ProudMary

I'll quote what @AnnaBaptist posted here in the thread on Thursday: So we know there's an NDA in place, but he did open the door by stating that he "wasn't allowed to participate." Then Tom tweeted only "He opted out." One of these things is not like the other.

@Johannah I think you're right to be excited, and that's coming from a Yankees' fan. I am not a gambler, but I've been looking at the odds on which team will win the World Series, and I'm astonished to see the Orioles down at 5th or 6th most likely to win it all. Dodgers and Braves are firmly 1 &2, Astros and Yankees are 3/4, with the Orioles and Rangers more or less tied at 5th/6th. I just don't see it. I think the Os are the best team in the AL minimally, and could very well win the WS. At the very least, I think you're going to have a very enjoyable summer!

I just checked my MLB.tv again and the only Free Game of the Day was Mets/Brewers. Very odd that Extra Innings has all the games free this week, but not MLB.tv. 🤔

"Significant bone bruise" didn't sound promising, so I can't say I'm shocked to hear this. I'm very disappointed, as D.J. is an important part of the Yankees' line-up, but, as I so often seem to be, I'm angry with Cashman as I wasn't thrilled with the lack of depth in the infield. If Gleyber's thumb becomes an issue, it becomes a huge problem. The Yankees still haven't posted tonight's line-up. If Gleyber can't go, I have no idea who's playing second. Here's the Yankees' infield from the 40 man roster, plus Cabrera who's listed with the outfielders. There's only one player at Scranton who's on the 40. FIRE CASHMAN! Edited to add: Gleyber's in the lineup. I hope he can be effective. That did not look good last night.

@Yeah No I hope you don't mind that I've cherry-picked two quotes from your comments a few posts up. I agree with both of them and I chose them because each possible scenario fortifies something I had mentioned upthread. It really seems to me that LCK's legitimacy is being compromised here by the actions (inactions?) of the producers. Considering the checkered history of game shows in the US, dating back to the 1950s, this is NOT a good look. They absolutely need to come clean about what really happened here; the sooner the better. Also, I can't believe that I'm having to "defend" David the Hat Guy, because I wanted him gone from his first appearance on screen, as I mentioned in my early post in the S21, Ep.01 thread, but the manner in which this is being handled is not cool!

Thanks. I'll check again tomorrow. I didn't sign into MLB.tv tonight as the Yankees were on AppleTV+. 🤮 I hope Gleyber's thumb won't be an issue. They claim that the x-rays were negative.

Week 29: 0/5.

Hey, let's shift gears and put the pedal to the metal here, OK? 😉

This one took my breath away. My eyes keep welling up with tears. 😢 I'm going WAY back now. The first project I remember "Lou" Gossett from (that's how he was billed in 1970) was a short-lived, but enjoyable ABC series called The Young Rebels, about younger colonials fighting against the British during the American Revolution. The series didn't last very long, but Mr Gossett made an indelible impression on me. Many have already mentioned Roots and An Officer and A Gentleman. His performances there are legendary. (I was actually thinking of him just last night, when I needed to pull a new jar of a certain condiment from the pantry, and in my head I heard his voice saying to Richard Gere's AOAAG character, "MAY-O-nnaise.") I'd like to call attention to a more recent character portrayed by Mr. Gossett, Will Reeves in HBO's brilliant Watchmen. His was a supporting, but pivotal role and he stole every scene he was in. Considering that most of his scenes were with Regina King in a phenomenal, Emmy-winning performance of her own, that was no easy task. One of the all-time greats, he will be missed. Rest easy, sir.

Now we have Tom saying that David "opted out" while the contestant says he "wasn't allowed to participate." There's something fishy going on here.

I agree with you on this, but in my opinion, it opens up a whole new can of worms. If they're trying to "shake things up" by bringing a completely unknown contestant into the main competition this way, doesn't that compromise the legitimacy of LCK? Do any of the next four chefs eliminated from the main competition have a true opportunity to get back in, if the producers' goal is to bring Soo into the main show this way? When you pair this with the producers being tight-lipped about the reason Hat Guy David isn't competing in LCK, it's a bad look.

It certainly seems as if David was shown the door. If he was sick or had some type of personal or family emergency that would have made it impossible for him to participate in LCK, I think something would have been mentioned. Then, to have him say, "I wasn't allowed to participate" on his Insta doesn't give the impression that it was his choice. We've seen many assholes on Top Chef over the years and we've seen their antics play out on screen. Only one contestant was ever asked to leave; Cliff Crooks in Season 2. Even then, they showed us what he did on camera. For whatever reason David wasn't allowed to compete in LCK, I don't think it was because of anything we were shown on screen. JMO, of course. I think the reason will eventually come out. It's a pretty big unanswered question. Some entertainment reporter is out there sniffing around, I'm sure. As for the LCK challenge: Really Valentine, corn puree again? Why risk it when no one was happy with it in the main challenge? Also, a seafood boil has actual corn in it, usually still on the cob. While I don't think it needed to be served that way, just incorporate corn kernels into the dish. We'll have to see if Soo has five wins in him, to make it to the mothership.

Amar's pork belly dish looked scrumptious! Ugh, next week's guest is Marcel.

That game ended MUCH better than it began!

I hope you really did dip out on the game early because two GIDPs with the bases loaded is enough to make me want to throw something at my screen. 🤬 I don't have MLB Network. I live stream the games.

Yes, that was him.

We were told that he was a finalist. I looked it up a bit further. He finished second.

I'm an out-of-market Yankees' fan, so I watch the games through MLB.TV. Yankees/Astros is shown as today's Free Game of the Day. The reason I bring it up is because it's the only Free Game of the Day, which has me a bit ticked off. Every year I've had a subscription, all games during the first week of the season have been free for everyone. (MLB, in the past, has also had all games be free to all in the week after the All-Star Game.) I wonder why they stopped it. Nitpick, I know, but was looking forward to being able to see some other games this week.

Seven Hall of Famers, some no longer with us 😢, share some brief thoughts on Opening Day. ⚾ Stay classy Astros.

Happy Opening Day, everyone! ⚾

For several episodes now, I've been convinced that we saw all the fashion we were going to see in the first episode. It's become obvious that we're working toward closing the episodes-long flashback by closing the loop back to the opening fashion show. Still, the Dior story has been an interesting one. It's just not the one I expected or desired. Disappointing. I lost interest in the Chanel story about four episodes in.

Wow, Manny's on fire.

A big thank you to @Mod-Tigerkatze for setting up and opening this Live Chat thread for us.

I've never worked with hops, but I wonder if blanching them would remove/reduce the bitterness. I always do that with broccoli rabe, before using it in a dish. I laughed hard as the chefs came rushing toward them. Kristen pushed Joe F. out of the way and said, "Run!"

I like Kristen's jumpsuit.