Month: May 2020
Including super absorbent dishcloths to replace paper towels, at-home workout essentials, and a milk frother for *chef’s kiss* perfect lattes.
All of the athletes that made special thank you videos honoring essential workers will now have to thank themselves after the United States government has added pros to the list of essential workers as sports leagues try to restart amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
News broke on Tuesday that the acting head of the department of Homeland Security has declared pro athletes to be “essential workers,” apparently further clearing the way for sports leagues to return to work amid a global pandemic. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told reporters on a conference call Tuesday that the order came down as the league plans its restart.
Daly said U.S. acting Director of Homeland Security has signed order making professional athletes essential workers.
— Mike Zeisberger (@Zeisberger) May 26, 2020
The move was the latest in a series of sports-related decisions that included allowing athletes abroad to return to the United States despite travel restrictions to and from certain countries put in place as COVID-19 spread. The news also came along with the NHL’s official plan to finish its season with a special 24-team postseason tournament that’s expected to start in July.
While the move is largely a legal distinction that may ease some difficulties in getting a season back up and running, it does show that the Trump administration is clearly invested in seeing sports come back despite the inherent dangers that come with easing social distancing guidelines while the novel coronavirus spreads without effective treatment or a vaccine. Athletes are not needed to provide essential services to the nation, but their entertainment value has apparently made their worth roughly equivalent in the eyes of the government.
While appearing on Variety‘s “#REPRESENT: Success Stories,” Silicon Valley and The Eternals star Kumail Nanjiani revealed that he once refused to exaggerate his accent for the role of a taxi driver in a really big movie. According to Kumail, he’s fine with leaning into his Pakistani accent and making it thicker for certain parts, but he draws the line at mocking it for comedy.
“So there was a really, really big movie, actually, that I auditioned for, and I was a taxi driver, and the director was like, ‘Hey, could you play up the accent a little bit?’ And I was like, ‘I’m sorry, I won’t.’” Nanjiani told the #REPRESENT panel. “And then the guy felt really bad.”
Nanjiani then laughed and said he still doesn’t regret refusing to do the accent for the hit film. And if Variety‘s sleuthing is on the ball, it really was a big movie:
While he does not name the movie in question, Nanjiani did say he auditioned for a part in the first “Deadpool” movie in a 2014 episode of his now-defunct podcast “The Indoor Kids.” On it, Emily V. Gordon — Nanjiani’s wife and collaborator — brings up him being asked to exaggerate his accent during auditions. “Which you have been asked to do, and often you’re like, ‘No, thanks,’” she said.
Of course, Nanjiani’s decision to stick to his principles paid off, and he has a starring role coming up in Marvel’s The Eternals. The actor will be playing Kingo, a Bollywood star who’s secretly an immortal being who has been hiding on Earth for centuries. In a March interview with Men’s Health, Nanjiani was particularly proud that he got to base his superhero look on real-life Indian actor Hrithik Roshan. “I’m playing the first South Asian superhero in a Marvel movie,” Nanjiani said. “I don’t want to be the schlubby brown guy—I want to look like someone who can hang with Thor and Captain America.”
(Via Variety)
According to multiple reports, the NBA is shooting for a return to action sometime near the end of July. There are plenty of logistical challenges that still have to be ironed out before that can happen, namely settling on the location where the games will take place, as Disney World in Orlando appears to be the presumptive front-runner.
Given the unorthodox nature of it all, there’s been a lot of talk about using this opportunity to tinker with the postseason format. Seeding the playoffs 1-16 regardless of conference is an idea that’s continued to gain traction over the years, as well as a play-in style tournament that would determine the final two seeds.
Mavs owner Mark Cuban is apparently a fan of that concept, and he broke down just how that would work in a theoretically scenario that would signal a major paradigm shift in how the league approaches its postseason format. Cuban wants a completion of some regular season games, meaning all 30 teams would be involved in his return proposal, with a modified play-in tournament to follow.
Via Tim MacMahon of ESPN:
In Cuban’s proposal, the top 10 teams from both conferences would qualify for the postseason and be reseeded based on record. There would be two play-in matchups — either single games or a best-of-three series — pitting seeds 17 vs. 20 and 18 vs. 19. The winners would advance to play the 15th and 16th seeds for the final spots in the playoff bracket.
The playoffs would then proceed with best-of-seven series.
A point Cuban emphasizes is that all but two teams — the exceptions being the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors — would have a mathematical possibility of qualifying for the postseason under his proposal. The Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks, the teams at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, are four games behind the 10th-place Charlotte Hornets.
On Tuesday, Damian Lillard indicated that he won’t participate in a resumed regular season unless there is what he described as a legitimate chance for his team to make the playoffs. His Blazers are currently in the No. 9 spot in the West and 3.5 games behind the Grizzlies for the eighth and final spot.
Cuban’s format would offer them as good a chance as any, particularly since his model includes re-seeding the teams based on their record. Amid all the upheaval, there’s certainly room for some experimentation, and the league could potentially use this a beta test for systematic changes that could result in a massive overhaul to the playoff format in the future.
The NHL just announced its own expanded playoff plan, as they will look to bring the top 12 teams from each conference into a hub city, with the top four teams playing round-robin games for seeding, while the 5-12 teams battle for the chance to face them.
(ESPN)