#i think they stole it from st's twitter anyway

[sleepanonymous]

[sapphicfandompirate]

PJO Reaction Episode 5

Emerges from nearly 2 feat of snow I live!!! The US is not having a good time right now. Khione have mercy…

I have warm peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and some hot cocoa and I'm ready to see Ares and the Tunnel of Love. Remember, there is some minor spoilers for the TV series based off Book info

Oh right, starting off with the aftermath of ST Louis. Oh…this is where we have the Fates. That's terrifying

Percy, sweetie, dry yourself off lol

Baby Percabeth hug!!!

Yeah…being a wanted criminal kinda impedes public transportation

Oh, theorizing who stole the bolt. They're right, even if Hades had it, a demigod was needed to steal it

Baby Percy's confidence in Poseidon is adorable, but it'll be shattered I'm sure

I'm not sure how I feel about Annabeth seeing the string being cut instead of Percy, but it makes sense. She is connected to the Hero of the Prophecy who's going to die.

Hello Ares!

Ok, this scene is hilarious, with them hiding behind the concrete barrier and I'm liking this version of Ares.

Oh Percy, Ares is just the tip of the iceberg for your insane family. Wait till you meet your brothers

Oh I can't wait to see Tyson next season!!!!!

Anyway

Ares as a Twitter Troll makes perfect sense.

Oh good, we finally get Bitch Ass Gabe

Sassy Annabeth! I like how Ares is kind of explaining everything but with his spin on it. Especially the family drama and war stuff

Oh! Ares is separating the party. Poor Grover, I'd be terrified. To be fair, Grover is the least likely to punch him so that's probably good. Note: Least likely, not won't. He can be riled up when it comes to nature, pollution, and Pan

Oh this park is already creepy as hell.

Honestly, Hephaestus would build a bomb ass terrifying amusement park that would make adrenaline junkies drool. Me included, I love amusement parks and roller coasters

…Grover is a fan of Ares? I mean, nature is brutal. Is he actually a fan, or just buttering him up? I love this conversation actually.

Back to the creepy amusement park and the creepy tunnel of love

They don't recognize "What is love???" What is this younger generation coming too, they don't even know the classic memes

I kind of like Percy knowing some of the stories though, especially how Sally tells them.

Oh the ride is getting fun!

C'mon Percy, use your water powers! It would be very embarrassing to drown here. Ok good, he did it!

Annabeth's hair is never going to dry is it?

Yay a puzzle! I'm sure the throne is trapped nine ways from sunday

Of course Grover is trying to solve it and Ares is shutting it down…

Athena conversation? Ok, Grover is definitely trying to butter Ares up. This is beautiful. Oh….Grover what have you done.

Oh. if they make it so the throne is like a Chinese finger trap that would be a cute call back to the Mark of Athena. I don't think this trap is as simple as one gets trapped and one survives. Maybe if he just promises to be nice it'll let him go?

I love the scene tho, its so cute and serious.

Oh I love the animation for the trapped seat. Percy chanting "I'm ok" and turning to gold is heartbreaking.

C'mon Annabeth! If anyone can figure it out, its you!

Oh. Hello. Hephaestus? Hermes? Who is this? Oh ok, Hephaestus, I like his appearance, I didn't know he was cast already. What is his plan though?

C'mon Annabeth! Break that generational trauma! Character Growth!

Yay! Percy Lives!

Oh. I hate this part, the "kindness" transport. Oh. He's sending them to the Lotus Casino? Asshole. And there is the backpack…

Persassy strikes again!

"Thank you for the emotional abuse and the cheeseburgers" Grover never change. I'm stealing that. Somehow

Ooh, Grover knows Ares is lying. I wonder who he thinks stole the bolt? Athena?Damn you cliffhangers!

I think this was my favorite episode so far. I love all of the changes they made, and all of the conversations. The pacing is better than the previous ones, and so were the emotional beats and special effects

I'm so excited to see where we go from here!

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 9

back at it again, and its time for the shadowplay arc, HELL yeah

oh I'm so excited i love this arc lets DO this

oooh its nightbeat and quark!! way before they become relevant, which is so cool

‘one of those recepticon fanatics’ lmao imagine if they were...the recepticons. just doesn't have the same ring to it 

god i fucking love all the politics of mtmte. i love how they’re talking about the senate here before we really get to See how bad they were (we heard a bit about it from whirl a few issues ago, and now here)

love how nightbeat is pretty much agreeing with the decepticon ideology here, even if its clear that he isn't Actually a decepticon - it just drives home the fact that, in this story, The Decepticons Were Right About A Lot Of That Stuff (or at least, they had a reason other than ‘destruction’ for rebelling). 

AND THEN THERES RUNG!!!!!!! WITH HIS MODEL OF THE LOST LIGHT....god i fuckgin LOVE the continuity in this story bc the first time reading this ur like oh ok rung is old yea makes sense...but then later all the time travel stuff happens and then its like OHHHHH 

damn poor rung nightbeat can rlly tell he's lonely just by looking at him vbhjdkdfhbjsjkdf geez. also nightbeat that's ur mystery stick bf from the future js!!

quarks extreme POV on all of the stuff is so interesting, and makes so much sense bc of Course he would think that as a non-combatant scientist who, due to his functional value in current society, wouldn't really benefit much from a revolution - in fact, he’d probably lose a lot. and that’s the sort of thing where you’re like, ok well think about everyone else dude, have some perspective - but at the same time, quark did suffer a pretty terrible fate, so his fears weren't entirely unfounded...augh, its so fascinating...im sorry I'm not gonna shut up about space robot politics this Entire time

HOW did nobody notice that dead body before now

ratchet spray-painting the hands he stole from pharma to match his own paintjob is like...kinda gruesome if you think about it hvbhsjkdfbkjdf

i love rewind sooo much oh my god 

he rlly stashed rung’s comatose body in a wheelchair behind the bar hbkjdhfbshjkdf rewind 

rewind and chromedome’s tag-team explanation....ough hhhhh THEM 

wait a sec, rewind, you have medical records in your database? that is, at least according to regular medical laws, very illegal lmao. my favorite long-running theme in mtmte: the fact that hipaa and osha laws on cybertron are either basically nonexistent, or just universally disregarded 

what the actual fuck is up w/cybertronian time units. that shit is wack as hell 

ooh i love how chromedome looks different in the flashback - no shoulder tires! - that's a cool detail

how come prowl just said ‘minute,’ rewind was busting it up w/all the wack ass fantasy time units just a second ago. geez

also goddd i love the scenery of pre-war cybertron, its SUCH a cool setting like, visually and aesthetically and politically

like, i adore details like the sign in the bg that says ‘everyone’s shape serves a purpose.’ really adds to the ‘society on the precipice of civil war currently controlled by an increasingly-desperate faction who are doling out propaganda like crazy in an attempt to maintain their image and control over the populace’ vibe

good ole murder mystery setup. love it!

pre-war prowl is such an interesting character. actually prowl in general is such an interesting character...I kinda wrote him off during my first read of mtmte (and even a little during my second readthru) as just this dude who’s an asshole (espec bc my prev tf experience involved watching tfa as a kid, and this prowl is very different from tfa prowl lol)...but prowl is SUCH a multi-faceted and interesting character, even in the relatively little we see of him in mtmte 

plus it was interesting to learn later that prowl was one of the characters that jro wanted for mtmte and didn't get, and MAN i wish he got prowl bc I would've loved to see what jro would've done w/prowl on the lost light, that would've been amazing. like, just imagine the arc he would have...I have no idea what that arc would BE, but I know it would be awesome. plus I’d be really interested to see how prowl would factor in, relationships-wise, amongst the crew of the lost light. so much potential!

anyways. I'm in a very talky mood tonight it seems. its currently 4 am so that kinda explains it. ok, moving on!

chromedome and prowl bantering....in their own morbid forensic-cop way...

skids bvhjdbsfjasf. speaking what we’re all thinking: is prowl gonna keep showing up in mtmte despite not technically being part of the cast??

swerves drawing of prowl lmaoooo

AND THEN REWIND IN SOME OF MY FAVORITE MTMTE PANELS....fuckgin cracks me up every time god. rewind was rlly about to flip their entire ass table just to demonstrate that prowl is a serial table-flipper...and then he cant even make the table budge and he just stares at his hands like ‘how could you betray me like this’ hvbajkhhsfdhksdf PEAK hilarity

drift hvbshfdjbasdfj his forcibly cheery expression even tho he’s being harassed by rodimus, who is a big whiny toddler w/drift lmao 

rodimus is the type of guy who, upon drift not replying to one of his texts, would post a whole twitter thread being all like ‘these days u cant trust any1 to hav ur back...u think u kno someone and then they just ghost you...(1/14)’

again, rewind, HOW and WHY do you just Have medical reports, oh my god, somebody please call a hipaa agent I’m scared, 

ratchet interrupting the story to give a quick medical PSA....that's Such an on-brand thing for Me to do that I feel like jro is assigning me ratchet kin as I read this

also, hey, its sonic and boom, those two decepticons from delphi! nice little continuity there

AND HERES ORION PAX SUPER COP

can’t believe idw made my dad optimus prime into a cop. smh. shouldn't be that shocked tho, I feel like half the idw characters are cops

orion rlly hit them w/the omae wa mo shinderu arrest strat

orion: I cant believe you're beating this guy up. anyways, now I'm gonna beat YOU up,

when ratchet puts his hand over drifts mouth and then gets spray paint on drifts face bhjdfsvsdjhfgbjdskf

pre-war ratchet and drift ;_; ratchet’s little inspirational speech...the fact that he tells drift that he’s special...the fact that drift remembered all of this even after 4 million+ yrs...it gets me bro it GETS me

ALSO the layers in the fact that drift then goes on to become a well-known murderous decepticon...so this little scene of him and ratchet in the past gives a lot of context to ratchet’s general attitude towards drift - ratchet clearly feels at least somewhat responsible for all the blood on drift’s hands, since he saved drift’s life way back in the day

the whole relinquishment clinic thing is such cool worldbuilding, bc of course that's the kind of thing that would develop in a society of robot aliens who are only allowed to work within the rigid confines of their alt mode 

I love the whole matrix thing bc its kinda like being the pope or st but also you have a ton of political sway, so its a super important position, so of Course the corrupt senate would want full control over that power, and would assassinate the current prime to try to get their own guy in 

god vhbhjsdkbgshjdf rodimus is such a dick lmao poor drift

HHHHH I love that the cybertronian version of an autopsy is taking the dudes body apart into the smallest components and laying them all out. that's so fucking cool

hmmmm chromedome maybe you should Not be interested in mnemology, how about that,

oh god. time to start being sad about op and senator shockwave. oh god

senator shockwave more like senator sexy 

also the first time I read this I thought I had just missed his name and like halfway thru the story I went back and scoured the pages looking for it hbvhsjdfbshgfdsbj then I was like oh ok so we’re maybe supposed to just know who this guy is from another comic? but NOPE it was very deliberate and I only realized very close to the end that they were setting up some sort of reveal

its funny bc normally I'm not a huge fan of stories where politics play a huge role but I fuckgin love it here, the politics and worldbuilding is all so interesting and also balanced out with a healthy dose of cool sci-fi hijinks, so

lmao there's chromedome being obsessed w/people making the ‘pfft’ sound 

also wow yet more hindsight, maybe you Shouldn’t be so interested in the Institute, chromedome, 

OHHHH shit I forgot abt the red alert stuff happening at the same time as this :( :( :( 

AUGHHH what a fucked up situation. god 

oooof i gotta continue now!! what a solid issue, I love the shadowplay arc

[yoshi4sushi]

(purupurupuru) (purupurupuru) (gocha!) (coo!) (coo!)

 Howdy dandy Monday, minna-san! I hope everyone is doing well. Spring is near, and cherry blossoms are blossoming like darling dears. Be sure to be safe from those awful pollen. Getting the sniffles is no fun. Well, with that said, let’s this show on the road, we got loads to tell so you know the drill. First off, last week’s chapter is getting intense. We first meet another Kaido’s goons who’s a head jailer name Solitaire that ate some monkey type zoan fruit. Anyway, she’s all getting upset after the guards are failing to capture an intruder that stole the keys to the cuffs. It was none other than Raizo who is on the mission. Meanwhile, Luffy took out another head jailer name Daifugo who is some type of scorpion zoan type. Everyone is in shocked to see that Luffy broke the iron rule of attacking any of Kaido’s goons. The prisoners can’t help but stay away from the situation. Old man Hyou gives gratitude to Luffy for sticking up for him. Hearing the commotion made another head jailer name Babanuki who ate some elephant type zoan fruit that turns his stomach into a canon. He got angry for Luffy’s defiance and shot him straight on. Poor Luffy took a hit. Suddenly, the All-Star Beast member, Queen, shows up doing his dance show and settle the situation. Seems he has crush on Komurasaki, and wasn’t aware of the news of her death. Anyway, he asked Babanuki to rank the terrible situations. So he ranks no.3: Eustass Kid escaped, no.2: keys to the cuffs are gone, and no.1: Luffy is on the run. All three situations made him go nuts about it and demanded them to get the situation fixed. Back at Ebisu town, Law, Ussop, and Franky are hiding out at Tonoyasu’s humble home as he welcomed them with a kind smile knowing that they are friends with Zoro. Apparently Zoro was chasing someone and ran off far who knows where. Sanji is elsewhere looking for the bathhouse to check out the girls. Meanwhile, Nami, Shinobu, and Robin are enjoying a relaxing time at a unisex bathhouse with men giving the old perverted look. Anyway, Shinobu explains that it will be difficult to gather 5000 members for the rebellion looks at a possibility of gather only 500 members. She goes one further saying that gathering more members would be easy if they had help from Hyogoro of the flowers. Apparently, she says that 20 years ago, Hyogoro was a big time yakuza gangster that ran the underworld of Wano and influence many yakuza leaders and villagers. People admired his chivalry attitude that even Lord Oden admired him as well. However, when Orochi took over Wano, he refused to serve him and disappeared. The leader of the Oniwaban, Fukurokujuu, was loyal to the Kozuki clan, but decided to serve Orochi instead. A traitor that Shinobu could not forgive and left the Oniwaban group. Now these days, Hyogoro is now a myth. At the end, back in prison, old man Hyou and Luffy are face to face with Queen. He makes a deal with Luffy that he would ask Kaido forgiveness and to join his crew, but good ol’ stubborn Luffy refused. Queen then tells old man Hyou that it’s a shame that back then Kaido and Orochi tried many times to convinced him to join their cause due to his reputation back. Old man Hyou is none other than the legendary Hyougoro of the flowers. Poor old man Hyou begs to forgive Luffy and instead punish him. Queen says came up with an idea to settle the situation. While Raizo is in a pinch to try to help Luffy, a voice from behind the cage calls out to him claiming to be a man name Kawamatsu. An old friend perhaps? Who is this Kawamatsu? What has Queen decide to punish both Luffy and Hyougoro? SO MUCH INTENSE! Don’t miss this week’s chapter! Episode will resume this week so don’t miss it. Now on with the goods. First, Tongari-san is a bit busy cuz this week is the anniversary so we’ll do the announcing in his place. First, on March 31st, it’s free entry day. You must some accompany of a friend, or group, or family. Single is not allowed to enter the park free if you don’t have a buddy to join you. Next, the tower are giving out free anniversary stickers. Sanji’s restaurant and Cafe Muigwara are giving stickers of Sanji and Robin if you dine there. Ticket and Tongari store are giving out stickers of Luffy and Nami. On the 4th floor, the Tongari carnival are giving out sticker of Zoro, the original medal coin maker will give out sticker of Ussop, Chopper’s Sunny tour will give Chopper’s sticker, if you dine at Franky’s cola bar, you’ll get Franky’s sticker, and if you play another mini game, you will receive Brook’s sticker. If you collect all the stickers, take your sticker to the ticket counter, you’ll get a sticker of Tongari-san himself. Speaking of Tongari-san, his birthday is this Wednesday. To celebrate, if you follow his Twitter page and leave a bday message, you’ll get a special anniversary bromide card. This is only on Wed. Also, these two medal coins are the new anniversary coins that has Luffy and Tongari-san. It’s 600 yen to have it customized. Next, all arcades will stock the new World Figure Colosseum of Sanji in Diable Jamble attack. It will be in color and b&w version. Wanna this prize? You have the power in your hands. Beat that devilish crane. Moving on, here are the new bday goods of Franky and Sabo. For Franky, stores are selling his artboard, letter cup, and bromide card set. For Sabo, stores will be selling his birthday button, art board, yummy sweet treat, and a wanted poster folder. Next, starting this Friday, Jump Shop will be holding a stamp rally. If you collect stamps from Straw Hat stores and Jump Shop, you’ll get a free prize. If you visit 3 or 12 Jump Stores, apparently, you’ll get an even more amazing prize. Details will be explained more. You can follow their Twitter page. Event will go on until Sept.30th. Next, Animate stores will be holding a special Jump event. From March 15th to April 4th, if you shop for goods, you’ll receive a free random bromide card of any anime. For OP, they’ll give out bromide cards of Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji from Wano chapter. Next, check out the cover of vol.20 of WCI that has the awesome Carrot in sulong mode. It will be released on April 3rd. Next, this summer, Log Collection will released new DVD package of Zou. On July 26th, Zou will be released. ON Aug.30th, Mink will be released. And on Sept.27th, will be released. Last, but not least, here are more designs of the Straw Hats in the upcoming movie, STAMPEDE. Phew! I think that’s everything. Also, we’ll leave upcoming episode titles. That’s all we got! Tune in next week for more news and goods. All righty, boys, let’s call it a night.

 Episode titles:

Ep.876: “The Man of Humanity and Justice! Jimbei, a Desperate Massive Ocean Current”-March 17th.

Ep.877: “Time for Farewell! Pudding’s One Last Request!”-March 24th.

Ep.878: “The World in Shock! The Fifth Emperor of the Sea Arrives!”-March 31st.

Ep.879: “To the Reverie! Gathering of the Straw Hat Allies!”-April 7th.

 Stamp rally event: https://twitter.com/OP_stamp_rally

[miriyos]

i’m a little stitious (wc: 1,858)

(I definitely took the title from The Office, no shame. Based on this. Written as if it was the start of the season.)

Geno hates the connotation that comes along with being superstitious. Like most other players, he has his routine that he sticks to. That’s what he calls it. He’s played hockey for what feels like his entire life. Very rarely does he take something that works out of his routine, and only if he feels like he’s in a drought does he consider taking something out.

Some people he’s dated have taken the time to be considerate of the schedule he keeps. A few long-term relationships down the road, none of them have ever really played a role in preparing Geno for a game.

Except, now, Sid.

Sweet, a little bit shy, and most certainly, hockey crazy, Sidney Crosby. Geno has never really met someone like Sid before.

The Penguins are visiting Minnesota for a game. They’re given a day off while Minnesota is busy on a back-to-back when Geno catches word that St. Cloud University is having a women’s hockey game. Their arena is an hour away but if the young boys plan on going out to pick up, Geno would almost rather have them mingle with girls their own age than mess with cougars.

What a concept. Geno never heard of it until he came to America.

That’s where he meets Sid for the first time, always the first person to jump up out of his seat during an exciting play, complete with an embarrassing sign with his sister’s name on it clearly made with their mother’s touch. It’s nearly a full house for a women’s college game and Sid just might be the loudest person in attendance whether it be cheering or simply talking to himself.

The Huskies are on a 2-3 lead at home hoping to solidify the win when the away team pulls their goalie. Crosby in the net thinks about freezing the puck, decides against it, and sends it flying across the ice so fast Geno’s not even sure if McDavid could catch up to it. Huskies get the empty net and Geno promptly smacked in the face with Sid’s cardboard sign.

He might play up the pain a little bit in front of the boys, but he’s the captain so he can always glare the rookies into submission later. Right now, he’s focused on the beautiful man holding his face, checking for paper cuts.

Sid must apologize a dozen times in his Canadian politeness before he agrees to let it go.

“I’m so sorry,” he apologizes again after apologizing for apologizing so much.

Geno just laughs, ignoring the shocked faces of his teammates. “If so sorry, you come to Pens game tomorrow? Cheer me on?”

Me, not us. He suffers from chirping on his pickup line skills for weeks. It’s well worth it the way Sid’s face gets a blushy red. Geno doesn’t usually do this, try to pick up where people can see him. It’s one thing to do it at the club where it’s dark and there’s so many bodies around it could be easy to mistake Geno for anyone. But here, Geno can hear some whispers of people who’ve recognized them and he doesn’t care.

“I’d love to,” Sid says, a bit shocked and breathless. “Can I bring someone? My sister?”

“Of course, I’m love to meet her.”

*

Sid lives in Pittsburgh and after four months of dating Geno, moves in with him. A notable amount of Sid’s things were already in Geno’s house and with Sid’s lease up, it seemed like a good opportunity to bring the topic up. He steps back long enough to make sure he isn’t rushing things and decides screw it.

The worst Sid can do is say no.

Sid doesn’t. He asks every other variation of making sure Geno thought things through and making sure if Geno won’t get tired of him if Sid moves in too early. Geno doesn’t think that’s possible.

“He makes a good trophy husband,” Flower teases Geno one day. Sid has successfully gained Scarlet’s favor and is showing her his best impression of his face off look.

Silently, Geno agrees.

*

While Geno is prepping for his pregame nap, Sid is coming out of a fresh shower after coming home from the gym. He just looks soft with his hair wet and dressed comfortably in a Pens shirt Geno is pretty sure Sid stole from him. It doesn’t take much to persuade Sid to lay down with Geno for a while, just until he falls asleep, but when Geno wakes up, Sid is still tucked under the curve of his arm, perhaps even closer than how they started off.

Geno has never taken a better nap.

Sid wakes up with him and makes enough pasta for the both of them as a late lunch, early dinner. Geno spends the majority of that time admiring how good Sid looks in his kitchen. No longer awkward and afraid to ask where things are or if he can use them. Some things on the higher shelves Geno had to move down just so Sid could reach them.

Geno never mentioned it but Sid must’ve appreciated the gesture if the spontaneous makeout on the couch was an indication.

On the way out to the arena, Sid gives Geno a good luck kiss in the doorway of their house. Sid gets perhaps a lot more handsy with Geno in his suit, which gives him so many ideas he’ll have to touch on with Sid later, however, he gathers his inner strength and walks away.

The jumbotron catches Sid later filming the replay of Geno’s second goal of the night. For the rest of the duration of the game and an hour after, Twitter is buzzing wanting to know who the attractive man behind the glass was.

Flower screenshots every last one of the comments and sends them to Geno.

*

The Pens take bets on how many open practices Sidney will show up to. So far, since meeting Geno, he’s five for five.

Tanger and Flower have completely monopolized Sid’s time away from Geno. In the midst of their poorly veiled interrogation on his intentions toward their captain they discover Sid played hockey. So now, the rest of the boys are equally impressed.

At some point, someone gets Sid one of Geno’s sticks and a roll of tape. The rookies watch awe of Sid’s meticulous taping skills, his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth in the cutest way as he gets Geno’s stick the way he wants it.

Geno doesn’t have the heart to tell Sid that that isn’t how he likes his sticks taped. He just asks Dana on the side to prepare another one. Somehow, the stick ends up on Geno’s rack and later in his hand anyway. It takes until the puck hits his stick that he notices something different. He still manages to score on Flower so maybe Sid didn’t tape it badly, just not the way Geno would have.

The stick stays, taped and all, a weird request Geno has never given before. It goes with them to Philly where it ends up in Geno’s hand again. By the end of the night, Geno has three assists and a new method of taping his sticks.

He can’t manage to replicate Sid’s method on his own though.

“You do much better than me,” he tells Sid with four sticks lined up to be taped.

“Are you sure?” Sid still asks. “Wouldn’t you rather tape it the way you like it?”

Geno shrugs. “I like your way better.”

“I could just teach you,” Sid suggests although clearly in hockey mode. His tongue is poking out again. Geno briefly thinks that he should definitely kiss his boyfriend.

So, he does.

Sidney has to tape the stick all over again from scratch though for being distracted. Worth it.

*

The Metro Division is something of a mess right now. The Pens are trying their best to secure a wildcard position. It’s going to happen. Geno won’t let this go on for much longer if he has anything to say about it. The Capitals, however, are top of the Metro. Ovi aside, the Caps need to win a little less so the Pens can rise through the rankings.

And Philly. And maybe the Devils too.

Geno just wants to win. As back to back Stanley Cup champions, they’ve been doing that a little less often than they were expected to.

Caps play the Detroit Red Wings, a team Geno couldn’t really if they won or lost, except they’re playing Ovi so he’s officially Team Detroit.

Sid misses much of the heart attacks caused from the three periods played. Regulation ends in a tie, they take a commercial break to prep for OT just as Sid walks through the door, home from work finally. He gets out greetings for Geno and all his teammates, barely kisses Geno on the cheek when bam. Tomas Tatar scores in OT.

Red Wings win.

Right after the Devils play the Bruins at home. Sid isn’t allowed to leave the room unless there’s a commercial. The Devils also lose.

Now the Pens are that much closer to a playoff spot.

*

Roadies were difficult before, but now they’re even moreso. Geno’s routines are all messed up.

He can’t call Sid before practice, not when Sidney’s at work, but Sid does manage to call him later on the way home. It’s later in Pittsburgh than it is in LA which works in their favor. Geno gets enough of his Sid time before he has to start trying to nap. He ignores all the kissy faces Flower is giving him.

Later, he goes out, plays hard, feels his stick crack in his hands while he’s coming down from an adrenaline high from having one of the best shifts of his career.

“Broke?” he asks Reaver on the bench for a second opinion. A few cracks are probably nothing.

Reaves at first nods, then begins to shake his head when he sees the damage. “Yeah, pretty sure sticks don’t crack that much.”

Geno curses in Russian briefly. “I’m sore, I can’t change!”

Unfortunately, Geno’s stick doesn’t hold on.

During intermission Geno sends Sid a long string of frowny faces without eyes.

When he can finally go back to Pittsburgh, he and Sid sit on the couch. Sid taping five more of Geno’s sticks while Geno randomly fills out bubbles on a blank scantron. He colors in six C’s in a row before Sid leans against his side.

“You should probably throw some other letters in there, too. The kids get panicky when they’re the same letter for too long,” Sid advises.

So Geno does.

He spells CAB three times before he comes to where Sid told him to stop. It’ll probably be the most second-guess endusing quiz Sidney will ever give his students.

Sid ends up sprawled out on the couch, petting their foster cat, which certainly will end up being adopted by them anyway, his legs on top of Geno’s. Domestic, Geno thinks.

“What?” Sid asks eventually, seeing Geno staring.

Geno shrugs. The kiss probably does most of the talking for him.

[thornburgrealty]

rush CBC Radio second master

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[mystlnewsonline]

New Post has been published on https://www.stl.news/federer-advances-to-australian-open-semifinal-against-chung/73556/

Federer advances to Australian Open semifinal against Chung

MELBOURNE, Australia/January 24, 2018(AP)(STL.News)— Roger Federer accounted for a long-time rival to set up a semifinal against Next Gen champion Hyeon Chung at the Australian Open.

Defending champion Federer’s 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Tomas Berdych on Wednesday night extended his winning streak to 14 in Australian Open quarterfinals and to nine in that personal duel. The 19-time major winner leads that head-to-head contest 20-6, including all five meetings at Melbourne Park.

The 36-year-old Swiss star overcame a shaky start, dropping his opening service game and uncharacteristically challenging the chair umpire because of a technological fault.

“I had to get a bit lucky. A bit angry. A bit frustrated maybe at the umpire,” Federer said. “Anyway, glad to get out of that first set. It was key to the match.

“That first set could have gone either way. He deserved it, actually. I stole that one a little bit.”

Chung became the first Korean to make a Grand Slam tennis semifinal when he beat No. 97-ranked Tennys Sandgren 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the afternoon match on Rod Laver Arena.

The 21-year-old Chung hadn’t let up when upsetting No. 4 Alexander Zverev or six-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic en route to the quarterfinals, but he let his guard down in the last game and needed six match points and to fend off two break points to hold off Sandgren.

“In last game, I think at 40-love … if I win one more point, I make history in Korea. I have to think about the ceremony, something,” he said, explaining how he got slightly ahead of himself. “After deuce, break point. I was like, no, nothing to do with ceremony. But just keep playing — keep focused.”

Then he fully embraced the moment, joking in an on-court TV interview, introducing the audience to his parents and his coach, and taking the microphone to speak in Korean to millions of new tennis fans back home.

“I think all the people is watching Australian Open now because we make history in Korea,” he said.

The No. 58-ranked Chung is the lowest-ranked man to reach the Australian Open semifinals since Marat Safin in 2004. He’s also the youngest to reach the last four at a major since Marin Cilic did it here in 2010.

With Chung already through, and Kyle Edmund playing No. 6 Cilic in the other half of the draw, it’s the first time since 1999 that multiple unseeded players have reached the Australian Open semifinals.

Federer said he has been impressed with the way the two unseeded players have progressed, particularly Chung‘s run.

“To beat Novak on this court is particularly difficult. … He’s incredibly impressive in his movement, reminds me obviously a lot of Novak,” Federer said. “He’s clearly got nothing to lose. I will tell myself the same and we’ll see what happens.”

Chung’s big wins over Zverev and Djokovic have drawn extra attention to a player who last November won the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals title.

He was too consistent for Sandgren, a 26-year-old American who had never won a match at a Grand Slam tournament or beaten a top 10 player until last week.

Sandgren’s unexpected surge to the quarterfinals — he beat 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka and No. 5 Dominic Thiem en route to the quarterfinals — was overshadowed by heavy scrutiny of his Twitter account and his follows and retweets of far-right activists.

Two women who’ve been to this stage at a Grand Slam before will meet in the last four. One has two major titles, the other still seeks a breakthrough. Top-ranked Simona Halep recovered from an early break to win nine straight games in a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 6 Karolina Pliskova and set up a semifinal match Thursday against 2016 champion Angelique Kerber, who routed U.S. Open finalist Madison Keys 6-1, 6-2.

In the other semifinal, No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki will play 22-year-old Elise Mertens.

Kerber has been the only Grand Slam singles champion in the women’s draw since her third-round win over Maria Sharapova. Two-time French Open finalist Halep has had a tougher road — having to save match points in a third-round win over Lauren Davis that finished 15-13 in the third — to reach the semifinals at Melbourne Park for the first time.

Kerber has had no serious distractions on a 14-match winning streak, and is hoping to emulate her breakout year in 2016.

She won the Australian and U.S. Open titles two years ago and reached the No. 1 ranking, but slipped into the 20s last year. She didn’t win a title between the 2016 U.S. Open and the Sydney International earlier this month.

“I am just trying to find the feeling back that I had, like 2016, and just enjoying my time,” Kerber said.

By Associated Press, published on STL.NEWS by St. Louis Media, LLC (TM)

[thedungeonra]

My thoughts on THE LAST JEDI

It’s Christmas Eve-eve and I’m working 2nd shift.   It’s finally calmed down a bit so this seems a good time to talk about my difficult relationship with STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI.

I overall dislike the film, both as the 8th episode of the Star Wars Saga/9th film overall in the entire franchise and as a film on its own merit. But there was a lot I liked about the film.  A lot I LOVED about the film.  Which perhaps makes it more frustrating.  Were TLJ as categorically bad as say, HIGHLANDER 2: The one where they’re from the Planet Zeist, I would actually have a much easier time disliking it.

But first, what exactly is my history with Star Wars?

EMPIRE STRIKES BACK was the first film I ever saw in a theater.   My older brother took me.  I was all of 4.   I saw STAR WARS on TV later on and it was not until RETURN OF THE JEDI that I connected the dots that it was the same film.  You gotta remember that for my generation, what you call, “Episode IV: A NEW HOPE,” was just STAR WARS to us.   I loved ESB.  And collected what little merchandise was available in early 80s rural Indiana.

I’ve seen EMPIRE STRIKES BACK more than any other film.   I have a son, college-age right now, who grew up with the prequels.    We had our various lightsaber battles, and played the video games together and bought the toys.  It was great!

I don’t hate the prequels in the en vogue way that GenXers seem to hate them.  Jar Jar doesn’t bother me all that much.  Nor does Jake Lloyd’s Anakin.  I still fire up the DVD from time to time for the Podrace and Darth Maul duels.  And Qui-Gon is one of my favorite SW characters.  

I really enjoyed ATTACK OF THE CLONES because it feels like Ewan really had fun playing Obi-Wan.  And SITH… well… it’s not great.    I think the last two minutes of ROGUE ONE makes up a lot for the last two minutes of SITH.  It’s the Darth Vader we’ve wanted to see for decades.

And I loved FORCE AWAKENS. I really dig all four new leads. I was bummed that Luke had nothing to do and I felt Han got a really bittersweet ending (as did Harrison Ford finally get the exit he wanted from the franchise).  I thought the structural similarities between IV and VII were a feature, not a bug.   And I’ve been all for VIII since.

 Until.  The trailers for VIII began.  Something felt… not quite right.  And yeah, feel free to insert your, “I feel a great disturbance in the Force) joke here.  I couldn’t get excited for anything I was seeing in the trailers.  

Even seeing Luke in the cockpit of the Falcon felt like the grapes of Han’s, “Chewie, we’re home” to prunes in my mouth.   I assumed Luke would die in this film.  And after we lost Carrie Fisher much too soon, it was hard accepting that IX would be without Luke, Han and Leia.  I waited for the crowds to thin a bit and saw TLJ on Tuesday after opening weekend. 70mm IMAX at the Indiana State Museum, if knowing that of trivia is fun for you.

Now, then.  I’m not a film critic and this is not a film review. I’m just a middle aged Star Wars lover and film nerd.  

 But before we get into what I disliked about it, let’s start off on a positive note!  Firstly, I do understand and respect that Rian Johnson had essentially 4 basic audiences for this film, none of whom view Star Wars the same way.  Baby Boomers what saw STAR WARS in college; we GenXers what grew up with the movies; Millennials who grew up with the Preqs; and kids today whose first Star Wars theater experience was THE FORCE AWAKENS.  That’s a heavy burden and if anything, I feel like they failed in trying to appease to these 4 quadrants of the fandom.

I loved the opening battle sequence.  It’s maybe the best star war in Star Wars.  It looks and sounds great.  There is great conflict and drama.  It has this amazing gut punch with the last bomber.  Just superb.

I still really just love the four new leads.  Those are all rich characters.

I’ve seen a lot of people grousing about Rose and specifically, the entire casino sub-plot.  Rose was great!  In a movie where people are all over the place on the emotional spectrum, Rose felt like really the only person whose emotional responses actually made sense in their given contexts.  And she delivers the theme of the film at the end, which I did enjoy.  

And the space casino heist? Are you kidding me?  James Bond in space.  Loved it.  I felt the animal cruelty and slavery beats a bit too on the nose, but that’s just a taste thing.  I think my very first reaction on the twitters was something to the effect of, “a great space casino heist film wrapped in a shitty Star Wars story.” Beneicio Del Toro was certainly memorable.  I thought they were teasing a new Han Solo-ish scoundrel but instead, he’s this great foil to Finn.  I DJ shows back up again either in IX or in Rian Johnson’s spinoff films.    

My only real quibble with the casino scene was that Justin Theroux’s high stakes gambler/slicers should have been Lando, right?  You can’t put Billy Dee Williams at a Sabacc table for 30 seconds?  Also seeing how the owner of the ship DJ stole sells to the Resistance and the 1st Order, having him still Lando’s ship would have been a nice touch.   In the absence of the Rebellion and Han, Lando is not the best version of his self. Anyway, I’m not here to write a different movie.

I also really liked Laura Dern’s Admiral Holdo and I enjoyed how she shut down Poe’s mansplaining.   I don’t understand some of the choices made with Holdo, but  more on that in a bit.   Holdo crashing the Mon Cal cruiser into the 1st Order fleet while at lightspeed was insanely cool.  That’s the stuff we only ever imagined in the old Star Wars RPG; never thought I’d see something like that on screen.

Didn’t mind the Yoda cameo. Don’t understand people who say, “bro, that should have been Obi-Wan, bro.”  I don’t agree, but whatever.  Yoda seemed perfect to me.  

I don’t think it’s the best lightsaber fight in Star Wars, but seeing Kylo Ren and Rey fight together was really cool.  Was great to see the combat training the actors have done get a few minutes to shine.

BB-8.  Big fan.  I don’t understand why BB-8 didn’t get a moment to take out BB-9e while in that 1st Order Chicken Walker.  Would have been a quick scene and very satisfying.  Oh well.

The big ground assault on the rebel base at the end was great. That’s the ground battle I expected from the trailer of ROGUE ONE that didn’t seem to be in the movie.  I wonder if there’s a connection?

All of the performances were superb.  Carrie Fisher especially.  

The film was a series of several, often disconnected moments, that I thought were really good.

Now the bad stuff.  I find it insanely annoying and not a little condescending to allege that people who do not like THE LAST JEDI are obsessive fanboys who cannot let go of the past.   Or that we don’t understand the goals and themes of the film.  I get it.  Conceptually, I’m on board.  I’m VERY ready for the formula of STAR WARS to be reinvented.   I don’t need to see rehashes of Sith vs Jedi, Empire vs Rebellion, Skywalker vs Skywalker.  It’s tired. I know.   Dudes wanna fly off half-cocked into conflict when they should listen to the counsel of wiser women.  I KNOW.

Just… be good at doing those things.

So here’s what I hated:

The film doesn’t actually move the story forward.  The movie ends with the same status quo as the beginning:  

the 1st Order has the New Republic Resistance on the ropes and is assaulting their base.

Rey doesn’t have a teacher.

The 1st Order is exactly as effective with Snoke cut into pieces as it was when he was alive.

The Resistance is exactly as effective when a demoted Commander leads a mutiny against a Vice Admiral as it was with General Leia in charge.  

This film sets on fires many dangling plot points set-up by JJ in VII only to return the story to the same position.

And so on.  You get it.  It’s the illusion of change.  

I hated every scene with Luke Skywalker.    Man, just one huge bummer after another.   And again, conceptually, I can by that he’s at least a Grey Jedi now and believes both the Sith and Jedi are wrong in the possessive perspectives on the Force.  I can buy that he went off to Ach-To to cut himself off from the Force and die.  I can buy that he, in a moment of weakness, could not figure out how to save Ben Solo from the Dark Side and was tempted himself to take the quick and easy path.  He did, after all, cut Darth Vader’s hand off in the Death Star II Throne room.

But all of those things were executed in a clumsy way that seemed to have little regard for the character. It was a gigantic bummer.  Would have also been nice if someone had bothered to tell Luke that his best friend died at the hands of his own son.  Maybe that’s what Chewie told him?  Or Artoo?  But I dunno.  It’s not clear and they gave Mark Hamill nothing to work with in those moments.  

I absolutely hated his hero moment at the end.  Why set up Old Logan Luke who doesn’t want to face down the entire 1st Order with a laser sword in the 1st Act if he does it but not really in the 3rd Act?  There’s a wishy-washy desire to have things both ways in this film that drives me nuts.

Also, Luke on Denouement Planet was the clunkiest “misdirect” of the entire film.  I’ve only seen the film once and at my first viewing, it was obvious to me that this was not actually Luke.  

A) We’ve just seen three different flashbacks of Jedi Master Luke from his New Jedi Academy days after RotJ. And Denouement Luke looks exactly like Jedi Master Luke and not the Wild Man of Borneo from the first two Acts.

B)  the movie makes a big deal of showing us that the slightest disturbance to the surface crust of that salt pan will reveal the red dust underneath (which was a rad visual element).   And when Kylo Ren sets his foot in Sith Action Pose, we see the red underneath.  Whereas Luke is clearly NOT disrupting anything.  

C) How dumb is Kylo Ren that even though he just destroyed Anakin Skywalker’s blue lightsaber 10 minutes before landing, Luke is somehow wielding it?  I think there’s an argument to be made that Luke intentionally chooses a younger visage of himself (of the last time Ben Solo saw him) and is also using his own legacy against him (Anakin’s lightsaber) to put him off balance. But the film does not convey this.

All combined, these three elements rob all the underlying drama tension from that conflict because it’s obvious he isn’t there.

The dialogue was troublesome for me.  I legit sat there, stunned, at the end looking for a Diablo Cody writing credit. Remember how I loved the opening battle? Everything but that bit with Poe and Hux.  It was funny the first time.  The, “Holding for Hux” part after Hux did his nefarious monologue.  But they kept hitting that same beat.  Over and over.  I would have not batted an eye had Poe called Hux, “homeslice” in that moment. Thus, Diablo Cody.  

Also, Snoke’s “spunk.” line. Lolwut?  Though I had a chuckle and thought to myself, “… and wriggling” after Andy Serkis said, “raw.”

Why do they keep wasting Gwendoline Christie as Phasma?  Have they not seen GAME OF THRONES?  Are they unaware of the jewel in their crown?

The editing.  This film needs a good once-over to trim about 20 minutes out.  Do we need to see Luke milking a Watto-Cow or spearfishing?  Did we need to see Luke’s X-Wing parked underwater when it’s just an unnecessary head-fake?  As much as I did enjoy the casino bit, it felt over-stuffed.  

The wishy-washiness. Oh man.  This is the ultimate dealbreaker for me.  Look, I don’t mind Rey is the daughter of a couple Trump voters from Jakku with no connection to the Skywalkers.  The scene where Kylo Ren tells her, “You don’t even belong here. No one cares about you but me.” is fantastic.  I loved it. I love their relationship and I hope to all the cinema gods they stick to their guns and don’t reveal that Ben and Rey are just Jacen and Jaina Solo lite.  

Don’t waste our precious film time in VII making a huge mystery deal out of who Rey is and who her parents are in VII just to reveal in VIII that she’s nobody from nowhere one-hundredth of her name.  And don’t especially get pissy at me because I’m frustrated that you wasted my time on a non-mysterious mystery.  That’s false drama, breh.  And a really hacky way to “deconstruct” a story.

If you’re going to really deconstruct what we know about this story and these characters, then do it.  “Flip you. Flip you, for real.”  Don’t try to have your space cake and eat it too.    

Luke is done with this mess and isn’t going to show up and play the hero.  Until he does.  But not really.  

Kylo Ren has good in him, but not really.

Rey has darkness in her, but not really.

Now, this is not the same thing as a character arc.  I don’t lump this in with Poe being a brash self-centered pilot at the beginning but a real leader by the end.  I’m for that.  

I’m talking about if LAST JEDI were broken into numerical values, for every 1 there is a -1 and the story of the movie feels like a sum of 0.

Now, there are a lot of nitpicky things I’ve shared with the people in my life (most of whom are glad I’ve turned my focus to the internet).  Like, “what’s the deal with Snoke?  Who is he and what does he want?”  That’s just subjective, “season-to-taste” stuff that grates on me but I don’t feel objectively bad.   “Who is Snoke and what does he want?” was not a focal point of the previous film.  

Samey-same with Holdo not sharing her plan.  Finn’s plan actually not accomplishing anything.  If they knew they were being tracked and had two jumps left and a 6 minute window, why not prepare the transports, jump the old rebel base, unload the transport and jump again in 5 minutes?  That kind of thing.  You know, things people call, “plot holes” on the internet that are not actually plot holes.

Leia Force Flying through space after the bridge exploded.  Just looked dumb.  If there was any excuse for Leia to bust out a lightsaber, this was the moment.  That would have been choice.    Tangential to this: the unceremonious death of Admiral Ackbar.

But those are digressions.

I would probably like this story much more if it were the last half of FORCE AWAKENS rather than a movie all unto itself.

That said, I think this petition to remove TLJ from the canon of SW films is idiotic.  This film is going to make a billion dollars by New Years and Disney appears to be giving Rian Johnson his own spinoff franchise. So yeah, this movie isn’t going anywhere.  

I also think its real low class to jump on twitter and be a raging dickmunch to Rian Johnson.  I’ll never understand why people punish creators for being easily accessible.   Or to people who loved the movie.  I’m not here to convince you that you shouldn’t love THE LAST JEDI or tell you you’re a dumb-dumb if you did.  I simply find it difficult to like for Star Wars movie reasons and movie-movie reasons.

I actually look forward to Johnson’s spinoff film because he seems much more comfortable with new characters.  I think he’s a person like Zahn who will add a lot of new hated and loved characters. But unlike Zahn, I don’t think he has a steady hand with legacy characters.

So that’s it.  6 pages on a Word document later (assuming you stuck around).  Feel free to hit me back on the twitterbox to tell me how both right and wrong I am!

May the Force be something or other.  But probably not.  

[yahoo-puck-daddy-blog]

Puck Daddy Countdown: The Jets keep on rolling

The Winnipeg Jets are showing themselves to be one of the most dangerous teams in the NHL. (Getty Images)

6. Maybe the Penguins (maybe?)

So Pittsburgh, reigning back-to-back Cup champs, are about to enter December in a tightly packed Metro.

They entered Tuesday night’s games tied for fourth in the division, but only three points back of New Jersey which inexplicably continues to lead everyone there. That’s not an insurmountable lead or anything, but with the potential for Matt Murray to be sidelined for a little while, the idea of trying to make up the gap to scramble their way out of a dicey playoff position. Tristan Jarry ain’t your guy for, y’know, “winning a lot of games.”

Meanwhile, there’s a big ol’ controversy brewing with Ian Cole, who has apparently received permission to have his agent talk to other teams about a potential trade. Cole’s a healthy scratch these days and, as you might guess, wasn’t playing well before he started eating a lot of press box popcorn on game nights.

This is, I guess, the price of success. The Penguins have managed the cap pretty well, but definitely entered the season with some question marks. Far be it for me to suggest that losing Ron Hainsey should throw your D corps into chaos, but the Pens’ blue line was a little weak, as was the center depth. They, ahem, addressed the center depth by trading Scott Wilson for Riley Sheahan (and boy has that not worked out for either team) but the D corps remains untouched.

This isn’t to suggest, either, that losing Cole for relatively little — maybe nothing — is a backbreaker, but as with the forward depth and goaltending injury, that’s also not how you make up ground. Especially when you factor in all those damn back-to-back games. Of which there is a frankly unfair amount.

This is a team you absolutely can’t count out because, well, look what they’ve done under their current coach, but also all of this should be a point of concern.

5. Overreacting (but also maybe a little justifiably)

One thing I love about Montreal is how ready everyone is to totally buy in the second the Canadiens win two in a row.

Now look, Carey Price was phenomenal in the two games he’s played since coming back from injury, stopping 73 of 74 shots against. Sure, you say, “Boy, doesn’t 74 shots against in two games, both of which ended in regulation, seem like a lot?” And yeah you aren’t wrong. Montreal is still playing badly. But these are by far his two best performances of the season and he might finally be healthy and all that.

Not saying he’s anything close to a .986 goalie the rest of the season, obviously, but if he’s Capital-C Capital-P Carey Price for any sort of decent stretch, all those concerns about where the Habs are at as a franchise are probably going to go away. All the problems that justifiably led to those concerns will still be there, but hell, if the Habs buy their own BS over that MVP season Price had a few years ago while the rest of the team was crap, what’s to say they don’t do that again if Price once again goes into beast mode?

That’s especially true because, hey look, they’re still a great possession team — thanks, Claude! — and their division has only two good teams in it. (We’ll get to that in a second.)

No matter what you think of this Montreal team, you have to understand it can just start winning a ton of 2-1 and 3-2 games if Price keeps it up. So while I think it’s a bit overdone for him to come back from injury, have two incredible games, and get the media to start hyping this team as having turned some sort of corner, also, this is a team that can absolutely do some damage the rest of the way.

4. That dog don’t hunt

Two things going on in Toronto simultaneously: Mitch Marner is in a scoring slump, and Willy Nylander is… also in a scoring slump.

Which, hey, it happens. Especially for second-year guys. Both slumps are somewhat easy to explain: Check their shooting percentages.

So now despite the fact that they’re playing well (generally speaking) and just not scoring, there’s more criticism of their defensive play.

But now there are these conspiracy theories floating around that the Leafs somehow are putting them in a position to fail, insofar as keeping their stats down. Preposterous idea, and if this were happening in, say, Minnesota or St. Louis, where the media guys aren’t lunatics, it wouldn’t even be a discussion point. They’d see their shooting percentages and underlyings and say, “Well, that’s life sometimes.” There would be no further discussion.

It obviously behooves the Leafs in a cap league to keep prices down where they can, but the idea that they’d set their really good young guys up to fail is silly on its face. Because what’s Mike Babcock saying to them? “I want you guys to go out there and shoot 6 and 4 percent?” C’mon man.

3. The middling Metro teams

Pertinent to the things about the Penguins and Habs earlier, that thing we all started to worry about happening when the league switched back to a divisional playoff format is starting to look pretty likely.

A quick look at the standings will show you that third-in-the-Atlantic Detroit is currently sitting ninth in the Eastern Conference, putting them behind a whopping SIX of the Metro’s eight teams. Only Carolina and Philly are worse, and they’re both within two points of the Wings.

So it’s really starting to look like a team that is much better than Detroit is going to get bumped out of the playoffs for the rotten Red Wings, whose point total would have also been tied for 10th in the West ahead of Tuesday night’s games.

It’s very idiotic. And that’s very NHL.

2. Alex DeBrincat

Nice little four-point night for Alex DeBrincat on Monday. That bumped him up to second on his team in scoring, behind only Patrick Kane. He’s also sitting on 7-3-10 in his last 10 games. Seems like he’s figured things out after a slow start.

And yeah, a lot of where he sits on the team scoring chart is because like three-quarters of the guys on Chicago’s roster are on scoring slumps that were in some way predictable, to varying degrees.

And the guy he’s played with more than anyone else this season? Patrick Sharp! Patrick Sharp is terrible!

What a great story this kid is. Teammates with Connor McDavid and Dylan Strome and because he’s (generously) listed at 5-foot-7, all the scoring he did in junior was said to be because, well, who couldn’t score with those two? Then McDavid goes to the NHL and it was, well, who couldn’t score with Strome. Then Strome goes to the NHL for a little while, misses a bunch of time, and DeBrincat keeps scoring, and it’s well, he’s short!

This kid was a second-round pick who scored 332 points in junior in just 191 games. He’s 45th in OHL scoring all-time and dropped to the second round of the draft, where Chicago stole him, because of his size and that’s it.

How many times, do you think, are we gonna hear about short guys with elite scoring stats, “Ah, but can he do it at the next level?” And how many times are the Marners and Gaudreaus of the world gonna prove they shouldn’t have been so poorly regarded?

1. The Jets again

Listen I don’t want to scare anyone too much here, but the Jets only have six regulation losses so far this season. They’ve also won seven of their last nine games. They have a very solid plus-15 goal diference. They’re talented at every position. They’re so nice. I love them.

(Not ranked this week: That Ryan Kesler video.

Let’s leave aside the societal climate into which the Naked Ryan Kesler video was released for a second. Tough to do that, but let’s try.

What a dumb video anyway. Like, it felt a lot like one of those SNL sketches where they put someone in flesh-colored underwear and everyone’s saying like “This guy is crazy ha ha ha” but nothing particularly funny or interesting happens. This describes approximately 1 in every 6 SNL sketches.

Guys being naked, for comedy, pretty much stopped when the last Jackass movie came out. Maybe Borat. I don’t remember which came out more recently and I won’t look it up, but I think the answer is Jackass 3. Borat was like, late 2006 maybe?

Anyway, point is, not a funny video in concept or execution, and any time any NHL team tries to be “funny” on social media it usually isn’t funny. The Kings’ and Golden Knights’ twitter accounts aren’t good. The only people who think they are read the Chive. Whatever.)

Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.

(All statistics via Corsica unless otherwise noted.)

[gaylemccoy972-blog]

The Italian highlanders who may have Scottish roots BBC News

Thousands of Italians emigrated to Scotland in the 20th Century, but it seems that 400 years earlier a group of Scots may have settled in a village in the Italian Alps. So local legend has it And there are plenty of signs to suggest that maybe, just maybe, it's true.

High up in the mountains of northern Italy, just a few kilometres from the Swiss border, the people of the tiny village of Gurro speak a strange dialect, incomprehensible even to the other villages in the same valley.

They have peculiar surnames, and the women's traditional costume features a patterned underskirt that looks suspiciously like tartan.

One possible explanation is that their forefathers include a unit of Scottish soldiers the Garde Ecossaise who served the French King, Francis I, and were defeated with him at the Battle of Pavia, near Milan, in February 1525.

The story goes that while trying to make their way home the Scots stopped in Gurro, where they got snowed in for the winter. Many locals believe they never left.

I've heard talk about this story since I was a child, says Alma Dresti, who was born and bred in Gurro.

I know it's probably at least part legend but I like to believe in it and I do think there could be some truth in it.

I like to imagine those strapping young soldiers trying to return home, stopping here, and liking it so much they stayed even once spring had come.

One tale describes how the Scottish visitors stole girls from the next village, celebrating their trophy brides with big parties before waking the village priest at dawn to legalise their unions.

Alma says this could explain a custom peculiar to Gurro, in which receptions were traditionally held before the marriage ceremony and weddings took place early in the morning.

This tradition of having the wedding lunch one week before the actual marriage continued until the 1950s, she says. My parents, who got married in January 1951, did that they had a big party with all their relatives a week before the wedding, then returned to their family homes, and then a week later got married at 6am in church.

Now 95, Alma's mother could once be found on a sunny bench passing the time of day with other women, all wearing traditional dress, including the tartan underskirt. Some have the surname Patritti, which they believe is derived from Patrick.

As we walk along the steep cobbled streets, Alma's youngest daughter, Sabrina, points out to me an unusual architectural feature some of the buildings have wooden supports under the windows, positioned to form what looks like the St Andrew's cross. And she says some consider Celtic-derived words in their dialect to be a sign of Scottish origins.

Especially the way you say 'yes'. It's 'si' in Italian and usually, in other dialects, you just change it a bit, like 'shi', she says. Here it's 'aye'. They actually switch the accent so it's more 'ayee' than 'aye' but it sounds like the Scottish way.

There are plenty more fragments of apparent evidence that locals can list. One is a typical folk song with words indicating nostalgia for the sea, although 500 years ago the people of Gurro would never have travelled far enough to see it. And there is a fisherman's knot that must have been taught to the mountain folk by men who fished.

Image caption A traditional underskirt (centre) on display in the village museum

All this so impressed a Scottish amateur anthropologist, Lt Col Gayre of Gayre and Nigg, baron of Lochoreshyre, that he embarked on his own investigation.

His book, The Lost Clan which bears little trace of the disturbing racial views he became notorious for concluded that the people of Gurro most likely could claim Scottish descent, and in 1973 he symbolically adopted them into his own clan.

Silvano Dresti (no relation of Alma's it's a common name in Gurro) recalls an unforgettable party that was thrown to celebrate. There was a lot of excitement and the whole village was decorated with Scottish and Italian flags for the occasion. Being affiliated to a clan made us proud, he says.

Silvano remembers the kilted Scottish baron and bagpipers, and VIP guests including Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, who would later become president of Italy. A BBC Scotland television crew captured it all on film.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionLt Col Gayre arrived with a piper and unveiled a plaque to commemorate the occasion

Silvano was 18 at the time. I was a bell ringer, he says. I'd learned the Scottish anthem, Scotland the Brave, which I practised playing on our church bells up in the bell tower.

Alma Dresti remembers that the preparations began long in advance, with people cleaning, tidying, weeding and planting flowers.

Image caption Some parents dress their children in tartan on special occasions

Throughout the summer, groups of men and women gathered in the mountains above the village to practise old folk songs that they performed on the day, she says. She was 21 and her first daughter, just two months old, was the youngest villager in traditional costume that day.

It was such an emotion to watch the procession from the church square the baron, the mayor, all the guests and the bagpipe players. It was so different. I still get goosebumps when I think back to it.

Her husband, Adriano Dresti, who was a village councillor at the time, has equally fond though perhaps hazier memories.

We had a party in the municipal offices with the baron. There was an immediate feeling of kinship. He brought three or four crates of whisky! he laughs.

The bar in the village had always been called the Scotch Bar (it's now the circolo degli scozzesi the Scottish social club) but after the ceremony the bond with Scotland was consolidated.

Silvano Dresti took up the bagpipes, though he is keen to specify that he plays the easier Italian variety, the baghet bergamasco.

Image caption Sylvano Dresti learned to play an Italian version of the bagpipes

His brother, Giorgio, once dropped in on the Gayre family at their home, Minard Castle, near Inveraray. When he said he was from Gurro, they welcomed him in, Silvano says.

Silvano has not visited the castle but will never forget the moment he finally made it to Scotland. His eyes mist as he remembers getting off the coach before crossing over the border from England. The guide explained to us, 'Over there that's where Scotland begins'. It was then and there that I felt some emotions rise up inside me that I really can't explain Scotland I remember thinking, 'This is the land they say we come from.'

Stepping off the bus in Edinburgh, he heard the sound of bagpipes. I followed the sound through the streets until I reached the spot in front of a big store where there was a bagpiper in his kilt and finery. I already felt moved by the sound of bagpipes, but to be in the kingdom of Scottish bagpipes under the castle that was so powerful.

Image caption Gurro's Scottish social club (the bar) is situated opposite the church

A new Gaelic connection was made when Sabrina Dresti, Alma and Adriano's daughter, paid a visit to northern Scotland and fell in love with Sam MacDuff.

Could the story they so fondly embrace in Gurro convince a sceptical Scot?

Well, at first I thought it was a joke, Sam says. But when I read about it, I think it's possible, it's at least plausible that there might have been some roots.

Sam says his uncle, an academic at Edinburgh University and a genealogy and local history enthusiast, did some research of his own. He looked into some of the claims about the names and historical side and I think there is a reasonable amount of evidence that it might in fact be based on a certain element of truth, he says, cautiously.

His mother-in-law remembers the reaction in Gurro when news of the engagement was announced. There were jokes like, 'Your daughter's going back to her roots, so now we have a real Scot and it's not just a legend any more!' Alma says.

Visiting Scotland for the wedding was a moving experience for Alma and Adriano. It felt a bit like a return to our origins, says Alma. I think that all humans are happy to discover their origins and know they belong to a group. I felt at home there. I'd love to have confirmation that our story is true.

Adriano says they looked for evidence, but to no avail. We went to the baron's village. We even went to an old graveyard to see if we could find some names that resembled ours. We didn't find any that were similar but the emotion of that day was nice anyway.

Keen for her wedding to reflect what she regards as their shared Scottish heritage, Sabrina convinced Sam to wear a kilt. Yeah, for the first time in my life! says Sam. He did it mainly for me, laughs Sabrina, but also for this tradition.

All pictures of Gurro taken by Katia Bernardi

See also: The most Scottish town in Tuscany (2011)

Join the conversation find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-40865981

[bradporter65-blog]

The Italian highlanders who may have Scottish roots BBC News

Thousands of Italians emigrated to Scotland in the 20th Century, but it seems that 400 years earlier a group of Scots may have settled in a village in the Italian Alps. So local legend has it And there are plenty of signs to suggest that maybe, just maybe, it's true.

High up in the mountains of northern Italy, just a few kilometres from the Swiss border, the people of the tiny village of Gurro speak a strange dialect, incomprehensible even to the other villages in the same valley.

They have peculiar surnames, and the women's traditional costume features a patterned underskirt that looks suspiciously like tartan.

One possible explanation is that their forefathers include a unit of Scottish soldiers the Garde Ecossaise who served the French King, Francis I, and were defeated with him at the Battle of Pavia, near Milan, in February 1525.

The story goes that while trying to make their way home the Scots stopped in Gurro, where they got snowed in for the winter. Many locals believe they never left.

I've heard talk about this story since I was a child, says Alma Dresti, who was born and bred in Gurro.

I know it's probably at least part legend but I like to believe in it and I do think there could be some truth in it.

I like to imagine those strapping young soldiers trying to return home, stopping here, and liking it so much they stayed even once spring had come.

One tale describes how the Scottish visitors stole girls from the next village, celebrating their trophy brides with big parties before waking the village priest at dawn to legalise their unions.

Alma says this could explain a custom peculiar to Gurro, in which receptions were traditionally held before the marriage ceremony and weddings took place early in the morning.

This tradition of having the wedding lunch one week before the actual marriage continued until the 1950s, she says. My parents, who got married in January 1951, did that they had a big party with all their relatives a week before the wedding, then returned to their family homes, and then a week later got married at 6am in church.

Now 95, Alma's mother could once be found on a sunny bench passing the time of day with other women, all wearing traditional dress, including the tartan underskirt. Some have the surname Patritti, which they believe is derived from Patrick.

As we walk along the steep cobbled streets, Alma's youngest daughter, Sabrina, points out to me an unusual architectural feature some of the buildings have wooden supports under the windows, positioned to form what looks like the St Andrew's cross. And she says some consider Celtic-derived words in their dialect to be a sign of Scottish origins.

Especially the way you say 'yes'. It's 'si' in Italian and usually, in other dialects, you just change it a bit, like 'shi', she says. Here it's 'aye'. They actually switch the accent so it's more 'ayee' than 'aye' but it sounds like the Scottish way.

There are plenty more fragments of apparent evidence that locals can list. One is a typical folk song with words indicating nostalgia for the sea, although 500 years ago the people of Gurro would never have travelled far enough to see it. And there is a fisherman's knot that must have been taught to the mountain folk by men who fished.

Image caption A traditional underskirt (centre) on display in the village museum

All this so impressed a Scottish amateur anthropologist, Lt Col Gayre of Gayre and Nigg, baron of Lochoreshyre, that he embarked on his own investigation.

His book, The Lost Clan which bears little trace of the disturbing racial views he became notorious for concluded that the people of Gurro most likely could claim Scottish descent, and in 1973 he symbolically adopted them into his own clan.

Silvano Dresti (no relation of Alma's it's a common name in Gurro) recalls an unforgettable party that was thrown to celebrate. There was a lot of excitement and the whole village was decorated with Scottish and Italian flags for the occasion. Being affiliated to a clan made us proud, he says.

Silvano remembers the kilted Scottish baron and bagpipers, and VIP guests including Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, who would later become president of Italy. A BBC Scotland television crew captured it all on film.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionLt Col Gayre arrived with a piper and unveiled a plaque to commemorate the occasion

Silvano was 18 at the time. I was a bell ringer, he says. I'd learned the Scottish anthem, Scotland the Brave, which I practised playing on our church bells up in the bell tower.

Alma Dresti remembers that the preparations began long in advance, with people cleaning, tidying, weeding and planting flowers.

Image caption Some parents dress their children in tartan on special occasions

Throughout the summer, groups of men and women gathered in the mountains above the village to practise old folk songs that they performed on the day, she says. She was 21 and her first daughter, just two months old, was the youngest villager in traditional costume that day.

It was such an emotion to watch the procession from the church square the baron, the mayor, all the guests and the bagpipe players. It was so different. I still get goosebumps when I think back to it.

Her husband, Adriano Dresti, who was a village councillor at the time, has equally fond though perhaps hazier memories.

We had a party in the municipal offices with the baron. There was an immediate feeling of kinship. He brought three or four crates of whisky! he laughs.

The bar in the village had always been called the Scotch Bar (it's now the circolo degli scozzesi the Scottish social club) but after the ceremony the bond with Scotland was consolidated.

Silvano Dresti took up the bagpipes, though he is keen to specify that he plays the easier Italian variety, the baghet bergamasco.

Image caption Sylvano Dresti learned to play an Italian version of the bagpipes

His brother, Giorgio, once dropped in on the Gayre family at their home, Minard Castle, near Inveraray. When he said he was from Gurro, they welcomed him in, Silvano says.

Silvano has not visited the castle but will never forget the moment he finally made it to Scotland. His eyes mist as he remembers getting off the coach before crossing over the border from England. The guide explained to us, 'Over there that's where Scotland begins'. It was then and there that I felt some emotions rise up inside me that I really can't explain Scotland I remember thinking, 'This is the land they say we come from.'

Stepping off the bus in Edinburgh, he heard the sound of bagpipes. I followed the sound through the streets until I reached the spot in front of a big store where there was a bagpiper in his kilt and finery. I already felt moved by the sound of bagpipes, but to be in the kingdom of Scottish bagpipes under the castle that was so powerful.

Image caption Gurro's Scottish social club (the bar) is situated opposite the church

A new Gaelic connection was made when Sabrina Dresti, Alma and Adriano's daughter, paid a visit to northern Scotland and fell in love with Sam MacDuff.

Could the story they so fondly embrace in Gurro convince a sceptical Scot?

Well, at first I thought it was a joke, Sam says. But when I read about it, I think it's possible, it's at least plausible that there might have been some roots.

Sam says his uncle, an academic at Edinburgh University and a genealogy and local history enthusiast, did some research of his own. He looked into some of the claims about the names and historical side and I think there is a reasonable amount of evidence that it might in fact be based on a certain element of truth, he says, cautiously.

His mother-in-law remembers the reaction in Gurro when news of the engagement was announced. There were jokes like, 'Your daughter's going back to her roots, so now we have a real Scot and it's not just a legend any more!' Alma says.

Visiting Scotland for the wedding was a moving experience for Alma and Adriano. It felt a bit like a return to our origins, says Alma. I think that all humans are happy to discover their origins and know they belong to a group. I felt at home there. I'd love to have confirmation that our story is true.

Adriano says they looked for evidence, but to no avail. We went to the baron's village. We even went to an old graveyard to see if we could find some names that resembled ours. We didn't find any that were similar but the emotion of that day was nice anyway.

Keen for her wedding to reflect what she regards as their shared Scottish heritage, Sabrina convinced Sam to wear a kilt. Yeah, for the first time in my life! says Sam. He did it mainly for me, laughs Sabrina, but also for this tradition.

All pictures of Gurro taken by Katia Bernardi

See also: The most Scottish town in Tuscany (2011)

Join the conversation find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-40865981

[pedrowells24-blog]

The Italian highlanders who may have Scottish roots BBC News

Thousands of Italians emigrated to Scotland in the 20th Century, but it seems that 400 years earlier a group of Scots may have settled in a village in the Italian Alps. So local legend has it And there are plenty of signs to suggest that maybe, just maybe, it's true.

High up in the mountains of northern Italy, just a few kilometres from the Swiss border, the people of the tiny village of Gurro speak a strange dialect, incomprehensible even to the other villages in the same valley.

They have peculiar surnames, and the women's traditional costume features a patterned underskirt that looks suspiciously like tartan.

One possible explanation is that their forefathers include a unit of Scottish soldiers the Garde Ecossaise who served the French King, Francis I, and were defeated with him at the Battle of Pavia, near Milan, in February 1525.

The story goes that while trying to make their way home the Scots stopped in Gurro, where they got snowed in for the winter. Many locals believe they never left.

I've heard talk about this story since I was a child, says Alma Dresti, who was born and bred in Gurro.

I know it's probably at least part legend but I like to believe in it and I do think there could be some truth in it.

I like to imagine those strapping young soldiers trying to return home, stopping here, and liking it so much they stayed even once spring had come.

One tale describes how the Scottish visitors stole girls from the next village, celebrating their trophy brides with big parties before waking the village priest at dawn to legalise their unions.

Alma says this could explain a custom peculiar to Gurro, in which receptions were traditionally held before the marriage ceremony and weddings took place early in the morning.

This tradition of having the wedding lunch one week before the actual marriage continued until the 1950s, she says. My parents, who got married in January 1951, did that they had a big party with all their relatives a week before the wedding, then returned to their family homes, and then a week later got married at 6am in church.

Now 95, Alma's mother could once be found on a sunny bench passing the time of day with other women, all wearing traditional dress, including the tartan underskirt. Some have the surname Patritti, which they believe is derived from Patrick.

As we walk along the steep cobbled streets, Alma's youngest daughter, Sabrina, points out to me an unusual architectural feature some of the buildings have wooden supports under the windows, positioned to form what looks like the St Andrew's cross. And she says some consider Celtic-derived words in their dialect to be a sign of Scottish origins.

Especially the way you say 'yes'. It's 'si' in Italian and usually, in other dialects, you just change it a bit, like 'shi', she says. Here it's 'aye'. They actually switch the accent so it's more 'ayee' than 'aye' but it sounds like the Scottish way.

There are plenty more fragments of apparent evidence that locals can list. One is a typical folk song with words indicating nostalgia for the sea, although 500 years ago the people of Gurro would never have travelled far enough to see it. And there is a fisherman's knot that must have been taught to the mountain folk by men who fished.

Image caption A traditional underskirt (centre) on display in the village museum

All this so impressed a Scottish amateur anthropologist, Lt Col Gayre of Gayre and Nigg, baron of Lochoreshyre, that he embarked on his own investigation.

His book, The Lost Clan which bears little trace of the disturbing racial views he became notorious for concluded that the people of Gurro most likely could claim Scottish descent, and in 1973 he symbolically adopted them into his own clan.

Silvano Dresti (no relation of Alma's it's a common name in Gurro) recalls an unforgettable party that was thrown to celebrate. There was a lot of excitement and the whole village was decorated with Scottish and Italian flags for the occasion. Being affiliated to a clan made us proud, he says.

Silvano remembers the kilted Scottish baron and bagpipers, and VIP guests including Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, who would later become president of Italy. A BBC Scotland television crew captured it all on film.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionLt Col Gayre arrived with a piper and unveiled a plaque to commemorate the occasion

Silvano was 18 at the time. I was a bell ringer, he says. I'd learned the Scottish anthem, Scotland the Brave, which I practised playing on our church bells up in the bell tower.

Alma Dresti remembers that the preparations began long in advance, with people cleaning, tidying, weeding and planting flowers.

Image caption Some parents dress their children in tartan on special occasions

Throughout the summer, groups of men and women gathered in the mountains above the village to practise old folk songs that they performed on the day, she says. She was 21 and her first daughter, just two months old, was the youngest villager in traditional costume that day.

It was such an emotion to watch the procession from the church square the baron, the mayor, all the guests and the bagpipe players. It was so different. I still get goosebumps when I think back to it.

Her husband, Adriano Dresti, who was a village councillor at the time, has equally fond though perhaps hazier memories.

We had a party in the municipal offices with the baron. There was an immediate feeling of kinship. He brought three or four crates of whisky! he laughs.

The bar in the village had always been called the Scotch Bar (it's now the circolo degli scozzesi the Scottish social club) but after the ceremony the bond with Scotland was consolidated.

Silvano Dresti took up the bagpipes, though he is keen to specify that he plays the easier Italian variety, the baghet bergamasco.

Image caption Sylvano Dresti learned to play an Italian version of the bagpipes

His brother, Giorgio, once dropped in on the Gayre family at their home, Minard Castle, near Inveraray. When he said he was from Gurro, they welcomed him in, Silvano says.

Silvano has not visited the castle but will never forget the moment he finally made it to Scotland. His eyes mist as he remembers getting off the coach before crossing over the border from England. The guide explained to us, 'Over there that's where Scotland begins'. It was then and there that I felt some emotions rise up inside me that I really can't explain Scotland I remember thinking, 'This is the land they say we come from.'

Stepping off the bus in Edinburgh, he heard the sound of bagpipes. I followed the sound through the streets until I reached the spot in front of a big store where there was a bagpiper in his kilt and finery. I already felt moved by the sound of bagpipes, but to be in the kingdom of Scottish bagpipes under the castle that was so powerful.

Image caption Gurro's Scottish social club (the bar) is situated opposite the church

A new Gaelic connection was made when Sabrina Dresti, Alma and Adriano's daughter, paid a visit to northern Scotland and fell in love with Sam MacDuff.

Could the story they so fondly embrace in Gurro convince a sceptical Scot?

Well, at first I thought it was a joke, Sam says. But when I read about it, I think it's possible, it's at least plausible that there might have been some roots.

Sam says his uncle, an academic at Edinburgh University and a genealogy and local history enthusiast, did some research of his own. He looked into some of the claims about the names and historical side and I think there is a reasonable amount of evidence that it might in fact be based on a certain element of truth, he says, cautiously.

His mother-in-law remembers the reaction in Gurro when news of the engagement was announced. There were jokes like, 'Your daughter's going back to her roots, so now we have a real Scot and it's not just a legend any more!' Alma says.

Visiting Scotland for the wedding was a moving experience for Alma and Adriano. It felt a bit like a return to our origins, says Alma. I think that all humans are happy to discover their origins and know they belong to a group. I felt at home there. I'd love to have confirmation that our story is true.

Adriano says they looked for evidence, but to no avail. We went to the baron's village. We even went to an old graveyard to see if we could find some names that resembled ours. We didn't find any that were similar but the emotion of that day was nice anyway.

Keen for her wedding to reflect what she regards as their shared Scottish heritage, Sabrina convinced Sam to wear a kilt. Yeah, for the first time in my life! says Sam. He did it mainly for me, laughs Sabrina, but also for this tradition.

All pictures of Gurro taken by Katia Bernardi

See also: The most Scottish town in Tuscany (2011)

Join the conversation find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-40865981

[mavwrekmarketing]

Thousands of Italians emigrated to Scotland in the 20th Century, but it seems that 400 years earlier a group of Scots may have settled in a village in the Italian Alps. So local legend has it And there are plenty of signs to suggest that maybe, just maybe, it’s true.

High up in the mountains of northern Italy, just a few kilometres from the Swiss border, the people of the tiny village of Gurro speak a strange dialect, incomprehensible even to the other villages in the same valley.

They have peculiar surnames, and the women’s traditional costume features a patterned underskirt that looks suspiciously like tartan.

One possible explanation is that their forefathers include a unit of Scottish soldiers – the Garde Ecossaise – who served the French King, Francis I, and were defeated with him at the Battle of Pavia, near Milan, in February 1525.

The story goes that while trying to make their way home the Scots stopped in Gurro, where they got snowed in for the winter. Many locals believe they never left.

“I’ve heard talk about this story since I was a child,” says Alma Dresti, who was born and bred in Gurro.

“I know it’s probably at least part legend but I like to believe in it and I do think there could be some truth in it.

“I like to imagine those strapping young soldiers trying to return home, stopping here, and liking it so much they stayed even once spring had come.”

One tale describes how the Scottish visitors stole girls from the next village, celebrating their trophy brides with big parties – before waking the village priest at dawn to legalise their unions.

Alma says this could explain a custom peculiar to Gurro, in which receptions were traditionally held before the marriage ceremony and weddings took place early in the morning.

“This tradition of having the wedding lunch one week before the actual marriage continued until the 1950s,” she says. “My parents, who got married in January 1951, did that – they had a big party with all their relatives a week before the wedding, then returned to their family homes, and then a week later got married at 6am in church.”

Now 95, Alma’s mother could once be found on a sunny bench passing the time of day with other women, all wearing traditional dress, including the tartan underskirt. Some have the surname Patritti, which they believe is derived from “Patrick”.

As we walk along the steep cobbled streets, Alma’s youngest daughter, Sabrina, points out to me an unusual architectural feature – some of the buildings have wooden supports under the windows, positioned to form what looks like the St Andrew’s cross. And she says some consider Celtic-derived words in their dialect to be a sign of Scottish origins.

“Especially the way you say ‘yes’. It’s ‘si’ in Italian and usually, in other dialects, you just change it a bit, like ‘shi’,” she says. “Here it’s ‘aye’. They actually switch the accent so it’s more ‘ayee’ than ‘aye’ but it sounds like the Scottish way.”

There are plenty more fragments of apparent evidence that locals can list. One is a typical folk song with words indicating nostalgia for the sea, although 500 years ago the people of Gurro would never have travelled far enough to see it. And there is a fisherman’s knot that must have been taught to the mountain folk by men who fished.

Image caption A traditional underskirt (centre) on display in the village museum

All this so impressed a Scottish amateur anthropologist, Lt Col Gayre of Gayre and Nigg, baron of Lochoreshyre, that he embarked on his own investigation.

His book, The Lost Clan – which bears little trace of the disturbing racial views he became notorious for – concluded that the people of Gurro most likely could claim Scottish descent, and in 1973 he symbolically adopted them into his own clan.

Silvano Dresti (no relation of Alma’s – it’s a common name in Gurro) recalls an unforgettable party that was thrown to celebrate. “There was a lot of excitement and the whole village was decorated with Scottish and Italian flags for the occasion. Being affiliated to a clan made us proud,” he says.

Silvano remembers the kilted Scottish baron and bagpipers, and VIP guests including Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, who would later become president of Italy. A BBC Scotland television crew captured it all on film.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionLt Col Gayre arrived with a piper and unveiled a plaque to commemorate the occasion

Silvano was 18 at the time. “I was a bell ringer,” he says. “I’d learned the Scottish anthem, Scotland the Brave, which I practised playing on our church bells up in the bell tower.”

Alma Dresti remembers that the preparations began long in advance, with people cleaning, tidying, weeding and planting flowers.

Image caption Some parents dress their children in tartan on special occasions

Throughout the summer, groups of men and women gathered in the mountains above the village to practise old folk songs that they performed on the day, she says. She was 21 and her first daughter, just two months old, was the youngest villager in traditional costume that day.

“It was such an emotion to watch the procession from the church square – the baron, the mayor, all the guests and the bagpipe players. It was so different. I still get goosebumps when I think back to it.”

Her husband, Adriano Dresti, who was a village councillor at the time, has equally fond – though perhaps hazier – memories.

“We had a party in the municipal offices with the baron. There was an immediate feeling of kinship. He brought three or four crates of whisky!” he laughs.

The bar in the village had always been called the Scotch Bar (it’s now the circolo degli scozzesi – the Scottish social club) but after the ceremony the bond with Scotland was consolidated.

Silvano Dresti took up the bagpipes, though he is keen to specify that he plays the easier Italian variety, the baghet bergamasco.

Image caption Sylvano Dresti learned to play an Italian version of the bagpipes

His brother, Giorgio, once dropped in on the Gayre family at their home, Minard Castle, near Inveraray. “When he said he was from Gurro, they welcomed him in,” Silvano says.

Silvano has not visited the castle but will never forget the moment he finally made it to Scotland. His eyes mist as he remembers getting off the coach before crossing over the border from England. “The guide explained to us, ‘Over there that’s where Scotland begins’. It was then and there that I felt some emotions rise up inside me that I really can’t explain… Scotland… I remember thinking, ‘This is the land they say we come from.'”

Stepping off the bus in Edinburgh, he heard the sound of bagpipes. “I followed the sound through the streets until I reached the spot in front of a big store where there was a bagpiper in his kilt and finery. I already felt moved by the sound of bagpipes, but to be in the kingdom of Scottish bagpipes under the castle… that was so powerful.”

Image caption Gurro’s “Scottish social club” (the bar) is situated opposite the church

A new Gaelic connection was made when Sabrina Dresti, Alma and Adriano’s daughter, paid a visit to northern Scotland and fell in love with Sam MacDuff.

Could the story they so fondly embrace in Gurro convince a sceptical Scot?

“Well, at first I thought it was a joke,” Sam says. “But when I read about it, I think it’s possible, it’s at least plausible that there might have been some roots.”

Sam says his uncle, an academic at Edinburgh University and a genealogy and local history enthusiast, did some research of his own. “He looked into some of the claims about the names and historical side and I think there is a reasonable amount of evidence that it might in fact be based on a certain element of truth,” he says, cautiously.

His mother-in-law remembers the reaction in Gurro when news of the engagement was announced. “There were jokes like, ‘Your daughter’s going back to her roots, so now we have a real Scot and it’s not just a legend any more!'” Alma says.

Visiting Scotland for the wedding was a moving experience for Alma and Adriano. “It felt a bit like a return to our origins,” says Alma. “I think that all humans are happy to discover their origins and know they belong to a group. I felt at home there. I’d love to have confirmation that our story is true.”

Adriano says they looked for evidence, but to no avail. “We went to the baron’s village. We even went to an old graveyard to see if we could find some names that resembled ours. We didn’t find any that were similar but the emotion of that day was nice anyway.”

Keen for her wedding to reflect what she regards as their shared Scottish heritage, Sabrina convinced Sam to wear a kilt. “Yeah, for the first time in my life!” says Sam. “He did it mainly for me,” laughs Sabrina,” but also for this tradition.”

All pictures of Gurro taken by Katia Bernardi

See also: The most Scottish town in Tuscany (2011)

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Jake Butt, Mike Tyson, Money Hunter and more — Presenting the All-Name NFL draft team

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth … for making fun of the All-Name Draft Team. (Getty Images)

How do you grade your prospects? Oh sure, 40 times and tape matter. But nothing beats a great football name. Or just an interesting or unusual one. After all, that means more than your silly talent and athleticism and all that gobbledygook, amiright?

Name has game, so we set out to find the best available “talent” — no stone (not even Eastern Illinois S Tyree Stone-Davis) left unturned — in Shutdown Corner’s Inaugural All-Name Draft Team. If you’re eligible for the 2017 NFL draft, you have a shot here. How cool is that: You don’t even have to be that good of a prospect.

Straight up, our team took a massive hit when Washington’s Psalm Wooching opted to pursue his rugby dreams in lieu of a shot at the NFL, and his teammate Vita Vea returned to school for another season.

And next year’s team could be downright scary. Notre Dame alone has three incredible offerings: Montgomery VanGorder, Greer Martini and — surely a future Draft Name Team Hall of Famer — Equanimeous St. Brown (born Equanimeous Tristen Imhotep J. St. Brown). Others to keep in mind a year from now: San Diego State WR Quest Truxton, Washington State DT Hercules Mata’afa, Purdue OG Bearooz Yacoobi and Charlotte OT Wolfgang Zacherl all have spots nearly locked up.

Hingle McCringleberry — honorary All-Name Draft Team captain. (Comedy Central)

But even without their services, the class of 2017 is in decent shape in its own right. And unlike Hingle McCringleberry of Key & Peele fame, these guys are all real and just want their shot at the next level. They might not all make it in the NFL, but they have a place on our beloved roster.

OFFENSE

Quarterback — Gunner Kiel, Cincinnati

Think of all your great cinematic quarterback names: Shane Falco, Paul Crewe, Lance Harbor, Cap Rooney, Johnny Utah, Willie Beaman … they just sounded cool. And they sounded like quarterbacks. Kiel just has that QB ring to it. It’s too bad his best football seemed to be years ago. Time to reload.

Running back — Rushel Shell, West Virginia

It’s oddly hard to say his name. Like, how long a pause do you give after the first “shel?” It just sounds strange to say the word two times in a row. But anyway, he’s our bellcow. (Of note: Shell has a son, Prince, and two daughters, Arionna and Amiyah. They’re part of the team, unofficially.)

Fullback — Taz Zettergren, Ole Miss

“Mr. Zettergren? Oh, no, no, please. That’s my father. Call me Taz.”

Exceptional nickname potential here. The obvious one first: Tazmanian Devil. But you also could work off the rare double-Z cluster and the handful of words in English that incorporate it — blizzard, gizzard, sizzle and, the ultimate Scrabble grand slam, pizzazz. Instant fan fave.

(Runner up: Maximo Espitia, Portland State. He lands on our practice squad.)

Wide receiver — River Cracraft, Washington State

Named after a popular model of pontoon, and a hit with the ladies we suspect. Every girl wants to tell their friends that they’re dating a dude named River.

Wide receiver — Edgar Allen Poe, Army

Would be poetic justice if the Baltimore Ravens gave him a shot. And, yes, the middle name is Allen, not Allan. He just beats out Speedy Noil, Bug Howard, Bobo Wilson and Jhajuan Seales.

Tight end — Jake Butt, Michigan

Too easy.

Butt of the joke? Never. He’s a charter member of the Shutdown Corner All-Name Draft Team. (AP)

Offensive tackle — Max Rich, Harvard

Of course a guy with a tycoon’s name went to Harvard. Better than naming your kid Whit Poor and sending him to the state school, for sure.

Offensive tackle — Storm Norton, Toledo

A Storm is coming to this team.

Offensive guard — Jessamen Dunker, Tennessee State

He’s 318 pounds, once stole a scooter and he’s … a Dunker. We’re fans of doughnuts and basketball, so we’ll take him.

Offensive guard — Mario Yakoo, Boise State

He can come work at our website anytime he wants. Close enough.

Center — Barrett Gouger, Vanderbilt

Such a baller name for a gnarly offensive lineman. Will cause opposing nose tackles to wear those clear visors over their facemasks out of fear of losing an eye. (Also of note: His hometown is Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee.)

Arkansas State’s Dee Liner was born to play one position … and land on the All-Name Draft Team. (Getty Images)

DEFENSE

Defensive lineman — Dee Liner, Arkansas State

You can’t make this up. Momma didn’t raise no slot receivers.

Defensive lineman — Lyndon Johnson, Louisville

Stick to sports? Never. Johnson narrowly defeats Illinois’ Gimel President in the Electoral College, though not in the popular vote.

Defensive lineman — Taco Charlton, Michigan

No, we didn’t forget him. And actually, his real name — Vidaunte — has just as much spice to us. Another Illini, Chunky Clemons, lands on the chopping block.

Linebacker — Ironhead Gallon, Georgia Southern

Straight out of the central casting LB name generator.

Linebacker — Charmeachealle Moore, Kansas State

He’s actually a Junior, son of the late Charmeachealle Moore, who played football at Baylor in the early 1990s. Pronunciation: sure-MIKE-you-well.

Linebacker — Folarin Orimolade, Dartmouth

Better known to Big Green faithful as “Flo,” he’s actually a darned good FCS football player and has a shot to make an NFL roster. But on our team, he’s a Day 1 starter.

Linebacker — Johnny Ragin III, Oregon

He can go all night.

Cornerback — Corn Elder, Miami (Fla.)

If we have a D-lineman named Dee Liner, we sure as heck need a corner named Corn, which was taken from his father’s name, Cornelius. When Corn has his firstborn son, we recommend he change the kid’s last name: to Younger.

Cornerback — Mike Tyson, Cincinnati

Ear-bitingly good cover guy.

Safety — Weston Steelhammer, Air Force

We’ve been patiently waiting for him to exhaust his eligibility for some time now. This one is No. 1 overall pick material. He might not be surpassed until there’s a nickelback from the Citadel named Poseidon Waterwalker.

Weston Steelhammer. First-ballot Hall of Famer on the All-Name Draft Team. (Getty Images)

If your last name is Steelhammer and your parents name you, oh, I don’t know … Reuben or Gino or Maury, you just curse them every day of your life for what might have been. Thankfully, the Steelhammers were a visionary clan, not about to waste that opportunity, and their son has the rare name that also could pass as an F. Scott Fitzgerald character, a WWE anti-hero and an adult film star. Plus, Steelhammer is a ginger, which only adds to his aura.

Beating out Kansas’ Fish Smithson for a spot on this team is no minor achievement, but landing here was Steelhammer’s birthright.

Safety — Money Hunter, Arkansas State

The son of former major-league outfielder Torii Hunter’s birth name is Monshadrik. It’s stunning that the NCAA — on principle alone — didn’t suspend him for life going by Money Hunter.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Kicker — Younghoe Koo, Georgia Southern

The name gets him on the team. This keeps him on it.

Punter — Hunter Windmuller, William & Mary

We suspect his father, Erich, was a roadie for Zeppelin in the 70s and the inspiration for the song, “Misty Mountain Hop.” We just can’t verify that, sadly.

Kick returner — Brisly Estime, Syracuse

Had a 74-yard return against Notre Dame this past season, but who cares? His name carries the real — oh, yeah — esteem.

Long snapper — Will Few, Ole Miss

No truth to the rumor that his nickname is “Bounce-a.”

Special-teams ace — Vegas Harley, Georgia Southern

Running down kicks on The Strip with the wind in his hair.

– – – – – – –

Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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