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my-brodie999-fan · 4 years ago

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The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Season 2(Revamped)

This are my predictions on what would’ve happened if Christopher Yost and Joshua Fine remained onboard for all of Season 2 without the interference from Jeph Loeb and Man of Action.

Along Came a Spider..: The whole city has turned against Captain America while he tries to regain his tarnished reputation. But when the Serpent Society attempts to rescue Viper, New York is put in the crossfire with only Captain America and the equally mistrusted Spider-Man to save them. -Introducing Characters: Spider-Man(Josh Keaton), J. Jonah Jameson(Darren Norris), Robbie Robertson(Phil LaMarr) and Betty Brant(Grey DeLise) Yellowjacket: Iron Man and Wasp try to persuade Hank to rejoin the team, but he is far too obsessed with his experiments and driven by guilt over Ultron. Meanwhile, a mysterious new vigilante called "Yellowjacket" appears at Avengers Mansion to convince The Avengers to give him membership and starts taking out super-villains, starting with AIM. The Avengers attempt to find out about this new vilgilante's true identity with the help of Ant-Man(Scott Lang). This results in AIM unleashing their newest weapon, Doomsday Man. Yellowjacket is eventually revealed to be Hank Pym(who is suffering an personality crisis as a result of his depression and exposing himself to chemicals in one of his experiments, leading him to believe he "killed" Hank Pym by causing the explosion he used to fake his death.)tAt the end of the episode, Yellowjacket decides to leave the statue of himself as Ant-Man and tells the Avengers that he will save the world alongside them. Introducing Characters: Roxxon Energy Corporation, Doomsday Man, Crimson Cowl(Tom Kane) Additional Sub-Plots: Hawkeye and Iron Man clash over the leadership of the Avengers, but they later come to terms that Tony is better suited as leader. The Serpent Society and Madame Viper appear as a sub-plot where Yellowjacket stops them from delivering weapons to the Roxxon Enegy Corporation. Scott Lang still struggles to accept his new life as a superhero while juggling with taking care of his daugther, Cassie. After he helps the Avengers destroy Doomsday Man, he gladly embraces his new identity as the new Ant-Man while Hank Pym rejoins the Avengers as Yellowjacket. Ultron-6(under the disguise of Crimson Cowl) takes control of the Doomsday Man and set him on a rampage to destroy all of humanity, starting with New York City. In the end, Vision overcomes his master's programming due to the Avengers convincing him to rebel against him and joins the team, although he is damaged by the Crimson Cowl's laser beams in the process as the Avengers promise to repair him. Moon Knight and Cross Technologies are referenced in this episode. Assault On Prison 42: Stranded in the Negative Zone, the Avengers must join forces with their enemies - including former members of the Masters of Evil - to fight off an army of strange insectoid creatures that are laying siege to 42. In the end, Galactus consumes another planet and a silver streak soars in space into the unknown cosmos. Introducing Characters: Sentry(Nolan North), Annihilus(Corey Burton), Lorelei(Kari Wahlgren) Sub-Plots: Spider-Man helps the Avengers capture Whirlwind and wonders if he'll join the Avengers one day. Captain America assures him that it can wait, foreshadowing "New Avengers" Annihilus mentions a "Devourer of Worlds" that will consume Earth. Later in the episode, Captain America remembers what the Skrull told him about Galactus and realises that this must be the same being. Wasp attempts to call Hank Pym who has completely withdrawn from society as a result from his guilt over Ultron and starts to become worried about his health and speaks to Iron Man about helping him by convincing him to rejoin the Avengers. Mentioned Characters: Alicia Masters and Hate-Monger. The Suit: The Avengers encounter Bob Reynolds(who first appeared in Assault in 42) who unknowingly has a spilt personality known as the superhumanly powerful Sentry who also works for SHIELD. As the Avengers and Sentry bond with each other , a mysteriously entity known as the Void comes to Earth to possess him. In the end, The Avengers offer Sentry to join the Avengers, which he declines. Sub-Plots: Black Panther is reluctant to reopen Wakanda's borders to the world. In the end, he realises the world can trust the Avengers again after they capture all the Skrulls and announces that Wakanda will once again allow outsiders to work together with Wakanda. Iron Man tries to talk General Thunderbolt Ross and the Hulkbusters into releasing the Hulk, to no Avril. Attilan is mentioned in this episode. Introducing Characters: The Void(Nolan North), Lindy-Lee Reynolds(Martina Sirtis), Normie The Watchdog, Powerless: The Enchantress offers Loki a chance to exact revenge on The Avengers for ruining his plan to conquer The Nine Realms and strips Ms. Marvel, Captain America and Thor of their powers, forcing them to find themselves trying to learn to fight villains without their superhuman abilities. Thor learns how what feels to be human, loses his arrogance completely and restores Ms. Marvel and Captain America's powers. The Avengers defeat the Destroyer by damaging the suit's power, damaging it beyond its ability to function. In the end, The Avengers rebuild their trust with each other, stating they will stop the war together and Odin loses his eye and becomes replaced by Kurse. Introducing Characters: Destroyer Armor, Kurse(Keith Fergueon), Ten Rings(organisation), Lorelei(Kari Wahlgren). Additional Sub-Plots: Wasp talks about her feelings for Yellowjacket/Hank Pym with Iron Man and becomes worried about his mental state. At the end of the episode, she begins to have hope that he will eventually recover from the chemicals and accept that he truely is Hank Pym. Iron Man resumes his former objective to destroy the remainder of his stolen Stark Industries inventions and he and Maria Hill argue more about the Avengers registering with S.H.I.E.L.D. Dr. Doom decides that the best way to conquer the world is to control the world's superheroes and begins to build the Psycho-Prism. As a inspired plot point from the final battle of the 2011 Thor movie, Loki attempts to use energy from the Bifrost Bridge to destroy Earth as revenge against the Avengers. Frigga, The Mandarin and Ho Yinsen are mentioned in this episode. Emperor Doom: Wonder Man returns from the dead and is shocked to find out that the world is ruled by Doctor Doom and The Avengers, forcing him to team-up with the Vision who is the only Avenger being unaffected by the Power Prism as a result of being repaired for a month prior to the events of the episode As they get to the bottom of this plot, he finds out that he has been amplifying The Purple Man's power through a prism-like device, enabling him to enslave the world's population. In the end, Doctor Doom is revoked of his diplomatic immunity and Wonder Man declines to join The Avengers as he wishes to atone for his villainous actions. In custody, Doctor Doom reveals to Nick Fury that he knows about Surtur planning to destroy the Nine Realms. Introducing Characters: Purple Man(Brent Spiner) Additional Sub-Plots: Pepper Potts urges Tony to consider building a new suit for her, so she can join him and Rhodey when they're out saving the world as Iron Man and War Machine, foreshadowing her future superhero identity as Rescue. Vision tries to adapt a human identity for himself to no success. In the end, he takes up the name "Victor Shade" with the help of Iron Man and Captain America. While restoring the world to normal, Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic discusses the idea of the Avengers and the superhero community as a whole going to war with one another should any hero oppose the idea of working with S.H.I.E.L.D and how it may lead to conflict with Invisible Woman who may disagree with their methods. Jessica Jones, Shang-Chi, the Big Hero 6,Cloak & Dagger and Human Torch(Android)are mentioned in this episode The Coming of Nova: The Skrulls break out of Prison 42 with the help of Paibok and Titannus and plan to conquer Earth once again. Meanwhile, the Avengers must help a new hero known as Nova realise that he must use the power for good and stop the Skrulls from taking control of the planet once more. In the end, Nova decides he can't save the world alone and calls Night Thrasher(although not in person) to form "a super-hero team" on a reality TV show. And Galactus shows his eyes open in space, foreshadowing the 3-part Season Two finale. Introducing Characters: Nova(Richard Rider)(Troy Baker), Sam Alexander(James Arnold Taylor), Paibok(Danny Jacobs), Titannus(J.K Simmons), , Rhomann Dey(Edward Asner), Irani Rael(Elisa Gabrielli) Additional Sub-Plots: Iron Man and Captain America discuss the idea of forming a new Avengers team should the main team deal with other threats or disappear from the face of the Earth. Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel talk about how the war between the Kree and the Skrulls will destroy Earth and all of humanity. Mar-Vell also warns her that the Mad Titan Thanos will seek out the Infinity Stones to erase half of all life in the universe. The Eternals, Happy Hogan and Norman Osborn are referenced in this episode. Red Zone and Code Red: A breakout in the Bio Weapons Lab leads the Avengers to investigate who was responsible for this deadly outbreak. In the end, Captain America becomes infected and Iron Man rallies the remaining Avengers to cure their friend and everyone who became infected. After half the Avengers became infected, the remaining members must come together and find a cure to prevent this deadly outbreak from spreading further. In the end, Hulk leaves the Avengers and Captain America reassures Winter Soldier that he will always be his partner. Sub-Plots: Red Hulk and Thor have a devastating battle throughout New York City while the rest of the remaining Avengers attempt to find a cure for the outbreak. Hulk wakes up in a prison and sees the outbreak infecting his friends. Incredibly, angered by this, he breaks out and helps the Avengers fight Red Hulk. The X-Men are mentioned in the newspaper. Department H, Richard and Mary Parker, Aleksander Lukin, Atlantis, Rick Jones, Betty Ross and Jennifer Walters are also mentioned in this episode. New Avengers: Taking place shortly after Operation: Galactic Storm, Kang escapes Prison 42 with the help of The Council Of Kangs and attempts to conquer the world. Now a new team of heroes (consisting of Spider-Man, War Machine, Wolverine, Thing, Iron Fist and Luke Cage) with the help of Yellowjacket(who has stayed behind while the other Avengers are dealing with the Kree-Skrull War) and Sentry must band together to stop the cross-temporal onslaught.In the end, while as they celebrate the defeat of Kang, the New Avengers agree to come together again whenever they're needed, Kang is sent to the Jurassic Age where he is chased by a Tyrannosaurus and the other New Avengers are annoyed when Spider-Man asks Iron Man about the discount. Sub-Plots: James Rhodes struggles to adapt to his life as a superhero, but when Kang the Conqueror begins his next invasion of Earth, he is forced to don the War Machine armor again. In the end, he embraces his new life as a superhero and Iron Man's partner. Spider-Man, heeding Captain America's advice, tries to make people see that he is not a criminal. In the end, the people of the city finally begin to realise that he is truely a hero. Yellowjacket still does not believe that he is Hank Pym as he is still suffering from the identity crisis from the chemicals in Yellowjacket. In the end, as he looks at a photo of him and Janet Van Dyne, he starts to suspect that Wasp is right about who he really was. As the Fantastic Four leave Earth to explore the Mircoverse, Kang steals Princess Ravonna from the Baxter Building in a desperate attempt to try and revive her from her comatose state. In the end, her body is recovered by the New Avengers and returned to Reed Richards for further study. Introducing Characters: Wolverine(Steve Blum), Council of Kangs(Iron Lad(Mikey Kelley), Immortus(Jonathan Adams), Rama-Tut(Wally Wingert), Victor Timely(Josh Keaton) and Scarlet Centurion(Rick D.Wasserman)), Eson the Searcher Josh Keaton also returns as Spider-Man in this episode. Terminus, Psycho-Man and the Celestials are mentioned/referenced in this episode. Operation: Galactic Storm, Live Kree or Die and When Calls Galactus: The Kree and The Skrulls head to war with each other, as Kang predicted, the sun will be destroyed in the war. The Avengers and Captain Marvel must bring the war to a halt and save the Earth from destruction. In the end, The Avengers destroy the wormhole,threatening the sun at the apparent cost of Black Panther's life. Then The Kree and Skrulls arrive on Hala to finish each other off once and for all as Galactus's shadows looms upon the planet. The Kree's home planet Hala is about to be devoured by the world-eater known as Galactus. The Avengers must convince the only herald against his desire, the Silver Surfer to help them save the planet. In the end, the Avengers realise in order to stop the war, they must save Hala from Galactus. The Avengers face their greatest challenge when they attempt to stop Galactus from devouring Hala, the Kree's home planet. Meanwhile, Captain America and Iron Man discuss a membership drive to expand The Avengers. In the end, when The Avengers defeat Galactus by sending him to the Negative Zone, The Kree and The Skrulls come to peace with one another and Iron Man gives Captain America leadership of the Avengers while Surtur orders Amora to claim the Infernal Sconce, proclaiming Asgard and The Nine Realms will fall before his power during Ragnarok. Introducing Characters: Peter Corbeau(Chris Cox), Korath the Pursuer(Doran Harewood), Princess Anelle(Alexandra Krosney), Supreme Intelligence(David Kaye),Galactus(Jonathan Adams), Silver Surfer(Yuri Lowenthal), Heralds of Galactus(Terrax(Kevin Grevioux),Stardust(Jason Spisak),Firelord(Travis Willingham), Air-Walker(Dee Bradley Baker) and Tyrant(Peter Cullen)), Punishers(Galactus' Robots) Additional Sub-Plots: Hawkeye speaks with Iron Man about forming a new Avengers team on the West Coast. In the end, when Galactus is defeated, they decide to put those plans into initiation, wishing to expand the Avengers' influence. While the other Avengers are fighting Galactus, Wasp attempts to convince Silver Surfer to rebel against Galactus, arguing all beings deserve to live, even if they're intelligible. Elektra, Spider-Woman, Black Bolt and Angel are on the computer screen as Iron Man debriefs the Avengers on the failed Kree-Skrull invasion and the war with the Kree. The Shi'ar, Daimon Hellstrom and Starjammers are referenced in this episode. I would also revamp the Season 2 intro to fit the seasons's storyline: It starts out in space just when the Skrulls and Kree begin war on one another as Tony Stark watches on one of the computer screens in space. The computer screens include Bruce Banner emerging out of the ground as the Hulk and roaring, ready for battle, Captain America fighting in World War II and throwing his shield as the time era shifts to present day with him wearing his Ultimate Costume, reminiscent of a scene from Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor(in his Season 2 costume) fighting Frost Giants as he slams his hammer to the ground and teleports back to Earth as a callback to A Day Unlike Any Other. Then the scene shifts to Tony Stark once again watching the Avengers on the computer screens(this time showing Ms. Marvel, Vision, Falcon and Mockingbird) as he grabs the Mark IX armor in a suitcase and suits up referencing the scene where Tony Stark dons the Mark V armor to fight Whiplash(Ivan Vanko). And then files into space with the Avengers in their space armors to stop the war. Scenes include Vision using his solar beam to destroy some Kree motherships and Falcon's projectile wings flying in the air until it destroys Sentries. The ending scene depicts all of the Avengers fighting the Skrulls and Kree side by side as Yellowjacket, Thor, Iron Man and Falcon soar into the air.

#man of action #spider-man #avengers: emh #iron man #new avengers #sentry'#nova #silver surfer #red zone #red skull #captain america #fantastic four #x-men #yellowjacket #falcon #mockingbird #ms. marvel

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steadytigerobject · 4 years ago

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Elgin Baylor wasn't going to be the beginning of anything. He certainly didn't set out to be the beginning of everything: the superstar who saved the Lakers and brought them to the NBA, L. A.; the transcendent athlete who "reinvented everything but the rim game" and changed the geometry of the sport; the avant-garde innovator who was, in the words of legendary Hoops writer Bob Ryan, “the most influential offensive lineman of the last 60 years.” He was fair ... Let's go. Trying to use the tools at his disposal to put the ball in the hole, in any way he can.

“The way I played the game was just natural, " Baylor told Bleacher Report's Dave Schilling in 2018 . "I never sat down and thought about what I was going to do. I was just reacting to the situation, to the way the guys were guarding me. I've done things that people have probably never done before. I just instinctively did it.”

These instincts, combined with a considerable amount of skill, strength, and athleticism, have produced one of the greatest and most important players in the history of basketball. They sketched out a plan that generations of super-sports wing scorers would follow-and, in fact, still do.

They propelled Baylor, who died Monday of natural causes at age 86, through a remarkable Hall of Fame career that helped lay the groundwork for the NBA’s transformation into a nightly highlight factory but that, for several reasons, has never quite seemed to get its proper respect.

These days, Baylor is most often discussed in the language of ancestry and lineage. In the NBA’s creation myth, he’s a Promethean figure—an early skywalker who, in the years before frequent nationally televised games and widely distributed video footage, helped pave a path toward the sort of eye-popping feats we now see every night.

“He just might be the best player I ever saw,” legendary Lakers play-by-play man Chick Hearn once said. “He was doing things that Dr. Julius Erving made famous 20 years later, the hang time and so forth. But Elgin didn’t have the TV exposure. Nobody did in those days.”

Those who did see him, though, never forgot it—and learned from the experience.

“In basketball, you watch and emulate the things other players do,” Michael Goldberg, former head of the National Basketball Coaches Association, said in Basketball: A Love Story. “Once one player can do a ‘wow’ move, then every kid in every school yard tries to do that themselves. Those that can refine it take it to the next level, and so on down the line. I would say that Elgin Baylor begat Connie Hawkins, and Hawkins begat Earl Monroe, and Monroe begat Dr. J, and Dr. J begat David Thompson, and Thompson begat Michael Jordan, and Jordan begat Kobe Bryant, and there’s more begats going on.”

Off the court, he was a fearless trailblazer who fought against the racist, segregationist policies of the Jim Crow era. On it, he was a groundbreaking slasher who, as Ryan wrote in the foreword to Bijan C. Bayne’s 2015 biography of Baylor, took “a game that was essentially horizontal and occasionally vertical and [made] it diagonal.” He was a tradition-flouting talent, an improvisational creator constantly unlocking new possibilities.

“His ballhandling ability at 6-foot-5, 220 pounds made him a one-man revolution,” Bayne wrote. “He had all the fakes and a sure handle, and some of his spectacular plays culminated in twisting, hanging, or gliding near or past the basket. Yet, it was the combination of those elements—the yo-yo dribbling, the subtle feints, the knifing reverse layups between taller defenders—that set Baylor apart from his predecessors and peers. Where such players as Hawkins, Erving, and, of course, Jordan became known for their trademark dunks, Baylor scored on one-hand push shots, banks, floaters, and fallaways.”

Baylor had the deepest off-the-dribble bag of his era, and he used every trick in it to score a ton. He totaled 23,149 points over 14 seasons—all after entering the NBA at age 24, all compiled without a 3-point line—which made him the third-leading scorer in NBA history behind Wilt and Oscar when he retired in 1972. (He now ranks 36th on the all-time NBA/ABA leaderboard.) He averaged 38.3 points per game during the 1961-62 season, the fourth-highest single-season average in NBA history, while spending a large chunk of it as an active-duty Army reservist who could play only on weekends and when given special clearance.

There was a bitter irony in that: Baylor performing at an all-time-superstar level while on leave from serving a country that continued to treat him and people who looked like him as second-class citizens.

Two years earlier, on January 16, 1959, the Lakers were scheduled to play the Cincinnati Royals in Charleston, West Virginia. When they arrived at the Kanawha Hotel, the desk clerk took one look at them—specifically Baylor, Boo Ellis, and Ed Fleming—and told team captain Vern Mikkelsen, “The three colored boys will have to go somewhere else. This is a nice, respectable hotel. We can’t take the colored boys.”

Rather than submit to the discriminatory policy, the entire Lakers team left, staying instead in a motel that welcomed Black guests. Later, Baylor went out with his teammates to get something to eat, only to be denied service at a restaurant, too. An incensed Baylor decided not to play in the game, boycotting to call attention to the inequality and mistreatment he and other Black people faced in the town.

“I'm human, " he told his friend and teammate Hot Rod Hundley, who was white. "All I want is to be treated like a human being. I am not an animal that is put in a cage and released on the show. They won't treat me like an animal.”

The NBA and the Lakers stood by Baylor. From then on, the Lakers will require that there be no segregation clauses in their contracts when organizing games. Soon after, then-NBA Commissioner Maurice Podoloff " promised to make sure that such treatment of black players in hotels is a thing of the past when they represent the League.”

” Of course, I don't regret doing it, " Baylor said in a March 1963 sports magazine op - ed. "I'm not a trailblazer or anything, but I'm interested in my people and progress. My name is Elgin Baylor, and I don't want anything more than I have a right to.”

That perseverance is evident again at the 1964 NBA All-Star Game in Boston, when Baylor, Robertson, Jerry West, and other star players “barricaded themselves in the locker room and announced that they would not play unless they were guaranteed benefits originally directed by the commissioner last summer”—namely , improved playing conditions, athletic coaches on all teams, and a retirement plan.

“[Lakers owner Bob Short] said to an Irish cop that guarded the door, ‘Tell Elgin Baylor if he doesn’t get out there, he’s through,’” Celtics All-Star Tommy Heinsohn told Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times in 2011. Baylor didn’t budge. The stoppage worked.

“For Elgin, in particular, the Black athletes, they had to be crusaders in this league and in many cases were vilified for it,” West told Sam Smith in his 2017 book Hard Labor: The Battle That Birthed the Billion-Dollar NBA. “That day has always resonated with me as one of the seminal points of this league. … That day in Boston probably was the beginning of something that few could comprehend.”

Baylor represented an inflection point on the court, too. In the early years of the NBA, the run of play was dominated by towering post players like George Mikan and Dolph Schayes, or sweet-shooting perimeter playmakers like “Jumpin’” Joe Fulks, Paul Arizin, and Bob Cousy. Baylor split the difference, combining the bulldozing strength and rebounding of the league’s best bigs with the speed, quickness, passing, and shotmaking of its top guards, all in a bruising 6-foot-5, 225-pound package. You know how James Harden is sometimes described as being built like a tank? Baylor was the same size and, in his day, just as tough to stop; Knicks forward Richie Guerin, a Hall of Famer in his own right, once said defending Baylor was “like guarding a flood.”

The way Baylor moved could move people. Stylistic successor Julius Erving described it as “just ballet in basketball.” To Hall of Fame guard Charlie Scott, watching Baylor was “like watching poetry.” They weren’t alone in their hosannas; Baylor’s play inspired some delightfully creative and high-minded descriptions from the ink-stained wretches tasked with capturing his brilliance. One favorite: “When Baylor gets the ball, the opposition scatters like quail at the sight of the hunter.”

You can only earn prose that purple with pure production. Baylor is one of only four players to average more than 25 points and 10 rebounds per game in his career, joined by Chamberlain, Karl Malone, and Bob Pettit. Of that group, only Wilt delivered as many assists per game as Baylor, a heady passer who still ranks 20th on the all-time triple-double list:

Baylor is one of only 10 players ever to have at least 10 appearances on an NBA first team; only LeBron James, Bryant and Malone have more. Nearly 50 years after his retirement, his career scoring average of 27.4 points per game still ranks third, behind only Wilt and Jordan. He still ranks 11th in rebounds per game, and in the top 30 in player efficiency, field goals, free throws, and total rebounds.

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mysticalhearth · 4 years ago

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Take Me Out - Broadway - March 26, 2003 FORMAT: VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Daniel Sunjata (Darren Lemming), Neal Huff (Kippy Sunderstorm), Denis O'Hare (Mason Marzac), Frederick Weller (Shane Mungitt), Kevin T Carroll (Davey Battle), David Eigenberg (Toddy Koovitz) NOTES: Digital; excellent picture and sound, nice closeups Tanz der Vampire - Vienna - October 4, 1997 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT: VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Steve Barton (Graf von Krolock), Cornelia Zenz (Sarah Chagal), Aris Sas (Alfred), Gernot Kranner (Professor Abronsius), Eva Maria Marold (Magda), James Sbano (Yone Chagal), Anne Welte (Rebecca Chagal), Nik Breidenbach (Herbert von Krolock), Torsten Flach (Koukol) NOTES: There are English subtitles available for this video in .sub/idx format. Tarzan - Broadway - March 30, 2006 (Preview) (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT: VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Josh Strickland (Tarzan), Jenn Gambatese (Jane Porter), Merle Dandridge (Kala), Shuler Hensley (Kerchak), Chester Gregory (Terk), Tim Jerome (Professor Porter), Donne Keshawarz (Mr. Clayton), Daniel Manche (Young Tarzan) NOTES: Filmed during previews, the show is a little dark at times, but a great Dvd. Crystal clear picture and sound. A Tarzan - Broadway - July 30, 2006 (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT: VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Josh Strickland (Tarzan), Jenn Gambatese (Jane Porter), Merle Dandridge (Kala), Horace V Rogers (u/s Kerchak), Chester Gregory (Terk), Tim Jerome (Professor Porter), Donne Keshawarz (Mr. Clayton), Daniel Manche (Young Tarzan), Nick Sanchez (u/s Snipes) NOTES: Nice filming, not as dark as other Tarzan Dvd. A Tarzan - Oberhausen - November 21, 2017 (Rumpel's master) FORMAT: VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Anton Zetterholm (Tarzan), Tessa Sunniva van Tol (Jane Porter), Isabel Trinkaus (Kala), Andreas Lichtenberger (Kerchak), Matt Farci (Terk), Japheth Myers (Professor Porter), Rudi Reschke (Mr. Clayton), Simeon Pauls (Young Tarzan) NOTES: HD capture with great sound and no obstructions. The cast is amazing and the changes in the show, compared to Hamburg and Stuttgart, are suitable and refreshing. Tarzan - Scheveningen - June 23, 2007 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT: VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Ron Link (Tarzan), Chantal Janzen (Jane Porter), Chaira Borderslee (Kala), Jeroen Phaff (Kerchak) NOTES: No zoom due to directorstape, but soundboard Sound, also some footage from after the show (cleaning etc) Tarzan - Stuttgart - August 21, 2015 FORMAT: VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Gian Marco Schiaretti (Tarzan), Merle Hoch (Jane Porter), Willemijn Verkaik (Kala), Jan Ammann (Kerchak), Massimiliano Pironti (Terk), Maik Lohse (Professor Porter), Léon Roeven (Mr. Clayton), Matthis Lernhardt (Young Tarzan) NOTES: Willemijn and Massimiliano's first show. Tarzan - Stuttgart - October 3, 2015 FORMAT: MP4 (HD) CAST: John Vooijs (Tarzan), Merle Hoch (Jane Porter), Willemijn Verkaik (Kala), Jan Ammann (Kerchak), Alessio Impedovo (Terk), Maik Lohse (Professor Porter), Léon Roeven (Mr. Clayton), Miguel Strasser (Young Tarzan) Theory of Relativity - Workshop - April 13, 2013 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT: MP4 (HD) CAST: Josh Blackstock, Joanna Fraser, Curtis Brown, Jade Repeta, Jenny Weisz, Adrian Zeyl, Dana Jean Phoenix, Carter Easler, Trevor Patt, Beth Robertson, Andrew Perry, Charles Douglas, Natasha Kozak, Katie Kerr, Josh LeClair, Emma Pedersen

They're Playing Our Song - Los Angeles - October 2, 2010 FORMAT: VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Jason Alexander (Vernon Gersch), Stephanie J Block (Sonia Walsk) Thoroughly Modern Millie - Broadway - April 13, 2002 (Preview) FORMAT: VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Sutton Foster (Millie Dillmount), Gavin Creel (Jimmy Smith), Marc Kudisch (Mr. Trevor Graydon), Harriet Harris (Mrs. Meers), Sheryl Lee Ralph (Muzzy Van Hossmere), Angela Christian (Miss Dorothy Brown), Ken Leung (Ching Ho), Francis Jue (Bun Foo), Anne L Nathan (Miss Flannery) NOTES: Shot from the second row with lots of close-ups. Very clear and steady video with very good sound. The Three Musketeers (Raby, Leigh, Stiles) - North Shore Music Theatre - August 20, 2007 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT: MP4 (HD) CAST: Aaron Tveit (D'Artagnan), Allison Blackwell (Landlady of the Inn), Anne Tolpegin (Dona Estefania), Heather Koren (Queen Anne), Holly Davis (Cecile), Jeff Edgerton (Bonacieux), Jimmy Smagula (Porthos), John Schiappa (Athos), Kevyn Morrow (Aramis), Kingsley Leggs (Treville), Mark Aldrich (King Louis), Matt Stokes (Cardinal Richelieu), Mick Bleyer (Rochefort), Nick Dalton (Duke of Buckingham), Steven Booth (Planchet), Kate Baldwin (Milady) NOTES: No audience, proshot from the dress rehearsal. Nicely filmed from the North Shore Music Theatre. tick, tick... BOOM! - Korea - 2002 FORMAT: VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Joey McIntyre (Jon), Jerry Dixon (Michael), Natascia Diaz (Susan) NOTES: Features 20 minute Joey McIntyre concert after the show tick, tick... BOOM! - Off-Broadway - May 31, 2001 FORMAT: VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Raúl Esparza (Jon), Jerry Dixon (Michael), Amy Spanger (Susan) tick, tick... BOOM! - Off-Broadway - September 18, 2001 FORMAT: MKV (HD) CAST: Raúl Esparza (Jon), Jerry Dixon (Michael), Amy Spanger (Susan) tick, tick... BOOM! - Workshop/Concert - November 25, 1991 (Highlights) FORMAT: VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Jonathan Larson (Jon) NOTES: 4 songs. The original Tick Tick Boom before it was adapted into a 3 person show. Tina - The Tina Turner Musical - West End - September, 2019 (hitmewithyourbethshot's master) FORMAT: MP4 (HD) CAST: Aisha Jawando (alt Tina Turner), Ashley Zhangazha (Ike Turner), Angela Marie Hurst (u/s Zelma Bullock), Edward Bourne (Erwin Bach), Oscar Batterham (Roger Davies), Irene Myrtle Forrester (Gran Georgeanna), Jammy Kasongo (Richard Bullock/Raymond Hill), Cameron Bernard Jones (Craig Hill) Titanic - Australia - November 30, 2006 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT: MP4 (SD) CAST: Hayden Tee (Thomas Andrews), Nick Tate (Captain E. J. Smith), Brendan Higgins (J. Bruce Ismay), Alexander Lewis (Frederick Barrett), Matthew Willis (Harold Bride, Radioman), David Goddard (Henry Etches, 1st Class Steward), Ana Marina (Caroline Neville), Katrina Retallick (Alice Bean), Robert Gard (Isidor Strauss), Joan Carden (Ida Strauss), Belinda Wollaston (Kate McGowen), Cameron Mannix (Bandmaster Wallace Hartley) NOTES: Single camera proshot with soundboard audio. Sometimes listed as 2005, but the production ran from October - December 2006. Titanic - Bad Hersfeld, Germany - August, 2017 (Rumpel's master) FORMAT: VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: David Arnsperger (Thomas Andrews), Alen Hodzovic (Captain E. J. Smith), Veronika Hörmann (Alice Bean), Stefan Grego Schmitz (Edgar Bean), Gabriela Ryffel (Kate McGowen), Anja Backus (Kate Murphy), Christine Rothacker (Kate Mullins) Titanic - Broadway - 1997 (Highlights) (Press Reel's master) FORMAT: VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Michael Cerveris (Thomas Andrews), John Cunningham (Captain E. J. Smith), David Garrison (J. Bruce Ismay), Brian d'Arcy James (Frederick Barrett), Martin Moran (Harold Bride, Radioman), David Elder (Frederick Fleet), Don Stephenson (Charles Clarke), Judy Blazer (Caroline Neville), Victoria Clark (Alice Bean), Bill Buell (Edgar Bean), Theresa McCarthy (Kate Murphy), Erin Hill (Kate Mullins) Titanic - Broadway - November 12, 1997 FORMAT: MKV (HD) CAST: Michael Cerveris (Thomas Andrews), John Cunningham (Captain E. J. Smith), David Garrison (J. Bruce Ismay), Brian d'Arcy James (Frederick Barrett), Judy Blazer (Caroline Neville), Bill Buell (Edgar Bean), Larry Keith (Isidor Strauss), Jody Gelb (Eleanor Widener) NOTES: Camcorder video, mostly wide shot with a few zooms. The only known video of this production. Titanic - First National Tour - September 2, 2000 FORMAT: VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Kevin Gray (Thomas Andrews), William Parry (Captain E. J. Smith), Adam Heller (J. Bruce Ismay), Marcus Chait (Frederick Barrett), Dale Sandish (Harold Bride, Radioman), Timothy J Alex (Frederick Fleet), Christianne Tisdale (Caroline Neville), Liz McConahay (Alice Bean), David Beditz (Edgar Bean), S Marc Jordan (Isidor Strauss), Taina Elg (Ida Strauss), Richard Roland (Jim Farrell), Melissa Bell Chait (Kate McGowen), Kate Suber (Kate Murphy), Jodi Jinks (Kate Mullins), Raymond Sage (3rd Officer Herbert J. Pitman) Titanic - Redondo Beach - March 20, 2001 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT: VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Richard Kline (Captain Smith), Eve Cohen (Kate McGowen), Wendi Bergamini (Kate Murphy), Moriah Angeline (Kate Mullins), John Bisom (Jim Farrell), Tracy Perry (Lightoller), Mark Capri (Mr Ismay), Jamie Snyder (Pittman), Elizabeth Loyacano (Caroline Neville), Tony Adelman (Thomas Andrews), Lois Bourgon (Ida Strauss), Bob Lauder Jr. (Isidor Strauss), Kevin Earley (Stoker Frederic Barrett), Richard Israel (Harold Bride), Paul Greene (Charles Clarke), Gibby Brand (Henry Etches),Danny Michaels (Murdoch), Kent Melwig (Frederick Fleet), Douglas Carfrae (Mr Astor), Jill Simonian (Madeleine Astor) Titanic - The Netherlands - 2001 FORMAT: VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Tony Neef (Thomas Andrews), Bert Simhoffer (Captain E. J. Smith), Hugo Haenen (J. Bruce Ismay), Danny de Munk (Frederick Barrett), Dick Cohen (Harold Bride, Radioman), Jon van Eerd (Henry Etches, 1st Class Steward), Annick Boer (Alice Bean), Céline Purcell (Kate McGowen) Titanic - West Palm Beach - February, 2019 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT: MP4 (HD) CAST: Christopher Pappas (Thomas Andrews), Colton McDonald (Captain E. J. Smith), Kyler O’Brien (J. Bruce Ismay), Chris Santiago (Harold Bride, Radioman), Olivia Henley (Alice Bean), Finnigan Anthony (Edgar Bean), Alli Graves (Kate McGowen), Jonathan Allen (1st Officer William Murdoch), Ethan Spell (2nd Officer Charles Lightoller) NOTES: running time 2'23; complete multicam proshot of West Palm Beach's King's Academy 2019 production. [title of show] - Broadway - July 5, 2008 (Preview) FORMAT: VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Heidi Blickenstaff (Heidi), Hunter Bell (Hunter), Jeff Bowen (Jeff), Larry Pressgrove (Larry), Susan Blackwell (Susan) [title of show] - Broadway - July 6, 2008 (Preview) (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT: MP4 (HD) CAST: Heidi Blickenstaff (Heidi), Hunter Bell (Hunter), Jeff Bowen (Jeff), Larry Pressgrove (Larry), Susan Blackwell (Susan) NOTES: Cute little show about making it to Broadway. Heidi was my favorite part of the show. There were some very funny parts to the show, especially if you are a theater buff. There are about 10 mins of total blackouts, which is mostly a chunk in within the first 13 minutes. Depsite that, a nice capture and the audience was very into the show. A- To Kill a Mockingbird - Broadway - July, 2019 (Hollis Mizner's master) FORMAT: MP4 (HD) CAST: Jeff Daniels (Atticus Finch), Celia Keenan-Bolger (Scout), Will Pullen (Jem), Manoel Felciano (Horace Gilmer), LaTonya Richardson Jackson (Calpurnia), Aubie Merrylees (u/s Dill), Dakin Matthews (Judge Taylor), Gbenga Akinnagbe (Tom Robinson), Frederick Weller (Bob Ewell), Danny Wolohan (Boo Radley), Erin Wilhelmi (Mayella), Neal Huff (Link Deas), Liv Roth (Miss Stephanie), Phyllis Somerville (Ms. Dubose) NOTES: Very shaky video, never really settles down. Filmed nearly entirely through close-ups, which means a fair bit of the action is missed. Tootsie - Broadway - December, 2019 (theaterfan64's master) FORMAT: MOV (HD) CAST: Santino Fontana (Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels), Lilli Cooper (Julie Nichols), Andy Grotelueschen (Jeff Slater), Sarah Stiles (Sandy Lester), John Behlmann (Max Van Horn), Julie Halston (Rita Marshall), Reg Rogers (Ron Carlisle), Michael McGrath (Stan Fields), Britney Coleman NOTES: Full stage shot of the show during it’s run on Broadway. There is washout, as it’s a full stage shot, but it is very very watchable. About 8 minutes is missing right before the Act 1 finale. Tootsie - Pre-Broadway / Chicago - September 11, 2018 (Preview) (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT: MP4 (HD) CAST: Santino Fontana (Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels), Lilli Cooper (Julie Nichols), Andy Grotelueschen (Jeff Slater), Sarah Stiles (Sandy Lester), John Behlmann (Max Van Horn), Julie Halston (Rita Marshall), Reg Rogers (Ron Carlisle), Michael McGrath (Stan Fields), Anthony Wayne, Britney Coleman, Diana Vaden, Drew King, Harris Milgrim, James Moye, Jeff Kready, John Arthur Greene, Katerina Papacostas, Leslie Donna Flesner, Paula Leggett Chase, Shina Ann Morris NOTES: Excellent HD capture of the first PreBroadway preview performance. This is a fun show with terrific performances based on the 1982 movie. Santino gives a wonderful performance and earning early Tony buzz for Best Actor! A+ Translations - National Theatre - July 31, 2018 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT: MP4 (HD) CAST: Colin Morgan (Owen), Seamus O'Hara (Manus), Ciarán Hinds (Hugh), Dermot Crowley (Jimmy Jack Cassie), Adetomiwa Edun (Lieutenant Yolland), Rufus Wright (Captain Lancey), Michelle Fox (Sarah), Judith Roddy (Maire), Laurence Kinlan (Doalty), Aoife Duffin (Bridget) Travelling Light - National Theatre, London - February 9, 2012 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT: MKV (HD)|Subtitles CAST: Tom Allwinton, Norma Atallah, Roy Baron NOTES: National Theatre Live 9th February 2012 mkv, 5.46GB Hardcoded English subtitles

Treasure Island - National Theatre - January 22, 2015 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT: MP4 (HD) CAST: Arthur Darvill (Long John Silver), Patsy Ferran (Jim Hawkins), Oliver Birch (George Badger), Raj Bajaj (Job Anderson) Tuck Everlasting - Broadway - April 4, 2016 (Preview) (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT: VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Sarah Charles Lewis (Winnie Foster), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Jesse Tuck), Carolee Carmello (Mae Tuck), Michael Park (Angus Tuck), Robert Lenzi (Miles Tuck), Terrence Mann (Man in Yellow Suit), Michael Wartella (Hugo), Fred Applegate (Constable Joe), Pippa Pearthree (Nana), Valerie Wright (Mother) NOTES: Excellent capture of the Broadway transfer from Atlanta. Many changes and direction from the out of town tryout. A Tuck Everlasting - Broadway - April 4, 2016 (Preview) (NYCG8R's master) FORMAT: DVD ISO (SD) CAST: Sarah Charles Lewis (Winnie Foster), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Jesse Tuck), Carolee Carmello (Mae Tuck), Michael Park (Angus Tuck), Robert Lenzi (Miles Tuck), Terrence Mann (Man in Yellow Suit), Michael Wartella (Hugo), Fred Applegate (Constable Joe), Pippa Pearthree (Nana), Valerie Wright (Mother) NOTES: A more rare recording of the same performance as a more common capture. Single Disc Tuck Everlasting - Pre-Broadway / Atlanta - February 5, 2015 (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT: MP4 (HD) CAST: Sarah Charles Lewis (Winnie Foster), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Jesse Tuck), Carolee Carmello (Mae Tuck), Michael Park (Angus Tuck), Robert Lenzi (Miles Tuck), Terrence Mann (Man in Yellow Suit), Michael Wartella (Hugo), Fred Applegate (Constable Joe), Pippa Pearthree (Nana), Valerie Wright (Mother) NOTES: Beautiful HD capture of the PreBroadway tryout in Atlanta. This was Carolee's final performance due to leaving for Finding Neverland. Wonderful show, performances and music! A+ Tuck Everlasting - Pre-Broadway / Atlanta - February 6, 2015 (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT: VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Sarah Charles Lewis (Winnie Foster), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Jesse Tuck), Beth Leavel (Mae Tuck), Michael Park (Angus Tuck), Robert Lenzi (Miles Tuck), Terrence Mann (Man in Yellow Suit), Michael Wartella (Hugo), Fred Applegate (Constable Joe), Pippa Pearthree (Nana), Valerie Wright (Mother) NOTES: Beautiful capture of the Pre-Broadway tryout in Atlanta. This was Beth Leavel's first performance taking over for Carolee in the final few weeks of the run. Great performances and music! A+

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bongaboi · 4 years ago

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Liverpool: 2019-20 Premier League Champions

30 years of hope: my life as an ardent Liverpool fan

After three decades of near misses, slips and tears, the Merseyside team’s wait for another league title is nearly over. So what does it mean to a scouser and lifelong fan?

by Hannah Jane Parkinson

I am three years old in the photograph, hugging a plastic, flyaway football. I am seven, arriving tentatively for my first training session at a local girls’ club. I am bounding back to my mother’s car, blowing hot breath on cold hands, beaming, the salt from the artificial turf embedded in the soles of my trainers.

I am eight and glued to the television, watching teen wunderkind and my Liverpool hero, Michael Owen, score the perfect goal against Argentina in World Cup 98.

I am nine. I give up one of the few days I have to visit my father to attend my first ever match at Anfield, Liverpool FC’s famous stadium. A week later, my father dies. These two events are inextricably linked in my mind, and the guilt continues to whichever day you are reading this.

I am 10 and make my first appearance in print in a feature for the local paper, the Liverpool Echo, about girls getting into football. I am quoted as saying that all my sister cares about is boys and fashion.

Twelve years old and the fuzzy letters of “Parkinson” on the back of my shirt arch down my shoulder blades.

I am 13. Our team, known as Liverpool Feds, are approached by Liverpool FC to become their official girls’ outfit. We visit Melwood, the first team’s training ground. The full-size goals loom like scaffolding.

I am 14. My hero, Owen, makes the same move to Real Madrid that Steve McManaman made five years before him. This breaks my heart. Suddenly, all I care about is boys and fashion. Without really making a decision, I give up football. Cold winter nights are spent inside on the sofa watching Sex and the City. I discover live music and MySpace.

I am 15. I own the entire range of Clearasil products. A group of my schoolfriends and I take a night off GCSE revision to watch the 2005 European Champions League final in Istanbul; the first the club has reached since the mid-80s, and so it is forbidden not to watch. Liverpool are losing by three goals at half time. A lost cause. Minds wander to the second biology paper… But wait. Liverpool pull back to 3-3. And win on penalties. Pandemonium. We join the throng in the streets; the blaring car horns; the beer jumping, like salmon, from pint glasses; the embrace of strangers; the straining vocal cords.

I am 18 and living in Russia, watching games on my first-generation smartphone via a 2G internet connection. Each time a player goes through on goal the signal drops to endless buffering. Liverpool finish second in the league, four points behind bitter rivals Manchester United.

I am 26, we are bearing down on the title. Steven Gerrard in an impromptu on-pitch team talk, after a crucial win against the newly flush Manchester City, shouts hoarsely at his players: “This does not fucking slip now!” The next home game, Gerrard – one of the best players the club has ever seen, captain, scouser, Liverpool FC lifer – literally slips on the turf against Chelsea to concede a goal. We lose. Manchester City finish top of the league by two points.

I am 29. I am in Cuba, where the internet is heavily censored. But I manage to watch the last game of the season, which will be decisive. Liverpool finish the league with 97 points; the highest points tally ever for a team that doesn’t win the title. City win again. With 98 points. Liverpool do, however, win the Champions League – for the sixth time – after scoring four goals in a sublime semi-final comeback against Barcelona. The injured Mohamed Salah, watching on the bench, wears a T-shirt bearing the slogan “Never Give Up”. The T-shirt sells out.

I am 30. I have never witnessed my beloved Liverpool FC lift the title. Two months from now, this is going to change. As I write Liverpool have a 22-point lead at the top of the table. Of 84 points available this season, they have taken 79. Next Monday is the derby against Everton.

I want to untangle what this will mean to me – the fan who met Steven Gerrard a couple of years ago, grinning like a child; the fan who, two weeks ago, was unbelievably touched when current star Trent Alexander-Arnold recorded a video message to cheer her up during a bad time. What it means to other fans: those who witnessed the dominance of the 1980s, and the younger ones who have known only disappointment. And what it means, too, for the future of the area of Anfield itself.

It’s late February in the Flat Iron pub, one of the many dotted around Anfield. Steve Dodd, who is 49, is with his friends Dan Wynn, 26, and Gerrard Noble, 47. All from Somerset, they are having a pre-match drink before the home game against West Ham. Steve talks of the current Jürgen Klopp-assembled side as the best Liverpool side he thinks he’s ever seen.

The friends have been scouring the internet for places to stay in the city for the last home fixture of the season, but to no avail. “Rooms are going for £400 a night,” Gerrard says, his eyes widening. He and Steve are allowing themselves to get excited, but Dan, who like me has yet to experience a league title win, looks anxious and rubs his thighs. “No,” he says, “I don’t want to jinx it. Though I’ve been kicked out of various WhatsApp groups for being smug about all the results.” Steve tells me they weren’t prepared for it, this three-decade-long wait: “I just thought we’d go on winning.”

We talk about how important it is that Klopp’s politics match the club: Liverpool is a leftwing city; Liverpool is a leftwing club. At the last election, Labour retained all of its 14 MPs on Merseyside. The city has never forgiven the Tories for former chancellor Geoffrey Howe’s strategy of “managed decline”. Thatcher is a hated figure. But so is Derek Hatton, the former city council deputy leader and member of the Marxist group Militant. Last month, Italy’s rightwing politician Matteo Salvini was forced to deny that he had pulled out of a visit to Liverpool after the metropolitan region’s mayor called him a “fascist”. During several games last year, chants rang out for Jeremy Corbyn. The current prime minister conspicuously avoids visiting. As Gareth Robertson, who is a part of the immensely popular The Anfield Wrap podcast, with more than 200,000 weekly downloads in 200 countries, puts it to me: “Not only do we want a good football coach, we expect almost a political leader, someone who gets us, and our city, its values.” Humorously, there have been petitions for Liverpool to become a self-determined scouse state, and “Scouse not English” is a frequent terrace chant.

The club has a mantra: “This means more.” It pisses off other teams and is, understandably, dismissed as marketing speak. But isn’t it true? Isn’t the 127-year-old club what people think of when anyone, anywhere in the world, mentions “Liverpool”? The famous football team that plays in red – allowing for the Beatles, of course.

The city has another team, the blue of Everton. I have nothing against Everton. I consider Everton fellow scousers and too little a threat to focus animosity towards. In a way, the clubs are unruly siblings; we love and scrap in equal measure. Totally different personalities, but born of the same streets.

Four years ago, a man named Jürgen Klopp arrived on these streets. Or more accurately, he arrived in the suburb of Formby, renting the house from his managerial predecessor, Brendan Rodgers. Klopp is the football manager that even non-football fans like. He’s Ludovico Einaudi, seducing those previously uninterested in classical music. He is a man of principle; a baseball cap permanently affixed to his head, as though at any point he might be required to step up to the plate on a blindingly sunny day. Perhaps for the Boston Red Sox, owned by Liverpool FC’s American proprietor, John W Henry.

Klopp is erudite. He is proudly anti-Brexit in a city that voted 58% Remain. “For me, Brexit makes no sense at all,” he has said. He is a socialist: “I am on the left … I believe in the welfare state. I’m not privately insured. I would never vote for a party because they promised to lower the top tax rate. If there’s something I will never do in my life it is vote for the right.” He grew up in a humble village in Germany’s Black Forest, and it shows. There’s a saying in the region: “the hair in the soup”. It means focusing on even the tiniest things that can be improved.

He has the good looks of one of my favourite 1960s Russian film stars, Aleksandr Demyanenko. He hugs his players as though they were the loves of his life and he might never see them again. Journalists like him for his press-conference banter as well as his eloquence. He visits children in hospitals. He is funny. When Mario Götze, one of his star players at former club Borussia Dortmund, left for Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich, his explanation was: “He’s leaving because he’s Guardiola’s favourite. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine. I can’t make myself shorter and learn Spanish.”

Liverpool have had many famous managers, of course. Bill Shankly (there’s a statue of him outside the ground); Bob Paisley (ditto); Kenny Dalglish. But Klopp is already being talked of as one of the best ever.

Liverpool the city has evolved from its shamefully prominent role in the slave trade – in common with other major British ports – to a place with a diverse population and a well-won reputation for being friendly and welcoming. But the tragedy and scandal of Hillsborough, in which 96 fans were crushed to death in 1989 at Sheffield Wednesday’s ground, is etched into the nation’s sporting history, and its social justice record. After a 27-year-long battle to clear the names of the Liverpool fans whose reputations were smeared, after inquests that lasted two years – the longest case heard by a jury in British legal history – a verdict of unlawful killing was returned. But, as Margaret Aspinall of the indefatigable Hillsborough Family Support Group pointed out, after David Duckenfield, police commander at the ground, was cleared of manslaughter last year, no one has yet been found accountable for those killings.

The Sun, which categorically did not report “The Truth”, as the infamous headline went, but was found to have published untruths that blamed Liverpool fans for the disaster, is a red-top pariah here. The paper is the bestselling national in print, but shifts a measly 12,000 or so copies on Merseyside. A branch of Sainsbury’s was once found to be selling copies under the counter, as though they were counterfeit cigarettes. It’s a boycott that has lasted longer than many marriages.

The socially progressive values of the club extend to it supporting an end to period poverty – free sanitary products are available in every women’s loo at Anfield. Last month, the Reds Going Green initiative saw the installation of organic machines to break down food waste into water. The club even has its own allotment, which grows food to serve to fans in the main stand. It was the first Premier League club to be officially involved with an LGBT Pride event in 2012, at the invitation of Paul Amann. Amann tells me how he set up the LGBT supporters group, Kop Outs, because: “It’s essential that our voices are heard, our presence is welcomed and respected.” The group works alongside the Spirit of Shankly supporters’ group and the Fans Supporting Foodbanks initiative and has regular meet-ups. These things mean something to me: a football fan as a girl, and now as a woman. A woman who dates other women. A woman who doesn’t want to hear homophobic chants on the terraces. Or, it goes without saying, racist ones. Jamie Carragher, ex-player and pundit, has apologised on behalf of the club for its backing of striker Luis Suárez, who was banned from playing for eight matches in 2011 for making racist comments. “We made a massive mistake,” Carragher said. “What message do you send to the world? Supporting someone being banned because he used some racist words.”

Back on the pitch, some of this season’s performances have been, quite simply, balletic. Others as powerful and muscular as a weightlifting competition. Formations as beautiful as constellations. Forward surges as though our fullbacks were plugged into the mains. Possibly the best fullbacks playing today: 21-year-old local lad Trent Alexander-Arnold (known just as Trent) and the fiery Scot Andy Robertson (Robbo) are spoken about by pundits as innovators. Gary Lineker and I text, rapturously, about the two of them.

For a football team to be consistent, for a team to win the league, it must be capable of winning in many different ways. The aesthetically pleasing playing out from the back. Lightning counter-attacks. Scraping 1-0 wins in the final minutes (and, particularly at the start of this season, we have done a lot of that. It’s something Manchester United used to do in their 90s pomp, and naturally, I hated them for it). Mindful of the trauma of The Slip, the agreed club line is “one game at a time”, said again and again, as another scouse son, Pete Burns, once sang: “like a record baby, right round, round, round… ” And my God, how many of those we’ve smashed. The current side is the first in England to hold an international treble (the Champions League; Uefa Super Cup; Fifa Club World Cup). We have not lost a home game for almost two calendar years. Shortly, we’ll no doubt break the record for the earliest title win during a season; the most points across Europe’s top five leagues.

It is, even to the neutral, extraordinary stuff. It is, even to the haters, albeit grudgingly, extraordinary stuff. In 2016, one of the greatest stories of modern football was the previously mediocre Leicester City winning a surprise title. Liverpool’s dominance this season surpasses that for drama. It is watching history in the present.

Being at a game at Anfield is like being high while ingesting nothing. The stands seem to have lungs. Though You’ll Never Walk Alone has become supremely emotional, an anthem for strength and perseverance post-Hillsborough (“walk on through the wind / walk on through the rain”) it’s a song originally from the musical Carousel. It was a standout 1963 cover version by Liverpudlian band Gerry and the Pacemakers that kicked off its adoption at Anfield. “It’s got a lot of lovely major-to-minor changes at often unexpected moments that have the effect of emotionally blindsiding you,” music journalist Pete Paphides says (although he’s a United fan, so feel free to discount everything he tells me). “But it’s also obviously very hymnal, with a chorus which invites that religious ambiguity. It was Aretha Franklin’s version that John Peel played after Hillsborough and rendered himself incapable of carrying on by virtue of doing so.”

Anfield has always been something special; players from countless teams often talk of it being the greatest ground they have ever played at. Or the most intimidating. Or the most electric. But of late, there’s an extra buoyancy. The crowd salivates.

Watching the game against West Ham, we take the lead within 10 minutes, but they quickly equalise, before going ahead. We score twice more. It is our 21st consecutive home win, setting a Premier League-era record. At the end of the game, Klopp and his players applaud the Kop end, fans’ eyes glistening with both emotion and wind chill (“walk on, through the wind… ”)

Adjacent to the stadium at the redbrick Albert pub, Clara, Tom, John – all in their 20s, students, and local – and John’s dad, David, who is 53, are cheering the last-ditch win. I repeat what I asked Steve and his friends: just how excited should we all be?

“Very fucking excited,” says John. “Very fucking excited,” Tom concurs. (Scousers use swear words as ellipses. And the speed of Liverpudlian patter matches the rat-a-tat-tat of freestyle rappers.) The Albert is floor-to-ceiling in flags; unassuming from the outside, iconic inside. Across the road at the Park – the “Established 1888” sign above its door – it is Where’s Wally? levels of rammed, entirely usual for a match day. But the mood is as disbelieving as triumphant. It hasn’t happened yet, but it already feels as though people are waiting to be shaken awake from a dream. Around the corner, posters at another fan favourite, the Sandon, advertise a huge end-of-season victory party. I grab a burger at the Kop of the Range, a kebab joint not far from a scarf stall that has seen its business rocket over the past three years.

My Uber driver, Mohamed, 35, moved to the city from Sri Lanka. A massive Salah fan, he tells me his own revenue booms when the club win a game – happier fans means higher fares. “People don’t want to spend money on a loss,” he says. “If we win, the whole mood lifts. You can feel it in the car. Though when you start driving with Uber, they tell you not to mention what football team you support. Because football means a lot to people. There are many feelings involved with football.”

It’s unsurprising to me that even back in Sri Lanka, Mohamed was a fan. Liverpool is a global behemoth. The richest club in the UK outside Manchester.

A £1.7bn valuation; £533m turnover; pre-tax profits of £42m. Matchday ticket revenues increased (thanks to a regenerated £110m main stand). Visiting the club shop, there is LFC-branded gin; babygros; even a Hello Kitty tie-in range. As Richard Haigh at consultants Brand Finance tells me, next season’s kit deal with Nike is “expected to represent the largest in history. Brands will be willing to pay to have some magic dust of LFC.” There are official stores as far afield as Dubai and Bangkok.

John W Henry has won the support of the fans for his positive handling of the club. And yet, despite this huge wealth, Anfield is the 10th most deprived neighbourhood in the country. Boarded-up houses surround the stadium. The club has not covered itself in glory in the past, accused of buying up properties in unscrupulous ways. But it is hoped that local enterprises, such as the community-run Homebaked cake shop and new housing association properties, will make the neighbourhood better.

Last week, we were knocked out of the FA Cup in a match against Chelsea. Or, as I call that fixture, Kensington versus Kensington. (In Liverpool’s “Kenny”, 98% of residents are among the most deprived 5% nationally. In London’s, residents earn three times the national average.)

In the league, there has been a blip. Last weekend we finally lost. And we lost 3-0 to, with the greatest respect, Watford; not a bad side, but a side ensconced in a relegation battle. Arsenal, who once went a whole season unbeaten (“the Invincibles”), and are keen to keep that record, tweeted from the official club account: “Phew!”

But I am not panicking. It’s possible Dan from the Flat Iron is panicking. But Klopp isn’t panicking. In typical fashion, he said the fact we played an absolutely awful game of football was “rather positive… ”

“A couple of years ago,” our hero reminds us, “I said we wanted to write our own stories and create our own history, and obviously the boys took what I said really seriously. It is so special. The numbers are incredible.” In a nod to Sir Alex Ferguson’s famous line that his greatest challenge was “knocking Liverpool right off their fucking perch”, Liverpool chief executive Peter Moore says now: “We are back on our perch.” As The Anfield Wrap’s Gareth says: “In a dream scenario, a period of dominance follows. Not so long ago that dream was just that. Now, it’s a reality that is much easier to imagine.”

Four more games. Eyes on the prize. For me, at last, 30 years in the making, eyes on the prize.

#2020 #premier league #ynwa #liverpool fc #you'll never walk alone

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tabloidtoc · 5 years ago

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OK, March 9

Cover: Leonardo DiCaprio and Camila Morrone just married and baby on the way

Page 1: Contents

Page 2: Contents

Page 4: After a difficult few years Bethenny Frankel is launching a new business venture and has fallen in love again

Page 6: Ben Affleck is finally coming clean about his darkest days

Page 7: Tori Spelling is going the extra mile to give her five kids the caring fun-filled childhood she never had, while the world lusts after Brad Pitt his ex Angelina Jolie seems to be starved for romantic attention and she’s been set up on a few discreet dates but nothing’s worked out, Josh Duhamel whines that he’s too pretty to be taken seriously as an actor and that it’s sexism in reverse

Page 8: Amanda Bynes is trying to get her life back on track this time with a man by her side, if Johnny Depp is asked to reprise his role of Captain Jack Sparrow he’ll ask for $50 million because his bank account is dwindling

Page 10: Red Hot on the Red Carpet -- purple -- Jennifer Lopez, Margot Robbie, Cynthia Erivo

Page 11: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Sophie Skelton, Charlize Theron

Page 12: Who Wore It Better? Ashley Greene vs. Lydia Hearst, Ali Tamposi vs. Aubrey Plaza, Olivia Palermo vs. Dove Cameron

Page 14: News in Photos -- Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake in London and Berlin

Page 15: Rashad Jennings, Jennifer Lopez, Tom Holland with fans at the LA premiere of Onward, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani and her son Apollo

Page 16: Paw Patrol -- James Middleton with four of his dogs, Denise Richards, Delilah and Amelia Hamlin with Road Dogs & Rescue’s adoptable bulldogs

Page 18: Jennifer Hudson and Forest Whitaker film Respect, David Beckham with kids Romeo and Cruz and Harper at Victoria Beckham’s fashion show, Harry Styles, Justin Bieber tried to teach Jimmy Fallon to play hockey

Page 20: Tiffani Thiessen and daughter Harper in the Rookie USA fashion show in Chicago, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Kate Bosworth at the Byredo store opening

Page 21: American Idol judges Lionel Richie and Kate Perry and Luke Bryan, Eugene Levy, Harrison Ford on Jimmy Kimmel Live

Page 22: Celeb Mini-Me’s -- Reese Witherspoon with daughter Ava, Helena Christensen with son Mingus whose dad is Norman Reedus, Elizabeth Hurley and son Damian

Page 24: Inside My Home -- Olivia Culpo’s California crib

Page 26: Hayden Panettiere’s dangerous romance

Page 27: John Cena and Shay Shariatzadeh engaged, Katherine Schwarzenegger complains that life married to Chris Pratt is boring and she’s boxed in at home

Page 28: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have gone on a spending spree getting wines and cheeses and jewelry and clothes and electronics and toys for son Archie, though friends and family are begging Sofia Richie to end her romance with Scott Disick she just can’t bring herself to do it, Love Bites -- Jason Lewis and Liz Godwin engaged, Melissa Fumero and husband David welcomed their second child, Chris Randone and Krystal Nielson separated

Page 30: Cover Story -- Ultimate bachelor Leonardo DiCaprio secretly weds Camila Morrone amid buzz they’re expecting

Page 34: Ryan Reynolds balances fame and fatherhood and a booming career

Page 38: Secrets and trivia about The Breakfast Club

Page 40: Catherine O’Hara says goodbye to Schitt’s Creek

Page 46: Style Week -- Parisa Fitz-Henley’s look at the premiere of Fantasy Island

Page 49: 5 minutes with Rebecca Romijn

Page 50: Hair Special -- Edgy Shag -- Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift, Long Braids -- Gabrielle Union and Zendaya

Page 51: Chic Bob -- Natalie Portman and Hailey Bieber, Short Fringe -- Saoirse Ronan and Charlize Theron

Page 54: Entertainment

Page 55: Q&A -- Britt Robertson of I Still Believe

Page 58: Gwyneth Paltrow’s fresh-faced fete -- Alexandra Grant, Kate Hudson, Rumer Willis and Demi Moore

Page 60: Hollywood Heat Meter -- the royal family had trouble finding guests willing to attend Prince Andrew’s birthday party, Steve Kazee proposed to Jenna Dewan, Duchess Kate Middleton used hypnobirthing, Meital Dohan blamed the age gap for her split with Al Pacino, Stars on exclusive dating app Raya -- Ben Affleck, Channing Tatum, Kiernan Shipka, Demi Lovato, Chelsea Handler

Page 61: Sound Bites -- Kerry Washington on Reese Witherspoon, Amy Poehler, Robert Pattinson on his scent, Constance Wu, Katy Perry

Page 62: Horoscope -- Pisces Camila Cabello

Page 64: By the Numbers -- Laura Dern

#tabloid #tabloid toc #leonardo dicaprio #camila morrone #ryan reynolds #meghan markle #prince harry #Hayden Panettiere #Karlie Kloss #john cena #laura dern #robert pattinson

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davidshawnsown · 5 years ago

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MESSAGE IN HONOR OF THE 75TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE HISTORIC RAISING OF THE NATIONAL FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ATOP THE SUMMIT OF MOUNT SURIBACHI IN IWO JIMA

Ladies and gentlemen, to all the people of the United States of America, to all our remaining living veterans of the Second World War of 1939-1945 and of all conflicts past and present and their families, to our veterans, active servicemen and women, reservists and families of the entire United States Armed Forces, and to all the uniformed military and civil security services of the Allied combatants of this conflict, to all the immediate families, relatives, children and grandchildren of the deceased veterans, fallen service personnel and wounded personnel of our military services and civil uniformed security and civil defense services, to all our workers, farmers and intellectuals, to our youth and personnel serving in youth uniformed and cadet organizations and all our athletes, coaches, judges, sports trainers and sports officials, and to all our sports fans, to all our workers of culture, music, traditional arts and the theatrical arts, radio, television, digital media and social media, cinema, heavy and light industry, agriculture, business, tourism and the press, and to all our people of the free world:

Today, the whole world remembers among others the arrival in 1778 of the great Prussian general Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben to the Continental Army quarters in Valley Forge, the beginning of the historic siege of The Alamo in 1836, and the anniversary of the 1847 Battle of Buena Vista, the 1905 formation of the Rotary Club, the beginning of the February Revolution and the formation of the Federal Communications Commission in 1917, the Miracle on Ice of 1980 and the attempted coup by several officers of the Spanish Civil Guard in the Cortes in 1981.

Today we join in the celebrations of the forty-eighth anniversary since the declaration of the Republic of Guayana in 1970, the one hundredth year anniversary of the 1918 declaration of independence of the Republic of Estonia and the thirty-fourth year anniversary of the independence of Brunei Darussalam in 1984, as well as the 4th year anniversary of the closing of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games and the victory of the Ukrainian Euromaidan Revolution of 2014.

On this day in 1945 the Red Army and the Polish Armed Forces in the East ended the Nazi occupation of Poznan, the Philippine capital city of Manila was liberated from the Japanese despite its wartime damages and at the cost of so many lives, the Los Banos internment camp in the namesake town in Laguna Province was found and its POWs then liberated by a joint force of Filipino guerillas and American soldiers from the US Army’s 11th Airborne Division, and the RAF Bomber Command destroyed Pforzheim from the air.

Today marks 75 years since Easy Company, 2/506, 3BCT, 101ABN departed from Hagenau in northeastern Alsace, France, after weeks of helping its liberation and reinforcing its defenses against any remaining German resistance. Easy Company’s deployment in this part of France just miles from the Rhine was marked by times of sadness and joys among its men, most notably the return of Market Garden veteran David Webster and the promotion of some of its veteran officers.

And today, ladies and gentlemen, in these changing times in the long history of our planet and of all humankind, together with the thousands of serving men and women of the United States Marine Corps, we celebrate 75 years since the historic moment that forever has been a part of the heritage of the Marine Corps and the long 244 year history of the United States of America: the diamond jubilee anniversary since the very day that the national flag of the United States of America was raised on the peak of Mount Suribachi in the Japanese island of Iwo Jima. What we are celebrating today is now in the clear light of the recent revelation of the United States Marine Corps which was made public on June 23 of 2016 thanks to efforts made by historians and history experts and resource persons concerned, ending years of speculation and mystery surrounding the events of this this battle that is, for all generations, part of the history of not just the Corps, but of the entire United States Armed Forces. It is a battle that deserves our profound remembrance and commemoration, and a historic moment that will be always remembered for all our generations.

It had been days after the beginning of one of the biggest battles in the history of the Corps that exactly 75 years ago, in fulfillment of the behest of the then Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal who upon hearing of the news of the capture of Mount Suribachi by some of the thousands of Marines from mostly the 5th and 3rd Marine Divisions, gave the order that the men of the 5th Division would be responsible for the national flag to be hoisted on that mountain at once to ensure not only the occupation of the island by the armed forces of the United States but also to inform the world that once more the Marine Corps has proven its worth as an amphibious force ready to serve the purposes of national defense and global security and stability, officially assigned this task to the men of 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment of the 5th Marine Division, under battalion commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Chandler Johnson, who in turn designated Easy Company, under its commander Captain Dave Severance, thru its 3rd Platoon under the leadership of its company XO and the new platoon commander 1Lt Harold G. Schrier (who took over command of the platoon as its past commander was pulled out due to wounds sustained in the battle, and later on won a Navy Cross) to handing the hard task. It was late in the morning when that platoon raised a smaller flag, which was sourced from the battalion landing ship, at the top of the said peak by personnel of said platoon, including SSGT Henry “Hank” Hansen, assisted by PHM2C James Bradley, PSGT Ernest I. Thomas Jr., CPLs Charles Lindberg and Harold Schultz, PFCs James Robertson and Raymond Jacobs and PVT Phil Ward. But later in the day, the bigger flag, the one seen by photographers Joe Rosenthal and Bob Campbell and cameraman Bill Genaust (the latter two Marine combat photographers), was raised by said platoon, but with different people raising it. The bigger flag was obtained by the battalion command upon the Secretary’s direct request, given the size of the small flag. According to the official USMC records 1LT Alfred Turtle, the then battalion assistant commander for operations, received the said order to find a replacement flag and left his CP at once. After looking and asking from ship’s crews for a larger flag, he then went aboard the US Navy ship LST 779 and later on obtained the flag on that amphibious vessel (it was from a supply post stationed in the then Navy Station Pearl Harbor, today Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, where it was assigned during that time) after the consent of the ship’s commanding officer was sought to obtain it. The color now in his posession, the lieutenant ran to the shore and upon reaching the battalion CP, he told his battalion leadership that the flag is now ready. But according to a 2004 discovery made by the Historian’s Office of the US Coast Guard, reinforced by a 1991 New York Times interview by 2LT Wells, minutes of inquries then led PFC Rene Gagnon to the LST USS Duval County docked offshore, where he later boarded, and he later found the larger national standard that the ship had and the said flag – hand woven by civilian worker Mabel Sauvageau from the Mare Island Naval Shipyard – was given to him by USCG Quartermaster Robert Resnick after the corresponding permission had been granted by his commanding officer LT Frank Molenda for him to give the flag, which matched what Secretary Forrestal had needed. Leaving the ship with the flag now in his posession, he passed by Wells and Turner on his way to report to the battalion CP at the foothills, just as he was ordered to.

The three combat photographers, by noon, were joined by a squad from that same platoon, which had Gagnon, Schultz, SGT Michael Strank, CPL Harlon Block, and PFCs Ira Hayes and Franklin Sousley, and upon reaching that peak the 6 Marines, as the three men’s cameras were now ready, raised the bigger flag atop Mount Suribachi, the historic hoisting of the national flag atop the summit of Mount Suribachi, which has become a part of our common legacy and of the 245 year long history of the United States Marine Corps, the 73 year history of the United States Armed Forces and of the 244 year history of the entire United States of America. (This historic event in the history of the Corps was recreated with great detail in the 2006 film Flags of Our Fathers with Adam Beach, John Michael Cross, Barry Pepper, Ryan Philippe, Jesse Bradford and Benjamin Walker playing the flagbearers, and the late Paul Walker, Tom McCarthy and Alessandro Mastrobuono playing the men who raised the first flag, plus Jamie Bell, Neal McDonough and Robert Patrick, and the film Letters from Iwo Jima, made that same year, tells of the heroic Japanese defense of the island that took many Japanese lives in the process as against so many American Marines that had died and injured.) This is the very important day marked in the annals of the long and glorious history of this noble institution, in which we today honor, as one united people, the many thousands of Marines of V Amphibious Corps under its commander, General Holland Smith, who together with servicemen from the Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard, risked their lives to defend the American people and the interest of the homeland abroad, as well as its obligations to global security against domestic and international aggresions, as well as to disaster relief at home and overseas and building ties of friendship and cooperation with friendly and allied countries worldwide. Many Marines of all ranks had all through these days of the battle had fallen for the defense of the homeland and her people during this historic long battle in the midst of the sands of Iwo Jima against the Japanese aggressor – a battle that forever has become part of the legendary United States Marine Corps and of our proud military history streching for many centuries. As one people, we are honored today to mark this historic day in our history and of the entire United States Marine Corps, which ensures its existence for generation upon generation of Americans today and in the future. No matter what happens in the world today the Corps is ever more prepared to face the challenges of the modern world and fight for the independence and sovereignty of the United States and the hopes of freedom of millions everywhere!

As the battle ended on the 26th of March, just more than a month since it began and of the historic raising of the Stars and Stripes atop Mount Suribachi, only Tatum, Bradley, Schultz, Gagnon and Hayes were among the hundreds of thousands who went back to their homeland as victors to the very people they swore to defend at the cost of their very own lives. The victory in Iwo Jima cost more than 20 thousand United States Armed Forces casualties, an estimated 6,800 deaths and 19,000 wounded servicemen in the battle for the liberation of Iwo Jima, more than in every battle fought by our armed forces in the Pacific. Among those who perished were 12 Marines whose bravery at the cost of their lives were rewarded by the entire nation with the posthumous awards of the Medal of Honor and a number of others whose brave sacrfices ensured the victorious conclusion of this battle. Indeed it was at such a huge cost that this battle was won for the Allies, most especially for the United States Armed Forces, and a high cost of deaths and wounded as against the Japanese forces. 75 years on since this historic event, the millions of Americans at home and abroad today recall this important victory, one of many to be won in the Pacific Theater of Operations by the gallant millions of men and women of the Armed Forces together with their gallant allies abroad, which smashed the walls of oppression and tyrannt of the Axis Powers represented by the Empire of Japan and brought freedom to millions in the Asia-Pacific. In this historic anniversary, once more, we are reminded yet again of the patriotic and internationalist responsibility of the Armed Forces in the defense of the independence and liberty of millions all over the world, and the responsibility of all Americans to help not just in national defense but in the building of national prosperity, security and safety, preservation of the country’s religions and cultures, safekeeping the enviroment and the sites of national importance, and becoming active in sports and recreation.

Indeed “Uncommon valor was a common virtue”, said the great Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, when he was asked to describe the bravery and courage of the hundred thousand Marines of V Amphibious Corps who served there in this, one of the bloodiest battles that the United States Marine Corps faced in the Second World War in the Pacific Theater of Operations and one of the biggest victories of the Allies in this part of the world, alongside the men of the other service branches of the United States Armed Forces – our Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, who made this great victory happen in the sands of Iwo Jima against determined odds. His words are forever written in marble in the Arlington National Cemetery’s Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, the very monument made on the basis of the historic photograph of the Iwo Jima flag raising that today, after 66 years since its historic inauguration, proudly stands over the Arlington fields and the graves of so many Marines over the centuries who even at the cost of their lives, served faithfully always to their country and people, and honoring the 244 years of long and faithful service of the United States Marine to the people and government of the United States of America and to all the people of the free world. In these changing times of our history, by our acts of remembrance and honor in memory of the events of the long battle for the liberation of Iwo Jima against the forces of the Empire of Japan, we never forget to remember the heroic actons done during the days of this great battle and most especially the six thousand American military servicemen who perished in this tiny island for the sake of the freedoms, dreams and aspirations not just of the people of the United States of America but also of all the millions of people of the free world.

Ladies and gentlemen and people of our free world:

As one united people, it is with deep respect and gratitude, with humble respect and our deepest thanks not just to those who died but also to those who survived and our remaining veterans of this great battle living among us, as the whole world remembers and celebrates this very moment in our history and most of all in the history of the glorious United States Armed Forces, we, in remembrance of all the fallen and with profound thoughts of all who serve today in the armed forces and in our uniformed security and civil defense services, greet each other and the men and women of the United States Marine Corps as we celebrate together as one nation and one free world the seventy-five year anniversary of the historic raising of the national flag of the United States of America by these 6 brave Marines of the 5th Marine Division, risking even to lose their very own lives in the defense of their country and her people. The diamond legacy left by this historic act remains part of our long history and the patrimony of her Armed Forces, and thus is one of the greatest defining actions by the millions who served during those critical times of our history, those who are collectively called as our “greatest generation” of the armed forces and our civilian security services. Only few remain living among the thousands who survived the battle and helped win one of the greatest operations in the military history of the United States, and today we thank these remaining living veterans of Iwo Jima, who 75 years ago helped bring forth the victory over the Empire of Japan in the Asia-Pacific, for their service to the nation and for their contributions to the victory won in this part of the world. To them, we owe our gratitude and pledge thus to honor the legacy they left behind in our history and to forever remain committed to fight just as they did long ago towards a better world.

May this great moment, which forever belongs in the annals of American military history, be for all generations a moment that will be forever a part of our history and sacred patrimony, and a part in the long 245-year history of the United States Marine Corps and the 73 years of the modern United States Armed Forces, truly a sacred and memorable moment of national pride that will be forever be remembered and never forgotten in our hearts for years and decades to come and in the hearts of all the people of the free world, and most of all of the American people, a memorable moment that will be treasured to our children. For this very immortal battle, one of many Allied victories in the Pacific Theater of Operations and one of the greatest military victories of the United States Armed Forces in this part of the world during the Second World War, shall be remembered as the one very battle that showed the world the bravery, courage and determination of the United States Marine for the defense of the American nation and all the free peoples of the world, and for the preservation of the values of freedom and liberty on which the United States was formed, thanks in part of the courage and gallantry shown by the US Marines in the early years of the nation that it helped to build thanks to the efforts of the Second Continental Congress 245 years past. Today, as we honor this historic anniversary of such a great moment by these 6 Marines for our country and Corps, we once again recall the sacrifices made by the men and women of our Armed Forces in the victory won in this battle and many other combat operations in the Second World War in Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific, flying the flag that today was raised in triumph in the peak of Mount Suribachi and in all our installations and military bases, in the sacred cause of the defense of the republic and her people and the cause of independence and liberty of the peoples of the free world. Once more, we today reaffirm that no matter what the dangers this world might face, with the strength and determination of the thousands of servicemen and women in the Armed Forces, and the inspiration of our heroes of the past, we will overcome all trials and disasters, and forge onwards towards the goal of a better tomorrow for our future generations.

In closing, may the eternal memory of these brave 6 Marine flagbearers, who risked their futures and their lives for the sake of our liberty 75 years ago when they raised the very symbol of our freedom, sovereignity and independence, be honored all the more by our efforts by all of us today, the people of this great land together with the free peoples of the world, everyday and by the generations to come – the very eternal memory of them and of all the millions who fought in the Second World War who will never be forgotten and will be honored for all time, in very age, century upon century, for the peace of our world and for the future of humanity!

And may this historic moment live on the hearts of the millions of American people and forever remain a celebration worthy to be honored as forever a part of the history and patrimony not just of the United States Marine Corps and the United States Armed Forces, but also as a great moment in the history of our great independent homeland the United States of America!

ETERNAL GLORY TO THE FALLEN OF THE BATTLE OF MANILA AND THE BOMBING OF PFORZHEIM!

LONG LIVE THE 36TH NATIONAL DAY OF BRUNEI DARUSSALAM, THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF GUAYANA, AND THE 6th ANNIVERSARY OF THE CLOSING OF THE SOCHI WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES AND THE VICTORY OF THE EUROMAIDAN REVOLUTION!

ETERNAL GLORY TO THE MEMORY OF THE 6 MARINES WHO ON THIS VERY IMPORTANT DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY EXACTLY 75 YEARS AGO ON THIS VERY DAY IN OUR HISTORY, ATOP THE PEAK OF MOUNT SURIBACHI IN IWO JIMA, RISKING EVEN TO SUFFER DEATH BY ENEMY GUNFIRE, BAYONETS AND GRENADES, RAISED THE VERY SYMBOL OF FREEDOM AND LIBERTY, OUR GLORIOUS NATIONAL FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

ETERNAL GLORY AND MEMORY TO THE HEROES, MARTYRS AND VETERANS OF THE GREAT BATTLE OF IWO JIMA, ONE OF THE GREATEST BATTLES EVER FOUGHT BY THE MEN OF THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS!

ETERNAL GLORY TO THE MEMORY OF ALL THE VETERANS, ALLIED HEROES AND FALLEN OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN THE PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS!

LONG LIVE THE GLORIOUS, INVINCIBLE AND LEGENDARY UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS, ALWAYS FAITHFUL TILL THE END FOR THE PEOPLE AND THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND OF THE FREE WORLD!

GLORY TO THE VICTORIOUS PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND HER UNIFORMED SERVICES!

AND FINALLY, GLORY TO THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, DEFENDERS OF OUR FREEDOM AND LIBERTY AND GUARANTEE OF A FUTURE WORTHY OF OUR GENERATIONS TO COME!

May our Almighty God bless our great country, the land of the free and the home of the brave, the first of the free republics of our modern world, our beloved, great and mighty United States of America! Semper Fidelis! Oorah!

2300h, February 23, 2020, the 244th year of the United States of America, the 245th year of the United States Army, Navy and Marine Corps, the 126th of the International Olympic Committee, the 124th of the Olympic Games, the 79th since the beginning of the Second World War in the Eastern Front and in the Pacific Theater, the 75th since the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and the victories in Europe and the Pacific and the 73rd of the United States Armed Forces

Semper Fortis John Emmanuel Ramos Makati City, Philippines Grandson of Philippine Navy veteran PO2 Paterno Cueno, PN (Ret.)

(Honor by Hans Zimmer) (Platoon Swims) (Rendering Honors)

#hbo war #the pacific #battle of iwo jima #flags of our fathers

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listener-blue · 7 years ago

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Guidance: Contains images some may find distressing.

It is the whisky-making Scottish island, world famous for its peaty single malts and warm hospitality.

But the isle of Islay, in the Inner Hebrides, is now being recognised for an almost forgotten example of huge courage and humanity.

A hundred years ago, Islay was on the frontline in the battle at sea during World War One.The island coped with mass casualties from two major troopship disasters just eight months apart.

Between them, the sinkings of the SS Tuscania in February and HMS Otranto in October, claimed the lives of about 700 men in the last year of the war.

Both will be officially commemorated on Islay this week.

A century ago, the island was enduring considerable pain. It had already lost about 150 sons on the Western front, from a population of just 6,000. Every household grieved for someone killed in a far away field. And then the carnage of war came to them.

The Tuscania had almost completed its transatlantic voyage, carrying US troops, among a convoy of ships. As it turned into the north channel between Scotland and Ireland on 5 February 1918, danger lurked beneath the waves.

A German U-boat stalked the convoy, got the Tuscania in its sights and fired two torpedoes - one of which ripped a huge gash in its side. It was a fatal blow. The former luxury liner, converted for the war effort, would soon be on the seabed.

The Tuscania was carrying almost 2,500 US soldiers and British crew. Incredibly, most were rescued by the Royal Navy. But some of those who made it into lifeboats were not so lucky. They were swept towards the cliffs and rocks of Islay's Oa peninsula and shipwrecked for a second time.

Private Arthur Siplon was thrown into the sea when his lifeboat capsized.

"He thought he was going to die," his youngest son Bob told me.

"But at last he grabbed hold of a rock and when the sea receded he managed to hang on and climbed to the shore."

Private Siplon was rescued by one of two Islay farmers who risked their own lives pulling men to safety.

Pictured - Arthur Sipton

Robert Morrison and Duncan Campbell gave food and shelter to dozens of survivors and were later awarded the OBE.

Bob Siplon knows that he and his family would not exist if his father had not found help on Islay.

"It's like the actions of those people 100 years ago ripples through time to affect me 100 years later.

"It tells me that what we do makes a difference" he said.

This was a massive disaster for a small island to manage. In 1918, Islay had no electricity, no air service and few motor vehicles.

The funeral on Islay of 199 American soldiers who were victims of the Ontranto disaster

The civil authority on this almost crime-free island was a police sergeant on a bicycle, called Malcolm MacNeill. Sgt MacNeill and his three constables had to recover, identify and bury the remains of almost 200.

His grandson - former Nato secretary general, Lord Robertson - considers their task on a scale comparable with recent terrorist attacks.

"This is like Lockerbie (air disaster) or 7/7 or even 9/11 occurring in a small community.

"A huge event taking place with deaths, bodies, survivors - the calamity that was involved".

Despite their trauma, the islanders worked tirelessly to bury the dead with dignity.

They did not have an American flag for the funerals, so a small group of locals hand-stitched one from the materials they had - working late into the night.

That flag has been preserved by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, which is sending it home on loan to Islay for the centenary.

The Smithsonian's Jennifer Jones is impressed by the care the islanders showed for the American soldiers washed up on their shores.

"It was very heartfelt, that people went out of their way to respect those who had recently lost their lives" she said.

Islanders pulled together to respond to the Tuscania sinking.

What they could not know is that this was only a preparation for a much bigger disaster to come.

Like the Tuscania, HMS Otranto was carrying US troops across the Atlantic in a convoy when disaster struck.

But it wasn't an act of war that sank the Otranto on 6 October 1918, within weeks of the armistice. It was a navigational error in a storm.

As the convoy approached the west coast of Scotland in near hurricane conditions, there was confusion over their exact position.

The Otranto was rammed by another ship in the convoy - HMS Kashmir - which ripped its steel hull wide open.

The Kashmir and the rest of the convoy sailed on, under orders not to give assistance for fear of U-boat attack.

Despite the ferocious weather, the Royal Navy destroyer, HMS Mounsey came to the rescue under the command of Lieutenant Francis Craven.

"In my viewpoint, Captain Craven was a real hero. Perhaps the real hero of the event" said Chuck Freedman, whose grandfather, Sam Levy, was on the Otranto.

Lieutenant Levy was among almost 600 soldiers who successfully jumped for their lives on to the deck of the Mounsey.

Funeral for the victims of the Ontranto at Kilchoman on Islay

Many others tried and failed and were crushed to death between the two ships. By the time the Mounsey left the scene there were still hundreds of men aboard the sinking Otranto.

Their best hope was to be swept towards one of the beaches on Islay's Atlantic coast. But that wasn't to be.

The Otranto was lifted by a huge wave and dumped down onto a reef that broke its back and tore the ship to pieces.

Only 21 men made it ashore alive.

Some were pulled from the sea by members of Donald-James McPhee's family.

They were shepherds and used their crooks to reach survivors - the length of their staffs, the distance between life and death.

But this was largely a recovery operation with bodies piling up along the coast.

"It must have been so sad for them to see that" said Mr McPhee.

"Waking up in the morning to a normal day's work and hundreds of dead bodies by the evening. It must have been horrendous."

Sergeant MacNeill painstakingly recorded the details of every body washed ashore, in a notebook which now has pride of place in the Museum of Islay life.

Many of the victims were from the US state of Georgia, which is planning its own commemorations later this year.

Some of the 700 victims of the Otranto and Tuscania disasters were never found.

The majority were buried on Islay.

After the war, the remains of the American soldiers were exhumed and returned home.

In 1918, the Tuscania disaster represented the biggest single loss of US military lives since the American civil war. The sinking of the Otranto accounted for some of America's heaviest losses at sea during the 1914-18 war. Yet the stories of these ships are not well known - lost perhaps in a century of Islay mist.

There is a large lighthouse-shaped memorial on Islay's bleak Mull of Oa.

But when I was growing up on the island, the troopships were rarely talked about. That's changing. Today, every child at my old school - Bowmore primary - is learning about them.

On Friday 4 May, Princess Anne will lead commemorations on Islay to mark the centenary of these twin tragedies. These events will honour those who lost their lives and honour what the people of Islay did for those in peril on their shores a hundred years ago.

#history #ww1 #islay #local history #scotland #long post

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harrisonstories · 6 years ago

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Robbie Robertson’s (The Band) autobiography, Testimony Excerpt #3:

Playing the Isle of Wight festival with Bob Dylan in Aug. 1969. John and Yoko, George and Pattie, and Ringo and Maureen were there.

The arrangement for the Isle of Wight was that we would play a set with Bob and one on our own. We didn’t have much time to run over songs for the show, so we decided to fly over a few days early and rehearse. The Isle of Wight is an island off the south coast of England that had been a home of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Bob rented a house in the small town of Bembridge, with a building where we could work out some material, while the Band stayed at a nearby hotel.

John, George, and Ringo came down for a visit with their better halves to catch some of the show. John appeared thinner with his shoulder-length hair. He and Yoko were looking similar in spirit as well as physically, and they sat quietly in the corner smiling and holding hands as we rehearsed. George and Pattie cheered us on and made song requests like “Everybody Must Get Stoned” and “To Kingdom Come.” And Ringo made Levon’s day as he marched around the room peering through his sunglasses yelling, “Turn up the drums! We need more drums!”

Before we hit the stage, we heard that the police were having problems with the crowd. Of course, at such an event there’s going to be some unruly suspects - especially in the British Isles, where they have rivers of beer flowing and lochs of scotch whiskey and gin. But the promoters said the police had German shepherds attacking people who were trying to crash the gates. Not what you wanted to hear before you go on. It sounded ugly and disturbing.

Since Bob had hardly played live in almost three years, I hoped the craziness wouldn’t throw him off his game. Before we went out there, I said, “Okay captain, let’s go get ‘em.” He nodded and threw his guitar strap over his shoulder. There was something about these huge events that sent me into a vacuum, into a zone between a dream state and nightmare. The only grounding I had was looking down into a private section in front of the stage and seeing the Beatles sitting there, and I couldn’t even be sure that was real. We couldn’t hear one another very well on the stage, so I just put my head down and plowed straight ahead, recalling Bob’s earliest instruction: “Just don’t stop.” There was no longer much booing like in ‘66, but there were some catcalls and hoots.

We were supposed to head to London the next day, but Ringo said he had a private plane if I wanted to go that night. I was a little bit wary. “What kind of plane?”

John Lennon laughed. “Oh, don’t be worried. Ringo is much too lucky to be in any bloody plane disaster.” George gave me a push and said, “Yeah, yeah, it’s perfectly okay. Go on. I’ll see you in London.”

On the way, I asked Ringo where their incredible bass player, Paul, was. He answered, “Why, I don’t know what the bass player’s up to this weekend. Think he might be having some girlfriend problems, but hopefully he’s just off writing some good songs for me to sing.” The airplane pilot let out a hearty laugh.

#robbie robertson #the band #bob dylan #george harrison #john lennon #ringo starr #pattie boyd #yoko ono #maureen starkey #maureen cox #the beatles #testimony #testimony excerpt 3 #isle of wight #1969

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brookstonalmanac · 2 years ago

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Birthdays 3.22

Beer Birthdays

Joseph Straub (1880)

Steve Wellington (1944)

Five Favorite Birthdays

George Benson; jazz guitarist (1941)

Bob Costas; sportscaster (1952)

James T. Kirk; starfleet captain (2233)

William Shatner; actor (1931)

Reese Witherspoon; actor (1976)

Famous Birthdays

Jessie Andrews; porn actor (1992)

Angelo Badalamenti; composer (1937)

Wolf Blitzer; television journalist (1948)

Derek Bok; writer, educator (1930)

Bruno Ganz; actor (1941)

Bill Holman; cartoonist (1903)

Werner Klemperer; actor (1920)

Louis L'Amour; writer (1908)

Karl Malden; actor (1912)

Marcel Marceau; French mime (1923)

Ross Martin; actor (1920)

Chico Marx; actor, comedian (1887)

Robert Millikan; physicist (1868)

Matthew Modine; actor (1959)

Edward Moore; English poet (1712)

Lena Olin; actor (1955)

James Patterson; writer (1947)

Pat Robertson; evangelical nut job, televangelist, religious hypocrite and bigot (1930)

Stephen Sondheim; composer (1930)

Elvis Stojko; Canadian figure skater (1972)

Harry Vanda; rock musician (1947)

Anthony Van Dyck; Flemish artist (1599)

M. Emmet Walsh; actor (1935)

Andrew Lloyd Webber; composer (1948)

Bill Wendell; television announcer (1924)

Wonder Woman; Amazonian (1941)

#Birthdays

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mitchbeck · 3 years ago

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CANTLON: (10/29) MUCH LIES AHEAD FOR PACK

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The Hartford Wolf Pack return home at the XL Center for their second three games in three days. They will face-off with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and then have their first meeting with the Charlotte Checkers in two years. The Checkers are now the dual affiliate of the Florida Panthers and the expansion, Seattle Kraken, who await the completion of their new arena in Palm Springs, CA. Next year the Kracken will be in their building and migrate to the Pacific Division. The Pack will finish the weekend with a quick trip down I-95 to play at the Webster Bank Arena and the Bridgeport Islanders. No players have been assigned to the Jacksonville Icemen, the team's new ECHL affiliate. Keith Kinkaid will start the weekend in the net, as he has the first two weekends. Wolf Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch says who will be in the net for the rest of the weekend remains up in the air. The first line of team captain Jonny Brodzinski, Tim Gettinger, and Anthony Greco remains intact. Morgan Barron, back from a stint with the New York Rangers, slides into the second line with Justin Richards and Ty Ronning. The only defensive change is on the third pair, as Hunter Skinner replaces Zach Giuttari and teams up with Tarmo Reunanen. The other pairs are Anthony Bitetto and Zac Jones, and Braden Schneider, and Matt Robertson. Thus far, the roster is injury-free. Meanwhile, in New York, forward Ryan Reaves was placed on the IR. Kappo Kaako was taken off that list. Greg McKegg stays in NY for the time being. THE BEACH AFFAIR Allegations of sexual abuse by Wolf Pack forward Kyle Beach that dates back eleven years to his time in the Chicago Blackhawks organization by a video coach have been proven to be true. The scandal has resulted in the firing of the team's President, John McDonough, the General Manager who also holds the same role for the Team USA Olympic team, Stan Bowman, Assistant GM, Al MacIsaac, and a former head coach, now an ex-head coach of the Florida Panthers, former Whaler Joel Quenneville. However, after a meeting with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, the present Winnipeg Jets GM, ex-Springfield Indians player Kevin Cheveldayoff, who was with the Blackhawks at the time, was spared the hangmen's noose. Beach was with the Pack for half a season after being acquired on waivers from the St. Louis Blues on December 6, 2013. After seven unpleasant games in Rockford and five rocky years there, he was traded for the current Jacksonville Icemen (ECHL) assistant coach when the team was called the CT Whale, Brandon Mashinter. The Blackhawks, and by extension the NHL, tried to bury him after Beach was drafted in the first round (11th overall) in 2008. After five years in the AHL, the Chicago organization sent Beach to HV71 in the Swedish Hockey League. One NHL scout alleged at the time in a private conversation in no uncertain terms with this reporter that Beach had drug and alcohol issues, felt the Rangers had made a mistake in picking him up, and that Beach was anything but a good teammate. GERNANDER REACTION He was surely at best in his brief stop in Hart City. Former Pack head coach Ken Gernander, now an amateur NHL scout living in Minnesota, was succinct on his brief tenure. "At no time, where we told about it by the organization or by him. He was good to work with, and we had no issues with him. The first I heard about it was from my daughter the other day, and I was completely shocked by it." By unmasking himself as the "John Doe" in the story by reporter Rick Westhead of The Athletic, Beach laid bare how the system failed him. Beach is currently still skating for the German Division 3 EHC Erfurt Black Dragons. However, he'll likely receive a sizable settlement when he retires and could wind up with an NHL job, as was the case with another ex-Wolf Pack, Akim Aliu was last year. IN MEMORIAM Original Hartford Whaler fans have lost the voice of their soul. Bob Neumeier, 70, who overcame a stroke several years ago, the cheery, enthusiastically pleasant voice passed away in Boston of congestive heart failure. He was NBC's voice of horse racing and did local sports in Boston for WCVB-TV as well. Before the great Chuck Kaiton, it was Neumeier's voice that boomed across large swaths of the US and Eastern Canada on WTIC-AM (1080) as the signature sound of the WHA New England Whalers. RIP HARTFORD WOLF PACK HOME Read the full article

#AmericanHockeyLeague #ConnecticutWhale #ECHL #HartfordWolfPack #KyleBeach #NationalHockeyLeague #NewYorkRangers #XLCenter

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your-dietician · 3 years ago

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What will ESPN’s coverage of the NHL look like next season?

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/nhl/what-will-espns-coverage-of-the-nhl-look-like-next-season/

What will ESPN’s coverage of the NHL look like next season?

The network’s coverage starts with the July 21 Seattle expansion draft, hosted by Chris Fowler on ESPN2. John Buccigross will host the NHL Draft two days later. Those shows will be produced by NHL Network.

When Gross spoke over the phone this past week, ESPN (which reportedly paid $410 million a year for seven years of NHL rights) and Turner ($225 million a year over the same period) still hadn’t divvied the games. The NHL had yet to release its 2021-22 schedule. Its puck- and player-tracking data has not seen the light of day.

“One thing we’re trying to get our arms around is what analytics teams and coaches use to showcase in our game coverage, our studio coverage,” Gross said. “Camera positions is another thing we’re looking at, talking to the league to see how we can showcase and document the games.”

Strategy and speed are the buzzwords Gross hears in his daily conversations with NHL people. Capturing both, while serving hard-core fans, hooking viewers from the massive pool of casual sports viewers who don’t give hockey much thought, attracting diverse genders and backgrounds . . . all are among Gross’s concerns.

“There has to be a level of entertainment without it being forced,” he said. “There’s really nothing worse on TV than forced fun. We have to find our spots, when we get [Chris] Chelios and [Mark] Messier together, who have a relationship. We’ll mix and match with other folks.”

Chelios and Messier, along with Steve Levy, will likely work the major events. “We know how that works,” Gross said. Hearing the two Hall of Famers, owners of some sharp elbows, chime in on player safety decisions should be interesting.

While he may not be hockey’s answer to Charles Barkley, Chelios does seem like a straight shooter. In a phone call, he acknowledged he wasn’t looking for a gig when he reached out to ESPN after the announcement. He was calling as a dad, hoping that his daughter, Lightning TV reporter Caley Chelios, was on the network’s radar.

“I like to think I’ll call it like it is,” said Chelios, 59, “Even though it’s a little different than when I played, hockey’s hockey.”

Messier, Chelios, Hilary Knight, Ray Ferraro, Brian Boucher, and Cassie Campbell-Pascall were among the first names Gross mentioned when speaking about his roster, but a lineup has yet to be solidified. He noted that women will be featured prominently in on-air roles.

The list of local connections is long, from Boucher (Woonsocket, R.I.), A.J. Mleczko (Nantucket/Harvard), former Red Sox play-by-play man Sean McDonough (Boston), Buccigross (who has Boston roots), Rick DiPietro (Winthrop/Boston University), ex-Boston College Eagles Blake Bolden and Bob Wischusen, and Emily Kaplan, a former Globie.

Gross said another fan favorite from the past, play-by-play announcer Gary Thorne, remains an option. He spoke with the agent for Thorne, 73, this past week.

“We’re not done yet,” Gross said. “We want to see what the schedule looks like, and what other decisions we have to make. We still have time.”

What’s the game-changing idea that will separate ESPN? It won’t be glow pucks and robots (fun as they were for younger fans in the ’90s). What’s hockey’s version of the K-Zone?

“Some people thought the first-and-10 line would be too intrusive,” Gross mused. “Now you can’t really watch a game without it.”

AWARD SEASON

One voter’s ballot in depth

Connor McDavid became the first unanimous MVP since Wayne Gretzky in 1982, collecting all 100 first-place votes for the Hart Memorial Trophy.DARRYL DYCK/Associated Press

I consider it a privilege to vote on year-end NHL awards as part of my duties with the Professional Hockey Writers Association. I’m not alone. My peers and I want to get it right.

When it came to this season’s MVP, I believe we did.

Connor McDavid earned all 100 first-place votes for the Hart Trophy, becoming the second unanimous MVP ever (Wayne Gretzky, 1982). McDavid’s 105 points in 56 games goes down as one of the most dominant seasons in league history. He was playing at a different speed than everyone else.

In the voting bloc — trimmed from about 175 to 100 members, and dispersed regionally to address imbalances created by the divisional-only schedule — we saw some refreshingly progressive thinking, and as always, some strange calls. One Edmonton writer voted McDavid’s teammate, Leon Draisaitl, second for the Selke. Draisaitl made strides this season, but it would be generous to call him an above-average defensive forward, much less elite.

In this space last year, I delved into my methodology, which blends in-person viewings, video study, and number-crunching. Obviously this season, I relied more on the latter two. I was among the few beat writers who traveled all season, but I only watched the East Division up close.

My ballot, and some quick takes:

Hart Trophy — 1. McDavid; 2. Auston Matthews; 3. Nathan MacKinnon; 4. Aleksander Barkov; 5. Brad Marchand.

Relatively easy calls. McDavid was incredible, and the other four were the driving forces on good teams. Marchand was ranked as high as No. 2 on six ballots.

Norris Trophy — 1. Adam Fox; 2. Cale Makar; 3. Charlie McAvoy; 4. Dougie Hamilton; 5. MacKenzie Weegar.

A youth movement, and an ECAC/Hockey East top three. Makar (UMass) missed 12 games, or 21 percent of the season, leaving the door open for Fox (Harvard), who was the Rangers’ MVP in his second season. McAvoy (BU) might be the best five-on-five defender in the game. Weegar opened eyes after Aaron Ekblad’s injury. Eleven blue liners earned top-three votes. Victor Hedman was down-ballot for me, after an injury-plagued regular season. Don’t ask me why someone gave Kris Letang a first-place vote. Fun fact: Fox is the first player of Jewish descent to win a major NHL award.

Calder Trophy — 1. Kirill Kaprizov; 2. Jason Robertson; 3. Alex Nedeljkovic; 4. Josh Norris; 5. Igor Shesterkin.

Kaprizov (27 goals and 51 points in 55 games) was a slam dunk, though Robertson had a brief midseason run that made it interesting.

Lady Byng Trophy — 1. Jaccob Slavin; 2. Jared Spurgeon; 3. Barkov; 4. Roope Hintz; 5. Johnny Gaudreau.

I’ve said before that writers should not vote for this. Referees should. Slavin, an elite defender playing heavy minutes, committed one penalty all season (for shooting the puck over the glass). Good enough for me.

Selke Trophy — 1. Barkov; 2. Patrice Bergeron; 3. Joel Eriksson Ek; 4. Phillip Danault; 5. Joe Pavelski.

Barkov had a strong MVP case, but his 200-foot excellence was properly recognized here. Bergeron is still Bergeron. Could see Danault, after his lockdown playoffs, be front of mind for a lot of voters next season.

The PWHA does not vote on the Vezina Trophy (the general managers selected Marc-Andre Fleury), but we do pick the year-end All-Star teams. My goalies, in order, were Andrei Vasilevskiy, Fleury, and Juuse Saros. We also pick All-Rookie teams. I had Kaprizov, Robertson, and Norris as my forwards, Ty Smith and K’Andre Miller as my defensemen, and Nedeljkovic in goal.

ETC.

League will not rush to judgment

Commissioner Gary Bettman said the league is waiting for an independent review of the Blackhawks alleged cover-up of sexual abuse before proceeding.Karl B DeBlaker/Associated Press

The alleged cover-up of sexual assault by the Blackhawks was the leading topic in Gary Bettman’s annual pre-Stanley Cup Final news conference this past week. Rightfully so.

Bettman said the league learned of the allegations “relatively recently” and will wait for an independent review.

According to a lawsuit filed in May, a former Blackhawks player alleges he and another player were assaulted by then-video coach Brad Aldrich during the team’s 2010 championship run. The team’s leadership, which included current GM Stan Bowman, were allegedly informed of the incident by then-skills coach Paul Vincent, whom the players had told.

Aldrich later worked at a high school in Michigan, where he was convicted of sexual assault involving a student. He is now on Michigan’s sex offender registry.

Multiple ex-Blackhawks, including Nick Boynton, Daniel Carcillo (then with the Flyers), and Brent Sopel, spoke out this past week. One unnamed player told The Athletic that “every guy on the team knew.” Captain Jonathan Toews took issue with that, telling that outlet he didn’t hear about the allegations until the end of that summer. He said he couldn’t say for sure if the team “mishandled” the situation.

Bettman, a former lawyer, pumped the brakes. “Let us see what the investigation reveals, and then we can figure out what comes next,” he said. “I think everyone is jumping too far, too fast. This is going to be handled appropriately and professionally, and done right.”

Let’s hope so.

Beijing Olympics not a given

Commissioner Gary Bettman said the NHL has concerns over the feasibility of sending players to the Olympics next winter.Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press

Later in his Q&A, Bettman shared the league’s “real concerns” over whether it was “sensible” to have a two-week shutdown for the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Wait, what?

After sitting out 2018 — and watching interest in Olympic hockey wane — the NHL and NHLPA last summer collectively bargained to participate in the 2022 and 2026 Winter Olympics, pending further agreement with both parties, the IIHF, and IOC. But there is no plan yet.

COVID-19 variants remain a worry, and NBC isn’t likely to lobby on the NHL’s inclusion following the expiration of the TV deal. The NHL hopes to release its 2021-22 schedule shortly after the Cup Final.

“Time is running very short,” Bettman said, which came as disappointing news to Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman.

“The Olympics is one of the biggest dreams of mine and I haven’t been able to participate in one. This might be the last chance I get. That sucks to hear,” said Hedman, who was left off Team Sweden in 2014. “When you get an opportunity to represent your country on the biggest stage, it’s one of those things that you’ll probably never forget. For me, it’s obviously something I’ve been dreaming about my whole life and something I want to do before I hang up my skates.”

Pride working on title defense

The Boston Pride, two-time Isobel Cup winners, are preparing a title defense for 2021-22.Mary Schwalm/Associated Press

The NWHL’s Boston Pride are deep into an Isobel Cup summer, hauling the trophy from New England lake houses to the Grand Canyon.

As he preps for a title defense, coach Paul Mara is playing his cards close. After a few defections, he’s using his newfound salary-cap space — the league doubled the ceiling to $300,000 — to bring in some outside help.

“Working on a few things,” he said.

The NWHL is feeling momentum entering its seventh season. An influx of sponsorship dollars, visibility from its Isobel Cup playoffs broadcast on NBCSN, and a lot of player raises have elevated the mood.

Since last month, the four franchises under league control — the Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, Metropolitan Riveters, and Minnesota Whitecaps — were sold to private owners, making it a league of six independent clubs. Expansion is on the horizon, with Montreal a primary target.

Also notable: This past week’s draft, which was streamed on Twitch, included appearances from a range of pro sports personalities, including NHL league and team executives, and USA Hockey reps. The NWHL hasn’t always had such vocal support.

For all the growth, players aren’t yet earning a living wage. Contracts are yearly. Outside opportunities create a talent drain.

The Pride lost president Hayley Moore to the AHL (vice president of hockey operations), replacing her with 1998 US Olympian Colleen Coyne. They are searching for a GM, after Karilyn Pilch this past week signed on with the Chicago Blackhawks’ scouting and player development department.

They also need a few good forwards. Mary Parker, Carlee Turner, and Lexie Laing departed for job and school reasons. Czech standout Tereza Vanisova signed with Leksands IF in Sweden, which will better help her participate in a demanding Olympic training schedule.

League MVP Jillian Dempsey, recovered from shoulder surgery, returns with All-Star linemates McKenna Brand and Christina Putigna, the No. 1 defense pair of Kaleigh Fratkin (two-time NWHL Defender of the Year) and Mallory Souliotis, and netminders Lovisa Selander and Victoria Hanson. That crew, plus whomever Mara can lure to town, should keep the Pride near the top of the standings.

Unlike last season, when the Pride got a boost from No. 1 overall pick Sammy Davis (BU) and six drafted rookies, the draft won’t have a major impact. Because they lost their 2021 first- and second-round picks when they traded up to select Davis, and dealt their third-rounder to Buffalo for future considerations, the Pride picked in the fourth and fifth rounds (Weston’s Finley Frechette and Beverly’s Abby Nearis, both forwards).

The NWHL’s player pool was thinned after the NCAA granted players an extra year of eligibility, leading many of the top draft-eligible players to return to school. Because of that, Boston isn’t the only team that believes next year’s draft will be loaded.

Loose pucks

Bruce Cassidy (left) has been promoting from within, with assistant coach Jay Pandolfo (center) leaving for Boston University.Winslow Townson/Associated Press

The Bruins have promoted from within of late, calling up coaches from Providence and the player development ranks. It makes sense that fourth-year P-Bruins coach Jay Leach would replace Jay Pandolfo on Bruce Cassidy’s staff, but player development staffers Chris Kelly and Jamie Langenbrunner will also get a look. Like Pandolfo, they were two-way forwards with long NHL résumés . . . As for Pandolfo, the move to BU gives him a shorter path to a head coaching gig. Albie O’Connell, who is entering the final year of his deal, has had a spotty run . . . Bruins strength and conditioning assistant Kenny Whittier also made the move to BU . . . A few first-timers joined NHL benches this past week, including two ex-players, Alex Tanguay (Detroit assistant) and Tuomo Ruutu (Florida assistant), and André Tourigny (Arizona coach). The latter move was particularly interesting, for a league that often recycles head coaches . . . Toews, after a year out of the spotlight with a mysterious illness, is back on the ice. He posted a video message to fans after a practice, saying doctors told him he has “chronic immune response syndrome,” a catch-all term for constant, debilitating stress reactions. Still dealing with a few symptoms, the Blackhawks’ captain believes the condition was brought on by a nasty bout with COVID-19 in February 2020, before the pandemic hit in full; the toll of 13 NHL seasons; and the year-round hockey training schedule he’s followed since he was a young teenager. “I think there’s a lot of things that just piled up,” he said, “where my body just fell apart.” He hopes to return in October . . . Edmonton trimmed Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’s $6 million cap hit, but took a beating on term, when it locked up the No. 2 center to an eight-year, $41 million deal with a full no-move clause. He will be 36 when it expires. “No contract is perfect,” GM Ken Holland acknowledged . . . Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon’s take on game jersey ads, which are coming to the NHL sooner rather than later: “If we look like Formula One or NASCAR, that’d be fine with me.” . . . Glad to see college athletes everywhere get a chance to make some cash off their name and image, following the Supreme Court’s hammering of the paternalistic NCAA. A small step, long overdue.

Matt Porter can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @mattyports.

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