#you saw it as a 13 second crack vid

[ghostlyarchaeologist]

Eliot Spencer | Hard Knock Life

The full-length version!

For @my-beloved-lakes

(Also watch on Youtube)

[jflove]

I want to correct some things I wrote in my last taekook post. But it just too long and hard to edit, also, those were my early thoughts, and now I learned more in these few days, makes me wanna change some of my theory.

First, I would say I think I know tae more now. Before, I wasn't able to tell what he's like. Hes just so secrecy. And the part he can lie without blink, made me feel weird. Like why? Why you like to hide your name when stranger asks you? Why you so good at losing? Why even lie at all? What's the center reason?

Then I saw taekook-lives vids, she has so many insightful, and background informations, love her YouTube channel. She pointed out about both tae and jungkook's sexuality could be gay even before they met each other, then it hits me. That explains everything, why tae sometimes childish and sometimes mature, why he's shy and a bit femenime(not saying it's a bad things, or because of his sexuality, im not that old and stupid) in general but act silly loud exaggerated behavior sometimes, especially when he was younger, like he was trying to act more boyish.

A little bit same thing with young JK too, his speaking voice when he with the members are higher now and he has more cute face and body expressions. He used to only smile or laugh, but now he has way too many cute faces. Maybe he has a little bit knowing that hes kinda different than other boys so that's why he likes to hangout with older people. But tae, I think he knows his sexuality and that's why he kept the real him hidden, put on a different cover on the outside, that's why he's so conflicted when he's young.

I was wrong about the inner child lyric, I thought the first changing part means tae visit jk's room and changed their relationship from friends into lovers. But then I was a bit confused cuz they seem sleep in the same room, so... How he visits jk's room? Then I saw one of taekook-lives vid mentions an article about JK talking how he met tae. He says tae visit his room and introduced himself. I realized I was so wrong, that's what tae means in the lyric, hes talking about meeting JK changes both of them.

Another thing I learned is that how much JK really pulling tae out. I didn't know RM implied that we should listen to the last album from V's singularity to fake love to love maze then magic shop. It's just a love story about how tae was hiding himself under deep ice, till someone found him and saved him. Then he tried to protect this love by faking it, and jk's part is saying no, it's still fake. So much pain and suffering, but he finally accept it cuz how much he loves tae.

I learn about the almost one year separation, and why jk covers so many love songs. The things they had been though, all those time tae protend like he didn't even see jk on cam. People talked(still some) about is he and jk not getting along, company set jk with jimin... All those things, and how much pain tae and jk feel constantly, couldn't saying anything, just using music and those tiny hints to spread their love.

I now sure it must be tae didn't wanna come out. jk in on's solo part sings "Michael told me in the closet, they got some chicken I so sad" is an unbelievable brave and smartest lyric ever. I think maybe the company said they will support them if them came out, but chicken out, so jk was sad, but now he's gonna taking over like the lyric says.

Now I think inner child is not just talking about coming out, it reviewed their relationship form the start. I thought it was a sad love calling, but maybe the second change is positive too. They gonna change their relationship to the next level. The "hold my hand" and "give you my world", I think it's a propose.

And soon I was thinking that, I saw some other stuff showing they wearing rings on the left hand forth finger lately... And also, I heard that they don't even allow to sit in the same car in Korea seems they are married.

Seriously? They not just gonna announce coming out, but straight go for marriage? Is this for real? What m I even writing stuff here? The boat just sails itself to the far beyond.

But I would like to say how much Im touched by their relationship. I had to go through all those details, like cracking codes to find those puzzle pieces, so I can understand what they have going through. This is just sad. And I heard they already starting to get some awful treatments in Korea, so I'm really sorry but also proud and admire their courage. Not just tae and jk, also other members stand by them to face the coming war, I only hope army won't get too shocked and still love and support them.

I sometimes forget though jk has this bunny cuteness, but hes also a kid that choose a small agency by his own preference when he's 13, and singing lead when he's 15 in a group full of people order than him. He doesn't scare of anything, pain and hurt cannot wipe the smile on his face, he always so positive. That's why he can save a sensitive brooding boy form the deep ice, and brings light and laugher to tae's life. They did change a lot, both of them actually, more than any of the other members. Because they grow together and slowly understand and accept who they are. Jk only stays in the closet because that was the wish of the person he loves. But he always that kind of person can never be press down forever. I can't wait to see their story finally written under daylight, so I can proudly support them and the whole BTS family. They deserve everything.

[jae-bummer]

My Idol 2: Part Eighteen

My Idol From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My Idol is a South Korean competitive reality dating game show. It currently airs on Wednesday nights on Jae-bummer’s blog. First broadcast in 2016, the show offers the opportunity for a lucky fan to go on seven blind dates with seven idols. The idol plans the date with the show throwing in specific missions to complete during the day. At the end of the initial dates, the show opens up an audience vote to decide what three idols will move on to the second date.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 -

Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13 - Part 14 - Part 15 - Part 16 - Part 17 - 

Part 18 - Part 19

“Hello,” you said calmly, swallowing what little saliva you still had in your mouth. You were unsure if it was fear or general dehydration making it near impossible to speak, but you kept your eyes focused. If you acted like everything was normal, surely it would be perceived as such. 

“Everything okay?” he said softly, reaching forward and taking your hand in his.  He rubbed his finger softly along your palm and furrowed his brows. “You look upset.” 

He had penetrated your facade so easily. Surely he could feel your self created tension as you stood before him. Ignoring the urge to wince, you cracked a small smile and shook your head instead. “Why would I be upset?” 

“Hopefully you wouldn’t be,” he grinned. “Not when I’m picking you up for a date.” 

“You’re right,” you nodded, attempting to completely indulge yourself in this moment. Maybe if you deluded your mind into believing this was yet another eventful leap into a My Idol date, you could forget about the secret you were trying to mask between your winter coats. Yoongi was not hiding in your closet right now. Nope, he was perfectly safe in his stuffy, little, dark studio. 

Except he wasn’t. 

“What’s the plan for today?” you hissed through clenched teeth. You had to get out of there. Your ears perked with paranoia as you swore you heard a shift in the floorboards behind you. Choosing to keep your eyes forward, you cocked your head toward your date. 

“First,” he grinned, revealing a hand you hadn’t realized he was hiding behind his back. “This.” 

You let out a relieved sigh at his lack of validation of anyone appearing behind you. Glancing down, you noted the baby pink and light blue fabric spilling over his arm. Taken aback, you tilted your head before glancing back up toward his handsome face. 

“Couples outfits,” he offered with an encouraging nod. He began to chew his lip nervously as you remained unmoving. “...Or is that not something we should do?” 

“Oh no,” you gasped, taking the garment from his grasp. You shook your head quickly in an attempt to cure his pout. “It’s definitely something we should do.” 

“Really?” he whispered, his smile finding his lips once again. “You don’t think it’s too much?” 

“Not at all,” you hummed. Secretly you thought it was a little much, but at this point you would do anything to bring the smile back to his face and get away from your apartment. He was so soft, sometimes you had to remind yourself not to be so rough around the edges. Even if you were mentally dealing with a crisis, he could pick up on it immediately. 

A relationship took effort on both sides after all. 

Fluffing out the fabric, you couldn’t help but chuckle as you took the image in. It was similar to the pastel sweatshirt that he was wearing, but slightly altered. While both items had one pink arm and one blue arm, the collar of his was blue, while yours was pink. A blue “x” stood prominently on the right chest of his, while yours had a more delicate “x” designated in pink. 

“Why are you laughing?” he asked quietly, trying to gage your reaction. 

“Because you are honestly the cutest human being on the planet, and I have no other idea of how to cope,” you whispered, looking back up at him. 

His smile grew so large, it was difficult to even think of him with a different expression. Couples outfits were kitschy and something you normally would scoff over, but that was before you actually had someone to share one with. In this very moment, the simple idea of wearing a matching outfit with a boy you were going on a date with sent your stomach fluttering. 

Or maybe...it was just Wonho. 

Only time would tell. 

“Look at us,” you grinned, scooting along side Wonho’s thick frame. “We’re nauseating.” 

“In the best way,” he laughed. “I’m not sure if you’re dying inside or incapable of handling the cute factor. Personally I like to think it’s the latter.” 

“What an optimistic boy,” you hummed. “I like that about you.” 

“Kihyunnie says I should be more realistic,” Wonho sighed. “But it’s easier this way, I think. I’m not so burdened down with the melancholy realities of life.” 

Your eyebrows shot in the air at his words. “Sometimes when you’re in situations like this...I guess it’s easy to forget that sad times will inevitably exist.” 

“And if your an optimist, you can conveniently forget they exist at all,” he chuckled. “If only it worked that way, right?” 

“We’d all be much happier,” you nodded. “Maybe not as experienced, but happier.” 

“Who says we wouldn’t be experienced?” he asked. “It doesn’t take hardships in life to be experienced.” 

“Maybe more well rounded then,” you sighed. “If you’ve only ever know happy times, how could you possibly know the difference between the two? At least this way, we can appreciate the happy outcomes even more because we knew the negative outcome was possible.” 

“Fine,” Wonho grinned. “Then I guess this was the long way of telling me that you’re actually dying inside.” 

“Nope,” you hummed, sticking your tongue out at him. “It was the long way of telling you that even if I hated these sweaters, the fact that you actually went out and got us couple’s outfits makes me...feel things.” 

Wonho’s cheeks grew pink with your words. “What do you mean by that?” 

“Maybe I’ll tell you on our third date,” you chuckled with a wink. “Feelings are dangerous, Wonho.” 

“I like them,” he smirked. “You should tell me all about them in detail...but first, I think we’re here.” 

“We’re where exactly?” you asked, glancing up for the first time. You had been so enamored with your conversation that you had completely ignored where your date had led you. You hadn’t been walking very far, or it seemed as if you hadn’t. 

“I thought I’d redeem myself,” he nodded. “And pick a date that had little to no physical activity involved.” 

“Wonho,” you groaned. “For the hundredth time, what happened-” 

“Wasn’t my fault,” he mimicked. “Yeah, sure, right.” 

“When are you going to take those words to heart?” you grumbled. 

“As soon as I rectify the situation,” he smiled. 

“There is nothing to rectify!” you argued. “I am responsible for injuring myself. It was dumb and I didn’t follow the proper safety procedures and-” 

“I should’ve known better than to take you there for a date,” he countered. “I saw Johnny’s date. You were already injured. I should’ve scrapped it and taken you to a cafe or-” 

“Your guilty conscience is just incredible,” you muttered. “Would it make you feel better if I actually said it was your fault?” 

“Well...no,” he pouted. “Probably worse to be honest.” 

“Exactly,” you nodded. “So it wasn’t your fault and you should recognize that.” 

“Okay,” he whined. “It wasn’t my fault...but it wasn’t yours either.” 

“We were victims of fate,” you nodded again. “Glad we could finally come to this agreement.” 

“Even though it was still a little, smidge bit of my fault,” he whispered quickly. “Which is why...today...we’re....

taking a cooking class!” 

“Oh!” you whispered looking up at the advertisement and narrowing your eyes. Sure enough, the swinging sign was emblazoned with the words “Cooking 101.” 

“So, I thought of the obvious implications of danger,” he explained. “You burning yourself, you setting yourself on fire, you -” 

“I’m not going to set myself on fire...” you grumbled. 

“You don’t have the best luck or coordination,” he chuckled. “And that’s putting it kindly.” 

“I liked you more when you were talking about your guilty conscience...” you muttered. 

Wonho cracked a large grin before choosing to completely ignore you. “But I have faith that I can protect you this time.” 

“I’ve cooked before,” you hissed. “I know the implications of cooking...and surprisingly, have not set myself aflame as of yet.” 

“The class is two hours,” he continued. “We learn how to make two dishes and get to eat what we made.” 

“You know the way to my heart,” you nodded. “What are we making?” 

“Why don’t we find out?” 

Wonho opened the door to the storefront and helped you navigate your way inside with your scooter. You both squeezed your way into the small elevator near the door and rode it to the fifth floor where the cooking class was being held. 

“Wonho,” you whispered after emerging from the elevator. “Are there...are there supposed to be other couples here?” 

“Well...there were,” he nodded, biting his lip. He glanced up at you through his lashes before a small smile appeared. “But uh...I kind of bought out the class.” 

“You what?” you coughed, glancing around at the empty stations. Your eyes finally rested on the one countertop prepared to be worked at and the smiling instructor beside it. 

“You must be our married couple!” she gasped. “I’m so happy the two of you decided on a staycation for your honeymoon. There are just so many things to do in Seoul that people who live here seem to forget!” 

“Oh,” you chuckled, shaking your head. “We’re not-” 

“We’re not ones to forget how wonderful our city is,” Wonho chuckled, wrapping his muscular arm around your waist. His lips found your ear as they began to whisper. “The honeymoon package came with the most benefits. Please just bear with me.” 

“It’s just a shame that I had to break my ankle before the ceremony,” you clucked. You were completely enthralled by the idea of an idol fibbing to get extra benefits and not just naturally receiving them. 

“So what are you two filming?” the instructor asked. “Is this for your wedding video?” 

The camera men snorted as they readjusted their equipment. 

“Yep, hope to show the kids someday,” Wonho nodded. You let out a loud squeak in surprise as he began to rub your back. “So what are we cooking?” 

“On today’s menu,” the instructor continued seamlessly. “We are making Dakbokkeum Tang and Japchae.” 

“Ah,” Wonho nodded. “So no ramen?” 

“I’m afraid that’s a class for another day,” she chuckled. “Now let me grab you two some aprons and we can get started.”

After donning your matching, floral aprons, your class had begun. Between fits of laughter and immense amounts of skin ship, the two of you had somehow managed to get a fairly edible meal out of the experience. Granted, your instructor was incredibly talented and was able to salvage many of your mistakes, you were really enjoying your time. 

It was refreshing to spend a date with Wonho in a stress free atmosphere. Reminiscent of your shared moments on the curbside in front of the convenience store, you felt like you were once again seeing the man you had so wanted a second chance for. He was open and raw, unforgivingly himself in every sense of the phrase. He was a giggling mess who blushed too much and pouted too often, but you were completely enthralled. You hadn’t known a man of such brawn to ever have emotions so soft. 

As you cooked, he insisted on wrapping his arms around you to perform any small motion, keeping his chest firmly flush to your back. You had originally anticipated the experience to be difficult considering you were navigating a scooter along with spoons and whisks, but you had worked fluidly, especially where Wonho was concerned. Your face may have been stained with a permanent expression of bewilderment and a heat that had never left your neck, but you were managing. 

You hadn’t set yourself on fire, but Wonho surely did. 

As you had finished plating the last of your food, you felt him place a sneakily light kiss on the back of your neck before snaking around you and beginning to wipe at the counter innocently. You bit your lip with immense pressure in an attempt to to keep yourself calm. He was completely ridiculous in the extent in which he allowed his affections to wash over you, but you weren’t exactly upset with it. You had never went on a date with someone who had such a focused love language before. 

“Are you two ready to taste your creations?” the instructor asked with a wide grin. 

“Shouldn’t we help clean up first?” you sighed, glancing wearily from Wonho’s biceps and to the counter before you. “We’ve thoroughly made a mess of your station.” 

“That’s part of the job,” she laughed. “And don’t worry about it. You two have a whole lifetime to wash dishes.” 

“Thank you,” Wonho hummed with a small bow. “So should I move the food to...some of the cafe tables set up over-”

“Oh no,” the instructor chuckled. “You aren’t eating here. We have a special spot for our honeymooners.” 

“Oh,” you hummed, looking to Wonho. “Well, glad we got married then.” 

Wonho grinned and shook his head as he tried to keep himself from laughing. “Yes, babe. Definitely the right decision.” 

The instructor gave you a side eye before taking the tray with your food out of the room. She tilted her head, beckoning you to follow as you gripped your scooter, entering the small elevator once again. After a few short moments of polite silence, you reemerged on what appeared to be the highest floor of the building. 

“Now, we have some complimentary takju, made in house by our owner,” the instructor nodded as she set the food down on a cafe table. Scooting along behind her, your breath caught in your throat as you finally saw the view you were seated before. The whole city was laid out before you, a sunset highlighting the skyline. “And when you two are ready, I have some small desserts prepared as well.” 

“Oh wow,” you gasped. “Thank you...so much.” 

Wonho looked up sheepishly and made eye contact briefly with the instructor before glancing down at his shoes. “This is all...so much. Thank you for your hospitality...but I have to confess...we aren’t honeymooners.” 

“Of course you aren’t,” the instructor chuckled, smacking him lightly on the bicep. “Anyone could have guessed that when they saw what your date’s expression was whenever you mentioned having children.” 

Your jaw slid open in mild shock as you looked back and forth from the instructor and to Wonho. 

“Enjoy your meal,” she smiled knowingly. 

“I...well, thank you!” Wonho called, his eyes also wide after the exchange. He shook his head for a moment before moving to stand in front of you. Taking both of your hands into only one of his, he slid the scooter away from you, and helped ease you to sit in one of the chairs provided. Landing with a plop, you waited patiently for him to seat himself as well before glancing back up to evaluate the scenery. 

“Wonho,” you whispered, hardly believing the colors painting the evening sky. “This is wonderful.” 

“You’re wonderful,” he nodded. “So it’s deserved.” 

“How do you know?” you asked, tilting your head. “This is only our second date.” 

“I know what I’ve experienced,” he said quietly. “Your words are soft and kind.” 

“But can’t words be spun to sound soft and kind?” you asked with a mischievous smile. “Maybe I’m only making you believe I’m that way.” 

“No,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “I can see it. You treat each musician differently. You tailor your interaction for us...and you’re always so gentle with me. Why is that?” 

“Because you’re each different people,” you sighed. “Why would I treat you all the same?”

“Because so many people do,” he said honestly. “We’re all idols. A dime a dozen.” 

Your eyes flickered down to your plate, dismayed by his words. He always seemed to catch you off guard by the things he said. He liked to pretend like he was eternally positive, but his mind buzzed with self-condemning thoughts, it was hard to realize sometimes. 

“You aren’t a dime a dozen,” you said softly. “None of you are replaceable. It’s silly to think that.” 

“It’s the industry,” he sighed. “It’s the reality.” 

“What happened to not being a realist?” you smiled gently. 

Wonho looked down to his hands, an embarrassed grin on his lips. “I guess it sneaks up on me sometimes.” 

“Don’t let it,” you whispered. Reaching over, you set your hand palm up on the middle of the table, waiting for him to grasp it. He glanced over, obediently sliding his fingers into yours. 

“But if I didn’t...I’d have myself fooled into believing I’ll win this whole thing,” he continued quietly. 

“Who says you can’t?” you asked. “Not saying I have any bias here, but there are only four of you. You have a 25% chance. Those are pretty good odds, considering.” 

“Hyungwonnie does have me getting to the final two in his My Idol brackets...” he muttered, scrunching his eyebrows. 

“...he doesn’t have you winning the whole thing?” you chuckled. “Your members are so supportive.” 

“Well, even I had ten dollars on Yongguk when I found out the cast,” Wonho grinned. “But you’re right, I have pretty good odds...so maybe I’ll be an optimist for this one.” 

[vegalume]

Gundam Wing WIP Wednesday

Title: Collide   (formerly known as Untitled 13x1)

Paring: Treize & Heero 

not beta-ed / first draft

~

He was having a shit day. That was the only way he could describe it. Anne Une was brilliant, exceptionally capable, and he was quite fond of the woman. However she was becoming increasingly unstable. A liability he certainly could do without, but he needed her and his hands were currently tied where she was concerned.

Closing the door with a sigh he tugged at tightness of the neckline against his throat and pulled the cravat free, not caring where it fell as he dropped it, along with his cape, leaving them in his wake.

Intent on having a bath and a stiff drink, he stalked down the hall. Rounding the corner near the library he paused when he heard music coming through the closed door. There was no radio or vid in that room, just a baby grand piano that hadn’t been played in who knew how long.

Cracking the door a smile spread across his face.

Heero sat perched on the bench, with a look of concentration on his face as his fingers moved slowly and deliberately over the keys. He was obviously rusty for his moments were stiff and lacked the grace that otherwise seemed to come to him so naturally.

“I can’t place the name of that particular piece,” Treize said softly as if Heero would stop if he were to speak too loudly.

“Sonata Pathétique,” Heero replied and Treize’s mind automatically translated it to Piano sonata No. 8 in C minor, OP 13 by Beethoven.

“You play beautifully,” he commented as he poured amber liquid from a crystal decanter into a tumbler. Though he favored red wine the bourbon was more to his taste that particular evening. Knowing Heero would not accept an alcoholic drink he poured ice and water in a second glass and carried both over to the piano.

“I haven’t played in years,” Heero said his eyes following Treize as he approached. Scooting to the side, he made room for the other man to join him on the bench. “My handlers didn’t think my continuing to play was useful in my training.” He finished the piece then accepted the glass of water, taking a swallow as Treize watched him intently.

“What?” He asked curiously, lowering the glass.

“I would very much like to kiss you,” the taller man confessed and received a tiny not-smile in return.

Setting the tumbler on the piano he reached out tentatively, cupping Heero’s cheek in his hand, when he didn’t pull away Treize leaned forward and saw Heero’s eyes slide closed just before their lips met. 

[bigbrotherorre]

episode one: “TODAY WE LEARNED UNLESS BRYCE FEELS LIKE THE PRETTIEST GIRL AT THE DANCE EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY, YOU'RE NOT DOING ENOUGH” - AUTUMN hoh: BRYCE evicted: ROXY - 13 to 3

Okay WOOOO. So hey, I'm here doing a DR pre-season, because? I am cracked, a mess and SOOO EXCITED. Also, I looked up fun words, to find something to use as my confessional codeword, and "brouhaha" means "a noisy and overexcited reaction or response to something" WHICH IS SO APPROPRIATE. So woo, enjoy the brouhaha that is my excitement for this season. I just wanna say a couple of things: 1) Nicholas and Julia posting those clock gifs is gonna make my head fall off, thats so scary. If it means past season twists like someone said in the VL, I'm NERVY. RoseGold POVs are my biggest fear, and I know there was a season where prejury was all about them so YIKES. Calling it now, I'm gonna get sent home by a rosegold PoV. 2) Emily and Lukas was such an iconic F2, no matter whomst the F2 is in Orre, we will never match them 3) I wanna make some pre-season picks of who I expect to see cast, that way if they win, I can take total credit. I'm feeling like Raffy, Sammy and Aren might be in the cast, based on literally nothing khajsdfla. Raffy as a player terrifies me (I was also the person who brought him into this community so whew), but he gets CRACKED so whew! Aren is a scorpio so we stan. ANYWHO. I'm so excited for this season, its gonna be a HOOOOOT.

Wooh so ready for the season to start!!!

Hola, did you miss me? This is going to be me reflecting back on my Johto experience and trying to point out the mistakes I made, and how this game will be different. (this is before cast reveal) The first mistake I did in Johto was go against the premade. I was wary of Connor and Ari, and I thought painting the target on the returnee wouldnt only be easy but would be successful. And then I found out that I couldn't, and then Connor made friends with everybody on my team and fucked me over in the long run. The second mistake I did in Johto was being messy. A prime example was making pseudo "alliance" chats in order to sway the vote for people to keep me. This proved to be unsuccessful. I also had a mental breakdown like every night, so that just buried me more. The third mistake I did in Johto was throw the veto the week I was nominated. I felt like I couldve won it but I decided to study for my test. I didnt compete in the pov that i  shouldve won. SO now its time to do what I need to do for my redemption is quite simple. The last 3 ORGs ive played for BB i have made 2nd, 4th, and 3rd. And I learned quite a lot To negate my first mistake I'm not going to publicly target anbody. I will join the mob mentality to ensure my safety in early weeks. To negate my second mistake I am going to keep all my alliances as 1on1s. No alliances bigger than 3 people, and make sure to keep whatever information I have to myself. I will not snake out any information. To negate my third mistake is to try in all competitions. I will not throw anything I will not submit for anything unless I really cant. If I give it my all and still leave I can't beat myself up that bad. I'm nervous, but I'm ready. These freaks aren't gonna know what hit them.

Okay one hour to premiere! The fact that I've made two DRs pre-season? thats wild. I am gonna give a go at predicting the cast, based on... borderline nothing, beyond paranoia: Veronica Constance Raffy Autumn Olivia Eddie Elmo Hals Sammy Aren Those are guesses I'm confident in, so I'm gonna stick to that! Lets see if I get anyone right ajlkdsfas

Okay this isn't as bad as i thought except i'm a hot ass mess and messaged a picture into the house chat and i'm about to DIE

wut in the FUCK is happening who the hell are these people theyre mental all of them. nice to see sammy and ali though i fucking love them but i am terrified of playing with ali i literally said to my host chat 3 hrs before the game started "please say its all newbies so im not playing with zeezo" AND SHES HERE WTF

omg this FREAKING CAST IS WILD and i'm not gonna lie i'm a little worried that i might fight over half of them before the second week is finished...

not gonna lie seeing ashvika and roxy made me wanna kill myself but also i'm totally dying at the sight of ZEEZO AND BRYCE <3 also THIS COMP FREAKING SUCKS i need to find a group of friends asap so i don't flop. i'm gonna try to bring together bryce, zeezo, sammy, kat, and maybe ricky.... either gonna be lit or bite me in the ass

Hi!!! Y'all casted way too many people but it's ok cause I really like everyone so far whew. Also I really will do my intro video I swear... first thing tomorrow lmao 

THIS SHIT IS OVERWHELMING AF! SOOOO MANY FREAKIN PPL IM TALKIN TOO! I LIKE MOST OF THEM but som im like k. then like the call i do not want to join bc shit they cracked af! hopefully its not my undoing but i feel like my social is pretty strong atm.  #BBgameEVER

i'm just happy that ashvika is willing to put our unnecessarily tragic rivalry behind us and play this game right this time around. hopefully we'll be able to keep up the "we hate each other" look in the house chat and such so we can actually WORK TOGETHER this time. obvi i love her, and i just want the backstabbing madness to stop. hopefully she really has put out past behind her bc i'm ready to move on. like we're both pretty, we need to stick together. also shook that i talked to blake the longest today in pms???? like???? okay??? bryce and i look like we're in this for the long haul, hopefully we aren't first and second boot!! bc i have a weird feeling imma be pre-jury for some reason dsgdf

Night 1 Thots: Short term goal? to be as pathetic as possible. Probaly shouldn't have told alivia so soon that I was johnchen from bbtc world as after watching her intro vid. the could come back to bite me. Ryan seems like someone who I can ride on his coat tails for a while to get my foot in this game. So short term I need to be as pathetic as possible and hope this julia/bryce/sammy thing from house of shade starts to erupt.

me at alivia

Really regretting making my code word tractor.. Not a fan.  But um me and alivia talked for like 4 hours and we're both legends. We have a cute google sheet bet ur all jealous. Her and ashvika are gonna pretend that they hate each other but they dont actually!! How fun. Hope i dont slip and blow their covers JKDFHKSJD. Everyone seems to know everyone which is scary. When i first saw Jela and Julia were cast I was scared that theyd target me b/c we had a rough introduction, but honestly theyre legends. Idk why i told jela i was missing a left toe.. but i did and now idk what to do about that whole thing. Maybe ill say i got drunk and dont remember saying that but it isnt true.. IDK WHAT TO DO. But um yaa happy to see zeezo here too but scared ppl will think we're a duo but honestly I dont think ppl will. Um I should do a cast first impression thing wooh! Ricky: Played my first tumblr game with him but dont really know him. Seemed nice but not much there Randy: seems like a legend. Poc king. Um talked to him and he wanted to know more about me but wouldnt talk about himself so!! Idk hope we talk more seems fun. Julia: Um called me out. Called me fat. Fun tho!! Seems untrustworthy but no bad blood. Roxy: Talked a bit, um shes fun?? Dont think she likes me Ashvika: how can one girl be so pretty??? Shes smart too. Like i want to hate how perfect she is. The type of girl to throw my game away for tho so I need to make sure I dont!! Alivia: how can one girl be so pretty??? Shes smart too. Like i want to hate how perfect she is. The type of girl to throw my game away for tho so I need to make sure I dont!!  Honestly want to go to the end with her tho so I just am gonna have to make sure I outplay her so we can be f2. Bryce: ugly cast pic. Is he even a poc??? Zeezo: THE LOML I LOVE HER SO MUCH. we both seem to be working together so im happy. Hope to work with her and have her carry me in comps. She will beat lachies record. #menareover Kat: wish she was jade ;(. JK!! Love her so much already. She is so nice and fun and like just seems like a great person. Honestly shes gonna mist me too. Jose: Epicmafia king. We never work together and always betray each other so... first chance for everything??? He seems fun tho love him hope he slays (less than me tho) Sammy: I literally love him hes so nice but i never pm him so thats awk KDSJFHDKSj hope that this game changes that!! Lynn: Legend. Loves hufflepuff, hates middle school. Like I think we click but i know her and blake are like super close so idk if shed ever be closer with me but i hope so b/c shes just like.. amazing!! Saxon: Talks a lot. About himself. Maybe itll change when i talk to him more. Likes super hero movies so wooh i guess. Jela: Thought she hated me but maybe now she doesnt. Shes really funny actually so hopefully we can be allies. Blake: know that hes super smart and good at the game but like he got rekt by queen tara so maybe ill do that to him. We talked but it was bland but guess ill push through it Dennis: So his name is annoying to spell so had to change that quick. Kind of hate him??? But hes fun!!! Didnt know carly rae jepsen made music still so like the stan in me wanted to hang up the call on him. BUT then he msged me asking for carly songs to listen to so like.. love him now. Cant believe he knew all the social game hed need with me was just pretending to like my queen Autumn: We talked about her past games and it was basically me fangirlling about her ENDING eddie LOL. think we can work together because we both like intersectional feminism John: Tried talking to him but didnt go anywhere. But im gonna make it work!! Ive decided we'll be close so wooh Olivia: took 2 hours to respond to me. like musicals tho. kept ignoring me tho. Alivia outsold. Ali: PURE KING. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH. NO ONE IS BETTER. I COULD NEVER TURN AGAINST HIM. SO IM GONNA NEED OTHERS TO DO IT FOR ME. Love his dog even tho i misgendered her but it wont happen again. Think we'll be close. reptiles stick together!!

WHEWIE. Okay I tried filming a video confessional, but my thoughts are such a mess, so I've decided writing it out will be considerably more coherent. YIKES SO. This season is already so wild, like this cast.... is gonna be a lot. I already can tell this season is going to have lots of fights and I don't know... how ready I am for that eeeek. But otherwise, my illiteracy means I don't understand the lottery twist so I love that. The returnee twist is fun though, like I feel like at the start of games, I go into panic mode, so having returnees I can go to about that, might make them feel like I'm an easy number and that they want to work with me? The people I knew before this season (like I'd actually spoken to): Bryce, Julia, Ashvika, Autumn & Olivia (I loosely knew Ricky, Blake & Sammy too) Within the game itself, the people I've had the best conversations with are Jose, Kat, Olivia, Ashvika & John. Olivia is like one of my favourite people in the community, and also a super good player so I'd love to work with her. I also think the fact that we are friends is something nobody in the cast should know (I think) so thats fun. Jose was such a big threat/player last season, and the vibe I get from him this time is he wants to tone that down? I'm not good at working with super cracked people, so him being slightly in the middle between UTR and cracked, will make him a super good person to work with I think. He is also the only person I've like...talked game with, even though its super limited, just that I wanna work with him. I'm a weirdo and watched all the Alola cast assessment stuff, and it sounds like Kat was playing really well, but got stuck in a funky position and couldn't recover, so I think she is gonna be a major threat this time and I'd love to work with her too woooo. Ashvika is a queen. Just plain and simple. She is so wholesome and nice, and already seems loosely on the same page as me, so thats iconic. John scares me ajkhsdfaslf. i think he is a total newbie, and I also think he is gonna get super cracked, and thats.... scary asdkjflas Dennis I just started talking to properly, he is in my timezone-ish, so that will be good for my sleeping pattern if he ever wins HoH or anything, but I worry he may struggle to make connections, so I'm not sure how much he can help me as an ally? The others I'm gonna try and do more rapid fire, since this confessional is already massive hjkasdflsaf: Alivia: Really really nice! We haven't spoken all that much, but she seems super friendly and she was really loyal in Unova, which makes me feel good about maybe working with her? Also Ali in the name? we love legends Ricky: Ricky is.... an interesting one ljaksdfla. He is a fun personality to have around, so I hope he sticks around. I'm not sure how invested he will be in any of these games, but I hope he gives it a good go woo Randy: Randy is gonna be such a threat already I can tell sahkjfdla Also he lowkey scares me, because whenever I would start pm'ing people on call yesterday, he would run to my pms asking why I wasnt pm'ing him which freaked me out sjkadflas. He seems fun though, and Dom stans him so we stan Julia (The Witch): An icon. A legend. An inspiration. Also terrifying skjahdfla. She mentioned all stars on call yesterday and my heart stopped, because I hated how I was in that game and dont want it talked about. I think she is gonna fight people and I don't especially want to get on her bad side! Roxy: Havent spoken to her much, it might be tricky talking to her, since we are both in weird timezones, we will see Bryce: A SWEETHEART. I love Bryce soo much. We worked together in a mini once, and it was super fun, so I'd love to work with him more. Zeezo: She seems super nice! I don't really know her, beyond that she is POVzo and probably a comp threat, but I think she will be fun. I know her and Bryce are friends so we will see where that goes jahdfka Sammy: Super nice! I loosely know him, but he seems like he will be good fun. I havent spoken to him much, so I hope he is gonna be active rip Lynn: I know of her from Moheli, and I know her and Blake were ride or dies which I am wary off.... Otherwise, she has been super quiet and I could see her.... potentially going early rip a queen Saxon: FUDGE. I havent spoken to him at all which is scary, since I feel like he probably already knows a lot of this cast, so if he wins RIP me I guess. Otherwise, he seems like a fun personality so wooo Jelaminah: Ummm. She is wild. Like really wild. I think I stan her, but I also am like.... concious that she is a lot, and its sometimes too much for me. I'm a bit annoyed by her tbh, but its just because she was like laughing at people's sexualities, as if she didnt believe them, and thats super ugly, but I couldn't exactly say anything to her. I think she is gonna be a super dominant personality, but whew we will see. Blake: I know he was a big player in Moheli, but I think he also rubbed people the wrong way.... We will see how he does, he seems iconic Autumn: A QUEEN. She is the most inactive so far which is worrying. I don't want her to go early. I could really see her going up this week, but maybe us two havent talked much, since she is just comfortable in our relationship? AND WHEW. Thats everything, if anyone read this, I love you for that. Otherwise, wooo I'm super nervous, I love my DR guests Owen and Emily and eek. We will see!

ahhh okay so, I’m super excited about meeting new people....BUT...this cast is so huge and I’m so nervous. I like everyone for the most part and I’ve been trying to like talk to some people I’ve played with in the past to maybe smoothe over some bad relationships? The only person I’m still like nervous about is Julia because she kills the straight men and she hates Gemini’s. AND WHAT AM I? A STRAIGHT MALE GEMINI. I don’t think she’s very good at comps tho and I know she would go for Bryce before me. Anyway I seriously love Kat because she is so genuine and I just want to work with her. Also I want to work with alivia, roxy, zeezo, Olivia, randy, Jela, ricky, and autumn! There’s a few others as well but I’ll prob do like a video DR and talk about how I feel about everyone...who knows.

Jose is officially my showmance and we stan asjdkfaslf. He is so nice and my favourite new person I've met in the cast anyway, and he won lots of comps last season so I'm ready for him to drag me to the end dlakjfasfa.

bryce better not fucking put me up or i'm gonna SHOOT 

wow so happy bryce is HoH!!!! perfect week one :$

I am actually really happy that bryce won this HOH bc that means my ass hole is safe! PRaise BE. MY showmance that was made by ALIVIA has saved my ass and partly to me sorta already knowing him through tara! BITHCH TARA LOLOVE UR ASSSS. ANd shoot idk what these gays are lookin at but ppl be sayin they think im cute. maybe its like when i look at a potato or like  a waffle fry??  who knows ahaha but like some of these boys be good lookin like damn. hit me and my crocs up boys ;P

I am not a bottom. ya dumb bitch

Bryce is nomming me for not playing in the hoh. Gurl gurl im not a newb who would buy up that excuse

Just say we arent alligned and im good with the other players and id belive you why would i buy that you, a player whose played a few games by now, would nom someone for abstainimg

Okay SO. I filmed a video confessional earlier, but its already super out of date so its time for an update! I have spoken to lots of people that I hadn't talked to since premiere night which is good, Alivia & Kat are so nice! Jose is, as always a king, and I think (other than Olivia) he is my closest ally rn, so woo we stan. Otherwise, I spoke to Bryce, and it seems like (praise be), I'm not getting nominated, WOO! He says he is nominating Roxy/Autumn, with Julia getting the future shock thingie. Like I told him, the future shock is kind of like a curse and we know Julia loves a good curse, so its a good matchup aljdfkas. Otherwise, these nominations make sense. I LOVE Autumn, but she has been the quietest person in the cast, so I assume she is gonna go first rip. Roxy I have spoken to a fair bit, but I know she is in a funky timezone, which probably throws off her ability to be active. Bryce seemed like he was being pretty open with me, so I hope I'm not the backup plan if somebody comes off. I feel like my social game is pretty strong so I wouldnt have thought people in the house would push for me as a renom and eI'd be suprised if I get nominated! Last but not least, the unfortunate thing is how MENINIST these nominations are akjsdfla, we are really putting the orre in discriminatorrey.

First DR of the game. I'm not going to do first impressions because I'm not that dry. The game started when I was put in this bitch, so I'm here to go at full force. I'm going to play a strong balance of a great 1 on 1 social game while still being a great personality people love. As of right now I'm being constantly dragged and roasted, and I wouldn't want it any other way. (But this is before HOH so the claws are bound to come over) So my game has been very social as of right now. Before HoH I focused on making genuine connections. I'm good with all the returnees at this point. None of them have beef with me, and I made it clear that I want to work with all of them (while this is farther from the truth). I'm just being diplomatic because there's some tension between the returnees that will have to be released soon. With the returnees I connected automatically with Zeezo. Me and her didnt even small talk its was just game talk from moment one. Thats a great relationship to have, and I'm definitely maintaining it. Jose and Alivia have been talking to me more. Jose has been more open with working with me than Alivia so : \\. All the returnees from Kanto-Sinnoh are here because theyre entertaining, the bitches from Unova-Alola would be casted for redemption but don't meet the criteria. I made an alliance with Jelaminah and Ricky. This is mostly because I need to be on Jelaminah's good side because I know the bitch knows how to play. So i would rather be scheming with her than against her. Ricky is just a number. On housecalls I saw that Jela was talking to Julia a lot. So I started talking to Julia a lot more. I surprisingly trust her a lot more than I thought I would. So me and her aren't beefing, but her and Bryce are. HOS20 affects this game because Julia and Saxon are aligned in this game and they're against Bryce and Sammy as of right now. I know Julia can drop a vendetta, but Saxon is just horrible about it. And I hate Saxon so much. He just gives me second hand embarassment and i dont know why. Like I'm so happy I've trained myself to hold my tongue because the shit he wears on housecalls actually make me laugh. He posted a picture of him shirtless and it was literally looking at rotten spam meat. Its not cute, and he is just so prude in pms because he obviously doesnt want to talk to me. I can make a separate DR about Saxon because he brings out all the hate and all the angst I had when I was in Johto. But going back to the topic Julia fought Sammy and Bryce ig and Saxon thinks Julia is right because he's a kissass and is a savvy feminist. I love Julia so her having beef isnt good. I talked to her and she said she didnt have good relations with Olivia, Bryce, Sammy, and Autumn. And i was shocked that this game is so against her, but this is great information because its something I can utilize. But those are her problems, and they dont affect me. If she wants to play with me she's gonna have to fix amends or take them out 1 by 1First DR of the game. I'm not going to do first impressions because I'm not that dry. The game started when I was put in this bitch, so I'm here to go at full force. I'm going to play a strong balance of a great 1 on 1 social game while still being a great personality people love. As of right now I'm being constantly dragged and roasted, and I wouldn't want it any other way. (But this is before HOH so the claws are bound to come over) So my game has been very social as of right now. Before HoH I focused on making genuine connections. I'm good with all the returnees at this point. None of them have beef with me, and I made it clear that I want to work with all of them (while this is farther from the truth). I'm just being diplomatic because there's some tension between the returnees that will have to be released soon. With the returnees I connected automatically with Zeezo. Me and her didnt even small talk its was just game talk from moment one. Thats a great relationship to have, and I'm definitely maintaining it. Jose and Alivia have been talking to me more. Jose has been more open with working with me than Alivia so : \\. All the returnees from Kanto-Sinnoh are here because theyre entertaining, the bitches from Unova-Alola would be casted for redemption but don't meet the criteria. I made an alliance with Jelaminah and Ricky. This is mostly because I need to be on Jelaminah's good side because I know the bitch knows how to play. So i would rather be scheming with her than against her. Ricky is just a number. On housecalls I saw that Jela was talking to Julia a lot. So I started talking to Julia a lot more. I surprisingly trust her a lot more than I thought I would. So me and her aren't beefing, but her and Bryce are. HOS20 affects this game because Julia and Saxon are aligned in this game and they're against Bryce and Sammy as of right now. I know Julia can drop a vendetta, but Saxon is just horrible about it. And I hate Saxon so much. He just gives me second hand embarassment and i dont know why. Like I'm so happy I've trained myself to hold my tongue because the shit he wears on housecalls actually make me laugh. He posted a picture of him shirtless and it was literally like  looking at rotten spam meat. Its not cute, and he is just so prude in pms because he obviously doesnt want to talk to me. I can make a separate DR about Saxon because he brings out all the hate and all the angst I had when I was in Johto. But going back to the topic Julia fought Sammy and Bryce ig and Saxon thinks Julia is right because he's a kissass and is a savvy feminist. I love Julia so her having beef isnt good. I talked to her and she said she didnt have good relations with Olivia, Bryce, Sammy, and Autumn. And i was shocked that this game is so against her, but this is great information because its something I can utilize. But those are her problems, and they dont affect me. If she wants to play with me she's gonna have to fix amends or take them out 1 by 1. Until then I'm going to spend my time with investments that are bound to pay off. Which are with the newbies. I've been spending a lot of time on Blake because Blake lives 20 minutes away from me. I'm trying to hold this down as secret as possible. He likes me, and I want to work with him so I'm just going to continue our friendship and ensure that we're a duo. He doesn't talk a lot in the housechat which is concerning to me, but he does hold very strong one on one relations with most of the house. Lynn is also a south carolina native, and she is just so infectious. She is very intimidated by the large cast meaning that she hasnt bonded that well with a lot of people. So i put two and two together and made a South Carolina alliance. I know Blake is genuine about it. But the main purpose of this alliance is to keep Lynn under my sphere of influence. I can't have no newbies on my side. No ma'am Another newbie who stands out for me is John. John is just really active, and such a social threat. Meaning that his word has saying. So far my relationship with him has been "hey let literally help you with anything and expect nothing in return". With him im trying to show myself as a puppet, or somebody who is very very useful with him. And I actually showed that this week when Bryce won HOH. Won't lie I didnt want but also wanted HOH at the same time. When Bryce won it I was very wary of what was going to happen. Then John comes up to me saying that Bryce is thinking of nominating him. And since I had a decent bond with Bryce I know that I had to save John. So when Bryce talked to me he was dead set as Roxy as the initial nom and target, and Julia for safety this week.  Then he mentioned that he was on the fence because he didnt know if he wanted Autumn or John nominated. So I told him the truth that it would be silly to nominate somebody as active as John. And so John wasn't nominated. I stuck my neck out for John and was one of the reasons he isn't nominated this week. And these game things build genuine trust since I'm not just talking to talk. I'm walking to walk and this game isn't ready for Randyy.

Hello ladies and gentlemen you're looking at the first nominee of the season waysup

Imma get to the bottom of this so ain't even worried. I just feel bad y'all didn't even get one happy confessional from me. We just jumped straight into poppin off. That's ok though! Nice for what am i rite

Bryce is full of shit and I'm embarrassed for him. Like who makes an enemy out of me on Day fucking 3? Really my guy? That's the first thing you thought of when you had 19 people to pick from? Apparently I'm getting nominated because the other 18 people in the cast talked to Bryce yesterday and I didn't. Not only do I not buy that, but we just not gonna acknowledge the fact that I talked to him on 2 of the 3 days the game has been going on so far? K cool. Today we learned unless Bryce feels like the prettiest girl at the dance every minute of every day, you're not doing enough Also can we talk about how the "I'm so happy to play with you I always root for you" energy that Bryce was selling to me on day one didn't even last a round? Hiigghkey I feel like the people who know me in the cast are secretly happy cause they know I'm petty enough to take Bryce out and I'll have no problem taking the fall for it. Ali, Ashvika, Sammy, Julia, Olivia- they know I don't play that shit. Can you imagine being first HOH, using it on me, and then thinking I'm not mad at you because I "understand" that nominating me was "the easiest thing to do"?

SHIT YOUR BOI JUST DID THAT TONIGHT! IF U KNOW YOU KNOW. 😜😂

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALI’S VIDEO DIARY ROOM!

woo I'm on call with Autumn, Sammy, Jela & Dennis. THEY ARE SO FUN. I am back on the Jela stan train, she is actually super nice! I think I want Autumn to stay this week (and I think she could too)! Roxy is super sweet, but Autumn is a queen and the queen stays queen! Oh, I'm not using the veto too, its way too early to make a move and I don't know who would go up instead. I'm still SHRIEKING that I won that veto somehow kjlasdfa

CLICK HERE TO SEE RANDY’S VIDEO DIARY ROOM!

[5/9/18, 2:45:32 PM] Blake Sanders: do you want money?? [5/9/18, 2:45:41 PM] Blake Sanders: BC THE MONEY WANTS YOU! [5/9/18, 2:45:43 PM] alivia: do you wanna be rich??? [5/9/18, 2:45:53 PM] Blake Sanders: ^^^^^^ RICH [5/9/18, 2:45:58 PM] Blake Sanders: not just driving nice car rich [5/9/18, 2:46:07 PM] Blake Sanders: I mean using cheeta fur as toilet paper rich! [5/9/18, 2:46:15 PM] alivia: 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 [5/9/18, 2:48:20 PM] alivia: YOUVE BEEN HAND SELECTED [5/9/18, 2:48:31 PM] alivia: BECAUSE WE THINK YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES [5/9/18, 3:07:19 PM] rixxy 🦄: Hi I just got off work [5/9/18, 3:07:23 PM] rixxy 🦄: what the FUCK is this? [5/9/18, 3:07:33 PM] alivia: DO YOU WANT MONEY??? [5/9/18, 3:07:52 PM] rixxy 🦄: i'm scared but absolutely [5/9/18, 3:07:58 PM] Blake Sanders: FUCK YA! [5/9/18, 3:07:58 PM] alivia: WE WANT YOUR HELP SCAMMING THIS HOUSE! [5/9/18, 3:08:09 PM] alivia: it’s good to be a little scared [5/9/18, 3:08:12 PM] rixxy 🦄: I definitely don't like where this is going. [5/9/18, 3:08:12 PM] Blake Sanders: MONEY WERE GOIN TO RULE THIS AND MAKE MONEY [5/9/18, 3:08:26 PM] Blake Sanders: BUT U WILL RIXXY [5/9/18, 3:08:31 PM] rixxy 🦄: god [5/9/18, 3:08:34 PM] Blake Sanders: <3 [5/9/18, 3:09:00 PM] lynnt: yes [5/9/18, 3:09:53 PM] alivia: you’re gonna be rich so you gotta live rich [5/9/18, 3:11:57 PM] Blake Sanders: There’s like a joining fee [5/9/18, 3:12:01 PM] alivia: yep [5/9/18, 3:12:09 PM] alivia: like scientology [5/9/18, 3:12:21 PM] alivia: but like this is real [5/9/18, 3:12:56 PM] rixxy 🦄: i'm not paying for this [5/9/18, 3:13:01 PM] rixxy 🦄: is this like a legit game thing? [5/9/18, 3:13:03 PM] rixxy 🦄: bc [5/9/18, 3:13:07 PM] lynnt: then imma opt out b/c this rich bitch is cheap and that’s why i’m rich [5/9/18, 3:13:55 PM] Blake Sanders: I mean we legit love u guys [5/9/18, 3:14:07 PM] rixxy 🦄: is this an alliance [5/9/18, 3:14:12 PM] rixxy 🦄: bc i'm uncomfortable and confused [5/9/18, 3:14:35 PM] alivia: woah woah woah [5/9/18, 3:14:41 PM] alivia: everyone calm down [5/9/18, 3:15:09 PM] alivia: don’t worry about the money. you can pay the joining fee AFTER we’re rich [5/9/18, 3:15:15 PM] alivia: don’t worry [5/9/18, 3:15:16 PM] rixxy 🦄: like i'm actually having an anxiety attack can you RATMEME.PNG literally..... WHAT???? blake and i were talking and started joking about being scammers bc sdfkal and then i was like "we should start a scammer alliance" and that's how it all started. we thought it would be SO funny if we just added them to a chat and started trolling them about scamming houseguests out of their money dljgdkfjg and i thought MAYBE lynn and ricky would be confused at first but ricky literally lost his mind like ooops my bad WE THOUGHT WE WERE FUNNY BUT I GAS NOT. [5/9/18, 3:16:08 PM] alivia: it’s a joke but kind of an alliance [5/9/18, 3:16:21 PM] alivia: but mostly a joke [5/9/18, 3:16:44 PM] rixxy 🦄: i literally thought i got dragged into some kind of game twist and i wouldn't play my own game god [5/9/18, 3:17:08 PM] alivia: omg WHAT [5/9/18, 3:17:19 PM] alivia: LITERALLY THE BIGGEST JOKE NOT SERIOUS [5/9/18, 3:17:25 PM] alivia: IMSORFY [5/9/18, 3:17:28 PM] rixxy 🦄: like i thought it was some saboteur/team america bullshit [5/9/18, 3:17:35 PM] alivia: omg noooo [5/9/18, 3:17:42 PM] rixxy 🦄: all i want to do is play the game and i literally thought that was snatched from me [5/9/18, 3:17:50 PM] alivia: HOW??? [5/9/18, 3:18:17 PM] rixxy 🦄: idk i thought y'all were a twist sdksksksksks sdfjsdl wow fuck me i gas??? my social game is really off to a great start!!! gotta get ricky outta here asap now

Right now i am on CAll with SAMMY SAM bc im bad at talking to multiple people at a time! SOOOOOO SAMMY is like wanting to be ym ally but like do i trust his ass??

CLICK HERE TO SEE JOSE’S VIDEO DIARY ROOM!

okayyyyy so this is definitely something different like bb is hard tbh. there's too many people to talk to and i just really don't care about continuing to keep up a convo with some of them but you have to or bye bye. i have definitely not been as social as most and that is def scary but the people that i have talked to and made connections are super nice. so that's why i was so glad when the people that won HOH and POV are people i talked to. uuhHHuh i have no fucking clue who i want to evict tonight so that's fun! ya know autumn is super nice and chill but she did go dark for a while and roxy is super fun and i still haven't heard ANY singing and i want to and she is campaigning really hard so she really wants to stay BUT since she's campaigning so hard to stay and kinda saying anything to EVERYONE who knows what she'll do to stay in the game later on. idk is it too early to be thinking about later in the game?? idkkk thanks for coming to my rambling ted talk. find out next time on if i've decided.

CLICK HERE TO SEE DENNIS’ VIDEO DIARY ROOM!

OK SOOOO the eviction is coming up tonight and its either going to be Autumn or Roxy! NOw autumn is a super sweet queen but i feel like she will kill me if need be! but i still lvoe her! now roxy she is fighting for her life like she is making me promises i think she will not be able to keep. bc ive heard form other hosue guests she is making the same promises to them. NOW i love talkin to her about food and cooking but i feel awful that im most likely going to evict her! but o well it has to be done im glad its not me

i feel like i should give like a summary of like where i am with everyone and how i feel about them all before the first eviction! ALI: Well i first knew him because he reached out to me about a game he is gonna host. He like doesn't talk to me much which makes me nervous... I like him a lot but looks like we are just acquaintances atm. ALIVIA: OK I FREAKIN LOVE HER! SHE IS HILARIOUS! WE STARTED A ALLIANCE CHAT CALLED SCAMMERS R' US AND RICKY LEGIT FREAKED THE FUCK OUT AND WE WERE ALL LIKE WTF JUST HAPPENED HE IS INSANE! i hope i get to work with her a lot during this game and talk about ice cream! But i do see her stabbing me in the back later on so ill prob strike first. LOVE YA ASHVIKA: now this girl is a goddess she is beauty and she is grace! we talk like avg and stuff we have small chats nothing about gamewise. I see her as not being a threat as in targeting people or winning HOH i see her as a social threat. I think she will go far but not win she will def be jury. I think she is amazing tho and shes a model soo like i want to be her. AUTUMN: Now Autumn is a delight to be around so sweet and seems so pure but she will kill me i just know it. She's the beautiful flower in the garden that turns into a man eating plant <3 she is temptation and i may fall for it BLAKE: ive been told i was a certified good boy BRYCE: Now i knew him b4 this game bc of my friend TARA LOVE YOU BITCH <3 ! i think he will keep me around but idk if our bond is tight enough. i dont think he will choose to evict me yet. but other thsn that i want to work on having a closer bond with him for sure! DENNIS: I like dennis he just iidk theres not alot to say? me adn him talk about video games and stuff but whenever i talk to him i like forget like why im talkin to him lol! but he is super chill! JELAMINAH: THIS WOMAN <3 IS AMAZINGLY FUNNYY! SHE IS ONE PERSONALITY I WANT TO GET ON MY SIDE~! she is hilarious amd an amazing person i want to work with her sooo bad! i talk to her in oms sometimes but she is more of a on call person i believe or she just doesn't wanna talk to me ahah . O AND JELA I TAKE BACK TO WHO I THINK THE CUTEST BOY HERE IS ! JOHN : I love john! me and him talk trash about  random things and it is hilarious! i hope he feels as close to me as i am to him! i feel like we can work together in the long run. JOSE: Ive only talked to Jose just a little bit so im worried if he ever wins HOH bc i may be nominated! so i better get my ass into high gear and talk to him more. other than that i remebr him as the guy who someone hit his fence with a car. JULIA: NOW i have heard things about this girl! like that she is ana amzing player and i better watch out for her! IM SO SORRY JULIA BUT U R ON MY HITLIST! AND SADLY U NEVER U LEFT ME ON READ IN MY PMS RUDE~! KAT:I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT KAT BUT WE JUST STARTED TALKING TODAY AND WE HELPED names each others plants! she is a precious person and i love her! she is so funny! i want to work with her for this game! LYNN: YALL THIS IS MY BITCH ! I LOVE YOU LYNN WE PLAYED IN MOHELI TOGETHER AND AFTER THAT IT WAS HISTORY WE BECAME BEST FRIENDS VISITING EACH OTHER AND STUFF! SHE ONLY LIED 2 HOURS FROM ME WHEN I WENT TO SCHOOL I SAW HER ALL THE TIME! I AM MOST DEF WORKING WITH HER! SHE IS MY BESTFRIEND! <3 LOVE U OLIVIA: OK WELL IDK MUCH bout her. ummmm i talked to her a little im ttrying to become her ally but its not really workign she wont talk to meee!! RANDY: omg i have not heard good things about him.... i shouldve been told these things sooner omg! i feel like he hates me he might! we live in the same city and live like 15 mins away! omg rip rip rip . he goes to my old highdchool! thats crazy af! im working wiht him rn but i i think im going to nom him in the middle of the game or try to get him out around then. sorry randy! also hes been giving me the cold shoulder and not talkin to me which is rude. adnwe r in an alliance chat bro. come on really... RICKY: TBh u annoy me. everything i like u say its dumb or u don't like it. i say goodmorning/afternoon to u adn u say its morning its not even close to afternoon whatre u doing. AND IM LIKE WTF HAV U NEVER HEARD OF TIMEZONES! LIKE HELLLLLO! damn just we are not compatible people and well if i ever win HOH ill prob nom him. ROXY: DAMN BITCH I CAUGHT U IN A LIE AND U DONT KNOW ABOUT IT! THIS IS THE REAOSN IM VOTIN TO EVICT U IM SORRY OMG IM GOIN TO MISS TALKIN TO U ABOUT FOOD! ur sooo sweet omg and u hav a lovely voice! SAMMY: I have been told not to trust him bc he is a snake. But shit he is one of my closest allies now! like we talked for hours on call and watched survivor it was such a cute little date! GOD i hope he doesnt betray me ill cry so much! i mean he might but like i dont wanna back stab him.... yet <3 SAXON: who r u?? talked like never. ur probably nice?? ZEEZO: Girl u be freakin lynn out with eveyrhting u saying to and about her! soo idk like aht to do wiht u ahahah prob get u nominated?? SORRY IM A LOSER AND DIDNT MAKE A VID I LOOK LIKE A THUMB ATM <3

what bitch Randy, 3:05 PM hola 3:05 PM you never sent me a pm Randy, 3:05 PM ur coll bc you aint never talk about interesting shit 3:05 PM uh huh Randy, 3:05 PM tf am i supposed to reply to "yea" 3:06 PM sorry I'm not your source of entertainment you twink I was busy with my life Randy, 3:06 PM wow this is something we can TALK ABOUT Randy, 3:06 PM what did you do I kinda snapped sorry Randy

Are u gonnaget ur tattoo coloured? :0 or will it be lines? Rn im hungry waiting for ma burger heh 9:21 PM It’s just lines henny 👑, 9:23 PM Sweet! What inspires the one u chose? 👑, 6:35 AM Hey saxon! I wanted to wait to speak to you in person but im tired and sorta not feeling well so i cant stay up. I wouls love it id you vote me to stay!! I really enjoy this game and im a p loyal ally! Im active and have jackbox too xd. Ill try be up at least 2 hours bfr eviction if you wanna chat about the vote! 👑, 3:03 PM Morning 3:03 PM Hiya 👑, 3:03 PM Hows it going? 3:04 PM fine busy 👑, 3:04 PM Ripp with what m? 3:05 PM a 5 page paper 👑, 3:06 PM Ew Wtf 3:06 PM ye 👑, 3:06 PM Just quit school. Death sound sbetter than that Hshsbs 3:10 PM i omg 👑, 3:11 PM Lmfao Man now my eviction worries seem meaningless 3:14 PM Why is that? 👑, 3:15 PM :o cause your   5 page thing is gross :o have you started on it or still got a ways to go? 3:20 PM I still got a ways to go 👑, 3:20 PM yikes 👑, 3:20 PM how are you feeling about this week? like hame wise Roxy I think you're a lovely person but holy fuck can you just please shut up sometimes when you know someone is busy

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALI’S VIDEO DIARY ROOM!

CLICK HERE TO SEE PT 1 OF BRYCE’S VIDEO DIARY ROOM!

CLICK HERE TO SEE PT 2 OF BRYCE’S VIDEO DIARY ROOM!

I'd say it was an effective campaign xoxo Summer Shrek

CAST ASSESSMENT

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE WEEK 1 CAST ASSESSMENT!

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DGB Grab Bag: Penguins Controversy, New Stats Galore, and a Terrible Hype Vid

Three Stars of Comedy

The third star: Whatever this is. The KHL is weird, man.

The second star: Angry (former) Olympians. Passive-aggressive hockey stars are my favorite hockey stars.

The first star: Jack Eichel gets some pointers. Yeah, it's these guys again. Honestly, it was kind of slim pickings this week and I didn't feel like seeing who the Golden Knights' Twitter was murdering this week, so let's just go with this.

Outrage of the Week

The issue: On Sunday morning, as the sports world reacted to President Donald Trump attacking Steph Curry and the Warriors while urging NFL owners to fire "son of a bitch" players for protesting, the Penguins announced that they would still be making the White House visit.

The outrage: You have very strong feelings about whether they should go or not.

Is it justified: There have been plenty of takes about the issue—like this and this and this—and you've probably read them all. Or you haven't read any, because you're in the "stick to sports" camp, in which case you've already scrolled past this section. I have my views on Donald Trump and what's left of the political discourse in the United States right now, and if you care about them then you're free to ask. But you probably don't. You're here for hockey talk and jokes and YouTube clips of awkwardly lip-synching players. I get it. Ideally, we could skip the politics altogether. Except that, thanks to the Penguins, doing that this week would also mean skipping the biggest story in the league.

It's hard not to have at least a little sympathy for the team here. They know what a trip to the White House means these days, and they realize that by going they'll be used as a prop in smiling photo ops with a president many see as an embarrassment. They also understand that by not going, they'd be making a statement that would get them sucked into the never-ending culture wars, applauded by the left for a few days and then forgotten while the right harbors a grudge forever. They tried to find a middle ground, but there isn't one. It's a yes-or-no question, and so the team defaulted to doing what every other team before them has done. But right now, the things we always used to do don't feel like they matter much anymore.

The Penguins didn't ask for any of this, and it's fair to assume that they're profoundly uncomfortable with the entire situation. That's how hockey people work. With few exceptions, they don't want to be front and center when it comes to politics because they don't want to be front and center for anything at all. Show up, do your job, mumble about getting pucks in deep, and go home. Hockey players barely want to be on ESPN, let alone CNN or Fox News.

So the Penguins were stuck, knowing they'd be attacked no matter what they said, and there didn't seem to be a right answer available to them. Except that there was.

What they should have said was nothing.

That's it. Just nothing at all. We didn't need to hear from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday morning.

Yes, that would have meant ignoring questions they were no doubt already fielding from the media. Sure, it goes against the old P.R. rule about getting out ahead of the story instead of letting someone else control it for you. And yeah, it would have just delayed the inevitable for a few days, because eventually you're going to have to answer the question.

But there's a time and a place for that. And Sunday morning wasn't it.

All across the country, NFL players were getting ready to make a statement. They have been protesting racial inequality—not against the anthem, or the flag, or Trump, and certainly not for "unity," despite the league's best efforts to rebrand it that way. That's a topic that doesn't touch the NHL as much as it does other leagues, for obvious reasons, and that's a big part of why the Penguins' response bothered so many people. This wasn't their fight. They didn't need to be the kid in the front row, frantically waving his arm to make sure everyone knew he handed in the assignment.

The Penguins gave us a teachable moment on Sunday, and the lesson is this: Sometimes it's OK to let somebody else have the floor. Especially these days, if you see that somebody else is angry, or hurting, or asking for change, and they're willing to stand up—or take a knee—to make themselves heard, and you can't fully understand exactly why because maybe it's an issue that doesn't impact you in the same way it does them, then maybe you don't need to jump right into the conversation. You don't have to add your voice to the mix right away, and you certainly don't need to make it about you. Sometimes the best choice is to just step back and listen.

It's quite literally the least you can do. It's basic courtesy. And that's the test the Penguins failed on Sunday.

Obscure Former Player of the Week

A few weeks ago, we made a passing reference to Lee Fogolin being obscure. That seems like it should be enough to earn a guy Obscure Player honors, so here we are.

Fogolin was the Sabres' first-round pick, 11th overall, in 1974. That draft wasn't very good, and is probably best known for A) the Islanders setting themselves up for a dynasty by finding Clark Gillies and Bryan Trottier while the rest of the league basically found nobody at all, and B) the Sabres getting annoyed at how long it was taking and drafting a fictional player just to mess with everyone.

Still, Fogolin was a decent pick. The son of Original Six era defenseman Lee Fogolin Sr., he was a stay-at-home blue-liner in an era when that was still a valuable thing to be and could also play a bit of forward on the penalty kill. He cracked the Sabres lineup pretty much right away, and spent five seasons in Buffalo. While he scored only eight goals that entire time, he became a fan favorite with his defensive play and willingness to stick up for his teammates.

The Oilers claimed him in the 1979 quasi-expansion draft held when four WHA teams were absorbed into the league. He had some of his best years as an Oiler, including a 13-goal season in 1980-81, and was the team's captain until Wayne Gretzky took over the duties in 1983. Fogolin won two Cups as an Oiler and was picked as an All-Star by Edmonton coach Glen Sather in 1986, before being traded back to Buffalo at the 1987 deadline. He played the last few games of his career there before retiring.

Here's my favorite Lee Fogolin fact: In the 1970s, the Sabres gave out a Most Improved Player award, and Fogolin won it…twice. In a three-year span. That seems like it shouldn't be possible, but he took home the honors in 1976 and 1978. I don't know if he just regressed really badly in 1977 or if voters figured they'd stick with the familiar, but it's fair to say that not many NHL players can lay claim to being multi-time Most Improved Player winners.

The NHL Actually Got Something Right

On Wednesday, the NHL put out what at first glance seemed like a pretty boring press release: they'd added updated information dating back to 1917 to the stats section of their website.

This announcement didn't seem all that new; the league told us it was working on this back in 2015, and the full project had been going on for years before that. Previous rollouts were largely met with a shrug. This one seems to have been, too. The announcement of the offside review change being finalized, which came out 15 minutes later, overshadowed the stats announcement easily, and most of the reactions I saw were some variation on the same jokes about how poorly the league's stats site works in the first place.

That's fair—the site is still a mess. It's clunky and slow, and seems to have been put together by somebody who doesn't really understand what kind of information hockey fans would be looking for. Virtually nobody in the media seems to use it, which is why you always hear so much complaining when one of the amateur sites goes dark.

But take a closer look at this week's news, and it's clear that this is a big deal. The NHL didn't just revamp its stats, or get around to uploading information that was already available somewhere else. They literally just dropped a ton of new numbers on us, stuff that we've never seen before. They've updated and corrected the numbers on several players, giving us new tidbits like Wayne Gretzky now joining Bobby Orr and Larry Robinson as the only +100 players in league history. (For the last three decades, he'd been incorrectly listed at +98.) More important, they've now filled out the history of stats like shooting and save percentage that had been tracked in some form for years but weren't widely available.

This is huge. Until now, you couldn't look up Ken Dryden's save percentage on a site like Hockey-Reference. Now we have it on the NHL site. Mix in the detailed box scores for individual games and game logs for players, and this is a gold mine for stats geeks.

The site itself is still a pain to use, and it's hard not to hope that Hockey-Reference or whoever else just grabs all the data and drops it into their far more user-friendly interface. But even if that happens, the NHL deserves plenty of credit here. This couldn't have been a small project. And it's not one that's ever going to put any cash directly into the league's pocket.

But they did it anyway, because for once they seem to have remembered that there's value in making fans happy. It's a small thing in the grand scheme of things, but kudos to the league for making it happen.

Classic YouTube Clip Breakdown

The regular season is almost here, which is good news for just about everyone other than the Colorado Avalanche. On the heels of one of the worst seasons of the salary cap era, the Avs are expected to struggle again, and virtually nobody thinks they'll even get close to the playoff hunt. What's worse, they managed to somehow make the whole Matt Duchene situation even more volatile. A bad team, an unhappy star, and little in the way of hope. That's not a great package.

Could it get any worse? Yes. Yes it could. At least nobody is singing shirtless.

It's March 2014, and times are good in Colorado. After missing the playoffs for three straight years, the Avalanche are good again, and well on their way to what will turn out to be a 112-point season. New coach Patrick Roy has turned the team around, and all that losing is clearly a thing of the past. It feels like it's time for a song.

Wait, we're not ready yet. Gabriel Landeskog is still sleeping. Rest up, little cowboy, you've got a big day ahead of you.

We get a few more dramatic shots of players, including Nathan MacKinnon walking down the street and nodding. We can't hear what's being said to him, but it's safe to assume it's "Is this a terrible idea?"

We also get a look at Matt Duchene, who is WAY TOO CLOSE TO US RIGHT NOW. Seriously Matt, back up a few steps and try again. Is this how you ask Joe Sakic for a trade? Because if so, I think I might understand why he's not listening to you.

We're 30 seconds in and I already feel like I need a shower. Oh, cool, thanks Paul Stastny, perfect timing.

Oh look, Landeskog is awake. At, uh, 3 PM. He's either just had his game-day nap, or he's doing an impression of me in college.

I'll be honest, I spent a little too much time trying to figure out which player was lip-synching next to the big drum. That is, of course, the lead singer of Imagine Dragons, whose song this is. Apparently we're going to get a few shots from the real video, which is, believe it or not, even weirder than this version. Really. There's muppet cage-fighting and everything.

Meanwhile, we get Avalanche players lip-synching lyrics like "checking out on the prison bus" and "this is it, the apocalypse." Um, are we sure this video isn't from this year?

We get some shots of game action, mixed in with angry Paul, shirtless Gabe, and Matt Duchene's tonsils. I feel like MacKinnon got off easy in all this. All he has to do is stand on a bridge and look like he's thinking of jumping, which doesn't even really count as acting at this point.

"We'll paint it red, to fit right in." I'm guessing that "it" is Semyon Varlamov's goal light.

Can we just point out that Landeskog looks roughly 37 years old? Are we sure the NHL isn't a bad TV series about high school kids and they just cast a bunch of middle-aged actors to play Landeskog and Aaron Ekblad?

Hey Gabe, how are you feeling about the 2017-18 season?

We make it two minutes in before our first shot of Roy. Seriously, you couldn't have got a giant drum and let him beat on it for a while? You could put a Red Wing goalie's face on it and just let him do what comes naturally.

At 2:20 we get a quick cameo from George Parros. Hey George, congrats on the new job, do you have the power to retroactively suspend marketing departments?

We conclude with Landeskog turning to the camera and dramatically asking "Why not us?" The follow-up video, in which a bunch of shirtless analytics geeks lip-synch the words "because your success is driven by PDO and is completely unsustainable," did not prove as popular.

It won't shock you to learn that this video wasn't exactly well received; it was called "bizarre" and "dumb" and "the ickiest thing ever." To this day, the team hasn't been allowed to forget it.

Oh, and the 2013-14 Avalanche were upset in the first round by the Minnesota Wild. Stastny left as a free agent that summer, Roy quit on the team last summer, Duchene wants out, and they haven't been back to the playoffs since. At this point, the whole franchise seems like it's...contaminated? Toxic? I feel like there's a better word here, but I can't quite find it. I'm going to strip down and go sing into my mirror until it comes to me.

Have a question, suggestion, old YouTube clip, or anything else you'd like to see included in this column? Email Sean at nhlgrabbag@gmail.com .

DGB Grab Bag: Penguins Controversy, New Stats Galore, and a Terrible Hype Vid published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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DGB Grab Bag: Penguins Controversy, New Stats Galore, and a Terrible Hype Vid

Three Stars of Comedy

The third star: Whatever this is. The KHL is weird, man.

The second star: Angry (former) Olympians. Passive-aggressive hockey stars are my favorite hockey stars.

The first star: Jack Eichel gets some pointers. Yeah, it’s these guys again. Honestly, it was kind of slim pickings this week and I didn’t feel like seeing who the Golden Knights’ Twitter was murdering this week, so let’s just go with this.

Outrage of the Week

The issue: On Sunday morning, as the sports world reacted to President Donald Trump attacking Steph Curry and the Warriors while urging NFL owners to fire “son of a bitch” players for protesting, the Penguins announced that they would still be making the White House visit.

The outrage: You have very strong feelings about whether they should go or not.

Is it justified: There have been plenty of takes about the issue—like this and this and this—and you’ve probably read them all. Or you haven’t read any, because you’re in the “stick to sports” camp, in which case you’ve already scrolled past this section. I have my views on Donald Trump and what’s left of the political discourse in the United States right now, and if you care about them then you’re free to ask. But you probably don’t. You’re here for hockey talk and jokes and YouTube clips of awkwardly lip-synching players. I get it. Ideally, we could skip the politics altogether. Except that, thanks to the Penguins, doing that this week would also mean skipping the biggest story in the league.

It’s hard not to have at least a little sympathy for the team here. They know what a trip to the White House means these days, and they realize that by going they’ll be used as a prop in smiling photo ops with a president many see as an embarrassment. They also understand that by not going, they’d be making a statement that would get them sucked into the never-ending culture wars, applauded by the left for a few days and then forgotten while the right harbors a grudge forever. They tried to find a middle ground, but there isn’t one. It’s a yes-or-no question, and so the team defaulted to doing what every other team before them has done. But right now, the things we always used to do don’t feel like they matter much anymore.

The Penguins didn’t ask for any of this, and it’s fair to assume that they’re profoundly uncomfortable with the entire situation. That’s how hockey people work. With few exceptions, they don’t want to be front and center when it comes to politics because they don’t want to be front and center for anything at all. Show up, do your job, mumble about getting pucks in deep, and go home. Hockey players barely want to be on ESPN, let alone CNN or Fox News.

So the Penguins were stuck, knowing they’d be attacked no matter what they said, and there didn’t seem to be a right answer available to them. Except that there was.

What they should have said was nothing.

That’s it. Just nothing at all. We didn’t need to hear from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday morning.

Yes, that would have meant ignoring questions they were no doubt already fielding from the media. Sure, it goes against the old P.R. rule about getting out ahead of the story instead of letting someone else control it for you. And yeah, it would have just delayed the inevitable for a few days, because eventually you’re going to have to answer the question.

But there’s a time and a place for that. And Sunday morning wasn’t it.

All across the country, NFL players were getting ready to make a statement. They have been protesting racial inequality—not against the anthem, or the flag, or Trump, and certainly not for “unity,” despite the league’s best efforts to rebrand it that way. That’s a topic that doesn’t touch the NHL as much as it does other leagues, for obvious reasons, and that’s a big part of why the Penguins’ response bothered so many people. This wasn’t their fight. They didn’t need to be the kid in the front row, frantically waving his arm to make sure everyone knew he handed in the assignment.

The Penguins gave us a teachable moment on Sunday, and the lesson is this: Sometimes it’s OK to let somebody else have the floor. Especially these days, if you see that somebody else is angry, or hurting, or asking for change, and they’re willing to stand up—or take a knee—to make themselves heard, and you can’t fully understand exactly why because maybe it’s an issue that doesn’t impact you in the same way it does them, then maybe you don’t need to jump right into the conversation. You don’t have to add your voice to the mix right away, and you certainly don’t need to make it about you. Sometimes the best choice is to just step back and listen.

It’s quite literally the least you can do. It’s basic courtesy. And that’s the test the Penguins failed on Sunday.

Obscure Former Player of the Week

A few weeks ago, we made a passing reference to Lee Fogolin being obscure. That seems like it should be enough to earn a guy Obscure Player honors, so here we are.

Fogolin was the Sabres’ first-round pick, 11th overall, in 1974. That draft wasn’t very good, and is probably best known for A) the Islanders setting themselves up for a dynasty by finding Clark Gillies and Bryan Trottier while the rest of the league basically found nobody at all, and B) the Sabres getting annoyed at how long it was taking and drafting a fictional player just to mess with everyone.

Still, Fogolin was a decent pick. The son of Original Six era defenseman Lee Fogolin Sr., he was a stay-at-home blue-liner in an era when that was still a valuable thing to be and could also play a bit of forward on the penalty kill. He cracked the Sabres lineup pretty much right away, and spent five seasons in Buffalo. While he scored only eight goals that entire time, he became a fan favorite with his defensive play and willingness to stick up for his teammates.

The Oilers claimed him in the 1979 quasi-expansion draft held when four WHA teams were absorbed into the league. He had some of his best years as an Oiler, including a 13-goal season in 1980-81, and was the team’s captain until Wayne Gretzky took over the duties in 1983. Fogolin won two Cups as an Oiler and was picked as an All-Star by Edmonton coach Glen Sather in 1986, before being traded back to Buffalo at the 1987 deadline. He played the last few games of his career there before retiring.

Here’s my favorite Lee Fogolin fact: In the 1970s, the Sabres gave out a Most Improved Player award, and Fogolin won it…twice. In a three-year span. That seems like it shouldn’t be possible, but he took home the honors in 1976 and 1978. I don’t know if he just regressed really badly in 1977 or if voters figured they’d stick with the familiar, but it’s fair to say that not many NHL players can lay claim to being multi-time Most Improved Player winners.

The NHL Actually Got Something Right

On Wednesday, the NHL put out what at first glance seemed like a pretty boring press release: they’d added updated information dating back to 1917 to the stats section of their website.

This announcement didn’t seem all that new; the league told us it was working on this back in 2015, and the full project had been going on for years before that. Previous rollouts were largely met with a shrug. This one seems to have been, too. The announcement of the offside review change being finalized, which came out 15 minutes later, overshadowed the stats announcement easily, and most of the reactions I saw were some variation on the same jokes about how poorly the league’s stats site works in the first place.

That’s fair—the site is still a mess. It’s clunky and slow, and seems to have been put together by somebody who doesn’t really understand what kind of information hockey fans would be looking for. Virtually nobody in the media seems to use it, which is why you always hear so much complaining when one of the amateur sites goes dark.

But take a closer look at this week’s news, and it’s clear that this is a big deal. The NHL didn’t just revamp its stats, or get around to uploading information that was already available somewhere else. They literally just dropped a ton of new numbers on us, stuff that we’ve never seen before. They’ve updated and corrected the numbers on several players, giving us new tidbits like Wayne Gretzky now joining Bobby Orr and Larry Robinson as the only +100 players in league history. (For the last three decades, he’d been incorrectly listed at +98.) More important, they’ve now filled out the history of stats like shooting and save percentage that had been tracked in some form for years but weren’t widely available.

This is huge. Until now, you couldn’t look up Ken Dryden’s save percentage on a site like Hockey-Reference. Now we have it on the NHL site. Mix in the detailed box scores for individual games and game logs for players, and this is a gold mine for stats geeks.

The site itself is still a pain to use, and it’s hard not to hope that Hockey-Reference or whoever else just grabs all the data and drops it into their far more user-friendly interface. But even if that happens, the NHL deserves plenty of credit here. This couldn’t have been a small project. And it’s not one that’s ever going to put any cash directly into the league’s pocket.

But they did it anyway, because for once they seem to have remembered that there’s value in making fans happy. It’s a small thing in the grand scheme of things, but kudos to the league for making it happen.

Classic YouTube Clip Breakdown

The regular season is almost here, which is good news for just about everyone other than the Colorado Avalanche. On the heels of one of the worst seasons of the salary cap era, the Avs are expected to struggle again, and virtually nobody thinks they’ll even get close to the playoff hunt. What’s worse, they managed to somehow make the whole Matt Duchene situation even more volatile. A bad team, an unhappy star, and little in the way of hope. That’s not a great package.

Could it get any worse? Yes. Yes it could. At least nobody is singing shirtless.

It’s March 2014, and times are good in Colorado. After missing the playoffs for three straight years, the Avalanche are good again, and well on their way to what will turn out to be a 112-point season. New coach Patrick Roy has turned the team around, and all that losing is clearly a thing of the past. It feels like it’s time for a song.

Wait, we’re not ready yet. Gabriel Landeskog is still sleeping. Rest up, little cowboy, you’ve got a big day ahead of you.

We get a few more dramatic shots of players, including Nathan MacKinnon walking down the street and nodding. We can’t hear what’s being said to him, but it’s safe to assume it’s “Is this a terrible idea?”

We also get a look at Matt Duchene, who is WAY TOO CLOSE TO US RIGHT NOW. Seriously Matt, back up a few steps and try again. Is this how you ask Joe Sakic for a trade? Because if so, I think I might understand why he’s not listening to you.

We’re 30 seconds in and I already feel like I need a shower. Oh, cool, thanks Paul Stastny, perfect timing.

Oh look, Landeskog is awake. At, uh, 3 PM. He’s either just had his game-day nap, or he’s doing an impression of me in college.

I’ll be honest, I spent a little too much time trying to figure out which player was lip-synching next to the big drum. That is, of course, the lead singer of Imagine Dragons, whose song this is. Apparently we’re going to get a few shots from the real video, which is, believe it or not, even weirder than this version. Really. There’s muppet cage-fighting and everything.

Meanwhile, we get Avalanche players lip-synching lyrics like “checking out on the prison bus” and “this is it, the apocalypse.” Um, are we sure this video isn’t from this year?

We get some shots of game action, mixed in with angry Paul, shirtless Gabe, and Matt Duchene’s tonsils. I feel like MacKinnon got off easy in all this. All he has to do is stand on a bridge and look like he’s thinking of jumping, which doesn’t even really count as acting at this point.

“We’ll paint it red, to fit right in.” I’m guessing that “it” is Semyon Varlamov’s goal light.

Can we just point out that Landeskog looks roughly 37 years old? Are we sure the NHL isn’t a bad TV series about high school kids and they just cast a bunch of middle-aged actors to play Landeskog and Aaron Ekblad?

Hey Gabe, how are you feeling about the 2017-18 season?

We make it two minutes in before our first shot of Roy. Seriously, you couldn’t have got a giant drum and let him beat on it for a while? You could put a Red Wing goalie’s face on it and just let him do what comes naturally.

At 2:20 we get a quick cameo from George Parros. Hey George, congrats on the new job, do you have the power to retroactively suspend marketing departments?

We conclude with Landeskog turning to the camera and dramatically asking “Why not us?” The follow-up video, in which a bunch of shirtless analytics geeks lip-synch the words “because your success is driven by PDO and is completely unsustainable,” did not prove as popular.

It won’t shock you to learn that this video wasn’t exactly well received; it was called “bizarre” and “dumb” and “the ickiest thing ever.” To this day, the team hasn’t been allowed to forget it.

Oh, and the 2013-14 Avalanche were upset in the first round by the Minnesota Wild. Stastny left as a free agent that summer, Roy quit on the team last summer, Duchene wants out, and they haven’t been back to the playoffs since. At this point, the whole franchise seems like it’s…contaminated? Toxic? I feel like there’s a better word here, but I can’t quite find it. I’m going to strip down and go sing into my mirror until it comes to me.

Have a question, suggestion, old YouTube clip, or anything else you’d like to see included in this column? Email Sean at nhlgrabbag@gmail.com .

DGB Grab Bag: Penguins Controversy, New Stats Galore, and a Terrible Hype Vid syndicated from http://ift.tt/2ug2Ns6

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DGB Grab Bag: Penguins Controversy, New Stats Galore, and a Terrible Hype Vid

Three Stars of Comedy

The third star: Whatever this is. The KHL is weird, man.

The second star: Angry (former) Olympians. Passive-aggressive hockey stars are my favorite hockey stars.

The first star: Jack Eichel gets some pointers. Yeah, it's these guys again. Honestly, it was kind of slim pickings this week and I didn't feel like seeing who the Golden Knights' Twitter was murdering this week, so let's just go with this.

Outrage of the Week

The issue: On Sunday morning, as the sports world reacted to President Donald Trump attacking Steph Curry and the Warriors while urging NFL owners to fire "son of a bitch" players for protesting, the Penguins announced that they would still be making the White House visit.

The outrage: You have very strong feelings about whether they should go or not.

Is it justified: There have been plenty of takes about the issue—like this and this and this—and you've probably read them all. Or you haven't read any, because you're in the "stick to sports" camp, in which case you've already scrolled past this section. I have my views on Donald Trump and what's left of the political discourse in the United States right now, and if you care about them then you're free to ask. But you probably don't. You're here for hockey talk and jokes and YouTube clips of awkwardly lip-synching players. I get it. Ideally, we could skip the politics altogether. Except that, thanks to the Penguins, doing that this week would also mean skipping the biggest story in the league.

It's hard not to have at least a little sympathy for the team here. They know what a trip to the White House means these days, and they realize that by going they'll be used as a prop in smiling photo ops with a president many see as an embarrassment. They also understand that by not going, they'd be making a statement that would get them sucked into the never-ending culture wars, applauded by the left for a few days and then forgotten while the right harbors a grudge forever. They tried to find a middle ground, but there isn't one. It's a yes-or-no question, and so the team defaulted to doing what every other team before them has done. But right now, the things we always used to do don't feel like they matter much anymore.

The Penguins didn't ask for any of this, and it's fair to assume that they're profoundly uncomfortable with the entire situation. That's how hockey people work. With few exceptions, they don't want to be front and center when it comes to politics because they don't want to be front and center for anything at all. Show up, do your job, mumble about getting pucks in deep, and go home. Hockey players barely want to be on ESPN, let alone CNN or Fox News.

So the Penguins were stuck, knowing they'd be attacked no matter what they said, and there didn't seem to be a right answer available to them. Except that there was.

What they should have said was nothing.

That's it. Just nothing at all. We didn't need to hear from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday morning.

Yes, that would have meant ignoring questions they were no doubt already fielding from the media. Sure, it goes against the old P.R. rule about getting out ahead of the story instead of letting someone else control it for you. And yeah, it would have just delayed the inevitable for a few days, because eventually you're going to have to answer the question.

But there's a time and a place for that. And Sunday morning wasn't it.

All across the country, NFL players were getting ready to make a statement. They have been protesting racial inequality—not against the anthem, or the flag, or Trump, and certainly not for "unity," despite the league's best efforts to rebrand it that way. That's a topic that doesn't touch the NHL as much as it does other leagues, for obvious reasons, and that's a big part of why the Penguins' response bothered so many people. This wasn't their fight. They didn't need to be the kid in the front row, frantically waving his arm to make sure everyone knew he handed in the assignment.

The Penguins gave us a teachable moment on Sunday, and the lesson is this: Sometimes it's OK to let somebody else have the floor. Especially these days, if you see that somebody else is angry, or hurting, or asking for change, and they're willing to stand up—or take a knee—to make themselves heard, and you can't fully understand exactly why because maybe it's an issue that doesn't impact you in the same way it does them, then maybe you don't need to jump right into the conversation. You don't have to add your voice to the mix right away, and you certainly don't need to make it about you. Sometimes the best choice is to just step back and listen.

It's quite literally the least you can do. It's basic courtesy. And that's the test the Penguins failed on Sunday.

Obscure Former Player of the Week

A few weeks ago, we made a passing reference to Lee Fogolin being obscure. That seems like it should be enough to earn a guy Obscure Player honors, so here we are.

Fogolin was the Sabres' first-round pick, 11th overall, in 1974. That draft wasn't very good, and is probably best known for A) the Islanders setting themselves up for a dynasty by finding Clark Gillies and Bryan Trottier while the rest of the league basically found nobody at all, and B) the Sabres getting annoyed at how long it was taking and drafting a fictional player just to mess with everyone.

Still, Fogolin was a decent pick. The son of Original Six era defenseman Lee Fogolin Sr., he was a stay-at-home blue-liner in an era when that was still a valuable thing to be and could also play a bit of forward on the penalty kill. He cracked the Sabres lineup pretty much right away, and spent five seasons in Buffalo. While he scored only eight goals that entire time, he became a fan favorite with his defensive play and willingness to stick up for his teammates.

The Oilers claimed him in the 1979 quasi-expansion draft held when four WHA teams were absorbed into the league. He had some of his best years as an Oiler, including a 13-goal season in 1980-81, and was the team's captain until Wayne Gretzky took over the duties in 1983. Fogolin won two Cups as an Oiler and was picked as an All-Star by Edmonton coach Glen Sather in 1986, before being traded back to Buffalo at the 1987 deadline. He played the last few games of his career there before retiring.

Here's my favorite Lee Fogolin fact: In the 1970s, the Sabres gave out a Most Improved Player award, and Fogolin won it…twice. In a three-year span. That seems like it shouldn't be possible, but he took home the honors in 1976 and 1978. I don't know if he just regressed really badly in 1977 or if voters figured they'd stick with the familiar, but it's fair to say that not many NHL players can lay claim to being multi-time Most Improved Player winners.

The NHL Actually Got Something Right

On Wednesday, the NHL put out what at first glance seemed like a pretty boring press release: they'd added updated information dating back to 1917 to the stats section of their website.

This announcement didn't seem all that new; the league told us it was working on this back in 2015, and the full project had been going on for years before that. Previous rollouts were largely met with a shrug. This one seems to have been, too. The announcement of the offside review change being finalized, which came out 15 minutes later, overshadowed the stats announcement easily, and most of the reactions I saw were some variation on the same jokes about how poorly the league's stats site works in the first place.

That's fair—the site is still a mess. It's clunky and slow, and seems to have been put together by somebody who doesn't really understand what kind of information hockey fans would be looking for. Virtually nobody in the media seems to use it, which is why you always hear so much complaining when one of the amateur sites goes dark.

But take a closer look at this week's news, and it's clear that this is a big deal. The NHL didn't just revamp its stats, or get around to uploading information that was already available somewhere else. They literally just dropped a ton of new numbers on us, stuff that we've never seen before. They've updated and corrected the numbers on several players, giving us new tidbits like Wayne Gretzky now joining Bobby Orr and Larry Robinson as the only +100 players in league history. (For the last three decades, he'd been incorrectly listed at +98.) More important, they've now filled out the history of stats like shooting and save percentage that had been tracked in some form for years but weren't widely available.

This is huge. Until now, you couldn't look up Ken Dryden's save percentage on a site like Hockey-Reference. Now we have it on the NHL site. Mix in the detailed box scores for individual games and game logs for players, and this is a gold mine for stats geeks.

The site itself is still a pain to use, and it's hard not to hope that Hockey-Reference or whoever else just grabs all the data and drops it into their far more user-friendly interface. But even if that happens, the NHL deserves plenty of credit here. This couldn't have been a small project. And it's not one that's ever going to put any cash directly into the league's pocket.

But they did it anyway, because for once they seem to have remembered that there's value in making fans happy. It's a small thing in the grand scheme of things, but kudos to the league for making it happen.

Classic YouTube Clip Breakdown

The regular season is almost here, which is good news for just about everyone other than the Colorado Avalanche. On the heels of one of the worst seasons of the salary cap era, the Avs are expected to struggle again, and virtually nobody thinks they'll even get close to the playoff hunt. What's worse, they managed to somehow make the whole Matt Duchene situation even more volatile. A bad team, an unhappy star, and little in the way of hope. That's not a great package.

Could it get any worse? Yes. Yes it could. At least nobody is singing shirtless.

It's March 2014, and times are good in Colorado. After missing the playoffs for three straight years, the Avalanche are good again, and well on their way to what will turn out to be a 112-point season. New coach Patrick Roy has turned the team around, and all that losing is clearly a thing of the past. It feels like it's time for a song.

Wait, we're not ready yet. Gabriel Landeskog is still sleeping. Rest up, little cowboy, you've got a big day ahead of you.

We get a few more dramatic shots of players, including Nathan MacKinnon walking down the street and nodding. We can't hear what's being said to him, but it's safe to assume it's "Is this a terrible idea?"

We also get a look at Matt Duchene, who is WAY TOO CLOSE TO US RIGHT NOW. Seriously Matt, back up a few steps and try again. Is this how you ask Joe Sakic for a trade? Because if so, I think I might understand why he's not listening to you.

We're 30 seconds in and I already feel like I need a shower. Oh, cool, thanks Paul Stastny, perfect timing.

Oh look, Landeskog is awake. At, uh, 3 PM. He's either just had his game-day nap, or he's doing an impression of me in college.

I'll be honest, I spent a little too much time trying to figure out which player was lip-synching next to the big drum. That is, of course, the lead singer of Imagine Dragons, whose song this is. Apparently we're going to get a few shots from the real video, which is, believe it or not, even weirder than this version. Really. There's muppet cage-fighting and everything.

Meanwhile, we get Avalanche players lip-synching lyrics like "checking out on the prison bus" and "this is it, the apocalypse." Um, are we sure this video isn't from this year?

We get some shots of game action, mixed in with angry Paul, shirtless Gabe, and Matt Duchene's tonsils. I feel like MacKinnon got off easy in all this. All he has to do is stand on a bridge and look like he's thinking of jumping, which doesn't even really count as acting at this point.

"We'll paint it red, to fit right in." I'm guessing that "it" is Semyon Varlamov's goal light.

Can we just point out that Landeskog looks roughly 37 years old? Are we sure the NHL isn't a bad TV series about high school kids and they just cast a bunch of middle-aged actors to play Landeskog and Aaron Ekblad?

Hey Gabe, how are you feeling about the 2017-18 season?

We make it two minutes in before our first shot of Roy. Seriously, you couldn't have got a giant drum and let him beat on it for a while? You could put a Red Wing goalie's face on it and just let him do what comes naturally.

At 2:20 we get a quick cameo from George Parros. Hey George, congrats on the new job, do you have the power to retroactively suspend marketing departments?

We conclude with Landeskog turning to the camera and dramatically asking "Why not us?" The follow-up video, in which a bunch of shirtless analytics geeks lip-synch the words "because your success is driven by PDO and is completely unsustainable," did not prove as popular.

It won't shock you to learn that this video wasn't exactly well received; it was called "bizarre" and "dumb" and "the ickiest thing ever." To this day, the team hasn't been allowed to forget it.

Oh, and the 2013-14 Avalanche were upset in the first round by the Minnesota Wild. Stastny left as a free agent that summer, Roy quit on the team last summer, Duchene wants out, and they haven't been back to the playoffs since. At this point, the whole franchise seems like it's...contaminated? Toxic? I feel like there's a better word here, but I can't quite find it. I'm going to strip down and go sing into my mirror until it comes to me.

Have a question, suggestion, old YouTube clip, or anything else you'd like to see included in this column? Email Sean at nhlgrabbag@gmail.com .

DGB Grab Bag: Penguins Controversy, New Stats Galore, and a Terrible Hype Vid published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv