7 Must-Try Steakhouses in Las Vegas - Locals' Picks
7 Must-Try Steakhouses in Las Vegas - Locals' Picks
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Top 10 Best Steakhouse in Las Vegas, NV - Last Updated
what is the best steakhouse in las vegas
what is the best steakhouse in las vegas - win
Way-too-soon Ringer Predictions 2027: Who Says No?
What will the Ringer look like after the last pick swap from the James Harden trade? Some predictions below: By the time the last pick swap from the James Harden trade happens in 2027, this is what the Ringer will look like: After years of dodging the IRS, Ryen Russillo is podcasting from extradition-free, tax-free Vanuatu After a public falling-out with Chris Ryan at the Sundance premier of Rango 2, Sean Fennessey leaves The Ringer for substack Binge Mode is six hundred episodes into Dragonball Z After losing millions in a Nigerian Prince scam fronted by Malcolm Gladwell, Bill is forced to write a NFL book that is mainly listicles of contradictory gambling advice. The book is an immediate New York Times best seller Shea Serrano receives the Presidential Medal of Honor for his role in making San Antonio into America's literary hub. Bill coincidentally ranks the Medal of Honor outside his Top 11 Awards list Recent college grad Zoe Simmons takes Liz Kelly's job, prompting a thinly-veiled Ringer Union tweet about nepotism. The tweet gets six likes Bill and Chris Ryan kick off 2027 with the fourth Re-Heat podcast even though The Rewatchables still hasn't done Goodfellas The continued demolition of sports media outlets forces The Press Box to have Jackie MacMullen talking about the reporters she and Bob Ryan hung out with at that one steakhouse in Boston every week With Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics rebuilding, Bill gets really into the New England Revolution of the MLS and the Boston Cannons of the MLL David Chang announces opening of Las Vegas location of his sports basports book concept Any Given Wingsday. The weekly Open Mic Night is a loss leader for the restaurant Kevin O'Connor leaves The Ringer to become the GM of the NBA G League's Maine RedClaws. His first acquisition is Tyrese Halliburton, who hasn't been mentioned any Ringer podcast since February 2020. Chris Ryan, Mallory, and Bill team up for anthology podcast called Only Children Exist Nephew Kyle is widely considered to be at the forefront of the podcast editing avante garde, drawing frequent comparisons to Orson Welles and Donald Fagen Joe House gets two more shows based on Bill's secondary interest: House of (Sports) Cards with occasional co-host Ben Simmons and L.A. Strolling, in which House powerwalks around the City of Angels
A very good friend of mine is getting married in Vegas on New Year's. He asked me to stand up with him for the ceremony and given the history of our friendship, there's no way I would refuse to go. It's been over 30 years since I personally have been to Las Vegas. There are 4 of us in our group and we will be there for 4 days (12/31 - 1/4; Thursday - Monday). We're all in our 50's age-wise, in decent health (no underlying health conditions) and are fully aware of the Covid spike happening there right now. While there we will be masking up and following the Covid/Social Distancing protocols. All of us are staying at a Downtown hotel/casino and don't plan on going to The Strip at all. For 3 of the 4 days we're there, we will be playing golf, so our group will definitely be practicing Social Distancing by virtue of just being on the golf course. I'm really not interested in seeing any shows even if they're available. My questions are:
What will we experience at the Downtown casinos as far as table availability and table limits for craps, etc.?
What are the best/can't-miss places for food and/or drinks (it doesn't have to be fine dining for every meal, but we're not going to be eating McDonald's either)?
Andiamo's (if it's even open) is one splurge I'd like to experience unless there is a better steakhouse.
Are there any must-see Downtown attractions/experiences we need to catch?
If it's open, I'm definitely going to do the zipline down Fremont St. TIA
Matched on Tinder, flew to Vegas to meet for our first date
Just like the title says, the craziest but also most exciting first date either of us have ever had in our lives. A little preface before we get juicy to set the stage. Apologies if I get a little wordy, this is my first time ever writing something like this! I travel a lot for my business and so conventional dating has always been really difficult. Most women I've met can't handle having a relationship that has significant scheduling challenges and potential for last minute change of plans. I started a Tinder account to see if I could meet people in places I travel to frequently, thinking maybe that would be easier. That's how this story begins. I matched with "Tara" from Tinder while on one of my trips, we hit it off almost immediately. She was my type all the way, brown hair, big beautiful smile, fits just under my chin when we hug (I'm 6ft) We spent the next week texting each other a variety of topics and questions, what started out as "20 questions" ended up being 88 questions! Along the way we ventured into past relationships and things they did to us that were upsetting, to change the topic back to a lighter place Tara joked "you know what would be crazy, let's go to Vegas for our first date! Our exes would lose their mind when they find out!" Well, it took on a life of it's own and within 48 hours of that conversation we had both booked flights to Vegas for the following week. We hadn't met in person while I was in her town because I had to fly out to another city and wouldn't be back for a few weeks and we didn't want to wait. So our very first meeting was by the baggage claim at the airport in Las Vegas. When she came down the escalator into the baggage claim I knew from our first hug that it was gonna be a special few days in Vegas. We spent the whole first day there just walking through the hotels and having drinks and enjoying each other's company, she's a big sports fan and her team was playing that afternoon so we went to change and she came back dressed in a jersey that hugged all of her curves just 110% right! I couldn't keep my hands to myself and so we had our first really deep and passionate kiss. After the game we had booked dinner reservations at a really romantic steakhouse in downtown Las Vegas, dinner was amazing, the wine was outstanding, our hands roaming and the looks flirting back and forth. I couldn't handle it, she could've told me to fuck her right there on the table and I would've considered it. lol. After our evening out, we went back to the hotel and as I walked her to her room and we shared some more intense and deep kissing, she told me "tonight was wonderful but I'm just not ready for sex yet", while this was disappointing, I couldn't pressure her or be upset. We had taken this huge gamble by making this our first date and I was going to make sure and be a gentleman and make sure we both had a great time together. We kissed one more time and went to our separate rooms. The next day I had some work to do and by the afternoon we were texting each other trying to make plans for the day, she asked me if I could stop by her room because she needed help with something before we left for the day. What awaited my eyes when she opened that hotel room door is something I can never forget, she was standing there in a skimpy little lingerie number that just barely came to the top of her thong, she grabbed my shirt and pulled me into the room with a "get in here!" demand. My hands immediately went to her outstandingly graspable ass, supple but firm, round and shapely, the thong just nestled perfectly in-between. As we stood their kissing, she began to undress me and my hand wandered underneath her thong to find a soaked and swollen clit waiting for my fingers to play with it, as I let my index finger slip inside and tease her hole I gave gentle pressure to her clit with my thumb. I could tell by her reaction this was getting things flowing quickly and I couldn't wait any longer, I needed to have a taste. I pushed her down to the bed and she laid back while I pulled her thong down and off of her legs, what a beautiful pussy she had presented me with! I slowly worked my way up her legs and gave her 20 minutes of oral like no other I've ever given. She tasted amazing, my beard felt like I had just gotten out of the shower she was so wet. I climbed up between her legs and slid my fully erect cock inside of her. It had clearly been a while for both of us, but I didn't expect her to be as tight as she was. A mother of 3 in her early 30s, I would never have expected this, it was the best grip I've ever felt on my shaft. I'm well endowed and so it's not uncommon for the grip to be a bit tighter but this was as if she was 18 and having her first cock ever. I really hit the jackpot (Vegas pun intended)! I fucked her little pussy in a variety of positions over the next 30 minutes, but when I flipped her to doggystyle things went up a notch. Seeing her gorgeous ass ripple with every thrust I gave it and feeling her "splash" on my every time I bottomed out inside of her pussy was one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had, and I like many men in their early 40s have had plenty of experiences my life. No doubt, this one is a keeper. I pulled her arms behind her back and then pinned her wrists together in the small of her back restraining her while I drilled her pussy for the final 5 minutes of our first go. She squirmed with anticipation and trying to fight off the controlling position I put her in but she was screaming in bliss, not agony, so I continued to restrain her, when she came for the final of at least 5 times, I could feel the energy just draining from her body all over my cock, it was intense. I pulled out to finish on her back but my cumshot was so intense that it shot over her head to the other side of the bed! I hadn't had but maybe one other orgasm that big in my adult life. No, not even one, this was this most intense release I've ever had! We layed there, soaked in each other's release, sweaty and out of breath, embracing each other while we recovered. The remaining time we had together was absolutely magical, not only the sex but just in general we were in total comfort with each other. Pretty incredible given the absolutely ridiculous circumstances of meeting someone for the first time like this. =) Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, we haven't been able to see each other but one other time. It's been a few months now but we still talk all day every day and I can't wait for the next time I get to dominate her sweet tasting, grips tight as hell but gushes like heaven pussy again. =)
Matched on Tinder, flew to Vegas to meet for our first date
Just like the title says, the craziest but also most exciting first date either of us have ever had in our lives. A little preface before we get juicy to set the stage. Apologies if I get a little wordy, this is my first time ever writing something like this! I travel a lot for my business and so conventional dating has always been really difficult. Most women I've met can't handle having a relationship that has significant scheduling challenges and potential for last minute change of plans. I started a Tinder account to see if I could meet people in places I travel to frequently, thinking maybe that would be easier. That's how this story begins. I matched with "Tara" from Tinder while on one of my trips, we hit it off almost immediately. She was my type all the way, brown hair, big beautiful smile, fits just under my chin when we hug (I'm 6ft) We spent the next week texting each other a variety of topics and questions, what started out as "20 questions" ended up being 88 questions! Along the way we ventured into past relationships and things they did to us that were upsetting, to change the topic back to a lighter place Tara joked "you know what would be crazy, let's go to Vegas for our first date! Our exes would lose their mind when they find out!" Well, it took on a life of it's own and within 48 hours of that conversation we had both booked flights to Vegas for the following week. We hadn't met in person while I was in her town because I had to fly out to another city and wouldn't be back for a few weeks and we didn't want to wait. So our very first meeting was by the baggage claim at the airport in Las Vegas. When she came down the escalator into the baggage claim I knew from our first hug that it was gonna be a special few days in Vegas. We spent the whole first day there just walking through the hotels and having drinks and enjoying each other's company, she's a big sports fan and her team was playing that afternoon so we went to change and she came back dressed in a jersey that hugged all of her curves just 110% right! I couldn't keep my hands to myself and so we had our first really deep and passionate kiss. After the game we had booked dinner reservations at a really romantic steakhouse in downtown Las Vegas, dinner was amazing, the wine was outstanding, our hands roaming and the looks flirting back and forth. I couldn't handle it, she could've told me to fuck her right there on the table and I would've considered it. lol. After our evening out, we went back to the hotel and as I walked her to her room and we shared some more intense and deep kissing, she told me "tonight was wonderful but I'm just not ready for sex yet", while this was disappointing, I couldn't pressure her or be upset. We had taken this huge gamble by making this our first date and I was going to make sure and be a gentleman and make sure we both had a great time together. We kissed one more time and went to our separate rooms. The next day I had some work to do and by the afternoon we were texting each other trying to make plans for the day, she asked me if I could stop by her room because she needed help with something before we left for the day. What awaited my eyes when she opened that hotel room door is something I can never forget, she was standing there in a skimpy little lingerie number that just barely came to the top of her thong, she grabbed my shirt and pulled me into the room with a "get in here!" demand. My hands immediately went to her outstandingly graspable ass, supple but firm, round and shapely, the thong just nestled perfectly in-between. As we stood their kissing, she began to undress me and my hand wandered underneath her thong to find a soaked and swollen clit waiting for my fingers to play with it, as I let my index finger slip inside and tease her hole I gave gentle pressure to her clit with my thumb. I could tell by her reaction this was getting things flowing quickly and I couldn't wait any longer, I needed to have a taste. I pushed her down to the bed and she laid back while I pulled her thong down and off of her legs, what a beautiful pussy she had presented me with! I slowly worked my way up her legs and gave her 20 minutes of oral like no other I've ever given. She tasted amazing, my beard felt like I had just gotten out of the shower she was so wet. I climbed up between her legs and slid my fully erect cock inside of her. It had clearly been a while for both of us, but I didn't expect her to be as tight as she was. A mother of 3 in her early 30s, I would never have expected this, it was the best grip I've ever felt on my shaft. I'm well endowed and so it's not uncommon for the grip to be a bit tighter but this was as if she was 18 and having her first cock ever. I really hit the jackpot (Vegas pun intended)! I fucked her little pussy in a variety of positions over the next 30 minutes, but when I flipped her to doggystyle things went up a notch. Seeing her gorgeous ass ripple with every thrust I gave it and feeling her "splash" on my every time I bottomed out inside of her pussy was one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had, and I like many men in their early 40s have had plenty of experiences my life. No doubt, this one is a keeper. I pulled her arms behind her back and then pinned her wrists together in the small of her back restraining her while I drilled her pussy for the final 5 minutes of our first go. She squirmed with anticipation and trying to fight off the controlling position I put her in but she was screaming in bliss, not agony, so I continued to restrain her, when she came for the final of at least 5 times, I could feel the energy just draining from her body all over my cock, it was intense. I pulled out to finish on her back but my cumshot was so intense that it shot over her head to the other side of the bed! I hadn't had but maybe one other orgasm that big in my adult life. No, not even one, this was this most intense release I've ever had! We layed there, soaked in each other's release, sweaty and out of breath, embracing each other while we recovered. The remaining time we had together was absolutely magical, not only the sex but just in general we were in total comfort with each other. Pretty incredible given the absolutely ridiculous circumstances of meeting someone for the first time like this. =) Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, we haven't been able to see each other but one other time. It's been a few months now but we still talk all day every day and I can't wait for the next time I get to dominate her sweet tasting, grips tight as hell but gushes like heaven pussy again. =)
There are 40 D1 Bowl games this year, plus the CFP Final. Most of them have a sponsor in their name, which can be a little silly, but are generally worth millions and play a big role in the finances of the sport. In a post equally suitable for /HailCorporate, I looked into what it would be like if you as an American consumer attempted to reward their financial backing by becoming a customer of each sponsor.
Food
This post is going to be a bit of a journey, so you're going to need your energy. Swing by the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, and buy 1 Russet Potato for $0.50. Head over to the Cheez-It Bowl and buy 1 Box of Cheez-Its for $2.66. Wash down all that starch with a refreshing 8 Oz original bottle of Cheribundi from the Boca Raton Bowl for $2.88. Move onto a main course of a Chicken Sandwich from Chick-Fil-A from the Peach Bowl for $3.05. Your second drink is a Classic Smoothie from Tropical Smoothie Cafe, who just agreed to sponsor the Frisco Bowl yesterday for $3.99. Finish your meal with the 2000 calorie vegetable that is the Bloomin' Onion from the Outback Bowl for $8.99. We've zipped through 15% of the bowls for $22.07, and we're off to a great start!
With our appetite thoroughly satisfied, we're going to move on to support American retail. You can check out your favorite DVD about college football from Redbox for $1 to back the Redbox Bowl. Head on over to Academy Sports + Outdoors and buy a New Era Visor for your favorite team for $17 to support both the Pinstripe and Texas Bowls. Then go to that bastion of Modern Southern Style, Belk, and buy a PS4 controller for an NCAA Football game that may some day come for $59.99 to support both the Belk Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl. Congrats, you've supported American retail for $77.99!
We've barely spent $100 and this is where it's going to start to get a little steeper. If you're not quite ready to drive a car yet, support the Gasparilla Bowl with a Compact Outlaw from Bad Boy Mowers for $6,299 to familiarize yourself with operating a moving vehicle, and keeping your grass trim. Need to haul that behemoth? You can get a Trailer Hitch Kit from Camping World for $235.48. Now that you're ready to drive a car on the street, go to the Cure Bowl's AutoNation, and buy a 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer from the Las Vegas Bowl's Mitsubishi Motors for just $2,704. If you want something more modern and reliable, which you'll probably need for the next section, look to the Sun Bowl for a brand new 2019 Hyundai Kona for $18,990. You're gonna want to keep this one in top shape, so consider getting a Socket Wrench Set from the Liberty Bowl's AutoZone for $29.99, an Oil Change from Quick Lane for $49.95, and a spare Eagle LS-2 tire from the Cotton Bowl's Goodyear for $125. You're now a driving machine with 3 separate vehicles, and it set you back $28,433.42.
Now that your Kona is all decked out, we're gonna take a road trip! Most of the bowls in this section either currently don't have a named sponsor or are still looking for one for 2019-20, or are sponsored by tourism boards. In lieu of buying something, we're going to visit the host cities/cities that sponsor these bowls to learn more about them and support the towns themselves. Let's start in scenic Elk Grove, Illinois, an industrial community that sponsors the Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl. Drive on down to Birmingham, Alabama, where the Birmingham Bowl is no longer sponsored by Jared. It's a relatively short leg to Mobile, Alabama, whose Mobile Alabama Bowl ended a sponsorship with Dollar General last year. Just two states over is the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana that is also currently seeking sponsorship. End your trip in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the New Mexico Bowl is sponsored by New Mexico True, a local tourism board. It's been a really fun road trip that's broadened your horizons through a big part of America. The primary cost was fuel. Gas is averaging $2.64 a gallon nationwide, and the trip was 2,179 miles. At 31.5 MPG (highway estimate), that's just about 69 gallons of gas, which will set you back $182.16, which you can get in 6 fill ups at participating Valero gas stations to support the Alamo Bowl Road Trip Route
Now that you've experienced much of what America has to offer, it's time to get your slice of the American dream and settle down in your very own house. If it seems daunting given the current economic climate, fear not, you have options! 4 separate mortgage lenders have recently lowered their rates and want your business. They're all competing for you to pick them, so consider their pitches as if you were a 5* 'croot, and choose the one that's best for you! Your first option is Nova Home Loans, sponsor of the Arizona Bowl, and says they're "ready to help you achieve your 'Yes!' moment". Your second option is the Holiday Bowl's San Diego County Credit Union, which might be a really good option if you're interested in buying in the San Diego area, but they can serve outside the region, too. The Hawaii Bowl's SoFi is a modern twist on the mortgage lender, which offers a number of financial products in a slick millennial friendly format. The Music City Bowl's Franklin American Mortgage seems to specialize more in refinancing existing loans, to help you get the best rate once you're established. The median sale price for a house in the US per Zillow is currently $226,800, so pick where you want to live and your lender, and the American dream is yours. But home ownership comes with responsibility too. First you're going to need homeowner's insurance, and the Sugar Bowl's Allstate can provide you a policy to cover your home, as well as both your cars for a bulk discount! Getting a quote for this was difficult since it's so individualized, but don't worry, you're in good hands. Now you're going to need to move all your stuff to your new home, and R+L Carriers has great rates on freight shipping. It looks like a standard apartment has 2500 lbs of stuff at a freight class of 75, and I got a quote of $2,858.45 if you moved that from Elk Grove to Albuquerque as an example. You're going to want to start your house off nice and clean, and the First Responder Bowl's Servpro quoted $151 for a deep cleaning. Congratulations, you're a homeowner for the low, low cost of $229,991.61, plus whatever your monthly insurance premium is!
We've gotten through 80% of the bowls for just over a quarter million, and this is where the fun really starts. Since you're comfortable both operating vehicles and making major purchases, it's time for you to really crank things into high gear with a Lockheed Martin F-35A courtesy of the Armed Forces Bowl, with a unit price starting in 2020 of just $80M. And while that's a lovely little aircraft, you probably want something that you can bring all your friends to your next tailgate to. Splurge on something a little roomier with a Northrop Grumman B-2 Stealth Bomber. You don't even need to be an eccentric billionaire for this one, the pricetag is a cool $737M, so your final expenditure on planes is $817M.
It's becoming quite a pricy little experiment, so let's check in on how much we've spent so far:
Domain
Subtotal
Food
$22.07
Retail
$77.99
Automotive
$28,433.42
Road Trip!
$182.16
Home Ownership
$229,991.61
Defense
$817,000,000.00
Total
$817,258,525.09
Boy that escalated quickly! It's time to look at ways to actually pay for this project. The biggest line item is obviously defense, so instead of buying yourself two planes, consider joining the Air Force Reserve, the sponsor of the Celebration Bowl. This is the only FCS Bowl, and while you might not be able to fly in these two particular planes, it could be a great experience to serve the country, pay you a salary, and even give yourself a scholarship for college. While you're at it, it's a good time to set up a 529 Savings Plan via the Rose Bowl's Northwestern Mutual. Before you go blowing all your money on planes, they can help you plan for your financial future of you and any dependents by setting aside pretax income for college. You're going to want some help accounting all of this, and the Gator Bowl's TaxSlayer will sell you their Pro Classic accounting software for $1,095. To make some revenue to pay for this, check out the Citrus Bowl's VRBO, one of the few sponsors that I first heard about through the bowl sponsorship, that will let you rent out your new house for some extra money. Additionally, contact the Camellia Bowl's Raycom Media about filming this whole ridiculous process, and if they broadcast a show chronicling your adventures it just might pay for the whole thing (minus the planes). If you ever run low on cash and need a quick source of credit, the Orange Bowl is sponsored by Capital One, who will give you a credit card to foot any expenses while you're waiting for returns from your documentary.
Hey since a lot of MBMBAM fans are going to be visiting Huntington for this weekend's show I thought I'd put together a list of dining options for those of you who are looking to get a bite to much (SQUAD!) before or after the show. Thankfully Huntington has a pretty awesome variety of restaurants in the area to choose from. (Update 12/18/19: Added a couple more restaurants and some food trucks in the area.) In Walking Distance The Keith-Albee The Old Village Roaster https://www.yelp.com/biz/old-village-roaster-huntington Locally owned coffee shop that roasts and flavors their beans in house. They also make caramel corn and roasted nuts. Sells a lot of gift baskets for anyone looking for a last minute Candlenights gift. They're usually closed on Saturdays but I have talked to the owner and they will be open before the show. Rio Grande on 4th Avenue https://www.facebook.com/rioon4th/ Mexican restaurant with a fairly wide assortment of tacos, burritos, fajitas, etc. Keep an eye out for their margarita specials. The Bodega https://www.facebook.com/TheBodegaMarketandCafe/ Sandwich shop with a little marketplace and beer & wine store. Menu changes seasonally and they have brunch on Saturdays. I recommend their meatloaf and Cuban sandwiches. Marshall Hall of Fame Cafe https://mhofc.com/ Sports bar and family restaurant. An awesome selection of beers and a fairly wide variety including burgers, wings, pasta, salads, and nachos. Great place to watch some early bowl games. Back Sheep Burrito & Brews https://www.facebook.com/blacksheepwv/ A gastropub that specializes in burritos with non-traditional ingredient. They also have sandwiches, tacos, and salads plus they own a brewery called Bad Sheppard in Charleston. Serves a great brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. Jim's Steak & Spaghetti. https://www.facebook.com/jimsrestaurant/ A classic old fashion diner and a piece of Huntington history. John F. Kennedy, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton have all visited here. The spaghetti and coconut cream pie are classics, though the steaks honestly aren't that great. Be sure to ask the staff what deserts are made in house. Austin's At The Market https://www.facebook.com/AustinsAtTheMarket/ Second location of a legendary ice cream shop in the area with dozens of homemade flavors. They just rolled out a seasonal selection of flavors including “Eggnog” and “Chocolate Covered Cherry.” Quicksilver Arcade Bar https://www.facebook.com/quicksilverarcadeba A new addition to Pullman Square. A bar and retro arcade with many classic games that you can play for free. Hotdogs, beer, and an assortment of cocktails with names like “TMNT: The Secret Of The Booze.” Backyard Pizza & Raw Bar https://www.facebook.com/BackyardPizzaandRawBa Gourmet pizza, salads, and seafood. The owners also have a microbrewery next door. Serves a special brunch menu each Sunday. The Peddler https://www.facebook.com/The-Peddler-389850314486735/ Brewpub with gourmet burgers and house made beer. Special brunch menu on Sunday with House Made Donuts. Surin of Thailand http://surinofthailand.com/location/surin-huntington/ Thai food with over 60 dishes! Part of a regional chain. Taste of Asia http://www.tasteofasiahibachi.com/ Sushi Bar, Hibatchi, Thai, and Chinese food under one roof! Navarino Bay https://www.facebook.com/Navarino-Bay-385706381868524/Greek restaurant offering a variety of traditional dishes and house made pastries. Le Bistro http://www.lebistrowv.com/French fine dining and lunch. They also have a tapas room downstairs for cocktails and classy parties. Roosters https://roosterswings.com/locations/view-all-locations/huntington/Ohio based chain of Sports bar specializing in wings. I recommend the Korean BBQ wings. Peace Love Little Donuts https://www.peaceloveandlittledonuts.com/locations/huntingtonTiny donuts in a wide variety of flavors including maple bacon! Hibatchi Japanese Steakhouse https://www.hibachijapanesesteakhousewv.com/ Not to be confused with Taste of Asia. Huntington's original Hibatchi steakhouse and sushi bar. About a block away from the theater. Club 21 At The Frederick https://www.21atthefrederick.com/ Upscale dining including streak, pork chops, and seafood for the fanciest of Candlenights celebrations. Sunset Grill https://www.sunsetgrillwv.com/ Brand new restaurant that claims to offer a seasonal menu with upscale comfort food with locally sourced ingrediants. Paula Vega Cakes https://www.facebook.com/paula.v.cakes/ A daily assortment of cupcakes, pie, cookies, and other pastries. They cater! Butter It Up At The Market https://www.facebook.com/butteritup/ Coffee shop with a small health food market. The owner prides themselves on having a gluten-free menu so it's ideal for people with special diet needs. Dang Good Cinnamon Rolls & Waffles https://www.facebook.com/danggoodrolls/ They serve cinnamon rolls, waffles, and an upscale take on the classic West Virginia Pepperoni Roll. Fuel Counter http://thefuelcounter.com/ Another restaurant featured at "The Market" an indoor shopping center. Custom made sandwiches, pizzas, and wraps. - A short drive away: Nawab Indian Cuisine https://www.nawabwv.com/ Indian restaurant with a lunch buffet. Bahnhof Wvrsthause & Biergarden https://www.facebook.com/BahnhofWV/ Modern German fusion restaurant featuring a wide variety of house made sausages as well as both local and imported beers. I highly recommend trying the homemade cream puffs. Owned by the same folks as Black Sheep. Rocco's Little Italy https://www.facebook.com/RoccosLittleItalyofHuntington/ Classic diner famous for their hoagies and chili. Also offers pasta from Rocco's in Ceredo. Open late on Friday and Saturday nights. Nomada Bakery https://www.facebook.com/NomadaBakery/South American themed bakery with locally roasted coffee as well as empanadas, pastries, bread, and miniature cakes. Huntington Ale House https://www.facebook.com/huntington.alehouse/Local pub famous for their burgers and mac & cheese. Awesome variety of beers and they're open late. West Tenampa https://www.facebook.com/Wtenampas/ Mexican restaurant on Huntington's West End which expanded last year to include a margarita bar. I recommend the Burrito California which is actually a different thing than a California Burito. Tudor's Biscuit World http://tudorsbiscuitworld.com/Probably West Virignia's most famous fast food chain specializing in biscuit sandwiches. Several locations throughout the city. Buddy's All American BBQ https://www.facebook.com/buddysbbqwv/Bar with barbecue. Famous for their pulled pork nachos and smoked wing Wednesdays. Camden Corner https://www.facebook.com/camden.corner.94Convenience store located on the far west end of town. Sells fried chicken and some of the best donuts in town. Jolly Pirate Donuts https://www.facebook.com/JollyPirateWV/ Regional chain with coffee and a wide variety of donuts served 24 hours a day! The Huntington location is fairly unique in that it has a small Greek deli. Cam's Ham https://www.facebook.com/ClassicCamsHam/ Classic 50s Diner most famous for their sugar-flaked ham sandwich. Christopher's Eats http://www.christopherseats.com/ Gastropub near Barboursville offering classic comfort food, burgers, and flatbread pizzas. Has a nice brunch menu. Midway Drive-in West https://www.facebook.com/MidwayWest/ Classic drive-in specializing in hotdogs (locals like them with mustard, onions, chili sauce, and slaw) and milkshakes. La Famiglia https://www.facebook.com/LaFamigliaDeli/ Family Italian dining. Pizza, Pasta, and many other classics. Griffith & Feil Soda Fountain https://www.facebook.com/gandfsodafountain/ Restored old-timey drugstore with a restaurant/ice cream shop. Located in Kenova a short drive from the airport. Rocco's Ristorante of Ceredo https://www.roccosristorante.com/ Fine Italian restaurant hidden in the middle of Ceredo. Not to be confused with Rocco's Little Italy (though they have some manner of business arrangement. Their lasagna is delicious. 304 Pho Noodle House https://www.facebook.com/PhoHouseOn3rd/ Pho U & Mi https://www.facebook.com/PhoUMiWV/ I'm putting these together because one of Huntington's many quirks is that they have only two Vietnamese restaurants and they're next door to each other. I prefer the soup at 304 Pho but Pho U & Mi has better sandwiches on house made french bread. Fratelli's Italian Restaurant http://www.fratelliswv.com/ An Italian restaurant located in Barboursville. This one has a desert case that always seems to be offering something new. Kustom Kreams https://www.facebook.com/kkreams/ Family owned Thai Rolled Ice Cream shop. Just introduced Egg Nog flavor. Tortilla Factory https://www.facebook.com/tortillafactorywv/ Mexican restaurant with an imported gift shop near the mall in Barboursville. Some fairly unique menu items and they sell lucha masks! Jewell City Seafood https://www.facebook.com/jewelcityseafood/ Seafood market with a restaurant that features a regularly changing variety of specials and a few Cajun dishes. Calamity J http://calamitygrill.com/ Bar and grill based on the "Calamity Cafe" a bar that occupied the same space 18 years ago serves. Quirky place with a Tex-Mex influenced menu. The Union http://theunionpubandgrill.com/ Oldest continually owned bar and grill on the campus area. Burgers, sandwiches, wings, and a wide selection of Kentucky bourbons. Open late. Pax Cafe https://www.facebook.com/PAXCafeWV/ Sandwiches, Soup, and homemade cookies. Cicada Bookstore https://www.facebook.com/CicadaBooks/ Used bookstore with a coffee shop and a variety of pastries. Located in West Huntintong's antique store district. Food Trucks (Location may vary): Southside Sliders https://www.facebook.com/southsidesliders/ Food truck that serves up an ever changing variety of tiny burgers. Recently took over the kitchen at The Union. Abby Shae Bakes https://www.facebook.com/Abbey-Shae-Bakes-1626573904326470/ Cookies and pastries. Specializes in macrons. Truckin' Cheesey https://www.facebook.com/TruckinCheesy/ Cheeseburgers, Grilled Cheese, Cheesesteaks, and nachos.
continuing As I was picking myself up off the shooter’s shack floor, I glanced over to the TV. The ballplayers were all wandering around the field, looking skyward. Evidently, there was this hellacious explosion…even the television sports commentators were speculating as to what happened. Whoops. I looked out into the quarry. The wall that I had charged had receded some 75 feet. There was rather a large amount of shattered, blasted dolomitic limestone now in the quarry. Enough, I found out later, for a full month’s worth of orders. We never did find the blasting mats. I think they sort of evaporated. Luckily, the quarry is essentially an open amphitheater in plan view; basically a big hole in the ground with vertical limestone walls. The shockwave of the blast that didn’t spend itself shattering the limestone into which it was housed, blew out laterally, hit the opposite quarry wall, rebounded, and then dispersed, rather energetically, vertically upward. I set off car alarms for a 20 block radius. There were no broken home windows, as the lion’s share of the shock wave was redirected upward. Good thing there were no low flying zeppelins or dirigibles in the area... I waited the requisite time to allow for any loafers. There were none, so I jumped into the nearest wheel loader and began clearing the quarry floor. Hell, I had to so I could open the front gate. As I was clearing the floor, making pile number eight of the loose rock I had liberated, I heard the characteristic whoop-whoop of emergency vehicles. I parked the wheel loader, opened the front gate, and raised the green flag. That was enough blasting for one day. A few minutes later, three police cars zoom into the site. Two were local city cops, and one was a state trooper. “Hi, guys!” I waved, “Nice day, innit?” “Doctor Rock! We should have known.” One of the local boys groaned. “Hey, I did call you beforehand, as per procedure,” I said. Polack the cop walks up, just knowing I was responsible. “Yeah, but we didn’t figure on you terrorizing the entire city.” “Polack! How goes it?” I asked. The other local cop and the state trooper look to Polack, “You know this maniac?” “Oh, hell yeah. For years. Don’t worry, the good doctor is mostly harmless.” He chuckles. “Damn. OK. I guess everything’s OK. Just no more shooting today, please, Doctor. It’s going to take hours to calm everyone down.” He laments. “Yes, sir. I’m done for the day.” I reply, snickering slightly. The one local and state trooper depart, shaking their heads in amazement. This left Polack to follow me over to the shooter’s shack to mooch a cigar and whatever else he can find. “Jesus Hula-Dancing Christ, Rock. What the hell was that? I was all the way out in Whitewatosa and heard you.” He asks as he sneakily snakes a smoke out of my case. “Just some common chemicals in the proper proportions.” I snicker. “Which were?” he asks. I go in the back of the shed and toss him an empty container of one of the parts of the binaries I used. He catches it, reads the label, and drops it like a live grenade. “Binaries? Fuck! Like what you used at the tower?” he asks. “Yep. I used just a little more.” I reply. “Little more? Damn, as I said, we’ve been briefed on the stuff. This shit’s nasty.” He shakes his head. “Yeah. Fun, too.” I reply. Polack grabs a Sprechler’s Cream Soda out of the fridge as I opt for a cold Cream Ale and shot of potato juice. Hell, I was done for the day, so… We sit around and have a chat, just shooting the shit, as it were. Manly topics, so the conversation eventually steered over to guns. “Hey!” Polack remembers, “That’s right! You fucking owe me. Let me borrow that fucking cannon you carry. I want to show the chief a thing or two.” “Yeah, that’s right”, I agree, “When do you need it?” “This Friday, after shift. It’s the monthly qualifiers for us.” He notes. “Are pyromaniacs allowed in?” I ask. “To observe? Sure. To shoot? Nope. Insurance regulations.” He says. “What time?” I continue. “1800 hours.” He tells me. “I’ll be there. I’ll bring my gun and an assortment of loads. Hey, this could be fun!” I evilly smile. “Doctor. You’re doing that thing again. You’re grinnin’ like a shithouse rat. You know how much that scares me. Stop it.” He pleads. “No worries. Friday at 1800 hours.” I reply, grinning. Polack slurps down his Sprechlers, snitches another stogie, and squeals out of the quarry in a cloud of dense dolomitic dust. I arrive back at our flat, after stopping for two frozen custard Turtle Sundaes, to go. I give one to an appreciative wife and I ask her about her day. “Oh, went shopping with Oma. Got the cutest shoes, and a new purse, and…oh well, never mind. You’ll see.” Between bites of Turtle Sundae, she asks how my day went. “Oh, my dear. I had a real blast.” I replied, not lying in the least. Monday, after my first classes, I’m back in the faculty lounge, savoring a Greenland Coffee. There was the usual instructor chatter when Dean Vermiculari walks in. “Good morning, Dean!” I say. “Care for a sit-down and a coffee?” “Good morning, Doctor Rock. Yes, please to both.” He replies. I fix us both a fresh Greenland Coffee and return to our table. I hand him one and sit down to savor my soupçon. “How was your weekend?” I ask the Dean of the College. “Oh, very nice. Had a fine time catching some perch and crappie out on Lake Genever. I see you had a victorious weekend as well. Twice.” He smiles. “Twice?” I asked. “Well, your handling of the tower demolition made all the papers. Very, very well done, Doctor. I congratulate you.” He smiles. “Thank you, Dean. That means a lot. Just doing what I can with what I’ve got. But twice?” I replied. “It wasn’t front-page news, but I saw there was some, well, let us just say, ‘energetic activity’ out at the Silurian reef limestone quarry yesterday.” He grinned. “Oh, yes. I had a job to do and well, as I always say: ‘Nothing succeeds like excess.” I smile back. “Quite. This beverage you’ve created is really rather extraordinary, Doctor. Again, I thank you.” He tips his mug my direction in the age-old Midwestern salute. “It’s a little recipe I picked up on my last expedition to the northlands. I grew rather fond of the concoction.” I replied. “Ah, I see. Marvelous.” He smiles. “Thank you, Dean. High praise indeed.” I reply. “Which leads me to…ah, Doctor Rock. I have another favor to impose upon you.” He says, all serious. “Yes, Dean? How can I be of service?” I ask. “We, as you no doubt know, have many, many fine extractive mineral company connections. We actually receive quite a large amount of funding and endowments from them. They recruit here extensively for our young geoscientists. Now, since Dr. Pataariki has left for industry himself, I would like to appoint you as the College of Natural Sciences corporate liaison.” He explains. “Indeed?” I replied, too stunned for words for once. “Yes, indeed.” He continues, “It will require travel, mostly domestic, and delivering symposia at various companies on differing extractive geological subjects. You will also serve as host and university coordinator when they are present on recruiting tours. There will, of course, be additional remuneration to accompany the added responsibilities.” I slurped my coffee, thinking furiously. “Could I please first discuss it with my wife before I answer?” I ask. “Oh, Doctor. Of course, of course. Take your time. I will not require a reply until… tomorrow.” He smiles, finishes his coffee, thanks me again, and toddles out. “Yow, Es!” I exclaim, “This is one hell of an opportunity. It’s never before been offered to a junior professor. This will cement my tenure-track. It’s going to be a bitch with time, though. What do you think I should do?” “Well, Rock, honey, I think you should do…” Es begins. “No! None of that ‘do what you think is best’ stuff. I want your own thoughts, just like when I decided to go after my doctorate.” I explained. “OK, then.” Esme looks all serious like she’s going to deliver a bipartisan political speech. “Yes.” She says, firmly “That’s it?” I ask. “Yep. You asked I answered. We’ll make it work. We always do. You can’t let the Dean down. You will accept tomorrow without fear or qualms of your wife’s hesitations, of which I harbor none.” Esme proclaims. “Did I ever tell you of the myriad reasons I love you so?” I ask. The next morning I meet with Dean Vermiculari. He’s pleased that I accept and hands over to me the charter. Then the lists of company representatives, their contact information, and some other secret stuff that I can’t divulge right yet. A raft of oil companies will be coming in the late spring semester, so I need to contact each and every one to solidify dates, times and positions for which they’re recruiting. But that’s for then, I have something more proximal for now. I have a Friday appointment with Polack the cop at the town police shooting range. I arrive spot on time with my Casull .454 Magnum pistol, in its carry bag, along with a small duffel crammed with Pyrodex, Tannerite, and selection of specialty loads I had Herman the German, the inveterate gunsmith, create. Herman the German, his actual sobriquet, was this incredible gunsmith, craftsman, and all-around artillery specialist. Have any sort of problem with a rifle, shotgun, or pistol? See Herman. Gun holding too high? See Herman. Barrel warped? See Herman. Need solid gold projectiles for a certain one-off job? See Herman. Herman the German can sort it out. Just never ask him: “How?” “Ach! I’ve lived so long to learn, and you want it free? I’ll fix it, you pay, but I am only one knowing how!” Herman was a cranky old Kraut, and has lived here for as long as anyone can remember. Even my Grandfather had deferred to Herman when he had some particularly delicate machining operation that need special attention and was unique. As far as anyone knew, Herman had no family, but was never at a loss for friends. He was one of the most popular, and well known, but still oddly really unknown, kind of mysterious, old bastards in the entire community. Herman the German liked me because I could obtain for him certain high-energy things he couldn’t. All were entirely legal, but some were sort of out there in the gray zone. He also liked that I was educated, as he held education in the highest esteem. He also liked that I was of German extraction myself. I often made it a point to drop by with odd and unusual high-octane potables while never expecting anything in return other than a story or a shared cigar. Herman created some special loads for my .454 Magnum, which he prized. “I like your gun, Doctor Rock, it is so big! I can still see well enough to build things for it.” He told me one day over cheroots and Schnapps. Herman was a character to be certain. It must have been the pixie in him to dream up some of the specialty rounds he created for me to share with the local constabulary. He lived out in the county by himself in an old farmhouse. He had a full machine shop in his basement, complete with forge, metal handling equipment, and a firing test range. He handed back my .454, rather solemnly. “Doctor, I am afraid to say I couldn’t test all the special rounds I’ve created for you. I need to patch the hole in the cinder blocks in the downstairs range. Your gun punched right through the back…” he apologized. Now, Herman does all sorts of work on the local’s deer rifles, the police’s ordinance and has even worked some with the Baja Canada National Guard. Some of the little novelties he’s dreamed up for me are the first to escape his homemade basement test range. I felt oddly honored. After proving who I was to the nice range officer, I looked around trying to find Polack. “It’s 1550. Where the hell is Polack? I wondered. “Rock! Over here.” Polack calls to me. He motions me outside to the police department’s tactical outdoor range. I had thought all along he was referring to the indoors police target range. This might pose some problems. The tactical range was a series of clapboard shacks, all setup and designed to represent some downtrodden urban inter-city landscape. There were a couple of junked cars, broken sidewalks, storefronts, houses, bus stops…in short, all things necessary to replicate the seediest sections of a settlement where malefactors live and breed. The cops all run around this range, shooting at bad guy pop-up cut-outs and avoid the not-bad-guy pop-up cut-outs. They’ve got music blaring, firecrackers going off, all trying to re-create a shady deeply urban environment. Points are awarded by the accuracy of fire on the run, time to maneuver the course, and the ability of not gunning down innocent bystanders. It is not the best place to test a .454 Cusall. This hand cannon recoils like a fundamentalist Christian being solicited for donations to Anton LaVey, shoots flames and incandescent gasses like Smaug after a hard night of drinking and a stop at the Taco Bell buffet, is louder than a dime-store Karen demanding to see a Manager, and more powerful than a Ghost Pepper suppository. To quote Joe Piscopo: “It shoots through schools.” Especially faux-schools made of plywood. A .32 or .38 cop special is the correct weapon here; even a 9mm is a little heavy. Enough power to make a serious dent, easy on control, light on the recoil…a good tactical weapon. But, nothing succeeds like excess. Polack’s Chief is running around, capping off his ‘big ol’ .44 Magnum, and making the valley echo. He punches considerable holes in the pop-up cut-outs, but has such a hard time handling the recoil, his score is barely passable. Polack runs his test with his standard 9mm sidearm and qualifies easily. However, he’s nowhere near done with his Chief yet. I suggest to Polack we have a shoot-off. And since a .44 Magnum bullet ‘is so close to a .454 Magnum’, which it isn’t…the .454 Casull generates nearly 85% more recoil energy than the .44 Magnum; that we’d need something other than holes punched in plywood to judge the efficacy of each. We are literally just down the road from Max Yazzer’s farm and market. They’re the place you go for your Halloween jack-o-lantern. However, now, he has a surplus of melons. I think you can see where this is headed… I borrow Polack’s personal conveyance and run down to Max’s farm. I return with a trunk-load of elderly, overripe, cheap as chips, melons. Watermelons, Honeydews, Musks, and Casabas. We place them in strategic areas on the course, five for the Chief to find, and five for Polack. A .44 vs. a .454 melon-wise results in pretty much the same sort of mess: high-velocity fruit spatter. Although, the Chief was very impressed by the report of the .454. So, after running the tactical-melon course, clear demarcation of a winner was elusive. OK, OK, clever dicks. How about this? A standing shoot-off? We’ll set up 3 melons each at 30, 20, and 10 yards. Beginning at 30 yards, your time will be until you take out all three melons. But, they’re not going to be in a straight line, we’re going to make them somewhat camouflaged. You will stand in one small demarcated area, hunt those miscreant melons, and bring them to justice. Fastest time and greatest display wins, as determined by the Police Peanut Gallery. Polack and the Chief agree. The Chief goes first and dispatches the melons, with a fair amount of spatter, in 15.3 seconds. Not bad. Polack is next. He wipes out all the melons and creates some thoroughly impressive displays with Herman’s ‘special’ rounds. Normal ballistics for the .454 are, for a 250 grain (16 g) bullet, a muzzle velocity of over 2,400 feet per second, developing up to 2,800 ft-lb of energy. Herman’s hot loads are double that. Polack wins the day on impressive high-velocity melon distribution, but misses, so close, with a time of 17.0 seconds. Recoil’s a bitch. Then there are Herman’s ‘specialties’. The Chief is duly impressed and even comments that his ears are ringing even with the ear protectors. He asks to inspect the weapon. He is even more than duly impressed. Polack knows what’s up and asks the Chief if he’d like to give a whirl. Of course, the Chief can’t back down. Polack loads the .454 with 5 of Herman’s specialties: hollow-point rounds loaded hot, compressed, and tipped with alkaline earth metals, like metallic sodium and metallic potassium… We set up the nastiest, glorpiest, just barely-holding-together, overripe, laced with Tannerite (an impact-actuated low-explosive) watermelon at the ‘Concealed Carry’ distance of 5 meters. We slowly fade back into the distance to avoid the inevitable ‘Gallagher reaction’. The Chief fires one, and just nicks the top of the melon. Don’t laugh, with the type of recoil and heft of the sidearm, and tensing up in anticipation, it’s easy to be off the mark initially. The second round impacts dead-center. Now, alkaline earth metals and water don’t get along really well. In fact, their relationship is explosive. Especially explosive when delivered at 2,900 feet per second. The Chief catches a huge smattering of vitamin-packed watermelony back blast goo. He’s not entirely happy. He looks positively grisly with all that blown-up melon schmoo on his nice, neat uniform. He returns my gun and bans me from ever showing up at the police range again. Polack is on traffic duty for the next month. He figures it was well worth it. Back at the flat, Esme is shaking her head and wondering if I’ll ever grow up. “I may grow old, but I’ll never grow up.” I reply. I see I have several missed phone calls. Ah, me; no rest for the weary. Back to company-university liaison duties. After I had contacted these companies, I receive no less than 12 requests for symposia, talks, and seminars to be given to various level of industrial scientific employees in their respective companies. I am now slated to give academic conferences on stratigraphy, sedimentology, and seismic structural geology to different companies in Houston, Oklahoma City, Denver, Casper, Corpus Christi, New Orleans, and Tulsa. In the next 12 weeks, I’ll be giving no less than 8 talks in seven cities. I speak with Dean Vermiculari on how best to handle the situation. He understands and appoints two graduate student teaching assistants to handle my classes while I’m on the road. That relieves me of being physically there, but I still have to grade papers, compose lesson plans, and keep things running smoothly until finals. Besides giving the talks, there’s travel to oil fields, production facilitates, manufacturing plants, hotels, restaurants while I’m in town…the pace is excruciating. I’m gone more than I am at university. Plus in my time back home, I’m still the ad hoc master blaster for the limestone quarry. Then, there’s the companies arriving on campus, and the roles are reversed. Now I’m the welcome wagon and have to sort out the logistics of receiving the company representatives. I need to set up the colloquia to introduce the companies to the prospective students, arrange lodging, arrange passes for the university, transportation, “Meet-and-Greet’s, ad infinitum. I knew this was having a bit of effect on me when I came back to the flat after one particularly grueling ordeal of canceled flights, full hotels, missed connections and lukewarm reception by the company workers. “Hello”, I said, as I walked in the flat, “I believe you have a reservation for…” Esme just stood there, wondering if I was having a laugh. No, I wasn’t. I was completely hallucinating from road weariness, lack of sleep, jet lag, and total disorientation. This continued on for the next approximately 18 months. Esme was beginning to have second thoughts about all this. My teaching load was diminished by one whole introductory course. However, I was still flying hither and yon, delivering symposia, meeting with young geoscientists and getting to know the ins-and-outs of the Oil Industry. I found it particularly fascinating. Time marched on and it was once again it was the recruiting season. We had no less than eight oil companies visiting the university in their quest to swell the roster of their junior scientists. I’m still busier than a one-armed paperhanger in a windstorm, but have settled into a groove of sorts. I know the company recruiters and they now know me. I’ve actually struck up friendships with several. Particularly since I take them to the best local restaurants and bars after their recruiting duties are finished. I’ve met with recruiting representatives of Shrill Petrol, Mexxon, Nobil, Nocono Oil, Flug, Geddy, Brutish Petroleum, and Qexaco. The recruiting season is winding down and I find myself with Red (not Adair), of Nocono Oil. “Well, Doctor Rock”, Red states, “Another fine recruiting run. We’ve snagged two of your young geologists and one geophysicist. I’d say it was almost a perfect score.” We’re sitting in the Norton’s Steakhouse. After a couple of prime pink porterhouses, we’re working on the post-dinner double vodka and bitter lemon for me, and Lagavulin for Red. “Almost perfect?” I ask. “Yeah. There’s been this one small nagging concern from our company higher-ups.” Red continues. “What’s that?” I ask. “We need some more senior people. For one thing, we’ve recently opened a new petroleum laboratory down in our Houston office. Going to need some serious talent to run that show.” Red says. “I see”, I reply, “And…?” “We need mentors. Those with varied and far-flung knowledge. They must be well educated, global in experience and stature, with an [ahem] diverse set of skills.” Red notes. “Whew”, I agree, “That’s a tall order. You want my help with names of possible candidates? Is that it?” “Not as such, Doctor.” Red drains his drink, motions for me to do the same, and orders another round. Our drinks arrive and Red downs half his in one gulp. “Well, then”, I continue, “How can I help?” Red chuckles, “For someone so educated, you can really be thick as two short planks at times.” I sit back, and sip my Old Thought Provoker. The mercury-vapors light off. “No!” I say, incredulously. “Oh, yes.” Red smiles. “No?” I ask, slowly taking in the possible effects of what he’s hinting at… “OK, Doctor Rocknocker”, Red gets all serious and corporate, “We’d like to offer you a position at Nocono Oil as Senior Laboratory Manager and Head of Corporate Continuing Education.” You could have knocked me over with a grenade. I was stunned. I fumbled with my drink. “Red, you old con artist” I reply, “Is this a set-up?” Red, serious as a heart attack, looks directly at me and replies, “Doctor Rock, absolutely not, it’s a genuine offer.” He slides over a folder with some papers inside. “Here are the particulars.” Reeling, I accept the folder. I open it and right after the corporate logos and legal bullshit, I see a tall figure with a whole raft of zeros trailing behind it. I read furiously. The job would be both interesting and challenging. It would be in Houston, with travel and teaching at all other company outposts on a regular basis. I reexamine that figure from before and verify that I’m not now hallucinating. The job comes with furnished, corporate-paid housing, incredible benefits, loads of opportunity for advancement, more opportunity to travel, really generous vacation time… “Right. On the level?” I ask again. “Yep.” Red bluntly says. “Well”, I gulp, “you know I have to discuss this with Esme”, whom he’s met several times previous. “Of course, and you probably want to finish out the semester, correct?” red asks. “Oh, yes.” I reply. There would be a monsoon of paperwork and other grunt work I’d need to conclude or hand over if I were to accept this offer. “OK, then”, Red finishes his drink, motions for me to do the same, a real rarity; but I was in another dimension at this point. He orders another round and sits back, waiting on a refill. “You have two weeks to reply” Red states. “I know that’s not a terribly long time, but we need to fill this position ASAP. Can I ask for that? Your answer, yea, or nay, within a fortnight?” Red demands. “Yes”, I reply. “I at least owe you that.” And that was the end of the discussion for the night about me joining the private sector. We stayed a few more hours, chatting, smoking my cigars, and discussing everything but the lumbering elephant in the room. We part outside as I need to head back to our flat. Red wants to go downtown to one of those “Gentleman’s Clubs” he’s heard were so famous at the time. I was flummoxed the whole cab ride home. It was late when I returned, but I simply had to wake Es with the news. “Rock, for pity’s sake, its 2 o’clock in the morning!” Es protests. “Can’t this wait until later?” “Sorry, my dear” I reply, probably as serious as I ever had with Esme. “This is a potential game-changer.” “What is it? Are you OK?” Esme trembles. “Oh, I’m fine. Better than fine.” I reply. She’s relieved. “Then what’s so important?” she asks. “Um…how would you like to move to Houston?” I ask. “You going to teach at Cougar High (University of Houston)?” she inquires. “Nope. Brace yourself. I’ve been offered a job with Nocono Oil.” I finally spill the beans. Esme is slightly stunned and sits down. I go to the wet bar, fix me a bracing potato juice and citrus and Esme a stiff white Zinfandel. I hand her the wine and she is still semi-dazed and digesting the information. I slurp a good portion of my drink, retrieve her Sobranjes and me a cigar from my Turkmenistan humidor. I sit on the couch next to her and hug her soundly. “Esme? Es? Earth to Es? You in there?” I joke. “Oh, Yeah. Rock. Really? Hang on”, she leaves, returning with her housecoat as this might take a little time. “So?” I ask, “Your thoughts. Now! Immediately! Initial reaction!” I try to jar her back into reality. “Well, what do you want?” she asks. “C’mon, my dearest. You know I hate that. No, what do you think? What do you honestly think?” I reply. We both fire up our smokes, and I refresh our drinks. We return to the dinner table where Red’s folder lies. “Es, here. Look at this.” I say, sliding the portfolio over to her. She reads like a hungry man at a Vegas casino buffet. I can tell where she was stopped by something extraordinary. “This is for real?” she asks, “Red’s not pulling a fast one?” “Nope. It’s the genuine article”, I tell her, “He needs my reply within two weeks.” “Rock, Rock…I just don’t know. It’s a lot to process at 0230 in the morning. Let’s go to bed and have a think in the morning. You have the luxury of at least that amount of time.” She notes. “Right again, as usual”, I say, “Stuff it. It can wait.” We toddle off to bed. The next morning, over Cuban omelets and Greenland Coffees, we sort through the particulars. “Rock, it’s an extraordinary offer. But, do you want to leave teaching? I remember how you got all animated by Dean Vermiculari giving you the corporate liaison job and how that would improve your shot at tenure.” She notes. “I just don’t know. I’m still shell-shocked.” I tell her. “Let me go to school and we’ll pick this up tonight. We both have work to do no matter what. Oh, bloody hell. I hadn’t considered your job. Another wrinkle in the mess.” “Don’t you worry about that”, Esme smiles. “One catastrophe at a time.” “I do so love you.” I hug her soundly. “Think I should mention this offer to anyone at school?” “No. Definitely not.” Esme shakes her head. “Let’s figure this out on our own.” “I agree”, I say, kiss her and depart for school once again. The next week was a blur. Recruiting duties were dragging and I was being preoccupied. Even my students noted the lack of in-room explosions lately. I spend the next Saturday at the quarry, doing some small amount of blasting. I quiz the quarry owners about their progress in acquiring a new master for the quarry’s operation. “Oh, Doctor Rock” they gush, “You’re doing such a fine job, we haven’t really looked. Why do you ask?” “No particular reason at this time, I reply, “But perhaps you might want to begin looking” The chinks in my armor were finally starting to show. Sunday was spent out on Sliver Lake, with Esme and me chasing the elusive crappie, perch, and bucketmouth bass. It also gave us a chance to clear our heads from work, school and other such intrusions. We both needed a bit of downtime. Later that night, after a meal of beer-battered fillet of crappie and perch on the barbie, we sit down at the dinner table. The portfolio sits there, taunting us. I get up, makes us both our drinks, sit down and declare that this is it. “Es, darling” I say, “its nut-cuttin’ time. We need to make our decision.” “You’re right.” Es agrees, “Time for risk-reward analysis. Get some paper and some pencils.” We spend the next few hours listing the pros and cons of accepting the Houston position or staying here and pursuing my tenured professorship. After several hours, I stretch, stand, and go to the fridge. I retrieve the bottle of Bollinger Les Vieilles Vignes Francaises I had purchased the other day. I return to the table with the wine and the glasses, pop the cork and pour us both a glass of high-brow bubble water. I hug and kiss Esme like I had just returned from a long, solo expedition. “Esme, my darling. I’d like to propose a toast. First to us. Hа здоровый!” “Cheers!” Esme replies. “Secondly to Red, Dean Vermiculari, the quarry guys, Polack the Cop, and all the others that makes our life weird around here.” “Seconded”, Es echoes. “Finally: to Houston, Texas. Our new home!” I finally add. The next morning, Dean Vermiculari peers over the top of his pince-nez glasses. He’s not looking overly happy with me right now. “Why is it, Doctor, that everyone that receives the job of corporate liaison ends up going with corporate?” he asks. “Perhaps it’s just the exposure to another world that exists beyond academia.” I reply, truthfully. “Doctor Rocknocker,” the Dean gravely states, “I am not at all happy about your decision. We had great hopes for you here and you were riding right up the tenure track. Another five years and it would have been assured.” “Five years is a long time, Dean”, I state the obvious. “Yes, indeed.” The Dean replies frostily. “However, you are young. Perhaps you need to get this private sector nonsense out of your system, then you can return to academia where you belong.” “Perhaps, perhaps”, I reply. “Please, do consider this option down the road. You and your antics will be missed here, by students and faculty alike.” He says. “I will, Dean, I promise.” I reply “However, for now, it’s time for my boot heels to be wanderin’.” “Doctor, I will miss your strange and unique way of looking at life. I reluctantly accept your resignation at the end of the current semester and wish you all the best in your newest endeavors. Please remember us when corporate support for academia is mentioned in your new company.” he says. “I promise you, Dean, I will not forget what I’ve learned here and what you’ve taught. It’s the least I can do,” I reply. “I will never forget my roots.” “All I can ask”, he concludes. He stands to shake my hand. We shake and my audience is over. I resign from the quarry a week later. They haven’t found a new blaster but wish me well on my new journey. I tell them I’m here until the end of the semester, so I won’t leave them high and dry. I tell Polack the Cop about all the goings-on. “Who the hell can I roust for beer and cigars now?” He whines. “Let me know when you get to Texas if they need any cops. I wouldn’t mind trying’ that. Hell, maybe a Texas Ranger!” “A Cheesehead Ranger…?” I assure him I will and pass a box of cigars to him as a parting gift. He gives me a mayoral-signed get-out-of-jail-free card. “Now you can drive that old Harley just as crazy as you want.” He chuckles. “Thanks, Polack.” I say, shaking his hand. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I sold my bike a week earlier. Red was very chuffed with the news. “Snagged me a big one this time!’ He laughed, over the phone. There was enough paperwork, considerations and decisions to be made to last the remaining time Esme and I had in-state until our move. Already, a moving company had arrived, done inventory, and was preparing for our move to Houston. Esme resigned her position and decided she wanted to take some time off. She wanted to be a housewife, a colleague, and not have to work for once at an outside job. My new position allowed for that in spades. Besides with her credentials, anytime when she wants to re-join the workforce, there are myriad opportunities in the Bayou City. We made the choice of housing out west of town, in Katy, Texas. We could have chosen Sugarland, Addicks, Greenspoint, Greenway, or the Memorial area. However, these west Houston company properties were closest to the job and largest in square footage. My students got wind of my resignation and relocation. They threw me an unexpected farewell party at the Gast Haus. It was nickel-beer night and since they were footing the bill, it all worked out just fine. I would miss the old place. The camaraderie, the seasons, the university; hell my home these last many years. I’ve been on many, many expeditions, but I always returned home. Now, home was moving and was awaiting our arrival. Esme and I said our farewells to our families as well. We were the first through college, the first ones to travel international, the first Doctor in the family, and the first to leave the state. That’s a lot of familial firsts. I had to keep reminding everyone it wouldn’t be the last. Hell, we’re just moving to Texas, it’s not like we’re off to Greenland or Mongolia… [Gasp] We saddled up Es’s old Chevy Nova, took one last, lingering look in the rearview mirror, and said fare thee well to our previous lives. “We’ll be back. Someday. I promise” I told the city of our youth and young married adulthood. We decided to drive to Houston because we had the luxury of a bit of time. We needed the stretch to chew over some interpersonal and private things on the way to the next chapter in our lives. Besides, the weather was good, the roads ahead open and clear, and Texas had no ‘Open Container’ law, yet. We pointed the old Nova south and hit the gas. A week later, we’re wandering around our new house in Katy, Texas. Our belongings, scant though they may be, arrived the day after we did. Esme and I spent the next couple of day rearranging the house, buying necessary domestic bits and pieces, and getting to know our new neighborhood. First thing, though, Esme wanted to replace the old Nova. I concurred, but insisted we keep it as a second car and went out to purchase our first new car as a couple. I wanted a Land Rover. We ended up with a glossy black Toyota 4-Runner. Close enough. I was scheduled to show up at my new job the next Monday. I had my own parking spot, complete with “Reserved for Dr. Rock” painted on the bumper block. I was shown my new lab and was introduced to my seven laboratory assistants. I was shown the catalogs I could use to order what I needed and went over the requisition procedures. I was trotted around to meet the company CEO, CFO, CIO, VPs and many, many more company executives and managers. I’ve met with presidents and heads of state, I was impressed but not overly. They seemed like a more or less nice bunch of chaps. Almost exactly five weeks to the day from our arrival in Houston, I come home, yelling “Darling, I’m home!” Esme comes to greet me with a rib-rearranging hug. She tells me to sit at the dinner table, where my long hard day at the office drink, cigar, ashtray, and lighter are already set. “How was work, dear?” she asks, sitting down with her Perrier water. “Oh, it’s going great. The knotheads let me have an open-ended budget until I get the labs sorted just the way I want it. These guys pay their bills on time and I have carte blanche at Wards Scientific, and other supply houses. My crew is great, no interpersonal crapola, and hard workers. I can smoke in my office and no one dares give me shit about my cigars. I’m getting to know the exploration department quite well. They’re really interested in our expeditions and are more interested in my opinions of their new exploration directives.” Esme just smiles and sips her water. “Odd”, I thought. “That’s great, dear.” She says. “I am so glad to hear it.” “Me too”, I say, “How are you holding up after all these weeks alone?” “Oh, I’m getting used to it.” She smiles. And smiles. Beatifically. Glowing. “What?” I ask. “Remember what we talked about in the car on the way down here?” She asks. “We talked about a lot of things…” I say, suddenly my eyes grew very, very wide indeed. “Yes. You’re going to be a father. I’m pregnant, Rock.” Esme smiles.
MGM Resorts Closes All Las Vegas Properties Effective March 17
This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 34%. (I'm a bot)
MGM Resorts International just announced that it will temporarily suspend operations at its Las Vegas properties on Tuesday, March 17. Casino operations will close on Monday, March 16, followed by hotel operations, says Jim Murren, chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts in a press statement. "As the coronavirus pandemic has intensified in the United States over the past week, the people of MGM Resorts have worked to try to find a way to continue delivering high quality hospitality and entertainment experiences for our guests while keeping our employees doing the jobs they love in a safe environment. Welcoming people from around the world is what we do, and our employees have tremendous pride in their work."Despite our commitment to dedicating additional resources for cleaning and promoting good health, while making difficult decisions to close certain aspects of our operations, it is now apparent that this is a public health crisis that requires major collective action if we are to slow its progression. "Accordingly, we will close all of our Las Vegas properties as of Tuesday, March 17, for the good of our employees, guests and communities. This is a time of uncertainty across our country and the globe and we must all do our part to curtail the spread of this virus. We will plan to reopen our resorts as soon as it safe to do so and we will continue to support our employees, guests, and communities in every way that we can during this period of closure." MGM Resorts will not be taking reservations for arrivals before May 1, but that situation may change. Major chefs affected include Wolfgang Puck with Spago at the Bellagio, Lupo at Mandalay Bay, and Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at MGM Grand; Joël Robuchon's two restaurants at the MGM Grand; Roy Choi's Best Friend at the Park MGM; NoMad Restaurant and NoMad Bar at the NoMad Hotel; Tom Colicchio with Heritage Steak at the Mirage and his steakhouse at the MGM Grand; Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken at Border Grill at Mandalay Bay; and Michael Mina's four-restaurants at MGM resorts.
All about Rich Guy, his plans, and other stuff from the offseason
1-5-19 It's been awhile since I posted because I’ve been grinding the game and vegas happened. Dashy filled expectations of being a young formal and its funny that ppl only see that now. Congratulations to Optic on winning Vegas the event was lit. My old sub is fucked up and I can't make it public now so I made the new one and copied the main posts over and locked them but their here now for history. My last post said I could write one last one until next rostermania about small stuff and some stuff I heard that I thought was fugaze. Its good I waited because it turns out lots of it was true and I heard straight from lots of ppl involved. Theirs not too much to talk about for rosters bc everything is set for the qualifier so the only topic left is rich guy and who he is. No its not Marc Cuban lol. I think hes one of the bigger stories in cod since he caused so much movement and was the reason I made my burner in the first place. So I worked on this post for awhile now in MS Word so its easier to read and made it into sections since everybody kept frying me over it lol. This is going to be my last post until next rostermania so thanks for reading and hope it’s been fun and thanks to ppl that dm’d me info and helped me figure this out. If you weren't around for Seattle Rostermania when the Optic roster of Scump, Crim, Formal, and Karma broke up, I heard from multiple people that the plan was for them to actually leave together and join some rich guy. These are the two posts I made about it and if your confused they can help.
Before ww2 even started the optic guys weren’t happy with what they were being paid and felt like infinite didnt care about them. They would joke about leaving and talking to other teams but other players thought it was just banter. Then infinite kept part of their paycheck bc part of it said they didn’t have to pay it bc it was a good behavior bonus which lots of players have and the org decides if you behaved good or not and it happened around new orleans. That’s one of the things they were pissed off about along with infinite taking forever to redo their contracts bc they only made 8000 up from 3000 and it was about to end. Then crim made the reddit AMA in February where he publicly said they weren’t happy with optic... https://www.reddit.com/OpTicGaming/comments/7xk9sp/crimsix_surprise_ama/du8yest/ Guys in optic started to think they made a huge mistake selling to the wrong group months before. Then rich guy probably heard about the AMA post. He got someone to get him in touch with the cod roster to see if they were for real about what was said in Crims AMA. Theres a rumor rich guy was one of the ppl that tried to buy optic when they were looking for investors but hecz sold to the rangers guy instead so he knew of the cod team.
(2) CWL Atlanta WW2
So the optic guys talked on skype with rich guy a few times before cwl atlanta which was in march and they planned to meet at the event to talk in person. Supposedly right before they were going to meet infinite decided to drop the halo team and very nearly dropped the cod team the day before the event too. That’s something scump said himself to lots of different players. I heard it was only crim that met in person at first with rich guy on Wednesday before the event and funny theres a post by someone who saw it and posted way before I made my burner account. Basically he saw crim meeting with rich guy at a strip club. You can read the other guys post thread here... https://www.reddit.com/CoDCompetitive/comments/8auxou/rostermania_news_and_predictions_thread/dx2ya73/
This is going to sound made up but I live in Atlanta and I saw crim having a meeting with a guy in a suit who I think is the ceo of another team. It was the wednesday before Atlanta open and they were both wearing suits. My friends and me sat at a table behind them and we heard them talking about money. they stayed about an hour and when they were leaving his friend in a suit went to the bathroom so i went to crim and shook his hand and said good luck this weekend. He was surprised and it seemed like they went there bc they didnt want anyone to see them meeting. When they left they got into a Roles Royce. I can post more after work if anyone wants to know more... I didnt think anything of it either when we first saw them but as i watched them it was obvious the guy was from another team. Both him and crim were in suits and i swear I heard crim say he loves the offer or something. This was on wednesay or Thursday night near midnight. Then on monday one of my friends that was there with me told me that he saw the same suit guy out sunday night with karma and scumpi and that they were talking loudly about teams or something. so my friend brad walked up to them and asked if he could get a picture with all 3 of them. The suit guy said no so my friend said he really wants one with all 3. Karma and the suit guy said no and that my friend could have a picture with just him and Scumpi without the suit guy or else no picture at all. My friend said ok so he just got a pic with Karma and Scumpi. After he got the picture our other friend Travis walked up to the suit guy and told him we saw him and Crim out in suits the other night. He laughed and shook my friend's hand and asked where did we see them. My friend told him we saw them at tattletales and that he said hi to Crim there. The suit guy laughed and smiled and told my friend to keep that secret. My friend asked him which team he was from or if he could even tell them who he was and he smiled and said dont worry about it everyone will find out in about a month then gave a wink. Then Scump got in a car with Silly and Study and left but the suit guy and Karma talked a little more then both of them got in the same uber and said they were going to hang out more at the hotel since it was closing time already. From what I saw on wednesday night and what my friends saw on Sunday night we all say it was obvious something was happening because of how they were acting all secretive.
One of Crims friends and other pros say he said the post was all true but he took him to an expensive steak dinner first and it lines up with what I know about rich guy. The guys second post says something about rich guy and scump getting into an argument and I can see it happening bc scump is a dick when hes wasted which always happens after events. Other ppl I talked to said they saw rich guy around the W hotel bar downtown where everyone was staying but didnt know who he was. He was talking to attach but attach was trolling and said he was his cousin when ppl asked him so thats where the intel came from that rich guy was someone attach knew. No one knows why attach was talking to him or why he knew him then either even now.
(3) CWL Birmingham WW2
rich guy took scump and crim out to dinner and smoothed things over. After the team lost they went to the bars and gambled until morning. i heard this is where he upped his offer to them to 20k a month salary each for the next 4 games. Scump and rich guy smoothed out things at the event here bc before that they didnt like each other after atlanta. I heard from a friend of crim that he said scump was rude to rich guy the first time they met in person but I dont know if the argument in the guys second post is the first time they met in person. This is when formal wanted karma gone and tried to get him dropped since he was costing and gunless would easily be available since rise didnt win yet. Im told rich guy then told crim he only wanted all 4 of them and no one would come close to salary and crim and karma thought all they needed was a team change away from infinite then. I heard attach say rich guy knew cod would be 5v5 the next year and crim said they would want him as their 5th at the bar in bham. I cant confirm that though but it makes sense on why attach would of been talking to him at Atlanta.
(4) CWL Seattle WW2
I heard rich guy took Crim, Attach, Felo, Dashy, and Study out to dinner at a steak house there then went to a few bars with crim and attach. In the players lounge the optic guys were all saying it was done deal and they were leaving optic. Then we all know what happened with t16 so optic knew they needed a change and thats when the talk of gunless came up with him taking karmas spot but crim and scump really wanted john and octane. John was cool with playing with them but only if it was to the rich guy since he thought hed get so much blame if they didnt win from the fans. I heard that night they settled on scump crim john and formal and they had a party to celebrate. Karma wasnt told at the time for sure he was getting dropped and wouldnt go to the rich guys team with the others so he still went to the party. We all heard what happened here with a tshirt being made but it wasnt finger paint but was from a stripper party rich guy threw for all the players in the hotel not even those he was going to sign. I heard it got freaky and one of the strippers had green hair. Karma was high and going off no sleep so he went down to the lobby and hecz saw him and told him to take the shirt off and told other non optic players to go back upstairs and stop being retards. There is more than one shirt that got made which is why karma says the one in the pic isnt his. https://imgur.com/jVRSIFU Then scump crim and a bunch of other players went out to the bars with rich guy. I heard they partied Wednesday Thursday Saturday and Sunday nights based on what other players said especially Saturday and Sunday ppl saw them get back to the hotel real late with rich guy. Everyone thought it was a done deal when they left on Monday morning. Sometime after that I made my first post about optic leaving. scump and crim were insisting on john and octane but then john couldnt get out of his contract with LG because there wasnt an even trade with him unlike octane for formal. I heard thats what then scared rich guy off because if formal and karma stayed on optic together and he only got scump and crim then he wouldnt get a league spot since it would stay with optic bc of the rules. So in the end formal got traded for octane and scump and crim got new deals. Then optic tried to get Zooma but faze wouldnt sell him. So optic bought methodz contract because tk didnt pay for it and then tried to trade him for zooma bc the other faze guys like methodz. Faze said no and then told Zooma they will give him a raise to 20k a month. He said they had their locks on him and wouldnt let him go. So optic then tries to get Kenny but his contract said he had to give notice of using his buyout 20 days in advance and that meant it would be after roster lock so he was stuck too. So optic got stuck with methodz as the 4th. I heard from an optic content guy they asked karma to come back but he said no.
(5) CWL Anaheim WW2
Im not fully sure if rich guy was here but I heard after this event is when he hired apoc to work for him once the season was fully over ( https://twitter.com/Apoccc ). Apocs been in the scene for a long time and knows everyone so it makes sense why hed do it. It also makes sense because after the season it turned out unilad got sold to someone else and got rid of esports. I heard rich guy hung out with a few of the owners from other teams but I never got real confirmation.
(6) Pro league stage 2 WW2
In July between weeks 7 and 8 for group B (optic eu unilad rise lg col MF TM) that nameless had a house party on some random night and rich guy went with the optic and eu guys. I think he took all of them to dinner. One of the players said he was the only one at the party that wasnt a caster or a player. I heard they went out to a small bar after.
(7) Champs WW2
This is where it gets good. So Apoc was supposed to start working for rich guy officially when unilad was knocked out but the unilad owner let him do work for rich guy earlier since unilad was leaving esports anyway. Rich guys original plan was to build around john and attach and start talking to them after the event. Then they were going to go after slasher bc with those 3 on board they could get anyone they wanted to fill out the roster. Also behind the scenes I heard nade was already offering players to come to 100t before champs even started offering 10k. This is the start of the bidding war for lots of players that happened during rostermania. That fourth they went after was scump. After optic was eliminated in groups scump and methodz were the only ones who stayed while crim and octane flew home the next morning and skipped the autograph session at champs. So its just scump and zinni hanging out with nothing to do so I heard they partied alot with rich guy. From what I know scump and rich guy are actually friends and drink together so thats what happened Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. A player who heard some of their talks said that scump was still unhappy with optic and wanted to leave and start his own thing like nade did with 100t so he went to dinner on one of the nights with rich guy and heard he still wanted a team. Rich guy and apoc told him they wanted to try to try to get john attach and slasher. I heard scump was going around the venue the next few days telling ppl thats what he was going to do. Someone said John told them rich guy asked him if he would play with scump and he said yes. The thing is so many ppl say they hate each other but their good friends and hang out alot in cbus and other places. Fans always get things wrong or blow things up when its not a big deal. Ppl thought scump hated jkap but in cbus he started working out with him bc he had back pains and it helped. Or ppl thought formal was mad about karma piping lisserboo when it was opposite but no one its not a big deal. One thing true is the players completely hate larew’s +1 even mlg staff bc she’d get drunk at the venue and cussing security out for not letting her back stage just bc larew was on optic. Scump couldnt leave champs after losing in groups was bc his mom and friends and family were coming into town to watch him. They were seen talking to rich guy at the venue and I heard he took scumps whole group of 15 ppl out to steak dinners the next few nights. The story about scump being drunk on Sunday at the hotel bar talking to karma was true but he also talked to lots of players like apathy and asked him to team too but its normal for scump and all the players to be wasted on Sunday nights after events. Lots of them talk fugaze but ppl say scump was serious and also said it wouldnt be with optic but sometimes he blacks out so idk. He was carrying a printed contract with him from rich guy and I heard the offer was 50k a month for 3 years plus a small ownership part of the org. Supposedly scump agreed and wanted it down in writing so rich guy flew one of his lawyers in to write it up and give it to him. Lots of ppl are going to say 50k a month is crazy but for scump its definitely not just look how he got 30k subs on twitch plus all the other stuff he brings to the table for exposure like playing with guys like jack and shroud and ninja. Scump is the face of optic and cod so its good to see salaries going higher.
(8) Rostermania BO4
Everybody leaves champs and rostermania started alot earlier then before. At the start optic didnt know if it was 4v4 or 5v5 yet so they were planning for 4v4 although they found out earlier than the other teams. They thought they had scump locked up but he went awol for about a week and I heard thats bc john and him were calling around to see who would want to play with them. I heard a rumor of slasher scump john Kenny as a 4 and with karma as the 5th. I heard this is when rich guy had players sign NDAs if they wanted to negotiate so thats why no one really said anything about the details or who he is because he can sue them if they go public. Someone close to one of the players confirmed it. I also heard from another person close to one of the players that rich guy scheduled face to face meetings where him apoc and their lawyers would fly to see the players and talk. One of apocs former players told me rich guy moved him to the USA from England full time to work for him and go around doing face to face meetings with everyone for 2 months. The players were also supposedly shown detailed presentations about marketing stuff salary investments and other things. Around then John and Scump decided they wanted Clay instead of slasher so he became the new target and they wanted to get it done quick before other teams made moves and so scump could get away from optic without it dragging out. Now idk exactly what happened but I heard scump started getting worried they couldnt get players out of their contracts with their current teams so he decided to go back to optic when crim and him decided to get Teej and dashy instead then add karma if it went to 5. So karma was still the most wanted FA out there still and everyone wanted him…eu, rise, LG, faze, etc, but for a time he agreed to go to 100t and Nade but then decided he didnt want to go there because he didnt believe in one of the players they signed. John and Karma also wanted to play together so nade thought karma could bring john with him but john said no and he would only go to rich guy or stay on LG. He would only go to rich guy because apoc is his close friend for 8 years. Karma liked it too bc he knew apoc for about a decade. Here’s Karma talking about Apoc in an old video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYmOnBL13sA&feature=youtu.be&t=315 So Karma and John got talking and also decided they would want to play with Clay so that became the new core for team rich guy. I heard they stopped going after attach because faze wouldnt sell him and they thought he would be too slow and be a bad fit. Even though rich guy supposedly really liked attach…remember how they were talking in atlanta before anyone knew anything…I heard he wanted to be hands off when it came to roster moves and let the staff decide that. Someone who talked to him told me he wanted to hire the experts and trust their advice and just be the guy paying the bills. Karma supposedly didnt know what he wanted to do so rich guy wanted to fly to see him with Apoc. This is unconfirmed but theres lots of evidence to support it that rich guy flew clay to frisco to help meet with karma in person. Clay tweeted out this pic of a steakhouse... https://twitter.com/Claystestatus/1040436939416059910 Google maps street view shows that restuarant is in Frisco... https://www.google.com/maps/@33.0786056,-96.8266338,3a,75y,88.68h,63t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sesXQ0x2CWoJ3c49igD2ZRA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 So Karma agreed on the core 3 and they decided to try to get Gunless since they heard they were leaving the scene after selling teej to optic and knowing they didnt have alot of money to invest into cod. Gunless didnt want to go to team rich guy because he wanted to play with formal on LG. Someone said rich guy was going to buy him anyway for 200k but then changed his mind when he found out gunless’s contract would end on December 31st so he’d only have him for one event then he could walk away for free to LG if he wanted. The word on the street is the core 3 convinced rich guy to still go after him bc if they placed top 4 at vegas they would be locked into a league spot and it would be risky for him to tank and be stuck in the qualifier where anything can happen. That weekend is also when holly had her birthday and rich guy wanted to help win over holly so karma would sign. The story is rich guy took hollys group out at a club with vip service that cost maybe 5000 then a strip club afterwards. She told them to not take pics of him and apoc and it was some big surprise. She supposedly spent alot of time talking to him on a couch in the corner. I posted more details about it here before... https://www.reddit.com/codburnecomments/abxcvy/92918_some_stuff_about_rich_guy/ Here's a portion of it...
i know alot of u are wondering who rich guy is bc crim confirmed today he exists and partly confirmed what i posted about him going over to karmas house and seeing he was already there. i dont know exactly who it is but a few ppl DMd me a few likely suspects that i wont name without more proof. maybe u guys can help out here. When i posted about crim running into him i thought it was insane timing but now i think rich guy was there in frisco for a week. i dont post stuff without hearing from ppl first and if it sounds crazy i wait even longer before doing it and with crim kinda confirming what i said in my other post i decided to. A few weeks ago someone DMd saying that their friend in frisco met rich guy but he didnt know who he was at the time. the story is holly had a birthday where she invited her twitch subs to show up. she said the plan was to go out to a nightclub to meet up with ppl and she didnt say who it was. when they got there some big guy met them outside and walked them past a huge line right into the club and they had vip and bottles of goose and champ all night on the mysterious dudes tab at a vip table while holly hung out with him for alot of the night talking on the couch. then they went to a strip club. my source said his friend swears this was rich guy.
Here's a pic of Apoc at the party... https://imgur.com/a/mMQh2rk Tweets of hollys videos from the party...
I think Clayster left the morning of but I think ppl at the barlow house saw him when he went to visit. This was the weekend before the 5v5 announcement so they thought the roster if it stayed 4 would be john karma gunless clayster. If it went to five and faze still wouldnt sell attach, I heard they were looking at jurd, felo, bance, shockz, censor, or slacked. Someone told me rich would of wanted dashy bc hes a fan of his but he knew he was already signed to optic. Remember rich guy was paying for apoc to live in the usa the whole time so I heard he stayed there in frisco for 2 weeks. The announcement happens that week that its 5v5 and I heard rich guy and apoc watched it happen with the barlows in their house. Optic guys said karma didnt answer his phone all day so crim decided to go over there the next day to find out what was going on. All the teams were calling him trying to get him but I heard from someone close to holly that karma really wanted to go to rich guy by then. So I posted about this before but I had the details wrong…the old post is here: https://www.reddit.com/codburnecomments/abxcp4/92418_karma/ What really happens is crim goes to karmas house in the morning but karma wont see him bc hes playing pubg and wont get off the game bc he didnt want to talk to him. Supposedly crim sat there for 4 hours and decided to leave when he figured out karma wouldnt talk. He almost gets to his car when another car pulls up and its rich guy, apoc, and a lawyer in it…they get out and holly says hi to them then they walk inside the house. So the word starts spreading and optic thinks karma is gone for sure if rich guy is going to fly in like that so higher ups at optic start calling karma and he still doesnt answer but then holly tells them they all went out to dinner. I heard hecz was about to go over there and whoop rich guys ass. Somebody sent me a clip from hollys stream showing apoc was at least in the house. Holly also talks to someone who tries to stay off camera. https://vimeo.com/309676910 The next day I heard optic started talking to other players and their big target was apathy. I heard aches got really mad and called karma and told him to sign back with optic because NV wanted to buy EG and it got stuck when optic talked to apathy. But apathy is too loyal at times and decided to stick with EG/NV after a raise even though splyce was trying to buy that roster because all their contracts expired in November and add jurd to them. So optic called eu about arcitys and he wasnt available and gunless wanted to go to LG but nade and rich guy would start a bidding war for him. So I heard john and clay were happy and rich guy started doing more face to face meetings with the other players he wanted. Another week goes by and Karma had a 150K buyout, clay had 100K, and johns contract was ending so no buyout at all. Then optic announces the next vision episode will have the cod roster announcement and everyone that was supposed to be on team rich guy thought it was gunless. Im not sure on the timing of this now but I heard sometime around rich guy then offered 300k each for zooma and attach for a five of john, zooma, karma, attach, clay but faze still wouldnt sell them. So all the players involved with team rich guy were watching it and were surprised when karma was announced...it aired during the last week of September. The story is he got really nervous because john’s contract ended second week of October so that was the earliest rich guy could sign him and he was scared he would get left out of competing again and was really stressed about waiting 2 more weeks. Someone really close to the other players told me they were surprised because the night before they all group texted and said everything was good including karma. After that clay wanted to stay on eunited and that left rich guy with just John. I heard he called up faze and offered them 800k for their whole roster but they said no. Ghost and splyce originally tried to buy them too. So that would of left john and a bunch of leftovers. 100t bought slasher and signed enable to complete their squad and Rise left the scene and sold loony to splyce and gunless to LG. I heard thats when rich guy decided it wasnt worth signing john + am players so he backed out. All ended good for john though bc I heard he got a raise to 25k. I heard rich guy was pissed but hes still friends all the guys but doesnt talk to karma but is friends with holly. In the end this is how the team rich guy wanted changed…. First… Scump, John, Attach, Slasher Then… Scump, John, Attach, Clayster Then… John, Attach, Clayster, Karma Then… John, Clayster, Karma, Gunless Then… John, Clayster, Karma, Gunless, Jurd/Felo/Shockz/Slacked/Bance/Censor Finally… John, Clayster, Karma, Attach, Zooma Then after Clay and Karma weren't joining and he tried to buy the whole Faze roster... John/Attach/Zooma/Reep/Priest I also heard rich guy offered 250k about a week after champs to get John out of his contract 2 months early but LG wanted to keep him and thought they could convince him. I gotta say steve LGs owner has big iron balls bc he could of lost john for free instead of taking the 250k but it worked out for him in the end so huge win for him. I think if karma smoked some green and chilled for a few weeks until john was free then the most likely roster would have been the John/Karma/ClaysteGunless core with rich guy taking a gamble on Gunless and adding one of Felo/Slacked to them because Shockz wanted to finish school and splyce wasn’t going to sell jurd and ended up getting loony, temp, aqua, and lamar. So karmas decision to go back to optic changed the fates of eU, LG, Optic, NV, possibly faze, and mostly rich guy. A different decision could of changed this season too….last year john signed his contract with LG late and it was for exactly 1 year. If he signed it 2 weeks earlier it obviously ended 2 weeks earlier and rich guy could of signed him before the 5v5 announcement and that probably could of gotten karma to commit because he wouldnt of been nervous about optic and not having a spot anymore. From there rich guy pays for clays buyout then the rest is history. Im also gonna say optic with J in charge is in a much better place now and the players feel like their being taken care of unlike during ww2. I heard rumors orgs are still looking for money and some reached out to rich guy to see if he would invest in them instead of making his own but either way I hope he comes into the scene if its franchise next year since he has balls trying to come in and get the best guys like nade did and makes things interesting. All the pros in the scene benefitted from nade and rich guy being around since they all got raises and other bonuses so their happy but I can see orgs being mad lol but thats what happens when you have nade opening at 10k then splyce coming in at 12k then rich guy going in at 20k lol.
(9) CWL Vegas BO4
So rich guy was at Vegas but idk if he went inside at the event. He was at the casino with players and a few people came up and talked to him. He was doing $500 and $1000 roulette and blackjack so he attracted attention. I heard he was mainly playing with Felo, Clay, and Revan but holly and nufo came up to bet on roulette with them too. One egirl told me they talked to him and he was nice and bought people some shots. All the players including optic guys hung out with him at the hard rock bar after the event and then took them out for a wild night at the nightclubs and strip clubs and apparently he did that every night with different people in the scene. A caster told me they approached him and said his name and acted like they already met before when they didnt and he was chill about it. People were calling him Edgar in person including Scump.
(10) Rich Guy’s Twitter
From what I know and what ive heard im 99% certain rich guy is this guy on twitter and he uses it as his own burner for online stuff only: https://twitter.com/EdgarAllanPwn3d He has an interesting group of followers including Nadeshot, all the old and new Optic roster, along with some of their girlfriends, the faze roster, Clayster, Felo, Saints, and other big people in the scene. It doesn’t look like hes really active but he has pics of exotic cars, first class flights, receipts from bars, and he has a 100k pc setup to play video games thats linked on his page. It looks like he gifted 5000 subs on twitch during Christmas time according to his tweets and people saying thank you to him. That’s $25k. https://twitter.com/EdgarAllanPwn3d/status/1077413765325471746 Someone sent me this clip from scumps stream where he gifted him 500 tier 3s which is $12.5k and like a grand donation over an hour. He says he knows him IRL and he wants to hang out with him next time hes back in dallas and get dinner. He even jokes about edgar and hecz being close. This clip is after karma resigned with optic and bo4 was already out and it shows how much scump and rich guy/edgar are friends even though the team didnt work out. https://vimeo.com/309676948 He has another 400 subs in Crims that I think are tier 3. Then he has another 500 in rallieds and I think 300 in nadeshots supposedly. Theres also these tweets between holly and edgar that make it sound like theyre friends including meeting up in Vegas and at a bar in Frisco in November. Edgar even tweeted a location pic of where he was.
He sold his technology company for $650 million he founded and now is a executive at the company that bought his so hes one of those silicone valley guys.
Hes sort of young and likes to party and goes out to clubs so lots of players like to hang around him.
Hes about 6’3 and looks like hes half thai or hispanic. Hes like half white.
He lives in New York city and travels alot and people have DMd me saying he has lots of business in Atlanta, Houston, San Francisco, Singapore, and all over Europe.
He owns a bunch of other businesses now like fast food restaurants and more tech companies.
He has alot of investment in EA and other stocks
People said hes real smart and a chill guy but some people were intimidated by him.
A cod team was supposed to only be the start for his org since they wanted to expand to every game quickly.
I have what I think is his full name but don’t want to post it and link their non burner twitter without confirmation in case it’s wrong. If one of the players involved wants to secretly DM with me to confirm then I might come back and post it.
(12) Final Thoughts
I think Rallied is the guy that got edgarich guy into contact with optic since he was seen with him at the strip club in Atlanta after the event and hanging out with him in Seattle. It might be Felo too.
I think Methodz knows what Scump and EdgaRich guy talked about at champs since I heard he went to dinner with them and they had nothing else to do since they got fried in groups.
Optic is damn good and Dashy will soon be the best player in the game no question.
I think its baller he went to meet players in person to sign them like its the NFL.
There’s other small things that eventually led to Optic needing to make a roster change because it got so toxic. One of them Scump said was that Formal didn’t share the MVP money from Champs when all of them agreed to do it before. What Nade said before about players wanting to be friends with teammates first also happened here when Formal didn’t want to chill outside the game like Scump does with Crim, John, or Saints.
I heard edgarich guy was planning on getting into cod during BO4 but tried to get in early when he saw the original Optic roster was available because of Crim’s AMA.
EdgaRich guy was really going to spend over a million on buyouts on top of salary which is fucking crazy.
I think Apoc could be working for Red Reserve now since he’s been posting pictures with them in Vegas.
--------------------------------- Thanks for reading and I will monitor this thread for a few days to answer a few questions possibly and add something I might remember later. If not then this is my last post until the next rostermania or if Rich guy gives me an interview lol.
[Oram] How the Lakers won the Lebron sweepstakes but ended up back in the lottery
It took less than a week for LeBron James to start lowering expectations. Three games in, the Lakers remained winless after James missed a pair of free throws in the final seconds of an overtime loss to San Antonio. James stood in front of his locker, towel draped over his massive shoulders. “I know what I got myself into,” James said. “It’s a process.” Three factors – roster construction, injuries and mistrust — proved fatal. They largely explain why the Lakers won the LeBron sweepstakes in July, but ended up back in the lottery. The process most people envisioned when James signed with the Lakers involved fewer steps. Add LeBron, stir, return to playoffs. That’s it. But that plan underestimated the hurdles the Lakers would encounter along the way. The dramatic miscalculation of what players would work alongside James; the injuries to every key player, and especially the strained groin James suffered on Christmas at Oracle Arena. Perhaps most importantly was the mistrust throughout the organization. It existed before the Lakers public pursuit of Anthony Davis, but once that was out in the open and the Lakers stopped winning, the team fell apart. I know what I got myself into. James repeated the sentiment enough times it started to sound like an affirmation to get him through his 16th season, or at least a well-crafted talking point. Even then, he could not have predicted that the Lakers would miss the playoffs or that his season would end in March. Sure, the first year in the West was always going to be trying. Messy even. That was why he signed a four-year contract, to work through the early growing pains. But the issues ran deeper than anyone saw coming. James may have been able to rationalize the Lakers slow start, but he couldn’t have truly known what he got himself into. More importantly, no one can be sure how the organization will dig itself out. For a wayward organization that was two years removed from Kobe Bryant’s retirement and five years past its last playoff showing, landing the biggest star in the game was an important, exhilarating step back to relevance. A tweet from Klutch Sports, the agency that represents James, in the early evening of July 1 made it official. James would sign a four-year, $154 million contract with the Lakers. After years of agonizing rejection from the likes of Carmelo Anthony, LaMarcus Aldridge and Kevin Durant, James seemed to validate the Lakers’ years of careful planning. Since Jeanie Buss had removed her brother, Jim Buss, from power and fired veteran general manager Mitch Kupchak in 2017, her hand-picked team of Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Rob Pelinka had worked to unsnarl the Lakers’ salary-cap obligations and clear the room to sign at least one max-level free agent in the summer of 2018. That had meant trading away D’Angelo Russell, Larry Nance Jr. and Jordan Clarkson while refusing to commit to anything beyond one-year contracts. Believe it or not, however, getting James to commit may have been the easy part. Once you have the superstar, you must build a team around him. Within hours of James signing on, notorious LeBron agitator Lance Stephenson agreed to a one-year deal to join him. JaVale McGee was next. The Lakers then renounced the rights to restricted free agent Julius Randle — much to the chagrin of the coaches, who hoped to retain both Randle and Brook Lopez — in order to sign veteran point guard Rajon Rondo. Then Michael Beasley. It was immediately seen as a combustible grouping. Despite the infamy of the so-called Meme Team, however, the real problem was their skill sets. The year before, the Lakers managed to win 35 games despite ranking 29th of 30 teams in 3-point percentage. James had reached the Finals eight straight years with teams that surrounded him with shooters. The Lakers intentionally did not do this. They had a different vision. Johnson laid it out during a lengthy appearance on ESPN during a Lakers summer league Las Vegas game. He credited the fact he “watched every series” in the Eastern Conference playoffs. “You’re not going to out-Golden State Golden State,” Johnson said during an interview that lasted nearly 20 minutes. “Everybody is talking about, ‘The Lakers don’t have shooting.’ Oh, we’ve got shooting. But we saw all the teams in the playoffs that had shooting, (and) they got beat.” The Lakers should have anticipated the flaws in that logic. While Walton spent time in the summer canvassing James’ former coaches for intel, the Lakers’ front office didn’t quite make the same effort to understand what it had. Neither Johnson nor Pelinka made the same calls that the Celtics made after trading for Kyrie Irving. Once it landed James’ former point guard, Boston reached out to former front-office members and coaches from Cleveland who knew him. What could be missed by failing to make those calls? For one, the idea that LeBron would somehow play off the ball was preposterous, even if he signed off on it in the summer. James and his camp were indeed on board with the strategy. At least in theory. There were only so many players available who would be willing to take one-year deals, and the heralded 2019 free-agent class would be where the Lakers could really make a splash. So it was with that understanding that the Lakers and LeBron James moved into a new era. Together. The first sign of trouble came on Oct. 20, the second night of the season, when a hard foul by Brandon Ingram on James Harden led to a brawl between Rondo and Chris Paul, with Ingram running in to throw a haymaker. Amid the melee, James intervened to pull Paul away rather than defend his fellow Lakers. The scene reinforced a storyline that would emerge throughout the season: James being closer to someone not in a Lakers jersey than his own teammates. It cropped up two months later when James said it would be “amazing” to team up with Anthony Davis, with whom he shares an agent. And again when he periodically discussed the prospect of the Lakers adding Carmelo Anthony. But James tried to bring his team together. After a 2-5 start led Johnson to berate Walton, James organized a team dinner on the road. In the banquet room of a Portland steakhouse, James attempted to calm the nerves of his new team. Three Lakers starters — Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma — were still in their second or third years in the league. Another second-year player, Josh Hart, was playing a key role off the bench. Only one player on the roster, Michael Beasley, had ever played with James before. “He was just talking about what we could do to get the year back on track,” Ball told The Athletic. “Not to panic, he’s been through this before. Basically telling us it’s early, growing pains and we’ve got to get through it.” These were things the young Lakers knew, of course. But it was different when James delivered the message. “Hearing it from the dude at the top, it’s just more comfort,” Ball said. “Don’t panic. Nobody was worried, we just knew we had to turn it around.” And they did. The Lakers won four of their next five games and nine of their next 11 to begin their climb up the Western Conference standings. Elsewhere in the organization, however, things were not stabilizing. The seeds of distrust planted by Johnson’s chiding of the coaching staff was only the beginning of the turmoil. The lines were drawn. With his closed-door tongue lashing, Johnson essentially planted a time bomb under Walton. Any suggestion now that Walton could have guaranteed his job coaching the Lakers would seem to be revisionist history. Johnson said Walton would keep his job barring “something drastic.” Lakers coaches spent much of the second half of the season looking over their shoulders, wondering after bad losses like ones in Indiana and Phoenix how exactly Johnson would define “drastic.” Walton had reason to be concerned. At one point during the season, the Lakers reached out to former Nets and Bucks coach Jason Kidd to gauge his interest in coaching the team, should the position become available, a source told Frank Isola of The Athletic. A high-ranking Lakers official disputes this claim. The tension between the Lakers’ front office and coaching staff only appeared to grow over the course of the season. Johnson is seen as an absentee executive, a label best illustrated by one moment last season. At the end of a week the Lakers were criticized for not backing Walton in the wake of LaVar Ball’s allegations that the coach had lost control of the locker room, Johnson turned up in Hawaii, on lockdown in a fallout shelter following the false missile alert. This season, Pelinka, the general manager, took a proactive role in sitting in on coaches’ meetings and even requested the Lakers change the way their scouting reports were packaged for players, according to multiple sources. While a GM collaborating with a coaching staff on how to present information may not be without precedent, this was seen by those on the ground as another example of Pelinka unnecessarily meddling in low-level affairs. Meanwhile, James had a problem of his own. While he had endorsed the front office’s summer strategy, he objected to a comment Johnson made more than a month after the season started. Near the end of November, the Lakers were 20 games into the season with an 11-9 record. LeBron, meanwhile, was averaging the fewest minutes of his career (34.8). Knowing he was approaching age 34 and had played more basketball than anyone over the last decade after eight straight Finals, those reduced minutes were designed. But the way Johnson described this Lakers plan, in an interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio, caught LeBron off guard. Magic said the Lakers wanted to watch LeBron’s minutes and get the ball out of his hands some, because otherwise “now it is Cleveland all over again and we don’t want that.” “I didn’t like that when I heard it, because, I mean, four straight Finals,” James told The Athleticearlier this season. LeBron added that he wasn’t sure what Magic meant by his comments, though there was no mistaking them. The Lakers were not going to be set up like the Cavaliers in Cleveland, where LeBron had to do so much. There was no follow-up because, in the grand scheme, it didn’t matter. He was signed for at least three seasons and was going to have the ball in his hands regardless. By mid-December, the Lakers were on a roll, side-stepping the initial wave of injuries to Rondo and Ingram and, at one point, won six out of seven games. Looking to strengthen their defense and shore up their shooting deficiencies, the Lakers pursued a deal for ex-Laker Trevor Ariza before Phoenix traded him to Washington. That exercise sent a clear message: The Lakers were looking for upgrades that would help them win this season. A few days later in Brooklyn, James took it a step further. He was stretching on the floor of the visitor’s locker room when he told an ESPN reporter that it would be “awesome” to one day play with Anthony Davis, the New Orleans star who would lead his Pelicans into Staples Center a few nights later. For the young players, this was the first time James had publicly indicated he would be open to the Lakers making a blockbuster trade — even if it was indirectly. History will be left to wonder if the Lakers could have continued their roll. Speaking to The Athletic just before the start of the regular season, Jeanie Buss invoked a favorite maxim of her former fiancé, ex-Lakers coach Phil Jackson. “Phil always used to say, ‘By Christmas Day, you kind of know who you are, because … you kind of know where you’re going to fit. We just have to see the team play,’” she said. By Christmas, the Lakers were 20-14 and in fourth place in the Western Conference — although in the jumbled West, they were as close to 10th place as they were to first. James was a frontrunner to win MVP. But with a misstep in the third quarter of the Lakers’ win over the Warriors, an entire season changed. James was initially listed as day-to-day with a strained groin, but the injury proved more serious. It was during this time that James became less present around the team. The Lakers struggled without him, naturally, but James was not really around. His injury did not allow him to travel, and he would arrive at home games moments before tip-off. Once with a glass of red wine in hand. This was when, according to some in the locker room, players started to look at James a bit differently. In contrast to LeBron’s disconnected presence, there was Rajon Rondo. Rondo had also suffered an injury on Christmas, a sprained finger that required surgery. Instead of disappearing, however, Rondo was a regular presence. He shot left-handed in post-practice shooting games and hung around the locker room. When the Lakers’ plane left for Sacramento the day after Christmas, Rondo met the plane at the airstrip. With cookies. Rondo’s snacks are their own story in leadership. He started making sandwiches for teammates when he played in Sacramento. Then, his personal chef taught him to make cookies. Lonzo Ball likes to tell Rondo his chocolate chip cookies could be sold in stores. “Food is the best way to bring people together,” said Rondo, who also frequently catered the postgame meals in the locker room for the team. James missed 17 games following that injury suffered on Christmas Day, and in that time the Lakers’ season swung. They won just six times, falling out of the top eight spots in the Western Conference. Lonzo Ball suffered what would become a season-ending ankle sprain in a loss at Houston. The need for reinforcements was glaring, and on the weekend of Jan. 25, the Lakers had a tentative deal in place to acquire Bulls forward Jabari Parker in exchange for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Michael Beasley, league sources told The Athletic. However, Caldwell-Pope — another Rich Paul client — had to approve any trade and had not signed off on the deal. The Bulls awaited Caldwell-Pope’s approval over that weekend, sources said. The deal remained in limbo until Jan. 28, when Davis requested a trade out of New Orleans. With most around the league viewing that statement, issued by Paul, as an effort to team Davis with James in L.A., the Bulls moved on and realized the Lakers would cease business until the Davis saga unfolded. Chicago eventually traded Parker to Washington for Otto Porter Jr. at the deadline. James returned just as the Davis talks started getting rolling. With his team barely above .500 at 26-25, James carried the Lakers to a thrilling overtime win over the Clippers on Jan. 31. Two nights later, with James held out due to load management, veterans Michael Beasley and JaVale McGee stood up during the postgame team meeting to challenge Walton over his message that Beasley play more unselfishly. McGee joined in, sources said. The brief flare-up was seen as the first time the locker room pushed back on Walton, and it coincided with the turbulence of trade deadline season and the uncertainty of the roster amid the Davis talks. The Lakers needed to win games once James returned, but not even his presence could totally stop their slide. They hit the road for four games in Eastern Conference cities. Staffers boarding the team’s charter to Indianapolis noticed that Kurt Rambis, a former Lakers player, assistant coach and two-time NBA head coach, was on his first road trip of the season. Rambis had been hired earlier in the year as a senior basketball adviser and, with Walton’s situation seen as tenuous, his presence made some wary. Rambis is married to Linda Rambis, Buss’ close friend and adviser. The Lakers’ reported trade talks loomed over the team roster. Virtually every member of the young core had been linked to a trade for Davis, as had veterans Rondo and Beasley. A schism developed in the locker room. Sources around the team said it was apparent that the young players no longer trusted James, believing he was operating behind the scenes to get them traded to New Orleans. At one point, some in Walton’s circles feared Paul was trying to use the Davis situation to leverage a coaching change, with the premise being that his arrival would require a higher-caliber coach. But the Lakers received backchannel information that Davis liked Walton and that relieved pressure on the third-year head coach. The overall weight of the situation came to a head on Feb. 5, when the Lakers were blown out 136-94 in Indiana — their most lopsided defeat of the season. The trade deadline came with the Lakers making only small moves. But they proved to be significant. In an effort to make up for the season-long shooting struggles, they traded rookie Svi Mykhailiuk to Detroit for Reggie Bullock, one of the NBA’s best spot-up shooters from 3, then Ivica Zubac and Beasley (less than a week removed from his locker room outburst) for Mike Muscala, who had landed with the Clippers after a trade from Philadelphia. Trading Zubac, the Lakers’ starting center at the time, was a curious choice. After falling out of favor early in the season, he had become their most reliable big man. Muscala, a 27-year-old stretch forward, was shooting 39.2 percent from 3 on four attempts per game with the Sixers. In the Lakers’ last home game, Johnson and Pelinka watched Muscala score 17 points, including three 3s, to power the Sixers to a win at Staples Center. Did that single performance inspire the Lakers to make the move? Some believe so. Once the trade deadline was over and Davis remained in New Orleans, the trust issues that sprung up as a result of the very public talks remained. Johnson joined the team two days after the Feb. 7 deadline in Philadelphia, but his message, delivered 30 minutes before tipoff, seemed to be poorly received. Sources described players rolling their eyes at Johnson. They had gone days without hearing from the front office and the message from management now was, essentially, that they needed to toughen up. The Lakers lost in Philly that night, and again in Atlanta against the lowly Hawks. When Kuzma went to Charlotte for All-Star Weekend to participate in the NBA’s Rising Stars Challenge, he sought an audience with Pelinka. Kuzma and his people came away from their chat feeling reassured, a source close to the situation told The Athletic. Pelinka told the second-year forward that he was key to the Lakers’ future and that, unless it was a trade for one of the game’s three best players, he wasn’t trading him. A year earlier, Larry Nance Jr. approached Pelinka with a similar question. Nance Jr. and his fiancée, his college girlfriend, were interested in buying a house. He wanted to get a sense of whether the Lakers planned on keeping him around, and Pelinka told him that the Lakers would only trade him if it meant landing one of the game’s three best players. He told him to buy the house, multiple sources confirmed. Before Nance could get that far, however, he received a call on the morning of Feb. 8, 2018. He and Jordan Clarkson had been traded to Cleveland in a salary dump that cleared cap space for the Lakers to be able to offer two max slots in the summer. When Buss railed against the media at the Sloan Conference on March 2, blaming the “fake news” relating to the Davis trade situation for hurting the morale among the team’s younger players, it was about more than that one story. Her frustration, according to a Lakers source with knowledge of her thinking, extended to another report that she didn’t mention. In early February, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said on his radio show that Buss had been the driving force behind the decision to draft Ball second overall out of UCLA in 2017. According to Smith, Magic had wanted to draft De’Aaron Fox out of Kentucky but, in essence, succumbed because of the business possibilities that came with pairing the Bruins star with the Lakers brand. While the source adamantly denies the veracity of the report, and Johnson is known to have told Buss that he had nothing to do with this message being spread, these are the types of fires that kept flaring up in the media throughout the course of a chaotic campaign. Last week, Buss appeared on a live taping of the Sports Business Radio Road Show, and described one story that made her doubt the front office she had put in place. “There was a story that came out this season — and we’ve had our challenges this season — and it kind of made me doubt for a second some of the people that I was working with,” Buss said. Following the All-Star break, the Lakers had 25 games to make their final push. They were 28-29 and in 10th place in the West. This was when James infamously declared he would “activate” for the stretch run. It was a statement he backed up with 29 points and 12 rebounds in a decisive win over the Rockets on Feb. 21. But after the turbulence of the season up to that point, the Lakers needed to keep it going. “If we go on this road trip and drop two straight, then what does this game really mean?” Walton said, before the Lakers went on to lose in New Orleans and Memphis to two sub-.500 teams. A week later, after LeBron passed the ball off the bottom of the backboard and the Lakers lost in Phoenix to fall to three games under .500, they returned home for perhaps their most critical game of the season. The Clippers were 4½ games ahead of the Lakers in the standings, with 19 games left in the year. Win and the Lakers could conceivably still go on a run and make the playoffs. Lose, and any hope of reaching the playoffs would essentially die. Pelinka would not be on hand to witness the fate of the team he assembled. He made plans to scout the University of Texas’ game at Texas Tech and ended up watching the Lakers’ playoff dreams end from a local dinner spot in Lubbock, Texas, according to sources familiar with the situation. The injuries kept piling up at an alarming rate. Ingram missed the Clippers game with a sore shoulder that turned out to be deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot that required surgery and has the potential to be career-altering. Hart was shut down prior to having a procedure done on his right patellar tendon. The knee had bothered him since January. Finally, after he was given the time to pass Michael Jordan on the all-time scoring list, James was shut down on March 30, with six games left on the calendar. When it is over, the Lakers will have missed nearly 200 total games due to injuries. With the season drawing to a close, finger pointing has begun within the walls of Lakers headquarters, primarily over the moves Johnson and Pelinka made once James committed. The roster construction has generally been viewed as a failure. The Lakers are once again next-to-last in 3-point percentage and James’ usage rate (30.9 percent, about as high as it ever was with the Cavs) indicate additional playmakers didn’t help reduce his workload. Who’s responsible for the experiment was the subject of some debate in Lakers circles recently. One version of events that circulated within the Lakers’ walls — and does not bode well for Walton’s future — suggested that it was the coach’s desire to play James off the ball more that inspired the team’s emphasis on playmakers. A source with knowledge of Walton’s thinking vehemently refuted the assertion, indicating that the sequence of events has been unfairly flip-flopped: Walton was given all these players who weren’t strong shooters but could handle the ball, and thus had no other choice but to find a way to play LeBron off the ball more. Other sources said the coaching staff was not consulted about potential targets in free agency, and that Walton was only looped in very late in the process. However, that Magic Johnson summer league interview would seem to expose the theory as nothing more than revisionist history, after he broke down why Philadelphia struggled last spring while Boston and Houston both made deep runs. “I built this team based on what happened in the playoffs,” Johnson said. “You don’t build the team just for the regular season. You’ve got to build it for the playoffs as well. … then Houston had tough guys. Boston had tough guys. So, what did I bring in? Tough guys. So that’s how I’m building it.” However poorly those comments may reflect on Johnson nine months later and with a full season of evidence, a source with knowledge of Buss’ thinking said she still has complete faith in both Johnson and Pelinka. The Lakers will now turn their attention to an offseason in which they are expected to revisit trade options for Davis, while also chasing top targets in free agency – as unlikely as it is that Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant or Klay Thompson will come, according to a league source who believes the Lakers will be second or third on those players’ lists. The fear that the Lakers could strike out with their top targets has already led to some message massaging. “You don’t need names, you need games,” a source close to James told The Athletic. The Lakers could build a team of complementary pieces better suited for James, like Boston’s Marcus Morris or Milwaukee’s Nikola Mirotic, and fare better than they did this season. But it would run counter to Johnson’s stated philosophy. After all, on a World Series broadcast last fall, Johnson declared, “I’m going to get another superstar next summer!” If that’s the only barometer of success, then, what will free agents make of the year that just was? Growing pains were expected and a slow start wasn’t surprising. However, the season went so far off the rails, it’s impossible to know what the Lakers might have been if they were even reasonably healthy. Their 20-14 record on Christmas had the Lakers on pace for 48 wins. With one game left in the season, the Clippers, Thunder and Spurs are all fighting for final positioning with 47 wins. After the All-Star break, the odds of the Lakers making the playoffs were even worse than they knew at the time. It would have taken a 20-5 streak to reach 48 wins. Ultimately, the fate of the season will fall back on the injuries. Who can know what might have been? LeBron played 55 games, Ingram 52, Ball 47 and Rondo 46. “It’s made it challenging,” Walton said. “Ideally they’d have had a lot more time together. But I do think a year is a year, either way. It’s not the ideal way of getting that experience, but they as a group now, we’ve gone through it. So, going into next season we should at least know what to expect.” As LeBron learned this season, you never truly know. — Shams Charania, Joe Vardon, Sam Amick and Frank Isola contributed to the reporting for this story. (Top Photo: Adrian Guzman/The Athletic)
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