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guksthighs · 5 years

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Chance Ball | jjk

Summary: A pair of infamous volleyball rivals are paired together and with their shared goal of winning gold in the Olympics, they might just become friends or even something more.

Genre: smut, angst, beach volleyball!au, friend to lovers

Length: 11k

Moodboard: @petrimyg ; thank you for hyping me up when i’m, doubting myself!!

A/N: hi kids, it’s me your local writer who always writes her own prompts and dreams,, my dream the last few months is enemies to lovers jungkook but throwing in some beach volleyball so my man is wearing as little clothing as possible, i guess you can thank my perverted mind for this thicc hunk of a fic.

“What are you doing on my court?” Jeongguk ran a hand through his hair, his gaze meeting yours and making your face heat up. He didn’t wait for an answer, barging past you with a smirk, “you should leave before I get really angry.”

You turned and grabbed his wrist, “I’m not leaving, the Coach told us to come to Gym1 to hear the brief about the new season.” He frowned, and you tried to stop the smile that faltered on your lips from proving him wrong.

A low rumble of a laugh caused you to turn and see Namjoon smiling at you, the sight of his dimples was a huge comfort, making your racing heart begin to slow down. The elder player stepped in front of you, looking at Jeongguk with a disapproving stare, “don’t pick fights kid.” Jeongguk pouted and mumbled an apology, his cheeks were dusted with red and you smiled to yourself, because underneath all his bravado and rude comments he was still the same shy boy.

The same kid who had debuted the same year as you, stumbling towards you with teary eyes as he asked how you were so calm. It was easy to forget how he used to be and Jeongguk made sure everyone perceived him as the being one of the top spikers in the world and not the shy boy who hadn’t made it past the first round of qualifiers.

You shook your head, realising you needed to find someone to do warm-ups with. Luckily Namjoon seemed to have noticed your problem, holding out a volleyball to you, “want to warm up with the team?”

You nodded with a smile, Namjoon was the captain of the men’s Korean volleyball team and always kept an eye on you when Jin wasn’t around. You got on well with most of the boys in the various teams with Jeongguk being the exception.

Namjoon wrapped his arm around your shoulder, guiding you towards the small part of his team that had arrived on time. He saw you look at Jeongguk chatting with Taehyung, the team’s ace and you felt your pace slow which Namjoon noticed and stopped so he could look you in the eyes.

“He’s a huge fan of yours,” your eyebrows knit together in confusion but Namjoon shook his head as if warning you that he wasn’t going to reveal any more. “Just give him a chance, you’re kindness is stronger than any childish grudge.”

The warm-up was different from usual, with you running around and collecting stray balls from spikes instead of actually playing. Usually, you would be in the midst of the players, spiking to your heart’s content and receiving until your forearms were red and stinging. It was the best feeling, knees aching from slamming into the floor and eyes sparkling with the adrenaline that coursed through your body.

But today was different because of Jeon Jeongguk, who seemed to be on top form, sprinting across the court to receive and making grunts that seemed almost comical due to their volume. He seemed full of energy and as you watched him, you wondered who he was going to be paired with this year, as Jeongguk had been playing for America for the past seasons, in what he had called a ‘soul-seeking’ mission having won gold in the last Olympics. It was true that he had returned with techniques that you, in the Korean sector were amazed by and an abundance of energy.

Now that he had returned, Jeongguk seemed to have shed the nervous exterior and was cockier than ever. You wondered if the rumours were true and that he’d found himself a girlfriend, it had been a massive media scandal with photos of the two seemed to be on every media platform you went onto. The only scandal you’d had was when you changed sponsors from Redbull to Nike.

Unlike Jeongguk who apparently dated bikini models, you tried to keep to other volleyball players knowing that like you, they would want to avoid unwanted media coverage. That was possibly the main problem you had with Jeongguk, as you knew that growing up in the media’s eyes it often seemed hard to hide who you were dating but he seemed to relish in the attention.

“Oy airhead,” Jeongguk was standing inches away from your face, you could feel his breath against your cheeks and you flinched causing him to smirk, “the coach just told everyone to gather on the top court.”

You blinked in surprise, about to thank him for warning you, only to notice Jeongguk had walked away to join his friends. Usually, you would have Jin to keep you company, and although you had friends in other teams, competing with a partner meant that now he had retired, you were alone.

“Wow just look at her, it’s hard to believe that she is gold medallist material,” your head turned to see Jeongguk grinning at you, elbowing Taehyung whilst pointing at you. You frowned at him, watching Jimin wave his hands in the air as if trying to prevent a fight, “poor thing so lost without her partner to carry her into the finals.”

“Being mean doesn’t suit you Gukkie,” you replied, glaring at your feet as you wondered what made him like this. You saw him smiling and laughing with the other teams, messing around as if he didn’t have a care in the world but the second he saw you looking over he would frown.

The coach blew his whistle, striding to stand between you and Jeongguk with a frown, “Jeongguk stop starting fights,” the entire volleyball team fell silent and waited for the punishment he was about to set you and Jeongguk. Instead, coach smiled, placing a hand on both of your shoulders, “especially not with your new partner.”

“Do you think the kid could at least try and pretend he’s not showing off?” Yoongi was talking to Hoseok, his partner, in a whisper that was aimed to embarrass Jeongguk by being loud enough for the boy who was playing across the net to hear.

Jeongguk was fuming at Yoongi’s comments and turned to see if you’d heard, instead he watched you receive one of Hoseok’s famous spikes at a point blank range. The taller boy ground his teeth together as he tried to suppress the awe at your play, his success rate of receiving those spikes was low and to see you do it with what looked like such ease was annoying.

But your laughter broke him from his fuming as you held two fingers to your chest, “Hobi, you might have just broken my fingers with that damn star spike.” Hoseok laughed and Yoongi clapped his partner on the back, depicting the image of a perfect volleyball duo. Jeongguk glanced over to you and grunted something like, ‘leave the receiving to me’.

The gym was filled with the sound of new shoes squeaking and joining the chorus of grunts and calls, Jeongguk had begun to amp up his game, “Mine!” He called as he received Yoongi’s serve and passed it to you, watching as jumped impossibly high and spiked it into the ground.

“Nice kill!” Yoongi went to retrieve the ball and you jogged over to Jeongguk hoping that you had managed to break the ice with your old friend, but his frown seemed to be even deeper set in his brows.

You glanced over at Namjoon, summoning his courage and placed your hand on Jeongguk’s shoulder, which he quickly shrugged off, “I can see you’re tired and that’s because you’re screaming for every ball like you’re solo and throwing yourself in front of balls that are clearly mine.” You paused and recoiled back slightly as you noticed the dark look in his eyes, quickly you smiled at him, “we’re playing a team that has been together for years, but I think we’re going to get gold if you just push aside your hatred of me and we work together!”

It was a speech very similar to one Jin had delivered to you when you had first been placed with him, although he had delivered it better, making it sound less like a lecture and more like a pep-talk. At the time you were acting out because it was your first season and having been paired with Jin, a more experienced player, you felt like you would be letting him down.

But you knew Jeongguk’s attitude probably didn’t stem from the same fear, maybe that’s why he rolled his eyes at you and walked away without a word to signify he even felt like cooperating.

“Yoongi let’s go all out,” Hoseok called to his partner and you nodded in agreement, well aware that the male duo had been holding back to try and help you form a bond or even an agreement with Jeongguk. Hoseok gave you a concerned smile but you just grinned at him, you were going to make your haphazard teamwork using Jeongguk’s unrivalled raw talent and your honed skills to get you to that podium with a gold medal around your neck.

Although at present, the boys were thrashing you. The scoreboard stood at 13 points to them and none to you and Jeongguk, likely because you were jumping into each other and squabbling over who got to receive the ball after both calling ‘mine’.

Jeongguk was serving, performing a jump serve that would not have looked as professional in the sand, but you kept quite watching Yoongi just manage to keep the ball up, sending it back to you as a chance ball. “Mine!” You yelled, running underneath it as if to set to Jeongguk who had begun to run to the net for a spike and with a flick of your wrist you sent the ball over the net and onto the floor as a dump.

Usually, you would have just been accommodating to your partner, sending them the ball to spike but you felt like reminding Jeongguk that you also played volleyball at the same level as him – he’d been treating you like a child for too long. The looks on Hoseok and Yoongi’s faces as they watched the silent exchange between you and your partner were priceless, as they tried to hide the knowing smiles as Jeongguk stomped his foot before launching into a lecture about how dumps are not a good play.

Standing calmly, arms on hips you just smiled at him and placed a hand on his shoulder, “But it got us the point.”

“Yes, but what I’m saying is that a dump is not an honest play.” Jeongguk sighed when you tilted your head in confusion at his wording, “Fine, do you feel good getting that point?”

“Yeah, it’s the first one we’ve scored to their 13.” Jeongguk threw his hands in the air as if wondering why he’d even tried and you grinned, “for a boy surrounded by gossip and scandals you sure are determined to have a clean volleyball record. Stop sweating the small stuff babe.”

“How about we win before you try and lecture me.” With a straight-faced delivery, Jeongguk had managed to remind you of the desolate situation you had found yourself in, “and don’t call me babe.”

“Rematch!” Jeongguk yelled, straightening up from where he had been hunched over panting to point at Yoongi, “Come on old man, you scared I’ll crush your ass?”

You sat watching your partner act like he was playing alone, you were having to tape your fingers to compress and hoping they wouldn’t be too damaged from having received Hoseok’s spikes. You fiddled with the sticky sides and wrapped them as best you could.

A pale hand landed on top of yours, pulling it towards him. Yoongi shook his head at your futile attempts to wrap your fingers, “you need to bind them, not just wrap them casually.” He began to wrap them properly, both of you ignoring the onslaught of Jeongguk’s insults for the male pair’s refusal to a rematch.

You winced as Yoongi used the tape, laughing as you tried to pull your fingers away, “Young fingers like mine don’t need to be bound like your old man hands.” He rolled his eyes and loosened the tape slightly finishing off and giving you a wide smile.

“Is she still not taking care of herself?” A hand landed on your shoulder and you felt your back straighten whilst you began to smile at the sound of his voice, turning to find Jin grinning down at you. “Someone looks like they’ve been missing me, although if I look at the last text you sent me I can be certain it said something about me being a frail old man.”

You grinned and went to hold his callused hands in your own, “Missed you and your old man jokes, Yoongi just doesn’t live up to the grand old age he is.” You could feel Yoongi glaring at your back but you were busy admiring the luminous pink shoes that Jin was wearing with a slightly appalled expression.

He caught it and placed a foot on the bench next to you, and for a second you were worried he was trying to blind you with the ghastly colour. Jin laughed, “I might have been forced to retire but my fans will not forget me when I’m standing court-side wearing these spotlights!”

“Your fans will be busy shielding their eyes from the neon atrocities on your feet,” you replied, pushing his foot off the bench as if to prove your point. But the second his two feet were firm on the ground again, Jin’s expression changed and become more serious.

He pointed to Jeongguk and gave you what you could only assume was a pained, sorry look, “how is the feisty genius?” You suppressed your laugh at the nickname everyone in the team had adapted for Jeongguk who was always described as a ‘volleyball genius’ in interviews, no one was really sure what that meant but it sounded good and stuck.

“He’s,” you turned to find him squabbling with Yoongi like a child, bouncing the ball on the floor as if he was preparing to do a jump serve, “he’s feisty.” In reality, he was so much more than that, and you knew Jin had most likely been watching from the beginning of training until your match with the lethal male duo of Yoongi and Hoseok.

“Want me to show him how it’s done?”

“Show me how what’s done?” Jeongguk was standing behind you, he placed a hand firmly on your shoulder and took a step over the bench to stand slightly in front of you. That didn’t mean you couldn’t see the smirk on his face as he spoke, “you want to show me how to break my ankle beyond repair? Or how to carry this one to a gold medal in the Olympics?”

You gasped and leapt to your feet, rage filling your head so quickly you had no idea what you were going to, just that he had stepped out of line for the last time and as you went to punch him a hand grabbed your arm, “don’t be stupid,” Jin smiled down at you and continued to speak to Jeongguk, “I wanted to show you how to play with Y/N so you’re using her full strength instead of forcing her to become a burden.”

Jeongguk took a step back, eyes wide as they moved from your clenched fists, your furious gaze and Jin’s arms that was looped in your arm, he seemed shocked and suddenly all the fire dissipated as he sat on his seat, “Show me then, how well a duo who fuck each other can play.”

Jin continued to walk ahead, calling to Yoongi to explain his plan and you could faintly hear him explain that he could play for a few points without risking further injuring his ankle. But Jeongguk’s words swam around your head, and you felt so angry that tears began to well in your eyes.

“I never fucked Jin,” you managed to grit out between your clenched teeth, “stop acting like a baby and watch.”

Playing with Jin was as easy as breathing, he became an extra limb to you as together you smashed ball after ball over the net. The difference in how you played was clear and quickly a crowd had formed where Jeongguk was sitting to watch you and Jin play drawn to the surprising silence on the court instead of the loud shouts of earlier. Jeongguk realised that the trust you had with Jin was so strong that you didn’t need to tell him where to go because you acted cooperatively with each other, performing moves that were called legendary for good reasons.

It was not that you were less enthusiastic than you had been with Jeongguk but that the trust you shared with Jin seemed incomparable to anything anyone had ever seen before. Yoongi and Hoseok had played against you and Jin many times before and were always discussing how they could develop a bond like yours, it was almost magical to watch..

After winning the quick match, being the first pair to score 25 points, you turned to where Jeongguk had been sitting to ask him what he thought and if he was ready to understand the differences in team play and pair play. But he was gone and turning to Jin, you smiled and he nodded, knowing that you were going to chase after him no matter what he warned.

“Looks like he’s not your partner but someone for you to babysit,” Yoongi laughed, watching you pull on your hoodie, turning to laugh at his joke before looking at him with a warning in your hardened expression.

“Don’t tease him anymore, he’s my partner and I believe in him and us!”

Turning back you saw Jeongguk standing in the doorway of the gym, looking at you with wide eyes swimming with emotions you were too far to decipher and as you moved towards his direction, he turned and sprinted away.

Jeongguk had heard you standing up for him and you wondered when the last time someone had shown him genuine belief. He had been bouncing around from team to team and you doubted he had made any bonds as deep as the one you shared with Jin after 4 years of playing together.

Yoongi was looking at you triumphantly and you scrunched your nose at him before laughing slightly in exasperation at your situation, “Fine, maybe he can be a kid sometimes.”

The beach bar was always full of players early in the morning as they prepared for the upcoming day of training by drinking their protein shakes in the shade and gossiping about the latecomers.

“I bet she asks for a new partner by the end of this week,” Hoseok placed ₩30,000 on the table, knowing he wasn’t going to be the only person who had an opinion about what was going to happen with Jeongguk and you.

Taehyung laughed and slammed his hand into the table, “bet they stay together and end up fucking within the month.” He pulled his fist back to reveal he had also placed ₩30,000 on top of Hoseok’s and the boys all sighed at the middle blocker’s attitude towards you.

Namjoon looked at Taehyung in confusion, “aren’t you meant to be-” Namjoon stopped as he tried to find the words to describe the relationship, “-with her Tae?”

“Say it.” Taehyung crossed his arms and placed them on the table, tilting his head with a grin as he waited for Namjoon’s reply. The chance to embarrass Namjoon was very rare and Taehyung couldn’t just let his captain always feel safe, so he took every chance he had to poke fun at him.

Namjoon felt his cheeks heat up, as he glared at the younger boy, “whatever you are, I think it will take longer,” the elder boy placed his money on top of the pile, “once they pass qualifiers. ”

“Give who six months?” The boys jumped having been caught betting but it was just Yoongi who placed an arm over Namjoon’s shoulders as he sat down, “the disastrous duo have already started training.”

“They need it,” Hoseok shook his head with a laugh, his smile widening as everyone laughed in agreement. The group decided to head towards the courts, chatting about the training they needed to get in and the anticipation they felt towards seeing if you and Jeongguk would manage to work together.

Jeongguk was shouting at you from across the net and the boys watched as you completed serve after serve directed at him to receive, “I said I’m sorry!” He shouted but you continued, finally landing a direct hit to his face causing you to stop your actions and stifle laughter as Jeongguk looked up at you, eyebrow twitching in anger.

“Apology accepted!” You replied, ducking under the net you offered him a hand from where he’d collapsed onto the ground, sweat dripping down the side of his face as he heaved breaths. Jeongguk took your hand and instead of using it to stand, he yanked you so hard you landed directly on his lap.

Jeongguk’s eyes widened in shock, his cheeks instantly colouring to look as if he’d got a sunburn across his cheeks and nose, he gritted his teeth and moved his hands to your back as he tried to move you, “you’re heavy.”

“Stop I’m swooning,” you replied, sarcasm dripping from your words as you stood and pushed him onto his back when he tried to stand again. The other volleyball players had begun filing onto the courts from the beach bar and you decided you weren’t in the mood to make a scene, although as you watched your coach march over you had a feeling he had other plans.

“Run two miles down the beach and be back in an hour. If I find you squabbling again, the punishment will be doubled.”

You nodded and quickly took off in a sprint hoping to escape having to jog next to Jeongguk, but he quickly caught up, elbowing you in the side before overtaking you with a laugh, “don’t get ahead of yourself.”

“Only thing I’m getting ahead of is you,” he laughed, feet kicking off the firm sand as you both fell silent, trainers splashing the sea water against your legs every time the waves washed up onto the sand. The beach that you trained on was not a popular destination for tourists and due to the large waves, ideal for surfing, you didn’t have to worry about running into anyone.

Instead, you let your the rhythm of your feet hitting the sand calm you down, Jeongguk had knocked on your door in the morning and brought you a coffee as a way to apologise for his behaviour the day before, but you had demanded for him to receive one hundred of your serves before you forgave him.

Watching Jeongguk’s back run ahead of you, you let your mind slip into thinking about him. You were only human after all, and not immune to his good looks especially when you had the biggest crush on him during your first year. He was different then, always anxious and very shy, often coming to you with trembling hands asking if you could hold them so you could absorb his shaking.

Although his personality had gotten worse, you definitely could appreciate what growing up had done to Jeongguk. On arrival from his trip to America, you had been shocked to see how much he had bulked up, thighs now looking strong enough to crush watermelons between them and you had noted that he’d managed to maintain a set of ripped abs that often were glimpsed as he landed from a jump.

It was a popular discussion on the volleyball chat, Taehyung and Jimin relentlessly teasing you and taking photos to send on the chat as if it were a Jeon Jeongguk fan page. Although the quality of the pictures were so good, you had mentioned that the boys should send them to Jeongguk’s official fan pages which they had found incredibly amusing.

However, the thoughts of Jeongguk’s muscular arms and thighs were constantly at the front of your mind, and you had a bad feeling if you weren’t too careful you would end up acting on them. Although maybe that was what was needed, to tell Jeongguk he was hot, maybe kiss and then it would be easy to get over the small fluttering of your heart and focus on whipping the team into a reasonable shape in time for qualifying.

Little did you know that your opportunity would be arising sooner than you thought.

“Gukkie you’re so dumb,” a yawn interrupted your words but Jeongguk still caught it, looking down at where your head was resting on his lap.

“Everything that comes out of your mouth is stupid,” he replied, surprising Taehyung and the few other boys who were sitting on the roof with you. Jeongguk’s hand was resting on your head, stroking it slightly and Yoongi turned to Hoseok to share a confused look.

“Jeon Jeongguk,” you grinned at him and stuck your tongue out before sitting up and stretching with a loud groan.

It was Jimin who figured the two of you must have been exhausted from the weeks of training and constant punishments that neither of you had any fight left. He quickly texted his revelation to the chat that did not have you or Jeongguk in it, where they had been monitoring your relationship and Taehyung replied that he was going to win the bet if this honeymoon phase continued.

The rooftop was cold but it was a tradition for the players to collect around the fire before the night of qualifiers and have a few drinks. However, you had come to the gathering already slightly drunk and upon seeing that the only free space was next to Jeongguk, you had laid down and placed your head on his lap.

“You know what I really want to do,” you asked, staring up at the sky before slouching into your seat wondering if it would be bad to rest your head on Jeongguk’s broad shoulders. But turning to look at him you noticed that he was looking embarrassed, cheeks flushed and eyes wide as he gulped.

“Are you flirting with Jeongguk?” Taehyung burst into laughter, and you looked at him in bewilderment.

“I want to do some training?” You paused and rethought how you had worded your question before laughing and looking back at Jeongguk who’s mouth was slightly ajar, “you thought to do as in have sex? I’m not shameless guys.”

You leapt to your feet in mock outrage, going to walk away when a hand catches your wrist in a strong grip and in one smooth move Jeongguk has pulled you onto his lap. It wasn’t the first time your heart had skipped a beat around him, but when he directed that crazy strength at you, a part of you enjoyed feeling completely helpless.

“Y/N! You’re all zoned out!” You blinked quickly as you shoved your thoughts of Jeongguk away, returning Taehyung’s worried gaze, “I didn’t mean to upset you!” You shook your head and smiled at your friend when he quickly changed the topic, “the next big party is in two months to celebrate the beginning of the semi-finals!”

The conversation quickly trailed off as they discussed how unfair it was that the big parties always happened around big, nerve-wracking events for the players. But you still felt slightly shaken by Jeongguk’s large hand resting on your hip and when he squeezed it to get your attention, you instinctively clenched your thighs forgetting he’d be able to feel that movement.

“You feeling okay?” He whispered, his breath was warm against your neck and you felt your hairs rising as you turned your head and went with your instincts, just this once. Jeongguk’s lips were soft in the brief second you had touched them with your own before drawing back and looking at him with wide eyes almost as surprised as his own.

“You’ve been working out, it suits you.” You moved your hand to squeeze his bicep before giving him a toothy grin as Jeongguk suddenly looked like he was 16 again. A young boy with hands that wouldn’t stop shaking because the crowd was much bigger than what he was used to and without thinking you held his hands in yours, “stop freaking out Guk.”

The other boys had gone silent in surprise at your interaction with Jeongguk and Jimin quickly piped up in the hopes of saving Jeongguk who seemed completely unable to communicate anymore. “She’s very liberal with her kisses! I’m sure everyone in the squad has been kissed on the cheek by Y/N, don’t overthink it!”

Jeongguk’s dazed out expression disappeared as he raised an eyebrow at you, as if waiting for you to disagree with what Jimin had just said, although aware that there was a difference between platonic kisses to the cheek and whatever a kiss on the lips might mean to you. But you stayed seated on his lap, tilting your head slightly in surprise when you saw a glint of metal hidden in Jeongguk’s hair, quickly moving his hair out of the way to display his now pierced ears.

“Pierced ears,” you nodded approvingly and Taehyung jumped to his feet in interest, resting his head on your shoulder as you both looked at the plethora of earring in Jeongguk’s ear. The silver hoops jingled slightly lining up on his lobe to three and in his cartilage two small diamonds sat next to each other and you couldn’t help the surprise at this. It felt like a physical reminder that Jeongguk wasn’t the boy you had once known, but this combination of many unexpected elements.

“A friend pierced them for me in America,” he muttered, moving the hair away from his hair to showcase the other side but you were already amusing yourself by fitting your little finger into the hoop and out of it; transfixed by the just how much they suited him.

“You’ve changed Gukkie,” you smiled at him, having jumped off his lap, you quickly faked a yawn and then smiled at the rest of the group, “I’m going to bed, the constant forfeits seem to have stolen my ability to drink and not feel sleepy.”

Jeongguk felt a smile spread across his face at your use of the word ‘sleepy’ and watched as you covered your mouth whilst yawning, nose slightly scrunched and he felt his heart skip a beat for probably the millionth time this evening.

Once you’d gone down, he stood up and didn’t even bother trying to explain where he was going or what he was trying to do because Jeongguk himself wasn’t sure, “go get her buddy.” Taehyung called before getting elbowed by Hoseok who was quickly losing hope in the bet he had so confidently made at the beginning of the week.

Practices proceeded for a few weeks, and Jeongguk and you improved, the semi-finals were nearing on the horizon and the pressure of winning gold had driven both of you to improve. The passes became smoother and Jeongguk finally began to accept that he was playing with you and therefore needed to cooperate. But one thing had been annoying him and that was you were never awake to go on morning runs with him and it was one of these mornings as he stood outside your door knocking that Taehyung opened the door, topless, with his lower half wrapped in a bedsheet.

Taehyung looked sheepishly at Jeongguk before grinning and leaning against the door, “if you’re looking for her than she’s already training, I think she mentioned she was going to lift some weights?”

“Of course I’m looking for her,” Jeongguk replied, shocked at the sight of his friend and watched as Taehyung pushed back his fringe and leant against the door waiting for Jeongguk to say something else but the younger boy shook his head and turned away and began to walk away. “She trains every morning?” He asked, turning to look at Taehyung as the statement finally sunk in.

The elder boy smiled and nodded, “you thought she got that good naturally?” Taehyung knew that was exactly what Jeongguk had thought. But it was the opposite, in fact when Jeongguk had been in America, a boy had been assigned to you for each week to make sure you weren’t overworking yourself. Making sure you were eating three full meals and getting enough calories as well as dragging you out of the gym or into bed after you’d fallen asleep on the sand having taken a water break.

“Maybe I did assume that it was all natural,” Jeongguk replied, kicking the sideboard in embarrassment. For him a lot of his strength and instinct was natural and the thought that you were out training every morning as well as keeping up with him during the day surprised him, a lot.

Jeongguk quickly bid Taehyung goodbye, jogging down the hallway towards where the communal gym was. He felt like an idiot and he wondered if Taehyung was trying not to laugh at him or if every morning Jeongguk had knocked on the door, Taehyung had heard and stayed in bed laughing to himself about how pathetic the younger boy was.

As his negative thoughts seemed to overwhelm him, Jeongguk finally reached the gym and opened the door with a large push to find you on the rowing machine, your top had turned a different colour from your sweat and Jeongguk felt like everything he knew about you was a lie.

Instead of joining in, he opened the door and quickly left because your partner suddenly felt like he had nothing to say apart from to sound angry and rude. And as he left, Jeongguk felt like he was also changing because before he would have shouted at you for letting Taehyung in your room but now he knew that there were more important things to focus on.

So Jeongguk went on his jog, alone.

As the weeks followed after that incident, Jeongguk became more alert to when it looked like you were overworking yourself like right now. You were panting, hands on your knees and doubled over after a few hours of training and drills and Jeongguk grabbed you by the shoulders, “we’re taking a water break!” He called to the Coach, who nodded and waved them away.

You were silent as you watched Jeongguk drink his water, before he fixed you with an angry glare, “why aren’t you drinking anything?” You shrugged and crossed your legs so you could watch the games that were going on and Jeongguk reached and hooking a finger under your chin, he turned your head towards him, “are you an idiot?”

“Are you done?” You asked, standing up and going to walk away before Jeongguk had grabbed you by your ankle causing you to turn and try to kick him off, “I’m fine Guk, let’s go. We have more to catch up on than everyone else.”

Suddenly it felt like the pieces were slotting into view as Jeongguk stood up and fixed you with a concerned look, “are you worried?”

“No dumbass.”

“Yes you are.”

“Olympic gold medallists don’t get worried.”

Jeongguk laughed at your outrageous statement, “that’s absurd and you know it.” He crouched slightly so he could look you dead in the eye, his eyes searching your own for the truth, “you can trust me.”

You smiled and curled your fingers into a fist as you tried to find the words to describe just how you were feeling, but it felt useless. You slumped into Jeongguk’s chest with a sigh, head resting against his collarbone as you finally let yourself breathe, “I have to train like this, if I don’t I’ll let you down.” You looked up into his eyes and Jeongguk gasped as he saw how they were watering, “I’ll let down Jin and his legacy.”

Your partner opened his mouth to disagree but you shook your head, “you don’t even like me because of our past and I don’t know how to change that Gukkie.” A tear rolled down your cheek, “I don’t know how to help you forgive me for whatever I did to upset you.”

You’d already got into the Olympics and only had 5 matches left, and he knew to lose trust now would be the end of his chances to win a gold medal with you.

Jeongguk felt like he had just been submerged in cold water, his movements felt heavy as he moved to wrap your figure that suddenly seemed so delicate and fragile in a hug, he couldn’t believe you had been shouldering this burden alone. “Let’s go home,” he murmured, before pressing a kiss to the crown of your head and moving to pick you up and sling you over his shoulders with ease.

He knew from your words that it was time to let the truth out into the open. Jeongguk had hidden it too long and he hoped that if you heard it now, you would be able to take it well and hopefully it would lift your spirits slightly. Although he did accept that it also held the capability to destroy your motivation in a different area but he was willing to take that risk; for you, he would always take a risk.

“Why are you standing so far away? Did I scare you?” you were sitting cross-legged on Jeongguk’s bed as he stood in the doorway fidgeting as if he had something to say but was too scared to go for it. The room was full of trophies and the walls covered in posters and pictures, looking around you tried to hide your smile at the sight of his Iron Man sheets that Jeongguk had placed you on and instead watched as he fidgeted. “Teammates must have trust, right?” Jeongguk watched you nod in confusion and he repeated the action to himself, as if assuring himself he was about to do the right thing, “I’ve been keeping a secret. Well-I-when you kissed me a few weeks ago it-there’s no way you could have known how it felt to me.” You tilted your head slightly and watched him walk towards you and sit on the end of the bed, sighing before trying to continue, “Y/N, I’ve wanted to kiss you since we debuted. I could easily call myself your biggest fan – I’ve kept up with all your interviews, watched all your tournaments on tape and fuck. Sorry, I must sound like a creep especially when I say I’ve been obsessed with you my entire adult life.” He laughed slightly and rubbed the back of his neck, “Just-I want so much more with you but I spoke to Tae and don’t use me or mess with me. I couldn’t-“ “Namjoon told me you were a fan,” you interrupted Jeongguk’s confession with what seemed to be an audible consciousness, “I should have actually listened. Gukkie, it is a bit creepy but I guess more surprising than anything.” You fell silent and he looked at you with wide eyes as you stood and looked as if you were going to walk away, instead you dipped down and pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips and continued to walk towards the door. “What was that for?” He yelped, a hand raising to touch where your lips had made contact with his as a warm blush spread across his cheeks. “If you’re so clever, work it out.” Jeongguk leapt to his feet and grabbed you by your arm to swing you around, before wrapping an arm around your waist and dipping you to press a kiss against your lips. It was fast, as if he was worried at any second you were going to stop and as he pressed his soft lips to yours, over and over you let yourself melt into his grip. A hand landed on Jeongguk’s chest and gently pushed him away so you could gasp for breath before panting, “aren’t we moving a bit fast for you idealistic daydreams?” You had been thinking about sleeping with Jeongguk since you’d seen him that first day of training and that feeling had grown with each day you were around him so by now you felt almost unable to suppress it. But for him you did. The young shy boy you had cared for had grown into someone who could be described as having a feisty, confident and loud personality and yet you still loved both sides of him. So when Jeongguk cupped your face in his hands and shook his head, dipping his head down to press a quick kiss to your lips, “this is going at the perfect pace for me.” You knew you had chosen well. Especially when his eyes widened and he held you at an arm's length from himself, “b-but if you’re unsure then I can stop! But I can’t read your mind so you need to tell me!” The smile that spread across your face as you felt overwhelmed with affection for Jeongguk was infectious, causing him to laugh a little as you broke free of his grip and tackled him with a hug into the soft mattress beneath you. Jeongguk continued to plant kisses across your face, both of you laying on your side with your back near the edge of the mattress. But that was of little concern as you gazed into his dark brown eyes and felt so overwhelmed with happiness that you felt your eyes well up. In surprised you went to roll away, realising with a yelp that you were now falling off the bed. In the blink of an eye, Jeongguk had grabbed the back of your top and wrenched you onto his lap and a dishevelled heap. There was always a feeling of safety created when you were with him, and you realised it was because of his crazy strength that meant you felt protected as you rested your head against his chest and listened to his heart race. “A kiss,” you pouted, trying to hide the grin that spread as he pecked your lips on demand before wrapping you in a hug and pulling the blanket over your figures. You squirmed in disbelief that Jeongguk was stopping you from giving him all the affectionate you had been daydreaming about for the past few months. “You need rest,” he murmured and you could hear the smirk in his voice as he thought he had outsmarted you. It wasn’t the first time that Jeongguk had wrapped his arms around you to force you to get some rest and yet in light of recent news, you felt thoroughly loved and couldn’t help but to smile to yourself. “You need less of an attitude,” you yawned and nuzzled your head into his chest, allowing your body to soak in the warmth and radiance. Soon Jeongguk’s slow breaths and heartbeat had sent you to sleep; the most effective lullaby you had ever heard was one created by the boy who was in the process of stealing your heart. As you felt yourself fall asleep, Jeongguk was the main thing on your mind. His hatred of you must have been caused by something, some event and you vowed to ask him when you woke up after your forced nap. Although when you were this comfortable, you wondered if you would ever be able to wake up and leave the safety of Jeongguk’s arms.

"You know I've never wanted to fuck someone this badly before," Jeongguk ran his fingers across your stomach, your top had been pulled up whilst you were sleeping and now as the golden rays of the morning sun broke through the blinds, Jeongguk let himself touch every inch of your exposed soft skin.

It had been a week since he had first kissed you and there still hadn’t been much progress, on the whole, having sex idea, with training and other arrangements getting in the way.

Jeongguk wondered if the feelings that were stirring in his chest came from the fact that together you were both racing through the Olympics, winning each match by miles or because the girls of his dreams was finally laying in bed with him, wearing his boxers.

You stirred in your sleep, shivering slightly at the feeling of the duvet no longer covering your scarcely clothed figure before nuzzling your head into Jeongguk's lap. His back straightened as your head landed on his hardening dick, causing you to crack an eye open with an amused look, "Morning wood bothering you already?"

Jeongguk blinked as he tried to understand how he was meant to speak to you when you looked like such an angel, surrounded by the white sheets and your head nestled between his tanned thighs, Jeongguk swallowed hard as he felt his length pulse in excitement. He looked away from you as you pointed your toes and lifted your arms above your head to embrace his waist, mumbling, "you have no idea how much I want you."

You looked up at Jeongguk in interest, moving your head off his lap to pull off your top and sit wearing only a pair of his boxers opposite him, "want to show me kid?"

He spluttered and moved his hands so he was blocking out the lewd view of your body sitting in front of him, body begging to be taken in his strong hands and pleasured, "don't tease me!" Jeongguk squeezed his eyes shut, trying to give himself a moment to choose one of the many fantasies and dreams to plan how he was going to make you feel good.

A hand wrapped around his bicep and he looked down in surprise to watch as you pressed a kiss to the defined muscle, you looked up at him through thick lashes and then moved to his stomach, pushing Jeongguk into the bed you began to move his top up whilst unveiling more of his defined abs.

"Fuck," he watched you bite into your lip as you gazed at his body and then met his eyes, becoming embarrassed by your actions and swinging your legs so they were hanging off the bed. "I need a shower," you mumbled, pushing yourself off the bed only to be picked up and dumped back onto the mattress.

"You don't get to rile me up and then leave when you start to feel flustered," he laughed, pressing a kiss to the side of your neck whilst letting his fingers run up and down your sides. Jeongguk paused and inspected his boxers on you, images of volleyballs covered them and he stifled a laugh at the blush that had spread over your cheeks, "way to kill the mood."

You sat up and pouted, pulling his bedsheets around your figure, "It's not like there was a mood to kill with us about to fuck on your Iron Man bedsheets, kid."

"Don't call me a kid."

"What are you going to do about it," you grinned, "kid?", biting the inside of your cheek as you waited to see what provoking Jeongguk would win you in this little game you were playing to see if he really had the guts to fuck you.

A kiss was pressed to your lips, his large hands roaming up from your waist to cup one breast in his hand before he continued to move it. Jeongguk's hand paused under your chin, where he gave a quick squeeze to remind you that he was trying to assert himself before he pulled away from the kiss, "open wide."

If anyone asked you about Jeongguk's hands you would deny having ever looked at them in a way that was sexual. But that was far from the truth, how could you stop yourself from dreaming how good they would feel pinching your nipples, stroking your clit or inside you? Now as they rested on your tongue with Jeongguk watching you intensely, you decided you should appreciate them for all the times just the thought of them had made you cum.

Jeongguk's dick twitched at the feeling of your warm, wet tongue sliding around his fingers, sucking each one diligently before pulling away with a loud pop. "You have a thing for them don't you?" He smirked watching your eyes widen as you shook your head.

"W-Well you've stalked me for half a decade!" you blurted about to hide your head in shame when Jeongguk pushed you slowly onto your back, pulling his boxers that you had been wearing, down and off your legs before he pressed a kiss to your inner thigh.

"So you wouldn't want me to finger you then?" Jeongguk asked, licking his fingers again before rummaging around in his draw to find a bottle of his favourite, strawberry flavoured lube squirting a generous amount onto his fingers as he waited for you to answer. A sense of pride filled him as he realised he had the upper hand, you were no longer calling him ‘kid’ as well as you being completely naked on his bed with your knees pressed together in an attempt to hide your heat from him. "Babe?"

"I wouldn't be angry if you did," you muttered, throwing your arm over your eyes so you wouldn't have to see that smug look on Jeongguk's face that you knew would be there.

"Guess that's the closest to a yes that I'm going to get," he replied, mainly to himself before he pried your thighs apart and ran a finger up and down your folds, admiring how wet you had become from very little work. Jeongguk knelt on the bed and pressed a kiss to your inner thigh, biting it slightly to draw a moan from you before he slid a finger into you.

Your hands turned to fists as you waited for him to begin to move before slowly opening an eye and looking at Jeongguk’s smirk,” sorry doll, I only fuck with consent.” Your smile spread at the thought of the boy who had been obsessing over you for years being able to stop himself and ask for proper permission.

Leaning up, aware that there was still a finger not yet filling you up the way you wanted, you pressed a kiss to his nose, “Yes Gukkie, I want you to fuck me.”

With that he pushed another finger in, letting out an appreciative groan at the feeling of your heat before beginning to scissor his fingers within you, a long drawn out moan left your lips as your walls clenched down on his finger and Jeongguk marvelled at the feeling of just how tight you were, before he pulled his finger out and inserted another one. Then as you became used to the scissoring motions he had started, to properly prepare your pussy for him, Jeongguk placed his mouth onto your clit, flicking his tongue against the ball of nerves to extract the best sounds he had ever heard.

"You taste fucking delicious."

"Aren't you using flavoured lube?"

Jeongguk stopped his actions and looked up at you, his mouth glistening slightly from your wetness as he smirked, "some food needs ketchup to taste truly amazing."

“My pussy is not a plate of fries you fucker!”

Jeongguk laughed and used your anger to move his hands to your thighs, pinning your legs down as you went to kick him in irritation, but you were quickly lost in the pleasure of his fingers and tongue as they continued their previous ministrations.

After what felt like hours you began to wriggle, "can I have your dick now?" The phrase sounded more erotic than it had in your head but you meant it as you knelt and watched him tear open the condom with his teeth and begin to roll the plastic down his long, hard length.

"One day I'm going to need that down my throat," you grinned at his startled expression and wondered for a second if he was going to cum, Jeongguk didn't but it was clear that he was dangerously close.

The room fell silent as Jeongguk looked at you and smiled, "are you sure this is okay?"

"Never been more certain Gukkie," you smiled back although it quickly turned into a grimace as he began to push inside you, your walls felt like they were going to rip and you wondered if you were going to stain his childish bedsheets. Jeongguk stilled once he was ball-deep, moving forward to capture your lips with his and ask with his eyes if it was okay to start moving.

You answered the question by grabbing his arm and squeezing, letting out a moan before grinding up into his dick. Jeongguk pulled his length out in one quick movement, leaving his head barely inside and poured an excessive amount of lube onto his dick before he pushed in again with a grunt.

A knock at the door interrupted you mid-moan and you both exchanged looks as Jeongguk placed a large palm over your mouth and continued to thrust, both of you listening to the repetitive knocks that could only belong to one person, Taehyung.

"If you're going to fuck can you not do it so early in the morning?" he asked through the door, "also Guk, she likes it when you pinch her nipples," you choked a laugh under Jeongguk's hand before listening to the sound of his footsteps becoming fainter and then a door slamming with a sense of relief.

You had broken things off with Taehyung the morning Jeongguk had found him in your dorm. The elder boy had listened to your weird feelings for your partner and told you to follow your heart, even if it meant he was going to lose the best fleshlight he'd ever used.

"We better finish up quickly," Jeongguk grunted, his thrusts starting up again as he pounded into you, fingers finding your clit and rubbing it in circles as he watched you arch your back into his hands. You still managed to fix him with a questioning look through your complete ecstasy and he smirked, "you only slept five hours last night and as your boyfriend, I must make sure you're in perfect health so we can fuck every day!"

“You skipped breakfast today which meant you went back on your promise to eat before morning practice,” Jeongguk had taken to scolding you like a mother if dared not look after your health but he tended to keep his affectionate worry behind doors. So speaking like this in front of Taehyung and Jimin who had been training with you was a surprise to you and the pair.

Taehyung pressed his palm to his mouth, looking at Jimin with wide eyes as he tried to convey his amusement at the scene that was playing out in front of them. Jeon Jeongguk, the boy they had thought would never settle down and care for anyone apart from himself and his big ego was looking after and standing up to you.

“I know you only had protein shakes yesterday.” Jeongguk fixed you with a hard stare, “so eat.” The boy turned to pull his rucksack off his shoulder and began to dig through it, producing a bento box that he placed into your hands.

With a smile you walked towards the benches, watching as Jeongguk’s friends began to tease him relentlessly asking if he could make them packed lunches as well. There was a weird feeling of déjà vu that seemed to follow your interactions with Jeongguk recently, usually, it was small events like him tying your shoelaces for you or wrapping you in a hug before a game.

This time as the feeling began to make your head swim with unease you easily sourced why you felt like you had lived through this exact same scenario before; Jin had quickly noticed that you tended to skip breakfast to run off to training and began to leave boxes of yoghurt and fruit on the bench for you.

When Jin had taken an interest in your well-being, you felt like it was almost his duty to you as a good partner but now every time Jeongguk made sure you slept at a normal time and ate enough food, your heart would race as if you had never experienced such care and tenderness before.

There were times you were tempted to purposefully not remember to bring your knee pads for indoor training or not fill up your water bottle to watch Jeongguk’s face morph in anger to resignation. He had quickly come to the realisation that if he wasn’t the one to complete a job, it probably wasn’t going to be completed.

“Looks like you’re the kid these days,” Taehyung laughed, eyes crinkling at the sight of Jeongguk looking so worried and thoughtful gazing down at you. Taehyung had already won the bet, but the elder boy was excited by the concept of your relationship with his best friend after witnessing on a daily basis the improvement to both of your characters.

You made a sound of disagreement before tackling Jeongguk in a headlock, “this little guy is still my kid.” You ruffled his hair as if to make a point, but Taehyung just pulled a face at the affection between you and shook his head.

“But you can’t fuck your kid sugarplum,” Jeongguk finally managed to get free of your grasp to pull a face at what Taehyung had just said before glancing over to you to see what you had to say.

“You do have a point there Tae,” you mused and Jeongguk finally kicked into action, dragging you over to your side of the court to get some more practice in before the qualifiers. As he dragged you, you grabbed one of his hands and placed it to your mouth, pressing a kiss to his palm and turning around to find Jeongguk looking at you in surprise you grinned, “you’re the cutest little bunny.”

“You’re so hot when you squeeze around my dick like that,” Jeongguk grunted, each thrust so hard you were sure the bed was going to break. Your last match was tomorrow, the final to decide if you were to stand on the podium with gold in your hands.

It was your decision to have sex, knowing that it could be the only thing with the power to calm Jeongguk’s nerves, even if just by a little bit. You were laying with him on top of you, your hands intertwined as you watched his face contort with pleasure, “I’m gonna cum babe- fuck.”

His hips stuttered before Jeongguk stilled inside you, bending his head he pressed a kiss to your lips before slowly pulling out, peeling the condom of his length and tying it before throwing it in the bin.

“Good work kid, you get a gold star,” you winked, opening your arms to try and get a hug before you both fell asleep, but Jeongguk had other plans as he hooked his arms under your thighs and pulled you, until your hips were on the edge of the bed.

Jeongguk was most definitely a giver in bed, and as he bit into your thigh, sucking at the flesh before looking up at you and wiggling his eyebrows, you couldn’t help but give the boy a show.

As his nips, licks and sucks moved up your thigh and to your heat, your back arched into his mouth, knowing that he wouldn’t stop his teasing and satisfied smirks until you had cum.

“Come on babe” Jeongguk’s voice was lower than usual, and the slight husk sent shivers down your back as he reached a hand up for you to suck. He laughed at how quickly you began to tighten around his other fingers, rocking your hips up into his mouth and finally your body began to tremble.

“Fuck I love you!”

Your eyes sprang open as the adrenaline wore off, pulling the covers over your form to look up nervously at Jeongguk who was still kneeling at the end of the bed, eyes wide and frozen in place.

There was a moment where you mused that you’d managed to kill him with the ‘L’ word, as both of you had managed to avoid saying it and now you’d gone and done it; the night before the finals.

“D-do you mean it?” Jeongguk questioned, slowly standing and perching on the edge of the bed, as if ready to sprint out if you were to say the wrong thing.

But as you sat there, thinking of all the times he had teased and bullied you and then to the times that he’d looked after you and protected you, it wasn’t hard to give an honest reply, “I do love you. Jeon Jeongguk, I love you, a lot.”

He moved up the bed, finally sitting next to you, “even after everything I’ve done?” Jeongguk watched you climb onto his lap, cupping his cheeks in your hands so you could force him to look you dead in the eye.

“You’re not that kid, who pretended to be a dick to hide his stalkerish crush,” with a grin you pressed a kiss on his lips, “you’re my partner and I had to move past all of that to trust you properly.”

Jeongguk chewed on his lip before swallowing and looking up, “I love you too, I just never thought there was a good time.” With a roll of your eyes at his usual overthinking, you wrapped your arms around his warm, golden torso.

“So you used to hate me,” you mused, leaning forward and resting your head on his shoulder, “am I allowed to know why?”

“But it’s stupid.”

“Yeah well, I was expecting that.”

“If you’re going to be rude I won’t tell you, ”Jeongguk pouted until you pressed a quick kiss to his lips and pretended to zip up your own, “well, when we trained together before debuting. I used to get teased for having a weaker spike than a girl because everyone knew that I admired how you played.”

He paused as if wondering if he should say the next bit until you nudged him, with a sigh and a glare Jeongguk continued, “okay so, I wouldn’t shut up about you and how you played. And then after all this teasing, we debuted at the same time and you won,” he paused again until you kissed his neck trying to comfort him as well as make him continue, “well, I got thrashed in my first match. So I called you my arch enemy so people wouldn’t tell me that you were out of my league anymore.”

There was something about the vulnerability that Jeongguk had just displayed that made you want to wrap him up in blankets and cuddle him forever. The boy had been carrying a burden that was so small but due his overthinking had become so heavy his only way to release it was to lash out at you. You felt like you and Jeongguk were much closer than before as he lay down next to you, your head still resting on his chest, listening to the soft thump of his heart wondering what the outcome of the final would be.

“I hope I don’t offend you by saying this was a surprising outcome!”

“Archenemies to gold winners!”

Jeongguk and you were sitting on the panel, shoulder to shoulder as multiple journalists and reporters shouted questions at the two of you. Underneath the table Jeongguk was holding your hand, squeezing it repeatedly as if he was making sure this wasn’t a dream.

You cleared your throat and the reporters silenced, “We worked very hard for this gold medal,” you paused and lifted Jeongguk’s hand to your lips, pressing a long kiss to it and trying to hide the smile at the shock on his face as well as the flash of the cameras.

“It was thanks to these talented hands that we were able to win! I’m very lucky to have Jeongguk as my partner!”

“-AND BOYFRIEND!” Taehyung shouted from the audience and you let out a heavy sigh as the bombarding of questions restarted, reporters desperately trying to get the newest scoop of the gold-winning pair.

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vspirit8 · 7 years

Text

Call me an easy-to-please dumbass but...

All the decisions Hanyu’s made in his career thus far have turned out to be practical, and sound ones (even when they didn’t seem like it at first) while remaining exciting. This one is no less so, even if it might seem disappointing at first. Why is this, you ask? Let’s put a few things (28, to be exact) into perspective (I’m not blindly positive, y’all):

Hanyu’s winning pattern has always been one problematic skate, and one redeeming and/or explosive one.

Prior to 2012, his SPs were almost always uh-oh! while his FSes were what saved his ass (even if they weren’t super clean).

Post-2012, but pre-2015, when he skated clean, it’s almost always only in the SP.

When he finally skated *both* programs clean in a single competition, he did it with Ballade No. 1 in its second season and SEIMEI in its 3rd competition–more than a decade since he first started skating competitively.

SEIMEI is also the first FS he’s ever skated clean, like *truly* clean, and the first time he skated it clean was also following a clean SP performance. To date, it remains the *only* FS he’s skated clean more than once, and the only one he’s skated well *twice* despite following a clean SP.

Skating it clean following a clean SP means he wasn’t simply chasing, but he was utterly and purely dominating—that was his very first taste of it and methinks the boy man Likes the Feeling Very Much.

In the 2016 WC, after two clean sets of performances in prior competitions, he reverted to the clean-SP-problematic-FS pattern.

And in WC 2017, he flipped the switch and it’s now back to his whoops!SP and explosive!FS pattern.

If there’s anything he wants more than a second Ollie gold, it’s two clean skates on the Ollie stage (preferably preceded by clean skates in prior comps). Especially so since he’s pulling double duty in going for that 2nd gold *and* proving to the world that he rightfully deserves his first one.

So based on his pattern all these years, he’s only been able to pull off complete dominance for part of a single season, and that’s with a recycled SP and the only FS he’s skated clean twice.

Chances of him skating clean next season, the most crucial one, with two brand new progs: next to 0 (not with his anal retentive fusspot tendencies)

The feelings for SEIMEI he has are so strong, he’s apparently already decided it was gonna be his Ollie program after GPF15, a decision he’s stuck to despite his poor showing of it in WC 2016. I think his fanboyism of Mansai and all the lovely input he’s gotten from the man himself prolly also played a critical part in his choice.

So it’s a good program in his mind that’s left him with unfinished business with it, since he’s essentially never skated it clean in a major championship, national *and* international, a development that basically told him it’s still too early to pack the program in and consider it a perfectly done piece with no more room to grow. Sides, he’s put in so much effort in the making of the program, from the music to the choreography, it stands to reason he’d want to get some more mileage out of it, if he could.

So his choices, as of end 2015, were a brand new SP and SEIMEI or a repeat SP and SEIMEI. Depending on how he performed LGC in the 2016/17 season, it would either be his Ollie SP or it would be something else.

If it leaves him with good feelings, he’ll either use it again or chance a new SP.

Sadly, that didn’t happen and instead, he was left with negative feelings and mental impression for both the program itself and SPs in general, so no repeat of LGC and his mind is telling him his mental focus probably won’t be able to handle a brand new SP in the Ollie season. Not especially if he wants to up his tech further while increasing even more bells and whistles.

At this point, (end of the 2016/17 season), everything is telling him to reuse Chopin and SEIMEI.

But because he is Hanyu and he’s already upped his tech last season, he has to either maintain or up it further.

And because he’s reusing both programs, he’s left with no reason to not raise his tech content level and it’s gotta be way bigger than last season.

All in all, if we want him to skate clean on the Ollie stage while still doing what he always does, well, we’re getting it.

But if we want him to skate clean with one new program just to please us fans despite all the above, then I think we’re asking for the impossible, even from the guy who’s been giving us the impossible all these years.

We’ve got two new and beautiful programs last season. If this were another season, and not an Ollie one, I’m willing to bet we’d have at least one new program.

So let the guy do what he thinks will allow him to win in the way he wants to on a stage he’s been looking to deliver his best on since he was 7. I think he’s proven himself enough to deserve unconditional support in getting there.

Delivering his absolute best is one but, let it be said that we *still* don’t know what his absolute best can amount up to, only the promise of it and that’s already so far above and beyond what everyone else in the field is capable of delivering right now, it’s not even funny anymore.

If there’s anyone who can build something that’ll make the world’s collective jaws drop even further than they did before with the same programs but *better*, it’s Yuzuru Hanyu.

And remember, if he skates clean at the Ollies, for most of the world, it would be their first time going slack-jawed. Especially amidst all the warhorses. SEIMEI is definitely going to make them sit up and pay attention. Because not only is it different (being definitively non-Western), it is bold, it is powerful, and it is fierce. Plus, it oozes a sort of masculinity most have never seen before in men’s FS. And it appeals to a wider range of audience, no matter their culture, because it’s just such an obviously damn cool program. So people who’s always made fun of men figure skating will have to STFU.

If it’s any other skater, this might be seen as lazy and playing it safe, but then I ask myself this: has Yuzuru Hanyu *ever* been lazy? And since when did 5-quads start being considered as safe? All he’s doing is entrusting his ultimate dream and desire to a *program* he trusts. Not a layout. A program. So that he’d be free to chance a high-flying layout packed to the high heavens with transitions and exquisitely performed elements–without having to kill or maim himself in the process. Which means, the only thing disappointing about it is that it isn’t a brand new program. That’s it. And if I have to sit through an entire season of watching a program I like again to see it taken to never-seen-before heights, as opposed to a brand new program I may not like as much and watching him struggle and make compromises in order to simply *deliver*, and during Ollie season at that, it’s a no-brainer which I’m going to go with.

What Hanyu wants to do isn’t just to win and to wow. He wants to completely dominate and he wants to go down in history doing it. He’s gotten a taste of it two seasons back and wants to make damn sure he gets to relive it again, preferably for a longer stretch this season and most definitely covering the Ollies and perhaps even the WC in Milan. And these two programs are his best chance at achieving just that next season.

Really, there’s just way too much at stake for him to not do this. Our brains know this, but some of us still can’t help but feel just a wee bit disappointed in our hearts. Still, as long as we know where he’s coming from, those of us who are disappointed will likely come around sooner or later, because we know what truly matters this season and would conclude that we’d have made the same choices if we were in his shoes. If we’re even the teeniest bit invested in him, we won’t even have a choice about it, I guarantee it.

As for me personally, I’m just fawning over the fact that the whole world is finally going to get to know SEIMEI, not just the FS one. And it’ll stand out so beautifully among all the warhorses. SEIMEI is an Olympic-worthy program and in hindsight, no amount of new programs has a more rightful place, especially since it’s proven itself more than worthy once before, and even left its skater room to develop it further.

And get this, it’s not even my favorite program from him. LoL. It’s #3 on my list at best, so I was neither hoping for it nor against it. But now that we’ve got it, I can now see it so clearly for what it really is. Plus, there are bonuses that only SEIMEI can afford. If he skates it clean with higher tech content, he’d be able to corner the judges into giving him scores that at least match what the 2015 judges gave him for the same program. Because imagine the kind of questions they’ll have to answer if they don’t. And with this, he’ll be able to surpass his old scores with his BV. It is the one surefire megaweapon he has against his younger rivals that was cultivated long before they are the threat they are today as well as iffy judging (in a way, I feel that his hand was forced) and it’s time he reaped and harvested the fruits of his foresight, talent and hard work.

So there is everything to celebrate and absolutely nothing to feel disappointed over. Not for friggin’ SEIMEI as the Olympic program for the Yuzuru Hanyu.

(Admittedly, I was a tad disappointed back when he announced he’d be doing Chopin for the third time, but knowing the mess LGC left behind in his mind, I forced myself to accept it and after what he’s shown us of it in FaOI, I’ve come to wholeheartedly embrace it.)

I don’t know if all this will result in gold still, seeing as there are still very human factors involved in the judging, but if he delivers everything clean in PC, I’m going to consider it a win in my books.

And yes, I’d still like to see him make more history with new programs so hopefully he’ll stick around for at least one more season after this and we’ll get to see him doing that.

One thing though…the guy is now a confirmed LIAR. Cos he’s said right after WTT that he has no plans for the Ollie season and here he is claiming he’s already decided SEIMEI would be his Ollie program right after GPF15.

I get that he wanted to dodge those interview questions, and what he said was very obviously a lie (because only a bigger dumbass than me would believe anyone hoping to make it to the Ollies the next year who says they have no plans at least 2636351 years in advance, much less him) and I’m not sure if there’s anything else he could’ve done but flat out lie but it amuses me to no end to be able to loudly call him out as a big fat liar. xxxxD

#yuzuru hanyu #that lying sack of...#...star dust #and bird feathers #and molten lava #men's figure skating #figure skating

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all-about-wannaone · 7 years

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Wanna One as Disney Movie Characters (Hyung Line)

(I chose this gif because of the fact that it had a Zootopia character is a Disney movie heh)

Hello once again and I am back with my second request which came in from @curryriceu ! Firstly, I would like to apologise that it did take a little longer than usual because I really needed to do some research about the various Disney characters, and especially their character traits. Nevertheless, this was still an interesting request because I don’t think I’ve seen many of this in the Kpop world, or perhaps even none at all! o.o Hence, I would like to thank you guys anyway for sending in such interesting requests because hoorah to having it posted into the Tumblr world! ^^

For this, I would be splitting them up into a two-part series and will separate the “Hyung Line” from the “Maknae Line” for easier readability once again.

Without further ado, let’s get started, shall we? And once again, I wish you all a happy reading experience as I take the opportunity to take you to your childhood in a different light! :)

Yoon Jisung: Honey Lemon (Big Hero 6)

Just like Honey, Jisung is pretty much the male version of her. In the movie, she was portrayed as someone sweet (as her name suggests), sunny, outgoing and cheerful. Furthermore, she was one who always had a positive attitude, even in times of adversity and had an extremely empathetic personality, which allowed her to become the “glue” of the group. Just like how Jisung was in Produce 101, he was always one who encouraged them to push on, especially Hyunbin, whom he had given a pep talk to when the latter had been receiving a whole slur of hate comments from netizens. Honey was also the mother of the group in Big Hero 6 and the same goes for Jisung who took up the position to be the leader of the legendary “Downpour” team and always took care of his team. He was never jealous of their achievements, and instead accepted it with a humble heart and was extremely proud of his members’ achievements. However, let us also not forget that he has an extremely witty side to him, which completes the whole picture of Honey because not only did she know when to be serious, but she also knew how to have fun, and once again, that is Yoon Jisung in a nutshell. Before I forget to mention it, Honey was also intelligent and the same goes for Jisung, especially with his witty replies and comments.

Ha Sungwoon: Aladdin (Aladdin)

For Sungwoon, he is, in fact, the smallest in the band in terms of size with a height of 168cm while the rest of his members tower over him with heights ranging from 172cm (Daehwi) to a whopping 183cm (Minhyun and Guanlin). Hence, I actually wanted to find a small Disney character which was known for having a giant heart, but I could not find one that matched his personality as close as Aladdin did. In the movie, Aladdin was pretty much the optimistic and fun-loving boy who was clearly young at heart with all the antics that he would pull off when he stole something for his own survival. However, he had an extremely kind heart, nevertheless, and was one to give his loots to those who were lesser off than him. Despite these seemingly good traits about him, he was also an insecure character and deemed himself unworthy of Princess Jasmine’s love, and always sought to gain affection and attention from most of the characters. However, he remained extremely brave throughout the 2 movies despite these insecurities. Lastly, even though it took Aladdin some time to accept the fact that his father had left him, it was clear that he did not hold grudges for very long either. At this point, if this does not sound like Sungwoon, I don’t know what else does. To me, he was confident at some points, but did have his moments when things did not exactly go the way he wanted, especially when he was neither given the main vocal position for “Downpour” nor “Never” for the concept evaluation. However, he braved through the odds and soon became the centre of “Super Hot” and becoming a part of the final 11. Furthermore, he held no grudges against the “Never” team for voting him out and remained thankful for the time he had spent with them.

Hwang Minhyun: Aslan (Narnia)

I personally was a huge fan of the Narnia series and actually watched all the movies to know that Minhyun pretty much reminded me of Aslan’s characteristics. In the movie, Aslan was intelligent, wise, gentle and was exceptionally chivalrous. Furthermore, he was also one who would have encouraging pep talks with the four children (Peter, in particular) and showed them great care, especially when he was willing to trade his life to spare Edmund’s. From this, it’s probably enough to remind one of Minhyun’s personal qualities. Despite the fact that he (and the rest of Nu’est) were 5-year-old idols, which is probably considered enough to be a respectable senior, they were willing to still go onto Produce 101 Season 2 in order to get a second chance, despite all the hatred that they received from the public, which clearly highlighted his brave attitude and how determined he was, like Aslan. In terms of wisdom and intelligence, it was pretty obvious when he created the legendary “Sorry Sorry Team 2″, which always received its recognition from episode 3 all the way to the end of the show. He did not pick the most popular members, but he picked members with the talent and well-roundedness in order to deliver a good performance. Sure, the team might not have won, but they sure left an impact for the general audience. Ever since his Nu’est days, he was always known to be the most gentle and mature one out of the band, despite being the second youngest, and cared for the well-being of his members greatly; believing in them when they did not believe in themselves and was clearly someone very dependable to rely on. Lastly, he was never the one to show much emotion, but only broke down when his members did not make it into Wanna One with him. Just like Aslan, he only showed his weaknesses and fear on very few occasions, but rose back up to the occasion and trudged on anyway for the sake of the greater good.

Ong Seongwoo: Flynn Rider (Tangled)

In the movie, Flynn was pretty much portrayed to be extremely confident in everything he does and that’s pretty much Ong Seongwoo already because of his savagery alone and how he was aware of how much capability and potential he had to survive the competitive programme. Nevertheless, he never rested on his laurels, despite the fact that he never fell out of the top 11 and was categorised into the A-grade, just like Flynn’s devotedness. Furthermore, Flynn was also known to be quite a comedian and for whoever who has watched anything with Seongwoo in it, one is bound to laugh out loud or chuckle at some point because of his expression and how good he was with his words and actions to bring laughter even in times of hardship. However, on the flip side of the coin, Flynn’s arrogance was instead a defence mechanism and proved to be something which gave him a false sense of optimism in order to hide someone who was actually vulnerable and someone who was actually capable of showing legitimate emotion. Similarly, Seongwoo revealed HERE that he seemed grateful and proud that he made it into the bunch of A-graders, but actually had a hard time fitting in and opening up to his other roommates, and it was pretty clear that he too feared elimination despite his seemingly cool front, because he did tear up when he gave his winning speech to claim 5th place in the final line up. Just like Flynn, Seongwoo indeed possessed a similar personality where he tended to show his stronger and more confident side rather than his more vulnerable and gentle side. However, he has indeed made a good deal of friends from all the teams that he has been in and was then able to show a different side of him, which definitely led to another surge in popularity. He might be deemed “rude” and “unnecessary”, but he has clearly shown that he is just like any of the other trainees, especially in terms of their thoughts and feelings, but chose to remain strong through the competition and always kept his head up. Sure, he too had some issues with Fantagio when his contract was cancelled due to unexplained reasons, but he continued to make a name for himself despite having the odds stacked against him and came onto Produce 101 despite his “coming of age” for a K-idol. Hence, like Flynn, Seongwoo not only portrays the confidence and comedy, but he also portrayed courage, determination and was clearly another loyal and trustworthy friend, despite his teasing tendencies.

Kim Jaehwan: The Prince (Snow White)

If anything, Jaehwan’s was probably the hardest to think of. Trust me, he is one of my #1 biases in Wanna One (together with Minhyun heh) but as I did my research, it was actually difficult to associate him with one character alone. I even googled “Disney characters who sing” just to see whether there would be at least one who accompanies his profession and character. After much thought, I associated him with “The Prince” simply because both of them have amazing voices and probably the types to break out into song at the most random of timings, just like how The Prince did an unintentional duet when he heard Snow White sing and how Jaehwan would have his mini karaoke sessions if he had his guitar with him. Character wise, The Prince did have quite a charismatic attitude and despite his simple appearance, he was probably able to sweep a girl off her feet with his soothing voice alone and that was Jaehwan; looking like a simple boy who captivated the hearts of National Producers with with his vocal chops. Personally, one looks best (and actually becomes noticeable) when one does what he or she is truly good at and he definitely did. He was not particularly good looking (no hate here please) but his vocal prowess made him stand out eventually to claim 4th place in the final 11 (a huge jump from all his positions throughout the entire show). Apart from that, The Prince was also said to be brave and devoted (like many of the other characters really) and that was what Jaehwan showed when he came to the show without a company to back him up and worked extremely hard for the re-evaluations in order to maintain his B grade in the dance aspect. All this paid off eventually and he is not only the main vocalist in Wanna One, but has also shown to be surprisingly good at rapping and be able to maintain those high notes while dancing.

Kang Daniel: Li Shang (Mulan)

Hmm... Where should I start? To begin with, Li Shang was known for being someone who was extremely intense and despite the fact that most would be shocked by this statement (especially for Daniel’s case because he is a peach irl) but I only got into Produce 101 Season 2 in episode 3/4 and my first impression was that Daniel was one who would definitely catch the eye of National Producers, just like Li Shang over how he was known to be dashing and captured the people’s attention. Like Shang, Daniel did not speak very much in the beginning of the show and was known to have either little screen time or a little more on the socially awkward side. However, he opened up (no pun intended) eventually towards the end and became quite endearing after showing more sides towards his subconscious hilarious antics. However, there were also times when Li Shang was not always perfect. He had his moments of doubt and fear initially, but came back again to be deemed as heroic, bold and daring and this pretty much screamed “Daniel Kang” to me. As you would all have known about his infamous social media scandal, he was extremely apologetic and probably doubted his abilities at one point because he was given a song that he felt no confidence in doing. Despite this, he overcame the odds and eventually became the leader of the “Open Up” team, who claimed victory at the concept evaluations and eventually claimed the #1 spot to become the centre of Wanna One. To come this far is really something to commend, because he did not start on a “popular footing” at the beginning but eventually rose the ranks to become a better version of himself, especially when he was able to showcase his stable vocal chops despite having trained as a dancer and a rapper. Furthermore, he had become more confident in his abilities and was unafriad to show it, which definitely captured the attention of viewers. Hence, it’s pretty clear that Daniel came a long way to become who he is today and the same went for Li Shang, who was only known to be strict and incapable of fear and emotion, but it was later shown that he soon developed himself to become a character who was willing to help Mulan (despite his anger when he discovered her to be a woman) and someone who learnt the importance of teamwork and learnt to work together with his fellow comrades to save China. Yes, their developments are different, but the extent is pretty much the same and this is the reason why I would associate Daniel with Li Shang of Mulan.

And that is all for today! I’m sorry @curryriceu that you had to wait so long as I’ve been busy prepping for my school’s Choir performance. ;; I’m currently in the midst of writing this for the Maknae Line of Wanna One though so do look forward to the second part! ^^ And yes indeed, this is my longest post ever so thank you to everyone for reading all the way up to this point omg, you guys are great and I am thankful for everyone’s support! ^^

P.S. I’ve reached a 161 follower count and a 632 note count from likes and reblogs. ;; Never expected to come to this point, especially with so many other good blogs out there so once again, thank you all and I will keep working hard to bringing you guys smiles and laughter with my scenarios and imagines! ^^ Hope this one took you back to your childhood and that you guys had fun actually imagining the Wanna One members as these Disney movie characters! ^^

So goodbye for now and I will see you guys again in Part 2! ^^

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duhragonball · 7 years

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[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (59/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation. This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: About 1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.

Previous chapters conveniently available here.

[4 August, 238 Before Age. Planet Wist.]

He had stumbled, and the results had been disastrous, but very soon he would have another chance. He would make things right, and everything would be as it should have been.

Since the destruction of Goldwall Fortress, the Shockmaster had established a new command center in an abandoned castle a thousand miles away. Wistian technology had transformed the old stone manor into a gleaming administration building, and it was quickly staffed by the highest ranking survivors of the Wistian military. These personnel reported to his new chief of staff, Tigon, formerly a lieutenant colonel in charge of public works projects.

"Rewistification has come to a standstill in the southwestern districts," she said as he stood on the roof and contemplated the view of the valley below. "The devices we used to irrigate the farmland were destroyed in the battle, and so were the supply houses where the backups were stored."

"WE’LL REPLACE THEM," he said, his voice seemingly booming from everywhere at once. "ONCE THE CAMPAIGN IS COMPLETE. WE’LL REPLACE EVERYTHING."

"My Partner," Tigon began, for that was how he wished to be addressed, "That timetable simply won’t work. It’ll take weeks to finish assembling the fleet, and weeks to deploy them to Extraliga, to say nothing of the return trip. The farmers need irrigation now, during the growing season. By the time we return, winter will have set in."

"THE CAMPAIGN IS ALL THAT MATTERS," the Shockmaster said. "EVERYTHING DEPENDS UPON IT. ALL RESOURCES MUST BE PUT TOWARDS THAT GOAL, UNTIL EXTRALIGA IS WON."

"Is this how you make our planet great?" Tigon asked. "By starving its people? By selling them into slavery to pay mercenaries to fight in your war?"

The Shockmaster crossed his arms over his massive chest. "YES," he said.

Tigon was stunned by his bluntness. She opened her mouth to speak, but then he twitched his fingers, and she was suddenly engulfed in bolts of violet lightning.

"DON’T CONFUSE ME WITH THE DEGENERATES WHO ONCE RULED THIS WORLD, TIGON," he said as she convulsed violently. She dropped to her knees and only then did he cease his attack.

"MY AUTHORITY IS ABSOLUTE. I WON’T CHANGE MY PLANS SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY ARE UNPOPULAR. I SEEK TO TRANSFORM THIS PLANET INTO A PARADISE, AND NOTHING LESS. IF THE PEOPLE MUST SUFFER HARDSHIP FOR THE GREATER GOOD, THEN SO BE IT. NOTHING WILL DISTRACT ME FROM MY OBJECTIVE. NOT LUFFA, NOT THE REBELS, NOT THE PEOPLE, AND CERTAINLY NOT YOU."

She recovered from the assault and nodded as she caught her breath. "Yes, sir," she said. Under the circumstances there was really nothing else she could say. She finished her report and left him to stare at the valley.

He didn’t expect them to understand. He had renamed the planet and its people, but none of them were true citizens of Wist. Wist was an ancient civilization to them, barely a footnote in their history. Despite all of its grand and glorious achievements, Wist had fallen, and the planet eventually gave rise to a new civilization: Goldwall. The Goldwallish were fools, possessing reasonably modern technology but preferring to live like a medieval people. They lived in stone castles and wooden houses, and they fought pointless battles over which noble family would rule which parcel of land. Their leaders had all been cruel, treacherous and venal, and they had ruled by fear and intrigue rather than any real power.

It embarrassed the Shockmaster that he had unwittingly played such a pivotal role in Goldwall’s history. For centuries, its rulers had used his legend as a sort of boogeyman to frighten their subjects into obedience. He could understand the value of intimidation, but they had no vision beyond their own appetites. Then the day finally came when he was summoned in earnest. The boogeyman proved to be real after all, and unlike the pitiful regimes who had used him as a crutch, he had a worthy vision for the future, and the strength to realize it.

At first, the people welcomed him, for he brought peace and stability simply by his very existence. None could defy the power of the Shockmaster, so the old disputes and conflicts swiftly became irrelevant. His deputies would jockey for position in the new order, but they knew better than to defy him personally. Alien interlopers had sought to oppose his rule, but they could only chip away at the edges, and he saw them as no serious threat. The Goldwallish were eager to accept anything he told them to do, but only because they believed he would deliver easy, guaranteed victories.

No one had questioned the invasion of Extraliga until it began to unravel. He had gambled much, and paid in manpower and materiel, but he had waited millennia for the chance to take that world. To him, the wormhole’s capture and Luffa’s counterattack were minor setbacks. The resentment of his subjects was little more than a minor annoyance. He had stumbled, but he had stumbled before, and as always, he would rise again and seize the final victory.

Tigon and her kind quibbled over useless details. The wormhole had been a convenience and nothing more. If he had to send a fleet across the galaxy to conquer Extraliga, he would do so. If the fleet needed six weeks to make the journey, so be it. If he had to make his subjects suffer to rebuild his military, then they would suffer. If he had to supplement that fleet with mercenaries, he would. If those mercenaries demanded Wistian slaves in lieu of payment, then it would be done. All that mattered was his goal, and he had already sacrificed far more important things in its pursuit...

*******

A thousand miles to the east of the Shockmaster, night had fallen over the ruins of Fortress Goldwall. Once, the fort would have been a bustling center of activity, lit by hundreds of lamps as officials and merchants went about their business. After the Super Saiyan's rampage, the only signs of life in this place were scavengers hoping to find something useful or valuable in the rubble, and they only came around during the day. Now, the only light was the meager starlight of the moonless sky, and a single flashlight.

The young woman who carried the flashlight moved purposely across the broken fortress. Unlike the usual scavengers, she didn't pause to search the area randomly. Instead, she went to a specific spot and began digging.

An hour passed. Then two. When a Wistian patrol vehicle flew over her position, she shut off her lamp and ducked under a leather cloak to hide, but this was the only real opposition she encountered. Finally, when she had found what she was looking for, she emerged from the hole she had dug, and leaped away from the ruins. She landed hundreds yards away, and broke into a run as soon as her boots touched the ground. Picking up speed, she continued along a road, altering her course and speed only to avoid Wistian convoys and checkpoints. Finally, she vaulted over a fence at the edge of a village and entered a bog on the other side. Wading up to her knees, she spoke a single word in a long-dead language, and vanished.

She reappeared in a room lined with peat and vegetation. There were candles, but most of the illumination was provided by what looked like bubbles that hung in the air and gave off a pale yellow glow. There, in the center, a creature sat upon a moss-covered cushion, engrossed in deep meditation. His muscular body was mostly humanoid, but his bulging yellow eyes and scaly green skin gave him a fish-like appearance. His only clothing was a vest covered in coral, and breeches made of seaweed. He glanced in her direction almost a soon as she arrived, and nodded courteously.

"Trrouuuble?" he asked in a slurred, gargling voice.

"No, I just found it a lot sooner than we expected," she said, removing her cloak to reveal her costume. In spite of the hours spent digging through debris, her blue gloves and boots were spotless, as well as the tricolor leotard she always wore, and the tricorne hat on her head. Her face and legs, however, were covered in dust and grime, a silent testament to her long night's work. "The locator spell you used managed to pinpoint it almost perfectly."

"Wellll dooooone," he said.

"I don't like all this sneaking around, Tobiko. I came to Planet Wist to fight for its freedom, not to dig up old relics from ruined fortresses."

He began to respond, then paused and made a series of esoteric gestures toward his throat. When he completed this spell, he began to speak normally, in a voice she found quite charming.

"Forgive me, Ensign Liberty. I would have searched the ruins myself, but my unsightly form would have been too conspicuous. And though it may not be to your liking, you have a talent for slipping into places unnoticed."

"I'm a revolutionary, mister," she said. "I know the importance of stealth, but I prefer to use it to make strategic gains. Intelligence gathering, sabotage, assassination, that sort of thing." She reached into a satchel hanging from her arm and withdrew a oblong, iridescent gemstone. "But this bauble you sent me to retrieve hardly seems worth the trouble."

He reached out his webbed hand to take the gem from her and examined it carefully with his bulbous eyes. "We shall soon see, M'ranga," he said. "The Crystal Chronicle contains historical records from as far back as the Golden Age of this world. Over the millennia, the knowledge of how to access those records was lost, until the Lords of Goldwall saw it as nothing more than an opulent treasure. But if I can decode its data-lattice with a Spell of Decryption, we may discover a number of gains, strategic or otherwise."

"That's all it is? A history book?" Ensign Liberty asked. When Tobiko nodded, she shook her head and threw out her hands. "What good can that possibly do us? We need to be worried about this planet's future, not its past. The Lords of Goldwall have been oppressing the people here for thousands of years, and for all the Shockmaster's promises, he's on track to finish grinding this world into dust. All he cares about is conquering a planet on the other side of the galaxy, and he's willing to use every resource on this planet to raise his army. We need to be fighting, resisting, not poring over musty old tomes."

"Be mindful, M'ranga. For all your righteous passion, I fear you are making the same mistake the Shockmaster has made."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Our enemy was sealed away thousands of years ago, and now he has awoken in a world he no longer recognizes. He seeks to restore it to the way it once was, or rather the way he wishes it had been."

"He wishes ancient Wist had never fallen," she said. "You already told me all about that. Wist was a paradise once, and he claims he can bring it all back, if only his subjects obey his every command."

"But Ancient Wist never fell," Tobiko replied. "Over the centuries, it changed and evolved into something completely different, but there was no fall, my good Ensign. That would require some singular, catastrophic event to mark the end of one era, and the beginning of the next. History is rarely so convenient, as any historian will attest."

She considered this for a moment. "You're saying the Shockmaster's strategy is flawed because it's built on a false premise. He's pinning all his hopes on this one great battle he's planning, because he thinks that's how the universe works."

"Months ago, you tried to shoot the Shockmaster in his own fortress," Tobiko said. "Your attempt failed, but even if it hadn't, did you truly believe you could liberate Planet Wist in a single stroke?"

"Of course not," she said. "Killing him would have been a big step forward, but only a step. It would have left a power vacuum, and there would have been usurpers, but each of them would be far weaker than the previous regime. The revolution would have an easier path to victory, but not a guaranteed one."

"Then you understand. The Shockmaster, I suspect, does not. If we study the past that he has overlooked, we may find the way to exploit this weakness."

She rubbed the tip of her chin, then took a seat on one of the mossy cushions in Tobiko's sanctum. "Where do we begin?" she asked earnestly.

*******

[6 April, 7491 Before Age. Wist.]

"Remarkable texture, wouldn’t you agree, Lord Beerus?"

"Mmm? Oh, yes. And the flavor is simply amazing. I think a second helping is in order."

"You’ve already had a second helping, my lord. And a third for that matter."

"No one asked you to keep count, Whis! For your information, I’m trying to make as fair an evaluation of this meal as possible."

"Oh, I see."

"It’s one thing to prepare a good meal, but a truly great chef must be able to produce consistent quality. If the second helping is as good as the third, then it demonstrates unparalleled skill."

In the great hall of the Mystic Council, the little boy watched from the doorway while his father served the meal. He was proud of his father. The Wist Hegemony was the greatest power in the universe, and the Mystic Council was wise beyond wisdom itself. That they had selected his father to run their kitchen was a tremendous honor. On days like these, his father had brought him along to watch him work, and the boy had been proud to see the Mystics lavish praise upon the food he prepared.

But this time was different. Tonight, it was not the Council he served, but a pair of visitors. He didn't know who they were or why they had come, or why the Mystics had not used their invincible magic to make them leave. Surely the power of the Ur-Ember was enough to destroy them! Instead, the Mystics spoke in hushed whispers, and they had approached his father and pleaded for him to save them all. They were afraid. Until now, the little boy did not think such a thing was possible. He didn't understand everything that was happening, but he had gathered that something very terrible would happen unless his father could please the two visitors with his cooking.

"Then have you made your determination, Lord Beerus? Or will you need another slice?"

"Don’t rush me. I’ll have to think about this... Hmm, maybe after a nap."

"It wouldn’t be fair to keep them in suspense, now would it? You did say you would spare this world if the meal appeased your anger."

"Yes, well, if they don’t like the suspense, then this planet’s rulers should have been more polite when I arrived. Why, just thinking about it makes me positively..."

He paused to make a long, loud yawn, and then he rubbed his large eyes with his paw-like hands. Then he smacked his lips and continued speaking.

"...errr, positively furious."

"So furious that you want to take a nap, Lord Beerus?" Whis asked with a wry smile.

As they bickered, the little boy watched his father, who stood nearby with a bottle of wine. His father was a consummate professional. As terrified as the Mystics had been, he had accepted his role in the crisis with dignified grace. The boy thought he could make out a bead of sweat rolling down his father's face, but there was no other outward sign of anxiety. He would discharge his duty to the very end.

"Oh, fine, I suppose it was a good enough meal, after all. Hey, you over there."

It took the boy a moment to realize that the visitors had noticed him watching from the doorway.

"Yes, you, little boy. Go and tell those 'mystics' or whatever you call them to get back in here. I’ve made up my mind."

The boy looked to his father, and when he nodded, the boy ran to the great foyer, where the Elders of the Mystic Council waited anxiously. Minutes later, they convened before Beerus, like accused prisoners in their own Great Hall of Judgement.

"You should thank your chef," Beerus said idly. "In spite of your rudeness earlier, his exquisite cooking has convinced me to spare your planet."

The Mystics looked at each other and murmured with excited relief. One of them cleared his throat to speak. "Lord Beerus," he said, "On behalf of the Wist Hegemony, I wish to thank you for your merciful--"

"Oh, enough of that," Beerus said with a wave of his hand. "I’ve had enough of your speeches for one day. Just remember that your little 'hegemony' may have a great deal of power by mortal standards, but it’s no excuse for arrogance. Whis! We’re leaving."

"Right away, my lord."

They rose from their seats, and the one called Whis held out his hand. A long staff appeared from nowhere, and he took it in his hand. Beerus placed one hand on Whis’ shoulder.

"Oh, one last thing," Beerus said before they departed. He began to pick his teeth with one of his clawed fingers. "Although I’ve decided to spare your planet from destruction, I’m afraid my generosity will not be extended to your moon. Well, so long."

Before any of them could register what he had just said, Whis tapped his staff on the floor and the pair of them were engulfed in a column of light. When it faded, there was no trace of either of them. Dumbfounded, they looked out the large window on the south wall, which offered a picturesque view of the city. The full moon, hung in the sky as it always had. The Wistians called it Nostal, and its surface features resembled the face of a smiling woman.

A few seconds later, Nostal's cheery face turned an ashen grey color, and then it exploded in a burst of purple light.

*******

[4 August, 238 Before Age. Planet Wist.]

"The Ur-Ember was the source of power that sustained Wist as a galactic power during its Golden Age. It radiated mystical energy like a star, but it was small enough that you could hold it in your hand. Of course, that would be impossible. Most beings would be utterly destroyed before they could even approach it, much less touch it. That was why it was kept on Wist’s uninhabited moon."

"But Wist has no moon, Tobiko," Ensign Liberty said.

"Indeed. According to legend, the Ancients grew too arrogant, too satisfied with their own supremacy. One day, the gods took notice of them, and paid a visit. They became offended, and destroyed the moon to teach them humility."

"But you said there was no single catastrophe that caused Wist to fall," she said. "Losing the Ur-Ember would have been bad enough, but the moon’s destruction must have wreaked havoc on this planet’s environment."

"It wasn’t as bad as you might expect," Tobiko said. "During the Golden Age, Wist had many advanced technologies and magical devices. The loss of the Ur-Ember was tragic, but not a disaster. Working together, the Ancients eventually stabilized the planet’s orbit and shielded it from whatever debris might have remained from the moon’s destruction. It was a watershed moment, to be sure, but Ancient Wist continued on for many more thousands of years. There was no single event that marked the END of Wist and the BEGINNING of Goldwall. It was a gradual transformation.

"As I was taught, Wist was dealt a serious blow by the gods, but we were determined to recover and learn from the experience. As I said, there were other resources besides the Ur-Ember, and so the Council set to work reallocating those resources to compensate. In the Golden Age there were weather control systems that kept the entire planet in an eternal summer. There were machines that ran on magic to produce food from thin air. Buildings could be transformed completely. With the Ur-Ember, all of these things and more could be used simultaneously. Without it, some of them had to be shut down. The weather system was one of the first to be deactivated. Traditional farming techniques slowly resurfaced. Much of the magic power on Wist was committed to military defense and law enforcement. Too much, I always believed..."

*******

[29 September, 7480 Before Age. Wist.]

"Your father saved us, and it seems only fitting that his son should carry on that tradition."

The ancient sorceress looked as young as himself, and when he considered this, he could only marvel at the glories of Wist. His father had been granted the honor of serving their meals, and now they were prepared to bestow an even greater honor upon him.

"Please, my lady," the young man said as he genuflected before her. "My father only did what he could. I am unworthy of this boon."

"Such humility is the provenance of your worthiness, my young champion," she said. Her voice was as gentle as it was powerful. When her slender hand touched his face, it felt softer and smoother than anything he could imagine, and yet he could somehow sense the mighty energies that surged beneath her radiant skin. It saddened him that such a wonderful person had been reduced to seeking his lowly aid.

"Wist is secure, but with the loss of our moon, we shall surely face an age of turmoil," the sorceress said. "It will take time for our weaknesses to show, and time again for our enemies to exploit these flaws, but these events shall come to pass, as surely as autumn follows summer."

"My lady, Wist has no autumn," he said. "Our climate is regulated by the Temperator, is it not?"

She made a small, sad laugh and gently tilted his head until he was looking up at her. "You are correct, my champion-to-be, but only for now. Wist has indeed known continual summer for many centuries, but the end shall come. The Temperator will go on as it has for some time, but without the Ur-Ember to sustain it, it shall eventually run down until it fails."

"But your powers, my lady!" he said anxiously. "Surely you and the other Mystics possess the means to... to..." He didn’t even know how to finish the thought. It was unthinkable that she and her peers lacked the power to solve any problem, and yet it was unpardonable folly for him to suggest that she had overlooked a possible solution.

"Powers we have," she said. "But many of the wonders that have sustained our Hegemony depended upon the augmented power of the Ur-Ember, which was destroyed with our moon. With its raw power augmenting our abilities, we could sustain a great many things. Now, we Ancients must shepherd our remaining power carefully, and use it only where it is most vital. Do you understand?"

"I... suppose," he said. "It’s difficult to imagine you having any limitations, my lady."

"You will understand better in time," she said. With a wave of her hand, a tiny spark of light floated into the atrium of the Great Hall. It moved directly above her waiting hands and then exploded with a burst of light. He shielded his eyes, and when he dared to look again, he saw her holding a massive silver helmet.

"Behold," she said. "This Helm of Power contains a portion of mystical energies from every member of the Mystic Council. Whosoever wears it shall be given strength and wisdom fitting a true champion of Wist. Indeed, the wearer shall become the living embodiment of all that is ever just and good in our culture. And we have chosen you to become that embodiment of Wist."

"Me? But... surely there are better..."

"We have searched and found none more worthy," she said. "The Council has ruled. This power, this burden, shall be yours alone."

"Burden, my lady?"

"The autumn of Wist is inevitable, my champion. And beyond that, a long winter. Without the Ur-Ember, our enemies shall gather and multiply in the shadows. It will be your task to defend Wist during that long winter, and to uphold what our society stands for. The task will be difficult, sometimes thankless, but always vital. Will you accept the power?"

He was confused. "You said the Council has already decided, my lady. What choice is there? If Wist needs my help, then I must answer the call."

She smiled proudly. "Then take your helm, champion. Become the first of a new age of heroes."

He reached out and took the helmet from her and placed it upon his head. It was completely dark inside, for even the lenses on the helmet were made of opaque silver-colored material. And yet, once the helmet was in place, he found he could see perfectly, as if there was nothing on his head at all.

Then he felt the power, like a bolt of lightning surging from his skull down to the tips of his toes. He stood up, and felt his muscles swelling, his body expanding. Electricity swirled around him, and he made an astonished cry.

The storm inside him did not subside, and he realized that it never truly would, but soon he found that his mind and body had adjusted to the power within him, and he looked down to find the ancient sorceress looking up at him with satisfaction.

"THE ENTIRE ROOM..." he said. He no longer recognized his own voice. It rumbled like distant thunder, and seemed to come from everywhere at once. "EVERYTHING IS SMALLER... NO... I’VE JUST GOTTEN BIGGER, HAVEN’T I?"

"Correct," she said. "You have been transformed into a being of power incarnate. As the Temperator allowed us to be masters of the weather, so you have become a master of the mystic energies bestowed upon the helm."

"HAVE I BECOME AN ANCIENT LIKE YOU?"

"In a sense," she admitted. "Your lifespan will be many times more than that of a normal man, and you now possess the same innate powers as I, but instead of mystic insight, your power is confined to physical might."

"YES. I CAN FEEL IT."

"Our Hegemony has suffered a tremendous blow, and there will be other shocks to our society to come. You will protect us from those disturbances, absorbing their impact and allowing our culture the chance to adapt to the coming changes. Henceforth, you will be known as the Shockmaster."

There was more for him to understand, of course, and she promised to explain it to him over the next several days. For now, he could only be amazed as he slowly realized what he had become, and the possibilities that now lay before him. As the sorceress spoke, he made many personal resolutions to himself.

The first was that he would defend Wist with all his heart and soul. The second was that he would never forget the supreme confidence she had in him, and do everything in his power to never let her down.

The third was that he would find some way to bring back Wist’s endless summer, and banish the hated autumn to the dustbin of history.

NEXT: The Tarnished Age

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mastcomm · 4 years

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Serie A Remains A Three-Way Title Race | Paddy Agnew

Three teams go into 2020 contending for the Serie A title.

Paddy Agnew’s Notes From Italy: Serie A Remains A Three-Way Title Race

Italian football swung back into action on this Epiphany weekend with a series of results which looked ominously familiar. Essentially, the top three clubs, Inter, Juventus and Lazio started the new year with wins which confirm that this year’s title race is a three way contest between them.

Lazio, who beat Juventus twice before Christmas, in Serie A and in the SuperCoppa in Riyad, opened the dance away to Brescia, with a late winner from striker Ciro Immobile, leading goalscorer with 19 goals. 24 hours later, champions Juventus steamrollered their way past Cagliari to win 4-0, with three of their goals scored by that Ronaldo fellow.

Finally in the last game of the weekend on Monday night, Inter gave a highly impressive performance to defeat Napoli 3-1 in Naples, with their utterly dynamic strike force of Argentine Lautaro Martinez and Belgian Romelu Lukaku (2) getting the goals. Inter and Juventus remain joint top on 45 points, six clear of third-placed Lazio who, however, have a game in hand. Fourth placed Roma are next, fully ten points behind the joint leaders.

And talk of Roma brings us to one of the most interesting developments over the holiday period, namely confirmation that Roma is about to change ownership. To be fair, when the club issued a communiqé on December 30th, confirming that the current owners, AS Roma Spv Llc, led by Boston based businessman James Pallotta, were about to conclude a sale to fellow American, Texan billionaire, Dan Friedkin, it was hardly a surprise.

Last November, in the face of widespread media speculation, the stock market quoted club had come under pressure from the bourse regulators to clarify their situation. In response, Roma issued a statement admitting that “contacts” were ongoing with “potential investors”. In truth, media reports suggested that there was really only one serious potential investor, namely Mr. Friedkin.

As we write, the deal has not been signed, sealed and delivered but sources close to the club are convinced that this all-American exchange will go through. For some while now, especially in the wake of a five year long failure to get a new club stadium built in the Eternal City, Mr. Pallotta has seemed understandably disenchanted with his club.

Right now, it is hard to argue that this has been a brilliant investment for him and his partners. According to financial affairs magazine, Calcio Finanza, since Pallotta and Thomas Di Benedetto splashed out €48.3 million euro to buy the club back in 2011, Pallotta’s overall investment in the club could amount to €260 million euro.

However, media reports suggest that Dan Friedkin will pay approx. €780 million euro for an 82% holding in the club, a purchase price which may guarantee some sort of economic return to Pallotta and associates. What is absolutely clear is that, on the footballing front, the US-led Roma has little to show for the last nine years, a period when they have won no titles and no Cups. Their best results were three second place Serie A finishes behind Juventus and a Champions League semi-final loss to Liverpool two years ago.

Thanks to several big issues, Rafael Dudamel has…

Lionel Messi was once again top dog in…

Check out how our panel voted in the…

So will another US billionaire do any better? As the owner of Gulf States Toyota, a company which sold $9 billion dollars worth of Toyota vehicles in 2018 and which has exclusive Toyota distribution rights in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma, 54-year-old Mr. Friedkin is rated by Forbes as having a personal net worth of $4.3 billion dollars. Which means that if he were to get excited about Roma, then he could afford to splash out.

As of now, we know little of his plans. One intriguing possibility is that the club may now change of policy, opting to hold on to its brightest talents. In contrast, under the Pallotta husbandry, Roma regularly sold off its best players to try to balance the books. Bosnian midfielder Miralem Pjanic to Juventus, Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah and Brazilian goalkeeper Allison to Liverpool are just three such gold carat, class players offloaded, essentially for budgetary reasons. Will the arrival of Mr. Friedkin see a change in this policy, with the club opting to hold onto to a player like immensely talented 20-year-old Nicola Zaniolo, arguably the brightest new talent in the Italian firmament?

The change of Roma ownership coincides with the news that, after six injury interrupted months at Boca Juniors in Argentina, former Roma icon, 36-year-old Daniele De Rossi, has had to accept the inevitable and end his playing career. Which, of course, has prompted commentators to predict that he might form an important part of the new Roma management set-up.

On the pitch, the New Year hardly got off to a positive start for Roma who lost 0-2 to Torino last weekend, thus ending a five match unbeaten run. Italy striker Andrea Belotti did the damage against a disappointing Roma.

The other major news concerns the return of 38-year-old Swedish star, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, to Italian football, moving from LA Galaxy to AC Milan. It is nine years since the Swede helped the club win their last Serie A title. To some extent it says much about AC Milan’s declining powers, economically and on the pitch, that they are looking to a 38-year-old former glory to help resurrect their season.

Ibrahimovic, who has signed a six month contract, came on as a second-half substitute in Monday’s 0-0 home draw with Sampdoria, looking at least useful as he took two good header chances, both saved. The sceptics will say that he is too old to have any serious impact on today’s Serie A. Yet, they could be proved wrong, given that his experience, drive and charisma could provide a useful compass for a side that has looked short on identity and personality this season.

Time will tell. In the meantime, a belated Buon Anno to everyone.

Don’t forget to follow World Soccer onFacebook and Twitter.

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/serie-a-remains-a-three-way-title-race-paddy-agnew/

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celticnoise · 4 years

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Celtic has delivered a perfect present to the fans and given the club a lift with the announcement today that Mikey “Magic” Johnston has signed a new five-year deal.

This is a great way to usher in tomorrow’s game and will increase the chatter about him starting the match, a move which would restore Forrest and Christie to their natural positions.

Mikey signed a new deal back in November last year, but the powers-that-be at Celtic are obviously keen to reward his excellent form and tie him down way into the future and not a soul could disagree with that decision. We have, here, a major, major talent.

I’ve been a fan for ages; back in September last year, when he had just broken into the team but was still really on the fringes of the squad, I wrote a piece where I said he would “light up Celtic Park” and save us millions of pounds.

A few months later he had his new deal. Rodgers was the manager who gave him his chance, but it’s under Lennon that he’s caught fire.

His performances this season have been stellar.

Let me put it this way, I wrote scornfully of The Record blogger who said Kent’s poor form could be excused because of his age; Mikey is two years younger, has played a comparable amount of games in this campaign and has been a standout.

He has scored six goals and set up five in just seventeen games, a record that is significantly better than that of the Ibrox “blue chip signing.”

Mikey is the real thing.

Remember all the negatives about him he had to endure in the aftermath of our visit to Ibrox at this time last year?

Rodgers played him woefully out of position and he looked lost.

The kid has shown unbelievable fortitude since then, and watching him now is like watching a different player. When he returned to Ibrox at the start of this campaign he was excellent, setting up the opening goal and giving the home team a torrid time of it all day long.

Had he been fit and firing on all cylinders, I believe he would have put away his chance at Hampden and then nobody would have still been wailing about the injustice of it all and our allegedly offside goal. He would have wrapped up the game and stuck a bow on it.

I hope he starts tomorrow.

I have no fears about his ability to wreak havoc on that Ibrox defence, and he has a good understanding with Edouard as they proved at Ibrox and then in that defence splitting moment in the final. His presence in the starting eleven would bring balance to the left side and free up our creative stars elsewhere to do their worst.

The stage is set for him, and this news today should have him – and the rest of us – buzzing for the kick-off.

I cannot wait to see him turned loose on them.

Congratulations, Mikey, and to all else at Celtic who made it happen.

The CelticBlog Christmas Quiz is available below … take it, share it and compare scores with your mates!

https://ift.tt/2Q20Du9

#CelticNoise #Celtic #CelticFC #TheCelticBlog #News

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actutrends · 4 years

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Week 14 observations you can steal to impress your friends

Another week of NFL action is in the books, but what did we learn and what takes can you steal to impress your friends and co-workers?

With just three games left this year, we only have two teams officially in the playoffs. That means these final weeks will feel less like molding something out of clay and more like forging the playoff picture out of cold steel.

It’s going to be fun.

But beyond just the playoff picture, a lot of things are happening between the lines that are absolutely fascinating. Huge plays, bad calls, and loyal fans all defined this past week in the NFL and we have a lot to unpack.

So before we get too ahead of ourselves, let’s ponder what we saw and come up with some observations you can use around the water cooler to sound like the Lamar Jackson of your friend group.

Jimmy G answered the haters

For as bone-rattling as the San Francisco 49ers defense has been all year, the biggest question we had about their Super Bowl chances was Jimmy Garoppolo. Was he capable, when called upon, of getting into a shootout with Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers and winning?

He proved as much on Sunday.

Robert Saleh’s vaunted defense gave up a season-high 46-points and allowed Drew Brees to score 5 touchdowns, but it was Garoppolo who executed the game-winning drive. San Francisco won on the road in the Superdome in a shootout specifically because of their quarterback.

Of course, with a huge assist from George Kittle.

Kittle optically put the team on his back, but Garoppolo did so in every other way. That throw to Kittle was a fourth-and-two play; the game — and any shot at the No. 1 seed in the NFC — was on the line. When Garoppolo threw that ball to Kittle the Niners were the fifth-seed in the NFC playoffs. Less than a minute later they owned home field advantage.

Garoppolo delivered that.

This was the type of game he needed to have in order to prove to everyone he wasn’t the weak link some may have thought he was. Maybe it doesn’t happen again, maybe the Niners lose in the playoffs because Garoppolo makes a mistake. Maybe they lose the top seed between now and the end of the season — who knows. What we do know is that until proven otherwise we have to operate under the assumption that if the Niners need him to, Garoppolo is absolutely capable of playing Big Boy football when it counts.

Mitchell Trubusky will be the Bears QB in 2020

Let’s just cut right to it: Mitchell Trubusky will be back as the Bears quarterback in 2020.

While everyone else in the NFL is spending their time slamming Jason Garrett and discussing his future, the Trubisky narrative quietly slipped out the back door and into the night. Now fans in Chicago are left with whatever the ramifications from this are.

For as bad as he’s been this year, it was going to take a lot for Ryan Pace and the front office to move on from Trubisky and very little to justify keeping him. Fans can throw themselves against a padded wall as much as they want but they weren’t the ones who traded up in the draft to take Trubisky.

Their legacy isn’t tethered to the success of Trubisky.

Even Pace outlasts Trubisky in Chicago, he needs him to play well enough now to keep the heat off until one of two things happen:

A) Trubisky improves and develops into a franchise quarterback B) Pace finds a replacement that is good enough to erase the bitter taste Trubisky is leaving

Option A is the best because it means Pace was right. It’s also the most dangerous because it means the pursuit of being right, something that has felled many general managers throughout the history of football.

Bears fans might not want to hear it but Trubisky is Pace’s guy, and it’s going to take more than one lost season to change that. How much long term damage this does or doesn’t cause is yet to be seen.

Patriots fans got a taste of their own medicine

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but there was some fishy officiating in a Patriots game. The plot twist was that, for the first time in human history, the calls went against New England.

Usually, around this time of the year when the Patriots play an AFC team with something involving the playoffs on the line, a call happens that affects the outcome of the game. But it usually benefits New England, where on Sunday the calls helped Kansas City get hand Bill Belichick and Tom Brady their first home loss since 2017.

The worst call was N’Keal Harry being ruled out of bounds short of the goal line when he absolutely was not:

Officials also missed a blatant pass interference call the drive after that:

There was also play earlier in the game where the Patriots clearly recovered a fumble and returned it for a touchdown, but the play was blown dead.

Three missed calls, all of which would have changed the course of the game.

Some of this is on Belichick, which is also incredibly shocking. Because the Patriots had lost two challenges before the fourth quarter even started, there was no way to review the Harry play or the missed pass interference.

No one is crying any tears for calls not going the Patriots way, but it was a stunning dose of reality that fans in New England aren’t often forced to swallow.

Lamar Jackson’s white glove troll is G.O.A.T.-worthy

Earlier this week San Francisco 49ers radio color commentator Tim Ryan was suspended for making comments about how the color of Lamar Jackson’s skin helps him disguise the ball on RPOs.

Richard Sherman said he wasn’t offended but thought there was a better way to have said it. Depending on what part of Twitter you wade into, it was either the worst thing ever said or the libs getting triggered. It was a deeply stupid thing to say, but Lamar Jackson had the final word.

Jackson started Sunday’s game in Buffalo with white sleeves and gloves and proceeded to do exactly what he always does — juke defenders out of their souls.

This isn’t the first time Jackson has quietly thrown u both middle fingers at his haters and it won’t be the last. Some folks still cling to the idea that he’s “athletic” but not a good quarterback — which is coded and thinly veiled racism — something that Jackson, the Ravens, and Ravens fans happily continue to throw back at everyone.

Meanwhile, here’s Marcus Peters maybe shotgunning a beer with fans after the game to serve as the latest exhibit in why you should be in love with this Ravens team.

Perhaps he was just letting out a joyous yell at the same time a beer was being poured near his face. The mere fact that we have to ask that but also don’t really care is why we should cherish this run Baltimore is on.

Cleveland needs Ron Rivera

Before Sunday’s game, there were rampant reports that Odell Beckham Jr wants out of Cleveland. After the game, Baker Mayfield attacked his own franchise by saying the medical team purposefully didn’t handle Beckham’s sports hernia and therefore derailed his season.

The Browns won on Sunday, for what it’s worth.

For all the hype the Browns had this offseason — all the Baker commercials and trash talk, the flashy trades and high-priced moves — this year has been a total wash. Bad decisions, drama, and losing have defined what we all thought would be a watershed season for a habitually horrible franchise.

What Cleveland needs is a culture change. Ron Rivera is the man for the job, and he happens to be looking for one at the moment.

To hire Rivera, the Browns would need to fire Freddie Kitchens which it doesn’t seem like they’re going to do right now. But if the Haslam’s are serious about getting something out of this Baker era, something drastic is needed. Rivera isn’t a flashy hire like Lincoln Riley would be, but he’s a culture guy who would instantly come in and change everything. People would point to his mediocre record in Carolina but what those people would be saying is they don’t watch football. Rivera took the Panthers from a middling franchise to one that was always in the playoffs — sometimes with a losing record. Oh yeah, he also helped develop the franchise’s star quarterback into a star while leading the Panthers to a Super Bowl less than a half-decade ago.

Cleveland has a ton of talent but has no rudder. Riverboat Ron is the perfect man to take the Browns and finally help them become something better than they are.

Raiders fans deserve better than this

Oakland lost by more than 20-points on Sunday, but that wasn’t the saddest thing that happened.

The saddest thing happened when Raiders receiver Rico Gafford scored a 49-yard touchdown and then leaped into a sea of black and silver behind the endzone.

That doesn’t look like a fanbase that has abandoned a franchise so badly that it needs to leave town — but that’s what’s happening. The Raiders will play one more home game in Oakland before leaving for Las Vegas next season, leaving behind the sort of atmosphere that Gafford launched himself into after scoring.

Whenever a franchise has packed up and left a city, the games are usually played in front of mostly empty stadiums and without much fanfare. But the Raiders were in the playoff hunt a week ago and played in front of sold-out crowds all season long.

If you’ve ever been to the Coliseum, it’s not the type of place you want to breathe through your mouth while you’re at let alone pay money to spend an entire afternoon there. Yet Raiders fans have filled a crappy stadium to cheer on a team that won’t be there next year. It was mentioned during the broadcast that Jon Gruden recognized faces in the crowd who were there during his first tenure with the Raiders all the way back in the 90s.

That’s not a fanbase that deserves to lose its team.

Meanwhile, amid the recognition of how loyal and hardcore Raiders fans are, there was a shot of Mark Davis, the man who so badly managed his money that he couldn’t afford to sign Khalil Mack, sitting in his owner’s box shit-eatingly laughing the afternoon away.

You don’t have to be a Raiders fan for that to make you angry.

The post Week 14 observations you can steal to impress your friends appeared first on Actu Trends.

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gadgetsrevv · 5 years

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Southampton 1-1 Man Utd: Jannik Vestergaard header earns 10-man Saints a point

Jannik Vestergaard headed home Kevin Danso’s cross to cancel out Daniel James’ first-half opener at St Mary’s

Jannik Vestergaard’s towering header gave 10-man Southampton a point after another moment of magic from Manchester United new boy Daniel James looked to have put them on course for victory at St Mary’s.

James scored his third Premier League goal in four appearances with a fierce, rising right-foot drive after only 10 minutes, and the 21-year-old Wales attacker was the biggest threat for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.

Saints, however, gained momentum in the second half as a disappointing United side grew increasingly sloppy, and Vestergaard capped a spell of pressure with the equaliser just before the hour.

Che Adams had blazed wide of an open goal and David de Gea had saved superbly from Danny Ings before the giant figure of Vestergaard rose to meet Kevin Danso’s fine cross.

It proved the high point of Danso’s afternoon as he was then sent off for a crude lunge at Scott McTominay when he was already on a yellow card, leaving referee Mike Dean with an easy decision.

United, predictably, laid siege to Southampton’s goal in the closing stages but were kept out as keeper Angus Gunn saved superbly from Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood, while both Jesse Lingaard and Ashley Young were just off target.

It leaves the Old Trafford side with only one win from four league games, the opening-day win against Chelsea being followed by draws here and at Wolves and that home defeat by Crystal Palace.

United lack quality & killer touch

Solskjaer bemoans Man Utd’s poor finishing

Few tears were shed when Manchester United said their farewells to expensive attacking failures Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez, departed for Inter Milan permanently and on loan respectively.

It was ironic, then, that a lack of killer touch by those left behind saw United leave St Mary’s with just a point after taking charge of most of the first half and mounting an assault on Southampton’s goal following Danso’s dismissal.

James mixed the dangerous and the erratic after his brilliant goal but looks a real talent, with pace to burn and end product – the same could not be said for the disappointing Rashford.

Solskjaer will rightly point to the late heroics of Gunn and several other near misses but their chance of victory suffered its biggest blow when they lost any semblance of control early in the second half and allowed the hosts, always determined under Ralph Hasenhuttl, back into the game, culminating in Vestergaard’s header.

Juan Mata had little influence, while Paul Pogba produced the sort of display that frustrates so many, conceding possession countless times and his efforts paling in comparison to those of the likes of James and McTominay.

United’s recent record is dismal, reading just two wins in their past 13 games and with no away victories since Paris St-Germain were beaten in the Champions League in March.

There is plenty for Solskjaer to ponder – and work on.

Hasenhuttl joy as Saints show fight

Hasenhuttl praises ‘unbelievable performance’ after draw with Man Utd

Saints boss Hasenhuttl’s reaction at the final whistle showed exactly what this point meant to him and his side.

The Austrian punched the air in delight, hugged counterpart Solskjaer then delivered a few more clenched-fist salutes before making his way around the pitch taking the adulation of the home fans.

It may only have been a draw but his delight was understandable. Hasenhuttl must have feared the worst when Danso’s reckless lunge at McTominay left his side at a numerical disadvantage and at United’s mercy.

Goalkeeper Gunn played his part, while bravery and last-ditch defending answered other emergency calls. It was exactly what Southampton’s manager and supporters wanted to see.

It also means Saints can look back at a good week, with a win away at Brighton, victory at Fulham in the Carabao Cup and a creditable draw here after opening with defeats at Burnley and at home to Liverpool.

Man of the match – Oriol Romeu (Southampton)

Oriol Romeu attempted more tackles (six) than any of his team-mates at St Mary’s, while only Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Victor Lindelof won back possession as often (11 times) as the Saints midfielder

United’s winless away run goes on – the stats

Southampton are winless in nine home Premier League matches against Manchester United (D4 L5), although this is the first time they have avoided defeat in consecutive home games against them since January 1998.

In the past three Premier League games between Southampton and Man Utd, the team scoring first has failed to win each time (D2 L1).

Manchester United have collected five points in their opening four Premier League games this season (W1 D2 L1), last picking up fewer in their first four games of a Premier League campaign in 1992-93 (four points).

Manchester United are winless in eight away matches in all competitions (D3 L5), their worst run since going nine without a win between April and November 2014.

James has scored three goals in his first four Premier League matches for United – as many as he scored in his final 22 Championship appearances for Swansea.

Vestergaard scored his first Premier League goal for Southampton in his 27th league appearance for the club, becoming the third Danish player to score for the Saints in the Premier League, after Ronnie Ekelund and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

Southampton defender Danso is the first player to get an assist and be sent off in a Premier League game since Paul Pogba in December 2017 for United against Arsenal.

Before Danso, the last player to be sent off in their first home Premier League appearance was Yannick Sagbo for Hull City in August 2013.

‘Daniel James is fantastic’ – what they said

Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl, speaking to BT Sport: “We showed good mentality today after the red card. It was not easy. But with all the hard work, a man less and a third game in a week it is an unbelievable performance mentality from my team. I can only raise my hat to them. It was fantastic today.

“In the first half we showed a really intense performance. There was one action where we went 1-0 down. The players believe in what we are trying to do and showed they are always trying to be positive. That was the key to the success today.”

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, speaking to BBC Sport: “We need some scrappy goals as well. We should have won today – we had the game where we wanted it [but] we were careless in our finishing and our last pass.

“We built pressure, we got round them, created good openings but the clinical edge wasn’t there. We should have won, again.

“Daniel James is fantastic – he has a great attitude, he wants to learn, he is hungry. He is at the start of his career but with his habits he will have a good one. We want to help him become the finished article.”

What’s next?

Southampton travel to Sheffield United in their first game after the international break on Saturday 14 September (15:00 BST), while United welcome Leicester City to Old Trafford at the same time.

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#Gossip Southampton 1-1 Man Utd: Jannik Vestergaard header earns 10-man Saints a point

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junker-town · 3 years

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The Knicks blew their best chance to acquire Gordon Hayward when he was 13 years old

Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images

Trading draft picks in the far future sometimes goes very very wrong

The New York Knicks reportedly had some interest in signing free agent Gordon Hayward during 2020 NBA free agency, but he opted to join the Charlotte Hornets instead. Part of the reason this happened is that the Knicks were not willing to pay as much as Charlotte. Another reason is that unrestricted free agency allows players a great degree of choice. Hayward chose not to play for the Knicks. NBA players often choose not to play for the Knicks, but Hayward’s particular case interests me because 16(!) years ago, the Knicks squandered an opportunity to make Gordon’s choice for him.

Even though NBA players comprise a pretty solid union, bad and disreputable NBA teams still have a few avenues through which they can force players to come work for them. One is trades. Unless a player has the contractual leverage to ward off certain teams, he could be traded and made to play anywhere. Like, even to the Knicks! The second and most team-friendly avenue for player conscription is the draft. The draft is actually structured to reward teams who suck ass. If you are the New York Knicks and have sucked ass pretty consistently for two decades and counting, the NBA draft is a godsend.

The thing about forcing players to join your doodoo team is that it helps if you’re a good judge of talent. Isiah Thomas took over as Knicks general manager midway through the 2003-2004 season, which is to say a couple years into the ass-sucking. Thomas proved to be a pretty good judge of draft talent, but pretty bad at building his team via trades for existing NBA players. This is a shame, because Thomas spent his career as a Knicks executive trading future draft picks for players.

To trade a future pick is to gamble on your current roster. It’s saying: “We think our record will be good enough when this draft happens that this pick will be low and we won’t regret missing it.” Thomas made that gamble repeatedly, and he always lost.

It’s bad enough on its own to trade a future pick then realize you could have used it on a great player. It’s worse when your old trade partner (or whomever ends up receiving the draft rights) actually chooses such a player. The Knicks’ most famous awful trade falls into the latter category. In 2005, to acquire Eddy Curry, Antonio Davis, and a future first-rounder (that became Wilson Chandler! Isiah was good at drafting when he gave himself the opportunity!), the Knicks surrendered future first-round picks that became ...

... gonna do a paragraph break for this one to really rub it in ...

... LaMarcus Aldridge in 2006 and Joakim Noah in 2007. That’s two of the best big men of their era. The 2007 and 2008 Knicks really could have used both, but the 2005 Knicks had dumped the right to draft them because Isiah Thomas determined Eddy Curry’s skills would help the Knicks enough that they needn’t care about future draft lotteries. Isiah was mistaken!

That’s the most notorious instance of the Knicks punting their future, but there was another sneaky one baked into Isiah’s first huge move as Knicks GM. In January 2004, the Knicks acquired Stephon Marbury, a very good player who is ... [checks watch] ... still the only star point guard they’ve had this century. To get Marbury (and others) from the Phoenix Suns, the Knicks surrendered a couple players, their first-round pick that summer, and their first-round pick in 2010.

Losing the ‘04 pick didn’t hurt that badly. With Marbury, that season’s Knicks managed to slime their way into the playoffs, so the pick landed outside the lottery— number 16 in the first round. It also didn’t hurt that badly long-term, because the eventual owners of the pick (Utah) used it on Kirk Snyder, who didn’t have much of an NBA career. Look a little closer and you’ll notice the pick could have been used on any of several quality NBA players, some of whom are still in the league: Josh Smith, JR Smith, Jameer Nelson, Tony Allen ... it was a decent back half of the first round, but such is life.

The 2010 pick was another story. At the time of the trade in 2004, that draft felt like such a distant event that it hardly mattered, at least for me. I was 14 years old and smelled weird. By the time a 2010 draft pick rolled around, I’d be in college, cars would fly, and we’d acquire all our groceries via special plumbing systems that fed sausages and juice and tuna salad directly into our homes. I’d never heard of Gordon Hayward because he was 13 years old. He probably looked exactly like he does now.

Six years later ... shit! I was indeed in college and smelled fine, but cars didn’t fly, tuna fish pipes didn’t exist, and the Knicks still sucked ass. The lottery delivered them the ninth pick in the 2010 draft, but thanks to Isiah Thomas, a guy who no longer worked for the team (at least in an official capacity, lmao), the Knicks didn’t own that pick. Utah did. And this time they took Gordon Hayward, who had since become one of the best players in college basketball while I’d merely become one of the second-best players in college basketball. He got me there, and now he’s played in several more All-Star games than I have.

2010, though, was an offseason in which the doodoo Knicks hoped to become non-doodoo by convincing free agent LeBron James to choose them in unrestricted free agency. LeBron instead chose the considerably-less-doodoo Miami Heat, who went on to win some championships while the Knicks remained mostly doodoo and/or suck-ass. The 2010 Knicks didn’t get chosen, and the 2004 Knicks had sacrificed their best chance to choose.

None of this is to express any opinion about what went down here in 2020. All I mean to say is bad NBA teams should think very hard before sacrificing draft picks, even in the distant future. Because when the players themselves get to choose, they might not choose you on account of your suck-ass-ness, and you might be left without good players. Good luck to Gordon Hayward in Charlotte. Didn’t really want him anyway.

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waterarcher8-blog · 5 years

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The Linc - Eagles might draft another North Dakota State quarterback

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links ...

Reunion with Carson Wentz? Easton Stick makes plenty of sense for Eagles - ESPN When Wentz broke a bone in his throwing wrist six games into his senior season, Stick stepped in as a redshirt freshman and guided the team to five straight wins to put the Bison in the national title game. An eerily similar sequence unfolded a couple years later when Foles took over for an injured Wentz during the Eagles’ Super Bowl run. The key difference here was that Wentz returned for the big finale. Hearing that Wentz would be cleared in time for the title game, Stick approached the coaching staff and encouraged them to play Wentz because, as Stick put it, it was Wentz’s team. Wentz ran for two touchdowns and threw for another against Jacksonville State to deliver North Dakota State a championship and solidify his standing as a top NFL prospect. Stick would have his time to shine. He started the next three seasons and compiled an insane record of 49-3 to become the winningest quarterback in FCS history. The Bison won it all in each of his final two seasons at the helm. A dual threat, he threw 28 touchdowns to 7 interceptions this past season while rushing for another 17 TDs.

NFL Draft QB Deep Dive - Rotoworld Stick won three FCS titles at NDSU, the colossus of the sub-division that gave us Carson Wentz. Forget Carson Wentz. Stick is nothing like him as a prospect. Stick is a fabulous athlete — slower by a tic than Taysom Hill with less explosion, but with superior agility — who is a weapon in the open field. This part of his game doesn’t get discussed enough, I think, because evaluators who dismiss him because of the height/arm strength thing or the Shrine week don’t get far enough along in their thought process to bake it in to what it could mean in the NFL. Also, because Stick is #white. But good golly is he dangerous. Difficult to wrap up in the backfield, difficult to corral when he gets moving downfield, and, heck, difficult to catch from behind. You can’t dismiss Stick’s deep-sector touch as a context-based fluke, because Stick’s skillset itself is in part informing that context: On RPOs, for instance, linebackers and safeties need to be extremely cognizant of the fact that Stick could tuck and rip off a 25-yard run in three seconds.

5 bold predictions for Eagles’ 2019 draft - BGN 2) The Eagles select Ole Miss WR D.K. Metcalf. Here’s how you construct quasi-hot takes. You take something that is well-known, combine it with something that’s basically unknown, and then zest on a bit of self-imposed incredulity, to emphasize the unknown bit over the known bit. Watch closely: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but there’s a chance that D.K. Metcalf — yes, that D.K. Metcalf — will be the Eagles first-round selection. “How could that be?” you ask. “After that Combine performance, after his incredible play in college, how could he be available at 25 overall?” A few factors influence the perceived Metcalf fall here.

First-round trades that have worked out in the past - PFF Carson Wentz hit the ground running in his debut season with some stellar performances early in the year, but his sophomore season — the Eagles’ Super Bowl-winning one — is what proved the trade to be worthwhile. He did eventually go down with an injury, but before then Wentz was a legitimate MVP candidate, dominating in all phases of the game. He was simply sensational on third-down plays that year, where he led all quarterbacks in passing grade (93.3), big-time throws (15), yards per attempt (9.5) and passer rating (123.7). While he didn’t quite manage to return to that level last year, his 2018 performance was still worthy of a 14th-ranked overall grade of 79.4, proving that he’s more than capable of leading this team for the next decade.

Eagles 2019 NFL Draft preview: Safety - PhillyVoice Johnathan Abram, Mississippi State (5’11, 205). Abram is a player who has commonly been given to the Eagles in the first round of mock drafts. I don’t see much in the way of separation between him and some of the other safeties below who can be had in Round 2. I do like Abram’s game, and what really stands out is that he is a very tough, confident, physical player who looks to deliver big shots whenever given the opportunity. Unfortunately, what highlight reels like that don’t show are the missed tackles as a result of trying to deliver the knockout blow, and Abram has plenty of those. For example, cfbfilmroom.com had him down for 12 missed tackles in 2017, though he did clean clean that up a bit in 2018 (when he had 5). Abram’s potential fit in the Eagles’ offense would be interesting. In the short term, you’d want to get him on the field immediately, I’d imagine, which would mean a shift to heavy utilization of three-safety sets. But again, the value in Round 1 just isn’t there for me.

The Next Nellie? - Iggles Blitz While Sidney Jones hasn’t played at a high level yet, it is too early to give up on him. Nelson Agholor was healthy in 2015 and 2016 and still found his way to rock bottom. In his third year, Agholor woke up and started playing well. He was a changed man. Jones could still have a bright future in the NFL. He can learn from the struggles of Agholor and Brandon Graham. You can be a high pick and still take time to develop, due to injuries or other factors. We don’t know if Jones will ever pan out or not, but this wasn’t a reach or dumb pick by the Eagles. Jones was a terrific cover corner in college. No one questioned his talent. You could argue whether he should have gone at 10 or 15 or 20, but he was going to be a first round pick. The injury happened and changed things in a hurry. Unfortunately, Jones hasn’t been the same since. That could change this year, but nothing is guaranteed. Some players who get off to a slow start never overcome that and they don’t get better.

3 Nelson Agholor Replacements For Philadelphia Eagles - The Draft Network Early: Deebo Samuel, South Carolina. It’s easiest to see how Samuel’s role with the Gamecocks translates to Agholor’s role with the Eagles. Both got quick, schemed targets designed to maximize run-after-catch abilities. Both split time between the slot and wide alignments, and were asked to run a smorgasbord of routes from those alignments. Both use their route-running to separator. I like Samuel better in contested situations, despite the fact that he’s a bit smaller in stature and has a narrower catch radius. It comes down to Samuel’s thickness, as he’s a stacked player who is unafraid of contact. Long-term health might be a concern here, but Samuel’s an instant starter and potential upgrade in Agholor’s role.

For Eagles player personnel VP Joe Douglas, the next NFL draft is his most important - Inquirer “We also at some point are going to lose executives,” Lurie said in Phoenix at the NFL owners’ meetings. “When you’re winning, you’re going to lose executives, and I think we’re in a great position to be able to deal with that.” Was Lurie already resigned to losing Douglas to a better opportunity or was he foreshadowing a mutual departure? The Eagles had already blocked the Texans from interviewing him for their general manager opening during their Super Bowl run. But that was before last season’s regression and the further sampling of Douglas’ first two drafts. It typically takes at least three years to give any sort of accurate evaluation on a class, but the Eagles’ 2017-18 drafts are particularly difficult to assess because so many of the prospects have hardly played, either because of injury or the depth of the roster. The Eagles have been able to sustain the lack of contributions because of the existing nucleus and other moves they have made. But the need for compensation will only grow as the roster ages, and, more significant, once quarterback Carson Wentz is signed to a salary cap-restricting contract extension.

Are Eagles more likely to trade up or down in 2019 draft? - NBCSP Roseman has talked before about the usual talent cutoff in first rounds. There are only a certain amount of “difference-makers” atop every draft — it differs by team — and on Tuesday, he said most drafts don’t have “32 legitimate first round grades” on players. He, of course, didn’t say whether or not this is one of those years, as to not tip his hand. But the Eagles are already running through all the hypothetical situations. And this is the time where preliminary phone calls between teams about draft-day intentions start happening. Roseman always says trades happen because of relationships around the league. So the reason Roseman didn’t answer the question on Tuesday is because he probably really doesn’t know what’s going to happen when the draft kicks off. He certainly has more of an idea than he let on — I still think the Eagles are in prime trade up territory — but there’s no point in tipping his hand.

Meet the Prospect: DE Brian Burns - PE.com Step into the film to learn about athletic defensive end Brian Burns in the latest Meet the Prospect.

Matt Miller’s Scouting Notebook: Biggest Insider Rumors of the 2019 NFL Draft - B/R One of the burning questions in the NFL is where the wide receivers will come off the board. The expectation, after speaking to multiple scouts and executives, is that one (Marquise Brown) is a surefire first-rounder with one or two others (D.K. Metcalf, A.J. Brown) possibly going in the top 32. This means many receivers could fly off the board when the second round starts. Deebo Samuel, N’Keal Harry, Parris Campbell and Hakeem Butler are the next guys up.

Dave Gettleman: I like my resume so far - PFT “I’ve been to seven Super Bowls,” Gettleman said to Steve Politi of NJ.com. “I feel very strongly that I know what it should look like, what it should smell like, what it should taste like. And, so, you can look at me and say, well, I either know what I’m doing or I’m a big fat rabbit’s foot. Neither one’s bad, right? I like my resume so far.” [BLG Note: Me too, Dave.]

Valentine’s Views: Time for the Daniel Jones era? Plus, Dave Gettleman’s legacy, and more - Big Blue View The thought that the Giants could choose Jones as the heir apparent to Manning — perhaps even as early as the sixth overall pick in the draft — horrifies some. If Jones is indeed their guy that should, however, surprise no one. Jones and the Giants have looked like an obvious match for months. The connection to the Manning family via Duke coach David Cutcliffe, who trained both Eli and Peyton back in the day. The fact that David Morris, backup to and roommate of Eli Manning at Ole Miss, is Jones’ personal quarterback coach. The similarities in temperament. The idea that on the field Jones reminds some of Manning with better mobility. If Gettleman chooses Jones at either No. 6 or at No. 17 there are plenty of self-made draft analysts and media know-it-alls who will snicker. The narrative will almost certainly include some version of calling him Clueless Dave and proclaiming that his plan must be to make sure the Giants continue to flounder.

2019 NFL Draft fantasy profiles: QB Daniel Jones - Fake Teams Reviewing his tape, even his highlights don’t show Jones to have an elite arm. He floats too many balls, especially when throwing deep, which will lead to interceptions at the next level, and the throws where he drives the ball into tight spaces are almost non-existent. However he excels at throwing fades in the red zone, showing great touch and using his height to loft the ball for his receivers to go up and get. He is a strong runner and is hard to bring down when he gets going, thanks to his long stride and has enough size to be a threat in the Red Zone. His NFL comp is Josh Allen (but not as well built), but whereas Allen has a low floor but extremely high ceiling thanks to his elite arm and athleticism, Jones I think has a slightly higher floor but a much lower ceiling.

Report: Seahawks open to trading Frank Clark, but want ‘at least a first-round pick’ included - Field Gulls We’re less than a week away from the 2019 NFL Draft, and the future of Seattle Seahawks DR Frank Clark is very much in doubt. Having developed into a standout pass-rusher in 2018, Clark was given the franchise tag (one-year, $17.1 million) by the Seahawks in lieu of a long-term deal. There has been discussion that Clark may be on the trading block, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter did report on Saturday that if Seattle does send Clark elsewhere, they want something big in return.

Ask a former NFL player: Will Nick Bosa’s tweets be an issue in the locker room? - SB Nation The Bosa topic is an interesting one. First off, no one in the locker room cares about Bosa’s tweets. They care about winning. Can Bosa help you win? Yes. That’s what matters. Also, there are plenty of players in the locker room who support President Donald Trump and share the same political values as Bosa. And guess what, we all get along. It’s not social media, where everyone is angry all the time. In 2016, heading into the election, a Lions teammate and I had discussions every single day about Hillary Clinton vs. Trump. We argued, we counter argued, and we got heated at times. But we were still friends. That’s the way most people discuss politics.

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