The recent protests across the United States haven’t just caused people to think critically about topics like systemic racism and police brutality. In many places, individuals have called on the rest of the country to consider the past by reigniting old conversations about the role of things of and related to the Confederate States of America.

While this has manifest itself in the world of sports via NASCAR banning the Confederate flag at races, numerous other Americans have done everything they can to remove monuments honoring the Confederacy and its leaders. One such person is Ja Morant, who wrote a letter to the mayor of Murray, Kentucky about a monument in the town that features Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

“As a young Black man, I cannot stress enough how disturbing and oppressive it is to know the city still honors a Confederate war general defending white supremacy and hatred,” Morant wrote in his letter. He also mentioned the current moment in the United States and how it is making it “necessary” for action to occur, saying “we can’t change the culture of racism unless we change the celebration of racism.”

Morant, the No. 2 pick of the 2019 NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies, attended college in Murray as a member of the Murray State Racers. The monument in question has stood in the town since 1917.

Gregg Popovich didn’t hold back when discussing NFL owners like Robert Kraft and Jerry Jones in relation to the current social climate and the Black Lives Matter movement. In an opinion piece by Maureen Dowd of the New York Times, Popovich sat down for a wide-ranging interview about race and sports.

The Spurs coach talked about how white coaches need to gain the trust of their Black players and understand that they come from different places and often see very different things. Popovich said he’s realized he’s a “privileged son of a bitch” in recent days when speaking with Spurs players and learning more about their reactions to the national conversation about race and police brutality.

But in recent calls with the Spurs’ players and staff he has been amazed at the level of hurt.

“It would bring you to tears,” he says, his voice cracking. “It’s even deeper than you thought, and that’s what really made me start to think: You’re a privileged son of a bitch and you still don’t get it as much as you think you do. You gotta work harder. You gotta be more aware. You gotta be pushed and embarrassed. You’ve gotta call it out.”

His most biting criticism was saved for Donald Trump, as it often is, but this time he also took aim at another sports league and its past stance on peaceful protests: the NFL. He called NFL owners hypocritical for how they handled Kaepernick’s protest initially and their reversal amid widespread protests against police brutality nationwide.

What does he think about the fact that seven N.F.L. owners, including Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft, each gave a million to Trump’s Inaugural Committee?

“It’s just hypocritical,” he replies. “It’s incongruent. It doesn’t make sense. People aren’t blind. Do you go to your staff and your players and talk about injustices and democracy and how to protest? I don’t get it. I think they put themselves in a position that’s untenable.”

He also criticized NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for how “he folded” to Donald Trump and “didn’t understand the difference between the flag and what makes the country great.” The whole piece is as critical a person in sports has been of the NFL, especially coming from someone so actively critical of the political and social structure at play in the United States.

[via The New York Times]

Soccer leagues in Europe have gotten back to action in recent weeks. Germany’s Bundesliga kicked off a few weeks back, and in Italy, we got our firsts tastes of footy over the last few days, as a pair of Coppa Italia fixtures were played prior to Serie A’s return next weekend.

Spain’s top footballing league decided to get in on the fun this weekend, too, as La Liga resumed play. The final match of the day on Saturday featured FC Barcelona, which entered the restart in the driver’s seat to win the league, taking on lowly Mallorca. At one point during the action, this happened.

The stadium, of course, was completely empty, as fans are not able to sit and watch games in accordance with the nation’s current social distancing rules. Because of this, I am sitting in a chair in awe of how someone was able to get into the stadium, run down the various rows of empty seats, and make their way onto the pitch. I suppose there isn’t much of a need for security in an otherwise-empty venue, but still, good on this guy for finding a way to get this done, even if we here at Uproxx do not condone running onto the field/pitch/court/ice/diamond/whatever venue sports are played on. In fact, a handful of players — most notably Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong — appeared to find the whole thing pretty funny.

Anyway, Barcelona won, 4-0, with Lionel Messi scoring once and doling out two assists. They sit five points clear at the top of the table of Real Madrid, which is set to play Eibar on Sunday. Ideally, no fans run onto the pitch during that one.

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Practical things (with a touch of fun) that just get things done.

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Remember Rolie Polie Olie?

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Crack those knuckles and show us what you’ve got!

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“The employee utilized oleoresin capsicum spray, or pepper spray, in response to an assaultive individual.”

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Jeopardy! is officially out of new pre-COVID-19 shutdown episodes to air, but the legendary game show has some fun reminders of its immediate past in the reruns it will air until filming can resume.

Jeopardy! had its final new episode air on Friday, and though the show’s Twitter account has stayed strangely silent —as of this writing it hasn’t posted once the entire month of June, in fact — reports indicate the game show has a plan for what it will air during weeks that usually see new episodes on weekday evenings.

E! News reported on Thursday that the show plans to air episodes involving both James Holzhauer and Emma Boettcher, the former of whom went on an epic Jeopardy! run in 2019 before being dethroned by the latter. Those episodes will lead up to a re-airing of another special event: the 2019 Tournament of Champions in which Holzhauer (spoilers!) was able to exact his revenge and beat Boettcher in the finals to win another $250,000 last November.

Starting June 15, Jeopardy! will showcase big champions and big wins leading up to the encore presentation of the 2019 Tournament of Champions starting July 6.

James Holzhauer and Emma Boettcher are among the spotlighted contestants.

“For the first time, we have a chance to shine a light on each individual player before we revisit a big tournament,” Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards said in a statement. “Some of these contestants played quite a while ago, so we hope that highlighting their biggest games will provide a deeper understanding of their specific strengths and how they earned their places in the Tournament of Champions.”

It certainly makes sense to highlight some past big winners instead of just running a normal season’s reruns, especially given the outstanding play from Holzhauer and Boettcher that got the show so much attention over the last year. Jeopardy! had already stretched its syndication schedule a bit by re-airing episodes involving Ken Jennings, as well as the Greatest of All Time Tournament from earlier in 2020 that aired in primetime and featured Jennings, Holzhauer, and Brad Rutter.

Those episodes were sprinkled in amid some extra features about the contestants, which seems to be what the plan is for these other re-runs as well. It’s no substitute for new episodes and more chances for Alex Trebek to poke fun at new contestants, but it’s far better than nothing. Perhaps the episodes will give viewers another chance to appreciate Boettcher’s play and stop trading in conspiracy theories about how Holzhauer’s run originally came to an end once they see it again for themselves.

[via E! Online]

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