#after listening to four season of Alex as Martin

[jjkeremika]

all or (Formula) n(One)

chapter three: Saudi Arabia Grand Prix

ch1; ch2

ferrari driver! eren jaeger x mechanic/engineer! mikasa ackerman

description: “Welcome to the 2024 Formula One Saudi Arabia Grand Prix. For those who are just joining in, what we are currently watching is the new lead mechanic at Ferrari physically signing the scarlet chassis of their newest and youngest driver, Eren Jaeger.”

“For the second time this season too, Martin, and based on those extraordinary results from Bahrain, if I were a betting man, I’d bet we will see that MKA signature paired with that driver number 139 racing for every podium this season.”

tag/disclaimer(s): written as camera angles and commentary between radio hosts (Alex and Martin); eremika (Ferrari driver! eren x mechanic! mikasa); friends to lovers dynamic

**Race Day, Saudi Arabia Grand Prix**

“It is a gorgeous night all the way from Jeddah. The camera showcasing a beautiful view of the four year old circuit under the flood lights as we prepare for the final event of the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.”

“Quite right about it being gorgeous conditions, Martin, the track’s not too hot, there’s no forecast of rain, lots of space for DRS. I think we are about to have one of the best races for the young circuit.”

*all cars are undergoing the formation lap. the driver lineup and the grid are shown to the side of the live view*

“It was a tight qualifying yesterday for the top ten, all those drivers are very eager and hungry for some points during today’s race. In tenth place there we have the young Armin Arlet in his second season in the Williams, his best ever qualifying position in Formula One. Right in ninth is his more experienced teammate Connie Springer in the other Williams.”

“Jean Kirstein is having a tough time in that Mercedes this season, pulling a qualifying position of eighth. The worst starting position for his career. And right in hand with Kirstein, we have Erwin Smith starting seventh in the McLaren after facing a gearbox penalty, his worst start in about a decade.”

“Smith is going to have to push hard during this race to skate past that the row in front. On that row we have Bertoldt Hoover in the RB Honda in sixth, the best starting position of his career and for RB Honda this season.”

“It’s almost a shame, Martin, that timid Hoover is sandwiched between Smith and Porco Galliard in that scarlet Ferrari in fifth.”

“It’ll make for an epic start, Alex. To add to the excitement, we have a driver returning to Formula One after an off-season sitting in the other McLaren this Grand Prix: Zeke Jaeger, in fourth. Substituting in for Flock as he’s out for an undetermined amount of time with a pretty severe appendicitis infection.”

“That’s tough for Flock, can only hope for the speediest of recoveries—but, man, is it good to see Zeke back in a seat for this season. And even more, it’ll make for an interesting race today as we have his very own younger and arguably more successful brother in the fiery Ferrari in third.”

“I wonder if it was indeed his brother’s success in winning the first Grand Prix of the season that really inspired Zeke to come back into the sport. The orange McLaren no less. I believe he mentioned a soft retirement, but there’s nothing soft about him in that McLaren on those hard compact tires, that’s for sure.”

“It’ll be a family reunion to remember as Eren Jaeger starts in the same row. An elegant start to this race weekend after shocking the world and winning his first Grand Prix in Bahrain.”

**camera zooms in on the front of the Ferrari car 139, the MKA circled signature neatly displayed. camera zooms in on helmeted Eren Jaeger in the seat, pulling his visor down and waving. the crowd cheers**

“I mean, listen to that loud Ferrari cheer. Possibly the most dedicated fan base in the sport.”

Alex laughs. “Well, Martin, are they Ferrari fans or Jaeger fans? With third on the grid today, I’m assuming he’s looking for a repeat victory.” He pauses and returns to the grid order. “Topping off the grid we’ve got another Redbull 1, 2, with Reiner Braun in first and Levi Ackerman in second.”

**cars lining into position after the formation lap. camera focuses on safety car lining up behind. lights turn on in ascending order**

“You can see the sweat on that Redbull team principal’s brow as you just know Ackerman is itching to beat his teammate this season—2023 world champion Reiner Braun—when perhaps the real competition is in his rear-view mirror.”

**five lights go out. cars start down the straight towards the first corner**

“That’s lights out as we have now begun the first lap as Braun maintains the lead with yet another brilliant start. Ackerman and the Jaeger brothers extremely close behind with great starts themselves.”

“This’ll be really quite thrilling, Martin, having two brothers racing against each other for opposite teams in the paddock. I’m not sure that’s ever happened before.”

“If my formula two, three, and four history is correct, these brothers have never professionally raced each other outside of karts.”

“Honestly, Martin, I’m just glad to see Zeke back in a seat after being replaced by veteran Miche Zacharius, who started and is currently keeping that Mercedes in fifteenth position.”

*drones follow the group of four cars (Smith, Hoover, Galliard, and Zeke) as they clump around the corner. Zeke pulls away from Galliard, but Smith passes Hoover).

“From all appearances, so he is. Look at the way Zeke is defending that fourth position from Galliard in the second Ferrari. An excellent defense from the older driver, who is now leading off into the first DRS zone.”

“And what a great maneuver by Smith back at turn 4, going around the inside of Hoover who just hasn’t felt out that RB Honda enough to defend that sixth place position.”

“Look at how that McLaren speeds down those straights even without DRS enabled, Alex. You can see it with Smith, and you can see it again with Zeke as the camera brings us back to the driver entering his first Grand Prix with McLaren after a successful two seasons with Mercedes.”

*drones follow Zeke in the orange McLaren. Porco is close behind in the other Ferrari.*

“I wonder if he’s starting to sweat, sandwiched between two Ferrari’s. One of them Eren Jaeger, no less, who’s off to a brilliant start for the race.”

*camera cuts to eagle-eye view of Eren Jaeger in Ferrari car 139, close to the Redbull in front.”

“And what’s remarkable, Alex, is the sight of that MKA from up above.”

“It’s like I’m pavlov-trained, Martin, I get excited just seeing it! A visual confirmation of a podium-worthy car. A competitive, championship-worthy chassis.”

Martin chuckles. “Assuming no one bumps or crashes into him. Let’s check in with his radio:”

*Ferrari radio to Eren Jaeger goes off.*

“Eren, Zeke in the McLaren is 1 second behind. 1 second behind,” the race engineer informs.

“I don’t give a fuck about Zeke. What about the redbull?” Eren’s voice is still audible despite the static and helmet.

“We are 0.5 seconds behind Ackerman, 2.5 seconds behind Braun.”

*camera follows Ferrari car number 139 around the track as it heads down the straight, into a DRS zone*

Martin’s laughing. “What we just heard is Ferrari’s race engineer telling Jaeger, ‘look, our battle is with the McLaren behind us that’s about to barrel down that straight.’ With Jaeger saying, ‘No. My pace is good, this car is good. My race is with the Redbulls ahead.’”

“You have to admire the tenacity of the young drivers now, Martin, they grew up in these faster karts, racing each other, chasing for these podiums. It’s especially true for these two brothers.”

“Well, Alex, I do wonder if perhaps it is because that McLaren is operated by his brother that Eren dismissed the team’s strategy so openly.”

*lap 35. drones follow Ferrari car 139 as it chases behind the Ackerman in the Redbull. The orange McLaren is extremely close behind the Ferrari*

“We are about to see the battle for third podium position as the Jaeger brothers exit turn 23 into the third DRS zone.”

“That McLaren is doing surprisingly well on those old tires keeping up with that MKA Ferrari. Eren cuts the corner slightly early to defend from Zeke, and ends up oversteering maybe a tad too much into turn 24.”

“McLaren fans everywhere hoping the younger driver left an opening for the veteran to slip through. Both cars are enabling DRS as Zeke tilts to the outside to go the long way around the scarlet chassis.”

*the orange and red cars barrel down the straight towards turn 26. The nose of the McLaren is starting to inch ahead*

“There’s something no team has been able to match this season or last season, Martin, and that is McLaren’s ability to reduce that drag and speed down a straight. Look at how that orange McLaren is nosing ahead.”

“Eren Jaeger is pushing that Ferrari hard to keep that space between the McLaren and the edge of the track and—oh!”

*Zeke cuts the corner early, tries to force Eren onto the brakes to convince him to back down and fall back into fourth position.*

*Eren doesn’t brake or turn in time. The Ferrari drives over the top of the McLaren halo. The bottom of the Ferrari gets caught on the front of the McLaren chassis. Both cars skid off the track into the barrier. Both cars are DNF (did not finish) and are retired from the race*

“With Zeke’s sudden turn there, that Ferrari had a front wheel lockup and ran right over the top of that McLaren. With only 15 laps to go, Eren and Zeke Jaeger are out of the race!”

*Ferrari car radio:*

“Eren, are you okay?” It’s Mikasa asking instead of his race engineer.

“For fucks sake!” Eren groans and hits the steering wheel in frustration. “He pushed me off the track! Left me no fucking room!”

“Yeah, I agree. Vasseur is talking to the stewards now.”

Eren scoffs at the situation. “Sorry about the car.”

She chortles. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll make a new one.”

*camera focuses on Eren hopping out of the car and walking over to the McLaren. Zeke makes his way out of the car around the same time Eren stalked over to the McLaren driver’s seat.*

*McLaren car radio:*

“Zeke, you okay?” the race engineer asks.

Zeke ignores the race engineer and shouts to Eren instead. Pointing aggressively. “You fucking asshole! Were you even thinking?!”

*Zeke shoves Eren on the side of the track. Both still have their helmets on. Eren reciprocates the shove*

*Heard over Eren’s microphone.*

“That’s what fucking happens when you don’t make room!”

*Heard over Zeke’s microphone*

“Learn to fucking drive!”

*drones pan out over the wreckage*

“For those of us listening in, what we just witnessed was— Well, what exactly did we just witness, Martin?”

“While we await to hear an official verdict from the stewards, but from up here it seems like Zeke tried to push his younger brother off the track. A move that resulted in both of them being out of the second Grand Prix of the year.”

“Thank goodness they’ve both walked away just from that accident, Martin.”

Martin chuckles. “Yes, it’s great they walked away from the crash but now the two brothers are being pulled apart off the track. Look at how Eren Jaeger is being dragged and sent walking back to the paddock.”

“Definitely needed a cool-off lap. I’m sure he was intent on winning this Grand Prix too and now that opportunity has been lost. Stolen from him one could say, along with all those championship points he could’ve scored.”

“As if tensions weren’t high enough in the family, with Zeke being dropped by Mercedes the same year Eren is picked up by Ferrari. now the two have crashed into each other and prevented both from finishing the race.”

“Well, Martin, a shame for those two drivers but you can practically hear the smile and wave from Smith and Galliard as they now pass the wreckage and have that chance to fight for that podium.”

[mitchbeck]

SPRINGFIELD THUNDERBIRDS VISIT THE HARTFORD WOLF PACK

By: Alex Thomas, Hartford Wolf Pack HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack continue a massive week of Atlantic Division tilts tonight when they welcome the rival Springfield Thunderbirds to the XL Center. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m., and coverage is available on both AHLTV and Mixlr.  Tale of The Tape: This is the ninth of twelve meetings between the Wolf Pack and the Thunderbirds this season. The sides will meet again a week from tonight on March 24th right back at the XL Center. That will open a back-to-back set, as the rivals will faceoff on March 25th, also in Hartford. The season series wraps up on April 15th at the MassMutual Center. The Thunderbirds have won two in a row in the season series, recently taking a 4-0 decision on March 8th. Mathias Laferriere opened the scoring 16:30 into the game, pouncing on a rebound for a powerplay goal. The goal would be enough on that night, as it stood as the game-winner. Matthew Peca tacked on insurance with a shorthanded goal 55 seconds in the middle stanza, while Matthew Highmore and Martin Frk both lit the lamp in the third period. Joel Hofer collected his second consecutive shutout against the Wolf Pack, making 31 saves. The Wolf Pack are just 2-4-0-2 against the T-Birds this season. Springfield has won two of three meetings in Hartford, including a 2-1 shootout decision on December 31st. Hartford’s lone win at home this season was a 2-1 shootout decision on November 9th.  Wolf Pack Outlook: The Wolf Pack snapped their four-game losing streak with a comeback victory over the Bridgeport Islanders on Wednesday night, 7-5. Trailing 4-3 after two periods, the Wolf Pack scored four unanswered goals in the third to take a lead they never lost. Ryan Carpenter tied the affair 1:39 into the third period, while Tim Gettinger put Hartford ahead at 6:15. Jonny Brodzinski blasted home the eventual game-winner at 12:59, then Tanner Fritz hit an empty net at 17:08. Brodzinski (2 g, 1 a), Will Cuylle (1 g, 2 a), and Will Lockwood (3 a) all recorded three points in the win. Cuylle’s goal was his 20th of the season, while Lockwood’s three assists gave him his first multi-point game with the club. Ty Emberson also registered two helpers. The victory gave the Wolf Pack 61 points on the season, moving them within a point of the Islanders for the final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division. Cuylle leads the Wolf Pack in scoring with 36 points (20 g, 16 a) on the campaign. His 20 goals pace the club in that category.   Thunderbirds Outlook: The Thunderbirds rattled off their third consecutive victory on Saturday night, defeating the Laval Rocket 5-2. Frk and John Parker-Jones traded first period goals at 6:36 and 16:47, respectively, setting up a 1-1 tie heading into the final 20 minutes. That’s when Austin Osmanski played hero, lighting the lamp for the first time this season 3:59 into the final stanza to give the T-Birds a lead they would not lose. Frk extended the lead at 4:31, potting his second of the night and the eventual game-winner, while Hugh McGing also found twine. Frk completed the hat trick at 17:04, sinking a shot into the empty net. The Thunderbirds sit fourth in the Atlantic Division with 68 points on the season, seven points ahead of the Wolf Pack for a playoff spot. Frk leads the Thunderbirds in scoring with 53 points (26 g, 27 a) on the season. His 26 goals are the most among Thunderbirds skaters. Game Information:  WATCH: AHLTV LISTEN: Mixlr Play-by-play voice of the Wolf Pack, Alex Thomas, will have ‘Wolf Pack Pregame’ starting live at 6:45 p.m. on both AHLTV and Mixlr. The Wolf Pack return to action tomorrow night when they visit the Bridgeport Islanders for round ten of the ‘Battle of Connecticut’. The puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m., and coverage of this crucial tilt will be available on AHLTV and Mixlr. The Pack is back at the XL Center next Friday, March 24th, when the Thunderbirds return to town. Join us for $2 beers and $1 hot dogs until the end of the first intermission. Tickets are available at hartfordwolfpack.com. HARTFORD WOLF PACK HOME Read the full article

[thechekhov]

my biggest accomplishment yet

Alex J Newall GM voice: Goood..... GOOOOOOOOD! >:)

[cirrus-grey]

Piggybacking off another ask. I didnt get into tma until this summer so jm was already canon. How did it feel to go from thinking they would've be canon to it actually happening? At what point did the fandom go "wait do they have a chance?"

Whooooa boy. That's a big one.

For the first question: overwhelming joy and also an intense feeling of vindication. Joy for obvious reasons, vindication because, well... most queer ships just don't go canon. And jonmartin started like any other ship for me: reading into subtext, telling myself it wouldn't happen, that I was seeing things that weren't there. Sure, yeah, Martin was worrying over Jon, and sure, Jon talked about Martin on the tapes a lot, but that sort of intense devotion to each other happens with a lot of character pairings that later get brushed off by the creators as "they're just friends." To have TMA step up and say, no, you're not reading into this too much, the romance is really there, this is real... it was an incredibly validating moment. I'm not sure if I can put it into words properly, but having that support and encouragement from the creators, that message of "no, you're not being foolish for reading the story this way, you never have been, this is what love looks like..." it meant a hell of a lot, after facing down so many shows that try to sweep any hint of queer romance under the rug. (TMA was my first-ever podcast, and I was unaware of how common it is in the genre.)

For the second question, the fandom had already had that moment by the time I caught up. The first episode that I listened to live was 113: Breathing Room, and Martin's crush on Jon had already been made canon back in 106. I think 106 was the first inclination anyone in the fandom had that the ship had a chance, but there was still a lot of uncertainty of whether there'd be canon reciprocation until season four.

Weird tangent here: I noticed, in late season three/early season four, a very odd trend in the words the fandom used. When I jumped in, post-106, everyone said Martin liked Jon. He had a crush on him. It was in fic and meta, casual discussions and legitimate theories. Toward the end of the season, as Martin's feelings became more and more obvious, everyone started using love. He loves Jon, he's in love with him. People kept used like for Jon's feelings (he might like Martin back) until the first few episodes of season four aired, at which point it suddenly became an avalanche of love: he's in love with Martin, they love each other, love confessions became the primary theme of fanfic, instead of crush confessions. I don't know how many people noticed they were doing it, but somewhere deep in the fandom consciousness we had all become aware that this was far more meaningful than a simple "haha office crush how cute" plotline.

Back to the main point. There were a couple of things over the first half of season four that made it clear that it really was going full, reciprocated canon. Beyond just show content and how hard Jon was pining, there were two distinct incidents I remember:

1. Rusty Quill's official account retweeted jonmartin fanart. They had never done it before, they'd never retweeted any ship art before, and I cannot convey to you how ridiculously excited the fandom got about it.

2. Someone tweeted at Jonny to "stop blowing holes in my ship," and he replied "I see no holes. A lot of distressed wood, but no holes." (I believe Alex also responded with a bunch of gifs of sinking ships but it did not lessen the excitement of the moment.)

By mid-season four it was basically a certainty that it was canon, we were all just waiting for Jon to get the courage to actually say something about it. By that point the main question was if they would actually get together, or if Martin would go full Lonely/die and they'd just remain the star-crossed couple that never was. I cannot express just how stressful... well, basically the whole stretch from 154-159 was. Suffice to say, the apocalypse felt tame in comparison.

[kimberlykeebler34]

The 6 Scotland wild cards who could gatecrash Steve Clarke‘s Euro 2020 squad

Everyone will be hoping our Kilted Kangaroo Lyndon Dykes is raring to go but if we need another option up top then the former Everton man would make sense. He is similar to the QPR man in that he likes to link the play with his feet as well as providing a target at the top end of the pitch. The 6ft 5in Reims forward is a Scotland U21 stalwart and has netted 10 times for his country under Scot Gemmill's stewardship. Midifielders love playing with him as he specialises in linking the play up. Callum Paterson is a decent auxiliary choice but Hornby offers more as fourth option behind Dykes, Leigh Griffiths and Oli McBurnie. The former Dundee man is rivalling James Tavernier in the defender scoring stakes this season. The 28-year-old is in brilliant form for Alanyaspor after leaving the City of Discovery for his Turkish adventure back in 2019. The former Liverpool man is a cultured player who Brendan Rodgers waxed lyrical about when they worked together at Swansea. As talented as Caulker is, there's an argument Clarke's dogged defensive system is more important than the players who occupy his back three. That's not to dismiss the likes of Declan Gallagher, however, who has been brilliant since making his debut.The 'Prince Who Was Promised' was a mythical legend who was predicted to save the world in George RR Martin's Game of Thrones series but Scotland don't need that from the Chelsea kid anymore. The 23-year wait for a tournament has allowed for some breathing space. The 19-year-old is on the way back after a serious knee injury but Scotland don't need to rush him into the senior set-up. But Frank Lampard's prized pupil's incredible talent may prove too much to ignore in the coming months. Roy Keane and a host of pundits waxed lyrical about his displays against Liverpool and Everton last season and that feels very much like only the beginning. If he becomes a Chelsea regular then he may well make the cut.The former Southampton man is turning heads with Aston Villa but the 25-year-old's major problem is Scotland don't need a left-back. The versatile defender has two caps at U19 level before switching his allegiances to England but his Three Lions call of duty hasn't extended beyond U21 level. Andy Robertson is entrenched as starter at left wing-back with Kieran Tierney ready to deputise as he enjoys playing as part of a back three. But with no disrepect to the likes of Andrew Considine, Barry Douglas or Aaron Hickey - Targett has real experience in the English Premier League. A name to watch but still an outsider.The free-scoring Aberdeen midfielder would love nothing more than to follow uncle Barry and star for his country. Anyone you speak to raves about Ferguson's work ethic and desire to get better every day, The 21-year-old is already one of the best players in the Premiership and appears primed to become a senior star for years to come. But a starting trio of Callum McGregor, Ryan Jack and John McGinn will be hard to dislodge. But if anyone will force their way in then it will be this man.There's Tartan Army diehards who would make a case that you should never ask a player twice to represent Scotland. Alex McLeish revealed the Southampton striker politely declined a formal invitation to represent the Dark Blues. Listen, there would obviously be an element of Scotland becoming more appealing by reaching a major tournament but Adams is a serious operator who has scored three goals in his last four games for the high-flying Saints. It may well be a case that Adams' chance to represent Scotland is gone but it would be remiss to hold it against Clarke or the player himself if he was asked again.

[mysticseasons]

Over 500 hours showcasing our athletes and the world's best on Radio-Canada and RDS

October 31, 2017, Montreal

On Friday, February 9, the opening ceremony will be held for the OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES PYEONGCHANG 2018. Radio-Canada, Canada’s official broadcaster for PYEONGCHANG 2018 in partnership with RDS, the official specialty channel, invites French-speaking audiences to take a front-row seat to the performances of Canadian athletes and the world’s best, with over 500 hours (559 hours) of Olympic programming on ICI Radio-Canada Télé (344 hours) and RDS, RDS2 and RDS Info (215 hours), from February 9 to 25, 2018.

Some 3,000 athletes will be competing in 15 disciplines, including the 200-odd members of the Canadian team. Many of them are medal hopefuls, including Justine Dufour-Lapointe and Mikaël Kingsbury in freestyle skiing; Érik Guay in alpine skiing; Marianne St-Gelais and Charles Hamelin in short-track speed skating; Ivanie Blondin in speed skating; Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir in figure skating; Alex Harvey in cross-country skiing; Kailie Humphries in bobsledding; Mark McMorris and Sébastien Toutant in snowboarding; and, of course, our men’s and women’s hockey teams.

NOVEMBER 1, 2017: 100 DAYS to go TO PyeongChang 2018!

One hundred days before the Olympic Games begin, on Wednesday, November 1, the second hour of MÉDIUM LARGE on ICI RADIO-CANADA PREMIÈRE will be devoted to PyeongChang 2018. On ICI RDI,Marie-José Turcotte will host À 100 jours deS jeux olympiques de PyeongChang 2018, on Wednesday, November 1, at 8 p.m. During this special program, she’ll take the pulse of the Canadian team as its members gear up for these Olympic Winter Games. She’ll introduce us to Canada’s Olympic hopefuls and, together with our analysts, will examine their chances of stepping onto the podium. Executive Producer: Luc Lebel

20–22 HOURS A DAY ON ICI RADIO-CANADA TÉLÉ

ICI Radio-Canada Télé will be offering 20–22 hours of live and repeat programming every day, so audiences won’t miss any of our athletes’ performances and comments. On Friday, February 9, Marie-José Turcotte will give audiences a glimpse of what lies ahead, and will follow the opening ceremony with Patrice Roy (live broadcast from 5 to 8:30 a.m., repeat from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.). She will also be on hand for the closing ceremony with Dominick Gauthier on Sunday, February 25(live from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m., repeat from 5:30 to 8 p.m.).

Every night, Marie-José Turcotte, covering her 15th Olympics, will host the coverage in prime time as the day of competitions gets underway for our athletes over in Pyeongchang. The figure skating,

snowboarding, freestyle skiing and alpine skiing events will be presented primarily in the evening. The evening coverage will also spotlight men’s and women’s hockey games and key competitions. The morning coverage, starting at 5 a.m. with host Guy D’Aoust, will feature short-track and long-track speed skating. The morning program will also include coverage of the bobsleigh, skeleton, luge, ski jumping, cross-country skiing, biathlon and curling events.

Programming will be offered in five time slots, with five anchors:

Marie-José Turcotte will present the competitions from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. during the week, and from 6:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. on the weekend (from 8:30 or 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Pyeongchang). Diane Sauvé will present from 1 to 5 a.m. (from 3 to 7 p.m. in Pyeongchang). Guy D’Aoust will present from 5 to 10 a.m. (from 7 p.m. to midnight in Pyeongchang). Martin Labrosse will be on the air from 10 a.m. to noon with a roundup of the day’s performances in the company of athletes, analysts and personalities. Alexis de Lancer will bring viewers the day’s highlights from 12:30 to 4 p.m. during the week, andfrom 12:30 to 5 p.m. on the weekend (nighttime in Pyeongchang).

A seasoned team of commentators and analysts will follow each of the disciplines. In addition, two special analysts will be on location to comment on PyeongChang 2018 and all the competitions: Special analyst during Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016, Dominick Gauthier will be back to provide his insights on Team Canada’s daily performances, while Kansas City Chiefs football guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif will have the opportunity to satisfy his curiosity and share his fascination with Olympians. He’ll speak to athletes and the people in their lives to gauge their state of mind in the hours leading up to and following a competition. In addition, Jean-René Dufort will be back at the Olympic Games with his special take on PyeongChang 2018 and life in Korea.

Executive Producer: Luc Lebel Chief Editor: Chantal Léveillé Producers: Catherine Dupont and François Messier

Finally, our correspondent Anyck Béraud and reporter Pascal Poinlane will provide daily news updates related to PyeongChang 2018.

ON RDS, RDS 2 AND RDS INFO

RDS, RDS2 and RDS Info will offer 215 hours’ live coverage of the Olympic Winter Games, depending on the schedule of the various events to be shown on all three channels.

Claude Mailhot, who covered his first Olympics Games at Montreal 1976 and has over 40 years of experience as a sports broadcaster, will be the main anchor on RDS each day during peak viewing hours.

RDS, RDS2 and RDS Info will present all the key moments from events such as speed skating, ski jumping, biathlon, cross-country skiing, hockey, curling and more.

The opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 will be broadcast on RDS.

ON RADIO-CANADA.CA AND MOBILE APPS

Radio-Canada.ca/jeuxolympiques is where Internet users can catch all the PyeongChang 2018 action. Not only will they be able to watch and listen to all our TV and radio programs; they’ll also have access to over 2,500 hours of competition live coverage. Fans can choose to watch among up to 7 events available at the same time, enjoying the Olympic Games experience to the fullest. They can also watch part or all of the ceremonies and competitions in catch-up mode, check the results and medal count, read the bios of Canadian and international athletes, and get reports and news on the Olympic Winter Games and South Korea. All content can be accessed via the mobile app,downloadable prior to PyeongChang 2018.

Fans can also download a virtual reality app to watch 360-degree videos of the ceremonies and certain competitions, as if they were there.

ON ICI RADIO-CANADA PREMIÈRE

Reporter Robert Frosi will be on location for the duration of PyeongChang 2018. Every day, he’ll discuss our athletes’ performances and share the latest Olympic news on GRAVEL LE MATIN and MÉDIUM LARGE radio shows. Reporter Maxime Coutié will also be on hand to contribute to radio newscasts.

Throughout the Olympic Winter Games, host Pierre Brassard will share his special take on the event with radio listeners and offer a different perspective on the Olympics in two programs from PyeongChang 2018, on Saturday, February 17 and 24, from 4 to 5 p.m.

Serge Bouchard and Jean-Philippe Pleau will explore the theme of competition and the issues it raises in two episodes of C’EST FOU, on Sunday, January 28 and February 4, from 7 to 8 p.m. Host Jacques Beauchamp will look at the Olympic Games and Korea from a historical perspective, as part of a special week of AUJOURD’HUI L’HISTOIRE, from Monday to Friday, February 5 to 9, from 8 to 8:30 p.m.

Every Monday on Radio-Canada.ca/premiereplus, Marie-José Turcotte and Robert Frosi will co-host a podcast to catch up with the friends and family of the athletes before they leave for their respective competitions at PyeongChang 2018.

ATHLETE PORTRAITS ON ICI RADIO-CANADA TÉLÉ

This four-part series will turn the spotlight on athletes likely to shine at PyeongChang 2018. The episodes will air on Saturday, from 12:30 to 1 p.m. on ICI Radio-Canada Télé, between January 13 and February 3, 2018:

Érik Guay, encore plus vite (January 13): Profile of the most decorated alpine skier in Canadian history. His tenacity, professionalism and need for speed made him the world’s best in 2016, at the age of 35.

Alex Harvey et cie (January 20): Alex Harvey was born with cross-country skis on his feet. Through talent and determination, he has risen up the ranks of his sport, garnering two world titles. But his Olympic story remains to be written. Fully aware of the reasons for his unsuccessful performance in Sochi 2014, he has found the support he needs to win a medal at PyeongChang 2018.

Le goût de l’or (January 27): After capturing gold in Vancouver, ice dancing duo Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir had to settle for silver at Sochi. After taking a two-year break, changing coaches and moving to Montreal, they’re ready to be crowned again.

Le trio (February 3): X-Games stars Mark McMorris, Sébastien Toutant and Max Parrot, who turned in stellar performances at Sochi 2014, will have two snowboarding challenges at PyeongChang 2018. How hungry are the three Canadian athletes for medals at these upcoming Olympic Winter Games? Researchers: Manon Gilbert, Olivier Pellerin Producers: Éric Santerre, Jérôme Voyer-Poirier, Vincent Tremblay

*A detailed program schedule will be available subsequently.

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(x)

[junker-town]

Mike Leach gets weirder (and Washington State gets better) with age

2018 was supposed to be a setback year for Leach and Wazzu. It was anything but.

Bill C’s annual preview series of every FBS team in college football continues. Catch up here!

Each year, it seems Mike Leach becomes a little more Mike Leach.

It’s been nearly 15 years since Leach started talking to his team about pirates and swords and nearly eight since he wrote a memoir with a pirate-themed title. Since, he’s moved on to writing a book about Geronimo (nearly five years ago now), lecturing anybody who will listen about sovereign immunity, endorsing a presidential candidate (only fair, since said candidate once endorsed him), and, most recently, teaching a course about warfare and tactics (in which an assignment is, naturally, to draw up football plays) and visiting the Middle East.

It seems age makes an eccentric more of an eccentric, which, considering where the bar was originally set, is awfully impressive. But it also seems that age has made this eccentric football coach ... a better football coach.

It really shouldn’t be like that. Thirty years ago, Leach and Hal Mumme, one of his first bosses, worked to create a revolutionary, pass-happy vision of football, and 22 years ago, when Mumme was named Kentucky’s head coach, they took it to major college football.

In the years that followed, after Leach had embarked on his own career trail and Mumme had been fired from Kentucky, Mumme became something of a football gypsy, constantly working somewhere new — Southeastern Louisiana, New Mexico State, McMurry University, Bellhaven University, etc. His next gig will evidently be as an offensive coordinator in the XFL.

When I reference Mumme now, it’s mostly in calling someone a “Hal Mumme type” — one who influences others who end up succeeding more than he does. (Hello, NFL Chip Kelly.)

Leach, however, has held two football jobs in the last 20 years and won in both. And while Mumme’s tactical and/or leadership model began to wither under scrutiny, Leach gets better the longer he is in a job.

He averaged seven wins over his first two seasons at Texas Tech, then 8.4 over his next five, then 9.3 over his last three. It took until his ninth year for him to break through to double-digit wins in Lubbock. At Wazzu, he did it in his seventh. He has pulled off something few coaches ever manage: four consecutive years of improvement.

(This is neither here nor there, but hot damn, was Wazzu bad in 2008-09.)

That this streak reached a fourth year is mind-blowing. There was reason, both football-based and not, to believe that Leach’s Cougars were due a setback last fall.

He had briefly accepted the Tennessee head coaching job in December 2017, and it can be hard to win your players back after something like that. Plus, his staff experienced a drastic amount of churn, and he brought in nearly 10 new assistants, including a new defensive coordinator to replace Alex Grinch, an inspired hire and the new Oklahoma defensive coordinator. On top of all of that, his team (and its remaining staff) had to reckon with the death of a teammate in Tyler Hilinski.

In last year’s preview, I wrote that the best-case scenario was that “Leach’s weird brand of steadiness could create normalcy where none should exist.” But I thought that would result in maybe a top-50 S&P+ ranking and seven wins or so.

Instead, with a mustachioed grad transfer throwing to a pretty green receiving corps (among Wazzu’s 10 leading receivers, there were four freshmen and sophomores and one senior), the Cougs somehow improved by more than a touchdown per game offensively, and until the slightest of fades at the end of the year, Wazzu was in the S&P+ top 25.

WSU dropped a controversial September decision to USC and suffered its annual Apple Cup loss to rival Washington (for all his strengths, Leach hasn’t figured out how to beat Chris Petersen yet) but swept the other 11 games. The Cougars beat Pac-12 South champion Utah, beat Oregon for the fourth straight year (and by double digits for the third straight), beat Stanford for the third straight year, survived a thrilling Alamo Bowl against Iowa State, and finished 10th in the AP poll, their best finish in 15 years.

Whew.

In terms of personnel and staffing, the turnover has been minimal this offseason. By comparison, anything would be. Leach snared another grad transfer — this time Gage Gubrud from nearby Eastern Washington — to potentially lead an offense that returns a vast majority of last year’s touches. His offensive line is experienced, as well, though his defense has been thinned out a bit. A fifth year of improvement feels like too much to ask, but, well, so did the fourth year.

Offense

When Gubrud originally committed to Washington State after three years at EWU, I was, for a moment, incredibly intrigued. Gubrud is an athletic dude — he did, after all, put up 99 non-sack rushing yards while throwing for 475 when the Eagles upset Leach’s Cougs back in 2016.

Might he add a rushing element to the Leach attack?, I wondered. Might Leach use Gubrud’s athleticism in different—and then I stopped thinking and made fun of myself. Leach doesn’t change his offense.

Leach’s system is and will always be based around throwing the ball more than everybody else in college football. While the average FBS team runs the ball about 60 percent of the time on standard downs, Wazzu ran just 32 percent of the time last year. While the average team runs about 35 percent of the time on passing downs, Wazzu ran 18 percent of the time. Might Gubrud be inclined to scramble a bit more here and there? Sure, maybe. But Leach isn’t changing a damn thing.

Photo by William Mancebo/Getty Images

Gage Gubrud (8)

Of course, we don’t know for sure that Gubrud will be the starter. Seniors Trey Tinsley and Anthony Gordon have both seen the field here and there, and four-star redshirt freshman Cammon Cooper is waiting his turn as well.

Still, none of those guys have Gubrud’s track record. Despite missing parts of each of the last two seasons with injury, he’s still thrown for 9,984 career yards and 87 touchdowns. He’ll probably reach 10,000 yards within his first three throws of his seasons, and assuming he’s the starter, he’ll hit 100 touchdowns by mid-year at the latest. Still, if Gubrud gets hurt again (as he did this spring), the backups appear qualified.

James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

Dezmon Patmon

The QB of choice will have one hell of a receiving corps at his disposal. Six players were targeted at least 66 times last season, and the only one who doesn’t return is running back James Williams. (Williams’ backup, Max Borghi, was also a member of the 66-Plus Club.)

In Tay Martin, Borghi, and inside receiver Jamire Calvin, Wazzu boasts a nice set of efficiency guys. In Easop Winston Jr. and Dezmon Patmon, however, they’ve got the kind of proven vertical threats that make Leach’s air raid attack particularly difficult to stop. This is an efficiency-first attack in the same way that the triple option is, which means that containment and strong tackling are just about your only ways to get off the field. But when Wazzu is gashing you with big plays, too, there’s really no defensive solution beyond “hope desperately that you can get pressure on the QB quickly.”

Almost no one is able to do that, either. Wazzu ranked first in the nation in sack rate allowed, a paltry 1.9 percent. Even on blitz downs (second-and-super-long, third-and-5 or more), opponents only dragged Minshew down for a loss 4.1 percent of the time (11th in FBS).

Granted, all-conference left tackle Andre Dillard is gone, a first-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles. Still, right tackle Abraham Lucas returns after posting second-team all-conference honors as a freshman, and three other starters are back, too. The quick-passing nature of the offense keeps the QB’s jersey pretty clean, anyway, and a good line makes that job twice as hard.

Defense

When Leach hired Grinch, the defense’s improvement was remarkably linear. The Cougs improved from 97th to 77th in Def. S&P+ in 2015, then to 60th in 2016 and 30th in 2017. WSU’s 2017 offense was far less consistent than normal because of QB injuries and another young receiving corps, but the defense picked up the slack, and the Cougs won nine games all the same.

Grinch left to become Ohio State co-coordinator after 2017, however, and Tracy Claeys’ first year as his replacement was marked by inconsistency. The good moments were still excellent — the Cougs held five opponents to 20 or fewer points (and, not surprisingly, went 5-0 in those games). But they gave up 7.3 yards per play and a 48 percent success rate in their two losses, and they got gashed by Oregon State (37 points, 6.5 yards per play), Stanford (38 points, 6.7 yards per play), and Iowa State (only 26 points, but 7.8 yards per play) as well.

The pass defense was strong — 33rd in passing marginal efficiency, first in passing downs sack rate (if you fell behind the chains, your quarterback was getting hit) — but if you were decent at running the football, you didn’t have to pass. Wazzu was 115th in rushing marginal efficiency, and once you crossed into the red zone, the Cougs had no answers: they were 122nd in success rate between the 11 and 20 and 107th inside the 10.

Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images

Willie Taylor III

Continuity on the two-deep is at least decent this year. Seniors only made 38 percent of last year’s tackles, and of the 11 players to make at least 20 tackles, seven return. Plus, of the six players to record at least three sacks (Claeys’ pass rush was as diverse as it was effective), four are back: end Will Rodgers III and linebackers Dominick Silvels, Willie Taylor III, and Jahad Woods. None of them are seniors; Wazzu will be defined by its pass rush for a while.

Of course, it might still be defined by poor run defense, too. Rodgers and end Nnamdi Oguayo return up front (so does sophomore Misiona Aiolupotea-Pei, who had 2.5 sacks among his 6.5 tackles), but last year’s top two defensive tackles do not. Only a couple of likely contributors weigh in over 280 pounds, and none topped 300 as of their latest weigh-in (290-pound sophomore Jesus Echevarria came the closest). For that matter, none of the major linebackers top 235. This is a speedy but light unit.

Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Jalen Thompson (34)

The secondary doesn’t have much size either, but that’s less of a concern. Veteran safeties Skyler Thomas and Jalen Thompson (combined: four tackles for loss, four INTs, 10 pass breakups) return, as does corner Marcus Strong (two TFLs, three INTs, five PBUs). But depth has thinned considerably. No other returnee logged more than 6.5 tackles. That probably tells you why Leach signed four JUCO DBs. A couple will need to contribute immediately.

Special Teams

For three years, Leach had maybe the most consistently awful special teams unit in the country. Wazzu ranked 120th or worse in Special Teams S&P+ each year from 2014-16 but hopped to 79th in 2017 and sustained its gains last year (74th). Place-kicker Blake Mazza was scattershot as a freshman (only 6-for-9 on field goals under 40 yards but 4-for-6 over 40), but punter Oscar Draguicevich III was excellent, and Travel Harris was decent in kick returns. They’re all back.

2019 outlook

2019 Schedule & Projection Factors

Date Opponent Proj. S&P+ Rk Proj. Margin Win Probability 31-Aug New Mexico State 121 29.3 95% 7-Sep Northern Colorado NR 41.2 99% 13-Sep vs. Houston 73 8.6 69% 21-Sep UCLA 63 8.3 68% 28-Sep at Utah 17 -9.0 30% 12-Oct at Arizona State 49 0.5 51% 19-Oct Colorado 68 9.7 71% 26-Oct at Oregon 20 -7.4 33% 9-Nov at California 60 3.0 57% 16-Nov Stanford 32 1.3 53% 23-Nov Oregon State 105 20.8 89% 29-Nov at Washington 15 -11.3 26%

Projected S&P+ Rk 36 Proj. Off. / Def. Rk 20 / 71 Projected wins 7.4 Five-Year S&P+ Rk 5.7 (49) 2- and 5-Year Recruiting Rk 61 2018 TO Margin / Adj. TO Margin* 8 / 4.6 2018 TO Luck/Game +1.3 Returning Production (Off. / Def.) 61% (58%, 64%) 2018 Second-order wins (difference) 9.7 (1.3)

Primarily because of turnover at quarterback and defensive back, Wazzu’s four-year run of improvement is projected to come to an end. The Cougs are projected to slip slightly to 36th.

Yes, they were projected to slide last year and didn’t. Maybe they keep the streak going. Still, at 36th they’re projected favorites in nine of 12 games. Playing at Utah, Oregon, and Washington will likely cut short any hopes of winning the Pac-12 North, but there are still lots of wins on the table here.

There’s no telling where Leach’s odd mind will take him next offseason or the one after that. But in-season, he’s coaching as well as he ever has.

Team preview stats

All 2019 preview data to date.

[mitchbeck]

CANTLON'S CORNER: WOLF PACK OFF SEASON REPORT - VOLUME 7

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The ECHL's Kelly Cup has been won. The AHL's Calder Cup winner was decided. On Wednesday night, the top award in professional hockey, the Stanley Cup will be awarded to either the St. Louis Blues or the hosting Boston Bruins. While that might be the top talk of the sport right now, it's not all that's going on in what was once again another busy week in the off-season. PACK UPDATE When JD speaketh people listen. In his first interview since taking over the Presidency of the New York Rangers, John Davidson spoke about the direction of the organization he now commands will be taking. The first topic he spoke about was here in Hartford and the dysfunction that has been the Wolf Pack over the past five years which is how long it's been since their last playoff appearance. Not only have they not made the playoffs, but the Wolf Pack have been languishing at or near the bottom of the entire AHL over that span. It's been one season worse than the next with no winning, no player development, and no fan happiness. Read about it HERE. LARRY PLEAU FEATURE Larry Pleau is one of the true Hartford Whaler legends. In his early career, the Lynn, MA native played for the 1963-64 Memorial Cup finalists Montreal N.D.G. (Notre Dame de Grace) Monarchs with future NHL’ers Carol Vadnais and Rogie Vachon, and the head coach was a very young, Scotty Bowman. He played in the AHL just before the WHA emerged. He played for the first Montreal-based team AHL team, the Voyageurs. They finished tops in a nine-team AHL but lost a second-round, three-team round-robin series to Buffalo and Springfield. He played for Montreal in 1971-72, after starting with the AHL team that moved to Nova Scotia, that lost to the Rangers in six games. Pleau jumped to the renegade WHA the following year. He played for the New England Whalers in their first season in Boston where they won the WHA Avco Cup. Pleau played all in seven New England Whaler WHA seasons, finishing as the second all-time leading scorer with 372 points to Tom Webster’s 425. He was tops in assists with 215 and second in games played with his 468 to Rick Ley’s 478. Brad Selwood was third with 431. When the Hartford Whalers were born, Pleau was with the team in its early NHL days. After retiring as a player, he worked behind the bench. Pleau as an assistant for two seasons (1979-1981) before being elevated to the head coach where he replaced Don Blackburn in 1981, Pleau was a head coach until 1983 before he making a second foray into the AHL, but as a coach. He was the head coach in Binghamton, who, at the time, was the Whalers' top affiliate, from 1984-1988. He won the AHL Coach of the Year (Louis A. Pieri Award) in 1985-86. He was brought back as a Whalers' head coach once again in 1987 as a mid-season replacement to Jack Evans where he stayed until 1989. Pleau hooked-up for a long association with the Rangers. He was there from 1989-1997 as their assistant GM, and Director of Player Development. He was also the last General Manager for the Rangers' Binghamton affiliate from 1995-1997 before the Rangers moved their farm team to Hartford. He moved on to become the GM of the St. Louis Blues from 1997-2010 and is still in a Senior Advisor role with the Blues. Read a fabulous piece on his relationship with the Blues HERE. CALDER CUP FINALS The high-speed hockey train called the Charlotte Checkers won their first Calder Cup title. Trailing by a 3-1 score on Thursday night, the Checkers dominated the second half of the game and scored four unanswered goals for a 5-3 win over the Chicago Wolves. They then went on to clinch their first title Saturday night in Chicago with another 5-3 win. In the deciding game, Morgan Geekie had a goal and two points, Andrew Poturalski scored twice and Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 26 of the 29 shots to have AHL Commissioner, Dave Andrews, come down and present the team with the Calder Cup. In Game 4, Nicolas Roy scored two goals, Martin Necas also chipped in with two points and ex-Wolf Pack, Dustin Tokarski, picked up his sixth win in the AHL post-season without a loss. Tokarski finished the campaign with a 13-0 record since being reassigned to Charlotte by the Rangers on February 28th in a swap that sent defenseman Josh Wesley to Hartford. The last Wolf Pack playoff win was on May 15, 2015, in a 6-3 win over the Hershey Bears. The Pack was led by Marek Hrvik, who had a hat trick. The Pack has had 56 franchise hat tricks during the regular season, but only four in the playoffs. The record for goals in a playoff game is held by Chris Kenady. He had four goals on April 20, 2000, against Springfield. Also that year, the Manchester Monarchs, in their last AHL season, swept the Pack en route to the Calder Cup. They scored the game’s first goal in 15 of the 19 playoffs games that year winning all 15 games. Charlotte’s performance is the only team that has come close to that level of perfection, During this playoff season, the Checkers scored first eight times, but in three of their wins, the opponent scored first.  KELLY CUP FINALS In their first ECHL season, the Newfound Growlers captured the championship in six games. They won the decisive championship game 4-3 over the Toledo Walleye at Mile One Centre in St. John’s. They became the first, first-year team to win the title since the Greensboro Monarchs in 1990, who were then coached by former Whaler, Jeff Brubaker. Former QU Bobcat goalie Michael Garteig played in 19 playoff contests for the championship squad. Five members of the team were from St. John’s, starting with playoff MVP, Zach O’Brien (16 goals and 29 points), and including captain James Melindy, Marcus Power, and Adam Pardy (Bonavista), a former NHL defenseman rounded out the playing quartet. After the game, Pardy announced he was retiring after giving his nephew a championship to see in person. The fifth Newfie was former New Haven Nighthawk, and Rangers assistant coach, and Mt. Pearl native, Darryl Williams, who is in his second coaching stint in his native province. The first was with the St. John’s Fog Devils (QMJHL) where, for three seasons, he was an assistant coach. He was hired temporarily in December with the medical absence taken by head coach and ex-Ranger, Ryane Clowe. He was formally added to the staff at the end of January. Williams is a St. John’s resident. Williams was a rough and tumble player during his skating days. He had 495 PIM in 136 AHL games along with 29 goals and 56 points. They all came during his time with New Haven, "Willy," as he was known, played and racked up 1,906 PIM in 540 IHL games along with 98 goals and 224 points. He played with Phoenix, Long Beach, and Detroit. He played in only two NHL games in 1992-’83 and had 10 PIM. Ex-Pack, Matt Register, played for the runner-up, Toledo Walleye. He climbed the statistical ECH playoff ladder with 124 playoff games played and 14 assists in the Kelly Cup Finals. UCONN 2019-20 SCHEDULE RELEASED The Huskies hit the XL Center for the first time on November 11th and 13th. It's a Friday and Saturday night with two non-conference games against Army (WCHA) for the home opener and then RPI from ECACHL conference the following night. The first Hockey East game will be against Merrimack on November 1st. They then will mark their visit ever from Miami (OH) (NCHC) on November 29-30, a week after Thanksgiving. The first-ever Connecticut Ice tourney with all four CT Division I college teams is from January 25th and 26th at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport. The schedule is HERE. NAHL DRAFT One of the last two major North American drafts was held last Tuesday when the US Tier II junior circuit-the North American Hockey league. Here are the CT connected draftees. Matt Crasa (Selects Academy at South Kent Prep) was selected in the second round (31st overall) by the Amarillo (TX) Bulls. Crasa is a Sacred Heart University (AHA) commit for 2020-21. He was drafted by the Sioux City Stampede (USHL) this spring and by Windsor Spitfires (OHL) in 2017 Cooper Swift, (West Hartford/Choate Prep) also went in the second round (35th overall) by the Jamestown Rebels. He was selected by the Fargo Force (USHL) in their draft earlier in the spring. Corey Clifton was drafted in the third round (55th overall) by the Corpus Christi (TX) IceRays. He will become the third Clifton from his Matawan, NJ family to play at Quinnipiac University (ECACHL) in 2020-21. He played this season with the Surrey Eagles (BCHL) and was just traded this week to the Trail Smoke Eaters to play next season. He was drafted by Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL) in 2017 and previously by the Aston Rebels (NAHL) in 2017. His brother, Connor Clifton, is competing for the Stanley Cup with the Bruins while his oldest brother, Tim Clifton, is with the San Jose Barracuda (AHL). Ian Pierce of Kent Prep went in the third round (60th overall) to the St. Cloud Blizzard. He is a Dartmouth (ECACHL) commit for 2020-21. Kennedy O’Connor (Loomis Chaffee) also went in round three (67th overall) to the Shreveport (LA) Mudbugs. He is a UMASS-Amherst (HE) commit for 2021-22. The Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL) took him in their draft in April. Carter Primo Self, (Selects Academy at South Kent Prep) was taken in the fifth round (127th overall) by the Amarillo Bulls and is a Miami (OH) (NCHC) commit for 2020-21. Matt Iasenza of Canterbury Prep (New Milford) went in the sixth round (144th overall) to the New Jersey Titans and has no college commit at this time. Philip Ekberg of the CT Jr, Rangers (USPHL) was taken in the ninth round (212th overall) by the Maryland Black Bears and also in uncommitted at this time. Logan Martinson, the son of former Nighthawk, Steve Martinson, the current coach of Allen (ECHL), was taken in the tenth round (236th overall) by the New Mexico Ice Wolves. He was selected by Langley (BCHL) in their 2018 Draft and in 2017 by Tri-City (USHL). The another CT Jr. Ranger was taken. Maxim Kuznetsov went in the tenth round (260th overall) by the Johnstown. Tomahawks. The last amateur draft before the NHL Draft in Vancouver in two weeks will be the QMJHL (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) in Quebec City on Saturday at the Videotron Centre. PLAYER & COACHING MOVEMENT Ex-Sound Tiger head coach Jack Capuano was hired as an associate head coach for the Ottawa Senators. Five more AHL’ers leaves for Europe. Josh Jooris, the ex-Ranger, leaves the Toronto Marlies and heads to HC Lausanne (Switzerland-LNA) on a rare three-year deal. Jooris holds Swiss citizenship. When his father Mark Jooris, a Vancouver scout and Junior A coach, played for Lausanne in the 1990s, he also played some junior hockey there before they returning to Canada. Libor Sulak leaves Grand Rapids for Severstal Cherepovets (Russia-KHL). Braden Christoffer goes from Bakersfield to Sterjen (Norway-NEL). Travis Murphy and Andrej Suster both go from San Diego to Kunlun (China-KHL) on two-year deals. These exits make 36 AHL’ers to sign in Europe. 21 of the league's 31 teams have now lost at least one player to Europe. Ex-Sound Tiger defenseman Mathieu Gagnon Brampton (ECHL) signs with Manchester (England-EIHL). Kevin Morris, (Salisbury Prep), the son of ex-Nighthawk, Mark Morris, announces his retirement after playing with Coventry (England-EIHL) this past season. He completed his MBA and heads off to the working world. Alex Barron (Quinnipiac University) signs with HK Dukla Michalovce (Slovakia-SLEL) after splitting last season with EHC Freiburg (Germany DEL-2) and HK SKP Propad (Slovakia-SLEL). Mitch Ferguson of Division III SUNY-Geneseo (SUNYAC) signs with GHC Bordeaux (France-FREL) next season. That raises the number of college players signing in Europe to 33 and the total number of collegians to have signed pro deals art 218. Ex-Sound Tiger, Peter Mannino, who was let go at the University Miami (OH) (NCHC) as their associate head coach, doesn't stay unemployed long. He lands with the Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL) as their new head coach. The Sioux Falls Stampede are the new USHL Clark Cup champions. They completed a three-game sweep in their best-of-five final over the Chicago Steel by the score of 5-1. Leading the way for Sioux Falls was goaltender Jaxson Stauber, the son of former Wolf Pack and Nighthawk goalie, Robb Stauber. The younger Stauber head to the University Minnesota-Mankato (NCHC) in the fall. Chicago was led by their head coach, the former Wolf Pack captain, and Sound Tiger, Greg Moore. THE CRAZY WORLD OF BILLY TIBBETTS The following link is of ex-Pack, Ranger, and Danbury Whaler, Billy Tibbetts. He actually ran for the Scituate, MA city council and lost. It’s a tour de force performance of classic Tibbetts and his riding high, riding low. It's unfiltered, raw, and unbridled. WARNING: For those sensitive to foul language, there are swear-words in some of these series of one and two-minute video clips. Tibbets is a lot of things, boring isn't one of them. HERE Read the full article

[automaticdreamlandkid]

Meme time

I’m always late on these memes so I’m going with 3 ones I owe...

1) I was tagged by dearest @amikoroyai (thank you darling!<333), to whom I already owed 2 more memes from ages ago ;-) *so sorry!* so I’ll at least give you my answers for the 2 of them (the third one required 10 shows or something and since I’m not even sure I can think of that many I’ll skip it;p)  

Rules: Tag 9 people you want to get to know better.

Relationship status: Single

Lipstick or chapstick: Both

Last movie I watched: Oh, I haven’t been to the movies for soo long…but I watched “Batman Returns” -for the millionth time in my life and on VCR (!) -the other day because I used a gif from it and had a feels- attack!;p

Last song you listened to: “Κοίτα εγώ”  Ν. Μποφίλιου-Π.Μουζουράκης- such a Milady song, but I’m sorry it’s in greek...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTYzi6wsDPA,

Top 3 shows: Hmm, currently? I haven’t been in the mood to start anything new the past year but at least I did watch “Versailles” and “Gotham” is something I still enjoy (had given up on it early on in S1 but they did some crazy stuff later on in s2 that I really liked and they got me back) and I will always love “The musketeers” (ITA s1 &2, there is no season 3 ofc), so...

Top 3 characters: sticking with the shows mentioned above: Athos, Milady de Winter, Fabien Marchal

Top 3 ships: again based solely on these 3 shows: 

Athos x Milady (because Milathos is always and forever OTP)

Fabien x Beatrice (so damn hot, great characters and gave me milathos feels),

Bruce x Selina (because batcat is otp! Although they’re still too young - I’m glad they are growing up fast, because I admit them being “kids” feels a bit weird! - baby-batcat has wonderful – so spot on “batcat dynamics”)

 If we stick to adults- I also ship Jim/Barbara hard after S2 – basically after she went psycho and became a “villain” – because they have chemistry and also give me love/hate vibes now- still waiting for the hate-sex on this one :p )  

2) I’m pretty sure I was tagged by both @amikoroyai and @vera-dauriac for this one (thanks sweetie!<333)

Rules: copy this into a new text post, replace my answers with yours and tag 10 people

A - age: 37 (in May- so there’s still time to get me gifts ;p)

B - biggest fear: failure

C - current time: 2.35pm

D - drink you last had: coffee

E - every day starts with: cursing

F - favourite song: ugh.. how can there be only one?! “With or without you” U2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmSdTa9kaiQ, 

G - ghosts, are they real?: Hmm…a lot depends on the definition of “ghosts”…and it’s always tricky with metaphysics..I’m much more inclined by nature to go with “absolutely no”, because well, “no scientific proof” but I can’t be sure… maybe there’s “something” out there that science just isn’t able/doesn’t have the means to prove yet…I mean “negative mass” hasn’t exactly been proved yet either…;p  

H - hometown: Athens – it’s perfect!

I - in love with: milathos ;p music, reading, old movies ... *always in denial when it comes to real persons*

J - jealous of: I don’t like the negative vibes towards others the word “jealous” implies…but I sometimes wish I were more like those people who manage to have a carefree attitude towards life…but then I brush it off thinking they’re probably “not smart enough” to realize what’s going on or/and “incapable of feeling deeply enough” to be affected by it and I’m back to feeling good about myself again ;p *ok, so much for avoiding the negative vibes of “jealousy” as if all my horrible assumptions about others -as described above- aren’t full of negative vibes! lol– I’m a terrible person!*

K - killed someone: literally or figuratively?

 Pfft…all I have to say is that you won’t be able to find any proof either way ;p

L - last time you cried: Well, I don’t cry often but I had a really bad breakdown lately…*don’t remind me*

M - middle name: Don’t have one.

N - number of siblings: One older brother *best brother ever!*

O - one wish: too greedy to have only one, but health is my priority right now…

P - person you last texted: one of my two best friends

Q - questions you’re always asked: a) “What should I do?” because people will always seek free legal advice ;p and that’s totally cool - what’s really scary is that many also seek advice on more “personal matters” or even “life choices” *“why would I know?!Also, are they just trying to find someone to put the blame on if it all turns out badly?!;p”* b) “What’s wrong?” *Everything!* most of the time people really can’t figure out what’s going on with me, because I don’t open up easily and I won’t say even when they ask, so they keep asking ;p* 

R - reasons to smile: yeah, might sound cliché but family, friends any kind of  cuteness… Also “any witty sarcastic comeback”  (even those addressed to me;p)

S - song last sang: Can’t remember, but I avoid singing…my friends always tell me I’m out of tune ;-) 

T - time you woke up: 4:30 am – that was definitely an exception to the rule, because I’m a night owl, but  after 2 days of almost no sleep I turned in exceptionally early last night …

U - underwear color: black

V - vacation destination:  Hmm…I would really like to visit Edinburgh and Prague someday.

W - worst habit: objectively I guess smoking – subjectively I would go with my tendency to bottle up feelings – especially negative ones…

X - x-rays you’ve ever had: I’ve had a few over the years, but since I’ve also had MRI, x-rays seem too trivial to mention ;p

Z - zodiac sign: Taurus

3) I was tagged by the wonderful @swelldame - thank you dear!<333 *we do share the same initial ;-)*

Rules: Answer and tag ten people. Use the first letter of your name to answer each question. Real answers only. If the person before you had the same initial, you must have different answers. You can’t use the same word twice.

Name: Αργυρώ  (Argyro- I just don’t like writing it in English because the “g” sounds so wrong ;p) 

Four-Letter Word: Acid

A Boy’s Name: Alex

Occupation:  Attorney

Something You Wear:  Anklet

Food: Apple

Something you find in the bathroom: Antiseptic

A place: Athens

Reason for being late:  Arrogance

Something you yell: AHHH!

Movie title: Amadeus

Something you drink:  Amaretto

An animal: Alligator

A type of car: Aston Martin

Song: A song for the lovers – R. Ashcroft

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G_Qg_o2kas,

*I’m so glad it was the first song that popped in mind! It’s been so long…back to my university years!;)*

 Ok, I’m tagging anyone of my followers who feels like doing any of these – they were fun and I would like to know you better!  

[newyorktheater]

Billy Porter

Cynthia Errivo

Alicia Keys

Ben Platt

Misty Copeland

All these Broadway veterans participated in the 62 Grammy Awards, where “Hadestown” won Best Musical Theater Album.

The other nominated albums were “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life And Times Of The Temptations, “Moulin Rogue! The Musical,” “The Music Of Harry Potter And The Cursed Child – In Four Contemporary Suites” and “Oklahoma!”

here is @anaismitchell accepting the grammy for best musical theatre album @hadestown pic.twitter.com/d28mwLa9nV

— Eva Noblezada Source (@evanoblezadafan) January 27, 2020

Full list of Grammy nominees and winners

The Week in New York Theater Reviews

David Alan Grier, Blair Underwood and Billy Eugene Jones

A Soldier’s Play

Charles Fuller’s murder mystery, finally on Broadway in a fine production directed by Kenny Leon some four decades after it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, is so good that even if you’ve seen the 1984 movie adaptation “A Soldier’s Story” (which marked Denzel Washington’s major movie debut) and remember who done it, the play is still riveting. That’s because, while Capt. Richard Davenport (Blair Underwood) has been sent to a segregated Louisiana army base in 1944 to investigate the murder of black Sgt. Vernon C. Waters (David Alan Grier), the playwright is investigating a much larger crime – racism.

Grand Horizons

“I think I would like a divorce,” Jane Alexander as Nancy French says to her husband of 50 years, played by James Cromwell. “All right,” Bill replies. Blackout. That’s all the dialogue in the first scene of Grand Horizons, which has the rhythms of an old-fashioned comedy in the remaining two hours of the play, after their two alarmed sons rush to Grand Horizons, which is the name of the sterile “independent living community” for older people where Bill and Nancy live. In different hands, this play about old age, marriage, infidelity, sex and the possibility or impossibility of love might come off as just amusing and superficial entertainment. But the inventive playwright Bess Wohl, making her Broadway debut, and the starry cast, turn Grand Horizons into an amusing and superficial entertainment that’s also clever, engaging and at times even thought-provoking.

Copernicus puppet.

Giant Banneker head by Theodora Skipitares. Photo by Theo Cote.

Giant heads worn by Banneker chorus.

Soul Tigers drumming marching band

The Transfiguration of Benjamin Banneker

In this gorgeous, enlightening and ambitious — if over-stuffed — hour-long theatrical collage, Theodora Skipitares uses the eerie visual splendor of puppetry to illuminate a serious subject, as she’s done in some 30 plays over the past 40 years. But “The Transfiguration of Benjamin Banneker” stands out, in two ways. First, it tells the fascinating and surprisingly little-known story of Benjamin Banneker, an 18th century free black man, independent farmer, self-taught astronomer, mathematician and civil rights advocate, who corresponded with Thomas Jefferson in 1791 arguing for racial equality.

And then, there’s the use of the teenage drummers from the Soul Tigers marching band of the Benjamin Banneker Academy, a public high school in Brooklyn.

When a play leaves you speechless: 1. Cezary Goes To War 2. As Long As It Lasts 3. Must Go On

The Week in New York Theater News

  First look videos of the six shows above, opening this season

Scenes from the fifth annual BroadwayCon (click on any photograph to see it enlarged)

Beth Leavel entertains

Creator of Periodic Table of Broadway Musicals

founder of the Broadway Body Positivity Project

co-founder of Revolucion Latina

BroadwayCon co-founder Anthony Rapp, busy with Star Trek, greeting the attendees remotely via video

Rainbow-haired staffer at Broadway Geren Alliance

A washing machine emitting bubbles in the Roundabout display for Caroline, or Change

Emojiland cosplayer

Evita cosplayer

First Look host Alex Newell interviews (and flirts) with the cast of Company.

Cosplay winner and top finalists.

  First Skittles Commercial: The Musical, now The Karate Kid. @DrewGasparini is writing the score for a musical adaptation of the 1984 movie, aiming for Broadway. The book is by the film’s screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen,, the director Japanese theater artist @amonmiyamoto pic.twitter.com/qTzQtzetxq

— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) January 22, 2020

#ApolloOpenHouse: Celebration of Cool FREE February 1st from 1 – 6.p.m., to celebrate and explore the rich history of the theater. Details

The fabulous @LeslieUggams & @MsLynnWhitfield will star in BLUE, directed by #PhyliciaRashad at the @ApolloTheater Ap 27- Aug 16. The 2000 play by Charles Randolph-Wright features a jazz & soul score by @funkrockster!https://t.co/Fma9HPRbyB pic.twitter.com/v3qVyImh8Q

— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) January 22, 2020

  .@PagePatrick to present All the Devils Are Here – How Shakespeare Invented the Villain, an exploration of Shakespeare’s two decade-long investigation of evil, one-night only benefit for @redbulltheater Feb 24 at @CherryLnTheatre https://t.co/M7umdQ6F4w pic.twitter.com/2EENaBTTS4

— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) January 21, 2020

Protests against Amar Ramasar

After a protesters picketed the theater, complaining about the casting of accused predator Amar Ramasar as Bernardo, a fellow cast member from West Side Story anonymously expressed objection to his having been cast: “II hate that I have to share the stage with him. I hate seeing him smile or laugh backstage. I hate seeing him reap rewards of adoration from audiences who don’t know or who haven’t bothered to look up what happened.

At BroadwayCon Industry Day, New York Magazine drama critic Helen Shaw said his presence will affect her reviewing of the musical. “The choice to cast this person is not insignificant,” she said. “How will I keep that choice out of my head? It will be impossible.”

While a dancer with New York City Ballet, Ramasar was accused of sharing sexually explicit photos of female dancers

Smart Caption Glasses, pioneered at the National Theatre in London, have made it to a theater in Pennsylvania, but not to New York. One audience member was thrilled: ““Wearing the glasses, I could turn and follow [a peformer], and I didn’t have to make a choice between the captions on the stage, the content, or the action. I could view them all together seamlessly and organically. That was the moment I thought this would be a sea change in how captioning is delivered.”

The Roundabout’s Underground 2020-2021 season:

“English” by Sanaz Toossi Fall 2020 “English Only” is the mantra that rules one classroom in Iran, where four adult students are preparing for the TOEFL — the Test of English as a Foreign Language. Chasing fluency through a maze of word games, listening exercises, and show-and-tell sessions, they hope that one day, English will make them whole. But it might be splitting them each in half.

The Year to Come by Lindsey Ferrentino Directed by Justin Martin Fall 2020

Ferrentino (Amy and the Orphans, Ugly Lies the Bone) depicts the annual December gathering of a fractured family.

The Wanderers by Anna Ziegler Directed by Barry Edelstein Winter 2021

Orthodox Jews Esther and Schmuli are newly married, and their future is written in the laws of the Torah. Secular Jew Abe is a famous novelist who believes he can write his own future…until an unexpected email from a movie star puts his marriage to the test and threatens to prove him wrong.

Tina Fey is planning to turn Mean Girls the musical, which was based on Mean Girls the movie, into Mean Girls the movie musical. (Should they borrow the song “bad Idea” from Waitress?)

@theebillyporter 💙 #billyporter #GrammyAward2020 pic.twitter.com/c4AGftX8KU

— Steven Canals (@StevenCanals) January 27, 2020

Rest in Peace

Margo Lion, 75, Independent producer. Lion was the main producer for Hairspray and Jelly’s Last Jam, and she also played a major role in bringing Angels in America to Broadway.

Broadway at the Grammys. Hadestown Wins! BroadwayCon 2020. #Stageworthy News of the Week All these Broadway veterans participated in the 62 Grammy Awards, where "Hadestown" won Best Musical Theater Album.

[thesinglesjukebox]

ASHLEY O - ON A ROLL

[5.00]

It's Amnesty 2019! In which our writers choose singles from the year that we didn't get to. And what better way to get the ball rolling than with a song that's got something to say about pop music...

Joshua Lu: In the final episode of season five of Black Mirror, Miley Cyrus plays pop star Ashley O, whose desire to escape her contract leads her aunt to put her under a coma, which leads to two of her fans saving her, which leads to her performing "Head Like a Hole" at a night club, happy now that she's freed from the literal and metaphorical restraints that came with being a pop star. Undergirding the episode is "On a Roll," a remake of that same Nine Inch Nails song but made so overtly benign and bubbly that it becomes as unnerving as the original. Most of these unnerving aspects are probably intentional: the ambiguity behind lines like "'Cause I'm going down in history" or "I'm gonna get what I deserve," the distorted moans and cries buried in the instrumental, or the way the bass drops off at the start of the chorus, leaving Ashley O screaming motivational platitudes over an unfeeling beat. But there are so many parts that are equally unsettling yet don't come across as intentional -- were they really expecting us to hear "hey yeah whoa-oh" and not "hey I'm a hole," or is this mixup supposed to act as commentary on, say, perverse undertones in popular music? (The fact that the original song has "hole" in the same spot makes this mondegreen all the more suspect.) Are the dozen or so seconds of dead air at the end of the song just a consequence of a lazy audio engineer, or was this silence deliberately included to let the song's termination settle uncomfortably into nothingness? It's these parts of "On a Roll" that make it so fascinating -- not the rockist message of its origin, and especially not the corny, ham-fisted cracking screen in the music video -- so much so that even after streaming it for months, I can't tell how much of this song I'm supposed to enjoy, and how much I'm supposed to fear. [8]

Vikram Joseph: Like "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too", the Black Mirror episode which birthed it, "On A Roll" serves as both escapist fun and a pointed facsimile of meticulously-constructed big-studio pop. Brooker and Reznor's four-part construction is unexpectedly good -- a cheerleader-chant of a chorus (surely intentionally written to, in turn, be wilfully misheard as "hey, I'm a hoe!" by gay twitter) sandwiched between big, melodic, reverberating synths in the pre- and post-chorus sections. Squeezing "achieving my goals!" into a pop chorus is worth an extra point, and also works as a sly joke about influencer culture's obsession with productivity. [7]

Alfred Soto: Imagine shouting "achieving my goals!" with less enthusiasm than an assistant vice president of human resources at a two-day retreat. At least "California Gurls" put the self-help gumption behind solid beats. [1]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: "On a Roll" was designed to be a hollow shell of a prototypical pop song grounding a Black Mirror episode satirising toxic music stan culture. And yet, contrary to the episode's whole point, the Gays™ have still found a way to make it the object of stan culture anyways! Frankly, I can see why: it's low-key a bop, the kind that burrows under your skin and slowly takes over your body until you're singing it all the time. I can't help but like it even though I know I'm not supposed to. Do we really have free will? [6]

Kayla Beardslee: Yas queen, I'm literally gagging. We love a thinly produced bop! New main pop girl Ashley O has done it again, constantly raising the bar for all of us who want to make basic pop that serves looks? eh vocals? I guess its story without ever impressing outside of its narrative context. We stan. Keep her in that coma so she can churn out more average, serviceable music for AO2! [5]

Natasha Genet Avery: Ashley O's Gaga impression had me in the first half, I'm not gonna lie. But Gaga would never waste a verse and bridge this good on that laughably staid three-note chorus. [5]

Nortey Dowuona: A fizzing, swaddled bass synth lopes around the black hole of drums that sucks down every other musical instrument, burying a thinning synth key patch pushing up and sinking while Miley scrapes it off the bottom of the ice cream pail. [3]

Tobi Tella: In the same vein as A Star Is Born, turns out executives trying to make empty, vapid pop music actually ends up slapping. It's a perfect pop parody, with a million meaningless hooks; the drawn out "oh honeyyy," the pre-chorus that has nothing to do with anything, and, of course, the chorus, which hits the cheesy pop vibe perfectly. Not to mention the fact that it's an interpolation of a hard metal song, everything about this is nonsensical yet amazing, and it's honestly probably better than anything Miley Cyrus has put out this year. [7]

Jackie Powell: Ashley O might have just performed my "I can beat burnout" theme song. While this track was released in mid-June, it's exactly what is needed to deal with the darker days of December. It's almost as if I'm visualizing that Rachel Bloom on a stage somewhere singing about burnout, but I'm not actually hearing a musical theater melody. It's one hundred percent pop. It's also sexier while still cheering me on. How's that for an anti-burnout fight song? It's also ironic that "Head Like a Hole" is lyrically so dystopian while "On a Roll" sonically and visually -- with its simple synths responsible for the track's chord progression and a purple wig and white bodysuit -- projects more of a utopian vibe. But as a song featured in Black Mirror, the choice to pay tribute to "Head Like A Hole" was more deliberate than not. [8]

Katherine St Asaph: As long as Nine Inch Nails have existed and yarled, people have observed, often intending to blow your minds, that they might Actually Be Pop. There were the band's early appearances on questionable proto-TRLs. There was that Sound on Sound interview about how Dave Ogilvie mixed "Call Me Maybe" like a NIN song, resulting in this (featuring, in the comments, one "DigitalPimp" marveling at how it sounded like something out of a Black Mirror episode, four years before "Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too"). There was the weird spate of offhand references in media about and/or marketed to young, non-generally-industrial-listening girls, from Clarissa from Clarissa Explains It All to Cassie from Animorphs to the babies in A Visit From the Goon Squad who are sold future!NIN's hit "Ga Ga." There are the many real-life "Ga Ga"s, like this, this, or this by Devo, or this seasonally appropriate medley. And there is, of course, this deeply strange year 2019, in which Trent Reznor earned his first No. 1 hit with one "Old Town Road," and in which there was this. I'm not a Trent purist -- I'm too much of a Tori Amos fan for that -- but "On a Roll" misunderstands the medium. The track, at least, is done by actual pop producers, The Invisible Men, and thus sounds plausible, though it can't decide whether it wants to be "California Gurls" or Weeknd-produced-by-Max-Martin smooveness or whatever the hell that half-time prechorus or Can't Take Me Home faux-soul backing vocal are. But the lyrics are by Charlie Brooker, and though he nails the inane in-universe promotional bullshit, he doesn't understand songwriting. "Bow down before the one you serve" is a more plausible pop lyric than "I'm stoked on ambition and verve." One shamelessly plunders greed and S&M and melodrama and does so the way actual people talk. One is a thesis statement rather than a lyric, doesn't scan, and is finished by rhymezone.com-ing vocabulary that for the life of me, I cannot remember if any pop lyrics have used. It's not even a timely thesis; in cynical 2019, post-Madonna, post-Gaga, post-Eilish, hell, post-"7 Rings," a pop star is less likely to put out "Everything Is Awesome" jingle music than just cover "Head like a Hole." And indeed, "On a Roll" exists so Black Mirror can get a cathartic moment out of Ashley O singing the actual "Head Like a Hole," which sounds great, because by comparison what wouldn't? Trent says he's OK with it, but then we know his stance on what he'd do for money. [2]

Iain Mew: I was at the lower context end of the scale for my initial listens to "On a Roll." I haven't watched the Black Mirror episode; I was vaguely aware of a Nine Inch Nails link but not its form; I don't know "Head Like a Hole." In that context "On a Roll" sounded like an intermittently functioning pop song with some unusually scanning lyrics that ranged from awkward to witty to both. Listening to the Nine Inch Nails song afterwards brought it together in a different way, but "On a Roll" stood up without that at least as well as most of the high concept early-'00s mashups that it's the conceptual successor to. [6]

Katie Gill: Does this work more if you're canon-familiar? Because I get the joke: ha ha, we're going to turn Nine Inch Nails into a pop song as some sort of commentary for Charlie Brooker's Ham-Fisted Social Commentary Hour! But I've only watched one or two Black Mirror episodes, so I can't help but feel that I'm missing something here. Because if the joke is that this complete antithesis of a pop song is now turned into a pop song, I don't think it works. The lyrics are sheer beautiful banality, a 2010s take on the same joke Music and Lyrics made over ten years ago. But the pop instrumentation & reworking doesn't hide the fact that "Head Like a Hole" is not fundamentally built like a pop song. It's like going into a guest bedroom that was obviously once a storage attic with low ceilings and poor insulation: put on a new coat of paint and the bones still show through. Maybe I have to watch the episode in order to fully appreciate the joke. But then again, great examples of musical parody & homage stand wonderfully on their own without context. Why doesn't this? [5]

Alex Clifton: As a parody of manufactured pop, this is pretty good; unsurprisingly, I'm reminded of Hannah Montana's "Nobody's Perfect" with its aggressive positivity ("riding so high! achieving my goals!"). But I'm seen people refer to this as an "accidental banger" and that's overrating the song. It's serviceable, it's catchy enough to be in the background at a party, but if you're going to go for manufactured pop, go hard or go home. This just doesn't commit itself enough to the genre to meet my expectations. [4]

Will Adams: I've spent the better part of the decade railing against PC Music's uncanny valley pop and its purported inability to make satisfying commentary on pop music. Allow "On a Roll" to serve as my mea culpa. Clickable premise of Miley Cyrus covering Nine Inch Nails for a Black Mirror episode aside, "On a Roll" feels pointless. Especially when a pop version of "Head Like a Hole" already exists, deliberately cynical pop by mainstream artists already exists, and your chorus hinges on a line as fatally clunky as "I'm stoked on ambition and verve." [3]

David Moore: A few months ago I was doing my weekly Spotify trawl and came across what sounded like a long-delayed aftershock of self-titled-era Taylor Swift. I was amused to see that this artist was Taylor Acorn, suggesting an elaborate algorithm designed to generate successive Taylor Swift clones named according to a variation on the NATO alphabet: Taylor Acorn, Taylor Bravo, Taylor Charlie. And this in turn gave me an idea for a television pilot with this exact premise, which I wrote ten to twenty minutes worth of before it fell flat. The problem, as it usually is with these sorts of things, is that the music needs to be good, and it can't just conjure its goodness from the perspicacity of its commentary. And of course most bizzer behind-the-curtain shows fail even at this basic commentary level -- the easiest part! -- and are doomed to be not only bad both in show and in soundtrack, but a little insulting, too. So it's a pleasure, if a mild one, to hear those exhausting try-hards over at Black Mirror let a decent pop song just kind of sit there. I didn't see the episode, but from what I can tell Miley Cyrus is supposed to be a bit of a cipher, which of course she isn't at all -- and funnily enough it makes this song do almost the opposite of what it's supposed to; it acts instead as a kind of metacommentary on how hard it is to make Miley Cyrus sound cool and competent. What, Taylor Acorn wasn't available? [6]

Michael Hong: It's nice to see Hannah Montana aim for something that fits directly into the image of the pop machine. "On the Roll" lodges itself firmly in your head while attempting to stimulate your pleasure receptors, rather than forcing all its energy to generate the cycle's "new authentic me," which ends up barely being a reinvention but more of an embarrassing reminder that Miley Cyrus is once again, back at it. Next time maybe she can aim for something good. [2]

Kylo Nocom: As satire? Boring, but not unexpectedly so! A good rule of thumb is that blanket parodies of pop music are never smart and rarely funny. Just last year A Star Is Born and Vox Lux soundtracked rockist paranoia with gratingly obvious piss-takes: "Why Did You Do That?" had a title that doubled as a lament for Ally's career; "Hologram (Smoke and Mirrors)" drove accusations of artifice that seemed directed equally at an imagined lover and Celeste herself. "On a Roll" suffers the same issues through less obvious signaling, being the commodification of an anti-establishment song, yet even here the writers can't resist an ironic nod. An uncomfortably extended silence following the last "I'm gonna get what I deserve" leaves room for interpretation: is this about Ashley exiting the pop machine as a break into authentic living, or about her suffering as retribution for being part of the pop machine? Who knows! The song is otherwise fantastic, and it being fantastic fucking sucks. Interpolating Nine Inch Nails wholesale puts Miley in her most enjoyable mode: anthemic rock-adjacent joy, some of the best she's done since her Hollywood Records era. Even if Black Mirror's idea of future pop is suspiciously like 2017, with tropical percussion breaks from "New Rules" and the pulses from "Sorry Not Sorry," the arrangement of "On a Roll" suggests actual, realized verve. The charm of the song concerns; in the context of the show itself it's the result of exploitation, and outside its context it's packaged with tacky viral marketing bullshit. But I can't resist. [9]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: I was prepared to give this some begrudgingly high score based on the weird, feverish week in the early summer where I listened to this on loop. But on the return visit, the appeal of "On a Roll" fades away with its novelty. All that remains is the general structure of "Head Like A Hole," which ties that undeniable melody to a much more compelling creep of a beat, and a slightly-above-average vocal performance from Miley. With every year of this nostalgia-focused decade I have grown wearier and wearier of this sort of reincarnation pop, yesterday's pleasures repackaged winkingly for an audience that sees the artlessness, the lack of aura, as the point. There's no way to listen to this sincerely, and I'm no longer amused by irony's mirror. [3]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[biofunmy]

‘Thrones,’ ‘Fleabag’ top Emmys, Billy Porter makes history

“Game of Thrones” resurrected the Iron Throne at Sunday’s Emmy ceremony, ruling as top drama on a night of surprises in which “Pose” star Billy Porter made history and the comedy series “Fleabag” led a British invasion that overturned expectations.

“This all started in the demented mind of George R.R. Martin,” said “Game of Thrones” producer David Benioff, thanking the author whose novels were the basis of HBO’s fantasy saga.

Porter, who stars in the FX drama set in the LGBTQ ball scene of the late 20th century, became the first openly gay man to win a best drama series acting Emmy .

“God bless you all. The category is love, you all, love. I’m so overjoyed and so overwhelmed to have lived to see this day,” said an exuberant Porter, resplendent in a sparkling suit and swooping hat.

Amazon’s “Fleabag,” a dark comedy about a dysfunctional woman, was honored as best comedy and earned writing and top acting honors for its British creator and star, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, as well as a best director trophy.

“This is getting ridiculous,” Waller-Bridge said in her third trip to the stage to collect the top trophy.

Her acting win blocked “Veep” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus from setting a record as the most-honored performer in Emmy history. “Fleabag’s” showing denied a fond farewell for its final season.

“Nooooo!” a shocked-looking Waller-Bridge said as Louis-Dreyfus smiled for the cameras. “Oh, my God, no. Thank you. I find acting really hard and really painful. But it’s all about this,” she said, her acting trophy firmly in hand.

In accepting the writing award earlier, she called the Emmy recognition proof that “a dirty, pervy, messed-up woman can make it to the Emmys.”

Porter, a Tony and Grammy Award winning performer, relished his groundbreaking moment. Quoting the late writer James Baldwin, he said it took him many years to believe he has the right to exist.

“I have the right, you have the right, we all have the right,” he said.

English actress Jodie Comer was honored as best drama actress for “Killing Eve.” She competed with co-star Sandra Oh, who received a Golden Globe for her role and would have been the first actress of Asian descent to win an Emmy in the category.

“My mum and dad are in Liverpool (England) and I didn’t invite them because I didn’t think this was going to be my time. One, I’m sorry, two I love you,” Comer said after saluting Oh.

Bill Hader won his second consecutive best comedy actor award for the hit man comedy “Barry.”

Peter Dinklage, named best supporting actor for “Game of Thrones,” set a record for most wins for the same role, four, breaking a tie with Aaron Paul of “Breaking Bad.”

“I count myself so fortunate to be a member of a community that is about nothing but tolerance and diversity, because in no other place I could be standing on a stage like this,” said Dinklage, who is a dwarf.

“Ozark” star Julia Garner won the best supporting drama actress trophy against a field including four actresses from “Game of Thrones.”

The auditorium erupted in cheers when Jharrel Jerome of “When They See Us,” about the Central Park Five case , won the best actor award for a limited series movie.

“Most important, this is for the men that we know as the Exonerated Five,” said Jerome, naming the five wrongly convicted men who were in the audience. They stood and saluted the actor as the crowd applauded them.

It was the only honor for the acclaimed Netflix series of the evening; “Chernobyl” won the best limited series honor.

The ceremony was brisk but, without a host, was overly reliant on the hit-and-miss jokes of presenters. It was ultimately the surprising wins such as Comer’s and the meaningful selections of Porter and Jerome that made the show.

HBO retained its durable front-runner status with the help of “Game of Thrones'” record-tying 12 wins. The channel had a total of 34 awards from Sunday and last weekend’s creative arts ceremony.

But streaming hit new Emmy heights, powered by Amazon Prime winners “Fleabag,” ”The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “A Very English Scandal,” and Netflix’s “Bandersnatch (Black Mirror),” honored as best movie. Netflix collected 27 awards and Amazon nabbed 15.

Michelle Williams, honored as best actress for her portrayal of dancer Gwen Verdon in FX’s limited series “Fosse/Verdon,” issued a call to arms for gender and ethnic equality .

She thanked the network and studio behind the project for “paying me equally because they understood … when you put value into a person, it empowers that person to get in touch with their own inherent value. And where do they put that value, they put it into their work.

“And so the next time a woman and, especially a woman of color, because she stands to make 52 cents on the dollar compared to her white male counterpart, tells you what she needs in order to do her job, listen to her,” Williams said.

Patricia Arquette won the trophy best supporting limited-series or movie actress for “The Act.” She paid emotional tribute to her late trans sister, Alexis Arquette , and called for an end to prejudice against trans people, including in the workplace.

Ben Whishaw took the category’s supporting actor trophy for “A Very English Scandal,” admitting in charming British fashion to a hangover.

Alex Borstein and Tony Shalhoub of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” won best comedy supporting acting awards.

“I want to dedicate this to the strength of a woman, to (series creator) Amy Sherman-Palladino, to every woman on the ‘Maisel’ cast and crew,” Borstein said, and to her mother and grandmother. Her grandmother survived because she was courageous enough to step out of a line that, Borstein intimated, would have led to her death at the hands of Nazi Germany.

“She stepped out of line. And for that, I am here and my children are here, so step out of line, ladies. Step out of line,” said Borstein, who also won the award last year.

Shalhoub added to his three Emmys which he earned for his signature role in “Monk.”

The awards opened without a host as promised, with an early exchange pitting Ben Stiller against Bob Newhart.

“I’m still alive,” Newhart told Stiller, who introduced him as part of a wax museum comedy hall of fame that included Lucille Ball and George Burns.

Kim Kardashian West and Kendall Jenner drew some mocking laughter in the audience when they presented the reality competition award after Kardashian West said their family “knows firsthand how truly compelling television comes from real people just being themselves.”

An animated Homer Simpson made a brief appearance on stage until he was abruptly crushed, with Anderson of “black-ish” rushing in to, as he vowed, rescue the evening. He called “Breaking Bad” star Bryan Cranston on stage to tout the power of television from its beginning to the current golden age.

“Television has never been bigger. Television has never mattered more. And television has never been this damn good,” Cranston said.

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Online:

http://bit.ly/2Vfsp7t .

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Associated Press Writer Beth Harris and AP Entertainment Writer Lindsey Bahr contributed to this report.

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Lynn Elber is at lelber@ap.org and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lynnelber

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Aston Villa news: Dean Smith says he can’t walk his dog at 6:30am without being stopped for a photo

When he was 16, Dean Smith cycled on his way to Villa Park working in a paint factory . During the early 6 o'clock team in the morning, he thought about his chances of ever playing for his favorite football club.

& # 39; It was a full-time job, but I only saw it as temporary, & he said. & # 39; I just wanted to be a footballer and play for Aston Villa . & # 39;

They were big dreams, too big because it happened. Smith has never drawn on burgundy and blue.

Aston Villa boss Dean Smith sent his boys club back to the Premier League

"I was not good enough, it was that simple," he said.

But last season he achieved the following best. He became the manager of a club whose famous colors run like a river through his family and on Saturday he is back on the sidelines as Villa opposite Tottenham as a Premier League side.

& # 39; With my family and my friends I am what I used to be, a fan, & Smith told & # 39; on Thursday Sportsmail . & # 39; But I have to park it at work.

& # 39; So there will be a lot of emotional control going on in Tottenham, even if I know deep down, the hairs in my neck will be upright. & # 39;

In the window of the Smith office on the club's training ground is a graceful Villa emblem. Frames on the stairs contain photos of the successes of the club League and European Cup of the early 1980s. His walls were white when he got his job in October 2018, but are now clear and blue.

Some managers run from the past of a club when they arrive.

Smith's father was 25 years of steward in the Trinity Road Stand. He used to show President Doug Ellis in his seat. Smith's neighbor as a child was Pat Heard, a replacement when Villa won the European Cup final against Bayern Munich in 1982. Smith's father didn't let him go to that game, but Heard made sure he was on the bus while he paraded the trophy through Birmingham the next day.

& # 39; I saw the life that Pat had and I have always wanted that, & # 39; Smith recalled. "I think I worked very hard to get it and I want my players here to embrace it as I try.

Smith & # 39; s father was a steward for 25 years and showed the chairman to his seat

& # 39 You soon realize that this club means a lot. History will always be there, but I told these players last season that they could make themselves legends by promoting. It's now our job to create more history. & # 39 ;

Villa will tackle the top division with a team strengthened by eight signing sessions. been ambitious approach to Smith and Villa & # 39; s Spanish sports director Jesus Garcia Pitarch.

From a distance it seems a bit risky. Too much change can take as much of a team as it gives. Smith disagrees.

& # 39; Two days after the last play-off we all sat down and agreed that it was important that the players who were an integral part of promoting us and who had the connection with the supporters restored, stayed and were made to feel important, & he said.

& # 39; We did that. We still have that Villa heartbeat in the dressing room, absolutely. & # 39;

& # 39; s play-off heroes were largely retained prior to the return of the Midlands side of the flight

Smith was, he claims, a modest footballer for 16 years as a central defender at Walsall, Hereford, Orient, Sheffield Wednesday and Port Vale. Significantly, however, he was captain at every club he played for.

& # 39; Sometimes people see things in you that you don't see in yourself, & # 39; he mused.

Skipper at Walsall at the age of 19, Smith was still the designated driver for Tuesday afternoon drinking sessions with Midlands football figures such as Villa European legends Gary Shaw and Dennis Mortimer – both played with Smith – and West Bromwich & # 39; s Cyrille Regis.

& # 39; Gary Shaw had many injuries, but what a player, & # 39; Smith recalled. & # 39; We trained in the parking lot on Friday. It was an up and down slate surface, but the touch was incredible. We would have a drink and I was a captain, but on those occasions I was the one who listened to guys like Cyrille and Ally Robertson and Derek Statham. I spent a lot of time with Cyrille. A sad loss when he died. Such a & # 39; n real person.

& # 39; Mind you, I played against him for Orient against Chester and he had something like & # 39; Whack! & # 39; Straight in my stomach. Nice to see you too, Cyrille. & # 39;

NOW THEY HAVE ALL COVERED BASE …

Aston Villa has signed 12 new players this summer, who are taking enough positions to complete a full to form a new team and space for another replacement …

KEEPER Tom Heaton (£ 8m, Burnley)

DEFENDERS Tyrone Mings ( 26.5m, Bournemouth) Ezri Konsa (£ 12m, Brentford) Bjorn English (£ 7m, Stade Reims) Kortney Hause (£ 3m, Wolves)

MIDFIELDERS Matt Targett (£ 15m, Southampton) Douglas Luiz (£ 12.5 m, Man City) Marvelous Nakamba (£ 10.75 m, Bruges) Trezeguet (£ 8.75 m, Kasimpasa) Jota (£ 4 m + Gary Gardner, Birmingham) Anwar El Ghazi (not made public, Lille)

FORWARD Wesley Moraes (£ 22m, Bruges)

Smith & # 39; s first taste of coaching was like a Assistant Linguist of Martin Ling in Orient in 2005. When they were fired after four years, he felt it was a death in the family. He is currently on the League Managers Association committee alongside the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, David Moyes, Sam Allardyce, Chris Hughton and Howard Wilkinson as the only one still working.

"My motivation has always been to prove people wrong, & # 39; he said. & # 39; As a 17-year-old I was told by one of my managers that I would never be in front of a group being able to stand and speak. That stayed with me. I wanted to show him.

& # 39; I want to be completely consistent. I learned more from the coaches I didn't like from those who I did when I identified the things they did that I had to throw away. I want to be the manager I would like to be managed by.

& # 39; For example, I don't want to be high if we win and low if we lose, players don't want to see that, they want consistency from me if I want to get it back from them After a game, I don't think I can change anything, so I'm not in the dressing room for 20 minutes. well done, good luck and then I'm gone.

The villa owner was not afraid to admit" his motivation has always been to prove people wrong & # 39;

& # 39; As an assistant I did not have the best emotional control. At Orient, I was more furious with players and I learned that you can't be that way because you need them the next game. Do not hit a fight that you do not have to use. Problems will always find you as a manager, so don't look for them. & # 39;

Smith has a reputation for being friendly and it certainly seemed that way on Thursday. He says that his favorite environment is the training field, but believes that the responsibility of a coach should not start and end on the grass.

& I don't care what job you're in – soccer or a factory – these people are all people with different emotions, sensitivities and lives away from work, & he said. It is my job to get the best out of it, so I need to know things like this. I see the job as the entire spectrum.

I love coaching, improving people. But it is the mental side that pushes these guys and if you don't get connected to them, players can easily decide that they won't work for you. & # 39;

Smith eventually made his reputation as a manager at Walsall and then Brentford. However, last year's move to Villa was an important step that was only taken after consultation with his family.

The 48-year-old knew that his modest, relatively quiet life would change and he was ready. But he was worried, for example, about how his daughter would manage at school if Villa didn't win.

& # 39; I know how many Villa fans there are and I knew that my family's life was about to come in the spotlight, & he said.

Smith has previous management experience on both Walsall and second-rate Brentford

& # 39; I had to make sure they liked it. They were all: "Yes!" My daughter said she can handle it and we had my son on FaceTime from America and he was the same.

& # 39; He came to the play-off game and flew home drunk. So far it has succeeded! & # 39;

Smith has spoken extensively and courageously about the dementia of his father Ron. Smith Snr lives in home care and, despite the regular visits of the Villa manager, does not know that his son is in charge of the football club that means so much to him.

Mother, Hilary, is central to Smith's thoughts today. Mrs. Smith was recently interviewed at her main street location in Great Barr by a TV crew. Looking for a reaction to the success of Villa, the reporter did not know that he was talking to the manager's mother.

& # 39; She was just shopping, & # 39; smiled Smith. & # 39; That clip apparently has 90,000 views, but it won't know what that means.

The 48-year-old tribute to his mother and father and their influence behind his success

& Mother, father and brother were proud of me in Hereford as they are today.

& # 39; My dad never drove, so mom would drive us to away games in a yellow Vauxhall Live when I was a kid. She has treated my father's disease well in general.

& # 39; She did not want to accept it at first. She said he had always been forgetful. I finally told him to go to the doctors. I had a drink with him in the admiral – our old place – a few years ago and he went to the bathroom and just didn't come back. He was confused and just went home without me. Heartbreaking.

& # 39; After the diagnosis, she wanted to take care of him and always said she coped. But in the end she broke into me and I said, "That's right."

& # 39; That was hard for mom, admitting he had to go to a house. Nobody ever wants to do that, does it? But he's been happy there and he's where he needs to be. It also gives my mother her life back. & # 39;

Smith's life has changed wholesale in the last 10 months since he took over the leadership of Villa

As far as Smith & # 39; s life is concerned, it has changed dramatically over the past 10 months, as he knew. Even walks with his dog Charlie – provided by Hilary on competition days – are not the same.

& # 39; I created the club before I came because I know, but if you fill gas and people want a photo, it'll be different, & he smiled.

& # 39; I'm trying to be a normal guy. I walk the dog at half past five, but then another dog out wants a photo. That's really incredible, right? I have always enjoyed a pint with my friends, but that is now a logistical nightmare. & # 39;

Of course it all belongs to the territory and it is a territory that Smith knows well. He is where he wants to be, in the club that has always been at the front and center of the family.

& # 39; Just walking to this place is enough for me, & # 39; he said, casting his eyes out the window

& # 39; I smile as soon as I see that club badge on the gate. & # 39;

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Who is in a 'mess' and who will win Premier League? - BBC pundits' predictions

No team has managed a successful defence of the Premier League title since Manchester United in 2009 – but will this season be different?

That is the aim of Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, a winner of three consecutive league titles in both Spain (Barcelona, 2008-11) and Germany (Bayern Munich, 2013-16), who saw his side finish 19 points clear of the pack last time out.

But who will challenge them in 2018-19? Can big-spending Liverpool mount a serious challenge? Will Manchester United narrow the gap? Can Tottenham improve? And are Chelsea and Arsenal contenders after changing their managers in the summer?

We asked 24 BBC TV and radio pundits to pick their top four with explanations for their selections.

The predictions were made on the basis of how each squad shaped up on Wednesday, 8 August, before the opening weekend of the season, but two days before the deadline for incoming transfers and with the potential for players to leave up until the transfer window shuts in the rest of Europe at the end of August.

Predictor 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Ian Wright Liverpool Man City Man Utd Arsenal Ruud Gullit Liverpool Man City Chelsea Man Utd Martin Keown Liverpool Man City Tottenham Man Utd Dion Dublin Man City Man Utd Liverpool Tottenham Alex Scott Man City Liverpool Man Utd Arsenal Joleon Lescott Man City Liverpool Man Utd Arsenal Mark Lawrenson Man City Liverpool Man Utd Arsenal Matthew Upson Man City Liverpool Man Utd Arsenal Alan Shearer Man City Liverpool Man Utd Tottenham Danny Murphy Man City Liverpool Man Utd Tottenham Pat Nevin Man City Liverpool Man Utd Tottenham Lindsay Johnson Man City Liverpool Man Utd Tottenham Charlie Adam Man City Liverpool Man Utd Tottenham Danny Mills Man City Liverpool Man Utd Chelsea Mark Schwarzer Man City Liverpool Man Utd Chelsea Rachel Brown-Finnis Man City Liverpool Chelsea Tottenham Sue Smith Man City Liverpool Chelsea Tottenham Paul Ince Man City Liverpool Chelsea Man Utd Kevin Kilbane Man City Liverpool Chelsea Man Utd Stephen Warnock Man City Liverpool Chelsea Man Utd Jermaine Jenas Man City Liverpool Tottenham Man Utd Chris Sutton Man City Liverpool Tottenham Man Utd Chris Waddle Man City Liverpool Tottenham Chelsea Leon Osman Man City Liverpool Tottenham Arsenal

Six teams feature in the forecasted top fours, and only Manchester City and Liverpool feature in all 24.

In terms of who will win it, Manchester City are favourites, with 21 votes. Liverpool get the other three.

Overall predicted ranking, using all BBC predictions

(using system of 4 pts for a 1st place, 3 pts for 2nd, 2 pts for 3rd and 1 pt for 4th)

1. Man City 2. Liverpool 3. Man Utd 4. Tottenham 5. Chelsea 6. Arsenal 93 pts 74 pts 34 pts 18 pts 15 pts 6 pts

Man City – a well-oiled machine managed by a serial winner

This is the third season running where City have featured in everyone’s forecasted top four. Last season, only 5% of people we asked thought Guardiola’s side would finish lower than third. This season, no-one thinks they will finish below second.

Alan Shearer: It has been a long time since anyone won back-to-back titles but I think City will win the Premier League again because of Pep – he won’t want their standards slipping. He will play exactly the same way and they are going to be very hard to stop, although I think Liverpool and United will both be a lot closer to them this time.

Shearer joins Ian Wright and Gary Lineker on Match of the Day at 22:20 BST on Saturday on BBC One and the BBC Sport website for highlights of seven Premier League games (including Friday night’s season opener).

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Chris Sutton: Pep will not allow City to become complacent. Their consistency levels last season, when they won 32 out of their 38 league games, including a run of 18 wins in a row, were unbelievable.

Paul Ince: Guardiola is a serial winner – you can see that from the way he rants and raves on the touchline demanding more even when his team are two or 3-0 up. That is his mentality, and his players buy into it.

Matthew Upson: City are about to start their third season under Guardiola and it is clear they are a well-oiled machine. They know his philosophy and the way he wants to play. As we saw in the Community Shield, when they were missing Kevin de Bruyne and David Silva, the personnel does not really matter – when one player steps out another one steps in – and that is their great strength.

Upson and Alex Scott are the guests on Football Focus on BBC One and the BBC Sport website at 12:00 BST on Saturday.

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Sue Smith: If anything City will be stronger because their problem area was left-back last season. Benjamin Mendy is now back and fit and is a real threat down that flank. Look through the rest of the team and it is top quality throughout.

Lindsay Johnson: I cannot see City not winning the title because they have improved an already very strong squad by bringing in Riyad Mahrez, and they seem to be a happy camp.

Jermaine Jenas: I still think City will win the league, but everyone has had a couple of years now to look at this Guardiola side and work out what they are about, like Liverpool did against them last season. It is hard for Pep to keep thinking up new things and if other teams do clock how to cause them problems then that will make life a lot more difficult – and it will not matter how big the gap was in the past.

Liverpool – Man City’s Kryptonite have done the best business of the summer

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Only 43% people we asked thought Liverpool would make it into the top four last season, and only 13% thought they would be higher than third – they finished fourth. This year 14% think they will win the title and 96% think they will finish in the top two.

Ian Wright: I want this season’s title race to be more spicy and I think it will be. If Liverpool can get some impetus, then we don’t know how Manchester City will react under pressure if a team can stay close to them at the end of the season.

You also have to consider that Liverpool are City’s Kryptonite. That’s why I am backing Jurgen Klopp’s side to pip them to the title.

When Liverpool are doing well in the league, the league seems better. And, when they have got a good team, with the crowd at Anfield they are literally unstoppable – as we saw against City in the Champions League last season.

Ruud Gullit: If City have to battle for the league, we don’t know if they can do that. They will be up there at the top but I am backing Liverpool to win it. They are contenders because of the way they play, and how they control games but they also want to entertain and they want to attack – they play the right way.

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Stephen Warnock: Liverpool have arguably done the best business in the window so far, albeit the most expensive. They are going to be stronger everywhere but, if they had not signed Alisson, I would not be backing them to finish second. Getting the goalkeeper right is that important, you only have to look at how many points David de Gea earned United with his saves last season.

Danny Murphy: Getting their signings done so early was beneficial because it gives Klopp time to show what he wants from them, and get them up to the fitness levels he requires for the way he wants to play.

Kevin Kilbane: Alisson is the signing of the summer. I have heard people say that they are one or two players short of a title-winning team but I don’t agree with that – there have been a couple of seasons over the past three or four years when they have been serious contenders but have been one short, and it was a keeper they needed.

I have tipped City because of the way they played last season, and how they play but it would not surprise me if Liverpool won the league.

Join Kevin, Jason Mohammed and Dion Dublin for Final Score on Saturday, from 14:30 BST on the Red Button and from 16:30 on BBC One.

Joleon Lescott: As well as all their signings, it looks like Daniel Sturridge is back in contention at Liverpool now and I think both parties have to recognise the part he can play this season. Klopp has got to see that Sturridge has the close control to unlock teams who sit deep, and Daniel has to realise that when Liverpool are playing on the counter-attack, he has got a lot of work to do off the ball and, like Firmino, is not there just to score goals.

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Chris Waddle: They have spent some big money and Klopp cannot keep saying ‘we are building’. This is the year for me where Liverpool have got to come out and say ‘we are competing for the Premier League title’. I know they won’t but they are in a place now where they are trying to win everything City and United are trying to win, so why deny it?

Danny Mills: I suppose the one problem they face is whether they are going to be so heavily reliant on Mo Salah’s goals again. I still think he will score loads, but I cannot see him getting as many as he did last season.

Manchester United – lots of quality, but lacking harmony

Last season, 33% of people we asked thought United would be champions – they finished second. This time, no-one thinks they will win the title, and only one pundit – Dion Dublin – thinks they will finish second.

Dion Dublin: United have got so much quality in their squad and they definitely progressed under Jose Mourinho last season. What they are missing at the moment is harmony, but if he can find that and get all his good players smiling and happy, they will be very close.

You can listen to Dion Dublin and Conor McNamara’s commentary of United’s opening game of the season against Leicester on BBC Radio 5 live and the BBC Sport website on Friday. Build-up from Old Trafford starts at 18:30 BST.

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Ruud Gullit: United already had the players to challenge City last season, but they couldn’t do it. So are they going to do it now? Are these players going to perform? You have to ask why so many of their players underachieved.

Chris Waddle: Jose always seems to get out of bed the wrong side every morning. He just has to get on with things and start smiling. If he does that, it will rub off on the team.

Chris Sutton: United just seem to be an unhappy camp and it all comes down to the manager. I wonder what the owners make of him telling fans not to turn up to their tour games in the United States, plus his criticism of his players and all his comments about needing new players but not getting them – he has basically been telling the centre-halves already at the club that they are hopeless.

It has resulted in a negative feeling about the club, at a time when almost every other club in the land has an air of positivity going into the new season. I think Mourinho’s frustration probably comes from him looking at City and Liverpool, and the way they play, and he is probably jealous. You wonder about the impact it will have on United at the start of the season, and what it means for his own future too.

Jermaine Jenas: I don’t see it ending well. There are too many internal issues with existing players, issues over their style of play, and also issues with potential signings supposedly saying they do not want to go and play there for him because of that style of play. United fans are not convinced by the football they play under him, or where they are heading under his leadership, so it is going to be an interesting few months.

Danny Mills: You have to be very careful with the way you read Mourinho because of the way he plays the media, and deflects attention from other things. Don’t write them off on the back of him messing about in a press conference, saying I haven’t got this or that. In fact, write them off at your peril.

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Paul Ince: Last season, from a footballing point of view, United weren’t great. Their fans were moaning that they did not attack enough and although I think Mourinho has tried to address that, they really need to hit the ground running this time.

The signs are not great, though. Everything should be geared towards the first game of the season but instead it is all about Mourinho. There are some positives, and I am expecting a big season from Paul Pogba after his World Cup, but I definitely think they need another striker as back-up to Romelu Lukaku – someone in a similar mould to the Belgian.

Ian Wright: It is blatantly obvious that United need central defenders, which is why he has shown an interest in Leicester’s Harry Maguire and Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld. I am not sure whether he will get either of them before Thursday’s deadline though.

Tottenham – will this season be ‘like Groundhog Day?’

Last time out, 55% of people thought Tottenham would finish outside the top four – they finished third and are the only team to make the top three in each of the past three seasons. This time, 46% think they will miss out on the Champions League spots, and no-one thinks they will break into the top two.

Joleon Lescott: Are Spurs trying to win the league? Do they believe they can win it? I think they hope they can, but they won’t expect it, like the City players do. They remind me of Arsenal a few years ago, when they were just content with finishing in the top four.

Jermaine Jenas: This is a team whose manager knows them inside out and vice versa, and I can see them making a fast start to the season because of that connection. Spurs have also got a group of young players who have been together for a long time and their experience of falling short of winning a trophy will be with them. I just think that, along with them moving into their new stadium mean there are a lot of positives for them.

Ian Wright: Tottenham have a lot of players who came back late to pre-season after the World Cup and having to wait a few games to get into their new ground is going to be another disruption. I just think they might make a stuttering start that other teams might take advantage of.

Chris Waddle: Spurs will definitely be in the top four and I think they have an outside chance of winning the title because their strongest XI is as good as anyone’s in the Premier League, but my worry is that they will be affected by fatigue and injuries, and their squad is not good enough. They are also going to be going into their new stadium, and even if it only takes them a few weeks to settle in, it will be an issue.

Chris Sutton: Tottenham have not signed anyone yet but I still think they have got good strength in depth in their squad. On top of that they are strong defensively and have lots of creative options and have the best striker in the league in Harry Kane.

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Stephen Warnock: Spurs don’t make my top four because I think they have to strengthen. If Kane gets injured, then they are in massive trouble. A couple of quality late signings could tip things in their favour though.

Kevin Kilbane: How do Spurs make that step-up, that improvement they need to go from third-place to champions? It is hard to see them making the signings that would make that happen, and I think this season might be like Groundhog Day for them, where they are just challenging for a Champions League place. It is top four at best for them, because I don’t think they have got enough to seriously challenge Liverpool and City over the course of the season.

Danny Murphy: For the fans, and just to push everyone in the squad, you always need to buy at least one big name, someone who is going to come in and make them better. Of the players Spurs have being linked with this summer, Wilfried Zaha and Anthony Martial would fit the bill, but it looks unlikely either of them will be arriving now.

Chelsea – ‘things are complicated right now’

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Only one BBC pundit predicted Chelsea would finish outside the top four last season – their former manager Ruud Gullit. They finished fifth. This season, Gullit thinks they will finish third, but 63% think they will miss out on the top four.

Mark Lawrenson: I look at Chelsea and it is just a mess, isn’t it? The whole thing.

Ian Wright: They have got a new keeper lined up to replace Thibaut Courtois and I think Eden Hazard will stay, but who is going to score all the goals?

At the moment it looks like they will be relying on Olivier Giroud because it is not happening for Alvaro Morata and we have seen that Michy Batshuayi is not going to do it at this level. So they need another striker which is why, as things stand, they don’t make my top four.

Pat Nevin: Things are complicated with Chelsea. I think they are in exactly the same situation they were in before the season started last year, which is they need to buy. I suspect they will try to bring one more centre-back in but, if David Luiz is back to his best after his injuries last season, then that will not be a problem.

The last couple days of the Premier League transfer window could change everything because they could sell one of their big outfield players and get in three others, and that would completely change the picture.

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Stephen Warnock: Keeping Hazard is crucial for Chelsea. He is their match-winner and almost irreplaceable, especially at this stage of the transfer window. Without him, I would not pick them to finish third, but I do think the way Maurizio Sarri plays suits the players he has got, and not having Champions League football will help them a lot.

Ruud Gullit: Players want to win trophies – you know your career is short. Hazard came to Chelsea to win things, not just to play well and earn a lot of money, and he still wants to win trophies – major ones – now.

Chelsea have to create that opportunity for him – if they can’t, then you cannot blame him if he does want to leave. Can they do it this season? It is too early to tell.

Matthew Upson: What Sarri saw in the Community Shield will have told him a lot about what his players are capable of, in terms of fitting into his system or reaching the required standards. He has issues to tackle right through his team and, with Thursday being the transfer deadline for incoming players, there is not much time to decide whether to address them in the transfer market.

Read more from Upson here on the issues faced by new Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri.

Arsenal – A good start under Emery will be crucial

Some 70% of BBC pundits, presenters and commentators predicted Arsenal would finish outside the top four last season, and they finished sixth. This season, 75% think they will miss out on Champions League football again, and no-one thinks they will finish higher than fourth.

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Ian Wright: I have faith in Arsenal finishing fourth because I think their attacking players will cause all the other teams problems – but I am still worried about the defensive side of things and the way the players start the season under Unai Emery, and grasp what he wants from them, is going to be so crucial.

They start against a City team who know exactly what they are doing, but this might be a good time to play them because some of their players are late back from the World Cup. Arsenal are going to play this pressing game and could they catch City off guard? If they do, have they got enough defensively to stop City even if City are rocked by a couple of punches? That might just be my wishful thinking.

After that, they play Chelsea, West Ham and Cardiff, and depending on results, that could be an unbelievable opening, or a case of ‘uh oh’. By the time they get to West Ham, when they will be up against Jack Wilshere, well there is a story waiting to be written there, isn’t there?

Martin Keown: It will be a really close battle to make the top four; Arsenal and Chelsea will push Manchester United all of the way and have an outside chance of claiming a Champions League place. Emery has had longer with his team than anyone else – they’ve largely all been together for the whole of pre-season – and they could potentially cause an upset against City on day one.

Stephen Warnock: Emery has a fantastic record and his appointment is a massive coup for Arsenal. He has signed some excellent players, but a lot depends on how quickly they adapt to the Premier League.

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Kevin Kilbane: They won’t challenge for the title but I think Emery will make them more pragmatic and harder to beat. That will be the biggest difference with Arsenal this season compared to when Arsene Wenger was in charge and they played more off the cuff. It is a change that they have been crying out for.

Jermaine Jenas: After 22 years of Wenger running the club, from the way they train to the way they play, the initial shock of playing under Emery will be great for them. That change might feel good to the players in the early stages but nobody really knows how they are going to translate that to the pitch, or which style of play they will adopt and they are a bit of an unknown quantity.

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Who is in a 'mess' and who will win Premier League? – BBC pundits' predictions was originally published on 365 Football

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NHL - The Accolade Index

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NHL - The Accolade Index

Success in the salary-cap era is all about the most effective management of cap space. According to our new Accolade Index, the Pittsburgh Penguins have enjoyed the most success since 2005-06 — in all its various forms.

The Accolade Index assigns a single point for each individual award won by a member of its team, with a half-point for making the first-team All-Star team, and a quarter point for making the second-team All-Star team.

At the team level, points are awarded for making the playoffs, winning the division, winning the Presidents’ Trophy, and each playoff series win, with bonus points for making the Stanley Cup Final and winning the Stanley Cup.

While the Vegas Golden Knights won’t be eligible for this list until next season, they stand to gain at least three points for making the playoffs, winning their division, and for the likely Jack Adams Award for their coach Gerard Gallant. Additional playoff success or individual awards could boost them even higher.

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Landing Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby in the top two spots of the draft in the preceding three seasons obviously gave the Penguins a huge head start on the salary-cap era. However, there are teams with similar advantages that aren’t nearly as high on this list.

The key wasn’t just drafting these players, but carefully managing the contracts of these three players and building a competitive roster around them — that’s how the Penguins have achieved more success than any other team in the 12 seasons that followed.

The Penguins rank first with 19 playoff series victories and four appearances in the Stanley Cup Final, are tied for first with three Stanley Cups, and are about to make their 12th playoff appearance, likely to be tied for first with the Sharks (if both teams qualify).

In terms of individual awards, they are first with four Art Ross Trophy winners, and tied for first with Washington with three Hart Trophy winners, and second to the Capitals with nine first-team All-Stars.

Similarly buoyed from drafting Jonathan Toews third overall in 2006 and Patrick Kane first overall in 2007, the Blackhawks have served as the textbook example of proper cap management. On the three occasions they were slammed up against the cap, Chicago made the right decisions about whom to keep, and extracted maximum return for the star players that had to be moved.

It appears that the salary cap has finally caught up to the Blackhawks, who are unlikely to add any points this season, and might slide down to fourth place at season’s end. For now, they rank second to Pittsburgh with 16 playoff series victories and with three appearances in the Stanley Cup Final, and are tied with the Penguins with three Stanley Cups. They are also tied for second with the Red Wings with two Norris trophies, and are one of three teams with two Calder Trophy winners.

Outside of the playoffs, the most accomplished team in the salary-cap era is the Capitals. They lead the NHL with three Presidents’ Trophies and seven division titles — and might add one more this season.

Thanks largely to Alex Ovechkin, they have a great deal of individual accolades as well, including the most Rocket Richard Trophies, a league-leading 10 first-team All-Stars, and they are tied with Pittsburgh with three Hart Trophies. They are also the only team whose coaches won the Jack Adams twice.

The Red Wings might be heading into a rebuild, but their playoff success early on has helped establish them near the top of the list with 11 playoff appearances, which is currently tied for first, and 12 series victories, which is tied for third.

Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk added individual accolades, lifting the Red Wings to first with four Norris Trophy wins and second to the Bruins with three Selke Awards.

Before conversations with ESPN’s John Buccigross and Wild LW Jason Zucker, Greg Wyshynski is joined by Emily Kaplan from the GM meetings in Boca Raton, Florida, to discuss the joys of goalie interference. Plus, some playoff race talk and the PWHA making their ballots public. Listen »

It’s remarkable that a team that traded away star forwards like Joe Thornton, Tyler Seguin and Phil Kessel would still be so high on this list. And, as one of the few teams at the top of the list that is trending up, the Bruins have an opportunity to climb even higher.

Thus far, a lot of their success has been on the individual basis, as the Bruins lead the league with three Vezina Trophies, four Selke Trophies, and rank third with six first-team All-Stars. But, they also added big points by reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2010-11 and 2012-13, emerging victorious on the first occasion.

A league-leading seventh division title might be out of reach for Anaheim, but the Ducks can climb into a tie for second with 11 playoff appearances, and earn an opportunity to win their 13th playoff series of the era, which will break a tie for third with the Red Wings.

Even with the departure of Patrick Marleau, along with Joe Thornton’s knee injury, the Sharks are likely to make their 12th playoff appearance in 13 seasons, which will be tied with the Penguins for first in the span. That will also give them an opportunity to win a 12th playoff series, breaking a tie with the Rangers for fifth. San Jose ranks second with six second-team All-Stars.

The Canucks are tied with the Ducks for second with six division titles, trailing the Capitals by one. They also rank second to Pittsburgh with two Art Ross Trophy winners, Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin. Of course, the Canucks are currently in a rebuild, and unlikely to add any more Accolade Index points in the near future.

Stalling at 11 playoff appearances this season, the Rangers will drop out of a first-place tie, and into a second-place tie with the Red Wings and Ducks. Aside from All-Star team selections, Henrik Lundqvist‘s Vezina in 2011-12 is the team’s only individual award of the salary-cap era.

Despite winning the Stanley Cup on two occasions, the Kings have had a relatively average level of success recently. Drew Doughty‘s Norris in 2015-16 was the lone regular-season award, and the Kings are one of seven teams without a division title in the salary-cap era — and possibly only one of five after this season.

The oldest and most celebrated hockey team has been pretty mediocre in the salary-cap era, and have won only six playoff series. Given that their current 2017-18 points percentage of .438 ranks 91st in their 100-season NHL history, there’s obviously room for improvement in 2018-19 and beyond.

The Senators began the salary-cap era as the NHL’s strongest team but fizzled toward mediocrity almost immediately. One of the bright spots is captain Erik Karlsson, who has been named to a first-team All-Star four times, and whose two Norris trophies lift Ottawa into second place behind the Red Wings in that category.

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Both the Lightning and the Predators are on the verge of winning their first division titles of the salary-cap era, which will leave just five teams at zero.

The Lightning are also one of seven teams without a first-team All-Star, but they lead the league with 11 second-team All-Stars, which is almost double the Sharks, who are in second place with six. Tampa Bay ranks second to the Capitals with three Rocket Richard Trophy wins.

The Devils accumulated almost all of their Accolade Index points in the first five seasons of the salary-cap era, in which they won the division crown four times, and goalie Martin Brodeur won the Vezina twice. Now that the team’s rebuild is nearing completion, they might begin climbing the list anew.

The Predators are about to add a lot of Accolade Index points with their first division title, and possibly the Presidents’ Trophy, too. The next milestone would be for one of their players and/or coaches to win an individual award (beyond the All-Star team) — Pekka Rinne for the Vezina, perhaps?

With eight playoff appearances, seven series victories and one appearance in the Stanley Cup Final, the Flyers have had a reasonable level of success at the team level. However, Jakub Voracek‘s first-team All-Star selection in 2014-15 is the team’s only individual award.

The Hurricanes kicked off the salary-cap era with a Stanley Cup, and captain Rod Brind’Amour won the first of two consecutive Selke Awards — but Carolina hasn’t achieved many accolades since then.

With Toronto and Winnipeg set to make the playoffs for the third time since 2005-06, the Hurricanes will be left in a last-place tie with Edmonton and Florida, with two appearances apiece, if none of the three qualify this season.

Excepting the first three seasons, the Blues have been one of the league’s more competitive teams of this era but haven’t been able to translate that into very many accolades at either the team or individual level. In particular, they have only four playoff series wins to show for seven appearances, which included two seasons where they won the division title.

With Buffalo in the draft lottery once again, and set to extend its playoff drought to seven seasons, it’s easy to forget how strong the Sabres were for the first six seasons of the salary-cap era. In 2005-06 and 2006-07, the Sabres earned a combined 223 points in the standings, a Presidents’ Trophy in 2006-07, and reached the Eastern Conference finals both seasons. It could be a while before this team reaches those heights again.

Before the salary-cap era, the Stars were one of the league’s most successful teams, earning at least 100 points and the division title in six of the previous eight seasons, along with a Cup in 1999. While the team continued that success through 2007-08, the Stars have had limited success at either the team or individual level during the past decade.

Immediately before the salary-cap era, the Flames arguably came within a video review of the Stanley Cup, losing to the Lightning in seven games in 2004. Since then, they have won only a single playoff series despite making six trips to the postseason. Since only two of those appearances have occurred in the past nine seasons, the Flames are unlikely to climb this list.

The Wild are set to extend their playoff streak to six seasons, but these appearances are just about the only accolades they have earned in the salary-cap era. They have won their division only once, have only two playoff series victories, plus one individual player award, and one first- and second-team All-Star selection. However, they have the opportunity to vault up this list this season, since the five preceding teams probably will miss the playoffs.

Colorado is enjoying its finest season of the salary-cap era, other than the surprise 112-point 2013-14 season. The Avs can climb this list by making the playoffs, winning a playoff series, and if Nathan MacKinnon wins an individual award and/or is named to an All-Star team. Colorado is one of only three teams with two Calder Trophy winners.

Edmonton is tied for last with two playoff appearances, and is one of seven teams (soon to be five teams) who haven’t won a division title in the salary-cap era. The Oilers’ only real success was in 2005-06, when they reached the Stanley Cup Final. The hope, of course, is that Connor McDavid can boost these totals during his tenure.

The red-hot Blue Jackets are ready to jump into the playoffs for only the fourth time in franchise history, where they are one of four teams without a series victory in the salary-cap era. They are also one of seven teams (soon to be five) without a division title. Their lone area of success is in goal, where Sergei Bobrovsky is a two-time first-team All-Star, and his two Vezina Trophies paces the team to second, behind the Bruins.

The salary cap doesn’t mean very much to a franchise whose financial constraints are even more limited. The Coyotes’ strongest season was 2011-12 when they won their division, made the playoffs for the third (and most recent) time, and advanced to the Western Conference finals.

The Panthers are coming on strong, and making a promising bid to make the playoffs for only the third time in the salary-cap era, which will move them out of a last-place tie. If they succeed, then they will also have the opportunity to take their name off the list of four teams without a playoff series victory. However, they probably will remain one of only two teams that hasn’t had any players named to either the first or second All-Star team.

As John Tavares is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, it’s fair to categorize this era of Islanders history as a disappointment. They have made the playoffs only four times, are one of seven teams (soon to be five) without a division title, and have only a single playoff series win. Tavares himself has the team’s only individual accolade, which was a lone selection to the first All-Star team in 2014-15.

29. Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets: 3.5 points

At the moment, the Thrashers and Jets franchise is tied for last, with only two playoff appearances in the salary-cap era, and is one of four organizations without a playoff series victory. Both of those situations can change this season, and the abundance of young talent can finally help this team climb the list.

Earning their first division title is a little outside of their reach, but the Maple Leafs are poised to break away from a last-place tie with their third playoff appearance, and can earn their first playoff series victory of the salary-cap era. Auston Matthews, who already has the team’s only individual award with his Calder Trophy in 2016-17, might someday soon help the team overcome its next hurdle by being named to either the first or second All-Star team.

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Goalie Issues Dooming the Flyers Again? What? No! Can’t Be! Thoughts After Red Wings 5, Flyers 4

Anyone else seen enough of Petr Mrazek?

Remember, the Red Wings, yep, the team who snapped a 10-game losing streak by beating the Flyers last night, were willing to eat 50% of his remaining salary just to trade him – and they did that in order to get the draft pick they wanted – a third rounder – but still had to accept it with conditions attached, conditions that still haven’t been secured.

So, they had seen enough of the enigmatic goalie, who has displayed some very Cechmanekian tendencies when things don’t go well.

And after getting pulled for the second time in three starts, Mrazek was seen saying something to Hakstol, or one of the assistant coaches, on the bench before stomping off to the locker room for a cool down.

An angry Mrazek storms off to the locker room after being pulled for Lyon. pic.twitter.com/ncKqgCX5OL

— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) March 21, 2018

Frankly, I never understood this. This isn’t something that is unique to Mrazek, but is part of every goalie’s ritual. Whenever they get pulled from the game, they don’t just sit on the bench right away. They have to go back into the locker room to clear their head before they return to the bench. Seriously? Why? Dude, you got pulled. It sucks, but big deal. Just sit on your stool and try and help the team by opening and closing the bench door. The whole “cool down” thing is so petulant. But, I digress…

After the game, Mrazek told reporters he wasn’t angry with the coaches about being pulled, but rather was questioning if there was goaltender interference on the third Detroit goal, you know, the one that got him pulled.

That sounds a little fishy to me.

Because, does it look like there’s any Red Wings interfering with him as he’s flopping around out there?

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Maybe…. MAYBE as Dylan Larkin skates past Mrazek there is incidental contact between Larkin’s stick and Mrazek’s pad, which causes Mrazek to stumble for a second, but he gets back to his feet and is able to get back across to go down to save Martin Frk’s shot, but it never gets through as it hits Radko Gudas and goes right to Evgeny Svechnikov for an easy goal into a yawning net.

Ergo, there was no interference that prevented him from being able to make a save.

Not only that, Mrazek doesn’t say anything to an official, as goalies often do when they think they have been interfered with, and instead grabs the water bottle until he is lifted for Alex Lyon.

Only then does he have something to say? And only to his coaches?

Sorry. I’m not buying it.

And listen to Red Wings analyst Mickey Redmond talking about how Mrazek is way out of position on the goal. He’s absolutely right.

This is an issue. The rebounds are an issue. The tough angle shots are an issue. Detroit’s second goal was an issue:

Glendening beats Mrazek shorthanded. pic.twitter.com/GTiok2vavT

— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) March 21, 2018

That’s a shorthanded wrister on a 1-on-2 (almost a 1-on-3). That shot has to be stopped.

In his last eight starts for the Flyers, Mrazek is 2-5-1 with a 3.72 goals against average and an .860 save percentage.

Alex Lyon can do that. Hell, he can do better than that. Michael Neuvirth has been practicing with the team, so he’s got to be close to being ready (although, he’s a different sort of enigma himself). And Brian Elliott has started skating, so he’s got to be getting closer.

At this point, anyone is a better option than Mrazek. He is proving to be the wrong investment for the Flyers.

Petr Mrazek made it back to the bench. pic.twitter.com/HG1wQeWBXF

— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) March 21, 2018

And the Flyers goaltending woes extend another year.

What else happened in Detroit?

Well, not a whole heck of a lot in the first period. Detroit outshot the Flyers and Mrazek was actually OK for 20 minutes.

However the Flyers just can’t score in the first period. They are one of the worst teams in first period scoring, yet are the third-best goal scoring team in the NHL in the second period. How does that happen?

Not being ready to play games is a damning thing to occur for a professional sports team. And maybe they took the Red Wings lightly. Detroit is in full tank mode. They were 0-9-1 in the previous 10 games. They are plummeting to the bottom of the standings playing in front of a half-empty, state of the art arena.

They are a terrible defensive team with an aging goalie who ages more like beer than wine.

They should have been easy picking for a Flyers team trying to cling to a playoff spot. Instead, they were allowed to hang around, and in the second period, the Mrazek meltdown (and other defensive lapses) resulted in a 3-1 deficit.

The Flyers finally woke up in the third period, buzzing all around Detroit, getting goals from Matt Read (I was watching the game with my Dad, who is a casual Flyers fan these days, who said to me, “I thought they got rid of Matt Read last year.” Yeah, it’s been that long since he scored.) and Shayne Gostisbehere to tie the score.

The Red Wings went back on top and things looked bleak for the Flyers until TK saved the day again:

Travis Konecny gets to the net and gets credit for his 20th of the season! pic.twitter.com/cjMvEJ34lX

— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) March 21, 2018

OK, so it wasn’t a pretty goal. (Neither was Read’s as it hit off his knee pad). But the fact that Travis Konecny was skating hard to the net made the play happen. Some guys will stop and hope for a rebound. Konecny wasn’t stopping. That net was coming off its moorings whether Sean Couturier’s pass got through or not.

But it’s that brand of breakneck hockey that makes Konecny such a talented player. Sure he’s going to make mistakes. Yes, he’s going to miss the net with his shot sometimes because it’s hard to account for the top-end speed he is traveling. But, when you consider he’s now posted a 20-goal season, with most of his production coming since Christmas, the Flyers would be best served by letting TK fly. Hold him accountable, sure, but remember when it all evens out, he’s dynamic enough of a player that he’s going to make far more good plays than bad ones.

This goal got the Flyers to overtime, and eventually a shootout, where they are the worst team in the NHL historically since the shootout began in 2005-06.

Detroit got the lone goal in the shootout and the Flyers lost. They fell from third place in the Metropolitan Division back down into the top Wild Card spot, but it was still an important point to earn. They should have had two against a doormat like Detroit, but with the way they played, they were fortunate to get one point.

It  keeps them four points ahead of the Devils, who now have a game in hand, and five points ahead of the Panthers, who have won back-to-back road games and still have three games in hand on the Flyers.

And Thursday is a big night of opportunity for the Flyers.

They host the New York Rangers, who are not going to be in the playoffs this season.

However, since selling off some big names at the deadline, the Rangers haven’t exactly gone in the tank. They are 5-3-2 in the 10 games since, and have been uber-competitive in games against playoff teams or teams fighting for a playoff spot.

Despite losing all three games, they hung tough with Tampa Bay, Florida and Columbus (the loss to the Panthers was in a shootout) and they played a whale of a game to beat Pittsburgh in overtime.

So they won’t just roll over, despite the Flyers being the better team.

Meanwhile the Panthers are in Columbus, which means somebody has to lose, which could help the Flyers (or not, especially if the game goes past regulation, guaranteeing both teams points).

In the end, if things break right, the Flyers could emerge from Thursday’s game with a six-point cushion between them and New Jersey and a seven-point spread between themselves and Florida.

If things go wrong, those gaps can be three points against Florida and four against New Jersey with both teams having multiple games in hand.

There will be no time for slow starts.

There will be no time for unreliable goaltenders.

There will be no time for bad mistakes.

Because this will be the most important game of the season to date. And the Flyers desperately need it to go their way.

In milestone news:

If at first you don't succeed, try and try again. pic.twitter.com/0ivF4nyzpf

— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) March 21, 2018

The goal was Couturier’s 30th this season and 100th of his career. It also ended a 15-game goalless drought for the Flyers’ top line center.

Oh and then there’s the captain:

Congrats to Claude Giroux for passing Eric Lindros on the Flyers all-time scoring list. pic.twitter.com/dLEpFnTL5s

— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) March 21, 2018

Giroux had three assists last night. He’s fifth in the NHL with 87 points. He tied Jake Voracek for second in the NHL in assists with 61. It’s almost as if he is single-handedly willing the Flyers into the playoffs.

He should be a Hart Trophy finalist. He won’t be, and it’s a shame, because there is a formulaic voting approach that permeates through the entire voting bloc of the Professional Hockey Writers Association that often misses deserving candidates for certain awards, but the people in Philadelphia know and realize just how good and important Giroux has been to the Flyers this season.

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