(Note: The sections in italics are from Caylee Marshall's college essay.)
In a blink of an eye, my life changed dramatically. I eat, sleep, and breathe basketball. I’ve been working at my dream of playing college basketball since I was 7 years old and now I am told that I must walk away from the game that stole my heart. Since completing a strong AAU season before my freshman year, I have experienced many obstacles such as being diagnosed with Endometriosis at age 14, forced into menopause at age 15, a dislocated elbow that resulted in three surgeries, but none of this stopped me from doing what I love to do.
*****
I'm not much of a Facebook guy.
From the awful political memes to the constant reminders that everyone I know is getting old to the friend requests from people that I don't know, it's just not my favorite spot online to spend my time, which translates to me stopping by about once or twice a week at the most.
So, it's only through serendipitous circumstances that I happened to stumble across the photo that sparked my desire to write this weekend.
In some respects, it's just another graduation photo. There's a daughter in her graduation gown and a father with a bouquet of flowers. While the daughter gives her old man a tender kiss on the cheek, her hand gently holds her father's place in the area that she once would have put her head while snuggling as a baby.
It's the expression on his face that melts my heart. As the father of a two-year old little girl, I can imagine in future years all of the little benchmark moments of her life and graduation day will be one of them. Yet, this is more than a benchmark moment. Inside of this little moment is a combination of emotions - relief, anxiety, pain, and joy. Inside the loving arms of his little girl, the father appears to be lost in a thousand places. It's as if a highlight reel of everything they've ever been through together is spinning through his mind.
For a brief moment, the world consists of father and daughter ... nothing else.
*****
February 23, 2015. Exactly two weeks after my third elbow surgery was the day my life changed. I was at school, walking down a flight of stairs, heading to my next class and started to experience sharp, stabbing pain in the back of my head and lower back. My parents began to think that it was my body going through withdraws from discontinuing the pain medicine that I had stopped abruptly. My head felt like it was going to explode and my spine hurt from the back of my head all the way to my tailbone. A few days went by alternating medication, but nothing worked. I was admitted into the hospital, emotionally alone and isolated. I began to question, why me? Why is God allowing me to go through all this?"
*****
After turning 40 just three weeks ago, I can count the number of people in my life that I think of as brothers on a couple of fingers.
Chris Marshall is one of those brothers.
When we first met at Shipe Park on 45th Street in Austin back in the summer of 1990, we were probably closer to throwing punches than becoming lifelong friends. However, over time you'd be hard-pressed to mark any important moment in our teenage years where one wasn't with the other.
If it was the weekend, we were together. If there was trouble to be found between the two of us, there was trouble to be found with both of us. From drivers licenses to keg parties to endless games of park basketball, for the last few years of our high school years, we were mostly inseparable.
Over the years, our lives would take us to separate colleges, states and lives, but the bond between us is unlike few bonds I personally know in my life.
One of the things I can tell you with certainty about Chris is that even when we were young, there was nothing in life he wanted more in life than to one day have a family. Boys. Girls. Whatever. The ethos of family and raising children was as strong inside of his soul as any person I've ever known. While we were both still trying to figure out what we were going to do with our lives, he met a woman named Keke and as fate would have it, they turned out to be each other's soul mates. Together they have a couple of children, an oldest girl named Caylee and a son named Chris.
Caylee graduated from high school this week.
*****
I spent 6 days in the hospital and no one knew how to help me. Every day, we had to repeat my story to many teams of physicians only to see the puzzled look on their faces. On the sixth day, the physical therapy team was able to help me stand and I began learning to walk again using a walker. “This is for old people, I’m an athlete” is all I could think. I was discharged and told that my case was “too complex”; another doctor was overheard telling a nurse that I may be faking everything. I couldn’t believe what I heard – I can’t walk and doctors don’t believe me because it’s not something “normal”. To make matters worse, this was not the first time that I heard a doctor suggest I was faking it; my fight with endometriosis all over again.
*****
There's no question in my mind that it was the game of basketball that forged this brotherhood among friends that has lasted more than a quarter of a century.
While we were park-game rivals initially, hour after hour after hour of pick-up games at Shipe Park eventually brought us together. As a basketball player, he was pretty damn good, but like most mortals, his skill set never allowed him to reach the levels he thirsted for. A skilled sharp-shooter from the perimeter, there just wasn't enough natural athletic ability to rate him among the top levels of our peer group.
But, man, no one loved the game as much as he did. There were days when we'd play eight straight hours of hoops during the summer and when it was all over, he could recite the stats he produced in every single game. On a day when he didn't shoot the ball well, it might bother him enough that we'd be back at the park less than an hour later just to right whatever wrongs had occurred.
Therefore, when Caylee was old enough to dribble a basketball, it didn't shock me that his love for the game transferred to his oldest girl. As she grew older and her love for basketball started to match her father, the bond between the two strengthened to the levels that most fathers dream of, especially when the teenage years kick in and hanging out with fathers becomes about as fun as a root canal.
When there were tournaments to drive to or UT basketball camps to attend or games to watch, no distance was too far of a distance for this father to help ensure that his daughter's dreams were realized. Whenever we would speak on the phone, inevitably he would start to talk about a recent performance of hers on the hardwood or he'd tell me her stat-line from a game.
If we're being completely honest, it wasn't just her dreams that we're being realized with every three-point shot she made.
*****
I found myself a fraction of the girl I once was, relying on a walker for every step I took. My faith was being tested and I was beginning to question God and his ability or willingness to help heal me. It was supposed to be the summer my dreams came true: playing AAU Basketball and getting recruited. My dreams were shattered and I was left broken hearted!
*****
Not all of our conversations on the phone over the years have included a lot of basketball.
His voice would ache with pain as he explained what was going on with his little girl.
First, it was a condition going into her freshman year of high school that countless doctors couldn't correctly diagnosis. They told her that she had Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and then it was Crone’s Disease, while another pediatric specialist told her family that is was all psychological and that nothing was physically wrong with her, despite her claims of stabbing pain in her abdominal area. Eventually, after more than a year of searching for the right diagnosis, she came to learn that she was actually suffering from Endometriosis.
For those that don't know, Endometriosis is a disorder which causes tissue that normally lines the uterus to grow outside the uterus. It had gone untreated for so long that the disorder spread to her abdominal wall, bladder and small intestines, while also attacking her colon. Oh, and if all of that wasn't enough, it fused her left ovary to the ureter.
As if the two surgeries, a nerve block and a lot of stress over whether she'd ever be able to realize her dreams wasn't enough for her to deal with, there were the three surgeries on her elbow due to an injury she had suffered.
From the sound of his voice, it was all too much to take, but backing down from the challenge was never an option because his little girl needed to know that a light at the end of the tunnel existed. If someone was going to walk down the valley of despair with her, it was going to be him because that's what fathers do when they cherish their little girls.
Unfortunately, every path the two traveled together in search of the light seemed to end with another type of hurdle that a mere teenage girl should never know.
*****
I quickly thought to myself, “Senior season, here I come. I’m going to finally be able to play without any restrictions and I’m going to blow the scoreboard up.” For the next few months, I began to train my body and spirit. This second chance was changing me as a person physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I was thanking God for never leaving my side and allowing me to overcome and succeed this obstacle. This experience enabled me to see life differently and changed my mindset.
In August, I began training and shooting up to 500 shots per day.
One evening, while at the gym, I began to experience pain in my lower back and I got scared. I took a couple of days off and began to train less and less. For the first time, I was listening to my pain and terrified at the same time that everything was starting over again.
*****
After seeing the photo of Chris and Caylee this weekend, I sent my friend a text letting him know just how much the picture had touched me.
His response: " Thanks brother. I prayed to see her walk again for six months. Prayers answered."
Immediately, I was embarrassed to know that enough time had passed that I wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about. Goodness gracious, was there another issue with Caylee I wasn't completely aware of?
Indeed, there was.
It turns out that the lower pain in her back ended up creating bouts of blindness in her right eye. Once again, she was back in front of doctors that either didn't know what to tell her or they completely misdiagnosed her again. At one point she was told that she had Multiple Sclerosis. After five months of more doctors misdiagnosing her with MS, she eventually learned that she had a condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), which is a condition that affects connective tissue, primarily the skin, joints, and blood vessel walls.
Doctors told her that instead of dreaming of basketball, she should begin to focus on trying to live as normal of a life as possible, especially since she will require the need of physical therapy for the rest of her life.
As I updated myself on what had been going on in her senior year, the anger in me started to overflow. Why couldn't this poor girl catch a break? What on earth had she done to warrant such challenging karma? Why wouldn't fate give her pocket aces instead of 2/7 off-suit just once? Just once! As tears rolled down my cheeks, I realized that the kind of heroic strength she had shown throughout the years was the type of thing that warranted being written about.
Once upon a time, this young girl who bleeds as much orange as any of you reading this, dreamed of playing basketball for The University of Texas. She attended countless camps and games. The bond between father and daughter grew even stronger through their collective passion for all things Longhorns.
After reading all of this, go back and look at the embrace between them in that picture and I dare you to tell me you're unaffected.
Where the story goes from here is uncertain. but the story up until now deserves to be told because the internal drive to live ... to never turn away from your dreams ... to always believe tomorrow is a day that you will conquer, even if today is a day left unconquered.
This amazing story is her story, which means that I'm going to get out of the way, as she takes the final word.
*****
I will never give up on my dream. I will prove doctors wrong again! I pray daily that my determination and my love for basketball lead me back to it someday. I always thought that I was going to earn that scholarship and play basketball for a university, now I just want to be able to go to college. Going to college will allow me the opportunity to feel normal; a feeling I have not felt in four years. The opportunity will allow me to rediscover myself and to begin focusing on the next chapter of my life. Throughout all my setbacks, I have maintained a 4.0 gpa and a majority of my high school career have been in AP classes. They say where God closes one door, He opens another. I still pray that God leaves this door cracked. "
No. 2 – We now return you to your regularly scheduled program … Football.
For the last few weeks, I’ve spent time breaking down the various position groups on the offensive side of the ball within the Big 12 and more times than not, whether it was the quarterback position, wide receivers or the offensive line, the Longhorns ranked somewhere in the middle of each set of power rankings.
Considering the youth on that side of the ball, so much of it completely unproven, it shouldn’t catch anyone by surprise that the Longhorns don’t appear to be an offensive powerhouse in the making on paper.
But, what about defense? Heading into year three of the Charlie Strong Experience, how do the Longhorns look on paper with the side of the ball that is eventually supposed to define the Strong era in Austin?
Over the next few weeks, we’ll break it all down, but today’s focus targets the interior play along the defensive line. Here’s a look at how I rank the league’s defensive tackles heading into the season.
Oklahoma State: Junior Vincent Taylor (Started all 13 games and recorded 48 tackles, 8.5 TFL and 5.0 sacks), senior Material Maile (Started 13 games and recorded 21 total tackles and 2 TFL), senior Eric Davis (played in 13 games) and sophomore Darrion Daniels (Played in 13 games, recorded 16 tackles and 2.5 TFL)
Quickie thoughts: This group is deep in experience and features both a returning playmaker and a playmaker on the rise. Taylor’s 48 tackles and five sacks were the highest totals for any interior defensive lineman during the Mike Gundy era (2005-present). Meanwhile, Daniels was regarded as the top young defensive lineman in the program a year ago and is expected to blossom in his second season.
2. Iowa State: Senior Demond Tucker (Played in 12 games/started 11 and recorded 28 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and six sacks) and junior Vernell Trent (played in 12 games and recorded eight tackles)
Quick thoughts: He might be undersized in terms of height, but Tucker was the Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year in 2015 and ranks as the top returning interior lineman in the league. When it comes to making plays in the offensive backfield, he has no peer in this league heading into the season. The Tucker/Trent duo at nose-guard in its 3-4 scheme gives the Cyclones the same pair it used a year ago.
3. Kansas State: Junior Will Greary (started 12 games and recorded 45 tackles, 6.5 TFL and 3.5 sacks), junior Ray Price (JUCO transfer) and junior Matt Seiwert
Quickie thoughts: To give you an idea of the season Greary had a year ago, his tackle total was the most by a K-State interior defensive lineman since 2005. Along with Tucker, he likely ranks as the best defensive tackle in the league coming into the season. Price arrives this summer as a transfer and the coaches believe he’ll be a day-one starter.
4. Oklahoma: Junior Matthew Romar (Started 12 games and recorded 23 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and 1 sack), senior Jordan Wade (played in 13 games/started one and recorded 23 tackles, 2 TFL and 1 sack) and sophomore Marquise Overton (played in eight games and recorded eight tackles).
Quickie thoughts: Having moved to almost exclusively a 3-4 front, the Sooners might not have a play-making star in the bunch, but they’ve got as much experience inside as any team in the conference. This is a group Bob Stoops will feel pretty damn good about going into the fall.
5. TCU: Senior Aaron Curry (played in 12 games/started eight, 40 tackles, 4.0 TFL and 3.0 sacks), junior Chris Bradley (played in 13 games/started nine, 30 tackles, 4.5 TFL and 2 sacks) and senior Tevin Lawson (played in seven games, 13 tackles, 1 sack.)
Quickie thoughts: Curry is a dark-hose for all-Big 12 honors going into the season after a very solid junior campaign. Overall, there’s quality experience in this group and some playmaking skills to go with it.
6. Texas: Senior Paul Boyette (Played in 12 games/started six, while recording 37 tackles, eight tackles for loss and 3 sacks), junior Poona Ford (played in 12 games/started five, while recording 39 tackles, 6.0 TFL and 2.5 sacks) and junior Chris Nelson (played in eight games).
Quickie thoughts: Boyette and Ford have proven to be nice situational players, but neither has started for an entire season coming into the season. More than any school in the conference, Texas has a chance to greatly enhance its talent pool with its incoming freshmen class.
7. Baylor: Junior Jeremy Faulk (JUCO transfer), senior Byron Bonds (played in nine games and recorded seven tackles), freshman Tyrone Hunt and sophomore Andrew Morris (played in seven games)
Quickie thoughts: This group is a major question mark coming into the season in every shape and fashion, as Faulk seems to be the guy the coaches feel the best about in a starting role, but he’s never so much as played a down at this level. Some young guys are going to have to grow up fast or this could be a major area of concern.
8. Texas Tech: sophomore Breiden Fehoko (started 13 games, recorded four TFL and a sack), Ondre Pipkins (Michigan transfer) and Broderick Washington.
Quickie thoughts: Fehoko gives the Red Raiders a building block that they can feel good about, but this is a group that ranks at the bottom of the Big 12 and will desperately need Pipkins to make an immediate impact.
9. Kansas: Senior D.J. Williams (Played in eight games, recorded 11 tackles) and sophomore Daniel Wise (played in 12 games/started seven games and recorded 26 tackles and 2.5 TFL)
Quickie thoughts: Wide has a chance to be a good player before his career is over, but this group needs more depth, talent and playmaking.
10. West Virginia: Senior Darrien Howard (played in 13 games, 16 tackles, 1 TFL and 1 sack) and some guys.
Quickie thoughts: Howard was a back-up a season ago and will be forced into a starter’s role this season. As for the back-ups, there are a lot of inexperienced names fighting for spots on the two-deep.
No. 3 – Sam the Man ...
You guys know I love me some Sam Ehlinger. Before it was cool to love Ehlinger as a prospect, I had him pegged as a state top-10 talent.
That was before he led Austin Westlake to the state title game in one of the best seasons any quarterback has ever enjoyed in the state of Texas. That was before college coaches were tripping over themselves to get his attention. That was before he headed to San Diego for the Elite 11 Finals this weekend.
Therefore, you know I was one of the least surprised people on the planet when Ehlinger left his mark on the competition, the coaches and everyone in attendance.
Named the Most Coachable Player at the event by his coaches, even famed quarterback trainer George Whitfield marveled at his thirst for improvement.
While we wait for the final Elite 11 results and whether Ehlinger will receive an invite to The Opening, take a look at what Rivals.com recruiting analyst Adam Gorney had to say about Ehlinger after watching him in person for the first time.
No. 4 – Scattershooting on the Longhorns ...
… As a side note to the defensive tackle discussion in section two, the Longhorns have four of the top 32 defensive tackle prospects from the Rivals national rankings in 2016 and five of the top 50. The rest of the Big 12 combined to land two of the top 50.
… It was only a matter of time before 2018 Houston Lamar defensive back Anthony Cook received an offer from the Longhorns, so Sunday’s one-day camp was as good of a time as any to get that out of the way. Go ahead and circle his name as a must have down the road.
… As long as I’ve been covering the Longhorns, I don’t ever remember Texas offering a kid from Yoakum and on one day, two 2018 brothers (Josh and Jordan Moore) wiped that little fact from the record books. I have to believe those offers are going to be a big deal in that town.
… Unless the kid can’t play, I’m just going to assume that Makhi Metcalf, son of former Longhorns star running back Eric Metcalf, is going to get a scholarship offer from Charlie Strong. Some things are just meant to be.
… It says a lot about the impression that Trinity Valley DB Curtis Jones must have made on the Texas staff that Vance Bedford has asked him to come back for a second look next week at the second one-day camp. I’m kind of rooting for this late-bloomer to earn a scholarship. What a story that would be.
… Everyone will be keeping an eye on Devin Duvernay’s visit on Monday and if I’m Charlie Strong there are four things I’m stressing to him in the visit.
a. The integrity of his program.
b. The fact that the same offense he was set to play in as a Baylor Bear is the same offense that they are running in Austin.
c. This offense needs a do-it-all-playmaker and playing time and possibly a starting spot will be available as soon as he steps on campus.
d. The fact that he can join a program with the best group of young players of any school in the state.
No. 5 – Buy or sell …
(As always, all of these questions were submitted by actual Orangebloods subscribers.)
BUY or SELL: Erick Fowler not qualifying is a significant setback to the development of the defense?
(Sell) Charlie Strong has recruited an army of linebackers and defensive backs in the last couple of years, which should leave the back end of the defense in very good shape in the coming years. What Fowler’s talent represents is about a 50-50 chance at having a player talented enough to be a Top 100 NFL prospect and those types of players are worth millions.
BUY or SELL: Texas will lose 3-4 more players to attrition before fall camp starts?
(Buy) A little more than a year ago, I did a study on the last 15 years of attrition on the 40 Acres and the average number of players leaving the program per year was a little more than a half-dozen. Through a combination of grades, injuries, playing time desires, arrests or failed drug tests, the math suggests that a few more players will depart the program before August.
BUY or SELL: Patrick Hudson plays football for Texas this fall?
(Buy) When it’s all said and done, the players that want to be released are going to create so many potential bad headlines and long-term recruiting issues around the state that Baylor is going to have to cave in and let these kids go. Or the NCAA will do it for them. Either way, I believe these kids will be set free and Hudson ends up at Texas.
BUY or SELL: The parents of 2016 Baylor signees were plenty aware of Rape U and are only now crying outrage because Briles was fired?
(mini-Buy) I’ll give some the benefit of the doubt that they were unaware of what was happening and that Baylor didn’t tell them, especially when you consider the media dark-out that was taking place with this story. However, if that’s my son, I have a hard time believing that I wouldn’t be aware of that situation and that I wouldn’t ask questions. More likely is that they were simply told that it wasn’t a big deal by those in green and gold.
BUY or SELL: TCU takes a big step back this year in wins and loses and is more an 8-4 / 7-5 type team that an 11-1 in recent years? Also, Baylor does not win 10 games this year?
(Buy) Yeah… I’ll buy both.
BUY or SELL: Kendall Briles and Phil Bennett are gone before Baylor's first game this year?
(Sell) Baylor still cares more about football than it cares about getting this right. While we’re on the subject, I can’t believe the younger Briles is still sticking around. If you really believe that your father has been framed wrongly, what does it say that you’ll still work for those that have wronged him? Unlike a lot of coaches on that staff, Briles would have a job after the season in the blink of an eye if he walked and wasn’t implicated in these instances of evil moving forward. If the school ever tries to sneak Briles through the back-door after the season concludes, we’ll know that the game was rigged all along with the presence of the younger Briles sticking around when it looks so sketchy to do so.
BUY or SELL: Someone with the most damaging inside information on the Baylor scandal will step forward in the next six weeks and confirm our worst fears about what we don't yet know?
(Buy) ESPN reporter Paula Lavigne reports that she personally knows of four women who allege that they were raped at Baylor that have yet to step forward. The final chapters of this scandal are not yet written.
BUY or SELL: The Big 12’s new format of two divisions and a CG is a good idea?
(Buy) Here’s the deal… the majority of the schools in the conference wanted to shake something up for the sake of shaking something up, especially with the realization that 2024 is getting closer by the day. Considering that adding schools would only add potential shackles to the restraints already holding the school back, giving into this idea I don’t really prefer makes sense when you consider that it does arrive with positives. Everyone sensed that Texas didn’t prefer this idea any more than any of the other ideas, but the vote to approve the motion was 10-0. At a time when it is said that Texas never makes concessions, I think it made a very public concession, one that ups the annual revenue of the little Big 12 schools by nearly three million per year. For UT’s sake, if it helps make some of the coming years a little less volatile while it waits for 2024 to arrive, that’s a good deal.
BUY or SELL: The Art Briles affair at Baylor, and the focus on athlete behavior in college football programs nationally that has come from it among other programs, assures that Charlie Strong is retained at Texas for the life of his contract as long as the team shows improvement in performance and he wins at least 7 games in 2016, including a bowl game.
(Sell) I’m not sure 7-6 is going to cut it. He needs an 8-5 year.
No. 6 – Good grief, Baylor...
If only the folks who were responsible for these full-page ads in both the Waco and Austin papers on Sunday had cared as much about victims of rape as they did about showing the world how much they blindly supported Ken Starr …
Oh, and the Sporting News reports that the parents of the current mayor of Waco are the first two names on the list.
No. 7 – Remembering Ali…
Honestly, I don’t know what I can add to the Ali discussion that hasn’t already been written.
By the time I started caring about boxing when I was about 10, he was already gone from the sport and I knew him more from appearing on an episode of Different Strokes than any of the social stands he made before I was born.
In addition to that, I never met the man and can’t really think of any stories that I can share about a very personal experience.
Still, we’re talking about Muhammad Ali… the greatest. Therefore, I’ll leave you with two things that stood out the most from this weekend.
No.1 - Jerry Izenberg's article on his decades worth of relationship with Ali is an absolute must-read.
No.2 - I thought the president's remarks on Ali were perfect.
“I am American,” he once declared. “I am the part you won’t recognize. But get used to me - black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own. Get used to me."
To The Greatest, rest in peace.
No. 8 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
… The NBA title was decided last Monday when the Warriors beat OKC in seven games. This NBA Finals that remains in the aftermath of that series is nothing more than a five-game coronation for the Warriors on their quest for NBA immortality. Enjoy these final three games because this is greatness we’re watching.
… Call me a victim of the moment if you want to, but as a long-time Rafa Nadal fan I must confess that Novak Djokovic is the best tennis player I’ve ever seen. When it’s all said and done, I think he catches Federer. We’ve been incredibly lucky to be graced by so many all-time players over the course of the last 20 years.
… Must remember to watch Farbine Muguruza moving forward…
… Dana White has done a lot of stupid over the years, but this really takes the cake. Grow up, Dana.
… Outside of Dana, I thought UFC199 was one of the best cards I’ve seen from the UFC in a long time. Can’t wait for UFC200.
… I’ve never been a huge Michael Bisping fan and I gave him virtually zero shot of beating Luke Rockhold, but I enjoyed the hell out of watching him knock out a champion that appeared bored by his challenge. Instead, he was embarrassed by his challenge. Be better, Luke.
… Good for Dan Henderson. I hope for his sake that it was his last fight.
… On a day when he struck out a season-high 12 batters, Jake Arrieta lost his first game of the season to end a 20-game winning streak.
… Might the Rangers run away with the AL West?
… Once the bleeding stops, I’m afraid my Phillies are headed for another top 10 selection next spring. As it currently stands, am I crazy for not being ecstatic over the thought of them drafting Florida lefty A.J. Puk? I think I prefer Louisville outfielder Corey Ray.
… Consider me very underwhelmed by the USA’s opening performance in the COPA America opener. Excuse me for thinking that Darlington Nagbe and Christian Pulisic need to be starting instead of coming off the bench … unless not scoring goals is part of the designed plan.
… Consider me even more underwhelmed by the Costa Rica/Paraguay game. Man, if the USA can’t beat those two teams, we don’t deserve more than three games in this tournament.
… Ecuador was robbed.
… Also, if we can’t get the freaking national anthems right, we don’t deserve to host the tournament. Good grief.
… Finally, what’s this about a big boxing match I missed on Saturday night?
No. 9 – Game of Thrones - Stream of conscious thoughts...
The following are my stream of conscious thoughts on season-six, episode seven of Game of Thrones.
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a. Damnit, only three more episodes after tonight. How is that possible?
b. Anyone else having a hard time keeping up with all of the internet theories that exist about this show? Prediction: Cersei is ordered to die after losing the trial by combat. Jamie will be elsewhere when it happens, leaving Tommen all alone to live with the blame.
c. Am I alone in having no interest in seeing Vice Principals?
d. Where was the open to the show?
e. Is that The Hound's music? Oh my God! It's The Hound's Music! Good God, that's The Hound's music!
f. Why do we hate the High Sparrow so much? Shouldn't we be rooting for this guy? When did the Lannister family become the home team? Oh man, he loves to spike the ball in the end zone. He's calling out the Queen of Thorns. I'll pay $60 for that pay-per-view.
g. Margaery is no one's mark.
h. One word from Wun-wun carries a lot of weight.
i. "You've lost Cersei. That's the only joy I can find in all of this misery"
Awww damn, that's why they call her the Queen of Thorns. That cut like a blade to the heart.
j. We've missed you, Bronn.
k. Ser Davos is the best man in this show. If they kill him off in a horrible way, I might have to quit the show.
l. Blackfish is an OG. That might be my favorite scene of the entire season.
m. More old person on younger person crime! What is going on tonight? Even Sansa got put into her place and she's married to a monster.
n. I can't believe Theon has become one of my favorite reclamation projects in this show.
o. The Waif did a lot of things to Arya in that scene, but killing her doesn't appear to be one of them... not yet. Technically, the Waif is guilty of the same thing as Arya...
p. The Hound grabbed that axe like Rocky in Rocky IV after Adrian showed up to give him that pep talk. Shit's about to get real.
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No. 10 - And finally…
In the next 48-72 hours, I will deliver the debut of the 2018 LSR list. Stay tuned.
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