title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that began affecting the industry in mid-March 2020, WWE had to present the majority of its programming from a behind closed doors set. Initially, Raw and SmackDown's television shows and PPVs were done at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. A limited number of Performance Center trainees and friends and family members of the wrestlers were later utilized to serve as the live audience. In late August, these programs were moved to a bio-secure bubble called the WWE ThunderDome. The select live audience was no longer utilized as the bubble allowed fans to attend the events virtually for free and be seen on the nearly 1,000 LED boards within the arena. Additionally, the ThunderDome utilized various special effects to further enhance wrestlers' entrances, and arena audio was mixed with that of the chants from the virtual fans. After being hosted at Orlando's Amway Center and Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, the ThunderDome was relocated to the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida in April 2021.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: On May 21, WWE announced that they would be leaving the ThunderDome and returning to live touring in mid-July, thus Hell in a Cell was the final pay-per-view to be presented from the ThunderDome, and subsequently, the final pay-per-view in WWE's residency at the Yuengling Center. Additionally, the 2021 event made Hell in a Cell the only PPV to be held twice in the ThunderDome.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: The show comprised seven matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. The matches resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, "Monday Night Raw" and "Friday Night SmackDown."


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: At WrestleMania Backlash, Bobby Lashley defeated Drew McIntyre and Braun Strowman to retain the WWE Championship. The following night on "Raw", MVP and Lashley issued an open challenge to anyone on the Raw roster except McIntyre and Strowman. Later in the main event, it was revealed that the open challenge was just to face Lashley rather than a title match. The New Day's Kofi Kingston answered the challenge and defeated Lashley thanks to McIntyre's distraction. The following week, WWE official Adam Pearce scheduled a match between McIntyre and Kingston where the winner would face Lashley for the WWE Championship at Hell in a Cell, only for it to end in a no-contest after interference from Lashley and MVP. A rematch was scheduled for the following week where if Lashley and/or MVP were at ringside or interfered in the match, Lashley would be suspended for 90 days without pay; McIntyre defeated Kingston to earn another title match against Lashley at Hell in a Cell. During the match contract signing on the June 7 episode, the match was made a Hell in a Cell match with a further stipulation that this would be McIntyre's last chance at the WWE Championship as long as Lashley was the champion.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: At WrestleMania Backlash, Rhea Ripley defeated Charlotte Flair and Asuka to retain the Raw Women's Championship. The following night on "Raw", Flair confronted WWE officials Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville, demanding another opportunity at Ripley for the championship as Flair did not take the pin in the triple threat match. Pearce and Deville stated that if Flair won her match against Asuka, they would consider it. However, Flair lost the match thanks to a distraction from Ripley. The following week, however, Flair defeated Asuka. A match between Ripley and Flair for the title was then scheduled for Hell in a Cell.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: At WrestleMania Backlash, Bianca Belair defeated Bayley to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship. On the following "SmackDown", WWE official Sonya Deville hosted a parade of champions to celebrate SmackDown's champions. Bayley interrupted, taking issue that she was not acknowledged as the longest-reigning SmackDown Women's Champion and claimed that Belair had cheated at Backlash by using her hair as a weapon. On the June 4 episode, Belair challenged Bayley to a rematch at Hell in a Cell with the title on the line and Bayley accepted. Two weeks later, Belair changed the stipulation of their match to a Hell in a Cell match.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: During Night 1 of WrestleMania 37, Cesaro defeated Seth Rollins. On the following "SmackDown", Rollins interfered and attacked Cesaro during the latter's match, with Rollins proclaiming that their rivalry was not over. Cesaro defeated Rollins in a rematch on the May 7 episode, which also earned himself a Universal Championship match against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania Backlash, which Cesaro lost. Following the title match, Rollins came out and brutally attacked Cesaro, smashing his arm in a steel chair. On the following "SmackDown", Cesaro attempted to challenge Reigns to a rematch for the title only for Rollins to attack Cesaro once again, this time resulting in Cesaro being taken out on a stretcher. On the June 18 episode, another match between Cesaro and Rollins was scheduled for Hell in a Cell.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: During Night 2 of WrestleMania 37, Kevin Owens defeated Sami Zayn, who was accompanied by YouTube personality Logan Paul. On the following "SmackDown", Zayn claimed that he lost to Owens because he was distracted wondering if Paul was okay. Zayn then called out Owens for a rematch. Owens defeated Zayn by count-out after Zayn retreated from the ring, after which, Owens brought Zayn back to the ring and performed a Stunner on him. Zayn would continue to be a hindrance to Owens over the next several weeks, and another match between the two was scheduled for Hell in a Cell.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: On the June 4 episode of "SmackDown", The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) challenged Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, however, the match ended in a controversial finish in which the referee did not notice that Jimmy had his shoulder up during the pin. The Usos were granted a rematch later that same night, but during the rematch, The Usos' cousin and Universal Champion, Roman Reigns, interfered by attacking the Mysterios, not wanting The Usos to embarrass themselves again. Following the match, Reigns brutally attacked Rey's son Dominik, which Jimmy felt Reigns took too far, also furthering tensions between Reigns and Jimmy. The following week, Rey confronted Reigns and challenged him to a Hell in a Cell match, wanting to take revenge on Reigns for what he did to Dominik, and a brawl ensued. The next day on "Talking Smack", Reigns' special counsel Paul Heyman accepted Rey's challenge on Reigns' behalf with the Universal Championship on the line. On June 17, however, Rey posted to Twitter, stating that he did not want to wait until Sunday, and it was announced that the match would instead take place on the June 18 episode of "SmackDown", marking the first Hell in a Cell match to take place on an episode of "SmackDown"; Reigns defeated Rey in 16 minutes to retain the title.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: During the Hell in a Cell Kickoff pre-show, one-half of the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, Natalya (accompanied by her tag team partner, Tamina), faced Mandy Rose (accompanied by Dana Brooke). In the end, Natalya forced Rose to submit to the Sharpshooter to win the match.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: The actual pay-per-view opened with Bianca Belair defending the SmackDown Women's Championship against Bayley in a Hell in a Cell match. During the early half of the match, as Belair attacked Bayley with her ponytail, Bayley blocked the attacks with a chair. Later, Bayley tied Belair's ponytail on the bottom ring rope and as Bayley attempted to attack Belair, Bayley tripped and fell onto the steel steps. Bayley would also bite the arm of Belair. In the end, Belair performed the Kiss of Death on Bayley on a ladder to retain the title.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: Next, Seth Rollins faced Cesaro. During Cesaro's entrance, Rollins attacked Cesaro from behind and a brawl ensued in the ring where the match officially began. In the end, as Cesaro attempted a Cesaro Swing on Rollins, Rollins performed a roll-up on Cesaro to win the match.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: After that, Alexa Bliss faced Shayna Baszler (accompanied by Nia Jax and Reginald). In the closing moments, Bliss hypnotized Jax into slapping Reginald, which distracted Baszler. Bliss took advantage and performed Twisted Bliss on Baszler to win the match.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: In the next match, Sami Zayn faced Kevin Owens. Throughout the match, Zayn began to target Owens' left arm. In the end, Zayn performed a running knee to the back of Owens' head and a Helluva Kick on Owens to win the match.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: In the penultimate match, Rhea Ripley defended the Raw Women's Championship against Charlotte Flair. Before the match began, while the referee was raising the title to hype the match, Flair snatched the title from the referee, taunted Ripley by throwing the title at her and attacked Ripley. The climax brought the match outside the ring where Flair tried to attack Ripley by the announce table, however, Ripley grabbed the top cover of the announce table, pulled it off, and slammed it into Flair's head. Ripley was disqualified, thus Flair won the match but did not win the title as titles do not change hands on a disqualification unless stipulated.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: In the main event, Bobby Lashley (accompanied by MVP) defended the WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre in a Last Chance Hell in a Cell match. Midway through the match, the referee was knocked out. McIntyre called for the referee guarding the cell door on the outside of the cage to take over and officiate the match. MVP used the opportunity to get inside the cage when the referee opened the cell door. After more fighting, McIntyre set up for the Claymore Kick, but MVP held his leg to prevent him from attacking Lashley. As McIntyre tried freeing himself from MVP's grip, Lashley rolled up McIntyre with a schoolboy to win and retain the title. As per the stipulation, McIntyre can no longer challenge for the WWE Championship as long as Lashley is the champion.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: Hell in a Cell 2021 received mixed reviews from fans and critics, with criticism for the Alexa Bliss vs. Shayna Bazler match in particular. Christopher Jeter of FANSIDED wrote, "This attempt to make the audience believe that Bliss is so frightening that even Shayna Baszler is flustered by her was bad enough when fans had to sit through that Alexa’s Playground segment a couple of weeks ago on "Raw". Now, they had to endure Bliss literally laughing off Baszler’s offense — including the arm stomp that used to write wrestlers off of TV in NXT — and, sigh, Alexa hypnotizing Baszler and Nia Jax. If nothing else, Bliss pinning Baszler clean should signal the end of this nonsense, or at least Baszler’s involvement in it."


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: Anthony Mango of the Bleacher Report wrote, "One of the most laughably bad things on WWE television recently was the setup for the feud between Alexa Bliss and Shayna Baszler. Considering how awful most things have been lately, it says a lot that this stuff with Lilly the puppet was a standout bad storyline. At least this would be WWE's last chance to play around with the ThunderDome special effects and go out with a bang, right? Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Nothing that happened here couldn't have happened in any other environment. The only interesting moment was Bliss hypnotizing Nia Jax and forcing her to slap Reginald, but that wasn't good enough to save this segment. This could have had some interesting special effects, gone in an interesting direction or even seen the return of Bray Wyatt. However, if you were to describe this to someone, you'd be left wondering what to say other than "Bliss pinned Baszler." ".


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: The DQ ending to the Raw Women's Championship match was also not liked. Mango praised the match, but said that 'the ending wasn't quite as fantastic'. He added, "Disqualifications shouldn't happen on pay-per-views. There are far too many on television as it is, and the special events should be an exception to that booking where there is more finality to everything."


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: Dave Meltzer of the "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" rated the main event 4 stars, the highest-rated match on the show. Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley was rated 3.25 stars, Bayley vs. Belair was rated 3.5 stars (same as for Cesaro vs. Rollins), Zayn vs. Owens was rated 3.75 stars, Natalya vs. Mandy Rose on the kickoff show was rated 3 stars and Bliss vs. Baszler received a poor rating of 1 star, the lowest on the show. Additionally Elton Jones Heavy Sports of named the Lashley vs. McIntyre Hell in a Cell match, the match of the night with a rating of 4 stars out of 5 and gave the whole show a good rating of 7.5 out of 10.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: On the following episode of "Raw", Bobby Lashley gloated about not having to defend the WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre ever again. The New Day's Kofi Kingston, who had defeated Lashley in a non-title match on the May 17 episode of "Raw" and also stated that he never received a rematch after losing the WWE Championship in October 2019 at SmackDown's 20th Anniversary, came out and challenged Lashley for the title and Lashley accepted. The match was subsequently set for Money in the Bank.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: Also on the following episode of "Raw", Charlotte Flair confronted Raw Women's Champion Rhea Ripley and claimed she was "proud" of Ripley and told her that she had never seen Ripley as a "strategic champion". WWE official Sonya Deville then scheduled a rematch between the two at Money in the Bank.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: Qualifying matches for the men's and women's Money in the Bank ladder matches also began on the following episode of "Raw". Alexa Bliss, Shayna Baszler, and Nia Jax competed in a tag team match where the two members of the winning team would be entered into the women's ladder match. Nikki Cross, now incorporating a new superhero gimmick and a nickname of Nikki A.S.H. (short for Almost a Super Hero), teamed with Bliss and they defeated Baszler and Jax to qualify. For the men's match, Ricochet, Riddle and John Morrison qualified while Drew McIntyre lost his qualifying match to Riddle. However, he won a last chance triple threat match the following week to earn Raw's final spot in the men's ladder match.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: SmackDown Women's Champion Bianca Belair and Cesaro continued to feud with Bayley and Seth Rollins, respectively. On the following episode of "SmackDown", Bayley and Rollins defeated Belair and Cesaro in a mixed tag team match in which Bayley pinned Belair. This led to a rematch between Belair and Bayley being scheduled for Money in the Bank as an "I quit" match. However, on July 9, WWE announced that Bayley suffered a legitimate injury while training that would sideline her for up to nine months; this was followed by an announcement that a replacement would be named for Bayley and the title match would be a regular singles match held on the July 16 episode. Carmella was revealed as Bayley's replacement.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: Seth Rollins and Cesaro were also scheduled for a rematch on the July 9 episode, which was also a qualifier match for the men's Money in the Bank ladder match. Rollins again defeated Cesaro, thus qualified for the match.


title: Hell in a Cell (2021)

text: On the July 2 episode of "SmackDown", Kevin Owens defeated Sami Zayn in a rematch, which was contested as a Last Man Standing match. This was also a qualifying match for the men's Money in the Bank ladder match.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: The Second Battle of Kharkov or Operation Fredericus was an Axis counter-offensive in the region around Kharkov against the Red Army Izium bridgehead offensive conducted 12–28 May 1942, on the Eastern Front during World War II. Its objective was to eliminate the Izium bridgehead over Seversky Donets or the "Barvenkovo bulge" () which was one of the Soviet offensive's staging areas. After a winter counter-offensive that drove German troops away from Moscow but depleted the Red Army's reserves, the Kharkov offensive was a new Soviet attempt to expand upon their strategic initiative, although it failed to secure a significant element of surprise.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: On 12 May 1942, Soviet forces under the command of Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launched an offensive against the German 6th Army from a salient established during the winter counter-offensive. After a promising start, the offensive was stopped on 15 May by massive airstrikes. Critical Soviet errors by several staff officers and by Joseph Stalin, who failed to accurately estimate the 6th Army's potential and overestimated their own newly raised forces, facilitated a German pincer attack on 17 May which cut off three Soviet field armies from the rest of the front by 22 May. Hemmed into a narrow area, the 250,000-strong Soviet force inside the pocket was exterminated from all sides by German armored, artillery and machine gun firepower as well as 7,700 tonnes of air-dropped bombs. After six days of encirclement, Soviet resistance ended, with the remaining troops being killed or surrendering.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: The battle was an overwhelming German victory, with 280,000 Soviet casualties compared to just 20,000 for the Germans and their allies. The German Army Group South pressed its advantage, encircling the Soviet 28th Army on 13 June in Operation Wilhelm and pushing back the 38th and 9th Armies on 22 June in Operation Fridericus II as preliminary operations to Case Blue, which was launched on 28 June as the main German offensive on the Eastern Front in 1942.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: By late February 1942, the Soviet winter counter-offensive, had pushed German forces from Moscow on a broad front and then ended in mutual exhaustion. Stalin was convinced that the Germans were finished and would collapse by the spring or summer 1942, as he said in his speech of 7 November 1941. Stalin decided to exploit this perceived weakness on the Eastern Front by launching a new offensive in the spring. Stalin's decision faced objections from his advisors, including the Chief of the Red Army General Staff, General Boris Shaposhnikov, and generals Aleksandr Vasilevsky and Georgy Zhukov, who argued for a more defensive strategy. Vasilevsky wrote "Yes, we were hoping for [German reserves to run out], but the reality was more harsh than that". According to Zhukov, Stalin believed that the Germans were able to carry out operations simultaneously along two strategic axes, he was sure that the opening of a spring offensives along the entire front would destabilise the German Army, before it had a chance to initiate what could be a mortal offensive blow on Moscow. Despite the caution urged by his generals, Stalin decided to try to keep the German forces off-balance through "local offensives".


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: After the conclusion of the winter offensive, Stalin and the Soviet Armed Forces General Staff (Stavka) believed that the eventual German offensives would aim for Moscow, and also with a big offensive to the south, mirroring Operation Barbarossa and Operation Typhoon in 1941. Although the Stavka believed that the Germans had been defeated before Moscow, the seventy divisions which faced Moscow remained a threat. Stalin, most generals and front commanders believed that the principal effort would be a German offensive towards Moscow. Emboldened by the success of the winter offensive, Stalin was convinced that local offensives in the area would wear down German forces, weakening German efforts to mount another operation to take Moscow. Stalin had agreed to prepare the Red Army for an "active strategic defence" but later gave orders for the planning of seven local offensives, stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. One area was Kharkov, where action was originally ordered for March.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: Early that month, the Stavka issued orders to Southwestern Strategic Direction headquarters for an offensive in the region, after the victories following the Rostov Strategic Offensive Operation (27 November – 2 December 1941) and the Barvenkovo–Lozovaya Offensive Operation (18–31 January 1942) in the Donbas region. The forces of Marshal Semyon Timoshenko and Lieutenant General Kirill Moskalenko penetrated German positions along the northern Donets River, east of Kharkov. Fighting continued into April, with Moskalenko crossing the river and establishing a tenuous bridgehead at Izium. In the south, the Soviet 6th Army had limited success defending against German forces, which managed to keep a bridgehead of their own on the east bank of the river. Catching the attention of Stalin, it set the pace for the prelude to the eventual offensive intended to reach Pavlohrad and Sinelnikovo and eventually Kharkov and Poltava.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: By 15 March, Soviet commanders introduced preliminary plans for an offensive towards Kharkov, assisted by a large number of reserves. On 20 March, Timoshenko held a conference in Kupiansk to discuss the offensive and a report to Moscow, prepared by Timoshenko's chief of staff, Lieutenant General Ivan Baghramian, summed up the conference, although arguably leaving several key intelligence features out. The build-up of Soviet forces in the region of Barvenkovo and Vovchansk continued well into the beginning of May. Final details were settled following discussions between Stalin, Stavka and the leadership of the Southwestern Strategic Direction led by Timoshenko throughout March and April, with one of the final Stavka directives issued on 17 April.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: By 11 May 1942, the Red Army was able to allocate six armies under two fronts, amongst other formations. The Southwestern Front had the 21st Army, 28th Army, 38th Army and the 6th Army. By 11 May, the 21st Tank Corps had been moved into the region with the 23rd Tank Corps, with another 269 tanks. There were also three independent rifle divisions and a rifle regiment from the 270th Rifle Division, concentrated in the area, supported by the 2nd Cavalry Corps in Bogdanovka. The Soviet Southern Front had the 57th and 9th armies, along with thirty rifle divisions, a rifle brigade and the 24th Tank Corps, the 5th Cavalry Corps and three Guards rifle divisions. At its height, the Southern Front could operate eleven guns or mortars per kilometre of front.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: Forces regrouping in the sector ran into the "rasputitsa", which turned much of the soil into mud. This caused severe delays in the preparations and made reinforcing the Southern and Southwestern Front take longer than expected. Senior Soviet representatives criticised the front commanders for poor management of forces, an inability to stage offensives and for their armchair generalship. Because the regrouping was done so haphazardly, the Germans received some warning of Soviet preparations. Moskalenko, the commander of the 38th Army, placed the blame on the fact that the fronts did not plan in advance to regroup and showed a poor display of front management. (He commented afterwards that it was no surprise that the "German-Fascist command divined our plans".)


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: The primary Soviet leader was Marshal Semyon Timoshenko, a veteran of World War I and the Russian Civil War. Timoshenko had achieved some success at the Battle of Smolensk in 1941 but was eventually defeated. Timoshenko orchestrated the victory at Rostov during the winter counter-attacks and more success in the spring offensive at Kharkov before the battle itself. Overseeing the actions of the army was Military Commissar Nikita Khrushchev.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: The average Soviet soldier suffered from inexperience. With the Soviet debacle of the previous year ameliorated only by the barest victory at Moscow, most of the original manpower of the Red Army had been killed, wounded or captured by the Germans, with casualties of almost 1,000,000 just from the Battle of Moscow. The typical soldier in the Red Army was a conscript and had little to no combat experience, and tactical training was practically nonexistent. Coupled with the lack of trained soldiers, the Red Army also began to suffer from the loss of Soviet industrial areas, and a temporary strategic defence was considered necessary.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: The General Chief of Staff, Marshal Vasilevsky, recognised that the Soviet Army of 1942 was not ready to conduct major offensive operations against the well-trained German army, because it did not have quantitative and qualitative superiority and because leadership was being rebuilt after the defeats of 1941. (This analysis is retrospective and is an analysis of Soviet conduct during their strategic offensives in 1942, and even beyond, such as Operation Mars in October 1942 and the Battle of Târgul Frumos in May 1944.)


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: Unknown to the Soviet forces, the German 6th Army, under the newly appointed General Paulus, was issued orders for Operation Fredericus on 30 April 1942. This operation was to crush the Soviet armies within the Izyum salient south of Kharkov, created during the Soviet spring offensives in March and April. The final directive for this offensive, issued on 30 April, gave a start date of 18 May.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: The Germans had made a major effort to reinforce Army Group South, and transferred Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, former commander of Army Group Center during Operation Barbarossa and Operation Typhoon. On 5 April 1942, Hitler issued Directive 41, which made the south the main area of operations under Case Blue, the summer campaign, at the expense of the other fronts. The divisions of Army Group South were brought up to full strength in late April and early May. The strategic objective was illustrated after the victories of Erich von Manstein and the 11th Army in the Crimea. The main objective remained the Caucasus, its oil fields and as a secondary objective, the city of Stalingrad.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: The plan to begin Operation Fredericus in April led to more forces being allocated to the area of the German 6th Army. Unknown to the Soviet forces, the German army was regrouping in the center of operations for the offensive around Kharkov. On 10 May, Paulus submitted his final draft of Operation Fredericus and feared a Soviet attack. By then, the German army opposite Timoshenko was ready for the operation towards the Caucasus.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: The Red Army offensive began at 6:30 a.m. on 12 May 1942, led by a concentrated hour-long artillery bombardment and a final twenty-minute air attack upon German positions. The ground offensive began with a dual pincer movement from the Volchansk and Barvenkovo salients at 7:30 am. The German defences were knocked out by air raids, artillery-fire and coordinated ground attacks. The fighting was so fierce that the Soviets inched forward their second echelon formations, preparing to throw them into combat as well. Fighting was particularly ferocious near the Soviet village of Nepokrytaia, where the Germans launched three local counter-attacks. The Luftwaffe's fighter aircraft, despite their numerical inferiority, quickly defeated the Soviet air units in the airspace above the battle area, but without bombers, dive-bombers and ground-attack aircraft they could only strafe with their machine guns and drop small bombs on the Soviet supply columns and pin down the Soviet infantry. By dark the deepest Soviet advance was . Moskalenko, commander of the 38th Army, discovered the movement of several German reserve units and realised that the attack had been opposed by two German divisions, not the one expected, indicating poor Soviet reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering before the battle. A captured diary of a dead German general alluded to the Germans knowing about Soviet plans in the region.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: Next day Paulus obtained three infantry divisions and a panzer division for the defence of Kharkov and the Soviet advance was slow, achieving little success except on the left flank. Bock had warned Paulus not to counter-attack without air support, although this was later reconsidered, when several Soviet tank brigades broke through VIII Corps (General Walter Heitz) in the Volchansk sector, only from Kharkov. In the first 72 hours the 6th Army lost 16 battalions conducting holding actions and local counter-attacks in the heavy rain and mud. By 14 May the Red Army had made impressive gains, but several Soviet divisions were so depleted that they were withdrawn and Soviet tank reserves were needed to defeat the German counter-attacks; German losses were estimated to be minimal, with only 35–70 tanks believed to have been knocked out in the 3rd and 23rd Panzer divisions.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: Hitler immediately turned to the Luftwaffe to help blunt the offensive. At this point, its close support corps was deployed in the Crimea, taking part in the siege of Sevastopol. Under the command of Wolfram von Richthofen, the 8th Air Corps was initially ordered to deploy to Kharkov from the Crimea, but this order was rescinded. In an unusual move, Hitler kept it in the Crimea, but did not put the corps under the command of "Luftflotte 4" (Air Fleet 4), which already contained 4th Air Corps, under the command of General Kurt Pflugbeil, and "Fliegerführer Süd" (Flying Command South), a small anti-shipping command based in the Crimea. Instead, he allowed Richthofen to take charge of all operations over Sevastopol. The siege in the Crimea was not over, and the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula had not yet been won. Hitler was pleased with the progress there and content to keep Richthofen where he was, but he withdrew close support assets from "Fliegerkorps VIII" in order to prevent a Soviet breakthrough at Kharkov. The use of the Luftwaffe to compensate for the German Army's lack of firepower suggested to von Richthofen that the "Oberkommando der Wehrmacht" (OKW, "High Command of the Armed Forces") saw the Luftwaffe mainly as a ground support arm. This angered Richthofen who complained that the Luftwaffe was treated as "the army's whore". Now that he was not being redeployed to Kharkov, Richthofen also complained about the withdrawal of his units from the ongoing Kerch and Sevastopol battles. He felt that the transfer of aerial assets to Kharkov made victory in the Crimea uncertain. In reality, the Soviet units at Kerch were already routed and the Axis position at Sevastopol was comfortable.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: Despite von Richthofen's opposition, powerful air support was on its way to bolster the 6th Army and this news boosted German morale. Army commanders, such as Paulus and Bock, placed so much confidence in the Luftwaffe that they ordered their forces not to risk an attack without air support. In the meantime, "Fliegerkorps IV", was forced to use every available aircraft. Although meeting more numerous Soviet air forces, the Luftwaffe achieved air superiority and limited the German ground forces' losses to Soviet aviation, but with some crews flying more than 10 missions per day. By 15 May, Pflugbeil was reinforced and received "Kampfgeschwader 27" (Bomber Wing 27, or KG 27), "Kampfgeschwader 51" (KG 51), "Kampfgeschwader 55" (KG 55) and "Kampfgeschwader 76" (KG 76) equipped with Junkers Ju 88 and Heinkel He 111 bombers. "Sturzkampfgeschwader 77" (Dive Bomber Wing 77, or StG 77) also arrived to add direct ground support. Pflugbeil now had 10 bomber, six fighter and four Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" "Gruppen" (Groups). Logistical difficulties meant that only 54.5 per cent were operational at any given time.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: German close air support made its presence felt immediately on 15 May, forcing units such as the Soviet 38th Army onto the defensive. It ranged over the front, operating dangerously close to the changing frontline. Air interdiction and direct ground support damaged Soviet supply lines and rear areas, also inflicting large losses on their armoured formations. General Franz Halder praised the air strikes as being primarily responsible for breaking the Soviet offensive. The Soviet air force could do very little to stop Pflugbeil's 4th Air Corps. It not only attacked the enemy but also carried out vital supply missions. Bombers dropped supplies to encircled German units, which could continue to hold out until a counter-offensive relieved them. The 4th Air Corps anti-aircraft units also used their high-velocity 8.8 cm guns on the Soviet ground forces. Over the course of the 16-day battle the 4th Air Corps played a major role in the German victory, conducting 15,648 sorties (978 per day), dropping 7,700 tonnes of bombs on the Soviet forces and lifting 1,545 tonnes of material to the front.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: On 14 May, the Germans continued to attack Soviet positions in the north in localised offensives and by then, the Luftwaffe had gained air superiority over the Kharkov sector, forcing Timoshenko to move his own aircraft forward to counter the bolstered "Luftflotte 4". The Luftwaffe won air superiority over their numerically superior, but technically inferior opponents. The air battles depleted the Soviet fighter strength, allowing the German strike aircraft the chance to influence the land battle even more. Nonetheless, the Soviet forces pushed on, disengaging from several minor battles and changing the direction of their thrusts. However, in the face of continued resistance and local counterattacks, the Soviet attack ebbed, especially when combined with the invariably heavy air raids. By the end of the day, the 28th Army could no longer conduct offensive operations against German positions.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: Soviet troops in the northern pincer suffered even more than those in the south. They achieved spectacular success the first three days of combat, with a deep penetration of German positions. The Red Army routed several key German battalions, including many with Hungarian and other foreign soldiers. The success of the Southern Shock group, however, has been attributed to the fact that the early penetrations in the north had directed German reserves there, thus limiting the reinforcements to the south. But, by 14 May, Hitler had briefed General Ewald von Kleist and ordered his 1st Panzer Army to grab the initiative in a bold counteroffensive, setting the pace for the final launching of Operation Friderikus.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: On 15 and 16 May, another attempted Soviet offensive in the north met the same resistance encountered on the three first days of the battle. German bastions continued to hold out against Soviet assaults. The major contribution to Soviet frustration in the battle was the lack of heavy artillery, which ultimately prevented the taking of heavily defended positions. One of the best examples of this was the defence of Ternovaya, where defending German units absolutely refused to surrender. The fighting was so harsh that, after advancing an average of five kilometres, the offensive stopped for the day in the north. The next day saw a renewal of the Soviet attack, which was largely blocked by counterattacks by German tanks; the tired Soviet divisions could simply not hold their own against the concerted attacks from the opposition. The south, however, achieved success, much like the earlier days of the battle, although Soviet forces began to face heavier air strikes from German aircraft. The Germans, on the other hand, had spent the day fighting holding actions in both sectors, launching small counterattacks to whittle away at Soviet offensive potential, while continuously moving up reinforcements from the south, including several aircraft squadrons transferred from the Crimea. Poor decisions by the 150th Rifle Division, which had successfully crossed the Barvenkovo River, played a major part in the poor exploitation of the tactical successes of the southern shock group. Timoshenko was unable to choose a point of main effort for his advancing troops, preferring a broad-front approach instead. The Germans traded space for time, which suited their intentions well.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: On 17 May, supported by "Fliegerkorps IV", the German army took the initiative, as Kleist's 3rd Panzer Corps and 44th Army Corps began a counterattack on the Barvenkovo bridgehead from the area of Aleksandrovka in the south. Aided greatly by air support, Kleist was able to crush Soviet positions and advanced up to ten kilometres in the first day of the attack. Soviet troop and supply convoys were easy targets for ferocious Luftwaffe attacks, possessing few anti-aircraft guns and having left their rail-heads 100 kilometres to the rear. German reconnaissance aircraft monitored enemy movements, directed attack aircraft to Soviet positions and corrected German artillery fire. The response time of the 4th Air Corps to calls for air strikes was excellent, only 20 minutes. Many of the Soviet units were sent to the rear that night to be refitted, while others were moved forward to reinforce tenuous positions across the front. That same day, Timoshenko reported the move to Moscow and asked for reinforcements and described the day's failures. Vasilevsky's attempts to gain approval for a general withdrawal were rejected by Stalin.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: On 18 May, the situation worsened and Stavka suggested once more stopping the offensive and ordered the 9th Army to break out of the salient. Timoshenko and Khrushchev claimed that the danger coming from the Wehrmacht's Kramatorsk group was exaggerated, and Stalin refused the withdrawal again. The consequences of losing the air battle were also apparent. On 18 May the "Fliegerkorps IV" destroyed 130 tanks and 500 motor vehicles, while adding another 29 tanks destroyed on 19 May.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: On 19 May, Paulus, on orders from Bock, began a general offensive from the area of Merefa in the north of the bulge in an attempt to encircle the remaining Soviet forces in the Izium salient. Only then did Stalin authorise Zhukov to stop the offensive and fend off German flanking forces. However, it was already too late. Quickly, the Germans achieved considerable success against Soviet defensive positions. The 20 May saw more of the same, with the German forces closing in from the rear. More German divisions were committed to the battle that day, shattering several Soviet counterparts, allowing the Germans to press forward. The Luftwaffe also intensified operations over the Donets River to prevent Soviet forces escaping. Ju 87s from StG 77 destroyed five of the main bridges and damaged four more while Ju 88 bombers from "Kampfgeschwader 3" (KG 3) inflicted heavy losses on retreating motorised and armoured columns.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: Although Timoshenko's forces successfully regrouped on 21 May, he ordered a withdrawal of Army Group Kotenko by the end of 22 May, while he prepared an attack for 23 May, to be orchestrated by the 9th and 57th Armies. Although the Red Army desperately attempted to fend off advancing Wehrmacht and launched local counterattacks to relieve several surrounded units, they generally failed. By the end of May 24, Soviet forces opposite Kharkov had been surrounded by German formations, which had been able to transfer several more divisions to the front, increasing the pressure on the Soviet flanks and finally forcing them to collapse.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: The 25 May saw the first major Soviet attempt to break the encirclement. German Major General Hubert Lanz described the attacks as gruesome, made "en masse". Driven by blind courage, the Soviet soldiers charged at German machine guns with their arms linked, shouting "Urray!". The German machine gunners had no need for accuracy, killing hundreds in quick bursts of fire. In broad daylight, the Luftwaffe, now enjoying complete air supremacy and the absence of Soviet anti-aircraft guns, rained down SD2 anti-personnel cluster bombs on the exposed Soviet infantry masses, killing them in droves.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: By 26 May, the surviving Red Army soldiers were forced into crowded positions in an area of roughly fifteen square kilometres. Soviet attempts to break through the German encirclement in the east were continuously blocked by tenacious defensive manoeuvres and German air power. Groups of Soviet tanks and infantry that attempted to escape and succeeded in breaking through German lines were caught and destroyed by Ju 87s from StG 77. The flat terrain secured easy observation for the Germans, whose forward observers directed long-range 10.5 cm and 15 cm artillery fire onto the Soviets from a safe distance to conserve the German infantrymen. More than 200,000 Soviet troops, hundreds of tanks and thousands of trucks and horse-drawn wagons filled the narrow dirt road between Krutoiarka and Fedorovka and were under constant German artillery fire and relentless air strikes from Ju 87s, Ju 88s and He 111s. SD-2 cluster munitions killed the unprotected infantry and SC250 bombs smashed up the Soviet vehicles and T-34 tanks. Destroyed vehicles and thousands of dead and dying Red Army soldiers choked up the road and the nearby ravines. General Bobkin was killed by German machine gun fire and two more Soviet generals were killed in action on the 26th and 27th. Bock personally viewed the carnage from a hill near Lozovenka.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: In the face of determined German operations, Timoshenko ordered the official halt of all Soviet offensive manoeuvres on 28 May, while attacks to break out of the encirclement continued until 30 May. Nonetheless, less than one man in ten managed to break out of the "Barvenkovo mousetrap". Hayward gives 75,000 Soviets killed and 239,000 taken prisoner. Beevor puts Soviet prisoners at 240,000 (with the bulk of their armour), while Glantz—citing Krivosheev—gives a total of 277,190 overall Soviet casualties. Both tend to agree on a low German casualty count, with the most formative estimate being at 20,000 dead, wounded and missing. Regardless of the casualties, Kharkov was a major Soviet setback; it put an end to the successes of the Red Army during the winter counteroffensive.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: Many authors have attempted to pinpoint the reasons for the Soviet defeat. Several Soviet generals have placed the blame on the inability of Stavka and Stalin to appreciate the Wehrmacht's military power on the Eastern Front after their defeats in the winter of 1941–1942 and in the spring of 1942. On the subject, Zhukov sums up in his memoirs that the failure of this operation was quite predictable, since the offensive was organised very ineptly, the risk of exposing the left flank of the Izium salient to German counterattacks being obvious on a map. Still according to Zhukov, the main reason for the stinging Soviet defeat lay in the mistakes made by Stalin, who underestimated the danger coming from German armies in the southwestern sector (as opposed to the Moscow sector) and failed to take steps to concentrate any substantial strategic reserves there to meet any potential German threat. Furthermore, Stalin ignored sensible advice provided by his own General Chief of Staff, who recommended organising a strong defence in the southwestern sector in order to be able to repulse any Wehrmacht attack. In his famous address to the Twentieth Party Congress about the crimes of Stalin, Khrushchev used the Soviet leader's errors in this campaign as an example, saying: "Contrary to common sense, Stalin rejected our suggestion. He issued the order to continue the encirclement of Kharkov, despite the fact that at this time many [of our own] Army concentrations actually were threatened with encirclement and liquidation... And what was the result of this? The worst we had expected. The Germans surrounded our Army concentrations and as a result [the Kharkov counterattack] lost hundreds of thousands of our soldiers. This is Stalin's military 'genius'. This is what it cost us."


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: Additionally, the subordinate Soviet generals (especially South-Western Front generals) were just as willing to continue their own winter successes, and much like the German generals, underestimated the strength of their enemies, as pointed out "a posteriori" by the commander of the 38th Army, Kirill Moskalenko. The Soviet winter counteroffensive weakened the Wehrmacht, but did not destroy it. As Moskalenko recalls, quoting an anonymous soldier, "these fascists woke up after they hibernated".


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: Stalin's willingness to expend recently conscripted armies, which were poorly trained and poorly supplied, illustrated a misconception of realities, both in the capabilities of the Red Army and the subordinate arms of the armed forces, and in the abilities of the Germans to defend themselves and successfully launch a counteroffensive. The latter proved especially true in the subsequent Case Blue, which led to the Battle of Stalingrad, though this was the battle in which Paulus faced an entirely different outcome.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: The battle had shown the potential of the Soviet armies to successfully conduct an offensive. This battle can be seen as one of the first major instances in which the Soviets attempted to preempt a German summer offensive. This later unfolded and grew as Stavka planned and conducted Operation Mars, Operation Uranus and Operation Saturn. Although only two of the three were victories, it still offers concise and telling evidence of the ability of the Soviets to turn the war in their favour. This finalised itself after the Battle of Kursk in July 1943. The Second Battle of Kharkov also had a positive effect on Stalin, who started to trust his commanders and his Chief of Staff more (allowing the latter to have the last word in naming front commanders for instance). After the great purge in 1937, failing to anticipate the war in 1941, and underestimating German military power in 1942, Stalin finally fully trusted his military.


title: Second Battle of Kharkov

text: Within the context of the battle itself, the failure of the Red Army to properly regroup during the prelude to the battle and the ability of the Germans to effectively collect intelligence on Soviet movements played an important role in the outcome. Poor Soviet performance in the north and equally poor intelligence-gathering at the hands of Stavka and front headquarters, also eventually spelled doom for the offensive. Nonetheless, despite this poor performance, it underscored a dedicated evolution of operations and tactics within the Red Army which borrowed and refined the pre-war theory, Soviet deep battle.


title: Erin Gruwell

text: Erin Gruwell (born August 15, 1969) is an American teacher known for her unique teaching method, which led to the publication of "The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them" (1999). The 2007 film "Freedom Writers" and 2019 PBS documentary, "Freedom Writers: Stories from the Heart", are based on her story.


title: Erin Gruwell

text: Erin Gruwell was born in Glendora, California to Stephen Douglass Gruwell, a formal baseball scout for the Anaheim Angels, and Sandra Faye Alley. Her parents divorced when she was still a young girl. She graduated from Bonita High School in La Verne, California, and the University of California, Irvine, where she received the Lauds and Laurels Distinguished Alumni Award. She earned her master's degree and teaching credentials from California State University, Long Beach, where she was honored as Distinguished Alumna by the School of Education.


title: Erin Gruwell

text: Erin originally intended to go to law school to become a lawyer rather than a teacher. After watching the 1992 Los Angeles riots on news coverage, she decided to change her profession to a teacher because she believed educating students could make more of a difference. She reasoned "I thought, God, by the time you're defending a kid in the courtroom, the battle's already lost. I think that the real fighting should happen here, in the classroom."


title: Erin Gruwell

text: Gruwell began student teaching in 1994 at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California. She was assigned low-performing students in the school. One student, a boy named Sharaud, had recently transferred to Wilson from a rival high school where he had allegedly threatened his teacher with a gun. However, a few months into the school year, one of her other students passed a note depicting Sharaud (an African American) with large lips. Gruwell told her students that it was drawings like that which led to the Holocaust. When one of her students asked her what was the Holocaust, she was met by uncomprehending looks—none of her students had heard of one of the defining moments of the 20th century. Gruwell took the students to see "Schindler's List", bought new books out of her own pocket and invited guest speakers.


title: Erin Gruwell

text: After her year of student teaching, Gruwell returned to Wilson as a full teacher, this time with a class of sophomores. Her fall semester got off to a rocky start due to student protests of Proposition 187. But Gruwell persevered and reached her students by asking them to keep journals and make movies of their lives, and by relating the family feud in "Romeo and Juliet" to a gang war. She also had the students read books written by and about other teenagers in times of war, such as "The Diary of a Young Girl", "Zlata's Diary" and "Night". Writing journals became a solace for many of the students, and because the journals were shared anonymously, teenagers who once refused to speak to someone of a different race became like a family.


title: Erin Gruwell

text: In the fall of 1995, Gruwell gave each of her students a bag full of new books and had them make a toast for change. After that, she saw a turnaround in them. The students went on to surprise everyone. All 150 Freedom Writers graduated from high school and many went on to attend college.


title: Erin Gruwell

text: Between 1994 and 1998, the Freedom Writers garnered a great deal of media coverage, including appearances on "Primetime Live", "The View" and "Good Morning America".


title: Erin Gruwell

text: In 1998, after teaching for only four years, Gruwell left Wilson High School and became a Distinguished Teacher in Residence at California State University, Long Beach. Gruwell later went on to start the Freedom Writers Foundation, which aspires to spread the Freedom Writers method across the country.


title: Erin Gruwell

text: "The Freedom Writers Diary" is a 1999 book written by the Freedom Writers with intros by Erin Gruwell. It is the basis of the 2007 movie "Freedom Writers", starring Hilary Swank as Gruwell, and Gruwell is the subject of the 2019 PBS Documentary, "Freedom Writers: Stories from the Heart."


title: Erin Gruwell

text: She has written an autobiographical account of her experiences, entitled "Teach with Your Heart: Lessons I Learned from the Freedom Writers", published around the same time as the movie's release.


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: Profanity in Mandarin Chinese most commonly involves sexual references and scorn of the object's ancestors, especially their mother. Other Mandarin insults accuse people of not being human. Compared to English, scatological and blasphemous references are less often used. In this article, unless otherwise noted, the traditional character will follow its simplified form if it is different.


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: As in English, many Mandarin Chinese slang terms involve the genitalia or other sexual terms. Slang words for the penis refer to it literally, and are not necessarily negative words:


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: Note: One should note that in Middle Chinese the words for and were homophones. The "fǎnqiè" of "" () and the of "" () denoted the same pronunciation; both began with a voiceless unaspirated alveolar stop (/t/ in IPA and "d" in pinyin) and the same vowel and tone. Based on regular sound change rules, we would expect the word for bird in Mandarin to be pronounced , but Mandarin dialects' pronunciations of the word for "bird" evolved to an alveolar nasal initial, likely as a means of taboo avoidance, giving contemporary while most dialects in the south retain the Middle Chinese alveolar stop initial and the homophony or near homophony of these words.


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: There appear to be more words for vagina than for penis. The former are more commonly used as insults and are also more aggressive and have negative connotations:


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: In addition to the above expressions used as insults directed against women, other insults involve insinuating that they are prostitutes:


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: Male masturbation, at least, has several vulgar expressions, in addition to two formal/scientific ones that refer to both male and female masturbation ( and ):


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: The 中文大辭典 "Zhōng wén dà cí diǎn (Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Chinese Language))", discusses 王八 (wáng bā) in vol. 6 p. 281. "Wáng bā" is the term that is usually written casually for the slur that means something like "son of a bitch."


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: A "wángbādàn 忘/王八蛋" is the offspring of a woman lacking virtue. Another meaning of 王八 is 鼈 biē, fresh-water turtle. Turtle heads reemerging from hiding in the turtle's shell look like the glans emerging from the foreskin, and turtles lay eggs. So a "wang ba" is a woman who has lost her virtue, and a "wang ba dan" is the progeny of such a woman, a turtle product, but, figuratively, also a penis product. 龜頭 ("guītóu", "turtle head") can refer to the glans of the penis.


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: "Wáng bā 王八" originally got switched over from another "忘八 wàng bā" (one that referred to any very unvirtuous individual) because of a man with the family name Wáng 王 who picked up the nickname 賊王八 zéi Wáng bā ("the thieving Wang Eight") but for being a dastard, not for being a bastard. The dictionary doesn't say, but he may have been the eighth Wang among his siblings. Anyway, he became "crook Wang eight" and the term stuck and spread just as "Maverick" did in English. There is a pun here because of the earlier expression 忘八 wáng bā used to describe (1) any person who forgets/disregards the eight virtues, (2) an un-virtuous woman, i.e., one who sleeps around. The first meaning applied to the dastardly Wang, but the family name got "stuck" to the second, sexual, term.


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: Many insults imply that the interlocutor's mother or even grandmother was promiscuous. The turtle is emblematic of the penis and also of promiscuous intercourse, because turtles were once thought to conceive by thought alone, making paternity impossible to prove. Eggs are the progeny of turtles and other lower animals, so the word dàn (蛋) is a metonym for offspring.


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: References to various kinds of disability are sometimes used against both abled and disabled people as an insult.


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: While there are vulgar expressions in English referring to the buttocks or rectum, there are no real equivalents in Mandarin. Pìgu yǎn () or pìyǎnr (屁眼兒/屁眼儿), one expression for anus, is not vulgar, but it occurs in various curses involving an imperforate anus


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: As in the West, highly sexual women have been stigmatized. Terms for males who sleep around are rare.


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: Perhaps due to the influence of wángbādàn (), dàn (; "egg") is used in a number of other insults in addition to hùndàn ():


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: In addition to the senses listed above, the "melon" is a metonym for the womb, and a "broken melon" refers to a female's lost virginity.


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: The noun for "ghost" 鬼 is often used to mock someone with some bad habit. The mocking tone may not be very serious though.


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: Because shame or "face" is important in Chinese culture, insulting someone as "shameless" is much stronger than in English:


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: The words "" (shǐ) (= shit, turd, dung), "" (fèn) (= manure, excrement) and " (= stool, poop)" (dà biàn), all mean feces but vary from blunt four letter to family-friendly, respectively. They can all be used in compound words and sentences in a profane manner.


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: Originally, the various Mandarin Chinese words for "excrement" were less commonly used as expletives, but that is changing. Perhaps because farting results in something that is useless even for fertilizer: "fàng pì" (; lit. "to fart") is an expletive in Mandarin. The word "pì" (; lit. "fart") or the phrase is commonly used as an expletive in Mandarin (i.e. "bullshit!").


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: In a 1968 academic study of Chinese pejorative words, more than a third of the 325-term corpus of abusive expressions compare the insulted person with an animal, with the worst curses being "animal" generally, "pig, dog, animal", or "animal in dress", which deny the person of human dignity. The expressions contain metaphorical references to the following domesticated animals: dogs, cows, and chickens (12 or 11 terms each), (8 times), horse (4), cat (3), and duck (2), and one each to sheep, donkey and camel. A variety of wild animals are used in these pejorative terms, and the most common are monkey (7 times) and tiger (5 times), symbolizing ugliness and power respectively.


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: The fact that many insults are prefaced with the Mandarin Chinese word for dog attest to the animal's low status:


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: The Chinese word for bird "niǎo"() was pronounced as "diǎo" in ancient times, which rhymes with () meaning penis or sexual organ. It also sounds the same as "penis" in several Chinese dialects. Thus, bird is often associated with 'fuck', 'penis' or 'nonsense'：


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: Mandarin Chinese has specific terms and racial euphemisms for different races and ethnicities, and some discriminatory slurs against representatives from certain governments and backgrounds.


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: There are various circumlocutions in Mandarin Chinese for homosexual, and the formal terms are recent additions just as is the direct translation of "masturbation" (hand soiling).


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: Duànxiù () — cut off sleeve, from the story of a ruler whose male favourite fell asleep on the sleeve of his jacket, so when the ruler had to get up to conduct some needed business he cut his sleeve off rather than awaken his lover (See Bret Hinsch, "Passions of the Cut Sleeve," p. 53). An analogous story, of a sleeve being cut off so as not to disturb a sleeping cat, is told of both Confucius and Muhammad, and perhaps others.


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: Yútáo () — remains of a peach, from the story of a favourite who rather too familiarly offered his sovereign a peach of which he had already eaten half. (From "Han Fei Zi," chapter 12)


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: Bōlí (), literally "glass", but implies "glass person". It comes from a passage in the "Dream of the Red Chamber" in which Phoenix is described as having a "crystal heart in a glass body," meaning that she was glistening, pure, clear, fastidious, etc. It stands as high praise for a lady, but comes off as an effeminate slur when referring to men. The English translation of Bai Xian-yong's novel about male homosexuals in Taiwan includes the term "crystal boys," derived from the same passage in the earlier novel, and also a rather gruff reference to the old photographer who befriends some of the boys as "you old glass," which, delivered by a female friend of his, comes out sounding about on the level of "you old fart," i.e., not really so very offensive, but indicating a passing mood of aggravation on the speaker's part. Nevertheless, the general meaning is probably closer to "old queer."


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: Nán fēng (), male custom, is homophonous with (, southern custom.) The first writing of the term would fairly easily be picked out as referring to sexual interactions, whereas the second term could just mean "the customs of the southern part of China."


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: Tóngzhì (; ) was recently adopted in Hong Kong and Taiwan to mean homosexual, and is sometimes used on the mainland. Literally the term means "one having same aspirations".


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: Tùzi (), used to refer to catamites. (See Herbert A. Giles, "A Chinese-English Dictionary," entry 12,122) See also Tu Er Shen.


title: Mandarin Chinese profanity

text: Since the success of Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain", duànbèi (, lit. "Brokeback") has also become popular.


title: Cripps Mission

text: The Cripps Mission was a failed attempt in late March 1942 by the British government to secure full Indian cooperation and support for their efforts in World War II. The mission was headed by a senior minister Stafford Cripps. Cripps belonged to the left-wing Labour Party, which was traditionally sympathetic to Indian self-rule, but he was also a member of the coalition War Cabinet led by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who had long been the leader of the movement to block Indian independence.


title: Cripps Mission

text: Cripps was sent to negotiate an agreement with the nationalist Congress leaders (including Gandhi), and Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League, who claimed to represent the Muslim population of the subcontinent. Cripps worked to keep India loyal to the British war effort in exchange for a promise of elections and full self-government (Dominion status) once the war was over. Cripps discussed the proposals, which he had drafted himself with the Indian leaders, and published them. The Congress rejected his proposals and knew that the British were negotiating from a weaker position.


title: Cripps Mission

text: In August 1942, the Congress working committee, taking advantage of the government's weakness, made a call that unless the 'Quit India' call was conceded, the Congress would resort to civil disobedience and call the people to resist and violate government authority. In reaction, British imprisoned practically the entire Congress leadership for the duration of the war. Jinnah, to whom Cripps had offered the right to opt out of a future union with India, supported the war effort with his fellow Muslims and gained in status in British eyes. Jinnah was “surprised” to see that the right to opt out of a future union was undertaken.


title: Cripps Mission

text: The Government of India Act 1935, building on the Round Table Conferences, Simon Commission and the previous Government of India Act of 1919, required the establishment of an All-India Federation, which would allow Indians to take a larger share of governance at the highest level. However, deep differences between the princely states and the Congress, as well as between the Muslim League and Congress, had delayed progress. Instead, only the provincial portion of the Act was carried out.


title: Cripps Mission

text: After Britain's declaration of war on Germany in September 1939, Viceroy Linlithgow responded by declaring India a belligerent state on the side of Britain without consulting Indian political leaders or the elected provincial representatives, sharply underlining the failure of progress to self-rule. That caused considerable resentment in the Congress Party, producing demands for an immediate transfer of power. The resulting standoff led to the en masse resignation of Congress Provincial Governments, giving rise to the prospect of public revolt and political disorder in India. The All India Muslim League, the Hindu Mahasabha and regional parties gave their support to Britain and the war effort in exchange for various concessions. Negotiations continued between the Viceroy, Congress and Muslim League, but their failure led to a political stalemate.


title: Cripps Mission

text: The Japanese declaration of war on the Dutch and the British Empires as well as the United States in December 1941 altered the political situation. Confidence in Britain was particularly low after the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942, Britain's greatest single defeat in the war, as well as the retreat from Rangoon, with large numbers of Indian Army troops captured. The threat of an invasion of India was real, and there was anxiety about 'fifth columnists', particularly Congress radicals working with Japan.


title: Cripps Mission

text: The British War Cabinet, a coalition government of national unity, was divided on the question of compromise with the Congress. The Labour Party ministers and moderate Conservatives were keen to advance Indian progress to self-government in a way that would not endanger the war effort. Churchill was deeply opposed to any dismantling of the British Empire and regarded its non-white subjects as incapable of self-rule. In fact, the stridency of his views and his opposition to the Conservative leader Stanley Baldwin's agreement to work with parties such as the Indian National Congress towards self-rule had contributed to his isolation within the Conservative Party for a decade. He was supported in his views by the Conservative Secretary of State for India, Leo Amery.


title: Cripps Mission

text: However, the United States, Britain's principal ally, saw things in even more urgent terms. The chief American strategic objective was aiding Chiang Kai Shek's physically-isolated Nationalist China against the expanding Japanese Empire. The Japanese conquest of China's coastal areas meant that the Americans needed India to serve as a major logistical hub to funnel aid to China and needed Indian military manpower to secure routes for supplies through Burma. American and Chinese leadership was convinced that would not be possible without the full support of a mobilised Indian population, which required a breakthrough with the Indian National Congress. In addition, the Franklin Roosevelt administration was busy formulating its vision for the post-war world order and saw the decolonisation of Asia as a matter of US national interest for both ideological and commercial reasons.


title: Cripps Mission

text: Despite the conflicts of interests, Britain's reliance on the United States for Lend-Lease supplies for the war effort meant that US President Franklin Roosevelt's pressure had to at least appear to be taken seriously, especially in light of the military disasters in South East Asia. As a result, the British cabinet by 9 March 1942 had agreed to despatch a mission to India to discuss its offer, and Cripps' plane landed in Delhi on 22 March. By then, the British were willing to grant Indian independence at the conclusion of the war. Incidentally, the next day was the second anniversary of the Lahore Resolution of 1940 and so Cripps saw Muslims marching in the streets with green flags.


title: Cripps Mission

text: Cripps stated that while he had been closer to the Congress, he was open to other perspectives. Jinnah waited to find out what the proposals were and stated that the League would reject them if they were not in the interests of Muslims.


title: Cripps Mission

text: The Congress was divided upon its response to India's entry into World War II. Angry over the decision made by the Viceroy, some Congress leaders favoured launching a revolt against the British despite the gravity of the war in Europe, which threatened Britain's own freedom. Others, such as Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, advocated offering an olive branch to the British and supporting them in that crucial time in the hope that the gesture would be reciprocated with independence after the war. Congress' major leader, Gandhi, was opposed to Indian involvement in the war, as he would not morally endorse a war, suspected British intentions and believed that the British were not sincere about Indian aspirations for independence. However, Rajagopalachari, backed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Azad and Jawaharlal Nehru, held talks with Cripps and offered full support in return for immediate self-government, and eventual independence.


title: Cripps Mission

text: The British anxiously tried to gain Muslim support during the war and so included a clause that no province would be compelled to join the post war India. Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League, supported the war effort and condemned the Congress policy. Insisting on Pakistan, a separate Muslim state, he resisted Congress' calls for pan-Indian cooperation and immediate independence.


title: Cripps Mission

text: Upon his arrival in India, Cripps held talks with Indian leaders and attempted to satisfy all communities through his proposals. He was a friend of Nehru and did his utmost to arrange an agreement. However, the distrust was too high and many people of influence did not want a settlement to be reached. There is some confusion over what Cripps had been authorized to offer India's nationalist politicians by Churchill and Leo Amery, the Secretary of State for India, and Cripps faced hostility also from Viceroy Linlithgow. Cripps began by offering India full dominion status at the end of the war, with the chance to secede from the Commonwealth and to go for total independence. Privately, Cripps also promised to get rid of Linlithgow and grant India dominion dtatus with immediate effect and insisted only for the Indian Defence Ministry to be reserved for the British.


title: Cripps Mission

text: However, in public, Cripps failed to present any concrete proposals for greater self-government in the short term other than a vague commitment to increase the number of Indian members of the Viceroy's Executive Council. Cripps spent much of his time in encouraging Congress leaders and Jinnah to come to a common, public arrangement in support of the war and the government.


title: Cripps Mission

text: There was little trust between the British and Congress by that stage, and both sides felt that the other was concealing its true plans. The Congress stopped talks with Cripps, and guided by Gandhi, its national leadership demanded immediate self-government in return for war support. Gandhi said that Cripps' offer of Dominion Status after the war was a "post-dated cheque drawn on a failing bank".


title: Cripps Mission

text: Jinnah argued that the proposals were merely a draft declaration, did not meet his demands and preferred a scheme of united India. At a press conference on April, he argued that there was no clear concession for Pakistan in the proposals, and he further expressed concern that the Muslim right to self-determination had been ignored. He also expressed criticism for the exclusion of the Muslim League from the later stage of negotiations.


title: Cripps Mission

text: When the British remained unresponsive, Gandhi and the Indian National Congress began planning a major public revolt, the Quit India movement, which demanded immediate British withdrawal from India. As the Imperial Japanese Army advanced closer to India with the conquest of Burma, Indians perceived an inability upon the part of the British to defend Indian soil. The invasion force contained elements of the Indian National Army, which hade been founded and led by Subhas Chandra Bose to end British control of India. It was composed of Indians, most of whom were prisoners captured with the fall of Singapore in early 1942.


title: Cripps Mission

text: Jinnah's Muslim League condemned the Quit India movement and participated in provincial governments andthe legislative councils of the Raj. He encouraged Muslims to participate in the war. With that cooperation, the British continued to administer India for the duration of the war by using officials and military personnel if Indian politicians could not be found. That would not prove to be feasible in the long term, however.


title: Cripps Mission

text: There are three main reasons behind the causes of the failure of the Cripps' mission. They are listed as follows:


title: Cripps Mission

text: Gupta concludes that documents released in 1970 support a third interpretation. Messages between Linlithgow and Amery reveal that both of them opposed the Cripps Mission and deliberately undercut Cripps. The British government used the Cripps Mission as evidence of its liberal colonial policy, but personal and private correspondence reveals contempt for the mission and elation over its failure.


title: Cripps Mission

text: The long-term significance of the Cripps Mission really became apparent only in the aftermath of the war, as troops were demobilised and sent back home. Even Churchill recognised that there could be no retraction of the offer of independence that Cripps had made, but by the end of the war, Churchill was out of power and could do nothing but watch as the new Labour government, led by Clement Attlee, gave India independence. That confidence that the British would soon leave was reflected in the readiness with which Congress politicians stood in the elections of 1945–1946 and formed provincial governments.


title: Marta Kristen

text: Kristen is best known for her role as Judy Robinson, the oldest child of Professor John Robinson and his wife, Maureen, in the television series "Lost in Space" (1965–1968). Her character was a young adult, around 20 years of age.


title: Marta Kristen

text: Kristen was born Birgit Annalisa Rusanen in Oslo, Norway, to a Finnish mother and a German soldier father who was killed during World War II. She spent her first years in an orphanage in Norway, and was then adopted in 1949 by a couple from Detroit, Michigan, Harold Oliver Soderquist, and his wife, Bertha, who renamed her Martha Annalise Soderquist. Her adoptive father was a professor of education at Wayne University, Detroit. Kristen has a brother whom her parents adopted.


title: Marta Kristen

text: In 1959, Kristen moved to Los Angeles, California when her father was on a sabbatical. She remained there, with a guardian, and is a graduate of Santa Monica High School.


title: Marta Kristen

text: Reflecting her Scandinavian heritage, Kristen adopted the more European-sounding "Marta" and used Marta Kristen as her stage name. She first appeared in a 1961 episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", "Bang! You're Dead", alongside Billy Mumy, who later co-starred with Kristen in "Lost in Space". In 1963, she starred with Tony Dow in "Four Feet in the Morning," an episode of "The Eleventh Hour".


title: Marta Kristen

text: Kristen's first film role was in the 1963 Walt Disney production of "Savage Sam". She played the role of Lorelei in the 1965 movie "Beach Blanket Bingo".


title: Marta Kristen

text: Kristen starred in "Lost in Space" from its beginning in 1965 until its cancellation in 1968. Afterwards, she had a daughter, born in 1969, and appeared in more than forty television commercials as well as making numerous guest appearances on television shows. She also appeared in the A&E biography "Jonathan Harris: Never Fear, Smith Is Here" in 2002.


title: Marta Kristen

text: She also made the occasional film appearance in movies such as "Terminal Island" (1973), "Once" in 1974, appearing as a bare breasted 'Humanity', and the science-fiction film "Battle Beyond the Stars" (1980); and had a cameo role in the 1998 movie "Lost in Space". Kristen also provided voice work for the 2009 animated theatrical short "The Bolt Who Screwed Christmas" which also included voice work from her "Lost in Space" co-stars Harris, Mumy, and Angela Cartwright.


title: Marta Kristen

text: Kristen has been married twice. Her first marriage was to Terry Treadwell, a psychologist. She met her second husband, Kevin P. Kane, in 1974 and they married on November 18, 1978. They lived in Santa Monica, California, with two rescue dogs until 2016, when Kristen announced on her Facebook page that Kane had died.


title: Jayne Kennedy

text: Jayne Kennedy Overton (née Harrison; born October 27, 1951) is an American television personality, actress, model, corporate spokeswoman, producer, writer, public speaker, philanthropist, and sports broadcaster.


title: Jayne Kennedy

text: Jayne Kennedy grew up in Wickliffe, Ohio, as one of six children. Her parents, Herbert and Virginia Harrison, taught their children "to aim high, give God most of the credit, suffer disappointments silently and avoid maliciousness". In high school, she was on the cheerleading squad, was a member of the National Honor Society and was three times elected the president of her high school class.


title: Jayne Kennedy

text: A year after high school, Harrison met Leon Isaac Kennedy, a DJ and a struggling actor/writer. They married in 1971. Motown singer/songwriter Smokey Robinson served as best man at their wedding. They divorced in 1982.


title: Jayne Kennedy

text: In May 1985, Kennedy married actor Bill Overton in Bermuda. The wedding was small and the parents of both Kennedy and Overton attended. The couple have four children: Overton's daughter Cheyenne (b. 1982) and their three daughters Savannah Re (b. November 20, 1985), Kopper Joi (b. May 17, 1989) and Zaire Ollyea (b. September 15, 1995). Kennedy and Overton celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary in May 2020.


title: Jayne Kennedy

text: Kennedy was crowned Miss Ohio in 1970 in the Miss USA Pageant; she went on to compete in the top ten of the national pageant.


title: Jayne Kennedy

text: In 1971, Kennedy first appeared as a dancer on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and performed with Bob Hope's Bases Around the World Christmas Tour (Vietnam, Japan, Thailand, Spain, and Cuba) which led to three years with the Dean Martin Show as a singer/dancer.


title: Jayne Kennedy

text: Through the 1970's, Kennedy had guest roles in television shows such as The Six Million Dollar Man, Sanford and Son and Starsky & Hutch. The actress found work in many commercials of the era for such companies as Foster Grant, Chrystler and McDonald's. Kennedy also had a lead role in 1977 movie "Big Time" starring Christopher Joy and Tobar Mayo with a soundtrack by the film's producer, Smokey Robinson.


title: Jayne Kennedy

text: In 1978, Kennedy replaced anchor Phyllis George on “NFL Today” on CBS. After a contractual dispute with CBS, Kennedy went on to host the short lived “Speak Up America” in 1980.


title: Jayne Kennedy

text: Kennedy won a 1982 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture award for her performance as Julie Winters in the 1981 film "Body and Soul" co-starring alongside her then–husband Leon Isaac Kennedy.


title: Jayne Kennedy

text: Kennedy would go on in 1982 to begin hosting on the syndicated television show "Greatest Sports Legends". As host, she would interview many sports personalities including Kareem Abdul-Jabar and Johnny Unitas.


title: Jayne Kennedy

text: During the mid-1980’s Kennedy was hired as a spokesmodel for the Coca-Cola Corporation’s “Tab” soft drink and for Jovan Musk perfume. Kennedy joined the exercise video craze of the mid-1980's with the release of her own video, "Love Your Body" which was distributed by RCA / Columbia Home Video. She advised in the video to "[e]stablish a positive belief in yourself. Learn what your body needs and love it for what it is.”


title: Jayne Kennedy

text: In 1990, Kennedy and her husband, Bill Overton, produced the “Journey of the African American” with performances in Atlanta and a 30 week run in Los Angeles.


title: Jayne Kennedy

text: Kennedy has added her support to many charitable causes over the years through appearances and speaking engagements. Kennedy co-hosted the Lou Rawls Parade of Stars in 1986 which raised $10 million dollars for the United Negro College Fund. Kennedy was a key-note speaker at the Evanston Martin Luther King celebration in 1987. In 1988, Kennedy was the national spokesperson for the National Council of Negro Women which put on annual, nation-wide Black Family Reunion Celebration clinics and seminars. Kennedy was a speaker at the 12th Annual Freedom Fund Dinner in Columbia, South Carolina in 1990.


title: 2022 Kids' Choice Awards

text: The 35th Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards ceremony was held on April 9, 2022, at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California with Miranda Cosgrove and Rob Gronkowski serving as hosts. It aired live on Nickelodeon and in a domestic simulcast with several other Paramount Global cable networks, and was broadcast live or tape delayed across all of Nickelodeon's international networks.


title: 2022 Kids' Choice Awards

text: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the first Kids' Choice Awards ceremony since the 2019 show to feature a live audience. The ceremony, which was the first since the 2004 show to have two hosts, included one thousand slimings as well as performances from Kid Cudi and Jack Harlow. Following the ceremony, a "Slime Cut" version of the show hosted by Young Dylan became available to stream on Paramount+ on April 12.


title: 2022 Kids' Choice Awards

text: BTS continued their Guinness World Record for 'Most Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards blimps won by a music group', extending to six wins after winning the 'Favorite Music Group' category for the third consecutive year. This also tied them for the most wins within the 'Favorite Music Group' category with The Black Eyed Peas (who won non-consecutively in 2007, 2010, and 2011), One Direction (who also won consecutively 2013–2015), and Fifth Harmony (who also won consecutively 2016–2018).


title: 2022 Kids' Choice Awards

text: A new episode of "Danger Force" led into the ceremony, while a linear premiere of a new episode of "iCarly" served as the lead-out.


title: 2022 Kids' Choice Awards

text: Prior to the ceremony, Owen Holt and Txunamy hosted an Orange Carpet livestream on the Nickelodeon YouTube channel.


title: 2022 Kids' Choice Awards

text: The ceremony featured appearances by celebrities including Jayden Bartels, Brie and Nikki Bella, Sabrina Carpenter, Sofia Carson, Milan Carter, Chance the Rapper, Simon Cowell, Isaiah Crews, Terry Crews, Charli and Dixie D'Amelio, Isla Fisher, Jordan Fisher, Kate Godfrey, Gabrielle Nevaeh Green, Kevin Hart, Samuel L. Jackson, Karl Jacobs, Heidi Klum, Jules LeBlanc, Peyton List, Ralph Macchio, Howie Mandel, Christopher Martinez, Ariana Molkara, MrBeast, Jace Norman, Josh Peck, Charlie Puth, Anton Starkman, Unspeakable, Sofía Vergara, and Xavier Woods. First Lady of the United States, Jill Biden, also made an appearance at the ceremony.


title: 2022 Kids' Choice Awards

text: The nominees were announced and voting opened on March 9, 2022. Voting ended on April 9, 2022. The winners are listed first, highlighted in boldfaced text.


title: Josh Hart

text: Josh Hart (born March 6, 1995) is an American professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected in the first round of the 2017 NBA draft by the Utah Jazz with the 30th overall pick before being traded on draft night to the Los Angeles Lakers.


title: Josh Hart

text: Hart played college basketball for Villanova. As a sophomore, Hart was named the Big East tournament most outstanding player. He was named a third-team All-American as a junior, when he helped lead the Wildcats to a national championship in 2016. As a senior in 2017, he was a consensus first-team All-American. He played two seasons for the Lakers before being traded to the New Orleans Pelicans in 2019 in a package for Anthony Davis.


title: Josh Hart

text: Hart was born on March 6, 1995, in Silver Spring, Maryland, to Moses and Pat Hart. He has two siblings, Moses Joseph Hart and Aimee Hart. He is also the great-nephew of the baseball catcher Elston Howard. Growing up, Hart gravitated toward basketball and earned a reputation as a high-energy player. While he excelled in basketball from a young age, Hart didn't get any interest from private schools and enrolled at Wheaton High School. He briefly attended Wheaton before transferring to Sidwell Friends School, where as a junior he averaged 20.6 points and 11.6 rebounds per game. However, he was nearly kicked out of school due to poor grades until several students and parents petitioned the school to give him a second chance. As a senior, Hart averaged 24.3 points, 13.4 rebounds and 2.8 steals per game in leading the team to a 22–9 record. He was a first-team All-Met selection by "The Washington Post" and Rivals.com's 82nd-ranked prospect in the class of 2013. After considering Rutgers and Penn State, Hart signed a letter of intent with Villanova in November 2012. "It's about doing the things that the coaches want me to do," he said after committing. "I might not hit the winning three but I'm going to be the one that goes and gets a rebound when we need it and goes on the floor for a loose ball, anything to win." He got to know future Villanova teammate Kris Jenkins while playing AAU basketball in the Washington area.


title: Josh Hart

text: Hart was awarded Boy Scouts of America's highest rank, Eagle Scout, and became one of only three known Eagle Scouts who have played in the NCAA's Final Four (along with Princeton's Bill Bradley and Stanford's Mark Madsen). He is the only Eagle Scout to ever start on an NCAA Men's Basketball Championship team.


title: Josh Hart

text: A 2013–14 Big East All-Rookie Team selection, Hart averaged 7.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per contest as a freshman at Villanova. He was named Big East Rookie of the Week three times. He did not shoot the ball particularly well, making 31 percent of his three-point tries, but possessed "amazing confidence," according to assistant coach Baker Dunleavy. In the second game of his collegiate career, a 90–59 win over Mount St. Mary's, Hart posted a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds. He scored a season-high 19 points in an 88–67 win over Rider on December 21, 2013. Hart had 18 points and eight rebounds in a loss to Seton Hall in the Big East tournament quarterfinals.


title: Josh Hart

text: Hart and teammate Darrun Hilliard both scored 20 points in an 85–62 rout of Temple on December 14, 2014. Hart scored 21 points in a December 20 game against Syracuse. The Wildcats never led in regulation and were down by 14 points in the second half, but managed to pull out an 82–77 overtime win. On February 28, 2015, in the second half of a game against Xavier, Hart was hit in the mouth during a scramble for the ball, requiring stitches on his lip.


title: Josh Hart

text: As a sophomore, Hart was named the Big East's sixth man of the year at the conclusion of the regular season. "He's the perfect sixth man because he can come in and play any position except probably point guard," head coach Jay Wright said. Hart was the most outstanding player of the 2015 Big East men's basketball tournament, the first bench player to receive the honor. He was the tournament's leading scorer at 17.7 points per game, including a 20-point performance in an 84–49 quarterfinals victory over Marquette. He improved his three-point shooting to 47.3 percent, forcing opposing teams to guard him more on the perimeter. He improved his season averages to 10.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.


title: Josh Hart

text: Hart's 2015–16 Wildcats were the unanimous coaches preseason selection to win the conference. In the NIT season tip-off, Hart scored a career-high 27 points to help Villanova defeat Akron by a score of 75–56. On January 2, 2016, Hart scored 25 points in a win over Creighton. Hart led the Wildcats to reach number one in the AP Poll by climbing to the top of the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings on February 8. He was named to the 35-man midseason watchlist for the Naismith Trophy on February 11.


title: Josh Hart

text: At the conclusion of the regular season, Hart was unanimously selected first-team All-Big East. Hart was named a third-team All-American by the National Association of Basketball Coaches He then helped Villanova win its second national championship in school history, and first since 1985. On the season, he averaged 15.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game. Hart briefly thought about the 2016 NBA Draft, but pulled his name out before the deadline.


title: Josh Hart

text: Coming into his senior season, Hart's Wildcats were projected to win the Big East by the coaches and he was named Preseason Player of the Year. He was named to the Associated Press preseason All-America team on November 2, 2016.


title: Josh Hart

text: In November Hart scored a then-career high 30 points vs Wake Forest in a 96–77 win at the Charleston Classic. On December 10, Hart scored a career-high 37 points along with 11 rebounds and four assists in a 74–66 win over Notre Dame to push No. 1 Villanova to a 10–0 record.


title: Josh Hart

text: On March 11, 2017, in the regular season finale versus Creighton Bluejays Hart scored 29 points in a 74–60 win. Unlike the previous season, Hart's Villanova career would end in disappointment, when Bronson Koenig outgunned Hart and the other Wildcats while leading the Wisconsin Badgers to a 65–62 victory in the 2nd round in the Tournament.


title: Josh Hart

text: Hart was selected in the first round of the 2017 NBA draft by the Utah Jazz with the 30th overall pick. He was subsequently traded to the Los Angeles Lakers along with the 42nd overall pick, Thomas Bryant, in exchange for the Lakers' 28th overall pick, Tony Bradley. In his first start on December 14, 2017, Hart recorded a double-double against the Cleveland Cavaliers, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Hart fractured his left hand in practice on February 28 and was sidelined until the end of March. In his final game as a rookie, Hart scored a career-high 30 points against the Los Angeles Clippers, shooting 7 of 9 from three. Hart finished the season averaging 7.9 points per game and 4.2 rebounds per game, recording 8 double-doubles. Hart shot 39.6% from three, leading the team in three-point percentage.


title: Josh Hart

text: Hart was named the league MVP of the 2018 NBA Summer League after averaging 24.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game and setting a new Summer League game-high of 37 points for the Lakers' players. Prior to the 2018–19 season, he switched his jersey to No. 3 after playing with No. 5 as a rookie. On March 28, 2019, the Lakers announced that Hart had undergone a successful ultrasonic debridement procedure on his right knee patellar tendon and was expected to miss the remainder of 2018–19 season.


title: Josh Hart

text: On July 6, 2019, the Lakers traded Hart, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, the draft rights to De'Andre Hunter, two first round picks, a first-round pick swap and cash to the New Orleans Pelicans for All-Star Anthony Davis.


title: Josh Hart

text: On November 13, 2021, Hart recorded a career-high 11 assists in a 112–101 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.


title: Josh Hart

text: On February 8, 2022, the Portland Trail Blazers acquired Hart, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Tomáš Satoranský, Didi Louzada, a protected 2022 first-round draft pick, the better of New Orleans’ and Portland’s 2026 second-round draft picks and New Orleans’ 2027 second-round draft pick from the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for CJ McCollum, Larry Nance Jr. and Tony Snell. On March 12, Hart scored a career-high 44 points, along with 8 rebounds and 6 assists, on 15-of-21 shooting and 6-of-9 from beyond the arc in a 127–118 victory over the Washington Wizards.


title: Josh Hart

text: On November 7, 2022, Hart put up 12 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists, alongside a buzzer-beating, game-winning three in a 110–107 win over the Miami Heat.


title: Josh Hart

text: Hart is a fan of his hometown club Washington Commanders, and is also a fan of English Premier League football club Chelsea F.C.


title: Tim Ream

text: Timothy Michael Ream (born October 5, 1987) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a center-back or left-back for club Fulham and the United States national team.


title: Tim Ream

text: Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Ream was a 2005 NSCAA All-Midwest Region selection with his high school, St. Dominic, and after finishing his career with 15 goals and a school-record 39 assists, was tabbed All-State, All-Conference and Class 2 Defensive Player of the Year in both 2004 and 2005, was a St. Louis Post-Dispatch All-Metro selection and garnered Archdiocesan Athletic Association Player of the Year honors following senior season. He helped lead St. Dominic to the 2004 Missouri Class 2 state title. Ream also played with academy club St. Louis Scott Gallagher, winning national championships in 2003 and 2004.


title: Tim Ream

text: Ream attended Saint Louis University where he was a regular figure as a defender for the Saint Louis Billikens, earning NSCAA first-team All-Region and second-team All-Conference honors. During his college years Ream also played for Chicago Fire Premier in the USL Premier Development League.


title: Tim Ream

text: Ream was drafted in the second round (18th overall) of the 2010 MLS SuperDraft by New York Red Bulls. His play during pre-season impressed many observers, including new coach Hans Backe who was pleased with his distribution and tactical awareness.


title: Tim Ream

text: On March 20, 2010, Ream started and played the full 90 minutes for Red Bulls in a 3–1 victory against Santos FC, which was the first match played at the new Red Bull Arena. He made his professional debut on March 27, 2010, playing the full 90 in New York's opening game of the 2010 MLS season against Chicago Fire that ended in a 1–0 victory for New York. On September 11, 2010, he scored his first professional goal (and MLS goal) against the Colorado Rapids in a 3–1 win for New York Red Bulls. Ream ended his first professional season starting all 30 matches for New York and helped New York capture its second regular season Eastern Conference title.


title: Tim Ream

text: Upon the conclusion of the 2010 season, he was named the team's Defender of the Year, and he was one of three listed candidates for MLS Rookie of the Year.


title: Tim Ream

text: During Ream's second season in New York, he played and started in 28 of 34 matches during the regular season; he missed 6 matches largely due to international call-ups during the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup.


title: Tim Ream

text: In December 2011, during the MLS off-season, Ream spent a short time training with both West Bromwich Albion and Bolton Wanderers with permission from the Red Bulls to maintain his fitness during the winter break. At the beginning of January 2012, Bolton made a transfer offer of £2.5m for him. Bolton had recently sold Gary Cahill to Chelsea, and needed to find a replacement. The bid was accepted and after personal terms were agreed he received a work permit on January 24.


title: Tim Ream

text: Bolton completed the signing of Ream on January 26, 2012, on a three-and-a-half-year contract. He canceled his honeymoon so that he could sign for Bolton. He was given the number 32 shirt and made his debut for the club in Bolton's 2–0 FA Cup win at Millwall on February 18. He made his Premier League debut the following weekend in Bolton's 3–0 defeat at Chelsea. On March 10, 2012, he assisted Darren Pratley's opening goal in a 2–1 win over Queens Park Rangers. He went on to appear ten games straight towards the end of the season, but was unable to help the club survive relegation in the Premier League.


title: Tim Ream

text: For the start of the 2012–13 season, Ream was given the number 5 shirt, previously worn by Gary Cahill. He was given his first start of the 2012–13 season in a 2–0 loss against Burnley. However, he was sidelined from the first team, due to losing his starting place and was relegated to the substitutes bench. Despite this, Ream went on to make fifteen appearances.


title: Tim Ream

text: Ahead of the 2013–14 season, Ream was linked with a move to Middlesbrough, a move that was denied by the club and Ream. After appearing the first three matches as an unused substitute, he started as defensive midfielder for four matches in September. In early February 2014, he was forced to wear a protective mask in Wanderers games after a collision with Queens Park Rangers striker Charlie Austin. Throughout the 2013–14 season, Ream played at left back and center back, where he established his partnership with Matt Mills and redeemed himself in the first team making 42 appearances. At the end of that season, he was voted the fans' player of the year and the club's player of the year.


title: Tim Ream

text: Ahead of the 2014–15 season, on July 6, 2014, Ream signed a new three-year contract with Bolton that lasts until the summer of 2017. Over the course of the season, he made a total of 44 appearances, missing two matches, one as an unused substitute against Derby County on September 27, 2014 and one through injury. For the second season in a row, he was named as Bolton's player of the year.


title: Tim Ream

text: Ahead of the 2015–16 season, Ream was linked with a move to Championship rivals Queens Park Rangers, who made a bid for him. However, the bid was rejected.


title: Tim Ream

text: On August 20, 2015, Ream was sold to Fulham, with whom he signed a four-year contract. The move was undisclosed fee and had an option to extend his stay by a further year.