Month: August 2020

There are two sorts of people in this world. In one corner are the individuals who understand that sports, culture, and politics frequently bleed into one another, not because of any sort of agenda, but because culture and politics influence sport and the individuals who participate it, just as they would any other person. In the other corner are individuals who believe that — despite decades worth of evidence that this is not the case — participating in sports (as an athlete, coach, reporter, etc.) causes an athlete to give up a sense of personhood and instead be so single-minded that the only topic upon which they can speak is sports.

That second group has something of a rallying cry: “stick to sports.” In recent years, though, that line has become both ignored and parodied, with the latest example coming via Cari Champion and Jemele Hill on their new late night show on Vice, Stick to Sports. The two ex-ESPN personalities never shied away from commentary that existed at the intersection of sports, culture, and politics while they were with the Worldwide Leader. Even then, both Champion and Hill have long been comfortable venturing outside of the world of sports.

Now, the duo are teaming up to take on late night television. The first episode of their show — which touches on a wide breadth of topics and subject matters — debuts on VICE on Wednesday, Aug. 19 at 10 p.m. EST. But before then, Uproxx Sports caught up with the duo to discuss the show, being the latest voices in an increasingly-diverse late night talk show scene, and of course, what “stick to sports” means and why it is a failed concept.

I have a few questions, and I think the first obvious one is, how did the show come about?

Cari: In August of last year — we’ve been figuring it out right now. I knew that I was wanting to eventually make a departure from ESPN and Jemele had done so, and she had been living her best life when she moved to L.A. and I had already been there, and I said, “Jemele, why don’t we take some of our ideas from when we worked together and did,” — this is so old — “Periscopes together and we can just sit down and talk about some uncomfortable topics over some wine and I’ll have a crew there and we’ll film?” She was like, “Okay,” which is her approach to a lot of different things, so very easy. So we came in and shot a pilot. We didn’t know what it would be, it could have been just a talk show, it could have been just two friends doing a podcast.

But what we did know is that the conversations we were having were very honest and pure and uncomfortable, but really good because … Black folks are not a monolithic people, right? We all think differently. And Jemele and I, while we are very close and really dear friends, we have different takes on different topics. And we knew that we had something really special there — it felt special, it felt easy, it also felt just like what we do normally, when we just sit around and drink some wine and talk shit. And so we felt like this could be something. So we put it away, had different versions of it, it was edited and broken down by a really good friend of ours. And then it just so happens that one of our mentors knew someone at Vice, and then that’s when the conversation started going.

And the thing is that I feel like everything happens for a reason. No one could have told me when I left ESPN at the end of January I’d be doing a show with Jemele in less than six months. Someone could have told me either there was a pandemic or that you would be in such a very tense situation when it comes to social justice and equity for Black people in this country. However, it all panned out way before we even knew what we were going to do for our show. And at the end of the day, Vice was a perfect marriage, as I’ve said before, because they have the same goals that we did, and that was telling uncomfortable conversations, changing the way you see late night political conversation.

So why not call the show Stick to Sports and do anything but that, but also at the same time, show the commonality between sports and politics and culture and entertainment, because they do all go together, no matter how we’ve been brainwashed to believe they do not? And then that became the inception of the show, me knocking on her door with a glass of wine and the camera crew saying, “Hey, let me sit at your kitchen table and talk to you for a second.”

So at any point in your careers, has the thought of taking over and having your own late night show ever popped into your heads? Because I know you both have plenty of experience in so many television formats, but there’s a certain gravity that comes with the title of late night.

Jemele: Yeah. It is a little different, because it’s a different type of audience than certainly I’m used to. I mean, I did evenings at SportsCenter, I did midday. Cari’s done a bunch of different time slots. There is a different expectation, but I think it’s an expectation that aligns with who we are. I think people got to see a glimpse of who we are at SportsCenter, or rather, at ESPN. That’s not to suggest we were not ourselves, we’re always ourselves. But I think with this format and this time spot, people will get a fuller picture of who we are. And I think late night, because it automatically allows for a little more edginess, more personality, that it will give people an opportunity to see those things in us and also to appreciate our range.

We may be known for sports because the biggest platform that we’ve had was on a sports network, but there’s just a variety of issues that we feel really comfortable talking about, that we feel very well-versed on. So I think people are going to get an opportunity to just, I guess to say it bluntly, to see honestly how good we are.

For sure. And the thing that is so interesting to me is that late night TV is a really homogenous thing. Like, there are some exceptions — Desus and Mero, Lilly Singh — but for the most part, it’s a lot of white dudes making the same kinds of jokes. Do you hope that your show plays a role in further changing and really providing a springboard for more voices, more perspective, that we don’t always get to hear because, like I said, it’s a lot of white dudes.

Cari: You know what I think happened? I think that when people get too … they’re consumed with that “late night” title. And I think that people get in their ear and make them feel that they have to be or act a certain way. And then when you get there, you feel like you have to compromise and be what the traditional late night people be. Whether that be Carson, Letterman, Jay Leno, now the newer versions of them. I’m just talking about from over the years, the conception of it. And you feel like there’s some sort of gravity sitting behind that desk and you’d have to do that, or you have to carry out this legacy. The beauty of what we do and what we’ve always been true to is just ourselves. And that was all we ever wanted to be, was just be our authentic selves.

I think the late night is just a conduit. It’s just the place that we end up being, but it’s still going to be able to change, I believe, that perspective if you watch it for what you’re supposed to watch for. I don’t need to automatically always laugh when I watch anybody. So whether it’s Stephen Colbert or John Oliver, all great, nothing’s wrong with any of that, but they do look alike and they do all have the same theme. And I think we went in and even pitched a meeting about it. We went in thinking, “Let’s create some great content, have two dope ass black women drive the conversation,” and with some sensibility — we’re not just out here saying Kanye for president, you know that’s ridiculous. But we want to have a conversation that makes sense to a group of people, because more often than not, what you just described was the exception to the rule with Desus and Mero and Lilly. They are the marginalized ones, and we’ve often felt that way too, but it’s time to keep the door open and change that.

We are in a world of very many different people where the minority should be the majority, which they are. And I don’t even think that we walked in thinking late night. We walked in thinking excellence, and be ourselves, and have conversations that we quite frankly cannot find unless we’re just surfing the socials, and those are the conversations that we’ve been able to enjoy and laugh. I know a lot of the things I talk about are derived from things that — and the same thing with other late night shows — they’re derived from things they saw on social media. Why not bring a good conversation to the television so you could sit down and say, okay, I get it. And Vice does an excellent job of that. When I sit back and watch, I’m like, that’s great. I think tonight, okay, good, I didn’t know that. You want to walk away really enjoying yourself and feeling that the title of late night doesn’t necessarily have to fit the role of what we’re doing. That gravitas that you talk about sometimes becomes expectations that people can’t manage. And I don’t think we feel that way.

I certainly chuckled when I saw the name of the show, because it’s just so obvious that Stick to Sports works for what Jemele Hill and Cari Champion would want to do. When this was in development, was that kind of the no doubt name for this that it seems like in retrospect?

Jemele: Actually, it wasn’t.

Interesting.

Jemele: We were trying to think of something that was reflective of us. The original show title was something that had kind of been on the books with [Vice], a title that they had been flirting with. And while it was a good title, it was one of the things where it felt like it would be a stronger connection for us if we did something that reflected who we are. Then we came up with another title, because the news is going to get out there that we were doing this show. And so we kind of went with one, but we didn’t have a chance to really, really think about. And then so we kind of walked that one back. So we’re actually on title number three, but this was the one that universally everybody liked the most. [Laughs.]

Yeah, I mean, it just makes sense. I don’t know about you, but as I think of this, it seemed obvious that at some point someone was going to name something with this ethos Stick to Sports, no?

Cari: You know what, that’s interesting. You’re right, I’m surprised that it wasn’t done. We were even going to do a segment called “Stick to Sports,” and then we were like, okay, well, after a bunch of back and forth like J said, we were like, you know what, why not? It’s also, we didn’t want to overthink it. Because you obviously are a sports fan or you’re familiar with sports, so it makes sense, but there are those who don’t watch any kind of sports, right? So we’re in the network that doesn’t necessarily skew toward sports. So people may, believe it or not, need that explained to them. And we’ll do that in a way in which they’ll get it, but we probably will either make the phrase even more mainstream, because I do find that some people are like, wait, are you talking about sports? Like, if you talk to people who aren’t in our world.

Can I get in your own words why, in your experience, athletes and those in sports media have responded to being told to “stick to sports” as passionately as they have, because it’s so fascinating to me for so many number of reasons and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

Jemele: I just want to make sure I understand your question correctly. But your question is about where that ethos came from of stick to sports, is that what I was hearing?

Basically, it seems like in recent years there’s been an increase in people very loudly saying, “I do not want to hear about anything other than sports from you.” And there’s just been this very fascinating response where it’s just straight up, “No, I’m a person that is complex. I am not just an athlete. I’m not just a sports journalist.” That sort of thing.

Jemele: Yeah. I think we have to be honest about who was saying it and who it was directed at. And if we’re just keeping it real, it was always directed at Black people. We were the ones being told to stick to sports. And whether that be Black athletes, people who were in the media, or other high profile Black people who had the types of platforms that when they didn’t stick to sports, people would kind of pay attention to what they were saying. And certainly what I noticed when we were at ESPN, is that as soon as people like Cari and me and others started to get more prominent positions at ESPN, there became an idea that we need to be quiet. And it wasn’t that we were talking about intersections between race, sports, gender, and politics every day, it was just that it was in the news.

And of course, us being Black people in this country, we understand the messiness of those intersections. And I just noticed as people at ESPN or in media period, as there started to be more diverse voices, as there started to be more inclusive voices, suddenly there was a movement to stick to sports. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that that mentality coincided with having people become more vocal about the reality of racism in this country. And so I think that the people who did it were always who started the stick to sports movement, if you want to call it that, were always bad faith actors, because there were plenty examples of when white athletes did not stick to sports or white commentators didn’t stick to sports, and speaking about issues that they agreed with, and they never got that kind of energy. And so as always, it’s less on the principle of sticking to sports and more on the fact that they disagreed with what was being said.

Even if you want to take Laura Ingraham, for example, the architect of “shut up and dribble.” She was trying to put LeBron James in his place for what he said, but on the same network they had Ja Rule and Fabio on there talking about politics, and I’m just trying to figure out how that was OK. But somehow having LeBron and Kevin Durant talk about issues that matter to them is not OK. And the difference was that those commentators that she agreed with were well outside of the realm of politics saying something, it was totally fine. But everybody else got to shut up because she does not want to be reminded of the reality of racism in this country. And so it was always an agenda that I thought was not disingenuous, but it was one that was clearly rooted in this deeper kind of pathology that Black people always have to be in the mode of being grateful.

Cari: Yeah. Yeah.

Jemele: Grateful for the bare minimum, at that. So if we remind people that, hey, we don’t need your gratitude or we don’t need to feel grateful, then it becomes a problem for a lot of people. So seeing how, to me, that was always a very loud minority announcing an even louder majority, push back against that and push bak against that to the point where I just don’t even see the stick to sports really relevant anymore in terms of that being the mentality or possible, for that matter. It’s been gratifying to see the idea of stick to sports kind of have a very short life.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

HBO’s Lovecraft Country is ambitious and astounding and will undoubtedly blow your expectations away. Created by Misha Green, who’s working with Matt Ruff’s 1950s-set dark-fantasy novel as source material, the show counts horror visionary Jordan Peele and sci-fi maestro J.J. Abrams as executive producers. The show is full of literary references and monsters, both in-your-face and and figurative; we’ll discuss the resulting symbolism on a weekly basis.

The debut Lovecraft Country episode, “Sundown” — referring to localities where Black Americans weren’t welcome after dark, and “sundown towns” aren’t entirely a thing of the past — isn’t bashful at all about piling onto the bookishness of its leading trio, led by Jonathan Majors as Atticus “Tic” Freeman. Even though he flips the bird while bidding “good riddance to old Jim Crow,” Tic’s anything but free of the 1950s-set racist horrors that persist in the U.S. He’s aided on a journey to find his missing father by his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) and childhood friend, Leticia “Leti” Lewis (Jurnee Smollett, who is a damn revelation in this show). This week, the show gives us a cursory tour of literary (and cinematic) references, and here are a few (although not all) of them.

Here’s the 1950s, in case you thought life in 2020 was exhausting.

Let’s get down to those references.

The Jackie Robinson Story And More

Lovecraft Country opens with the sleeping mind of Tic, whose mind is absolutely soaked with pulp fiction, so there’s the technicolor dream to match. The references to the 1950 movie do have a tie-in book to match, but I’m slightly cheating here by calling this a literary reference. Still, it’s a hell of an opener with words taken from The Jackie Robinson Story‘s narrator: “This is the story of a boy and his dream, but more than that. This is the story of an American boy, and a dream that is truly American.”

Tic’s diving in and out of battle trenches (heartbreakingly, he’s served a country that hates him) before gazing upon UFOs and dodging otherworldly creatures, all with a smattering of actual literary references to H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, along with At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft, and A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (we’ll discuss the latter two authors below). He’s rescued by Robinson, the first African-American Major League baseball player who’s credited with busting the color barrier within the sport. He’s also busting some neon-green guts and looking mighty “post-apocalyptic” (which should delight Jordan Peele to no end). Since these visions spring from Tic’s head, we’re getting a glimpse of how he’d like the world to be and how he would like to be the hero that swings at the monster. Before the episode’s end, Tic got a shot at doing just that.

A Princess Of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

This lovely lady sure didn’t shy away from telling Tic that the protagonist (John Carter) of Burroughs’ 1912 book isn’t a hero worth celebrating, given that he fought for slavery as a Confederate officer. Still, Tic insisted that he’s willing to overlook the flaws of stories (they’re “like people”) because “I love that the heroes get to go on adventures in other worlds, defy insurmountable odds, defeat the monster, save the day.” It’s escapism, he reasoned: “Little negro boy from the South Side of Chicago don’t notoriously get to do that.”

Tic should have listened to his travel companion. Burroughs’ novel is virulently racist and filled with tropes to that effect, including the characterization of Natives being savage, and even when Natives are allowed to escape that stereotype, they’re still nowhere near as honorable as the “civilized” white presence represented by John Carter. Burroughs’ seminal pulp story went on to influence many scientists as well as fiction writers, who were embraced by readers seeking escapism. And although Tic would love to overlook flaws that exist in the stories that he adores, he (along with Leti and George) can find no escape from the reality of Jim Crow America.

The works of H.P. Lovecraft, obviously

Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s legacy is, like that of Burroughs, appallingly racist, and this scene between Tic and George serves as a window for the horrors that follow. Tic’s love for “pulp trash” was clearly opposed by his father, Montrose, who’s gone missing and left a bizarre letter about a family legacy in what at first looks like “Arkham” (like the sci-fi/pulp publishing house) but turns out to be Ardham, Massachusetts. It’s a place that hasn’t popped up on the census in centuries and sits in the middle of nowhere and far from any designated points in The Safe Negro Travel Guide, which is based upon the all-too-real Negro Motorist Green Book.

Within this discussion, Tic and George debated whether Lovecraft’s “home of corpse reanimator Herbert West” could refer to Ardham as a real place. Despite the letter not even slightly resembling the way that Montrose actually speaks, they traveled to a place where sundown brings even more horror than daylight. It’s worth noting that, although the Re-Animator story dealt one of the first literary mentions of a zombie-like uprising of monsters, what the group encountered is more vampire-like in nature.

Ray Bradbury and a surreal car chase

Another writer beloved by Atticus (he’s fond of Bradbury’s 1950s short-story collection, The Martian Chronicles) gets namechecked by George during dinner at the house of Leti’s brother. The group had barely escaped a car chase unscathed following the intervention of a silver car that appeared to toss up an invisible barrier against a group of good ol’ white boys (who were incensed at the trio asking to be served at the Simonsville diner, where Uncle George reminded Atticus why the White House is white).

From there, we got a glimpse of a mysterious blonde woman that emerges from the silver car that we see several times and hear stories about (presumably, it’s the car that picked up Montrose went he went missing). The connections here aren’t explicit (and I might be reading into things too much), but the crash could refer to Bradbury’s 1947 story, “The Crowd,” which connects back in a ghostly way to a car accident that Bradbury witnessed as a child. The silver color of the car in the Lovecraft County crash scene might also be a nod to the silver vehicles of 1953’s Fahrenheit 451. All of that went down, of course, following this reminder from George.

A few loose ends:

The monsters of Devon County

The deceptively winding terrain of Devon County is where sh*t got real, starting with Sheriff Hunt, who degradingly informed the group that they’re standing in a “sundown county.” And we’ve got another chase scene, this time a truly terrifying one that ended in a roadblock, where literal monsters surface (George got to drop a Bram Stoker reference after figuring out that they’re vampire-esque and fear light) and end up transforming a lawman into one of them. How fitting, not to mention one of the show’s many reminders that Black history and horror are often interchangeable terms.

All hail Leti

I simply needed to point out that Leti saved the day (twice) while driving a car after her male companions didn’t want a woman to drive.

And introducing William

Would you have walked into that house at the end of the episode? Tic, Leti, and George definitely noted the silver car as they approached, and here’s their host. He looks… fun.

HBO’s ‘Lovecraft Country’ airs Sundays at 9:00pm EST.

After a few weeks off, Last Week Tonight returned to HBO on Sunday (following the premiere of Lovecraft Country) with an episode centered about jury duty in the United States. You can watch that segment here, but before host John Oliver got into how “the role of a court is not to make it f*cking easy by having cases heard by only a group of white people,” he touched on President Trump beating the birther drum. Yes, again.

“The big news was Kamala Harris being announced as Biden’s running mate, a decision that sent conservatives scrambling for attack strategies, from claiming it’s an ‘extreme, far-left’ ticket — which it absolutely isn’t — to a baseless accusation that she may not meet the citizenship requirements to hold the office despite being very much born in the United States. It’s a depressing resurgence of birtherism, so of course Trump jumped all over it,” Oliver said. Trump told reporters last week that he heard Harris “doesn’t meet the requirements. I have no idea if that’s right. I would have assumed that the Democrats would have checked that out before she gets chosen to run for vice president.”

Harris was born in California.

“It’s frankly amazing how slow Trump is to respond to so many things like, I don’t know, public health crises,” Oliver cracked, “yet when it comes to amplifying racist conspiracy theories, suddenly he’s The Flash on cocaine.” The host then brought up the “batshit theories” being peddled by Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right politician from Georgia who is favored to win a congressional seat, and QAnon supporters everywhere.

“Many QAnon supporters believe in a global conspiracy involving a ring of Satan-worshipping, child-molesting criminals led by prominent Democrats that includes everyone from Hillary Clinton to Tom Hanks to a Mexican cement company. They also believe information about it is being leaked via cryptic posts on the internet by someone with very high Q-level security clearance, which sounds just as made-up as it definitely is,” Oliver explained. He then summed up the dangers of whack-a-doodle theories:

“It’s bad enough to encounter these conspiracy theories online, [but] it is worse to potentially encounter them in the halls of Congress. I would love to be shocked that the Republican leadership is embracing an ongoing troll with a history of racist comments but the truth is they’ve been doing that for years now because you can only see Greene as a disturbing anomaly if you ignore the basic facts that when it comes to the modern Republican party, where they go one, they go all.”

You can watch the entire episode here.

Adele’s latest album, 25, came out in 2015, and five years later, fans are thirsting for more from the legendary singer. One fan recently asked the singer directly where her new music is, and he got an answer.

Over the weekend, Adele shared a recommendation about a self-help book, but some folks in the comments were more interested in a new release from Adele. A fan asked in the comments of the Instagram post, “Adele where’s the album,” followed by a crying emoji. Adele actually answered them, writing, “I honestly have no idea.”

There were signs earlier this year that a new record from Adele would arrive at some point this year. In January, her managers suggested that 2020 would be the year for the 25 follow-up, and while officiating a friend’s wedding in February, Adele told those in attendance, “Expect my album in September.”

However, those things were said before the coronavirus pandemic had a strong grip over the world and changed the entire music industry. So, while it’s possible that Adele intended then to release a new album towards the end of 2020, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that the pandemic changed her plans to the point where she’s not sure exactly when her next release will drop.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, Kanye West and his Sunday Service Choir have only managed to put on a handful of Sunday Service performances in 2020. Now, though, months since the last one, Kanye and the choir made their return, giving a picturesque performance at Kanye’s Wyoming ranch.

Kanye shared some videos and photos from the performance, writing, “Praise God [praying emoji]. We would like to thank our staff for making sure all Covid safety guidelines were followed today during Sunday Service at our West Mountains family ranch in Wyoming. We are beyond blessed to be able to share the love of Christ through worship #SUNDAYSERVICEISBACK.”

Kim Kardashian (with whom Kanye has had some bumps in the marital road recently) was in attendance, and she also shared some videos from the event. She also offered some more details about the performance, revealing that it was filmed and that “the music will be shared soon,” writing, “For anyone wondering, Kanye’s team took every precaution to ensure the choir’s health and safety which is always top priority. It was filmed today without an audience. The music will be shared soon for anyone who could use a some uplifting.”

Watch clips from the return of Sunday Service above and below.

Something about this Getty photo of Seth Rogen looking happy for Ryan Reynolds (accepting a Deadpool-related award) at the 2016 MTV Movie Awards warms my heart. Maybe it’s the purity of Zac Efron that’s sealing the deal here, but I should get to the point: Rogen and Reynolds were both called upon to join forces for the greater good, in line with Sharon Stone coming for people who won’t wear masks during the pandemic. Both men rose to the challenge.

Here’s what happened: last week, British Columbia Premiere John Horgan name-checked both Canadian-born actors to implore young adults to help stop the Covid-19 spread by declining to gather.

Rogen issued a literally-blunt response that encouraged people to pick up the blunt instead. “Please do not go out to parties and BBQs and other large gatherings!” he tweeted. “The COVID is still out there! It’s more fun to hang out alone and smoke weed and watch movies and TV shows anyway! Do that instead! Thank you!”

Short, sweet, and full of weed on Rogen’s behalf will hopefully work some good. Meanwhile, Reynolds got a lot wordier by tweeting his “message” that he supposedly left with Horgan’s office. Naturally, the Detective Pikachu fired a shot at Hugh Jackman over plastic surgery before pointing out that young people are getting sick and dying from this virus. In addition, he’d also like his mom, Tammy, to be able to go outside and “go full Mrs. Robinson” without worrying about death. Goodness:

“My mom, I mean, she doesn’t want to be cooped in her apartment all day; she wants to be out there cruising Kitsilano Beach, looking for some young 30-something Abercrombie burnout to go full Mrs. Robinson on. She is insatiable. But here’s the thing. I hope that young people in BC don’t kill my mom, frankly, or [environmental scientist] David Suzuki, or each other. Let’s not kill anyone. I think that’s reasonable.”

Mom must be proud. Listen to the message below.

The explosion that rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut on August 4 left unimaginable damage, leaving 171 people killed, thousands injured, dozens missing, and about 300,000 homeless. In the wake of the tragedy, a number of high profile people have donated to help, including The Weeknd as well as an Oscar-winning actor, the latter who, at least at first, preferred to be anonyous.

Among the many buildings partially destroyed by the explosion was the one belonging to Le Chef, the esteemed restaurant once visited by the late Anthony Bourdain. A GoFundMe page was set up by filmmaker Amanda Bailly and journalist Richard Hall, and they were surprised to receive a generous donation from someone who named Russell Crowe. The two took to Twitter to spread the news about the sizable donation, writing, “Someone called Russell Crowe made a very generous donation to our Le Chef fundraiser. But not sure if it’s *the* @russellcrowe.”

But it was the Russell Crowe. The Oscar-winning actor revealed himself on Twitter, writing “I thought that he would have probably done so if he was still around,” Crowe wrote. “I wish you and LeChef the best and hope things can be put back together soon.”

As per the GoFundMe page, Le Chef is located in the neighborhood closest to the explosion, and over the years it has “survived war and economic crises.” And yet it was the port explosion that “left it in shambles.” Bourdain described Le Chef as “a legendary spot, famed for its simple, straightforward, home-style classics.”

Bourdan famously visited Beirut for an Emmy-nominated episode of his first food and travel show No Reservations, which found him and his crew trapped in the city due to the sudden outbreak of the Israel-Lebanon War. Their first stop before the strife broke out was indeed Le Chef, which said “felt kind of familiar, like a New York diner.”

The GoFundMe was asking for $15,000, a third of which came from Crowe. As of August 16, it had exceeded its goal, raising over $18,000.

(Via Deadline)

The Los Angeles Lakers will begin their hopeful quest for a 17th championship — and first in a decade — on Tuesday when they face the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 1 of their first round matchup in Orlando. For LeBron James, it’ll be business as usual trying to make a run to an NBA Finals, but for Anthony Davis and many of the rest of the Lakers key contributors it will be a new experience.

The last time the Lakers had a top star with serious postseason experience it was Kobe Bryant leading the Lakers to titles in 2009 and 2010, and if L.A. gets beyond the first round of the playoffs this year they have plans to honor their former star. According to Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times, the Lakers will wear their Black Mamba jerseys for the conference semifinals and beyond should they make it through the red-hot Blazers, paying tribute to Kobe’s legacy.

It’ll be the latest effort of the team to honor the star who died tragically in January in a helicopter crash, as the team hosted an emotional remembrance of Bryant prior to their first game back after his death and have consistently spoken about how his memory is always with them. This year’s playoff run figured to feature plenty of Kobe tributes should they have been playing at home in L.A., so wearing their snakeskin Black Mamba uniforms is a nice way to bring that to the Orlando Bubble.

Jay Williams, like most of us, is feeling a bit anxious at the moment. After months of working from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he’s returned to the ESPN studio for NBA Countdown as the playoffs get set to begin and, on Monday, he’ll be in studio for his maiden voyage on ESPN Radio as he, Keyshawn Johnson, and Zubin Mehenti launch their new morning show: Keyshawn, JWill & Zubin from 6-10 a.m. ET.

“There’s been a heightened sense of anxiety,” Williams says of his recent return to the studio. “My daughter is immune suppressed. So is my mom — she’s had two kidney transplants. So, I’ve been hyper diligent about it, but ESPN’s done a really good job of sanitizing everything and the minimum amount of people are in the studio that need to be there and we’re all wearing the proper PPE until we are live on air. So, it’s been OK. Compared to what other people have to go through on a day-to-day level, there’s no comparison, right. At the same time, it’s been pretty insane times. Working from home for the past three or four months, you’re like, ‘Oh, I can work from home and still spend time with my family.’ But there’s something so unique about being in the presence of others and being able to react and not having a lag. It’s been cool to get that feeling back.”

When ESPN announced its new radio lineup, headlined by the morning show change that saw Golic & Wingo end its run in favor of the new trio of Williams, Johnson, and Mehenti, it raised plenty of eyebrows. Creating a wholly new show with three members who – while they all separately have years of experience – haven’t worked on a radio show together in the morning drive timeslot came as a surprise to some. It’s also led many to ask the group the same question: How do you think you guys will work together?

It’s a question Williams has grown a bit tired of, noting it’s a fairly new concern in the media landscape. “Before Mike & Mike worked together, there wasn’t this whole evaluation of their chemistry and how that would play out,” Williams says. “Before Mike & the Mad Dog were together it wasn’t like, ‘Hey, what’s their chemistry going to be like?’”

And yet, it’s something that will persist at least until the three get some time on the microphones together and build an identity for the show. It may be viewed as a challenge by some, but it is something Williams is excited for. A 13-year veteran of the industry despite being just 38 years old, Williams has climbed the ranks from ESPNU analyst to ESPN college hoops analyst to a spot on College Gameday to a move to the NBA side on Countdown and a regular spot on Get Up!

That journey has afforded him a tremendous amount of experience as well as some perspective on who he is in the media space.

“I think the way I saw my personality could fit in is that I’m always malleable,” Williams says. “Nobody can stop me from being me, and I’m gonna play off other people’s strengths, and I gotta give a lot of that credit to being around Coach K for three years. It’s like, how do you try to bring the best out of other people?”

Those years on the ESPN TV circuit has also given him an appreciation for time and nuance, and it’s what particularly excites him about the opportunity to work in radio. Where TV is about being as concise as possible to fit the most into a finite timeslot as you can, radio affords you so much more space to dive deeper than is ever afforded on most television shows. Time constraints are the enemy of nuance and context. They force you to condense an idea into its most basic form, which on sports television can often results in the creation of a hot take. The thought behind it gets lost, any context for the opinion swept away neatly in the corner so that what’s presented is only the most concentrated essence.

You’re left with declarations. A list. A ranking. A sweeping statement, iron-clad in its refusal to budge.

“I’ll give you NBA Countdown as a prime example,” Williams says of the time constraints of TV. “It’s Maria. It’s Jalen Rose. It’s Paul Pierce and myself. Paul Pierce is remote so he’s on a delay. So you have three minutes for the A-block. A minute and 45 seconds is for a feature piece. So, that leaves you a minute and 15 seconds for a thought on a game — let’s say you’re watching Devin Booker play since he’s been killing everybody. By the time Maria asks you a question, you’re at a minute. Now you’re sharing a minute with two other people and they have things they want to get across. Let’s say by the time Jalen Rose is done with his point you have 40 seconds. By the time Paul is done with his point, you have 15 seconds, and then everything transitions your way and you hear the producer in your ear, ‘10, 9, 8, 7…’ So you’re trying to squeeze 10 pounds into a two-pound jar. It just doesn’t work. You don’t get a chance to explain thoroughly what you’re talking about.”

Williams continues.

“So, that’s difficult TV,” he says. “What happens is, you end up trying to say, like, what’s going to be catchy? What’s going to get people’s attention? But you’re also trying to stay true to what you see or what you evaluate. So it’s a very tricky position to be in. Whereas now with radio, Key can cook for a minute and a half or two minutes and then be like, ‘OK Jay what do you think?’ And, ‘Pfft, what do I think? Let me tell you what I think. Four things you just said there, I don’t know what the…’ and you can actually go down a couple of layers, which is drastically different than trying to squeeze two layers into 10 seconds. It’s just different worlds, man.”

The former Duke standout looks forward to having the airspace to move away from that. To present opinions with context and layers. To have conversations that yield growth from both parties — maybe even an admission of being wrong — in lieu of yelling and standoffishness. Disagreements will happen and Williams isn’t shy about sharing his opinion, but for a man whose adult life has been so much about the journey rather than the destination, his approach to sports conversations and opinions is the same. He’s not afraid of stepping back off of an opinion when new information is presented or someone brings something up he hasn’t considered.

To refuse to do so would lead him down a path he doesn’t want.

“Then you become a caricature,” Williams says. “I’m not trying to become that, man.”

Recently, Williams has had that with the debate over whether to play college football, where he was strongly for cancelling the season. After hearing Trevor Lawrence bring up how for many players being on campus and at the facility, where testing was regular and guys were closely monitored, he adapted his viewpoint.

“I was like, damn, you’re right Trevor Lawrence, but I will say to you this, why do they have to go home?” Williams observes. “These are student athletes. You don’t need to have a football season, and they can still remain on campus as athletes and still have that protection that’s in place, you just don’t need to have 10 conference games. But you know what, why don’t we think about postponing the season before we think about canceling? So, what I feel like happens in that conversation is people are like, ‘Oh yeah, Jay, I can’t believe you said you’d cancel the season.’ I’m like, well that’s what I thought. Trevor Lawrence has changed the way that I thought, and that’s what’s supposed to happen with constructive conversation.”

Allowing yourself to listen to an opposing viewpoint, rather than digging in further, is where nuance comes in. And as Williams sees it, makes for more lively discussion, regardless of medium.

“I think being able to learn and evolve while having fun,” Williams adds, “while being lighthearted, while telling stories about your experiences personally — I think that’s good TV and good radio, man.”

Williams is excited about working with Johnson, who is a veteran of the ESPN airwaves both on TV (where he’s returning as a member of the NFL Live team) and radio, having spent years with a show on ESPN Los Angeles. As Williams notes, he has spent his media career finding himself and his voice, arriving at a point where he’s fully confident in who he is as a broadcaster and confident in being authentic. Johnson has had that his whole life, being unabashedly Keyshawn. That dynamic is something Williams thinks will work terrifically on their new show, with Mehenti helping bridge it all together as a veteran host of both SportsCenter and various radio programs.

Keyshawn and JWill bring unique perspectives of the two sports that dominate ESPN’s airwaves. Johnson as a former All-Pro receiver in the NFL and Williams as a former top NBA prospect who’s spent more than a decade covering hoops at the college and pro level for ESPN. However, both are ravenous fans of the other, and can bring those perspectives to challenge the other, even in the sport they have unique expertise in.

“The beautiful thing about Key and I over the last couple weeks is, we’ve been on so many affiliate calls, so many sponsor calls, I’ve let him cook.” Williams says. “And he lets me cook, and we have a lot of banter back and forth. He’s a USC guy. He tries to throw shade my way all the time about this Duke thing. I threw shade back his way about the Jets, like when are you guys going to get ownership that actually wants to win? So we joke back and forth, and I got obviously the Bulls connection. I didn’t play 10 plus years in the NBA like Keyshawn did as he played in the NFL, which gives him such unique POV to how he sees football. You know, how I see football is as a fan. My cousin is David Tyree. I grew up with the Giants from Jersey. I know the NFC East like the back of my hand. He’s a fan of basketball. I follow basketball because that’s been my job, and plus I’ve worked out with all these guys.

So I feel like there’s a beautiful clashing of these two sports where we’re both fans of the other person’s sports and we can challenge each other on what our takes are, but we are also going to be real about who we are. That’s the one thing I know Keyshawn’s always done. For me, growing up in front of the camera, I’ve had to learn how to do that but now at 38, 39, I’m like, ‘Yo, this is who I am, and I’m ever growing and evolving as a person.’ And we want people to grow along with that ride. And I think that’s a pretty cool and versatile angle of attack.”

That dynamic is something Williams is excited for, as he continues to shed the label of being a “basketball guy.” It’s something that any former player that enters the media space has to go through, shaking free of the concept that their value in the media space is tied solely to the sport they played, when, like anyone else, they have passions and interests outside of their profession. It’s something Williams has gone through twice, first losing his basketball career and having to find a new path and now shifting from a hoops analyst to someone who talks about all sports on Get Up! and now ESPN’s morning drive radio show. Looking back now, Williams points to his career-ending injury as the best thing that’s happened to him because it forced him to question his own identity as well as everyone in his orbit.

“The greatest gift that’s ever been given to me is when I had basketball taken away from me,” Williams says. “Because there was so much of me that was associated with what I did as my identity, and what that did was when that association with my identity was taken away, it wasn’t just taken from me, it was taken from everybody else that knew me. So the all of a sudden it became: What’s your narrative? If you’re not dribbling the ball and killing it, who are you? And that was a question I had to ask myself. It’s a question I still ask myself as I continue to grow as a person.”

His journey and career evolution now takes him into the radio space, where he’ll be free to talk about what he’s passionate about, which, if folks aren’t aware of yet, extends far, far beyond basketball. His experiences serve as the lens he sees the sports world through. He might not have played football, but he can still relate to the football player who suffered a gruesome injury and now has to work his way back in the public eye, unsure he’ll ever be the same player again. He’s also understanding of what he doesn’t know, and is excited about the chance to bring in ESPN’s roster of analysts that can lend that expertise and provide him opportunities to bounce ideas and opinions off of, always seeking to bring the audience a bit closer along the way.

He might not know what it’s like standing in the pocket on third-and-13 to explain something Carson Wentz is doing, but he’s more than willing to bring Dan Orlovsky on the show to detail what that feels like, then give his own personal insight layered on top of that. For Williams it’s all about nuance and finding the intricacies of the game. It’s something he keeps coming back to, and it’s a passion that readily exudes from him. He’s hopeful the audience will respond to that as well as he tries to connect his own viewpoint to the expertise of the deep roster at the Worldwide Leader.

“People will say to me, why do I need to hear your opinion on home maintenance?” Williams says. “Well, cause I have a home. I don’t know everything about it, but when my furnace broke I’ve gotta go fix it or pay someone to come fix it and show me how to do it so I can do it better the next time. And that’s what radio is going to be for me. Can I tell you what it is to kick a PK if you’re playing for an MLS team? No, but I played soccer growing up and my wife played soccer, so once again, commonality. How do you build a bridge? That’s what I’m all about, building bridges.”

We’re over five months into an almost nation-wide lockdown, and even after all this, after millions of diagnosed cases and over 160,000 deaths in America alone, there are still some who question the severity of the pandemic in a nation whose leaders are otherwise occupied. One person has had enough: Sharon Stone took to Instagram over the weekend to reveal that her immunocompromised sister, Kelly, is in the hospital, sick with COVID-19. And she knows who to blame: people not wearing masks.

“My sister Kelly, who already has lupus, now has COVID-19. This is her hospital room. One of you Non-Mask wearers did this,” the actress wrote. She continued:

“She does not have an immune system. The only place she went was the pharmacy. There is no testing in her county unless you are symptomatic, & then it’s 5 day wait for results. Can YOU FACE THIS ROOM ALONE? Wear a mask! For yourself and others. Please .”

Stone doesn’t mention where her sister lives, but what she’s going through is common in many parts of the country, especially non-cities. Indeed, The New York Times reported that testing has gone down even as cases continue to spike.

The legendary actress, forever in the history books thanks to iconic turns in the likes of Basic Instinct, continued to post about her sister on Instagram, first with a picture of her and her husband, and then in a video in which Stone herself pleaded with Americans to vote — although given the brouhaha with the United States Post Office, even that may be tricky.

(Via EW)