#he becomes one of Riy's nightmares

[fairy-lights-and-blobs]

First, on the topic of why High Fantasy AU's aren't as popular, I completely agree with this comment. Both on the fact that typically, for High Fantasy settings, ghosts are known entities, that have had documented interactions with the Living (for example, in The Witcher 3, you can choose to study the Spirit's past life to help them Move On instead of simply killing/exorcising them).

Now, on the topic of who to marry poor unsuspecting Danny off to?

See what I'm seeing here?

"(...) unwillingly teleported across time and space."

One of these teleportations fails, and Lian ends up being stuck in Phantom's Keep, with the servants, and Fright Knight as company until the King can be relieved of his current meeting with the Observants.

Everyone's used to dealing with teenagers, but it's Frighty in particular that has become most used to the mannerism of teenagers, and he spies a ball of rage and rebellion to rival "young Ms. Manson", and proceeds to "oh no, you certainly cannot go there, not the room where King Phantom is most definitely so bored and could use a rescue" his way into leading her to crashing the meeting, thus becoming Danny's issue and priority.

Danny, for his part, Would Rather Not get the full details on how many "lovely singles of any gender identity that might please milord" are willing and ready to marry him. Mama Fenton raised a gentleman, and Jazz would have his head if he stuck with these outdated ceremonies.

It feel like a blessing then, that this snarky girl, with just as little respect for Governmental Authorities as himself, has kicked in the doors to the Metting Room, and proceeded to drag him off while yelling something about how "Prince Charming over here needs to get his ass off that chair and get me home".

In the end, he does get Lian back home safe and sound. He even goes with her, to ensure she's delivered to her family safely.

The Observants look at each other. Look at Fright Knight. He stares back.

"So...you think she's single? Because she's clearly the King's type."

While Danny and Lian are off gallivanting across the DC world, the Council of Ancients tentatively puts forth marriage details for their escaped princeling and his dashing "savior", who rescued him from a life of boredom. All it needs is for the two to sign it.

Mistake number 1: Clockwork was the one in charge of keeping it safe, and he's going to make it's delivery as funny as possible.

Mistake number 2: no one considered how "compatible" the two might be (they're too compatible. Phantom has always been a very protective spirit. Lian will get him to cut loose, but in turn gains a mother-henning friend for the journey)

Clockwork delivers the unsigned contract when the Harpers have been reunited, Danny introduced to his in-laws, and seconds after the Dramatic First Kiss of Enlightenment that really hammers home the fact they've been dating for a few months now and didn't notice.

Just the funniest timing.

"Have...have we been dating for months and neither of us knew?!"

"I mean, if you don't wanna continue, be my guest-"

A roll of parchment drops on Lian's forehead. She reads through it.

Picks up a pen.

"Lian? What are you signing? That's Ghost Spak, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to sign-"

"Danny, stop being a drama queen, and sign the thing that says you'll do the things you're already doing!"

Danny swears bloody murder towards Clockwork, but signs anyways, because she's not wrong.

Now to explain it to Roy...

I'm gonna be honest, I'm surprised that Fantasy AUs aren't more popular in the Danny Phantom phandom. I've definitely seen some, but they don't get the same kind of buzz as most other alternate AUs get. In fact, most AUs that change the background setting are widely less popular. And that reflects in DPxDC too. Fantasy AUs aren't very popular in DC, and not in Batman media either, despite the comic continuity known as Kingdom Come. So there aren't many fans from that side bringing in the fics.

Which is still strange to me, considering how popular the Ghost King Danny concept is. And Bruce is literally called the 'Prince of Gotham', that's a golden fic opportunity.

So I guess what I'm trying to say here is, who should I marry Danny off to next? If no one will write it, I'll just write it myself, you know how it goes.

(also if anyone does have any idea why Fantasy AUs aren't more popular, I am all for hearing them :3)

[miumura]

LOVE MAZE — PROFILE TWO

hopeless lovers [heeseung]

HEESEUNG — mf can do anything but actually wanting to flirt with someone, part time model for Jay’s company, always involved in blind dates for some reason..

JUNGWON — YN’s brother, bickers with YN 24/7, the responsible (?) one, bothers the Yang’s Bakery staff a LOT

NIKI — a clueless one, doesn’t get Jake or Jay sometimes, just here for fun, definitely Jake’s partner in crime AND worst nemesis..

SUNOO — has beef with Jay, prettiest human ever, tries to get free desserts at Yang’s Bakery (jungwon makes him pay for them), Jay’s worst nightmare.

SUNGHOON — sometimes can be chill, sometimes can be very chaotic (no in between), ghosts people on the daily

JAKE — he wanna start problems with everybody, claims to have the most rizz, personally targets Heeseung the most.

JAY — his business means more than anything to him, makes his friends do random things for ads (helped them become models), casual visitor at Yang’s Bakery.

previous | next | masterlist

A/N : jake is gonna be a menace .

ENHA PERM TAGLIST — @son4taa @ixomiyu @yenavrse @shinsou-rii @luveuly @ilovewonyo @yenqa @dimplewonie @bubblytaetae @wtfhyuck @ineedaherosavemeenow @starcubes @starikizs @wonioml @chirokookie @xiaoderrrr @neozon3nha @en-chantedtomeetyou @millksea @enhaz1 @eundiarys @zuyairus @ja4hyvn @judeduartewannabe @j-wyoung @thia-aep @vampcharxter @softpia

TAGLIST ☕️ — @renchai @huskyhunny @soobswvrld @enhastolemyheart @jeanbob @jaehaki @zeraaax @chaechae-23 @hanienie @foxsunoo @/zuyairus @yoonsaves @enhafika @txtbrainrot @crusheo @rikisly @vexstrils @ifearjwn

[night-dark-woods]

OC asks: Nightmare, Pain, Secret, Skin. For anyone you please! Tell me about the horrors :)

thank youuu sorry these took a bit

nightmare: What does your OC have nightmares about? How do they deal with their nightmares? Do they tell people, or keep it to themself?

Hapax regularly has nightmares about dying in the Battle of Saturn in her first life, and she keeps that shit Locked Down. You would only know bc she's up in the middle of the night when she otherwise wouldn't be, cleaning her guns. She's figured out what the nightmares are about by context and the way people reacted to her face before Petra found a squad for her of people who didn't know her in her old life, but mostly its a lot of visceral terror and sudden pain that wakes her up and leaves her agitated and unsettled.

Unnamed vexo titan (sorry buddy... one day you'll get a name) definitely has Fucked Up DSC dreams but also it's a little bit Oops Too Much Vex so it also "dreams" of being part of that kind of collective again. Unfortunately it has just enough human bits to feel bereft because of this, and its Ghost can only do so much. Sharing with one mind that is naturally separate from yours is insufficient when you remember being Many, no matter how hard its Ghost tries. Eventually I'll ponder out what it feels about this past season, I think it would be deeply deeply tempted by Maya's "offer" to become one of many once again.

pain: What's the worst pain your OC has ever felt? Do they have a high pain tolerance?

Hapax: It took her a LONG time to figure out a single super (blade barrage) and she's still pretty fucking bad at shaping her power into anything precise. She's a destructive force on the battlefield but she vastly prefers to use her guns because she hasn't been able to figure out the "holding fire without it hurting her" part of using her abilities. After hitting triple digits of times that she had to kill herself so Schiller could rez her with the skin and fat layers back on her hands & arms, she pretty much said yeah fuck it im not trying this anymore. Her powers also react to her emotions *far* more than she would like, in large part because she experiences strong emotions so rarely that they take her by surprise and she doesn't have a lot of practice controlling her responses to them. So. She has a very high pain tolerance after all of that. Fuller will try her best to test it though <3

secret: What's one secret your OC never wants anyone to know about them?

Azireks for this one (finally picking a name for him too...): he's a young Eliksni in the grand scheme of things (he and Chance-5 are both young annoying little assholes who think they're hot shit) and he grew up on stories of life on Riis told by those who remember the Whirlwind, colored by grief and resentment but with an underlying faith in the Traveler that he couldn't understand; a faith he doesn't think the Traveler deserves after what it did and what it took from them, a faith that he regards with an uneasy and reactive contempt. His resentment and violence toward Tower Guardians are fueled directly by their callous disregard for Eliksni lives on the Shore, but also by this deep-seated anger at the Traveler. The secret though? Despite the big game he talks about the older Eliksni needing to get with the times and accept that Riis is gone, despite his disdain for their unwarranted faith in the Great Machine, he really *really* wishes he could have seen Riis, and wants desperately to be able to believe in the Traveler like that. He'd never tell anyone this though, especially Chance, but it colors the way he interacts with Chance's Ghost immensely- hard not to be gun-shy around an angel of a god you won't let yourself believe in. Chance's Ghost thinks Azireks doesn't like her because of this.

skin: How comfortable is your OC in their skin? Do they grapple with anything that lives inside them—a beast, a curse, a failure, a monster? How do they face the smallest, weakest, most horrible version of themself? Are they able to acknowledge it at all?

Unnamed vexo titan is entirely struggle between its different parts. I need to reread the BLCE and refresh my memory on Clarity Control timeline, but it was definitely an early prototype with too much Vex and not enough Human, before there was any stabilizing effect from CC, when the worst of the body horror shit was going on with exos. It hasn't been comfortable in its entire Risen life & I don't see that changing anytime soon (sorry buddy <3)

Chance & Azireks are both in the throes of the usual 20-something growing pains multiplied by the factor of Live In The Warzone, and are mostly bluster and pretense bc I think it's funny, but it's mostly to hide usual insecurities nothing super exciting. They're just annoying little guys (dyke flavor). Closest I suppose is both of them wish they could believe in the Traveler, but neither of them can (nor do they talk to each other about this!!!)- Azireks bc of the aforementioned reasons, and Chance bc of the actions of other Tower Guardians- how could a loving god let bad things happen, etc etc. Chance has faith in his Ghost, in Azireks, and in cold hard cash from Spider. The last and most sure of those has now left the Shore for the Last City though, leaving these guys to decide if they want to go live "domesticated" under the thumb of the Vanguard or try to scrabble out some sort of order in the now even more lawless Shore.

Hapax is like. She's contorted herself into the shape she has needed to be to not cause waves in the Reef military structure for Years, and so in a LOT of ways Fuller is going to slowly be removing her muzzle and leash and giving her back her sharp edges bc there is nothing Fuller likes more than sharp edges and people she can see all of (and can provoke into violence).

Fuller I think probably seems like a prime candidate for something lurking under the surface but the thing about her is there's nothing lurking she doesn't have a tragic backstory, her determination to quantify and understand the Hive isn't *because* of anything, she just wholeheartedly sucks! my terrible terrible daughter <3

[sketchyonlooker]

The Case of Akazawa Shiho (working title):

A maw filled with teeth larger than her snaps up a schoolgirl running beside her, her scream quickly silenced by the crunch of bone. Other creatures - familiar creatures she'd only seen in Duel Monsters - continue their slaughter within the Domino City Subway Station.

A young child screams for his mother as the raptors tore him limb from limb.

An old man is trampled over by the crowd - and then shredded apart by a worm-like creature with concentric teeth from below. Like watching a sink garbage disposal in action.

The brutal scenes multiplied as the monsters continued flooding in from the tunnels and entrance.

She's gonna die.

She's gonna die.

There's no way she's surviving this.

No matter how much she runs with the crowd. Sooner or later, safety in numbers was not going to be enough, not with everyone here betting on it.

Where can she run to? The subway tunnels - where there was already so much blood pooling it could fill a lake? The entrances - where the monsters are coming from? The trains - that proved effortless for the monsters to break into? Does it even matter now? She doesn't have the luxury of choi-

Something latches onto her wrist. And then she feels something catch across her ankle. The moment she realized she'd been tripped was the moment she fell face first onto the ground. As she looked up, she could see a middle-aged man in a suit running with the crowd but continued to face her with a grin-

!@#$

Before she could curse him out in her final moments.

riiing...

...That sound. Like a tuning fork.

She's heard it before.

A in C minor.

The man's triumphant gaze becomes confused and unfocused - as if he were staring through her - but then quickly shifts into panic. She doesn't see his fate as the monsters that were chasing the crowd suddenly leapt over he-

Craaccck.

-SHit.

Her foot. Just got stepped on by a two-headed dinosaur - Two-Headed King Rex, the Duel Monster - You fucker.

She's going to be a Rex anti-fan from now on.

...At least she still had enough of her mind to make shitty jokes, not that this was the appropriate occasion. Or maybe it was the perfect occasion now that she was so thoroughly fucked.

A likely broken foot she can't feel cause of the adrenaline. Surrounded by a hoard of man-eating monsters.

A lizard-like monster - Masked Chameleon - darts its tongue towards one of the runners in the crowd; its barbed tongue pierces through the man's leg - and retracts backwards with such force that it tears the leg off. The moment he stumbles down is the moment he is chomped apart by the chasing monsters.

The Masked Chameleon's eyes turns its beady eye towards her, and her breath catches her in throat as she forces herself to be very still.

It flicks its tongue slowly - was it like a snake? Did it sense body heat? It approaches slowly at its slow crawl, and she feels her heart thump harder and harder as it closes in.

But it then walks past her without fanfare. As soon as it was a good distance, she released her breath, the lightheadedness she'd been ignoring making her woozy.

How?

Why?

----

∞:

They didn't notice her. The monsters - the dragons - the lizards. They ignored her completely just like the dwindling people still alive ignored her.

Why? Among all of the people who died here, why was she still alive?

...She had a feeling she knew why.

That sound. A in C minor.

She's heard it before.

Back when Sketchy barged into that white-haired guy Bakura - she remembered his name from the Battle City Final's - and the creepy zombie-looking guy's duel. And of course, the horrible outcome of watching zombie-guy's flesh disintegrate into black goop in high-definition. Thanks for the nightmares, Sketchy. BEBD really should stop giving advi-

"Woof!"

Her head turned towards the broken escalator, only to find a dog. Its matted long fur was so dirtied that she couldn't see what breed it was, but it was a small dog. A dog that none of the monsters seem to have noticed despite its hyperactive hopping.

"Woof!"

And it was walking towards her when nothing else here could see her. It probably should've raised more alarm bells, but at this point, as long as it wasn't scaly, she was willing to trust it.

The smelly dog sniffed at her carefully.

"Woof!"

It then tugged on her sleeve.

"...Do you want me to follow you?" She wasn't scared of talking. Not after accidentally screaming in front of a Raptor that lunged a little too close trying to eat the man that ran close to her.

"Arf!"

She doesn't hesitate as the dog begins running towards the broken escalator. Pain sears through her foot as she limps her way forward. She knows she can't stay here anyway. Whatever providence is happening right now might not last.

Her hands briefly pat against her trusty blue mage's hat. It fills her with a bit of comfort and courage.

She has to get somewhere safe.

If that meant taking a chance by following a dog that seemed to know what it's doing, well, it's not like she hasn't been cheating death all this time.

[jrpneblog]

The straw that broke the Camel`s back

As disaster movies go this was quite high in the North End list of Nightmares on Church Street. A goal conceded within the opening two minutes of each half, two penalities missed by us in the space of two minutes and a horrible gift goal near the end. You may laugh at this but I didn`t think Cardiff were much better than us but they had a plan, albeit basic, and they stuck to it. Add to this a couple of quality players in the squad and the answer equals Cardiff 4 Preston 0. Don`t get me wrong the players must take some of the blame for what we witnessed at the Cardiff City Stadium but you just can`t help feeling that when we had the ball and were in the ascendancy we didn`t have the tactical nous to execute whatever blueprint Alex Neil had come up with for this trip to the Principality. Clearly Mick McCarthys plan was less confusing to his squad and a darn sight more effective

Alex Neil made two changes to the side that lost on Tuesday to Watford, at Deepdale, with Greg Cunningham and Emil Riis coming in to replace Scott Sinclair and Tom Barkhuizen. It didn`t take very long for the game plan to go out with the washing as Cardiff were awarded a penalty within a minute of the start. A corner came over from the left and Mr Simpson pointed straight to the spot. Moore made no mistake giving the Bluebirds the lead with less than two minutes on the clock. It was the sixth penalty North End had conceded in the calenday year. Iversen made a good diving save with ten minutes gone but the game became scrappy and one dimensional as the teams cancelled each other out. Evans headed straight at the keeper with our only chance but as the half wore on our distribution and ball retention improved. We still couldn`t find a way through the Cardiff lines and although North End were having the better possession it was the home side who looked the more likely to score and as the teams trotted off at the interval Alex Neil was left with plenty to ponder after another fruitless half of football from North End.

From the second half kick off we played the ball short, lost it in midfield only for Wilson to put Murphy through for Cardiff, 2-0. You had to see it to believe it.Iversen then saved from Murphy whilst at the other end Browne had a good header tipped over. Gally and Anthony Gordon were then brought on and what happened next had to be seen to be believed. Gordon is fouled in the box - Gally steps up and the penalty is saved - Gally goes to fire home the rebound and is fouled - another penalty - This time Ched Evans steps up and Phillips in the Cardiff goal saves again - Still 2-0. Four minutes later we are down the other end and Iversen makes a brilliant save only for it to fall to Pack and the home side are three up. Potts replaces Molumby and misses with the goal at his mercy after being played in by Gordon. Three becomes four seven minutes later as a Lindsay backpass falls short and Harris completes the North End misery having just come on the pitch.. We battled hard late on and Barky fires straight at the keeper in a one on one to just about round things off.

A dark day for North End fans watching from home and, unfortunately more of the same from a manager who looks increasingly like he has lost his way. Yes we have sold two of our best players but the poor home defeats were happening early in the season and who can forget our total collapse after the restart last season when were in sixth position in the league. The changes in the team don`t appear to be helping and whilst we have shown some excellent form away from home in patches this season we have been woeful at Deepdale. People may well put some of it down to the pandemic and I think we are a club that has suffered through not having fans inside Deepdale, however it is the same for every team team and that excuse is not used when we win. I think Alex Neil`s first season at Deepdale was the best but, unfortunately, we are now clearly a team going backwards and not forwards. So in my opinion, sadly, I think it is now time for a change in the Deepdale hot seat and that Alex Neil should be thanks for his efforts for the club but removed from his position of manager with immediate effect.

CARDIFF CITY 4-0 PRESTON

IVERSEN 7

BROWNE 6 STOREY 5 LINDSAY 5 HUGHES 6 CUNNINGHAM 5

WHITEMAN 5 JOHNSON 5 MOLUMBY 6

EVANS 6 RIIS 6

Subs:

BARKHUIZEN 6

GORDON 6

GALLAGHER 5

POTTS 5

RAFFERTY 6

MOTM: Daniel Iversen

[kforourke]

DREAMS

I have been having spectacularly strange dreams lately—pretty much every night; going to bed is becoming more and more of an adventure—and it seems I’m not alone. Apparently, COVID-19, or at least the endless and deeply weird year that 2020 has been is leading to people “reporting strange, intense, colorful, and vivid dreams—and many are having disturbing nightmares related to COVID-19.”

That’s per the Yale Medicine blog post, “COVID-19 Dreams? Here’s What They Mean.”

“People say they feel alone in having so many strange dreams, but it is a significant phenomenon, and it’s happening with some frequency during the pandemic,” notes Yale’s Susan Rubman, PhD.

More you say? Sure, says Scientific American:

Although widespread changes in dreaming had been reported in the U.S. following extraordinary events such as the 9/11 attacks in 2001 and the 1989 San Francisco earthquake, a surge of this magnitude had never been documented. This upwelling of dreams is the first to occur globally and the first to happen in the era of social media, which makes dreams readily accessible for immediate study. As a dream “event,” the pandemic is unprecedented.

As much of a relief as it is to hear that I’m not the only one having such odd dreams, I’d prefer to no longer have them. Case in point, even though it’s boring to hear others’ dreams: here’s one of mine, from last night, for a taste. My dreams have not been anxiety-filled, at least not overtly. They’ve just been fucking strange.

Anyhow, last night I was making a film of some sort with both Lionel Messi and Neymar (in a room that looked like a classroom, as one does with international soccer stars), except that I kept forgetting Messi’s name, and every time I looked at him he seemed to shrink. And someone threw a blanket over my head and took me on a tour of a cafeteria with bright red live fish and turtles fighting each other in tanks? It made no sense.

Shot; chaser. Here’s Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams.” Rumors really is such an excellent record, even if it’s corny. Stevie Nicks Dancing Alone on Beach Under Full Moon.

Header image, of sleeping homeless children, via Wikimedia. Jacob Riis, “Nomads of the Street,” ca. 1914-ish.

[polotanker6-blog]

Through all of the ups and downs, Joakim Noah is the happiest he has ever been

Basketball for Joakim Noah long was a dream, the gangly French kid trying to assimilate in a strange society, and become familiar with the United States as well. Basketball was a New York City religion that viewed a kid like Noah as an apostate, for he was. But he played the game the right way on and off the court and he became a star, a celebrity, an iconoclast, and then, as it often happens, his dream became a nightmare of failure, uncertainty, rejection and anguish. The darkness for one of the most famous and infamous players in Bulls history finally seems to have receded after almost four years. It's almost as if Joakim Noah awakened and asked, "Is this heaven?"

No, it turns out it's Memphis.

"I lost my confidence," admits Noah, whose Memphis Grizzlies are in the United Center Wednesday for the final game before All-Star break. "Now I am starting to get my swagger back on the court. Memphis gave me an opportunity; that was the only team that called. I am starting to feel better and better every time I step on the court because I am playing consistently and I am healthy for the first time in a long time, knock on wood."

A successful life requires a lot of luck. And a lot of work. The Spurs' organization has polarized the stonecutter's credo actually made famous in New York by 19th Century social reformer Jacob Riis. Keep hammering until the stone breaks. Joakim Noah's basketball career, indeed, encompassed some knocking on wood and breaking into the seemingly impervious rock of professional basketball.

"Everything with the Bulls, it was so early on, the best times," reminisces Noah about that nine-year run in Chicago in which a 6-11, mop topped, hippie bohemian was perhaps as much everyman as any who have been through the city's sporting landscape. "The Boston (2009 playoff) series was so much fun, Brooklyn (in 2013). Winning and losing is important, but it is also appreciating what you are doing; we were living a dream even though we didn't know it.

"I think if this would have happened to me in Chicago, losing the way we are losing, losing like this, blowing a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter (against Denver in January), losing streaks, the cooler would be destroyed and the heads would be off the showers and those bottles would be all over the place," Noah said with a smile, pointing toward a row of energy drinks as we sat in the Grizzlies locker room after a recent game. "I don't think I could have handled it. I couldn't sleep. I would just be an ass to everyone around me. Like now, I can appreciate just being in the locker room, to experience life playing with some hungry young guys who are fighting for their lives, guys who are working hard, things we all can work on, but keep on improving.

"Losing," Noah acknowledged, "obviously is frustrating. But you have to learn from it, use this time to keep building because with losing comes frustration and frustration can take away what's important. So we've got to keep a mindset on what's important and be ready. I feel pretty good. I haven't played in a while, three years, honestly, since I've gotten consistent minutes. It was tough, injuries and suspension and a lot of factors. So I'm just cherishing my opportunity and just trying to do my best. I'm not about trying to be my old self; it's about being happy on the court and competing and I feel I am starting to get to a level where I am enjoying myself.

"This is my 12th season," Noah noted, and he seemed as surprised as I was. "I've been through a lot of ups and downs. There were times with the Knicks I thought it was over. But right now as much as we are losing, it's like I'm the happiest I've been in my life. I've got my daughter, who is a beautiful daughter, Leia; she's two. My son Emaan. My beautiful girlfriend (Lais Ribeiro) is awesome; I love her to death. I am at peace in my life."

You just have to feel good and smile for Joakim Noah, and not just because of that season high 19 points and 14 rebounds earlier this week in the Grizzlies win over New Orleans. Noah added a typical eight points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals in the Grizzlies Tuesday one-point loss to the San Antonio Spurs. He doesn't play every game, always off the bench and often fewer than 20 minutes with the Grizzles going through their own doubts. But you can still find him at the high post searching out those lob dunk passes and back door cuts, with that high dribble out of the backcourt you're wincing about until it turns into a layup. Bearded with his hair in a bun in that most unconventional of NBA looks and his arms always outstretched ready for the pass, Noah seems to be welcoming the present as a gift. He still isn't looking for the shot much. But he's rolling hard off those screens and dunking with not so peaceful intentions. Noah has two double/doubles in his last four games and is averaging 11 points and 8.7 rebounds in 23 minutes per game this month.

But like Noah says, being back is both not everything about the games, but so much about the game.

"I've been through a lot of ups and downs. There were times with the Knicks I thought it was over. But right now as much as we are losing, it's like I'm the happiest I've been in my life." - Joakim Noah

The camaraderie of the locker room, the exotic aromas of deodorants, lotions and old socks, the expanding cacophony while running out of the tunnel and onto the court, the feel of the rough leather of the ball, the lights and noise and then the moment tracing the arc of the ball to find position, the ensuing wrestling match, the chance to do something for your guys.

"After that first year in New York, I had just got my drug suspension, I had my shoulder surgery and a knee surgery at the same time; I was just emotionally drained," Noah admitted about his bitter free agency. "I didn't even want to play anymore. The injuries were piling up so much I didn't feel I could physically do it anymore. But I was blessed to be around some good people. I got in a real healthy environment and I'm starting to feel…. It's taken a long time to get that feeling back. I haven't felt this good in four years."

Never much the classic athlete with those long strides and almost military style arm movements running, Noah was hardly the recruiting poster for NBA achievement. Which perhaps is one reason why he related so well. His famous soliloquy about why he plays, for the guy freezing outside selling newspapers, the guy at the top of the arena cheering like crazy, the people whom the game means so much and to whom he wants to take pride in their team. It may have been the most genuine and revealing explanation of the game and what drives fans' passions.

Noah had that funky, sideways spinning shot and looked the least like a world class athlete. He was bursting with the intangibles most so cherish but cannot scout. He led his U. of Florida team to a pair of NCAA championships, wasn't a top five draft pick, arrived at the NBA draft in an outfit better suited for Ringling Brothers and a body looking like the recipient of beach sand.

"I look back on my time in Chicago and I don't want to think of the bad things because the great times outweigh that so much." - Joakim Noah

But before he was done in Chicago he became all-NBA first team, a Defensive Player of the Year, probably the greatest center in franchise history and the star of two of the greatest games in franchise history. Neither won a title, so they aren't quite as celebrated. But there was Noah with the winning play against Paul Pierce to wrap up the triple overtime win over the defending champion Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the 2009 first round series. The Bulls would lose Game 7. Then there was a double/double in Nate Robinson's crazy triple overtime win in the first round of the 2013 playoffs, though the highlight really was Noah's seventh game domination without injured Derrick Rose, Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich to defeat the Nets in Brooklyn even on foot injuries so bad he wasn't supposed to play.

Joakim Noah gave his body for the game and the fans and it eventually couldn't couldn't sustain.

The Bulls understood it was going bad in the 2015-16 season, and so was the team as it would be the last for Rose and Noah in Chicago. That great group, so beloved and so close, was at its end.

"Even coming off the bench (behind Pau Gasol), so many things I look back on my time in Chicago and I don't want to think of the bad things because the great times outweigh that so much," Noah said. "I'm not afraid to talk about the good and bad. I just saw Luol, Taj (Gibson) at dinner. You don't even have to say anything being with those guys now. It's just about the vibe of being around, how much respect there is there because of what we went through. Now that I've been around I realize and found out that it's rare. But you don't know it then.

"Because it's genuine what we went through, some wars and we wanted to win so bad and we fought so hard every night," Noah recalled. "I'm so (darned) proud of that to this day. That's what will be the highlight of my career.

"That Boston series, but I also look back on so many little things like being in the locker room with Derrick. With Lu and Taj, we were talking about this the other day. A little thing," Noah says. "We are playing Phoenix with Vinny (Del Negro) as coach. Kirk was our best pick and roll defender and so Vinny goes, ‘Kirk, you got Steve Nash.' And D-Rose is a rookie and goes, "Nah, I got Steve Nash. I'm not running from no matchup.' And Vinny goes, ‘But Kirk is our best pick and roll defender, you got Barbosa.' He goes, ‘Nah, I got Steve Nash.' And so we're like. ‘Oh crap, the rookie's talking like that?' Then in the game you see D-Rose standing next to Steve Nash. ‘I got him! I got him!' Things like that, stuff we'd laugh at being on the plane, rolling dice with Drew Gooden; it was always more than just the basketball.

"We didn't win it," Noah notes. "But the energy and the hope of having the chance, and we had a chance. And that's almost just as big. You realize after. Do you have a chance to win it? Maybe one, two times in your career if you are lucky. The year D-Rose got hurt and the year before there was a chance. That was special."

When it's going good it's normal and natural not only to believe it will continue, but get even better. So it seemed for Noah, a big, four-year contract to play back home in New York and for Phil Jackson, whom Noah long idolized, in front of his old crowd who laughed at the clumsy and spindly kid who got to the good basketball camps by agreeing to help pick up towels. In the world's greatest arena for his team growing up, introduced from his Hell's Kitchen neighborhood just west of the arena. How great was this going to be?

"I don't even know what happened in Chicago," Noah admits about that awkward final season in 2015-16 with a new coach, on the bench, lots of unpleasantness. "I didn't want to shoot. By the end of the Chicago thing, I wasn't loving it; it was starting to become a job. There were so many things going on I was starting to lose my love for the game. But it's like I wish what I went through in New York earlier I would have realized how good I had it in Chicago. I am not pointing fingers at anyone; it's just what happened. It sucks because I think just not being right mentally and physically at that time, it cost us."

Noah had shoulder surgery following that final Bulls season, but he seemed recovered enough for that contract. His highlight may have been that first game in Chicago early in the season, 16 points and nine rebounds in an easy Knicks win. His last double digit scoring game as a Knick was in January of that season, 12 points and 16 rebounds, and again against the Bulls in a win. But he wasn't producing enough in a dysfunctional New York environment, exacerbated by the demands of being back home. It's much more difficult to go home in the NBA that in life.

"It's tough to play at home," Noah concedes. "Even tougher with success with someone like Derrick. Something people don't realize is being young and that successful and having to deal with home. People can't relate. I remember my first game in New York against Memphis. I played well, the whole Garden was chanting my name, I was in tears and it was crazy. I had like 50 people in my apartment after the game and my father was looking at me shaking his head like, ‘This is a going to be a long year for you.' I was like, ‘I got this.' But I wasn't ready. I thought I was ready and I was not ready."

Noah had a 20-game drug suspension at the end of that season into the 2017-18 season, and his Knicks contract was already being condemned and mocked. He became the face of Jackson's failure. He played briefly, played a game in the G-league, got into a verbal exchange on the bench with coach Jeff Hornacek and basically was banished. He was released before the start of this season owed the last two years of his contract. He played in 53 games over two years in New York and averaged about five points and eight rebounds.

"Failing at home on a real public level was very humbling," Noah admitted. "We had a lot of success in Chicago, but what happened in New York also made me grow as a person and focus on what was important because a lot was thrown at me in New York in a really short time. In Chicago, everything was about winning and losing basketball games, and I realize now that I can compete and also have a life, a balance.

"It was not good, but now I can go back and say I wouldn't trade it because it makes me cherish even more what I have," Noah says. "It's tough because I'll look back and say I wish I played well at home, I wish I didn't let Phil down. It took me a long time to even digest that. I used to think I was playing for people's respect, almost like people looking at me like I was a joke. Even in New York, it was, ‘He's a clown, doesn't take the game serious.' So after my first year in New York, I wanted to come out and prove to everybody I could help the team and be a player and help the team compete and I never really got that opportunity.

"I'm sitting on the side of the bench in Madison Square Garden, not even on the bench, behind the bench, healthy. I had to deal with that for months," Noah lamented about his exile. "That was one of the toughest things I ever had to deal with, getting killed in your home town and not being able to do anything about it. I felt management and the coach at the time, they didn't show me any respect for what I was going through. There were times they could have given me opportunities and didn't.

"At the point I got kicked off the team, I was really angry and pissed off," Noah admitted. "I was partying and getting paid a lot of money and had no direction; that was tough. You don't realize with basketball and the NBA and high school and college, it's your routine and you are so locked in you take it for granted until you don't have it anymore. So it became, ‘If you really want to keep playing basketball, it's not a situation you can wait the way I was living my life.' If I kept doing what I was doing it's over."

The life vest was Noah's surfing friends Laird Hamilton and Gabrielle Reece. They took him into their home and their intense training, the healthy environment and food, the lifestyle. He finally was ready, but the NBA wasn't. Not for the flake. Finally, the Grizzlies called and it became Christmas morning again. Life was great; now it could be even better at 34 later this month.

"Failing at home on a real public level was very humbling." - Joakim Noah

We talked for a long time after that game in Charlotte. The Bulls were in town waiting to play the Hornets. The Grizzlies were staying over that night, and Noah was going to meet up with some of the old Bulls support staff. That's right, the workers. The Grizzlies' security said the team bus was leaving. Typical of Noah, he said he'd walk back to the hotel. NBA players do not do this anymore. With Noah wrapped up in a hooded sweatshirt, I asked him as we walked if he would consider returning to the Bulls to finish his career, even for a day in one of those one-day contracts players sometimes sign. The Bulls talk a lot about spirit, heart and soul, Joakim Noah's daily companions.

"I'm a live in the moment type person," the 6-11 maverick said with a smile. "So I'm not there. I just want to finish this year off strong and be healthy and grow from there."

Source: https://www.nba.com/bulls/features/through-all-ups-and-downs-joakim-noah-happiest-he-has-ever-been

[jrpneblog]

Here endeth the first lesson

A strange afternoon at Deepdale but an all too familar result against another side at the bottom of the Championship. A much changed North End went down by two goals to one against a well organised Rotherham side but we were made to pay for a series of missed chances in the first half of the game. Alex Neil made five changes to the side but that played no part in conceding a goal before a North End player had touched the ball. We then started to grow in stature with Gordon looking dangerous in the first half and Ched Evans playing a very traditional role at centre forward and having a decent impact on the game. The second goal ten minutes into the second half always looked like it would be enough and although Evans pulled one back ten minutes later we just didn`t make the chances after the break that we had done in the first half. The manager used all five subs but it wasn`t to be as North End lost at home for the eighth time this season.

Alex Neil made five changes from the side beaten at Sheffield last weekend with Rafferty, Lindsay, Evans, Gordon and Barkhuizen coming in to replace Browne, Davies, Sinclair, Riis and Potts. North End got off to the worse possible start and were a goal down within seventeen seconds of the start of the game. North End hadn`t had a touch as Rotherham forced a cross from the right hand side which eluded everybody except Joe Rafferty who headed the ball into his own net for a nightmare start for North End. It took us a while to recover but after fifteen minutes we started to get the ball down and Lindsay had North Ends first chance. A Gordon free kick then just went wide as North End upped the pressure on the Millers. We had four chances in four minutes just after the half hour mark as the visitors goal led a charmed life. A Whiteman free kick came back off the post and along the goal line to safety. North End just couldn`t score in a half they eventually dominated but the finishing would have to improve if we were to get something from the game.

No changes for the manager at half time but it was the Millers who started the better in the second half and took the game right from the whistle. I think that the Rotherham management thought another goal in the second half would be enough to win the game and so it proved as Wiles scored a simple goal ten minutes after the break. The defending was poor that cannot be denied and North End suddenly found themselves in deep trouble. In the sixty fifth minute Evans challenge with the keeper for a cross and as the ball dropped at his feet he fired home his first goal for North End on his full league debut. The manager immediate put three pairs of fresh legs on as North End went for the equaliser. We had plenty of the play but the game had become stretched and we started to look just as likely to concede as we did to equalise. To be fair we gave it a real go late on but Rotherham comfortably held out for their third win in four games.

Under normal circumstances it would be yet another defeat to a side that we really should have beaten at home on all known form. On this occasion, though, I think there is some mitigation to be had in terms of questioning the managers selections and tactics. No one could plan for conceding a goal in less than twenty second and to be fair we played some decent stuff for twenty five minutes in the first half. Gordon looked good before he quickly tired after the break and Ched Evans, love him or hate him, led the line well and his link up play, in the first half at least, was very good. We also lost Huntington to injury with twenty minutes left so goodness knows what team will be available for the big game on Friday evening live on SKY. However the biggest mitigation I can offer for this defeat is that if you sell your best players, and don`t replace them with similar quality, you eventually start dropping the league table. Here endeth the first lesson.

PRESTON 1-2 ROTHERHAM UNITED

IVERSEN 6

RAFFERTY 5 HUNTINGTON 6 LINDSAY 6 HUGHES 6

LEDSON 6 WHITEMAN 7

GORDON 7 MOLUMBY 8 BARKHUIZEN 6

EVANS 8

Subs:-

JOHNSON 7

POTTS 6

SINCLAIR 6

MAGUIRE 6

VAN DEN BURG 6

MOTM: Jayson Molumby