PrivateTim

Tomato Martini perhaps? All the rage in So Cal now and on Social Media.

Yeah, no one at Harvard smokes pot.....

One demerit for being late! Naw, thanks for even writing and publishing to amuse us. I truly do appreciate the effort it has taken to produce this body of work. I still don't like Finn. What? Boys at Andover had sex? I am shocked, shocked I tell you! Next you will tell me that Phillips Exeter boys, Deerfield boys, Choate boys, Groton boys and Hotchkis boys do too!

The case is pretty well known here obviously. It is funny that the right to a speedy trial that was so important 200 years ago, is now not so important. As long as a defendant is out on bail, the longer the time until it comes to trial, the better for them as passions and notoriety fade. Obviously I am not privy to what the prosecution has, but if they don't have more than the BMWs black box to prove the speed, Alan Jackson will rip the black box to shreds. I doubt he will skate, but neither do I think he will walk. Much of what has been in the foreign or national press on the case is wrong. His parents are painted as "wealthy", which they are not, they are "well off". One foreign newspaper made a big deal of his home, calling is a "lavish mansion" and "sprawling". Here is the lavish, sprawling mansion. His parents bought their first Malibu home, close to this one, in about 2003, so they probably paid a few hundred thousand for a house now worth several million. Owning a home worth millions doesn't make you rich until you sell it. That is one reason passed Prop 13. School teachers bought a house for $45,000 and 20 years later the state said it was worth $2,000,000 and demanding outrageous property taxes from people who made $40k a year. But I digress. Jackson may manage a plea deal. A trial, even when you are brilliant, is risky. 4 years in state, and you'd probably be released in 2, vs a potential of four 20 to life sentences, if convicted on the murder charges. I am glad it isn't my case.

Must be watching the LLWS Regionals.......

I feel like we are talking about different things. You keep referring to the skills and game actions. I am talking about the intangibles of heart and desire. Baseball players don't sit in the dugout during games and pour out their hearts to each other. It is off the field where bonding occurs. It is over the pizza at Bob's Pizza Shack after the game where players bond. And on long road trips. It happens over time. A pitcher who was always standoffish and didn't mix with his teammates off the field probably wouldn't get the 110% effort that a pitcher who was popular and well liked would. I will say it again, it is not the mechanics, the athletic ability, the making the right moves on the field that make champions. It is the commitment to each other that builds champions and championships. If you know anyone who has ever played in the Little League World Series and ask them about their memories, 90% of the memories are off the field memories. Yeah, the #1 memory might be the walk off home run that Louis hit to win the series, but the rest of the memories are about what it was like with their teammates on the journey. If you get to Williamsport that means you've lived nearly 24/7 with these guys for close to a month. That creates bonds that live long past the tournament. I've seen this over and over for many years with teams in multiple sports.

Team sports is about far more than fitness and physical ability. The team with the best talent doesn't always win. Since 1990 (expanded format) only 14 of 64 #1 seeds have won the Super Bowl. Team sports are about chemistry, cohesiveness and propinquity. The great teams have players who up their game so as to not let down their teammates, whom they care about. A team with a loner, someone standoffish, isn't likely to ultimately successful. No, it isn't impossible, just unlikely. You don't need to tell teammates your life story, everyone has secrets as Devin observed, but it does require engagement and commitment to each other.

I am not sure what country you are from, but I think it is hard to speak in absolutes. There are generalities, but then with in each generality are carve outs based on some kind of community. In the U.S., or at least in So Cal, and then in the "national" communities I am involved with, here are the generalities. Boys in Middle School display much more affection for each other than they will by their Senior year in High School. The exceptions are the carve out communities. like the boys/young men in my church, the wrestling community, water polo community (maybe swimming too, but less than in water polo), and some other, select groups. It is common for hugs and physical signs of affection with no stigma attached. I see such comradery in other sports as well, but not to the extent I do in the ones I've mentioned. Maybe it is because I am around those communities more. As to Joel. It is not impossible that at age 10 he would self identify as gay, anecdotally there are lots of examples of such things, but research still suggests that people don't fully form their sexual identity until late puberty. A lot of experimentation and exploration occurs before boys graduate high school, yet very few of the intrepid explorers actually will later self identify as gay or bi. If Joel was as standoffish with classmates and teammates as he has been presented I find it hard to believe he would as successful as he has been in baseball.

Thanks Mark for sticking to the weekly schedule. I know it isn't easy writing to a deadline, even a self imposed one. So Brad... Brad is not stupid. I think Brad would have figured out by now how to deal with (handle) Will to get the results he wants out of Will. I don't think he'd still be the same Charging Bull, making the same blunders. And then Jeremy.... Jeremy just needs to grow up and have adult conversations with other adults. His growth has been retarded by having nothing to do or focus on. His fooling around with fashion things isn't a focus. He needs adult responsibilities, deadlines, even a little pressure maybe to start to mature. Will is still a dick, he is still trying to run other people's and be the King. I don't like Finn.

You're the top! You're the Coliseum You're the top! You're the Louver Museum You're a melody from a symphony by Strauss You're a Bendel bonnet A Shakespeare's sonnet You're Mickey Mouse You're the Nile You're the Tower of Pisa You're the smile on the Mona Lisa

Thanks for the newest sailor boy chapter! Is Granger's new house based on a real Nash work? Did Nash design homes with showers and water closets, or was that poetic license? In any case, it sounds as if Brentwood's new home will be spectacular. The politics are intriguing, but I like it better when people are shooting at each other with 32-pounder guns. Will Granger ever cruise the Caribbean or South Pacific when he is done with Boney?

No I meant "Does anyone think Connley Ranch isn't Joel's..."

No Jack is just a man getting older and wondering what he has missed being with one woman since he was 16 years old. He is 40 years old and noticing his Dad Body, a little sagging in the face and when a 20 something bats her eyes, it fuels his ego, insecurities, curiosity and horniness. Rumor is guys in their 40's can still be horny.

I don't understand these comments. Doesn't anyone think Connley Ranch isn't Joel's "permanent residence" for as long as it needs to be? And that Joel would go to school with Colt and the twins? And play on that school's baseball team? Being a star athlete is about more than getting a scholarship. It is about getting into a school you otherwise might not get into and maybe getting financial aid you otherwise might not.

It's a ranch.

I liked Titanic, but I actually laughed out loud when she said "I'll never let go" then shoved Leo under the water. My best friend was sobbing.

He would not be ineligible in any state I know of. Moving out of the county where he was to a new residence in a different county is different from transferring without leaving the district you were in. There are over 1,600 college baseball programs, D1-JC. Most can offer non-athletic financial aid, in addition to scholarship money. It remains to be seen what happens with NIL in college baseball.

The story is moving very slowly along. Not a criticism, just an observation. We are still in the first 24-48 hours since Joel was thrown out by his mother. Not sure where the wild ass guesses are coming from in what is next or what a certain look or phrase means. Joel is still in shock from the events. It will take him a while to process what has happened and what is next. At least this didn't happen during baseball season, meaning school was in session, that would really add complication. My speculation on Colt being gay has nothing to do with anything textual, it is just a guess on where the storyline could go.

In the poll in the fan forum I called Guy Fellowes the MOST likely and Trevor the LEAST likely. THAT should have been our clue, that like any good mystery writer, the least likely suspect was going to be the guilty one. Who knows why, but maybe someone is chirping in Trevor's ear that Travis cheated him. Or maybe there is another outside source (Alexandra, Elizabeth, etc) that has gotten to Big.

Has it been "a couple of years" in CAP time? If the cheating started in Gap Year, that was maybe less than a year ago in CAP time. The "gap year" lasted what, 3 years in real time? Started in 2020, finished in 2023 or 2024 I think. Jack is hardly the first character in CAP to cheat on a partner, but he seems to be catching more flack for it than his peers in the family.

Another great chapter! I love Fridays!

Stef might not ski, but you don't need to ski to own a chalet in the French or Swiss Alps and I think Stef would love the tight fitting ski apparel of the day and being a snow bunny in the lodge. Of all the major male characters in CAP Jack isn't even top ten in the scumbag behavior department.

The property in Wyoming was commercial, not residential as I recall Skiing/snowboarding is an activity of the wealthy, even if they don't ski or snowboard. A lot of the kids from Malibu. Harvard-Westlake and Palo Alto would be snowboarders, especially the surfers. Growing up everyone I knew had a house in Hawaii, one in Palm Desert and a ski condo. The locations of the ski condos moved with the time. First Aspen, then Vail, then Bachelor Gulch or Deer Valley.

It is too déclassé. 100 years ago it was fine when Wrigley bought it. Mark's also never had any of the characters own ski chalets at Bachelor Gulch, Yellowstone Mountain Club, St. Moritz or even Lake Tahoe.

OMG it must be nice to have time to watch an hour and a half YouTube video! Maybe Travis & Will's house will burn down in the fire in Book 47 of CAP.