BSR

A lot of interesting storylines in this edition of the ATP year-end championships. Feel free to comment on the dubs, but I'll focus on the singles for this post. Novak is in the tougher (imo) red group with Medvedev, Tsitsipas, and Rublev. Rafa is in the green group with Auger-Aliassime, Ruud, and Fritz. I think Novak comes in hungrier than usual, with a desire to assert his spot in the pecking order. Rafa has a chance to end the year #1 if he reaches the final undefeated or wins the tournament. Medvedev & Taitsipas are looking for a good result after disappointing fall indoor seasons. For FAA (Auger-Aliassime is too long to type out all the time), who has had a great indoor season, the WTF would be his biggest title ever. Fritz must be thrilled to get in as the alternate (Alcaraz withdrew, oblique injury). Honestly, I'm not expecting much from Ruud & Rublev. I'm a bit bummed that Holger Rune didn't make it in. With his new baby and a stubborn ab injury, I expected Rafa to withdraw. But I guess he couldn't pass up the chance to win his first ever WTF nor the chance at the year-end #1.

Lloyd Glasspool is playing dubs in the World Tour Finals, which start tomorrow.

Janko Tipsarevic is my favorite ATP underwear model.

A quad-quad combo? Impossible! A quintuple? Impossible! Oh wait, that's what I said about the quad axel? *EmilyLitellavoice* Never mind.

As always, the "different advice" is hilarious, but on a serious note, the parents are real assholes.

OK, most people don't think of an adult lioness as cute, but this is such a beautiful moment that I had to post:

You have to open this in Twitter to see the joke. Not sure why it was labeled as sensitive content.

This bear cub is the cutest little package thief.

Accordibg to IMDB reviews. Los agitadores is a movie about ... nothing really, just scene after scene of a bunch of straight guys doing homoerotic stuff. I'm praying it comes to Netflix.

I take it you've never made the half-hour drive to the Lotto store just across the California state line. The Powerball jackpot is up to $1 billion (yes, with a "b"). Mind you, you'll probably wait in line for 3+ hours to buy a ticket.

Thanks for the video. Maybe Beverley Leslie wasn't gay-positive enough for some, but gotta say, the character made me bust a gut. Thanks for the many laughs, Beverley. Rest in peace, Leslie Jordan.

Jennifer Aniston gained notoriety because her nipples were often very prominently displayed on episodes of Friends. My guess is that Borna didn't realize his nipples were so noticeably on display during the match but then saw this photo afterward. Here's another photo of Borna's nipples ...

A bit of an odd tweet from Borna Coric, not that I'm complaining of course.

Andrey Kuznetsov was off the tour for a while because of a congenital hip injury. He's back but struggling, current rank #335.

Back when Yuzuru Hanyu was reportedly working on the quad axel, I thought it wasn't humanly possible. Well whaddya know ... the revolutions are so fast I can't even keep count. Only on slow-mo can I see the 4.5 revolutions.

Bad dog! Very bad dog!

Gotta click on the photo to get it ...

Best of luck with your roscón de reyes. Here's a great recipe and video done by a guy who's been making roscón since he was a little kid. It looks a bit messy if you're kneading the dough by hand; probably much easier if you have a stand mixer. PS: what series featured roscón? Velvet?

In our family, ube halaya was the traditional Christmas specialty. Since back in those days ube jam was quite expensive and difficult to get, we made ube halaya only once a year. Nowadays, you can find frozen ube (much better for halaya than ube jam) for a very reasonable price at the local Filipino supermarket. For those unfamiliar, ube is a purple yam grown in the Philippines and Indonesia. Ube halaya is a dessert made with ube, condensed milk, and either evaporated milk or coconut milk. Pictures of the raw yam & the finished dessert:

I shan't give away any spoilers but will say that it all makes sense once you see the final episode of the original Merlí.

"I have money arranged for the bail, but since it is from out of state, a California resident is required to co-signer." Huh, he must have omitted the step involving the Nigerian prince.

JJ Wolf lost today's final in Florence, but at least he looked good doing it. Because tennis demands height (for the serve) and speed, most players are long and lean. If you like shorter guys with more curves, it's slim pickins. Fortunately, there are a few exceptions ...

Bruno and Pol are the sexiest gay couple I've ever seen on screen. Fortunately, I found the skinnydipping scene from the first episode of Sapere Aude. The English subtitles aren't the best, but no self-respecting gay man watches this scene for the dialogue, LOL.

The pictures of the rentals look beautiful and historic, not really spooky.