#astro club penguin

[rhythmoidd]

I drew Astro in Donald's outfit in Kingdom Hearts bc I'm playing the game on twitch atm!

he probably won't heal you but at least he looks cute

[crystallizedday]

Dr. Hare really was just the first William Afton, huh? Genius bunny-costume-wearing guy kidnapping kids who “always comes back”…

… & that will be the last time I ever mention that cursed comparison cause I hate it so much. WHEEIXJSKD

Anyway, YEAH

For a while, I’ve been wondering why I can’t really seem to let Poptropica go aside from like potentially nostalgia or something, but I think it’s cause it GENUINELY has more than what’s presented at face value that I was just too stupid of a little kid to really notice at first.

Some islands just have some genuinely investing pieces of world building that really WASN’T necessary but was just… put in there anyway. It really shows the passion that was put into these miniature stories, ESPECIALLY with Astro Knights (which, if you can’t tell, is my favorite one).

Bro that whole island had a huge ass telescope-building in the beginning where you can just look at all the different planets you’ll be visiting later on before you knew you were even supposed to go to space, not to mention all the written pieces of lore you can collect to get a better understanding of the setting & what exactly happened here. A lot of them weren’t even needed to solve puzzles, they were just there for anyone interested in the how’s & why’s & even get a certain character’s perspective on what was going on.

Stuff like that really proves these people loved what they were creating & wanted to flesh it out as much as they could &, as a writer myself, it’s really heartwarming & rad to see.

… Bro I dunno how I keep switching the tone up like this, it’s honestly kind of impressive. WHDISJXOSK

WE WERE TALKING ABOUT HOW DARK THIS GAME REALLY IS & I somehow found myself talking about how it’s really sweet the game even has these small details in the first place in which only some of them allude to these dark themes, WHAT??

It’s pretty off topic… but fuck it. It’s too heartwarming not to include.

This is also why I am terrible with small talk, WHICSJCOSKCIIWX

YOU

YOU THINK?? DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW MESSED UP AND SCARRED MOST OF POPTROPICAS VILLAINS ARE??

DO YOU

UNDERSTAND??

HAVE YOU NOT TALKED TO. ANY OF THEM.

I HAVE SEEN THINGS.

IT’S GONNA TAKE MORE THAN “TOTEMS” TO “REMOVE” THE EVIL.

..Also thats not me this image was taken from the wiki.

[encountersltd]

THE DEFINITIVE ENCOUNTERS LTD BLORBO LIST

aka if you make content of these characters i owe you everything and would love to see it (within reason, no nsfw-- that's not what i want to see and for some of these characters it's just plain illegal)

with that...

Abstracty (ONE)

Accessories Shopkeeper (Neopets (NC Mall))

Adventure Tim (Adventure Time kaboom! Comics)

Agent Princess (Adventure Time kaboom! Comics)

Agitha (The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess)

Almond (Cucumber Quest)

The Amoeba Boys (The Powerpuff Girls)

Argenta (Pokémon)

Astro Man (Mega Man 8)

Austin (The Backyardigans)

AVA (Cyberchase)

Bacon (Cucumber Quest)

Balrog (Cave Story)

Barinade (Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time)

Barnaby B. Beagle (Welcome Home)

Baroness Von Bon Bon (Cuphead)

Bashmaster (Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze)

Queen Bea (Super Secret Secret Squirrel)

Beanish (Beanworld)

Big Dog (2 Stupid Dogs)

Blipbug (Pokemon)

Blizzaurus (Super Princess Peach)

Block Man (Mega Man 11)

Test Subject Blue (Nitrome)

Bob the Ball (Within a Deep Forest & Knytt Underground)

Boomer (The Powerpuff Girls)

Mr. Bump (The Mr. Men Show)

Bunny (The Powerpuff Girls)

Buttercup (The Powerpuff Girls)

Buzz Buzz (Earthbound)

Cabby (Inanimate Insanity)

Candi / Kazami (Splatoon)

Caterpillar (Pocoyo)

Charlie The Unicorn (Charlie The Unicorn)

Circi (Drawn To Life)

Citrus Twisty (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes)

Clover (Inanimate Insanity)

ColorMan.exe (Mega Man Battle Network)

Cosmo (Sonic X)

Cucumber (Cucumber Quest)

Daffy Duck (Looney Tunes)

Princess Daisy (Super Mario Bros. series)

Daizy (Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!)

Little Miss Daredevil (The Mr. Men Show)

The Darwinians (Darwinia)

Dee (PBS Kids Bumpers)

Ditto (Nitrome)

Dizzy (Bob The Builder)

Lord Dominator (Wander Over Yonder)

Dora (Dora the Explorer)

Dr. Hipster (MooseBox)

18-Volt (Warioware)

Err (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)

F (Alphabet Lore)

Subject 005 (Kidutus)

Foxtail (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes)

Frank Frankly (Welcome Home)

The Fruit Witches (Adventure Time)

Papa G (Kid Cosmic)

Professor Garbanzo (Beanworld)

Glitchmaster (Cucumber Quest)

H (Those Dancing Letter GIFs)

Hammer (Protagonist Object Show)

Haru (A Year Of Springs)

Headdy (Dynamite Headdy)

Herbert P. Bear (Club Penguin)

Iciclia (Atomic Betty)

Impy (Impy And Wormer)

Isa (Dora the Explorer)

Jenny (My Life As A Teenage Robot)

Jo (Kid Cosmic)

Jonny 2x4 (Ed, Edd, 'n Eddy)

Jojora (Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga)

Julie Joyful (Welcome Home)

Kaeru (Kero Blaster)

Kay K (DoubleDuck (Italian Disney Comics))

Kelly (Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil)

Kenny (My Life As A Teenage Robot)

Lampy (Protagonist Object Show)

Lasermaster (Cucumber Quest (even though they only appear in a non canon guest comic i love them a lot. wish they were real))

Liam (Kidutus)

Little Dog (2 Stupid Dogs)

Lullaby Princess (Adventure Time: Secret of the Nameless Kingdom)

Lurerre the Abysroid (Mega Man ZX)

Maggie Pesky (The Buzz On Maggie)

Heavy Magician (Sonic Mania)

Magolor (Kirby)

Mathman (Square One TV)

Maurecia (Wayside)

Meat Boy (Super Meat Boy)

Meap (Phineas And Ferb)

Meep (Kid Cosmic)

Megamind (Megamind)

Melodytchi (Tamagotchi)

Melon Bread (Gunstar Heroes)

Metro Card (Protagonist Object Show)

Micro Puffs (The Powerpuff Girls (DC Comics))

Milla Vodello (Psychonauts)

Mimi (Super Paper Mario)

Mina (Jelly Jamm)

Misery (Cave Story)

Misty (My Life As A Teenage Robot)

Misty (Pokémon)

Mole (The Modifyers)

Mutemaster (Cucumber Quest)

Myron (Wayside)

President Nanao (Kero Blaster)

Little Miss Naughty (The Mr. Men Show)

Newton (LittleBigPlanet 3)

Nightmare Princess (Adventure Time: Secret of the Nameless Kingdom)

9-Volt (Warioware)

Lady Ohdette (Kidutus)

Orion (My Life As A Teenage Robot)

Pablo (The Backyardigans)

Pandora (Mega Man ZX)

Pato (Pocoyo)

Peridot (Cucumber Quest)

Pheromosa (Pokémon)

Phoney Bone (Bone)

Plague Knight (Shovel Knight)

Plank (Ed, Edd, 'n Eddy)

Colonel Pluck (Donkey Kong Country Returns)

Poison Ivy (Batman)

Popple (Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga)

Printer (titletext[])

Prometheus (Mega Man ZX)

Quack (Peep And The Big Wide World)

The Queen (Jelly Jamm)

Rachel Bighead (Rocko's Modern Life)

Rachel Wilson (The Amazing World Of Gumball)

Ristar (Ristar The Shooting Star)

Robotboy (Robotboy)

ROM The Spaceknight (ROM: Spaceknight)

Roselia (Pokémon)

Rosemaster (Cucumber Quest)

Rubber Band (Paper Mario: The Origami King)

Salad Fingers (Salad Fingers)

Sandy Cheeks (SpongeBob SquarePants)

Saranoia (Yin Yang Yo!)

Science Cat (Adventure Time)

Shannon (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes)

Shed Resident A/V Robot (ItemLabel / Nemo's Factory)

Siren (Stretch Panic)

Skrawl (ChalkZone)

Slumber Princess (Adventure Time: Secret of the Nameless Kingdom)

Small (Big And Small (i don't know much about his source material beyond the house game but he is an absolute angel so on the list he goes))

Snap (ChalkZone)

Sparkster (Rocket Knight Adventures)

Specter Knight (Shovel Knight)

Spectra (Danny Phantom)

Splaat (Klasky Csupo)

SpongeBob SquarePants (SpongeBob SquarePants (he just had to go here))

SpongeBob's Tongue (SpongeBob SquarePants)

Squilliam Fancyson (SpongeBob SquarePants)

Squirps (Super Paper Mario)

Squish (My Life As A Teenage Robot)

Starlow (Mario & Luigi)

Sue (Hanna-Barbera Pac-Man)

Professor Sunshine (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes)

Susie (Kirby)

Swiper the Fox (Dora the Explorer)

Sword Shark [R.I.P.] (Adventure Time)

Taylor (ONE)

Tennis Ball (Tennis Ball on His Day Off)

Terrormisu (Wario: Master Of Disguise)

Terry (That Food Chain episode of Adventure Time)

Texty (ONE)

Tico (Dora the Explorer)

Tinker Knight (Shovel Knight)

Togepi (Pokémon)

Tony (ONE)

Tool Star (Dora the Explorer)

Tortilla (titletext[])

Trix Rabbit (Trix Ads)

Twink (Paper Mario 64)

Unelma Varzai (Kidutus)

Uniqua (The Backyardigans)

Veri (Kidutus)

Victoria Von Bathysphere (LittleBigPlanet 2)

CommanderVideo (BIT.TRIP)

Waluigi (Super Mario Bros. series)

Wander (Wander Over Yonder)

Wario (Super Mario Bros. series)

Whippy Creamy (ONE)

Woggle (Protagonist Object Show)

Wormer (Impy And Wormer)

Wubbzy (Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!)

Agent Xero (The Modifyers)

Queen Xhan (Kid Cosmic)

Mr. Yuk (Safety PSA)

Zazz (Sonic Lost World)

Zeena (Sonic Lost World)

Zoe (Monster Prom)

Zoogina (Zoog Disney)

[puppetsandpantry]

My Avatar History

This is the post the last month of content has been building up to. It doesn't really mean anything to anybody but me, but I want to document this info as a fun little project. This will be going through all the variations and changes in my online avatar since I first started using custom avatars. Let me weave you a tale.

So sometime in the past, around August of 2020, I was a player of the now shuttered game Club Penguin Rewritten. The owners of Club Penguin Rewritten held an art contest, and I decided to participate. I drew a pixel art version of the Astro Barrier ship from the minigame Astro Barrier. I don't have that file anymore, so I can't show it here, but imagine the astro barrier ship (which was already pixelated) but with a bit more graphical fidelity. Like taking something 8-bit and making it sixteen bit. I really enjoyed drawing that space ship, and so I decided to make another, fully original, top down spaceship image. After a bit of tinkering, and a lot of use of the "make rectangle" and "make circle" tools, I came up with something that looked like this:

(This is a recreation based on my memory) At that time, I realized that it vaguely looked like a face. So I made it a face.

At the time, I thought this looked really cool, and based on my desire to have a custom avatar on youtube, I chose this to be my avatar. (Fun Fact: The green and red lights were holdovers for the idea of this being a flying ship of some kind.) One of the next days, I decided to make this not just a head, and gave it a body.

This thing looked really bad, and not long after making it I decided to shelve the idea of giving this thing a body. (Fun Fact: This is the first time I recorded the light on his face red rather than green. This would not be done consistently afterwards, but I did it here first.) The only thing I would keep from this design was the little blue glowing hands, though they never appeared in any official capacity.

After this, I wanted to go back and make some changes to the avatar, or at least I think I did. I don't remember. In any case, due to the way I used to save my pixel art files, when I brought the avatar back into the editing program, it made some weird color blurring changes. For some reason, I liked how said changes looked at the time, and decided to use them in the actual version. I christened this version the "Hi-Rez" version, despite that making no sense.

(I think I thought that it looked like it was shaded better, but it really just looks messy.)

After this, I made some variations for holidays, Halloween and Christmas specifically.

The Halloween avatar is supposed to look like a Jack-O-Lantern, and the Christmas one should be self explanatory. I think I only used the Christmas avatar once, but the Halloween Avatar got used a couple of times. Now for a quick diversion: My original tumblr avatar. The avatars I've shown thus far were only being used on Youtube and Twitter, and maybe some other places that have since stopped existing. When I created my Tumblr, I initially planned on keeping my Tumblr and Twitter separate, though I've now gone back on that decision. When deciding on an avatar, I picked a random file I had lying around, and that was this:

This is a design made inside the Nitrome game "Steamlands," which includes a rudimentary flag designer tool. The resolution on them isn't great, and this is an upscaled version. It's supposed to be a skull, but it looks crappy. I figured it would suffice. At this point, my avatars are stable for a while. To get into why they changed, we first have to talk about my twitter banner. Here is my old twitter banner:

It's the name "Dipped Feathers, with what are supposed to be feathers in the "t", with Sleeping Beauty Castle, a really squashed game controller, and a half animatronic, half bird thing in the foreground. These were chosen to represent my main interests at the time, theme parks, video games, and animatronics. I don't have the file anymore, but the original version of this banner had a dog instead of a bird for the animatronic; I changed it when I realized that a bird made more sense with the name. (Fun Fact: I will not disclose where the name "Dipped Feathers'' comes from.) Here is the Christmas version:

There is snow and the controller is now hot chocolate. This probably also got used only once. (Why there isn't snow on the roof of the castle, I don't know.)

Cut to September of 2023, and I realize that I really didn't like how this banner looked. So I decided to make a new one. Here it is:

I decided to focus more on wavy letters for this one, which are something I have a fondness for. The weird divot at the beginning of "Dipped" is so that the banner doesn't overlap the twitter avatar space. I made the background for this black, which I like because it looks seamless to the rest of the twitter interface when in dark mode. I was really satisfied with this logo, and left it like that for a while. Cut to late September, I became really interested in The Amazing Digital Circus by @gooseworx and Glitch Productions. Even now, I remain obsessed. Knowing that the pilot would be released on October 13th (go watch it), I decided to prepare something to show my excitement. In addition to a group shot of all the characters from the show, I also made this:

It's my avatar with Pomni's Jester hat. (Note: I made the light red instead of green when designing this one, along with cleaning up the blurred details of the "Hi-Rez" version). I used this avatar from October 13th to October 23, before switching back to my halloween avatar for the rest of the month. But while I was designing this variant of the avatar, I realized I really didn't like the avatar base. For one thing, I'd never given it a name (the file name is just "yeet") or even figured out what it was. It wasn't really an OC because it didn't have character. It's a gormless face thing. So I began to make some new ideas, staying in line, color wise, with the new banner I had made. Here are those:

These were all pretty bad. My first attempt was just recoloring the old avatar with the new colors. It didn't look good, but it did lead somewhere. I now share with you, in gif form, the process of getting from my old avatar to my new avatar:

I realized while messing with the colors that the central teal part of the old avatar was basically a little ghost shape. So I gave them the colors of the new banner, and almost immediately I loved how it looked. It's definitely simpler than the old avatar, but it has potential to actually be a character, and it actually looks like something. I couldn't tell you what the old avatar was. This one is a ghost. Simple as that.

I've used this avatar since I made it here on Tumblr and on Youtube, but I've waited till today to use it on twitter. I actually made this avatar on the same day as the Pomni version of the old avatar, and had I not made that avatar, I would have started using this on twitter immediately. I really wanted to use that avatar (and the Halloween one, one more time) before saying goodbye to the avatar design, so I waited until the beginning of November. Which is now, as of me writing this. Thanks for reading!

[jetpackgay]

h

[nazzstalgia]

[penguinnewsnetwork]

Club Penguin Rewritten is Back Online!

After weeks of absence while converting to HTML5, Club Penguin Rewritten is back! The development team is still working on fully-converting the game to HTML5, so there are things that are currently disabled, but I’ll try to cover everything that is available. So, what can you do and not do currently?

Well, the December Penguin Style catalog is still available and you can still buy items. However, it seems like the Edit Player feature doesn’t work. 

The Ice Rink turned back into the Soccer Field, but there’s no catalog available. I bet this is a temporary placeholder.

A handful of games are available to play, while there are some that aren’t. Here’s a list of every game that is currently disabled as of this post: Dance Contest, Jetpack Adventure, Bean Counters, Mancala, DJ3K, Puffle Rescue, Catchin’ Waves, Aqua Grabber, Card Jitsu, Sled Racing, Smoothie Smash, Pufflescape, Puffle Launch, Field Ops, System Defender. 

Games that are available: Find Four, Ice Fishing, Cart Surfer, Thin Ice, Astro Barrier, Hydro Hopper, Pizzatron 3000, Puffle Roundup.

Pretty much every room is available except for The Dojo. The Everyday Phoning Facility is still accessible. 

You can check out the current play: Squidzoid vs Shadow Guy and Gamma Gal, however the Switchbox 3000 and Costume Trunk are inaccessible. 

Igloos work, and there’s a new interface just for editing. You can now save up to four different igloos! No idea if this function works, but this is great for when you want to deck out your igloo for seasonal events, but don’t want to remove your furniture. Also, December’s igloo catalogs are still available.  Puffles are disabled as well.

That’s really it for now. Club Penguin Rewritten is still in progress of fully switching over to HTML5, but there’s plenty of things to do for now. 

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: The 6 Best Books On The History Of Manga And Anime

  Say you’re a fan of anime and manga who’s looking to learn more about history or craft. Where do you begin? There’s whatever insight you can glean from the work itself, of course. There’s also a good amount of information available online, from animation blogs to translated manga interviews to personal pieces. But when all else fails, turn to the library. Here are some excellent nonfiction books on the manga and anime industry that I’d recommend to just about anybody. I’ve also read at least sections of every book on this list, so you have my guarantee of their quality!

  Image via Penguin Random House

  Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World reaches beyond manga and anime to encompass Japanese pop culture post World War II. But there are plenty of stories in here that fans of anime and manga might find fascinating: 

  The toy car that inspired top developers at Nintendo

How the karaoke machine led directly to idol culture, as music producers sought to produce music that ordinary people could sing

The manga-obsessed student radicals of the 1960s, many of whom came to work on later anime projects like Mobile Suit Gundam

  Author Matt Alt’s choice of interviewees and attention to detail marks Pure Invention as one of the best of its kind. If you’re a curious reader looking for an accessible (and recent!) popular history, I highly recommend this book.

  Image via Bloomsbury.com

  For fans abroad, the history of anime begins with the airing of Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy on Japanese television. But this wasn’t enough for Jonathan Clements, a long-time anime and manga scholar who continues to blog on Schoolgirl Milky Crisis. His academic text Anime: A History begins in the 1910s, 50 years before the airing of Astro Boy, in fact, Astro Boy only appears halfway through the book! Clements is concerned not just with the medium of anime itself, but the cultural traditions, historical events, and individual people that brought it into existence.

  One of the greatest obstacles standing in the way of English-speakers seeking to understand the history of Japanese animation — besides, as Clements notes, the haphazard nature of even those resources available in Japanese — is the language barrier. Online writers at sites such as Sakugablog have done fantastic work in making some of this information accessible, but those same writers would be the first to acknowledge there’s still plenty we don’t know. Anime: A History synthesizes countless Japanese-language source texts and interviews about the history of animation, yet Clements is careful to acknowledge that the testimony of individual actors within the industry must be weighed against both their own agenda and the words of others. While Anime: A History would be a valuable text if it was nothing more than a synthesis, Clements’ ambition to build a coherent history of Japanese animation from a production standpoint that thoroughly examines its subject matter and context from all angles is what makes it essential.

  Image via Stone Bridge Press

  Jonathan Clements collaborated with equally prestigious anime and manga scholar Helen McCarthy to produce The Anime Encyclopedia, whose third edition was published in 2015. It’s an enormous text (over a thousand pages long!) that covers everything from summaries and critical appraisals of popular titles to specific themes and tropes to nuggets of cultural history and influence. If I were to criticize this project, I would say that recent anime writing outside the United States exposes The Anime Encyclopedia’s biases; for instance, the magical girl series Ojamajo Doremi only merits a few paragraphs despite its status as a beloved children's series in Japan. Keeping that in mind, it’s an impressive resource that is great fun to browse (and to disagree with)!

  Image via j-novel club

  Mari Okada is one of the most prolific and influential anime writers of the past decade. She’s worked on adaptations, original projects like Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day and KIZNAIVER, and even directed her own films. In her memoir, From Truant to Anime Screenwriter, Okada frankly discusses her personal struggles: her fraught relationship with her mother, her years as a young student when she couldn’t bring herself to attend class, and the process by which she gathered her courage to touch upon her personal experiences in her work. There are chapters of this book that wouldn’t be out of place in an Okada-written drama, which I suppose is the point.

  Okada’s memoir is in part a testament to her work ethic and her willingness to tackle any challenge no matter how difficult or annoying it is. But it’s also a rosetta stone for her work: not just in how it overlaps with her personal life, but in its emphasis on the importance of communication despite how difficult it can be to voice even simple feelings. Whether you’re a fan of Okada or not, I found this to be a great resource for writers nervous of the fraught boundary between fiction and personal experience or for readers who want to know what makes Okada’s work so distinct.

  Image via Stone Bridge Press

  Frederik Schodt is one of manga criticism’s greatest elder statesmen. His book Manga! Manga! put him on the map, not only for its editorial content but also for its translated excerpts of Japanese comics — including what would be, for years, the only available English chapter of Rose of Versailles! Yet that book was published in 1983 and sections can’t help but read as dated now. So I’m recommending the sequel here, 1996’s Dreamland Japan. 

  Like its predecessor, much of Dreamland Japan is devoted to detailing Schodt’s theories as to what manga is and how it works. But the sections of the book I personally find most valuable are the profiles where Schodt writes at length about specific manga artists he either personally enjoys or believes to embody a specific genre unique to manga. The freakish kitsch of Suehiro Maruo; Ryoko Yamagishi’s historical epic Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi (Emperor of the Land of the Rising Sun); and alternative artists like Kazuichi Hanawa and Shungicu Uchida. These chapters stand as a stark reminder that despite the recent popularity of manga in the United States, many fantastic comics remain completely unknown to most English-speaking audiences.

  Image via ComiPress

  Finally, there’s Udagawa Takeo’s Manga Zombie! Translated into English by John Gallagher, it’s an eccentric and rewarding text that profiles several avant-garde manga artists from the ‘60s and ‘70s. Udagawa strongly dislikes the market-driven manga hits that would go on to rule the world from the pages of Shonen Jump and fights instead for the careers of authors whose work was published in the pages of pornographic magazines as often as they were in Jump or the alternative magazine Garo. Most of these authors have never been published in English, whether officially or through illicit means like scanlations. If not for the translation of Manga Zombie — or for Udagawa’s further works of manga scholarship — the artists he writes about might vanish into history without leaving a trace.

  The comics detailed in Manga Zombie can be grotesque, ranging from the “fleshbomb style” of artists like Masaru Sakaki to prescient weirdos like George Takiyama. Some might be repelled by the content here; personally, I’m disappointed by the lack of female comics artists featured, although Udagawa (who mentions the girls comic pioneers the 49ers in the foreword to his book) is certainly aware of them. But I love reading folks talking about their favorite work that I’ve never heard about, and Udagawa makes for an idiosyncratic tour guide to some truly unique material. For those willing to brave the world of Japanese exploitation comics, Manga Zombie is a hidden gem.

  What’s your favorite text about manga or anime? Is there an interview you consider especially interesting? Let us know in the comments!

      Adam W is a Features Writer at Crunchyroll. When he isn't reading weird fantasy novels and horror fiction, he sporadically contributes with a loose coalition of friends to a blog called Isn't it Electrifying? You can find him on Twitter at: @wendeego

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a feature, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Adam Wescott

[janethepegasus]

So i saw Matpat’s latest video about shared universes (starting with Doom and somehow connecting it with Kingdom Hearts) and my crazy brain thought it would be a good idea to expand it even FURTHER all because he used Spider-Man to connect to Thanos in Fortnite (yes seriously)

So behold, all the shit i had to go through to make connections to everything i can find and think of

So since all Spider-Mans are in one multiverse, that means all versions of Spider-Man are canon, so let's look at two cases of alternate Spider-Mans. Theres the Japanese Spider-Man, which was created by Toei as a collab by Marvel, Toei also created Super Sentai, which has connections to Kamen Rider (Super Hero Taisen), Metal Hero (some crossover movies), and obviously Power Rangers. Power Rangers had a crossover with TMNT, which has connections to not only other versions of TMNT but also other series like Batman (basically the whole DC universe is involved), Archie, X-Files, Ghostbusters, Rabbids (they were an extra character in a fighting game, as like a promotion for the new game), and all the toons that showed up in Cartoon All-Stars, like the Smurfs, Alf, Garfield, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Winnie the Pooh (which is already tying back up to Kingdom Hearts), Muppet Babies, Looney Toons, and Ducktales.

Now Muppet Babies is part of the Muppet franchise, the Muppets are connected to Sesame Street, which opens up a can of worms for connections. Some characters cameoed in Between the Lions, Mr Rogers' Neighbor Hood, The Electric Company, Reading Rainbow, Poky Little Puppy, and a bunch of these characters appeared in a We are Family music video, which has *inhales* Bear in the Big Blue House, Barney, Arthur, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Rugrats, The Magic School Bus, SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Blue's Room, Blue's Clues, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Kim Possible, The Proud Family, LazyTown, Lilo & Stitch: the Series, Madeline,Little Bill, The Fairly OddParents, Zoom, AND a whole bunch more shows.

Obviously Jimmy Neutron and Fairly Odd Parents had a crossover (three in fact), but those other shows had crossovers too, like Rugrats having a crossover with Wild Thornberrys, Lilo and Stitch had crossovers too, they had crossovers with The Proud Family, Kim Possible, Recess, and American Dragon Jake Long. Spongebob is connected to a lot of Nicktoons shows through the bumpers on the channel and had a major crossovers with Fairly Odd Parents, Danny Phantom, Jimmy Neutron, Tak, and Invader Zim in the Nicktoons Unite games.

Looney Toons is connected to all other Hanna Barbera property, which had crossovers as well (look at Scooby Doo and Tom and Jerry, they're LOADED with crossovers with other series), as for the Looney Toons cast themselves, examples include Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, Pokemon (in a commercial in Kids WB), The Justice League, Wild Kratts (Kinda? The two characters, Road Runner and Wild E. Coyote, were pretty much referenced as a way to say that real life coyotes can catch up to road runners), and The Amazing World of Gumball. And Pokemon had a crossover game with Nobunaga's Ambition called Pokemon Conquest. AND Ducktales is connected to Darkwing Duck and the same goes with the reboot.

Okay now back to where we started, Power Rangers had a crossover episode with Masked Rider, which is an adaptation of Kamen Rider Black RX, Kamen Rider had a FEW crossovers with other series, like Crayon Shin-chan, Pac-Man, Osomatsu-San, Hello Kitty, Pretty Cure, and a few others. Pretty Cure only had crossovers with itself but there is one pic floating around the internet showing one of the Cures standing in front of Arresterdramon Superior Mode, so it might hint to a commercial happening during that time. Hello Kitty has a ton of crossovers with different series, such as Sonic, Cookie Run, Pac-Man, Puzzles and Dragons, Doraemon, Yokai Watch, and several others. In Osomatsu-San Hesokuri Wars, they have costumes/sets of the six brothers being yokai, magical girls, monsters, angels, knights, super heroes, greek

gods, and others. Yokai is also connected to Yokai Watch, which has it's own crossovers with other series, like Final Fantasy, Terminator, Inazuma Eleven (which had commercials that crossed over with Despicable Me), The Seven Deadly Sins, Detective Conan, Hello Kitty (which brings this back to Hello Kitty and its crossovers), Inuyasha, Professor Layton, and several others. Professor Layton had a crossover game with Ace Attorney, which has many references and a small amount of crossovers.

Now let's move on to another Spider-Man, the one from Ultimate Spider-Man, obviously he's connected to the other Marvel shows that take place in that universe, but Spider-Man had crossover episodes/specials with Phineas and Ferb and Jessie, Jessie having connections with other Disney Sit-com shows like Austin and Ally, Good Luck Charlie, Liv and Maddie, and a few others, HOWEVER Mr. Moseby from the Suite Life of Zach and Cody appeared in one episode, which means that Jessie is in the same universe as That's So Raven, Hannah Montanna, Cory in the House (yeah yeah yeah, i can hear the anime memes from a mile away -_-), and Wizards of the Waverly Place. Phineas and Ferb also had crossover specials/episodes with Star Wars and Milo Murphy's Law, Star Wars has many crossovers and references in other shows, like the Muppets, Seasame Street, Captain N, Mario (in that old Mario cartoon episode where they parodied it), Putt-Putt, Megaman, Duke Nukem, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Dragon Ball, Transformers, Metal Gear, Angry Birds, Lego, Club Penguin, and several others.

The Star Wars references were in Megaman V and Megaman Zero, sprites from Megaman Zero were used to create sprites of TV Tome Adventures, which then became TOME: Terrain of Magical Expertise and then it turned into the video game version of that show, the creator of the show, Kirbopher, did an animation related to Super Mario RPG, and had many voice roles like in Mob Psycho 100, Pokemon, and other series. Dragon Ball is the prequel of Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z Super made it clear that there's other universes so all of those are connected as well, and Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z had crossovers with other shows like One Piece, Dr Slump, Astro Boy, Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo, and a few others. Metal Gear had crossovers and references in Terminator, Gundam, Castlevania, Mario, Zelda, Ape Escape, Yugioh (which connects itself to the other seasons like GX, 5D's, Zexal, Arc-V, and Vrains), Monster Rancher, Yoshi, The Standley Parable (only in the demo), and several others. Transformers, since it's made by Hasbro, is also connected to other Hasbro property, such as My Little Pony (and Equestria Girls), and they had references to other series in both the show and in the IDW comics, like pony versions of Rick and Morty appearing in one episode, pony versions of characters from Sailor Moon, Gravity

Falls, Kill La Kill, Scooby Doo, Powerpuff Girls, Frozen, and few other shows and even pony versions of IRL people like Gordon Ramsey. Transformers had crossovers and references to other series as well such as G.I Joe, Doctor Who, Spider Man, Star Wars, Marvel, and several other shows, and apparently Jem, Inhumanoids, C.O.P.S, and Robotix takes place in the Transformers universe.

Angry Birds had crossovers with other series like Rio, Star Wars, Puzzles and Dragons, Transformers, Sonic, The Muppets, and many levels in their games make references to other series. Lego Dimensions is full of crossovers, like The A-Team, Adventure Time, Back to the Future, Beetlejuice, DC Comics, Doctor Who, E.T, Fantastic Beasts, Ghostbusters (both the original and the 2016 reboot), The Goonies, Gremlins, Harry Potter, Jurassic World, Knight Rider, Legends of Chima, other Lego property, Lord of the Rings, Midway Arcade, Mission: Impossible, Portal, Powerpuff Girls, Scooby-Doo, Simpsons, Sonic, Teen Titans Go!, and The Wizard of Oz. Speaking of The Simpsons, they had crossovers with other shows like Family Guy and Futurama, AND they cameoed appeared in South Park, and Family Guy is in the same universe as American Dad and The Cleveland Show. The Simpsons also had crossovers with The Critic, X-Files, King of the Hill, Robot Chicken, Bob's Burgers (which means it's also connected to the Archer Show), Rick and Morty, and several series get mentioned in the show itself. As for Sonic, he had a crossover comic series with Megaman, he had crossovers in the comics with Sabrina the Teenage Witch and DC (it was part of a Sonic Super Special comic but for some reason the Wikis won't tell me if it's generally DC or some part of it >:/ ), Sonic had levels in Sonic Lost World that were crossovers with NiGHTS, Legend of Zelda, and Yoshi's Wooly World, in Sonic Forces, there's DLC costumes that are based off of NiGHTS, Beat from Jet Set Radio, AiAi from Super Monkey Ball, and Joker from Persona 5. Sonic had crossover games with other SEGA series, but in Sonic Dash, they had events that had crossovers with Angry Birds, Hello Kitty, and Pac-Man. In one of the Vocaloid games, Miku had a costume that was a Sonic hoodie, to celebrate Sonic's anniversary, Vocaloid made many songs and some of these songs branch out into their own series, one of them being Black Rock Shooter, and i swear BRS was a guest character in some fighting game but i don't remember what the name was.

Okay, now let's head back to Marvel, one of the characters that's paired up with Spider-Man (except for the Movie universe) is Deadpool, and in one comic, he takes a girl to see Hamilton. In one of the Hamildrops, they did a crossover song which was a mix of Story of Tonight and You'll be Found from Dear Evan Hansen called "Found Tonight", one of the actors from Dear Evan Hansen is now playing the role of Jeremy in Be More Chill, and in the original 2015 performance of BMC, the actor who played Jenna also played Martha in Heathers, and Eric William Morris, who played Squip, also played Jordan in The Ballad of Little Jo. And since we're using actors to connect series...*inhales* Lin Manuel Miranda (who plays Alexander in Hamilton) also had roles in In The Heights, 21 Chump Street, Mary Poppins Returns, Ducktales Reboot, Do No Harm, Looking for Maria Sanchez, Sesame Street, House M.D, and a few others. Mary Poppins Returns is a sequel to the original Mary Poppins so they instantly connect, and i'm gonna make a crazy theory of House M.D taking place in the same city (or state) as Blue Bloods and Forever, both shows have characters played by Eric William Morris, who had roles in Trust, Greed, Bullets, and Bourbon, Royal Pains, As The World Turns, and few other small roles. But one of his current roles is Carl from King Kong Broadway, which is based off of King Kong, and King Kong had a crossover film with Godzilla, and there's a short film that had Ultraman and Kamen Rider (i think it was Godzilla?? It was a giant lizard thing :/). However, King Kong was the inspiration behind Donkey Kong, which now has connections to both Mario and Donkey Kong series. Donkey Kong had crossovers/references with Frogger, Pitfall, Qubert, Mickey (from Disney), Punch Out, Mother, Earthworm Jim, Kirby, Crash Bandicoot, Banjo Kazooie, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Scott Pilgrim, The Fast and the Furious, Class of 3000, Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, Big Bang Theory, Metroid, Pushmo, Minecraft, Gravity Falls, Wreck It Ralph, Pixels, Skylanders, several others, and had japanese exclusive songs in Donkey Konga that had songs from Super Sentai, Pretty Cure, Pikmin, Naruto, Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo, Fullmetal Alchemist, Dragon Ball Z, Star Fox, Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus, Ice Climbers, and several others.

Minecraft had a Super Mario texture pack in the Switch version of Minecraft, plus a Steven Universe texture pack as well, there are console exclusive skins based off of characters from Gears of War, Halo, Banjo-Kazooie, Dust, Tony Hawk, Left 4 Dead, Boarderlands, Conker, Half-Life, Portal, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, and several other shows. Steve from Minecraft can be an unlockable character in games like Super Meat Boy, Choplifter, Retro City Rampage, and Creepers can be found in Blocks that Matter, Boarderlands, Torchlight, and Minecraft is refernced in Adventure Time, Octodad, The Stanley Parable, Skyrim, and South Park. And since Minecraft has Halo skins, this ties into Red VS Blue, a show that uses assets from the Halo series. And Red VS Blue appeared in a promotional video alongside the main cast of RWBY. Mother (or Earthbound) is the inspiration for Undertale, which had a sequel called Deltarune, and in one of the locations in Deltarune is a place called "Ice-E's Pezza", and Burgerpants mentions a guy named "Purple Guy" which is a reference to Purple Guy from Five Nights at Freddies. Crash Bandicoot had two crossover games with Spyro the Dragon and had references in Uncharted, Futurama, Johnny Test, Family Guy, Jimmy Neutron, The Country Bears, Jak and Daxter, Friends, The Simpsons, Tomb Raider, and several others. And Mickey is one of the characters in Kingdom Hearts, so now we come in full circle with Matpat's theory.

So started with Spider-man (well two versions of Spider-man) and ended it with Mickey, i'm sure there's other series out there that i forgot to bring up but eh, this is long enough :/

[penguinnewsnetwork]

Dance-A-Thon & January Penguin Style!

A new, miniature event is now live from January 3rd until the 10th! Celebrate the Dance Contest minigame’s multiplayer upgrade by rocking out at the Dance Club! Join in on the fun by picking up this free item - a purple Boom Box!

If you head upstairs to the Dance Lounge, you can make some noise with friends with the Noisemaker 3000! Don’t worry, Astro Barrier and Thin Ice are still available to play.

If you head on up to The Roof, you can hold dance contests with other penguins!

You can select ‘Multiplayer’ in Dance Contest by choosing it from the menu.

Now, onto the new Penguin Style! This month’s issue is full of great dance gear, and fiesta wear. What could this possibly be hinting at? Below are visual guides to all the secrets we could find. If we missed any, let us know in the notes and we’ll update this post! 

Check out January’s Item of the Month and Penguins At Work!

And if you missed out on the final Advent Calendar door at the Christmas Party, you can now buy Ice Blue for 20 coins on the color page! 

That’s it for now. Stay tuned for when we cover the latest pin! Until then, waddle on! - Boopenguin.

[atomictoyland]

Kenner Super Powers Collection (1984-1986)

The amazing Kenner Super Powers Collection was possibly one of my favorite toy lines of all time. This was my childhood introduction to the superhero world / the practice of collecting my favorite characters. I have many fond memories of playing with these figures for hours and hours on a daily basis, so I might be a little biased towards the line. Just to put that out there.

Introduced in 1984, Kenner allowed us to play with some of our favorite superheroes and supervillains.  By squeezing either the arms or legs together (based on the character), the figure would activate it's action power. Each character came with an accessory of sorts, minus the cape toting heroes - we were jipped of any additional accessory in leu of the cape, and some others didn't have any accessories at all. All the figures in the first series came with a mini comic and a bio card that could be cut out, which was simply amazing in my eyes. Series 1 gave us characters such as, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Robin, Superman, (my personal favorite villain) the Penguin, and of course no line would be complete without the Joker.

Along with the figures, Kenner gave us multiple vehicles and the amazing Hall of Justice playset. The playset was connected by straps that snapped the set together. When released, the playset opened up to reveal an elevator that raised to the roof, various teleportation chambers, a jail cell to hold supervillains, and a computer station that jetted out for the characters to sit and save the world. Many have complained that the playset didn't bear any resemblance on the interior, and the exterior lacks any sort of depth. All in all, I think it's quite remarkable - up until this point the only other playset was Mego's 1976 plastic covered cardboard version (which is an amazing sight all in it's own).

Sadly, the line only ran for three series and was cancelled in 1986. I still love these treasures to this day, and they line my shelves with a constant rotation. I might play around with them a little bit while rotating them out, but I'll never tell.

Mail Order:

Clark Kent (no accessory) - released in 1986

Playsets:

Hall of Justice - released in 1986

Series 1 - released in 1984:

Aquaman with Power Action Deep Sea Kick (trident)

Batman with Power Action Bat Punch (removable cape)

Brainiac with Power Action Computer Kick (no accessory)

Flash with Power Action Lightning Legs (no accessory)

Green Lantern with Power Action Ring Thrust (lantern)

Hawkman with Power Action Flight Wings (mace)

The Joker with Power Action Madcap Mallet (mallet)

Lex Luthor with Power Action Nuclear Punch (chest plate)

The Penguin with Power Action Umbrella Arm (umbrella)

Robin with Power Action Karate Chop (removable cape)

Superman with Power Action Punch (removable cape)

Wonder Woman with Power Action Deflector Bracelets (lasso)

Series 2 - released in 1985:

Darkseid with Power Action Raging Motion (removable cape)

Desaad with Power Action Shock Squeeze (removable skirt)

Doctor Fate with Power Action Mystic Spell Cast (removable cape)

Firestorm with Power Action Atomic Punch (no accessory)

Green Arrow with Power Action Archery Pull (bow & arrows)

Kalibak with Power Action Beta-Club Swing (beta-club)

Mantis with Power Action Pincer Thrust (no accessory)

Parademon with Power Action Battle Flight (gun)

Red Tornado with Power Action Tornado Twist (removable cape)

Steppenwolf with Power Action Electro-Axe Chop (no accessory)

Series 3 - released in 1986:

Cyborg with Power Action Thrusting Arms (drill hand, claw hand)

Cyclotron with Power Action Cyclo-Spin (removable face/chestplate)

Golden Pharaoh with Power Action Soaring Wings (staff)

Mr. Freeze with Power Action Cold-Blast Punch (removable dome)

Orion with Power Action Astro-Punch and Changing (no accessory)

Plastic Man with Power Action Stretching Neck (no accessory)

Samurai with Power Action Gale-Force Spin (sword, removable vest)

Shazam! with Power Action Thunder Punch (removable cape)

Tyr with Power Action Rocket Launch (firing gun-hand)

Vehicles

Batcopter - released in 1986

Batmobile - released in 1984

Darkseid Destroyer - released in 1986

Delta Probe One - released in 1986

Justice Jogger - released in 1986

Kalibak Boulder Bomber - released in 1986

Lex-Soar 7 - released in 1984

Supermobile - released in 1986

www.atomictoyland.com

[clawingbackthepast]

Adverts: Chocolates, Sweets, Ice Creams and Lollies

54321: A Pack of 5 for Only 32p

Aero: Makes You Go Oooh

Aero: My Aero, My Hero

Aero: Wallpaper

Bassett’s Jelly Babies: Bassett’s Jellyworld

Bassett’s Liquorice Allsorts: He’s Had One Too Many

Bassett’s Liquorice Allsorts: You Might Turn Bertie

Bounty Ice Cream

Breakaway: Don’t Take Away My Breakaway

Breakaway: It’s Wicked

Cadburys Boost: Biscuit Boost

Cadburys Boost: What Can Fill the Watford Gap

Cadburys Buttons: Sing a Song of Sixpence

Cadburys Buttons: Three Little Pigs

Cadbury’s Caramel: Personal CD Players

Cadburys Caramel: Postie

Cadbury’s Chunky Bars: Elton John

Cadburys Creme Eggs: Zodiac

Cadburys Crunchie: I’m So Excited

Cadburys Dairy Milk: Show Me Heaven

Cadburys Dairy Milk: The Chocolate and a Half

Cadburys Flake: Gypsy Caravan

Cadburys Flake: Waterfall

Cadburys Fruit and Nut: Everyone’s a Fruit and Nutcase

Cadburys Mini Eggs: Mr Cadbury’s Parrot

Cadburys Roses: Christmas

Cadburys Roses: Supergrans

Cadbury’s Roses: The Sweetest Way to Say Merry Christmas

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Astros

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Cadburys

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Caramel

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Creme Eggs

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Crunchie

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Dairy Milk

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Marble

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Milk Tray

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Roses

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Snack

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Time Out

Cadburys Sponsors Coronation Street: Wispa Mint

Cadburys Time Out: DJs

Cadburys Time Out: When It’s That Time

Cadburys Twirl: Take 5

Cadburys Whole Nut: Winter Train

Cadbury’s Wispa: American President

Cadbury’s Wispa: Dad’s Army

Cadbury’s Wispa: It Ain’t Half Hot Mum

Cadbury’s Wispa: John Thaw and Dennis Waterman

Cadburys Wispa: Mel and Pete

Cadbury’s Wispa: Michael Medwin and Trevor Eve

Cadburys Wispa: Wispa Gold

Cadburys Wispa: Wispa Gold 2

Chewits: Muncher Menace

Club: Club Fan Club

Club: Join Our Club

Dime: Armadillos

Dime: That Bloke’s a Nutter

Fab: Smashie and Nicey

Ferrero Rocher: The Ambassador’s Reception

Fruit-tella: I’m Too Juicy

Fry’s Turkish Delight: Full of Eastern Promise

Jolly Rancher: The Great Taste of Fruit Squared

Kinder Surprise: Chocolate and a Surprise

Kinder Surprise: Sharkybaba

KitKat: Pandas

KitKat: Thunderbirds

Magnum: Me and My Magnum

M&Ms: Football

M&Ms: The Candyman

Mars: Petrol in Cars

Maynards Wine Gums: Juice Loose Aboot This Hoose

Milky Bar: Cowboys

Milky Bar: Milky Bar Buttons

Milky Way: Bad Altitude Problem

Milky Way: Red Car and Blue Car

Milky Way: Satellite and Meteor

Opal Fruit Ice

Penguin: Funny

Penguin: Killer Whale

Penguin: Nephew

Penguin: Shirty

Quality Street: Carol Singers

Rocky: Rocky Robin

Rowntrees Fruit Gums: Kevin the Fruit Bat

Rowntrees Fruit Gums: Kevin the Fruit Bat Is an Artist

Rowntrees Fruit Gums: Kevin the Fruit Bat’s Birthday

Rowntrees Fruit Pastille Ice Lolly

Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles: Beyond Fruit

Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles: You Just Can’t Help Chewing 1

Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles: You Just Can’t Help Chewing 2

Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles: You Just Can’t Help Chewing 3

Secret: You Can’t Trust Anyone to Keep a Secret

Skittles: They’re Wicked

Smarties: Only Smarties Have the Answer 1

Smarties: Only Smarties Have the Answer 2

Smarties: What Makes a Smartie

Softmints: Peeling Potatoes

Toblerone: Triangular Chocolate

Trebor Soft Mints: Mr Soft

Trio: Magic Wrappers

Trio: Soundproof Box

Twix: The Case

Vice Versas: Brown Is White and Vice Versa

Wagon Wheels: Kinda Big and Kinda Nice (Short Version)

Yorkie: New 7-Chunk Yorkie

[truesportsfan]

It’s now ritual, trying to apply common sense to the preposterous. You can try this at home. But it can’t be done. Consider:

The trouble with secrets is people. Once a second person knows, the secret is cut in two. Add a third confidant and the secret is just 33 percent confidential. And soon and so forth until there’s no keeping the lid on the dugout garbage can.

It’s reasonable to believe that with 45 or more folks within the Astros’ organization aware that the club was playing with a marked deck, another 45 or 450 people knew through first and second hand info.

Now what did at least a few of these inside-the-know crowd do? They bet the Astros early and often. To think otherwise would be unthinkable.

So add that one — inside trading — to all the side stories and side issues that get down to the gritty that forms the trending foreign word, integrity.

In November, an inside-info college football “thing” came and went with little media examination or suspicion. But something was rotten in Louisiana.

On Nov. 15, the visiting Marshall team defeated Louisiana Tech, 31-10. That game opened with Marshall a two-point favorite until two days before the game, when enough dough was played on Marshall to move the line to Marshall laying 4 ½ — a significant but unexplained movement.

Unbeknownst to the public, La. Tech planned to suspend three players for the game, including star quarterback J’mar Smith. That “privileged” info traveled — sifted — from the inside, logically carried by La. Tech insiders to bet the opposing, visiting team.

La. Tech didn’t release the news until Thursday night ahead of a Saturday game, well after the significant movement in the betting line. But such a stink bomb was tossed into the “Who Cares?” pile, as neither team is normally the kind that national TV covets and top-10 national polls include.

Another side to this Astros’ game-fixing — and isn’t that what they attempted? — is the absurd takes by high-profile media geniuses who regularly don’t know what they’re spewing about.

ESPN’s $10 million blowhard Stephen A. Smith concluded on the air that the Astros had to have cheated in the 2017 ALCS based on how little the Yankees’ offense produced. He even gave numbers as evidence.

Great take! But the Yanks’ offense had nothing to do with it. It was about the Astros swiping signs for its batters when they, not the Yankees, were at bat.

The there’s the outrage among those players who felt victimized by the Astros — selective outrage. Reader Pete Caterina: “Too bad the clean players weren’t as vocal against the PED cheats.”

But what team did not include the drug-aided?

Now we’re worried about beanball retaliation against those Astros on its insider-trading teams. Rob Manfred — the Lizard of Oz, he speaks with forked tongue — the story goes, now must act to preemptively stop it.

Huh? This is the same commissioner who claims home plate-posing and bat-flipping should be encouraged in kids! Has he not seen — or recognized — how many MLB brushback and beanball brawls are ignited by those who exploit baseball to demonstrate excessive self-regard? How many preen their ways to singles off the wall rather than doubles and triples?

How do we fix baseball, sick from neglect, TV money greed, a lack of fundamental foresights and even professionals who dismiss the importance of running to first base?

I don’t know. But I do know that it’s growing more difficult to return to a place you’ve never been. But that’s our little secret.

NBC scores big with its NHL coverage

NBC, even without Doc Emrick, had a strong NHL Sunday.

Within the Red Wings-Penguins opener, a between-periods feature told the story of “The Congo Kids,” two African kids adopted by a white family from Minnesota. Now the Seidl brothers, Simon and Sawyer, 13 and 15, are hockey-happy players in kids’ leagues.

Next, Mike Tirico was superb as the play-by-play caller during Bruins-Rangers. He was well-prepared, and made valuable and relevant parenthetical observations,

Funny, how for years hockey was considered a tough TV watch. Now, it’s reliably the best sport to watch. Mostly fast-paced games, with minimal artificial stoppages, rarely last beyond 2 ¹/₂ hours, overtimes and shootouts included.

Does anyone find this remarkable:

Gary SanchezCharles Wenzelberg/New York Post

1. Gary Sanchez spent nearly six years in the minors, time when young pros are supposed to learn the intricacies of the positions they play, in Sanchez’s case, catcher.

But when Sanchez was promoted to the Yankees, he appeared only vaguely familiar with the position.

2. Now, 10 years after becoming a professional catcher, he’s still being taught the position. The Yanks have hired a catching tutor to work with him — that after near-daily Aaron Boone and YES Network testimonies to how incredibly improved Sanchez is behind the plate — spoken to scant evidence.

3. The Yanks allowed an accomplished catcher and pretty good clutch hitter, Austin Romine, to sign with Detroit.

And at the close of last season, Sanchez remained

Don’t forget about No. 63

Person of the Weekend was CBS’ poor stats graphic man or woman, charged with squeezing Tiger Woods’ name on the first page of the leaderboard, though he was tied for 63rd.

It’s not Woods’ fault, but with him out of the hunt, we hear and see so much more golf on TV rather than a gushing worship service. I enjoy Nick Faldo’s takes, but when Woods is in it, he turns to goo.

The national anthem — as screeched, strangled and otherwise tortured by Chaka Khan before the NBA All-Star Game — seemed another planned exploitation of an honor for transparent buzz-inducing self-promotion, this one a colossal failure.

Time for Pete Alonso to grow up. He wants to be “drunk on a float”? The “Let’s Go Mets” chant should include the f-word. Like it or not, kids look up to him. He doesn’t need to be the Mets’ Rob Gronkowski — and the Mets should let him know.

CBS provided a strange graphic at halftime of Saturday’s Indiana-Michigan: free-throw stats! Here we thought TV had decreed they no longer count.

NBA All-Star Game was pitched as an 8 p.m. Sunday start on TNT. It began at 8:40, but some lies have become more standard than surprising.

The University of Maine men’s basketball team is 7-19 and just might be suffering from communications issues. Two recruits are from Serbia; one each from the Ukraine, Montreal, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey, Latvia, England and Lebanon. Why Maine? The climate.

source https://truesportsfan.com/sport-today/13068/

[rickhorrow]

15+5+5 To Watch : 102119

15 TO WATCH/5 SPORTS TECH/POWER OF SPORTS 5: RICK HORROW’S TOP SPORTS/BIZ/TECH/PHILANTHROPY ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 21

with Jacob Aere

As the new NBA season tips off this week, TV networks and the brands that back them firm up programming plans. ESPN’s morning show “First Take” will run live from their Los Angeles Production Center October 21-25 as the 2019-2020 NBA regular season begins. The show will have the latest insight on marquee matchups including Tuesday’s showdown between the Los Angeles Lakers and L.A. Clippers. On TNT, Turner Sports announced that the “Inside the NBA Presented by Kia” studio team of Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson will be on the road for Autotrader Premiere Week. Tuesday night's studio coverage will be live from the NBA on TNT American Express Road Show in L.A. in an expanded pregame show that will feature the NBA Champion Toronto Raptors' ring ceremony and live looks from Toronto's Jurassic Park. NBA TV has also cemented a range of new original programming for the NBA season, including “The Warmup presented by Ford.” It’s no surprise that the Lakers enter the season with the most expensive NBA ticket, at an average $286.97, according to TickPick; the cheapest ticket for Tuesday’s season opener is $150.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is already reporting that the league’s losses from its dispute with China are “substantial.” Chinese footwear and apparel brands couldn’t be more pleased. JohnWallStreet notes the Chinese government’s reaction to Daryl Morey’s tweet and the NBA’s response sparked conversations about the billions of dollars that the NBA stands to lose in Asia and the “ripple effects” that a prolonged boycott of the league would have on U.S. footwear and apparel companies. However, little attention has been paid to how the controversy benefits Chinese footwear and apparel providers; namely Anta and Li-Ning, the two with ties to the NBA. Matt Powell of NPD Group laid out a scenario where “the government encourages its people to buy Chinese as opposed to Western products.” Should that happen, the Chinese people would be likely to comply; remember, the Chinese consumer is “Chinese first and a fan of the NBA second.” Of course, Anta and Li-Ning products are also immune to the headwinds that western competitors like Nike and Adidas face from the greater U.S.-China trade war.

TV broadcasters and streamers invested $38 billion in sports rights in 2018, nearly double the $20 billion spent in 2012. Globally, TV broadcasters, and to a lesser degree, online streamers, fork out 26% of their total content spend on sports rights, according to a report published last Wednesday by Ampere Analysis and carried by the Hollywood Reporter. The market for sports rights has nearly doubled in the last six years, from $20 billion in 2012 to $38 billion last year. The U.S. remains the largest single market for sports rights, with a $19 billion annual spend, a figure likely to jump as new rights cycles kick in for the NFL, MLB, and the NBA. Ampere forecasts the top U.S. leagues generating $4 billion more per year in rights revenues by the end of the next six years. And in Europe, broadcasters and online players in Europe's big five markets – the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, and Spain – shelled out $11 billion for sports rights in 2018, double the amount from six years ago. European broadcasters and pay TV operators in the big five spend a third of their content budget, on average, on sports, compared to 26% in the U.S.

As the World Series gets underway in Houston, MLB alters bylaws allowing institutional investors to take stakes in multiple teams. Bloomberg reported last week that Major League Baseball has altered its rules to allow investment funds to buy limited stakes in multiple franchises. The report also said that sports banker Sal Galagioto had created a $500 million investment vehicle explicitly for that purpose. The SEC-approved GSP Baseball Fund will take no more than 100 investors, with a minimum investment of $1 million. As team valuations continue to rise – the MLB average is now $1.78 billion – JohnWallStreet noted pro sports leagues have become concerned about the dearth of individuals wealthy enough to buy-in. The NBA is apparently discussing a similar solution, while the NFL is talking about raising its debt limit by +$700 million (to $1 billion). If your idea of baseball investment is more geared toward World Series bets, Betonline claims the Astros are the biggest Series favorite since the Red Sox over the Rockies in 2007 – they are 5/11 favorites, while the Nationals are 19/10 underdogs. 

Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) has announced a multi-year partnership with Target that sees them become the first MLS club to sign a sleeve sponsorship deal. Starting in January, the agreement will see Target’s bullseye logo displayed prominently on the sleeve of LAFC jerseys, joining primary shirt sponsor YouTube. Terms of the deal, which lists Target as the official LAFC retail partner, have not been disclosed, but the Athletic said that MLS sleeve deals are worth anywhere between $500,000 and $1 million per year. LAFC is the first MLS team to sell the 2.5-by-2.5 inch inventory since the league announced the approval of sponsored sleeve patch sales last October. Only teams with a primary shirt sponsor can take advantage of the new initiative, which is a multi-year pilot program. Target will also join Banc of California, Delta Air Lines, and Heineken as one of LAFC’s Golden Boot Club members, securing exclusive access, visibility, and experiences through what is LAFC’s elite level of partnership. The deal comes on the back of LAFC’s best ever regular season, which saw them crowned MLS Western Conference champions, giving the club a bye to the semi-finals of this week’s MLS playoffs.

Tottenham Hotspur has announced a new five-year partnership with HSBC as its official banking partner in the UK and Hong Kong. SportsPro reports that the strategic agreement, which covers both the men’s and women’s teams, will see the financial services company work with the English soccer club to engage with fans through a range of activations, including digital campaigns, while playing a supportive role in the sport-led regeneration of the local area in North London. The club’s stadium development plan, which HSBC is supporting, aims to support 3,500 jobs as part of efforts by the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation to help enhance the lives of those in the local community through education, employment, health, and social inclusion programs. Fran Jones, Tottenham Hotspur head of partnerships, said: “We have developed a strong relationship with HSBC over a number of years and this new partnership is a natural expansion of this.” The club is also in the first year of a lucrative decade-long deal agreement with the NFL to host games every season and is reportedly in talks with Amazon over a documentary focused partly on their NFL links to broaden the team’s appeal in the U.S.

EspnW and the U.S. Department of State are hosting the eighth year of the Global Sports Mentoring Program October 11-November 19. The program will see 16 emerging female leaders from around the world begin a month-long mentorship in the United States alongside top American female executives from some of the most influential organizations in sports and business. Including ESPN, executive mentors in the 2019 program represent: the Big East Conference; Creative Artists Agency (CAA); Google; LISC; Minnesota Lynx/ Timberwolves; the NCAA; New Balance; the NHL; Saatchi & Saatchi, Spurs Sports & Entertainment; the University of Connecticut; and the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA). The initiative joins such other events as this week’s espnW Women + Sports Summit in Newport Beach, CA and the recently-completed LPGA Indy Women in Tech Driven by Group1001 tournament and week-long symposium that promote women’s leadership, education, and advancement both in and out of sport.

MLS will officially award Sacramento an expansion franchise this week. According to the Sacramento Bee, MLS will hold a press conference and fan event in California’s capital city on Monday to announce that the United Soccer League’s Sacramento Republic FC will make the step up to become MLS’ 29th team. Sacramento has been attempting to secure an MLS expansion team since 2015, but its chances were improved at the beginning of this year when Ron Burkle, billionaire part-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, joined the Republic as lead investor. The Republic then received city council backing in April for a new $252 million, 20,000-seat stadium. Later that month, the Republic emerged as a front runner in the race to join MLS when the league announced it had been authorized to advance talks with the ownership groups of Sacramento and St Louis, which was officially awarded its own expansion team in August. If Sacramento is confirmed, it will pay a $200 million expansion fee to become the fourth MLS team in California. Confirmation would also mean that MLS has only one spot left to fill if it is to stick to its expansion target of 30 teams.

Cristiano Ronaldo apparently earns more from Instagram than he does from playing soccer for Juventus. The 34-year-old pockets an annual $47.8 million from paid Instagram posts, according to a study by social media firm Hopper HQ on Buzz Bingo. In contrast, his salary at Juventus is reportedly $34 million, according to Goal.com. Ronaldo's reported income from Instagram makes him the platform's highest earner, ahead of Lionel Messi and Kylie Jenner. “Ronaldo is the most followed human on Instagram," a marketing executive from Hopper told Business Insider. "Companies are paying almost $1 million for posts to access his insane reach.” A quick check revealed that Ronaldo has 186 million Instagram followers, compared with Messi at 133 million and Kylie Jenner at 149 million. And while companies around the world that have shifted large percentages of their marketing budgets to social media influencers are reconsidering that strategy in light of disappointing ROI, clearly those that invest in Ronaldo consider it money well spent.

Tiger Woods has been the subject of countless articles, books, and TV segments, but for the first time, he will tell his story in his own words. Last Tuesday, Harper Collins announced Woods’ BACK, a memoir chronicling the golfer’s life from growing up a celebrated golfing prodigy to shattering racial barriers and rising to fame, then facing continuing injuries and personal scandal, to mounting a comeback at 43 years old culminating with the 2019 Masters. “I’ve been in the spotlight for a long time, and because of that, there have been books and articles and TV shows about me, most filled with errors, speculative and wrong,” Woods said in the statement. “This book is my definitive story.” No publication date has been announced; the release stated that BACK will be “the first and only account directly from Woods, with the full cooperation of his friends, family, and inner circle.” For the moment, however, Woods is focused on “The Challenge: Japan Skins,” a big money made-for-TV match with Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, and Hideki Matsuyama taking place at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Chiba, Japan.

Many Ryder Cup fans were left with a sour taste in their mouths after last Wednesday’s online ticketing lottery system sold out in less than 50 minutes. Fans around the world began receiving emails last week that they had been selected in the ticket lottery for the next Ryder Cup, planned for September 25-27, 2020, at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin. But unlike The Masters’ ticketing process, winning the Ryder Cup lottery only guaranteed would-be attendees another opportunity to purchase tickets. The online lobby opened at 10 a.m. EST on Wednesday with tickets allowed to be purchased beginning at 11 a.m. EST, when fans were given a “randomly assigned” place in a virtual line. However, for many, by the time they reached the front of the line, tickets were sold out. Ticket demand was “unprecedented,” according to a tweet from the U.S. Ryder Cup account. Naturally, tickets have already popped up on resale sites. Weekly grounds passes start at $1,500 and individual event days start at $400.

Formula 1 eyes Miami to host its first-ever Grand Prix after reaching an agreement in principle to host a race at Hard Rock Stadium beginning in 2021. The proposed Formula One Miami Grand Prix would see F1 cars navigating a custom-built track around the stadium. Formula One had initially set its sights on a downtown track location, only to scrap the proposal in favor of Hard Rock Stadium, home to the Miami Dolphins, after local opposition. Concerns remain among residents over noise, traffic and pollution, though organizers insist this new location would reduce disruption compared to a downtown race. According to the Miami Herald, Dolphins and stadium owner Steve Ross will cover all race costs, including an expected $40 million custom track. It takes Formula One a step closer to holding a second U.S. race, a long-held ambition for the global motor racing series’ owners, Liberty Media. Since 2012, the sole F1 stop in the U.S. has been the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. A Miami F1 race would have an estimated annual impact of more than $400 million and 35,000 room nights.

Navy Federal Credit Union named title sponsor of NHL Stadium Series. The NHL announced that Navy Federal Credit Union, the Official Military Appreciation Partner of the league, was named the title sponsor of the 2020 NHL Stadium Series at the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs between the Colorado Avalanche and the Los Angeles Kings. The 2020 NHL Stadium Series game will be held on February 15. The league also unveiled the official event logo for the 2020 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series. Designed by NHL Creative Services, the logo celebrates outdoor hockey at Falcon Stadium and is inspired by the iconic and storied history of the U.S. Air Force Academy. The event is the first military tie-in of the NHL’s popular annual outdoor event, reminiscent of regular season games the NBA has held on aircraft carriers in Norfolk, VA, and San Diego. 

ATP Media, the in-house rights agency for the global men’s tennis tour, saw revenues rise by 6.7% to $120.96 million in 2018. The UK-based production hub, which is also responsible for ATP Tour content creation, has registered gross profits of $13.57 million. The spike represents a 9.6% growth compared to the end of 2017. Broadcast rights sales, where ATP Media works alongside IMG, remain the dominant source of income. ATP Media also said it had benefitted from “favorable movements” on the euro and British pound exchange rates during last year. Broken up geographically, the UK operation generated $11.59 million in revenues at the end of 2018, while the rest of Europe raked in $31.91 million behind $77.45 million generated by ATP Media in other international territories. Among several of the media group’s high-profile broadcast deals, 2019 has already seen ATP Media secure an improved five-year agreement with Amazon Prime Video in the UK, which runs through the 2023 ATP season. In addition, deals were confirmed with Discovery-owned Eurosport in France and Sky Deutschland in Germany.

Finally, before a big game, it’s important for fans to get a Goodyear night’s sleep. The Goodyear Blimp has provided aerial coverage of college football games since 1955, and later this season will become the first non-player or coach to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Now, Forbes reports, fans will have the chance to stay in the iconic dirigible prior to the Notre Dame vs. Michigan game October 26. One-night stays can be booked through Airbnb for October 22, 23, and 24 in the blimp hangar in Mogadore, Ohio. Each night is priced at $150 (plus taxes and fees) to celebrate college football’s 150th anniversary. Guests "will have exclusive access to the Goodyear hangar, which is the size of 2.6 football fields, and a football lounge will be provided where guests can relax and watch some of the all-time best rivalry games in college football history.” Goodyear and Airbnb will also collectively donate $5,000 to the Cotton Bowl Foundation, which supports college football-related causes. While the blimp will remain on the ground, this takes “Air”bnb to a whole new level. 

Top Five Tech

Former NBA Players launch a new video podcast with Showtime. Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson will host “All The Smoke,” set to debut October 21. According to SportTechie, new video episodes of “All The Smoke” will upload every Thursday to Showtime’s new basketball-themed YouTube channel and an audio-only version of the show will also be distributed across major podcast platforms. The one-hour episodes will feature Barnes and Jackson discussing their opinions on current topics surrounding basketball, culture, social justice, politics, and music. Guests on the show will include other NBA players and various public figures. After Showtime’s successful past with basketball-related content including the three-part docuseries, “Shut Up and Dribble” and a documentary on former NBA player Ron Artest, the network’s new basketball YouTube channel and the player-created content is providing athletes a fruitful life beyond the court.

Twitter partners with Discovery and Eurosport in Europe for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Twitter will bring Eurosport's coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics to users of the social media platform across Europe. The deal, unveiled at international TV market MIPCOM in Cannes, will see Eurosport publish real-time Olympic Games highlights on Twitter to complement its comprehensive coverage of Tokyo 2020. The sports network will provide 3,500 hours of coverage of the Games on its network, on Eurosport.com, and the Eurosport app. The tie-in will also allow Eurosport to offer Olympic Games advertisers dedicated sponsorship opportunities for Twitter content. The coverage will include highlights from Eurosport’s pre-Games Road to Tokyo coverage, extensive event highlight clips, as well as live coverage of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Twitter will also sell in-stream sponsorships together with Discovery and Eurosport sales teams. This opens a door for similar sponsorship opportunities through the Olympics and different social media players in North America.

ESPN The Magazine suffered a slow death, but now it is reborn through ESPN’s “Cover Story.” According to Axios, “Cover Story” is a 21st century version of a magazine that will air monthly across every ESPN platform, from TV to digital. The first cover story about NFL star DeAndre Hopkins debuted this past Wednesday on “SportsCenter” and online. Each month on a Wednesday, ESPN will release one cover story. Like a magazine, it will feature one highly-reported story, with one reporter and one piece of eye-catching imagery. The company is also hoping to have each story be sponsored or underwritten by an advertiser. ESPN will need to focus on this kind of in-depth reporting going forward in order to compete with other sports media companies such as The Athletic, which has made its small fortune from its in-depth coverage.

Blizzard bans esports team for holding a “Free Hong Kong, Boycott Blizz” sign, furthering sports-centered political issues between the US and China. After last week’s NBA, Blizzard has now suspended three American University esports players for six months after they held up a "Free Hong Kong, Boycott Blizz" sign during their championship match last week. They now cannot compete in official or third-party Blizzard events. The three students were acting in solidarity with a Hong Kong player, Ng "blitzchung" Wai Chung, who was banned for six months by Blizzard and disqualified from the "Hearthstone" Grandmasters tournament last week after he shouted a pro-Hong Kong slogan. The American University sophomores prepared a sign in reaction to Ng's ban and showed it on a stream of their college game October 8. Since Ng "blitzchung" Wai Chung’s banishment, the company has been met with outrage from gamers and calls for boycotts. Like the NBA, they will have to walk a tightrope between politics and their bottom line.

FOX Bet becomes an MLB authorized gaming operator just days before the World Series.  According to Sports Handle, FOX Bet announced a multi-year partnership with Major League Baseball under which the online and mobile betting platform will become an Authorized Gaming Operator of MLB. The announcement came exactly a week before the scheduled first pitch of Game 1 of the 2019 World Series on October 22. FOX Sports, an MLB broadcast partner, has televised the World Series in every season since 2000. FOX Bet is the fourth sports betting entity to join MLB’s Authorized Gaming Operator program since the Supreme Court’s historic PASPA decision in May 2018, joining MGM Resorts International, DraftKings, and FanDuel as MLB official data licensees under the program. The partnership is the latest in a string of deals for the network’s nascent sports betting division. FOX is looking to go all in on sports betting – this partnership marks the third deal that FOX Bet has inked with a major U.S. pro sports league, including the NBA and a deal with the NFL through its Super 6 contest.

Power of Sports Five

The Seattle Mariners’ charity arm raises $1.5 million for Northwest charities in 2019. Mariners Care, the Seattle Mariners’ nonprofit foundation, and its corporate partners helped provide $1,492,825 in 2019 to a variety of charitable programs including Home Base and On BASE. Through a $3 million founding grant, the Mariners helped establish Home Base, an eviction prevention program in partnership with United Way of King County and King County Bar Association. During its first six months, Home Base provided legal assistance to 1,069 households and financial assistance to help 405 households avoid eviction. The goal is for Home Base to help prevent up to 4,000 evictions each year, the leading cause of homelessness. The Mariners also continued efforts to make baseball and softball accessible to kids of all means through On BASE, which makes grants to defray registration fees, provide uniforms and equipment, and offer training opportunities for coaches and young athletes to over 1,500 local organizations. Since 1991, when Mariners Care was established, the nonprofit has helped raise over $28 million to benefit primarily youth-oriented community service programs.

Ex-NFL star Warrick Dunn helps deliver 173rd home to single parent for charity. According to FOX Business, the former NFL running back helped surprise a single Florida mother with a new home Wednesday through his charity along with Habitat for Humanity and health care company Cigna. Warrick Dunn Charities, which is run by the former Pro Bowler, presented LaToya Reedy with a new home in St. Petersburg. It was the 173rd home the charity has given thanks to its “Home for the Holidays” campaign, which helps single parents achieve home ownership. Reedy told local media she had been working hard as a nursing assistant to provide a stable lifestyle for her 18-year-old son, but high rent prices and living paycheck to paycheck was getting difficult. Before Dunn became a pro football player, he was living with a single mother who worked very hard to provide for him and five other children, but his mother was killed before his 18th birthday and he helped raise his siblings while playing college football. Dunn sees his charity as a form of therapy to deal with his own traumas, taking comfort that he is helping others avoid similar housing and economic struggles.

Shaquille O'Neal donates a home to the family of a boy paralyzed in an Atlanta shooting. Isaiah Payton was leaving a high school football game on August 17 when a stray bullet struck his spine, leaving him without mobility from his chest down. He'd been unable to leave the hospital because his family's current home was not accessible for a paralyzed person. O'Neal heard about the story and reached out to Payton's mother. The four-time NBA champion found a one-bedroom home for Payton, his brother, and his mother in the College Park neighborhood of Atlanta. O'Neal's relationship with Papa John's helped him pull off the gesture; CEO Rob Lynch and chairman of the board Jeff Smith both chipped in. Payton's friend, Damean Spear, also suffered a gunshot wound to his leg during the shooting. A 15-year-old boy, whose name is not being released, has been charged with aggravated assault in connection to the incident. While this terrible act of violence has forever changed Payton’s life, Shaq found the kindness is his heart to help Payton’s family make the best of a terrible situation.

Larry Fitzgerald and DraftKings team up for breast cancer charity. According to SBC Americas, DraftKings has been hosting NFL “Pink ‘Em” daily fantasy contests every Sunday throughout this month. All proceeds from entry fees will be donated to the Larry Fitzgerald First Down Fund for Breast Cancer Support. So far, two October NFL Sundays and two Pink ‘Em contests have resulted in more than $70,000 raised, leaving the initiative well on pace to surpass the total donation goal of $100,000.The First Down Fund has two priorities: promoting reading proficiency and technology access for K-12 youth as cornerstones to success at school and in life, and supporting efforts to prevent and cure breast cancer and support breast cancer survivors. Fitzgerald has been able to use his fame to help give back in a unique partnership only possible through new opportunities of sports betting.

Michael Jordan donates a huge sum to two Novant Health clinics in Charlotte, North Carolina. During a recent speech, Jordan teared up as he spoke about his $7.2 million donation to two Novant Health clinics in his area. According to the Charlotte Observer, The Novant Health Michael Jordan Family Clinic and a second facility expected to open soon nearby will serve at least 35,000 children and adults over the next five years. The clinics provide both primary health care services as well as access to social workers, behavioral health experts, oral health practitioners, and physical therapy. Jordan’s financial gift to Novant Health is the latest in his philanthropic giving in Charlotte and his home state of North Carolina. Jordan has significantly ramped up his charitable giving since he became the majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets in 2010. The Novant Health Michael Jordan Family Medical Clinic opened just over three weeks ago, and has already cared for more than 300 people. It is particularly important for Charlotte families to get the health care they deserve, as the city ranks last among major U.S. cities in enabling people to lift themselves out of poverty.