The Bucks had their first practice yesterday and aside from the QB situation, the biggest story in camp is Braxton Miller and his position switch to wide receiver. We scoured the Internet (used the Twitter search bar) to collect whatever video evidence there was of Braxton Miller catching passes and running routes.
Here he is working with former Buckeye great Joey Galloway
Braxton Miller practicing his new trade against Buckeye great Joey Galloway at the first day of fall camp. GoBucks pic.twitter.com/vYlvjLct1h
Well…it’s finally over. If you’re reading this you probably a) watched the entire second season of True Detective and b) are alive, so unlike the penised protagonists in the show itself, you made it through eight episodes and lived to tell the tale. Omega Station wrapped up the labyrinth that was season 2’s plot in nice, neat, blood-soaked body bag. Ray’s dad’s prophecy came true, Frank quite literally bit the dust and Ani had probably the worst outcome of them all: a lifetime on the run with Jordan Semyon (The two women surviving in the end was a big old fug you from Nic P to the haters who knocked him for not having any powerful female characters in season 1.)
If you’ve read our recaps all season you know that, for the most part, I’ve enjoyed it. It seems to be the hip stance these days to hate on Pizzolatto and where he took his follow-up effort but I tried to stay the course, sift through the black hole that is r/TrueDetective and enjoy one of the most talked-about shows on television. And I truly did. For a while. But for whatever reason, the finale just didn’t do it for me. After going back through it in order to write this recap, sure, there’s definitely some things I missed that I can appreciate about our main characters fates. And that’s true for most episodes of True Detective, both seasons. That’s part of the fun (for me at least) of watching this show. 75% is watching it live and noticing things on your own but the other quarter of enjoyment comes from reading Reddit and Twitter and seeing things other people have picked up on and noticed. But this season seemed more like a 50/50 split, maybe even more than that in favor of needing aides in order to follow the plot. And that’s not even talking about adding enjoyment to the show, that’s so I knew what the hell was going on. A TV show shouldn’t operate like that.
In terms of strictly the finale though, I don’t really know what Nic could have done to make me feel differently. I think it’s just about as good a finale as you could hope for in a show as convoluted as TD was this season. If they do a third season, at least they know one thing for sure: four main characters is too many. That might work in a more watered-down show, or where the four characters share many of the same subplots. But TD obviously doesn’t fit either of those criteria. You just can’t follow four people from completely separate backgrounds with different motivations in eight episodes and create the same connection with them for viewers like we had with Rust and Marty when you write with the depth that Pizzy does. Sure, when Ray got blown to bits and Frank looked back to see his own lifeless body in the desert, those moments had some shock value. Most main character deaths on most TV shows do no matter what the circumstance. But can you imagine if Errol had thrown that axe at Marty and hit him right between the eyes? Or if he set Rust down after lifting him in the air BY A KNIFE and proceeded to stab his body like a pincushion? That shit would have stuck with me for days. Because I cared about those two characters. I didn’t get close to that level with any of the four this season. And it’s not their fault. I thought Farrell was absolutely incredible, Vaughn did the best with what he had, McAdams and Kitsch both held their own. The show just tried to do too much with too many in not enough time.
Conclusions/Points
Birdman was, in fact, the photographer from the movie set.
Leonard Osterman is his name. His sister was Caspere’s assistant, also sex partygoer, Laura Osterman. Lenny was put in a group home and abused after the diamond heist that killed his parents. Laura was put in foster care then left to become a hooker. That’s how she met Tascha who told her about the parties, where she eventually met and recognized Caspere. Funny thing is, they’re not really brother and sister. The reason Burris and co. killed the Osterman parents is because Caspere was having an affair with the woman, whom he had a kid with and apparently she had one in the oven when she was murdered. That kid was Laura. Laura also went on to sleep with Caspere. So that’s…yep.
The baby at the end of the episode was Ray and Ani’s. Also turns out that Ray is Chad’s biological father.
(/u/Bedlampuhedrom)
The reporter Ani gives all her evidence to is the same reporter that was writing the expose on Vinci that Ray beat the hell out of earlier this season.
(/u/Bunyippouch)
The main characters were all done in by themselves. Frank wanted to keep the diamonds in the pocket of his suit, Ray wanted to see his son one last time, Paul wouldn’t come out of the closet. “We get the world we deserve.”
Dixon blew through the money he got from the heist in 92 so he was trying to get his hands on the blue diamons/blackmail his way into more money. The shootout was a setup to kill Dixon, Holloway confirmed to Ray at the train station.
That dream sequence Ray had after he got shot, with his dad in the bar? Yeah that came true. Word for word.
(/u/analmango (hahahahahaahahahahahahah))
I thought it was dumb how Ray and Ani were both trying to get revenge for Paul (“He deserved better.”) when they didn’t really know him or seem to care that much about him at any point in the season. Although I guess I understand the irony in that nobody really “knew” him.
The almighty hard drive with all the evidence on it was actually not a threat to anyone. It had a security measure that caused it to erase itself when Leonard tried to access it. So when that drop off was staged at the train station, Leonard and Ray really had no leverage at all.
Austin Chessani and Pitlor were both probably killed by Tony Chessani, who we saw being inaugurated as the new mayor of Vinci.
(/u/BunyipPouch)
Far left is his sister who he was certainly in cahoots with, behind her are the two Mexicans that killed Frank, and obviously all the way to the right is Burris. This was his plan all along (Holloway says something about “not the Chessani I work for” to Ray in the station).
There was an unidentified man at the unveiling of the rail way:
(/u/Khanate)
Not sure who it was but there’s speculation it could be the Chessani grandfather, meaning he was the one pulling the strings the whole time and that’s who Holloway was referring to in his quote in the previous bullet. Or it’s Gregg Popovich.
ANYWAYS, if you’re still here, thanks for reading. I had fun writing these things, hope you enjoyed consuming em’. I did like this season, just not so much the finale. If Season 1 was a 10/10, I’d have to give this one a solid 8. I’ll still get excited hearing that electric Leonard Cohen bass line for a while.
I was fortunate (I think) to attend Browns training camp on Sunday and Monday. Here’s what I learned, noticed, heard, and saw in my two days.
You’re an absolute sucker if you don’t take advantage of parking in the yards of the Berea residents. Most of the homeowners only charge 10 bucks. Don’t be a cheap ass. You won’t have to scour parking lots for a spot. It’ll save you tons of walking and you don’t have to park your car next to the common-folk in the general admission lots. Gross.
If I lived on the street where the training camp entrance is located you better believe I’d have a beer tent set up in my yard. It’s actually INSANE that there isn’t any beer inside the practice fields and that no one tailgates and pregames for the practices. Definitely an untapped market. If you live on Beech Street this idea will cost you $10.
Even after yelling at Andrew Hawkins to unblock Bottlegate on Twitter he still has us blocked. Don’t know what his deal is.
Think the Browns need to implement more seating options in the practice field complex. Standing on a curb trying to see over a 4 year old who’s jumping up and down on the bleachers really really sucks.
Speaking of kids, there are A TON of them there. Everywhere. And they talk. A lot. And cry. A lot. This is also why (or why not) the team needs to start offering booze in Berea. These parents looked absolutely miserable in the sun trying to watch practice but also keeping an eye on little Timmy to make sure he doesn’t poop his pants and then run onto the practice field to hug Johnny Manziel.
However, I did love the kid on Sunday who knew every player by name/number and had to tell his dad who #13 was and that #9 wasn’t Brian Hoyer. He even dropped a “that’s Thaddeus Lewis, he started the season finale vs. the Steelers a few years back.” This kid was alright.
Lots of bad tattoos. A couple of ear gauges. Lots of jorts. Cleveland Browns fans are always on the cutting edge of fashion. These are my people.
A guy walked by me in a suit sweating his ass off on Monday morning saying “I’m pretty sure I’m the only one here in a suit.” The next time he walked by he was in the middle of telling the other person on the line that “I gotta tell you, my 9 and 10 year olds are almost bigger than Johnny Manziel.” Wearing a suit and tie to training camp to stand with the general admission crowd tells you all you need to know about the guy.
There was a dad standing next to me on the curb (maybe 55-60 years old) who turned to his son and said “Can’t believe all these players take their helmets off when they’re not in. Back when I played you didn’t take your helmet off unless you were told that you could.” Nothing better than “back in my day” guy who compares his high school practice days to a professional organization’s practice days.
On the other side of me there was a kid (probably around 6 or 7) who picked up two sticks and started to feverishly rub them together in an effort to make fire. Why he wanted to start a fire during an 85 degree day is beyond me. Maybe he was cold or something. His dad told him to put the sticks down to which the little pyro replied “I’M TRYING TO MAKE A FIRE, DAD! LEAVE ME ALONE!” Incredible. Did I mention they should serve alcohol at training camp?
Rubbing sticks together and not having them catch fire has to be some sort of metaphor for the Browns offense, right? I kid, I kid.
They have a whole tent housing a bunch of puppies that are up for adoption. Probably the best part of training camp.
Being a kicker/punter/long snapper on an NFL team is the best job in the world and you can’t tell me any different. It’s not an award winning picture but here’s what they were doing during team drills that were taking place at the other end of the field. Just bullshitting with each other tossing the pigskin and probably discussing how they should sell alcohol at camp.
McCown threw a SEXY pass in 7 on 7 to Taylor Gabriel down the sideline over Joe Haden that went for like 40ish yards. The Yung Joc blaring from the speakers made it that much cooler.
The running back indy drills were right in front of me. Thought they would have shown a little more spark after getting questioned by their position coach yesterday but I didn’t really see it. The offense overall seemed to have a pretty shitty day of practice.
Judging the quarterbacks by how they play catch I’d say McCown throws the best ball, followed by Thad Lewis, Johnny, then Connor Shaw. Everyone knows you should only judge quarterbacks on how they look playing catch.
It was nice to see Justin Gilbert make a few plays today. This one happened right in front of me and the crowd went nuts.
Saw an old bald guy wearing a Steelers shirt walking with some doofus-y looking kid wearing a Ravens shirt. Don’t know if they were trying to get people riled up but no one even gave them the time of day.
Paul Kruger wears sweatpants while he practices in full pads. In 85 degree heat. Will someone confirm if he has pads on under them?
Josh McCown threw a very nice ball to Gary Barnidge for a long gain (would have been a TD) down the middle of the field. McCown would have been sacked by Karlos Dansby but let’s not let facts get in the way of a good Vine.
If I had run the conditioning test here there’s no doubt in my mind I would have had completely different results. When there’s even ground with short grass I’m what they call a “burner” and “gamechanger.”
Joe Thomas got rolled up on during the team portion, screamed, and then walked off of the field with no help. It was definitely a scary moment but it didn’t seem to be anything serious. We’ll see.
Joe Thomas just got rolled up on, let out a scream and walked off. Stretching now, seems to be fine… My heart skipped about 10 beats.
All in all it’s definitely a cool experience to head out to Berea if you get a chance. I suggest leaving the kids at home (if you have any) and housing a couple beers before you walk through the gates. It’s what Paul Brown would have wanted.
Bottlegate 