Stories (1235/0)
What Can We Expect from Taya Valkyrie in 2023?
I've been on Vocal for over a year and a half, yet I've never written a solo piece about one of my all-time favorites in women's wrestling, Taya Valkyrie. I've wanted to do so very badly, but I wanted to do it right. I wanted to do justice to the subject in hand, and now, I feel I can do just that. I've been a fan of Taya Valkyrie for about seven or eight years now; when I first learned about her, she was wrestling in Mexico. I had seen a few clips of her on YouTube despite the language barrier (the commentary was in Spanish), and liked what I saw. Not surprisingly, Taya was a ruda (the Spanish term for a female heel in lucha wrestling), and I say that because she plays it so well.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
NHL December 2022 Review
2022 is now in the past, and it ended with an amazing December in the NHL season. While the month saw Alex Ovechkin continue to make history and surpass Mr. Hockey himself, Gordie Howe, for 2nd place on the all-time goals list, the Washington Capitals are not the team making the most noise in the Metropolitan Division. Here are the teams who made the biggest impact (positive or negative) in each of the NHL's four divisions (Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central, and Pacific).
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
Reviewing Charlotte Flair's Return on SmackDown
I spent weeks looking forward to the final SmackDown of 2022, and the reason can be summed up in two words: John Cena. It was announced earlier this month that Cena would return on the aforementioned edition of SmackDown, and it was two weeks prior that Cena stated that he would do so as Kevin Owens' partner against Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn, which (of course) would serve as the show's main event (as well as WWE's final televised match of 2022).
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Viva
Top 10 Lifetime Villainesses of 2022 (Part 2: The Top 5)
As I said while writing the first half of this list, it was hard to whittle this down to the top 10, and even the top five was difficult, a contrast to last year, when I had my top five decided. It took a lot of thought and a lot of time, and a lot of time, but I finally have my top five cemented. With that said, they are as follows:
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Geeks
Top 10 Lifetime Villainesses of 2022 (Part 1: #10 - #6)
Wow! This is my second year doing this list on Vocal, and as amazing as 2021 was, 2022 truly gave us some immensely memorable and awesome Lifetime film villainesses! I did have a devil of a time devising this list, as there were so many I could feature, so whittling it down to the top 10 was quite a task, but I managed to do it. Regarding this year's list, I decided to do something different this year. How different? Well, I can't tell you that. You'll just have to read on and see. One similarity: the top 1o list will be split into two parts, and Part 1 goes as follows:
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Geeks
New Year, Same Objective (Week 17)
We are now down to the final two weeks of the regular season, and it's always at this point that things really pick up. Week 17 continues the holiday stretch, as it enters the New Year. Before 2021, Week 17 was the final week of the season, but now it's the penultimate week, though the importance remains the same. Some teams can come within range of clinching a spot, a division crown, or even home field, while others see their margin of error shrinking...fast. Week 17 will set the stage for the final week, with potential do or die games being created as a result. But before we get into all of that, let's take a look at the playoff picture.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
NFL Week 16 Recap: Do You Believe in Christmas Miracles?!
When the Green Bay Packers lost their Sunday Night Football matchup to the Philadelphia Eagles, I felt my hope for this team decreasing. I was resigned to the realization that this team's season was over; a realization that remained after the Packers beat the Bears. Then I watched the Sunday Night game between the Washington Commanders and the New York Giants, and then something hit me:
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
Can the Steelers Sneak Their Way Into the Playoffs Again?
As a bit of a Pittsburgh Steelers enthusiast, one of the main questions I had entering this season was, "How will this team fare in the first year after Big Ben's retirement?" They did draft a quarterback in the first round of this year's draft: Kenny Pickett out of Pitt, and many Steelers fans expected the team to start him right off the bat. However, the team decided to give the newly-acquired Mitch Trubisky the nod, and as a Packers fan who watched my team torment Trubisky during his time in Chicago, I still can't believe that guy is a Steeler, though I was pulling for him to do well.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
Villainess Review: Chelsey Parker (Blue Bloods)
If there's one thing I've learned while binge-watching the long-running CBS series, Blue Bloods, it's this: the series is chock full of deliciously sinister villainesses. My story collection on Vocal is proof of that, as I've done profiles of four different villainesses from the series, which has aired on CBS since 2010 and is ongoing. The villainess count has been quite low in recent seasons, but it's still pretty high overall, and it includes quite a deranged one in the episode, "Lonely Hearts Club."
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Geeks
Villainess Review: Ann Merriweather & Virginia Grant (Thriller)
The late 1950s-early 1960s featured quite a trend on TV: horror/suspense anthology series. It was the period that gave us the original Twilight Zone, as well as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but the show that I'm focusing on in this review is the underrated series, Thriller. I had been familiar with the show, it popped up in reruns on all sorts of channels, but I didn't actually watch this show until two years ago--August 2020, to be exact. The pandemic was at its highest peak, and the sports pause allowed me to watch a lot of other things, including doing some binge watching. Among the number of shows I did enjoy watching was Thriller, which aired for two seasons between 1960 and 1962.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Geeks
A Stocking Stuffer of Playoff Scenarios (Week 16)
Week 15 was absolutely chaotic, but we fans haven't seen anything yet! Three weeks remain in the NFL season, and we are now in the holiday stage, and that's where so much can happen. In the case of Week 16, it's the NFL's Christmas Week, and in the spirit of giving, a lot of playoff spots can be given out, while other teams could end up with coal in their stockings. As the iconic Gladys Knight once sang, "Let's get down to the real nitty-gritty."
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
NFL Week 15 Recap: So You're Telling Me There's a Chance
For the last few weeks, I semi-lamented over Week 15's Monday Night matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and the Green Bay Packers. The reason was simple: when the schedule makers plan the Monday games, they pick out the biggest marquee matchups for the early months, and as for the December games, they pick out the ones they figure would be highly important. Regarding this game, this was set figuring that the Packers and the Rams would be jockeying for position, even the #1 seed.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced