#you BET this kind of political discussion is going on now on the international scene in Central Tyria

[skaald-of-the-hearth-fires]

charr are great and the Flame Legion are really cool actually. free the females from the obligations of war! also free them from forced labor! Let them CHOOSE! If we learned anything from how Flame Legion females behaved in Grothmar it's that not all of them WANT to fight. and you can yell brainwashing and indoctrination but why are you forcing people to fight in war because you think it's 'liberating' to them like what?? anyway in this essay I will

[moonctzeny]

Softer than velvet

pairing: magazine co-editor! mark lee x fem!y/n

genre: smut

warnings: office sex

word count:  2,926

summary: “Mark is a co-editor in the fashion magazine you work for, monopolizing everyones attention with his looks, including yours. Prompted by his vast knowledge about lingerie and his tendency to want to rip them apart, you invite him in your office, and you definitely put him to work”

a/n: inspired by the legendary scene from ‘Community’ and a discussion I had with my bf and best friend about lingerie.

----------------------------------------------------

He looked dashing again, as always. 

While Monday morning finds most employees in their tousled bed hair, dark eye circles and crooked buttons from hasting to be on time, Mark Lee looks like he jumped out of the fashion magazine you worked for. He was an editor, like yourself, yet the way he confidently strolled through the hallways, capturing everyone’s attention, had executives and employees alike toying with the idea of having him in their bed.

Mark’s shoulders looked even broader in the white shirt he had chosen for the day, neatly ironed and held together with a bright coral tie. A suede brown vest, that would look plain weird on anyone else that would dare pull it off, showed off his tiny waist perfectly, short enough for the workers on the welcome desk to whisper in admiration about his ‘cute perky butt’.

As one of Mark’s many secret fans, you wanted to join in on their giggling, but as his coworker you had to keep yourself from indulging in those dirty thoughts that kept creeping in your head. It was hard to deny this sweet distraction, that perks you up in excitement and turns up the heat of your body.  Like now, that he makes his way towards you in the main lobby, and you wonder how nice his pink locks would look between your thighs.

“Good morning, y/n”, he says when he’s finally standing in front of you, and you almost spill your mug filled with instant coffee in the sound of his raspy morning voice.

“Lee”, you address him almost coldy, but your smirk as you take a sip of the hot liquid gives you away. You can’t stop yourself from checking him out, his new high-end belt begging to be tugged on and used in other ways that it was originally made for. He bites his cheek when he notices your eyes laying on his crotch a second too long but he decides not to mention it.

“Are you going on a cigarette break soon?”

You sigh, rolling your eyes before making sure to lower your voice. “Didn’t you hear yesterday’s briefing? New boss is trying to cut them and apparently so must we. No smoking allowed here anymore.”

“Then you chose the wrong outfit”

He seems satisfied with the little yelp you let out, internally scolding yourself for getting so worked up over his compliment but hell, there’s nothing more you want than to fuck that smile off his face. If that’s what he wanted that’s what he’d get, but you refuse to look all fucked out here in the open just from the mere words of Mark Lee. Not when so many of your assistants were watching.

“We got assigned the lingerie issue together”, you change the subject and start walking towards your offices at the end of the floor. “ I need you to show me your picks later”

“It was hard finding anything worth including, except for Savage X Fenty nothing new is in the game. The La Perla designs are so outdated, and don’t get me started on Fleur du Mal.”

“Wow, you seem to know a lot about lingerie, huh?”, you exclaim, genuinely impressed, and you let him bask in his pride for a little. He runs his fingers through his hair and you catch a whiff of his shampoo, its scent coupled with his cologne highly addictive.

“I love fashion, and it’s kind of my job so I have to keep up. I’m not really a big fan of them, though.”

You raise an eyebrow at his confession, and halt as you arrive outside his office that is a little nearer than yours. Your body is leaning up against the wall, in a way that accentuates the curves of your body and Mark doesn’t try to be discreet in his staring. He might as well raise his hands, go through the layers and layers of palpable sexual tension between you and run them all over your body like you so desperately want.

“Don’t get me wrong, they’re pretty”, he starts, and you’re not sure if he’s addressing you, your lips or your decolletage.”But if we were getting down to business and I saw you in lingerie, all I’d think about is how to rip it off of you”

It takes every ounce of self control in your body and the thought of how much you need your salary not to pounce at him, and start removing his clothes right then and there. The masks of professionalism have vanished and so has your patience with him, so you fix his tie, tying it up a little tighter than it needs to be and you love the gasp that leaves his chapped lips. 

“Since you are so knowledgeable Mark, I’m not sure if the lingerie I’m wearing is off-season. How about you come to my office later to hand me your picks and give me your honest opinion?”

He chokes on thin air, the angry veins on his neck twitching from the lack of circulation to his head as he huffs out a chuckle. 

“I’ll be there before the meeting starts”, he promises before slipping inside his office, his hands brushing yours as he slides past you. You bet he thinks he’s smooth, but his reflection on the glass door of his neighboring office betrays him, catching him in the act of staring at your ass as you walk away. You wink at his reflection and he winces when he realizes, but you’ll forgive him. This sweet distraction in the name of Mark Lee was all you needed this boring Monday morning, and you can’t wait to see if your coworker is as skillful as he talks himself up to be.

----------------------------------------------------------

The wait wasn’t long, but it sure was painful, your mind wandering at the conversation you had with Mark this morning and eyes checking the time every five minutes. You’d almost miss his figure in your absentmindedness, standing outside your office, nervously shifting his body weight from one leg to the other. 

The glass separating your office with the main hall was tinted, with a few stripes of clear glass on the very top, giving you a limited view of the people hurrying past. Through those lines you also saw Mark, hesitating to knock and giving himself what looks like a pep talk. You think it’s adorable and decide to take him out of his misery, getting up yourself to open the door.

His mouth drops open when you do, looking like a deer in the headlights with his big doe eyes and binder that is placed -strategically- over his crotch. You smile politely and motion him to come in, your meetup not seeming strange to any passerby, as you have worked together many times in the past. The moment he turns the knob behind him to close the door, Mark drops the designs from his hands, pictures of lingerie flying in the air and landing across the carpeted floor. You barely manage to turn the lock before he pushes you backwards with a hand on your jaw, until you feel the wood of your desk digging against your ass.

You close your eyes and immediately are braced with the feeling of his tongue entering your mouth, the strong aftertaste of cinnamon candy tingling your tastebuds. Bringing him closer by his tie, you let him lift you up the table, legs wrapping around his waist and you verify that he was, indeed, already hard behind that binder. 

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to do that”, he murmurs in the kiss and tugs on the roots of your hair suddenly, forcing your head to tilt back and thus expose your neck.

His breath is hot over your collarbones and the feeling of his hardness is driving you insane, so you let your blazer fall from your shoulders before taking off his vest. Mark helps you out by loosening his tie and starts to unbutton his shirt, but you stop him when his chest is almost half-exposed.

“Don’t take it off, you look sexy like that”

He blushes from your compliment, momentarily letting go of his surprisingly dom persona.

“I thought I was supposed to examine your outfit though?”, he asks cheekily and you remove your blouse, revealing the teddy that’s been hugging your body.

It’s black, with a mesh body and velvet lining over the cups and crotch area. The adjustable straps help your boobs look full and round, the velvet strips that are going down, parallel to your body lines, make you look as curvy as ever. 

Mark looks a little lost, like a kid in a candy store and he clears his throat before speaking up again. 

“I need to feel the fabric”, he states, almost too seriously for the situation you were both in currently and he runs his fingers from your belly button upwards to your abs. His fingers toy with the lace adorning the cups and he finally squeezes your boobs. He chuckles at the naughtiness of what you’re doing right now, breaking character, and you’re reminded of how young Mark really is. You free your right boob from its constraint and the sight of your nipple, hard and erect for him, immediately sobers him up. 

His mouth has stayed open in his trance, and you take advantage of it by placing your fingers over his lips, then slowly pushing them in. With his tongue wetting your fingertips, and his big eyes glued on you, waiting for your next move, he really resembles a puppy, and you gloat in the sudden gain of control over him.

When you feel that he’s had enough, or rather, that you’ve had enough, you push your digits out of the comfortable rim of his mouth, coating your nipple with a light layer of his spit.

“So?”, you mewl seductively, “what do you think?”

“It needs to be softer, I think”

You stop massaging yourself, tilting your head in confusion by his critique.

“Softer? What is softer than velvet?”

Mark smirks back at you, hand leaving your breast and travelling south. 

“I can think of something” 

He finds the buttons over the crotch of the teddy, the pieces of fabric they’re holding together damp with your arousal. You shiver when you feel his fingers easily gliding through your folds, teasing your entrance and pinching your clit.

A whine leaves your lips as he removes his fingers momentarily, falling on his knees in front of you. Suddenly remembering where you are, you stretch your body a little in your paranoia, checking if anyone is standing outside your office, witnessing your dirty meetup. But Mark is quick to bring you back up to heaven, with a flick of his tongue over your clit.

“Mmmm, so soft”

He looks so fucking delicious looking up at you, tie discarded on the floor now and lips coated with your wetness and his spit. You can feel the scruffiness of his 5 o’clock shadow slightly scratching the inside of your thighs that are so sensitive and shake in pleasure. Reaching your hands back for any form of stability you knock down some of the stationery, but how can you care when Mark draws circles with his fingers on your entrance?

He pushes in his index, then his middle finger as well, setting a pace that is as slow as it is sinfully pleasurable. Your small office is filled with the sounds of his kissing and slurping, but you can’t ask him to be quiet when you struggle to lower your moans as well. The feeling of the soft pads of his fingers massaging your walls and his tongue sucking on your pussy makes you light-headed, your nails digging in the wooden surface and desperately chasing your high. Your orgasm hits you like a wave, and you bite your fist so as not to make a sound, but Mark’s not done yet. 

He places one hand sturdily on your hips, the other cupping your left boob, successfully helping you keep your balance. He keeps lapping up your arousal, sucking on the swollen bud and you swear you see stars. You’re thrashing around in your overstimulation, too close to screaming from pleasure and you grab Mark’s hair to push him away. 

His eyes are blown out from arousal, mouth gasping for air and chin wet with your juices. The desire to have him is animalistic, and you force him up by his collar, replacing his place on the floor.

“My turn”

Unbuckling his belt in swift moves, you manage to free his member from his boxers, bright red and leaking for you. Placing his tip on your tongue, you can taste the saltiness of his precum, and Mark sighs at the warmth of your mouth. You rest your hands on his thighs, looking up to see his pretty face contorted in pleasure when you swirl your tongue around his length. 

“Oh my god, just like that”

Determined to return the favour, you gulp around him, his cock hitting the back of your throat. You ignore the burning feeling on your knees and throat and keep him there, until tears are threatening to spill from the corner of your eyes. After bobbing your head over his cock, listening to his swears over and over again you can tell he is close, and you start jerking him, slowly picking up your pace.

He lets out a guttural groan when you start palming his tip and he slaps your hand away, taking his dick in his own grasp. “Show me something worth cumming for. I want to see your body”

You fumble with the cups of your lingerie, trying to free your boobs but it’s hard, with the straps getting in the way and the fabric being too sturdy to stretch so far. Mark gets impatient with you taking so long, so he crouches forward, bunching up the mesh in his fists and ripping it in half.

Shocked yet turned on by his action you let the garment drop from your body, leaving you in only your skirt that is bunched up over your hips. Passing the mounds on your breasts you let your hands move lower, and you start to play with your pussy for Mark to see. You’re still so sensitive from your orgasm earlier and you let him know, moaning his name as you expose yourself fully for him.

As he moves his wrist frantically over his shaft, his eyes are glued on your lower lips. They are a raging red at this point, and he’s losing his mind over the look of pure lust painted on your face. He wishes he could paint it with something else but he knows you’re in the workplace, yet nothing can keep him from entertaining the thought.

“Where do you want it?”, he huffs out just a second before he’s reaching his own high and you open your mouth, giving him a silent invitation. He moves his hips closer to you, tapping his tip over your eager tongue and he watches intently at the ropes of cum that are slowly filling up your mouth.

You raise your thumb on your lips, collecting the drops that are spilling from the corner of your mouth and you swallow before Mark can even hand you the metal bin next to your desk. He seems to be in complete ecstasy, chuckling for no reason as he puts his softening member back into his underwear and helps you back into your clothes (or whatever is left from them).

“I’m sorry for ripping your lingerie”, he mumbles finally and you want to coo at how cute he sounds, “I’ll buy you a new one, I promise”

You laugh lightly, helping him at picking up the pictures of the lingerie pieces that are scattered on your floor. “It better be one of your picks”, you tease him, waving the burgundy set you were holding and he licks his lips, picturing you in it.

“Sure. How about I give it to you over some dinner this weekend?”

His offer excites you, so you nod in agreement, and you shuffle awkwardly in the heavy atmosphere of the room. As you pick up the last picture, placing it neatly inside Mark’s binder, you feel his hand wrapping around your waist, bringing you close against him. Instinctively, you kiss him, allowing yourself to get lost in the movement of his lips, that mostly taste like you and you nibble at them lightly. Mark was in the middle of squeezing the softness of your ass, humming in appreciation, when a beep comes simultaneously from both of your phones. It’s the meeting he was talking about this morning and you groan for having to let him go.

He hands you a piece of gum when you both enter the hall and you take it, praying that no one will smell his cologne all over your skin, or notice that you’re going commando under your clothes. One of your co-workers and Mark’s buddy, that you address with a nod every time you cross paths in the office kitchen catches up to you, and throws an arm over his shoulders.

“Mark, my man, you’re glowing today! Wanna grab a bite after the meeting?”

The boy turns his head in your direction, giving you a once over and winking your way, before answering with a smile that is so evident in his voice.

“Nah, thanks. I already ate”

[lemon--squeezy]

��𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 | 𝐎𝐍𝐄

Summary: 𝐀𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐇𝐨𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐞𝐫 found love during his teen years and ended up married to his high school sweetheart. However, he hadn't been prepared for the effects caused on him by a younger Agent and coworker.

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Original Female Character

Warnings: Mentions of/implied attemped rape, sexual scenes, adult language, angst, boss/employee relationship, cheating, age difference and  canon-typical violence.

A/N: Before we start I just wanted to warn you that English is not my first language so you might see some grammar and spelling errors, if you spot any just let me know please. I hope you can bear with me! This story in also available on Wattpad 

“You made a really deep cut and baby, now we’ve got bad blood…” — Taylor Swift

Rays of a morning sun shine through the many windows, bringing a needy warmth to the cold bullpen of the Behavioral Analysis Unit. As soon as one enters the room, the bitter but invitingly warm scent of black coffee would invade their nostrils; a much needed drink to endure the consuming aspects of working for the FBI. Hushed footsteps, discussions of rapports, chairs moving around and whispers of good mornings are the prominent sounds filling the environment. 

At the center of the room, three distinct agents are discussing among themselves about gossips of the office. A strong, shaved headed man, with dark skin and a smirk plastered on his face. By his side, half sitting on his desk is a woman with fluffy bright blonde hair, thick black glasses supported by her delicate nose and wearing colorful clothes, making her stick out in an ocean of grey suits and blazers. Standing in front of them is a raven-headed woman, with pale skin and dressing a dark outfit like no one else could do. 

While grabbing his mug and sipping his morning coffee, the man looks at his wristwatch, slightly shaking his head in a mocking disapproval and declares, “It’s officially five minutes since our work time started and Agent Davis hasn’t arrived,” he flashes a smirk to the black headed female who had being part of the team for barely a month and continues, “I hope you’re ready to witness your first breakfast time quarrel between the bossman and Amy.” 

Emily, the sophisticated gothic woman, stares confusedly at her teammate and says, “Okay, I’m gonna take the bait. What are you talking about, Morgan?” 

He flashes a mischievous smile, “Do you want to explain it to the newbie, baby girl?” Morgan asks the blonde and eager female to tell the new girl about the most volatile - and funny to watch - dynamic of the team. “I’m pretty sure you’ve already noted that my lovely girl Amelia Davis and our stiff yet good-looking Superior don’t tolerate each other,” Penelope happily blabbers. “Since today is Monday and Amy loooves partying hard on the weekends, she’s already late. Something that displeases the bossman who is constantly waiting to scold Amy because of her little mistakes.” 

“That is intriguing. Are you sure it isn’t all about sexual tension? That would explain their behavior.” Agent Emily Prentiss questions inducing a gasp from Penelope and a laugh from Derek. 

“We’ve all considered it at some point,” the man affirms. “Just don’t say that to Davis or she will lecture you about how terrible it is that two people of the opposite sex aren’t allowed to sincerely and deeply hate one another,” he concludes and looks in the direction of his Superior individual office through the open blinds. “Hotch seems to be especially annoyed today so I bet he won’t even wait for Davis to reach her table before he calls her attention.” Morgan deduces and the elevator cheeps in sync announcing new arrivals, making the three agents stare in its direction. They see a couple of interns hurrying to the coffee marker and the next person to come out is the disheveled figure of Agent Davis. Her crystal blue eyes are hidden by black sunglasses, the woman’s usually perfect long brunette hair is currently disheveled, her button up white shirt is supporting some wrinkles while her dark grey blazer is in her left hand along with her bag. She connects the fingers of her right hand with her temple massaging it in a foolish attempt to ease the headache obviously caused by a hangover. 

Amelia tries to walk discreetly in the direction of her desk, hoping she would pass unnoticed by her boss, but she isn’t successful. Seeing her state, Derek whistles and loudly states, “I think someone had a wild night,” he laughs with Prentiss and Penelope. His booming voice affects the balance of Davis, making her stumble over her own feet and before she gets a hold of her chair and tells the man to be quiet, the harsh sound of a door opening echoes through the entire space of the bullpen. 

“Agent Davis. My office. Now,” the chief unit’s demand rings like thunder, giving chills to the ones around.  

“Fuck,” Amy murmurs while taking off her sunglasses  and dropping her belongings on her desk. 

The brunette drags her legs, taking her time along the short way to her boss’s office. 

Amelia feels like she’s in high school and the principal is calling to lecture her, but that’s something she never experienced during her school years since her teachers adored her effort to have the best grades and eagerness to learn. Besides, she could always blast a polite amiable smile to make people bend at her will. It came easily to Amy, being friendly and kind towards others, virtues that paid off and made everyone like her. Well, everyone but him. 

The door to the room is already opened and to Amy, it resembles the entrance of a

scary and dark cave. After she’s inside, she makes sure to close it to shield herself from the curious ears of her coworkers. She goes straight to one of the chairs across from the stoic man, a journey she’s so used to, considering that Hotchner’s constantly expressing his discontent with her whether it was about being a few minutes late, or about a typo in a rapport, or even choosing to use a grey folder instead of the yellow ones. Everything would lead to criticism and by now she would just take it with humor. She mumbles a good morning but Aaron simply ignores it.

“Tell me, Agent, what’s your excuse for today? Two weeks ago there was something wrong with your car, four weeks ago it was a problem with shower. I can’t wait to hear about another one of your misfortunes,” there’s venom watering each word, his eyes colder than a winter day and his entire posture screams irritation.  

Amy thinks how he’s ever so ridge when she’s around. Every time she enters the same room as him, the jet black haired man would instantly go ridge like her mere presence was a heinous crime. She’s used to it and more than happy to demonstrate that she is also offended by his existence.  

“Would you believe me if I told you that my nanny died?” Davis playfully replies and grins, which boils Aaron’s anger further. 

“Do you think this is some sort of joke?” he snaps, standing from his chair and positioning his hands on the desk that separated them. “I can’t have people in this unit that don’t take their job seriously and I don’t have time to endure irresponsibility and lack of respect.” 

I bet you would have a lot of free time if you just left me the fuck alone, dude - Amelia thinks while maintaining eye contact with the man. 

“One more day of tardiness and you will have to suffer consequences. Is that clear enough for you, agent?” he fumes. 

She bites her lips and swallows a bitter response. Not afraid of the outcome, just too tired to deal with her boss’s intensity so early in the day. “Yes, boss.”

“You can leave now,” he grunts and sits back in his chair. Starting to reach for one of the files on his desk; at the same time, Amelia makes a quick way out of the room. Once she gets to her chair, she releases a loud sigh, longing for the day to be over already. 

“That seemed intense.” Emily comments. She and Morgan are in their respectives chairs and Penelope has made her way to her own office - after the end of the show, of course.  

“You have no idea,” Amy answers while starting her work. 

 “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened between the two of you?” Prentiss carefully asks, genuinely curious.

“He’s the one who decided to hate me since my first day, I’m just returning the sentiment,” Davis explains, unbothered by the question, being a curious person herself she knows how it is once interest sparks. That’s when Dr. Reid and Agent Jareau arrive, talking to themselves. Spencer is carrying a notebook with a sketch of a boy’s face in it, moving around the room frantically and picking a telephone. 

“What’s wrong?” Amelia worriedly questions. 

“Need to get that to everyone as soon as possible,” Reid hurriedly explains while making a call. “Detective Barnes, this is Special Agent Doctor Spencer Reid of the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico,” he clarifies to the person on the other side of the phone and continues rapidly, “Have you had recent murders involving prostitutes? They would’ve been stabbed to death and their hair would’ve been cut off by the killer,” that causes the other Agents to exchange confused glances, intrigued by the sudden event. 

“When was the last recent victim?” the Doctor inquires to the Detective on the line. 

Seems like we have a case, Amy processes. 

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #22- If You Don’t Love Thunderclash, Get Better Soon I Guess

One last issue before we reach Comic Event Hell.

Time to use a dead man to set up the rest of the nonsense that’s got to happen, because apparently 14 issues of setup, including six issues of literal prelude, wasn’t enough.

The first bit of information we’re presented with is the fact that Chromedome and Swerve are on the opposite sides of the camera-shy scale. I guess that’s bound to happen when your spouse has had his video-cam literally connected to his brain for at least several thousand years.

The art may look really gritty and hardcore here, but this is actually due to a filter Rewind has over all his footage that he’s neglected to take off, because it made all the wartime propaganda he would stuff into people’s heads all the more brutal-looking.

No, this is the style of our artist for this issue, James Raiz, who we’ll be seeing a fair bit of over the next several issues. Raiz has worked on the Transformers franchise over the course of multiple license-holders, as well as contributed to both Marvel and DC comics. He also works in special effects, including matte painting and VFX. That’s just neat.

Anyway, the reason Swerve’s completely frozen in place isn’t because Rewind  switched out his head-mounted camera for a gun that goes off if it hears you make a self-deprecating joke, but rather because he’s conducting interviews with everyone in the main cast. We get all their introductions, Cyclonus makes a statement about his political stances, Drift sounds like he’s high as a kite, First Aid strikes a sassy pose while not being bitter in the slightest, and Ultra Magnus makes a move that would get him murdered on any given film set in the universe.

You do NOT use your bare fucking hand to clean a camera lens, mister. Go get a microfiber cloth and try the fuck again, you complete and utter duffel bag of a creature.

We get a quick cut of the speech Rodimus made back in issue #1, with an angle that implies that Rewind was in the front row of the front row, then cut over to Rodimus asking Rewind to document their Capital-Q Quest. This is where we establish that this film doesn’t only contain footage from Rewind’s personal camera, but also that of the Lost Light’s security system.

Which feels like the sort of access you maybe wouldn’t want to give some nosy little film buff, especially when you have a secret giant serial killing sadist living in your basement like a disappointing adult child.

See? He was given the job to record the adventures of the Lost Light not five minutes ago, and he’s already using his powers for evil. Eavesdropping evil. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, Rodimus, and you just handed it to the guy with a massive Dominus Ambus-shaped chip on his shoulder.

So Rewind’s got permission to film just about whatever he wants, and Rodimus figures it’ll be nonstop action from here to the finish line! Fights! Intrigue! Mild hijinks and peril! Explosions aplomb! Oh man, I can’t wait to see what kinds of crazy shit will happen on this absolute roller coaster of a Quest!

Smashcut to Swerve literally falling asleep in the middle of a conversation. Yeah, as it turns out, no quest, capital Q or not, is nonstop action. Which is good, honestly, because that kind of seems like it would be exhausting after the first week or so.

Swerve, Tailgate, and Rewind are discussing cool alt-modes, which seems like an odd topic, seeing as Tailgate and Swerve have basically the same situation going on there, leaving Rewind alone in the camp of “does not have wheels”.

I worry about you sometimes, Rewind. Internalized Functionism is a very real problem. Uh, well, in your universe anyway. Us humans have to deal with regular ol’ classism and racism.

Rung gets brought up, and it’s revealed that the wheel on his back is almost purely cosmetic; it doesn’t even actually attach to his body. The lads decide that they’ve got nothing better to do, and set up a gentlemen’s wager- first one to figure out Rung’s whole deal gets 100 space-dollars.

Throwing shit at people’s heads will be a major plot point in the climax of this comic series.

Swerve’s go at trying to win the bet involved tossing a grenade at Rung to hit him in the neural cluster, which is rumored to be able to force an involuntary mode change if done correctly. Obviously, it didn’t work this go around. Then our narrative focus switches over to the crew’s hobbies.

You were listening to Prince, weren’t you, Magnus? Not even deep space is safe from the Cease and Desist.

Skids’ hobby is meeting new people, because he suffers from the terrible curse of being so fucking good at everything he tries, he always ends up dropping whatever he picked up, because what’s the point? This acts as a segue into another flashback, to even MORE bullshit that the fellas got roped into on Hedonia.

These are the Stentarians. They’re like the Cybertronians, if they were better in every way.

And by “better”, I, of course, mean “more bloodthirsty, warmongering, and driven enough to make their civil war last about as long as the Jurassic Period”. Also, they’re all combiners by default, and Whirl seems a little TOO into their whole situation. So much so, in fact, that when the Imperial Guard of their race show up to kill them, he decides to do them a solid by single-handedly ending their entire war.

You know, in most cases you’re supposed to show and not tell for visual media. This is way funnier, though, so it can be excused.

We jump back into the interviews, and Rewind’s just asked everyone if they’re happy. This might seem like an odd question, until you remember that everyone on-board this ship has crippling depression and PTSD, and Rewind’s married to one of the saddest motherfuckers to ever exist, so he probably has this question loaded into the proverbial chamber at any given moment. We won’t cover all of the answers here, because they’ll be more poignant to reflect back on later in the comic run, but let’s take a gander at the characters who’ve completed the first leg of their character arcs this season.

Drift, is that perhaps… an honest expression of your inner thought processes happening right there? Has Rewind broken through your carefully crafted persona, if even for just a moment, with his question? Perish the thought!

Because Tailgate outed himself as being baby in issue #21, I have zero doubt he’s not exaggerating here. He was a janitor, then he fell in a hole and became Dirt-Nap Supreme for six million years; even the most boring day on the Lost Light’s got to be better than that.

And it’s nice to see Chromedome on a good day for once. Hopefully he reveled in it while he had the chance, because this interview takes place maybe a couple weeks before he fucks everything up big time and has to blow up his husband with a missile strike.

Getting back to the Mystery of the Rungian Alt-Mode plotline, we see Rung using his backpack as a wheelbarrow- no idea what he’s actually pushing in the damned thing- and wearing the most disgruntled face I’ve seen him pull in a hot minute. Someone yells for him to come down the eerily unlit and sinister-looking hallway, which he does. Rung would not do well in a horror film.

He winds up at Swerve’s, where Tailgate, Swerve, Brainstorm, and someone who is most likely Trailcutter, given the colors, are hanging out in their alt-modes. Tailgate’s ploy to find out Rung’s deal is to do what he does best- lie! They’re having an alt-mode party, and wouldn’t Rung like to join in? There are, of course, logistical issues with being a car in a bar, especially when your drink is on the table and your head is tucked up somewhere in your torso, but never mind all that! Let’s get crazy!

This doesn’t work either. Maybe we should cut out the middle man here and just get Rung drunk enough to agree to a wet alt-mode contest.

No, I don’t have any idea how that would work.

In our next vignette, Rodimus comes into the comms room, Rewind trailing behind him like a grim shadow of death, to see what the hell Blaster wants, other than just the hugest glass of water.

Raiz’s work is very detailed, and you really feel the weight of these giant metal space robots, but everyone looks like they’ve been put through a food dehydrator.

We get a lot of build up to the character who’s about to be introduced, with a common opinion being shared amongst everyone- even Tailgate, who hates successful people like his life depends on it.

Lovely readers, put your hands together for the ideal male partner for Autobots, Decepticons, and Neutrals alike:

A man with so much charisma and charm that only Rodimus could hate him, Thuderclash brings to IDW what everyone wishes Optimus Prime would, making our disappointing space dad even more mediocre by comparison. He fights for justice, and freedom, and the good of the universe- and he does it all while having a chronic medical condition that forces him to stay within a certain distance of his ship that is also a life-support machine, otherwise he will die. Despite his handicaps, Thunderclash seemingly brings to others what they need most, even if they don’t even realize that they needed it in the first place.

He also, in this one scene, appeals to Drift’s religious sensibilities, does a secret best-friend dance with Ratchet (who he helped to pass his medical exams- yes, Ratchet), and congratulates Rodimus on his questing so far.

Thunderclash is one of those characters that everyone in-universe is supposed to love, and I completely buy it- because he’s completely genuine and humble about all of this the entire time.

Compare this to the last time Roberts wrote Thunderclash, in Eugenesis.

Where he was an ex-Decepticon.

And kind of an abrasive asshole.

And then he died.

Y’know, now that I think of it, Eugenesis Thunderclash and MTMTE Ambulon being basically the same character makes a whole lot of sense, even without the horrors of Roberts’ Twitter getting involved.

Thunderclash reveals that he, too, is on a quest to find the Knights of Cybertron, much to Rodimus’ chagrin. But first he needs the Lost Light to break out the jumper cables, and then for his second in command to stop threatening his life.

Turns out, not everyone is as obvious as the Cybertronians with their naming conventions. Whirl assassinated the wrong folks; I’m sure the Galactic Council is utterly thrilled. Paddox wants to steal the quantum engine technology for the good of his people, so they can kick the ass of the up-and-coming Terradore leader.

Completely unaware of the situation unfolding here in the lab, Swerve is directing Rung towards the warm, loving aura of Thunderclash for another go at winning the gentlemen’s wager- through the power of lying about having friends, Swerve’s “agreed” to get Rung Thunderclash’s autograph, in exchange for getting to check that Rung’s transformation cog is still working. Then they bump into the nightmare currently unfolding. My, whoever will save us from this dreaded menace, who holds a gun to the head of the Autobots’ greatest warrior, confidant, friend, and perhaps even lover?

How about a bartender and a giant vape pen?

Okay, so Rung doesn’t actually turn into a vape. It turns out that the Mystery of the Rungian Alt-Mode is also a mystery to the man himself. Because Rung is old as shit, the Functionists got to see this bullshit for themselves, and ended up testing him over and over and over trying to figure it out, lest he prove to be a flaw in their fascist ideologies. Fun fact: fascists HATE it when people they’re trying to oppress don’t play to their expectations.

The Functionists were the ones who gave Rung his little wheelie backpack, to make him at least appear useful. This sort of treatment tends to warp one’s head a bit, which would explain why he’s bothered to keep it for so long- internalized functionism’s a real bitch.

At least he’s not giving teenagers nicotine addictions under the guise of being somewhat better than cigarettes.

Back with Rodimus and Cybertron’s Autobot of the Year for 40,000 consecutive years, we get the unfortunate news that jump-starting Thunderclash’s ship is going to make the Quest go a bit slower for the Lost Light, much to Rodimus’ horror, though he does his best to put on a brave face; after all, that’s what heroes do, isn’t it?

It’s at this point that it’s revealed that “Little Victories” was being screened to all the Circle of Light members who didn’t get murdered or turned into Legislators on Luna 1, and man are these guys pissy. What was meant to be a recruitment video turned out to do just the opposite, because none of these guys want anything to do with what the Lost Light’s got going on.

Too bad Rewind didn’t have time for a cleaner cut for showing. Maybe they could have at least snagged a couple of these guys to tag along.

As all of the Circle of Light leave the theatre to go call everyone’s favorite Autobot to see if he needs a more crew members, the film plays on behind Skids, back to the interviews, as everyone promises more adventures just waiting on the horizon.

You’re not even on this trip anymore, you dork.

Chromedome gives us the title drop for the movie and issue, and we cut to Rewind organizing a group photo of all the interviewees.

And then Rewind died horribly like a week later. Thus ends season one of More Than Meets the Eye!

While I’m here, I’d like to take the time to cover a little bit of cut content from this issue, a scene between Drift and Ratchet.

Drift, during his interview, recalls the time that Ratchet called him into his office for a very serious discussion about his/Pharma’s hands.

Yeah, turns out they’re haunted.

Well, no, not really, because this is a prank. But Drift doesn’t know that yet.

Ratchet demonstrates this hand-haunting by punching Drift in the face, as he screams damnation at Pharma’s ghost. Drift, because he is a spiritual man, knows exactly what to do to deal with this possession; he draws his sword and chops Ratchet’s hands off, then throws them out the airlock.

This, too, is a prank, not that Ratchet knows it right away, yelling at Drift that he’s crippled him.

Clearly, these two belong together.

This bit of cut script was lucky enough to have gotten drawn by the colorist for MTMTE Season 1, Josh Burcham. Burcham’s line art is iconic- you won’t mistake him for anyone else. It’s rough and angular, and honestly just very charming. I’m a sucker for this sort of style. If you want to see his adaptation of this chunk of script- and trust me, you do- the link’s right here:

https://dcjosh.tumblr.com/post/107665292031/its-done-the-mtmte-22-deleted-scene-in-all-its

[gffa]

I’ve been rereading a lot of this book, now that I’ve had time to settle my thoughts about it, to give it time to percolate, and I’m coming to a new appreciation of a lot of what it’s putting forth.  The thing is, while I recognize that Qui-Gon is probably meant to be more of a reliable narrator here, the context is startingly supportive of how he’s actually not that reliable. This is an interesting discussion of the Jedi’s position in the galaxy and just how far they can/cannot go.  Qui-Gon’s argument is that they should Leeroy Jenkins their way into this situation because what Czerka is doing is morally wrong, even if it’s not legally wrong, that they should take up their lightsabers and just go invade, basically.  Obi-Wan’s argument (and Yoda’s as well) is that they need to work within the system and better the system itself, so that Czerka will not be able to commit horrors like this. Qui-Gon is coming from an incredibly good hearted place, because the very obvious answer to slavery is that it shouldn’t happen and he’s absolutely right about that.  But where Qui-Gon loses me is in three places: 1.  In the very first part of this book, Qui-Gon himself acknowledges why this tactic won’t work.  When he’s facing off with the Hutts, this is his pov:

“It would only lead to bloodshed, at the end of which the Republic would remain triumphant and strong.  The Hutts would scramble and scurry through months of infighting, at the end of which a new set of crime lords would emerge to behave in exactly the same way.” One could argue that it’s different when it comes to real, live people and I don’t disagree!  But the problem is that this same logic would still apply because the other side doesn’t see them as people, but things.  Meaning, that same bloodshed would happen, including the killing of the slaves before Czerka would let the Republic have them. This paragraph describes exactly what happens in the book--Qui-Gon (well, Obi-Wan, as a representative of the Republic) is able to force Czerka to free the slaves by stating a Republic law that says they have to, where the might of the established Republic is the only thing that works to force Czerka into doing the decent thing.  Obi-Wan’s argument that they work within the system holds more water because his way is what works.  (No matter how bad the Republic got, there was still hope to save it, to make it better, in a way that the CIS and Empire never had.  Without Palpatine there to manipulate the worst parts of it, it was at least still possible to make it better, while the Empire was rotten down to every last root.) 2.  Which leads us to:  Qui-Gon ignores the consequences of what he’s arguing for.  Could the Jedi, if they all banded together, stop Czerka?  Maybe?  They’re not nearly as populous as people think, so it’d be like one Jedi fighting six billion people, if you pitted them against the entire galaxy.  Also, he doesn’t acknowledge or address what to do when Czerka--or another company just like them--would then rise up in its place and nothing would change, except all those slaves would probably be dead because that’s what happens when you go that route. Qui-Gon also ignores that the Jedi wouldn’t just be able to flout the laws of the Republic and invade a legal corporation (no matter how vile) without massive consequences.  The Republic isn’t just going to say, oh, hey, sure, yeah, that’s fine.  More likely, at best the Jedi would lose their legal authority--which means, hey, when that new tricky situation pops up, the Jedi will not be asked to help.  Without Republic funding, the Jedi would then either have to entirely disband or they would have to find a new source of income--and that means pretty much the only route for them would be by charging people or by finding some very rich patrons, who probably aren’t going to exactly welcome Jedi neutrality when it clashes with their political ambitions.  Which means only people or planets with money will be able to afford them, which are going to be the people who least need their help. At worst, the Jedi (given that the galaxy misunderstands them and fears them terribly) would be outlawed and/or driven out and/or hunted down.  (The galaxy REALLY likes to do some bad shit to Force-sensitives.  And they were certainly ready to turn a blind eye to the genocide of the Jedi and the slaughter of the children.) 3.  Qui-Gon’s argument is fundamentally, “We should just do whatever we want whenever we want.”  Obi-Wan’s argument is, “We need to work together with the Republic and the system, to make each other better.” This is reflected in the conversation they’re having at the same time about their relationship--Qui-Gon’s motivations for why he still has Obi-Wan practicing basic lightsaber skills is coming from a good place, but there’s a reason the scene ends on Obi-Wan’s killer last line:  Qui-Gon didn’t trust him enough to actually talk to him about it, to work with him. This is a recurring theme throughout the entire book, where Qui-Gon rarely actually talks directly to Obi-Wan, instead all his praise for his apprentice is internal, all his struggling with trying to be a better Master is internal, none of this is actually verbalized with Obi-Wan.  Their relationship is strained and difficult, it has been for the last four years, and the resolution of their tension?  Isn’t through talking it out, it’s just a sudden realization of OH LOL THEY PUT THE REBEL PADAWAN WITH THE REBEL MASTER SO YOU’D REBEL INTO BEING STRAIGHT-LACED and that’s kind of... it. This is echoed in how Qui-Gon misunderstands the Jedi Council (he thinks they’d never actually listen to him, meanwhile they value his differing opinions enough to invite him to join the Council), in how he misunderstands Obi-Wan (he always seems to say the wrong thing, he doesn’t trust him to actually tell him why he’s keeping Obi-Wan in basic lightsaber forms), it’s echoed by how Qui-Gon is offered a position on the Council where he could work to make the system better, but he turns it down flat, he won’t even make an attempt to make things better, because he feels closer to the Force by just going his own way.  Which, fair enough, but politics are a thing that none of us can escape, not if you want to make an actual difference. And seasoning the whole thing is an overarching theme where Qui-Gon’s interest in the prophecies--the thing that he bets everything he has on, the ones that don’t actually mean much of anything in the grand scheme of the PT or the OT, because Star Wars is not about prophecy, it’s about choice--being constantly compared with obsessions, and the logic he uses to determine if he’s right about this? "But this situation was different.  It had to be, because the only thing Qui-Gon knew to be absolutely true was that his vision was real." That’s it, that’s what it is for Qui-Gon.  His vision has to be real, so everything else has to be shuffled around to reach that conclusion.  Even when his vision is proven wrong, Qui-Gon says that he was meant to misinterpret his vision.  That vision he was so sure about, the one that he rearranged everything for, the one that he “knew to be absolutely true”. "But when facts collided with ideals, Qui-Gon preferred to change the facts."

[tessatechaitea]

Justice League International #7 (1987)

Kevin Maguire not really trying looks an awful lot like John Romita Jr at his best.

Ah! It feels good to be back! Taking a crack at John Romita Jr while he's just sitting there not doing anything particularly wrong. Just going about his business pretending to be a comic book artist! I don't know what John Romita's politics are but I bet he now agrees with Donald Trump on one thing: naming your kid after you is a huge fucking mistake. Was all that previous nonsense poisonous, vile, and toxic? I suppose one could argue the point. But I'd also guess that somebody arguing that point has never seen John Romita Jr's art. Or perhaps they have seen it and like it because they have a terribly underdeveloped sense of aesthetics. Otherwise nobody would argue with me at all! They'd just read the previous poisonous, vile, toxic nonsense and nod their heads in agreement while pausing for a second to snort a line of Adderall. Fine, I'm sorry, JRJR! Obviously you're an artist! Drawing squinty people with block heads and weird noses holding geometric guns without a single curve on them absolutely falls under the definition of art! Although I draw the line at accepting that Rob Liefeld is an artist. That's a bridge too far! What the fuck does that even mean, "a bridge too far"? It must be a term bombers in WWII used, right? "What the fuck do you mean, carpet bomb Dresden?! If we fly past the Geralthauskopfplatz Bridge, we're definitely getting scrawked by anti-aircraft flak, you bingehart!" Did that sound like an authentic American bomber pilot from the 40s? It's not like Catch-22 is my favorite book or something. Wait. Catch-22 is my favorite book. I guess I'm just no good at written impressions. I assure you it sounds exactly what you'd expect from an American pilot in the Forties if you heard me do the impression live. Also, this is probably the last month of my life where I'll be able to say, "Catch-22 is my favorite book." Because I'm over 500 pages into Gravity's Rainbow and it's just as fucking amazing as everybody who has pretended to read it says it is. This issue begins with Guy Gardner regaining consciousness after having been violently assaulted by his employer.

Why was the mouse glowing green?!

In my memory, Guy Gardner's change from dickhole to sweetest guy on the team came after Batman punched his lights out. But apparently that isn't the case. It's possible this new whack on the head is the cause or maybe it's something a bit later. I bet an editorial mandate came down which said they couldn't have Guy suffer serious head trauma from Batman punching him. So they had to add this new scene where Guy basically gives himself the head trauma that results in a catastrophic change in personality. The Justice League didn't quite finish destroying The Gray Man last issue so that story gets resolved pretty quickly this issue. Doctor Fate transported him to the Realms of Order where a big blob of Order disintegrates him. Which is what he ultimately wanted. It's what we all ultimately want. It's just you don't know that you want it until you've lived long enough for all the wonder to be bled out of life. That's why he's the Gray Man! Some people think life's too short but at 49, I'm beginning to suspect that it's way too fucking long.

This comic book passes the Reverse Bechdel Test: "Any story that has only one woman in it and every scene she's in, she's treated like a sexual object."

With The Gray Man out of the way, it's time to get to the important part of the story: turning the Justice League of America into Justice League International! I wonder how many people this change pissed off in the 80s? Fucking globalist woke elite bubble bullshit! People talk in derogatory terms about the coastal bubbles but they absolutely shouldn't. I won't disagree that I grew up in a totally different environment in the San Francisco Bay Area than people who grew up in the Midwest. A bubble? Sure. But it was a fucking good thing. I was recently showing the Non-Certified Spouse some of the station breaks from local stations in the late 70s and early 80s out of San Francisco and she was amazed at the representative shorts these stations presented, especially KTVU's "Bits and Pieces." Sure, there were the ones about ethics and morality humorously presented with a horse and bulldog puppet. But there were also the ones that showed different ethnicities and their lives, often ending with "I'm proud to be a Chinese American!" or "I'm proud to be a Black American!" The one about Japanese Americans even mentioned how Japanese families were put in interment camps during World War II. One was about Italian Americans and instead of Italian history, it just showed Italian art and various activities of people in the Italian community. One of the Japanese American shorts just had a Japanese American kid having to explain how he was tired of answering questions about being Japanese in America because he was fourth generation and just American as anybody else. But I guess that kind of commie pinko hogwash is why I'm a big fat America hating socialist! As I was saying before my politics politely interrupted (my politics interrupting impolitely would look like this: Trump voters should be forced to shit in their own mouths for all eternity), the main thrust of this story is to set up Justice League International. Judging by the cover, that means hiring some guy with a bucket on his head from Russia and Captain Atom, another white American male.

Ah yes! The introduction of the best character of the series: Big Barda!

Big Barda might not be on the team but at least there's another female character. Sure, Doctor Light was sort of on the team for three pages. And pretty soon, Fire and Ice will join. But it's mostly just been poor Black Canary having to put up with Booster and Blue Beetle's jokes about banging her. Max and J'onn discuss the United Nations possibly backing the Justice League while Superman talks respectfully with President Reagan. What a mistake! The biggest do-gooder on the planet normalizing fucking Ronald Reagan! He should be scolding him with a liberal smattering of Kryptonian tsk-tsks! That's when a Kryptonian gives you a little burst of heat vision every time you deny the AIDS crisis or invoke the spectre of Welfare Queens or destroy the economy by lowering the top marginal tax rates pretending that the money saved will trickle down to everyone instead of fat corporate cats simply keeping all the extra for bonuses and investors. Fuck that guy. I'm so mad now!

Of all the digs they could have taken with Reagan, they poke fun of his dementia?! Christ, Giffen and DeMatteis.

Hal Jordan drops by headquarters to give Guy a good talking-to but Guy doesn't need it because he's suffered a traumatic head injury on top of his brain damage alongside Batman's sucker punch to the face and now he's Mister Sweetbeans. And because he's acting so nice, nobody gives a shit that this is actually a medical emergency. Backing Maxwell Lord is a computer satellite in space. Is it Brother Eye already?! Are they already working together in 1987?! Or is it just some alien gizmo from the Millennium bullshit coming up? I don't remember! Heck, this Maxwell Lord might even be a Manhunter! Anyway, the satellite begins destroying shit on Earth with a giant heat beam. The Justice League, having nearly nobody who can do anything about it, doesn't call Superman to fix the problem. Instead, they decide to spend precious hours borrowing a space shuttle from STAR Labs to launch them into space to battle the space station. Also, they leave Guy Gardner back at headquarters on monitor duty. Because who needs the guy with experience battling in space with a ring that can protect every other member of the League while in space? Also the ring is the greatest weapon in the universe. So, you know, sideline that guy, right?

It's possible this was in the era where Superman couldn't survive in space either, really. But then that's even more incentive to get fucking Guy Gardner up there with them!

The Justice League manages to stop the satellite's destruction but mostly only because it was a huge set-up so every nation could see them save the world. Everybody wants them defending the planet now so the United Nations agrees to back them with one condition: two new members, one to pacify the U.S. and one to pacify the U.S.S.R.

I've read a lot of ridiculous things in comic books but Rocket Red's power levels being nearly equal to Captain Atom's might be the most ridiculous.

I love how Captain Atom's power level is 9+ but Rocket Red's power level is 8.43 instead of 8+. I guess the accuracy of whatever system they're using breaks down over 9. Captain Marvel quits the team and Batman steps down as leader so J'onn can lead. And that's about it, I guess! The issue ends with some kind of flim-flam about how its the 80s and we've become a global world and boundaries just don't work anymore and superheroes are cool as shit. I guess it's inspirational or something. There's still just one woman on the team though. Justice League International #7 Rating: B. Seven issues in and the Justice League has defeated two villains who weren't actual threats to anybody. They were just scams to get the Justice League some press. They also beat up and killed an old guy who was just frustrated with the boredom that came with the immortality the Lords of Order forced on him. So all in all, they're nearly as terrible as the New Titans who practically only ever battled relatives while putting the residents of New York City in danger every time.

[catsdaydreams]

King

Chapter 7 of When the Crown Calls. Check out the other chapters here.

Maxwell x mc x Liam

Rated Mature. Like the unsolicited Dick pick my ex just sent me. 

I keep trying to make this whole scene quick, I wanted to end “while you were sleeping” with the end of this event. But the story decided that it wanted more details and kept pushing it out further..

Requested Tags: @decisso @marcela13mars @viktoriapetit

I shook my head and looked him in the eyes, “I don’t back down.” I said, forcing steel into my vice. “No one is going to scare me away from court.” I stated icily.

We looked on as the estate grew ever larger in our vision. The limo pulled around the back of the estate as help came out to grab our bags. “Oh,” said a redheaded servant, noticing me as I stepped out of the limo. She fumbled on her words, “L-Lady Kendra. We weren’t aware of your arrival, we only have one room prepared for Lord Maxwell.”

I smiled politely, “No matter, I supposed Lord Maxwell will have to share.” I said, helping unload the bags. “T-There’s only one bed, M’Lady.” She said, looking appalled. My smile continued, “I’m sure there is an entertaining couch in the suite that he can sleep on, at very worst I’m sure Drake wouldn’t mind a bunk mate.” I said casually, ignoring Maxwell’s protests. 

The servant smiled and nodded as she turned to lead us up to our room. She lead us to an extravagant Victorian themed suite, I noted that the room spared no amenities as the bar was extra stocked. “They sure do know how to make a guest feel welcome.” I chuckled and Maxwell. “Ah yes, this is our best suite, Duchess Adeline insisted that we let Maxwell have this room instead of King Liam.” The servant gushed looking around the room.

I stifled a laugh, and noticed Maxwell’s face paling. “And where is Drakes suite so I know where to crash tonight?” He asked fearfully, making it harder for me not to laugh. The servant lead Maxwell down the hall as I looked through the outfits Bertrand had sent in my suitcase. A form fit wrapped pink dress was folded on top with a note on the top. Maxwell insisted that we do our part to help you. This is designer, and will ensure that your return is all the statement you hope it will be. 

I started for the bathroom when Maxwell re-entered, servant trailing not far behind with a dress bag in tow. “Hey, I brought something for today. Eyes are going to be on you and-” He stopped noticing the pink dress in my hands. “Where did that come from? It’s beautiful. Not exactly what I would wear to make an ‘I’m back bitches’, but still beautiful.” he said, splaying his arms out for effect on his statement.

“Bertrand said it was from you?” I questioned. Maxwell smiled and shook his head, “Good old Bertrand. He wanted to help.” He stated ushering for the dress bag, “however, I think you should save that, and wear this instead.” He pulled out a gorgeous floor length deep blue dress. The top was an embroidered design, and the satin bottom pooled perfectly. 

“Maxwell, where on earth did you get your fashion sense?” I gaped at the gorgeous dress in front of me. Maxwell nodded his head in thanks as the servant slipped out quietly. “I always kind of hoped that the noble girls would take me shopping with them and let me watch them change.” Maxwell admitted. I turned and swatted his arm, “Maxwell Beaumont!” I gasped, giggling. “Hey!” He complained. “I didn’t say it worked,” he muttered.

Maxwell grabbed his suit and entered the bathroom once I had the gown on. I was applying make up as he slipped into his blouse and trousers. “You know you don’t need that.” He mused, as he tied his bow tie. “Somehow, you make that gown impossibly more beautiful.” He said, as I finished applying the final touch of mascara to my blue eyelids. 

I started putting on the diamond necklace and earrings, as Maxwell started fiddling with my hair. I watched as he quickly braided it into a perfectly messy crown braid. I smiled at him, “Let me guess? Another sex tactic?” I said playfully. 

He gave me a sad smile, “No. my mom. She always told me that it would be important to be able to connect with the love of my life on a more intimate level than the average man. She always said that I would have a happier life if I could help my wife with her hair now and then, or cook for her instead of trusting her or servants to do it all the time. She taught me that being together was a partnership and that being able to cross traditional lines might help me have a deeper connection.” 

The melancholy laced in his voice pulled on my heart as he pinned in a loose strand of braid. He met my eyes in the large mirror in front of us, and smiled as he placed a kiss on my shoulder. He took a step back as he lifted his elbow to me. “Are you ready Lady Kendra?”

“I am, Lord Maxwell.”

We made our way to the ballroom and Maxwell stopped me before we entered the doors, “Kendra, a quick word of warning. They have a sunken ballroom, forcing both of the entrances to lead to grand stairs. So, it’s going to be an even more dramatic entrance than you might be thinking.”

I smiled, “How perfect. Honestly with how extra Madeline and her family are, I bet in another life we’d be friends.” I said, squaring my shoulders and raising my chin, nodding to the servants on either side of the door. Maxwell, shook his head and led me in using his usual jovial demeanor. 

Maxwell wasn’t kidding, the over sized doors opened to a beautiful marble grand stairwell. The flashes instantly started, as did the whispers, as we made our way down the steps. At the base of the steps I heard Maxwell whisper some encouragement to me over the barrage of press questions in cordonian. I tried to make out what they were saying.

Being semi-fluent in Greek only gave me a slight advantage, as Cordonian was an older variation of common Greek.  I smiled at a blonde lady waiting patiently at the front of the press for her turn to speak, I motioned to her as the rest of the group lowered there questions to a bearable buzz.

“Lady Kendra,-” She begins but is cut off by a beautiful woman in her thirties pushing her way through the crowd with authority. I notice Maxwell shuffling his feet next to me uncomfortably. “Lord Maxwell,” she begins coyly, “I see you’ve brought a most interesting plus one.” She says looking me from head to toe. Her eyes narrow at our arms linked together. She smiles warmly at me, “It would be a rather boring party without at least a little scandal, hmm Lady Kendra? Welcome to Fydelia.” She says offering up her hand.

“You must be Duchess Adeline.” I smile back,taking her hand suddenly understanding Maxwell’s discomfort. Internally I bristled with jealousy. I spot Penelope and Kiara whispering to each other, eyes wide, over her shoulder. She followed my gaze and gives an amused smile. 

“My daughter will want to greet you personally. You should go and speak to her, I can keep Maxwell entertained in your absence. We have something to discuss anyway.” She said, added an edge to her voice at the end, and staring daggers at Maxwell. 

“I, uh, need to talk to Drake about something.” He says, darting off. I decided to follow suit and make my way around the frowning duchess. I spotted a walking server in the crowd and chased down the flute of champagne I had been eyeing.

Madeline greeted me as I lifted the glass to my lips. “Lady Kendra! I am so glad to see that you are awake, and even discharged!” She feigned joy, “Are you sure that you shouldn’t be home resting.” She said pointedly. I gave her a charming smile, “I couldn’t miss the engagement tour of not only my king, but a close friend.”

She kept her face neutral, sidling up to me and dropping her breath so that no one could hear but us, “he’s hardly your friend, and Americans don’t have kings. They have presidents.” She seethed. I frowned at her, my volume matching hers, “Cordonia is my home now, and he is very much my friend. I have no intention of attempting to break up your engagement. Congratulations by the way.” I said, taking another sip of champagne. 

Madeline took a moment to study my expression. “Well, I-” she stuttered. “Thank you. Welcome back to court.”

“You know, it was a stupid decision to show up here. It makes the target on your back larger, I’m sure it will make whoever initially set you up more desperate to force you to leave.” She said, matter-of-factly.

I tried to hide my surprise, “You knew I was set up?” She scoffed. “Of course I did. Anyone on the inside track knows that you were too focused on Liam to bother with a side piece. Never-minding the fact that you aren’t exactly Tariq’s type if you know what I mean.”

I gasped, “Tariq’s gay?!” She side eyed me, sipping her champagne. “What, you think all those late night smoke runs with Drake were actually smoke runs?” I frowned further. “Wait, Drake’s gay too?”

She shook her head, “God, you are so clueless. Drake doesn’t discriminate against either gender, and Tariq is practically on fire. He is the fashion coordinator for 95% of the court. Including the royal family.” 

I paused for a moment and thought back on my time at court. “That explains why Drake never smelled like smoke when he came back.” I frowned, kicking myself internally for not noticing it sooner.

Liam appeared at Madeline’s side, slipping a kiss on to her cheek, causing both of to jump. “Darling you scared me,” she gushed. She motioned to me, “look who managed to make it.” Liam met my eyes, concern instantly filling his face. 

“Kendra! What are you doing here? You should be at the Beaumont estate, resting. Not to mention all the press here.” He said irritation on his face, scanning the crowd for what I presumed was Maxwell. “Liam, I’m fine.” Madeline bristled at his almost over concern for my well being. “King Liam.” She corrected me, glaring as she looped her arm through his. “We need to make our rounds, being the couple of the hour is a demanding position.” She said sweetly, continuing her glare.

I nodded politely and brushed past them, lowering my voice for Madeline as I passed. “Claws down kitty cat.” I whispered. Turning my attention to the rest of the room. I noted Maxwell, Drake, and Hana standing with Penelope and Kiara.

Kiara stuck her nose up as I approached, attempting to discreetly pull Penelope away. I rolled my eyes as Penelope gave me a sad wave and walked off with Kiara. I shot her a grateful smile as my friends turned to greet me. “Kendra, you’re awake!” Hana said, pulling me into a deep hug. I relaxed, finally amongst friends. “I thought your parents pulled you out of Court?” I asked. 

She smiled sheepishly, “one of my best friends was in a coma. There was no one that could pull me out of here.” Drake simply took a long sip of his whiskey. “Well you know me, Hernandez. Wherever King Ken-doll goes so do I.” He says, swirling the ice in his glass, bitterness in his voice.

I caught his eye and cocked my head questioningly. He shook his head in response. I suppose I would try to catch him alone later to figure out what was wrong. I turned back to the rest of my friends. “Okay scooby gang, what clues do we have as to who set up Tariq and I?”

Hana gave me a look of surprise, “aren’t you a little more concerned with the person that put you in a coma?” She asked incredulously. I shook my head, “No, Liam has Bastien on it.” 

“King Liam.” Maxwell and Drake corrected simultaneously. I frowned at the two of them. “What is wrong with everyone today. I obviously know he’s the king, but were all on first name bases here. None of us ever use our titles.” 

“It doesn’t matter Kendra. Things are different now that King Liam has been crowned. Even we need to use his title in public. The only person awarded the luxury of a public first name basis is Madeline.” Drake stated.

“To call him Liam in front of anyone at an event like this, is a blatant disrespect to Madeline.” Maxwell shrugged. I nodded in understanding, “that explains the daggers she was staring at me earlier.”

Drake smiled into his glass as he took another swig. “Classic Hernandez.”

“Has anyone seen Tariq?” I asked, attempting not to directly ask Drake. His statement was the best way to discredit the rumors that the photos had started. 

“He left court after that night. He didn’t even make it to the coronation.” Drake mumbled. I frowned, realizing that Drake may have wanted to escort him.

The music signaling the arranged dances began, as per usual I grabbed Maxwell’s hand and led him on the floor. We danced our turn and it was close to switching time, Maxwell leaned into my ear. “Stay with me?” He whispered huskily.

I pulled back to look at his face. “That is incredibly bold, Lord Maxwell.” I giggled. He smiled, “Maybe its all this time hanging around an american.” I leaned into his shoulder, allowing him to pull me a little closer than necessary. It was only then that I realized his next dance partner was supposed to be Adeline. I smirked, putting the appropriate distance between us, as Maxwell frowned.

“Sorry, M’Lord. But this American has enough scandal under her belt.” I said, as we bowed to each other, prepping to switch partners. “Kenze, please. Stay with me.” He pleaded urgently, using the nickname he only used privately. I stifled a laugh. “Have fun with the Duchess.” I whispered, half laughing as I spun to my next partner.

Over the next 3 partners I heard about my own scandal non stop, Two inquires on how I had been so bold as to return to court, and one improper proposition. I sighed, moving onto the next partner not paying attention.

“Well hey there,” familiar arms wrapped around me. I looked up to see Drake smiling down at me. I breathed in relief, “Thank God. Someone who wont ask me about Tariq.” Drake frowned, “Actually,” He started. I shook my head.

“I should have known, Drake Walker doesn’t dance.” I said, annoyed. He glanced around the room. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. A lot has happened in the last year.” He said giving me a twirl. “I could ask the same thing. I know about you and Tariq.” I said quietly. Drake chuckled, “Don’t worry about that. Tariq knew how to have fun, but that’s all it was.”

Drake was surprisingly well versed at these dances for someone who refused to do so. He led me around the floor with ease. “You’re much better at this than Maxwell or King Liam.” I mused. Drake blushed, “yeah, well someone had to teach the two of them.” He muttered. His eyes met mine, searching for something as we bowed to switch. I spun to meet my next dance partner.

I blushed as I met Liam’s gaze. We didn’t speak as we continued the waltz, simply enjoying dancing together. My eyes met Maxwell’s over Liam’s shoulder, his expression hooded.

I frowned as Liam let me into the dip and pulled me flush up against him. “Oh.” I said, breaking the silence between us. “This seems a little close for the dance floor.” I whispered, swaying with the music. I felt his smile, “don’t worry. At this point I think the only one sober enough to notice is Madeline, and she doesn’t mind.” I pulled back, keeping rhythm with the song. “She is your fiancee. Of course she cares.”

Liam let a short breath out of his nose, “This is Cordonia, mi amor.” He said silkily. I was startled at his use of Spanish, his greek accent curling around the words. He noticed my confusion, “You know my native language, I figured the least I could do was learn a few phrases in yours. As I was saying.” He continued.

“Madeline and I have a deal. In the public, we maintain our appearance. But privately, we don’t owe each other anything.” He said, the end of the dance rapidly approaching. “Meet me on the balcony at 12?” He said, bowing his head to me. 

“Ill be sure to leave my glass slippers in my room.” I quipped back. He smiled and kissed my hand politely, as I swung into the arms of Maxwell bringing the dance to a full circle. Signifying the end of the dance.

Oh look, a representation for my life. I thought as Maxwell shot a look of jealousy at Liam.

I wasn’t going to be able to keep this dance up for very long. I was going to have to end it somewhere.

Shit.

Next chapter

[xtruss]

Disillusioned By Two Decades of Dreams, Discerning ‘10 Illusions’ of the US From the ‘Kabul Moment’

— Shao Xia | September 26, 2021 | Global Times

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

In 2001, the US entered Kabul, and it was the Taliban who confronted the US. In 2021, the US fled Kabul in chaos, and it was still the Taliban who "sent off" the US. What's different, however, is that the Taliban updated their weapons with captured high-tech American armaments, and has learned from their opposition during the 20 years of US occupation.

This Kabul moment is far more dramatic than the Saigon moment of 1975. When the US started the war in Afghanistan two decades ago, its national strength was almost at its peak. But now the US became another superpower lost in the Graveyard of Empires, just like the Soviet Union and Great Britain. As Russian President Vladimir Putin noted, the US is now walking the Soviet Union's path.

Perhaps what the US is most worried about today is that the Kabul moment might just be the first domino to fall down and the first hole of the Broken Windows theory. History never ends. History is proceeding.

The world is undergoing a great change unseen in a century, and the momentum of change is accumulating fast. However, imperialists and hegemonists will never willingly admit their defeat, and will never honestly admit the end of "American mythology". They did their utmost to project the aura of the peak era into the shadow of today's America, and created "10 illusions" for those who yearn for America and fear America. These illusions should be considered in detail.

Illusion 1: America is invincible

Relying on advanced weapons and equipment, the US military killed numerous lives, including those of Afghan civilians, as if the operators of high-tech weapons were "playing video games."

However, in the long term, "weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor. It is the people, not things, that are decisive." Calculating the strength of the two sides is not a simple mathematical question of comparing GDP, but an analytical problem of political economy.

An economic "star" may indeed be a "black hole" in politics. For example the Wall Street titans may earn a lot, but they are also powder kegs that cause polarization between the rich and the poor, creating national turmoil. America's strength is glamorous, but it is by no means invulnerable, let alone invincible, as the Taliban has confirmed.

Illusion 2: The US could play with the concepts of grand geopolitical strategy at will

The US always boasts of its military supremacy-based strategies, while completely ignores the gap between its capabilities and aspirations.

John Gaddis, an American scholar, pointed out in his book On Grand Strategy that to succeed in geostrategy, you must recognize what kind of restrictions and constraints exist. There is a saying in Sun Tzu's Art of War, "plan before moving, gain something by stopping." Napoleon, who rushed into Russia and eventually lost the war, and Perikles, who blindly pursued hegemony and eventually lost Athens to Sparta, were unwilling to be bound by realistic conditions and stubbornly pursued their overambitious goals, thereby doomed to failure.

Today, the American hegemony is falling apart, as the Economist bluntly points out that the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan had demonstrated Biden's "Great Defeat." Under such circumstances, the US is still addicted to playing with a grand geostrategy out of its control, making excuses for the Kabul moment, arguing that withdrawing troops from Afghanistan is a great turn to the grand strategy of the Indo-Pacific, as laid out by former president Barack Obama.

Even if the US does pivot to the Indo-Pacific, regional countries might have to ponder: Will the US run away again as it did in Afghanistan?

Illusion 3: American democracy could heal itself

American democracy has died in Afghanistan, and has been admitted to an intensive care unit in the US. The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan is not the end of disasters in the past 20 years, but the beginning of an American political civil war in the next 20 years. We saw its origins in the forced storming of Capitol building earlier this year.

Francis Fukuyama said recently that the Afghan crisis marks the end of American hegemony, while the real crisis in the US lies in internal polarization, which will result in almost no consensus on all issues. There is no sign of American democracy healing itself. On the contrary, American democracy has become an accelerator of political division and social confrontation.

Biden came to power in the general election controversy and congressional riots, talking endlessly about vaccination and infrastructure plans, rather than taking care of the American people in their time of great need. Afghanistan issues have hit Biden's approval rate hard, leading the US into a fierce political battle before the mid-term elections. No matter what happens on the US domestic political scene, the current political division in the US will not be the worst seen, it will become worse.

Illusion 4: The US could still do whatever it wants by virtue of its position of strength

People with real strength never talk about strength all the time, but recently the "position of strength" has become the mantra of American diplomacy.

The US made use of its so-called position of strength to engage in unilateral sanctions and "exerting maximum pressure," but all its expected goals have failed. Where there is oppression, there is resistance. Anti-sanction, anti-pressure, anti-bullying. More countries and people are on the way to an era of awakening.

Americans often say, don't "bet on America to lose." This makes America look like an anxious gambler, who wants to win too much but only loses more. The international community is not a casino, and no country would like to place its future and destiny on the roulette wheel.

More peace-loving countries now stand up and say no to the US, and safeguard the morality, conscience and justice of the international community.

Illusion 5: America is 'back'

Biden made a high-profile announcement, "America is back" at the Munich Security Conference in early 2021, trying to create the impression that America is returning to the world stage and intends to expand again. However, the Kabul moment has shown that this was not the case. "America is back" has changed to "America is home." The Republican Party has sarcastically stated: "The Taliban is back, not the United States."

Whether it is the crazy withdrawal from international treaties in the Trump era, or the failure to fight the epidemic, or the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, it all confirmed what Czech President Zeman noted, Americans have lost "the prestige of a global leader."

The expansionist America needs to go home, have a physical check-up, and seek remedies while reflecting on its past. On the other hand, the US should engage in true multilateralism, learn to listen and discuss, resort to problem-solving through political dialogue instead of the wanton and futile use of aircraft and artillery.

Illusion 6: The American alliance system has been 'repaired'

The Biden administration expects to create a "Grand West" through its European allies, the Group of Seven (G7), the QUAD mechanism, the "Indo-Pacific Strategy" and the "Summit for Democracy". However, the US did not consult or even inform its allies about before deciding on the hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan. Many Europeans lament that the United States merely treats its allies as a tool.

It is not difficult to tell whether it is "America first" or putting allies interest first. It is the US that forced its allies to revise bilateral free trade agreements on the grounds of trade deficit. It is again the US that hoarded scarce anti-epidemic materials such as vaccines, regardless of the demands of its allies. The fate of its interest-based alliance system is doomed as it will break up upon the exhaustion of interests.

Britain, the devoted supporter of the US in the group, has repeatedly vented its dissatisfaction with the US recently. The British defense secretary expressed the idea that the US was no longer a superpower. Britons may still remember that the US betrayed Britain and dealt the last blow to "the empire on which the sun never sets" during the Suez Canal crisis in 1956. Will history repeat itself? Let's wait and see.

The Anglo-Saxons believe strongly in self-interest. "Every man for himself and the Devil take the hindmost." A man may be stabbed with a knife in the back as soon as it is deemed expedient to do so.

Illusion 7: Universal values are the soft power of the US

"When poor, you get no friends. When rich, you get more friends than you know." The soft power depends on the hard power. When the hard power of the US declined sharply, e.g. at the Saigon moment in the 1970s, it kept a low profile and turned from ideological diplomacy to realistic diplomacy, with Kissinger as the representative.

However, it is different this time. The Biden administration propagated "universal values" vigorously and even arranged the "Summit for Democracy" after the "Kabul moment".

"Universal values" are "luxuries" given to the "third world" by the US. At the moment of severe lack of national strength, the US, unable to fulfill its promise to the followers, has only brought disgrace on itself in Afghanistan.

The Afghans who believed in the commitment of the US for democracy were either abandoned without mercy, fell from airplanes they cling to and died, or became miserable refugees. I'm afraid it will be difficult to reproduce the highlight of "universal values" at the "Summit for Democracy" in December as we still remember the Afghan children murdered in drone strikes.

Illusion 8: The economies will continue to rely unilaterally on the US

The supremacy of the US dollar has created economic dependence on the US. The US frequently abuse other economies by using tools such as tariffs, sanctions or even decoupling when necessary.

However, the epidemic has hit the US economy continuously, and the crazy financial capital injection used as a "cure" has caused the skyrocketing of prices and inflation. The trade war with China revealed the long-standing industrial and financial problems of the United States. The US's deficit with China even rose rather than fell.

More and more countries have begun to enhance their autonomy in economy and finance. A "de-dollarization" movement has begun. Countries have started to reduce their US debts substantially, give up anchoring US dollars, and increase commodity trading in currencies other than US dollars and non-US dollar currency or gold reserves.

The dominance of the US dollar is not guaranteed by sufficient real economy and a gold standard; instead, it is endorsed by national credit. A mudslide of the dollar collapse is not far away when the US Congress continually abuses its credit without any restraint every year.

Illusion 9: America would have the last laugh on epidemic prevention and control

COVID-19 has infected tens of millions of Americans and caused more deaths than the sum of those lost in World Wars I and II, accompanied by more severe social conflicts and crisis.

In the past few days, the daily average number of confirmed cases has exceeded 150,000 consecutively. There have been over 1,000 new fatalities each day, drawing sharp criticism even from its own allies. The European Council decided to take America off the "EU safe travel list" and suggested its member countries take epidemic prevention restrictions against American travelers. Despite "natural disaster" factors at the beginning of the epidemic, America's current situation where a large number of hoarded COVID-19 vaccines still cannot reverse the tide of considerable deaths of its people can only be called a "man-made disaster".

However, America attempts to shirk its responsibility and hide its incompetence by blaming China. It declared that "China's so-called anti-pandemic achievement is the result when authoritarianism defeated "human rights" and China's "Zero-Covid" policy would lead to huge economic costs and would only make itself into an "island isolated from the world".

In fact, the countries imitating American anti-pandemic measures have had to swallow bitter pills. Europe once interrupted their lockdowns against the epidemic and is now suffering from a variant of the virus that is bouncing back. India, passively taking measures for epidemic prevention and control, has been completely trapped in uncontrollable consequences. Vietnam, a country that relaxed its vigilance during the fight against the epidemic, has been faced with tough results.

America may have false hopes that vaccines will save its people from misery, the economy would reinvigorate itself, and it would successfully shirk its responsibility for its repeated mistakes in the fight against the epidemic. Please wake up. The result can only be that, American measures against the epidemic will meet the final failure, American people will be the victims, and the whole world will have to face the resulting consequences.

Illusion 10: America could determine the development of history

30 years ago, the dissolution of the Soviet Union once gave America a reason to cheer. The "end of history" has made America unreasonably believe that it could determine the development of history.

Today, history does not advance straight along the designed route of "end of history", instead it shifts to other paths. Today, America stands against global trends of history, and heads towards a mirage of ideology built on hegemonism and neoliberalism. The "American myth" has been stricken by a financial crisis, Donald Trump's failed administration, failure in the anti-epidemic fight, riots on Capitol Hill, defeat in Afghanistan, and America has arrived on the brink of an edifice falling apart under the weight of its own dreams.

It should be remembered, America's historical view was built on its short story of 250 years, and thus it has no concept of "sunset", only "sunrise". There has never been any era of America solely. America was, is and will be only a country in the era.

— The author is an observer on current affairs. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/sports/everyone-loves-kohli-because-hes-always-honest-warne/

Everyone loves Kohli because he's always honest: Warne

MUMBAI: The Indian Premier League’s (IPL) 2008 champions Rajasthan Royals are ready with a makeover. The franchise is turning all ‘pink’ this season with a change in the colour of their apparels and will have it as the official colour in line with the city of Jaipur. As RR goes about reinventing itself in its 10th year of IPL (having missed out two years), Shane Warne – their first captain who led RR to victory in the inaugural year of the IPL – is once again the face driving that change. On Sunday, the legendary leg-spinner sat with TOI for an extensive interview.

Excerpts…

Ten years with Rajasthan Royals. What does it take to have so much of Shane Warne’s attention?

I think the people. There’s a loyalty factor attached to club sport (cricket) and I like that. I’ve always only played for one team. Australia, Victoria, St Kilda and Rajasthan Royals (in context of IPL). In County cricket, it was Hampshire. I’ve had many roles here (at RR) but what really drove me was the people of Jaipur. There wasn’t much expectation, they just wanted their team to do well. There was a feeling of appreciation and I felt they took me for who I was. They gave me the space. I want to pay back that loyalty.

You talk about space. When this kind of space is given to Shane Warne, does it tend to bring the best out of him?

Yes, absolutely. Firstly, there’s a huge difference between being liked and being respected. I got both in plenty with RR. Today, franchises have a bowling coach, a batting coach, physios, mentors, team managers – there are so many people around the team now doling out advice. In my case, it was a one-stop shop. That helped. Being honest with the players helped. If a player wanted to know why he was in the team, or why he wasn’t, all he had to do is come to me and I always kept that door open. All of that resulted in a nice build-up and we could create an amazing team. It’s the most satisfying thing I’ve ever done in cricket – help create everybody’s favourite underdog in IPL. And everybody loves an underdog.

What’s been IPL’s biggest takeaway? Some other leagues have sprouted across the world and they’re doing pretty well for themselves. But IPL continues to be the flagbearer…

There are a couple of things that stand out. Indian cricket has been the biggest benefactor. Go back 11 years, cricketers lacked in confidence, there was an underlying (albeit unnecessary) sense of inferiority. And now, look at them. Training with international players, sharing dressing rooms, sharing knowledge have all contributed so immensely. Today, if India is the Number One team in the world, a lot of credit goes to the IPL for it. Because, it’s been a great learning curve. The league added a new dimension to India’s first class circuit. What the BCCI has now is something every international team wants to copy. India now are leading the way and the force that the IPL has become has a huge role to play in it. Who would’ve thought that India would be the world’s best fielding unit or who’d have thought India would have the world’s best pace attack? In the nets, the Indians were bowling alongside Shaun Tait, Brett Lee, some of the world’s best fast bowlers. Practising with them, interacting with them has helped. Simple conversations – be it in the team bus, at dinner, changing room discussions. All those bits have helped. The opportunity that a league like the IPL gives to youngsters is incredible. That has resulted in a huge change in attitude. Positivity has seeped in.

And fans…

Nobody can match the passion of Indian fans. Yes, they love cricket in Australia, England, South Africa, Caribbean. But there’s no place in the world like India when it comes to following the game with so much passion. You can’t create that kind of energy.

Is IPL doing enough today to keep innovating? Or is it stuck in some sort of a time warp?

There are administrators who’ve had foresight to make way for a property like this. I’m sure there’ll be equally efficient individuals in the future. But if there’s a change, it has to be for the better.

Rajasthan Royals and controversies have walked hand in hand – like a couple in love.

I think it hurt everybody. It made people realise that you’ve to do more to regulate the game. It made people realise that there are things happening in your own backyard and can happen again. So, make sure you have your things in order. I’m happy the way Rajasthan Royals have come back – better and stronger.

Was the two-year ban a bit harsh?

Yes, I think it was a bit too harsh. Royals have always been treated a bit too harshly and to their misery, they’ve found themselves on the wrong side of the fence a bit too often. But a few bad eggs in the basket don’t define the ecosystem. I’m not sure if all other franchises are treated the same as Royals and I sense a bit of jealousy there.

The ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) chief recently said that a study tells them India is the hub for illegal bookies in cricket. Where’s the rocket science in it? It will be because gambling in India is illegal. That didn’t make much sense. But apropos of ACU’s view, how does one curb this menace?

The government of India is clearly missing a trick here. They should have legalised gambling a long time back. That’s the only way you can keep things in perspective. Look, everybody loves a good punt. If you legalise gambling here, just the way it is in other countries, won’t it help you figure who does big bets and who doesn’t? And the money the government would make, my goodness. If someone wants to gamble, then it doesn’t matter whether you legalise it or you don’t, they’ll still do it. So might as well benefit from it. I think legalising gambling will help. There’s nothing wrong with a bet as long as it is tracked properly.

Cricket Australia’s culture change – has it worked? Or is it working?

I really don’t know if there was a problem with the culture. But what I do know is after Sandpapergate, how many people loved seeing the Australians in trouble and how many people sunk their boot in. How many people kicked them when they were down. There might have been an issue because every team did not like the Australians and that’s okay. You don’t have to be liked but you need to be respected. And there are a few things the Australian team did (to lose that respect). They need to earn back that respect.

Signing autographs will help do that?

The Australian way of playing cricket is tough, uncompromising but above all, fair. Maybe that’s where the Australians weren’t doing it right, pushing it too far and this time (with the culture change policy), they’ve gone too far the other way. Now I think everything they’re doing is for public image. As soon as the last ball is bowled in a game, they’re all (players) signing autographs near the fence. Now, people should sign autographs if they want to. I was one of the guys who signed all the time, took pictures and I think all cricketers should. But, there’s a time when it should hurt. You may not want to speak to anyone if you’ve lost. You need your own time to get into the dressing room and get over it. Why would you want them to sign autographs?

Is CA trying to fix something that’s not broken?

CA needs to work out what’s important to them. I can understand why they’re (CA) doing this (read: Trying to improve image in public). But it should happen because they (players) want to (do it), not because they have to. Steve Smith made a huge error in judgement, but Steve Smith is not a bad person. But it is the punishment that has amplified the problem. A 12-month ban? Really? Think about some of the other teams and individuals and what they’ve done. Let’s say a $10m fine could’ve been levied. He (Smith) made a mistake but I think he has been punished very harshly.

In today’s social media scene, opinions are dime a dozen and get inflated pretty easily. So, authorities seem to be under some kind of pressure to be seen as doing the right thing…

I think too many people worry about what people say. It’s about being true to yourself and standing for what you believe in – to do the right thing. For instance, the Australian cricket team – they want to play tough, aggressive, uncompromising cricket but it has to be fair. As simple as that. There are too many people in the world, not just cricketers, that get on their phone and create something that isn’t real. They try and portray a life that isn’t real. That’s unnecessary.

For years now, what Australia’s done has been the blueprint for others to follow. So, while others have been playing catch-up and trying to match steps, Australia now want to go back from there and start afresh…

For 25-odd years now – probably from the 1980s to, let’s say, around 2010-11 – everyone watched what Australia did. How we prepared to how our first class cricket was doing. The same mantle has been taken over by India now. They’ve created a platform that others are looking up to. I guess that’s how it works. Someone is always waiting to take over.

Too much restriction for cricketers – in terms of what they say, do, what and where they speak. Too much rule-setting can result in dumbing down of expression?

We live in a world that’s increasingly becoming politically correct. And what we want to see from sportspersons is them being real. We want to see their emotions, see them playing with freedom, expressing themselves. We don’t want to see them conforming. For instance, most player interviews these days go like this: Question: Well, that was a fantastic result today. How do you feel? Answer: Well, it was a great team effort. Everybody played well and did their part. I’m just trying my best and happy to contribute to the team – That’s what everyone says. Guys have to get more real.

Is that why Virat Kohli comes as a breath of fresh air? Speaks his mind…

He’s fantastic. I love watching him bat and I love listening to him. I am a big fan.

One of the things he doesn’t do is he doesn’t take things lying down…

You know what he does? He stands up for what he believes in. He speaks how he feels and he’s real. He’s emotional, a bit too emotional sometimes on the field. But that’s the part of the charm.

Is that why Australia loves him?

I think world cricket loves him. Everyone loves Virat Kohli because it’s refreshing to hear him talk so honestly and openly. He loves confrontation. That’s why he has those 100s in chases. How many? 23? 24? It’s unbelievable. The next best is how much? I can’t remember who’s second. That’s phenomenal. That’s something inbuilt into you. That’s not skill or talent. He’s got a lot of that. That is just pure competitiveness and pure desire – to get the job done.

Virat’s the kind of guy who’ll survive at MCG’s Bay 13…

You’ve got to be pretty tough-skinned to survive that. I guess if Virat wants to try that out, that’s good.

Lot of comparisons happen these days and they’ve become fashionable. Is Sachin better than Virat, or is Virat better than Sachin? Is Virat the best ever? You’ve seen Sachin so closely. Where do you put that in perspective?

Very hard to judge when someone is playing and very hard to judge eras. Think about the bowlers in the 90s. Different surfaces that seamed. Now they’re a lot flatter. The ball swung more. So many invariables. But to think that someone was better than Brian Lara and Sachin – in those mid-90s – against Wasim, Waqar etc; Curtly, Courtney, etc; McGrath, Donald, Saqlain, Mushy, Vettori, Murali, myself. You can go on. (Pauses) Virat is breaking all the records, which is great but I want to wait. See, what people miss is this: You can set benchmarks, score those many centuries, average that high, score a lot many runs. But what people are going to remember you for is the way you played the game. Someone should run down the street and ask fans, how many runs did Mark Waugh make or what his average was? They wouldn’t have a clue but chances are, here’s what they’ll say: I loved watching him play. To my mind, what’s already evident is that Virat is one of the best players of all time. In one-day team, he probably has to go down with Viv Richards as the greatest ever, not so much for the record but for the way he plays his game. But I’ll judge him at the end of his career.

Shouldn’t Australia stop look for the next Shane Warne?

England, for a very long time, were looking for the next Ian Botham. India kept looking for the next Sachin for a long time. Let people be themselves. I think Australia have a very good spinner in Nathan Lyon. He’s doing a great job. When people say things like that – looking for the next Warne – what they actually mean is: “We want a character. We want somebody who brings fun to the game, makes it entertaining”. I always wanted to do that – be an entertainer.

A bowler like Jasprit Bumrah can be a biomechanic’s research work. You’ve seen him up & close?

I’ve heard comments like ‘he’s a freak of nature’ which I don’t think is the case. He’s Bumrah – simple as that. He’s got his own style. The same as Glenn McGrath had his own style. I think you can’t recreate things that Bumrah does. Things like how fast his arm is, his wrist position, how accurate he can be. I think he’s fantastic and he’s clearly good with his basics – except that he’s good in his own way.

DRS – you’re clearly not a fan…

Hang on. I think any improvement to the game that can help us get to the right decision is fine. I don’t mind. I’m a fan of DRS only if it is used right. And at the moment, I don’t think it is used right. It’s simple: Take away the original umpire’s decision. You can’t have exactly the same ball being given out and not out depending on what the on-field decision was. Identical deliveries: one results in ‘out’ and the other results in ‘not out’. That can’t be the case. It’s either out or not out, but because of what the on-field decision is, there can’t be two alternatives to the same delivery. If I bowl a ball and it hits the guy in front of the stumps, and the umpire says not out. I review and it says: The ball would’ve gone to hit the stumps. But it says ‘umpire’s call’. The next ball, I bowl exactly the same one, and the umpire says ‘it’s out’ – that’s wrong. The same ball can’t be out and not out. The simpler way to do it is ‘take away the original decision of the umpire. If its hitting in line and hitting the stumps, it’s out – no matter what the umpire says.

So, you’re saying only keep the human element in the game or go completely with the technology…

Keep DRS exactly the same. Just remove the umpire’s original on-field decision. It doesn’t matter what the on-field umpire feels. Let’s just see what the DRS says. It’s simple. Then you’ll never have the same ball being given ‘out’ and ‘not out’.

DRS takes into account that once the ball is pitched on the surface, it tends to get slower. You agree with that?

Probably yes. (Pauses) I think so. (Pauses again).

Can it be applied against the force of nature?

I don’t know. I’m sure most deliveries are faster through the air. If it hits the pitch, it has to take off some pace. But if I think of Perth in the late 80s & early 90s, the ball seemed to always gather pace off the pitch. Maybe that was the swiftness from the bounce, I don’t know. But you’ve got to rely on science and they’ll have to tell whether that’s the case.

Another thing about the DRS is that those who operate it during a match sit in the broadcast room, the TV umpire sits elsewhere, the match-referee sits elsewhere…

The DRS should be on their own, sitting alone, and maybe the fourth umpire should sit with them, to see they’re hitting the right button (laughs). But because of the telecast, you get to see all of that on the live feed. So, it’s pretty hard for anyone here to make a mistake. But yes, those who operate the DRS should be sitting alone so that you’re not influenced by anyone.

What’s that one rule you want changed in cricket?

1) Take away the on-field umpire’s decision on DRS; 2) If you don’t bowl your overs in time, the captain misses two games. (Introduce it). You’ve got 90 overs in a day, if you miss them, the captain misses the next two games after that one.

What if the game finishes in under-three days, like in the case of West Indies versus England?

Yes, (above should apply) unless the game finishes in less than 225 overs. Five days make way for 450 overs. So, if the match has lasted less than 225 overs, it’s okay. But there has to be a clampdown on overrates. The flat rule should be that a team cannot bowl less than 90 overs in a day. If it’s a half-day’s play we’re talking about, do a pro-rata calculation.

Recently, Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul were in news for all the wrong reasons. Not related to cricket of course. A huge controversy erupted. Did you hear about it?

Yes. Good lord. As I said earlier, it’s all about political correctness these days. If a player steps out of line, everybody has an opinion and I thought that this particular thing was ridiculous. Just let them be.

Cricketers from the last decade can thank their stars there was no Twitter back then. Imagine the Sourav Ganguly-Greg Chappell saga being played on Twitter. That would’ve been something. So, this generation doesn’t have it so easy…

(Laughs). I agree. But there are advantages of Twitter too. If something is said or written incorrectly, it’s a medium that can be used to point things out immediately. It’s a good platform to have a voice.

One Australian cricketer you have set high hopes on…

From all forms of cricket I see back in Australia, the one player I really admire is Pat Cummins. I love the way he goes about and he’s a great story in the way he’s come back from injuries. So, the hard work is paying off.

[mattsammonsez]

ESPN’s Layoffs Were Surprising. Why They Happened Shouldn’t Be.

A perfect storm of internal and external forces culminate in the firing of numerous on-air personalities.

The news wasn’t exactly shocking, in fact it was well known that some big cuts were coming to ESPN any day now. After more than 300 cuts to behind-the-scenes staff in 2015, approximately 100 cuts affecting mostly air talent, reporters, and website writers shook the sports world today. It wasn’t how many that were cut that shook the sports world, but who.

You know by now who got fired, and whose roles are reportedly being cut back. ESPN’s NHL staff was gutted, Baseball Tonight eviscerated, and notable names covering the NFL and college sports were let go. So how did the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” get here, and where do they go next? Some people think (correctly) that cord-cutting was a factor. Some people think (correctly) that ESPN’s “embrace the debate” stance ran off some viewers. Some people think the network’s “left-leaning” political opinions caused thousands of viewers to flee. People who think that last point is true, are in my opinion, smoking crack.

The fact is there is no one reason why this happened, it was a perfect storm of internal and external factors that collided at once and forever shifts ESPN’s direction moving forward. But that’s why ESPN did what it did-- it had to move forward. The most notable name in sports television is having a midlife identity crisis.

The SportsCenter studio in much more sublime times in 1979, with current Outside the Lines host Bob Ley on the right.

Before I offer up my two cents, I have to say that the firings today have absolutely nothing to do with the actual people who were fired. This was, as cold as it sounds, a business decision. I hate business decisions like this. I’ve been on both sides of cold “business decisions”-- a casualty and a survivor. In September 2006, despite seven years of fierce loyalty to the stations I worked for and the company brand and ideals, Clear Channel Radio (now iHeartMedia) decided my $25,000 salary was just killing the stock price. Somebody at the station had to go, and it was me. I was lucky, not only because two weeks before that happened I had just started working for the Tampa Bay Lightning, but being freed from the station made me work even harder at my new job. It opened doors that I never would have imagined opening, and they still do to this day.

On the other side of the coin, I was a survivor in April 2009 during two days of relentless blood-letting at the Lightning. This was during the darkest days of the OK Hockey group owning the team, GM Brian Lawton and his wife pretending to own it, and your average American having more loose change in the sofa cushions than the team had in its coffers. Dozens of people were let go by the goons running the team in to the ground, including several good friends of mine. I actually cleaned out my office in case I got the axe, just to save some time. I obviously didn’t lose my job, but the work place wasn’t the same until Jeff Vinik thankfully bought the club out from under these yahoos 11 months later.

So my message to all who lost their jobs today is that this isn’t the end. As strange as it sounds, this may very well be the beginning of something very good and certainly new. That’s not to say the change will be easy, or quick, or even better-paying, but as I’ll discuss there are many things ESPN and the cable TV business still have to figure out over the next several years. It may actually be better not to be part of that environment.

My message to young people who see news like this and don’t want to get in to the broadcast journalism business: don’t change your course. If you love writing, filming, editing, mixing, reporting, anchoring, and doing it for a low wage because you just love doing it-- you’re in the right place. The technology changes, the audience changes, the way we do things changes, but we always need someone to do the heavy lifting. Simply retweeting or lifting others’ work will get you web hits, but it won’t get you far. Don’t ever let days like this darken your dreams. If this is what you want to do, do it. On the other hand, if you want stronger job security and higher pay, study to be an accountant. But if you go that way, don’t expect to be in the locker room as the champagne is spraying everywhere.

So back to ESPN, and in a sense cable sports as a whole. How did it get here?

ESPN is paying a gazillion dollars in rights fees

Notice I didn’t put cord-cutting as the first topic. It’s a big one, but the white elephant in the room is the billions of dollars that go out the door just to have the biggest leagues on your channel. Live sports play-by-play, especially from any of the major sports leagues, is the only guaranteed ratings generator. Networks know this, and so do leagues, which is why the price tags on some of the latest rights deals are astronomical.

ESPN is paying in 2017 alone, approximately $7.3 BILLION in rights fees for Monday Night Football, the NBA, the NCAA football playoffs, separate deals for FIVE different college conferences, and Major League Baseball. While subscriber fees (the highest in cable television) right now pay for those rights fees, the cost of doing these broadcasts makes the investment nearly a zero-sum situation. Factor in air talent, camera operators, directors, producers, engineers, satellite trucks and satellite time all in HD, and it’s no wonder ESPN recently started scaling back on on-site announcers for many of its “second tier” events. This is also why any league not named NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, EPL, NASCAR, PGA, or NCAA is frantically trying to take control of their broadcasts, many turning to over-the-top (OTT) websites and mobile apps. The network money just isn’t going to be there in the future at the going rate of rights fees.

And when a network’s only guaranteed audience generator is practically zero-sum, corporate (and the associated stockholders) is not going to be happy.

Okay, let’s get to cord-cutting

Even I’m wondering why I’m paying nearly $200 a month for 2,000 channels when I watch only 10 of them. When I first pondered this a couple of years ago, my answer was there wasn’t much cost difference in cutting the cord and going with a streaming service and rabbit ears. That’s changing though, as the technology is becoming more dependable and efficient. Those who have already cut the cord are early adapters, and I’m betting a large part of the under 40 generation will be doing so in the next 3-5 years. The writing is on the wall for the cable industry, and I bet your cable provider doesn’t even have the word “cable” in the company’s name. Cable companies are very quickly becoming ISP companies, and with many cable providers’ sub-par and over-priced service as a cable provider, an ISP provider is all they will ever be. This presents a major hurdle for ESPN, and many cable networks.

When ESPN loses 500,000 subscribers in one month, and that’s a kind number compared to some of the actual losses reported in recent months, the network is losing more than $3.6 million in subscriber fees. That’s just one month. Multiply it by 12, and you can see a lot of red ink coming from the cord cutters. The problem for ESPN is this isn’t a recent trend. In fact, it’s been going on for six years.

This one graphic from Cork Gaines of Business Insider, brilliantly illustrates what’s going on in cable sports and ESPN. Since July 2011, ESPN’s peak subscriber population, cable TV has lost 16% of its subscribers. ESPN is the loss leader at 12% during this time period. What should be jarring for ESPN, is the downward lines for them and the cable industry as a whole are not parallel. In fact, they appeared to slowly converge between July 2013 and July 2015. Unfortunately for ESPN, that’s the same time they sunk in an estimated $125 million to build a state-of-the-art studio for its flagship program SportsCenter. Since July 2015, the network has lost nearly 7 million subscribers at a rights fee cost of nearly $50 million.

Another alarming figure for ESPN, based on this graph, is who the growth leaders are in this time window: the NFL’s and MLB’s TV networks. Combined, these two leagues are receiving $2.6 BILLION in 2017 ALONE from ESPN’s rights fees. Nearly 1/3 of what ESPN is paying out for the right to air live games is going to two leagues that also air live games. They are also available on mobile devices and laptops via a subscription, which can be priced reasonably since those pesky subscriber fees aren’t part of that math. So two of ESPN’s prime clients are taking care of their own business on their platforms, and two other growth networks (FS1 and NBC Sports) are home to an alternative form of ESPN content and the NHL, respectively. If you don’t like the debate on ESPN, flip to FS1. If you despise ESPN’s nose-in-the-air attitude towards hockey, you know where to find the games. Which leads in to the next point...

With non-game programming, ESPN dropped the ball

Like Jose Canseco in this 1993 “highlight”, ESPN took its eye off the ball when it came to non-game programming. Major League Baseball, and its online platform BAMTech, outdid ESPN when it came to mobile apps.

When discussing the stages of grief, anger follows shock. After the initial shock of the news wore off, the pitchforks and torches were heading towards Bristol for keeping Stephen A. Smith employed, and for once preparing to back up the Brinks truck for Skip Bayless who took a more lucrative deal at FS1. As much as I don’t like either carnival barker (as writer Jeff Pearlman so accurately put it), Smith and Bayless are not directly responsible for what happened. The cord cutting started six years ago, and many of the rights deals were signed in that time period, but the changing landscape of sports talk started many many years ago.

Not just in TV, but as I saw first hand in radio, the narrative shifted from smart analysis of sports to lifestyle discussion. The sports talk radio scene became “guy talk” as radio station websites prominently featured the “hot chick of the day” photo as hosts talked more about what they were doing that upcoming weekend than what happened in last night’s game. Ratings went up, as the “every man” and not just the sports fan would tune in. Overall time spent listening (TSL) was eroding, but just enough people were listening for 15 minutes at a time so the business leaders looked the other way. For ESPN, it was painfully obvious in the early 2000s the network was becoming more of a promotional vehicle for the parent Walt Disney Company than leading in actual sports. Viewership was up, subscriber fees poured in, and the party would never end!

But in both sports talk TV and radio, as the nation started politically getting unglued about 10 years ago, the point/counterpoint tactic of news talk took over sports. All of a sudden sports talk was less “what a game last night!” and more “where does this game rank in the history of sports?” talk. Everything had to be compartmentalized-- every player had a legacy defined, every team was either a dynasty in the making or the biggest choke act. After the lots were divided, sports fans and most notably the hosts had to take sides. Choose A or B, red pill or blue pill, right or wrong. Once you picked a side, you screamed incessantly over your choice and deconstructed not the other argument but the other person for being too stupid to know better. Everything was an argument, a poll question, and a top-10 list. Sports talk on TV and radio had the market on every piece of low-hanging fruit.

ESPN grabbed on to every dangling, browning fruit clinging to its brown leaves. Call it the curse of Jamie Horowitz if you wish, as Horowitz took the the same formula to FS1 two years ago, but ESPN went all in on the “embrace the debate” approach a long time before we all knew who Horowitz was. ESPN still had the more high-brow stuff in the form of Outside the Lines and the 30 for 30 series, as well as some entertaining sport-specific shows. But with hours of debate programming it became clear years ago what the primary direction of the network was. Anybody looking for substance over style, found it elsewhere. And former heavyweights of the ESPN programming wheel like Baseball Tonight, NFL Prime Time, and Monday Night Countdown got little promotion compared to the screaming heads in the day time lineup. Over time NFL Network and MLB Network made smart decisions with programming and personnel hiring, provided edgier yet more insightful commentary, all the while outworking the league’s best-known rights holder.

ESPN still has a lot of issues

The cuts in 2015 and this spring are purely financial-- some red ink will stop bleeding in the short-term, and potentially in the long term as many of these roles are either unfilled or filled by younger and less expensive talent. But this is the tip of the iceberg for ESPN, as they have several more hurdles to jump over.

It’s not just “secondary” sports leagues looking for OTT help, as Disney lurched in to action several months ago to find the next generation of WatchESPN by heavily investing in BAMtech and striking deals with streaming services like Hulu. Of course, there will always be rumors that Disney will buy one of the larger streaming services to boost not just ESPN’s offerings but everything company wide. But with cable subscription losses not likely leveling off any time soon, ESPN has to find a robust platform to live on with mobile devices... a problem again exacerbated by strong mobile platforms from most major sports leagues. ESPN is not only behind in the game, they have to find something that moves eyeballs away from established apps with a huge following.

SportsCenter is also a work in progress, and the one piece of live studio programming that has a built-in audience. But showing highlights is no longer enough to sustain an audience that can find highlights on gifs just minutes after the highlight happens. ESPN has to cultivate a new SportsCenter audience with new ideas, and ideas that can live online as well as over the air. ESPN has done that with Scott Van Pelt’s late night SportsCenter, and the new “The 6″ at 6 p.m. The SportsCenter brand will be important to ESPN’s future, but designing each hour of SportsCenter to a certain host’s personality is the only way to freshen the show while also making it mobile friendly. Basically, SportsCenter won’t be just an endless loop of highlights and sound bites shown 10 or 12 times a day. It’s essentially going to become 10 or 12 individual shows with the SportsCenter brand backing it. It will be interesting to see if these variations of the traditional SportsCenter are as successful as SVP’s is. If that’s the case, ESPN has something bold to build around.

ESPN still has to figure out what the identities of its sister channels are. Exactly what is the purpose of ESPN 2 these days? When it launched in 1993, it was the spunky alternative channel with the hockey games and cool new version of SportsCenter. Today, I only think of it as the channel next to ESPN in my lineup. Have you seen any news on ESPN News? Is ESPN Classic actually showing classic games, or a game from last week that is now labelled a “classic” because it had an exciting finish? The networks of ESPN don’t feature unique directions, they are now just ESPN and a few channels that act as dumping grounds for what can’t get on ESPN. The main ESPN channel is the crown jewel and needs to be protected at all times, but ESPN has to find some identity and direction to the ancillary channels that feed the mother ship.

ESPN is not dead, long live ESPN

Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick hosting SportsCenter during the program’s pinnacle days in the mid 1990s. While many sports fans long for the days of “The Big Show”, those days are not coming back.

This final point is the most important. Many people are waiting to throw dirt on ESPN. The fact is ESPN is not going anywhere, and will be the top dog in sports broadcasting for a long time. But it has to change, and that’s the sad but true story line to today’s news. ESPN has to get leaner, refocus on internet-friendly content, and provide better content than the competition. Over the past 10-15 years ESPN got too big, some will say too big for its britches, and when you have to get agile it’s hard to do it when you’re bloated. Unfortunately some very good people, including some I know personally, lost their jobs in the process. Again, through no fault of their own, they are the casualties in this corporate maneuvering. It’s part of the business of broadcast journalism, and it took 38 years for ESPN to make this giant adjustment.

But make no mistake, the childhood dreams of those wanting to get in to this field will still be set on ESPN.Those dreams will just look drastically different than the dreams I had 25 years ago, and drastically different than the viewers who grew up with Keith Olbermann & Dan Patrick breathlessly awaiting the Sunday night plays of the week segment. As those dreams are different, ESPN has to be as well.

If you’re old enough to remember the “glory days” of SportsCenter, you’re old enough to remember the video rental business. Around 1979, when ESPN started, many mom & pop video rental stores opened up to cash in on the VCR craze. Ten years later, Blockbuster Video was putting many of those mom & pops out of business. Ten years later, Netflix was mailing DVDs to you, as you ordered them from the comfort of your home. Ten years later, Blockbuster was out of business while Netflix was transitioning to streaming. Nearly ten years later, Netflix is not known for movie “rentals”, but streaming of all video including its own original programming. Ten years from now, there will be something better than Netflix, and something better than that new “something” ten years after that.

ESPN changed how we watched sports, how we talked about sports, how TV newscasters presented sports, and it drove a lot of the economics behind it. Hoping that ESPN returns to the “Keith & Dan” days is like hoping a Blockbuster Video store opens up down the street so you can get one of the 30 copies of a “new” film that was in theaters nine months ago. It’s not happening, much like MTV isn’t showing music videos (neither is VH1). The firings at ESPN just plain suck, because good people are looking for their next job, and it underscores the fact we already know broadcast journalism is a cutthroat business. But this was a long time coming, a terrible necessity in determining ESPN’s future, and an awful reminder that even a worldwide leader has to keep looking forward with one eye on the rearview mirror.

You can reach Matt Sammon via email at MattSammonSez@Gmail.com or on Twitter @SammonSez.

[purplemoonfox]

So, GoT S8 E4 thoughts.

1. So, Dany is fucking losing her marbles. WHERE ARE MY DRAGONS. That coffin got nailed down. She’s was abused all through her childhood and is now feeling insecure and unloved when she had been so well-loved in Essos--a region which she grew up in and saw as nuanced, in a way she does not see Westeros. She thinks of being Queen as a position, her birthright, whereas she sees Essos from the ground up. The conversation between Tyrion and Varys was superficially illuminating on that topic--she has the added benefit of a miracle that made her feel like she was sent. 

I feel like GRRM would’ve given that conversation far more depth, but I also think that this is the best we’re gonna get, so. I’ll take what I can get and go write motherfucking fanfiction to take the edge off.

I can’t help but wonder what a time-traveling Viserys would do if dropped in the middle of Dany’s war camp post-Rhaegal’s death. Mostly just so I can watch Harry Lloyd make faces again. See folks, this is why we can’t have nice things.

2. Were the fucking watchstanders in Dany’s fleet all skating off??? I mean what the fuck, y’all. AND WHAT ABOUT DANY HERFUCKINGSELF. SHE’S LITERALLY GOT A DRAGON’S FLIGHT VIEW.

Also I really hope some dickhead with a bad sense of humor shows this scene during an OPSEC GMT. *cackles* Keep your fucking heads on swivels, folks.

3. They really just did Ghost and Rhaegal like that.

3a. To be entirely honest, I feel like these scenes would’ve played better had they had the character development and depth of the previous seasons. I feel like a lot of this episode would’ve payed off better with as much depth in the latter seasons as there was in the earlier.

3b. As far as character depth, the abandonment of Ghost, who was literally battle-scarred and bleeding still from risking his life for Jon and the symbolic abandonment of his Northern roots and the death of Rhaegal just felt really, really sudden. A lot of my issues with this episode go like that--they’re just ticking off activities on a list of “shit we have to do to wrap this up.” And, honestly, GRRM’s writing, notoriously organic and deeply detail oriented I write the same way, it’s a bitch, it’s not easy to keep that shit on  a schedule, and it gets to be like a mustard seed after a while would’ve probably lent a lot of internal processes that made more sense with perspective added to it, but doesn’t lend itself well to a television program on a schedule, so D&D are left with the awkward prospect of a time crunch and some unusually tricky material do wrap up. When I say the internal monologue would have helped, it’s kind of like how Catelyn Stark was to a degree only very sympathetic with the addition of her POV in the book, but that’s all internalized and not easy to show in a television show.

But, again, I don’t think GRRM is ever going to finish ASOIAF, so I’ll just write my fucking fanfiction and deal.

4. I’m still cheesed at Jaime, but having watched the scene again, I feel like, really, the poor man is making a decision he doesn’t want to have to make but feels obligated to make, and he’s not great with emotional...situations. He still better have a plan or so help me God this boy will catch these hands...

5.I’m a history and politics nerd so I really liked some of the conversations in this episode, even if I think they were a bit shallow.

6. Damn Sansa, you’ve come so far and I’m so proud of you.

7. Arya and the Hound Road Trip 2: Electric Boogaloo Aww yiss.

8. I feel like Gendry would’ve had more of a leg to stand on if the poor guy had just said “could you just pop back to Storm’s End every now and then and ride me hard” and Arya would’ve been like “cool sounds doable.” Because I could totally see Gendry standing in windows staring out at the rain, sighing, whispering Heero Arya. He just went off half cocked and excited.

9. Missandei is dead and I’m pissed about that. It didn’t even feel fucking necessary, just something awful to watch, and why would anyone know to target Missandei in particular? She’s important, but how the fuck does Cersei know that?

10. Overall, it just felt really, really rushed, there was one random mention of a Prince of Dorne, and I think that overall it would’ve benefited from the depth of an expanded timeframe. Characters are blowing past conversations and situations and time spans that would’ve taken whole seasons in previous years.

11. Bet Tyrion betrays her for love. I would be okay with this.

12. Sam’s purpose in this story is done and I’m still pissed at him about getting Edd killed, so I don’t even know if he’ll have any redeeming moments to drag him out of this doldrum before episode 6′s credits roll.

13. Tormund is a delight, as always.

14. I actually really disliked this episode, but I hated it more for thematic reasons than anything else, for reasons already discussed.

15. To be ENTIRELY fair to everyone, D&D included, they were never going to please everyone with whatever ending they cooked up. Someone was always going to complain that this or that wasn’t done well enough or it was overdone, or they wanted this or that ship to become canon. Ultimately, we know that GRRM gave D&D the waypoints to hit and the endgame, and at least we’re getting an ending. I’ll be content with that.

All the rest is wind.

[jeantparks]

How can we save handicap racing in the Northwest? Take the survey

Friend of Three Sheets and fellow sailor, Kurt Hoehne, is always a great read, as he keeps close tabs on the racing scene throughout the Pacific Northwest, North America and beyond with his website Sailish.com. He’s kind enough to share this report and survey with us in hopes that we can all make sailboat racing in our area the best it can be.

Several months ago I got a call from my friend Andy Schwenk. Andy rolls up his sleeves and spends a lot of time increasing racing participation from “within.” He’s active in Anacortes Yacht Club, the Santa Cruz 27 fleet and, much to the point, as Secretary/Treasurer for PHRF-NW. In the unlikely event you don’t know Andy, he makes his living rigging boats with his Northwest Rigging, so he’s got a vested interest in seeing the sport thrive.

But spend five minutes talking to him and you won’t doubt that it’s not all about business: He’s a true believer in the sport. Many “in the industry” are.

Andy’s concerned. “How can we get more PHRF participation?” he asked. As PHRF treasurer, he was concerned because the number of rated boats has been waning dramatically and has been for a long time. More importantly, the number of sailboats actually leaving the dock to race around here has been nosediving.

Is there a problem?

Yes. If you doubt that, take a look at this past spring’s PSSR (CYC Seattle) registration list. Fifty boats. Twenty eight were in one-design classes, leaving 22 racing PHRF. All that positive spin in the world is not going to change that. PSSC a couple weeks ago had better one-design participation, but two of the handicap classes were three boats each, and one of the other two classes had a rating spread of 126 seconds/mile!

To those of you who have come to sailboat racing lately (bless you by the way), you may be wondering what’s the big deal. There are boats out there, clubs are finding ways to get races off and people are having a good time. But for those of us looking through the rose-tinted and somewhat smoky glasses of the 1970s and 80s, what we see out there now is a shell of what was. Yes, I know that was 40 years ago. But even 20 years ago we’d see ~130 boats.

We old-timers KNOW it’s just a lot more fun with more boats. And more boats also means the sport is sustainable.

Compare the Blakely Rock Races of the late 1970s with todays’. Imagine 300+ boats instead of 60. Imagine re-measuring and re-rating right up until the night before the race. At the beginning of the season, new boats would be on hand in nearly every class, every year. Imagine the number of crew involved as the benefits of stacking the rail became apparent as the boats became lighter.

It was energized.

To many in those days, racing was everything. Now it’s something people squeeze in between hundreds of other obligations. Scaring up even a bare bones crew is often a steep challenge.

And when clubs around the country are desperately trying to maintain solvency, and PHRF certificates drop in numbers, it IS a problem.

Are there positive signs?

You bet there are positive signs.

First of all, handicap is not dead elsewhere. In England, the Fastnet registration limit was reached in a matter of minutes. The Chicago-Mackinac race has about 330 boats, most of which race handicap. Racing is still cool for a lot of people. In our own area the biggest handicap events are races like Round the County, Race to the Straits and Blakely Rock Benefit. Swiftsure still has a healthy entry list but it’s been declining markedly. Southern Straits seems to be holding its numbers.

The ORC racing is a really bright spot. Several years ago many owners in the Puget Sound Big Boat Fleet took serious issue with changes in the PHRF-NW handicaps, and decided to institute the IRC rule at the top end of the fleet. This worked for a while, but not completely. In the meantime the ORC rule was taking root in Vancouver. In the end, the IRC fleet has embraced ORC. This has been cause for great celebration. Racers from both sides of the border can now race against each other without having to deal with any PHRF-NW vs PHRF-BC differences and politics. Moreover, as a measurement system used worldwide, there are no local influences that can be perceived as prejudicial.

At the casual end of the spectrum, one positive sign is the rise of fun races. Obviously, Seattle’s Duck Dodge is the original and greatest fun race, but there are others. Elliott Bay Marina’s Downtown Sailing Series provides nearly 100 crews with free racing, hot dogs and beer. At Charleston they had two “pursuit” classes, where I assume handicaps were figured in the starting times, and only one race per day was sailed.

But there are others that aren’t too casual or too serious. Sloop Tavern YC’s Race to the Straits and Blakely Rock Benefit Regatta are well attended but for many sailors are more about participation than competition. If you turn up with a headsail that would be better utilized as a tent, you don’t feel like you’re out of place. You’re out there and everybody is happy to see you out there.

Finally, the increasing activity in some one-design fleets like the J/105s, Santa Cruz 27s et. al., shows there’s still interest in keelboat racing.

Better Racing, Better Boats and Oldies but Goodies

The quality of racing, both handicap and one-design, has improved at the top end of sport. Certainly the level of proficiency in a national J/70 regatta is huge. If you look at the serious big boat programs nationally and internationally, the degree of professionalism is amazing. Pro level sailors are paid well, and as some have pointed out to me, well worth it when amateurs might not have the chops to sail the new high-powered beasts or even stay safe.

There’s a rise in adventure races, the most prominent being the R2AK. While not exactly adventure races, the Van Isle 360 and Round the County are nothing like out-and-back or windward-leewards. On the international scene, the Golden Globe Race next year will feature 30 sailors in small, full-keel throwback boats racing non-stop around the world.

Another positive sign is the boats themselves. At that high-octane end of the spectrum, the race boats are ridiculously cool. The TP 52s are really great boats. Just watch Smoke , Glory, Kinetic and Mist (nee Valkyrie) speed past. And take the Fast 40 sportboats that haven’t quite made it to the Northwest like the Melges 40, Carkeek 40 etc.

It seems a shame that there aren’t more modern cruiser racers out there. Really good dual purpose boats have been coming out the last couple of decades. J/Boats has the formula pretty well figured out for a boat that can both race and cruise, but so do several European builders like Beneteau, Wauquiez, X-Yachts and Dehler, to name a few. There are plenty of really nice options out there with both more comfort and more speed than was possible a couple of decades ago.

And used boats? Oh my. There are so many good used boats out there that are comfy and competitive it can boggle the mind. And with some sweat equity or cash infusion they could become absolute queens.

Around the world there’s a lot of enthusiasm still for the classics. Around here the 6-meters have a nice pocket of activity, while internationally the J/Class is back in force. 12-Meters are still some of the most beautiful creatures on the water and several lead active and pampered lives on the east coast. And, in what has to be the weirdest trend, in Europe the old IOR quarter-tonners and half-tonners are getting complete overhauls and optimizations costing many times their initial cost and being raced very actively and competitively.

Let’s Change the Culture

So, there ARE positive signs. But the fact remains not enough boats are racing handicap in the Northwest. Will writing about it help? I don’t know. Ignoring the obvious and putting positive spin on everything isn’t helping. Jumping into online forums in places like Sailing Anarchy can be very interesting and informative, but I’m not sure they move us toward solutions.

I have some ideas about what’s wrong, and I’m sure you have even better ideas, which is why I’ve put together a little survey to see what you think are the problems. It’s not controlled or scientific, but hopefully it can provide some insight which I’ll share with the yacht clubs and race organizers. If you have something more to contribute than a few sentences, email me about presenting them as a separate post.

Click Here to take the Survey.

I’ve tried to make it quick and easy, yet cover the big stuff. A couple of notes – there is a big PHRF meeting this Sunday and Andy was hoping to get some preliminary numbers from this survey to initiate discussion at the meeting. So sending it before Sunday would be helpful to him – I’ll get those numbers to him. Also, please forward this post or the survey link to the racers you know, even the ones that don’t race anymore. (We want to get them back in the fold, right?)

Also, I’ve set up a sailish.com forum to talk about these things as the relate specifically to the Northwest. There’s a signup process that I hope isn’t too burdensome.

Cruiser-racer handicap sailboat racing is one of the coolest things we can do. It gets us outside. We can play on a team with folks of the opposite gender. We can include our kids a lot of the time. We can challenge ourselves mentally and physically on an ever-changing playing field. It allows us to use an older boat that might otherwise be just growing a furry bottom.

It’s a shame more people aren’t racing. Let’s see if we can change that in the Northwest.

Read More Here ….

The post How can we save handicap racing in the Northwest? Take the survey appeared first on YachtAweigh.

source http://yachtaweigh.com/how-can-we-save-handicap-racing-in-the-northwest-take-the-survey/ from http://yatchaweigh.blogspot.com/2017/10/how-can-we-save-handicap-racing-in.html

[janetgannon]

How can we save handicap racing in the Northwest? Take the survey

Friend of Three Sheets and fellow sailor, Kurt Hoehne, is always a great read, as he keeps close tabs on the racing scene throughout the Pacific Northwest, North America and beyond with his website Sailish.com. He’s kind enough to share this report and survey with us in hopes that we can all make sailboat racing in our area the best it can be.

Several months ago I got a call from my friend Andy Schwenk. Andy rolls up his sleeves and spends a lot of time increasing racing participation from “within.” He’s active in Anacortes Yacht Club, the Santa Cruz 27 fleet and, much to the point, as Secretary/Treasurer for PHRF-NW. In the unlikely event you don’t know Andy, he makes his living rigging boats with his Northwest Rigging, so he’s got a vested interest in seeing the sport thrive.

But spend five minutes talking to him and you won’t doubt that it’s not all about business: He’s a true believer in the sport. Many “in the industry” are.

Andy’s concerned. “How can we get more PHRF participation?” he asked. As PHRF treasurer, he was concerned because the number of rated boats has been waning dramatically and has been for a long time. More importantly, the number of sailboats actually leaving the dock to race around here has been nosediving.

Is there a problem?

Yes. If you doubt that, take a look at this past spring’s PSSR (CYC Seattle) registration list. Fifty boats. Twenty eight were in one-design classes, leaving 22 racing PHRF. All that positive spin in the world is not going to change that. PSSC a couple weeks ago had better one-design participation, but two of the handicap classes were three boats each, and one of the other two classes had a rating spread of 126 seconds/mile!

To those of you who have come to sailboat racing lately (bless you by the way), you may be wondering what’s the big deal. There are boats out there, clubs are finding ways to get races off and people are having a good time. But for those of us looking through the rose-tinted and somewhat smoky glasses of the 1970s and 80s, what we see out there now is a shell of what was. Yes, I know that was 40 years ago. But even 20 years ago we’d see ~130 boats.

We old-timers KNOW it’s just a lot more fun with more boats. And more boats also means the sport is sustainable.

Compare the Blakely Rock Races of the late 1970s with todays’. Imagine 300+ boats instead of 60. Imagine re-measuring and re-rating right up until the night before the race. At the beginning of the season, new boats would be on hand in nearly every class, every year. Imagine the number of crew involved as the benefits of stacking the rail became apparent as the boats became lighter.

It was energized.

To many in those days, racing was everything. Now it’s something people squeeze in between hundreds of other obligations. Scaring up even a bare bones crew is often a steep challenge.

And when clubs around the country are desperately trying to maintain solvency, and PHRF certificates drop in numbers, it IS a problem.

Are there positive signs?

You bet there are positive signs.

First of all, handicap is not dead elsewhere. In England, the Fastnet registration limit was reached in a matter of minutes. The Chicago-Mackinac race has about 330 boats, most of which race handicap. Racing is still cool for a lot of people. In our own area the biggest handicap events are races like Round the County, Race to the Straits and Blakely Rock Benefit. Swiftsure still has a healthy entry list but it’s been declining markedly. Southern Straits seems to be holding its numbers.

The ORC racing is a really bright spot. Several years ago many owners in the Puget Sound Big Boat Fleet took serious issue with changes in the PHRF-NW handicaps, and decided to institute the IRC rule at the top end of the fleet. This worked for a while, but not completely. In the meantime the ORC rule was taking root in Vancouver. In the end, the IRC fleet has embraced ORC. This has been cause for great celebration. Racers from both sides of the border can now race against each other without having to deal with any PHRF-NW vs PHRF-BC differences and politics. Moreover, as a measurement system used worldwide, there are no local influences that can be perceived as prejudicial.

At the casual end of the spectrum, one positive sign is the rise of fun races. Obviously, Seattle’s Duck Dodge is the original and greatest fun race, but there are others. Elliott Bay Marina’s Downtown Sailing Series provides nearly 100 crews with free racing, hot dogs and beer. At Charleston they had two “pursuit” classes, where I assume handicaps were figured in the starting times, and only one race per day was sailed.

But there are others that aren’t too casual or too serious. Sloop Tavern YC’s Race to the Straits and Blakely Rock Benefit Regatta are well attended but for many sailors are more about participation than competition. If you turn up with a headsail that would be better utilized as a tent, you don’t feel like you’re out of place. You’re out there and everybody is happy to see you out there.

Finally, the increasing activity in some one-design fleets like the J/105s, Santa Cruz 27s et. al., shows there’s still interest in keelboat racing.

Better Racing, Better Boats and Oldies but Goodies

The quality of racing, both handicap and one-design, has improved at the top end of sport. Certainly the level of proficiency in a national J/70 regatta is huge. If you look at the serious big boat programs nationally and internationally, the degree of professionalism is amazing. Pro level sailors are paid well, and as some have pointed out to me, well worth it when amateurs might not have the chops to sail the new high-powered beasts or even stay safe.

There’s a rise in adventure races, the most prominent being the R2AK. While not exactly adventure races, the Van Isle 360 and Round the County are nothing like out-and-back or windward-leewards. On the international scene, the Golden Globe Race next year will feature 30 sailors in small, full-keel throwback boats racing non-stop around the world.

Another positive sign is the boats themselves. At that high-octane end of the spectrum, the race boats are ridiculously cool. The TP 52s are really great boats. Just watch Smoke , Glory, Kinetic and Mist (nee Valkyrie) speed past. And take the Fast 40 sportboats that haven’t quite made it to the Northwest like the Melges 40, Carkeek 40 etc.

It seems a shame that there aren’t more modern cruiser racers out there. Really good dual purpose boats have been coming out the last couple of decades. J/Boats has the formula pretty well figured out for a boat that can both race and cruise, but so do several European builders like Beneteau, Wauquiez, X-Yachts and Dehler, to name a few. There are plenty of really nice options out there with both more comfort and more speed than was possible a couple of decades ago.

And used boats? Oh my. There are so many good used boats out there that are comfy and competitive it can boggle the mind. And with some sweat equity or cash infusion they could become absolute queens.

Around the world there’s a lot of enthusiasm still for the classics. Around here the 6-meters have a nice pocket of activity, while internationally the J/Class is back in force. 12-Meters are still some of the most beautiful creatures on the water and several lead active and pampered lives on the east coast. And, in what has to be the weirdest trend, in Europe the old IOR quarter-tonners and half-tonners are getting complete overhauls and optimizations costing many times their initial cost and being raced very actively and competitively.

Let’s Change the Culture

So, there ARE positive signs. But the fact remains not enough boats are racing handicap in the Northwest. Will writing about it help? I don’t know. Ignoring the obvious and putting positive spin on everything isn’t helping. Jumping into online forums in places like Sailing Anarchy can be very interesting and informative, but I’m not sure they move us toward solutions.

I have some ideas about what’s wrong, and I’m sure you have even better ideas, which is why I’ve put together a little survey to see what you think are the problems. It’s not controlled or scientific, but hopefully it can provide some insight which I’ll share with the yacht clubs and race organizers. If you have something more to contribute than a few sentences, email me about presenting them as a separate post.

Click Here to take the Survey.

I’ve tried to make it quick and easy, yet cover the big stuff. A couple of notes – there is a big PHRF meeting this Sunday and Andy was hoping to get some preliminary numbers from this survey to initiate discussion at the meeting. So sending it before Sunday would be helpful to him – I’ll get those numbers to him. Also, please forward this post or the survey link to the racers you know, even the ones that don’t race anymore. (We want to get them back in the fold, right?)

Also, I’ve set up a sailish.com forum to talk about these things as the relate specifically to the Northwest. There’s a signup process that I hope isn’t too burdensome.

Cruiser-racer handicap sailboat racing is one of the coolest things we can do. It gets us outside. We can play on a team with folks of the opposite gender. We can include our kids a lot of the time. We can challenge ourselves mentally and physically on an ever-changing playing field. It allows us to use an older boat that might otherwise be just growing a furry bottom.

It’s a shame more people aren’t racing. Let’s see if we can change that in the Northwest.

Read More Here ….

The post How can we save handicap racing in the Northwest? Take the survey appeared first on YachtAweigh.

from http://yachtaweigh.com/how-can-we-save-handicap-racing-in-the-northwest-take-the-survey/ from https://yachtaweigh.tumblr.com/post/166653744466

[yachtaweigh]

How can we save handicap racing in the Northwest? Take the survey

Friend of Three Sheets and fellow sailor, Kurt Hoehne, is always a great read, as he keeps close tabs on the racing scene throughout the Pacific Northwest, North America and beyond with his website Sailish.com. He’s kind enough to share this report and survey with us in hopes that we can all make sailboat racing in our area the best it can be.

Several months ago I got a call from my friend Andy Schwenk. Andy rolls up his sleeves and spends a lot of time increasing racing participation from “within.” He’s active in Anacortes Yacht Club, the Santa Cruz 27 fleet and, much to the point, as Secretary/Treasurer for PHRF-NW. In the unlikely event you don’t know Andy, he makes his living rigging boats with his Northwest Rigging, so he’s got a vested interest in seeing the sport thrive.

But spend five minutes talking to him and you won’t doubt that it’s not all about business: He’s a true believer in the sport. Many “in the industry” are.

Andy’s concerned. “How can we get more PHRF participation?” he asked. As PHRF treasurer, he was concerned because the number of rated boats has been waning dramatically and has been for a long time. More importantly, the number of sailboats actually leaving the dock to race around here has been nosediving.

Is there a problem?

Yes. If you doubt that, take a look at this past spring’s PSSR (CYC Seattle) registration list. Fifty boats. Twenty eight were in one-design classes, leaving 22 racing PHRF. All that positive spin in the world is not going to change that. PSSC a couple weeks ago had better one-design participation, but two of the handicap classes were three boats each, and one of the other two classes had a rating spread of 126 seconds/mile!

To those of you who have come to sailboat racing lately (bless you by the way), you may be wondering what’s the big deal. There are boats out there, clubs are finding ways to get races off and people are having a good time. But for those of us looking through the rose-tinted and somewhat smoky glasses of the 1970s and 80s, what we see out there now is a shell of what was. Yes, I know that was 40 years ago. But even 20 years ago we’d see ~130 boats.

We old-timers KNOW it’s just a lot more fun with more boats. And more boats also means the sport is sustainable.

Compare the Blakely Rock Races of the late 1970s with todays’. Imagine 300+ boats instead of 60. Imagine re-measuring and re-rating right up until the night before the race. At the beginning of the season, new boats would be on hand in nearly every class, every year. Imagine the number of crew involved as the benefits of stacking the rail became apparent as the boats became lighter.

It was energized.

To many in those days, racing was everything. Now it’s something people squeeze in between hundreds of other obligations. Scaring up even a bare bones crew is often a steep challenge.

And when clubs around the country are desperately trying to maintain solvency, and PHRF certificates drop in numbers, it IS a problem.

Are there positive signs?

You bet there are positive signs.

First of all, handicap is not dead elsewhere. In England, the Fastnet registration limit was reached in a matter of minutes. The Chicago-Mackinac race has about 330 boats, most of which race handicap. Racing is still cool for a lot of people. In our own area the biggest handicap events are races like Round the County, Race to the Straits and Blakely Rock Benefit. Swiftsure still has a healthy entry list but it’s been declining markedly. Southern Straits seems to be holding its numbers.

The ORC racing is a really bright spot. Several years ago many owners in the Puget Sound Big Boat Fleet took serious issue with changes in the PHRF-NW handicaps, and decided to institute the IRC rule at the top end of the fleet. This worked for a while, but not completely. In the meantime the ORC rule was taking root in Vancouver. In the end, the IRC fleet has embraced ORC. This has been cause for great celebration. Racers from both sides of the border can now race against each other without having to deal with any PHRF-NW vs PHRF-BC differences and politics. Moreover, as a measurement system used worldwide, there are no local influences that can be perceived as prejudicial.

At the casual end of the spectrum, one positive sign is the rise of fun races. Obviously, Seattle’s Duck Dodge is the original and greatest fun race, but there are others. Elliott Bay Marina’s Downtown Sailing Series provides nearly 100 crews with free racing, hot dogs and beer. At Charleston they had two “pursuit” classes, where I assume handicaps were figured in the starting times, and only one race per day was sailed.

But there are others that aren’t too casual or too serious. Sloop Tavern YC’s Race to the Straits and Blakely Rock Benefit Regatta are well attended but for many sailors are more about participation than competition. If you turn up with a headsail that would be better utilized as a tent, you don’t feel like you’re out of place. You’re out there and everybody is happy to see you out there.

Finally, the increasing activity in some one-design fleets like the J/105s, Santa Cruz 27s et. al., shows there’s still interest in keelboat racing.

Better Racing, Better Boats and Oldies but Goodies

The quality of racing, both handicap and one-design, has improved at the top end of sport. Certainly the level of proficiency in a national J/70 regatta is huge. If you look at the serious big boat programs nationally and internationally, the degree of professionalism is amazing. Pro level sailors are paid well, and as some have pointed out to me, well worth it when amateurs might not have the chops to sail the new high-powered beasts or even stay safe.

There’s a rise in adventure races, the most prominent being the R2AK. While not exactly adventure races, the Van Isle 360 and Round the County are nothing like out-and-back or windward-leewards. On the international scene, the Golden Globe Race next year will feature 30 sailors in small, full-keel throwback boats racing non-stop around the world.

Another positive sign is the boats themselves. At that high-octane end of the spectrum, the race boats are ridiculously cool. The TP 52s are really great boats. Just watch Smoke , Glory, Kinetic and Mist (nee Valkyrie) speed past. And take the Fast 40 sportboats that haven’t quite made it to the Northwest like the Melges 40, Carkeek 40 etc.

It seems a shame that there aren’t more modern cruiser racers out there. Really good dual purpose boats have been coming out the last couple of decades. J/Boats has the formula pretty well figured out for a boat that can both race and cruise, but so do several European builders like Beneteau, Wauquiez, X-Yachts and Dehler, to name a few. There are plenty of really nice options out there with both more comfort and more speed than was possible a couple of decades ago.

And used boats? Oh my. There are so many good used boats out there that are comfy and competitive it can boggle the mind. And with some sweat equity or cash infusion they could become absolute queens.

Around the world there’s a lot of enthusiasm still for the classics. Around here the 6-meters have a nice pocket of activity, while internationally the J/Class is back in force. 12-Meters are still some of the most beautiful creatures on the water and several lead active and pampered lives on the east coast. And, in what has to be the weirdest trend, in Europe the old IOR quarter-tonners and half-tonners are getting complete overhauls and optimizations costing many times their initial cost and being raced very actively and competitively.

Let’s Change the Culture

So, there ARE positive signs. But the fact remains not enough boats are racing handicap in the Northwest. Will writing about it help? I don’t know. Ignoring the obvious and putting positive spin on everything isn’t helping. Jumping into online forums in places like Sailing Anarchy can be very interesting and informative, but I’m not sure they move us toward solutions.

I have some ideas about what’s wrong, and I’m sure you have even better ideas, which is why I’ve put together a little survey to see what you think are the problems. It’s not controlled or scientific, but hopefully it can provide some insight which I’ll share with the yacht clubs and race organizers. If you have something more to contribute than a few sentences, email me about presenting them as a separate post.

Click Here to take the Survey.

I’ve tried to make it quick and easy, yet cover the big stuff. A couple of notes – there is a big PHRF meeting this Sunday and Andy was hoping to get some preliminary numbers from this survey to initiate discussion at the meeting. So sending it before Sunday would be helpful to him – I’ll get those numbers to him. Also, please forward this post or the survey link to the racers you know, even the ones that don’t race anymore. (We want to get them back in the fold, right?)

Also, I’ve set up a sailish.com forum to talk about these things as the relate specifically to the Northwest. There’s a signup process that I hope isn’t too burdensome.

Cruiser-racer handicap sailboat racing is one of the coolest things we can do. It gets us outside. We can play on a team with folks of the opposite gender. We can include our kids a lot of the time. We can challenge ourselves mentally and physically on an ever-changing playing field. It allows us to use an older boat that might otherwise be just growing a furry bottom.

It’s a shame more people aren’t racing. Let’s see if we can change that in the Northwest.

Read More Here ….

The post How can we save handicap racing in the Northwest? Take the survey appeared first on YachtAweigh.

from http://yachtaweigh.com/how-can-we-save-handicap-racing-in-the-northwest-take-the-survey/

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/sports/everyone-loves-virat-kohli-because-hes-always-honest-shane-warne/

Everyone loves Virat Kohli because he's always honest: Shane Warne

MUMBAI: The Indian Premier League’s (IPL) 2008 champions Rajasthan Royals are ready with a makeover. The franchise is turning all ‘pink’ this season with a change in the colour of their apparels and will have it as the official colour in line with the city of Jaipur. As RR goes about reinventing itself in its 10th year of IPL (having missed out two years), Shane Warne – their first captain who led RR to victory in the inaugural year of the IPL – is once again the face driving that change. On Sunday, the legendary leg-spinner sat with TOI for an extensive interview.

Excerpts…

Ten years with Rajasthan Royals. What does it take to have so much of Shane Warne’s attention?

I think the people. There’s a loyalty factor attached to club sport (cricket) and I like that. I’ve always only played for one team. Australia, Victoria, St Kilda and Rajasthan Royals (in context of IPL). In County cricket, it was Hampshire. I’ve had many roles here (at RR) but what really drove me was the people of Jaipur. There wasn’t much expectation, they just wanted their team to do well. There was a feeling of appreciation and I felt they took me for who I was. They gave me the space. I want to pay back that loyalty.

You talk about space. When this kind of space is given to Shane Warne, does it tend to bring the best out of him?

Yes, absolutely. Firstly, there’s a huge difference between being liked and being respected. I got both in plenty with RR. Today, franchises have a bowling coach, a batting coach, physios, mentors, team managers – there are so many people around the team now doling out advice. In my case, it was a one-stop shop. That helped. Being honest with the players helped. If a player wanted to know why he was in the team, or why he wasn’t, all he had to do is come to me and I always kept that door open. All of that resulted in a nice build-up and we could create an amazing team. It’s the most satisfying thing I’ve ever done in cricket – help create everybody’s favourite underdog in IPL. And everybody loves an underdog.

What’s been IPL’s biggest takeaway? Some other leagues have sprouted across the world and they’re doing pretty well for themselves. But IPL continues to be the flagbearer…

There are a couple of things that stand out. Indian cricket has been the biggest benefactor. Go back 11 years, cricketers lacked in confidence, there was an underlying (albeit unnecessary) sense of inferiority. And now, look at them. Training with international players, sharing dressing rooms, sharing knowledge have all contributed so immensely. Today, if India is the Number One team in the world, a lot of credit goes to the IPL for it. Because, it’s been a great learning curve. The league added a new dimension to India’s first class circuit. What the BCCI has now is something every international team wants to copy. India now are leading the way and the force that the IPL has become has a huge role to play in it. Who would’ve thought that India would be the world’s best fielding unit or who’d have thought India would have the world’s best pace attack? In the nets, the Indians were bowling alongside Shaun Tait, Brett Lee, some of the world’s best fast bowlers. Practising with them, interacting with them has helped. Simple conversations – be it in the team bus, at dinner, changing room discussions. All those bits have helped. The opportunity that a league like the IPL gives to youngsters is incredible. That has resulted in a huge change in attitude. Positivity has seeped in.

And fans…

Nobody can match the passion of Indian fans. Yes, they love cricket in Australia, England, South Africa, Caribbean. But there’s no place in the world like India when it comes to following the game with so much passion. You can’t create that kind of energy.

Is IPL doing enough today to keep innovating? Or is it stuck in some sort of a time warp?

There are administrators who’ve had foresight to make way for a property like this. I’m sure there’ll be equally efficient individuals in the future. But if there’s a change, it has to be for the better.

Rajasthan Royals and controversies have walked hand in hand – like a couple in love.

I think it hurt everybody. It made people realise that you’ve to do more to regulate the game. It made people realise that there are things happening in your own backyard and can happen again. So, make sure you have your things in order. I’m happy the way Rajasthan Royals have come back – better and stronger.

Was the two-year ban a bit harsh?

Yes, I think it was a bit too harsh. Royals have always been treated a bit too harshly and to their misery, they’ve found themselves on the wrong side of the fence a bit too often. But a few bad eggs in the basket don’t define the ecosystem. I’m not sure if all other franchises are treated the same as Royals and I sense a bit of jealousy there.

The ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) chief recently said that a study tells them India is the hub for illegal bookies in cricket. Where’s the rocket science in it? It will be because gambling in India is illegal. That didn’t make much sense. But apropos of ACU’s view, how does one curb this menace?

The government of India is clearly missing a trick here. They should have legalised gambling a long time back. That’s the only way you can keep things in perspective. Look, everybody loves a good punt. If you legalise gambling here, just the way it is in other countries, won’t it help you figure who does big bets and who doesn’t? And the money the government would make, my goodness. If someone wants to gamble, then it doesn’t matter whether you legalise it or you don’t, they’ll still do it. So might as well benefit from it. I think legalising gambling will help. There’s nothing wrong with a bet as long as it is tracked properly.

Cricket Australia’s culture change – has it worked? Or is it working?

I really don’t know if there was a problem with the culture. But what I do know is after Sandpapergate, how many people loved seeing the Australians in trouble and how many people sunk their boot in. How many people kicked them when they were down. There might have been an issue because every team did not like the Australians and that’s okay. You don’t have to be liked but you need to be respected. And there are a few things the Australian team did (to lose that respect). They need to earn back that respect.

Signing autographs will help do that?

The Australian way of playing cricket is tough, uncompromising but above all, fair. Maybe that’s where the Australians weren’t doing it right, pushing it too far and this time (with the culture change policy), they’ve gone too far the other way. Now I think everything they’re doing is for public image. As soon as the last ball is bowled in a game, they’re all (players) signing autographs near the fence. Now, people should sign autographs if they want to. I was one of the guys who signed all the time, took pictures and I think all cricketers should. But, there’s a time when it should hurt. You may not want to speak to anyone if you’ve lost. You need your own time to get into the dressing room and get over it. Why would you want them to sign autographs?

Is CA trying to fix something that’s not broken?

CA needs to work out what’s important to them. I can understand why they’re (CA) doing this (read: Trying to improve image in public). But it should happen because they (players) want to (do it), not because they have to. Steve Smith made a huge error in judgement, but Steve Smith is not a bad person. But it is the punishment that has amplified the problem. A 12-month ban? Really? Think about some of the other teams and individuals and what they’ve done. Let’s say a $10m fine could’ve been levied. He (Smith) made a mistake but I think he has been punished very harshly.

In today’s social media scene, opinions are dime a dozen and get inflated pretty easily. So, authorities seem to be under some kind of pressure to be seen as doing the right thing…

I think too many people worry about what people say. It’s about being true to yourself and standing for what you believe in – to do the right thing. For instance, the Australian cricket team – they want to play tough, aggressive, uncompromising cricket but it has to be fair. As simple as that. There are too many people in the world, not just cricketers, that get on their phone and create something that isn’t real. They try and portray a life that isn’t real. That’s unnecessary.

For years now, what Australia’s done has been the blueprint for others to follow. So, while others have been playing catch-up and trying to match steps, Australia now want to go back from there and start afresh…

For 25-odd years now – probably from the 1980s to, let’s say, around 2010-11 – everyone watched what Australia did. How we prepared to how our first class cricket was doing. The same mantle has been taken over by India now. They’ve created a platform that others are looking up to. I guess that’s how it works. Someone is always waiting to take over.

Too much restriction for cricketers – in terms of what they say, do, what and where they speak. Too much rule-setting can result in dumbing down of expression?

We live in a world that’s increasingly becoming politically correct. And what we want to see from sportspersons is them being real. We want to see their emotions, see them playing with freedom, expressing themselves. We don’t want to see them conforming. For instance, most player interviews these days go like this: Question: Well, that was a fantastic result today. How do you feel? Answer: Well, it was a great team effort. Everybody played well and did their part. I’m just trying my best and happy to contribute to the team – That’s what everyone says. Guys have to get more real.

Is that why Virat Kohli comes as a breath of fresh air? Speaks his mind…

He’s fantastic. I love watching him bat and I love listening to him. I am a big fan.

One of the things he doesn’t do is he doesn’t take things lying down…

You know what he does? He stands up for what he believes in. He speaks how he feels and he’s real. He’s emotional, a bit too emotional sometimes on the field. But that’s the part of the charm.

Is that why Australia loves him?

I think world cricket loves him. Everyone loves Virat Kohli because it’s refreshing to hear him talk so honestly and openly. He loves confrontation. That’s why he has those 100s in chases. How many? 23? 24? It’s unbelievable. The next best is how much? I can’t remember who’s second. That’s phenomenal. That’s something inbuilt into you. That’s not skill or talent. He’s got a lot of that. That is just pure competitiveness and pure desire – to get the job done.

Virat’s the kind of guy who’ll survive at MCG’s Bay 13…

You’ve got to be pretty tough-skinned to survive that. I guess if Virat wants to try that out, that’s good.

Lot of comparisons happen these days and they’ve become fashionable. Is Sachin better than Virat, or is Virat better than Sachin? Is Virat the best ever? You’ve seen Sachin so closely. Where do you put that in perspective?

Very hard to judge when someone is playing and very hard to judge eras. Think about the bowlers in the 90s. Different surfaces that seamed. Now they’re a lot flatter. The ball swung more. So many invariables. But to think that someone was better than Brian Lara and Sachin – in those mid-90s – against Wasim, Waqar etc; Curtly, Courtney, etc; McGrath, Donald, Saqlain, Mushy, Vettori, Murali, myself. You can go on. (Pauses) Virat is breaking all the records, which is great but I want to wait. See, what people miss is this: You can set benchmarks, score those many centuries, average that high, score a lot many runs. But what people are going to remember you for is the way you played the game. Someone should run down the street and ask fans, how many runs did Mark Waugh make or what his average was? They wouldn’t have a clue but chances are, here’s what they’ll say: I loved watching him play. To my mind, what’s already evident is that Virat is one of the best players of all time. In one-day team, he probably has to go down with Viv Richards as the greatest ever, not so much for the record but for the way he plays his game. But I’ll judge him at the end of his career.

Shouldn’t Australia stop look for the next Shane Warne?

England, for a very long time, were looking for the next Ian Botham. India kept looking for the next Sachin for a long time. Let people be themselves. I think Australia have a very good spinner in Nathan Lyon. He’s doing a great job. When people say things like that – looking for the next Warne – what they actually mean is: “We want a character. We want somebody who brings fun to the game, makes it entertaining”. I always wanted to do that – be an entertainer.

A bowler like Jasprit Bumrah can be a biomechanic’s research work. You’ve seen him up & close?

I’ve heard comments like ‘he’s a freak of nature’ which I don’t think is the case. He’s Bumrah – simple as that. He’s got his own style. The same as Glenn McGrath had his own style. I think you can’t recreate things that Bumrah does. Things like how fast his arm is, his wrist position, how accurate he can be. I think he’s fantastic and he’s clearly good with his basics – except that he’s good in his own way.

DRS – you’re clearly not a fan…

Hang on. I think any improvement to the game that can help us get to the right decision is fine. I don’t mind. I’m a fan of DRS only if it is used right. And at the moment, I don’t think it is used right. It’s simple: Take away the original umpire’s decision. You can’t have exactly the same ball being given out and not out depending on what the on-field decision was. Identical deliveries: one results in ‘out’ and the other results in ‘not out’. That can’t be the case. It’s either out or not out, but because of what the on-field decision is, there can’t be two alternatives to the same delivery. If I bowl a ball and it hits the guy in front of the stumps, and the umpire says not out. I review and it says: The ball would’ve gone to hit the stumps. But it says ‘umpire’s call’. The next ball, I bowl exactly the same one, and the umpire says ‘it’s out’ – that’s wrong. The same ball can’t be out and not out. The simpler way to do it is ‘take away the original decision of the umpire. If its hitting in line and hitting the stumps, it’s out – no matter what the umpire says.

So, you’re saying only keep the human element in the game or go completely with the technology…

Keep DRS exactly the same. Just remove the umpire’s original on-field decision. It doesn’t matter what the on-field umpire feels. Let’s just see what the DRS says. It’s simple. Then you’ll never have the same ball being given ‘out’ and ‘not out’.

DRS takes into account that once the ball is pitched on the surface, it tends to get slower. You agree with that?

Probably yes. (Pauses) I think so. (Pauses again).

Can it be applied against the force of nature?

I don’t know. I’m sure most deliveries are faster through the air. If it hits the pitch, it has to take off some pace. But if I think of Perth in the late 80s & early 90s, the ball seemed to always gather pace off the pitch. Maybe that was the swiftness from the bounce, I don’t know. But you’ve got to rely on science and they’ll have to tell whether that’s the case.

Another thing about the DRS is that those who operate it during a match sit in the broadcast room, the TV umpire sits elsewhere, the match-referee sits elsewhere…

The DRS should be on their own, sitting alone, and maybe the fourth umpire should sit with them, to see they’re hitting the right button (laughs). But because of the telecast, you get to see all of that on the live feed. So, it’s pretty hard for anyone here to make a mistake. But yes, those who operate the DRS should be sitting alone so that you’re not influenced by anyone.

What’s that one rule you want changed in cricket?

1) Take away the on-field umpire’s decision on DRS; 2) If you don’t bowl your overs in time, the captain misses two games. (Introduce it). You’ve got 90 overs in a day, if you miss them, the captain misses the next two games after that one.

What if the game finishes in under-three days, like in the case of West Indies versus England?

Yes, (above should apply) unless the game finishes in less than 225 overs. Five days make way for 450 overs. So, if the match has lasted less than 225 overs, it’s okay. But there has to be a clampdown on overrates. The flat rule should be that a team cannot bowl less than 90 overs in a day. If it’s a half-day’s play we’re talking about, do a pro-rata calculation.

Recently, Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul were in news for all the wrong reasons. Not related to cricket of course. A huge controversy erupted. Did you hear about it?

Yes. Good lord. As I said earlier, it’s all about political correctness these days. If a player steps out of line, everybody has an opinion and I thought that this particular thing was ridiculous. Just let them be.

Cricketers from the last decade can thank their stars there was no Twitter back then. Imagine the Sourav Ganguly-Greg Chappell saga being played on Twitter. That would’ve been something. So, this generation doesn’t have it so easy…

(Laughs). I agree. But there are advantages of Twitter too. If something is said or written incorrectly, it’s a medium that can be used to point things out immediately. It’s a good platform to have a voice.

One Australian cricketer you have set high hopes on…

From all forms of cricket I see back in Australia, the one player I really admire is Pat Cummins. I love the way he goes about and he’s a great story in the way he’s come back from injuries. So, the hard work is paying off.