Month: February 2021

When Milos Teodosic came to the NBA a few years ago those who had seen him play in Europe were very excited to see him bring his incredible passing acumen to the Los Angeles Clippers. His first season in L.A. was fun, as he averaged 9.5 points and 4.6 assists per game in 45 appearances, but his minutes dropped off considerably the next year and he returned to Europe to play for Virtus Bologna in Italy.

Teodosic still pops up in American hoops circles on social media, as he throws some of the most ludicrous passes and tries wild moves in games in Europe that go semi-viral on Twitter. On Sunday, we got the latest in a long line of Milos Magic Moments when he put a move that you’ve probably only seen on the And1 Mixtape Tour on someone for arguably the greatest shot in basketball history.

All that’s missing is someone screaming “OH BABY! OH BABY!” and the game being stopped because people stormed the floor to carry him out of the arena. I mean, the sheer audacity to even attempt a a fake wrap-around pass, handing the ball off to your left hand behind the defender’s back, and then shoot a one-handed, left-handed push shot is incredible, not to mention actually succeeding in pulling it off. Milos was too pure for the NBA, but he’s thriving again in Italy and that’s something we can all enjoy.

There are a lot of things that were untraditional about the Donald Trump presidency, but one thing that was noticeably absent was dogs. He broke an unofficial presidential tradition by not having any White House pets, though he made sure to set a bunch of records of his own, like being the first president to ever be impeached twice.

Still, the Biden administration has brought dogs back to the White House, and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden is already using Champ and Major for a good cause: recording a mask PSA. The message hit Twitter on Saturday and it featured Biden reminding people that masks should be worn even outside while walking dogs.

“For a lot of us during this pandemic our pets have been such a source of joy and comfort. And maybe a bark or two on a video conference,” Dr. Biden said. “The unconditional love from a dog is one of the most beautiful things on Earth, and we owe it to them to keep ourselves healthy. So please keep wearing your mask, even when you’re out walking your dog.”

It’s a nice little reminder to keep wearing masks, even outside. And it’s helpful to have these guys to look at while hearing about the importance of wearing masks.

Even a few weeks into the Biden administration, it’s still a bit strange to see people associated with the presidency admit there’s a pandemic going on, not to mention discussing ways to stay safe. But if the Bidens want to keep showing off their dogs, this is a pretty decent way to do it for a good cause.

The Knicks point guard position right now isn’t great. They’ve been starting Elfrid Payton and the results have been pretty bad with the offense as a whole ranking in the bottom five across the entire league. That said, they have seen some positive momentum in their offense out of rookie guard Immanuel Quickley. He’s yet to start a game this season, but he’s a good scorer and provides a spark of energy with his shooting and creativity that Payton lacks.

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau’s hesitancy to give Quickley more minutes has started to lead to questions from New York fans and media. He has historically not been a coach that was keen on handing the reigns over to rookies and has traditionally opted for a more veteran presence. Thibodeau was asked about this history of his and he shot back saying that a former point guard of his, Derrick Rose, was the youngest player to ever win MVP. In other words, he doesn’t consider it a problem.

It’s funny that Thibodeau brought up Rose because not long after he made this statement it was reported that the Knicks had agreed to a trade to bring Rose in from Detroit in exchange for Dennis Smith Jr. They even gave up a pick to do it. This seems like a surefire sign that Rose is coming in to become the starting point guard over Payton, and if the current rotation stays to form, then Quickley is likely going to lose minutes in favor of Payton, as well.

Thibodeau can claim that he gives young players their shot when they earn it, but the evidence of his career states otherwise. He is someone that prefers to bring in his own guys. When he had executive power in Minnesota he brought in Rose and Taj Gibson because he knows they fit the culture of basketball he desires. He may not have executive power in New York, but so far the Knicks have brought in Gibson and now Rose, likely because they fit the culture of basketball he wants in New York.

Basketball fans everywhere should be hoping that Quickley continues to get minutes and Thibs uses this as an opportunity to reduce Payton’s time on the floor instead. Quickley is fun and has proven he is worth the time and effort to take his lumps on the floor. It has rarely been Thibodeau’s style to provide that opportunity to work through those young mistakes, and so you’ll forgive Knicks fans for being skeptical given his best example is a decade-old MVP won by the guy he just brought in to take Quickley’s minutes.

Super Bowl Sunday is a day that can evoke a lot of emotions and bring back a lot of memories for former players and coaches in the NFL. For some, it’s a reminder of the highest point of their careers, winning a championship and achieving a lifelong dream. For others, it can be a more painful memory, a reminder of an opportunity lost and the closest they ever came to fulfilling that dream, only to see it slip away.

The latter is the case for Terrell Owens, as the Hall of Fame wide receiver appeared in just one Super Bowl in his career back in 2005 when he famously returned from a broken leg to catch nine passes for 122 yards in a 24-21 loss to the Patriots that many, including Owens, believe they should’ve won.

For T.O. that game was the beginning of an on-going feud with quarterback Donovan McNabb, as Owens has never forgiven McNabb for his three interception performance, which he blames on the QB partying too much prior to the Super Bowl. McNabb rather infamously threw up on the field in the fourth quarter and Owens still hasn’t let go of his frustrations with that showing. On Saturday night, Owens decided to stir the pot and sent a tweet tagging Freddie Mitchell and telling him to keep their QB from being out drinking the night before the big game.

It’s a memory that haunts the Eagles to this day, although for the team’s fans they at least got a championship in 2018 to take the sting out of that memory a bit. But for Owens, it was the only appearance he ever got on the NFL’s biggest stage and, at least for now, 16 years later, he’s still choosing violence.

Phoebe Bridgers has been enjoying some well-deserved success over the past year. Three years after her debut album, Stranger In The Alps, the singer returned to 2020 with her sophomore effort, Punisher. The record was met with positive reviews by both fans and critics and also led to her receiving three Grammy nominations at next month’s award show. In addition to that, it brought her the first Saturday Night Live invite of her music career, one she fulfilled this past weekend. During the appearance, she performed “Kyoto” and “I Know The End,” but it’s the latter song that caught the attention of most viewers.

At the end of her “I Know The End” performance, Phoebe disposed of her electric guitar in a rather emphatic way: by smashing it on the amp that sat in front of her. While it took a few tries and some sparks, the singer got the job done and disposed of the mangled instrument on the stage she performed on before walking off to end the night. Considering the fact that this is far from the normal thing to occur during your usual SNL music set, Phoebe’s moment of destruction caught the attention of many and led to a slew of responses on social media.

You can revisit her performance here and read some reactions to her set below.

Despite people reacting to the smash online, not everyone was particularly offended. Fellow musician Jason Isbell tweeted “come on guys” and got a reaction from Bridgers herself with a bit of insight into the smash.

She also retweeted a lot of other funny reactions to the moment and her appearing on SNL, including this one.

Whether you like football or not, we can all admit that Super Bowl Sunday is the only day out of the entire year that you’re actually allowed to get excited about ads. Nobody has patience for commercials between TV shows, before YouTube videos, or on the radio. We generally avoid them at all costs. And then — for one Sunday in February — we just collectively decide that they’re a good thing.

Is it the celebrity cameos? All the pizza? The emphasis on production? The moments that tug at our heartstrings? It’s probably a weird combination of all four of those things, plus a little nostalgia from an era when one good commercial could change a company’s fate. Regardless, it’s okay to admit that capitalism is in chaos mode and Super Bowl commercials can be fun — humans contain multitudes.

Since you’re probably not going to be spending the breaks in Sunday’s game actually watching commercials, you might as well watch them now. Or at least a few. To help you find the few that interest you, we’ve ranked every Super Bowl LV food and drink ad from worst to best.

24. Coors Light — Coors Big Game Commercial Of Your Dreams: Dream Study

Oh is that title too long for an ad? Well, guess what, the ad is too f*cking long too. No Coors, a 2:56 long commercial is not acceptable. This ad is essentially a documentary. Coors brings in a psychologist to talk about dreams and we’d tell you what happened at the end but we couldn’t make it all the way through.

23. Miller Lite — Ridiculous Long Calorie Burning Big Game URL

This ad is so obnoxious. It tries to force you to listen to it by being long and weird but you know what Miller Lite, this tactic didn’t work on us. There is some type of contest within this ad, but we don’t know what it is.

Luckily, the ads are all an improvement from here.

22. Rockstar Energy — Big Game 2021 w/ Lil Baby

We figured a lot of ads would center around COVID-19 but this effort by Rockstar is just a little too clunky. You’ve got Lil Baby spitting a sort of Seussian rap over ominous Christmas music while he delivers lines like:

“Real rockstars don’t chase the spotlight, it chases them.”

It’s definitely cool to show some love to first responders, medical professionals, and other essential workers, but it’s a little too heavy-handed and gives us no reason to want to drink Rockstar Energy, which we’re pretty sure is the actual point of a commercial.

21. Bud Light Seltzer — Last Year’s Lemons

We get it Bud Light, last year sucked. We’re watching the Super Bowl to forget that fact, though. So while we commend you for having a video where people get pelted in the face with lemons (which, okay, is hilarious), doing an ad about COVID brings up to much baggage.

20. Anheuser-Busch — Let’s Grab a Beer

We know the commercial is produced by David Fincher with a score by Atticus Ross, two award-winners and well-respected creators in their fields, but this ad is just grossly sappy. It’s the kind of idea that would’ve made for a great pitch scene in Mad Men, but there is a reason that show often showed us the pitch and not the ad itself.

If you like sappy ads, this one might have you in your feelings. But for our tastes, it’s just a little sappy and slow.

19. Budweiser — Bigger Picture

Budweiser isn’t airing an ad on Super Bowl Sunday. Instead, they’re airing an ad before Super Bowl Sunday and using the money they would’ve spent on the big ad placement toward raising COVID-19 vaccine awareness.

We’re down for that cause.

18. Chipotle — Can A Burrito Change The World?

If this ad title has you rolling your eyes, it’s not quite as heavy-handed as it sounds. The ad is pretty humorous and touts Chipotle’s mission to reduce carbon emissions, save water and support local farmers but it also ironically makes you forget you’re watching an ad about food.

This feels more like an ad about Chipotle the brand, rather than Chipotle the fast-food joint — probably a solid play for the company considering their current food-related reputation.

17. Samuel Adams — Horses

Horses are released from a harness — which we think might be some kind of dig at Budweiser — and they go tearing through the streets of Boston. There’s not too much to this one, but we’re left wanting to try that Sam Adams Wicked Hazy IPA, so … success!

16. Oikos Pro — Ugly Face

Weird ad. All we can say really. It gets points for being so bizarre that we’re intrigued though.

15. Pepsi — Pepsi Halftime Show

Pepsi doesn’t need to run an ad during the Super Bowl because the brand sponsors the half-time show which, if you haven’t noticed, is essentially a giant Pepsi ad. In anticipation of this weekend’s show with The Weeknd, Pepsi is launching this ad where everyone can’t help themselves from singing The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights.”

We love it just for the dancing dude at the end.

14. Pringles — 2021 Flavor Stacking Space Return Ad

Stranded astronauts can’t be saved because literally everyone they can call on for help is too busy stacking Pringles. Which… Did you know that the Pringles guy is bald? I didn’t. All this time I thought the Pringles guy was rocking a middle part but it turns out — according to the brand new logo design — that those were actually his eyebrows. All of this time I never knew the Pringles guy was bald.

We digress. Solid ad.

13. Michelob ULTRA — “Happy” Super Bowl

Iconic photos of some of your favorite sports stars like Serena Williams, Anthony Davis, and Tiger Woods are shared over A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?” With a voice-over about loving the game. What more can you ask for on a Super Bowl Sunday?

12. Cutwater Spirits — Cut Out with Cutwater

It’s kind of refreshing to see a Super Bowl ad that has nothing to do with the big game or sports at all and isn’t overly sentimental. This is just a good ad about Cutwater’s canned spirits that make you want to crack open a can on your next camping trip.

Sweet escapism.

11. Pizza Hut — Order the $10 Tastemaker Online Today

Craig Robinson combines PacMan and pizza and reminds us all why we love him so much.

10. Mountain Dew — Counting MTN Dew Major Melon with John Cena

In this teaser ad, John Cena pulls up in a pink and green convertible and tells us about how we can win $1,000,000 by counting all the bottles of Mountain Dew’s new Major Melon soda during the brand’s Super Bowl ad spot. It’s weird, bizarre, and fun so we’re giving it a pass, even though it’s an ad about an ad.

9. Stella Artois — Heartbeat Billionaire

It’s just a feel-good ad about investing your time with the people and things you love, but it’s also a reminder that Lenny Kravitz wrote “It Ain’t Over ’Til It’s Over,” which is a great song.

8. Uber Eats — Wayne’s World & Cardi B’s Shameless Manipulation

In this Uber Eats ad Wayne’s World’s Wayne and Garth are joined by Cardi B as they try to subliminally trick you into eating local. It’s fun if-not-slightly-disturbing to watch an old Wayne and Garth, and Cardi B acts as the perfect accompaniment.

Make this a real show and we’d watch it in a heartbeat.

7. Bud Light Legends — Super Bowl LV

This ad answers the question: “what if even our beer commercials were comic book movies?” Take that how you want.

6. Frito Lay — ’Twas The Night Before Super Bowl

Marshawn Lynch remixes ’Twas The Night Before Christmas and is joined by NFL legends like Peyton and Eli Manning, Jerome Bettis, Joe Montana, and Terry Bradshaw who remind everyone that professional athletes are the worst actors In the game.

It’s so bad it’s good.

5. M&M’s — Come Together

People apologize to people and offer them M&M’s as consolation, it’s cute. Then it’s revealed that Dan Levy is an M&M kidnapping maniac, so we’re going to go ahead and call this one a hit.

4. Cheetos — It Wasn’t Me

This ad teaches us three things: Ashton Kutcher can’t sing, Mila Kunis is disgusting, and “It Wasn’t Me” by Shaggy is still, ridiculous lyrics and all, a banger.

Everyone in this ad is fully committed to the bit and it’s better for it.

3. Jimmy John’s — Meet the King

This ad is a bit long but Brad Garrett playing Tony Bolognavich talking trash and calling Jimmy John’s “Jimmy’s Johns” feels like the Safdie brothers film we need.

2. Michelob ULTRA Organic Seltzer — “All Star-Cast”

We don’t want to give away the joke so we’ll just say, you’re not going to want to miss this star-studded minute-long ad starring Don Cheadle.

1. Doritos 3D — Flat Matthew Super Bowl LV

3D Doritos are back and to celebrate they’ve launched this weird commercial where a flat 2D Matthew McConaughey does a whole bunch of things that look funny for a flat Matthew McConaughey to do over Queen’s “I Want To Break Free.”

This short one-minute ad convinces us that if this was an actual comedy series, it might be comedy gold. It’s Matthew McConaughey’s most compelling work since those Lincoln commercials.

You can’t believe everything you read online, but you can believe that Abby Govindan did not create Emily In Paris. The Netflix show that’s driven some people absolutely insane for one raison or another (sorry) sparked new controversy after it was nominated for Best Comedy over some other shows many felt were more deserving. Even a writer on the show, Deborah Copaken, was outraged that I May Destroy You got snubbed in favor of her own show.

But there was another controversy that came to a head amid the Golden Globes nominations when some outlets fell for a comedian’s Twitter bit about pretending to create Emily In Paris. For months now, Abby Govindan has joked on Twitter that she created Emily In Paris in various tweets. The stand-up comedian has more than 143,000 followers on Twitter, and most of them know she’s joking about the “creator of Emily In Paris” in her bio. But not everyone was in on the joke last week when a tweet she posted on February 3 really took off.

A few more tweets about the show got enough notice that some people reached out wondering if she really was the creator of a show about a 20-something white girl aimlessly stumbling her way to success in Paris without even really trying to speak French.

Some sites even aggregated the claims as real, stating that a “writer” of Emily In Paris helped create the show as a “prank.” Another added her tweets to a story about Copaken’s complaints about the I May Destroy You snub.

Govindan later doubled down on the critique at the heart of the bit, which is more about racism and representation in media than simply trying to steal credit for a Netflix show.

And say what you will about lying online about easily disputed facts, but the move did work: she got considerable attention for the bit and also was added to the “controversy” section of the show’s Wikipedia page.

According to her more recent tweets, Govindan has moved on to another project that’s been equally confusing for some on Twitter

Parties at various clubs and venues during Super Bowl weekend are nothing out of the ordinary in the city hosting the event. In a pandemic-less world, that is. Thanks to coronavirus, however, “normalcy” is not what we live in at the moment.

Despite this, some have still chosen to host these types of events which usually presents an environment of crowded people and little to no mask-wearing and that’s precisely what happened at a recent Super Bowl party held by 50 Cent in St. Petersburg, FL. The event was held at a private airport hanger according to TMZ and while the plan was to enforce social distance rules and require masks, that’s not at all what happened.

Video and pictures from the event resurfaced and just with similar incidents that involved Mulatto, DaBaby, Meek Mill, Bow Wow, and City Girls, 50 Cent was levied with criticism from fans on social media, so much so that the mayor of St. Petersburg took to the app to share his thoughts on the party that occurred in his city.

“This isn’t how we should be celebrating the Super Bowl. It’s not safe or smart. It’s stupid,” Mayor Rick Kriseman wrote. “We’re going to take a very close look at this, and it may end up costing someone a lot more than 50 cent.”

You can read Kriseman’s response above and watch clips from the party here.

Meek Mill is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Fake advertisements are a Saturday Night Live mainstay, but the latest edition highlighted a very personal kink during the pandemic age: searching for homes you’ll never buy. The sketch from the Dan Levy-hosted episode got a lot of attention on social media thanks to SNL taking the rare step to post it on Twitter before the episode even ended.

The sketch is framed as a commercial for a kinky product, kind of in the style of those weird phone sex hotline ads you see during reruns of Seinfeld or something late at night.

“You used to want sex, but you’re in your late 30s now,” Bowen Yang says, as others seductively say they want something more “exciting” and “new.”

That’s when the big reveal comes: Zillow is the new sex, at least for millennials who like to fantasize about living a different kind of life without ever actually having any intention of purchasing a home.

“I’d never live in North Carolina,” Levy says. “But if I did I could buy a big, gross mansion.”

The sketch plays much better on screen than it does in print, so you should see it for yourself to catch all the references and jokes here. But it’s certainly a familiar feeling for some in the age range of the SNL cast. And people on Twitter certainly identified with the sketch concept.

Even the CEO of Zillow thinks they’re on to something.

Just don’t ever hit “contact an agent” unless you want that high harshed in a hurry by the realities of actually buying a home.

The New York Knicks have been one of the most pleasant surprises of the 2020-21 season, as they’ve gotten off to an 11-13 start, led by strong performances from Julius Randle, R.J. Barrett, and rookie Immanuel Quickley. With Tom Thibodeau at the helm, New York is playing some terrific defense and has clearly taken to the style of play their veteran coach wants them to play in his first season in charge.

That is part of the deal with Thibs, as he has extracted the most out of teams defensively for well over a decade, but he also really likes his guys and the Knicks are finding this out as well. He brought Taj Gibson back earlier this season, one of his favorites during his time with the Bulls, and on Saturday, word emerged that the Knicks were leading the charge for a Derrick Rose trade with Detroit — another of his former Bulls stars.

On Sunday, the two sides were able to figure out the framework of a deal, as the Knicks will send former ninth-overall pick Dennis Smith Jr. to Detroit, along with “draft compensation,” which one would assume to be a future second-rounder, to Detroit for Rose, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania and James L. Edwards III.

Rose, of course, has already been a Knick once, playing one season in New York in 2016-17, averaging 18 points per game that year, and now returns to the Garden to play for his two-time former coach in Chicago and Minnesota. With the Wolves, he enjoyed one of the best seasons of his career which earned him the contract with Detroit, and with the Pistons shifting to a youth movement the two sides agreed to look for a new home.

It’s not a surprise that the Knicks would look to upgrade their point guard position from Elfrid Payton, who has struggled with his efficiency this season, but adding Rose, who has seen an efficiency dip of his own, is a curious choice for a replacement when considered in a vacuum. However, this is clearly more than just finding the best possible point guard replacement and is Thibs’ continued quest to get the band back together and find guys who he knows will embrace his system. The main goal for Knicks fans with the Rose trade will be, simply, that he doesn’t take away from the continued development of Barrett and Quickley in the backcourt, as they are clearly the future.

As for the Pistons, they’ll get a young player in Smith Jr. who has never quite found his footing in the league after entering with plenty of promise out of NC State, but in Detroit he may find more opportunity and less pressure as he looks to start fresh after falling completely out of the rotation in New York and going to the G League Bubble prior to this trade.