[OC] The Best MLS Player from Each Country That's Fielded One: Part 1 (UEFA)
Throughout its first 25 years, Major League Soccer has seen players from all different corners of the globe, each with their own career story. Whether it be a guy like Tim Melia or Chris Wondolowski who were scrappy guys that came out of nowhere to be stars in this league, or world famous names such as Zlatan, Beckham, and Henry, the league's history of big names is as diverse as they come. Let's take a look at the best player from each country around the globe. This will be based on national team allegiance. Today, we'll be leading with Europe! Please note that this is my opinion, and in some cases the decisions were tough; I'll be sure to add in honorable mentions where I can, or add notes. Albania: Shkëlzen Gashi ( COL 2016-18) Short list to pick from here, as Gashi's only competition is Jahmir Hyka and Hamdi Salihi. Gashi gets the nod, if nothing else, for his huge 2016 season, where he scored 10 regular season goals (one of which was that year's Goal of the Year) as the Rapids damn near won the Shield. The madlad then went and one-upped that with his absurd equalizer in the playoffs against the Galaxy. His last two years weren't as fruitful, but man, when he was on he could pull something out of nowhere. Armenia: Yura Movsisyan ( KC 2006-07, RSL 2007-09 & 2016-18, CHI 2018) Four choices here, although in the end it's Movsisyan winning out over Harut Karapetyan, who played a couple seasons in the 90s for the Galaxy, San Jose, and Tampa Bay. The fourth pick in a strong 2006 MLS SuperDraft out of Pasadena City College, Movsisyan is mostly associated with RSL, who acquired him in a 2007 trade. With the Claret and Cobalt, he would tally 15 goals in 53 regular season appearances, and in 2009 he'd hoist the club's first MLS Cup. That'd be his last game with RSL until 2016 after some time in Europe with Randers, Krasnodar, and Spartak Moscow (even sharing the Russian PL Golden Boot in 2012/13 with Wanderson). He'd put up a similar clip of 16 in 57 before being waived and finishing his MLS career with four scoreless games with Chicago. Austria: Daniel Royer ( NYRB 2016-pres.) The choice here was largely Royer vs. Andreas Ivanschitz, who was a regular starter for Seattle's first MLS Cup, but I can't say no to a man with over 100 MLS matches played and three straight 10-goal seasons. In all comps, the former Austria Vienna man is just two goals behind Thierry Henry for third on the Red Bulls' all time goal scoring list. Belarus: Sasha Gotsmanov ( COL 2005) Gotsmanov qualifies by default as the only Belarusian player in MLS history. The Minsk native (and son of former Soviet and Belarusian international Sergei Gotsmanov) played one (1) single game for Colorado in October 2005, against RSL. Belgium: Laurent Ciman ( MTL 2015-17, LAFC 2018, TFC 2019-pres.) Shouts to Roland Lamah, who had his moments in Dallas, and Jelle van Damme, who played a season and a half for the Galaxy, but Ciman is the obvious choice. While he's fallen off a cliff as he's gotten older, he's a three-time All-Star and won Defender of the Year in his first MLS season; in his second, he played for Belgium at Euro 2016. At 35, he's lost a step and probably should only be used in emergencies, but at his best he was an elite MLS center back that could also be deployed at right back. Bosnia & Herzegovina: Haris Medunjanin ( PHI 2017-19, CIN 2020-pres.) The first one where I'm not totally confident in my pick, as Baggio Hušidić made this tricky (and as a Union fan I'm afraid of bias). But at his best, Haris is an assist machine (30 in four MLS seasons so far), and a threat on set pieces; the madlad even scored an Olimpico this year. His left foot is probably the best the Union have ever had. While his commitment to defense was nonexistent, give him the ball and he could spray a pass anywhere. Bulgaria: Hristo Stoichkov ( CHI 2000-02, DC 2003) One of three former Ballon d'Or winners to play in MLS (the others being Lothar Matthaus and Kaka, although "playing" is generous for the former), Stoichkov spent the last four seasons of his career in MLS, scoring 22 goals in 72 regular season matches for Chicago and DC. In his first season, a 9 goal in 18 match outing for the Fire, he also won the US Open Cup, scoring the opening goal of the final, a 2-1 win over Miami. (The winning goal, by the way, was scored by our old friend Owen Goal.) Croatia: Damir Kreilach ( RSL 2018-pres.) Mr. Miyagi's favorite MLS player for his crane kick equalizer in the playoffs, the former Rijeka and Union Berlin man has proven to be an excellent utility piece and core part of RSL throughout his time there, scoring 26 goals and chipping in 14 assists in 86 regular season matches and playing all over the damn place (naturally a central midfielder, he's probably still RSL's best forward). At 31, he still has a lot to give. MLS has seen a huge influx of Croats lately, though; before Kreilach's 2018 signing there had only been four Croatian players in MLS history, two of whom barely played. Currently, there are five on active rosters. Czechia: Luboš Kubík ( CHI 1998-2001, DAL 2001) Czech players have had a good hit rate in MLS. In his lone MLS season, Bořek Dočkal led the league in assists, and Zdeněk Ondrášek was a very solid piece for Dallas, albeit one whose MLS time was brief. But no. We have to go with Kubik. The sweeper was Best XI twice, in 1998 and 1999, and won Defender of the Year in 1998 helping Chicago to a MLS Cup-Open Cup double. He'd win another Open Cup two years later, before being traded to Dallas in 2001 and retiring due to injury. So many lethal counterattacks started on the foot of this man, and he is rightfully seen as one of the greatest defenders the league has ever seen. Denmark: Jimmy Nielsen ( KC 2010-13) I debated going WAYYYYYYY off the board here and throwing out Miklos Molnar. His time in MLS was brief, just the 2000 season before he retired, but the man was the best attacking piece on a Cup winner. He could have balled out if he didn't retire early. But nah. We're going with Casino Jimmy, one of the keys towards Kansas City's early 2010s turnaround. A two time All-Star, Nielsen was Goalkeeper of the Year in 2012, a year that also saw him win the Open Cup with the Wiz (on penalties, because KC and penalties, name a more iconic duo at this point). In 2013, he capped off his career by winning MLS Cup, again on penalties, while playing with broken ribs. England: Bradley Wright-Phillips ( 2013-2019, LAFC 2020) This league, man. The list of English players to have represented in MLS is a long one, full of iconic names. Ashley Cole. David Beckham. Frank Lampard. Steven Gerrard. Jermain Defoe. Wayne Rooney. Hell, even Bradley's brother Shaun. But nope. Many of those guys are the butt of many MLS jokes. BWP, on the other hand, is one of the greatest goal scorers the league has ever seen, with two Golden Boots to his name and well over a century of league goals. He was a part of 3 Shield winning teams, and made CONCACAF's Best XI in 2018. And it all started with a quiet trial in 2013 after Charlton dumped him. This. League. And This. Man. Even as a fan of Philly who doesn't care much for the Red Bulls, I respect this dude and everything he's done. I hope he gets another year after winning Comeback Player of the Year this year. Estonia: Joel Lindpere ( NYRB 2010-12, CHI 2013) The only other option here was Erik Sorga, who could dethrone Lindpere as he came to MLS at a very young age. But it's unlikely, as Lindpere was quietly very solid for the Red Bulls during his time. The Tallinn native was a two-time All-Star, and in 2010 he was named the Red Bulls' team MVP. Finland: Alex Ring ( NYC 2017-2020, AUS pres.) T O P I C A L There's a few fairly talented Finns in MLS right now that could make this interesting (I really like Robin Lod's game, and Lassi Lappelainen would be excellent for Montreal if he'd stop getting hurt). Ring however has proven his worth across 4 seasons, including time as NYC's captain. Over 10,000 MLS minutes, mostly for good teams, as a defensive anchor, he will be a fantastic tone-setter for the new Austin team. France: Thierry Henry ( NYRB 2010-14) Oh man, as an Ireland fan I wanted to give this to literally anyone else. I am still bitter, dammit. His best competition is probably Aurelien Collin, who has a closetful of trophies (including a Best XI and MLS Cup MVP). But no...it's Henry. When a big name comes to MLS, what people want to see is someone who treats the league with respect. Henry did that. Not only was he dominant on the pitch, a three-time Best XI nomination, he also respected the history of the club he played for and gave 100%, even though he was getting up there in the years. He's a Red Bulls and MLS legend...as much as I curse that godforsaken hand Georgia: Valeri "Vako" Qazaishvili ( SJ 2017-20) It looks like the San Jose chapter of Vako's career is done and dusted. While the former Vitesse man struggled for consistency, he did put up 26 goals and 13 assists across four MLS seasons for the Quakes, including 10 while being coached by Mikael Stahre, which should probably get him and Wondo some sort of award. We'll see what's next for him, if he leaves MLS or goes back to Europe. His only competition was Quakes teammate Guram Kashia. Germany: Bastian Schweinsteiger ( CHI 2017-19) I'm...actually not sure about this one. I actually changed this while writing, as I very nearly chose Julian Gressel; the former Rookie of the Year has two 10-assist seasons under his belt, and Kai Wagner has also been one of the league's better fullbacks for Philadelphia; Schweinsteiger was solid enough for Chicago in his advanced age for some very frustrating teams (and even moved positions to center back!)...but man, I don't know. Germany is weird. For a country with such a great footballing tradition, the pickings are fairly slim. Arne Friedrich had one good year for Chicago before injuries claimed his career. Lottar Matthaus was as committed to this league as Schalke are to winning football matches. Stefan Aigner was stifled by Anthony Hudson going galaxy brain. Torsten Frings...existed. I dunno. Greece: Alexandros Tabakis ( ATL 2017) The only Greek in MLS history...and our second one game wonder. Atlanta's FOURTH string keeper in 2017, he managed to sneak into a game against Minnesota with Brad Guzan on international duty, Alec Kann injured, and Kyle Reynish sent off during the match. Atlanta lost 3-2. He's now in USL. Hungary: Nemanja Nikolić ( CHI 2017-19) Dániel Sallói and Krisztián Németh had their moments, but the winner is Nikolić, who came to MLS from the Ekstraklasa and immediately won the Golden Boot. His totals diminished in the three seasons he spent with Chicago, but 51 goals in 96 appearances isn't too shabby at all - it's second in Fire history behind Ante Razov. Iceland - Guðmundur Þórarinsson ( NYC 2020-pres.) Not much choice, 3 guys, all of whom were mostly bench guys. I almost went with Kristinn Steindorsson here on the merits of "he didn't have a penalty saved by Rodrigo Schlegel." Israel: Gadi Kinda ( SKC 2020-pres.) It was either him or Dedi Ben Dayan, really. And I nearly went with the former Colorado left back, but nah, Kinda is very much the superior player. The midfielder born in Ethiopia, Kinda shone brightly in his first season in KC, with 6 goals and 4 assists in his debut season. He'll be a DP next season. Italy: Sebastian Giovinco ( TOR 2015-18) A signing that changed an entire club. Before Giovinco, the Reds were a laughingstock. He came in, won a Golden Boot and MVP right away, led the league in assists, made Best XI three years in a row, led them to their first playoff game, their first MLS Cup final, their first MLS Cup win, and a historic treble. And they damn near won CCL too. The Atomic Ant was must-see from Day 1. It's not just because of him that Toronto is now one of MLS's elite...but he was a huge part of changing that culture. 83 goals in 142 games in all comps. And he dished out his fair share of assists too, with a telepathic partnership with Jozy. Latvia: Raivis Hščanovičs ( TOR 2010) Not much to write about here. 14 games for a bad Reds team. Gets in by default with no other Latvian MLS players. Liechtenstein: Nicholas Hasler ( TOR 2017-18, CHI 2018-19, SKC 2019) Another one by default. 66 games as a utilityman. Won MLS Cup and the Shield, though. Lithuania: Vytautas Andriuškevičius ( POR 2016-18, DC 2018) Only other choice was Edgaras Jankauskas, a forward who played 14 games for the Revs. Vytas played 37 for Portland and zero for DC. Luxembourg: Maxime Chanot ( NYC 2016-pres.) Another one by default but this one's an actually really solid player that finished fourth in Defender of the Year voting in 2019. We take those. Malta: Etienne Barbera ( VAN 2012) 2 games in 2012. Only Maltese player in MLS. Montenegro: Branko Bošković ( DC 2010-12) Pretty much every other Montenegrin player played less than 20 games in MLS. Bošković played 43 before returning to Europe for family reasons. 7 assists in his final season though, which is technically something. Netherlands: Johan Kappelhof ( CHI 2016-pres.) Much like Germany, bright footballing tradition, very shaky MLS history. Which is weird because the Eredivisie exports a lot of guys to MLS. Also, I'm excluding Kelvin Leerdam, as he is probably changing his international allegiance to Suriname. So I'm going with 2017 All-Star Kappelhof, who I think is still fairly solid. But really the choices aren't great. Dave van den Burgh? Roland Alberg scored a hat trick once I guess? Danny Koevermans was decent but injured all the time? Maybe it's a hot take. It probably is. North Macedonia: Oka Nikolov ( PHI 2013) Never actually played, only in a friendly. Watch this space though as North Macedonia is apparently courting LAFC's Danny Musovski. Northern Ireland: Johnny Steele ( RSL 2012, NYRB 2013-14) Another case of shaky opposition, it was either Steele or Steve Morrow, who played 41 games for Dallas in the aughts. Steele played regularly for a Shield winner, the 2013 Red Bulls. Easy peasy. Norway: Vadim Demidov Ola Kamara ( CLB 2016-17, LAG 2018, DC 2019-pres.) Adama Diomande is the main competition here. Kamara's first stint in MLS was a smashing success, scoring 48 goals in 90 regular season matches for Columbus and the Galaxy (he was traded for Gyasi Zardes before 2018). A brief foray to China followed, and while he's back in MLS with DC he hasn't quite been the same. Still a good player on his day, maybe just the Bennyball effect. Poland: Piotr Nowak ( CHI 1998-2002) When I think of early Chicago, Nowak and the earlier-mentioned Kubik are the first two names that come to mind. Kubik held down the back while Nowak was the chief creator in the midfield. Three-time best XI, three-time All-Star, and MLS Cup MVP. ...can I drink my water now? Portugal: José Gonçalves ( NE 2013-16) Gonçalves fell off a cliff in his latter years, but in his first MLS season he won Defender of the Year and in his second he was a key part of a team that made the MLS Cup final and damn near won the thing. Runner up here is Nani who is probably closing in. EDIT: I also forgot to mention Pedro Santos, thanks to the Crew fans who pointed that one out. I still think Gonçalves pips him for his 2013 if nothing else, but Santos is probably closer than Nani. Republic of Ireland: Robbie Keane ( LAG 2011-16) A LOT closer than you think; Time Person of the CenturyJuventus legend Ronnie O'Brien was two-time best XI himself. But nonono. This is Robbie freaking Keane. When we see these big name Euro guys interested in MLS, this is the man we want them to be. Hypercompetitive and holding guys accountable on and off the pitch, and scoring for fun. 83 goals in 125 MLS regular season appearances. Best XI four times. 2014 MVP. MLS Cup MVP in 2014. A closetful of team awards including 3 MLS Cups. This man was a baller, and frankly his departure was the beginning of the Galaxy decline into irrelevance, but that's a story for another time. Romania: Alexandru Mitriță ( NYC 2019-pres.?) Question mark because he's on loan and I have no idea if it'll be permanent, but he was punted out by the Pigeons just as he was really starting to break out. He scored 12 goals in his debut season last year but filled in nicely this year while Maxi Moralez was injured. EDIT: NYC fans have informed me he wasn't punted out, but was loaned out to be closer to his pregnant wife. My apologies. Honorable mention: Alex Zotincă, who played for the Wizards and Chivas USA in the aughts. Brave man. Russia: Igor Simutenkov ( KC 2002-04) Not a lot to pick from here either. 49 games, 12 goals for this forward from Moscow, who now serves as an assistant coach at Zenit. Scotland: John Spencer ( COL, 2001-04) Give Johnny Russell another few years and he'll pass Spencer, but for now I'm leaning the latter. Spencer as a coach was frustrating as hell, but as a player he was Best XI twice and an MVP finalist once. Dude could score goals despite battling injuries in his time in MLS. Just don't let him sign Kris Boyd. Then you lose to Cal FC. No one wants that. Serbia: Aleksandar Katai ( 2018-19, 2020) FROM A SPORTING PERSPECTIVE. And mostly due to a weak pool. Runner up was probably someone like Miloš Kocić. 18 goals in 62 games for Chicago before getting yeeted back to Serbia for Bad People Reasons Slovakia: Albert Rusnák ( RSL 2017-pres.) He has tenure on Ján Greguš, who's the closest competitor, but Rusnák is also good. He followed up a 14-assist debut season (4th in the league) with back to back 10 goal seasons before struggling this year with injury. Slovenia: Robert Berić ( CHI 2020-pres.) Once he got acclimated to MLS, the goals came, and Chicago has its successor to Nikolić up top. He finished with 12 goals in his debut season, tied for second in the league with Ruidiaz and Zardes. Also, from what I saw early on, seems like he's a dark-arts type of guy that gets in your head. That's fun. Spain: David Villa ( NYC 2015-18) I really didn't want to put him here due to recent allegations, and the fact that Pozuelo has already matched his MVP and two Best XI performances.... 77 goals in 117 games though, that's tough to pass on. Sweden: Zlatan Ibrahimović ( LAG 2018-19) It's Zlatan. He pretty much dragged a sorry LA organization to something resembling competitiveness. What the hell did you expect? (Anton Tinnerholm made this hard, though) EDIT: Forgot Gustav Svensson as well in my honorable mentions. Switzerland: Stefan Frei ( TOR 2009-13, SEA 2014-pres.) Pretty self-explanatory, one of the most accomplished keepers in MLS history and with a closetful of hardware. And all it took Seattle to get him was a late first round pick that pinged around so much that it was eventually traded for a coach. Turkey: Sercan Güvenışık ( SJ 2012) 5 games that year. No one else has flown the Turkish flag in MLS. Ukraine: Dema Kovalenko ( CHI 1999-2002, DC 2002-05, NYRB 2006-08, RSL 2008, LAG 2008-10) I'm afraid he'd break my legs if I didn't. One of the most physical and downright dirty players the league has ever seen. Made nearly 300 appearances though, and has one each of the 3 major US trophies (MLS Cup, USOC, Shield), all with a different team. Wales: Andy Dorman ( NE 2004-07, 2013-15) Dorman was a key part of that real good Revs team from the mid-aughts, and just beats out Carl Robinson. He made 112 appearances in his first stint, and played in 3 MLS Cup finals, though they famously lost all three. The Revs brought him back in 2013 after some time in Scotland and England, and was playing semipro in the area as recently as 2018.
"From the moment “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” premiered, Heather Gay has been brash, bold, funny and outspoken. It’s easy to see why producers cast her — she’s very entertaining. Chatting on the phone, Gay is all that. But she’s also unexpectedly vulnerable. It’s clear she’s still dealing with her 2015 divorce, which she said shattered her life and her self-image. “I know that I’m unfiltered,” she told The Salt Lake Tribune. “I know that I speak from my heart. And I know that I do things that I regret and cringe after I hear myself say them. So I’m terrified of what I’ve done to ruin my own life, but I’m also excited to see how this plays out. “All I want to do is be liked! This is probably the wrong arena for that, right?” she added with a laugh. Gay said she’s a longtime “Real Housewives” fan, and didn’t hesitate when she was asked to be on the show — although the invitation was unexpected. “Just having a producer call to ask me who I thought was interesting in Salt Lake City was more fun than I’d had in a long time,” she said. “I thought I just kind of was the girl that knew a lot of fascinating women.” And she was “thrilled” to be asked. “I love the franchise. I love television. I love new experiences. I love having something other than just the doldrums of my sad, depressing life,” she said with another laugh. Heather has described herself as “Mormon-ish” and a “good Mormon gone bad.” And she told The Tribune that one of the reasons she agreed to be part of “RHOSLC” was so that her exit from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would be public. “When it came down to it,” she said, “I thought if I’m going to leave the Mormon Church, this is the way to do it. I was kind of sick of living in the shadows. I don’t want to say double life, but I was transitioning out of the faith very slowly — like a slow bleed.” She remains ambivalent, however, about her church membership. “My only fear was — if I go big, I’m going to get a letter from church authorities saying, ‘We have forcibly removed you from our records,’” she said. “I’m not going to lie — I thought about it a lot and worried about it. But I’m here. My mailing address hasn’t changed either. If they want to send me the letter, I’m open to that consequence happening.” In the first episode of “RHOSLC,” Heather told viewers her ex-husband’s grandfather had been hired as billionaire Howard Hughes’ “driver and henchman,” and that the Gay family “inherited a huge portion” of the Hughes estate after he died in 1976 — which was partially true. Frank William Gay was a student at UCLA when he was hired to be Hughes’ driver and gofer; he eventually rose to become a top executive at Hughes Tool Company, Hughes Air Corporation and the Summa Corporation, which controlled Hughes’ Las Vegas hotels and casinos. But Hughes later wrote that he no longer trusted F.W. Gay. And, according to F.W. Gay’s 2007 obituary, his money came from “running Hughes’ many business ventures, not from the Hughes estate.” But there’s no disputing that Heather married into a very wealthy family. Heather hasn’t talked much about her ex-husband — other than referring to him as “Bill” in Episode 3 — and making comments like, “He’s been supportive” of her being on the show “in his way.” But she also said on “Watch What Happens Live” that “this isn’t how he wants the mother of his children to conduct herself.” Heather readily admits her marriage was no great love story, but said the end of the union devastated her. Raised as a member of the LDS Church, she wanted to get married, raise a family and “grow old” with the father of her children. But “not with the man I married,” she said. “Let’s just be clear. I didn’t want to grow old with him. I knew that, like, day three [of the marriage].” She was, nonetheless, a “dutiful housewife for 11 years,” she said, and she “suppressed every personal instinct in order to be a good wife and a good mother, but it didn’t work out.” (The divorce was finalized in 2015.) “I took that role so seriously, which is probably why it was so totally devastating when I got divorced,” Heather said. She was left feeling like she’d failed not just as wife and mother, but as a member of her church. Heather has custody of her three daughters — Ashley, 17; Georgia, 14; and Annabelle, 13 — who are “very cool, reasonable, balanced, wonderful human beings. And they have been caretakers of me, in a lot of ways. When I got divorced, I really checked out of things. … And I feel bad about that.” She doesn’t regret her decision to be on “Real Housewives,” even though her daughters’ teachers and counselors have told her “that a lot of parents have come up to them [and] are really concerned that I have done this to them. Like, ‘How could she do this?’ “And all I can say is — I don’t know. Maybe it was a huge mistake. Time will tell, right? I’m doing the best I can. And if I took the wrong road, then we’ll deal with it.” Heather has made a success out of her business, Beauty Lab + Laser, although she’s also ambivalent about that. “I can barely say that. It feels like I betrayed everything I was brought up to be by saying, ‘I’m a businesswoman,’” she said. And Heather is anxious to see how she’s edited in upcoming episodes. “I know this sounds so cliche, but the truth is, you really do forget that the cameras are there,” Heather said. “I’d watch other ‘Housewives,’ and I’d be, like, ‘Sonja, put your clothes on!’ But when it’s you … “I would think, ‘Oh, my gosh! Was I on camera and miked when I screamed at her or said that to my kids? “I never had that out-of-body experience, like, ‘I am a Housewife.’ I always felt like, ‘I am Heather Gay, and I’m pretty messed up.’” We’ve seen Heather in conflict with Lisa Barlow in the first three episodes, and that will continue. “It’s been hard to be dismissed. It’s been hard to have people that loved being my friends distance themselves,” Heather said. “It’s been hard to feel the strain on our friendships. “Doesn’t everybody just want to be friends? I’m the kind of girl that wants to get along with everyone all the time. I have really strong opinions, but I would rather be your friend than be right any day of the week. I’d rather be your friend than win.”
"Fans of The Real Housewives Of Atlanta are used to seeing star Porsha Williams, 39, having fun and shady moments on camera. But she shows a different side of her in the season 13 premiere as she gets arrested for her participation in the Black Lives Matter movement — a topic she’s deeply passionate about. “First of all, I’m just blessed to be able to have a platform,” Porsha exclusively told HollywoodLife during an interview from Atlanta on Nov. 24. “To be able to use my voice for the voiceless and being able to use where I am in life right now to gain attention for these families who aren’t seeing any justice. For me, being arrested and being on the front lines, it was just second hand nature.” Porsha is no stranger to fighting for social injustice. The granddaughter of civil rights activist Reverend Hosea Williams, Porsha attended her first protest at the age of 5. After the police involved murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Porsha has been one of thousands to take to the streets and participate loudly in the BLM Movement. The Dish Nation host has been so vocal that she’s been arrested not once, but twice, fighting for these families. The first arrest happened back in July 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky during a protest for Breonna and subsequently released on her own recognizance. The second arrest also occurred in Louisville at a Breonna Taylor protest, but this time, Porsha was charged with obstructing a highway and disorderly conduct in the second degree. She was also tear gassed at a rally for George in June 2020. Although she has a young daughter, Pilar Jhena, 2, to think about, she’s actually the reason for continuing to fight on. “For me, being arrested and being on the front lines, it was just second hand nature,” Porsha said. “It was an act of love for the people and we all should be treated equally and I have a little black daughter and I want her future to be better, so it’s just something in me that I have to get active and the main thing that I can call on is my grandfather, the Reverend Hosea Williams, was a Civil Rights Activist, and I learned a lot from him and seeing him in his role and sacrifice and it’s just in me to get into good trouble and it’s just something that my heart led me to do.” We can expect to hear Porsha open up about this and more alongside her sister Lauren and mom Diane on their new podcast Porsha 4 Real. “The podcast is family based,” Porsha revealed. “Of course it’s scary! But on the same hand, it’s not off limits because that’s what we’re there for. We’re there to be transparent. I’m there to use my life as a testimony. I’m pretty much an open book! Like, I really enjoy the fact that my listeners and my viewers over the years have been on this journey with me and they’ve gotten to know me, so it’s actually therapeutic for me to open up and uncover even more for them to be able to relate to me more and hopefully learn from my mistakes, that way they don’t have to go through it.” ORANGE COUNTY
“[Matt] was mentally abusive,” Gina began to Access Hollywood on November 26. “After the affair, everything was crisis mode. [We were] and trying to get over it and not getting over it, [having] explosive fights. But I was not in a physically abusive marriage. I wasn’t,” she continued. “The incident that happened that night was the first time anything like that had ever happened.” As RHOC fans will recall, Gina was allegedly attacked by Matt in June 2019 after a night out with friends, choking her and hitting her and telling her he was going to kill her. Looking back, Gina said that she was not only afraid of her ex, but also afraid of how their fight would be received once the public found out. “I was so terrified of him being angry because he was out of his mind and I was terrified it was going to get out. I was begging these police officers to let him go,” she admitted. Luckily, police didn’t do as she requested and now, over a year later, she knows it was for the best. “I think this pattern of behavior would have continued on and I think it would have gotten worse because typically that’s what happens,” she explained. Looking back at the start of her marriage to Matt, with whom she shares three children, Gina said that the two of them started off “fine.” However, just one year before Gina landed her role on the RHOC, she learned that Matt was having an affair. “We were trying to rebuild and work on it. So I never shared that because in my head the first season, I got myself to a place where that happened and I felt like we weren’t right for each other from the beginning. And even now, I do still believe that. That whole year, I didn’t tell my parents. I told nobody. That [wasn’t] something I was [going to] share. I always tried to protect my kids.” Eventually, after hiding her marriage struggles from RHOC viewers, Gina decided to come clean about what she was going through so that her drama with Matt didn’t “eat [her] alive.” Although Gina’s split from Matt was quite messy, the two of them are now on much better terms and earlier this season, Matt and his girlfriend, Brit, who is not the same woman he cheated on her with, made an appearance on the show. “His girlfriend now, Brit is great. She’s great for him [and] she’s really great to my children,” Gina admitted. “We had a conversation about it. I felt like it is a good message to show people,” she explained. “[Matt] has changed himself for the better. [And] I think it is important to show people that you can co-parent, as long as you have two mature adults. I know Matt is probably one of the most hated guys in America but he’s not a monster. He’s a good dad.”
"Braunwyn Windham-Burke’s 43rd birthday was an unforgettable one. After waking up to the sweetest surprise balloons and decorations from her kids, The Real Housewives of Orange County cast member closed out her special day by getting a meaningful new tattoo. Braunwyn commemorated the occasion with some new ink, as she captured on Instagram on November 25. In the photo, the mom of seven can be seen wearing a face mask and holding out her right arm as the tattoo artist worked on the design. “Perfect way to end the day and start the next year!!” Braunwyn wrote in part of the caption, also tagging the tattoo parlor, Gold Rush Tattoo. Braunwyn later took to her Instagram Stories to share a close-up of her completed new tattoo, which includes the word “Selah” spelled out in Hebrew flanked by two doves. “It’s Selah, I first heard of it when I read Untamed by [Glennon Doyle], with the 2 little doves for the babies we lost,” she explained in the caption. According to Doyle, “Selah” is often found at the end of the verses in the Hebrew bible and has been interpreted to mean “holy pause,” encouraging people to stop, be still, and reflect on the importance of the idea they just read."
IDEAS FOR GTA 6 (VI) (STORY/MAP/FEATURES...) NON OFFICIAL ! ! !
Hello guys, I am writing my whishlists about GTA 6, I lost my hope for GTA 6 while Rockstar don't answer us about it, if anybody wants GTA 6 or don't, stop writing GTA 6 in Rockstar games Social Media Posts, just be silent to GTA 6 be exist soon, because we tried everything so why we don't do that at least, this words for Rockstar Games Community and haters, and this post is only a idea for GTA 6 not a leak. 1- Features: - 3 Playable Protagonist - For the First Time in the Series there is a Female Protagonist - Return Characters From GTA 4 and GTA 5 (HD GTA) and Some Protagonist Appear and Mentioned - Multiple Cities and States - Huge Map - More Enjoyable Minigames (Shopping, Trading, Smuggling, Kidnapping, Racing, etc...) - The Graphics is Better than RDR 2 Graphics - The Physics are the same as Max Payne 3 and RDR 2 - More Wilderness -More Animals to add - Alot of Small Towns in The Map - 2 Limited Places: Las Vegas (Las Ventures) , Mexico City (Capitalo) 2- States: - Florida (Florida) - New York (Liberty) - New Jersey (Alderney) - Pennsylvania / Michigan / Illinois (???) - Georgia / Alabama / Mississippi / Louisiana (Lemoyne) 3- Cities: - Miami (Vice City) - Tampa (Cottonmouth) - Orlando (???) - Jacksonville (???) - Atlanta (???) - New Orleans (Saint Denis) - Washington D.C (Capital City) - Chicago / Detroit / Philadelphia (Carcer City) - Atlantic City (???) - Jersey City / Newark (Alderney City) - New York City (Liberty City) - Albany (???) - Buffalo (???) 4- Protagonist: - Marcus Jackson: he is 26 years old, Street Gang Member, Lives in Carcer City, he is African American man - Walton Parker: he is 45 years old, Retired Drug Dealer, Lives in Vice City, he is a Widower with one 9 years old kid, he is American - Kate Williamson: she is 23 years old, Hacker and Smart Thief, Lives in Liberty City, She is American 5- Story: (The game is About Mafias Family's and Drug Lords) ( The Game isn't Dark Like GTA 4 and Bright Like GTA 5 its in the Middle) - In the Prologue the game will start in (1999) Las Ventures, a Young man Called (Walton Parker) and he is 22 years old, he doing some sort of drug dealing with a big Russian Mafia Boss somewhere in Caligula Hall Casino, then the deal not going fine, then it will start a big shooting ,then you need to run away from the casino, when you get out there is someone who was waiting for Walton, and he is the brother of the Mafia Boss, a sniper shot got in his face, that was Walton's Friend (Stanley) Protecting him, then Stanley Takes Walton To the Airport, Fly To Vice City. After 24 years Later (2023) you will start playing with Kate, Doing hers Routine, After that She entered a Jewelry Store, stealing alot amount of jewelry with a Smart way, without someone Caught her, she out the store and stole a super car smartly, runs to hers house and hack the camera's the store then she finished doing that and see the view of the city. Taking us to Carcer City with Marcus, rolling with his gang members suddenly heard some guns shot, they go to find out, only some other gangs start gun war, starting a gun fight till finish, Marcus house is the only stolen house from the other, he takes his friend Chris to the market to buy, suddenly in the middle of trip the car is low fuel, then you need to go to the gas station to gas it up, after that they reached to the market and buy some resources and back to home, then here starts the open world. After Completing Some Missions there is a Mission that Marcus needs to have a deal to get some drugs from the Big Mafias in the City, he go there and make the deal, telling him there is a drug dealer you need to go and he lives in Vice City, Marcus go with 2 Mafia Members and fly to Vice City. In a Park of Vice City there is Middle Aged Guy sitting with his son ,preparing to going to School ,he takes his kid to School, After that there is a Call From Stanley telling him to go with the Ex - Mafia Leader of Vice City he Go there, and takes the drugs because there is deal needs to happen like the final mission for him to get out the Mafia, he takes the Drugs and go with 4 Mafia members, they Making the deal in a Industrial place in Vice City, Suddenly there is a Ambush from a Mexican Gang some of the members dies, Marcus and 2 of the Members runs away, and Walton in his alone Fight with the enemies, he finished then he want to grab the money and the Drugs but he Saw a Bomb there is Activated then he Can't Do anything only to Run, he get out the place with Big Explode there, he runs away without the Money and The Drugs. Now the Both of them in Big Trouble and the game going to combine the Problems with them to help each other, with kate to be Featured and Help them. - I Hope Everyone Enjoys the Ideas That I am Sharing, and Remember Guys this is a ideas for GTA 6 and not Official, Maybe Some of the things that I mentioned maybe Appeared In GTA 6 So Don't get Your Hopes high Because Maybe Some them Happend.
Florida to San Jose California, 1964 Corvette, 1986 timeframe
Florida to San Jose in a 1964 Corvette. My buddy spent every penny he had buying it with nothing left over for a tune-up or fresh tires before we took off. (Mistake #1) He picked me up @ Hartsfield in Atlanta at 2 a.m, (long before cellphones....coordinating my late arrival was difficult) we ate at a Waffle House at 3 a.m. and off we went. It was to be all blue highways, back roads, 2-lanes, no interstates or national chain restaurants from that point forward. A copy of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” was to be our Bible. We saw innumerable "See Rock City" signs and drove through the apparent fireworks capital of the free world @ the Georgia/TN border. The damn Vette kept breaking down, first a clutch in Nashville, later a U-joint near Clarksville. Carb troubles in Nevada. I remember we saw “Weird Science” at the Clarksville theater, long before theaters were all 24-plexes. Afterwards at a bar we told a pair of local ladies we were “Location Agents” in town scouting sites for a film that was going to be shot there. Remember, this was pre-HIV... We were looking for a LAKE that the SUN came up over in the East.......\snicker, snicker** What surprised us most were the full size satellite TV dishes behind every farmhouse across America. From nothing to 250+ channels with nothing but a check and a bootleg converter. Rural America had gotten wired. Well, dished. News, or what passed for it, was now broadcast 24 hours a day. (Mistake #2?) Mosquitoes ate us alive at some state park in Arkansas where we’d foolishly chosen to camp rather than get a cheap motel room. We had a cassette walkman to pass the time before sleep came. The waitress at the one cafe in some lonely small town in Kansas assured us “Charlie,” the Frito Lay guy, came by EVERY DAY to refill the rack. We've joked about "Charlie" ever since. We trailed a shiny stainless Kraft tanker truck across the loneliest highway in America, drafting for better fuel mileage, until he locked up the brakes and turned down a deserted dirt road. Trust me. There were no cows, and no dairies down that road. Must have been Area 51, or something else, cause a “milk truck” had no business being there. Fortunately we just missed creaming his rear bumper. By this point we were getting around 7 mpg's belching black smoke , until a “19 year Chevy dealership mechanic” in a tiny town in the middle of east nowhere, Nevada, told us “No problem, one bowl on your Holley double pumper has sagged, I’ll file it flat and double gasket it and we were on our way again having barely finished lunch, back into, barely, double digit gas mileage. It was AS IF he had been placed there, just for us. We camped among the stars in a mountaintop State Park near Eloy, Nevada, decided THIS was the place to hang out after nuclear war. You could see cars approaching from 50 miles away. Big cave, glacier full of icemelt pure water, deer everywhere. Survival city. The gubbmit was inexplicably stringing wire and fiber-optic cables into the cave. Maybe they had the same idea. A tiny casino with two slot machines and some serious alcoholics was Eloy's entertainment offering. It seemed at every breakdown we ran into JUST the right person to fix the ‘64 for us, although the 10 pound metal glove box door continued slamming into my knees all the way to San Jose. @#$@!!!! Everywhere we went there was someone wanting to talk to us about the burnt orange, white-striped Vette. Either a parent had owned one, a neighbor or their friend had owned one, or a good friend / cousin had died crashing one. We heard, or shall I say endured, endless Vette stories. (As I do again today, it’s the price of admission). A fourth and final flat occurred near Lake Tahoe. I was ready to pull my hair out at Dave's frugality. Stopping at endless gas stations looking for ANY used tire that would fit. We were running for home at that point, late on our schedule. I think we did the final 200 miles without a spare. A fly fishing trip on the South Fork of the North something river outside Denver had been the hi-light of the trip, along with an impromptu color TV repair at the cabin. My buddy pulled a trout out on his first cast, having never fished before. "To catch a fish one must THINK like a fish" he had pontificated,..... and then proceeded to JUST DO IT. Rest of us were amazed. I got skunked by a noob! A cold solder joint in an old TV was repaired with a nail, held in Vice-Grips, heated red hot over a stove burner. Instantly the football field was green once again. My companion impressed the shit out of me with that piece of wizardry. Forty years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday. We ultimately had to do about 17 miles on an Interstate somewhere in Utah. No way around. There are no road trips to be had, no stories to be gained, blasting 80mph on a superslab and eating in chain restaurants. Never have been, never will be. 2-lanes, diners, cafe's, that's where you see and talk to America. We learned to take the road less traveled and to take ALL the time needed with everyone who had a story to tell us. We didn't take nearly enough (film) pictures. Mistake #3.
COPY PASTA from my post at AirForce! A Thorough Review of Robins AFB Hello Everyone, This is my review of Robins AFB after living here for the past 5 years. Hope you find this helpful!
Background of Robins: Robins AFB was created in the 1940s, it was named after Brig Gen Augustine Warner Robins. It is centrally located in Middle Georgia and is about 100 miles south of Atlanta. The mission and main reason why the base still exists today is because of the JSTARS radarecon aircraft. Plus, the base provides jobs to over 18K civilians and the city of Warner Robins would not exist if the base closed.
Getting to Base:
If you’re familiar with using Google Map/GPS to help you get to a military base, it can be difficult to find an open gate without your GPS telling you to turn/U-Turn into a closed gate! Put in your GPS, “Martin’s BBQ, 102 S Armed Forces Blvd, Warner Robins, GA 31088.” It will take you to Watson Blvd and to the only 24hr gate; Watson Gate. This is also the gate to get visitor passes for your friends/family. The other gate you’ll be using a lot is Russell gate which is connected to Russell Pkwy. I’ll be assuming you’re driving from the Atlanta airport, so south of Highway 247. GPS the “Museum of Aviation” and about 100 yards before you arrive at the MoA, exit right to Russell Gate. Note, Russell Gate closes at 2400 (0100 on Fri and Sat only) and opens up at 0430 on weekdays and 0500 on the weekends. Hours subject to change, check online for more specific hours! Green Gate and MLK Gate are two other notable gates mainly for inbound and outbound traffic in the morning rush/afternoon rush.
Notable Places on Base:
Bowling Alley: 908 Ninth Street (478-926-2112) Fitness CenteBase Gym: 826 Eighth Street (478-926-9128) Fitness Annex/24 Hour Gym: Bldg 301 (478-926-2840) Finance: 236 Milledgeville Street Suite 526 (478-926-4022) Heritage Club/Restaurant: 956 Ninth St (Various Numbers) ITT/Outdoor Recreation: Bldg 984 (Located next to the Main BX) (478-926-4001) Medical Clinic: 655 Seventh St (478-327-7850 Appointment Line) MPF/MPS: 660 Macon St (478-327-5666)
Notable Cities:
Warner Robins - The main city outside of Robins AFB is Warner Robins. WR will be referenced a lot while you are here at Robins. WR can be summed up in a few words as a small-sized southern city with churches and chain restaurants. The city consists of two main counties; Houston (pronounced “House Ton” and not “Hugh’s Town.” People will correct you on this!) and Peach County. Macon - Located about 15 miles north of Robins AFB/Warner Robins. Macon has a lot of history and is nicknamed the “Heart of Georgia” because it is in the center of GA. Honestly IMO, Macon is pretty ghetto… What happened to Macon is similar to Detroit.. Both places were once thriving industrial cities until their main asset collapsed. You’ll see a lot of abandoned buildings when you drive to downtown Macon. It is pretty sad. There are some nice areas in Macon to visit though, like around Zebulon Road. I’d still recommend going downtown to eat at some nice mom and pop stores. Make sure to never go alone, however. Savannah - Located about 2 ½ hours to 3 hours South-East/East of Robins. It is the #1 “Most Haunted” city in the United States apparently. It is really fun to visit. Eat seafood and go on some ghost tours while you’re there. The #3 Ice Cream Shop in the U.S. is in Savannah, Leopolds, if you love ice cream. The vibe can be described as a cross between Florida and South Carolina and “hipster-ish” thanks to SCAD there. Be prepared to walk a lot. Free parking on the weekends! Almost every store gives military discounts since there is an Army Base nearby. Give yourself 3 days and 2 nights to really have a grasp and enjoy Savannah. Atlanta - The capital of GA and the place to be! It is located about 100 miles north of Robins which takes about 2 ½ hours to drive, thanks to the good ol’ Atlanta traffic! There is an abundant amount of things to do and sightsee that I will talk about later in this post.
Food: For fellow Airmen who’ve been stationed here before, you can probably side with my next statement… And that is the food in WR.... can be described as average southern food with average hospitality across the board. There are some hidden/great gems in WMacon, however…
Owen’s Boarding House is one of my favorite mom and pop stores in WR and it's really close to the base for a quick lunch! Owen’s is an all-you-can-eat lunch-only southern restaurant, dig in those chicken wings! It’s about $10.50, cash only. The Rookery, in downtown Macon, is one you’ll hear a lot of. It is an old southern/burger joint. The store has a fancy dining upstairs; The Dovetail, if you’re into that. Martin's BBQ, I referenced it earlier as a good point to locate Robins AFB but it is also a popular BBQ! WR really loves Mexican food, and so do I! Taco Shed is next to the Museum of Aviation, it is American Mexican food. Salsa’s which is a dining American Mexican restaurant. My Grandma’s Empanadas and Luis for more authentic Mexican food. Cuban Cafe sells pretty good Cuban food. Tacos and More, I wasn't a huge fan of it but one of the comments mentioned it and it does sell $1 tacos, try it out! Wasn't a fan of Saigon Noodle in WR, its close to base, which is why I believe their portions are small for a Vietnamese place. Plus, the Pho soup has MSG! Pho Saigon in Macon is great, however. Good portions, and no MSG in their soups! Stir King is a nice American Chinese place which gives good portions. I am not a fan of the “Japanese” food in WR, better go to Atlanta for real sushi and ramen. Also… screw all of WR’s Hibachi restaurants. I did not mention any corporate/franchise restaurants since you may already be familiar with them and only want to mention the mom n pop stores.
Dorm Life: You will be assigned a dorm room with a suite-mate and will have to share a bathroom and kitchen. (Note, not all dorms have a kitchen.) You have to stay in the dorms for at least 3 years TIS and not TOS, which is good.
They’re also “Senior Airmen” dorms for Airmen who’ve stayed longer in the dorms. Essentially, a SrA dorm is a larger dorm with no suite-mate and no kitchen. If the dorms have no availability, Airmen with the longest TOS (Time-on-Station) will be allowed to leave early. You can ask regularly if the dorms are full and maybe you can leave ahead of others. Certain circumstances can allow you to leave the dorms early such as being a mature age (like over the age of 30) or being married but your spouse is currently living elsewhere due to service, school, etc. My personal experience: I lived in the dorms and I would describe the overall experience as “okay.” It can be hit or miss with a good suite-mate and your dorm might have mold in them... I didn’t though. Typically activities of dorm airmen include going clubbing, the gym, and/or playing video games. Overall, I enjoyed living in the dorms because of the access to network with other Airmen, not cooking my own food, because of the DEFAC, and friends were just close by.
Housing: If you’re looking to buy/rent a house, make sure to DYOR and see it’s what you like. The BAH rate for the local area is... fair. If you choose to live by yourself you can make $100-200 extra a month based on where you choose to stay. Very common to find a roommate so you can start pocketing anywhere from $300 to $400.
I lived in Warner Robins after I moved off base from the dorms, and the area was okay. Generally speaking, the further you live off base, (and this goes for all military bases) the safer the environment becomes. If you’re wanting to live in a nicer area and/or have kids. Look into living in cities Kathleen and/or Bonaire. The area and school system (like Houston County High School) is much nicer than the rest of the public school system. Cities like Perry and Bryon have far commutes of at least 20 minutes but can be described as “rural” if like not knowing your neighbors. IMO, please do yourself a favor and do not live off or near Green St. (Hint. It’s right off Green St Gate!) I would also not recommend living in Macon. Imma be real and say Macon is pretty ghetto in most parts of the city (unless you live off Zebulon Rd) and the commute to work is going to be at least 20 mins to work. Edit: Forgot to mention Riverside in Macon. It is still relatively new and the area is nice and so are the neighborhoods. The Riverside Mall is an outdoor mall, very safe and clean. Don't go to the Macon Mall, however. Essentially, South-West of Warner Robins is the best place to live. Where Feagin Mill Rd and Highway 96 is.
Base Housing: Base Housing has really tanked in the last few years, and I mean... the ABW Wing Commander, Command Chief, and multiple First Shirts were involved recently with Base Housing because living conditions have been subpar. Mold has been breaking out in some houses and maintenance work orders take weeks to a few months to resolve. Of course, this is only happening for the Turner Park residency (cough where the Enlisted stay cough) The Officers housing is very nice, however. Now, with that being said, it’s still a 3-month wait to get base housing because of the simplicity and not having to worry about finding a house, short commute to work, safety, etc.
Off Base Housing community is called Huntington Chase, it’s ghetto from what my co-workers have told me as they’ve gunshots go off frequently and cars are breaking into. Off-Base housing is open to civilians and not just military.
Things To Do:
Coca Cola Factory - Entry is free for military (does not include dependents) and it is a nice place to go on a date. Try flavors of coke from around the world! Aquarium - IMO, the experience felt it was geared towards children, I would only pay during special military days because $33 is not worth the visit! Atlanta Zoo - Never been but it is another sight seeing opportunity. Dragon Con - A.K.A. “Comic Con of the East.” Where 80k of your “best friends” come meet in a 4-day comic/pop culture/movie/ convention which spans across 5 hotels! Most people get turned off when they hear “comic” as they associate this con with sweaty nerds… Well, they aren’t wrong! But I can guarantee you’ll be missing out if you did not attend this con at least once while you’re at Robins. Even if you don’t love comics, movies, anime, or pop culture (who doesn’t like at least one of the 4?) you can open drink in public for the duration of the con! It is always during Labor Day weekend every year. And if you don’t mind paying for the price of a host hotel, they’re worth it. Good luck because they get booked fast! Anime Weekend Atlanta - An Anime Con that specializes on having Japanese pop/rock stars to play in the con! MomoCon - An Anime Con that specializes in 24hour gaming/arcade gaming for the entire weekend! Ponce City Market - A hipster food and shopping market that used an abandoned factory as their shopping district. Please do yourself a favor and park in Ponce City Market’s parking and not try to get “free” parking from the plaza across the street. You’ll get a “boot” on your car when you come back and have to pay a fine… Ask me how I figured that out... Caffeine and Octane - A huge car meet in Atlanta that meets regularly. Mardi Gras: The drive to Louisiana is about 6 hours but I know some Airmen who made the trip to be there for Mardi Gras. Florida: The drive will take at least 3 hours to cross the Florida border. Florida is fun, do I need to say more? Professional Sports: Altanta Hawks, Braves, and Falcons! Look for special discounts near Veterans days like Hoops for Troops. The Falco Don’t forget to check the ITT office for free or reduce price activities for “single Airmen!” Seriously, I’ve gone skydiving, deep sea fishing, paintballing, etc for free or reduced prices! 50% of Disney Park passes! Obviously, there are more things to do than the list I provided, DYOR and maybe you’ll find a place and/or hidden gem you’ll love!
Nightlife: Go to Downtown Macon for entry level clubs like the Crazy Bull. It’s free for the military to get in. They are always new clubs opening and small clubs closing. Try them all! First Fridays of the month are pretty lit. For the rest of the month, the clubs are kinda empty unless it's a special day like Halloween or St Patricks. Again, don’t go by yourself when you go to downtown Macon. If you and a couple of friends want a better club experience, carpool to Atlanta and go clubbing there. Other than that, there isn’t a strong club scene while being in Middle GA.
Closing Thoughts:
A lot of your co-workers will most likely talk crap about Robins. Well, they’re probably the same salty Airmen who put Robins AFB, 9th, on their dream sheet and how trying to figure out how Eglin or Macdill wasn’t chosen even though it was #1 and #3 on their dream sheet. But even if they aren’t those types of Airmen.... Robins is one of those “what you make of it bases.” You. Yes you, Airman, have to create your own experiences and be willing to leave your dorm and not be a dorm rat to make memories at Robins. This base isn’t centrally located to anything known for “fun” like all the bases in San Antonio, all Florida bases, Travis, Keesler and the casinos, etc. Even that hot A1C still has to make an effort to venture out and explore new roads and can’t rely on other people to do it for them. “Robins-ism.” For whatever reason, “Robin-ism” is basically AFIs and the proper order of how to do things in the Air Force... does not apply the same for Robins. You’ll hear a lot of “that’s not how we did that at my last base.” People say it's because the amount of civilians outnumbers the military 3:1. And with that, if the civilians don’t like the AFI/protocol, it will slowly but surely die out and a “Robin-ism” method of how to do things soon takes over. I am not blaming the large civilian population, it is just what Airmen accept is the reason why some people on this base can be lazy at times. Allergies. If you never experienced allergies or have in the past. Well, Warner Robins has a surprise for you... Seriously, you could potentially suffer from bad allergies. I hope you found this review helpful if you're incoming to Robins whether it'd be a PCS or TDY, or if you just wanted to read my review. Edit: Added more info. Edit 2: I have since PCSed from Robins in 2020.
Hello Everyone, This is my review of Robins AFB after living here for the past 5 years. Hope you find this helpful!
Background of Robins: Robins AFB was created in the 1940s, it was named after Brig Gen Augustine Warner Robins. It is centrally located in Middle Georgia and is about 100 miles south of Atlanta. The mission and main reason why the base still exists today is because of the JSTARS radarecon aircraft. Plus, the base provides jobs to over 18K civilians and the city of Warner Robins would not exist if the base closed.
Getting to Base:
If you’re familiar with using Google Map/GPS to help you get to a military base, it can be difficult to find an open gate without your GPS telling you to turn/U-Turn into a closed gate! Put in your GPS, “Martin’s BBQ, 102 S Armed Forces Blvd, Warner Robins, GA 31088.” It will take you to Watson Blvd and to the only 24hr gate; Watson Gate. This is also the gate to get visitor passes for your friends/family. The other gate you’ll be using a lot is Russell gate which is connected to Russell Pkwy. I’ll be assuming you’re driving from the Atlanta airport, so south of Highway 247. GPS the “Museum of Aviation” and about 100 yards before you arrive at the MoA, exit right to Russell Gate. Note, Russell Gate closes at 2400 (0100 on Fri and Sat only) and opens up at 0430 on weekdays and 0500 on the weekends. Hours subject to change, check online for more specific hours! Green Gate and MLK Gate are two other notable gates mainly for inbound and outbound traffic in the morning rush/afternoon rush.
Notable Places on Base:
Bowling Alley: 908 Ninth Street (478-926-2112) Fitness CenteBase Gym: 826 Eighth Street (478-926-9128) Fitness Annex/24 Hour Gym: Bldg 301 (478-926-2840) Finance: 236 Milledgeville Street Suite 526 (478-926-4022) Heritage Club/Restaurant: 956 Ninth St (Various Numbers) ITT/Outdoor Recreation: Bldg 984 (Located next to the Main BX) (478-926-4001) Medical Clinic: 655 Seventh St (478-327-7850 Appointment Line) MPF/MPS: 660 Macon St (478-327-5666)
Notable Cities:
Warner Robins - The main city outside of Robins AFB is Warner Robins. WR will be referenced a lot while you are here at Robins. WR can be summed up in a few words as a small-sized southern city with churches and chain restaurants. The city consists of two main counties; Houston (pronounced “House Ton” and not “Hugh’s Town.” People will correct you on this!) and Peach County. Macon - Located about 15 miles north of Robins AFB/Warner Robins. Macon has a lot of history and is nicknamed the “Heart of Georgia” because it is in the center of GA. Honestly IMO, Macon is pretty ghetto… What happened to Macon is similar to Detroit.. Both places were once thriving industrial cities until their main asset collapsed. You’ll see a lot of abandoned buildings when you drive to downtown Macon. It is pretty sad. There are some nice areas in Macon to visit though, like around Zebulon Road. I’d still recommend going downtown to eat at some nice mom and pop stores. Make sure to never go alone, however. Savannah - Located about 2 ½ hours to 3 hours South-East/East of Robins. It is the #1 “Most Haunted” city in the United States apparently. It is really fun to visit. Eat seafood and go on some ghost tours while you’re there. The #3 Ice Cream Shop in the U.S. is in Savannah, Leopolds, if you love ice cream. The vibe can be described as a cross between Florida and South Carolina and “hipster-ish” thanks to SCAD there. Be prepared to walk a lot. Free parking on the weekends! Almost every store gives military discounts since there is an Army Base nearby. Give yourself 3 days and 2 nights to really have a grasp and enjoy Savannah. Atlanta - The capital of GA and the place to be! It is located about 100 miles north of Robins which takes about 2 ½ hours to drive, thanks to the good ol’ Atlanta traffic! There is an abundant amount of things to do and sightsee that I will talk about later in this post.
Food: For fellow Airmen who’ve been stationed here before, you can probably side with my next statement… And that is the food in WR.... can be described as average southern food with average hospitality across the board. There are some hidden/great gems in WMacon, however…
Owen’s Boarding House is one of my favorite mom and pop stores in WR and it's really close to the base for a quick lunch! Owen’s is an all-you-can-eat lunch-only southern restaurant, dig in those chicken wings! It’s about $10.50, cash only. The Rookery, in downtown Macon, is one you’ll hear a lot of. It is an old southern/burger joint. The store has a fancy dining upstairs; The Dovetail, if you’re into that. Martin's BBQ, I referenced it earlier as a good point to locate Robins AFB but it is also a popular BBQ! WR really loves Mexican food, and so do I! Taco Shed is next to the Museum of Aviation, it is American Mexican food. Salsa’s which is a dining American Mexican restaurant. My Grandma’s Empanadas and Luis for more authentic Mexican food. Cuban Cafe sells pretty good Cuban food. Tacos and More, I wasn't a huge fan of it but one of the comments mentioned it and it does sell $1 tacos, try it out! Wasn't a fan of Saigon Noodle in WR, its close to base, which is why I believe their portions are small for a Vietnamese place. Plus, the Pho soup has MSG! Pho Saigon in Macon is great, however. Good portions, and no MSG in their soups! Stir King is a nice American Chinese place which gives good portions. I am not a fan of the “Japanese” food in WR, better go to Atlanta for real sushi and ramen. Also… screw all of WR’s Hibachi restaurants. I did not mention any corporate/franchise restaurants since you may already be familiar with them and only want to mention the mom n pop stores.
Dorm Life: You will be assigned a dorm room with a suite-mate and will have to share a bathroom and kitchen. (Note, not all dorms have a kitchen.) You have to stay in the dorms for at least 3 years TIS and not TOS, which is good.
They’re also “Senior Airmen” dorms for Airmen who’ve stayed longer in the dorms. Essentially, a SrA dorm is a larger dorm with no suite-mate and no kitchen. If the dorms have no availability, Airmen with the longest TOS (Time-on-Station) will be allowed to leave early. You can ask regularly if the dorms are full and maybe you can leave ahead of others. Certain circumstances can allow you to leave the dorms early such as being a mature age (like over the age of 30) or being married but your spouse is currently living elsewhere due to service, school, etc. My personal experience: I lived in the dorms and I would describe the overall experience as “okay.” It can be hit or miss with a good suite-mate and your dorm might have mold in them... I didn’t though. Typically activities of dorm airmen include going clubbing, the gym, and/or playing video games. Overall, I enjoyed living in the dorms because of the access to network with other Airmen, not cooking my own food, because of the DEFAC, and friends were just close by.
Housing: If you’re looking to buy/rent a house, make sure to DYOR and see it’s what you like. The BAH rate for the local area is... fair. If you choose to live by yourself you can make $100-200 extra a month based on where you choose to stay. Very common to find a roommate so you can start pocketing anywhere from $300 to $400.
I lived in Warner Robins after I moved off base from the dorms, and the area was okay. Generally speaking, the further you live off base, (and this goes for all military bases) the safer the environment becomes. If you’re wanting to live in a nicer area and/or have kids. Look into living in cities Kathleen and/or Bonaire. The area and school system (like Houston County High School) is much nicer than the rest of the public school system. Cities like Perry and Bryon have far commutes of at least 20 minutes but can be described as “rural” if like not knowing your neighbors. IMO, please do yourself a favor and do not live off or near Green St. (Hint. It’s right off Green St Gate!) I would also not recommend living in Macon. Imma be real and say Macon is pretty ghetto in most parts of the city (unless you live off Zebulon Rd) and the commute to work is going to be at least 20 mins to work. Edit: Forgot to mention Riverside in Macon. It is still relatively new and the area is nice and so are the neighborhoods. The Riverside Mall is an outdoor mall, very safe and clean. Don't go to the Macon Mall, however. Essentially, South-West of Warner Robins is the best place to live. Where Feagin Mill Rd and Highway 96 is.
Base Housing: Base Housing has really tanked in the last few years, and I mean... the ABW Wing Commander, Command Chief, and multiple First Shirts were involved recently with Base Housing because living conditions have been subpar. Mold has been breaking out in some houses and maintenance work orders take weeks to a few months to resolve. Of course, this is only happening for the Turner Park residency (cough where the Enlisted stay cough) The Officers housing is very nice, however. Now, with that being said, it’s still a 3-month wait to get base housing because of the simplicity and not having to worry about finding a house, short commute to work, safety, etc.
Off Base Housing community is called Huntington Chase, it’s ghetto from what my co-workers have told me as they’ve gunshots go off frequently and cars are breaking into. Off-Base housing is open to civilians and not just military.
Things To Do:
Coca Cola Factory - Entry is free for military (does not include dependents) and it is a nice place to go on a date. Try flavors of coke from around the world! Aquarium - IMO, the experience felt it was geared towards children, I would only pay during special military days because $33 is not worth the visit! Atlanta Zoo - Never been but it is another sight seeing opportunity. Dragon Con - A.K.A. “Comic Con of the East.” Where 80k of your “best friends” come meet in a 4-day comic/pop culture/movie/ convention which spans across 5 hotels! Most people get turned off when they hear “comic” as they associate this con with sweaty nerds… Well, they aren’t wrong! But I can guarantee you’ll be missing out if you did not attend this con at least once while you’re at Robins. Even if you don’t love comics, movies, anime, or pop culture (who doesn’t like at least one of the 4?) you can open drink in public for the duration of the con! It is always during Labor Day weekend every year. And if you don’t mind paying for the price of a host hotel, they’re worth it. Good luck because they get booked fast! Anime Weekend Atlanta - An Anime Con that specializes on having Japanese pop/rock stars to play in the con! MomoCon - An Anime Con that specializes in 24hour gaming/arcade gaming for the entire weekend! Ponce City Market - A hipster food and shopping market that used an abandoned factory as their shopping district. Please do yourself a favor and park in Ponce City Market’s parking and not try to get “free” parking from the plaza across the street. You’ll get a “boot” on your car when you come back and have to pay a fine… Ask me how I figured that out... Caffeine and Octane - A huge car meet in Atlanta that meets regularly. Mardi Gras: The drive to Louisiana is about 6 hours but I know some Airmen who made the trip to be there for Mardi Gras. Florida: The drive will take at least 3 hours to cross the Florida border. Florida is fun, do I need to say more? Professional Sports: Altanta Hawks, Braves, and Falcons! Look for special discounts near Veterans days like Hoops for Troops. The Falco Don’t forget to check the ITT office for free or reduce price activities for “single Airmen!” Seriously, I’ve gone skydiving, deep sea fishing, paintballing, etc for free or reduced prices! 50% of Disney Park passes! Obviously, there are more things to do than the list I provided, DYOR and maybe you’ll find a place and/or hidden gem you’ll love!
Nightlife: Go to Downtown Macon for entry level clubs like the Crazy Bull. It’s free for the military to get in. They are always new clubs opening and small clubs closing. Try them all! First Fridays of the month are pretty lit. For the rest of the month, the clubs are kinda empty unless it's a special day like Halloween or St Patricks. Again, don’t go by yourself when you go to downtown Macon. If you and a couple of friends want a better club experience, carpool to Atlanta and go clubbing there. Other than that, there isn’t a strong club scene while being in Middle GA.
Closing Thoughts:
A lot of your co-workers will most likely talk crap about Robins. Well, they’re probably the same salty Airmen who put Robins AFB, 9th, on their dream sheet and how trying to figure out how Eglin or Macdill wasn’t chosen even though it was #1 and #3 on their dream sheet. But even if they aren’t those types of Airmen.... Robins is one of those “what you make of it bases.” You. Yes you, Airman, have to create your own experiences and be willing to leave your dorm and not be a dorm rat to make memories at Robins. This base isn’t centrally located to anything known for “fun” like all the bases in San Antonio, all Florida bases, Travis, Keesler and the casinos, etc. Even that hot A1C still has to make an effort to venture out and explore new roads and can’t rely on other people to do it for them. “Robins-ism.” For whatever reason, “Robin-ism” is basically AFIs and the proper order of how to do things in the Air Force... does not apply the same for Robins. You’ll hear a lot of “that’s not how we did that at my last base.” People say it's because the amount of civilians outnumbers the military 3:1. And with that, if the civilians don’t like the AFI/protocol, it will slowly but surely die out and a “Robin-ism” method of how to do things soon takes over. I am not blaming the large civilian population, it is just what Airmen accept is the reason why some people on this base can be lazy at times. Allergies. If you never experienced allergies or have in the past. Well, Warner Robins has a surprise for you... Seriously, you could potentially suffer from bad allergies. I hope you found this review helpful if you're incoming to Robins whether it'd be a PCS or TDY, or if you just wanted to read my review. Edit: Added more info.
05/11/2018 Interview and tour information mega-thread
Don't mind me, just shoving everything in one big thread. Please avoid posting separate threads, post in this instead! I will update this thread as time goes on.
Official Store pre-sale starts Tuesday 13 November at 10a local. Codes will be delivered via a separate email on Monday 12 November. Members section pre-sale begins Tuesday 13 November at 1p local. Please note you will need to reset your password to gain access to the new Members section. General on sale starts Friday 16 November at 9am local for the UK, 10am local for Europe, noon local for North America, except Philadelphia & Phoenix which are 1pm local. Stay tuned for ticket links! The Simulation Theory World Tour will feature an exciting new Enhanced Experience Package that allows access to an exclusive Mixed Reality Pre-Show Party, powered by Microsoft, with three original virtual reality games, inspired by tracks from Simulation Theory. Additional Enhanced Experience perks include a premium concert ticket, show specific poster, interactive photo experience with props and memorabilia from the band’s latest videos and more. More details are available here. Ticket resale will be strictly limited to Twickets, a fan-to-fan ticket resale platform.
Going through old issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and posting highlights in my own words. For anyone interested, I highly recommend signing up for the actual site at f4wonline and checking out the full archives. PREVIOUS YEARS ARCHIVE:1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998
A week later and it's even less clear what WCW hoped to accomplish by putting Sable on Nitro. It did nothing for the ratings, either that week or the following. All it has done is strengthen WWF's case against WCW in the ongoing antitrust lawsuit. WCW is claiming that she bought a ticket and just happened to show up to their show, which is bullshit that nobody is buying, especially since she was sitting front row with security guards on either side of her and then repeatedly shown in close-up shots on camera. Plus, she didn't show up until more than an hour into the show and then left soon after being shown on camera. Sable's explanation was even dumber, as she was quoted in USA Today saying, "I wanted to see if the same level of obscenity was taking place. It was not." Anyway, all WCW employees were told not to mention her name, even her real name, on air but they had pictures of her on the WCW website after Nitro aired and one of them referred to her as Sable. WCW immediately removed the photos the next day but everything is forever on the internet so you know how that goes. WWF lawyer Jerry McDevitt spoke with WCW's lawyers and threatened to file a federal lawsuit against WCW and is investigating whether or not Sable was paid for her appearance (WCW lawyers refused to answer that question). Sable appearing on WCW TV like she did is a blatant violation of her WWF contract and WWF has made it clear that under no circumstances will they give up the rights to the name Sable, with McDevitt saying, "She can sue us till the cows come home and she's not going to get it." The rights to the name are especially important for her right now due to her upcoming Playboy issue, which is due out in August. Without WWF signing off on it, Playboy can't promote her as "Sable" which is going to be a huge blow to sales of the magazine (and especially considering WWF isn't promoting it on TV at all).
Sable has gotten a lot of publicity out of the lawsuit, appearing on various shows and doing media interviews, mostly trashing the WWF and calling it obscene. Dave notes that Sable's credibility in this is lacking, since she willingly participated in the obscene behavior for years and in fact was one of the leading stars of it and benefited enormously from it. Furthermore, over the years, she has done countless interviews defending WWF against media outlets who called the product obscene (unlike Owen Hart, who was on the record in the past admitting he didn't like the direction of the company). It really looks like Sable had no problem with the on-screen obscenity until she started having a contract dispute. Jerry McDevitt says there's no truth to Sable's claim that she signed her contract under duress or that Jim Ross threatened to fire her if she didn't sign immediately. That being said, nobody in WWF has denied her allegations that they wanted her to "accidentally" lose her top on TV, which is pretty sketchy and, along with other sexual harassment allegations, it makes it hard to look at WWF as an innocent victim here. In a USA Today story, Vince McMahon responded by basically trying to blame all of this negativity on WCW, which is obviously absurd, saying, "I think that opportunists such as our competitor are really behind a lot of all of this negativity. They don't know how to compete with us, and in essence what they're trying to do is beat the drums of negativity, hoping that, in some way, that is going to hurt the organization or hurt our fans."
Of course, WWF is also facing a major lawsuit from the family of Owen Hart. One of the Hart family lawyers is a Kansas City attorney named Gary C. Robb who is recognized as one of the best lawyers in America and is known for winning record-high settlements in several major cases. In one 1995 case, he got a verdict of $350 million for his clients following a helicopter crash, which is the highest liability jury verdict in U.S. history. Soooo...not great news for WWF (spoiler: he ends up getting Hart's family $18 million, which was also a record for that sort of case, but we'll get there eventually). WWF is just one of many parties named in the suit (the stunt people, the arena people, the harness manufacturers, and more). The lawsuit alleges negligence, failure to provide proper equipment, failure to provide proper training, failure to follow basic safety procedures, etc. For what it's worth, after the incident, the NBA banned having mascots come down from the ceiling. Eric Bischoff hasn't said for sure if they're going to ban it or not, but they don't plan to lower Sting from the ceiling anytime soon again. Famous O.J. Simpson lawyer Johnnie Cochran appeared on a TV show and sided with the Hart family and blamed WWF for the accident. McDevitt responded, basically telling Cochran to fuck off and saying that the whole thing was just a tragic accident and that in the entire history of the WWF, Owen Hart was the first time a wrestler has ever died in the ring.
Oh, we're not done. Bassam Al Othman, the host of Good Morning Kuwait, filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against WWF related to Vader roughing him up on TV back in 1997. Jerry McDevitt called it a "silly lawsuit" and accused Othman of trying to pile on to WWF while they're facing the Hart and Sable lawsuits. Othman is particularly upset that WWF aired footage of Vader roughing him up on TV.
Konnan was quoted in a newspaper article saying some stuff about WCW that got him in a lot of hot water with Eric Bischoff. Konnan was quoted saying, "You have a lot of wrestlers that wield a lot of power. If you don't conform or be part of their clique, if you're not drinking or training with them, you get cut out. That's just bad business." Konnan also said that in the past, Bischoff had become intolerable and condescending to people, but that Bischoff had been trying to be better lately. Regardless, the comments infuriated Bischoff and he and Konnan had a loud screaming argument at each other backstage at Nitro, with Bischoff particularly upset that Time-Warner executives might see the quote and start wondering what's going on backstage that they don't know about.
There's been an extreme lack of 5-star matches in recent years, but we finally got one! Misawa vs. Kobashi for the Triple Crown title in AJPW is a strong front-runner for match of the year and Dave gives it the full 5 (and yes, this ends up winning match of the year, making it 2 years in a row that Misawa and Kobashi win that award). Kobashi ended up getting his nose destroyed and had surgery 5 days later to repair it and was supposed to take a month off, but he's already announced he'll be back on the next tour starting next week, because Kobashi.
Hayabusa is expected to be unmasked soon. They're doing an angle where FMW's heel commissioner is telling him he can't wear his mask anymore. The real reason is because Hayabusa is so broken down from injuries that he knows he needs to change his in-ring style and the idea is for him to become more of a ground-based wrestler and he wants to unmask and basically change his character entirely (he briefly wrestles under the name H for awhile, unmasked, before eventually returning to the Hayabusa gimmick).
Antonio Inoki is bringing back the Big Van Vader gimmick and giving it to some new guy named Sylvester Terkay who works in Inoki's UFO promotion. If you recall, there was a big lawsuit deal in the early 90s because Inoki owned the rights to the name "Big Van Vader" and the smoking headgear thing. That's why the real Vader dropped the "Big Van" part of his name and stopped using the smoking helmet. Dave thinks trying to give this classic gimmick to a green rookie is a terrible idea (this dude dabbled in WWE for a minute back in 2006ish but never amounted to anything beyond that).
The ECW/TNN deal still hasn't been finalized. There may have been a snag due to Rob Van Dam's recent interview in High Times magazine where he talks about smoking pot, which the TNN people evidently weren't thrilled with. But it doesn't seem to be that big a deal and ECW is still expected to finalize a deal with TNN soon, with the first episode of ECW on TNN likely debuting in August. There's no word on how this will all work out as far as tapings go or what can be shown where (there's going to be issues with TNN not allowing ECW to air any of the TNN-show footage on their syndicated shows). Either way, ECW is basically coasting right now because they don't want to shoot any big angles or start any new storylines until the national show debuts. When that happens, the plan is to push Van Dam as the top star and eventually build to him winning the ECW title.
Christopher Daniels debuted in ECW in a match with Super Crazy and everyone there reported that it was the best match of the show, but Paul Heyman didn't like it for some reason and decided not to air it on TV. Anyway, after the match, Daniels cut a promo saying that if you're 200 pounds and from Mexico they call you a Luchador, if you're 200 pounds and from Japan they call you an international superstar, but if you're 200 pounds and American, you get a needle in your ass as quick as you can.
ECW had their first ever show in Chicago this week which was a big success with a sold out crowd of 3,000. There was one part that almost went bad. A fan threw a chair in the ring, leading to Bubba Ray Dudley leaving the ring and going into the crowd after the fan, but luckily, nothing happened. Also, Sabu did a run-in at the end of the show. That doesn't sound like a big deal until you hear this part: Sabu was on a tour with FMW in Japan. He flew from Tokyo to Chicago, just to do the run-in on the ECW show, then immediately flew back to Japan to finish the FMW tour (having read every issue of the Observer from this decade, I'm convinced that there wasn't a harder working guy in the business during the 90s than Sabu, especially earlier in the decade).
ECW wanted to bring in Vader to put over Taz at the upcoming PPV, but it's not happening. Due to his deal with AJPW, they want Vader to be kept strong and won't allow him to do any jobs elsewhere. ECW wants to find big name stars who will put over Taz clean and Vader was willing to do it, but since AJPW won't let him, it won't be happening.
There's a new promotion starting up in California called Xtreme Pro Wrestling, that is co-founded by male porn staproducers Tom Byron and Rob Zicari, who performs as Rob Black. The promotion is expected to heavily feature porn stars from their companies.
WCW's Great American Bash PPV did a 0.43 buyrate, making it the 5th lowest PPV buyrate in WCW history. Considering how hot wrestling (well, WWF) is right now in the mainstream, that's a pretty horrific number.
Goldberg appeared on the Dennis Miller Show on HBO this week and a few days prior to the show, Bischoff had a meeting with Goldberg's agent Barry Bloom because there was significant concern over what Goldberg might say, since the two sides are still at pretty heated odds over Goldberg's contract situation right now. Anyway, Goldberg didn't say anything bad and Dennis Miller was actually really defensive of wrestling, talking about taking his son to a WCW show and how nice everyone was. He didn't seem to understand the whole promotional war though and he brought up Steve Austin, but Goldberg just sorta changed the subject. He did complain about the schedule, but never complained about WCW directly. Others weren't as nice. In a recent radio interview, Hulk Hogan was interviewed and although he didn't name Goldberg by name, he referenced him, saying there was a guy in the company who was given a huge push but didn't have much experience and now he's self-destructing before their eyes. Okay Hulk, sure.
WCW has pretty much given up on trying to re-sign Chris Jericho and have all but accepted that he's leaving when his contract runs out soon. Dave says it's basically because certain people have gotten in other peoples' ears and convinced WCW that Jericho isn't worth it and that he's never drawn money. Dave thinks Jericho, along with Goldberg, have potential to be two of WCW's most marketable stars in the future if they were positioned right but hey, what does Dave know? Anyway, the only real pitch WCW has given to Jericho is they want to put him in a young guys vs. old guys feud, with people like Jericho feuding with Flair. Of course, that isn't really a promotion for Jericho, it's mostly just a way to move Flair down to midcard (also, Randy Savage shot down the idea of being involved in the angle because he doesn't want to be seen as an old guy). As for WWF, they're basically promising to push Jericho as the next Shawn Michaels.
Arn Anderson is said to be uncomfortable with the fact that WCW has brought Sid Vicious back, but is willing to go along with it and do business. When asked about it, Eric Bischoff had this to say: "It became clear to me he has matured over the past five years. He realizes he made mistakes in and out of the ring and recognizes the tremendous opportunity he has here. So far, he has conducted himself very professionally. I've got all the confidence in the world that he's learned from his mistakes... If it doesn't work out, Sid's options are really limited. I think he's matured to the point that he understands that."
Kevin Nash was said to be pretty upset about Sable being at ringside during his promo on Nitro last week, since it completely took the focus off him and the crowd spent the entire time chanting for her during his segment.
WCW hopes Bret Hart will return at the July 5th Nitro at the Georgia Dome. Dave thinks Hart has the potential to come back as a huge babyface, but then again, he should have been the biggest babyface in the world when he debuted in WCW last year after the Screwjob, but they botched that so don't hold your breath. It's possible Hart may not be back by then, because Bischoff told him to take all the time he needs in the wake of Owen's death. Hart has been telling people that he's not sure if he's going to wrestle again, although most people still think he will.
WCW was going to bring in rap group Naughty By Nature to perform at the Georgia Dome Nitro, but Master P flexed some muscle and got it nixed (as a lifelong hip hop fan, this is the most random shit ever. Also, I never heard anything about those guys having beef and in fact, I think Master P was featured on a NBN song around this time. So I'm gonna assume this is a case of Dave maybe getting one wrong here).
Notes from WCW Nitro at the Superdome in New Orleans: the show drew a little over 15,500 fans paid. They were looking to be in the 13-14,000 range but sales surged slightly once Master P (who's from New Orleans) got added to the show and they sold an extra 2,000 tickets or so. Master P was telling people last week that him in WCW would sell out the Superdome and, well, so much for that. Eddie Guerrero returned, after a 7-month absence, to absolutely zero fanfare. Dave says Eddie was noticeably slow and seemed hesitant in the ring since it was his first match back. The No Limit rappers were all over the show and it all pretty much sucked.
Random WCW Notes: Scott Steiner's back has been in terrible shape lately and there's rumors he may not be able to keep wrestling much longer. Bam Bam Bigelow has been getting epidurals to drain excess fluid out of his spine. Referee Charles Robinson has 4 cracked vertebrae in his upper back from Randy Savage doing the elbow drop on him a few weeks back. Steve Regal has been training at the WCW Power Plant. There's also an impressive tag team at the Power Plant named Shannon Moore and Shane Helms who have worked some indies.
Curt Hennig's anti-rap redneck group is actually getting over with WCW crowds even though they're supposed to be heels. WCW is aware of it and not happy about it, and they're planning to bring in Willie Nelson to film a vignette with Hennig, where Hennig tries to buddy up to Willie but gets shot down. They want country music fans to also think Hennig's group is uncool. (Trying to promote a redneck group against a group of rappers to their mostly southern fanbase. How did they think this was gonna go?)
Dusty Rhodes returned to doing commentary for WCW Saturday Night and Dave says it was gruesome. "I need a damn thesaurus to keep finding new words to describe WCW," he adds.
Chris Jericho did some concerts with a band called Fozzy Osbourne in Atlanta. Jericho was the lead singer and people said he was good. Then Dave drops a classic deadpan Dave-joke: "He said both rap and country suck and heavy metal rules. If he could have kept his drug problems under control he'd have probably been the best worker in the business by this point. That's Heavy Metal, not Jericho I'm talking about."
WWF Raw Notes: Kurt Angle beat Matt Hardy in a dark match. Al Snow picked his nose and ate the booger. Prince Albert wore panties. The Rock is really over.
WWF is claiming that they want to sell their Las Vegas hotel and casino because they can't renovate it to be an arena that they could hold events at, and that they're planning to buy a bigger hotel somewhere in Vegas. But a lot of people are saying the real reason is that WWF just doesn't want to admit that they made a mistake and way overpaid for this shitty hotel and now they're just trying to dump it and be rid of it. There's no plans to actually buy another hotel in Vegas, that's just to save face.
Random WWF notes: Brian Christopher needs major knee surgery and will be out the rest of the year. Mick Foley is also working on his autobiography while he recovers from knee surgery. Expect Rock and Austin biographies to come out later this year also.
Steve Austin was going to go on the Jay Leno show to respond to Goldberg's challenge awhile back but when WWF informed Leno's people that Austin would be turning down the challenge, they cancelled it. Leno only wanted him on the show if he was going to accept and obviously that's not happening.
Letters this week are mostly about Owen Hart and Sable. The usual, people remembering him, then picking sides. Who's to blame, why Vince is the devil, so on and so forth. There's also several letters about Sable's lawsuit, sadly all of which have pretty much the same theme: she paraded around half-naked on TV, she posed for Playboy so she's basically a whore, she knew what she signed up for, she should shut up, WWF made her who she is, etc.
WEDNESDAY:King of the Ring fallout, Hogan goes on Larry King's show to tell lies for an hour, Vince McMahon makes the media rounds, and more...
Finding every single spot to play ping pong in Atlanta
Hey Atlanta! My name is mcclark71 and I am a pongaholic. It's my almost daily ritual. Newest Update 1/12/2020
Thanks to Charlie from Decatur Table Tennis for finding a new location, Atlanta Table Tennis Center, located in Lawrenceville.
Newest Updates 9/12/19
Thank you to the kind soul who found both MK Table Tennis and Paragon Golf Center, 2 new locations in the North Atlanta metro with ping pong tables!
Updates 9/5/19
Big thanks to Moses (Tennis Coach @ Dekalb Tennis Center) for clueing me in on a table they have available to use during business hours. Both maps and the site have been updated to reflect this new found table.
If you are a Ping Pong player looking to meet new people & track your stats, go check out tbltns.app - some of my Atlanta Pong buddies are working on this really neat social app for pongers. It is available in beta through Testflight on the app store and will soon be launching for Android.
Updates 8/13/19
Big props to lowtek for letting me know there was not way to report a found table, this has been fixed and for all the tables I missed or that pop up, they can be reported here:
Also, I got my first form response! If you go to Decatur Table Tennis, you are bound to have met Charlie. He set me up with information on the outdoor table in Glenlake Park of Decatur.
Updates 7/12/19:
The list is at 49 now! Great job to all and let's keep finding more!
I put up a quick google site with all the information I can find so far. There is a map, hours, address, link to Google page, website, and a description for each. Please feel free to suggest edits.
A final response to the "Tell me why Trump is Racist"
So the person who made that post in our sidebar about why Trump is a racist deleted his account meaning the post got removed and I decided to make a new, "Final Response to Why Trump is a racist." And like all of the other final response posts I could just list all the horrible things Trump has done. But the thing is that I've seen these masterposts reposted on forums and blogs and even places like, /askatrumpsupporter and the justification for them is always the same:
Donald Trump told them to only consider applications from people in the A category. Now you could always argue that for some reason the employees at every single one of the 39 Trump owned apartment were just racist and didn't like black people on their own so they decided to break the law and potentially lose their jobs. And they just happen to come up with identical and oddly specific lies to implicate Trump as a racist and every single one of these employees were willing to commit perjury over these lies, and then for some reason two other Trump employees who didn't even work at the apartments also for some reason came forward to falsely confirm their accounts. And this argument might work if it was only this one time Trump had been accused of doing something racist. But the fact of the matter is this is just one of dozens of examples. Let's actually do the math on this:
41 employees who testified in 1973 that Trump refused to rent homes to black people,
36 employees who worked with the Urban League Investigators who testified in 1978 during another investigation and lawsuit about Trump refusing to hire black people.
The black employees who said they were forced to leave the Casino floor when Trump and his wife arrived on the property
One of Trumps assistants who warned Black Pageant Contestant Kamie Crawford in 2010 that, "Mr. Trump doesn't like black people."
Trump's ex-wife who says he is a racist.
The over 50 Beauty Pageant contestant and Trump Modeling service employees who claimed Trump refused to hire black models.
Jill Harth who claimed the same thing in 1997.
The 20 black people from Gary Indiana denied jobs Trump promised them in their 1996 Lawsuit including the cities mayor.
The 9 Apprentice crew members, (Not including the 30 Apprentice crew members who openly say Trump is a sexist.)
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