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paris-geller-was-straightwashed · 10 months ago

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I am about to say something that will probably put a giant fucking target above my head, but against all good reason - I fucking hate this whole 'gaylor' trend.

let's get the facts out right now: 1. I am a non-binary dyke, in case anyone wants to play the queerphobia card 2. I've been a fan of taylor since fearless first came out when I was 11 (before some of you had probably even reached double digits) and 3. yes, this is inspired by the recent ny times article.

honestly I'm usually too much of an old man to be interested in a lot of celebrity news, even for artists I like, so I generally stay clear, but this came through my morning news feed via, bizarrely, ctv (fucking ctv thought this was NEWSWORTHY enough to put on their site which is bonkers, and if you're not canadian, ctv is a nationwide news broadcaster). and it made me livid - because this has now far beyond stretched the line of acceptable.

fucking ny times. this would be perfectly expected for rags like daily soap dish or enquirer or some other bullshit circus, where they spend all their damn days crafting celebrity stories of who's secretly pregnant and who's getting an underground divorce. ny times, in case they fucking forgot, do still have some sort of legitimacy to their name, but I guess they decided they'd run out of enough stories to now outsource to conspiracy theory level fans who's parasocial relationships with their favourite celebrity reaches deity levels. dear ny times, there is actual news still happening in the world in case you're out of ideas.

putting aside this bizarre so called attempt at 'journalism', onto the second point - which is that this. is. gross!! I've had issues with the whole 'gaylor' thing since the start. we, as a fanbase, have seen taylor ripped apart and broken down by this intrusive and harmful celeb culture that analyzes her every move for who she might be seeing, who's she interested in, which male friend could be a potential partner, etc etc, over and over, and how it's been both damaging to her and her love life as she's said. fans have even criticized the media for it and said to leave taylor alone! but now, all of a sudden, just bc you're a fan or bc you're queer or both, it's okay??? it fucking boggles my mind when so-called 'gaylor' fans gush about her and her work, always at her defense and say they care about her, and then do this 180 where they partake in a super invasive thing at her expense and don't even blink an eye??? making your own guesses by yourself is one thing, but creating a whole plot around the fact of taylor secretly being gay and pushing her to come out is a whole other ballroom of nuts.

let's get this out onto the table - she hates this. she doesn't like that you guys do this. she's already stated so and you all keep doing it. just because you're replacing the male character with a female one doesn't mean shit when you're doing the same harmful activity, just switching pronouns. you're not subverting anything, in case any of you need to be told. as a queer fan, this is embarrassing. it is such a gross over-stepping of someone's private life, and now that the goddamn ny times have posted it about it, makes the behavior even more legitimized!! while nothing excuses homophobia, if taylor eventually starts distancing herself from anything and all things queer and starts pushing back, I don't want to see any fucking one of you crying bc it'd be your own damn fault.

thirdly, even if, even if, taylor was gay - it's none of our fucking business!!! it's like all you up and completely blanked out what it was like to be closeted. if you're staying closeted, it's because you're not ready to come out!!! you don't want to or it's not a good time for you or whatever there doesn't need to be any reason for why someone doesn't want to say they're gay!!! it's hard enough trying to make that choice, and then you have the rest of the whole world posting ''''articles'''' about your sexuality, putting a million pairs of eyes on you - fuck, that'd send me back ten more layers into the closet if it happened to me! it's super rude not only to discuss someone's sexuality like it's the weather over brunch, but even worse to demand they say something about it! this is queer etiquette 101 people - you don't run around gossiping about someone's sexuality bc whatever that person decides they doesn't need your fucking input!!

basically if I could spray you all with a spray bottle I fucking would right now - nobody needs your input on their sexuality, celebrity or non! all this does is perpetrate harmful celebrity gossip that just hurts the artist you claim to love so much. taylor is a real person with a real life, she's not a storybook character to speculate over! please, I am begging you, stop this! go outside! touch grass!!

and at the risking of being meme-ified, leave taylor alone!

#taylor swift #ny times #I have had it up to HERE if you can't tell #I swear to god gaylors are the most off-the-walls people I've ever met #literally I saw someone post a pic of taylor at her birthday with a female friend holding the cake up for her #and with 100% earnestness saying 'the way she's holding this for her is so relationship-coded???' BRO IT'S A BIRTHDAY PARTY #friend: *holds up cake for taylor for her birthday*#gaylors: is this Lesbian??????#I'm about to loose my mind #now they're crying about taylor's team slamming the article WHICH THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO #you all wanna play the homophobia card but I'm pretty sure it's less about the gay thing #and more about it being HORRIBLY INVASIVE AND WEIRD #the only thing I'll agree on is that them saying this doesn't happen to male artists was weird #it does in fact happen I'm pretty sure it's been happening to harry styles for a while now #and that's just as weird as long as we're here leave harry alone too #this has been a PSA

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i-rate-horse-games · 8 months ago

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starshine legacy playthrough part 1

level 1

dang these graphics are CRISP!!! this was a CD rom game??? jealous!!!

i did in fact think there was an award for “Dyke” in there

got confused because i thought the massive stairway landing counted as a floor

wow we have to explicitly demonstrate that we’re not like the other girls?? dang

HAHA showed our guts by winning at a horrible game of tag

wow ?,,, uhh, already foiled an attempt at framing the book girl… what kind of horrible school is this…

level 2 - jorvik stables

the music and ambiance is so cool and spooky and sad and mysterious

alright i tried every door in this courtyard trying to find linda and one opened so i thought i’d finally found it but . i can’t go anywhere in the arena i ended up at so i guess i haven’t found The Stables yet. rip

ah. found the door. i just hadn’t done the dialogue all the way

OH SHIT DEPRESSED HORSIE??

DEPRESSED HORSIE CAN TALK?? WHAT THE HELL

don’t worry girlie just believe in urself and riding a horse for the first time since ur injury won’t be a problem!!” last time i rode i got thrown off for the 7th time and got a concussion lmao this game knows me too well

nooooo why are they letting the transfer student get right in the saddle no questions asked

“you’ll hit the ground faster than i can say ‘white trash princess’!”

“i thought i was the white trash princess…”

ah shoot i got stuck trying to dismount and accidentally did a gesture on my touchpad that works as a back button. didn’t know it could do that

i could have sworn it said starshine would only jump if he was in a gallop, but we are clearly cantering.. odd

lisa is very carefree about what side she mounts and dismounts from

casually “hey kid! you rode the horse good! i bet you have superpowers!”

“oh i might have superpowers? lemme try this” [instantly is able to use powers on command] lisa is just built different

wow!! lisa’s ringtone is Awful!!

level 3 - the library

linda tells us to meet her at the school library after hours? book girl being a rulebreaker? way to go!

hehe the janitor humming

“i was afraid the janitor wouldn’t let you in!” so we could have just talked to him? instead of sneaking around?

mr sands is a vampire?? mr sands is immortal??

whoa starshine is immortal too?? you would think all immortals would know each other by now

level 4 where is starshine?

whoa the nighttime ambiance at the stables is so great there’s huge stars and HAHAH THERE’S THE SPOOKY LADY VOCALS I KNOW!! WOOOHOOO HELLO SPOOKY LADY

now which one of those hired arms wrote the location of their secret base on a prominently branded matchbox and left it at the scene of their crime??

sabine: “omg you can’t go after them, the parents and teachers will hate it!! so instead i’m locking you in the stable overnight. this is a good plan.”

i accidentally clipped through the floor of the watery basement sdjfksjdfhkjdfh

“we need to find a way out of the stables!!” i think i’m out haha

“i think it’s better if i go alone” no it isn’t??? hello???

[edit from the future - i now understand that lisa went alone so that her friends wouldn’t be put in the uncomfortable situation of having to report her extensive property damage and trespassing crimes]

level 5 - the industrial complex

ok we’re just breaking in . by walking in huge pipes! great! awesome! there’s those spooky lady vocals again!

oops i didn’t even notice the searchlight got me. very nice of the game to just calmly fade to black when we get spotted instead of jumpscaring me

we just exploded a huge pipe!!! awesome!

we are now walking through said huge pipe which we just exploded by buildup of steam internally! and not getting burned!

uhhhh

i don’t know where i’m supposed to be going but there’s a star down there soooo

I SHOULD NOT BE HERE????????

well if you leap into the water you only go back to the start of the water so that’s nice

OH WHAT THE HELL????????

this is a really fun escape scene but uh we fell . through the floor, it just disappeared. these are my True Powers..

rats now i gotta do it all over again

i love how there’s no falling animation, she just chillin

oh man i got so into that level that i let my laptop battery die for the first time ever… luckily it managed to save my progress somehow and i didn’t have to start the level over for the third time

something i like about star stable franchise is how the game is less Horse Game and more Game heavily involving Horses, plot takes place surrounded by horses, which is fun

level 6 - the woods

at first i was like “i dunno, lisa, this looks like a pretty safe trail” but then it just kept getting WORSE and WORSE and OHHHH MANNNNN !!! WE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN JUMPING THOSE CLIFFS

level 7 - the competition

surprised that the snobby rich girl is our friend and on our side now? guess our gang has a common enemy in sabine. way to go girl! unity!

ok that was really fun!! looking forward to playing the rest of the episodes!!

part 2

#starshine legacy #horse game #not a horse game rating #horse game playthrough

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dreamworksconvict · 5 years ago

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She-Ra: Racism Problem Pt. 1

Thanks to this post by @dyke-ra for inspiring me to write about this topic, I’m going to have to split this up cause there’s so much to talk about....

I worked a bit on my thesis today, which is about LGBTQIA+ representation in kid’s/young adult’s cartoons, and as soon as I got home I stumbled upon a post on my dash (reblogged by @highqualititty who has Very Good Art so check them out) and I was like!!!!! This is exactly what I was writing about with VLD and Steven Universe!!!! It reminds me a lot of this image by @racistz

So I want to point out some of the problems with She-Ra that I’ve noticed and that other people in the fandom have noticed as well, and talk about them in the context of Hollywood history, tropes/stereotypes, and well... colonialism.

There will be spoilers for She-Ra Season 3 so be warned. I’m also writing this kinda stream-of-consciousness-esque so apologies if it’s a bit jumbled.

PART I: Character Design - 1. Catra

Ok, so let’s start with Character Design. I want to focus on Catra and Mara for this. If people want I can talk about some of the worries I have about Huntara too.

Let’s start with Catra, and let’s do a little comparison.

Catra and Sugilite share a startling number of design traits. Pay particular note to the fact that they’re both seen as wild, misguided characters. Neither of these characters is coded as white. I would say Sugilite is pretty obviously a racist caricature of a black woman, not that Catra doesn’t have these tropes as well, but that Sugilite’s design and character traits have been widely discussed, especially in the really excellent article “All These Black Characters and 0 Done Right — How Steven Universe Fails Its Black Fanbase, Part I“ (there is no part II, as I believe the writer, Riley H, got essentially bullied into silence). In actuality, however, both of them have a lot of similarities. I’ll be using a lot of evidence about the coding of black women in media primarily, but there are a lot of other tropes you can find about other ethnic or racial codings as well. A lot of these tropes are also defined as being in the past, but there are still clear reverberations of them in the present, as I try to show here.

Riley H notes the Jezebel stereotype in the article I mentioned, which Catra seems to fall into somewhat. The Jim Crow Museum at Ferris State University says that “The descriptive words associated with this stereotype are singular in their focus: seductive, alluring, worldly, beguiling, tempting, and lewd. Historically, white women, as a category, were portrayed as models of self-respect, self-control, and modesty - even sexual purity, but black women were often portrayed as innately promiscuous, even predatory.” While Catra’s design does not have the same obvious extreme-hourglass shape that Sugilite’s does in its emphasis of hips and chest (jesus Rebecca Sugar, what were you thinking), Catra’s chest and hips are still accentuated with triangle designs that point to those areas; Catra’s hips are also decorated with strappy belts. Her pants are also ripped at the thighs, and she doesn’t wear shoes. She also wears skin-tight clothing; compare to Adora, who gets a big baggy coat, a long-sleeved shirt, and non-ripped pants (and shoes). Catra is also wearing red, a color associated with passion; while Adora’s jacket is red, she is most often seen in white, a color associated with purity. Plus, check out Glimmer’s fantasy imagery from S2, which is supposed to be a reference to the OG She-Ra but does not take into account that THESE ARE STILL TEENAGERS???:

Also note that Catra’s arc thus has far has focused on her losing self-control and self-respect, while Adora’s arc has focused on her gaining those traits instead.

Two other stereotypes are important to acknowledge here: the Sapphire stereotype, which “popularly portrayed black women as sassy, emasculating and domineering. Unlike the Mammy figure, this trope depicted African American women as aggressive, loud, and angry - in direct violation of social norms,” and the black brute stereotype, which typically referred to black men but stereotyped them as “animalistic and brutish.” Catra is literally made animalistic by being part cat--if your defense is, “oh, well that’s just how she was in the original,” 1) things can you know... improve over time 2) it’s still really, really bad even if it was “used in the past series” and 3) she’s also covered in scars on her arms, which is an addition to her design that makes her seem like she gets into more fights than Adora and other Horde soldiers and/or had a rough past, making her more “brutish”/prone to fighting than the others. (Contrast to Adora’s now-revealed past where she was a Magic Baby Destined Hero from the Savior Planet.)

Plus, she still falls into the Sapphire trope. Adora was the favorite of the Horde, while Catra was the rebel and “too outspoken.” Catra is also punished more than others for failing to succeed in missions--Hordak even attempts to have her executed, despite the fact that most of his generals have also been failing just as much. Catra still talks back to him, and rarely is shown afraid--more often than not, she’s shown making “sassy” quips and talking down to others. Adora gets many more scenes of emotional vulnerability and growth. Both are/were members of the Horde as well and grew up traumatized, but Catra’s trauma villainizes her (although she may still get a redemption arc at some point) while Adora’s does not.

She is also very masculinized (is that a word?? oh well) when with Adora. She even takes the role of the “male dance partner” in the ball episode when they dance together, and is wearing a suit and tie (untied, to still depict that “wild” side). Look to Riley H’s article which discusses how Garnet in SU often takes the more masculine roles in fusion dances--there are clear parallels. While this inherently isn’t a problem, it’s a common trope that PoC women characters are made to be more masculine than their white counterparts. On top of this, much like how Pearl (white-coded) is the only one who can get through to Sugilite once she’s gone “out of control” (see the episode “Coach Steven”), Adora, the white savior (I will get to this problem later), is presumed to be the only one who can “get” to Catra or influence her behavior (although Scorpia made attempts, but she is also white...).

In summary: Catra is portrayed as animalistic, wild, prone to fights, and masculine especially in comparison to white-coded characters. Her arc thus far has made her a foil to Adora, but in doing so has followed a lot of stereotypical tropes and has heightened Adora’s position as a White Savior, especially post-S3.

(I didn’t talk about the “evil lesbian” trope, but since there are so many queer-coded characters on both sides, I am not sure if that trope applies here. I may make another post regarding that specific trope though if people would like. Essentially we’re getting dangerously close to that potential premise.)

2. Mara

Ok, so if you haven’t heard, Mara (the previous incarnation of She-Ra) was whitewashed in the earlier seasons of the show. Let the images provide the evidence, Season 3 vs prior:

Yikes...

I have seen an apology floating around on Tumblr from someone who worked on the show who claims they just didn’t notice this... which like, ok, maybe. There is also speculation that maybe they decided to design Mara this way last-minute. I’ve also seen some theories that She-Ra’s “form” is a white woman regardless of who wields the sword but that would be Super Yikes so let’s hope it’s not that.

There are plenty of resources available about why whitewashing characters is bad, although it’s somewhat unusual for this to be a discussion in animation. (Typically the discussion happens when Scarlett Johansson plays a character who isn’t white or cis for the ten billionth time.) But something similar did happen with Voltron: Legendary Defender on the cover of one of their comics. Check out this nonsense:

Like how to do you mess up, that bad?!!?!?!?

In any case, I believe a reprint was issued (much) later for this particular cover, but the fact remains that this is becoming enough of a problem that people should be checking for this. This whitewashing took place in the actual She-Ra episode and wasn’t caught beforehand by editors? Suspicious, and embarrassing...

Also, this doesn’t necessarily have to do with character design or whitewashing, but I am Suspicious that Mara had to sacrifice herself to save the planet while Adora did not... remind anyone of Allura? Anyone???? There is a whole problematic history regarding that which I can get into on a separate post as well. But since we don’t know exactly what happened to Mara yet, I’m leaving that alone for now.

----

So that’s the gist of the character design piece of the puzzle! Next I want to talk about the White Savior trope in She-Ra and how it’s really similar to Voltron and Steven Universe in that respect.

IS this all a bit of a reach? Maybe some of it?! But I doubt that ALL of it is. (The whitewashing definitely is not.) And the fact is that there has been a ton of problems with holistic representation in cartoons, and She-Ra isn’t trying to do anything different to counteract the bad stuff that’s been done before. In fact, it’s kind of following the same pattern as its predecessors. Characters, even non-human ones like Sugilite, are coded a certain way, and those codings are based off internalized systems of how we view the world and interpret it. So if you have a writer who’s not really closely examining those beliefs and systems without challenging them, you end up with stuff that follows all these problematic tropes and stereotypes.

I’m planning for my thesis to go over why I think this happens so often (mostly a lack of intersectionality). essentially I’m in way over my head and will have like, a 100 page thesis plus a creative piece too by the end of this and it’s due this fall cause i deferred it oooooh my gosh. Anyways! There will be more if you like.

#she-ra #racism

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sutverentavuk · 5 years ago

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13 Top of Divorce Advice

1. Remember who you are.

You are far more than your divorce. While nobody goes to their best while they are experiencing a divorce, you do not need to go to your worst either. How much is your stability worth? What sort of a good example do you intend to be for your youngsters? If you invest your divorce doing points that you will be sorry for, you will certainly lug those remorses around with you for the rest of your life.

2. Secure your irreplaceable things.

There are some points that money can deny. Pictures of your excellent grandparents, jewellery, as well as family members treasures can all end up being painful collateral damage of your divorce. While you might wish to think that your partner would never ever intentionally damages, ruin or conceal the important things that you hold so dear, divorce often brings out the worst in individuals.

3. Divorce is a marathon, not a sprint.

Despite how much you want your divorce to be done swiftly, 99.9999% of the moment, it's not going to take place. As my coworker, divorce coach Kate Van Dyke, claims: "Divorce just goes as quickly as the slowest person." You will be much better off if you attempt to go with the circulation, than if you give on your own stress and anxiety strike over how much time your divorce is dragging on.

4. Focus on the big photo.

Determine what matters most to you in your divorce as quickly as you potentially can. Then keep your eye on the objective. Focus on what matters. Let go of what does not.

5. Locate a lawyer who gets on the exact same web page with you.

The greatest problems individuals have with their legal representative is working with a person that has a completely various strategy to divorce than the one they want to-- or requires to-- take. If you want to attempt to resolve your divorce agreeably, the last thing you require is an attorney who is a pit bull. On the other hand, if your partner is abusive and has no problem self-destructing if it means taking you down with him or her, you need the pit bull!

6. Don't deal with. It's ineffective.

It will certainly cost you more time, money, as well as emotional power than you might ever before envision. Unless your spouse is either being entirely unreasonable or won't clear up till s/he literally obtains a pound of your flesh (and also there are some individuals who are that psychotic) do whatever you need to in order to resolve your instance agreeably.

7. The court system will certainly never offer you psychological justice.

A judge's job is to follow the law and also choose your situation. Period. While you may want to confirm what a jerk your spouse is, I assure you, the judge doesn't care. The majority of separations are provided on the ground of irreconcilable differences. Unless your spouse's bad behaviour is legally relevant (as well as the majority of it isn't) you will certainly never also be able to speak about it in court.

You may also like Divorce Attorney

8. The price of divorce is determined in greater than just money.

Undoubtedly, you do not intend to get capitalized on in your divorce. However firmly insisting that you get every last penny that you are "due" is not worth it if it costs you years of your life, and also influences your task, your wellness and also your relationship with your children.

9. Partners divorce. Parents are parents forever.

It will be very challenging to rest next to your ex at your youngster's college graduation if your lawyer has just ripped him apart in court. The uglier your divorce, the more challenging it will certainly be to co-parent after your divorce. Keep that in mind prior to you begin Globe War III.

10. Be careful that you pay attention to.

Obtaining divorce suggestions from your buddies, your household, or your neighbour who got separated two years back, is an actually poor idea. None of those people is divorce specialists (even if they have been via a divorce themselves). They are not unbiased. Yes, you certainly intend to lean on your family and friends for support while you go through your divorce. Just don't rely upon them to provide you reputable divorce guidance.

11. Prepare an elevator speech regarding your divorce currently.

Talking about your divorce with your friends and family is going to be hard. Talking to organisation partners and also informal associates about it will be distressing. Preparing a "tinned" answer to the questions: "Just how are you?," "Just how is (your spouse's name),?" and also "What's new?" will offer you a far better opportunity of having the ability to answer those questions without breaking right into a flabby blob of goo than you would certainly if you don't have a prepared reaction in advance.

12. You will certainly shed some of your pals.

Yes, it draws. No, it's unfair. But it is most likely to occur. Some people will take sides. Some people will certainly avoid you like the plague. You won't make sure if it is since they are ashamed as well as do not understand what to claim, or whether they are worried that if they don't keep their range they will certainly obtain infected with the "divorce condition," as well. In either case, you will discover who your real pals are.

13. You do not desire a total unfamiliar person in a black robe determining your future.

Everyone assumes they desire their day in court-- up until they get it! That is when the majority of people realize that they have positioned their destiny into the hands of someone who has never met them previously, doesn't recognize their kids, as well as has only spent a couple of hrs (or at many a few days) finding out about the realities of their instance. Unfortunately, by the time the light bulb goes off, it is already far too late.

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junker-town · 7 years ago

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Cal can progress in Justin Wilcox’s first year, but look at this damn schedule

Wins will likely have to wait until 2018, no matter how much the Golden Bears improve in 2017.

This preview originally published May 31 and has since been updated.

The effects of the air raid offense are obvious. Teams that employ this style define the game in a specific way, force you to make open-field tackles (often for 80-plus snaps), and wear your linemen down by forcing them to attack the quarterback from large splits.

The defense gets tired, and the offense feels pressure to keep up on the scoreboard without making too many mistakes. It’s doable, obviously — no air raid coach has won a national title, after all — but for coaches with harder jobs, being able to define the game is awfully appealing.

The system also works. Or at least, it can.

Art Briles converted Baylor from doormat to conference champion with his version.

Mike Leach has taken teams to 13 bowls in 15 years.

Dana Holgorsen has a couple of 10-win seasons at West Virginia.

Kevin Sumlin (a strong recruiter) has won fewer than eight games just once in eight years as a head coach.

Air raid father Hal Mumme rode the system to two bowls at Kentucky when the school had been through a mostly destitute 15 years.

There’s another appeal, at least in hindsight: it’s hard to replace your system with something else.

In replacing two air raid coaches (first Mumme, then Guy Morriss) at Kentucky, Rich Brooks won nine games in three years before building traction. (NCAA sanctions didn’t help.)

In succeeding Briles and Sumlin at Houston, Tony Levine went 5-7 in his first year and couldn’t top 8-5 before getting dismissed.

After Sonny Dykes went 17-8 in his final two years at Louisiana Tech, Skip Holtz dealt with a 4-8 reset when Dykes went to Cal.

Ruffin McNeill won between five and eight games for most of his tenure at ECU, which was deemed unacceptable; afterward, Scottie Montgomery went 3-9 in his first year.

After ranking in the S&P+ top 30 for five straight years before Leach got fired, Texas Tech fell to 60th and 86th in its first two years under Tommy Tuberville.

Is this purely anecdotal? Of course. But it makes some sense that a stark culture change could create issues, especially if a defense-first coach is taking over a let-’er-rip system. Tuberville, for instance, tried to install defensive principles while maintaining the attack that fans loved, and it was never a natural fit.

That Cal and Dykes parted wasn’t surprising. Dykes’ performance didn’t earn him a dismissal — the Bears won eight games in 2015, and the step back to 5-7 in 2016 was predictable, considering the massive turnover. But his constant flirtation with other schools and his apparent disinterest in finding a new defensive coordinator eventually got him pushed out. I say “eventually” because while the move wasn’t completely unexpected, it came late in the 2016-17 carousel.

Regardless, the school found a suitable replacement on paper. Wilcox played defensive back at Oregon, got his breakthrough under Jeff Tedford at Cal, and has spent 13 of his 16 years as a coach either in the Pac-12 or at Boise State. He knows the West, and in his 11 years as a coordinator, has produced five top-25 Def. S&P+ rankings.

Good defense has become a foreign concept in Berkeley. Wilcox takes over a team that, over the last three seasons, averaged rankings of 12th in Off. S&P+ and 101st in Def. S&P+. Though air raid teams can play decent defense, that was never the case for Dykes. Wilcox has never had a defense that ranked worse than 54th, so something will have to give.

Wilcox is trying his best to avoid a Year Zero situation; his hire of 3-4 guru Deruyter made plenty of sense, considering Wilcox’s 3-4 roots, but he also brought in former Eastern Washington head coach Baldwin to coordinate the offense.

Though technically not a branch on the air raid tree, Baldwin’s EWU teams were prolific and successful. In total yardage, Baldwin’s last four EWU teams had an average ranking of fourth in FCS on offense and 101st on defense. They won at least 11 games three times in that span and four times overall.

There’s nothing saying the balance can’t work, but pulling off a successful first year could be tricky. Baldwin’s first Cal offense will be without last year’s starting quarterback, leading rusher, leading receiver, and five linemen who combined for 120 career starts. There’s far more continuity on defense, for better or worse, but the switch from a 4-3 to a 3-4 can be awkward if the size balance isn’t right.

There’s enough talent to think Cal can eke out a minor bowl bid, but I’ll withhold expectations until year two.

Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports

Justin Wilcox

2016 in review

2016 Cal statistical profile.

Cal was projected to win five games in 2016 and did so, but the way the season began, it felt like more was possible. Grad transfer Davis Webb did a decent enough job of replacing top NFL draft pick Jared Goff, and five games in, the Bears were 3-2 with a couple of nice home wins (Texas, Utah) and respectable road losses (San Diego State, pre-collapse Arizona State).

A frustrating road loss to Oregon State, however, signaled a turn, and after a shootout win over Oregon, Cal faltered.

First 5 games (3-2): Avg. percentile performance: 74% (~top 35) | Avg. yards per play: Cal 6.8, Opp 5.9 (plus-0.9) | Avg. score: Cal 42, Opp 39

Next 6 games (1-5): Avg. percentile performance: 40% (~top 75) | Avg. yards per play: Opp 7.7, Cal 5.5 (minus-2.2) | Avg. score: Opp 51, Cal 33

The offense failed to produce as many big plays, and with attrition in the secondary, the defense fell apart. The Bears rebounded to pound a faltering UCLA in the season finale, but the damage was done. And while it looked like Dykes would survive, about six weeks after the season ended, he did not.

Offense

Full advanced stats glossary.

The air raid is built on avoiding negative plays, getting the ball out of the QB’s hands quickly, and cranking out efficient gains until defenses take risks.

The same can be said for a Baldwin offense. In 2016, EWU threw more than 60 percent of the time, took sacks on just 3.7 percent of attempts (more than Cal, but not that much more) and completed 68 percent of its passes. Granted, the Eagles had the best receiver in FCS on their side — Cooper Kupp, who caught 117 passes for 1,700 yards and posted 12 for 206 against Washington State in the season opener — but this was an offense similar to Dykes’.

There are reasons to worry about turnover on offense; Webb threw 620 of Cal’s 621 passes (the other was thrown by the punter) and is gone. So are Chad Hansen (1,249 receiving yards), Khalfani Muhammad (959 combined rushing and receiving yards), four-year starting tackle Steven Moore, and two other stalwarts on the line [update: make that one, as starting guard Dwayne Wallace has been dismissed]. Your leading active career passer is Chase Forrest, who completed 10 balls two years ago.

Still, Dykes left Baldwin some presents. After a slow start (seven catches in his first three games), five-star Demetris Robinson finished his freshman year with 50 catches and four 90-yard receiving games. Another freshman, four-star Melquise Stovall, caught 42 balls as the No. 3 target.

Three other returning wideouts caught at least 15 passes, so the cupboard is in no way bare. Plus, backup running back Tre Watson wasn’t really a backup to Muhammad — he carried only nine fewer times, and while he was less explosive, he had better rush efficiency numbers and caught 21 of 24 passes for 241 yards. He is a custom-made back for a pass-first system. Meanwhile, 245-pound Vic Enwere was actually Cal’s most explosive back as the No. 3 guy.

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Tre Watson

The leaders are gone, but there’s still plenty of depth at the skill positions. The quarterback will likely be either Forrest or sophomore Ross Bowers, a mid-three-star recruit from Washington. This is a QB-friendly system, and one assumes that the winner of the starting gig will be fine.

Really, with the splits and quick passing, this is a line-friendly system, too. Center Addison Ooms is back after starting every game, but at the end of spring ball, the new pass protectors at tackle were Patrick Mekari and Jake Curhan. Mekari is a junior with three starts to his name; Curhan is a redshirt freshman. The experience level up front is down quite a bit.

Cal hasn’t ranked outside of the Off. S&P+ top 20 since 2013, Dykes’ first year. Baldwin has plenty of skill guys to utilize, and his system could dampen the turnover. Still, another top-20 performance might be a little too much to ask for. If the Bears hit the top 35, that’s a win.

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Melquise Stovall

Defense

Cal’s defense ranked 66th in yards per completion last year. Per the radar chart above, that was the Bears’ biggest “strength.” They were 85th in Passing S&P+ and 116th in Rushing S&P+. They had almost no disruptive presence (122nd in havoc rate) but weren’t good enough at big-play prevention to claim a bend-don’t-break approach.

The secondary was supposed to be a relative strength, and I guess it was. But injuries assured that this unit was never what it could be. Safety Damariay Drew was lost for the season with injury in August, and while a whopping 15 DBs ended up averaging at least one tackle per game (the sign of an at least semi-regular contributor), only five played in all 12 games. Top cornerback Darius Allensworth played in six games, top safety Luke Rebenzer in nine.

But hey, last year’s injuries are this year’s depth. Thirteen of those 15 DBs are back, so DeRuyter at least has options.

Allensworth (12 passes defensed in 2015), Rubenzer, and other seniors like corner Marloshawn Franklin Jr. are back to provide some level of veteran leadership to the group, while sophomores like safeties Jaylinn Hawkins (a former four-star recruit) and Evan Rambo and corners Josh Drayden, Traveon Beck, and Ashtyn Davis) should assure the competition level remains high. Freshmen Camryn Bynum and Elijah Hicks made some noise this spring as well.

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Marloshawn Franklin Jr. (18)

With fewer injuries, the secondary could be decent.

The front seven, however, is quite a few steps from decent. It absorbed a lot of turnover before 2016 and didn’t fare well, and now comes the move to a 3-4.

If this move goes poorly, it’s usually because the new defense doesn’t have the right size. Likely starting nose guard Tony Mekari is listed at 295 pounds, lower than you’d like, but size at end is fine, with likely starting ends James Looney and Zeandae Johnson hitting 280 pounds.

Looney and Mekari showed play-making potential, combining for 12.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks, but their main job now will be filling gaps and occupying blockers for a linebacking corps that is seasoned but unproven. Junior Cameron Saffle (8.5 TFLs, four sacks, four breakups) should take to the OLB position nicely, but only one other linebacker recorded more than 1.5 TFLs, and DeRuyter might have to turn to a youngster like sophomore Russell Ude, redshirt freshman Cameron Goode, or JUCO transfer Alex Funches to provide some play-making.

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James Looney (9)

Defense always appeared to be an afterthought for Dykes. That won’t be the case with a successful defensive coordinator now running the show, but it remains a mystery how quickly Wilcox and DeRuyter can find traction.

It’s also a mystery what DeRuyter will do now that he’s back in the coordinator chair. He was a successful DC at Air Force and Texas A&M, but he lost the plot as Fresno State head coach; after ranking 38th in Def. S&P+ in 2012, none of his last four FS defenses topped 82nd.

Special Teams

This transition could go in a couple of directions, but at least Wilcox inherits decent legs. Matt Anderson was 33rd in field goal efficiency, nailing 94 percent of his sub-40 field goals and six of nine longer ones as well. Plus, Dylan Klumph is one of the league’s better punters if punting suddenly becomes more of a thing in Berkeley.

The return game is questionable, and kickoffs are an unknown, but place-kicking and punting are the most important parts of a good special teams unit, and Cal’s got those covered.

2017 outlook

2017 Schedule & Projection Factors

Date Opponent Proj. S&P+ Rk Proj. Margin Win Probability 2-Sep at North Carolina 38 -5.5 37% 9-Sep Weber State NR 27.6 94% 16-Sep Ole Miss 26 -4.8 39% 23-Sep USC 7 -16.0 18% 30-Sep at Oregon 23 -10.7 27% 7-Oct at Washington 13 -17.1 16% 13-Oct Washington State 40 -0.2 50% 21-Oct Arizona 68 4.4 60% 28-Oct at Colorado 50 -3.2 43% 4-Nov Oregon State 54 2.4 55% 18-Nov at Stanford 12 -17.5 16% 24-Nov at UCLA 34 -6.5 35%

Projected S&P+ Rk 55 Proj. Off. / Def. Rk 25 / 90 Projected wins 4.9 Five-Year S&P+ Rk 2.0 (60) 2- and 5-Year Recruiting Rk 53 / 44 2016 TO Margin / Adj. TO Margin* 3 / -4.3 2016 TO Luck/Game +3.0 Returning Production (Off. / Def.) 58% (38%, 78%) 2016 Second-order wins (difference) 5.7 (-0.7)

When you inherit a team that’s been really good on one side and really bad on the other, the transition can be difficult. In Cal’s case, the offense has nowhere to go but down, even with a nice coordinator hire ... and to maintain a near-.500 pace, the new defensive staff will have to engineer quality the Cal D hasn’t seen in a while.

Maybe new input and new tactics give the defense the shot in the arm it’s been dying for. The secondary could be solid, and the front seven can’t be worse. And maybe Baldwin finds everything he needs on offense in this exciting skill corps.

Even if Cal exceeds its No. 55 projected S&P+ ranking, though — let’s say the Bears get into the top 35 — damn, look at that schedule.

At North Carolina, at Oregon, at Washington, at Colorado, at Stanford, at UCLA.

Ole Miss, USC, Washington State, Arizona, and Oregon State at home.

Seven games with win probability between 35 and 60 percent with one above that and four below.

This is not the schedule for first-year success. So for Wilcox, the goal is just to make things interesting. Show that the offensive ceiling is as high as it has been and show that defensive competence is around the corner. Build for 2018 and hope you win enough of the close games to keep fans engaged.

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