Month: January 2022

The Boston Celtics got a measure of revenge on Saturday night against the New York Knicks. After blowing a 25-point lead against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden earlier this week, the Celtics welcomed them to Beantown and ran them off the floor, picking up a 99-75 win at TD Garden.

Jaylen Brown led the way for Boston on the night, registering his first career triple-double with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists. It earned praise from former Celtic and current ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins, who implied the team won despite a less-than-stellar game from Jayson Tatum.

Tatum had an ok night — he scored 19 points in 29 minutes of work — but still, Perkins felt the need to mention him. After catching wind of Perkins’ tweet, Tatum responded and expressed that he wasn’t a fan of Perkins bringing him down as a way to uplift his teammate.

Perkins would go on to respond to Tatum’s tweet — which, it should be mentioned, Brown retweeted — saying that bringing Tatum down was not his intention. Instead, he just wants to see if the two guys can co-exist on the floor together.

It’s a bit of a weird stance for Perkins to take, since it’s not like Brown and Tatum just became teammates this year for the first time and they do have a history of winning basketball games alongside one another.

Week 18 of the 2021 NFL season kicked off on Saturday afternoon with an AFC West tilt. The Kansas City Chiefs, still in contention for the 1-seed in the AFC, traveled to Denver to take on the Broncos, and while they’re unable to qualify for the postseason, the team was playing for pride due to the fact that they’ve lost their last 12 games against the Chiefs.

It looked like Denver was well on its way to making that happen — the team boasted a 21-20 lead in the fourth quarter and faced a second-and-2 from its own 9-yard line. The Broncos called for a handoff to Melvin Gordon, who wanted to rumble forward and pick up the first down. Unfortunately for him, Melvin Ingram had other ideas, as the Chiefs’ linebacker did not get blocked and strolled right into the backfield and blew things up.

Gordon barely had time to get his hands on the ball, so when Ingram pummeled him, rookie linebacker Nick Bolton was able to scoop things up. Thanks to a business decision by former college teammate Drew Lock, Bolton was able to sprint 86 yards to the end zone to give Kansas City the lead.

Upon getting the football back, the Broncos, facing a 28-21 deficit in the fourth quarter, marched down the field and kicked a field goal on fourth-and-9 from Kansas City’s 13.

Earlier this week, The Tennessee Bureau Of Investigation (TBI), U.S. Marshals, and the Memphis Police Department identified a suspect in Young Dolph’s murder, which took place back in November. The agencies identified Justin Johnson as the person responsible for Dolph’s death and put out an arrest warrant. They seek to charge him with first-degree murder, criminal attempt of first-degree murder, and theft of property between $10,000 and $60,000. Officials offered $15,000 for information leading to his arrest, but that money won’t be given out as Johnson announced that he will turn himself in in a couple of days.

“Turning myself in Monday @201,” Johnson, aka Memphis rapper Straight Drop, wrote in a post to the Instagram account @straightdroppp. “I’m innocent. I’ll be back sooner than you can blink.” Johnson also shared a video of local news coverage about his arrest warrant on his Instagram page. “Next time post the REAL,” he wrote. “BS ass Blogs.”

After officials identified Justin Johnson as a suspect in Dolph’s murder, fans of the late rapper found multiple pictures of Johnson standing beside Dolph. In some cases, Johnson could be seen wearing a chain that read “PRE” — the acronym for Dolph’s Paper Route Empire label. Despite having the chain, Johnson was never listed as an artist on Paper Route Empire.

Trump hasn’t officially announced that he’s running for president for a third time, but the party he seized in 2016 still seems to be cool with a failed blogger who now lives in resorts. Meanwhile, his successor, Joe Biden, claims that competing against him again would be fun. His former lawyer, Michael Cohen, doesn’t think he’ll do it. Others, though, are not happy that a serial liar and almost-insurrectionist could be back in the White House.

As per The Hill, a handful of Democrats have been quietly exploring a way to prevent Trump from running again. Their solution? The 14th Amendment, specifically Section 3, a Civil War era addition that bars anyone from holding “any office” in the United States if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the nation.

How likely is that Democrats may use this nuclear option? “If anything, the idea has waxed and waned,” said Harvard Law School constitutional expert Laurence Tribe. “I hear it being raised with considerable frequency these days both by media commentators and by members of Congress and their staffs, some of whom have sought my advice on how to implement Section 3.”

Among the lawmakers who’ve floated using the 14th amendment are representatives Jamie Raskin, Jerry Nadler and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The move has been discussed as early as after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, which Trump is accused of starting. Back then, he said the procedure would require “more research.”

Meanwhile, Trump has been alternately fuming about Joe Biden’s speech on the anniversary of the Capitol attack and continuing to downplay it. The former president has a lifelong habit of evading any serious punishment, so perhaps those with the power to stop him from returning to D.C. might want to speed up that research.

(Via The Hill)

It’s official: Klay Thompson will play in an NBA game on Sunday. Thompson, who has not stepped on the floor for a game since Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors due to a pair of major injuries that have cost him each of the last two seasons, announced on his Instagram account that he will play in the Golden State Warriors’ game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Chase Center on Sunday evening.

Thompson told the world that he’s on his way back via his Instagram account, where he shared the famous clip of Bill Murray showing up in Space Jam and giving the Tune Squad a late boost in its game against the Monstars.

“How I’m pulling up to chase tomorrow, Bill Murray is my spirit animal,” Thompson wrote. “IM SO EXCITED TO SEE YALL DUBNATION ! LETS GET IT”

The Warriors confirmed the news by posting a video of Thompson saying he’s back.

Thompson suffered a torn ACL during that aforementioned Finals game against the Raptors, which meant he did not take the floor during the 2019-20 NBA season. While working to get back onto the floor in 2020-21, Thompson tore his achilles, and as a result, Sunday will mark 941 days since the All-Star guard has last appeared in a game. It had previously been reported that Thompson and the Warriors circled the game against Cleveland for a return.

Last spring, Lil Mosey was arrested in his home state of Washington after he failed to appear in court on second-degree rape charges. The charges came after a January 2021 incident that allegedly took place at a cabin party. A woman says she and a friend visited the rapper and later passed out due to alcohol consumption. Of course, they were in no state to give consent for any sexual encounter. The woman says she awoke with injuries on her arm, neck, and inner knee and later received a text from another party guest that said Mosey and another man, Francisco P. Prater, who was also charged with rape, talked about “training two girls.”

Mosey pled not guilty to the charge, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison as well up to $50,000 in fines. With the case still pending, a new development has occurred that will surely impact things for Mosey. On Friday, according to TMZ, Judge James W. Lawyer, who is presiding over the case, denied a request from Mosey’s defense team to use prior sexual encounters that the rapper and the victim had in the case.

The ruling comes after a Mosey was ordered to stay away from the victim ahead of their trial. He received a sexual assault pre-trial protection order, which prohibits him from being within 500 feet of the victim. Mosey must maintain absolute sobriety and cannot possess a firearm.

There are no shortage of nice stories about Keanu Reeves. He gives away large chunks of his paydays, he’s a good gift-giver, and he knows how to treat female fans and coworkers. The press tour for The Matrix Resurrections has yielded no shortage of fun, heartwarming Keanu moments. So here’s another one.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor did something nice for “all of his reps (agents, manager, publicist, etc.), members of his inner circle and other key insiders”: He paid for a whirlwind trip to San Francisco for the fourquel’s world premiere at the historic Castro Theatre. Among the things he paid for were a “private jet travel and hotel accommodations, premiere tickets, and even organized a special post-premiere brunch for invitees, among other gifts.”

“He flew a bunch of us up here,” explained Chad Stahelski, who’s directed Reeves in all four John Wick movies. “He’s incredibly generous. In the audience tonight will be so many people that helped him, from his martial art trainers to jiu-jitsu trainers to hair and makeup to his stunt crew. He makes sure that his friends and family are here. He’s epic.”

One person you won’t hear about this from is Reeves himself. When THR reached out to him for a comment about his latest gregarious act, he simply said, “Yeah, it’s great to be able to share our experiences and lives together.”

In short: Keanu. Good guy. Nice person. Hooray for Keanu.

(Via THR)

You know how, sometimes, you go to a sporting event and you get mad at the referees and then you go about your life, never acting on your anger towards a referee outside of yelling at them while they are within earshot? Well, guess what: There is a man who decided he was gonna act on that anger, and as a result, the Chairman of the Tennessee House Republican Caucus had to issue up an apology.

Jeremy Faison, who was first elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 2010, attended a basketball game between Providence Academy and Lakewood Christian Academy earlier this week in which he, uh, tried to fight a referee and then attempted to pull the dude’s pants down. Both of his efforts were unsuccessful, but he did successfully embarrass himself, so at least he had that going for him.

Faison went on to put out a brief statement on the incident that includes the phrases “I acted the fool tonight” and “totally lost my junk,” both of which do, somehow, get close to describing how weird the whole thing was.

Now, you might or might not ever attend a high school basketball game, but regardless, let this be a lesson: Do not, under any circumstances, get so mad at a referee that you try to fight them and then, when that doesn’t work out, attempt to pull their pants down. In fact, this applies to sporting events at any level. It’s not worth it! You’d look very silly! Alright, have a nice weekend, everyone.

Earlier this week, Sinead O’Connor revealed that her 17-year-old son Shane O’Connor was missing, sharing a message on social media in hopes of locating him. “Shane, your life is precious,” she wrote. “God didn’t chisel that beautiful smile on your beautiful face for nothing. My world would collapse without you. You are my heart. Please don’t stop it from beating. Please don’t harm yourself.” Unfortunately, news arrived on Friday that Shane O’Connor was found dead.

“My beautiful son, Nevi’im Nesta Ali Shane O’Connor, the very light of my life, decided to end his earthly struggle today and is now with God,” Sinead wrote on Twitter. “May he rest in peace and may no one follow his example. My baby. I love you so much. Please be at peace.”

According to The Guardian, police confirmed the news of Shane’s death after he went missing on Thursday from Newbridge, County Kildare in Ireland. A spokesperson said a body was discovered in the Bray area of Wicklow on Friday.

Prior to the news, Sinead revealed that Shane was on suicide watch at Tallaght Hosptial’s Lynn Ward. She also questioned how her son was able to sneak away from the site. “I want to know why Lynn Ward at Taillight hospital who were supposed to have HCA’s supervise my child 24/7 have managed to let him out of their grasp this morning when 7 days ago he made two severe suicide attempts,” she tweeted. She later added, “I have now formally identified the remains of my son, Shane. May God forgive the Irish State for I never will.”

You can read Sinead’s tweets above.

In my humble opinion, the Mardis Gras king cake is by far the coolest holiday dessert. It’s got a little bit of everything: a fun design, bold colors, a rich history (more on that later).

Made with yeasty cinnamon flavored dough—and heaps of symbolism—this regal pastry-cake hybrid is usually oval shaped to resemble a crown, along with tri-colored icing in gold, purple, and green to represent power, justice, and faith.

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And let’s not forget the piece de resistance: that miniature plastic baby, destined to be found by one lucky individual. Lucky in the sense that finding it means they now have the honor of providing the cake for next year.

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However, there wasn’t always a baby hiding in the dough. Like most traditions, this one has evolved and adapted over time. And of course, it began with pagans.

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Many historians believe that the King’s Cake has much older origins, beginning with the Roman winter festival Saturnalia.

During this winter solstice celebration, Saturn–the Roman god of agriculture–would be honored by using the gains of the season’s harvest to make ceremonial cakes. And instead of a miniature baby, one singular fava bean would be placed inside. And whosoever should find the bean would be named “king of the day”.

Which is a bit odd, considering in ancient tradition they were regarded as omens of death. But other sources note that favas were considered magic and even used for voting. Certainly makes that infamous Hannibal line take on a whole new context…

In addition to baking, the festival would involve a raucous good time of booze, dancing, gambling, and other, ahem, adult group activities.

Fast forward to the rise of Christianity, the ritual adopted a more religious context in France.

In Roman Catholic tradition, The Epiphany denotes the day when the three kings first saw the baby Jesus. The King’s Cake came to represent this day, even taking on the name of Epiphany Cake.

So it stands to reason that if this sweet treat became associated with the celebration of baby Jesus, then of course the plastic baby was originally intended for such representation, right?

Wrong.

The baby wouldn’t make its appearance until the mid-1900s, and it was thanks to a clever salesman in New Orleans.

By then, the king cake had already been a prominent Mardi Gras item.

Owner of one of the 20th century’s most famous bakeries, Donald Entringer of McKenzie’s was approached by a salesman carrying a surplus of tiny porcelain dolls from France, according to food expert Poppy Tooker in an interview with NPR.

“He had a big overrun on them, and so he said to Entringer, ‘How about using these in a king cake,’” Tooker told NPR.

Though a simple case of supply-and-demand isn’t terribly exciting, the way this simple concept has advanced to become the dish’s golden standard is pretty remarkable.

Plus, the fact that this Louisiana tradition is steeped in history of bawdy hedonism and sacred spiritualism, all with a healthy dose of capitalizing on the combo…I mean if that’s not New Orleans in a nutshell, I don’t know what is.

It’s not just beans and babies either

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Pecans, jeweled rings, gold coins, and small charms have also been used. Some bakeries have even made their own customized trinkets. Others have started avoiding placing them inside altogether, attempting to thwart potential lawsuits. Baking with plastic is a tad more frowned upon these days.

Though most of us are familiar with the NOLA style of the King’s Cake, other countries have their own versions.

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There’s the French galette des rois, which is less colorful but oh-so-flaky, topped with a golden paper crown.

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Also there’s Spanish rosca de reyes, flavored with lots of orange and topped with dried fruit.

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There’s even a Greek version, vasilopita, that’s very similar to coffee cake. Not that you couldn’t have any of these cakes for breakfast, but there’s an excuse baked right into this one.

No matter what style you try, or whether or not you find that plastic baby, the King’s cake–along with its festive history and captivating lore–are definitely worth celebrating.