#FFXIV #Heavensward #Alexander
FFXIV: Moonfire Faire with Miku Argentea. 13 August 2021 at 0030 UTC-7!
#FFXIV #moonfirefaire #darli_fra
BoBA ISML 2021 Predictions: Aquamarine Match Day 1
ARENA 1 Kirisaki Chitoge [[Misaka Mikoto]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 2 [[Makinohara Shōko]] Aqua
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 3 Krul Tepes [[Isla]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 4 Saya [[Elaina]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 5 Tobiichi Origami [[Yuigahama Yui]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 6 Ichigo [[Hirasawa Yui]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 7 Furukawa Nagisa [[Zero Two]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 8 [[Shirai Kuroko]] Sora Ginko
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 9 [[Index L. Prohibitorum]] Amano Hina
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 10 [[Sakurajima Mai]] Sakura Chiyo
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 11 Hiiragi Shinoa [[Miyamizu Mitsuha]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 12 Saten Ruiko [[Schwi Dola]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 13 Sakurasawa Sumi [[Emilia]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 14 Saber [[Tachibana Kanade]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 15 Nibutani Shinka [[Azusagawa Kaede]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 16 Miyazono Kaori [[Shinomiya Kaguya]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 17 Aisaka Taiga [[Kanna Kamui]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 18 Shiro [[Megumin]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 19 [[Yūki Asuna]] Takagi
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 20 [[Ichinose Chizuru (Mizuhara Chizuru)]] Uiharu Kazari
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 21 Kitashirakawa Tamako [[Kochō Shinobu]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 22 [[Takanashi Rikka]] Makise Kurisu
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 23 Yoshino [[Yuzaki Tsukasa]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 24 [[Tōsaka Rin]] Shirogane Kei
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 25 [[Tokisaki Kurumi]] Asada Shino
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 26 [[Hayasaka Ai]] Nakano Azusa
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 27 Horikita Suzune [[Futaba Rio]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 28 [[Tomori Nao]] Kuriyama Mirai
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 29 [[Tōru]] Honma Meiko
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 30 [[Shokuhō Misaki]] Doma Umaru
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 31 [[Nishimiya Shōko]] Yatogami Tōka
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 32 [[Izumi Sagiri]] Beatrice
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 33 [[Isshiki Iroha]] Kasugano Sora
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 34 Aoyama Nanami [[Shiina Mashiro]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 35 Sawamura Spencer Eriri [[Fujiwara Chika]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 36 Akiyama Mio [[Kasumigaoka Utaha]]
by <=1000
Over/Under: 5000
Over
ARENA 37 [[Azusagawa Sakuta]] Iwatani Naofumi
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 38 [[Kanda Sorata]] Morishima Hodaka
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 39 Saiki Kusuo [[Ishida Shōya]]
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 40 [[Togashi Yūta]] Joseph Joestar
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 41 [[Totsuka Saika]] Dazai Osamu
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 42 Uchiha Madara [[Kaneki Ken]]
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 43 Ōji Mochizō [[Hiro]]
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 44 [[Isaac Foster]] Itadori Yūji
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 45 [[Itsuka Shidō]] Dio Brando
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 46 Okabe Rintarō [[Ayanokōji Kiyotaka]]
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 47 [[Izumi Masamune]] Nohara Shinnosuke
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 48 [[Goro]] Kasugano Haruka
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 49 [[Ishigami Yū]] Sesshōmaru
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 50 [[Emiya Shirō]] Gilgamesh
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 51 [[Lelouch Lamperouge]] Okazaki Tomoya
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 52 Aki Tomoya [[Natsuki Subaru]]
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 53 [[Satō Kazuma]] Uesugi Fūtarō
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 54 Ainz Ooal Gown [[Otonashi Yuzuru]]
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 55 [[Emiya Kiritsugu]] Tachibana Taki
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 56 Kuroba Kaito [[Akabane Karma]]
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 57 Kūjō Jōtarō [[Yato]]
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 58 [[Levi]] Edward Elric
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 59 [[Yuzaki Nasa]] L Lawliet
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 60 [[Shiota Nagisa]] Eren Yeager
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 61 [[Kamijō Tōma]] Shiba Tatsuya
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 62 Inumaki Toge [[Tomioka Giyū]]
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 63 [[Hyakuya Mikaela]] Fushiguro Megumi
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 64 [[Kirigaya Kazuto]] Hyakuya Yūichirō
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 65 [[Eugeo]] Otosaka Yū
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 66 Hashibira Inosuke [[Archer]]
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 67 [[Saitama]] Akasaka Ryūnosuke
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 68 Satoshi [[Rengoku Kyōjurō]]
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 69 [[Arima Kōsei]] Rudeus Greyrat
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 70 Fukube Satoshi [[Uchiha Itachi]]
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 71 Sakata Gintoki [[Riku Dola]]
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
ARENA 72 [[Takasu Ryūji]] Uchiha Obito
by >=400
Over/Under: 6000
Under
Voter Id: 5fad7033-d00e-55cd-aafc-5e3e64825c19
In Lionel Messi’s Move, a Dim Portrait of Modern Soccer
In Lionel Messi’s Move, a Dim Portrait of Modern Soccer
He could not stay where he wanted; few teams could afford him. Even one of the best players of all time was not able to resist the economic forces that carry the game along.
By Rory Smith
Aug. 10, 2021
In those frantic, final hours in April, before a cabal of owners of Europe’s grandest clubs unveiled their plan for a breakaway superleague to an unsuspecting and unwelcoming world, a schism emerged in their ranks.
One faction, driven by Andrea Agnelli, chairman of Juventus, and Florentino Pérez, president of Real Madrid, wanted to go public as quickly as possible. Agnelli, in particular, was feeling the personal pressure of acting, in effect, as a double agent. Everything, they said, was ready; or at least as ready as it needed to be.
Another group, centered on the American ownership groups that control England’s traditional giants, counseled caution. The plans still had to be finessed. There was still debate, for example, on how many spots might be handed over to teams that had qualified for the competition. They felt it better to wait until summer.
If the first group had not won the day — if the whole project had not exploded into existence and collapsed in ignominy in 48 tumultuous hours — this would have been the week, after the Olympics but before the new season began, when they presented their self-serving, elitist vision of soccer’s future.
That the Super League fell apart, of course, was a blessed relief. That this week has, instead, been given over to a dystopian illustration of where, exactly, soccer stands suggests that no great solace should be found in its failure.
On Thursday, Manchester City broke the British transfer record — paying Aston Villa $138 million for Jack Grealish — for what may not be the last time this summer. The club remains hopeful of adding Harry Kane, talisman of Tottenham and captain of England, for a fee that could rise as high as $200 million.
And then, of course, dwarfing everything else, it emerged that Lionel Messi would be leaving — would have to leave — F.C. Barcelona. Under La Liga’s rules, the club’s finances are such that it could not physically, fiscally, register the greatest player of all time for the coming season. It had no choice but to let him go. He had no choice but to leave.
Everything that has played out since has felt so shocking as to be surreal, but so predictable as to be inevitable.
There was the tear-stained news conference, in which Messi revealed he had volunteered to accept a 50 percent pay cut to stay at the club he has called home since he was 13, where he scored 672 goals in 778 games, where he broke every record there was to break, won everything there was to win and forged a legend that may never be matched.
As soon as that was over, there came the first wisps of smoke from Paris, suggesting the identity of Messi’s new home. Paris St.-Germain was, apparently, crunching the numbers. Messi had been in touch with Neymar, his old compadre, to talk things through. He had called Mauricio Pochettino, the manager, to get an idea of how it might work. P.S.G. was in touch with Jorge, his agent and father.
Then, on Tuesday, it happened. Everything was agreed upon: a salary worth $41 million a year, basic, over two years, with an option for a third. As his image was stripped from Camp Nou, a hole appearing between the vast posters of Gerard Piqué and Antoine Griezmann, Messi and his wife, Antonela Roccuzzo, boarded a plane in Barcelona, all packed and ready to go.
Jorge Messi assured reporters at the airport that the deal was done. P.S.G. teased it with a tweet. Messi landed at Le Bourget airport, near Paris, wearing that shy smile and a T-shirt reading: “Ici, C’est Paris.”
This was not a journey many had ever envisaged him making. But he had no other choice; or, rather, the player for whom anything has always been possible, for once, had only a narrow suite of options.
There is a portrait of modern soccer in that restricted choice, and it is a stark one. Lionel Messi, the best of all time, does not have true agency over where he plays his final few years. Even he was not able to resist the economic forces that carry the game along.
He could not stay where he wanted to stay, at Barcelona, because the club has walked, headlong, into financial ruin. A mixture of the incompetence of its executives and the hubris of the institution is largely responsible for that, but not wholly.
The club has spent vastly and poorly in recent years, of course. It has squandered the legacy that Messi had done so much to construct. But it has done so in a context in which it was asked and expected to compete with clubs backed not just by oligarchs and billionaires but by whole nation states, their ambitions unchecked and their spending unrestricted.
The coronavirus pandemic accelerated the onset of calamity, and so Barcelona was no longer in a position where it could keep even a player who wanted to stay. When it came time for him to leave, he found a landscape in which only a handful of clubs — nine at most — could offer the prospect of allowing him to compete for another Champions League trophy. They had long since left everybody else behind, relegated them to second-class status.
And of those, only three could even come close to taking on a salary as deservedly gargantuan as his. He should not be begrudged a desire to be paid his worth. He is the finest exponent of his art in history. It would be churlish to demand that he should do it on the cheap, as though it is his duty to entertain us. It could only have been Chelsea or Manchester City or Paris.
To some — and not just those who hold P.S.G. close to their hearts — that will be an appetizing prospect: a chance to see Messi not just reunited with Neymar, but aligned for the first time with Kylian Mbappé, who many assume will eventually take his crown as the best, and with his old enemy Sergio Ramos, too.
That it will be captivating is not in doubt. And doubtless profitable: The jerseys will fly off the shelves; the sponsorships will roll in; the TV ratings will rise, too, perhaps lifting all of French soccer with it. It may well be successful, on the field; it will doubtless be good to watch. But that is no measure. So, too, is the sinking of a ship.
That the architects of the Super League arrived, in April, at the wrong answer is not in doubt. The vision of soccer’s future that they put forward was one that benefited them and left everyone else, in effect, to burn.
But the question that prompted it was the right one. The vast majority of those dozen teams knew that the game in its current form was not sustainable. The costs were too high, the risks too great. The arms race that they were locked into led only to destruction. They recognized the need for change, even if their desperation and self-interest meant they could not identify what form that change should take.
They worried that they could not compete with the power and the wealth of the two or three clubs that are not subject to the same rules as everybody else. They felt that the playing field was no longer level. They believed that, sooner or later, first the players and then the trophies would coalesce around P.S.G., Chelsea and Manchester City.
It was sooner, as it turns out. P.S.G. has signed Messi. City may commit more than $300 million on just two players in a matter of weeks, as the rest of the game comes to terms with the impact of the pandemic. Chelsea has spent $140 million on a striker, too. This is the week when all their fears, all their dire predictions, have come to pass.
There should be no sympathy, of course. Those same clubs did not care at all about competitive balance while the imbalances suited them. Nothing has damaged the chances of meaningful change more than their abortive attempt to corral as much of the game’s wealth as possible to their own ends.
But they are not the only ones to lose in this situation. In April, in those whirlwind 48 hours, it felt like soccer avoided a grim vision of its future. As Messi touched down on the ground near Paris on Tuesday, as the surreal and the inevitable collided, it was hard to ignore the feeling that it had merely traded it for another.
Rory Smith is the chief soccer correspondent, based in Manchester, England. He covers all aspects of European soccer and has reported from three World Cups, the Olympics, and numerous European tournaments. @RorySmith
ISML 2021: Preliminaries Wrap Up!
ISML 2021: Preliminaries Wrap Up!
By Jo-Ryan Salazar
The Bedlam on Baltic Avenue
9 August 2021
Match Day 6 of the 2021 International Saimoe League Preliminaries is in the books. In the first female division pool, in the green were Zero Two (2471), Isla (1434), Kuroko Shirai (1654), Origami Tobiichi (1070), Kaori Miyazono (1012) and Azusa Nakano (1071). In the second female division pool, the top six were Emilia (1997), Chizuru Ichinose (1577), Shinobu Kochou (1319), Megumin (1252), Shinoa Hiiragi (1140) and Kurisu Makise (971).
In the third female division pool, the top six were Rikka Takanashi (2135), Tsukasa Yuzaki (1726), Rin Tohsaka (1224), Tamako Kitashirakawa (1205), Saber (1114) and Shino Asada (996), And in the fourth, making top six were Sagiri Izumi (1703), Shouko Nishimiya (1749), Misaki Shokuhou (1507), Suzune Horikita (1259), Nanami Aoyama (1054) and Beatrice (1079).
In the first male division pool, making top six were Sakuta Azusagawa (2542), Shinnosuke Nohara (1420), Ken Kaneki (1183), Isaac Foster (947), Lelouch Lamperouge (1121) and Nishikata (810). Making top six in the second were Yuu Ishigami (1754), Shouya Ishida (1206), Saika Totsuka (1280), Megumi Fushiguro (963), Fuutarou Uesugi (917) and Mochizou Ouji (808).
In the third male division pool, making top six were Levi (1829), Nasa Yuzaki (1433), Archer (965), Mikaela Hyakuya (1094), Gilgamesh (978) and Kyon (894). And in the fourth, reaching top six were Kyoujurou Rengoku (1534), Saitama (1761), Obito Uchiha (963), Joutarou Kuujou (1026), Tatsuya Shiba (908) and Seiya Kanie (936).
In Winter Seasonal action, Ram rammed Nino Nakano 2261-1721, Itsuki Nakano eased past Milim Nava 2351-1284, Eris Boreas Greyrat routed Rin Shima 2105-1177, Miku Nakano belted Roxy Migurdia 2244-1636, Echidna prevailed over Setsuna 1910-1531, Renge Miyauchi roasted Shiraori 2271-1089, Kyouko Hori won the closesrt race of the round, a 2206-2192 thriller over Ai Haibara, Nobara Kugisaki won a 1957-1926 barnburner over Ran Mouri, and Mikasa Ackerman drilled Ai Outo 2054-1362. Finally, Izumi Miyamura defeated Satoru Gojou 1998-1887, Tanjiro Kamado pounded Monkey D. Luffy 2286-1438 and Conan Edogawa thumped Naruto Uzumaki 2325-1561.
Match Day 1 of the 2021 International Saimoe League Aquamarine Period is scheduled for 12 August 2021. Vote for your favorite characters at InternationalSaimoe.com and join the ongoing debate. And keep it right here on The Bedlam on Baltic Avenue for continuing coverage of the International Saimoe League, the world's premier anime character competition!
Tokyo 2020: Final Medal Tally
| Rank | Team | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  United States | 39 | 41 | 33 | 113 |
| 2 |  China | 38 | 32 | 18 | 88 |
| 3 |  Japan* | 27 | 14 | 17 | 58 |
| 4 |  Great Britain | 22 | 21 | 22 | 65 |
| 5 |  ROC | 20 | 28 | 23 | 71 |
| 6 |  Australia | 17 | 7 | 22 | 46 |
| 7 |  Netherlands | 10 | 12 | 14 | 36 |
| 8 |  France | 10 | 12 | 11 | 33 |
| 9 |  Germany | 10 | 11 | 16 | 37 |
| 10 |  Italy | 10 | 10 | 20 | 40 |
| 11 |  Canada | 7 | 6 | 11 | 24 |
| 12 |  Brazil | 7 | 6 | 8 | 21 |
| 13 |  New Zealand | 7 | 6 | 7 | 20 |
| 14 |  Cuba | 7 | 3 | 5 | 15 |
| 15 |  Hungary | 6 | 7 | 7 | 20 |
| 16 |  South Korea | 6 | 4 | 10 | 20 |
| 17 |  Poland | 4 | 5 | 5 | 14 |
| 18 |  Czech Republic | 4 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
| 19 |  Kenya | 4 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| 20 |  Norway | 4 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| 21 |  Jamaica | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| 22 |  Spain | 3 | 8 | 6 | 17 |
| 23 |  Sweden | 3 | 6 | 0 | 9 |
| 24 |  Switzerland | 3 | 4 | 6 | 13 |
| 25 |  Denmark | 3 | 4 | 4 | 11 |
| 26 |  Croatia | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| 27 |  Iran | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 28 |  Serbia | 3 | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| 29 |  Belgium | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 30 |  Bulgaria | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 31 |  Slovenia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 32 |  Uzbekistan | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 33 |  Georgia | 2 | 5 | 1 | 8 |
| 34 |  Chinese Taipei | 2 | 4 | 6 | 12 |
| 35 |  Turkey | 2 | 2 | 9 | 13 |
| 36 |  Greece | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
 Uganda | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| 38 |  Ecuador | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 39 |  Ireland | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
 Israel | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | |
| 41 |  Qatar | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 42 |  Bahamas | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
 Kosovo | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 44 |  Ukraine | 1 | 6 | 12 | 19 |
| 45 |  Belarus | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| 46 |  Romania | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
 Venezuela | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | |
| 48 |  India | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| 49 |  Hong Kong | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 50 |  Philippines | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
 Slovakia | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |
| 52 |  South Africa | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 53 |  Austria | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| 54 |  Egypt | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 55 |  Indonesia | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 56 |  Ethiopia | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
 Portugal | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
| 58 |  Tunisia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 59 |  Estonia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
 Fiji | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
 Latvia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
 Thailand | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| 63 |  Bermuda | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Morocco | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Puerto Rico | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 66 |  Colombia | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| 67 |  Azerbaijan | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| 68 |  Dominican Republic | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 69 |  Armenia | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 70 |  Kyrgyzstan | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 71 |  Mongolia | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 72 |  Argentina | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
 San Marino | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 74 |  Jordan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Malaysia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
 Nigeria | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 77 |  Bahrain | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Lithuania | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Namibia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 North Macedonia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Saudi Arabia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Turkmenistan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 83 |  Kazakhstan | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8 |
| 84 |  Mexico | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| 85 |  Finland | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 86 |  Botswana | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Burkina Faso | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Ghana | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Grenada | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Ivory Coast | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Kuwait | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Moldova | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Syria | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (93 teams) | 340 | 338 | 402 | 1080 | |
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