#bret's shades are STAYING ON

[taydaq]

I'm just gonna keep dropping teasers and running away. 🤸‍♂️🤸‍♂️

[juniperusashei]

Birthday Stories edited by Haruki Murakami - 4/5

The short story collection Birthday Stories, edited by Haruki Murakami for his own birthday, is a bit of a “who’s who” of what I somewhat derisively like to call “New Yorker fiction.” The anthology collects stories about birthdays from contemporary authors, mostly English language, from a particular generation. Every anthology will show its editors biases, and Birthday Stories definitely shows a bias towards a certain type of literary fiction that tries hard to downplay its pretension. Still, I enjoyed most of these stories; it’s a good introduction to a cohort of authors I’ve heard a lot about but haven’t had the time to peruse individually. I left my copy somewhere and can’t find a pdf so I won’t be able to review the individual stories as in-depth as I wanted to, but here are the highlights that I remember.

I had read one novel by William Trevor before, his Story of Lucy Gault, and found its questions of Irish national identity interesting (similar to the recent film The Banshees of Inishirin). His short story “Timothy’s Birthday” functioned similarly, though more elegantly in my opinion, with an added social dimension which is hard to discuss without giving some of the story away. I would check it out if you can find a copy, as the social commentary was done very subtly with a lot of refreshing ambiguity.

“Forever Overhead” by David Foster Wallace was one of those short stories that seemed more like an exercise done in a creative writing class, but it was so well done that it made me curious to pick up a copy of his Infinite Jest. It recounts a teenage boy’s internal monologue before jumping off a high dive into a swimming pool, a single moment exploded into a stream-of-consciousness. I can’t make it sound more interesting than it was, but it was objectively well-executed and had shades of Bret Easton Ellis.

Murakami did not do Andrea Lee’s “The Birthday Present” justice in his brief introduction, opting to say nothing about the story but in characteristic Haruki fashion, making some sort of sexist remark about how attractive she was when they met. This was probably my favorite story in the collection; once you figure out what’s going on in the story, it’s downright crazy. It served as an effective character piece without falling victim to what a lot of New Yorker stories do, which is only considering character and neglecting plot (the opposite is bad too)!

Lewis Robinson’s “Ride” is the most whimsical and least literary story in the collection (I say this as a good thing.) It felt like it could be a children’s book, or a Wes Anderson movie; finding the delicate balance between humor and poignancy.

It would be remiss not to mention the story that Murakami wrote expressly for this collection, “Birthday Girl.” I have never preferred his short-form work, because there is a fine line between ambiguous and lazy in my opinion. “Birthday Girl” has a characteristically frustrating ending, but it stays with you long after you read it. It is not his best short story, but definitely worth checking out.

Most of the rest of the stories were passable to decent. I only actively disliked one or two stories in this collection. Despite kind of a weird theme linking the stories together, it felt cohesive and an easy initiation to those who don’t usually tend to seek out short stories.

[excellentexecution]

@brothersgrim​ asked: "Happy birthday, Hitman." Said simply as the Deadman holds out a bottle of Jack. (He's repaying the previous drinks with interest.)

Happy Birthday, Bret! 

 A crummy day made just a bit better, the gift was exactly what Bret needed to have his spirits lifted, his frown transformed into a smile. Pride had been pretty badly wounded. Schyster the winner in the latest battle between them, the Hitman’s heart a little heavy and mind too distracted to truly focus. Absent - the Hart Foundation’s awful breakup and the Anvil’s nasty attitude toward him still raw - preoccupied. Simply put, the man was hurting in more ways than just sore muscles. A cut that spanned the forehead. Certainly, it had been a terrible start to Bret’s birthday. Friends were too busy themselves to stay and chat for long. Matches were meant to be fought out - they all had jobs to do for the Federation - well wishes kept short and sweet. It was lonely. 

Least, that was until a familiar face popped into view, with black striped tie around his neck. Bret formally miserable as he sat by himself, in the corner of the empty arena in one of the many seats, still in the pink attire with shades over the eyes, he was no more once he saw the Undertaker. Dared to show happiness - he gently received his present and held onto it - blushed in slight shyness.

“Thank you, Undertaker. This is really nice. Y’know, you really didn’t have to go out and get me anything. You just talking to me is present enough, especially today, but I do appreciate this anyway. Really, thank you.”

He offered, inspecting the logo, reading the fine print on the bottle, checking for any sign of the always strange Bearer, the newest addition to the roster and someone who seemed to have had his claws deep into Bret’s newest friend, “what do you say to sharing this with me? I’m done for the night, and though I don’t drink as much as some of the other people we know, I could use something strong right about now. Heard McMahon got somebody to come out and fix the old ice machine near catering, too. I’ve always liked ice with my whiskey. Have a cup with me before we go back to the hotel?”

___

[beingallelite]

With All Elite Wrestling coming to a television screen near you in the near future, there’s a lot to be excited about. Not only excited, but curious. Curious to get to know some of the folks at AEW, particularly the lesser known faces. Among the familiar faces like Cody Rhodes, Jon Moxley and Chris Jericho, AEW will be housing a whole crop of underseen, fresh talent on its roster. It’s exciting, yes, but it also means there’s a lot of wrestlers new fans need to learn about and little time to do so.

Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered.

Let’s start with introducing you to one of the standouts of the AEW roster: Maxwell Jacob Friedman. Or MJF for short.

Granted, providing a comprehensive history of a man who seems to stay in character 24/7 is no easy task (some find it hard to believe that MJF is just a character and not the real embodiment of the person playing him), but we’ll try our best.

This young man came a long way from singing “You Are My Sunshine” on Rosie O’Donnell’s interview couch at 5-years old. Now, at age 23, he is regarded by many as one of the very best heels in the business. But at a time when he was still honing his craft, he only started training in 2015.

Seeing how fast he’s developed in the ring and on the mic in just four years is just astounding. You can thank WWE’s Curt Hawkins and Pat Buck as the men who trained him to become the man he is today. After training at the Create a Pro Wrestling Academy, he moved on to the indies, but made his footprint in Combat Zone Wrestling. Originally, it was under the name Pete Lightning, but as he continued to add compelling gravitas to his character, he’d quickly morph into the Maxwell Jacob Friedman we know him as today.

The MJF we know today even comes with his own bonafide backstory, which he’s committed to telling consistently in spaces like Kenny Johnson’s documentary on him and even during a podcast interview with Stone Cold Steve Austin. He’s mapped everything out about his character from his family’s riches to nearly getting a full ride to an Ivy League college that he legally can’t disclose after breaking records in high school football.

Much of the character’s backstory seems to be modeled in some form or another on the real man’s real life (because he did play football at Plainview – Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School and briefly attended Hartford College before dropping out to become a wrestler) but in any case, the MJF character has a very intricate backstory to say the least. More than anything else, you gotta give him credit for being able to commit to these stories every time without breaking character or missing a single detail.

His earliest successes came in CZW where he became the Wired Champion (twice) and the promotion’s World Heavyweight Champion. He then made his way to Major League Wrestling, where he became the first ever MLW Middleweight Champion, defeating Joey Ryan to do so. He still does work for MLW as of this writing, serving as one-half of their Tag Team Champions after defeating The Hart Foundation (Teddy Hart and Brian Pillman Jr.) for the titles back in July.

For those wondering how he could work for AEW and MLW at the same time, well, as he explains in his Talk is Jericho interview, it was due to a very specific loophole: his 3-year contract with MLW specifically mentioned that he could not sign with WWE. Now, the contract didn’t say a word about AEW because at the time of signing, AEW did not exist yet. Then, after talking it out, MLW management was completely cool with MJF signing with AEW.

Which brings us to All Elite Wrestling.

MJF was one of the promotion’s earliest signings, having been announced as a member of their roster just a week after announcing their inception in January. Since then, he has made an impression at every AEW PPV. Whether it’s staring down Bret Hart at Double or Nothing or heckling the crowd at Fyter Fest or standing by AEW exec Cody’s side at All Out, MJF has been one of the most memorable highlights from each show so far.

By the way, that last part is worth mentioning in itself. The MJF character has been getting buddy buddy with Cody ever since signing with AEW, often citing him as a best friend and a mentor. That’s why he stood in Cody’s corner to even the odds at AEW All Out when The American Nightmare wrestle Shawn Spears (who had Tully Blanchard in his own corner).

The impression we’re supposed to derive is that MJF is kissing up to the boss hoping for some perks that come along with it. He teased turning on his “best friend��� at All Out when glaring at him while wielding a chair behind Cody’s back, but for now, it was merely a moment of foreshadowing.

The real beauty of this partnership is that MJF’s commitment to his character has, in some ways, endeared him to the hardcore fans of AEW. Well, maybe not the Dungeons and Dragons fans or Joe Manganiello, but outside of those sub-categories, a lot of people love the guy. So the phony babyface schtick somehow works as legit babyface fire and when (if) he finally turns on Cody, it’ll produce just as much heel heat.

Keep an eye on MJF when AEW goes live on TV. Not just to see if he ever throws any shade (or chairs) towards his buddy Cody, but because he is a naturally charismatic superstar in the making. He is bound to become a staple of AEW programming and the promotion’s main event scene. This kid’s going places.

[grizzlefur]

WWEm - Upstaged by the Tubemen

More WWE Raw fun and Smackdown wackiness.

Don’t forget you can follow Emma on Twitter as @Waruce and I’m @grizzlefur.

Transmission date: Monday 16/Tuesday 17 January 2017

. Reigns. Rollins. Kendrick. Perkins. Kingston Anderson Woods Gallows GallagherDaivariGulakNese This is. This is. This is. FRIDAY AFTENOON RAW! Because what fun would this blog be without references that precisely one person reading it will get?

.

Some extended technical/life failures later (it's now Tuesday), let's start the show!

.

in memoriam of Jimmy Snuka to start .

RIP, quite possibly a murderer .

and we open the show proper on an MLK day memorial package .

wwe, that trailblazer of racial sensitivity and equality .

but tbh, it's just nice to see videos of dr king at the moment .

and now let's have inspirational pictures of famous black people, chosen seemingly at random

.

(i'm being cynical here, but that was nice) .

and roll titles .

featuring more cruiserweights than i remember .

but it's entirely possible i just wasn't paying attention .

in any case .

we're in little rock .

and we open with roman reigns .

aaaaaaand there goes all the goodwill in the room .

the shark cage is still posing on the stage for some reason .

recap package of roman getting dicked on by kevin and chris .

i'm all in favour of heel stables holding all the belts, tbh .

still waiting for sanity to sweep nxt .

chris wouldn't have to cut much weight to be a cruiserweight .

just saying .

credit to roman opening his promo by acknowledging that he has no right to complain about being outnumbered .

but this promo has also reminded me that he's totally going to take the universal championship and headline mania .

because that went so well last year .

and here comes paul heyman to show roman how promos should work .

apparently brock is here tonight .

great .

(ugh, the single-adjective coda has been ruined) .

(sad) .

crowd do enormous goldberg chants, paul just waits for them to get it out of their system and be like yeeeeeeah he's not here tonight

.

again, paul does the eat/sleep/elimination/repeat thing, and roman actually points out how that makes no sense .

and now we have chris and kevin .

to be fair, the us title belt really ties chris' stupid outfit together .

clearly his problem was too much midriff .

chris is still angling for a kevin/chris mania main event .

it'll never happen, but i would watch the shit out of that .

kevin's like yeahhhhh not convinced but ANYWAY .

tension is sown .

and now, add rollins .

fuck it, let's just bring everyone out .

start the rumble early .

seth is also angling to win the rumble .

to be fair, i could see seth/roman working as a mania headline .

let seth get his belt back before finn kills him for it .

and here's braun .

*waits for titus* .

ok, it's brock .

but still .

anyone else waiting backstage? .

titus? .

cody rhodes? .

dixie carter? .

sami appears from nowhere to jump on braun, cue everything being a brawl .

brock suplexes everyone to the underworld, gets a nice little faceoff with sami before doing it to him .

can we please push sami properly .

and now we tease brock/braun .

doesn't happen, but gives roman a chance to punch everyone .

and get f5'd .

good going there .

kick brock's music, everyone scowls and makes to leave .

only to mysteriously disappear during the next video package .

later, we get ceshearo/club title match .

but next, enzo and cass/rusev and jinder .

and let's play a total divas advert over their entrances .

fuck it, why not .

better than over the entirety of a women's match .

enzo's miraculously up and strutting again .

i swear, their intro gets faster every time .

because clearly we don't have enough time on raw .

enzo could do a half-hour standup set and not make raw run over time .

in any case .

enzo and cass, as ever, don't really give a shit about the rules of tag matches .

the heeliest of face teams .

for the first time in like a month, enzo gets to show off his amazing talent to have seventy-three shades of piss kicked out of him .

also sloppy tornado ddts .

he can do that too .

cass tags in, cue five moves of doom .

except he decides not to do the east river crossing, and rusev breaks it up .

that's why you do all five .

nasty big boot to badaboomshakalaka for the pin .

cass can do a big boot like nobody's business .

perks of being a literal giant, i guess .

rusev and jinder immediately ghost off like the unmemorable heels they are .

apparently, we have jack gallagher on announce next .

but first, an advert for the new xxx film .

because it has lita in it .

forming, along with ruby rose, the only two reasons i'd watch that film .

hooray for netflix .

but anyway .

crusierweight time .

graves/aries/cole/gallagher is a pretty damn strong panel .

because cole has a lot of potential, as we found out to our amazement at the uk tournament .

anyway, this match is ariya daivari/lince dorado .

oh yeah, this is leading into the i forfeit match on 205 .

looking forward to that .

daivari has a silver lion on his trunks .

has he forgotten his own nickname .

daivari pauses to DO YOU SEE YOUR CHILDREN at jack, who's just like maybe you should be focusing on that luchador in there with you .

austin questions jack's gentlemanliness, he's just like excuse me have you seen yourself .

daivari hits a rainmaker into a cobra clutch for the tap .

and cue him facing off with jack and willem .

end thing .

up next, stuff about sasha getting cocked on by nia .

oh god, they're doing recaps of the taker segment from last week .

will he say it .

will i lose my shit .

so many questions .

and there we go .

peeeeeeeeeacengflgflgmn .

still makes me giggle .

threatening words from the zombie squid over there .

but now we get recaps of the unalloyed delight that was the uk title tournament .

featuring our lord and master, tyler bate .

wait shit .

on second thoughts, he should probably just stick to 'lord' .

also reminding us what a horrible joy pete dunne is .

and seriously, the bitter end is possibly my favourite finisher rn .

and now cole gets an awkward segue into the sasha/nia angle .

training footage from earlier today of sasha testing her knee out, during which nia fucks her up some more

.

that's pleasingly meta .

blur that line .

but now, here's cesaro .

and his mate .

wow, having a championship belt under it really wrecks the line of that stripper suit .

but yeah, they're fighting gallows and anderson for the belt .

or indeed both of them .

like there's any chance they're dropping them this soon to their first proper feud .

and a lackluster feud it has been .

given that ganderson's whole motivation is 'we want the belts because we are good at wrestling' .

but hey, even if the narrative has been thin to nonexistent, the matches are good .

this partnership has improved sheamus so much .

sloppy double team as gallows seemingly forgets that anderson isn't as tall as he is and has to really reach to hit a dubious neckbreaker .

which shounds like it should have been a finisher at the uk tournament .

"Oh my God, Cole, he's going for the Dubious Neckbreaker!" .

graves calls him 'mr anderson', and in the distance, tna's legal division creaks into action like briefcase-wielding glaciers .

oh god, they've started calling cesaro's tiger feint kick a 'swiss19' .

crowd starts a this is awesome chant, i can't argue .

this match is just all the big spots all the time .

and sheamus accidentally kills the ref .

drama .

magic killer on cesaro .

and bullshit it was too .

gallows just does not give a shit about setting up for moves today .

they get the pin on cesaro, even with them having to pull a new ref in, but then they call it a dq for the ref bump .

so cesaro and shwamus retain, and the feud stays alive .

ahhh, the refreshing aroma of screwy finishes .

apparently later, charlotte reveals her winning strategy .

odds on it being "be charlotte flair" or some such? .

but now, we recap the opening segment .

In which the incensed Mr. LESNAR, an unrepentant brute and miscreant, unleashes his legendary fury on all and sundry .

main event is going to be roman/seth/sami v chris/kevin/braun .

because even though he went over on that opening segment, brock's stance is still 'fuck actually wrestling' .

and now, a memorial video for superfly .

whom everyone in the company loves, and is still probably a murderer .

but still, death is sad .

slideshow of wrestlers tweeting about it, including bret hart's heartening two-word sendoff .

and now let's ruin everything with an emmalina video .

apparently the makeover is nearly complete .

oh well .

and now, roman, seth and sami in the locker room .

with the lead piping .

sami trying to come up with a strategy for the team, seth and roman both just standing there like wtf is this guy .

sami tries to do the shield fist thing, the other two just look at him and walk off .

that was weird .

but now, more cruiserweight .

swann/nese .

both with music i enjoy .

petition for all weight divisions to be named after ships .

battlercruiserweight .

subweight .

tugweight .

carrierweight .

frigateweight .

ahem .

in any case, neville bursts in as swann gets in the ring, fucks him and his pimp coat up .

sidenote: in this inspirational mlk day episode, rich swann is the first black guy to appear .

63 minutes in .

well, apart from byron, i guess .

nese takes the opportunity to kick some shit out of swann as well .

and leaves .

so much for that match .

welp, i bet they're glad they changed the ropes and canvas for that segment .

up next, the new day .

but first, backstage man interviews a glowering Geordie troll .

(he doesn't get a number because i've never seen a man there before) .

par for the course, neville's attitude in the interview is FUCK EVERYTHING BEFORE I DO IT MYSELF

.

but now, new day .

big e continues to double down on the whole pouring breakfast cereal over crowd members thing .

this time, by dumping an entire box of it over one woman while making weird parrot noises .

taken out of context, that might be unusual .

they're ding a whole bit about how good the rumble lineup is .

(because they're in it) .

and how they're all going to be in it for themselves .

but fuck that .

because if one of them wins, they all win and get to main event mania .

because why the fuck not .

freebird rules .

i'd buy it .

and now here is titus? .

corey: "He's like a bad wart." .

i refuse to diminish that with context .

titus no longer wants to be in the new day .

he wants to replace the new day .

like literally .

take one of their spots in the rumble .

xavier like ummmmmmm no? .

big e is agreeing to fight him for a rumble spot, on the condition that when he wins, titus will just fuck off forever .

not in as many words .

but with more dick jokes .

so we're having that now .

(the match, not dick jokes) .

big e is just beating titus all over the ring .

titus gets the upper hand by hitting xavier .

and enraging his friends .

they're still pushing the titus brand angle, despite that having made literally no narrative progress .

to his credit, that was a lovely over-the-shoulder slam by titus .

man is strong .

(i can't remember the proper name for that move, fuck off) .

titus starts stealing all of e's spots, because wanker .

aaaaand turnaround to big ending for the win .

because fuck that guy .

up next, charlotte tells us how to beat up your friends .

but first, video about the first rumble .

and more mlk .

but now, queen bitch herself .

wearing her casual cape .

dress down monday .

charlotte's strategy is apparently scouting everything about her opponents .

which is why she's gonna beat bayley .

because she's average and there's nothing to learn .

and that's why fans love her .

to be fair, her appeal *is* that she's a normal fan .

and now let's roll some photos of young bayley meeting wrestlers .

and her poems about wrestling .

to be fair, this is exactly why we love bayley .

she is us .

loving charlotte being like kids, this is why you should be careful what you put on the internet .

and now, video of bayley reading an essay from 07 about wanting to be a wrestler and getting all emotional .

d'awwwwwww .

moral of this story: fuck following your dreams unless you're ric flair's kid .

which probably describes about 12% of this generation .

he's basically genghis khan .

and cue an angry hispanic girl .

(specifically bayley) .

just like wtf is this all in aid of .

and basically making exactly the point i've been saying .

being like fuck you i just love this industry .

and she's written charlotte a new poem .

(spoiler: it's bad) .

she's no enzo amore .

charlotte holds up the belt, gets effortlessly upstaged by the tubemen .

(Upstaged by the Tubemen is my tell-all 80s memoir) .

and now, more recaps of the opening segment .

cut to backstage, chris and kevin trying to teach braun about strategy .

his strategy is BRAAAAAAAUGGHHHHHHH .

basically, their strategy suggestions are hey braun if you could just murder everyone on the other team .

braun like FUCK THAT IMMA KILL EVERYONE and stalks off

.

chris and kevin just kind of shrug like yeah, alright .

and now, a man with a flag .

more cruisers .

kendrick/cedric .

alicia not entering with cedric for once .

building on the weird fox/dar thing .

it's just occurred to me: did austin wear those ever-present aviators before shinsuke fucked him in the eye? .

cedric does a weird moonsault to the floor, catching his arms on the apron and catching brian knees-first .

graves: "Look at that beautiful springboard...slingshot...moonsault of some sort" .

couldn't have said it better .

(because i also don't have a clue) .

brian's had a little bit of offence in this, but mostly just jobbing hard to cedric .

as soon as i say that, roll into the captain's hook .

enter alicia to help cedric get to the rope .

shot of dar watching the match backstage like eeeeeeeexcellent .

goes for the hook again, cedric pulls an absolutely beautiful reversal into the ever-unpleasant lumbar check .

for the pin .

alicia and cedric go for the hug, he just goes fuck it, ducks through it and walks off .

thankls for that slow-mo lumbar check video there .

ouch .

it's one of those finishers where they can do the whole thing in slow motion, .

because the impact is legit unpleasant

.

more sasha recaps, and now backstage guy interviews nia .

who's just like lol yeah fuck her .

everything else aside, can we stop saying "real woman"? .

[/intersectional feminism] .

ad break, and now backstage guy talks to alicia .

who claims their relationship is fine .

and then begins her bitches be crazy yo screaming .

byron: "Three things I've learned in life: don't tug on Superman's cape, don't drink mouthwash, and don't get on the wrong side of Alicia Fox." .

...thanks for that? .

but first, a video package about kurt angle because he's the first hall of famer this year .

in a move that confused everyone, especially him .

is this year's strategy to give hof spots to everyone they've had acrimonious breakups with so they'll love them again? .

cos we could be there a while .

but now it's main event time bitchezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz .

enter chrevin .

(for that is their name now) .

but first, a xxx trailer .

featuring the new day for some reason? .

eh, that looks like it could be a decent big dumb action flick .

OH MY GOD GUYS GOLDBERG IS GOING TO BE HERE NEXT WEEK oh wait i don't give a shit .

cole totally just called it the 'roidal rumble' .

best freudian slip ever? .

and immediate brawlitude

.

(my breakcore Avicii cover band) .

"Sami Zayn's guts on display!" .

well, that was horrific .

credit for not pulling out of the match, i guess .

maybe his strategy is to confuse braun, then strangle him with his small intestine .

can i just mention that even without factoring in ad breaks, that was a solid ten minutes from the first entrance starting to the match actually happening? .

this shit is why raw is three hours long .

and big ppvs are about seventeen hours .

on which note, how early is taker going to have to enter the rumble to make sure he actually gets to the ring while the match is still going .

unless everyone in the ring just gets a break when the first gong hits .

segment of owens/zayn there, and that matchup is still hot af .

roman cocks his fist, pan down to chris hugging his calf from outside the ring .

chris started the match, but now he seems to be set on never tagging and just running interference .

solid strategy .

really long working headlock there, but played for solid emotion and crowd pops all round .

see, this shit is why kevin is the headlock master .

lovely coordination as seth does a suicide dive out of one side of the ring and sami does a tope con giro over the opposite side .

relatively brief bit of rollins/jericho there, but actually great .

a year ago, you never would hav seen that coming .

now we get the bit where everyone gets to do their big spots .

seth does a crossbody to chris and kevin on the outside as sami does a blinding one to take braun down .

fuck all these rivalries, can we just have a zayn/rollins tag team? .

and braun powerslams sami for the pin .

welp, that was abrupt .

slings sami over his shoulder, walks off with him .

oh, taking him to the announce table .

i keep forgetting it's there .

but roman, seth and a chair are also there .

so much for that announce spot .

they're showing replays, and after roman spears him, braun goes down *hard* on the ramp .

ow .

roman and seth clear the announce table, just in time for chris and kevin to turn up and commandeer the spot .

they set up for a table spot, seth pedigrees chris, kevin hits him with a chair, roman gets up, gets hit with a whole lot of chair .

and kevin powerbombs roman through the table .

braun, meanwhile, seems to have evaporated .

titan confirmed .

and we fade on kevin standing over the body of his fallen foe .

rip large samoan man .

but this blog lives on! .

like .

why wouldn't it .

my ability to write bullshit is not ited to the consciousness of roman reigns .

i am not one of the things in his dream .

ahem .

um .

TUESDAY AFTERNOON SMACKDOWN? .

open on a dramatic video package about shit going down with women in a cage .

(my 90s memoir) .

and now .

HERE COME THE MONEEEEEEEYYYYYYY .

wait, this is just shane mcmahon .

where the fuck is the money .

i should make a complaint .

we're in memphis .

i know this, because it was the third word he said .

and he's slightly more reliable than mick foley .

slightly .

now let's tell you how good the rumble is going to be, and get cheap pops just by listing wrestlers .

it is the mcmahon way .

and also, begin the hype for elimination chamber .

huh .

didn't think that was still a thing .

but hey, i'm happy with that .

apparently in four weeks they're putting the title up in it .

here's aj to complain about that booking decision .

shane does a flair strut and woo for some reason while talking about cena? .

sure, why not .

aj says this is a hothead decision .

did he consult jbl before using his word .

or are there copyright suits ahead .

shane's angle is basically we're putting the best guys in the chamber because THIS IS SMACKDOWN WHERE WE DO WRESTLE GOOD .

shane makes a crack about aj's attitude, aj is just like well why don't i just TAKE YOUR CHAMPIONSHIP BACK TO FUCKING JAPAN .

yep, that attitude .

and now we have a cena .

for all the things that need cening .

he makes a connection with one fan in particular, for reasons i can't see .

does a weird curtsey, shouts some stuff at them, then just basks in the chants .

starts talking, aj is just immediately YOU SHUT YOUR FUCK MOUTH .

still spinning the cena only got his title shot through family connections thing .

starts being like okay, who the fuck else you got back there, and miz immediately obliges .

maryse's deathbasque is even spanglier than usual .

give it a couple months, she'll be wearing a fucking mardi gras float .

his angle is basically i should have a chamber spot because fuck you i'm the miz .

solid argument .

cena is just hanging round the edges of this argument being a greek chorus and making fun of everyone .

oh hey, dick joke .

and cena being like hey bro are you really gonna let him talk to you like that .

he is the best bad idea fairy .

and shane is just like hey fuck it, let's make this a match .

so it's aj/miz now .

later, lawler is back because we were apparently bad people .

interviewing dolph .

but now, shane is collared backstage by dean .

who wants a new ic belt because this one smells of the miz .

and a chamber spot .

and a match with randy .

and shane's just like hey why not would you like fries with that .

a+ management .

but now, aj/miz with cena on announce .

fuck the match, cena is just riffing on his new film .

and frankly, i'm okay with this .

i can listen to cena talk shit for hours .

aj downs miz and starts fronting at cena, who's just like hey dude yeah whatever .

where was i .

while all this cena chat is going down, there's also a really good match happening

.

aj and miz are both fuelled entirely by rage and indignation, and it makes for really good wrestling .

aj has kicked miz's head clean off at ringside, then tries to throw him at cena .

he counters, ring the dq, and cena gets to aa everyone .

which necessitates taking his shirt off for some reason

.

so we can see his huge pecs and weird navel .

up next, nikki bella does a thing .

trailer for some youtube music shit that i am clearly too old to get .

but now, nikki .

and recaps of nattie dicking her over .

steadicam guy trips on something, so this promo gets briefly dramatically dutch .

nikki calls nattie out, to no effect .

so talk shit about her instead .

and now she appears .

talking from the back of the crowd? .

the fuck is going on .

she cues something on the tron, and leaves .

and the video is her going out to the merch stand to fuck up nikki's merch .

and be like why the fuck don't i have a shirt .

my uncle has a shirt and he's retired and going to die alone just like you nikki .

this is strange .

she gets all nikki's merch, starts throwing it in the trash, and nikki appears to put her through a table .

and cue brawlery .

as half a dozen security guys ineffectually try and hold them back .

i'll be honest, i'm still all for the backstage bits .

and end segment .

and now, backstage woman #372 interviews alexa about the cage match .

which apparently she's going to win .

bold claim .

and now we have the same video package about angle making the hall of fame as we had on raw

.

so feel free to reread my jokes from there .

i'm getting a drink .

oh ok, this is a more comedy-focused package .

so much for that drink, i guess .

including the bit where he drenched stone cold and stephanie with milk .

because that happened .

but now, dean/randy .

david offering his psychological assessment of randy .

dude, you're a law grad .

recaps of orton/harper tension .

apparently we should talk about tension between family members .

so feel free to do that among yourself .

so yeah, this match is happening, and thus far it's a little lacklustre .

apparently turkeys wake up in a different world every morning? .

god, i would love to live in the world inside jbl's head, where young people are supervillains and turkeys can travel between dimensions .

(and not just because i want to be a supervillain) .

there's a match going on behind all this weird commentary, but it's about as exciting as you'd expect from an ambrose/orton match .

dean gets out of the ring, bray has to weirdly hug harper to keep him off him .

while doing a strange grin and looking more like his brother than ever .

i'm just enjoying watching bray and luke at ringside .

bray's leaning in, shouting at randy, doing the whole ringside general thing, while luke is casually leaning next to him, a study in not giving a fuck .

while giving bray occasional looks like 'after this, i still get to murder him, right?' .

dirty deeds, counter, rko, counter, kick, bounce, lariat

.

wow, never seen that sequence before .

the thing with this match is that dean always does the same spots because he's a face and needs to get pops, and randy always does the same spots because he's randy orton .

case in point, suicide dive (onto bray) into draping ddt .

randy sets up for an rko, luke comes in to shout at him, dean gets a rollup off the distraction .

dean leaves, luke and randy start fighting, bray gets between them like BOYS .

and then when harper keeps talking shit, gives him a slap .

and advances on randy like TALK SHIT SO I CAN SLAP YOU TOO .

randy declines .

and luke storms off in a sulk .

and cut backstage, as woman #483 interviews becky .

who is angry and planning to win .

but next, lawler interviews dolph .

so *now* i can get that drink .

but first, a video about the 2005 rumble and batista .

(neither of which are likely to be relevant come Sunday) .

and also, they managed to make a video about that without mentioning vince 'i can sever both my quads simultaneously, because fuck your rules' mcmahon .

oh god, the king's court segment started while i was typing that and i had forgotten how nails-on-a-chalkboard lawler's voice was to me .

the man causes my mind genuine pain .

dolph arrives, and he doesn't give a shiiiiiiiit .

jerry is disappointed at dolph becoming evil .

clearly, you have never seen his twitter handle .

dolph is just refusing to engage this interview at all, and it's great .

it does give lawler more time to speak, but also showcases the correct way to respond to an overweight aging man in pants, a crown and a velvet cloak taking you to task for your life choices .

jerry cues recaps of dolph loisng to kalisto last week, which seems like a questionable strategy .

good way to piss a man off .

dolph still not saying word one .

keeps raising the mic and teasing the crowd .

and is now leaving .

jerry gets him to come back, and now he gets to do his promo .

dolph is like yeah whatever u lil shit i brought some footage myself .

of dolph fighting him in 2012 .

and being like lol jerry i gave you a legit heart attack .

i do appreciate dick ziggler .

just like now stop asking me questions or i'll finish murdering you .

so jerry calls him a loser .

which seems like a poor decision when talking to a man who just promised to kill you if you kept talking .

so he superkicks him in the chest .

makes sense, really .

jbl runs into the ring to check on his fellow aging douchewad as dolph leaves .

and jerry gets up and screams at dolph to get back in there .

thankfully, he doesn't, or jerry would straight-up die .

next up, main event cage shiz .

but first, another xxx trailer .

immediately followed by another one that ties it in with shane jumping off shit like an idiot .

as he does so well .

jerry's gonna be on talking smack, so i definitely won't be watching that .

announce team talk smack to jbl, wyatt cut to bray giving us a talk .

the wyatts are entering the rumble, and randy and luke are fighting next week to let them blow off some tension .

but now, actual main event time .

and surprisingly, i still adore becky's jacket .

slightly different version, but still outstanding .

bell rings, alexa immediately sprints to the door .

jbl takes the opportunity to explain the concept of victory to us all .

when they finally get down to actually wrestling, rather than becky desperately holding alexa off the door, it's p great .

as should be expected from these two .

becky gets onto the top of the cage, briefly forgets how to operate her right leg so alexa can drag her back in by the hair .

so she comes back with a bexploder from the top rope for a nearfall .

okay, this is great .

and now la luchadora appears, blocking the door .

i don't even know any more .

she gets in, kicks becky in the head to break a disarmher, and alexa hits a ddt for the pin .

and nobody has a clue .

alexa orders the ref out of the ring so she and her mysterious friend can kick the shit out of becky

.

becky manages to get a comeback and unmask her, and it's...mickie james? .

i honestly did not call that .

in that case, what excuse does she have for that weak-ass head kick? .

we know you can do better, mickie .

and fade on those two posing in the cage with the belt .

and so we close this particular bit of programming expect more soon, because i need to catch up before the upcoming BIG-ASS WRESTLING WEEKEND .

(not the big ass-wrestling weekend) .

(that's next week)

[ldorgan]

How Fox News evolved into a propaganda operation

A media scholar on the dangerous evolution of Fox News.

By Sean Illing@seanillingsean.illing@vox.com  Mar 22, 2019, 11:20am EDT

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Fox News Channel and radio talk show host Sean Hannity (L) interviews U.S President Donald Trump before a campaign rally at the Las Vegas Convention Center on September 20, 2018. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Fox News has always been a partisan news network. But people are increasingly questioning whether it has crossed a line in the Trump era and become an outright propaganda operation.

A recent piece by the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer is the latest to pose this question. Back in 2017, the New Republic’s Alex Shephard floated a similar argument, writing that “Donald Trump is treating Fox News like state TV.”

Even Bret Baier, a lead anchor at Fox News, addressed the claims in a 2018 interview with the New Yorker, saying it “pains” him to hear that the cable news channel has become “state TV” for the Trump administration.

There’s plenty of evidence to support the argument. Trump constantly watches Fox News, tweets out claims he hears on the network, reportedly speaks regularly with Sean Hannity, and gives the majority of his interviews to Fox News. World leaders as well as members of Congress quickly learned that one of the best ways to communicate a message to Trump is to say it on Fox News.

To top it off, Trump’s previous director of communications and deputy chief of staff, Bill Shine, is the former co-president of Fox News. Shine’s presence at the White House [Shine has recently departed the White House], along with Trump’s ties to on-air personalities like Hannity, Lou Dobbs, and Jeanine Pirro, all but cemented the unofficial relationship between Trump and the right-wing news network.

None of this is normal. Administrations and politicians have always sought to use the media to their advantage, of course, but this feels different. It certainly seems like Fox News has essentially become state TV. So how concerned should the average American be?

To get some answers, I reached out to Tom Rosenstiel, a media scholar and executive director at the American Press Institute, a nonprofit organization focused on promoting sustainable journalism. Rosenstiel studies the history of media in America and has written a book on the ethics of journalism in the digital age.

We discussed the evolution of Fox News, whether there’s any precedent for this in American history, and if he thinks other, more liberal cable news outlets like CNN and MSNBC are helping to normalize the model set by Fox.

A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows.

Sean Illing

Is Fox News a propaganda operation or merely a partisan news organization?

Tom Rosenstiel

I think that because of the way Trump has begun to interact with certain programs and because of the way Fox has allowed some of its personnel to interact with the administration, there are parts of Fox News that are now a propaganda arm of the government. That is absolutely an accurate description of the situation right now.

Sean Illing

When you say “parts of Fox News” are now propaganda, what do you mean? Which parts?

Tom Rosenstiel

The synchronicity between Fox & Friends and Trump, for example: the fact that he’s watching, and they know it, and know that he is in turn tweeting out things they say while the show is still on and that those tweets are being picked up. This is an active collaboration, and it’s conscious and direct. So it’s not just a mere ideological affinity. Both sides are working with each other.

The same thing is true, but even more so, of Trump and Sean Hannity. Hannity and the president reportedly talk almost every day. Hannity advises Trump on messaging. Hannity then echoes much of that messaging on his program.

This sort of thing may have been going on at a more indirect level for years in the political journalism world, but it is one thing for the Wall Street Journal’s opinion section to have a consistent ideology and to write from the point of view of that ideology. It is another thing to coordinate your battle plans with the current White House. And this is exactly what we’re seeing today.

“MSNBC AND CNN ARE BUILDING THEIR NETWORKS ON OUTRAGE. PEOPLE HATE TRUMP SO MUCH THAT THEY’RE WATCHING TO SEE THEIR ANGER REFLECTED BACK AT THEM.”

Sean Illing

Do you know of any evidence, apart from the synchronicity of messaging, that Trump is dictating talking points to anyone at Fox News?

Tom Rosenstiel

There’s a growing body of reporting establishing the close relationship between the Trump administration, Trump personally, Rupert Murdoch [the founder and acting CEO of Fox News], different shows on Fox, and specific on-air personalities, most closely Sean Hannity.

Most recently, Jane Mayer did a long piece connecting a number of dots and making a persuasive case that the relationship goes far beyond ideological affinity, to a kind of collaboration that has tilted the scales from Fox News doing opinion journalism with grounding in the principles of news to it being an extension of the administration whose purpose, while always commercial, has become focused on supporting the president — a political outcome — rather than covering him.

That is when you tilt from journalism to becoming propaganda: when your goal is no longer informing the public but promoting a particular political outcome.

Sean Illing

What’s the real difference between propaganda and partisanship?

Tom Rosenstiel

Partisan journalists are interested in getting people to consider ideas. Propagandists are interested in moving the public to a particular position to achieve a particular outcome.

If my goal is to shift public support to a position so that the president has more popular support to do something, that’s propaganda. If my goal is simply to get people to accept what I think are good ideas, I’m a partisan journalist. I may be a sloppy journalist, but I’m still engaged in civic discourse as opposed to civic persuasion.

Sean Illing

Fox News has always been partisan in its ambitions; I think we all accept that. But has it always been a propaganda arm? Or did it cross a line at some point and become something different?

Tom Rosenstiel

That’s a really important question because you’re playing with fire in journalism when you build an audience around an ideology. If you want to stay on the journalistic side of things, you need at times to do what any news organization does, which is to surprise your audience, to annoy them, to inform them of things that are inconvenient.

This is especially true in television, where you’re constantly watching your ratings day to day, hour to hour, show to show. There is a great risk that you become so concerned with keeping ratings up that you become addicted to pandering to your audience, and you’re unwilling to tell them inconvenient things.

When Rupert Murdoch started Fox News in 1996 because he thought there was an audience for this kind of journalism, he was engaged in a business enterprise. But once you’ve built that audience and you’re constantly feeding them, you eventually lose control. You have to keep inflaming them; you have to keep building up their fear and anger. And that’s when you’ve crossed a line and are engaged in something else entirely.

So Murdoch is no longer engaged in an act of business; this is a political and propaganda operation, whether he intended it to be or not.

Sean Hannity interviews Trump before a campaign rally at the Las Vegas Convention Center on September 20, 2018. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Sean Illing

To be fair, there are actual journalists at Fox News, people like Chris Wallace and Shepard Smith, who do solid work and refuse to toe the line. At the same time, the cynic in me wonders if people like that are at the network mostly to provide cover for the more toxic figures, like Hannity.

Tom Rosenstiel

I wouldn’t say that they operate as cover, but I do think it’s a red herring to say, as Fox often does, that there are talk shows and there are news shows. That’s bogus because the same people are watching Fox throughout the day. It’s a core audience. It’s not like people say, “Oh, it’s time for talk shows, so I’m going to turn it off.” That’s not the way it works.



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There’s a core audience for Fox News, which is a faction of the Republican Party, and they watch it whenever they watch it, and they expect to have their demands served all the time. But there are people at Fox News who, from time to time, speak truth to their audience. I wouldn’t call them “cover” because that makes it sound like they’re engaged in some cynical act.

Sean Illing

That’s not what I meant. They don’t have to operate self-consciously as cover. They could be doing their jobs completely in earnest and still be functioning as cover for the propagandists.

Tom Rosenstiel

I would agree with that.

Sean Illing

Why should Americans be concerned about all this? What is the danger of allowing the most popular cable news network in America to become a mouthpiece for an administration?

Tom Rosenstiel

I think there are two enormous threats. It’s hard to understate how important these things are. One is that you are extremely influential to a core group of the American public, a large portion of Republicans. Not the majority, but an important faction of Republicans get a lot of their news from Fox about national affairs.

Once you start to shade the facts, once you engage in persuasion rather than informing, once you’re in cahoots with the government, you’re really destroying the constitutional relationship between the press and the government. And you’re doing a disservice to these citizens, to your audience.

The most important conservative television news source in America is currently pandering to an extremist president. It’s distorting the Republican Party. It’s damaging the Republican Party. It’s changing conservatism. Fox is making the news, not covering it. It’s remaking the Republican Party, not informing its audience.

The second big threat is that it completely distorts what people think and expect from journalists. It has made it much, much harder for the vast majority of journalists who work in local newspapers, websites, and magazines — who are engaged in trying to check the facts — to do their jobs. Because Fox News has helped turn the national image of journalism into a charade, and that makes it harder for people who are trying to do real journalism and inform citizens about the world around them.

Sean Illing

I don’t want to let you go without talking about how CNN and MSNBC fit into all this. I often hear people draw an equivalency between Fox News and MSNBC in particular, but I don’t buy it. MSNBC has an obvious partisan slant, but they don’t appear to be in the propaganda business the way Fox News is.

Tom Rosenstiel

I don’t think the question is, “Are they exactly equivalent?” They’re not mirror images of each other. But the problem is that once you start to build an audience based on outrage and anger, as MSNBC and CNN are both doing in the age of Trump, you risk tumbling down a slippery slope, which is exactly what happened to Fox News.

I don’t believe that Rupert Murdoch set out to create Trump or to become a mouthpiece for the government. Their highest-rated guy for years and years was actually Bill O’Reilly, who would strategically disagree with Republican Party orthodoxy on certain things.

I think that Fox News gradually morphed into this over a long period of time because it made them money and because they got in bed with a political consultant [Roger Ailes] and put him in charge of their network early on.

The problem is that MSNBC and CNN are building their networks on outrage. People hate Trump so much that they’re watching to see their anger reflected back at them. And you can see this impacting the anchors, who gradually start to fall into this role of venting frustration and disgust on behalf of the viewers.

“FOX IS MAKING THE NEWS, NOT COVERING IT. IT’S REMAKING THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, NOT INFORMING ITS AUDIENCE.”

Sean Illing

Do you think that MSNBC and CNN are helping to normalize the Fox News model?

Tom Rosenstiel

Definitely. If you turn on CNN or MSNBC right now during primetime hours, what you’re likely to see is partisan outrage. And your model of what’s news is this distorted thing. Is CNN in cahoots with Nancy Pelosi the way that Fox News is in cahoots with Trump? No. But it’s increasingly rare to find independent voices providing news in a dispassionate way. It just doesn’t fit into the business model of news in this climate. The audience is dictating everything.

Sean Illing

Distinctions aside, what all three of these networks have in common is a commercial bias that is perverting their incentive structures, and I think it’s turning news into a TV show governed by the laws of entertainment and spectacle.

Tom Rosenstiel

You’ve said it better than I have. You know a line has been crossed in this business when you’re exploiting the news for commercial reasons rather than covering it, and all three are now doing that. What makes Fox unique is that it’s doing it in a materially different way, using ideology as their form of exploitation.

Sean Illing

Given all these trends, given the commercial success of Fox News and other cable news networks, where do you see all of this going? What’s next?

Tom Rosenstiel

It’s alarming because in many ways Fox and MSNBC have walked right into Trump’s trap when he says the press is “the enemy of the people.” They’ve built up their audiences based on anger or support for Trump, and now they’re attached to it.

I worry that, as I said, MSNBC and CNN are normalizing what Fox has done by being paler versions of it, and that it’s going take journalism years to recover. First, we have to have a different kind of political landscape, and then perhaps you’ll see the networks follow their audience toward a more moderate place. But even then, it’s just another form of pandering, and that’s not what the news media is supposed to do.

Journalism is in rough shape as it is, but if you have the televised representation of journalism turning it into this distortion, it makes it very hard for journalists everywhere else. We all sort of know what Fox is now, but I really do worry that CNN and MSNBC are also helping to destroy journalism from within.

[donnapointon-blog]

Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades of Grey hasn't even been cast, yet it's becoming one of the very most mentioned movies in an archive amount of time. The books themselves have taken the world by storm, even beating the sales of the Harry Potter, Hunger Games and Twilight series into submission. Everyone, whether you love the books or hate them, is referring to Fifty Shades of Grey and eyes are turned with apprehension and excitement towards the upcoming movie. Universal Pictures and Focus Features have acquired the rights to the bestselling erotica trilogy and are buying screenwriter and a director first before casting is even considered. But one thing we do know for an undeniable fact is that Dana Brunetti and Mike De Luca of The Social Network fame will be producing the S&M blockbuster. The Oscar-nominated duo provides the complex love story with a sophisticated and delicate hand to the big screen, hopes Universal Pictures. E.L. James herself can be set to contribute actively to the movie's production, so fans could be rest assured that the movie will be handled with care. Jamie Dornan

The internet maybe rife with rumors on who'll play Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele, but first Universal Pictures need to discover a screenwriter. One possible, yet exciting contribution to the Fifty Shades team is American Psycho writer Bret Easton Ellis, whose own novel tells us of a young, handsome man focusing on Wall Street with a sadistic side which makes Mr. Grey seem like a stuffed toy. The American Psycho writer has lobbied for the opportunity to pen the adaptation of E.L. James's novel onto the big screen. Angelina Jolie has been another name that's been making the rounds, not merely in an acting role but also as director. However, whether this really is just Internet hearsay remains to be seen. Brunetti and De Luca's biggest challenge would be to produce a movie which can be marketed for the big screen and not just produce a high-budget porn film. However, Universal Pictures and Focus Features have high hopes The Social Network team will produce a classy and successful picture that'll rake in the public. Fifty Shades Fansite

A very important factor that's guaranteed is that Fifty Shades of Grey is here now to stay, and we could only expect increasing media hype around the flicks until its release. So move out your whips and chains and take pleasure in the ride. We expect plenty of breaking news coming up ahead on who will be casting for Christian Grey and Ana.

[flauntpage]

RIP Anthony Young, Who Won a Little Bit and Lost A Lot

The family of Cliff Curtis, who pitched in the Major Leagues between 1909 and 1913, met with Anthony Young before his start against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 27, 1993. Curtis had died fifty years earlier, but he still had a spot in baseball history thanks to a fantastic spate of failures during his stint with the Boston Doves during the years before the First World War. Curtis lost a record 23 straight decisions during that stretch, and on June 27 Anthony Young had a chance to break that record.

"They wanted [the record] to stay in their family," Young told Sports Illustrated in 2015. By that point, he had been out of baseball for nearly two decades, and was managing a warehouse near Kingwood, Texas, and coaching 13- and 14-year-olds. "[I wish] they could have kept it."

Young lost that game against the Cardinals, 5-3. As with so many of the losses he absorbed during what would ultimately wind up being a streak of 27 straight losing decisions, he pitched just well enough to lose on a Mets team that was not nearly good enough to bail him out.

Young's streak began in 1992, but the bulk of it came during the Mets' world-historically nightmarish 1993 season. "I've never been more nervous before a start," Cardinals starter Joe Magrane said after the record-setting game. "I didn't want to be the answer to a trivia question: Who lost to Anthony Young? I would have rather been facing Dwight Gooden, or Bret Saberhagen."

The game in which Young broke Curtis's record was the team's "fifth consecutive loss, 11th in 12 games, 17th in 19, and 27 in 35," Newsday's Marty Noble wrote. "Since April 17, they have lost 48 of 63 games, never winning twice in succession." In doing so, the Mets set a record for the longest stretch in history without back-to-back wins, which blends into the background of the broader fiasco of those years; it's down there in the mix, somewhere below Bret Saberhagen using a SuperSoaker to shoot bleach at reporters and Bobby Bonilla menacing a reporter by offering to "show you the Bronx." Young is down there, too, and while he made history during his stretch, he was just about the only player on the Mets to fail with anything like distinction or dignity.

When Young died on Monday night, at the age of 51, the streak was mentioned in obituaries, but never by itself. Young happened to pitch fairly well during that time, and his 3.77 ERA and 109 ERA+ in 1993 made him one of the Mets' better pitchers. He converted 12 straight save chances during the streak, and at one point threw 23 and two-thirds scoreless innings. In what wound up being his 26th straight loss, Young held the San Diego Padres to three hits, retired 23 straight batters between the first and eighth innings, and lost 2-0.

The broader joke and injustice of it was that Young handled all that failure with a grace that stood out on a spectacularly graceless team in the moment, and stands out even more in retrospect. Those Mets teams squabbled and fumed and failed and fought and absolutely deserved their legacy as The Worst Team That Money Could Buy; they were in every way the fully realized broken-brained hangover at the end of a reckless and unsustainable era. They were terrible, and while Young's losses were a part of the team's total, they seemed to come from a different place. He took the ball when it was handed to him and did his best; he was, more often than not, good enough but not nearly lucky enough to win.

"It just happened to happen to me," Young told the New York Daily News in 2009. "I don't feel like I deserve it, but I'm known for it. Everything that could happen, happened."

Young rather humbly laid out his blessings elsewhere in that interview: kids and grandkids, a wife he loved, a chance to coach kids in a game that clearly mattered a great deal to him. There is gratitude for the ride that he had, which added up to five big-league seasons spent with three teams, and there is somewhere down in the subtext a certain wry understanding that the course of that ride was not really his to choose.

To say that this recognition is a rare thing among elite athletes is true, but it is not nearly sufficient. This is something that the superhuman specimens who play baseball for a living have in common with the mortals on the other side of the screen—not just the fantastic and forever thwarted delusion of control but a willed forgetfulness that makes failure seem like an outrage and a surprise. The reckoning with losses fair and unfair, not all the way into surrender but at least enough to afford a little bit of shade and peace and understanding, is part of the work of being alive. Losing and loss are different things, or at least far apart on a long continuum, but both are a part of life; both are paths to and tests of grace, and each has another side. "It's not embarrassing," Young said after his 24th straight loss. "Someone has to win, someone has to lose."

When the Mets finally ended the streak on July 28, 1993, on a walk-off double by the baleful ghost of Eddie Murray, the team reacted in the way that baseball teams do, bounding and bopping and exchanging bro-grabs at home plate. The camera finds Young, walking and looking more or less as he usually did—imperturbable, or at least unperturbed, poker-faced and tough. And then, just before it cuts away to the crowd, we finally see him smiling.

RIP Anthony Young, Who Won a Little Bit and Lost A Lot published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv