#insecure self victimization thing is sooooo much

[altschmerzes]

So many of the "ship and let ship" "curate your online experience" people get mad when you? Try to do that? Like I agree with those sentiments, I don't care what other people do but also like. The whole point is that people shouldn't have to see or interact (let alone hype up!) things they are uncomfortable with or don't like. It's kind of wild to me how insecure and like. Self-victimizing people are about people not wanting to see or even just not being excited about stuff that they admit is "taboo"!! Like it's taboo because it's not mainstream and most people aren't into it or think is gross! If that's what you're into fine, but you have to accept that most people will think it's weird and not want to interact with it.

that's exactly it, the insecurity and self-victimizing attitude of people who bang on about that is like. the most eye-rolling part of it to me. like if you're gonna make your whole personality centre around being the Gross Fucked Up Abusive Things Shipper you can't really be upset when people give you a wide berth or don't want that shit around them lmao. like people expressing a personal opinion or not wanting to see your shit or not wanting you to interact with their work is not like... can you calm down and be quiet lmao. you can go ahead and use your 'do whatever you want forever' to have your gross bullshit, i'll go ahead and use mine to call it gross bullshit. block me about it. i have no power here.

and it like... it really does strike me how people who are Like This will often be the biggest culprits of the behaviour they scream about how no one should do. 'ship whatever you want' until the answer is 'not your ship' lmao. i see this so much from people who whine about like... characters who aren't related biologically or through adoption but could easily have a familial interpretation of their dynamic/have a found family thing going on/call each other familial terms etc, and how people will accuse them of 'shipping incest' for shipping those characters. when i doubt that's really happening so much as they are seeing other people's posts where theyre saying 'i dont ship these characters it feels weird to me, i see them as xyz' and taking that really personally and characterizing it as an attack. whereas they will then be making a bunch of catty snide posts about how anyone who sees x and y as [insert dynamic here] is CREEPY and WEIRD because they're SOOOOOOOOO obviously fucking/in love/whatever.

like sorry which one of us is forcing opinions on other people and bringing morality into it again? me, who's writing my fic where two characters have a sibling like relationship and am uncomfortable with ship content of them above and beyond my normal romance repulsion because that interpretation is just So prominent in my mind, or you, the person making a bunch of posts mocking anyone who doesn't ship them and saying they're creepy and weird for seeing them as siblings because YOU ship them so obviously that means i'm the one doing something wrong because it doesn't... conform to your ship. and might make you feel a little uncomfy if you run across it in the wild.

it's such a clear inability to manage personal discomfort and 'i feel invalidated' lmao. which is just something that i have zero patience or sympathy for at this point like on an entirely petty and personally spiteful level i would like to invite any of them to experience being romance repulsed and in fandom for ten minutes, it will cure them of their inability to manage their own discomfort and weird feelings right quick.

[deyisacherry]

*Insanity consumes everything*AU

Sooooo……. I’m gonna talk about new moons kill code and what they’re character is like.

So basically-

They’re a self reflection of moons suppressed emotions, also an embodiment of darkness, agony, self-destruction, and madness.

They’re the biggest egotistical, most narcissistic and profoundly the most toxic person you’ll ever meet.

If you think bloodmoon was bad? HOOOoooo BOY- They are far MUCH WORSE than THAT.

He lives for the thrill of insanity and thirst for chaos and will ABSOLUTELY destroy your entire wellbeing.

They absolutely love to play and toy around the emotions of their victims. They can pick on pick their victims based with the amount of heavy trauma and can make them suppress their emotions, things like love, passion, empathy or friendship.

They’ll twist and pervert their victims minds to make them feel twisted and delusional. They can take advantage their victims greatest fears and insecurities and make them face the reality of their trauma.

They feel nothing. ABSOLUTELY don’t care about anything but their insatiable hunger for madness and mayhem. If you value your life, You better stay away from them…. At. All. COSTS.

... holy fricking shxt someone delete that thing RIGHT NOW

[dangermousie]

Case File Compendium - ch 55

Good God, these are getting longer and longer, I feel like the ghost of Leo Tolstoy, sans the beard, is possessing me.

This was hilarious! And I love that despite last night, HY does not get the balance of power permanently altered. He Yu is so very young. And underneath the madness and the rage and the violence, he still has that remnant insecurity and awkwardness that could go away with age.

If he could use a scalpel as well as he can use his tongue, XQC would be the premiere surgeon of the country. But this was brilliant! God, I love XQC so very much!

I wondered for a minute why XQC does not act more distraught and destroyed and then it occurred to me - he is literally incapable of it. This is the same person who saw mangled bodies of his parents as a kid and moved on, the same one who kept functioning when he thought the sole person he loved, his sister, was dead. And this is the same here. He already doesn’t care if he lives or dies, this won’t change that. He will do with the latest horror the same as he did with the rest of the horrors in his life - shove it in a small room in the back of his mind and padlock it, while smoking three packs in a row. It’s not healthy but it enables him to survive.

YESSSSSS! He Yu was clearly fooling himself when he was all “he is gonna hate me and this is great!” He is distraught at the thought of XQC hating him but what the hell else did you expect?! It’s like a teeny baby step on the long road of remorse and groveling MB is gonna stick him on.

YES!!!! Applause!!!! Regardless of what one thinks XQC did or didn’t do, nothing he could have ever possibly done could justify what He Yu did. Not to mention, he treated He Yu when he was his doctor to the best of his ability. (Whatever one thinks of their post-employment interactions, he was not his doctor any more.)

The other thing, I don’t think XQC is a therapist. He’s a psychiatrist. He was clearly there to monitor HY’s illness back way when but it’s to treat physical manifestations and similar. That is why so many of his interactions come from this place. Sure, he talked about HY reintegrating back into society but it wasn’t part of any specific structured therapy sessions, it was just his personal beliefs/conversations. HY needed a bona fide therapist for proper therapy. But his parents never got HY one because they only cared about him being controlled enough to not cause issues to them, they never cared about his well-being. Hell, they never bothered to get him ANY doctor once XQC left and HY was only 14. Because hey, he controls himself so who cares about mental trauma. They are the worst!

Oh God, I want to cosmically slap HY into next week. “You Honor, I drugged and raped a dude but that’s justified because I never got birthday cake as a kid.” I am imagining that as a defense in a court of law.

Yes, I am being snide and disingenuous and reductionist because He Yu’s issues are obviously way beyond that and are genuine and serious, but I have absolutely zero sympathy for a rapist telling his victim that he is the one actually wronged.

And then he says he wouldn’t tell the truth because HY couldn’t bear it.

And guess what? Last night has proven XQC right on all accounts - yes, XX should stay away from He Yu as should anyone who likes self-preservation. And yes, learning that things were hallucinations was something HY couldn’t bear (yes, it got aggravated by finding out people concealed that, but I don’t think reaction would have been in the realm of good even without that.)

I loved that bit so much and I love that He Yu was sooooo close and then wrecked it himself.

The thing is, I don’t think all of the “XQC didn’t see the strength/validity of He Yu’s feelings” is what it seems. I don’t think it’s because he’s paternalistic or weird or heartless. I think it’s a defense mechanism due to trauma. He refuses to see ANYONE’s feelings - hell, he refused his wife’s! I think once his parents were murdered, he locked his heart to survive and refused to allow anyone or anything is so as not to be hurt again. XX is the only exception and that is because she was grandfathered in, so to speak.

And then HY’s actions actually did manage to make it through to the armor. Only for He Yu’s other actions to slam that door shut and put an extra layer of protection on.

Ummm, there is nothing in these chapters that is convincing me that He Yu shouldn’t be locked up forever and instead should be allowed to be in human society.

In general, I keep wondering how XQC will get past chapter 52-53 stuff and my brain breaks. Despite the vast amounts of noncon in 2ha, it is a much easier case there. CWN of main storyline never truly had to - he kept thinking his flashbacks were not real memories but weird dreams and by the time he realized they weren’t, he learned about the flower shortly after and how none of TXJ’s actions were really his fault in close succession. CWN -.5 also learned that near the end of the 0.5 timeline and that is what allowed him to love even that warped 0.5 version of Mo Ran and to tell him to forgive himself before CWN 0.5 died. And when we look at whatever went on with CWN and zombie Taxian Jun, leaving aside that CWN himself was in part looking for the man he loved and lost and being with this tormented, destroyed, controlled version of him was the most he could have, zombie TXJ was not even a proper person to be held responsible - he was a sliver of a soul, mad and controlled and with memory and personality lacunae the size of Australia. And of course the fact that he is the way he is because he sacrificed himself for CWN hangs over everything. We don’t even need to get into “and CWN loves him” to get why for CWN this is really a non-issue.

Despite a much healthier dynamic, Yuwu is interestingly closer. Because Mo Xi x Gu Mang first time is dubcon at best. But even there, it’s a very old-school romance novel set up of “gentleman overcome by his feelings can’t control himself” (and I am not going to get into the fact that Gu Mang’s life is so devoid of love that it’s matter of fact for him to look past the method of expression and fixate instead of the feelings being shown however dysfunctionally, because it would make me depressed.) But it’s basically, intense and terrible at intractions bear child Mo Xi expressing his love/lust/obsession/admiration/devotion to Gu Mang even if in an insane way and Gu Mang is under no mistake than that is what it is and they are in mutual love with GM having the emotional upper hand in every interaction this included (in fact, when he defects some years later, one of the regrets he feels is that he was always more crucial/paramount to Mo Xi than other way around.)

But CFC - forget 2ha, it’s not even Yuwu set-up! He Yu does what he does explicitly to humiliate and destroy and hurt XQC and makes no bones about it - saying things to humiliate him throughout, acting in such a way etc etc. It’s not even a sex version of the infamous Russian proverb “if he beats you means he loves you,” it’s just rape as an act of revenge and power and degradation. (And yes, as a reader, you are aware that the reason HY glommed onto that specifically is because without getting it at all, he’s been obsessed romantically/sexually with XQC for years so he’s acting out. But there is no way XQC can get anything like that from it and even if he somehow magically could when even HY himself doesn’t get it, expressing interest through humiliating and hurting someone on purpose to hurt and humiliate is a whole other level from something like Yuwu.)

So how?!

[summerspn]

Batwoman

2019 series > Ep 1-3

*sigh*

Okay here goes...I’m going to break it down for you:

The trailers & ads:

I was skeptical about watching this show as all the trailers for it were terrible.

As a woman I can honestly say each and every trailer made me cringe & go ‘stop!’. They were SO bad.

But, that’s not the actors’ fault. They’re given lines they have to deliver on & Ruby Rose seemed to deliver on those decently enough I suppose.

In the trailers, my biggest issue was the terrible dialogue & poor makeup/wardrobe.

The campy style Batwoman costume & the sloppy bat tattoos...ugh! Why would anyone think that would be appealing?!

Now, onto the show...

There is one & ONLY one reason I watched this show...my mom! I figured I had to give it a shot. But it was not because my mom like it. She in fact, hated it!

My mom, who loves everything from medical & criminal dramas, to shows about witchcraft & medieval times. She somehow even loves campy movies like Dark Shadows. She’s a huge fan of Wonder Woman (comics, tv show & recent movie). She loved the Captain Marvel movie. She is a comic fan and loved Batman & Batwoman growing up.

Yet, she hates this show!

After seeing videos & online posts ALL saying it’s because non fans hate the show because they’re bigots, that’s not true.

The show is awful - so I suppose the trailers were accurate.

My mother could care less what people do for their own pleasure- and like she taught us, “as long as no one’s being hurt & it’s consensual, who cares?”

So right now, just to paint you a picture, neither her nor I care about the lesbian storyline in Batwoman. I don’t care if she’s gay straight, bi, attracted to pumpkins etc. Have at it.

The reason I chose to watch this show is because my mother loves fun well written entertainment & sometimes just silly fluff to get her mind off reality. And as my best friend we have that in common. Our viewing tastes are very similar. So when my mom says something was terrible, it piques my interest (much more than those awful trailers).

The actors:

Most of the actors aren’t bad. Since Dougray Scott is in this I take it as a comparison amongst the others. If you don’t know who he is ...he was in Ever After, Desperate Housewives, Fear the Walking Dead, Hemlock Grove and a thousand other projects. He’s a good actor. However, in Batwoman he has a few mistakes with his accent & delivery of a few lines (much fewer mistakes than the rest of the cast).

But all the actors have mis-steps with their lines & delivery of the lines. Whose job is it to stop them & try again until it’s good? The director

Some actors aren’t as strong as others but after watching the show, I think the strongest actors are: Dougray Scott, Nicole Kang, & Rachel Skarsten. They seem to work with what they’ve got. Trying their best. But the dialogue!

There was a line about Kate Kane having mixed feelings for her sister & didn’t want her hurt because “Duh, feelings”. .... 🙄...she’s a medical student?? The writers gave the actor THAT to work with? Okay...um, they couldn’t have done a second draft and tweaked it? You didn’t find it needed a little more work? Like wrote this instead “it’s only natural to be conflicted...” which makes her sound intelligent. Instead, “Duh, feelings”?!

Unfortunately we come down to Ruby Rose. She’s not a good actress. She seemed to be more talented in the trailers than the actual show but that was because she showed something I like to call emotion.

What happened? Every single line RR delivers has zero affect. Even when she’s literally smiling there is no emotion in her eyes....what only makes her look psychotic. And she moves her eyebrows up & down sooooo much. It’s distracting.

However, she (like the other actors) does seem to be trying. With that said, if you can’t be pulled into the character or the actors’ take on them then it suspends disbelief.

I have nothing against Ruby Rose but knowing she was a model gives context. They work with their eyebrows a lot & any acting they do is for about 20 seconds of a commercial. It’s clear that RR is tackling the tv show like she would a modeling job. Only now she has a s****y wardrobe.

However, she can’t act. She is monotonous & sounds robotic.

I do think though that’s made worse by the director probably not pushing to do enough takes. Sometimes directors instruct actors to act a certain way which makes them sound worse.

Ie) Hayden Christensen acted beautifully in an old tv show where he played a victim of molestation. In Star Wars a Phantom Menace he was apparently told to act more annoyed then angry so voila he came across as a brat...

So I do wonder what influence the director had here.

The wardrobe/makeup:

Papa Kane, Leaders of the Crows, my man Dougray...yes he still looks good in his suits but he’s always shown wearing the same suit. Wardrobe actually helps tell a story especially in a show like this. But it’s like the budget is too small or the director forgot about anyone other than Kate & Beth.

Morning scenes, have him with a little extra stubble, some make up to look like he has dark circles under his eyes. Ruffle his hair. Have him sitting in a hideous vintage t-shirt while they have breakfast. Kate could see how awful he looks and ask “did you get any sleep?” Then they could talk about how worried he is for the city, Kate, or even thinking about Beth! Kate could see the shirt & go “didn’t I get you that?” And he says “yeah for my birthday” and she says “that was ten years ago”.Boom! Shows he loves his daughter & a tiny bonding moment. ...but this never happened.

Luke Fox. Somehow they took an attractive actor and made him look about 20 years older just by wearing glasses that belong to Angela from Who’s the Boss!

Give Luke some 2019 glasses that sit properly on his nose! And the same for the rest of his clothes. They don’t fit right. The show is trying to nerd him up but you can make people awkward, nerdy , or quirky without downplaying their looks. Have Fox wear jeans with his vests, or a fun t-shirt with a suit jacket etc.

Kate Kane. She has the worst wardrobe in the show! Though Batwoman’s suit looks tacky & campy...

Give Kate nicer clothes! They do not need to be expensive but they do need to give her a personality.

1) Plaid...why? Lesbians wearing plaid is a stereotype so WHY would this show advertising itself as modern & breaking the barriers have their main character wearing something so cliche? Makes zero sense. However, since plaid (aka tartan) is making a comeback in fashion they could have used it (if they really had to) in another piece of clothing. A scarf, gloves, shoes? (I actually have a pair of red plaid boots which are durable and adorable). Throwing on a plaid shirt is just lazy.

2) Her hair. Okay so if they’re going for the short-during-military-training look I get it but Ruby Rose has the same hairstyle in everything. I wish she’d just either grow it out or chop it all off. They could have had a scene where she’s fiddling with it in the mirror like she’s self conscious about the new do...showing human insecurities.

3) The leather jacket. Sigh... okay this is my personal opinion but I think the black leather jacket in shows is used too much. It immediately signals strength & a tough exterior right? Well literally everyone knows this. It’s not subtle. I mean I love how it was used on Supernatural where the coat had a history but it was tied into a backstory and eventually was used less and less. But the leather coat was used more in early seasons (which was as far as 15 yrs ago). Other shows always have the ‘bad boy’ wear the jacket. It’s so boring. I’d rather if Kate strolled you wearing a fun typographic shirt or a basic t-shirt and have an expensive belt because she has a thing for belts (subtly nodding to one Batwoman has to use).

There were many choices other than a basic plaid top and black leather jacket. Wardrobe decisions that could give the character/actor subtle layers or tools to work with. But that too was done lazily.

Set design:

Dark & gloomy? ✅

Isolated & abandoned feeling? ✅

Appropriate to the corresponding event... 🙈 not so much.

Ie) the bridge where the family’s car fell off. Whether it’s done with cgi or finding the right location, the bridge in question was generic. Now if the bridge was higher up and/or there were super super wild & crazy rapids maybe, just maybe we’d believe Batman thought Beth was a goner. But it was actual fairly tame so it made Batman look like he just saw the car hanging and go “hey my shift ended an hour ago” and walk off.

And,

The “secret” entrance to the bat cave is in Wayne enterprises? Wouldn’t that be hard to get to? I can picture Bruce hanging around in the garage waiting to go in...he starts over to the door, someone comes, he stops...ya know because everyone knows him...

It’s just weird. There were so many other options.

Special effects:

Some have been pretty bad so far. This is a CW trait. I don’t know if they separate the budget for the directors or not. Is it all one lump number or are they told ‘this is for the production & this is for the special effects?’. I wonder because other CW shows seem to have tiny budgets allocated to the effects. In any case, a show about super villains & heroes needs bigger budgets so it looks more believeable.

The writing:

The writing is just bad. Writing lines like “duh sisters” for a character who is supposed to be educated & intelligent seems ridiculous.

Question - if Bruce Wayne has family why didn’t he stay with them when his parents died? Or they with him? Is this a plot hole from the comics or just this show?

Unrealistic. Yes it’s a superhero story but we care less if the person has all their skills & abilities immediately.

My bff and I love superhero shows but we both had the same problems here as with Supergirl. She just had her powers & didn’t really struggle with them. I watched 2 episodes & was bored already.

Batwoman was so boring but I wanted to see if it got better. It hasn’t.

This show needed to spend episode 1 where she’s discovering how bad Gotham was without Batman & where he went. Is he doing a really long pub crawl? Saving people in another country/city? Dead? Kate shows zero concern for her missing cousin & for some reason, hates him.

Kate immediately knowing how to use the bat equipment with zero practices...how at the beginning she’s swimming in ice water for no reason and doesn’t get hypothermia?? That’s all very unbelievable.

Kate is written as Mary Sue. She knows all & has the most skills in the world! Why??? Okay so she was in the military so yeah give her a backstory of taking taekwondo classes or something but for her to know how to do Luke Fox’s job better than he does? Or where the cameras are at Wayne Enterprises...more than the security team?? And to know what the computer password is, okay... basically she has to be great at everything & the other characters have to be written dumb in order for Kate to be appealing. Why?

Bashing Batman...in a show based in the bat-universe. Terrible move. Kate doing this repeatedly makes us think she’s a villain. Not a hero.

Bashing everyone with male genitalia...makes Kate look like a pr*ck. You can hate certain men you’ve known but to constantly reference women as being superior to men...

1) negates equal rights. You can’t be equals if you act/think/say you’re superior.

2) any boys watching this show is going to feel like something is wrong with them.

3) it’s sexist.

Just like many of us women grew up hearing repeatedly that men were better at this & that...

4) male bashing IS spreading hate. STOP.

That is actually why (more than anything) I didn’t want to watch in the first place because of how the trailers made it sound like they were bashing a whole gender.

Too much too soon. Revealing Alice is Beth in the first episode? Why? Drag it out an episode or 2. Each episode is both boring and yet they try to cram everything into a single episode it’s bizarre.

Ridiculous scenarios. Like Batman would leave a child to drown. And why didn’t Beth/Alice just go home or contact the police...or anyone...when she got out of the water all those years ago? Why does Kate keep letting her sister go when the woman is a multi-murderer?!

Yes, Kate is still hung up on her ex but it was years ago & she was the one dumped. And Sophie is married so Kate is coming off like a stalker 👀

All of it makes Kate look unsympathetic & unlikeable. The show isn’t funny except when we hear bad dialogue. It’s trying to be overly dramatic like a soap opera but it still doesn’t work. I think that’s due to the writing & the directing.

Now don’t get me wrong, even with RR’s lack of acting skills there are ways of making it work...that weren’t done.

Keanu’s Reeves isn’t the most skillful actor but he tries. He’s good at certain things & sticks to it. He knows where his skills are. Yes he’s improved but he’ll never be able to pull off an intense dramatic role. So he sticks to what he’s good at. He’s also a good person & tries to talk openly & intelligently about things so he has people’s respect IRL.

Ruby Rose has been touchy & volatile about people criticizing Batwoman. That made me lose what little respect I had for her.

Awhile back I had tried watching this design show (yes I like those too) Love it Or List It Vancouver. The show was fine but the designer Jillian was being critiqued left right & Center on social media after the pilot episode for sounding like a child. She used phrases such as; “totally”,”for sure” , and used the word ‘like’ a thousand times... she really did sound like a valley girl. However, about 5 episodes later that was gone. She was speaking more eloquently and more grown up - which in turn made people like her more. She & the show worked to help improve her speech patterns so it wouldn’t be distracting. And the show has been around for years now.

My point? RR could have taken the criticism & worked with it. I get she’s probably upset as she worked hard but we all go through it. We all have a project of some kind at work that falls flat. We take the criticism & try to improve. RR could take acting lessons or at the very least, practice in the mirror.

Most of the other issues I’ve mentioned are a result of the awful writing, poor direction & likely some interference from the network.

What this show should never have done was act superior. That’s being a douche. Anytime I see or hear someone being arrogant like that I just roll my eyes and walk away (or in this case, turn the channel).

If anyone working for the CW and/or Batwoman reads this I hope you’ll take some pointers.

I like myself too much though to subject myself to anymore episodes though. I’m done. ✌️

[flauntpage]

The Flyers Got Jobbed Last Night

Gather around folks, gather around. Give me a second to drag my soap box into position. O.K. now spread out, give me room to climb up on there… I’ve got a lot to say.

All right. Thank you all for coming. I’m going to take a swig of water here first before I say anything further.

(Gulp, Gulp, Gulp…. ahhhhh) O.K… I’m ready….

Let me begin by speaking directly to the NHL. Yes, the NHL, and by NHL I mean every executive from Gary Bettman on down. I mean the folks who work every day in your Manhattan office as well as the denizens of the replay room in Toronto.

I’m speaking to all of you as one.

STOP INSULTING MY INTELLIGENCE!

Damn it, this isn’t the first time either. You’ve been at this charade of trying to pull the wool over my eyes for more than a decade.

But I see through your arrogance. I see through your false wisdom about what’s best for the sport. In fact, I see you are the emperor and you have an insecurity about the fact that you have no clothes.

Frankly, your rules suck.

The Flyers had two goals overturned against them last night because of these rules – written by some league lawyers. The vagaries of the language intentionally used by the lawyers to leave room for interpretation allow you, NHL, to cover your ass with every bad call.

And there were two bad calls Thursday that could have led to a completely different result than the Flyers 5-4 loss in Ottawa.

Now, I am not naive, NHL. I know that this game wasn’t completely about your incompetence – although I plan to expose your continued effort to tell people that what they are seeing with their own eyes is wrong.

No, the Flyers had a miserable first period, dug themselves a difficult hole, and although they did a nice job of fighting back, fell victim to more turnovers, more blown coverages, more odd-man rushes against and most importantly – more bad goaltending.

So, NHL, you are not 100% guilty concerning the outcome of the game, but you are guilty nonetheless. You are guilty of ineptitude. You are guilty of ignorance. You are guilty of fraudulence.

And I’m going to tell you why.

So the Flyers lose by a goal but had two goals taken away from them, so technically they should have won, right?

Well, not exactly. If either goal would have stood, there’s no guarantee the flow of the game would have been the same. There’s no saying how differently each team would have played afterward. The first goal was when the Flyers were trailing by two. The second one would have tied it and likely forced overtime, so it’s probably safe to say the Flyers were screwed out of one point – but to have both calls go against them so ridiculously, it’s easy to feel like there were two points snatched from them.

And for a team that’s going to reside right on that playoff bubble for much of the season, that’s a tough break.

On the NBC Sports Philadelphia post game show, Al Morganti was praising the Flyers for not letting these calls be their focus when they talked about the loss, choosing instead to identify their own shortcomings as the reason for defeat. Morganti was saying that it’s only 10 games into the season, and it’s too early to have a freakout about officiating costing your team a game.

Except it isn’t.

Yes, it’s admirable that the Flyers’ young players aren’t letting the emotion of a tough loss where they were so obviously victims of bad hockey legislation get the best of them, but the fact is we are now 12 percent through the season and the Flyers have had at least two points and as many as four points stolen from them by blatantly stupid NHL rules.

Yes, the first one or two points may have been self-inflicted by their own coach when Dave Hakstol never should have challenged a too-close-to-tell offside that wasn’t called. He knew it was a gamble, lost, and the Flyers lost the game in regulation because of it.

The rule issue there though is the excessive result of a failed challenge – a power play? Seriously? Just because a team wants to check if a call in a game going 100 miles per hour may have been missed?

I posited then that the rule was put in place just so the most substandard officiating in the NHL would have their calls or non-calls called into question less frequently, showing a ridiculous level of insecurity on the part of the league.

And that was amplified even more yesterday, when the Flyers had another potential point or two shaved off their standings total.

Here’s the first absurd call:

Refs checking if Weal interfered with Anderson on Manning's goal. http://pic.twitter.com/m85ypDajky

— Chris Jastrzembski (@CFJastrzembski) October 27, 2017

A good goal?

Take a look. http://pic.twitter.com/njcf21cdvd

— NBC Sports Philly (@NBCSPhilly) October 27, 2017

So, Brandon Manning scored what would have been his first goal in almost a calendar year, but had it taken away because Jordan Weal interfered with Craig Anderson’s ability to make a save.

First thing’s first. The refs called this a goal.

Steve Kozari was standing right there watching the play and with his own eyes saw that Weal did not interfere with Anderson and allowed the goal to stand.

It wasn’t changed until the Senators challenged it and it went to the Toronto war room for review. It was a long review, so they obviously looked at it several times.

Me? I only need to see it once to know that it’s not interference, but hey, let’s call everyone over to have a look, right?

I mean, I’m picturing that war room:

Replay official #1: Uh… they did make contact, but it’s really incidental. Hey Mike, come check this out.

Replay official #2 (Mike): Yeah they did briefly bump and the goalie initiated the contact from behind. Hey Gord, come over here and tell us what you think.

Replay official #3 (Gord): Well, yeah, both you guys are right, but the rulebook says that even if the goalie initiates contact the player is still interfering with him. But this is sooooo close, I’m not sure if it really applies. Let’s ask Wayne.

Replay official #4 (Wayne): Well, the issue is Weal is in the crease. By being in the crease, he technically is preventing Anderson from being in the proper position to make a save. Although in this instance, I don’t think he interferes at all. But Duncan, he’s our best rules interpreter, he took an ethics class once at McGill. He’ll make the right call. Dunc, what say you?

Replay official #5 (Duncan): Geez, I’m even stumped on this one. I mean, really there’s no interference, but you remember that memo that went around at the start of the season?

Replay official #1: Oh yeah, I got it here somewhere… here it is, let me wipe off the crumbs from my Tim Horton’s maple dipped doughnut. Sorry, it has a stain from my coffee mug. I didn’t have time to wait for a steeped tea at Tim’s. You know how traffic is on the 401, eh? I didn’t want to be late tonight.

Replay official #5 (Duncan): No worries… Yep, I thought that’s what it said… If a play can be interpreted by the wording in the rule book, then follow the rule book. If not, just make it up and we’ll figure it out later.

So… what does the rule book say:

Going back to the disallowed goal, this was the relevant section of the NHL Rule Book section on goalie interference. http://pic.twitter.com/FP5LVPqwQu

— Bill Meltzer (@billmeltzer) October 27, 2017

As Bill points out – this is the relevant section – and the words the NHL is going to hide behind on this call. But here are the key words:

“…results in an impairment of the goalkeeper’s ability to defend his goal.”

Watch the replay again if you have to and see if you can identify an impairment… go ahead, I’ll wait.

…

Don’t see it? Neither do I. Therefore, it should have been a goal for Manning and Ottawa’s lead trimmed to 4-3.

Needless to say, it wasn’t, Ottawa scored a goal soon there after making it 5-2 and it appeared to be one of those nights.

same. http://pic.twitter.com/EKmwOnRfhY

— NBC Sports Philly (@NBCSPhilly) October 27, 2017

OK… that Hextall reaction didn’t occur after the goal was overturned last night. But it was appropriate for this call.

However the Flyers got it back to 5-4, and then, in the waning minute of the game had this happen:

Here's the full play that was called no goal after review. http://pic.twitter.com/qLfe9kn5dL

— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) October 27, 2017

Need a closer look? Our Chris Jastrzembski has you covered:

The play was deemed dead. http://pic.twitter.com/IygVKGF6nO

— Chris Jastrzembski (@CFJastrzembski) October 27, 2017

I mean, there’s no doubt here right? Everyone else is seeing what I’m seeing. The puck, although in Anderson’s glove, is across the goal line. So, it’s a goal.

They replayed this one too.

And the ultimate determination:

It wasn’t reviewable because even though he didn’t blow his whistle yet, referee Steve Kozari told the replay officials he was thinking about blowing it before the puck was in Anderson’s glove because he lost sight of the puck.

So, no matter what you see with your own two eyes, it really didn’t happen.

But here’s the kicker… that’s not an official rule in the NHL.

Nope. It used to be. And even the NHL deemed it too ridiculous – that an official on the ice could usurp the replay process to assure he got a call correct just because he was thinking of blowing his whistle before the goal was actually scored.

But, no longer. Back to Bill Meltzer on Twitter:

If ref rules play dead, and thereby non-reviewable, then why the hell was it being reviewed on the ice?

— Bill Meltzer (@billmeltzer) October 27, 2017

He had a view that puck was moving the whole time and then crossed line….. he HAD to overrule self there. Sens wouldn't even have objected

— Bill Meltzer (@billmeltzer) October 27, 2017

The "not reviewable b/c intent to blow whistle" is nonsense…. that was changed a couple years go. http://pic.twitter.com/4Kq8I3MbSl

— Bill Meltzer (@billmeltzer) October 27, 2017

Oh, but wait Bill, the NHL, in its infinite wisdom, has two different rules in two different parts of the rulebook that contradict each other! Fun!

The thing is Rule 78.5 section xii is the prevailing rule http://pic.twitter.com/h5hRp6aIfj

— JSaq (@jsaquella) October 27, 2017

So wait, the NHL doesn’t even know its own rules? And as an explanation relied on a rule that was so dumb before that they had to change it? And justified it last night by doubling down on said non-existent rule? Only because they changed it in one part of the rulebook but not the other?

Why?

Because they’re stone cold incompetent at running a league.

Because they don’t want their refs to look bad, that’s why. And it’s a joke. It’s why this league is considered a Mickey Mouse operation by so many. It’s why hockey will always be a niche sport and not mainstream.

Not that the mainstream sports don’t have their share of rules problems. The MLB has turned plays at the plate into a hot mess. And the NFL catch rule is now reaching a decade of no one knowing what the hell a catch actually is or isn’t anymore.

But baseball and football have been long established sports in the fabric of our culture. Hockey has lived on the fringe for too long – because it can’t get out of its own freaking way.

And yesterday was another example of that.

NHL… you’ve reached your freaking nadir with this one.

I miss the days when Ed Snider would come out and put the league on a spitfire and roast it like a pig after something this egregious.

I miss the days when Bob Clarke would be waiting outside the officials locker room to tell them directly what he really thought.

But that isn’t the case these days. All we’re left with is this:

Dave Hakstol was irate with the officiating after last night's controversial calls – https://t.co/6KqvfUSvhX http://pic.twitter.com/nBJUhWDLYx

— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) October 27, 2017

and this:

When you get robbed of tying the game: http://pic.twitter.com/gUHBkoyQ2F

— Chris Jastrzembski (@CFJastrzembski) October 27, 2017

Wait… that still isn’t the correct timing of Hextall’s reaction? Damn. I’ll keep trying.

The Flyers Got Jobbed Last Night published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv