi Leonard to the Sixers actually be possible?

What Popovich did not say at the time, however, was that while Leonard was in New York, he saw Dr. Jonathan Glashow, an orthopedic surgeon and co-chair of Sports Medicine at New York City’s Mount Sinai Medical Center who has professional affiliations with the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76ers.

Frankel and Robertson arranged the consultation, according to multiple sources, and the Spurs were informed of the decision and the doctor’s recommendations. From this point forward, Glashow and his team have guided the rehabilitation program, sources said. The Spurs have had staffers in New York to observe and assist in Leonard’s work, which has primarily taken place at the NBA Players Association headquarters in midtown Manhattan.

Multiple league sources also told ESPN that the Spurs have grown worried that Leonard’s group has an ulterior motive to fray the relationship and get Leonard traded to a larger market such as Los Angeles (Leonard’s hometown) or New York or Philadelphia (Robertson lives in New Jersey).

One source close to Buford said the longtime executive admitted to him that he’s constantly losing sleep over how and why the relationship with Leonard has disintegrated.

The team’s Gaming Club team unveiled their digital uniforms and court.

Add Timmy Jernigan to the list of players who had offseason surgery. According to Howard Eskin, he had back surgery for a herniated disc.

The Eagles view Sidney Jones as part of their 2018 Draft Class, despite playing in one game last year.

Doug Pederson is writing a memoir.

Excited to announce I’m working with Eagles coach Doug Pederson on his memoir—Fearless, out Aug. 28. pic.twitter.com/i7nYfXbsiz

— Dan Pompei (@danpompei) May 1, 2018

With two picks inside the top 20, could the Flyers be aggressive in this year’s NHL Draft and make a move up?

Temple’s new kicker got some advice from Meek Mill:

Recently, the father and son attended the Owls’ spring game, held on campus in April. And on the way home, they stopped to see a friend who, at the time, was still working on his release from prison.

“We went to visit Meek after the game,” Joe Tacopina the lawyer said, adding that the Philly rapper has already offered to speak to the team at some point before next season. “Meek said to Joe, ‘Listen, you just be careful in this city. With your first name and your last name, since it’s the same [as your dad’s]. You show up late to class, and you’re going to get two to four [years].’ … But [Joe’s] his own person and can stand on his own two feet. I’m very proud of him.”

And if he hits a big field goal for the Owls?

“He won’t be the son of Meek Mill’s lawyer anymore,” he said with a laugh. “I think in short time, I’ll be the father of the Temple kicker, not the other way around.”

Josh Innes is back in some hot water in Houston!

In other sports news, the Cavs completed a big come-from-behind victory to beat the Raptors by one in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

But Kendrick Perkins and Drake got involved in some beef:

"I don't think Drake want that one."

KG, @Lakers' @kylekuzma, Rasheed Wallace & @AlabamaMBB head coach, @CoachAvery6 talk @Drake and Kendrick Perkins talking during Game 1

. #KGArea21 pic.twitter.com/0aLxPwW2YG

— KG's Area 21 (@KGArea21) May 2, 2018

Drake and Kendrick Perkins exchanged more words postgame pic.twitter.com/Z0rdXDe1uL

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 2, 2018

This went all the way into the tunnel, with Drake calling Perkins a "f—— p—-" and calling for him to come out. "I'm here in real life," he said. He was mad. https://t.co/3DJ2HBvrWN

— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) May 2, 2018

Kendrick Perkins on the Drake confrontation: “I was f—ing with Serge (Ibaka), my old teammate” Perkins said after the game. “I wasn’t talking to (Drake). He said something slick so I said something back: ‘Sit your ass down and watch the game.’”

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 2, 2018

Steph Curry made his return and scored 28 points to lead the Warriors to a Game 2 victory over the Pelicans.

I love Dirk:

I got inspired by @VicOladipo. I also texted my trainer. Here is his response… @HoopConsultants pic.twitter.com/Wgo1p0dmh1

— Dirk Nowitzki (@swish41) May 1, 2018

In the Stanley Cup playoffs, Washington and Winnipeg each took home wins to take 2-1 series leads.

Tom Wilson: Still an ass.

Tom Wilson LEVELS Pittsburgh's Aston-Reese with a high hit to the shoulder/head area..

Will we see any disciplinary action out of @NHLPlayerSafety? pic.twitter.com/TfWQTBbgJW

— NHL Daily 365 (@NHLDaily365) May 2, 2018

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger thinks he can play 3-5 more years if he stays healthy.

In the news, Camden Catholic’s head football coach was fired, as he alleged racism as the school’s president wanted him to get more white players.

An Abington Township man is carrying an AR-15 in public, making a political statement for his Second Amendment rights.

Kanye West said 400 years of slavery was a choice and can we just ignore everything he says for now on? Why are we giving this guy and his wife and sisters who are famous for no reason except for Rob Kardashian any attention?

Gibson guitar company has filed for bankruptcy.

Your Wednesday Morning Roundup published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

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wishfulife-moved · 8 years ago

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It’s funny seeing it on my dash- muses staying up super late to study so they can pass their classes, or to get ready for a test, meanwhile Timmy would literally never give up something as precious as sleep for anything school related (unless it was like...really important and he cared enough).

It’s pretty obvious in the show, Timmy doesn’t study, and homework or essays are something done either half-assed, or just not at all. Honestly, he probably DID try a lot more in his home schooling, since the environment was at a much slower, less abusive (at least from his home school teacher), and no worry of a bully coming up to you and wailing on you in the middle of class. He had more time on his tests possibly, or even just a kinder, less toxic human teaching him.

Don’t get it confused though, he still struggled, and is still GOING to struggle. Since he never gets an actual diagnosis for anything until maybe he’s seventeen, Timmy still has severe issues with focusing, or in a lot of other cases, finding he has hyper focused on one single thing, and it’s almost never anything school related.

Going back to school once his parents relieved his home school teacher of their duties, and started travelling more without him, Timmy’s been juggling a lot. While Vicky DOES want her grades to at least be B’s, there are days she just doesn’t want to do them. So, even if the kid is like six years younger than her, enough threats and black mailing can easily get him to focus hard enough to earn her a C or B- on her homeworks. Not that homework is always checked, but hey, doesn’t bother her. She does her usual work at school (that or she bullies other smarter people to do it- who knows), and maybe gets other teens her age doing her homework, but once in a while, should Timmy seem like he’s got A LOT of homework on his plate, it’s just another way of abuse.

Seen in The Switch Glitch she already records Timmy when he speaks, and edits the recordings so they sound decent enough to seem like she caught Timmy saying something or admitting to something he never did or said. And while she tends to NOT rely on a ten year old to do her homework, it’s another way of fucking his life up a little, so why not threaten him to do her work that’ll no doubt take him ALL night, and that he won’t do his own?

Because that’s something Timmy DOES have going for him- he values sleep. A lot. Unless he’s struck down with severe feelings of guilt (which don’t start REALLY being an issue until after It’s a Wishful Life and even that he still manages a few hours), he’ll always manage a healthy eight hours of sleep AT LEAST.

However, since he does sleep, that’s also time lost in possibly doing his homework. Timmy’s all about the NOW rather than the future. He doesn’t want to think too deeply about how little of a future he has, and would rather just try to enjoy his already shitty childhood. True, that is sort of a down fall, and a huge role in why he drops out of high school, but he doesn’t care all that much. Grades hardly mattered to him, and he’s already accepted the fact he’s “not smart”.

His mom cries thinking about his future, and has openly told him this several other times to the point where seeing her cry, it’ll be the first thing he asks her; “Were you thinking about my future again?” His dad already said Timmy’s the reason his dreams were crushed, and eggs Timmy on sometimes by grading Timmy in their own home for almost no reason, as if to just pester the kid about how much a failure he is with all the failed tests and quizzes he brings home. Like everything else, it was just easier to condition himself to accept just how much of a failure he is in every aspect of his life than to let his emotions really eat away at him.

Another thing is that literally EVERYONE has to comment on all his F’s, the fact he needs to study more and try harder, and like...he is. Or he did try at some point before just going “fuck it” and giving up completely. His teacher pretty much gets JOY from failing Timmy, and any kid but mostly my pink hat wearing kid, and already teaches things too advanced for fifth graders (at least, my headcanons for what he ACTUALLY teaches when it’s not a rant about Fairies). His best friend gloats about his perfect grades, and has also openly mocked his friend for his failures. There’s a point where you can only keep bragging and only so much poking at someone’s ego you can do. The latter he really SHOULDN’T do at all, and he even mentions in Smarty Pants that if he didn’t gloat so much, Timmy might’ve let AJ help him study.

Studying is super hard for Timmy, and literally ANYTHING can trigger him to just not. He’ll reorganize his comic book collection by year, maybe clean the fishbowl, maybe beat his high score in a video game. Literally, he’ll do anything else unless someone is there to help press him to study. Before it was Vicky making him not pay attention to his studies, and now it’s his Fairies, namely Cosmo (not that he means to but he IS a root of Timmy’s inability to sort of study).

Like I said in another headcanon post, even if he had the attention span to study and do his work, he’d still be getting mostly C’s. When it comes to tests, or essays with word limits, he tends to freeze up and over analyze a question or how to phrase things. He ends up rambling a lot, or he’ll try to think of different ways the answer could be written or solved, and ends up writing whatever as he usually only has a period to do his tests. He’s not the best test taker. Not even really that okay of a test taker.

Honestly, besides studying, Timmy would have to give up sleep to be around a B student, which would be a blessing, and something he could honestly live with and be happy. But then there’s other bad things that go with not sleeping, so he just goes for the “well I’m stupid anyway so fuck studying- I’m gonna sleep bye”

#ᶤ'ᵐ ᵈᵒᵘᵍ ᵈᶤᵐᵐᵃᴰᴼᴺᴱ ᵃᶰᵈ ᵈᶤᵐᵐᵃᴰᴱᴬᴰ (ooc)#.:*・°☆ ᵐᵃᵏᵉ ᵇᵉˡᶤᵉᵛᵉ (hc)#.:*・°☆ ᵖʳᵒᵇᵃᵇˡʸ ᵍᵉᵗᵗᶤᶰᵍ ᵃᶰ ᶠ (meta)#long post tw #long post //#// okie doke im gonna head to bed!

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survivor-iceland · 5 years ago

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Ep. 11 - “Just because I am loud does not mean I am good at this game.” - Raffy

Raffy

I cannot believe that plan worked out. We got out Stephen, weakening Maynor's hold on this game which means that if he doesn't win this next immunity challenge then he's screwed. However, this next one is a doozy and I don't know if I can win this, but I am going to try my best. I just hope people credit me with this move since I managed to make the right social connections to do it. Timmy is big mad, but I think that is more towards Joseph than anything else. Either way, I am proud of myself for doing THAT. Nothing in my Survivor career will ever top this moment.

Jack

So the plan worked, Stephen got voted out (love you man) and thank fuckkkk because I got 3 votes. Joseph went for Timmy and that made Timmy mad at Joseph and I'm like *very innocently whistling* This challenge now o boyyyyy, hopefully maybe i can win maybe? Also i really like Timmy and Dylan but also Timmy is gonna kill me and i know it. He was so mad in the moment mannnn.

Timmy

I am absolutely, positively livid. I’m thankful that it wasn’t me, but my god there are a lot of fake bitches here. Number 1 on that list is Raffy who was preaching about how they’re alone and there is no need to lie to them but then goes lying on all day. BITCH I WAS HONEST WITH YOU! I THOUGHT WE GOT THROUGH THAT SHIT! I guess fucking not though. I wanted an easy vote after the mess that was the last two but nope. And I get the irony here, trust me it’s not lost. I did it to them and this is karma and she’s really that bitch. But really, I’m just glad I still have my idol because I was real close to panic playing it. Number 2 is Joseph because he had the audacity to vote for me because the people who have been TARGETING HIM say that they have the numbers. And guess what, THEY LIED TO HIM. Literally a dumbass who will never win because they don’t understand any concepts of the game. Dylan is a huge threat right now because they are making moves and not staying true to alliances but being calculated about it. Dylan is riding the middle which right now seems like a good spot. I feel like it will put them in the target position that I had been in though, which could work for me. But I will not let Raffy skate by because he has people in jury who will vote for him. And raffy needs to go fast if there is another returning player just because it might be Zoe or John.

Dylan C

https://youtu.be/KkInofcSWYc

Maynor

Well. Back to the minority thanks to Joseph. Who honestly screwed over people who wanted to work with him till the end so he could help people who have said they wanted him out for forever. 🤷‍♂️ Im just whatever. Like if i dont win immunity, im most likely going home. And Joseph gets a free pass to f5 cuz the two next votes will be me and Timmy.

This challenge is just a huge ugh for me. I dont know why but everytime i have done this challenge, it always triggers a panic attack. Its a small one but affects my ability to do it when i mess up for the first time. I got to 29 sleds. Most likely not going to be enough to beat Jack or Raffy. Which sucks cuz i really needed this immunity.

Maynor

Hmm. I think i wont be able to pass my 29 sled score. Especially not in the state i am. The pressure i put on myself wasnt good. And has made me into a mess. I just feel bad. And i feel like i let Timmy down even though he has told me I didnt. For the challenge, i feel like Raffy or Jack will win. And Timmy n I will be the targets. No one in their right mind would vote off Joseph. He’s the goat people would take to the end to get zero votes. He really screwed his alliance for people who dont want to work with him. Im still going to fight but not going to fool myself its going to be tougher and gunna need lots of luck.

Raffy

This challenge broke me. I got up to mid-70s and then I fucked it up. And apparently someone was neck and neck with me. It was probably Timmy, and he is going to win immunity then use the idol on Maynor which is terrible. I fully think there is an idol in this game and it can only be used in these next two rounds so it is bound to happen. And I am just so tired and so done and so over it. I can't do it anymore. And I'm going to go to EoE and then have to battle against challenge powerhouses and I fgjkbf j, fsjfKD dkHV dhb KB If this is the challenge that causes my game to be over, I'm going to be pissed

Jack

So i somehow actually one the challenge (i legit thought I wasn't doing that well and then Jay's like "mate you're super ahead lmao") but I'm VERY glad i did, cause no way I didn't still have a target on my back. Now the likely shift will be onto Raffy, but we've got the stirrings of a plan to go for Timmy (love the guy, he just seems like he wants to murder me so) and go with the same voting block of Ellie, Raffy, Dylan and me, and then Joseph would maybe not be told the vote (sorry dude) and instead told that the votes smthn else, so in case Timmy has an idol he wont use it (but also like only 2 more councils to use it so like he might just anyways) but yeah. Also maybe spreading that were going to vote for Joseph actually tho, but idk. Gonna chat with Dylan and Ellie in the morning.

Raffy

I was so close to winning that challenge. I do not feel safe going into this round because I think that someone has an idol up their sleeve and they are bound to use it either during this round or the next. I want to split the vote between Maynor and Timmy, but last time I tried to organize a split vote, one of my closest allies went home. Ideally, we have me, Jack, and Dylan vote for Maynor while Ellie/Joseph vote for Timmy. However, Joseph probably feels betrayed after last round so he will probably join Timmy's and Maynor's side. I think we all need to stack our votes on one person for the best success, but I'm so scared of an idol rn that it is crazy. Idol paranoia is at an all-time high.

Raffy

I do not know why I am a front runner in this game when people like Dylan, Jack, and Ellie exist who are the ones doing the actual work. In fact, I should not even be a target. Just because I am loud does not mean I am good at this game. Either way, at least it means I have a good chance of victory if I make it to FTC, but that is a hard IF.

Ellie and Dylan were talking, and they determined that a split vote, while risky, is probably necessary. Our main target right now is Maynor, but we are splitting it between him and Timmy. We want to keep Joseph in the dark about who the target is because I don't necessarily trust him with that information. So, we are going to tell him that it is Timmy, but three of us are going to vote for Maynor while another one votes for Timmy. This creates a 3-2-2 if Joseph goes along with the plan. And, if he back stabs us, it creates' a 3-3-1 with a tie for insurance. This is in case of an idol because if Joseph back stabs us then that means they will think it is Timmy which means, if they have an idol, they will use it on Timmy, not Maynor. This plan has its risk, but sometimes you have to take risks in this game like last time.

Raffy

Maynor asked me to vote him out. This is strange because his reasoning is that he feels like he screwed over Timmy's game and he wants to give Timmy more chances in this game than himself. I find this incredibly suspicious because this could very well be a ploy to use the idol correctly in order to idol someone out, probably me. If this were a trick, it's a dirty trick that I cannot respect. I would like to believe him and make this an easy tribal, but this is just odd from my standpoint.

Jack

Okay so plan rn is voting 3 (Joseph, Ellie, Raffy) onto Maynor and 2 (Me, Dylan) onto Timmy, in case one had an idol. No hard feelings for either just how it goes. I'm so freaking glad i've got immunity tonight mannnn. Also I've still got my idol so that's a thing. I'm pretty confident tonight be who knows man, Joseph's a bit of a wild card and Dylan could flip. Also love Maynor but hes gonna do a win mannnn.

Raffy

I told Joseph about the split vote because I do not believe lying is necessary anymore. Maynor knows he is going home, so he is going to use an idol on himself either way. And Joseph seemed down as long as he got to vote Maynor. This could end up blowing up in my face, but this will come back to haunt these people in the form of my bitterness.

Maynor

This tribal is gunna be extremely messy and i love it cuz there is a chance that me and Timmy can stay in the game. I knew that Dylan Effie Raffy and Jack are splitting votes. Also have asked Joseph to join them. So they wanna split 3-2 with me going home. Kinda my doing cuz told Raffy to vote for me. But Joseph is gunna vote with Me and Timmy and vote Dylan. So the vote should be 3-3-1 unless they have Joseph in the majority vote if they do then the vote would end up being 3-2-2 amd Dylan goes home. Timmy says hes gunna play his idol but doesnt know on who yet. We are assuming right now that im getting the majority. So hoping so we can pull of this amazing blindside. 3 blindside in the first 4 merge vote. We are some crackheads.

Timmy

This tribal is going to be a mess. Should I play my idol, should I not, I DON'T FUCKING KNOW. And now I have to put my faith in Joseph...THE SAME JOSEPH WHO FUCKED ME OVER LAST ROUND. Like what even is this game. Either way Maynor and I want Dylan gone and everyone else except maybe Joseph wants myself or Maynor gone. If we can get through this without needing to use the idol it'll be a miracle.

Ellie

What the fuck is it with Raffy and last minute decisions???? Stick with the plan dude pretty pleaseeeeeee

Raffy

At least I was not screwed over by the idol. I still have the numbers with Jack and Ellie. So, next round I either need the idol or win immunity. Or both.

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footballleague0 · 7 years ago

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Tommy McDonald Shines In The Controversial First Fog Bowl

It was the first Fog Bowl – December 10, 1961. The Eagles played the New York Giants in a huge game at Franklin Field. There were 60,671 people in the stands and for much of the day, they had a hard time following the action. I know because I was there.

The fog wasn’t quite as dense as the fog in Chicago that turned the Eagles-Bears 1988 playoff game into a whiteout, but it was pretty thick and, unlike the Chicago fog, it was there from the start of the game. Our family’s seats were in Section EE behind the end zone at Franklin Field and we could not see Weightman Hall, the athletic administration building, at the opposite end of the field. We could see to midfield but beyond that the players were ghosts.

It was a weird weather day because it was typically cold for December – 30 degrees, 23-degree wind chill – but the humidity was 94 percent which resulted in this fog that turned Franklin Field into a setting that looked like something out of a horror movie – appropriate, given the way the game ended.

The Eagles and Giants came into the game tied for first place in the Eastern Conference with identical 9-3 records. The Giants had beaten the Eagles a month earlier at Yankee Stadium, 38-21. That was the Eagles’ first game without cornerback Tom Brookshier who suffered a broken leg the week before. The Eagles started a rookie, Glen Amerson, in Brookshier’s spot against the Giants and he was torched by quarterback Y.A. Tittle throwing bombs to the speedy Del Shofner.

By the time the teams met again, the Eagles had replaced Amerson with Irv Cross, a better player but also a rookie. There were only two games left in the regular season so the Eagles-Giants rematch was likely to decide the conference champion.

The Giants scored on the fourth play from scrimmage with Tittle hitting Shofner again on a deep pass. From where we were sitting all we saw was Shofner catch the ball over his shoulder and disappear into the fog. It looked like we were in for a repeat of the rout at Yankee Stadium.

But the Eagles had added something new to the playbook that was the creation of assistant coach Charlie Gauer. It was a stacked deck formation with three receivers lined up one right behind the other – split end Pete Retzlaff, tight end Bobby Walston, and halfback Timmy Brown. There was one lone receiver on the opposite side and that was flanker Tommy McDonald.

The formation put the Giants’ defense in a dilemma. They had to roll the coverage to the three-receiver side which meant they had to play McDonald one-on-one which was exactly what Gauer wanted. The Giants put their best one-on-one defender, cornerback Erich Barnes, on McDonald but it was a mismatch. The first time the Eagles came out in the stack, McDonald beat Barnes on a crossing route and quarterback Sonny Jurgensen hit him in stride for a 52-yard touchdown.

It went on like that for the entire day. Barnes was a good cornerback, a lanky 6-2, 200-pounder who was acquired by the Giants that season in a trade with Chicago. It was reported at the time that the Giants made the deal mostly to add a cornerback who could cover McDonald who had tormented them for years. The Giants felt Barnes, with his height and long arms, could shut down the 5-9, 170-pound McDonald. It didn’t quite work out.

Barnes had a good year for the Giants, intercepting seven passes and returning two of them for touchdowns. But he didn’t have any more luck covering McDonald than anyone else and it was particularly true on this foggy afternoon.

Jurgensen hit McDonald with a 66-yard bomb later in the game then hit him again with a 30-yard touchdown pass to pull the Eagles within four points in the fourth quarter. For the game, McDonald had seven catches for 237 yards, a club record that still stands. Think about that. A passing record that is still on the books 56 years later. It is amazing when you consider the NFL’s evolution into a pass-first league.

There have only been five 200-yard receiving games in Eagles history: Bud Grant, 203 yards against the Dallas Texans in 1952; Retzlaff, 204 yards against Washington in 1965; Kevin Curtis, 221 yards against Detroit in 2007; DeSean Jackson, 210 yards against the Cowboys in 2010; and McDonald’s 237 yards against the Giants.

Think of all the great receivers who played here and never had a 200-yard game. Harold Carmichael’s career high was 187 yards against the Cardinals in 1973. Terrell Owens had 171 yards in one game against Kansas City (2005). Mike Quick’s personal best was 170 yards against the Cardinals in 1988. So a 200-yard game is a pretty rare feat.

Jurgensen had a big game against the Giants, passing for 367 yards and three touchdowns, and Brown averaged almost 7 yards per rushing attempt. The Eagles outgained the Giants 455 yards to 371, but it wasn’t enough as the Giants won the game 28-24.

Anyone who was there will remember the controversy surrounding a fourth-quarter special teams play. The Giants were punting from their own end zone late in the game. The Eagles trailed by four points but they had momentum thanks to the McDonald touchdown. Defensive end Leo Sugar attempted to block the kick. He didn’t touch the ball, but the punter Don Chandler went down and the referee called roughing the kicker. It gave the Giants a huge first down and they went on to score a touchdown that put the game away.

The play happened right in front of me and – fog or no fog – I saw it clearly enough to know that Don Chandler took a dive. Sugar said after the game that Chandler did a great acting job and that’s sure how it looked to me.

The following week, the Eagles beat Detroit 27-24 and the Giants tied Cleveland to win the conference with a 10-3-1 record. But neither the outcome nor the fog could obscure the brilliance of McDonald’s record-setting performance.

When I wrote the play Tommy and Me that was performed the past two summers by Theatre Exile, I put in a line for Simon Kiley, the 12-year-old actor who played me as a young Tommy McDonald fan. Matt Pfeiffer, who plays the adult me, makes reference to the 237-yard game and notes it is still the Eagles’ record.

Simon says, “Take THAT, T.O.”

That line got a laugh every night.

An award-winning writer and producer, Ray Didinger was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1995. He has also won six Emmy Awards for his work as a writer and producer at NFL Films. The five-time Pennsylvania Sportswriter of the Year is a writer and analyst for Comcast SportsNet. Didinger will provide Eagles fans a unique historical perspective on the team throughout the year for PhiladelphiaEagles.com. You can read all of his Eagles History columns here.

The post Tommy McDonald Shines In The Controversial First Fog Bowl appeared first on Daily Star Sports.

from http://ift.tt/2wJuomK from http://ift.tt/2xUukp1

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littleharpethcrossfit · 5 years ago

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Thursday, March 5 Bodyweight EMOM.....Power Cleans.....12 Minute WOD.

The most beautiful evening of 2020 so far.

Warmup: 5 Minute EMOM 3 Pull-Ups 5 Push-Ups 7 Squats

Strength WOD: Power Cleans 2 Reps EMOM X 10 Minutes

Ed/Robert=185 Dave/Nathan=175 Herb=145 Tom=125 Warren A/Dana=115 Linda=85 Elisa/Sue=75 Armando=too late to get posted Shannon/Angel=??? Timmy=Physical Therapy

Coach and Joe did Bench Presses: Best 5 reps: Coach=155 Joe=85

The WOD: On a 12 Minute Clock

Run 1 Mile or Row 1750m

In the time remaining, do these for max score:

10 Wall-Balls (20/14)

10 Dumb Bell Snatch’s (50/30)

RXers:

Ed=86 Robert=80 Nathan=65 Herb=51 Armando=46 Dana=40 Dave=undoubtably beat everyone, but he honestly lost count.

Scalers:

Sue=63 Coach/Tom=50 Miss Linda=47 Angel=46 Warren A/Elisa=36 Joe=20 Shannon=0 Timmy=Physical Therapy

Notes:

A wine tasting followed. Two nice reds from California were enjoyed. Mrs. & Mr. Kennedy brought a fine cheese ball and crackers, and there was a nutty trail mix, and Chocolate chunks available. All were enjoyed. The Kennedy’s also presented a half dozen jugs of high quality brown liquids that I don’t pretend to understand. Everyone other than me seemed to be wow-ed and over-awed by this presentation, and a half dozen hardy members were clinging to the bitter end, until Coach said he had to turn out the lights and go in to Miss Linda’s dinner.

In an unprecedented event, a visitor from the path was interviewed, given the tour, and awarded a T-shirt without actually doing a WOD or signing the waiver. This excessive friendliness was no doubt due to the fact that the visitor knew Herb and Warren A. No, the visitor was not a hot looking babe. I hope he comes back, and I hope Robert didn’t see this exchange.

Saturday at 0930.

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giantsfootball0 · 7 years ago

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Tommy McDonald Shines In The Controversial First Fog Bowl

Simon says, “Take THAT, T.O.”

That line got a laugh every night.

The post Tommy McDonald Shines In The Controversial First Fog Bowl appeared first on Daily Star Sports.

from https://dailystarsports.com/2017/09/21/tommy-mcdonald-shines-in-the-controversial-first-fog-bowl/ from https://dailystarsports.tumblr.com/post/165585203686

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enbyflock2 · 7 years ago

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CWMEA Presentation-”Transgender Discussion and Music: A Non-Binary Voice” Sketches Part 2

I first started with composing only instrumentals. At that age, I was only writing for solo instruments and chamber music ensembles.

A highlight for me with composing was that no one was telling me to, and I was only doing it for my sake. When you have that kind of freedom to make that decision, there is a lot you can explore about yourself, even if it takes time for you to discover your meanings or what you were trying to get across.

In this first sample, you hear Stravinsky. These pieces are The Firebird Dance, and Dances of the Young Maidens.

In this second sample, you are hearing my original composition Lost in an Elevator written in 2010 my sophomore year of high school. It is a chamber music piece composed for two alto saxophones, upright bass, drum set, strings, noisy sound effects, and a vibraphone.

You can hear some of the influences of Stravinsky in my piece. Here is a slide with our influences and crossovers.

Considering how this piece grew from the second pop music sample, I consider this piece I wrote to be an exploration of the version of masculinity I created for myself as a non-binary person.

When I reached my sophomore year of college in 2014, I presented this piece in a master class to the composer Greg Simon. I wanted to do further edits and revisions, and I actually thought about lessening the stylistic changes, shortening sections, and minimizing the manic atmosphere of the piece. What I was surprised to hear was that Greg Simon didn’t reach for critiques like that at all. Instead he suggested that I extend some of the sections to further develop the motives and themes, and that my stylistic changes were appropriate and worked to the piece’s favor. As long as my motives and themes had a little more space to breathe and develop, the listener would be able to hear a clearer sense of unified identity.

When we got to studying Stravinsky, it was for a MUS 231 class. I had a lot of exposure to Stravinsky in my other classes, such as the end of the music theory series and the orchestration class I took. Just being able to study the work of Stravinsky really helped me better understand why the composer at the master class gave a response like that to me, and helped me in stabilizing my sense of identity.

I did one of my research papers on the reception of Stravinsky’s The Firebird. This was the first ballet in the collaborative series with the Ballet Russes. Before learning about Stravinsky in college, I knew of him through association of Frank Zappa and other bands, and I knew about the Rite of Spring and Symphony of Psalms, but didn’t feel well studied in those works.

When I first learned about Stravinsky, I thought him to be the quintessentially Russian composer, writing Russian music, embodying Russian identity. However, this eventually came to me as a slight misnomer. My research paper about the critical reception of The Firebird was about how the ballet was considered the first sensational work of Stravinsky that sent him into international fame in Paris, France. However, if Stravinsky had premiered the ballet’s work in his home country of Russia, he probably wouldn’t have reached his level of status as a composer.

The French absolutely raved about Stravinsky’s innovative accomplishments with the piece. Russian critics largely didn’t appreciate the work. They didn’t even premiere the works with the ballet in Russia, as it was still seen as a novelty art form. They also didn’t appreciate the blending of French musical influences in the score, and the Oriental influences in the ballet. Overall, the “Russian identity” within this music, from the Russian perspective, was seen as largely “contrived” and “manufactured.”

What was so amazing to me though was, despite these conflicts, the Ballet Russes and Stravinsky were set in an insistent spirit to make this as a Russian version of a Gesamtkunst-werk, or a total artwork combining many art forms. Yet the participants in Ballet Russes were largely outsiders in their home country, with many of the patrons and other Russian composers such as Rimsky-Korsakov himself largely disapproving of the Ballet Russes.

In a funny sense, I had this image of Stravinsky bravely and wildly insisting this was going to be a Russian masterwork towards a large amount of Russian people misunderstanding. Likewise, I had this image in my own small hometown and community in which I wrote Lost in an Elevator, and saw how I used that piece as a brave and wild means to appear towards others as a masculine, when I was really a trans person not being entirely understood and trying to understand others. I could laugh at this, because of our comparisons in scope: I’m Timmie in a small redneck town with a chamber piece, and he’s Stravinsky in France insisting of a Russian masterwork for his country! It helped lessen my anxieties towards how I related to people with this piece.

Despite what the Russians thought, it was a pivotal time for the composer Stravinsky, and when he later went on to write Petrushka and The Rite of Spring, he was able to construct more of a singular and original identity for himself as a composer, through the blending of these multiple national identities and other disparate compositional elements. Despite many of the jarring compositional techniques used within The Rite of Spring, the piece is all held together in continuity with the organic use and development of Russian folk tunes. Today, we consider all of these ballets to be part of his Russian period of composing, despite these historical complexities. Stravinsky’s sound is seen as something so singular and original with these blending of the modern and traditional, and he really left a framework for other composers to write in whose works are seen as suspenseful, theatrical, and thrilling.

I got back to revising my piece Lost in an Elevator for its first premiere in an annual concert series Collage back in 2016, a concert where we demonstrated the diversity of musical talent our school had. I rearranged the piece for a trio: upright bass, soprano saxophone, and flute. Taking the advice I picked up from the master class and the studies of Stravinsky, I went into revising the piece with a renewed sense of confidence. I developed further sections, and gave the chance for the main theme to have more breath inside the stylistic changes.

I passed the audition with my trio, yet I was in a very difficult place in my life when I performed it with the group. I only just started exploring my gender expressions by wearing dresses and other clothes, and I was at a very frightened state in my life because the question weighed on me that I needed to physically change my body. I was walking around during that month with no stable sense of a self-image, I was depressed, and I felt terrified for my safety.

Once I performed this piece with my group, however, I experienced a very spiritual and mental sensation: I remembered so many men in my life that had a positive influence on me, and I felt an overwhelming feeling wash over me of how proud I was to be in my body. I left the rehearsal sessions and performance of this piece feeling overjoyed and happy.

I reflect back on this now and recognize how this piece and further studies as a music student really helped with my struggles in gender identity.

Much of my feelings towards lessening stylistic changes and shortening sections for the piece came from an internal place of shame and stigma of my non-binary identity. I saw this piece arising from a place where I was really trying to navigate masculinity: competitiveness through intellectual fervor, aggression with harmonic language and the rock beat of the drum set, and a dark, twisted sense of humor. However, Greg Simon from the master class came to me, recognized these qualities in the piece, and gave a small piece of advice that allowed those internal qualities to further play out.

When I look back on my studies about Stravinsky, it really eased me to see his indirect influence in my work. It really inspired me the historical difficulties Stravinsky and the Ballet Russes were facing in trying to blur the lines with these national identities and compositional elements to create something of singular theatrical and programmatic cohesion. Just as I felt I was blurring the lines of gender identity and compositional elements with my piece for my smaller communities.

When I look back on the spiritual and mental experience I had with performing my piece, I realize now why it put me at such mental ease. I often saw myself stressed with the expressions I used in this piece, what it may have been emoting in me as a person, and how it may have seemed incongruent with masculinity I was trying to fit into at the time I wrote it. But, in the context of music major world, it was socially congruent and absolutely accepted by my community. I had the space and opportunity to allow those characteristics of my masculinity in me that I shamed so heavily, and was able to place it in a context to entertain others, tell a story, and engage with the listeners.

I always had a fond relationship with the music of Debussy. Debussy brings me memories of my sisters playing his pieces, filling the entire piano room with The Girl With Flaxen Hair, and The Cathedral. In the first sample during the second segment, you hear the piece The Cathedral for piano, and also, of course in the first segment, Prelude to the Afternoon of the Faun.

When we read about Debussy in music history, so much of his work was tied into the label of sensuality. In The Cathedral sample you heard, a dreamy like atmosphere of an underwater Cathedral is supposed to be evoked.

In a lecture Leonard Bernstein did, he talked a lot about the sensuality of Prelude to the Afternoon of the Faun. He talked about how Debussy’s techniques evoked an aura of eroticism. Bernstein used this article to also talk about Debussy’s general philosophy of composing, which was simply exploring sounds and patterns that were pleasing to the ears instead of being so heavily theory oriented and analytical. Debussy seemed to be from an aesthetic that believed in trying to find your own sensual language as a composer.

I started writing, composing, and developing pieces like these in middle school. It was always written on guitar first. The first segment you heard was a demonstration of a parallel chord progression pattern moving upwards, with a saxophone improvising over it. The piece is called Improvised.

The second segment you heard was my piece for guitar Whispered. The third segment you heard was a version called Stained Glass, which was composed for an Orchestration class my sophomore year of college. When I composed the piece for guitar, I felt myself approaching composition like Debussy did: exploring sounds and patterns instead of being analytical.

I was inspired to continue moving the fingers on the guitar fret in parallel motion for the chord patterns like Debussy exploring the chords and intervals on the piano. However, for this composition, I would adjust my fingers on the frets accordingly in order to make the chords stay consistently within the key of D minor. I channeled a lot of that influence of guitar playing through Joni Mitchell, whom you heard through the feminine music sample. Differently from how I approached the parallel motion that you heard in the first sample, I would move my frets but allow much of the guitar strings to ring openly. Through this, I would allow moments of dissonance and consonance to freely pass through each other, and allowed the voicings to occasionally double up with another note on the open guitar.

When I was able to play these kinds of compositions on guitar, I would very much flood the room like how my sisters would do with playing pieces by Debussy. I would turn the guitar up to a clean tone with an overwhelming echo effect. Years back, analyzing my own feelings when I would play these pieces, I noticed that I would go to school and struggle with body dysphoria. I’d go home, play a piece like this, and experience that sensual quality that we greatly attribute to Debussy’s music. I would play it and have a feeling that I was developing a clear perception of my body. Playing this on guitar was helping me sense how my body actually was.

On a more social level, when I finished composing my piece Whispered in the eighth grade, I had such a feeling of relief that I was saying everything about me that needed to be said. The social dysphoria I was experiencing was being released.

When I look back on why I felt this way, and looking at it through the lenses of Debussy’s aesthetic of developing a language for you as a composer, it makes sense why I felt this way. I started writing about this piece again after coming out as non-binary, and I felt a great feeling of symbolic interpretation being communicated to me.

On a basic level, it was such a great idea for me to hear this piece in orchestration in Stained Glass, because it communicates internal quality that I commonly perceive through my interactions with non-binary folks… We can tend to be very meditative and calm people like how you may hear it in the guitar version, but on the other end of the coin with the orchestrated version, very fiery and passionate.

On the symbolic level, I saw the two moving notes of the chord progression to be representative of my desire to express something aligned with my internal self. I saw the four unchanging, static notes to be heavily imposed societal gender norms that were refusing to move. In combination, I was able to hear a sort of place in my world as a non-binary and genderqueer person. There are moments where the chords and voicings in the orchestration sound fraught and overwhelming, just like how I was seeing gender norms at the time. But then they reach places of consonance in combination with the static notes that demonstrate an ability to be aligned with a society and people around me. In other parts of the orchestration that I didn’t play, there is a glorious, heroic segment with an ascending line with sprightly woodwind scales moving through the texture. Noticing how I always naturally ended the phrases with something of consonance, I was able to infer for myself that I felt a possibility and hope to be aligned with a society and community in my body.

While I am not sure if I could have given a symbolic analysis at the time I wrote it, I felt I was successful in this piece with aligning myself with a Debussy philosophy of developing a musical language for myself. It was really able to communicate something to my future self in college, and that is what mattered in the long run.

In this sample you are hearing Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, the Unfinished Symphony. This is Movement 1: Allegro Moderato. You can do heavy analysis of all the mode mixtures that Schubert utilizes in the piece, and you can also analyze through a framework of a circle of thirds key centers. Here is what a circle of thirds chord progression pattern looks like (shows slide.) Sometimes Schubert would navigate the circle of thirds masterfully through well thought out mode mixture tricks, but other times he would allow the changes to be not so sudden. I was able to observe Schubert’s use of the circle of thirds pattern in a piece of his I analyzed for MUS 493: Impromptu No. 1 in Eb Minor, Drei Klavierstücke, Movement 1: Allegro Assai. MUS 493 was a special topics class that analyzed all of the symphonies of Beethoven and some of the symphonies of Schubert.

In this sample you are hearing my piece Ducks, which I wrote my sophomore year of high school. The mode mixture I use in this piece is nowhere near as extensive as Schubert’s use of it, but the influence had definitely made a mark.

My senior year of college, my professor Dr. Block brought me an article Constructions of Subjectivity in Schubert’s Music by musicologist Dr. Susan McClary. She focused in on the Unfinished 8th Symphony by Schubert and talked about how people during Schubert’s time, solely based on the compositional aspects of his music, was suspected to be gay by many. She also talked about how many place Schubert under a label of a feminine paradigm for his music, because of his lyrical musical qualities and very personal nature of his compositions.

Now, Susan McClary was given a lot of criticism for exploring the question of Schubert’s sexuality and the feminine paradigm through his music, because during the time many people at musicological conferences were either condemning of homosexuality, or found the question not to be worth exploring at all.

This article, however, helped me tremendously in my personal life, so I sent McClary some of my writings and she immediately replied back to me thanking me. She talked about how she wrote that article specifically because she had queer students coming up to her saying they noticed Schubert’s compositional tendencies within their early compositions as composers. I was completely moved by the article because I was teleported back to my earliest explorations into compositions trying to completely immerse myself in mode mixture patterns, and one of my first earliest (and unsuccessful) instrumental compositions was using the circle of thirds sequence of tonal centers.

Just to clarify if this doesn’t sound like a big deal… there is a section in the article that says expressions in art and music do not have to necessarily align with one’s identity at all. It’s absolutely true. Expressions and identity are separate entities. Just the very fact that somebody composes in a certain way aligned with another composer, that doesn’t make them have a similar personality to the composer by any means. But I am going to draw you again to the questions of measurements in consistencies, habits, and patterns of expressions, to help explore the fine line between expression and identity.

Schubert wasn’t the first inventor of mode mixture patterns, but how far he went with them was completely unprecedented at the time. I also went very far with my obsession with applying mode mixture. I would take long trips home from a vacation and be obsessively fantasizing about all the possibilities with mode mixtures and circle of thirds for upcoming compositions of mine.

Within Schubert’s time, he was really pushing the confines of sonata form and the symphony ideals through mode mixture and circle of thirds, and challenging the basic format of sonata form of the tonic-dominant relationship. Within my time, I was getting the inspiration for mode mixture and circle of thirds because I was wanting to stray away from my culture of pop and rock music that was very centered in one key all the time.

As far as relating goes, I have no idea how Schubert was feeling at the time with his supposed gay identity. But I imagine he was a complete outcast and shamed, just as I was feeling in my time. Did these defiant musical expressions align across our stretches of times because of how we were made to feel defiant based on our sexuality? How did we align so well with absorption of our completely different music influences, and while being completely different people? Was this the only way we could express ourselves, and take control of who we were internally through the means of music? And what does this say about our underlying humanity?

Susan cited another musicologist in the article: Jackson. Jackson talks about how Schubert was only put under a category of feminine because of his lack of conformity towards the norms of composition. Instead, Jackson interpreted Schubert’s expressions as “participating in a cultural construction of masculinity,” as the characteristics within Schubert’s music are often aligned with the narratives of gay men: “excess, pleasure, play, porous identities, free exchange between self and others.”

When I first read the article, it was before the summer of my senior year, where I hadn’t discovered my identity yet as trans. But I was in a place of slight annoyance with the article. I almost hated the quote that seemed to me a stereotype of gay men, as I didn’t see or understand how those qualities were playing out in my life narrative. Then I was annoyed by this need for a feminine paradigm for musicologists to understand the works of Schubert, and how it seemed he was just simply thrown under that label because he was seen as “otherly” with his supposed sexuality.

In a funny sense, when I came out as trans and explored myself, I was trying to navigate through my several lifetime moments of constant shame, stigma, and persistent instructions, replies, and reactions telling me to stop acting a certain way because, (for a lack of a better word to be describing my actions), it was too feminine. Then I come across something as obscure as a musicological article pointing at me, telling me: “Hahaha. GAY! Feminine!”

In a more serious sense, I was having past compositions of mine being placed under a feminine paradigm, and I was curious to make something out of it. This construction of feminine on the very basis of my sexuality was an all too common oppression in my lifetime, and gave me a lot of discomfort, stress, and mental disconnect. But the truth is that we are social beings, so our construction of our purely individual selves comes through a constant interpersonal and institutional guise of other people. I’m one that needed to always remind myself of that three-dimensional quality of people. Schubert and I just happened to reach out interpersonally under similar expressions that may have been a result of our internal queer sensuality, and the institutional decision of the musicological world just happened to call it feminine, or even an alternative version of masculinity. This doesn’t make us feminine people necessarily.

I needed to move away from my more literal and internal struggles with my dysphoria towards femininity and how that played a role in my life, in order to try and better appreciate this need for a label of a feminine paradigm in music composition. I acknowledged and rationalized for myself that my moments struggling with body dysphoria that pointed me towards femininity came from a reality where I internalized something of myself that wasn’t congruent to the desires and wishes of my future, pure, and truest internal self.

In other words, I had communications sent to me, both directly and indirectly, that on the sole basis of being gay… I was no longer an heir to the family, being the only child in a “boy’s body” with three other sisters. I was not fulfilling the duties of manhood that were laid out for me and my male privilege. There was something inherently wrong with me for not finding my self worth and value in marrying a wife someday that would bear my children, even though this would be impossible for me with my sexuality. How this was further amplified in my school system for no acknowledgement of my existence as a queer person. I was being prayed for. I was going to have employers in my future figure out my sexual identity and, on the basis of that, discriminate against me, and put me at risk for financial and job security.

When you internalize a lot of that hatred and stigma, I found it to be only natural that I was one that internalized a very fluid relationship with gender during my adolescence. On some days, I would wake up and believe myself to be of those hyper alternative masculine traits that Jackson spelled out in the article. On those days, I would try to have hope for my internal self that I could escape from the pathologization of queer people by my mother and someday find a fulfilling life through gay romance.

On other days, this pain of not fulfilling the demands my family made upon me, the confusion over lack of queer visibility, and the isolation if anyone else existed like me and had hope for a future, was enough to internalize body dysphoria, and fall into horrifying perceptions of my body. Those many other days I believed my hormones to be an unnatural growth that wasn’t pleasurable. Those many other days I only had dissonance towards that specific and necessary body area that I believed could fulfill the family pressure of bearing the grandchildren my mother “needed.” In other words, it was partial body dysphoria wishing for an androgynous body.

Schubert and I have different life stories and struggles, as he was an outcast, his music was not appreciated in his time, probably experienced mental illness in his lifetime, and died really young either of typhoid fever or syphilis. But I was not surprised I was to turn to creativity in music and a similar aesthetic of Schubert’s. These internalized feelings of defiance, confusion, and isolation are what led us to mode mixture and circle of thirds. Ironically, if you were you have asked me at the time I was writing that music; I sincerely felt it was carrying my queer identity.

After I felt I had sorted through that realization, I had more room to try and better appreciate what was the need for a binary paradigm of masculinity and femininity for art music. It’s as simple as this: it makes it easier for folks to understand, and that can make it more accessed and appreciated by people. Almost just like how I am not one that cares to annihilate everyone’s desire to align with a binary pronoun he/him/his or she/her/hers: it makes it easier for folks to understand, and that can make it a starting point to be better accessed and appreciated by people.

I’m going to simplify how the musicological historical trends of approaching appreciation towards art music seemed to occur. Looking through the masculine and feminine paradigm, I noticed a difference in appreciation developments.

The supposed “masculine” composers were being grasped in appreciation first for their compositional structure: organicism, the ability to take a small motive and apply it to a foundation of the whole piece, consistency in exploring all the possibilities in a key center and their neighbor keys. This was how musicological studies were approached first in music academia, and the masculine composers were appreciated earlier on. After awhile, musicologists were then led to appreciate the cultural, communal, and interpersonal ways that this touched people.

Whereas these supposed “feminine” composers were being grasped in appreciation first for their structures into people’s personal, domestic, and everyday lives: the interaction of the melody line and accompaniment creating a program and story, the folk and pastoral qualities from the art songs even to the symphonies, and especially these uncanny abilities for these composers to transfer an aura of their mental, physical, or spiritual state of being that affects personal lives… even years later. These musicological studies were approached later in music academia. Feminine composers were appreciated much later on. After this appreciation developed, musicologists were able to better see how structurally sound the compositions were.

Dr. Block mentioned in my 493 class that, while we haven’t moved out this binary paradigm for art music, there is so much more appreciation for the feminine paradigm in music. Just recently within the past decade, an annual Top Ten lists of composers finally included Schubert. This step forward in appreciating the feminine paradigm is beneficial and broadens the whole field.

What was really wonderful about that class with Dr. Block was that we studied nearly everything about the lives of Beethoven and Schubert. When we dove into so many of their works, it really lessened the confines of these binary labels. Specifically Beethoven was considered masculine and Schubert feminine. But an honest look into all of their life’s work saw approaches and appreciations that demanded us to see all of these sides of them. Beethoven may have been known as more heroic, brave, and masculine in his better-known symphonies, but he was also composing as a means to evoke unprecedented humor and pastoral qualities in sacrifice of the traditional masculine compositional paradigms, and his Ninth Symphony’s program participated in a whole political revolution worth studying historically. Likewise, Schubert was more known for his song cycles and art songs. The feminine tag was more derived from those works such as Winterreise and Die schöne Müllerin, and only through folks discovering that he was a serious symphony composer as well was when the considerations of him as a participant in masculine cultural constructions was opened up.

As far as observing that humanity of Beethoven and Schubert through studying their music and lifetime, it really coincided with perspectives that I needed to grasp about gender. Knowing someone’s gender identity, if they are masculine, feminine, both, neither, or other, is a great starting point in knowing someone, but really they’re human and it’s just one facet of their identity. Everyone is capable of limitless expressions, no matter what your identity. Being able to observe this through master composers was beneficial. I’m not too concerned if these labels are attributed to Beethoven and Schubert, as long as that doesn’t keep others from appreciating their other works, music appreciation in general, and recognizing all the sides to them as artists.

Likewise, even though musicology maybe needed to start from a more “masculine” angle in order to be recognized as an institutional valid study at first, the reality is the average person isn’t going to be listening for measurement values based off strictly these “masculine traits.” I’m also not one arguing that musicology’s history can easily be summed up as a start from the masculine towards the feminine, because I don’t believe that. Music has always been appreciated three dimensionally by people: composition, performance, and relating to humanity. It is great that musicology strives towards appreciation and study through all of these angles. It’s true that they are studying music at a much higher level than the average person. With that being said, musicology has to continue to strive for listening to music like an average person would in that sense of three-dimensional appreciation. The field must never lose sight of that.

This is the single great thing that studying music in college continued to bring me back to: listening. Just listening. Cherishing that gift of listening. Being aware that through listening to one person’s music, we understand spirits in connection to our spirits.

Back towards my pop music samples, I remember that if you really needed to throw a binary label on how I was appreciating that music back in the day, it was through a masculine angle, for all of the samples. I was so technically analytical with noticing all the extra complexities in harmonies, melodies, and arrangements in comparison to rock and pop music on the radio. Later though, it was inescapable that this appreciation would come about through realizing this idea of the music as a socially stabilizing force for relating to humanity, for all of the samples. You could argue that since this had to do with relating, it would be feminine. But I don’t enjoy thinking of it in those terms. I just recognize that I was able to seek out my spirit through the help of several other spirits within music, no matter what angle I was coming towards my music appreciation. Even if I didn’t consciously recognize it at the time, it was always in my subconscious that those pop samples were communicating towards me.

I felt one instance I perfectly embodied this gift of listening and cherishing spirituality in music outside of my classroom was through the music of Anohni. She is someone that identifies as a trans woman, but is someone really representing for non-binary folks as well. All I know is that the first time I heard her, it was the cabaret folk group Antony and the Johnsons off the album I Am A Bird Now. I put on the first track “Hope There’s Someone” and almost cried instantly. I didn’t though, as I was still closeted and not out as anything: gay or trans. I had no idea she was transgender, and what I found her from was just through a string of influences of many of my favorite singer-songwriters. But I was completely drawn to her voice’s timbre: deep, soulful, dark, vibrato-laden, strange, and hearkening back to the singing stylistics of Nina Simone. I was captivated, and in that sitting I listened to the whole album, completely stunned.

Later, I found her orchestral album Cut the World, and was blown away by the title track that was originally composed for an opera The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic. The second track was a spoken word piece, where she talked about her art collective, their philosophy about Future Feminism, and their advocacy in collective consciousness about ecocide. I started to watch her interviews on YouTube constantly, as I was fascinated by her personality. The summer before I discovered my trans identity, I would sing in the car to her music a lot while doing pizza deliveries. I found myself unintentionally emulating her vocal style, more than any other artist I had played in my car before.

Anohni took a complete turn away from her band Antony and the Johnsons to release an electronic music protest album Hopelessness in 2016. She left her former name Antony Hegarty and took on her spirit name Anohni. I collected that album and let the production qualities and brave lyric themes wash over me.

Within that year, I came out as trans, and put on that first album again of Hope There’s Someone. Then I unabashedly cried, as I realized the album drew me in because it was completely putting to voice nearly everything about my transgender experience hopes, dreams, fears, and aspirations to a tee. I don’t know if other parts of Anohni’s personality, (such as being raised Catholic and the similar feminine influences of Kate Bush and Björk), played a role in this album voicing my feelings so well. Nevertheless, noticing this full circle approach that this was always my intended reaction validated my personality, domestically created a space for me where I could continue to carve and emerge myself from, and lived with me in everyday life.

Looking back on my singer-songwriter material in high school, I noticed that we sang about similar subject matter. Both of us composed songs about our personal experiences with body dysphoria, even though I was the one late with understanding these voicings of dysphoria in both my past songs and her songs. Her song Cut the World perfectly voiced how unbearable my gender dysphoria could get if not kept in control. Both of us composed songs about neuro-divergence, such as Anohni’s song Epilepsy is Dancing and my song Look Me In The Eyes about the animal science professor Temple Grandin and her life story with autism. (Which was performed on my senior recital, and composed before I knew of Anohni.) We did it in that same mysterious light of a third person narrative, but noticing how I was trying to reach out for Grandin within the exploration of this song to try and understand my potential neurodivergence, I was often left to wonder if Anohni reached out in her song Epilepsy is Dancing for similar reasons. (I do not have time to play you my singer-songwriter samples, but their ideas are accessible through the photography art project I gave to you called The Missing Elements.)

I still listen to her album Hopelessness, and it is an album carried with me in coping with the current political landscape. I was drawn to it because she voiced the global issues of today, such as drone bomb nuclear warfare, video surveillance, torture and execution, and ecocide, while hardly singing about identity politics. With that being said, she was able to add lyric twists to the album that clearly communicated to me our shared identity as trans people, in congruence with the musical arrangement.

I feel like it is something that is hard to hear and understand in her music if you are not trans. Probably much how people who lived in the culture of the emergence of jazz and experienced those racial and socio-political oppressions heard the music much differently than we do. However, just like our studies towards jazz, even if we are not going to have their shared life experience, we certainly appreciate and let jazz music live on and allow it to intersect within our lifetime and our culture. Just like in my studies with Western classical art music, we lived completely different lives with completely different cultures for composing music, but reached out for paradigms of composing for relating through similar internal means, and their music intersected in my lifetime and culture. In that light, I personally hope Anohni goes down in history as one of the great trans singer-songwriters of our time, no matter how her music differently affects people across the spectrum of gender identities: trans, cis, or non-binary.

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yahoo-roto-arcade-blog · 8 years ago

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Fantasy NASCAR cheat sheet for Auto Club 400

Chase Elliott waves to the crowd during driver introductions for the race at Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ralph Freso)

Fantasy NASCAR cheat sheet for Auto Club Speedway

Special to Yahoo Sports By Dan Beaver

A late-race caution at the end of the Camping World 500k threw players a curveball, but it’s time to tighten the grip and take another swing. The Auto Club 400 marks the third race on an unrestricted, intermediate speedway. Momentum gathered in the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 and Kobalt 400 carries over to Auto Club Speedway, which gives fantasy owners a great set of notes from which to work.

1. Chase Elliott Last year, Elliott was almost perfect on two-mile tracks. He finished sixth at Auto Club and second in both Michigan events. This is the week he will get his first Cup win.

2. Brad Keselowski Last week’s fifth-place finish in the Camping World 500k was not pretty, but it gave Keselowski his third consecutive top-five for the season.

3. Kevin Harvick He did not dominate Phoenix like he has done in the past, but when the flagman reached behind him for the checkers, Harvick was solidly inside the top 10.

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4. Joey Logano Once he got shuffled back in the pack because of a penalty, Logano lost control of his fate. The two-mile tracks are a little more forgiving and passing is easier.

5. Kyle Larson The No. 42 team is learning every way there is to lose a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, but Larson now has five top-three results in his last six races.

6. Jimmie Johnson It is too soon to tell if the monkey is truly off Johnson’s back, but he loosened its grip at Phoenix. He won at Auto Club last year for the sixth time in his career.

7. Ryan Blaney Three of the four most consistently strong drivers so far this season have four or fewer years’ experience. Blaney is flirting with top-fives and should win sometime in 2017.

8. Kyle Busch He has three Auto Club wins to his credit, two of which came back-to-back in 2013/2014, but that did not keep Busch from sustaining crash damage last year to finish 25th.

9. Denny Hamlin Forced to the back on two separate occasions, Hamlin passed more cars last week at Phoenix than anyone else. That gives him momentum and confidence for Auto Club.

10. Martin Truex Jr. The short, flat track was not supposed to be Truex’s best venue, but he salvaged a decent finish at Phoenix and now has a sweep of the top 15 this season.

11. Erik Jones It did not take long for Jones to earn his first top-10 as a rookie. Now, he is riding a three-race, top-15 streak that arguably makes him the best value in almost any game.

12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The two-mile tracks have been extremely kind to Roush-Fenway Racing in the past. Stenhouse earned a rare top-five in last year’s Auto Club 400 and he was top five last week at Phoenix.

13. Clint Bowyer He has the speed, but it is taking a little while for Bowyer to figure out how to control a race. Top-15s will be common for a while; top-10s a little rarer.

14. Ryan Newman A gamble on old tires gave Newman the win at Phoenix, but he worked his way into the top 10 and would have finished strong regardless.

15. Kurt Busch The 2017 season is beginning to look a lot like 2016 for Busch. A victory locked him into the playoffs last year and then his results took a hit.

16. Paul Menard He might not be the first driver who comes to mind on unrestricted, intermediate speedways, but Menard has a 13-race streak of results 18th or better on the two-milers.

17. Daniel Suarez Now that he has a top-10 under his belt, Suarez should have the confidence to consistently contend for top-15s. Fantasy owners will get a chance to see how he really performs now.

18. Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing is the most improved organization in the field. McMurray had a solid top-10 in his pocket at Phoenix until the final caution jumbled the field.

19. Ty Dillon The Rookie of the Year finally heated up at Phoenix. Dillon had a shot at a top-15 along with Jones and Suarez, but he was overwhelmed by the veterans at the end.

20. Dale Earnhardt Jr. While he finally recorded a top-15 last week at Phoenix, Earnhardt still does not look like he is ready to score top-10s. Until he does, he is a bad value.

21. Matt Kenseth The driver of the No. 20 has three wins at Auto Club, but the latest of these came in 2009. Kenseth is probably a little shell-shocked and sore after last week’s crash.

22. Trevor Bayne A 19th-place finish in the Camping World 500k was Bayne’s worst result of the season. Jack Roush literally built Auto Club and knows a thing or two about going fast there.

23. Austin Dillon In three previous Auto Club starts, Dillon has been slipping down the finishing order. Last year his 24th-place result in the Auto Club 400 came after he qualified on the pole.

24. Kasey Kahne He had another strong run going last week, but Kahne fell back to 20th at the checkers and did not earn enough points to make him a favorite.

25. Aric Almirola In the last two races, Almirola has finished on the lead lap and that gives him a chance to move up the grid if something happens to a competitor in the late stages.

26. AJ Allmendinger Until he learns how to contend for segment points, Allmendinger is going to languish in the standings. His results will hover just outside the middle of the pack.

27. Chris Buescher The No. 37 will finish somewhere in the mid-20s this week. Knowing that, fantasy owners can decide if Buescher fits the right niche on their roster.

28. David Ragan With only one lead-lap finish in his last 23 starts, it is difficult to be overly optimistic about Ragan’s odds at Auto Club. More and more drivers are able to go the full distance each week.

29. Danica Patrick She really needs a strong finish to convince fantasy owners to roll the dice on the No. 10. On the two-mile tracks, Patrick has finished in the top 20 in half of her attempts.

30. Matt DiBenedetto With fairly consistent results in the high-20s, DiBenedetto is beating one-fourth to one-third of the field each week. Success in fantasy NASCAR often means making the right choices this high on the list.

31. Landon Cassill One thing is almost certain: Cassill will finish better than he qualifies this week. He has done that in 12 of his last 13 attempts.

32. Michael McDowell Last year, McDowell certainly showed consistency on the two-mile tracks with 31st-place finishes at Auto Club and his single Michigan attempt.

33. Reed Sorenson He is doing the best with the equipment at his disposal and results around the 30th position are the high water mark for Sorenson.

34. Cole Whitt If a player needs to roll the dice in a salary cap game, Whitt is not a bad choice. Before his accident last week in Phoenix, he had three top-30s in the first three races.

35. Gray Gaulding The relief of finally finishing a race at Las Vegas was short-lived for Gaulding. He crashed at Phoenix more than 100 laps from the checkers.

36. Jeffrey Earnhardt Unrestricted, intermediate speedways are not typically kind to lightly-funded teams, so fantasy owners should ignore Earnhardt and concentrate on the top drivers.

37. Derrike Cope It is not enough to make a fantasy player want to activate Cope just yet, but in three starts this season he has finished better each week. He was 33rd at Phoenix.

38. Corey LaJoie A cut tire and hard trip into the wall at Phoenix reconfirmed just how star-crossed LaJoie has been so far in 2017.

39. Timmy Hill With three previous starts on two-mile tracks, Hill actually has a little experience from which to draw. His best effort on the track type was a 29th in 2013.

For more analysis, go to DanBeaver.com or follow him on Twitter

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