The Atlanta Braves took a 2-0 series lead in the NLCS on Tuesday night in an 8-7 win that got an awful lot more interesting than it likely should’ve been in the bottom of the ninth inning, as the Dodgers bats woke up suddenly.
On Wednesday, they stayed awake in a big way as the Dodgers racked up a record-setting 11 runs in the first inning to effectively leave no doubt about this series going to Thursday at 2-1.
Corey Seager had his first of two RBI hits in the inning as the second batter, driving Mookie Betts in with a double to the left-center gap.
Two batters later, with two on and one out, Joc Pederson hit a three-run shot that was followed on the next pitch by an Edwin Rios bomb to dead center field.
Seager would return to the plate and drive in another run with a single to center, as the Dodgers ran Braves starter Kyle Wright after just two-thirds of an inning.
The Braves bullpen offering didn’t fare much better, hitting the first batter they faced — albeit, under some dubious circumstances — and then allowing Max Muncy to hit an absolute moon shot to right center for a grand slam.
In all, the Dodgers racked up 11 runs on seven hits in the first inning, setting a new MLB playoff record for runs scored in any inning by one team — breaking the record set by the St. Louis Cardinals one year ago against, yes, the Atlanta Braves. At least this time the Braves did this in Game 3 while up 2-0 in the series, rather than it being in an elimination game, but still, it’s rather incredible that one team has been on the wrong end of the two worst single-inning pitching performances in postseason history in back-to-back years.
The trend nowadays isn’t to remake movies as other movies. It’s to remake them as TV series. The same day it was revealed Grease is getting a prequel show, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Amazon was digging up IP that’s not even a quarter century old yet, reviving the 1997 slasher I Know What You Did Last Summer, but this time for television. (Of course, someone already tried to remake this one before, without much luck.)
The original film, which was based on a 1973 YA novel, concerns a group of teens who accidentally hit a pedestrian with their car then cover up the murder. The next year they find themselves suddenly stalked by a mysterious, hook-wielding killer, seemingly hell-bent on revenge. The movie rode the waves of the late ‘90s trend of post-modern horror, with self-aware teens often joking about the genre’s tropes and clichés. On top of creating Dawson’s Creek, Summer’s screenwriter, Kevin Williamson, also wrote the one that started them all, 1996’s Scream.
Starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Freddie Prinze Jr., I Know What You Did Last Summer was a massive hit, but it was one of the last of its kind. Even though the Scream sequels continued to rake in cash, its own sequel, the amusingly titled I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, did not. But given that Scream itself is getting a fivequel, maybe that brand of horror will live again.
The SEC is currently dealing with a number of COVID-19 outbreaks that have impacted scheduling for this weekend, most notably with Vanderbilt and Florida having to postpone their games this Saturday with Missouri and LSU respectively due to a number of positive tests.
Ole Miss is likewise dealing with players testing positive, as their game with Arkansas is still on for now but more positive tests later in the week could change that. The biggest game of the week in the conference is a showdown between the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams in the country in Alabama and Georgia in Tuscaloosa. On Wednesday, that game got a major shakeup in the form of positive tests for Alabama head coach Nick Saban and athletic director Greg Byrne, which will keep Saban off of the sidelines and thrust offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian into head coaching duties, with both Saban and Byrne releasing statements.
BREAKING: Nick Saban and Alabama AD Greg Byrne have tested positive for COVID-19.
Saban: “I immediately left work and isolated at home. At this time, I do not have any symptoms relative to COVID, and I have taken another PCR test to confirm my diagnosis.”
Per the statement, there are no other positive tests at this time for the team, but obviously testing later in the week will be important to monitor as Saban has removed himself from on-site team activities and is at home. The primary concern is the health of Saban and Byrne, as the Alabama coach is 68 years old. Hopefully he remains asymptomatic and is able to make a speedy recovery, but Alabama is learning what so many other schools have, which is that it’s impossible to fully insulate a team from the possibility of positive tests while traveling for games and being on campus.
The SEC isn’t alone in having games postponed, but right now they have been hit the hardest and now one of the all-time luminaries of the sport is impacted directly.
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended education in every way imaginable. While it’s great that modern technology allows us to attend classes through Zoom or Google Meets, it’s just not the same as in-person interaction.
It’s also tough to recreate the camaraderie that can develop in a classroom.
The impenetrable distance that exists between teachers and students in the COVID-19 era was bridged recently when a group of students came together to tell their professor how much he really means to them.
Professor David Branscome at Florida State University has become accustomed to teaching to a mostly blank screen these days. Even though there are 180 people in his mythology class, only a few opt to attend the lecture with their screens and microphones turned on.
At the end of his lectures he will usually say “have a great weekend” and his students will reply with the customary, “you, too.” But this time, one student replied with “I love you.” To which Branscome replied, “I love you, too.”
After that lecture, a group of students got together on a the texting platform GroupMe and put together a plan to bombard their professor with an “I love you” at the end of the next lecture.
A few days later, at the end of class, one by one, the students showed their love by saying, “I love you,” to which Branscome replied: “I love you, too,” or “I love you all.”
The video of the lovely send off was captured on TikTok where it’s received over 600,000 likes.
Darline Philius, a sophomore in the class, says that the chain was a way of bringing the class together while they’re apart. “We’re not able to be with each other, in person,” the 20-year-old told Insider. “So this is our type of bonding.”
But it was also a way to show their deep feelings for the professor. “We really do love this man,” Philius said.
Branscome has found a positive way to see the to the recent disruption to the educational system.
“I’ve actually been very pleasantly surprised with the environment,” he said. “In some ways, it contributes to class discussion. Every student has a front-row seat.”
He also believes that the fact that the pandemic has created a unique bond between people.
“I think that this is one of the nice things about the online environment, strangely being apart brings us closer together — at least in this environment,” he said.
Branscome believes that the “I love you” chain was a way for him to express his true feelings about his students.
“I do care about each and every one of them,” the professor said.
The wonderful bond created between Professor Branscome and his students is a great example of how living through tough times encourages people to focus on what really matters in life. It also provides a bit of hope that, one day when this is all over, we can all say that living though the pandemic made us more gracious people.
On October 18, “The Simpsons” will debut it’s 31st “Treehouse of Terror” Halloween episode. This year’s show includes parodies of Pixar, “Toy Story,” “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and Netflix’s “Russian Doll.”
A minute-long preview teasing the Halloween tradition also touches on a night that will be one of the scariest of our lifetimes. Millions of Americans are fearing what could go wrong on election day after living through the horror of 2016.
In the trailer, Homer is stuck in the voting booth, unsure of who to vote for for president. His progressive daughter, Lisa, steps into the booth to remind Homer of everything that has happened in the past four years.
“Dad, by all that’s decent, how could you forget everything that’s happened the last four years?” Lisa asks.
All Homer can conjure up is when Faye Dunaway announced the name of the wrong film at the 2020 Oscars.
So, for the benefit of Homer and undecided voters across America, a list scrolls before the Simpsons’ patriarch reminding him of 50 of the terirble things Trump has done throughout his political career.
The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror Lists 50 Reasons Not to Vote Trump
If you love true crime podcasts — and let’s face it, who doesn’t — and also getting stoned — again, who doesn’t? — you’ve probably thought at least once during a pod, “That’s cool man, but how can I get more of the Grateful Dead into this?”
No? Is that just us? Well, either way, if you love true crime podcasts andThe Grateful Dead you’ll be happy to know that somebody finally had the good sense to combine those two subjects into one thing. Dead and Gone is a new true-crime podcast from Tenderfoot TV, hosted by Disgraceland‘s Jake Brennan and Up and Vanished‘s Payne Lindsey. The premise is pretty straightforward — it explores the mysterious world of murdered and missing “Dead Heads.”
The cases covered in Dead and Gone, which span a period of five decades, have little in common at a superficial glance, but one strange commonality unifies them — all of the unsolved cases have a Dead Head at the center. Whether it’s a ticket stub, a t-shirt, or the murder of two fans following a Bay Area concert in 1985, Dead and Gone presents eerie connections between these unsolved murders and the Grateful Dead that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, as every great true-crime podcast should.
Ahead of Dead and Gone‘s debut episode, which launches tomorrow, we’ve got an exclusive sneak peek into the show so packed full of atmosphere that it will transport your from your living room straight into a foggy night in 1980’s San Francisco’s Caesar Chavez park. At a double murder scene. Take a listen to the first 10 minutes of tomorrow’s episode above, and then throw on “Truckin’” to lighten the mood.
Strap in, folks, this story has a few layers. Which is why we’re even writing about it in the first place.
It all started, for most of the world, with this New York Times story Tuesday morning, about the mayor of Anchorage, Ethan Berkowitz, abruptly resigning from his office. The reason, Berkowitz said through a spokesman at the time, was his “unacceptable personal conduct.” Conduct which the Times went on to explain involved an “inappropriate texting relationship” with local news anchor Maria Athens.
Mr. Berkowitz’s resignation followed an unsubstantiated claim posted to social media on Friday by the news anchor, Maria Athens, promising viewers an “exclusive” story set to air on upcoming newscasts. Mr. Berkowitz responded by calling the allegations “slanderous” and false, and Ms. Athens shot back by posting what she said was an image of the mayor’s bare backside, with a laughing emoji.
But as political leaders in Anchorage lined up to defend Mr. Berkowitz, the mayor came forward on Monday with an admission: He and Ms. Athens had previously engaged in a “consensual, inappropriate messaging relationship.”
The claim (false, it’s important to note) was that Berkowitz “has his male genitalia posted on an underage girl’s website,” and Athens apparently posted it without her employers’ permission. Leading to an altercation in which she was arrested:
Late Friday afternoon, Athens got into a physical fight with her station manager boss, with whom she was in a romantic relationship, according to court documents.
A charging document in the case says Athens and station general manager Scott Centers fought in a car “about work,” with Athens punching Centers and hitting him with her cell phone. Athens said she grabbed Centers’ arm because he was driving erratically during the argument but denies attacking Centers.
Later, Athens allegedly hit Centers again inside the TV station. When police arrived at the TV station and arrested her, she hit a cop on his vest and tried to kick the doors of the police cruiser, causing police to put her in full restraints, the charging document said. Athens said she did not touch the officer. Also, she said, “I was never in full restraints.”
Athens was charged with misdemeanor assault, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct and jailed at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center. [Anchorage Daily News]
Athens, it also turned out, prior to going public with their relationship, had left Berkowitz an unhinged voicemail (you really must listen to it) in which she accused him of being a pedophile, called him a “Jew motherf*cker,” said she would kill him, and signed off with “have a great Friday, you motherf*cker,” all in her practiced newscaster voice.
Ethan, it’s Maria Athens from Fox/ABC/CW/News Net National Alaska. Uh, I just learned through my g- my, eh, ah….Emmy-award winning journalism, you’re also a pedophile and like little girls and children, and there’s a website. I’m so f*cking exposing you. I’m gonna get an Emmy. So you either turn yourself in, kill yourself, or do what you need to do. I will personally kill you and Mara Kimmel my god damn self, you Jewish piece of living f*cking sh*t. You have met your match, motherf*cker. You have met your motherf*cking match. I can’t believe- I am such a good person, and thought I loved you. I f*cking hate- I don’t even hate you. I will pray for your Zionist f*cking ass, you piece of sh*t loser. And, I’m putting this on the news tonight. Bye! Have a great Friday, you motherf*cker!
You might naturally wonder what led Maria Athens to believe that her “inappropriate texting” partner was a pedophile. It turns out, it all started with a piece Athens had been doing about a local owner of a shop that sells booze-infused cookies.
The name of the owner and cookie shop have since been scrubbed from the sites that had them, apparently at the request of the cookie shop owner herself. But according to the cookie shop lady’s daughter, who runs an OnlyFans account, her mom was unhappy about her escorting, and during an aside with Maria Athens during the cookie piece, may have convinced Athens that Mayor Berkowitz had been paying her “underage daughter” to escort for him. This even though, according to the daughter, she was neither underage nor familiar with the mayor.
So for a bit of back story, I was an escort in Alaska in 2018. I would get paid to go on dates with men or to keep them company (I never did anything sexual or was paid for sexual favors)
She was obviously still very upset at the idea of her 18 year old daughter escorting. She started asking me questions about who I would work with, and all I told her was that my favorite person I worked with was a man that worked for the state of Alaska.
All I told her about this man was that he worked for the state of Alaska, and that he was short. That’s IT, okay? I didn’t say any names, nothing.
Fast forward to 2020, my mother owns a cookie business that’s doing somewhat successful, and a local news station asked my mom if she would like to do a story about it. My mom said yes and went to the interview.
The interviewer was Maria Athens, who (according to my mother) asked her about what my mom thought about the local anchorage Mayor, Ethan Berkowitz.
My mom asked if he was short. After learning he was short, my mom decided that Ethan Berkowitz was the one I was an escort for.
She went off on a whole story about how I was an escort for Mr. Berkowitz, that he hired me for sexual favors, sent me pictures, etc. because she was receiving attention for what she was saying, and she wanted her five seconds of fame.
I was NOT and escort for Ethan Berkowitz, I don’t know that man and I have NEVER met him. He has never sent me naked pictures or posted any on any of my websites, I have no idea who that man is. Maria Athens is running a fake story in attempts to ruin this mans life.
Also apparently last night she was arrested and that’s why she wasn’t on air.
The Anchorage Press also has a text from “Angelbbx2” (aka Redhead Rae) to her mother trying to get her to call Maria Athens and explain that this was all a case of mistaken identity. But Athens apparently ignored the mom’s calls (the mom says cryptically that Athens “has an agenda”), and soon enough, Athens had already outed Berkowitz on Facebook and sent him that voicemail Anti-Semitic death threat pedophile accusation. Athens seems to have had some kind of mental breakdown between 2015 and the false pedophilia accusation this week, if these clips are any indication. 2020’s mainstreaming of elite pedophile cabal conspiracy theories can’t have helped things.
We should reiterate, Anchorage’s Democratic mayor Ethan Berkowitz resigned over all of this, even though all he has admitted to thus far was a texting relationship with this anchor who clearly has had some kind of mental breakdown. And all this, apparently, over a misinterpreted anecdote during a booze-cookie puff piece.
I think the cookie lady’s daughter summed it up quite well:
Yeah none of this would have happened if my mother wouldn’t have lied to her and caused her to mentally break. Whether or not they had an affair, she wouldn’t have made that news story, accused him of being a pedophile publicly, or sent that voicemail.
NBA 2K21 will release its next-generation version, with Zion Williamson on the cover, on November 10 when the Xbox Series X/S releases — with the PS5 coming two days later. The first next-gen trailer arrived last week, showing off the tremendous graphics improvements that are possible on the next-gen consoles as they are able to process so much more.
Looking good is one thing, but it doesn’t matter how much each player looks like their real self if the gameplay doesn’t matchup. That is a constant frustration of gamers with sports games, is that there’s too much emphasis placed on realism in appearance but not realism in gameplay and tendencies. On Wednesday, the second Courtside Report from the NBA 2K crew offered a look at some of the gameplay updates coming on the next-gen edition, most notably with how player-to-player contact will improve to be more realistic.
It’s something that is incredibly difficult to translate to the video game space, but it seems the next-gen consoles allow for even better and more realistic contact and reaction to contact in all phases. The first is in on-ball contact, as ball-handlers get bodied by defenders and have to carve their way through that contact to get to the rim, as now running right at a defender will lead to charges and force pickups, while taking the right angles will be rewarded.
At the rim, there is likewise an update in the form of players having to go around defenders and body-to-body contact having a more realistic impact on their ability to go up at the rim.
It certainly looks improved, with players not bouncing off of each other and defenders able to stay locked onto an offensive player and bump them in a much more natural way that impacts their dribbling and shot selection. There’s also updates to off-ball contact, most notably in screens as players will no longer be sucked into screens and contact will be determined by where the screener sets it — and who that screener is — allowing players to go under and over screens with partial contact in a much more realistic way.
There’s also updated dribble control, which they say is rebuilt from the ground up, to get rid of the accidental moments where your player turns the wrong way and allowing you to go where you’re trying in a much easier manner rather than fighting with the dribble system on how you want your guy to move. It all certainly looks nice in these videos and is a truly gorgeous presentation of a basketball game, but until we get it in our hands we won’t be sure exactly how well all of these updates work to improve the gameplay.
There may not have been a better frontcourt scorer than Obi Toppin in all of college basketball last season. As the sun around which Dayton’s system orbited, Toppin was the rare offensive player who was smart enough to feast on the easy stuff and skilled enough to cook up even more. And at 22 and already quite polished, Toppin in this year’s Draft — with a limited pre-Draft process and no tournament tape — is nearly certain to go in the top 10.
A somewhat surprising tweet from Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report from Wednesday morning, however, indicates that Toppin may be even more well-regarded than that.
Asking around the NBA, feels like Obi Toppin may be the most popular prospect in this draft
This may just mean that in a Draft full of maybes and high-variance players, NBA teams are more unanimous in their appreciation of Toppin, not necessarily that he is the most likely player to be selected No. 1 overall. Even those who like Toppin tend to agree he will have some challenges adjusting to the NBA game because of his lack of lateral mobility and athleticism. The positional advantages Toppin had over more traditional lineups as a small-ball center will also be harder to come by as a pro. Still, landing someone who you know is likely to score in the NBA and be a rotation big man (think someone in the mold of John Collins) is enticing in a Draft that is weak at the very top.
The playoffs offer an interesting showcase of what style is dominating the league and which players can hang in that environment. Where does Toppin fit against a Lakers team playing Anthony Davis at center? What’s he to do if he matches up with Giannis Antetkounmpo? This is a high bar to hold a potential pick to, but because he is older and therefore closer to a finished product and because teams seem to be truly considering him more of a top-five option than simply a lottery pick, it’s the bar Toppin must clear if a team is to invest so much in him.
The other factor to consider is what top teams would be giving up if they go with Toppin over a more high-ceiling player like Onyeka Okongwu or Devin Vassell. The value right now of a versatile two-way big like Okongwu or a plug-and-play 3-and-D wing like Vassell is just higher than what Toppin is expected to be. It’s hard to see the league changing in a way that values Toppin’s finishing and spot-up shooting at forward more highly than an elite wing or a potentially dominant center.
Minnesota highlights this well. A top-heavy and offense-first roster with Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell leading the way needs complementary talent far more than a scoring forward. Positionally, the Timberwolves do have openings at forward, but stylistically, what Toppin does is a strange fit alongside the franchise’s two pillars, and he can’t maintain his value playing alongside superstars the same way a more balanced player could.
That balance equation poses the same issue for the Warriors, who will pick second in November’s Draft. They are looking for depth pieces who fit around their Big Three better than the likes of Alfonzo McKinnie and Quinn Cook, who were pressed into action in the 2019 Finals and struggled. It would be odd to see them value Toppin’s skill set over a player who is an even better shooter (Toppin doesn’t have the quickest release and rarely will shoot off movement or pull up from deep) and defender, especially if that player is a wing — it does no seem like a coincidence that Steve Kerr talked up Vassell on Bill Simmons’ podcast this summer.
The Hornets, who pick third this year, observed this challenge in 2019. They selected P.J. Washington, a player who is fairly similar to Toppin. In Washington, they acquired a more experienced and polished player who was a proven shooter, scorer, and good enough defender who could flex between multiple frontcourt positions depending on the lineup. Yet his ceiling is already in full view, and he’s still almost a year younger than Toppin. Charlotte has been more welcome to clear role players in the Draft if they are the best player available where they typically pick in the middle of the lottery, but they are now a roster in real need of star-level talent to make a playoff push.
Chicago is the first team that starts to make sense for Toppin. Having picked in the lottery for so many years now, the Bulls don’t have a particular need at any one spot on the depth chart, so they could afford to take a swing on a less-explosive player who they know will perform well for them. Take note as well of the fact that Toppin’s Dayton coach, Anthony Grant, is a disciple of new Bulls coach Billy Donovan dating all the way back to their time together at Florida, and Toppin could thrive in Donovan’s screen-and-move system, which Grant ran a version of at Dayton.
The Cavs, like the Bulls, possess enough high-ceiling perimeter talent that taking Toppin at No. 5 makes some sense. Cleveland could believe that on their more traditional roster, Toppin could work as a floor spacer and secondary scorer who could thrive getting easy looks from Darius Garland and Collin Sexton. That makes sense in theory and you could see Toppin filling a similar — if less dynamic — role to Kevin Love’s, but Cleveland could run into a similar issue as Minnesota in that exercise, suddenly looking at a roster that is very heavy on offense and short on the type of versatile wing that every great team has in 2020.
Looking through the Draft, it’s not until No. 9 where the Wizards pick that Toppin would be a really snug fit. Washington has a star in Bradley Beal and another in John Wall that they theoretically hope to keep around long-term and remain competitive. Add in another combo forward in Rui Hachimura and interesting wing play-makers like Troy Brown Jr. and Isaac Bonga, and the Wizards theoretically have the type of balanced roster, star power, and depth that could allow them to bring in Toppin and maximize his value right away rather than asking too much of him or forcing him into a challenging role. There are major concerns about what this team would be defensively, but their offense would, theoretically, be quite good.
As the NBA evolves toward the perimeter, having too many guys like Toppin would have drawbacks. It’s difficult to believe in Toppin’s perimeter defense or his jump shot becoming more dynamic, though perhaps his passing continues to evolve and he becomes a great play-maker for his teammates or can create his own shot at a high level. Players like that are just hard to fit into a modern roster unless they are truly elite offensive creators, and it’s hard to see a pathway to that type of output for Toppin right now.
In this Draft, the Dayton big man is clearly a lottery pick. NBA teams often value certainty more than the average fan. But a survey of the top five illustrates the challenges of fitting him onto a young core and why NBA teams would be wise to consider more than just his prolific talent alone before spending that kind of pick on him this November.
With all the ominous happenings of 2020, one of the few bright spots was the re-emergence of children’s television mascot Hip-Hop Harry thanks to Tik Tok, which repurposed a segment from a September 2006 episode as the background music for videos featuring people dancing over the clip.
One of them was burgeoning rap superstar Rico Nasty, who was contacted by the show’s creators for an Instagram Live interview back in August.
However, anyone who missed out on the stream was likely completely flabbergasted on Tuesday, when Rico appeared alongside the bright yellow bear for a PSA about voting posted by Rico’s label Atlantic Records on Twitter. Promoting the voter registration organization HeadCount, the video is filmed exactly like an old-school PSA or an episode of Hip-Hop Harry, with the two staging a Q&A conversation about the importance of voting and how to get registered to vote by visiting the HeadCount website. Rico looks like she’s having the time of her life camp-acting alongside Harry, remixing the meme-worthy “Go! Go! Go!” chant to say “Vote! Vote! Vote!”
If there’s anyone capable of tapping into the demographic that grew up on Hip-Hop Harry, it’s Rico, who has her finger on the pulse of her generation’s unique blend of influences and tastes. She recently showed as much in her surreal videos for “Own It” and “iPhone” as she gears up for the release of her major label debut, Nightmare Vacation.
Watch Harry and Rico’s voting PSA above.
Rico Nasty is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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