#humans have loved eagles for so long it's unbelievable guys

[regina-del-cielo]

“The Old Guard” Daemon AU: Andy and the golden eagle

Welcome to a new episode of the TOG Daemon AU!

Andy’s daemon was the one that took less time to choose, immediately after Nicky’s. Only an Iconic animal would be worthy of her, and so she gets probably the most iconic animal in human history: the golden eagle

Andy is possibly the strongest warrior that ever lived, and was so in her first life too. Golden eagles are top predators and every single inch of their bodies is designed for Murder – she has her labrys and whatever weapon has ever been invented, the eagle has wicked claws and beak

golden eagles are huge, guys. Their wingspan is the fifth largest among all species of eagles, ranging between 180 and 230 cm – to give you some perspective, an adult eagle on the lowest end of this range would, with its wings open, completely cover Charlize Theron’s height. Andy is a tall woman even for modern standards, imagine what she must have looked like for most of history

(for the first three thousand years of her life she must have been An Invincible Giant with a Giant Murder Bird perched on her shoulder, no wonder people called her a goddess)

raptors have reverse sexual dimorphism – males are smaller than females, and golden eagles make no exception; assuming Andy’s daemon to be on the average, he would have a wingspan of 2 m and weigh 3.5 kg

this species of eagle is spread through the whole of the Northern Hemisphere and while today it mostly lives in mountain areas, historically it also lived in plains and hills – it’s still classified as resident in the East European steppes that are, most presumably, Andy’s birthplace

they also tend to prefer open space areas where there’s very little human presence – and in fact, golden eagles are probably one of the great predators that interacts the least with humans in nature (unlike wolves and bears in the same environments)

golden eagles are a uniform dark brown with small touches of grey on the tail and inner wings, and gold-tinted feathers on the nape of the neck and top of the head. They also have “boots” – their legs are covered with feathers up to the feet. Andy is obviously a fan of monochrome outfits, in dark or generally neutral colours (even when she was Serving Looks in the Lykon flashback her outfit was more sober than Quynh’s), so she and her daemon match

an eagle’s stare is unnerving and Andy can and will put the fear of God in people’s hearts just with a look

eagles hunt by floating in the air high above plains and open spaces, observing for their prey, and then stooping down to grab at them with their claws. For what we see in the movie, when Andy fights alone her style is very similar to an attacking eagle. Observing the situation from above (yes I’m referring to the Iconic Church Fight), before entering the scene and annihilating anything on her path

eagles can also hunt in collaboration, especially with mated couples – and Andy is, obviously, perfectly fine with fighting in a group and/or in a couple (like with Quynh in the flashback)

when eagles settle in a territory, they build several nests that they use on rotation and keep adding to, making them progressively bigger – we see only the mine in Val d’Argent, but it’s not implausible to imagine that Andy has different ‘resting places’ all over the world where she accumulates her stuff and where she goes to recuperate

golden eagles are long-lived and mate for life – I don’t think I need to explain why that fits great for Andy, right?

despite being Murder Machines, eagles care lovingly for their young, they love getting scritches and (the thing I love the most about raptors) they CHIRP. Andy has a lovely softer side, and she cares ENORMOUSLY for her people (TOG Script I Am Looking At You)(also 🎶 ~ Found Family Vibes Babe ~ 🎶)

this is anecdotal, but I remember seeing a documentary about modern falconers in Italy, and there was a guy who had a golden eagle (which, outside of Kazakhstan and Central Asia, is pretty rare – this species is much more aggressive and smart than other falcons, and training is difficult and dangerous). He said that with eagles, unlike other more common falcons, it’s not much a case of the human training the bird but more like the bird condescending to work with the human – and once the eagle has chosen the falconer, they become quite possessive of them

I love the idea of Andy’s hindbrain going ‘MINE’ every time she finds a new immortal – and yes, this is, once again, the Script’s fault

since Andromache is most definitely not Andy’s first name but she seems fond enough of it to have kept it, I believe that her own daemon’s name has changed through the centuries – and now he goes by the same name he was called when Andy started to refer to herself as Andromache

after long reflection, I have settled on Diokles (Διοκλῆς, accent on the e), whose meaning is “glory of Zeus”, and unlike most of the other candidates it’s attested as a given name in the Iliad, so is potentially as old as Andromache (Ἀνδρομάχη)

honestly, thinking of how she must have looked like for those that would become the ancient Greeks – a warrior woman who could trounce their best fighters, riding horses like the Mysterious People from the North, that raises from death with no injuries, and with a huge undying eagle daemon flying at her side. If that’s not a proof that she was a goddess, blessed by Zeus no less, I don’t know what is

when I said that the eagle is an Iconic animal, I wasn’t kidding. The eagle (or eagle-like birds, like large vultures or falcons) features prominently in the mythological and religious imagery of almost every culture in Eurasia and North America, and it’s consistently depicted as either a symbol of divine power, a messenger of the gods or the animal that escorts souls to the sky

the most famous depiction in this sense comes from Greek (and later Roman) mythology, with the eagle being sacred to Zeus, king of gods and lord of the skies – the eagle brings him his lightning bolts, it’s his personal messenger, and stole Ganymede from earth to make him Zeus’ cup bearer

the Romans’ habit of using the eagle in their army insignia has dragged on to numerous European empires using it in their own heraldry, and in the Middle Ages the eagle was King of Animals just as the lion was King of Beasts

Pliny the Elder (and by consequence every Middle Age bestiary) insisted that eagles could not be killed by lightning and that they made their fledglings stare into the sun without blinking to parse out the strongest ones; these legends, together with an interesting interpretation by St. Augustine of Psalm 103 about “youth regenerating like an eagle’s”, brought Christianity to use this bird as a symbol of resurrection (when the eagle grows old, she flies into the sun and is remade new and young); it’s also the symbol of St. John Evangelist, and if depicted fighting a snake, a representation of Christ himself defeating the devil

(no, I don’t know what Pliny and St. Augustine were smoking when they wrote those things)

(obviously, Andy couldn’t care less about how Christianity sees her daemon. But its consistent cultural link with immortality is kind of relevant to the whole concept)

in this house we subscribe to the idea of Andy having been born into the Dnieper-Donets culture, in a time where they had started keeping cattle but before they started agriculture; they are considered Pre-Indo-Europeans by linguists, and their direct descendants, the Sredny-Stog culture (the ones that started horse domestication), are classified as Proto-Indo-Europeans

the steppes are an excellent hunting ground for golden eagles, and they almost always ignore livestock as a source of prey; an early pastoral, most probably nomadic people wouldn’t have considered the eagle like a threat  to their livelihood (unlike the wolf, whose bad reputation in ancient times is mostly connected to pastoral cultures)

with the eagle being Zeus’s animal, and Zeus himself being the most likely evolution of a Proto-Indo-European sky god, I’ll go out on a limb and speculate that such connection may have existed in Proto-Indo-European cultures, possibly even up to Andy’s first lifetime

this is me talking myself into circles trying to say that Andy having an eagle daemon made her a Badass and a Leader even before she also became immortal, at which point her people’s collective mind started associating golden eagles with gods and the thing carried on for millennia

(when Andy needs to reconnect with herself, she and Diokles pack it up and get lost in the Altai mountains to live with the Kazakh eagle hunters. It’s probably the closest they get to their Old Days Lifestyle in the modern world)

References outside of Wikipedia:

Anthony, D.W. (2007): The Horse, The Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton University Press, 568 pages

The Old Guard Character Resource Hub, in particular this post by @lady-writes​

Watson, J. (2010): The Golden Eagle, Second Edition. A&C Black, 448 pages

#the old guard #my ponderings #daemon AU #andromache the scythian #the Original Goddess of War #nature #animals #golden eagle #Zeus's eagles #an Iconique™️ Murder Bird for an Iconique™️ Murder Lady #sorry for the Ancient Greek guys but I had A Moment and you had to bear it with me #(I'll have you know that I brushed up my Ancient Greek-Italian dictionary to see which one of the 'candidate names' --) #(-- was cited in the oldest pieces of literature as a name) #(I was NOT going to name Andy's daemon with a Greek name used only from Early Christian times onward just because I liked the meaning) #(I'M TRYING TO RETAIN SOME CONSISTENCY HERE) #I have barely Dipped my toe into Andy's backstory because really I just wanted to see how it would relate to her having an eagle daemon #there's enough to write a fucking TEN VOLUMES TREATISE about the first 3000 years of her immortality #but this wasn't the scope of this post #humans have loved eagles for so long it's unbelievable guys #having Iconic Murder Machine Daemons and yet being Protectors™️: Andy 🤝 Nicky 🤝 Joe

[destielfanfic]

My First Destiel Fic, vol.3

Thank you guys for sharing your memories! My First Destiel Fic is a nostalgic survey open to any destiel fan and has a simple goal - to celebrate fics that were our gateway into a wonderful world of destiel shipping. Thank you, fic writers, you are our heroes!

from @nextheirofslytherin

my first destiel fic was “In This Secluded Spot I Respond As I Wouldn't Dare Elsewhere” by RhymePhile. the girl i liked who got me into supernatural in middle school recommended it to me, so it always has a special place in my heart 😅 it was the first fic i read on ao3 too! i read it while i was watching s3 (cas hadn’t even shown up yet!) but the show was in its 9-10th season

All fic titles link directly to the fic, when it’s possible, we have added another link to our review or submitted rec post.

In This Secluded Spot I Respond As I Wouldn’t Dare Elsewhere by rhymephile [M, 34,000 word count, posted 2010] (our review)

It's 1995, and Castiel's high school years are destined to be difficult: home-schooled until eighth grade, he is awkward, shy, and socially inept. The weird kid with the funny name would rather isolate himself and draw in his sketchbook than deal with the constant bullying he faces every day. Things only get worse in his junior year when he excels in home economics class, leading the captain of the baseball team, Alastair, to start taunting him for being gay. Then new student Dean Winchester arrives at Flour Bluff High School, sharing many of Castiel's classes. Castiel has seen his type before -- handsome, athletic, arrogant, and sure to be the most popular kid in school. But Castiel eventually learns that he and Dean have more in common than he thought, and they form an unlikely friendship.

from @deansbff

i joined the fandom in the beginning of 2019 and molting expectations by tricia_16 was the first fic (over 11k words) that i read. it really made me fall in love with deancas because i realised i didn't need them to be in the canon!verse to be so wonderful, their relationship was amazing in whatever universe they were in and it was always intriguing to read about!!

Molting Expectations by tricia_16 [163,100 word count, posted 2019]

After having trouble coping with a traumatic incident on the job, Dean takes his little brother's advice and leaves everything behind to go stay at the old family cabin in Colorado. Nobody's been there for years so it needs some major work, but it's secluded, and that turns out to be exactly what Dean needs in order to start to feel at peace again. Now in the mountains with nothing but nature to amuse himself with, he takes up bird watching and plans a hike into the mountain range across from his cabin in search of a golden eagle. High up in the mountains, he discovers human footprints. Thinking someone is in danger, he follows them into a cave and quickly becomes familiar with a form of wildlife he never could have imagined: winged people who call themselves angels.

from @bornonathursdayinmarch

I actually started out in the fandom against Destiel. I mean, it was pretty clear that Dean Winchester was not into men. But then I read “Redemption Road” by accident around 2015. I didn’t know it was Destiel. But I got really into it and this fic totally changed my mind on Dean/Cas. I have since read hundreds of Destiel fics and I am more into the ship than ever. My absolute favorite fanfic is “Sweaters and Cigarettes” by lemonoclefox. I love how shy, caring Dean softens cynical Castiel and how in love they are despite being so different. It makes me smile when I’m down.

Redemption Road by spnredemption (the fic is a collaborative effort of a group of destiel writers and artists) [NC-17, 650,000 word count, 24 episodes, posted 2011-12)

With Castiel having set himself up as the new God, drunk on power and volatile as a nuclear reactor, Dean, Sam, and Bobby find themselves on the run from the jealous, capricious monster wearing the face of their friend. Desperate for protection and wary of his brother’s mental state since Castiel unlocked Sam’s memories of Hell, Dean knows Castiel must be defused before he can wreak further havoc in Heaven or on Earth. Although Bobby advocates for destroying Castiel by whatever means necessary, Dean is convinced the Cas he once knew still remains, buried somewhere beneath the mass of poisonous souls and calling out for help. Determined to save the angel who once rescued him from Hell and redefined his purpose in life, Dean himself must resist the allure of the false deity vying for his obedience, and come to terms with the knowledge, long-suppressed, that his feelings for Castiel run much deeper than brotherhood. It is this bond, and the dubious distinction of the Righteous Man, that will ultimately grant Dean access to where Castiel’s grace languishes in Purgatory. However, what Dean brings back with him is broken, angry, and only half-angel, certainly not the Castiel he remembers—and nor is it the only thing that returns to Earth with them…

Sweaters & Cigarettes by lemonoclefox [NC-17, 150,000 word count, posted 2014]  NOTE - the fic was deleted from ao3 by the author, please see our review for more details

Dean Winchester is in high school, crushing hard on Castiel Novak, the unbelievably hot goth who Dean does his very best to convince himself he hates, despite the fact that he can’t really stop staring at him. Dean tries, but when the two of them finally cross paths, their first conversation takes a surprising turn. And suddenly, they both find themselves falling harder and faster than they ever could have expected.

from @iamasphodelknox

Hi! The fic that made Destiel my OTP was The Walk series by Persephoneshadow. It blew my mind and I hadn’t even started watching Supernatural yet. 🙈 I started watching the show last year, just as Season 15 was starting. I’m a newbie but this comfort ship felt like coming home. I also read a turn of the earth by microcomets just as I got to season 4 and it is one of the best things I’ve ever read, fic or no. :)

The Walk by Persephoneshadow [NC-17, 190,000 word count, posted 2017]

Castiel tells himself it was a one time thing, even if his night with a hooker named Dean changed his whole world, but he can’t keep away from the man fate keeps throwing in his path. Castiel is married and he knows his sexuality is an affront to God and everything he’s ever been told is right. Dean tells himself he doesn’t care about the weirdo with blue eyes, but every time they meet he gets a bit closer to something like hope. Dean’s nothing but a homeless waste of space with a brother in foster care a world away and a father in the wind. As the connection between these two lost men deepens, it threatens the carefully maintained lies their lives are built on in a story of faith, mistakes, and the journey of love.

a turn of the earth by mishcollin microcomets [NC-17, 95,300 word count, posted 2015] (our review)

Dean’s your typical half-orphaned, monster-killing 22-year-old until a trenchcoated stranger crashes into his back windshield one September night, claiming he’s an angel that knows him from the future and that he’s on the run. Frigging fantastic. (Or, in which Castiel gets stuck in Dean’s timeline pre series and Dean kind of hates it—until he doesn’t.)

If you enjoyed the fic, please drop by the archive (AO3) and let the author know with your comments and/or kudos! And if you found our recs useful, let us know by Liking and/or Reblogging our posts!

You can find all My First Destiel Fic posts under this tag!

#destiel #destielfanficnet #my first destiel fic #hey guys #these are all submissions we received #if you don't see yours here #please contact mod flyingcatstiel directly #nextheirofslytherin #deansbff #bornonathursdayinmarch #iamasphodelknox

[nevergettingoverwincest]

Outside POV Recs

Welcome to one of my favorite genres! Here are some fic recs. All of these are exclusively outside POV on wincest by OCs. I’m making a separate list of minor-character outside POV.

i’ll take my chance on a beautiful stranger by fleshflutter A group of Stanford students is at a bar and there’s a hustler with green eyes playing cards. Everything by fleshflutter is pure gold. Do yourself a favor and read this.

Dandy in the Underworld by deartiger They say there is a secret game in Las Vegas, the greatest one of all, in which the hero plays against the dragon for three nights, and the prize is a wish granted, and the penalty is death. A new player arrives to try his luck, only to discover that the game is held in a dump of a house in the desert and that the dragon is a dude named Dean. Excellent casefic, cleverly crafted, the boys’ dynamic is palpable even from the outside.

1621 Coachman Lane by torch Three days of iced tea, a heatwave, and minding the neighbors' business. An unbelievably charming fic about a house full of old ladies snooping on their neighbor’s haunting and bickering with one another.

Runaways by keerawa We lost seven teenage boys from the shelter in the summer of '97.  The last were a pair of brothers so wrapped up in each other that I never had a chance to save them.  Their names were Sam and Dean. The narrative OC is a fully fleshed and flawed character, and her perceptions of the brothers is beautifully warped by her own life.

It’s the Damnedest Thing by dragonspell There’s a snot-nosed kid in room 3 with the biggest damn green eyes he’s ever seen and the punk’s been batting them at anyone who’ll stand still long enough. Another author whose work I love and this is a delicious character study of Dean and his authority issues.

Camp Eagle Creek by phoenixflight The summer of 1998 was about to be the best summer ever. Jane had finished 9th grade, gone to a Spice Girls concert, and now the hottest guy she’d ever seen was working as a camp counselor. Weecest casefic, summer camp style!

Running Away to Sea by flawedamythest If Captain McKendrick hadn't been desperate, he probably wouldn't have hired Dean Enfield. The guy had no experience on trawlers, his employment history was extremely sketchy and he looked like trouble.  A short and charming casefic. Also boats are great

Kissing in the Blue Dark by tebtosca Rick's not quite sure what to expect when he goes home with a couple of hot strangers. Hot threesome with an OC who isn’t quite sure how to interpret the boys’ dynamic.

Whisper Down the Lane by Lar The demons John’s hunting show up at a beach party and Dean’s cover is blown. A fun little rumor mill fic.

The strange ways of humans by chiliscale The Winchesters are in trouble. Again. To prevent them from killing themselves unintentionally once more, Crowley dispatches one of his hellhounds to keep an eye on them. A cute and hilarious crack fic from a hellhound’s POV

Buy you a Mockingbird by candle_beck A genuine horror story. One of the most devastating spn fics ever written, but absolutely stunning and a great use of outside POV, so it goes on this list. Tonally very different than the other fics rec’d here.

#fic recs #wincest #sam/dean #supernatural #fanfic #my recs

[anunvalidcritic]

The Boys: SN2.7

(DISCLAIMER: MY OPINION IS MY OWN AND CAN BE DEEMED INVALID TO THOSE WHO DON’T CARE FOR IT.) 

Sorry for the delay but I’ve been really busy with work and I haven’t gotten much sleep due to this but nonetheless I was able to finish it and upload the commentary.

               BUTCHER, BAKER, CANDLESTICK MAKER

(Photo Credit: @01091006)

Alright we’ve got ourselves a grown ass man whose clearly obsessed with STORMFRONT

Ik he’s gettin’ tired of seeing/doing the same shit over and over again

Maybe he’s one of the meme makers

Yep called that shit again

He better not become some fucking murder... smdh

“Congress?? Please what a bunch of corrupt cunts they are.” - BUTCHER

(this line hit a little too close to home iykyk)

This congresswoman looks familiar... I can’t put my finger on it though

Alright so whose that ringing BUTCHER’s line?? (That’s a long ass number too)

“Mom I don’t want a fucking unicorn frappe.” - ANNIE

Bro wtf?!!!!!

“And Serge... no abandoning your post this time.” - MALLORY

rip to BUTCHER’s father

BLACK NOIR didn’t have to go in on ANNIE like that

ICONIC DIALOGUE

LAMPLIGHTER - “Okay. Different strokes, man.”

HUGHIE - “Please don’t say that in this context.”

“You know this isn’t healthy, man. Y-You can’t watch porn while the... sun’s out.”- HUGHIE

LAMPLIGHTER = ARSONIST

I like how HUGHIE said “nevermind” just to continue with his story.

LOL THAT TRANSITION BETWEEN HOMELANDER TALKING ABOUT ANNIE AND HUGHIE LOOKING AT THE SCREEN IS PURE GOLD

“Come on do you want me to cuck? Or be the guy who fucks the wife?” - HUGHIE

“Yeah, come on. Let’s go fuck the wife. Con-sensually.” - HUGHIE

You know I never truly understood why the nickname “Billy” went with the name William.

ICONIC DIALOGUE

SAM - “What, no hug?”

BUTCHER - “You step one inch closer, and I’ll kill you quicker than that fucking arse cancer.”

SAM - “I bet you would.”

ROFL The way he slapped his finger away

Beating the shit out of your kids does not equal “tough love”

Sooo.... LENNY committed suicide...

Wow, well I’ll be damned tha nazi bitch has a heart

I haven’t seen MAEVE use her powers in a minute!! That poor table.

Wait why is DR. VOGELBAUM in a wheelchair??? Ig HOMELANDER really did fuck his ass up.

Wow I really forgot M.M’s gov name is MARVIN.

FRENCHIE reminiscin’ -- You know i still remember when FRENCHIE said his dad smothered him with a hello kitty duvet lol

Watch me fuck around and learn KIMIKO’s sign language

Fish Bowl = Fixing Grievances

Bruh this whole church is toxic

“And boom, bitchies!” - LAMPLIGHTER

“Your America’s second favorite lesbian couple, after all.” - ASHLEY

Whose the first?... Ellen and Portia??

“Ashley for once in your life be a fucking human being.” - MAEVE

Their watching a lego movie of the Blindside

... I think we all know HOMELANDER is lying to BECCA. He’s gonna snatch that little boy up in the middle of the night.

BUTCHER a whole maniac

Why do I feel like LAMPLIGHTER is gonna step HUGHIE up...

👀...

HUGHIE RUN!!!

My mouth is really ajar looking at this hand scene

She’s walking a little too slow for me... I foresaw that shit!

BLACK NOIR is strong af! Jesus he’s throwing her around like a dog that vigorously shakes its head with a toy in its mouth.

STARLIGHT bro I’m gonna need you to get the fuck up! Don’t let this dude choke you out!

... once again... fuck almond joy’s

Y’all can do this reunion shit later. GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE BUILDING!

ICONIC DIALOGUE

M. M. - “Kid, you are fucking unbelievable. All you had to do was watch porn.”

HUGHIE - “I didn’t know he was gonna set himself on fire?!?.”

I think we all knew this church for supes was all kinds of fucked up. But this whole scenario of EAGLE hunting his partner dressed up as a deer is on the stranger side to things. 

Why tf did ANNIE’s mom look at KIMIKO like that?!?!

HOMELANDER lookin’ sick af!

BRUH IS THAT FUCKING CINDY!!!!????

“Oh, shit.” - THE DEEP

_______________

episode 6 here. Once again I’m sorry for the delay in the post. I’ll have to figure out my timing better. But on a lighter note... EPISODE 8 WILL BE THE LAST FOR THE SEASON!!! We already know it got confirmed for a season 3 so this last episode better fucking bring it!

#the boys #amazon prime show #billy butcher #karl urban #hughie campbell #jack quaid #homelander #anthony starr #annie january #erin moriarty #jessie t usher #a train #laz alonso #mother’s milk #chace crawford #the deep #the female #karen fukuhara #nathan mitchell #black noir #tomer kapon #frenchie #giancarlo esposito #dominique mcelligott #queen maeve #aya cash #stormfront #shawn ashmore #the boys season two #lamplighter

[yakumtsaki]

Take your hands off me, I don't belong to you, you see, and take a look at my face for the last time, I never knew you, you never knew me, say hello.. ♪

WAVE GOODBYE. 

WHADDUP PPL. Much like Ronroneo, we’re back from the dead and ready for a whole new generation of Union fuckery. We’re also officially.. drumroll.. MIDDLE CLASS. Our shiny new house is based on this one by frottana-sims​, which I downloaded but dumbassly forgot to install, and since loading the game takes a hot half-hour I opted for this poor recreation instead. We start the extreme home makeover with an incredible budget of..

...Yea, I see the value of getting 6 pets to the top of their careers now. Included in this insane sum is the 20k+ that Wyatt and Jojo brought with them moving in, and at first I’m worried that we’re way too rich for only generation 2. Well, careful what you wish for, cause here’s our post-remodeling budget:

LMAO. It’s as if not a day has passed since Vic started this legacy with a dream in her heart and crap to her name. Let’s check out the new digs!

Everything was purple.. his pills.. his hands.. his foyer. 

As eagle-eyed readers may observe, both the hall and the living room were designed with nothing else in mind but whether they matched our cat paintings. Per legacy rules I use as little cc as possible, which isn’t that hard since I feel this bizarre, angular and hugely impractical couch really encapsulates Jojo’s essence. Like if he was a servant in Beauty and the Beast this would be his furniture form.

Apparently the only things I deemed important enough to capture were the cat portraits, so it looks like my Komeization is finally complete! Here’s some floorplan shots tho so you don’t get disoriented in our labyrinth-like mansion. Please note our amazing pink-blue-purple kitchen! Barbie’s Dreamhouse who??

And here’s the second floor, which also illustrates the exact point I ran out of money. Honestly looking back I don’t understand how the fuck this place cost 70k?? Like nothing is particularly expensive except the amazing vintage batmobile which was around 30-40k and some of the paintings? But I guess all the small things add up in the end + I’m super bad with money..

..and I’m not the only one. Jojo GET A FUCKING GRIP and A JOB. Literally no comment @ your cat wants, you inherited the jaw, wasn’t that enough??? ANYWAY. I know the question on everyone’s mind is how is Wyatt going to fit in with the Unions.. and all I have to say about that..

..is LOL. Truly the perfect career for when your mother-in-law is a criminal mastermind and your husband is a serial killer! I mean the jokes practically write themselves. At least he doesn’t want 10 kids or any shit like that, cause I’ve seen hell and it was the result of mixing Jojo/Wyatt genes in cas.

On top of gifting us with his future-probably-fug children, Wyatt also gives us the gift of our first ever kitchen fire when he decides to make dinner with 1 cooking point. His generosity really knows no bounds.

It’s all fun and games now but Wyatt deadass almost died in the inferno and was about to take poor, stupid Komei with him, who of course ran to the fire even though he was in the yard. Meanwhile Victoria was safely watching tv and didn’t move while Jojo..

..was doing this in the next room. Two types of sims I guess!

-So Wyatt, you’ve been here for almost an hour now, burned down our kitchen and I still don’t see any grandchildren. I thought you were a family sim!

-Haha oh mom, you’re hilarious! Ignore her, Wyatt, let’s enjoy your delicious pasta.. It was definitely worth almost dying for.

-Your mama is right, mon cheri, not only do you have an obligatión to your famille but I rolled the want to have a bébé the second we graduated!

-Well it’s still gonna be there when we aren’t broke, Wyatt, god!

-But.. bébés, mon cheri! Tons of bébés I can have but never interact with, in typical famille sim fashión!

-UGH thanks a lot for opening this gate, mom. If only you had found your love of children when I was living on cat food.

-Well it’s different when they are your children, everyone knows that.

-THAT’S NOT WHY PEOPLE SAY THAT MOM

-Honestly, Jojό, I’m prouder of taking down your répugnant suitόrs than I am of graduating with honors!

-Aww Wyatt <3

-And if I have to souffrir through a childless existence to be with mon amour, so be it (:

-Aw- wait what?!

-Really, c’est bien, Jojό, marriage is all about compromise, nό? I mean, not that I would know since we’re not even married yet!

-Wyatt we’ve been here for 3 hours.

-My point précisément.. C’est bien though!

-Can’t believe I’m saying this but I really regret murdering Ti-Ning. 

That makes two of us, Jo. Honestly even Francis would be better than this. Family sim spouse??? Tf was I thinking. 

Ah, some things never change <3 It’s a new day and someone very special passes by our lot..

UGH NO not you asshole, once again delivering bills at the worst possible time.

-Miss me bitch?? Lolol

ONE OF THESE DAYS DAGMAR. ONE OF THESE DAYS ISTG

No, it’s mismatched beard townie, whose regular outfit is simply iconic, and he’s waving at me! What a sweetheart! TAKE SOME NOTES DAGMAR YOU FROZEN-FACED FREAK

-Umm he’s actually waving at me, moron.

-WRONG, he’s waving at me!

Ok it literally doesn’t matter who he’s waving at. 

-Well c’est moi. 

OK WHATEVER WYATT GOD. Just go off to work in a position you’re criminally unqualified for and try not to die ok??

-Why would I mourir?

Hm let’s see, maybe because you’re a ‘SWAT Team Leader’ straight out of college with a shocking lack of skill points?? Jfc college degrees in this game are so fucking op it’s legit making me resentful of my sims.

In other news, major dicks Sophie and Victor have started constantly beating each other up and the only thing surprising about this development is that it took this long. Honestly these fights are peak #TeamNoOne. Please note Alegra who continues to give 0 fucks @ the bloodshed. What a gal <3

Burning with religious fervor, fundamentalist nutjob Sophie emerges victorious!

-I WALK WITH GOD BITCH

Tears. Literal tears. Victor is the most unbelievable creature I have ever played.

-The rampant violence in this house is a violation of human rights! I AM OUTTA HERE

Literally still cannot believe this happened, like the sheer NERVE is killing me. Victor has started every fight he’s ever been in for an astounding total of 40-50 fights, and as you all know he almost always wins. Like this one was what? The fourth one he lost?? AND YET HE RUNS AWAY LIKE HE’S THE VICTIM I HATE/LOVE HIM SO MUCH

Meanwhile this happens which, of course. Leave it to me to finally get a chance card right for the only sim who doesn’t even deserve the job he currently has.

..Police Chief Wyatt reporting for duty! And crime increased 80% overnight. 

In actual good and not lawsuit-waiting-to happen news, Wyatt brought Amanda, Vic’s only friend/lesbian crush with him! Amanda has the distinct honor of being literally the only non-Union non-Jojo person Vic has ever genuinely liked and hasn’t had an affair with. YET THAT IS.

Man, these are some fat fucking flies. I’m talking 10 plagues of Egypt teas. 

-I KNOW, where the fuck is Komei, what are we paying him for?

-I’m over here honey, talking to my least favorite son for the second time in my life, since apparently he’s sticking around.

-Yes, thanks for requesting a recount of the heir vote, dad. I will remember it when I decide where to scatter your ashes. 

-I TOLD YOU I WANT THEM MIXED WITH THE CAT LITTER 

Ugh Komei, please stop trying to bond with your son and do something productive instead-

-like finally convincing Neo to bang Sophie. She has refused 3 TIMES because there’s a rule I have to earn kittens by suffering. I mean Alegra refusing to procreate with Victor made sense, it was Victor, wtf is Sophie’s excuse? Waiting for marriage?

ABOUT TIME

YAS. CAT GEN 3 ON THE WAY. Human gen 3 will have to wait till I’m in the mood to deal with screaming infants aka it might take a while.

The science career FINALLY SHOWS UP after 5 fucking days, jfc. Love how Wyatt’s dumb ass started as a swat team LEADER but Jojo who has half the skills maxed starts as a science teacher. Also love the idea of Jojo as a teacher in general, I mean just imagine having him teach you science in high school. I would literally drop out.

Jojo returns from work, brings this rando with him and doesn’t get promoted. We can’t all be Wyatt I guess! We’re not completely broke anymore tho so..

It is time.

Gunther, Melody and Max Flexor on one side..

Craig, Brit Brit, Ti-Ning and Daniel on the other. What a bunch of assholes, Craig obviously excluded. Remember him? I invited him because he and Jojo are still semi-friends thinking he wouldn’t show up and yet here he is! What a good guy. 

-It’s at moments like this, watching your high school boyfriend get married.. that you really get to thinking..

Awww.

-..there but for the grace of god go I.

Less awww. You’re not wrong tho, definitely dodged a sociopathic bullet..

..not everyone is that lucky. WE GET IT WYATT YOU’RE CRAZY AND IN LOVE

-Mon bien adoré, I vow to aimer and honόr you and not cheat on you again or at least be more discrete about it <3

-And I vow not to kill you and feed you to the cats for as long as we both shall live <3 

Ah, true love, you guys. 

Too bad half our guests are inside dancing-

-OR HAVING COMPLETELY INAPPROPRIATE AND UNTIMELY THOUGHTS. TI-NING SERIOUSLY GO TO HELL. I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU HOW DARE YOU

Well at least Vic is excited which is more than I can say for Gunther who is literally LOOKING THE OTHER WAY. 

Time to cut the cake with the sky as our only witness, since everyone has taken a plate from the buffet and fucked off inside. Seriously WORST GUESTS EVER 

Not one to be outdone by his guests’ questionable behavior, Wyatt takes the time to remind us who he really is. 

-And n'est-ce pas forget it!

Despite all the obvious problems, like one of the grooms literally going to sleep, our party score is ‘good time’ which is a truly rare and exciting occurrence. With less than a minute left I’m feeling pretty confident that nothing can ruin this wedding!

Weirdly no one has touched the champagne even though sims in general are obsessed with it?? My best guess is everyone is at a loss for words at having to toast this union and who can blame them tbh. Thankfully Daniel steps up and I find it super sweet because I’ve forgotten that he and Wyatt are mortal enemies and it’s only by chance they haven’t beaten each other up on this instance like they have countless times before.

-Let’s all raise a glass to my beloved brother, Jojo, who generously woke up to attend his own wedding reception! Just one of many examples of his fine, giving character. Too bad he’s committing his life to a complete waste of space adulterous loser like Wyatt, who I’m not even convinced is really french, since his ability to speak and understand english fluctuates according to convenience. Man, I promised myself I wouldn’t cry, but this choice in spouse is just too tragic. Oh well! To Jojo!

NOICE, still a good time. SO CLOSE

AND YET SO FAR. Goddammit do you two mind killing each other on your own time and not literally 10 seconds before our wedding ends??

-DIE WHORE, THIS WILL TEACH YOU TO STEAL MY MAN

-THAT’S MY LINE SLUTBAG

-HA! ZUMBA, BITCH

-Wow, so glad I woke up for this, really got my bloodlust going! 

Indeed a roaring success if there ever was one. I mean how can this night possibly get any better?

.............of course.

Oh nice, I remembered to install an alarm for once! I’m also desperately trying to wake up Wyatt thinking that he’s fucking CHIEF OF POLICE so he might prove useful in this situation..

..especially since we get this cop of a completely untrustworthy Bieber hairstyle. Talk about striking fear in the heart.

Sadly it turns out that Wyatt could not give less of a shit that we’re getting robbed and picks this moment to head for wedding buffet leftovers-

-while Bieber cop prevails! This robber is awesomely named Russ Bear btw and I wish that was my name, sounds like a slavic medieval folkore hero. But I digress. Please prepare yourselves because our first robbery is about to take a dark turn.

-Ehh, you get at a certain level on la force, you just become desensitized to la criminalité..

-Oh don’t worry Wyatt, I totally understand.. I mean I’ve robbed so many houses in my time, I hardly blink anymore..

-So it looks like you and I are not so different after all.. ;)

.............

.....................

............................why. why has the universe chosen me for the greatest suffering the world has ever known. i try and i try but incestuous relationships just keep sprawling like mythical strangler vines. i bet this wouldn’t happen to someone named Russ Bear. fml

#ts2 #gen 2

[junker-town]

24 great books for quarantined sports fans

From ‘Ball Four’ to ‘Out of Sight’, here are a few books you can come back to over and over again

I love my books. They have traveled with me across the country and back again, prominently displayed in cheap bookcases throughout dozens of apartments around the Northeast. Currently, they are stretched out behind me in my home office where they will stay until the time comes to move off the grid. They will follow me there, as well.

I have read all of them at least once and several of them dozens of times. During periods of my life when I was without human companionship they were literally my only friends. That’s not said for sympathy. The life of a newspaper sportswriter in the 90s and early 2000s involved shitty hours and weekends, which pretty much negated any hopes of having a social life.

Through it all, my books were there for me. They demanded nothing but my time and gave me hours of entertainment.

I’m not particularly proud of my collection. There is very little literature to be found and only a handful of what one might refer to as great works. It mainly comprises sports books, rock star biographies, and a nearly complete set of Elmore Leonard novels.

Most of them are several decades old because I had to stop buying books at some point when I began to run out of room. I’m not linking to them because you can hopefully find an independent bookstore near you that would be thrilled for the business. Do them and humanity a favor.

Here are some of my favorites.

BASKETBALL

The Breaks of the Game: David Halberstam

This is the monster of all sports books, the one against which every basketball book is competing with in one way or another. If you know nothing of the NBA pre-LeBron James, this is where you should start. It’s a window into what feels like another universe, when pro basketball was a cult sport struggling for survival.

Loose Balls: Terry Pluto

I wrote about this one at length and won’t belabor the points I made back before the world came to a screeching halt. If you can’t get into the stories contained within these pages, I frankly don’t want to know you.

The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac: The FreeDarko collective

It’s an exaggeration to say every person who heard the first Velvet Underground album went out and formed a band, just as it is to suggest that every writer who consumed FreeDarko wound up writing about basketball on the internet. But almost everyone who did was influenced by them.

The Miracle of St. Anthony: Adrian Wojnarowski

Long before he was the great and powerful Woj, the author spent an entire season with Bob Hurley’s St. Anthony Friars. It’s a masterful bit of storytelling that for my money is the absolute best of the surprisingly robust sub-genre of books about high school basketball.

Other contenders include The Last Shot by Darcy Frey, Fall River Dreams by Bill Reynolds and In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle by Madeleine Blais.

The Jordan Rules: Sam Smith

Judging from the early reactions to the gigantic Bulls documentary, it’s quite clear a lot of you should get familiar with the source material. Smith’s book was shocking upon its release because it dared show Michael Jordan as he really was, without the buffed out Nike shine. It holds up, clearly.

Halbertsam’s Playing for Keeps picks up the story in 1998 and provided much of the narrative structure of the first two episodes.

Heaven is a Playground: Rick Telander

An all-time classic set on the courts of mid-1970s Harlem during a long, hot summer. There are a lot of books that tried to get at the soul of basketball, but this is the standard bearer. I’d really like to know whatever became of Sgt. Rock.

Others in this vein include The City Game by Pete Axthelm, Pacific Rims by Rafe Bartholomew and Big Game, Small World by Alexander Wolff.

Second Wind: Bill Russell

The best athlete autobiography of all time.

BASEBALL

Lords of the Realm: John Heylar

The inside story of how baseball owners conspired for almost a century to suppress salaries while refusing to integrate. It’s shocking how buffoonish management acted during the glory days of the national pastime. Required reading.

Marvin Miller’s A Whole New Ballgame is a worthy companion piece, as is Bill Veeck’s delightful, Veeck as in Wreck.

Ball Four: Jim Bouton

Scandalous upon its release in 1970, Ball Four contains the best line ever written in any sport book: “You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.”

I read Ball Four for the first time in fifth grade and immediately taught my classmates the words to “Proud to be an Astro”:

Now, Harry Walker is the one who manages this crew

He doesn’t like it when we drink and fight and smoke and screw

But when we win our game each day,

Then what the fuck can Harry say?

It makes a fellow proud to be an Astro

Seasons in Hell: Mike Shropshire

There is nothing more soul-crushing than spending an entire season with a bad team. Shropshire covers three hilariously inept campaigns with the Texas Rangers, who as then-manager Whitey Herzog noted: “Defensively, these guys are really sub-standard, but with our pitching it really doesn’t matter.”

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Burning: Jonathan Mahler

An underrated late addition to the pantheon that tells the story of the 1977 Yankees amid the backdrop of a city gone to hell.

You will notice there are few books in my collection about modern baseball. There’s a reason for that. The vast majority of them are peans to the wonders of middle management and therefore boring as hell.

FOOTBALL

Playing For Keeps: Chris Mortsensen

The incredibly bizarre — and largely forgotten — story of how the mob tried to gain influence in pro football via a pair of shady agents named Norby Walters and Lloyd Bloom. Good luck finding it.

Bringing the Heat: Mark Bowden

You may recognize Bowden from such masterworks as Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo. You probably don’t remember that he spent a year with the Eagles after the death of Jerome Brown. As honest and unflinching a look at pro football as you will ever find.

North Dallas Forty: Peter Gent

The only piece of sports fiction on my list is not so fictional at all. Gent’s thinly-veiled account of his own life as a receiver for Tom Landry’s Cowboys is shocking and brutal and sad and poignant. I make time to read it every year.

I used to have more football books, back when I cared about the sport.

MEDIA

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail: Hunter S. Thompson

The Vegas one is more popular and Hell’s Angels is a stronger work of reportage, but for a dose of pure Gonzo insanity, this is the book I come back to more often than not.

The Boys on the Bus: Timothy Crouse

The companion piece to Thompson’s lurid account, Crouse plays it straight and lays bare the bullshit facade of campaign reporting. Almost 50 years later, we have still learned nothing.

The Franchise: Michael McCambridge

Details the glory days of Sports Illustrated, reading it now feels like an obituary. It was fun once, this business of writing about sports.

MUSIC

Heads, a Biography of Psychedelic America: Jesse Jarnow

My favorite book of the last few years, Jarnow takes us on a bizarre trip through the byzantine world of psychedelic drug networks connecting it through the career of the Grateful Dead and into modern-day Silicon Valley. I’m waiting for the followup on Dealer McDope.

Not music, but as a companion piece, Nicholas Schou’s Orange Sunshine tells the even-crazier tale of The Brotherhood of Eternal Love, who took over the LSD trade and invented hash smuggling by stuffing surfboards with primo Afghani hash and shipping them back to California.

The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones: Stanley Booth

Reported while on tour with the Stones at the height of their powers circa Let it Bleed, Booth took 15 years to write the damn thing. By then the Stones were already an anachronism. It’s all there, though. Sex, drugs, more drugs, and unbelievable access to the biggest rock ‘n roll band in the world.

This Wheel’s on Fire: Levon Helm with Stephen Davis

In which Brother Levon disembowels Robbie Robertson and exposes the lie at the heart of The Band. Robbie took the songwriting credit and all the money.

Satan is Real: Charlie Louvin

Astonishingly good read that is best consumed with Charlie and his brother Ira playing low in the background.

Mainlines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader

Lester is an acquired taste and not all of his ramblings hold up. I will always love him for despising Jim Morrison and completely nailing what made Black Sabbath important. Spoiler: They were moralists like William S. Burroughs.

Please Kill Me: Legs McNeil and Gillian Welch

The definitive oral history of punk rock, an essential document of a scene that launched a thousand mediocre bands and the Ramones, who ruled.

Shakey: Jimmy McDonough

A tour-de-force biography of Neil Young that loses steam toward the end when McDonough makes himself the subject. The stuff about Neil’s bizarre 80s period and his relationship with his son is heartbreaking.

Our Band Could Be Your Life: Michael Azerrad

Pretty much everything you need to know about bands like Mudhoney, Black Flag and Mission of Burma who wove together the musical underground through a patchwork collection of local scenes back when something like that was still possible.

ELMORE LEONARD

You can’t go wrong with anything Leonard writes, but Out of Sight is as good a place to start as any.

[viraljournalist]

Andy Reid's Super Bowl LIV win is the capper on a Hall of Fame career for Chiefs coach

New Post has been published on https://viraljournalist.com/andy-reids-super-bowl-liv-win-is-the-capper-on-a-hall-of-fame-career-for-chiefs-coach/

Andy Reid's Super Bowl LIV win is the capper on a Hall of Fame career for Chiefs coach

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — “MAN ALIVE!” Andrew Walter Reid bellowed from his toes as he marched through his Kansas City Chiefs locker room, glowing like a teenager who had just scored a date with the prettiest girl in school. Reid had just finished handing out credit for this epic Super Bowl victory as easily as one would hand out a business card at a job fair, even giving a shoutout to Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, the billionaire who fired him.

Man Alive! Those two shouted words on the way to his office said it all. Reid was letting it all out, all those seasons of chasing in vain that NFL grail that was finally, mercifully, in his hands. Reid ended his 20-year title drought by ending the Chiefs’ 50-year title drought by coming from behind to beat Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers 31-20.

After the game, still on the field, Reid kissed the Lombardi trophy and raised it to the South Florida sky, and then Andy did what Andy always does.

Andy said this wasn’t about Andy. He talked about his whirling dervish of a quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, and the executive who long ago saw Mahomes as a developing Mozart, Brett Veach. He talked about the Hunt family, his assistants, his players in Kansas City, his players in Philly. If Andy went long enough at his news conference podium, he would’ve gotten around to thanking his mailman, too.

But if Reid thought he was getting away with his selfless act, sorry pal, that was a no-can-do on this forever Sunday night.

This one was about the human teddy bear with a rainforest for a mustache, the guy who once put away a 40-ounce steak in 19 minutes.

This one was all about Big Red.

2 Related

“He’s one of the best coaches of all time; he already was before we won this game,” said Mahomes, the MVP of Super Bowl LIV. “But we wanted to get that trophy just because he deserved it. The work that he puts in day in and day out. He’s there at like 3 in the morning, and he leaves at 11 [at night]. I don’t think he sleeps. I’ve tried to beat him in, and I never can. He’s someone that works harder than anyone I’ve ever known, and he deserves it.”

The rifle-armed son of a former big league reliever, Mahomes said he had two goals when he became the starting quarterback of the Chiefs. One, to win the AFC championship and bring the Lamar Hunt Trophy back to the hometown of the late Chiefs owner who came up with the term “Super Bowl” for what has effectively become a national holiday.

“And the second-most important thing was to get Coach Reid a Super Bowl trophy,” Mahomes said.

Will this liberating triumph change Coach Reid? What do you think? This is a man who said he celebrated his AFC title game victory over Tennessee — which booked him a trip back to the Super Bowl for the first time in 15 years — by eating a cheeseburger and then going to bed. “I’ll have a double cheeseburger tonight,” Reid said Sunday. “Extra cheese.”

And why not? With this win, Reid finally proved that nice guys do indeed finish first, even if they have to wait a little while to get there. In the weeks leading up to his crowning career achievement, it was clear the 61-year-old Reid had already proven you can be almost universally admired and adored even if you don’t finish first once across two decades as an NFL head coach.

Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

But man, it will be so sweet for this grandfather of nine, the son of a Los Angeles-based doctor (his mother, Elizabeth) and a Hollywood set designer and artist (his father, Walter, a Navy veteran of World War II), to never again answer for his inability to win the big one over 14 seasons in Philadelphia, and then over his first six in Kansas City.

No more questions about time management, about choking in the playoffs, about Dee Ford lining up offside against New England, about watching his Eagles treat a two-score deficit late in their Super Bowl loss to the Patriots 15 years ago as an opportunity to move at a pace better suited for a ballroom walk-through.

Just like in that crushing defeat in Jacksonville in February 2005, Reid’s team was down 10 points in the middle of the fourth quarter. Only this time his players ran a Showtime fastbreak through the league’s most ferocious defense, led by a visionary, Mahomes, who handles the ball and passes it the way few quarterbacks ever have.

“Keep going,” Reid told his players as they struggled to put points on the board. “We’re going to be OK. We’ve done it before; we’ll do it again.”

Reid was a prophet carrying an oversize dinner menu for a play card. So now the questions will not be about Reid’s failures. Instead, they’ll ask Reid about the night he became football’s champion, the night his 222nd career victory silenced all that noise about him being the sport’s most prolific winner without a ring.

Now they’ll ask Reid about the night he almost certainly sealed his future induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“Nobody deserves this trophy more than Andy Reid,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, son of Lamar, told the crowd and the Fox TV audience during the postgame ceremony.

“We got that ring for Big Red,” Travis Kelce said. “He acts like a father figure to everyone in the building, and you appreciate that. … We’re married together forever now.”

Many of Reid’s friends and colleagues had spent the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl being asked how they would react in the event that Reid finally won a Super Bowl. Some predicted they would cry. All predicted they would be choked up, and as happy for Andy as Andy was for his wife, Tammy, his sons, Britt and Spencer, and his daughters, Crosby and Drew Ann, and all those wearing Chiefs jerseys around them.

“Andy gave me a kiss right on the cheek when we won,” said Dave Merritt, his defensive backs coach and an assistant who won two titles with Tom Coughlin’s New York Giants. “As soon as it was over I thought about Andy’s family, his kids, his wife, his cousins, his brothers, everyone associated with him. Not only Coach Reid became a world champ, they all became world champs. I was so moved watching Andy on the stage with his family around and all that confetti coming down on top of them.”

REID’S FOOTBALL JOURNEY, which started in 1971 when an outsize 13-year-old famously wore a Rams uniform while competing in the punt, pass and kick competition, culminated at last on the biggest stage in sports. With the NFL celebrating an entire century of games, and with old haunts Bill Belichick and Tom Brady in the house for the ceremony, Reid was the right guy to lead the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl victory in a half-century. And San Francisco was a most appropriate full-circle opponent — Reid worked his first real coaching job at San Francisco State, where he sold hot dogs to help raise money for the now-defunct Division II program. He has come a long way, baby, and his generosity of spirit made him relatable, huggable and easy to root for.

Everything you need to know: • Box score | Mahomes wins MVP • O’Connor on Reid’s legacy win • Barnwell: How Chiefs came back • Graziano: Mahomes to the rescue More: Super Bowl LIV » | NFL coverage »

“Andy truly puts others before himself,” says his former VP of player personnel in Philadelphia, Jason Licht, now the GM of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “He’s been wanting to win this for everybody else before he wants to win it for himself, and he’s an unbelievable leader because of that. He’s one of those leaders that when things aren’t going well he takes all the blame, and when things are going good he gives credit to all the great work everyone else did. And that’s why everybody loves playing for him, and goes the extra mile for him.”

In the end, for Reid, it all comes back to trust and empowerment, and to letting his players breathe. In practice, his quarterback and receivers are permitted — if not outright encouraged — to close their eyes as they work on some creative pitching and catching. Mahomes says the everyday fun sanctioned by Reid “keeps us loose and ready to go on game days.” No wonder that the quarterback, at age 24, is already on record saying he wants to spend his entire career in Kansas City.

Reid is one of the brilliant offensive minds of his generation, or of any generation, and yet his belief in freedom of expression works on the defensive side of the ball, too. “This is my third program in the league,” Tyrann Mathieu says, “but I feel I can be myself here. … [Reid] wants us to be comfortable, relaxed, at ease.”

By all accounts, his insistence that his players stay true to themselves inspired them to play at the highest possible level, and doubled their affection for the coach who always looked as if he should be wearing a striped red and white jacket, red bow tie, and straw skimmer hat as part of a barbershop quartet.

“He tells them all the time in team meetings, ‘Let your personality show,'” says Britt Reid, his father’s linebackers coach. “I think that’s important. You can’t be someone you’re not. If you want to play this game to the best of your ability, you’ve got to be you.”

With a win over the 49ers, Andy Reid finally put an end to the questions over his big-game management — and secured a capper on his Hall of Fame career. Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY Sports

Sometimes Merritt will head out to practice and find his defensive backs working on moves that have nothing to do with containing opposing receivers. “They’re dancing, the music is on, and they’re going crazy on the sideline,” Merritt says with a laugh. “But I can’t say anything to them because the head coach said, ‘Let your personalities show.'”

Britt says his father got his creativity from his own dad (Andy has a talent for drawing caricatures, including some of his youngest son, Spencer, a strength and conditioning coach at Colorado State), and his refined and calculating intellect from his mom, the radiologist. Those handed-down gifts have helped Reid coach his freewheeling Mozart at quarterback. Mahomes, Britt says, “has definitely reinvigorated him.”

Nothing against Mahomes’ predecessor, of course, as Alex Smith was a dignified winner in Kansas City who could not have handled the transition to the kid with any more grace. But Mahomes is a generational talent and an improvisational thinker who enables the artistic half of Reid’s beautiful football mind to dream up all kinds of exotic route trees in the middle of the night.

“The thing people don’t see about Andy is that this is still a kid’s game to him,” says Tom Melvin, Reid’s assistant for more than two decades and an alumnus of his offensive line at San Francisco State. “And during a play in practice, Patrick will throw the ball and before it’s caught he’ll go, ‘You like that throw, don’t you?’ He’s playing a kid’s game like a kid. So for Andy and Patrick, it’s just playtime now.”

It was playtime for all Chiefs during this championship run. The exclamation point was a fitting defeat of a team that suited up Dee Ford, the goat who allowed the GOAT, Tom Brady, to shake off what would’ve been a fatal interception last year and lead the Patriots to the AFC title. Sunday night, after winning the big game, Reid exonerated his former player for lining up where he did on the penalty, repeating for the 47th time, “It wasn’t Dee Ford, it was all of us. …We could’ve done four inches better.”

It was just Andy being Andy, taking on the burden himself to avoid making anyone — even a former player on the opposing team — carry a heavier load than he needed to.

FOR THE RECORD: Reid’s user-friendly practices shouldn’t suggest that good ol’ Andy is running the league’s answer to Club Med. He no longer has the GM responsibilities he had in Philadelphia, yet Reid still works absurdly long hours, even by NFL standards, and expects his assistants and front-office people to keep up. Licht said Reid slept in that office three or four nights a week in Philly, and it’s obvious that nothing much has changed in Kansas City.

NFL PrimeTime continues this postseason with extended highlights and analysis following the conclusion of each day’s playoff games. Watch on ESPN+

But Reid’s near-maniacal devotion to his craft, and to every imaginable game-prep detail, has never twisted him into an angry or paranoid mess. He can be stern with players and staffers when necessary, but Licht described him as a coach with “a relaxed California swag and chill way about him.”

“Andy can get along with anybody,” Licht says. “He has a way of coming into your office, sitting down, and realizing when somebody needs to get his mind off things. He’ll talk about anything and everything, and you love being around him. When he’s putting in all those hours, you just didn’t want to let him down and not be there in case he had a question for you. You didn’t want to miss the opportunity to have another five or 15 minutes of bonding with him.”

“The entire league wants Andy to win because of how he treats and leads his men,” says Dave Merritt, his defensive backs coach. Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Merritt sees the same man in Kansas City that Licht saw in Philly, and it comes as no surprise. “Leslie Frazier told me about him 20 years ago,” Merritt says of the former Eagles assistant. “He said, ‘Dave, if you ever get a chance to work with Andy Reid, don’t ever turn it down.'”

He didn’t, not after taking a call from Reid in the middle of a golf round and, by his estimation, completing contract talks between a pitch and a putt. Merritt’s experiences with his new boss are quite different from those he had in New York. Coughlin, he reminds, was an iron-fisted ruler who fined Giants for wearing the wrong socks in hotel lobbies. Reid responds to relatively benign rules violations more like a nurturing father.

“Another thing I learned is that Andy really trusts us to coach these players, and that gives you so much confidence as an assistant,” Merritt says. “With Tom Coughlin, we had staff meetings every day, sometimes twice a day, three times a day. I’ve never seen a coach operate the way Andy operates, where we go through the week and never have a staff meeting.”

REID’S STORY PROBABLY makes you feel good inside, unless you’re a fan of the 49ers or someone who lost a few bucks betting that their defense would win San Francisco its sixth Lombardi trophy. Who couldn’t feel good about an NFL head coach who still occasionally drives the Ford Model A his father bought after the war for $25? And besides, we all sorta needed a story like this at the end of a heartbreaking week in sports.

Andy Reid personally knew Kobe Bryant, another tough guy with Philly roots, and would talk about him here and there at the Eagles’ facility. “He would just say of Kobe, ‘That’s a good dude, man. That’s a good dude,'” Licht recalls. “People who know Andy know that’s high praise for him.”

Asked during Super Bowl week about the helicopter crash that killed the Lakers legend, his teenage daughter Gianna and seven other passengers, Reid predicted the Bryant family would “get back into the swing of life and do great things.” Just like the Reids did after one of their sons, Garrett, died of an accidental heroin overdose during training camp in 2012.

Later that year, Andy ignored friends’ suggestions that he should take a year off to regroup after the Eagles fired him. Instead, he immediately filled the opening in Kansas City, where linebacker Jovan Belcher had just killed his girlfriend before taking his own life in the team parking lot. Reid needed the Chiefs as much as the Chiefs needed him. Andy immediately added to his staff his second-oldest of three sons, Britt, despite his own past of drug and gun charges and jail time.

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Sunday night, Britt was on the winning Super Bowl side as a sober linebackers coach for his old man.

What a moment for Kansas City. What a week for the Reids. The Chiefs honored Reid at the start of Super Bowl week by wearing his cherished Hawaiian shirts and Air Force 1 sneakers, and they honored him again at the end of Super Bowl week by scoring more points than the 49ers scored.

“An-dy … An-dy … An-dy,” the Chiefs fans chanted in the final seconds of Sunday’s game. Reid was Gatorade-d by his players. It was all hugs and kisses and confetti from there.

“Hey, how about those Chieeeeeeeeeeefs!” Reid roared to the crowd during the ceremony as he wore his white championship cap. Tammy Reid had described her husband as “calm as a cucumber” in the lead-up to the game, and soon enough Reid was in his news conference already talking about a potential title No. 2.

“I’m really excited about it,” Reid said. “You get one, you want to go get another one.”

When he was done at the microphone, Andy loaded himself into a golf cart with Tammy, the woman he still calls his girlfriend, and headed for the locker room.

He will surely spend the coming days handing out credit to everyone who has helped him in his eight college and pro jobs, and way back to his time as a student-athlete and aspiring sportswriter at Brigham Young. Back then, Reid wrote columns for The Provo Daily Herald. All these years later, that young journalist inside the old coach knows exactly how this story needs to be written.

Above all, Super Bowl LIV belongs to a vital member of the Kansas City Chiefs. The one in Andy Reid’s mirror.

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[caredogstips]

Beyond Lara Croft: 30 absolutely fascinating female tournament characters- part 1

From mad researchers to stealthy bravoes, we celebrate the video game women who get situations done

Over the years, there has been no shortage of articles about the best female characters in video games. The difficulty is, what theyve usually represent is the sexiest female attributes in video games, which has drawn for some very repetition and occasionally rather creepy-crawly reading.

For this alternative pick, three women recreations writers have chosen 30 interesting and complex samples, who have more to offering than either looking good in an armored bikini or fulfilling the strong female reputation archetype. And as Tomb Raiders Lara Croft has predominated every talk about women around games for the last 20 times, shes been respectfully jettisoned more.

There will, of course, be other omissions, but our aim is to generate dialogue and get readers to propose their own favourites. Who have we missed? Who has inspired you? We want to know.

Anyway, here we go with part one. Oh, and spoilers. Obviously.

Midna( The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, 2006 )

Midna Photograph: Nintendo

Twilight Princess is Midnas story. Yes, Link is a necessary component, but its truly all about this insolent gremlin, whose creepy gibberish usage( actually scrambled English words voiced by Japanese performer Akiko Kmoto) and desperation to save her macrocosm make her one of the most memorable comrades in any Zelda game. The conclusion to her legend will leave many devotees with a single dramatic weeping wheeling down their cheek.

Wynne( Dragon Age: Beginnings, 2009 )

Wynne Photograph: Bioware

Wynne is a very rare example of an elderly lady who is neither a powerless nurturing grandmothers nor a scary wizened old-time crone. She is older, knowing and compassionate, but “shes been” refuses to stand idly by although the world crumbles around her. Behind the gumption lies a past that involves illicit fantasy and a child taken away from her at birth. She also has an in depth knowledge of fine ales. Would make a fascinating addition to being able to any dinner party guest list.

Amaterasu( Okami, 2006 )

Amaterasu, Okami Photograph: Capcom

Sun goddess, primal father and parentage of all that is good, Amaterasu( or Ammy to her friends) is an unforgettable booster. Taking the form of a wolf, she reveals her personality through a variety of lupine looks, tilted heading, wagging posterior, returning her heading away in dislike. Despite being a lady, when she acts the move Golden Fury, she urinates with her leg conjured, a mode more commonly associated with male hounds. Amaterasu then: cracking gender norms since 2006.

Jade( Beyond Good and Evil, 2003 )

Jade, Beyond Good and Evil Photograph: Ubisoft

An inquisitive photojournalist, Jade is competent, courageous and driven by a desire to help those around her. Through the long process of designing the specific characteristics( if you look at the photographs on the ceiling of Jades room you will see they evidence her in the early development stages ), the games chairman Michel Ancel was determined to create a rounded hero. When we are beginning[ Beyond Good and Evil] the first thing we enunciated was, if such projects is different its because its a female attribute who is driving the storey, he said. Shes not like other reputations who look like girls but act like guys … Most women around competitions are cliches.

Ada Wong( Resident Evil series, 1996 – )

AdaWong, Resident Evil Photograph: Capcom

A mysterious snoop working for an unknown busines, Ada Wong appears at random levels throughout the survival fright escapade, sometimes helping the exponent but always seeming out for her own interests first. Highly smart and often numerous steps ahead of everyone else, she is never short of a sarcastic remark at the expense of slower characters. Although she officially first shall be published in Resident Evil 2, eagle-eyed participates will notice that Ada is mentioned in the Researchers Letter file in the original recreation and her reputation is the password to a crucial computer terminal. From the very beginning she has lurked in the backdrop of this serial, with her own amusing agenda.

Bonnie MacFarlane( Red Dead Redemption, 2010 )

Bonnie MacFarlane, Red Dead Redemption Photograph: Rockstar

A rancher trying to hold their own families business together in a predominantly male situation, Bonnie is tough but attending, helping the booster John Marston on a number of opportunities. If you want to know how hard their own lives been, going to see Coots Chapel where youll find the tombs of her five friends. The headstone for one of them speaks: Never milk a bullshit. Wise terms we can all live by.

Tetra( The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, 2002; Phantom Hourglass, 2007 )

Tetra, Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker Photograph: Nintendo

Leader of a gang of raiders, despite her young age, Tetra challenges respect and gets it. There are numerous ideologies about the inspiration behind her call. It could allude to the tropical fish of the same name; it could be a tongue-in-cheek including references to terra, the Latin word for district, or perhaps its short for tetrahedron, in reference to the famous Triforce. Whatever it makes, with crossed forearms and a winking, she cuts a sassy figure.

Cass( Fallout: New Vegas, 2010 )

Cass, Fallout: New Vegas Photograph: Fallout: New Vegas game

Tough, smart, but down on her luck, Cass drinks what she requires, sleeps with who she craves and generally does what she requires hence her hate for slave owners and those who take away impunity. Devotees of Fallout 2 acknowledged in her as the daughter of John Cassidy, a potential companion. Both Cass and John suffer from the same hereditary center surrounding, making they shun chems even though it is doesnt applied them off the booze. New Vegas chairman Josh Sawyer originally planned a string in which video games supporter could get drunk with Cass, the two subsequently waking up to discover theyve been married by an Elvis impersonator. Thats our kind of video game romance.

Red( Transistor, 2014 )

Red, Transistor Photograph: Supergiant Games

A young vocalist trapped in a decompose digital world-wide, Red has lost her voice this is why we suffer video games through the mysterious Transistor who acts as a narrator and guidebook. Red often travels against his hopes, though, putting her own safety at risk for what she believes is the best course of action. Reading about this reference almost entirely through her acts is a mesmerizing road to experience a exponent.

Brigid Tenenbaum( Bioshock, 2007 )

Brigid Tenenbaum, Bioshock Photograph: 2K Activity

A vexing examine in motherhood, invention and amorality, Brigid is the technical genius responsible for Bioshocks eerie, genetically modified Little Sisters. Diagnosed with high-functioning autism, she was raised by a Jewish lineage, then interned at Auschwitz where she helped Josef Mengele with his experiments, deeming the Holocaust with callousnes. During the game, however, she realises the extent of her misery, simultaneously attending for the Little Sisters and regretting her part in their genesis.

Aveline de Grandpre( Assassins Creed III: Liberation, 2012 )

Aveline brightnes, Assassins Creed III Liberation Photograph: Ubisoft

Born to an African slave mom in 18 th-century New Orleans, Aveline is motivated by the sin of slavery, despite being raised by her prosperous French papa and stepmother. While tracking the templars across America, her ability to change her look, thereby altering how others plow her, is apt for the sequence first dame protagonist. Ubisoft may have run into fus for its posture to female attributes, but at least it didnt become Aveline a mere adore fascinate to Assassins Creed III make, Connor.

Ellie( The Last of Us, 2013 )

Ellie, The Last of Us Photograph: Sony

For most of Naughty Dogs apocalyptic escapade, Ellie is understood through the eyes of Joel, the father figure gradually growing to love her. Thats why the Winter assembly( which is something we gain control over her as she saves his life) is so effective, the ending so grating, and the DLC prequel so welcome. But shes very much her own person throughout: a believably stubborn teenage daughter who fluctuates between foolish comedy and adult decisions, swears like a sailor, and has a crush on her best friend.

Clementine( The Walking Dead, 2012 )

Clementine, The Walking Dead Photograph: Unmistakable Games

Notable for the vast number of survivors she manages to outlive, Clementine is an unbelievably capable young girl, evolving amid the madness of the zombie armageddon. At first shes another daughter representation who needs armour; the developers even adjusted her hasten so that she could be mistaken for lead character Lees biological daughter. But by season two she can and importantly when to usage a gun, how to stitch up a wrap, and how to deal with both the life and the undead.

Vella Tartine( Broken Age, 2014 )

Vella Tartine, Broken Age Photograph: Double Fine

Selected as a human sacrifice to save her village from a being, Vella exists among that class of supporters who provision the only appreciation in a world-wide of amiable gulls. She supports prodigious fortitude and resilience in the seek to escape her determined capacity and save others in the process. Surely more interesting than her sheltered companion Shay Volta.

Faith Connors( Mirrors Edge, 2008 )

Faith Connors, Mirrors Edge Photograph: Electronic Prowess

Well get a new look at sci-fi city courier Faith in the upcoming Mirrors Edge: Catalyst, but we already know that shes a survivor who, despite losing her mom in a rioting and running away from home, still gambles their own lives saving her sister. The attribute was apparently designed to express the elegant minimalism of video games, mixing mode and practicality into an iconic looking that is also perfectly in tune with both narrative and environmental issues. Her reliance on deception and melee combat rather than guns scatters her from a mass of first-person heroes.

Part two tomorrow !

Read more: www.theguardian.com

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Break of Reality Asia Tour 2017

I’ve just returned from an epic tour of Asia with Break of Reality, through American Music Abroad, a program of the US State Department. As musical ambassadors, we performed 40 concerts and outreach activities across 5 countries. It is not lost on me that I was abroad on a government-sponsored program engaging in beautiful, human-to-human cultural exchange at the precise time that my home country was taking a very dark turn, but that’s all I’m going to say about that. I never want to forget the experiences I had on this trip, and I figure that a surefire way to make sure something doesn’t disappear is to publish it on the internet. PART 1: Japan Our first stop was the Japanese island of Okinawa, a few hours on a plane from Tokyo. Having only been to Osaka and Kyoto before, I was struck by the comparative calm of Okinawa. We stayed on a quiet street with a beautiful view of the sea. Directly across the street was a humble, traditional izakaya where we took many of our meals. I loved the rustic, wooden aesthetic and the display at the front of fresh fish. We performed four outreach concerts and one big public concert over three days. The first outreach was extremely touching: we played at a school for special-needs children. We didn't talk too much about the music, we just played. The kids loved to clap along to the more rhythmic tunes, some of them jumping up and dancing along. The principal of the school had spent the evening before personally handpainting a banner with our names, faces and instruments on it that hung behind us in the auditorium/gym as we played. It was at this school that we first realized the seriousness of the "shoes-off" policy in Japan. We entered one part of the school, to visit with the principal in his office, and we took off our shoes and put on a pair of provided slippers. Patrick, at 6'7", was only able to get his toes into the slippers and the other teachers at the school found this hilarious. Once we'd had our visit, we went back outside, changed out of the slippers and back into shoes, and then walked to the gym where it was shoes off again. All of our workshops were performed either in slippers or socked feet! We also played for and with a young orchestra, an orphanage full of sweet and affectionate children, and a college music conservatory. The cool thing is that, when we do these workshops, no matter where in the world we are, the questions are similar everywhere. People want to know about our carbon fiber cellos, how old we were when we started playing, how the band got together, etc. Our fearless leader, Shina, was organizing such a visit for the very first time, and she did an incredible job. The success of these visits is very much contingent upon the organizers, and she really stepped up. Our first big concert took place in a grand concert hall in a modest suburb. It was very well-attended, and having performed already in Japan was prepared for the fact that audiences there are not extremely effusive. The applause is generally polite, but this crowd did get excited when we played the Game of Thrones Theme! We also collaborated with a lovely shamisen player named Yui, in a traditional Japanese song. The shamisen is a plucked, 3-string instrument with a round body a bit smaller than a banjo. We felt bad, because she had to tune her strings up a fourth to match our key, and accidentally broke a string as she was tuning! But she was a wonderful musician, and the collaboration was very natural. Food-wise, Okinawa is very different from mainland Japan, and one night we went to a traditional Okinawan restaurant to sample the local cuisine. We removed our shoes and sat at a low table on tatami mats, but Patrick’s long legs did not fit and his feet went out the other side of the table! The boys had a vast array of colorful dishes, most of them pork-based. I had a piece of paper with me explaining in Japanese that I am a gluten-free vegetarian, and when I gave it to our waitress she laughed at me! A pity laugh, I’m sure. It was hilarious. She was kind enough to have the chef prepare a bowl of a unique vegetable to Okinawa—bitter melon. It was way too bitter for me, but I’m glad I tried it anyway. My favorite dining experience was actually kaiten-sushi, or conveyer-belt sushi. This has made it to the US, but in Japan it is so unbelievably efficient. You just order whatever you want from a touch screen at your table, and your freshly-prepared dish comes round the belt in 5 minutes. At the end of the meal someone comes over with a ruler to measure how high your stack of empty plates is, and you pay per plate. Simple and delicious! On our last night there, we visited “American Village,” a complex of restaurants, shopping and entertainment that is popular with the American troops stationed at the military base there. While wandering around deciding where to have dinner, we happened into an arcade. We stopped dead in our tracks when we saw a man playing an interactive dancing game similar to Dance Dance Revolution. This guy was serious—he was dressed in gym clothes and had special shoes and gloves, as well as his own personal fan for cooling off. And his feet were moving faster and with more precision than any human I’ve ever seen! We stared at him for a while, until we thought, of course, to film him. We put a video of him, as well as our amazed faces, on Facebook, and it got 17 million views, more than any music video we’ve ever put up! We also visited the US Conculate in Naha, the biggest city in Okinawa, to meet with the people who organized our residency. It was a small team, but everyone was so warm and welcoming. Most importantly, at the consulate we met Washin-Tan, official mascot of the Naha Consulate, who was giving the mascot of the US Embassy in Tokyo, a run for its money. Washin-tan exemplifies Japanese “kawaii” (cute) culture. Dolores, the wonderful woman responsible for our visit and also responsible for the creation of Washin-tan, explained that the Japanese were the first to figure out that round things are cute. So, everything is round: Pikachu, Hello Kitty, etc etc. Washin-tan is an eagle with a round face and big eyes. He’s adorable! I even got a stuffed Washin-Tan to take with me on my travels. Thanks so much to Shina, Dolores, and everyone else who made our first stop on tour such a delight. PART 2: Malaysia After an extremely long travel day from Japan, including a 7-hour layover in Taipei, we checked into our hotel in Kuala Lumpur around 2am. The next morning, we had a live performance and interview at a local radio station at 8am. We were exhausted but so excited to be in a new country! Also, the radio host was so energetic that it brought up our energy levels vicariously. After the radio, we headed straight to soundcheck and rehearsal for our concert that night. We knew we were to be collaborating with a local musician, Alena Murang, but we didn’t know much else about her other than that she played the sape (a traditional Malaysian instrument). It turns out that Alena not only plays the sape beautifully, she also sings, and is committed to preserving the traditional pagan music from her home state of Sarawak, on the island of Borneo. She taught us two beautiful songs by ear, and we filled in Break of Reality-style accompaniments around the tunes, and she also improvised beautifully with one of our songs, Star. The collaboration was smooth, natural, and fun! We were able to prepare all 3 songs together in about an hour. The concert that evening, which was preceded by a press conference, was a lovely welcome to Malaysia. It was packed with a few hundred enthusiastic people, and in greeting the crowd afterwards for signatures and selfies, we realized that many of them were young people. I’m always thrilled to perform for a younger audience—must nurture future supporters of live music! After the concert, we headed to a breathtaking spot: Helipad Lounge. It’s a real former helipad on top of an extremely tall building, that has been turned into a bar/lounge. There is not a railing around the top, only a ribbon and a few feet of space (this would of course NEVER exist in the US), so the 360 views are uncompromised. We took a LOT of pictures. The highlight of our second and final day in KL was performing at the residence of the US Ambassador to Malaysia, Kamala Lakhdir. She had moved into her home and begun work there exactly one week prior to our concert. But she was extremely gracious, and seemed settled and comfortable as far as we could tell. We played an acoustic mini-concert, and since things had gone so well with Alena the previous night, she joined us again for two songs. It was a beautiful evening, and they set up food trucks (a true American tradition) outside. There were about 120 guests; I’m not sure who they all were but most were connected to the Embassy in some way. We had another early departure the next morning (6am) to catch a flight to Kota Kinabalu. KK is the biggest city in Sabah, a state on the island of Borneo. Borneo is a huge island, partly occupied by Malaysia and partly by Indonesia. It’s a couple of hours by plane from KL. We touched down, grabbed lunch, and headed to a University to give a class/workshop to music students. They were extremely shy to ask questions (sometimes it’s like pulling teeth), but after the class they all came up on stage and wanted selfies and to talk with us individually and ask questions. Maybe they were all afraid to ask in front of each other! We then headed to the library for another mini-concert/ Q&A session. By the time that ended, we were thoroughly exhausted and happy to get back to the hotel. One thing I know about myself, that was reinforced on this trip, was that early morning call times, and especially early morning flights, do not agree with my body, and tend to make me suffer throughout the day. But, playing music and interacting with new people is such an energizing thing that I was always able to get through it. Though it’s a big city, KK feels much more like a beach town than KL. We were staying right on the water, and every night walked along the waterfront through a massive market selling fish, produce, and countless other things day and night. We ended up eating delicious Thai food overlooking the ocean, followed by a visit to a bar that serves drinks and foot massages (really!). We frequented both these establishments more than once during our time in KK. Our day off in KK was one of the most memorable on the tour. We started by taking a boat out to Sapi island (about 20 minutes away), through a bright blue, sunny bay. There, we all strapped on some gear and ziplined between it and another island. I had ziplined once before, probably 25 years ago at summer camp, before I was old enough to fear anything. I was a bit nervous to jump off the platform, but once I did, it was a thrilling one-minute ride above the water. We were with our whole Malaysian “team”: Spencer from American Music Abroad who accompanied us to Japan and Malaysia and then headed home, and Mike, Shannon and Hisham from the embassy. Everyone went through with the ride and loved it! In the afternoon, we got special permission to visit some animals in a wildlife reserve on the edge of the city. We met Joe, an adorable baby elephant, and played some cello for him. Joe was much more interested in eating carrots, consuming about 15 during the course of our 3-minute performance. We also played for some orangutans, and fared slightly better, at least drawing them to the front of their area where they sat and listened and regarded us quizzically. Borneo does have a lot of amazing wildlife. I’d love to explore it more if I ever get a chance to return. The next day began with an interview at KupiKupiFM radio, a name I will remember forever because it was so fun to say., then a soundcheck and rehearsal for our big concert that night. Our collaborations in KK were wonderful: we did “Yesterday” with a guitarist named Roger Wang, which came together really quickly because he’s so amazing, and two songs with a group called Bamboo Woods. They are just incredible! It’s a group of students who play traditional bamboo instruments: flutes, percussion instruments, etc. Their energy and passion for the music is infectious. When we played with them, we didn’t add much to what they were doing because they didn’t need it. There were another couple hundred people in this audience, also young! Thn something bad happened. After the concert, it was pretty late so we went to the only restaurant that was open, a diner style place that was still bustling at 11pm. We were starving, so we were all bent over our menus for a few minutes. After we ordered, I realized my bag was missing. It was hung over the back of my chair, and must have been swiped by someone very quickly. The people at the restaurant said they saw someone running down the stairs, but couldn’t identify him on the surveillance camera. I still have no idea what happened, and was surprised at the brazenness of it. But, much to my relief, my passport was in my hotel room at the time and my phone was in my hand, so I didn’t lose either of these things, and I only lost about $70 in cash. The rest of the night was spent cancelling my credit cards and doing all the other fun things you do when you get robbed. The embassy people, Mike and Shannon, were amazing and helped me every step of the way. I did feel very light for the next few days, only carrying my phone and hotel key wherever I went! Our last day was really special; we started it with an outreach/workshop at an art institute, and then visited a hospital, where we passed out gift bags to sick children and their families, and then performed in the atrium where people could sit and listen to us or look out the window from any floor. I know it sounds cliché, but seeing what those families are going through really put my own problems, such as losing some material possessions, in perspective. It was nice to be able to brighten their days a little with music. Our final evening was spent watching the sunset and toasting a beautiful week in Malaysia. PART 3: Korea The travel to Seoul, South Korea, was another long slog: we left Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia on a 4am flight (we’d all gotten a few hours of confused sleep in the hotel prior to our departure at 1:45am), and we had a 3-hour layover in Guangzhou, China, before reaching Seoul in the late afternoon. The drive to the hotel was also very long, but it was lovely to see a good amount of the city at the magic hour just before sunset. Seoul felt the most like New York, which was comforting to me at this point in the tour, feeling like we’d been gone for a long time but also knowing we were still to be traveling for several more weeks. Though Seoul is a huge, bustling metropolis, it has an austere elegance. Large, streamlined buildings dominate the city, or at least where we went. The first night we just wandered around groggily, and looked up a lot. The next day our first stop was the US Embassy, where we had a jam session with two musicians who play traditional Korean instruments. Kyungso played the gayageum, a visually stunning plucked string instrument, with 12 strings over 12 different bridges attached to a board like a zither. She performed a piece for us—in addition to her masterful playing, we were struck by the fact that we couldn’t totally tell how much was improvised and how much was pre-composed (we learned it was much more of the latter), but the whole thing had a dream-like, improvisatory feel. The Yeo-Joo played on a traditional Korean double-headed drum, and he sang a bit as well. His performance was incredibly visceral, but also complicated rhythmically! He taught Ivan one of the rhythms—they do not fit into Western organizations of duple, triple, etc. The one he taught Ivan had 36 small beats that had to be played before the pattern repeated. Ivan taught it to all the rest of us later, but it took us 3 times as long to learn. Once we learned it, though, we all got obsessed with it, tapping it on our laps in the car rides and trying to play it on our cellos. Anyway, after we heard them play individually and they heard us play a tune or two, we jammed out, and then went for bibimbap (YUM) and artisanal coffee all together. One thing that became apparent on this tour is that Break of Reality’s sound meshes well with almost any plucked instrument! Maybe we should tour with a sape, a shamisen, and a gayageum in the future. That evening was our first concert in Korea, in an art gallery. The venue wins for best backdrop of the tour: they actually painted our logo onto the back wall of the space. The sound guys were amazing as well. We had a great time performing for the enthusiastic audience of around 200 people. There weren’t as many young people in the audience as there had been in Malaysia, but I assume that’s just a function of how the concert was advertised. It’s cool that all of the Embassy-organized concerts we gave (that’s all the concerts on this tour) were totally free and open to the public! The idea is to reach as many people from all walks of life as possible, and I think every country really stepped up to this challenge and brought in healthy, diverse audiences. After the concert, on Kyungso’s recommendation, we headed out to the Hongdae area to get some dinner. We had a lot of fun walking around there, but unfortunately Patrick’s 6’7” body was defeated by some steps and he ended up with a broken foot! We traveled to Busan, Korea’s second largest city, the next day by high-speed train. Train travel is so pleasant compared to air travel, especially considering that an Embassy vehicle picked up our luggage and our cellos and drove them to Busan, so we weren’t schlepping the huge cases on the train. This was a HUGE help for Patrick in particular. Mark from the Embassy got him crutches so he could move around, but carrying things was out of the question. Busan is a large port city, with beautiful beaches and lots of water views. Our hotel was right on the beach, and though it was fairly cold, there was an outdoor spa with a series of hottubs of different temperatures. Korea is spa heaven, I realized. No complaints. We had a wonderful, full program day in Busan. In the morning we worked with a truly inspiring organization: the Dreaming Tree Orchestra. The director explained to us that the orchestra is designed as a welcoming community for the children of immigrants to Korea (many from China and central Asia) who unfortunately face discrimination. The orchestra performed for us in a masterclass setting, and then we played for them. When we got to the improv portion of our presentation, where we improvise a song and then break it down for discussion, one little girl’s hand shot up, and her friend explained that she wanted to come up on stage and improvise with us. She was fearless, and had no problem making up a solo. Her bravery inspired several other kids to join us as well. In the afternoon, we did a pop-up concert at a very cool shared workspace for tech entrepreneurs, and a local radio interview/performance. That evening we headed out to explore Busan a bit. We wandered around the fish market for a bit, but my vegetarian self got freaked out by the many tanks full of eels, so we got a drink at a speakeasy-type bar and some ice cream at an artisanal ice cream place that served their cones with chunks of honeycomb. On our way back into the hotel, we heard what sounded like a Beyonce song being played loudly in the bar in the basement. Now, I love all things Beyonce, so we all headed down to check it out. Turns out it was a live band with a lead singer who sounded EXACTLY like Beyonce! She was so amazing that we stayed listening for hours, through 3 sets, until after 1 in the morning. This singer sang with mind-blowing intensity and passion, even at the end of the night when there were no more than 10 people in the bar. We learned that the band is from the Philippines, and we got great recommendations from them for our upcoming trip there! We said goodbye to Busan the next morning, and headed back in the direction of Seoul, stopping for one day in Daegu (Korea’s third-largest city) for a concert at a beautiful new hall there. We collaborated with a well-known opera singer on two songs, including the well-known “Arirang.” She sounded amazing, and wore the most incredible dress. Somehow I managed not to get a picture of it—oops. Our last day, we ended up back near Seoul, in a suburb called Pangyo, where we played a concert in a HUGE mall. The show was in a real auditorium, and there were tons of kids there. We even had time to do a little shopping beforehand! Outside the hall was a station where they were serving huge globes of cotton candy with cute bear faces on them, apparently free with a certain purchase amount anywhere in the mall. This is the type of adorable and wonderful thing that we saw all over Korea. Back at the hotel, we said goodbye to our team. Mark and Maria from the Embassy, their intern Jay, and Mark’s son Alex who joined us in Busan, all went above and beyond to make us comfortable and happy the whole time. We are so grateful to them for organizing and facilitating a packed week in Korea so seamlessly. PART 4: Mongolia Of all the countries we visited on the tour, I was most curious about Mongolia. I didn’t know anyone who was from there, or had even been there, so I had no firsthand information going into the experience. All I knew was to prepare for extreme cold and extreme pollution. So, leaving Korea, I bundled up into my warmest jacket, hat, scarf, ski gloves, and air filtering mask. When we arrived at the airport in Ulaanbaatar, we were greeted not so kindly by the guys at customs as we tried to get into an expedited line for the sake of Patrick’s injury, and then we waited an extremely long time for our bags. And yes, when we stepped out of the airport, it was FREEZING cold and the air smelled strongly of smoke. By the time we started off toward the hotel, it was already dark out so we didn’t get to see too much of the city driving in. So it was a little intense at the beginning, but once we checked in and met up with Erika from the Embassy who would be our host for the week, everything brightened up. Erika was so sweet and helpful, explaining to us the plan for the week. They had organized our visit to coincide with the 30th anniversary of US-Mongolia relations, and it would culminate in a big concert featuring us and the cultural pride of Mongolia, the Morin-Khuur ensemble. More on this astounding group a little later. The first day was a day off, and though Andrew powered through with some sightseeing outside the city, the rest of us stayed behind to rest. We hadn’t had a full day off in Korea, and had gone to 4 cities in 6 days, so we were exhausted! Ivan and I ventured out on a walk to get lunch, about a half-mile walk away. He was a good sport and agreed to let me drag him to a vegan restaurant, where we were rewarded for our efforts with delicious, warming soups and stews. By the time we got back to the hotel, my extremities were going numb even with all the outerwear, tights under my jeans, and double socks! Even in the sunniest part of the day, the temperature hovered around 0 degrees Fahrenheit, got down to -20 at night. Our first program day started with a big press conference with media. We felt bad when they asked us questions about our experience in Mongolia, or what had surprised us about the country, because we really hadn’t seen or done much by that point! We had to just keep saying that we were excited about the upcoming events, which we really were! That afternoon we performed a concert for about 700 children at the Children’s Palace. It’s an amazing place—kind of an extracurricular one-stop shop, where kids can do all sorts of activities after school. Many of the children were brought in from the ger districts around the periphery of the city. Ger is the Mongolian term for what we know as a yurt, and many people live in them, not just out in the more remote areas but right in the city. Apparently they are very warm and cozy during the winter. Anyway, the audience of children was extremely spirited, but they were also very attentive. They had great questions, especially one little kid in the front row whose hand shot up every time we asked for questions. The next morning was our first rehearsal for the collaboration with the Morin Khuur Ensemble. MKE is an orchestra made up of 12 Morin Khuur (“horsehead fiddle”) players, two horsehead bass players, two western cello players, a pianist, and about 10-15 wind, brass and percussion players. The Morin Khuur is an astoundingly beautiful instrument, and every single person in the ensemble is a virtuoso (we didn’t ask but I imagine its extremely competitive to win a spot in the group). It has two strings, tuned to B-flat and F, a scroll carved like a horse’s head, and is placed in the lap and bowed underhanded like a Chinese erhu. The strings are made of tiny silk fibers, and the sound is dark, mournful, and expressive. The intonation and precision of the group on par with, say, the violin sections in top orchestras in the US. As part of the concert, their concertmaster was to play a mini-concerto with the orchestra, and they performed it for us in the rehearsal as a special treat. I’m not exaggerating when I say we just stared, jaws agape, while they played. It was such sweeping, beautifully music, played with absolute mastery. Altogether we collaborated with them on four pieces: the American and Mongolian national anthems; a piece of theirs, and a piece of ours (Solid Ground.). The piece of theirs is a musical depiction of two white horses of Chinggis Kahn, and it is fast and furious. We were nervous about what we played fitting in with what they were already doing, but it came together very smoothly. The rehearsal was over within 30 minutes, mostly because the group and conductor are so good and everything sounded polished right away. That evening, we played for a Game of Thrones themed happy hour event at Ulaanbaatar’s only jazz bad, which was hilarious. They even had an iron throne set up in the entry so people could take pictures. Before we performed, we got to hear a throat singing performance, which blew me away. I have no idea how they can control the pitch of the overtones, but it’s astounding. After that a contortionist gave a performance. She was standing on one hand, atop a precarious-looking thin silver pipe she had placed on the floor minutes before. It was terrifying. Apparently a huge amount of all the contortionists in companies like Cirque du Soleil originally come from Mongolia. Who knew? Later on, Erika told us that those opening acts were scheduled mostly for our benefit, so we could see these traditional Mongolian things when we had so much to pack into a short visit. That’s how caring and thoughtful everyone who planned our visit was! The following day consisted of another rehearsal with MKE, another media interview and one more outreach at a public library, and the day after that came the big concert. It took place at the stunning, grand state opera house and ballet theatre. One of the things that had made scheduling the event so complicated was that we had to share the space with a production of “Swan Lake” that was being put up the same weekend. When we went to drop off our cellos before the soundcheck we had to be careful not to run into the ballerinas. We knew the US Ambassador to Mongolia was going to be there, but we didn’t know that it would be a totally full house or that the former president of the country would be there! We had a meet and greet with both of them just before the concert, and they were so nice and appreciative that we were there. Some of the concert organizers expressed concern our casual concert attire, given how formal and important this event was, and also given that the MKE members were absolutely decked out in gorgeous white robes and fancy turreted hats, but we stayed on brand, mostly out of necessity (our suitcases were overflowing as it was) but a little out of principle as well: we try not to alter our dress too much based on venue. It keeps things consistent! Plus, there was no way we could begin to compete with those amazing white outfits. The concert went seamlessly, and afterwards we took lots of pictures with the ensemble and audience members. We were so proud of Erika, who handled the many cooks in the kitchen putting this event together with such elegance and grace, and didn’t let the stress get to her. After the concert was over, at the request of the Ambassador, we agreed to go perform a few songs at a big reception she was throwing, also for the 30th Anniversary. Some of the several hundred guests had been at the concert, but some hadn’t, and she wanted everyone to hear us. She did a great job of getting everyone’s attention for us to begin playing, but once one person started talking to their neighbor during our performance, the room became an echo chamber and suddenly there was a huge din. We weren’t amplified, so we didn’t have a chance of being heard, but we shredded a couple of songs for fun anyway. We made a quick exit after that so we could grab some dinner at a restaurant called Veranda, which had become our favorite and which we visited three times in 6 days, and get some sleep before our 5:15am departure the next day. Our week in Mongolia was probably the biggest surprise of the tour—I am a person who hates being cold more than almost anything, and can now admit that I was nervous about being uncomfortable and therefore cranky the whole time. But the minute we began engaging with its kind, welcoming, and strong people all those apprehensions fell away. Certainly the close engagement with the MKE and the beautiful instrument they play is something I’ll never forget, and indeed hope to experience again someday. Maybe…in the summer. PART 5: Philippines We left Mongolia, once again, on a painfully early flight, and returned to Korea on the way for a 7-hour layover in Seoul. We finally arrived at the hotel in Manila around 11:30am and went straight to bed. The next day was a rest day which we used for some much-needed rest. We did make a mid-day excursion and discovered the most delicious dessert in all the land: mango sticky rice. Fresh mangoes in the Philippines are out of this world! I went to bed early that night because our schedule in the Philippines included very early mornings every single day, necessitating an early bedtime every single day! Our first program day included visits to two schools. Both visits included a masterclass component as well as a performance/workshop. In the morning, at University of the Philippines, we heard a young cellist playing “Julie-O” and a cello quartet doing a Beatles medley. In the afternoon, at University Santo Tomas, we heard two cellists playing solo Bach. It was actually the only time on the whole tour that we really got to work with solo cellists, and we all really enjoyed it (even Ivan, who had excellent comments!). The other thing that I loved about these visits was seeing how supportive the students all were of each other. They cheered for each other when they played, and both sessions were packed. The next day, we checked out of the hotel and headed for Zambales, a coastal city about 3 hours from Manila. Our excellent team from the Embassy: Liz, Pong, and Sheila, all came with us. Our destination was Casa San Miguel, which turned out to be a truly special place. Upon arrival, we met Casa’s founder and director, Coke Bolipita. He explained to us that he started it 20 years ago as a place to teach music to the children of fisherman and other working people in the surrounding areas, who otherwise would not have access to this type of education. Since he started the program, he has taught five generations of young musicians (mostly violin but some also play viola and cello). He has it structured so that he personally teaches the 15 most advanced students, who in turn teach more children, so that at any given time there are over 60 young musicians receiving instruction. The Casa has a small recital hall, many guest rooms and dorms, a café and an art gallery on the premises. In addition to music instruction, it hosts other creative people like artists and videographers, some of whom live and work there full time. It’s a beautiful, green, idyllic place. We didn’t leave it for the whole two days we were in Zambales. We conducted many classes and workshops: we worked with the students there, as well as a group from a nearby primary school and the members of the Philippine Navy Band. We were so impressed with the level of musicianship we saw in all of these groups. There was so much joy and enthusiasm in their playing. The second night was the big outdoor concert—they had set up a large stage in the garden, and the Navy band and advanced student ensemble would be opening for us. We soundchecked in the late afternoon and headed back to our rooms to rest and get ready. I walked out of my room an hour later, and it was pouring rain. Hundreds of people had already arrived for the concert, some traveling from as far away as Manila. We waited about 45 minutes, and the rain slowed, so the children went onstage to begin their set. Unfortunately it started raining again during their performance, but they were champs and finished their very impressive rendition of Vivaldi’s Summer. Even with the carbon fiber cellos, we couldn’t risk ruining our mics in the rain, so we decided to move our performance into the gallery space, and do it without amplification since there was no sound system in there. We set up right in the middle of the room, and several hundred people crowded in around us. It ended up being my favorite concert of the tour: no mics, no stage, just our instruments, the music, and the beautiful supportive energy of the audience around us. Of course, the rain ended as we played, so we were able to go ahead with the planned floating lantern ceremony in the field after the show. Everyone was given a large paper lantern, into which was inserted a burning candle, and we held onto the lantern until it filled with enough hot air to float away into the sky. The effect was absolutely beautiful, even though I’m sure it was a massive fire hazard! The next morning, we said goodbye to Casa San Miguel and all our new friends there, and traveled back to Manila. I was more awake for that car ride than I was on the way there, so I was able to enjoy some of the absolutely breathtaking countryside. We checked back into our hotel in Manila, and went out to join the Ambassador in a visit to Philippines General Hospital. There, together with the Ambassador, we visited several wards and the on-site school, handing out gift bags to the children and their families. It was hearbreaking to see the suffering that many of them were going through, but the staff were so comforting and loving to them. We played a brief concert in the courtyard, and some of the children from the school were able to attend. Seeing their smiling faces enjoying the music despite their pain brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion. After we left the hospital, we visited the Mall of Asia, a mall so huge it has its own tram system to carry people around. It was so overwhelming that we didn’t last long, buying some gifts for our loved ones and pushing Patrick around in a wheelchair for a few minutes before embarking on a one hour Uber ride to go 2 miles (Manila traffic is no joke). On our very last day, we got picked up at 5:15am to film a live TV performance and interview on the Philippines version of “Good Morning America.” As you can probably guess, I was cranky and tired, but by the time we actually got onto the bustling set for our segment, it was 7:30 and the buzzing energy in the room enlivened me. Like everything on TV, the interview was very quick and we of course played Game of Thrones. The TV spot was intended to promote our final concert in the Philippines (and of the tour), and it must have worked because we had a large crowd that afternoon at Glorietta Mall. There was a designated seating area in front of the stage, filled mostly with invited guests and student groups that had been brought specifically for the concert. The stage was set up in an atrium, with 3 or 4 levels above us that were lined with spectators. It felt like a really large version of the in-the-round concert we had done at Casa San Miguel. Even though the sound system was pretty loud and boomy and we couldn’t hear each other all that well, we had a great time playing this show. I’m sure we all gave it an extra energy boost because it was our last. We always, we spent a good amount of time after the show signing autographs and taking selfies. I loved this about the whole tour—that we got a chance to connect with our audiences after almost every show, even if my cheeks did start to hurt after a while! We spent our last evening enjoying a meal with the wonderful Liz, and packing our suitcases to head home after a memorable week in the glorious warmth of the Philippines. During the long journey home, I felt a huge amount of gratitude for this opportunity. I think intolerance between differing cultures of the world is largely born from fear and skepticism of the unknown. I've found that becoming immersed in another culture, even for a short time, replaces that potential fear with an empathy and curiosity. Everywhere we went, no matter the language or outward cultural traditions, we met other human beings, seeking and giving kindness, truth, and love.

[junker-town]

20 things you may have forgotten from Tiger Woods’ iconic 1997 Masters win

The most dominant Masters win in history launched a new world for golf. Here are 20 facts, photos, and quotes on the 20th anniversary of Tiger’s first major.

I was in elementary school when Tiger Woods won the Masters in 1997. It was the moment I became hooked on golf. Tiger was a bad ass, which was a weird thing to say about a golfer when you’re a young kid. He was just as cool as other sports heroes like Tory Aikman and Emmitt Smith. He had a style that I didn’t think was allowed in golf. As a result of those four days in Augusta in 1997, I’ve played the game ever since. Each day I become more and more addicted to it and that’s all due to that first Masters win for Tiger. And if you ask many of the guys on Tour today, they will tell a similar story.

It has been 20 (!) years since Tiger took over the golf world. In honor of that anniversary, here are 20 moments, facts, photos and miscellany you may not remember from the 1997 Masters.

1. Tiger was a skinny dude

In the past few years, it has become fashionable to criticize Tiger for bulking up too much. Sure he’s ripped now, but that’s not the point. Back in 1997, Tiger looked like he was 155 pounds. He still blasted it some 23 yards, on average, farther than the second longest hitter in the field. His power was derived from unbelievable club head speed and it wasn’t because he was working out like a madman.

Getty

Tiger follows through in the final round of the 1997 Masters.

2. Opening Nine 40

It’s hard to believe this even happened. We all know that Tiger blitzed the field at the 1997 Masters, but many forget that Big Cat’s historic win got off to an awful start that threatened to end his week two days early with a missed cut. Bogeys on Nos. 1, 4, 8, and 9 led to a front nine 40 for Woods. After only nine holes, it was hard to believe we were witnessing anything historic.

As Rick Reilly noted, however, “something happened to him as he walked to the 10th tee, something that separates him from other humans. He fixed his swing, right there, in his mind.”

3. Back Nine 30

After that front nine 40 on Thursday, a switch flipped. Tiger birdied four of his final nine holes and added an eagle en route to a back nine 30. It was a signal to the world that the Tiger era was going to be different. His overwhelming length and pinpoint short iron play was a sign of things to come. He made the once intimidating Augusta National into a pristine pitch and putt. He never looked back.

4. Fuzzy Zoeller

Not everything was positive during that week in 1997. There were several negative stories to come out of Augusta, most notably the comments made by Fuzzy Zoeller. When asked about Tiger, Zoeller made his infamous comments about next year’s Champions Dinner. Eventually the two would reconcile, but it was a bad, bad, bad look that will forever be attached to Zoeller.

5. A win at the club of Clifford Roberts

Fuzzy’s comments may have been out of line and a stupid mistake, but the truth is, Augusta National wasn’t exactly the friendliest place for minorities. The club’s co-founder Clifford Roberts was known for saying, “As long as I'm alive, golfers will be white, and caddies will be black.”

Woods winning the 1997 Masters had far-reaching consequences and carried incredible weight happening at a club with such history. African Americans and women are now members at Augusta National. It’s likely the success of Tiger Woods contributed to making the membership of the club more diverse.

6. 37 bogey-free holes

During the second round, on the third hole, Tiger made a bogey. He wouldn’t make another one until the fifth hole during the final round. That’s 37 holes of bogey-free golf on the vaunted Augusta National layout. During that stretch, Tiger pulled away from the field by playing those holes in a remarkable 14-under par. It was ova.

7. The Tiger Swagger becomes a thing

We knew early on that Tiger was going to be a different golfer. The crowds from the very beginning were unreal. But Tiger was different in the way he carried himself on the golf course. Remember the Phoenix Open where he raised the roof all the way down the fairway? That was just a precursor to the signature Tiger swagger that would be a staple of his career. At the ’97 Masters, the Big Cat’s signature fist pump was on full display, along with club twirls, pimp steps, and thousand-yard stares.

It’s possible these moves might have been inspired by the Golden Bear. According to his recent book, Woods, who was 10 at the time, recalled seeing Jack Nicklaus celebrate before the ball was in the hole at the 1986 Masters and the memory resonated.

All week long, Woods would uppercut the sky in a way that traditionally reserved golfers never did. He would club twirl. He picked up his tee before the ball hit the ground. He would start stalking after great shots. He walked in putts. He was becoming a star.

8. MONTY!

Always one for a sound byte, Colin Montgomerie provided one of the best during the 1997 Masters. Referring to Greg Norman’s 1996 collapse, Monty dropped this gem.

“There is no chance humanly possible that Tiger is just going to lose this tournament. This is different. This is very different. (Nick) Faldo is not lying second for a start, and Greg Norman is not Tiger Woods.”

Did not know of the Stankowski quote, but I'll always remember Monty http://pic.twitter.com/OLg8QtSEi3

— Brendan Porath (@BrendanPorath) March 22, 2017

9. Tiger played Mortal Kombat

Maybe one of the lesser-known anecdotes to come out of that week at Augusta was Tiger’s love of playing video games. You may know Tiger is a big ‘Call of Duty’ guy, but back then it was ‘Mortal Kombat.’

According to Reilly’s aforementioned game story, after play was done for the day and while the who’s who of the sports world were sent positive notes, Tiger was busy playing ping pong and video games. According to the story, Tiger (as Motaro) enjoyed ripping his buddy Jerry Chang’s (as Kintaro) head off.

10. Finishing in style

Most golfers with a large cushion will play a conservative game in order to secure victory. Tiger either didn’t do that or he was just so good at the time, he didn’t need to. Either way, his back nine on Sunday put an exclamation point on his historic win. He made birdies on 11, 13, and 14. The gas pedal was down and it wouldn’t let up until Nick Faldo slipped that green jacket over his shoulders.

11. Tiger almost missed setting the scoring record

Tiger was set on cruise control coming to the 18th hole. He wasn’t going to lose, but he wanted to best Jack Nicklaus for the all-time Masters scoring record. On the 18th tee someone shouted during Big Cat’s swing and he pulled his tee shot way left.

But, come on, this was Tiger’s week. He found his ball in an advantageous spot. He put his second shot on the green and two-putted his way to the best score in Masters history.

12. “A win for the ages”

We often joke about Jim Nantz’s love for extended family trees and clever puns at the end of golf tournaments, but this line was one of his best. As Tiger Woods drained his putt on the 72nd hole, Nantz called the monumental victory a “win for the ages.”

It remains one of the most memorable calls from years of Masters highlights, but it also signaled a new era in the golf world. Yes, that win by Tiger may be the most impressive in the tournament’s history, but it also put golf in a new place in the sports landscape. In the coming years, TV ratings soared. Purses skyrocketed to a level never thought possible. And maybe most importantly, golf was seen as cool for a change. It was indeed a win for the ages. The moment Nantz uttered that line serves as a clear line of demarcation in the game’s history.

13. Earl and Tiger embrace

If you have followed Tiger at all in the past 20 years, you will know the impact that his father had on his life. Earl Woods taught his son the game and instilled a mental toughness in his son that would make him one of the best to ever play the game. When Tiger won in ’97 he found his father beside the 18th green and their embrace is one of the unforgettable images from that week.

Tiger Woods hugs dad after record Masters win http://pic.twitter.com/JL7OyhkEPY

— Epic Sport Pics (@epicsportpicts) November 12, 2013

14. 270

Tiger blew away the field in 1997. But you knew that. His score of 270 or 18-under par was the tournament record and he also won by TWELVE shots. That major championship record stood for a few years until Cat won the U.S. Open in 2000 by an even more absurd 15 shots.

15. 21

Tiger became the youngest winner of the Masters at age 21. Winning the Masters is an impressive feat no matter a player’s age, but the fact that Tiger was doing it at this age and in an era when young talents did not make waves like this put the rest of the golfing world on notice.

16. 43 Million Viewers

Tiger emerged as a transcendent star of the game and that was reflected in the TV ratings. A record 43 million viewers tuned into to watch the coronation of golf’s new superstar. This still remains the high point for CBS’s coverage of the event. The final round of the ’97 Masters also remains the highest rated final round and major championship of all time. If anyone asks you why Tiger is so important to the game of golf, point to these numbers.

17. Tiger played a different game from the tee

You know that Tiger beat the crap out of everyone in ’97, but how did he do it? He overpowered Augusta National. That week, Cat averaged over 320 off the tee. He smoked every other player in the field by 25 yards. That advantage allowed him to beat up Augusta in a way that was never seen before. This was especially evident on the par-5s where Woods was a crazy 13-under par and often playing a short iron or wedge into the green. His fellow pros could simply not keep up.

18. The impetus to “Tiger Proofing”

Tiger rewrote the book on how to play Augusta National. He dominated the course in a way that that the green jackets had not seen. So the club eventually lengthened the course in an overhaul that was dubbed “Tiger-proofing.” Sure, this didn’t happen until a few years later, but you better believe the talk of changes started in 1997. This one win forever changed the setup of the National.

19. Cheeseburgers, fries, and milkshakes

One of the great traditions of the Masters is the Champions Dinner the following year. After his historic win, Tiger was entitled to pick the menu for the dinner in 1998. Being that he was still a kid, Tiger went with what he ate at home: burgers, fries, and milkshakes. It was a huge hit with the other past champions, including Byron Nelson who remarked, “I’m glad you ordered cheeseburgers, Tiger, because I don’t get this at home.”

20. The New Master

After his historic win, Tiger took over the cover of Sports Illustrated. The headline read “The New Master.” We often rush to proclaim something the new “era” after a super talent wins only to see that era never get off the ground. But this was foreshadowing for the man that would rule the game for the next decade and then some.

[theadventuresofharryandlaura]

ASIA TOUR BLOG PART 1: Japan

I’ve just returned from an epic tour of Asia with Break of Reality, through American Music Abroad, a program of the US State Department. As musical ambassadors, we performed 40 concerts and outreach activities across 5 countries. It is not lost on me that I was abroad on a government-sponsored program engaging in beautiful, human-to-human cultural exchange at the precise time that my home country was taking a very dark turn, but that’s all I’m going to say about that. I never want to forget the experiences I had on this trip, and I figure that a surefire way to make sure something doesn’t disappear is to publish it on the internet. I’ll be blogging about each country separately so as not to give myself carpal tunnel.

Our first stop was the Japanese island of Okinawa, a few hours on a plane from Tokyo. Having only been to Osaka and Kyoto before, I was struck by the comparative calm of Okinawa. We stayed on a quiet street with a beautiful view of the sea. Directly across the street was a humble, traditional izakaya where we took many of our meals. I loved the rustic, wooden aesthetic and the display at the front of fresh fish. We performed four outreach concerts and one big public concert over three days. The first outreach was extremely touching: we played at a school for special-needs children. We didn’t talk too much about the music, we just played. The kids loved to clap along to the more rhythmic tunes, some of them jumping up and dancing along. The principal of the school had spent the evening before personally handpainting a banner with our names, faces and instruments on it that hung behind us in the auditorium/gym as we played. It was at this school that we first realized the seriousness of the “shoes-off” policy in Japan. We entered one part of the school, to visit with the principal in his office, and we took off our shoes and put on a pair of provided slippers. Patrick, at 6'7", was only able to get his toes into the slippers and the other teachers at the school found this hilarious. Once we’d had our visit, we went back outside, changed out of the slippers and back into shoes, and then walked to the gym where it was shoes off again. All of our workshops were performed either in slippers or socked feet! We also played for and with a young orchestra, an orphanage full of sweet and affectionate children, and a college music conservatory. The cool thing is that, when we do these workshops, no matter where in the world we are, the questions are similar everywhere. People want to know about our carbon fiber cellos, how old we were when we started playing, how the band got together, etc. Our fearless leader, Shina, was organizing such a visit for the very first time, and she did an incredible job. The success of these visits is very much contingent upon the organizers, and she really stepped up. Our first big concert took place in a grand concert hall in a modest suburb. It was very well-attended, and having performed already in Japan was prepared for the fact that audiences there are not extremely effusive. The applause is generally polite, but this crowd did get excited when we played the Game of Thrones Theme! We also collaborated with a lovely shamisen player named Yui, in a traditional Japanese song. The shamisen is a plucked, 3-string instrument with a round body a bit smaller than a banjo. We felt bad, because she had to tune her strings up a fourth to match our key, and accidentally broke a string as she was tuning! But she was a wonderful musician, and the collaboration was very natural.

Food-wise, Okinawa is very different from mainland Japan, and one night we went to a traditional Okinawan restaurant to sample the local cuisine. We removed our shoes and sat at a low table on tatami mats, but Patrick’s long legs did not fit and his feet went out the other side of the table! The boys had a vast array of colorful dishes, most of them pork-based. I had a piece of paper with me explaining in Japanese that I am a gluten-free vegetarian, and when I gave it to our waitress she laughed at me! A pity laugh, I’m sure. It was hilarious. She was kind enough to have the chef prepare a bowl of a unique vegetable to Okinawa—bitter melon. It was way too bitter for me, but I’m glad I tried it anyway. My favorite dining experience was actually kaiten-sushi, or conveyer-belt sushi. This has made it to the US, but in Japan it is so unbelievably efficient. You just order whatever you want from a touch screen at your table, and your freshly-prepared dish comes round the belt in 5 minutes. At the end of the meal someone comes over with a ruler to measure how high your stack of empty plates is, and you pay per plate. Simple and delicious!

On our last night there, we visited “American Village,” a complex of restaurants, shopping and entertainment that is popular with the American troops stationed at the military base there. While wandering around deciding where to have dinner, we happened into an arcade. We stopped dead in our tracks when we saw a man playing an interactive dancing game similar to Dance Dance Revolution. This guy was serious—he was dressed in gym clothes and had special shoes and gloves, as well as his own personal fan for cooling off. And his feet were moving faster and with more precision than any human I’ve ever seen! We stared at him for a while, until we thought, of course, to film him. We put a video of him, as well as our amazed faces, on Facebook, and it got 17 million views, more than any music video we’ve ever put up!

We also visited the US Consulate in Naha, the biggest city in Okinawa, to meet with the people who organized our residency. It was a small team, but everyone was so warm and welcoming. Most importantly, at the consulate we met Washin-Tan, official mascot of the Naha Consulate, who was giving the mascot of the US Embassy in Tokyo, a run for its money. Washin-tan exemplifies Japanese “kawaii” (cute) culture. Dolores, the wonderful woman responsible for our visit and also responsible for the creation of Washin-tan, explained that the Japanese were the first to figure out that round things are cute. So, everything is round: Pikachu, Hello Kitty, etc etc. Washin-tan is an eagle with a round face and big eyes. He’s adorable! I even got a stuffed Washin-Tan to take with me on my travels.

Thanks so much to Shina, Dolores, and everyone else who made our first stop on tour such a delight.