#larry joined the lineup for the first time in like a year maybe

[mispelled]

Figured I had to do another humanization while I'm wizardbrained so here's two versions

[vanmccstan]

#2 Bond’s sister goes on tour

When you’d waltzed into the world five years after your older brother, John, you were red faced, with your tiny little fists angrily balled up and your eyes damp with tears. From the very first day your brother had set eyes on you, even at such a young age, he had decided that he was to be your protecter for life; and that, he was.

He’d stepped up to the role of older brother incredibly. He’d read story books to you as a toddler, play guitar to you as a child and eventually, watch you grow up in to a teenager and an adult, coaching you through your life issues with his strange words of wisdom and teaching you ridiculous things, such as if a fly is annoying you, that you should just eat it. “If you eat it, then all his little fly mates will piss off ‘cos they’re afraid you’ll eat them too.” He’d told you one day, aged 24. “John, what the fuck?” Your nineteen year old self had replied, laughing at him.

You were used to being with him all the time, he’d lived at home for the whole of your life and then, in the August of 2014, everything changed. It was for the good, but fuck, did you miss your brother. John joined a band, they were making their way up in the music industry and had an album prepped and ready to go. He was the replacement guitarist for one that had left due to ‘personal’ reasons.

It had been your brother’s dream for as long as you could remember to be a guitarist and he was finally living that dream. When you were younger, he would play you your favourite songs stripped down to help you go to sleep. He’d managed to teach you a few chords in your time too, and you could easily join in with a song, just not as well as him. On one hand were happy for him, his band mates were good people from what you’d heard from him, especially the frontman, even if he had a dumb name, he could tour the world doing what he loved and earn money from it, he was getting girls left, right and centre. Yet, on the other hand, you were slightly devastated.

You lacked not only your brother, but your protecter, your best friend and partner in crime.

When he invited you to join them on the first leg of the 2016 tour, you didn’t even need to think about the answer.

“It’s not all glamorous, y/n. You’re gonna spend a lot of the time stuck in the tour bus with us lot and usually when we stop in a hotel, they’re not even that nice.” He’d explained whilst you were jumping up and down with excitement. You didn’t care though, you were just happy to be finally reunited with your brother, whether that meant spending hours stuck in a bus with five other boys playing Fifa and eating just Doritos for your dinner, you didn’t care.

Catfish had just recorded a second album, for John it was the first one that he featured on. Since he’d joined the band, they’d got bigger than you could have ever imagined. So big, in fact that for the second album, they’d had Dave Sardy producing it.

The day that they had found out about that, John had rung you up. “Y/n, this is fuckin’ huge!” You laughed at him. His excitement was evident through the phone. “Didn’t he do oasis or some other shit?” You asked, and John scoffed at your limited music knowledge.

——————

Before the tour, you hadn’t met Van. You’d met Bob one day a few weeks before after a little private gig in the middle of London. There was barely anybody there and you’d taken along your friend, Isla, she was a huge fan of Catfish and The Bottlemen way before your brother joined and when she found out that he was joining the lineup in 2014, she rang you crying. You’d taken her along after she’d begged unmercifully since he joined the band and it was a year and a half after the release of the balcony, early 2016. The gig was smaller and more intimate that your previous experiences of catfish’s show. It was filled with important people, wearing formal clothes and sitting down at tables, it was the gig that would help the boys with finding the right people to help with the second album. There was a small crowd of people, mostly family and friends of the band that had been invited along.

Isla looked at you, her eyes filled with excitement as she pointed to the stage. You just laughed at her and joined the crowd.

Bob was kind, he was the sort of person who would offer you a cup of tea before you’d get in the door, or give you your jacket when you were cold, or take a good picture of you for your Instagram without you even having to ask. He was quiet too, which was exactly how your brother had described him, you didn’t mind much though, he was good company and extremely intelligent. He could hold a conversation well once you’d got into one. You were meant to meet Van, Larry and Benji that night too, but they had all disappeared shortly after the gig to get drinks in a local bar. You wondered why the other two hadn’t gone, but you didn’t ask questions. John and Bob were free spirits though, floating around the empty venue and singing loudly to old songs by the Kinks. Then, you knew that if Bob was anything to go by, the rest of the boys would be a dream.

——————

When John came home a week before you were due to go on tour with them, you were packing. Sat on the floor of your childhood bedroom, you had pulled apart every component of your wardrobe in the hope you’d find some half decent clothes. In the forty five minutes of doing so, you’d found four new pairs of black jeans which had gone straight into your suitcase and an old yellow dress which fell to just above your knees, had long sleeves and tiny flowers printed on it. It was one of your favourites.

“What ya doing there, little one?” He asked after letting himself into your bedroom. He’d been calling you little one for as long as you could remember, which always made you laugh seeing as you now weren’t that much shorter than him.

An old Noel Gallagher song played through your surround sound system and you leant across and turned it down slightly.

“Retuning a flute.” You replied sarcastically, causing John to laugh at you. “What does it look like I’m doing, you little dick?”

“A flute? Since when did you play the flute? Can they even be tuned? I have many questions, little one.” He laughed. For the next hour, you picked out enough outfits found in the very depths of your wardrobe to get you through the three month tour, all whilst your brother waltzed around tiny, cramped bedroom, dancing over the piles of clothes and toiletries on the floor, to French music. He knew every word to every song, which made you laugh; he’d dropped out of French during the third year at secondary school, claiming he didn’t understand any of it.

“Can you get out of my room now please?!” You shoved him gently in the direction of the door after listening to the same song for the third time in a row play out through your speakers. You stood rooted to the spot, surveying the mess you’d made around you.

“Get out? I’m hurt, y/n.” He whined, pouting out his bottom lip. Your parents were talking in the room next to you and you could heard both yours and John’s names mentioned. Another argument, you assumed, you’d be glad once you’d gotten away.

“How can I put it in a different way? John, please fuck off out of my bedroom.” You bit back, sarcasm lacing your voice. You raised your eyebrows at him as he spun on his heel and threw you a finger gun, before stalking off out of your room. He stopped once he was in the hallway, turning around and looking back into your bedroom.

“Glad you’re coming with us, y/n,” He grinned. You nodded your head in agreement and watched him spin on his heel once again, walking towards his own bedroom.

“By the way, no one calls me John anymore! Bondy to yous lot!” He exclaimed, before stepping into his bedroom and slamming the door behind him.

——————

The day you met Van, he was wearing a white button up shirt. You looked at him for a little too long, you were sure of it. Larry was the only one who noticed though, giving you a strange look as he stood clutching his suitcase. You couldn’t help it, you’d seen pictures and videos of Van before and you were well aware that he was incredibly attractive, however, in person, he was at least ten times more gorgeous.

“Bond’s sister? Y/n, right?” Van had asked, pulling you straight into a hug no more than fifteen seconds after meeting you. He was friendly, maybe too over friendly for a stranger, but you weren’t complaining.

“Yep, that’s right. Unfortunately I got lumbered with that massive twat as a brother.” You pointed towards John, he was stood in the middle of the airport terminal doing the tree yoga pose with Benji. Bob was taking pictures on the chunky camera hanging around his neck.

Van laughed, gazing over at the boys briefly before looking back at you. He studied your face intently for a few moments.

“At least we know who got the best genes out of the two of you.” He laughed, raising his eyebrow at you. You simply just laughed, unsure how to really reply. You didn’t want to overstep the mark and make a fool of yourself, not within the first day of knowing Van.

Larry was kind, you complimented his shoes. They were Adidas, much like the rest of the clothing he was wearing and they looked like they were his prized possession. Benji told you that he loved your shirt, to which you glanced down at your t-shirt, momentarily forgetting that you had the oasis top on that John had brought you years ago. You ended up having an in-depth discussion as you boarded the plans about the best oasis b-sides and you were pretty sure that you had won when you popped out acquiesce, but Benji our up a very strong argument for half the world away.

When you got on the plane, you found yourself between Van and Larry. You thought you’d be sat with Bondy, given that he was the only person you actually knew other than Bob. However, when he wizzed off to the plane toilet for thirty minutes, you weren’t left much choice but to squeeze in between Larry and Van. You didn’t really mind though, Van was willing to share earphones and his flying playlist. It made you laugh that he had a flying playlist, it was second nature for them to be travelling. To you, though, not so much.

Half way through the flight, Larry fell asleep with his head resting on your shoulder, mouth wide open and tiny little snores escaping. You and Van both laughed at him quietly and Van took that as his cue to stretch his arm out arm out around you.

It was only a short flight, the first stop in the start of the European tour was France. Catfish had already sold out three nights in Paris and were performing at a major festival there.

When you finally touched down on French soil, you woke up Larry by gently shaking his arm. “I’m awake!” He declared, sitting bolt upright and looking around the plane as people began to file out.

“Let’s get this show on the fucking road!” John screamed, walking down the steps of the plane and flamboyantly throwing his hands around. Other passengers, including yourself and Bob shot him funny looks. Van laughed heartily, tossing his head backwards and curving his mouth into a smile. His hair flopped back and in that moment you realised, Van Mccann was a fucking walking God.

——————

The tour bus was bigger than you imagined. The boys gave you a theatrical tour of the whole double decker, showing you the bunks, the ‘lounge’ and the tiny kitchen. “Here’s where we make meth, little one. ” John laughed, gesturing to the worktop. You furrowed your brows and nodded your head.

“We do what?!” Van said from the sofa. His feet were resting up upon a table and his head was resting backwards in front of his outstretched arms. He had his sunglasses resting on his nose and he peered over the top of them. He looked incredible.

“Ahh... make meth, apparently.” You chuckled. You took a seat next to Van, plopping down into it with a loud sign.

“Jesus, we’d save a lot of money if we did.” Van said, his voice monotone. Larry puffed out his cheeks, trying his hardest not to laugh.

“He’s joking... obviously.” Bob sat down opposite you and Van removed his feet from the sofa.

You then all shared your first hysterical laugh of many as John held up a box of cigarette papers, saying “And this is what we make paper mache with.”.

That night, you found Van playing guitar at the front of the tour bus. He was in a separate little room with a sign hanging on the shut door which read ‘Van and Larry’s chuckle suite’ which a picture of the chuckle brother on. You tapped on the door and Van opened the door instantly, a small picture of confusion painted over his face when he saw you. “You alright, darlin’?” He asked, putting his electric guitar down. It was plugged into an amp but he had the volume turned right down, not to bother anybody.

“Yeah, the rest of the lads are busy. Just wanted some company,” You said. He gestured you to sit down on one of the two tiny, leather sofas. You sat opposite him and pulled your knees up to your chest. Your whole body was exhausted after the flight, even if it was a short one. It was just something you’d have to get used to.

“Can I play something?” You asked, straightening your legs out and fixing your posture. Van handed you the guitar, his piercing blue eyes not leaving yours for one split second. You tilted your head down towards the guitar and smiled to yourself.

As you played the beginning chords of Leave Fast by Sam Fender, Van sat up straight and began watching you. It was one of your favourite songs by one of your favourite artists. He was an incredible singer and you connected a lot with his music. A bonus, he had a small fan base, so you’d met him on several occasions after gigs.

When you reached the chorus of the song, you began to sing, which is something you rarely did. You knew that you weren’t an amazing singer, but you’d been taught how to hold a note in the secondary school choir you were in but that particular song actually suited your voice.

Once you had finished, you looked up at a grinning Van.

“Who taught you how to do that?” He asked, shaking his head in disbelief. You laughed.

“Do what?”

“Play the guitar so well and sing like that. More importantly, how do you look so fucking good whilst doing it?” He raised his eyebrows as you started to grin bashfully.

“Ahh.. John taught me how to play guitar and my choir teacher taught me how to sing. Pretty sure the rest of it was just my fuckin’ amazing genes.” You laughed, and Van did too.

“Song’s called Leave Fast though, it’s by Sam Fender, listen to him.” You told Van.

So you did, and for the rest of the evening, in the front of the bus, cramped on small sofas, you and Van listened to your favourite artist in each other’s company.

When early morning rolled around, Larry came into their ‘chuckle suite’. John had told you that it was where both Van and Larry slept as they didn’t like being in the bunks but you were already asleep when Larry came in.

You’d moved onto the same sofa as Van after your little singing session and spent the evening listening to good music and talking. When you’d got tired, he’d eloped you in his arms, which is where you eventually fell asleep. Maybe you were too close for people that had just met, maybe your brother would kill you both if he found you, maybe you shouldn’t get attached to someone so quickly, but as you laid there in Van’s, fiddling with his small, silver half moon necklace, everything felt well in the world.

“Fuck sake.” Larry grumbled, looking at yours and Van’s sleeping bodies pushed up against each other, Van’s arm holding onto your back so you didn’t fall off in the night and your head nestled into the crook of his neck.

He settled onto the sofa opposite both of you and fell asleep to the sound of both you and Van breathing softly.

——————

You were up the following day before all of the boys apart from Bob.

You untangled your body from Van’s, silently praying that John would ask no questions about where you had been the night before and why you

You walked downstairs to be met with Bob sitting at the table, sipping a cup of tea and scrolling through his phone. He was on instagram, his theme of black and white pictures made your heart happy.

“Mornin’, Bob. Big show tonight, right?” You poured yourself a glass of water and sat down opposite him. He looked up from his phone, smiling.

It was the first night of the three sold out shows in Paris. You would be watching all shows and you were excited to do so.

“Yeah, pretty exciting. Sleep well?” He asked, with a hint of knowing in his voice.

You pout out your bottom lip.

“Ahh... yeah, good thank you.” You replied. He nodded and went back to scrolling.

John waltzed down the stairs of the tour bus three hours after you had gotten up. Van and Larry had eventually come down about forty minutes before your brother, Van had winked at you over his cup of tea when he sat down, you just shook your head and rolled your eyes at him, laughing.

“Good morning all!” John yelled. His hair was stuck up everywhere and he looked like he’d been drinking the night before.

“Alright?” You asked as he held your head in between his hands and messed up your hair.

“I think I’m still smashed, little one,” he whined. Larry laughed at him as you breathed a sigh of relief, he had shit memory as it was and alcohol only made it worse. “Went mad last night. Anyway, are you coming tonight? You can watch from backstage.”

“Backstage? Fuck off! I’m going in the crowd, John.” You replied. All of the boys shot you a look and you knitted your eyebrows together.

“Probably not a good idea, y/n.” Benji laughed.

“What? I was in an oasis pit when I was 15!” You said defensively. It was one of the last ever gigs that oasis had played before splitting and John had dragged you along with him, it was probably the best gig you’d ever been to, even if you were reluctant to go. It had sparked your love for your favourite band ever.

“Darlin’, you’ll get destroyed. The French are mad.” Van said, and that was that.

It wasn’t worth arguing, it was you against five others and you were bound to lose.

Catfish were insane. Van was right, though. The French crowds were mad, they didn’t stop singing, dancing, jumping or moshing for any moment throughout the entire gig. You watched from the side of the stage with Larry, sat on an old amp and sharing a bag of sweets and cinnamon buns. Larry watched their every move whilst on stage, constantly making sure that everything was running smoothly. “Look at that dickhead,” he’d said, watching Van tugging on the microphone and nearly falling over the wire.”He needs a wireless one.”

John, Benji and Bob all came off about halfway through the set for Van to do an acoustic version of hourglass and John sat down next to you for a few minutes, taking a bite of the bun when you’d offered it to him. You fixed his cap, gave him a hug and set him on his way again once you heard the crowd roar with approval at the end of hourglass.

It was in that moment that you realised, no matter how annoying or protective your brother was, you were so, so fucking proud of him. All those people were bouncing to his music, they were all having a great night because of him and his band mates. It was crazy to think about.

You hugged each of the boys once they’d come off stage, patting John fondly on the arm and stealing his hat and putting it over your head. Van looked at you, shaking his head and laughing as you pouted and took selfies of you wearing it. You watched the venue slowly empty and Larry go and pull up the setlists from the stage, giving them to the few loyal fans who had stayed and waited for one.

——————

Somebody had suggested drinks after the third and final sold out night in Paris, maybe it was Larry, you couldn’t remember, but before you’d even realised, you were all walking through the streets of Paris, desperately trying to find a bar that wasn’t jam packed with angry French men watching football. It proved a difficult task.

Within the hour, you’d all settled into an English style bar in a back alley that you’d managed to find yourself and were blinding drunk. Benji had taken to the karaoke, giving everybody a shocking rendition of Mr Brightside by the killers which made your sides split with laughter. John filmed it for his Instagram and you wondered what witty caption he’d end up putting it up with.

You’d all drunk way, way too much, but created memories which would, for sure, last a life time. After John had got on a barstool and started dancing to the French electro -pop music playing, you knew that was your cue to leave. The bar owner was a tall, well built French guy that none of you wanted to piss off.

You left before he threw you out.

You left the bar at around 12:30, waltzing through the streets of Paris attached to John’s arm. You’d stolen his hat once again and it was placed on top of your mound of hair. You thought it suited you more than it suited him. The city was more alive than you’d anticipated it to be, there were people everywhere, therefore, it was inevitable that you then bumped into fans. You weren’t actually too far from the venue that the boys had just played

“Oh my god! It’s Catfish!” A girl screamed, running towards you. You ducked backwards, drunkenly hiccuping and hiding behind John. The girl’s friend come running after her. They were both wearing Catfish shirts and you assumed they’d been to the gig earlier on in the evening. Once pictures were taken, they began conversation. You stayed attached to your brother as they spoke in fluent English, asking questions about the second album and new music.

One of them turned to you and looked at you for a few moments. You smiled, hoping she’d leave you alone. You were drunk and definitely not in the right state for a conversation.

“Are you Bondy’s girlfriend?” She asked curiously. You spluttered, smacking your hand to your mouth.

“Nooooooooo! I’m his sister!” You drunkenly laughed, hiccuping between the middle of the sentence.

“Although, I would definitely fuck him.” You gestured to Van, who was talking to the other girl. You didn’t quite realise what you’d said until everybody shot you a look, including Van. He’d definitely heard you. This is why you shouldn’t be able to interact with people when you’re drunk, something would always slip out. You dropped your head into your hands and whined loudly in embarrassment.

“Well, looks like we best be heading off girls. It was lovely to meet you!” Van said, his gaze not leaving yours once.

It was then, in that moment, that everybody found out about your tiny little crush on Van Mccann. You’d prayed that they’d forget, but nobody ever did.

——————

This fic is especially for Rhi ( @storiesaboutvan ) to thank her for reading it and giving feedback on it. She is an absolute angel, go give her BIG love! Thank you Rhi xo

[junker-town]

Doc Rivers’ history of playoff collapses, explained

Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images

For the third time in his head coaching career, Rivers’ team blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA playoffs.

The Los Angeles Clippers were on the brink of a trip to the Western Conference Finals with a 3-1 series lead over the Denver Nuggets in the second round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs. While the Clippers had never reached the conference finals in franchise history, this year was supposed to be different after acquiring Kawhi Leonard and Paul George over the offseason. Anything less than a championship was going to be considered a disappointment.

With the Lakers advancing past the Houston Rockets in five games in the second round, it sure seemed like the Battle of Los Angeles in the conference finals that felt inevitable all season was about to happen. That’s when the LA started to unravel:

The Clippers blew a 15-point lead to lose Game 5

The Clippers blew a 19-point second half lead to lose Game 6

The Clippers totally collapsed in the fourth quarter to lose Game 7

Just like that, the Clippers’ season is over. Denver came back from a 3-1 deficit against the Utah Jazz in round one, and did it again in the second round against a more powerful Clippers team. It’s a feeling Clippers coach Doc Rivers knows all too well.

Of the 13 teams to come back from a 3-1 playoff deficit in NBA history, Rivers has been on the losing side three different times in three different decades. Rivers won a championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008 and helped the team reach the Finals in 2010, but it’s impossible to ignore all of the blown playoff series he’s been a part of after Boston’s charmed run.

Here’s a look back at Doc Rivers’ worst moments as a playoff coach.

2003: Rivers’ Orlando Magic blow a 3-1 lead to the Detroit Pistons

The No. 8 seed Orlando Magic weren’t supposed to have a chance against the No. 1 seed Detroit Pistons. Orlando had finished 42-40 and lost Grant Hill to scary complications from season-ending ankle surgery during the regular season. The Pistons, meanwhile, were the only team in the East to win 50 games.

Orlando did have one thing going for them: the league’s best scorer in Tracy McGrady. McGrady averaged better than 32 points per game to win his first scoring title that year. In the Game 1 of the series, with high schooler LeBron James in the stands, McGrady dropped 43 points to power Orlando to the victory.

Detroit would win Game 2, but Orlando took Game 3 and Game 4 to surge ahead to a 3-1 series lead. Then the Pistons reeled off three straight victories to win the series.

Pistons coach Rick Carlisle made more adjustments than Rivers in the series, most notably using rookie wing Tayshaun Prince as a defender on McGrady after he earned a DNP in Game 1. Prince would go on to be a big piece of the Pistons’ rotation throughout the playoffs before they were eliminated by Jason Kidd and the New Jersey Nets in the conference finals. The Pistons would win the championship the next year after hiring Larry Brown as head coach and trading for Rasheed Wallace.

Rivers would be fired by the Magic the following year after starting the season 1-10. He was hired by the Boston Celtics the next season.

2015: the Clippers blow a 3-1 to the Houston Rockets

The Clippers enjoyed perhaps their greatest moment in franchise history when they outlasted the Spurs in Game 7 of their first round playoff series in 2015. Chris Paul hit the game-winner, but he also suffered a hamstring injury that caused him to miss the first two games of the team’s second round series against the Houston Rockets.

The Clips stunned the Rockets in Game 1 without Paul, then lost Game 2. LA roared back to win Game 3 and Game 4 with CP3 in the lineup, putting them ahead 3-1 and on the brink of the first conference finals appearance for both Paul and the franchise. You already know what happens next.

After losing Game 5, the Clippers were in position to close out the series in Game 6. Los Angeles led Houston 87-68 late in the second half. Houston coach Kevin McHale famously decided to leave James Harden on the bench for almost the entirety of the fourth quarter, but the Rockets’ bench lineup led by Josh Smith and Corey Brewer pulled out one of the most shocking upsets in NBA history.

The Rockets would win Game 7 and advance to the conference finals, where they lost to the eventual champion Golden State Warriors. The Clippers were never really the same after blowing what felt like their best chance. LA would lose in the first round the next two years before dealing both Paul and co-star Blake Griffin.

The Athletic had a great look back at the adjustments Rivers could have made on the five-year anniversary of the loss. It’s true that LA had basically zero depth that season, but Rivers still could have played Jamal Crawford and his son Austin less while boosting minutes for a versatile defender in Matt Barnes. The Clippers also could have run the offense more through Griffin, who has becoming a legitimate playmaker at that point in his career.

2020: Possibly the Clippers worst collapse yet

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Clippers over the last three games of their series against Denver. Los Angeles’ depth — thought to be a major asset coming into the season — proved to be underwhelming, with Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell notably struggling throughout the end of the series. The Clippers’ stars weren’t much better. In Game 7, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George both failed to score in the fourth quarter. The game plan was faulty as well, with Rivers deciding to double-team Denver star Nikola Jokic in the post on every touch despite the fact that Jokic is the best passing center ever.

Again, the pass is great, but it's the perfect timing & passing when LAC is most vulnerable that is impressive here. As the double comes & Grant cuts into the paint & Jokic knows exactly how LAC will rotate. He waits for Morris to commit to the cutter & hits Harris for 3. pic.twitter.com/R6uho742ZO

— T.J. McBride (@TJMcBrideNBA) September 16, 2020

Perhaps more than anything, the Clippers simply failed to execute. The collapse against Denver certainly isn’t all on Rivers, it’s on every member of the team that let it happen. There are some alarming trends for both the coach and the team at this point, though.

Rivers hasn’t just blown 3-1 leads, he’s also blown three separate 3-2 series leads, including one in the 2010 Finals:

Doc Rivers has coached SIX teams that have blown 3-1 or 3-2 series leads: 2020 Round 2 vs Nuggets, 3-1 lead 2015 Round 2 vs Rockets, 3-1 lead 2012 East Finals vs Heat, 3-2 lead 2010 NBA Finals vs Lakers, 3-2 lead 2009 Round 2 vs Magic, 3-2 lead 2003 Round 1 vs Pistons, 3-1 lead

— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) September 16, 2020

For the Clippers, it’s their sixth blown series lead in their last seven playoff appearances. SB Nation’s Whitney Medworth chronicled the Clippers’ playoff disappointment back in 2017.

2013: 2-0 lead against the Grizzlies

The Clippers blew a good old fashioned lead to the Grizzlies this year.

2014: 1-0 lead against the Thunder

Donald Sterling’s TMZ tape was released this postseason. And while they beat the Warriors in Round 1, who knows what kind of effect that had later on.

2015: 3-1 lead against the Rockets

Chris Paul played through a tough hamstring injury and despite building a 3-1 lead, they still let it slip away.

2016: 2-0 lead against the Trail Blazers

Paul and Blake Griffin both went out with season-ending injuries before Game 3.

2017: 2-1 lead against the Utah Jazz

After going up 2-1 in the series, the Clippers lost Griffin to injury.

Does this mean Rivers is a bad coach? Of course not. He’s a champion for a reason, and is said to have a rare ability to manage superstar egos. Part of coaching is being a leader and commanding the respect of a locker room, and few are better than Rivers at that. Who could forget Rivers’ powerful plea for social justice back in late August?

Doc Rivers with raw emotion and a thunderbolt cry for justice: "All you hear is Donald Trump & all of them talking about fear. We're the ones getting killed. We're the ones getting shot...It's amazing, we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back." pic.twitter.com/19dHu9UlZ5

— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) August 26, 2020

Where Rivers occasionally falls short is in making mid-series adjustments in the playoffs. Some coaches prefer to stick the game plan they tried to perfect all year and trust their team will eventually win with their bread-and-butter strategy. Rivers fits under that category. Other coaches throw everything at the wall and try to manufacture any advantage they can as they see what works and what doesn’t over the course of a series. Carlisle has a reputation for being a coach that adjusts on the fly, and Toronto’s Nick Nurse famously experimented with a variety of strategies last year during the Raptors’ run to an unlikely championship.

Rivers won’t be fired even after such a bad playoff collapse against Denver. He’s reportedly a big reason why Kawhi Leonard decided to sign with the team:

Playing for Doc Rivers was a major component in Kawhi Leonard joining the Clippers. Rivers will be running it back next season, according to @ChrisBHaynes

— Clips Nation (@clipsnation) September 16, 2020

Perhaps the Clippers will retool their roster over the long offseason to push the team over the hump. Maybe they just need to have some better luck on open shots, or show more discipline in executing their game plan.

The Clippers will be in contention to win a title as long as they have Leonard, but there’s no doubt this season qualifies as a major disappointment with a second round playoff exit. It’s just that maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised, given the history of the franchise and its head coach.

[ultrapopmusiclover-blog]

Top 10 Pop Music Bands In 2020 | Top Rated Music Bands

Awesome has been a gigantic social power since it burst upon the musical scene during the 1950s. Not just has it drastically modified the development of popular music, it has affected design, human conduct, and social standards all in all. We’ve also covered top pop artists that you should check.

Customarily, exciting music has been particularly popular among more youthful grown-ups and young people. The music was related with insubordination and youth. In 2017, in any case, just because, R&B and hip-jump turned into the most predominant type in the US, as per Nielsen Music, outperforming exciting music. However while many have betrayed the class, and the rundown contains moderately less ongoing acts contrasted and the more settled, great musical crews, awesome is as yet fit as a fiddle. 

A rundown of the best current pop gatherings and artists who are making the absolute best pop melodies of 2019. The fight between pop music fans will consistently seethe over who is the top pop star on the planet. Each pop star's fanbase is exceptionally obstinate and will consistently contend for the benefit of their saint or courageous woman. This rundown is resolved to make sense of who is the greatest pop star alive.

Why? Since pop stars are for the most part at the focal point of the music universe. They sell out fields and arenas. Pop melodies are consistently on top-40 radio, which implies their infectious snares, radio-accommodating beats and the gathering's group well disposed and darn close to consummate makes both folks and young ladies shout OMG at whatever point their preferred pop star is close to them. In the event that you turn on the radio and don't hear anybody on this rundown at some random minute, at that point they aren't viewed as a huge whiz. Most ladies love to listen to the best pop songs of all time.

1. The Beatles 

The Beatles are the band by which about everything else in pop music is coordinated and estimated. Their effect on craftsmen who followed their marvelous vocation, from 1960 to 1970, is unmeasurable. They keep on holding the record for the most No. 1 pop singles in the United States at 20 and are generally viewed as the top of the line collection craftsman ever.

Their impact is still felt so unequivocally that they positioned as the top-selling collection recording demonstration of the time of the 2000s in light of the collection 1, an aggregation of their No. 1 hits. It was all the while selling 1,000 duplicates for each week starting at 2015, a string of over 700 weeks of selling in any event that numerous duplicates. 

2. Elton John 

Elton John is the premier piano player in pop music history. He has discharged in excess of 50 top 40 singles, including a wonderful 38 back to back top 40 singles from 1972 through 1986. His music could be viewed as conclusive of standard pop during the 1970s. As of late Elton John has visited regularly with an individual effective piano-playing pop musician, Billy Joel. 

3. Forthright Sinatra 

Forthright Sinatra is the best pop craftsman at rising above the period of swing and pop models to stay an account star after the approach of jammin. He initially hit the Billboard singles outline in 1939.

His last critical graph hit, "Subject From New York, New York," showed up over 40 years after the fact in 1980 when he was 64. Honest Sinatra is the beneficiary of 11 Grammy Awards just as an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in "From Here to Eternity." He passed on in 1998 at 82 years old. 

4. Envision Dragons 

Envision Dragons is an American pop musical crew from Las Vegas, Nevada. Envision Dragons' lineup comprises of lead vocalist Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, and drummer Daniel Platzman. 

5. OneRepublic 

OneRepublic until the end of time! Try not to let society fool you. This band is the most remarkable band there is. From verses to instruments to types to anything. OneRepublic is that! The frontman of the band, Ryan Tedder composed a ton of extraordinary tunes that bounty individuals didn't realize he composed. He even composes for Maroon5 as well, so when you hear a melody from Maroon5 and imagines that Adam Levine (the vocalist of Maroon5) composed it, well reconsider! Maroon5 don't generally compose their own tunes, in spite of the fact that, then again, OneRepublic consistently has before and consistently will compose their own tunes.

This is the thing that makes them so not quite the same as all the others. They utilize a wide assortment of instruments like a cello, bongos, or even a glockenspiel which resembles a xylophone in fancier terms. They utilize various combinations of sorts, which shows that they bassicly don't have a classification. When it sounds great to them, they will make it. They're verses are only the best. Hello talk about existence, love, and different things that are extremely worth a tune in and worth of time. Have a go at tuning in to OneRepublic f you don't hear them out or on the off chance that you don't have any acquaintance with them. Their music is extraordinary! 

6. The Rolling Stones 

The Rolling Stones are the incredible British musical gang known for some popular hits, for example, Paint it Black, Lady Jane, Ruby Tuesday, and (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction. Nearly everybody who went to their shows rushes to remark on their capacity to fire you up and shake your hips. Their melody "... 

7. Pink Floyd 

Syd Barrett: vocals, guitar (conceived: Roger Keith Barrett; 6 January, 1946; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK). In 1968, Syd Barrett left the band. Syd kicked the bucket in July, 2006 at matured 60 from pancreatic malignancy. 

David Gilmour: vocals, guitar (conceived: David John Gilmour; 6 March, 1946; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK). In 1968, Gilmour supplanted Syd Barrett. 

Roger Waters: vocals, low register guitar (conceived: George Roger Waters; 6 September, 1943; Great Bookham, Surrey, England, UK). In 1983, he left the band. 

Richard Wright: consoles, back-up vocals (conceived: 28 July, 1943; Hatch End, England, UK). Was terminated from the band in 1979, rejoined in 1986 as a session player and was authoritatively restored in 1992. The second part who did each visit. Richard kicked the bucket on 15 September, 2008 at age 65 from disease. 

8. The Who 

Roger Daltrey shaped the Detours in 1962, with a few part changes and job swaps proliferate, John Entwistle joined. At some point later, on John's suggestion, Pete Townshend was added to the line up. Meanwhile, The Detours had become a four-piece band; the drummer was changed with Keith Moon during mid 1964. 

The High Numbers, as the four musicians were presently calling themselves, had become a Mod band, with the assistance of new chief Pete Meaden. The name changed between The High Numbers and The Who; the High Numbers was immediately deserted and The Who was conceived. 

As their popularity picked up force, by being one of the better live follows up on the circuit and with Pete obliterating his guitars, and Keith with his drums as well, in front of an audience, this gave them greatest exposure with the prevalently average workers crowd that had come to see them. 

9. U2 

U2 has been maybe the greatest music act on the planet since the late 1980s to the present day. They take noticeable stands on human rights issues, communicated through their verses and other open articulations and activities. The band's lead vocalist, Bono, has gotten very noticeable in noble cause developments and has been selected for the Nobel Peace Prize. The band comprises of Bono, lead artist and musician; The Edge, lead guitar, consoles, vocals; Adam Clayton, low pitch guitar; Larry Mullen Jr., drums. Their chief is Paul McGuinness (1978-2013). 

10. Cream 

English musical crew Cream shaped in 1966. Its individuals had originated from different bands and had foundations in blues. Drummer Ginger Baker and bass guitarist Jack Bruce had both played with The Graham Bond Organization, an early British blues band, while lead guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton had originated from The Yardbirds and John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers. 

The band immediately became well known with its blues/rock mix, and turned out such works of art as "Daylight of Your Love", "Free", "Junction" and "Brought into the world Under a Bad Sign", with Clapton especially being hailed as probably the best guitarist in rock history. Their first collection, "Crisp Cream" in 1966, acquainted them with the music scene however it was their second and, by a long shot, greatest collection, 1967's "Disraeli Gears", that made them whizzes. A third collection, "Wheels of Fire", had both live and recorded tunes on it.

[nbatrades]

Miami Heat Adds James Ennis In 2013 Draft Night Deal

On June 27th, 2013, the Atlanta Hawks traded the draft rights of James Ennis to the Miami Heat for a 2017 second round draft pick (Sterling Brown).

Due to a couple of previous trades, the Miami Heat were left without a draft pick entering the 2013 NBA Draft. Looking for talent that they could develop and possibly stash away for the future, the Heat acquired a second round pick from the Atlanta Hawks for a future second rounder. 

Since the wing corps of Miami were mostly nearing retirement, the Heat were in search of a young swingman. They found that in guard-forward James Ennis. A former attendee of Oxnard and Ventura College, he settled on Long Beach State for his Junior and Senior season. 

Ennis showcased steady growth, earning Big West Player of the Year and First team All-Big West in his senior season after averaging 16.5 PPG and 6.7 RPG. Ennis was seen as a possible two-way player with versatility in terms of different positions he could play, defensive skills already established with signs of a developing three-point shot.

The Long Beach State product joined the Heat in 2013 Summer League and impressed early on. He averaged 13.3 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 0.9 APG and 1.5 SPG while shooting 39% from three in 11 Summer League games in Las Vegas and Orlando.

Miami did not sign Ennis due to luxury tax concerns. Though the Heat preferred for Ennis to go to the NBA D-League and play for the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Ennis chose to play in Australia to financially provide for his family. 

During the 2013-14 season, Ennis played in games for Perth of the NBL in Australia (21.2 PPG and 7.2 RPG) and with Pirata de Quebradillas in Puerto Rico (16.6 PPG and 8.2 RPG).

Heading into the summer of 2014, Ennis appeared in Summer League for the second time. The wing managed 15.5 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 1.5 APG and 1.3 SPG on 48%  shooting from beyond the arc in six games. Thanks to his Summer League performance, Ennis signed a multi-year deal with the Heat.

Ennis entered training camp with a new look Miami Heat squad. LeBron James left Miami to return to Cleveland and the Heat looked to replace him with the likes of acquisitions Luol Deng and Danny Granger. Ennis was looking to stay on the roster with a nonguaranteed contract. A strong performance in the preseason (10.9 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 1.4 SPG, 50% from the field and 40% from beyond three) solidified Ennis’ spot on the roster and he made the cut.

The LeBron-less Heat began the 2014-15 season 5-2. Injuries would decimate Miami’s hopes for success post LeBron. Wade missed 20 games due to a variety of injuries and Bosh missed nearly half of the season after being diagnosed with a blood clot in his lung.

Miami went through multiple changes. In-season signee Hassan Whiteside came from nowhere to take the starting spot at center and the team also acquired guard Goran Dragic from Phoenix ahead of the trade deadline. With all of the changes and different lineups, Miami finished one game out of the postseason with a 37-45 record.

Ennis made a memorable introduction in his first career NBA game. He had an impressive one-handed dunk over Wizards guard-forward Rasual Butler in the season opener.

GIF via NBA

Ennis was in and out of Miami’s rotation as he had his ups and downs as a rookie contributing off the bench. Ennis appeared in 62 games and managed to put up 5.0 PPG, 2.8 RPG and 0.8 APG in 17.0 MPG.

In the summer of 2015, Ennis joined Miami’s Summer League team for the third consecutive year. He struggled this time, producing 8.7 PPG and 5.0 RPG on 30% on FGs and 9% on threes in seven games. Ennis was dealing with tendinitis in his knee during this time.

Miami held a trigger date to guarantee half of Ennis’ contract August 1st of 2015 and fully guarantee it on January 15th 2016. However, both parties agreed to change the contract to have one trigger date — the eve of the 2015-16 regular season — to fully guarantee the contract. Miami guaranteed Ennis’ salary after he made it through 2015 training camp.

Ennis didn’t last long in the regular season. He played in three games and seven scoreless minutes before he was traded with guard Mario Chalmers to the Memphis Grizzlies for Jarnell Stokes and Beno Udrih. Ennis ended his run in Miami with 4.8 PPG, 2.7 RPG and 0.8 APG in 65 contests. He shot 41% from the field, 33% from three and 84% from the free-throw line in that time.

The draft pick acquired in the deal was top-40 protected in 2017 and unprotected in 2018. Atlanta dealt the draft pick to the Philadelphia 76ers in a 2017 deal involving players Tiago Splitter and Ersan Ilyasova. 

Since, the Miami Heat (41-41) were a middling squad in the 2016-17 season, the second rounder ended up in the 46th position of the 2017 draft. That allowed the pick to be conveyed. The Sixers drafted guard Sterling Brown from SMU and traded his rights to the Milwaukee Bucks for cash considerations.

James Ennis on the shock of finding out he’d been traded on draft night via Long Beach State University Athletics):

“Yeah, it was very shocking. I’m just excited. I want to play with LeBron [James]. He’s the best player in the world. [The Heat] are on a two-peat. They can get three and hopefully I’ll be on the roster to get another ring with them.”

Miami Heat president of basketball operations Pat Riley on acquiring Ennis (via Sun Sentinel):

“We were happy to get into the draft. We feel that James Ennis, with his size and athleticism, has a huge upside and someone we hope can develop into a high quality NBA player.”

Heat vice president of player personnel Chet Kammerer on how the team heard about Ennis (via Heat Hoops):

“I heard about (Ennis) when he was (still) at Ventura College. His first year at Long Beach State, I went to practice there with coach (Dan) Monson, and watched the first weekend of practice. They had this real good team with Casper Ware, (Larry) Anderson and (TJ) Robinson. I went to watch those guys. But when I got there to watch the practice, I noticed this young, long wing. By the end of the practice, I was really impressed with him. I said, ‘There’s the best pro prospect on the roster.’”

On Miami’s plan for the 2013 draft:

“Coach Riley thought that we should see if there was somebody we liked around the middle of the draft, maybe in the early 40s. James was the guy that we sort of targeted there.”

How he felt the Heat nearly gave up on drafting Ennis due to struggling to make a deal for a second rounder:

“As the draft went along we thought we had a pick in the early 40s and it didn’t work. We tried again in the mid 40s and he was still on the board, which was surprising to us. We had almost given up because we had lost out on a couple times — teams wanted more than we were willing to give –until we saw we could get the 50s pick. When it came to us at 50, we were elated because he was still on the board.”

On the next steps for Ennis:

“We’ll have him for almost three weeks coming up real shortly. That’s the beginning of the process. He’ll have opportunity to be coached and begin his introduction into Heat basketball and our culture and those things.”

Ennis’ coach at Long Beach State Dan Monson on Ennis going to Miami (via Orange County Register):

“I think it’s a great honor for James. All of the hard work and sacrifices he made for us have paid off, and this chance is well deserved. I’m thrilled for him personally and it’s tremendous for our program and the university. He really couldn’t have gone to a better place, considering the role models there, guys like LeBron and Dwyane Wade. It’s a perfect situation for him for him to succeed.”

Image via Getty Images/Jesse D. Garrabrant

[buddyrabrahams]

Eight biggest takeaways from Sunday’s NCAA Tournament games

Four days and two rounds are in the books, and the NCAA Tournament has left us with more questions than jaw-dropping moments.

The second round, especially Sunday, provided more close games, but not much outside the expected. The top seeds have survived to meet next week, making the next games we’ll see some of the best we could have asked for.

The top teams in the nation have stepped into the Sweet Sixteen. Sunday’s action can help us sort out what to expect in the second week. Here are eight takeaways from the second slate of second-round games:

1. Duke’s flaws exposed in narrow win

Anyone thinking Duke would strut to the Final Four untouched was proven wrong on the first weekend of tournament play, as UCF came within millimeters of upsetting the Blue Devils on Sunday. In the game’s final minute, Zion Williamson converted a tough basket, RJ Barrett took the lead with a putback, and UCF’s two attempts to win the game both danced on the rim before falling back to Earth.

For UCF, it was a brutal missed opportunity. Senior center and giant human being Tacko Fall picked up his fifth foul on Williamson’s crucial late bucket. He was then not there to grab a game-sealing rebound nor help putback a game-winning bucket on the final possession.

For Duke, on the other hand, the game showcased the Blue Devils flaws. UCF focused its defensive efforts on Williamson, who still willed his way to 32 points. RJ Barrett, meanwhile, shot 6 for 15 from the field, struggling to find shots he could convert. Duke’s supporting cast was non-existent. Coach K only played seven players on the day, with just three points coming off the bench. UCF allowed Fall to essentially play a one-man zone defense, allowing poor shooters like Tre Jones and Justin Goldwire any shot they wanted. Jones hit just one of eight deep balls.

Any team facing saw a potential blueprint. Sell out to stop Williamson, with an eye on Barrett and Cam Reddish, but dare the other Blue Devils to score. If they don’t, Duke is very beatable.

2. The bracket sticks with mostly chalk

After two rounds of tournament play, we have not seen many surprises. Cinderella barely showed up for this year’s Big Dance.

The Sweet Sixteen includes 15 schools from power conferences, with top-seeded Gonzaga being the only “mid-major” moving on. That number counts Houston, out of the American Athletic Conference, as a power conference team, which is debatable. And yet, a school that has 5 Final Fours, a 3-seed this year and 44,000 students on campus isn’t quite the Cinderella darling we expect every March either.

All four of the Nos. 1, 2, and 3 seeds advanced this weekend and two of the No. 4 seeds joined them. The only double-digit seed to advance is Pac-12 Tournament champion Oregon.

This March marks the only time other than 2009 that all of the top twelve teams advanced to the Sweet Sixteen since the tournament expanded to its current format in 1985.

3. Tennessee almost let Iowa steal one

The first game of the day ended up being a great one, despite Tennessee jumping out to a 25-point first half lead. The Vols began to turn the ball over and went cold shooting the ball. Iowa took advantage, coming all the way back to force overtime.

The game will be best remembered for a late coaching decision by Rick Barnes. Admiral Schofield, who was hot early, dumping in 17 first half points, developed foul trouble late in the game. Barnes was deathly cautious with Schofield’s late game playing time. The Vols kept their leading scorer on the bench through most of crunch time, including their final offensive possessions, in a tie game with a chance to end the game in regulation.

Schofield then began overtime on the bench, staying there for the entire five minute extra period. Postgame, Barnes defended the decision by pinning it on Schofield. According to Barnes, Schofield urged him to stick with the lineup that was on the floor stretching the lead. There’s something to be said for a coach who listens to his players, and in this case, it worked. On the other hand, Rick Barnes is paid millions of dollars to coach the Volunteers. If that means making a choice that one of his players doesn’t agree with, so be it.

Against Purdue in the next round or another contender down the road in this tournament, this kind of head-scratching decision could send the Vols back to Knoxville.

4. Top of the ACC shows its might

All five of the top teams in the ACC have advanced to the Sweet 16, the most of any conference. That was expected of the three teams from the conference that were awarded top seeds. North Carolina and Virginia both coasted relatively unharmed through the first weekend. Both trailed at the half in the first round before coasting through their next 60 strong minutes of basketball.

Duke faced the toughest test of any ACC club, barely sneaking past UCF. Even though the Blue Devils were one last-second bucket away from heading home early, they are still the favorites to cut down the nets at season’s end.

The other two ACC teams advancing have been among the most impressive in the tournament. Florida State held off a tough challenge from Vermont and routed a Murray State team that was clicking late in the season. Virginia Tech looked strong in two wins this weekend, with Justin Robinson back healthy in the lineup providing senior leadership and a scoring pop. These two 4 seeds will now have a crack at Gonzaga and Duke to earn a bid to the Elite Eight.

5. Texas Tech reminds the world how good it can be

Buffalo earned a lot of praise as a team that could defend at an elite level. In the Bulls’ second-round game, they saw what elite defense really looks like. Chris Beard has his Texas Tech team playing as well on the defensive end of the floor as any team in college basketball.

On Sunday, Buffalo’s high-speed offensive attack was absolutely smothered by the Red Raiders. The Bulls managed to record just three more made field goals than turnovers. Every trip down the floor was a slog against the activity of Tech’s defense. At one point, the Red Raiders went on a 27-3 run, leaving Buffalo with no answers.

6. Oregon is on a marvelous March run

The Ducks are pulling off something rarely seen in college basketball. When Bol Bol went down with an injury, many lost hope for this Oregon team. Even later in the year, things looked dire. On February 23, Oregon lost to UCLA, for the second time this season, to fall to 15-12 on the year.

Since then, the Ducks haven’t lost. Oregon has now won ten straight games and looks like a completely new team. Perhaps it took time to figure things out after Bol’s injury. Maybe a team full of transfers and young player needed time to mesh.

Whatever has changed, it’s turned the Ducks into an entirely different team. Nothing about the Ducks that beat Wisconsin and UC Irvine looked like the Oregon team that struggled in Pac-12 play or lost to Texas Southern at home early in the year. Dana Altman has a talented team, with high-level recruits on the roster, and he is among the sharpest offensive coaches in America. These Ducks are not your usual 12 seed.

7. Virginia has exorcised its demons

The Cavaliers have a long way to go before Tony Bennett, his players, and their fans are pleased with this season, but after the way Virginia ended its season last year, a strong first weekend was an absolute must. Though Virginia started slow and trailed at the half versus Gardner-Webb, this weekend has been an unequivocal success for the Hoos.

Virginia played its way and earned two hard-fought, but relatively easy victories. The Cavaliers opponents struggled to crack the Pack Line defense, hoisting up a host of bad shots. Even when Virginia also went cold for stretches, Bennett’s club consistently manufactured stops on the defensive end to control the game.

8. Tons of NBA Draft talent remains

For those of you just watching college basketball to scout NBA prospects, you will not be disappointed next weekend. Although we lost draft nerd favorites like Ja Morant and Matisse Thybulle, there are still dozens of players moving up and down draft boards in this tournament.

Duke’s trio of Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, and Cam Reddish catch most of the attention, but their teammate Tre Jones could work his way towards the middle of the first round with a strong tournament. Duke will face Virginia Tech sophomore Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who is considered by many to be a late-lottery talent. Alexander-Walker, the cousin of Los Angeles Clipper Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, is a rangy guard with a nice jump shot and excellent court vision.

Gonzaga’s frontline of Rui Hachimura and Brandon Clarke are both sure-fire first rounders with a chance to rise. Florida State’s Mfiodnu Kabengele is starting to receive some looks as a first-round selection and can improve his stock next weekend. Texas Tech’s Jarrett Culver is a lottery-pick with a chance to slide as high as the top five. The same is true of Virginia’s De’Andre Hunter.

The most eyes may be on Kentucky’s PJ Washington, who has not played yet in the tournament with a foot injury. He, along with teammate Keldon Johnson, are worthy of a lottery choice, and will have a chance to prove that this month.

Shane McNichol covers college basketball and the NBA for Larry Brown Sports. He also blogs about basketball at Palestra Back and has contributed to Rush The Court, ESPN.com, and USA Today Sports Weekly. Follow him on Twitter @OnTheShaneTrain.

from Larry Brown Sports https://ift.tt/2FwaEKM

[the-record-briefs]

Feb. 13, 2019: In other news

MerleFest adds to schedule

 MerleFest, presented by Window World, is proud to announce new artist    additions for MerleFest 2019: Amos    Lee, The Milk Carton Kids, Steep Canyon Rangers, The Del McCoury Band, The    Casey Kristofferson Band, and David Holt. The annual homecoming of musicians and    music fans returns to the campus of Wilkes    Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina,    in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains,    April 25-28. MerleFest is pleased to welcome these six distinguished acts    to the 2019 lineup:

  Amos Lee: Singer-songwriter Amos Lee’s creative take on folk and    soul style continues to evolve. Over the course of more than a dozen years    and six studio albums, Lee has continued to develop and challenge himself    as a musician and now producer. Amos Lee will make his MerleFest debut on Friday evening.

  The Milk    Carton Kids: It seems cliché to compare    two guys singing harmonies in suits to Simon & Garfunkel, but for the    pair that make up The Milk Carton Kids, there aren’t many other acts who    come close to the harmonizing in their songs. Since 2012, The Milk Carton    Kids have been making award-winning folk music (American Music    Association’s Duo/Group of the year 2014, GRAMMY nominations in 2013, 2015    and 2019) with just two guitars and two voices. Now the Kids are performing    with a larger band and fleshing out their sound with drums, double bass,    and keyboards-- the approach they take on their fifth album, All    the Things That I Did and All the Things That I Didn’t Do. The    change in musical tack abets a set of songs wherein Joey Ryan and Kenneth    Pattengale may be at their most personally transparent.The Milk Carton Kids will make their    MerleFest debut on Friday evening.

  Steep Canyon Rangers:GRAMMY Award-winning Steep Canyon Rangers effortlessly walk the line between festival favorite    and sophisticated string orchestra. They’re as danceable as the most    progressive, party-oriented string band and equally comfortable translating    their songs for accompaniment by a full symphony.

 The Steep Canyon Rangers’ set at    MerleFest is titled the North      Carolina Songbookand is a tribute to this    state’s vast musical heritage. The band says, “The influence of North Carolinians can be heard in almost every genre    of popular music from Earl Scruggs to John Coltrane. Many of them worked in    textile mills by day and played music with friends and family on the    weekends. Some were virtuosos who packed up their influences and took the    world by storm. All were, like us, a product of the music and people they    grew up with in Carrboro, Jacksonville, Eden, Tryon… every    corner East to West.”

 Doc Watson soaked up and shared    more of this state’s music and played fiddle tunes, blues, jazz, country,    rock ‘n roll, and everything in between. This has been Doc’s lasting legacy    for the Steep Canyon Rangers, and the band is excited to share the North    Carolina Songbook for the very first time on Sunday afternoon at MerleFest.

  The Del    McCoury Band: Even among the pantheon of music’s    finest artists, Del McCoury stands alone. From the nascent sound of    bluegrass that charmed hardscrabble hillbilly honkytonks, rural schoolhouse    stages, and the crowning glory of the Grand Ole Opry to the present-day    culture-buzz of viral videos and digital streams, Del is the living link. On    primetime and late-night television talk shows, there is Del. From headlining sold-out concerts    to music festivals of all genres, including one carrying his name, there is    Del.

 Almost unimaginable, McCoury’s    fifth decade in a half-century of bluegrass bliss brings new triumphs, new    collaborations, and new music. With but a single change in membership in    twenty years, The Del McCoury Band shows unprecedented stability as well as    garnering the respect and admiration of the industry for its unmistakable    work: nine IBMA Entertainer of the Year trophies; in 2003, Del’s membership    in the cast of the legendary Grand Ole Opry; and the band’s first Best    Bluegrass Album GRAMMY award in ’05, followed by a second win in 2014.

 On their latest release, Del    McCoury Still Sings Bluegrass-- a title that echoes his 1968 debut on    Arhoolie Records, Del McCoury Sings Bluegrass-- Del and the boys    bring home another stellar collection of traditional bluegrass    music. With 14 songs brimming with hot licks, classic songcraft, even    some boundary-stretching electric guitar, and once again, Del’s matchless    vocal delivery, The Del McCoury Band moves up the gold bar standard of    bluegrass yet another notch. Del and the boys will celebrate his 80th    birthday at MerleFest with a special Hillside Stage set on Sunday    afternoon.

  The Casey    Kristofferson Band: The Casey Kristofferson    Band is a collection of musicians from North Carolina,    Georgia, and Tennessee who blur    the line between classic country and a more contemporary sound. The band    showcases songs written by Casey Kristofferson, daughter of the legendary    Kris Kristofferson, and Andy Buckner (NBC's "The Voice," Season 9) in collaboration with a variety of other talented    songwriters.

 From foot-stomping rockers to    soul-wrenching ballads of love and loss, the songs are reminiscent of the    original outlaws she has shared the stage with since childhood.    Kristofferson and Buckner trade back and forth seamlessly between lead and    harmony vocals while the band adds layered harmonies and blistering    instrumental work.

 With an all-star cast, CKB consists    of Kristofferson on vocals, Buckner on acoustic guitar and vocals, Muddy    Welles on banjo and lead guitar, Jim Aaron on harmonica, Zack Page on    electric and upright bass, and Nashville’s own Herschel Van Dyke holding    down the rhythm. Weaving a story from the nightmares of love and longing    through the rise of personal redemption, this band brings a live show not    to be missed. The Casey    Kristofferson Band will make their MerleFest debut on Friday afternoon.

  David    Holt: David Holt is a four-time GRAMMY Award winning    musician, storyteller, radio, and television host. For more than 45 years,    the talented multi-instrumentalist has collected and performed the songs    and stories of the Blue Ridge Mountains.    He learned this treasure trove of music directly from musical greats,    including Doc Watson, Roy Acuff and Etta Baker.

 From 1998-2012 Holt toured and    performed with the legendary Doc Watson. He says, “Doc was truly a great    man. Performing and touring with him was a highlight of my career.” In    2002, the duo won two GRAMMY Awards for their classic Legacy, a    three-CD set about the inspiring life and music of Doc Watson. Holt    currently tours the country performing solo, with Josh Goforth, and with    his band the Lightning Bolts. In 2016, Holt was inducted into the North    Carolina Music Hall of Fame. David    Holt will perform Saturday afternoon at MerleFest.

 MerleFest is pleased to partner    with Come Hear NC, a    promotional campaign of the North Carolina Department of Natural &    Cultural Resources and the North Carolina Arts Council, to celebrate 2019    as “The Year of    Music,” a designation Gov. Roy Cooper    announced in November of last year. MerleFest, honoring its locale, has    programmed over 35 artists who currently call North Carolina home, each artist    representing a different aspect of the state’s great musical history. Come    Hear NC was designed to celebrate North Carolinians’ groundbreaking    contributions to many of America’s most important musical genres — blues,    bluegrass, jazz, gospel, funk, rock and everything in-between. It’s fitting    then, with 2019 as “The Year of Music,” that the Steep Canyon Rangers, also    proud North Carolinians, would debut theirNorth Carolina Songbook set at    MerleFest.

 The six artists announced today    join the 80+ artists previously released.Headliners include The Avett Brothers, Brandi Carlile, Amos Lee,    Wynonna & the Big Noise, Dailey & Vincent, Tyler Childers, Keb’    Mo’, Sam Bush, The Earls of Leicester, Peter Rowan and The Free Mexican Air    Force. The Late Night Jam presented by The Bluegrass    Situation will be hosted by Chatham    County Line. In addition to    the above-mentioned artists, the following will be performing at MerleFest    ‘19:

 American Aquarium, Andy May, Ana    Egge & The Sentimentals, Ashley Heath and Her Heathens, AZTEC SUN,    Banknotes, Bob Hill, Cane Mill Road, Carol Rifkin, Carolina Blue, Catfish    Keith, Charles Welch, David LaMotte, Dirk Powell Band, Donna the Buffalo,    Driftwood, Elephant Sessions, Elizabeth Cook, Ellis Dyson & The    Shambles, Gordie MacKeeman & His Rhythm Boys, Happy Traum, Irish    Mythen, Jack Lawrence, Jeff Little Trio, Jess Morgan, Jim Avett, Jim    Lauderdale, Joe Smothers, Jontavious Willis and Andrew Alli, Josh Goforth,    Junior Brown, Junior Sisk, Larry Stephenson Band, Laura Boosinger, Lindi    Ortega, Mark Bumgarner, Mark & Maggie O’Connor, Maybe April, Michaela    Anne, Mile Twelve, Mitch Greenhill and String Madness, Molly Tuttle, Nixon,    Blevins, & Gage, Pete & Joan Wernick and FLEXIGRASS, Presley    Barker, Professor Whizzpop!, Radney Foster, Roy Book Binder, Salt &    Light, Scythian, Sean McConnell, Shane Hennessy, Si Kahn & The Looping    Brothers, Steve Poltz, T. Michael Coleman, The Black Lillies, The Brother    Brothers, The Gibson Brothers, The Harris Brothers, The InterACTive Theatre    of Jeff, The Kruger Brothers, The Local Boys, The Trailblazers, The    Waybacks, Todd Albright, Tom Feldmann, Tony Williamson, Uncle Joe and The    Shady Rest, Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike, Wayne Henderson, Webb Wilder,    and Yarn. The lineup and    performance schedule are accessible viaMerleFest.org/lineup.

 Tickets for this year’s festival,    as well as the Late Night Jam presented by The Bluegrass    Situation, may be purchased at www.MerleFest.org or by calling 1-800-343-7857. MerleFest offers a    three-tiered pricing structure and encourages fans to take advantage of the    extended early bird discount. Early Bird Tier 1 tickets may be purchased until    February 17, 2019 and Early Bird Tier 2 tickets will be available February    18 to April 24. Remaining tickets will be sold at the gate during the    festival.

 About    MerleFest

MerleFest was founded in 1988 in    memory of the son of the late American music legend Doc Watson, renowned    guitarist Eddy Merle Watson. MerleFest is a celebration of    "traditional plus" music, a unique mix of traditional,    roots-oriented sounds of the Appalachian region, including old-time,    classic country, bluegrass, folk and gospel and blues, and expanded to    include Americana, classic rock and many other styles. The festival hosts a    diverse mix of artists on its 13 stages during the course of the four-day    event. MerleFest has become the primary fundraiser for the WCC Foundation,    funding scholarships, capital projects and other educational needs.

 About    Window World

Window World®, headquartered in    North Wilkesboro, N.C., is America’s    largest replacement window and exterior remodeling company, with more than    200 locally owned offices nationwide. Founded in 1995, the company sells    and installs windows, siding, doors and other exterior products, with over    15 million windows sold to date. Window World is an ENERGY STAR® partner    and its windows, vinyl siding and Therma-Tru doors have all earned the Good    Housekeeping Seal. Through its charitable foundation, Window World Cares®, the Window World family provides funding for St. Jude    Children’s Research Hospital®, which honored the foundation with its    Organizational Support Award in 2017. Since its inception in 2008, the    foundation has raised over $8 million for St. Jude. Window World also    supports the Veterans Airlift Command, a nonprofit organization that    facilitates free air transportation to wounded veterans and their families.    Window World has flown over 100 missions and surpassed $1 million in    flights and in-kind donations since it began its partnership with the VAC    in 2008. For more information, visitwww.WindowWorld.com or call 1-800 NEXTWINDOW. For home improvement and    energy efficiency tips, décor ideas and more, follow Window World on Facebookand Twitter.

 About the    North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

The N.C. Department of Natural and    Cultural Resources (NCDNCR) is the state agency with a vision to be the    leader in using the state's natural and cultural resources to build the    social, cultural, educational and economic future of North Carolina. NCDNCR's mission is to    improve the quality of life in our state by creating opportunities to    experience excellence in the arts, history, libraries and nature in North    Carolina by stimulating learning, inspiring creativity, preserving the    state's history, conserving the state's natural heritage, encouraging    recreation and cultural tourism, and promoting economic development.

 NCDNCR includes 27 historic sites,    seven history museums, two art museums, two science museums, three aquariums    and Jennette's Pier, 39 state parks and recreation areas, the N.C. Zoo, the    nation's first state-supported Symphony Orchestra, the State Library, the    State Archives, the N.C. Arts Council, State Preservation Office and the    Office of State Archaeology, along with the Division of Land and Water    Stewardship. For more information, please call (919) 807-7300 or    visit www.ncdcr.gov.

 About    the North Carolina    Arts Council

The North Carolina Arts Council    builds on our state’s long-standing love of the arts, leading the way to a    more vibrant future. The Arts Council is an economic catalyst, fueling a    thriving nonprofit creative sector that generates $2.12 billion in annual    direct economic activity. The Arts Council also sustains diverse arts    expression and traditions while investing in innovative approaches to    art-making. The North Carolina Arts Council has proven to be a champion for    youth by cultivating tomorrow’s creative citizens through arts    education. http://www.NCArts.org

 For more information, visit www.MerleFest.org.

[onlinemarketingcourses]

How to Buy and Sell Websites with Empire Flippers Founder Justin Cooke

Pat Flynn: One thing that’s interesting in business, and I’ve kind of noticed this ever since I started, is that there’s a lot of sub-worlds within this world of business, right? There not only are bloggers versus YouTubers versus podcasters—and I don’t mean versus like they’re pitted up against each other, but I mean just there’s different avenues of delivering content. There’s also different avenues of business and niches, right? There’s the health and fitness space, there’s the entrepreneurship space, there’s personal development, there’s physical products and digital products, there’s software, there’s coaching. I mean, there’s a lot of subspaces where within that space alone, there’s some really interesting dynamics, some influencers, some knowledge and experiences, and yes, there are commonalities between all entrepreneurs in all realms.

However, I wanted to pinpoint a particular world that you may not know about. But it may be of interest to you because you may end up in that world, or it might be something that you might be interested in. So, what am I talking about? I’m talking about, specifically, the world of buying and selling websites and existing businesses. Now, we’ve had other people on the show before. Not too long ago, we had Dan Andrews from Tropical MBA talk about just the regrets that he had with selling his business, and we’ve had several people in the past talk about how they’ve sold their businesses and it opened up new avenues for them, and was great to get those things off their shoulders.

I mean, there’s a lot of ways to approach business, and in the world of buying and selling businesses and websites, specifically, a business comes to mind, and that is the people over at EmpireFlippers.com, and specifically, Justin and Joe, the founders, who I’ve known for a while. I got introduced to them, and Justin specifically, way back when I was doing niche sites back in 2010. And they sort of stopped just promoting these little tiny niche sites and selling those and buying those, and they’ve gone to much bigger, massive websites. And if you go to EmpireFlippers.com, you can actually see the websites that are for sale. They also help broker any selling that you might want to do of your website. You can kind of gauge to see what is on the market out there, how much these websites are being sold for, sometimes for the millions.

And today I have Justin on the show to talk a lot about the lessons learned and some of the things that we can look out for, especially if we have potentially an exit plan in our future, or if you are interested in getting started, not from scratch, but piggybacking off of the success of another business and buying their website, so a lot of interesting dynamics here. So, before we get to Justin, let’s get to the music.

Announcer: Welcome to The Smart Passive Income Podcast, where it’s all about working hard now, so you can sit back and reap the benefits later. And now your host—he’s a three on the Enneagram Scale—Pat Flynn!

Pat Flynn: Hey, Pat Flynn here. Thank you so much for joining me in Session 348 of The Smart Passive Income podcast. If you haven’t been here before, thank you so much. I hope you enjoy the episode and subscribe, because we have a lot of great content, not just in our backlog, but coming your way, too, especially as we close in on the end of 2018 here and move into, quite quickly, 2019. We already have a great lineup and have recorded a number of episodes for next year already, so make sure you hit subscribe. My name is Pat Flynn, here to help you make more money, save more time, and help more people, too.

And today, to help us, we have Justin from EmpireFlippers.com. And again, I’ve known Justin for quite a while, haven’t really been keeping up with what he’s been up to, so it was really interesting to have a conversation with him today to see how his business has changed and where his focus is. And he and his partner Joe and his team, they’re dedicated to helping you, if you’re interested in ever buying or selling a website, through every step of the process. It’s not just kind of like a thing where you can just flip a switch and boom, everything’s ready to go. There’s a lot of due diligence that’s required.

Flippa.com is another website that kind of does the marketplace thing, but you know, you don’t get the kind of sort of attachment and the ability to have conversations with people like Justin and Joe. And of course, it’s nice when you have people in your corner who can help you through the process. So, sit back, listen in, we have a lot to talk about today. Here is Justin from EmpireFlippers.com.

Justin, welcome to The Smart Passive Income Podcast. Thanks so much for being here.

Justin Cooke: Thanks for having me on, man. Appreciate it.

Pat Flynn: So, your business, EmpireFlippers.com, is a very interesting business, because you are essentially a marketplace for people who want to buy and sell websites. How did you even get into that?

Justin Cooke: Yeah, so a very long time ago, we started a website online, this is back in 2010, called the AdSense Flippers, and we were AdSenseFlippers.com. And my business partner and I started building these small little AdSense-based websites, and we followed a lot of people online, including Smart Passive Income, was one of our resources for kind of getting started, and we started building these small websites that made $40 bucks a month, $100 bucks a month, $200 bucks a month. And as we were kind of building them out we realized, these are like, mini assets. They are investable assets.

So, we said look, would people be interested in buying these? And so, we started to list them for sale and see if anyone in our audience was interested in buying them, and people started buying them from us, which basically fueled our growth.

Pat Flynn: That’s amazing, yeah. For anybody who’s been following me for a while, you’ve probably heard of AdSenseFlippers.com, and Justin and Joe were the two people who were working there. How big is your team now, now that you’ve kind of switched to just, a more general website, to EmpireFlippers.com?

Justin Cooke: Yeah, Joe and I, we had an outsourcing company that was kind of like our main breadwinner, and at the time we had I think twenty people in the Philippines. And we actually ended up selling that company off over the years. We’ve grown to now just over fifty people, so we still have about eighteen people in the Philippines, and we have thirty-two or so from different places: New Zealand, Australia, mostly Americans.

Pat Flynn: Amazing. Love it. So, let’s get into it. I’d love to talk about both the sort buying of the websites, and then we can shift over to selling the websites. So for anyone in the audience who may have a website that’s kind of just sitting there, you’re kind of tired of it, or we’ll get into the reasons of why you might want to sell, and I’d love to hear your perspective on that in a little bit, Justin. And then perhaps you might want to check out Empire Flippers to kind of sell.

But I’d love to hear, from a buying perspective. We’ve talked a little bit about buying websites to kind of get a headstart on your passive income journey and business building journey, but we haven’t talked about it in a long time. Today, why would we want to buy a website? Or why should we even consider that? And kind of what price point are we looking at and what do we get for those price points?

Justin Cooke: Well, to be fair, there’s a host of people that shouldn’t buy websites or online businesses, or at least not yet. I was talking with my aunt, we were on a vacation a while back, and she was really interested in kind of what we were doing, and she kind of knows that we sell these online businesses, and she was really curious about the returns. She just recently retired, and she was kind of looking for something to do that could potentially earn money, and she was really excited about potentially buying a business from us. And I had to tell her, I love my aunt, but I had to tell her, “Teresa, this wouldn’t work for you. You don’t have the skills to run an online business,” based on knowing her and the conversation. So, she could learn those skills, but she’s not there today. So, this really isn’t for everyone. It’s not fully passive in that you put your money in, sit back, and watch the cash rain down. It doesn’t work that way. But it can be, if you’re putting the work in now, you can see heavy returns later on the businesses that you’re running.

So, just to get back to who buys these businesses? There’s a host of people. We actually kind of gave them profiles. So, for example, there’s the Lifestyle Larry. And Lifestyle Larry might be working a nine to five, like a mid-level manager in the US, and he just would love to sit on a beach and work ten hours a week and build out his website. So, he’s saved up some cash, wants to quit his job and effectively travel, and is looking to buy a business like this. You have the DIY Daves, who are like, tinkerers. I mean, maybe they’ve built out a few websites themselves, they’ve had some success, but they’re really good at tweaking. Maybe it’s conversion rate optimization or something else that can really add traffic and ultimately earnings to the website. So, they buy a site looking for something they can actually improve on. It’s not enough traffic or it’s not converting very well, and it’s something they can actually take a stab at and take a bite at. Does that make sense?

Pat Flynn: Yeah, totally. I like that. I like how you categorize them. Now, you had mentioned . . . First of all, thank you for being honest about, hey guys, this isn’t like something you can just buy and sit back. It’s not like that. It’s something that requires skills. What are those skills that are required for somebody who’s buying a website and wants to do something with it?

Justin Cooke: So, it depends on the kind of business that they purchase, right? So, kind of the straightforward first-timer type websites would be like an Amazon Associates site, right? This is a site that’s affiliate based, pays via Amazon, and it’s relatively straightforward. And then some of the more complicated businesses might be the ecommerce businesses that have many different skews, many different products, and you have to ship the products from China in your container to your warehouse. Those are much more complicated. But the affiliate sites, for example, kind of the starter sites, you have to be proficient at I’d say keyword research, a little bit of SEO, you need to understand WordPress management, a little bit with how to work themes, and how to write copy, to some degree. So, those are some skill sets that you can definitely learn. I think with a couple months of digging into it, it’s something you could get down. But starting from scratch, it’d be difficult, I think.

Pat Flynn: Yeah. Now, I’m curious, for example, you mentioned like an Amazon associate site that is making money through affiliate marketing. Let’s say that for example, it is making about $1,000 a month with Amazon Associates. How much might that cost to buy? And I know it ranges, and there’s various other aspects of websites that kind of factor into the cost, like how long it’s been around and the domain authority and a lot of other things, I’m sure. But how much might one expect to buy a website for that’s earning $1,000 a month?

Justin Cooke: So, all the businesses we list and price and sell are based on a multiple of a net monthly profit, right? And so a net monthly profit, for the sake of this, let’s just say, it’s on average over the last twelve months. We can go less than twelve months. Let’s just say twelve months.

Pat Flynn: Got it.

Justin Cooke: So, it’s making $1,000 a month. You’ll apply a multiple to it. And generally, that multiple ranges from twenty times up to fifty or sixty times, depending. So, it could go anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000 or $60,000 at the very high end. Now, you know the next question is what’s the difference, right? What’s going to get my site to sell for $20,000 versus $50,000? A host of things go into that, but ultimately it comes down to risk, right? So, if the buyer’s looking at the business and they have a sense that it’s going to be a riskier purchase for them or it actually would be a riskier purchase, it’s going to be at the lower end, twenty, twenty-five-X. If it looks much more solid, and this is due to a range of things, it might go for thirty to forty times net monthly profit.

Now, to get up at the upper ranges, you’re looking more at recurring revenue. It’s got a steep trajectory, it’s in a really hot niche, you might get fifty-X or so. I think the largest we sold was right around fifty times net monthly profit. So that’s getting close to the edge, but generally, you’ll find they go somewhere between twenty-five and thirty-five-X.

Pat Flynn: Got it, okay. Now, I’m just going to put myself in a hypothetical situation. I see a website, it’s doing some Amazon Associate stuff, and I pay $25,000 to get access to this, and I’m sure there’s a transfer of who owns what and whatnot, and let’s say I, for a couple months, am still seeing the income coming in as it was coming in before, which is what I paid for, but then it starts to kind of decline. I’m sure this happens every once in a while, and it could be due to a number of factors, whether it be seasonal with Amazon or keyword rankings in Amazon or keyword rankings with Google. Are there any safety things or guarantees that are involved with buying websites? Or is it kind of like . . . It kind of fees like gambling a little bit, I’m assuming. I mean, can you speak to kind of that aspect of it?

Justin Cooke: Yeah, it’s completely up to the buyer. So, there are no guarantees. We’ve thought about or talked about some kind of insurance policies we could put in place, but ultimately decided against it. But it’s due diligence, it’s the responsibility of the buyer to make sure they’re buying a website or an online business that works for them and that they can work with. It does happen that Google rankings take a hit. It happens where your Amazon Associate account could be shut down. It happens where buyer neglect, where the buyer’s neglected the business. And that definitely happens to some of the businesses.

So, we’ve kind of gone back to buyers previously and tried to get a sense of what happens to the business. We did this recently. I forget the exact numbers, but some of them had a heavy decline after twelve months, some of them significantly grew the business, and a lot were kind of in the plus or minus 15 to 20 percent range over the course of a year. So, I mean, there is heavy risk, and it depends on the type of business and what those risks are. So, Amazon Associates website—I mean, the chance that Amazon could shut you down, your Google rankings could take a hit, negative SEO, there are a lot of risks there. With ecommerce, it could be that your products are a fad, that say if it’s FBA, that someone overtakes you in rankings, that you get some negative reviews. Lots of risks that are very unique to online businesses. It’s not that offline businesses don’t have risk. They have risk, too, it’s just that the online business risks are different.

Pat Flynn: And then on the other side of the coin, what are some things that new buyers of new . . . of websites are doing to increase those businesses? I mean, there’s obviously a wide range of things they could do, but in your eyes, if you have that info, what are the small and/or big tweaks that they’re making after they purchase a website that seems to be giving them the most bang for their buck?

Justin Cooke: Well, what’s really interesting is a lot of sellers are going into the sale—sellers have lots of different reasons for selling. But one of the reasons that they sell is they go, “Look, I’ve maxed out this business.” Let’s say they get it up to $8 – $10,000 a month and they’ve done all the conversion rate optimization. They have done all the SEO, like it’s ranking really high on the first page for some of their major key terms and they are like, “This is as good as it’s going to get. I might as well cash out now while it’s peaking.” So what happens is you have a buyer that comes along and goes, “Wow, I normally don’t buy businesses that are making less than $10,000 a month, but I’ll work with this one. It’s making $8,500 bucks a month, it’s close enough.”

They’ve got a whole different skill set. So with them in particular, they’ve . . . they’re, let’s say, great at driving Facebook traffic, whether it’s paid or organic. They’ve got a really large . . . I don’t know, Instagram page with . . . and they’ve got an influencer list that can really help with that ecommerce product. So they’re buying it, knowing that they can take it to . . . in the next twelve, eighteen months, they can two or three X it, and thinking it’s just barely big enough for them to finally take a stab at it. You’ve got this disparate kind of view on where the business is from the seller and the buyer. That’s one of the reasons, I think, we’re in business, is because of this lack of understanding on both sides.

Pat Flynn: Awesome. No, that’s . . . and this is such a interesting thing to consider. Like, “Hey, I don’t have to start from scratch, I could buy something that already exists and perhaps put my skills to use in there.”

I’ve actually never shared this with anybody so I’m going to share it now because it does relate to buying websites. I’ve actually purchased an existing website once before, and this was back in 2010 I think, I believe, and I purchased it on another website where there’s like a marketplace and stuff, and it was only making a couple hundred bucks on AdSense and it was about a twenty-times multiplier. I just wanted to kind of see what would happen. I did a couple easy tweaks on it and . . . It actually wasn’t a WordPress site, so I did switch it to WordPress. I optimized it a little bit and then I did a few tweaks and I was able to increase the AdSense earnings by like 30 percent.

But over time it just started to drop off. I had meant to . . . I was considering having that be a case study where I talk in major detail about it, but it just wasn’t interesting to me because it just . . . I felt like, that my business or my personality was not in it, and I probably could have put it into it, but that’s a hard thing. I like to teach business in a way where it’s like, okay, you are somebody who’s connecting with your audience, but when you’re buying a website that already exists, is there any worry with those kinds of businesses or kind of more personal, brand-type situations for a buyer? Like them trying to inject themselves into an existing business that’s been around for awhile. Is there some challenges in there or benefits to doing that . . . doing it that way? I’m just kind of thinking out loud here based on my own previous experience with this.

Justin Cooke: It’s really difficult to sell businesses that are heavily personally branded. Let’s say that someone’s coming in and they’ve got a really popular YouTube channel and that’s a big part of their brand and their identity and the business, and they’re looking to sell their business. That can be very, very difficult for someone to take over. Typically, it’s a much different transition. They have to bring someone else in. They both . . . let’s say there’s a podcast, they now bring on a cohost and they cohost the show for awhile. They’re going to have to license the use of their name for some period of time. So in terms of like, selling a business that has a personal brand, it’s doable, but it can be really challenging. We’ve found it difficult to sell those businesses and when we have, it’s been kind of an . . . it’s been stuck in earn out. It ultimately turns into a partnership for some period of time. It’s not a clean sale.

In terms of injecting your brand into a business you purchase, I mean, it sounds like to me that the website you bought just didn’t really . . . it wasn’t interesting to you, so you didn’t have a lot of interest in kind of like, driving it or continuing with that and it kind of died out.

Pat Flynn: Yep.

Justin Cooke: That’s something that . . . That’s kind of a good time to sell. Joe and I, my business partner, we’ve had situations like that where we had, in the past, we had websites or online businesses that we just weren’t kind of sticking with it, and you know this, but the way websites and online businesses generally work, because you have to put some thought, effort, and energy into it . . . So we let these businesses die. For example, one of them was a Twit-art business. It was, it delivered Twitter background designs. This is way back in the day, but it delivered Twitter background designs. And I think at one point, and this was before we had a marketplace to sell online businesses.

It probably would have been worth maybe $70 to $80,000 and then ended up dropping down to maybe a thousand bucks a month or maybe under. I think we ended up almost giving it away or selling it for maybe $15 grand or something much, much less than we could have. That was just because of a lack of focus and interest in continuing the business. If you find yourself kind of bored with your website or over the website and you’re just not giving it the time and attention it deserves, it might be a good time to think about selling.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, that’s a great point. And you’re spot on. I just bought it because the numbers looked good and I was like, ‘Yeah, I could probably optimize that.” And I did, and it just didn’t make sense for me to put my own personality into it and I just lost interest, and that’s why the website died a little bit. I think that speaks to an interesting question that I have, which is how much do you buy for the numbers versus how much do you buy for your interest? I’m sure there’s going to be people who are in this business of buying websites to literally flip them. To buy them and do like they do with houses, which is tweak them, optimize them, then resell them, perhaps even in the same market. I’m sure you’ve seen that, but how much should we consider before buying something, our just interest in that particular topic?

Justin Cooke: Well, in general, when you’re buying and selling a website or online business, it’s surprising how emotional it can get. You wouldn’t think of it that way. You think that, “Oh, well, it’s a buy the numbers, here’s my multiple, here’s what I’m willing to sell for them,” and then you just negotiate the dollar amount. That’s not right for like five and six figure sales. It is on like seven figures because you have . . . generally, you’re dealing with professionals. I don’t know another way to put it, but these are people that kind of do that for a living, but in like five and six figure range, I mean, you’re talking about selling your baby, like something you put blood, sweat, and tears into. If you’re buying it, you’re putting in a lot of money. You’ve worked hard to save all this money and put it on the line and to risk it for this business.

So there is some emotional connection to that. Whether you’re buying or selling, it does and can get emotional. That’s, I think, one of the benefits of working with brokers, that they kind of take that out. It’s not very emotional to us. Our team, our sales crew, our vetting team, they don’t . . . they’re not emotional about it; it’s purely a transaction.

So we’re able to kind of help with that. Yeah, in terms of letting go of a baby and looking for businesses that you can add value to, I’d worry less about being passionate about the business and more like what kind of skill sets you can bring to it. If you have a skill set that’s uniquely valuable to that business, say that it’s heavily run by Facebook ads and you look at the business, you look at the Facebook ad campaign, you’re like, “Oh, I can do way better here.” Like you’re bringing a unique advantage to that business that the seller didn’t have. So I think it’s really helpful to find your unique advantage and put that to use.

Pat Flynn: I think that’s a great transition into now let’s kind of focus on the selling of the website. A person . . . and you talked about this a little bit, but we had a conversation on the podcast with Dan Andrews, who I know is a good friend of yours as well, from TropicalMBA.com. He was in Episode 329 and that episode was really, really . . . he was just very vulnerable about the selling of his business, which was very successful and he cashed out on it. He did very well with, on paper, with how much money he had earned from that, but he felt like, just life was not the same and things were . . . something was missing. He was very depressed about the sale of his business, and so I would love for you to speak to those who are potentially . . . they have a website or they’re sitting on a website and it’s making money for them and they want to cash out on it. What kinds of questions would you ask them to make sure that yes, this is the right decision for them?

Justin Cooke: Yeah, it’s really interesting in Dan’s case because he was thinking about obviously the money, they were thinking about obviously they had a lot of cash tied up in inventory. For them, it was look, let’s see a return on this investment. We’ve had to deal with all this inventory and this growth we’ve had to put in this ecommerce business. Let’s see some kind of return on it. They liked the money. And what he mentioned was that he hadn’t thought about the other benefits. The benefit of having some level of . . . I don’t know. Being someone that’s a practitioner in the industry. I mean, he talked to a lot of kind of ecommerce people, would explain to them what they did in their business and how they were successful. So not being able to do that, not being able to stand on stage with the business they’re running, it . . . I think it affected him, affected him personally, I think affected him psychologically. It was a sad loss for him, I think.

I think that that’s a really interesting perspective for sellers to consider before they’re going to sell their business, is that . . . what are they going to do without that business? Because it’s not going to be there. It’s not going to be earning . . . giving them the cash flow they’re getting today. I think, ideally, they should have some kind of plan for what they’re going to do after. To be clear, this isn’t a requirement, we don’t require that they tell us what they’re going to do with it or have a plan for afterwards; but it is, I think, something interesting for sellers to consider because they’re going to get this payout and this lump sum of money is going to come their way.

How are they going to put that money to work for them, whether it’s into another business, or into some investments? What are they going to do with that, because if the cash flow stops . . . what do they do then? So I think that’s a pretty important consideration. But we also—and we often run into sellers who don’t have the passion for the business anymore and they’re running another project and that’s something that they are passionate about. So they’ve started up a new FBA business with a product that they had been always wanting to build. They’ve got this Amazon associate site that’s totally unrelated that they used to run as kind of their starter site, the thing they first started off with. They really need cash for inventory for this FBA business. FBA businesses are cash hogs, especially when they’re successful, because they’re constantly dumping money back into inventory. They may need that fuel to burn for the FBA business and that’s going to give them the advantage of growing very, very quickly and expanding a business that they are passionate about, if that makes sense.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, I mean I think that’s a good point and one of the reasons why it might be the right time for somebody to sell. Are there any other things or sort of triggers or signs that it might be a good time to start thinking about selling the website that you have?

Justin Cooke: I mean, a lot of times people, they want to sell at the peak but they end up selling for more personal reasons. So we’ve had people selling their business that they were looking to adopt, and adopting’s expensive and they needed the cash and it was like $30 or $40,000 to adopt. That’s why they were looking to sell this website that husband and wife had created together. Other times, it’s for less positive reasons and they’re going through a divorce, or maybe a business partner divorce where things are not great and they need to split up the business and go their separate ways. It’s not always selling at the peak that kind of drives a seller’s motivations. I think it’s helpful . . . and I’m switching hats here, but I think it’s helpful for buyers to ask about that.

The easy answer, and you’ll see it, we mention it quite often on our listings, is that the seller is looking to put the money into other projects. That is probably the most common answer, but it’s worth it for the buyer to dig into what a seller’s real motivations are. It’s kind of like peeling back the onion. If you can peel back the onion and get to the actual core, their real reason for selling, that’s going to put the buyer in like, a good strong negotiation position because they’ll know kind of what’s going on with the seller and kind of their motivations, and they can use that to their advantage when they’re negotiating the deal.

Pat Flynn: I like that. That’s really smart. Now, you had mentioned selling at the peak. This is really interesting to me. How do you know that your website is at its peak? How do you even begin to understand that?

Justin Cooke: Yeah, that’s the question. That’s the thing that I think a lot of sellers get wrong or they misunderstand. I said this earlier about, you see your business kind of climbing in earnings month over month or quarter over quarter and you see that it starts to, let’s say, level out. It might be leveling out because let’s say it’s an Amazon associate site and you’re finally on the first page. You’re in the . . . your major keywords are in the top couple of slots. You’re really kind of maxed out in terms of your SEO. So you’re saying, “Okay, I see my earnings, the growth rate, the trajectory is starting to level out a little bit. I think this business is starting to peak. I think it’s time for me to get out.”

What they don’t realize is that by opening up another traffic channel or maybe monetization channel, there is a lot more earnings to be had in that business. So a lot of sellers kind of . . . they think . . . they’re all, “Well, I think I’m peaking,” or, “I think things are starting to level out,” and what they don’t know is that’s just a kind of a slow period, or it’s maxing out for them, but it’s not maxed out from the buyer’s perspective when they add whatever traffic source they’re going to add to it. So, no, I think that’s something that people get . . . Sellers get confused about thinking their business is potentially peaking or it’s toward the top, and they don’t really know. I mean, that something they think, but it’s not necessarily true.

Pat Flynn: Yeah I mean, I can imagine, for example, selling a website, considering it at its peak. I’ve exhausted and optimized it. It’s as good as I think it’s going to be. And then I go and check on it later and then I happen to find out that it’s triple the income. It would be like, “Oh my gosh, what did I do? I lost out on the opportunity.” Do you have any advice for somebody selling a website, to detach themselves from it in case something like that were to happen? I mean, I think there’s some just, internal discipline to not worry about it anymore after you sell it, but I mean, how could you not? Any advice there for us?

Justin Cooke: Yeah, well, some people are excited to see someone kind of take their baby and run with it and have it be super successful. So if they two X or three X over the next year or two, they’re really excited because they’re like, “Look, I started that project and it’s continued on. I’m happy with the cash I got out of it. And I’m good.”

Other people have probably a little more like you or I, where they might look at it and go, “Wow, I did not maximize my earnings on that one. I should have sold for more. It’s worth a lot more. I can’t believe I did that.” So there is a little bit of that as well. One of the things you can do is, as a seller, you can retain some equity. So that is something we actually allow. So let’s say that the seller knows this business is just on fire, right? They know their business on fire, but they’re forced to sell because their other business is growing faster and it just, it’s the better move. So they have to sell this business but they want to keep a piece of it. Right? They’re like, “I know this business is going to three X in the next couple of years. I want to keep a piece.” So maybe they keep 20 percent equity and the buyer is willing to do that because they want to go back to the seller, let’s say once a quarter or every other month, and do a call with them and ask them questions about kind of the growth strategy.

So from a buyer’s perspective, it’s a way to keep the seller invested and kind of bought into the growth of the business. So they’re kind of right there along with you. It’s also a way for them to get the business at a discount. If the seller’s really adamant about that, they might be able to pay 75 percent cash and the seller keeps 20 percent equity. So, they may be able to get a discount above and beyond what they’re leaving with the seller. And it’s a way for the seller to remain involved.

Just, as a seller, know that if you do that, that if you keep 20 percent equity, you’re now effectively partnered with someone who has a majority stake in the business.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, it’s a good point.

Justin Cooke: Right? So they’re calling the shots. They’re making decisions. So you have to trust that partner that you’re getting involved with, right? So, if it’s, “I’m done, I need to get out,” then just sell your business. Don’t do that. But if you really believe that there’s long-term value and you believe that buyer can get it there, sometimes seller retained equity is, can be a good move.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, that’s . .. Man, there’s so many aspects of this that I hadn’t even considered. I’d love to finish off by giving you sort of a case study example, a faux experiment. You know I have a website, FoodTruckr.com. It was a niche site that I had started in 2011 and it’s been doing pretty well. It’s been making money through its own products. It’s ranking really high for certain keywords. We, internally, have talked about selling it at one point or another and so, hypothetically, if we wanted to sell this thing, what would we need to have or show or prepare to maximize the sales price for this thing?

Justin Cooke: Gotcha. Okay. The business’s been around what, like four or five years, is that correct?

Pat Flynn: Four, five years. Mm-hmm.

Justin Cooke: Okay, cool. Is it growing? Is it declining?

Pat Flynn: It’s been pretty steady. It’s been growing with income or it’s been growing in traffic just because of the nature of the industry, but we haven’t been pushing so hard, probably as much as we could with ads and such to the products that we have.

Justin Cooke: Gotcha, okay. I mean, whether it’s increasing, decreasing, or steady, there are buyers all over the place. Some buyers love heavily increasing businesses that are like, super hot and they’ll be priced on maybe the last three to six months because a shorter time frame just kind of make sense. But they’re really interested in those. Other people hate those. They’re like, “That’s too risky for me.” If it’s growing that fast, it can decline that fast. They’re not interested. Other people love declining businesses. They’re like, “Oh, I can turn this one around. I’m going to get it at a discount.” So, there’s people that look for all types of businesses.

So if you were looking to sell that business, one of the first things you can do is we have, it’s called a Valuation Tool. And if you enter your information, enter just the actual finances and kind of the info behind the business—takes maybe five, six minutes—it’ll give you a good range and then a typical range on what that business would actually likely sell on our marketplace. So that’s a good place to start, to get an idea. It takes only a couple of minutes. Get a sense of what that business would sell for.

If you did actually decide to list, you said, “You know what, I’m going to go ahead and list this business,” you would submit the business. It takes maybe fifteen minutes or so. You’d need to get some numbers together. We need to know, last twelve months average net profit, last six months, last three months. And then we need some other information about the business. It’s pretty straightforward and maybe fifteen minutes or so to put together. And then once you submit, you would go into our vetting process, which generally takes anywhere from a week and a half to three and a half weeks, depending on what type of business it is. This business in particular would probably take let’s say two weeks.

And we ask you a whole bunch of questions about that business, and that’s to do a couple things. That’s to give us more information to help sell the business; in other words, we can take that to potential buyers who are interested. It’s also to actually vet and verify all the information that you presented. So you’ve given us just, “I say that the business makes this,” but we need to actually verify that it actually has made that. And so we’ll walk through, with your team, the actual earnings and the actual traffic, to make sure that it’s doing and earning what you say it does. And then, if and once it passes our vetting process, it’ll go live in our marketplace and then we’ll market it out to our audience. And we put it in a whole bunch of—we syndicate it to a bunch of different places and we’ll put you out there and you’ll start fielding interested buyers.

Pat Flynn: Wow. That’s real interesting. Where can we get access to the calculator? I think that’d be great, if anybody’s interested in potentially even just seeing how much their website might be worth, if you have a business up and running and making some money. Where can we go to see that?

Justin Cooke: Yeah. I’ll give you the link. You can put it the show notes, but just go to EmpireFlippers.com/valuation-tool, or just go to EmpireFlippers.com and on there you can see Valuation Tool and you can take a look at what your business might be worth.

Pat Flynn: Oh man, that’s really interesting. Definitely got my gears turning, but I love that there’s a vetting process. So twelve months average net profit, six and three. Obviously like, traffic reports and all those kinds of things. So just kind of the usual stuff that you might expect, but obviously if you are interested in selling, I mean, go to EmpireFlippers.com. That’s where you would want to go and start.

Justin Cooke: Yeah. We would get all the proof of income, proof of traffic, put that together. Once you’re actually listed on our marketplace—and this is I think where people get the idea of like, “Well, maybe I can just sell the business myself.” And I think this is kind of where our value really kicks in, is that we have a sales team there that is helping to field all the inquiries. So, there’s going to be a lot of tire kickers and time wasters and people just kind of sniffing the business out. We have a team that kind of goes through all those inquiries and fields them out, weeds them out for you and then only sends actual interested parties.

And then when we, for larger businesses a hundred thousand plus, when we have an interested buyer, we actually get on the call with both the seller and the buyer. And we do what’s called a buyer-seller call and that includes our sales person doing a prep with the seller, doing an actual call and driving that call. And then doing kind of a post buyer-seller call . . . A call with the seller to kind of review and discuss what they can do on the next call and what they should expect. So, after that, let’s say that there’s a deal made, we actually help with negotiations in terms of, a lot times there’s negotiation on price, but also on terms. Like, is there going to be an earn out? What’s that earn out going to look like? How long’s it going to take? And then all the way through the actual migration of the business.

When someone buys a website or online businesses from us, we migrate the business from the seller to buyer. A lot of times we’ll hold the money and hold the business while we transfer that over to the buyer. And we give them a two week inspection period. So they get a full two weeks to kind of review the business, make sure it’s earning what it’s supposed to be earning, make sure they have access to everything. Once they sign off, then we ultimately pay out the seller and close the deal up. So there’s a lot of things in there that, I think, if you’re doing it on your own for the first time, it can be challenging, right? You don’t do this every day. It’s not something . . . You don’t sell your babies every week. But it is something we do regularly and can help with.

Pat Flynn: Well, man, this has been super helpful. Thank you so much for coming on and giving us all this amazing knowledge and something to think about, whether now’s the right time or perhaps later. Maybe it wasn’t even anything you were thinking about. This will give us some really good head starts on how to do this the right way, whether we’re buying other people’s websites or selling our own. So Justin, thank you so much. Big shout to Joe as well, who wasn’t joining us today, but tell him I said hello. And if you have any other resources, or where else can we go to get more information to kind of learn about all this?

Justin Cooke: Obviously check out our website—EmpireFlippers.com. We have a blog there and then you can check out our podcast, Empire Flippers Podcast. It’s on iTunes and Stitcher and all the usual places.

Pat Flynn: Awesome man. Thank you so much, I appreciate you.

Hey, I hope you enjoyed that episode with Justin from Empire Flippers. If buying or selling a website is something of interest to you, then I would definitely recommend you schedule a call. And that’s what they want. If this is something of interest to you, whether now or in the future, all you have to do is go to EmpireFlippers.com/smart. There’s a button there for you, specifically, the listener of SPI, to go and do a little consultation with them. They’re going to help you through the process, see if it’s even the right fit for you. And that’s what I love about what they’re doing. It’s not for everybody, but for those of you who want to go down that road, whether it’s again, buying or selling a website, they’re going to help you make sure that you are taking the right steps and are taken care of along the way. So EmpireFlippers.com/smart, that’s all you need to know.

And again, if you want the show notes and the links and the resources mentioned in this episode, all you have to do is go to SmartPassiveIncome.com/session348. And the link to the call, the link to everything else that was mentioned, is there on that page. Again, SmartPassiveIncome.com/session348 and for the call, EmpireFlippers.com/smart. Thanks again so much. I appreciate you for taking the time to listen in. Make sure you hit subscribe if you haven’t already.

The next couple of episodes, the last two of the year, are going to be ones that kind of wrap up the year, some of the lessons I’ve learned, and give you an idea of the things that are coming your way, and hopefully give you some good advice and goal setting things that can help you as you transition into 2019. And, hey, cheers, enjoy the holidays. Enjoy the time you have with the loved ones around you. And I just want to say I love you guys. You guys are amazing and thank you for sticking around, listening in, and especially those of you who have listened to the show for nearly ten years now. I think we’re approaching that number very quickly which, I heard somebody the other day say, “Pat, you’re like a classic. You’re a legend in the world of podcasting.” And I, at first wasn’t quite sure how to take that. I’m like, “Well, that makes me just sound really old.” But it’s kind of cool. I like it, actually. So thank you.

I appreciate you so much and I’m so thankful for all my students who are now podcasting who give me credit for helping them with their start, and just all of you for helping and supporting along the way, even if you’re kind of just sitting back listening to the show and you don’t leave reviews, you don’t leave comments, you don’t even visit the website. I appreciate you, too. The fact that you’re listening and taking time out of your day to listen makes me feel really happy and it motivates me to keep going. So, if you haven’t listened to the show before, that’s the kind of person I am. I do this for you.

Hit subscribe. Cannot wait to serve you in the next episodes. Cheers. Take care and have a good one. Bye.

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[mikemortgage]

Chipper Jones, Jim Thome headline Hall of Fame class

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Larry Wayne Jones Jr. was a throwback, a guy who played for only one major league club and always stayed focused on a single goal — trying to get better every day.

Pressure was an afterthought for the man dubbed Chipper, except perhaps in 1990 at the beginning of his career with the Atlanta Braves organization.

“Maybe my first year in rookie ball there was some pressure. Obviously, I didn’t perform,” said Jones, who batted just .229 with one homer and 18 RBIs in 140 at-bats in the Gulf Coast League while dealing with a hand injury. “There was some pushback for the Braves taking me.”

Any doubts about the switch-hitting overall No. 1 pick of the 1990 draft from the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida, quickly faded. In Class A ball the next season, Jones batted .326, hit 15 homers, drove in 98 runs and stole 40 bases. Four years later he was a regular in the Atlanta lineup at age 23 and relishing the journey.

“For me, it was just having fun and playing the game,” said Jones, whose nickname surfaced at a young age after family members called him a chip off the old block because he looked so much like his dad. “I never saw a pay stub during my time in the big leagues. I didn’t care what I was making. As long as I walked in the clubhouse and I saw my name in the three hole playing third for the Atlanta Braves, that’s all that really mattered.

“I just kept my head down and tried to do whatever I could to help us win and let the numbers take care of themselves.”

Those numbers — .303 career batting average, 549 doubles, 468 home runs, 1,623 RBIs — earned Jones baseball’s highest honour, election to the Hall of Fame on the first try. He’ll be inducted Sunday with Jim Thome, Vladimir Guerrero, Trevor Hoffman, and former Detroit Tigers teammates Jack Morris and Alan Trammell. Thome also is a first-ballot selection, while Morris and Trammell were picked by a veterans committee last December.

Jones, only the second overall No. 1 draft pick to reach the Hall (Ken Griffey Jr. is the other), couldn’t have arrived at a better time for the Braves, who were perennial cellar-dwellers in the NL West. He became a force on most of the Atlanta teams that did a quick about-face and won 14 straight division titles — and a World Series in his rookie season (1995).

Also part of those Atlanta teams were pitchers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz, manager Bobby Cox, and general manager John Schuerholz. All five were elected to the Hall of Fame in the past four years, and now Jones will join them.

“Somebody had to score some runs for that pitching staff,” Jones said with a chuckle. “It’s nice the day has finally come.”

Thome hit 612 home runs, eighth all-time, and had an MLB record 13 walk-off homers , mostly for the Cleveland Indians. When he toured the Hall of Fame in late February to prepare for induction day, Thome got misty when he walked into the Plaque Gallery where his bronze likeness will hang after Sunday’s ceremony.

Expect more of the same when he stares out at the big crowd during his speech.

“It’s been an absolute dream,” Thome said. “I try to keep that (life) pretty simple, but it’s been very special to enjoy this with the ones you really care about and the people that are … happy for you. That means so much.

“To go there and now call that home is just incredible.”

Hoffman, chosen in his third year on the ballot, played the bulk of his career with the San Diego Padres before finishing with the Milwaukee Brewers. After failing to impress the front office in three years as a shortstop, he switched to the bullpen and became a star. Using a stultifying changeup, Hoffman recorded 601 saves over 18 seasons, second all-time to former Yankees star Mariano Rivera’s 652.

Guerrero was elected on his second try, receiving 92.9 per cent of the vote. The nine-time All-Star outfielder batted .318 with 449 homers and 1,496 RBIs and was a notorious bad-ball hitter , a skill he learned as a kid growing up in the Dominican Republic playing a game similar to cricket.

Although he played half his career with the Montreal Expos, Guerrero will be the first player to enter the Hall wearing the cap of the Los Angeles Angels, the team where he enjoyed his greatest success. He helped lead the Angels to the post-season five times in six seasons, reaching career highs for runs (124), hits (206), and RBIs (126) in 2004 when he won AL MVP honours.

“I was happy to be in a situation where the team was playing for something,” Guerrero said through translator Jose Mota. “That inspired me and the rest of the team.”

Among those accompanying Guerrero on Sunday will be his son, Vladimir Jr., considered the top prospect in the minor leagues. Guerrero will deliver most of his speech in Spanish with Mota translating before a crowd expected to number around 50,000.

“I want it to come out as naturally as possible,” Guerrero said. “I’m going to keep it as simple as possible. I’m not nervous, but you never know.”

Morris pitched 18 seasons for the Tigers, Twins, Blue Jays and Indians, and played on four World Series champions. In the 1980s, he led all pitchers with 2,444.2 innings pitched and 162 wins and topped all AL pitchers in strikeouts with 1,629.

The crowning achievement of Morris’ career was his 1-0 complete-game victory in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series while pitching for his hometown Twins against the 24-year-old Smoltz and the Braves. Minnesota manager Tom Kelly wanted to take him out after nine innings and the 36-year-old Morris convinced him not to.

“That was Jack Morris,” Trammell said. “That just tells you what’s inside of him. He wasn’t going to give up anything.”

That Morris had to wait so long to be picked for the Hall promises to make his speech memorable.

“I’ve had a long time to think about writing one,” he said. “I wanted this to be an impactful speech. I wanted it to be something that had meaning. When I started actually putting it into words, it was not as easy as I thought it was going to be.

“If I was going to do it justice, I’d probably have to write a 1,500-page book, but we don’t have time for all of that.”

Trammell played shortstop for 20 seasons — all for the Tigers — and earned six All-Star Game selections, four Gold Glove Awards and three Silver Slugger Awards. His .977 fielding percentage ranks sixth among shortstops with at least 2,000 games played.

“It’s overwhelming, to be honest with you,” said Trammell, now 60. “To say that you’re part of that group, it’s hard to comprehend.”

This year’s class matches the biggest lineup of living players to be inducted since 1955, when Joe DiMaggio, Gabby Hartnett, Ted Lyons, Dazzy Vance, Home Run Baker and Ray Schalk were enshrined. That means the inductees won’t have much leeway in the length of their speeches.

It’s difficult to imagine what a nerve-wracking scenario it promises to be for Jones — his wife is pregnant with a son whose name will be Cooper in honour of the special day.

Talk about pressure.

“It’s going to be a pretty nervous time for me personally,” Jones said. “The fact that my wife is due the day after, I’ll be looking down at her making sure she’s giving me the thumbs-up, making sure she’s not going into labour while I’m up on stage.

“If it does happen, it’s going to be an exciting time.”

——

More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball

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[junker-town]

14 things to know about the NBA’s return

Photo by Alex Menendez/Getty Images

Our team communities put together lists of critical things for fans to know as we approach the restarting of the NBA. Here’s a list from those lists.

As the NBA prepares to un-press the pause button on the season we asked some of our team site communities to list a few important things for fans to know. Here’s just a smattering of juicy tidbits to help us all reengage with the league and prepare for Bubble Ball.

1. Toronto finally gets to defend their title (via Raptors HQ)

You’d be forgiven if you forgot the Toronto Raptors are the defending NBA champs. It’s been over a year now since The North brought home the Larry O’Brien and once Kawhi went west so did all the media attention. But the Raptors are healthy, have a great coach, have the second-best NBA defense and Marc Gasol is still ticking. Don’t sleep on Toronto.

We can admit here, between friends, that the Raptors are not considered the favourites to win the 2020 NBA title. The smarter money is betting on LeBron James and the Lakers, Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers, and Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks. This is a fair stance to take; those are three really good teams.

But, it bears mentioning: the Raptors were the fourth team in that little mix and spent most of the season playing a man, or two, or three (or four?) down.

2. Luka Doncic is coming (via Mavs Moneyball)

The most exciting young player in the league has returned and we get to see him turning defenses into confused piles of shivering goo. Like this:

via GIPHY

3. Magic were on a run (via Orlando Pinstriped Post)

Orlando sits comfortably in the eighth spot in the East where they have the goal of holding off the Wizards for the right to “play” in the first round against a Milwaukee (probably) juggernaut. Fun. But it’s not all bad for the “home” team:

Make no mistake about it, the Magic put together a thoroughly scorching 12-game burst before the hiatus hit, seemingly flipping the switch in the time found between heartbeats. Orlando emerged as the league’s most dangerous scoring outfit, morphing their moribund pre-February 10 offensive rating of 105.5 (26th) into a gold standard of 118.2 (1st).

4. The Kings have a shot at the playoffs!?! (via Sactown Royalty)

The Sacramento Kings enjoy the support of one of the most loyal fan bases in the NBA who absolutely deserve a shot at the postseason for the first time since 2006. They’ll need to reverse their trend of slow starts including a 2-6 record over the first eight games of part one of the this season. Good luck with that.

5. Aaron Baynes is the center of the Suns (via BrightSide of the Sun)

The Phoenix Suns will say all the right things about fighting for that eighth spot but without Kelly Oubre (knee) their already dim chances are...dimmer. Of course, fans will be watching to see if Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton do that Phoenix thing and “show promise” but more eyes will be on free agent Aaron Baynes.

Basically the entire Suns’ frontcourt is able to hit the open market this offseason, with Baynes chief among them. His impact on this group is unmistakable, and he fits their offensive system well. One could even imagine that his comfort might allow the Suns to nab him for a price tag beneath his $10 million cap hold. What happens over the course of the eight games in Orlando could be the deciding factor for Baynes’ future in the Valley.

6. Some Wizards will be in attendance (via Bullets Forever)

No John Wall still. Bradley Beal is undecided. David Bertans is out. But hey, at least Washington Wizards are bad at defense.

They’ve allowed 115.8 points per 100 possessions — second worst mark in NBA history — and that’s an improvement over where they were earlier in the season.

7. The Rockets got even smaller (via The Dream Shake)

Houston traded away their starting bigs and I guess will use 6’5” P.J. Tucker and the aging Tyson Chandler against the likes of Rudy Gobert, Nikola Jokic, and Anthony Davis. Huh. Ok. At least James Harden has bought into the “Pocket Rockets” by seemingly dropping his own extra baggage.

James Harden is skinny now. And you wasted your quarantine with Netflix. Pathetic. pic.twitter.com/QSQBwF0c6K

— Willy B (@baldwinning580) May 23, 2020

8. Grizzlies are pumped (via Grizzly Bear Blues)

The Memphis Grizzlies are currently a playoff team and their young studs want to keep it that way by fighting off a bevy of competitors. Meanwhile, likely Rookie of the Year Ja Morant will be looking to prove he’s deserving of the title despite Zion Williamson’s injury shortened season. And sophomore Jaren Jackson Jr. has to be excited about the chance to play meaningful games. We’re excited for him too.

While Zion was elite in 19 games played prior to the suspension of the season, Ja’s 59 game sample size is extremely impressive in and of itself. He is a human highlight reel with a remarkable ability to take games over in the fourth quarter and a willingness to get his teammates involved early and often to get their confidence up. He’s cocky and brash in the very best way, willing to take on all comers and embrace the underdog mentality that both he and Memphis have had for the longest time.

9. Bucks are best (via Brew Hoop)

The best team in the NBA by both record and stats hope their momentum from the season will translate to the Bubble. Reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has already proven his chops as a great player and now has the chance to jump to the next level and join the conversation as one of the greatest players ever. That kind of thing happens in the postseason. The X factor for this team is the Lopez twins home court advantage of playing at a Disney facility. This might just give the Bucks an unfair edge.

But why have one giant center when you can have two, and when they happen to have overlapping skill sets, physical profiles, and genetic backgrounds? Twin brother Robin was an offseason acquisition that guaranteed the Bucks would have 48 minutes of Lopez to throw at any other big man they might come across, and Robin shoots threes now too!

10. It’s Dame Time for Portland (via Blazers Edge)

When Damian Lillard gets rolling there’s nothing that can stop him. He’ll need to bring all of those powers to the effort if the Blazers are going to both catch the Grizzlies and hold off four other teams for the final spot. But if anyone can do it...

During the 2019-20 campaign the star point guard is averaging career highs in points (28.9) and assists (7.8) per game. He’s also posting his best field goal percentage (45.7) and tied for his best 3-point shooting season (39.4%). This is all while being the league leader in minutes per game (36.9).

11. Lakers are thirsty (via Silver Screen and Roll)

Lakers Exceptionalism is alive and well in Los Angeles and pretty much everywhere else basketball and shoes and culture exists. It’s been a tragic year for the team and that was before, ya know, everything. But The King seems focused on using his incredible platform for incredible things and the longer he’s playing and getting attention the more good he can do. LeBron will be heading into the Bubble postseason fully rested and highly motivated so even me, a lifelong Lakers Hater, wouldn’t bet against another Laker ring.

Avery Bradley was originally on the roster, but won’t travel with the Lakers to Orlando for personal reasons. The Lakers have replaced him with J.R Smith, a move they just made official on Wednesday. We will update this section when and if they add anyone else. For example, general manager Rob Pelinka says they still are not certain if Howard is going or not.

12. Surprising Thunder fight for third (via Welcome to Loud City)

When Russell Westbrook left for the Rockets we all thought the Thunder run was done. But Chris Paul is having an exceptional season and as a high-mileage vet should benefit from the long layoff.

It has been brilliant to watch Chris Paul take on a leadership role with the Thunder. When the trade was made, there was a feeling that Paul did not want to be in Oklahoma. Paul is at the stage of his career where he wants to be contending titles. Oklahoma City are not a team challenging for the Larry O’Brien trophy at the moment.

OKC is only 1.5 games behind Denver for the third spot in the West and while home court advantage isn’t a thing this year the seeding advantage is still important to the team’s chances of pushing the LA teams in the playoffs.

13. It’s Clipper time (via Clips Nation)

Paul George is healthy. The Clips added some needed depth with Marcus Morris, Reggie Jackson and whatever Joakim Noah has left in his energy tanks. But mostly, if we’ve learned anything about the NBA over the last fiver years or so it’s to never discount Kawhi Leonard in the postseason. This all brings us to the possibility (probability really) of an epic crosstown series played on the other side of the country without the benefit of celebrity fans sitting court side. Less circus, more basketball - sounds great to me!

The Clippers have the best lineup (that has played at least 50 minutes together) in the NBA since the All-Star break. The Clippers’ bench extends beyond just Williams and Harrell. The best five-man unit in the league (+35.7 net rating over 60 minutes) since the All-Star break belongs to the Clippers reserves: Jackson, Williams, Landry Shamet, JaMychal Green, and Harrell. The Clippers starters come in seventh at +19.4.

14. Pelicans are inevitible (via The Bird Writes)

The New Orleans Pelicans head to Orlando in 10th place but are considered by many to be favorites to overtake the Grizzlies and steal the final playoff spot. Why? Maybe it’s the development of Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram combined with Mr. Inevitable Zion Williamson. But mostly you can credit the combined play of their entire starting five who put up a league-best (from Jan 22 on) +26.3 net rating. That’s nuts.

Zanos did return to wreak havoc upon the mere mortals of the NBA...

[...]His efficiency as a scorer has been off the charts, even as he adjusts to the size and speed of the NBA game. Williamson converted almost 59 percent of his field goal attempts, while averaging 23.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists.

Reports are that Zion is in phenomenal shape heading into the restart. If he could perform like that while working himself into basketball condition, just imagine what a healthy Williamson will do to opponents that are now realizing that they must adjust to him.

[flauntpage]

DGB Grab Bag: Penguins Controversy, New Stats Galore, and a Terrible Hype Vid

Three Stars of Comedy

The third star: Whatever this is. The KHL is weird, man.

The second star: Angry (former) Olympians. Passive-aggressive hockey stars are my favorite hockey stars.

The first star: Jack Eichel gets some pointers. Yeah, it's these guys again. Honestly, it was kind of slim pickings this week and I didn't feel like seeing who the Golden Knights' Twitter was murdering this week, so let's just go with this.

Outrage of the Week

The issue: On Sunday morning, as the sports world reacted to President Donald Trump attacking Steph Curry and the Warriors while urging NFL owners to fire "son of a bitch" players for protesting, the Penguins announced that they would still be making the White House visit.

The outrage: You have very strong feelings about whether they should go or not.

Is it justified: There have been plenty of takes about the issue—like this and this and this—and you've probably read them all. Or you haven't read any, because you're in the "stick to sports" camp, in which case you've already scrolled past this section. I have my views on Donald Trump and what's left of the political discourse in the United States right now, and if you care about them then you're free to ask. But you probably don't. You're here for hockey talk and jokes and YouTube clips of awkwardly lip-synching players. I get it. Ideally, we could skip the politics altogether. Except that, thanks to the Penguins, doing that this week would also mean skipping the biggest story in the league.

It's hard not to have at least a little sympathy for the team here. They know what a trip to the White House means these days, and they realize that by going they'll be used as a prop in smiling photo ops with a president many see as an embarrassment. They also understand that by not going, they'd be making a statement that would get them sucked into the never-ending culture wars, applauded by the left for a few days and then forgotten while the right harbors a grudge forever. They tried to find a middle ground, but there isn't one. It's a yes-or-no question, and so the team defaulted to doing what every other team before them has done. But right now, the things we always used to do don't feel like they matter much anymore.

The Penguins didn't ask for any of this, and it's fair to assume that they're profoundly uncomfortable with the entire situation. That's how hockey people work. With few exceptions, they don't want to be front and center when it comes to politics because they don't want to be front and center for anything at all. Show up, do your job, mumble about getting pucks in deep, and go home. Hockey players barely want to be on ESPN, let alone CNN or Fox News.

So the Penguins were stuck, knowing they'd be attacked no matter what they said, and there didn't seem to be a right answer available to them. Except that there was.

What they should have said was nothing.

That's it. Just nothing at all. We didn't need to hear from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday morning.

Yes, that would have meant ignoring questions they were no doubt already fielding from the media. Sure, it goes against the old P.R. rule about getting out ahead of the story instead of letting someone else control it for you. And yeah, it would have just delayed the inevitable for a few days, because eventually you're going to have to answer the question.

But there's a time and a place for that. And Sunday morning wasn't it.

All across the country, NFL players were getting ready to make a statement. They have been protesting racial inequality—not against the anthem, or the flag, or Trump, and certainly not for "unity," despite the league's best efforts to rebrand it that way. That's a topic that doesn't touch the NHL as much as it does other leagues, for obvious reasons, and that's a big part of why the Penguins' response bothered so many people. This wasn't their fight. They didn't need to be the kid in the front row, frantically waving his arm to make sure everyone knew he handed in the assignment.

The Penguins gave us a teachable moment on Sunday, and the lesson is this: Sometimes it's OK to let somebody else have the floor. Especially these days, if you see that somebody else is angry, or hurting, or asking for change, and they're willing to stand up—or take a knee—to make themselves heard, and you can't fully understand exactly why because maybe it's an issue that doesn't impact you in the same way it does them, then maybe you don't need to jump right into the conversation. You don't have to add your voice to the mix right away, and you certainly don't need to make it about you. Sometimes the best choice is to just step back and listen.

It's quite literally the least you can do. It's basic courtesy. And that's the test the Penguins failed on Sunday.

Obscure Former Player of the Week

A few weeks ago, we made a passing reference to Lee Fogolin being obscure. That seems like it should be enough to earn a guy Obscure Player honors, so here we are.

Fogolin was the Sabres' first-round pick, 11th overall, in 1974. That draft wasn't very good, and is probably best known for A) the Islanders setting themselves up for a dynasty by finding Clark Gillies and Bryan Trottier while the rest of the league basically found nobody at all, and B) the Sabres getting annoyed at how long it was taking and drafting a fictional player just to mess with everyone.

Still, Fogolin was a decent pick. The son of Original Six era defenseman Lee Fogolin Sr., he was a stay-at-home blue-liner in an era when that was still a valuable thing to be and could also play a bit of forward on the penalty kill. He cracked the Sabres lineup pretty much right away, and spent five seasons in Buffalo. While he scored only eight goals that entire time, he became a fan favorite with his defensive play and willingness to stick up for his teammates.

The Oilers claimed him in the 1979 quasi-expansion draft held when four WHA teams were absorbed into the league. He had some of his best years as an Oiler, including a 13-goal season in 1980-81, and was the team's captain until Wayne Gretzky took over the duties in 1983. Fogolin won two Cups as an Oiler and was picked as an All-Star by Edmonton coach Glen Sather in 1986, before being traded back to Buffalo at the 1987 deadline. He played the last few games of his career there before retiring.

Here's my favorite Lee Fogolin fact: In the 1970s, the Sabres gave out a Most Improved Player award, and Fogolin won it…twice. In a three-year span. That seems like it shouldn't be possible, but he took home the honors in 1976 and 1978. I don't know if he just regressed really badly in 1977 or if voters figured they'd stick with the familiar, but it's fair to say that not many NHL players can lay claim to being multi-time Most Improved Player winners.

The NHL Actually Got Something Right

On Wednesday, the NHL put out what at first glance seemed like a pretty boring press release: they'd added updated information dating back to 1917 to the stats section of their website.

This announcement didn't seem all that new; the league told us it was working on this back in 2015, and the full project had been going on for years before that. Previous rollouts were largely met with a shrug. This one seems to have been, too. The announcement of the offside review change being finalized, which came out 15 minutes later, overshadowed the stats announcement easily, and most of the reactions I saw were some variation on the same jokes about how poorly the league's stats site works in the first place.

That's fair—the site is still a mess. It's clunky and slow, and seems to have been put together by somebody who doesn't really understand what kind of information hockey fans would be looking for. Virtually nobody in the media seems to use it, which is why you always hear so much complaining when one of the amateur sites goes dark.

But take a closer look at this week's news, and it's clear that this is a big deal. The NHL didn't just revamp its stats, or get around to uploading information that was already available somewhere else. They literally just dropped a ton of new numbers on us, stuff that we've never seen before. They've updated and corrected the numbers on several players, giving us new tidbits like Wayne Gretzky now joining Bobby Orr and Larry Robinson as the only +100 players in league history. (For the last three decades, he'd been incorrectly listed at +98.) More important, they've now filled out the history of stats like shooting and save percentage that had been tracked in some form for years but weren't widely available.

This is huge. Until now, you couldn't look up Ken Dryden's save percentage on a site like Hockey-Reference. Now we have it on the NHL site. Mix in the detailed box scores for individual games and game logs for players, and this is a gold mine for stats geeks.

The site itself is still a pain to use, and it's hard not to hope that Hockey-Reference or whoever else just grabs all the data and drops it into their far more user-friendly interface. But even if that happens, the NHL deserves plenty of credit here. This couldn't have been a small project. And it's not one that's ever going to put any cash directly into the league's pocket.

But they did it anyway, because for once they seem to have remembered that there's value in making fans happy. It's a small thing in the grand scheme of things, but kudos to the league for making it happen.

Classic YouTube Clip Breakdown

The regular season is almost here, which is good news for just about everyone other than the Colorado Avalanche. On the heels of one of the worst seasons of the salary cap era, the Avs are expected to struggle again, and virtually nobody thinks they'll even get close to the playoff hunt. What's worse, they managed to somehow make the whole Matt Duchene situation even more volatile. A bad team, an unhappy star, and little in the way of hope. That's not a great package.

Could it get any worse? Yes. Yes it could. At least nobody is singing shirtless.

It's March 2014, and times are good in Colorado. After missing the playoffs for three straight years, the Avalanche are good again, and well on their way to what will turn out to be a 112-point season. New coach Patrick Roy has turned the team around, and all that losing is clearly a thing of the past. It feels like it's time for a song.

Wait, we're not ready yet. Gabriel Landeskog is still sleeping. Rest up, little cowboy, you've got a big day ahead of you.

We get a few more dramatic shots of players, including Nathan MacKinnon walking down the street and nodding. We can't hear what's being said to him, but it's safe to assume it's "Is this a terrible idea?"

We also get a look at Matt Duchene, who is WAY TOO CLOSE TO US RIGHT NOW. Seriously Matt, back up a few steps and try again. Is this how you ask Joe Sakic for a trade? Because if so, I think I might understand why he's not listening to you.

We're 30 seconds in and I already feel like I need a shower. Oh, cool, thanks Paul Stastny, perfect timing.

Oh look, Landeskog is awake. At, uh, 3 PM. He's either just had his game-day nap, or he's doing an impression of me in college.

I'll be honest, I spent a little too much time trying to figure out which player was lip-synching next to the big drum. That is, of course, the lead singer of Imagine Dragons, whose song this is. Apparently we're going to get a few shots from the real video, which is, believe it or not, even weirder than this version. Really. There's muppet cage-fighting and everything.

Meanwhile, we get Avalanche players lip-synching lyrics like "checking out on the prison bus" and "this is it, the apocalypse." Um, are we sure this video isn't from this year?

We get some shots of game action, mixed in with angry Paul, shirtless Gabe, and Matt Duchene's tonsils. I feel like MacKinnon got off easy in all this. All he has to do is stand on a bridge and look like he's thinking of jumping, which doesn't even really count as acting at this point.

"We'll paint it red, to fit right in." I'm guessing that "it" is Semyon Varlamov's goal light.

Can we just point out that Landeskog looks roughly 37 years old? Are we sure the NHL isn't a bad TV series about high school kids and they just cast a bunch of middle-aged actors to play Landeskog and Aaron Ekblad?

Hey Gabe, how are you feeling about the 2017-18 season?

We make it two minutes in before our first shot of Roy. Seriously, you couldn't have got a giant drum and let him beat on it for a while? You could put a Red Wing goalie's face on it and just let him do what comes naturally.

At 2:20 we get a quick cameo from George Parros. Hey George, congrats on the new job, do you have the power to retroactively suspend marketing departments?

We conclude with Landeskog turning to the camera and dramatically asking "Why not us?" The follow-up video, in which a bunch of shirtless analytics geeks lip-synch the words "because your success is driven by PDO and is completely unsustainable," did not prove as popular.

It won't shock you to learn that this video wasn't exactly well received; it was called "bizarre" and "dumb" and "the ickiest thing ever." To this day, the team hasn't been allowed to forget it.

Oh, and the 2013-14 Avalanche were upset in the first round by the Minnesota Wild. Stastny left as a free agent that summer, Roy quit on the team last summer, Duchene wants out, and they haven't been back to the playoffs since. At this point, the whole franchise seems like it's...contaminated? Toxic? I feel like there's a better word here, but I can't quite find it. I'm going to strip down and go sing into my mirror until it comes to me.

Have a question, suggestion, old YouTube clip, or anything else you'd like to see included in this column? Email Sean at nhlgrabbag@gmail.com .

DGB Grab Bag: Penguins Controversy, New Stats Galore, and a Terrible Hype Vid published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[buddyrabrahams]

Eight biggest takeaways from Saturday’s NCAA Tournament games

With three days now in the books, March has not exactly gone mad just yet. Only three of the 40 games played were decided by three-or-fewer points. Only one of those three featured a game-winning score in the final seconds.

Instead, we’ve seen a host of blowouts and wire-to-wire victories. While that hasn’t made for the most riveting game action, it has shed a lot of light on how a champion will be decided in the next several weeks. The teams that are dominating their competition are on a collision course with one another, setting up a host of juicy meetings next weekend and beyond.

Here are eight takeaways from Saturday’s action.

1. Carsen Edwards could be the star of the tournament

Since the 3-point line was introduced in 1987, there have been only ten players to score 42 or more points in an NCAA Tournament game. Carsen Edwards joined that group Saturday, scoring from all over the court. He was the first to drop 42 or more since Gerry MacNamara in 2004.

Edwards sank 9 of 16 from beyond the arc, made all 9 of his free throw attempts, and looked downright unguardable. Even against an accomplished defensive veteran like Phil Booth, Edwards was able to get wherever he wanted and sank just about every kind of shot.

So far, through one and a half rounds of play, Edwards has scored 23 more points than any other player in the tournament. Sunday’s games could close that gap, but don’t count on anyone catching his lead in that category any time soon. If Edwards keeps playing like he has, he could be the face of this tournament in the same way we’ve seen players like Steph Curry and Buddy Hield take center stage in prior years.

2. Big East had a terrible showing in the Big Dance

As we inched through March, the Big East started to look worse and worse compared to its counterparts on the college basketball landscape. The middle chunk of Big East teams all sat on the bubble, with Xavier, Creighton, and Georgetown playing their way out of the tournament. St. John’s followed suit, playing its way from a safe at-large spot to the First Four.

Once the tournament began, the conference’s representatives underwhelmed. St. John’s was handled by Arizona State in Dayton. Seton Hall lost to Wofford. Marquette was not just upset by Murray State, but got routed by the Racers. Only Villanova won in the first round, among Big East teams, sneaking past Saint Mary’s.

The defending champs will join their conference rivals in watching the second weekend from home after being demolished by Purdue. The Wildcats never held a lead and trailed by as many as 35 points. Villanova could not develop anything offensively and uncharacteristically displayed little effort or cohesion on defense.

Villanova deserves acclaim for surviving the loss of four players to the NBA Draft to navigate its way to both Big East regular season and conference tournament titles. In hindsight, maybe the path wasn’t as difficult as we once believed.

3. Big Ten has been impressive

While the Big East has floundered, the Big Ten has been dominant. Through three days, the conference is a combined 9-1 in tournament play against other conferences (with Michigan State also beating fellow Big Ten team, Minnesota).

The top three teams in the Big Ten have already punched their tickets to next week, each winning in impressive fashion. Michigan State handled Minnesota, with the Spartans only allowing 19 first half points. Michigan’s defense was just as sharp, holding Florida to just 49 points on Saturday.

Purdue’s blowout of Villanova was perhaps the Big Ten’s most impressive moment yet. For the first time in a few weeks, the Boilermakers looked like a true championship contender. If Purdue shoots the way they did on Saturday, the Boilers can beat anyone.

4. Kansas’ hellish season comes to an end

Kansas’ season, which felt like a roller coaster at times, was always going to end abruptly. The Jayhawks have been among the class of college basketball in recent years but faced a series of hurdles this season. Kansas lost players from its lineup for a variety of reasons throughout the year. Udoka Azubuike was lost to injury. Lagerald Vick left the team for personal reasons. Silvio De Sousa was suspended by the NCAA.

Bill Self faced an uphill battle. The roster he was left with relied on freshman and transfers, forced to gel as the season progressed. The team never developed into one that looked poised to win games deep into March.

Auburn made sure of that, punishing the Jayhawks with a barrage of fast breaks and 3-pointers in an 89-75 win. The Tigers imposed their will upon Kansas, dictating the pace of the game and outworking the Jayhawks at every turn. It was an encouraging performance from an Auburn team that struggled when given chances to beat elite competition.

For this Kansas team, it was the inevitable end of a rocky season, a year that Jayhawk fans will hope to forget.

5. Gonzaga’s Brandon Clarke submitted the best all-around performance of the tournament

Despite the way Edwards scored against Villanova, through three days of the Big Dance, no player has played a better 40 minutes than Brandon Clarke did for Gonzaga in the second round on Saturday. The San Jose State transfer was magnificent on both ends of the floor, posting a final stat line of 36 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 5 blocks.

Clarke did all of that while also playing incredibly efficiently. He made 15 of 18 from the field, took 8 free throws, and only posted one turnover. Against Baylor’s zone defense, Clarke excelled as the decision maker flashing to the high post or as a finisher along the baseline. His defense was remarkable, guarding all over the floor.

Clarke offers a challenge for any opponent. With the Zags facing Florida State next, the showdown between Mfiondu Kabengele and Clarke should be considered a must-watch match-up.

6. Ja Morant was not enough for Murray State

Murray State totally outclassed Marquette as the Racers dominated their first round match-up. Surprisingly, Murray State was more athletic than Marquette, a rarity for a mid-major highly seeded team. That began with superstar point guard Ja Morant, but even the rest of the Racers outperformed Marquette at the rim, in transition, and on the margins.

Against a team with the length, size, and springiness of Florida State, that was not the case for Murray State. Morant was able to hold his own, scoring 26 points, but his teammates were overmatched. The Seminoles blocked six shots and nabbed eleven steals, flummoxing Murray State offensively.

Kabengele had his second straight 20-plus point game, grabbed seven rebounds, and swatted away three shots. He’s been one of the tournament’s best players to date

7. LSU wins in the best game of the day

Saturday’s first game was also its best, and arguably the best game we’ve seen all week. LSU’s Tremont Waters dropped in a sliding scoop layup in the game’s final seconds, the first end of game shot to decide a tournament game so far.

LSU lost a second half lead by struggling against Maryland’s zone defense. Once the Terps went to a 3-2 zone, the Tigers struggled to get in sync offensively. It wasn’t until Waters and his teammates began to slice into the paint with dribble penetration that LSU started to find success against the zone.

Without suspended head coach Will Wade on the sideline, LSU’s tournament outlook appeared to be murky. The Tigers have now won two close games against strong competition and look every bit of the Final Four contender they were believed to be before Wade’s issues arose.

8. Wofford fell short on Fletcher Magee’s cold day

In the first round against Seton Hall, Wofford senior Fletcher Magee broke the all-time NCAA Division I record for 3-point baskets made in a career. In the Terriers’ next game, Magee had the worst shooting game of his entire career.

In 133 career college basketball games, Magee had failed to make a three just four times. In those four contests, he had never attempted more than nine long balls. On Saturday, he missed all 12 of his attempts from outside the arc.

Magee never resorted to forcing tough shots or passing up open shots. He simply never got into a groove and kept missing shot after shot.

The rest of the Terriers battled all afternoon, keeping Kentucky within striking distance. Ultimately, Wofford couldn’t score when needed. As Magee’s shots continued to glance off the rim, Wofford’s chances at pulling the upset dissipated.

The sport’s all-time leading shooter had the worst shooting game of his career during the biggest game of his career. Basketball can be cruel.

Shane McNichol covers college basketball and the NBA for Larry Brown Sports. He also blogs about basketball at Palestra Back and has contributed to Rush The Court, ESPN.com, and USA Today Sports Weekly. Follow him on Twitter @OnTheShaneTrain.

from Larry Brown Sports https://ift.tt/2JACfhY

[amtushinfosolutionspage]

DGB Grab Bag: Penguins Controversy, New Stats Galore, and a Terrible Hype Vid

Three Stars of Comedy

The third star: Whatever this is. The KHL is weird, man.

The second star: Angry (former) Olympians. Passive-aggressive hockey stars are my favorite hockey stars.

The first star: Jack Eichel gets some pointers. Yeah, it’s these guys again. Honestly, it was kind of slim pickings this week and I didn’t feel like seeing who the Golden Knights’ Twitter was murdering this week, so let’s just go with this.

Outrage of the Week

The issue: On Sunday morning, as the sports world reacted to President Donald Trump attacking Steph Curry and the Warriors while urging NFL owners to fire “son of a bitch” players for protesting, the Penguins announced that they would still be making the White House visit.

The outrage: You have very strong feelings about whether they should go or not.

Is it justified: There have been plenty of takes about the issue—like this and this and this—and you’ve probably read them all. Or you haven’t read any, because you’re in the “stick to sports” camp, in which case you’ve already scrolled past this section. I have my views on Donald Trump and what’s left of the political discourse in the United States right now, and if you care about them then you’re free to ask. But you probably don’t. You’re here for hockey talk and jokes and YouTube clips of awkwardly lip-synching players. I get it. Ideally, we could skip the politics altogether. Except that, thanks to the Penguins, doing that this week would also mean skipping the biggest story in the league.

It’s hard not to have at least a little sympathy for the team here. They know what a trip to the White House means these days, and they realize that by going they’ll be used as a prop in smiling photo ops with a president many see as an embarrassment. They also understand that by not going, they’d be making a statement that would get them sucked into the never-ending culture wars, applauded by the left for a few days and then forgotten while the right harbors a grudge forever. They tried to find a middle ground, but there isn’t one. It’s a yes-or-no question, and so the team defaulted to doing what every other team before them has done. But right now, the things we always used to do don’t feel like they matter much anymore.

The Penguins didn’t ask for any of this, and it’s fair to assume that they’re profoundly uncomfortable with the entire situation. That’s how hockey people work. With few exceptions, they don’t want to be front and center when it comes to politics because they don’t want to be front and center for anything at all. Show up, do your job, mumble about getting pucks in deep, and go home. Hockey players barely want to be on ESPN, let alone CNN or Fox News.

So the Penguins were stuck, knowing they’d be attacked no matter what they said, and there didn’t seem to be a right answer available to them. Except that there was.

What they should have said was nothing.

That’s it. Just nothing at all. We didn’t need to hear from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday morning.

Yes, that would have meant ignoring questions they were no doubt already fielding from the media. Sure, it goes against the old P.R. rule about getting out ahead of the story instead of letting someone else control it for you. And yeah, it would have just delayed the inevitable for a few days, because eventually you’re going to have to answer the question.

But there’s a time and a place for that. And Sunday morning wasn’t it.

All across the country, NFL players were getting ready to make a statement. They have been protesting racial inequality—not against the anthem, or the flag, or Trump, and certainly not for “unity,” despite the league’s best efforts to rebrand it that way. That’s a topic that doesn’t touch the NHL as much as it does other leagues, for obvious reasons, and that’s a big part of why the Penguins’ response bothered so many people. This wasn’t their fight. They didn’t need to be the kid in the front row, frantically waving his arm to make sure everyone knew he handed in the assignment.

The Penguins gave us a teachable moment on Sunday, and the lesson is this: Sometimes it’s OK to let somebody else have the floor. Especially these days, if you see that somebody else is angry, or hurting, or asking for change, and they’re willing to stand up—or take a knee—to make themselves heard, and you can’t fully understand exactly why because maybe it’s an issue that doesn’t impact you in the same way it does them, then maybe you don’t need to jump right into the conversation. You don’t have to add your voice to the mix right away, and you certainly don’t need to make it about you. Sometimes the best choice is to just step back and listen.

It’s quite literally the least you can do. It’s basic courtesy. And that’s the test the Penguins failed on Sunday.

Obscure Former Player of the Week

A few weeks ago, we made a passing reference to Lee Fogolin being obscure. That seems like it should be enough to earn a guy Obscure Player honors, so here we are.

Fogolin was the Sabres’ first-round pick, 11th overall, in 1974. That draft wasn’t very good, and is probably best known for A) the Islanders setting themselves up for a dynasty by finding Clark Gillies and Bryan Trottier while the rest of the league basically found nobody at all, and B) the Sabres getting annoyed at how long it was taking and drafting a fictional player just to mess with everyone.

Still, Fogolin was a decent pick. The son of Original Six era defenseman Lee Fogolin Sr., he was a stay-at-home blue-liner in an era when that was still a valuable thing to be and could also play a bit of forward on the penalty kill. He cracked the Sabres lineup pretty much right away, and spent five seasons in Buffalo. While he scored only eight goals that entire time, he became a fan favorite with his defensive play and willingness to stick up for his teammates.

The Oilers claimed him in the 1979 quasi-expansion draft held when four WHA teams were absorbed into the league. He had some of his best years as an Oiler, including a 13-goal season in 1980-81, and was the team’s captain until Wayne Gretzky took over the duties in 1983. Fogolin won two Cups as an Oiler and was picked as an All-Star by Edmonton coach Glen Sather in 1986, before being traded back to Buffalo at the 1987 deadline. He played the last few games of his career there before retiring.

Here’s my favorite Lee Fogolin fact: In the 1970s, the Sabres gave out a Most Improved Player award, and Fogolin won it…twice. In a three-year span. That seems like it shouldn’t be possible, but he took home the honors in 1976 and 1978. I don’t know if he just regressed really badly in 1977 or if voters figured they’d stick with the familiar, but it’s fair to say that not many NHL players can lay claim to being multi-time Most Improved Player winners.

The NHL Actually Got Something Right

On Wednesday, the NHL put out what at first glance seemed like a pretty boring press release: they’d added updated information dating back to 1917 to the stats section of their website.

This announcement didn’t seem all that new; the league told us it was working on this back in 2015, and the full project had been going on for years before that. Previous rollouts were largely met with a shrug. This one seems to have been, too. The announcement of the offside review change being finalized, which came out 15 minutes later, overshadowed the stats announcement easily, and most of the reactions I saw were some variation on the same jokes about how poorly the league’s stats site works in the first place.

That’s fair—the site is still a mess. It’s clunky and slow, and seems to have been put together by somebody who doesn’t really understand what kind of information hockey fans would be looking for. Virtually nobody in the media seems to use it, which is why you always hear so much complaining when one of the amateur sites goes dark.

But take a closer look at this week’s news, and it’s clear that this is a big deal. The NHL didn’t just revamp its stats, or get around to uploading information that was already available somewhere else. They literally just dropped a ton of new numbers on us, stuff that we’ve never seen before. They’ve updated and corrected the numbers on several players, giving us new tidbits like Wayne Gretzky now joining Bobby Orr and Larry Robinson as the only +100 players in league history. (For the last three decades, he’d been incorrectly listed at +98.) More important, they’ve now filled out the history of stats like shooting and save percentage that had been tracked in some form for years but weren’t widely available.

This is huge. Until now, you couldn’t look up Ken Dryden’s save percentage on a site like Hockey-Reference. Now we have it on the NHL site. Mix in the detailed box scores for individual games and game logs for players, and this is a gold mine for stats geeks.

The site itself is still a pain to use, and it’s hard not to hope that Hockey-Reference or whoever else just grabs all the data and drops it into their far more user-friendly interface. But even if that happens, the NHL deserves plenty of credit here. This couldn’t have been a small project. And it’s not one that’s ever going to put any cash directly into the league’s pocket.

But they did it anyway, because for once they seem to have remembered that there’s value in making fans happy. It’s a small thing in the grand scheme of things, but kudos to the league for making it happen.

Classic YouTube Clip Breakdown

The regular season is almost here, which is good news for just about everyone other than the Colorado Avalanche. On the heels of one of the worst seasons of the salary cap era, the Avs are expected to struggle again, and virtually nobody thinks they’ll even get close to the playoff hunt. What’s worse, they managed to somehow make the whole Matt Duchene situation even more volatile. A bad team, an unhappy star, and little in the way of hope. That’s not a great package.

Could it get any worse? Yes. Yes it could. At least nobody is singing shirtless.

It’s March 2014, and times are good in Colorado. After missing the playoffs for three straight years, the Avalanche are good again, and well on their way to what will turn out to be a 112-point season. New coach Patrick Roy has turned the team around, and all that losing is clearly a thing of the past. It feels like it’s time for a song.

Wait, we’re not ready yet. Gabriel Landeskog is still sleeping. Rest up, little cowboy, you’ve got a big day ahead of you.

We get a few more dramatic shots of players, including Nathan MacKinnon walking down the street and nodding. We can’t hear what’s being said to him, but it’s safe to assume it’s “Is this a terrible idea?”

We also get a look at Matt Duchene, who is WAY TOO CLOSE TO US RIGHT NOW. Seriously Matt, back up a few steps and try again. Is this how you ask Joe Sakic for a trade? Because if so, I think I might understand why he’s not listening to you.

We’re 30 seconds in and I already feel like I need a shower. Oh, cool, thanks Paul Stastny, perfect timing.

Oh look, Landeskog is awake. At, uh, 3 PM. He’s either just had his game-day nap, or he’s doing an impression of me in college.

I’ll be honest, I spent a little too much time trying to figure out which player was lip-synching next to the big drum. That is, of course, the lead singer of Imagine Dragons, whose song this is. Apparently we’re going to get a few shots from the real video, which is, believe it or not, even weirder than this version. Really. There’s muppet cage-fighting and everything.

Meanwhile, we get Avalanche players lip-synching lyrics like “checking out on the prison bus” and “this is it, the apocalypse.” Um, are we sure this video isn’t from this year?

We get some shots of game action, mixed in with angry Paul, shirtless Gabe, and Matt Duchene’s tonsils. I feel like MacKinnon got off easy in all this. All he has to do is stand on a bridge and look like he’s thinking of jumping, which doesn’t even really count as acting at this point.

“We’ll paint it red, to fit right in.” I’m guessing that “it” is Semyon Varlamov’s goal light.

Can we just point out that Landeskog looks roughly 37 years old? Are we sure the NHL isn’t a bad TV series about high school kids and they just cast a bunch of middle-aged actors to play Landeskog and Aaron Ekblad?

Hey Gabe, how are you feeling about the 2017-18 season?

We make it two minutes in before our first shot of Roy. Seriously, you couldn’t have got a giant drum and let him beat on it for a while? You could put a Red Wing goalie’s face on it and just let him do what comes naturally.

At 2:20 we get a quick cameo from George Parros. Hey George, congrats on the new job, do you have the power to retroactively suspend marketing departments?

We conclude with Landeskog turning to the camera and dramatically asking “Why not us?” The follow-up video, in which a bunch of shirtless analytics geeks lip-synch the words “because your success is driven by PDO and is completely unsustainable,” did not prove as popular.

It won’t shock you to learn that this video wasn’t exactly well received; it was called “bizarre” and “dumb” and “the ickiest thing ever.” To this day, the team hasn’t been allowed to forget it.

Oh, and the 2013-14 Avalanche were upset in the first round by the Minnesota Wild. Stastny left as a free agent that summer, Roy quit on the team last summer, Duchene wants out, and they haven’t been back to the playoffs since. At this point, the whole franchise seems like it’s…contaminated? Toxic? I feel like there’s a better word here, but I can’t quite find it. I’m going to strip down and go sing into my mirror until it comes to me.

Have a question, suggestion, old YouTube clip, or anything else you’d like to see included in this column? Email Sean at nhlgrabbag@gmail.com .

DGB Grab Bag: Penguins Controversy, New Stats Galore, and a Terrible Hype Vid syndicated from http://ift.tt/2ug2Ns6

[junker-town]

One reason to still watch each of the NFL’s worst teams

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

There’s at least one storyline worth following for the winless teams. And hope remains too ... though maybe not the Dolphins or Jets.

There has been a lot of good in the NFL to begin the 2019 season. Patrick Mahomes has continued his battle against physics by launching footballs with the kind of strength and accuracy typically limited to video games. Dalvin Cook is healthy again and barreling toward his destiny as one of the league’s best running backs. The Bills, 49ers, and Lions don’t have a loss between them through three weeks.

There’s been more than enough bad as well. Seven teams have started their 2019 Super Bowl quests with little more than heartache to show for it. The Dolphins have been just as sad as predicted, losing their three games by a combined score of 133-16. The Jets and Steelers each lost starting quarterbacks. The Bengals, Broncos, and Washington have all had to deal with defensive deficiencies that have them lost in the wilderness. The Cardinals, thanks to a Week 1 tie against the Lions, are the one-eyed king of this land of the blind.

These seven teams have sunk to the bottom of the NFL’s food chain, but there’s still plenty of time for these teams to climb back into contention (not you, Miami) or make worthwhile progress in a rebuilding year. Here’s one major reason to keep watching each of the league’s winless teams this season, listed in order of how entertaining each franchise looks for the rest of 2019.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Because there’s too much talent for this team to be this bad

On paper, the Steelers don’t look like a hopeless team — even with Ben Roethlisberger out for the season. 2018 Pro Bowlers JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Conner still serve starring roles on offense. The defense can throw eight different first-round picks onto the field at any given time, including game-changers like T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, and the newly acquired Minkah Fitzpatrick.

Yet despite very, very different rosters, Pittsburgh and Miami started the season with identical 0-3 records.

Of all the league’s winless teams, the Steelers have the greatest hope of digging toward daylight. Although Mason Rudolph was awful in stretches during his first NFL start, he still helped Pittsburgh take a (temporary) fourth quarter lead on the road against the 3-0 49ers. Conner has rushed for just 2.9 yards per carry, but is just 24 years old and is unlikely to have fallen off such a massive production cliff so early in his career. And Fitzpatrick’s slot coverage and ability to add another layer of defense could help replace the versatility the Steelers have searched for since losing Ryan Shazier in the middle of their lineup.

With the Bengals and Browns each struggling, and the Ravens’ legitimacy still up in the air, a resurgent Pittsburgh team could still compete in the AFC North.

Arizona Cardinals

Because this air raid thing might actually work out

The Cardinals took the biggest risk of anyone searching for a head coach this offseason, pulling Kliff Kingsbury from the USC coaching staff only weeks after he’d been fired at Texas Tech. This gave Kingsbury the chance to back up his own hype and add reigning Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray to his advanced spread offense — an opportunity the former Big 12 standby jumped on with the top pick of the draft.

The results so far have been mixed. Murray has thrown more passes than anyone else in the league through the first three weeks, but his 5.7 adjusted yards per attempt is 30th-best in the league — right above Eli Manning in the standings. The plus is that this pass-happy approach has revitalized Larry Fitzgerald, who is currently on pace for a 96-catch, 1,349-yard campaign in his 16th season as a pro.

This is no surprise to Fitzgerald:

The absolute response to this question pic.twitter.com/twOF8U9Kgs

— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) September 19, 2019

The bad news is the Cardinals are still 0-2-1 on the year.

Murray still has enormous amounts of room to grow as a passer, but NFL defenses will adjust to his freewheeling style with every snap he plays. So what’s going to give: will the league catch wise to Kingsbury’s air raid and keep the Cardinals out of contention? Or can Arizona be the agent of change that sparks the next phase of the NFL’s offensive evolution?

Cincinnati Bengals

Because A.J. Green will be back soon ... right?

The Bengals can’t run the ball, so they’re willing to throw it until Andy Dalton’s arm falls off. Dalton has thrown more passes than any quarterback in the league except Kyler Murray, who got an extra 10 minutes in a Week 1 tie to league the league in dropbacks. Cincinnati has turned its veteran quarterback into late-stage Ryan Fitzpatrick for two reasons:

the Bengals have trailed in nine of their 12 quarters so far, and

the Bengals have run for 2.4 yards per carry, the worst mark in the NFL.

Fortunately for the Red Rifle, help is on the way — we just don’t quite know when. Seven-time Pro Bowler A.J. Green hasn’t practiced with the Bengals since the preseason due to an ankle injury, but he’s due to return at some point this season.

Exactly when isn’t certain, but there’s a good chance he’ll be back by November for a passing offense that’s gotten better-than-expected returns from players like John Ross and Auden Tate behind last year’s breakout star Tyler Boyd. While the Bengals aren’t bound for the playoffs in the first year of the Zac Taylor era, they’re a hell of a lot more fun to watch when 20 of Dalton’s 50 targets each game are going to an All-Pro talent like Green.

Washington

Because Terry McLaurin and Dwayne Haskins could eventually be magic

Washington’s dysfunction has kept Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams out of the lineup while he holds out, and it could soon claim Jay Gruden as the first head coach fired this fall. That threatens to throw 2019 first-round pick Dwayne Haskins into a tumultuous situation; it could also make Washington eminently more watchable.

Haskins was electric at Ohio State, and Case Keenum’s five-turnover performance in Week 3 (it would have been six if not for a soft hands to the face penalty) could signal a changing of the guard at quarterback in the near future. Developing the rookie passer into a franchise cornerstone may be the only way for Gruden to keep his job at this point. Fortunately for him, he’s got an ace in the hole.

Third-round wideout Terry McLaurin has been one of the league’s top wide receivers this season. He’s had at least five catches and a touchdown in each of his team’s first three games — something no other rookie has ever done in NFL history.

In conclusion, we stan Terry McLaurin harder than ever. pic.twitter.com/EzJe8Cbbp8

— Carter Donnick (@CDonnick3) September 24, 2019

He has the chops to make life easier for any quarterback. He’ll be especially valuable for one with whom he’s got history/ McLaurin was Haskins’ top big-play threat with the Buckeyes in 2018; Haskins had a 153.8 passer rating when targeting him.

McLaurin totaled 35 catches and 701 yards — a blistering 20.0 yards per catch — while scoring 11 touchdowns for the Big Ten champions last season. Eventually, we’ll get the chance to see what they can do together at the next level, even if when is still up in the air.

New York Jets

Because the football gods will find new and exciting ways to ruin this team

The Jets had some hope coming into 2019. High-priced free agent C.J. Mosley and top-three draft pick Quinnen Williams joined a defense that featured promising young players like Jamal Adams and Marcus Maye. Le’Veon Bell had been freed from his Steelers-imposed purgatory to give second-year quarterback Sam Darnold a much-needed weapon out of the backfield.

And then the season began. Mosley and Williams both got hurt in Week 1. Darnold came down with mononucleosis before Week 2 and watched from his quarantined apartment as his backup Trevor Siemian suffered a season-ending ankle injury before halftime of his first start. Adams lost his mind about a bad penalty call in the midst of an innocuous start to his third season.

This league is a damn joke! I just got fined $21k for this hit, I signed up to play football not two hand touch. Bullshit! I don’t give a damn about these soft rules protecting QBs. Im gonna play MY brand of football everytime I step on the field. SMH pic.twitter.com/SKlTmBBMf0

— Jamal Adams (@TheAdamsEra) September 19, 2019

Bell is averaging 3.7 yards per touch, which includes 56 carries and 20 receptions. The offense has scored one touchdown in three games.

Darnold will return at some point. So will Mosley and Williams. And it will not matter because a sinkhole will form under MetLife Stadium, or a pink eye outbreak will rip through the locker room, or the New York secondary will tip three straight interceptions into the hands of outstretched opponents who turn them into 99-yard touchdowns.

It will not be predictable, but it will be bad.

Denver Broncos

Because John Elway’s infatuation with Joe Flacco can’t last ... can it?

The Broncos pried Flacco from the middle of the Ravens’ depth chart for a Day 3 pick, handing him the reins of a franchise that had been redeemed by a Super Bowl MVP once before. Yet Flacco has been more 2015 Peyton Manning than the 2012 version. He’s upped his accuracy and efficiency in his first season in Denver but still ranks just 25th among starting quarterbacks in adjusted yards per pass.

That’s dampened what should be a breakout season for second-year wideout Courtland Sutton and held the Broncos’ offense to just 46 total points through three weeks. Help could be on the way, though it won’t be able to take the field until Week 9 at the earliest. A thumb sprain pushed GM John Elway to place rookie quarterback Drew Lock on injured reserve, and that means he’s been unable to practice with the team since the start of the regular season.

Lock, a second-round pick, has the big arm Elway covets but looked entirely overwhelmed in the preseason. Flacco has been a low-ceiling caretaker in his stead, but has two more years remaining on his contract after 2019 — and a dead cap hit of $13.6 million next spring, per Spotrac. Will Denver give its shaky first-year quarterback a chance to stand on his own this fall? Will Flacco finish out the season and head into 2020 as the Broncos’ QB1? Does it even make sense to throw a young passer to the wolves behind an offensive line that allowed six sacks against Green Bay?

Miami Dolphins

Because Josh Rosen doesn’t want to get left in the NFL’s “take a QB, leave a QB” change tray

Poor Josh Rosen. He was thrown into a no-win situation with the Cardinals as a rookie, left to fend for himself behind one of the league’s worst offensive lines and a woefully shallow WR/TE depth chart. Then he got traded to Miami, where all those things have been somehow worse.

Rosen’s seen his sack rate rise from an awful 10.3 percent to 10.4 through three games on a roster where not a single wide receiver has a catch rate higher than 50 percent. His team has scored one touchdown in three games while giving up 18. The Dolphins are bottoming out in 2019, and they’re taking the second-year player’s pro prospects with it

Miami’s race to the bottom has been predicated on building up as many draft assets as possible, whether by losing games in laughable fashion or selling off veteran pieces to the highest bidder (Laremy Tunsil, Minkah Fitzpatrick). That sets the stage for the club to select a highly touted quarterback prospect in the 2020 draft — perhaps Tua Tagovailoa or Justin Herbert — in a move that would kick Rosen to the curb for a second straight year.

The former No. 10 overall pick has 13 games left to prove he’s the kind of player around which a hollowed-out franchise can build. The problem is he’s already fighting off injury — he missed chunks of his Week 3 start with a battered thumb — and surrounded by the league’s least talented roster. If he can’t turn things around, he could be headed for his third NFL destination in as many years.

[junker-town]

Maddy Freking and the history of girls at the Little League World Series

Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images

Maddy Freking is the latest in a long line of girls determined to play ball.

Media coverage of 12-year-old Minnesota pitcher and second baseman Maddy Freking at the Little League Worlds Series has been predictable, to say the least.

Freking claims the not-altogether-helpful distinction of being the “first girl in five years” to compete in the tournament. What has followed is a slew of well-intentioned but ultimately cliche stories that emphasize how unusual it is for a girl to be playing baseball — did you notice her long blonde hair sticking out from beneath her baseball cap?

Freking has though she’s fielded the repetitive questions with grace. “It’s an honor — I also think it’s really cool to be, out of however many boys have been here, only the 19th girl,” she told ESPN. Yes, 19 girls have played in the Little League World Series. Double digits. She’s the sixth girl to pitch, following Mo’ne Davis’ star turn in 2014.

No, girls don’t play every year, and yes, she’s the only girl currently competing. But her presence begs the question: when do we stop counting?

Girls and women have played baseball roughly since the sport’s genesis in the mid-19th century. Little League was founded in 1939, just four years before the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was organized (and eventually immortalized in A League Of Their Own). In 1950, then-13-year-old Kathryn “Kay” Johnston-Massar disguised herself as a boy to join her local Little League team in upstate New York; less then a year later, Little League explicitly forbade girls from playing in what became known as the Tubby Rule, dubbed for her gender-bending alias.

The Tubby Rule lasted until 1974 when, on the heels of Title IX, a coalition of girls around the country sued Little League for the right to play. New Jersey’s Maria Pepe, then 12, was the first, aided by the National Organization for Women. Little League came to face nearly 20 lawsuits from girls trying to get on the diamond, and eventually had no choice but to acquiesce.

This is an extremely brief and superficial history of girls in Little League, a small part of their rich history in baseball. Plenty of girls and women play the sport today. Maybe someday, if she keeps it up, Maddy Freking will join the wildly talented U.S. Women’s National Baseball Team, who compete internationally despite having next to no local support.

Below are the 18 girls who preceded Freking at the Little League World Series. This list will likely be out of date within a year or two, and hopefully can eventually stop being maintained at all.

Victoria Roche, Brussels, Belgium (1984)

Roche, 12, was a reserve outfielder for Brussels who played alongside her brother. Her team, the winners of the European championship, was eliminated early in the tournament. Her lack of production as a pinch-hitter (one walk, two hitless plate appearances) was studiously noted by the press, as was the attention her appearances received.

“Victoria is a very spirited girl,” team manager John Fader told the AP. “We’re happy to have her with us. Having a girl on our team has been no problem.”

Roche stayed at a motel in Williamsport away from her team since there were no Little League facilities for girls. “She’s no schlepper — she made it ahead of nine boys,” Fader added later.

“We were watching me on TV last night — it was pretty awful,” Roche told the AP. “I’d rather be just like the other boys.”

Photo from the Burlington Free Press, August 22, 1984

Victoria Brucker, San Pedro, California (1989)

The 12-year-old first baseman was the first American girl to reach the reach the Little League World Series, and entered the tournament as her team’s leading home run hitter despite the fact that she was taken last in the league’s regional draft.

Sexism followed her to the tournament, naturally. In a feature previewing her appearance, the Los Angeles Times described her as a “tall, attractive 12-year-old with darting brown eyes.” For her part, Brucker insisted over and over that she was “just one of the players.”

“When she first started playing, one parent, a man, told me to my face that I should take Victoria home and teach her to cook and clean,” her mother told the paper (she’s described as “a spirited woman”). “I told him, ‘She not only knows how to cook and clean, she can also crochet and play baseball better than your son.’”

“They just pitch her fastballs and she hits them out,” her teammate Anthony Pesusich told the AP. “They think, she’s a girl, so they just pitch fastballs.”

The same year, Betty Speziale became the first woman to umpire a Little League World Series game. The “firsts” piled up as Brucker got the first LLWS hit by a girl, eventually earning three runs (two off walks). But when Brucker’s team lost in the semifinals, her manager told the Times that the pressure and attention (Johnny Carson and Regis Philbin were among those asking for her to come on their shows) had “messed with her head.”

Photo from the Courier-Post, August 22, 1989

Kelly Craig, Trail, British Columbia (1990)

The third girl to play and the first girl to start a Little League World Series game as a pitcher, 12-year-old Craig was pulled in the first inning after three batters got on base. All of her individual errors were scrupulously documented by the national press, unlike those of her male teammates.

Photo from the Central New Jersey Home News, August 21, 1990

Giselle Hardy, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (1991)

“She’s gutsy. She’d probably chew tobacco if you’d let her,” Hardy’s team manager Rich Hunter told USA Today. Otherwise, the 12-year-old’s team got more attention for playing shortly after U.S. troops established a base in Saudi Arabia than for her participation. Dhahran didn’t go far in the tournament, but Hardy did score a run.

Photo from the Hartford Courant, August 24, 1991

Krissy Wendell, Brooklyn Center, Minnesota (1994)

Wendell was her team’s catcher (the first girl to play in the Little League World Series at the position, are you sensing a pattern?), and the daughter of manager Larry Wendell. He would even let her call pitches, according to a piece from the Pioneer Press. “

She’s a little embarrassed by the attention of the boy-girl thing,” her father told the Washington Post. “I think she just wanted to play well and be part of the team.”

“Some players on other teams don’t think she can be good because she’s a girl,” an opposing pitcher told the Press. “Then they find out otherwise.”

Though coverage still dwelled on Wendell’s diminutive stature and “long blonde hair,” she made her ambitions clear. “I want to be the first female to play in the NHL,” she told the Press. “I like hockey because you’re always playing — there’s always action and there’s roughness.” Wendell became a marquee player on the U.S. women’s national hockey team, eventually becoming captain and leading the squad to its first gold medal at the women’s world championships, where she earned MVP.

Photo from the Philadelphia Inquirer, August 25, 1994

Sayaka Tsushima, Osaka, Japan (1998)

Centerfielder Tsushima was described the first girl to play in the Little League World Series from a “Far East” team (...), and became the first girl to make it to the World Series finals. Her team lost to Toms River East, New Jersey (and, as all the papers noted, she went 0-3).

“I just really want to do my best,” Tsushima told the New York Post through an interpreter. In her team’s first game against the defending champions from Mexico, she earned two runs off a single and a walk. “Being the first girl in a championship game here really doesn’t matter to me,” she continued. “I dream about being a major-league player. But there are a lot of limitations because of being a female.”

Alicia Hunolt, Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany (1999)

Hunolt’s team was eliminated early in the tournament, which might explain why there was little coverage related to how she was the only girl competing. She would later play softball for Auburn.

Tatiana Maltseva, Moscow, Russia (2001)

The reserve catcher was the first Russian player to compete in the LLWS, and, according to her coach, too shy to be interviewed at the time.

Photo from the Democrat and Chronicle, August 17, 2001

Sanoe Aina, Waipahu, Hawaii (2002)

“She’s just one of the guys,” Waipahu coach Delbert Macanas told the AP of Aina, who aspired to be the first girl to win a LLWS title. “The coaches selected her as a co-captain because of her leadership qualities. Sanoe is a great athlete who provides power in our lineup and has a big influence over the other players.”

Unfortunately, Aina’s team didn’t make it to the title game. “Baseball’s been fun,” she said at the time. “And now it’s time to play with the girls in softball.”

Merced Flores, Agana, Guam (2003)

“I have one more thing to say, and that is girls can play any sport they want,” first baseman Flores told the Pacific Daily News before heading to the LLWS, not long after she’d hit a grand slam at the Guam Little League district tournament. “They just need to work a bit harder to prove to guys that they can also hang,” she concluded. Her team went 0-3 at the World Series, but at least her performance wasn’t blamed or credited with the outcome.

“Guam’s Merced Flores didn’t homer in Williamsport — which was her goal — but it was nice to see her become the 10th girl to participate in the Little League World Series without becoming a sideshow,” Bill Griffith wrote in the Boston Globe.

Meghan Sims, Owensboro, Kentucky and Alexandra Bellini, Nepean, Ottawa (2004)

For the first time, two girls competed at the same Little League World Series in what was deemed the tournament’s “year of the woman” by the AP. Maria Pepe threw out the first pitch, and three women (including Krissy Wendell) were inducted into the Little League Hall of Excellence.

Sims was hitting .537 before the tournament started.

“Everyone knows of the human-interest side of the story: the girl playing the boys,” her coach, Vic Evans Jr., told the Courier-Journal. “What gets lost in that is just how good of a player she is. She was one of the five or 10 best players in Indianapolis. She’s a great baseball player, and she’s one of the guys.”

As for any smack talk that Bellini might have heard from opponents about being a girl, “they usually stop talking after she smokes a couple of pitches,” one of her teammates told the Ottawa Citizen.

Photo from the Courier-News, August 22, 2004

Brielle Meno, Yona, Guam (2008)

The outfielder’s appearance at the LLWS was met with little fanfare, though it was noted that she was the “first girl in four years” to compete at the tournament.

Katie Reyes, Vancouver, British Columbia and Bryn Stonehouse, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (2009)

Reyes, a 13-year-old first baseman, drew national attention after hitting the winning runs in her squad’s final game — another “first” — as part of a 3-for-4, three-RBI performance. She and Stonehouse, whose appearance was overshadowed somewhat by Reyes’ offensive fireworks, were roommates at the tournament.

“She’s pretty confident in what she does,” Reyes’ mother told the Globe and Mail. “At one time, I thought she would be left out. As a mother of a girl, you think that way, because girls are underdogs. But in her case, the boys and coaches, the way they treat her, she’s not the girl to put on the sidelines. She’s the girl that delivers.”

Photo from USA Today, August 26, 2009

Eliska Stejskalova, South Moravia, Czech Republic (2013)

Stejskalova was on the first Czech team to win a Little League World Series game. “She is good, that is why she is here,” manager Pavel Chadim told ABC. “She has two brothers. One is her twin. He is not here and she is. It means she is very good.” That game was called by Cynthia Smith, the tournament’s fifth woman umpire.

Go Eliska!! RT @WNEP: Girl power at the Little League World Series http://t.co/VTtXlGzh9l

— Katie Couric (@katiecouric) August 19, 2013

Emma March, Vancouver, British Columbia and Mo’ne Davis, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2014)

“A Novelty No Longer,” the New York Times insisted as two girls participated in the LLWS, 30 years after Roche had marked that first “first.”

Nevertheless Mo’ne Davis, the first African-American girl to participate in the LLWS, would causes a nearly unmatched frenzy by becoming the first girl to pitch a winning game at the tournament. She did it with a shutout, pitching 70 miles per hour. Sports Illustrated made her its first Little League cover star of either gender. “I never thought that at age 13 I would be a role model,” Davis told the Times.

March, a pitcher and first baseman, didn’t receive the same kind of hype, but she was still cited as proof that the game had reached a turning point. Five years later, coverage has been dishearteningly the same.

Photo By: Howard Simmons/NY Daily News via Getty Images