#and I still have two players who will barely pay attention or participate lmao but whatever | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

survivorsuriname · 6 years

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Episode 2 - I Spy With My Little Eye

Xenia

People are not talking much. I was the lowest scorer in the previous challenge which is why I want to contribute to the tribe win this time by doing my best.No communication with anyone on the OT.

Kenjie

1down 13 more to go. If we keep on winning i have more chances to make it to the end

Heather

I spy with my little eye my tribes idol already hehe im shook

Emily

Ive been rly busy but the chat seems kinda quiet. Who knows what goes on behind the screen...

Geri

It's sucks I got 1 vote at the last tribal council. I hope we can pull out the win next time :)

Sassy

So, as I'd thought, my huge score in Winterbells was enough to keep my tribe safe. The effort was well worth it as it allowed yesterday to be a very quiet day. I'm really surprised at how quiet everyone is being. Not many people seem like they are really playing the social aspect of the game, which may be to their detriment later on as I continue to forge relationships wherever I can. I wasn't surprised to see Medha go after it was revealed that she abstained from the first challenge. I would have made the same decision. The 3-1-1 vote however did surprise me a little bit as I would have expected it to be a clean 4-1. Perhaps Kasikasima just has more drama on it, or maybe there's just no communication. Anyway, with today's reward challenge, we have to sit somebody out. Nobody directly volunteered, but with Heather saying she will have to abstain from the immunity challenge, it's best that we let her participate today so she can sit tomorrow. It's concerning me that nobody has said "I'll sit out" or something because, to me, it means that nobody on my tribe is paying attention to the game. I'm the only person trying to coordinate things and honestly, if we lose because of this and end up losing immunity because of that advantage, I will not be happy at all. If you're going to sign up for a game, at least fucking look like you're trying.

Jake

I'm sort of employing a strategy of not being too social right now, because I've never played One World so I feel like is someone is talking to everyone they're a really big target. I'm always around so I'm not being inactive, just selective with who I talk to. Blake is my lovely, so he's my closest ally in the game, and depending on how it goes I may have patched things up with Elizabeth. Still worried about Emily, but nothing I can really do about it right now because I don't wanna stick my neck out when I don't need to.

I'm gonna bet a decent bit that we're gonna get second in this challenge, considering Liz just is getting back from camping so she's probably gonna have a bad score. fuck leaving camp i hate this idol twist tbh, i understand it's trying to emulate real survivor going to look for the idol but this would be like Jeff walking up to the beach with a megaphone announcing whenever someone walked off to go looking for it and left sticky notes of everyone who left and when.

Quincy

I’m definitely gonna be targeted for how bad I’m doing in the challenges

Xenia

Darn, we lost!!!

Jake

"Oh boy immunity challenge! 20 Questions!" >I want Kenjie to sit, English isn't his first language >MY TRIBE [12:23 AM] Infinity (Vi): Can I sit out I live under a rock and know absolutely nothing about all 4 cat -right after- [12:23:59 AM] Jake™: I don't wanna say this in public but [12:24:16 AM] Jake™: i kinda think kenjie should sit, english isn't his first language >.> [12:24:22 AM] Infinity (Vi): O shit yeat -back in tribe chat- [12:24:26 AM] Infinity (Vi): Wait [12:24:32 AM] Infinity (Vi): Nvm I’m good [12:25:22 AM] Infinity (Vi): Ignore that I’m a derp -right after- [12:25:04 AM] Xenia H: I can sit this one out then -once again..- [12:25:28 AM] Jake™: hey um [12:25:36 AM] Xenia H: Hey [12:25:38 AM] Jake™: i think you should probably play [12:25:47 AM] Jake™: english isn't kenjies first language so [12:26:21 AM] Xenia H: Okay, I am scared I might not be of much help but I will def do my best. We need to be immune :p -right on cue..- [12:26:41 AM] Xenia H: I am willing to play. Anyone else wants to sit out then??? i sure do love a good old fashioned please kill me

Kenjie

I think im doing good at communicating with each players. Good thing for my advantage.

Seans no one in my tribe wants to go finding idols. I tell geri the clue so that hi can find it and hi will trust me.

Sassy

Another round, another chance at victory. Winning the reward challenge was great, and the way it was won was even better. While I did really well on the challenge, I was not the best this time around, which is good for not looking like a TOTAL competition beast. I managed to show that while I'm good at puzzles, I am by no means the best at them, whereas by killing it on Winterbells, I merely showed that I'm willing to put in the work. The -3 reward for this immunity is HUGE and I'm really happy we won it, but I have a good feeling we might still be alright without it, so long as everyone on my tribe completes the challenge with reasonable scores. As for this immunity challenge, I can very easily shrug off my 6 question result as simply being a guy that enjoys board games a lot and grew up playing many of them, which is only about half true. Grew up playing more card games than board games, generally because they were easier to learn and I have probably the best mind for strategy in my immediate family. I think I'm in an okay place in this game, but it will be interesting to see what happens moving forward. I'm sure there is going to be tribe swaps or even an early merge as a 15 person cast is relatively small. It wouldn't surprise me either to learn about some sort of Redemption Island or other "return to the game" twist that we don't know about yet. I haven't been going for idols, even though we have this clue, but it is something I should probably consider, especially because I might be putting a huge target on my back by doing well at challenges.

So what has been happening? I have no idea bc only Kenjie talks to me and I started talking to Blake a bit. Heather is off in her own world so I have no idea on that side either. Jake has been lowkey hinting to let Kenjie sit out and when I say lowkey he pmed every single person that volunteered to sit and then we backtracked. Whoops. It was funny tho. I'll come back at tribal I guess. Idk we'll see

Xenia

OMG, I thought I was so done. I am the weakest in challenges on my tribe and I will be the first one out if we are ever not safe :/ So glad today was not that day. Phew!!!

Sean

i'm sooo happy that we finally won something i was starting to feel hopeless i think this is good for us to have some unity going forward

Sassy

Are you actually kidding me with this tribe right now? Antoine GAVE UP and Emily couldn't get FACE OFF? I think I might actually be surrounded by dumb. We were given a huge advantage in this challenge and it was absolutely blown by these two, so I think that one of them has to go. While I like Emily and have enjoyed talking to her, she had to abstain from the very first challenge, hasn't really shown any sort of willingness to collaborate during the first reward challenge by not communicating while trying to figure out who should sit, and now she kinda cost us safety by not being able to get Face Off. Antoine is probably the person that I have talked to the least on the tribe, so that concerns me. I don't really know anything about him, I don't know where his head is at really, and that is pretty concerning to me. I'm somewhat disturbed by the fact that he was so willing to just give up on the challenge and essentially send us to tribal council. He had messaged me during the day saying that he was having a hard time and I tried to tell him to just remain calm, go back through everything, and take whatever time he needed, but apparently he's alright with quitting. I'm torn between voting for either of these two individuals. Neither of them have gone looking for an idol, so I feel confident being able to vote for either of them. Ian and I have a pretty good relationship and I think if we can stick together, we'll be able to stay safe. Heather's been a bit on the quieter side lately, but if I can get her on my side, that's the three votes for a majority that I need to be able to keep myself safe for today.

Kenjie

My tribe is keep on winning and it makes me so happy. Im happy also that the othere tribe is loosing each other.

Elizabeth

Okay so this might be super long because it's my first one ever but I was shocked Medha got voted out over me since I was camping last weekend and barely talked to anyone. But I understand completely they went for physical strength and keeping the tribe strong for future challenges. Super glad we won the next challenge so we didn't go on some losing streak until swap. Quincy seems really cool so far from my tribe and Jake n Black from the other tribes are great too.

Ian

So im going in this tribal still undecided as all my tribemates are very quiet and they just suck. Lmao

Like serious i cant wait to for a swap to happen

Blake

So we won again, nothing has really changed from the first time we did so other than I've been talking to Vi a little more, so I think it's a 4-1 against Xenia at this point. I've got pre-game connections (sorta) with Elizabeth because I hosted her in an ORG, so... I'm working on that kinda? Also, the people leaving the camp all the time is funny. I'm not putting that kind of target on my back. I feel safe enough, why jeopardise that?

Antoine

I'm probably going to be voted out but if it's the case then I'll try everything to avoid it.

#episode #stoprapping

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junker-town · 7 years

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How LaMelo Ball and Zion Williamson got a million people to watch an AAU basketball game

Ball and Williamson are social media stars, and high school basketball has turned into a perfect atmosphere for that.

It’s midnight on the East Coast, and I’m watching a Facebook live stream add a thousand viewers every five seconds. It’s currently airing a still screen, even. In bold lettering, there’s text that says, “Adidas Uprising Summer Championship.” That’s what we’re here for — a high school AAU game.

It peaks at 80,000 viewers.

I wonder, like me, how many of them just actively turned on AAU basketball for the first time in their lives. Maybe they’re like me, and they’ve watched some high school mixtapes and occasionally the random high school all-star game that ended up on ESPN2. Anyone paying attention on Thursday, though, could see this was different.

The gym was so packed, fire marshals and officials had to block entrances to keep participants from entering a stuffed gym. For those lucky enough to sneak inside, even standing room might put you seven or eight rows back. A few people in one corner were literally standing partially on the court, without room to realistically move anywhere else, a fact that even the announcers eventually brought up. Damian Lillard and Andrew Wiggins were in attendance. LeBron James was reportedly going to do the same, only to reconsider when the North Las Vegas-based Cashman Center devolved into madness. Kids in attendance stormed the court on the final buzzer. Look at this crowd, damnit! And this was just an exhibition game.

lmao look how many people they packed into melo vs. zion. fire marshals must have been like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ http://pic.twitter.com/lnuSr7FkT1

— Tim Cato (@tim_cato) July 27, 2017

But how? I was actually planning on going to bed early. I’m trying to be a responsible adult, for Christ’s sake. I have to work in the morning. I have to argue with my insurance company in the afternoon. How, as a taunting black screen stares back at me at 2 a.m., informing me the streaming event has ended, did we all get swept up into this?

SC Supreme beat Big Baller Brand 104-92 on Wednesday, but no one really cared about that. This was a player showcase between the two most hyped high school players in the world. And the LaMelo Ball vs. Zion Williamson show didn’t disappoint for a second.

A late night high school AAU game captured the eyes of the basketball world.

The final official live stream count from Ballislife was 822,000 views. It consumed my Twitter timeline. The sidelines were so packed, it looked like the players were literally standing among the fans on inbounds plays. And it’s all because we can’t get enough of two high schoolers, a 15-year old and another who just turned 17.

Williamson, already one of the best dunkers of his generation, did what he was born to do. It started in the warm up lines and extended into the game, where his teammates passed up layups to throw him alley oops even if there was no chance he’d complete them. He iced the game with a tomahawk dunk that would still only rank, like, 723rd on his list of all-time dunks. And it was still hella nice.

SHUT IT DOWN. LaVar Ball is back from a bathroom break and we have LIFT OFF. http://pic.twitter.com/D6N9DfoiFE

— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) July 27, 2017

Ball, too, delivered exactly what we wanted. Because let’s be real, the only thing we really wanted was reckless, wild 35-foot hoists. He shot several, made one, and when the game was basically over, threw up a legitimate half-court attempt. It missed, but his recklessness is also his allure.

LaMelo from half court for the culture http://pic.twitter.com/TRHgKthGZM

— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) July 27, 2017

You can see Ball’s uniqueness shine at times — he ended up with 31 points — and there are other moments where he’s doing a Dion Waiters impersonation. Not a good one, either. For Williamson, he’s retiring the saying “man among boys” — it won’t ever fit any situation more appropriate than Williamson’s. Big Baller Brand face guarded Williamson the whole game and doubled nearly every time he had the ball. He still scored 28 points on the sheer force of his athleticism.

Still, let’s not take either kid’s performance too seriously. AAU is a player showcase, and this was a particularly meaningless one. Both teams understood how absurd the stakes were. LeBron James didn’t need to show up for them to understand that everyone watching was here for Ball’s deep threes and Williamson’s remorseless jams. None of the 820 million viewers tuning in were really there for smart team basketball.

Some people credited this phenomenon to LaVar Ball, but that’s not quite right.

Nearly 70K people watching Melo Ball vs. Zion Williamson on Facebook. But let's face it: This is all about LaVar.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) July 27, 2017

The Ball patriarch was there, of course — he’s the Big Baller Brand head coach. But the announcers barely acknowledged him, and he got far fewer camera pans than the NBA stars in attendance. It wasn’t until he disappeared from the bench briefly with a minute left in a four-point game — bathroom break? — that people really started talking about Ball. When he returned moments later, the attention shifted back appropriately.

But no, LaVar Ball wasn’t playing. 80,000 people didn’t tune in for LaVar Ball.

There’s some credit you can assign him, sure. LaMelo is the No. 18-ranked high school prospect for the class of 2019. Any other top-20 prospect, especially one that’s still two years out, couldn’t create this sort of buzz. It was LaVar Ball’s headline-drawing, attention-grabbing presence that initially turned the world onto the Chino Hills experiment. There’s no denying what his shameless braggadocio and endless television appearances did to the Ball surname.

But LaVar Ball has reached his Milkshake Duck moment. His constant media tour has soured much of the public on him, and he has said a couple things that really didn’t need to be. The attention he created for his sons would’ve died there if they couldn’t carry it now on their own.

Lonzo Ball can. His public presence is totally opposite his father’s, but after being drafted second overall, his basketball ability keeps everyone coming back. For LaMelo, he’s doing it in a different, even more polarizing way.

He’s become a social media star.

He and Williamson are alike in that way. Social media can’t get enough of LaMelo pointing to half court and then hitting a shot from there. It’ll retweet every Williamson dunk montage that comes across the timeline. Basketball is booming among our youngest generation, exemplified by the NBA’s new $24 billion television deal. Of course it’s taking over Twitter. Of course LaMelo has 2.1 million Instagram followers — barely shy of his brother, who’s employed by an NBA team — and Williamson is about to hit one million.

If LaVar Ball was the only reason his sons were stars, then tell me this: are you tuning into UCLA’s opener against Georgia State to watch LiAngelo Ball, the middle brother who could be a decent player but lacks Lonzo’s ability or LaMelo’s appeal? Maybe, for the curiosity. Are you tuning into the Bruins’ second matchup against Central Arkansas? The hell you aren’t.

Wednesday’s overflowing gym was a unique set of circumstances all crashing together at once. There’s no high school star bigger than these two.

But for all 822,000 people who sought out and tuned into an AAU game for the first time — like me — this probably won’t be the last. We’re in a new era, and neither basketball nor the social media star is going away. AAU is uniquely suited to incorporate both of these into must-watch events. It did it on Wednesday, drawing casual fans across the world to their phones and NBA players to the gym itself.

It will surely happen again.

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