#we understand that el could eviscerate him

[hanna-writes]

If a Scholomance tv series gets made, I want the first scene to be El on the floor in her room, knife in gut, Jack on top of her with that lovely smear of blood on his mouth, as she’s desperately reaching for the mana crystal just out of reach.

Freeze frame.

“Yup, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I ended up in this situation.”

[youhaveforgottenmealready]

We'll Find a Way to Offer Up the Night -- Chapter 13 exerpt

"Batman, we need to talk. That was unacceptable," he says. Batman looks up at him slowly. His armor makes him look darker than the night, more menacing than the gargoyle he had found him crouching beside tonight. Every line of his body is simmering with rage and who knows what else. What had Jason said? That Batman has an edge of something jagged about him? It's apparent now, as clear as day.

"I don't think you're in any position to lecture me," Batman says in a hiss. His words are low and dark, almost sibilant, but they hit like a hammer. Superman stops in his tracks. 

He swallows back bile. It takes a long moment to collect himself. He can't let his own hangups keep him from getting through to Batman. "Maybe I'm exactly the right person to lecture you," he says and draws nearer. He only stops when he's near enough to count every fleck of blood on Batman's fists and armor. "This isn't you," he says. 

"Isn't it?" Batman says and moves quickly to close the space between them. His teeth are bright and sharp-looking. He advances and Superman retreats. For the first time, there's a strange hitch in Batman's usual aura. It's spikey, more like Jason's. It's unfamiliar. It's pulsing and uneven and it makes him think of graveyards. Superman hates it. 

Batman keeps moving and Superman has a moment where he isn't sure if he should stand his ground or continue to retreat. The choice is made for him when Batman lunges, snakes an arm around his neck, and tugs him down for a brutal, ugly kiss. Superman makes a surprised noise against that cruel mouth. He feels like he's reeling. 

It's too hard and mostly teeth, and Batman snarls hungrily against his lips. It's an awful embrace. Every other kiss they've ever shared could be eviscerated by this grotesque thing. It's truly awful, but dammit if Superman doesn't still want it. He swallows a moan and tries to understand. Batman's cowl is sharp and strangely textured. It's unusual feeling it scrape across his skin as Batman's mouth moves frantically against his. Vicious, hungry, desperation mars every second of the kiss. 

**********

We'll Find a Way to Offer Up the Night (100183 words) by YouHaveForgottenMeAlready

Chapters: 13/18 Fandom: Superman - All Media Types, Batman - All Media Types, DCU Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne Characters: Jason Todd, Lois Lane, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Alfred Pennyworth, Kara Zor-El, Krypto the Superdog (DCU), Perry White, James "Jimmy" Olsen Additional Tags: Past Clark Kent/Lois Lane, Oral Sex, Rough Oral Sex, Anal Sex, First Time, Hand Jobs, Canon-Typical Violence Summary:

His feet hit hard and his knees buckle beneath him. It hurts when his hands skid on the decorative rug, the price he pays for catching himself to keep from flopping face-first into the ground. He's dumbstruck and just kneels there for several long moments staring at his hands, at the bloom of rug burn forming before his eyes.

"I can't fly," he says dumbly.

"Noted. Any pain?" Bruce asks.

Clark's world falls apart, and Superman is to blame. When he's at his lowest, Bruce Wayne gives him a gift: a room that strips him of his powers. A room where he can learn what it means to be human.

[suavis]

Never interacting with ST tumblr ever again. Went to the tag after Vol 2 expecting to see posts about the episodes/s5 set up, instead I got

Death threats to Duffer Bros for not making by//er canon

People who don’t support by//er are homophobic

Horrible hate to Mileven fans

Duffer Bros are homophobic for killing Eddie bc “Eddie is gay & they killed him bc they didn’t like Stedd¡e”

We’re sick & tired of El, she shouldn’t be focused on in s5, instead Will & Mike

Mike’s speech to El is out of character, he doesn’t love her

El is boring & her abuse for her entire life isn’t comparable to Will, his unrequited love for Mike is worse than her torture

Mike should’ve died instead of Eddie & he’s homophobic to Will, Mike is the worst person in the show

I’m also not interacting with ST tumblr again bc of the white mlm fetishizers. Billy was clearly racist to Lucas & abusive to Max (I understand he was abused but that doesn’t excuse his racism and horrid treatment of Max) but yet Steve & Billy is a popular ship. If Lucas was white, we’d see more Lucas/Dustin. But we don’t. Women are also always pushed to the side for mlm ships, so many posts diminish El for by//er

LITERALLY you’ve encompassed everything i hate abt the fandom 💀 it’s never really surprising when fandoms only care abt bland white men they can hc as gay/bi and then fetishize but truly the attempted character assassination of multiple whole ass children bc they don’t play into their specific narratives they want is extra foul.

i thought st*ddie was cute in passing at first but then the fans and esp eddie fans started acting Like That and i was outta there 💀 ain’t no way they thought it was going to end any other way have the ever watched this show before??? like he was fun but ultimately he was just some guy that some ppl in this fandom care more abt than MAX who’s been around for three seasons now like make it make sense???? and same with billy stans they just choose to ignore full on racism like i saw one say they did believe he was racist but still liked him 💔 truly no saving them the way y’all will cape for random white men even if they’re racist and abusive…… ur not seeing heaven

and YES the way this fandom passes over the black characters (the very few that exist 🥴) is sooooo…. obvious truly. billy apologists are obviously the worst of em but. if will had been in love with lucas and he’d been acting like mike first of all there wouldn’t even be a quarter as many shipper and second lucas would have been eviscerated 💔 people’s priorities in this fandom could not be clearer tbh

and people’s hatred of eleven is so transparent 💀 if she wasn’t in the way of that certain ship nobody would give a fuck but instead they’ll say she’s just his beard, she’s aroace/lesbian (which obvi i support hcs like this wholeheartedly but when the ONLY purpose is to try to make it so she couldn’t possibly be attracted to mike and so now will can have him???? gtfo), she looks like a man (which is mentioned MULTIPLE times in the b*ler slideshow LMAO make it make sense….. i’m a woman with short hair does that make my gf straight???), etc.

also yeah their fixation specifically earlier on the fact that mike couldn’t say i love you to her and then when he finally did it was out of character/him projecting his feelings for will on her??? it’s disrespectful to the characters tbh like the way they characterize mike idek how they like him anymore considering how they seem to believe he’s manipulating eleven AND being an asshole to will while still being in love with him??? i have truly never seen a fandom so deluded over next to zero actual evidence but i wasn’t around in the days of tjlc so 💀 but i’m definitely seeing some similarities LMAO it’s bad like. i think EVERYONE can agree that will is into mike but b*lers seem to think that means mike is going to have to be into will too like. ik they’re still hung up on their middle school/high school straight best friends (or are still IN middle/high school with that straight best friend 💀) and want to think that he’ll get the happy ending they didn’t but. truly i do think will deserves better than this even if mike DOES return his feelings like. they would not be a good couple 💔 here’s to hoping will gets a bf in s5 and all the characters get to be happy for once and b*let fans finally shut up <3

[gdwessel]

NJPW Royal Quest - 8/31/2019; Select  Results from RevPro Summer Sizzler 2019 8/30/2019; A Few Words About El Phantasmo

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s solo debut in the UK, Royal Quest, has come and gone.  You can watch it for $25 on FITE TV even now, if you aren’t watching AEW All Out, or wait until it hits NJPWWorld in the near future. Four title matches on this show.

There was some setup for this show last night, at RevPro’s Summer Sizzler event at York Hall. The Suzuki-gun tandem of Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi, with Sabre pinning Tanahashi with a European Clutch, in the semi-main event. SANADA would come out on top, in a 6-man scramble that also featured Hikuleo, Rocky Romero and Robbie Eagles (in addition to Sensa Volta & Speedball Mike Bailey). Super J-Cup 2019 winner El Phantasmo retained the Undisputed British Cruiserweight title against Michael Oku. (More on ELP down below)

The team of Aussie Open, Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher, defeated Sha Samuels & Josh Bodom to win the Road to Royal Quest tournament, and will challenge the Guerrillas of Destiny for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team titles.

The main event last night featured IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion Will Ospreay defeating David Starr, in a stipulation match where it was meant to be a loser leaves town + control of RevPro at stake. As I understand it, this match went 45 minutes, had three ref bumps, a lot of 1998-era WWF Authority FIgure interference, and the crowd was NOT happy.  Could be some dark days ahead for RevPro, much like the rest of British wrestling, in the wake of WWE’s evisceration of the scene. 

There was also a pre-show dark match featuring the LA Dojo Young Lions, Alex Coughlin, Clark Conners and Karl Fredericks.

And now, Royal Quest:

NJPW Royal Quest - 8/31/2019, Copper Box Arena, London (FITE TV)

Rocky Romero, SHO & YOH [CHAOS] d. Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino & Ren Narita (SHO > Narita, Power Breaker, 8:19)

Kota Ibushi & Juice Robinson d. Yujiro Takahashi & Hikuleo [Bullet Club] (Ibushi > Hikuleo, Kamigoye, 8:46)

Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] d. Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo [Bullet Club] (Ospreay > Ishimori, Avalanche Spanish Fly, 10:36)

Tetsuya Naito & SANADA [Los Ingobernables] d. Jay White & Chase Owens [Bullet Club] (SANADA > Owens, Skull End, 12:59)

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa [Bullet Club] © d. Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher [RevPro] (Tonga >  Fletcher, Super Powerbomb, 12:56) - GOD succeed their 5th defense

NEVER Openweight Championship: KENTA [Bullet Club] d. Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS] © (Go 2 Sleep, 20:16) - Ishii fails his 1st defense - KENTA is the 27th champion

RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi d. Zack Sabre Jr. [SZKG] © (High Fly Flow, 17:39) - Sabre fails his ? defense - Tanahashi is the 22nd champion

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] © d. Minoru Suzuki [SZKG] (Rainmaker, 33:25) - Okada succeeds his 3rd defense

Okada wins, and immediately calls out SANADA as his next challenger. This will most likely happen at King of Pro Wrestling, as Okada’s final pre-WK14 challenge, although we don’t have the full lineups for the Destruction cycle yet. Tanahashi gets his revenge for MSG, and ZSJ’s title in the process. KENTA wins his first NJPW title, and becomes the first member of Bullet Club to win the NEVER belt since Yujiro Takahashi way back in June 2014. 

Jay White attacked SANADA, and Naito, post-match, but Naito hit a Destino on Jay to make the fans happy. From all accounts, the fans were chanting “Shooter” at Shota. Ospreay and Eagles challenged Ishimori/ELP (him again) to the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team belts, and I almost forgot (again) that they held them.

On that note.

The video footage of Super J-Cup 2019 has not been uploaded to NJPWWorld as yet. However, it became widely reported that in his victory promo, El Phantasmo referred to Will Ospreay as “The Autistic Assassin,” in mockey of  “The Aerial Assassin.” Which is the problem, of course: using autism as something to be mocked. Which I shouldn’t have to explain why this is a shitty thing to do, as a neurological condition is nothing to joke about.

Many were the defenders online saying El Phantasmo was doing it to get “heel heat,” and he himself has since apologized, explaining it away as a “heat of the moment decision.”  

I appreciate the apology he gave. See, I don’t broadcast it often, but I myself am autistic. Well, Asperger’s, technically, although I am pretty sure that is not even a valid DSM-V diagnosis at this point. Regardless, it’s something I wasn’t even aware of until I was an adult, although I was diagnosed back when I was child, and the diagnosis was buried because back then, it was a black mark for life. My daughter, on the other hand, has a full diagnosis of autism, and receives services for it. Many others in my family are either diagnosed or on the edges of it as well. So it’s something that’s pretty present in my life and my loves ones’ as well.

Once again, I appreciate ELP’s apology. However, my experience is, things you say in the heat of the moment, even if you don’t “mean them,” are things buried in your subconscious that emerge when under duress. So even if you don’t consciously believe it, ELP, deep down you knew what you were saying. You knew what a slur it was, and honestly, I think you said it because of the continued heat you got online. But you did say it, so thank you. Please be mindful in the future, and don’t confused hate speech with good heel work. Using slurs and hatred only shows a lack of creativity for your promos. In addition to showing what you are really all about, even if you don’t realize it consciously. Don’t be sorry; be Better.

That’s all I got. The full lineups for Destruction are not up yet. There is also no new NJPW on AXS this weekend. I hope with this holiday weekend we can not only get a podcast ready but an Upcoming Events list.

[jayfromriverside-blog]

Comics I read this week: 9/16 - 9/20

Hey all, smaller batch of books being covered this week, some good and some not as much.

Superman #15

Let’s start with the good, because there’s not been much with this comic: We’re finally getting the end of Rogol Zaar. Rest in shit, you artistic abortion.

We even got an explanation for what Rogol is. Though I haven’t enjoyed anything about Rogol as a character, his effect on the story or his vomit inducing visuals, at least Bendis had the courtesy to let us know why he looks like the afterbirth from a Doomsday orgy. Rogol is apparently a proto-Doomsday, created by Jor El for god knows what reason. Thanks 

It’s clear now that the whole point of this story was to get the Legion back into the main DCU, but Bendis did it in perhaps the worst way possible. To recap what this story did:

Created a villain with no depth, who turned out to just be a plot device that doesn’t make sense

Side note: Jor-El is punished by the United Planets by being sent back to the moment he was plucked from time (right before Krypton blew up). He looks his younger self in the eye and says “He did it. He brought them together.” He could hypothetically be talking about Clark, but he’s definitely talking about Rogol Zaar and if that’s his whole justification for it........fuck that’s so dumb and horrible.

Took the character of Jor-El, previously a virtuous scientist and symbol of hope, and made him a mad man who created weapons of mass destruction in order to force the Universe to bend to his whim

Aged up Jon Kent just so he can be a part of the new Legion instead of Clark. Also he was traumatized by his Grandfather and lost out on years of parenting. 

But we got the Legion back....Woooooo.

Flash Forward #1

I’m starting to think that after Dark Knights: Metal all the writers for DC got a bit of a hard-on for Multiversal adventures. I think that this story is going to live or die on how interesting the writers can make the redemption arc for Wally West, but for now I’m in and would recommend.

Coming off of Heroes in Crisis (which had it’s moments, but what it did to Wally was not exactly subtle or good), Wally is in Blackgate prison awaiting trial for the crimes he committed in HiC. Meanwhile, Tempus (the Fugunaut from Sideways) is concerned that the Multiverse is dying due to an imbalance from the planets in the Dark Multiverse. AAAAAAAAAnd at the same time, some Thanagarian treasure hunter finds and subsequently gets eviscerated by the Mobius chair. 

I don’t want to spoil too much for the first issue, but if you’re a long time fan of Wally West or want to see him return to glory in the DCU, I would give this book a shot. It couldn’t be worse for him than HiC, right?

Justice League #32

What was this? Who wrote this chapter? Did they get transported directly from the Golden Age of comics? 

I’m just so tired with this comic at this point. The new art was somehow worse than Jorge Jimenez (who I’ve been too harsh about honestly), the dialogue was corny, the story was nothing more than a vehicle for the plot and despite SPOILERS

Aquaman returning and the Anti-Monitor joining the Justice League

I care less about this comic than last week. Man, just... I hope it’s better next week.

Batman #79

I don’t care if you hate Tom King and everything he’s done to Batman, this is one of the most beautiful superhero books I’ve seen in a long time and you need to read this issue.

So last week I complained that it wasn’t the right time for an issue of Selina and Bruce working through their issues at a resort. #78 felt like it was a lot of talking that wasn’t heading towards a solution. Well we got our solution this week and we got the action started.

I’ve been clear that I’m a big fan of King and that I’ve enjoyed his long-form story, and this issue is exactly why I think this story will be considered better after it’s been collected into a single piece. We had Selina and Bruce talking again, but there were so many call backs to their history, not just from this run but throughout their whole comics history, and it was masterful. I’m not going to spoil anything if I can help it, but the scene on the beach is one of the best Bat/Cat moments we’ve had since King started, and that’s saying a lot. 

You need to read this issue, especially with the end game coming so soon.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #12

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Tom Taylor just gets Spider-Man. He understands that Spider-Man the character is a mix of heroism and anxiety, that the perfect Spider-Man story is a balance of action and light-hearted fun. He rides that line masterfully. Just in this chapter we had:

Spidey in a phone booth

Spidey in a trench coat and fedora

Spidey saying he was gonna eat a guy

Spidey going “undercover” as a limo chauffeur

Peter and Mary-Jane having a heart to heart

Spider-Man working alongside a cop

This is one of the best comics on the market right now and my favorite currently going. If you haven’t started, start now and catch-up quickly, cause the Fantastic 4 are back for next issue’s adventure and it’ll surely be magic.

[sadlittlenerdking]

Queliot fluff: Eliot secretly has a favorite blanket or pillow and Quentin finds out.

Oops this one is long

“What’s that?” Quentin asks from the doorway. 

Eliot jumps, eyes going wide as he frantically shoves his small blue and yellow blanket into his nightstand drawer. “Nothing, go away,” He says, folding it as quickly and carefully as he can. 

“It’s something,” Quentin insists. 

“Fine,” Eliot looks over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes, “It’s none of your business. Shoo.” 

Quentin stares at him for a minute, smile slowly falling away, before moving into the room, closing the door behind him and leaning against it. “What’s going on?” He asks, eyebrows furrowed like he’s wondering if he’s done something wrong, and god damn it all. Eliot can’t fucking handle kicked puppy dog face. He can handle a lot - but not that. 

He sighs, fisting his fingers in the blanket, and looking down at it. “Q,” He murmurs, “If you tell anyone about this, I will personally see to it that you never experience any sexual pleasure again in your life.” He looks back up, stares at Quentin meaningfully. “Clear?” 

“Y- Crystal. But,” He moves into the room, “What exactly am I not talking about?” As Eliot narrows his eyes, Quentin shrugs, “Helps me keep from bringing it up. I’d like to protect any and all sexual pleasure I may or may not experience.” 

“I hate you,” Eliot mutters as he moves to stand up, clutching the blanket to his chest. It’s barely even big enough to stretch across his chest at full size, but still he bunches it up, and cradles it against himself as he turns to face Quentin. 

Quentin nods his head for a moment, “I know,” He says, small smile playing at his lips as he moves to sit on the edge of Eliot’s bed. “I love you, too.” 

Eliot rolls his eyes, hesitates for a moment. “Hold your hands out. Wait -,” he eyes the palms of Quentins hands, “You washed your hands, right?” 

Quentin’s eyes widen a fraction, before he nods, swallowing. “I mean. Yeah. Kind of gross not to,” He mutters, even as he turns them downward and runs the along the thighs of his jeans. 

A little flutter noses it’s way around Eliot’s stomach, appreciating the thought of the motion. “Good. Hold your hands out.” When Quentin’s hands delicately turn upwards, cutting the distance between them in half, Eliot slowly, carefully drapes the blanket over his palms. The small E.W. stitched into the corner with silk lace, shines up at both of them as Quentin brings his hands back to his lap to look over the blanket. 

“El,” Quentin murmurs, looking up at him. 

Eliot rolls his eyes, moving to sit next to him. “It’s - it’s not a big deal. It’s just my baby blanket.” 

“Has Margo ever -,” 

“God, no,” Eliot looks at him like he’s crazy. “I’d never hear the end of it.” 

“And you’re showing me?”

Eliot rolls his eyes again, flopping back until he’s staring up at the ceiling, and his arms are splayed over the top of the bed. “I never go anywhere without it,” He says, soft, not daring to look at Quentin, “It kind of … it’s this little comfort I get. It’s usually under my pillow, but I moved it for the Ibiza trip, and now I’m not going, -,” 

Quentin lies down next to him suddenly, putting the blanket in between them. “It’s a big deal,” He says, and Eliot’s relieved not to hear anything in the tone of his voice other than sincerity. “I’d say it’s cute, but you’d probably slap me.” 

“Eviscerate,” Eliot corrects, turning his head to look at him. “Slap is too gentle.” Quentin tries not to smile, so Eliot frowns. “What? Why is your face making that face?” 

“Because you’re soft,” He whispers, a grin blooming, “You’re a softie, and it’s beautiful.” 

“Stop mocking me.” He thought he could at least trust Quentin with his stupid fascination and obsession with the Fillory books to understand, but apparently not. 

Quentin’s arm comes over until he’s wrapping his hand around Eliot’s bicep, soft and not at all forceful. “I’m not,” He murmurs, “It’s just nice to see this side of you. I’m so used to witty, angry at the world, too good for softness, Eliot. Soft Eliot is just as interesting, you know.” 

“There’s no such thing as soft Eliot.” 

“Is too.” 

“Is not.” 

“Is tooo,” He sings, and Eliot sits up, pointing a finger at him, even as he smiles up at hi, innocent and honest, and annoyingly accepting, and so - so Quentin. 

He groans, flopping back down, but this time burying his face in Quentin’s chest. “I hate you.” 

“No you don’t.” 

Eliot sighs dramatically, lifting his head just enough to make eye contact with him. He appraises him with his soft hair and shining eyes, and fucking puppy face, “No,” He mutters, burying his face in Quentin’s t-shirt, “I suppose not.” 

“Want me to put it up and go away so you can get some sleep?” 

Eliot shakes his head, pulling the blanket closer to him, until it’s on top of Quentin’s chest beneath his arm, just above Eliot’s head. “No, and don’t you dare move, Q,” He says, voice muffled as he curls up against Quentin’s side. 

Quentin laughs, soft and without any malice or judgment behind it, “Wouldn’t dream of disturbing your beauty sleep.” 

“We both know my beauty comes naturally.” 

“Of course.” 

“Go to sleep, Q.” 

“Okay.” 

[footballleague0]

Golf — Tony Finau’s road from fire-knife dancing to the Tour Championship

ATLANTA — Even now, Gary Finau can’t explain it. He’s walking down the perfectly manicured 18th fairway at East Lake Golf Club, host of this week’s Tour Championship, where the FedEx Cup champion will receive an eight-figure paycheck and even the last-place finisher will bank a total well into the six digits while pocketing invitations into each of next year’s major championships. His son, Tony, the third-oldest of eight children who grew up in their Rose Park, Utah, home, is just a few yards away, taking a mighty lash at his golf ball toward the final green.

It’s a scene Gary has been watching for 20 years. But he still shakes his head in wonderment about how it’s all unfolded.

“This is the sport that we used to talk about like, if you ever see me at a golf course, shoot me,” he says with a gregarious laugh. “Why would anybody go chase a little white ball into a hole? So we stayed far away. We thought playing golf was like going to your grave.”

The story of how he became the first golf instructor to a player who is now 28, ranked 53rd in the world and will embark on his first Masters appearance in April is one that sounds even too far-fetched for a Hollywood script.

Gary grew up in Tonga, playing rugby, cricket and football. When he immigrated to the United States at age 12, he fell in love with basketball and boxing. As Tony explains, “Golf in the Polynesian culture was just so out of the zone. Nobody plays golf. Everybody thought only girls or old rich white men play that sport.” It became part of their lives less by choice than happenstance.

The first tournament Tony recalls watching with his brother Gipper, who’s 11 months younger, was the 1997 Masters. A baby-faced Tiger Woods eviscerated the field that week, and the two boys in the hardscrabble neighborhood just northwest of Salt Lake City were among the millions who took notice.

“To see him do what he did, I could relate to him,” Tony says. “Obviously how exciting he was, but someone with a bit of color playing this game. That’s when I was like, maybe I can play golf. If he can do it, so can I.”

Within a few months, Tony’s mother, Ravena, implored Gary to find a hobby with the boys. The rationale was twofold: There would be critical father-son bonding time, but it would also keep the young boys out of the neighborhood and out of the trouble that always lurked there.

They offered them two nontraditional options: Golf or tennis. Still starry-eyed from watching Tiger, they chose the latter. That wasn’t the entire reason, though. The boys figured if they got good enough to play in tournaments, they could make their dad play caddie. The insidious thought of watching Gary lug a bag of clubs around a golf course was enough to cinch their decision.

So off they went to Jordan River, a par-3 facility where the first hole was 160 yards and none were longer. Gary would bark instructions despite his limited initiation into the game.

“He was still learning the game like we were,” Tony recalls. “Looking back, he was blindly teaching us to play golf.”

That was true, but he did know math.

“I used to drive them every day after school to the football field,” says Gary. “Stop there so they could see all their friends — 400 or 500 kids practicing Pop Warner football. I said, ‘Where is everybody?’ They’d say, ‘Right here.’ Then we’d drive up to the golf course. I’d say, ‘Who’s here?’ They’d say, ‘Nobody.’ I’d tell them, ‘Exactly. Your percentage to make it in golf is way better, boys. There’s no competition here. So let’s practice.'”

And they did, nearly every day, for hours on end. Gary was the coach, Ravena was the motivator, the one who constantly assured them that they could accomplish anything.

The family didn’t have the financial means to afford daily rounds of golf, so Gary improvised. Knowing it didn’t cost anything to use the chipping and putting area, he’d collect old range balls and the boys would practice until sundown.

In three full seasons on the PGA Tour, Tony Finau has made at least $1.8 million each year. Heading into the 2016-17 season finale, he’s at $2.55 million and counting. Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

Soon enough, the pro at Jordan River took notice of their work ethic. He offered up the course, free of charge, whenever they wanted. The boys took advantage, often playing two or three rounds each day after school.

They became really good, really fast.

Soon they started to travel the country to play tournaments. Gary worked a night shift for Delta Airlines, so airfare wasn’t a problem. To assuage the cost of hotels and rental cars, the boys took a part-time job.

Fire-knife dancing is popular in the Polynesian culture. It’s exactly what it sounds like, with knives attached to the ends of sticks, covered in material set aflame, all while being furiously spun around by a performer. They’d been practicing the art since they could walk — and Tony, especially, was extraordinarily talented. Named after his mother’s brother, who was a world-class fire-knife dancer, Tony entered junior competitions and would regularly defeat much older, more experienced kids.

“It’s second nature to me, just like riding a bike,” he explains. “I pick up a stick and I can still spin it pretty well.”

Some kids had paper routes. The Finau boys would hold fundraisers, luaus and parties during which they would perform fire-knife dances and might collect a few hundred dollars to help alleviate the travel expenses at tournaments.

It opened up a whole new world outside of Rose Park. They didn’t just compete against some of the world’s best young golfers, they got to know them. At Doral one year, they befriended a boy from Northern Ireland named Rory McIlroy, who would later spend time in Utah with them during the summer months.

When he was 12, Tony won the Junior World Championships in San Diego for his age division. He still considers that a major turning point in bridging the gap between golf as a hobby and as a potential career.

“I looked at the banners and saw the names — Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, all these guys,” he remembers. “Then I saw my name. I said, ‘Why not me? I can make it, too.’ That really motivated me on another level. I started thinking, I can take this really seriously and accomplish some big things in this game.”

Fast-forward to today and Tony has already accomplished some big things. Last season, he won his first PGA Tour title at the Puerto Rico Open. This season, he’s compiled seven top-10s in 28 starts, including a nerve-wracking share of seventh place at last week’s BMW Championship.

Following a disappointing conclusion to his third round, Tony was outside the projected top-30 to advance to the season finale. The next day, he chipped in for birdie on the final hole to post a 7-under 64 and reach the field at East Lake, a victory in itself because of the impending perks it guarantees.

“It was really a special round on Sunday, kind of an 11th hour thing to get in,” he says. “I knew what I had to do and to make it happen was pretty cool. Something I’ll remember for the rest of my career, for sure.”

It’s a career that will undoubtedly include much more success for a guy with a growing reputation as one of the game’s most gifted players. None other than three-time major champion Jordan Spieth says of him, “Tony Finau is an unbelievably talented player who’s probably going to win, I think, dozens of times out here. He is really, really good and very underrated, in my opinion.”

It wasn’t all so easy. He didn’t transition from learning the game at Jordan River to winning junior tournaments to competing in the Tour Championship without a heaping dose of strife.

On Nov. 27, 2011, Ravena died in a car accident. The mother who had been so influential as a positive presence in her children’s lives was returning from a wedding in California when she was killed near the small town of Elko, Nevada.

Tony was 22 at the time, a professional for five years already, but still learning the game while toiling on the mini-tours. “It was very personal for him,” Gary says. “Out of all the kids, he was mommy’s boy.” One day after Ravena’s death, Tony and girlfriend Alayna — now his wife — welcomed their first son, Jraice. Within months, while still mourning and living in a small apartment with his growing family, Tony developed a stomach ulcer.

“Since she passed away, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about her,” he says. “Now that I’m a parent myself, I understand what my parents went through and what they sacrificed, just to put me in this position. I think she’d be proud if she was here and could see me accomplish some of the things I’ve accomplished. I think she’d be really proud.”

Which caddies get FedEx Cup playoff bonuses? And what’s the talk about Rory McIlroy’s looper situation? This week’s anonymous caddie at the Tour Championship goes in-depth on a multitude of topics.

There’s nothing wrong with East Lake Golf Club or Atlanta (home base of the tournament’s main sponsors), but the season-ending Tour Championship would be an even bigger deal if wasn’t anchored to one location.

Not everyone agrees that the PGA Tour’s season finale, the Tour Championship, needs an overhaul or even a few tweaks. But if the tour did make some changes, what might they be?

2 Related

There is no specific blueprint for how — or why, or when — a professional golfer will springboard into the next echelon. There is no singular determinant for a player shifting his game into an extra gear and becoming one of the world’s best.

It’s not all about intangibles, though. By reaching the Tour Championship field for the first time, Finau will own the luxury of being able to set his schedule for the upcoming season. He’ll be immediately qualified into each of the game’s biggest tournaments, at least offering the opportunity of making that leap.

“One of the major goals this season was to get into the Tour Championship, because of the perks,” says his longtime instructor, Boyd Summerhays. “But it’s not just the perks, it’s the next step in his career. The way he’s playing, that’s where he’s been trying to base his game. He wants to win a major championship — and you can’t win it if you’re not in it.”

Of the 30 competitors in this week’s field, Finau is the lone player who this week earned his maiden voyage down Magnolia Lane next April. He’s been invited to watch the Masters Tournament before; he’s been invited to play Augusta National. But he’s turned the offers down every time, instead explaining that he doesn’t want to walk in the footsteps of Tiger Woods from that first tournament he’d ever watched 20 years ago until he could take a similar journey.

“I have goosebumps,” he admits, “just thinking about it.”

As for Gary, the man who knew nothing about the game when he first took his boys to Jordan River, which now exists as only a disc-golf course, he struggles to describe how he’ll feel making that drive with Tony, arriving at Augusta National with his son an invited participant.

“The experience of realizing that you can bend down and kiss that ground …” he says, his voice trailing off into the late-afternoon sun. “This is real. You got here. It’s possible.”

He thinks back to those early days. There were no other Polynesian fathers — not in Rose Park, at least — who saw golf as a future for their sons. No others who saw it as an escape from the troubles in their neighborhood to a more indulgent lifestyle.

“We don’t fit any mold of why we’re here, why we’re playing this game,” he explains. “It’s not that easy. He’s first-generation. I had no interest in the game. That’s what I think about. How the heck did this happen? I don’t even know how we did it.”

The post Golf — Tony Finau’s road from fire-knife dancing to the Tour Championship appeared first on Daily Star Sports.

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Golf — Tony Finau’s road from fire-knife dancing to the Tour Championship

ATLANTA — Even now, Gary Finau can’t explain it. He’s walking down the perfectly manicured 18th fairway at East Lake Golf Club, host of this week’s Tour Championship, where the FedEx Cup champion will receive an eight-figure paycheck and even the last-place finisher will bank a total well into the six digits while pocketing invitations into each of next year’s major championships. His son, Tony, the third-oldest of eight children who grew up in their Rose Park, Utah, home, is just a few yards away, taking a mighty lash at his golf ball toward the final green.

It’s a scene Gary has been watching for 20 years. But he still shakes his head in wonderment about how it’s all unfolded.

“This is the sport that we used to talk about like, if you ever see me at a golf course, shoot me,” he says with a gregarious laugh. “Why would anybody go chase a little white ball into a hole? So we stayed far away. We thought playing golf was like going to your grave.”

The story of how he became the first golf instructor to a player who is now 28, ranked 53rd in the world and will embark on his first Masters appearance in April is one that sounds even too far-fetched for a Hollywood script.

Gary grew up in Tonga, playing rugby, cricket and football. When he immigrated to the United States at age 12, he fell in love with basketball and boxing. As Tony explains, “Golf in the Polynesian culture was just so out of the zone. Nobody plays golf. Everybody thought only girls or old rich white men play that sport.” It became part of their lives less by choice than happenstance.

The first tournament Tony recalls watching with his brother Gipper, who’s 11 months younger, was the 1997 Masters. A baby-faced Tiger Woods eviscerated the field that week, and the two boys in the hardscrabble neighborhood just northwest of Salt Lake City were among the millions who took notice.

“To see him do what he did, I could relate to him,” Tony says. “Obviously how exciting he was, but someone with a bit of color playing this game. That’s when I was like, maybe I can play golf. If he can do it, so can I.”

Within a few months, Tony’s mother, Ravena, implored Gary to find a hobby with the boys. The rationale was twofold: There would be critical father-son bonding time, but it would also keep the young boys out of the neighborhood and out of the trouble that always lurked there.

They offered them two nontraditional options: Golf or tennis. Still starry-eyed from watching Tiger, they chose the latter. That wasn’t the entire reason, though. The boys figured if they got good enough to play in tournaments, they could make their dad play caddie. The insidious thought of watching Gary lug a bag of clubs around a golf course was enough to cinch their decision.

So off they went to Jordan River, a par-3 facility where the first hole was 160 yards and none were longer. Gary would bark instructions despite his limited initiation into the game.

“He was still learning the game like we were,” Tony recalls. “Looking back, he was blindly teaching us to play golf.”

That was true, but he did know math.

“I used to drive them every day after school to the football field,” says Gary. “Stop there so they could see all their friends — 400 or 500 kids practicing Pop Warner football. I said, ‘Where is everybody?’ They’d say, ‘Right here.’ Then we’d drive up to the golf course. I’d say, ‘Who’s here?’ They’d say, ‘Nobody.’ I’d tell them, ‘Exactly. Your percentage to make it in golf is way better, boys. There’s no competition here. So let’s practice.‘”

And they did, nearly every day, for hours on end. Gary was the coach, Ravena was the motivator, the one who constantly assured them that they could accomplish anything.

The family didn’t have the financial means to afford daily rounds of golf, so Gary improvised. Knowing it didn’t cost anything to use the chipping and putting area, he’d collect old range balls and the boys would practice until sundown.

In three full seasons on the PGA Tour, Tony Finau has made at least $1.8 million each year. Heading into the 2016-17 season finale, he’s at $2.55 million and counting. Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

Soon enough, the pro at Jordan River took notice of their work ethic. He offered up the course, free of charge, whenever they wanted. The boys took advantage, often playing two or three rounds each day after school.

They became really good, really fast.

Soon they started to travel the country to play tournaments. Gary worked a night shift for Delta Airlines, so airfare wasn’t a problem. To assuage the cost of hotels and rental cars, the boys took a part-time job.

Fire-knife dancing is popular in the Polynesian culture. It’s exactly what it sounds like, with knives attached to the ends of sticks, covered in material set aflame, all while being furiously spun around by a performer. They’d been practicing the art since they could walk — and Tony, especially, was extraordinarily talented. Named after his mother’s brother, who was a world-class fire-knife dancer, Tony entered junior competitions and would regularly defeat much older, more experienced kids.

“It’s second nature to me, just like riding a bike,” he explains. “I pick up a stick and I can still spin it pretty well.”

Some kids had paper routes. The Finau boys would hold fundraisers, luaus and parties during which they would perform fire-knife dances and might collect a few hundred dollars to help alleviate the travel expenses at tournaments.

It opened up a whole new world outside of Rose Park. They didn’t just compete against some of the world’s best young golfers, they got to know them. At Doral one year, they befriended a boy from Northern Ireland named Rory McIlroy, who would later spend time in Utah with them during the summer months.

When he was 12, Tony won the Junior World Championships in San Diego for his age division. He still considers that a major turning point in bridging the gap between golf as a hobby and as a potential career.

“I looked at the banners and saw the names — Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, all these guys,” he remembers. “Then I saw my name. I said, ‘Why not me? I can make it, too.’ That really motivated me on another level. I started thinking, I can take this really seriously and accomplish some big things in this game.”

Fast-forward to today and Tony has already accomplished some big things. Last season, he won his first PGA Tour title at the Puerto Rico Open. This season, he’s compiled seven top-10s in 28 starts, including a nerve-wracking share of seventh place at last week’s BMW Championship.

Following a disappointing conclusion to his third round, Tony was outside the projected top-30 to advance to the season finale. The next day, he chipped in for birdie on the final hole to post a 7-under 64 and reach the field at East Lake, a victory in itself because of the impending perks it guarantees.

“It was really a special round on Sunday, kind of an 11th hour thing to get in,” he says. “I knew what I had to do and to make it happen was pretty cool. Something I’ll remember for the rest of my career, for sure.”

It’s a career that will undoubtedly include much more success for a guy with a growing reputation as one of the game’s most gifted players. None other than three-time major champion Jordan Spieth says of him, “Tony Finau is an unbelievably talented player who’s probably going to win, I think, dozens of times out here. He is really, really good and very underrated, in my opinion.”

It wasn’t all so easy. He didn’t transition from learning the game at Jordan River to winning junior tournaments to competing in the Tour Championship without a heaping dose of strife.

On Nov. 27, 2011, Ravena died in a car accident. The mother who had been so influential as a positive presence in her children’s lives was returning from a wedding in California when she was killed near the small town of Elko, Nevada.

Tony was 22 at the time, a professional for five years already, but still learning the game while toiling on the mini-tours. “It was very personal for him,” Gary says. “Out of all the kids, he was mommy’s boy.” One day after Ravena’s death, Tony and girlfriend Alayna — now his wife — welcomed their first son, Jraice. Within months, while still mourning and living in a small apartment with his growing family, Tony developed a stomach ulcer.

“Since she passed away, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about her,” he says. “Now that I’m a parent myself, I understand what my parents went through and what they sacrificed, just to put me in this position. I think she’d be proud if she was here and could see me accomplish some of the things I’ve accomplished. I think she’d be really proud.”

Which caddies get FedEx Cup playoff bonuses? And what’s the talk about Rory McIlroy’s looper situation? This week’s anonymous caddie at the Tour Championship goes in-depth on a multitude of topics.

There’s nothing wrong with East Lake Golf Club or Atlanta (home base of the tournament’s main sponsors), but the season-ending Tour Championship would be an even bigger deal if wasn’t anchored to one location.

Not everyone agrees that the PGA Tour’s season finale, the Tour Championship, needs an overhaul or even a few tweaks. But if the tour did make some changes, what might they be?

2 Related

There is no specific blueprint for how — or why, or when — a professional golfer will springboard into the next echelon. There is no singular determinant for a player shifting his game into an extra gear and becoming one of the world’s best.

It’s not all about intangibles, though. By reaching the Tour Championship field for the first time, Finau will own the luxury of being able to set his schedule for the upcoming season. He’ll be immediately qualified into each of the game’s biggest tournaments, at least offering the opportunity of making that leap.

“One of the major goals this season was to get into the Tour Championship, because of the perks,” says his longtime instructor, Boyd Summerhays. “But it’s not just the perks, it’s the next step in his career. The way he’s playing, that’s where he’s been trying to base his game. He wants to win a major championship — and you can’t win it if you’re not in it.”

Of the 30 competitors in this week’s field, Finau is the lone player who this week earned his maiden voyage down Magnolia Lane next April. He’s been invited to watch the Masters Tournament before; he’s been invited to play Augusta National. But he’s turned the offers down every time, instead explaining that he doesn’t want to walk in the footsteps of Tiger Woods from that first tournament he’d ever watched 20 years ago until he could take a similar journey.

“I have goosebumps,” he admits, “just thinking about it.”

As for Gary, the man who knew nothing about the game when he first took his boys to Jordan River, which now exists as only a disc-golf course, he struggles to describe how he’ll feel making that drive with Tony, arriving at Augusta National with his son an invited participant.

“The experience of realizing that you can bend down and kiss that ground …” he says, his voice trailing off into the late-afternoon sun. “This is real. You got here. It’s possible.”

He thinks back to those early days. There were no other Polynesian fathers — not in Rose Park, at least — who saw golf as a future for their sons. No others who saw it as an escape from the troubles in their neighborhood to a more indulgent lifestyle.

“We don’t fit any mold of why we’re here, why we’re playing this game,” he explains. “It’s not that easy. He’s first-generation. I had no interest in the game. That’s what I think about. How the heck did this happen? I don’t even know how we did it.”

The post Golf — Tony Finau’s road from fire-knife dancing to the Tour Championship appeared first on Daily Star Sports.

from https://dailystarsports.com/2017/09/21/golf-tony-finaus-road-from-fire-knife-dancing-to-the-tour-championship/ from https://dailystarsports.tumblr.com/post/165590179686