Month: February 2022

The 2022 NBA All-Star reserves were announced on Thursday night, and, as always, a few deserving players were left off due to the 12-player limit from both conferences. (Perhaps this could be avoided if they expanded the rosters to 15 players, as NBA rosters are now, from each conference, but that’s a question for another day.)

Here, we’ll take a look at some players who certainly merited consideration from the coaches for a spot on this year’s squad, and should be at the top of Adam Silver’s list for injury replacements as Draymond Green confirmed he won’t play in the February 20th exhibition and Kevin Durant may very well miss the game as well.

(Some players who deserve a shoutout for their play this season and have a case, but aren’t included below are: Clippers forward Paul George, Lakers forward Anthony Davis, one of Suns forward Mikal Bridges and Suns center DeAndre Ayton, Bucks guard Jrue Holiday, Raptors forward Pascal Siakam and Heat guard Kyle Lowry, among others.)

Dejounte Murray, San Antonio Spurs

Record wise, the Spurs are not what they have so often been for the last two decades, and that perhaps hurt Murray’s candidacy. But Murray has unquestionably blossomed into a star this year, developing into a two-way force and the best player on this iteration of the Spurs. He’s near the top of the league in both steals and deflections while maintaining his offensive efficiency despite taking on a much larger role. At 25, Murray looks to be realizing his full potential and looks like one of the best two-way guards in the league. That sounds like an All-Star — and at least Draymond Green agrees, as he stumped for Murray to take his place on the TNT broadcast.

Jaren Jackson Jr., Memphis Grizzlies

Ja Morant, an All-Star starter, was a lock to represent Memphis in Cleveland, earning a starter’s spot. But if the ascendent Grizzlies were to nab a second All-Star, Jackson would the choice. As a floor spacer around Morant and a growing flexible defensive presence, he’s starting to realize the unicorn potential he’d flashed in his his previous three NBA seasons. Most notably, he’s averaging a career-high in points (16.6 per game) and blocks (2.3 per game) so far this year, and is a legitimate DPOY candidate.

Jarrett Allen, Cleveland Cavaliers

Allen has been one of the most efficient players in the league this year (he’s shooting 67.8% from the field so far this season) and is the backbone of Cleveland’s top-three rated defense. For the year, the 23-year-old Allen is averaging a double-double for the first time in his career.

If Garland — a deserving All-Star in his own right because of the offensive load he’s carried for the Cavs — is the headliner for Cleveland in addition to Evan Mobley, then Allen is the connector. Not everything is built around him, but he makes everything work.

Miles Bridges and LaMelo Ball, Charlotte Hornets

The Hornets are on the up-and-up right now, making a real push towards the top-six of the Eastern Conference as the season gets closer to the All-Star break.

Both Bridges and Ball would have worthwhile All-Star picks. Bridges is averaging 19.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per night and has been a key versatile piece as the Hornets have started to figure it out. Ball, meanwhile, is the engine that makes everything go for Charlotte on offense, averaging 19.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 7.7 assists per game. The Hornets’ top-five offense thrives in large part because of Ball’s ability to pass and create for others in addition to scoring on his own. From a sheer “fun” perspective, these two seem tailor made for an All-Star Game with Bridges high-flying abilities and Ball regularly throwing outrageous passes in actual NBA games.

This week hasn’t been a great one for Whoopi Goldberg, and it’s only Thursday. The View co-host kicked off the week by stirring up controversy when, during a conversation on Monday’s show, she argued that the Holocaust “isn’t about race” then went on to say that it was about “two White groups of people.” By Tuesday morning, the comedian had issued several public apologies and expressed regret about her comments. Just hours later, ABC announced that while Goldberg had apologized, they were suspending her from The View for two weeks so that she could “reflect” on her comments. (Meghan McCain had thoughts on all of this, because of course she did.) Goldberg’s co-hosts are reportedly upset about her suspension, and now fellow comedian Sarah Silverman is coming to her defense, too. Sort of.

As Mediaite reports, Silverman discussed the Whoopi situation on today’s episode of The Sarah Silverman Podcast. While Silverman said she doesn’t agree with Goldberg’s comments, she didn’t think she was being anti-Semitic. As Silverman explained:

“Even though I believe she is incorrect, she’s not anti-Semitic. It’s semantics. Like what is race? I was actually looking up the word race. It’s very ambiguous; there’s no kind of one… definition and definition has changed over centuries and stuff. It’s… words, however you want to categorize whatever. And we know that Jews are hard to categorize because we’re shapeshifting vermin that control everything.”

To further her point, Silverman explained that “as a white Jew, Jews come in all colors,” and noted that “if Jews were considered white then white nationalists like the one in Orlando this past week wouldn’t be trying to get rid of us for tainting their pure whiteness.”

Silverman—who said that while she benefits from “white privilege,” she could also “be an atheist and still be killed by anti-Semites. Meaning, it’s that I was born Jewish that makes me the enemy, not because of my beliefs. And I think that’s where there’s a gray area with like Jews as race.”

Ultimately, Silverman concluded, “it’s semantics… and I have no desire to get into that.” You can listen to the full podcast here.

(Via Mediaite)

The NBA announced its reserves for the 2022 All-Star Game on Thursday evening and, while there is always talk of “snubs” and what went wrong with the selections, it is also a time for celebration. For Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet, that was very much the case, as the 27-year-old earned his first selection, earning the nod after a stellar first half of the 2021-22 season. The Raptors were set to take the floor for a home game just as the All-Star picks came down, meaning he had to focus on the task at hand, but that didn’t stop Drake from congratulating VanVleet before tipoff.

Even with fans limited, or even non-existent, at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Drake has been present in support of the Raptors, and that continues here. The timing also worked quite well, as the game tipped off just moments after the official announcement, and VanVleet (due to alphabetical order) was the last player named by TNT.

In addition to the franchise’s most prominent fan showing love, the Raptors have unleashed a full-fledged campaign for VanVleet, all the way down to a “Freddie All-Star” moniker on the team’s local broadcast. VanVleet has clearly earned the All-Star nod with his play, though, averaging 21.5 points and 7.0 assists per game with impressive defense and three-point shooting (39.1 percent). It is always fun to see a first-time selection rewarded, and VanVleet received quite the congratulatory welcome here.

(Spoilers for The Karate Kid spinoff Cobra Kai will be found below.)

Cobra Kai has so much fun amping up the bad guys amid the warring dojos, all while the show appeals to both younger and older generations alike. Granted, there were a few slight moments of weakness in Season 4, like when worst character Anthony LaRusso received way too much airtime and when the missing Aisha returned, but only for a few minutes. However, the show has sealed the deal by providing us with delicious villainy from sensei John Kreese, who came back a few seasons ago and reclaimed Cobra Kai from Johnny Lawrence, only to (ultimately) shoot himself in the foot by bringing The Karate Kid III‘s Terry Silver back into the mix.

In the short term, was this a good idea? Oh sure, Terry ended up rigging a tournament win for Tory (unbeknownst to Tory until afterward), which tipped the balance in favor of Cobra Kai, despite Hawk‘s triumph. Then Terry began to really play his hand, seizing the microphone and announcing a Cobra Kai expansion to set up dojos all around the Valley and surrounding areas. And then he engineered Kreese’s exit, or so it seems.

During one of the final moments of the fourth season, Silver revealed his dastardly betrayal of Kreese while declaring, “I’m shedding my weakness.” From there, we learned that Silver forced Stingray (playing sobbingly by Paul freaking Hausser) to blame Kreese for beating the holy hell out of him, when it was Silver all along. The cops showed up at Silver and Kreese’s post-tournament, fireside-and-champagne meetup and arrested Kreese for aggravated assault and attempted murder. It didn’t look good for Kreese.

Nor did it look good for Johnny, since Silver added, “And don’t worry about Lawrence. I’ll take good care of him too.”

And where does Kreese’s story go from there? He’s pretty f*cked, at least at first. Because if Silver moves against Johnny, then Daniel LaRusso and Eagle Fang/Miyagi Do groups will surely rally in his defense. Whereas Kreese’s entire existence revolves around Cobra Kai, which has now been seized from him. Silver also alludes to calling in some helpers, and it’s at least one of these people will surely be Karate Kid III antagonist Mike Barnes. Both of them were banned from the All Valley Tournament at that time, due to their antics, which included plotting a brutal takedown of Daniel.

Silver had promised Barnes a huge stake in Cobra Kai, too, so it appears that Silver’s been planning (during Season 4) to deliver the goods to Barnes. We could also see Barnes’ old pals, Snake and Dennis, along for the journey, but will there be Justice for Kreese? I see two options here where this could happen:

(1) Somebody convinces Stingray to do the right thing and tell cops that Silver’s the one who beat and left him for dead. This option feels like a long shot, but it’s possible;

(2) Tory continues to grow a conscience and, since Kreese helped her so much (and this is one of the only genuinely good things that we’ve seen him do), rallies for her true sensei and helps to prove him innocent. This option feels much more likely and could fuel Tory’s ongoing redemption. Then maybe she can build a dojo with Samantha or something. (That last part’s a joke, but I wouldn’t be mad at it.)

Too far-fetched? Well, few people believed that The Karate Kid franchise would be going strong in 2022 and beyond, so never say never.

Netflix’s ‘Cobra Kai’ is currently streaming the first four seasons on Netflix.

Draymond Green made his second appearance as an official contributor to Inside the NBA on Thursday night after inking a deal with Turner Sports last week to become the first active NBA player with a full-time TV deal, and joined the fellas from the Warriors practice court for the reveal of the 2022 NBA All-Star reserves.

At the top of the show, Charles Barkley insisted that he was going to be a reserve, because even they weren’t “cruel” enough to make him come on TV for the reveal if he wasn’t an All-Star, despite his co-hosts all saying no one knew for sure. The Chuckster was right after all, as Green’s name came up as one of the seven West reserves, which allowed them to get his live reaction. Green was thrilled to be named to the team but also made sure to quickly announce that he would not be able to play as he continues to deal with a back injury, meaning Adam Silver had at least one roster spot to fill with a replacement from the West.

After the West reserves were announced, they asked Draymond how his reaction would’ve been had he not made it and who had the worst reaction he’d seen to not getting picked, and Green couldn’t help but put Rudy Gobert on blast for crying during a 2019 interview on TNT when he was snubbed from the All-Star Game that year.

The best part is Green acknowledging that he’s going to get yelled at (again) for poking fun at Gobert for crying, and saying you’ve got to at least wait and “cry in the car” rather than on national TV. It is an incredible dynamic to have Green, an active player, on the show and so willing to engage in the same type of shenanigans as the rest of the Inside fellas, poking fun at players he’ll see on the court fairly soon. If Green wasn’t already considered a villain in Utah, he is definitely not helping his cause in Salt Lake with his comments on Thursday night.

In just a few hours, Yo Gotti’s eleventh album CM10: Free Game will be available for fans to press play on. The rapper revealed that the project will be a double-disc effort with the first side titled “Free” and the second “Game.” He’s yet to reveal the tracklist for CM10: Free Game, but we know 42 Dugg and EST Gee will appear on the list of guest features thanks to Gotti’s latest single. The trio unites for “Cold Gangsta” and with it comes a new music video.

In the visual, Yo Gotti, 42 Dugg, and EST Gee have just moved into a new neighborhood and they’ve made sure to make their presence felt with their neighbors. Yo Gotti lets his music blare and flaunts his collection of luxury cars while 42 Dugg throws some money for a cast of women at a party. Lastly, EST Gee surrounds himself with a crew of masked men to lay menacing raps outside of a mansion. The song also features each artist rapping over a different beat.

“I’m gone Finish This SH!T just how I started!!!” Gotti wrote in an announcement for CM10: Free Game last month. “Wit No Regrets, Standing on Business & Principles. Motivating All Hustlers, knowing we took da Highest Risk for a Better Outcome. To the Streets, Plugs, Fans & Consumers. I’m FOREVER GRATEFUL.”

You can press play on the video for “Cold Gangsta” above.

CM10: Free Game is out 2/4 via CMG/Inevitable II Records.

42 Dugg is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The 2022 NBA All-Star roster is now fully set (pending injury replacements) after the reserves were announced on Thursday night’s Inside the NBA pregame show.

A week ago we learned the starters selected from each conference, headlined by captains LeBron James and Kevin Durant who will draft teams next Thursday, February 10. The biggest surprise among the All-Star starters was Andrew Wiggins making it in the third frontcourt spot in the West, but there figured to be far more dissension regarding the reserves and who would and would not make it into the final seven spots for each conference in the coaches vote.

There were a number of worthy candidates from each position group, including a very crowded race at the East guard spot where there were guaranteed to be some snubs that would upset various fanbases. There figure to be a couple of additions to the roster before the February 20 event, as East captain Kevin Durant is currently out with a sprained MCL and Draymond Green announced on the TNT broadcast that he wouldn’t be playing in the game after he was announced as a reserve.

For now, though, here are the 14 players who will join the starters in Cleveland.

WEST RESERVES

Devin Booker
Luka Doncic
Rudy Gobert
Draymond Green
Donovan Mitchell
Chris Paul
Karl-Anthony Towns

EAST RESERVES

Jimmy Butler
Darius Garland
James Harden
Zach LaVine
Khris Middleton
Jayson Tatum
Fred VanVleet

Those 14 players will be drafted next week after the starters (listed below) are selected by James and Durant, likewise on Inside the NBA.

Kevin Durant (captain)
LeBron James (captain)
Nikola Jokic
Andrew Wiggins
Stephen Curry
Ja Morant
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Joel Embiid
DeMar DeRozan
Trae Young

Few people have as profound an effect on a child’s life as a teacher does. Most of us have educators who stand out in our memories for the way they taught us, encouraged us, challenged us or nurtured us. The powerful impact of a good teacher is priceless, which is why a surprise reunion between “Abbott Elementary” creator Quinta Brunson and her sixth-grade teacher, Ms. Abbott, is giving people all the warm-hearted feelings.

“Abbott Elementary” is an ABC mockumentary sitcom that debuted in December and has been getting rave reviews. It follows the daily life of teachers, administrators and students in a Philadelphia public school. People are loving it—especially teachers.

Jimmy Kimmel brought the show’s creator Quinta Brunson onto his late-night show for an interview, and as they got chatting he pointed out that “Abbott Elementary” was named after a former teacher of Brunson’s—Ms. Abbott from sixth grade. And when she showed up on a huge screen behind them, Brunson almost immediately started crying.

The joyful exchange they had was sweet, but it also illustrated how incredible teachers can be. Educators who have been in the classroom for a whole career have taught hundreds, if not thousands, of kids, and yet they can so often remember details about individual students who came through their classroom.

Watch:

Jimmy surprises @QuintaBrunson with the 6th grade teacher she named #AbbottElementary after! pic.twitter.com/Z7vZXanZqL

— Jimmy Kimmel Live (@Jimmy Kimmel Live)
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The first thing Ms. Abbott said was, “I’m so proud of you!” Of course. Not only did Ms. Abbott remember Quinta Brunson, but she gave details about what kind of student she was.

“When she came into my class, she was really shy, timid,” Abbott said. But she challenged her students and built up their confidence, and Brunson blossomed and “came out of her shell” during that school year.

Ms. Abbott told Kimmel that she was preparing to retire after teaching for nearly 30 years, and Kimmel surprised her with a special gift—an all-expenses paid, first-class, 5-day trip for two.

“You don’t have to take Quinta with you, but she kind of did name the show after you,” Kimmel joked.

As a teacher, seeing your students grow up to succeed in whatever they put their mind and heart into is rewarding enough. But every teacher who dedicates themselves to their students deserves this kind of extra gift as a thank-you for the work and the care they put into helping students grow and learn. And having an entire TV show named after you? That’s just icing on the cake.

Congratulations to Quinta Brunson on the success of “Abbott Elementary” and to Ms. Abbott for the deserved recognition she’s received from it. Teachers are heroes who should be highlighted like this more often, so seeing this joyful reunion and celebration is lovely to see.

The thought of having children can be overwhelming for a lot of people. People who have kids often warn those without them that their kid is going to take over their entire life. They complain that children are extremely expensive and that you’ll never get a good night’s sleep until the child has turned 4.

Now, I have a 5-year-old and the only thing that’s really true is that children cost a lot of money. A big chunk of the cash you spend on a kid is for food. Mine never stops eating. He eats as much as I do and I’m a 45-year-old man.

I hear him say, “Dad, I’m hungry. Can I have some food?” at least six times a day.

I also don’t think that children take over your entire life unless you let them. It’s a sliding scale. When they’re a newborn, they own 90% of your life and you only have the remaining 10%. But, by the time they’re 5, you get about half your life back. While that still seems pretty sad, it’s not a huge problem. Having kids teaches you to be a lot better at time management and to take advantage of free time when it’s available.

When it comes to sleep, smart parents sleep train their kids at a young age so that everyone in the family can get a good night’s rest. It’s not easy, but it pays huge dividends.

Rose Stokes, an award-winning freelance columnist in London, recently learned that she is pregnant and was very anxious about having a kid because of all the things she’s heard from people with kids. So she took to Twitter to ask parents to tell her what they “love about having children” to give her a more positive perspective.

Without wanting to undermine the struggles of parenthood, which I know are huge, I’m getting a bit anxious with lots of people telling me how hard and difficult being a mother will be. As an antidote: parents of Twitter, what big or small things do you love about having children?

— Rose Stokes (@Rose Stokes)
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Stokes received a ton of incredibly positive responses from people who truly love having children. They eased her mind by telling her that she would experience the greatest love of her life after having children. They told her that being a parent is one of the funniest experiences she’ll ever have.

The parents of Twitter also made an important point: Children make you a better person. I always think about parenting as a stress test on your personality. If you want to know what’s wrong with you, have a kid. You’ll quickly figure out all of your weaknesses. The good thing is that once we know our weaknesses we can fix them.

Here are some of the best responses to Stoke’s question: “Parents of Twitter, what big or small things do you love about having children?”

It’s hard to describe what it’s like to have a child.

I think the reason it seems like parenthood is all bad is it’s easy to describe the bad parts and impossible to describe the good parts because they are so good they are other-worldly.

— Lucy Huber (@clhubes) January 7, 2022

Mother love. The moment you hold your baby and this new emotion sweeps over you, you are changed forever. You won’t believe it until it happens. Your kids make you feel pure joy, happiness, rage and sadness. And they will make you laugh.

— Justabaker #hearmeroar (@Justabaker17) January 7, 2022

There are a lot of joyous moments.

So many things. Waking up with their arms wrapped around me, constant cuddles. Saying “I love you” every time we leave a room. Hearing their worries and mad, made-up stories about imaginary fox families; silly kitchen discos every weekend, eating dinner together with “fake wine”

— Victoria Richards (@nakedvix) January 7, 2022

To me… being a mother is a lot more like being crazy, head-over-heels in love than anything else. It’s visceral, too – I crave their skin, physical touch; can’t get enough of their hair and breath and laughter. When you love someone so much you could peel them and eat them? That

— Victoria Richards (@nakedvix) January 7, 2022

Children change your perspective.

My daughter is two, and her favourite film is my favourite film – Singin’ In The Rain. Watching her watch it has given me a whole new appreciation for it, and she’s shown me new jokes I hadn’t noticed which are obvious to her

— Greg Jenner (@greg_jenner) January 7, 2022

It’s hard but worthwhile.

It maybe the hardest job in the world but it’s also the best and most meaningful. What I can promise you is that it gets better and better. Mine are now 9,10 and 14 and I wish I could stop the clock right here. Not pure joy. But many moments of it.

— Isabel Oakeshott (@IsabelOakeshott) January 7, 2022

My ride to here hasn’t been at all easy. But we’ve found our groove now & have done for quite a while. Chaz will be six in April & has become very funny. He’s also very sensitive & I love that he’s a sponge for knowledge which in my case is biased towards flowers!You’ll rock it x pic.twitter.com/Snt3Wj2liy

— Sophie Rumble #JohnsonOut (@sophiearumble) January 7, 2022

It’s not as hard as people say.

I found that none of this was the case. The 19 months Iu2019ve had with my son have not been easy of course but they have contained so much joy and adventure and laughter. Seeing the world anew with him, having cuddles and watching him learn are such beautiful things.

— Isabel Hardman (@Isabel Hardman)
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They make you a better person.

People don’t tell you that you will find your kids hilarious. That they will add structure and balance to your life. They will improve your time management and make you a more empathetic and forgiving human.

— Laura Durcan (@Rheum2improve) January 7, 2022

Watching them see the world in an entirely new way. It makes you see it in new ways, too. Everything is new again, every day.

— Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) (@HC_Richardson) January 8, 2022

They’re fun and funny.

Children are funny, even babies, and if you don’t take everything so seriously, you can have so much fun watching them grow.

— Polly Karr (@karr_pe) January 7, 2022

For every stomach churning, eye-bag making, heart-aching hardship of the first few years, there’s moments of pure wide-eyed magic from the most basic and hackneyed places, and you get to feel it too. They’re also comedy gold without any intention or effort. pic.twitter.com/JmaQOleVm9

— Chris Duffy (@vonduffer) January 7, 2022

They are so funny – Finn makes me laugh every single day. Also watching how they grow and develop is fascinating. The way they think and the connections they make – plus how they absorb everything around them. Yes parenthood is tough, but it is brilliant. Xx

— Ruth Davidson (@RuthDavidsonPC) January 7, 2022

The great thing about asking a wide swath of humanity about a common experience is that you get so many great perspectives on the matter. Some parents shared the emotional experiences that come with having children. While others focused on how kids can fundamentally change your life. After reading through most of the responses, I think that Stokes probably got a clear idea about what having a child is like.

Well done, Twitter.

Wikimedia CommonsComedian Chris Rock once famously joked that Black History Month is in February because it’s the “shortest month of the year, and the coldest—just in case we want to have a parade.” Given the lessons that come with studying Black history, it’s not too far-fetched to believe Rock’s explanation.

However, there are in fact two very important reasons why the month was chosen and they have nothing to do with the weather or parades, and everything to do with the abolition of slavery.

Long before Black History Month was established, Black people would often celebrate the emancipation of the slaves in February because it was the month that abolitionist Frederick Douglass and President Abraham Lincoln were born.

Lincoln was born on the 12th and Douglass’ actual birthday was never recorded, but he celebrated it on the 14th.

Douglass was an escaped slave who became a prominent activist, author, public speaker and leader in the abolitionist movement. President Lincoln paved the way for the 13th Amendment, which outlawed slavery.

The push for what would become Black History Month started in 1915 when Harvard-educated historian Carter G. Woodson attended a 50th-anniversary celebration of the 13th Amendment. The three-week-long event featured various exhibits about the history of Black culture in America. The event inspired Woodson to form the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH) and write a book “The Journal of Negro History.”

In 1924, Woodson’s fraternity created Negro Achievement Week. Over the next few decades communities across the country began to celebrate what evolved into Negro History Week and the ASALH expanded the idea to become Black History Month.

In 1976, President Ford made it official declaring February Black History Month, and asked Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

The 2022 Black History Month theme is Black Health and Wellness. This focus celebrates the contributions and breakthroughs of Black professionals as well as to “nontraditional” health and wellness practitioners.

This year for #BlackHistoryMonth, join us as we embrace the official theme announced by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (@ASALH), Black Health & Wellness, starting with a look at midwives: http://nmaahc.si.edu/blackhistorymonthu00a0u2026 #SmithsonianBHMpic.twitter.com/iaLZS6pwTM

— Smithsonian NMAAHC (@Smithsonian NMAAHC)
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President Barack Obama made a speech in 2016 about why we celebrate Black History Month and he did a great job at encapsulating why and how it should be celebrated. Obama’s speech at the White House—a building built by slaves—is a testament to one of the central messages behind the month. We celebrate Black History Month to learn from our past to build a better future.

“Black History Month shouldn’t be treated as though it is somehow separate from our collective American history, or somehow just boiled down to a compilation of greatest hits from the March on Washington, or from some of our sports heroes,” President Obama said.

“It’s about the lived, shared experience of all African Americans, high and low, famous and obscure, and how those experiences have shaped and challenged and ultimately strengthened America. It’s about taking an unvarnished look at the past so we can create a better future. It’s a reminder of where we as a country have been so that we know where we need to go.”