#when we get to 2026 and we are back in the timeline of the games i feel like things will go crazy

[itsbebebe]

I can't wait until we get to April 2026 so we as a fandom can go insane celebrating Zak Gramarye dying, Phoenix getting accused of murder (again) and Kristoph going to prison.

[fantasiac]

Sonic X Silver Unleashed would be really cool

especially for 2026, which seems like it might be year of Silver, as Sonic 4 has rumored to have Silver in it, sega would probably want to do the Sonic X Shadow generations success again, as well as finally establishing Silvers origin and finally Sonic Unleashed for modern consoles, and a pc port that people have been BEGGING for

Giving silver the chance to fix his origin would be a great chance to take if they decide that his Rivals story isn't canon (because of the way it breaks Eggman Nega), or just isn't well known enough by fans, finally setting why everyone knows him would be cool

although, he wouldnt actually meet sonic in this game, but maybe he could interact with characters that aren't in the original story, adding more to it, and maybe could have sonic and silver meet in an epilogue short like Dark beginnings

it would also probably just fit really well, with silver coming back in time to fix the ruined planet, not that I want another "silver comes back to the past to fix the future" plot, but it could work, especially if they decide to rewrite him, and because it would take place during unleashed, it could definitely work as a good introduction for his character to the world, as it's the next main game after 06 (besides secret rings) so it could probably be much more of a "this is what happened instead of 06 because the timeline reset", if they decide to lean into that (it would live up to the stuff 06 was claiming to be, a cool new direction/reboot to the Sonic world, setting Unleashed as what happened instead of 06 would not only make that statement correct, but also reintroduce silver around that time period in the series)

they could also put shadow in it, because all the fans new and old would want more of him in games, especially in "the best game in the franchise", also seeing shadow post shadow 05 would be cool, Ian Flynn could work in the Super Hard Mode being canon, where he joins GUN at the end, bringing "Shadow's best characterisation" not only into main canon finally, but also into the best game in the franchise

it would print millions for sega

and Silver's powers could get reworked for the boost engine, which would be interesting, and his powers could react with the dark Gaia energy somehow, changing the playstyle to match up with base unleashed

and I somehow didn't mention that I DESPERATELY want more of that peak unleashed world building, with the distinct cultures in the world, it would blend into silvers story really well, as he's not used to all the people and life, finally capturing that "woah, this time period is beautiful" element that wasn't there very much in 06, despite it helping his motivation to save his world so much

and because unleashed is already one of everyone's favorites, bringing it to the forefront of the Sonic franchise for new players to enjoy would probably put sonic back on top as a gaming icon

also a mixing up more of the anthros from Forces into the humans of unleashed, would not only be cohesive, but add to sonics world, Sonic, Tails, and Amy wouldn't be the only animal characters seen in the game where you see the entire planet, making sonic seem special among them and explaining why nobody really questions sonic's existence

unleashed is one of the only games that really builds up a full world for sonic, and all the other games subsequently forgot about it all instantly, I desperately want to know where Station square is on the map, or White Acropolis, or Westopolis, or Seaside Hill, or Sunset Heights, I want all the stages from the games on one big map.

Frontiers also confirms that unleashed is part of the canon, so it would set standards for the next games to add on to it, because the stages in unleashed are considered the best In the whole franchise, in music, stage design AND worldbuilding. we need it to be a base for the rest of the franchise to follow at least a little bit when making new stages, a remake would not only fix that, but also give the silver game that people have been begging for for 18 years, and finally give him a base intro to the story for the wide audience to fall in love with, because silver is rad as hell

also a game that takes place before whatever forces does would be cool, because after unleashed, the games barely even touch on the world of Sonic anymore, Colors? in space, Generations? timeless void, Lost World? Lost Hex, only really touching on it in Forces, where Eggman completely shapes the globe in his image, but they don't even really show what he changed besides "sand hill", and then Frontiers is on a separated island that we don't know where it is on the planet, if unleashed was remade, it would bring back the worldbuiilfing it had, and open up the doors to have games that add on to the main timeline come out while sticking to that worldbuilding without it seeming off because unleashed is a recent and well talked about game by this point

it could work so well sega, pleeeaasse

I just love unleashed so much, and I'm not the only one

[lovebirdgames]

Progress Update - October, 2024

It is time…the first Quarterly Progress Update for our next game starts now! And we're kicking it off with a title drop!!! Drum roll, please! Tom, if you will help me out...

That's right! Heartbreaker joins the fray!

For the record that’s not the real logo, just a temporary one that I slapped together.

Before we get into it I would actually like to glance back at the past and detail what our development timeline looked like for Band Camp Boyfriend. It's possible this one might look somewhat similar.

2015-2017 - Writing 2017 - Commissioned art, created social media presence 2018 - Demo released on Itch.io in August Programming hell 2022 - Demo released on Steam 2023 - Full game released

The good news is this isn’t our first rodeo and I’m hopeful there won’t be so many growing pains this time.  We're also doing 4 routes and a shorter common route so that means less suffering for us. The bad news is I worked part-time 2015-2017 so I blazed through writing and now I work full-time…and I’m old…and my memory is failing me…but it’s okay, I’ve forgotten all the pain.

This time around we want to be sure we get all the writing down before we start commissioning art.  We had the tendency to keep going back and asking for more because the game kept getting bigger (saving up money was also a factor). We’re gonna make sure we know exactly what we want this time. We’d also like to save casting voice actors for much later in the process so they aren’t waiting around for years on end. So the demo for this game will not have voice acting. I believe I wrote about this a little before in our post-mortem. We’re learning from our mistakes, woohoo!

That said, this is what we’re hopefully visualizing for Heartbreaker.

2024-2025 - Writing 2026 - Big art commissioning year, a more exciting project reveal, hopefully demo release later in the year! 2027 and on - Programming hell! Casting! Soundtrack fun!

…If this was to line up with BCB that would mean 2031 release. Oh God. No, I wanna release it in this decade, thanks. This is very tentative and we’re determined to not take 7 years this time.

Enough about that! Here is what we’ve worked on this year!

Concept art: Lite was absolutely awesome (as always) and let us have sessions with her in which we worked on concept art of the main cast together. It was super helpful in bringing our visualizations to life and it will definitely aid in writing the story. I can't go on enough about how wonderful Lite is to work with, and it was amazing to watch her go. She would whip up a number of poses, face types, or hairstyles for us to choose from. It was really fun and we're very grateful for the time she spent with us.

The demo: That's right, the demo is written! Woohoo! Unlike Band Camp Boyfriend with its twisting, long-winded common route, Heartbreaker’s common route is a single day! Alex can sigh in relief because that’s one less nightmare in programming for her.

The demo will contain the one-day common route and the first two chapters of two different love interests’ routes (the other two are locked at the start of the game so you’ll just have to admire them from a distance). 

Brainstorming: Ahh my favorite part…talking long walks or going for coffee and coming up with ideas. Brainstorming is ongoing and includes character profiles, world-building, and route outlines. This game has a lot more lore and world-building than BCB, so it’s more of a challenge, but we’re here for it. I've already done a badly-drawn map of the setting. Just need to finish up some profiles for minor characters and do some of my own badly-drawn concept art. Then we move on to fleshing out the route outlines.

The first route: One goal I have is to try and finish writing the first draft of the first route by the end of the year! Which is insane because October is super busy for me, but I'm sure I can buckle down when it gets colder. It's a bit ambitious, but aim high, right?

That's all I got for now! Hope you're all feeling hyped and uh, patient, because we won't be able to show you any cool art for a while. ;v; Thank you so much for sticking by us and we appreciate every single comment that has mentioned looking forward to our next game! Enjoy the rest of 2024!!!

P.S. Today is my mom's birthday and yesterday was my sister's birthday, and also my best friend's birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAAAAAYYYY to these very important people. <3

[quartings]

Legends Z-A Thoughts and Theories!

Okay, I was pretty quiet on my opinions for Scarlet and Violet, but I'm confident enough to be very pleased and optimistic for this! Legends Arceus was the strongest Pokemon game we had in a decade, and to see them continue this, bring back Megas, and take an extra year to hopefully make it non-buggy? Makes me so so excited!

On Megas:

It's a bit of a surprise to see Megas back, but honestly? Not too much of a surprise. Even ignoring the inevitability of Kalos remakes, Megas are the only gimmick Pokemon kept around in their spinoffs. It was in Mystery Dungeon, Shuffle, Smash Bros, Pokemon Go, and probably more I'm forgetting! So it was always in the back of Gamefreak's mind and I'm glad it's truly back again!

With Gens 8 and 9 bringing back cross-gen evos, I think they'll focus on only giving Megas to three-stage lines, to not quash the potential of 2nd stage Pokemon getting regular evolutions. So starters and Pokemon like Flygon can get Megas since they can't evolve further, but Pokemon like Tropius and Chimecho probably won't, in case they get evolutions in Gen 10 (That then get Megas)

I also don't think we fully grasp how many more Pokemon can get Megas now, too. Barely any of Gen 5 and 6 had Megas (Seriously only 2 Pokemon between the 228 Pokemon in those gens) and we've had THREE more generations since then!!

Note: We went from wanting a Dunsparce evo, to wanting a Dunsparce Mega, to getting Dudunsparce with mixed fan reception. Now I'm going to be a selfish deluded clown bitch and get my hopes up for a Mega Dudunsparce.

Speaking of starters and Megas, do we think we'll get a mish-mash of older starters for this game that then get Megas (Say, Piplup, Snivy, and Scorbunny) or will we get Megas for the three Kalos starters?

Megas may mean Mega Stones return as held items, and held items weren't in Legends Arceus- new gameplay advancement?

Legends Arceus gave us 7 new Pokemon (most of them cross-gen evos) and a dozen new regional forms. Do you think we'll still get regionals this game, or will the design team be focused more on making new Megas instead?

On the world:

It's been confirmed the whole game is only in Lumiose City- how big is the map?? Hopefully we really do get lots of sidequests, biomes for wild Pokemon, and traversal options.

When is this? We're redeveloping Lumiose City, but are we in the past developing it into its current state, or are we in the present/future developing it into a new solarpunk city? Or neither, and this is a "Paradox" game set in a timeline which doesn't quite match ours?

This doesn't have to be an isekai (as in, we don't have to be time travellers again per se), just keep that in mind!

The "Z" in the logo represents Zygarde, with the black color and green hexagons. So who's the "A"? It's green with green scale/leaf patterns on it. What does it represent? The "Chaos" to Zygarde's "Order"? Is it a 5th Zygarde form or is it a whole new Pokemon?

Meta thoughts:

This further confirms my theory that Gen 9 will last until 2026, where they announce Gen 10 on that year's Pokemon Day for their 30th anniversary, and that's great! I'm glad they aren't overworking themselves too much compared to Gens 6-8.

On them "skipping" Unova remakes: I don't see this as skipping. We've been long overdue for a Z version since Kalos is literally the only Pokemon region to only appear in one release (no third version, no remakes, no sequels, no ultras, no DLC). So we're simply making up for the "deficit" of a third version here, and we can go back to focusing on Unova remakes for Gen 10.

Do you think we'll get any final updates to SV to tide us over until the next LegendZ trailer around August? Maybe a small DLC, mythical reveal, or free update?

Pokemon Adventures skipped the last Legends game, so they'll probably skip this one too? I'm fine either way- at least by skipping it, they won't be too rushed and stressed, and they'll actually have the time to flesh out SV and catch up with ORAS/SM/USUM/SwSh in the full volumes.

But on the off chance they do adapt Legends Z-A, do you think we'll get dexholders named Z and A??

Note for the future- the Yoasobi Pokemon song BiriBiri has a part where they namedrop all the game titles- one part has the lyrics "ABC to the XYZ". Long shot, but if Legends Z-A does indeed have an ABC theming, this could be a crazy bit of either coincidental or intentional foreshadowing!

[westeroswisdom]

It's probably just a coincidence but pre-production on House of the Dragon Season 3 begins on Halloween.

Say what you like about Game of Thrones, they were able to produce 7 seasons in just over 7 years. I understand the delay with Season 1 because of the lingering COVID-19 emergency and with Season 2 because of ripples from the SAG-AFTRA strike. But there's no reason why they can't proceed in a more timely way. Season 3 really ought to air late next year.

The second season of House of the Dragon ended earlier this month with a montage of various armies and navies on their way to battle. But it'll be a while before we see them clash. We had to wait two years between the first and second seasons of this Game of Thrones prequel show, and the pattern will likely repeat itself for season 3. We're now getting a better idea of the exact timeline. According to Production List, a pretty reliable industry rag that catalogs shoot dates for major shows and movies, preproduction on House of the Dragon season 3 is going to start up on October 31, 2024. So the third season of House of the Dragon will start grinding to life on Halloween. Should we be scared?

That's likely a general target date; it may shift back or forth. As for when the cameras will actually start to roll, showrunner Ryan Condal has said he expects that to begin in "earlyish 2025." It all lines up with our best guesses; expect new episodes in 2026.

I wonder if D&D have thought of trolling Ryan Condal about the pace of production. 😛

[planned-planethood]

A list of things to be excited about in space exploration

In space science and exploration, things tend to move slowly. That is, until they don't. It is easy to lose perspective on exactly what is possible when the right people are providing the right support for exploration initiatives.

With significant advances in rocket technology, ambitious programs from one administration being continued by the next (THANK YOU, finally!) and funding for NASA at an all time high there are some exciting things coming up not just in our lifetimes, but possibly in the next few years for some of these. Here is a list of things that could actually happen which will make your imagination go wild:

- The Artemis program: the Artemis program was started in 2017. For years there has been intense debate about whether or not we should be returning to the Moon or sending astronauts to Mars. This debate, it seems, has finally ended. When President Biden determined to continue to support the previous administration's goals to return Americans to the Moon, all remaining opposition evaporated as the space-science community wants to simply conduct human exploration missions again regardless of the destination. Now, with essentially unified support and bipartisan political capital, the Artemis program looks extremely likely to survive.

It's more than just a return to the Moon though. We will be building a new space station called the Lunar Gateway. Gateway will orbit around the Moon and provide NASA with a way station from which SpaceX rocket ships will ferry astronauts to the Lunar surface. At this point, what happens next becomes a little more nebulous. NASA is currently researching the feasibility of founding a permanent colony on the Moon on the South Pole (I also have some things to say about this landing site in the future that I can't talk about right now, but resources could be slightly more plentiful than is known currently).

The target year for human feet to stand on the Moon again is no farther than the year 2024. This timeline can and probably will slip, but it's currently unlikely to slip significantly. Before the year 2030, we're highly likely to be inhabiting the Moon again, this time, with no intention of leaving. The Artemis program will aim to develop a lunar economy as a way of incentivizing both more public and private investing in lunar exploration.

One thing that I'm personally happy about is that with with rockets finally becoming cheaper to use, and spacecraft working autonomously now most of the time, it is predicted that the number of astronauts required to be experimental aircraft pilots from the military will probably go down. Let's send some more geologists to the Moon!

Oh and by the way, since I mentioned way stations earlier...

- Astronauts on Mars: This has been the holy grail-goal of space exploration since humanity has realized Mars was another planet. NASA's Artemis program is designed to not simply be a lunar program. The goal isn't just to create a lunar economy: the goal of the Artemis program is to create a sustainable lunar presence so that the Moon can be used as a way station for much deeper space exploration. The idea is that with easier access to the lunar surface, NASA will be able to rapidly run tests and develop technologies that we would need to embark on what could be the most treacherous and epic human exploration adventure in history. It would also be fantastic logistical support to a potential permanent or semi-permanent colony on Mars.

... and NASA may not even get there first.

SpaceX, eager to showcase their own Starship, is currently planning a human mission to Mars in 2026. Humans have never trod on another planet before. This event, whether done by SpaceX, NASA, or any other entity, would be one of the greatest accomplishments in human history. It would hopefully mark the dawning of a new era in human civilization, for the betterment of us all.

- Venus: It's been decades since NASA has sent a mission to Venus. The number of Venus experts has gradually dwindled, and now we are in danger of all of them retiring out of planetary science before their knowledge can actually be passed on. Thankfully, NASA just announced two separate missions to Venus to investigate basically everything you can possibly imagine. DAVINCI+ will send a lander to the surface and VERITAS will orbit the planet and map the surface in high resolution for the first time. We don't really know what sort of surprises this incredible world holds in store for us. It may be that we find a planet full of active volcanism, and evidence that long ago it was habitable for life as we know it.

Astrobiologists have recently begun paying even closer attention to this planet as there have been some interesting signs that, and I say this cautiously, Venus may have biosignatures. Ultimately, it's an entire planet, our neighbor, and we are going to see incredible images, and learn so much about planets, how they form, evolve, and improve our understanding of how easily a terrestrial world can become habitable. Both missions launch this decade.

- The Search for Life: There's been a veritable revolution in exoplanet hunting over the last decade. Missions like Kepler have provided us with mind-boggling amounts of data to go through, much of which has led to the discovery of so-called exoplanets, planets in other star systems. Right now we are closing in on approximately 5000 confirmed exoplanets.

It's almost impossible to mention exoplanets without immediately breaking into the subject of habitable zones. The fact of the matter is that we're well into the numbers game that one day, will turn up something stunning that will change humanity forever. In my opinion, it's a matter of time. With the rate of exoplanet detections growing rapidly, it seems like a matter of rapidly shrinking time before we come across a truth that, if it is out there, will reveal itself.

Scientists are currently studying a relativistic telescope concept which would make use of the light-bending properties of relativity, combined with the mass of the Sun, to warp light in such a way that it magnifies the image of whatever is in the warped light. Such a telescope could reveal surface details of an exoplanet: if there are oceans, we would be able to resolve them. Same to mountain ranges. City lights.

Whatever the truth is, it may be difficult to hide from the astronomers of Earth for much longer as our sight has officially pierced the interstellar veil and active searches for signs of life outside the Solar System have absolutely begun.

Breakthrough Starshot is a mission concept that would actually send a small spacecraft to our nearest stellar neighbor, Proxima Centauri. Around this star is an exoplanet: Proxima Centauri b. What would a flyby mission see on this mystery planet? Right now, we have no idea. Proxima Centauri b orbits in its star's habitable zone. Unfortunately, if this mission ultimately makes it off the ground, it would take in the range of 30 years to reach its destination and send its photographs back. Fortunately, that's within most of our naturally remaining lifetimes. I think it's worth the wait.

We won't be waiting idly however. Right here in our very Solar System, we are closing in on a number of ways in which the idea of a habitable zone can be played around with. Icy moons around places like Jupiter and Saturn have seriously reopened questions of where life-as-we-know-it could live. Queue the discovery of the ecosystems living around hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the lightless oceans of Earth. Diverse communities of never-before-seen creatures were living entirely without sunlight being involved at any point in their ecosystem.

Scientists now believe hydrothermal vents exist on moons like Europa and Enceladus, inside liquid water oceans, hidden under the ice. In a few years, NASA is launching a mission to fly around Europa. Perhaps it well get a chance to fly through one of the erupting geysers and take a look around. A mission to land on the surface is being designed as we speak to be proposed to NASA.

Never in human history, written and unwritten, have we realistically had to contend with the idea of knowing the Truth (as Mulder puts it). Well, contend away folks. We might not be wondering for a whole lot longer. Things might move slowly, until they don't.

Space exploration has never been boring, but we are without a doubt entering a golden age for space science and exploration.

(Image credit: Steve Jurvetson~NASA~NASA/JPL-Caltech~ESO/M. Kornmesser respectively)

[artificialqueens]

The Parent Trap, Chapter 9 (Biadore) - Henny

A/N: Thank you for the comments, Hennies! Y’all are making me feel like Ariel in the beginning of Little Mermaid 2 :> I missed all of you too! Sorry if there was a problem with the formatting of the previous chapter; completely my fault!

OH, and if you’re confused with the timeline, I’ll simplify it for you:

RPDR Season 6 (filming) ended around Mid-July of 2013 (assuming it takes about a year or so before it is released). January 2014; Roy and Danny started dating. 6 months after that, June 2014, a month after Bianca wins, they get married. A year later, the couple gets baby fever, so they start looking for the perfect surrogate and egg donor. This is where I deflect a bit from the prologue, it takes them until May 2016 to conceive.

TLDR; the fic takes place July 2026, and RPDR is currently airing S19 with THE AS:BoTW filming the very same year . If I had said anything contrary to those stated above, disregard it. This is the new timeline I’m going to follow going forward.

All the love, Hennies!

XOXO, Henny

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

“Well, would you be interested in joining the first All-Stars: Battle of the Winners in place of Bianca?”

The way Adore gaped at her phone was almost comedic, mouth opening and closing like a fish. In some way, she’s almost flattered at the fact that Ru called personally instead of a producer. It’s almost very considerate, since the man knew what had gone between Danny and Roy.

“Well, last time I checked, you didn’t crown me, Mama…” Adore adds a teasing tone to her voice, and tries to ignore the nerves that seemed to resurface at the idea of returning back to the competition. It’s been many years since Season 6, and Adore has genuinely forgotten how it feels to be on a platform like that again. Focusing on her music as both Adore and Danny has shifted the focus of her career as a drag queen and performer; and with many seasons passed, she knew her charm has run dry with Drag Race fans.

Ru laughs, the iconic shrill making Adore spiral back into the werkroom. “I didn’t, didn’t I?” He laughs again, and Adore can only imagine him wiping a fake tear. “But, I am planning to release the footage of you and Bianca winning to prove that my decision to invite you has some bearing, at the least.”

Adore inwardly groans again, remembering the night of the finale wherein they filmed the ending of her and Bianca winning together. She feels the ghost of Bianca’s hands squeezing her own as they waved and the sparkly confetti rains and glitters of lights from cameras blinded their eyes; applause and cheers roaring in their ears.

“What will the other queens say? The winners, I mean. It’s not like they’ll consider me a winner, especially the newer queens.” Ever the anxious person that she is, she finds a brush to fiddle with to lessen her anxiety.

“My competition, my rules. Whatever I say goes, Baby. They can say whatever they want, but if they’re smart enough, they’ll pipe up. And, besides…” Ru trails off excitedly, like they were sharing a secret. “Since this is only a Netflix special, I’m only doing the first decade season winners. I’m sure they’ll be nicer to you than recent ones.“

“All of them said yes?”

“All, but one, you already know…”

“Yeah, yeah…”

“So, what do you say?”

“I- I don’t know, Ru. I’ll think about it…”

“Of course, let the producers know soon, alright? Filming starts October! Toodles!”

The call ends, and it takes everything in Adore’s willpower not to throw it to the wall. She looks at her phone’s lock screen and sees the beaming face of Portia, and she manages to calm down. She stands up, grabs a pre-rolled joint in her makeup kit, and heads out of the building after shouting to the manager to inform him about her whereabouts. She normally didn’t do this anymore; smoking, hard liquor, and even hooking up with trades that come her way. Portia had completely turned her life around, and so did Roy and Nerissa. “Fuck,” Tears fill her eyes again at the thought of her daughter who she no longer knew, she sniffles as she takes a long drag of her joint and breathing out harshly.

A tall figure looms over her, and with a tap on her shoulder, she nearly doubled over in fear. “What the fuckkk…” She groans, clutching her heart.

“Oh, sorry… Didn’t mean to scare you.” Adore looks up to meet the steel eyes of a blonde stud with a smug smile on his face.

“Shit, I know you…” Adore murmurs in thought, before she remembers “You’re Brooke, right?”

“Brooke Lynn Hytes, yeah.” He flashes her a beautiful, gorgeous smile, pearly whites and all. “…But right now, uhh,” He looks down to his jeans and plain gray shirt, “You can call me, Brock.”

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

“Okay, give me another one.” Portia looks at her cards, one five of hearts and the other six of spades. It was really late and they just finished washing the dishes of the entire camp after dinner. Not tired from their post-cry-emotional nap earlier, they had decided to play a game of Blackjack. Nerissa deals her another card, and picks one for herself. Portia peaks at the new card, and sees her nine of spades. She joins the cards together, and places them down in triumph.

“20, let’s see yours, Haylock.”

Nerissa drops her cards, a jack of diamonds, two of clubs, and nine of clubs. “Blackjack, bitchh…” She taunts, laughing at Portia’s dismayed face.

“That’s not fucking fair…” Portia drawls, “That’s your 9th time winning, I think you’re cheating…”

“Oh, please. You just play your cards wrong, and sometimes, I’m just really lucky…” Nerissa beams as she watches Portia fix the cards and put it back in their case, murmuring “I don’t want to play anymore.”

“It’s getting pretty late, too. I think we should go to bed.” Nerissa yawns as she grabs her blanket and tries to settle herself in. Portia agrees before standing up to lock their door; to make sure the windows are tightly shut; and to turn off the light. The moon shines at its brightest, a cool silver light shimmers through their window.

“I know it’s late, but I’m not even remotely sleepy.” Portia comments despite the yawn the escapes her.

“Same here,” Nerissa says with droopy eyes.

“Tell me, what’s Bianca like? No… noo…What’s dad like?” Portia asks, adjusting herself so she faces her sister. The mere idea of having a sister and having Roy Haylock AKA Bianca Del Rio, THE Bianca Del Rio is possibly 50% her dad makes her more giddy than anything in the world.

“Dad is probably the most workaholic person you’ll ever meet. He’ll make time for you, yes. But, you can tell that 75% of his mind is just…” Nerissa sighs, “exhausted, if not thinking about work… He really tries though, he hasn’t missed any of my ballet recitals yet nor any PTAs. He’s as active as a busy parent can be.”

“That’s good, I guess…” A hum of agreement, another yawn.

“And not to mention, the free dresses.” She giggles, “How ‘bout our other dad?” Nerissa turns to lie on her back, thinking about her dad who she hasn’t updated in awhile, even though she promised to do so everyday. A sudden urge to hug her dad courses through her body, and subtle pout forms at her lips at the thought of Roy. She missed her dad, she’s still upset about the whole not-telling-her-she-was-a-twin-thing, but she missed him nonetheless.

“He’s pretty chill. I can do anything I want,”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, my dad’s pretty cool. We have the kind of relationship where I can tell him things and… he can tell me things. He’s my best friend, so we just have fun most of the time.” Portia says with mere awe. “But, it wasn’t always like that. There was a time though where he was pretty down in the dumps; he didn’t really have the best mental health back then and his coping mechanism–”

“Hey, this seems kinda personal. You don’t have to tell me this, okay? Only if you’re comfortable doing so.” Nerissa says, her arm crossing its way to pat Portia’s tummy to stop her thought.

“No, no… You’re my sister, and I trust you enough.”

“Okay, if you’re sure… So you were saying?

“Yeah, so, he didn’t have the best coping mechanism. Alcohol is tricky when it gets out of hand. I didn’t mind at first, because I didn’t think it was that bad. I didn’t notice the signs because I was so young. It was only one incident, really, when I understood the gravity of it all. Around June, he nearly drank himself to death. I don’t know why he drank severely that night, but I just found him passed out on his own–” Portia chokes as tears start up with the memory of seeing her dad then. “I was only four then, Riz. I didn’t know what death was, but the minute I saw him– It just rationalized so quickly in my head. I called 911 as fast as I could. I didn’t know what I was saying half the time ‘cuz I was just crying.”

Nerissa places a comforting hand on Portia’s arm as the girl tries to fight the sniffles. When Portia manages to barely win against the tears, she continues, “When we were in the hospital, I was with my Grandma and there was another man, I– I don’t know who, from what I can remember– we didn’t know if my dad was gonna make it.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Porsche.”

“No, no… It’s fine. Just sucks to remember it. But, he managed to pull through, obviously. He hasn’t drank alcohol in years. So, I’m really proud of him, especially in his line of work, it must be so hard.”

“Yeah, as his 50%-chance daughter and for what it’s worth, I’m proud of him, too. “

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

When Courtney heard the rumors going around backstage that night, she had about ten shots of tequila before coming to the conclusion that she wouldn’t tell Roy. But, funny how alcohol works out.

“Yanxxxxx” Courtney drawls out on her phone that she’s struggling to hold up to her ear. But the effort was there. She has absolutely no idea where she is as she presses her warm cheek to the cold faux leather seat of a couch.

“Bitch, did you really just– What?” Roy rolls his eyes as he looks at his phone that hosts Courtney’s current call and the said-blonde on his couch, drooling and staring off into space.

“I gotta–” hiccup “tell you a ssssecret.” Courtney angles her phone to her mouth, so she’s directly speaking to the phone’s microphone. Roy walks over to the drunk girl, grabs her phone and throws it in her purse. He ends the call on his phone before slipping to the kitchen, grabbing a towel and soaking it with cold water. He gives it a good squeeze to remove the excess water before going back to Courtney and placing the towel on her forehead.

“You’re so lucky Riz isn’t here or I would’ve left your drunk ass in the club.” He mutters in annoyance, even though everyone knew he wouldn’t really do that. He could never let anything happen to any of his loved ones, and god knows Riz has seen Courtney or Shane pissed drunk since she was a toddler.

“No,” Courtney says abruptly, hand swatting away Roy’s hand. “Nooooo…” She continues to drawl. “The secret is Ado…” She leans in close, way too close. Roy gets a harsh flashback and hastily pushes Courtney away. With the push, Courtney plops on her back and passes out entirely. Roy sighs, both in frustration and exhaustion. He wouldn’t bother removing Courtney’s makeup, but he did give her the courtesy of removing her wig and cap, as well as unlacing her corset. It all feels familiar to him, taking care of someone and helping them de-drag, except of course, back then he had to strip Bianca off himself and help Danny remove his clothes which then would lead to…

Roy shakes his mind, trying to get rid of the idea before it escalated. He leaves the guest bedroom and makes his way to the kitchen for a glass of wine. He’s just going to pretend he doesn’t know that Courtney was about to say something about Adore as he starts up a design for Rupaul on the granite kitchen counter.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

“I can’t believe Biadore was ACTUALLY a thing.”

“How can you not? The tension was so obvious, especially during that one part where Adore said she didn’t want to work with Bianca? The sexual tension was just–” Nerissa fans herself before she receives a slight smack and push on her shoulder.

“Dude, you’re so fucking weird. I don’t wanna think about my dad’s sex life OR YOURS!!”

“I’m just telling the truth! The stare was intense.” Nerissa breaks into a fit of giggles at Portia’s face of slight disgust at the idea. “And speaking of, did your dad date anyone again?” Nerissa asks.

“Never anyone serious enough to introduce to me, no. He’d go on dates, sometimes Adore would go on dates. But, yeah. He never really seemed interested in dating anymore, so he put all his attention to me or his and Adore’s music.”

“Do you call Adore “mom”?”

“No, that’s weird!” Portia snorts, “My dad is, well, my dad. He has his own quirks and personality. And, Adore, to me, is just a whole different person. I can’t explain it. Like, I know he’s Adore Delano through and through. But, my mind just sees Adore like a whole different person.” Portia rolls again to her back, so she’s facing the ceiling like her sister. “How about your dad? Did he date anyone?”

“You know what’s weird? I don’t think he ever did, not even dating or flirting with anyone else. He’s always been so closed off to anyone who showed any particular interest.” Nerissa twiddles with her thumb, before scrunching her nose in distaste. “I mean, in some way, I get it. He’s scared to love again. Uncle Shane always said so. I wish I knew why though.”

Portia hums, thoughtfully. Another pregnant pause looms over their conversation. It has gone on for so long that for a moment Nerissa thought Portia was asleep, until…

“I AM SUCH A FUCKING GENIUS!”

PREVIOUS CHAPTERS:

Prologue | Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven | Chapter Eight |

[newagegs]

𝒘𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒔𝒉 & 𝒅𝒖𝒔𝒕...

welcome to the new age! a discord roleplay server, set in a post-endgame universe, featuring characters from the marvel universe, with plenty of crossovers into other universes thrown in for good measure! 

founded in march 2020 & run by alex ( of corignem/edgebled/minormend ), the new age explores many different arcs inspired by canon resources of the multiple fandoms included. 

click through our extensive google doc for a rough outline of the general universe timeline. 

buuuttt, read on for a here’s what you missed on glee! recap ;D

welcome to the new age, and welcome to september of 2025-- exactly one year after the return snap and the battle for earth. what did this month see? well, for starters, a super fun NASA break in. some symbiotic chaos, an old enemy back from the dead and a super fun kidnapping! what a fun last few days of the month! 

and where do we go from there? get ready for a prison break out, some more space and symbiotic chaos and oh what’s this? tony stark dies! again! but it’s okay, it was only for a few minutes. a minor heart attack is nothing in the scheme of things. but the madness didn’t end there. following tony stark retiring from the avengers ( after a rather icky falling out with natasha romanoff ), we saw the team take on HYDRA for multiple missions, teamed up with some titan powers to pack a harder punch. 

but oh shit, remember that fall out between natasha and tony? well! turns out tony’s suspicions of the spy were in fact, founded. coz guess what? it wasn’t the real natasha! nope, say hello to a HYDRA spy with a photostatic veil. fun times! 

now, onto november! and why not kick it off with some torture by the fury and some fun HYDRA kidnappings?! mix a little oh no may parker died and mutant fuckery for good measure, and we’ve got the start of a super fun month. 

from fights with harry osborn, to the murder of happy hogan, it was a wild time. and look! insert a jason todd death and resurrection by the lazarus pits for good measure and we’re still not even close to being done. sprinkle in a few more missions and explosions, an arkham breakout and more deaths later, it’s all looking pretty tragic. 

but light comes, on the FIRST OF DECEMBER 2025, with hanji zoe finally returning to earth with a CURE FOR TITAN SHIFTERS. 

and eeeyy, time to celebrate, it’s the murder of the joker in a fun team up of jason todd/the arkham knight, harley quinn and poison ivy. but it’s not all fun and games, and the month leading up to christmas was full of more twists and turns than the final season of game of thrones. 

insert a fucking dragon, a car crash, some zombies from space and the start of secrets being spilled from the illusive ‘augur’ and we’re heading into a new year of fun. 

JAN 2026 saw a mission to capture the fury, titan attacks in NYC, bounty hunters from space & a kaiju breach site opening. we saw an attack on the new york SI building that destroyed it entirely, the death of sasha braus and another hydra mission. the month wrapped up with a mission to face nick necro and return all of those kidnapped, jason todd leaving to begin training with all caste, and the identity of augur being revealed to a few people.

FEBRUARY saw jason vesper being confirmed as the illusive augur and inevitably, his death in confinement. but jason wasn’t the only death this month: levi ackerman died too, sacrificing himself, before being brought back to life in a deal with handsome jack. and here, is where things get spicy again because... it’s anteverse time. newt geiszler & blythe hart, under the influence of the precursors open a new temporary breach site, letting in kaiju and, unknowingly, forces from another universe. 

march saw A LOT of chaos. different missions, different attacks from multiple sources. 

april was when things really got fun though. those visitors from another universe? say hello to the judges, they’ve come to inflict their will upon gotham city and pass judgement. this month saw increasing attacks on the city, rising death tolls city wide before finally... 

in may, TEAM MAGIC came together alongside the batfam and the avengers in order to come up with a solution with judge dredd. and finally, they won. but at great cost. a perfectly timed attack on the anteverse meant two birds, ones stone. but before they could fix things, gotham was placed under martial law, declared a no-go zone and now?

IT’S NO MAN’S LAND. 

which brings us nicely up to present day. gotham city is a mess, overrun, barely holding on but maybe some old friends and new faces will be able to help get things back on track...

or knowing our band of idiots, things are only going to get more chaotic. 

so, why don’t you come and join the fun? we have so much planned, and would love your input! come and dive head first into the chaos of this world of ours. 

[hozierandco]

G. MacKay x reader / Fluff

Inspired by "Freak in me" sung by Mild Orange. Different timelines attached to this and overall FLUFFY as in VERY FLUFFY. Light cursing. I figured I might as well write the one inspired by Birdy ft. Rhodes that I mentioned earlier.

January 2020

Y/N was a friend of Dean-Charles Chapman for the longest time since they had attended the same primary school. She had decided to change her habits by going out for once as did George. That in itself should have raised doubts about the chance that there was a star up there helping the two of them. They had known enough about love to be careful about it. Misfortune seemed to be printed on their skin by now. Surprisingly, they did not give up on it though. Which turned out pretty well.

"Hey, you made it!", Dean greeted Y/N with a pint in his hand.

"The chance of seeing you getting hammered, come on, I would not have missed it for the world! And it's been ages anyway"

Dean nodded as he gave George a small hug before introducing him to his long-time friend. It was in the very first seconds his eyes crossed Y/N's that he knew she would change his life, whether for good or for bad. He was willing to find out. She had only rarely gotten this feeling that her life could take a hard left, being a game-changer permanently. Of course, she had felt that pulse beating under her skin seeing her friend and his co-star in 1917 but now was different. In a very good way. Dean had probably seen this coming, probably even set up the whole thing as he was perfectly able to. Y/N for once paid no heed for what the next day could bring. She was to celebrate as if it was the last night.

Once again, a sign came in the way as "Freak in me" started resonating in the bar. For days it was the only song Y/N could listen to (or more like, the only song she would willingly listen to on repeat) and now she had a chance to actually dance on it without looking like a maniac in her living-room. After all, Y/N was a hopeless romantic and an indie band would make no exception to it. For a couple of hours before that George and her had talked whereas Dean was getting closer with a waitress. It was all naturally that the actor had an epiphany by gazing at Y/N's angelic features were prancing about with more and more energy to it. He had to make a move.

Lately, I think of you lots 'Cause my mind's in circles for you Please connect the dots

"Would you consider dancing with me?", he innocently asked looking straight into her eyes with all the confidence he could pull.

Y/N looked around at the unshaken crowd glued to the counter. That bar was not famous for being a popular dance hall. Suddenly, self-consciousness kicked in. Her brain could only process questions starting by "What if?" or "What will people think?". Y/N did not even know how to dance and would most probably make a fool out of her, she thought.

"Trust me on that one?", George kindly muttered. Fuck it. What ifs never lead anywhere and that song was way too good not to be danced on. Y/N applied to George's suggestion with a huge smile on her face.

For a moment of bliss, time had stopped. It was just him and her against the rest of the world. Fire and water could get in the way, their bodies close to one another was all that mattered. George went full on with a courtship ritual that he had no power over. It was as if his body lived independantly from his free will, like a magnet, it could not stay too long far from Y/N's.

And bring me, bring me to you 'Cause you bring out the freak in me It's only for you Just you

The parting was as inexorable as violent. Another song soon replaced what they just had experimented as a holy experience, like dying only to knock on Heaven's doors. It was difficult to get back to a proper conversation right after but then again, hours with such a company appeared like seconds to George.

June 2020

George and Y/N had quickly moved in together. Ever since their odd encounter, there was not a single day without them dancing on the song that had made them fall for one another. When George was away, he would call Y/N to sing it to her, whether as she would be on her way to sleep or she had just awoken. Although they had not actually shared their feelings, it was getting obvious that it was more than just another rebound relationship. Their family and friends were the collateral damages of this blooming love as any moment was a good occasion to show the world just how much they cared for each other.

So kiss me There's something in the air And whether it's love or lust Should we care?

In spite of George being prone to grandiloquent acts to show his feelings as he could easily get bashful and needed the whole package not to chicken out, him confessing his love for his beautiful girlfriend came to him as naturally as when he had asked her to dance with him.

Y/N and him had been teasing one another for minutes when Y/N was out of the blue having George right under her body. It would often happen that Y/N and George just teased themselves until arousal would take over. But the angle George was now facing ignited a new feeling. Was it the moon in the sky, was it his thoughts wandering in his brain, he grabbed Y/N by her hand that was carelessly laying on his chest.

"Do you remember when we talked about love a few weeks back?", George seriously stated. Y/N was now all ears. Of course she remembered. She also remembered that she had felt stupid right after for not taking the chance to confess her love.

"Well, I've been thinking about it again lately and love to me is just what I feel every morning when I realize a star struck me by allowing me to wake up besides you. Love is what makes me wonder why on Earth you chose me out of all men and just to enjoy every minute. Love is going to bed at night with you on my mind and what the next day could bring us"

Y/N could now swore her heart was being rejected by her body. Cause of death: an abnormal heart rate increase. She could not express it any different way than by kissing George. Which she religiously proceeded to.

"I love you too, George", she whispered in between two kisses.

December 2020

Well, it was to happen someday. George and Y/N were soulmates despite the fact that they actually banished that kind of vocabulary. But sometimes, stars shine too bright. Or the planets are simply not aligned. They barely argued and in nearly a year, it had never damaged their relationship. Except for this one time.

It was a silly question of schedules. George had forgotten to show up at a date they had planned and when Y/N would most of the time feel no resent, she did not feel like it this time. Things had gone so messy that for the first time since they shared beds, George had found shelter on the couch. He knew he had fucked up but at the same time could not get his mind to make amends. In fact, it had been a whole terrible week  during they could simply not find common grounds. That night was just the apex of a hill they had been climbing up all week.

Both of them could not find sleep as anger was inevitably taking over them.

As minutes became hours, George decided to call for some truce. Besides, he could not bear to know that Y/N would be mad at him when it was possibly the very last thing he wanted. He thought that Y/N would be asleep when he came near the threshold leading to their bedroom. He just had to make sure she was doing fine. Not only was he quite surprised to see that Y/N was awake but if he was even more assured that he was doing the right thing. 'Cause you bring out the freak in me It's only for you Just you' Cause you, you bring out the freak in me A side that only you could see

his phone sang the lyrics to their song when he knew he would fail talking for now. He then sat on the edge of the bed and talked the two last lines through, before apologizing.

"You're an arse, George"

"I know"

"But man, do I love you"

"Yeah, I know that too"

June 2026

The house was suspiciously still when Y/N came back from work. It had not been this quiet for quite a long time so it could only lead to further investigation. Little did she know that a gathering was going on in the other side of the house.

"Dancing on that song, aren't you?", she heard George who was now her husband say through the door. "Do you know that's how mom and dad met?"

His husband only had eyes for the tiny human being that was painfully standing on his two feet so it was fairly easy for Y/N to get in without being detected. Their son was trying his best to dance on his own to one very familiar song but for the moment had to rely on his father's help to do so. He was awkwardly moving on his father's feet who occasionally lifted him in the air.

After a few seconds, babblings from their son replaced George's voice singing the lyrics as the baby was now pointing at his mother. George turned around as he took his child in his arms. Making his way towards the woman of his dreams and the mother of his son, he kept on singing:

Lately, I think of you lots' Cause my mind's in circles for you Please connect the dots

[junker-town]

Western Illinois, Year 20, 2026-2027

The Western Illinois Leathernecks begin Year 20 in our simulated dynasty in College Hoops 2K8.

Welcome back to our simulated dynasty with the Western Illinois Leathernecks in College Hoops 2K8. You can find a full explanation of this project + spoiler-free links to previous seasons here. Check out the introduction to this series from early April for full context. As a reminder, I simulate every game in this series (even the ones we watch on Twitch) and only handle the recruiting and coaching strategies.

Before we start Year 20 of Coach Rick’s tenure at Western Illinois, here’s a recap of everything that has happened last season:

Coming off three straight seasons that ended in the Elite Eight, the Leathernecks enter the new year with two returning starters and a team rated as a 97 overall. We went 6-6 against a difficult non-conference schedule before going undefeated in conference and again claiming the Summit League tournament championship. We enter the NCAA tournament as a No. 12 seed at 26-6 on the season.

We faced No. 5 seed Cal in the first round of the NCAA tournament. We lost, 90-87, when our potential game-tying three at the buzzer fell short. Read the tournament + offseason recap here.

We landed three new players on the recruiting trail.

Western Illinois, Year 20, 2026-2027

Here’s a look at our roster coming into Year 20:

It feels like a new era at Western Illinois with only two returning starters and just one senior on the roster. This squad might not have the experience we’d ideally prefer — reflected in the game’s ‘team unity’ ranking — but we do have size and shooting at every position with some emerging young depth on the bench. If nothing else, I’m hoping we can set the table for an even better season a year from now depending on few NBA draft decisions.

Let’s run through the starters real quick. As something new this year, click on the names for a link to their player cards with full ratings.

PG Tron Whaley, redshirt junior, 87 overall: Tron enters the starting lineup for the first time as a junior after being a key piece off the bench last season. He’s grown two inches to 6’4 since committing and now looks like a steady lead guard with size and shooting ability. Has a 86-rating in three-point shooting, which is tops on the team. Former No. 128 overall recruit with C+ potential.

SG Mathew Alloway, redshirt freshman, 82 overall: The former Mr. Basketball out of Minnesota becomes the rare freshman starter for the Leathernecks. The 6’6 shooting guard doesn’t have a signature skill yet, but looks solid across the board. Rated as a 94 in speed and a 78 in three-point shooting. Former No. 31 overall recruit with B- potential.

SF Wilky Henry, redshirt senior, 93 overall: Henry needs to be a superstar this year for this team to play up to its potential. I think he can get there. Moving back to his natural position of small forward after starting at shooting guard last season, Henry is a massive 6’8, 242 pound wing who can shoot from three, rise above the rim for monster dunks, and handle the ball like a guard. We need him to be our go-to scorer on the perimeter. Former No. 80 overall recruit with C+ potential.

PF Allan Cunningham, redshirt junior, 89 overall: Cunningham is already on his way to becoming one of the most beloved players in program history. A standout in NCAA tournament games since his freshman season, ‘Ham’ is preposterously large (6’11, 289 pounds) with a refined skill set that includes legitimate three-point range. He’s a skilled inside scorer and rebounder while having an A grade in three-point shooting and an A- grade in speed. He should be a stud this year. Former No. 67 recruit with C+ potential. Projected first round pick.

C Pat Giddens, redshirt junior, 91 overall: Giddens is tied for the best potential rating in program history, per reader Evan’s Leathernecks Recruiting Database. This is his big chance to translate that potential into production on the court. Giddens moves into the starting lineup after being sixth man last season. He’s a bit short for a center at 6’9. but he’s impossibly strong at 290 pounds. Him and Ham up front is a supersized front court we’re hoping will be a great advantage for us all season. Former No. 115 overall recruit. Projected lottery pick.

There was some thought given to starting Henry at shooting guard again (where he goes down one point) to get sophomore Wilbur Ager in the starting lineup, but we prefer putting Henry at his best position, throwing Alloway into the fire, and letting Ager be one of the the better bench players in the country.

We’re going with a nine-man rotation this season: Ager and freshman center Kevin Brazzle will each get about 15 minutes per game, while freshman point guard Jamie Burke and freshman power forward LF Neal each get about 10 minutes per game. That means junior guard Vitor Andrisevic (79 overall) is out of the rotation. He will go down as the biggest recruiting bust in program history.

We also welcome three new incoming recruits to the team. All of them will redshirt.

PG Koko Reeves out of San Antonio, No. 52 overall recruit: 73 overall, C potential. Reeves is the smallest recruit we’ve ever had, but he’s already grown an inch to 5’11 since committing. His C potential grade is disappointing, but he looks like an absolutely elite shooter, already rated as an 82 from three-point range.

SF Jitim Dupre out of Chicago, No. 91 overall recruit: 76 overall, C+ potential. Dupre is a tall, lanky wing at 6’9. He’s a bit disappointing as a three-point shooter with a 72 rating.

C Artie Snipes out of Riverside, No. 177 overall recruit (No. 10 center): 75 overall, B+ potential. The 6’11 center is the heaviest recruit we’ve ever had at 282 pounds. Looks like he’s going to be another outstanding big man for the Leathernecks.

Recruiting

We only have one scholarship to recruit for this year. I want to hit the JUCO market to find a five-star shooting guard or power forward to join timeline of last year’s three-man class. I use my first two visits on these players:

6’2 shooting guard Edwin Wolfe out of Federal Way, WA

6’4 shooting guard V.J. Roberts out of Chicago

JUCO recruits aren’t numerically ranked and don’t have AAU stats, but Wolfe is the top shooting guard among JUCO players when the class is sorted by recruiting stars, so we offer him the scholarship.

Also we have to create a player for the winner of last season’s bracket contest, Isaac Springer. I asked Isaac to give me some details the player he wanted to create, and this is what he hit me with:

I actually had a small idea if I won: would it be possible to create Jon Bois instead? I’m not a huge college basketball fan (or much of a basketball fan in general), so I don’t really know anything about stats or positions or what’s good. But Jon is my favorite content creator online, and he’s what’s helped me find SB Nation and all of the great work that everyone is doing there. I think it’d be fun to introduce him into the Leathernecks universe.

Say no more, my man. Jon Bois, five-star shooting out of Louisville, is officially in the Leathernecks Universe. We’ll follow Jon’s recruitment and his career wherever he ends up. As a reminder, we don’t go after created players at Western Illinois to preserve the integrity of the game.

Finally, it’s time to begin the season. We start the year unranked in the polls and rated as a 96 overall. Let’s go!

First game: @ Illinois

I’ve had this game circled on my calendar since the Illini shocked us in the opener last season. We run this state, and we’ve proven it multiple times in the last decade. It’s time to issue the Illini an emphatic reminder of that.

Loss, 83-62. Oh my god. The Illini smacked us from the opening tip-off and there was nothing we could do to recover. That is not how we wanted to start the season. Ager had a good game and pretty much everyone else struggled.

Next up we have Georgetown. The Hoyas are rated as a 91 overall.

Win, 76-50. There we go. Look at Cunningham ball out with 23 points and six rebounds on 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range. That’s why this man is an icon. Read our beat writer Matthew Morrow on what makes Cunningham so special. I’m gonna need my guards to do better than shoot 1-of-13 from the floor, but thankfully it’s a long season and they should improve along the way.

As I sim to the next week, I noticed that my backup option on the recruiting trail V.J. Roberts really likes us. If he commits by the early signing period, we’d get a coaching point for landing our first five-star recruit in season. I decide to pull the scholarship from Wolfe and give it to Roberts. If he doesn’t accept it, I will probably re-offer Wolfe, assuming he doesn’t hate me now.

Next game is against Louisville, who enters at No. 1 in the polls. We decided to watch this game on the Twitch stream. The Cards enter at a 96 overall. The game will begin when you press play:

***

***

***

***

***

***

Loss, 111-105. Damn, we almost had them. I feel a lot better about my team after watching them go toe-to-toe with No. 1 in the country on the road. My freshman shooting guard Mathew Alloway looked terrific offensively, finishing with 24 points on 1-of-18 shooting. He also picked up a nickname on the Twitch stream: All Day. Let’s just decide not to talk about his defense. Cunningham was again phenomenal, Wilky Henry was solid, and we found a new breakout player in backup center Kevin Brazzle. He’s huge at 7’1 and was immediately more effective than our starter Giddens, who got into early foul trouble.

Our defense was just terrible all around. Louisville shot 50 percent from the field and 43 percent from three. They also forced us into 18 turnovers with their press. We’re going to need to close-out on shooters and take care of the ball if we want to make a deep run.

As the early signing period begins, we have a rematch with Cal, who knocked us out of the NCAA tournament in the first round last year. I’ll take one hot serving of revenge, please.

Win, 91-63. Eat it, Bears. Cunningham carried us like always with 20 points, Henry puts up a 9-9-9 line in a game where he shoots 2-for-11, Tron goes 5-for-5 from deep to score 18 points, which I believe is a career-high. Hell yeah. We’re 2-2- on the year.

We have our two early conference games on the final week of the early signing period. We blowout both UMKC and IUPUI to make us 4-2 on the year. Unfortunately, we don’t land the commitment we were looking for from Roberts. Since Wolfe appears to be the higher rated prospect and still doesn’t have any other suitors, we pull the scholarship from Roberts and re-offer Wolfe.

In other news, Jon Bois commits to Dayton!

Next up we have Stanford. The Cardinal are 3-4 on the year and enter as an 87 overall.

Loss, 77-75. Woof. Giddens and Henry played well, but that’s a team we should beat. It’s tough to get an at-large bid in the Summit League when you’re losing to likely non-tournament teams like Illinois and Stanford, so we’re probably going to need to win the conference tournament again to punch our ticket.

We have a tough week coming up, too: we travel to face Michigan and Duke in true road games.

The Wolverines are No. 17 in the polls and the defending national champions. Can we get back on track?

Loss, 86-74. Ugh. My center Giddens only playing seven minutes because of foul trouble wasn’t ideal, and neither was his backup Brazzle also getting into foul trouble. Great game from Henry with 23 points — we need more of that. It’s become apparent that this team isn’t as good defensively as we typically are.

Alright, Duke time. The Blue Devils are ranked No. 9 in the polls entering the game.

Loss, 99-60. Zero combined points from my backcourt seems less than great. This regular season is not going how I had hoped.

Next up we have Dayton, who enter at No. 11 in the country. The Flyers are led by Matt Boswell, the player we ever created for the first ever winner of our bracket contest. Dayton has not made the tournament yet since Boswell’s arrival, but it looks like they’re going to do it this year. This would be a nice win if we can get it.

Loss, 74-60. Boswell with 14 points in the win. We have left ourselves zero margin for error in the conference tournament.

We only have one more non-conference game left: @ Vanderbilt. The Commodores are led by one-time Leathernecks recruiting target Stane’s Hobson, who is a 93 overall as a senior point guard.

Win, 106-102! Hell yeah. We really needed that heading into conference play. Cunningham killed it (23 points on 9-of-14 shooting), Tron Whaley is turning into a dynamic point guard (18 points, six assists), and Brazzle gave us a nice lift off the bench with 10 points. I love the three-point shooting and the assists. Let’s keep it going to finish out the year strong.

It is now time for Summit League play. We have gone undefeated in the Summit the last two seasons. Can we do it again?

Yup. We finish off the perfect slate in conference play to enter the conference tournament at 21-6. Here’s a look at the end-of-season stats:

Great year for Cunningham. He’s just so damn good; the fact that he’s our primary option on offense is the thing that has me feeling optimistic about our tournament chances. Having four starters finish in the teens in scoring average feels pretty good, too. I also have to note our three-point shooting numbers were through the roof this year. Here’s what we did from deep:

Tron Whaley: 47 percent on 117 attempts

Wilky Henry: 40.3 percent on 114 attempts

Allan Cunningham: 47.2 percent on 74 attempts

Mathew Alloway: 50.7 percent on 63 attempts

I wish there was a way I could tell my team to shoot more threes. Getting up enough 3PAs is going to be a big key going into the postseason.

But first, we have to win the Summit League conference tournament again. We again enter the field as the top seed. As I’ve noted, I really don’t think we’ll have enough juice to get an at-large bid after our shaky non-conference schedule. We can’t have a letdown here.

Summit League tournament

First game is against Oral Roberts. They enter at 7-22 on the season.

Win, 123-62. Henry scores 24, Giddens scores 22, and Cunningham scores 20. We hit 12-of-19 threes in this game, too. We have UMKC next.

Win, 81-61. Henry plays arguably his best game of the season, finishing with 28 points on 12-of-17 shooting in the win. We out-rebounded them 36-19. Seems good. Now we have Fort Wayne in the title game. Why am I so nervous about this?

Win, 86-52! Tron just crushes it with 26 points, seven assists, and 6-of-8 shooting from three. Ham put in work like always, too. I am more relieved than excited — but hell yes, we’re going dancing again. I’m hoping for a single-digit seed, but I doubt our resume was good enough for it.

2027 NCAA tournament

We’re a No. 12 seed against No. 5 seed Minnesota in the first round. Wow. We haven’t faced the Golden Gophers in this simulation before, so that should be fun.

Here’s a look at our roster heading into the tournament:

It’s going to be Wilky and Cunningham leading the way. We just need Alloway to not actively hurt as our lowest rated starter in years as an 85 overall. For the record, I liked what he showed in the Louisville game and I’m super optimistic about his future. We also need Giddens to finally play up to his rating, especially as a projected lottery pick and what appears to be the highest rated junior in the country.

Here’s a link to the Minnesota roster. The Golden Gophers enter the game as a 98 overall — just like us. Here’s how the two teams matchup:

This is going to be a really tough test for a first round game. We’re going to watch the simulated game together on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Twitch. We’ll talk about that more in a second. But first, let’s get to this year’s bracket contest.

2027 NCAA tournament bracket contest

We’ve been running a bracket contest for the last few seasons, and it’s been a ton of fun. We’re opening it up to anyone who wants to enter as long as you turn in your bracket before we stream our first NCAA tournament game on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Twitch.

This is everything you need to know:

How does scoring work?

We use a standard scoring format. You get one point for correctly guessing the winner in a first round game, two points for correctly a winner in a round of 32 game, four points for correctly guessing a winner in a Sweet 16 game, eight points for correctly guessing a winner in an Elite Eight game, 16 points for correctly guessing a winner in the Final Four, and 32 points for correctly guessing the national champion.

Can I see the rosters for the other teams?

Yes. You can find the rosters for every team on the right side of the bracket in the East and West regionals here. You can find the rosters for every team on the left side of the bracket for the South and Midwest regionals here. Just arrow over to scroll through the rosters.

How do I enter?

1. Click this link to open the interactive bracket.

2. After opening, in the top left select File > Make a Copy

3. Make your picks

4. In the top left, select File and either “Share” and share with sean@hoopsinsight.com or “Email as attachment” and email as an Excel file (not PDF please!) to sean@hoopsinsight.com

Once your picks are entered, you can track scoring with Sean’s Blog Team app that works on desktop and mobile.

What does the winner get?

The winner gets to create themselves or a character as a five-star recruit ahead of next season. We won’t go after the created recruits at Western Illinois to preserve the integrity of the game, but we’ll follow the career of your character throughout our series.

Readers David, Matt, and Josh made an NCAA tournament preview show

I love the Leatherneck community so much. Please watch David, Matt, and Josh breakdown this year’s team and the entire NCAA tournament bracket in a 25-minute selection show.

This is the best.

The old clips got me choked up a little bit. Amazing work by them.

You might have noticed Boswell and the Dayton Flyers would likely be our opponent if we can reach the Sweet 16. I would love nothing more than to make it happen. Especially after Boswell said he would drop a cool 28 points on Giddens on the bracket show.

We need to win two games on Sunday night first, though. Here’s how you can watch Western Illinois in the 2027 NCAA tournament.

How to watch Western Illinois vs. Minnesota in the first round of the 2027 NCAA tournament

Game: No. 12 seed Western Illinois vs. No. 5 seed Minnesota, first round, 2027 NCAA tournament

How to watch: My Twitch channel. You don’t need to sign up for anything to watch, but you do need to register for an account to comment. Do it, it’s fun.

Date: Sunday, Aug. 16

Tip-off time: 8:30 p.m. ET

If we win: We’ll face the winner of No. 4 seed Ole Miss vs. No. 13 seed Yale in the round of 32 immediately following the first round game.

Here a couple bonus links:

Join the Leathernecks Subreddit started by reader Evan.

Reader Thanh Nguyen in Japan wrote a fan-fiction e-book on the first eight seasons of Leathernecks basketball under Coach Rick. Spoilers ahead, but this is absolutely incredible and I highly recommend buying it.

We now have a fan-started Leathernecks Twitter account. There will be spoilers on there from the Twitch stream before the recap post goes out.

Come hang out and watch our Leathernecks take on Minnesota in the NCAA tournament on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Twitch. Thank you and go ‘Necks.

[ofjumpscares-blog]

no you know what IT’S TIME TO MAKE A TIME LINE

my basis for this timeline is when the film “The Masque of Red Death” was released (as it was still new when Spooky dressed as it for Halloween), the aging of Specimen 12′s host, and the GL researcher notes. this is all just conjecture and I’m writing this at like 2 am so bear with me if I’m getting things confused!

??? 1952: Spooky is born.

June 1964: The Masque of Red Death is released in theaters. Spooky becomes enamored with it.

Halloween 1964: Spooky is shot by a war veteran suffering from PTSD following a prank. (given the year, it’s most likely he was a returning veteran from the Vietnam war.) Spooky is rushed to Karamari Hospital, but cannot be saved, and dies that night.

??? 1975(?): Spooky’s father attempts to call back Spooky’s soul so he and her mother can see her one last time. He does this, presumably, through a computer, based on a line from his note (”A second device is needed to bind the spirit to the earth after it has been brought back. I know this sounds macabre but I will turn it off and let you return to heaven after your mother and I get to see you again.”) and Spooky’s own seemingly abilities to control computerized aspects (her hologram, and the fake ending before the Specimen 9 boss fight). the first personal computers were made in 1975.

??? 1975(?): the computer is not turned off, and Spooky remains bound on earth. presumably her parents were intercepted by GL Labs and she was taken into their custody a la the SCP Foundation.

subsequently, all of Karamari Hospital was either subsidized or recreated within the mansion as a place for Spooky to roam as an intended specimen. her parents were likely removed from the equation

??? 2008-2016(?): as time passes, Spooky eventually infiltrates GL Labs/becomes a high ranking member of GL Labs (if not the head thereof), and begins to make plans for building her ghost army. many of the initial recruits are GL employees that lost their lives to specimens. the events leading up to the main game are chronicled through the years via the GL researcher notes

the latest the notes can begin is 2008, as that if when Jeff the Killer was created. the researcher notes directly mention him.

during this time, the Vlogger is brought in through Spooky’s advertisements, and eventually is trapped and possessed by Specimen 12. if we’re to take the age of the average LPer into consideration, he must have been at least in his mid-20s when he arrived, so at least 20 years must have passed for him to look the way he does now.

the earliest the notes can end is 2016, as the notes speak about the name lawsuit that happened that year. this means that the “next wave of monsters” the note speaks about is the wave we meet in the main game.

Spooky wrote the GL researcher lab notes. Her writing them explains several lines (ie, “I countered by showing them the stacks upon stacks of images depicting him as I have and then skewering him in the ribs with my knife.”, “I've decided to keep all funds toward dried noodle sustenance and scary things.”), the knowledge the writer has about the ghost army, and the... uniquely antiquated language (particularly in reference to the internet).

??? 2026-2027(?): this is when we, the player, arrive at the mansion and begin our descent into madness. again, based on the least amount of time it would take for the Vlogger to age, these are the earliest years the main game could take place in. (I’d argue it could also be taking place in 2036-2037).

[rickhorrow]

15 To Watch + 5 Tech 91817

1. The Olympics are officially returning to the United States with the announcement that Los Angeles won the bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics. The IOC just cemented the announcement in Lima, Peru, weeks after the story first broke that Paris was awarded the 2024 Olympics. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, an instrumental figure in bringing the Olympics back stateside, called this a “huge win” for the United States. “L.A. has the Olympics in our blood, in our DNA,” boasted Garcetti. “Casey [Wasserman] and I were kids in 1984 when we hosted the Olympics…and we want to reignite the movement.” The U.S. has bid for the Olympics “more than any country” over the past few decades, yet has not been able to win as many of those bids as it would like. What makes the L.A. Olympic bid so special is that “it’s the first time in an Olympic Games” that not a single new venue will have to be built. The 2028 Games will undoubtedly prove to be an economic boon to L.A. just like the 1984 Games before them. Even better, brands looking to hitch their wagons to the Games will have a decade to watch opportunities unfold.

2. In the middle of ongoing Ezekiel Elliott legal battles, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has allegedly “slowed down, if not impeded, contract talks regarding a potential extension for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell,” according to sources cited by ESPN. Jones is not a member of the NFL’s compensation committee, but he is a “de facto seventh member and Goodell became aware that he was brought into the process about the time he was making a decision on Elliott’s six game suspension.” According to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, Jones “believes he’s representing the other owners and he believes this thing needs a lot of discussion before they just give him a contract. It’s got to be a big reduction. He’s made almost $200 million since he’s been commissioner since 2006 and Jerry wants something cut. He thinks other owners are on board with him.” On the legal front, the NFLPA and Elliott have "filed their response to the NFL's motion for an emergency stay in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals,” according to the Dallas Morning News. Meanwhile, the NFL "added" former U.S. Solicitor General Paul D. Clement to its legal team. The NFL is hoping for a stay decision by September 19. Whether the compensation committee gets in the middle of the Cowboys vs. the NFL, via Goodell’s extension, remains to be seen.

3. As the MLB regular season winds down and the postseason beckons, the Red Sox were “fined an undisclosed amount” by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred last week for “improper use of an electronic device in the dugout.” When confronted by MLB officials earlier this month, the Red Sox admitted they were using Apple watches in a scheme to steal signs and gain an edge at the plate. According to the Boston Globe, the Yankees were “fined a lesser amount when an investigation determined they committed a similar violation prior to this season.” Money collected from both fines will be “donated to hurricane relief efforts in Florida.” Manfred in his ruling noted "all 30 clubs have been notified that future violations of this type will be subject to more serious sanctions, including the possible loss of draft picks.” The Red Sox will “take their punishment, happy it wasn't more severe.” Technological advances are impacting every aspect of sport, from football chips to smart helmets to more accurate replay calls. It was only a matter of time before wearable technology was brought into play – illegally.

4. Zach Veach completes the ladder with Andretti Autosport. Starting in 2018, Zach Veach will take the wheel of the No. 26 Honda Indy car as the fourth entry in Andretti Autosport’s Verizon IndyCar Series team. Veach has raced in every step of the Mazda Road to Indy ladder with Andretti Autosport, including a career-best Indy Lights championship finish of third in 2014. “We are excited to give Zach the opportunity to show what he can do at the highest level, and I’m looking forward to welcoming him home, so to speak,” said Michael Andretti, CEO, Andretti Autosport. “He’s put the effort in, found success at every level and now his dream has come full circle.” The 22-year-old American driver made his Verizon IndyCar Series debut April 23 at Barber Motorsport Park and his Indy 500 debut at this year’s 101st Running. “I've been thinking about this day since St. Petersburg in 2010 when I sat beside Michael Andretti announcing that I'd be competing in USF2000 for his team," said Veach. “To be driving in the Verizon IndyCar series with them is a dream come true and I can't wait to get started.” Veach is the fourth driver confirmed to an All-American Verizon IndyCar Series field for Andretti ahead of the 2018 season opener in Florida, March 11.

5. The Oakland A’s have finally picked a site for a new ballpark. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the franchise selected a patch of land by new Laney College as their “preferred spot for a 35,000-seat, privately financed ballpark” to replace the rundown Coliseum. The site is approximately 13 acres and under the most optimistic projections, construction would begin in 2021 and be completed in time for the 2023 season. The other sites that were considered were the current Coliseum site and another parcel on the waterfront northwest of Jack London Square. In total, the cost of the stadium is expected to surpass $500 million. The A’s hope to then convert the current Coliseum site into a “community sports park and urban youth baseball academy in partnership with MLB.” After negotiating with the college district to buy or lease the land, the team will have to complete an environmental impact report. At long last, and after many false starts including a San Jose ballpark “tech laboratory” backed by Cisco Systems, it appears the A’s hunt for a nicer new home may be drawing to a happy conclusion. Stay tuned.

6. Oak View Group is forging forward with its plan to renovate KeyArena in Seattle. According to the Seattle Times, OVG is set to shell out $600 million by October 2020 as part of the renovation process, all with the hope of luring an NBA and NHL team to the Pacific Northwest city. As part of the arrangement with the city of Seattle, the group would commit “$40 million to improve traffic, transportation and parking beyond any requirements stemming from a mandatory environmental impact review.” The 55-year-old facility with its iconic design has been a hotly-debated facility, as multiple financing groups initially placed bids to land the renovation rights. With the renovation’s current timeline, officials hope that an NHL team could start play by the 2020-2021 season. OVG has “partnered with billionaire investment banker David Bonderman and Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer to be Seattle owners of an NHL franchise.” From the Super Sonics to the Seahawks and the Sounders, Seattle has long been a great sports city, and it’s only fitting that the city and backers are gearing up for not one but two additional pro sports teams.

7. Initial talks are beginning to take place out West, where Salt Lake City and Denver officials are contemplating bidding for the 2026 Winter Olympics. According to the Associated Press, no American city has hosted the Winter Olympics since Salt Lake City did back in 2002. Park City and Salt Lake City have hosted about 75 winter championships and World Cup sport events since 2002, so the area is well-equipped to host the mega sporting event again. Sources close to the USOC noted that the committee is focusing on the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles for the time being, but that could all change on behalf of IOC President Thomas Bach, who is leading a “streamlining of the bid process.” In doing so, Bach hopes to avoid a similar situation to the one that arose for the 2022 Winter Games bidding process, when China and Kazakhstan were the only bidders. In the modern era, it’s clear that the only cities that can truly afford the Olympics’ multi-billion price tag are ones with a majority of infrastructure already in place. As such, we’re seeing “everything old is new again” in Beijing, Paris, and Los Angeles. Utah may indeed be next.

8. Sponsorship space for the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympics is in hot demand. According to SportsBusiness Journal, the Tokyo organizing committee has sold 43 domestic sponsorships worth a staggering $2.8 billion, “blowing past the prior sales benchmark for a single Games.” Making this marker even more impressive is that sales are still underway, as confirmed by Tokyo Organizing Committee CEO Toshiro Moto. “This is a record number of local sponsors,” commented Moto, “We are aiming to increase the value of the Games through sponsorship activations through partner companies, and securing even more local sponsors.” Some of the more unconventional sponsorship deals have come about thanks in part to the “nationalistic business culture and robust interest in the Games.” While this paints a rosy revenue picture, expenses will likely continue to rise. The Games currently has a $12.6 billion operating budget – more than double its original bid projection.

9. He may be retired from the NBA, but that does not mean that Kobe Bryant is done having an impact on the global basketball community. According to the South China Morning Post, Bryant has “joined forces” with NBA China and Chinese resort Mission Hills to set up the country’s first-ever NBA Basketball School. Mission Hills released a statement with details on the school, noting that it will be open for both males and females at the “sprawling resort on China’s holiday island.” The school is set to start construction this year with the goal of completion by 2019. “The Chinese youth will benefit from a complete approach to player development that combines NBA-quality coaching with NBA-level training,” commented Bryant. This development is only the most recent sports engagement for the resort, which has a partnership with FC Barcelona for a similar arrangement as well as a tennis academy in association with Boris Becker.

10. In an interesting twist to the competition, the Giro d’Italia cycling race will begin in Israel next year. According to the AP, this will mark the first time that any leg of cycling’s “three Grand Tours will take place outside of Europe.” Details regarding the exact route of the first three stages being held in Israel have not yet been confirmed, though officials did say that the race would begin in Jerusalem. While the Giro has started outside of Europe 11 times in its historic 101-year history, it has not ventured into the Middle East before. Past locations outside of Italy include Monte Carlo; Athens; and Belfast, Northern Ireland. In hosting the early stages of the race, Israel is preparing to host the country’s biggest sporting event in history, which is expected to draw “tens of thousands of tourists to the country.” With the historic 2018 race will no doubt come historic levels of security that require the utmost in creative planning, as race routes are exponentially harder to secure than stadia.

11. The back-to-back Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins are back in the community to thank their fans in a unique way. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Penguins have employed some of their best players yet again to “deliver season tickets to select fans.” Stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were two of the players to hop houses in Pittsburgh, making several stops across the city area. “It’s fun to see the kids’ reactions,” said Crosby. “This is really a nice thing that the team does because you get to meet the people. When you play, it’s just a mass of people, but you don’t meet anyone one-on-one.” This move continues an annual tradition for the Penguins, who have been doing this for years now to generate some excitement in the streets about hockey’s return. Fifty lucky season-ticket holders are chosen at random and are informed that a player is coming, but do not receive any notification as to who that player will actually be. This is grassroots activation at its best – and including young hockey fans is a great way of building a next generation fan base.

12. Despite the Calgary Flames stopping talks about a potential new arena, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi continues the push toward building a facility for the team. According to the Canadian Press, Nenshi is working toward finding a solution that the team approves of while not impacting peoples’ taxes – a tricky task to say the least. The office of the Mayor is set to release financial details in the near future regarding a potential entertainment district in Victoria Park. Tensions between the Flames and Nenshi first began when the mayor “downplayed the economic benefit of a new arena.” Current proposals call for both the city and the Flames to pay about $550 million, approximately one-third of the total cost for each party involved; a ticket surcharge is expected to cover the remaining third of costs. Sources close to the deal blame Nenshi “for talks on a new NHL arena going sideways.”

13. The Jacksonville Jaguars have adopted London as their second home. According to Yahoo Sports, the Jaguars are set to play a regular season game in London for the fifth year, and that relationship might still be expanding. Team Owner Shahid Khan was quick not to rule out the possibility of playing a second London game in the same season going forward. “We’ve talked about that,” said Khan. “There might be a time where it would make sense to play more than one game.” Under the current arrangement, the Jags “keep the gate from the London game, and Wembley Stadium at capacity bring in a lot more revenue for a home date than Everbank Field,” factoring in the stadiums’ 80,000 seats all selling at a higher price than in Jacksonville. At first glance, this move might come as a surprise, but from a financial standpoint it makes sense considering almost 20% of the team’s revenue comes from that one London game.

14. The Golden State Warriors continue to excel at everything they do, on and off the court. This time the Warriors are in the news for the jersey patch deal they signed with Japanese tech holding company Rakuten. According to ESPN.com, the reigning NBA champions have signed the “largest of the NBA ad patch deals,” with sources noting it to be worth up to $20 million annually. That number is nearly double the next-largest patch deal, which the Cavaliers signed with Goodyear. Rakuten’s red and black logo is set to appear on the left breast of the Warriors’ jerseys this coming season. Shockingly, the $20 million annually that Rakuten will shell out is not even the most the Warriors were offered. “We actually had multiple finalists,” said Warriors CMO Chip Bowers. “This was not the biggest deal that we were offered.” Rakuten is making a splash in the sports world, as this deal comes on the heels of signing a $235 million kit deal with FC Barcelona. And the Warriors are in the enviable position of not having to accept an offer from the highest bidder, but rather seeking to find a good fit for their team philosophy and brand.

15. A potential NBA lottery structural reform is facing some opposition among team owners. According to USA Today, the NBA’s competition committee is currently discussing if and how to potentially change the NBA lottery, but adopting a new proposal is “not a slam-dunk.” Mid- and small-market teams are arguing that a new policy to discourage tanking would directly hurt their chances of landing a “franchise-altering player through the draft.” A similar topic was discussed in advance of the 2014-2015 season, though no changes were adopted then. While 17 owners voted in favor of lottery reform, it “requires three-quarters of a vote to pass a proposal.” There were “mitigating factors” in 2014. The NBA strongly discourages teams from adopting a mindset at the beginning of any season that their best chance of exceling in the future requires an intentionally poor season or two. The league will do everything it can to advance this position into “law.”

  Five Top Tech

1) For NFL fans, Thursday Night Football used to be something that one could only watch on NFL Network. But according to Businessinsider.com, with Amazon’s recent acquisition of streaming rights for 10 NFL Thursday Night Football games on Amazon Video for Prime members, fans now have an alternative to watching games on NFL Network. For fans that don’t have access to NFL Network but own an Amazon Prime account, this is a great way to efficiently spend money while also getting prime football games right to their tablet or laptop. Brian Finegan, head of Marketing and Product Management for Amazon, said this of his company’s newest expansion: “I think it’s an opportunity we’ll definitely explore. We’re now expanding into live streaming sports. I don’t know if you guys saw the Thursday Night Football deal that came out, first game is 9/28 — Bears/Packers. You can watch via desktop or mobile.” For the 2017 season, we will see how this addition to the Amazon universe affects consumers. If this venture is successful, we may continue to see more and more sporting events available on streaming services. This new level of accessibility could be a win for all parties involved.

2) The Durham Bulls, the Triple-A Affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, will become the first minor league baseball venue to host an E-Sports tournament this fall. Between September 29 and October 1, the Bulls will host the first-ever DBAP Gaming Challenge. The games played during the competition will include MLB the Show, Call of Duty, Rocket League, Super Smash Bros, and others. Bulls General Manager Mike Birling said this about his organization hosting the event: “We’re extremely excited to host the inaugural DBAP Gaming Challenge. Esports is an industry that continues to grow at a rapid pace, and we’re looking forward to beginning the DGC and making it an annual event in Durham at our stadium.” A grand total of $5,000 will be doled out to contest participants. First place winners will receive $250, second place will receive $150, and third place will get $100. With the growth in popularity of ESports, an increase in events such as these will come as no surprise in the near future.

3) As the NFL grows as an organization and American football grows as a sport in Europe, NFL Game Pass is looking to provide more to its customers overseas. Already streamable up to five devices, NFL Game Pass will start giving its users live statistics, and access to archived games as well. NFL Game Pass is working with Overtier, a content venture, to take the ability to stream these games to Europe. Overtier CEO Sam Jones said this of the new venture: “We surveyed 5,100 GamePass subscribers across Europe and we spoke to many in the U.K. and Germany, and we tried to build up an understanding of what they love about any existing services they used, and also what they were looking for in the next generation of GamePass.” As the NFL continues to grow globally, the infusion of technology continues to play a huge role in this expansion. With new and more convenient forms of accessibility available through technology, organizations such as the NFL are able to grow their brand in ways they may not have thought possible just a few years ago.

4) The NBA has partnered with Nike on an eight year global merchandising and marketing agreement that will make Nike the “official on court apparel provider” starting this 2017-2018 season. The most interesting feature of the new uniform is that each jersey will be equipped with sensors that will track player information to help give fans and coaches alike a better idea of exactly what players physically experience during games. Wondering about the comfort of the new uniforms? Here is what Minnesota Timberwolves star player Karl Anthony Towns had to say: “Even in practice jerseys and T-shirts you can feel the difference. Just the quality of it is at a whole other level. There is so much more breathability and it’s just more comfortable and I’m confident with the equipment. We should feel just as confident in our skills as we do in the equipment that were in.” With the new technology helping coaches, organizations, fans, and players, this is truly an innovation that helps all sides involved.

5) A seven- year-old girl born with Poland Syndrome, a rare disease that caused her to lose the three middle fingers in her right hand, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch for Game 4 of the 2017 World Series. The girl, Hailey Dawson, has been equipped with a robotic hand that will enable her to throw out the first pitch. Before the start of this season, Hailey’s mom, Yong Dawson, told SportTechie that she was hoping to get Hailey into as many games as possible. Now with the regular season winding down, SportTechie has confirmed that she’ll pitch at one of the most pivotal games of the season: the fourth game of the World Series on October 28. “We are overwhelmed but humbled by the response. It is amazing,” Yong said in an email to SportTechie.” Hailey is an inspiration to anyone born with or experiencing a disability. Thanks to the new robotic limbs available to doctors to use on their patients today, Hailey’s story has been made possible.

[omcik-blog]

New Post has been published on OmCik

New Post has been published on http://omcik.com/congressional-budget-office-is-broken-finally/

Congressional Budget Office Is Broken (Finally)

The CBO analysts in the Ford House Office Building (shown above) have no practical way even to guess how H.R. 1628 would really work, the author contends. (Photo: U.S. Architect of the Capitol)

(Bloomberg View) — Forget the headline numbers from the Congressional Budget Office’s latest score for H.R. 1628, the American Health Care Act bill that passed in the House on May 4. The score tells us something much more important, and much less remarked: Republicans have broken the CBO. They’ve passed a bill that, for all intents and purposes, cannot be scored by the normal CBO process. I don’t say that they’ve done this deliberately, mind you — in fact, I’m pretty sure they it wasn’t premeditated. But they’ve done it just the same.

Oh, the fine folks at the CBO have gone in and given it their best try, and that’s what produced the headline numbers you’ve read: 14 million fewer people insured by 2018, 23 million by 2026, and a net reduction in the deficit of $119 billion in the coming decade. But after that, it starts getting a little weird. Premiums will go up for a while, and then maybe down for some people but up for others, and it’s hard to get an average … this score has a whole lot of caveats, more “difficult to predict” and “estimate uncertain,” than longtime CBO watchers are primed to expect.

(Related: Health Bill May Shut Out One-Sixth of Sick: CBO)

The CBO process has never been perfect, for there has always been an uneasy tension between realistically outlining uncertainties and providing enough precision to guide the policy process. This nonpartisan office has at times irked Democrats, other times Republicans. Its estimates are not necessarily accurate — as the saying goes, “predictions are hard, especially about the future” — but they are consistent, giving politicians and the public a single, if imperfect, framework for comparing policy choices.

CBO estimates prefer a single number to a range. They limit the term over which they project the costs, because projecting the policy environment 50 years out is a mug’s game. They have declined to consider some sort of uncertainties, such as “Will future congresses have the guts to see this thing through?” because however real those risks are, analyzing them would put the CBO in the position of political advocate rather than budget wonk.

Naturally politicians have long striven to exploit those tensions. For example, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was stuffed with dodgy “pay-fors” of dubious political economic or viability. Many of these were clearly not ever going to take effect, but they allowed Democrats to claim tidy budget savings from passing the bill. The timeline of the program’s rollout was also set up so that a lot of the costs fell outside the budget window, while new revenue showed up pretty quickly. The CBO tried to make it clear that these things were problems, but ultimately, they were restrained by their principles from saying: “Guys. We’re going to make everyone in America start issuing 1099s to stores? Really?”

But that’s a known limitation of CBO estimates, and careful writers take account of it when they report on CBO scores. What’s interesting is that as far as I can tell, the Republican plan doesn’t have this problem at all, partly because it was passed (and would take effect) so quickly: There’s no room to game the budget window, and as far as I can tell, the Republicans didn’t have the time to come up with ingenious gimmicks for making their bill score better than it really should.

Instead the Republican bill has a completely different problem: It relies so heavily on state level waivers that the CBO simply has no way of predicting, even imperfectly, what’s going to happen.

(Image: Thinkstock)

Just to get this week’s estimates, the CBO was were forced to guess which states might use waivers, and how they might choose to implement them. But the CBO doesn’t want to be in the business of making political calls, because that opens up vast room for the political leanings of the analysts to substitute for budget analysis. So instead they try to look at structural factors within the states themselves — which states have problems in their markets, which states are relatively stable.

I’m sure those factors will come into play. But I’m also pretty sure that the political composition of the state — and for that matter, of the presidential administration that has to approve the waivers — is going to matter … oh, quite a lot. On this, the CBO score is gloriously silent.

The CBO has made absolutely the right call in refusing to speculate on political risks. But that political agnosticism is going to create an increasing problem if America attempts political reforms that could heal its fractured electorate.

Late last year, I noted how strikingly America resembles two partners locked in a bad divorce: Unable to agree on even trivial matters, willing to do things that hurt themselves as long as it hurts the other party more. I also noted that “there is no divorce court for nations.” However, there is a way to give each other some space, to allow wildly disparate groups to rub along together semi-harmoniously. Fortunately for us, this solution is already enshrined in our constitution: federalism.

The more matters we push down to the state level, the less Red America and Blue America will have to quarrel about. And given how nasty our quarrels currently are, this seems like it would come as a welcome relief for almost everyone.

And indeed, that’s just what the Republican health care bill does. For all that I’ve been hard on it, the bill gets one thing right: Instead of trying to centralize control, so that we all have one big, contentious issue to bash each other over, it offers a whole lot more latitude to states. Those states are more culturally and politically homogeneous, and should have an easier time coming to agreement over what should be done. It’s a good idea, and it’s an idea that we need to see popping up more often in federal legislation.

The problem is, such bills are likely to produce messy CBO scores like this, because the CBO is not set up to guess what 50 little laboratories of democracy will do. So the more we do what we should, and hand back power to people who can agree upon how to use it, the less sure we’re going be about what, exactly, it is that we are doing. 

— Read Four GOP Governors Come Out Against ACA Budget Measureon ThinkAdvisor.

[junker-town]

Here’s how the PGA Tour plans to return without fans in June

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Golf now has a real plan to return — but it’s aspirational without expanded testing, puts an end to The Greenbrier for good, and might end up with Tiger Woods prepping for The Masters in Jackson, Mississippi.

Let’s start with the obvious positives. We’re all running thin on Netflix specials, on new books to read, whatever. After five-some weeks isolated and socially distanced with little to watch, everyone’s ready for sport to come back to our lives — in any format we can get it. Aggressively ahead of most other professional sports organizations on plotting a return, the PGA Tour announced Thursday morning a plan to resume play starting June 8.

The question isn’t if we want sports back. The person you know that loathes golf the most would probably settle for a sleepy Saturday afternoon 3M Open broadcast right now. It’s a matter if it’s right for the country and the world during this global pandemic.

Here’s what you need to know — and what to think about as we’re looking at this new schedule.

The Tour’s timeline to return is aggressive and will require extensive travel. Can that actually happen?

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who’s been a shining light of truth for many through this crisis, indicated just yesterday that there’s a path for sport to return this summer — playing without fans.

That’s not a problem for the Tour, which seems to be prepared to play events without galleries for several weeks. The return in Fort Worth at Colonial won’t feature anyone in the grandstands, nor will any event through the Rocket Mortgage Classic on the weekend of July 4 in Detroit. PGA of America president Seth Waugh has said the organization is prepared to play the August PGA Championship without fans at Harding Park in San Francisco. At the very least, the governing bodies are prepared for the reality that fans may not be present at golf tournaments for a long time.

But there’s one other item Fauci noted in his comments earlier in the week that would be a massive problem for the Tour’s proposed schedule — keeping the players quarantined, isolated, and restricted to a small geographic area.

“There’s a way of [returning].” Fauci told Snapchat on Tuesday when speaking about a possible return for Major League Baseball. “Nobody comes to the stadium. Put [the players] in big hotels, wherever you want to play, keep them very well surveilled. ... Have them tested every single week and make sure they don’t wind up infecting each other or their family, and just let them play the season out.”

Golf has an advantage other sports don’t in this struggle to return to normalcy. The game is by nature spread out over hundreds of acres, outdoors. It’s not a contact sport, save for interaction with a caddie. That makes it relatively easy to still adhere to six-feet-apart social distancing guidelines during competition.

But the PGA Tour’s proposed schedule would struggle to meet the standard Fauci and others advise of sequestering athletes in a defined localized area. The MLB, NBA, EPL, and other leagues have all reportedly floated ideas to isolate players to complete seasons in places like Las Vegas or Arizona. The Tour is not doing that here. If regional and local containment becomes a priority and testing cannot increase to the capacity needed, is it safe to have professional golfers and a traveling cadre of broadcasters, support staff, and others? Despite the announced plans, the Tour seems to at least be keeping that in mind.

PGA Tour exec Andy Pazder expresses confidence that increased testing availability will facilitate a June re-start of competition but adds, "We will play only when we are certain that it is safe and responsible to do so."

— Will Gray (@WillGrayGC) April 16, 2020

RIP to the Greenbrier event, which is gone from the schedule for good

The casualty of all the schedule shuffling? The Greenbrier, which has been bumped around several times in recent years, is off the schedule for good.

There’s perhaps no full-field PGA Tour event in the modern era that’s had as weird and circuitous a history as the West Virginia event. Added to the schedule in 2010 to replace the longstanding, fan-favorite Buick Open, the tournament opened with a bang with Stuart Appleby’s stunning final-round 59 to beat Jeff Overton. That started a nice run, including appearances by Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, even during an often-shifting July date.

Then came the devastating floods that hit West Virginia in 2016, forcing the cancellation of the event, from which the tournament never really recovered. The later arc of the event brought us the somewhat bizarre, flag-loving A Military Tribute At The Greenbrier name. The final death knell to the relationship between the resort and the Tour may have been the choice to move the event from July to September as part of the 2019 schedule changes — which no matter the spin, is a less desirable date for a golf event opposite football.

The Tour’s contract with the Greenbrier ran through 2026, but both sides were ready to walk. So, goodbye to Old White and summer in West Virginia. You were nothing if not weird.

The off-season for pro golfers is suddenly, uh, right now

We often joke about the year-round, never-ending professional golf schedule. The true 2019-20 PGA Tour schedule provided all of a couple of weeks off between the season-ending Tour Championship and the aforementioned September Greenbrier. Still, there’s a usual ebb-and-flow to things for top players. Start ramping up the schedule slowly in January, February, March to prepare for the usual summer major months, then play sparingly in fall downtime.

That won’t be happening this year. The reshuffling has created a back-loaded 2020 schedule with odd rhythms and weird travel patterns leading into majors for the top players. Consider this example: If a player wants to make a couple of pre-Masters warm up starts, but doesn’t want to play the week prior in Houston, they’ll have to leave the country. The entire lead-up to the biggest tournament of the year features events in Korea, Japan, China, and Bermuda — during a global pandemic! Lots of players aren’t going to love that, probably Woods included.

The FedExCup Playoffs-U.S. Open combo in August-September will cause weirdness, too. What if Jordan Spieth, now 110th in the FedExCup standings, doesn’t qualify for the BMW Championship? Does he opt to play on the other side of the country the week before the U.S. Open? Come in with a month off ahead of a major? Or look somewhere else — like another Tour, for a start? It’s bizarre to even consider, but we’re going to see oddities in individual schedules like this all year.

Here’s the rest of the full, revised schedule — for now.

Revised 2019-20 PGA Tour Season schedule:

NO FANS June 8-14: Charles Schwab Challenge, Colonial Country Club, Fort Worth, Texas

NO FANS June 15-21: RBC Heritage, Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head, South Carolina

NO FANS June 22-28: Travelers Championship, TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Connecticut

NO FANS July 2-July 5: Rocket Mortgage Classic, Detroit Golf Club, Detroit

July 6-12: John Deere Classic, TPC Deere Run, Silvis, Illinois

July 13-19: the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin, Ohio

July 20-26: 3M Open, TPC Twin Cities, Blaine, Minnesota

July 27-Aug. 2: World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, TPC Southwind, Memphis

July 27-Aug. 2: Barracuda Championship, Tahoe Mountain Club (Old Greenwood), Truckee, California

Aug. 3-9: PGA Championship, TPC Harding Park, San Francisco

Aug. 10-16: Wyndham Championship, Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro, North Carolina

Aug. 17-23: The Northern Trust, TPC Boston, Norton, Massachusetts

Aug. 24-30: BMW Championship, Olympia Fields Country Club (North), Olympia Fields, Illinois

Aug. 31-Sept. 7: Tour Championship, East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta

And because the Gregorian Calendar stopped mattering on the PGA Tour schedule a few years ago, here’s where the new “season” begins in the fall. If you’re going by the definition of “season,” next year’s Tour schedule will have six majors in it, if all goes according to this plan.

2020-21 PGA Tour Season Schedule (fall portion):

Sept. 7-13: Safeway Open, Silverado Resort and Spa North, Napa, California

Sept. 14-20: U.S. Open, Winged Foot Golf Club, Mamaroneck, New York

Sept. 21-27: Ryder Cup, Whistling Straits, Kohler, Wisconsin

Sept. 21-27: Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, Corales Golf Club, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Sept. 28-Oct. 4: Sanderson Farms Championship, Country Club of Jackson, Jackson, Mississippi

Oct. 5-11: Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, TPC Summerlin, Las Vegas

Oct. 12-18: The CJ Cup, Nine Bridges, Jeju Island, Korea

Oct. 19-25: Zozo Championship, Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, Chiba Prefecture, Japan

Oct. 26-Nov. 1: World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions, Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai, China

Oct. 26-Nov. 1: Bermuda Championship, Port Royal Golf Course, Southampton, Bermuda

Nov. 2-8: Houston Open, Memorial Park Golf Course, Houston

Nove. 9-15: Masters Tournament, Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia

Nov. 16-22: The RSM Classic, Sea Island Resort (Seaside and Plantation), Sea Island, Georgia

Nov. 23-29: Open week (Thanksgiving)

Nov. 30-Dec. 6: Mayakoba Golf Classic, El Camaleón Golf Club, Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Nov. 30-Dec. 6: Hero World Challenge, Albany, New Providence, Bahamas

Dec. 7-13: QBE Shootout, Tiburón GC, Naples, Florida

Dec. 14-20: PNC Father-Son Challenge, The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes, Orlando

[junker-town]

How the Thunder can rebuild without tanking

The new-look Thunder are full of possibilities.

The Thunder can be competitive even in a rebuild.

In early July, Paul George was two months removed from his 29th birthday and had just wrapped up the best season of his career when he requested a trade from the Oklahoma City Thunder. He was one season into a four-year deal. Overnight, Oklahoma City’s immediate championship goals died.

Russell Westbrook was dealt to the Houston Rockets one week later, and even though Sam Presti’s combined return was held in high regard, it also helped create two new superpowers in Los Angeles and Houston that instantly showed how wide the gap between the Thunder and a title is. It reminded him, a general manager who’s acquired and lost James Harden, Kevin Durant, George, and Westbrook, how easy it is for carefully laid plans to implode.

Oklahoma City just lost two All-NBA players in their respective primes. They’re set up for a rebuild. But instead of tanking towards ground zero, the Thunder should go the other way, be as competitive as possible, fight for a playoff spot (a long shot but FiveThirtyEight currently gives them better playoff odds than the Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs), and reassemble on the fly.

In an NBA that seemingly changes every month, the Thunder can (ironically) take a big-picture page from the pre-Harden Rockets, tread water, and stay in the perpetual hunt for whichever young star next wants out, be it Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker, whoever. Until then, they can afford to endure middling outcomes, knowing they already have one 21-year-old blue-chip guard and a larger collection of trade assets than anybody else.

Tanking isn’t in their best interest, particularly when it’s unknown how their fanbase will react to a first dip into irrelevance

Before we go on, let’s summarize what the Thunder actually received this summer: Chris Paul, Danilo Gallinari, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, three unprotected first-round picks from the Clippers (in 2022, 2024, and 2026), two first-round picks from the Miami Heat (unprotected in 2021 and lottery-protected in 2023), and two top-four-protected first-round picks from the Houston Rockets (in 2024 and 2026). As a cherry on top, there are four additional pick swaps, with LAC in 2023 and 2025, and Houston in 2021 and 2025. There’s also a top-10 protected first-round pick in 2020 from the Denver Nuggets, who traded it for Jerami Grant.

That’s three quality players, eight first-round draft picks, and four pick swaps spread out over seven years. Not bad! For reference, the Boston Celtics received three unprotected first-round picks, one pick swap, and Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace, Kris Joseph, MarShon Brooks and Keith Bogans for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry.

The Celtics wisely used those draft picks as a safety net. They were bad and had no choice but to build themselves back up through the draft, but eventually they made moves to get better in the short-term and straddle two separate timelines. The Thunder can aspire to do the same thing, but—even in a Western Conference that’s never been so punishing—the difference is they may already be good enough to avoid an intentional nosedive.

Assuming they hang on to their veterans, Oklahoma City can be the type of team that rarely beats itself, with more shooting than its recently had, and emboldened contribution from supporting pieces. Most of them are, to varying degrees, established, confident, proud, and growing. Much of their success will ultimately depend on Paul—who’s 34 and hasn’t made an All-Star team since 2016—and how the organization adjusts to such a stark stylistic modification at the point guard position. The downshift from Westbrook’s merciless house fire to Paul’s methodical slow burn may do good for a group that’s viewed chaos as a savior over the past few years.

If Paul ran a successful pick-and-roll while simultaneously typing an email into his iPhone, nobody watching would blink.

The argument for flipping Paul, a psychotically competitive Hall of Famer who’s entering his 15th season, is pretty straightforward. He’s guaranteed $124 million through 2022 and the only player set to earn more money this season is Steph Curry. It’s a bloated salary on a bloated cap sheet. But it’s hard to see any team taking that contract off Presti’s hands without some sort of compensation. (Remember, the Rockets surrendered two first-round picks to get off it.) Also, if winning as many games as they possibly can is the mandate—which it should be—keeping Paul is common sense.

Even though that contract doesn’t align with Paul’s current status, this dude isn’t exactly washed up. Now detached from Houston’s unique, isolation-obsessed approach, there’s an opportunity for Paul to conduct an offense that makes better use of his vision. Three years ago, over half his possessions were finished as a pick-and-roll ball-handler. Last season, they dropped down to 36 percent. Existing as second-fiddle to a perennial MVP candidate will do that, but it’s still a shame to see such blinding skill be underutilized. If Paul ran a successful pick-and-roll while simultaneously typing an email into his iPhone, nobody watching would blink.

Last year, he finished third in assists and averaged 22.5 points and 12.5 assists per 36 minutes when he did not share the floor with Harden. If he’s able to deep-pressure massage the game’s tempo as he has in the past, the Thunder can temporarily make themselves over with a floor general who props those around him up instead of it being the other way around.

Oklahoma City has finished top-five in transition frequency five years in a row—in their entire existence their lowest ranking was seventh—but this year their possessions will be timed with an hourglass. They won’t rely on frenetic pace induced by a rabid, turnover-forcing defense that was addicted to scrambling.

A leisurely approach that defies the rest of the league’s desire to operate at warp speed can be beneficial, for the sake of developing a sensible identity, if nothing else. Instead of crashing the offensive glass, they can be more conservative, hustling back in transition and letting Steven Adams settle into a more natural drop coverage against pick-and-rolls. Attempts at the rim—of which the Thunder have historically surrendered far too often—will drop and long twos will rise. Their quickness and versatility on the wing is convenient, too, particularly if Andre Roberson looks like his old self. (Don’t sleep on them as an Andre Iguodala suitor, either.)

On offense, more ball movement and a steady half-court hand, something Oklahoma City hasn’t employed since Kevin Durant left, won’t be taken for granted by the Thunder’s coaching staff. By finally implementing a new system that better reflects their personnel, shots can be delineated with care. While Paul memorizes every one else’s lines, Westbrook crumples the script into a ball and tries to swallow it. Both are control freaks who like to place their hands around the neck of a possession and squeeze until it turns blue, but Paul does it with a certain charm. He empowers those around him in a way Westbrook does not, and has immediate value off the ball, thanks to his three-point stroke .

Beyond Paul, this team has a few useful players who’ve peaked at a rung just below All-Star consideration, and none overlap. Last season, Gallo solidified himself as an appealing stretch four who 1) plays defense, and 2) draws fouls. He’ll space the floor beside Adams and create his own shots whenever plays break down.

And as someone who, in many ways, is the most important player on the roster, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — the No. 11 pick in the 2018 draft — will nestle in as more of an active participant than subtle observer. As a 20-year-old rookie he pulled off the impossible last year, cementing himself as member of Doc Rivers’ regular and postseason rotation, averaging 10.8 points, making over half his two-point shots, and appearing in every single game. (He was one of 21 players in the entire league to do that.) Gilgeous-Alexander is a 6’6 rubber band whose herky-jerky, meandering drives (often with his left hand) tend to confuse help defenders even more than his own man. Will he skip to the rim, pull back and settle into a pull-up jumper, or fire a cross-court pass?

He needs to be more of a threat behind the three-point line, but his first season was filled with promising samples of a player wise beyond his years, taking what the game is willing to offer. It’ll be interesting to see how much his growth raises the Thunder’s floor and ceiling, considering he’ll have the ball in his hands far more than he did on the Clippers. (Gilgeous-Alexander may also be someone other players—really good ones!—will want to run with someday.)

Depth is an issue, as Mike Muscala and Nerlens Noel are one-dimensional in contrasting ways, while Terrance Ferguson and Hamidou Diallo are absurd athletes who provide more questions than answers. Dennis Schroder is a nightly wild card but also a possible trade chip, should the Thunder want to add more size. And even though first-round pick Darius Bazley is a project, the organization is high on what he brings to the table.

If none of this works, and Oklahoma City falls far behind Sacramento, Dallas, and Minnesota before the All-Star break, Gallo’s expiring contract will be shopped around. But before any games have been played, this intriguing underdog deserves some respect. Tanking isn’t in their best interest, particularly when it’s unknown how their fanbase will react to a first dip into irrelevance. They already have assets. They already have good players. The West is a monster, but for the time being it makes sense for the Thunder to try and slay it.