#holds the sky up from the ground ( eddie armstrong )

[shesboundtolose]

"What if Eddie called you back home?"

SEND LOU WHAT IFS | Accepting

       “ I… don’t think he ever would. Greenville isn’t his home, his initial home, I mean, and it certainly isn’t mine anymore. I think he understands that by now. He gets that I don’t want to go back— that I can’t go back. He tried to get me to stay once; I don’t think he’d ever make another attempt to bring me back. Besides, I heard he’s back in Queens or somethin’ anyway… ”

[shesboundtoarchive]

Ed, Lou, Shaun + Together

                              FIVE-MINUTE SHIP DRABBLES || Accepting      [ @fangylacey ]

“Do you ever sit and think back on all we’ve collectively been through?”

Ed’s question garnered a pair of apprehensive looks from his friends.

“Do I need to cut ya off, String Bean?” Never one to dwell in the gravity of matters, Shaun posed his own question in return, even stretching for his crony’s beer, which swiftly left his reach.

“I’m serious! Just think about it. Look at all the shit we’ve survi–”

“I’d rather not,” Lou finally piped up, hand raised to stop any more words, head shaking, unwilling to go down that road. “And ya should avoid it too. No use drudgin’ up the past. Just know we DID make it through. All that means is that we’ll keep doin’ it.”

Ed opened his mouth to argue before thinking better of it. What she said was true; they HAD faced it all. Together. That just proved they could do anything if they stayed that way.

[investmart007]

ALPE D'HUEZ, France | Rowdy Tour fans tarnish win for Thomas atop Alpe d'Huez

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/EWtSF7

ALPE D'HUEZ, France | Rowdy Tour fans tarnish win for Thomas atop Alpe d'Huez

ALPE D’HUEZ, France— One of cycling’s big attractions is that fans don’t have to pay to watch — and they can get as close as they want to the riders.

The sport paid for that unlimited access Thursday when unruly spectators interrupted the most iconic climb of the Tour de France. With fans pressing too close to an elite group of riders at the conclusion of the 21 hairpin bends up to Alpe d’Huez, top contender Vincenzo Nibali crashed into a police motorbike, four-time champion Chris Froome received some undesired contact on his back, and yellow jersey holder Geraint Thomas was booed on the podium.

“If people don’t like Sky and want to boo, that’s fine. Boo all you like, but don’t affect the race,” Thomas said. “Don’t touch the riders. Don’t spit at us. Voice your opinions all you want but let us do the racing.”

Attitudes toward Sky soured when Froome was involved in an asthma drug case stemming from last year’s Spanish Vuelta — even though he was cleared of wrongdoing just days before the Tour started.

Froome is attempting to match the record of five Tour victories shared by Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.

Thomas sprinted away from Sky teammate Froome and a couple of other riders to win Stage 12, becoming the first rider in Tour history to win atop Huez in the yellow jersey.

Lance Armstrong won an individual time trial up Huez in 2004 while wearing yellow but that victory was later stripped for doping. “Unbelievable. Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would win up here,” Thomas said. “It’s one of those things that’s going to stay with me for the rest of my life.”

But Thomas acknowledged that Nibali’s crash took some of the luster away from his victory.

Thomas rode over Nibali’s rear wheel — when the Italian went down — but managed to stay upright. Nibali, the 2014 champion got back up but finished seventh in the stage, then was taken to the local hospital for medical exams for a suspected back injury. “He should have been fighting for victory,” Thomas said of Nibali. “It’s a bit of a downer on the day.”

Nibali said: “The road became narrower and there were no barriers. There were two police motorbikes. When Froome accelerated, I followed him, I was feeling good. Then we slowed down and I hit the ground.”

Tom Dumoulin crossed second, two seconds behind Thomas, and Romain Bardet came third, three seconds back. Froome, who finished fourth, four seconds behind, refused to talk to reporters afterward. A fan who allegedly hit him during the stage was put in handcuffs by French police.

“You expect professional athletes to play sport and entertain without being touched or impacted on by the crowd,” Sky general manager Dave Brailsford said. “Part of the joy of our sport is how close the crowd gets. But we have to bear in mind that if it impacts on the race, as it did with Nibali today, then that’s too much.”

Thomas extended his lead over Froome in the overall standings to 1 minute, 39 seconds. He’ll likely hold on to the yellow jersey for at least several more days as the Tour returns to flatter roads for Stages 13 and 14 before the climbs resume in the Massif Central and the Pyrenees.

With questions over which rider Sky is backing for victory, it was a bold demonstration of strength by Thomas, who has been Froome’s loyal lieutenant for years.  “In my eyes Froomey is still our leader,” Thomas said. “I’m just going to enjoy it now.”  Dumoulin is third overall, 1:50 behind, while Nibali recovered to hold on to fourth, 2:37 back.

The last and most feared of the three stages in the Alps this year, the 175.5-kilometer (109-mile) leg began in Bourg-Saint-Maurice and took the peloton over three grueling, beyond-category climbs. Fans lined every corner of the climb to Huez, many of them amateur cyclists who tested their legs on the ascent a few hours before the professionals, while others had camped out for days. As usual there were many rowdy fans on the “Dutch corner” located two-thirds of the way up.

Riders had to navigate their way through smoke in a variety of colors — red, blue and orange. Before Huez, riders had already scaled the lengthy ascents to Col de la Madeleine and Col de la Croix-de-Fer (Pass of the Iron Cross) plus the shorter but spectacular Lacets de Montvernier — a miniature Huez featuring a photogenic series of 18 switchbacks.

Part of an early breakaway group, Dutch rider Steven Kruijswijk launched a solo attack up the Col de la Croix-de-Fer and crossed the summit above the tree-line with a six-minute lead over the peloton. But he was caught by Froome on the way up to Huez with 3.5 kilometers remaining.

“We didn’t expect Kruijswijk to attack so hard,” Thomas said. “They really took the race to us.”  Froome had attacked with four kilometers to go but couldn’t quite drop Thomas, Dumoulin and Bardet.

Rigoberto Uran, last year’s runner-up, withdrew before the stage began, having failed to recover from a crash on the cobblestones in Stage 9.

The mountainous route was a nightmare for muscular sprinters. Fernando Gaviria and Dylan Groenewegen, who each won two stages each in this year’s race, withdrew midway through, as did Andre Greipel.  The three-week race ends July 29 in Paris. ___ Associated Press writer Ciaran Fahey and Joseph Wilson contributed. ___

By Associated Press

[footyplusau]

The AFLPA’s Indigenous map: One country, one game, many cultures

Red dirt. No grass. Big, wide, blue sky. Crooked, white-metal goal posts, paint peeling off. A shaggy-haired kid with bare feet and a smiling face holding a scuffed red ball.

The AFLPA’s indigenous player map for 2017. Photo: AFLPA

That is the image of Indigenous football in Australia. It is the quintessential look. Red dirt. Blue sky. Smiling face.

But it is only one look. It’s become cliched and for many Indigenous players no more relevant to them than it is to a white kid from Mount Waverley.

Final preparations for the Indigenous round at the MCG. Photo: Jason South

It feeds assumptions that Indigenous players come ostensibly from somewhere near Uluru or have a loose family connection to the Longs and Riolis.

The AFLPA map illustrates just how misleading the image can be. There is no one Indigenous culture, there is no one image that encapsulates Aboriginal Australia.

Former player Tony Armstrong is the Indigenous and multicultural programs manager at the players association and says the map they have crafted listing all 81 male and 11 female players and what communities they are from illustrates the breadth of cultural diversity. Some players, such as Paddy Ryder, are listed on the map twice, recognising parents or ancestors from different regions.

“From red-dirt Central Australia to WA and the Tiwi Islands, there are players from the Top End, Arnhem Land and the Pilbara. They are all very different from blokes from Victoria and Tasmania. They’re culturally very different.

“There can be a stereotype that every black fella is the same and two Indigenous players at one club would have stuff in common and they will have a connection but they could be from very different cultural backgrounds.

“In footy, you will have guys from a desert culture come down and play with other Indigenous guys from a water culture and they are completely different but the map is about celebrating that diversity.”

What is apparent in the map is that Victorian representation remains relatively low. That is partly a product of population spread but the take up of the game in Indigenous communities in Victoria has been an issue for several years.

Armstrong rather considers the map, like a census, a snapshot of a given point in time and that, with drafting and list decisions, the numbers and percentages become fluid.

“I think the map is a representation of where they are from at any given moment. At the moment we have a lot of guys from WA, NT and SA.

“It can be very cyclical as players, you can draft three guys and all of a sudden you can have five or six Indigenous players on your list and, by the same token, you have a couple of guys delisted one year and suddenly you are down.

“I don’t tend to read much into where they are from as much as how many players but the map is good for showing how far and wide the reach is.”

The PA has delivered a document to clubs advising on how to deal with the disparity of cultural backgrounds and clubs are getting better at their understanding.

“The map is used to shine a light on the fact that, whilst under Australian parameters we come from many different regions and cultural groups, we are a single nation.

“When you see the Indigenous language groups within our borders, it goes to show the extra layers these guys confront. Guys are coming down and English is a second or third language. And simple things can be difficult for some guys who have not been brought up in a city, things like tolls and public transport. It’s quite foreign.”

For some the Indigenous round has become a vexed issue in football because, for all the beauty and good it celebrates, it has also drawn out – most obviously with the Adam Goodes issue of two years ago – the ugliness of attitudes of the stubbornly unreconstructed types in the game or the crowds at the game.

Armstrong understands the misgiving but believes the ledger tilts in favour of more good than bad coming from exposure and understanding. He also believes that each ugly incident is the step back for the two steps forward taken each time by the strong public response to any issue.

“It pains me that sometimes guys have to cop it,” Armstrong said. “How frustrating it is as an Indigenous guy sometimes. Say you say something racist to me in a public forum, if I bite back, I suddenly just become an angry black guy so you have to be on the higher ground all the time.

“But this year [with the Eddie Betts crowd incident] you see the AFL industry immediately react – black and white as a collective – to condemn it and I thought that was good.”

The map reveals the scope and depth of the game among Indigenous players but a similar map of Indigenous coaches would be a sparsely populated one. Presently there are three Indigenous coaches in the AFL, Xavier Clarke at Richmond, Andrew Lovell at Gold Coast and Roger Hayden at Fremantle. That number is small but better than it has been in the past.

As Armstrong said: “It is the next frontier but we are making inroads.”

The post The AFLPA’s Indigenous map: One country, one game, many cultures appeared first on Footy Plus.

from Footy Plus http://ift.tt/2s7YZII via http://footyplus.net

[shesboundtolose]

Do you ever wish Eddie would've followed you when you left?

ASK LOU ABOUT EDDIE | Accepting af!

       “ I— ”  She had pushed him away. She told him to stay and then she lied. She LIED right to his face, said he had time, they did, then promptly left his life. Sure, they keep in touch— A text here and there— but she won’t pick up the phone to hear his voice and more than that? She won’t torture him with hers.

When she left, she left him to find something better. SOMEONE better. But…

“ I’d be lyin’ if I told you there wasn’t a tiny part of me that wished that, but it is what it is. I made my bed and I have to lie in it. Without him. ”

[shesboundtolose]

Do you think Eddie would welcome you back if you tried to see him again? Do you think you'd deserve it?

ASK LOU ABOUT EDDIE | Accepting af!

       Lou lets out a soft, mirthless laugh, head shaking at the question, not to answer it, but sort of in disbelief that she’d been asked.

“ He’s Eddie. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did, not at all. We’ve been through so much… And he’s always been there for me when I’ve needed him and even when I haven’t. He would, but no, I wouldn’t deserve it. I’ve NEVER deserved him. ”

[shesboundtolose]

💔 @Eddie do you still have feelings for Lou?

ASK LOU’S EX-LOVERS STUFF & MAKE HER SQUIRM | Accepting

       “ Well, yeah. She was one of my best friends and I loved her. I’ll always care about her. ”

[shesboundtolose]

Do you see Eddie all the time?

ASK LOU ABOUT EDDIE | Accepting af!

       “ I haven’t seen Ed in years… Unfortunately. But hey, that’s my fault. ”

[shesboundtoarchive]

👀 The ot3 of Lou, Ed, and Shaun

      Three ship headcanons for the price of one || Accepting       [ @insomniacsmuses ]

They’d been friends since they were young. Shaun met her first since Eddie was a transplant to Greenville from Queens. Lou didn’t like Shaun, at first, and the feeling was mutual since she sassed him. Eddie bonded with her over the fact that their fathers were both in law enforcement. Shaun and Eddie got along pretty well right off the bat, since Ed can be pretty forgiving of arrogance.

Lou’s first kiss was with Eddie. It was sudden and unexpected ( for both, but more so him since she initiated it ), but nice enough, especially for a first kiss. She lost her virginity to Shaun. It... wasn’t awesome.

They were fairly inseparable in high school and that meant they partied together and, more than that, got in trouble together. Shaun was a bit of a trouble magnet due to his reputation. Eddie was referred to as the “babysitter,” particularly by Shaun’s brother Dom. Lou was all impulse and anger.

[shesboundtolose]

Lou's Exes: Are you jealous to see her being happy with another guy?

ASK LOU’S EX-LOVERS STUFF & MAKE HER SQUIRM | Accepting

       A resounding  “ No! ”

( which is a freaking lie )

[shesboundtolose]

TAG DROP #4 ( VIPs, part 1 )

[shesboundtoarchive]

Re-dump #6.

[shesboundtoarchive]

🍂

                                                               LOU’S VIPs || No Longer Accepting

NAME:  Edward “Eddie” James Armstrong ( featured over at fullofvoices )AGE:  26 years oldOCCUPATION:  Toll collector / Assistant Editor of a newspaper / Aspiring journalistHOMETOWN/CURRENT LOCATION:  Queens, New York / bounces around the boroughs

CONNECTION TO LOU:  Eddie is one of Lou’s oldest and dearest friends. They’ve had a long, complicated relationship together. He was her first kiss, she was his first love… As it stand right now, in many verses, he’s one of maybe two people Lou regrets leaving, regardless of how good of an idea it seemed at the time. She loves him, she’s in love with him, but she firmly believes she’s garbage for him and has tried, since she was twenty, to stay away from him.

[shesboundtoarchive]

Dear Eddie,

      It’s been a while since my last contact, since we last spoke and all that. Please know that that’s on me and not you. I read your texts and listened to the voicemails, and I’ve ignored you. I told you to move on and forget about me, but I realize how ridiculous that was because you’re you. You’re Ed and you won’t forget or move on because you care. I’m sorry for that.

      I know it seemed like my departure from Greenville was rather abrupt, but if you think about it ( and I’m sure you have, ad nauseum, by this point… ), it was a long time coming. I finally pulled the proverbial trigger after years of considering it. You had to have seen that in me. I was miserable and each year that passed took a part of me that I wouldn’t get back. If I stayed, I would have died. You know that, don’t you? Even with you there, always around, I wouldn’t have survived. Not after losing everyone, especially not after what happened with Shaun. The ghosts would have eaten me alive, but let’s be honest, I hadn’t felt alive in a while, so I suppose, I was really just another spirit haunting that place. I wanted to live, so here we are.

      Don’t ever think that I didn’t appreciate you, okay? You’re one of the most important people to me and you have been since we were kids. You’re amazing, Ed. You have this ability to see things in such a manner that is admirable and beautiful, but I don’t see the world that way. Honestly, I don’t think you do all the time too, but I’m not about to Dr. Phil you in this letter. My point is that I didn’t want to drag you down any more than I already had. That’s why I refused your offer to come with me. That’s why I pushed you away. I’m a mess. I’m a blackhole. And you deserve so much better. You’ll find it, if you haven’t already ( I sincerely hope you already have ).

      I hope this reaches you well and that it isn’t something that upsets you. Please know that I’m fine, just living my life one day at time, doing what I do. Take care of yourself, beanpole.

                                                                                                                     Love always,                                                                                                                Lou