Month: August 2021

Sajad Ganjzadeh of Iran won the gold medal in the +75kg men’s karate competition at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, which would typically be a high point that features quite the celebration on the mat. However, there was no fanfare to Ganjzadeh’s win, as he earned the gold medal while unconscious on the mat after getting knocked out by Tareg Hamedi of Saudi Arabia with a kick to the head.

In karate, unlike most every other combat sport, the goal is to show control by hitting your opponent, but not with too much force. As such, after review, the referees determined Hamedi’s high kick to Ganjzadeh was worthy of a disqualification and the man who was stretchered off the mat won gold, while the man who stood triumphant over him was relegated to the silver medal. Eventually, both men would return to the medal ceremony, Ganjzadeh able to walk out there under his own power and then speak to reporters, where he expressed an understandable feeling of mixed emotions, via Reuters.

“I’m happy about the gold medal but I’m sad that I had to win it like this,” Ganjzadeh told a news conference.

It is an incredible image to have of Ganjzadeh flat on his back, unconscious as the final act of a gold medal winning performance, but it’s a gold medal all the same and that’ll help ease the physical pain of that KO.

2021 was supposed to be the year music lovers all around the world could enjoy live concerts and festivals alike after the coronavirus pandemic ripped that away from them for the better part of 15 months. While some festivals have been able to return with big showcases featuring some of music’s biggest names, others, like the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival have yet to do so. Unfortunately for those who were hoping to attend Jazz Fest, fans will have to wait one more year before they indulge in what the showcase has to offer.

In an announcement on Sunday, the Jazz Fest revealed that this October’s two-weekend showcase will be postponed until 2022 due to COVID-19 concerns. “As a result of the current exponential growth of new COVID cases in New Orleans and the region and the ongoing public health emergency, we must sadly announce that the 2021 edition of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell, scheduled to take place October 8-17, 2021, will not occur as planned,” the announcement read. “We now look forward to next spring, when we will present the Festival during its traditional timeframe. Next year’s dates are April 29 – May 8, 2022.”

The 2021 festival was set to feature performances by Dead & Company, Stevie Nicks, Foo Fighters, Jimmy Buffett & The Coral Reefer Band, Lizzo, Demi Lovato, The Black Crowes, HER, Brandi Carlile, Norah Jones, The Beach Boys, Ludacris, Jon Batiste, Wu-Tang Clan, Brittany Howard, and many more.

Ticket holders for both weekends of the festival will receive an email this week on refund and rollover procedures. Organizers added that all tickets for the October 13 showcase will automatically be refunded.

You can view the announcement in the tweet above.

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

After months of declining numbers, COVID cases are surging back up, thanks to the Delta variant, and thanks to those who’ve refused to get vaccinations. Scientists have said the virus will continue to evolve as long as not enough people are inoculated against it. But that hasn’t stopped a number of Republican governors — among them Florida’s Ron DeSantis — from underplaying their severity, even getting in the way of progress. Now a journalist has an idea for how to ensure people don’t forget what they’ve done.

As per Insider, CNN’s Jim Acosta unloaded on DeSantis and others, including Texas’ Greg Abbott and South Dakota’s Kristi Noem, who’ve come out against measures like mask mandates, even as their constituents increasingly contract a highly transmissible and deadly disease.

“People should not have to die so some politicians can own the libs,” Acosta said during a segment on Saturday. “They’re not owning anybody. They may end up owning the pandemic because they’re prolonging it. Perhaps it may be time to start naming these new variants after them. Why not call it the DeSantis variant instead of the Delta variant?”

DeSantis has been the most flamboyant of the Republican governors who haven’t let rising cases among their constituents sway them to side of public health measures. He’s barred schools from enforcing mask mandates, pledged to keep CDC guidelines away from cruise ships, even sold anti-Dr. Fauci merchandise. Meanwhile, COVID-related cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in Florida have all skyrocketed. One in five cases now originate in DeSanti’s state.

“We can sell beer koozies that say ‘Don’t Florida my Fauci’ and use the money to pay for all the funerals in the days to come,” Acosta said.

Right now, only half of the U.S. has been fully vaccinated. At the rate we’re going, we’ll probably wind up seeing the Abbott Variant sometime soon.

(Via Insider)

Meek Mill is slowly making progress toward the release of his long-awaited fifth album. In recent months, the Philly rapper has increased his public musical output and this weekend he returned with a brand new song and video.

Titled “War Stories,” Meek uses the track to detail harsh stories about his past and explain that danger still lurks around him even despite achieving both fame and success in his career. The track comes with a video that sees the rapper enjoying dinner with his team and hitting the club with the likes of Bobby Shmurda, Jim Jones, Quavo, Lil Uzi Vert, and more many.

“War Stories,” which samples The Isley Brothers’ 1983 song “Ballad for the Fallen Soldier,” comes after Meek shared a remix of Drake and Rick Ross’ “Lemon Pepper Freestyle” with a video that captured him flexing his lyrical abilities in the studio and a jewelry store. Later on, he delivered “Flamerz Flow,” which also arrived with a visual that featured cameos from Shmurda and Dave East.

Outside of the music that Meek has given to the world, the rapper recently bought a house for his grandmother which came shortly before he shared the first picture of his youngest son Czar on social media.

You can listen to “War Stories” in the video above.

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

Last summer, on August 7, 2020 to be exact, Cardi B and Megan The Stallion shook the music world with their first collaboration, “WAP.” The track quickly became a favorite of both rappers’ fans mostly because of the sex-positive message the song delivered. It also became Cardi’s fourth No. 1 single while it was the second for Megan.

For as much praise as it garnered, “WAP” also received criticism, mostly from conservative politicians who took issue with the song’s explicit nature. Nonetheless, “WAP” was absolutely one of the biggest moments of 2020 and a year later, the two rappers took a moment to celebrate their chart-topping song while hinting at more to come in the future.

“Wow I can’t believe wappity WAP turned one today,” Cardi wrote on Twitter. “It don’t even feel like it. What a record! @theestallion we should do it again sometime.” Shortly, Megan responded to Cardi’s tweet with her own celebratory message. “Happy WAPIVERSARY,” the rapper replied. “Thank you for having me. I think the people deserve another collab.”

A future collaboration between Cardi and Megan could come on the latter’s next project which the Houston rapper said is slowly coming together.

“I am keeping my next project pretty quiet but it will be a complete shock and complete surprise,” she said during an interview with People. “I am just creating things that feel good to me right now.”

You can view the rappers’ tweets above.

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

Joe Rogan has certainly made a mess of his commenting on the coronavirus pandemic in recent months. In April, he was roundly criticized for spreading vaccine misinformation on his podcast, something he’s still addressing on stage with little remorse.

Rogan is not exactly known for being a reliable source of information: in recent months alone he spread wildfire conspiracy theories, let Alex Jones spread lies on air and has seen his declaration that young healthy people don’t need the coronavirus vaccine draw new criticism as the extremely contagious Delta variant of the novel coronavirus has caused a new spike in cases, hospitalizations and in some states deaths among the almost entirely unvaccinated.

Rogan has responded to that controversy in the past by declaring himself a “f*cking moron,” which would be fine if he did not have an audience of millions of people who disagree with that sentiment and trust him for their news and information. And on Saturday he made it clear that no mea culpa would come amid a new wave of coronavirus havoc. During a stand-up show in Milwaukee, he dismissed an unspecified attempt to “cancel” him as well as concerns he’s spreading harmful misinformation on his show.

According to a review in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Rogan put on an “unapologetically tasteless” show and once again dismissed his role in spreading misinformation. Rogan reportedly seemed to celebrate being “canceled” on stage in Milwaukee, where another comedian’s prediction of a Covid-19 case spike as a result of Milwaukee Bucks-related partying seems to have come to fruition.

“I say dumb (expletive),” Rogan said Saturday, in the closest he came to a mea culpa. “If you’re getting vaccine advice from me, is that really my fault?”

The review is pretty biting, and though it doesn’t have many specific quotes from the show — phones were put in security-locked bags for those in attendance a la Dave Chappelle shows — it does certainly get the point across of what ground he covered on Saturday. It’s pretty easy to read between the lines here.

There was an occasional disclosure to make it clear he didn’t really mean what he was saying — he supported the gay community, he suggested Saturday, before dropping homophobic jokes.

And some jokes at his own expense — recounting a degrading TSA experience, or sharing the stupid thoughts that ran through his head as he talked to a smarter person like Elon Musk — sought to make him more endearing and relatable.

But too often, Rogan opted to be provocative for the sake of being provocative. He made nasty Nazi jokes, belittled WNBA players, used the appalling “R” word over and over again.

The full review is worth reading if you care about what Rogan says or won’t apologize for, which seems to be a list growing longer by the day. There’s also a brutal review of the opening act, Tony Hinchcliffe, and an anecdote about a fan urging Rogan to say a racial slur after he admitted his past use of the word. Just another day at the office for the person with the biggest podcast platform in the world, I suppose.

There are a few remaining bigger name free agents who haven’t found homes yet as money has dried up around the NBA, headlined by Dennis Schroder but also including Bulls restricted free agent Lauri Markkanen.

The sharpshooting big man has never found a consistent role in Chicago, but seemed like a potential “second draft” candidate for a team looking to take a shot on his upside as a stretch big and hoping that in a different situation he can pop. However, the gap between what other teams see as his value and what Markkanen is seeking seems to be fairly wide as he’s yet to find a team that will meet his contract demands. The Hornets had reported interest in the Finnish big man before signing Kelly Oubre instead, leaving him with one fewer option to find a team with cap space.

A new potential suitor that has emerged for Markkanen is the New Orleans Pelicans, per Marc Stein, as they could look to add Markkanen into a traded player exception they hold. Stein also reports that Markkanen does not want to be back in Chicago, but with the Pelicans hoping for draft compensation to facilitate such a move, it remains to be seen if a deal can be worked out that’s amenable for all parties.

The Pelicans wanting a first round pick along with Markkanen makes it seem highly unlikely a deal gets struck at present, but presents a starting point for negotiations at least. The lingering investigation into the Ball sign-and-trade also means the Bulls might be wary of giving up any future picks until they know what the league might take as punishment. For Markkanen, his options seem to be narrowing and finding the deal he hoped to get might be impossible, as a return to Chicago on the qualifying offer might be his best hope to recoup some value and hit unrestricted free agency in 2022.

Summer League action returns in the NBA on Sunday, with the opening slate of games in Las Vegas set to begin. Some of the most intriguing prospects in the basketball world, including Cade Cunningham, Jalen Green and Evan Mobley, are set to make their professional debuts, but one scheduled contest reportedly won’t happen.

The first game of Summer League for the Washington Wizards and Indiana Pacers is postponed due to health and safety protocols and continued contact tracing with the Wizards, as the news was officially announced by the NBA on Sunday afternoon.

The game was set to begin at 8:00 p.m. ET at Cox Pavilion. It remains to be seen as to how the rest of the schedule could be impacted for Washington, but the scheduled debut for the team’s first round pick Corey Kispert and No. 31 overall pick Isaiah Todd will have to wait. The Wizards’ second game is currently set for Tuesday at 10 pm ET against the Sacramento Kings.

On Indiana’s side, lottery selection Chris Duarte was scheduled to take the NBA floor for the first time. Elsewhere, the Pacers have former first round pick Goga Bitadze, as well as Cassius Stanley, Oshae Brissett and Amida Brimah from last year’s roster.

Position players pitching in Major League Baseball is always worth a look, and as the dog days of summer stretch out we’re getting a lot of opportunities to see baseball players try things out on the mound. The latest is Brock Holt, the Texas Rangers utility man who broke out the extremely mild cheese on Saturday in a game against the Oakland Athletics.

With the As up 12-3, Texas called on Holt to take the mound for the third time in his career and burn through an inning. Though playing at third base lately, Holt has shined as an outfielder an basically anywhere he’s asked to on the field over his career, and he’s pitched before. But Saturday reminded us that Holt has one of the biggest utility belts in the majors, including some wild pitches when he needs to throw them.

On his first pitch of the inning, Holt threw an eephus pitch way out of the zone. It took a while, but it eventually came down and landed in there for a strike.

Holt actually threw a scoreless inning, varying his pitches a bit but throwing some extremely mild heat in the process. Six pitches thrown in the inning were slower than 40 miles per hour, all of which beat the slowest pitch recorded since they started keeping track in 2008. According to Sarah Lang of MLB.com, the 31.1 mph strike is the slowest pitch called for a strike in history.

The overlay of his heat — a 77 MPH “fastball” — is pretty wild.

Holt, who pitched one of the weirdest scoreless innings in baseball history, seemed to have plenty of fun with the whole thing. He even asked the umpire if he wanted to check his glove for sticky substances.

Holt has played every position but catcher in his major league career. There’s still time.

After a year away, NBA Summer League is back in Las Vegas. The league has descended on the desert for the next 10 days where we will get to see rookies play basketball for the first time since the Draft, as well as players young and old trying to prove they belong on rosters and in rotations for next season.

The first day of Summer League always provides some marquee matchups, as the league stacks the schedule to get fans immediately invested in the action. This year is no different, as all of the top 4 picks will be in action, including two going head to head in three consecutive games in the afternoon/evening in Vegas.

First up on the main court at Thomas & Mack will be the one who was a surprising member of that group, as Scottie Barnes will make his Raptors debut against the Knicks (who have all of their recent draft picks from the past few years playing at least to start) at 4:30 p.m. ET, live on ESPN2. Barnes will get a chance to matchup with Obi Toppin, Immanuel Quickley, and the rest of the Summer Knicks as he looks to make a quality first impression. Following Barnes is Rockets-Cavs (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2), where Houston’s quartet of first round picks headlined by Jalen Green, will take on Evan Mobley and the Cavaliers in a game where tons of rookie talent will be on display. The third game will feature the headlining name of Summer League, as Cade Cunningham and the Summer Pistons play No. 6 overall pick Josh Giddey and the OKC Thunder (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2) at Thomas & Mack.

For those looking to see the top rookies, Sunday will be your best opportunity (and really your only guarantee to), as the top 4 will all be on the court. From here, we will begin the clock as these teams will look to balance getting these guys some reps while also looking to get them out of Vegas and to training camp fully healthy, which often means shutting them down after 1-3 games, depending on the player.

Those aren’t the only three games but they are the headliners for Sunday, with the full schedule (and TV info) for Day 1 in the desert below:

Sunday, August 8

Hawks vs. Celtics, Cox Pavilion (4:00 p.m. ET, NBA TV)
Raptors vs. Knicks, Thomas & Mack (4:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2)
Blazers vs. Hornets, Cox Pavilion (6:00 p.m. ET, NBA TV)
Rockets vs. Cavaliers, Thomas & Mack (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2)
Wizards vs. Pacers, Cox Pavilion (8:00 p.m. ET, NBA TV)
Thunder vs. Pistons, Thomas & Mack (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2)
Nuggets vs. Heat, Cox Pavilion (10:00 p.m. ET, NBA TV)
Lakers vs. Suns, Thomas & Mack (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2)