BSR

Could it be that he hasn't come to a decision yet? According to nfl.com, he is in the process of figuring it out. Honestly, I don't see him coming back. Then again, I said that 3 seasons ago.

I'm so accustomed to the crowd cheering against my fave Novak that I forget that a hostile crowd does bother players. In his postmatch presser, Medvedev expresses just how hurt he felt by the crowd cheering his double-faults and unforced errors. I doubt Medvedev is going to skip Roland Garros or Wimbledon to play Moscow, if for no other reason than they're scheduled far apart on the ATP calendar. But crowd hostility is something that Medvedev will have to learn to overcome.

If you don't care that much about your future relationship with the provider, just ghost him. You've told him you're simply too busy. You don't owe him any more of an explanation than that. If you do care about future relations with this provider, give him an idea of the demands on your time & energy to whatever degree of detail you feel comfortable. Just your 12-hour workday+commute would wipe out most people. He should understand. I wouldn't tell him to get a job (yikes); leave it to him to figure out his financial situation. You have so much to cope with right now. Eliminating the stress of a needy provider is the easiest one to deal with.

Probably best to avoid mentioning what agreed-to activities changed, but can you tell us how much he increased the price? I assume you mentioned your agreement via text. How did he justify the sudden rate hike? Or did his evil twin send those texts??

I've read that Australian players feel a special kind of pressure at their home Slam. There have been Aussies good enough to win other Slams during the 44-year drought (Rafter, Hewitt, Stosur), but they couldn't do it at home. I don't know if Barty never really felt that pressure or if she did but managed to overcome it. As much as fans & pundits talk about the Next Gen 3 -- Medvedev, Zverev, and Tsitsipas -- The Big 3 (at least 2 of 3) have won 6 of the last 8 Slams. Coming back from down 2 sets to love doesn't happen often, but this is the 2nd time a Big 3 did it against a Next Gen 3 (Novak vs. Tsitsipas 2021 Roland Garros). To think, Rafa came into this Australian Open thinking it might be his last one. Now after winning, and looking fresher & stronger in the 5th than his 10 years younger opponent, he wants to play for years and years to come. I do have to wonder what Novak's next move will be. It's gotta be killing him that Rafa jumped to the lead in the Slam race, especially at Novak's best Slam and Rafa's worst. After 2 years of refusing surgery for an elbow problem, Novak finally caved and submitted to surgery. Now that he's fallen behind Rafa and he knows he can't count on medical exemptions or prior infection, will Novak cave and submit to the jab?

Is that Nile Miami's The One? If so, it started at an asking price of $500 million. Knocked down to just $295 million ... think of all the money you're saving!!

Since each situation is different with its own unique circumstances, I cannot make any generalizations about all women in abusive marriages. I do know that abuse doesn't just start one day out of the wild blue yonder. Troubling behaviors usually precede the start of physical beatings: a need to know where you are every single minute, extreme jealousy of your friends, anger/resentment over how much time you spend with them, telling you nothing you do is right or good enough, insulting or demeaning you especially in public, destroying your belongings or property as payback for a grievance, and many more ... it's a long list of ugly behaviors, and I have to think a woman who puts up with all that must have some serious issues. Not to judge because we all have issues. But we all have to own them, no exceptions. We must not judge women who are in abusive relationships because fear of judgment might prevent them from telling someone or seeking help. At the same time, an abused woman has to understand that she is the only one who can put an end to the abuse. She has to leave the house, leave him, report him to the police, and face an uncertain future alone. That might be hard or even terrifying, but she has to make that decision and take that first step. Nobody can do it for her. This thread is getting really tiresome. I've asked umpteen times yet still no evidence that Hefner's "girlfriends" were coerced to do anything against their will. However controlling, manipulative, and all around horrible Hefner was, these women still could have said no & left. You can scream, "They were victims!!" eighty-five quadrillion times, and you still won't change my take on the matter. Scream all you like, but I'm out.

I am not defending Hefner as much as I am defending presumption of innocence. Let me rephrase: to date, no evidence has come out that Hefner made those photos/videos public (which would be a crime) or that he used the threat of publishing them to coerce his "girlfriends" to do things they didn't want to do (also a crime). If he kept a scrapbook for his personal viewing pleasure, that's not a crime. Also, I oppose the Cult of Victimhood. I hate people who play the victim because they refuse to take responsibility for their lives. Hefner's girlfriends were free to say no and were free to leave. They made choices that they regret. They were not victims of the patriarchy or the creepy gross geriatric. They were victims of their own bad decisions.

Hefner manipulated his "girlfriends," but manipulation, while gross, is not coercion. It's also gross that he took pictures & video of his GFs without their knowledge. While they might have feared he'd use the pix as revenge porn, is there any evidence that he ever did? Or that he even threatened to do so? It sounds like he kept the photos for his private viewing pleasure.

Did someone mention "staged cat fights"?

"Centuries of power structures, patriarchy" ... it's all so vague. What exactly prevented these women from saying NO & leaving? A housemate in college was raped. She didn't just "feel" she couldn't say no; the rapist held a knife to her throat. The sex slave I mentioned upthread didn't just "feel" she couldn't leave. Her violent pimp threatened to go back to the old neighborhood & kill her family. I keep asking time & again what exactly prevented Hefner's "girlfriends" from leaving. Coercion need not be as violent as a knife to the throat or a death threat. Yes, Hefner had far more money & power than these women. Yes, he legally protected himself with pricey lawyers. While those factors put Hefner at an advantage, they fall far short of kidnapping or imprisonment. Rape & sex slavery are serious charges. If these women are going to make those allegations, they should back it up with something more than a vague "feeling" or a copy & paste from a gender studies reading assignment.

Your "blind squirrel" metaphor falls apart when you consider the NY Times' decision to bury the story. The editors of the revered Gray Lady didn't just happen to overlook the story. They made a deliberate decision to bury it because it would hurt Biden in the upcoming election. Just as they made a deliberate decision to push the lie that Brian Sicknick was viciously murdered. Yet the ever so enlightened chattering class sneers at the NY Post while prostrating themselves before their Oracle of Truth, the NYT. It's not a matter of truth vs. falsehood or journalism vs. sensationalism. Liberals denigrate one paper while worshipping the other because one tells them what they want to hear while the other refuses to toe that line.

https://twitter.com/luriddigs/status/1487532003675164674?s=20&t=f3YhRXtBulwCZirOGnMb2w

But the NY Post was right about the Hunter Biden laptop story when the NY Times and other "respectable" news orgs were frantically trying to bury the story.

More gender studies propaganda ... since you refuse to answer what exactly prevented these women from saying "no" or "stop" and then leaving, I will answer it for you: nothing, absolutely nothing. Just because some wokety-woke gender studies professor tells you that you're a victim, that doesn't mean you are one. If a creepy geriatric is telling you to do something you don't want to do, say NO, get dressed, and leave. And just like that, you cease to be a victim. All the centuries of power structures and patriarchy vanish the moment you take responsibility for your life and your decisions. It's that simple.

Please, enough of the gender studies theory. I keep asking you what exactly prevented these women from saying "no" or "stop" and then leaving. Your refusal to respond to that question indicates that you don't like the answer.

It sounds like this escort and I agree on many political issues. That said, I don't pay an escort $hundreds/hour to talk politics. I can do that on my own for free.

How about Hire Calling?

He claims to speak English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, and German. If escorting doesn't work out for him, perhaps he should try the U.N.

I saw on today's schedule that the quad men's singles final is on Rod Laver. Kudos to Tennis Australia for showcasing wheelchair tennis. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is the first time a wheelchair final has been put on the big stadium at a Slam. Wheelchair tennis has become more popular over time. Whereas years ago it looked like only friends & family of the 2 players were in the stands, now the matches attract a decent crowd. I'm sure a far greater factor is that one of the finalists is Australian, the very charismatic Dylan Alcott. I'm curious to see how many fans will be in the stands for this match. PS: I just read that Alcott plans to retire after this Australian Open. Golden Slam winner and Australian of the Year playing the last match of his career, no wonder TA put the final on Laver.

As one standup comedian put it, "All my friends are married. I really envy them. I can't wait to get married ... so I can stop working out."

Whatever beef a player has with another player, he never airs it out in public. Or rather, almost never. It sounds like the doubles match between the Aussie Ks (Kokkanokis & Novak's new BFF Kyrgios) turned into a circus atmosphere, much to the chagrin of opponent Michael Venus. He holds nothing back in his assessment of Kyrgios ...

Another astonishing stat about the unreal dominance of the Big 3 ...

Honestly, I also found this comment to be rude, as well as unnecessarily nasty. I'm glad that @Andie40 felt comfortable sharing his experience because I found both his account and the discussion it sparked interesting. If this comment was meant as a joke, it bombed. PS: I'm going to take a piss now. Oh, maybe I didn't need to announce that.