Month: August 2020

As the NBA and WNBA have made their respective returns to the court in recent weeks, players have regularly used their interview and press conference time to continue shining a spotlight on issues of social justice and racism. Many are using their opening statements to continue calling for justice for Breonna Taylor, encourage people to vote, and more.

Coaches have gotten involved as well, and on Sunday one of the league’s most outspoken coaches over the years on issues of politics and social justice, Gregg Popovich, took his first question on Marco Belinelli’s status for their game against the Grizzlies and preceded his answer with a lengthy explanation of the deep-seeded history of voter suppression in the United States that targets the Black community and other minorities.

As Popovich notes, these are the types of history lessons that are rarely taught to Americans, as issues of voter suppression and racism are typically not focal points of American history courses. As such, Popovich feels that spotlighting these things are critical to making people confront how long this country has spent trying to disenfranchise Black and minority voters through things like literacy tests and poll taxes — with the modern day version happening in Florida right now with ex-felons being forced to pay all debts to the state before being allowed to vote.

As we move forward through sports restart, continuing to use these moments to keep the message about the importance of not stopping with the fight for justice at the forefront and using the time to present people with facts like these is a great way to utilize the platform they have and help disseminate information to people that might otherwise be unknown.

To the surprise of no one at all, Wiz Khalifa returned on 4/20 this year with his latest project, The Saga Of Wiz Khalifa. The project served as the follow-up to last year’s Fly Times, Vol.1: The Good Fly Young project. A highly-collaborative effort, The Saga Of Wiz Khalifa has Wiz working with the likes of Megan Thee Stallion, Qauvo, Mustard, Tyga, K Camp, and Logic. Giving his Mustard collaboration the full treatment, Wiz returns with the video for their “Bammer” track.

Posted by his house with his son Sebastian at the video’s start, Wiz Khalifa hits the road with the homies for his “Bammer” video. Dancing with his son and rolling one with his boys, Wiz opts for the good life when letting viewers know that he won’t accept any less than top quality when it comes to his greens. The visual also sees an appearance from fellow Taylor Gang member, Ty Dolla Sign.

In addition to the new music video, Wiz Khalifa also shared a new song in “Top Down.” The track, premiered exclusively by Datpiff, is produced by Harry Fraud and will appear on his upcoming mixtape, Big Pimpin. The song serves as his second release of the weekend, as he also joined Juicy J for “Gah Damn High.”

Wiz Khalifa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Earlier this year, Young Dolph made the surprising announcement that he was retiring from the music world, opting to spend more time with his family. His time away from the game did not last long, however, as he returned with a new single shortly after the announcement. His return to music was also paired with an album announcement, one that he teased to release in March. The time came and went and the Paper Route rapper’s album was nowhere to be found. Back with another announcement, though, Dolph returns with an update on said album.

Sharing the album’s cover art on Instagram, Young Dolph revealed its title to be Rich Slave and gave it a release date of August 14, promising “something special for my fans.” The upcoming release would be his first since his 2019 joint album with Key Glock, Dum And Dummer. The album is also led by “Blue Diamonds” and his Megan Thee Stallion collaboration “RNB.”

In addition to the new album, Young Dolph announced he would be giving away his Lamborghini Aventador to a lucky fan in a separate Instagram post. “Last week i walked in the garage to get on my 4wheeler and i looked at my Lambo and said to myself ‘Dolph u should give someone your aventador and let them enjoy it, u not doin nothin wit it,’” the caption read. “So yea, now I’m about to give one of my fans my Lamborghini in the middle of a pandemic/recession.” To enter the giveaway, all fans must do is pre-order his upcoming Rich Slave album.

Rich Slave is out 08/14 via Paper Route / EMPIRE. Pre-order it here.

The NBA, to this point, has been able to successfully get its bubble season started and get consecutive weeks without any positive tests in Orlando. However, they know there is a long way to go and they must continue being diligent to ensure the safety of players, staff, hotel and arena staff, and the season.

As such, with some players allowing themselves to be maybe a bit too comfortable in the bubble and forgetting to abide by protocols, the league issued a memo to teams to remind them to tell players they need to continue following safety protocols, most notably wearing masks or face coverings when in public spaces in the bubble.

This has apparently become enough of an issue that the league also reminded teams of the various punishments players could face for not wearing a mask, and that repeat offenders risk fines, suspensions, or even outright removal from the bubble if they are non-compliant, per Marc Stein of the New York Times.

There has been a growing list of NBA players that have revealed themselves to be conspiracy theorists with regards to the COVID-19 pandemic, and while Adam Silver has deflected and said everyone is entitled to their opinion, he’s also made clear that to be a part of the league’s restart and bubble they must abide by the protocols put in place by health experts. As has been the issue around the country, the issue with being being violently against wearing a mask is that the mask is there to protect others, not one’s self, and by not wearing a mask they are impacting the health and well-being of those in their orbit who are trying to protect themselves and others.

Where states have had issues enforcing mask mandates, the NBA has a greater ability to do so in the bubble, and wants to remind players and teams of that. Hopefully this wakes players up and we see everyone, even those that take issue with masks, wearing them for the good of the league and, maybe more importantly to some, their wallets.

It would not be a stretch to label Big K.R.I.T. as one of hip-hop’s more overlooked and underrated rappers. The Mississippi native has plenty of achievements to be proud of including his 2011 XXL Freshman List inclusion, widely-celebrated albums and mixtapes, and success as an independent artist. Despite this, K.R.I.T. rarely receives his flowers from a mainstream point of view, something Waka Flocka Flame noticed and looked to correct on a recent episode of Drink Champs with DJ EFN and NORE.

“Yo K.R.I.T. is literally — of my generation — the most underrated rapper,” Waka Flocka said when the conversation turned to K.R.I.T. and his work. “And I’ma tell you, if I had to pick one artist to go against any artist, there’s not one n**ga in hip hop today that I can think about — young — that can out-rap Big K.R.I.T.” A bold statement, Waka Flocka would go on to explain his stance by drawing from the overall nature of K.R.I.T.’s catalog.

“With substance, title, understanding, a complete body of an album, K.R.I.T is the illest. Yo, if God asked me, ‘How do you wanna rap?’ I’d be like, ‘Let me rap like Big K.R.I.T. but put some entertainment, how to entertain with it.’ K.R.I.T. that n***a, yo. He one of the most powerful young n**gas, bro.”

Big K.R.I.T.’s last album arrived in 2019 with K.R.I.T. Iz Here, but he recently added his K.R.I.T. Wuz Here mixtape to streaming platforms with four new songs.

Across the country, college sports programs are trying to bring players back for workouts in hopes of finding a way to have a 2020 fall or winter season. Some have been able to successfully bring players back and create something akin to a bubble with no positive COVID-19 tests, but other programs have seen outbreaks that have led to the entirety of their athletics department having to shut things down and have everyone enter a quarantine period.

Conferences have steadily begun announcing plans to play conference-only schedules, recognizing some of the pitfalls of playing non-conference opponents given the NCAA’s lack of overall health and safety protocols leading to some large disparities between conferences — particularly smaller ones without the resources to do testing as regularly. Given the country’s lack of a federal response to the pandemic, it’s hard to see how a fall college football season happens, but everyone involved at a university level is determined to try because of the major financial implications of not playing football this year.

However, an unintended consequence of having to say the quiet part out loud — like Mike Gundy saying they have to play football in order to run money through the state of Oklahoma — is that coaches and administrators have now fully peeled back the facade of college sports and the farcical insistence on the “student first” student-athlete model. The players make millions for the universities and see almost nothing of that, and in this current climate, both with the pandemic and the rise in the fight for racial justice, many players are recognizing their power in the moment.

We’ve seen Iowa players get the highest paid strength coach in the country ousted for verbal abuse and racist language, Chuba Hubbard of Oklahoma State threaten to leave the program after Gundy wore an OAN shirt, and Marvin Wilson of Florida State demand some changes after Mike Norvell lied about having in depth conversations with all of his players. Players have long known and discussed these issues internally, but there seems to be a movement happening in which they are recognizing how to enact change — in part thanks to the platforms they have with social media now.

On Sunday, the latest example of this came from athletes in the Pac-12, who offered a list of demands before they are willing to return to the field or court this fall, calling for a more robust health plan, health insurance coverage for all athletes, compensation, and the Pac-12 to dedicate resources to combating racial injustice both within college sports programs and society as a whole, as laid out in a Players Tribune piece.

Their first demand is health and safety protocols, calling for the conference to, “Allow option not to play during the pandemic without losing athletics eligibility or spot on our team’s roster, and prohibit/void COVID-19 agreements that waive liability.” They also call for health and safety standards to be enforced by a “third party selected by the players.”

The second demand is to protect all sports, most notably pointing to Stanford shutting the door on 11 varsity sports due to the pandemic and calling on officials to use the university’s endowment to protect those sports. They also call on commissioner Larry Scott and school administrators to take voluntary reductions in pay that are “drastic” in order to help keep sports from being shuttered while they collect significant salaries, as well as an end to performance and academic bonuses for coaching contracts and ending “lavish facility expenditures,” which are used by athletic departments to spend profits and make balance sheets look lean.

The third demand is to “End racial injustice in college sports and society,” with calls to direct two percent of conference revenue to “support financial aid for low-income Black students, community initiatives, and development programs for college athletes on each campus.” They also demand a “civic engagement task force” to be created with the players input on members of the task force who will look to take on issues of racial injustice in college sports.

The final demand calls for compensation and medical protection for players, starting with a demand for medical insurance selected by players to cover athletes for sports-related medical condition (including COVID-19) for their careers and six years after their eligibility ends. They also call for the ability to sign with representation and seek opportunities with their name, image, and likeness, as well as distributing “50 percent of conference revenue evenly among athletes in their respective sports.” They also call for open transfer rules, ridding programs of any policies that impact their rights to free speech, and more.

Washington football linebacker Joe Tryon (last year’s team leader in sacks and tackles for loss) and receiver Ty Jones are among those players attached to the Players Tribune piece, and they both issued statements on Sunday.

Oregon star left tackle — and, potentially, the top pick in next year’s NFL Draft — likewise tweeted support of the call for change.

As did Cal’s leading returning rusher Kuony Deng.

We will learn fairly soon both how the Pac-12 responds to this and also how many players are attached to this letter — and how many in key revenue sports like football and basketball. Hopefully the united front is indeed just that and is strong, because given everything we’ve known about college sports for the last hundred-plus years is that they will do everything possible to shut down most all of these requests. What the Pac-12 is willing to budge on will be interesting, as will what players are willing or not willing to compromise on to return to their programs.

In total, this is just the latest in what feels like a movement towards players asserting their voices more and more in college sports, and, hopefully, signals the beginning of the end of college athletics incredibly exploitative history.

Beloved actor and TV pitch man Wilford Brimley died at age 85, leaving behind a career full of interesting roles and unforgettable commercials. Brimley, who for some will be remembered more as a spokesperson than an actor, died according to a report in Variety that noted he had a kidney issue over the last few months.

Brimley had a series of roles in a wide range of movies, from the manager of the Knights baseball team in The Natural to a notable role in Cocoon.

Pauline Kael ably summed up his appeal in a few words. Reviewing “Cocoon” for the New Yorker in 1985, she said, “Wilford Brimley, with his walrus mustache and friendly belly, brings an ornery impudence to his role.”

Brimley, who seemed to enter old age several decades ago, appeared perfectly at home in the Ron Howard-directed movie about senior citizens unintentionally rejuvenated by an alien life force in the pool where they do water aerobics even though he was only 51 at the time. Brimley’s Ben Luckett doing cannonballs in the pool is one of the most memorable moments in the film. Brimley returned for the 1988 sequel.

For a younger audience, however, Brimley was notorious as a spokesperson. He had a lengthy campaign with Quaker Oats, but also a diabetes-themed campaign for Liberty Medical Supplies, which often featured Brimley on a horse or in some kind of western wear talking about his diagnosis and testing supply needs.

The commercials that aired on daytime television made him synonymous with The Price Is Right and other game shows. John Goodman even played Brimley on a Saturday Night Live parody of his Liberty Medical Supplies commercials. He would later inspire this very weird Vine as well.

Brimley was also active on social media, right up until the end of his life. His last tweet was soliciting people to give him a wrestling name.

Looking to make a strong turnaround following her 2017 Witness album which received less than positive reviews from critics, Katy Perry is gearing up for the release of her sixth album, Smile. Arriving at the end of the month, Perry has given fans plenty to look forward to with its release, expeditiously with the album’s four singles, including its title track and “Daisies.” Giving fans more details on Smile as well as updating them on her pregnancy, Perry sat down with The Sunday Times Style for a game of “Finish The Sentence.”

Complying with the game and all its rules, Perry would soon get into the album after being asked to describe it..

“I would describe my new album as hopeful, resilient, joyful and my own journey of coming through hell,” she said. When asked which song best describes her current life, Perry picked two songs, “Smile” and the album’s outro, “What Makes a Woman,” choosing the latter because, “I am going through very, very feminine things right now.”

Perry would also answer some questions about her pregnancy and her progress with it. “Being pregnant is amazing because my level of appreciation for women has grown exponentially and given me this powerful feeling, like I can do it all while still creating another life,” she said. “I feel really powerful.”

In the nearly 4:30 minute video, Perry also spoke on why she will never grow tired of performing and the advice she would give her 18-year-old self.

The Miami Heat picked up an impressive and convincing win on Saturday in their seeding round opener, beating the Denver Nuggets 125-105 with six players in double figures.

They were led by Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, who had 22 points each, with Kelly Olynyk coming up big off the bench with 20 points in the win. It was a strong start to their restart and seemed to indicate that they were not battling as much rust as some teams, as they looked crisp on both ends in their first real game in four months.

Their next two games are even more important, as they face a Raptors team that dusted the Lakers on Saturday and then the Celtics, who are currently just 1.5 games up on Miami for the third spot in the East. However, on Sunday, Butler was absent from practice for an “excused absence,” with Erik Spoelstra not elaborating further on what exactly is going on with the star swingman.

Him still being in the bubble hopefully means he just got a deserved day off, but Jae Crowder’s comments on Butler’s absence from practice raised some eyebrows.

https://twitter.com/gifdsports/status/1289958228986482689

Butler’s status for Monday’s tilt with Toronto is currently unknown, as the Heat declined to speak on that, but his absence would certainly be notable given how crucial he is to this team and their success on both ends. Hopefully all is well with Butler, who spoke after Saturday’s game about being forced to change from his preferred blank jersey right at tipoff by the league, who declined his request to make such a statement with his uniform.

We will learn more about Butler’s status for Monday’s game fairly soon, as the league has asked teams to put out injury reports a day ahead of time, and hopefully it’s just something like a missed test (like what kept Kristaps Porzingis and Paul Millsap out of scrimmages earlier in the bubble).

Believe it or not, it’s only been one week of WNBA action with 18 games in seven days. Each team has played three games so far, which means that we’re already 13.6 percent of the way through the regular season. Time moves quickly in the wubble.

An exciting first week of games saw some teams emerge as title frontrunners, some struggle through surprisingly slow starts and plenty of breakout performances from players. Lots of people are watching as well; viewership of Saturday’s second game between the Los Angeles Sparks and Phoenix Mercury was up 20 percent from last year, making it the most watched opening day game since 2012. Following that ratings bump, ESPN and NBATV announced that they would increase their coverage of the 2020 regular season.

Here’s what we’ve learned through Week 1:

1. The Mystics are the only unbeaten team

The biggest surprise from the first week of games has to be the success of the Washington Mystics. The reigning champions entered the 2020 season without half of last year’s roster, including 2019 league MVP Elena Delle Donne, and were not pegged as title challengers by many, if anyone. But each player has stepped up for the team in Bradenton.

The Mystics’ opening game against the Indiana Fever was an absolute dominant performance, with Myisha Hines-Allen going off for a career-high 27 points on 64.7 percent shooting, 10 rebounds, and two assists. Aerial Powers had a night to remember against Connecticut on Tuesday, scoring 27 points of her own, a career-high for the fifth-year player. And in a surprise win against title favorites Seattle Storm, it was Ariel Atkins’ turn to shine, scoring a game-high 22 points.

Out of every team in the wubble, Washington looks to have the best chemistry and understanding. It’s early, but if the Mystics can continue to get lights-out performances from unlikely places, they very well might be on their way to a second championship.

2. The kids are alright

Week 1 saw the league’s new kids on the block come into their own. After a relatively quiet first game against Seattle on opening day, No. 1 pick Sabrina Ionescu dropped 33 points, seven assists, and seven rebounds against the Dallas Wings in just her second game. Unfortunately, the star guard suffered a grade 3 ankle sprain on Friday night against the Atlanta Dream and it is unclear if she will be able to return this season.

Chennedy Carter and Crystal Dangerfield are still getting used to their roles as starting point guards for the Dream and Minnesota Lynx, respectively, but showed glimpses of their abilities. The Dallas youth took it to another level in their third game against Indiana, with Satou Sabally earning her first career double-double after scoring a game-high 23 points and 17 rebounds. Fellow Wings rookie Bella Alarie finished that game with a +18 net rating after having six points, two steals, five assists, and four rebounds.

3. The Phoenix Mercury are finally clicking

Ahead of the 2020 season, the Mercury and their big three of Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, and Skylar Diggins-Smith were widely expected to challenge for the championship. But two games in, the team had not won any games and struggled on the offensive end of the floor. New addition Bria Hartley showed promise and the Mercury’s defense was also positive, but not much else was clicking for the team. That changed on Friday night against the Las Vegas Aces, as Taurasi and Diggins-Smith found their rhythm; they combined for 44 points, 15 assists, and just two turnovers in a 102-95 win. After experimenting with three different starting lineups in the first three games of the season, the Mercury look like they are starting to figure things out.

4. Breakout performances abound

The league’s first week of action saw many overlooked players make their mark with standout performances. Allen-Hines is a clear example of that for the Mystics, averaging 19 points, 8.3 assists, and 2.7 rebounds through the first three games. Atlanta’s Betnijah Laney is another surprise of the season; she is currently averaging 19 points, 4.7 rebounds, three assists, and two steals after setting a career-high in points twice this year. Laney was cut from the Fever’s roster in June, underscoring how tough the WNBA is with just 144 roster spots.

In her first season with the Aces, Angel McCoughtry has shown that she hasn’t missed a step since her knee injury in 2019. The veteran forward is averaging 18.3 points, 2.3 assists, and 5.7 steals through the first three games and she helped the Aces to their first win against the Dream on Wednesday.

5. Were we right to disrespeCT the Sun?

Ahead of the 2020 season, the Connecticut Sun were adamant about not being disrespeCTed, or counted out of the title race, by viewers. The team aimed to prove that despite the losses of stars Courtney Williams, who left for Atlanta in the offseason, and Jonquel Jones, who opted out of the season, they could still compete. After all, they made it to the WNBA Finals last year and pushed the series to five games against the indomitable Mystics.

Having said all that, it’s not disrespect if a team has yet to win a game and are sitting at the bottom of the standings. Connecticut has been disappointing, and perhaps it was always optimistic to assume that the team would bounce back with a virtually new roster. In week 1, the ever-consistent Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner had big games, but the rest of the team didn’t bother to show up. The Sun have the worst shooting percentage in the league, averaging 38.5 percent from the field and 27 percent from three. They have also struggled from the free throw line, making just 70.5 percent of their foul shots. It remains to be seen if the Sun can turn things around, especially because the condensed schedule means that there’s not a lot of time to hit the practice floor.