cambridgeguy

Oh, I'm sure if someone had been hurt by a shard of bat they would have instantly banned them. But if it's only a small possibility? Clearly an acceptable risk to MLB and the players association since they likely anticipated a lot of bitching from everyone using that equipment.

So, who's worse off? The Nets - their number 2 players is already going full Kyrie, their number 3 (maybe) is intent on putting up single digits in points/rebounds/assists, and Nash is rapidly applying for membership in the great player, miserable coach club. The Lakers - paying 47 million to a guy shooting 31% from the field, can't shoot in general, and may end up having a throwback to the late Kobe era with Lebron saying to heck with it and deciding to score as many points as possible because he wants the scoring record while everyone else just stands around to watch.

First Kyrie being Kyrie off-court moment of the season? This is bizarre. If it were your standard non-crazy stuff (fighting with teammates, minor crime, bad attitude) then they wouldn't drop him and erase all traces of his existence. If it's something major (felony crime) then it would have made the news already. And there's no way they'd drop him for just mental health issues, he'd get indefinite leave like Ben Simmons. What's the middle ground?

Justin Verlander has started eight WS games in his career and his team has lost seven of them (and it's not like he was magnificent in all of them either). That's surprisingly bad for a future first ballot HOF player.

He can always be like Daemon and ignore his wife for years, sleep around, eventually kill her, and then move on to someone with a better bloodline. One of Aegon's kids is a girl, right?

Oof;The Nets need to figure out a solution to this or other teams are going to really start daring Ben to make a shot.

Is it just me or did this feel more like a backdoor pilot? Option 1 would be the Helix team, Option 2 would be the adventures in NYC. Although naturally Courtney and Pat didn't bother to ask Jennie, Todd, and Shade to stop by Blue Valley first to help out, or even for a ride home. I find it hard to believe the mysterious hooded person is a totally new character, so who's left? A resurrected member of the ISA?

This is where the time jump between episodes 7 and 8 really hurt. In the show it's portrayed as if Rhaenyra and Daemon decided to just peace out on Dragonstone and didn't even bother visiting, hence their shock at the redecorating and how much Viserys had declined. That makes them look stupid, especially since both of them have expressed how much they distrust Otto. If, instead, we had a scene where a furious Viserys made it clear they weren't welcome after their secret wedding (but, being Viserys, was still unwilling to disinherit Rhaenyra) then at least there would be a logical reason for their absence. Stay away until he had time to cool off.

I'm not sure Otto could have done much because if word got out he was trying to rally support behind Aegon then he would have been screwed. Getting Tyland and the people in Kings Landing on his side is one thing since they saw each other all the time, but sending ravens and emissaries means people would talk. Maybe if he were as clever as Tywin, Olenna, or early seasons Tyrion he could have pulled it off, but I'm not sure he's in their league.

Joffrey is still around to be heir, and if they really want to he can step in as her new betrothed just like Tommen did with Margery. Of course, that assumes his side wins. Lose and he’ll be proclaimed a bastard.

If they follow the Rocky III route then he'll lose the first bout against his stronger, hungrier opponent before montaging his way through training and winning the rematch. Of course, they kind of did that in Creed II, so who knows if they'll run it back. It also makes me wonder where he'll train this time. In the first movie it was the streets of Philly, then in the second he went to the desert. Rocky already did the snowy north, so what's left? A jungle?

Two of the guys ahead of him are Philip Rivers and Matt Ryan. If we assume Ryan doesn't win a SB then those cases are going to be hilarious. How much does regular season longevity matter without the playoff resume? Are they both the Dan Fouts of their generation?

One of the villains showing up this season has been confirmed I don't think we've ever seen Barry meet this person in the regular timeline, although it's certainly plausible that they've had some offscreen interactions.

You don't even need two if you're famous enough. Joe Namath threw more interceptions than TDs but he's in.

You should bring it up when he's elected to the HOF. He's probably not getting in on the first ballot, but he is getting in.

The way Blood and Cheese plays out will determine how much they're softening Daemon. If he explicitly tells them to go kill one of Aegon's kids then that's about as irredeemable as it gets (although I'm sure people will try to excuse it away). If he gives a different order (kill Aegon, Otto, etc.) and the two improvise then they definitely want to keep him on the more sympathetic side. Regardless of her role in it Rhaenyra already has the built in excuse of being a grieving mom with clouded judgement in the heat of the moment.

Absolutely, but ironically enough she was correct. Yolanda has been sneaking out and lying about taking extra shifts for reasons that most parents would freak out about. Apparently Mr. Bones isn't the one watching the cameras, which actually makes sense. It would be kind of a stupid mystery if the guy who declared he was going to keep an eye on Blue Valley was revealed to be.... keeping an eye on Blue Valley.

He should have replaced Otto with Rhaenyra herself. She was an adult and had spent time sitting on the council, so who better to replace Harwin than the next in line. There's certainly precedent - Viserys mentioned that his father Baelon had been named Hand only to subsequently die a short time later. If he expected her to be the first ruling queen then she easily could have been the first female Hand.

I don’t think we can underestimate how much his love for Aemma and subsequent guilt over her death plays in. Plus from what we’ve seen the only family he truly cared about were Aemma, Rhaenyra, and Daemon. The rest are secondary

It's all relative. So far Aemond hasn't been shown to be a rapist, seems to be genuinely fond of his sister, and spends time training instead of slacking off. He's Daemon 2.0 and a lot of people like the original, so why wouldn't they be fond of his mini-me?

She can't fire Otto because she isn't the King. She can try to convince Aegon to do so, just like Rhaenyra did with Viserys, or she could try to talk (or blackmail) him into resigning, but she can't just order him gone even if the rest of the council hated Otto.

When did she do that? Rhaenyra was the one who proposed a Jace/Heleana match and Alicent basically said over my dead body even though Viserys loved the idea.

The Hightowers and Velaryons have been portrayed as big rivals. If she truly considers herself a Velaryon then yeah, Otto and Alicent are the ones who blocked Laena from being queen. Aemond's the one who "stole" Vhagar right out from under her granddaughter. Family honor and all that. He's still a moron, so a clever person could manipulate him. The problem is that I'm not sure he is as intimidated of Otto as Joffrey was of Tywin. Otto may be hoping that Aegon will be following the Robert Baratheon model of ignoring everything, which might be true in peacetime but likely won't be the case during a war.

So for everyone who hates so many characters sharing such similar names, no comments about twins Arryk and Erryk?

Fans are willing to overlook a lot if they like the character. Daemon has gone all in on police brutality, murdered his wife, beat an innocent messenger, murdered that poor Velaryon servant, and is probably still the most loved character in the show. If he had done this there would be even more love for his awesomeness. Of course, if he had done this then Team Green would be Team Extra Crispy. If Rhaenyra, a more polarizing character (in my opinion) had done this? Well, let's just say there would likely be more talk about how she murdered a bunch of innocents. Most of the lords didn't give a damn about Lyanna running off. They rebelled because Aerys had been going nuts for years and because he killed the important lords. If the Lord Paramount of the North could be executed on a whim then no one was safe, and even then large chunks of the realm still rallied behind the Targs. A few minor lords getting killed and locked up isn't going to be enough, especially since dragons are still in play.