#so poorly paced and i think both fans and players deserve better than to be thrown into world ending stakes immediately

[herenvibing]

cr3 is gonna end and the pc’s still feel like the same people to me :|

(crcritical content in the tags feel free to skip)

[himbeaux-on-ice]

Lehner and Flower are both great goalies, and I'm glad they want to try to use them as a tandem rather than a Starter v Backup. However I will say I only pay attention to VGK due to Flower and like I think he deserves the world but like so does any and every goalie imo. So like I don't know whats going in the VGK fanbase but like treat them nicely guys both of them 💜💜💜

(this turned into a whole-ass essay bc I got on a roll with getting this take off my chest lmao, thank you for your ask and I’m so sorry lol)

It just is so completely bizarre to me that every time Flower is not in net for one (1) game, there is a certain set of Vegas fandom that views this as some kind of conspiracy/egregious slight against him. Like. Guys. He cannot play every game! As somebody who was pretty much ready to cry tears of relief when Montreal finally got Carey Price a solid dependable backup this year, believe me, you do not want him to play every game! It’s not sustainable.

The man had maybe 2-3 games off over a six week stretch because Lehner was injured, and yet there were people who were upset that he was on the bench on Friday. They viewed it as if DeBoer was unfairly “punishing” Fleury for letting in a few more goals than usual in Wednesday’s game against San José (which they WON)... rather than, uh, letting the 36-year-old league vet who just played two solid months of Vezina-worthy back-to-back-to-back hockey get some rest now that your other NHL-caliber goalie is back?? It was just so bizarre. And the venom on some of the comments, it totally threw me!

Like. Vegas fans. Listen. I am Montreal fan whose favourite player in the WHOLE LEAGUE is Carey Price, the magic superstar goalie who the current iteration of that team was built around instead of a star forward or a star defenceman. I understand your goalie being the face of the franchise, I understand wanting to turn on any game and get to see him play, and being a little disappointed when he doesn’t. I know exactly where you are coming from.

What I don’t understand, and what totally baffles me, is this bizarre alternate universe that has been concocted in some fans’ minds where this franchise is supposedly out to sabotage and bully their incredibly popular, and right now incredibly successful, star goalie, just because he’s not given 82 (or in this case 56) starts in a season.

(Rest of my thoughts under the cut to be merciful to the dashboard lol)

I dunno, it feels like maybe too many people took that ridiculous sword painting stunt last year at face value? I came into caring about this team just a few games before that happened, and maybe that is why my perspective on all of this is so different from fans who came into this franchise at the beginning when Flower was the crown jewel of it or who followed him here from Pittsburgh. When I showed up, Lehner was starting playoff games and Fleury was seemingly sulking about it. It actually took me a while to come around to Flower as a player because of it, because that was not a flattering first impression!

Listen, I’ve never believed that an agent would do that without having the client’s blessing, and I’ve never thought it was anything other than poorly thought-out and more than a bit immature. I also believe you can be a nice, good person, and still do asshat things sometimes, which is what I think allowing his agent to do that was. I understand why he was mad to not be starting, but I also understand that in the playoffs you don’t have time to hand out starts just to be nice, and at that time, Lehner was giving the performance they needed to get wins. Nothing personal, just business. But people have taken it very personally, and bought the narrative from that painting completely.

This year, circumstance has handed Fleury an unexpected chance to take the spotlight as a full-time starter, and he has had an incredible, spectacular bounce-back season which has put him in the Vezina conversation in what, his sixteenth, seventeenth season in the league? Hooray! You love to see a story like that and I am genuinely pulling for him to win that damn trophy, dammit! Buuut I’ve also been worrying with all these starts, how long before he burns out and can’t keep pace with standing on his head and working miracles for 60 minutes every second night? Is it good for a young developing goalie in Oskar Dansk to be thrown into all of this every time Flower needs a night off? What happens to the team if he gets injured (which increases in likelihood the more games he plays)? Etc etc

Now, I’m relieved, because the other goalie, who put himself pretty damn high up in the Vezina conversation last year, is healthy and ready to start games again. And that means Vegas, lucky lucky Vegas, should (if Lehner is still up to form after his time out) have TWO excellent goalies to swap in and out of net every night. Nice!!

No longer do the other teams in the division get to hope and pray for “maybe it will be the rookie in net tonight...” Nope. It’s going to be one of two excellent NHL goalies, both well-rested because they’re trading nights, ready to ruin that other team’s day. Do you know how many other franchises would kill for that right now? Leafs fans go to sleep at night and dream wistful dreams of having your goalie situation.

If it turns out Lehner isn’t where he used to be after the concussion, and it becomes clear that there’s a marked performance difference between the two of them, then yeah, it might make sense to give Flower a majority of starts down the road. But as it stands right now, Lehner won his first game back, and now that he is healthy his showing last year has more than earned the benefit of the doubt for a tandem situation.

Nobody who looks at his numbers is going to perma-bench a goalie who is giving the performance Flower is giving this year. He steals games, even when the team maybe isn’t helping him out as much as they could. You don’t have to worry about that. IMO, Vegas fans for now should really genuinely appreciate that he’s now going to get to rest up a bit more before the playoffs, and then the conversation can be had in May once we’ve seen them both perform about who gets the most starts when Vegas goes on their postseason run. Oh, to be spoiled for choice...

But like, the anti-Flower conspiracy isn’t real, guys. It’s just not. He’s the face of your franchise. He is playing amazing. If there was doubt about his future with the team before, he has spent the last six weeks drop-kicking (poke-checking?) it into outer space. And in doing so he has more than earned the chance to catch his breath, sit on the bench and be a well-padded spectator for a few games out of every handful. His play will be better for it.

And knowing Flower? He’ll still have a big ol smile on his face the entire time. 😁

[gwidener]

Kingdom Hearts III - Some Thoughts

I am coming to KH3 as a pretty big KH fan. I have followed Nomura's Wild Ride for a long time - multiple clears on KH1, then Chain of Memories KH2, KH2FM+, and BbS all comfortably under my belt. I tried 358/2 Days but it never clicked for me, got frustrated with Dream Drop Distance, and have never played the mobile game (but it looks like everyone is going to be checking it out, so maybe SE got what they wanted!); I am not a speed runner or everything, but have comfortably finished the games on their hardest difficulties and beaten most of the secret bosses (I actually still need to go back to KH2FM+ and finish the Data fights, but I have that save file on PS3, which is kind of a pain to go back to now. ANYWAY)

Going to try to go through gameplay first, then story stuff, so the major spoilers should be backloaded? 

One of my better notes is that KH3 plays more like a KH2 than KH2. I stand behind this now, another 10 hours later; KH2 is much more refined and takes the battle system in subtly more interesting directions than 3 does. To beat the hardest fights in KH2 (and also BbS) I sometimes found myself taking combo extensions off and working my way back in the abilities to find which ones were leaving me open to new attack chains from these harder fights. KH3 does not have this. Turn everything on and level a bit and you will get through fine; I need to start running through the gates but from what I have seen this is going to pretty much be the case all around, and that is disappointing from a series that has given high-level combat a puzzle box in the past.

For someone who lost their strength and abilities, Sora is pretty powerful even early on. Formchanges are really good and probably the one thing I think this game handles better than past titles - KH2s forms often felt random in terms of triggering and not always very useful until they were leveled up. 

That leads me to the attractions: they aren't really possible to use in a really strategic way other than giving you time where it is hard for enemies to hit you to let your MP recharge. I often used my formchange animations in the same way; free hits from an animation that leaves Sora in an invincible state. These are a big part of why the game feels so easy. (Kupo coins also make the game feel really really easy, but when you can just hit retry on the battle anyway, I don't think it really is actually easier.)

Outside of combat, I don't know how much really needs to be deeply looked at in a wrap-up post anyway: the gummi ship design is disappointingly regressive, but a good source of extra stuff to do; the secret emblems could have been really cool but end up being frustrating and a bad gate to the secret movie; the worlds are mostly really well-built and designed but some are way too long (Arendelle, for example, has a ton of variation in feel and how the player is guided but it is wasted when you are spending so long looking at the same color palette) and some are so disappointingly short - in particular, it is fun to run around in San Fransokyo but it is so small and really should have had a little more to it or been moved back in the game so that you feel more like you accomplished something heading into the game putting you on the track to the ending. Still, though, the worlds are far above what they have been in the past, to the point where I noted the Map Directors name in the credits (shoutouts to Yoh Miyazaki!)

One more thing I think I can get away with without being an explicit story spoiler is after 0.2 and KH3 I never, ever want to fight a Demon Tower again.

Alright, story spoilers follow.

Last warning.

Kairi is completely fucking wasted. I could write at least five paragraphs about how frustrating all the other keyblade wielders not really being a part of the majority of the game is but Kairi's story still being the same as it has been forever despite her being empowered with a Keyblade is just infuriating. Someone slap Nomura for this shit. It is glaringly bad in the face of almost everything else.

KH3 is as poorly paced as any of the previous games, but it is more frustrating here for some reason. A lot of this has to do with how much of this act of the overall KH story being in previous games - Dream Drop Distance and BbS 0.2 really are the first big chunk of KH3, which is extra comical because KH3 opens claiming itself as KH2.9. But really, the player and Sora do not achieve anything until the journey through the Disney worlds is over; the only real reason to have the recovery of these other characters start occurring in the final moments of the game is to stack emotion on top of emotion to ensure the reaction they want from the player. But these moments are going to be stacked with gravity wherever they fall in the game. If Kairi and Axel were to join up with Sora, Donald, and Goofy midway to tackle a considerable enemy or something, it would push the player more while giving them some reward halfway. Ultimately you get sick of the carrot on the stick only being at the very end of this journey.

Speaking of DDD and 0.2, the 2.9 portion of this - and those moments being split into their own games - feel like Nomura way overcorrecting from criticism of the KH2 opening being too long and somewhat boring. It *was* too long and kinda boring but that let Roxas build as a real mystery and something intriguing; KH3 forgoes that, putting those mysteries in other places, so that it can focus on a bombastic opening that draws players in from a gameplay sense. And it works! Olympus is really cool! But it is just one of several long pieces of nothing in terms of the overall story.

Similarly, stacking all of the real boss fights in the endgame kind of cheapens them as characters with regards to 3. I know the fight against Xemnas, Ansem, and Young Xehanort is cool as fuck because I have played the games to know that but if you are just coming to 3, these guys showed up to tease you a couple times and said some vaguely threatening shit in cutscenes. Not giving active confrontation to these enemies earlier on torpedoes the emotional resonance of the fights later, instead of adding to them which could have been the idea behind holding them all back.

So much of what happens in the end is not just predictable but the game straight up tells you it is coming. And any conclusion in this vein will feel like that, so it seems like I am grading it on a curve when I tell you that I did ultimately like the game and how it carried itself despite the above. But if it pulls too many twists on you, it would feel like it is moving the goalposts away from you but both you and the game know it has to go down.

It feels like I am being a little more negative than I mean so let me dive into something real quick that I absolutely enjoyed: the emphasis on Sora, Donald, and Goofy as a team and that being the way you spend the majority of your time in the KH universe. It feels like Nomura and his team read my exact criticism of old KH games for always having a final battle that is so laden with new mechanics and loss of abilities; having Donald and Goofy along when you go to Scala ad Caelum and for the majority of the final run of battles really makes it feel like you have come all this way together and that Sora draws strength from that (which buoys that as a theme as well.)

Finally (for now, I may revisit my notes later) so much of what happens before the credits roll feels kind of crappy. If you have played BbS, you kind of know Xehanort hasn't always been irredeemable shit, but having Eraqus show up and essentially forgive him, and having Xehanort hand Sora the x-blade, put positive feelings on a character that absolutely doesn't deserve it. He has murdered for his goals and had others do the same, throughout fucking time. He is a shithead and him getting to stand up and somewhat willingly hand power over after his defeat knocks the wind out of Sora as the powerful figure he is and should be at this point of his journey. Make no mistake: at the end of KH3, Sora is by far the most powerful character we have seen in Kingdom Hearts. He takes down a Xehanort over multiple forms who has the x-blade and has opened Kingdom Hearts; he reassembles his own consciousness and heart and body which is something nobody should be able to do, according to Chirithy. Xehanort does acknowledge this, but it still plays at deference to Xehanort instead of glorifying Sora and his success.

I know I said finally but secret ending stuff too:

I hope you like long stories is A HILARIOUS LINE in a KH ending. Looking forward to learning why Riku and Sora are in the Shibuya from The World Ends With You and why on earth the dude from Verum Rex and YET ANOTHER PERSON IN THAT COAT are there like what the fuck. Is this the only way Nomura can get to make another TWEWY because *I am okay with this*

[talkcarol17-blog]

Bears mailbag: First half reflection, Adam Shaheen’s return, upcoming free agents and is this a playoff team?

Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

Rejoice, Bears fans! Through eight games, the team is 5-3 and in first place. Not sure many would have expected that back in training camp.

After losing two straight games, they’ve followed it up with two straight wins and a chance for a third this Sunday against a struggling Detroit Lions team that would all but be put out of the playoff race with a loss.

As fun as the start of the season has been, the meat and potatoes of the schedule is upon the Bears and another 5-3 record should be enough to get them in. Either way, let’s dive into another week of the mailbag to answer all of your burning questions.

This is a good question and in the spirit of the midway point of the 2018 Bears season, I figured this would be a good question to kick things off.

First, I’ll start with my surprises.

Offensively, my biggest surprise has to be Taylor Gabriel. When the Bears originally gave him a four year, $26 million deal back in March, a lot of people questioned why they’d give up so much for a guy that has never been anything more than a third receiver. I think we’re quickly finding out that Gabriel has the ability to be the team’s top target on a weekly basis. He’s currently on pace for 74 receptions, 852 yards and four touchdowns. He’s also their best deep threat. Big find for general manager Ryan Pace.

Defensively, it has to be Bilal Nichols. Despite him not starting a lot and missing last week’s game, his presence as the team’s second five technique has been a huge value. Obviously it’s still early but he looks like another great mid-round gem.

My most disappointing starts with Kyle Long, and not because he’s been bad, but this is the third year in a row he’s landed on Injured Reserve. He’s due over $8 million next year, so you have to wonder if his future in Chicago is at risk. You have the feel for a guy who has spent all but one season with a pretty terrible team. He deserves better and I hope that the Bears will do right by him and come to some sort of a compromise so he can stay for 2019.

On the other side of the ball, I haven’t been overly impressed with Adrian Amos. Not to say he’s been bad by any means, but I don’t think he’s currently playing to the caliber he did last year. He and Bryce Callahan are the team’s two primary free agents and if I had to guess right now, Callahan will be the priority.

My best guess? Daniel Brown.

It’s possible that Adam Shaheen could return this weekend (assuming he practices this week), which could force the team to keep all five tight ends with Dion Sims and Ben Braunecker both battling concussions. But if injuries aren’t a factor, I can’t imagine this team keeps five tight ends, when they don’t truly use them all anyways.

Obviously Trey Burton and (unfortunately) Sims are safe, which leaves Braunecker and Brown hanging and because of how they use their tight ends, neither one would project for much playing time on offense. With this in mind, Braunecker is the better of the special teams players, which is why I think Brown could be on his way out.

Before the start of the season, I put out my schedule prediction. That had the Bears going 10-6 overall and 3-3 within the division. Obviously things have changed since that point but I’ve always thought 3-3 would be realistic, especially after losing to the Packers in Week 1.

As much as I want to project the Bears to beat the Lions both times over the next few weeks, that’ll be a lot to ask. Even for a struggling Lions team. Since 2013, the Bears have been putrid within the division, and while I believe that’ll change this year, I’m not sure I can see them making a drastic swing to a 4-2 or 5-1 record.

Here’s how I’d predict their final five division games going:

Vs Lions (Win)

Vs Vikings (Win)

At Lions (Loss)

Vs Packers (Win)

At Vikings (Loss)

I hope I’m wrong but 3-3 overall is still good enough to get them to 10-6, if they beat both the Giants and 49ers.

In my opinion, no. I’d actually argue that the defender did more to interfere with Burton than vice versa.

Overall, it was a poorly officiated game and it didn’t just go against the Bears that game. It went both ways.

I thought Akiem Hicks got away with two roughing the passer calls (hits the helmet) and also didn’t think Prince Amukamara should have been called for pass interference on either one of his two flags.

The good news? They’ll have a new officiating crew this weekend.

The bad news? We have to listen to the same broadcast crew. Maybe Chris Myers can get a few names right this time.

I’d say I’m more frustrated with Mitchell Trubisky’s accuracy at this point than I am worried and here’s why.

Almost all of his issues stem from his footwork. It’s inconsistent and something that I figured would be less of an issue as the season went on. That was one of my primary concerns with him coming out of North Carolina but to be fair, that’s with most college quarterbacks.

I have to wonder how much good working with Jared Goff in Los Angeles did for Trubisky at this point but it’s absolutely something he’s going to need to correct if he plans on being a successful quarterback in the NFL for a long period of time.

The other level to this is comfort. Head coach Matt Nagy runs a very complex offense and the offensive line hasn’t exactly been great. I think that the more comfortable Trubisky gets and the less he has to think, the more composed his game will be, which will lead to more accurate passes and better decision making.

It’s a process and while it’s been a little bit more of an up and down product to this point, I still think he has a bright future.

My guess is Shaheen’s return to the offense means nothing but good things and here is why.

It gets Sims off the damn field.

Shaheen’s biggest value was on third down and in the red zone.

Those two values can’t be understated and it will likely results in more two tight end sets, with two viable pass catching options for Trubisky. I would guess the staff will bring Shaheen along slowly but even from his first game back, I expect his impact to be felt.

The Bears health through eight games has been very impressive and likely a big reason why they’ll compete for a playoff spot down the stretch (knock on wood).

I think that we can attribute that to multiple factors, including general manager Ryan Pace’s constant search for these exact answers.

As most probably remember, Pace has been pulling his hair out over the past few seasons, trying to come up with solutions for his injury issues. From a monetary perspective, the Bears were the most injured team in the league through the John Fox era. I’m not going to say that they would have been a playoff caliber team with better health but I’d bet Fox’s win total of 14 would have been a little higher over those three years.

I think Nagy’s plan in the preseason was a strong one and I think that was particularly aided by his training staff hires in the way of Jason Loscalzo and Andre Tucker. Loscalzo’s success at Washington State was well documented and so far it has paid off in a big way. He and Cougar’s head coach Mike Leach invented the “Leach Beach,” which is now at the Bears’ facilities. It’s been said that training in soft sand helps prevent soft tissue injuries and tears in the lower body.

Either way, I’d classify this as a group effort and one that has been very successful through eight games.

The Bears will be operating with a limited amount of cap space for the first time in quite a while. This needs to be noted when talking about the upcoming off-season.

With that being said, Callahan and Amos are the team’s top two pending free agents, and while it’s possible they could choose to lock both down, I tend to believe they’ll value Callahan more than an in-the-box safety like Amos.

The one thing working in the Bears favor right now? A loaded safety market with headliners like Earl Thomas, Tyrann Mathieu and Landon Collins. Obviously some of these players may stay with their current teams but currently, I’d rank Amos sixth, maybe seventh on that list of top free agent safeties for 2019. As we saw this past year, the safety market isn’t exactly booming, so it’s possible the Bears could end up bringing him back on an affordable deal but I don’t think he’ll be their top priority.

Source: https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2018/11/7/18068218/chicago-bears-mailbag-first-half-reflection-shaheen-return-free-agents-nfl-playoff-team-trubisky

[polotanker6-blog]

Bears mailbag: First half reflection, Adam Shaheen’s return, upcoming free agents and is this a playoff team?

Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

Rejoice, Bears fans! Through eight games, the team is 5-3 and in first place. Not sure many would have expected that back in training camp.

After losing two straight games, they’ve followed it up with two straight wins and a chance for a third this Sunday against a struggling Detroit Lions team that would all but be put out of the playoff race with a loss.

As fun as the start of the season has been, the meat and potatoes of the schedule is upon the Bears and another 5-3 record should be enough to get them in. Either way, let’s dive into another week of the mailbag to answer all of your burning questions.

This is a good question and in the spirit of the midway point of the 2018 Bears season, I figured this would be a good question to kick things off.

First, I’ll start with my surprises.

Offensively, my biggest surprise has to be Taylor Gabriel. When the Bears originally gave him a four year, $26 million deal back in March, a lot of people questioned why they’d give up so much for a guy that has never been anything more than a third receiver. I think we’re quickly finding out that Gabriel has the ability to be the team’s top target on a weekly basis. He’s currently on pace for 74 receptions, 852 yards and four touchdowns. He’s also their best deep threat. Big find for general manager Ryan Pace.

Defensively, it has to be Bilal Nichols. Despite him not starting a lot and missing last week’s game, his presence as the team’s second five technique has been a huge value. Obviously it’s still early but he looks like another great mid-round gem.

My most disappointing starts with Kyle Long, and not because he’s been bad, but this is the third year in a row he’s landed on Injured Reserve. He’s due over $8 million next year, so you have to wonder if his future in Chicago is at risk. You have the feel for a guy who has spent all but one season with a pretty terrible team. He deserves better and I hope that the Bears will do right by him and come to some sort of a compromise so he can stay for 2019.

On the other side of the ball, I haven’t been overly impressed with Adrian Amos. Not to say he’s been bad by any means, but I don’t think he’s currently playing to the caliber he did last year. He and Bryce Callahan are the team’s two primary free agents and if I had to guess right now, Callahan will be the priority.

My best guess? Daniel Brown.

It’s possible that Adam Shaheen could return this weekend (assuming he practices this week), which could force the team to keep all five tight ends with Dion Sims and Ben Braunecker both battling concussions. But if injuries aren’t a factor, I can’t imagine this team keeps five tight ends, when they don’t truly use them all anyways.

Obviously Trey Burton and (unfortunately) Sims are safe, which leaves Braunecker and Brown hanging and because of how they use their tight ends, neither one would project for much playing time on offense. With this in mind, Braunecker is the better of the special teams players, which is why I think Brown could be on his way out.

Before the start of the season, I put out my schedule prediction. That had the Bears going 10-6 overall and 3-3 within the division. Obviously things have changed since that point but I’ve always thought 3-3 would be realistic, especially after losing to the Packers in Week 1.

As much as I want to project the Bears to beat the Lions both times over the next few weeks, that’ll be a lot to ask. Even for a struggling Lions team. Since 2013, the Bears have been putrid within the division, and while I believe that’ll change this year, I’m not sure I can see them making a drastic swing to a 4-2 or 5-1 record.

Here’s how I’d predict their final five division games going:

Vs Lions (Win)

Vs Vikings (Win)

At Lions (Loss)

Vs Packers (Win)

At Vikings (Loss)

I hope I’m wrong but 3-3 overall is still good enough to get them to 10-6, if they beat both the Giants and 49ers.

In my opinion, no. I’d actually argue that the defender did more to interfere with Burton than vice versa.

Overall, it was a poorly officiated game and it didn’t just go against the Bears that game. It went both ways.

I thought Akiem Hicks got away with two roughing the passer calls (hits the helmet) and also didn’t think Prince Amukamara should have been called for pass interference on either one of his two flags.

The good news? They’ll have a new officiating crew this weekend.

The bad news? We have to listen to the same broadcast crew. Maybe Chris Myers can get a few names right this time.

I’d say I’m more frustrated with Mitchell Trubisky’s accuracy at this point than I am worried and here’s why.

Almost all of his issues stem from his footwork. It’s inconsistent and something that I figured would be less of an issue as the season went on. That was one of my primary concerns with him coming out of North Carolina but to be fair, that’s with most college quarterbacks.

I have to wonder how much good working with Jared Goff in Los Angeles did for Trubisky at this point but it’s absolutely something he’s going to need to correct if he plans on being a successful quarterback in the NFL for a long period of time.

The other level to this is comfort. Head coach Matt Nagy runs a very complex offense and the offensive line hasn’t exactly been great. I think that the more comfortable Trubisky gets and the less he has to think, the more composed his game will be, which will lead to more accurate passes and better decision making.

It’s a process and while it’s been a little bit more of an up and down product to this point, I still think he has a bright future.

My guess is Shaheen’s return to the offense means nothing but good things and here is why.

It gets Sims off the damn field.

Shaheen’s biggest value was on third down and in the red zone.

Those two values can’t be understated and it will likely results in more two tight end sets, with two viable pass catching options for Trubisky. I would guess the staff will bring Shaheen along slowly but even from his first game back, I expect his impact to be felt.

The Bears health through eight games has been very impressive and likely a big reason why they’ll compete for a playoff spot down the stretch (knock on wood).

I think that we can attribute that to multiple factors, including general manager Ryan Pace’s constant search for these exact answers.

As most probably remember, Pace has been pulling his hair out over the past few seasons, trying to come up with solutions for his injury issues. From a monetary perspective, the Bears were the most injured team in the league through the John Fox era. I’m not going to say that they would have been a playoff caliber team with better health but I’d bet Fox’s win total of 14 would have been a little higher over those three years.

I think Nagy’s plan in the preseason was a strong one and I think that was particularly aided by his training staff hires in the way of Jason Loscalzo and Andre Tucker. Loscalzo’s success at Washington State was well documented and so far it has paid off in a big way. He and Cougar’s head coach Mike Leach invented the “Leach Beach,” which is now at the Bears’ facilities. It’s been said that training in soft sand helps prevent soft tissue injuries and tears in the lower body.

Either way, I’d classify this as a group effort and one that has been very successful through eight games.

The Bears will be operating with a limited amount of cap space for the first time in quite a while. This needs to be noted when talking about the upcoming off-season.

With that being said, Callahan and Amos are the team’s top two pending free agents, and while it’s possible they could choose to lock both down, I tend to believe they’ll value Callahan more than an in-the-box safety like Amos.

The one thing working in the Bears favor right now? A loaded safety market with headliners like Earl Thomas, Tyrann Mathieu and Landon Collins. Obviously some of these players may stay with their current teams but currently, I’d rank Amos sixth, maybe seventh on that list of top free agent safeties for 2019. As we saw this past year, the safety market isn’t exactly booming, so it’s possible the Bears could end up bringing him back on an affordable deal but I don’t think he’ll be their top priority.

Source: https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2018/11/7/18068218/chicago-bears-mailbag-first-half-reflection-shaheen-return-free-agents-nfl-playoff-team-trubisky

[monasatlantis]

Review of Trails of Cold Steel 3!

As you probably know… I am a fan and a player of Falcoms “Trails of Cold Steel” – Series and now, after what felt like ages, we here in Europe finally got the 3. Part of that series and there was no way that I would not buy this game XD Granted, I already spoiled the actual ending of the whole Series and everything in-between but as usual that only made me want to finish the series myself. So here I am, reviewing a game whos shocking ending made me cry long before I actually understood a damn word that was said in said ending XD

1. So how was the Prolog? I am not sure if Falcom found it funny to do the same thing they already did in the first Trails of Cold Steel game, despite the fact that it wasn’t a good start for that game, or if they just found it to nostalgic to not do it. But let me say this, I only will speak from the perspective of a player who played the previous two games here, because if I would speak out of the perspective of a new player who accidentally ended up playing Trails of Cold Steel 3 first, I would be screaming about that prolog because basically you pressed random Buttons with Characters you did not just simply don’t know, but also with names like “Blond-Haired-Boy” and so on, because they weren’t willing to reveal their names. So, with said unnamed characters I ran through a (fairly easy, I have to admit that) dungeon, fought random monster while pressing random buttons and had no idea why? Not to mention what they were talking about. Anyway… thanks to my knowledge and also the knowledge most players who have at least read the description of the game should have had, plus the experiences from the previous games, made it of course relatively easy to get a hang on the controls and know at least somehow what was going on. So instead of being confused I could enjoy them talking about my Rean-Bean who was not there for most part of the prolog. I laughed my ass of while they said he is a “glory-hunt” and that he is an “oblivious player” because this is so damn on point and is so amusing coming from his own students. Not to mention, when Rean finally did show up, he really once again stole the glory-moment XD I mean… okay… his kids would have died without him, but come one, the timing was perfect to claim all the glory.

Anyway… I definitely liked this prolog better than the one from the first Cold Steel Game. Less characters. More things that already made sense. Shorter. Just a nice “What the hell is going on and were the hell are we?” – Moment that might come in handy later. No deceiving you this time either. While in the first game, Millium and Crowe were purposefully left out of the prolog even tho when you finally reach that point, they are there – to hide that they will in fact later become part of your team – this time they didn’t hide Ashe and Musse even tho in the Introduction-Chapter, those two were not sorted into Reans new class 7. Pluspoints for this. Although they did hide Angelica and the Principal… but… uh… I think I let that slide. They are not that important.

 2. What was your favorite Chapter?

 My absolute favorite chapter was chapter 2. The pacing was great, the plot was interesting, the monsters not too strong and the maps not too big, the dungeons not too complicated and all in all did it provide a good mix of the old and new in the way it presented the new characters and included the old ones in the story without completely ignoring the new class 7 characters. Tio was (although unknown to most players do to the fact that this game has yet to come out in western countrys…) a nice addition and as a shipper, I couldn’t be happier about the Rean x Alisa reunion and how it was handled. All in all I really liked the Mix of Rean, Alisa, Machias and Emma together in a team. And I was also more than Happy when “Olivier” joined our team. It was also great to see Alfin again and also Vita. And Sharon of course. Crossbell as the place where we had our mission was great and I really loved the scene on the rooftop of that super tall building, when everyone was sad because of Junas understandable devastation while that asshole Rufus just walked away without a care in the world. This scene said a lot about every character that was present at that time. I would say chapter two was the best out of all of them. (The final chapter not included as it was too different to compare it with chapter 1 – 4.)

 3. What was your least favorite chapter?

 Definitely chapter 3. Although chapter 4 had its downsides as well, all in all it was still better than chapter 3. In chapter 3 the difficulty of the game suddenly rose a lot. The monsters became harder, the maps bigger and more complicated, do to that the very good pace of the game slowed down and the plot was a bit… too long and yet unsatisfying. While Kurts character-arc was in chapter 1 and Junas character-arc in chapter 2 (while Altina seemed to be having a huge background-arc over the whole game that didn’t really end yet) Musse and Ash had to share the spotlight in chapter 3 and that did the plot and the pacing no good. Musses story is obviously even bigger than it seemed at first, but even the bit we got than would have deserved its own arc, even tho Ashs arc was also just scratched on but it was still too much to put both of it in the same chapter. I also personally feel that the older characters all in all got the shorter end of the stick in this chapter. While in all other chapters the mix of old and new Class 7 was done really well, in this chapter it was done poorly. I love Jusis and it felt extremely wrong that he wasn’t there when we were searching for Millium. Not to mention that the map of that island was too freaking huge and when we finally found Millium she wasn’t even able to join us for the fights. The plot was really slow in the beginning and then got hectic at the end. While most of the time the chapter was rather boring, at the end all of the sudden hell broke lose and made us run through that fucking maze of a damn castle. And here, once again, the old members of class 7 did not get as much attention and “alone-time” as the others did, do to the “splitting the groups” – thing. (Tho the idea of that was not bad and worked very well in the 4. Chapter. It did just not fit in chapter 3.) So of all the chapters this was definitely the one I disliked the most.

 4. What can you say about the final chapter and the ending of ToCS3?

 Oh boy… after we had that semi-final dungeon in chapter 4 and fought that semi-final-boss there as well I was worried at first that they would threw us into yet another labyrinth with puzzles and such bullshit. Thankfully, they didn’t do that. And that makes a lot of a difference for me, I can tell you that. The plot of the final chapter was amazing from the beginning to the end. A bit shocking at times but really good. It started with a lot of lore but it was interesting enough to not make the game boring. Especially with who explained the lore and with us and the characters putting every given piece of the puzzle together so it would make more sense. I kind of also really liked how on both sides everyone was working together for their goals. The dungeon, as I said before, was good and it was also looking really good. For a final dungeon it was rather pretty… I liked how in the beginning, you could put together your dreamteam no matter if it included the new class 7 characters or not, but slowly but surely took those older classmates away from you but still gave them an important reason. No “We have too much characters so these what feels like 20 characters will only stand on the sidelines and watch you all get killed” – bullshit. Instead the members of the old class seven got their own important jobs and with them, they tried to solve their own personal problems. I really like that. Although fighting with the (in my case) weaker new class 7 against a dark holy beast was not that easy at first. But all in all I really liked how they managed those many characters in the final chapter. It was also funny how they slowly but surely took your dreamteam apart and forced you to go back to the routes of ToCS3…

Now… the ending. Boy… the ending… When I saw it the first time on Japanese I was crying my eyes out and I was shocked and speechless. So when I saw it a second time, this time with a language I understood I cried my eyes out once more, internally screaming and sobbing and despite the knowledge I had already I was still in shock. The ending was so good, spoilers didn’t do it justice. Literally going through the whole game on your own terms by playing it yourself makes it even worse (in a good way) than it is when you just watch the scene on YouTube (and in a language you don’t understand no less) and I also kind of already had tears in my eyes a few moments before shit got down because I knew what was coming and that it would break everyones heart – mine included – in a matter of seconds. And then when it happened, here I was, crying my eyes out. And without saying Milliums sacrifice and Reans reaction were bad, I still think what happened with the crimson wings was a tad bit sadder in a way. Because when the ship showed up, it gave everyone hope again and then, just a few moments later, that hope was crushed when the ship exploded. Of course, as I said before, Milliums sacrifice was nothing short of sad or dramatic, especially with the way Jusis feeling had been slowly but surely building up in the background. Reans reaction was nothing else but shocking. Here we are, after 4 hard chapters, an enormous amount of hard battles, betrayals, and lies and secrets and when we reach the point where we SHOULD be saving the world once again, everything goes down and we… fail? Rean going berserk was the moment everyone had to realize that we fucking lost that battle. We lost Millium, the Courageous, my beloved Olivert, Lauras father, Toval and now our last ray of hope, our dearly beloved boy Rean had gone into berserker-mood when we would need him standing strong and tall the most. What an ending… At that moment, all hope was lost.

So let me say this loud and clear, if this ending would have been the ending of the cold Steel-Saga then it would have been a bad, rushed and very unsatisfying ending. But knowing there is a part four, this ending was one of the best cliff-hanger-endings I have ever seen in a game. It was shocking, emotional and devastating. And yet… after we lost everything, after the credits gave us time to dry our tears the game itself tells us to rest, because there is still that light of hope and we will find it. It was great.

 5. Shippings!

 Oh boy! When I started Trails of Cold Steel I was shipping Rean and Alisa and that was all the game had to offer me. Now I enjoyed Agathe and Tita from Trails in the Sky and also had Millium and Jusis suddenly at my disposal and it was… great! I had so much fun with all the teasing for Tita and Agathe and also for Rean and Alisa and I enjoyed the rather subtle way how things had gone on Jusis and Milliums side of the story. It was wonderful to watch all those very different ships develop in their own way.

Nothing can compete (yet again) with the Rean and Alisa Reunion-scene. Or their final bonding-event at the summer-festival, while we are at it. I think Falcom did go all out once again in this game with their love for Alisa and Rean as a pairing. As you will notice that, even tho yes, Laura also got a hug, her hug was very different from Alisas, starting by the length of it and the palpable intimacy between Rean and Alisa that Laura and Rean couldn’t match. Also notice how Reans voice automatically drops to a more gentle tone when he talks with Alisa in their reunion-scenes. What is also worth noticing is that when Sharon made that command that  Rean couldn’t help the embrace because of Alisas beauty, he actually admits to it after a rather questionable attempt to deny it at first. This is the only time Rean openly admits to be drawn towards any girl, besides the scene with Claire were he thinks he is dreaming after she gave him a kiss on his cheek were it admittedly also could be more meant as a “I am a lucky bastard that such an amazing woman likes someone like me” and didn’t have to mean that he is also drawn to her, especially since you can not officially dater her. There is also worth mentioning, that Alisa is the only girl of the old class 7 that he danced with at the ball, and once again the game seemed to pay special attention to them in that scene. Not to mention how their first-bonding-event is extremely romantic without you as a player having any chance to choose if you want it to be romantic or not. There is also the thing that Alisas gift is a ring for the pinky-finger… Agathe and Tita managed to made me smile so often. After liking that ship already in Trails in the Sky, I was happy I could enjoy it in Cold Steel 3 as well, not to mention how much I laughed about all the times they got teased because of their close relationship. There are also two changes that you have to take note of. First off all, Tita is by now much more conscious of her feelings for Agathe then in Trails in the sky, were she didn’t get a thing when everyone was teasing him about not doubting that that bizarre world he was in was real because of her embrace. She was subconsciously drawn to him without giving it much thought as to why or what it could mean or lead to. Now she is aware of her own feelings, blushing and doing things like trying to keep in mind how to approach a stubborn man after the principal told the girls. While Agathe on the other hand, very clearly stated Infront of Rean and the other that he sees her as a little sister and is more concerned about her safety because of a promise he made to her parents… while later in the game he stops denying anything and was even able to tell Tita in the light of all the bad events of the ending that she will be save as long as they are together which was – by all means, not a moment between a brother and a sister, but between to people deeply in love with each other. I will be eternally grateful that they gave me that moment, because in all my sadness and despair, in the middle of sobbing, they made a smile show up on my face.

I won’t go into more details when it comes to Millium and Jusis, because as I said, that was a little more subtle and gets its greater and more clear moments in the next Trails of Cold Steel game.

 6. All in all, how many points are you giving this game?

 I give this game a great 9 out of 10 points.

 I really enjoyed playing it. The plot was very good, pacing was very good, so was the music, the beloved characters were mostly handled really well and so were the newcomers. The characters from the older Trails games were a great addition to the game. And extra plus points for being allowed to play this game on the difficulty “very easy”. Minus-Points are for the NPCs as they didn’t bother to try to at least use different looking NPCS for different missions. I don’t know how often that guy that looked a bit like Machias with the lilac hair and the glasses was part of a mission, despite being a different character every time. In a crowd they had 3 people and copied them over and over again instead of trying to put all the few different NPCs they had together. They even got as far as to make the mother of a child in saids childs-picture that a girl has drawn for her father in one mission, to look like Towas aunt, same Haircolor, same clothing and all. Girl also looked like that one girl-child-NPC that runs around in every town. They literally have drawn two characters in what looked like a picture from a child, that were never shown in the game as they were from a different far away country, look like all the other damn NPC-Characters. WTF?! All in all seemed it was too expensive to make all the character-models they would have needed. Because it was mentioned that along Agathe there was another A-Rank-bracer from Liberl but even after it got finally revealed that it was Oliverts Girlfriend Shera, she didn’t show up. Not even in the final fight. Same goes for Mueller. I am sorry but I have to take points away for that. I get that a game like Trails, which is not half as popular as Final Fantasy for example, has a lot more money-issues then the guys from Sqaure Enix have with their Masterpiece, but seeing that in Trails of  Cold Steel 4, all those characters from the previous two games, including Shera and Mueller, are there and it is on the same console with hardly different graphics I don’t see why they didn’t just do the models for part 3 if they had to make them for part 4 anyway.

 Besides a few minor  things, that was all the bad stuff I find worth mentioning. The rest was really good. I have to especially mention the pacing one more time, because that was something I had a huge problem with in a lot of the JRPGs I played in the last 3 years. And I am talking about big games like Final Fantasy 15 or Kingdom Hearts 3, were you would expect that they did their homework and wouldn’t struggle with the pacing. In Trails of Cold Steel 3 the pacing was splendid. It was a bit hard in chapter 3, but just because they spoiled us in the previous chapters. So I just had to make it clear that the pacing of the whole game was really, really good in Trails of Cold Steel 3. In the end I would say this is by far the best game of the series (for now).

 7. What else? Were the hell did Towas “I think Angelica and George have feelings for each other” – thing come from? Girl! You yourself have been fallen victim to Angis totally crazy love for Girls and Woman more often than not, why on gods earth would you think a woman who likes cute girls would fall for George of all people?

I get that Alisa as the main girl of the previous games and Falcoms chosen Girlfriend for Rean has to show that she is pretty as fuck and all, but they had to put her into that machine where she had to sit with her legs spread apart, so why did they gave her that extremely short skirt AND gave her damn dark red panties? Seriously?

There was a huge ass-problem for everyone who hasn’t played Trails in the Sky in this game. It might be okay to not know much about Joshua and Estelle or Agathe and Tita or even the whole Hamel-Incident as they tried to explain at least the basics of it all… BUT if you haven’t played Trails in the Sky 3 you have no fucking idea about the Grahlsritter. You don’t know who they are, what they are doing or how their Stigma actually works and with not just Thomas Lysander and Rosi being part of this messy story, but also Gaius becoming one of the more powerful people of that group it would have been better to give us a more intense summary about all that stuff in case people haven’t played Trails in the Sky 2 and 3 yet.

Abendtime! I was laughing so hard when basically every character in this game was happy Abendtime was back, despite the circumstances around Vita aka Misty. Lector, while explaining that they try to use Abendtime to find Vita, who is part of Ouraboros, casually mentioning that he is also a fan of the show… XD I could so relate to that. Well partly. I always loved Vita, so I didn’t really mind her being part of that society. But I definitely missed Abendtime so much. I loved how she gave us small clues to what would happen on our next fieldtrip. “Watch out for changes in the weather” she said and then, one day on your fieldtrip you leave a building and suddenly the sky is all cloudy and you are like: “Uh-Oh…”

Do to Rean being the oblivious glory-hunt player that he actually really is, he is of course part of a lot of flirting and teasing and I mostly enjoy it, even if it has nothing to do with Alisa, but Musse has gone too far with her trying to put Rean under a magic spell to actually trick him into kissing her. Musse per se is not a bad character (although also not one of my favorites) but she got a whole lot of minus-points for that trick from me. Tho I liked that when Rean pulled out of the spell last second he was all like “Puh, that was a close one…“ XD

I love how after in the first two Trails of Cold Steel games, we actually only had to deal with Olivert, the Prince of Erobonia, we finally get to meet Oliver again, the traveling bard who helped save Liberl in Trails in the Sky. He jumped back into his old clothes and just nailed it. Teasing Tita and Agathe on the way too XD Boy did I miss this guy through most of the game, no matter if Oliviert or Oliver, he is THE BEST Character in this game. I can’t even imagine playing any other game of Trails without him being part of it in some way.

Poor Claire. She had it rough from the start. As an Ironblood she is having trouble doing what Osbourn asks her to do and still kind of don’t get in Reans way, as she has been in love with him from the start – and don’t give me that “little brother” – excuse bullshit. It didn’t work with Agathe and it certainly won’t work with Claire. I love how she is also connected to Juna. She might be an Ironblood, but she is a person that does the right thing if she gets the chance to do it and that is why it is so hard to see her suffer through most of the game.

I am torn between liking and disliking the fact that in this game, there are rarely any “normal” familys. Like, per se I like it that we have kids who have been adopted, raised by just one parent, or grandparent or aunt or something like that. It gives us a great variety and with that in some way, there will always be a character you can relate to somehow. It also gives those characters more depth. But sometimes it’s a little bit too much. I get that this is a game that plays after a great war and in a world where many dangerous things have happened for many, many years and I understand that it makes sense that they have lost people in the war and though accidents. I really get that. But there is hardly a person with a normal family in this game. And this doesn’t even just start with Cold Steel. Its not very different in Trails in the Sky either. And it starts to… you know… get boring in a way. I mean, look at Musse, who obviously is more then just a dukes niece. She is basically playing the role of Kloe from Trails in the sky, although her character is mostly different from Kloe, she still is the “hidden princess” somehow, with the fake name AND who also lost her parents do to a sinking ship. Its like they wanted to copy Kloes story as much as possible. I find this is a bit unnecessary. But its not the only “copy” of complicated and hard family-circumstances in this game. Although I have to say that I am proud that Trails barely uses the “Bad stepmother” – trope at all. On the contrary. In Olivierts case his stepmother helped him get better after his real mothers dead.

Speaking of which. The emperor of Erobonia got a Girl pregnant while he was still in Thors. Rean was 17 or so when he entered Thors and so  was almost everyone else. And they leave after not much more then two years. So… WTF kind of rolemodel is that Emperor? And why the hell did it take Rean almost until he was 21 before he slept with Alisa? That feels totally wrong now! XD

They could have answered at least a FEW of all those Questions we got so far in the Trails of Cold Steel – Series in this game, if you ask me.

Campanella saying “Was that really necessary?” when the Crimson Wings with Olivert on Bord exploded while Cedric (Oliverts little brother) basically saw it as a necessary price to archive their goals? Campanella got good points for that one. Like… the bad guys (not just him) standing there in shock and wondering if that was really something that had to be done to their enemies while Oliverts own brother just stands there and shrugs it off. Hell, do we have great villains. They do shit for their crazy goals, but at the end of the day, they are still humans… mostly.  Anyway, I found this scene really great.

[first-and-ten]

Week 17 Recap

The NFL season ends with a bang. 

I did terrible in fantasy, but ended on a high note in both leagues. I did better in picks than I did last year but didn’t break my 2014 record. I missed on 3 survivor picks all year and made $71 in fake bets. Half the upsets I picked happened and I locked up games with almost 80% accuracy. We had one perfect week (DEN, SEA, NO, GB and both my fantasy teams win, NE loses) and ended on a disaster week (All my teams lose, NE wins). The Pats will carry the NFL Title Belt into the postseason.

Oh, and there’s the small matter of historic failure by one team. That’s right, the Cleveland Browns are now the third team to go winless in an NFL season in the Super Bowl era, and the second to do it in a 16-game season. Congratulations, Browns, you deserve it, and the Matt Millen Award for Losing will henceforth be called the Matt Millen and Sashi Brown Award for Losing.

In happier news, the longest playoff drought in North American pro sports is over. The Bills needed a handful of very specific miracles, and they got them. So strange to think that if just the Bills and Chargers were tied LA would go to the postseason, but with the Titans and Ravens in the mix they’re out. Not sure I like how that works. But it’s a little heartwarming for Bills fans to get to see their team in the playoffs for the first time this side of Y2K.

Teams That Need/ed Kaepernick: CLE, BAL, IND, TEN, HOU, JAX, NYJ, MIA, DEN, GB, PHI, NYG, ARI, SF

Coaching Graveyard: Ben McAdoo (NYG), Chuck Pagano (IND), Jack DelRio (OAK), John Fox (CHI), Jim Caldwell (DET), Bruce Arians (ARI)

The Room Where It Happens: PHI, PIT, NE, JAX, MIN, LAR, NO, CAR, KC, TEN, BUF, ATL

Fallen Tributes: CLE, NYG, SF, IND, DEN, CHI, TB, WSH, ARI, GB, CIN, NYJ, HOU, MIA, OAK, DET, DAL, BAL, LAC, SEA

GB 11 - 35 DET Game Ball: Ameer Abdullah Bet: +$2 [W] The season mercifully ends for both teams. Nice running by Abdullah, but the Lions still haven’t had a 100-yard rusher in the Stafford era, and maybe that’s why Jim Caldwell is out. Honestly, I think he should have stayed. His team had a respectable enough year. The Packers did not, and to their credit they are not putting it all on Rodgers’ injury, firing DC Dom Capers finally and reassigning GM Ted Thompson. 

HOU 13 - 22 IND Game Ball: Frank Gore? Bet: +$1 [W] I didn’t watch this game, or any highlights from this game. Could have been Frank Gore’s last. Was definitely Chuck Pagano’s last.

CHI 10 - 23 MIN Game Ball: Latavius Murray Bet: +$2 [W] The Bears’ only real move was an incredible Red Herring punt return for a TD that got buried in a game where every wrinkle they tried on offense was either poorly executed or well-defended, or just cockamamy in the first place. The story of their season, really. Maybe that’s why John Fox is out.

NYJ 6 - 26 NE Game Ball: Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill Belichick the Football Guy! Bet: +$9 [W] The Jets couldn’t move an inch, and James Harrison had 2 sacks (in garbage time.) The Pats offense still looks stale, but it won’t in two weeks, I would bet the farm. 

WSH 10 - 18 NYG Game Ball: Elisha Manning Bet: -$5 [L] This result made no sense, except that it did. No idea what the Giants are gonna do with Manning or about their head coach vacancy. Washington likewise has decisions about their QB and HC. Jay Gruden should be safe but it feels like Kirk Cousins is going despite being just as worth his mega-contract to the Potatoes as he is to any other team. Next year whoever is under center will be working with a team better than its record after half the roster trickles back in from IR.

DAL 6 - 0 PHI Game Ball: Dan Bailey  Bet: +$3 [W] The Cowboys refused to let this game end as it was destined: with a 0-0 tie. Dan Bailey did his part though, missing a FG and a PAT. Nick Foles certainly had the shutout in mind, throwing for fewer yards than the length of my longest pass in a quidditch game. What a masterclass in wasting a #1 seed. 

CLE 24 - 28 PIT Game Ball: Factory of Sadness Bet: -$9 [W] What can you even say? What do you say about a team winning only one out of 32 games over two years? About that team keeping the coach that did it for a third try? About going into a matchup in the last week against your hated rivals to find that they are resting every meaningfully impactful player? About moving the ball in that game better than you have all year, keeping the game within one possession, only to have a disappointing first-rounder straight up drop a pass from another disappointing first-rounder on 4th down? What on earth is there to say about a team that ultimately answers to the whim of a criminal billionaire who doesn’t give a damn about his team, when its fans care so much they are throwing their own parade just because they know this is a chance to celebrate, if ironically, a team that they’ve stuck with through every other possible terrible thing that can happen to a football franchise. What do you say when a team is so miserable that going 0-16 in a way feels like a fulfillment of its destiny? Congratulations, Cleveland. May your fans’ many years of exploitation for monetary gain finally be repaid. May this season exorcise whatever demon has cursed your city. You are the true Sovereigns of NFL Pain. You are the Factory of Sadness.

DEN 24 - 27 KC Game Ball: Pat Rollin With Mahomies Bet: -$10 [W] So many mixed emotions. The Broncos lost -- but that means they get a better draft pick -- but we lost to the Chiefs backups -- but it was close and we saw some potential -- but I lost $10 despite betting on the winning team -- but Vance Joseph is staying -- but Vance Joseph is staying. Patrick Mahomes did well enough for Chiefs fans to be hopeful about the future but not well enough for Alex Smith to be sweating, so that’s terrible.

CAR 10 - 22 ATL Game Ball: Matt Bosher Bet: -$12 [L] The Falcons kicked a lot instead of dancing in the end zone, but they sealed the deal when in mattered. The defense is looking good and Atlanta will enter the postseason as the only member of the NFC side that was there a year ago.

CIN 31 - 27 BAL Game Ball: Tyler Boyd Bet: +$8 [L] After trailing all game, the Ravens fight back for what seemed like the inevitable narrow victory, gaining a 3-point lead with about a minute to play. And Dalton moves the Bengals to midfield where they stall, finally facing a 4th and 17. This is the end for the Dalton/Lewis era, and the end of Baltimore’s 3-year playoff absence. They will happen upon the postseason as severe underdogs hoping their history can carry them past the likes of KC, NE, and PIT.  And then it happened. A hole appeared in the middle of the field. Dalton delivered a solid strike right to Boyd. Boyd juked defenders, sprinted down the sideline, and powered into the end zone, and just like that the tables turned entirely. The Bills popped champagne and Joe Flacco wrinkled his brow. Aaaaaand the Bengals retained Marvin.

BUF 22 - 16 MIA Game Ball: Tyrod Taylor Bet: -$5 [L] The Bills just straight up had fun trashing the Dolphins’ fourth-stringer and handing the ball of to DTs on the goalline. The real fun came later that night though. Wow, what a ride.

NO 24 - 31 TB Game Ball: Jameis Mr. Wimstons Bet: +$3 [L] The Saints didn’t show me anything in this game I wasn’t already worried about. The Buccaneers end the season hot, to little avail, and this result could be construed as a positive for the Saints, whose path to the AFC Championship now looks like a home tilt against the Panthers -- who they’ve already beaten twice -- and then a visit to Nick “I Can’t Throw In Anything Less Than Ideal Conditions” Foles. Look up some of Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram’s records from this season, because they are staggering and I don’t get paid for this.

JAX 10 - 15 TEN Game Ball: Derrick Henry Bet: +$70 [L] Jacksonville covered by half a point on a bet that would have left me with $1 if I lost it.  This is the opposite of what the Teal And Gold needed before heading into the win-or-go-home stretch, and if they falter next week against Buffalo I would give partial credit for knocking them off to the Titans. Credit to Tennessee: I did not think they would take care of business but they did. You are what your record says you are, and their record says they’re a playoff team. One that’s gonna lose and maybe still fire their coach, but a playoff team nonetheless.

OAK 10 - 30 LAC Game Ball: Philip Rivers Bet: -$1 [W] *Adelle’s “Rolling in the Deep” plays in the background as the Chargers are eliminated from the playoffs*

SF 34 - 13 LAR Game Ball: Janeane Garofalo  Bet: +$5 [W] Yeah, the Rams rested their starters (and the Saints let them get away with it) but this win was still significant for the Niners. I’m not sure I’ve EVER seen a bigger in-season turnaround. They’ll go into the offseason on a 5-game winning streak with a QB of the future who is 7-0 as a starter. That’s not normal. It’ll be interesting to see what the week off and loss of momentum does to LA. 

ARI 26 - 24 SEA Game Ball: Bruce Arians’ Retiring Ass Bet: +$10 [L] Arians is like 4-2 in Seattle, and he will retire that way. Blair Walsh remains the most baffling hire by the Seahawks. The Falcons’ win a minute earlier made his game-ending kick essentially irrelevant but it just encapsulated the frustration of this season when he missed it anyway. Hopefully he’s gone next season, and hopefully Pete Carroll, Cliff Avril, and Kam Chancellor are NOT gone next season. If this was Larry Fitzgerald’s last game ever, he went out on his usual note: humbly holding his team together and lifting them to victory.

Record this week: 9-7 Record this season: 168-88 Locks record: 76-20 (Survivors used [XXX]: ATL, SEA, NE, GB, PIT, DEN, DAL, MIN, NO, DET, KC, LAC, MIA, SF, JAX, BAL, IND) Upsets record: 34-34 2014 pace: 188-67-1 Pickwatch leader: 180-76 (Jeff Ratcliffe, PFF) Betting: +$71 ($71)

NFL Title Belt: NE (Defended from NYJ)

Matt Millen Award for Losing Jackpot Winners: 2017 Cleveland Browns (0-16)

FANTASY CORNER

Danger Squirrels 332 - 270.8 :) The Champs [W, 6-8]

And thanks to my opponent leaving Ben Roethlisberger in the lineup I avoid being the last place team in the league a year after winning the damn thing. 

[squashsiteblog]

Best of Three : Ali Farag

Malcolm Willstrop | Gawain Briars | Lee Beachill | Collected Tweets | The Numbers

Egypt’s World #5 Ali Farag with an insightful look at the best of three debate ...

You either Grow or Die.

It is a human instinct to resist change. We all tend to unknowingly fall into the trap of feeling too comfortable with the present, and go with the phrase: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!.

But the truth is, if you stop changing, you stop growing. And in this constantly changing world at lighting speed, if you stop growing, you die. In other words, you either grow or you die!

This concept applies to businesses as well. And only the best of businesses realise this before it’s too late and always find a way to innovate. If we really want to keep improving our beautiful sport of squash, we must treat it as a business.

The reason I started with this introduction is that I feel most people are opposing the best of 3 (Bo3) idea purely because of FEAR OF CHANGE. I am not saying the best of 3 is necessarily a better idea. I personally haven’t fully made up my mind yet. But what I’m trying to say is, let’s try not to be emotional while thinking about it, and just try to stick to facts and numbers to have a more constructive discussion.

Needless to say that we all want to keep our sport as great as it is, but it’s always a balance between innovation and tradition. We need to continue finding ways to make it more friendly to the viewers, but of course without losing the identity of our sport.

Here are all the PROS and CONS of changing to best of 3 that I’ve thought about and/or read on social media in the past couple of days, with my take on each.

CONS – WHY BO3 MIGHT BE A BAD IDEA

LESS PHYSICAL Most people believe and are proud to call squash one of, if not the toughest sport in the world, and converting to best of 3 would take away the physicality of the game.

No one can deny that the best of 3 would definitely take away a big part of the endurance in the game. However, the term “Physicality” consists of not only 'endurance', but also 'speed'.

Because players know that now they’ve got maximum 3 games to play, the speed of the game will dramatically increase (as it did in Dubai), which will require players to be even more fit if they want to stand a chance at this pace.

As a simple example, I’ve played with Shorbagy at least 7 or 8 times in the last 2 seasons, with 3 of them going to five games. By far, the most physically challenging for me was our 2/1 encounter in Dubai at the World Series Finals (not to mention that it was definitely the highest quality of squash we played against each other).

To sum up this point, James Wilcock perfectly put it: “An 800m race isn't any easier than a 1500m race”.

VERY SHORT MATCHES Some matches will be extremely short, especially when a higher ranked player is playing a significantly lower ranked player or in lower tier tournaments.

Here’s a good question: Would you rather watch 2 games of a one sided game or 3 games? I don’t think there’s a right answer; hence this point is not really valid.

NO CHANCE TO RECOVER Some people argue that the best of 3 gives you no real chance to recover. If you lose your head for just a streak of points, it can cost you a game, which means half of the match.

This is certainly a valid point, but is it really a bad thing to punish someone who’s careless one or more patch of the match? On the contrary, in my opinion, it is an advantage as will be discussed below in the pro #5 “Every Game Counts”.

UPSETS There is a concern that the best of 3 will create more upsets, and will give a chance to lower ranked players to beat the top guys.

This was the same argument when scoring changed from 9 (with a hand out) to 15, and same when it changed from 15 to 11. But if these two cases taught us something, it is that the top always remain on top, regardless of the scoring system.

Besides, upsets are a positive thing to any sport. Upsets create stories. And stories mean more engagement by the fans around the world.

SPECTATORS LOVE 5 GAMES Yes, it definitely does create a lot of drama, and no one can deny that. However, if we take a close look at most of the 5 setters, even the best of them, rarely does it happen that ALL 5 games are highly contested.

Usually one player or the other drop at least one game for various reasons. Either they thought the gap in score was too far that they decided to concede, or they felt too tired that they wanted to conserve energy for the following game. Whatever the reason is, this game is pretty dull to watch.

Many people believe – including myself – that the Ramy v Shorbagy match in the 2015 Gouna Final is the best squash match played in recent years, if not in history. The 3rd game was conceded by Ramy.

Even this year’s match of the season, Gaultier conceded the 4th game in the semi-final of the ToC vs Shorbagy.

These players are certainly not to blame, and it is completely within their rights to do so, but if we change to best of 3, the number of those 'dull' games would be tremendously reduced.

If you think those are two random matches, here’s another random sample of the 1st big six tournaments of the Men’s 2016/2017 season, with the statistics of all 3/2 matches from the 2nd round on. At least one game was dropped in 61% of these matches.

IT’S ALWAYS BEEN BEST OF 5 Some people believe that it’s one of the basics of squash. There isn’t such a thing as 'basics'. We need to be always flexible to change to improve…

PROS – WHY BO3 MIGHT BE GOOD

MORE FUN TO WATCH As mentioned in point #1 in the 'CONS’ section above, players know that now they’ve got maximum 3 games to play, the [pace] will dramatically increase (as it did in Dubai).

This will raise the bar of the level of squash, which will make it more fun to watch than it already is; hence will attract more viewers and fans around the globe.

EVERY GAME COUNTS Now because players know that they can’t afford to lose one game, we will have many less slow starters, games conceded, or lapses of concentration.

Again, the longer periods of concentration means that the crowd will be entertained throughout the entire match, and not lose attention at any point during the game.

FRESHER LEGS IN THE LATER ROUNDS How many times have we seen semi-finals and/or finals blown up because one of the players reach that round physically dead? Just to name a few; myself in Ahram final, Nick at the US Open, Tarek in St George’s, Shorbagy in Qatar, James at the British Grand Prix, Nick at the British Open, and not to forget of course, Max Lee in Macau.

The later rounds, and especially the final, is the climax of any tournament, so to see many of them not contested at the highest level because one of the opponents is physically struggling is such a turn off to all the squash fans, let alone the promoters of the tournaments.

Many might argue that the more physically fit deserves to win because they’ve either beaten their opponents easier to reach this round fresher, or they’ve trained harder to be fitter than their opponent in similar situations. Completely valid point, but it is a question here of whether we want the fitter to win and blow up the final, or give both players a similar chance of recovery by playing shorter matches and reduce the risk of a poorly contested final.

MARE (and new) FACES ON THE GLASS Shorter matches will give space and time to promoters to accommodate more matches on the glass; therefore, we will get to see more matches on SquashTV. This will give a chance to lower ranked players to have their matches aired live on TV.

ROUND ROBIN IN LOWER TIER EVENTS For players starting their career on the PSA World Tour, sometimes it is too expensive/hectic to travel all the way to another country with a chance of losing 1st match and getting nothing back in return.

With the best of 3 format, there is an idea of dividing players in the lower tier tournaments into groups where they play a round robin (i.e you get to play at least 3 matches).

This will push more players to go, as they will guarantee more match play (i.e more experience), and there’s a better chance to earn money as each match win is compensated.

This will also encourage promoters to hold more and more tournaments, as they are guaranteed to watch lots of squash.

This creates a loop of happier tournament organisers AND happier players, hence a healthier organisation overall that attracts more and more people to join the PSA World Tour.

LONGEVITY Some people believe that the best of 3 format will give more longevity to the squash player, as there will be less mileage in their body as the grow older.

Not necessarily true. Yes, less mileage, but much more intense matches through the years which will wear down the body just as equally.

IN SUMMARY

There are really strong points for both sides. No opinion is wrong or right, but let’s hope that we don’t resist the idea of best of 3 just because, 'emotionally', we are opposing change. Just imagine we hadn’t yet changed from 9 scoring with a hand out to the 15 scoring, then from 15 to 11, then from a high tin to the low tin. We would have been way behind by now.

And rest assured, if it turns out that the PSA is to implement it, it will be only 'trials' at the beginning, and in smaller tournaments. If it proves bad, then let’s stick to the best of 5. But let’s be open to give it a fair chance of evaluation.

P.S: The best of 3 does not necessarily suit my game. If anything, I personally prefer the best of 5. However, the game is way bigger than any individual and we need to put the growth of our sport the top priority over anyone’s own benefits.

All the Best of Three Stories

Malcolm Willstrop | Gawain Briars | Lee Beachill | Collected Tweets | Ali Farag | The Numbers

[astutentofthegame]

Banter 6/04

Back after a short hiatus. I would like to look ahead to game 2 of the finals, which is in about an hour. Kerr is apparently, back, which makes for an interesting storyline, given how the Warriors have stomped on everyone up till this point. If they lose, will the media attach blame to Kerr? Of course they will. They are already speculating that it’s risky and gutsy of him to come back now. I think he’s the head coach so he should be coaching if he feels he is up to it. Mike Brown did great but Kerr coached them all year long, prepared them to succeed, and deserves credit for that. I don’t really like the Warriors, but I do like Steve Kerr, and am glad he is back and healthy.

Gonna start with some betting talk. As of now, the Cavs line is +305, the Dubs -405. The spread is 9 and the over/under is 221.The line is kinda risky; I personally don’t think the Cavs will win, nor do I believe the Warriors payout is not enough to warrant a bet. I would take the Cavs at the +9 spread, as well as the under 221. Game 1, where Cleveland struggled, ended at 204. I know the Warriors didn’t have any other players in double figures other than Curry and Durant, so everyone probably thinks they will put up more than 113 points. But the Cavs had 20 turnovers, which I don’t think they will repeat. So under 221 is a good bet in my opinion, and it has -105 odds right now, which isn’t bad. The +9 also has -105, so if you think it’s gonna be close, then take it. I am taking the under and the Cavs on the +9.

I’m gonna briefly talk previous storylines, and then get a movin’ to matchups and keys to the game.

I’m sure every NBA fan was waiting for this inevitable moment. The Cavs had a minor hiccup, but I don’t think any of us had serious doubts that they would take the ECF series in 5 after that loss. It was pretty interesting how the Celtics played so much better in Cleveland than in Boston; they did not hold a single lead in the 3 games at home during the series, as graciously pointed out by the commentators during last night’s game. After Kahwi went down with the Spurs up 20+, and the Warriors comeback, they were well on their way to busting out the brooms. Enter the finals.

Anyway, the story of game 1, as Lebron said, was “KD,” as much as I hate to admit it. He left my team, and then dropped 38, 8, and 8 (with no turnovers), in his return to the finals, on the opposite team. He will not repeat that performance in game 2. Maybe 25-30 points, and more rebounds, but less assists. Curry had 28 and 10, which I think he can repeat. Klay will not shoot 3/16 again. From the Cavs end, Lebron had way too many turnovers. He had 6 in the 2nd quarter alone, and the Warriors weren’t shooting well, but they were poised to change that in the 3rd quarter, which they did, shooting 57% for that quarter. Tristan Thompson had 0 points and 3 rebounds, so look for him to rebound from that dreadful performance. Kevin Love had 21 rebounds, but shot poorly, and can’t shoot poorly if the Cavs hope to win. Kyrie needs more than 24, and needs to shoot over 50% (he was 10/22, which is pretty good, but won’t get it done against the Dubs). They need their bench to shoot 3s efficiently, so that the Warriors can’t run and hit fastbreak 3s, and also so that there is some urgency for the Dubs to focus on guys other than Kyrie and Lebron. See Kevin Durant pulling a ‘Curry’ with the mouthpiece below. Hah.

OK. Game 2. I think the Cavs will keep it somewhat close, but still end up losing. I would be very surprised if they win. I think Korver and J.R. Smith are the X factors. If they get hot, then the rest of the Cavs offense will move very fluidly, and the Warriors may be in trouble. But the Warriors can score better than anyone, hence why I think the +9 on Cavs is a good bet. Again, Klay is not going to shoot under 20% again. He got plenty of decent looks that he usually makes. Also, it will be interesting to watch the tempo. Both teams want to play quickly, but the Cavs less so that the Warriors. The frantic pace favors a team with 4 all stars as opposed to 3. And sometimes Love just doesn’t hit his open 3s. The Warriors hit the open ones and the tough ones. That’s why Korver and JR are crucial. The Cavs want to dictate the tempo, while the Warriors aren’t as worried, in my opinion. As Tyron Lue said, they need their offense to enable their defense (make a shot, or at least don’t turn it over, then play halfcourt d). Both teams shot below average, by their standards from the 3 point line. I think that will change as well. All in all, look for a higher scoring game for the Cavs, a similar number put up by the Dubs (they will shoot better, but not get 106 shots to the Cavs 86--it will be more like 90-90), but the Dubs to come out with a close win. I just want to see some good basketball, with highlights as well as defense. Kyrie is my favorite player in the series, followed by Klay, so I want to see those guys get buckets. And if Durant played poorly, that would be the cherry on top. Peep this dope pic of Kyrie, and enjoy the game. Also, shout out to Russell Westbrook, because why not?

Astutent out--deuces!