Scend’s Restaurant and Bar has been a soul food institution in Emeryville, Calif. since 1967, and this could have been its last year — until Marshawn Lynch stepped in. The Raiders’ running back couldn’t sit back and watch one of his favorite restaurants disappear, so he’s taking over.
Cassie Nickelson, owner of Scend’s, is turning 80-years-old, and announced that she planned to retire in August. With no clear succession plan in place there was a chance the restaurant would disappear without Nickelson there to oversee the business, but Lynch, who’s been frequenting Scend’s since he was a kid, is making sure its legacy continues.
"When he was 9-years-old, he came across the street to get a hamburger and French fries. 25-cent French fries and a 75-cent hamburger," Nickelson said.
New ownership always comes with an inherent risk. Will the restaurant change? Will the food stay the same? Marshawn has no plans to change anything about the place he loves. Everything will remain identical, and one of Nickelson’s sons, who is a cook at Scend’s will continue.
Marshawn Lynch coming home has been the best dang story in the NFL this offseason.
Sports have a history of curses: the Curse of the Billy Goat, the Curse of Lil B, the Curse of Colonel Sanders (no, really). The most notable curse for sports video game fans is the Madden curse, where an NFL player becomes a cover star for a Madden NFL installment, and then they get injured during the season. Tom Brady, who will be on the cover of Madden NFL 18, did his best to debunk the notion of curses by breaking mirrors and walking under a ladder.
For a while, we all thought the Madden curse was the only sports video game-related curse. But a Twitter user named Eric Fawcett noticed something peculiar about NBA 2K’s covers over the last few years, especially in the wake of reports that Kyrie Irvingwants the Cavaliers to trade him. Almost every currently active player that’s been featured on the NBA 2K cover since 2013 has left their team at some point in the future.
So maybe this is all a weird coincidence that most of the NBA 2K cover athletes in recent years would leave their teams in a year or two, or there really is a 2K curse and it’s a messed up version of the tagline from the 2006 movie Stay Alive: “You get featured on the cover, you leave for real.”
Sidenote:Allen Iverson was featured on the NBA 2K cover four times, from 2K to 2K3, and now he’s an active player in Ice Cube’s BIG3 league. So maybe this curse isn’t really about athletes leaving their teams, but instead it’s about athletes eventually ending up in a 3-on-3 basketball league 15 years later.
After years and years of close calls and a whopping 31 rounds of 63, we finally have a 62 in one of the men's major championships.
At long last, we finally have a 62 at the men's golf major championships. After years of challenges and multiple 18th hole interventions from unseen forces that made it seem like we'd never get a 62, Branden Grace finally delivered the magic number at The Open Championship.
Grace is a super talent and has contended at multiple majors in his young career, but this was flawless from start to finish and the biggest moment of his career. Grace called it a "special day" and he didn't even have to sweat it out on the 18th hole as we've seen on an almost annual basis with all the 63s over the years. Grace needed only a tap-in par to set the new record and post an 8-under 62 that has him now tied for second place at the 146th Open.
The South African went out in 29 on the front nine at Birkdale, which got the property primed for another scoring record challenge. We were already expecting low scores from the start of the day. The wind is down, blowing at most 8 mph, and that's often the defense for a links course like this. Birkdale is just over 7,000 yards and if the weather cooperates, the best in the world are going to post a bunch of low-to-mid 60s rounds. The broadcast prepped us for it too, with Colin Montgomerie warning we were on "62 watch" early this morning and new NBC addition, Phil Mickelson's ex-caddie Jim "Bones" Mackay saying "Don't tell Johnny [Miller] I said this, but there's a 62 out there today."
Grace came through just a couple hours after these predictions and delivered. Instead of posting the 32nd round of 63 in the men's majors, he decided to break the curse and create his own (for now), much more exclusive club.
After the front nine 29, Grace just needed to play the back in 33. Birkdale has the unique setup of a par-70 with both par-5s coming on the back nine. That put Grace in perfect position to get to 62, and possibly even 61 with those two par-5 scoring opportunities coming over the final four holes.
Grace missed a birdie chance at the first par-5, the 15th, but then made up for it on the par-4 16th with a lengthy birdie putt that got 62 right back in sight. Two short putts, for birdie at the 17th and par at the last, made it relatively drama-free compared to all the angst and final-hole nail-biting of previous record challenges.
It's a remarkable accomplishment for Grace, who is obviously now also in contention for his first major championship. And given the way Birkdale is playing and the birdies that are pouring in left and right, he may have a partner in the 62 club by the end of the day. Dustin Johnson is 6-under on the day with the two par-5s still to come. He'll need to play the last four holes in 2-under to match Grace.
The Open uses a playoff format unique from the other majors’.
The Open Championship uses a four-hole aggregate playoff to break any ties after 72 holes. To settle a winner, the players knotted across the leaderboard would play holes No. 1, 2, 17, and 18. At the British Open, the playoff comes immediately after the regulation holes finish. It differs in that regard from the U.S. Open, which sets up an 18-hole playoff the next day. The R&A, which organizes The Open, prefers to work quickly.
The Open’s playoff rules don’t change if more than two players are tied. If a four-hole aggregate playoff somehow isn’t enough to reach a champion, it becomes a sudden-death affair from there. That becomes likelier if the playoff involves more than two players, and it’s just about the peak of drama in professional golf if it happens.
The four-hole aggregate playoff is distinct not just from the U.S. Open’s format, but also the Masters and the PGA Championship. The Masters uses a sudden-death structure, where whoever gets a lead after a given hole wins. (It came up this year, when Sergio Garcia beat Justin Rose on their first playoff hole.) The PGA uses a three-hole aggregate, putting it almost but not exactly in line with The Open.
The four-hole aggregate is a happy medium between the cutthroat intensity of a sudden-death playoff and the long slog of an 18-hole rematch. It’s dramatic, but it’s long enough that championship isn’t likely to hinge on a fluke. The Open has required a playoff to settle its champion five times since the turn of the millennium and 21 times overall in 145 years before this one. It’s rare, but it’s not that rare.
The last playoff at The Open was just two years ago, when Zach Johnson came out ahead of Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman to win the Claret Jug. It looked for a time like last year’s championship was destined for a playoff between Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson, but Stenson ultimately pulled away to win by three shots.
Kyle Busch is looking for his 3rd straight Brickyard 400 win.
Kyle Busch has the pole position for the Brickyard 400 on Sunday afternoon, the 20th race of the 2017 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup series, and one of just seven races before the playoffs begin.
He captured the pole position with a qualifying speed of 187.30 mph on Saturday.
Busch has won the Brickyard 400 the last two years, but also is in search of his first checkered flag of 2017, one that would guarantee him a spot in the playoffs.
Kevin Harvick joins Busch in the front row, starting second thanks to his qualifying speed of 186.332 mph. Harvick won the Brickyard 400 back in 2003.
Jamie McMurray, who like Busch is in a good position based on points but still in search of a victory in 2017, starts in third position on Sunday. Jimmie Johnson, a three-time winner of the Brickyard 400, starts fourth on Sunday, and Denny Hamlin starts fifth one week after winning in New Hampshire.
NBC will televise the Brickyard 400 beginning at 2:30 p.m. PT. Rick Allen calls the play-by-play, and will be joined in the booth by analysts Steve Letarte and Jeff Burton. The telecast will be streamed online through NBC Sports Live and the NBC Sports app.
We have a new game at The Open, where Matt Kuchar has trimmed a three-shot deficit to just one early in the final round.
The 146th Open Championship may not be the runaway Sunday we were hyped on Saturday night. When Jordan Spieth poured in a birdie putt at the 18th in the third round, the coronations started flowing. Sunday would be a stroll to his third major championship and nothing was going to stop him.
But two holes into the final round, Spieth's three-shot lead was promptly cut down to just one. Matt Kuchar is playing in the final pairing of a Sunday at a major for the first time in his career, which features a boatload of money won and tournaments conquered. But he's never really been in the hunt late at a major, despite occasional appearances on leaderboards and constant ribbing about the propensity for a "backdoor top 10."
Kuchar may not be the strongest foil for Spieth's Sunday stroll, but he's a veteran playing with less pressure and lower expectations given all the shine on his tee time partner. At the second, he stuffed one on top of the pin for a tap-in birdie to intensify the pressure on Spieth.
Spieth, who hit his own strong approach shot, could not match Kuchar's birdie, burning the edge to settle for a tap-in par.
That one-shot swing came just moments after Spieth tugged his opening drive a little left at Birkdale's first hole. That's one of, if not the toughest hole in The Open rota and Spieth felt he caught a bit of a "crap break" when his ball hung up in some of the thicker hay off the fairway.
The bogey-par start for Spieth, combined with Kuchar's snipe at No. 2, has made this a new game in the first 15 minutes of their final round. Here's your leaderboard:
Trump adores golf, but used to argue presidents shouldn’t spend much time playing it.
Donald Trump has tweeted about golf at least 460 times since creating his Twitter account in 2009.
He’s promoted the courses he owns, praised the game as a source of mental and physical development, critiqued other courses, and bragged about whom he’s playing with.
23rd Jul 2012 from Twitlonger: Who else could take 16 vacations, play over 100 rounds of golf and hold over 300 fundraisers while serving as POTUS besides @BarackObama--& not one jobs meeting.
I don't mind that @BarackObama plays a lot of golf. I just wish he used it productively to make deals with Congress!
NFL players have just a few days to relax before training camp starts, and Beckham spent one of those days visiting Jayro Ponce.
The few days before training camp begins are the last opportunity NFL players have to relax before the grind of the new season begins. Odell Beckham Jr. spent one of those days visiting a sick child in a Texas hospital.
Jayro Ponce is a 9-year-old boy fighting a rare form of cancer, and Beckham is his favorite player. According to ESPN’s Jordan Raanan, Beckham went to visit Ponce in the hospital after hearing about his battle.
Team Jayro Facebook page
Beckham’s visit was coordinated through the Make-A-Wish foundation, which Beckham has supported in the past. Last season, when players were allowed to wear custom cleats supporting any cause they chose in Week 13, Beckham sported Make-A-Wish cleats.
The visit meant a lot to Ponce and his family.
“We were blessed to spend time with this amazing soul and his friend! There's no words for this experience,” a family member posted on the Team Jayro Facebook page. “Jayro enjoyed this experience to the fullest. Thank you Make-A-Wish!”
If you want a Team Jayro shirt like Beckham’s, they are available for purchase. All of the proceeds go toward Ponce’s family’s medical and travel expenses.
The golfer who wins The Open Championship on Sunday at Royal Birkdale will get the Claret Jug. He’ll also take home $1.845 million in prize money out of a total purse of $10.25 million. That payout will come in American dollars for the first time ever.
“We are operating in an increasingly global marketplace and have made the decision to award the prize fund in US dollars in recognition of the fact that it is the most widely adopted currency for prize money in golf," R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said. He didn’t mention that the British pound is down considerably from last summer.
The $10.25 million total purse makes The Open the second-most lucrative event in golf behind the U.S. Open, which this year leapt to a $12 million total. For The Open, it’s a considerable jump from last year’s purse of $8.5 million at Royal Troon.
Golf’s biggest tournaments have engaged in an arms race for the last few years, with virtually all of them raising their purses in an effort to stay prestigious. The Open doesn’t need to pay a ton to be a huge deal, because it’s historic and the most international tournament the sport has. But some extra cash doesn’t hurt, and neither does paying it out to the players in American dollars.
The differences in prize money, as in most tournaments, are sharpest at the top of the leaderboard. The gap between the winner and the runner-up is $778,000, and it gets progressively tighter from there. The difference between Nos. 69 and 70 on the leaderboard is a just slightly more mild $200.
When players are tied in a given spot on the leaderboard, the payouts for their respective places are averaged and evenly distributed among them. Amateurs, of course, are excluded from the payroll. Here’s how the prize money breaks down for the top 70 professional finishers at the at Royal Birkdale:
Bianca Snow, a United States soldier, had an old pen pal whose name you might recognize now. His name is Larry Nance Jr., a current Los Angeles Laker, and she posted his old letters from 14 years ago on Facebook and Twitter. They’re incredible.
@Larrydn22 many moons ago u were my pen pal during my tour overseas. It always meant alot, still have the letters. Glad your dreams came tru pic.twitter.com/i9hybhLJFw
My name is Larry Nance. I have 1 sister, 1 brother that annoy me all the time. My dad played in the NBA.
Thank you for fighting for us in the war. You must be brave and miss your family.
I hope you get home soon and see your family soon. Good luck.
Sincerely,
Larry Nance
Snow posted this to her Facebook three years ago, with this caption:
Kept letters from my pen pal while I was overseas... Those letter got me thru (like I was locked down for 23) lol... Seriously I’m going to find this kid and thank him.
Three years ago, Nance was much less known as a college basketball player for Wyoming.
Then she posted the first note, along with another on Twitter on Friday.
The second note sent by a young Nance reads:
Dear U.S. Soldier is the war almost over? Where is Saddam? How are you? I’m fine. Thank you for writing back. Where are you?
Are you good at basketball? I like the Lakers too they are wining there series with the Timberwolves. Who is your favorite player? Mine is Shaq. Who do you want to get LeBron James? I want the Cavs to get LeBron, that is because my dad played for the Cavs. His number is retired in the Gund Arena.
And again Thank you!!
from,
Larry Nance
These notes are incredible coming from a 9- or 10-year-old Nance. His questions are incredibly blunt, and he obviously had the 2003 NBA Draft on his mind.
When Snow posted these notes on Twitter, Nance saw them and invited Snow to a game.
WOW! That's awesome! So cool you kept these... Please by my guest to a game this year. I would love to meet you! https://t.co/2asN2o4ZhX
Draymond Green took to Instagram to complain about Conor McGregor wearing a No. 23 Golden State Warriors jersey. That’s the number he wears, of course, for the championship-winning team. Green said “We rocking with Floyd bro not you... take that off bruh.”
But McGregor wasn’t wearing a Green jersey, it was an old C.J. Watson one.
That led to McGregor telling Green he didn’t know who he was, and to stay in school. (Green is a two-time NBA champion.) He then told Green, “I dribble heads off the floor. Not a ball. This is no game here kid.”
A post shared by Draymond Green (@money23green) on
Green later responded:
McGregor’s choice of wearing a C.J. Watson jersey has subtext to it: Watson was linked to Mayweather’s domestic abuse case between him and former partner Josie Harris in 2010. From USA Today:
Harris says she awoke with Mayweather screaming and grabbing her hair. She says he'd read affectionate text messages between her and NBA basketball player C.J. Watson, described in her book draft as her "summer love."
This is not the first time McGregor referenced Watson -- back in January, he tweeted “Call me C.J. Watson” with this illustration attached:
When Klay Thompson was in China celebrating his new shoe deal, he had an amazing time. But for fans, one of the highlights of the trip was watching the Warriors star try to dunk the basketball and fail terribly. And apparently his teammate Steph Curry thought it was funny, too — while also in China, Curry mimicked Thompson’s failed dunk and thought it was the funniest thing ever:
He’s right — that’s hilarious.
You can tell Curry knew exactly what he was doing — just look how similar it was to the Thompson’s dunk-tastic failure last month:
Klay Thompson went to China to show them what the talents of an NBA player look like in real life pic.twitter.com/DdxZFJ5ZUv
Same exact dunk, same exact fail. The only difference is Steph was cracking up on the floor, and Klay was, well... not.
Even the event announcer knew exactly what Curry was doing, shouting “What happened Klay?” to Curry as he grinned on the ground.
Of course, to truly emulate Thompson’s amazing summer in China, Steph still has a few things to do — he has to go dancing in a club, lose in arm wrestling, and shoot a terrible air ball in a pickup game.
But if Steph can do those with the same grace he mocked Klay’s dunk with, we might have #ChinaSteph AND #ChinaKlay on our hands.
Trilogy is the only undefeated team left in the Big3.
Week 5 of the Big3 League featured three blowout victories and a game that went down to the wire. Like the other weeks before this, fans will get an opportunity to watch all the action from Week 5 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1. You can also livestream Week 5 on the Fox Sports Go app. All four matchups took place on Sunday at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago.
Stop reading now if you don’t want spoilers for the week’s action.
Week 5 results
Power (4-1) knocked off the Ball Hogs (1-4), 51-34, in Week 5's first game. Power's Cuttino Mobley poured in 21 points and shot well over 50 percent from the field. Jerome Williams and DeShawn Stevenson chipped in with 11 points apiece. Power made over 60 percent of its shots in this game and corralled 21 rebounds. The Ball Hogs, on the other hand, shot under 50 percent from the field, and Rasual Butler scored a team-high 12 points. No one else on the team scored more than nine points.
The 3-Headed Monsters (4-1) beat 3’s Company (1-4), 51-32, in the second game of the week. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf led the 3-Headed Monsters' offensive barrage with 19 points. Rashard Lewis added an extra 16 points, and Kwame Brown amassed 12 points and 11 rebounds. 3's Company couldn't rack up a lot of points, as Andre Owens led the team with 12 points. No one else on 3's company scored more than 10 points.
Trilogy (5-0) defeated Tri State (1-4), 51-34. Trilogy's Rashad McCants scored a game-high 27 points, while connecting on more than half of his shot attempts. He also drained 42.8 percent of his three-point shots. James White added an extra 16 points and didn't miss any of his shot attempts. Trilogy made 50 percent of its shots in this game. Tri State's Mike Jones scored a team-high 22 points, but none of his teammates scored more than six points. The team shot an abysmal 28.6 percent from the field.
The last game of Week 5 featured the Ghost Ballers (3-2) winning a close game against the Killer 3's (1-4), 50-46. Ivan Johnson chipped in with a team-high 22 points to help lead the Ghost Ballers to victory. Also, Mike Bibby and and Ricky Davis scored 15 points apiece. The team shot well over 50 percent in this game. The Killer 3's Stephen Jackson registered 22 points, and Reggie Evans finished with 12 points and 11 boards.
Antetokounmpo addressed player loyalty on a promotional tour in Manila.
Giannis Antetokounmpo might have Bucks fans on edge with his latest comments defending Kevin Durant’s decision to go to the Golden State Warriors.
Antetokounmpo was on a tour in Manila when a Bucks fan asked him about his “loyalty in my DNA” tweet a few weeks ago in response to a report that teams were already trying to pry the do-it-all forward from Milwaukee.
The fan brought up how loyal Durant said he was to Oklahoma City before moving to Golden State and straight up asked him, “How long are you going to stay with the Milwaukee Bucks?”
But Antetokounmpo didn’t double down on his tweet. Instead, he gave a tepid defense of Durant. You can watch the video here.
“A lot of people say they’re going to stay on a team and decide to move to a different team. But you guys got to remember: A guy might want to stay on a team, but if the team doesn’t do the right things and the right moves for the player to become great. Because, KD, the reason he wanted to stay in OKC was to win, right? So, they didn’t win the championship. That’s why he decided to leave. So do not hate only the player. Because sometimes it’s not up to the player.
Antetokounmpo was an All-Star for the first time last season and led his team in every major stat category. He averaged 22.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.9 blocks, and 1.6 steals per game on the year.
This comment says little about Giannis’ future in Milwaukee
Sure, as a Bucks fan, these comments could leave a bit of concern about Giannis’ future in Milwaukee. But overall, Bucks fans have nothing to worry about right now.
His loyalty tweet a few weeks ago — quoting a lyric by Kendrick Lamar — was pretty clearly only to quell rumors on his departure. He’d probably be in a better position had he said nothing at all. But still, there’s no real harm done from that tweet.
Antetokounmpo just signed a four-year extension with Milwaukee last season with no options or opt-outs included. Teams can pry all they want, but there’s no chance he’s going anywhere until the summer of 2021 at the earliest.
Things could change — maybe there’s a small chance Antetokounmpo demands a trade. But Milwaukee doesn’t have to do anything. He’s 22 years old and committed to the franchise right now.
Plus, what he said was reasonable. Players want to play on good teams where they have a chance to win — and they want to have fun doing it. If a player feels it’s time to move on because his team hasn’t improved, he has the absolute right to do that.
If Antetokounmpo believes he has a better opportunity elsewhere, he should jump on it when the time comes. If he wants to stay in Milwaukee, he should do that. But it will be up to him to find the best situation — a silly tweet won’t determine that.
The Bucks are capped out this offseason and will have big decisions to make on younger players on their roster next season. But luckily for them, they’ve got plenty of time between now and when Antetokounmpo has to make a decision on his future.
Sex and violence were literally at odds when a naval battle interrupted a galley makeout session. Also featured: amateur experimental surgery, wolf parties, and super-crossbows.
This "Game of Thrones" discussion is written by someone who has read George R.R. Martin's books (as well as the occasional fan theory on message boards), but the column will usually only discuss events that have happened on HBO's televised version. Please respect these boundaries should you choose to participate in the comments section.
Episode 7.02, ‘Stormborn’
FINAL SCORE: Violence 36, Sex 13
(Scoring is typically one point per killing or instance of nudity, though the reviewer reserves the right to award bonus points for style.)
Violence
“You sticking around? C’mon, don’t leave me hangin’.”
Totals: One horrifying medical procedure at Dr. Tarly’s Experimental Unlicensed Outpatient Clinic; one subterranean choke slam; one seaborne melee featuring the following: one sailor crushed by a nasty corvus, one knife thrown into a face, one broken pike driven into a Sand Snake’s guts, another Sand Snake choked with her own whip, some aggressive battlefield dental surgery performed with a dagger, one enthusiastic groin-stabbing, and approximately 26 more battle deaths.
Notes: As discussed in previous episodes with large battle scenes, I typically only count actual deaths that are shown on-screen. I’ve tried estimating before, but there’s simply not enough money in the recapping game to justify trying to solve a Fermi problem twice a season. Anyway, I counted 31 deaths, and awarded five bonus points for scope and style. I was a Marine, I have a soft spot for fighting on ships.
Sex
Totals: Two butts and one pair of breasts bared en route to what HAD to be inexpert cunnilingus (I’m sorry, but the Unsullied training to perform oral sex is NOT canon). One lesbian makeout session interrupted by flaming cannonball. Hot Pie said Arya was pretty (there’s a sliding scale for Hot Pie).
Notes: Welcome, Grey Worm and Missandei ‘shippers. Not only am I the president and founder of the Greydei Fan Club, I am also the author of four volumes of erotic fanfic on the greydei.info message boards (working title: Fifty Shades of Grey Worm). All of this is to say: I awarded 10 bonus points to Sex for delivering with gusto everything I lovingly storyboarded.
Scumbag Dany
“Hey, Varys? I never thanked you for getting me allies in the country I fled as an infant and hope to now rule. Also, didn’t you TOTALLY betray my insane and terrible father by choosing to avoid the death penalty? And haven’t I known all this for YEARS while accepting your help?
“Oh, you actually CARE about how poor people get governed? Well, buster, you better continue to do what you’ve done since we met or I’ll burn you alive! I’M WEARING HORNED SHOULDER PADS AND A CAPE, I’LL DO ANYTHING.”
I LOVE MY JOB!
There’s a lot to unpack from the big ol’ sea battle, so I’ve divided my thoughts by the joyous faces of people having a good ol’ time on a ship destined for the sea floor. And no one was having a better time than Euron Greyjoy, leading the charge and murdering his traitorous bannermen with an exquisite kraken-adorned battle axe.
I said it last week and I’ll say it again: TV is more enjoyable when the villains are hard to root against.
“How’s it groin?”
I’ll admit I don’t know Dornish combat tactics beyond “definitely celebrate before you get to the end zone,” but when it comes to a close-quarters melee on the open sea, using ranged weapons like whips and spears is a great way to die in a crowd. The dead Sand Snakes likely would have been better suited fighting from the rigging above the brawl.
Again, I am available as a military consultant. Please print this column out and put it in David Benioff’s mailbox.
“yolo”
Additional thoughts on the impact of a wild final 10 minutes:
Given what we know of Euron’s promise to Cersei and how this battle played out, it seems as though he knew Ellaria Sand would be on this ship. That seems like information that would be extremely difficult to get, but then the King of the North announced his travel plans to half of Winterfell, so this is an entire show in dire need of an OpSec lockdown.
The Iron Fleet never got the chance to pick up the Dornish army, which seems either (a) likely to march on King’s Landing to rescue/avenge Ellaria and the Sand Snakes, or (b) unlikely to march on King’s Landing, as Dorne’s royal family has been wiped out. Whichever’s more expedient for the plot is fine with me.
Left unanswered: the status of the Unsullied. Have they already sailed for Casterly Rock in a separate fleet? Were they among Yara’s fleet? I need a second screen with a map that shows characters’ locations in realtime.
CLODOR
Some questions for Missandei:
No underwear of any sort, huh? Not that you need it, I just thought it might be a comfort thing under a drab, heavy dress.
Did you ever consider closing the door to Grey Worm’s quarters before getting stark naked?
I know it’s a mostly empty castle, but do you have, like, an entire wing of Dragonstone to yourself with Grey Worm? Because that would make a little more sense.
Just gonna lay there and get serviced with the door wide open? No, I like it. Not complaining.
What’s the situation down there? It’s like a Ken doll, right?
TALK BEFORE THE MEETING, YOU JACKASSES
Here’s Sansa’s face when Jon says he’s going to go to Dragonstone:
And here’s Jon’s face when everyone is like, “Bad idea, asshole.”
DURRRRRRRRRRRR (six seasons pass) URRRRRRRRR
What is Jon Snow’s fascination with holding town hall meetings? Dude, you’re the KING, not a representative trying to strip away your constituents’ health care. Just go to Dragonstone with Ser Davos, leave Sansa in charge, and when people ask where you are, let her tell them you’re away on secret business.
Because you ARE! It SHOULD be secret! A meeting on an island with a prodigal queen plotting a coup — dangerous though it may be — is not something a wise regent advertises to his bannermen in a crowded hall. And, like, I’ve given up on Jon doing anything remotely cunning, but at this point I would settle for him giving Sansa a heads-up ONE WEEK AFTER THEY AGREED TO COMMUNICATE BETTER.
p.s. Everyone in this episode dressed like a total goth.
By popular demand: Littlefinger getting choked
JON: Talk to my sister and I’ll kill you myself! … OK, and now I’ll just leave you with free reign to go wherever you please in the castle and unlimited access to my sister while I’m away on a long journey. Surely everything will be fine for me, a character already killed by his own men once before. Don’t forget my threat! Totally mean it. Byeeeee!
Checking Twitter in the morning like:
“Have you ever done this before?” — Missandei, probably
“Imagine a crossbow, but BIGGER.”
QYBURN: (arches eyebrow slyly) Oh, we’ve been at work on a solution.
CERSEI: A … crossbow?
QYBURN: An extremely large crossbow. (fires bolt through dragon skull)
CERSEI: Yes, it works well on centuries-old bones not covered in a dragon’s armored skin. And point-blank on a stationary target! So, to be clear: we simply need to ask the dragons to hover directly in front of this weapon while not torching it with their breath.
QYBURN: My queen …
CERSEI: And crossbows are notoriously slow to reload. How long to put another bolt in this JSF-ass drain on my defense budget?
QYBURN: A team of three men can do it in as little as 45 seconds.
CERSEI: Great, line the walls of King’s Landing with them. This will be at least as successful as the time we destroyed the religious center of our own city and killed hundreds of our subjects to assassinate two people.
QYBURN: At once, my Queen.
CERSEI: SCUD-ass crapbow.
Wolf Parade
they’re good dogs Bran
The reappearance of Arya’s direwolf, Nymeria, for the first time since being chased off in the second episode of the series MORE THAN SIX GODDAMN YEARS AGO may seem unusual for TV-only Thrones fans. But book readers likely remember that George R.R. Martin repeatedly references a direwolf queen leading a pack of wolves through the riverlands of war-torn Westeros.
Let the book readers enjoy this moment; there are so few chances for them to sound remotely informed any more.
Miscellaneous
another taut, adrenaline-fueled library scene
— scenes in which Jim Broadbent casually dominates the screen while shuffling around in a robe: 2
— chains hanging over library shelves for no apparent reason: hundreds
— Mormont pronounced “Mormoned”: 4
— NSFW Missandei screencaps on my computer: listen these are strictly for work
— dog-whistle appeals to Randyll Tarly’s racism and xenophobia: 2
DNP, Coach’s Decision
The Night King; Tormund Giantsbane; the Dothraki and their turgid, unsated war-boners; Gilly; uhhhh … Daario? Ser Pounce? This episode kind of had everyone who matters in the Seven Kingdoms, plus Hot Pie.
It cost a lot of money, but Pep Guardiola has turned over his old defense quickly.
Manchester City has broken the world record transfer fee for a defender again, this time for Benjamin Mendy. After signing from Monaco, Mendy will become City's first-choice left-back for the foreseeable future.
Defense has been an obvious issue for City over the past three seasons, and they've spent a lot to address it. But Eliaquim Mangala hasn't met expectations, while the fullback position wasn't addressed at all. Now Pablo Zabaleta, Bacary Sagna, and Gael Clichy have all departed on free transfers, while Aleksandar Kolarov was allowed to leave cheap, and they've been replaced by three young stars.
This season, City won't lack for pace and energy on the flanks, which should lead to them giving up fewer counter-attack goals. They're heading into the Premier League season looking like the team best prepared to challenge reigning champions Chelsea.
All the trade rumors and completed deals in one convenient place.
The non-waiver trade deadline is July 31, and even if every whispered potential deal won’t come to pass, you still need to be able to keep up with said whispers just in case they do. That’s where we come in, as we’ll keep track of not just the completed trades, but any rumors out there worth paying attention to.
Over the next month, we’ll be breaking down the best young players in hockey. Keep track of the complete rankings here.
The NHL, for all of its growing pains in becoming a multi-billion dollar business, still has a very bright future. There’s no greater reason for that than a generation of young players entering the league who will usher in a new era of speed and skill on the ice.
Connor McDavid is the marquee name there, having already won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP at age 20 after entering the league with as much hype as any player since Sidney Crosby. Now he’s already challenging Crosby for the title of NHL’s best player, and he’s got the contract to reflect that.
McDavid is a blazing-fast microcosm of where the NHL is going, but he’s not the only young player who’s turning the league on its head. It’s becoming clear that hockey is a young man’s game, Jaromir Jagrs of the world withstanding. Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, and others will join McDavid in taking over the league sooner than later.
With that in mind, here at SB Nation we decided it was a good idea to try to sort out the best of this next generation. Our team blogs rank their respective organizations’ best young players each year, so we’re going to do the same for the entire NHL.
Over the next month, we’ll be ranking the top 25 players under age 25 in the entire league. There will be one post per day for each player, and we’ll be keeping track of the complete rankings here. As you’ll realize by the quality of players left off the list, the future of the NHL is loaded with amazing talent.
Who was eligible for the rankings?
Players needed to be age 24 or younger by Aug. 1, 2017 in order to be eligible for the rankings. If a player turned 25 before that date, he’s out (Sorry, Ryan Johansen). The rankings are also limited to players who are under contract with an NHL team, or have their rights held by an NHL team.
How the voting worked
The rankings were determined by ballots submitted from 21 different SB Nation NHL team blog writers, plus national writers Satchel Price and Mary Clarke. Each one submitted their own list of the top 25 players under 25, then the rankings were broken down into points — 25 points for No. 1, 24 points for No. 2, 23 points for No. 3, and so on. We took those point totals and added them up to get the combined list you’ll be reading over the next several weeks.
Should I get mad that my favorite player is missing?
You could, but it’s worth remembering that this list includes perspectives from a lot of different people. In total, 64 different players received at least one point, including some names you probably wouldn’t expect. So a lot of great players are missing from the list, and that’s more a reflection of the incredible amount of young talent in the NHL than anything.
Here are the players who received votes, but not enough to make our top 25 ranking.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be ranking the NHL’s top 25 players under age 25, but if you needed an idea of how impressive the league’s young talent is, this post would be a good start.
These are the honorable mentions from our rankings, or the players who narrowly missed the cut based on our 23 ballots from different writers across the SB Nation NHL network. It’s a talented group that includes two 30-goal scorers, a Calder Trophy winner, and several skilled defensemen.
Over 60 players received votes to be in the top 25, which tells you both how varied the opinions were among our voters and how deep the pool of young talent is in the NHL right now. More players who received votes were left off the final list than included in the end.
You can read more about how the rankings were determined and which players were eligible here.
The future of the NHL, or at least the product on the ice, looks bright. This is an exciting group of young players, yet our ballots determined there are 25 players under age 25 we’d take over these guys. As great as Connor McDavid is, the fact that he’s being pushed from below by so many other stellar young talents is what will make the next decade in the NHL so thrilling.
Before we can get into the actual top-25 rankings, it’s only fair to give some credit to the players who fell short of the points needed to make the cut. Surely there will be some disagreement over these players not being included, but that’s what makes this so fun.
Here are the top 10 honorable mentions from our voting for the top 25 NHL players under age 25 entering the 2017-18 season:
There still seems to be some skepticism surrounding Hamilton’s ultimate upside despite a monster 2016-17 season that saw him finish ninth in Norris Trophy voting. He wasn’t on the Flames’ top pairing last season — that honor went to Mark Giordano and T.J. Brodie — but his numbers stand out among the league’s best young blue liners.
Arvidsson broke out in 2016-17 with 31 goals for the eventual Western Conference champs, but he needs to prove it was more than a flash in the pan. He recorded just 16 points in 56 games in his first NHL season, and came out of nowhere to some degree as a fourth-round pick.
It’s hard to peg down just how good Klefbom is given how he benefits from sharing the ice with a generational player in McDavid. Still, he took his game to another level in 2016-17, and now his long-term deal with the Oilers looks like a bargain. Presumably the high variance in votes for Klefbom results from a lack of certainty over how good he is without McDavid.
Trouba’s issues in Winnipeg might’ve hurt his trade value to some degree, but the Jets probably don’t regret keeping him for now. The defenseman is coming off his best season yet with 33 points in 60 games, which saw him play a career-high 25 minutes per night.
Continuing the pattern with Hamilton, Klefbom, and Trouba, it seems the voters didn’t quite know what to do with these very good young defenseman who haven’t clearly established themselves as No. 1 guys yet. All four have a good shot. And even if Slavin doesn’t improve much from here, he’s already at least a good second-pairing option.
The 2013 Calder Trophy winner has had his ups and downs since then, but he was stellar in injury-limited duty last season. The forward took advantage of some easier assignments to post dominant possession numbers and 26 points in 31 games. He may not get 61 percent offensive zone starts again, but he’s still quite effective.
Klingberg absolutely would’ve made this list a year ago, but his all-around game took a real step back last season. What’s undeniable is his ability as an offensive defenseman, as he racked up 49 points even in a down season. He turns 25 in mid-August, so he won’t be eligible for the same list in a year, but the massive upside is still there.
After finally getting the full-time job last season with the trade of Frederik Andersen to Toronto, Gibson lived up to his billing with a .924 save percentage in 52 games. He’s long been considered one of the best goalie prospects in hockey, and now he’s reaching his potential in Anaheim.
An incredible playoff run can really get the hype train moving. Guentzel went from college hockey to Sidney Crosby’s wing in less than a year, then thrived in the assignment with a postseason-high 13 goals in 25 games as the Penguins won the Stanley Cup. Just how good is Guentzel really? We should get a better idea next season, especially if he doesn’t spend as much time with Crosby.
Rickard Rakell, Ducks winger
Rakell doesn’t get a ton of attention given that Anaheim still has Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Ryan Kesler, but he scored far more goals (33) than any of them last season. What’s particularly impressive is that 28 of them came at even strength, and a league-leading 10 were game-winners. It won’t be easy to ignore Rakell if he keeps scoring like that.
Football season is around the corner, and on Tuesday NFL players began reporting to training camp. It was a special day for Panthers rookie Curtis Samuel, who’s attending his first-ever pro camp. It can be intimidating to start school for the first day, so Samuel’s mom was there to drop him off:
This is so sweet. The video shows Samuel’s mom watch on like a nervous parent while her son walks to camp with Panthers.com writer Bill Voth. Now comes the horrible wait until the end of the day.
Did Curtis have fun?
Did he make new friends?
Are his teachers nice?
Did he find people to sit with during lunch?
Hopefully his first day goes well. This is just the best.
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