Month: July 2020

Four-year-old Delilah recently learned an important life lesson that all women come to realize at some point — a lot of men need to learn some manners before talking to a girl.

She was enjoying her time at a park in San Francisco when a boy started making animal noises to get her attention.

“We were at the track and a boy was trying to get me to go over and play and he was shouting, ‘Caw, caw!'” she said. “But that’s not how you win a girl over! You have to have manners and he was saying, ‘Meow, meow.’ Why was he doing that to a girl? And you don’t call a girl over like that, OK guys?”

On her way home from the park, Delilah grabbed her mother’s phone to tell the boys of the world to get their collective act together.

“That’s not how you get a girl to get over there. You have to use your manners,” Delilah explained. “Why would you do that to a girl? You don’t call girls over like that. OK, guys?”

As the NBA gets set to begin their restarted season, the league announced Wednesday that it had a second straight week without any positive COVID-19 tests in the Disney bubble. While that’s a great step towards the league successfully starting and, hopefully, completing a three-month long restarted season and playoffs, the United States is still dealing with tens of thousands of new cases per day, and access to testing (particularly rapid testing) remains a serious public health issue.

There has been criticism of leagues using up laboratory resources for getting rapid test results, and those critiques are more than valid. The inability of people to get test results back in a reasonable time frame is a significant issue, as it is increasingly difficult to isolate for days and even weeks while awaiting results. The NBA recognizes this and announced on Wednesday an expansion of its community testing program, noting that it is working on creating no-cost testing programs in Orlando and various team markets around the country to offer testing at no-cost to residents, particularly in areas where testing is scarce currently.

Public health data has made clear that the impacts of the coronavirus are most concentrated in historically marginalized communities of color where access to testing is scarce. To meet this need, the NBA collaborated with UnidosUS and the National Urban League as well as several private laboratories to identify communities most in need and provide access to no-cost testing programs in addition to communicating public health information to community members.

In partnership with BioReference Laboratories, the league’s testing provider on the NBA campus in Orlando, Fla., the NBA is providing free, daily COVID-19 PCR tests at a mobile collection site at the Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets. Those interested can register for an appointment by completing a brief survey before being redirected to a scheduling tool to select a convenient date and time for the COVID-19 test. Please visit Appointments.BioReference.com/NBAOrlando to complete the survey and for additional details regarding appointments, transportation and scheduling.

It’s important that the league use its resources that have clearly given them access to quick testing and offering that to the public, and their plan is to provide thousands of tests in various communities — and hopefully those tests will be able to be returned with swift results. The league is also continuing to partner with the Yale School of Public Health to fund research and testing for a non-invasive saliva test that is seeking FDA approval in an effort to provide a far more accessible test, both in terms of cost and quicker turnaround of results.

Post Malone definitely believes in aliens. That much is revealed in the first five minutes of his interview with podcast host Joe Rogan — an interview that meanders through a nearly four-hour runtime. The two men smoke dozens of cigarettes as they ponder horror movie monsters (Rogan thinks Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees are the same guy), weather control conspiracy theories (both remain convinced that the government can manipulate the climate), and the movement to defund the police (yeah, maybe just skip this part and read Uproxx’s breakdown instead).

Post also wears a University of Utah cap and got a shout-out from the school on Twitter in exchange. He doffs the cap at the midway point, showing off his newly shaved head and even more of his trademark ink.

Post Malone was recently in the news after it was revealed that he’d filed a trademark for the name “World Pong League,” which sounds like exactly the sort of thing Post Malone would also excel in as a player-owner like a hip-hop Jackie Moon. He’s also reportedly expanding his business interests to include a brand of rosé, revamping his cannabis company to make personal protective equipment (PPE), and raising money for pandemic relief via his livestreamed Nirvana covers concert.

Watch Post Malone’s four-hour interview with Joe Rogan above.

Finally, some good news.

Earlier in the week, Ryan Reynolds joined the search for an irreplaceable teddy bear by offering a cash reward to anyone who returned the beloved stuffed animal. “Vancouver: $5,000 to anyone who returns this bear to Mara. Zero questions asked. I think we all need this bear to come home,” the actor tweeted. According to CBC, a backpack belonging to Mara Soriano was stolen. While the contents included valuables like an iPad and Nintendo Switch, the most important item was a Build-A-Bear teddy that housed a special recording from Soriano’s mother who before she died from cancer.

In a much-needed bright spot, Reynolds efforts worked, and the bear is now back with its rightful owner. In a celebratory tweet, the Canadian actor thanked Vancouver for being awesome and doing the right thing.

While the exact details of the bear’s return haven’t been disclosed yet, Soriano made it clear in a follow-up tweet that she would never have regained the priceless teddy if it weren’t for Reynolds’ help.

The bear’s return is a heartwarming ending to an emotional story. As Soriano explained to the CBC, not only did the bear contain an irreplaceable recording of her late mother, but it was from before she lost her voice while in hospice care, making the message all the more special. “At hospice her voice was different. Much softer. Not the mom I grew up with,” Soriano said. “That bear is the last memory I have of her speaking in her normal voice.”

As for the message inside the bear, there’s nothing that can replace these words: “She said that she loved me and she was proud of me and that she’ll always be with me.”

While it’s a shame that Soriano was robbed in the first place, at least the culprits weren’t completely heartless in the end. Or they’re just really big Ryan Reynolds fans. Either way, we’re glad the bear is safe.

(Via Ryan Reynolds on Twitter)

If nothing below suits your sensibilities, check out our guide to What You Should Watch On Streaming Right Now.

What We Do In The Shadows (FX on Hulu) — Now that the Emmys have spoken, it’s time to fill out our own ballots. The good news is plenty of the shows nominated are available on various streaming platforms, and, because of the pandemic, we have lots of time to view them all. But start with this mockumentary from Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement about a group of centuries-old vampires living together in a run-down house in Staten Island. There are witches, ghosts, possessed dolls, and Haley Joel Osment as a zombie. Enough said.

Succession (HBO) — Season two of this prestige drama shook things up within the Roy family which gave its main cast, including Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, and Brian Cox more to do. Takeovers looming, drug relapses, bad investments, and hostage situations drove most of the action in season two as the family’s global empire began to crumble.

Here are a few Thursday programming highlights:

What The Shark? (National Geographic, 9:00 p.m.) — Thank goodness for Sharkfest as the ultimate distraction. Get to know seldom-seen sides of sharks tonight, and look forward to a more well-known side of sharks with the “Shark vs. Surfer” episode that will air on Sunday night at 8:00 p.m.

Bulletproof (CW, 9:00 p.m.) — Bishop and Pike lead the team on an off-book mission to take out Alex and Mikey Markides once and for all, but when Cockridge intervenes, the raid goes horribly wrong.

The Weight Of Gold (HBO, 9:00 p.m.) — This new doc from HBO takes a look at past Olympic gold medal winners and the effect the pressure of the Games had on their mental health. Everyone from Michael Phelps to Shaun White, Apolo Ohno, Lolo Jones, Sasha Cohen, and Bode Miller share their personal experiences in their post-Olympics careers.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC, 10:00 p.m.) — The team makes it back to 1983 where Nathaniel and Kora are building an army.

Corporate (Comedy Central, 10:30 p.m.) — Hampton DeVille brainstorms a new company logo while Matt tries to inspire Jake at work.

The NBA’s restart in Orlando will begin Thursday night with a pair of games on TNT, as the Utah Jazz take on the New Orleans Pelicans in the early game (6:30 p.m. ET) and the Lakers and Clippers have a showdown in the 9 p.m. nightcap. From there, all 22 teams in the bubble will play eight games that will determine seeding for the postseason, with teams at the bottom fighting for the 8-seed and a possible play-in series in both conferences, while others already locked into the playoffs will be jockeying for seeding and matchups.

It is going to be fascinating how teams, particularly those that get locked into seeding early on (or, in the case of some teams at the bottom, are quickly eliminated from contention), approach the remainder of their games. For many, there is reason to play all the way through at full effort to ensure they get a more favorable matchup, but at the very top of both conferences, it’s possible the top three or four seeds could get locked in with games still to play.

As such, projecting the amount of effort from those teams will be tricky. If you think you have a handle on how teams will perform in the eight-game restart, BetOnline.ag has win total over-unders available to bet on. My initial reaction was, “wow, this is probably a terrible idea to bet on,” but after seeing the Brooklyn Nets total set at 2.5, I suddenly found myself interested in the Under.

Here are the full 22 team win total bets available:

Boston Celtics: 5.5
L.A. Clippers: 5.5
L.A. Lakers: 5.5
Milwaukee Bucks: 5.5
Philadelphia 76ers: 5
Dallas Mavericks: 4.5
Denver Nuggets: 4.5
Houston Rockets: 4.5
New Orleans Pelicans: 4.5
Toronto Raptors: 4.5
Miami Heat: 4
OKC Thunder: 4
Orlando Magic: 4
Utah Jazz: 4
Indiana Pacers: 3.5
Memphis Grizzlies: 3.5
Portland Trail Blazers: 3.5
Sacramento Kings: 3.5
Brooklyn Nets: 2.5
Phoenix Suns: 2.5
San Antonio Spurs: 2.5
Washington Wizards: 1.5

Obviously so much of this hinges on the team schedules, but the four teams at the top come as little surprise — same with those at the bottom. Also of note, of the teams battling for the ninth spot in the West, the Pelicans are given the highest win total at 4.5, while the Blazers and Kings (and Grizzlies) all sit at 3.5, which fits with them having the best odds of making the play-in game in the West.

Karl Urban might be a permanent fixture in the Star Trek fandom thanks to his portrayal of Dr. James “Bones” McCoy in the latest batch of films, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t have a little fun in a galaxy far, far away.

While promoting the upcoming second season of The Boys, Urban revealed to Digital Spy that he has a secret cameo in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker that not even hardcore fans knew about until now. But don’t feel bad if you didn’t spot Urban while watching the conclusion to The Skywalker Saga. Just like Daniel Craig’s cameo in The Force Awakens, Urban was buried under Stormtroopers, and there’s no way to know it’s him. The actor was more concerned with having some fun on set with director J.J. Abrams than being credited for his work, but he let fans know where to find his helmeted performance.

According to Urban, he’s in the scene when Kylo Ren reunites with the Knights of Ren and brings them aboard his command ship, and you can tell which trooper is Urban because he actually has a speaking part. “What is in the cut is my voice saying ‘Knights of Ren’ as Kylo Ren walks down a hallway past two stormtroopers. I am one of those stormtroopers,” he told Digital Spy.

Of course, Urban isn’t the first of Abrams’ Star Trek crew to appear in the new Star Wars films. That distinction goes to Simon Pegg, who played junk trader Unkar Plutt in The Force Awakens. Coincidentally, Pegg also stars on The Boys. However, Pegg’s character will not be returning for the second season, which will focus on Urban’s Billy Butcher mysteriously disappearing from the team. That absence will be the source of tension amongst The Boys when Butcher returns to the war on the “Supes” as if nothing happened.

(Via Digital Spy)

The United States is in the midst of two cataclysmic events that have had a massive impact on the Black community. The COVID-19 pandemic, which has already killed over 150,000 Americans, has disproportionately affected Black people who are dying at the rate of two to three times higher than their share of the population.

At the same time, America has been coming to grips with deep-seeded racial inequality after the death of George Floyd in March.

Both issues will require bold political solutions, so it’s more important than ever for Black people to be represented in positions of power.

The good news is that this year, a record number of Black women filed to run for Congress and 60 of those candidates still have a chance to be elected, either because they’ve won their primaries or they haven’t been held yet.

Some of these candidates will surely be added to the 23 Black women who currently serve in Congress, itself a record number.

via Wikimedia Commons

Pam Keith, a Navy veteran running in the Democratic primary for a Florida congressional seat, believes the number of Black women in Congress has been growing because people have become more familiar with seeing them in office.

She told Reuters that “people are becoming more comfortable with seeing different kinds of people in Congress. You don’t know what it looks like to have powerful Black women in Congress until you see powerful Black women in Congress.”

According to a new report by Reuters, “Between 2018 and 2019, Black women saw the largest gain in representation at the state legislative level since 1994. In 2019, a record number of Black women serve in state legislative office.”

While the report is encouraging there is still more work to be done. Reuters also reports that Black women are 7.6% of the American population but less than 5% of the total elected to statewide executive offices, state legislatures, and Congress. Less than 2% of all statewide elected officials are Black women and none have ever been elected governor.

via Wikimedia Commons

There is also a huge chasm between Black women’s representation across the political divide. Of the 23 women who serve n Congress, including 22 representatives and one Senator, all of them are Democrats.

The only Black Republican woman to serve in Congress, Mia Love, was defeated in her bid for re-election to the U.S. House in 2018.

Despite the fact that Black women are underrepresented in government, it doesn’t mean they aren’t major participants in the political process. Black women make up the highest participation rate of any group that voted in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections.

Black women have no trouble getting to the polls, so it’s wonderful to see that more of them have the opportunity to vote for someone who shares their background. Let’s hope this trend continues until Black women are equally represented at all levels of government.

“We need to have more people, average, everyday American citizens who are there fighting for average, everyday American citizens,” Kimberly Walker, a veteran and former corrections officer from Florida running for Congress, told Reuters.

Now that Zion Williamson has cleared quarantine protocol after departing for a short while to tend to a personal matter, he’s a game-time decision for the Pelicans’ seeding game opener on Thursday against Utah. While Williamson understands that the team’s patience about his long-term health, he’s ready to play.

When asked by Rachel Nichols of ESPN about his status after a practice in the Bubble, Williamson said, “if you know me, I want to hoop.”

“Me and my team are going to look for what’s best for me, for my future, being safe,” Williamson said, before adding, “I’m never going to change, I’m going to want to hoop, it’s as simple as that.”

Williamson also acknowledged that “the NBA isn’t something you can just jump straight into,” but he still feels ready. There is no pain or discomfort, it’s just a matter of making absolutely sure he can handle NBA action by Thursday night.

The Pelicans, of course, also played things slowly with Williamson’s recovery from a torn right meniscus. That process meant he only played 19 games before the NBA pressed pause in March, so his sense of urgency to get onto the court and finish off the playoff run that New Orleans has been eyeing up since the spring is understandable.

Though we’ve only seen 565 minutes of Zion Williamson on an NBA court, he is already the sun around which the Pelicans — and to a lesser degree the NBA — orbits. No matter where you stand on the debate over whether the 22-team field for the NBA’s Orlando restart was only that big so that Williamson and the Pels could join, it’s clear New Orleans is one of the most intriguing teams in the league already.

They were also one of its most competitive heading into the hiatus. The Pelicans are 11-9 since Williamson’s return (he missed one victory) and had the league’s seventh-best net rating over that stretch. Their sugary schedule and obvious momentum made them one of the leading contenders to pass up the wounded Grizzlies back in March. They likely won’t be able to vault Memphis entirely now, but they are well set to meet the Grizzlies in a best-of-three play-in series in Orlando. But everything, as has been the case since Williamson descended upon the Big Easy, depends on the 2019 No. 1 overall pick, who is a gametime decision for their opener against Utah after being out of the bubble for eight days to attend to a family emergency.

ROSTER

Nickeil Alexander-Walker
Lonzo Ball
Zylan Cheatham (two-way)
Derrick Favors
Josh Gray (two-way)
Josh Hart
Jaxson Hayes
Jrue Holiday
Brandon Ingram
Frank Jackson
Nicolo Melli
E’Twaun Moore
Jahlil Okafor
JJ Redick
Sindarius Thornwell
Kenrich Williams
Zion Williamson

SCHEDULE

Thursday, July 30 — 6:30 p.m. ET — vs. Utah Jazz
Saturday, Aug. 1 — 6 p.m. ET — vs. Los Angeles Clippers
Monday, Aug. 3 — 6:30 p.m. ET — vs. Memphis Grizzlies
Thursday, Aug. 6 — 1:30 p.m. ET — vs. Sacramento Kings
Friday, Aug. 7 — 8 p.m. ET — vs. Washington Wizards
Sunday, Aug. 9 — 3 p.m. ET — vs. San Antonio Spurs
Tuesday, Aug. 11 — 9 p.m. ET — vs. Sacramento Kings
Thursday, Aug. 13 — Time TBD — vs. Orlando Magic

STANDINGS

1. Los Angeles Lakers: 49-14
2. Los Angeles Clippers: 44-20 (5.5 GB)
3. Denver Nuggets: 43-22 (7)
4. Utah Jazz: 41-23 (8.5)
5. Oklahoma City Thunder: 40-24 (9.5)
6. Houston Rockets: 40-24 (9.5)
7. Dallas Mavericks: 40-27 (11)
8. Memphis Grizzlies: 32-33 (18)
9. Portland Trail Blazers: 29-37 (21.5)
10. New Orleans Pelicans: 28-36 (21.5)
10. Sacramento Kings: 28-36 (21.5)
11. San Antonio Spurs: 27-36 (22)
12. Phoenix Suns: 26-39 (24)

WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?

It sounds crazy to say this about a team that had the top overall pick in the draft just a year ago, but the Pelicans want to make the playoffs pretty badly. It’s worth considering what has to happen for them to get there, for those not yet acquainted with the rules.

First off, in order to make up for the fact that the NBA could only fit eight seeding games into the schedule, the league created a system by which any team that came within four games of the eighth seed in the standings could get still into the playoffs (set off the Zion conspiracy alarms again). The ninth-seeded team then has to win two straight matchups against the eighth seed in order to take their spot. To determine who will get that ninth spot considering the jumble at the bottom of the West, the league decided to jump straight to winning percentage rather than the mess of tiebreakers it typically uses, since a team like Portland has played two more games than most of the rest of the conference. If teams are still tied, the NBA will default to its usual tiebreakers, with head-to-head record being chief among them. Because New Orleans swept Portland in four regular-season matchups, their main focus in this regard should be taking at least one of two seeding games from the Kings.

If this sounds like a web of confusion, that’s because it is, but you can just sit back and enjoy the Pelicans’ lightning fast, explosive offense rather than tabulating it all in a spreadsheet.

X-FACTOR

Brandon Ingram: The Pelicans’ three best lineups all had Ingram in them, but over the course of the season, Williamson was far more of a bellwether for New Orleans’ success than the All-Star. With both players on the court, the Pels outscored opponents by more than 12 points per 100 possessions. With Ingram and no Williamson, that dropped to minus-3. A lot of that had to do with Ingram himself. Despite improvements as a spot-up three-point shooter, Ingram’s true shooting percentage falls from an elite 60 percent mark with Williamson on the bench to 55.5 percent when Williamson is on the floor.

As Kevin O’Connor noted at The Ringer, Ingram took more pull-up shots when he shared the court with his fellow superstar. One solution O’Connor proposed is to actually deploy Williamson more often as a playmaker, which would remove him from the paint and open up the floor even more. And even with so many guards already on the roster, it’s clear these two need to be involved in half-court action together more than they are if the Pelicans want to get the version of Ingram who kept them from bottoming out in the winter. They will need both young stars at their peaks to make the playoffs and push the Lakers in the first round.

BIGGEST ON-COURT QUESTION

Can the defense improve, particularly with Zion on the floor? The good news on this front is that Williamson took daily tests while out of the bubble, allowing him a shorter, four-day quarantine period, which let him return to practice Tuesday night. He practiced again on Wednesday, but his status is a “game-time decision” for the opener per Alvin Gentry.

Once he does return and is back to his regular minutes load, his defense will be a major point of interest. Like many rookies, even those who were game-changing defenders in college, he’s had a sharp learning curve. The reads aren’t as easy, even if his athleticism is still elite on an NBA court. And the reality is many of the lineups New Orleans throws out just aren’t great defensive units, with guys like Redick, Melli and Hayes getting minutes. It’s not necessarily a problem for the near-term, as no one really expects a deep playoff run from New Orleans in 2020, but lost in the hype about Williamson’s return in the winter was that he struggled mightily on that end. Assuming he’s available, it would be nice to see some improvements to finish out his rookie season.