Please head over to my Substack (where you may sub for free or offer a small payment) to read about Thursday night's screening of the underestimated 1985 coming-of-age flick Vision Quest.
Yes, the one in which Matthew Modine stripped naked at the end.
It's well worth revisiting as a way of honoring its 40 years (!) in circulation.
Does strategic player rest in main games constitute innovative league management. Basketball fans and experts disagree about the practice of load management. Many teams embrace this practice since it preserves their starters for intense playoff action, yet numerous ticket-buying viewers perceive it disappointing. The debate is heating up.
During the last 10 years, NBA players have proudly finished their season with 82 games. That mindset has changed. Top NBA players LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard now skip multiple games when playing against underperforming teams. The new approach affects fan and analyst behavior, especially in basketball betting, because they need to study player rotation patterns. The team coaches believe planned breaks protect athletes from harm and let them play more seasons.
The numbers don't lie. Multiple studies have confirmed that athletes face significantly higher chances of injury when they continue playing multiple minutes consecutively alongside insufficient recovery. In 2019, the NBA implemented new regulations that cut travel distances and eliminated various games quickly to reduce player exhaustion.
Load management means more than rest to fans because it results in their team's players being benched rather than in the game. Here's why it's an issue:
* Fans continue paying identical ticket prices, since player appearance or absence makes no difference to the admission cost.
* The unpredictability of betting lines becomes a significant issue when players get scratched late in games.
* During regular seasons, the rest of the major league stars cause television viewership numbers to decline because casual fans stop watching.
Muscle rest practices continue to expand throughout professional basketball, with no resolution about their dual nature between necessity and sport-damaging impact.
Sports science professionals monitor every on-court sprint, jump, and playing minute to show that fatigue causes injuries and diminishes athletic performance. As debates around this strategy continue, fans actively discuss its impact on teams and players through communities like Melbet Mongolia FB, where insights, analysis, and the latest sports updates keep everyone engaged. The practice of resting star players delivers questionable benefits, since it could be nothing more than a numerical adjustment.
Athletes experience significant body damage when playing basketball. The accumulation of tiny tears in muscles because of lack of rest heightens the danger of serious injuries, which can include ACL tears and Achilles ruptures. Research demonstrates that athletes exceeding 35 minutes of playing during matches develop extensive long-term medical issues.
The case of Derrick Rose serves as an illustration. His aggressive playing style earned him an MVP award, yet it triggered numerous knee injuries that reduced the length of his peak performance period. Teams apply biometric tracking systems to monitor player fatigue levels, thus enabling players to get proper rest before their performance drops too low.
History shows that teams achieving victory in the NBA championship always maintain their peak condition. The Lakers won the postseason in 2020 because LeBron James received controlled minute distribution throughout the season. The Rockets, led by James Harden, regularly experienced postseason failures after he played more than 40 minutes per game throughout the season.
Benny Drama aka Benito Skinner & Rish Shah are underdressed in Overcompensating. (Image via Prime Video)
ABOVE: Overcompensating debuts May 15 on Prime Video. It's about a closeted former football player. I assume there will be some touchdown. There.
An epic gay American (Images via SeaHorse Press, Delacorte & Viking)
Another loss to report: Author Felice Picano died March 11 at 81.
Poet Bryan Borland reported his death on his blog, writing:
Ian Young called me this afternoon to tell me Felice died “peacefully and not alone.”
I'm proud to have called him a friend. When last I saw him, in April of 2024, he still had mischief in those beautiful, life-electric eyes of his. There's a poem in my chapbook Crow in the Desert, coming out in the next few weeks, that he's a big part of, and the fact that he won't get to read it makes me ache in that homesick kind of way. That feeling of my friend is gone.
Condolences to Mr. Borland and all if Picano's friends and fans.
Picano was a prolific member of the Violet Quill, a gay male literary circle (good primer HERE) co-founded with Andrew Holleran, Robert Ferro, Michael Grumley, Edmund White, Christopher Cox and George Whitmore. Only Holleran and White are still with us.
He was a publisher (founding SeaHorse Press and the Gay Presses), wrote for every prominent LGBTQ+ publication of the '70s and '80s, and published several popular, dishy memoirs.
Among his most successful novels: The Lure (1979) and Like People in History: A Gay American Epic (1995).
Ehrenstein with fellow example of gay excellence, Todd Haynes (Image via Facebook)
David Ehrenstein, a film critic with a never-ending knowledge of the medium who was known for his take-no-prisoners approach on topics about which he was passionate (gay culture, politics), has died.
According to close friends online, Ehrenstein, who had been in an assisted living residence and battling what had seemed to be minor health problems, died early on March 12.
He was 78.
Ehrenstein's The Fablog was for many years a ferocious compendium of all he held sacred, especially his views on gay men in popular culture. He was a Facebook friend and occasionally commented on my posts, which always gave me a start, as he knew his stuff and I dreaded being in disagreement with him.
Ehrenstein had a long career as a writer, but will forever be remembered as the guy who wrote the essay “Obama the 'Magic Negro,'” an opinion piece that made use of a trope but that hit the media like an atom bomb It was widely discussed, dissed, celebrated and even adapted into parodies.
For a deeper dive, check out his Open Secret: Gay Hollywood 1928-1998. Absurdly, Tom Cruise threatened to sue him just for writing that Cruise appealed to men and women. That's it! Just appealed. Sheesh.
In 202o, he published a book of photographs he took through his long career called Photo ops, which was co-authored with his husband, Bill Reed. Reed preceded Ehrenstein in death, dying at 82 on July 7, 2023.
RIP David.
Via Mr. Man:
Everyone watches The White Lotus for the drama, the laughs, and the accents ... but what about the nudity? Yup, people are tuning in for that as well. Nearly every week creator Mike White delivers something for us to chew on, and we thought it was about time that someone ranked the best nude scenes from the hit Max series from yas to best.
But first, what is The White Lotus about? The White Lotus is an anthology series, with each season taking place at a different luxurious White Lotus resort. The first season takes place in Hawaii, the second in Sicily, and the current, third, season in Thailand. Each season includes a murder, and each focuses on over-the-top wealthy resort guests and the staff who cater to them.
See these full uncensored scenes here
So who do we have in store for you below? Relive Theo James’ butt, Will Sharpe’s unclockable bod, Leo Woodall’s gay sex scene, Italian stud Stefano Gianino’s cock, Murray Bartlett and Lukas Gage’s infamous butt munching scene, and more ...
ABOVE: I — well.
BELOW: Keep reading for Trump's trainwreck, gay scuba, a word from Holliday and more ...
