#atlanta have been playing well AND they beat Toronto SO

[youngveinsworld]

young veins spring tour

The Young Veins toured North America opening for Foxy Shazam with Bad Rabbits in the spring of 2010. The band knew Foxy Shazam because they were also with One Haven Music. Ryan explained how the tour came about in this interview:

We are managed by the same people. It was kind of tough to get on a tour when you don’t have any music out or any records, so I think they did us a favor. Or maybe we are doing them a favor.

^ map of the Foxy Shazam tour.

As well as touring with Foxy Shazam, the Young Veins also played two solo shows at the Echo in Los Angeles, which is a tiny venue with a 350 person capacity, as well as a set at South By Southwest Festival (SXSW) on 19 March.

Several fans who posted concert recaps of the shows mentioned that the band didn't have roadies and were setting up their equipment themselves. It seems like Jon was doing most of it, which makes sense as he used to be a guitar tech for The Academy Is... and he was probably also the strongest.

The band ran a Twitter competition for the tour, where fans could tweet a picture of their favorite vacation memory to be entered to win free tickets to one of the shows. Here is an infographic posted by the band about it:

Ryan talked about the competition in this interview:

[The vacation photograph contest] was [the label's] idea, which I really liked because I have been meeting the kids every night and they are really excited about it. There is really nothing we have to do, it is just a great way to have people come for free.

Tour dates

The hyperlinked shows from the dates below are the ones I've found pictures/videos/information for, so clicking them will take you to a tag about that day. The italicised shows are ones that were not part of the Foxy Shazam tour.

13 March - Los Angeles, CA (The Echo) 15 March - Nashville, TN (Exit/In) 18 March - Houston, TX (House of Blues Houston) 19 March - Austin, TX (SXSW - Dirty Dog Bar) 21 March - San Antonio, TX (White Rabbit) 23 March - Little Rock, AR (Juanita’s Cantina Ballroom) 24 March - Atlanta, GA (The Masquerade) 26 March - Ybor City, FL (Orpheum) 27 March - Jacksonville, FL (Jack Rabbits) 28 March - Richmond, VA (Canal Club Downstairs Lounge) 29 March - New York, NY (The Studio At Webster Hall) 30 March - Allston, MA (Great Scott) 31 March - Brooklyn, NY (Knitting Factory) 1 April - Webster, CT (Webster Underground) 3 April - Montreal, QC (Petit Campus) 5 April - Toronto, ON (Sneaky Dee’s) 6 April - Buffalo, NY (Mohawk Place) 7 April - Columbus, OH (The Basement) 8 April - Pontiac, MI (The Eagle Theatre) 9 April - Covington, KY (The Mad Hatter) 10 April - Chicago, IL (Beat Kitchen) 11 April - Buffalo, MN (The Vault) 13 April - Denver, CO (Marquis Theatre) 15 April - Seattle, WA (El Corazón) 16 April - Vancouver, BC (Venue Nightclub) 17 April - Portland, OR (Satyricon) 18 April - San Francisco, CA (Bottom of the Hill) 19 April - Orangevale, CA (The Boardwalk) 21 April - West Hollywood, CA (Troubadour) 23 April - Scottsdale, AZ (Martini Ranch) 24 April - Albuquerque, NM (Launchpad) 26 April - Lawrence, KS (Jackpot Saloon & Music Hall) 27 April - St. Louis, MO (Off Broadway Nightclub) 31 May - Los Angeles, CA (The Echo)

Average Setlist

Defiance Take a Vacation! Change Dangerous Blues Everyone But You The Other Girl Cape Town Maybe I Will, Maybe I Won't Young Veins (Die Tonight)

^ a picture of the band with Bad Rabbits and Foxy Shazam during the spring tour from the Young Veins' Facebook page.

Quotes from the band about the spring tour

It’s been so much fun playing these venues. We’ve scaled back on the way that we’re touring. We’re back in a van and we’re actually able to experience what we’re doing and where we’re going instead of just being on someone else’s schedule and being told where to be and when. This last tour we just finished with Foxy Shazam was just so much fun. We had more time to hang out with fans and the venues sound better, it’s so much more intimate, I really hope that we can continue and maintain playing in smaller places for awhile just because of the fact that the sound is so much better. Once you get into the bigger places it really makes a difference. – Jon

It is more interesting every night, you never know what you are going to walk into. I question the craftsmanship in a lot of these clubs because I can't figure out what they were thinking but it makes it a lot of fun. Being so close to the crowd again, I forgot how that was and it makes the show have more energy. – Ryan

It’s been weird for us because this is the first time in the last four or five years that we’ve gone on tour playing songs that no one really knows. It was interesting to get people’s reactions and I think it went fairly well. I know just playing live for us in general gives us motivation to do the kind of songs we want to write and even more focused on wanting to have it translate better live than songs we’ve written in the past. – Jon

Especially since we don't have any music out or released, building a really close relationship with what fanbase we do have is really important. Being as close as possible, building friendships and meeting people around the country is good. [...] The best feeling in the world is to have people that did not come for our band and like our band and tell us that after the show, especially since no one has any pretense of what to expect. If they did like it that is a really good feeling. – Nick M

Photos from the road

In the first picture you can see a fox that was given to the band by a fan at the Atlanta show on March 24th, which they took on the road during this tour.

[ripjaws]

IT NEVER FUCKING ENDS

genuinely hope I pass away before tonight

[kumkaniudaku]

Simple Syrup

You asked for Daveed smut and I tried to deliver. At least this one time. Enjoy!

Warning: Sexual Content. 18+. 

Daveed Diggs x Black!OC (Olivia Jenkins)(Yes, the MC/ OC is black. Representation is important.)

"Yo, open up!" Heavy fists beat against the door of Olivia's downtown apartment, making her roll her eyes. "I know you can hear me, girl! It's your favorite pop-up roommate!"

"You've been evicted, Diggs!"  

"I paid you rent, though!"

Turning the stove on low, Olivia shook her head as she wiped her hands on a dishtowel. Daveed always found a way to surprise her with his presence. He never texted before showing up at her door but frequently sported a backpack or suitcase full of clothes or Rafael for an extended stay. He and all his baggage were welcome anytime, with or without notice.

Stepping to the door, Olivia bit back a smile before responding. "I didn't receive any payments this month."

"I got it in my bag."

"Bag or bags?"

"Open the door to find out."

Daveed took a step back as the locks began to turn, waiting for Olivia's face to greet him with faux anger the way she did the last time he showed up out of nowhere and stayed for three weeks. Despite stopping by six months ago, it felt like a lifetime since he'd been in her company. Bi-weekly phone conversations weren't enough. He needed to be near Olivia while she watched whatever Housewives franchise had her attention for the month.

When the door opened to reveal the long hallway leading to her living area, Olivia stood with a hand on her hips and a grin on her face.

"Where is my money," she asked, shifting her weight from foot to foot. Just as she expected, he stood in the hallway with a suitcase that she knew cost a fortune to check at the airport and his worn Jansport full of junk and work.

Daveed laughed and bent to rifle through his backpack for a crumpled white envelope that he handed over with exaggerated purpose. "Here you go, Miss Jenkins. Sorry to be late on rent for, what, 8 months? I hope this is enough."

"Boy, you didn't really need to pay me. You're not on the lease."

"Good," he answered as he pretended to wipe sweat from his brow. "Because those are just Chick Fil A coupons."

Olivia stood with her mouth open as Daveed brushed her to roll his luggage to the first bedroom on the right.

He listened to her insult his "stupid face" and instruct him to hurry up while he scanned the room he had called home more times than he could count. All of Daveed's belongings were in the same place, with almost unnoticeable shifts to show that Olivia had cleaned once or twice. His favorite throw blanket was folded at the edge of the bed with his initials elegantly embroidered in the corner. The air smelled of the vanilla candle she kept on the nightstand next to a framed photo of the crew enjoying a roller coaster at Six Flags. His favorite trinket, Olivia's homecoming crown from undergrad, sat next to a single gold medal from Daveed's days competing in track and field. To him, it symbolized their bond from the beginning. To her, it was probably just a space to hide old items.

"Daveed, get in here! I need you to cut!"

All at once, Daveed's sense of self returned to center him in reality. He quickly kicked off his shoes once he remembered Olivia's rules and started off toward the kitchen to answer the call for his help.

Even with the windows open, he could smell savory and sweet aromas combining for a smell that reminded him of the holidays. However, the calendar placed them square in the middle of an excruciatingly hot summer. He could see the open bottle of BBQ sauce on the center island next to a mixing bowl full of things he couldn't recognize but knew they would taste great. Bushels of greens sat in a pot on the stove, boiling amid smoked meat and seasonings to complement the food cooking in the oven. Daveed felt excitement take hold of his face and forced the apples of his cheeks up toward his eyes. Olivia looked up from her task at the cutting board and smirked.

"I thought you were vegan now."

"My business is my business, Liv. We talked about this last week."

"We also talked about you heading directly to Toronto after your job in Atlanta and, yet, here you are." She studied Daveed's face for answers but found nothing but a growing smile. "Come over here and cut up these strawberries while I sauce the ribs."

Daveed followed directions without complaint, lazily strolling to the island and nudging Olivia away. He'd been her help in the kitchen before to open pesky jars or stir while she tended to the more time-intensive parts of the meal. On more than one occasion, he had fucked up, and each time she invited him back into her safe space with open arms.

"How's Rafa and the family," Olivia asked with her back turned while she bent to take a peek into the oven.

Daveed kept his eyes on her backside for a moment too long before answering. "Rafa's good. Amy sends her love and says that you are more than welcome for Friendsgiving this year. She volunteered you for pies."

"You volunteered me for pies, Daveed," Olivia corrected, knowing how much her friend loved her desserts. "What about my babies? Is Santiago the best big brother to Emelia?"

"He's...trying. But he did send a gift for the lady with the bald head. His words, not mine."

Olivia ran a hand across her tapered fade and chuckled. "I feel like he heard Rafael say that."

"No, Rafa calls you Thick Mr. Clean."

"Yeah, because that's what you said when you were drunk on New Years," Olivia accused as she gestured toward the cabinet housing her wine glasses. Daveed nodded before answering.

"I said it with love!"

"Mhmm, I'm sure."

Together they watched half a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc be transferred into the separate glasses, waiting for the moment they could take a sip. The last time they shared a drink, they ran through two 12- packs of beer with Rafael and ended up dancing with street performers in Times Square. She hadn't been able to stomach the smell of a Budweiser since then and fully transitioned to fruity notes and sparkling Rosé with Daveed occasionally coming along for the ride.

Taking another long sip from his glass, Daveed leaned against the island counter to watch Olivia stir a mixture for skillet cornbread.

"What's got you so stressed?"

Olivia shrugged but didn't look away from the bowl. "Nothing. I'm fine."

"The last time you cooked like this, you were writing your dissertation. And the time before that, it was your mom."

The room fell quiet outside of the spoon, ricocheting off the sides of the mixing bowl. After several seconds, Olivia took a deep breath and looked up at Daveed.

"Daddy's getting remarried. Omari and I are his best-kids," she laughed. "I'm not stressed. Just a bit...sad, I guess?"

Daveed understood the issue without needing more context. Five years ago, he was the one sitting beside Olivia on the floor of her brother's home office after the news came that their mother had in the hospital. He was there for the saddest funeral he'd ever experienced and the months of reconciliation that the family struggled through on the way to some sense of normalcy. The idea that her father had found love again was heartwarming, but Daveed knew the occasion was bringing up old feelings.

"Wanna talk about it?"

She shrugged again and moved the skillet to the oven. "There's nothing to talk about. I said I'm fine. I wish she was here, ya know, but I know she isn't upset. She always told us to move on once she's gone. She sure as hell would."

Daveed chuckled at the idea of Mrs. Jenkin's moving on in the afterlife. "She was funny like that. I remember when she met me for the first time and kept calling me Devante."

"Yes," Olvia exclaimed, a spark of joy returning to her eyes. "She'd call me and be like, that boy Devante is smart! Ask him if he can put me in a movie one day!"

Olivia's voice warped to imitate her mother as best as possible before she burst into laughter with Daveed.

"One of the last things she said to me was that I need to make sure you keep having fun. She didn't want you to stop enjoying life on account of her."

"Yeah…" Daveed watched Olivia down the wine in her glass with her eyes closed, waiting for her to continue her thought. "Well, you're doing a good job. We could work on your definition of fun, but solid effort so far."

"How can I do better? I'm open to criticism."  

Daveed kept his eyes on Olivia while he reached across her body to grab the wine bottle for the final drink. Her breath hitched while alcohol buzzed through her system, creating the perfect storm for sudden arousal. She fought her thoughts by shaking her head to recover.

"You can start by grabbing those strawberries and bringing them over to the stove."

"Don't skip the question." Daveed's smirk as he followed her to the other side of the counter made Oliva hot with embarrassment, but she kept a calm exterior. "Are you still having fun with me?"

"I always have fun with you, D, you know that. Who else is gonna play Bop It with me at 2 AM on a Wednesday? The question is, are you still having fun with me, superstar?"

"Don't start that. I come and stay at your house because I miss you, not because I can't find somewhere else to sleep. You're my person."

"For now," Olivia added as a rebuttal, ignoring the way her stomach flipped at hearing the way Daveed felt. "What happens when you get married? You're gonna have to go be a family man like Rafa. Then we'll only see each other on Friendsgiving and Christmas."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"Hm." Olivia's short but skeptical laugh effectively ended the conversation. Still, Daveed had already made up his mind to return to the discussion later in the week. "So, how long are you here this time?"

Daveed used one of his large palms to push a few curls off his forehead in search of relief from the heat in the kitchen. "I was thinking a couple weeks. Three or four."

"That's longer than normal! I get to have my favorite guy here long enough to help me put wallpaper up in the guest bathroom?"

"Am I only muscle to you?"

"Of course, not," she answered with a sweet smile, making Daveed mirror her expression. "You're also a taste tester. Open up."

Before Daveed could object, Olivia swiped barbecue sauce across his bottom lip for his opinion. The tip of his tongue appeared to taste the tangy brown sauce, finding an explosion of flavor that reminded him how much he missed Olivia's cooking.

"What's the verdict," Olivia asked over her shoulder as she turned off the eye under her simple syrup mixture.

"Tangy and sweet. I'm not sure why you don't bottle this up for sale. My dad would love some."

"Meh, I like having it as a treat for the people I love. All my hobbies aren't for profit, my friend."

Daveed dramatically threw a hand across his chest and gasped. "Did Mean Ole Liv just imply that she loves me? I-I'm gobsmacked. Utterly shocked and eternally grateful."

"Diggs, you're pushing it," she laughed. "Come taste this syrup before I start on the lemonade."

From experience, Daveed knew what to expect. But he humored Olivia anyway if only to see pride light up her face when he told her how amazing the sweet mixture tasted. After washing his hands in the sink, he skimmed his middle and pointer fingers across the top of the syrup to pick up enough to coat his fingertips.

He eyed the liquid for a moment, watching it slowly trickle down the side of his long fingers while he thought of his next move. Olivia stood at the refrigerator with her back turned, humming a song from The Wiz. At the same time, she gathered ingredients for the beverage.

"Hey...hey, Liv." Daveed had already started to close the short gap between them and stood waiting for Olivia to respond to his call.

"Wha -" A sudden swipe of syrup across her bottom lip confused Olivia. "D, what is your problem?"

Stepping forward, Daveed took her chin in his to bring their lips inches apart. "Is it still cool if I taste?"

Olivia stared at Daveed without blinking, fighting her brain for a competent answer to his question. Instead, she nodded in a daze with her jaw slack. His fingers took gentle meandering paths across the peaks and valleys of her face before using his thumb to part her lips.

Daveed's first kiss was a tentative peck to test the waters. When he received no resistance, he pulled Olivia closer for full access to her mouth.

Neither of them expected to fall into the kiss so easily. Olivia didn't expect to melt into Daveed's body while he dictated the pace and intensity. Daveed didn't expect to feel an overwhelming desire to consume the one person that always felt so close but far away. He wanted to feel and taste every part of Olivia while he had the green light. She reveled in Daveed's attention, even if it was only for a moment.

Taking a step backward, Daveed used his knowledge of the kitchen to guide them back toward the stove. Their lips remained connected to taste the last bits of each other. Olivia was the first to break the lip lock and move her head upward, directing Daveed to choose a spot on her neck to explore.

The cold, sticky simple syrup came next, the thick glob landing on the center of her chest and sliding to her cleavage.

"I've thought about this a lot," Daveed spoke barely above a whisper as he used a finger to spread simple syrup across Olivia's chest. "Kinda wild to say, but I have."

"How long?"

"A year. Maybe two."

Olivia released a shaky gasp once Daveed's tongue began licking from the space between her breast to the base of her neck to catch the simple syrup. As quickly as it disappeared, he replaced the sugar mixture with another round at the juncture of her neck and shoulder. He groaned as the tart strawberry flavor mixed with the sweetness of the sugar and Olivia's skin. She grasped the back of his head for stability, allowing her eyes to flutter closed for a few seconds.

"How does it turn out? In your thoughts, I mean?"

Daveed paused to kiss Olivia's lips again and run his hands down her back. "Doesn't matter. We're here now, and I can't think of anything outside of how good you taste drenched in strawberry sauce."

"Simple syrup," Olivia answered, smiling as she sneakily dipped her finger into the pot behind Daveed. "It's simple syrup, and I haven't gotten a taste yet. Open your mouth."

They kept their eyes on each other while Daveed opened his mouth, waiting for whatever came next. Olivia took her time to coat his tongue in syrup, imagining how it would feel to experience the concoction from his mouth.

There started the mad scramble to get closer, taste more and touch longer. Separate but equal desires to completely consume the other person had the pair maneuvering around the kitchen. They remained attached at the lips until they reached the solid wood breakfast table near the large casement window. Daveed was the first to remove clothing, pulling his t-shirt over his head and tossing it somewhere behind him. A split-second decision had him rushing back to the stove to retrieve the syrup pot. He carefully placed it on the table while Olivia slid the straps of her summer dress down her arms to let the fabric pool at her waist. Daveed watched with a flirtatious smile, marveling at the expanse of her warm brown skin. Olivia returned the sentiment, letting her eyes rake over his broad chest and toned midsection.

One after the other, Daveed and Olivia added bits of syrup to different body parts to lick and suck the skin clean. A handful mistakenly dripped onto Olivia's thigh, and they watched the sticky liquid carry small chunks of strawberries to the inner portion of her leg.

Daveed regarded the sight with wonder before carefully dropping to one knee for a better look. He maintained eye contact with Olivia as he kissed his way to the sweetest spot, lingering in places that earned the most desirable response. The scratch of facial hair combined with his lips and tongue's soft, silkiness made Olivia keen for more. She could feel the blood rushing to pool at her inner thigh for a bruise that would leave evidence of a dream achieved. She smiled at the thought of seeing it when she was getting dressed and how her stomach might feel with butterflies from the memories.

Daveed mumbled praise after praise into the supple skin of Olivia's thigh before starting a journey back to her lips. When he returned, he slowly pushed the waistband of his sweats down his hips and legs.

"Oh," Olivia spoke, eyes wide while she fought the natural desire to let her gaze travel. "I...wow, okay. I feel like I'm violating you."

"I'm kind of asking you to," Daveed laughed as he stepped closer.

"This is so fucking weird. Are we really about to do this?"

"Only if you want. I mean, I want to, but we can stop whenever you say the word."

He was closer now, dropping kisses on her shoulders while he pressed their chests together to reduce the space between him.

Olivia's legs naturally hooked themselves around his waist at the same time that her arms circled his neck.

She leaned forward to speak against Daveed's lips with her eyes hooded in lust, "I want this."

Passion and the hint of strawberry coating their lips intensified the moment between Olivia and Daveed. He held her writhing hips steady while he stood on his toes to push forward. Simultaneous moans of pleasure rang out in the kitchen, surely gaining the attention of nearby neighbors.

Their hips bucked an even pace, repeatedly meeting to build tension in their bellies. Daveed felt the strain of each stroke in his thighs and calves but found the desire to fuck his friend on her kitchen table to override any other immediate discomfort.

"Are you a talker," Daveed asked randomly, making Olivia's eyes snap up from the action below her waist to focus her attention on him.

"What?"

"A talker. Do you like to talk during sex?" His question came between labored breaths and grunts holding a mixture of exertion and indescribable pleasure.

"Daveed, are you trying to have a conversation with me right now?"

"I mean, I like to - fuck - I...I like to talk sometimes. Is that cool?"

A high-pitched moan ripped through Olivia's throat before she could gather her senses to respond. "It's your c-call, Diggs. Just don't stop."

He followed directions without skipping a beat, digging into his strength to pick up speed when he sensed they could move to the next level. He peppered in filthy statements that stimulate Olivia's mind while driving into her with expert precision.

They held on to each other as they reached separate peaks with no regard for the climbing noise level.

"I wanna do this forever," Daveed whispered into Olivia's ear before nipping at the lobe.

"Not look into my eyes lovingly and write songs about me?"

Daveed chuckled and snapped his hips forward, earning a near-silent moan. "Can I use you calling me daddy on the hook?"

"You got a lot of work to do before that happens."

"I'll put in overtime."

Splaying his hand across Olivia's torso, Daveed pushed her to lay flat on the table before leaning to hover over her body. He used his waning energy to give her all the power in his hips, searching for a climax. When she thought she couldn't come anymore, Olivia felt her body jolt off the table once the pad of Daveed's thumb began rubbing tight circles on her clit. Daveed smiled at the reaction but felt it disappear as soon as his hips falter mid-stroke. He rushed to pull out of Olivia, fearing that if he stayed inside for a moment longer, he would expedite his journey to fatherhood.

Olivia helped his cause by curling her fingers around his length and joining his pumping effort while she propped her body up on her elbow. He came with a choppy moan and heavy breathing on her belly, his chest rising and falling rapidly in time with the stove's timer beeping for attention.

Both Olivia and Daveed dissolved into laughter.

"Please, don't let this dry on me. It's sexy now but a pain to get off later."

Daveed's laughter climbed to hysterics at Olivia's mention of the mess on her stomach before reaching across the table to grab napkins out of the centerpiece component.

"Sorry," he apologized sheepishly as he helped wipe her clean. "Condoms next time?" 

"Or my mouth."

Daveed stood shocked for a split second while Olivia worked to readjust her clothing and hurry to the stove. He followed her lead and pulled up his sweats before clearing the syrup pot and grabbing wipes to disinfect the surface.

The room was silent while they arranged hot dishes on the counter and privately grappled with having sex for the first time. A sense of "now what" hung in the air, which made Daveed more and more uncomfortable.

After plates were fixed, they chose opposite ends of the table to enjoy the meal.

"You know," Olivia started, laughing as she swallowed the last piece of cornbread on her plate. "That simple syrup recipe is my mom's. This whole meal was her favorite thing to cook, and I made it because I was really fuckin' sad and needed her nearby. Then you showed up."

Daveed's eyes snapped up from his plate. He wasn't sure what to say and remained silent in hopes that Olivia would elaborate.

"A couple weeks before she died, she told me that she would still be directing my love life from Heaven. She grabbed my hand and said, 'Dammit, Bean, I'm gone get you a man even if I gotta do it during bingo with the good Lord.'"

"You think she's up there winning the grand prize?"

Olivia shook her head. "I think she forfeited it to send you to me."

Her answer made Daveed still to watch Olivia's eyes meet his set from across the table. She reached a hand across the table with her palms facing upward, beckoning Daveed to place his palm in the center of hers.

"We have three weeks to figure this shit out," Daveed said, smiling before bringing Olivia's palm to rest on his cheek.

She looked at him for a minute to take in the way his eyes reflected the sun before using her head to gesture toward the pot still resting on the counter.

"And all night to finish off mama's recipe."

[defensefilms]

Embiid, Sixers And Everything Else In A Wild NBA Post Season

1. Sixers And The Joys Of The 1 Seed

This is it.

This is what it’s all about. I can’t remember having this type of optimism about the Sixers during any post season. The 2018/19 Sixers were close but they didn’t validate that optimism the way this year’s team has as far as regular season performances.

These guys have done that and then some.

We’re no longer a team devoid of shooting or ball movement. We’re no questioning what our best line-ups are and who our best player is. We now have an experienced post season coach with the cache to make demands of these players.

This is the best any Sixer team has looked in any post season. We put the mollywhopping on the Wizards. From the head coach Doc Rivers, his staff and then all the way down to Shake Milton and Mike Scott off the bench, no one even entertained the idea that we weren’t going to sweep these guys.

Now we’re facing an obstinate Atlanta Hawks squad.  The Hawks have no way to stop Simmons or Embiid 1-on-1 but they got shooters for days and Trae Young’s averaging 27.7 points on 48.4% from the field. We need to put some respect on his name. Get the ball out of Trae’s hands because he was doing too much in game 1.

First there’s the fact that we’ve had our struggles defending elite scoring point guards this season. Then there’s the fact that Trae Young has done us dirty a few times before. The Hawks gave us hands in game 1 of the 2nd round. We we’re down early and didn’t get close to coming back until it was too late buts its far from curtains in this series. 

One thing that has definitely been of huge concern is the health of Joel Embiid.

How is it possible that a man tear his meniscus on May 31st and then drop 39 points, 9 boards and 4 assists in the playoffs on June 3rd? How? He can’t be healthy and I don’t know if it’s smart for his long term health to play right now. He was one of the bright sparks of the game. It’s not just this specific injury either.

This season has been hell on Embiid’s body. You have to wonder how much their gonna risk it or if the team are even halfway considering giving him a rest. Embiid spoke about managing his injuries after game 1 against the Hawks. Honestly doesn’t sound good. He’s talking about managing the swelling in his knee. This on top of ACL injuries sustained towards the end of the regular season. He’ll have had five days rest before game 2 so hopefully that helps remedy what is way more alarming than the Sixers front office is making it seem.

2. Lakers Flame Out

It’s been a dramatic season for the 2020/21 Lakers and typically speaking I don’t think that a team seeded so low are worthy of a list or breakdown like this but this is a special case. These Lakers are likely a way better team than seeding suggests.

Injuries to their 2 best players, saw the Lake-show lose number 1 seeding and then slide further down.

Roster-wise the Lakers tried their utmost to replace the production that they got out of Javale McGee and Dwight Howard. Marc Gasol just can’t be an active defender anymore and his inability to cover the perimeter and post at the same time became a huge issue. Montrezl Harrell has averaged 23.7 minutes off the bench and Dennis Schroder stretches the court as a shooter and a tertiary scorer but is more turnover prone than Rajon Rondo was.

The signing of Andre Drummond was a great idea and his rim protection and big body offense are valuable assets but he was never on the court with the team’s top stars long enough for any kind of chemistry to develop. 

The big issue is that as a team they are not the defensive powerhouse they were last year. The issue with that is that this team doesn’t have the kind of offensive scoring and 3-point shooting that can allow them to rely on blowing teams out the water and outscoring the opponents.

The signs were ominous from pretty early on but stop lying to yourself. More importantly, stop lying to the people. Don’t pretend you knew the Lakers would lose this series to the Phoenix Suns.

Anthony Davis has had his well covered and documented struggles with injuries throughout the season. As a an on looker, I gave the Lakers the benefit of the doubt every step of the way. I felt like we knew how this goes and the team with winning pedigree would get it together. LeBron’s injuries were something I felt he could overcome because he’s LeBron. It just never happened. That moment when Lebron takes over like he did against Boston in 2017, just never happened. 

I’m hesitant to say it’s over for LeBron or anything even remotely similar to that. However it might be a wrap for him in Los Angeles.  

3. Brooklyn Looking Nasty

Are the Brooklyn Nets Nasty or are they playing against a team that lacks versatility?

I’ve watched a lot of this team since 2017 and you know what I realized, that they’re a well oiled, championship caliber team until oppositions shut down the 4-out-1-in strategy. The meltdown they suffered in the 2018/19 post season against the Toronto Raptors was bad but still left room for optimism. The massacre they suffered against the Miami Heat in last year’s second round was a signal for change.

Yet I don’t feel there has been a lot of change. So the onus falls on Mike Budenholzer to come-up with a convincing second act to his game plan. Two games in to the 2nd round series against these Nets, Bud has failed spectacularly.

Then there’s the flipside of the coin, which I hope just isn’t true.

The Brooklyn Nets are looking untouchable. Kevin Durant is among my least favorite players but he’s killing it. The confidence he’s showing taking defenders off the dribble and pulling up is incredible and to be fair he’s always been really good at that. 

Durant slapped the Bucks up for 32 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists in game 2 and then had one of the snidest post game interviews you’ll ever witness from an athlete. 

The hope here is that Giannis and the Bucks can get it together because we need someone to take some of the steam out of this Nets squad.

4. Kristapz Porzingis Hates Being A Mav

There is an absolutely hilarious 5 minute clip of Luka Doncic just refusing to pass the ball to Porzingis throughout the 2020/21 season. Click here and witness basketball comedy.  

Luka Doncic absolutely dominated in a losing effort against the Los Angeles Clippers in round 1. However it was clear that he was only going to push the Clippers and the only way to do better than that would be to take the pressure off of Luka and some one else to help carry the scoring. If only the Mavericks had a big man to compliment Luka, you know, a guy that can create his own shot and still be a mismatch when Luka forces bad switches and he finds himself guarded by smaller guys. Oh wait.

The world has finally taken notice of everything happening in Dallas and most importantly everything that’s not happening in Dallas. Luka’s growth and development is something for the organization to be proud of but this was supposed to be complimented by the growth of Kristapz Porzingis and that just isn’t happening. 

The word on the streets is that Porzingis is frustrated with his role on the Mavs and may seek a trade but after some of his performances in that round 1 series, I think the Mavs will have a hard time convincing anyone to take on his contract.

5. The West Can Call Itself Wild Again

This here is by far the most open Western Conference playoffs in over a decade, 

I don’t buy the hype about how the Western Conference teams are better and more competitive but the record is the record and it can’t be argued with.

No so this year.

The Lakers falling out of the race has definitely gifted us a conference where we just don’t know who is going to emerge as the representative in the finals. 

The Phoenix Suns have definitely racked up the most street cred by beating Lebron’s Lakers in 6. Devin Booker is simply awesome and I don’t say that as a fan of his. He average 29.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists against the Lakers and they also overcame an injury scare to Chris Paul. They have a very interesting 2nd round series against the Denver Nuggets, who lost Jamal Murray to injury and found a way to keep winning and also overcame a near super human scoring output from Damian Lillard in round 1.

Then there’s the 1st seed Utah Jazz, who will go down in history as the most disrespected and underrated 1 seed in recent memory. They’ve been matched up against the Los Angeles Clippers who looked like they were reeling in the early part of their round 1 series against Luka Doncic and the Mavericks, then Kawhi and Paul George composed themselves and took the series in a thrilling 7 game series. The redemption story is definitely still in progress.

That’s 3 different 2nd round playoff match-ups that will probably provide a high quality of basketball. Well worth the watch.

[tell-me-when-ur-ready]

Number Neighbor

Summary: “Number Neighbor” is the latest Internet trend. You just never thought Shawn Mendes would be yours.

Warnings: tiny bit of language and drinking; homesickness

Word count: 1,800

You didn’t like the game Truth or Dare. You didn’t like alcohol. You’d never traveled more than a few miles away from your Canada home. And yet somehow here you were in Atlanta, with three drinks (maybe more? You weren’t really sure) buzzing in your system and strangers baring their souls around you.

“So good to be back,” your friend Mia muttered sarcastically next to you, kicking a few empty red Solo cups off the coffee table and sticking her booted feet up on the glass top.

“Careful,” you said absently, one hand fingering the lip of the beer can you were holding and the other worrying at the fringe of your shirt, scared about what secrets you might have to reveal. Questions so far had ranged from “what’s your kink” to “why do you see your therapist,” and you didn’t feel like answering anything in either of those veins (you didn’t have any kinks that you knew of, but you saw your therapist for generalized anxiety disorder, not that that was anyone’s business). You already had butterflies just from being in an unfamiliar situation, and the beer didn’t help settle your stomach.

“It’s fine,” Mia scoffed beside you. She lifted one ankle a few inches and whacked it down onto the table for emphasis; you flinched, but the glass didn’t shatter. It didn’t even scuff.

“Ryan’s parents would pay for it anyway,” Mia added, gesturing vaguely toward the blond-haired frat guy on the other side of the room. Currently, he was chugging a beer while his friends gathered in a circle, egging him on. “What, do you not have wild college parties in Toronto?”

She smiled a bit as she said it and gently elbowed you in the ribs, letting you know she was kidding. You were visiting Mia, a friend you’d met at a summer filmmaking intensive four years ago, in her hometown of Atlanta for the week before you headed back home to Toronto (Pickering, to be specific, but no one here had ever heard of Pickering) to start your sophomore year of online college.

 Mia had only started class a couple of days earlier, and you’d thought the college students here would be studying or sleeping or at least pretending to be responsible. But instead, it appeared that the party scene was cranking back up in spectacular fashion (if “spectacular” meant a swanky mansion owned by some annoying white boy’s parents, a half dozen kegs of beer, and a scintillating game of Truth or Dare while rap music pulsed in the background).

 Ryan tossed aside his empty beer can and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, looking around the room for his next victim. Disgusting.

 “Hey!” he crowed, his gaze landing on you. Your heart instantly starting to beat a little faster. “Mia’s friend hasn’t gone yet.”

 “She has a name,” Mia said lazily, but Ryan ignored her, instead pushing through the crowd of two dozen college students to look you up and down.

 “So, Mia’s friend,” he said, crossing his arms. “What’ll it be? Truth or dare?”

 You were a cautious person by nature, and in most cases (that is, the few times before that someone had strongarmed you into playing this game), you would say truth. It seemed like the safer choice. But after what you’d heard so far tonight, you weren’t so sure if the truth was safe—Ryan had been thinking up some doozies and you didn’t want this room of strangers to know anything about you. You felt like you were a world away from home; there was an irrational desire to protect yourself and not be vulnerable.

 “Dare,” you answered, the word popping out of your mouth almost without your permission. Mia looked at you sideways, probably wondering what you were thinking, but Ryan looked distinctly disappointed.

 “Okay,” he said slowly, thinking.  A nauseous feeling roiled in your stomach; spit it out!, you thought desperately.

 “Text your number neighbor,” Ryan said after a long pause. You let out a relieved breath. There was a beat of silence as the kids gathered around him took in what he’d said, and then the room filled with grumbles.

 “Aw, that’s too easy,” one guy said, flopping down on the couch in disappointment. Others echoed his sentiments.

 Ryan shrugged his shoulders. “Look, it’s been a long game. I’m all out of dares. But if you wanna change your mind, Mia’s friend, there’s a lot I’d like to know about you.”

 He raised an eyebrow suggestively and you grimaced.

 “Trying to be seductive, but failing because he’s drunk. That sums up Ryan pretty well,” Mia whispered in your ear.

 You took out your phone, thankful you’d read the room correctly and chosen dare for once. You were familiar with “number neighbors,” the trend that was all the rage on the Internet right now. The general concept was that everyone had two number neighbors, two people with a phone number just one digit off from theirs. If someone’s phone number was 123-456-7890, for instance, their number neighbor would be 123-456-7891.

 “Okay,” you said to Ryan, sliding your phone open and creating a new text. “Up or down?”

 He shrugged again and dropped onto what looked to be a very nice couch, carelessly sprawling out on top of it. “Up.”

 “What should I say?” you asked, typing in the number.

 Ryan seemed to have lost interest in the whole thing. “Whatever you want. Something sexy,” he said. Then he yelled, “Hey! Who wants to go jump in the pool?”

 The room emptied except for you and Mia, still sitting side-by-side on the couch. You pressed your chin into your hand and considered your phone screen. To be honest, you were a little homesick, and it was nice to see the familiar Pickering area code. You let yourself wonder for a moment who your number neighbor might be. An old lady just learning how to use a smartphone? A high school girl who would answer in seconds? A middle-aged dad who wasn’t up on the latest Internet trends?

 Before you could let yourself overthink it too much, you typed out a quick message:

 Hey neighbor ;)

 Then you hit “send” and forgot all about it.

***

You laid awake for hours that night, your eyes adjusting to the dark so well that you could count the tiles on the ceiling of Mia’s unfamiliar dorm room. Each passing minute left you more uneasy. You couldn’t put your finger on what was really wrong—you just knew something didn’t feel right, and you were further from home than you’d ever been, and you wished you could walk down to the kitchen and drink a cup of tea with your mum. You felt small and alone in the world, and the chilly air pouring from the air conditioner didn’t help.

 Your vibrating phone shook you out of your nervous thoughts. Bleary, you rolled over in your blanket nest on the floor and picked it up. The display read 1:30—two hours after you and Mia had ditched the party and gone to bed, since she had class the next morning.

 You blinked at the message on your lock screen.

 Who is this? How did you get this number?

 The number was unfamiliar and for a moment, you wondered the same thing. And then it all came back to you—truth or dare, Ryan, your number neighbor. A wave of overwhelming longing hit you for your bedroom at home; this was the furthest away from home you’d ever been and the longest you’d ever stayed. But you forced yourself to rub the sleep out of your eyes and sit up, shielding your phone screen so Mia could keep sleeping.

 I’m your number neighbor, you typed quickly, glad for something to pull you out of your head. You know—the thing everyone on Twitter is doing?

 A reply came almost immediately.

 I haven’t been on Twitter much lately. Educate me

 In a few brief words, you explained the concept, adding a news article from the Internet to back up your claims.

 This time, it took a moment longer before your phone buzzed silently again.

 That’s pretty cool actually.

 Yeah, you sent back. And then somehow your fingers were typing out, I’m a little lonely right now. I’m traveling and I’m really homesick. So it’s nice to see a message from a Pickering area code.

 Was the truth safe here? You didn’t know. You sent the message before you could second-guess yourself and leaned back against Mia’s bed, feeling a little shaky and like crying for no reason at all. The night was completely silent except for Mia’s soft breathing. Outside the tiny window, you could see a pale glimmer of light from the streetlight, but other than that it was dark. You’d been here for three days so far and Atlanta was a lot different than Pickering. You weren’t sure you liked it.

 You were shaken out of your reverie by another message popping up on your phone.

 Really?, it read. And then, Me too.

 A shaky breath whistled past your lips.

 I’ve grown up in Pickering, you wrote, grateful your number neighbor hadn’t dismissed you out of hand. And I don’t really get out much because I… get nervous a lot. This trip was a big deal but I feel like I can’t handle it.

 Where are you?

 Atlanta, you answered.

 I was in Atlanta a few days ago.

 Yeah?

 Yeah.

 Your phone was still for a moment. Then, I travel a lot, they added. And I get nervous too. But it gets better. Easier. Are you with someone?

 You glanced at Mia’s sleeping form in the bed, her face barely visible under all the blankets.

 Yeah, but we’re not super close. I don’t know. I don’t really know why I’m here

 Sometimes you just have to do things like that, you know? Take a chance. Take a risk. And sometimes it might be shitty but a lot of the time it’s gonna be really good.

 You sighed. I hope this will be the second one. But I just don’t know yet.

 Your number neighbor was silent for a moment. Then they texted back, Are you gonna be okay?

 It took you the space of a few breaths to answer. But when you did, you said, Yeah.

 Good, they said. Hey, if you’re ever having a rough night again, you can text me. I don’t want you to feel like you’re alone. You’re not alone… you have a number neighbor ;)

 The corners of your mouth pulled up into a genuine smile for the first time since you’d stepped into the overwhelmingly busy Toronto airport.

 Thanks, you texted back.

 Anytime. Save my number as Shawn Mendes.

[madeleine-sanchez]

{ herizen guardiola ♔ twenty-three ♔ she/her } well, well, well if it isn’t madeleine sanchez running around peach hollow. legend has it, they come from peach place and have lived here for four years. if you’re wondering what they’ve been up to, i hear they’re art curator for a living. they have been known to be abrasive yet honest a word of advice to them, always look over your shoulder. you never know who is watching. { a ♔ 25 ♔ est ♔ she/her }

Alright champs ! admin a decided she could handle one more character, this bby is a brand new muse- hot off the press and everything. I say that to say I’m still figuring her out ! i’m down and open to all plots so just harass me on discord <333 @peachesstart​

BIOGRAPHY;

Madeleine “Maddie” Priscilla Sanchez was born on December 11th, 1996 (homie is sag). She was born and raised in Toronto with her cuban father, she grew up in a 2 parent household up until she was 10 and then her mother moved to Georgia, Maddie didn’t understand what happened and no one in her family was very forthcoming

Maddie’s summers became Peach Hollow summers so she could spend time with her mother, which she always had mixed feelings about since her and her mother butted heads a lot. Maddie always felt like she wasn’t what her mother expected having a daughter was like, maybe because she wasn’t into dolls or dresses.

Maddie has always had a temper, she was never afraid to throw down hands rather talk shit out. Her deep belief was “talk shit, get hit.” This lead to her dad encouraging her to take that rage and channel it into art and music.

Maddie isn’t always the most approachable person but she does warm up easy if she decides your worth her time.

She attended OCAD to receive an art degree and she was pretty happy doing what she was doing

TW: GUN VIOLENCE, POLICE, DEATH: Maddie and her father were visiting family in Atlanta before heading back to Peaches to be with her mother and grandma, her father stopped for some gas and went to pay inside. Maddie was just playing on her phone as she waited for her dad to come back out. Little did she know, he never would. Apparently there had been a robbery in progress and when cops showed up they thought her father was involved and shot him before the attendant could explain the guys got away. This was two years ago and Maddie still has nightmares of the gun shot she heard from the car. TRIGGER ENDS

Maddie soon after moved to Peaches and lives with her grandmother and mother. She is still very very angry over what happened to her dad and finds art may help but it’s not enough.

She works at the local art gallery, she’s a curator as well as sells her work.

Extra bits;

SHE’S A LESBIAN YOUR HONOUR

She attends a dead parents support group, she thinks it’s bullshit but does it to appease her grandmother

You can find her either at Roasted Bean sketching, or Graveyard drinking

She’s a fighter, she will have no regrets beating that ass

WANTED CONNECTIONS;

RIDE OR DIE

BEST FRIENDS

PAST HOOK-UPS

CUSTOMERS

SUPPORT GROUP PALS

ONLINE PALS

COUSINS

FAMILY FRIENDS

LITERALLY ANYTHING, COME PLOT WITH ME I ACCEPT ALL CONNECTIONS

[flickwatches]

Week 3 Stage 2 Power Rankings

SeIts been awhile since I did one of these because I didn’t want to an end of stage ranking and than I got sick at the start of Stage 2.  I’ve caught a lot of the games but I’ve missed some Philly games. Rankings based on Stage 2 results not overall season results. 

20. Guangzhou Charge

I hope they figure it out soon.  Maybe the map pool really hurts there style of play.  They haven’t won a map let alone a game this stage.  They like DPS comps but they play them passively in comparison to Chengdu and Shanghai.  

19. Washington Justice

They let Corey click heads and already look better because of it.  Adding Ark has already helped a lot.  The tank line still seems weak with Sansam.  But maybe a DPS meta would help unleash Corey and Ado.  Or maybe Corey and Ado just look good because there one of the few players actively playing DPS. 

18. Los Angeles Valiant

I don’t know.  They won a game by accident and they play the Justice soon.  They mite get 2 wins this stage just because of there schedule.  Every player on the team is playing poorly and any value fans see is over hyped.  KSF is showing improvements. Agilities is lost.  Its as if Fate and Agilities are mentally done with goats and no longer want to put in max effort to win.  Space and Izayaki are mechanically the best on the team right now but they aren’t without rebuke when it comes to there play.  Team needs help and adding staff and players from the 2nd worst team in season 1 probably isn’t the answer. 

17. Florida Mayhem 

The decision to go all Korean wasn’t bad in itself.  But the decision to release the western players and staff without people ready to replace them.  Mite as well just waited till the off season and did this.  

16. Atlanta Reign 

I really don’t want to rank them this low but they’ve had an awful stage 2 so far.  The potential to be better exists but they don’t know what to play around.  Dafran was no hero but he brought a consistent style of play and energy to the team.  If the team had an identity right now it would be Dogman and that’s not good.  Its not because Dogman is bad its that he isn’t good enough to hold that strong of a role for an OWL team.  Erster needs to be supported more if they want to win again. 

15. Toronto Defiant

I have this bad feeling that there budget roster is going to backfire very soon.  OWL teams are improving at a pace not seen before and Toronto is falling far behind.  I don’t believe IM37 is enough of a band aid for the situation. 

14. Houston Outlaws

Have only played 1 game this stage so far and it was against Vancouver.  They played really well but its hard to judge them.  

13.  Hangzhou Spark

Still look super unpolished.  The coaching staff needs to get this team together before its too late.  They still have gobs of potential this season and can still stand at the top at the end.  

12. Shanghai Dragons

I know everyone is ranking them higher because there schedule gets really easy right now.  But they haven’t won those games yet and they only have 1 win this stage. Could easily we 3-2 at the end of this week though. Or they could be 2-2 depending on how Houston shows up.  They beat Chengdu but they can play a similar style and play it more accurately.  Shanghai is more willing to swap between and off of DPS comps while Chengdu hard plays DPS comps.  Shanghai wouldn’t get the same long term value vs goat teams as Chengdu would. 

11. Seoul Dynasty

They look really polished right now.  Hopefully they have another strong showing and make Stage 2 playoffs.  Very dangerous low tier team this meta.  Can show up and play goats with the best teams 

10. Boston Uprising

Extremely weak schedule.  Haven’t looked that good this stage.  I think they want to float DPS comps a little more this stage so there value mite be inflated.  Would probably be better off running different versions of goats instead. 

9.  Paris Eternal

Hot and cold so far this stage.  They played Danye on maps where Shadowburns hero pool would of flourished.  At one point Danye had played Pharah and Genji during a map.  They need to be more aggressive with there lineup strategies instead of just “little league-ing” there lineups so everyone gets to play. 

8. Philadelphia Fusion

Constant underdog of season 2.  They never look good but they win games.  They are bad this meta but they work well together.  They’ve gotten this far because of established synergy from last season. 

7. Chengdu Hunters

People want to be down on them right now but they went thru a small slump in stage 1 too.  Teams seem to figure them out a little halfway thru a stage and they start to look bad.  Expect a new brand of crazy from them very soon. 

6. Dallas Fuel

They looked very good this last week. Playing at a high level and the staff is abusing the lineups very well.  Max effort Dallas still isn’t a top 5 team but will see how it plays out at the end of the stage. 

5. Los Angeles Gladiators 

They played the Valiant way too close in the Battle for LA.  They still seem confused about how to get Surefour into the lineup with Decay and Hydration.  Decay is very strong and Hydration is playing some of the best overwatch of his career right now.  They’ve been trying to play all 3 at the same time and I don’t think its working for them. 

4. London Spitfire

The king is slowly returning.  

3. San Francisco Shock

I feel like they mite have a let down during the end of this stage or during the next 2 stages and people will get really down on them.  They are playing above there talent level still.  I’m more worried about the teams below them overcoming them than I am about them being able to beat the top teams. 

2. New York Excelsior 

They still don’t seem to be trying that hard.  I think they know when it comes down to it they have to beat Vancouver and there’s no point in playing gimmicks if it won’t help against them.  

1. Vancouver Titans. 

Immortal champions of Overwatch.  Need to be aware of map record so they get the 1st seed in the stage 2 playoffs if they want to repeat. 

[immersedinm]

In support of their recent EP release Wild Rivers is currently burning up the highways and byways of the states. Most recently, they were sweeping throughout the south, and Atlanta was fortunate they made a stop at Eddie’s Attic last Thursday evening. Having played the venue before, they seemed relaxed prior to the show as they were spotted happily chatting to excited ticket holders of the sold out show.

A few weeks ago, I shared their tune “Howling” before realizing they might make the long trek to Atlanta. I simply knew it was a winner. When I heard they were making Atlanta a part of their tour, they were kind enough to answer a few questions to help us get to know them a little better.

Wild Rivers is a Toronto based band with seamless guitar, steady percussion and stunning vocal harmonies, all fused together with earnest songwriting. The group began with Devan Glover and Khalid Yassein, and they were voted Toronto’s best new artist in 2015. Since then, they added Ben Labenski (drums), and Andrew Oliver (bass, guitar). Although at their performance in Atlanta, the drummer was someone else (did not catch his name) filling in for Ben. He was talented, but not sure if he was a permanent change or filling in.

1. How did you all meet? What is the story behind the name, Wild Rivers?

Devan Glover-

“A few of us met in college, and through mutual friends. A music career was something we’d all dreamed of pursuing, so after graduation we started to take it more seriously, and that summer we got into the studio to record our first album. We all got together to work out arrangements for the songs, and have been playing together ever since. It all kind of developed from there.” 

“As for the name, honestly it came from hours and hours of playing word association in the car. On long drives, we’d spitball combinations of words that we liked, writing down the ones that sounded cool and resonated in some way. “Wild Rivers” was in the running, and one day we stumbled upon a poem by Gregory Orr that we related to, titled The River (see it here). Thematically, The River resonated with us because it’s about taking a plunge into the unknown. At the time, this was exactly what we were doing, diving into a new career path and experiencing the uncertainty that comes with graduating college and having to figure your life out. The poem mentioned ‘Wild Rivers’ a lot, so that’s how we settled on the name.”

2. When I listen to your music, I feel like it has the roots of folk/rock/country music I have grown up with all my life living in the American south, but you breathe a freshness to it which makes it unique. Who are your musical influences and how does that impact your sound?  

Devan–

“We all grew up listening to lots of classic singer/songwriter, folk and rock music –  James Taylor, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, The Beatles. We draw a lot of inspiration from artists in that era – particularly when it comes to songs with a heavy lyrical focus and lots of vocal harmony. We also look to a lot of current folk/rock artists for inspiration – The Lumineers, Bahamas, Half Moon Run to name a few – but individually, our musical tastes span across many genres. I think this works to our advantage, because it allows us to incorporate certain aspects of different genres into our own music, and hopefully create something unique. When you think about it, the best bands have never been bound to a certain genre. Fleetwood Mac has songs ranging from country to pop to folk to rock. John Mayer started as a singer/songwriter, went on to put out a country blues album, and is now sampling hip hop beats in his newer music. We try to operate under the mentality that the best song always wins, no matter if it necessarily “fits” within a certain genre.”

  3. This isn’t your first big tour, what do you look forward to the most this time around? What have you learned about being on the road and staying fresh for each show?

Khalid Yassein-

“We’ve never been to the West Coast, so that’s going to be a huge highlight. We’ve had a lot of people asking for us to come out so it’ll be cool to finally play some shows out there! We’re planning on doing lots of hiking and exploring on days off. We’ve gotten a lot better at managing our sleep and exercising  when we’re on tour. We’re also always looking for healthy food and it’s fun to find new little spots. We’ve been at it long enough now that we know what works and what’s not sustainable. It’s all about balance.” 

  4. What is your songwriting style or music making process? Does the music follow the lyrics or the other way around? Is it collaborative writing or do one or two of you develop a song and then bring it to the band to complete?

Khalid-

“We go about it a lot of ways. On our first record, I  wrote a lot of the songs, almost always with music first and then building lyrics and ideas on that. Devan and I co-wrote a few on that album, which is cool because Devan is mostly lyrics first. On our new EP we co-wrote a lot with each other, as well as with a few songwriters out of Nashville which was a pretty awesome experience. You get a new feel when you step out of your comfort zone with new writing situations, it’s fun! “

  5. When y’all are on the road, what other bands are you listening to?

Khalid-

“We love all kinds of music. A lot of old classics, today we were going through the Beatles discography start to finish. Right now we’re into a rapper called Noname out of Chicago who’s incredible. And in the Americana world we’re really into new records from Rayland Baxter and Ruston Kelly. We like to mix it up for long drives.”  

They gave me a few new sounds and if you know me, you know I have already tapped into them on Spotify.

Wild Rivers at Eddie’s Attic

As we were waiting for Wild Rivers to begin, Eddie’s Attic filled up quickly with a buzz of excitement. It was a sold out show, with very little standing room. I enjoyed chatting it up with people who were there. Two pretty girls were standing behind me, and I couldn’t help overhear their strategy to try and find two empty seats. I made every effort to help them, but it wasn’t possible that night. When I explained about my blog and why I was there, they asked if the band members were friendly and nice. I explained that they were incredibly open and made an effort to answer my questions as well as chat with me before the show. Some bands don’t do that! The girls were big fans trekking miles and miles to see Wild Rivers on a Thursday night, and they actually breathed a sigh of relief to hear the band was genuine.

Certainly talent, creativity, and presence helps, but sometimes it is the extra effort to chat with fans that can make all the difference. Wild Rivers seemed polished and practiced, with no stumbles or fumbles that I could tell. They were hitting all the right notes and truly fantastic.

Wild Rivers-L-R  Khalid Yassein, Devan Glover, and Andrew Oliver

  I really tried to capture Khalid’s dreamy sincere eyes, but I didn’t bring my obnoxious lenses. Others were swooning along side me…It is a forceful combo of crazy smooth talent + good looks. He has something to say and expresses moods and emotions in a way that connects.

Wild Rivers had quiet solo moments with an acoustic guitar, as well as powerful full band, hand-clap inspiring tunes. They mixed up their songs nicely and at moments, I wished I could stand up and sway to the ever changing tempos, but didn’t want to block the view of others.

Andrew’s guitar added a depth to the songs and gave them an edge, which without, would have left them lacking. The drum and guitar complete their sound and help them to expand the possibilities.

  Some bands chat between songs and some bands don’t. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. In this case Khalid did most of the talking and it worked well. You could hear a pin drop. He gave some background to his songwriting and the premise for the lyrics. I felt the purpose behind the music, which only made me appreciate it more.

Devan has an incredible voice which puts this band on another level. I kind of expected sweet chirping blue birds to land on her outstretched hands at times. Yep, the range and control was enviable and jaw dropping. She made it seem so effortless. And yes, a woman from the audience yelled out at the end of one song, “You’ve got some pipes girl!” after she belted out a deeper tone.

  I captured a snippet of Wild Rivers performing their latest hit, “I Won’t Be Back”, from their recent EP release titled, Eighty Eight.

  I was able to nab the set list after the show, and the guy sitting next to me was reminded, and jumped up to get another one for his wife (who is also from Toronto!). She is holding it as her friends gather around. They were my pick for super fans (pictured at the foot of my blog homepage) and all went home smiling!

Here is my set list up close. Note-there is a new tune on the list, “Moving Target”. Listening, I could hear the continued growth of this band and recognize the influences of the multiple genres they described in the questions above. 

They have a host of shows from here till the first of December. Don’t miss them while they are still playing intimate venues. Check out if they are coming near you by clicking here. Wild Rivers Shows

As summer begins to loosen up its grip on us all, it was nice to begin fall with a show which proved to be really tremendous.

Wild Rivers-Interview and Photos From Their Recent Atlanta Show In support of their recent EP release Wild Rivers is currently burning up the highways and byways of the states.

[nuclearblastuk]

KORPIKLAANI | 'Kulkija' out now + release tour + final track-by-track episode!

KORPIKLAANI | 'KULKIJA' OUT NOW, RUSSIAN RELEASE TOUR KICKS OFF, AND FINAL TRACK-BY-TRACK EPISODE ONLINE NOW

"This record is so easy to listen to and interesting all the time, the balance is simply perfect." Chartmakers Mastering (Svante Forsbäck) "With its organic vibe and peaceful melodies, 'Kulkija' invites you to take a deep breath and to chill out!" METALLIAN (F) The waiting seemed to be endless for KORPIKLAANI's fans, but today the Finnish Folk Metal Superstars have finally released their highly anticipated 10th studio album 'Kulkija' ("Wanderer") through Nuclear Blast Records. To mark the occasion, the group kicks off an extensive Russian tour in St. Petersburg today.  Comments founding member Jonne, “It's been 15 years since we released our very first album and this is now our 10th album. After each and every album I always sit down and think about the music, and conclude that it is our best work yet. The great thing is that it was never promo bullshit, I honestly felt like that.“

“Now it's the day of our 'Kulkija' album release, I'm sitting on a train to Russia for the first show of our Kulkija World Tour and I'm feeling good and proud of these 15 years and the best possible 10th KORPIKLAANI album!" As if this wasn't enough, KORPIKLAANI have launched the final part of a track-by-track series in support of their new offering in which vocalist Jonne, fiddler Tuomas, and accordionist Sami reveal more details about the new tunes. This episode features the following songs: 10. Pellervoinen 11. Riemu 12. Kuin korpi nukkuva 13. Juomamaa 14. Tuttu on tie Part #3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlNKKaWwATk Order 'Kulkija' here:  http://nblast.de/KorpiklaaniKulkija ICYMI Track-by-Track #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94I4_No8IKE Track-by-Track #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8VWu8wkV0E 'Kulkija' - Track Listing: 01. Neito 02. Korpikuusen kyynel 03. Aallon alla 04. Harmaja 05. Kotikonnut 06. Korppikalliota 07. Kallon malja 08. Sillanrakentaja 09. Henkselipoika 10. Pellervoinen 11. Riemu 12. Kuin korpi nukkuva 13. Juomamaa 14. Tuttu on tie More on 'Kulkija': 'Kotikonnut' OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzsUWvKsgqQ 'Harmaja' OFFICIAL VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoTkmBB4yow 'Henkselipoika' OFFICIAL VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB7PyLYQyXg 'Aallon alla'OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uul1tiTZ07Y Trailer #1 - Musical Development: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzDeQBDiJpg Trailer #2 - Recordings & Production: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcugCiRzQl4 With 14 tracks and a total running time of over 71 minutes, 'Kulkija' is the group's longest album to date. Working with producer Janne Saksa for the first time, the album was recorded at Petrax Studio (Hollola, FIN) and mixed at Sound Supreme Studios (Hämeenlinna, FIN). Mastering duties were handled by renowned engineer Svante Forsbäck (RAMMSTEIN a.o.). The cover was designed by Jan Yrlund (BATTLE BEAST, MANOWAR etc.), who has already created several artworks for previous albums and singles for the band. Founding member Jonne commented: "We've never been as satisfied with a final result as we are with 'Kulkija'. We tried to keep it very natural. Like the wanderer, this album is a journey, one that makes you feel good." Sami added: "'Kulkija' isn't just a collection of songs, it's a "real" album with a unique atmosphere guiding the listeners through a long journey. All songs were well prepared in advance and nothing needed to be arranged in the studio. Tuomas [fiddle] & I had lots of space to develop and play the folk arrangements." ----- KORPIKLAANI live: 'Kulkija' - Release Tour 07.09. RUS St. Petersburg - Aurora (Release Show) 08.09. RUS Moscow - Glavclub (Release Show) 09.09. RUS Voronezh - Aura 11.09. RUS Rostov-on-Don - Arena 12.09. RUS Krasnodar - Arena Hall 13.09. RUS Samara - Zvezda 14.09. RUS Ufa - Ogni Ufy 15.09. RUS Ekaterinburg - Tele-Club 16.09. RUS Chelyabinsk - Galaktika 18.09. RUS Omsk - Angar 19.09. RUS Novosibirsk - Podzemka 21.09. RUS Irkutsk - Dikaya Loshad 22.09. RUS Vladivostok - San-Remo 'The Wayfarer' w/ ARKONA 31.10. USA Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall 01.11. USA New York, NY - Gramercy Theatre 02.11. CDN Québec, QC - Impérial Bell 03.11. CDN Montréal, QC - Club Soda 04.11. CDN Toronto, ON - Mod Club Theatre 05.11. USA Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge 06.11. USA Minneapolis, MN - Varsity 07.11. CDN Winnipeg, MB - The Park Theatre 08.11. CDN Saskatoon, SK - Coors Event Center  09.11. CDN Edmonton, AB - The Starlite Room 10.11. CDN Calgary, AB - Marquee Beer Market 12.11. CDN Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw Theatre 13.11. USA Seattle, WA - El Corazón 14.11. USA Portland, OR - Bossanova Ballroom 15.11. USA San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore 16.11. USA Sacramento, CA - Holy Diver 17.11. USA San Diego, CA - House Of Blues 18.11. USA Los Angeles, CA - Regent Threater DTLA 19.11. USA Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom 20.11. USA TBA 21.11. USA Dallas, TX - House of Blues 23.11. USA Atlanta, GA - Masquerade 24.11. USA Richmond, VA - Capital Ale House 25.11. USA Philadelphia, PA- Theatre of Living Arts 26.11. USA Baltimore, MD - Soundstage 'Wayfarers & Warriors Tour 2019' w/ TURISAS, TROLLFEST 21.02. LUX Esch an der Alzette - Kulturfabrik 22.02. D Wacken - Wacken Winter Nights 21. - 27.07. SLO Tolmin - MetalDays 23.02. NL Tilburg - 013 24.02. B Antwerp - Trix Muziekcentrum 25.02. UK London - Islington Assembly Hall 26.02. F Lille - Le Splendid 27.02. F Paris - La Cigale 28.02. F Mérignac - Krakatoa 01.03. E Bilbao - Santana 27 02.03. P Porto - Hard Club 03.03. P Lisbon - Lisboa ao Vivo 05.03. E Málaga - Paris 15 06.03. E Murcia - Garaje Beat Club 07.03. E Zaragoza - Centro Cívico Delicias 08.03. F Marseille - Espace Julien 09.03. CH Pratteln - Z7 10.03. F Bourg-en-Bresse - La Tannerie 11.03. I Trezzo sull'Adda (MI) - Live Club 12.03. HR Zagreb - Tvornica Kulture 13.03. H Budapest - Barba Negra Music Club 14.03. SK Bratislava - Majestic Music Club 15.03. PL Krakow - Klub Kwadrat 16.03. PL Warsaw - Progresja 17.03. PL Gdansk - B90 19.03. D Berlin - Huxleys Neue Welt 20.03. PL Wroclww - Centrum Koncertowe A2 21.03. D Jena - F-Haus 22.03. D Munich - TonHalle 23.03. D Mannheim - MS Connexion Complex 24.03. D Cologne - Essigfabrik 22.02. D Wacken - Wacken Winter Nights 21. - 27.07. SLO Tolmin - MetalDays

www.korpiklaani.com | www.facebook.com/korpiklaani | www.nuclearblast.de/korpiklaani

[your-dietician]

You're probably wrong about what they say

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/nba/youre-probably-wrong-about-what-they-say/

You're probably wrong about what they say

Chances are, if you care about the NBA’s television ratings, you care about what you think those ratings say, and what you think those ratings say is probably wrong, so the entire exercise is a waste of your time.

The NBA is a multi-billion-dollar corporation doing just fine, no matter how much hand-wringing you want to do about social commentary from its players or the absence of big media markets in the conference finals.

It used to be that every so often the subject of ratings would arise when two smaller-market teams met late in the NBA playoffs. Think the San Antonio Spurs facing the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003 and 2007, respectively, the two lowest Finals ratings ever recorded before last year’s bubble experiment.

A Twitter search of “Adam Silver” and “worst nightmare” provides countless examples of people presenting this year’s four conference finalists — the Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks — as bad for the business of basketball, absent any discussion of the quality of basketball, as if somehow fans should be more concerned with the winner of a popularity contest than the sport itself.

More recently, ratings have become a political conversation piece. Former President Donald Trump repeatedly drew a line between the NBA’s embrace of social justice movements and its ratings decline in 2020, without providing context created by the coronavirus. Games were often played midday, midsummer and eventually opposite the return of every other major sport in September and October, all while viewers were much more attuned to news of the pandemic and a presidential election that could further impact it.

“People are tired of watching the highly political NBA. Basketball ratings are WAY down, and they won’t be coming back,” Trump tweeted on Sept. 1, around the same time he suggested three days of player-led protests of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, were “going to destroy basketball.”

Story continues

Donald Trump was an NBA consumer long before he publicly turned on the league. (Nick Laham/Getty Images)

The politicization of the NBA’s TV ratings

Trump is not unlike so many who draw grand conclusions from their own personal experiences. A month earlier, he claimed to have turned his television off once teams knelt together during the national anthem, so everyone else who was not watching the NBA this past August must have done so for similar reasons.

It is a narrative ripe with controversy that agenda-driven media outlets can leverage to their own advantage. They had plenty of experience with former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, whose protest against social injustice elicited a response that birthed the politicization of television ratings. Instead of Kaepernick’s quest for equality being one possible reason viewers turned off the NFL in 2016 and 2017, it was painted without context as the reason, only for ratings to recover and fall again during the pandemic.

Naturally, Outkick the Coverage founder Clay Travis hosted Trump on his Fox Sports Radio Show in August 2020, giving the former president a wide berth to conclude without question that “very nasty” and “very dumb” players protesting injustice, along with the NBA’s business relationship with China — a pair of topics Travis’ Outkick website have regularly mined for readership — primarily caused a ratings decline.

Just last month, Outkick’s Bobby Burack wrote, “Each year that LeBron James waves a middle finger at half the country, viewers respond by turning the channel at a rate higher than the previous year,” citing the NBA’s 25% ratings decrease over the past two years for regular-season games across ABC, ESPN and TNT, and singling out the 2021 Preakness as evidence that “other sports have not suffered nearly as much.”

Only, none of this has proven true. In fact, just the opposite. James and his Los Angeles Lakers’ play-in win over the Golden State Warriors drew the league’s highest rating since 2019. The NBA’s national TV ratings for the first round of the playoffs were up nearly 50% from last year’s equivalent and in line with 2019 data.

People came back, and basketball was not destroyed. Far from it.

“If there was any question whether last year’s decline was primarily due to the bubble, the fan-less environment, the months-long delay, if there was any question as to whether or not that was true, it’s been answered by the fact that the ratings for a postseason where Steph Curry didn’t make it to the playoffs and LeBron didn’t make it out of the first round are up dramatically from last year, just by default,” Sports Media Watch’s Jon Lewis, an expert on the subject, told Yahoo Sports. “It’s obvious that 99% of why the ratings were so bad was because of the circumstances. Now, were there also people who tuned out because of seeing ‘Black Lives Matter’ on the court? Maybe, but I can tell you it’s painfully obvious that last year’s results were primarily because of being in the circumstances that the league found itself late last summer.”

Consequences of a watered-down regular season

There are equally obvious answers for why the NBA’s ratings suffered another decline in the regular season. A shortened offseason and condensed schedule led to increases in blowouts and either injuries or rest to prevent injuries, not to mention COVID-related interruptions. A watered-down product in empty arenas was inevitable, and still the NBA recovered through two rounds of a playoffs plagued by superstar absences.

The return of fans alone has improved the viewing experience, and two Game 7s in the Eastern Conference semifinals helped counterbalance mitigating factors. Six of the 10 NBA All-Star starters did not make it to the end of the second round, a seventh was swept, and Joel Embiid played on a partially torn meniscus.

Only Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant were still healthy and playing, and their Bucks and Brooklyn Nets treated the NBA to a 6.9 rating that matched the percentage of TV homes tuned into Kawhi Leonard’s iconic buzzer-beater for the Toronto Raptors in Game 7 of the 2019 conference semis. Sunday’s Game 7 between the Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers was the NBA’s second-highest-rated contest of these playoffs.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Deandre Ayton and Devin Booker are among a generation of bright young NBA stars. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Early investment in a post-LeBron future

The NBA is not naive to the fact that Lakers-Nets would have been a huge ratings draw, but the rise of a new generation of stars, including Devin Booker and Trae Young, while initially a potential ratings hit, could also serve as a considerable investment in the future of the league. Young’s Hawks, in particular, open the door to the league’s seventh-largest media market, one that has been largely dormant for its existence. The Golden State Warriors were not the ratings darling they became until Curry built equity with the audience.

Lewis cites the Houston Rockets, who eventually became enough of a draw after two consecutive title runs that they bounced Michael Jordan’s eventual 72-win Chicago Bulls from the 1995 Christmas Day slate. The NBA could theoretically leverage a handful of stars into driving ratings that two uber-popular stars once did.

Outside of the most unconventional seasons in the league’s history, the ebbs of NBA ratings much more closely followed a decline in overall TV viewership, and that does not account for the unconventionality of this season. Millions did not cut cords because “Love Us” was stitched onto the backs of players’ jerseys.

Quality basketball draws an audience, especially if you get seven games of it. The Suns and Bucks — favorites to meet in the Finals — might be the NBA’s 11th- and 24th-largest media markets, but a competitive series from Booker and Antetokounmpo would still generate momentum, for various reasons, entering next season’s presumed return to normal, laying the groundwork for the future of the business.

The NBA’s TV market share just hit an all-time high

Even if you want to skew your read of declining ratings in the most negative light possible for the NBA, do we have bad news for you. Think of linear TV consumption as a pie chart, and while the overall size of the pie has been shrinking, the NBA’s share of that pie will only continue to grow. Live coverage is increasingly becoming the primary reason to retain traditional TV, so sports and news are keeping cable networks afloat.

The viewership share for this year’s playoffs — the percentage of people with TVs in use that are watching the NBA — is at its highest since the the league first began logging that data during the 2002-03 season. The NBA also happens to feature the youngest audience across major sports, one advertisers covet. Even as ratings declined during the pandemic, the NBA secured business partnerships with at least nine major brands, including Hotels.com, CarMax, Clorox, Michelob Ultra, Oculus from Facebook and Microsoft.

“The NBA, as far as the demographics, that’s where everything matters,” said Lewis. “Phil Mickelson won the PGA Championship and comfortably beat Lakers-Suns Game 1 in total viewership, but guess what? That was only in 50+. That was Phil’s demo. In every other demographic, including the ones advertisers care about most, [ages] 18-49 and 18-34, the NBA game won. The demographics are the story here. If demographics didn’t matter, then Harry’s Law would still be on with Kathy Bates. The fact is, people in advertising are looking for a specific demo, and the NBA does well in demos that advertisers care about.”

Expectations are the NBA’s next media rights deal will increase

Not only are networks increasingly desperate to retain their share of this pie, tech companies want a piece of it. Take the NHL, for example, which doubled its annual TV revenue from The Walt Disney Company with a first-of-its-kind deal signed in March that included 75 games broadcast solely on its ESPN+ over-the-top service. For perspective, the NBA’s TNT crew broadcast only 64 games during this year’s regular season.

That is why you have seen sourced reporting that anticipates a massive increase when the NBA’s current media rights deal expires in 2025, like the one from CNBC’s Jabari Young in March that set expectations at $75 billion — more than triple the existing package — even amid another regular-season ratings decline.

“The value is always rising. You have to think about what that means. What the ratings decline means isn’t, ‘Oh, my goodness, they’re all going to go broke.’ That’s absurd,” added Lewis. “What the ratings decline means is you’re going to have to make some sacrifices to get as much money as you want to get. Those sacrifices aren’t going to be paying players less. They’re probably going to have to put some games on Peacock or ESPN+ or one of these platforms that networks are willing to overpay to get programming for.”

Ratings are only a fraction of the NBA’s audience

Armchair TV ratings experts often cast aside the nuances of an inherently flawed metric that is increasingly under fire (i.e., the exclusion of regional network simulcasts, and Nielsen only began including out-of-home viewership — an expected double-digit numbers increase — in October, when sports bars were mired in a pandemic), they also ignore the fact that TV ratings account for a fraction of the NBA’s media consumption. 

The NBA reaches a billion people in more than 215 countries across the world, and roughly three quarters of its viewers are outside the U.S., boosted by the popularity of Antetokounmpo, Embiid, Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, four of the top six vote-getters in the MVP race. Global viewers on League Pass for the playoffs are up 18% from last year and 24% from 2019, per the NBA. None of them are included in Nielsen ratings.

Neither is the majority of the NBA’s 56 million Instagram followers, an audience that generated 6.55 billion views and counts about twice the following of the NFL, NHL and MLB combined. The league is approaching 9 billion lifetime views on YouTube — again, almost as many as the three other major American sports leagues combined. Nearly 70% of the NBA’s social media followers are outside the U.S.

Nielsen is expected to unveil a metric that better accounts for viewership across platforms in the coming years. Until then and before you consider caring about TV ratings, remember the NBA is garnering a greater share of the audience advertisers covet, and that does not include its massive global fan base — another demographic that tends to consume content in non-traditional ways. The NBA’s brand is beyond healthy.

– – – – – – –

Ben Rohrbach is a staff writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach

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[tell-me-when-ur-ready]

This Thing Called Love (part one)

Summary: When Shawn meets dancer Kellie in Toronto, he falls for her—hard. But Kellie has an invisible disability and thinks it’s impossible that someone could really love her the way she is.

Author’s note: I have multiple chronic illnesses that are similar to Kellie’s, but I don’t have the same exact health conditions she does. I’ve done lots of research, but I apologize if I get anything wrong!

Warnings: tiny bit of language

Word count: 1,400

It was May and only 11:00 in the morning, but it was already blazing hot by the time Kellie Martin stepped into the Toronto coffee shop for a drink. She flipped up her sunglasses and looked around; it was a Wednesday, and the place—a sophisticated (and expensive, she noticed with a grimace) yet homey café with green plants springing out of every nook and cranny—was busy.

“I can take whoever’s next,” the barista called, and with a quick glance at the menu, Kellie stepped up to the counter to place her order.

��It’ll probably be a few minutes,” the barista said when Kellie had finished paying, and Kellie nodded her head; that was fine with her. She wasn’t really focused on her coffee order, anyway—instead, she was mentally rehearsing her competition piece for the weekend, going through lyrics and steps and beats in her mind.

When Kellie’s name was called a few minutes later, she picked up her coffee and food absently, too out of it to even notice the predictable misspelling of her name. Music was still playing in her head, and she was chanting steps under her breath. Her mind was in the dance studio, not the coffee shop—that is, until she collided with something big, warm, and soft and felt a splash of hot coffee land on her chest.

“Shit, I’m so sorry,” said a familiar voice. Kellie looked up and blinked, unable to process what she was seeing. Shawn Mendes was standing in front of her, his phone dangling from his hand and one curl dangling over his forehead, wincing apologetically at the brown stain on her white shirt.

“Let me get you a napkin,” he said, turning toward the counter. He grabbed a fistful of napkins and held them out.

 “Thanks,” Kellie said dumbly, juggling everything she was holding so she could dab at her shirt. She felt like she was moving on autopilot. She had just quite literally run into Shawn Mendes—what were the chances?

 “I’m so sorry about that,” Shawn said. Kellie shook her head, tossing the napkins (which hadn’t helped much) in the trash.

 “It’s okay. It was really my fault. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

 Somewhere in the back of her mind, another Kellie was sitting back with arms crossed, sagely nodding her head and congratulating real-life Kellie on acting so cool and composed when Shawn Peter Raul Mendes was in front of her (yes—she knew his full name).

 She expected him to end the conversation then, to walk past her and place his order and go back to his life. But he didn’t. Instead, he shoved his phone into his pocket and kept looking at her, his gaze open and earnest.

 “What did you get? I’ve never been here,” Shawn said next, nodding at the cup and the bag in her hand (against her better judgment, she’d gone over budget and gotten two things because it all looked so good).

 “You’ve never been here before?” she asked, surprised. Toronto was his hometown—she figured he would know his way around all the coffee shops.

 “Nuh-uh. It’s pretty new. And I’ve been traveling.” He paused and looked at her more closely, his eyebrows scrunching together. Someone brushed past him and he moved over a few steps without taking his eyes off of hers. “Do you live here?”

 Kellie shook her head. “I’m from Atlanta. If you couldn’t tell.” She didn’t think she had a southern accent, but other people regularly informed her that she did.

 “Well, I could definitely tell you’re not from here,” he said, a quick grin flashing across his face. “So—what’s good?”

 “Oh! This is just a latte and this”—she shook the bag dangling from her fingers—“is a gluten-free brownie.”

 “I don’t eat gluten either,” he said, eyes lighting up a little at something they seemed to have in common. “Doesn’t it make you feel so much better?”

 And that was it—Kellie was out. She forced a smile, but the warning bells were going off; she was done. She tried to paste a polite look on her face, but Shawn must have noticed the change in her manner. As she tried to pull away and end the conversation, he reached out, fingers briefly brushing over her forearm.

 “Hey, what are you in Toronto for?”

 “A dance competition,” Kellie said reluctantly, turning back. Yes, it was Shawn Mendes and no, his comment hadn’t been that bad—but she’d been traveling all day yesterday, she could feel the beginnings of a migraine pushing at the corners of her vision, and she just wanted to go back to her hotel room and be alone.

 “Oh, really?”

 He perked up, and Kellie felt herself warming to him a little.

 “Yeah. I’m actually—” She paused, suddenly feeling a little shy. “I’m competing a lyrical dance to In My Blood.”

 She’d spent every night she could in the studio the last three months, his voice in her ears, the city lights twinkling outside, trying to jump and twirl and dance away the pain and confusion. Which is why it was so strange for him to be standing in front of her now, flesh and blood, all 6’2” of him (she was 5’7” and had never felt so short). She shared such an intimate relationship with his music, she’d kind of forgotten he was a real person.

 “No way!” He laughed. “That’s so cool. Good luck.”

 Kellie nodded and smiled her thanks, and there was a beat of awkward silence. She glanced around the coffee shop, still bustling—she noticed a teenage girl staring at her and Shawn—and was about to try again to make her escape (what was she even doing, standing here holding a full-on conversation with Shawn Mendes?) when he spoke again.

 “Hey, I’m—well, this is kind of a secret, but I’m filming a music video in a few weeks and I need dancers. Do you… well… could I have your number?”

 He blushed a little when he said it, and Kellie raised her eyebrows, his gluten-free comment forgotten. This was getting interesting.

 “You’ve never seen me dance,” she pointed out. “You know nothing about me. I could be an ax murderer, or—”

 He scoffed. “I highly doubt—” but she went on, talking over him.

 “—or just one of your millions of fans who says she can dance because she took a year of ballet when she was a kid,” Kellie finished.

 Shawn shrugged and spread his hands, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Fair enough,” he said. “But my team will be looking at lots of dancers, I’m sure, and we might as well throw your name in the ring. I mean, I guess they will. I’m not normally involved in that stuff, but—”

 “Then why are you doing this now?” Kellie said, a half-genuine, half-confused and exasperated laugh slipping from her lips.

 “Just give me your number,” he said with a sheepish laugh, a slight flush rising on his cheeks.

 “Fine.”

 He typed her name and number into his phone and said he’d get her in touch with the right people on his team; Kellie, ready for this bizarre conversation to be over, said she wouldn’t keep him any longer and sidled away. And finally she was out of the coffee shop, striding down the sidewalk with her forgotten drink in hand, back to her hotel and dance and her real life.

 Did she want to see Shawn again? Um, yes. Absolutely. But was there any way she could be in his music video—or, a tiny voice added inside her as she remembered those hazel eyes and the one curl that kept flopping over his forehead, be with him any other way (not that that’s what he had in mind, because he was Shawn Mendes and she was a random girl from Atlanta)?

 No—there absolutely wasn’t, even though it was what she wanted most in the world. And that hurt. A lot.

 Before she’d reached the end of the block, her phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her pocket.

 Would you want to get lunch before you leave town? To talk about the music video?

 Kellie let out a huff of breath that was half laugh, half disbelieving snort and glanced back at the little white coffee shop on the quiet Toronto street behind her.

 What the hell was happening?

[highbuttonsports]

Toronto Blue Jays’ Joe Carter 1993 toronto blue jays world series champions - Bing images

Our Team

Take me out to the ball game. Take me out with the crowd. Buy me some…well maybe not this season (hopefully though). For some of us, snow is still on the ground and the cool air of winter is still biting our breathe. However, that doesn’t mean baseball isn’t still warming our hearts and our minds. A lot of Jays fans can easily relate to this sentiment, especially those of us that reside north of the border. As “Canada’s team”, there is a strong sense of pride associated with touting that moniker. Toronto is the only franchise in the MLB that has the distinction of being their country of residence’s only one. It really fosters an us against them mentality. It’s a David vs. Goliath thing. A little brother vs. big brother thing. A Superman vs. Batman thing. You get the point.

There’s a long-standing history of the Canada vs. U.S. rivalry rooted in sport. Every December/January brings about the World Junior Championships for hockey with each country perennially battling for the gold medal (the U.S. took it home this past tournament). International women’s hockey has predominantly been a Canada/U.S. fight for top spot since it’s inception. As well, the Olympics has provided many instances of our countries’ amazing rivalry. There was Canadian track star Donovan Bailey’s beating of American Dennis Mitchell in the 100m race at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta (in world record time no less). More recently, Canadian ice dance darlings Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue “got smoked” (Scott’s words) by U.S. rivals Meryl Davis and Charlie White at the 2014 games in Sochi. Then there is perhaps the best non-baseball example of this good-natured battle in the 2019 NBA Championship by the Toronto Raptors. That was the first NBA title to leave American soil and that wound is still fresh. In fact, many talking heads south of the border still refuse to give the Raps any credit for that win. The prefer to focus on all of Golden State’s excuses (classic sore loser behaviour). All of these are just a sample of the friendly yet heated rivalry that exists between our great nations.

When it comes to baseball that is no different. I am of a certain age to vividly remember everything about the Toronto Blue Jays’ historic rise to the top of the baseball world in 1992. It was the first time the World Series had been played outside of the U.S. in the history of the league. This is America’s past time we are talking about after all, so having a team from Canada trying to take that from them made it about more than just baseball. It’s not as if the Jays came out of nowhere though. They had won the American League Eastern Division title for the second consecutive season and third time in four years coming into the series. So, it was no fluke they were there threatening to take the title out of the U.S.A. for the first time ever. As well, Atlanta Braves brought that annoying swagger with them having lost in the World Series the previous year. They were hungry, a little cocky, and the favourites. After all, what were these guys playing out of a hockey country doing thinking they could be champions of the baseball world? Of course, this story could not be written without mentioning the Game 2 fiasco involving the Canadian flag. Before the game started, during the performance of the National Anthems of the United States and Canada, the U.S. Marine Corps Color Guard accidentally flew the flag of Canada upside down. It was an accident and the Marines went out of their way to apologize while insisting they were honoured to carry it ahead of game 3. That doesn’t mean it didn’t add some extra vitriol to an already contentious battle between the two countries. It perhaps may have even sparked the Jays, as after losing game 1 they went on to win games 2,3, and 4 to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. Atlanta wasn’t going to just lay down though as they fought back in game 5 winning convincingly 7-2. This set up a dramatic game 6 back in Atlanta in front of 51,000+ chanting and chopping Braves fans. If you were a Jays fan back then like me that brutal Atlanta tradition was like nails on a chalk board. Game 6 was a back-and-forth tight pitching duel with the Braves tying the game up in the bottom of the 9th to stave off elimination. After both teams failed to score in the 10th, the Jays jumped out to a 4-2 lead on a Dave Winfield double plating 2 runners. That was the legendary Winfield's first career World Series extra-base hit, and at 41 he was the oldest player in baseball history to record one in the World Series. Atlanta caught a break in the bottom of the inning on a fortunate mid hop bounce to short, turning a sure double play into a 1st and 3rd with nobody out situation. After a sac bunt made it 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, a forced play at 1st on a ground ball scored a run reducing the Jays lead to 1. It was that moment that Atlanta announced the speedy Otis Nixon as a pinch hitter. He was one of the fastest players in the league and a fantastic bunter. Knowing this, Toronto countered with bringing in a right-handed pitcher. It is much easier for a righty to field of bunt towards 1st base since they fall off the mound naturally in that direction. Even though a bunt is not very common with a runner at 3rd and 2 out, with Nixon at the plate it was a big possibility. That’s exactly what happened too. Otis bunted, Timlin fielded the ball perfectly, and dished it to Carter at 1st for the final out. That secured the 1st World Series title in Blue Jays franchise history as well as the 1st title to leave the USA.

If that didn’t rile up American baseball aficionados enough, they definitely didn’t get any happier the following year. 1993 brought the Blue Jays back to the World Series to defend their title against the Philadelphia Phillies. This time Toronto meant business and they were the favourites. It was up to Philly to unseat the champs, but the Jays weren’t having any of that notion. They won game 1 of this go around to put themselves in the driver’s seat. The Phillies tied the series at 1-1 by winning game 2, but that was as close as they would get going forward. Even though they fought back with a shut out in game 5 to force another game, it was the battle tested Jays who finished the series off in epic fashion in game 6. This moment is engrained in all Canadians, not just baseball fans. As iconic as the Golden goal which says a lot for a bunch a hockey loving hosers. Just thinking about it again gives me goose bumps. Our boys were down 6-5 going into the bottom of the 9th with feared closer Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams coming into the game to try and push it to a deciding game 7. To say it started out terribly for him is an understatement. He walked future hall of famer (and still holder of the record for most stolen bases all time) Rickey Henderson to begin the inning. That put the heat on him to get the ball to the plate as quick as possible. In order to do that, Mitch used the slide step method. He had never used that move before in his career, but with the uber dangerous Henderson at first, he couldn’t risk giving up a stolen base. That caused him to be out of sync in his delivery and resulted in diminished velocity and control. After the next batter flew out, another future hall of famer in Paul Molitor singled to put runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out and Joe Carter coming to the dish. Queue the music everyone! That’s when Joe hooked a 2-2 pitch over the left corner wall for a back-to-back World Series winning 3-run homerun and forever immortalizing himself in baseball lore.

It doesn’t get much sweeter than that in sport. What makes those moments even bigger is the connotations of national pride and excellence. It’s no secret that the U.S. has a great reputation of success when it comes to sport. The country houses 4 of the 5 highest grossing sports leagues in the world while having a stranglehold on the media coverage. They are usually the favourites and have the hardware to back that up. That’s why whenever us simple snow-covered folks (up here North of the world’s longest unprotected border) have a chance to wave our flag or sing our Anthem in victory, we do it proudly and loudly. It’s what we hope to be doing later this fall when the 2021 Jays take the field with the highest hopes they have had in years. Not since a certain bat flip 6 years ago perhaps. But we don’t need to go there…do we?

By: Jaymee Kitchenham

[luckylq6-blog]

The omens for a flowing game were not exactly promising

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[junker-town]

TITLELESS: 16 NBA teams who were robbed of a championship

Peja Stojakovic, Chris Webber, and Mike Bibby were an iconic trio for the Kings.

Enjoy this eclectic mix of NBA What Might Have Beens.

The cover art for our final Titleless division is meant to be taken figuratively, not literally. Some of these 16 teams were unjustly “robbed” of their chance to win a championship. Others were thwarted by unforeseen circumstances: injuries mostly, but also their own incompetence and other bizarre factors. They were “robbed” in the sense that cosmic forces conspired to destroy their title dreams or cut short potential dynasties.

Enjoy this eclectic mix of NBA What Might Have Beens.

16. 1996-97 Detroit Pistons

ERA: Young Grant Hill

RECORD: 54-28

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +5.3

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in first round to Atlanta Hawks (3-2)

KEY STAR(S): Grant Hill

COACH: Doug Collins

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Joe Dumars, Lindsey Hunter, Otis Thorpe, Terry Mills, Theo Ratliff, Aaron McKie, Grant Long, Michael Curry

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: None

With the Bulls struggling late in what proved to be his final season in Chicago, Doug Collins moved Michael Jordan to point guard and refashioned the Bulls’ offense. (Dan Devine of the Ringer has a wonderful summary of how that happened, why it didn’t continue, and how it was the precursor to the point forward movement of today.)

Years later, Collins found a new young star more willing to play along in Detroit, at least initially. He put the ball in Grant Hill’s hands and asked him to run the team as he saw fit. Hill, an often reluctant attacker in the past, thrived in his new role. Collins surrounded Hill with shooters and role-players, opened the floor for Hill to attack, and watched him emerge as a potential new face of the NBA. Detroit got off to a fast start and won 54 games before losing in a tight five-game series to a terrific Hawks team.

Alas, the run was short-lived because Collins’ grating got on Hill’s nerves the same way it got on Jordan’s. The Pistons fell apart the next season, and depending on who you believe, Hill either asked Collins to be fired or declined to endorse him. Two years later, Hill suffered the ankle injury that would forever change his NBA destiny.

15. 1990-91 Golden State Warriors

ERA: Run T-M-C

RECORD: 44-38

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +1.6

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in second round to Los Angeles Lakers (4-1)

KEY STAR(S): Tim Hardaway, Chris Mullin

COACH: Don Nelson

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Mitch Richmond, Sarunas Marciulionis, Mario Elie, Rod Higgins, Alton Lister, Tom Tolbert, Tyrone Hill, Jim Petersen

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 1991-92

Meet Run TMC, one of the NBA’s all-time cult favorites. With Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullin forming a high-scoring trio, the Warriors upset the second-seeded Spurs in four games, using a funky strategy that involved stationing their center as far away as possible so David Robinson couldn’t provide help on their scoring studs. (Remember, this was the illegal defense era.)

They fell to the mighty Lakers in five, but not before stunning them in Game 2 behind a torrid Mullin and nearly winning Game 4 at home.

Unfortunately, Run TMC was short-lived. The Warriors inexplicably traded Richmond to Sacramento for rookie forward Billy Owens, the No. 3 pick in the 1991 draft. Golden State actually won 55 games the next year, but were smashed by the underdog Sonics in the first round. The next few years were kinda bizarre, but let’s just say they did not go as planned.

14. 2000-01 Milwaukee Bucks

ERA: “Big 3” Bucks

RECORD: 52-30

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +3.8

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in East Finals to Philadelphia 76ers (4-3)

KEY STAR(S): Ray Allen

COACH: George Karl

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Glenn Robinson, Sam Cassell, Lindsey Hunter, Ervin Johnson, Tim Thomas, Jason Caffey, Scott Williams, Darvin Ham

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: None

The “Big 3” Bucks of Ray Allen, Sam Cassell, and Glenn Robinson were an annual tease except for one memorable 2001 playoff run. The Bucks finished with the second seed in the dilapidated East and nearly knocked off Allen Iverson’s 76ers in the conference finals. That series featured some, ahem, curious refereeing decisions, including a potential missed goaltend on Allen’s game-winning tip attempt in Game 5 and a surprising league call to upgrade a common Scott Williams Game 6 foul to a flagrant, thereby forcing him to miss Game 7. Allen essentially said the series was fixed without officially saying it.

Soon, the Bucks went back to being perennial teases. Milwaukee swung a big sign-and-trade for Anthony Mason that summer, thinking an upgrade up front was the missing piece. Instead, Mason threw off their chemistry and they missed the playoffs entirely in 2002 after a late-season collapse.

13. 2017-18 Boston Celtics

ERA: Brad Stevens’ Celtics

RECORD: 55-27

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +3.6

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in East Finals to Cleveland Cavaliers (4-3)

KEY STAR(S): Kyrie Irving (injured in playoffs)

COACH: Brad Stevens

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Al Horford, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward (injured all season), Marcus Smart, Aron Baynes, Terry Rozier, Marcus Morris

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: None

Classifying these Celtics was challenging because of all the dominoes involved. Gordon Hayward shattering his leg on opening night undoubtedly set the Celtics back, but Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown may not emerge so quickly otherwise. Kyrie Irving’s late-season knee injury killed their championship upside … or did it, based on the evidence of 2019’s dysfunctional season and 2020’s good vibes with Kemba Walker in Irving’s place? What’s the point of comparing 2020’s Celtics with the 2018 version, since Al Horford’s not walking through that door? And how can we possibly quantify the degree to which Tatum’s 2020 superstar emergence relates to the flashes he showed in the 2018 playoffs?

I dunno, man. Let’s just put them here.

12. 2008-09 Portland Trail Blazers

ERA: Roy-Oden

RECORD: 54-28

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +5.3

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in first round to Houston Rockets (4-2)

KEY STAR(S): Brandon Roy

COACH: Nate McMillan

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: LaMarcus Aldridge, Greg Oden, Nicolas Batum, Travis Outlaw, Steve Blake, Rudy Fernandez, Joel Przybilla, Sergio Rodriguez, Jerryd Bayless, Channing Frye

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: None

What might have been if Greg Oden only stayed healthy? Would the trio of Oden, Brandon Roy, and LaMarcus Aldridge really have dominated the league for years to come?

We’ll never know, but the 2008-09 Blazers are the closest we’ll ever get to an answer. After missing his entire rookie season, Oden stayed relatively healthy and showed dominating flashes in 21 minutes per game behind reliable Joel Przybilla. With Roy emerging as a superstar in his third season and Aldridge becoming a burgeoning sidekick in his second, Portland won 54 regular-season games and looked to be ahead of schedule.

Portland’s run ended that year with a disappointing first-round loss to the Yao Ming-led, Tracy McGrady-less Rockets, who stole Game 1 on the Blazers’ home court and beat them in six. Oden reinjured his knee in December of the following season and played just 23 pro games thereafter.

11. 2018-19 Philadelphia 76ers

ERA: Post-Process

RECORD: 51-31

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +6

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in second round to Toronto Raptors (4-3)

KEY STAR(S): Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler

COACH: Brett Brown

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Tobias Harris, J.J. Redick, Wilson Chandler, Mike Scott, T.J. McConnell, Greg Monroe, James Ennis

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 2017-18

The post-Process 76ers era is far from over, but maybe 2019 will end up being their best shot to advance deep in the playoffs. What happens if one of the 700 bounces on Kawhi Leonard’s buzzer-beating, series-ending game-winner goes in a different direction?

Do they beat Milwaukee, a team with whom they matched up well? Does Jimmy Butler stay instead of leaving for Miami and throwing thinly veiled shots at Brett Brown’s coaching? Does that mean the 76ers don’t make the mistake of signing Al Horford in the ensuing offseason? We have nothing but time to play the what-if game.

10. 1988-89 Cleveland Cavaliers

ERA: The team Jordan always beat

RECORD: 57-25

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +7.6

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in first round to Chicago Bulls (3-2)

KEY STAR(S): Brad Daugherty, Mark Price

COACH: Lenny Wilkins

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Ron Harper, Larry Nance, Craig Ehlo, Hot Rod Williams, Mike Sanders, Darnell Valentine

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 1991-92, 1992-93

Before the Cavaliers became the franchise Michael Jordan tormented, they were a burgeoning young powerhouse propped up by the league itself. Ever heard of the Ted Stepien rule? It’s named after the despicable former Cavaliers owner who, among many other worse things, kept trading first-round picks for nobodies in the early 80s. The NBA eventually blocked him from trading first-rounders, but when that didn’t help, they forced Stepien out, even awarding Cleveland compensatory first-rounders to prop up the franchise’s value to potential buyers. They eventually found one in Gordon Gund, who restored normalcy to the franchise.

With the first rounders Stepien surely wanted to give up, Cleveland drafted key pieces like Brad Daugherty, Mark Price, Ron Harper, and (via a draft-day trade) Mark Price. A fifth future stud, Kevin Johnson, was traded for veteran Larry Nance. That young core stunned the league in 1989, finishing with the NBA’s second-best record behind Detroit. Because they were in the same division as the Pistons, though, they got the East No. 3 seed and a matchup with Michael Jordan’s Bulls. The rest is history.

Cleveland traded Harper just seven games into the next season for the rights to Danny Ferry, the No. 2 overall pick in the 1989 draft that refused to show for the Clippers. Ferry never lived up to the hype, and Cleveland was never quite the same.

9. 1987-88 Dallas Mavericks

ERA: Post-expansion Mavs

RECORD: 53-29

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +4.4

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in West Finals to Los Angeles Lakers (4-3)

KEY STAR(S): Mark Aguirre

COACH: John MacLeod

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Rolando Blackman, Derek Harper, Sam Perkins, Roy Tarpley, James Donaldson, Brad Davis, Detlef Schrempf

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 1986-87

Even by this section’s standards, the rise and fall of the 1980s Dallas Mavericks was bizarre. The diverse cast of characters included outspoken owner Donald Carter, general manager Norm Sanju (who endorsed a Process-like rebuild before it was fashionable), talented but drug-troubled center Roy Tarpley, and the nice-but-not-superstar young core that included Rolando Blackman, Derek Harper, and Sam Perkins. But the two most notable ones were superstar Mark Aguirre and longtime coach Dick Motta.

Take the criticism Carmelo Anthony received during his career, amp it up a few exponents, and you get Aguirre. An undersized forward with remarkable scoring skills and an equally remarkable ability to leave you wanting more, Aguirre eventually wore out his welcome the year after Dallas finished one game short of the Finals. “Today should be an all-day party because he’s gone,” said Perkins on the day Dallas traded Aguirre to Detroit. Ouch!

(Related tangent: Aguirre has not had his jersey retired by the team. He was supposed to speak at Derek Harper’s ceremony in 2018, but no-showed. Fast-forward to this year, when now-owner Mark Cuban honored the late Kobe Bryant by declaring that no Maverick would ever wear No. 8 or No. 24 again. Aguirre’s number? Twenty-four.)

Calling the Aguirre-Motta relationship “combustible” is kind. For some reason, Motta decided the best way to reach Aguirre was to ride him constantly. “I’ve said things to him that I wouldn’t say to my dog,” Motta said during the 1982-83 season. (Motta later said the quote was taken out of context, supplying this odd defense: “I did cuss my dog out last night. I’d like to go on record saying that. He wet the floor … I’ve never kicked my dog once, and I’ve never had a player die on the floor from overwork or abuse. And my dog still likes me.” OK!)

Somehow, the two co-existed until 1987, when the 55-win Mavs were upset in the first round by the Sonics. Driven by his volcanic relationship with Aguirre, Motta abruptly quit after that season.

Aguirre initially welcomed veteran replacement coach John MacLeod and turned in his best season in leading Dallas to the West Finals, but after a few postseason benchings and a strange summer, he asked to be traded early in the following season.

Dallas fell apart thereafter and slowly turned into a joke of a franchise before Cuban purchased the team in 1999.

8. 2007-08 Houston Rockets

ERA: Yao and T-Mac

RECORD: 55-27

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +4.7

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in first round to Utah Jazz (4-2)

KEY STAR(S): Yao Ming (injured for playoffs), Tracy McGrady

COACH: Rick Adelman

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Shane Battier, Rafer Alston, Luis Scola, Bonzi Wells, Chuck Hayes, Luther Head, Carl Landry, Dikembe Mutombo

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 2006-07, 2008-09

Talk about duos destined for star-crossed careers: Meet Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady! This remarkable guard-big star tandem missed a combined 179 games from 2004-2009, which is more than two full seasons! Their best shot to go deep in the playoffs together was in 2007, when they lost Game 7 on their home floor to the Jazz.

The 2007-08 team, fueled by a remarkable 22-game winning streak, was the best of the bunch. Twelve of those wins came before Yao suffered yet another stress fracture in his foot, which kept him out for the rest of the season. Houston won 10 more in a row with aging Dikembe Mutombo in Yao’s place, but were running on fumes. In the end, McGrady alone didn’t have enough to avenge the team’s 2007 playoff defeat to the Jazz.

7. 1985-86 Houston Rockets

ERA: Twin Towers

RECORD: 51-31

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +2.6

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in NBA Finals to Boston Celtics (4-2)

KEY STAR(S): (H)akeem Olajuwon

COACH: Bill Fitch

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Ralph Sampson, Rodney McCray, John Lucas, Lewis Lloyd, Robert Reid, Jim Petersen, Allen Leavell, Mitchell Wiggins

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: None

But for a fleeting moment in the 1986 playoffs, the Twin Towers Rockets were more a theoretical dream than a coherent basketball team. Whoever picked “The Greatest Team That Never Was” for Grantland’s giant oral history of the 80s Rockets deserves a raise, because that was always their destiny.

Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon were never going to be a seamless on-court fit. The laid-back Sampson and drill sergeant coach Bill Fitch were never going to see eye to eye. Fitch’s hope that point guard John Lucas would stay sober was never going to pay off. Lewis Lloyd and Mitchell Wiggins were always threats to be the ones that’d get the book thrown at them to crack down on its players’ drug use. Sampson was never going to be the same physically after his scary fall late in the 1987 season.

But it’s fun to dream, isn’t it?

6. 2003-04 Indiana Pacers

ERA: Pre-Malice at the Palace

RECORD: 61-21

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +5.8

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in East Finals to Detroit Pistons (4-2)

KEY STAR(S): Jermaine O’Neal

COACH: Rick Carlisle

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Ron Artest, Reggie Miller, Al Harrington, Jamaal Tinsley, Jeff Foster, Anthony Johnson, Austin Croshere, Fred Jones

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: None

5. 2010-11 Chicago Bulls

ERA: Rose and Thibs

RECORD: 62-20

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +7.3

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in East Finals to Miami Heat (4-1)

KEY STAR(S): Derrick Rose

COACH: Tom Thibodeau

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer, Taj Gibson, Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, Keith Bogans, C.J. Watson, Omer Asik, Kurt Thomas

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 2011-12

Had I known Derrick Rose’s career would be forever altered by one knee injury, I’d have spent much more time appreciating his 2011 MVP season instead of grumbling that the award should’ve gone to Dwight Howard or LeBron James. Rose might have been a tad overrated statistically, but he was an incredible thrill to watch and an inspiring foil to the hated Heatles. Looking back on it, I should have appreciated how Rose’s production and the Bulls’ combination of defense and depth complemented each other, rather than use those forces to argue against Rose’s MVP case. Live and learn.

These Bulls fell short because a pissed-off James put Rose in a straight-jacket in crunch time of Miami’s five-game East Finals victory. With nobody else there to help him score, Rose was powerless to stop the Heat.

4. 2004-05 Phoenix Suns

ERA: 7 Seconds Or Less

RECORD: 62-20

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +7.1

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in West Finals to San Antonio Spurs (4-1)

KEY STAR(S): Steve Nash, Amar’e Stoudemire

COACH: Brian Hill

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Shawn Marion, Joe Johnson (injured in WCF), Quentin Richardson, Jim Jackson, Leandro Barbosa

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 2005-06, 2006-07, 2009-10

Picking the best Suns team of the Steve Nash era was difficult. The 2010 team was a delightful surprise, the 2006 team inspired one of the best basketball books of the millennium, and the 2007 team got hosed most obviously. But the original 2004-05 version is still — Hot take alert! — the most thrilling and revolutionary basketball experience the league has seen since … ever? Let’s go with ever.

It’s easy to forget how many skeptics the Suns had while zipping through the league that season. They ran, ran, and ran some more instead of positioning themselves into set plays the coach diagrams. (I loved this Mike D’Antoni quote from a 2005 SI story: “I don’t know how you script against something when the offensive team isn’t even sure what it’s doing.”) They took threes in transition when nobody else did. They played “small” by moving Shawn Marion to power forward and Amar’e Stoudemire to center. They built their entire team around the spread pick-and-roll. They were the first to do so many things we take for granted today. But despite winning more games than anyone in the league, they were never seen as favorites and were often derided for promoting a style that wouldn’t hold up in the playoffs.

Those skeptics got the last laugh, but with mitigating circumstances. Everything changed when Joe Johnson fell face first on the floor after Jerry Stackhouse fouled him on a fast break in Game 2 of the Suns’ second-round series with Dallas.

Johnson missed the rest of the series and the beginning of the conference finals against the Spurs with a fractured orbital, only returning as a shell of himself after San Antonio took a 2-0 lead in the series. By then, it was far too late.

Why was this a bigger what-if than the controversial suspensions that doomed the Suns’ 2008 season? Well, Suns players say so:

”We should’ve won it all that year,” Marion said. “If it wasn’t for that (Johnson’s injury), I think we would have.”

The controversial suspensions to Stoudemire and Boris Diaw during the 2007 conference semifinals are the most cited bad breaks of that Suns era, but the Suns think Johnson’s bad break was worse, especially to lose his defensive option on Tony Parker.

”There’s no way you can tell me we wouldn’t have been NBA champions if I hadn’t got hurt,” Johnson said.

And I believe them. Before Johnson became known as ISO-Joe in Atlanta, he was the glue that held the Suns’ fragile ecosystem together. He shot 48 percent from three that season on four-and-a-half attempts per game. His non-stop running kept Phoenix’s transition attack going. He defended the toughest guards that Nash couldn’t. If the Suns’ main attack broke down, he provided the supplementary playmaking. We all love Boris Diaw’s game, but he was never as important as Johnson was to the Suns.

About that. Annoyed by Johnson’s salary demands, the Suns dealt him to Atlanta that summer and got Diaw back in the sign-and-trade. It wasn’t quite the James Harden trade, but it had a similar effect. Phoenix stayed in the mix for the rest of the decade, but in hindsight, the summer departure of Johnson, combined with Stoudemire’s microfracture surgery, doomed their title hopes forever.

3. 1994-95 Orlando Magic

ERA: Penny and Shaq

RECORD: 57-25

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +7.1

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in NBA Finals to Houston Rockets (4-0)

KEY STAR(S): Shaquille O’Neal, Penny Hardaway

COACH: Brian Hill

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Horace Grant, Nick Anderson, Dennis Scott, Donald Royal, Brian Shaw, Anthony Bowie

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 1995-96

You already know about Shaquille O’Neal, Penny Hardaway, the 1995 win over the Bulls, the four missed Nick Anderson free throws, and the unceremonious end to the Shaq era the next summer. If not, watch the 30 for 30.

So let’s talk about the move that turned the young Magic into serious title contenders: the 1994 free-agent signing of Horace Grant. Cue Michael Buffer, because … let’s get ready to lawsuuuuiiiiitttttt!

In the summer of 1994, Grant, the critical third piece of the first Chicago Bulls three-peat, was a free agent. Tired of doing the dirty work without receiving enough credit, Grant wanted to leave and yearned to join up with Hardaway and O’Neal in Orlando. There was just one problem: Orlando didn’t have any salary-cap space to sign him. Kinda an issue.

But Grant and the Magic designed a clever, mutually beneficial way around this dilemma. First, Orlando traded point guard Scott Skiles and a first-round pick to Washington to open up Skiles’ $2.1 million salary slot. Then, they signed Grant to a six-year, $22 million deal that included a first-year salary of just over $2 million (fancy that!) and an opt-out provision after the first year. Left unspoken: Orlando would invite Grant to exercise that option and give him a much bigger contract thereafter. Convenient and successful. Everyone got what they wanted and nobody got hurt.

Unfortunately for the Magic, salary-cap circumvention was a growing concern for the NBA. The league tried to prevent the Blazers from doing a similar move with Chris Dudley the previous summer, but lost in court. Buoyed by the ruling, other contenders, most notably the Phoenix Suns, inked quality veterans for below-market contracts that were either for one year or contained opt-out clauses like Grant’s. (This is how Phoenix got perennial all-star Danny Manning to sign a one-year, $1 million deal.) Using evidence of a reported five-year, $20 million offer from the Bulls as proof that Grant signed below his market value in Orlando, the NBA voided Grant’s deal, along with two other giant new contracts for Toni Kukoc and A.C. Green signed one summer after agreeing to miniscule short-term deals from the Bulls and Suns the previous summer.

The Magic sued the league, and the case went before the same judge that ruled in the Blazers’ favor for Dudley. This time, the judge sided in favor of the NBA, making Grant a free agent again just weeks before training camp. (He did not do the same for Kukoc and Green because it would violate the precedent set in the Dudley case. Oddly, the Manning deal was allowed to slip through, as was a similar Magic one-year deal to bring veteran point guard Brian Shaw in to spell Hardaway.) The league said they’d allow Grant to sign with Orlando if the opt-out clause was after the second year instead. Two weeks later, the Magic and Grant agreed. That’s how close Orlando’s “missing piece” signing came to falling apart.

The epilogue to this story shouldn’t surprise you. Though O’Neal left Orlando after the 1996 season, the Magic still gave the 31-year-old Grant a new five-year, $50 million deal, even though he was coming off a devastating elbow injury. After all of that, they still successfully circumvented the salary cap. Glad the lawyers got paid, though. (Shaw, by the way, got a one-year, $9 million deal after the 1995 season, while Manning inked a six-year, $40 million deal with Phoenix despite tearing his ACL. These teams were not subtle!)

2. 2011-12 Oklahoma City Thunder

ERA: Pre-Harden trade

RECORD: 47-19 (58-win pace)

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +6.2

PLAYOFF RESULT: Lost in NBA Finals to Miami Heat (4-1)

KEY STAR(S): Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden

COACH: Scott Brooks

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins, Thabo Sefolosha, Nick Collison, Derek Fisher, Eric Maynor, Daequan Cook, Reggie Jackson

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 2010-11

We’re still waiting for the tell-all book or documentary that explains once and for all why the Thunder traded James Harden to the Rockets. We have many theories and circumstantial explanations, but no absolute truth. All I know is that these words from Andrew Sharp, published on our website on Oct. 28, 2012, were prophetic.

“So if you want to say the Thunder chose long-term flexibility over a short term shot at a title, that’s fine. Just don’t overlook the second part of that sentence. If basketball is a business, there’s a good chance this was a bad business decision. Because what happens if KD and co. aren’t good enough to win it all in the next few years? Doesn’t OKC end up spending to compete with the best, and eventually paying the luxury tax because of somebody else? And it may not work. There are no guarantees at finding a core that clicks on the court the way last year’s did.”

Every word of that paragraph came true, including the prediction that OKC would end up going over the luxury tax for a worse player than Harden. What might have been, indeed.

1. 2001-02 Sacramento Kings

ERA: The beautiful game Kings

RECORD: 61-21

POINT DIFFERENTIAL: +7.6

PLAYOFF RESULT: “Lost” in West Finals to Los Angeles Lakers (4-3)

KEY STAR(S): Chris Webber

COACH: Rick Adelman

OTHER KEY PLAYERS: Peja Stojakovic, Mike Bibby, Vlade Divac, Doug Christie, Bobby Jackson, Hedo Turkoglu, Scott Pollard

OTHER SEASONS CONSIDERED FROM THIS ERA: 2000-01, 2002-03, 2003-04

Just watch this video.

[madlori]

Hockey, the FAQ edition

As a follow-up to my Hockey Quick and Dirty post, I present this, a list of questions I have been asked by friends and family members and random people on the interwebs.

1. Why doesn’t Canada have its own hockey league?

They do. The NHL is really the North American hockey league. Seven of the 31 teams are Canadian teams. The reason there are more American teams is just...well, we have more cities large enough to support a team, although there’s perpetual talk of a team returning to Hamilton, ON, which used to have a team but hasn’t in forever, or to Quebec City. Hockey was invented in Montreal and traces its origins to 1917 when four teams came together, including the Montreal Canadiens, the longest continuously-existing team in the league (the Ottawa Senators were also there in 1917 but they went away and then came back). The Boston Bruins were the first US team. There was lots of flux until 1942 when the league settled into a 25 year stretch of what is now called the Original Six teams: the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, and New York Rangers. Those were the only teams in the league until 1967 when a massive expansion happened and they added 6 new teams. More teams were added over the years to get us to our current 31. The most recent (completed) expansion was in 2000 when the Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets were added, and in 2011 the Atlanta Thrashers were moved to Winnipeg to reinvent the Jets. Now there’s the new Vegas team, too.

Which is probably more information than you wanted.

I might point out that there is such a thing as the Canadian Hockey League - but that's a major junior hockey league, for players ages 16-20 (or until they're drafted or go to college or whatever). The CHL is an umbrella organization with three member leagues, the WHL (Western Hockey League), the OHL (Ontario Hockey League) and most famously the QMJHL (the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League). This last is ubiquitous enough that it's simply referred to as "The Q" (as in "Yeah, we played in the Q together."). The US doesn't really have an analagous organization, but it is also much more common for American players to go to college. The CHL leagues are major feeders for the NHL draft. The CHL leagues are, in fact, professional leagues - the players are paid. Not much, but they're paid. If you read "Check, Please!" this is a point of inaccuracy which Ngozi freely admits to screwing up - Jack Zimmermann played in the Q, but since it's a professional league, he would not have then been eligible to play NCAA hockey at Samwell. Oh well.

2. Why haven’t any modern players beaten Wayne Gretzky’s records? Lame.

Heh. Gretzky’s records will probably never be broken, but it’s not because the players now suck. It’s because changes to the game over the last 20 years, and especially since 2005, have made it all but impossible. Overall, scoring in the league has decreased about 20% since Wayne and Mario were playing. This is a combination of training (the players have a much higher level of training and experience now, making it harder to get past them and score), goalie equipment, and the salary cap (which is an entirely other topic).  It is worth noting that even with adjustments for era (there’s math that can be done to correct for this effect) both Gretzky and Mario Lemieux were freakishly good.

3. Have any teams never won the Cup?

Oh yes, tons of teams have never won it. In fact of the 30 current NHL teams, a whopping 12 have never won the Cup. And then there’s the Maple Leafs, who haven’t won it in 48 years. But the team that everyone talks about on this topic is the Washington Capitals, who have been...well, at this point I’m just gonna say cursed. They’ve won the President’s Trophy (that’s for having the highest point total in the regular season) three times in the salary cap era, their captain, Alex Ovechkin, has won the goal-scoring title a totally ridiculous six times (out of the 13 years he’s played in the NHL), they tend to dominate in the regular season and then...can’t quite get there. In fact they haven’t even made it to the Stanley Cup Finals since 1998. Nobody knows how this keeps happening. The Penguins are a bit of a nemesis for them. They cannot seem to beat them in the postseason. And since they’re in the same division, the Caps will always have to go through the Penguins to get to the final, in any year that both teams qualify for the postseason.

4. What happens to the ice between games?

I LOVE THIS QUESTION because I weirdly find logistics fascinating because I am a giant nerd. 

Answer: nothing! It’s still there. Arenas where hockey is played host other events as well. Many hockey teams share their arena with an NBA team - both the Rangers and the Knicks play at Madison Square Garden, and the Kings and the Lakers both play at the Staples Center. In addition, most of these arenas frequently host concerts, speeches, conventions, stuff like that. Coordinating all these schedules must be a nightmare and I'm glad I don't have to do it. I mean, the Knicks and the Rangers can't have a home game on the same night so does the NHL and the NBA work together on the schedule? I don't know. A lot of spreadsheets must be involved.

Obviously the ice surface is the most difficult to establish and maintain. They can't possibly destroy and re-make the ice between every game. So once the ice surface is created for the season, it remains there until the hockey season is over. If you've ever been to a concert or another sporting event at an arena that also hosts hockey, during the hockey season? The ice was there, just covered up. Some arenas leave the boards up, depending on what's coming in next. The nets, glass, player benches and penalty boxes are removed and seats are moved in. The ice itself is covered first with insulating rubber, then with flooring, then with whatever surface is required for the next event on the schedule. If it's an NBA game, a basketball court is smaller than a hockey rink so the court surface is brought in and the courtside seating is set up. Arena crews do this overnight superfast. They're really good at it. There are some fascinating time-lapse videos on YouTube of arena crews doing this changeover.

Here’s one of my favorites: a time-lapse video of 72 hours at Nationwide Arena (Columbus’s arena) showing them transitioning from hockey, to a concert, to basketball, and back to hockey:

https://youtu.be/sjpoTokyvVs

Once the hockey season is over, the ice surface is chiseled up and disposed of till next season. The Penguins did a cute thing this year where they let fans come in and paint messages and pictures onto the ice before it's taken up.

5. Why is Sidney Crosby considered the greatest hockey player in the world? He doesn't seem like all that.

Yeah, I know he might not, but he is. If you ask 100 hockey pros (writers, players, coaches) who the greatest player is, you'll probably get about 90% agreement, if not more. The thing about Sid is that he's great in ways that aren't casually apparent. He's not flashy (well, he can be - if he goes to one knee to shoot say your prayers - but usually not so much) and some of his most important skills aren't exciting except to other people who either play hockey or spend all their time watching it and thinking/writing about it. He's not out there doing trick shots or scoring on huge slappers. Not a lot of people are going to get all hot and bothered over puck protection skills, but that's the kind of stuff that wins games.

Sid isn't primarily a goal-scorer, although he's more than capable of scoring (he won the goal-scoring title this year, and has done it once before). He's a guy who creates offense. People who've played with him or coached him talk about his near-spooky ability to "see the ice" - hockey talk for playing chess in your head with the puck. He can see what's going to happen and know where to place himself and the puck to enable a goal to be scored, whether it's by him or one of his wingers. He's somewhat notorious for having trouble finding wingers who can play with him, and this is why - his wingers need to be good at this, too, to keep up with him, and it's not a universal skill.

Other players also talk about how difficult he is to defend because he's near impossible to knock off the puck. Part of this is...okay, let's just put it out there, it's genetics. You know how Michael Phelps is an amazing swimmer partly because he lucked into the perfect body shape for it? Sid lucked into the ideal hockey body. He has a ginormous ass and thighs like flying buttresses, plus he's short and has a low center of gravity. There are amusing YouTube compilations of defensemen trying to check him and just sort of...bouncing off. Sorry, thanks for playing.

So it's not always obvious why he's great. On the other hand, sometimes he'll do some insane shit like score by bouncing a puck off the goalie's back, passing to a teammate between his legs behind his back without looking, or streaking up the ice half off his balance and score off a one-handed backhand shot and you're like...okay yeah, I get it now.

If you want some numbers, here you go. One of the most important player stats is points per game, which is a straight-up measurement of a player's offensive power. Sidney Crosby ranks FIFTH in points per game...ALL-TIME. The only players ahead of him are Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Mike Bossy and Bobby Orr, and those four guys are basically the Mt. Rushmore of hockey. And that's WITHOUT any corrections for era (see the answer above about Gretzky's records).

Just for a little point of comparison, three current NHL players hit the 1000 point mark this season (that's a big deal). The first was Henrik Sedin. It took him 1213 games to reach that milestone. The second was Sid's main rival in the "greatest player" thing, Alex Ovechkin. It took him 880 games to hit 1000 points. Sid did it in 757 games. Only 11 players in NHL history have done it faster.

6. So...fighting is really and truly just...allowed?

For certain values of “allowed.” It happens, the refs know it’s gonna happen, a real fight is almost always somewhat planned. Players get into minor scuffles, pushy-pushy, sweary-sweary all the time - those aren’t fights. Capital-F Fights are when the gloves come off, punches are thrown, the players keep each other from piling on, the refs just sort of let them fight it out. When they’re done they’ll usually both get a penalty of some kind, either fighting or roughing. 

7. Who the hell are the Habs? That...isn’t a team.

The Montreal Canadiens are called the “Habs” colloquially (it’s short for Les Habitants, the French-Canadian term for Canadiens). Several teams have nicknames. The Tampa Bay Lightning are often called the Bolts - in fact, that nickname is on their third jersey. The other teams’ nicknames are usually just the shortened form of their actual name (the Caps, the Sens, the Hawks, the Pens, etc).

8. What’s this points stuff? Why aren’t standings by W/L?

Because hockey is special and wants you to know about it. Team standings in hockey are not determined by win/loss record, but by total points. You get two points for a win, zero points for a regulation loss, but -- and here’s the difference -- you get one point for a loss in overtime. This is sometimes called the “loser point” and it’s relatively new. It’s like getting partial credit for a tie. A team’s total points is the sum of wins + OT losses. A team can have fewer wins but more points than another team if that first team had a lot of OT losses. Ties are pretty common in hockey, being generally low-scoring, and it’s well worth the effort to try and tie up the game (resulting in heart-taxing strategies like pulling the goalie) because not only could you then go on to win in OT but you’ll at least get one point just for ending regulation in a tie.

9. What’s with the tape on their socks?

Hockey gear is complicated. The players wear chest/shoulder pads, elbow pads, helmets, hockey pants (which have built-in kidney protectors), shin guards, and skates. Hockey socks are actually hip-high - they go way up underneath the pants. Here’s an image for you - pro hockey players actually wear garter belts under their pants. The socks clip to the belts to keep them up. But players also use clear tape wrapped around their shins to keep their socks in place over the top of their shinpads (which are underneath the socks). Each player has their own special way of taping their socks. And taping their sticks. And putting on their gear. And breathing, probably.

10. Hey, the goalie's buggered off again, but it's like the middle of the second period. You said that happens at the end of games.

I did say that, yeah.

So WTF?

What you're seeing is the result of a delayed penalty. That's...a whole thing.

Hit me with the thing.

Okay, you asked for it. So here's the scenario. Let's imagine a game between...oh, let's say the Capitals and the Sharks. The Capitals have the puck, they're charging toward the goal to score. But oh no, one of the Sharks trips a Capitals defenseman! Penalty! The penalty will benefit the Capitals, but they would really rather keep possession of the puck and complete their scoring opportunity. To get the power play they are now owed, they'd have to stop, change lines, have another faceoff - and sacrifice the puck possession and scoring opportunity they already have. So the penalty is delayed until the Capitals lose possession or score.

Well, that means...what, exactly? It means that the second one of the Sharks takes possession of the puck, play will be stopped and the penalty will go into effect. So the Capitals are in absolutely zero danger of being scored on right now. Play will be stopped the second they lose puck possession. So they might as well pull their goalie and put another skater on the ice, and give themselves a better chance to score, right?  So that's what usually happens. A delayed penalty is like getting a little bit extra on that power play you're about to have, except you get a brief period of 6-on-5 before your 5-on-4.

You might think this happens all the time, but it really doesn't. Definitely not every game.

Well, this concludes this edition of Hockey FAQ with Lori the Hockey Noob. I welcome your questions if you have them. If I don't know the answer I'll find out.

[Support my original writing on Patreon!]

[sandrabrass73-blog]

‘It’s the season’ – Pistons’ fate comes down to final 3 games after loss at OKC

OKLAHOMA CITY – They got Blake Griffin back – oh, boy, did they get him back – and they got some good news from out of town. But they didn’t get a win that would have reduced their stress level over the season’s final five days.

The Pistons loss at Oklahoma City despite Griffin’s 45 points – including a franchise record-tying 31-point first half – coupled with Orlando’s romp over Atlanta bumped the Pistons from No. 6 in the East playoff chase to No. 8. At 39-40, they hold the same record as Brooklyn but lose the tiebreaker to the Nets, who remain in seventh.

The good news came from Minnesota, where Miami couldn’t hold a halftime lead and Dwyane Wade’s buzzer beater didn’t fall. That keeps the Pistons a game ahead of Miami, but they effectively hold a two-game lead over the Heat by virtue of owning the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage.

All of that said, the Pistons know it’s now time to take care of business. They close the season against three teams with losing records, starting with Charlotte in a 4 p.m. Sunday home game. The Hornets stayed alive, barely, when Jeremy Lamb’s triple with a second left beat Toronto. At 37-42, Charlotte needs everything to break right – but the Hornets will still have reason for hope at tipoff on Sunday and the Pistons can expect their best shot.

“It’s the season,” Dwane Casey said after the Pistons faltered in the fourth quarter of a 123-110 loss to Oklahoma City, itself desperate to avoid the No. 8 seed in the West and a likely first-round pairing with Golden State. “It’s in our hands. It’s right in our hands and nobody else but us. Go back home, take care of home.”

Griffin gave the Pistons whatever shot they had to score the upset in his native Oklahoma. After missing the last three games with a cranky left knee, Griffin had his second-highest scoring game of the season with 45 points. And 44 came in the first three quarters, 31 in a first half to put him in the Pistons record books alongside Grant Hill and Reggie Jackson.

He smashed his previous career high of six by draining nine 3-pointers in 14 attempts. He hit 14 of 16 free throws and 11 of 20 shots overall, but he missed all five shot attempts after returning to the game with nine minutes to play and the Pistons trailing by five points. With nobody else doing a lot of scoring, Oklahoma City was emboldened to double team Griffin at all costs in the fourth quarter.

“I thought we did a great job of fighting for 3½ quarters or at least three quarters,” he said. “I’ve got to be better in the fourth when I come back in and help us either get stops or get better buckets. So I liked the way we fought, but this time of the season we can’t dwell on this. We’ve got to move on and get three.”

The glaring statistics that undermined the Pistons were rebounding (59-32 Oklahoma City advantage) and second-chance points (27-4). The Thunder held a 21-4 edge in offensive rebounds. Both starting centers – Steven Adams and Andre Drummond – were limited by first-half foul trouble, Adams playing six minutes and Drummond seven. The Thunder will happily take that tradeoff, though, given their size advantage at virtually every other position.

“There’s a lot of length down there,” said Langston Galloway, who gave up 7 inches when he guarded Paul George, who led OKC with 30 points. “Guys crashing – the guard, bigs. You really have to box out your man and go in and help out.”

“They hit you first. That’s the biggest thing,” Reggie Jackson said. “They’re aggressive. They attack the glass all day and they do a good job of trying to pin you in. If you don’t bring it, they’re probably going to win the rebound battle.”

It didn’t help that nobody except Griffin shot it particularly well. Take away his 9 of 14 from the arc and the Pistons were 6 of 27. Jackson and Wayne Ellington combined to make 4 of 17 triples.

But winning at Oklahoma City to ensure their playoff spot was always a difficult proposition. It always seemed like the Pistons would need to make hay over those last three games and that’s what it’s come to. Griffin, who wore a substantial brace on his left leg but appeared to move freely, is ready to take his chances.

“I think we’re mentally in a good spot,” he said. “This team is pretty resilient. We’ve been through some ups and downs and I think we really believe in ourselves and I like that. Especially coming off of that West Coast trip, we were in somewhat the same situation and responded really well. So I expect us to do the same thing.”

“We’re not where we want to be,” Jackson said. “But we still control our own destiny. Can’t ask for much more.”

Source: https://www.nba.com/pistons/features/its-season-pistons-fate-comes-down-final-3-games-after-loss-okc