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LA Dodger star Joe Kelly wore an amazing mariachi jacket to the White House

Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Joe Kelly is known for having one of the most fun-loving personalities in all of baseball.

He does the worm.


Joe Kelly does it all, even THE WORM, to try to disrupt Shelby Miller’s interview

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He has a crush on Justin Beiber.


kellybiebs

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He plays rock, paper, scissors with young fans.

He also won ESPN’s award for the Best Meme of 2020 for the pouty face he made at Carlos Correa of the Astros after striking him out in a heated contest. After the strikeout, there was a bench-clearing and Kelly was suspended for five games for throwing at two players.

But Kelly isn’t only known for being a larger-than-life personality, he also has a helluva fastball that helped the Dodgers win the 2020 World Series. The Dodgers’ championship earned them a trip to the White House to meet president Joe Biden on Friday.

When Joe Kelly arrived at the White House, he caught a lot of attention on social media for his amazing outfit. He wore a stunning blue mariachi jacket, a white dress shirt, and blue flood pants.

He was also the only Dodger to pose for a photo with the president wearing a face mask.

Kelly’s audacious outfit was par for the course for a player who’s known for being a cut-up. But it may have been about something more. Kelly’s mother, Andrea Valencia, is Mexican-American and the jacket could have been a nod to his heritage.

Eagle-eyed Dodger fans quickly realized where Kelly got the jacket. On Sunday, the team had a Viva Los Dodgers event celebrating Mexican heritage before their game against the Chicago Cubs.

While Kelly and the rest of the Dodgers were warming up before the game, pitcher Kenley Jansen invited a mariachi band that was to perform the national anthem to come on the field and play for the team.

“We didn’t anticipate being on the field, and being that close to the players, so as soon as we got that chance, I think we were all just shocked, we were just in awe,” said one of the Mariachi Garibaldi band members. “It was amazing.”

Kelly thought that the mariachi outfits were impressive so he offered to trade band member Grover Rodrigo his jersey for his jacket. Later, after the band played the national anthem, the deal was made from the bullpen.

“Really glad he kept his word,” said Rodrigo. “A little bit of me had a little bit of doubt, but I’m so glad it happened. I hope he treasures his jacket as much as I treasure his jersey.”

Rodrigo had to be super excited to see his old jacket show up at the White House.

Kelly may have caused a stir at the White House but the drama-free departure from the previous administration. During the Trump years, White House visits from professional athletes became cultural flashpoints that often led to public conflicts between the president and the athletes.

But this time, it was all about baseball and its power to bring people together during the pandemic.

“When we go through a crisis, very often, sports brings us together to heal. To help us feel like things are going to be okay. Are going to get better,” Biden said. “For a few hours each day, feeling, sensing, and experiencing something familiar. Something normal. Something that’s fun in the middle of the chaos.”

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Critical race theory: What it is and what it isn’t

U.S. Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana sent a
letter to fellow Republicans on June 24, 2021, stating: “As Republicans, we reject the racial essentialism that critical race theory teaches … that our institutions are racist and need to be destroyed from the ground up.”

Kimberlé Crenshaw, a law professor and central figure in the development of critical race theory, said
in a recent interview that critical race theory “just says, let’s pay attention to what has happened in this country, and how what has happened in this country is continuing to create differential outcomes. … Critical Race Theory … is more patriotic than those who are opposed to it because … we believe in the promises of equality. And we know we can’t get there if we can’t confront and talk honestly about inequality.”

Rep. Banks’ account is demonstrably false and typical of many people publicly declaring their opposition to critical race theory. Crenshaw’s characterization, while true, does not detail its main features. So what is critical race theory and what brought it into existence?

The development of critical race theory by legal scholars such as
Derrick Bell and Crenshaw was largely a response to the slow legal progress and setbacks faced by African Americans from the end of the Civil War, in 1865, through the end of the civil rights era, in 1968. To understand critical race theory, you need to first understand the history of African American rights in the U.S.


The history

After 304 years of enslavement, then-former slaves gained equal protection under the law with passage of
the 14th Amendment in 1868. The 15th Amendment, in 1870, guaranteed voting rights for men regardless of race or “previous condition of servitude.”

Between 1866 and 1877 – the period historians call “Radical Reconstruction” – African Americans began businesses, became involved in
local governance and law enforcement and were elected to Congress.

This early progress was subsequently diminished by state laws throughout the American South called ”
Black Codes,” which limited voting rights, property rights and compensation for work; made it illegal to be unemployed or not have documented proof of employment; and could subject prisoners to work without pay on behalf of the state. These legal rollbacks were worsened by the spread of “Jim Crow” laws throughout the country requiring segregation in almost all aspects of life.

Grassroots struggles for civil rights were constant in post-Civil War America. Some historians even refer to the period from the New Deal Era, which began in 1933, to the present as ”
The Long Civil Rights Movement.”

The period stretching from
Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which found school segregation to be unconstitutional, to the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which prohibited discrimination in housing, was especially productive.

The civil rights movement used practices such as civil disobedience, nonviolent protest, grassroots organizing and legal challenges to advance civil rights. The
U.S.’s need to improve its image abroad during the Cold War importantly aided these advancements. The movement succeeded in banning explicit legal discrimination and segregation, promoted equal access to work and housing and extended federal protection of voting rights.

However, the movement that produced legal advances had no effect on the increasing
racial wealth gap between Blacks and whites, while school and housing segregation persisted.


Carde Cornish takes his son past blighted buildings in Baltimore. ‘Our race issues aren’t necessarily toward individuals who are white, but it is towards the system that keeps us all down, one, but keeps Black people disproportionally down a lot more than anybody else,’ he said.
AP Photo/Matt Rourke

What critical race theory is

Critical race theory is a
field of intellectual inquiry that demonstrates the legal codification of racism in America.

Through the study of law and U.S. history, it attempts to reveal how racial oppression shaped the legal fabric of the U.S. Critical race theory is traditionally less concerned with how racism manifests itself in interactions with individuals and more concerned with how racism has been, and is, codified into the law.

There are a few beliefs commonly held by most critical race theorists.

First,
race is not fundamentally or essentially a matter of biology, but rather a social construct. While physical features and geographic origin play a part in making up what we think of as race, societies will often make up the rest of what we think of as race. For instance, 19th- and early-20th-century scientists and politicians frequently described people of color as intellectually or morally inferior, and used those false descriptions to justify oppression and discrimination.


Creator Of Term ‘Critical Race Theory’ Kimberlé Crenshaw Explains What It Really Is

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Second, these racial views have been codified into the nation’s foundational documents and legal system. For evidence of that, look no further than the ”
Three-Fifths Compromisein the Constitution, whereby slaves, denied the right to vote, were nonetheless treated as part of the population for increasing congressional representation of slave-holding states.

Third, given the pervasiveness of racism in our legal system and institutions, racism is not aberrant, but a normal part of life.

Fourth, multiple elements, such as race and gender, can lead to
kinds of compounded discrimination that lack the civil rights protections given to individual, protected categories. For example, Crenshaw has forcibly argued that there is a lack of legal protection for Black women as a category. The courts have treated Black women as Black, or women, but not both in discrimination cases – despite the fact that they may have experienced discrimination because they were both.

These beliefs are shared by scholars in a variety of fields who explore the role of racism in areas such as education, health care and history.

Finally, critical race theorists are interested not just in studying the law and systems of racism, but in changing them for the better.


DeSantis lashes out at ‘critical race theory’ in push to overhaul Florida’s civics curriculum

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“Critical race theory” has become a catch-all phrase among legislators attempting to ban a wide array of teaching practices concerning race. State legislators in
Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia have introduced legislation banning what they believe to be critical race theory from schools.

But what is being banned in education, and what many media outlets and legislators are calling “critical race theory,” is far from it. Here are sections from identical legislation in
Oklahoma and Tennessee that propose to ban the teaching of these concepts. As a philosopher of race and racism, I can safely say that critical race theory does not assert the following:

(1) One race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex;

(2) An individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, is inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously;

(3) An individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of the individual’s race or sex;

(4) An individual’s moral character is determined by the individual’s race or sex;

(5) An individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex;

(6) An individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or another form of psychological distress solely because of the individual’s race or sex.

What most of these bills go on to do is limit the presentation of educational materials that suggest that Americans do not live in a meritocracy, that foundational elements of U.S. laws are racist, and that racism is a perpetual struggle from which America has not escaped.

Americans are used to viewing their history through a
triumphalist lens, where we overcome hardships, defeat our British oppressors and create a country where all are free with equal access to opportunities.

Obviously, not all of that is true.

Critical race theory provides techniques to analyze U.S. history and legal institutions by acknowledging that racial problems do not go away when we leave them unaddressed.

David Miguel Gray is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Affiliate, Institute for Intelligent Systems at the University of Memphis.

This article first appeared on The Conversation. You can read it here.

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Benjamin Franklin had to deal with smallpox anti-vaxxers. We can learn from his approach.

Exactly 300 years ago, in 1721, Benjamin Franklin and his fellow American colonists faced a deadly smallpox outbreak. Their varying responses constitute an eerily prescient object lesson for today’s world, similarly devastated by a virus and divided over vaccination three centuries later.

As a microbiologist and a Franklin scholar, we see some parallels between then and now that could help governments, journalists and the rest of us cope with the coronavirus pandemic and future threats.

Smallpox strikes Boston

Smallpox was nothing new in 1721. Known to have affected people for at least 3,000 years, it ran rampant in Boston, eventually striking more than half the city’s population. The virus killed about 1 in 13 residents – but the death toll was probably more, since the lack of sophisticated epidemiology made it impossible to identify the cause of all deaths.

What was new, at least to Boston, was a simple procedure that could protect people from the disease. It was known as “variolation” or “inoculation,” and involved deliberately exposing someone to the smallpox “matter” from a victim’s scabs or pus, injecting the material into the skin using a needle. This approach typically caused a mild disease and induced a state of “immunity” against smallpox.

Even today, the exact mechanism is poorly understood and not much research on variolation has been done. Inoculation through the skin seems to activate an immune response that leads to milder symptoms and less transmission, possibly because of the route of infection and the lower dose. Since it relies on activating the immune response with live smallpox variola virus, inoculation is different from the modern vaccination that eradicated smallpox using the much less harmful but related vaccinia virus.


The inoculation treatment, which originated in Asia and Africa, came to be known in Boston thanks to a man named Onesimus. By 1721, Onesimus was enslaved, owned by the most influential man in all of Boston, the Rev. Cotton Mather.

Known primarily as a Congregational minister, Mather was also a scientist with a special interest in biology. He paid attention when Onesimus told him “he had undergone an operation, which had given him something of the smallpox and would forever preserve him from it; adding that it was often used” in West Africa, where he was from.

Inspired by this information from Onesimus, Mather teamed up with a Boston physician, Zabdiel Boylston, to conduct a scientific study of inoculation’s effectiveness worthy of 21st-century praise. They found that of the approximately 300 people Boylston had inoculated, 2% had died, compared with almost 15% of those who contracted smallpox from nature.

The findings seemed clear: Inoculation could help in the fight against smallpox. Science won out in this clergyman’s mind. But others were not convinced.

Stirring up controversy

A local newspaper editor named James Franklin had his own affliction – namely an insatiable hunger for controversy. Franklin, who was no fan of Mather, set about attacking inoculation in his newspaper, The New-England Courant.

One article from August 1721 tried to guilt readers into resisting inoculation. If someone gets inoculated and then spreads the disease to someone else, who in turn dies of it, the article asked, “at whose hands shall their Blood be required?” The same article went on to say that “Epidemeal Distempers” such as smallpox come “as Judgments from an angry and displeased God.”

In contrast to Mather and Boylston’s research, the Courant’s articles were designed not to discover, but to sow doubt and distrust. The argument that inoculation might help to spread the disease posits something that was theoretically possible – at least if simple precautions were not taken – but it seems beside the point. If inoculation worked, wouldn’t it be worth this small risk, especially since widespread inoculations would dramatically decrease the likelihood that one person would infect another?

Franklin, the Courant’s editor, had a kid brother apprenticed to him at the time – a teenager by the name of Benjamin.

Historians don’t know which side the younger Franklin took in 1721 – or whether he took a side at all – but his subsequent approach to inoculation years later has lessons for the world’s current encounter with a deadly virus and a divided response to a vaccine.

Independent thought

You might expect that James’ little brother would have been inclined to oppose inoculation as well. After all, thinking like family members and others you identify with is a common human tendency.

That he was capable of overcoming this inclination shows Benjamin Franklin’s capacity for independent thought, an asset that would serve him well throughout his life as a writer, scientist and statesman. While sticking with social expectations confers certain advantages in certain settings, being able to shake off these norms when they are dangerous is also valuable. We believe the most successful people are the ones who, like Franklin, have the intellectual flexibility to choose between adherence and independence.

Truth, not victory

What happened next shows that Franklin, unlike his brother – and plenty of pundits and politicians in the 21st century – was more interested in discovering the truth than in proving he was right.

Perhaps the inoculation controversy of 1721 had helped him to understand an unfortunate phenomenon that continues to plague the U.S. in 2021: When people take sides, progress suffers. Tribes, whether long-standing or newly formed around an issue, can devote their energies to demonizing the other side and rallying their own. Instead of attacking the problem, they attack each other.

Franklin, in fact, became convinced that inoculation was a sound approach to preventing smallpox. Years later he intended to have his son Francis inoculated after recovering from a case of diarrhea. But before inoculation took place, the 4-year-old boy contracted smallpox and died in 1736. Citing a rumor that Francis had died because of inoculation and noting that such a rumor might deter parents from exposing their children to this procedure, Franklin made a point of setting the record straight, explaining that the child had “receiv’d the Distemper in the common Way of Infection.”

Writing his autobiography in 1771, Franklin reflected on the tragedy and used it to advocate for inoculation. He explained that he “regretted bitterly and still regret” not inoculating the boy, adding, “This I mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation, on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it; my example showing that the regret may be the same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen.”

A scientific perspective

A final lesson from 1721 has to do with the importance of a truly scientific perspective, one that embraces science, facts and objectivity.

Inoculation was a relatively new procedure for Bostonians in 1721, and this lifesaving method was not without deadly risks. To address this paradox, several physicians meticulously collected data and compared the number of those who died because of natural smallpox with deaths after smallpox inoculation. Boylston essentially carried out what today’s researchers would call a clinical study on the efficacy of inoculation. Knowing he needed to demonstrate the usefulness of inoculation in a diverse population, he reported in a short book how he inoculated nearly 300 individuals and carefully noted their symptoms and conditions over days and weeks.

The recent emergency-use authorization of mRNA-based and viral-vector vaccines for COVID-19 has produced a vast array of hoaxes, false claims and conspiracy theories, especially in various social media. Like 18th-century inoculations, these vaccines represent new scientific approaches to vaccination, but ones that are based on decades of scientific research and clinical studies.

We suspect that if he were alive today, Benjamin Franklin would want his example to guide modern scientists, politicians, journalists and everyone else making personal health decisions. Like Mather and Boylston, Franklin was a scientist with a respect for evidence and ultimately for truth.

When it comes to a deadly virus and a divided response to a preventive treatment, Franklin was clear what he would do. It doesn’t take a visionary like Franklin to accept the evidence of medical science today.

Mark Canada is Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Indiana University Kokomo.

Christian Chauret is Dean of School of Sciences, Professor of Microbiology at Indiana University Kokomo.

This article first appeared on The Conversation. You can read it here.



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Fox Sports Analyst Emmanuel Acho Confused Everyone By Implying Javelin Throwers Would Impale People If They Got High

The sports world is abuzz in reaction to Sha’Carri Richardson getting banned from running the 100 meters at the Summer Olympics. Richardson tested positive for marijuana recently, meaning she accepted a one-month suspension from the United States Anti-Doping Agency and saw her recent result in the race, in which she ran a 10.86 en route to establishing herself as a gold medal contender in Tokyo, disqualified.

Richardson can still run the 4×100 at the Olympics, but it’s an overly harsh penalty and one that comes, as she explained on Today, after she used marijuana as a way to cope with the recent passing of her mother. Only 21, Richardson has the silver lining of youth, and it is very possible this won’t be the only time she’s a gold medal threat.

In the aftermath of this, plenty of folks — including a number of professional athletes — have been in Richardson’s corner. One person who decided to fire off a take is Emmanuel Acho, the former NFL linebacker who is now a Fox Sports personality. Please look at this tweet:

What this appears to imply is that if we let javelin participants smoke marijuana, they’d take them in their hands and then throw them and impale people, making some type of human kebab. It seems to be something out of a really weird cartoon and not, you know, real.

As you can guess, the Twitterverse saw this and was totally baffled as to whatever Acho was going for.

Even Robert Griffin III and retired defensive end Chris Long opined on what Acho had to say.

I am not an expert but I am inclined to believe that a person who is baked out of their mind would not be allowed to throw the javelin, and if so, people would probably not stand in such a place that they could get their lives ruined. Having said this, I have been wrong before, so who knows?

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‘Seinfeld’ Has Finally Gotten A Soundtrack More Than Two Decades After Wrapping Its Final Season

Seinfeld, a show about nothing, now officially has the slap bass-fueled soundtrack its fans have always desired. Variety reported Thursday that the legendary sitcom would get an official soundtrack, 23 years after it left primetime for an endless loop of syndication and streaming binges.

The show’s popularity in the two decades since its last episode has only grown as new generations experienced its eccentricities. Which perhaps is why more Seinfeld content like this has emerged in recent years. And, quite frankly, no one seems to know why it’s taken so long for the show to get an official soundtrack anyway.

“It was 30 years in the making,” says “Seinfeld” composer Jonathan Wolff, with a laugh, about the new release. He confesses he doesn’t know why there wasn’t a “Seinfeld” soundtrack while the series was on NBC between 1989 and 1998.

“It struggled for the first few seasons,” he points out. “We were an accidental hit. We were busy getting episodes out, and nobody was thinking about the music. And that’s OK.” The series was among TV’s most popular shows for its last five seasons.

The good news for longtime fans of the Jerry Seinfeld vehicle is that all your favorites are there. The mouth popping, slap bass and synthesizer that would highlight the show’s transitions and credit sequences are at full power on the Jonathan Wolff-led official TV soundtrack. And with 180 episodes to pluck songs from, there’s a surprising range to the offerings and even some never-aired stuff in the mix.

The range of styles is surprisingly broad: hip-hop for “Kramer’s Pimpwalk,” happy whistling and guitars for “Jerry the Mailman,” a “Mission: Impossible” vibe for “Jerry vs. Newman Chase,” suspense-thriller scoring for “Cable Guy vs. Kramer Chase,” ’90s rock for “Kramer’s Boombox,” Eastern mysticism for “Peterman in Burmese Jungle,” and vintage guitar-and-harmonica blues for “Waiting for the Verdict” from the series finale.

A highlight turns out to be music that was intended for, but never heard in, the show. When Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) dates a saxophone player in a seventh-season episode, the original script called for several scenes in a jazz club where he was playing.

And, indeed, the show’s theme song and other tracks did hit Spotify and elsewhere on Friday. So if you need your fill of mouth-popping sounds on this July 4 holiday weekend, boy is it going to be lots of fun for 32 tracks or so.

[via Variety]

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The Next Wave Of Young Stars Are Using The 2021 Playoffs To Show The Future Of The League Is In Good Hands

It can feel like doomsday cult behavior, sometimes, this heralding of stars. We, as a collective, pin every hope on the date they’re picked and then weirdly long for them to immediately upend, wreck havoc, outright destroy the thing they’ve been drafted into en route to becoming the generational player that was promised. And when it fails to pan out, the scramble resets. We go back to consulting the data for the next year, pick new candidates, and hope this time, we’ll get the asteroid that wipes everything out. Our cult, clearly pretty shitty at predicting the future, can finally rest.

With the real-time and compelling rise of players like Trae Young, Devin Booker, Luka Doncic, Ja Morant, Deandre Ayton, and more in what’s been a sustained sea change, these playoffs have upended all that. What’s more, with the NBA’s fixed postseason stars largely absent, we’re seeing the future identity of the league — from its most dominant players to the way the game itself looks — take shape with every brash and innovative night on the floor.

And while there’s a feeling of immediacy to the performance of these players, and a sense that through their finesse and flourish — Young’s playful manifesting of the villain in theatrical bows and shoulder shimmies, Ayton’s candidness in celebrating Nikola Jokic and teammate Chris Paul in his postgames with the awareness that he now shares the same stage, too — there’s recognition they’ve stepped into the spotlight. And perhaps more promisingly, the path they traveled to get here came from some of the most understated and unpopular methods in a league hellbent on win-now acceleration: drafting for fit, solid coaching, and gradual development.

When the Hawks gave up the number three pick that could’ve landed them Doncic to trade down for Young, the franchise was skewered for it. Atlanta had just come off their first season without seeing the playoffs after a decade getting there and falling out in early exits, and Doncic looked like the kind of player who could propel the team past where it had been stuck for so long. By comparison, Young was rakish, green, if a little awkward. But in him, the Hawks saw the fluidity of his handle, the depth of his shooting, and the potential to tie everything together with prodigious playmaking.

In his first two seasons in Atlanta, Young could be mercurial on the floor, swinging from firing on all-cylinders offense to harried defense, doing a little bit of everything. The Hawks, too, were a team in transition, a vet-heavy roster with a handful of young players. Loosening from the repetitions of Mike Budenholzer and adjusting to the defensive demands of Lloyd Pierce, Atlanta had plenty of upside, but the problem of that potential came in choosing a direction. The abrupt firing of Pierce and his replacement in Nate McMillan at the beginning of March this past season could’ve brought with it more reluctance, but it’s instead forced a way forward through trust.

“I told him, ‘You’re a Ferrari, but even in a Ferrari conditions change,’” McMillan said recently of Young, “If there’s ice on the road, you have to slow down. If it’s bright sunshine, go do your thing.”

The conditions for Young to flourish have come from trusting his teammates. In Bogdan Bogdanovic, Danilo Gallinari, and Kevin Huerter, Young gets ready, intuitive outlets, shooters who offer opportunities for Young to run the floor without the weight of every shot, lead, or deficit falling on him. In Clint Capela, he’s given plenty of defensive room and intuition. McMillan has pushed Young to organize the team and by doing so Young has tapped into the individual capabilities of his teammates. It seems simple, but it is something that only comes in what can be most difficult for frenetic multitaskers like Young: giving up control.

“He has really gotten better at trusting his teammates,” McMillan said of Young looking to his teammates, “and understanding they can do some things too.”

The foundation of that trust has also become the stage for Young to play the villain, the most entertaining role of his NBA career so far and one that feeds back into the team around him. The Hawks, by some accounts, shouldn’t yet be where they are, a team too young, too brazen, too hopeful on the verge of the NBA Finals, but there were no shortcuts. Even making big splashes in free agency this year, bringing in Bogdanovic and Gallinari, were calculated moves with an eye on a window opening in the coming years. It was steady growth that got Atlanta and Young where they are, farther than the franchise has been in five seasons. Whatever happens, the best, most sustainable parts of it should carry over, in large part because of their young star guard who has exploded in his first postseason.

Incremental growth is something the Suns share with the Hawks, though Phoenix has had to wait a little longer for this high-powered, beaming team that’s burned up the West. For Booker, this playoff run has been six years in the making, for Chris Paul, 15. Ayton has only had to wait two seasons, but both were weighed down by doubt around his capabilities and the veracity — as if irrefutable proof in a concept so abstract, with so many variable, were possible — of his number one pick due to the guy who got traded for Young.

Instead, it was the perfectly timed and titled “valley-oop” that offered the tidiest, lethal proof of Ayton’s growth as a player. In those 0.9 seconds, everything from team synchronicity to Ayton’s sense of timing and trust in his role culminated in what’s been the most breathless, signature win for the Suns so far these playoffs.

“He’s starting to understand having a role doesn’t limit you,” Monty Williams said of Ayton after Game 2 against the Clippers.

That role has seen Ayton as an offensive juggernaut, providing pin down and ball screens for Booker and Paul, and hot handoffs to Cam Payne and Mikhail Bridges, all while limiting his own touches. Per James Herbert at CBS, Ayton’s own points, assists, and shot attempts are way down, but he’s collecting nearly 60 percent of opponent’s missed free throws, taking 69 percent of his shots at the rim, and making 81 percent of those close and often physical points. It takes everything to win a playoff series, each game its own grueling campaign of on-the-fly adjustments, near-psychic intuition, and a dizzying amount of intangibles capable of turning the tide minute-to-minute, and Ayton is doing it all. In a league so hyper-focused on the development of star players for their offensive prowess only, it can take years (if at all) for new players to round out (or even recognize they have to) their games enough to stay relevant. Ayton has needed three years to get to that point, and his arrival has been emphatic.

That the Suns managed to keep things consistent in a season impacted so deeply by COVID and injuries is a testament to how the team turned inward, shoring up skills they already had. Booker, who consistently carried the Suns all season with 30-plus scoring performances, has managed to back off on needing to be the most ball-dominant player on the floor, leaning into playmaking with pointers from Paul while expanding his midrange capabilities. His toughness has taken shape, too. Whether it’s from settling into an on-court shorthand with Ayton or under the domineering pressure of Paul, Booker hasn’t backed off from the physical challenges, most notable in a semi-finals dust-up with Jokic or having his nose broken in three places.

Where Booker had drawn ire in the past was from a showiness without substance, not only in physicality but in a willingness to take responsibility for where the team, once a quick group of impatient gunners, was falling short. But something has clicked under the measured coaching of Monty Williams and Booker is not just poised for the stage the Suns have taken, but mature enough for the spotlight not to spook him.

Regardless of how far the Cinderella-style runs the Hawks and Suns are having these playoffs take them, the impact of these two young, slow-built franchises — not to mention teams with a similar makeup who fell out a little earlier — is going to trickle into the league at large, in everything from copycat team building to game mechanics. This formula for gradual, even growth has offered a road for small-market teams to get out from under the big market behemoths powered by superstars as much as it encourages a new, potentially more accessible way for young players to advance their games and careers without getting stuck behind walking mountains like LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and James Harden for years.

What’s become evident in these playoffs is that established players do best when adjusting their own games to the developments the younger generation is bringing in. Where scoring in the paint was once put mostly to stretch forwards and big men, guards have scored more points up close in the last two seasons than both those positions combined. Guards are also shifting the preference in terms of go-to shots, with floaters now edging out pull-up jumpers overall. While the six most active floater utilizing players are all guards and all under 22, three of them — Young, Doncic, Morant — were difference-makers for their teams these playoffs, preferring zig-zagging drives that roll easily into floaters, disrupting defenses in their lurching wake.

A sea change like this doesn’t mean the end for the Draft — there are still plenty of teams that, nobly or not, the Draft provides the quickest route to change — nor is it a failsafe method. A franchise could still spend five years waiting for things to evolve only to end up with an anticlimactic bust. The reward of this new wave is, at first, selfishly singular. We get a crop of confident, brash players figuring out their own counters in a high-stakes, cinematic setting that feels closer to a 2K game, while players like Young, Booker, Morant, Doncic, and Ayton feel, for the first time, the reward of so much work, the quashing of Draft brainwashed doubt.

But what comes next, seen already through the ripples of in-game stylistic shifts and the force of a generation of stars instead of one generational star, is a new tide rising.

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James Blake Confirms That His Next Album Is Done

The most recent full-length album from James Blake is 2019’s Assume Form (although he released an EP, Before, in 2020). Now, Blake has indicated that his next release is complete.

He wrote on Instagram today, “Look mum, the albums’s done [check mark emoji].” He was also quick to nip inaccurate album cover rumors in the bud, noting of the post’s image, “This isn’t the artwork.”

That’s all the info we have on the album for now, although there are some previously released songs that could potentially appear on the release: Blake shared a couple of non album singles in 2020, “You’re Too Precious” and “Are You Even Real?,” that aren’t currently associated with a full-length project.

In recent months, there has been talk about two full-length Blake projects that have yet to be released. In November, Ty Dolla Sign said in an interview, “I was working with James Blake on some other stuff that we haven’t released yet. I shouldn’t even have said that… but yeah, it’s coming, guys.” Later that month, Blake noted that he made an ambient album that has Brian Eno’s approval, saying, “I’ve basically made an ambient album, but I just don’t really know when to put it out, so we’ll see. It’s at that point where you go, ‘Oh this is an album!’ […] I wanted to see what [Eno] thought and when his feedback was positive, that’s when I decided I would put it out one day.”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

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A New ‘Walking Dead’ Game Has Debuted on Facebook Gaming Ahead of Show’s Final Season

There’s a new way to play The Walking Dead and fair warning: if you let Daryl die, we riot. Playco’s The Walking Dead Life is Facebook Gaming’s latest social game built for its Instant Games platform. Released ahead of the show’s final season, the game lets fans get a bit nostalgic and experience the show’s most memorable moments before it all comes to a close this fall.

In The Walking Dead Life, players will encounter fan-favorite characters like Rick Grimes, Michonne Hawthorne, and, of course, Daryl Dixon. Through battling, leveling up, and progressing through the game, you can unlock Easter eggs hidden at various locations within the game, such as Hershel’s farm and the West Georgia Correctional Facility. In addition to simply allowing us to take a walk down gory ol’ memory lane, The Walking Dead Life allows players to collect items, squad up to raid bases, play in tournaments, and battle against enemies and friends alike.

According to a report by Variety, Playco CEO Michael Carter said the game is also a way to rally the community one last time and help them bond over the series before its end. Carter said the team is “thrilled to work with AMC and Facebook to bring The Walking Dead to life through a unique and interactive instant game for the millions of fans of this hit show across the globe. One of the best ways to connect with your friends is through the mutual love of entertainment like TV shows, and we hope this game brings friends closer together through play.”

As much as we can’t believe it either, the 11th and final season of The Walking Dead premieres on AMC Sunday, August 11.

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Bill Cosby Has Already Been Contacted By Comedy Club Owners For A Comeback Tour No One Asked For

Bill Cosby had his sexual assault conviction overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday after serving less than three years of a three- to ten-year sentence. He spent his first night out of prison “fielding congratulatory calls from his celebrity pals,” presumably including Phylicia Rashad, and shameless comedy club owners.

“He stayed up until 2 in the morning telling jokes,” Cosby’s spokesperson Andrew Wyatt said to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “This morning, he’s been talking to a number of promoters and comedy club owners over his breakfast this morning.” Wyatt said that “the world is welcoming [Cosby] back,” but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Janice Dickinson, one of the 60 women who have accused Cosby of rape and sexual assault, told Entertainment Tonight, “I would say, don’t be so happy with yourself, buddy, because you know what you did to me.”

Though Cosby has always maintained his innocence, Wyatt said the timing of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision Wednesday that led to the comedian’s release came as a surprise. Cosby learned of it from a prison guard in the state detention center outside Collegeville where he’d served more than two years of a three-to-10-year sentence.

Cosby could face “fresh claims for defamation” if he goes on tour, according to attorney Lisa Bloom, for “claiming vindication from his accusers.” That’s likely the only reason he hasn’t already popped up on someone’s awful podcast.

(Via the Philadelphia Inquirer)

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Janelle Monáe Unveils A Stirring New Song, ‘Stronger,’ From The Netflix Show ‘We The People’

Janelle Monáe has released a brand-new song titled “Stronger,” taken from the soundtrack to the forthcoming Netflix show We The People.

Executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, the 10-part series features a number of big musical names, such as Monáe, HER, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Adam Lambert, who teach viewers about civil rights movements. Meanwhile, Monáe’s “Stronger” rolls out with an up-stroked reggae rhythm, as the Dirty Computer singer waxes poetic about seeking solidarity in the face of adversity. “Some of the friends taught me how to dream / Some of the friends taught me how to fight,” Monáe sings. “Even those times when we don’t agree / We know we all tryna save the same day / We don’t want the life without the liberty.”

Monáe has woven civil rights issues into her music over the last few years, such as when she released “Turntables,” for the 2020 documentary about Stacey Abrams, All In: The Fight For Democracy. Of writing music to inspire change, Monáe told Rolling Stone: “What is a revolution without a song? I started thinking about all the people on the front line. What could be my gift to them? It was this song to remind them that the tables are turning. We’re seeing that progress is being made, even in the midst of dealing with such traumatic events. We have figured out a way to be the solution. I wanted this to be my gift because revolutionaries need love too. They need inspiration, and they need an anthem. This is my stab at that.”

Listen to “Stronger” above, and check out We The People when it hits Netflix on July 4. Ahead of them, watch a trailer below.