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subtlerain · 6 years ago

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Blue & Gold

→ College Athlete!Namjoon x Reader

A/N: Thank you to my lovely mutual @charlesgrey1875 for requesting! You’re so supportive and lovely and I really hope you love this super fluffy au with Namjoonie! This was so fun to write, and super refreshing, as all the other fics/series I’ve been writing have been a lot heavier. Hope you enjoy! <3

Pop some prompts/requests in my ask → here

You hopped on the balls of your feet, excitement buzzing through your body, “Come on, we’re gonna be late!” You called to your roommate from the front door.

Mina, looking utterly bored, emerged from her bedroom, yawning, as she started her usual protests on nights like these, “Do we really have to go this time? They’ve had so many—”

You checked your glittery face paint in the mirror once more, “Yes! Of course we do! We go to every game.”

Mina crossed her arms, but slipped on her shoes anyway, “Fine. Only because their season is ending soon.” She grinned at you prettily as she shoved the team hat on her head, colours of gold and royal blue matching the t-shirt you had shoved her in earlier in the evening.

You looked at her expectantly.

She rolled her makeup-less eyes, “And because I love you.”

Satisfied, you reached around her and grabbed at the door handle, practically shoving her out of the door. She sighed again as you made your way through the dorm hallway, surrounded by other students, clad in your University colours.

Mina linked her arm through yours, and looked at you sideways, “I don’t understand how you’re so comfortable dressing up so much.”

You grinned, “It’s fun.” You said simply.

She pulled at your shirt, “I’m just amazed that you somehow find a way to add more gold glitter to your outfits as the season progresses.

You grinned wider at her, and looked down at yourself. You were the number-one fan of your university varsity football team. The title of “number one fan” wasn’t one you proclaimed, but rather grew into, after developing an intense and rather unusual interest in football in your freshman year. You, the bubbly sophomore arts student, was known all around campus.

You loved it.

You had never missed a game, not once, and you were always dressed from head to toe in your school colours. In fact, you owned so many football-game school colour clothes that you had a variety of options when crafting your look.

Today, you were sporting a navy miniskirt with a gold trim, along with an oversized tee that read, “GO BUFFALOS” in thick, gold writing. You had on gold, sparkly converse—a product of your own DIY project, which you were very proud of—high navy socks, and the classic baseball hat topping off your look.

Oh, and you could never forget the face paint, temporary tattoos, and giant styrofoam sign.

Mina giggled and leaned into your shoulder, “I do admit, you manage to pull of the adorkable look pretty well.”

You shook your head at your friend in amusement and made your way out of the dorm, and into the warm, spring night.

There was excited chatter all around you, students from all four years and from all programs walking together to the football field. That was one of the things you loved so much about football games. No matter who you were, what program you were in, there was always a seat for you on the bleachers.

Nothing was better for making friends and building school spirit than a good ol’ university football game.

You noticed Mina looking at you for about the hundredth time, and you swivelled your head around to glance at her in question. Observant one, she was.

She narrowed her brown eyes, “You got new makeup, didn’t you?”

You pretended to think, and you shrugged meekly, adjusting your hat that did not need adjusting.

Mina, who had seen your I-feel-uncomfortable-because-you-caught-me look, leaned in, giggling at the blush spreading to your cheeks.

She lowered her voice a tone, “It’s because of Namjoon, isn’t it?”

You swung your head, eyes like saucers, “Just—shhh! I didn’t say that!” You hissed.

She smirked, “You didn’t say anything, but that blush told me all I needed to know.”

You huffed, but let a smile creep onto your lips.

Ah yes, Kim Namjoon.

Kim Namjoon, the junior quarterback who had caught your eye in the very first game you attended in university.

Kim Namjoon, the adorable athlete with eyes a deep brown like the smoothest chocolate, heart as golden as the sun, dimples as deep as the ocean.

There were not enough words in the dictionary to describe him, although with the smarts he possessed, you were sure he knew quite a few more than you.

Your heart did a little flip-flop, and you cursed Mina for bringing him to the front of your brain.

Although, your thoughts of him had been lurking around in your head anyway…

You smiled at your feet. You’d thought you’d left sappy, heartbreaking crushes back in high school, but as soon as you saw Namjoon run out onto the field after being dragged to your first football game, it was all over.

In the beginning, you had tried to push it off as just an infatuation, it wouldn’t surprise you if nearly every other girl sitting on the bleachers also had their eye on him. But each game, you saw how hard he worked leading his team, the reassuring looks that he would give them if the opposing team gained a point, and the proud look he would give the other boys when they would win a game.

He wasn’t just a football star who liked attention, he was a kind and cooperative member of the team. His leadership was admirable, his kindness was blinding.

Mina crossed her arms again as the two of you made your way onto the bleachers, “Honestly Y/N, you could’ve talked to him way earlier if you had just become a cheerleader.”

You scoffed and looked down at the cheerleaders who were practicing their high kicks and stretching on the side of the field, pleated skirts and high ponytails and all.

You raised your eyebrows, “I have next to none athletic ability, I’d probably kill someone in the tryout.”

Mina giggled, “You’re right. Plus, half of those girls are only on the team so they can sleep around with the football team.”

Your lips twitched into a frown.

Even though Namjoon had captured your heart easily, it was undoubtedly one-sided. He had never looked at you when you walked past him on campus, had never looked up and smiled when you cheered the loudest at every game.

It seemed that everyone knew you were the biggest fan, except the one you cheered for the most.

“Y/N! The game is starting!” Mina nudged your shoulder, jolting you from your disappointed thoughts.

Oh well.

Sure enough, the usual happenings of the starting of a football game were taking place: cheerleaders getting into their first positions, the buzz of the crowd, the ruffling of popcorn and chip bags.

It was an orchestra of familiar sounds, and your excitement only heightened as the large, breakable banners displaying each team colour raised on each side of the dome, in front of the exit of the locker rooms.

The loudspeaker crackled, and the announcers booming voice echoed in the stadium.

Cheers from your university’s side of the dome rumbled as the announcer spoke of your team, the opposite side taking its turn to cheer when the opposing team was announced.

Your eyes narrowed slightly as you looked across the dome, red and white colours littering the opposing side.

The Mountain Lions.

Busy with your classes as the school year was coming to a close, you completely forgot to check who the opposing side would be. The opposing varsity team was good—well great actually—and had often been one one of your own team’s greatest competitors.

You clenched your jaw as the announcer continued to ramble.

Mina rested her hand on your leg, “They’ll be okay.” She assured, but you could see the worried look in her own eyes.

“And now, for our away team, The Mountain Lions!”

The crowd on the other side boomed, and from the left side of the dome, the floor rumbled.

Their quarterback emerged first, his hands up in the air in a cheer for himself. He was a buff blonde, and you narrowed your eyes as he made his rounds around the dome, his other team members—emphasis on the fact that they are on the same team—filing out behind him as he continued to run around, basking in the cheers from his side.

Ugh, the stereotypical football jerk.

Their cheerleaders erupted into their first cheer—the blatant disses towards your home team not going unnoticed—until they finally settled and the chorus died down a little.

“Here we go…” You whispered, your heart thumping in your chest.

You tried to imagine Namjoon and his team in the locker rooms, huddled and nervous-excited for their game. They were all valued players, each with varying skills and specialities.

They knew each other like the back of their hands, and their trust in each member was oh-so apparent.

“And for our home team, the pride and joy of our campus, The Buffalos!”

You stood up instantly, your cheer loud above the rest as the spotlights landed on the giant royal blue and gold ribbon that would be ripped by your home team any moment.

Mina nudged your shoulder playfully, and you knew full well that she was watching your reaction to the appearance of Namjoon.

The dome erupted as the varsity team burst through the ribbon, clumped together with smiles on their faces. Your heart clenched as Namjoon appeared, his dimples apparent even from your place in the middle of the bleachers.

He waved happily, clapping his teammates on the back as he weaved through them. They were like brothers; inseparable.

And gosh, he was glowing.

You watched Namjoon carefully, gnawing at your lower lip as he furrowed his brows at the opposing team, before turning away again. You knew he was smart enough not to psyche himself out before a big game, but you knew he was nervous all the same, the pressure to win was always high, especially at the end of a season.

Your own cheerleaders started up, lifts and flips that you were still amazed anyone would want to attempt.

The game was starting.

Helmets: on

Mouth-guards: in

Crowd: buzzing

Namjoon bounced on his toes like he always did, and you gripped your sign tighter.

What was he thinking about?

He was venerable, he was the leader of your school’s top team, the pride and joy of the athletics program. Everyone knew him, guys and girls alike wanted to be his friend—date him if they were so lucky—and yet, he always seemed so quiet when you would see him on campus in jeans and a sweater, heading to his humanity classes that he took as electives.

He wore glasses sometimes—thick, black-framed ones—and he would sweep his hair back in a messy wave. Sometimes if you were lucky, you stumble across him in the library or in a coffee shop on campus.

He was usually alone, or with one or two of his team members, but he was scarcely at parties, and you had never seen him with a girl.

You bit your lip at the possibly that under all that football gear and padding, through his focused, strong, all-star athlete exterior, there was just a down-to-earth and shy guy.

And maybe that was why you were so attracted to him; you knew Kim Namjoon is more than meets the eye.

You felt a nudge at your side, and looked to see Mina with pursed lips, staring out at the field. She pointed, “Hey, who is that again?”

You followed her finger and unwavering gaze, letting a smile flick at the corner of your lips.

You narrowed your eyes, “Kim Taehyung. Sophomore, plays wide receiver. His major is in acting, if you can believe that.”

Mina’s eyes widened, “Really? Acting?”

You bit your lip and watched her eyes train on the blonde-haired player, who was bouncing around the field.

She grinned, “He’s like a cute little puppy.”

You giggled, “Glad you came?”

She shrugged, eyes still trained on the football player.

Only a minute passed before all the players were in position, your heart racing as your team got into offence, your eyes trailing Namjoon as he crouched down before centre.

And…

Go.

Everyone was on their feet as the first play was made, your eyes going from player to player as he ran and passed, a smear of red and white and blue and gold painting the field.

Your heart clenched as opposing sides smashed into each other, and you could nearly feel the adrenaline surging through each team, as they passed and tackled.

The game was intense from the first pass, and you nearly forgot to breathe each time anyone would try to tackle Namjoon, clenching your jaw as you saw his other teammates end up in a pile of bodies.

Pass.

Tackle.

Run!

Point.

You were engaged the whole time, your shoulders hunched and eyes burning as you watched every move intensely.

You glanced worriedly at the score board, the points now tied for each team. The air of the crowd had changed to a stale worry, because the Buffalos never lost.

Mina leaned over to you, “It’s nearing the end, Y/N.”

You only gnawed on your bottom lip with worry as the game continued, each side looking more and more tense.

Not only tense, but the tight competition had brought on a harsh roughness in the players, and tackling became more ruthless and determined.

Both teams chasing the win, that only one could have.

It was so close.

Your heart sank as the opposing team suddenly gained a point, their fastest player dodging the tackles from your home team that were just a little to late.

Boos from your side, cheers from the opposition.

Your ears perked up at the conversation behind you, the voices among the disgruntled sighs.

“Do you think they can do it?”

“I doubt it, they’re getting tired and the other team isn’t giving up. Now they’re a point behind.”

You frowned as you watched the players get into their final position, the last chance for your team to get a point before time ran out.

You watched as Namjoon shared discouraged glances with the other members of his team, his eyes that were also so bright and encouraging now a little dull.

“They’re gonna get torn apart if they don’t win.”

“…This will be humiliating…”

So much pressure was put upon the shoulders of this team, of the team you had been invested in since your freshman year. Your eyes burned into Namjoon’s back as he called a team huddle, and you noticed his half-mouthed smile, his eyes that glanced worriedly at the scoreboard.

He can’t give up.

It was a burning fire in the pit of your stomach that made your knuckles turn white from your tight grip on your sign, that made your eyes narrow because, they can’t give up.

Encouragement, no matter how small, could make a big difference. Words of support, from any tiny voice, could speak volumes.

So that’s exactly what you did.

“Y/N, what are you—“ Mina started, startled as you got up from your seat.

You clenched your jaw as you stepped up on the bleacher seat, ignoring the confused glances from other students as you told with wobbly knees.

Your eyes were trained on Namjoon as he started to pull away from his team huddle, and you took in a deep breath and cupped your hands around your mouth.

“KIM NAM-JOON!”

Your voice echoed, and it was louder than you anticipated, but his head snapped up naturally, along with a thousand others.

Mina shifted, and she pulled on your arm, “Y/N! What the hell—“

Confusion was the only emotion laced in his features as he looked around the dome, his other team members searching their eyes around the stadium for the voice that had suddenly captured everyone’s attention.

And then his large brown eyes landed on yours, and that was your cue.

You wondered if he could hear your pounding heart from all the way down on the field.

Your ears burned as all attention was on you—even the opposing team—but you took the opportunity.

You placed the biggest smile on your face, genuine, right from the centre of your heart.

You breathed in again, “DON’T GIVE UP! YOU CAN DO IT!”

And then his parted lips turned into a smile, a glowing expression radiated from his place on the field.

You breathed in again, still smiling, “GO BUFFALOS!”

And then the students around you erupted into cheers, louder than you had ever heard, and you were right smack in the middle of it.

Namjoon, flushed and suddenly recharged, relished in the sight of you for one more beat, the girl he had seen every game without failure, the one he had to pretend he didn’t notice, or his heart would explode.

Gosh, you were adorably nerdy and weird, and loud and fun.

Any glance in your direction would turn him crazy, and he would trip over his own feet.

You were his greatest distraction.

He turned away and smiled, a blush crawling up his neck.

***

“Well, at least they tied.”

You nodded, linking your arm around Mina’s as you strolled out of the dome.

After you screamed words of encouragement, your team played flawlessly, and managed to even their scores with the opposing team before time ran out.

It wasn’t a win, but they played a damn good game, and you couldn’t be prouder.

You were practically glowing as you remembered Namjoon’s wide eyes on you, the way he sported a hidden smile after your words. Thinking that perhaps your words had had an impact on the way they played in their final moments made your heart hum.

You were practically floating.

Just as you were rounding the corner to your dorm, you groaned, feeling the absence of a certain clothing item.

You stopped in your tracks, “Ah, I think I forgot my hat!”

Mina rolled her eyes, “You have like 25 hats back in your room—“

You detached yourself from her arm, “No! This one I bedazzled with gold sequins after my very first game! It’s special.”

Mina shook her head in amusement, “Alright, well I have a paper to write, so I’ll go ahead, okay?”

You were already jogging back to the dorm as you gave her two thumbs up.

The sky had turned a reddy pink as the sun dipped below the horizon, a sight you had grown accustomed to after attending so many games in the evening.

You walked up the metal stairs leading to the dome, only a few more students and cheerleaders hanging around, talking idly.

You skipped up the steps, taking them two at a time in a rush to get to your seat.

You furrowed your brows in confusion as you got to your spot, the shiny, metal bench staring back at you. You were quick to get on your knees to peer under and around the seat, sadness seeping into your stomach. The fact that someone may have stolen it broke your—

“Looking for something?”

You flinched at the voice behind you, and you whipped your head around so fast, your ponytail smacked you right in the face.

It was fully possible that your soul left your body for a moment, because Kim Namjoon was standing right behind you, still in his football uniform, his helmet in one hand and your shiny Buffalos hat in the other.

He smiled an adorable smile that made you want to scream at the sky.

You weren’t sure if you paled or flushed, but you knew your eyes had widened by the way he looked away bashfully.

He was shy.

He tilted to his head—adorable, of course—and spoke quietly, lightly, “I came up to talk to you after the game, but you were already gone.” He breahted, “Except you left your hat, which I assume you were just looking for.”

You blinked, mind sweeping over his words. Not only was your hugest crush suddenly making conversation with you, he had ‘come up to talk to you after the game’ and had taken your hat in safe keeping.

He had come to find you.

And he had waited.

You breathed out, “Y-yeah, that’s my hat.”

Wow, what great conversation skills you had.

His lips twitched in amusement, but you were too busy inspecting the ground to notice.

I’m so dumb, so dumb, dumb—

Then his feet shuffled, and you remembered he had wanted to talk to you, so you looked up from his football cleats.

“Um,” He started, and his voice was a tone lower than usual.

Goosebumps ran up your arms.

Oh god.

He chuckled, and your eyes swept up to his face, because holy crap that was the most beautiful sound you had heard.

He looked up, eyes shining stars, “Thanks for screaming at me at the game.”

You were sure your skin had brightened to the attractive shade of tomato and you sputtered, “U-Uh, I’m sorry…I was just—I saw you and—“

He chuckled again, “No, don’t apologize. It helped. A lot.”

You let your mouth slowly close, and you looked away, “You’re welcome.” You squeaked.

His heart shuttered and he thought, cute.

He let himself look at you, really look at you. At every game, you wore a different outfit—pieces with your school colours—but he could never see your ensemble fully.

The sparkly gold converse and miniskirt combo was quite a lovely surprise, and he felt a flutter of golden warmth settle in his stomach.

“You really are our biggest fan, huh?” He said evenly, “You’re at every game.”

You nodded, and let the smallest of smiles slip onto your face, “I didn’t think you had noticed me.”

His smile faltered a little bit, and he suddenly felt regret for not returning the ‘secret’ looks you would give him in the library, or the shy smiles that would creep on your lips when you passed him in the hallway.

No, he always noticed you.

The real problem was that he couldn’t trust his heart to not burst or his voice to not crack. He couldn’t trust his arms to not reach out an smoulder you in a hug that he needed, or his lips to not tingle because of all the times he had thought about pressing you against the wall of a crowded hallway and kissing you.

But now here he was, finally talking to you. And he knew he had made the right decision when your shoulders relaxed a millimetre, and you brushed your hair back behind your ears and he could see the blush on your perfect cheeks.

He chuckled, allowing himself to speak the truth aloud, “Of course I noticed you. We all did. In fact, I think some of the other varsity teams are jealous they don’t have someone as supportive as you to cheer for them at every game.”

You blushed at that, and finally made eye contact with him.

His eyes were so warm. In the setting sun, his eyes glimmered like melted chocolate, his dimples round and deep. His hair looked slightly damp, presumably from sweat, but it looked good messy and sweaty, haphazardly swept all over his forehead.

You nodded, crossing your hands in front of you, “You guys did well today, you’re such a good leader.”

Maybe it was your imagination, but you swear you saw a flush crawl up his neck, “Thanks, Y/N.”

Your name rolling off his palette sounded almost as good in your ears as it tasted on his tongue.

How long had he waited to talk to the girl he yearned to be with?

He finally reached his hand out, and offered your hat, “Here.”

You heart beat like thunder in your chest as you took the hat, still dry-mouthed over the fact that he knew your name, that he spoke it so lightly.

Your head felt too light, so you stuttered an excuse, “U-um, I should get back to my dorm, I think.”

Namjoon smirked at your sudden bashfulness, over the moon that he could now see the way your cheeks flushed and eyes sparkled up close.

God, how could a girl do this to him?

You attempted to get past him, but he caught your wrist, the forward action nearly startling himself.

Your breath caught as he gently maneuvered you so you were facing him again.

He breathed in, now or never.

“Would you wanna go out sometime?”

Oh.

You didn’t bother to conceal your grin that spread onto your face like a wildfire, and Namjoon relished in the way your eyes lit up in the most beautiful way.

You stuttered adorably, “Y-yes. I would like that.”

He grinned, “You have no classes tomorrow right? I can meet you outside your dorm at 12.”

Your eyes widened even more at his knowledge of your schedule, and you began to rethink the fact that maybe he had noticed you on your way to classes, maybe he had caught glimpses of you on your way to your dorm.

Maybe he had, admittedly, only just worked up enough courage to talk to you, the girl he had had a crush on ever since your first appearance at one of his games.

He moved out of the way so you could brush past him, but not before he bit his lip and called for you.

“Y/N?”

You turned around and blinked at him in response.

He tilted his head, and allowed his gaze once again to sweep over your form.

“Wear that outfit to the next game, you look utterly adorable.”

You didn’t know if it was possible to feel like you were walking on clouds, but it did, all the way back to your dorm.

113 notes · View notes

lucassvazquez · 7 years ago

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I think you're too hard in Karim. It's not like he doesn't try, because compared to Gareth he does, it's more of a matter if bad luck. Also he isn't a traditional striker, he makes a lot of chances for others. Nonetheless I do think we should have another striker to rotate in :)

The “he isn’t a traditional striker” argument doesn’t do it for me anymore. I used to give him the benefit of the doubt but he’s been declining for over a year. If he wasn’t a traditional striker, he’d be succeeding in other roles, and he’s not. A few good dribbles and passes don’t make him an exceptionally good player. Gareth is injury prone, and yes I agree, he’s been ghost for a while and should definitely be benched, but we signed him in 2013, he’s had 2 successful seasons with us. I’m hoping this is a bad spell that will pass eventually, bc he remains consistent with Wales so that leads me to think the BBC is not working for him either. B&B have no connection between them, no understanding on the pitch, and without Cris to make up for their mistakes, they look very weak. If he isn’t a traditional striker, then he shouldn’t be playing that role, give it to someone who deserves it. I never said he doesn’t try, but there’s a difference between trying and simply not being good enough. We’ve had many players that really tried but were eventually sold bc things just didn’t work out for them. He’s been with us since 2009, and he’s been one of our most inconsistent players. We don’t even have to sell him, all we’re asking is that he’s benched when he’s under-performing, that doesn’t sound so unreasonable to me. He shouldn’t be an undisputed starter, esp after his performance last season. We’re building a team of young talent, and every position is covered with 2+ valid options…except that of strikers. And as much as I love Borja, he’s not ready enough to be our main back-up or even compete with him, he needs a season long loan with another Spanish team to get him ready. The fact is that without Cris, we lack consistent goalscorers, and even tho Marco is shinning, he’s still not gonna be picked ahead of him or Gareth. We had 2 wonderful, talented young strikers who were perfect for us, but we fucked that up and contrary to popular belief, I don’t think we were ever gonna sign Mbappe, his price tag would’ve forced us to let him start and we all know how much flop loves b*nz to ever let that happen. So no, I’m definitely not too hard on him, esp given the special treatment he gets. I’ve been watching him since 2009 and he’s been impressive at times, I’ll give him that, but it’s not always, and that’s not someone I want on my team…he lacks consistency and his time at rm needs to come to an end!!!

#Anonymous

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theaveragekenyan · 5 years ago

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And Justice For All...

Cameroon 0 – England 3.

I’m a big believer in, that no matter whatever happens within a football game, the above result will be the only long lasting importance. To the real purists, it can be distilled even further to simply, England beat Cameroon, verbatim.

The Women’s World Cup 2019 will be no different to any other major Footballing competition, they come, they go.

That said, the game between Cameroon and England was a real treat. The football game was excellent, but the actions of the Cameroonian players during the game was by far the best entertainment. They cried, they argued, they spat, they threatened careers, they looked silly and yet, amongst all of this, they played some nice football.

This is what former USA footballer, Hope Solo, had to say.

“This Cameroon team, they don't have the resources. They don't have the quality coaching in their country, they don't have the experience like England or somebody like Phil Neville. We have to try and understand that. Perhaps they weren't even told about the rules, the laws of the game and the evolution of the game. So, your heart has to go out a little bit to this Cameroon side. They played with emotions and brought this emotion to the tournament. As much as we want to see a little bit more class from Cameroon, they did bring that beautiful emotion and packed this entire stadium, You have to look at it both ways”

It’s such a diplomatic way of looking at the game, and largely I agree with it, however, just which resources are required to educate a football team about spitting, elbowing, shoving the ref, the off-side rule? Let’s not even go there with the stereotypical view that women don’t understand the off-side rule, many football fans don’t understand the rule. It is a rule that whichever way is tweaked, in an attempt to make it easier to implement, will mutate into something more complex.

“Perhaps they weren't even told about the rules, the laws of the game and the evolution of the game” Whilst the evolution of the game right now is VAR, the introduction of the off-side rule came in 1863. Every decision made by VAR concerning the off-side rule was 100% accurate.

The Cameroon team were visibly shaken by the off-side rulings, crying, arguing with the officials, huddling together in the center circle, claiming FIFA is racist, essentially the team “blew their shit” and wasn’t prepared to accept a decision go against them. It was if they were not prepared to accept the rules, as if there was perhaps another way to get the decision overturned, sadly that option was not available to them.

I can’t say it was a macrocosm of African life, because I haven’t lived within enough African cultures to speak for the whole continent, but the Cameroonian Ladies attitudes definitely resonated as far as Kenya.

The petulance displayed by the Cameroon team throughout the game made me draw direct comparisons to how the average Kenyan lives life. A life that perhaps hasn’t been told about the rules, laws and evolution of life, or as more than likely, chooses to deliberately ignore them.

Upon on your first arrival to Kenya you’ll hear very quickly about authority and justice, usually from the driver as you exit the airport into Nairobi.

Every single Kenyan knows just how corrupt their country is, and yes, whilst they are all utterly ashamed and embarrassed about the ‘C’ word, we are all fundamentally enslaved by the “system”.

Recently, I’ve heard at least five friends or associates tell me of their experiences of refusing to pay Tea Tax, and how now, each and every one of them says, that will be the last time they fight the system, next time they’ll just pay the bribe.

It took me a while to learn how to deal with “The Police” here and certainly, my first initial reaction with the police was to challenge. Why have I been stopped? I’ve done nothing wrong. Of course, that’s a perfectly natural way for everybody to act, well, not in Kenya as it turns out, there can always be something “wrong” and you’re guilty until proven guilty.

Growing up in the UK you become aware of your rights from an early age, you develop and become armed with a robust set of civil rights and unless you’ve been hacking the matrix, you’ll be able to exercise them.

Most offences you are likely to stand accused of here will be similar to an episode of Scooby-Doo, they’ll be vague, tenuous and carry little legal credibility. Had the criminals, that Freddie, Velma and Daphne caught, possessed any sense, they could have switched the legal tables around and had the Magical Mystery Bus Crew up for Trespassing, Criminal Damage, GBH, Slander, False Imprisonment, Zoinks, I doubt they even had a Dog License.

So, with this in mind, my advice when confronted by a member of the Kenyan Police Force is to be cooperative, dumb and submissive…ok mainly dumb and submissive. Act like you’re stupid, but very friendly…you know, a very stupid friendly person, we all know one of them. Act respectfully, but perhaps as if you’ve just left hospital after being awoken from a 12 year coma. Do NOT let the officer know that you understand how the road works or even what a car does.

Sorry, how presumptuous, I’ve forgotten to say, the only time you will ever come into contact with a police officer is whilst in a car.

Just answer every question you are asked, make no sub-plots, second guesses, or even worse still, fall into the trap of attempting to translate what the officer is saying into any western logic, quotes from your Highway Code are not going to work.

“But Sir, there is no sign to obey?” or “The white solid line?…errrr which white solid line are you talking about?” or “Could you please show me the exact speed I was traveling at?” that type of smart-ass clever clogs logic ain’t gonna fly, just stick to “oh” “ok” and “sorry”.

Of course, answer where you are from, respond with where you are going and NO, you don’t know why Kenyan’s are not allowed to drive on International Driving Licenses, answering “because very few Kenyans know how to drive” is not going to lighten the mood. Just stick to the basics as listed, with possibly a “terribly sorry, I’ll never drive again” or “I will speak to God as soon as I get home” In most cases, if your car has insurance, your brake lights work and you’ve acted out your best Jim Carey in Dumb and Dumber role, then you will be asked to continue your journey without any hassle.

It’s just that, when it comes to any level of confusion or reasonable doubt, that is when PC Chai will strike. Although there are much needed and continuing road upgrades occurring all over Kenya right now, many of the roads haven’t evolved well and road designation hasn’t been respected, so over time, there have been many glitches appear. When I say glitches, I mean in particular, junctions that are tenuous with their intended execution. There will be a sign missing, a marking lost, an invisible lane and this is where you’ll always find a cop waiting to pounce upon any vulnerability.

Also, whenever you’re stopped by a cop, you’d best hope it’s a male specimen. If you get a female cop you are going to jail. I can only assume that sometime in the 1990’s when women began to become more mainstream on the beat in Kenya, the then Inspector General found a book called “The Essential Guide to being a Female Officer in the East German Stasi” and based his whole outlook for Women in the KPS upon that. The Women Officers have zero personality, zero compassion, zero smile, they are Lucifer in fancy dress. It’s best to just plead the 5thamendment and demand to speak to your Ambassador immediately, good luck.

The Kenyan Police Service is now so widely and openly corrupt it’s normal. Chat to any Kenyan, Listen to any Church Service, look on any Kenyan News-site, watch Kenyan News TV, read Kenyan Transport Twitter Feeds @Ma3Route @KenyanTraffic and you’ll see video footage and photographs of cops taking bribes, cops about to be bribed or cops looking for bribes. It’s common knowledge and I’m yet to hear of a sustained plan to tackle it.

I’m not advocating for 1984, but to tackle the “system” would mean Kenyan’s being patrolled by VAR equivalents such as Speed Cameras, Average Speed Checks, Regulated Bus Lanes, Traffic Light Enforcement Cameras, Emission Detectors or even far more desirable a credible Police service. Sadly though any of that would infuriate the average Kenyan. Imagine, an automated justice system able to bypass the cops and not be swayed with a pithy excuse or any bribe or even a decent cop issuing a deserved fine, this is not 1984 just 2019.

Put simply, this would cause civil-war. There would be protests, riots, burning tyre’s (the most symbolic of all African protestation instruments), all of the cameras would be destroyed and all because the average Kenyan does not want to understand the rules, ergo the “system’ continues.

Let me be clear, It’s not just the Kenyan Police Service blighted by the “C” word, unfortunately the whole fabric of society has been riddled with the disease. The Kenyan President is very vocal in his “War on Corruption” and I hope he maintains the great work, however, to me, it still feels like the Anti-Corruption Agency has been given a watering can to put out an exploded nuclear power plant.

For now though, let’s not judge Women’s football on one game, I just wish we could say the same about Kenya.

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thewarlocksbitch · 8 years ago

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malec Valentine's fluff? something with them in high school mayb??

i’m a sucker for high school fluff, I hope you like this!! (and I hope it’s still worth reading even though it’s a day late)

***

To say Alec was surprised when his coach announced their teams Valentine’s Day party was an understatement. Shocked or confused might have worked. Concerned might have been better.

Throughout the rest of that school day Alec dodged professing couples and bouquets of lollipops and tried to figure out what exactly a Valentine’s Day party held by his football coach might be like. His coach had made attending mandatory, so there was no figuring out how to get out of it; Alec was simply trying to figure out how to survive it.

He went straight to the party after school. There was no point detouring home when Isabelle was out on a date and Max was out on a play date. Alec played his favorite cd on the way there - and pulse to pulse, now shush - and swung his car into a parking spot opposite his coaches’ well lit lawn. He slid out of the car, shrugged his letterman’s jacket on, and trudged his way up to the front door.

Inside songs from the 70’s and 80’s played, only recognizable to Alec by their jazzy and carefree style. It looked like the entire football team plus some were there; they stood cramped in corners and on couches and crowded around tables, all sporting their team jacket or jersey and holding a sugary cookie or soda halfway to their talking mouth.

Alec squeezed through the hallway until he reached his coach. The man was talking to another adult, so Alec simply shook his hand and enjoyed his attention for a half second before drifting to the kitchen. He picked a cookie from the stack of store-bought desserts and scanned the room, looking for Raphael or Magnus.

Alec hadn’t joined the football team to make friends, and he hadn’t, really. He knew everyone’s names and spent more time with them than any of his other peers, but he didn’t know them well enough that he’d spend time with them outside of mandatory practice time.

His relationships with Raphael and Magnus were a little different.

He’d started off with just Raphael. It was banquet night and Alec had been nervous and too-sweaty in his father’s suit; sitting at the end of a table playing on his phone, with an empty seat on either side of him, Raphael had seemed approachable.

Raphael hadn’t reacted to Alec sitting down next to him except for a raised eyebrow.

“Are you playing a game?” Alec had asked.

“No,” Raphael had replied, although he clearly was.

And that had been the start of their friendship.

Later that same night after most of the adults had left and just as Alec was grabbing his car keys to leave, Magnus had thrown himself into the empty seat on the other side of Raphael, caught sight of Alec, and exclaimed, “Raphael, you made a friend?”

And that had been the start of Magnus somewhat being Alec’s friend and Alec getting annoyingly flustered every time Magnus talked to him.

He was nice to Alec - always congratulating him when he scored the team a point, constantly offering to stay after school to help him practice something he wasn’t getting, helping him with a strap over his gear that he couldn’t reach - which was much more than Alec could say for the others.

Alec scanned the room for either of the two boys now, pressed close to the counter so other boys and coaches could get past him for drinks or snacks. Raphael may have skipped; he was good enough of a player that the coach sometimes excused his reluctance to socialize.

Alec was certain Magnus was there; he would never miss a party. It was only a matter of time until he found Magnus, or Magnus found him.

Alec’s only problem with Magnus was that he was a jock, in the most classical way. Yes, he was cute, and he was kinder and smarter than any of the others, but he was still a jock. It was hard for Alec to justify his sort of crush on Magnus when Magnus was the kind of guy that thought lifting together constituted hanging out and had more team spirit than their cheerleaders (and better thighs, too).

Probably Magnus was making his rounds of the house, clasping hands and shoulders and performing fist bumps; Alec wouldn’t be surprised if he went outside and found Magnus playing an impromptu scrimmage.

Alec waited, making small talk with every one who came to grab a cookie and eating way too many of them himself.

He waited, playing scrabble with Raphael on his phone; they’d had a streak going since the night they met.

He waited, rearranging the containers of cookies over and over and trying desperately not to look out of place.

Maybe Magnus really hadn’t shown up.

Alec considered texting him but changed his mind just before hitting send. He patted his pocket to assure his car keys were there and slipped out of the kitchen and towards the door.

“Hey, Alex,” someone said, grabbing Alec’s arm. Alec sighed. “Where you going?”

Alec frowned at the floor. “I was just gonna-”

“IT’S TIME FOR FESTIVITIES!” Alec’s coach shouted from the center of the living room. Alec distantly wondered if it was legal to drink alcohol around students.

The boy hanging onto him - his name was Ethan, Alec remembered, but he figured it didn’t matter when Ethan called him Alex - tugged Alec along with him in the stream of boys making their way to the living room.

Alec was squeezed in between two large boys by some force of the universe he could only call sinister. He crossed his arms over his knees and ducked his head so they could talk over it.

“Hey, hey, could I fit in here?” A voice asked, unnecessarily because the body it belonged to was already fitting itself into the nonexistent space beside Alec. A familiar hand bumped Alec’s. “Hey, Alexander,” Magnus said.

“Magnus,” Alec said abruptly, looking up. Magnus was grinning from ear to ear, thriving in this element. Alec’s heart sped up uselessly. “I thought you weren’t coming.”

“My car broke down,” Magnus said easily. “So that slowed me down. But I wouldn’t miss a party.”

“I know,” Alec muttered, but he knew he was smiling.

“Are you ready for the festivities?” Magnus asked, his tone making clear that this was the best part of his week.

Alec didn’t bother replying; their coach was busy handing out colored pieces of paper and markers, and throwing chocolates at those willing to hurl themselves across their teammates to catch them. It would be unwise to interrupt his fun.

“Alright, okay,” their coach boomed, hushing the rowdy teenagers. “You’re writing cards to each other.”

Alec let himself tune out to the immediate groans that filled the room, and the familiar, joyful banter that ensued. Boys who complained were threatened with doing suicides, more candy was thrown, and eventually fancifully colored pieces of paper were passed around.

All of the boys scattered to write their messages away from prying eyes. Alec slipped away to the kitchen and stuffed his paper in the trash; he knew his coach wouldn’t notice. If he did, Alec would probably enjoy running outside more than being stuffed in the cramped house anyways.

Alec walked back to the couch, but Magnus wasn’t in sight. He drifted back to the kitchen and got another cookie. Magnus loved games like these and it was impossible to predict when he’d tire of it, so Alec pulled his phone out and sent esophagus to Raphael for 15 points.

Someone tapped his shoulder. “This is for you,” he said, and pressed a folded over piece of paper into Alec’s hand.

Alec stared down at it, and then at the boy. “What?” he said unintelligibly.

“It’s not from me,” the boy laughed. “I just pulled the short straw to deliver.” He reached past Alec to grab a cookie and trotted away.

Alec looked down at the card. It was creased in more than one place, as if whoever had made it hadn’t been able to decide how to fold it. Alec felt a flutter of nerves despite himself at the loopy handwriting across the front addressing him. He knew it was stupid - there was no way any of the boys on the team would take this seriously - but the imaginative heat of possibility thrummed through his nerves nonetheless.

Leaning against the counter, Alec opened the card. He held it close to his chest, his eyes scanning over the words and trying to make sense of them.

be my valentine? also, do you like me? Under the words was a scrawled line of messy hearts, and under that the option to circle yes or no.

Alec felt all of the blood in him rise to his cheeks.

In the bottom corner Magnus had signed with a heart beside his name.

It was so elementary, and so Magnus. The hearts, the elegant handwriting. Alec hoped he wasn’t turning too red.

He ran a finger over the writing. It was possible, wasn’t it? Magnus was different than everyone else; Alec was never able to predict him or his moods.

There was a pen on the counter. Alec turned, put the card on the counter, and circled yes. Then he crumpled it in his fist and stuffed it into the trash can.

Everything was a joke to Magnus. Alec knew this - he’d known it the entire time he’d known Magnus - and he didn’t resent him for it; it was one of the things he loved about Magnus. It was like the world didn’t affect him in the same way it did other people. But Alec wasn’t like him, and he was very quickly coming to the harsh realization that he’d been hoping like crazy for something just like this to happen - except in Alec’s imagination it wouldn’t have been a joke. Alec stared at the letter for a moment, then pushed it further down beneath folded over paper plates. He was getting too tired to be around this many people.

He quietly walked out to his car.

It was cold enough outside that Alec was grateful for his jacket. He grabbed the lapels of it and wrapped it more securely around himself, willing himself not to get too worked up. He would pretend he’d never gotten the note, and Magnus would never say anything about it.

Alec unlocked his car and set his hand over the handle.

“Alec!” Magnus called behind him.

Alec’s heart jumped in his throat. He swallowed it down and schooled his expression into what he hoped could be interpreted as bored. He turned around. “Yeah?”

Magnus held his hand out to Alec. It took Alec a moment to realize that he was holding the crumpled up card. Oh. Alec looked from it to Magnus’s face. He was breathing hard, his breath puffing out in white clouds - had he been running?

“Why’d you throw it away?” he asked.

“Magnus,” Alec sighed, “I’m tired. Raphael isn’t here to balance out my social inadequacies so I thought I should just leave before I-”

Magnus cut him off with an irritated hand gesture. He stepped closer to the car, close enough that Alec could smell the always lingering sandalwood on him, and underneath that, the smell of sugar. Alec backed up so that he was leaning against his car.

“I didn’t ask why you’re leaving,” Magnus pouted, “I asked why you threw away my card.”

“I don’t have the energy for your jokes right now,” Alec told him.

“Who said it was a joke!” Magnus exclaimed. He was smiling, but there was something tight in the lines of his face. Something too intense in the black of his eyes.

“Really, Magnus,” Alec said, “‘circle yes or no?’”

“I thought you’d find it cute,” Magnus muttered. He averted his eyes and let his hand drop to his side. Alec stared as the tips of his ears went red.

“You-you weren’t…” Alec stuttered. He waved his arms in the space between them, then dropped them just as quickly.

Magnus grinned, but it was quieter than his usual. “Use your words, Alexander,” he suggested.

“You were being serious?” Alec said in a rush.

Magnus stepped closer again, and there was nowhere for Alec to back up to. He’d unfolded the card and was looking down at it. “Yeah. Were you?”

Alec knew he was blushing like an idiot. He knew Magnus could see. But he could see that Magnus’s hands were shaking, and maybe that made it okay.

“I was,” Alec said. He looked up at Magnus. “But I thought you were straight!”

Magnus laughed. “What made you think that?” He stepped past Alec and leaned against the car beside him.

“I…” Alec tried to think but came up with nothing. “You play football.” he said.

“So do you,” Magnus pointed out.

“Yeah…” Alec said.

“And I wear eyeliner,” Magnus went on, “that should have been a dead giveaway.”

“Straight guys can wear makeup,” Alec argued.

“Well, sure,” Magnus said, “but come on. It should have been obvious; I dress amazingly!”

“That’s your opinion,” Alec said.

“Whatever, dumpster hoodie,” Magnus said, the words more a laugh than anything else. Magnus turned to face Alec, pressing his shoulder into the side of the car.

“I like you, Alec,” Magnus said simply. Alec opened his mouth to say something, but Magnus went on, in a rush, “And I guess I’ll ask again, since you thought my card was too childish,” He reached forward and curled his fingers into the elbow patch of Alec’s jacket. Alec turned and looked at him. He knew his mouth was hanging open, but he didn’t think he was able to close it.

Magnus tugged on his sleeve, once. “Do you like me?”

Alec smiled. “Yeah, and I’ll be your Valentine, too.”

#malec fanfiction #malec fluff #shadowhunters #malec au #tmi fanfiction #I wrote this on my phone notes between classes but hope you guys like it anyways!#happy late valentines day #vv

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stepchain46-blog · 5 years ago

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Lukewarm Stove: Cubs Shrinking Budget, Harper, Machado, Merrifield, More

I’m still warming up to the idea of targeting Andrew McCutchen this winter, considering our discussion this morning. I think he fits offensively, positionally, and financially – plus, he’s just an easy guy to root for.

But there’s a catch. Well, two catches. First: I hope, this self-evident, but, for the purposes of that discussion, I’m operating under the assumption that Bryce Harper or Manny Machado are off the table for the Cubs. Second: I’m assuming the contract estimates from MLB Trade Rumors, Jon Heyman, and FanGraphs (roughly 3 years and $40M) will end up being close to reality. If McCutchen instead gets the Lorenzo Cain treatment (5 years/$80M), well, that changes things.

And to be fair, Cain was almost the same age when he signed his deal with the Brewers last winter, coming off a very similar season offensively (115 wRC+ v. 120 wRC+) and without nearly as much past success as McCutchen. Then again, Cain also provides far better defense at a more premium position, so it’s not exactly an apples-to-apples thing. There’s no doubt in my mind, though, that McCutchen’s agent will be pointing to Cain’s 5.7 WAR season in 2018 and the $80M deal that preceded it.

Buster Olney’s podcast shook some rumors and news loose, including a Bob Nightengale deduction that the Nationals are probably going to miss re-upping with Harper – suggesting instead, that, with no apparent intentions to keep negotiating from Harper’s side, the Nats will simply have to move on under the assumption that he’s not returning (a decision, which could force that $300M offer off the table entirely, if it isn’t already).

With the Giants likely out and the Yankees’ eyes elsewhere, there’s only one obvious landing spot as of today – at least, in their minds:

The White Sox are also named as potential landing spot, but the Phillies are expected to “do everything possible” to get Harper to sign there. As for Machado, the expectation is still New York, according to Nightengale, though the Phillies and White Sox are mentioned once again.

Olney reiterated that he’s heard the Cubs are “boxed in” with their payroll, prompting this response from Jesse Rogers (emphasis mine): “Well, I think you’re right, but I would not have said that 6-8 weeks ago as the season ended. I thought for sure they’d be in on the Bryce Harper sweepstakes and making some other changes. [But] I think the rhetoric changed once the front office got its budget.” Rogers reaffirmed his belief that things must have changed from the end of the season to the start of the GM meetings – “I think ownership drew a line” – and even suggested that Theo Epstein won’t be able to overhaul as much as he’d like (or planned to?) because of that budget. Wow.

If Rogers’ sense is correct, that’s a borderline bombshell. No one calls the Ricketts family cheap, because, well, until now, they’ve essentially allowed Epstein and Co. to do whatever they want. And also, it’s not like the payroll won’t be a huge number in 2019 regardless. But if the front office wound up being caught off guard by a firm budget line drawn by ownership? That would be quite a surprise, and it would make you wonder if that’s an artificial decision, or if it reflects revenue issues that no one expected.

Other than that, Rogers thinks the Cubs will add a left-handed reliever (naming Andrew Miller and Zach Briton as potential options) and should add a leadoff hitter to shake things up – which is easier said than done.

Olney has heard that the Cubs are not setting their budget based on the CBT tiers, but Rogers shares a sentiment from an agent that the Cubs are in CBT hell, because if they spend at all they’ll blow past the top tier and incur all those penalties. But while that last part is correct if the Cubs commit another $20 million or more, the penalties for going over are actually not that bad. Just do the math – Brett did, and he likes spinach pancakes.

The good news is that clearly the Cubs and White Sox are finalists for Bryce Harper:

All the smoke in the world is pointing towards Manny Machado and the Yankees. I think it’s easy to say they’re the public favorites at this point, as the rumors continue flowing:

BUT things are never this simple. And at USA Today, Bob Nightengale shares the following Hal Steinbrenner comments: “If it’s a $300 million guy or a $10 million guy, clearly those comments are troubling.” The Yankees’ owner went on to say that it’s really GM Brian Cashman’s job (to deliberate?), but really stuck with his original point: “Because that ain’t going to sell where we play baseball …. That conversation will happen.”

Something tells me Machado is really gonna be crawling out of his skin if/when that conversation goes down.

But what are his other options? The Yankees have obvious interest and I’m guessing the White Sox do, as well, but the Nationals likely do not. The Phillies may be prioritizing Harper, and I just don’t believe they’re actually going to sign both guys. The Dodgers and Cubs are debating not spending big this winter, the Rangers and Braves reportedly are not, the Red Sox may not make a huge commitment to another bat, and Machado also doesn’t quite fit perfectly into many other clubs’ budgets. I suppose I could see the Cardinals or Brewers having the need, but not the guts to do what it takes to get it down (in years for St. Louis and dollars for Milwaukee).

The Giants, meanwhile, have a crowded left side of the infield with Evan Longoria (tough to move contract) and Brandon Crawford (they don’t want to move) at third and short. And word is Farhan Zaidi is looking to create a little financial breathing room for the Giants, which is understandable for a new President and a team that loaded with aging veterans. The Yankees might be by far Machado’s best option.

Here’s a breakdown of what it would take to sign a free agent attached to draft pick compensation fo reach team: if the Cubs sign one of the free agents attached to draft pick compensation – like Bryce Harper – they’ll have to give up their second-highest pick and $500K in IFA bonus pool money.

And lastly today, Jon Heyman dumped a bunch of notes at FanCred, which you can sort through for the full effect, but among the notable bits … A.J. Pollock could be a sneaky candidate to return to the Diamondbacks if he’s not finding the right value on the free agent market. I think the Cubs could show interest in Pollock, but only if they fail on Harper, Machado, McCutchen, and maybe someone like Michael Brantley, who’s projected to get a similar deal to McCutchen, but is slightly younger. That said, Brantley is reportedly high on the Braves’ wish list.

Also according to Heyman (re: a trade for potential Cubs target Whit Merrifield): “GM Dayton Moore does not like to trade stars who have already made a connection with fans and in the clubhouse …” I know the Cubs can afford to operate differently with respect to “star players” than smaller market clubs, but if the Royals don’t trade Merrifield for that reason alone … woof. That’s a bad look.

Finally from Heyman: expect J.T. Realmuto rumors to be all the rage at the winter meetings and the Astros, Dodgers, and Yankees might make the most sense. The Marlins do not want to trade him in their division.

Source: https://www.bleachernation.com/2018/11/15/lukewarm-stove-cubs-shrinking-budget-harper-machado-merrifield-more/

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virgogear0-blog · 6 years ago

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What About a Bad Contract Swap with the Giants to Open Up Flexibility for the Cubs?

As I sit here mulling, I can come up with two clubs that could be in a position – financially and competitively – to try their hand at a bad contract swap for the kinds of players the Cubs would be looking to swap. That is to say, guys like Jason Heyward or Tyler Chatwood – far, far more costly than they would get in free agency, but maybe worth a roll of the dice in the years ahead if the money makes sense.

We’ve already taken a look at one of those teams with respect to Tyler Chatwood, the Toronto Blue Jays. While considering offers for guys like Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez, the Blue Jays are rebuilding and could swap out Russell Martin’s salary for Chatwood’s, meaning they get a near zero-cost roll of the dice on a guy will unquestionably excellent stuff who only just turned 29. Maybe he turns it around and becomes a nice trade chip for the Blue Jays (there’s more upside there in potential value than with a back-up-ish veteran catcher who turns 36 in February), or even a usable part of a competitive rotation in 2020. For the Cubs, they get a veteran back-up catcher who can contribute and also help with Willson Contreras’s continued development, and they do it at a savings in total salary commitment. Win, win, win.

But what about Jason Heyward? Is there realistically a team out there that would want to take on the next five years of his contract, even at a steep savings?

Well, as a preliminary matter, yes, I do think there rebuilding clubs out there – and near-term competitive clubs – that would be happy to have Heyward in the mix as a buy-low potential trade asset, a veteran presence, a reliable defender, and/or a guy who was so dang good until he came to the Cubs and is only 29.

(For all those same reasons, I’m still someone who is fine with Heyward sticking around with the Cubs. Sure, if they can move considerable salary and use it to sign Bryce Harper, I’m on board. But if that’s not happening, it’s not as if the Cubs can’t still get a lot of value out of Heyward as part of an outfield rotation in the coming years.)

To me, if you’re forcing me to speculate – how dare you FORCE me?! – the team that makes the most sense for Heyward is the San Francisco Giants. Among the reasons:

An aging core that might be able to squeeze out a competitive year or two while Heyward is still young.

A new front office that might be looking to go in an entirely different direction selling off, and wants Heyward as a stabilizing veteran during the process.

Heyward’s stellar right field defense might be more valuable in AT&T Park than anywhere else in baseball.

The current Giants starting outfield is comprised of Chris Shaw, Steven Duggar, and Austin Slater (all real baseball players).

The Giants have plenty of potentially dead money that they might prefer to convert into Heyward.

If you’re desperate to come up with a team that could be inclined to want Heyward at a discount, that sure looks like a team to me.

… but how much of a discount? Heyward is currently on a contract that will pay him $106 million over the next five years (and a $23M AAV). If Heyward were a free agent right now, what kind of deal would he get? Probably not a big one.

Although Heyward has youth on his side, and he’s coming off his best year with the Cubs, we need to be realistic about what he was in 2018: an average player at best. Heyward’s line on the year, .270/.335/.395, was almost exactly average (99 wRC+), which is not what you want from a corner outfielder. But his defense, right? Well, for the second straight year, the advanced metrics didn’t love Heyward’s defense in right and center, rating him as something much closer to “good, fine” than “elite.” Noise? A trend? The eye test says Heyward is still very good in right, but he did make an usual volume of early-season gaffes by which you probably remember being perplexed.

On the whole, Heyward was worth 2.0 WAR to FanGraphs, which, again, is basically perfectly average. An average big league starter is a good thing to be, but it doesn’t get you anything close to $100 million in free agency.

(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

How do we factor in the years before 2018? Well, obviously Heyward was consistently a star-level player before coming to the Cubs, and then in his first two years with the team – albeit limited by injuries that impacted his swing – Heyward was a disaster: .243/.315/.353, 79 wRC+, 2.0 total WAR for two seasons.

I don’t think there’s any way you could make an argument that Heyward would get more than $50 million guaranteed in free agency. The parallels are imperfect because of their ages/health, but in a market where guys coming off good years like Andrew McCutchen and Michael Branley can secure only $50 million and $32 million, respectively, I just don’t see any way Heyward would get more than that. In fact, I’m not 100% certain he’d get more than Brantley, even with the better health, age, and defense.

Let’s split the baby and say that Heyward could get a $40 million contract in free agency (over however many years you like, because what really matters for estimating this kind of salary dump is just the guarantee). I’m really not sure he could, but that might be the range.

If so, and if we assume the Giants would be the top suitor for his services, then how could a swap with the Cubs possibly make sense?

Well, the best bad contract trades send each team a player they can actually use, even if they aren’t on contracts they would otherwise want. For the Giants, it’s Heyward. For the Cubs, you’d be looking at impact bats (I don’t see a fit) and relievers (plenty).

Remember, though, you can’t just look at lefties Will Smith and Tony Watson and say, “Ooh, yeah, want them! Pick them!” Sure, maybe the Cubs could get them in a deal for value if they included prospects, but we’re just talking about the bad contracts part of this thing. And those two guys are each only gonna be making around $4 million next year.

So, instead, you’d have to look at a guy like Mark Melancon, who turns 34 next year, and has been injured and meh since signing a four-year, $62 million contract with the Giants two years ago. He’s set to make $14 million in each of the next two years – far more than he’d get in free agency, but also not a huge chunk of money. The Cubs need bullpen additions, though, and if they could add a guy like Melancon as part of a salary-neutral deal, maybe they figure he can at least be a decent setup man when healthy.

That’s not enough, though.

Unless the Cubs were going to eat a TON of salary in a Heyward deal (maybe!), simply swapping Heyward for Melancon is a bum deal for the Giants unless they value Heyward a lot more than $40 million, or unless the Cubs include some SERIOUS prospect value (again, maybe!).

Is there some other way to do this financially?

Well, I can’t help but wonder about this guy’s contract:

That’s starting pitcher Johnny Cueto.

Why on earth am I trying to get the Cubs to trade for an aging, expensive starting pitcher? Well, I mean, I’m not. Not really anyway.

Cueto had Tommy John surgery in August, and figures to miss most or all of the 2019 season. The Giants are going to be paying him nearly $22 million to rehab. After that, he’s a 34-year-old pitcher under contract for two more years, also near $22 million, plus a likely $5 million buyout of his 2022 option. To me, that’s a contract the Giants would love to unload.

For the Cubs, who very much *don’t* need a starting pitcher in 2019, Cueto could be something of a lottery ticket after 2019. Maybe he is healthy, strong, and a good starter for them when a spot in the rotation opens up. Maybe he becomes a reliever in his later years. Maybe he’s traded. Maybe they don’t use him at all.

(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

The point is not about how much tremendous value you might get out of Cueto – instead, it’s about the alignment of his contract with Heyward’s and the fact that the Cubs could “afford” to pay him not to pitch in 2019 if doing so was otherwise opening up flexibility.

So, let’s just take a little peep here at a proposed swap, the margins of which you could totally play with (prospects, cash, etc.) to make it fit:

Jason Heyward – five years, $106 million ($23M AAV on overall deal for luxury tax purposes)

for

Johnny Cueto – three years, $65.5 million ($21.667M AAV)

Mark Melancon – two years, $28 million ($15.5M AAV)

Total salary from Giants: $93.5 million (~$37M in AAV for the next two years)

If this were a straight-up swap, the Cubs would be taking on quite a bit more near-term money – and locking in a luxury tax hit – in order to save $12.5 million in long-term money. Given the luxury tax hit, and the imbalance in ages/contributions that you’d likely project over the lengths of these deals, I’m thinking that’s probably not enough for the Cubs to actually make this trade. Then again, if we figured Heyward is worth about $40 million, while Cueto is worth something like $15 million and Melancon is worth $10 million, the Giants would be taking on $66 million in “dead” money, while the Cubs would be taking on $68.5 million in dead money. It’s close.

Like I said, you could – and the teams probably would – play with the dollars and other inclusions at the margins, but I can see a fit here.

Even if the Giants were planning to try to compete in 2019, this deal makes a lot of sense for them – it brings in a possibly useful player and a whole bunch of financial flexibility in exchange for two guys who probably would do a lot of nothing for them.

For the Cubs, if the salary component made sense (and if they are less concerned about 2019, specifically, than total long-term commitments), they’d be paying a little more in the near-term to open up considerable longer-term flexibility, which could make a huge signing like Bryce Harper seem less scary. They get a probably-useful bullpen piece in the process, and then a lottery ticket in Cueto’s mid-30s.

A known unknown in this? Heyward has the right to block trades to 12 teams, and we don’t currently know the identity of those teams. Maybe the Giants are one of them, and maybe he flat out wouldn’t go to San Francisco. We do not have any visibility to this factor, but it is obviously important.

So, the biggest question of all – even if we can make this all work theoretically and financially … would I actually do this deal? Well, if I’m the Giants, I jump the heck all over this swap. That means my gut must be saying this is not a great deal for the Cubs, who would be punting a young-ish, useful player just so that they can pay out nearly the same contract quantity to a couple guys who might not be useful at all.

I think the only way I could get on board with this specific swap is if – in this, sigh, financially tight world of the Cubs – it meant considerable financial savings for the Cubs (i.e., the Giants are eating some additional money) and that savings was almost certainly going to an impact bat like Harper. I suppose I’d also like it if Smith or Watson were included from the Giants, but then this starts to get so far down the speculative road that it’s hard to say, yeah, I’d like this imaginary version of the trade but not that imaginary version.

The overall point here, I guess, is that the Giants are a team with whom I could see the Cubs plausibly getting together on a Jason Heyward contract swap. Whether they actually *should* do that depends greatly on the particulars of the deal, since I still see some value in Heyward for the Cubs going forward, even if his salary is no longer remotely commensurate with that value.

Source: https://www.bleachernation.com/2018/12/26/what-about-a-bad-contract-swap-with-the-giants-to-open-up-flexibility-for-the-cubs/

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thrashermaxey · 6 years ago

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Ramblings: All-Star Game, Players Who Could Be Strong Post-All Star Break (Jan 27)

The All-Star Game “mini tournament” was played on Saturday, with the Metropolitan Division knocking off the Central Division 10-5 in the final. Sidney Crosby, who missed Friday’s Skills Competition with an illness, seemed to benefit from the rest, as he was named All-Star Game MVP. Crosby collected a total of eight points in the two mini-games.

To get to the final, the Metropolitan knocked off the Atlantic 7-4, while the Central took down the Pacific by a score of 10-4. The Central/Pacific match, which was the only one I watched, was hardly a captivating game and not even one my 9-year-old (who normally gets excited about All-Star Games) could get interested in. The Centrals took a 10-1 lead before the Pacifics made the game somewhat closer.

In spite of my lack of interest in this All-Star Game, I don’t want to disparage All-Star Games in general. To me, the game is targeted more toward kids than someone of my demographic. The NHL keeps trying to change the game’s format to generate interest, but because nothing has really caught on we’re back to some form of traditional divisional/conference format. For fans that have absolutely no interest in this game, it’s a great weekend to catch up on something else. A movie, a weekend trip, reconnecting with an old friend who has no interest in hockey, catching up on housework, or whatever. As my wife keeps reminding me, there’s more to life than hockey.

Here’s the NHL’s puck tracking technology in action, as shown on NBC. Do you think this will improve your viewing experience and knowledge of the game, or do you think of it more as a distraction that takes pixels away from your high-def experience? So far I don’t mind it. It seems as though there’s a return of the old Fox “glow puck”, although in a more subtle format.

{youtube}SZGQRFcfR-4{/youtube}

Before the game, US Women’s National Team player Brianna Decker received $25,000 for posting the best time in the Premiere Passer competition, even though she was simply demonstrating the challenge before the NHL players. What a weekend for the women.

We’re gonna #PayDecker. pic.twitter.com/TbWSD7NAQP

— CCM Hockey (@CCMHockey) January 26, 2019

Skills competition highlights/recap and my fantasy hockey lessons on Peter Chiarelli’s time in Edmonton can be found in yesterday’s Ramblings. Just to clarify, in case anyone misunderstood: I am not against the idea of making trades at all, just I am not a fan under normal circumstances of making massive multiplayer (eg. 5-for-5) type deals or many deals. Rebuilds might be the exception to that.

From my vantage point, I reject at least two-thirds of the trade offers that I receive (that includes fantasy baseball and football, not just hockey). So I am naturally skeptical about trade offers that I receive, which has a lot to do with my own analytical personality. If there is promise and I don’t believe that the other owner is simply attempting to one-up me, I might counteroffer and see where it goes.

Some advice for your own trade offers, if I may: Take the time to determine what the other owner might need. I’ve even found that a note in the offer like “I see you could use help with ___, while I am looking for ___” will go a long way in how well the other owner receives the offer. I’ve made successful deals with this note both as the person making the offer and the person receiving the offer.

A reader recently inquired about which players have a tendency to heat up or finish strong after the All-Star Game. If your fantasy hockey league has a trade deadline (as many do), you’ll need to start formulating those potential buy-low trades right away.

One condition for making this list: Each of these players has struggled or underperformed at times this season, yet finished within or near the top 30 in post-All-Star-Break scoring last season. Beyond that, I’ll try to provide other reasons that the player could at least be in for a better second half.

Anze Kopitar

Hopefully you didn’t draft Kopitar thinking he would match last season’s career high of 92 points. He won’t even come close to that this season, as he is currently on pace for 57 points. That’s really a down season when you consider how many more players are scoring at or near a point-per-game pace this season. His current scoring pace of 0.69 PTS/GP is actually at the same pace as his total from two seasons ago, when he scored 56 points.

But there is hope for Kopitar. So far in January, he has collected five goals and eight points in ten games. Considering that he has yet to score a power-play goal (with nine power-play assists), one would think that he should be due. The way that Kopitar drives the play for the Kings, you’d have to believe that he can score at a higher pace than this.

I’d also have to throw in the main reason that Kopitar made this list, which is because he scored 41 points in 33 games after last season’s All-Star Game. Only five players had more points after last season’s All-Star Game. He’s also historically been a slow starter but strong finisher. Between the All-Star Game and the end of the regular season, Kopitar has finished within the top 50 in points in each of the previous three seasons.

Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn

I’m going to lump these two Stars together, not only because they were both criticized publicly by Stars’ CEO Jim Lites, but also because both are traditionally stronger in the second half. Comments aside, Seguin’s and Benn’s recent second-half performances support an increase in points per game.

Consider the following points-per-game totals for each:

2018-19

(before ASG)

2017-18

(after ASG)

2016-17

(after ASG)

2015-16

(after ASG)

Seguin

0.92

1.09

0.78

0.90

Benn

0.71

1.00

0.90

0.97

Since Lites’ comments, Seguin has already been scoring at over a point per game (13 points in 11 games, including 7 goals). If you’d like to come along for the ride, he won’t necessarily be cheap to acquire, yet there’s a much better chance that Benn will be. Benn has struggled during January with just three points (2g-1a) in eight games, so he’s a player you could really buy low on. In fact, he hasn’t scored below 0.90 points per game post All-Star Game since the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. That’s a player that you’ll want to target if you’re looking for second-half studs.

As much as Stars’ top management believes that Benn and Seguin are underperforming, the Stars need these two players. Expect coach Jim Montgomery to ride Benn and Seguin even more as the Stars attempt to grab a playoff spot in a very crowded Western Conference.

Rickard Rakell

After scoring a career-high 69 points last season, Rakell was sidetracked for a month by an ankle injury. But even if you remove the injury, Rakell’s scoring rate is way down, as he has just eight goals all season and is only on pace for 52 points.

There’s reason to be positive this season if you’re a Rakell owner, though. He had a better post-All-Star-Game pace (1.03 PTS/GP) than his pre-All-Star-Game pace (0.8 PTS/GP). And as for the eight goals, you could argue that he hasn’t has puck luck just as he hasn’t had injury luck. Rakell’s 7.6 SH% is well below his career average of 14.6%, which could result in his goal total nearly doubling over the second half.

Rakell might end up lining up with Ryan Getzlaf and whoever, and he’s not going to have a ton of scoring options around him during the second half in Anaheim. But for the reasons listed above, he seems worth a gamble for a stronger second half.

Shayne Gostisbehere

The Ghost has been exactly that during the first half, as he has been held to just 20 points and a minus-12 in 48 games. His owners certainly expected a whole lot more after a breakout 65-point performance last season.

Like Rakell, Gostisbehere was particularly strong after the All-Star break, scoring at basically a point-per-game pace (32 points in 33 games). A good sign is that Gostisbehere is on place for close to 200 shots again this season, but he has just five goals to show for it. As well, the Flyers’ power play has been much worse than expected, converting on just 13.3% of its opportunities (29th in NHL). With its offensive weapons, there’s a good chance it could turn around. Since Ghost is a focal point of that power play, his offensive totals would turn around as a result.

Some positive signs recently, if you’re looking for something to build on: Ghost has three points over his last three games, and he is a plus-8 over his last six games (improving from a minus-20 to a minus-12 in the process). The Ghost owner in your league might be getting impatient – why not send out an offer?

For more players who could potentially finish the season on a high note, don’t forget to pick up your copy of the Midseason Guide. As well, the Midseason Guide will be able to answer a whole lot more of your fantasy hockey questions and specific issues related to your team.

I should also mention that during the Wednesday Ramblings, Cam Robinson will provide you with some players that could potentially struggle after the All-Star break.

For more fantasy hockey information, you can follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-all-star-game-players-who-could-be-strong-post-all-star-break-jan-27/

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yahoo-shutdown-corner-blog · 6 years ago

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Donald Trump calls off Eagles' White House visit over national anthem dispute

yahoo

The White House issued a statement on Monday appearing to cancel Tuesday’s planned visit by the Philadelphia Eagles to celebrate their Super Bowl victory.

Trump has just issued this statement about the Philadelphia Eagles' visit tomorrow: pic.twitter.com/ERm042RzwS

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) June 4, 2018

“The Philadelphia Eagles are unable to come to the White House with their full team to be celebrated tomorrow. They disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country. The Eagles wanted to send a smaller delegation, but the 1,000 fans planning to attend the event deserve better. These fans are still invited to the White House to be part of a different type of ceremony — one that will honor our great country, pay tribute to the heroes who fight to protect it, and loudly and proudly play the National Anthem. I will be there at 3:00 p.m. with the United States Marine Band and the United States Army Chorus to celebrate America.”

Trump later tweeted from his personal account confirming that the event had been canceled while saying that staying in the locker room during the national anthem is disrespectful.

The White House announced on Monday that Donald Trump has invited fans to honor “our military” as an alternative to a visit from the Super Bowl champion Eagles. (AP)

The Philadelphia Eagles Football Team was invited to the White House. Unfortunately, only a small number of players decided to come, and we canceled the event. Staying in the Locker Room for the playing of our National Anthem is as disrespectful to our country as kneeling. Sorry!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2018

‘Most — if not all — of the black players’ planned to skip White House visit

NFL Network reported that the Eagles had planned to send a smaller contingent to avoid putting players “in a tough spot” prior to the cancelation.

The Eagles held meetings with their players in recent weeks and, according to sources, Jeff Lurie didn't want to put the players in a tough spot so he decided to send a smaller contingent. Other players were going to have an optional day at the facility. Now, no trip to D.C.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) June 4, 2018

ESPN reports that “most — if not all — of the black players” from the Eagles planned to not attend the White House ceremony. The network also reports that the team did not learn of the cancelation until the White House release and that owner Jeffrey Lurie had planned to attend.

Eagles players critical of new NFL anthem policy

Some Philadelphia Eagles players have been outspoken about the NFL’s new national anthem policy requiring players on the field to stand at attention.

Several NFL players have used the platform of the national anthem to stage social justice protests centered around racial inequality and police brutality in the United States.

Defensive back Malcolm Jenkins criticized the owners’ decision to “thwart the players’ constitutional rights to express themselves” in the wake of the new policy.

Defensive end Chris Long criticized owners for being “afraid of the President” when they changed the anthem policy. Long has been supportive of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has not received a new NFL contract since taking a knee during the anthem during the 2016 NFL season.

Chris Long, left, and Malcolm Jenkins, center, were among the Eagles players planning to skip the team’s scheduled White House visit. (AP)

Jenkins, who along with Long and former Eagles receiver Torrey Smith have worked with Pennsylvania lawmakers to discuss criminal justice reform, told ESPN in February why he planned to skip the White House visit.

“I don’t want to take away from anybody’s experience or make it a big distraction,” Jenkins said. “It’s a celebratory event, and I want the guys who choose to go or whatever to enjoy that. Me personally, because it’s not a meeting or a sit-down or anything like that, I’m just not interested in the photo op.

“Over the last two years, I’ve been meeting with legislators, both Republican and Democrat, it don’t matter. If you want to meet to talk about events in my community, changing the country, I’m all for that. But this isn’t one of those meetings, so I’ll opt out of the photo opportunity.”

Trump has long criticized social justice protests from NFL players

Trump has long been a vocal critic of players staging social justice protests during the national anthem and is believed to have held sway over over the NFL decision to institute its new policy.

He had strong words at a September political rally:

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired. He’s fired!’ You know, some owner is gonna do that. He’s gonna say, ‘That guy disrespects our flag, he’s fired.’ And that owner, they don’t know it. They don’t know it. They’re friends of mine, many of them. They don’t know it. They’ll be the most popular person, for a week. They’ll be the most popular person in this country.”

Vice President Mike Pence tweeted “#Winning” in response to the NFL’s revised anthem policy.

Former Eagles WR calls White House decision “cowardly act”

Smith, who signed with the Carolina Panthers in the offseason after playing with the Eagles last year, was quick to criticize Trump’s on Twitter Monday as “a cowardly act” and for continuing to “spread the false narrative that players are anti-military.”

So many lies smh Here are some facts 1. Not many people were going to go 2. No one refused to go simply because Trump “insists” folks stand for the anthem 3. The President continues to spread the false narrative that players are anti military pic.twitter.com/89GUNhJ4eE

— Torrey Smith (@TorreySmithWR) June 4, 2018

U.S. Senator Bob Casey from Pennsylvania chided the move as a “political stunt” and invited the Eagles to tour the Capitol building instead.

I’m proud of what the @Eagles accomplished this year. I’m skipping this political stunt at the White House and just invited the Eagles to Congress. @Eagles How about a tour of the Capitol? https://t.co/niWR7zkSYx

— Senator Bob Casey (@SenBobCasey) June 4, 2018

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney called Trump a “fragile egomaniac obsessed with crowd size” in response to the White House decision.

Philly mayor Jim Kenney's statement is pointed.

After President Trump disinvited the #Eagles to the White House, Kenney calls him "a fragile egomaniac obsessed with crowd size and afraid of the embarrassment of throwing a party to which no one wants to attend." pic.twitter.com/90pHhIR4SU

— Dave Zangaro (@DZangaroNBCS) June 5, 2018

The Eagles responded Monday evening with a neutral statement on their Super Bowl win.

pic.twitter.com/2HUoFhVc33

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) June 5, 2018

More from Yahoo Sports: • Cavs star abruptly ends interview: ‘That’s [expletive] up’ • In classy move, Bears sign TE after catastrophic injury • Coach Kerr trolls LeBron at news conference • GM VP’s pace car humiliation in Detroit

#hidden:vv_09x16:607ae83e-6731-3ba0-b70d-5410a93af4d2 #_author:Jason Owens #_uuid:8333e270-c004-3644-ad22-dd3ebcff9bf9 #_lmsid:a077000000CFoGyAAL #_revsp:99add987-dcd1-48ae-b801-e4aa58e4ebd0

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junker-town · 7 years ago

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6 teams who could make big recruiting moves by National Signing Day

With the Early Signing Period done, who’s gonna finish strong heading into February?

The concept of the stretch run to February’s National Signing Day will forever be different, thanks to the new Early Signing Period. It’s now a matter of quality vs. quantity with most teams loading up on signees during the Early Signing Period. Looking up and down the top 50 of the 247Sports Composite, many teams have signed around 20 players out of the 25-player limit.

With 33 players left unsigned in the top-101 players, there are plenty of good players to go around, and some team’s gotta sign em. But a look at the teams who haven’t signed huge classes so far for a variety of reasons give us an idea of who’ll end up making some pretty big leaps in the rankings as February Signing Day approaches.

USC

Current class ranking: 13 Players signed/committed: 13 Class average score: 93.0 Top-100 targets left: WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, predicted to USC; CB Isaac Taylor-Stuart, predicted to USC; WR Jalen Hall, favored to Oregon or USC; ATH Talanoa Hufanga, favored to USC or Oregon; LB Solomon Tuliaupupu, favored to USC.

The Trojans have an elite class by way of average class score, what they don’t have is a ton of players pledged. With only nine players signed during the ESP and 13 total contributing to their ranking, USC has the smallest recruiting class of any team in the top-30.

The Trojans have two five stars in the class, and keep in mind that, well, they’re USC. That means that if USC wants a player west of the Rocky Mountains to be a Trojan, they more often than not end up in cardinal and gold. The second best remaining player in the top-100, WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, is unsigned. If he isn’t a Trojan it’s an upset.

Florida

Current class ranking: 16 Players signed/committed: 15 Class average score: 90.3 Top-100 targets left: OT William Barnes, favored to Florida; WR Jacob Copeland, favored to Alabama or Florida.

Dan Mullen didn’t need a whole lot of time to make a really big flip. The Gators nabbed Emory Jones on signing day, prying him from Ohio State and holding off Alabama and Florida State. With time left to go and a full court press from a full staff, the Gators can make a run at some impressive players coming down the wire to February Signing Day.

Florida, like a few other teams on our list, is a study of unpredictability. Expect the Gators to be among the few teams that make strong late pushes for players who may not be publicly on their radar as of now, simply because of the new staff being in place.

Florida State

Current class ranking: 34 Players signed/committed: 10 Class average score: 94.4 Top-100 targets left: DB Brendan Radley-Hiles, favored to Oklahoma; OT Nicholas Petit-Frere, favored to Notre Dame.

Get the jokes in while you can before Willie Taggart gets a staff together and the Noles get it truly rolling on the recruiting trail in Tallahassee. Like Florida, a transitional recruiting class has its challenges and we’re not expecting either Florida power to finish in the top-five or anything. The Noles have a number to hit that will end up being fewer than many of their competitors, but there will be quality in that quantity.

Coach Willie Taggart said Thursday that he expects to sign 16-18 players, and that he will not sign more just to sign more. That number feels light, but there is a method to the madness. Not filling up a roster with too many players who project as backup options is the smart long-term move. It also sets Taggart up to sign a very large class in 2019.

Tennessee

Current class ranking: 22 Players signed/committed: 17 Class average score: 88.2 Top-100 targets left: LB JJ Peterson, favored to Tennessee or Alabama; WR Jacob Copeland, favored to Alabama or Florida.

Hey, remember them? Tennessee’s been a pretty strict case of no news being good news since Jeremy Pruitt got hired. But under the radar, the Vols have inked a competent class that is about where the program should be given how rocky the last few months have been in Knoxville.

Of all the teams on this list, Tennessee may be the biggest reach to have a strong close to February Signing Day for a couple reasons.

One of them being that this is about the best the class could expect to be given all the turmoil. The other is the fact that Pruitt will be handling duties for Alabama for the Playoff instead of off the road recruiting duties all the time. But to the contrary, Pruitt’s done more with less so far, and that trend may continue.

Pruitt and his staff — a staff that is still incomplete and has yet to officially be announced yet — were playing from behind during the past two weeks. They did really well to get in and close on guys like Jordan Allen, Dominick Wood-Anderson, Jerome Carvin and Jeremy Banks.

Because of the late start, we really didn’t see the full impact of the new signing period. Tennessee still has some work to do on some big names and the traditional signing day still looms large for Pruitt and company as they try to close out this class.

Texas A&M

Current class ranking: 27 Players signed/committed: 15 Class average score: 89.21 Top-100 targets left: WR Jaylen Waddle, favored to Alabama or Texas A&M; S Leon O’Neal Jr., favored to Texas A&M despite being a recent A&M decommit; WR Joshua Moore, favored to Texas A&M.

What Jimbo Fisher does down the stretch will be pretty interesting. The Aggies no longer have the swag that Kevin Sumlin brought to table, but that’s only one thing. They also don’t have the advantage of Texas and Oklahoma struggling on the recruiting trail. Both are on heaters this cycle, and that makes things tougher for the Ags.

But there are targets left for the taking, and A&M’ll do their best. Fisher proved to be an elite recruiter in Tallahassee, and A&M has great facilities and the hotbed of Houston nearby.

Stanford

Current class ranking: 52 Players signed/committed: 13 Class average score: 86.94 Top-100 targets left: QB Tanner McKee, favored to Stanford.

Stanford’s on this list because it’s hard to believe they’re this low. After signing an elite class in 2017, the Cardinal are lacking on the trail. It’s tough to know whether they’re just taking a small class this year or whether they’re going to make a big push to the finish, but simple math says if they take one high level player, the class will leap quite a bit. If Stanford nabs only McKee, its class would leap about 20 spots. The smart money’s on Stanford not staying where they are.

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yahoo-puck-daddy-blog · 7 years ago

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What We Learned: What is the Oilers' next move?

Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers have a long way to climb, and could probably use some outside help. (Getty Images)

It’s getting to the point where you have to pack it in, right?

Peter Chiarelli said as much a few weeks ago: that the Oilers were “losing runway” when it came to turning the season around. At this point, they’d have to play at a pace of well over 100 points for their remaining 58 games to even have the playoffs be a possibility.

And it’s not that it’s outside the realm of possibility in certain ways. This remains one of the best possession teams in the league, but they’ve gotten worse goaltending from Cam Talbot than could have reasonably been expected to this point and the offense has been understandably muted given all the trades Chiarelli has made in search of the more stable defense he never actually obtained.

If we want to start blaming Talbot’s workload last season for his save percentage being 21 points below his career average, the line forms to the left, but it’s tough the pin the entire discrepancy on that; the Oilers are a top-notch team in possession but give up a lot more high-quality chances per 60 than that great CF% number would suggest. In terms of pure quality they deserve better results than they’ve gotten — it’s a roughly 15-goal swing between actual and expected goals, worth about five points in the standings — but clearly there are big issues with this team that go beyond their PDO.

This has all been litigated and re-litigated many times over, of course. Chiarelli blew up what could have been one of the great forward groups in the cap era in pursuit of being hard to play against, which is never advisable because of how overvalued things like “grit” and “leadership” are in the marketplace. Dom Luszczyszyn did a good job breaking down the actual cost the Oilers have suffered in terms of their overall quality, but what’s not discussed as much is that Chiarelli actually made the current team more expensive than it would have been had he not made the Hall/Eberle trades and the Lucic/Russell signings.

Another thing that doesn’t seem to get a lot of play these days is that if the Oilers are indeed Going For It this season — and frankly, they should have been — then why on earth do they have almost $8.7 million in unused cap space right now? Now, the obvious answer is they needed that cushion because of the size of the McDavid contract that kicks in next season, but there weren’t some guys on expiring contracts the Oilers could have scooped up? It’s perfectly valid if the answer to that question is “no,” obviously, and there’s nothing wrong with not using cap space if you don’t need to, but if we all agree the Oilers have problems, and they also have this much cap space, that seems like a big disconnect.

And again, no one is talking about that issue. Maybe there just weren’t a lot of options out there, but you’re going to tell me they couldn’t be doing better with some of the guys on the free agent market who could have been signed cheap than their current fourth line? It’s a little hard to believe.

Meanwhile, the trade the team makes this season is Mike Cammalleri, who’s not very good, for Jussi Jokinen, who’s also not great but is better than Cammalleri. The reason why the trade happened isn’t too hard to figure out. Cammalleri had three goals and seven points in 15 games for LA while Jokinen had a single assist in 14 appearances for Edmonton. But it’s a classic Chiarelli move; Jokinen’s possession numbers were 15 points higher than Cammalleri’s at the time of the trade, and moreover four of Cammalleri’s seven points came in a single game against the Canadiens. It’s a classic shortsighted trade by a guy famous for them, and boy if you haven’t heard the end of that story: “… and in the end, a Chiarelli trade made the Oilers worse.”

But all that aside, there’s a question that really needs to be asked in all this, and it’s right in the headline: What comes next for this team? They have a handful of expiring UFA contracts they can turn over (Mark Letestu, Patrick Maroon, and Cammalleri) and only $61 million in cap obligations for 13 players, meaning they might have as much as $19 million to spend on 10 guys. Not a terrible position to be in, and the UFA class this summer is pretty good, as summer UFA classes go.

Yeah there are still almost 60 games left in this season, but Chiarelli absolutely has to resist the temptation to continue tinkering in pursuit of this rapidly fading goal of making the playoffs. Sorry, because the Oilers won’t be mathematically eliminated for another three or four months, but the postseason is all but unattainable unless the PDO flips around right now and stays there for the entire rest of the year.

The idea, of course, is that the Oilers are reportedly shopping Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, potentially in a trade with Boston or Florida if the latest Hockey Night in Canada rumors end up being true. And for Chiarelli to even be considering that — who knows if he actually is? — shows a fundamental flaw in the guy’s thinking. You’re not going to get equal value for Nugent-Hopkins, who has been one of the Oilers’ better players this season, no matter what the Edmonton media would have you believe. So why make the trade for this season or next?

If you trade Nugent-Hopkins, you might as well trade everybody. Not because he’s so, so central to the team’s future success — he’s just a pretty good No. 2 center or elite No. 3 if you keep McDavid and Draisaitl apart — but because Peter Cehlarik or Nick Bjugstad isn’t gonna turn anything around for you either, and it’s just spinning tires and trading whipping boys for the sake of looking like you’re not just fiddling while the city burns thanks to the fire you set yourself.

Simply put, there’s no trade or series of trades that could be made to dig this team out of its situation in-season, and probably not in the offseason either, to be honest. What’s amazing is that in trying to build the team up, Chiarelli exposed it to a central rot that will only persist in making the roster worse as guys like Lucic and Russell age.

The Oilers don’t have answers here, and you can tell they don’t because their most recent solution was to practice with Connor McDavid as a right wing for Mike Cammalleri. That’s flailing for answers to an extent that is legitimately shocking and pathetic. If Todd McLellan — who by the way feels like he’s about two days away from getting canned — were a doctor, that’s worthy of a malpractice suit. And you could have reasonably seen this coming if you were paying even a little attention.

I hate to be making the same point about the Oilers in this column two weeks in a row, but this is a Chiarelli problem first and foremost, and everything else wrong extends from that (and again, if we’re blaming Talbot’s workload for his problems this year, who’s the guy who was supposed to get a backup goalie the team could trust even a little bit?). Fire McLellan, trade any fall guy on the roster you want, and this is still a team that’s fundamentally flawed and probably set up to waste most, if not all, of Connor McDavid’s prime.

This was perhaps the freest lunch in the history of hockey, and it’s not going to work out because he actively made the team around a generational talent worse. It’s amazing anyone will stand for the Chiarelli era, but here we are.

How the guy who put all the pieces in place for that failure still has a job is beyond comprehension, but whatever Chiarelli’s next move is to try to fix the problems he himself created, it should be his last as GM of this team.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Kevin Roy looks like a karate guy in this picture. Blessed image.

Arizona Coyotes: In my opinion it is bad to give up three goals in less than two minutes.

Boston Bruins: Have you guys heard this Grzelcyk kid’s dad works for the Garden? He does, but it never ever comes up.

Buffalo Sabres: I’m starting to feel really bad for Jack Eichel, who does not deserve this.

Calgary Flames: The Flames have two really good lines and also two other lines, but often the first two are enough.

Carolina Hurricanes: Hockey’s not fun sometimes, even when you’re pretty good.

Chicago Blackhawks: Chicago hits the pipe more than any other team in the league: 17 times so far this year.

Colorado Avalanche: Never a good idea to lose to a goalie I’ve never heard of.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Hmm, I agree.

Dallas Stars: Yeah when you can’t figure out what to do with Tyler Seguin, that’s a problem.

Detroit Red Wings: Hear me out here, but what if: This team stinks.

Edmonton Oilers: The only mentally weak people in the Jordan Eberle situation are the ones who thought the Oilers would be better off without him.

Florida Panthers: This is another team that’s just regular old bad. It happens!

Los Angeles Kings: The trio of Jussi Jokinen, Marian Gaborik and Torrey Mitchell is, well, interesting.

Minnesota Wild: This is a team that’s a lot like the Flames in that they have a huge gap between their best and worst players with very little in between. Strange club. Can’t figure them out.

Montreal Canadiens: What I love about the Canadiens is any time they have one good game no matter who they beat, everyone goes, “Ah, they’re turned a big corner here!”

Nashville Predators: Totally agree that the Preds aren’t at 100 percent operational efficiency yet. And given that they’re top-four in the West right now, that’s good.

New Jersey Devils: Freaking excuse me?

New York Islanders: This is the kind of thing that’s all well and good to say, but who out there is trading an elite defenseman?

New York Rangers: No he’s only the SNL skit guy. That’s it. Nothing else. He’s like Mr. Peepers.

Ottawa Senators: Hmm, yes, congrats.

Philadelphia Flyers: The subhed on this one is very good.

Pittsburgh Penguins: This Kessel guy is having a great season. I love him.

San Jose Sharks: Martin Jones has a 38-save shutout and maybe gets hurt? Win some, lose some, I guess.

St. Louis Blues: One of my favorite things in hockey is when a team doesn’t commit any penalties in a whole game. That rules.

Tampa Bay Lightning: In theory you shouldn’t give up three 5-on-3 goals in a game.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Well that’s one way to look at it.

Vancouver Canucks: Anyone who didn’t think the Vanek signing was a pretty good bet this summer wasn’t paying attention.

Vegas Golden Knights: William Karlsson is having himself some kind of a season, man.

Washington Capitals: Ah this is another freaking Drumpf thing I bet. #ButHerEmails!!!!!!

Winnipeg Jets: The Jets having special-teams issues? No way!

Play of the weekend

What a pass from Taylor Hall. Man oh man.

Gold Star Award

Yeah tough break with Ovechkin’s politics but he really does seem like a generally nice guy.

Minus of the Weekend

Pretty amazing how media types who say all the time that they’re not allowed to be criticized by fans or other media types, but then criticize players, say players aren’t allowed to be affected by that criticism.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Year

User “coachwithoutahead” definitely has this one figured out.

EDM gets: David Savard, Alexander Wennberg

CBJ gets: Leon Draisaitl

Signoff

Ah, Superintendent Chalmers, welcome. I hope you’re prepared for an unforgettable luncheon.

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

(All stats via Corsica unless otherwise noted.)

#_revsp:21d636bb-8aa8-4731-9147-93a932d2b27a #_uuid:3e9463bf-133d-339b-81d0-08f22be5cd5e #_lmsid:a077000000CFoGyAAL #_author:Ryan Lambert

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dingoreviews · 7 years ago

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Final Fantasy XIII Review

I feel like since this is my first(tm) review I should do some explaining on how this will work. But at the same time everyone and their mom posts reviews for things nowadays so I'm sure you get the picture. Feel free to skip all this and go to the end where I sum it up in one sentence. Don't worry. I won't mind.

...Still there? Neat. Unfortunately for you, you've probably made the worse of the two choices.

As a disclaimer, this rant is purely my opinion and completely subjective. No one is paying me to do this. If you dislike what I'm saying, leave an ask and I will sip my iced tea and laugh about it as I read it dramatically to my friends and loved ones. Anyway, let's continue with me shitting on ranting about the FFXIII series in detail. Potential spoilers, but these games are hella old so if you spoil yourself you can just eat a pint of ice cream and cry about it.

I like to consider myself a Square Enix/Final Fantasy fan. I tend to follow their actions and look forward to their games. Some of my favorite games are made by Square (Kingdom Hearts, Tomb Raider (the reboots) and FFX to name a few). That said, there’s a good chance I’m pretty biased in their favor.

But some of their most recent games have been kinda shaky for me, particularly FFXIII and XV. I’ll save FFXV for another time though.

So FFXIII (or 13 for the casuals) stars your typical cast of generic and angsty characters who, in classic JRPG fashion, have to kill god(tm) with the power of friendship and morals. It's got your pretty generic plot where the entire world/government is conspiring against you and your ragtag group has gotta stab everything between point A and point B. Did that sound like a criticism? I mean as cliche as that all is at that point it's basically Square's bread and butter for FF games so I'm not really worried about all that.

I mean, this is typically the part of the review where you go over the plot of the games right? Well maybe I would if I actually knew what it was. That brings me to my first rant point:

Where's the Damn Story?

There's been a trend in games lately where the devs leave little footnotes and data entries littered about that give you background and fully explain the lore of the world you're in. A lot of the time, that's typically reserved for less important information, like the time sheets for the town's police force or the color of their president's undergarments. You know, things that might be nice to know for people who are really into it, but not necessary to understand what is going on. FFXIII also decided to use this method of storytelling...

While on your epic hallway adventure, FFXIII gives you data entries about background and things when relevant. I, for one, made the assumption that, like many other games, I could save those until later as it wasn't necessary for understanding what was going on right now. BOY WAS I WRONG. Throughout the majority of the game the characters go on and on as if you're already well versed in their world. L'cie? Fal'cie? I mean if you're gonna make up words at least define them for me extremely clearly within the plot and storytelling itself.

Literally everything I understand about the plot of the first XIII game came from reading a wiki after the fact. And that says a lot considering I barely understand it even now. It really shows a failure on XIII's part to actually write a plot in a way that would be clear to anyone who played. Throwing data entries at me as a requirement for understanding the plot is EXTREMELY LAZY in my opinion.

Then there's the characters. Honestly, I didn't like any of them. I mean, I liked Fang and Vanilla (that was intentional) mostly, but they still felt kind of underwhelming. The characters had a lot of potential too. I feel like Lightning had genuine motives behind her actions, but she was as expressive as a spiky haired potato. I mean, at least her design wasn't overly emphasizing her tits and ass. I'm going to pretend that Lightning Returns doesn't exist yet because don't get me fucking started.

Then you get Snow who's just like look at me I'm the dumbass who believes I can save everyone herp. And Hope isn't any better with his momma's boy ass whining all the time. I guess there are character arcs but they only really happen by the weird plot point of hey if you don't fucking grow a pair this giant robot is gonna bury your ass so I'm not sure how much that counts.

Hallways for Days

I had already alluded to this, but the game is extremely linear.

Let me put that in perspective. I love FFX. For those of you that have played X, it is also extremely linear. But despite this, the game opens up in different ways that allow for side tracking and bonus stuff. It's not a whole ton until you get to the end, but it's something I don't mind about the game because there's so much more to it.

Meanwhile, FFXIII is so damn narrow that you could throw a hot dog down one of the hallways and it would get caught between the walls. They have all these lush, beautiful environments that you can only admire from a distance as the hallways the force you in make a sharp left turn away from it all. And then to top it off all those locations are one and done. You cannot go back to a majority of the game environments after completing them. Unless, of course, you restart the game. But why on earth would anyone subject themselves to another 30 hours of hallways anyway?

By the time the game opens up for you to roam and stretch your legs, you're basically in the final chapter. It's a question of "Do I fight the final boss or just grind until I die?" The game opens up so far in and so suddenly that, and this is no joke, when my boyfriend was playing the game he had such a shock from his comfortable, narrow hallways he got too overwhelmed to continue the game. That's a bad way to get introduced to the series, considering that was his first ever FF game.

Press X to Shaun Combat

Now my biggest gripe with XIII is the combat system. I saw combat system, but it’s more like a frustration magnet. So much of it feels less like a tactical system you have to actually control and think about and more like… pressing X until you win or die.

For those of you less familiar with the combat, your team takes actions by filling a turn bar with various commands based on their combat roles (or paradigms). Once they perform all their allotted tasks they then wait for the bar to refill again before taking more actions. This also applies to all of the enemies in the game.

Now, you’re probably saying Well if everyone is taking turns simultaneously based on any number of different timings then the battles must be pretty chaotic and fast paced. Yes, random citizen of the internet, they can be. Or, you know, you can press the Auto Battle option which the action cursor defaults to every time your characters have turns and it usually does the most optimal thing for that character based on their current paradigm.

That means we don’t have to think about anything at all! Let the game do it for us! Amazing! Everything I wanted in a movie video game! FFXIII successfully managed to take a combat system that is normally designed to create situations where players have to think strategically and remove almost all the thinking.

Honestly, that’s not what caused me agonizing frustration while playing the game. What destroyed my will to live most was the various area of effect (AoE) abilities that the characters and, more importantly, the enemies have. The most control you have for your characters’ positions is based entirely on their roles/ abilities used. Nothing stops your characters’ AIs from simply standing next to each other in a big pile. They might as well hold up a big sign that says Hit us with all your AoEs at once! I swear, if I had a dollar for every time my healer character walked right next to my tank character, who was pulling all the enemy aggro and died because they got hit by all the AoE, I’d have enough money to ship a package to Square Enix Japan with a video clip of Hope running directly into an attack directed at another character and a card with a big Why? written inside.

Conclusion

Yeah, you can probably tell that I wouldn’t recommend this game to anyone. I mean it’s pretty, the music is solid, and the internet believes that Lightning has great armpits. (As a gay man I have no comment on this.) But I just don’t think it’s very fun. Despite this, I did manage to finish the game and put a lot of time into some of the side quests. But in general, not a great game.

TL;DR

Battle is boring, plot is thrown at you unexplained, and it probably should have been a 48 hour movie. But hey, it’s pretty.

#review #dingoreviews #ffxiii

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fossadeileonixv · 7 years ago

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Finding Keepers

With options on deck and the Donnarumma’s in town to meet with Fasster and Mirabelli, let’s talk rationally about the keeper position.

Now THIS is a flippin’ saga!

A day after Mino’s wordy, contradictory (”It’s not about the money! But how can we accept half of what Morata was offered?”), utterly useless, staged attempt at spinning the dumpster fire that is the Donnarumma saga, reports out of Milan indicate that Mama and Papa and Don are in town today to meet face-to-face with the Rossoneri brass, bypassing Il Maiale. While the quick and rash interpretation may be that they’re here to mend the relationship with player and club to reestablish Don as the face of the franchise, you might be setting yourself up for disappointment. With the possibility of Don spending a year in the stands becoming increasingly likely, the Don’s may be in town for some damage control, maybe looking work out something that would keep Gigio between the sticks while setting up a profitable (for both sides) solution down the road. They also may be at Milanello to assure a summer transfer, seeing the relationship with player and fans far beyond repair, looking to spare Donny a year of heckling and distraction that could absolutely hinder his performance and shot at the 2018 World Cup. If Twitter is an accurate snapshot of how fans would receive Gigio for the year, it would be an almost impossible task for the kid to develop here without a long-term contract.

So with that in mind, let’s discuss some of the possibilities facing us at keeper. With the Europa qualifiers little more than a month away, the situation needs closure, like now-ish. Let’s look at the four options we have, and you fellas and gals can weigh in.

Option 1: Donnarumma stays and plays. The pros are that you have probably the second best keeper in Serie A in front of goal for an entire year, do not have to spend 10-20m on a replacement, and if resigning with the club is something both sides still think they can pull off, you have now bought time to do so.

The cons? Oof.

The biggest con in my book is that you run the risk of having a prized asset leave, to a rival no less, for free in eleven months. While I don’t think this is economically as daft as having him rot in the stands for the season, you are still leaving a ton of money on the table, and possibly losing him to Juve, which would be a blow both psychologically and in terms of competition. You also aren’t alleviating the distraction factor. If he signs a contract, fires Mino, challenges him to a ‘Buried Alive’ match at SummerSlam, and vanquishes that rotting trashcan of pig fat once and for all, that is one thing. But without some kind of a renewal, this will be a source of constant distraction. Fans will continue to grill, media will speculate, teammates will be asked how it affects them, losses will be magnified, etc. This also could create a scenario where Don struggles with form with the constant pressure from media and fans. He’s enjoyed the benefit of being the apple of our eye for the past two years, but with the innocence now gone, we aren’t going to be quite as forgiving. Can an 18 year-old build off of, or even reproduce the type of season he had this past year under the microscope? I’d rather not experiment with that.

Rockett’s Final Take: Not an Option

Option 2: Donnarumma stays and sits. A lot on folks both here and on Twitter seem to like this option and I truly don’t understand why. One, you do not remove the distraction element of him remaining on the team. If and when Perin goes down or struggles, and you’re playing Storari in the Derby while an exponentially better option sits in the stands, are you really going to sit there with a straight face after losing 2-0 and tell me that it was worth it? You think the media will? Even if this scenario doesn’t materialize, you would have the perpetual transfer rumors, Mino meetings, and icy tales from the locker room as a subplot for a team trying to reach the Champions League. This compromises all the really good things and significant investment that this management team has accomplished so far in this window (And they’re not even done!). This scenario also means Don is without a contract and Milan loses not only the economic benefit of either signing or moving him now, but having a say in where he goes. If we ship him to Madrid now, yeah you may be selling short, but you’re still getting a return, and you’re decidedly keeping him away from Juve. The sit and rot approach undercuts both benefits.

I was mad four days ago as you may have noticed with my ‘F#ck Off’ post and I still am. But even with my reddest face, this option made no sense. Fine, you got your silly revenge for a goddamn year and it feels great. But let me know how it feels if and when the kid takes the baton from Buffon and plays behind the best defenses in the world for the next twenty years. Not gonna feel so awesome! Make a cost/benefit analysis of this one if you have to, guys. We all want blood, but think straight.

Rockett’s Final Take: So goddamn dumb. Pass.

Option 3: Donnarumma resigns, lights Mino on fire, and plays. Has the damage already been done? You tell me. Four days ago I would have spat in your face for considering this (okay, not really), but I’ve cooled off some and here’s my take: This is actually the ideal outcome. No, I swear I believe this. You keep Italy’s second best keeper, avoid having to waste transfer funds on another keeper, keep him from joining Juve, almost completely eliminate the distraction element of his staying here, and allow time to heal the wounds. The catch though? Mino has gots to go. There is simply no way or no reason to keep the kid as long as you have this annual threat by Raiola to move the kid to a ‘bigger’ club. You may be setting yourself up for a bigger transfer return in a year or two, but your really just kicking the ball down the road. Keeping Mino keeps the distractions and doesn’t really convince the fans that you deserve the shirt. You’re still Dollarumma in my eyes, just using the club for a bigger contract with Madrid, PSG, or Juve, and you won’t be able to convince me otherwise. Resigning, to me, means nothing without letting go of Raiola, which admittedly, doesn’t seem likely.

Now you may be asking yourself? Really Rockett? I thought you said you wanted his career to be marred by a prostitution scandal? I did say that. And I’m proud of that line. My take is this though: When I watched clips of Donnarumma in Poland being showered with fake bills, at first I was like ‘Yeah. That’s pretty sweet’. And I still think that was pretty good. But I also see a legit child. One that fits the bill of a professional keeper, but a child nonetheless. Yes, he’s playing an adults game, is making adult decisions, and in many respects, needs to deal with the consequences of these decisions as an adult. And this whole debacle, no matter how it pans out, is a harsh but deserved lesson in adulthood.

But as someone who really struggled to find his feet as a teen and was too easily willing to take the really poor advice of the peers who he naively believed were in his corner, I can’t help but sympathize a little with the kid. Because he’s so goddamn good, and because we loved him so much, it is very easy for us to lose sight or completely ignore both his age (and immaturity) as well as some of the surrounding circumstances. When discussing this with one of my coworkers last night (A f*cking ‘Pool fan), he just kind of chuckled and said “Isn’t he like twelve? What did you expect?” At his age, Don probably didn’t understand or appreciate what it meant to kiss the badge, to greet the ultras every match, have a personal song created in his honor, to say that he ‘loves’ the club, or what it even really means to wear the jersey. I can’t really expect a kid that was catapulted into his position at sixteen to understand all that, superimposing it on my own lack of appreciation for certain things at his age. The backlash is harsh and deserved (though the threats are shameful), and much like our own childhoods, hopefully matures him. But when I take into account his age, his agent, and if reports are to believed, his family, I’m willing to put this all in the rear-view under the right circumstances.

Rockett’s Take: If you win the buried alive match, I can forgive.

Option 4: Donnarumma leaves, and Perin, Neto, or that German dude come in. This seems the most likely scenario in my eyes, and depending on the hour of the day, might even be more preferable than keeping him around. Part of me is just like, we gotta put this behind us and move on. Out of the three options, I like Perin the most and this is familiarity bias for sure. Yeah, the ACL stuff is concerning, and it doesn’t bode well that he’s only had like two full seasons in his career as a goddamn keeper. But one, he’s Italian, which sorry, means something to me, and two, is a very good keeper with an almost identical save percentage to Donnarumma. You run the risk of seeing more Storari than you would ever hope, but for the price (10m +/- 3m), you’re getting a very good keeper if he can stay healthy. I mean the hair and beard... we’ll work on that.

I know legit nothing about the German cat other than there have been a lot of statistics floating around Twitter that look promising. 20m for a young, rated keeper seems fair, and I’d take this move too. But Neto? Ehhhhh. I didn’t think he was terribly special at Fiore and while his stats may have been impressive at Juve (something like 2 goals allowed in 900+ minutes) consider the back-line. But my biggest gripe is giving money to thieves. I’m just not terribly enthused about giving Juve money for something when there are other, more desirable, options. I also don’t really want Montella bringing back any more of his old Viola pals because, well, the team wasn’t really as awesome as he thinks it was.

Rockett’s Take: Perin, Leno, yes. Neto, pass.

Okay folks, sound off below, and as I’m on nights this week, feel free to provide updates on the meeting. Be good!

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yahoo-puck-daddy-blog · 7 years ago

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Puck Daddy Bag of Mail: Carolina's start, and who can help the Leafs?

Scott Darling needs to be better if the Carolina Hurricanes are going to make good use of their underlying numbers. (Photo by Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Can you believe we’re already getting to the point where teams are talking about sending guys back to their junior teams after nine-game tryouts are over, or otherwise keeping them around? How is the season already almost one-ninth done?

I mean, I understand Halloween is less than a week away, and that’s one of those things where you have to keep in mind the stuff about how hard it is to make the postseason if you’re out of a playoff spot after the start of November. So the question is, with so many surprising starts one way or the other, what do the next six months look like?

[Follow Yahoo Canada Sports on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter]

Let’s take a little walk together.

Matt asks: “Carolina was a preseason pick for a lot of people to make a jump to relevance, so what’s with their slow start?”

There have been a few problems for the Hurricanes, probably most notable of which is the fact that they’re playing dominant hockey at 5-on-5, with the second-best CF% in the league. But they’re actually getting a relatively small portion of their shots on net. That coupled with a low shooting percentage is creating problems for the offense, which only has 17 goals in seven games.

Meanwhile, the goaltending just hasn’t been there from Scott Darling, who’s a lowly .896. One wonders what goes on there, but suffice it to say part of the issue is that Carolina is allowing a lot of scoring chances, particularly of the high-danger variety, and that’s not making Darling’s job any easier. The good news is it’s a new team and it’s early, and there’s still plenty of time to turn that around. However, it’s also worth noting that he’s never been a starter and his numbers were propped up by a pretty good Chicago team that basically always gets good goaltending. Historically, the opposite has been true in Carolina, so at some point you have to wonder if it’s an institutional issue. After all, Eddie Lack had great numbers in Vancouver before his career cratered in Carolina.

The special teams haven’t really been there either. They commit very few penalties but also don’t draw a ton, and when you can’t score or defend those opportunities at league-average rates, it becomes a little tougher to compete.

All that being said, this is a team loaded with young talent and they have a really low PDO (seventh-lowest in the league, in fact) to go with a great 5-on-5 game. One imagines things will turn around.

Rashek asks via email: “Which team had ridden PDO/luck the deepest into the playoffs over the past ten seasons?”

I’m going to just sent the benchmarks here right now at a PDO north of 101 coupled with a sub-50 CF%, which highlights teams that got a lot of high percentages but generally didn’t do well at 5-on-5, which is the best predictor of long-term success. Interestingly, that still gives us about 11 percent of all the teams in the league since 2007-08 (32 out of 300).

But I’m also going to eliminate any team from the 2012-13 lockout season because, well, it was only 48 games, and seven teams out of the 32 came from that year, which tells you it was a bit of an outlier.

So that leaves us with 25 teams from 270, about 9 percent, and it won’t surprise you to learn a lot of them made the playoffs.

Here’s the breakdown:

Missed playoffs (7 teams, 28 percent)

2015-16 Senators 2014-15 Avalanche 2013-14 Maple Leafs 2013-14 Coyotes 2010-11 Stars 2008-09 Oilers 2008-09 Panthers

Out in first round (5 teams, 20 percent)

2016-17 Wild 2015-16 Panthers 2013-14 Avalanche 2011-12 Predators 2009-10 Avalanche

Out in second round (10 teams, 40 percent)

2016-17 Rangers 2016-17 Oilers 2015-16 Rangers 2014-15 Canadiens 2014-15 Flames 2013-14 Ducks 2010-11 Flyers 2010-11 Predators 2008-09 Canucks 2007-08 Canadiens

Out in conference finals (2 teams, 8 percent)

2014-15 Rangers 2011-12 Coyotes

Lost Cup Final (1 team, 4 percent)

2007-08 Penguins

Won Cup (1 team, 4 percent)

2008-09 Penguins

A couple caveats: unless you have Henrik Lundqvist or Crosby and Malkin in their primes, your ceiling is more or less “losing in the second round,” and a lot of those second-round teams lost in short order.

But the answer to your question, which I assumed would be the case going in, was the 2011-12 Coyotes, who rode Mike Smith’s one great season ever to a Western Conference Final, where the Kings humiliated them in five games. A plus-6 goal margin isn’t too impressive in five games, but that plus-71 shot margin sure is.

A.D. asks: “If you could GM for the Leafs, who would you try and target for this season?”

Would Zdeno Chara be a fit for the Maple Leafs? (AP Photo/Ralph Freso)

We know the Leafs don’t need help putting the puck in the net.

I mentioned in last week’s mailbag when talking about the Oilers, there just aren’t a lot of options out there for teams that need defense. In a recent look at their blue line situation (which so far is holding up better than I would have expected, but certainly needs some improvements), James Mirtle at the Athletic noted some reasonable targets.

The Leafs didn’t win the Travis Hamonic sweeptstakes, and might turn their attentions to someone like Mike Green (who I mentioned last week) or John Carlson (who I didn’t). One name Mirtle mentioned as a potential target, too, is Zdeno Chara, who’s a free agent after this year and also on the wrong side of 40. However, I’ve heard the Bruins would probably prefer to re-sign him if he can keep up a decently high level of play, and it would be the player’s preference as well. For the record, Chara has a no-move he would have to waive to go to Toronto, a division rival for Boston anyway.

Of course, all of this is prelude to the media ginning up years’ worth of rumors about the Leafs making a run at Drew Doughty. That’s contingent on the Kings dropping off a cliff this year.

Honestly, there just aren’t a lot of options out there unless you want to start thinking way outside the box and give up a really useful piece up front (like James van Riemsdyk) for someone who can provide long-term help. But given what it costs to wrangle a good defenseman in the offseason, let alone figuring out the machinations of in-season cap management, this might be one of those things where there’s no good answer.

Stafturd asks: “Are the numbers behind Dustin Brown’s resurgence real or is he gonna regress hard?”

I mean, all the underlying numbers are there, and that’s all you can ask for a guy. Not only that, his relative numbers are through the roof and he’s drawing a ton of penalties while taking none himself. He’s shooting the puck more, etc. etc.

He’s doing everything you could ask anyone, even leaving aside the fact that he’s someone whose contract was seen as an anchor like a month ago. But is he gonna shoot 14-plus percent forever? He is not. Is he going to have an on-ice save percentage of .953 all year? He is not.

But even if things calm down — a lot — scoring-wise, if he can keep up this level of performance, he’s going to keep putting his team in a good position.

Pekka asks via email: “What’s up with Olli Määttä? He has already eclipsed his point marks of last season and his relative possession stats are way up, though still slightly on the negative side. Is it the fact that he’s finally healthy, the Stanley Cup high, bloated shooting percentage or what?”

Unlike Brown, Maatta’s hot start is entirely percentage-driven. He’s getting buried in every situation, and the team is shooting almost 13 percent when he’s on the ice. This looks a lot like Mike Sullivan doing what he did with Justin Schultz: Putting him in a position to succeed. He’s doing it in some aspects of the game, and very much not in the ones that inform long-term success.

In short, I doubt he keeps it up all year. Being healthy doesn’t really seem to have anything to do with it.

Dylan asks via email: “Do you know enough about them to know if there are fancy stats models that exist in any level of soccer or lacrosse (both similar to hockey) that might be applicable to hockey in terms of player and/or team assessment?”

Sorta. I don’t know anything about lacrosse and would prefer to keep it that way.

I know everything — everything — in soccer gets tracked. TV broadcasts will regularly show how many miles a player has run, and I have an app on my phone that will show me not only shot locations and what happened on those shots (much like a shot chart in hockey) but also every pass made by every player all game long. You can, therefore, figure out a player’s pass completion rate, and even what happened as a result of those passes, pretty easily.

These aren’t models, of course, but it shows how far ahead soccer is in terms of simply being able to really get under the shot-metric numbers hockey has to rely on. You could, in theory, use player- and puck-tracking data to determine entire team passing success rates and evaluate how that plays into shooting and scoring and winning.

All this stuff is also available in the NBA to an absurd extent. Look at the stats page on NBA.com versus NHL.com and it’s like the data is from two different decades.

In short, greater tracking ability leads to better information about the game. There are a lot of understandable reasons the NHL can’t do it and other sports can, including changing on the fly making things very weird, the speed of the game and general difficulty in tracking the puck without putting a chip in it (which has proven difficult), and so on. Nonetheless, that’s the big impediment right now.

Mikhail asks: “Do you have any favorite single-game performances from folks who didn’t stick around in the NHL?”

I don’t know if “favorite” is the right word here, but I remember watching a game on Center Ice in 2006 (this is so weird to bring up) between Calgary and Phoenix in which a rookie named Enver Lisin was an absolute force for the Coyotes.

It was the sixth game of his career, and while he didn’t have any points — the Coyotes lost 6-1 to one of those really good Flames teams — he took six shots on goal and was generally everywhere, and got 21 minutes for some reason.

I watched that game like, “Who IS this kid?” I guess the Coyotes ended up with the same question. Two years later they traded him to the Rangers for Lauri Korpikoski and the Rangers didn’t even try to qualify him the next summer.

Lisin played only 135 NHL games, never more than 57 in a season, and had only 42 points.

He left North America for good in 2010-11, and has been a perfectly mediocre KHL player ever since. But I’m never gonna forget that damn game. It was bonkers.

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

All stats via Corsica unless noted otherwise.

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yahoo-shutdown-corner-blog · 7 years ago

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Is Matthew Stafford worth the richest contract in NFL history?

yahoo

Welcome to the Wednesday War Room, where Yahoo Sports’ football minds kick around the topics of the day. Want in? Email us with your questions. Today, we’re talking Matthew Stafford and fast food. Onward!

1. Very simple: Is Matthew Stafford worth the most valuable NFL contract in the history of recorded time?

Frank Schwab: Of course he was. Let’s get this out of the way: There’s no option in which you can offer Stafford half of what he got and he accepts it. The price tag was $135 million over five years. Pay or let him go. Don’t bring some fantasy-land third option where Stafford accepts less to me. And there’s no chance the Lions are better off without Stafford.

Stafford isn’t great, but it’s really, really, really hard to find a quarterback better than Stafford if you don’t have one. Ask the Jacksonville Jaguars or Denver Broncos or Houston Texans or … you get the point. What the Lions need to do is help Stafford out. I’ll grant you Calvin Johnson, but who is the best offensive lineman, running back and tight end Stafford has ever played with? (Sad but true: The Lions have not had one Pro Bowl player at any of those positions over Stafford’s eight seasons … not one!) The one time the Lions gave Stafford two competent offensive teammates – Johnson and Golden Tate – they went 11-5 in 2014. The next year Johnson broke down and then retired. There’s no way you can look at the Lions and ascertain that Stafford is the problem. He’s practically the only reason they have any hope at all. And the price tag to keep him was $135 million. Not paying it and then praying to find a replacement as good as Stafford would have been the most Lions thing ever.

Zach Pereles: Yes, Matthew Stafford is worth it. First you have to look at the stability: Between 2000 and 2010, the Lions started 12 different quarterbacks. Since, only Stafford has started. To further this point of ineptitude, remember 2008? The Lions went 0-16, which led to their top overall pick of Stafford. Three years later — Stafford’s first fully healthy year — they were in the playoffs, and they’ve been to the postseason twice more since. Sure, you can point to his sub-.500 record as a starter, but the systematic failures around him are undoubtedly the leading cause of his underwhelming win-to-loss ratio. Case-in-point: In the five years when Stafford was fully healthy and had Calvin Johnson, only once did the team’s defense finish higher than 15th in the league in points allowed.

If you thought Stafford was simply a byproduct of Johnson’s greatness, 2016 proved you wrong. He posted the second-best completion percentage of his career and the second-best interceptions percentage of his career, and he led a league-leading eight game-winning drives. In Stafford’s six healthy years, he’s 48-48. The Lions needed the entire 11 seasons previous to Stafford’s starting streak to hit 48 wins. No, he’s never won a playoff game, and no, he’s not the best quarterback in the NFL. But the turnaround that franchise has experienced with a healthy Stafford, his age (29) and his ability to win with what little around him makes this contract worth it. Detroit has its quarterback locked up, and that is invaluable.

Jay Busbee: This is one of those moments where I wish I’d paid more attention in Econ class. There’s a term for this, sunk cost or opportunity cost or cost-benefit analysis or something involving cost—whatever, this is Shutdown Corner, not the freaking London School of Economics. Point being: the Lions couldn’t afford NOT to overpay Stafford, at least not without expecting to consign themselves to years of hopelessness (as opposed to now, where they have flickers of hope). There are 32 starting quarterback slots in the NFL and only about 10 decent quarterbacks; supply-and-demand being what it is, if you’ve got one in your barn, you’re gonna have to pay up to keep him there. Sorry, Detroit. And start saving those pennies, Green Bay and Atlanta.

Shalise Manza-Young: Can I just say no? Just, no.

Look, quarterbacks get a disproportionate amount of the glory and the blame in the game these days, but they also get absolutely the biggest salaries. And I get it; it’s harder to find a standout quarterback these days than it is to find nuance on Twitter. Stafford isn’t terrible – but “isn’t terrible” should not equate to “highest-paid in NFL history.” The Shutdown Corner Superfriends discussed this virtually this week, and it was noted that Stafford has never had a top running back to help take the pressure off him, which certainly would help at times. But he did have Calvin Johnson on his side for the first seven years of his career, and how many other quarterbacks can say that?

Anthony Sulla-Heffinger: Yes*. Is Matthew Stafford capable of winning a Super Bowl? Yes, so that alone makes him worth $27 million a year, but there’s one big catch. The Lions aren’t close to hoisting the Lombardi trophy. If a team like the Broncos or Texans (sorry to open old wounds Houston), would have signed Stafford to this huge contract, it would have made perfect sense because they’re a quarterback away from being a perennial contender. Does anyone outside of Detroit believe the Lions with Stafford are better than Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers, who will surpass Stafford’s deal eventually? No. This kind of deal will make it difficult for the Lions to build a true contender around Stafford – just look at Baltimore’s struggles in recent years – but unfortunately, Detroit’s front office really had no other choice.

Jordan Schultz: It is hard to justify such a rich contract for a player who has yet to win a playoff game and one who boasts a 5-46 all-time record against winning teams. Make no mistake though: This is a deal that had to get done. Matthew Stafford is a fine quarterback and certainly one that you can build a winning team around. Last year alone, he captained an NFL-record eight come-from-behind wins in the fourth quarter. Detroit started its entire rebuilding project around Stafford in 2009, and the Lions can’t run the risk of one day losing their franchise quarterback to free agency. Remember too that last season, the 29-year-old posted career bests in both interception percentage (1.7) and QBR (70.5). The NFL salary cap will ensure that Stafford won’t be the owner of the highest paid contract in league history for long. In the past, that title has belonged to Joe Flacco, then Derek Carr and will soon perhaps belong to Jameis Winston. For now, though it seems like a crazy move by Detroit, it is actually a sound business decision.

Podcast: The ultimate fantasy football guide with Yahoo’s Andy Behrens

2. If NFL quarterbacks were a fast-food restaurant, which restaurant would they be?

Matthew Stafford: Chipotle Constantly hated on but typically good enough and often comes through in the clutch. -Schwab

Matt Ryan: Wendy’s Of the three biggest burger chains, Wendy’s to me has the best burgers. But their fries, meh. That’s Matt Ryan: in many ways, very good. In some ways, he’s missing just a little something. -Young

Aaron Rodgers: Waffle House You can debate whether Waffle House counts as fast food because of the presence of waitresses, but I defy you to find faster food than here. Similarly, I defy you to find a better quarterback in the NFL on a week-to-week basis. Sure, every so often you’re going to get a dud Rodgers game, just like you’ll get a pile of hashbrowns that augurs its way through your gut, but even in those worst moments, you’ll come away with a hell of a story for later. And at 3 a.m., a Waffle House meal is every bit as transcendent as a Rodgers Hail Mary with three seconds remaining. -Busbee

Russell Wilson: Subway Like the world’s biggest fast food chain, Wilson is incredibly versatile. He runs. He throws. Heck, he even has three career receptions to his name. And like choosing all the toppings at Subway can be overwhelming, the multitude of formations in which Wilson can function — out of the shotgun, under center, off play-action and even in the option — overwhelms defense. Along those lines, Wilson improvises incredibly well, often turning a snap over his head or a botched exchange into a positive play or at least a throwaway. With Subway, you can pile the toppings high and things may get a little hectic, but no matter what the odds look like halfway through creating your meal, you’ll usually come out with something solid. –Pereles

Blake Bortles: White Castle Think about the only time you really eat White Castle, when nothing else is open late at night and you’re either inebriated or are feeling nostalgic about the one time it really hit the spot. That’s Jacksonville with Bortles right now. It’s 2 a.m. (end of the preseason), Doug Marrone may or may not be drunk, Chad Henne isn’t the answer, and the Jaguars are reminding themselves of that one season where Bortles threw 35 TDs and more than 4,400 yards. Sure, since it’s the only option, it seems like a good idea to start him, but once you digest his play and wake up in the morning (0-3 heading into October) you’re probably going to be sick to your stomach, too. -Sulla

Joe Flacco: Dairy Queen Both have one really good product. For Flacco, it’s his 2013 Super Bowl ring. For Dairy Queen it’s the Blizzard — seriously, has anyone ever ordered something other than the Blizzard from Dairy Queen? Fans of Flacco and DQ cling to that one product, but most people see that outside of that one ELITE offering, it’s just another run-of-the-mill option on the whole. -Pereles

Tom Brady: Five Guys Five Guys is consistent, and consistently darn tasty. Their burgers are great, their fries are great (even cold, which is a flat-out miracle), their employees are usually great. When you’re allowing yourself a cheat day and searching for something to nosh, Five Guys is clutch. Just like Brady. -Young

Brian Hoyer, Captain D’s I don’t know that I’ve ever eaten in a Captain D’s, and I don’t know that I’ve ever actually seen Brian Hoyer play. Yet somehow both have hung around for years, so there’s got to be something useful they bring to the table, right? Right … ? -Busbee

Dak Prescott: Burger King Sure, there are pricier, fancier burger joints out there (Five Guys, Shake Shack) but you can get a sandwich that is just as good for half the price from BK. After being picked in the fourth round, Prescott helped lead the Cowboys to the NFC’s top seed with as impressive a rookie campaign as we’ve ever seen and it cost Dallas less than $550K, more than can be said for top picks Jared Goff and Carson Wentz. If the Cowboys are America’s team, Prescott is the Whopper. –Sulla

Drew Brees: Chick-Fil-A Not only is his product on the field great, but he is well liked, both by players and fans. He possesses a world class ability to make those around him better – like how the fried chicken sandwich complements the waffle potato fries. Brees’ rare versatility is what really separates him though. He can tuck it and run when need be, or he can drop back and throw the long ball. Chick-fil-A meanwhile, offers up a wide range of products, like their “superfood” side and yogurt parfait. Whatever your palate desires, they will make sure you’re satisfied. –Schultz

Eli Manning: Whataburger Sure you probably remember some great moments with Whataburger, but when you really look at the full body of work, is it really that good? Still, some people think it belongs in the Hall of Fame. –Schwab

Matthew Stafford in action. (AP)

____ Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.

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