#tbh i love the whole roster like these people are amazing !!!

[taus-inc]

so glad im watching mha now bc when i first watched i thought midoriya was soooo annoying but now i will be #1 deku stan

[antspaul]

end to end for director's cut

end to end, post canon kaneson, 5.8k, rated T

As the sun sets on the last day of Heungmin’s career, the sky over Tottenham Hotspur Stadium turns a deep shade of navy blue.

OMG okay so firstly this fic was written specifically for my beloved @roykentalwaysremains , whose fresh tottenham hotspur fixation i capitalized on to drag him into the pits of rpf hell with me.

In a lot of ways end to end is a love letter to max and you elle and everyone else we spent last season watching footy with. It’s definitely wish fulfillment!! But also me putting the hope out into the universe that a time and place that brought me a lot of joy stays whole & important in some way.

Commentary on specifics below the cut!

When it came to choosing which players would come back for Sonny’s testimonial, I struggled with imposter syndrome in a real way LOL. Obviously, I did not follow spurs at the time (or at this time currently. Or really in any other way than through my pocket of friends who are spurs fans) and don’t have a great grasp of those guys, their talent level & potential longevity, their narratives, etc etc. Future fics will never be evergreen but you never want something you’ve put effort into to be completely obsolete, like, three months later. Eventually, I leaned into the wish fulfillment of it all and decided to be vague about the specific roster of guys on Sonny’s testimonial team (as well as any details about their opposition)

I mean, testimonials are barely even done anymore LOL and I can’t imagine the trend will reverse in the handful of years until Sonny retires.

More than any of them, Heungmin knows Harry’s rough edges. There used to be nothing left of Harry to discover. Then Harry went to Germany. Six years later, Heungmin feels a bit like Brennan, wide-eyed and amazed, not sure what to expect.

This line, as well as a few others from later sections of the fic, is essentially all that remains of the first fic I had vaguely planned to write for Max’s birthday. That fic, discussed in length BEFORE spurs and bayern did NOT play into the kaneson narrative with their friendly in Korea this summer, would have followed their meeting there. messages i sent to Max when we were discussing it:

so much potential here tbh…. kaneson meeting again on the field after h left but in son’s home country….. something something home something strangers something something….. sonny had lived a full life in korea that h would never know, and until a year before son had known h in the only place he’d ever called home, but maybe in five, ten years h would be as strange to son as son’s life before tottenham was to h…..

i’m envisioning them meeting up after the game and son takes him to his favorite place back home and they catch up and realize like. there’s no separate harry or son pre or post spurs. they’re both complete people and always have been and the best thing about loving someone else is spending your whole life getting to know them because no one is ever truly entirely Knowable and spurs is not the end all be all of Harry and Son, it’s just the place where for a while they were able to exist together. and they’ll always love it for that….

spurs is a place and spurs is a time but more importantly spurs was something they chose to be together. and bitch guess what….. NOTHING CAN TAKE THAT AWAY FROM THEM

and then Harry Kane decided he wasn’t a team player and WASNT AT THE KOREA FRIENDLY 👎👎👎👎👎

anyways

I really debated where I wanted H to end up in his retirement MLS career. He WILL be going in MLS I have no doubts about this, but idk for some reason I couldn’t imagine him on the west coast, but I also couldn’t imagine him specifically at one of the two evil New York teams with their multi club owners LOL. For a minute I was like …Boston??? New England Rev?? But then I decided fuck it, if Lamps went into the City system so can Harry. to NYCFC it is

When Heungmin came to Tottenham the new grounds were nothing but an abstract promise, loose dirt and construction vehicles and scaffolding. Months often went by with little to no visible progress. Many times Heungmin wondered if Tottenham Hotspur Stadium would ever be more than a half-constructed pile of steel beams and rubble. Yet despite everything, in front of them shines this glittering, otherworldly stadium that Harry and Heungmin get to call home before anyone else. The gradual transformation makes Heungmin believe that what they’re building, he and Harry and all the other lads on the team, will grow to become what it was always meant to be.

It’s not the grounds, Harry insists. It’s them. Heungmin doesn’t see the difference.

A thread that runs throughout most of my writing is the way that memory dwells in place. This fic is certainly an example of that! My academic research has a lot to do with the way that people construct identities based on place and space, and that comes through in how I connect setting to character.

Taking Harry seriously as a competitor adds a touch of normalcy to their relationship that Son hasn’t felt for a long time. Their friendship is not a sacred, delicate flame to hold close to his chest. It does not need protection from the wind.

This is another remnant of the previously mentioned AU. It’s also one of my favorite lines in the fic.

“It was kind of nice, actually,” Dele says. “Made the rest of us look better for once. I swear, bro, I nutmegged you at least eight times that day.”

I’ve heard that Dele was notorious for nutmegging his teammates relentlessly back in the day.

“Really? All that for fucking Bloodborne?” says Brennan, looking at Heungmin, as Harry walks off.

Heungmin laughs. “Don’t look at me! I still don’t remember. I don’t think I would stay up late for two weeks.”

This moment is a really important one for Sonny, just as important as his and Harry’s kiss a few scenes earlier. When he doesn’t remember a pretty small detail that doesn’t quite match up with how he thinks about himself from back then, he’s prompted to reflect on how much he’s changed since then. In this fic, Sonny sort of lives in the past, especially in the moments of his past where he felt the potential for things that never truly materialized. On a small scale, he’s forced to reckon with the fact that no matter what, he is a fundamentally different person than he was during the period of his life that will forever define his career. I think Tottenham as a club — and Sonny here in this fic, representing them — has a tendency to self-mythologize. And when buy into your own narrative, it can be too easy to overlook the messier parts of your past that don’t fit so well into that narrative.

Anyways those are most of the thoughts I have on that fic!! Thank you for the ask elle ILY!!!

[dynmghts]

TRANSMISSION FROM @resolutepath : 💌 maybe? TRANSMISSION ENDED / POSITIVITY TRAIN , ACCEPTING .

charlie i am so prepared to talk endlessly about you i hope you're ready

what i like about your blog: pspspspspspspsps i love everything about it? like. from the easy navigation, to the epic use of red (that's a bias though red's my favourite colour), and to how you've organised your carrd, you've always stood out to me as a blog and you're very recognisable every time i come onto the dash! and i mean. what a banger url. resolutepath is the coolest url you better not change it because it's a vibe, it's easy to remember, and it fits with basically every single character you have on your roster!

what i like about your character(s): oh man. oh boy. oh geez. i have so many thoughts. so so many thoughts about how you write your characters, how you interpret them and how it compliments the canon given to you, how you've made each character distinctly your own in the same breath that i've grown so attached to some of your exact portrayals.

i mean, i read a LOT of what you write. i love seeing your writing. and you're honest to god the reason why i went all out writing up a whole sheet with some statistics thrown in for my genshin verse, because words do not begin to describe how much i LOVE seeing your genshin muses on my dash. diluc is my pal and my home boy and the way you write him and put so much thought and care into his headcanons? immaculate. award winning. not to mention your amazing interpretation of bennett and childe, because i think that they're both very nuanced - childe especially - but you have never shied away from that for a second! he's just as multifaceted as he is in-game and i adore how you've managed to portray that in your writing.

and this isn't even mentioning any of your bnha muses, which you 100% nail, but i'm specifically gonna talk about katsuki's love of his whole fucking life, eijirou kirishima. i mean! we've been shipping for so long now!! these two are so attached by the hip that there's a sign with them saying "warning: do not separate"!!! because honestly, your kiri is so beautifully written. you've really fleshed out his character in a way that remains true to his core, you've thought through all of his progress in the manga and made some amazing adjustments to what you think his trajectory will be after ua, and i just. i can't get enough. i live for your characterisation.

what i like about you in general: uhhhhhhh everything? LMAO no but for real, you are so easy to talk to in dms - and even though we don't have to talk one-on-one very often, we don't have to, because we always seem to pick up where we left off without a problem and just jump right back into it! you are definitely one of the coolest people out there and tbh i'm so glad that you've stuck it out with me after i've moved around and vanished and everything for months at a time :')

[thelunarbar]

Yankees fans fucking suck. It always feels like there’s such a small handful of us who just wanna watch them play whether they make the post season or not, who legitimately love them enough to not fucking care many games they’ve lost. And heaven forbid we appreciate how hard the players are working even if they’re not at their best rn. BA isn’t everything and yet if you can’t hit .300 all day everyday apparently you aren’t worth shit which is fucking stupid bc no one can do that. And if you even start pointing out that the whole team is off this year they just start screaming about it should be better bc of how much most of the older guys are making.

It’s not boones fault, or cashmans or Steinbrenners. It’s just a bad year with a lot of injuries. It happens. This roster is amazing and yeah maybe they should be playing better, but they’re not and complaining, jeering and whining like a fucking baby aren’t going to fix it.

Tbh most of this is in relation to a comment about Volpe and I get that he’s not a great hitter(which I think is partially due to what he’s told by the hitting coaches) and I’ll admit I think way too many people over hyped him and want him to be jeter way too much and that’s an insane amount of pressure to put on a rookie who barely played in AAA. We’ve already seen improvement. Given time he’ll get better. But a part of the issue that no one understands is we can’t get rid of most of the older guys bc of contracts and bringing new guys up and immediately trading them or sending them back down when they’re not playing great is the dumbest fucking thing they could do. Ofc they’ll play better in AAA where the pressure isn’t as crippling and people aren’t fucking booing them off the field. These young guys will only get better if you give them the chance jfc

We know the chances are slim to fucking none but let us enjoy the wins and personal achievements when they happen jeez. It’s not a bit wonder people hate Yankees fans. Even Yankees fans hate Yankees fans.

[tani-b-art]

Hammon, you better handle this coaching and draft pick and trade business! Don’t play around. If she let’s Martin go and keeps KB…I just maybe done with the Aces!

I implore you to watch the presser with Natalie and the GM. Natalie wants to select SELFLESS players, and she also wants ball movement in the offense. She was a walk-on for UCLA and earned her way into a starting role. Watching the presser, it seems like the GM and VP did some scouting since the season started and will show what they have to Natalie.

I’ve followed the W for a while and have good knowledge on the front office and coaching hire by Lacob. Oheema is an amazing person who cares about the players - she’s genuine and there’s a reason why players love her. The VP was with the London Lions, another great hire. Natalie Nakase - great hire. I’ve seen her frustrated at Becky at times during games…probably Becky being stubborn and not listening to her coaching staff.

What I noticed is that earlier in the season, when Becky allowed Natalie to pick the subs, Kate was always her pick. 2nd half of the season, it seems like Becky didn’t let any of her asst coaches do any of that. Natalie is also big on defense so take that however you want. She is also not big on drama and can guarantee you she’s not gonna pick Nalyssa Smith. Neither will the GM tbh. They’re going to draft as many quality players as they can in the expansion. I won’t be surprised if GSV traded their 1st round pick to the Aces in exchange for maybe KP and another Aces player (can see Kate).

We will know the GSV roster on December 6. People need to keep in mind the GM and the HC of GSV because you can have a good idea on who they will draft based on their background and watching the presser.

https://youtu.be/aw00DM86RE0?si=--S_mWCBbKlymsJf

no fr, you know a whole lot of the intel with the W! I’m getting a front seat to the inside of how the league works from your chats. learned more from the last couple days than i had before. i appreciate it!

(responding to the other post w/in this)

who all do you think is getting signed to GSV?

can you send the title of this video? for some reason, when i copy/paste it, a Whitney Houston reaction video pulls up lol! or the algorithm is just exposing what I be looking at and is remixing that link!

“Players might want to go to GSV, but listen to the presser and listen to some other interviews with Nakase. She wants selfless players who care more about their teammates than themselves; team over self, on and off the court is what she said. Her and the GM don’t want drama players, so you can take Nalyssa Smith off of that line. If you want to be successful, you want good human beings who are good players - that’s how you build culture so, keep that in mind.”

you mentioned N.Smith from Indiana possibly not getting signed to GSV because she isn’t selfless and they don’t want drama. Now, I absolutely did not follow the Fever like that at all. I didn’t really prior to this year and I for sure wasn’t this year (but no matter how hard i tried to avoid all things Fever, i was still getting informed of all things Fever. no one was exempt from not seeing all the in-house problems as well as fan involvement but all of social media and sports commentary platforms spoke about this team 24/7; plus anytime the Aces played them, I started to get more algorithmic hits of the Fever) and I can’t say definitively what their culture was but based off what we all witnessed this year, I can see that Smith wanted out and far away from that organization! All the drama that surrounded them would have vets want out too. So I don’t know if she can be labeled as not being selfless. On court and even off court factors. Unless, conjecture inserted from all the online chatter, Smith and her relationship with Harrington played a part in her relation to her own team…I guess we can throw that in there. But if we’ll do that, then we have to do for all.

Smith’s defense would fall in line with Nakase’s being big on defense. Imo she’d fit really well with how she’s trained the Aces defense and it could work for the GSV foundation she wants.

Tbh, Plum is really iffy on the “selflessness” that you say Nakase wants. We’ve seen plenty of games how her selfishness (on court that is) impacted games. And then also, as with Smith, her personal matters also played a part in impacting her performances this season.

In all fairness, no matter how hard we try, as humans, at times separating the two can’t happen in totality. At some point, the personal things do blend into our professional and impacts how we move. Normal human nature. There are some people who do really well with compartmentalizing the two tho.

[that-soccer-guru]

I've never sent pictures through asks so lemme know if these didn't send properly lmao but basically here's Julie Foudy's predictions for the locked in players for the Olympic roster:

GK/Defense: Alyssa, Abby, Crystal, Becky, Kelley, Sonnett

Midfield/Forward: Julie, Lindsey, Sam, Rose, Christen, Tobin

Probable (not exactly bubble players but players who haven't seen the field long enough to be considered locked in): Alex, Rapinoe, Carli

And now here are Julie Foudy's selected bubble players.

Defense: Tierna, Ali, Midge

Midfield: Andi, Jaelin, Kristie

Forward: Lynn, Sophia, Cat

oh DOPE.

Okay my impression right away is to be petty, so here goes

THIS IS FOR ALL OF YOU BITCHES WHO SAID 'lol who thinks of CP as a midfielder' WELL GUESS WHAT I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE! AND TOBIN TOO? IT'S LIKE I WON THE PETTY LOTTERY. SUCK ON THAT PREDICTION Y'ALL ✌🏻(jk I love you guys but still, I feel like Holt screaming VINDICATIOOOONNNNN).

ALSO PETTY X2 ON THE PEOPLE WHO GAVE ME SHIT FOR STARTING OUT WITH ONLY 3 FORWARDS FOR MY ROSTER. BITE MY BUUUUTT AGAIN. (still, with like, love)

But also uh, same ol same ol tbh? I'm not particularly jazzed at bringing bag o' bones Lloyd—can you say "geriatrics united"? —but aside from that this looks exactly like what I expected this team would come up with. I wish I could say bench those who shall not be named but alas, not in this time crunch, so tried and true is the way.

Honestly I'm way more interested in the bubble players here! If Glass Ankles KO can keep it together, that would bring it down to at most 1 of the bubble defenders that can be brought along. After yesterday's game with Colombia (nerfed as we were) I can't discount Ali Krieger and I apologize for shit talking a queen. If Tierna can stay healthy she'd be a good player to bring along because she provides some solid backing for the CB position (although Broon and Dahlkemper are p healthy, we advocate for solid turn taking here). I'd love to see Midge because IF none of the bubble forwards get brought along/there are injuries she's the perfect player to drop in the forward line.

Kristie Mewis would be my pick to bring along just because so far she's been on fire! And I'd love to see how she can bring some different versatility and ball handling under pressure for the midfield. I'm also a sucker for the Mewis Sisters on the field at the same time and I'd like if Vlatko could give me that. Andi Sullivan would provide a good playmaking/winger spot but she also needs to be wrapped in bubblewrap nowadays which suuucks. Jaelin still has her whole career ahead of her, so missing the Olympics wouldn't be the worst (bc of how stacked the midfield is), I'd take Kmew over here and let her develop for future tournaments.

Get👏🏻Lynn👏🏻Williams👏🏻Off👏🏻This👏🏻Team👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Amazing skill should be rewarded with a spot in the NT when there's just no payoff for it. Lynn is a GREAT striker and her speed is an asset, in the nwsl. But she couldn't find the net if the goalie suddenly dropped dead and the defenders were swept away by a tornado. At least not without missing said net 3x first. It's okay to not fit here. It doesn't dimish her skills, it doesn't make her any less amazing, she just doesn't fit the team right now, no harm in that. Need I say anything more about Sophia Smith other than bringing up the "paper skin and glass bones" meme again? Kid needs to be sealed away for a while and deal with her injuries PROPERLY before being considered for any more rosters/camps. And not just for the good of the team, for her own fucking health. Just ask KO how pushing through injuries worked out for her.

Finally, as the self appointed president of the Catarina Macario fan club, bring the child. This forward core, unlike the midfield, I've literally nicknamed the retirement home. Catarina lifts up the players around her when she's on the field, she and Rose are a deadly combination, even Pinoe played better with her on the field. She brings a great spark to the team, she works hard, I think that this tournament would be good for her. The shortage in good forwards nonwithstanding, I think not bringing her would be a mistake I'm gonna advocate for leaving Lloyd at home but I might get killed for it.

So, this roster looked like what I expected, but the bubble players are gonna make this really exciting! Also someone correct me if I'm wrong but shouldn't they being 2 GKs? Bc uh, where the other one at? I'll campaign outside the uswnt hq and vlatko's house to never bring Jane Campbell to anything else, just waiting on confirmation.

Thank you for the pics dude! (thank you to everyone who sent me the roster too! I grabbed the top ask but Y'all are AWESOME)

[draikaesehoch]

Hi xD so since I have no clue about ice hockey feel free to tell me all about your favourite team or hockey player? ♥️

Thank you for sending this again (and fu to tumblr for swallowing my earlier reply).

Since I don’t really have a favorite player, I will just share my opinion and thoughts on the Oilers 😅 keep in mind I am still relatively new to hockey, so this is just me babbling. I didn’t fact check any of the stuff, so some of it could be bs… and honestly this whole thing is just me venting about this incredible team that most people don’t really take notice of.

I present you the Oilers:

They are one of the seven Canadian teams in the NHL. Based in Edmonton, Alberta. Usually part of the pacific division, due to Covid, they will form an all Canadian division for the 2021 season (I am still in denial about that though, it's going to be a mess and someone will cry, probably me).

The Oilers are struggling to make it to the playoffs, despite their talented roster.

Their superstar is Connor McDavid (first overall pick in the 2015 draft), he’s arguably the best hockey player alive. His speed is unmatched (yeah Barzal won the fastest skater competition but we all know Connor is the fastest player, especially with a puck). They put a lot of faith in him to get the team to a regular spot in the playoffs. He’s obviously the captain.

(this gif doesn't even do him justice!!)

And then they have this German dude, Leon Draisaitl, he was drafted in 2014 (3rd overall) by the Oilers. He didn’t have the best start and was sent to the WHL, but soon proved his potential. He got called back for the 2015-16 season. Had an incredible season in 2016-17 (with the Oilers making it to the playoffs and ending an 11 year playoff drought). He’s been getting better ever since and was named this year’s MVP (2019-20). As well as receiving the Ted Lindsay Award and the Art Ross Trophy. +Deutschland’s Sportler des Jahres Award! Which in a football (/soccer) dominated country, is HUGE!!

He has a super cute dog named Bowie. Leon is from Köln and like most Germans, he’s a football fan. Thank god he’s a decent human being and supports his local football club (and not some club like Bayern).

May I present Bowie 🥺💕 (the K, dude we get it, you love your hometown 🙄)

Other notable guys are Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (also first overall draft pick), Darnell Nurse, Oscar Klefbom and Adam Larsson.... and Zack Kassian, he’s kind of crazy, not really a fan of him tbh (but that’s because he likes to beat up a guy from the Flames I am unfortunately quite fond of).

Okay tbh all of them are notable and amazing, this team is so great once you get to know them.

They have had like seven coaches in the last ten years, so it's safe to say they are still on their path of finding themselves. I'm not sure about Dave Tippett yet, but compared to his predecessors he’s going okay. We will ignore that they lost to the Hawks in the playoff’s qualifying round, because what the heck was that?! But that’s another thing, their leadership is still fairly young and especially Connor has to deal with a lot of pressure and expectation, they just lack experience but if they can keep the current team together, it wouldn’t surprise me if they win a cup in the future.

….

Sooo... Connor and Leon, they play the most beautiful hockey together, like it so beautiful to watch, I am not even kidding, their passing is incredible, THEY ALWAYS FIND EACH OTHER (they are probably hockey soumates or some shit). I could go on about this forever, every time I see them play together, I remember why I fell in love with hockey.

but yeah having two so skilled centers on the same line isn’t necessarily the most efficient combination, there’s only so much time they can be on the ice together and only so much goals they can score, so they try to split them up. Makes sense I guess, because why have your two best players on the same line, when you can have them on separate lines and still have them produce just as well.

We still get to see them play together on the power play (or in overtime) tho and thank god because with their skill and blind understanding, makes the Oilers' power play the best in the league.

What else is there 🤔

Ahh, they got Jesse Puljujärvi back, which hell yes, I am so happy about that! I mean look at that precious ray of sunshine!!

I am most excited about Tyson Barrie though, I think he can really bring something to them team, first and foremost experience and stability but hopefully some personality as well. The Oilers are, for the lack of better words, kind of closed off and boring? I don’t necessarily feel that way but people call them depressed and stuff. I would say, they are maybe a bit more private and potentially less glamorous. But then again, they are a Canadian team and the Canadian media can be quite harsh when it comes to hockey, so it would make sense for most of them to try to stay under the radar.

Have a gif of Tyson and Ralph (because who wouldn't want that 🥺)

THE BATTLE OF ALBERTA:

Was kind of dead for years, is coming back to live, it’s basically like the derby thing in football. The Calgary Flames and the Oilers are both from Alberta, so it’s a regional and divisional based rivalry but boy is it entertaining! To keep it short, they hate each other and there’s lots of fighting and bad blood.

I mean there are goalie fights and all 😳🙌🏻

TO SUMMARIZE MY MESSY THOUGHTS, I LOVE THEM YOUR HONOR AND SO SHOULD YOU!!

Und danke dafür, dass Du mein Hockey stuff erträgst... Deine Asks und Kommentare sind immer so unglaublich lieb und ich bin so dankbar!!! 🥰💕

[mercysought]

romantic headcanons.

name: francesca moritz “moe” bardsley  

alias: moe

gender: cis woman ( she / her )

sexual orientation:  lesbian 

preferred pet names: she’s fine with whatever her partner wants to call her, she’s more used to no one using really pet names. Usually it’s just a variation of her name, though likely focusing on her first name instead of her middle one since the former is more personal. Mori, Franks, it’s all good.

relationship status: single pringle ready to mingle

opinion on true love: she doesn’t really spend much time thinking about this. She believes that there is likely someone that she will be able to settle down with (or rather, have them travel around with her while she works) for the rest of her life and that’s the extent of true love that Moe really thinks about.

opinion on love at first sight: hmmm nah, though she can become stupid at first sight trying to impress someone. 

how ‘romantic’ are they?: moe is pretty romantic, yeah. She likes to send messages reminding her girl that she’s fucking amazing. Getting her gifts (both ones that she got and one’s that she steals). I think that the best way to show about romance is basically to use something that she has done (or will do) in one of the ships that I have with @forceblinded​: Rein is blind and Moe is non-verbal which makes communication outside of messaging really hard. Despite not liking it, Moe works on a device that allows her voice to be verbalized and improves it to the point where the tone is more human than just a bunch of disjointed vocals that she usually uses out on jobs. That is a lot of work, planning, material gathering ok? That is dedication especially since she would have done this and she wouldn’t even know if Rein likes girls I mean! Moe is pretty damn romantic.

ideal physical traits:  Moe really isn’t picky. I think, from the track record, it has to do more with attitude than necessarily anything physical. This being said, she does pay attention to their voice and I think that’s likely the first thing that can pull her in. If you can count that as physical lmao track record also indicates that the women that she’s with tend to have slimmer frames than she does (That doesn’t mean a whole lot since Moe is built like a tank, we love that for her)

ideal personality traits: focused and passionate. I mean someone that knows exactly what they want, where they want to go and are passionate about it. Even that causes trouble for her because she might disagree. Not necessarily something that’s she’s aware of per se, but someone that is more grounded than Moe is. Most of her enhancements / prosthetics (see: crushed knee, see crushed fingers and lower half of her arm) are because she got fucking impatient and some dumb shit happened.

unattractive physical traits: eh, not much tbh. I think that she doesn’t particularly like too many body mods that alter one’s face, but honestly again, physically Moe isn’t that picky.

unattractive personality traits: my god uptightness can drive her up the walls. That and thinking you’re the hottest shit without anything to back it up (example: ‘I want to do x because I say I want to and because I am great.’ meanwhile you’ve never left the confines of your estate before). Uninterested or wilfully ignorant and unwilling to learn.

do they have a type?:  probably women that will stop her on her tracks as she’s about to do something stupid and WILL FIGHT HER.

average relationship length: hmmm because of the nature of her work (a bounty-hunter) she just jumps a lot from place to place so she tends to have very short lived romances. The people she often comes across are also not interested in actual relationships and it’s a pity because Moe really would do the long distance thing for the right person. Moe falls in love really easily but can fall out of it just as easily. The only relationship that she had that was out of norm length wise was with a human who was a sex worker in one of the planets in the outer-rim. It lasted around one year before they parted ways. Most relationships really are one night stands.

opinion of public affection:  chef kiss, give it all to her. let her hold your hand, the lower back.

past relationships?: mentioned above! Otherwise most relationships are pretty loose and could barely be called that. She has fun though, and she likes the women.

favourite canon ship: don’t have one! If it’s unrelated to Moe I will say that the side ship that me and @mindsmade​ had was of David (Moe’s younger brother) and Gil (when he still had it in the roster). As it stands now it’s a ship that happens like Dorian and Bull if you don’t romance either of them in DA you know? Otherwise, in the Star Wars universe my brain is empty except for the tragic romance of Darth Malgus and Eleena. Because I am dumb.

favourite non-canon ship: listen non-canon ships are canon in my book as well and I will fight you.

tagged by: @mindsmade (ayy thanks!) tagging: @biirdbone @ardasung (aredhel) @afraidofchange​ (alice) @suresaint​

[bittersweetsky3]

my breakdown of the uswnt players

ashlyn harris: big gay, “most beautiful brick wall we’ve ever seen” -kyle krieger, underrated goalkeeper, bitch™, 1/2 of “pookie”, 1/2 of krashlyn, loves babies and would be the best mom

ali krieger: kriegs, kriegy, kriegyboo, best right back in the world? yes. tough as nails and had the final touches on the ball during the world cup after not being called up for 2 years, won’t ever be seen without her mascara, softie, 1/2 of krashlyn, apparently can play forward as of the uswnt vs ireland victory tour game??? okay

mallory pugh: baby, made uswnt debut at 17, mini trackstar, i can definitely see her as a future alex morgan in terms of goals, dork, somehow managed to be on the national team and be in college at the same time

tobin heath: the coolest cat there ever was, will break your ankles and steal your soul, nutmeg queen ™, looks like she will kill you but is actually a cinnamon roll, surfer dude, dresses like a frat guy, 1/2 of harry, 1/2 of preath, came out of the womb in her tar heels jersey, loves jordan (basketball), and remember kids— you can’t copy cool.

christen press: peace? she is peace, yoga god, can run 32mph and will make you look like an idiot trying to catch her, soft but isn’t afraid to steal your soul with a nutmeg, def watches marie kondo, 1/2 of preath, stanford—actually set their all time scoring record

alex morgan: janice, radiates big gay energy but is surprisingly straight, 100 goals and counting, every goal keepers worst nightmare, looks like she will kill you but is actually soft, a big dork, pink headband ™ , the most popular of the bunch and honestly, rightly so. this woman is a fricking superstar.

emily sonnett: sonny, son, dasani, self proclaimed sit down comedian, frat daddy jr, a walking meme, uswnt professional hype man, big dumbass but we love her, kelley is training her in defense, will score goals in the most random yet most crucial of times (see portland thorns fc playoffs)

kelley o’hara: frat daddy, KO, kevin, karen from legal, worms, scare queen, middle child “we need a bitch, get kelley” -jill ellis, a medical miracle— somehow survived a concussion during the world cup final and then proceeded to drink for the next 7 days to celebrate, will never have to pay for beer ever again, chaotic, mother of her adopted crackheads (sonnett & rose), iconically kissed her girlfriend after the world cup win, stanford, great long balls for assists, has played every position except goalkeeper, brick wall

lindsey horan: THE GREAT HORAN, linessi (for her love of messi), sneaky, best midfielder in my opinion, killer foot, player with the second most number of fouls in the nwsl but also one of the most fouled, amazing assists and headers, went pro straight out of high school bc she’s just great like that, won the ball in duels 116 more times than anyone else in the league (nwsl)

tierna davidson: little t, t, baby gay™, pulls her injured girlfriend around in a wagon, stanford, calm, def a book nerd, probably the most normal out of the bunch, baby becky, under the radar but i can see her becoming big in the future—becky is training her, owns a kelley o’hara stanford jersey and loves it maybe more than anything

allie long: wine mom, 1/2 of harry, 1/2 of pookie, not much to say about her tbh, great passes, loves scaring people, hangs with kelley and alex a lot, content provider, doesn’t get a whole lot of minutes anymore but when she does get them, she doesn’t often disappoint, solid defense most of the time

sam mewis: tower of power, panic petunia, tallest women’s soccer player in history, pale besties with rose, great midfielder, will take the ball from you mid-game if you’re just standing there and not doing anything with it (see wwc final), scored in the top 1% of an IQ test the uswnt and usmnt held, loves reading and harry potter, chaotic when with rose & sonnett

rose lavelle: sweet baby rose, def the next generation of greatness, pale af and she knows it, dork, loves her dog, wilma, more than anything in the world, killer left foot, loves twitter, she’s from ohio and proud of it (i’m biased lol)

crystal dunn: dunny, constantly dancing, has played every position besides goalkeeper—sometimes multiple in one game, worked her ass off to make the 2019 world cup roster after being cut in 2015, bitch is drowning in awards (like seriously, this girl is amazing), underrated friendship with tobin

becky sauerbrunn: broon, usually rolls her sleeves, fishtail braid that she’s not afraid to whip in your face, the united states secretary of defense, loves cats and science fiction, nobody makes her bleed her own blood, got cut in the world cup final and still played the rest of the game despite needing 6 stitches, sophisticated, legally not allowed to leave us until she gets a goal

alyssa naeher: uncle, loves her crosswords, underrated, underestimated, under appreciated, saved our asses in the world cup game against england, quiet but soft

julie ertz: JJ, invented marriage, tough as nails, blue headband ™, will slide tackle anyone who enters her field of vision, she is usually bleeding by the end of a game, uses her body as a weapon, killer headers when she gets the chance, occasionally dresses like a frat guy

abby dahlkemper: bellpepper, this girl beat a sepsis infection and the chance of losing her leg. if that doesn’t say bad ass, idk what will. flies under the radar most of the time but plays some great long balls, especially for alex

carli lloyd: carlos, carla, oldest player on the team and she’s still got it, probably will retire soon :( , loves ice baths, queen of new jersey, beast from the east, can score from midfield and has, truly just legendary and did so much for women’s soccer

morgan brian: moe, bean, second most normal of the bunch, don’t really get to see her play much but when she does, she’s tricky, loves pick up soccer, even though she’s young, she’s a ‘15er, one of four to ever win the MAC hermann trophy two years in a row, kinda died (metaphorically) for a bit and everyone sorta forgot about her after the 2015 world cup but we still love her!

megan rapinoe: pinoe, sorta controversial, love her or hate her, she gets the job done, outspoken, NOT going to the white house, so proud of her younger teammates, big goals, big moments, leaves an impression, occasionally referred to as president pinoe, dating sue bird of the wmba

adrianna franch: AD, one of our goalkeepers, doesn’t get a lot of minutes but that doesn’t mean she’s not good— if you want to see her in action, watch a portland thorns fc game!! chill, funny, engaged to her gorgeous girlfriend

jessica macdonald: jmac, the only mom on the team, doesn’t play often so there’s not much to say about her but she does really well on her club team (north carolina courage), chill

let me know if i forgot anything!!

[rcyharper]

Which Titans run do you think is the best?

all 2 issues of Convergence Titans

This is super tough to answer tbh. It kind of just depends on what you want from a Titans book. Most of the runs are quite different from each other, and a lot of them take different turns in the run themselves. Also depends on what kind of roster you’re looking for.

I personally love love love the original Teen Titans run. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea because of the Silver Age aspects of it, but I find it super fun and I love the characters it has. Even beyond the Fab Five, characters like Lilith, Mal, Karen, etc. are characters I love and I just really love that group of Titans. I think it goes under a lot of people’s radars because of the whole silver age aspects that people might not enjoy and also because there’s this myth that people spread around that the series was a failure which is why they had to reboot it later on. Anyway, basically, it’s a fun series and there’s definitely character arcs and stories to enjoy here.

NTT is obviously the most well known and most praised series. It’s not my personal favorite but you can see why it gets praise like that. Dick is well written here imo and he develops in a major way throughout the series, and you’ve also got characters like Vic, Kory, and Raven being introduced and defined for decades to come, and later on they introduce Joey as well, who’s also a favorite of mine. Even Roy, whenever he shows up, is well written imo and gets major development, especially later on in the series. I’ll say that I’m personally not a fan of how Wally and Donna were written here for the most part. It’s important to keep in mind that this was a 16 year run under one author, so it obviously has its ups and downs, and there’s quite a bit of each. Tbh, the main reason it elevates for me is because this is where Lian is introduced and the last stretch of the run where Roy leads the team

The 1996 Teen Titans run is kind of forgotten about but I enjoy it. I’m usually not a fan of introducing characters and calling them the Titans but some of them are pretty interesting, and Roy joins as a leader later on in the run, and there’s a really cool arc with the original Titans here.

Titans 99 is a pretty mixed bag tbh. There’s good and there’s bad, and it’s kind of a run of two halves. There isn’t really much going on but at the same time that’s the best thing about it? Lian is at her best here and Roy’s dynamic with characters like Garth and Grant is great. The relationships in this series are kind of eh, but they do have some cute moments as well. 

I’m not really the best person to talk about the 2003 run because tbh, I haven’t read all of it. It was alright from the parts I’ve read. The best part of it is Vic leading the team, but idk I can’t really judge it as well. I’ve seen a lot of people say it’s one of their favorites run but I’ve also seen a lot of people who are... not fans of it, so I’d ask someone more experienced with that generation of characters about this run tbh. (but if you want Mia as a Titan, this is the place to get it!)

Titans 2008 was... kind of nothing? It started off great, but then it just kind of went nowhere. Had a bunch of one shots featuring the characters which were good but there was really no arc or continuity for a big part of it, and then it switched to Deathstroke’s team which was bad. I’m also not a fan of Joey’s writing for most of this. It did end with Roy and Joey starting a new Titans team, which is a run I’ll always be robbed off, I guess, because that would have been amazing tbh.

new 52 bad

Titans 2016 is, again, a mixed bag. It starts off with a great arc and has a great first 10 issues imo, but then with editorial involvement taking away the plot, they just kind of scrapped through and had random plots that went nowhere until the team broke up randomly with no explanation. I’m personally not a fan of the 2nd half with the new team.

Idk if I really answered your question since I just kind gave my opinion on each run? Like I said tbh it just kind of depends on what you want from a Titans run. Like it’s really hard for me to even rank them tbh, because most of them have good things and also bad things so it’s really like that tbh.

[ohnojustimagine]

welcome back!! you’re honestly one of the best writers on here, so it was nice seeing a notification pop up that you posted :) I also was wondering if you’d consider writing for the other guys on the 205 roster? I love them so much and they deserve the best tbh

Ahhhh, thank you so much!! I am very happy to be back, definitely. Even if currently it is in a slightly half-assed way. And YES, oh man the 205 guys just deserve the whole entire world and more. They are so amazing and hardworking but so underappreciated! I’m trying to think who I have and haven’t written there, because I know my 205 stuff is mostly all about Drew. (And ohh I am kind of feeling the call of some Drew and Tony fic after this week's show but that is beside the point here, sorry.) I NEED to write Humberto, like one hundred percent, because he is just so impossibly handsome and charming and such a prince... actually that would be a really fun AU of some kind, PRINCE HUMBERTO. Also Oney, but Oney frustrates me because I pretty desperately want to write him but I just CANNOT get a proper handle on his character and it's so annoying because I like him and he's kind of so very nicely lean and fighty and has just the perfect amount of freckles but he's just like not in my head and will not get there, why Oney, WHY.

And I have been having more and more Ariya thoughts because his constant failure at manipulating people is at this point speaking of a desperation and insecurity that is very interesting.

Also: the Singh brothers thinking they're way more impressive than they are and being the most inept yet somehow charming seducers ever is something.

[dillydedalus]

what i read in may

how is it may lmao... anyway i went thru a bit of reading slump this month and i’d like to pretend it’s bc i had a lot of uni stuff to do (i did) but tbh it’s bc game of thrones infected me with Vintage* ASOIAF Feels & i didn’t really care about reading anything else

celestial bodies, jokha alharthi (tr. from arabic) quiet and evocative novel about a network of families in a village in oman, told over three (?) generations, but centred on three sisters, mayya, asma and khawla (but not as focused on them as i would have liked). interesting to get some insight into omani society, class relations (& especially slavery and the now-free slaves), gender, tradition and westernisation, but it’s also really lovely and sad. ultimately a bit scattered and vague tho. 3/5

the taming of the shrew, billy shakes (uni) academia and assorted shakespeareans like bending over backwards to explain why this is not misogynist but actually subversive/farcical/ironic/meta or whatever and that’s a fine & worthy endeavour i’m sure but the only valid reading of the taming is that kate is actively plotting to murder petruccio in every single scene so... that’s that on that. misandry stars/5 

vinegar girl, anne tyler (uni) y’all i don’t have high expectations for hogarth shakespeare entries (tho shylock really won me over last month) but fuck this was bad. staggeringly BAD, both as a book and as an adaptation of shrew. it starts out with a completely declawed & detoothed kate, who on the scale of ‘timid wifey’ to ‘shrewish firebrand’ is uh ‘apathetic & slightly sour’.... which is a choice i guess. in the beginning i hoped we were seeing a kate who was repressing her rage (and there is one genuinely great line where the bianca annoys kate while she’s gardening and ‘kate stuffed a snarl of vine into the trash bag’ like okay anne that’s cool) and that the taming would be reverse, i.e. would free kate to feel & act on her rage. but instead... honestly i can’t even tell you what the arc was instead? there’s no real taming, kate (who is very stuck in her life and job) just chooses this green card marriage to become a little bit less stuck and i guess pyotr (petruccio) likes her the way she is, that is sour and Not Like Her Dumb Blonde Sister. and then in the end we get a speech about how men have it really hard bc they never learn how to deal with feelings (when kate throughout the book has herself struggled w/ social skills). can’t wait to rip this apart in class. 1/5 (ALSO how did hogarth have atwood on their roster and not give her the shrew wtf)

doctor wooreddy’s prescription for enduring the ending of the world, mudrooroo (uni) for my postcolonial australia course; it’s about the colonisation of australia and genocide against indigenous australians from the pov of tasmanians and an englishman who’s never seen a white man’s burden he didn’t immediately pick up (all based on real historical people). lots of interesting stuff in there (i’d love to read something about gender roles/gendered spaces in indigenous australian culture) but tbh it’s a bit of a slog (at 200 pages...) 2/5 embassytown, china miéville cool scifi novel about weird alien languages (the ariekei, who speak with two mouths at once and cannot lie - apparently their language doesn’t signify so...uh. linguistically not particularly sound at all but a) it’s a cool concept, b) they’re aliens so like whatever) and what happens when humans, not possessing two mouths and very much capable of lying, communicate with them. there is a lot of really original & fascinating concepts here but some problems w/ the execution (pacing/characters mainly) - not as much as with city&city tho. 3.5/5

the little prince, antoine de saint-exupéry (tr. from french) i wanted something short & bittersweet & this is it. anyway i have these vague & but very vivid memories of seeing like. a slide show of this w/ narration at the berlin planetarium when i was a kid & that is the best way to consume this story. 4/5

the year of the death of ricardo reis, josé saramago (tr. from portuguese) took me nearly 2 months to finish this & it’s under 500 pages which should already say a lot. i enjoyed this while reading mostly, and saramago’s style is beautiful, but it is a bit of a drag & reis honestly is not particularly sympathetic or interesting. the undercurrent of the rise of fascism is the best thing about the novel & makes the end really work but there’s too much tangential meandering about how old dude ricky reis is obsessed with a mucher younger girl and like... yawn. i will try again w/ saramago tho. 2/5

follow the rabbit-proof fence, nugi garimara (uni) story about three young girls with indigenous australian mothers and white fathers escaping from the residential school they were abducted to as part of the stolen generations, based on the author’s mother’s own life. it’s an impressive story of resilience and survival, but perfunctorily written. we’re also going to watch the film & that should be interesting. 2/5

everything under, daisy johnson i find it quite hard to talk about this bc there’s something quite vague and uncertain about it, something elusive. some things i will say: vivid, lyrical prose; the setting (oxford canal boat community) is great, the monster is genuinely creepy, and i really like the three (or 4?) narrative strands and how they interweave. i kind of wish i hadn’t known which greek myth it was a loose adaptation of (so i won’t say here) bc i definitely spent too much time trying to map the myth onto the book - and the ‘reveal’ might have been better w/o that knowledge anyway. 3.5/5

the sparrow, maria doria russell wonderful wonderful warm & human & tragic scifi novel about JESUITS IN SPACE!!! told in two timelines: in the first, set mainly in 2019 (which is great) music from another planet is transmitted to earth and emilio sandoz, jesuit linguist + multilingual (@hbo or netflix: cast oscar isaac please & thank), and his closest friends are chosen (by god?? MAYBE) to go on a secret space mission to make first contact bc jesuits.... have a lot of.... experience... with that. everyone is hopeful, curious, excited, and our guy emilio is literally radiant with god’s love or whatever. in the second timeline, 2060, emilio has been sent home by a second expedition, who have since gone radio silent, the only survivor, disturbingly (!) mutilated, broken in mind and body and unwilling to talk. all we know: the 2nd expedition found him in a brothel & he immediately killed the alien child who led them to him. so... what went wrong? (how could... first contact.... possibly go wrong...?) what did emilio do? was whatever happened god’s will? sorry i’m not super coherent about this but IT’S GREAT MY DUDES. also between this & canticle my scifi subgenre really just is ‘scifi but make it religious’. 4.5/5 

on the whole, not a great reading month, but the sparrow... *chef kiss* & i’m currently reading the artifical silk girl (relatable hot mess in weimar berlin) which is.... AMAZING... alfred döblin who???

[memequeme]

Please talk to me more about your thotckey lineup, like ugh your mind

omg thank you so much!! the validation for my chaotic ass mind is everything to me!!

I got to tell you that I put so much work into this, like up till 4 am research level work into this list, it was carefully curated and I definitely annoyed a few of my friends by continuously asking their opinions on the players

 (put the rest under cut bc i got carried away AGAIN im sorry)

There were a variety of players I considered and reconsidered and reconsidered; honorable mentions include Erik Johnson, Tyson Jost, Sam Girard, Beau Bennett (I can give explanations for why these boys didnt make it, yes i know most of them are Avs please dont @ me I know what im about) As I mentioned in this ask about Gabe, I ended up putting a lot of players in a different archetype than thot and biggest one that I came across was fuckboy. For examples guys like Miles Wood and James Neal are grade A fuckboys. The line between thot and fuckboy is so fucking THIN. (I wasnt sure where to put Mats tbh but in the end i went with my heart and it whispered to me that Auston is a thot and it would be a sin to put him in the same category as James Neal) also fuckboys have STRONG straight™ energy There’s also an archetype of d*ddy that i really really dont want to call that but I honestly dont know a better way to describe guys like Henrik Lundqvist, Matt Cullen and Ron Hainsey please dont shame me im just a messenger and thats the energy they give off, im a lesbian pls (My personal fave archetype is Boyfriend Material that is captained by Seth Jones)

The most difficult part of this whole fucking thing was finding goalies. We all know that goalies are outliers in almost every situation ( still haunted by that fucking buttoning shirts puck personality) But truly finding goalies with thot energy was so so hard. The big names in the league just arent known for their promiscuity so its not really a surprise I went with two rookies, younger guys in the league tend to like to shake things up. I ended up choosing Carter Hart for a number of reasons. His fucking confidence in front of the media with a rebuilding franchise on HIS BACK is extremely impressive (this is coming from a pens fan mind you) He does this thing when reporters ask him stupid questions with JUST HIS EYEBROWS!!! Any boy who can move his eyebrows with that much expression KNOWS WHAT HES DOING and thats all ill say on that,,, I also saw one too many shirtless snapback pics to ignore.

Juuse Saros was chosen bc he got collared in the locker room in front of God and everyone. And I think thats really the only explanation I need. 

(i apologize if these arent valid reason but the pickings were SLIM)

I hope this is what you were looking for and you werent appalled by my stream of consciousness. I would love to answer more questions about this roster if you want to know specifics or ill just ramble on. The fact that so many people have actually entertained the idea of this roster is amazing to me. so truly thank you!!!

[platinumdragonchaos]

LBJ goes to LA

Some people love the guy, some people hate him, some are kinda in between. All I know is that he’s gone and the Cavs won’t be contenders for many years now. They have no money for any moves because of everything they did the past few years to try and win and they have no picks for the same reason.  But hell, all teams have to rebuild at some point.  

It was worth it certainly, having lived in NE Ohio my whole life and watching sports teams disappoint year after year often makes me question why I watch sports in the first place.  But LeBron is the whole reason I started enjoying basketball years ago and it was fun getting some other people into it also. I had a good time these past four years watching four straight Finals appearances and seeing such a great player be tested against one of the greatest teams of all time.  I feel things were left undone from a fan’s standpoint, especially since getting swept in the finals this year was the worst blowout since they lost it all to the Spurs back in 2007.

Year one of ‘The Return’ was pretty great.  Roster moves and additions made for one helluva team and they were fun AF to watch.  I think Cleveland had a very strong chance in winning it all in 2015 if not for injuries. Hell, if Booby Gibson has been able to keep playing I’m almost sure the Cavs would have resigned him and you can’t tell me he wouldn’t have been a great addition to the team that year.  Gibson and Irving were starting to mesh despite injuries and problems off-court.  They managed to win 33 games in 2013, a huge improvement over the previous three seasons of 19, 21 and 24 wins.  The team sucked without LBJ but they were getting better.  When James returned I didn’t expect them to make it all the way to the Finals and even though they lost the finals in six games it cemented that James’ return was the best thing to happen to Cleveland basketball (and Cle sports in general) since LeBron was drafted.  Dude tried to will the team to victory but losing two starters pretty much sealed the deal.

Then the year they won it all.  The coach, Blatt getting fired midway through the season was crazy and I really didn’t think they would pull it off but it was a great season and finally being good at something was wonderful for the entire city.  They had done it and LBJ was the hero Cleveland had hoped for.  They also managed to be the first team in history to come back from a 3-1 deficit (beating the team with the most season wins in NBA history).  True grit won those last three games and it was incredible.  I figured it was over when they lost game four at home but after game six I could hardly believe they had tied the series.  Could they possibly beat these guys on their own turf? I could go on and on about it but you get the idea.  They did the unthinkable and Cleveland’s 50+ year championship drought was over.  Also the Indians went to game 7 of the World Series and ALMOST won.  So...friggin...close.  It’ll be hard to top 2016 in Cleveland sports...perhaps for the rest of my life.

Last year they looked as if they had a chance of winning again.  It was another great season and until the finals they only had one post season loss.  Golden State adding Kevin Durant was huge and I’m pretty sure we got Bogut since he was the only person to stand a chance at guarding KD but that injury was prophetic AF.  I still can’t believe he got sidelined after playing for less than a minute for the Cavs. Only winning one game that finals was such a disappointment but you could tell from the first game that they didn’t really have what it took to beat such a talented team two years in a row.  If they were gonna win again it would have been in 2017 when the core of the team was still intact.

Then this year.  Ugh, they looked like crap TBH...all the trades and other BS going on, defensive problems, bad coaching calls and especially Irving leaving...the list goes on and on.  LBJ had his best year as a player ever, played in every single game, put up crazy numbers, etc. but no one else really stood out this year.  Still not 100% sure what happened with Isaiah Thomas after all the hullaballo about him coming to the team even though he was injured and then playing like crap but there were so many roster moves I forgot that Derrick Rose and Dwayne Wade were on the team at the beginning of the season.  For many reasons they just were NOT the same team anymore, not even close.  Losing Irving was the beginning of the end because they could never find a true replacement for him.

Getting swept in the finals last month still stings (especially that game one loss that they should have won...ugh, don’t even get me started) but they were lucky to get there at all considering.  Two 4-3 series in the post season they scraped by and then facing a Warriors team that was ready to beat some ass, which we were not.  It was like year one all over again except instead of injuries we just didn’t have enough.  It was not the ending I wanted - to see one of my favorite sports players of all time go out that way, leaving the arena for the last time in wine and gold.

So there you have the last four years of Cavs Bball in a nutshell.  They had a real shot at having three championships instead of one but one is what we got and that will have to be enough.

Basketball is what has gotten me through these past several Winters.  Let’s face it, when it’s cold outside there isn’t a whole lot to do and I really hate being stuck indoors for months at a time.  I go stir crazy before New Years rolls around and anymore it’s late April or May before the weather is consistently decent enough to enjoy.  It’s only July but time flies by and it’ll be getting cold out again all too soon.  I can still watch the Cavs play but I think there’s little chance they will even win 30 games.  Even 20 might be pushing it.  They just don’t have anyone good enough to fill in those huge shoes.  It’s the same when LBJ left back in 2010.  They didn’t have a winning season until he returned four years later.  In fact they had some of the worst seasons of the entire franchise’s history and it was extremely difficult to watch a team that was so entertaining look so god-awful.  Maybe it won’t be as bad as I think, maybe I’m selling the rest of the players short but playoffs are not gonna be in the Q again for a long time and winning another basketball championship is an even longer way off.  If they could only do it once with one of the greatest of all time how will they without?

It’s not even about winning so much or even the playoffs.  James was fun to watch, every game.  He’s the best player the league has seen in a long time, maybe ever.  That’s debatable, of course, but at the very least he is awesome.  If you want to compare to another great, as people so often do, Michael Jordan, he spent his entire career (before retirement and coming back) with the Chicago Bulls.  There’s reasons for that though.  The sport has changed since then and I don’t feel the team as a whole did enough to keep him around. 

I’ve read plenty of articles, some favorable some not so much but in the end I think James had to do what was best for him.  I’m not surprised he left Cleveland again.  The first time was certainly different, it was a low blow to everyone I think but you couldn’t blame him for wanting to go somewhere where he could actually win.  As for leaving this time, eh, maybe he’d rather live in LA than in Cleveland.  Given a choice of cities I think that’s a no-brainer.

He and the owner never got along very well and this last season was proof that losing Irving to the Celtics was pretty much the nail in the coffin.  LBJ once said he wanted to finish his career in Cleveland but I’m still blaming a lot of this on DG. To quote a twitter I saw earlier:

“Special place in NBA lore for Dan Gilbert, who backed into the best player of his generation, won the draft lottery three times in four years, spent like crazy, and still ran such a comically inept organization that LeBron bailed and everyone understands.”

I’ve also heard talk that DG was “glad to be getting his team back” and about 100 other things over the years that make me pretty sure that Irving leaving last year was just a precursor to LBJ leaving this year.  Maybe that’s a bit unfair...the guy did open his pocketbook quite a bit but he made that all back and plenty more.  James was often synonymous with drama and I suppose blame can be put on many shoulders for the way things went. It’s awful that LBJ could never commit to Cleveland and sign any long-term contract but in the end, whatever the reasons, what’s done is done.

I know there are many other factors in his decision to head west but being with the Cavs for 11 years and only winning one championship has to be one of the biggest.  NE Ohio will always be his hometown...more than just being born here and what he has done for the community and meant to Cavs fans the whole state over. 

I feel like I’m losing a friend and I never even met the guy in person.  He’s been the face of the team for so long, come October when the next seasons starts it’s gonna feel so empty and I dunno if I want to watch a team without the person who made me a basketball fan all those years ago when it simply won’t be close to the same excitement level. 

Maybe I’ll watch some Lakers games.  I’ll admit I didn’t really pay attention to Miami when LBJ was there but I didn’t really have the same view on sports then as I do now.  I’m older, most of my friends are married and I don’t really have all that much to look forward to.  A lot has changed in the last four years.

Anyway, it’s a blow to what has already been a rough year but it is what it is and there’s nothing I can do about it.  I’ll just have to remember that victory on June 19, 2016. Those amazing last minutes of that game seven and looking at the people around me wondering “Is this really going to happen?”  Maybe the Indians can do better than last year also. (cuz the Browns sure as hell ain’t doing anything, though they do seem to be trying, and with the NFL’s new helmet rule I think college will be about it for football)  As piss poor as the rest of our division is in baseball they are almost guaranteed a playoff spot so we’ll see what happens in October.  Winning the World Series would certainly soften this stinger.

Thanks for the championship, all the other wins, the great plays and all the memories, man.  I wish things had gone differently but you kept your promise and did more than any Cleveland sports fan could have ever dreamed.  You will be missed.

[baejstyles]

What did you think of Wrestlemania last night?

overall, i really enjoyed mania last night!! minus the last two matches i thought it was really good.

the ending to the men’s battle royale was good and i really wasn’t expecting it! it’ll be interesting to see where they go with matt hardy and bray now.

the cruiserweight match was amazing and definitely was main card worthy. cedric and mustafa are so great together and although i was rooting for mustafa a lil, cedric alexander really deserved the win

the women’s battle royale was cool!! although the entrances were messy af, i loved the whole nxt vs the main roster thing, it’s a shame becky got eliminated so early tho. also i deadass thought bayley won lmfao

the triple threat ic match was good to kick start things off, i loved finn’s entrance and gear and seth’s too! all three men were involved all the way through and i’m glad seth finally got his grand slam

charlotte and asuka was great and although i didn’t really want charlotte to be the one to break asuka’s streak cause like i feel that title could have gone to someone who really needed a boost and a push in the women’s division. the moment after the match was a really nice touch also charlotte’s gear was amazing wtf

i didn’t really care for the us title match as a match with those 4 competitors is never going to be really amazing and exciting for me personally. i would have liked rusev to win but i’m fine with jinder

although i still don’t care for ronda i really enjoyed her match with kurt vs stephanie and triple h. lmao like it was just so silly at times and stephanie was so funny?? like idk i really enjoyed it though

the sd live tag team triple threat was pretty lame tbh. i didn’t want the bludgeon brothers to win cause like idk i just don’t like them that much. it sucks that the usos had to lose in their first wm match

john cena vs taker was unnecessary and that’s all i gotta say on that

dbry and shane vs kevin and sami wasn’t anything special tbh. it was great to see daniel bryan back in the ring again but it annoyed me that he was lying outside the ring for so long lmfao. i enjoyed his moments with sami too but they’re still fired? tf? like idgi

nia and alexa was alright, like neither of them are the most exciting wrestlers so i didn’t expect much. i’m happy nia won though and alexa’s reign of terror is finally over

aj vs shinsuke......... (i know this is going to be a very unpopular opinion and if anyone actually reads this pls don’t hate me this is just my opinion thank) i’ve seen a lot of people saying that match was underwhelming. whilst it still should have been the main event, shinsuke has been very average since coming up from nxt. unfortunately for me he’s all character and entrance which is fine but like... i don’t think he’s THAT good. and as my friend put it, it was like watching aj trying to get blood from a stone. i still enjoyed the match and it was pretty even. i totally didn’t expect aj to retain so that was a nice surprise for me lmao

braun vs the bar was wild af. imo it shouldn’t have been that high up in the card and whilst having that kid be braun’s partnet was fun and silly it just seems like an insult to the rest of the raw tag team division. you have plenty of brilliant tag teams that could have been the bar’s opponents but nooo... you gotta have braun do this smh

brock vs roman was WHACK. idk if it was just cause everyone was so sure that roman was going to defeat the evil and become universal champ. but like it was just so sad and disappointing. roman built and carried this feud on his own and it was just so weird to have the build up be that good for the match and outcome to be that disappointing it just doesn’t make sense 2 me

[why-the-face]

Laver Cup: Day 3

Okay, so I took a little longer with this one than the two previous ones, but only because I needed a few days to actually process what had just happened. To be quite honest I'm still not really believing I was actually THERE to experience all of that. But I was! Wow. So anyway...

Emma (@song-of-freedom) and I were Laver Cup experts by this point, so we knew exactly at what time to get to the arena and have enough time to buy merch, get some drinks, and then get our seats without having to either rush or wait around forever for the event to start. I managed to get a nice little gray Laver Cup t-shirt with the roster on it on Day 2, because it looked really cool (the fabric was a bit rougher than I expected it to be, though, tbh), so that's what I was wearing.

There was a bit of a misunderstanding around the seating disposition though (a guy and his son were a bit confused and because they didn't really speak English, it took a little longer to get it sorted, but it was fine).

Now, here's something interesting that happened on Day 3: by then, it was all a lot of fun and games, and enjoying it, and fedal and everything... but when Tomas/Marin lost their doubles match and all of a sudden the score was 9-6, shit GOT REAL, really fast.

A quick rundown of what happened:

.

- As I mentioned on Day 1, the rest of our row were all Rafa fans (and fedal! Let's not forget the fedal love!), and when we saw the schedule for the day we all were a bit stunned. I mean... when you think about it, it actually made no sense. Why would Bjorn get Tomas to play doubles when Tomas had already lost both his singles AND doubles matches?! It would have made a lot more sense to have Sascha or Dom on his place, or maybe even as a doubles team themselves.

- Anyways, by then, it was pretty clear that Bjorn wasn't actually doing a lot of captain-ing, while McEnroe had been actually really clever. He used the big guns on Day 1, let them rest on Day 2, then went all out with them on Day 3, which is when it all actually matters. And it ALMOST paid off!

- When Marin and Tomas lost their doubles, we were ALL stunned in the arena... and the whole fun vibe started to fade.

- I actually felt really bad for Tomas, poor guy. By that point, all the points Team World had won were against him.

- We were super stoked Sascha won, but when Rafa lost, OOOOH BOY! Shit got real!

- I mean, Team World wasn't even doing their funny celebrations most of the time! THAT'S HOW SERIOUS IT GOT!

- Which is good anyway, because during his match, Rafa did seem a bit annoyed at some of their antics. Not that we could blame him. Poor Rafa, he seemed really tired. Still don't get why Bjorn would have him play 4 times (possibly 5 if it had gone down to the last doubles) in 3 days and underutilise Dom.

- Actually, a lot of people around the arena were cheering for Isner to win against Rafa. Some thought it was because they wanted to watch Roger play, but they were even cheering for Kyrgios against Roger, which leads me to believe they actually were hoping to watch fedal teaming up for the deciding doubles.

- I am a huge fedal fan myself, but THANK GOD that didn't happen! Rafa and Roger admitted afterwards that they were going to do the doubles if it had come down to it, and that would only happen if Rafa and Roger had lost their matches. So to ask them to play doubles AFTER HAVING JUST LOST, against two guys WHO HAD JUST WON, would have been suicide.

- Also, we wouldn't have Rafa JUMPING TO ROGER FEDERER'S ARMS WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!!!!!

- THAT ACTUALLY FUCKING HAPPENED! WHAT!

- Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself...

- Right, so, unfortunately, not a lot of Roger cheering for Rafa this time around, because he was preparing for his match while Rafa was playing. But THANKFULLY, Rafa was there from set 2 onwards of Roger's match and WOW.

- Rafa was cheering HARD for Roger! And you could tell Roger needed that. In set 1 when Team Europe had been pretty much silent and Rafa-less, you could see Roger glancing over to them and getting nothing in return from them. Bjorn wasn't actually talking to him and NO ONE was coming down to talk to him.

- When Rafa came down though, the team once again came around and started supporting him more.

- It was actually super sweet how Rafa would wait until Roger was actually looking at them to fist pump, clap, cheer, and encourage. He'd get up, wait for it, and THEN go "Come on! Keep going! Do it now!"

- Rafa got the crowd SUPER fired up for Roger on the last couple of points, he wanted everyone on their feet and screaming and OMFG HE'S THE BEST HEAD CHEERLEADER OF THEM ALL!

- That last tie break was PURE. FUCKING. AGONY!

- Kyrgios was up 8-5 at one point AND WE FELT LIKE PUKING FFS! And then he actually had matchpoint and I was on my feet, hunched over like Rafa, while Emma was looking away because we couldn't deal!

- AND THEN HE WON!!!!!

- AND THEN RAFA JUMPED ON HIM!!!!!!

- ALL THE FEDAL FEELS, OMFG!!!!!

- We were celebrating so hard when Roger won, I actually turned to the side and hugged the woman next to me real hard! WE WERE ALL SO HAPPY!

- Poor Kyrgios though (never thought I'd say that). You could tell he was really upset with the loss. Whoever thought the players weren't invested in this tournament WAS WRONG! All the players, man! Rafa was EXTREMELY emotionally invested in Roger's match, for instance! And man Roger was pulling out all the punches!

- Did I mention Rafa jumped on Roger? And then Roger went to Rafa and hugged him and apparently thanked him personally? Because I was drowning in fedal feels at that point. And just walking on air and still trying to process what had happened because OMG it all changed so quickly!

- Literally, the ONE time Roger was ahead on the score, it was when he had matchpoint. And he somehow converted it. IT WAS SO FAST!

- It was all surreal and just frankly amazing and I don't know how I'm gonna do it, but I will try my damned hardest to be there in Chicago next year. Especially if fedal are a part of it again. Especially Rafa, man. It would not have been the same without Rafa being Head Cheerleader.

...

- Quick sidenote: the DJ at the arena was DEFINITELY a fedal fan! The song that was played the most during the 3 days was "Came here for love", which was used particularly right before fedal doubles, when the lyrics went "This is what we came here for / We came here for love" and I was just laughing so hard.

Not quite as hard, though, as when the screen started showing pictures of Roger touching Rafa and "I believe in a thing called love" started playing ("Touching yoooooooou / touching meeeeeeeeeee"). I AM NOT MAKING THIS SHIT UP, YOU GUYS!

AND THEN TO TOP IT ALL OFF: they showed pictures of fedal doubles and once again of Roger grabbing Rafa, and what song was used then? "I WANT IT THAT WAY" BY THE FREAKING BACKSTREET BOYS! WHAT!