The story of the men’s international basketball world on Saturday night was the United States getting shocked by Nigeria in exhibition action, nine years after the U.S. set an Olympic record with an 83-point win over Nigeria at the 2012 London Games. Nigeria played a tremendous game, led by hot shooting from Gabe Vincent and Caleb Agada, who combined for 38 points, while the U.S. offense struggled mightily in their first game action together.
However, later in the evening on the same floor in Las Vegas, Argentina and Australia would meet in the second game of the night and would likewise produce some late drama in their first exhibition game of the week. Like the early game, offenses struggled to consistently put up points in what was an 84-84 game with seconds to play and the Boomers taking the ball out with 2.5 seconds to play. However, unlike the United States which struggled to create anything resembling a decent look on their final possession, Australia dialed up a beauty of an inbounds play to get the ball in the hands of their star, Spurs guard Patty Mills.
Mills inbounded the ball and then immediately sprinted to it to take a handoff and launch a high-arcing, contested three that found the bottom of the net as the buzzer sounded to give Australia a thrilling victory in their first tune-up game in Vegas.
It was a stark contrast to how the Americans tried to find a game-tying three earlier in the night with nothing even approaching a discernible action, as the ball went from one player to another 35 feet from the hoop, unable to even pretend to be a shooting threat. Here, the Aussies knew exactly who the ball needed to go to and Mills delivered a beauty to avoid overtime and start the Boomers Olympic journey off on the right foot.
Justin Bieber and Chance The Rapper have shared a number of moments throughout their careers. From their early collaborations that include “Roller Coaster” and “Juke Jam” to their most recent one with “Holy,” the two artists are quite familiar with each other. So it’s no surprise that they’ve both signed on to headline the upcoming Freedom Experience concert in Los Angeles. The event is the finale of 1DayLA’s weeklong COVID-19 service event that takes place from July 18-24.
According to a press release for the event, 1DayLA’s goal is to mobilize 20,000 volunteers in the Southern California area to help “organize beautification projects, back-to-school events, free medical clinics, homeless assistance, and aid distribution.” The concert itself will take place at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California which holds up to 70,000 people. Jaden, Tori Kelly, and more are also slated to perform at the upcoming show.
Bieber revealed that his reason for joining the 1DayLA show was his commitment to the “powerful idea that a movement for change can start with individuals helping one another and their community.”
The news comes after Bieber joined The Kid Laroi for their latest collaboration, “Stay,” an effort Laroi described as “probably the most organic way of making a song I’ve ever done.” Chance, on the other hand, is preparing to release his upcoming concert film, Magnificent Coloring Book.
Scroll up to see a flyer for the event and for more on 1DayLA, click here.
The coronavirus pandemic still continues to ravage the world despite most of the United States loosening or altogether lifting their COVID-19 mitigation restrictions on businesses and everyday life. That’s in part because of the success of an unprecedented vaccination development and rollout that’s helped bring infections, hospitalizations and deaths down despite increasingly dangerous variants of the vaccine circulating the globe.
Despite the success of three vaccines in the United States, a strong sentiment remains in parts of the population against vaccination. And many anti-vaxers clearly made their way to the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, in Texas this weekend. On Saturday, video circulated on social media of a crowd cheering at CPAC when it’s mentioned that the United States will not reach 90 percent of its population vaccinated against COVID-19.
Noting that the government is falling short of its Covid vaccine goals is an applause line at CPAC Dallas pic.twitter.com/og9Fw1MRAv
With an extremely contagious Delta variant circulating in the country and infectious disease experts worried that further outbreaks increase the chance of more powerful variants developing that could break through to greater percentages of even vaccinated people, the need to get the jab has never been more dire. Vulnerable populations or immunocompromised individuals hoping herd immunity could protect them from the threat of coronavirus are losing hope that herd immunity will come, and states with low vaccination rates like Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama are seeing upticks in cases and hospitalizations as the Delta variant becomes the dominant strain infecting those in America.
Which is why Anthony Fauci described the scene of people cheering a struggling vaccination campaign “horrifying” in an interview on Sunday. Appearing on CNN’s ‘State of the Union,’ Fauci said there’s no need for a third booster shot for Americans just yet but was alarmed about the “inexplicable pushing back” that he’s seen from conservatives, including people celebrating not getting vaccinated.
Dr. Anthony Fauci says Covid-19 vaccine booster shots are currently not needed. “Given the data and the information we have, we do not need to give people a third shot.”
“It’s horrifying,” the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director said according to The Daily Beast. “I mean, they are cheering about someone saying that it’s a good thing for people not to try and save their lives!”
Fauci told Jake Tapper that “there’s no reason not to get vaccinated” and lamented that he didn’t understand how people could clap at something that will inevitably lead to more deaths.
“It’s almost frightening to say, ‘Hey, guess what? We don’t want you to do something to save your life. Yay!’ Everybody starts screaming and clapping. I just don’t get that,” Fauci said. “I mean, and I don’t think that anybody who is thinking clearly can get that. What is that all about? I don’t understand that, Jake.”
Making public health and common sense a political issue has doomed countless people to death in America and around the world over the last 18 months. No public health outreach effort can counteract stubborn political talking points that ignore science that have become mainstream in Republican circles during the pandemic. And while Fauci’s horror is valid here, it speaks to just how easy it is for people to work against their best interests, even when it comes to life and death for themselves and others around them.
Major League Baseball’s All-Star Break is upon us, and festivities are already underway in Denver for the annual midsummer classic. But an alarming report of arrests on weapons charges ahead of the game in Colorado made headlines on Sunday with some wondering if a dangerous incident was averted thanks to an alert hotel maid.
Reports emerged on Sunday that four people were arrested blocks from Coors Field in Denver on weapons charges following an investigation that stemmed from a maid stumbling upon a large cache of weapons and ammunition in a nearby hotel room. According to ESPN, the four people arrested were staying at the Maven Hotel, which overlooks an area where a fan festival is being held for the All-Star Game that was moved to Denver earlier this year.
The police department has not announced details about the evidence, but local ABC affiliate Denver7, citing multiple law enforcement sources, reported Saturday that police discovered 16 long guns, body armor and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition from an eighth-floor hotel room that had a balcony overlooking Denver’s downtown area.
Police executed the search warrants for the rooms after receiving the tip from a maid at the hotel, according to multiple reports.
The game, initially scheduled to be held at Truist Park in Georgia, was moved after the state passed controversial voting laws widely seen as restrictive and targeting minorities to make it more difficult to vote. The moving of the All-Star Game became a hot-button right-wing talking point in the months that followed, with campaign events held in venues near the Braves stadium in Cobb County, which will sit empty this week.
According to the report, police initially haven’t tied the arrests directly to the All-Star Game or any political motives. But the arrests and the circumstances are alarming, and reminded some of deadly mass shooting incidents like one that occurred at a country music festival in Las Vegas in 2017 that killed 61 people. According to Denver7, that’s exactly what authorities feared and at least one social media post from one of the men arrested contained some ominous wording while more than one had outstanding warrants in other jurisdictions.
Sources said police removed 16 long guns, body armor and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition from the room which featured a balcony overlooking the downtown area. The sources said they feared the number of weapons, ammo, vantage point and large crowds could have resulted in a “Las Vegas-style shooting.”
…
One of the suspects arrested Friday night had posted a message on Facebook referencing a recent divorce and saying he was going to “go out in a big way,” according to the multiple law enforcement sources.
It’s unclear if this will impact security for the events in Denver this week, but it’s another unsettling reminder of the threat of gun violence in America. Thankfully the maid who discovered these weapons acted quickly and may have averted a tragedy.
Last month, Blink-182 vocalist and bassist Mark Hoppus announced sad news that he had been diagnosed with cancer. “For the past three months I’ve been undergoing chemotherapy for cancer,” he wrote on his Instagram Story. “It sucks and I’m scared, and at the same time I’m blessed with incredible doctors and family and friends to get me through this.”
It’s still unknown what kind of cancer Hoppus has, but the road through it all has had its ups and downs as he revealed in an optimistic update he delivered to fans a week after announcing the cancer diagnosis. The singer recently returned with another update for his supporters on Twitter over the weekend where he let them know what the next steps for his treatment would be.
Apologies if I’m oversharing but it’s so surreal to think that this week I’ll take a test that may very well determine if I live or die. Thanks to everyone for the positive thoughts and encouragement. I read all your replies and it means the world to me. Thank you. I’m going
to beat this through chemotherapy or through bone marrow transplants, but either way I’m determined to kick cancer’s ass directly in the nuts. Love to you all. Let’s. Heckin. Go. pic.twitter.com/6ih3AEJq7y
“Apologies if I’m oversharing but it’s so surreal to think that this week I’ll take a test that may very well determine if I live or die,” he wrote. “Thanks to everyone for the positive thoughts and encouragement. I read all your replies and it means the world to me. Thank you. [prayer hands emoji]”
He added, “I’m going to beat this through chemotherapy or through bone marrow transplants, but either way I’m determined to kick cancer’s ass directly in the nuts. Love to you all. Let’s. Heckin. Go.”
You can read Hoppus’ message in the tweets above.
Blink-182 is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Donald Trump’s latest vacation from resort life in exile will come at CPAC Dallas on Sunday, with a speech that’s expected to be a greatest hits of trips down memory lane and lies about the election he didn’t win. The disconnect between Trump, his rabid supporters and reality is fairly distinct at this point. But perhaps nothing has made that clearer than the difference between more traditional cable news coverage of Trump on CNN and what’s played on right wing outlet Newsmax.
Over the weekend, for example, Newsmax’s Benny Johnson drew scorn on social media for comparing Trump to Batman for “throwing away” a life of privilege to get “their hands dirty.”
“Both Trump and Batman are rich, mysterious, unpredictable guys. They own skyscrapers in Gotham,” Johnson said. “They have a cult-like status, for throwing their privileged lives away and getting their hands dirty.”
He also showed a clip where a young child asks Trump if he is Batman, to which he repeats that he is. Johnson loves the clip, he says, and continues to explain why it’s the perfect comparison between the real-life failed blogger and the fictional superhero.
Bargain budget Tucker Carlson explains: “Both Trump and Batman are rich, mysterious, unpredictable guys. They own skyscrapers in Gotham. They have a cult-like hero status…Both have a helicopter and a plane” pic.twitter.com/iKM5cPkLbv
The journalist once fired for plagiarism saw his Batman riff accompanied by an image of Trump with its shadow altered to look like that of the caped crusader, something that’s been shared by other Trump sycophants like Dan Scavino in the past.
The comparison drew predictable eye-rolling from people outside of Newsmax’s viewing audience as it spread online. Meanwhile, over on CNN Jim Acosta continued his Saturday monologues railing against Trump, first comparing him to a clown before saying that comparison is “most definitely an insult to clowns.”
Acosta: Comparing Trump to a clown is most definitely an insult to clowns. He’s more like one of those mask hating customers at the grocery store. You’ve seen them. A Karen… pic.twitter.com/cRoPJ0TD0O
Acosta joked that we should “hide the flags” as Trump returns to the CPAC stage — he famously hugged one repeatedly at a prior experience. And he noted that Trump “seems to be spending his post-presidency playing president” with the campaign rallies and speeches he’s giving after a brief period of exile after an insurrection attempt. He also claimed some have called his previous comparisons of Trump to a clown simply wasn’t fair.
“An expert on the circus industry recently reached out to me and urged me to not compare Trump and his comeback tour to clowns at the circus,” Acosta said. “As that is an insult to clowns. I agree.”
Instead, Acosta said Trump is more like the stereotype of a “Karen” that’s circulated online in recent months, an impatient and usually incorrect customer demanding to see management for some perceived slight that may or may not exist.
“He’s more like one of those mask-hating customers at the grocery store. A Karen, or whatever the name would be in Trump’s case,” Acosta said. “You can almost hear him saying, ‘I want to talk to the manager about the election, I want to talk to the manager of Twitter or Facebook.’
“And the American people are kind of like the store manager,” Acosta continued. “We have to explain, ‘Well sir, you lied about the election, you incited an insurrection. You’re going to have to leave the store or we’re calling security. Please take your fake White House seal, and go play president somewhere else.’”
Metaphors are always a bit shaky depending on perspective, of course. And comparing Trump to something of an internet meme certainly minimizes the actual things the twice-impeached president has done and encouraged from others. But it’s certainly a vast difference in what’s being broadcast on the networks, and the audiences for which those networks are intended.
But the truth is there’s a ton of high-quality, award-winning, swoon-worthy bourbons produced in states from New York to Tennessee to Washington to Virginia, Ohio, and even Wyoming. Many of which get unduly overlooked on liquor store shelves. Some of these make great value picks, too — though, the craft industry will (likely) never be able to meet the below $20 price tags of the big Kentucky distillers.
Below, you’ll find eight of our favorite bourbons that are all very wallet-friendly, falling in the $35 to $45 range. While that is nowhere near “cheap” bourbon, it’s certainly a great price for unique juice. If you want to try any of these bottles yourself, click on the prices to see if they’re available in your region.
Chattanooga’s 91 proof bourbon is something special. Made with a mash bill of yellow corn, malted rye, caramel malted barley, and honey malted barley, it’s matured in both charred and toasted American oak barrels. After the first two years of maturation, this bourbon is added to Chattanooga’s version of Solera aging — consisting of 100 barrels that are added to a 4,000-gallon charred, white oak Solera finishing barrel.
The result is a highly complex, rich bourbon.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is filled with the aromas of dried cherries, butterscotch, wood char, and just a hint of sweet cinnamon spice. The palate dances with toasted vanilla beans, toffee, oak, and subtle spices. The finish is dry, warming, and ends with a pleasing mixture of pipe tobacco and caramelized sugar.
Bottom Line:
For the price, this is truly a unique flavor experience. While technically a young whiskey, the Solera-aging technique means that it’s melded with much older bourbons.
Dry Fly Bourbon 101 was the first legal bourbon made in Washington State, back in 2007. Made with locally sourced corn and triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye), it’s aged for at least three years in charred American oak casks before it’s vatted, proofed, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Before taking your first sip, revel in the scents of oaky wood, toasted vanilla beans, molasses, and just a hint of peppery rye. Sipping this bourbon brings forth flavors of buttery caramel, nutmeg, sugar cookies, and a kick of spice at the end. The finish features equal measures of high-proof warmth and gentle sweetness.
Bottom Line:
If you’re a fan of higher-proof bourbon that still carries a sweet, mellow, caramel-filled flavor, this is your jam. Well-suited for slow sipping with a single ice cube, this just might become your new summer go-to.
Award-winning Belle Meade Bourbon is made by blending sourced barrels from MGP of Indiana. This whiskey is so revered that it’s helped dispel old ideas about “sourced” whiskey being somehow inferior. This expression is known for its high-rye mash bill and mellow aging. The barrels are then brought down to Tennessee where they’re expertly blended and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is loaded with aromas of candied orange peels, toffee, maple candy, and almond cookies. The palate features dried fruits, caramel apples, vanilla beans, and subtly spicy, peppery rye. It all ends in a crescendo of sweet and warming spice.
Bottom Line:
This masterfully blended and matured whiskey belongs on your summer bar cart. Once you try it, you’ll want to slowly sip this expression from now until October. At least.
This is a complex whiskey. First, Watershed crafts its own high-quality bourbon that’s then finished in barrels that held the brand’s apple brandy. Finally, the juice is blended with even more straight bourbon. The result is a well-balanced, fruity, sweet, rich whiskey that deserves to be sipped slowly.
Tasting Notes:
Right away, this is a boldly fragrant whiskey. There are notes of orange marmalade, caramel corn, woody oak, and subtle spices. The sip reveals flavors of cloves, toasted vanilla beans, wood char, clover honey, and almond cookies, with a nice herbal, sweet ending.
Bottom Line:
The finishing in apple brandy barrels gives this whiskey a truly unique flavor profile you won’t soon forget. We suggest either drinking it neat or mixing it into a classic old fashioned.
This award-winning whiskey from Wyoming is made using only locally sourced ingredients that are distilled, aged, and bottled on-site. Wyoming Whiskey Small Batch is truly a small batch gem. After one sip, it will find a permanent (not just summertime) spot in your liquor cabinet.
Tasting Notes:
Take a moment to breathe in the aromas of sticky toffee, wet grass, vanilla, and clover honey before your first sip. The taste is laden with crème brulee, fresh mint, cloves, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a gentle, nutty sweetness. The finish is medium, warming, and ends with a nice kick of buttery caramel.
Bottom Line:
If you’re looking to branch out from Kentucky-based bourbon and you’re not sure where to start, try Wyoming. This well-priced bourbon will make you rethink your ideas of what “value” bourbon actually is.
While Dry Fly started the bourbon game in Washington, Woodinville takes it to another level. The brand’s Straight Bourbon has won numerous prestigious awards in recent years, with good reason. Made with a mash bill of corn, rye, and malted barley, this small batch bourbon is mashed, distilled, and added to barrels at the distillery before being transported over the Cascade Mountains to the brand’s barrelhouse in order to age in over-the-top weather conditions.
The result is mellow, buttery, caramel-heavy, easy to drink whiskey.
Tasting Notes:
The nose features scents of clove, nutmeg, vanilla beans, caramel corn, and chocolate fudge. This evolves into a palate of sweet caramel, buttercream, woody oak, and just a hint of spice at the finish. The warm, sweet, rich final flourish leaves you craving more.
In recent years, New York has become a bourbon lover’s dream with the likes of Hillrock, Hudson, Kings County, and Widow Jane leading the charge. But we believe drinkers shouldn’t overlook a sublime, sweet, rich whiskey coming out of Fairport, New York called Iron Smoke Straight Bourbon. This four-grain, small-batch whiskey is made using locally sourced grains but gets an added kick in the smoky flavor department from the use of applewood smoked wheat.
Tasting Notes:
At first whiff, this is a classic bourbon through and through. There are notable scents of caramel, vanilla, and honey that pair well with wood char, and maple candy. The palate expands on this with the addition of dried cherries, raisins, more vanilla, and a nice kick of sweet applewood smoke at the very end.
Bottom Line:
There’s a reason this whiskey keeps racking up awards. It ticks all the bourbon flavor boxes with the addition of gentle, smoky applewood.
Virginia is the home to American whiskey and the high-quality whiskeys coming out of A. Smith Bowman Distillery are a great example of the state’s tradition. Its 90-proof Bowman Brothers Small Batch Bourbon is distilled three times with a mash bill of corn, rye, and malted barley. The result is a mellow, easy-drinking whiskey with everything bourbon drinkers crave.
Tasting Notes:
Notes of caramel corn, sugar cookies, cloves, and cinnamon highlight the expansive nose. The palate is complex with hints of buttery caramel, toasted oak, vanilla pudding, fresh ginger, and cinnamon sugar. It all ends with a nice mixture of caramel sweetness and peppery rye.
Bottom Line:
This is one of the most well-balanced and well-priced bourbons on the market. The combination of vanilla, caramel, and peppery rye make this a solid choice for a whiskey sour or Manhattan.
As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.
Just six months after drawing level in their career head-to-head, Dustin Poirier defeated Conor McGregor after a freak injury ended the fight at the end of the first round on Saturday night at UFC 264 in Las Vegas.
McGregor was aggressive out of the gate, tearing away at Poirier’s midsection and lead leg with a slew of kicks before landing a few shots up top. Poirier sent McGregor back with a few stiff combinations before his opponent grabbed him up in the clinch. McGregor attempted a guillotine, but Poirier escaped on the ground to take top position. McGregor and Poirier traded huge elbows on the ground before Poirier got to his feet and jumped back in. Poirier dropped bombs on McGregor from on top, but the former champion landed a huge up kick.
At the end of the round, McGregor stepped backward and suffered a broken leg to end the fight. You can see the video here, but be warned it is not an easy watch.
Poirier needed just a round and a half to put McGregor down in January, using stifling leg kicks and precise strikes to TKO the former double champion. It was a drastically different Poirier than in his first bout against McGregor in 2014, where he suffered a first-round knockout at the hands of McGregor.
Both fighters came into Saturday night with a clear opening in the lightweight division to earn No. 1 contender status. With Khabib Nurmagomedov retired, the gap is razor-thin between Poirier as the UFC’s top contender for Charles Oliveira’s belt and the likes of Justin Gaethje, Michael Chandler and Tony Ferguson in the rankings. With the win though, Poirier looks in full control to see out a title shot against Oliveira.
Whether Tai Tuivasa is a spectator or competing in the Octagon, he’s always one of the most entertaining fighters on the UFC roster. Saturday night at UFC 264, it was the latter, as Tuivasa was welcomed to the cage to the smooth sounds of “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls before he stood toe-to-toe with former NFL player and current heavyweight fighter Greg Hardy.
If you’re a heavyweight UFC fighter and walk out to the Spice Girls. You are a confident guy. Tai Tuivasa pic.twitter.com/CYfrrBNSf7
Hardy gestured to the middle of the Octagon, where Tuivasa was happy to meet him. Tuivasa needed just over a minute to put the heavyweight on the mat with a counter right hook that rocked Hardy, followed by a counter left hook that put him on his back. He followed that up with a flurry of hammer fists before the ref called it a night for Hardy.
After the fight, Tuivasa jabbed at Hardy who he said, “wanted to bang with me. I’m not the right guy to bang with, pick another bloke.”
As for what’s next for Tuivasa, he wants to fight someone in the top 10 or top 15. He seemed less than concerned about his next opponent though, as the heavyweight contender continued to chug beers back on his way to the locker room.
Paige Bueckers took home a number of awards during her first year in Storrs, and on Saturday night, the rising UConn sophomore added to her already jam packed trophy case by winning the ESPY Award for Best College Athlete in Women’s Sports.
Upon accepting her award, Bueckers thanked God and people like her friends, family, coaches, and teammates before turning her speech to the lack of attention given to Black women in sports.
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) July 11, 2021
“With the light that I have now as a white woman who leads a Black-led sport, and celebrated here, I want to show a light on Black women,” Bueckers said. “They don’t get the media coverage that they deserve. They’ve given so much to the sport, and the community, and society as a whole, and their value is undeniable.”
Bueckers went on to cite awards voting in the WNBA last year, where 80 percent of the winners were Black, and how despite that, they got half of the coverage as white athletes who took home awards. Because of this, she focused on the media and how it does a poor job putting Black women in the spotlight.
“Sports media holds the key to storylines,” Bueckers said to applause. “Sports media and sponsors tell us who is valuable, and you have told the world that I matter today. And everyone who voted, thank you. But I think we should use this power together to also celebrate Black women.”
Bueckers closed by addressing a number of Black women by name and emphasized her thanks for all they’ve done.
“To Maria Taylor, Robin Roberts, Maya Moore, Odicci Alexander, to all the incredible Black women in my life, on my teams, to Breonna Taylor and all the lives lost, and to those names who I’ve not yet learned but I hope to share, I stand behind you and I’ll continue to follow you, and follow your lead, and fight for you guys,” Bueckers said. “So I just want to say thank you for everything.”
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@Patty_Mills led @BasketballAus to an opening victory vs. Argentina in exhibition play at the buzzer last night in Vegas! pic.twitter.com/lhZallEdPE
I’m going
This may cause 
(@DanScavino) 
Tai Tuivasa 
(@BagbakRegen) 
arcusD 
(@_MarcusD3_) 
