Latest news with #BigShield
NBC Sports
17 minutes ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
MLB places Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase on paid leave as part of gambling investigation
Another Cleveland Guardians pitcher has landed on paid leave as part of a gambling probe. Via Jeff Passan of the MLB has placed closer Emmanuel Clase on 'non-disciplinary paid leave.' Via Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal, Clase will be out through at least August 31. Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz previously was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave, also through at least August 31. In a statement, the team said it has been informed that no other players or team personnel are expected to be affected by the ongoing situation. It's just the latest sports controversy involving gambling, which has become widespread in recent years via the legalization of sports betting in most American state. The NFL has had a handful of players suspended for betting violations. There has yet to be a pro football scandal involving any attempt to engineer the outcomes of games or prop bets. It feels like it's just a matter of time. There is plenty of inside information that can be easily misused by players, coaches, and other personnel. A problem seems inevitable. Which is the premise of Big Shield, a work of fiction that explores the connection between gambling, the mob, and professional sports. Primarily football, but baseball and basketball are involved as well. And while the purpose of this post wasn't to advertise the book, when in Rome. At Amazon, you can pre-order the ebook for the idiotically low price of 99 cents. it arrives on August 19.
Time of India
21-07-2025
- Health
- Time of India
How does healing work in Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3?
Image via Epic Games. Healing is an essential part of any shooting game, and Fortnite is not an exception as well. This battle royale title features a huge array of healing items, like Medkit, Bandages, Chug Jug, Fish, and etc. to restore health in different manners. However, Epic Games has recently brought a peculiar change in the healing mechanism in Fortnite which is clearly ruining all the fun of the ongoing Chapter 6 Season 3. So, what is this change and why are fans so frustrated over it? Let's find out. Fortnite players can't heal anymore while in the air Mobility is one of the major aspects players need to succeed in Fortnite. Alongside gunplay, building mechanics plays a pivotal role in the game. Amidst heated situations, previously players used to heal while building structures in front of them or while jumping and falling from those structures. But that's going to change now. In the latest v36.20 update , Epic Games has reportedly implemented a huge change in the healing mechanism, as players are unable to heal themselves while being airborne, that means while jumping and falling. The most striking part of this change was that a big change like this wasn't even properly mentioned in the patch notes of the recent update. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like You Won't Believe the Price of These Dubai Apartments Binghatti Developers FZE Get Offer Undo Fornite players are unable to heal while jumping or falling. | Image via Reddit. Fortnite players have always relied on fast-paced combat strategy, where healings are done while fighting the enemies, jumping or falling from the buildings during build battles and aerial escapes to avoid getting vulnerable and wasting time. But this sudden change in the healing mechanism is going to actually change the whole gameplay system. Players now need to find perfect covers in order to initiate healing. This gives the enemies an upper hand against the healing players. Even the rotations will require safer cover and timings. Not only that, players need to heal themselves up fully before escaping from unfavorable situations, which they could easily do while healing. Although, an Epic Game representative has responded to this situation and assured everyone that it is actually a bug and not a permanent change, which is preventing players from consuming Small and Big Shield potions while on the move. However, there has been no official response from Epic Games itself, and players have reported this issue to affect beyond Shield Potions. It's highly unlikely that Epic would ever change the whole gameplay dynamics deliberately. So, fans are eagerly awaiting the developers to bring a plausible fix to this situation. Read More: Fortnite leak reveals potential One Punch Man collaboration Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
NBC Sports
19-07-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Get one of the first copies of Big Shield, free and signed
It arrives one month from today. And you can get one of the first copies printed. This weekend's giveaway will give you the second copy of Big Shield that comes out of the first box of books I receive. (The first copy goes straight to the PFT barn.) To enter, you know the drill. Send an email to florio@ with this subject line: '7/19/25 Big Shield Giveaway.' Throw in an address for sending it, with a preferred inscription. For now, the process of proofreading the galleys continues. It's a careful, detailed, and at times excruciating process. Page by page. Line by line. Word by word. And it's more than a hunt for typos. There's something about seeing the words not in their raw, double-spaced word-processor form but in the final font. Last call. Tweak now or forever hold your piece. I'm more than a third of the way through. I'll get it done soon. And it will be ready to go on August 19. You can preorder the ebook for only 99 cents — which is a moronic decision by me. And that's not a bit. It is a stupidly low price point. Still, I made a New Year's resolution to hold the line for all ebook fiction at 99 cents. The goal is to encourage people to choose to read for enjoyment, after being conditioned to hate reading after being forced to do it in school. Whether it's Father of Mine, Son of Mine, On Our Way Home, or the upcoming Big Shield, you'll regard the 99 cents as the best 99 cents you've spent in a long time. Especially since, these days, there's nothing you spend only 99 cents on. Ninety-nine cents. Ninety-nine. Click it, buy it, and (starting a month from now) read it.
NBC Sports
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC Sports
Here's a small taste of Big Shield
It'll be released only five weeks from today. It's been pre-selling like digital hotcakes. For now, here's a little taste of the syrup. It's one of the early chapters of Big Shield. Chapter 5. Told from the perspective of Johnny Motts, a Vegas-based mobster who has developed a network of pro athletes to whom he pays money for information — before games and, for some of his players, during game. Read it, if you want. Skip it, if you want. Complain about it on social media if you want. (As if you need an invitation.) Pre-order the full, 81-chapter ebook for only 99 cents, if you want. The print edition also can be preordered, for $14.99. Here it is . . . Chapter 5. As told by Johnny Motts. Regarding his interactions with Larry Ballentine, the starting shortstop for the local pro baseball team. (Not MLB.) ——————————————————————————- Didn't I say I hate sending messages? I never said it to nobody that matters. Not that I ever would. They tell me to send a message, I send a message. Even if I wanna do more than that. Maybe I won't need to with this one. Baseball players are smarter. Maybe it comes from knowing how to avoid getting hit by that fucking ball. Hockey players will take a puck to the face and spit out three teeth and smile. Baseball players got some regard for their health. It must be from all that time they sit around and think when not a damn thing is happening. I wish this guy had done a little more thinking. He made a few mistakes with the shit he told me. Shit he was supposed to know. Shit he said he knew. He was wrong about the pitcher who wasn't supposed to make his next start because his elbow was swollen. The guy ended up throwing anyway, and it fucked up the action we put down ahead of time. I could let one slide. He's had a few now. It makes me look bad. I ain't gonna take the heat. The only way to keep my own ass clean was to tell Carmine about it and then wait for whatever he told me to do. So I did. I was hoping he'd be fine with talking to the guy. Carmine wanted a little more than that. Which might make me think twice the next time it's time to tell something to Carmine. When they want me to do more than talk, I'd rather just make the guy gone. Yeah, it could get a little dicey if a ball player on a big league team ends up disappearing. It's still gonna be an issue once I break his arm. He'll have to come up with a damn good story about how it happened. But guys fall down the steps all the time, don't they? Besides, baseball season is almost over. I was hoping that'd be enough to get them to let it float. But they didn't ask what I thought. They never do. I had to wait a few days until the team got back from the road. I told him to call me as soon as he got home. He didn't ask no questions. He knows he's in trouble. The last thing he's gonna do is make things worse by not doing what I say. I didn't tell him I was stopping by. Who knows what he would have done if he thought something was gonna happen? I drove over to his place. He lived alone. I make sure all my guys live alone. The less family they got, the better. I don't need wives or girlfriends or God forbid kids getting in the way of whatever I need to do. Plus, it's easier to trust them to keep their mouths shut if they don't have somebody hanging around who might get wise. I parked a couple streets over. I cussed the whole way to his door. I felt the sweat starting in my pits and up my ass. If I wanted a job like that, I'd be moving refrigerators. I put my finger over the lens on the camera by the door and pushed the bell. I heard feet coming. They stopped. 'Who is it?' 'It's the pizza boy.' I said it in a loud voice. I hoped like hell he remembered the signal. 'I didn't order a pizza,' he said. I could tell by the way it came out that he remembered the signal. 'I think you did. C'mon, it's getting cold.' I kept waiting with my finger on the lens. 'What do you want?' 'I wanna give you your pizza. I just said it's getting cold.' I was starting to think he wasn't gonna let me in. That would make it easier for me to skip this step. I started looking for the best window to bust. The door opened just as I figured out how to get inside. 'Why didn't you tell me you were coming over?' He was holding a bat. 'Working on your swing?' He looked at the wood. 'I just like to be careful.' 'That's the problem. You ain't been. Now, are you gonna invite me in or is this problem we have about to get a little bigger?' He stepped back. I reached out my hand. He was smart enough to know what I needed him to do. He gave me the bat. I took my finger off the camera and went inside. I moved slow. I didn't want him doing nothing dumb. Maybe deep down I did. I held up the bat. 'I ain't swung one of these in years.' I pushed the door shut behind me. It closed with a slam. He jumped at the sound. 'Calm down,' I said. 'I am calm. Are you?' The place smelled like nasty food. I made a face. 'It stinks in here.' 'I just had dinner.' 'You save some for me?' He seemed confused by that. I smiled. 'I can make something else, if you're hungry,' he said. 'I'm always hungry, but not for whatever you cooked.' 'I can make something else. You want some pasta?' He backed away from me as I went deeper into the house. 'You know, us Italians eat more than spaghetti.' 'I didn't mean it like that,' he said. He was nervous. I glanced around to see if he had any more bats close by. I wasn't interested in getting in a sword fight with a couple of Louisville Sluggers. I pulled back my jacket with my free hand so he could see the piece in the front of my pants. 'I'm sorry about the other day. I fucked up.' 'You fucked up more than once, Larry.' 'It won't happen again.' 'You're right about that.' He got a little more nervous. 'I thought I had good information.' 'If I thought you was fucking up on purpose, I wouldn't have rung the bell.' He kept walking backward. He bumped into the wall. 'How many times do I have to tell you to calm down?' 'I can give back some of the money. I have plenty upstairs.' 'I don't want your money. You earned it. Well, most of it. You won't be getting paid for the next two weeks.' 'That's fair.' I could tell he was looking for any reason to think I wasn't gonna do what I was about to do. 'I'm glad you think it's fair. What would you do if you thought it wasn't?' 'What do you mean?' 'What would you do? Call the cops? Sue me?' 'Nothing, I guess.' He'd moved into the kitchen. It smelled even worse in there. I wondered what the fuck he'd eaten. I realized this was taking too long. 'Stand still,' I said. 'I am.' 'Well, keep standing still.' He looked at the gun. He looked back at me. He didn't say nothing else. I thought for a second it was the smartest thing he done all month. Until he did the dumbest thing he ever done in his life.
NBC Sports
12-07-2025
- Business
- NBC Sports
Father of Mine, Son of Mine are always free on Kindle Unlimited
Every one in a while, we'll set the price of Father of Mine and/or Son of Mine to free. There's a way to read both of them for free (or, technically, at no additional charge) any and every day. Kindle Unlimited gives you the unlimited (thus the title) ability to read more than four million books. It's $11.99 a month, with a free 30-day trial. You'll have unfettered access to Father of Mine (mob story set in the '70s), Son of Mine (sequel), On Our Way Home (Christmas/ghost story), and Big Shield (coming August 19). Recently, the total Kindle Unlimited page count for Father of Mine, Son of Mine, and On Our Way Home crossed surpassed 300,000. You also can buy the ebooks for 99 cents each. Including Big Shield, which can be pre-ordered here. (They're going like digital hotcakes.) There's been a clear uptick in book sales lately. Maybe it's positive word of mouth. Maybe the growing throng of positive reviews are moving the needle. Regardless, you'll find few books as cheap as 99 cents. And it gets no cheaper than free (or no additional charge) on Kindle Unlimited.
