#probably having 3 sub-squads just to make it consistent

[lens-guy-art]

Lmao if I switch the characters from their universes

Alliance members: *vibing being silly smol robot guys at a Mall*

Meanwhile..

Technotic Sonic, Loudsy, Telly, Tv Cop, Blindspot, Yule B. Bored, and Critically Complained aka GADGET GUILD: *getting the soul-crushing trauma from war*

[greekabooo]

Really liking suicide squad isekai so far (personally felt that the current 4 episodes are great) and the subbing and dubbing in general have been consistent with each other. However, there is one scene where the sub and the dub are completely different that it caught me off guard for a bit.

Sub: Oh stop it Puddin'. I don't wanna hear anything about rats right now. Not when we could be talking about something more erotic.

Dub: Come on Puddin'. I don't wanna hear a bunch of stuff about rats right now. Not when we could be talking about something more yummy.

Like...hello these are two completely different interpretations?? In the sub she's flirting with The Joker while in the dub, she just sounds hungry and wants McDonalds 😭.

This also opens up to more interpretations that although the dub probably didn't intend, but managed to sound like it this way:

"Yummy" is often associated with food or eating something. Is Harley saying she doesn't want to eat rats? If so, that's kinda redundant because no sane person would eat rats willingly. Has Harley tasted rats before?? Is she assuming The Joker wants to eat rats??

Harley wants The Joker to eat her out?? Granted if the dub tried to keep the sexual connotation from the sub but didn't want to say erotic, so they instead said yummy as a weird metaphor for sex?????

This is a strange case of censorship for many reasons:

Harley has swore in previous episodes (such as "assshole", "damn", "hell"). Specifically, in episode 2 (around the 11 min mark), Harley said the phrase "tough titties" in the dub. However, the sub was 'cleaner' and Harley instead said "it can't be helped". So they obviously have no problem with Harley being crude in the dub but I guess they draw the line at erotic. God forbid women have desires 😱

It's a mature rated show (characters should be allowed to discuss or mention mature topics)

The male characters can swear and make sex jokes all they want (see Deadshot and Ratcatcher flashback scene in episode 3)

Of all the things they want to censor, it's "erotic"?? And replace it with "YUMMY" of all words???

What the dub could have done:

Talking about something more romantic

Talking about something more fun

Talking about something more exciting

Another weird dub moment is in episode 3, Harley called Katanna a dirty tramp but in the sub she straight up says bitch. But then you see Deadshot and all the other men call each other bastards. Like isn't bastard the same thing as bitch but for men?? I guess we can't call women bitches now????

Overall, I think the subbing and dubbing are fine (I find the dub actually quite good and Harley's voice to be adorable), however there are moments of weird censorship or rephrasing that is otherwise hilarious.

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Manchester United 3-0 Crystal Palace

Oh shit, we might ACTUALLY be back. Burnley might have been the turning point, because that was a good performance...

United at home is a solid proposition under Erik Ten Hag, blighted only by Brighton (for now) so ordinarily Palace, at our place, would be an easy game. The problem is form, fitness, and synergy. United have none of it.

Until today.

I won't say it was a clinical performance but it was highly competent, disciplined, determined, and ambitious. United looked in full control and it didn't feel like we moved out of second gear really.

Lets break down the performance, man for man:

Onana - Relatively quiet night for him but a couple of clutch saves. Did what was needed, top man. Clean sheet to boot.

Dalot - Solid at RB. Very progressive up the wing and fewer positional mistakes in defence. Unlucky not to be credited with the assist for Garnacho's opener.

Varane - The Rolls Royce continues his return from injury. A clean defensive display.

Maguire - Best defender of the night. Very sturdy performance, good positioning, and nice progression with the ball.

Amrabat - LB? What a lad. Commitment to the cause to play where needed, given our THIRD left back is out now. Not content to stay LB, he also drifted CM and even tackled someone on the RW. Epic.

Casemiro - I THINK HE MIGHT BE BACK. A goal in the 1st half, an assist in the 2nd, and generally his slightly higher positioning made for a very good "8" role. Won Man of the Match and it's hard to argue it was undeserved. Amrabat a close 2nd perhaps.

Hannibal - We have to consider the young lad a first team squad player now. He's doing what we wanted from McTominay. There's pace, strength and effort, but also guile and creativity. If ETH can curb the penchant for a booking... ooh, we have a prospect.

Mount - The man deserves a medal just for getting an assist on a corner. We don't score corners. A solid 45 for Mount who finished the half strongly. He looked dangerous in the 10 position. Might mean Bruno drops to 8 to rest Casemiro for some games and Amrabat 6...

Pellistri - Facundo Facundoooo. I love this little guy. A nippy, agile winger who plays as a winger. I don't mind wing forwards, like Rashford and Garnacho, but balance is key to a team. Pellistri offers width, attacking intent, and he pushes to the goal line and curves into the box as well as cutting back in. He's not predictable, and it offers us a dimension on the right we just don't have otherwise.

Garnacho - The kid's got that something. Some middling performances when he appeared a few games ago but very sharp today, and he was rewarded with a goal.

Martial - AM9 actually showed up. He was engaged, holding the CF line, making good link-up play with the wide men and Mount, and probably should have had that Rashford cockiness to have a few more pops at goal rather than trying to be such a team player with through-balls. Scored a great goal off a Casemiro cross.

Lindelof - Subbed on for Mount to allow him to ease back into first team football, and took over at LB oddly enough for Amrabat, who drifted into CM and allowed Casemiro to push higher. Inverted LB actually worked quite well and didn't disrupt Dalot's good game at RB, but I would not risk it against good sides. Still, very solid.

Gore - A senior debut for the teenager on his 19th birthday. Given the sales of Iqbal, Savage etc it's been frustrating to see just Garnacho coming through the academy, but Hannibal, Mainoo and now Gore are showing that Ten Hag IS willing - he just has very high standards. Gore looks solid, composed. Some might say a Steady Eddie but hey, Fletcher was an immense player for us and filled that role. Consistency and dependability are huge assets.

Evans - Jonny Evans is a red, he hates scousers. The big man back at the Theatre of Dreams, on for the last half hour to rest Varane. Comfortable finish to the match. Just needed a goal haha.

Van de Beek - A rare Donny appearance. I still believe he's surplus to requirements at United but it's obvious what his strengths and weaknesses are. People might not rate his technical abilities as anything special but as today's cameo proved, he's an intelligent player who finds pockets of space easily. Against deep block teams that's invaluable, and might prove so against lesser teams in the cup competitions.

Højlund - Another short cameo. The Dane looked alright but hardly had chance to make an impact with just 15 minutes at the end. No Bruno, Rashford, Mount or Amrabat on at the time, and a tiring Casemiro. A gentle run out to keep him ready for Saturday's rematch.

If United can beat Palace again at the weekend (and we should) then I think we can safely say we've turned a corner. We're 9th at present, just 1 point and one spot ahead of Crystal Palace. If we win... we can at best jump to 7th, but Newcastle are home to Burnley and West Ham are home to Sheffield United. Maybe upsets can happen? Maybe? The problem is Villa are home to Brighton and the upset might happen at Villa Park and keep United exactly where we are.

Still, consistency time. A lot of home games lie ahead. Lets make a run of this with the injured players returning and smash out some good results. If we can drive ourselves up the table steadily we'll see the flak at the squad and Ten Hag dissipate, and we can refocus on Top 4 and good cup runs.

Up the reds.

[genius-species]

On Running

I’ve been running, off and on, for over half my life. It’s my Dad’s fault. Too small for football, my Dad bowed to his mom’s worries and went out for cross country instead. He went from DNF-ing his first race to varsity squad on a championship team. (Sidenote: one of my very favorite things I will inherit, in the--hopefully far, far--future when my parents die is one of my Dad’s two championship/letter jackets. My sister, of course, will have the other one. They are heavy red felt and I love them because I can imagine the hard work and know the pride they represent.)

When I was a little kid, before I knew what a scientist was, I knew my Dad was a runner. I was too little to visit his lab, but I saw him go out in running shorts and sneakers and come back sweaty and exhausted all the time. My Dad ran for my entire childhood; his lifetime marathon PR is just shy of breaking three hours (it’s 3:02--he’s still annoyed about it).

There was really no choice--in high school, we were going to go out for cross country. So we did. I sucked at it.

Turns out, training only in the summer and focusing on academics and music the entire rest of year does not make you a very good runner. My high school 5K personal best was solidly back of the pack. I didn’t run in college.

I got back into running in 2013 when a local park had a summer series--it was within walking distance of my house, so I signed up. I ran on and off through 2013 and 2014, and in 2015 set my sights on my first half marathon. In 2016, I ran my first marathon. It was a disaster. In 2017, I ran a second marathon and it went much better! I also ran marathons in 2018 and 2019. The pandemic happened to my 2020 marathon plans. (I could, and probably will, write a whole other post about marathons. I have a lot of thoughts about what I did right and wrong, and about what I wish I’d known beforehand.)

In the fall of 2021, two things happened: first, I was dumped. Second, I ran my first half marathon since 2019. I ran it faster than expected, so I signed up from a spring (2022) marathon. This backstory is leading to: 2022 was my most consistent year of running ever. I ran 1425 miles last year, an average of 27 miles per week. I set new personal bests in the 5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon. I’d like to build on this consistency in 2023.

Setting goals feels dangerous, like tempting fate, but here are a few:

Run 1500 total miles (average of 29 per week).

Lower my half marathon time ten minutes or as much as possible.

Run a sub-4 hour marathon.

Do weekly speed work.

My goal within the next ten years is to qualify for the Boston Marathon!

[promisinininining]

Alrighty! Under the cut!

1; What’s their name? Is there any meaning behind it?

Her name is 梢 清光 [Kozue Kiyomi]. I liked the sound of Kozue as a surname (which is basically all I really consider for surnames unless it’s plot relevant) and following Ashihara-sensei’s naming convention of considering of her parents’ wishes when making her given name. I chose 清 for a bright child, and 光 following that. I also like how it sounds, hehe. 

2; How old are they?

She’s 16!

3; If they are a student, which school do they go to?

She is a student. She’s a first year at Rokueikan, but her grades are on a downward trend...

4; Who does their family consist of?

Her parents are no longer with us. She lives with an uncle : )

5; Are they from Mikado City originally or were they scouted by Border?

A Mikado City born little lady.

6; What made them join Border?

(spoilers for an answer below, but) she has a side effect and was encouraged to join Border, and without a rebuttal, she did. 

7; When did they join Border?

The timeline is kind of ~hmm~ right now, but in terms of the when, she joined Border when she was 13. 

8; What’s their position at Border?

Kiyomi is an Operator! (More details in the next quesiton)

9; What rank are they? Are they a part of a squad? If so, what squad is it?

Currently, Kozue-tai is somewhere in B-Rank. Although she may not look much like a captain she is stunningly competent. She used to be an ace shooter in a lower-tier squad [Iwamoto-tai], but like Hatohara she did not like going for the kill. Unlike Hatohara, she didn’t have any particular hang-ups on causing grevious bodily harm so long as they didn’t bail out. 

Some Stuff Happens, and she is booted off Iwamoto-tai and becomes an Operator instead. Her skills gave her a little bit of infamy, allowing her enough cred to start her own team where she happened to be at the right time and place and situation to be given a starter pokemon of a Neighbour (@shinyteru’s sniper, Eskeri that she... does not like on principle, but also is too shy to really protest the arrangement) and freedom to collect a motley crew of weirdoes (@blackapollonia’s Naoko and Akemi). 

10; What do their Main Trigger and Sub Trigger consist of?

Back when she was a combatant, she had a penchance for Viper and wasn’t too shabby at compound bullets. Her preferred loadout was probably something like...

Main: Viper, Hound, Asteroid, Shield Sub: Viper, Hound, Shield, Bagworm

11; Do they have a side effect? If so, what is it?

Ho boy so you know the kind of extra sense you have for just knowing when people are around? Like sometimes you can feel someone approaching behind you even if you don’t hear or see anything? She has that but like, enhanced. She can detect presences, and is able to discern individual presences in a middling radius around her which is a fairly useful SE to have out on the field as it renders things like bagworm and chameleon useless to her. 

It’s not a physically invasive SE like Kageura’s, but it does impact her pretty heavily. It makes her a nervous wreck, never really feeling like she has any sembalance of privacy around people, and without people she gets anxious that she’s all alone in the world because everyone is dead. Yes, this is why she is no longer a combatant. No it is not useful at all as an Operator, and yes she is aware of how people think she’s wasting her talents. It does not help the Anxiety.

12; Do they have a mentor or a mentee? If so, who are they?

No. Good luck trying to talk to her, she’s always got a tab on her SE, so she seems absent in conversations, and the rest of her is Anxious. If you get to know her, she calms down a bit, but her personality is a little Much for most people to bother. 

13; How did the large invasion four and a half years ago impact their view on the Neighbors?

I think it’s a little longer than 4.5 years in the timeline, but it was not good being able to feel people disappearing from around her one by one. She doesn’t like Neighbours for all the bloodshed, but she could be coming around on that thanks to Essi.

She did lose an arm during the invasion due to being trapped under debris (and feeling everyone disappear witihout being able to get away was not a good experience). Her trion body has both, and she has some cheap, mildly DIY-ed prosthetics laying around. 

14; Do they want to go on the away mission or not? Why?

Absolutely not that sounds terrifying. 

15; Amongst Border agents, who do they usually hang out with?

She hangs out with her squad... sometimes. She mostly keeps to herself. 

16; Is there a shop in Mikado City they like to frequent?

No :(. She doesn’t really have time to be going out between housework and schoolwork and, uh, Border-work.

Phew! That was a long one! Thanks for getting to the bottom, if you did!

World Trigger OC Ask Meme

I’m nosy af, so I want to get to know yalls World Trigger OC. You can use these questions to make a new OC too. Have fun!

What’s their name? Is there any meaning behind it?

How old are they?

What is their occupation? If they are a student, which school do they go to?

Who does their family consist of? (If they have pets, you can include them too)

Are they from Mikado City originally or were they scouted by Border?

What made them join Border?

When did they join Border?

What’s their position at Border?

What rank are they? Are they a part of a squad? If so, what squad is it?

What do their Main Trigger and Sub Trigger consist of?

Do they have a side effect? If so, what is it?

Do they have a mentor or a mentee? If so, who are they?

How did the large invasion four and a half years ago impact their view on the Neighbors?

Do they want to go on the away mission or not? Why?

Amongst Border agents, who do they usually hang out with?

Is there a shop in Mikado City they like to frequent?

[footballandgirls2]

Some thoughts about each player’s performance which no one asked for but you’re getting anyway because I have Opinions That I Need To Share.

Jane Campbell

With the US back line being so solid means that their keepers are rarely challenged. It boils down to concentration for if/when the back line slips up, which is rarely more than once or twice a match. Jane kept her concentration and came off her line quickly when needed (like, twice) so in that aspect, which is pretty much the only aspect we can analyse against lesser teams, she delivered.

Becky Sauerbrunn

The back line is so good because Becky is SO good. I can only remember one pass that wasn’t executed perfectly. Diagonal balls fantastic, as usual. Wouldn’t expect anything less. Clearly doing a great job as (official) captain.

Tierna Davidson

Baby T looked so at home out there that it’s easy to forget she’s just 22. So mature, so calm. Good positional awareness and fantastic forward passes. Would love to see her tested against bigger teams because she’s held her own so far. Would be difficult to leave out Becky or Abby but if either can’t play for whatever reason, Tierna deserves to be straight in there.

Kelley O’Hara

Funny to see a pre-planned sub at 30 minutes rather than 60 minutes?! Either way, in those 30 minutes she was classic Kelley, getting high up the field and overlapping with the midfield seamlessly. If that knock is still bothering her, you couldn’t tell. Still the number one RB choice.

Emily Sonnett

What a difference a game makes. Massively struggled against Brazil which is to be expected against the likes of Marta but her decision making in that match was questionable. Much better in this game and managed to play her way out of trouble really well a few times. Got higher up the pitch which led to some decent crosses in the box. Also, SO versatile - 3 positions in one match requires quick adaptation which Vlatko no doubt appreciated.

Casey Krueger

Didn’t come up short (👀 - sorry!). Would never have guessed she wasn’t a starter because she absolutely smashed that LB position. Link up play with Kristie down the left side was spot on and her diagonal balls to switch the play were amazing too. May be too late for the Olympics 18 but showed she has a few years left on the national team.

Midge Purce

Is a great defender considering she’s not a defender. Decent passes into the box and tracked back quickly when necessary. Would love to see her get more solid minutes.

Julie Ertz

Played so deep she was literally on the back line half the time? Weird considering Argentina weren’t a huge attacking threat. Wasn’t as instrumental as she normally is. Sure she’ll be back though - it would take a miracle for her to not make the Olympic roster.

Rose Lavelle

A fairly quiet game by Rose’s standards but that’s a testament to how incredible she usually is. Probably tired from carrying the midfield in the last two matches! She’s literally everywhere and overlaps beautifully with everyone. Her creativity was missed when she wasn’t on the pitch. How someone is so fluid on the pitch but so awkward off it is baffling. Love it.

Lindsey Horan

As above in terms of being relatively quiet. Seemed to tone down the physicality, for better or worse. Don’t think she’s an inherently aggressive player but is just so god damn strong that she wins nearly every one-on-one without even tackling. Impressive, really. Managed to get loose in the box on set pieces and unfortunate not to connect for a classic Horan header.

Kristie Mewis

W. O. W. Deserved the start and proved it throughout the 90 minutes. Fantastic movement and turn for her goal. Maybe doesn’t press as hard as other midfielders but her positioning is amazing. Making a BIG case for taking her to Tokyo.

Jaelin Howell

Fit in easily in midfield which is hugely promising in such a talented team. Would like to see her get more minutes. Can’t see her making the Olympic roster just yet but definitely a bright future.

Sophia Smith

Got in some good positions in the box and was stopped only by an Argentina who marked so closely in the second half. Also needs more minutes because there’s no way she’s replacing Tobin as the right forward. Yet.

Christen Press

Every minute she plays, she gets closer to being back to her best. Still think she’s got a way to go because when she’s on fire ain’t nobody stopping her. Would like to see her take on more players 1v1 because as showed against Brazil she’s more than capable. Good positioning in the box waiting to poach for her goal.

Megan Rapinoe

If you think she’s too old, she’s not. She’s slightly slowing down physically for sure but not mentally. She’s on this team to get goals and she delivered by having the awareness to get into good positions and the confidence to take on the shot. Nowhere near a write off.

Carli Lloyd

She IS too old but she’s still not slowed to a point where you can easily drop her. Having said that, she should be more clinical because she could have had two or three. Still kinda hoping she reaches 300 caps she’ll retire from the national team and give way to others. But it’s Carli, so, who knows. She’d be playing with Charlie, Roux and Sloane if she had her way.

Alex Morgan

Fantastic positioning but the execution still isn’t fully there, but my god it is so close. Sucks that she’ll be judged on the opportunities she missed but that’s the life of a number 9. No doubt she’ll be back to form soon though, and it’ll pay Vlatko to be patient. Don’t think the rotation of the squad is doing her any favours and it’d probably help her to have consistent players either side of her, which may come at the Olympics.

What do you think? Agree or disagree?

[jesus-christ-super-ace]

Self indulgent Haikyuu x debate!reader hcs because debate season is over and i suddenly have nothing to do

A/n: Idk the type of debate that they do in Japan so I'm gonna use the PF debate structure. (I heard about parlament style debate in Korea, I watched a video and it scared the fuck out of me) Also I don't know how to do the whole read more thing on mobile tumblr so ✨yikes✨

Characters: Hinata, Sugawara,

Warnings: Swearing, caps, mentions of death

Hinata

He has no idea what debate is, his thoughts only consists of volleyball and meat so when you bring up being on the debate team to him he's just kinda "👁👄👁 what's debate like?"

Since debate is hard to explain you decide to bring him along to one of your debate practices to watch.

A quick explanation of public forum (pf) debate: two teams of two take a pro and con stance on a resolution. (Example: Resolved: Sugawara is not the mom friend) Debaters work in pairs to make a pro and con case that they will present at their debate, for PF they usually have a month to prep their case. The case will usually be written in the style of an essay and will be read out as a speech to begin the debate. Debaters work in pairs so there's a speaker one and speaker two. Speaker one is in charge of laying out the topic and what grounds the team wins the debate on, and speaker two dishes out most of the arguments against the other sides. (Kind of like speaker one is defense while speaker two is offense) Basically pro gives their opening speech, con gives their opening speech, and the they ask each other questions and try to degrade the other side's case. Then the speaker twos give speeches on why their speaker one did better, then they butt heads. After that comes the speaker ones saying why they won, and finally comes the ultimate showdown, the final crossfire. The final crossfire is essentially just a big cat fight where we yell each other about morals. (Sorry Amanda but murder is worse than kidnapping 🙄) Then the speaker twos give a speech about why they're better. Your fate relies on the judge who has no idea what they're doing.

Did you get all of that? You probably didn't. TLDR: Four children scream about why their moral compass is better for about one hour.

You try to explain it to Hinata in volleyball terms and it's ✨hard✨

"Okay so the speaker one is kinda like the setter, they set up the attack on the other side by controlling the grounds that they win on-"

"But controlling the grounds is what Noya does-"

"Hinata it's a metaphor"

"What's a metaphor?"

😃 why

So you decide to bring him to your practice debates, during a normal debate you move around from classroom to classroom debating other kids from other schools carrying your case in a big ass box in stuffy casual formal wear at like 8 in the morning.

Practice debates are a lot chiller and there's a lot less yelling.

You were judging debates that day while the gym was having an inspection so he tagged along with you to watch the debates. He kinda gets lost after the con speech and you're like "yeah it can be like that sometimes".

He admires you for being able to do the whole debate thing (and win)

Since the winners of any debate comp are decided by judges (who usually have no experience) most teams value process over result. Even if you debate better they can still pick the other team because of a dumb reason like them liking the other team's shirt.

After every debate he takes you out to get snacks at Ukai's store, and he lets you rant about whatever unfair judge caused you to loose.

"oKAY BUT LIKE I TOTALLY WON, THE OTHER TEAM DIDN'T EVEN HAVE THEIR CASE TOGETHER" he just kinda smiles and nods, he doesn't get your debate terms but he still hypes you up

He makes sure to text you before he sleeps reminding you to not stay up too late researching your case.

Smth like 'i'm going to bed now :) pls don't stay up too late' smh hypocrite, he probably stays up till like 3 thinking abt becoming the tiny giant

One time your debate clothes (black dress pants, white dress shirt, blazer) got dirty and so did your school uniform so he gave you his clothes. He's kinda small so it's a tight fit but it works.

HE BRAGS ABOUT YOU TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE

"hEy look at my super smart s/o who does dEBATE!"

"we know y/n does debate"

Best ray of sunshine 🥺

Suga

ohohoho,,, im a certified suga simp

Now we all know that Suga is pretty smart, he's not a super genius or anything but he's got good grades and he can probably manage his time.

Which means that he's good at helping your research and revise your case. Whenever you can't come up with any contentions he's always there to help you come up with some.

"Kōshi what're the benefits of the urbanization of West Africa?" (I can't find anything on the debate topics in Japan so I'm using stuff from my previous debates)

"Lessening of poverty, standards of health can be raised, and it benefits the world."

HES PERFECT OK

He's probably even joined you for a debate once when your partner couldn't make it to the competition, he makes a pretty good speaker one but he's definitely a speaker two.

His framework for every case is just 🤌🤌🤌

Research dates with him are just 🥺

You guys are sprawled out on his bed just scrolling through resources trying to put together a case.

You go to all of his games and he goes to support you during your debates. Before every speech you give he sends you a small thumbs up to boost your spirits.

He's super observant and can tell when the judge is full of shit.

Tbh if the other team wins because the judge was stupid even though you

He's too good for us smh

Yachi

PLS

YACHI I LOVE HER

okokok

here's the thing with yachi, she's great at writing cases and she'd honestly be a good asset to the team however,,,

she can't do public speaking for shit

so she cheers you on from the sidelines and helps you out with your case

she can't really do public speaking herself because of her nerves but she knows how to convince an audience so she lets you practice her speeches

she once volunteered to help the team for a mock debate by subbing in for someone who couldn't make practice that day due to getting sick, she got scared during her speech and panicked.

weekly study dates are a must, whether it be for debate or just school in general weekly study dates at a local café or at a library

she brought hinata and yams to watch you debate once and now they're both scared of you (look final crossfire is scary as hell)

i think she'd be a (slightly less than) decent cook bUT she's good at baking, so she always offers to stop by before practice to drop off snacks

the team loves her and half of them join the yachi protection squad (started by noya and tanaka probably)

im just v 🥺🥺🥺 rn lmao

a/n,,, lmao i havent written in a while, if u need a better explanation of how debate works then feel free to ask !

[littlebitofbluelittlebitofcoffee]

From TT’s words so far, it is understood that there will be massive squad change in Chelsea this summer. He said himself that they’ll (almost) rebuild the team. Therefore I won’t be surprised any leavings this summer. 

We don’t have defense line right now. We don’t have subs for wingbacks, lost 2 CB’s and Silva definitely needs back up and Trev is not enough. I’m not sure about Sarr. It’s possible that he’ll be sold or loaned next season. Levi is coming, idk if we’ll keep him or loan him. I hope, we’ll keep him. 

With Kepa’s possible leaving (he is too good to be sub goalie let’s be honest) we’ll also need second or third goalie (depends whether Bettinelli will be the second or third). 

Midfield is complicated. Mase and Kovac are staying. Negotiations are going on with Kante. Jorgi, well he is another player that I won’t be surprised if he’ll leave. First he’s getting old therefore club wouldn’t offer long term contract (this is valid also for Kante). Second Juventus wants him, if their offer would be better, he’ll consider it. So, long story short we’ll need DM. Of course I’d like to see Declan in Chelsea shirt ngl. Seeing Rabiot rumors surprised me. I really don’t know what they’re being up to right now. (Kante is a brilliant player but has consistency problem due to injuries. He misses half of the games every season but in almost every game he plays he does magic. Jorgi is more defensive player. He’s more consistent than Kante but not a magician like him. Tough tough call if we have to choose one of them.) RLC, God this is hard one. He did amazing job at the end of the season. Very good sub and in some games also he’s done his job brilliantly as a first 11 player. I assume he’ll stay. Barkley is leaving in my opinion. Saul is going back and Conor is coming. Conor’s coming can also mean that we’ll lose one of Pulisic-Ziyech-CHO. Yes, they don’t play in same positions but 4 of them are offensive players and I’m sure none of them would want to be a sub in many games.

Forwards... :) Probably we’ll see one, two or even three or more departures. Lukaku wants a system that is built around him. I don’t think we’ll provide him that so he’ll leave if he can find a way out. Pulisic-Ziyech-CHO one or some of them will leave if we’ll manage to replace them or build another system (I don’t know Tuchel and his brain team’s plans). Timo’s game style is different than those 3 that’s why I can’t make any assumptions about him. He deserves to play regularly ngl but with us or in another team I don’t know. I just want for him the best regardless for which team he’ll be playing at (us or other ones). Kenedy is leaving in my opinion and Kai is staying.

If English government let Todd have the club, we’ll be going in a transformative period which also means that we as fans shouldn’t have high hopes for next season. Enormous changes, building new team, players getting know each others playing styles etc take time. I’m okay with it as long as we build consistent team that plays good football. 

[seiin-translations]

2.43 S1 Chapter 4.5 - Drifting Yunichika

5. HIGH, FAST, STRONG

Sorry it took so long, there was a lot going on in this chapter

Translation Notes

1. I don’t think I word it very well here but Haijima literally says “obsessing over the face for their school grade” which I think basically means worrying over acting their age or something like that

2. I don’t know if there even is a term in English for this but a high set (二段トス) is where another player sets the ball instead of the setter because the received ball is off

3. The Sanzu River is the Buddhist equivalent of the River Styx

Previous || Index || Next

The Prefectural High School Fall Tournament was held for three days on August 1st, August 2nd, and August 3rd. For the past several years, the number of schools participating in boys’ volleyball official tournaments was fixed at twenty-two. The tournament consisted of the first round on the first day, the second round on the second day, and the semifinals and finals on the third day.

You had to win five matches to win the championship. However, Seiin High School was lucky enough to get a seeded spot in the first round of the tournament, so they would participate in the second round. In other words, they had to win four matches.

Just four matches. Those were the same conditions as the prefecturals a year ago.

As Haijima had said, the fact that there were no sub-prefectural block qualifiers and only twenty participating schools in the whole prefecture would be an unthinkable scope in a large city. That was how close it was to Nationals, but it was also undeniable that it was difficult to maintain the level of competition because there were few competitors.

Seiin High School’s first game was on August 2nd, the second day of the tournament. Before the start of the first game of the day and the second round of the tournament, the banner that read “Nanafu Seiin High School Boys’ Volleyball Team” written boldly and masculinely in black ink on white cloth, hung from the second floor of the stands and released an overwhelming presence. Needless to say, it was in the hand of Kuroba’s grandfather, as it was in the case of Monshiro Middle School. He repeatedly instructed his mother to refrain from having a large cheering squad of all his relatives as she did in middle school, but she asked to at least hang a banner. He reluctantly discussed it with Oda, and the moment he saw the actual thing, he had taken to it completely. I’ve thought about this now and then, but Oda-senpai and Grandpa would definitely get along.

I’m not…nervous today…right…?

He carefully confirmed that with himself. His body was moving well. His heartbeat was normal. Unlike the school gym, the air conditioning was working in city-run gymnasium, so it was rather cool if anything, and right now he was sweating moderately after finishing his warmup. He didn’t feel uncomfortable. I feel like I can really do it today…then again, I always think that before a match.

“Yuniii! Yuuuni!”

He heard someone calling him through the buzz that enveloped the court right before the game. He turned his head to the second floor and spotted Itoko waving at him right above the “Nanafu Seiin High School Boys’ Volleyball Team” banner hanging from the front row.

With a face that said “You found me!”, Itoko stood and pointed to the seat next to her. “Look, look!”

“Ah… Yori-chan…”

Yorimichi, wearing a tight tank top and a Hawaiian shirt, was yawning as he plunked down on the plastic chair that looked cramped for someone of his size. This was the first time he saw him since he became a university student, but with his long hair tied all the way back into a bun, he looked even more like a punk. He was a bit impressed by how even though he was plenty vulgar in his third year of high school, he still had room to get worse.

Come to think of it, he should have returned yesterday. Itoko looked as though she was proud of the achievement of bringing her brother here. It had been about a year and a half since Kuroba started playing volleyball seriously, and this was the first time Yorimichi came to watch a match.

Why did he come? He wondered. Well, he was probably dragged here by Itoko because he happened to be back, but even so, he wouldn’t have gotten up even if Itoko invited him when he’s at home, so why did he decide to come today? I wonder what he’ll think when he watches my game. Would he make fun of me? Maybe he’d laugh and say, “Why are you being so serious about sports?”

He met eyes with Yorimichi. Kuroba thoughtlessly smiled in spite of himself, but Yorimichi didn’t smile. With a bored look on his face, he jerked his chin, as though to say, “Give me something to look at.”

What should I do… What should he show Yorimichi to satisfy him? Can he get him not to say things like “I shouldn’t have come to see this”, “This is a waste of time,” or “I got woken up early for this?”

His back was poked. He turned back with a start and saw Haijima putting his fist on the left side of Kuroba’s back, right behind his heart, and glaring at him with a stern look in his eyes. It was then that he became aware that his heart, which had been calm earlier, was now beating faster.

“Ugh…Sorry again, I…”

“I told you not to look around. Just look inside the court. Everyone’s there. Enemies…and friends too.”

As he felt Haijima’s fist pressing against his back through his uniform for a while, strangely enough, his heart which had been bouncing like a rubber ball gradually regained its normal weight.

“Don’t be in a hurry. Just wait.”

When Haijima said that and lowered his fist, his heart beating in its normal position. It was like he was preparing for battle, and the taping on Haijima’s fingers absorbed his nerves.

Haijima no longer paid Kuroba any attention and started talking to Oda and the others at the courtside. Kuroba hurriedly joined the circle of matching uniforms. Seiin’s uniform was black with blue lines. Only the libero had the reverse color scheme of black on blue. When Okuma was handed the uniform, he made an ominous prediction that the team would lose halfway because those weren’t the colors of a protagonist team, and Oda had gotten angry at him (According to Okuma, the protagonist team’s colors were a combination of “white and blue.” He thought he understood what he meant).

The starting members for Seiin High School were,

Number 1       Oda Shinichiro    Third Year       Left        163cm

Number 2       Aoki Misao          Third Year       Center   193cm

Number 4       Kanno Akito        Second Year   Right     181cm

Number 7       Kuroba Yuni         First Year        Left        184cm

Number 8       Haijima Kimichika      First Year     Setter     181cm

Number 10     Okuma Yusuke     Second Year     Center     187cm

Number 5       Hokao Kazuma     Second Year     Libero     170cm

Reserve Number 3     Uchimura Naoyasu     Second Year      175cm

The above eight members were going into the match with all their strength.

For Haijima, this tournament would be his debut high school game, but as expected of someone with nerves as thick as sewer pipes, he didn’t seem nervous at all as he went over the formation with Oda and the others. They were the only school in the tournament that had a first-year as the setter, which was a position rare for even a second-year starting member to be in due to its importance as a so-called “playmaker” position. It was already attracting attention, but Haijima didn’t care about the gazes of others, or rather, he didn’t notice.

Both teams took the court, and the cheers of the waiting parents grew louder. I wonder if Yorimichi’s voice is mixed in with them…I doubt it, though…

Crap, my mind is on the outside of the court again. I have to focus on the inside of the court. He ruminated on Haijima’s words like they were a magic spell and let them soak into his body.

“Everything is inside the court. Enemies…and friends too.”

That guy said…friends. He felt like it was the first time he heard that word from Haijima’s mouth.

He subconsciously searched for him. Haijima still wasn’t on the court. He was standing on the sidelines and fiddling with the taping on his fingers in front of his stomach. Huh…? He’s doing that thing again…?

He shook his head lightly, put his hands down to his sides, and fixed his gaze on the court, his face as stiffly focused as ever. It was a face that said everything important in this world was on the nine-by eighteen-meter volleyball court.

From the beginning of the first set to the middle, Seiin used the newly incorporated center and right combination attacks from the training camp to get most of their points until the scores of both teams reached the ten point range. The dexterous duo of Aoki and Kanno toyed with the enemy’s blocks so easily that it was funny.

And after all was said and done, it was Haijima who was masterminding that. In addition to the transcendent accuracy of his overhand handling, he was able to set the ball to any place with one hand even when the receives to the front of the net were disordered. In addition, if there was even the slightest opening——.

Haijima’s left hand flashed over the net as he looked to make a jump set. In the next moment, a two-attack was made launched into the opponent’s territory with unbelievable speed.

The other team froze, and the gallery let out cries of surprise. It seemed to have become a rumor in the venue that Seiin, a team that was completely out of the limelight, was displaying an unusual strength from the first game with an incredible rookie in their ranks. There were even people who looked like they were from the high school sports association appearing here and there on the court.

——However. He had not set a single ball to Kuroba, who was in the ace position. He was beginning to feel like he wasn’t going to hit a single ball in this match. He was sure that Yorimichi was in the stands right now, being disgusted that he wasn’t being useful at all. Even the blocker of the opposing team who he was matched up with was starting to get a look on his face like, “Why is this guy on the court?” He was beginning to feel bad that they marked him.

Oda also made a high-speed back row attack. Through the training camp, he had come to be able to match Haijima’s sets, which literally meant “high and fast,” perfectly. Kuroba’s and Oda’s highest points were thirty centimeters apart, but they were able to do powerful back-row attacks as though they were hitting the ball at the same positions.

What the hell am I doing here? He couldn’t help but feel that way. If they wouldn’t let him hit, then the team would be much better off putting Uchimura in, who played better defense than Kuroba. During the training camp, Oda and the others were searching for a formation that prioritized receiving ability by swapping Kuroba and Uchimura.

If it was until yesterday, it might have gone bad. But… He recalled his conversation with Oda this morning.

“What do you think are the features of Haijima’s sets?”

It occurred when everyone was going to the competition venue. Oda had stopped Kuroba and asked him that.

“They’re high, fast, and straight. A B pass somehow becomes an A pass. He’s unpredictable when sending the ball to the front or back, so even his teammates don’t know where it’s going. But the worst is that he has no intention to match the attackers. He makes difficult sets with a face that says ‘It’s your fault if it doesn’t reach you.’”

He answered with complaints mixed in. Oda smiled, looking strangely happy.

“Yeah. The basic ability of a good setter is to make the attacker feel good about hitting the ball. On that point, Haijima’s sets has too much of his own tendencies and are difficult to hit. But why do you think they’re difficult?”

Kuroba was puzzled by the further questioning. Even if he was asked why, all he could say was that they reflected Haijima’s sadistic and inconsiderate personality.

“Haijima’s sets are probably customized to each attacker’s ability with precision. Everyone’s highest jumping points, takeoff, and swing speed is different. The set comes right in at the moment when each person is swinging at their highest points, within a few tenths of a second. However, he doesn’t set the ball to the place where it’s comfortable to hit it, he sets it to where it would be a little difficult. It’s not a place where you can’t reach at all, but a place where you will be able to reach if you really concentrate, stretch your nerves all over your body, and bring out your maximum power to hit. That’s why I’m practicing with Haijima…I’m getting better. I realized that for the first time in a match. I can see my surroundings better than in practice. I’m gaining the ability to hit at the highest point. As far as I know, there’s no setter as dedicated as that guy.”

The word “dedicated” was about as far from Haijima as the other side of the universe, and it somehow sent a shudder down Kuroba’s spine. Seeing his doubtful face, Oda laughed again.

“Kuroba, you don’t believe in Haijima?”

“It’s not that I don’t believe in him, but…”

“Actually, Haijima told me something. He told me that no matter what happened today, I shouldn’t bench you.”

“Huh…?”

“It’s not Haijima you don’t believe in, but just yourself. If you can’t believe in yourself, try believing in Haijima.”

Hokao made a beautiful A-pass to Haijima. Aoki and Kanno ran to intersect each other behind Haijima to divert the block targets. Oda also jumped out to do a back-row attack.

Haijima threw a glance at him for a moment under his hands, which were held in an overhand stance.

“Just wait.” ——Haijima’s words before the game echoed in his head.

Before he could think about it, his body was moving and he was doing an approach run. Two well-paced steps with his right foot and then left foot. On the third step, he stepped firmly on the floor with his two feet, right and left, and lowered his ankles, knees, hips deeply. He swung his arms from back to front deeply, releasing the power stored in his lower body to leap into the air. The entire floor threw his body up high due to his elasticity—the result when one could jump the highest.

There was nothing blocking the space above the net of two meters and forty centimeters. I’m completely unmarked! The opponent’s blocking was completely shaken off by Aoki’s and Kanno’s movements. For a sensible few seconds, he stood still in the air and had a clear view of the opponent’s entire court. The course that he was meant to pierce the ball down seemed to automatically emerge. It was a sport where you had to defend a nine-by-nine meter court with a reaction speed of a few tenths of a second. If you lagged for even a moment, there would be an opening there.

Even though today was the first time they played together, even though they hadn’t played together properly during the training camp, Haijima’s set flew “straight” towards Kuroba’s highest point, so precise and accurate that it was incredible. The timing was perfect. It fit right into his hand without a millimeter of deviation. All he had to do was to leave it to the rotation of his body and swing his arms.

The ball, driven in at an acute angle, bounced up in the opponent’s court with a bang. The highest, fastest, strongest——!

He was able to spike with all his power in an official game, something he kept failing at ever since the middle school prefecturals. He didn’t know what he was stumbling over, so he was at a complete loss for a whole year. Then that single set came to him like a sword of light cutting through the darkness, and he just hit it without thinking about anything, forgetting himself completely——. He still couldn’t believe he hit it. Why couldn’t he do it until now?

“If you can’t believe in yourself, try believing in Haijima.”

At that moment, they connected. Haijima’s—that guy’s—clumsy, easy to misunderstand, disconnected words became one thought. “I won’t let that happen again.” “I’ll prove it at the Fall Tournament.” “I’ll make every ball I set to you the best ones.” “Don’t be in a hurry. Just wait.”

“Kuroba!”

As though he was tired of waiting for the long flight time to end, Oda jumped at him and put him in a headlock.

“Okay, that’s enough!”

With his hair mussed up, Kuroba absentmindedly answered, “Ah…okay.” Hokao poked his shoulder, and Aoki slapped his butt. Kanno, who was moving back to serve, gave him a small peace sign. Okuma and Uchimura were loudly cheering something from the warm-up zone.

“Seiin High School has two immoveable pillars: the high-speed combination performance developed by setter Haijima Kimichika and the explosive offensive power of ace Kuroba Yuni—we’ll be the team that people will talk like that about.”

When it seemed that the referee was going to give them a warning, Oda finally released Kuroba’s head with a “got you” look on his face.

“Well, it’s also because I was talked into it by Haijima.”

He bashfully added, and then his expression stiffened.

“Alright, Kuroba, let’s take it from here.”

“Y-Yes.”

Kuroba nodded, his cheeks flushed. He was so happy to hear the words “Ace Kuroba Yuni” from Oda’s mouth that his inferiority complex from the training camp was easily blown away.

It was just as Haijima said. You’re the team’s ace. He felt like the world was turning out just as Haijima said, and a shiver welled up from deep within him with a little bit of fear and excitement that swallowed that up.

Haijima was the only one who was completely calm about the one play and was already observing the opponent’s court with his mind on the next play. The rotation turned once, and the front row now consisted of, from the left, Haijima, Kuroba, and Aoki. The player must the rotation’s positional relationship until the ball was served, or it would be a positional fault penalty. The moment the ball was served, Haijima must quickly move to the right side and have the line order be replaced with Kuroba, Aoki, and Haijima, the three of them stood by in a tight group near the center of the front row.

“You were considering this from the beginning. Leaving me out from the combination practice…”

He couldn’t help but whisper that question as he and Haijima were huddled together behind Aoki.

In the prefecturals a year ago, Kuroba had been overly conscious of the blocks and fell apart spectacularly after being persistently marked by the opposing team. However, since Kuroba was the only attacker who could hit the ball, they had no choice but to set all the balls to him, and there was no way to get himself unmarked.

But now——Haijima said, “I can do things differently.” If the opponent was aware that their team used the center-right combination a lot, they would become wary of it and adopt a blocking system that was closer to the right, and the mark on Kuroba on the left would weaken. The scenario was to have the seniors play the role of setting the stage, so to speak, in order to have him hit the ball unmarked and get rid of his awareness that he was bad at it.

“How on earth do you make a request like that to the senpais…You really do have nerves of steel.”

He could only be thankful that he was blessed with understanding seniors.

“You’re decisive enough on your own. We’ll do the cheap tricks to get you to hit the ball. If you’re a senpai who’s so obsessed with stuff like keeping face as a senior (1) and ruin our chances of winning, then we don’t need you anyways.”

Haijima declared unabashedly while his gaze was fixed on the opponent’s court. But then he suddenly pouted and added something else in a whisper.

“…That’s why, I’m taking you. To the Spring Tournament.”

Although he didn’t say the word “senpais,” Kuroba supplemented that word in his mind. He A laugh escaped from his lips as he realized that in his own way, Haijima felt indebted to Oda and the others.

“You talk like you alone are taking them, but…we’re the ones taking them, aren’t we?”

Haijima blinked in surprise. Kuroba was embarrassed after he said that aloud, having gotten carried away and talked big. He was afraid that he would be cut down again with “you’re a hundred years too early to say that.” However,

“…Yeah.”

Haijima’s face softened, and he nodded.

Now he understood—everything was in the court. Enemies, and friends as well. He wondered if Yorimichi was watching. However, he didn’t feel like looking up at the stands, when normally he would be curious and try to find him. His feet were properly rooted here, not on the second floor of the stands.

He didn’t look for him, but he just wanted Yorimichi to see this. There was nothing to be shrink from. There was nothing to be embarrassed of. He wanted to puff up his chest and be proud of that this was the volleyball he was so passionate about right now. Above all, he wanted him to see this team.

He saw Haijima touching the taping on his fingers again. He lightly shook his head and fixed his gaze forward with a focussed expression on his face. He didn’t seem to be in bad shape, so Kuroba didn’t mind it at the time.

“Do it with the intention of taking it and hitting it yourself.”

He was told this by Hokao and Uchimura as they went along with his receiving practice during the training camp, to the point he had calluses on his ears. Don’t just sit back and watch the ball after a serve receive, run with the intention of snatching away the set to yourself. The left-side hitters have always been an easy target for the serve. That was why their receiving abilities, not just their spiking abilities, were the key to offense. No matter how good Haijima was, if his serve receive was up to par, there was no way to build an offense.

Even though he knew that, when he received the ball, he felt like he had done his job and stopped moving, but thanks to being told that over and over and repeating it in practice, it was hammered into his body. There was meaning in being taken out of offensive practice during training camp and forced to do only receiving practice.

He was hit by a serve in his bad form and fell on his butt, but he immediately jumped up and ran. Although the receive went off course, Haijima had already entered the ball’s drop point due to his outstanding reading speed and mobility. This was what he meant when he said that with Haijima, a B-pass became an A-pass. An A-pass was a good receive that allowed the setter to return to a position that didn’t move in from in front of the net for the fastest combination attack, but a B-pass was a worse receive than that. When it came to the C-pass, the setter might not be able to get it, and if that happened, the sign could not be used and another player would have to do a high set. (2) However, Haijima didn’t abandon the sign, even if it was a C-pass, and chased the ball himself to force a combination attack.

Haijima alone had the final say on who got to hit among the four attackers on the court, including Kuroba. He judged the situation instantly based on the reactions of the opposing blockers and receivers, and in Haijima’s case, rather than simply striking where they were undermanned, he chose the option that would allow him to harass his opponents the most and leave an impact on the rest of the play.

He noticed that he was being marked by a blocker, but Kuroba sent the desire of being given the ball to Haijima. Until now, all he thought about was escaping from the blocks. But now he was ready to smash one in.

Haijima touched his taping again for an instant and made a gesture of shaking his head. ——What, now?

Haijima opened his eyes wide at the ball that was approaching right in front of his face, and he turned away as though to run from it and knocked it down with his hand.

Beep——.

The whistle sounded, and there were cheers from the opposing court for their good luck. Meanwhile, on Seiin’s court, all the attackers who ended up with half-baked jumps looked at Haijima with astonishment. That was natural for anyone who knew the man named Haijima. It wouldn’t have mattered if it was someone else’s basic mistake, but Haijima——?

The ball rolled fruitlessly to the center of their court. It was unbelievable, but Haijima, who was staring at it with a look that was even filled with hatred, and then as though he had returned to himself, immediately put out his hand and flicked it out of the court.

***

“Thank you for your hard work!”

All the members of the team formed a line facing the advisor and spoke in unison. Oda stepped out of the line and faced his team members.

“Now, we’re going back to school temporarily…”

“Aah…Oda, there’s always tomorrow, so let’s just break up here. Some people live closer to here than school.”

The old advisor interjected with a slippery voice like half of his body was already submerged in the Sanzu River (3), causing Oda’s temple to twitch. “I think you’re the only one whose home is close, sir, but…” Although he bitterly grumbled that, Oda sighed in defeat and turned back to the members.

“We’ll break up here for now. The Nanafu group will stay together and return to the school. Everyone else can go back home. Tomorrow, we’ll meet in the clubroom at six-thirty. Alright, don’t get into any accidents or anything like that, and think of it as a match until you get home, don’t lose focus.”

“What is this, a field trip?”

Aoki let out a strained laugh and quipped, taking over the conversation from Oda, who looked embarrassed.

“The Monshiro group is going far away, so ask your parents to give you a ride. I’ll put the ball case in the old teacher’s car, but Kuroba and Haijima, can you bring the cooler box back home and then bring it back tomorrow?”

“Oh, yes, we can both bring it tomorrow. Our houses are close.”

The two third-years gave Kuroba a casual look as he quickly jumped to attention and answered. Guessing that they wanted him to take a look at how Haijima was doing, he stealthily glanced at his profile. Haijima, who had quickly returned to his glasses from contacts, was looking ahead with a reddened face for some reason. Is he tired…? However, he couldn’t tell the difference clearly because he always looked like he wasn’t thinking about anything, surprisingly, except when his club activity switch was on.

That was the only time Haijima made a basic mistake, and after that it had no effect on him at all, and he went on as usual—or rather, his level of “usual” was unusual—until the end, but Seiin High School continued the play and won the two games of the day. They would advance to the semifinals tomorrow, the final day.

So, they have come to the same place as the prefecturals a year ago.

It was as though they were advancing by tracing the road from a year ago. He was confident that they would break the semifinals this year for sure, and he was plenty motivated, but—a bad feeling that there was an unexpected trap lying in wait for them just like a year ago, continued to hover in a corner of his mind.

They met with the parents who came to support them from Monshiro in the gym’s parking lot. Kuroba’s mother, Kanno’s mother, Haijima’s grandmother, and Itoko and Yorimichi were there. The Kannos’ car and the Kurobas’ car (Haijima’s grandmother seemed to have ridden in the Kurobas’ car) were there, as well as a light pickup truck. The truck belonged to the relative who transported provisions to the training camp. The back of the truck was still littered with vegetable scraps. It seemed that this was the car Yorimichi borrowed to “just drive around in town” in.

Thank you so much for all your help, Kanno’s mother thanked Kuroba’s mother reverently. He wondered about the parent of a second-year being deferential to the parent of a first-year.

It seemed that Itoko had made plans to join with her school friends from now. An amusement building called Suzumu Play-One was built near Itoko’s Suzumu City high school recently, and it had a karaoke place, a bowling alley, and an arcade. It had become a hangout for high schoolers with free time (by the way, Karaoke Box Monshiro was finally demolished at the start of this year). No wonder she made her hair into a bun-looking thing on the top of her head, wore a sleeveless dress-looking thing, and carried a summer vacation-like basket bag-looking thing. He, on the other hand, had just changed out of his uniform and was wearing a T-shirt that was already drenched with sweat, carrying an enamel bag that dug into his shoulders and even a cooler box. He didn’t mind it though, because he wanted to do it.

“Good job out there, Yuni. You were pretty cool.”

“What do you mean, ‘pretty’ cool? Say I’m ‘super’ cool, onion head.”

As he reflexively shot back after being praised with a smile, Itoko took the initiative to load Kuroba’s luggage into the back of the truck, so he took it back and threw it up himself.

“You still have the semifinals and finals. You’ll get carried away if I praise you. Yorimichi? Don’t you have anything to say to Yuni?”

Itoko’s voice turned a bit angry and she slapped the driver’s door. “Aah?” Yorimichi, who was sticking his face into the air conditioner at the driver’s seat, rolled down the window with an annoyed look on his face.

“Ah, um…how was it…?”

“Doesn’t matter how it was. It was pretty cool at the venue. I thought it would be hot, so it took a while for me to wanna go there.”

He sloppily leaned against the door with one arm out the window. Even though he didn’t exercise, his arms were muscular, and they were a size thicker than Kuroba’s who recently started to work hard at muscle training. His tank top was tightly stretched over his thick chest. He could try doing some kind of sport even now…

“Ugh, don’t dodge the question and tell him. You wanted to see a volleyball game, didn’t you?”

Itoko said, putting her hands on her hips with an exasperated look on her face.

“Huh!? Yori-chan, you’re interested in volleyball!?”

“No way.”

He had widened his eyes and unintentionally said that with hope in his voice, but got flatly rejected on the spot.

“I just wanted to see what you’re so into. You probably found something there you haven’t told me about…Well, it looks like you’ll be keeping at it for a long time, so work hard at that.”

“Geez, just be honest!”

Yorimichi withdrew his head from out the window, and Itoko got angry. But for Kuroba, it was more than enough. Those were Yorimichi-like words of support. Come to think of it, he wasn’t drinking while watching the game today. He didn’t come here to make fun of him. He had him understand that he was doing this seriously. He didn’t know what he was shrivelling from. He knew that Yorimichi wouldn’t laugh for no reason at the things people cherished.

That’s why I like Yorimichi…

“…Mm. I will work hard.”

He answered bashfully. Yorimichi was already pretending not to hear and fiddled with the car radio. “There’s only enka,” he complained.

At that moment, he heard a hoarse scream and something being struck.

He turned around and saw Haijima and his grandmother next to the Kurobas’ car. There was more than a head of difference in height between the grandmother and Haijima, which made her look extremely weak. A dark red handbag had fallen at her feet, and her wallet and other small items were scattered across the asphalt.

“Why are you using that without asking me…?”

Haijima said with a trace of anger in his voice. His grandmother’s small frame shrunk. “W-Why are you getting so angry all of a sudden? I thought you didn’t want it anymore since you put it away in the closet…”

“Haijima? What are you doing to your own grandma?”

Confused, Kuroba rushed over as he reproached him. When he crouched down and was about to pick up the scattered items, the old woman also hurriedly crouched down and ran her wrinkled little hands over the asphalt to gather the small items, saying, “Aah, young master, there is no need to do this.”

He was about to pick up the handbag when his hand stopped.

A dark red schoolbag… This is…

“Don’t touch it.”

Haijima’s hand snatched the bag from over Kuroba’s head.

On his knees and speechless, he looked up at Haijima. The summer evening sunlight, which was still beating down on them, illuminated Haijima from behind so he couldn’t see his expression, but he could clearly see that the bag he was gripping had…that Tokyo middle school’s emblem—the one Kuroba didn’t know—embroidered on it.

Why…? Along with that question, he felt anger.

You said you weren’t going back, didn’t you? So why do you still treasure that thing…?

I wonder if I’m hurting right now.

“I ain’t going back” …Even though I believed in those words I heard at the training camp, I might be feeling betrayed.

***

He smacked the top of his alarm clock that ringing shrilly next to his pillow with the palm of his hand as though he was spiking with all his might. He sluggishly peeled his face away from his pillow and looked at the digital display of his now-silent clock. It was 5:05 in the morning.

“Mmm…Gotta get up…”

He had to take the first train in order to get to the clubroom by the 6:30 meeting time. He had to jump over one city to go to school, so a roundtrip to school took up quite a lot of time.

“…Five more minutes…”

His consciousness sank the moment he plopped his head down on the pillow again.

The alarm rang again. He half-consciously hit the clock that was still under his hand, but it didn’t stop no matter how many times he hit it. “…Nn?” It wasn’t the alarm. It was another sound. “…My phone…?” Groaning like a zombie that had risen from the grave, he reluctantly crawled out from his futon.

The Kuroba main house was a purely Japanese home, and Kuroba’s room was also a Japanese-style room with tatami mats and a futon. He could hear muffled ringing from the enamel bag he had thrown to the foot of his futon. Now he remembered that he forgot to charge it yesterday before falling asleep.

“Hup.”

As he was waking up, he raised his upper body vigorously in the manner of a push-up. Midway through, a shiver of pain ran up his back. “Aaagh,” he groaned and ended up curling his back. He crawled over to his bag with his hand behind his back. It was a different kind of pain from the muscle pain he got after practices and games, and his body ached all over, not just his back. His cheekbone was still throbbing with pain.

He thought that if it gave up halfway and stopped ringing, he wouldn’t have to answer it. But the ringing spitefully continued until he reached into his bag and fumbled for his phone.

“Oda-senpai? You’re an early riser.”

When he saw the caller’s name on the display, he thought of Oda’s face, full of enthusiasm like he had been running in the morning. Oda’s house was close to the school, so he shouldn’t have to get up as early as Kuroba.

“Fwah, g’morning…”

“Kuroba, come to school immediately!”

He heard Oda’s voice, refreshing and clear right in the morning, just like the image in his head.

“…? I’m going there now, but…”

“Come directly to the staff room, not the club room. Depending on your answer, we…will have to withdraw from today’s game.”

The sleepiness that had been coiled about his head dissipated at once.

“…What?”

He could only hear Oda’s heavy groans from the speaker.

He thought it was déjà vu from a year ago. No, he really wished it was just déjà vu.

We’re withdrawing…? From the semifinals?

——Again?

Previous || Index || Next

[fukurodaze]

haikyuu!! third gym squad taking the ib diploma programme

ok... my friend and i got rlly stressed the other day and made headcanons for these guys if they were to take classes in the ib... it’s like a levels but like... a bit more death!

for my ib diploma folks you can just hop on over and read what i’ve hc’d but for my non-ib folks, lemme give you a bit of an introduction to the ib diploma programme.

characters included: bokuto koutarou, kuroo tetsurou, akaashi keiji, tsukishima kei, haiba lev, hinata shouyou

THE IB DIPLOMA PROGRAMME is a rigorous two-year pre-college program in your last two years of high school. a full programme consists of one class from each of the six required groups (totalling to 6 classes), which are G1 - first language; G2 - second language; G3 - social sciences; G4 - natural sciences; G5 - mathematics; and G6 - arts (though, arts is optional, and can be switched out with another subject from G3 or G4).

within these six courses, students are required to take at least three high-level (HL) courses and three standard level courses (SL), but some students may take four HL courses and have two SL courses (kind of a rough one tho). 

just to note: there’s two types of math courses - applications and interpretations (Math AI) and analysis and approaches (Math AA). MAA courses are known to be harder than MAI courses because students do more theory work and have non-calculator sections in exams, unlike MAI courses where calculators are required for every exam. also, it is possible for a person to take IB courses instead of the full diploma programme, but i’m not very well acquainted with that variation of the IB programme so we’re just going to assume all the boys got 6 courses.

okay. i am so sorry i just lectured you on a whole school curriculum. anyways. back to haikyuu!!

BOKUTO KOUTAROU : Japanese Language and Literature HL, Mandarin Ab Initio SL, Geography HL, SEHS (Sports, Exercise, and Health Science) HL, Math AI SL, Economics SL

ok so it’s canon that this dude is not doing very well in math but his parents made him do higher level math at first poor boy >:(

he started the year off in higher level and thought he was gonna be fine

no. he was not fine.

so he ended up switching his math hl to sl and his japanese sl to hl

IT IS CANON (special chapter in volume 19 titled “i just forgot” where bokuto has a wholeass crisis about words) that bokuto’s really one to actually really like to think about how words work and function as systems in the same way ib language courses do!!

actually having him do japanese ll hl is just an excuse for me to keep him in math sl sorry

i mean koutarou may be my fav tax evader but he really did sit through two years worth of econ classes... smh

mans is Not listening and has to rely on yukie for notes but he just memorises case studies for exams and does not do anything else

i feel like he just takes mandarin because he thought it was the easiest one... he also thinks the words sound similar so it’s easy to memorise

he’s a pretty good communicator so he practices his mandarin quite a lot. as in, he’s made friends to talk to in mandarin. we love to see it!!!

also. um. i hc that he’s pretty decent at memorisation so geography!! this goes for memorising all the kanji and mandarin characters too

i think SEHS is pretty self-explanatory. mans already known he wanna be a pro athlete might as learn about being healthy as an athlete

KUROO TESTUROU : Japanese Language and Literature SL, English B SL, Business Management HL, Chemistry HL, Math AI HL, Biology HL

now... we all know this mf been taking chemistry hl. it is CANON

and as per his career path... DEFINITELY business management hl

i feel like he’s so analytical in the way he sees things that he likes to explore many areas of knowledge where there are different ways of thinking

takes english as a second language because... whew.. aint it sexy when mans wanna be multifaceted in business

also takes higher level biology because he’d rather not with the languages... but later on i believe he ends up in a higher level language class because he might as well

i feel like kuroo’s classes just give me a vibe i know too too well... 

mans takes math ai. he does not wanna fuck around with a pencil proving a theorem he just wants the answer bro

like in volleyball, he’s a quick thinker. so he’s pretty g with math and business stuff

i literally know someone with this class combo ... it’s not very chill but it screams “you never see me do any course work but i always get at least a B+ in every subject”

AKAASHI KEIJI :  Japanese Language and Literature HL, French Ab Initio SL, Psychology HL, Chemistry SL, Math AA SL, Visual Arts HL

now... this subject combo radiates such pretty energy

pretty subjects for a pretty boy

he was originally going to do biology sl but then found out there is chemistry in biology so he just decided with chemistry. plain and simple.

we all know akaashi is both emotionally and academically intelligent

he’s logical and analytical, and when faced with a tough time he works through it well albeit going through a little bit of struggle

this automatically puts him in math aa... i just see him actually liking proving theorems??? 

but maybe he just thinks his calculator is a nuisance sometimes and would rather solve everything by hand 

also art boy! this dude likes graphic design more but when it comes to traditional art he does Not Hold Back

i like to think that he’s into painting backgrounds and mixed media

if he didn’t take VA, i’m pretty sure he would take economics. because. it’s quite systematic and i think akaashi would take a liking to it

as for japanese ll hl... we all know this dude was supposed to be a part of the literary section in a magazine/manga company but was moved to editor

goes hand-in-hand with psychology, likes to know how words convey meaning and how they affect people

he also thinks french is kind of a cool language. i feel like this guy just wants to do it because it sounds cool and novel for him

all in all, pretty solid subject combo!

TSUKISHIMA KEI : Japanese Language and Literature HL, French Ab Initio SL, History HL, Biology SL, Math AA HL, Instrumental Music HL

4 hl’s... here we are folks

honestly does it for colleges to go like “holy shit this dude is kinda crazy”

but does suffer... coursework tings :)

first of all this dude takes french (even though it’s a beginner’s class) because he just loves to sound cool huh

the summer before his courses started he would have had the basics down after looking through free ib textbooks

plus, being the guy that’s super good at a new language in the class is a huge ass flex and a big ass ego boost. and anyways, with language, he thinks it’s just a lot of simple patterns working together.

this also applies to japanese ll hl... finds writing essays and making arguments ez (at least that’s what he tells himself - he’s kinda nervous when it comes to japanese but he holds on anyway)

practices extra hard on pronunciation. sounds hot tho

math aa hl??? there we go. another crazy one. thought he could ace the class at first.... no. no he couldn’t 

thinks about moving down to sl. probably does. (at least it’s not math ai)

history and biology go hand in hand for him. he has significant interests in prehistoric times, and likes to learn about the origins of life - that’s a given

but he does get tired of the politics talk in history like... goddamn all these people making so many mistakes? just stop making them smh

and instrumental music was just something he got onto because he really would like to just have a course where he could enjoy himself while also learning about the stuff he likes

nobody knows what music he listens to... but i think he’s willing to listen to anything as long as it’s music and it has the kinds of vibes he digs

HAIBA LEV: Japanese Language and Literature SL, Mandarin Ab Initio SL, Psychology HL, Chemistry SL, Math AI HL, Theatre HL

i don’t know how to explain it but lev has such strong psych and chem energy

yes haiba lev’s classes are the ones i picked via roulette wheel

jk not really

here’s the thing though, lev takes psychology because he thinks econ, business management, history, ess, all that jazz is just... absolutely boring. like. super. mf-ing. boring.

so he’s like ooh cognitive processes!

kinda hates that he has to study research methods and research methods ONLY at first but when he gets the hang of it he really finds it one of his fav subs

i actually have no explanation for mandarin ab initio sl... he just seemed like the kind of guy who would wanna do the class solely because he thinks mandarin sounds cool with their intonations and everything

plus he heard that the teacher gives mooncakes every lunar new year ad he. loves. them.

okay now hear me out.

lev is good at math.

maybe not lightning speed analysis or calculations like akaashi, but he finds solving problems fun! except for when they’re without a calculator bc he HATES doing calculations by hand

he can get a bit clumsy with his hand calculations too so it’s nice to just have a calculator on hand

literally only does math ai for the sake of using a calculator at all times (a/n: i take this class, and this was the reason i took it too. COMPLETELY VALID)

and then does theatre for the fun of it!!! confidence levels high for presentations and performances... good fit

kinda thought that ib theatre would be his easy A but oh how he was wrong... hates the research tasks at first but he gets used to it

HINATA SHOUYOU: Japanese Language and Literature SL, Portuguese Ab Initio SL, SEHS HL, Geography HL, Math AI SL, Theatre HL

his classes are bokuto energy but with theatre and portuguese

MANGA SPOILERS! we all know he started thinking abt going to brazil in his second year of high school, and the ib diploma programme starts in the last two years of high school so it fits PERFECTLY

lowkey most of the boys take japanese ll sl because they just. have to.

this is also hinata’s case <3

SEHS HL!!! he has a vision for the future and it definitely involves him understanding health and sports and everything like that, especially after nationals in his first year :(((( still sad abt that

but he’s motivated for this higher level class because he’s really just gonna go all out with the research

math ai sl because... he prolly don’t give a fuck about numbers!!! (it hasn’t been made clear already, but math ai sl is the lowest level math course)

he also took theatre hl because even though he does get scared at first, he’s a natural when it comes to learning new cultures

he’s just so curious about it all and it makes him quite engaged in the class as well!!!!

also kinda took theatre because the other subjects were just not it for him

about geography... he hates memorisation but he also hates everything else in the social studies group so

he just gets by by trying to find the little details of the things he’s studying interesting because really... geography class is just the base of all the places on his bucket list

hinata’s def one of those dudes who picks his subs purely off of liking because we all know he’s going. any subject that isn’t based off of liking is usually a mandatory subject anyways

[madlori]

Lori Explains Hockey Players

[by which I mean, their positions and such, not...why they are the way they are.]

So you guys enjoyed my “Lori Explains Hockey Numbers” post so I thought I’d write another Hockey Infodump as a public service. More posts can come on additional topics.

My primary sports exposure growing up was football, which has teams of like a bojillion dudes, so when I first got into hockey and looked up the roster of my local team I was like...that’s it? That’s all the dudes they have?

Yes. Hockey teams have way fewer dudes than some other sports. A big reason football teams have so many players is a) there’s a lot more dudes on the field at once, b) there are two entirely different squads of dudes (offense and defense) and c) there are no minor leagues in NFL football, meaning nobody to call up if injuries happen. The NHL has five skaters on at once, nobody rides a bench, everybody plays, and they have minor league teams to sub in when needed. So here are the relevant numbers (there are other numbers - namely 50 and 90 - but these are the important ones):

23: The maximum number of players on a team’s active roster 20: The number of players a team is allowed to dress for a game.

The active roster is basically - the team. These are the guys who play primarily for the NHL club, who take the ice every night, who are signed to major-league contracts. This limit of 23 players applies from after preseason is over up through the NHL trade deadline (you cannot make player trades after this date) which is in late February - this year it’s February 24th at noon. After the deadline, you can hold as many players as you want provided you have cap space. Note: when a player goes on injured reserve, he doesn’t count against the 23. The 23 man roster is pretty darned official having to do with contracts and having to get players signed/cleared through the league.

What’s cap space? WELL. In 2005 the NHL negotiated a CBA (collective bargaining agreement) with the players to end the year-long lockout. Part of the CBA was a major change to the NHL pay structure - they instituted a salary cap. This means that each team has a finite pool of money from which to pay players. It was meant to equalize the game - this way no single team can hoard all the high-priced talent and dominate everyone. Largely, it’s worked. The chasm between the best team and the worst team is not...super huge. Any team can beat any other team at any time, and woe to you if you underestimate any opponent, even the worst team in the league.

So what’s the number 20? That’s how many players the team is allowed to dress (meaning get geared up and ready to play) for the game. You must dress two goalies. The other 18 are some combination of forwards and defenseman. Like 98% of the time it’s 12 forwards, 6 defensemen. Some teams play 11F/7D. Unlike the 23 person roster, the 20 player game-day roster is NOT super official and can change at the last minute and often does. Literally the head coach gives the officials the final roster shortly before the puck drop. If you’re one of the 23 but not one of the 20 for any given game, you’re said to have been “scratched.” 

Soooo what do those positions mean? At any given time, the team may have six players on the ice. There are no rules for what positions those players occupy. Theoretically you could have 6 defenseman on the ice, although that’d be stupid. 98% of the time, those six players are: goalie (1), defenseman (2) and forwards (3).

Goalie: Ok this may seem self-evident, but there are a few things that warrant mentioning. The goalie’s official title is “goaltender” and they are also often called the “netminder.” It is his job to stand in front of the goal and prevent pucks from entering. This might not sound easy and it’s probably even less easy than you think it is. Goalies are often not great skaters - I mean they don’t have to be fast - but they are often VERY athletic, as in flexible. A goalie needs to be able to do full splits in the massive amount of gear they have to wear. Goalies do train extensively, mostly to maintain their flexibility, reflexes, hand-eye coordination, visual sharpness and reaction time. There are different styles of goaltending - some are athletic and quick, some are positional and intuitive. They wear that gear because a puck weighs 6 ounces and can be going as much as 90 mph or more when fired and that shit hurts. Goalies are often very tall and lanky - the better to be able to quickly reach all sides of the net with their long limbs. The goalie cannot serve as team captain, because the captain is required to interact with on-ice officials and the goalie isn’t supposed to leave his crease (the term for the blue-paint area inside and in front of the goal). The goalie is often a very well known and beloved figure for a team - there’s only one primary goalie (as opposed to a couple dozen skaters) so he’s a visible figure. He’s the only player who is out there for the entire game (unless he’s hurt or pulled), and his heroics (or lack thereof) are often very memorable. The skaters are VERY protective of their goalie. There are extensive rules about what skaters are and aren’t allowed to do with regards to goalies and their little territories. If you touch a goalie, his players will make you sorry for it. After most wins, the players line up to Pat the Goalie. Goalies are the only players to get credit for a win.

Defensemen: D-men play in pairs. Teams usually roll three defenseman pairs. Often those pairs are pretty static, but they do get mixed up fairly regularly. Defensemen have to be really good at skating backwards, because what they’re most frequently found doing is facing the other team’s oncoming forwards in attempt to derail their scoring push, get the puck away from them, or block a shot. Defenseman are also usually the guys doing the most checking (or hitting) which means making bodily contact with the guy who has the puck in an attempt to get him OFF the puck. They’re traditionally the tougher guys, more likely to get in fights to defend a teammate, but that’s not a hard-and-fast rule. Defenseman can and do score goals. Some of them are really good at it. Shea Weber of the Canadiens is a multi-year champion at the Hardest Shot competition at the All-Star Game, and he’s a defenseman. Defensemen can also be captains. I can think of three teams off the top of my head have a D-man as their captain (the Bruins, the Canadiens and the Predators) - okay I just checked Wikipedia and 7 of the 27 current captains are D-men (four NHL clubs don’t currently have a captain). Another thing D-men do is - watch out, sports terminology crossover incoming - “quarterback” the power play. [A power play is when the other team has a penalty and a player is in the box, giving your team a man advantage]. Many power play squads consist of one defenseman and four forwards, although 3 and 2 is also common. The defensemen set up at the “points” which are the outer edges of the offensive zone, so they can keep the puck in the zone. One of the D-men is in charge of coordinating the power play action.

Forwards: These are the flashy guys, the fast quick skaters who can turn on a dime and shoot the puck. It’s their job to move the puck into the offensive zone and set up plays to score goals. Most high-profile players (certainly not all) are forwards. Forwards play in “lines” of three - center, left wing and right wing. The center is sort of the “boss” of the line; he’s usually the guy taking the face-off (although any of the forwards can do it) and orchestrating the plays on the ice. Teams roll four lines of forwards. Your top two lines are the best players (referred to as “top six” players) with your top line generally consisting of your best players, although not always. A key element of building a successful NHL team is to arrange your players into four lines who can all score. Since no one line can be on the ice for more than 15-20 minutes, you need scoring from your 3rd and 4th lines for the team to be successful. They don’t have to tear it up, but they have to be able to produce at least some offense - and at the very least keep the other team from scoring. An important element of a forward’s game is to be defensive - some are good at it, some aren’t. There is, in fact, a separate award for the best defensive forward, the Selke trophy, traditionally won by the Bruins’ Patrice Bergeron (seriously between him and the Kings’ Anze Kopitar they’ve won it 6 times in the last decades). Commentators often talk about forwards who play a “200 foot game” - this means the forward is effective not only in the offensive zone, when he’s trying to score, but in the defensive zone when he’s participating in defense. This skill is a big reason Sidney Crosby is as good as he is, he plays like that.

So the roles of skaters in hockey overlap a lot. Defenseman are often in the offensive zone and can score, forwards are often in the defensive zone backchecking and defending.

Too bad that on TV they pretty much all look alike unless you have the numbers memorized.

[migleefulmoments]

“Precious little d. Either embarrrssed about talking about sex or it had been quite some time, and if it had been a long time, that seems quite inconsistent with the PR story that was starting to ramp up as this was not long before confirmation day and the I’m a straight man with a gf tour.” Gawd is she serious lols. Darren loves a naughty pun so why would be embarrassed to talk about sex. And seeing as Abby has probably never had sex she should probs keeps quiet.

Darren embarrassed to talk about sex? HE WROTE “ME AND MY DICK”!!!!!! He has a bar called Tramp Stamp Grannies which serves drinks called boob soup...there is no way in hell he was embarrassed.  Like who the hell is she thinking about when she says that? Herself? Kurt with his “because of the layers” conversation? Certainly not Darren Criss.  

The clip is here (X) so you don't have to watch the entire episode.

He says ‘who me” and takes a heart beat to answer - Kathy makes another joke and he says “IDK...IDK, yesterday?” to which Kathy says “because I would think playing a gay guy but being a hot straight guy, you must get a ton of pussy” and he says “Well I mean, well I mean, I don’t want to embarrass Lily...” In fact Darren says “yeah, yeah” while Kathy is saying this.  He wasn’t silent and trembling in the corner while Lily saved him.  IDK what video you were watching.  Kathy wasn’t outing him she was making a joke about how much pussy he gets being straight and hot but playing a gay guy. How do the ccers get everything so wrong? Oh right- they cut the clip, slow it down, make a gif which Abbys calls 

““Little bonus:”

Keep reading some high-end nonsense-I commented on some of the nonsense but I only made the comments regarding this video “bold”. 

Anonymous asked:

For some reason KGriffin has been on my mind today. Her infamous interview asking D about vaginal sex. Dude looked like he was going to come out of his skin. Another thing as close as C is with her I’ve seen a lot of pics with him at her house at parties without the boyfriend.

Oh you mean this classic moment? An interview just a few short months after the woman he had been betrothed to since birth moved to LA and you’d think the answer would be frequent and all time and not something that would completely fluster him. So much so that L/ily had to step in and save him.(Yes, because everyone wants to say “frequently and all the time” about their girlfriend who just moved to town. Classy. Lily didn’t “step in and save him”. You should have watched the video again before you write about it.)

You can always see his brain spinning, thinking “can I say 3 years ago before I became Co/lfersexual? Oh wait my beard lives here now. Surely if it were real it would be all the time. Should I just refer to the last time I had sex with C? They don’t need to know there was no vagina involved…..” (Yes, that is exactly what a sane person would think in the heartbeat it takes him to answer. Watch the video again- NOT THE GIF...your fantasy has changed the facts-you sound like Trump “he ran int other tunnel and died crying and screaming and whimpering like a dog”)  

He was so obviously struggling and thankfully L/ily, an openly gay woman, made it into a joke to spare him. (what joke does L/ily tell that saves him? I’m curious because when I watch the video that part must be mute) 

Precious little d. Either embarrrssed about talking about sex or it had been quite some time, and if it had been a long time, that seems quite inconsistent with the PR story that was starting to ramp up as this was not long before confirmation day and the I’m a straight man with a gf tour. (But look at that, it IS consistent with YOUR story of a fragile but powerful gay man who realized he loved his costar the moment they met but woefully that love is forbidden for reasons that make no sense whatsoever but involve Ryan Murphy and a contract, a contract he signed with wide-eyed innocence at 23. He just wanted to share his talents with the world and the lure of fame dazzled him but he soon found out he signed the deal with the devil. It’s the story of a man who chose the wrong beard and is still paying for that a decade later just as he still pays for signing that contract as a naive 23 yo. A man who, as you say “likes cock”, but it stuck spending most of his time with his “wife”, a woman he detests. This fragile but strong man who wrote “me and My Dick” and mimicked masturbation while standing in front of the paparazzi pen on a red carpet is   is TERRIFIED of talking about sex...duh!)

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rougedraconteur asked:

Just want to say that I could not be happier about most of the Halloween costumes and parties this year. But, I do think it needs to be said that Kathy and Chris were friends before this. By this interview with D, she and Chris had been pals for years. I know she was on Glee, as a judge of one of their many competitions. And she also held a fake marriage ceremony with him on stage somewhere, with Chris as her groom. She’s like Jane, a mom sub. C was on K’s show, then D, same as Jane’s.

And yes, Kathy knew. She always has, same as Jane. They are insiders, people to be trusted with the truth. She just loves to put people on the spot, even those she cares about. All of these folks on the show that day, knew the truth, whatever it was at that time.(She’s his mother figure? but his mother was alive when this was shot. I love how they “know” this stuff-everyone know but nobody thought to help Darren or stop working with Ryan Murphy out of solidarity and support- hell even Darren didn’t support Darren by icing Ryan Murphy out of his life. Also nobody has leaked on bit of information ...ever...in 10 years. That impressive AF. )

***********************************************************************

This Halloween was like Christmas, it was fabulous and no matter what they try, they cannot undo it.  And I am confident D&C were fully aware of what was happening on Thursday night with the pictures. They have been playing this game for years, they know how not to be in the background of photos. They wanted those pics circulated.(more confirmation bias)  So my question is, why now and who allowed those pics to be published?  We all know the content is generally very controlled.  And I would imagine EP has full control over the pics that are released from his party, I always question his involvement and well he was responsible for the only formal pic to date of CC, albeit a group photo.

C killed Halloween with his 2 costume choices. They were amazing. And I love that both he and D wee in drag last Saturday.  

As for M/iarren, while the costumes themselves were not that great (kind of cheap and poorly executed though D as a dalmatian was adorable). I would say she spent more time and effort on the pics with her “squad’), i loved both of them. The villain and the victim. And in both cases, the D character won.  And costume one was a blatant nod to C and his amazing books. Proving she is obsessed with us and what we say and trying to one up C.

Sad for her, she lost Halloween this year and CC triumphed and caused an absolute riot (a riot caused by Chris, Darren, Will and Mia speaking together at a party.. it has come to this#SAD!).  

On K/athy thanks for the insight. I guess i cannot imagine asking such a direct question if I knew the truth. I guess what she failed to realize is that D is a terrible liar, especially back then. (why would Kathy, a great friend to Chris, do something so painful and difficult for Darren in front of a video camera let alone on a comedy show.  Outing someone is a serious matter and not something concussive a rapid-fire comedy show.  Your theory makes no sense whatsoever). His face told a million stories and none of them were of a straight man with a gf that just moves across the country to be with him (yes Abby, his face gave him away because his words sure as hell didn’t, never have and never will. It’s absurd but you continue to believe you know his truth based solely on facial expresses-which you have proven you cannot read accurately-, t-shirt graphics, song lyrics and Instagram “likes” but sadly, that is where we are at).  

No doubt both L/ily and JTF knew.  I think JTF has actually been a role model to D.  And he and JM have been, from what i can see, really amazing to both our guys.(Vomit- random gay men in Hollywood are not “supporting Darren” through his 10 years of closeting, denial and marriage to a women-they have their own lives.) And L/ily would never have jumped in that way if she thought for one second that d was capable of handling it himself (Oh FFS, Darren made the joke about him and Lily having vaginal sex, Lily didn’t jump in, she cracked up and after he milked the joke for all he could get out of it- then she made a joke riffed off his. Your fantasy has overtaken the truth once again. Luckily we have video proof). But since D could not muster an answer, she answered for him and then he was able to collect himself and go with the joke. (that isn’t true at all-it’s a complete a lie).

Intereting side note, when that video originally aired, i still believed the PR story and I remember thinking about how odd his answer was and how uncomfortable he was. And i wasn’t looking for anything as I didn’t think there was a reason for him to lie.  

I love this interview. And example of something team shit would dream about if only d could answer convincingly and instead it completely shined a light on the fact that D is queer and prefers the company of men, at least at that point in his life (Not making a statement on his past and sexuality) (OMG really? You're not? All you do is make statements about his sexuality. Let’s pretend you are right with this theory- For all the help that Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ricky Martin, Ryan Murphy, and all the other gay men in Hollywood are providing ccDarren, this video showing how team shit failed again was broadcast 6 1/2 years ago (3/13) and Darren is still saying he’s straight, he’s still not spending time with Chris -well of course except the Halloween moment caught on the camera-they still lead entirely different lives and Darren married Mia sooo I’m not sure how they are team “shit”. Sounds like “team perfect” since everything is going their way.  They even got Darren to cuddle Mia for a photo as “punishment” for that little moment with Chris...Team Shit for the Win....again!) 

[thecollegefootballguy]

Bizarro Football: An Alternate History of College Football in 2018

Welcome one and all to the FINAL installment of Bizarro Football! It’s the alternate reality imagining what would have happened if the 2010 realignment cycle had never happened.

Check out the previous seasons first if you’d like to catch up: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017

This post is an amalgamation of the various other conference posts I’ve made throughout this (and part of last) off season. Check those out here:

ACC: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Big East: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Big Ten: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Big 12: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 PAC-10: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 SEC: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018

I’ve made some adjustments for games that were never played as well as incorporating the G5 and Notre Dame, but otherwise things haven’t changed from these earlier posts.

Clearly certain things would have changed each year if each conference’s membership was altered. However, most of the Playoff era has remained remarkably consistent, with only 2014 drastically changing. Let’s see if that holds true for 2018.

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ACC

Atlantic Division

Clemson 13-0 (8-0) NC State 10-2 (6-2) Boston College 7-5 (5-3) Maryland 6-6 (3-5) Wake Forest 7-5 (3-5) Florida State 5-7 (2-6)

Coastal Division

Georgia Tech 7-6 (5-3) Virginia Tech 7-4 (5-3) Miami FL 7-5 (4-4) Virginia 7-5 (4-4) Duke 7-5 (3-5) North Carolina 1-10 (0-8)

ACC Championship Game: Clemson over Georgia Tech

Clemson towers over the ACC. The Tigers are so far ahead of the rest of the conference that there essentially was no race. NC State, technically the second best squad in the league, was a fringe top 30 program. Without Pittsburgh winning the Coastal, Georgia Tech pulls one last trick out of the bag in Paul Johnson’s final season. The Yellow Jackets earn another pummeling at the hands of Clemson as the Tigers skip on into the Playoff for the fourth straight year.

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Big East

West Virginia 11-0 (7-0) Cincinnati 11-1 (6-1) Syracuse 9-3 (5-2) Pittsburgh 7-5 (4-3) South Florida 6-6 (2-5) Louisville 4-8 (2-5) Rutgers 3-9 (2-5) Connecticut 1-11 (0-7)

West Virginia pulls off an undefeated season, securing a spot in the Playoff so long as the Committee sees fit to put the Mountaineers into the top 4. I wonder if Dana Holgorsen leaves if he had this much success in Morgantown. Cincinnati and Syracuse were both pretty good, but the rest of the league was varying shades of awful. Conference stalwart Louisville cratered in a bad way after losing Lamar Jackson and Connecticut had one of the worst defenses ever seen in FBS football.

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Big Ten

Michigan 10-2 (7-1) Northwestern 8-4 (7-1) Ohio State 10-2 (6-2) Iowa 9-3 (5-3) Michigan State 8-4 (5-3) Penn State 8-4 (4-4) Minnesota 6-6 (3-5) Wisconsin 6-6 (3-5) Purdue 4-8 (3-5) Indiana 5-7 (1-7) Illinois 3-9 (1-7)

Michigan again almost made the Playoff, but were again thwarted by Ohio State in The Game. The Buckeyes were again the best team in the conference, and again they blew a few games they should have won to fall out of the Playoff race. Northwestern managed to tie for the league championship by missing both UM and OSU, so that’s nice for them. Iowa was actually really good but they’re relegated to being an afterthought for losing too many games. Penn State and Wisconsin suffered some serious bad luck in this universe.

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Big 12

North

Iowa State 8-5 (5-3) Missouri 9-3 (5-3) Colorado 6-6 (3-5) Kansas State 6-6 (3-5) Nebraska 4-8 (2-6) Kansas 5-7 (2-6)

South

Texas 12-1 (8-0) Oklahoma 10-2 (6-2) Oklahoma State 9-3 (5-3) Texas A&M 8-4 (5-3) Baylor 6-6 (3-5) Texas Tech 4-8 (1-7)

Big 12 Championship Game: Texas over Iowa State

Texas is unironically back in Bizarro Football. The Longhorns manage to somehow lose to Maryland and still make a strong case for the College Football Playoff. I didn’t think that was possible. Oklahoma, the best team in the conference in actuality, loses in Red River and to Oklahoma State in Stillwater. The Big 12 schedule played right into Texas’ hands, getting to host the Cowboys as well as A&M. I’m not sure I trust them to win this many big games, but hey, stranger things have happened.

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PAC-10

Washington 9-3 (7-2) Washington State 10-2 (7-2) Stanford 9-3 (7-2) Arizona State 8-4 (6-3) Oregon 7-5 (4-5) UCLA 4-8 (4-5) California 7-5 (4-5) USC 4-8 (3-6) Arizona 4-8 (3-6) Oregon State 1-11 (0-9)

The PAC-10 once again didn’t even get close to the College Football Playoff. Washington was once again the league’s strongest team, but the Huskies just could not act like it for more than a few games in a row before losing some kind of upset. Washington State once again reached for the stars, but a loss in the Apple Cup keeps the Cougars on the outside once again. A three-way tie between UW, WSU, and Stanford mucks up the top of the league, but Washington holds tiebreaking wins over both teams to earn their trip to Pasadena.

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SEC

East

Georgia 11-2 (7-1) Florida 10-2 (6-2) Kentucky 9-3 (5-3) South Carolina 7-5 (4-4) Tennessee 5-7 (2-6) Vanderbilt 4-8 (1-7)

West

Alabama 12-1 (7-1) LSU 10-2 (6-2) Mississippi State 9-3 (5-3) Auburn 7-5 (3-5) Ole Miss 6-6 (2-6) Arkansas 2-10 (0-8)

SEC Championship Game: Alabama over Georgia

The SEC more or less looks the same as it did in real life. Alabama and Georgia were two of best teams in the conference and in the country. The Crimson Tide lost in Athens in the regular season but paid the Bulldogs back in Atlanta with a win in the SEC Championship Game. The SEC East showed life for the first time in a long while thanks to a rebound from Florida and a feel-good season coming from Kentucky. LSU and Mississippi State also turned in very good campaigns out in the West. Poor Auburn was overshadowed by a brutal schedule.

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Notable non-BCS Conference Teams

UCF 12-0 (8-0)* Utah 12-0 (8-0)* Boise State 11-1 (8-0)* Army 10-2 Notre Dame 11-1

*conference champions

UCF and Utah both go undefeated in the C-USA and Mountain West respectively. Boise State also turned in a great season but the Broncos are gonna have to sit the NY6 out with better options on the table. Notre Dame does not run the table in Bizarro Football, the Irish lose early on in East Lansing to blemish their otherwise perfect resume. That’ll make the Playoff section much more interesting.

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Projected CFP Rankings

#1. Clemson 13-0 (8-0) #2. Alabama 12-1 (7-1) #3. Texas 12-1 (8-0) #4. Notre Dame 11-1 #5. Georgia 11-2 (7-1) #6. West Virginia 11-0 (7-0) #7. LSU 10-2 (6-2) #8. Ohio State 10-2 (6-2) #9. Florida 10-2 (6-2) #10. Michigan 10-2 (7-1) #11. Oklahoma 10-2 (6-2) #12. Utah 12-0 (8-0) #13. Washington State 10-2 (7-2) #14. Cincinnati 11-1 (6-1) #15. UCF 12-0 (8-0)

I’m gonna go out on a limb here and assume that the Committee treats the Big East like the glorified G5 that they are. West Virginia just should not be anywhere near the Playoff despite the undefeated record and it would have been the right thing to do to keep the Mountaineers out of the top four. I’m not positive it would have played out this way, but I think Alabama and Texas have slam dunk cases, and Notre Dame probably make it over WVU, so I’m running with it.

With the Rose and Sugar not hosting semifinals, there are not very many at-large bids this year.

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Projected NY6 Games

Peach Bowl: #6 West Virginia vs #7 LSU

LSU pulls one of the two at-large bids and gives West Virginia the real top fifteen opponent they were missing in the Big East. Both of these teams were probably overrated, so I’m not gonna go ahead and declare the Tigers the winner outright. If the Mountaineers manage to win this one, the Committee is gonna take some flak for their decision to stonewall unbeaten WVU.

Fiesta Bowl: #8 Ohio State vs #12 Utah

I'm actually not sure Utah would get ranked ahead of UCF if the Knights had a two year win streak, but that C-USA bias is hard to wash off compared to a Mountain West that still has BYU and TCU. The Utes were about as good as Central Florida in 2018 anyway, so either one can show up to take a beating from Ohio State. The Buckeyes have missed the last few Playoffs despite being the best team in the Big Ten each year, so I assume they’re gonna smack around whichever upstart they can and send Urban Meyer off right.

Rose Bowl: #10 Michigan vs #16 Washington

I’ll say this: the game might be unwatchable, but I’m sure the stadium is packed because Michigan and Washington fans would show up to this even if both teams were 8-4. I’d favor the Wolverines, but not with too much confidence.

Sugar Bowl: #5 Georgia vs #11 Oklahoma 

The best game in the non-Playoff slate. Maybe. I mean, did you see what Texas did to Georgia in real life? Then sub in Oklahoma, the real best team in the Big 12, for the Longhorns. This is an even matchup on paper, maybe even favoring the Bulldogs, but they really must have been gutted by losing to Alabama again cause they laid down a stinker.

Cotton Bowl (semifinal): #2 Alabama vs #3 Texas

Aren’t you a little curious what would have happened if this game gets played? An overachieving Texas team probably gets slammed to the mat by a far better Alabama. I’m not sure it’d be a 30-0 type deal, but I’m not seeing any kind of Longhorn win here. The computers put UT somewhere between 10th and 20th in most projections. I know they beat Georgia, but come on, only one team in the Playoff can beat Bama here.

Orange Bowl (semifinal): #1 Clemson vs #4 Notre Dame

Notre Dame gets exposed, again. At least they weren’t undefeated going into the game, so it probably doesn’t sting as much as 2012.

So uhhhh, Clemson wins the national championship! I was at the real life National Championship Game so I’m definitely not gonna entertain any kind of scenario that doesn’t give Dabo Swinney’s Tigers a second ring.

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So that’s it for Bizzarro Football, it actually wasn’t that different most years. I’m not sure what that says about the system or conference realignment, but we’re doing a decent job crowning champions. Clearly it’s not perfect, but a good football team will win in any conference.

[leahwilliamson]

Completely fair and valid for you to have your own opinion and want to talk about it on your blog but don’t go telling people to move on from a player who you clearly see is adored by many.

Everyone who hopped on board the Lionesses/AWFC train during/after 2019 has the same problem. I don’t think you all fully understand who she is and what she means to England and especially Arsenal. When you have so much outrage at the way she is being used (or not in this case 😅) and treated I think it means there’s a good reason for it.

She definitely underperformed this past season but it is extremely unfair to judge that. No matter how good of a player you are you’re not going to play well if you’re getting such horrible minutes because there’s no rhythm or confidence.

2 of her 3 full 90s happened when the injury crisis and Asian Cup happened and the entire team played horribly. The full 90 she got with a fully functioning and healthy squad she bagged a goal and an assist.

You can’t move on or give up on her not cause of sentimental reasons but because it just doesn’t make sense to.

Nowadays players are able to play at very high levels at older ages and to not even allow her to attempt that is insane. So no we won’t move on but I do completely agree with you on the 2 yr old thing. Fantastic points.

Hopefully this wasn’t too harsh and sorry for the length 😅😅

Nah I do understand, I may have hopped on the arsenal train in 2019 but I was definitely already aware of who she was and what she means to her club and country. Plus, I have my own players like her. I just think that sometimes having a bit of a recency bias is a good thing. In a sport like this you can’t cling onto players who performed for you 5/6 years ago when they clearly aren’t who they were anymore. It’s the harsh truth

I didn’t say I think she should just go retire right now, of course I think she deserves to have a fulfilling last few years of her career. If consistent minutes are actually the problem, then maybe she should consider going elsewhere. If I remember correctly she was fully fit for all of last season apart from the end, but Jonas was still hesitant to give her minutes. Maybe he just doesn’t really know how to use her or simply doesn’t rate her. And that’s ok too, sometimes a player just isn’t the right fit for a coach

I completely respect and understand your opinion and I do realise I probably am missing some of the sentimentality that’s making it so hard for people to let her go. Who knows maybe she will get back to her best this season, but there’s one year left on her arsenal contract and if this year isn’t the one either I see no reason for both parties to want to extend if she’s unhappy with her role as more of an impact sub

[fossadeileonixv]

Player Ratings: Juventus 1 Milan 1

They can’t all be 10′s.

COACH

PIOLI (6.0): After a rather lackluster showing midweek against Liverpool, the onus was on Pioli to recharge his men for an arguably bigger matchup against Juve. Injuries marred his teamsheet yes, but the Mister probably overthought his options and played a 3-4-3-ish kind of setup that was impotent in almost every way imaginable. The necessary adjustments weren’t really made until Kjaer left with an injury, with Kalulu recalibrating the squad back to a 4-2-3-1 which yielded dividends late. That said, the boys were not up for it early on and subbing off Kessie and Saele for Bennacer and Florenzi inched us closer to unlocking Juve’s organization, with the cohesiveness eventually leading to our equalizer.

STARTERS

Big Mike (6.0): Made a handful of fine stops and was composed at the back. Looked a bit caught off on the opener, but probably couldn’t have done much more.

Tomori (7.0): Didn’t look totally comfortable early on, but settled in nicely and locked up Morata pretty well the rest of the match, breaking up play up and down the pitch and getting ahead to contribute late in the match.

Kjaer (5.5): Was decent until pulling up in the 34′ with what appeared to be a muscular issue.

Romagnoli (6.5): Had a very solid performance defensively making a number of composed and well-timed tackles. Leveled up after the reversion to the four-man backline.

Theo (5.5): Came alive in the final 20 minutes with some very dangerous runs and even a couple of extremely deft balls into the box, but was as tepid in the 70 minutes prior with two almost comical attempts from distance. I’ll chalk this one up to the nebulous shape we had in the first half.

Kessie (5.0): Invisible. Let me know if I need more elaboration here.

Tonali (7.5)(Man of the Match): Maybe the only player that showed quality bell to bell. Was an nuisance for Juve’s midfield defensively and was at times the only catalyst advancing possession in attack. Sent in a beautiful cross for Rebic’s equalizer.

Saelemaekers (5.0): I like Alexis. I really do and it wasn’t always this way, but matches like today expose the fact that he just does not have the quality to start in matches against top tier opponents. Was routinely beaten by Sandro and Rabiot and was an afterthought getting ahead.

Diaz (6.0): Grew into the match, and had some effective link up play in and around the eighteen but struggled to impose himself in what was an extremely effective mid-block. Must be said, did not have much to work with for much of the match.

Leao (6.0): Solid, albeit forgettable performance. Covered his flank well but suffered from the lack of initiative and or ability for his teammates to make themselves options.

Rebic (6.5): The goal was brilliant and his pressing was a consistent problem for Juve’s backline, but was dreadful in buildup and counters making wandering runs and giving away possession cheaply. Either way, classy finish on the corner.

SUBSTITUTIONS

Kalulu (6.0): Really impressive. Had a couple of duds for crosses, but nearly put in the winner and exploited Juve’s left-side late.

Florenzi (6.0): Nothing flashy, but provided a simplicity and effectiveness in the final third that was sorely lacking with Saele.

Bennacer (5.5): Better.

Maldini (N/A): Time wasting ting.

Sound off!

[maanumitstumbrl]

Arsenal women get a lot of Injuries but the small squad, lack of rotation argument which seems to be a favourite is rubbish and a lazy one at that, and here is why I think this,  At the start of the season Arsenal registered 22 players, in a season where the maximum games arsenal could play were 22 league games 3 games in the 2020 FA Cup 6 conti cup games and 5 (2021) fa cup a maximum of 36 games. However unless the 2021 fa cup restarts  and the fact you didn't get out the conti cup group they are only required to play 28 games, which after Christmas means one game a week most weeks, players imo don’t need to be rotated every game. Looking back at the injures we have had: At the start of the season Vs reading we had Lydia (ankle injury which happened in pre season) and Jen (recurring back issue) we were still able to field a strong 11 and subs were made before 70 minutes.  They  then played one game before an  international break where Jill suffered a knee injury which was a contact injury (unavoidable unless she avoids the challenge not because she was over played), Lia received  a concussion ( contact injury).  And Catley (calf which happened in training as well as her recent hamstring injury but I’m not fully aware of Catleys injuries before joining). Between the Tottenham fa cup quarter final and the league game Vs  Bristol we lost Lisa (calf) and Kim (hamstring).  but i don’t think that was down to them being over played, lisa was played as a sub in the first two games didn’t have an international game in that first break along with kim who also didn't have a international break game. Tottenham was lisa first full 90.  Likewise  with kim she hadn’t completed a full 90 yet she was always subbed off. and then jordan got injured vs bristol you could argue that was due to being over played  because of kim and jill no longer being available but Jordans ACL injury may have also been a factor.  after the chelsea conti cup game noelle gets a knee injury which would be contact or twisting motion. all of these players apart from Steph were out from september to november (kim and jill coming back vs london city lionesses  and lisa spurs conti cup).  Jordans first game back was city away but her   full game back was Vs Everton in December and Noelle has only just come back. In that time arsenal have played twice in one week four times, because of the fa cup and conti cup and apart from city in the FA Cup Joe used his subs  didnt over play anyone . Then we had Christmas a bunch off called of fixtures and Kim Jordan Jen got  injured again which a lot of people will ask how when they’ve not played, but lack of game time can be a reason for injuries to happen just as much as over playing.  Jen, Kim and Jordan are either injury prone or had big injuries in the past and  players who have had injuries in the past can end up having recurring injuries, hence why Viki seems to always have issues with the knee ( out since November). So the bulk of injuries at the start wasn’t down to overplaying In my opinion it was probably down to a short preseason after 7 months and the quick start Arsenal had, along with player recovery after matches but I can’t comment on what happens in training none of us are there.  I also think Arsenals form this season is partly due to the injures they’ve had, In the summer Arsenal made effort to improve defensively bringing in a natural left back and right back in Catley and Noelle along with two new centre backs.  Catley and Noelle along with two new centre backs, the full backs were brought in to Improve the wide defensive areas where arsenal got caught out last season sometimes, and they haven’t been able to use them probably yet so our back four hasn’t really changed.  if anything it was weaker when both lisa and Noelle were injured, back fours need to be conistent imo just look at Chelsea wfc this season, and Liverpool men last season we have  missed our two best midfielders for parts this season. when Jordan is fit Joe plays her on the wing (this shouldn’t be an issue in a Midfield that includes Jill/daan as they both can swap with Jordan during games and means the attack is a bit more freeflowing we saw this vs Everton when Jordan was not stuck out wide all game.  I think another reason is poor consistent form from players some experienced players just haven't stepped up when coming into the team because of injury. I can’t say anyone has been consistently good all season we've had small graces in Leah Katie foord and Viv. Lotte and Malin have stepped up massively though when played.  Overall performances though  in big games have been lacking. And of course tactics and coaching  are an issue unlike some I don’t think Joe’s sets players up to fail  and he does make stuble changes during games  however it's not worked and Arsenal won win another title or cup until they win games against the top 3 I do think q ran out his time at Arsenal and I’ll be shocked if he’s here next season even if Arsenal finish top 3