Main hub thread with the full 131 rankings
The year was 1976. Nevada, coming off a 3-8 year in Division II, hired a little known assistant from UNLV to be their football coach. He had returned to his alma mater where he played QB just 8 years prior. Chris Ault. Ault oversaw 2 transitions: From Division II to Division 1-AA in 1978, then again to Division 1-A in 1992. Ault was a wild success, running his patented pistol offense, making the Division 1-AA playoffs 7 times in 14 years, with an overall record of 122-47-1. Their final year in 1-AA, 1991, they overcame a 35 point 2nd half deficit against Weber State to win 55-49. Backup QB Chris Vargas led the comeback, and would become known as “The Comeback Kid”. He also donated part of his lungs to his brother-in-law in 2000. Be like Chris Vargas.

Best Seasons and Highlights

1. 2010: 12. Nevada: 13-1 (32.831) 2. 1996: 31. Nevada: 9-3 (8.179) 3. 1995: 33. Nevada: 9-3 (7.733) 4. 2020: 34. Nevada: 7-2 (7.056) 5. 1994: 34. Nevada: 9-2 (6.337) 6. 2005: 29. Nevada: 9-3 (5.411) 7. 2009: 52. Nevada: 8-5 (-1.018) 8. 2021: 55. Nevada: 8-5 (-2.971) 9. 2006: 51. Nevada: 8-5 (-3.695) 10. 2018: 66. Nevada: 8-5 (-7.539) 11. 1993: 49. Nevada: 7-4 (-8.115) 12. 2008: 60. Nevada: 7-6 (-8.404) 13. 2014: 68. Nevada: 7-6 (-10.285) 14. 2011: 69. Nevada: 7-6 (-10.406) 15. 2003: 67. Nevada: 6-6 (-12.153) 16. 1992: 61. Nevada: 7-5 (-12.975) 17. 1998: 60. Nevada: 6-5 (-13.089) 18. 2012: 74. Nevada: 7-6 (-15.548) 19. 2015: 75. Nevada: 7-6 (-16.831) 20. 1997: 72. Nevada: 5-6 (-19.971) 21. 2019: 85. Nevada: 7-6 (-20.016) 22. 2007: 81. Nevada: 6-7 (-21.387) 23. 2002: 73. Nevada: 5-7 (-22.812) 24. 2013: 93. Nevada: 4-8 (-31.474) 25. 2016: 96. Nevada: 5-7 (-32.042) 26. 2004: 96. Nevada: 5-7 (-35.568) 27. 2017: 109. Nevada: 3-9 (-36.450) 28. 1999: 98. Nevada: 3-8 (-37.940) 29. 2001: 95. Nevada: 3-8 (-38.935) 30. 2022: 128. Nevada: 2-10 (-54.907) 31. 2000: 111. Nevada: 2-10 (-59.726) Overall Score: 8991 (87th) 

• 199-177 record
• 7 conference titles
• 6-11 bowl record
• 0 consensus All-Americans
• 26 NFL players drafted

Nevada’s been in the FBS since 1992, so 31 seasons played since 1983. They were previously in the FBS (Division 1) from 1946-50, but that doesn’t fall under the 40 year timeline here. In their 31 seasons, they’ve made 17 bowls, which is 55% of the time. 7 titles means they win their conference 23% of the time. 5 titles came under Ault, the College Football Hall of Famer and easily the greatest coach in school history. Top NFL players include QB Colin Kaepernick, WR Nate Burleson, and OT Joel Bitonio.

Top 5 Seasons

Worst Season: 2000 (2-10 overall, 1-7 WAC)
New conference, new coach, new lows. Nevada moved from the Big West to the WAC with Chris Tormey, who previously went 32-23 at Idaho. There were early struggles, with a 7-36 loss to Oregon, 10-41 to #22 TCU, and 14-45 to Colorado State. They did get a 35-28 win over Wyoming. The season quickly got away from them though, after a 7-38 loss to rival UNLV. Cormey would go 0-4 against UNLV in his 4 years, which was inexcusable. Nevada got a late season win over Rice, but finished off with a brutal 3-38 performance vs Tulsa. Nevada finished last place in their new conference. Sophomore WR Nate Burleson was a breakout player though, with 921 receiving yards. Burleson went on to be an All-American in 2002, leading the nation in catches with 138, for 1629 yards and 12 TD. He was drafted in the 3rd round in 2003 and went on to have a solid NFL career and is an even better media personality than football player.
5. 1994 (9-2 overall, 5-1 Big West)
Chris Ault was in his 18th season at the time, with 1st year offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino. The two made magic happen, ranking 3rd in the nation with 37.6 PPG. Nevada started 9-1, with the only loss to Boise State, who was in Division 1-AA at the time. Boise would join Division 1-A in 2 years, but in 1994, was a division below and went 13-2 and made the title game. Nevada had rolled through the rest of the Big West, mostly beating teams that finished with losing records, but did beat 6-5 Pacific 38-26. Heading into the final week, Nevada had already won a share of the Big West title, but faced rival UNLV, who was 5-4 (4-1 Big West) and looking to get a share themselves. In the most hyped game between the two ever, UNLV pulled off the upset, winning 32-27 in a game now known as the “Red Defection”, which I talked about in UNLV’s post. Nevada still finished the year 9-2, with a share of the Big West title. QB Mike Maxwell led the NCAA in passing TDs, throwing for 3537 yards 29 TD 15 INT. RB Marcellus Chrishon ran for 1000+ yards in just 9 games, and WR Alex Van Dyke, a future 2nd round pick, caught 98 balls for 1246 yards and 9 TD.
4. 2020 (7-2 overall, 6-2 Mountain West)
Nevada was expected to be a solid team in 2020, returning talented young QB Carson Strong. Because of covid weirdness, their schedule was anything but regular, and ended up playing all 8 regular season games against Mountain West opponents. Because of this, there was little room for error. They did as well as they could, starting 4-0, set to face 3-1 San Diego State, who was the division favorite. There were no divisions this year because of covid, but SDSU was still a favorite to qualify for the title game. A 26-21 lead heading into the 4th for Nevada held for the final 15 minutes, and they improved to 5-0 with a conference championship appearance in sight. At 6-1, they’d unfortunately lose 20-30 to an upstart 5-0 San Jose State team that would go on to win the Mountain West. Nevada still made a bowl, beating 6-5 Tulane 38-27 to finish 7-2, and 34th in my rankings. QB Carson Strong won Mountain West OPOTY, completing 70% of passes for 2858 yards, 27 TD, and just 4 INT. Many were talking about him as a future 1st round pick heading into 2021. RB Toa Taua, brother of legendary Nevada RB Vai, had a solid year with 675 rushing yards in 8 games, earning 2nd Team All-MWC. Toa went on to have a consistent 5-year career in which he amassed 3997 rushing yards, 4th in school history only to his brother, Chris Lemon, and Colin Kaepernick. Strong formed a strong connection with WR Romeo Doubs, now on the Green Bay Packers, who had 1000+ receiving yards and 9 TD in just 9 games. Overall, 10 players made 1st/2nd team all-conference.
3. 1995 (9-3 overall, 7-0 Big West)
This was right after the 1994 season, where Nevada went 9-2 but lost on the final day to rival UNLV, forced to share the conference title. They left no doubt in ‘95, outpacing UNLV 55-32 en route to a 7-0 Big West season and sole owners of the title. In week 3, 2-0 Nevada hosted Gary Pinkel’s Toledo, losing 35-49 in what previewed the bowl game later on. After then dropping a game to SDSU to fall to 2-2, Nevada averaged a whopping 48.4(!) PPG in their last 7 regular season games, going 7-0 with wins over 2nd placed Southwestern Louisiana and 3rd placed Utah State. That set up a rematch with Toledo in the bowl, who was now #25 and 9-0-1. In the first overtime game in college football history, Toledo won again, this time closer at 40-37. Gary Pinkel completed an undefeated season with the Rockets, while Nevada finished 9-3. The offensive numbers were again staggering, even better than 1994. Nevada ranked 3rd in the nation in PPG with 43.4. QB Mike Maxwell led the NCAA in passing yards with 3611 (in just 9 games!) and 33 TD to 17 INT. WR Alex Van Dyke had an unbelievable year, with 129 catches for 1854 yards and 16 TD. In just 11 games! If he played a 13 game season like teams do today, his stats would extrapolate to 152 catches for 2191 yards and 19 TD.
2. 1996 (9-3 overall, 4-1 Big West)
As you can tell, Nevada was balling from 1994-96. New head coach Jeff Tisdale, a former All-American QB for Nevada in the 70’s, took over for Ault, who continued in his role as Athletic Director, which he had been in since 1986. There was no drop off offensively, averaging 42.9 PPG (2nd in the nation), but the defense gave up 8 less PPG, going from 31.2 allowed in 1995 → 23.8 in 1996. QBs John Dutton and Eric Bennett alternated throughout the year, coaches trying to decide who was the right fit to take over for Mike Maxwell. Both were solid, and combined for 3907 passing yards 34 TD 11 INT. Nevada started 1-2 with losses to Pac-10 opponents Oregon and Cal, but then started to wipe through the schedule. Nevada went 7-1 the rest of the way in the regular season, with 25+ point wins over UNLV, Boise State, North Texas, New Mexico State, Utah State, and Arkansas State. The only Big West loss was 15-24 to Idaho, who finished 3rd in the conference. Nevada tied with Utah State at 4-1, sharing the conference title, but got the better of them in a 54-27 win. An 18-15 win over 8-3 Ball State in the bowl clinched Nevada’s first ever bowl win, and they now have 5 more since. LB Mike Crawford nabbed the game-sealing interception, and was the game’s MVP, logging 14 tackles and a forced fumble to go with the INT.
1. 2010 (13-1 overall, 7-1 WAC)
I said that Kansas might be the team with the most obvious “best” season, but Nevada’s up there too. This was a dream season, almost like a Hollywood script. Nevada was a very good team entering 2010, picked to finish 2nd in the WAC, but EVERYONE was picking Boise to win the conference. Not just the conference, but to possibly contend for a national title. That’s what the Broncos did, starting 10-0 and #3 in the nation, getting as high as #2 at one point. Back in Reno, Nevada expectedly started 2-0, setting up a Friday night game hosting Cal. I remember watching it, a Cal fan at the time, hoping the Bears would improve to 3-0, but Colin Kaepernick and RB Vai Taua ran all over our defense, posting 299 rushing yards between the two of them in a 52-31 win. A 27-13 win at BYU the next week put Nevada in the AP Top 25 at 4-0. They’d beat up on bottomfeeders UNLV and San Jose State before heading to Hawaii, but lose a trap game to the upstart Rainbow Warriors, who won 27-21 with almost no one watching the 11:30 PM EST start time game. Nevada kept their focus though, and won 2 more to get to 8-1 and back up to #21. A win over 6-2 Fresno State, a traditional WAC power, was huge, with the Wolfpack taking a 35-34 lead with 5 minutes remaining. After a 52-6 win over New Mexico State, the Wolfpack were 10-1, and #19 in the nation, having one of the best seasons in school history.
Then came the Boise State game. Nevada had finished 2nd in the WAC for 2 straight years, unable to get over the Bosie hump. Boise State was the class not just of the WAC, but of all the non-AQ schools in the BCS era. They were the team that finally had a chance to break not into just a BCS bowl, but the national title game. Nevada was the home team and wasn’t going to just lie down, but this Boise team was, at the time, the best non-Power 6 team we’d ever seen. Boise didn’t disappoint, galloping out to a 17-0 lead early. Taua cut it to a 10 point deficit in the 2nd quarter, but Boise RB Doug Martin immediately responded with a 51 yard TD run to send it into halftime at 24-7. With the offense stalling, Kaepernick finally broke off an 18 yard TD run on 3rd and 6 with 1:30 left in the 3rd quarter to make it 24-14. Following a defensive stop, Nevada got the ball back to start the 4th. Receiving an end-around lateral 12 yards behind the LOS, with 3 tacklers to beat, WR Rishard Matthews evaded them all and took it 44 yards to the house. 24-21. With 5 minutes to go, Nevada made it 24 all. Boise, who hadn’t scored all half, put the ball in Doug Martin’s hands and let him do the work, taking a screen pass 79 yards for the go-ahead TD. In response, Kaepernick drove the length of the field, 15 seconds to go…Touchdown, Nevada! With 13 seconds left! Will they go for 2…? No.
Boise State ball with 9 seconds to go, both teams preparing for OT. Kellen Moore throws up a PRAYER for Titus Young, nearly 60 yards in the air…and Young LAYS out for the catch, down to the Nevada 10. 1 second left, 26 yard FG, Boise with one of the best kickers in school history, game over. Except it wasn’t. Kyle Brotzman hit it wide right. OVERTIME. The stadium was shaking. 3rd & goal in overtime for Boise, incomplete. Brotzman comes back out, this time from 29. WIDE LEFT. As Joe Tessitore put it, “this is turning into a disaster”. On the other side, Nevada kicker Anthony Martinez lined up for a 34 yard FG for the biggest win in school history. Right down the middle. Nevada wins it 34-31 in OT, pulling off one of the biggest upsets of the 2010s and winning a share of the WAC title, against all odds. Nevada won their last regular season game against Louisiana Tech and the bowl against Boston College to finish 13-1 and #11 in the AP Poll.
The offense averaged 41.0 PPG while the defense gave up just 21.4. Kaepernick won WAC OPOTY, throwing for 3022 yards 21 TD 8 INT with 1206 rushing yards and 20 TD on 7.0 YPC. Taua was 1st Team All-WAC with 1610 rushing yards and 19 TD, finishing his career as Nevada’s all-time leading rusher with 4588 yards. DE Dontay Moch was in contention for WAC DPOTY, with 8.5 sacks and 13.5 TFL. Overall, this turned out to be a loaded Wolfpack team, with 9 players drafted over the next 3 years, including Kaepernick, who led the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance.

5th Quarter

Do you remember that insane 2010 game vs Boise, and that Nevada team with Kaepernick/Taua? What do you think about Nevada in general, with the success they’ve had running the pistol and Chris Ault’s legacy?
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Context: You were raised by a werewolf with no clue about your origins or ties to your humanity. Fortunately, he was a fantastic father and helped you grow into the person you are today with minimal casualties. You're a little protective of your old man, especially after he had a workplace accident. You can't imagine him ever crossing anyone... until tonight.
Setting: Home
Tags:[MM4A][Adoptee Werewolf Speaker][Mobster Werewolf Speaker][Adopted Human Paranormal (?) Listener][Mystery][Bad Deal][Threats][Protecting Dad][Lil' Slugger Inspired][Supernatural][Action][Bit of Slice of Life][Hunted Down][Predator]vs[Prey][CW: Threats/Violence]
Usage: You may tweak or record this script. Gender flipping is OK! Please credit me if you use this script in any of your projects. If you would like to use this script for a paywalled recording, please note:
Monetization: All forms of monetization are OK with me! Youtube, Patreon, etc. I would appreciate being able to listen to the recording, if possible. Let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!
***
Check out the rest of my scripts by using the [Script Directory](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1N05GJmsVHKEYRo22RUCXcE--jo3t20gn9-GdDNz\_BTI/edit?usp=share\_link)
***
[D] = Dad
[P] = Pyrrho (pronounced ‘peer-oh’) but feel free to sound it out like ‘pyro’ if desired.
***
[Scene opens at home]
[SFX: A door opening and shutting]
[You arrive home from baseball practice and your Dad smiles from his armchair, tail wagging]
[D] “Hey! There’s my Lil’ Slugger! How’d practice go?”
[Pause!]
[He laughs as you talk excitedly and clamor into the kitchen for much-needed snacks]
[D] “Easy, easy! Dinner’s almost ready! Don’t go filling up on chips and soda, pretty please?”
[SDX: A delayed soda hiss that sounds appropriately shameful]
[Pause…]
[He shoots you a look but quickly lets it go with a shake of his head and a smile]
[D] “Pftt, I can’t stay mad at you. I’m glad practice went well. It was pretty quiet here, thankfully. Finally got a chance to vacuum the house.”
[Pause!]
[D] “I know, I know, I said I’d let you do it this time, but you’re always busy! Between work, practice, and taking care of my old tail, you hardly ever get to relax…”
[His smile fades, and looks to the cane leaning against his chair with a sigh]
[Pause?]
[D] “...Oh, your old man is OK, Slugger. It’s just… going from working werewolf to house hermit thanks to one work accident… Ain’t great for the pride. Used to be able to run with the best of them, work eighteen-hour days, then come home and catch our show with you! Now I can barely manage to do the last one…”
[...]
[You cross the room and hug him]
[D] “Oh? Oof! Aha… Alright, hug time. Got it. Mmh… Watch that strength, kiddo! Sheesh, your Coach must be a good one. I swear you could bench press a bus at times!”
[Pause~]
[He gives you a playful side-eye]
[D] “...You’re not on steroids, right?”
[Pause!]
[D] “OK, I’m only asking because it’s a universal law that cool dudes don’t do that stuff, right? And we’re cool dudes, right?”
[Pause!!]
[He laughs]
[D] “Haha, alright, alright! I’ll stop teasing! I just want to make sure you’re OK… You’ve been through a lot, and I’m proud of you for working so hard.”
[Pause <3]
[D] “I love you, too, kiddo. With all of my heart… Oof, oh no, not Dad tears! Quick, go pull the casserole out of the oven before I start blubbering!”
[You give him a solemn salute and hurry into the kitchen]
[SFX: The oven being opened / general movement]
[You go to get the casserole out, as requested when the doorbell rings]
[SFX: A doorbell]
[Pause?]
[D] “No, no, I got it! Who on Earth would be knocking on my door at nearly 7 PM on a damned Tuesday night?”
[SFX: Him opening the door]
[You glance over and see a younger werewolf standing in the doorway, more nicely dressed than you’ve seen anyone be]
[Pause]
[Your father pales, hobbling a few steps back from the younger werewolf]
[D] “P-Pyrrho… I, ah-”.
[P] “Save your breath, Hoss. I ain’t here to hear it…”
[Your Dad lowers his voice, under the impression you can’t hear him]
[D] “...please don’t do this in front of my kid… Please, I… I know I still owe a lot, b-but…”
[...]
[‘Pyrrho’ steps inside and your father is forced to take a few more steps back]
[P] “I was given my orders. It’s pay-up or pay with your life, Hoss. If your kid is here, then… I was told to leave no witnesses.”
[For the first time in your life, you hear your father growl under his breath]
[D] “...You can do whatever you want to me, but if you even think for a second-!”
[SFX: [D] being struck and falling to the ground with a yelp]
[You hear your father cry out and that is about the moment you forget every shred of humanity that is in you]
[SFX: A LOT of glass shattering]
[P] “What the fuck-?! What is wrong with your fucking human, Hoss?!”
[D, legitimately terrified] “Pyrrho, RUN-!”
[You don’t give him the chance. You grab your bat and saunter over to the attacker]
[...]
[P, unimpressed] “Really, sweetheart? You brought a bat to a gunfight?”
[...]
[Your father staggers to his fight and gets you in the best suplex he can]
[D] “I-I’m sorry, Slugger! Pyrrho, fucking RUN WHILE I HAVE THEM IN THIS SUPLEX!”
[...]
[SFX: A heavy step forward]
[P] “...Didn’t realize your kid was a weightlifter, Hoss… Managing to walk with a four-hundred-pound werewolf on their back is impressive. It still doesn’t change the fact that, well…”
[SFX: A gun being drawn]
[P, coldly] “I have a gun.”
[D] “Pyrrho, for the love of God-!”
[...]
[SFX: Another dragging step forward]
[P, uncertain] “...D-Don’t you make me shoot!”
[Pause!]
[You sprint forward, carrying the entire four-hundred pounds of your struggling father, and slam the bat into Pyrrho’s wrist]
[SFX: A bat making contact and the gun scattering away]
[P] “GAH! MY FUCKING WRIST!”
[D] “RUN, PYRRHO! FOR YOUR OWN GODAMNED SAFETY, RUN!”
[...]
[You stare into the intruder’s eyes. You can see your own reflected back and it seems like you both see the death there before Pyrrho stumbles back with a pained whimper]
[P] “...T-This ain’t over-!”
[D] “RUN!!!”
[With a yelp of pain, the intruder flees]
[Pause!!]
[SFX: Another heavy footstep]
[D] “Slugger, no! Shh… shh, it’s OK… It’s OK… Breathe… Papa’s OK, see? You don’t have to be angry anymore…”
[...]
[SFX: A car skidding away]
[D] “...Nice, quiet howl with me. Just like when you were little… OK?”
[...]
[You howl quietly with him for a moment until the red fades. Until there’s no longer an expiration date burned into your eyes]
[...Pause?]
[Your father sighs shakily, finally letting you go]
[D] “...I… I’m sorry I didn’t tell you… I owe bad people a lot of money… I thought I could figure it out, I thought I could work it off, but… b-but my accident at work… I’m so sorry…”
[...]
[You hug him again and assure him it’s OK]
[D] “...Thank you for the hug, Slugger… You’re such a good kid… Please don’t forget that, OK? Don’t forget that you’re good, no matter how angry you get, no matter how powerful you are… You’re good. OK?”
[Pause]
[You nod]
[D] “Good… I, ah… Let me get this mess cleaned up and we can talk this through. OK?”
[Again, you nod… but you can see it again, reflected in a nearby picture of the two of you. You can see the death in your eyes… and you know the night is young]
[Pause]
[D, exhaling] “...We’ll be OK, kiddo. One way or another, your old man will figure this out, and you can focus on being the world’s best baseball player in the making. OK?”
[For the last time, you nod. Your baseball bat is spattered in blood]
[To be continued]
Note: The original title for this series was going to be “Death In Their Eyes” but then I remembered YouTube is a dick

Long-term rental properties can have many advantages, like an extended lease length that provides a constant cash flow for landlords. However, all leases must come to an end, which means learning how to properly go through a lease renewal is an important part to being a landlord. A lease renewal is defined as an option for the current tenant to continue living in a rental property for a specified time period which is agreed upon by both parties – it also outlines certain rules and conditions regarding the property. According to Rental Housing Journal, 62.7% of renters renewed their leases in 2022.
If you’ve secured a great tenant who you get along with, treats your property nicely, pays rent on time, and hasn’t given you any trouble, you’ll probably want to seek a lease renewal with them as soon as possible. On the other hand, not seeking a lease renewal with some tenants is a great way to find a renter who is better suited for your property.
We’ve compiled the ultimate guide to help landlords navigate the lease renewal process in order to answer any and all questions you might have – check it out!

Pros and Cons of a Lease Renewal

As with many things, there are both pros and cons to a lease renewal for you and your tenants. Whether you want to renew leases for multiple tenants or just one, it comes down to determining what the best option is for you and your rental property at the time.
Pros

• Keep good tenants: No landlord would argue that keeping good tenants is a bad thing – they might not come around often, so keeping renters you have a good relationship with is extremely beneficial.
• Potential for a long-term renter: Long-term renters mean you are reducing tenant turnover and you’ve also secured a steady income with someone you know will pay rent on time.
• Eliminates the time and cost of searching for new tenants: As a landlord, saving time is very important, especially if you have another job. Renewing a lease means not having to market your property or go through the rental application process again.
• Reduces risk of vacancy: Filling vacancies isn’t always an easy task which is why a lease renewal is key. You won’t have to worry about potentially losing money if you can’t find a renter.
• Tenants are already familiar with the lease terms: Having a tenant that already knows your rules and policies – and respects them – will ensure they will continue to follow them in the future and take care of your rental property.

Cons

• Limits on rent increases: If you’ve secured a great tenant and they want to continue to live there, it is more difficult to increase the rent – especially if it’s necessary for the current market, you risk the chance of tenants not wanting to renew their lease for a higher price.
• Limited opportunity to renovate: A lease renewal often leads to a long-term renter – with an occupied unit you won’t be able to renovate which, in turn, might reduce your ability to command higher rent that an upgraded unit could pull in.
• Difficult tenants may not move out: Tenants who cause issues with you, your property or the neighbors might want to continue to live in your unit – although you want to avoid vacancies, this could lead to future problems.
• May let rules slide: While you might have picked great tenants you get along with, some landlords get too comfortable with their current tenants and stop charging late fees, etc.

Eliminate the Cost of Finding a New Tenant

While there are many free tools to help you find new tenants, rental turnover still has a high cost attached to it. The cost of tenant turnover is both a financial and timeliness one – for example, advertising, maintenance and cleaning costs can add up.

Why a Lease Renewal Isn’t for Every Tenant

While you might have the perfect tenant staying in your rental, some tenants might not accept your lease renewal offer for a variety of reasons. Many times tenants don’t seek lease renewals for lifestyle changes, such as, they get married, get a new job or are moving somewhere closer to their families or work – they might even be moving out of state.
Life happens, so staying flexible and understanding in this situation is in everyone’s best interest. It’s also important to remember they don’t owe you an explanation on why they’re not renewing their lease with you. If they aren’t renewing their lease for such lifestyle changes, you should remember this if they need a landlord recommendation later on down the road – if they were a good tenant then it is always a courteous thing to do.

Finding New Tenants

If you eventually need to find a new tenant – don’t worry. There are many outlets and tools to use these days that will easily help you find tenants who will fit well with you and your rental property.
Online Marketing: Marketing your property on all the major listing sites will help you fill your vacancy faster – marketing syndication will allow you to do this with just one click instead of having to go to each individual site and post yourself.

• Online Rental Applications: Paper rental applications are a thing of the past. Online rental applications are faster, easier and more secure. Having potential tenants fill out their applications online will allow you to instantly keep a digital record without having to organize papers.
• Lead Questionnaire: Sending a lead questionnaire to each lead who expresses interest in your property on a listing website will enable you to learn more about them and ask any questions you’d like – such as pets, smoking, desired move-in date, etc before having them formally apply.
• Social Media: While you can post your properties to Facebook, social media is also a good place to research potential tenants to make sure they are trustworthy and someone who you want to stay in your property.

Tenant screening is an essential step in the search process. You want to ensure you know exactly who you are renting to as you want to be positive they will be a safe and trustworthy individual. Tenant screening can include many things from hard data to soft attributes and qualities like the following:

• Background Check: Getting a standard background check to view any criminal history will allow you to make sure the potential tenant is trustworthy.
• Credit Report: Credit reports will show that your tenant will be able to pay rent in full and on time.
• Eviction History: Contacting past landlords as well as knowing about prior evictions will help you decide if this is a good applicant for your property or not.
• In-Person Meeting: If all of the hard data looks good, meeting a potential tenant is sometimes a great way to determine if their personality will be a good fit.

Guide to Offering a Lease Renewal

While it might seem like a simple process there is a proper way to offer a lease renewal to your tenants. You want to be as professional as possible while giving ample time and consideration for your tenant to decide what to do. Here is a quick guide on how to offer a lease renewal:

1. Determine the Lease Renewal Period

Generally, the lease renewal notice period should be 90 days before the current lease expires to give a good amount of notice for both you and the renter.

2. Send a Lease Renewal Letter

A professional lease renewal letter is a great way to communicate with your tenant about their options; it should include when the current lease expires, what the new lease’s time period would be, and the rent price (whether it’s the same or increasing). For example:
Dear (TENANT),
I want to let you know your current lease will expire mm-dd-yyyy! I have thoroughly enjoyed having you as my tenant and you’ve been a great renter. I want to offer you another (one-year, six-month, etc.) lease at the rate of $/month. Please let me know if you are interested by mm-dd-yyyy – if so, I’d be happy to send you the new lease and answer any questions you might have. Thank you so much – I look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
(NAME)

3. Draft a New Lease

Even if you only want to make minor adjustments, a new lease agreement is necessary for both parties. Write and update your lease to include any changes including policies, rent terms, rent prices and any other information you want to update. It is also important to check state-by-state laws and lease inclusions that may be necessary.

4. Sign the New Lease

Remember, nothing is binding until both parties have signed the new lease! Send the new lease to your tenant and once they review and approve you both can sign and file away until next year.
The lease renewal process can be quick and efficient if done properly. There are, however, many factors and additional options for landlords to think about before and after the process.

Other Lease Renewal Factors to Consider

It’s important to recognize a lease renewal is not always a black and white process. While it’s true it can be simple, there are additional factors to consider for the future of your property.

Does My Current Tenant Make a Good Fit for the Property?

Sometimes the tenant you selected to live in your rental was more difficult to get along with than anticipated, caused issues with neighbors, damaged the property or didn’t pay rent on time. In this scenario, a lease renewal might not be the best option. Instead, you could take the lease expiration as an opportunity to find a renter who will be better suited to your property.

Will I Want to Raise Rent in the Future?

Whether you’re leasing to inherited tenants, or you’ve decided that keeping your current tenants is of high value for you and your property long-term, you could consider lowering the rent or keeping it the same. On the other hand, sometimes the market may call for an increase in your rent prices. In this case, being open and honest to your tenants about this change might still encourage them to stay. You could also consider sending a rent increase letter to be as professional and transparent as possible.

Lease Renewal vs. Month-to-Month Leasing

If you aren’t necessarily looking for a long-term tenant or your tenant is unsure about their time frame, a month-to-month lease is another option. There are pros and cons to both a lease renewal versus opting for the month-to-month option.
Some things to remember with a month-to-month lease: you can and should raise the rent since it is such a flexible and less-secure option, it’s usually only for a brief period of time and it will expire upon 30 days notice from either party. A lease renewal, however, will provide more stability as it is usually a long-term agreement for one-year or more.

What is My Property Worth?

As a landlord, it is important to stay up-to-date on the current rental value of your unit. How do newer units in your neighborhood compare to yours? Furthermore, have you made any updates to your unit that would put it at a higher value? All of these things are important to consider if you want to get the most out of your investment. The rental market can change frequently, so being informed will help determine if you need to lower or raise the rent to make a fair and good profit.

Lease Renewal FAQ

Below are some common questions you might have about lease renewals or the lease renewal process.

1. Does a landlord have to renew a lease? No, a landlord does not have to renew a lease with the same tenant if the current lease has expired. If a tenant asks to renew their lease, you can tell them you are not offering renewals at this time – sending a lease renewal rejection letter is not required, but a courteous thing to do.
2. What happens when a lease expires? When a lease expires, the tenant is required to move out based on the ramifications of the original lease. If they did not accept the lease renewal they must move out, so your future tenants can move into the property.
3. What is an automatic lease renewal? An automatic lease renewal is a lease period that renews every month, every six months or every year for the same amount of time. This arrangement can continue on until a landlord or tenant ends the lease.
4. What if your tenant wants to negotiate a lease renewal? Sometimes tenants might negotiate maintenance updates like painting or new appliances in order for them to sign another lease with you. Investing time to update your unit would be beneficial for the future, but you could negotiate back a longer lease renewal, such as two years, for those updates.

​
A lease renewal is a very important process and should not be overlooked. Going through the process properly and professionally will be beneficial for both you and your renter – and, you might end up finding the perfect tenant. Lease renewals will enable you to keep good renters who are already familiar with the lease terms, save time and money from having to fill vacancies and increase the potential for a long-term renter. On the flip side, you might have limited options to do renovations, have more difficulties raising rent and might let your rules slide a little bit after getting comfortable with the tenant.
Finding ideal tenants from the start with the use of online rental applications and tenant screening will make the lease renewal process much easier and filling vacancies easier if necessary. If you’re looking to fill a vacancy or learn more about online rental applications, TurboTenant can help you with the process.
What questions do you have about renewing leases?

I’m sick of students having their phones in the classroom and the boys recording me (I am a young female teacher, for perspective). I am so beyond frustrated with this, and I hate sending kids to the office, but this is too much so I have to do something about it. When I was in high school (only 5/6 years ago), NO ONE had their phones out. They would be confiscated, brought to the office, and your PARENTS had to pick them up. Albeit, I did go to private school where we signed the handbook every year vs. the public school I sub at.
Off topic: I also hate when the teacher I’m subbing for doesn’t give me a class roster!!!

Hello, I’m entering my Junior Year of High School in the upcoming school year and i’m looking to maximize my chances of getting into the popular music program at USC Thornton. For some background i’ve been playing guitar since I was around 12 and I’ve been learning to sing for about a year now. My gpa isn’t that great but i’m going to focus on trying to get it as high as possible, my test scores have always been high so I don’t see the SAT holding me back. I’m out of state (Massachusetts)
General answers are also very helpful but here are some specific questions I have

1. What skill set are they particularly looking for and what are the most important things to practice from now until when I apply
2. What can I do over the next two summers to boost my application
3. What types of songs do they tend to favor for auditions
4. What are they looking for on the repertoire list?
5. Does electing to do the audition in person vs online change my chances?
6. What can I do DURING the school year to boost my chances?
7. I’m considering double majoring in something just in case music does not work out for me right away (though music is a priority) what would the process be for that?
8. Would I be auditioning guitavocals together or separate (both on recording and in person)
   
9. Any other advice??
   

Thank you so much.

How much better is it to video record your sets than audio record? I get nervous having just a few seconds to set up the camera, but doing the audio I could be easily prepared. I don't have anyone I can ask to record. I did an audio recording once and I realized seeing it would be beneficial but the stress of it is making me not want to go up at all. I have some act-outs I'd like to see and there were definite moments in my audio recording where it would have been beneficial to see what the audience was reacting to that I was expressing.

Round one: city ground and chainsaw form denji.
Round two: city ground and chainsaw devil.
(Some characters had to be left out to make the fight fair-ish like superman. or i couldnt spell the name.)

Bet Record: 5-7 Individual Picks: 6-9

Sundays picks 28/05/2023

Indiana Fever Vs. Atlanta Dream @3:00 EST

Indiana Fever +7.5 ✅ FINAL: 90-87 IND
IND/ATL UNDER 160 ❌ TOTAL: 177
Indiana ML ✅ FINAL: 90-87 IND

Dallas Wings Vs. Chicago Sky @6:00 EST

Dallas Wings +2.5 ❌ FINAL: 94-88 CHI
DAL/CHI OVER 161.5 ✅ TOTAL: 182

Minnesota Lynx Vs. Las Vegas Aces @9:00 EST

Las Vegas Aces -14 ✅ FINAL: 94-73 LV
LV/MIN OVER 169.5 ❌ TOTAL: 167

Todays picks: 30/05/2023

Indiana Fever Vs. Connecticut Sun @ 7 EST

Indiana Fever +12.5 FD odds -106
IND/CON OVER 158.5 FD odds -106

Chicago Sky Vs. Atlanta Dream @ 7 EST

Chicago Sky ML FD odds +118
CHI/ATL UNDER 160.5 FD odds -110

Minnesota Lynx Vs. Dallas Wings @ 8 EST

Dallas Wings -6.5 FD odds -110
MIN/DAL UNDER 167.5 FD odds -115

New York Liberty Vs. Seattle Storm @ 9 EST

New York Liberty -15.5 FD odds -102
NY/SEA OVER 161.5 FD odds -106
Seattle Storm ML (.5u) FD odds +920
New York isn’t playing spectacularly to start the season imo. For that reason gonna sprinkle a little on the Moneyline for Seattle, call it a hedge lol.
To anyone that tails or fades, BOL! Let’s get it!

Comment below other events you've heard about!

• June 1 - Ben Folds Album Release party at Grimey's
  
• June 1 - Salsa Night at Plaza Mariachi
  
• June 1 - Tailgate Movie Night - Princess Bride
  
• June 1 - Improv at Third Coast Comedy Club
  
• June 2 - Nashville Black Market at the Farmer's Market
  
• June 2 - Disney DJ Night at Basement East
  
• June 2 - Brew at the Zoo
  
• June 2-3 - Jorts Fest at the East Room
  
• June 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 16, 17 - Musician's Corner - Free concert series at Centennial park.
  
• June 3-4 - Frist Arts Fest
  
• June 3 - SoFar Sounds secret location show
  
• June 3 - First Saturday Art Crawl
  
• June 3 - Full Moon Kayak Float at Longhunter State Park
  
• June 3 - Bath & Body
  
• June 3 - Roots on the Rivers Festival at Two Rivers Mansion
  
• June 3 - WXNA's 7th Birthday Bash Pool Party at the Dive Motel
  
• June 3 - Country Pride
  
• June 3 - Nashville in Harmony presents: Telling Our Stories
  
• June 3-4 - Nashville Comicon at the Fairgrounds
  
• June 4 - First Sunday Market at the Shops at Porter East
  
• June 4 - Columbia Pride
  
• June 5 - Pride615
  
• June 7 - Shania Twain at Geodis Park
  
• June 7 - Concert for Love & Acceptance
  
• June 8 - Tailgate Movie Night - Homeward Bound
  
• June 9 - Camp Way Late 21+ event at Adventure Science Center
  
• June 9 - Lady Gaga Drag and Dance Party
  
• June 9 - SoFar Sounds secret location show
  
• June 9 - Nashville Pride Turn About
  
• June 10 - Cornelia Fort Pickin' Party
  
• June 10 - Emo Night at Brooklyn Bowl
  
• June 11 - Nashville Pride Pageant
  
• June 13-18, 20-25 - Nashville Sounds home games
  
• June 14 - Nashville Pride Spirituality Night
  
• June 17 - Nashville SC vs St Louis City SC
  
• June 19 - Juneteenth615
  
• June 21 - SoFar Sounds secret location show
  
• June 22 - Nashville Pride Kick Off
  
• June 23-25 - Nashville Pride
  
• June 23 - Full Moon Pickin' Party
  
• June 30 - SoFar Sounds secret location show
  

Farmer's Markets:
Downtown - Open 7 days a week
East Nashville - Tuesdays 330pm-630pm
12 South - Tuesdays 4pm-7pm
Wedgewood-Houston - Wednesdays 4pm-7pm
Donelson - Fridays 4pm-7pm
Richland Park - Saturdays 9am-noon
Amqui - Sundays 10am-1pm
list is inconclusive and just stuff that has caught my eye. i am not affiliated with any of these events or any website/event planner. just stuff i've found that i figured i'd share with the sub

Bitcoin

• WineglassConnisseur

These people are so close..
Comments Link

• TheLuckyLeandro

#Bitcoin is freedom 🇺🇸
Comments Link

• CarlBMenger_

Buying Bitcoin instead of having a Netflix subscription the last 8 years (DCA $10/month): Invested: $980; Current Value: $18,304; Performance: 1,767%
Comments Link

ethereum

• SebastianPatel

For those of you here who lend out their ETH for interest, how has the experience been so far?
Comments Link

• growthlinkr

How Reddit is dominating the NFT game
Comments Link

• EtherWorld_co

SELFDESTRUCT: History, EIPs, Future in smart contracts
Comments Link

CryptoCurrency

• OneThatNoseOne

The Biden Administration has omitted the 30% crypto miner tax from the debt ceiling bill despite big anti-crypto talks around taxes. It looks even more certain crypto was never a real debt ceiling issue and they just made crypto into a scapegoat and something to be vilified
Comments Link

• dcdplex

Bankman-Fried charges should not be tossed, prosecutors say
Comments Link

• middlemangv

One of the advantages of blockchain is that we can roughly calculate how much money went into scams involving cryptocurrencies, because everything is on the public blockchain. Can the same be said for taxe evasion, bribery, corruption, drug trafficking, and other stuff that don't involve crypto?
Comments Link

btc

• devperateee

Roger Ver interview to Show me the Crypto!
Comments Link

• Knorssman

How to live on Cryptocurrency with Joel Valenzuela
Comments Link

• coach-of-finance

Cashfushion keeps failing on my ElectronCash
Comments Link

SatoshiStreetBets

• DogMundane

There’s a rumor that $SSB may be doing a monster BURN event soon to reduce the supply...
Comments Link

• coinremitter

Do you think low processing fees is more beneficial for merchants?
Comments Link

• ILikeThisCoin

Elon's thinking where can he get that sexy hat
Comments Link

CryptoMarkets

• irishnftgal

Is this going to be the end of financial advisors?
Comments Link

• Coosem

Pocket Network has never been closer to the launch of the v1. POKT V1 guarantees a reliable, performant, and cost effective RPC access to the open internet.
Comments Link

• maxman72go

From Banned to BOOM: Hong Kong on Verge of Opening the Gates for Crypto's RETURN to CHINA...
Comments Link

CryptoCurrencies

• xavier_mamba

Deal to avoid US debt default nixes proposed 30% crypto mining tax, says Ohio lawmaker
Comments Link

• rudy_batts

Crypto firms jockey for Hong Kong licenses ahead of June 1 retail opening
Comments Link

• reggie_morris

Laos government reportedly prioritizes blockchain technology for digital transformation
Comments Link

CoinBase

• Intermediate_beefs

Account lock? Main page greyed out.
Comments Link

• Select-Captain2636

Closed Account Woes
Comments Link

• MidNiteMobber

Sold crypto last minute to fund mortgage down payment
Comments Link

binance

• AutoModerator

Binance Support Thread
Comments Link

FantomFoundation

• PilarMetzler

Fantom Network Holds Strong With 36.7% TVL Despite Multichain Arrest Rumors
Comments Link

solana

• yashhsm

Solana Payments Ecosystem Map 2023
Comments Link

• azcoinnews

Solana Sets Sights on Becoming the "Apple of Crypto"
Comments Link

• DesignBlock

DEVELOPERS: Solana has a total of 1,234 Developers actively working in the ecosystem.
Comments Link

cosmosnetwork

• Odlavso

1 $NTRN = $0.191 USD
Comments Link

• ConfidentMirror8701

Juno in freefall
Comments Link

• YoghurtNovel9280

Weekly Report: Top 10 cryptocurrencies ranked by GitHub commits
Comments Link

algorand

• Joeyfishfingers

ALGO Xrp and Lbry- why the upcoming clarity for secondary sales is so important for Algorand
Comments Link

• cysec_

Folks Finance: Supplementary injection of 105,000 ALGO has been implemented to enhance the USDC rewards APY
Comments Link

• averagezen

Reflections on xGov expectation vs reality
Comments Link

cardano

• ByteCosmic

A new TVL record by Cardano
Comments Link

• SL13PNIR

Charles Hoskinson - AMA 27th May 2023
Comments Link

• Savings_Accomplished

Wtf? Is this right? Is actually meant to take up this much space?
Comments Link

Monero

• monerobull

Monero mentioned by fireship again (last 7 seconds)
Comments Link

• google_yowshee

Damn monero is cool
Comments Link

• vapor-ware

P2Pool version 3.3 and Monero Wallet
Comments Link

NFT

• charles_david1600

The Dos and Don’ts of NFT Marketing
Comments Link

• GoMiBo

GoMiBo_Art_NFT auction 30 minutes remain
Comments Link

• TechnologyDazzling55

Untitled this is an artwork that I created
Comments Link

Unforgiven 2005 (Raw)
Date: September 18th
Location: Ford Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Attendance: 8,000
Commentators: JR & Jerry Lawler
Card:
Triple threat for Intercontinental Championship
Kane vs Shelton Benjamin vs Carlito (c)
World Tag Team Championships
Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch vs Hurricane & Rosey (c)
Snitsky vs Big Show
Steel Cage Match
Matt Hardy vs Edge (Same story; different result)
Chris Masters vs Shawn Michaels
Women's Championship
Christy Hemme vs Lita (c)
Ric Flair vs Triple H (HHH turns on his former mentor the night after Summerslam. He says he's sick and tired of being held back by a feeble old man. Flair wants to teach his former protege some respect)
WWE Championship
Kurt Angle vs John Cena (c) (Angle wants to crush Cena's dream of being the top guy; Cena wants to beat Angle like on his debut)
No Mercy 2005 (Smackdown)
Date: October 9th
Location: Toyota Centre, Houston, Texas
Attendance: 7,000
Commentators: Michael Cole & Tazz
Card:
Cruiserweight Championship
Super Crazy W/Psichosis vs Jamie Noble (c)
Bobby Lashley vs Simon Dean
WWE Tag Team Championships
FBI vs MNM (c)
Fatal 4 Way for United States Championship
Christian vs Rey Mysterio (c) vs Booker T vs Chris Benoit (this is Christians last match before leaving for TNA)
Mr Kennedy vs Hardcore Holly
William Regal vs JBL
Handicap Casket match
Randy Orton & Cowboy Bob Orton vs Undertaker (Taker wants to make both Orton's pay for SummerSlam and challenges them to this match so he can be rid of them for good. The Ortons accept since they'll have the man advantage. Taker disappears for a month after this)
World Heavyweight Championship
Batista (c) vs Eddie Guerrero (Batista and Eddie form an unlikely friendship. Batista campaigns hard to for Eddie to be put in a #1 contender match against JBL which he wins. Batista makes Eddie promise to wrestle clean which he does. This is Eddie's last match)
Note:

• Eddie doesn't die in this timeline. He stays completely clean and sober after his 2002 return like IRL and decides to retire early due to the toll that wrestling was taking on both his physical and mental health

Taboo Tuesday 2005 (Raw)
Date: November 1st
Location: Ipayone centre, San Diego, California
Attendance: 6,000
Commentators: Joey Styles & Jerry Lawler (JR goes on sick leave in October)
Card:
Intercontinental Championship
Kane (c) vs Carlito
Edge vs Big Show
Women's Championship
Lita (c) vs Candice Michelle
Steel Cage Match
Ric Flair vs Triple H (Flair says HHH never respected him and held him back in Evolution. HHH thinks Flair is responsible for his slide down the card and wants to put the old man out of his misery)
World Tag Team Championships
Hurricane & Rosey vs Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch (c)
Triple Threat for WWE Championship
Kurt Angle vs John Cena (c) vs Shawn Michaels (Angle and Michaels tie a fan vote to get this opportunity. Angle wants to kick both guys arses; Cena wants to beat Angle again and HBK wants to finally beat Angle and be champ again)
Survivor Series 2005 (dual-brand)
Date: November 27th
Location: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Attendance: 15,000
Commentators: Joey Styles & Jerry Lawler (Raw); Michael Cole & Tazz (Smackdown)
Card:
Cruiserweight Championship
Super Crazy (c) W/Psicosis (Smackdown) vs Tajiri (Raw)
Rosey vs Gregory Helms
Loser leaves Raw Last Man Standing Match
Matt Hardy vs Edge W/Lita
Bobby Lashley vs JBL
Women's Championship
Lita (c) (Raw) vs Melina (Smackdown)
MnM (Smackdown, WWE tag champs) vs Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch (Raw; World Tag Team Champions)
Traditional Survivor Series Elimination match
Team Smackdown (Batista, Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit, Booker T & Randy Orton) W/Teddy Long & Bob Orton vs Team Raw (John Cena, Kane, Shawn Michaels, Kurt Angle & Triple H) W/Eric Bischoff (Angle gets disqualified for attacking Cena; Michaels pins Benoit, Cena pins Mysterio, Trips pins Booker; Orton pins trips; Batista pins Michaels; Batista pins Kane; Batista is ruled unfit to continue after getting injured during this match; Cena is counted out. After the match, whilst Orton is celebrating the lights go out and we hear a familiar gong. When they come back on, Taker is standing in the ring behind Orton and chokeslams him) (Raw and Smackdown have been involved in brand warfare over which one is better; leading to the conept for this whole PPV)
Sole Survivor: Randy Orton
Notes:

• Batista has to vacate the WHC after his injury at Survivor Series and a tournament is declared to crown a new champion
• Angle is sent back to Raw by Bischoff after Survivor Series

Armageddon 2005 (Smackdown)
Date: December 18th
Location: Dunkin Donuts Center, Providence, Rhode Island
Attendance: 8,000
Commentators: Michael Cole & Tazz
Last 16
Rey Mysterio vs Psiicosis
Mr Kennedy vs William Regal
Orlando Jordan vs JBL
Bobby Lashley vs Hardcore Holly
Kurt Angle vs Finlay
Matt Hardy vs Booker T
Chavo Guerrero vs Chris Benoit
Johnny Nitro vs Joey Mercury
Cruiserweight Championship
Super Crazy (c) vs Kid Kash
Quarter-finals
Rey Mysterio vs Mr Kennedy
JBL vs Bobby Lashley
Booker T vs Kurt Angle
Joey Mercury vs Chris Benoit
Semi-finals
JBL vs Rey Mysterio
Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit
Final
Rey Mysterio vs Kurt Angle
Hell In A Cell
Undertaker vs Randy Orton W/ Bob Orton (The final battle in this rivalry. Both men want to be rid of each other for good. Orton wants to kill the legend of the deadman; Taker wants to make both Ortons rest in peace)

(owing to the reddit character limit, I'm posting this in two parts, but it's one contiguous story)
There are instincts that you develop when you’re a parent. If you don’t have any children it might be a little hard to understand. If you have a toddler, for example, and they’re in the other room and silent for more than a few seconds, there’s a good chance they’re up to no good. I take that back, most of the time they’re doing nothing, but you still have to check. You feel a compulsion to check. I don’t think it’s a learned skill, I think it’s an actual instinct.
Paleolithic parents who didn’t check on their toddlers every few minutes, just to double check that they weren’t being stalked by smilodons were unlikely to have grandchildren and pass on their genes. You just feel you need to check, like getting goosebumps, a compulsion. I suppose it’s the same reason little kids are always demanding you look at them and what they’re doing.
I think that instinct starts to atrophy as your kids grow. They start learning to do things for themselves, and before you know it, they’re after their own privacy, not your attention. I don’t think it ever goes away though. I expect, decades from now, my own grown kids will visit and bring my grandkids with them. And the second I hear a baby crying in the earliest morning hours, I’ll be alert and ready for anything, sure as any old soldier who hears his name whispered in the dark of night.
I felt that alarm just the other day. First time in years. My boy came home from riding bikes with a couple of his friends. I’m pretty sure they worked out a scam where they asked each of their parents for a different new console for Christmas, and now they spend their weekends traveling between the three houses so they can play on all of them.
We all live in a nice neighborhood. A newer development than the one I grew up in, same town though. It’s the kind of place where kids are always playing in the streets, and the cars all routinely do under 20. My wife and I make sure the kids have helmets and pads, and we’re fine with the boy going out biking with his friends, as long as they stay in the neighborhood.
You know, a lot of people in my generation take some weird sort of pride in how irresponsible we used to be when we were young. I never wore a helmet. Rode to places, without telling any adults, that we never should have ridden to. Me and my friends would make impromptu jumps off of makeshift ramps and try to do stupid tricks, based loosely on stunts we’d seen on TV. Other people my age seem to wax nostalgic for that stuff and pretend it makes them somehow better people. I don’t get it. Sometimes I look back and shudder. We were lucky we escaped with only occasional bruises and road burns. It could have gone so much worse.
My son and his buddies came bustling in the front door at about 2 PM on a Saturday. They did the usual thing of raiding the kitchen for juice and his mother’s brownies, and I took that as my cue to abandon the television in the living room for my office. I was hardly noticing the chaos, by this point, it was becoming a regular weekend occurrence. But as I was just leaving, I caught something in the chatter. My boy said something about, “... that guy who was following us.”
He hadn’t said it any louder or more clearly than anything else they’d been talking about, all that stuff I’d been filtering out. Yet some deeper core process in my brain stem heard it, interpreted it, then hit the red alert button. My blood ran cold and every hair on my skin stood at attention.
I turned around and asked “Somebody followed you? What are you talking about?” I wasn’t consciously aware of how strict and stern my voice came out, yet when the jovial smiles dropped off of their faces it was apparent that it had been so.
“Huh?” my son said, his voice high-pitched and talking fast, like when he thinks he’s in trouble and needs to explain. “We thought we saw somebody following us. There wasn’t though. We didn’t really see anybody and we’d just spooked ourselves.”
“What did he look like?” I asked.
“Nothing? We really didn’t see anybody! Honest! I just saw something out of the corner of my eye! But there wasn’t really nobody there!”
“Yeah!,” said one of his buds. “Peripheral! Peripheral vision! I thought maybe I saw something too, but when I looked I didn’t see anything. I don’t have my glasses with me, but when I really looked I got a good look and there was nothing.”
The three boys had that semi-smiling but still concerned look that this was only a bizarre misunderstanding, but they were still being very sincere. “Were they in a car?”
“No, Dad, you don’t get it,” my boy continued, “They were small. We thought it was a kid.”
“Yeah,” said the third boy. “We thought maybe it was Tony Taylor’s stupid kid sister shadowing us. Getting close to throwing water balloons. Just cause she did that before.”
“If you didn’t get a good look how did you know it was a kid?”
“Because it was small!” my kid explained, though that wasn’t helping much. “What I mean is, at first I thought it was behind a little bush. It was way too small a bush to hide a grown-up. That’s why we thought it was probably Tony’s sister.”
“But you didn’t actually see Tony’s sister?” I asked.
“Nah,” said one of his buds. “And now that I think about it, that bush was probably too small for his sister too. It would have been silly. Like when a cartoon character hides behind a tiny object.”
“That’s why we think it was just in our heads,” explained the other boy, “That and the pole.”
“Yeah,” my son said. “The park on 14th and Taylor?” That was just a little community park, a single city block. Had a playground, lawn, a few trees, and some benches. “Anyway, we were riding past that, took a right on Taylor. And we were talking about how weird it would be if somebody really were following us. That’s when Brian thought he saw something. Behind a telephone pole.”
“I didn’t get a good look at it either,” the friend, Brian, “explained. Just thought I did. Know how you get up late at night to use the bathroom or whatever and you look down the hallway and you see a jacket or an office chair or something and because your eyes haven’t adjusted you think you see a ghost or burglar or something? Anyway, I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye, but when I turned there wasn’t anything there.”
“Yeah, it was just like sometimes that happens, except this time it happened twice on the same bike ride, is all,” the other friend explained.
“And you’re sure there was nothing there?”
“Sure we’re sure,” my boy said. “We know because that time we checked. We each rode our bikes around the pole and there was nothing. Honest!”
“Hmmm,” I said. The whole thing seemed reasonable and nothing to be concerned about, you’d think.. The boys seemed to relax at my supposed acceptance. “Alright, sounds good. Hey, just let me know before you leave the house again, alright?” They all rushed to seem agreeable as I left the room, then quickly resumed their snacking and preceded to play their games.
I kept my ear out, just in case. My boy, at least this time, dutifully told me his friends were about to leave. He wasn’t very happy with me when I said they wouldn’t be riding home on their bikes, I was going to drive them home. The other boys didn’t complain, but I suppose it wasn’t their place, so my boy did the advocating for them, which I promptly ignored. I hate doing that, ignoring my kid’s talkback. My dad was the same way. It didn’t help that I struggled to get both of their bikes in the trunk, and it was a pain to get them back out again. My boy sulked in the front seat on the short ride back home. Arms folded on chest, eyes staring straight ahead, that lip thing they do. He seemed embarrassed for having what he thought was an over-protective parent. I suppose he was angry at me as well for acting, as far as he knew, irrationally. Maybe he thought he was being punished for some infraction he didn’t understand.
Well, it only got worse when we got home. I told him he wasn’t allowed to go out alone on his bike anymore. I’d only had to do that once before, when he was grounded, and back then he’d known exactly what he’d done wrong and he had it coming. Now? Well, he was confused, furious, maybe betrayed, probably a little brokenhearted? I can’t blame him. He tramped upstairs to his room to await the return of his mother, who was certain to give a sympathetic ear. I can’t imagine how upset he’ll be if he checks the garage tomorrow and finds I’ve removed his tires, just in case.
I wish I could explain it to him. I don’t even know how.
Where should I even begin? The town?
When I was about my son’s age I had just seen that movie, The Goonies. It had just come out in theaters. I really liked that movie, felt a strong connection. A lot of people do, can’t blame them, sort of a timeless classic. Except I wasn’t really into pirate’s treasure or the Fratellis, what really made me connect was a simple single shot, still in the first act. It’s right after they cross the threshold, and leave the house on their adventure. It was a shot of the boys, from above, maybe a crane shot or a helicopter shot, as they’re riding their bikes down a narrow forested lane, great big evergreen trees densely growing on the side of the road, they’re all wearing raincoats and the road is still wet from recent rain.
That was my childhood. I’ve spent my whole life in the Pacific Northwest. People talk to outsiders about the rain, and they might picture a lot of rainfall, but it’s not the volume, it’s the duration. We don’t get so much rain, it just drizzles slowly, on and on, for maybe eight or nine months out of the year. It doesn’t matter where I am, inside a house, traveling far abroad, anywhere I am I can close my eyes and still smell the air on a chilly afternoon, playing outdoors with my friends.
It’s not petrichor, that sudden intense smell you get when it first starts to rain after a long dry spell. No, this was almost the opposite, a clean smell, almost the opposite of a scent, since the rain seemed to scrub the air clean. The strongest scent and I mean that in the loosest sense possible, must have been the evergreen needles. Not pine needles, those were too strong, and there weren’t that many pines anyway. Douglas fir and red cedar predominated, again the root ‘domination’ seems hyperbole. Yet those scents were there, ephemeral as it is. Also, there was a sort of pleasant dirtiness to the smell, at least when you rode bikes. It wasn’t dirt, or mud, or dust. Dust couldn’t have existed except perhaps for a few fleeting weeks in August. I think, looking back, it was the mud puddles. All the potholes in all the asphalt suburban roads would fill up after rain with water the color of chocolate milk. We’d swerve our BMX bikes, or the knock-off brands, all the way across the street just to splash through those puddles and test our “suspensions.,” meaning our ankles and knees. The smell was always stronger after that. It had an earthiness to it. Perhaps it was petrichor’s lesser-known watery cousin.
There were other sensations too, permanently seared into my brain like grill marks. A constant chilliness that was easy to ignore, until you started working up a good heart rate on your bike, then you noticed your lungs were so cold it felt like burning. The sound of your tires on the wet pavement, particularly when careening downhill at high speed. For some reason, people in the mid-80s used to like to decorate their front porches with cheap, polyester windsocks. They were often vividly colored, usually rainbow, like prototype pride flags. When an occasional wind stirred up enough to gust, the windsocks would flap, and owning to the water-soaked polyester, make a wet slapping sound. It was loud, it was distinct, but you learned to ignore it as part of the background, along with the cawing of crows and distant passing cars.
That was my perception of Farmingham as a kid. The town itself? Just a typical Pacific Northwest town. That might not mean much for younger people or modern visitors, but there was a time when such towns were all the same. They were logging towns. It was the greatest resource of the area from the late 19th century, right up until about the 80s, when the whole thing collapsed. Portland, Seattle, they had a few things going on beyond just the timber industry, but all the hundreds of little towns and small cities revolved around logging, and my town was no exception.
I remember going to the museum. It had free admission, and it was a popular field trip destination for the local school system. It used to be the City Hall, a weird Queen Anne-style construction. Imagine a big Victorian house, but blown up to absurd proportions, and with all sorts of superfluous decorations. Made out of local timber, of course. They had a hall for art, I can’t even remember why, now. Maybe they were local artists. I only remember paintings of sailboats and topless women, which was a rare sight for a kid at the time. There was a hall filled with 19th-century household artifacts. Chamber pots and weird children's toys.
Then there was the logging section, which was the bulk of the museum. It’s strange how different things seemed to be in the early days of the logging industry, despite being only about a hundred years old, from my perspective in the 1980s. If you look back a hundred years from today, in the 1920s, you had automobiles, airplanes, electrical appliances, jazz music, radio programs, flappers, it doesn’t feel that far removed, does it? No TV, no internet, but it wouldn’t be that strange. 1880s? Different world.
Imagine red cedars, so big you could have a full logging crew, arms stretched out, just barely manage to encircle one for a photographer. Felling a single tree was the work of days. Men could rest and eat their lunches in the shelter of a cut made into a trunk, and not worry for safety or room. They had to cut their own little platforms into the trees many feet off the ground, just so the trunk was a little bit thinner, and thus hours of labor saved. They used those long, flexible two-man saws. And double-bit axes. They worked in the gloom of the shade with old gas lanterns. Once cut down from massive logs thirty feet in diameter, they’d float the logs downhill in sluices, like primitive wooden make-shift water slides. Or they’d haul them down to the nearest river, the logs pulled by donkeys on corduroy roads. They’d lay large amounts of grease on the roads, so the logs would slide easily. You could still smell the grease on the old tools on display in the museum. The bigger towns had streets where the loggers would slide the logs down greased skids all the way down to the sea, where they’d float in big logjams until the mills were ready for processing. They’d call such roads “skid-rows.” Because of all the activity, they’d end up being the worst parts of town. Local citizens wouldn’t want to live there, due to all the stink and noise. They’d be on the other side of the brothels and the opium dens. It would be the sort of place where the destitute and the insane would find themselves when they’d finally lost anything. To this day, “skidrow” remains a euphemism for the part of a city where the homeless encamp.
That was the lore I’d learned as a child. That was my “ancestry” I was supposed to respect and admire, which I did, wholeheartedly. There were things they left out, though. Things that you might have suspected, from a naive perspective, would be perfect for kids, all the folklore that came with the logging industry. The ghost stories, and the tall tales. I would have eaten that up. They do talk about that kind of thing in places far removed from the Pacific Northwest. But I had never heard about any of it. Things like the Hidebehind. No, that I’d have to discover for myself.
There were four of us on those bike adventures. Myself. Ralph, my best friend. A tough guy, the bad boy, the most worldly of us, which is a strange thing to say about an eight-year-old kid. India, an archetypal ‘80s tomboy. She was the coolest person I knew at the time. Looking back, I wonder what her home life was like. I think I remember problematic warning signs that I couldn’t have recognized when I was so young, but now raise flags. Then there was Ben. A goofy kid, a wild mop of hair, coke bottle glasses, type 1 diabetic which seemed to make him both a bit pampered by his mother, who was in charge of all his insulin, diet, and schedule, and conversely a real risk taker when she wasn’t around.
When we first saw it…
No, wait. This was the problem with starting the story. Where does it all begin? I’ll need to talk about my Grandfather as well. I’ve had two different perspectives on my Grandfather, on the man that he was. The first was the healthy able-bodied grandparent I’d known as a young child. Then there was the man, as I learned about him after he had passed.
There was a middle period, from when I was 6 to when I was 16, when I hardly understood him at all, as he was hit with a double whammy of both Parkinson’s and Alzheimer's. His decline into an invalid was both steep and long drawn out. That part didn’t reflect who he was as a person.
What did I know of him when I was little? Well I knew he and my grandmother had a nice big house and some farmland, out in the broad flat valley north of Farmingham. Dairy country. It had been settled by Dutch immigrants back in the homesteading days. His family had been among the first pioneers in the county too. It didn’t register to me then that his surname was Norwegian, not Dutch. I knew he had served in the Navy in World War II, which I was immensely proud of for reasons I didn’t know why. I knew he had a job as a butcher in a nearby rural supermarket. He was a bit of a farmer too, more as a hobby and a side gig. He had a few cattle, but mostly grew and harvested hay to sell to the local dairies. I knew he had turned his garage into a machine shop, and could fix damn near anything. From the flat tires on my bicycle to the old flat-bed truck he’d haul hay with, to an old 1950s riding lawnmower he somehow managed to keep in working order. I knew he could draw a really cool cartoon cowboy, I knew he loved to watch football, and I knew the whiskers on his chin were very pokey, and they’d tickle you when he kissed you on the cheek, and that when you tried to rub the sensation away he’d laugh and laugh and laugh.
Then there were the parts of his life that I’d learn much later. Mostly from odd passing comments from relatives, or things I’d find in the public records. Like how he’d been a better grandfather than a father. Or how his life as I knew it had been a second, better life. He’d been born among the Norwegian settler community, way up in the deep, dark, forest-shrouded hills that rimmed the valley. He’d been a logger in his youth. Technologically he was only a generation or two from the ones I’d learned about in the museum. They’d replaced donkeys with diesel engines and corduroy roads with narrow gauge rail. It was still the same job, though. Dirty, dangerous, dark. Way back into those woods, living in little logging camps, civilization was always a several-day hike out. It became a vulgar sort of profession, filled with violent men, reprobates, and thieves. When my grandfather’s father was murdered on his front porch by a lunatic claiming he’d been wronged somehow, my grandfather hiked out of there, got into town, and joined the Navy. He vowed never to go back. The things he’d seen out in those woods were no good. He’d kept that existence away from me. Anyways…
Tommy Barker was the first of us to go missing. I say ‘us’ as if I knew him personally. I didn’t. He went to Farmingham Middle School, other side of town, and several grades above us. From our perspective, he may as well have been an adult living overseas.
Yet it felt like we got to know him. His face was everywhere, on TV, all over telephone poles. Everybody was talking about him. After he didn’t return from a friend’s house, everybody just sort of assumed, or maybe hoped, that he’d just gotten lost, or was trapped somewhere. They searched all the parks. Backyards, junkyards, refrigerators, trunks. Old-fashioned refrigerators, back before suction seals, had a simple handle with a latch that opened when you pulled on it. It wasn’t a problem when the fridges were in use and filled with food. But by the 80s old broke-down refrigerators started filling up backyards and junkyards, and they became deathtraps for kids playing hide-and-seek. The only opened from the outside. I remember thinking Tommy Barker was a little old to have likely been playing hide-and-seek, but people checked everywhere anyway. They never found him.
That was about the first time we saw the Hidebehind. Ben said he thought he saw somebody following us, looked like, maybe, a kid. We’d just slowly huffed our way up a moderately steep hill, Farmingham is full of them, and when we paused for a breather at the top, Ben said he saw it down the hill, closer to the base. Yet when we turned to look there was nothing there. Ben said he’d just seen it duck behind a car. That wasn’t the sort of behavior of a random kid minding his own business. Yet the slope afforded us a view under the car’s carriage, and except for the four tires, there were no signs of any feet hiding behind the body. At first, we thought he was pulling our leg. When he insisted he wasn’t, we started to tease him a little. He must have been seeing things, on account of his poor vision and thick glasses. The fact that those glasses afforded him vision as good as or better than any of us wasn’t something we considered.
The next person to disappear was Amy Brooks. Fifth-grader. Next elementary school over. I remember it feeling like when you’re traveling down the freeway, and there’s a big thunderstorm way down the road, but it keeps getting closer, and closer. I don’t remember what she looked like. Her face wasn’t plastered everywhere like Tommy’s had been. She was mentioned on the regional news, out of Seattle, her and Tommy together. Two missing kids from the same town in a short amount of time. The implication was as obvious as it was depraved. They didn’t think the kids were getting lost anymore. They didn’t do very much searching of backyards. The narratives changed too. Teachers started talking a lot about stranger danger. Local TV channels started recycling old After School Specials and public service announcements about the subject.
I’m not sure who saw it next. I think it was Ben again. We took him seriously this time though. I think. The one I’m sure I remember was soon after, and that time it was India who first saw it. It’s still crystal clear in my memory, almost forty years later, because that was the time I first saw it too. We were riding through a four-way stop, an Idaho Stop before they called it that, when India slammed to a stop, locking up her coaster brakes and leaving a long black streak of rubber on a dry patch of pavement. We stopped quickly after and asked what the problem was. We could tell by her face she’d seen it. She was still looking at it.
“I see it,” she whispered, unnecessarily. We all followed her gaze. We were looking, I don’t know, ten seconds? Twenty? We believed everything she said, we just couldn’t see it.
“Where?” Ralph asked.
“Four blocks down,” she whispered. “On the left. See the red car? Kinda rusty?” There was indeed a big old Lincoln Continental, looking pretty ratty and worn. I focused on that, still seeing nothing. “Past that, just to its right. See the street light pole? It’s just behind that.”
We also saw the pole she was talking about. Metal. Aluminum, I’d have guessed. It had different color patches, like metallic flakeboard. Like it’d had been melted together out of scrap.
I could see that clearly even from that distance. I saw nothing behind it. I could see plenty of other things in the background, cars, houses, bushes, front lawns, beauty bark landscape.. There was no indication of anything behind that pole.
And then it moved. It had been right there where she said it had been, yet it had somehow perfectly blended into the landscape, a trick of perspective. We didn’t see it at all until it moved, and almost as fast it had disappeared behind that light pole. We only got a hint. Brown in color, about our height in size.
We screamed. Short little startled screams, the involuntary sort that just burst out of you. Then we turned and started to pedal like mad, thoroughly spooked. We made it to the intersection of the next block when it was Ralph who screeched to a halt and shouted, “Wait!”
We slowed down and stopped, perhaps not as eagerly as we’d done when India yelled. Ralph was looking back over his shoulder, looking at that metal pole. “Did anybody see it move again?’ he asked. We all shook our heads in the negative. Ralph didn’t notice, but of course, he didn’t really need an answer, of course we hadn’t been watching.
“If it didn’t move, then it’s still there!” Ralph explained the obvious. It took a second to sink in, despite the obvious. “C’mon!” he shouted, and to our surprise, before we could react, he turned and took off, straight down the road, straight to where that thing had been lurking.
We were incredulous, but something about his order made us all follow hot on his heels. He was a sort of natural leader. I thought it was total foolishness, but I wasn’t going to let him go alone. I think I got out, “Are you crazy?!”
The wind was blowing hard past our faces as we raced as fast as we could, it made it hard to hear. Ralph shouted his response. “If it’s hiding that means its afraid!” That seemed reasonable, if not totally accurate. Lions hide from their prey before they attack. Then again, they don’t wait around when the whole herd charges. Really, the pole was coming up so fast there wasn’t a whole lot of time to argue. “Just blast past and look!” Ralph added. “We’re too fast! It won’t catch us.”
Sure, I thought to myself. Except maybe Ben, who always lagged behind the rest of us in a race. The lion would get Ben if any of us.
We rushed past that pole and all turned our heads to look. “See!” Ralph shouted in triumph. There was simply nothing there. A metal streetlight pole and nothing more. We stopped pedaling yet still sped on. “Hang on,” Ralph said, and at the next intersection he took a fast looping curve that threatened to crash us all, but we managed and curved behind him. We all came to the pole again where we stopped to see up close that there was nothing there, despite what we had seen moments before.
“Maybe it bilocated,” Ben offered. We groaned. We were all thinking it, but I think we were dismissive because it wasn’t as cool a word as ‘teleport.”
“Maybe it just moved when we weren’t looking,” I offered. That hadn’t been long, but that didn’t mean anything if it moved fast. The four of us slowly looked up from the base of the pole to our immediate surroundings. There were bushes. A car in a carport covered by a tarpaulin. The carport itself. Garbage cans. Stumps. Of course the ever-present trees. Whatever it was it could have been hiding behind anything. Maybe it was. We looked. Maybe it would make itself seen. None of us wanted that. “OK, let’s get going,” Ralph said, and we did so.
I got home feeling pretty shaken that afternoon. I felt safe at home. Except for the front room, which had a big bay window looking out onto the street, and the people who lived across it. There were plenty of garbage cans and telephone poles and stumps that a small, fast thing might hide behind. No, I felt more comfortable in my bedroom. There was a window, but a great thick conical cypress tree grew right in front of it, reaching way up over the roof of the house. If anything, it offered ME a place to hide, and peer out onto the street to either side of the tree. It was protective, as good as any heavy blanket.

Tuesday, May 23 - Monday, May 29

Highlights

score	comments	title & link
2,125	170 comments	(Highlight) Ed Reed 103-yard pick six vs. Cleveland (2004)
1,961	208 comments	[Highlight] Today marks 105 days until the 2023 NFL Season Starts! Let’s remember this 105 yard kickoff return for a TD by Keisean Nixon against the Vikings last season. Packers win, 41-17.
1,809	143 comments	[Highlight] Kyle Juszczyk drags toes along the sideline for a big gain
1,666	117 comments	(Highlight) Donald Penn gets into it with Jared Allen, gives up sack to him on the next play.
1,276	91 comments	[Highlight] Today marks 103 days until the 2023 NFL Season Starts! Let’s remember when Cordarrelle Patterson broke the record for most NFL kickoff return TDs in a career on this 103 yard kickoff return for a TD against the Bears last year. Falcons win, 27-24
1,245	72 comments	[Highlight] Vikings FB C.J. Ham makes a diving catch on 3rd down, which turns into the longest play of his career
911	26 comments	[Highlight] Today marks 102 days until the 2023 NFL Season Starts! Let’s remember this 102 yard kickoff return for a TD by Jamal Agnew against the Broncos in 2021. Broncos would win though, 23-13.
898	43 comments	[Highlight] Today marks 101 days until the 2023 NFL Season Starts! Let’s remember when a 33 year old Andre Roberts ran back a 101 yard kickoff return for a TD against the Broncos back in 2021. Chargers win, 34-13
748	70 comments	[Highlight] Today marks 104 days until the 2023 NFL Season Starts! Let’s remember when Cordarrelle Patterson tied the record for most NFL kickoff returns for a TD in a career on this 104 yard kickoff return for a TD against the Vikings back in 2020. Vikings would win, 19-13.
709	80 comments	[Highlight] Treylon Burks makes a game-ending deep catch over Jaire Alexander before taunting his height
685	397 comments	[Highlight] Dallas penalized for pass interference; refs pick up flag (2014 playoffs)
649	60 comments	[Highlight] Today marks 106 days until the 2023 NFL Season Starts! Let’s remember this 106 yard kickoff return for a TD by Alvin Kamara against the Buccaneers back in 2017. Buccaneers win, 31-24.
510	44 comments	[Highlight] Today marks 107 Days until the 2023 NFL Season Starts! Let’s remember Josh Huff’s 107 yard kickoff return for a TD against the Titans back in 2014. This was his first career NFL TD and the longest in Eagles franchise history. Eagles win, 43-24

 

Other Videos

score	comments	title & link
956	219 comments	[OC] How Matt Patricia burned the Patriots Offense to the ground. | Film breakdown of how Patricia struggled to design plays that worked
647	51 comments	[OC] The Tampa-2 is a lie.

 

OC

score	comments	title & link
647	113 comments	[OC] A Comprehensive Guide to Pro Football Video Game Covers

 

Top comments

score	comment
5,014	jimmyhoffasbrother said It helps to have endorsements from every brand on the planet too.
4,963	JoeyRobot said Can you imagine if he and AB had just kept their shit together for a couple more seasons.
4,381	Rapey_Keebler_Elves said Might as well eliminate the kickoff at this point. The NFL won't though, because it's an opportunity for extra commercial breaks.
3,650	ThatInception said This is as blatant as you can be without actually saying the words “We’re tanking”
3,485	emmasdad01 said Eased? Unceremoniously tossed in the trash.
3,439	Jd20001 said Calling him a free agent and not a former player is very generous
3,347	OrangeForeign said Known successful team the Detroit Lions
3,326	kellybobellyhtown said While having to stay home during Covid, my little nephew decided to write 30-40 NFL players to see if anyone would write him back. One did. Jimmy Garoppolo. He sent some signed stuff, wrote a letter, ...
3,290	Chaz_Maracaz said College fans, does this mean you can fair catch on a kick off, at the 2 yard line, and it comes out to the 25?
3,171	Misdirected_Colors said Idk why a player would ever have a non certified agent. It's such a sleazy business and the league is like "here's a list of guys we know won't fuck you over" and players are like "nah I'd rather use...

 

Awarded Posts

score/comments	awards	title & link
429 - 80 comments	1 All-Seeing Upvote, 1 Gold	[OC] 14 quarterbacks have had 20% of their total yards come from running the ball in a single season. This Bears QB holds the record with 47%. Here's a graph of all 14 QBs and the 22 seasons where they were at 20%+
793 - 1,217 comments	1 Gold	What is your most "my team is cursed" moment that you remember?
5,001 - 730 comments	1 To The Stars	[Steel Here podcast] Former Steelers RB Le'Veon Bell finally admits he made a mistake: "It was like a little petty, the guarantee stuff. I’m thinking could I have just ate it, yeah, I probably could’ve, yeah, I probably could’ve really ate it."
1,072 - 813 comments	1 Gold	[Offseason Post] Who would you say is the “Tim Duncan” of the NFL?

 

Awarded Comments

awards	score	comment
1 Gold, 1 Take My Energy	1	NFL_Warning said The amount of incels in here is too damn high.
1 NFL SB Ring	1,624	Frigglefragglewaggit said The correct answer here is probably Ed Reed.
1 Take My Energy	42	pyreal_ said It was reported that he came back, people just don't care about that. It's the same reason retractions and corrections mean fuck all. People read the first one and run with it. We're all getting...
1 Silver	2,113	pyreal_ said Thankfully, this should make way for an easy path toward getting the correct name in place for the team.. The Washington Department of Football
1 Gold	-25	mjdntn01 said I never had a problem with Redskins.

 

With only days separating us from the Centenary Edition of the 24 Heures du Mans, it's time again for the Le Mans Primer thread! This is the place if you’ve got any questions about the 2023 Le Mans event, no matter how small! There are no dumb questions about Le Mans!

CONTENTS

• The Race
• Session Times
• The Track
• The Classes
• The Legends
• Videos and Documentaries
• Entry List and Spotters Guide
• Endurance Chat podcast
• Broadcast Details
• Social Media
• Live Timing
• Get Involved!

The Race

It all comes back to Le Mans. A century ago, people asked ‘Could a car continue to drive for 24 hours straight?’, an event was made to test that theory, and a legacy in racing, motorsport, and motoring was born. The 24 Heures du Mans is the holy grail of endurance motor racing, and brings up its Centenary edition this year. In its 100 year history, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is recognised as the most prestigious and gruelling test for innovations and improvements in motorsport technology. Technologies such as disk and air brakes, streamlined bodywork, fuel, oil, and lubricant improvements, improvements to engine efficiency and longevity, even things as simple as LED lighting and windscreen wiper blades have been trialled and tested at Le Mans. The normally hot conditions in the middle of June stretch the limits of reliability, with all the teams knowing that in order to beat their competitors, they must first beat the event. A variety of different engine configurations, displacements, positions, fuels, and hybrids have won over the history of the event. So far, petrol-fuelled traditional piston engines have been the most successful. Mazda managed to win using a Wankel Rotary engine in 1991 with the Mazda 787b (oh god listen to that sound!), while Audi was the first to win with an alternate fuel, taking victory in the diesel-powered R10 TDI in 2006. 2012 ushered in the era of the Hybrid, with Audi taking victory in the R18 e-tron Quattro, featuring a flywheel hybrid engine.

Qualifying

The Qualifying format for Le Mans is unique to the event, and called Hyperpole. In this format, all classes are permitted to use the track in the 1 hour qualifying session on Wednesday evening. The top 6 cars from each of the 4 classes then progress to the Hyperpole session on Thursday night, which sets the top of the grid for each class. This means that each class will be segregated on the final grid.

Session Times

• Ligier European Series Practice 1 – Sunday June 4th, 08:00 Local, 06:00 UTC, 02:00 ET, 16:00 AEST – 45 Minutes
• Ligier European Series Qualifying 1 – Sunday June 4th, 09:15 Local, 07:15 UTC, 03:15 ET, 17:15 AEST – 20 Minutes
• Test Day Session 1 - Sunday June 4th, 10:00 Local, 08:00 UTC, 04:00 ET, 18:00 AEST – 3 Hours
• Ligier European Series Race - Sunday June 4th, 14:00 Local, 12:00 UTC, 08:00 ET, 22:00 AEST – 60 Minutes
• Test Day Session 2 - Sunday June 4th, 15:30 Local, 13:30 UTC, 09:30 ET, 23:30 AEST – 3 Hours
• Porsche Carrera Cup Practice 1 – Wednesday June 7th, 09:00 Local, 07:00 UTC, 03:00 ET, 17:00 AEST – 45 Minutes
• Ferrari Challenge Practice 1 – Wednesday June 7th, 10:15 Local, 08:15 UTC, 04:15 ET, 18:15 AEST - 45 Minutes
• Road To Le Mans Practice 1 – Wednesday June 7th, 11:30 Local, 09:30 UTC, 05:30 ET, 19:30 AEST – 1 Hour
• Free Practice 1 - Wednesday June 7th, 14:00 Local, 12:00 UTC, 08:00 ET, 22:00 AEST - 3 Hours
• Qualifying Practice - Wednesday June 7th. 19:00 Local, 17:00 UTC, 13:00 ET, Thursday 03:00 AEST - 1 Hour
• Road To Le Mans Practice 2 – Wednesday June 7th, 20:30 Local, 18:30 UTC, 14:30 ET, Thursday 04:30 AEST - 1 Hour
• Free Practice 2 - Wednesday June 7th, 22:00 Local, 20:00 UTC, 16:00 ET, Thursday 06:00 AEST - 2 Hours
• Ferrari Challenge Practice 2 – Thursday June 8th, 09:00 Local, 07:00 UTC, 03:00 ET, 17:00 AEST – 45 Minutes
• Porsche Carrera Cup Practice 2 – Thursday June 8th, 10:55 Local, 08:55 UTC, 04:55 ET, 18:55 AEST – 45 Minutes
• Road To Le Mans Qualifying Practice – Thursday June 8th, 12:55 Local, 10:55 UTC, 06:55 UTC, 20:55 AEST – 20 Minutes x 2 Classes
• Free Practice 3 - Thursday June 8th, 15:00 Local, 13:00 UTC, 09:00 ET, 23:00 AEST - 3 Hours
• Road To Le Mans Race 1 - Thursday June 8th, 18:30 Local, 16:30 UTC, 12:30 ET, Friday 02:30 AEST - 55 Minutes
• HYPERPOLE - Thursday June 8th, 20:00 Local, 18:00 UTC, 14:00 ET, Friday 04:00 AEST - 30 Minutes
• Free Practice 4 - Thursday June 8th, 22:00 Local, 20:00 UTC, 16:00 ET, Friday 06:00 AEST - 2 Hours
• Porsche Carrera Cup Qualifying – Friday June 9th, 09:00 Local, 07:00 UTC, 03:00 ET, 17:00 AEST – 45 Minutes
• Ferrari Challenge Qualifying – Friday June 9th, 10:15 Local, 08:15 UTC, 04:15 ET, 18:15 AEST – 45 Minutes
• Road To Le Mans Race 2 - Friday June 9th, 11:30 Local, 09:30 UTC, 05:30 ET, 19:30 AEST – 55 Minutes
• Ferrari Challenge Race 1 - Saturday June 10th, 09:30 Local, 07:30 UTC, 03:30 ET, 17:30 AEST - 45 Minutes
• Porsche Carrera Cup Race 1 - Saturday June 10th, 10:45 Local, 08:45 UTC, 04:45 ET, 18:45 AEST - 45 Minutes
• Warm Up - Saturday June 10th, 12:00 Local, 10:00 UTC, 06:00 ET, 20:00 AEST – 15 Minutes
• RACE START - **Saturday June 11th, 16:00 Local, 14:00 UTC, 10:00 ET, Sunday 00:00 AEST

The Track

The Circuit de la Sarthe covers 13.6 kilometres of the French country side. It combines the permanent race components of the Ford Chicanes, the pit straight, under the Dunlop Bridge and through to Tertre Rouge as well as the normal everyday roads of the Mulsanne straight through to Indianapolis and Arnage. The track has gone through many iterations over the years; originally, the cars raced into the heart of the city, turning just before the river Sarthe, before hurtling down the 8.6 kilometre straight. In 1932, the circuit removed the journey into the city, and more closely resembled the track we see today. Here’s a video of Mike Hawthorn touring the circuit with a camera and microphone attached in 1956, one year after his involvement in the Le Mans disaster. The addition of the Porsche Curves and the Ford Chicanes in 1972 added an extra dimension to the high speed, fast flowing track. In the late 80’s, the Group C prototype cars would reach over 400km/h, achieving average speeds of almost 250km/h in qualifying for the entire lap. This is an onboard of Derek Bell’s Porsche 956 in 1983, showing the ridiculous speeds on this configuration of the circuit. This configuration remained relatively unchanged right up to 1990, until FIA mandations required that for the circuit to be sanctioned, it must not have a straight longer than 2km. The 6km Mulsanne straight was cut down into three relatively equal length portions by two chicanes, giving the iteration of the circuit used today. Allan McNish takes you on an onboard lap of the 2008 circuit in this video. McNish is one of the gods of the modern prototype era, winning Le Mans 3 times; once with Porsche and twice with Audi. For a more comprehensive focus on the track, John Hindhaugh’s track walk takes you on a 30 minute exploration of the track, with in depth focus on corners like the Dunlop Esses, Tertre Rouge, Mulsanne Corner, and the Ford Chicanes.
For some modern on boards, check out the fastest ever lap in the Circuit de la Sarthe: Kamui Kobayashi's 3:14.791 in 2017 Q2, and last year’s Hyperpole lap, by Brendon Hartley, setting a 3:24.408
The Dunlop Bridge
The iconic Dunlop Bridge has been a part of the Le Mans track since 1932, making it the oldest Dunlop Bridge at any track. This part of the track requires a good launch out of the first chicane before cresting the brow of the hill, and plunging through the esses out onto the Mulsanne straight. As the LMP cars are much more maneuverable, caution must be taken passing the slower GT traffic, as Allan McNish discovered in 2011.
Tertre Rouge
Tertre Rouge is the corner that launches the cars onto the long Mulsanne straight. Maintaining momentum through this corner as it opens on exit is imperative to ensure maximum straight line speed heading down the first part of the Mulsanne. The undulation in the road makes for fantastic viewing at night, with some magic images of the Porsches throwing up sparks on the exit in 2014. Finally, this was the location of Allan Simonsen’s fatal crash in mixed conditions in the 2013 Le Mans. The Danish flags will fly at the corner in his memory.
Mulsanne Corner
After the incredibly long Mulsanne straight, the Mulsanne corner nowadays features a subtle right hand kink before the tight 90 degree turn. Here, the cars decelerate from 340 km/h down to below 100 km/h, resulting in a brilliant opportunity to overtake. Again, care must be taken overtaking slower traffic; unaware drivers have caught out faster cars attempting to pass through the kink, such as Anthony Davidson’s spectacular crash in 2012 resulting in a broken vertebra for Davidson.
Indianapolis and Arnage
The Indanapolis and Arnage complex is one of the most committed areas of the track. Hurtling down the hill from the Mulsanne Corner, the road suddenly bends to the right, a corner which only the bravest prototype drivers take flat out, followed by a beautifully cambered open left hander taken in third gear. A short sprint leads the cars into Arnage, the slowest point on the track. The tight right hander was the scene of heartbreak for Toyota in 2014 when the leading #7 broke down and had to be retired after an FIA sensor melted and shut off the electronics. Kazuki Nakajiima was unable to make it to the pits, leaving him stranded on the circuit.
The Porsche Curves
At a terrifyingly high speed, the Porsche Curves is the most committed part of the lap. Getting caught behind GT traffic in this section can mean losing phenomenal amounts of time. This was the site of Loic Duval’s horrific crash in practice for the 2014 event. Keeping momentum through the flowing right-left-right handers that lead into Maison Blanche requires 100% commitment and ultimate precision, with severe punishment for getting it wrong. The exit of the Porsche Curves underwent significant change in 2020, with additional run-off added in the middle part of the section. This has turned the treacherous and claustrophobic sweeping left-hander into an open and sweeping corner, encouraging every little bit of road to be used on the exit. What it hasn’t changed is the terrific consequences for making a mistake
The Ford Chicanes
The final chapter in the 13.6km rollercoaster that is Le Mans is the Ford Chicanes. Two tight left-right handers with massive kerbs are all that separates the driver from the finish line. Watching the cars bounce over the kerbs in beautiful slow motion is certainly something to behold, but 24 hours of mistreatment can lead to suspension and steering issues. The drivers have to be attentive until the very end, lest they throw it all away in the last minutes of the race.
The Circuit de la Sarthe requires over 85% of the lap on full throttle, with the cars accelerating from less than 100km/h to over 300km/h five times each lap. The challenge of having a car finish Le Mans is in itself, an achievement.

The Classes

The WEC consists of three classes on track at once, resulting in three separate races on track each in their own battle for 24 Hours. The classes are split based on their car type, with LMH and LMDh machinery facing off in the Hypercar class, purpose built prototypes with a spec engine and gearbox battling in LMP2, and GT machinery racing in GTE. Each class has its own set of regulations, driver requirements, and relevance for the Le Mans event.

Hypercar

The current top class of endurance sportscars is Hypercar, combining cars built to Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) and Le Mans Daytona (LMDh) specifications. Fighting it out will be LMH machinery from Toyota, Ferrari, Peugeot, Glickenhaus and Peugeot, while Porsche and Cadillac will be racing in LMDh cars. The LMH cars are bespoke sportscars, designed to a strict set of requirements dictating maximum power, drag coefficient, and weight, amongst other parameters, intended to limit the cost of the category. LMDh machines on the other hand are based on the future LMP2 chassis offerings, with manufacturers able to develop their own engines and bodywork, aligning with the power and drag coefficients of LMH. As part of cost-cutting, the Hypercar class is also subject to a Balance of Performance (BoP) formula, to level the playing field and ensure good racing! Hypercars are a little slower than their LMP1 predecessors, with lap times around the 3:24 mark for the Circuit de la Sarthe, which is on par with the 2014 LMP1 cars.

LMP2

The second prototype class is LMP2, and provides an excellent platform for endurance racing on a budget. The LMP2 class features a spec drivetrain and gearbox, using a Gibson V8 producing 400kW, and a selection of three chassis to choose from, of which the Oreca 07 has been the chassis of choice. This ensures that the competition in the class is very tight, and often comes down to the drivers and the team’s performance instead of just having the best car. While LMP2 was capable of 3:25 lap times in years previous, part of the ‘stratification’ of classes with Hypercar’s inclusion, the LMP2 class has lost some power and had some weight added. This should put LMP2 at the heels of the LMH pace, but with laptimes outside the 3:28 mark.
LMP2 is the first class that must feature amateur rated drivers. The Amateurs must drive for a minimum of 6 hours in the car over the course of the race. This means that there's an element of strategy of when to use your amateur driver throughout the race, as the amateur driver is generally slower than the Pros. The pro drivers in this class range from up and coming talent, former F1 drivers, and some of the best sportscar pilots in the world, and with 244 cars in this class, LMP2 is sure to be a hotbed of action over the 24 hours.

LMGTE-Am

GT class cars are cars that are derived from production models, and feature some of the most iconic cars and brands battling it out at the top of the field. The GTE cars are on the border of aero dependency, and can lap Le Mans in around 3:45 in a professional driver’s hands.
This year is the last year of the GTE class, and features 21 cars in a Pro-Am category, with cars from Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin, and Chevrolet on the grid. Despite the lack of a Pro category, the driver quality in GTE-Am is still incredibly high, with factory drivers, young stars, experienced champions and every level of experience in between on the grid, with each car featuring two Bronze or Silver rated drivers. With two amateur drivers, the strategy considerations multiply. While GTE-Am might be the class focussed on the least over the course of the race, the stories that come from this class are phenomenal, and it's well worth following.
The GT classes feature a range of different cars and configurations, and to equalise each of these against each other, the class goes through a process called 'Balance of Performance' or BoP. The organisers can adjust each individual car's weight, fuel tank, air restrictor, turbo boost pressures, and aero performance to alter performance levels to enable the different cars to race competitively. This can sometimes be contentious as every team will feel hard done by, but it is a necessary evil to having the variety of cars on the grid.

Innovative Car

Each year, there is the option for an Innovative Car, with untested or innovative technology, allowed to enter in it’s own category. In years past, this has allowed for entries from the Deltawing, or a modified LMP2 to allow amputees to race.
This year, the Innovative Car entry is a modified Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Next-Gen NASCAR, run by Hendrick Motorsports. The Next-Gen NASCAR features modifications to allow it to run safely on the Circuit de la Sarthe, and will be driven by multiple NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button, and Le Mans Overall Winner Mike Rockenfeller.

The Legends

Part of the allure of the Le Mans 24 Hours is the history, and the legends steeped in history over the course of its 88 previous editions. The race has had many headline battles in its history - periods of time where two or three teams went toe to toe for years, with the drivers, cars, and brands embroiled in these battles given the chance to elevate themselves above the rest, and show their prowess.
In 2019, we at /WEC, took our normal Le Mans Legends celebrations to a new level; each week, members of the community have been writing reviews on some of the closest, most fascinating finishes in Le Mans history! You can check out these reports below!

• The 1966 Dead Heat by kinkymulsanne
• 1983; Factory Porsche dominates with a 1-2 victory, but only just! by Floodman11
• 1987; The colossal struggle between Porsche and Jaguar (Part 1) by Lagiacrus7
• 2016; FUCK by Cybershrike
• 1979; Boogie Nights meets Days Of Thunder by SolHiemis
• 1991; the Hiroshima Screamer Prevails by AE_Racer
• 2010; the Day the Peugeots All Died by kiwichris1709
• 1999; The Le Mans Turning Point by starzonda
• 2011; The Final Audi vs Peugeot Rivalry by Stuff_And_More
• 1988; The colossal struggle between Porsche and Jaguar (part 2) by Lagiacrus7

Bonus CookieMonsterFL Write-Ups

• 3.5L: The Downfall of Group C
• Airborne Crashes

For a bite-sized history lesson on every Le Mans event, check out this post by u/JohannesMeanAd2, describing every Le Mans in a single sentence!
The early races were dominated by the Bentley company in their Speed 6, who won 5 of the first 7 races. Cars were separated into classes by their engine displacement, and the overall winner was based on distance covered. If two cars had finished with the same number of laps, the car with the smaller displacement was declared the winner. The race wasn't run during the second world war, and comparatively very little information is available on the stories of the early days of Le Mans.
After the second world war, teams such as Jaguar, Ferrari, Mercedes, and Aston Martin became the dominant teams. This era featured the legendary Jaguar D type, the Mercedes Benz 300 SLR, the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, and the Aston Martin DBR1. Jaguar won 5 times between 1951 and 1957, followed by an era of Ferrari dominance. Drivers such as Mike Hawthorn, Stirling Moss, Juan Manuel Fangio, and John Fitch became household names as Le Mans became a battle between German engineering and British "garagistas".
Ferrari and Ford was the story of the 60's, with Ferrari winning 6 times straight before Ford won four in a row with the GT40 Mk II, taking their first win in 1966. The story of their rivalry is legendary in it's own right - Henry Ford had almost successfully bought out the Ferrari motor company, only to be knocked back by Enzo himself at the 11th hour. In retaliation, Ford planned to hurt Ferrari where it mattered most; on the track. The Ford GT40 was so comprehensively dominant that it won the 1966 edition 21 laps ahead of the next car back - a Porsche 906/6. None of the Ferrari 330P3's finished the race. This battle gave drivers like Bruce Mclaren, Dan Gurney, and Jacky Ickx their first Le Mans victories, and propelled them to the forefront of motorsport stardom at the height of motorsport's popularity.
The 1970's saw the dawn of Porsche, with the 917k taking the brand's first win in 1970, with the same car winning the following year in the hands of Helmut Marko (yes, that Helmut Marko). It would be 5 years before Porsche would win again, with Matra taking 3 victories in the interim, each at the hands of Henri Pescarolo. Porsche returned with the 936 and the 956/962c dominating the race for the next 20 years. In fact, from 1970, Porsche won 12 times in 18 events, including 7 in a row, and they miiight have been a bit cheeky about it. Amongst these 12 wins, there were 4 for both Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell, and two for IMSA legend Hurley Haywood, as well as the first win for the Joest team in 1984. This era coincided with the introduction, and subsequent destruction of the Group C sportscar formula, widely regarded as the best Sportscar championship regulations of all time. Porsche’s dominance was eventually ended by Jaguar in the XJR-9LM, at the height of Group C’s magic. Ickx's 6 wins at this stage had earned him the nickname 'Mr Le Mans', a fitting title for one of the best drivers in the world at the time.
GT cars became a force to be reckoned with at the end of the Group C era, with classes being split into LMGTP and LMP. McLaren and Porsche had wins in GTP cars, in the F1 GTR and the 911 GT1 respectively, while Porsche, BMW and Peugeot scored LMP wins. 1997 saw the first win for Tom Kristensen, while the following year Allan McNish took his first victory, starting their journeys into the legend books of Le Mans.
The 2000’s ushered in the era of Audi, with all 13 of their wins coming since the turn of the century. GTP was disbanded due to safety issues, being replaced by GT1 and GT2. Audi picked up wins in the R8, the R10, the R15, and the R18, often dominating the might of the Peugeot 908. Audi's dominance elevated not only their drivers to legend status, but also their team managers, car designers, and race engineers. People like Reinhold Joest (team manager), Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Audisport director), Ulrich Baretzky (engine designer), Leena Gade, Howden Haynes (race engineers) behind the wall and Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen, Rinaldo Capello, Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer have become household names in the sport not only for their wins, but their longevity and domination. Audi's dominance was only broken by a win for Bentley in 2003, running basically an Audi under a British racing green skin, and Peugeot in 2009, before being ended for good by Porsche in 2015. After both Porsche and Audi left the top class, Toyota rose to dominance, taking the last 3 Le Mans events in a row!
Between 2015 and 2017, Porsche added to their victories, now holding a record 19 overall victories at the Circuit de la Sarthe. Audi trail with 13, with Ferrari, Jaguar and Bentley holding the next three positions. Toyota finally took their first overall victory in 2018, and have won every year since. Tom Kristensen is has the most victories at Le Mans, with 9 overall victories over his career with Porsche, Audi and Bentley, inheriting the title of Mr Le Mans.

Videos and Documentaries

• Truth in 24 and Truth in 24 II - The story of Audi’s victories against testing conditions and the might of Peugeot in 2008 and 2011.
  
• Le Mans - made in 1971, this movie follows a fictional Le Mans race in 1970, featuring fantastic footage and sounds of the Porsche 917 and the Ferrari 512 starring Steve McQueen
  
• Michael Fassbender:Road To Le Mans Season 1 - Season 2 - Season 3 - The journey that Michael Fassbender has taken from movie star to Porsche GTE-Am driver, detailing his racing through the ranks of Carrera Cup, Le Mans Cup, and ELMS.
  
• The Deadliest Crash - The BBC documentary on the 1955 Le Mans disaster. For more information, see CookieMonsteFL’s amazing post on the incident
  
• Our Return: A documentary of our road to Le Mans 2015 - Porsche’s youtube documentary chronicling their return to Le Mans and their eventual win.
  
• McLaren at Le Mans: Pursuit of Perfection - The story behind McLaren's 1995 victory
  
• The fastest ever lap at the Circuit de la Sarthe. Kamui Kobayashi's 3:14.791 in 2017 Q2
  
• Mark Blundell’s explosive lap - Blundell was going so fast, he was overheating the blowers in the car. After being told to turn down the engine and abandon the lap, in true racing driver fashion he simply turned off the radio.
  
• Clearwater Racing: Journey to the 24 hours of Le mans
  
• Cetilar Racing: The Italian Spirit of Le Mans - A documentary on Cetilar Villorba Corse's journey to Le Mans in 2018
  
• McLaren at Le Mans: Pursuit of Perfection - The McLaren F1 road car's story and development for the historic LeMans race of 1995.
  
• Ford vs Ferrari / Le Mans '66 - Coming out late 2019, this movie tells (a stylised version of) the story of the battle between Ford and Ferrari at Le Mans in the late 1960's. While there are some inaccuracies, the movie has been widely heralded as one of the best Motorsport themed movies ever made, and has been enjoyed by critics and motorsport fans alike.
  
• Michael Fassbender: Road To Le Mans Season 1 and 2, Season 3, Season 4 – Actor and Amateur Driver Michael Fassbender documents his 4 year journey from Porsche Carrera Cup into the ELMS and finally, to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
  

Entry List

Spotters Guide to be added when released!

Once again, /WEC will have a community spotters guide thanks to the efforts of Ziombel_444! The planned release date is the 6th of June, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

Check out Ziombel_444's other work at Spotters.Guide, and support this great effort!

Endurance Chat

/WEC's podcast, Endurance Chat, will have four episodes in the lead up to Le Mans, as well as a Pre-Pre-Race show in the hours before the event. Watch this space for updates!

• Endurance Chat S8E11 – The Centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans Preview - History, context, and insight into this year’s edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours
  
• Endurance Chat S8E12 - The 2023 Le Mans 24 Hour Hypercar Class Guide – COMING SOON
  
• Endurance Chat S8E13 - The 2023 Le Mans 24 Hour LMP2 Class Guide – COMING SOON
  
• Endurance Chat S8E14 – The 2023 Le Mans 24 Hour LMGTE-Am Class Guide – COMING SOON
  

In addition, Endurance Chat made a series of features detailing the history of sportscars in the late 60’s and early 70’s, at the transition point of GT and Prototype machinery. The series details some of the machinery, events, and drivers in one of the fastest and most dangerous periods in racing history. You can find a playlist to these features here!

Streaming and Television

In the past, the FIAWEC Broadcast has started from Qualifying Practice. We are awaiting confirmation if that is the case this year – Streams for non-FIAWEC sessions after that point will be subject to the organisers of those series broadcasting those sessions.

• Official stream OUTSIDE US ONLY - The Le Mans package gives you access to all WEC sessions (Qualifying, Warm Up and the Race) with a choice of on boards, cross platform compatibility, and up to 5 devices connected at once. Additionally, replays of the event are free after the event. Official comms headed by Martin Haven, Anthony Davidson, and Graham Goodwin, who in my personal opinion properly nail the tone of the event. Has been known to get overloaded and crash however
• Eurosport will likely be broadcasting the event in a variety of locales throughout Europe. This will be updated when confirmed
• Radio Le Mans will be streaming live radio for every session

For American audiences, unfortunately the Official stream is geoblocked for your area. Information on how to watch will be updated when confirmed

• [Official TV Broadcast distribution](COMING SOON) Find out how to watch in your region!

Any further updates on TV or Streaming distribution will be added as they are released!

Social Media

If you're looking for more interaction, you can find most of the teams, drivers and commentators on Twitter, giving you instant interaction with those in the midst of the event.

If someone wants to make a twitter list for the teams/driveetc for this year, that would be greatly appreciated!

Live timing

• Official Live Timing

Be sure to join the discord for alternate timing solutions!

Get Involved!

By far the most fun you can have watching an endurance race is watching it with the official /WEC Discord! It's a lot of fun and a really great atmosphere to watch the race in!
If you want to have a go at picking who you think will be winning in each class, jump into mwclarkson's Fantasy Endurance Contest! It's free to enter, and if you win, you'll get the satisfaction and achievement of being right!
If there's anything you'd like us to add, or need clarification on, please comment below and we'll add it in!`

2020 summer, My mom asked to fly me out to GA(where she lives) to visit for Memorial weekend and that my sister would be going out with us despite the fact me and my sister hadn’t talked since I moved out. So I again felt out numbered if anything was to go wrong but I sucked it up and still flew out to see them as I missed them a lot and this was the longest I had been away from them under these circumstances.
When I came it was awkward and me and my sister didn’t speak and I pretty much stayed in my old room. The animosity was so thick in the air and my mom just tried super hard to make it like we were a happy family of 3 and saying I didn’t have to act like I’m a guest even though they didn’t want me there for years. Skip to when we were out. We went to a Caribbean bar and we had a blast, all of our worries and ill feelings seemed to disappear it was like nothing ever happened. I am not a drinker so it doesn’t take much for me to get drunk or feel tipsy, However they can handle their liquor way better as they drink more than me..
So we decide we were ready to head home but my mother was the driver and is very sketchy about people driving her car even though I was the most sober out of the 3 of us I didn’t push the offer. We sat in the parking garage downtown until my mother felt she was okay to drive and we were okay waiting. As the conversations got deeper, my stomach just felt so weird as I felt it was turning into basically calling me out on my old behaviors and things they disliked. And yet again my sister mirrors or empathizes with my mom on whatever she feels. Which led me to saying “Okay I don’t think i’m comfortable talking about this anymore, it’s becoming 2 vs. 1 again, and I rather sit in quietness” which they both agreed to something similar as “There she goes again, when people call her out on her bs she no longer wants to talk” But it wasn’t what they were saying It was the fact I came here took off work to spend time with them and we had a great day and it’s turning into a negative one with me only having 3 days here, plus we all were drinking so we are saying our feelings more boldly and it’s now uncomfortable for me…
But my sister couldn’t let the situation go, so i secretly recorded us talking in my lap so later when it’s brought up they can see how it escalated and how I asked more than once to just drop the topic. So my sister proceeds to tell me to shut up while she’s talking and being very aggressive which I’m already used to.. she is 4 years older than me but I am not scared of her like I used to be when we were much younger. I was 21 at the time she was 25.. So I said your pointing your fingers in my face and getting aggressive like you want to fight. Which wasn’t me inviting her into a fight, I was stating her actions led me to believe she was so angry I shut down her coming at me that she was using gestures that she wanted to be physical. And she said matter of fact I do and tells me get out the car.
I stayed in the car and she got out the car opened the back door and tried pull me out the car, I am taller than her but we might weigh close to the same. We began to fight, in the parking garage downtown. The most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done with my mom there screaming to Stop and proceeds to fall trying to get my sister and I to let go of each other which made me more angry that my mother was on the floor crying. So when I got up to help my mom up i tripped and fell, my sister had already gotten back to the car and she was limping. After them getting into the car i tasted almost like sand texture in my mouth and noticed my front tooth was completely shattered into 3 pieces. which led me to having to extract my front tooth when I got home a few days later.. My sister suffered a broken leg and ankle which she needed surgery to have needles and pins inserted. I saw her social media in December that year and she was back walking/dancing for her birthday which is what made me upset when my mother said we both did equal damage to each other meanwhile I still dont have a tooth. Dental work is expensive, insurance or not. Covid was going on so I had a mask on almost everywhere anyways. I’ve had a tooth flipper, and alternatives so I don’t walk around looking crazy and my smile actually looks better than before.. But at night I take them out to sleep or when eating tough foods and still get reminded of the huge gap in my mouth and I’m still upset about it and rarely talk to my sister except when visiting. My mother doesn’t understand why I felt that way when I said it in 2022.. it’s now 2023 and I’m not sure if she still knows I do even though you can’t tell when we are all together. But part of me still hates her for it. I’m teary eyed writing this because she was my best friend at one point but I can’t seem to shake that feeling. AITAH?

I am a saver, a fiscal conservative, and have no kids for the record. I think 99 percent of taxation is theft and if your going to pay taxes you should have some way to direct where they go. That being said, that’s not the society we live in. In our current society and setup the government should spend serious time and money to see what the appropriate number of kids per family should be 1-3 or 2-4 and give massive tax breaks to those families and raise taxes greatly on those outside of those parameters or those that never met those parameters. It is ridiculous to let people who work with no kids (me) drive up the buying power for those that do. We need more people in our country and if immigration isn’t the answer, I would prefer a self sustainable economy by Americans having more children. If you have no kids you should have zero problem paying more taxes, just less to spend on discretionary items. I won’t go into the weeds of how this plan would work but imagine if a politician could harness those with kids vs those without as a voting base. Use that to get elected promising to lower taxes on parents and raise them on non-child homes, and that would drive down prices for all and put a check on how insane the power of discretionary and entertainment industries have gotten.

What is +EV betting. tldr, one of the only ways to be profitable in the long term betting on home runs since home run lines are usually juiced to the tits. You basically are trying to find sportsbooks and markets that have mispriced odds in the bettors favor. You aren't looking into stats, pitching matchups, weather, or ballpark rankings. As ActionNetwork puts it

EV betting is not about what you think will happen, but about an advantage you have over the implied probabilities of bets by using lines and information sportsbooks are already giving you

I use a devigger to remove the sportsbooks vig and to calculate +EV against a sharp book like bet365. I choose bet365 because it has one of the lowest vigs on home runs out of all sportsbooks and is widely popular. This is what the smartest people look for in the dinger tuesday threads to ensure profitability over the long-term.
These aren't guarantees, these guys are NOT likely to home run on a given day, but if you take enough +EV plays over a long period of time, you should end up profitable. My record since starting posting: 14W-54L (+14.70u)
My Picks (I take all +EV plays for $5. I'm posting the odds I got them at...make sure to check odds because lines move fast on fanduel HRs)
8.9% EV: DET Spencer Torkelson +680 FD vs bet365 +475/-700. Implied = 14.0% 8.1% EV: KC Michael Massey +900 FD vs bet365 +600/-950. Implied = 10.8% 6.3% EV: CHW Clint Frazier +750 FD vs bet365 +525/-800. Implied = 12.5% 5.4% EV: SEA Aj Pollock +520 FD vs bet365 +390/-550. Implied = 17.0% 3.5% EV: NYY Aaron Judge +250 FD vs bet365 +210/-260. Implied = 29.6% 2.0% EV: ARI Ketel Marte +500 FD vs bet365 +390/-550. Implied = 17.0% -0.7% EV: MIA Jorge Soler +330 FD vs bet365 +280/-370. Implied = 23.1%
All updated EVs combined with negative EV plays close to 0 (I don't bet if negative EV but they have the chance of becoming +EV with a slight odds change, so keep on radar)
updated: 1:00PM EST
12.2% EV: SEA Aj Pollock +560 FD vs bet365 +390/-550. Implied = 17.0% 2.0% EV: ARI Ketel Marte +500 FD vs bet365 +390/-550. Implied = 17.0% 0.5% EV: NYY Aaron Judge +240 FD vs bet365 +210/-260. Implied = 29.6% -2.3% EV: DET Spencer Torkelson +600 FD vs bet365 +475/-700. Implied = 14.0% -2.4% EV: CHW Clint Frazier +680 FD vs bet365 +525/-800. Implied = 12.5% -3.0% EV: SEA Teoscar Hernandez +350 FD vs bet365 +310/-400. Implied = 21.6% -3.0% EV: ATL Austin Riley +350 FD vs bet365 +310/-400. Implied = 21.6% -3.5% EV: LAA Mike Trout +300 FD vs bet365 +265/-350. Implied = 24.1% -3.5% EV: MIN Joey Gallo +300 FD vs bet365 +265/-350. Implied = 24.1% -3.9% EV: COL Randal Grichuk +870 FD vs bet365 +650/-1050. Implied = 9.9% -4.6% EV: CHW Luis Robert +420 FD vs bet365 +360/-500. Implied = 18.3% -4.6% EV: CHW Jake Burger +420 FD vs bet365 +360/-500. Implied = 18.3% -5.4% EV: LAA Mickey Moniak +500 FD vs bet365 +425/-600. Implied = 15.8% -8.2% EV: SEA Eugenio Suarez +440 FD vs bet365 +390/-550. Implied = 17.0% -8.3% EV: ARI Evan Longoria +400 FD vs bet365 +360/-500. Implied = 18.3% -8.4% EV: STL Paul Goldschmidt +360 FD vs bet365 +330/-450. Implied = 19.9% -11.7% EV: COL Brenton Doyle +680 FD vs bet365 +575/-900. Implied = 11.3% -11.9% EV: WSH Keibert Ruiz +900 FD vs bet365 +725/-1200. Implied = 8.8% -11.9% EV: COL Elias Diaz +900 FD vs bet365 +725/-1200. Implied = 8.8% -12.1% EV: NYM Mark Vientos +750 FD vs bet365 +625/-1000. Implied = 10.3% -12.4% EV: KC Vinnie Pasquantino +600 FD vs bet365 +525/-800. Implied = 12.5% -12.4% EV: BOS Triston Casas +600 FD vs bet365 +525/-800. Implied = 12.5% -12.4% EV: CHW Romy Gonzalez +600 FD vs bet365 +525/-800. Implied = 12.5% -12.4% EV: MIA Garrett Cooper +600 FD vs bet365 +525/-800. Implied = 12.5% -12.9% EV: CHW Yasmani Grandal +560 FD vs bet365 +500/-750. Implied = 13.2% -13.2% EV: COL Ryan Mcmahon +630 FD vs bet365 +550/-850. Implied = 11.9% -13.2% EV: KC Mj Melendez +450 FD vs bet365 +425/-600. Implied = 15.8% -13.2% EV: ARI Emmanuel Rivera +630 FD vs bet365 +550/-850. Implied = 11.9% -14.4% EV: LAA Zach Neto +800 FD vs bet365 +675/-1100. Implied = 9.5% -15.0% EV: BAL Anthony Santander +400 FD vs bet365 +390/-550. Implied = 17.0% -15.6% EV: STL Nolan Arenado +470 FD vs bet365 +450/-650. Implied = 14.8%
These are not meant to be parlayed