#also catch how Alex calls it ‘Greg and Alex’ but the recording calls it ‘Alex and Greg’

[taskmasterhistorian]

Greg and Alex - The Game

This is how Greg shows affection

Series 16 Episode 8 (Outtake)

[blogger360ncislarules]

Labor Day weekend is in our rearview, so it's pretty much time to think about Christmas.

PEOPLE can exclusively reveal UPtv's jam-packed slate of holiday programming — there will be 500 hours of it — which kicks off on Nov. 1 and includes 12 all-new Christmas movies and a new Gaither music special, Gaither Vocal Band: New Star Shining.

As for the stars, WWE alum Trish Stratus, Vivica A. Fox, Stephen Huszar and Jackée Harry are just a few of the stars glittering throughout the dozen movies.

For the third straight year, they're calling it their "Most Uplifting Christmas Ever," and putting some prize money behind it with a sweepstakes in which the winner gets both $10,000 cash and an additional $10,000 will be donated by the network to the charity of their choice.

“Christmas is the time of year when families really come together. When people go out of their way to be kinder and to feel the joy that the season can bring,” Hector Campos, SVP of content strategy and acquisition at UP Entertainment, said in a statement. “Our curated collection of uplifting movies provides a relaxing escape where not only will viewers see great holiday romances, but also they’ll get so much more as our movies highlight the true meaning of Christmas and that the magic isn't just about that final kiss.”)

So now, without further ado, here's how UPtv will be decking their halls and filling your living rooms this holiday season (complete with the network's movie descriptions).

Country Roads Christmas, starring Lanie McAuley, Bo Yokely and Bailey Chase, on Sunday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. ET When the daughter of a country singer loses her job at a record label, she goes off to become her estranged father’s manager and finds love along the way.

The Case of the Christmas Diamond, starring William Baldwin, Kelly Daly and Dey Young, on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. ET Blue-collar Andy finds herself accused of theft when a multi-million-dollar gem suddenly goes missing from her rich friend's estate. With the help of a famous mystery writer, Andy must find the real culprit amid the litany of wealthy guests. 

Christmas in Rockwell, starring Trish Stratus, Stephen Huszar and Sheila McCarthy, on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. ET When a big town star goes home to her small town to celebrate Christmas, confusion and romance lead the holiday festivities.

Dognapped: Hound for the Holidays, starring Vivica A. Fox, Sara Ball and Noah Fearnley, on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. ET When an egotistical social media influencer's dog is kidnapped, her long-suffering assistant teams up with a charming local vet to find the puppy before Christmas. As the two investigate suspects, they form a romantic bond along the way. 

A Very English Christmas, starring Kimberly Nixon, Poppy Gilbert and Lewis Griffiths, on Sunday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. ET Christmas in the English countryside wasn’t in Emma’s plans until her sister, Amy, plans her wedding for Christmas Eve. Dylan, Amy’s co-Christmas market owner, teams up with Emma to bring order to the whirlwind wedding.

The Search for Secret Santa, starring Skye Coyne, Alex Trumble and Jackée Harry, on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 7 p.m. ET Cub reporter Sofia thinks she's found a Christmas story that will save her career when she discovers a long-lost, undelivered Secret Santa gift addressed from B. to Claire.

Festival of Trees, starring Kate Miner, Greg Perrow and Josie Davis, on Sunday, Nov. 24 at 7 p.m. ET Jacquie Miller is an interior designer desperate to catch a break. The city’s annual Festival of Trees decorating competition, known for putting local artists on the map, may be just the answer! But competing with the city’s top designers is not for the faint of heart. With the help of her quirky assistant, a charming stranger and an inspirational young girl, Jacquie embarks on a humor-filled and heart-warming journey to create a tree that will knock the stockings off Santa himself.

A Prince and Pauper Christmas, starring Brittany Underwood, Jonathan Stoddard and Tom Arnold, on Saturday, Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. ET When a down-on-his luck confidential informant in a criminal investigation suddenly goes missing, a desperate young federal agent recruits his doppelgänger to play the role.

A Bluegrass Christmas, starring Amanda Jordan, David Pinard and Shaun Johnston, on Sunday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. ET Katie’s family’s horse sanctuary is on the brink of closure, but in a last-ditch effort to raise the money, Katie must coax her reclusive grandfather, Bluegrass legend Ben Pendleton, back onto the stage for a Christmas benefit concert. 

12 Dares of Christmas, starring Brittany Underwood, Sean Yves Lessard and Marnie Mahannah, on Sunday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. ET A teacher’s quiet holiday season gets a jolt of spice when she accepts a 12 Dares of Christmas challenge from her sister while scrambling to ready her town for a Christmas exchange program with a suave, opinionated French teacher.

A Novel Christmas, starring Brigitte Kingsley, Landy Cannon and Alys Crocker, on Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. ET When a successful children's book author Chloe Anderson heads to the cozy town of Noelville to spend time with her sister's family and help care for her recently widowed father, she doesn't expect the instant connection with the local bookstore owner and single dad, Ethan; or find her number one fan in his daughter, Alex. Will the small town's charms be enough to rekindle a grieving family's Christmas spirit along with Chloe's dreams of writing her first novel - let alone a chance at love?  

North by North Pole: A Dial S Mystery, starring Abby Ross, Joey Scarpellino and Andrea Reindel, on Dec. 22 at 7 p.m. ET Santa is back to help a new couple solve a mystery and find romance. Zoey has one Christmas wish... to produce the perfect Christmas Festival for her hometown of Willow Creek. That wish becomes more difficult when Dalton, the sponsor’s handsome but aggravating son, becomes her partner and his modern ideas clash with Zoey’s more traditional vision. However, when suspicious things start happening, they realize someone is trying to stop the festival. They must team up to save it and soon find that they have a lot more in common than they thought.

[calzona-ga]

SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about the season-finale episode of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy. While it wasn’t the planned ending, tonight’s Season 16 finale of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, written by Mark Driscoll and Tameson Duffy and directed by Deborah Pratt, was fitting. Indeed, this season was cut short due to the halting of production in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

You can’t be the longest-running medical drama on television without overcoming some challenges, and Grey’s already has proved its ability to pivot when the unexpected happens. The production shutdown was is the second major curveball for the show this season after original cast member Justin Chambers’ abrupt exit. No word on whether the four unproduced episodes from Season 16 will roll over to the next season. But this episode, titled “Put on a Happy Face,” had enough to tide us over until Season 17.

Let’s start on a positive highlight. After Richard (James Pickens Jr.) experienced hallucinations as well as a very intense and very public breakdown, fans feared that they might be losing another veteran Grey/Sloane surgeon. Determined not to accept his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) worked around the clock to pinpoint the problem, with DeLuca coming through with a game-changing discovery: His dementia was a result of cobalt poisoning from a hip replacement surgery.

Not a hard fix. Dr. Link (Chris Carmack) was brought in to remove the cobalt, and it appears that Webber is on the road to recovery with his health. However, his marriage to Catherine is not out of the danger zone. Turns out the hallucinations had nothing to do with his marital discord. “Did you stand by me while I was being fired? You buy my hospital to humiliate me, or is that my mind playing tricks, too,” Webber contends before sternly kicking Catherine out of the room.

Meanwhile, DeLuca, who has been exhibiting erratic behavior and angry outbursts all season, isn’t able to bask in his incredible catch. Instead, has a breakdown of his own — signaling that it might be time to address his bipolar disorder-like symptoms, which are similar to his father’s.

DeLuca and Grey have become quite the medical duo this season but still couldn’t figure out how to make their romantic relationship work. It’s unclear where that will land next season as a new contender entered midseason — and he goes by the name of Dr. Cormac Hayes (Richard Flood). The two seem to have a connection, though it appears to be on a friendly level at this point (Hayes was a present sent to Meredith by “her person” Cristina Yang). Could this be the next Grey’s love triangle?

Elsewhere, Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) finally had her baby! And she opted not to have an epidural because she’s an addict, and the epidural has fentanyl in it. While baby daddy Link wasn’t able to be present during the birth (he was performing the surgery on Webber), she had fellow “pregnancy club” sister Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) by her side. The two share a tender moment when Bailey hops on the bed to support Amelia as she is giving birth, calling back to the time when late George O’Malley (T. R. Knight) did the same for Bailey during her labor back in Season 2.

Alas, not everyone got a happy ending. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) and Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) were set to walk down the aisle, but Teddy needed her one last go-round with Tom Koracick (Greg Germann). Unbeknownst to her, she somehow recorded it and sent it to Owen, who had to endure the embarrassment of hearing it while in the OR surrounded by his colleagues. The wedding eventually is postponed, with Owen giving the excuse that he was pulled into surgery last-minute. In typical Grey’s fashion, there is never a wedding without drama.

Deadline spoke with Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Krista Vernoff, who unpacked the final episode, hinted at what’s to come next season and revealed what storylines she wished they were able to air this season. She also weighed in on the fan reactions to Alex Karev’s controversial exit.

DEADLINE: The Season 16 ender wasn’t what was expected, but like you said in your tweet, it was very satisfying, and a fitting Grey’s ending. How do you plan on carrying over the storyline to next season, or is there a plan to carry over the storyline from the last four episodes to next season? KRISTA VERNOFF: I have not formulated that plan yet. In about four weeks, I’m going to get in a room with the writers, and we’re going to talk about all of it. I know that a lot us are having brainstorms since we have so much time at home. A lot of us are texting each other, and going, “Oh, what if we did this? What if we do that?” So I have a feeling that their stories are going to change some, from what we had planned, and that we’ll repurpose some of what we had written and use it in the early episodes of Season 17.

DEADLINE: The production shut down was the second major curveball for the show, after Justin Chambers’ exit. What were your thoughts on the reaction to his exit?VERNOFF: Well, you know, I haven’t been commenting on this much, but I just did an Instagram Live where I said that, so, I’ll say it to you too. I believe that there would’ve been at least as big an outcry if we had killed that character off-camera, and those were our choices. It was kill the character off-camera, or come up with some believable way that he gets his happily ever after, and some of the fans have posited, ‘well he could have just been off-screen in Seattle like April Kepner, but then you’ve got an actress on the show who doesn’t get to do any of the fun, sexy, playful thrill that we’re known for, then you penalize the actors who are staying on the show by limiting what you could do creatively with them. So I was really proud of that episode. I think Elisabeth Finch did an extraordinary job with a nearly impossible task.

That episode made me cry. It made me laugh. I felt really deeply. I felt satisfaction, and I will say that I have received a great many comments from fans who felt the same way, but the angry people are always the loudest ones.

I wasn’t surprised by the fan reaction, but I know it would’ve been equally angry if I had killed him — so it was like, these are your choices, and I felt really happy with what we chose.

DEADLINE: The fact that you didn’t kill the character off also leaves the door open that we might see them in the future. So is there any chance of [Justin Chambers] or Katherine Heigl, ever coming back? VERNOFF: When I left the show in Season 7, people asked me if there was any chance of me ever coming back, and I was smart enough to say, “Never say never.” Here I am, so who knows?

DEADLINE: Jo was able to accept Alex’s decision in a short amount of time and come to terms with everything. Did that have anything to do with her character’s stint in the psychiatric hospital, at the beginning of the season? VERNOFF: Yes. Jo had had such a dramatic, emotional, painful arc, the second half of Season 15. None of the writers, frankly, none of us wanted to see her go back down into a hole. One of the things about the way the character was written off is that she had a lot of time to wonder, and to fear the worst, and I have found in life that when you have a lot of time to wonder and fear the worst, then when you get an answer, even if it’s terrible news, it feels better than not knowing. And it helps you move on, more quickly.

DEADLINE: I want to just touch on Richard’s illness. Is it safe to say that he’s out of the danger zone? Also, did his illness contribute to anything that had to do with his relationship with Catherine? And what can we expect from that couple in the future?We’ll start with the illness — is he in the safe zone now that they’ve caught it early and treated it? VERNOFF: Yes, and I thought that that was one of the most amazing things about this diagnosis was that the cobalt poisoning thing is real and it really can cause all of those symptoms. It can cause dementia-like symptoms. It can cause Parkinson’s-like symptoms —  tremors, hallucinations — and the amazing thing about it is that once you diagnose it, and you get the leaky hip out of your body, you can recover, totally. That felt, just as the storyteller, an amazing thing because it let us give Jim Pickens this really rich, rich material, without us having to permanently disable his character. I think that that was an amazing ride for the fans, because the outcry of we’re showing symptoms that don’t feel like they have cures.

There’s not really a cure for Parkinson’s. There’s not a cure for Alzheimer’s. So I know everyone was in a panic, and so, we got to tell this really satisfying story, and we got to let people know that sometimes, there’s another diagnosis for those symptoms, which we found fascinating, as a group of writers who write medicine, that it’s so rare to see something this satisfying.

DEADLINE: Did the symptoms from the cobalt poisoning have anything to do with his attitude toward Catherine? What’s in store for them? Can we still hold out hope for that couple? VERNOFF: I think you can always hold out hope for any couple on Grey’s Anatomy. You never know where it’s going, and I think that the way we designed this was that the fracture, the real fracture in Catherine and Richard’s relationship predated the cobalt poisoning.

So the way we imagined it was that, with the depression, everyone thought it was related to his divorce, and it was actually a symptom of cobalt poisoning. And then the tremors were a symptom of cobalt poisoning, and then the hallucinations, so that when he forgave her, he forgave her in a hallucination. And when he was well, he remembered the actual events from his life, for which he has not yet forgiven her. The reason that I hold out most for that couple is that Catherine rediscovered her deep and profound love for Richard when she almost lost him. I think that that may enable her to apologize in the way that Richard will need to hear.

DEADLINE: Speaking of forgiveness, in true Grey’s fashion, there’s never a wedding without any drama, as we saw with Teddy and Owen. We’ve seen their relationship woes throughout the series, and this season felt like they were going to finally get it together and find each other and have their happy ending. Why haven’t they quite found that happy ending, and can Owen forgive Teddy? VERNOFF: I think that those are questions that we will have to explore in Season 17. I will say that of all the storylines that were left hanging, that is the one that I was the most disappointed about. Actually, there were two: I’m disappointed that I cannot give Teddy — we had an episode coming up where we were able to better articulate and better understand what’s prompting Teddy’s behavior, and we don’t get to air it. Who knows, maybe it’s going to change between now and when we’ll actually shoot it for Season 17, but I feel for Kim Raver. The amount of standing is high, and we’ve left her in a strange place. It’s compelling, and why? Your question is big. Why? Why would she sabotage — why, when she was finally getting her happy ending, did she sabotage it? I think it’s the super-rich area personally.

And then the other story that I was really disappointed that we couldn’t complete — and I will tell you that I haven’t told this to anyone else, but we did a story where there as a victim of human trafficking, like two episodes ago, and DeLuca we got recognized it but he was in such a mentally compromised, manic state that nobody listened to him and the girl left. We had an episode where she comes back, and I am really sad that we can’t air that episode this season because it felt important to offer that kind of hope to people who are living that experience. I may still complete that story next season.

DEADLINE: I want to touch on DeLuca, who has gone through this really rocky journey with Meredith this season. Although they haven’t really been able to figure out their personal relationship, they’ve proven to be a great medical team. What can you tease about this couple? Last season, we talked about Meredith being ready for love. What can we tease about this couple in the future? Is somebody else going to throw a wrench in everything? Somebody by the name of Hayes? VERNOFF: There is hope for Meredith and DeLuca, and I think that there is hope for Meredith and Hayes. I will be fascinated to see how that storytelling emerges in season 17 because this story played in a way that I didn’t picture. You know, you write a thing, and then the actors play it, and then it gets all put together, and then you know what the story is. You don’t know how it’s going to play when you write it. It’s been amazing for me to watch this story this season. I feel like Giacomo has been so compelling, and DeLuca has risen so much, and simultaneously, Hayes has been really compelling and feels very much like Meredith’s equal. At this point, I’, not even sure which couple I’m rooting for, and that’s always an exciting thing.

DEADLINE: Yeah. We love our love triangles on Grey’s. VERNOFF: Yeah. Yeah.

DEADLINE: One couple might have found their happy ending, it seems, is Amelia and Link. The birth of the baby was such a nice ending to a season full of ups and downs. Was that one thing you were excited about? To see Amelia who had her complications with her first pregnancy, and this one turned out fine. VERNOFF: Yeah. I love that story and I am so grateful that … we got to air it this season. It would’ve been really a bummer if we hadn’t made it there, this season. So, that was just luck and I’m grateful that it was in that episode. I love that scene where Bailey gets in the bed with Amelia, and we call back to when George got in the bed with Bailey and it’s just so beautiful. It was pitched by Meg Mooney, who’s been with the show for 15 years. It made me cry when she pitched it, and it makes me cry every time I watch it. I, like everyone else, at this point really am loving Link and Amelia, and I was so happy. That ending for them felt so hard won this season.

DEADLINE: Is the next season being envisioned as the final season since it’s the second of the two-year pickup, or are you guys having conversations about potentially more seasons? VERNOFF: You know, what I always say to this question, is my answer again today, and that is: I will not start planning the end of Grey’s Anatomy until Shonda [Rhimes] and Ellen and ABC all sit down together, tell me that this really the end this time. The truth is those conversations might be being had if we weren’t dealing with a global pandemic, but everyone’s gone home, and I suspect we’ll start talking about that in a month, or two.

DEADLINE: Speaking of this global pandemic, obviously Grey’s is known for taking things that are happening in the world, and incorporating it into the series. Are there any plans to reflect on this current pandemic on the show for next season? VERNOFF: I haven’t had a minute yet to sit with the writers and talk about it. So, we’re all at home, and we’re on hiatus, but in about four weeks, we’ll gather, and we’ll talk about it. I have a hard time imagining that we don’t have to acknowledge this massive thing that we’ve all gone through, in our fictional world, too, but I have no idea how. I don’t know what it’s going to look like.

DEADLINE: Station 19 — we still have more episodes coming with that series. Are we going to see any of the Grey’s characters in the final couple of episodes? VERNOFF: Yes. Happily, yes, you are. The Grey’s characters are all over the last two episodes of Station 19. So, that is a really nice treat for the fans, too. Many of our Grey’s characters are in Episodes 15 or 16 on Station 19.

[trans-siberian-orchestra-life]

Night Castle

Hi all! I will be posting mini-reviews of my favorite parts from each TSO album! I will go over band personnel, the story, and the music! Please enjoy! 

Night Castle was released in 2009, and was TSO’s second non-Christmas album! It is also their longest, with 26 total songs, and, to me at least, their most emotional album to date.

The album features many familiar faces, with lead singers being Jay Pierce, Jeff Scott Soto, Tim Hockenberry, Rob Evan, and Jennifer Cella. The band personnel is also very familiar, with Paul O’Neill, Chris Caffery, Angus Clark, Al Pitrelli, and Alex Skolnick on guitar, Robert Kinkell, Jon Oliva, Luci Butler, Shih-Yi Chang, Jane Mangini, and Derek Wieland on keyboards, Chris Altenhoff and Johnny Lee Middleton on bass, Roddy Chong and Anna Phoebe on violin and strings, and John O.Reilly and Jeff Plate on drums. And, with Dave Wittman on, as all TSO albums say, “drum, guitar, and bass inserts for those little things the rest of us forgot.”

It also features Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's Greg Lake on bass for Nutrocker!

And, not to mention the numerous amazing backing vocalists and instrumentalists!

Its a big album with big personnel, a big story, and even bigger music. Lets get into that~

---------

Night Enchanted

-Best hard opening to a TSO album

-HEEERE belieeeve a nigHT ENCHANTED S̸̟͋̉̔͛̀͋̃̑̑̈́̏̅̈́È̵̡̜̼̞͔̖̩̦̟̞̣͈̑̄̽̒͝E̸̛͖̯͙̜͕̟̽̈́̃̉̿̏̈͛̌͆̔̂́ͅE̵͙̙̞̯͚̹̲̟̙͐̀͑̍͊̚͜Ẹ̷̡͇̹͍̓̈́̏͑̄̅̀̎̈́̓̚E̶̛̱̖̘͓̹͍̟̭̲̲̽͋͒̀̓E̵͓̰̠̤̻̪̣̎͊̎͒N̴̢̧̜̰̦̰͓̯̗̦͚̘̝̑̔̌͂͐̀͊

-Very different song, like,,VERY DRAMATIC. ExtrEMLEY DRAMATIC

-Based on Verdi’s Requiem and Dies irae

-Has the Child Of the Night aria sandwiched in the middle

-So the falcon character sings the aria

-I don’t know how that works either

-then it KICKS IN AGAIN FULL POWER

-The pounding opening guitar motif that repeats is amazing

Childhood Dreams

-A very classical-based song, like, its very operatic

-The “controversial” song on the album. Only because people either love it or hate it. I love it. Its fun.

-CHILDhood CHILDhood CHILDhood

-Jay is singing from his SOUL here

-Lyrics are very whimsy:

“But then it's known to catch our eye And dare us all to once more try And with a childhood faith believe And that magic to retrieve As childhood dreams ...”

-Overall solid song

-The slow piano that kinda hangs back the entire time is great

-I love the way he sings the line “But suddenly inside the dark, she sees the magic of the sparks...”

Sparks

-Old-school rock n roll song

-One of my favs off the album, its just so, idk..classic sounding?

-”Tell me when...Ḁ̷̯͖͉̽̎̔͋̀̽͗͐͂̊̌̇̕A̸̢̳̪͉͓̼̟͑Å̷̛̛̜̈́̆̀̆͂͋̊͐͗̔͑̇Ḩ̸͋̿̓̆͋͛͌͐͑͆̕̕Ḣ̷̨̙̺̦͚͓̠̀̿́͝H̴̗̮̎̽̀́̓̏̓̋̚H̶̼̘̩̱͖̻͎͒́Ḩ̶̢̧͓̲̼͇̼̱͓̱̞̖͕̀̽̾̒̚̕͠ͅ”

-It actually has “AHHH” in the CD booklet I kid you not

-Its a tad long ill admit but it rocks so hard you hardly notice

-The old school chugging guitar riff rocks

-”Leaving marks...SPARKS!”

-Just a classic song, nuff said

The Mountain

-eyyyy first Savatage cover- based n Prelude to Madness! From Hall of the Mountain King!

-The atmosphere is REAL

-The windy sound effect in the opening, the deep bells AH so good

-A familiar melody, and MAN they give it their best

-They speed up gradually over time, and it just gets to the point where its ridiculous how much is going on in the song

-These guys are so talented I swear

-The solo at 4:09 KICKS

Night Castle

-Jeff Scott Soto giving me life, once again

-Very different sounding song I believe, not many other TSO songs sound like it

“Am I risking my own life...my life..?

-OK also I SWEAR in the last 4th of this song, when the slow bit hits, the melody is EXTREMELY CLOSE to the opening to Mephistopheles, from Beethoven's Last Night. It may just be coincidence, but it sounds like an Easter egg to me. Or maybe I’m just crazy. AHA. 

-The falling synth piano bits at 1:55. Yes.

-Song gets creepy with the minor change at the end

-I LOVE the last few seconds its so peppy and pretty, like that piano is so gentle

The Safest Way Into Tomorrow

-And I’m crying already, thanks Paul.

-They used this song for the tribute to Paul O’Neill in the 2017 live show. And i get so sad every time I hear it now. Like a melancholy feel now.

“Morpheus is at your side, offering the wings to fly, and be there..”

-Thanks Morpheus

-This line hits me right in the feels every time:

“Be there, free from Earth to sail across this night, where stars are all eternal”

-The piano build at 3:15 mmmm

-BEEEE THEEEEEERE

-BEEEEEE THEEEEEEERE

-BEEEEEEE THEEEEEEEEEERE

-BEEEEEEEE THEEEEEEEEEEEERE NOOOOOWWW

-”And tell me what you...see!”

-I cry

-Also may I note how I LOVE that every character that TSO makes looks like an 80′s rocker. Like look at my dude Morpheus. And Tran-Do. Never stop TSO, never stop.

(Morpheus^)

Mozart and Memories

-Second Savatage cover!

-Very eerie

-Fits with the “dream” thing going on in the story at this point

-The guitars are the best part at 0:42, that melody is so eerie and cool

-The pianos and strings at 0:24 hit me hard, VERY well recorded there

-It gets real fast at the end

-TSO and classical covers are such a good combo

Another Way You Can Die

-TSO got PG.

-Like look: 

“And the tracers probe on 'Till a close friend is gone And you find yourself embracing ground”

-and:

“I see a figure in my rifle sight Who does not know that he's there And as I hesitate to take his life The ground explodes My blood it flows My heart is racing Times escaping As I feel it slowly scraping by”

-like holy hell

-Like I love the song don’t get me wrong

-But lord Paul went all out here

-He was NOT holding back

-PAULS GOT A MESSAGE TO GET ACROSS AND LORDY HES GONNA DO IT ANY WAY HE CAN

-That end piano drop mY HEART HURTS

Toccata - Carpimus Noctem

-TSO has mastered Christmas, TIME FOR HALLOWEEN MUAHAHA

-Literally its such a good cover. They keep the classic classical intro, with synth and guitars of course, but then they go full metal with it.

-I love the weird guitar lick at 1:49, it really stands out

-Yet another guitar solo featured song and mmm its good

-Also, the DRUMS ARE AMAZING IN THIS ONE

The Lion’s Roar

-Third Savatage cover kind of

-The second half is from Temptation Revelation from Gutter Ballet

-As a trumpeter, I love this song, as it is TSOs only trumpet-featured song.

-The first half is a very military-esque (Fits with the story, eh?) trumpet solo on The Minstrel Boy. This song is very accurate as it is usually played at military events or funerals.

-Which makes me even sadder because of the context of thE STORY

-Nice little interlude song

Dreams We Conceive

-EMOTIONS.

-The opening organ, it its me right in the HEART.

-You can just HEAR the sorrow in his voice in this song.

-The way he sings “Where the dreams die...as the blood dries...”

-Too relatable my soul can’t take it.

-His little voice quiver on the word “do” in the line ‘WHat else is the night to do..”

“As you stand all Alone at your station What if God doesn't Know where you are As you send out your Prayers for salvation But afraid that They don't go that far

So you wait all Alone in your darkness There's a train that drives on Through the night And if everyone's On it except us Would it return for That single life

In a city After midnight Neath the halo Of a street light”

-Its just so LONELY SOUNDING this man needs a hug

Mother and Son

-I used to skip this track before I understood it in context to the story.

-Then I felt emotions

-You can find the translation HERE.

-Imagine you past self looking at you and saying “How did I become you?” TO YOUR FACE

-savage

There Was A Life

-ENTER ROB EVAN

-This song man,,,the emotions are REAL

-The way he sings the word “life” in the opening line

“Can someone tell me Can someone say when The writer of this story Will just tell us how it all will end?”

-I relate too much to that

-Paul asking the real questions of life: “ Is there forgiveness for hesitation?”

-The HURT in his voice when he sings “DEAR GOD” at 3:14

-Robbbb why you gotta kill me like this

-The piano is superb at 4:22

-Captures the vibe perfectly

“Are you scared of your life? Are you scared of your death? Though that day will arrive Well it hasn't come yet...”

-Calling me out like that huh

-His “ALIIIIIIIIIVE” at 8:37 oh my LORD

-I’m feeling ALL the emotions

Moonlight and Madness

-OK. So I can’t think of which piano player it was, I’m thinking either Kinkel or Weiland, I could be wrong...BUT. Paul said in an interview once that the songs piano was recorded in one take. ONE TAKE THAT INTRO. He just FLEW INTO IT PERFECTLY.

-Its a wild song, based on the moonlight sonata. 

Time Floats On

-This song man..this song

-*Insert seagull meme here* “tiiiiime flllOAATS OOOOON!!!”

-It was one of the first TSO songs I ever heard

-The crazy contrasting piano bit in the middle AH its cool

-Such an eerie song really

-”Time floats on...as I write these letters that you'll never see...”   ;-;

-this song has so much heart

Epiphany

-OK HERE WE GO

-TSOs longest song

-TSOs most emotional song

-I’m crying again

-The SHEER HURT and SORROW in Rob’s voice when he sings “ I fear the night, I fear the dark, I need this light...that distant spark...”

-The fast bit at 3:52...I don’t think Rob breathed once during that recording.

-The spoken part was a bold choice, TSO has never done that before. I liked it a lot, its a great addition to the song. 

-The subtle harmonies in the “Somewhere”s...amazing.

-and MAN. The LYRICS.

“Did you ever walk up To the edge of a cliff Stare into the abyss As your mind wonders if You should take one more step Further into that night Well your mind says you won't But your heart says you might Would you fall through the dark Feel the wind in your hair Would you embrace the ground And end your life right there Or would god reach his hand And that moment you fly Or if he chanced to blink And then, that moment you die You die...”

-Like GEEZ that is heavy stuff

-This is the “contemplating death song”

“Be who you are What you were What they see From eternity's view Tell me which one is me?”

-Relatable. holy heck.

-He sounds like hes about to cry when he sings “Hold me close...”

-Like me too Rob. Me too.

-”This all is your....life..."

-You feel DRAINED by the end of it, like wow. The emotion, the power, my soUL. MY HEART.

Bach Lullaby

-A nice calming music box medley of the C major prelude.

-OK SO TSO SHOULD ACTUALLY MAKE LITTLE MUSIC BOXES THAT PLAY THIS HOLY HECK ID BUY 50

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

-The OTHER most EMOTIONAL SONG on the album

-First half: pain, sorrow, regret, melancholy, slow piano...

-The EMOTION in the line “ Never quite there but it's never quite gone, you are the star that is wished upon...forever....”

-Second half: RAGE. ANGER. FIRE. AAAHHHHH.

-The main guitar riff is so heckin powerful

-Lyrics literally have this background in it: “...she raged against all those citizens of apathy and willful ignorance who lived behind the sacrifices of others.”

-The high piano swapped out for low guitar and bass melodies, a heavy mood, and pounding drums

-”...You cling to that card, Father, Son & Holy Ghost”

-You FEEL THE RAGE

-It has the most metal lyrics:

“And Christ and Confucius Are all their words useless We quote them in fractions But not in our actions”

-Like WOW

Remnants of a Lullaby

-A simple, but pretty song

-Very calming, and a nice breather from the song before

-The feeling in “ What to keep, what to save...”

”Wished on coins Childhood wings Carousels Still turning Waiting there patiently Remnants of a lullaby...”

-IM A KID AGAIN

The Safest Way Into Tomorrow (Reprise)

-dangittt I’m crying AGAIN

-album comes full circle here in the most emotional way possible

-especially when you consider the context of the story at this point aahhHHH

-Soto owns my soul

Embers

-OK, just..I love this song. Simple as that.

-This is pure atmosphere.

-Listen to it. Bonfire. Embers soaring to the stars above. Fireflies all around. Friends sitting with you at the camp fire. Acoustic guitar playing. A perfect summers night.

-Just...perfection.

Child of the Night

-Eyyyyy the aria again. It grows on yah.

-Very relaxing.

-Just brings that calming night vibe to life.

-Makes yah feel like a kid again.

Believe

-AAAAND the TSO song everyone knows for one reason or another. 

-Also one of the more emotional ones on the album.

-A cover of the Savatage song off Streets

-I love this version, (No offense Jon), like idk why exactly...it just feels more..personal? Idk, maybe its just because of the sheer emotional journey we just went on lol.

-It builds spectacularly, and the emotion is all in in this one. 10/10 great cover.

Nutrocker

-YAYY JUST HAD AN EMOTIONAL AND HEARTBREAKING JOURNEY, TIME FOR HAPPY FUN CHRISTMAS EMMERSON LAKE AND PALMER NUTCRACKER SONG YAYY

-Heh I kid I kid

-It features Greg Lake on bass!

-This song ROCKS man it ROCKS

-TSO does SO WELL WITH THIS

-The fast piano, the amazingly melodic guitar melody, the rock bits with a jazz break sandwiched in between AH.

Carmina Burana

-This is also one of my favs off the album.

-I believe this is also the song that got some conservative folks mad at TSO for being “satanists” by playing this. It was the latin I think. 

-Doesn’t matter, this song is epic. Very bombastic.

-It builds so well, and the repeated guitar and bass riffs make it feel so pounding I love it.

Tracers

-Ok so this song and I have history.

-I originally didn’t like this song (woah, right?)

-It just didn’t click. Buuuuut, TSO did it live in 2018, and BOI that changed everything. I loved it after that. Its top 25 TSO songs for me now. 

-IDK what they did or how they did it, but after the live show, I loved it. Past me was wrong. This song ROCKS.

-The pounding opening is iconic

-The soaring guitars

-The weird interval medley at 0:49 is so cool

-The main melody KICKS at 1:00

-My fav bit is the surreal acoustic bit at 2:06

-Its SO GOOD

-The repeated 5 notes at like 1:34 are so driving

-The descending bit at 2:55!!!

-and the BUILD UP TO THE VOCAL PART AT 3:32 OH MAN POETIC CINEMA

-------

And there you have it!!! Night Castle! To me, its the most emotional album of the lot. And the most atmospheric. Its long, but its a wild ride the entire time. The story is sad but inspiring, the music is legendary, the art is beautiful, so all around, this, to me, may be their best album in terms of general scoring. What do you think?

Thanks for reading ya’ll! You rock!

[sinceileftyoublog]

Protomartyr & Deadbeat Beat Live Show Review: 11/9, Empty Bottle, Chicago

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Protomartyr was the last band I was supposed to see before the pandemic officially shut everything down. I wasn’t able to go for other reasons, and given what we now know about how COVID-19 spreads, it was probably for the best. In any case, I remember feeling that if that was the last show I would see for a while, what better than a band whose bleak observations on crumbling humanity have soundtracked some of the coldest times in my life? In a sense, catching them at the Empty Bottle last night was just as fitting. In context of a very much not over pandemic that exposed society’s structural rot, and the hope that elected officials or leaders will do anything about that rot far in the rearview mirror, again, who better to drink cheap beer with than the band who, too, keeps on trucking despite it all?

With last year’s great Ultimate Success Today (Domino), Protomartyr have grown from being the group whose trademark songs contrast economic disillusionment with the hope of the Pope’s visit to the Silverdome or pay tribute to pure dive bars. Simultaneously apocalyptic and introspective while still retaining the somewhat satirical tone of their earlier work, Ultimate Success Today is a reflection on the band’s first decade together, a mid-life crisis, and a product of an ever decaying political climate. In its making, the band embraced being a fully formed entity, from following the same sleep and food routines when they moved in together to record, to the sessions themselves. Protomartyr has always had great chemistry, but Ultimate Success Today clearly grew them closer, at least musically. Last night, from the start on “Day Without End”, Greg Ahee’s guitars swirled with authority and Alex Leonard’s circular drums ascended to a peak as lead singer Joe Casey grew more unhinged with desperation. “Dull ache turned sharp! / Short breath, never caught!” he chanted to a crowd giving him their energy back, a paean to solidarity of the sick.

The addition of The Breeders’ Kelley Deal to Protomartyr’s live lineup allowed them to more faithfully perform songs on which she was featured in studio, like 2015 single “Blues Festival” and the pummeling “Wheel of Fortune”. Moreover, her talents on the guitar and synths and her sneakily expansive voice were the perfect complement in timbre to Casey’s baritone and Scott Davidson’s lumbering bass. When the band performed “Tarpeian Rock” from their 2014 instant classic Under Color of Official Right, it was Deal providing backing to Casey’s manic calls for execution. Though the band has remained stylistically consistent over their decade of existence, they’ve become less rigid, and Ultimate Success Today and their subsequent live performance demonstrated an accelerated openness.

The first band on the bill, Deadbeat Beat (also from Detroit), funny enough played their last show at the Empty Bottle pre-COVID. They showcased the same jangly pop prowess as on their most recent album, 2019′s How Far (Crystal Palace/Arrowhawk). Guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Alex Glendening sang with a muffled nasal yelp, sort of like Galaxie 500′s Dean Wareham, sometimes in harmony with drummer Maria Nuccilli. Nuccilli’s steady motorik beats provided the backbone for chugging jams and psychedelic melodies, Zak Frieling’s swaying basslines propelling them forward. Glendening’s lyrics are often thoughtful ruminations on being queer in a scene still unfortunately dominated by straight cis white males, but last night, you couldn’t totally hear the words. Still, the wailing quality of Glendening’s voice added wonders to the band’s Flying Nun-inspired choogles. Oh, and they covered Arthur Russell’s “Habit of You” and managed to make it sound like it should have been a Deadbeat Beat song--not an easy feat!

[thoughtslikeocean]

New Orleans

June 23

-This was Rhyann’s last day with me. His flight left Phoenix at 1 PM. We spent the morning together and then I brought him to the airport. I came back home, packed, cleaned up a bit and then head out to catch my flight. Traveling was long. My flight was delayed and also I had a lay over in Las Vegas. Which feel very senseless when you’re traveling to New Orleans. Anyway, I arrive in New Orleans around midnight. Britt picks me up from the airport. Traveling is smooth because I decided I didn’t need to check a bag. I packed two and a half outfits and went on about my way.

June 24

-Britt woke up this morning to go to brunch with her friends. She invited me but I was way to exhausted to go so she let me sleep in for a little while longer. Our plan was to hangout and then meet Jarvis later which is pretty much what happened. Brittany had to bring her friend’s dog to the boarding place which was an entire event honestly. Anyway , we picked up some crawfish and po boys and then head to Jarvis new apartment. It’s super cute and in a great location. He’s spending hella money for it but its a cute little bachelor pad though. It’s nice for the season he’s in. Later on Jarvis’s friend Chad comes to join us. I’ve heard about Chad numerous and times and has talked to him over the phone but this is my first time meeting him. This dude is 45 and looks 25. Legit get like Pharell. It was astonishing to see. We all drank wine and chat for a bit before deciding to head to the roof top. There is when I noticed there was a full moon. I immediately sat down and started to pray and manifest that I have a weekend filled with divine meetings and appointments. I didn’t necessarily have a frame work of what thats supposed to look like but I knew I wanted everything to be intentional this weekend. After that, we all attempted to find a spot to eat but that fell through so Britt Jarvis and I ended up picking up insomnia and then Britt and I headed back to her place.

June 25

-For this morning the plan was to meet Jarvis, Chad and Shay for brunch. We got a bit of a late start but we ended up making it happen. We ate a spot in the French quarter called Stanley’s. Their food was pretty good and it was a cute atmosphere. Shay and the kids dipped once they were done eating and Britt needed to make it back home os she could hang out with her friends later. Me, Chad and Jarvis were left so we went somewhere else to grab a drink This is when Chad and I start hitting it off and I realize this is someone who is going to be very helpful in making sure than I am successful if I decide to set up a practice in New Orleans. It literally felt like a divine appointment. It was solicited when he asked me if I knew Dr. Turshá! I was like uhhhh yeaaaaa duhhhh!!! Apparently they went to high school together! All in all, it was an unspoken agreement that we were meant to meet at exactly this moment in time for a reason. Chad had to leave for work so I asked Jarvis to bring me by my grandparents house so I can spend a little time with them. Jarvis had a therapy appointment so I he did that while I was on Belfast and came back when it was over. Grandpa really just wanted to talk about Lazarus and all the BS but I wasn’t about to do that. I had a little liquor courage of course and I was able to just speak candidly on how I felt about the situation. I wasn’t disrespectful at all but I was really tired of him stressing over this Lazarus situation when this boy is gone be just fine. He just wants other people to stress out with him. Anyway so we leave there and head over to this place called “The Wrong Iron” to meet Greg and his friends. We get there and its such a cute backyard ducked off spot. Nice drinks and cool people. I met Kevin, Gabriel and Justin. All seemingly good people. I order a drink called Strawberry Frozé not realizing that it’s made with Rosé. I Got halfway though the glass and my stomach was hurting so bad. So we all made the move to get wings from a place that I cant figure out the name. But the wings were really good. While we were in there waiting for our food, I caught a timely video of Greg falling through a door but picking himself back up mid air. It was classic. Literally just happened to be recording at exactly the right time. We left there and Jarvis drops me off at Greg’s place. Me, Greg and Justin chill for a minute, take shots, listen to music, smoke a bit before heading back out. Arial worked today but said she would come to NO so we can hang out. So by this time she’s here and I figured I would run into her at some point. Of course once we parked and walked not even two blocks, we happen to be right around the corner from where she was already sitting down having drinks. She came with her girlfriend Payton and friend John (JT). We ate another cute outdoor place called The Yard. Took a few shots, danced and ate fried pickles. We then walk over to a place called Dragon’s Den. It was cool but it was still early in the night os still a bit slow. We left after about 10 minutes and drive to this place that we saw on the way there. It was also outside but a little more (lot more) hood. It looked like it was jumping though. So we get out and somehow just walk in without standing in the line. This tends to happen very often when I’m out with Arial lol So we waltz on in. Music is BLASTING. They playing good stuff though. We head to the bar to grab shots. Arial decides she’s gonna find some weed. Greg goes “no way you’ll be able to do that in here”. Of course she comes back within 10 minutes with weed lol Again, not surprised…it’s Arial. They smoke a bit and I dance a lot. Having a great time! We leave there after maybe an hour and decide to drive back to Dragon’s Den. A parking spot opened up for us in the strangest way. Which you know tryna park in the streets of New Orleans can be real difficult. But we didnt have any problems tonight. Everything worked out just fine. Side Note: We were freestyling in the car which is something I only ever do when im at camp with kids. I forgot how much joy

that brings hahah

So anyway we make out way back into Dragon’s Den, which is popping at this point. Good music, got some drinks in our system. Its all well. I even see Terri and a couple other people form XU in there. Arial and Payton end up dipping out at some point during that time. Eventually Greg, JT, Justin and I dip as well. We bring JT to his car and then the three off us decide we’re hungry again! We hit a place that has good fish, shrimp and grits. We were the only ones in there. It was freakin delicious. Two funny moments happened in there. 1. We were so thirsty so we asked if we could all get water. We’d been drinking all night so thats definitely what we needed. I guess the man was trying to be nice ad gave us all free sprites. You want to be grateful but at the same time we def dont need sprites. We laughed about that for like 30 minutes. Cause of course we never went back and asked for the water. 2. Three young white boys walk in. By young, I mean no more then 14 years old trying so hard to act cool. Young dude walk up to our table to tell her, unprovoked, that hes been smoking since he was 12 and some other BS that none us cared about. All three of those kids were weird. Also it was like 4 AM so who’s idea it was to take mom’s car and head out in the middle of the night I have no clue.

At any rate, we leave there and head home. It was 5 am by the time I showered and laid down. WHAT A NIGHT!

June 26

-At some point throughout the night we’d decided to do brunch this morning. I knew Justin wasn’t going to be able to make it because he said he had a funeral to attend. We woke up, sat on the porch and smoked a bit before getting dressed. It was a beautiful morning. We got dressed to a little praise through the speakers and decided on Ruby Slipper. Arial made it there first and called to let us know that the wait was 3 hours so of course thats a no. She then tells us to head to a place called Bear Cat. We didnt realize that there were two different Bear Cats so we ended up at two opposite ones. We decided that it wasn’t going to work. We missed the window of opportunity. So Greg and I put our names on the waiting list for the Bear cat we’re at and there’s a 90 minute wait. While we’re waiting we decide to kill time at this near by restaurant and get some drinks. Once we sit down there and look at the menu, we decided to order food. I ordered shrimp and grits and he chicken and waffles. Before we got our food, out waiter comes to tell us that its restaurant week and that our food is going to be 20 dollars. LIKE WHATTTTT?!?!? We ate, drank, vibes to the music and then stopped by my grandfather afterwards to say hello. Then we back to the house to chill for a minute. Jarvis came back cause I left my card with him and Justin cam back as well. We started nerding out on space/history/physics before heading out to get snowballs and zoom to the airport. I got a cotton candle snowball from plum st. Made it to the airport 30 minutes before the plan was to take off and still got a great seat. I sat next to two women who were on their way to Vegas for a girls trip. One of them had never flown before. She actually did pretty well. A few jumps and yelps but for the most part she did okay. The last sitting right next to me was very nice and passed on some words of wisdom on staying prayerful and focused. Alex picked me up from the airport and I came home only to be craving crab legs. I picked those up, came home and talk to bae while I ate them. He went to bed and I went soon after him.

[afangirlsplaylist]

Rhink and the Harry Potter AU 

- Quidditch -

In the wake of Harry Potter, Hufflepuff house hadn’t hoped for a piece of glory in years. So when Rhett joined the Quidditch team in his third year, it was amidst jeers that he was yet another soft pick. In the lead up to the first game of the season whispers followed that he was simply too young, too large, and had all the wrong build for a seeker. He towered over his own team captain and had the muscle to match. So surely someone of his size, they murmured, wasn’t right?

But after a spectacular save where he’d caught the snitch by the tips of two fingers, they were forced to conclude that he was nothing less than the greatest seeker since Diggory. For days, much to Link’s annoyance, Rhett had replayed his win - out loud and in detail.

“Yes I know, it was very good Rhett.” Link sighed, losing patience. “I was there.”

To Rhett’s delight, his first save was followed by several, equally impressive captures - with the result that a great deal of excitement was now buzzing around the upcoming match.

Unwilling to face the excitement of the school once Saturday arrived, Rhett waited before going to breakfast, dressed in his robes with his Firebolt over his shoulder. The broom had been a gift from his dad upon joining the team, and although it had long been outmatched by the newer, faster, Starstriker model, it was his pride and joy.

Adjusting the broom more securely on his shoulder, Rhett grinned when he found Link waiting for him at the entrance to the Great Hall. The brunette’s face was painted half yellow and half red in preparation for the game, conflicted in his support. The colours clashed violently with the emerald of his scarf and robes, but it didn’t seem to bother him as he held out a slice of beans on toast.

“You want to head over a little early?”

Rhett sighed, gratefully taking the toast. “You have no idea.”

Ignoring the turn into the Great Hall they made their way through the entrance hall, the last of the toast devoured before they'd reached the foot of the stairs.

It was only then that Rhett remembered Link was missing breakfast too. “Have you even eaten?”

“I ate before I saw you. Had to get up early to finish that paper for Barnes.”

Professor. Barnes taught Defence Against The Dark Arts and hadn’t been sighted at a Quidditch match in years. He’d seemed to have lost taste for the sport after a rogue bludger had breached the stands and hit him squarely on the side of the head - resulting in a small, permanent indent he liked to boast was from a troll’s club.

On a memorable day, Link had recounted raising his hand to ask for advice on how best to defend against an oncoming bludger. To the shock of no-one, Barnes was not amused. Link had arrived at dinner a half hour late, smelling of magical mess remover but looking very proud of himself at the Slytherin table.

Throwing open the doors to the grounds they enjoyed the rare quiet, taking advantage of the silence while the grounds were empty. Thankfully the sky was a clear blue with only a slight breeze tempting the air, and the ground broke away easily at Rhett’s heel. The conditions were so ideal that his Firebolt was actually vibrating a little in his hand, a feeling that only grew stronger as they got closer to the pitch. If brooms had feelings he’d almost think it was as eager to play as he was.

Just a little longer he thought, his thumb caressing the wood like he was comforting an irritable animal. Just a little longer.

Eventually, the sounds of the rest of the school grew steadily louder behind them as the Quidditch pitch came into view, as imposing and inviting as ever.

“I’ll see you after. Good luck!” Link called, running off to claim seat.

Not wanting to get caught in the crowd Rhett headed for the changing rooms, ducking through the entrance to find the rest of the team already waiting.

Their Chasers - Belle, Lucas and Nicki, were all lounging on seats in the corner, looking thoroughly bored with the pre-match talk. Belle and Lucas, Rhett knew, were as close as any brother and sister would be and came from a long line of Quidditch players. They were also extremely skilled in their own right and flew almost telepathically, passing the Quaffle like they could sense where the other was. When Nicki flew she somehow managed to blend into their dynamic seamlessly, and Rhett would forgive someone for thinking they were three siblings rather than two.

Their beaters, Mike and Alex, were leaning on their bats. Though smaller than the average beater Mike made up for it with precision, finding his mark almost every time. Alex, meanwhile, specialised in force, and had been known to hit a bludger halfway across the pitch in one swing.

Shaking himself out of a fond memory in which Alex had shot a perfectly aimed bludger at Gryffindor's former Chaser, Rhett turned his attention to their captain.

Ben was a no-nonsense person but also fair, with a friendly smile and a respectable Keeper’s record. It was obvious to anyone, even as the team fought to stay interested in his words, that he cared deeply about the game.

Today, Ben reminded them, they’d be playing Gryffindor - and he made no joke of it.

“I better not see you going easy on Levine, Rhett.” He warned. “I hear she clocked in two hours on the pitch yesterday."

Rhett rolled his eyes, having heard this same warning a million times. “When have I ever?”

It was true. On the ground, Stevie was the closest thing he had to a sister at Hogwarts, but when they played they were merciless. She was light, determined and built for speed with her slim figure - tying her long blonde hair in a bun to keep it out of her eyes. They had only played Gryffindor once since he’d joined the team, but it had been their closest match all season, with Stevie so close on his tail that her fingers could have scratched his face. Gryffindor’s recent 200 - 20 win against Ravenclaw only made him take her all the more seriously.

“Alright.” Ben resigned, “let’s go.”

As one they filed out into the stands, and were met with a wall of cheers. Scanning the crowd, Link was instantly noticeable as the only hint of yellow on the Slytherin end of the stands, the rest of his house choosing not to wear colours at all. Chase, holding a large sign that alternated between GO HUFFLEPUFF and GO GRYFFINDOR, sat on Link’s left. At the sight of Rhett and Stevie, they hollered from the stands, each shaking one end of the sign and chanting their names. His heart warming, Rhett waved, as he came to a stop near the centre of the pitch.

Meeting Stevie’s eye they nodded politely as the Captains shook hands, and Rhett thought he might’ve seen her wink as she mounted her broom. Following suit, he mounted his own and tore away from the pitch at the blow of the whistle.

Finally.

In the confines of the castle, Rhett thrived in the quiet. But on the pitch, with the roar of the crowd and the wind rushing in his ears - he felt awake.

There was nothing quite like the tread of loose dirt as he kicked off from the ground, or the ringing commentary announcing their names. Unable to contain himself he did a few loops of the pitch, grinning as he recognised the voice of Greg, a fellow Hufflepuff he’d befriended in first year - commentating.

"Look at him go! That's Mclaughlin for Hufflepuff on a firebolt. Honestly, I keep telling him I'm surprised he fits on his broom at all. At 6'7" -”

"Gregory!"

Rhett turned his head to see Professor McGonagall, aged but formidable as ever, staring Greg down sternly.

“Sorry, Professor,” Greg said quickly, catching himself. ”Hufflepuff in possession!"

His attention back on the game, Rhett ignored the action to scan the field for the snitch. On the Gryffindor end of the pitch, Stevie appeared to be doing the same, drifting from one end to the other. He could tell by her face that she had no more of an idea where the snitch was than he did, making no move to dart in any direction.

“Gryffindor swipes the quaffle from under the hands of the Hufflepuff chasers. Come on now Belle… Gryffindor in possession.”

Rhett was only vaguely aware as Lucas stole the quaffle mid pass and shot for the goal posts on the other end of the pitch - bringing the score to 10 - 0. Good Rhett thought to himself. The higher the lead they held the stronger their chances of winning the house cup. His only concern was that Stevie, now rising several feet to survey from above - didn’t catch the snitch before they had that.

“Bennet for Gryffindor with the quaffle - passes to Mcallister. Mcallister heads for goal. This will be the first test of the match for the Hufflepuff keeper. Mcallister shoots -”

Greg groaned audibly along with the Hufflepuff end of the pitch. “Mcallister scores. Gryffindor ties 10-10.”

Rhett saw Stevie pause near the goal to high five her team mate, before speeding off again. Not wanting to give her time Rhett kept scanning the air too, glancing every so often to be sure she hadn’t seen anything.

Several minutes on, the scarlet end of the stands had more to cheer about as Gryffindor earned two points a piece, bringing the score to 10 - 30. Beginning to feel a small twinge of anxiety now, Rhett swung his broom around and looked up, cursing under his breath when he mistook a spot of sunlight on Mike’s robes for the snitch.

Thankfully Lucas, Belle and Nicki quickly landed a goal each, pulling them ahead a little again. Vaguely he heard Greg announcing the score somewhere above him, “40 - 30 to Hufflepuff.”

Meeting Lucas’ gaze briefly, Rhett offered a thumbs up - which he returned before passing the Quaffle on.

“Hufflepuff still with the quaffle.” Rhett heard Greg call. “Recent find Nicki Jones swerves the Gryffindor Chasers and heads for goal and - ouch! Excellent shot by Gryffindor beater Matichuk. I have said she does have excellent muscles...”

There was a pause in which Rhett glanced to be sure she was okay, breathing a sigh of relief when saw Nicki looking dazed but otherwise fine.

“Gryffindor with the Quaffle,” Greg announced, pulling his attention back to the rest of the game. Cursing under his breath, Rhett searched for any sign of Stevie or the snitch, but both were momentarily lost to his sight.

“Bassett heads for the goal.” Greg continued, “She dodges a bludger, excellent manoeuvre there, and - Rhett stop her!”

At his warning Rhett’s gaze whipped around in mid air in time to watch Stevie, now a streaming blur of scarlet, speeding rapidly towards a speck of gold.

His heart thumping wildly, Rhett urged his broom forward desperately, tearing through the air in pursuit and almost unseating the Gryffindor beaters.

Why had he taken his eyes off of her? What made him think, while he was fretting over everything else - that he could abandon his search for the snitch even for a moment?

The crowd held their collective breath and a score for Gryffindor went almost entirely unnoticed as Rhett drew neck and neck with Stevie. She, meanwhile, acted as if he wasn’t there - stretching her arm out as far as she could. She was faster and closer by a mere inch, but Rhett’s arm was longer, leaving the match far too close for either of their liking.

Panicking, Rhett made a wild decision and looped under her, coming at the snitch from below. Swiping madly as he shot upwards, he came to a stop as the crowd went suddenly silent.

He knew even before he felt the small wings beating against his hands that he had done it, as the crowd realized what happened and erupted in noise. It all happened so fast that he was descending before he could even remember guiding his broom down, surrounded the second his feet touched the ground.

Link ran down from the stands, squeezing Stevie’s shoulder affectionately before gathering Rhett in a tight hug.

“That was awesome!” He beamed.

Soon the rest of the team landed and gathered around Rhett, each patting him on the back until Rhett wasn't sure whose body was whose. Finally, they let him go and turned their attention back to the Gryffindor’s - each shaking Stevie’s hand respectfully.

When the last of them had let go, the pitched started clearing to take the festivities into the castle - where no doubt mounds of food and flagons of butter beer were waiting.

“I’ll beat you one of these days Mclaughlin,” Stevie said playfully, nudging him in the side as she shouldered her broom.

“In your dreams Levine.” He smiled.

Stevie only smirked, holding out a fist for him to bump before leaving the stands, arm in arm with her team’s beater Jen. It was of some comfort to Rhett that she didn’t seem to be crestfallen, as he saw the pair talking animatedly until they were out of sight.

“Ready to go?” Link asked. “You’ve probably got a party waiting for you, man.”

He grinned, thinking hard as he followed Link out of the pitch. “Yeah… but I’ve got something else in mind too.”

No one could say how long the celebrations went on in the Hufflepuff common room that night, and no one questioned why the star of the evening was missing for so many hours. All anyone knew was Rhett had disappeared a mere two hours into the party. No one saw him slip quietly into an empty classroom with his hands full of butterbeer and cake, at the heels of a boy in Slytherin robes.

They talked at length about the match, clinking and sinking copious amounts of butterbeer and laughing as Rhett held out a piece of cake for Link to bite into. The smaller boy emerged with a white nose of cream, before promptly swiping some more cream off the top and rubbing it over Rhett’s face. It wasn’t long before their own houses and the risk of being caught were forgotten, the glow of victory still burning strong.

Meanwhile, Stevie and Jen, Rhett heard the next morning, could be seen downing fire whiskey and talking tactics in the Gryffindor common room well into the early hours of the morning.

It was good to be at Hogwarts.

[junker-town]

How does FSU respond to its worst season in 42 years?

Will Willie Taggart’s attempts at an offensive overhaul stick? And what happens if the Seminoles lose to Boise State?

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

I was talking to SB Nation’s (and Tomahawk Nation’s) Bud Elliott about Florida State’s 2018 prospects while we were at a conference last August, and he had maybe the most prescient preseason summary of a team that I will ever hear.

Quarterback Deondre Francois was decent, he said, and the Seminoles seemed to have the skill talent they needed to score points in Willie Taggart’s first season as head coach. But the depth at offensive tackle that Jimbo Fisher had left for Taggart was terrifying, and if they suffered any injury there, the line would potentially fall apart.

Tackle Landon Dickerson got hurt within days of our conversation. He would end up starting two games all year. Cole Minshew and Derrick Kelly, both experienced interior linemen who had moved to tackle out of desperation, would miss eight games between them. By the end of the year, injury and a total lack of development (by the new staff or the old one) had combined to create maybe the least stable line I’ve seen. It was certainly one of the least effective.

In 12 games, the Noles started nine different combinations of linemen. Not sure I’ve seen that. They didn’t start the same combination in back-to-back weeks until the seventh and eighth games of the season. Not sure I’ve seen that either. Nine different players started at least two games each, and only one, center Alec Eberle, started all 12.

The result was the worst Florida State offense in a generation. The Seminoles ranked 124th in offensive success rate and 97th in Off. S&P+, their lowest standing since ending up 109th in 1975 — a.k.a. Year 1 B.B. (Before Bowden). They finished 5-7, their worst record since 1976.

When your offensive line struggles this much, it prevents you from getting a truly accurate picture of virtually anything else. Francois was under pressure far too much. Cam Akers and the other running backs had no holes to run through. Whatever offensive philosophy Taggart and coordinator Walt Bell wanted to express went out the window. When you can’t do the basics, you can’t do anything. There are no good plays to call. This affects your defense as well — it’s probably dealing with horrible field position, and it has to think twice about taking risks, knowing that giving up two touchdowns maybe ends the game.

To say the least, change has come. Bell left to become UMass’ head coach, the program dismissed Francois, the offensive line might have five new starters this year, and, no matter how much he was or wasn’t to blame, offensive line coach Greg Frey was predictably let go.

Taggart, now feeling some obvious pressure, brought offensive coordinator Kendal Briles to town, despite Briles working in and standing by his father’s Baylor program that collapsed in a sexual assault scandal, and amid criticism from sexual assault-prevention advocates. Along similar lines, he hired line coach Randy Clements. On the field, it’ll probably work.

Taggart proved himself a strong turnarounds architect early in his head coaching career. He inherited an 0-11 WKU squad in 2010 and brought the Hilltoppers to back-to-back bowls in 2011-12. He inherited a 3-9 USF squad in 2013, then went 8-5 in 2015 and 11-2 in 2016. You could joke that he evidently doesn’t feel comfortable until he has something to turn around, and, well, he’s got that now.

From Fisher, Taggart inherited a roster that had stagnated a bit. There was obvious talent, but development and identity had become an issue. Taggart envisioned an energetic, high-tempo offense and aggressive defense, but we didn’t get to see it. Briles is, for all of his last-name-related flaws and issues, a hell of an offensive coach and will likely bring to the table exactly what Taggart needs. And with a defense that can play with a little bit more ambition, we might get to see what coordinator Harlon Barnett has to offer on that side of the ball as well.

Offense

Briles has become a fixer of sorts since his departure from Baylor. He was hired by Lane Kiffin’s FAU in 2017 and raised the Owls’ Off. S&P+ ranking from 69th to 30th. He went to Houston last year and improved the Cougars from 43rd to 20th. They were as high as 11th before QB injury issues crept into the picture.

This might be Briles’ most onerous task yet. I’m curious how much improvement he can engineer in a single offseason.

FSU’s offense was all-or-mostly-nothing in 2018. There was no efficiency to be found, so the Noles just had to hope to bust a dam and get some points off of a big play.

There were certainly some explosive options. Former all-world prospect Cam Akers knew what to do in the open field, even if he never actually found it. When he had more than 90 yards rushing, FSU averaged 30 points per game. Unfortunately, that was a two-game sample.

Receiver Tamorrion Terry, then a freshman, averaged 21.3 yards per catch, and Keith Gavin and Keyshawn Helton each averaged 16. When the QB had time to survey the field and step into passes, and he almost never did, good things happened.

Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

James Blackman

James Blackman likely takes over for Francois, just as he unexpectedly did as a true freshman in 2017, when Francois was lost to injury in Week 1. He finished that season brilliantly — after producing a 121.6 passer rating in his first eight games, he raised it to 168.9 in his last four — and threw for 421 yards and four touchdowns when subbed in for an injured Francois against NC State last fall.

(If Blackman goes down, his replacement could be Wisconsin grad transfer Alex Hornibrook. The thought of a Wisconsin quarterback running a Briles offense made me black out due to cognitive dissonance.)

Briles and Blackman will probably get along swimmingly, but after what transpired last year, there will be almost as many eyes on Clements as Briles. Taggart brought in NIU grad transfer Ryan Roberts, JUCO transfer Jay Williams, and a foursome of freshmen, including 330-pound blue-chipper Dontae Lucas, in the hopes of rejuvenating the front five. It’s likely that both Roberts and Lucas start.

If Clements can find three stable entities from the six returnees with starting experience, and then if he can simply keep his damn starting five on the field, then the Noles might actually be able to run their offense.

Melina Myers-USA TODAY Sports

Tamorrion Terry

This year’s depth issue might be at running back. Akers returns and could quite obviously thrive under Briles — Houston’s leading rusher in 2018, Patrick Carr, went from averaging 4 yards per carry to 5.7 — but he’s the only returning back with more than five carries last year. Sophomores Anthony Grant and Khalan Laborn are both exciting, but Laborn missed last season with a knee injury, and neither has proven anything.

Luckily, if the RB corps does succumb to injuries, the passing game can probably pick up the slack. Terry and Helton — both three-star prospects in a land of blue-chippers — are among the most exciting tandems of sophomore receivers in the country, and veterans like Keith Gavin and D.J. Matthews are still around as well.

Defense

Barnett is a Mark Dantonio disciple who came to FSU after 11 seasons at Michigan State. The Spartans’ defense has always been at its best when crowding the line of scrimmage and daring college QBs to make throws college QBs can’t always make.

His first FSU defense was pretty young, with 12 freshmen and sophomores logging at least 9.5 tackles. It was also saddled with the worst starting field position in the country and some of the worst turnovers luck to boot: they recovered only three of 17 opponent fumbles, and while 72 passes defensed (interceptions or breakups) would typically result in about 15-16 interceptions on average, FSU reeled in only 12. (By comparison, opponents defensed only 51 total passes but finished with 13 INTs.)

FSU was defending with one hand tied behind its back but still produced decent, if unspectacular, results. The Noles ended up 37th in Def. S&P+, their worst ranking since Bowden’s last year (85th in 2009), but considering the degree of difficulty, it could have been much worse.

Glenn Beil-USA TODAY Sports

Marvin Wilson

Granted, with its tempo and fast possessions, a Briles offense can put strain on its own defense at times, but there’s still plenty of hope for improvement here. Ace pass rusher Brian Burns is now a Carolina Panther, but five other contributing linemen return, as do the top two linebackers and all but one defensive back. And while the Noles could start as few as two or three seniors, there’s still more experience this time around.

Tackle Marvin Wilson was almost as good as Burns up front. Per Pro Football Focus, the former all-world recruit was among the best tackles in the country as a sophomore, and sophomore Cory Durden, his potential battery mate, logged six tackles for loss among his 16 tackles last year. Joshua Kaindoh is the only returning end with more than one sack last year, though. Someone will have to do at least a decent Burns impersonation.

Linebacker Dontavious Jackson and nickel/OLB Hamsah Nasirildeen give FSU a veteran presence in the middle, and while Jackson made no mark in the pass rush, he’s tremendous in run support. Either freshman Jaleel McRae or senior Emmett Rice could be strong in the blitz department, but neither has been healthy of late.

Melina Myers-USA TODAY Sports

Jaiden Lars-Woodbey

For the most part, the secondary played the role Barnett wanted in run support -- both versatile safety Jaiden Lars-Woodbey and corner Kyle Meyers recorded at least four TFLs, and as a freshman Lars-Woodbey combined eight run stuffs with eight pass breakups. That’s a rare combo.

In pass defense, though, the Noles struggled with breakdowns. They were 19th in completion rate allowed but 60th in passing marginal explosiveness and, in open-play situations, 84th in big-play rate.

If safety Cyrus Fagan bounces back from a shaky season, that will allow Stanford Samuels III to move back to corner, where he’s more comfortable. Blue-chip freshman Akeem Dent had a great spring, and with Lars-Woodbey, Fagan, and senior Levonta Taylor, it appears the back line of the defense should be far more sturdy.

Special Teams

After ranking in the Special Teams S&P+ in six of Fisher’s eight seasons, FSU plummeted to 96th last year. Logan Tyler ranked 108th in punt efficiency, which was a field position disaster considering all the three-and-outs, and the return game was all-or-nothing. Returning place-kicker Ricky Aguayo was still solid, but consistency was lacking.

2019 outlook

2019 Schedule & Projection Factors

Date Opponent Proj. S&P+ Rk Proj. Margin Win Probability 31-Aug vs. Boise State 24 -1.6 46% 7-Sep UL-Monroe 103 22.3 90% 14-Sep at Virginia 41 0.5 51% 21-Sep Louisville 87 16.1 82% 28-Sep N.C. State 47 7.1 66% 12-Oct at Clemson 3 -21.5 11% 19-Oct at Wake Forest 62 5.3 62% 26-Oct Syracuse 56 8.8 69% 2-Nov Miami 19 -0.5 49% 9-Nov at Boston College 72 7.7 67% 16-Nov Alabama State NR 56.7 100% 30-Nov at Florida 6 -16.2 17%

Projected S&P+ Rk 28 Proj. Off. / Def. Rk 72 / 15 Projected wins 7.1 Five-Year S&P+ Rk 20.0 (8) 2- and 5-Year Recruiting Rk 15 2018 TO Margin / Adj. TO Margin* -11 / 2.2 2018 TO Luck/Game -5.5 Returning Production (Off. / Def.) 77% (74%, 80%) 2018 Second-order wins (difference) 4.4 (0.6)

Florida State might be the biggest wildcard in the country. On one hand, you can pretty easily see an experienced, healthy, and Briles-defined offense surging and a more experienced, well-supported defense gaining in confidence. FSU has top-20 talent and could easily play at a top-20 level.

On the other hand, when your program has done this recently ...

... it’s hard to simply assume things will be alright. Maybe the offense only improves instead of improving dramatically. Maybe the defense gets weighed down by fatigue and depth issues due to Briles’ tempo.

S&P+ is optimistic, sort of. The Noles are projected to improve to 28th overall — quite the surge from 71st — but that’s only good enough for a seven-win projection.

FSU’s schedule features three likely wins (ULM, Louisville, Alabama State), two likely losses (at Clemson, at Florida), and a ton of tossups.

The first game of the year, a battle with Boise State in Jacksonville, is enormous. It’s the first of the many tossups, and a win could trigger a 5-0 start, happy headlines, and a run at nine or 10 wins. But a loss could trigger a 1-2 start, with a Week 3 loss at Virginia, and ... well ... after leading FSU to its first losing season in 40 years, a slow start is probably not something Taggart wants to be a part of.

Team preview stats

All 2019 preview data to date.

[mitchbeck]

CANTLON: PACK DOWN DEVILS 6-2 IN SUNDAY MATINEE

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The Hartford Wolf Pack scored three goals in the second period and five unanswered goals overall to help them overtake and defeat the Binghamton Devils, 6-2, snapping a six-game losing streak in a Sunday afternoon matinee at the XL Center. Steven Fogarty tallied two goals and an assist. Ryan Gropp scored a goal and had two assists while the four newly-minted rookies earned their first pro points and Lewis-Zerter Gossage, his first pro goal and game-winning goal paced the offense. This was the Pack’s first six-goal output since January 18th against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and only the fourth time this season they achieved that goal plateau. The Pack pulled away in the third period with two goals to seal the win. They increased their record when leading after two periods this season to 19-3-3-2 and conversely when trailing after two periods is an atrocious 3-24-3-0. The Wolf Pack record falls to 29-34-7-3 (67 pts) are off until Friday when they face the Hershey Bears in their regular season home finale before finishing the season with two more road games at Lehigh Valley (Allentown) and Hershey. Nick Jones scored his second AHL goal, by winning a battle for position on the Devils' Ryan Murphy and was able to push Darren Raddysh’s rebound past the Devils goalie Evan Cormier to make it 5-2 at 10:09. Jake Elmer picked up the assist for his first pro point. “Once our lines got a feel for each other we started to generate a little bit of chemistry. We finally started to capitalize on our chances,” said Pack head coach, Keith McCambridge. The scoring closed out an empty-netter which is usually nothing big to celebrate, but Steven Fogarty passed up getting a hat trick and dished the puck to Gropp to finish off his three-point effort. Plays like that don't go unnoticed by a head coach. “To pass up a hat trick with the pass to Ryan, it speaks volumes about a player. Steven Fogarty is a high quality, young man.” The gesture also wasn't ignored by his linemate, Gropp, the recipient of the play. “That’s the kind of guy he is. He plays the right way every night. I'm lucky to have a teammate like that. I really didn’t expect the pass.” The Wolf Pack had two penalty kills, a short five-on-three and a longer four-on-three that was a catalyst that got the team moving. “We got a lot of momentum out of those kills, and we finally found our legs and got going after that,” Gropp stated. The second period seemed to be a ref’s contest to see how many penalties they could call in a 20 minute period the Pack used one of their powerplays to tie the game at two. Fresh back from his NHL recall, John Gilmour started the whole scoring sequence with a sharp pass from the left point to Gropp in the right wing circle. He ripped a shot that Fogarty redirected by a completely screened Devils goalie, Evan Cormier, by the Pack's Tim Gettinger. It sailed over his shoulder into the top shelf on the stick-side at 9:12. It was Fogarty’s 20th of the year making him the third Wolf Pack player to cross the twenty goal plateau this season. “We found some chemistry when we have been together and Keith put us together tonight with Vinni (Lettieri) back (from New York) and those two guys are very reliable and it was a fun game for the three of us,” remarked Gropp. McCambridge was pleased with the efforts of putting his number one line back together. “They all complement each other well, and Ryan has a strong shot. He kept good possession of the puck. Steven created the separation that we needed on his first goal and Vinni has been an offensive catalyst all year. It was just what we needed. That line and the Fontaine line were able to lead for our other two lines to see how they were playing, as they followed them and took the pressure off them,” McCambridge said of his first line that had a combined seven points. For Fogarty familiarity breeds success. “We missed him (Lettieri). He was up there where he should be (in New York) and it was nice to have him back. We have worked well together... the three of us. We had just four shots to start, but once we got those, we two kills. We started to pick up the pace, got a few and that helped us turn this (game) around." The Wolf Pack exploded offensively with two goals in thirty seconds to stake out a two-goal lead. The first came as rookie Shawn McBride worked the puck to fellow first-timer Ryan Dmowski, who got the puck in the left wing circle, corralled the biscuit, turned, and fired a shot with a screen provided by the Binghamton forward checking him and goalie Evan Cormier, who was screened in front by traffic from Lewis Zerter-Gossage, who redirected the puck for his first professional goal. It was the eventual game-winner as Dmowski and Shawn McBride tallied their first pro points with assists. The redirect was so deftly done it took the upstairs off-ice officials to catch it. They did a great job. Zerter-Gossage knew right away it was his, but he was doing the honorable thing when Dmowski was initially given credit for the goal. “I knew right away that I got it. I don’t think Ryan did though,” Gossage said with a big, bright smile. “I tried not to make a big scene about it. First was a great play by everybody. Shawn did some hard work and Ryan made a really smart play and we're just trying to simplify things and get pucks deep and we got rewarded for it. I was just coming here to learn from the older guys to get my first pro goal in my second game, that was the cherry on top.” Fogarty showed the offensive harmony that was missing for the team in the first period, playing catch and go as he sent a quick pass over to Lettieri on the right. He quickly sent it back and while on the left wing, Fogarty buried his second goal in a row for the 4-2 lead at 17:52. Even with three big pieces of the team playing in New York, the Wolf Pack got off to another laisse-faire start to the game. For the ninth time in the last ten games surrendered the game’s first goal. The Devils won a right corner battle among four players and the puck came out to Brandon Gignac. He sent it over from the right wing to defenseman Colton White who was wide-open and he zipped a pass to ex-Pack, Alex Krushelnyski, alone at the right side of the net with an open side to easily deposit his second goal of the season at 2:21. The Wolf Pack offense was at very least, anemic. They didn’t register a quality shot until they scored a goal at 13:09 for the entire period. The Pack got a break when Binghamton’s Nick Lappin’s pass to the left point found nobody and allowed the Pack to break out on an odd-man rush. Gabriel Fontaine on the right wing was on a two-on-one shorthanded break with Tim Gettinger on the right wing was his decoy and as a lefty shot zipped a wrister over the glove of Devils goalie Evan Cormier for his 11th goal and the Pack had some life tied at one. It didn’t last long as the Devils cashed in on their next powerplay with a Charlotte Checkersesque four of five players touching the puck inside the Wolf Pack zone by the AHL’s second-worst team record wise. Nick Lappin was able to feed Ryan Schmelzer who curled and peeled down into the right wing circle sent a short pass to Eric Tangredi at the goal line who sent it right back out to Blake Pietila who snapped his 19th into the net at  14:54 and a 2-1 lead. Pietila now has seven points in his last eight games. NOTES: Gilmour’s assist gives him 54 points, four ahead of Rochester’s Zach Redmond for the top spot among defensemen's scoring, which is ten shy of the Wolf Pack team record of 64, held by Andrew Hutchison set in 2007-2008 where he was third in team scoring behind PA Parenteau and Greg Moore. Wolf Pack fan jersey of the night a pair of ex-CT Whale, players Michael Del Zotto’s number 2 who is on his third NHL team this season with St. Louis. #10 Tommy Grant who played senior league hockey in British Columbia with Quesnel (CIHL). The Wolf Pack jerseys were #17 Brandon Dubinsky and #15, Greg Moore. SCRATCHES: Matt Beleskey (lower body, out) Dawson Leedahl (lower body, out) Rob O’Gara (lower body, out) Bobby Butler (healthy) Matt Register (healthy) Julius Bergman (healthy) Shawn St. Amant (healthy) Shawn O’Donnell (healthy) LINES Fogarty-Lettieri-Gropp Fontaine-Meskanen-Gettinger Ryan Dmowski-Shawn McBride-Zerter-Gossage Jake Elmer-Patrick Newell-Nick Jones Gilmour-Lindgren Day-Raddysh Wesley-Crawley Read the full article

[vinayv224]

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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Rundown of the Trump-Ukraine scandal so far; the British prime minister sends mixed messages on a Brexit delay.

How we learned to spell Volodymyr Zelensky

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Text messages show top diplomats discussed using the prospect of a White House visit to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Burisma, a company with links to Hunter Biden. Then one diplomat expressed alarm about withholding military aid in exchange for “assistance with a political campaign” before another suggested taking the conversation offline. [Vox / Andrew Prokop]

Here’s a full transcript of the texts, which include Kurt Volker, then the special representative to Ukraine, stressing the importance of getting President “Zelensky to say that he will help [the] investigation.” [NYT / Charlie Savage and Josh Williams]

There’s a lot that’s damaging in here: References to a quid pro quo, US officials coaching Ukrainians on how to mention an investigation into the Biden case in statements, and phrasing that suggests the diplomats were trying to cover their tracks. [Washington Post / Philip Bump]

Meanwhile, US Sen. Ron Johnson said that the US ambassador to the EU told him there was indeed a quid pro quo (and Johnson said he then confronted Trump, who denied it). [Wall Street Journal / Siobhan Hughes and Rebecca Ballhaus]

Since Thursday, the scandal has mushroomed even further out of control for Trump. [Vox / Alex Ward]

This week brought revelations that the Trump administration asked multiple world leaders to investigate the Bidens, the FBI’s 2016 probe into the Trump campaign and Russia, or both. [Vox / Matthew Yglesias]

Trump continues to defend his call with Zelensky. But the scandal is about a lot more than just one call — it’s about the actions of multiple US officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, who was reportedly sent to tell Ukraine that aid was dependent on investigating “corruption.” [Washington Post / Greg Miller, Greg Jaffe, and Ashley Parker]

The House impeachment inquiry has also started to bear fruit: The texts were from the first batch of documents the State Department turned over to investigators. [Politico / John Bresnahan]

Meanwhile, polls are recording a significant spike in support for Trump’s impeachment, particularly among Democrats. [FiveThirtyEight / Perry Bacon Jr.]

In case you’re wondering, here’s why “Zelensky” is spelled with two Ys on Zelensky’s passport but usually is not in English-language media. [Hanna Kozlowska / QZ]

Johnson puts Brexit extension on, off, and under the table

The UK government said in court documents it will request an extension from the EU on the Brexit deadline — as Parliament demanded — if an agreement isn’t reached by October 19. But Prime Minister Boris Johnson continues to insist there will be “no delay” on Brexit. [The Guardian / Heather Stewart, Severin Carrell, Daniel Boffey, and Lisa O’Carroll]

The current Brexit date of October 31 was already the second extension the EU reluctantly granted to try to make a deal. [Vox / Jen Kirby]

Johnson has stated he would rather be “dead in a ditch” than request an extension, even if that means a potentially economy-damaging “no deal” exit from the EU. [BBC]

The Brexit countdown began in March 2017 when then-British Prime Minister Theresa May evoked Article 50 of the EU’s Treaty of Lisbon, a provision that allows member states to leave the confederation. [Vox / Jen Kirby]

Johnson may have had a change of heart on a Brexit delay, despite his public stance. [Foreign Policy / Owen Matthews]

Miscellaneous

The appearance of black women in Todd Phillips’ film Joker makes a powerful but likely unintentional statement. [HuffPost / Zeba Blay]

Who decides when and if a home is historic is surprisingly contentious. [Wall Street Journal / Kris Frieswick]

New York district attorneys and the Department of Justice are duking it out over Trump’s taxes. [Politico / Toby Eckert]

How one woman demanded accountability during the Kavanaugh hearings and doesn’t regret a thing. [Vox / Ana Maria Archila]

Trump brings up the idea of a government broadcast station. [Newsweek / Daniel Moritz-Rabson]

Verbatim

“I don’t know if that’s a real request or him just needling the press knowing that you guys are going to get outraged by it.” [Sen. Marco Rubio on President Trump publicly imploring China to look into his 2020 challenger Joe Biden]

Watch this: Billionaires, Explained

Learn about why there are more billionaires than ever — and what they do with all that money. Stream Billionaires, Explained now on Netflix.

Plus: Our Netflix show, Explained, is back for its second season! Catch new episodes each Thursday.

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The Hong Kong government tried to ban face masks. Protesters are already defying it.

Greta Thunberg is traveling from Canada to Chile without leaving the ground

Eddie Murphy is better than ever in Dolemite Is My Name, a bawdy comedy about comedy

Amazon’s video app should be coming back to Apple. But get ready to see more streaming fights.

The economy is slowing down. That’s bad for Trump.

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[gadgetsrevv]

Leigh Griffiths’ Scotland absence explained as Celtic star left out for Euro 2020 qualifiers

Steve Clarke will give Leigh Griffiths more time to re-establish himself at Celtic before handing the striker a Scotland recall.

The Hampden boss named his squad for crucial Euro 2020 qualifiers against Russia and Belgium on Tuesday but there was no place for the Hoops frontman.

Griffiths took an extended break from football in December 2018 to deal with personal issues but has returned to the fold at Parkhead this summer.

Record Sport told on Monday night how Celtic were to be given the final say on the 29-year-old’s inclusion, having appeared intermittently so far this term.

And now Clarke has admitted these ties have come too soon for Griffiths.

(Image: SNS Group)

The Scotland manager said: “He was close. Listen, Leigh has got some fantastic attributes. I just look at him just now and he’s come a long way in a short space of time after a very difficult spell in his life.

“And I feel we should just give him a little more time to settle into the role again at Celtic and get himself fully fit and firing. And a fully fit and firing, sharp Leigh Griffiths will always be good for us.

“But at the moment I just feel it’s a little bit too early to push him.”

(Image: SNS Group)

Clarke has recalled Robert Snodgrass after he asked not to be considered for selection under predecessor Alex McLeish.

And amid injuries to John Souttar and Scott McKenna at centre-back, Grant Hanley has been included, as has Leeds United’s Liam Cooper.

In Griffiths’ absence up front, Oli McBurnie, Steven Naismith, Matt Phillips and Johnny Russell are in the squad.

Rangers midfielder Ryan Jack is also in the mix following an impressive start to the season.

(Image: PIOTR NOWAK/EPA-EFE/REX)

Scotland squad in full

KEEPERS

Craig MacGillivray (Portsmouth)

David Marshall (Wigan)

Jon McLaughlin (Sunderland)

DEFENDERS

Liam Cooper (Leeds United)

Grant Hanley (Norwich)

Charlie Mulgrew (Wigan)

Stephen O’Donnell (Kilmarnock)

Liam Palmer (Sheffield Wednesday)

Andy Robertson (Liverpool)

Greg Taylor (Kilmarnock)

MIDFIELDERS

Stuart Armstrong (Southampton)

Ryan Christie (Celtic)

Ryan Jack (Rangers)

John McGinn (Aston Villa)

Callum McGregor (Celtic)

Kenny McLean (Norwich)

Scott McTominay (Manchester United)

Robert Snodgrass (West Ham)

James Forrest (Celtic)

Ryan Fraser (Bournemouth)

FORWARDS

Oli McBurnie (Sheffield United)

Steven Naismith (Hearts)

Matt Phillips (West Brom)

Johnny Russell (Kansas City)

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[placetobenation]

On the same day 25 years ago, Greg Maddux threw a 94 pitch complete game shutout in Colorado against the Rockies to lower his ERA to 1.56, while Tony Gwynn had 3 hits in Houston to raise his average to .394 with 45 games remaining. It was August 11, 1994 and the longstanding war between MLB owners and the Players Association would go nuclear very soon, with a players strike starting the next day wiping out the remainder of the 1994 regular season, playoffs, and 252 games the following year. The game once called America’s Pastime was tarnished.

Because it was the players striking for the 5thtime since 1972, much of the blame fell on them in the public narrative, with owners receiving criticism but not nearly as much as the players and Union president Donald Fehr. 

The earliest labor disputes in baseball after the formation of the MLBPA in 1966 centered around minimum salaries, arbitration rights, and funding of pensions for retired players, the latter of which was the main issue in the 1972 strike that cancelled 86 games. The nullification of the reserve clause in December 1975 in the Seitz decision led to the advent of free agency, and increasingly hostile labor negotiations.

The next ten years passed with four work stoppages (three strikes and one lockout) mainly relating to free agency compensation rules and salary arbitration rights. The owners sought to impose a free agent system with heavier compensation to drive down salaries while the players fought for a free market approach. 

Under the guidance of MLB commissioner Peter Ueberroth for three years starting after the 1985 season, owners refrained from making lucrative offers to free agents from other teams, depressing the market for those players. As an example future Hall of Famer Tim Raines became a free agent after the 1986 season at age 27, but returned to the Montreal Expos on May 1, 1987 after getting no offers as a free agent. The union filed a collusion grievance against the owners each year, and players were eventually awarded $280 million in damages, but any trust that existed between players and ownership evaporated with the rounds of collusion. (Note: Per the collective bargaining agreement, “clubs are not allowed to concert with other clubs and players are not allowed to act in concert with other players”)

Owners forced out commissioner (and ownership critic) Fay Vincent in 1992 and installed Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig as acting commissioner for the coming labor war, one that would see the owners demand a salary cap similar to what the NBA had and what the NFL had implemented in their most recent bargaining talks.

In June, the owners offered a salary cap with a 50/50 split of revenues. But put yourself in the position of the players: why would you trust the owners when they had just been caught cheating your side out of millions of dollars? The players were forced into a strike because they could not have a good faith negotiation given the history involved, and the owners were threatening to declare an impasse and implement their own system with a salary cap, which they did several months into the strike.

It is also hard to empathize with owners who talked of using replacement players before a strike date was even set. The following spring training saw replacement player games before a court injunction led to a return of the regular players for an abbreviated 1995 season. Replacements would have led to two teams not fielding teams: the Toronto Blue Jays were prohibited from using replacement players due to Ontario labor law, and the Baltimore Orioles refused to field a team because owner Peter Angelos was a highly-regarded labor lawyer.

Discussion of these labor issues in Major League Baseball isn’t much fun but trying to project how the rest of the 1994 season would have played out might be, with apologies to the rightfully upset Montreal Expos fans. Let’s assume that the MLBPA called off the strike in exchange for assurances of no lockout in 1995 or declaration of an impasse in negotiations by the owners.

AL East

There was a changing of the guard in the division with the two-time defending World Series champion Toronto Blue Jays taking a big step back with a 33-46 start. They won 22 of their last 36 games but that wasn’t enough to catch the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles in the division. The Yanks (70-43) held a 6.5 games lead over the O’s (63-49) on the strength of a career year from AL batting champ Paul O’Neill (.359/.460/.603) and a resurgent year from Wade Boggs (.342/.433/.489), who had his best power year since 1987. 

This was a very different Yankees team than the group that would dominate the AL East for the next decade: no Jeter, no Pettitte, no Rivera, and no Posada. They got 19 homers from Seinfeld guest star Danny Tartabull, over 300 innings between Jim Abbott and Melido Perez, and the back end of the bullpen was anchored by Bob Wickman and Steve Howe. All would be gone before the 1996 World Series.

Cal Ripken was the constant for the Orioles, as his streak stood at 2,009 consecutive games at the time of the strike, with Mike Mussina anchoring the rotation and Lee Smith in the bullpen. Their fate likely would be decided by the 15 remaining games against fellow wild card contenders Kansas City, Chicago, and Cleveland. Prior to the strike they did get a boost from = Armando Benitez, who gave up 1 run in 10 innings after his late July call-up.

The rebuilding Red Sox started 20-7 before collapsing to finish 54-61, and the Tigers both scored and gave up a ton of runs to ensure mediocrity.

Result: Yankees cruise to a division title with 95-100 wins, while a 87-90 win Baltimore team falls short of the wild card.

AL Central

This division was by far the best in baseball in 1994, with three playoff contenders and no teams on a track to lose more than 90 games. The defending division champion Chicago White Sox led the way, followed by a rising Cleveland team in its shiny new Jacobs Field, and a sneaky good team in Kansas City. An intense rivalry built between the White Sox and Indians centered about the Albert Belle corked bat controversy.

Frank Thomas won the MVP with Ted Williams-esque numbers (.353/.487/.729, with 109 BBs, 38 HR, 101 RBI in 113 games) but their strength was their starting rotation of reigning Cy Young winner Jack McDowell, veterans Alex Fernandez and Wilson Alvarez, and young Jason Bere all with ERAs under 4.00 with over 140 IP. 

That pitching would be needed against a Cleveland club on pace to score nearly 1,000 runs over a full season. Their regular lineup boasted 7 players with an OPS+ at 106 or higher including young Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez. The starting rotation led the league with 17 complete games, perhaps a necessity with the bullpen being the clear weakness of the team. Cleveland still had 30 home games left to play, and they were 35-16 at Jacobs Field in its inaugural season.

Kansas City is something of a surprise contender because they would not even finish .500 again for another 9 years. David Cone won the Cy Young and led the team in WAR in the 2nd season of his second stint with his hometown team, while Tom Gordon and Kevin Appier were 2ndand 3rdin WAR for the Royals. With the retirement of George Brett, the lineup was below average, with only Wally Joyner and one-hit wonder Bob Hamelin carrying the load.

Result: The White Sox barely hang on with 95 wins and hold off Cleveland (94 wins), who pick up the wild card. Kansas City finishes 3rdwith 85-87 wins. 

AL West

This is the opposite of Garrison Keillor’s fictional Lake Wobegon, the place where all the women are string, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average. The American League West was more like Camp Crystal Lake from Friday The 13thin 1994 with the four worst records in the 14 team league. 

Texas “led” the way at 52-62, on pace for 74 wins in a full season. Their lineup looks fit for 2019 with lots of home runs and even more strikeouts. Jose Canseco hit 31 homers in a strong comeback from an abbreviated season where a fly ball hit him in the headand a pitching performanceled to Tommy John surgery. Kenny Rogers did toss a perfect game, and they also had a young Darren Oliver who hung around long enough to actually pitch in a World Series for Texas. While their new stadium (which closes in 2019!) did not bring the same success as it did for Cleveland, it did embolden their ownerto seek political office. 

Oakland was a game back, but lost Mark McGwire to a foot injury at various points of the season. Steve Ontiveros became a footnote in history as one of the most obscure ERA champions in history with a 2.65, and Rickey Henderson returned from Toronto for his 3rdstint in the East Bay. The A’s had stretch losing 31 of 37, followed by winning 19 of 23. 

In mid-July, four ceiling tiles fell from the Seattle Kingdome’s roofwhich led to the Mariners finishing the year on the road, so the strike saved them from what would have become a 70 game road trip. While their best players like Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner, and Randy Johnson excelled, the rest of the team was about as functional as their home stadium. The July call-up of 18 year old Alex Rodriguez did not last long and he was sent back to the minors after 6 errors and 0 extra base hits in 13 games.

The California Angels also saw their home stadium damaged in the Northridge earthquake in January, repairs were made prior to their season. The Halos had little going for them, with the exception of a bizarre outlier season from 33 year old 3B Spike Owen, who posted a .418 OBP in 321 plate appearances, nearly 100 points above his lifetime OBP.

Result: Seattle tires from playing 2 ½ months on the road, and Oakland edges Texas and saves MLB from the embarrassment of a sub-.500 playoff team by winning the division with a record of 81-81.

NL East

With the Marlins and Mets rebuilding and the Phillies backsliding after their ’93 NL pennant, the NL East was a two horse race between the Expos and division newcomer Braves, since Atlanta was strangely in the NL West previously.

Montreal had the best team in franchise history with the top outfield in the NL of Moises Alou, Marquis Grissom, and Larry Walker. All the regulars in the Expos lineup were just entering their prime, as the oldest player was 3B Sean Berry at 28 years old. Of the top 4 starting pitchers, young Pedro Martinez had the highest ERA at 3.42. The bullpen 1-2 punch of John Wetteland and Mel Rojas was a factor in their 21-14 record in one run games, in contrast to the Phillies and their 12-26 mark in such contests. 

With a wild card spot in play, the Braves would not have to win at the same breakneck pace as the prior year in their race with the Giants in West. They would be able to ride their quartet of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and Steve Avery to a playoff berth and take their chances with their always questionable bullpen in a short series.

Result: Montreal keeps their foot on the gas and finishes with 105 wins, while the Braves cruise to 97 wins and a wild card spot locked up with over a week left in the season,

NL Central

The outlook was not positive for the Houston Astros despite being in a virtual tie with the Cincinnati Reds because of MVP 1B Jeff Bagwell suffering a season-ending broken wrist two days before the strike. With Chris Donnels and Sid Bream backing up, there would be a massive dropoff from the 213 OPS+ the future Hall of Famer provided. 

Cincinnati had a well-rounded lineup, placing 4thor higher in all key offensive categories as a team. Underrated big game pitcher Jose Rijo led the starting rotation, and there were not any notable trainwrecks in the Reds bullpen, positioning them well for their first playoff run in four years.

The Pirates were still recovering from the loss of Barry Bonds after the 1992 season, the Cubs got a 3 HR gamefrom Karl “Tuffy” Rhodes on opening day (a game they lost 12-8 anyway), and the Cardinals did almost nothing of note the entire season.

Result: Cincinnati rolls to 96 wins and the division, while Houston falls back and finishes with 89 wins. 

NL West

With realignment and the departure of Atlanta to its rightful spot in the East, the Dodgers and Giants battled for control, while the Padres and 2ndyear expansion Rockies continued to build.

Coming off a 103 win season, the Giants got almost no contributions from anyone in their lineup not named Barry Bonds or Matt Williams. The latter was famously on pace to chase Roger Maris’ then single-season record of 61 HR, but Bonds had 37 HR of his own to go with 29 SBs so he was on his way to the 2nd40-40 season in MLB history. Darryl Strawberry arrived in July and provided some pop, but would find himself under indictment for federal income tax evasion before 1994 ended. 

The pitching staff kept them competitive, but who knows if William VanLandingham and company could keep fooling hitters for another 7 weeks. San Francisco did win 20 of their last 30 which included a four game sweep of the Expos in Montreal.

The Dodgers held a 3.5 game lead, but still had six more games with Atlanta, against whom they were 0-6 to that point. Mike Piazza followed his Rookie of the Year campaign with another strong year, but Los Angeles got two outlier seasons from a couple of grizzled veterans. Tim Wallach (age 36) and Brett Butler (age 37) both set career highs in OPS, perhaps a signal that baseball was evolving into an era of inflated offensive numbers. Raul Mondesi became the 3rdstraight Dodger to win Rookie of the Year.

San Diego was rebuilding after their fire sale trades of Fred McGriff and Gary Sheffield the year before, but the story was of Tony Gwynn and his quest to hit .400. With 45 games remaining, he was on pace to have 171 more at bats based on his total to that point if he played every game, requiring him to get 71 hits in that time to finish with a .400 average. In his final 171 ABs of the ’94 season, Gwynn had 69 hits so it is far more likely that Gwynn finishes in the same range as Ted Williams in 1957 (.388) and 1980 George Brett (.390).

Colorado improved from their inaugural season and were about to move out of cavernous Mile High Stadium and into Coors Field. The strike cost them a chance to set a new single season attendance record, but the 1994 Rockies still have the highest average home attendance (57,570 per game) of any team in MLB history.

Result: The Giants claw their way back and finish tied with the Dodgers with 86 wins, leading to a one game playoff for the division, won by the Giants avenging the Dodgers eliminating them in game 162 a year earlier.

Playoffs

The original wild card playoff formatwas different and in many ways made no sense with the wild card team assigned to play a specific division winner rather than the team with the best record. The NL West champion would play the wild card, and the AL Central champion would play the AL Wild Card unless the two teams were in the same division.

ALDS1: Cleveland over NY Yankees (3-1) – The Yankees end up falling behind in the series early when manager Buck Showalter forgets that he can use his best relief pitcher on the road in a tie game in extra innings.

ALDS2: Chicago over Oakland (3-0) – The White Sox win their first playoff series in 77 years

NLDS1: Atlanta over San Francisco (3-0) – The Braves went 21-2 in NLDS play from 1995 to 2001 and this season would have been no different.

NLDS2: Montreal over Cincinnati (3-2) – Buoyed by raucous sellout crowds of hockey-starved Quebecers (due to the ongoing NHL lockout) for games 3-5 after falling down 0-2, the Expos come back and win three straight to advance to the NLCS for the first time since 1981.

ALCS: Chicago over Cleveland (4-2) – This series is mostly remembered for an incident in game 5 where young absent-minded baserunner Manny Ramirez forgot to run to 2ndbase on a would-be walkoff single in the 10th, keeping the game tied and allowing the White Sox to win in 12 innings in an incident forever known as “Manny’s Boner”. 

NLCS: Montreal over Atlanta (4-2) – After losing the first two games at home, the Expos rally to win four straight after another unfortunate national anthem incident at game 3 in Atlanta where the Canadian flag was flown upside down….again. 

World Series: Montreal over Chicago (4-2) – A costly error in game 6 by Julio Franco, playing 2ndbase in place of Joey Cora due to the lack of the DH, leads to a 5 run Montreal 3rdinning in the clincher. Canadian Larry Walker wins series MVP as the Expos become the third straight World Series winner from Canada. 

[victoriagloverstuff]

Are Things Getting Better or Worse? A Conversation with Mike Pesca ‹ Literary Hub

Will Schwalbe: Hi, I’m Will Schwalbe, and this is But That’s Another Story. Most booklovers have a go-to book or author when the weight of the world just gets a little too heavy to bear. I have one friend who always turns to P.G. Wodehouse. Another swears by the novelist Nancy Mitford. These days, as soon as she finishes Love in a Cold Climate, she starts on The Pursuit of Love. Then, like shampoo, it’s rinse and repeat.

For me, there’s only one author who can always get me out of a funk when the world is just too aggravating, and that’s Robert Benchley, who wrote for The New Yorker from the mid-1920s to the 1940s. He gave us immortal lines like, “Why don’t you get out of that wet coat and into a dry martini?” Among other things, Benchley was the patron saint of procrastination—and procrastinators. A classic curmudgeon, he looked at the world with a bemused eye and found it and himself lacking. But Benchley is at his best when he’s taking everyone around him to task for crimes like ice crunching, loud gum chewing, and talking obsessively and their vacations. I only wonder what quips he’d have for these times. But I must confess: I gain some comfort from knowing that things were bad then too. And if that’s the case, maybe things haven’t quite gone to hell in a handbasket. Maybe some things have been there all the while. And recently, I got to talking about what to read when you want to feel better about the world with today’s guest.

Mike Pesca: I’m Mike Pesca. I’m host of the Slate daily podcast The Gist, and I’m the author of Upon Further Review: The Greatest What Ifs in Sports History.

WS: Mike Pesca has always been good at talking and telling stories, and that’s come in handy for his storied career in radio—as a producer at WNYC’s On the Media, a correspondent for NPR, and now as the host of The Gist, which is on episode… oh, well over a thousand by now. And even as a kid, it wasn’t too hard to imagine that this is where he might end up.

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MP: Friends of mine say, oh, I haven’t talked to you in a while, but I feel like I hear from you because your show is the essence of you, the distillation of you, so that’s a compliment. And it has never surprised anyone that this is what I’m doing. Like I’m one of those people where no one ever said, really? You? They’re like, yeah, okay. We didn’t know what podcasting was, but if someone had told me that there would be this thing called podcasting, I’d be like, oh, yeah. Mike Pesca should do that. 

I was like other kids, only taller, smarter and more vain. I grew up on Long Island. I was born in the driveway of the house my parents still live in. And when I say driveway, there was a 1968 Plymouth Barracuda in the driveway, and it was in that front seat that I was born.

My parents were both public school teachers, and I especially think my father, being a social studies teacher and being the kind of person who was really committed to current events, the news, fair-minded ingestion of right, left, always of thinking—that couldn’t have influenced me more.

WS: Another big influence was reading.

MP: My nose was always in a book, and I liked Vonnegut, I liked Catch-22. I just really loved magazine journalism, and I loved everything that P.J. O’Rourke did in Rolling Stone. And then I went back and kind of used him as a way into National Lampoon, and I read everything in National Lampoon. And I read this book on the history of college humor magazines. And I had no idea that college humor magazines even existed. And all I ever wanted to do from that point on was to go to college and write for my humor magazine, because I was so influenced by this idea and this institution. And I got to college and I opened one copy of the humor magazine and I said, this sucks! And I never wrote for them.

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Another very formative thing for me was I was in the Model United Nations, as a lot of people are, and I remember going to the library—and this is the days before all the information was really readily available, so you would have to go through the card catalogs, but the huge books of periodicals. And this exposed me to things like Foreign Policy magazine, also Macleans, which is essentially the Canadian version of Time. And certain magazines or periodicals kept popping up, so I would go to the library and read these magazines and periodicals that I only got to know because of Model United Nations.

WS: And one of the other big things Mike was into as a kid should come as little surprise.

MP: I always loved radio and listened to radio and would drive to my aunt’s house in eastern Long Island or New Jersey and we’d listen to talk radio on the way there and back.

WS: But it didn’t stop with just listening to the radio. A big Jets fan, he started calling in to local sports programs when he was around ten years old.

MP: We tend to remember the thing we have a photograph of, even if we haven’t looked at the photograph in 20 years. So, I think I had one recording of one of my shows and that’s the one that I very much remember. This recording I haven’t heard in 20 years, but it’s just the one that I heard more than once, or the one I heard again, not as a participant. And it was me talking about Wesley Walker coming back from injury. He was a Jets receiver, and I offered my opinion that, Walker is a couple weeks back from injury, I don’t think he and Richard Todd have gotten their rhythm back. And the cohost of the show, who’s the linebacker, a member of the Jets, Greg Buttle said, “That’s it, that’s it, Mike from Oceanside, you’ve nailed it exactly. They don’t have their rhythm back yet.” So, it felt pretty good. And I found out later that Greg Buttle, the host of the show is a member of the Jets, was a little pissed off that I would call in every week and they made a big deal about it. They even had what’s called a sounder, which is like some sound effect that Mike from Oceanside is calling. He got really grumpy about it, that I was taking a little bit of the spotlight, but his cohost, or maybe there was a station director who was paying attention to such things knew that it was good radio.

WS: And Mike’s love of the beleaguered football team didn’t just lead him to radio—it also led him to approach the world in a somewhat counterintuitive way for a Jets fan: as an optimist.

MP: I told you I was a Jets fan, right? So that would lead you think, oh, he’s only experienced heartache and regret. But he still came back to being a Jets fan. I think that was the crucible in which I was formed.

I would say, I know my mother was certainly a pessimist and would tell me that her life philosophy is expect the worse and this way if it happens, you won’t be surprised, but if something good happens, you’ll appreciate it. I definitely thought that was an insane philosophy and I’d debate her on this. So I probably was an optimist if I had to put my finger on it.

WS: And as he stopped debating the merits of optimism versus pessimism with his mother, Mike started debating what he wanted to do with his life.

MP: When I was in college, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. I knew I liked politics. But there was something about journalism that seemed really dry and uncreative and I was wrong about that but—two things. One, I think journalism was less creative then, but I also think that I didn’t realize how much you could bring creativity to non-fiction. So I said to myself, well, I love the news, and I love current events, but I just couldn’t see myself dedicating myself to being a reporter where all you can do to express yourself, or to show imagination, like, what can you do? You’re pretty constrained by actual events.

I remember having this thought and I had a couple friends who were journalists, and they got jobs at small papers. And it didn’t seem like they were doing terribly exciting things—they were just dutifully reporting the goings-on of local city councils. But there was something about NPR—which I didn’t listen to until after I graduated from college. I didn’t even know it existed, I don’t think. There was something about the raucous nature about sports radio, or the interesting nature of the interviews I was hearing on NPR. That to me, represented something like non-fiction plus creativity, plus communication/expression—that’s definitely something I should do.

WS: Mike started out as an intern at his local public radio station, WNYC, and quickly found out that working in radio was exactly where he was supposed to be.

MP: My first full-time job was with a show called On the Media, which was hosted by a guy named Alex Jones—okay, not that Alex Jones. Alex Jones, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who won a Pulitzer for writing about The New York Times. So, back then, we were covering media in an interesting way. I thought it was an interesting topic, and there just wasn’t the crush of media coverage. I liked the subject matter and I liked the fact that I wasn’t just producing and writing questions or researching for someone else. Pretty soon, I was encouraged to go on air and do reports, and so I would get a slot here and there and then a slot every week, and eventually I became a producer at large, and that was great. That was. They’re great people to work with and it was a fun show to work on and a fun topic.

One of the first kind of big assignments, I was working for On the Media and John F. Kennedy Jr.’s plane crashed.

The producer of that show called me up and he said, what are you doing? He said, John F. Kennedy’s plane crashed. We need you to get over there. Where’s there? I don’t know, a crash somewhere in Long Island sound. And then we realized that much of the action’s going to be in Hyannis Port, so I take a ferry across to Hyannis Port—and this is just spur of the moment, rent a car, drive out there, take a ferry, drive to the Kennedy compound, do a story about, at least the scene at the Kennedy compound. I did nothing to book a hotel. I did nothing about logistics—I just jumped into the car and went. By the night and through the next day, I think I worked through the night. So, I was driving back over one of the bridges there up in Cape Cod, and I pulled onto a public park and there was a picnic table, and I laid down on the picnic table and I fell asleep for two hours. And when I woke up I said, this is the physically worst I have ever felt in my life. And I said, that’s journalism.

WS: Mike Pesca had been steadily working on media stories for radio when he started a new job on an NPR show called Day to Day. His assignment was report on, well, everything, and so he found himself paying a lot of attention to book reviews, regularly checking The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Book Review. And one book that was getting a lot of attention at that time stood out to him: The Progress Paradox, by Gregg Easterbrook.

MP: The Progress Paradox talks about the world as it is now, or as it was then—it’s about a 14-year-old book at this point. And it makes a couple points. One, things are a lot better than they’re given credit for, and the way it does this, I think, through the details, are really convincing and compelling and fabulous. Things are a lot better than people think. This confirmed a lot of feelings I had or thoughts I had, but he fleshed it out in a great way. And the second thing it does—it asserts not only are things better, but people really don’t give it credit. And he proves how pessimistic people are, and in survey data and psychological data, how people look at the world as a glass-half-empty place. That’s the cover of the book. It’s a half-empty glass of water.

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I read the title of the book. I immediately gleaned what he was talking about. If I had any question, the subtitle—“how life gets better while people feel worse”—I said to myself, yes! I do think that happens! And then I started reading reviews of the book and I said, ooh! This seems to be the sort of book that I’m interested in. And I should also say that what really popped out at me was not, you know, general trends about growing GDP, it was more the specifics, such as the fact that he writes about how whole states, like Florida, couldn’t even exist without air conditioning. And yet, no one walks around saying, thank God for air conditioning, it made Florida possible—but maybe we should.

Another example of that—acid rain. It had a very horrifying sounding name, and you can accompany it with visuals of things that have been rotted a little bit by the so-called acid rain. And acid rain was a problem—the rain was acidic because of pollution. And it was really reported like this is not only going to kill all these fish in a lake, probably we’re all going to die from acid rain. And it wasn’t hype. It wasn’t exactly irresponsible. If nothing was done, we would all suffer consequences of acid rain.

This has been the story of humanity—up until now. But the story of humanity, all the time, as there were problems is thinking that this trend would at this moment stop. That we’re definitely going to have a nuclear war. We’re definitely going to have acid rain kill us. But the thing is, something was done! Not because something’s always done, but because quite often, human ingenuity looks at problems of the day and solves them!

WS: And for Mike, reading Easterbrook’s book not only confirmed much of what he already believed about the world—but it also made him think differently about his own work.

MP: I thought he wrapped it up well! After reading it, I said to myself, yeah! This is not only a good book in the specifics and the execution, this is the sort of nonfiction that speaks to almost every other work of nonfiction.

What this book did is it gave me sort of a ballast or a master script to deal with why this keeps happening. Why we ignore progress that’s going on. Why it’s deemed less newsworthy. Why you’ve never read a story—I’m going to assume—most people have never read a story on how we conquered acid rain. So there’s 10,000 stories about acid rain and the problem and there’s not one story about, hey, remember acid rain? Was that really a thing? Here’s what we did to beat it. And so I started looking more for—looking a little more askance at the stories that were, this horrible thing is going to kill us, and more for the interesting wrinkle of a story that kind of explains the world outside of this paradigm of intractable problem.

WS: And even years after reading The Progress Paradox, Mike still believes in its message.

MP: 2004 is a good time to write a book about how good things are, because things are pretty good in 2004. So, you know, if you write a book at the peak or near the peak of the good times, it’s easy to say times are good and people don’t realize it. However, Easterbrook did come out with a book last year that really shows all the trend lines, in general, are improving.

Barack Obama used to argue this all the time—there’s never been a better time to be a person on this planet. There’s never been a better time to be a randomly born person on this planet. Or, by the way, he would say, there’s never been a better time to be a randomly born person in America. And maybe during the Barack Obama administration, that was true. And maybe that’s less true in the last couple years. Or maybe, like Easterbrook says, it just doesn’t feel true because it’s never really felt true.

WS: And when the news of the day dips towards the depressing, that’s what Mike reminds himself.

MP: Most of the time, we trend towards progress. And in some cases, we believe that, most of the people who are most of the people who are really worried about the state of our democracy today—and you should be worried, and you shouldn’t put your head in the ground, and by the way, if we don’t do anything—just like if we didn’t do anything about acid rain—good things won’t happen. So it’s concerned people like you, who are active and worried about the world who are making it a better place. But, most of those kind of people will believe things like, the arc of history bends towards justice. And it also bends towards progress. And it’s not always such a slow arc. I mean, the book starts with saying, what if your great-grandparents came back to America today, what would they think? They would find it a bountiful wonderland, essentially. I mean no material shortages—that alone! And a state like Florida which can be air conditioned.

Whenever I express this philosophy to other people, they very frequently jump to, well you’re just going to sit back and think that good things will happen? Absolutely not. I don’t think that. Easterbrook doesn’t think that. I don’t think the people who are worried about the progress of the world think that anyone should sit back. The point is, we as a, as a people, as a species, don’t sit back. So, lean in—don’t sit back. But absolutely believe that things are possible. I think it’s self-defeating and inaccurate to think that these problems can’t be solved and that good things are not only impossible but actually haven’t been the rule, rather than the exception.

Good read found on the Lithub

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1211

Monday, May 7, 2018

 We set a new sales record on Free Comic Book Day, Saturday, May 5 and I want to thank everybody for coming in to help make my day a whole lot happier. Ottawa ComicCon in coming up this weekend from May 11 to 13. It's also the weekend that fishing season starts so you know where to find me. I've been itching to wet a line for months. It was a beautiful day Sunday so I went out for a long bike ride. I kept wishing that I had packed my fishing rod and a lure as I rode along the Rideau river and canal. I probably wouldn't have caught anything but it's the anticipation of feeling that tug on my line that makes it exciting.

 Avengers #691 - Jason Aaron (writer) Ed McGuinness (pencils) Mark Morales (inks) David Curiel (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Yeah, yeah, it says #1 but I'm not playing Marvel's renumbering game. The Legacy number is also in the corner box and I'm going to stick to that. This regrouping of the team starts with the core of three founding members, Captain America, Iron Man and Thor. But first we have to go back a million years to see what the latest global threat is. Odin and the Super Ancient Avengers prepare to battle aliens as powerful as Galactus at the dawn of Man. Huge threats, huge stakes and the writer of the Mighty Thor delivers a mind boggling new story. Ed McGuinness did Jack Kirby proud. The one thing that bothered me was how did Thor's eye get better but not his arm?

 Batman #46 - Tom King (writer) Tony S. Daniel (art) Sandu Florea (inking assists) Tomeu Morey (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). This is one crazy Booster Gold story in an alternate universe with a Michelle Pfeiffer Catwoman and a gun toting Batman who is not Bruce Wayne. We have to slog through this before we get back to Selina and Bruce's wedding I guess.

 Death or Glory #1 - Rick Remender (writer) Bengal (art) Rus Wooton (letters). There are deaths in this debut. Three so far. There is also Glory, the cute gear head trying to save a loved one who needs a new liver by ripping off a crime boss. The art is really nice and Glory is very likable. When she discovers what the bad guys are really dealing, that's when I want to read the next issue.

 Hunt for Logan: Weapon Lost #1 - Charles Soule (writer) Matteo Buffagni (art) Jim Charalampidis (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). The first team looking for Logan hits the racks in this 4-issue mini and the cover shows us that Daredevil and Misty Knight are on the team. Two others get recruited and they will surprise you. There's going to be a lot of detective work happening. I wish Matteo Buffagni was doing the art on Daredevil too. It's so nice.

 Xerxes #2 - Frank Miller (story & art) Alex Sinclair (colours). The Game of Thrones theme song started playing in my head at the start of this issue as the Greek army returns to Athens. A neat trick makes Xerxes' father command his ships to retreat as the Persians prepare to attack Athens. This historical drama shows why Frank Miller is on my list of master storytellers.

 Captain America #701 - Mark Waid (writer) Leonardo Romero with Adam Hughes & J.G. Jones (art) Matthew Wilson with Adam Hughes & Paul Mounts (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I wasn't going to grab this issue off the racks to read but a friend alerted me to the fact that Adam Hughes did some pages so I just had to have a look see. Adam starts this story off in 1944 with Cap and Bucky trying to retrieve the super soldier serum from German scientists. The two page fight with Warrior Woman in her patent leather costume made my decision to read this issue well worth the time. The rest of the story surprised me because it's about Steve Rogers' descendants in the future and traitors working with the Kree. I've jumped on and off the Captain America bandwagon because of changes in the storytelling and this new story makes me want to jump back on.

 Weapon X #17 - Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (writers) Yildiray Cinar (art) Frank D'Armata (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Sabretooth's In Charge part 1. Victor's first mission as team leader is to catch the serial killer Omega Red. This bad guy is a threat because he's a mutant succubus. He can siphon off the life force of other mutants. Plus he's got Doctor Octopus like tentacles. I like that he wears a headband.

 Astonishing X-Men #11 - Charles Soule (writer) Ron Garney (art) Matt Milla (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). A Man Called X part 5. I have been waiting for a surprise ever since the return of Professor X and this issue delivers. Things escalate while the team is battling Proteus and pop goes the weasel. It's "uh-oh" time.

 Spider-Man #240 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Oscar Bazaldua (art) Laura Martin with Matt Milla & Peter Pantazis (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This is it. The last issue that Brian Michael Bendis will write for this title. I have been reading this book since issue #1. That's eighteen-plus years and over 300 issues that Brian has written. My favourite super hero is Spider-Man and when I saw Ultimate Spider-Man #1 on the racks I gave it a chance to see where this guy was going to take this iconic character. Well he took him right here in the form of Miles Morales. I love Miles and I hope that whoever takes over writing his adventures keeps that sense of power and responsibility that Brian gave the character. Take one look at the extra special last page by Sara Pichelli (art) and Justin Ponsor (colours) and you'll see what Brian's run was all about. That's what made his run so special to me. No other title has given me more "I can't wait for the next issue to come out" reactions when I got to the last panel than this one. This is going to be a tough act to follow.

[zeroviraluniverse-blog]

Insiders predict which No. 1 seed is most vulnerable, who will be the breakout postseason star

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Insiders predict which No. 1 seed is most vulnerable, who will be the breakout postseason star

Our NHL experts tackle the pressing questions as we march toward the playoffs, including which No. 1 seed is most vulnerable in the first round, who will be the postseason’s breakout star and which teams will spend big in free agency.

Which current division No. 1 seed is most likely to lose the first round?

Greg Wyshynski, senior NHL writer: The Nashville Predators. Yes, this could be me attempting to justify my truly misguided prediction that the Predators would miss the playoffs. Or it could be me saying that a first-round series against someone like Ken Hitchcock’s Dallas Stars or Jonathan Quick and the Los Angeles Kings could be problematic for the Preds. It would be an undeniable shock. But hey, Predators fans, if it’s a consolation, I clearly have no read on your team.

Is Sidney Crosby the NHL’s version of Duke villains Christian Laettner and Grayson Allen? Or are the Blackhawks and their bandwagon fans hockey’s Blue Devils? Pittsburgh and Chicago get the calls and the glory — and have guys opposing fans love to hate.

The Capitals superstar scored his 600th goal at age 32 and doesn’t appear to be slowing down. But he has a long way to go to reach the Great One. Our experts weigh in on whether Ovechkin will break the sport’s most famous record.

Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo is also a parent who lives Parkland, Florida. Two weeks after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Luongo has another message: “I want the [students] to keep fighting. And I want everyone to pay attention.”

2 Related

Emily Kaplan, national NHL reporter: The Vegas Golden Knights. Two regular-season overachievers (Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson) have a combined 12 games of playoff experience. While Vegas stunned the league with its impressive start, rolling out four even lines, it feels like the rest of the NHL is catching up, especially as they gear up and into playoff mode. Then again, the Golden Knights have been playing with nothing to lose all season, and have a playoff-tested goaltender in Marc-Andre Fleury, so they’ll probably prove me wrong. Again.

Chris Peters, NHL prospects writer: I’m going with the Golden Knights, too. They’re not exactly a team you’d want to bet against, but among the top seeds I think they’ll probably end up with the toughest overall matchup. Among teams jockeying for wild-card position in the West and among the potential matchups are the battle-tested Kings, the Anaheim Ducks and the St. Louis Blues. The Stars and Calgary Flames present their own challenges as well. The Colorado Avalanche might be the least threatening foe on paper, but the Western Conference is going to be a grind no matter who Vegas draws.

Ben Arledge, NHL Insider editor: I’ll say the Washington Capitals even though we all know they are more likely to fall in the second round. Since Jan. 1, the Caps actually have a minus-3 goal differential, and goalie Braden Holtby remains in some sort of funk. If Washington has to play the Columbus Blue Jackets or Philadelphia Flyers, it might not emerge from the opening set of games.

Lightning center Brayden Point (21) is only 22, but he is ready for his postseason closeup. Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images

Which player will become a household name by the end of the playoffs?

Wyshynski: Tampa Bay Lightning center Brayden Point has 57 points in 69 games and is playing in the offensive shadows of Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos. But the dude has 10 game-winning goals, including four overtime game winners. The 22-year-old has never played on the Stanley Cup playoffs stage before, but something tells us he’s going to shine when he does.

Kaplan: The hockey world has been gushing over Patrik Laine. Get ready for casual observers to jump on the bandwagon, too. Laine has a sniping style quite similar to Alex Ovechkin (the player he grew up idolizing), and no player has scored more goals since the start of the 2016-17 season than the 19-year-old Finn. Laine embodies the young, plucky Winnipeg Jets — one of the NHL’s darlings all season. If nothing else, his scraggly beard will captivate us all; who knows how that thing will manifest in the playoffs.

Which teams have the best shot at locking up a playoff spot? Who’s earning a better shot at the No. 1 overall pick? Here are the latest projections for both, along with critical matchups to watch today and more. Read »

Peters: The Columbus Blue Jackets might not go on a terribly deep run in the playoffs, but they should face a high-profile enough opponent to get some extra attention. That’s why I’m picking Seth Jones. He’s having his best season as a pro and is even starting to get more mentions as a Norris Trophy candidate. Columbus coach John Tortorella wants Jones to be aggressive offensively and it’s paying off. Jones is averaging nearly 25 minutes a night, has 48 points and is second among all defensemen with 234 shots on goal this season. I think he’s ready to step into stardom.

Arledge: Connor Hellebuyck has been downright excellent in goal for the Jets, posting a .923 save percentage in his first year as their full-time starter. What’s more, he has been even better down the stretch, registering a .937 save percentage in six March starts, all of which included at least 30 saves. With Winnipeg likely to make a run, Hellebuyck will need to be great, and I think he’ll still be a big story come May.

Which player is his playoff-bound team missing the most?

Wyshynski: If the goalie is the most important player on the ice, then logically losing a goalie would be the most critical blow to a team. Except that the Stars have actually gotten solid goaltending from backup Kari Lehtonen in Ben Bishop‘s absence (even if it has been wasted). But the Flyers? Yeah, they miss Brian Elliott. When both he and Michal Neuvirth went down, Philadelphia traded for Detroit Red Wings goalie Petr Mrazek. Three of Mrazek’s nine starts for the Flyers qualify as quality. The streak Philly went on after Elliott last played on Feb. 10 has leveled off. Bottom line: Elliott gives the Flyers the best chance to win, and they need him healthy.

Kaplan: The Sharks have coped with Joe Thornton‘s absence thus far — they’re still clinging onto second place in the Pacific Division — but I’m worried about their playoff prospects if the center does not return. Since Thornton’s injury, the Sharks are 11-9-2, averaging 2.9 goals per game. San Jose’s power play scored on 14.8 percent of opportunities, the second-worst mark in the league during that span. That’s no way to roll into the playoffs.

With star Auston Matthews (left) sidelined, the Maple Leafs have struggled. Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

Peters: There are few players in the game today like Auston Matthews, and that shows in how the Toronto Maple Leafs have played without him. A stick-tap to Greg for this fun fact: With Matthews in the lineup, Toronto is averaging 3.45 goals per game and have gone 32-16-5. Without the 20-year-old phenom, whose 82-game pace would put him around 43 goals on the season, it’s down to 2.81 and the Maple Leafs is 8-6-2. Smaller sample size or not, the Leafs are a much better team with No. 34 in the lineup.

Arledge: Yes, the Boston Bruins certainly need their guys back, especially top-pair blueliner Charlie McAvoy, but they are existing just fine without their trio of injured players, rattling off six wins in their past seven games. Like Chris, I’d go with Matthews. The Maple Leafs have lost four of six while Matthews sits, and with very little information about his status and a constantly changing timetable for his return, it’s understandable that Toronto fans might be getting a bit nervous and frustrated.

Who should new Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon hire as his team’s next general manager?

Wyshynski: Julien BriseBois of the Lightning should be handed the keys to the Carolina franchise. He has been groomed for years as GM of Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate, which continues to succeed and pump out quality young players. BriseBois helped manage contracts for Lightning GM Steve Yzerman, who usually gets all the credit for the team’s remarkable salary-ca account-balancing that has afforded the Lightning this two-year window to go all-in. The only problem: He’s too good, and hence will have his pick of jobs. And one assumes the Quebec native would love his shot at the Montreal Canadiens when Marc Bergevin is finally turfed.

Before conversations with Wild reporter Mike Russo of the Athletic as well as Panthers executive Shawn Thornton, Greg Wyshynski and Emily Kaplan discuss Alex Ovechkin eclipsing 600 career goals and who may one day take his crown, the goalie interference dilemma plaguing the NHL and much more. Listen »

Kaplan: Paul Fenton has been with the Predators since the beginning. He is currently their assistant GM. It’s hard to gauge exactly what roles behind-the-scenes guys like Fenton play for their franchises, but there’s no question Fenton is respected within league circles. Dundon has hinted that he wants someone with different qualities than previous Hurricanes GM Ron Francis. If Fenton has had a hand in any of the Predators’ signature, aggressive moves, I think Dundon might find a perfect match in him.

Peters: Fenton’s was the first name that popped in my mind, too, Emily. He’s only 58 and has been in the NHL for nearly 25 years on the administrative side. He also has a deep scouting background, which helps. That said, I think Dundon will go in a different direction. Perhaps he’ll try to pry Kyle Dubas out of Toronto. Dubas is a little outside of the mainstream, which I think might appeal to the new Hurricanes owner. Whomever Dundon hires, it seems like the GM job will require to be a lot of interaction with him. I think Dubas has the right temperament to deal with that, while also having the confidence to implement his own plan going forward.

Arledge: I’ll agree with Greg here. BriseBois is the best option available, and he has nowhere to go within the Tampa Bay organization. Former Kings GM Dean Lombardi’s name has also been thrown around a bit, and he might end up being the guy if Carolina can’t lure BriseBois away from the competition. Sure, Lombardi has a reputation for making the occasional bad deal, but he has two Stanley Cups to his name. There aren’t a ton of home run options available.

Which team(s) should tear it all down this offseason?

Wyshynski: The Vancouver Canucks seem to finally have embraced the concept of rebuilding, which is great news for Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat and the rest of the team’s new core. The Sedin twins’ future is a sticky wicket — the Canucks should bring them back, but only on the team’s terms (which should include one-year contracts). But if there’s a way to flip winger Loui Eriksson, defenseman Alexander Edler and potentially defenseman Chris Tanev — who is younger than Edler, and with a more attractive contract — then the Canucks should continue the tear-down. It’ll take some waiving of no-trade and no-move clauses, however.

Will forwards Daniel and Henrik finish their careers with the Canucks? Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images

Kaplan: After the trade deadline, Buffalo Sabres GM Jason Botterill told reporters: “The group that we have right now is not working.” It’s hard to disagree. You could argue that few of the 13 players who will become either restricted or unrestricted free agents this summer are worth bringing back. The Sabres should have a decent amount of cap space and I’d love to see Botterill go on a spending spree and begin shaping a roster he’s more comfortable with.

Peters: I’m with Emily on this one. The big caveat is that Sabres owner Terry Pegula has to stick with whatever the next course of action is and deal with however long it takes. This team has gone through too many personnel changes; Botterill is Buffalo’s third GM and Housley is its fourth coach since 2013. Jack Eichel is obviously the centerpiece and prospect Casey Mittelstadt is looking like another potential cornerstone player for this team to continue to build on. After that, you might say just about everyone is expendable. How much more pain is this owner and this fan base willing to endure?

Arledge: Ottawa has a long rebuild ahead. The Senators overachieved in the playoffs last season, which might have given their brass pause in terms of mixing things up at all in the offseason, but the reality is that this team is going nowhere fast right now. Goalie Craig Anderson is going to be 37 years old next season (and his play is pretty dismal right now), Erik Karlsson is likely out the door in a year if he is not moved before that and the Senators currently roster zero forwards under the age of 25. I’d like to see Ottawa get something worthwhile for Karlsson and to potentially move that Bobby Ryan contract. Time to rip it all up and go full breakdown, a la the New York Rangers.

[buddyrabrahams]

15 biggest disappointments of NFL Week 14

Whether it was a matter of players going down with injuries, failing to produce, or teams blowing games, there were plenty of disappointments in Week 14 of the NFL. We saw the Browns do their usual thing, a fight between a player and fans in Jacksonville, and even league officials not protecting a player the way they should have.

Here’s a look at the 15 biggest disappointments from Week 14.

Cleveland Browns

This was it. This was the chance. The Browns were at home and entered the fourth quarter with a 21-7 lead on the Green Bay Packers. Brett Hundley isn’t exactly an outstanding quarterback, and it seemed unlikely that he’d be able to drag the Packers back from two scores down. This is the Browns, though, and with the Browns all things are possible as long as they’re negative things. A game-tying touchdown with 17 seconds left was followed by a horrible DeShone Kizer overtime interception, and that was that. 0-16 seems more likely than ever.

Derek Carr, QB, Raiders

Carr and the Raiders finally had a chance to make up for most of their tumultuous season. They had the Kansas City Chiefs head-to-head with the opportunity to move ahead of them in the standings — a scenario that seemed impossible even a month ago. The Chiefs’ defense hadn’t been performing well, which should have led to Carr feasting. He didn’t. He was picked off twice while throwing for 211 yards and one touchdown. They didn’t score in the game until garbage time, which was also where he ran up his yardage total. How bad was Carr? He fell on the sword for his performance in this one.

NFL concussion protocol — again

The sight of Houston Texans quarterback Tom Savage twitching on the field was shocking and frightening. His response to a big hit seemed like possible symptom of a traumatic brain injury, and Savage did come out of the game to go through the concussion protocol. That worked as designed until Savage was somehow allowed to return to the game minutes later before ultimately being pulled again for good. The NFL simply must answer as to how someone who was visibly shaking on the field in plain sight of a referee walked back on the field a few moments later after receiving medical clearance. How can anyone say the system works if something like that can happen right in front of everyone, especially when it happens far too regularly?

LeGarrette Blount, RB, Eagles

Blount had a second straight down week, this time against the Los Angeles Rams. Jay Ajayi hasn’t exactly been great for Blount’s personal production, as the former Miami Dolphin got the bulk of the action — and the yardage — in Week 14. Blount only got seven carries and didn’t make good on them, coming up with only 12 total yards. Ajayi looks like he might be taking over the lead back role, which will be disappointing to Blount, who has done serviceable work this year.

Marcus Mariota, QB, Titans

Coach Mike Mularkey admitted after the Titans’ loss to the Arizona Cardinals that his quarterback was playing on an injured knee, which explains a lot. Mariota was bad again on Sunday, throwing for only 159 yards and no scores in the loss. He turned the ball over twice, and those interceptions were key in allowing Arizona to win the game. Mariota has been on this list quite a bit recently. Perhaps his health — he’s dealt with hamstring and knee injuries this season — is a reason why.

Kirk Cousins, QB, Redskins

Cousins on Sunday became the latest victim of a steadily improving Los Angeles Charger defense. Cousins went 15-for-27 for only 151 yards, throwing one touchdown and one fairly brutal interception. The Redskins are more or less done at 5-8, so this wasn’t a particularly damaging defeat, but Cousins has a lot to play for. He’s due to become a free agent. And while opinions are pretty well baked in on him at this point, he can’t afford to struggle too much down the stretch.

Ending of Jaguars-Seahawks game

Seattle has, at times in the past, not exactly lost with grace and class. That happened again on Sunday. Things really kicked off when Michael Bennett inexplicably went for the low block as the Jaguars moved into their victory formation. Things got worse, though, as Jacksonville fans began throwing things at Quinton Jefferson, which nearly sparked an all-out brawl. Nobody really came out looking good at the end of this one.

Jimmy Graham, TE, Seahawks

Seattle’s touchdown machine suddenly stopped working on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Graham enteredd the game hot, having scored at least one touchdown in four consecutive games and seven of his last eight. Not only did he not score a touchdown on Sunday, but Graham was held without a reception for the first time in three years. Ultimately, Russell Wilson was simply looking elsewhere, and the Jaguars did a good job — not that it’ll be any consolation to him.

Latavius Murray, RB, Vikings

Minnesota’s eight-game win streak was halted by the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, and the fact that they were able to bottle up the Viking run game was a big reason why. Murray has been a consistently strong contributor to the Minnesota offense since roughly October, but he didn’t get it going here, with only 14 yards on nine carries. That forced Case Keenum to make plays. The QB couldn’t quite make enough, resulting in Minnesota’s first defeat since Oct. 1.

Greg Olsen, TE, Panthers

Olsen was back in action against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, but didn’t have much to offer. He had one brief moment where he left the game to have his problematic foot checked, but he returned to action. Even so, he was targeted only once and didn’t make any catches. Minnesota limited Carolina’s passing game, but the issue of Olsen and Cam Newton not quite being in sync dates back to his first attempt to return from injury. Hopefully it’s just a rust issue.

Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals had been playing pretty good ball over the past month. They had beaten the Broncos and Browns, and they were leading the Steelers on Monday Night Football until blowing that game. They had a good opportunity to inch back into contention with a matchup against the Bears at home, and they blew it. The Bengals allowed 33 points to what was one of the league’s least productive offense entering the game. They surrendered 482 yards to a team that entered the game last in the league with 275.8 yards per game. They allowed 232 rushing yards and couldn’t stop Jordan Howard or Tarik Cohen, who both had big games. On offense, Andy Dalton couldn’t get anything going, while A.J. Green did very little. Overall, the injuries from Monday night’s brutal game against Pittsburgh may have caught up to Cincinnati in this one.

Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense

Just like the Bengals, the Steelers may have been feeling the effects of a rough Monday night game. Pittsburgh, previously the No. 4-ranked scoring defense, allowed 38 points to a pretty pathetic Baltimore offense. They couldn’t stop Alex Collins, who rushed for 120 yards and a touchdown. Joe Flacco tied a season high in passing yards. The defense didn’t record a sack in the game despite being second in the league in sacks entering the contest. Luckily their offense was able to outscore Baltimore. They sure look like they already miss Ryan Shazier.

Dontae Johnson, CB, 49ers

DeAndre Hopkins turned in one of the biggest games of the weekend for a wide receiver with 11 catches for 149 yards and two touchdowns. He can partly thank Dontae Johnson for that. Pro Football Focus graded Johnson out at a lowly 26.8 out of 100. They say he allowed nine catches out of 10 balls to his zone for 140 yards and a touchdown. On top of that, he was called for three penalties. He simply could not hang with Nuk.

New York Giants’ defense

The Giants entered Week 14 allowing the most yards per game in the NFL (390.8), so seeing them give up big plays is somewhat expected. Still, what happened on Sunday was just unforgivable. The Giants’ defense allowed three plays of 50 yards or more to the Dallas Cowboys. Rod Smith had an 81-yard touchdown; Dez Bryant had a 50-yard TD; and Cole Beasley broke a 54-yard play. These plays mostly came on catches and runs where the Giants’ linebackers and secondary just allowed Dallas’ receivers/backs to get behind them. That’s been the story of the season for the Giants’ defense, and it’s an embarrassing one.

Sterling Shepard, WR, Giants

Eli Manning’s return to the starting role didn’t end up doing much for Shepard, who was suffocated by the Dallas defense. He got three targets and caught two of them for a total of 16 yards, his second-worst game of the season and worst output overall in two months. The Cowboys were up for this one, and Shepard was always going to have a rough time, but this was a really disappointing showing — especially when you consider that he and Manning have linked up nicely this year.

from Larry Brown Sports http://ift.tt/2AudIGs