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whyqueerbaitingisbad · 4 years

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movies & shows

cracks knuckles* alright this is going to be more of a rant than an analysis because i’m basing this on both my research, but also how it felt to personally be baited by these shows. there are obviously more pieces of bad (almost every horror movie) and good ones but these are the ones i’ve watched.

please keep in mind that i am but one queer and everyone has different opinions.

Supernatural (CW) 2005

This show is 15 years old and just ended. From season 5 till 15, there has been tension between two of the lead characters. They were constantly shipped together and not only did the entire fandom know about this ship but so did almost all of Tumblr. On top of that, the actors and show runners knew about it as well. Which is why it makes it ridiculous that it was constantly pushed aside while the romantic coding kept happening, even after show runners dismissed it as being intentional. The Destiel (Dean x Cas) case has been going on for years, and as the show came to its end, many fans had hope. But N O P E. Instead, we got a love confession from Cas where Dean looked like he was near constipated and the Cas was killed and sent into a fiery place that was not hell but s u p e r h e l l.

… w hy.

Sherlock (BBC) 2010

Just like Supernatural, this show was renown on Tumblr for not only how good it was, but its hinting at a potential relationship between Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. But again, like Supernatural, the intentional tension between the two characters was denied by producers. This caused an uproar within the fandom, and even left some people believing that, after the last season aired, it had been a joke and the producers were hiding a “secret, unaired season” because they had felt so robbed by this show that had implied something and denied it.

The 100 (CW) 2014

We got lesbians. We got background gays. We were happy. Then, all of a sudden, one of them is killed for no reason. Did it advance the plot? No. Was she fighting and died in battle? lol no. She was doing literally nothing and got shot and died. And then the producers kept bringing her back once a season in the form of a ghost or illusion because why? Because she was a fan favourite queer character. ✨bury your gays and sparingly bring them back for profit anyone?✨

Voltron: Legendary Defender (Netflix) 2016

*deep breathe* This one is a special disaster. Not only was there romantic tension and romantically coded scenes for 7 seasons, but producers, voice actors and artists working on the show repeatedly said “don’t worry klance (Keith x Lance) shippers, you’ll be happy”

. … w h e r e??? You code one of their scenes with a sunset in the background while they talk about love and then one of them goes on a date with someone who has declined his advances for 7 seasons but now in season 8 decides to do a full 180. Not only that, but you announce at a Comic Con (a convention) that a character is gay and has a fiancé, only to kill off the fiancé and never make it explicit in the show except at the last second of the last episode where he marries a no name character.

Personally, i’d like to say a big fuck you to the show that strung me along for 2 years and never stopped saying we’d be happy to then pull the rug out from under us and call us crazy for thinking anything from the past 8 seasons was intentional.

Scooby-Doo (2002)

While not being outwardly queerbaiting, this movie’s filmmaker has just revealed some shocking news, which wasn’t at all shocking to the gays who had watched this movie over the years. In July of 2020, James Gunn, the filmmaker of Scooby-Doo, revealed in a podcast that, initially, Velma was explicitly gay in his script, but then the studio watered it down until it became nothing. This isn’t an example of baiting as much as it is changing a character’s initial design to “better fit an audience”. The worst part of all this is that with Velma’s character having been written with a l i t t l e queer subtext, people had been theorizing about if since the movie came out, but were always yelled at by the internet for “imagining something that isn’t there”. But now, even with it being said that the initial point was for her to be gay, people have no objections to still refusing to accept it. Why?? So we can’t get the subtext gays OR the confirmed gays?? Make it make sense.

Brooklyn 99 (NBC) 2013

To have the queer characters firstly introduced without mentioning their sexualities and have it brought up naturally was so goddamn nice to see, because no one does a big deal about it unless they ask for that. This show is amazing in general but the way they show their queer characters is *chefs kiss*.

She-ra and the Princesses of Power (Netflix) 2018

This. Show. My heart SOARS. It's just a remake of an old show so absolutely nothing was ever expected, but then it was sprinkled in and ENDED WITH A BANG. And it was so beautiful and real to see the struggle of two friends who care for each other and want to be together but have different visions of the world fall in love. And they also had characters with disabilities, a non-binary character and jUST SUCH A GOOD SHOW.

Kipo and The Age of Wonderbeasts (Netflix) 2020

This is a case where you go into it not expecting anything and are BLOWN AWAY by the bare minimum. And not because it’s bad!! It's mind blowing because this is the simple representation we need!! Not something over the top, but an every day relationship. It’s just two boys falling in love and going on dates and being nervous around each other, yet i was so stunned. Because it’s not shown enough. I should not be this excited over something that should be this normal. 10/10 though this show is so good for all kinds of representation.

Steven Universe (Cartoon Network) 2013

This show did so much for queer representation with its general message of loving everyone and loving who you want. Especially since it was aired on Cartoon Network, a channel for kids, it was able to help normalize something so looked down upon in some circles. It made it easy to watch for s o m e people because it's a cartoon but it's so beautiful to see these ladies so in love with each other, both platonically and romantically and we see them have a family dynamic that isn’t a “nuclear family”. Rebecca Sugar (creator) really said “lemme just break all stereotypes real quick”.

Adventure Time (Cartoon Network) 2010

It's the “knowing a fanbase shipped something so hard that the creators made it canon” for me. This relationship had been theorized by fans for years, but it had never been explicit in the show. When the finale episode came out and the two shared a kiss, it was a moment of celebration. The producer of the show said that it had not really been planned but when the episode was being made, the choice of what happened was given to one of the artists (bless your soul Hanna K. Nyströmthe). And as the show releases little bonus episodes, its latest was centered around Marceline and Bubblegum and their relationship. AND WE LOVE TO SEE OUR DOMESTIC LESBIANS BEING HAPPY AND IN LOVE.

Yuri on Ice!!! (anime) 2016

The fact that an A N I M E gave us a love story between two men is mind boggling and it makes me so happy!! Especially because it's a Japanese show and they’re very conservative about these things just makes it more emotional. The creators said they wanted to make the anime take place in a world where gay/straight isn’t a thing, it’s just love (ladies, you’re going to make me cry). So as the weekly episodes came out and fans start speculating, THEY GAVE US THE LAST FEW EPISODES FULL OF ROMANCE AND EMOTIONAL SCENES BETWEEN THE TWO AND THEN THEY GET R I N GS?!???!! You watch for the figure skating, you stay for the figure skaters that are in love.

Shadowhunters (Freeform) 2016

*insert me being frustrated that the actors are straight so we can move on from that disappointment*

This show really said “let’s name a whole episode after this couple because they deserve it”. But seriously, they gave us two characters whose entire plot does not center around their sexualities while still showing us the differences in a relationship between someone experienced and someone new at this. They were both powerful and amazing characters apart from each other, with their own story lines and goals but they loved each other so much omgs. SO MUCH.

It was so great to watch.

Love, Simon (2018)

There’s a lot of disagreement on whether this movie is good representation or not. However, we need to take into consideration that this was Hollywood’s first movie with a main character that was gay, where the story’s focus was on Simon’s love story. The biggest problem, for me at least, was that the actor playing Simon is a straight man and not queer. My problem is not with him, but the fact that there are other actors that are gay and that could have played Simon just as well. (the love interested was however played by a queer actor so ✨progress✨)

All in all, this movie does represent what a lot of queer kids have to go through: being outed at school, how they then come out, the bullying and doubt they go through.

The book is also really good.

Call Me By Your Name (2018)

This movie is so aesthetically pleasing and was able to capture the confusion and heartbreak felt by a boy who’s struggling with his own feelings towards a man. His inner conflict and joy and l o v e he feels but doesn’t know how to deal with is so well communicated through the screen and just breaks your heart because it feels so real.

But again, they could’ve gotten gay actors to play gay characters…

through having this list here, i want to show you that it’s not hard for creators to give good queer representation. the LGBTQ+ community isn’t asking for much, we just want to be well represented on screen as just a regular character, not some token queer kid there for the diversity points. having been exposed to so much queerbaiting and just not seeing any representation on screen, i always get over-excited when i see a queer character, and that’s not how it should be. it should be a normal thing, something you can find in most pieces of media, just like there’s a straight white cisgender person in everything.

and they seriously need to start casting queer actors for queer characters...

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battlestar-royco · 5 years

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What do you think were some booo trends that shaped the past decade?

Hmmm. I’ll go from start to finish, and I’ll include the tail end of the 2000s for good measure. These are all as I observed them, so don’t take it all at face value!

2008-: YA as a legitimate age category

2008-: YA starting to follow trends

2008-2015: trilogies and series

2008-2016: YA dystopians

2008-2018: dark sexy bad boy love interests

2009-2013: angels, urban fantasy, PNR

2010-2016: dead/missing parents or family members

2011-2016: YA book-to-movie adaptations; especially dystopian, contemporary, and vampire books

2012-2015: John Green/Stephen Chbosky obsession

2012-: Booktube and authors generally using social media presence as a marketing/publicity strategy, leading to social media scandals among reviewers/authors/influencers etc

2012-2015: sassy and outspoken heroine, bait and switch love triangles, one girl uses unique powers to take down the government, lost princess

2013-: fantasy starts to resurge as the dominant genre with GOT/ASOIAF in the adult sphere and new YA authors gaining popularity; contemporary and high fantasy in particular

2013-: book industry starts struggling to compete with TV industry

2013-2015: girls in dresses and/or with swords on the cover of every book; close up photo of a girl’s face on the cover

2014-: more awareness about diversity, We Need Diverse Books, Own Voices etc

2014-: Youtuber/Booktuber books

2014-: more contemporary books about struggles of marginalized people

2014-2019: the fae/fey

2015-2018: bitter and/or withdrawn heroine

2015-: more books start getting picked up as TV shows (as opposed to movies)

2015-: duologies and standalones

2015-: fanfics start getting sold as books and in some cases adapted as movies

2015-: the failure of NA –> YA books having adult content; adult books reading like YA

2016-: political books, especially non fiction

2016-: fantasy saturation and looking for the next big trend

2016-: established authors and select debut authors getting the most exposure and biggest deals with no middle ground

2017-: more digital art, graphics, and paintings on book covers

2017-2019: books getting really bad press and/or cancelled due to problematic content and social media reception

2019-: post-GOT effort to find the next big franchise

That’s all I can think of for now!

#maxine talks books #maxine talks tropes #ya critical #this makes me feel like a fandom old

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tisthenightofthewitch · 6 years

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Grammy-nominated metal band Ghost addresses ‘satanic’ accusations: ‘There are other music styles that promote a way worse lifestyle’

Bombastic, theatric, operatic metal Swedes have become unlikely Grammy darlings, winning Best Metal Performance in 2016 and scoring two nominations at this year’s upcoming 61st Annual Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album and Best Rock Song. But not everyone’s a fan. “We obviously are a polarizing band,” Ghost’s fearless leader Tobias Forge — alternately known as the diabolical priest character Papa Emeritus or Papa’s panda-eyed successor, Cardinal Copia — tells Yahoo Entertainment.

Though Ghost’s over-the-top, presumably tongue-in-greasepainted-cheek satanic imagery has always drawn detractors, the band has finally started to gain widespread acceptance. Aside from its multiple Grammy nods, its fourth album, Prequelle, went to No. 3 on the Billboard album chart and made Yahoo Entertainment’s list of the top 10 albums of 2018, and that album’s monster single, “Rats,” spent an incredible seven weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart. However, as Ghost’s fame has grown, so have some of the protests targeting the band — including a bizarre one that took place last year in Midland, Texas, during Ghost’s “A Pale Tour Named Death” U.S. arena trek.

Last November, Larry Long, the pastor of the Fellowship Community Church, said Midland needed to be protected from the supposedly devil-worshiping group, warning a local CBS affiliate, “This kind of band will bring spiritual influences into this area. We’re concerned about it, because we believe the devil is real, just as we believe God is real. … I think if [young fans are] singing along to those lyrics, who knows what in the world they’re opening their hearts and lives up to?”

Ghost’s Midland show went on as planned, of course. “At the end of the day, what [the Fellowship Community Church] caused was more tickets sold — so thank you very much,” Forge chuckles.

Still, although Forge says such outrage is “to an extent, amusing,” he adds, “To a greater extent, I think it’s sad. … I find it saddening thinking that there are people who don’t know f***ing bad from good and s*** from Shinola. I find it saddening that people would choose to stand out in the cold [protesting Ghost], thinking that they’re making a difference. I think it’s sad that people are wasting their time thinking that we’re bad for people, when actually what we’re really trying to do is make people happy and make people feel good about themselves when they come to our show and have a good time.”

Although certain PMRC-baiting shock-rockers that paved the way for Ghost — Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Marilyn Manson — have been accused of encouraging suicidal or homicidal tendencies among impressionable fans, Forge believes that “dark music, everything from gothic to death metal and black metal and hardcore” can, on the contrary, be a source of celebration and even salvation. “There are definitely rock fans over the years that have done negative things toward each other and or towards themselves, but I don’t think that’s because of the music. That’s because they were in a bad place in their lives,” he stresses. “Actually, it might have even been the music that made them live so long, that kept them going. Hard rock, in general, does not promote that you should harm anyone.

“I definitely think there are other music styles that promote a way worse lifestyle, that you could look upon as being more negative,” Forge says. “Other music styles that promote a way of living that their fans will never have — when music is all about ‘making it’ and wearing ‘bling-bling’ and ‘all them bitches,’ and the idea that without that stuff you’re nothing — that is a bad influence for your fans. At least with most gothic or hard rock music, it’s about feeling good about yourself.”

Forge instead sees Ghost as following in tradition of “the big shock-rock bands of 1984” that his much older, punk-rocker brother introduced him to when he was growing up in a liberal, pop-culture-savvy home in Linköping, Sweden. “The artists I immediately grasped onto were when I was 3 years old,” Forge recalls. “[Motley Crue’s] Shout at the Devil, [Twisted Sister’s] Stay Hungry, KISS, stuff like that. My brother was so nice and just passed those records on to me, like, ‘Here, you’ll like this more.’ I played them all the time. Then it just blossomed from there.”

Now Ghost is being heralded as the imagination-sparking band that will serve the same purpose for today’s rock-starved youth. “I do believe that there is a glimmer of hope in what we do with regards to the fact that there are a lot of kids coming to our shows. We are the first band that they see live. That is a really good thing, thinking long-term,” Forge muses. “I don’t mind being that glimmer of hope. I do believe that the more exposure we get, the more time that we spend in people’s ears, I hope that the interest in analog rock will be kept alive or awoken or might find a way into kids of today. I guess we could be a little bit [for today’s young fans] what KISS was in the ’70s.”

That being said, Forge is reluctant to accept the pro-Ghost media’s proclamations that Ghost are the new saviors of rock ‘n’ roll. “I’d love for the mainstream music climate to steer back towards rock, and I’m sure it will at some point. But does that mean there will be image-driven shock-rock bands, as far as a movement? I don’t know,” he says. “I do believe that the rock bands that will be big in the future are the ones that are being formed by kids, the 18-year-olds, today, right now. They are the ones that will rock the future, because that’s how it always is. The bands that will be big in five or 10 years, when there might be a big domination of rock again, will be bands that we most likely don’t know as of right now.”

But those bands, as Forge hints, may very well be Ghost disciples, because today’s kids, despite the handwringing of concerned conservatives like Long, are loving Ghost’s epic live shows — in which a Pope-robed Papa Emeritus, flanked by horn-headed and occasionally keytar-wielding Nameless Ghouls, perform anti-authority anthems like “Satan Prayer,” “Depth of Satan’s Eyes,” “Death Knell,” “From the Pinnacle to the Pit,” “Witch Image Life Eternal” and the undeniably earwormy “Dance Macabre” in a rock ‘n’ roll church bedecked with inverted crosses. Such imagery and song titles may be alarming to some, but it seems the little kids understand.

“The biggest misconception [about Ghost] is that the lyrical content is being provocative because it’s about God. And it’s not. It’s not about God at all,” insists Forge. “It’s about man, mankind. I use language and analogy to make it seem that it is about other things, but the songs are usually, they are about very real things. Sometimes I think it’s almost laughable to the point of annoying that protesters are just picking up on the literal meaning.

“There are many misconceptions about who I am or how I think, and of course it’s annoying. But that is just part of being in a band nowadays. If I didn’t want any of this, I shouldn’t be in a band. But I want to do this. I want to rock.”

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Yahoo.com

#Tobias Forge #Cardinal Copia #The Band Ghost #Ghost Band #Ghouls #Nameless Ghouls #Papa III #Papa Emeritus III #Tobias Interview

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juliequeler-blog · 5 years

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CHLOE KIM - Olympic Snowboarder

In 2018, at only seventeen years old, Chloe Kim became the youngest female athlete to earn a Olympic gold medal for Snowboarding, and though that may top the list, it’s far from her only achievement in the sport. Not only has she accomplished numerous firsts for women’s snowboarding, she has garnered a few firsts for snowboarders in general, not to mention being named to the TIME 100 Most Influential People of 2018. But what got her to this point?

Starting Young

Kim first learned to snowboard when she was four, dragged onto the mountain with her mother. Her father, Jong Jin, wanted him and his wife, Boran Yun Kim, to learn the sport. Seeing as she was not as keen on the idea, she took Chloe along as “bait,” the now championed rider recalls. Although Boran was not so fond, the couple soon realized that not only did Chloe enjoy the sport, but she was a natural. In two years time, Kim was already competing, and won her first medal at Junior Nationals at age six. Things got serious quickly after that.

At eight, already making a name for herself, Kim went to live with her aunt in Switzerland in order to learn French. This, accompanied by being a first generation Korean-American and learning Korean from her family, would make Kim tri-lingual before she was ten years old. She would spend the next two years not only learning French, but training in the Alps on the Swiss Snowboarding team. Her parents alternated visiting her, with Jin, of course, joining her on the slopes during his time there. On his visits Kim and Jin would sometimes travel all the way to Avoriaz, France in order for her to gain access to a half pipe. During one of her father’s visits he decided that she had potential. For what? For the Olympics. Jin believed in his daughter’s ability so much so, in fact, that he quit his job as an engineer to pursue their shared dream full time.

Intense Training Pays Off

After returning home, the Long Beach native and her father found themselves traveling six hours to Mammoth Mountain on the weekends for her to be able to train. In a video with the California Tourism Board she recounts, “What would happen is that he would carry me out of bed. I would wake up in a new spot every time without even knowing what happened.” By thirteen, Kim would make history for the first time.

Fast forward to 2014 and Kim, competing in Aspen, won her first of six X Games medals, and became the youngest athlete to medal at the X Games. That year she also qualified for the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Unfortunately, due to age restrictions she was unable to compete, but that didn’t stop her from gaining Olympic level attention. Numerous riders, coaches, and media personnel speculated that, despite her age, Chloe was already one of the best in the world and would’ve been of the steepest competition out there. Looking back, Kim says she is “glad I wasn’t able to go. I don’t think I would have been able to take it. To handle the pressure.” However, four years later she would get her chance and would certainly not disappoint.

The 2018 Olympics

In the four years leading up to the 2018 Olympic Games, Chloe refused to let her reputation speak for her. She trained harder, rode longer, and made her first of what would be many marks on the world of snowboarding. She became the first female rider to land back-to-back 1080s, which is three full rotations in the air, while competing at the US Snowboarding Grand Prix in February 2016. She was the first female, and only the second rider besides Shaun White himself, to score a perfect 100 in competition. She won her second and third X Games medals, both gold, and became the first athlete to hold three X Games medals by the age of fifteen. She later became the only one to earn four gold medals before the age of eighteen when she finished first for her performance in the Superpipe at the 2018 X Games in Aspen. Later that same year, she made history on the world stage by becoming the youngest female snowboarder to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.

Considering how much she has accomplished at such a young age, it might be easy to think she must be used to the attention at this point, but that would be a mistake. Though she has, admittedly, matured immensely over the past several years, Kim still feels great amounts of pressure. In regard to competing in the 2018 Olympics, Kim spoke of how she felt as though she had a duty to represent not only the United States, but also South Korea. Though she was actually offered the chance to compete for South Korea, where she would have felt arguably less pressure, Chloe turned down the opportunity, saying that she was born in the US and is an American.

Being an Example

With children from America, Korea, and around the world looking up to her, Kim seems to have a fairly good understanding of what it means to be a role model. Growing up, she says her father was one of her biggest inspirations, contributing her extreme work ethic to him. While Jin has always been one of the biggest influences for her, she had another role model. Kim found motivation in her own snowboarding idol, Kelly Clark.

Kim’s now signature move, her back-to-back 1080s, is thanks in part to Clark being the first female rider to land a single 1080 in competition. While Kim grew up watching Clark, she has now surpassed her in skill level. However, their relationship remains a positive one as Clark said in an interview, “Chloe has one of the best work ethics I’ve ever seen. And she rides longer than anyone. She takes more runs than anyone… And she loves snowboarding.” Talent can only take a rider so far, but it is this undying work ethic that has brought her to this point in her career. Clark goes on to say, “She’s got all the right things that will help other people be successful.”

Not Letting the Fame Get to Her

Along with her incredible ability to handle the pressure of people everywhere looking up to her, Kim has been noted as being relatable. She may be the best, but she still gets nervous. She can be found joking about being “hangry,” a state of hunger leading to agitation, via twitter between runs in competition. While many athletes shun social media, she has found it to be a method for distraction from the nerves. She says that outside of snowboarding she is a normal teenager who likes to go to the mall, and she loves Skittles, which led to her being gifted with a lifetime supply of the fruity candy. She also understands that snowboarding isn’t forever, and there is a life after being an athlete. Kim plans to eventually attend university and earn a degree, possibly in business, to accompany her medals, and become a sports agent. But as of now Chloe is solely focused on snowboarding.

Kim is a prime example of how a female can break into male dominated industry and make it a world for girls as well. She is not afraid to fall, to fail, or to push boundaries. She is quickly becoming the new face of Snowboarding, and this is just the beginning of what can be expected from the young American.

#chloe kim

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matildajohnstone-blog · 6 years

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On Internet Trolls

Trolling is an interesting part of online communities. It has changed the way I analyse comments on social media feeds because a lot of the time, trolling can be hard to pick. I am close friends with people who are self-proclaimed ‘internet trolls’ and have spent much effort explaining to them that they don’t look clever or funny, they just look rude and nasty. But the thing about trolls is that they just don’t get that. To them, it is an aggressive technique for inciting self-reflection on the people who take the bait. To them it is “haha I sure got you!” but to the victims it is hurtful, dangerous, and often pitiful. I am fascinated by this radical difference of perception from either side.

dana boyd outlines a critical framework on how to assess bullying by Dan Olweus, that it in nature is aggressive, repetitive and within a relationship containing and imbalance of power (2014). I find this framework difficult in the analysis of internet trolls. Internet trolls often attack at random, which dismisses the repetitive argument. They are often very sneaky and particular with their language to try and bait their victims, rather than outright aggression. As outlined by Golf-Papez and Veer: “Trolling involves deliberate, deceptive and mischievous attempts to provoke reactions from other online users.” While it can be considered a form of bullying, it has distinct differences.

It’s not hard finding insightful and easy to consume content on internet trolling, which is indicative of its prevalence. The below video discusses how people become trolls, is it in our psychological makeup? Or can anyone be irritated into “getting a kick out of annoying someone” (Above the Noise, 2018)

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This begs the question: do we need a set of rules and regulations to combat this phenomenon? In my opinion, this would only ‘feed the trolls’ as “negative feedback only stimulates a harsher response from trolls” (AsapScience, 2016). They love seeing people get riled up, if there were some sort of enforcement involved, then they would be getting exactly what they want. I have known trolls personally who get a kick out of being banned from Facebook for trolling. I think the best way to combat the troll is education. Knowing when to disengage the trolls is the biggest power of all. As posed by Above the Noise, are trolls born or raised? They suggest both. Admittedly, I have been in situations where I have found people’s online behaviour so irritating that I want to give them a taste of their own medicine. But it is important to stay above this behaviour. The below video offers a psychological breakdown of trolling behaviour.

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If we ignore the trolls, are we trolling the trolls?

(Smith, Estrada and Estrada, 2014)

References:

Above The Noise 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLggqoPEfJU, viewed 3rd Feb 2019

AsapSCIENCE 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zxy_dScjsM, viewed 3rd Feb 2019

boyd, d 2014, 'Bullying: Is the Media Amplifying Meanness and Cruelty?', in It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, Yale University Press, New Haven, USA, pp. 128-52.

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insidethegiftbasket · 4 years

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Yankee Spring Training Prospects Unlikely to Make Roster Pt. 1

Note: Due to maximum post lengths, today’s prospect breakdown will be across 2 posts. Enjoy the content.

These players were all invited to spring training, but are almost certainly locks to not make the roster out of spring (a couple of the pitchers on this list have a chance to get call ups in the bullpen later this year however) and it includes a mix of guys on the 40 Man Roster and guys that aren’t yet required to be on the 40 Man. There’s a nice mix of high upside pitchers, most of our young catching core, and a second base slugger on this list, but as a heads up- prospects with a decent chance of making the team sometime this season (for example, Deivi and Schmidt) or players not invited to Tampa (sorry Jasson) won’t be in today’s article.

RHP Luis Gil (MLB Pipeline #5 Yankee Prospect, Fangraphs #13 Yankee Prospect, The Athletic’s #6 Yankee Prospect)

Turning 23 this season from the Dominican Republic

Acquired: Trade with Minnesota for Jake Cave in 2017

Roster Status: 40 Man Roster (Two MILB options remaining)

Most Recent League: Was at the alternate site in 2020, pitched in Class A Charleston and High A Tampa in 2019. Pitched for Licey in the Dominican Winter League this past offseason.

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Player Breakdown: Elite fastball- on the 20-80 scale, MLB Pipeline gives it a 75 and Fangraphs a 70. Luis sits in the high 90’s as a starter and can even reach 100mph as a starter, and his teammates and coaches in the minors have consistently remarked on just how smooth and easy he can throw the gas by people, and his fastball is also said to have a high spin rate as well. Your belief in Gil is going to depend on three things: can he throw strikes consistently (command has improved every year in the minors), is his slider good or not (MLB Pipeline considers it a good pitch, while Fangraphs considers it an okay pitch), and how much room is he going to have to develop with only two MILB options left and not having pitched above High A.

Most Likely Future Role: At this point Gil screams trade bait or future reliever — only having two options left makes it unlikely he’s going to get the chance to really grow as a starter, and his dominant fastball will be even better as a reliever. I could see him being a main part of a package if someone else believes in him and can allow him to take the time to grow as a starter, but if he stays with the Yankees the hope is he can be a dominant set up guy.

RHP Yoendrys Gomez (MLB Pipeline and Fangraphs #9 Yankee Prospect, The Athletic’s #8 Yankee Prospect)

Going into his age 21 season from Venezuela

Acquired: Signed a international free agent in 2016

Roster Status: 40 Man Roster (three options left)

Most Recent League: Rookie League Pulaski and Class A Charleston in 2019. Was not at the alternate site.

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Player breakdown: Gomez is someone that scouts are really believing in: Fangraphs picked him as one of their “Picks to Click”, someone outside the Top 100 overall prospects that they think has a really good chance of making it next year. He hasn’t pitched in organized ball in a year, but he’s supposedly increased his fastball velocity from 92-95 to 95-98, which gets paired with a nasty curveball that can get swings and misses. Has pretty good command for a young player who just reached Class A, and with the velocity increase he’s gone from someone that would most likely be a swingman to someone who has a chance to be a decent starter in the bigs.

Most Likely Future Role: It’s really hard to tell if he’s for real since he hasn’t pitched since 2019, but he’ll certainly be given a chance to develop as a starter and potentially make the majors in 2023.

RHP Luis Medina (MLB Pipeline #11 Yankee Prospect, Fangraphs #97 Overall and #6 Yankee Prospect, The Athletic’s #4 Yankee Prospect)

Entering his age 22 season from the Dominican Republic.

Acquired: signed as International Free Agent in 2016

Roster Status: 40 Man Roster (two options remaining)

Most Recent League: Pitched in Charleston and Tampa in 2019, was at the alternate site in 2020, and won Pitcher of the Year in the Puerto Rico Winter League.

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Player Breakdown: Medina went from someone who couldn’t give you any length and couldn’t throw strikes to slowly and surely lowering his walk rate- over the second half of the 2019 season he changed from being an elite talent who couldn’t throw strikes to being an elite prospect who struck guys out and didn’t walk as many people, and then exploded in Winter Ball where he mowed down players significantly older and more experienced than him. He has beyond elite stuff—fastball that sits in the high 90s with high spin, one of the best curves in the minors, and a power change up that works similarly to Tommy Kahnle’s. If the improvement down the stretch in 2019 and his winter league numbers are real, you’re looking at someone who could realistically be a future ace of the staff. Small sample size because it was only four starts, but he struck out nearly TWO BATTERS AN INNING in winter ball. That is absolutely insane for anyone, let alone a 21 year old pitching against grown men and making them look foolish.

Most Likely Future Role: Medina might have the biggest difference between his floor and his ceiling of any prospect in the Yankees organization—there is a pretty high chance that his command was fluky down the stretch and he struggles to be consistent. There is a very real chance he never puts it all together and ends up either as a wild bullpen guy or never making it to the majors. There is also a very, very real chance that he is a future Cy Young winner. Weirdly, I have a hard time believing that he’d ever be a back end of the rotation guy, his stuff is just too dominant. To me, if he stays healthy, he’s either going to be a major bust or the next Max Scherzer—it may be unfair, but his stuff is just that good. Let’s just hope that the improvement is for real.

RHP Alexander Vizcaino (MLB Pipeline #8 Yankees Prospect, Fangraphs #11 Yankees Prospect, The Athletic’s #9 Yankees Prospect)

Entering his age 24 season from the Dominican Republic.

Acquired: signed as International Free Agent in 2016

Roster Status: on the 40 Man Roster (three MILB options remaining)

Most Recent League: Also pitched in Charleston and Tampa in 2019.

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Player Breakdown: We’ll start with the positives first- Vizcaino has one of, if not the best, change ups in the Yankees system. His change up has gotten a 70 future value grade from Fangraphs, and he also has a fastball that can reach triple digits. Unlike some of the other pitchers on this list, Vizcaino has already had more than 100 innings pitched in a single season, and while his command isn’t elite, he doesn’t walk many batters. He has a 3/4 slot release point which is excellent for creating ground balls and he still has the ability to strike batters out. His stats were also a bit inflated by insanely high BABIPs (lefties had a nearly .400 BABIP against him) which should lower out going forward. There are a couple issues with Vizcaino though that will likely relegate him to a bullpen role going forward however. His one breaking pitch right now is a slider that’s a lot more slurve-y than you’d like, which is pretty natural from someone with a 3/4 slot release. Instead of it breaking hard, it kind of floats across the plate, which unfortunately makes it very hittable. He also tends to miss his targets, so while he’s not walking batters he’s also not making his pitches where he wants them to be.

Most Likely Future Role: I really believe in Vizcaino as a nice third or fourth guy out of the bullpen. Having a hard fastball that gets sinking action like he does and having an elite change up is going to get him into the majors, and he wouldn’t need to have a good breaking pitch if he gets put in that role. Unfortunately, unless he can really improve his slider, he doesn’t really have a future as a MLB starter.

C Josh Breaux (MLB Pipeline #20 Yankees Prospect, Fangraphs #25 Yankees Prospect, Not Ranked at The Athletic)

Going into his age 23 season from Tomball, Texas and McClennan Community College

Acquired: Second Round pick in the 2018 Draft

Roster Status: Non-Roster Invite

Most Recent League: Played for Charleston in 2019 and for Eastern in the Constellation Energy League in 2020.

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Player Breakdown: Stop me if you’ve heard this before — this is a top Yankees catching prospect who has a ton of raw power, can crush home runs, has a cannon for an arm, but strikes out a lot and has difficulties with the catching part of being a catcher. Breaux was a catcher and an elite reliever in college which says a lot about just how hard he could throw, but it also may have hurt his professional career because he missed out on a lot of development time behind the plate due to a forearm issue. He’s likely going to start this season in Low A Tampa to continue learning how to frame pitches and how to receive better, and he also had issues transferring the ball to his howitzer arm. We’ll see if Tanner Swanson can help him this spring or if he ends up as a corner OF/DH type.

Most Likely Future Role: This type of player is catnip for Cashman, so he’ll likely get every chance he can to stick as a catcher behind the plate. If Breaux can improve behind the plate to being just an average catcher, he has serious upside for the time going forward. If he ends up as a corner OF/DH type, then he’s most likely headed towards a trade or being a Rule 5 pick.

#Baseball #Yankees #New York Yankees #Breakdown #MLB #Prospects

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junker-town · 4 years

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The Dolphins’ rebuild is perfect for a Tom Brady-less AFC East

Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images

Miami loaded up its secondary. That’s bad news for a division with questionable QBs.

The Dolphins’ rebuild went better than expected in 2019. A handful of smart moves this spring should mean better results in 2020.

This offseason, Miami saw a division no longer ruled by Tom Brady’s iron fist. Instead, the team’s rebound will come in an AFC East in which the only quarterback to start a playoff game was Buffalo’s Josh Allen.

The Dolphins moved quickly to fill the vacuum he left behind. The club handed Byron Jones the richest contract a cornerback has ever signed to lock down the sideline opposite incumbent Pro Bowler Xavien Howard. It spent the No. 30 pick in this year’s draft — the Dolphins’ third of the first round — to select the top slot corner in his class, Auburn’s Noah Igbinoghene. Just 40 picks later came Texas safety Brandon Jones, a lightning-quick defensive back well suited to take over for the recently released Reshad Jones.

The message is clear. Don’t throw on the Dolphins. Head coach Brian Flores, borrowing heavily from his days as a Patriots assistant in both philosophy and on the roster sheet, is relying on lockdown coverage to be the catalyst to an expedited turnaround.

The Dolphins saw an opportunity in a post-Brady AFC East

The Dolphins paid big for a combination of experience and versatility this spring. That’s going to allow a defensive-minded head coach to throw diverse, high-concept coverage at a division whose quarterbacks have plenty to prove in 2020.

It starts with Howard, the 2018 NFL interception leader despite playing only 12 games that fall. Injuries limited him to five starts last year, but he should be recharged for 2020. He allowed only a 62.3 passer rating in coverage the past two seasons.

Then comes Byron Jones, whose play since 2018 — a 52.5 percent completion rate allowed, 22 passes defensed, 6.4 yards per target — stacks him as an above-average corner. He may not be everything an $82.5 million contract suggests, but he can make the leap from good to great in a Miami defense where he’ll have more support than he did in Dallas.

Those two should keep coverage tight along the sidelines. Igbinoghene and Brandon Jones, both elite athletes in need of seasoning, will bring value over the middle. Igbinoghene, who is the son of Nigerian Olympians, knocked down 19 passes as a slot corner his final two years at Auburn after starting his career at wideout. Jones isn’t quite as fast, but he’s an intelligent, rangy safety who made big plays throughout his Texas career. Each has the potential to develop into Pro Bowl attendees with the right guidance.

While questions remain at the other safety spot — Eric Rowe had a breakthrough 2019, but was inconsistent the four years preceding it — that’s a lot of pass rerouting talent. Those defensive backs will have a chance to feast in 2020 thanks to an AFC East lineup that features a pair of games against each of:

Josh Allen, who improved greatly in his second season as a pro but could still be baited into terrible decisions by good defenses.

Sam Darnold, who was regrettably mic’d up when he announced to the NFL world he was “seeing ghosts” after his third interception against the Patriots in Week 7.

Either Brian Hoyer, Jarrett Stidham, or a pending free agent signee for New England, all of whom are aggressively not Tom Brady.

That’s an opportunity the Dolphins won’t let go to waste. Their offense will be a bit of a question mark under rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and incumbent Ryan Fitzpatrick (and possibly Josh Rosen) and a bunch of relatively raw skill players behind DeVante Parker. General manager Chris Grier has built the team such that whomever starts behind center won’t have to win shootouts to keep his team afloat next season. Rather than gamble on unknown offensive commodities, Miami made the offseason moves necessary to flatten the learning curve.

Flores knows this can work. He helped build a similar defense in New England

The Dolphins’ intentions for their return to the postseason were laid bare early in 2019. While the rest of the league trended toward young and occasionally unproven offensive minds for their head coaching hires, Miami landed on Flores. The latest branch pruned from Bill Belichick’s coaching tree built himself up from low-level assistant to command the Patriots’ defense over 15 seasons in New England.

Although he wasn’t the official defensive coordinator, he spent 2016-18 in a major role as linebackers coach and then, post-Matt Patricia, as the team’s de facto defensive playcaller. More importantly, he pushed several players to meet their potential in New England, ranging from low-cost veterans like Jason McCourty to undrafted free agents like Jonathan Jones and J.C. Jackson. That’s a trait that will be immensely valuable for a Miami team that’s heavily invested in young prospects at every position.

The biggest strength of New England’s top-ranked defense in 2019 was a lockdown secondary headed by an elite cornerback. With 2020’s moves, Flores’ Dolphins are working to replicate the Stephon Gilmore/Devin McCourty-led backline that bewildered opponents with an inexhaustible supply of capable coverage. Their ability to hold down the fort in the secondary allowed New England to be transparent with its blitzes on passing downs. As a result, a defensive front with few pass-rushing stars ranked sixth in the league in sack rate.

Flores will try to harness that power. He’s got support from new additions who are intimately familiar with the Patriot Way (tm). Kyle Van Noy was Miami’s other expensive free agent signee after leaving Foxborough for a four-year, $51 million contract in Florida. Elandon Roberts and Kamu Grugier-Hill each began their careers in New England, though Grugier-Hill was released on cut-down day as a rookie. Defensive end Shaq Lawson wasn’t a Patriot, but he comes from a potent AFC East defense after the Bills allowed him to walk in free agency.

The obvious plan is that a Jones-Howard-Rowe-Igbinoghene-Jones combination can unlock a similarly transparent, but devastating defense for the Dolphins. That’s the setting — and, for the most part, the positional coach — that turned Van Noy from a player the Lions didn’t want to one of the league’s most valuable interior linebackers. If it works in Florida, it could turn players like Lawson and 2019 first-round pick Christian Wilkins into stars.

That’s a lot of new moving pieces to incorporate, and the progress could be slow at first — especially given the potential for a disrupted training camp schedule due to (gestures wildly) you know. Even so, the Dolphins bought their way into the middle of the AFC East’s arms race by rebuilding their defense.

That, combined with a lack of immediate upper-echelon QB talent in the division (we’ll see about Allen, Darnold, Tagovailoa, and Stidham), gives Miami a light at the end of its tunnel. The Dolphins embraced their tank in 2019. In 2020, they’re embracing pass defense in a division short on proven quarterbacks. It’s a smart decision — one that should inspire hope for a formerly hopeless team.

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gkomal1839-blog · 5 years

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Rodenticides Market Growth & Regional Analysis | 2020-2028

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The significant reason for greater rodenticidal acceptance in urban centers is controlling the growing rodent population, which found a very secure refuge in housing and industrial environments. The residential areas give abundant nourishment to rodents and hence are extremely prone to infestations of rodents. Not only do they eat the food, but they also contaminate food, which creates people's hygiene and wellness problems. Rats are the vectors of approximately 60 communicable diseases. In addition, they trigger environmental harm to commercial buildings, which can cost the holders a number of financial damages. Rodenticides, therefore, perform a vital part in getting rid of urban center rodents.

The rodenticides market is segmented into pellets, sprays, and powders based on the type of application. Pellets are the components generally produced by primary material compression. Rodenticides are used with baits in the shape of pellets to attract rodents. These pellets are accessible in different types, such as grains and wax bricks, which are simple to cover with baits.

The demand for rodenticides in North America is expected to be the biggest between 2016 and 2028, while the Asia Pacific rodenticides market is expected to develop at the highest pace in the same period. Boosting the housing industry and a continually improving economy has pushed the overall demand for pest control, which in turn has also stimulated the demand for rodenticides. Among all pests in the US, rodents pose a major problem. There were about 2 million rodents in New York City in 2014, according to the Washington Post Company LLC (US). Nearly 667,000 new single-family homes were sold in February 2019, compared with 588,000 new single-family homes in December 2018, according to the US Census Bureau and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. As a result, the requirement for rodent protection products and facilities is also expected to boost during the forecast period with the growing amount of new buildings. The Middle East is still an emergent player with regards to the rodenticides market.

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#Rodenticides #Rodenticides Market Size #Rodenticides Market

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habsfans98 · 7 years

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Habsfan98 NHL Season 2017-2018 Team Opinions

Man, the off-season was painfully slow this year. But! Thankfully the pre-season was fun, and now the regular season will start in just a couple of hours. So, to kick of the season, I decided to make some opinions for the NHL teams this years. Just some predictions, and expectations that I hope come true.

Remember these are just predictions and opinions. And I have no intention of offending anyone, or the cities that these teams represent. I would love to have counter-opinions and discussions about your teams.

Anaheim Duck

The Ducks are still considered a cup-contender. Even after the loses of young defenseman Clayton Stoner, and Shea Theodore. Ryan Getzlaf is still the driving force of this team’s offense, along with rising star Rickard Rackell, and their bruising still of play. The real question, is if the John Gibson can elevate his game, and push the Ducks to the Stanley cup final.

Arizona Coyotes

The Yotes have a chance this year to take a big step up, from being a rebuilding (Mediocre) team. To a potential playoff contender in the Pacific Divison. Max Domi looks to take another step into stardom, with Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Antti Raanta, was brought in from the Rangers to bring capable goaltending, and Derek Stepan joined him to give a veteran presence for the young squad. Who I’m watching for this season, is Anthony Duclair. He had awful season last year, after an incredible rookie season. Will he be able to get back to that form under new head coach Rick Tocchet?

Boston Bruins

For Bruins it’s going to be an interesting year. You’re going to have to hope the Brad Marchand’s “break-out” season wasn’t a total one-off, and that Tukka Rask can have a stable, or Vezina caliber season. I think the Bruins could be a playoff team, but that all depends on whether the younger talent we saw in the playoff last year, develop and mature.

Buffalo Sabres

Jack Eichel is now the future of the Buffalo Sabres franchise. He is the piece that this team will build around for the next eight years. Meanwhile the rest of the team still has holes. I still question the Sabres defense, which has been the biggest weakness for this team since they started rebuilding. Hopefully the goaltending can hold the fort, until the new GM in Buffalo can find a solution.

Calgary Flames

Aside from the off-ice drama. The Flames look like a playoff team once again. Only this time with a much deeper defense. Mike Smith will have to be leagues better the Brian Elliot was if the Flames look to challenge the Oilers, Ducks, and Sharks for top bills in the Pacific. Sam Bennet also needs to take the next step, otherwise; I predict that he’ll be trade bait by Christmas.

Carolina Hurricanes

The Hurricanes might finally get people to go to their games again with the improvements they made this year. Bring in the younger players from the cup winning Blackhawks teams was a gutsy move by the Hurricanes. Scott Darling has the chance to be a number one goaltender, and the young defense has a chance to really shine this year. Oh! And people might finally notice Jeff Skinner for a change!

Chicago Blackhawks

Stan Bowman went full nuclear and purged the 2016-2017 team, and did his best to bring back the 2014-2015 Stanley cup winning team. Bring back the well-rounded Saad, and fan favorite Patrick Sharp. However, this team will have to bring up some younger players from the system if they want a chance to stay afloat with the rest of the Central Division.

Colorado Avalanche

I have nothing to say about this team. Last year was terrible. This year will also be terrible. Your only notable off-season acquisition, was Nail Yakupov. Av’s fan’s your only hope is that Nathan MacKinnon takes another step, and turns into a true super star, Semyon Varlamov doesn’t get hurt again long term (and plays like its 2011-2012), and Joe Sakic gets fired.

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Blue Jackets live and breath with Bobrovsky. If he’s healthy and stays healthy expect the playoffs. If he’s injured and stays injured, you’re out of the playoffs. You traded of Brandon Saad to Chicago for Artemi Panarin, Alexander Wennberg and Zach Werenski will most lickely regress this season, and you better hope that Nick Foligno doesn’t vanish again.

Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars learned their lesson about trying the 1-A/1-B goaltending system. They went out a signed Ben Bishop to a six-year contract. He along with Marc Methot will finally get this team back into the post season. What I’m curious about is the offensive lines of this team. Sighing Radulov to a five-year deal, adds another piece of fire power to this team. There is one important question. Will anyone on this follow Ken Hitchcock rather stubborn defensive system.

Detroit Red Wings

Yeah… I don’t expect this team to make the playoffs. There old, slow, inconsistent, and poorly coached. If the Red Wings have any chance of being a good this year (or any year), they will need to get rid of a few contracts, and aging players. Hopefully, the first season at the new arena won’t be too painful to watch. Side Note: Fix the goal horn in that new arena.

Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers are going to be the second-best team in the Pacific Division. McDavid and Draisaitl are going this team back to the post season. Well, so long as Cam Talbot plays like he did last year. A lot of people have faith that this team will end Canada’s cup drought. What I’m looking forward to is seeing if Kailer Yamamoto stays with the team for the rest of the year.

Florida Panthers

This team will be better than last year’s hot-mess. Dale Tallon has done everything he could to return the team to his vision of what a cup-contender in Florida would look like. The important question is whether the key players on this team, stay healthy. The Panthers could be a playoff team, so long has those players aren’t hit with requiring long-term injuries.

Los Angeles Kings

A healthy Jonathan Quick means a chance at the playoffs. Jeff Carter hopefully won’t have to be anchor of the offense this season. Anze Kopitar had a dreaful season last year, and looks to rebound, meanwhile players from the farm system look to make an impact this year. I only have one question. What the fuck is going to happen to Dustin Brown?

Minnesota Wild

After a lack luster end to the playoff last year. It’s clear that Wild are trying to build from being a just a “get-in-the-playoffs” team. They want to play, to get deep into the playoffs. At this point I’m done doubting Devan Dubnyk, he’s proven himself to be an elite goaltender. The only worry I have for this team, is Zach Parise, he needs to be a better player than he was last year.

Montreal Canadiens

Oh boy. I hate to say this. But even with Carey Price on the team. I have the habs being a bubble team. The trade for Jonathan Drouin, was a much-needed addition for the habs, then they lose Radulov to Dallas in free agency. However, training camp has had some surprises Hudon, and De La Rose, made the opening night roasters, along with rookie defensemen Victor Mete. The habs can make the playoffs, if they can play a better offensive game. If not. It’s going to be an uphill climb.

Nashville Predators

The Preds shocked the hockey world making the Stanley cup final last year as a the technically 16 seed team. They lost to a much healthier and deeper Penguins team. The Predators added Nick Bonino to sure up the center position. However, the season is going to be a rough start. The mobile and offensively gifted defense will be without Ryan Ellis for 4-g months, while you’ve also lost James Neal to the expansion draft, and Mike Fisher retired. The Preds can be a playoff team, but that all depends on the young players that stepping up again from the playoffs, and Pekka Rinne standing on his head once more.

New Jersey Devils

The Devils aren’t going to have much of a season this year. At worst it’s a tank year, at best it’s a year that see’s the team take the steps with it younger players into being a team worth watching in the future. Nico Hischier was a pretty good in the pre-season, and will have to better in the regular season.

New York Islanders

The whole season is going to be about John Tavares not being signed. Other than that, new coach Doug Weight looks to keep up the momentum from last season’s ending. Josh Ho-sang looks like he’s ready to grow up, and maybe Jordan Eberle will elevate his game to a new level. It’s going to be interesting to see whether Halak can keep Thomas Greiss from the net this season.

New York Rangers

The Rangers made a few interesting changes this year. Getting rid of some aging players and giving some room for younger players to take a step up this season. However, I worry about trading away Antti Raanta, will Henrick Lundqvist stand on his head once again, or will he be up and down again? You also add Kevin Shattenkirk in free-agency to help with defense. Overall, expect another solid season for this squad.

Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators once again had lost more than they gained in the offseason. After a surprising run to the conference final. The Sens lost Marc Methot to the expansion draft, and then Eric Karlsson will miss the first few games of the season. Meanwhile highly regarded prospect Tomas Chabot was sent back down to the minors. Craig Anderson is the reason this team is even remotely a playoff team.

Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers has an underachieving season last year. That’s a fact, yet that landed this team the second pick in this summer draft. They picked Nolan Patrick, who made the opening night roaster for the Flyers. The real question is if captain Claude Giroux can have a bounce back season, after just scoring 14 goals last year. The goal-tending will also be a big question, Michal Neuvirth was good last year; but not good enough to get the team to the playoffs. The addition of Brian Elliot, could be what the Flyers need.

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pens are the repeat Stanley cup champions. So, the obvious question is if the Pens and make it a third in a row? What really stops them? Crosby and Malkin are still in their primes, the defense is still solid with a hopefully health Letang, and the younger players like Guentzel, and Rust growing into star players of their own. Even with the loss of Bonino, Chris Kunitz, and Trevor Daley. These are still Stanley cup Champions. So. Expect the playoffs, and expect another deep playoff run. Simple as that.

St. Louis Blues

Jake Allen can be a number 1 goalie. Now it’s the rest of this team that I worry about. Other than Vladimir Tarasenko looks to once again be the scoring machine of this team, while the rest take to Mike Yeo system. This is a strange team, they lost Kevin Shattenkirk; yet, they don’t look to weak on defense. This is a playoff team, but only just.

San Jose Sharks

The Sharks can be a playoff team. Even with the lose Patrick Marleau, won’t hurt the team this year. The Sharks will absolutely need the younger players to keep developing with the aging veterans. Meanwhile Martin Jones will have to be rock for the team again. If this team makes the playoffs, he’ll have to play better than he did against the Oilers.

Tampa Bay Lighting

Everyone needs to be healthy. They also need to STAY healthy. Last year, Tampa lost a lot of key players to various injuries. If this team, wants to get back to being cup-contenders health is the most important thing. The other important factor is Andrei Vasilevskiy. Can he continue is growth into being a number 1 goaltender, or will he regress and for the Lightning to work harder to cover for him.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Matthews, Marner, Nylader. Those are the names that everyone is going to watch this year. If those three can develop to another level of stardom. Then this team will go far if Babcock and keep making this teams young guns growing. Meanwhile, Fredrick Anderson will have to be even better than last season. This team is going to be special, very special.

Vegas Golden Knights

The newest team in the NHL might be the best assemble expansion team, the NHL has ever seen. Ok, they only get that title because, unlike the last time the NHL expanded. They managed to get a quality NHL goalie. Marc-Andre Fleury is going to be the star of this team. I don’t expect much from the G-knights for this year. They’ll be competitive, but they won’t win much. They need to build from the draft. Still it’s going to be a fun seeing if the residents stick with this team.

Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks are doing a sort of rebuild. There not going to be that goo this year, but they’re going to try and be a competitive squad. It would be a shame for Canucks fans, but this could be the last year of the Sedin’s being in Vancouver together. It’s a shame that they couldn’t win a cup in Vancouver, but getting rid of them in a trade package could help the future. Other than that, I want to see what Bo Horvat and Jacob Markstrom can grow into elite or star players.

Washington Capitals

I don’t see the Capitals missing the playoffs. But, I done with calling them cup-contenders. They proved that this year against the penguins. The Capitals are a team, built for the regular season and the regular season only. It’s hard to say what the Capitals need to do to get to the third round or the cup final. In my opinion, they need numb luck, and not to run into the Pittsburg Penguins to get to the Stanley cup finally.

Winnipeg Jets

Steve Mason is not the solution to you goaltending problems Winnipeg. You have some solid goal scoring threats in: Laine, Scheiflele, and Wheeler. A great defensive core in: Byfuglien, Trouba, and Myers. However, none these players can fix bad goaltending. You better hope that Mason plays like he did for the Flyers back in 2013-2014. Otherwise… It’s going to be one cold season in Winnipeg.

Side Note: I wanted to finish this yesturady before the season started tonight. But, I fucked up and forgot about it. I hope that my opinions are even remotely accurate. If you feel differently about your team’s odds this season. Please don’t hesitate to tell me!

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seotipsandtricks-me · 5 years

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Changes to Facebook’s news feed were announced in early 2018. The update placed a new emphasis on status updates from friends and family, with a view to fostering a focus on personal networks, and reducing news feed dominance from articles and branded content. Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, referred to the initiative as aiming to cultivate “meaningful interaction” – an effort to make Facebook more of a force for good. A ‘friends and family’ feel has characterised the new feed in a bid to ensure Facebook’s services “aren’t just fun to use, but also good for people’s well being”. The changes have already affected all two billion Facebook users’ feeds and public content from businesses; brands and media have been featuring less prominently ever since. The announcement was featured in a blog post from Adam Mosseri (who heads the company’s News Feed) entitled “Bringing People Closer Together”. It’s hardly surprising that Facebook has been working hard at projecting a benign image following a difficult year at the centre of fake news debates and links with Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election – but what has it meant for brands who build digital marketing campaigns around Facebook’s news feed? Well, for starters, major adjustments like this had been in the pipeline for quite a while. And if you’re a marketer who depends on Facebook for advertising and brand promotion, you probably know that big changes like these mean focusing on a fresh approach to your strategy. Mosseri’s blog was fairly blunt about the effects these changes have had on public pages, saying that they may have seen their “reach, video watch time and referral traffic decrease”. Apparently, the impact has “varied from page to page, driven by factors including the type of content produced and how people interact with it. Pages that had been creating posts that people generally don’t react to or comment on could have seen the biggest decreases in distribution.” It seems that these changes have also started costing people their jobs, 100 jobs to be exact. At least that was the case for lifestyle site Little Things, where after the changes to Facebook’s news feed algorithms, their business was “decimated”. In fact, Joe Spieser, the website’s CEO, claimed that 75% of Little Things’ organic traffic had been wiped out, resulting in a massive hit to its income. Understandably, pages whose posts prompt conversations between friends will have been less readily penalised, which is perhaps an indicator that marketers should consider devising conversation-driving strategies. It certainly presents an opportunity to look back through Mosseri and Zuckerbergs’ statements for clues as to the kind of methods that will help maintain businesses’ reach and engagement moving forward. So, what can you do to keep up with the changes so far down the line since they launched? Keep your followers in the know – If you haven’t done it already, you should consider reaching out to the people who follow your page and explain what’s going on. Encourage them to list you in their News Feed Preferences so they continue to see your content. You could also try making a video to lay out the changes in graphic form, and see whether it generates engagement in the comments below. Start a conversation – Live videos, for example, average six times as many interactions as normal videos – have a think about fresh takes on traditionally engaging content, and start working on a new strategy to include this in your marketing efforts. Invest – It’s about time you’ve found some room in your budget for paid media, perhaps even in the short term. While you’ve been acclimatising to the changes and finding ways to make them work for your brand, your organic media could have been suffering the whole time. Invest in keeping your reach at a steady level, even if it’s only a small amount each day. Stick to your guns – Don’t betray your brand in a bid to attract interactions by using “engagement bait”. Stay authentic, and remember that the News Feed changes have been all about encouraging meaningful content. Poor quality or sensationalist bids for attention really aren’t worth the time and effort. These updates have undoubtedly presented challenges for brands and businesses, but they’ve also been part of Facebook’s ongoing evolution. There have been plenty of viable marketing solutions to changes in the past, and there will be plenty more in the future. If you’re stuck for ideas on how to overcome these Facebook feed changes, we’re here to offer our advice. Don’t hesitate to get in touch, we’ll definitely be able to help. The post Facebook News Feed Changes: Friend or Foe? appeared first on FOUND.

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coreytravelogue · 5 years

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Bay Roberts, NFLD - December 29, 2019

It has been awhile since I have updated this travelogue as one could tell, well at least 2 months since. The last entry was the day I was to leave Amsterdam. What has happened since then has been fairly uneventful for me, well uneventful compared to years prior.

In October me and my girlfriend went to Seattle to see Jukebox The Ghost which was a concert she wanted to see. While doing that we saw the downtown area and I got to indulge in some more German wiezen beer once again and for the last time this year. There rest of the time was spent working really, no real adventures as my trips to Europe, Yellowknife, Kelowna, Toronto and California wound up costing me more than I wanted to.

As you can tell I am back in Newfoundland where I usually am at this point of the year but unlike last year I am spending three weeks here. I gave my parents only one week last year so I felt I owed them more this year. I may not be able to give them this much for a long while though however given the amount of money I spent this year 2020 may not be much of a travel year for me for many reasons. One is I can’t afford to do it at the level I have been over the past few years especially now. I do plan on going to Edmonton next month and I will more than likely do something for Easter long weekend because I have to (I dont have to but when I can get 5 straight days off from work I have to use it for something) but I don’t plan on traveling much in 2020 and want to use it more for saving and for just in case I move out of Vancouver.

I love Vancouver but it is just too expensive for me to live there while supporting my girlfriend and my addiction to travel (and beer). 2020 I do plan on lowering many other things but I am not going to bother talking about them, actions speak louder than words and I have no idea if I can accomplish them or not. All I know is 2020 will be a year of change for me once again but then every year presents a change. I feel as though this entry should be more about talking about the 2010s than anything else. I don’t want to continuously rehash old trips but I do want to use this time to reflect a decade which came to be probably the biggest, most important and most transitional decade of my life thus far.

80s I can’t remember because I was a baby becoming child at that time. The 90s I remember fondly though there were some bad points but many good. At this time in my life I try my best to think of the good times in the 90s because childhood should always be held precious. The 00s were easily the darkest times of my life where my depression basically took over my life and helped waste it as I went from job to job, heartbreak to heartbreak and etc. and I left 00s in worse shape than I came into it. The same cannot be said about the 10s I came out far greater than I did coming in to where I can barely recognize who I was back then outside of the musical triggers I left for myself in the mixes I made for myself over the years.

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The start of the 10s carried over the issues I had in the 00s and it only got worst that lead to my first mental breakdown in 2011. In 2013 for the first time in my life I decided to take a trip for myself. For my adult life up to that point the only trips I would take for myself were to Edmonton and if I was to take any vacations they would be for a Christmas in Newfoundland. I never went anywhere else. However in October for 2013 I decided to travel to Seattle.

In hindsight it wasn’t a big trip at all for me, it’s a 4 hour drive from Vancouver but for me at that time it was the first time I left Canada as an adult on my own in my life. However I wanted to see Fiona Apple in concert, I missed out on her show in Vancouver previously so I did not want to miss out on this one. I am glad I didn’t miss out because she hasn’t really toured since then. I only spent two nights in Seattle but my time there reignited something I didn’t really know I had up to that point; a love for travel.

Prior to that when I was a kid I continuously took traveling for granted with my family but it was only then that I got to appreciate how lucky I was to have been able to see as much of the planet especially Canada as I did growing up on our road trips cross country many times over. Up to that point I felt like making a movie before I turned 30 was the only thing I could do at that point but my trip to Seattle provided another option which wound up being a better option.

By 2013 it had been 7 years since I ‘graduated’ from Vancouver Film School. For years I would try to get into the union and try to get work but it would almost always fall flat on my face with me. It led me to do free work here and there and sooner or later just get regular work. By 2013 I would have worked at EA for about 5 years, I practically forgotten most of what I had learned in film school, all my contacts gone and so on. By 2013 I knew full well the chances of me making a movie before I was turned 30 was slim and if I did make one it would not be what I would want it to be. I basically wasted my 20s. In hindsight I should have just flat out made a movie or made something regardless right out of film school. Would it have been any good? Probably not but it would have been something. I think now as a 35 year old looking back at my 20s I should not have listened to my friend Tyler and waited. I should have just done something, even if it would have burned a hole in my bank account that I would probably never be able to crawl out of, I would have been able to have done something.

My Seattle trip at that point gave me another option I never considered before; travel. In the three days I explored Seattle I was intrigued by the differences the city provided me, even though it was just ‘next door’ it felt like a different world to me. I began to create more experiences like that where I could just get lost, explore and further more actually have fun for once which at that point was something I didn’t really know how to do anymore.

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In 2014 my 20s were nearing its end and I knew I had to make changes in my life; personal, professional and emotional because I knew I wasn’t going to live that much longer if I didn’t I knew another mental breakdown was looming, it was already building with other things going on my life at that point. I knew working at EA was a dead end, they never had any intention of keeping me as nothing more than a tester working for peanuts. I had friends in my life that i knew were not worth having in my life that I had to cut bait on as well. In April if I remember correctly I booked the ticket to go to London and leave from London 78 days later. From April till August right before my trip was all about preparing.

I am not going to get into my Europe trip (again) because honesty if you really want to know what happened then just go to the beginning of the blog and work your way up. As much as I love reliving those 78 days in my mind continuously I am also sort of sick of talking about it to others as much as I am sure they are sick of me talking about it. I made this travelogue specifically for that trip. I had no idea whether I would be continuing this or not after it because I felt if I could not find a reason to live after that trip I may as well be dead and the travelogue was to me my public testament followed by my personal journal kept. I came back home alive just in time for my last mental breakdown.

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2015 began with a mental breakdown but ended with in many ways in better emotional footing than I had ever been in in my adult life. I went back to school, met new and more healthier people to be around.

2016 and 2017 was all work and then school with no travel as I tried to build a new life for myself. By the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018 when I was stranded in Toronto for a night I realized I needed to get back on the road again and explore.

In 2018 I knew I had a full time job and knowing that I spent the first 2 years of my 30s working I knew I had to make up for it by getting back on the road where I went to Toronto, Montreal, Whitehorse, Fort McMurray and Australia to spend time with my girlfriend. It was overall a great year for me in travel. One for which i feel I grew a fair bit. Toronto seemed like a great place to visit only for me to be disappointed by it but it wasn’t regretful. Montreal however was as advertised but in hindsight I feel like i should have spent my Easter in Montreal instead of Toronto but the only real reason I went to Montreal was because tickets were dirt cheap during Thanksgiving, cheap enough for me to afford to. Whitehorse was a eye opener, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy myself much up there only to go there to say I went up there but I would have no problem going back up there again.

Fort McMurray was also an eye opening experience for me. I had not returned by to my hometown since 2007 or so so it had been 11 years and only a year before a fire nearly burnt it to a crisp. The city though was very recognizable was not entirely the same to me, I felt like a tourist there. No one outside of my former bosses at McMurray TV recognized me and even then it required a second look from them.

Australia was a trip that I feel more glad to have taken the more I think about it these days. Not just to be with my girlfriend but to also experience a whole different continent and culture not that dissimilar to my own but still its own thing. Looking back being in Andamooka was the best part of the trip followed by Haundorf and exploring Adelaide.

My traveling in 2019 continued when I took my girlfriend to Disneyland where we spent our easter long weekend there. I had been to Disneyland so many times as a kid and teen but never as an adult where the sole purpose was not for me to go, this time it was for her but I enjoyed the trip nonetheless, more so than I expected to enjoy it.

The trip was followed by stops to Yellowknife, Kelowna, Toronto (for work) capping off with Europe once again.

Yellowknife I enjoyed but I definitely would not need to go back there ever again. Kelowna was disappointing but I think I came in with high expectations. I was hoping for it to be at least similar to the kind of place I enjoyed when I seen it last in 1992 but it was barely recognizable to me. I spent 2 nights in Toronto for work and really had no time to really get a second opinion of the place outside of trying to see more of the beer the city had but I still got disappointed in that.

Then there was my 2.5 weeks in Europe, it had been 5 years since I was in Europe and I only had a short time to enjoy it.

Ghent wasn’t that great but seeing my friend Katharina made it worth it. Luxembourg City was needlessly stressful but more so because of my naivety, it was a beautiful city that I probably could have done another day in but the city was small enough to where two nights was enough for me to get the gist of the place.

Dusseldorf was the best part of the trip where i got to hang out with my first host and her boyfriend. I was only there for 3 nights but I feel like I should have spent longer there, it was just so much fun there.

Berlin I just didn’t enjoy at all which sucked, many because it was there that I realized I couldn’t travel like I did five years ago. I no longer had the stamina or mental fortitude to be able to get up and go for 12 plus hours a day and move to a new place every three days. My time in Berlin was nearly a write off and where I was reminded that this trip needed more vacation and less work to explore.

Zeipzig and Nuremberg were just that, I did next to nothing in Leipzig but there wasn’t much to do there anyway. The same could have been said about Nuremberg which at first felt like a disappointment too given it’s history but the Altstadt festival changed all that and I spent the entire trip there shit faced on hefeweizen beer.

My 2 nights in Amsterdam were ok but I am not going to lie I was ready to go back home though I knew it would not be long before i had that travel itch.

So that is 2019 and my view of the 2010s. In 2010 I was an emotional wreck burning the candle at both ends teetering on a mental breakdown. in 2019 I am 35 years old, in a career, have someone in my life and in pretty good health considering. What does 2020 hold for me in terms of travel and life.

Edmonton is the first stop but I dont think that place counts anymore. It is possible that I may be going to California again for Easter simply because it is cheap to go there. However that is the thing I can't really afford to go anywhere unless it is cheaper. I did want to go to Fort Mac again for 2020 but I am starting to feel like that may be a waste of a trip. There isn’t much I would want to do in Fort Mac, if I go back I would only really wallow in missing living where I once lived, eat lots of Jomaa’s pizza and just explore the same old places I once took for granted. I would like to spend more time really walking through places. I would have if I would have been able to rent a bike for that trip. I was totally ready to bike through the city like I did so often as a kid but I doubt I could now like I couldn't then.

Australia is looking like it will be not he itinerary as well for 2020 as my girlfriend wants to go back home for awhile and there are still plenty of places to see on that continent. Outside of that I have no idea, I feel as though in 2020 I can’t travel hard and have to balance saving with travel. I also need to figure out what the next stage of my life is at this point this coming year. Its another adventure, 10 years ago I wasn’t looking forward to the new decade, 10 years later to tell you the truth I cannot wait.

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See you in 2020, shazbot nanu nanu.

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junker-town · 5 years

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Here are the biggest NFL veterans who could be cut this offseason

Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images

NFL teams looking to save some money means some familiar names will be looking for new homes.

The NFL’s salary cap leads to plenty of roster churn every year. Franchises are tasked with balancing expensive proven veterans with cheaper talent. That means some pricy athletes could find themselves looking for new homes — even if they’re still in their primes.

Last year, we saw former Pro Bowlers like Gerald McCoy, Demaryius Thomas, and Justin Houston excised in advance of free agency. This offseason has already seen All-Pro tight end Greg Olsen left to ponder his football future.

These are the other veterans who could join him on the free agent market, ranked by order of how much they can save their respective teams by leaving this spring.

Marcell Dareus, DL, Jacksonville Jaguars

Savings from cutting Dareus: $20 million

Dareus, at his best, is worth $20 million+ annually. The problem is, he hasn’t been that player in several years. Even if he was, the 2020 Jaguars — currently with negative cap space — probably couldn’t afford him.

Dareus broke through with a 10-sack season in 2014 that he’s been chasing ever since. In just six games, he averaged a career-low 2.2 tackles for an underwhelming Jaguars defense in 2019. More telling, those tackles came an average of 4.2 yards past the line of scrimmage, which is an untenable mark for a player who is supposed to be pushing blockers backward and creating chaos in the trenches.

While he can still be a useful presence in the middle of a defensive line, he’s due for a major pay cut this offseason.

Andy Dalton, QB, Bengals

Savings from cutting Dalton: $17.7 million

Dalton gave the Bengals nine seasons of mostly good, never great quarterbacking. Now he has no place on team ready to draft Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow with the No. 1 overall pick. Dalton’s career in tiger stripes is almost certainly over.

Even though Cincinnati will need a veteran quarterback to help ease Burrow’s presumptive transition from LSU to the NFL, it’s time for both sides to move on. The money saved by releasing the Pro Bowl quarterback can be spent acquiring weapons and bolstering the offensive line tasked with keeping Burrow’s jersey clean in 2020.

Sammy Watkins, WR, Kansas City Chiefs

Savings from cutting Watkins: $14 million

Watkins has shown flashes of star-making play throughout his six-year career, but has ultimately failed to live up to the potential that made him the fourth overall pick in 2014. This past season was no different. He began it with a three-touchdown, 198-yard performance in the Chiefs’ season opener, had just one 100-yard game in the next 13 games, and finished the year with 14 catches for 288 yards in the postseason.

That makes it hard to justify Watkins’ $21 million cap hit for 2020 — especially now that reigning Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes is eligible for what’s sure to be a massive contract extension. With Chris Jones careening toward free agency, the team’s decision may come down to either its second-best wide receiver or the defensive lineman who helped save a Super Bowl win.

Then again, in the biggest game of his life, he put Richard Sherman on roller skates.

Sammy Watkins diced up Richard Sherman, then Patrick Mahomes just had to drop a pass in the bucket pic.twitter.com/ezEyARIu26

— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) February 3, 2020

It’s possible the two sides find a middle ground on a restructured contract that extends Watkins’ contract while spreading his massive cap hit and guaranteed cash into the future.

Derek Carr, QB, Las Vegas Raiders

Savings from cutting Carr: $13.6 million

Carr’s future with the Raiders is very much up in the air. Reports suggest the franchise is interested in making free agent Tom Brady the face of its Las Vegas debut.

Brady may be a long shot, but this year’s free agent crop includes plenty of veteran alternatives should the Raiders want to swap out QBs. Las Vegas could also package its two first-round picks this April and move up to select a rookie quarterback at the draft.

The team has a lot of spending room this offseason, so moving Carr isn’t a priority, even if it lures a young QB to Nevada. He remains an efficient, if low-impact passer who could bring back a decent return via trade. There isn’t really a glaring reason for the Raiders to cut him loose, but this is Jon Gruden we’re talking about. You can’t rule out any splash-making move in advance of his team’s first season in Vegas.

Russell Okung, OT, Los Angeles Chargers

Savings from cutting Okung: $13 million

Okung’s release would be a surprise. The veteran left tackle played well in 2019 when he was on the field — but that only lasted six games due to a pulmonary embolism and, later in the season, a groin injury.

With a solid chunk of cap space available and a new incoming QB who’ll need protection, Okung is likely to stick around in LA. Even if he doesn’t, a Pro Bowl-caliber blocker is much more valuable for his team as trade bait than if he were to be cut outright. But we’re headed toward a Philip Rivers-free future for the Chargers, so who knows what’s next.

Josh Norman, CB, Washington

Savings from cutting Norman: $12.4 million

Norman was just one of many things that went wrong for Washington in 2019. He suffered through his worst season in the league, where he gave up more than 11 yards per target and accounted for -1 points saved, per SIS. That’s the lowest score among any cornerback who started at least five games last fall.

This sudden downturn at age 32 could put Dan Snyder’s former prized signing on the chopping block. The 2015 All-Pro has failed to reach that standard since joining Washington in 2016.

Ryan Kerrigan, 31 years old and headed into the final year of his contract with none of the $11.6 million owed to him guaranteed, could also be up for discussion.

A.J. Bouye, CB, Jacksonville Jaguars

Savings from cutting Bouye: $11.4 million

Like Dareus, Bouye is a highly paid defender who has seen better days. And like his colleague, he could be looking at a change of venue this offseason thanks to the Jaguars’ cap crunch. The former Texan allowed opposing QBs to post a 106.0 passer rating against him this past season while completing two-thirds of their passes with him in coverage.

With Jacksonville eager to find a way around Nick Foles’ cap-clogging $22 million average salary, Bouye’s departure could be the next step in a mini-rebuild of the Jacksonville defense.

Janoris Jenkins, CB, New Orleans Saints

Savings from cutting Jenkins: $11.3 million

The Saints will have to figure out what to do with all three of their quarterbacks — Drew Brees, Teddy Bridgewater, and Taysom Hill — and are already strapped for cash heading into the new fiscal year. One easy space-saving move would make New Orleans the second team to cut Jenkins in the past three months.

The Saints claimed Jenkins after he was released by the Giants for a combination of on-field malaise and off-field concerns. He performed well in New Orleans despite the team’s sudden playoff exit, but his one-year, $11+ million cap number may be too steep. There’s a chance the Saints work out a longer-term deal in order to massage those numbers and keep him in black and gold moving forward.

Joe Flacco, QB, Denver Broncos

Savings from cutting Flacco: $10 million

The Joe Flacco who led the Ravens to a Super Bowl XLVII win is no more. This is the era of a Joe Flacco who is barely a replacement-level passer.

The former Super Bowl MVP has been mostly forgettable the past five seasons, recording an 83.0 passer rating and a 26-33 record as a starter. He also had his lead role usurped in both Baltimore (Lamar Jackson) and Denver (Drew Lock) after midseason injuries. General manager John Elway could keep him in Colorado to continue in his role as Lock’s mentor, or the Broncos could cut Flacco and invest a fraction of the savings involved to lure an available free agent quarterback to town instead.

Dontari Poe, DT, Carolina Panthers

Savings from cutting Poe: $9.8 million

The Panthers have a new coach for 2020. Olsen is no longer with the team. With Cam Newton’s Carolina future up for debate, there’s a chance we’re looking at a wholesale rebuild in Charlotte.

A 30-year-old Poe wouldn’t have much of a role in a Panther renaissance. The space-clogging tackle is set to be the third-highest paid player on the roster after a good, but not great season. With limited expectations for the upcoming year, he could be cut free as new head coach Matt Rhule looks to assemble his own roster.

Xavier Rhodes, CB, Minnesota Vikings

Savings from cutting Rhodes: $8.1 million

The Vikings have some very difficult decisions to make this offseason. With -$12.3 million in cap room — worst in the NFL by a significant margin — Minnesota is going to have to cut some expensive veterans. First on the chopping block will likely be Rhodes, who signed a five-year, $70.1 million contract extension in 2017 and struggled mightily in both 2018 and 2019. Per SIS, he gave up a 122.9 passer rating in coverage last fall.

Cutting Rhodes still leaves the Vikings well over the cap, however. Minnesota will have to trim the fat elsewhere, and that could mean one or two strong players winds up as an unexpected jewel in this year’s free agent crop.

Jimmy Graham, TE, Green Bay Packers

Savings from cutting Graham: $8 million

Graham hasn’t been the red zone panacea the Packers hoped he would be when they signed him to a three-year, $30 million contract in 2018. After scoring 10 touchdowns in his final season with the Seahawks in 2017, Graham has just five scores over two years in Green Bay.

The Packers drafted Jace Sternberger in the third round in 2019 to take over as Graham’s replacement, but injuries limited him to only six games as rookie — and one target from Aaron Rodgers, which he dropped. Still, if head coach Matt LaFleur thinks the second-year tight end is ready for a promotion, Graham’s tenure in Wisconsin could be over after two seasons.

Malcolm Butler, CB, Tennessee Titans

Savings from cutting Butler: $7.4 million

While he’s been steady in two seasons with the Titans, Butler is far removed from the form that made him an All-Pro with the Patriots in 2016. He’s been a good, if inconsistent, corner when healthy — and Tennessee is paying him like a great one.

The Titans have two major priorities at hand with both Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry barreling toward the open market. Carving out extra space for them could mean cutting Butler, who didn’t play a snap for the club in 2019 after Week 9 and thus missed the team’s Cinderella run through the first two weeks of the postseason.

Nate Solder, OT, New York Giants

Savings from cutting Solder: $6.5 million

Solder was the first big-ticket signing of general manager Dave Gettleman’s tenure. He hasn’t panned out the way the Giants hoped, though. His 37 blown pass protection blocks were the most in the NFL in 2019.

He’ll turn 32 years old before the upcoming season, so last year’s struggles could either be an outlier in an otherwise solid career or the beginning of an age-related decline. He was the most important piece of an offensive line that allowed Daniel Jones to get sacked 38 times in 12 starts last season, a number that threatens to stunt the young QB’s growth if it isn’t remedied.

If Solder isn’t cut in 2020, this could be the former blindside protector’s last chance to prove he’s still an upper-tier blocker.

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marymosley · 5 years

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Pelosi’s Nightmare: The Democrats Stumble Over Potentially Impeachable Offense

Below is my column in the Hill on the implications of the controversy over the call of Donald Trump to the President of the Ukraine. Trump has now admitted to asking for the investigation of Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. As predicted in this column, the Democratic leadership has struggled to dampen calls for an impeachment, including the effort of Nancy Pelosi to call for legislation on indicting a sitting president. Of course, not only do many of us believe that you can indict a sitting president, but the legislation is utterly irrelevant to question of impeachment. Not surprisingly, the pressure is building after years of claiming the desire, but not the grounds, for such an impeachment.

Here is the column:

“One of the biggest political scandals in history” and “bigger than Watergate.” Those were the words that Donald Trump used to describe allegations that an American president used his office to investigate the expected nominee of the opposing political party in 2016.

Of course, three years ago, it was the investigation of Trump campaign associates for alleged foreign business deals and Russian influence. Now, President Trump faces the same condemnation for allegedly pressuring the Ukrainian president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, a request made when the United States was deciding whether to give $250 million in military aid to Ukraine.

Scandals involving everything from paying off strippers to self-dealing have swirled around Trump for three years. I have challenged many of these allegations, given obvious defenses that would make prosecution or impeachment difficult. The latest scandal, however, could prove more damaging not just to Trump but to the Democrats.

First, to state the obvious, if the president used his office to force another country to investigate a political opponent, it is just as serious as Trump previously described. That is why it was important to investigate the Obama administration allegedly targeting Trump associates, while also supporting the special counsel investigation of Trump.

This latest allegation could be the basis for an impeachable offense as an abuse of power, as was done in the second article of impeachment against President Nixon. Yet much has to be established and, as usual, many in the political arena are dispensing with the need to see actual evidence, as in former secretary of Housing and Urban Development and Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro already declaring Trump a “criminal” and demanding that he “be impeached immediately.”

In the most recent disclosures published by the Wall Street Journal, Trump is accused of pressing the Ukrainian president eight times to work with his attorney Rudy Giuliani to investigate Biden. There is no allegation of an express promise of money in exchange for such an investigation. Such a quid pro quo could be the basis for a criminal charge, but the current allegations are short of the “quid” in the “pro quo.”

While one could legitimately say that an express promise was hardly necessary, with a quarter of a billion dollars on the table, it still is not a crime for a president to ask a foreign leader to investigate crimes in another country. Trump can claim that the Biden controversy related to his own belief that Obama and Clinton associates used foreign interests to influence the 2016 presidential election.

A still greater problem will be obtaining the evidence to show a criminal or impeachable offense. While the inspector general concluded that this allegation fell within the whistleblower law, the Justice Department has a good faith basis to reject his interpretation. That law is intended to address mismanagement, waste, abuse or a danger to public safety by intelligence officials. The president is the ultimate intelligence authority, and there is little support to argue that a discussion between world leaders should be viewed as a subject of this law. After all, any intelligence official could claim that a president undermined national interests in discussions with another world leader. Trump has been denounced, perhaps correctly, for disclosing classified information to foreign figures, but he has total authority to declassify information for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason at all.

Even if the law is viewed as covering these allegations, there would be a massive potential court fight over executive privilege. A conversation between two presidents is the ultimate example of a privileged communication. Indeed, the first assertion of executive privilege by George Washington concerned foreign relations communications underlying the Jay Treaty. Executive privilege, however, is not absolute. Indeed, in Nixon v. United States, the Supreme Court rejected the argument of the president after recognizing the privilege.

So where does this leave us? While the claim that such a conversation falls under the whistleblower statute is challengeable, Congress is now formally informed of a serious allegation of abuse of power. It could start to subpoena documents and witnesses, including a transcript of the conversation. Congress should be able to read such a transcript in light of the serious allegations. Ironically, the best hope for Trump remains the Democrats and, specifically, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Ever since before the 2018 midterm election, I have written that the impeachment push was a bait and switch on voters. Democratic leaders never had any actual intent to impeach Trump. They wanted him anemic but alive for the election. However, I noted that the great danger of pretending to want to impeach is that they accidentally stumble into an actual impeachment. Now, they may have stumbled over precisely such an offense while continuing to reassure their voters that, if they only had a clear case, they would move forward aggressively.

It is a nightmare for Pelosi. The only thing worse would be succeeding in such an effort. A removed Trump would leave millions of enraged and energized Trump voters and an undamaged Republican nominee for the 2020 presidential election.

To make matters worse, any impeachment proceeding would highlight the dubious business deals of Hunter Biden, reportedly had a penchant for making huge profits in countries where his father was conducting official government business. This included Hunter accompanying the former vice president on Air Force Two on an official trip to China. Shortly thereafter, Hunter signed a $1 billion private equity deal with a subsidiary of the Bank of China, a deal that was later expanded to $1.5 billion. Hunter also was asked to be a director of a Ukrainian natural gas company, Burisma Holdings, owned by a government minister and close associate of bloodsoaked former president and Russian stooge Viktor Yanukovych. That is the same Yanukovych represented by disgraced Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in his own seedy international business deals.

Critics have long pointed to the role Joe Biden played in getting the Ukrainian chief prosecutor fired after he threatened to investigate Burisma Holdings. Biden later bragged that he held up more than $1 billion in loan guarantees and gave the Ukrainians just hours to fire the prosecutor. In fairness to Biden, the United States and many countries were clamoring for Ukraine to act on its rampant corruption, including the need for a more aggressive prosecutor. Yet many experts, even the New York Times, have agreed that the business dealings of Hunter pose a serious conflict of interest for his father. Few people believe the Chinese or Ukrainians embraced Hunter because of his financial brilliance.

Nevertheless, media interest has been remarkably light compared to the interest in Trump family dealings. Democratic leaders have to deal with the misfortune of stumbling upon the very thing they claimed to be desperately seeking. A trial featuring Hunter Biden and windfall business agreements is hardly enticing. That is the problem with playing a shell game with voters. Occasionally, someone turns over the right shell.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. You can follow him on Twitter @JonathanTurley.

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Moderates are increasingly vocal in their disdain for socialism, and Sanders, but the question of how to constrain him is complicatedThe Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at George Washington University on 12 June on his policy of democratic socialism. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/APModerate Democrats have stepped up their opposition to Bernie Sanders as part of a concerted effort to isolate him from the sprawling field of otherwise “mainstream” and “electable” presidential candidates running for their party’s nomination in 2020.Last week, Sanders delivered a searing defense of democratic socialism that set himself apart from the rest of the Democratic party, whose opposition he said he not only anticipated but welcomed.Days later, at a gathering of nearly 250 political moderates convened by the centrist thinktank Third Way in South Carolina, some of the party’s most prominent center-left voices took the bait.“I believe a gay midwestern mayor can beat [Donald] Trump. I believe an African American senator can beat Trump. I believe a western governor, a female senator, a member of Congress, a Latino Texan or a former vice-president can beat Trump,” said Jon Cowan, president of Third Way, hours before Donald Trump formally launched his re-election campaign with a rally in Orlando, Florida, on Tuesday.“But I don’t believe a self-described democratic socialist can win.”> I don’t believe a self-described democratic socialist can win> > Jon CowanIn speeches and on panels over the course of two sticky days in Charleston earlier this week, moderate lawmakers, strategists and donors inveighed against the Vermont senator’s populist economic vision. The approach elevated a conversation that has largely taken place behind closed doors about how to thwart Sanders, who moderates believe would alienate crucial voting blocs in a general election.“He has made it his mission to either get the nomination or to remake the party in his image as a democratic socialist,” Cowan told the Guardian. “That is an existential threat to the future of the Democratic party for the next generation.”Sanders – who maintains his political identity as an independent– has made it clear he intends to run against the Democratic establishment even as he seeks the party’s nomination. Third Way’s public criticism of the senator, days before the first presidential primary debates next week, reflects sharp new dividing lines in the battle for control of the party. ‘Anybody but Bernie’“The cat is out of the bag,” Sanders tweeted on Wednesday, sharing a Politico story about how mainstream Democrats are warming to Elizabeth Warren, his closest ideological ally. “The corporate wing of the Democratic party is publicly ‘anybody but Bernie’.”His campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, said in a statement that the party’s moderate faction had effectively “declared war on Senator Sanders” and denounced Third Way as a “Washington thinktank that takes Wall Street money.”Sanders and his allies believe that the Democratic party’s turn toward corporatism led to Trump’s rise and that the theory of political electability advanced by group’s like Third Way is no match for the mood of the electorate in a populist moment.As Democrats becomes more liberal, their views on socialism, especially among young people, are warming. Earlier this month at a party event in California earlier this month, the Democratic hopeful John Hickenlooper was booed by the audience for saying socialism is “not the answer”.> The cat is out of the bag. The corporate wing of the Democratic Party is publicly "anybody but Bernie." They know our progressive agenda of Medicare for All, breaking up big banks, taking on drug companies and raising wages is the real threat to the billionaire class. https://t.co/zimci7JRO6> > — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) June 19, 2019But after more than two years of standing by as the party’s progressive faction flexed its newfound power, moderates again feel ascendant. Emboldened by the results of the 2018 midterm elections, which saw pragmatic Democrats win in dozens of Republican-held districts to deliver a majority in the House of Representatives, they are increasingly vocal in their disdain for socialism – and Sanders.But the question of how to constrain Sanders is complicated. In 2016, Trump defeated a wide field of more experienced and more qualified candidates with a populist message that appealed to the right’s anti-establishment anger. In a race with a similarly large field of candidates, Sanders enters with far more advantages than Trump did: the Vermont senator is both experienced and qualified, with a dedicated following, a prodigious small-dollar fundraising operation, a developed economic platform and a populist appeal that surges when he is attacked by the political establishment he ran against to great effect in 2016.Trump and Republicans continue to hurl the socialism label at the Democrat field. On Tuesday night, Trump warned in a speech formally launching his re-election campaign: “A vote for any Democrat in 2020 is a vote for the rise of radical socialism and the destruction of the American dream.”Democratic hopeful John Hickenlooper was booed by the audience for saying socialism is ‘not the answer’. Photograph: Stephen Lam/ReutersNone of Sanders’s 23 competitors have embraced the democratic socialism label. Warren, who is nipping at his heels in some recent polls, distinguishes herself as a capitalist.Attitudes toward socialism are shifting in the US. Recent surveys have found that young people and women associate socialism with European countries rather than Soviet Russia. Yet socialism remains broadly unpopular: less than half of American voters say they would vote for a “qualified presidential candidate who is a socialist”, according to a Gallup poll released in May. ‘Who’s better on the economy?’The mood at the conference vacillated from nervous optimism to nervous pessimism about Democrats’ prospects for beating Trump in 2020.“If we don’t nominate a self-proclaimed socialist, we’ll probably be OK,” said Jen Psaki, who was White House communications director under Obama. “I hope so.”But the former North Dakota senator Heidi Heitkamp, who lost re-election in 2018, warned that Democrats would continue to lose the White House and the US Senate unless the party makes inroads with rural voters.> If we don’t nominate a self-proclaimed socialist, we’ll probably be OK> > Jen Psaki“We have stopped talking to the middle of the country,” said Heitkamp, who launched One Country Project that seeks to “re-engage rural America”. “People feel like we’ve abandoned the bread-and-butter issues, and people in rural America feel it more accutely.”Emphasizing her point, she said that if farmers from her state were asked to name the three biggest problems in rural America, “not one would say: antitrust”.During the final panel of the day, Jim Messina, Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, predicted the 2020 election will be extremely close.“We could be sitting on election day not knowing who will win,” he said. ‘Get off Twitter’Several speakers urged those in the room to “get off Twitter” and venture into the real world, where far fewer Democrats are engaged in “faculty lounge debates over political ideology”.“There is a potential that the hyper-hyper-engaged – the extremely online voters that are paying attention right now – might be able to drive the direction of the campaigns,” said Lanae Erickson, a senior vice-president at Third Way.She presented a poll conducted by the thinktank that found only one in 10 Democratic primary voters tweet regularly. When compared with the wider Democratic electorate, this cohort of “extremely online” Democrats are far less likely to identify as moderate, are more likely to have participated in a protest and support progressives policies such as Medicare for All.Moderates’ theory on how to win in 2020, as described by one panelist during the conference, is to appeal to the “woke and the still waking”. The best candidate, they argue, is someone who can mobilize a Democratic base that is increasingly young, diverse and liberal, while still appealing to independents, moderate Republicans and working-class voters who could decide the election.This is not achieved with “warmed-over 1990s centrism”, said Cowan, but neither is it achieved by “1960s Nordic-style socialism”.> People feel like we’ve abandoned the bread-and-butter issues, and people in rural America feel it more acutely> > Heidi Heitkamp“Voters do not want mushy, bland, empty Democratic centrism,” Cowan said. “But that’s not who this rising generation of swing district winners are.”On Monday evening, one of those new House members, the South Carolina congressman Joe Cunningham, welcomed the group to his district, which the 37-year-old flipped last year after decades of Republican control.Cunningham said he did not win his race by promising Medicare for All or by demonizing Republicans. Rather, he said he won by positioning himself as a moderate who was willing to work across the aisle and occasionally buck his own party.Like a football coach rallying his team before a game, Cunningham said Republicans who run to the right to embrace Trump are “ceding more and more ground in the middle”.“There is so much middle ground to gain in 2020,” he shouted. “I say we take it!”

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