Month: May 2021

As the season has come to a close there have been a lot of really fun narratives with the playoff chase and awards races, but another race has been taking place alongside those. Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors and Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards have been battling it out for the NBA’s scoring title.

The Wizards and Warriors have been must-watch basketball in the second half of the season with Curry and Beal lighting up the scoreboard and helping their teams fight to the play-in, but over the last few games, Curry separated himself from Beal. After Beal had a gutty 25-point performance in Washington’s win over Charlotte to earn the 8-seed in the East, it didn’t take much in the last game of the season for Curry to clinch this year’s scoring title. A simple floater in the first quarter to give him four points on the afternoon won it for him.

While Curry is probably way more interested in clinching the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, which Golden State can do with a win over Memphis, this is going to be an accolade he looks back on and smiles. Not only is it the second scoring title of his NBA career, but it puts him in some legendary company. Curry is now the oldest scoring champion since Michael Jordan won it at 34 years old, and only a select, elite few have won multiple scoring titles, MVPs, and titles.

We’ve known for years that Curry is a future Hall of Fame player, but we need to begin thinking about what his legacy is as an all-time great. He’s already changed the game of basketball with his jump shot, but as he continues piling up individual accolades, it’s going to put him in some interesting conversations whenever he chooses to call it a career.

For years, Jalen Rose and Chris Webber’s relationship was almost non-existent. The two former best friends and teammates on Michigan’s Fab Five team had seen their friendship splinter after Webber admitted to repaying nearly $40,000 in loans from former Michigan booster Ed Martin, with Webber refusing to participate in Rose’s 2011 documentary on the team, furthering their divide.

In recent years, though, the two have seemed to look to put their issues in the past, and on Sunday the two spoke together publicly for the first time in a long time. Webber, who just parted ways with TNT, joined Rose and Maria Taylor on ESPN’s NBA Countdown to celebrate the announcement that he would be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2021. It was a pretty incredible moment, as they two reminisced about their playing days going all the way back to when they were 13 years old, what Webber did for advancing the game of basketball as an early pioneer of the era of big men we see now who have such versatility and ability to handle the ball, and more.

It’s a powerful moment that many have been hoping to see for a long time. You can tell how proud Rose is of Webber’s accomplishment, and Webber makes sure to thank Rose’s late mother for everything she did in helping Webber, showing how close the two were. The way everything went down between Webber and the Fab Five was unfortunate. It’s sad that such an important team in telling the story of basketball has gone so long without all coming back together to celebrate what they did, and hopefully this can lead to that moment finally coming.

On April 5, the Wizards lost their fourth game in a row to fall to 17-32. Well away from .500, it seemed like Washington was nowhere near the playoff picture. Even in the Eastern Conference it was going to take a furious push to reach the play-in tournament, let alone the playoffs.

Fast forward to Sunday, Washington clinched the 8-seed in the play-in thanks to one of the most improbable mid-season turnarounds in some time, and of course, they did so from behind. Washington entered the fourth quarter of their Sunday showdown against the Hornets down 90-79. They proceeded to claw their way back to take the lead late in the fourth quarter behind some gutty play from Bradley Beal, Russell Westbrook doing what he does, and an 18-point explosion off the bench from Robin Lopez, of all people.

Up three late, the Wizards survived a good look from Devonte’ Graham to tie it, and walked away with a 115-110 win. With that, they clinched eighth in the Eastern Conference and a matchup against Boston in the play-in tournament.

It can’t be stated enough how improbable this run was. Washington finished the season 17-6, Bradley Beal made a run at the scoring title, and Russell Westbrook finished the season averaging a triple-double again. These efforts pushed the Wizards ahead of other playoff hopefuls like the Bulls to not only reach the play in but get a shot at the No. 7 seed.

Everything is now in the Wizards’ hands. Win and they’re in. If they beat Boston then they’ll get No. 7, but if they lose then they get another shot for No. 8 against the winner of Charlotte and Indiana. While anything can happen in these winner take all scenarios it feels impossible to pick against the Wizards. They’re the hottest team in basketball right now and no lead seems impossible for them to overcome. The Celtics will have their work cut out for them come Tuesday.

Think fast: How many peacocks does Martha Stewart own? Is it a lot? Just a couple? None at all? The word for the colorful bird is nowhere to be found on her Wikipedia page, so it may not seem like a noteworthy number. And yet not only is it more than you’d think, but the topic, we discovered this weekend, is a point of contention for the entrepreneur, television personality, and Snoop Dogg pal, who appeared to go Medieval on The New York Post when they semi-dramatically underrepresented how many of the birds she owns.

The inciting incident? An article from the conservative-leaning rag about a book, titled Why Peacocks? An Unlikely Search for Meaning in the World’s Most Magnificent Bird. Buried in the article was an interesting factoid: The noted life guru and former incarcerated felon owns 16 peacocks. But on Saturday, Stewart set the record straight, for those who’d been led astray.

“The nypost again “fake news”. They have a story on peacocks today and say I have sixteen on my farm I actually have 21 of these glorious birds whose house is impeccable,” Stewart tweeted. She added, “They do not smell. They are so clean! Their voices are loud but such fun to hear. They are so friendly”’

The paper took note, issuing a correction that read, “This story originally reported that Martha Stewart has 16 peacocks. Stewart clarified via Twitter that she actually has 21 “glorious” and impeccably clean peacocks.”

Tone is infamously hard to read on social media, especially when people aren’t known for their comedic chops try to be funny. So it’s not 100% clear if Stewart was being playful or actually furious that the peacocks on her property had been shortchanged, to say nothing of apparent implications that they’re loud, smelly, unclean, and not nice. Which apparently they are, even if they’re sometimes reluctant to show off their colorful train.

Still, at least you have a new piece of trivia, should the issue of how many peacocks Martha Stewart owns ever comes up on Jeopardy! or at bar trivia.

(Via E! Online)

Sunday in the NBA promised to be a wild one, as entering the final day of the regular season every single seed was up for grabs. The early window of games were going to set the Eastern Conference play-in and 4-5 matchup, with the Knicks playing the Celtics with a chance to lock down the 4-seed and the Hornets and Wizards battling for the all-important 8-seed in the play-in.

Washington managed to come back from a double-digit deficit to win their game and give themselves two shots at the playoffs, while in New York it looked for most of the night like the Knicks would handle business with ease against the Celtics reserve squad. However, a late 15-0 run from Boston brought them within one of the Knicks down the stretch, as New York was suddenly staring a disastrous collapse — and a date with either the Bucks or Nets in the first round — in the face.

However, the Knicks were able to do just enough down the stretch behind some sensational defense from Nerlens Noel and a key bucket late from Reggie Bullock to give New York a three-point cushion.

As a result of the win, we now have the first playoff series set in stone, as the Knicks will be the 4-seed and host the Hawks in the 5-seed, after Atlanta clinched the Southeast Division with Miami’s loss to the Bucks on Saturday. The Knicks swept the season series with Atlanta, 3-0, but their last meeting — and the only one since Atlanta’s big second half turnaround — took overtime for New York to get the win. Having a Game 1 at Madison Square Garden is going to be tremendous, and with the way these two teams have played of late, this figures to be a very good and competitive series.

If you believe the polls, Matthew McConaughey actually has a good shot at running for governor of Texas and winning. And if you believe the reports, the actor is “making calls” about doing just that in an effort to unseat Greg Abbott in the Lone Star state.

The actor has said he’s giving “serious consideration” to a run for office in his home state of Texas earlier in the year, and polling has shown he’d be fairly popular among the electorate. All of that smoke has translated into, well, more smoke as there are now reports that he’s calling lawmakers in Texas to take all this talk and turn it into an actual political campaign.

According to a Politico story, McConaughey is “quietly” exploring a run for governor by calling around to potential donors despite some political pundits who are skeptical he’d be able to actually win.

But the Academy Award-winning actor’s interest goes a step further than musings in interviews. McConaughey has been quietly making calls to influential people in Texas political circles, including a deep-pocketed moderate Republican and energy CEO, to take their temperature on the race and to talk about seriously throwing his hat in the ring, according to multiple people familiar with the conversations.

McConaughey still lives in Texas with his family, and calling potential donors is one of the first steps to really getting things off the ground. But it’s a long road, even if it’s one the Hollywood mainstay seems willing to head down. One person who doesn’t seem to think McConaughey has the juice here? None other than former George W. Bush advisor Karl Rove.

“I find it improbable, but it’s not out of the question,” said top Republican strategist Karl Rove, who relayed a recent encounter with Lawrence Wright, describing the New Yorker journalist as “hyperventilating” at the prospect that his close friend and fellow Texan might run. (Asked for comment on McConaughey, Wright replied in an email, “I’m trying to lower my profile in this, so I’ll politely decline.”)

McConaughey hasn’t been afraid to get political in recent months, ranting about cancel culture to Piers Morgan (before he was subsequently canceled over royal matters). We’ve certainly seen actors find success in politics, and Texas is a place McConaughey seems to understand. But right now his potential run, and coming out victorious, also seems far from a slam dunk just yet.

[via Politico]

Liverpool entered Sunday’s action fifth in the Premier League, one point back of Chelsea for the all-important fourth position which earns you a trip to the Champions League rather than the Europa League. Facing a relegation side in West Brom, Liverpool was expected to win but found itself locked in a 1-1 tie going into extra time, with Champions League dreams fading as a result.

However, in the fourth and final minute of stoppage time, Liverpool had a corner kick for a last gasp chance for a win and brought everyone into the box, including their goalkeeper, Alisson Becker. What came next was something incredible (and rare) as a beautiful header from their goalie won them the game and gave them a real shot at a top-4 finish in the league.

It is as good of a header as you could hope for from a world-class striker, much less a goalie, as Alisson drives the ball into the far corner of the net, out of reach of his goalie counterpart for the game-winning strike. The Spanish call from Andres Cantor really elevates this moment with the energy it deserves.

The win is crucial for Liverpool as they move into a tie with Leicester City for third, two points clear of Chelsea who have to play Leicester on Tuesday. A Chelsea loss would put Liverpool in the drivers seat going into the final match day of the season, up two points on the Blues. A draw would put Liverpool in fourth, a point up on Chelsea and a point behind Leicester, making for a very dramatic final match day next Sunday, while a Chelsea win would likewise make for some juicy drama as the Blues would move a game ahead of Liverpool and Leicester, who would be tied.

Much like this week’s cold open, Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update segment was all about masks and vaccines. And much like the cold open that addressed the uncertainty of when vaccinated people can finally shed a mask for good, Colin Jost and Michael Che pointed out we’re not exactly done with masks just yet.

“The CDC announced that fully vaccinated people no longer have to wear masks or socially distance. Except, if you go to most places,” Jost said as a lengthy list of places still requiring masks popped up next to him. “Anyway, have fun out there.”

Jost noted that Mitch McConnell said “free at last” when he heard the mask mandate had been updated, calling it “wildly tone deaf” and making a joke about embattled Florida representative Matt Gaetz.

“It’s like if Matt Gaetz took off his mask and said ‘I feel like a kid again,’” he said.

Che addressed a study that suggested some people who have had coronavirus reported suffering from erectile dysfunction and potentially experienced penis shrinkage, which got him thinking about how to better promote getting vaccines in the arms of men.

“Now that’s how you sell some masks. I mean Pfizer, you want people to get vaccinated you need to run with this,” he said. “Forget ’Stop The Spread,’ it should be ‘Stop The Shrink.’”

The segment also covered Tom Cruise giving back his Golden Globes and other topics from the week that was. There was also a joke about Elon Musk, in case you were missing him from this week’s episode.

Fear the Walking Dead is in the midst of not only its best season ever but legitimately one of the best seasons in the entire The Walking Dead universe. Yet as it rounds the corner to the final four episodes of the season, fans still can’t stop speculating about whether Kim Dickens’ Madison Clark will return to the series.

Madison was killed in fairly definitive fashion back in the fourth midseason finale, and while Kim Dickens felt blindsided by it, the TWD community never really appreciated Madison until she was gone. Now it’s all they can talk about. Over on the Fear subreddit, for instance, this is the top comment on a post about Colman Domingo returning next season: “All I’m saying is, I want Madison to come back. BUT, I will not believe it till I see it.” Meanwhile, there are two subreddit threads concerning a minor character from season four named Cole, presumably killed along with Madison and who kind-of-but-not-really has seen a hinted return, which have the subreddit in a frenzy:

There’s no doubt in my mind Madison is coming back at some point now. Because cole was confirmed dead after the stadium, so I guess the writers changed their minds. If they change their minds for him, they change their minds for Madison for sure.

The above is a common sentiment. Meanwhile, the Fear Twitter account sent everyone into a tizzy earlier this year when it included Kim Dickens among the list of words that fans should mute ahead of the season premiere.

I will say, however, that there’s slightly more substance to the latest round of speculation. For instance, instead of ruling it out because the character is dead, the showrunners are not being cagey about the possibility, and the series itself has made a couple of nods to Madison, referencing the baseball stadium where she died a couple of times (including last week’s episode, in which Grace is told during a dream sequence that Madison’s daughter, Alicia, returned to her community at the baseball stadium).

But what’s really set off the Fear community is the title of next week’s Alicia-centered episode: “Mother,” and its logline: “Alicia reunites with old friends and must confront her past.” If there were any episode that might include Madison, it’d be this forthcoming episode because the showrunners are clearly teasing us.

The promo for next week’s episode is also already out, and there’s a possible tease in it, too (don’t worry for those who haven’t seen this week’s episode on AMC+ yet; the promo doesn’t spoil anything).

“Is that you?” Alicia asks, as though seeing someone again for the first time in a long time. It could be Madison, but I suspect Alicia’s reaction to seeing her mother would be far more exclamatory. I suppose this could be a reaction to see Cole, except that the actor who plays him, Sebastian Sozzi, was teasing tonight’s episode on Instagram stories, not next week’s Alicia-centered episode.

All the same, despite all the teasing, I think that the possibility of Madison returning is still remote. Then again, as fans will see in tonight’s episode (no spoilers), introducing characters who we thought were dead is not out of the realm of possibility.

Republican politicians who have signed on to Donald Trump’s “Great Lie” that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him have, by and large, escaped a deadly insurrection and Trump’s second impeachment unscathed. Rather, the Republicans who have spoken out in favor of shunning Trump have seen consequences, such as Liz Cheney losing her leadership role in the party and being censured in Wyoming.

Every now and again, though, there is pushback in the press and that’s exactly what happened on Sunday to Dan Crenshaw. On Sunday’s edition of Meet The Press, Chuck Todd challenged the Texas representative and battled back after the politician espoused that the “largely liberal” press was misconstruing the truth about, well, everything. Todd pointed out that Crenshaw signed on to a lawsuit that attempted to throw out votes in swing states in an effort to undo election results and hand Trump the election he lost.

“This is the issue that many people had, is that you’re sitting here trying to say ‘no no no, I just had a specific question.’ Yet what you did gets weaponized by the former president,” Todd said, pointing out the “unhinged” rantings that Trump continues to have about the election. “I understand you guys want to put this behind you but he is the leader of your party and he doesn’t stop talking about this nonsense.”

Crenshaw tried to counter by saying there are “many leaders” in the party, stumbling a bit before blaming the “largely liberal” press for misconstruing what Republicans are saying. But Todd wasn’t having that.

“Don’t start that,” he chirped. “There’s nothing lazier than that excuse.” Crenshaw tried to press on, saying that Republicans aren’t all focused on the 2020 election and that he wouldn’t take the “bait” he accused Todd of using here. So Todd got more specific.

“Why do we have a political party that’s rallying around this bizarre lie and mythology that the former president is doing and you guys just want to say ‘Hey, pay no attention to this,’” Todd asked.

As The Daily Beast wrote, at one point in the interview Todd asked point-blank why anyone should believe Republicans if they continue to insist on the Big Lie Trump keeps trumpeting.

“But why should anybody believe a word you say if the Republican Party itself doesn’t have credibility?” Todd asked.

It’s an uncomfortable balance many conservatives are trying to manage, trying to move forward while still staying loyal to an in-Florida exile Trump. Watching it play out on Meet the Press on Sunday shows just how tough that balancing act will be for some, especially the politicians that stumped hardest for Trump’s false claims of a stolen election in the months that followed.

[via The Daily Beast]