#i know you’re not justifying peoples treatment of mitch

[mitchmarner]

I LOVE Mitch with all my ❤ & I hope he stays. But him & his agent made his negotiations messy & fans are still bitter about it. If his agent didn't use the media to trash the team & contracts they signed with others, fans might be nicer. He's followed this team his whole life he knows the media is bad & some fans take it too far. His rep got damaged last summer. If that makes him unhappy, there was something he could have done about it THEN. He's got his money now live with the aftermath of it.

His agent is an overgrown child who resorts to cheap tactics, but Leafs fans are also overemotional whiners and it’s a shitstorm combination. Mitch should 100% get a better agent; that’s on him for sure. He stepped in when he was sick of how it was going, as he should have, and that was his move to try and do something about it— he took control and ended the standoff. Yeah, his agent sucks and keeping him is a poor career choice from a PR standpoint. Still, none of this justifies the shit he took. Darren sucks, but I don’t get why adults on hockey twitter took it so personally that their only solution was to tag a player in their cyber bullying to ensure he saw how hated he was. There’s a huge line between “his contract is bad and stupid games were played” versus the really cruel stuff being said about him and his family where Mitch could see it. He has to earn his contract value and that’s fair criticism. However, he shouldn’t have to earn being treated like a human being. He knows this is the market and chose to stay, but it shouldn’t be a choice between being a Leaf and avoiding malicious hate. The people who can’t treat an athlete like a human because they’re so mad about a contract are far worse here compared to a bullshit story about training in Zurich.

[bondsmagii]

I’m rereading Vicious and after knowing everything about Vengeful everything that Eli did on vicious makes so much sense.

The first time I read Vicuous I always wondered what exactly went through Eli’s head, what was he thinking? When he looked for Victor when Victor was about to replicate his experiment? Was Eli concerned about Victor or was Eli was acting for selfish reasons? What was he thinking and feeling after he got his powers? What was he thinking when Victor attacked him and why was he so quick to think Victor was a devil in disguise? What was his last thought when he was about to become an Eo and how does it relate to healing? What was his thought process when he was trying to give up his life to god and when he decided that killing EOS was the “right” thing to do?

And after reading Vengeful everything becomes so much clearer, his last thought was probably about how he wanted to be “healed and saved” he internalized so some much religious trauma that it affected the way he acted and his thogught porcess, he witnessed his mother suicide on a bathtub and that’s probably why he chose that method both times before and after becoming an EO, his father used to beat him as a kid because he supposedly “had the devil in him” and he does feels like one through his life, doing his best to act as “normal” as possible.

His mother death also explains why he was so worried about Victor and even in the first book Eli talks very fondly of him even referring to him as his best friend and he explains to Serena he thinks Victor died and something sinister replaced him after becoming an EO and this conclusion although rash, it make sense he would try to rationalize and in a way justify the awful things that Victor did after turning into an EO.

And even in vengeful he started imagining Victor to kept him company when he was going through hell, he admits to himself that Victor was the only person who ever truly “saw” him and understood him, pretty much confirming that the “rivalry” Victor and Eli had was mostly one-sided and Eli really did loved him and consider him his best friend.

This also explains his weird behavior towards Victor when Vic himself was trying to turn himself into an EO, Eli witnessed his mother death and probably didn’t wanted the same to happen to Victor after Eli himself almost died trying to recreate it.

The first book also explains that he tried to take his life a second time after Victor got arrested begging for God to take away his power if it had been a mistake, he seemed to externalize all of this negative experience and feelings through his purpose of exterminating the EOS because he sincerely believed that was the right thing to do, his faith although horribly used and mishandled seemed to be genuine based on how we was him literally begging to god to take his life back if everything had been a mistake.

Everyone one of his actions seem to be driven by his childhood and religious trauma and it’s incredible sad to me, he wan’t a sociopath or a psychopath he was just very broken and delusional individual.

And his experience with Serena who forced herself into him also didn’t helped the whole “EOS are devils in disguise” perspective , even since I read the first book (when I didn’t knew anything about Eli yet) I was very repulsed by what Serena was doing to him, to the point that even though I greatly disliked Eli at first I kind of hated Serena more for what she was doing to him. I am also a little disappointed in how the fandom barely acknowledges that what Serena did to Eli was incredibly wrong and messed up.

I have already said this, but the fandom seems to treat Eli very unkindly, they brush over all of his story and just label him as a “sociopath” or “psychopath” barely understanding and completely missing the point of why he behaved the way that he did.

I don’t mind if people hate his character, I did so at first, but the way everyone brush over all of his trauma and the way people completely misinterpreted his character and actions don’t set up right with me.

It’s a little surprising how people can praise Serena, Victor and Marcella despite their awful actions while they hate on Eli for the same reason, overall Eli seems to have been the one to receive the shorter end of the stick by the fandom.

honestly I've read this so many times because you're so right and it's such a relief to know that somebody else out there is capable of critical thinking skills lmao. I think the problem with people's response to Eli is that they think his backstory is an excuse, when in actual fact it's an explanation. go figure, kids who grow up in abusive households will turn into adults with a boatload of issues, and some of those issues are more likely than not going to cause harm of their own. it's totally possible to be both a victim and someone who causes harm; yes, Eli thinks he's in the right, but his actions are still wrong. it's possible to understand both of these things and it's possible to still like his character and sympathise with him, while still understanding that damn, he maybe needs to chill on the serial killing.

it wouldn't bother me as much if people didn't think that Victor was absolutely innocent. people seem to revere him, and it's because in the narrative he's set up as Eli's opposite. the whole point of the story is that there's no good men in the game, but because Victor wants to stop Eli, people see him as the good guy and overlook how cruel he was to Eli throughout their entire friendship, and also how cruel he is to the others. (Mitch is probably the only one there of his own free will. Sydney was an injured 12-year-old child when Victor picked her up, and he did so only because she had information that he wanted -- his first thought was to torture it out of her, but when she gave it willingly and kind of hero-worshipped him in the way a neglected child would hero-worship their saviour, he decided she could stay. Dominic is there by force, because he's a disabled man in constant chronic agony that Victor fixes with his EO abilities, and if he does something to displease Victor or leaves him, Victor has threatened to bring the pain back even worse.) people rewrite both Eli and Victor's personalities to fit this, with Eli being cast as this unfeeling psychopath and Victor the person standing up to his evil, and in actual fact Eli is absolutely not a psychopath -- he's a traumatised adult recovering from a highly abusive childhood -- and Victor is not standing up to evil; he's settling a score. a score he kind of started in the first place, by being a jealous asshole towards Eli's thesis, trying to dominate it because his own sucked, seeking glory off the back of Eli's hard work, and then when he succeeded in his goals and became an EO, immediately murdering Eli's girlfriend and torturing Eli because he was jealous Eli's idea was correct. like, Victor Vale is a little bitch, on god. the reason it ended like this was because he was a god-awful friend to Eli, who was literally Victor's only true friend because he was the only person who would put up with him. go figure that the only person who could deal with Victor's behaviour was a grown abused child. nobody who hadn't been indoctrinated into believing that behaviour was acceptable would ever voluntarily deal with Victor.

literally every decision and action Eli takes can be traced back to his trauma, but go figure that nobody on this website can treat trauma with the nuance it deserves. people on this site seem to think that if you're traumatised you're always innocent and vulnerable; if anyone acts outside of this idea, they're written off. I take Eli's treatment very personally because I've seen people quite literally do this to real life people, myself included. because I wasn't a quiet, easy-to-deal-with traumatised person, I got all kinds of shit. it's the exact same with Eli. because he acts badly, because he does bad things, people seek to dehumanise him and set him aside because he apparently makes abuse survivors look bad or whatever -- when in actual fact acting badly is a very common response among abuse survivors, because we were brought up in an environment where that was normal and we don't know otherwise. not to mention the fact that the kind of mental illness Eli shows -- PTSD, mainly -- has many symptoms that make for unpleasant actions. it's not a crime to show the impact these things have, but people take it so personally. I've even seen people say it's ableist to portray characters like Eli because it gives people with trauma or mental illness a bad name, but no. that's literally not how it works. people with trauma and people with mental illness act badly, they fuck up, they can abuse people, sometimes they do harm or even kill people. ignoring this isn't going to get us anywhere, and if anything's ableist, it's looking at a clearly traumatised, mentally ill person and saying that he's a psychopath and evil and irredeemable. like, come on.

Eli didn't catch a single break for his whole life. everyone he's ever met has abused him horribly. you don't have to like him, but the people who can look at this and see nothing sympathetic about him? genuinely I don't trust them.

[flauntpage]

Todd Bowles' Smoldering Seat and Other NFL Coaches in Trouble

Welcome to the NFL Underground Mailbag. Ask Chris Harris your question about the NFL, general sports or cultural minutiae at HeyHarris@HarrisFootball.com. Follow him @HarrisFootball.

Rachel H.: My boyfriend says Todd Bowles is on the hottest seat of any NFL coach this year. I say no way because how can the seat be hot when everybody expects you to go 0-16. Who's right? Which coach has the hottest seat this year?

At the risk of alienating one of the few women who've asked a question for this column—come on! I know you're out there!—I have to agree that Bowles' seat qualifies as "hot." There's a difference between Hue Jackson with the Browns (one terrible season into a rebuild) and Bowles with the Jets (two seasons in, with the rebuild just starting). Jackson doesn't have the stink of a big decline on him, so his front office probably can't use him as a scapegoat without exposing their own necks. Come December, when Jets GM Mike Maccagnan is staring at 1-11, he can (a) tie himself to Bowles and get fired right along with him, or (b) sacrifice Bowles and buy himself an extra season or two.

That said, I agree with Rachel: it feels intellectually dishonest to say Bowles' seat is hottest. It'd be like giving Matt Damon a Razzie for Great Wall. I mean, what else did you expect?

My ascending list of the NFL coaches in the deepest doo-doo for 2017 goes like this:

When your seat is on fire, maybe. Photo by Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

5. Marvin Lewis, Bengals. Last season, after five consecutive playoff appearances, the Bengals went 6-9-1. And remember: Marv has never won a playoff game. That's not why his seat is hot, though. The main reason owner/GM/concessionaire/laundryman Mike Brown never axed Lewis in the past was $$$—the Bengals are the league's most notoriously skinflint organization—but now Lewis is entering the final year of his contract.

4. Bowles. Poor Todd Bowles.

3. Doug Marrone, Jaguars. "Of course Doug Marrone was our first choice!" said nobody ever. The Jags have defensive talent and just drafted Bo Jackson, er, Leonard Fournette, so if they suck, Marrone will get the Chip Kelly treatment. Then cue new organizational czar Tom Coughlin's glorious return to the sidelines, which I will resist cheering because Jacksonville doesn't produce cold enough weather to freeze Coughlin's face.

2. Chuck Pagano, Colts. Former GM Ryan Grigson rightly gets eviscerated for bumbling through Andrew Luck's first five seasons, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Grigson who called this play.

1. John Fox, Bears. Nice of GM Ryan Pace to fill Fox in on his trade up to get Mitch Trubisky a full two hours before the draft! Not exactly in the loop there, Foxy! Fox is a lifer whose facial expression perpetually reads, "I wish I could get these guys to tackle more and listen to the hippety-hop music less." Like Maccagnan, Pace will need a fall guy after a Year 2 Hindenburg.

Taylor H.: How long until Jeff Fisher gets another job and ruins another franchise?

Speaking of lifers! Did you know that 2017 will be just the second season in 37 years that Fisher won't be affiliated with an NFL franchise? (He took 2011 off after the Titans axed him.) He's the panacea of clubby, quotable mediocrity, avoiding the harsh media glare for years by being friendly with reporters and ensconcing himself deep in the halls of power. He's the NFL equivalent of Mitch McConnell.

The mustache seeks a home. Photo by Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Which means of course he'll be back soon! You don't have to squint to see Marvin Lewis going 6-10 this year, Mike Brown finally pulling the plug, and the Bengals' excited interest in Josh McDaniels and Jim Harbaugh slowly transmogrifying into nauseated acceptance of Jeff Fisher's team-friendly new contract. Just imagine that mustache soaked in Skyline chili.

Tore B.: Soccer players act hurt. Football players pretend they're not hurt. Does winning justify faking?

When it comes to soccer, I bemoan the immolation acts of Euroweenies, yet if I inspect my psyche for a reason, I have to admit it comes down to complicated feelings about masculinity and a fascistic fetish for rules. I dare you to come up with a more quintessentially American combo! Somewhere deep in my Neanderthal brain, "being tough" and "playing fair" gets all crisscrossed with "being a man"—plus, look at those soccer hairdos—and before I know it, Ronaldo is flopping all over the place and I'm sashaying across my living room emitting high-pitched "ooh-la-las!"

Of course, soccer players are just gaming their system. They're lying to win. How is that different than Tom Brady telling falsehoods about his concussions? Or Richard Sherman mysteriously being left off injury reports? Or Matt Moore staggering back out under center after Bud Dupree used his jaw for target practice? Sure, these might appeal to my Neanderthal brain's ideas about what a "real man" is, but they're the same: lying in effort to win. (Well, and also let's be honest: there's tons of faking in the NFL, too!)

At base, if the question is "Does winning justify faking?" then the answer is hell, yeah! Two words: Manu. Ginobili.

When you faked a little but the wins were worth it. Photo by Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Larry W.: You're known not to be a LeGarrette Blount fan. Other than Blount, what truly "bad" running back had the best career?

I should preface my remarks by saying: any running back who ever played a single down in the NFL is a good athlete. Yes, yes, hate-tweeters, I'm aware that Player X is a better athlete than I! And no, I don't live in my parents' basement (anymore)!

I'm not giving you some revisionist take like, "Emmitt Smith was secretly terrible!" That said, let's slag some guys!

My criteria for "badness" comes down to: (1) you actually sucked; (2) I saw you suck during a time when I was paying pretty close attention, i.e., not when I was 7; (3) other people tried to tell me you were good, primarily because of stats, but I still knew you sucked. My criteria for "best career" comes down to: you somehow stayed in the league a long time without them putting your sucky self in the toilet. I've got three candidates. Here we go:

Bronze: T.J. Duckett (7 seasons, 717 rush attempts). He was Blount before Blount was Blount: just a big lumbering doof who had four seasons of eight TDs or more, so fantasy football players were convinced of his awesomeness. But all he could do was mash forward. He had the lateral quickness of yarn.

Silver: Darren McFadden (9 seasons, 1,301 rush attempts). We live in a world where Darren McFadden has made $48 million, also known as $1.45 million per touchdown. He was a No. 4 overall draft pick, he was feted year after year in Oakland as the next big thing, and he's somehow still on an NFL roster despite leveraging Marshall Faulk's skill set into Julius Jones's productivity.

Gold: Marion Barber (7 seasons, 1,156 rush attempts). I had to endure many rebukes when I told people Marion the Barbarian was the walking-around embodiment of "Just Another Guy." He scored 14 TDs in his second season—on just 135 carries!—and the world became convinced that Barber was Eddie George.

He wasn't.

Give the dude credit for 59 career scrimmage touchdowns, which puts him in the top 25 of all RBs since the turn of the century. And then remember the game he handed to the Broncos by mysteriously stopping the clock in regulation then fumbling in overtime.

Alex O.: Do you expect someone to rise up from the pool of RBs in Baltimore, or should Ravens fans just wait and covfefe?

Covfefe. Always covfefe.

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