St. Louis rapper-singer Ryan Trey is having quite the breakout. A trapsoul crooner in the mold of 6lack and Bryson Tiller, Ryan Trey has made a name for himself by blending booming, washed-out beats with a vocal delivery that swings easily from melodic rapping to all-out belting. Last year, he dropped his debut album, A 64 East Saga, accumulating more attention and plenty of streams. Today, he teams up with another rising Midwesterner to kick off his next phase, tapping Detroit’s Babyface Ray for “Only Us,” a single of sultry come-ons for a potential paramour.
In an interview with Billboard earlier this year, he remarked on the similarity that some fans have noticed between him and Bryson Tiller, with whom he collaborated on “Nowhere to Run.” “I didn’t intentionally mean for that to sound that similar, but if that’s the record where I pay homage to Bryson, then that’s great, honestly,” he said. “Bryson is someone who really opened a lot of doors for me. I don’t ever mind the constant comparisons, because it’s just human nature to compare artists to the closest similar thing to them at first. For example, I love Don Toliver, but it took me this most recent project he just dropped for me to completely separate him from Travis Scott. It’s just human nature. So I’m never bothered by the comparisons because even I do it as a fan.”
You can check out Ryan Trey’s new single, “Only Us” featuring Babyface Ray, above.
When the House Select Committee set out to make its January 6 hearing public, it banked on using primetime television hours to draw in the most viewers. It’s now clear that gamble paid off. According to Nielsen numbers, the Jan. 6 hearing brought in sizable ratings for the networks that actually decided to air it. (Read: Not Fox News.)
While we’re not talking Super Bowl numbers, millions of Americans tuned into the hearing, which pulled in viewers on par with major NFL games. Via The New York Times:
Though the Thursday night figure pales next to presidential debates (63 million to 73 million) or this year’s State of the Union address (38 million), it’s still much larger than the audience that would normally watch a daytime congressional hearing. And it’s in the ballpark of television events like a big “Sunday Night Football” game or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
ABC attracted the biggest audience among the broadcast networks, with 4.8 million viewers. NBC and CBS each had an audience of more than three million. MSNBC had an average audience of 4.2 million, and CNN drew 2.6 million.
As IndieWire notes, MSNBC crushed Fox News (which just barely beat CNN for the night) thanks to the conservative network’s eyebrow-raising choice to not air the Jan. 6 hearings at all. In fact, the network skipped commercial breaks altogether so viewers wouldn’t be tempted to flip over to the proceedings that shared damning evidence about Donald Trump, Republican politicians, and Fox News itself thanks to Sean Hannity‘s close relationship with the former president.
In short, on top of being implicated in an outright insurrection, Fox News had to take a beating from MSNBC, which probably stings the most over there. Let’s be honest.
It’s likely most of us will never commit the kind of crimes worthy of our own TV show, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy watching fictional characters behaving badly in prestige streaming dramas. That’s why TV is considered the best form of escapism after all.
Whether’s it’s historically-based accounts of street gangs smuggling goods during the Prohibition era, black comedies set in frosty Minnesota suburbs, Italian mobsters going scorched earth in New Jersey, or science teachers cooking meth in their campers, a life of crime is exciting, dangerous, and a story worth telling — on TV at least.
We’ve rounded up some of the best crime dramas streaming right now. Enjoy, but please, don’t go getting any ideas.
Jason Bateman and Laura Linney chew up every scene in this dark and moody crime drama about a well-off Chicago family forced to emigrate to the Ozarks and funnel cash through riverboat casinos on behalf of Mexican Cartels. They got to this point thanks to a betrayal and an affair but their plan to escape this dismally-lit purgatory runs into a few snags thanks to local crime families and heroin operations drawing some unwanted attention. Bateman plays Marty Byrde, a finance wizard who must cook the books for the cartel after his business partner screws him while Linney plays Wendy, his wife who harbors some dangerous ambitions of her own. Every episode has you questioning whether one or more of the Byrde family – which includes two teenage kids – will kick the bucket thanks to a scheme gone wrong (and whether they might actually deserve to die for the things they’ve done).
Noah Hawley managed to do the impossible with this adaptation, translating the quirky, violent, darkly-funny leanings of the Coen Brothers into a TV series that expands the frigid, folksy world of small-town crime into something even more sinister and bleak. Each season welcomes a new criminal mastermind – we’re talking Ewan McGregor stamp heists and Jean Smart heading up a crime syndicate – but there’s some overlap in characters and location that ties this whole universe together nicely.
The lore around Columbian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar can’t possibly live up to how wild and dangerous his real life was – something this series does its best to distill over three seasons. Wagner Moura plays the charismatic, quick-tempered criminal visionary, a man who grew up in the slums, rose to a position of wealth and influence and squandered it with his paranoid delusions of grandeur. Of course, the show also gives us a glimpse of the guys trying to catch Escobar – Pedro Pascal and Boyd Holbrook play DEA agents who learn playing by the rules won’t net them the bad guy here – but the fun of this show is in watching wilily drug lord outsmart law enforcement time and time again.
The Wire showcased the angst, fear, and torture of its characters — the politicians and cops but also the drug dealers and gang leaders — as well as their ambition, survivalism, and love. A cacophony of emotions, all on display against the backdrop of a city beat down by desperation, apathy, and good people without the support or endurance to win out. There are clear reasons why many see this show as the greatest of all time. You’ll pick up on them early and they won’t fade from memory.
There’s a reason this show is known as The Godfather of prestige TV. Not only does it take an unflinching look at the New Jersey mob, led by a hot-tempered, surprisingly introspective leader — it also ushered in an era of storytelling on the small screen that put character development and suspenseful plot twists front and center. James Gandolfini gives the performance that would define his career, playing Tony Soprano, a mob boss running a crime syndicate while also struggling to be a family man and wrestle his own inner demon via therapy. Funny, sharp-witted, violent, and often heartbreaking — The Sopranos covers the full range of human emotions and still finds a way to make us empathize with, if not outright root for, the bad guy.
By order of the Peaky f*cking Blinders, you need to watch this period crime drama on Netflix. Following a crime family trying to build their business – which quickly morphs from running betting rings and fixing horse races to smuggling liquor and assassinating IRA supporters on behalf of The Crown – the series is an acting showcase for Cillian Murphy, who plays the tough-yet-tormented World War I vet and Peaky Blinders leader Tommy Shelby. He’s joined by his brothers and his shrewd gypsy Aunt Polly (a terrific Helen McCrory) as the gang fights to expand its turf past Birmingham, into the halls of Parliament.
Another period piece, this prestige crime drama on HBO gives fans a gritty, violent look at the Prohibition Era from the viewpoint of mob bosses like Al Capone who ran the streets at that time. While those bigger names are later additions, the bulk of the series focuses on Steve Buscemi’s Atlantic City overlord Nucky Thompson, a political power player and corrupt businessman who profited during the 1920s and early 1930s. Nucky has a host of enemies – from government types to crime syndicates hoping to usurp his rule – and a bit of a tortured past that makes him an especially formidable and calculating gangster. There’s enough time-accurate detail to keep historical buffs happy and plenty of star-studded cameos to make each season an exciting watch.
A high school science teacher is likely the last person you’d expect to become a ruthless, calculating drug lord, and yet, Brian Cranston plays the future “Heisenberg” so convincingly, that we’re starting to suspect every chemistry professor has some kind of illegal side hustle going on. Cranston’s Walter White certainly does, struggling to make ends meet within the school system while facing down a terminal cancer diagnosis. He decides to take advantage of the boom in illegal drug use in his New Mexico town by cooking meth in a camper — and distributing it with the help of a former student named Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). What begins as a way to financially secure his family’s future once he’s gone morphs into a cautionary tale of greed and ambition, one filled with violence, betrayal, sleazy bad guys, and a surprising number of catchphrases.
Remember those sleazy characters from Breaking Bad? Well, Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) is one of them. But before he becomes the go-to attorney for criminal masterminds like Walter White, he’s just Jimmy McGill, a struggling court-appointed attorney and former con artist living in the shadow of his successful older brother. To move up in the world, he begins taking on clients like former police officer turned career criminal Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) who introduces him to even more dangerous and powerful kingpins, all hoping McGill will help them sweep their many wrongdoings under the proverbial legal rug.
Charlie Hunnam, Katey Sagal, and Ron Pearlman star in this biker gang drama that takes fans on one hell of a ride through the criminal underworld of California’s Central Valley. Hunnam plays Jax Teller, a young father and vice president of SAMCRO, an outlaw biker gang running the streets of Charming. His mother Gemma (Sagal) is married to current president Clay Morrow (Pearlman) after Jax’s father, who founded the club, died. There’s plenty of criminal activity to keep you worried the law might finally catch up with these guys – think gun-running, shootouts, money laundering, and more – plus some Shakespearean drama between the main trio of Jax, Gemma, and Clay that goes in a direction you won’t see coming.
Open fire barbeque is having its moment. Cooking on an open fire – that is, cooking in the open air with wood logs or 100% hardwood charcoal – is the bbq version of circus performers doing the high-wire without a safety net. The line between bliss and complete failure is razor-thin. And for those ready to veer away from those rust-collecting Webers and ubiquitous charcoal briquette grills, this summer is the perfect time to start.
Why the summer of 2022? Because it’s fun to get your hands dirty, obviously. To be more specific, the primitive art of cooking your food without gas or electricity is a ritual that eschews convenience. Turn off the phones, the timers, and the open-to-the-recipe iPad. For BBQ lovers, precise temperatures, expensive cooking equipment, paint-by-number recipes, soulless wood pellets and Bluetooth meat thermometers are often the norm. And sure, they have their place, but open-fire cooking shifts focus away from pre-programmed formulas and encourages innovation and experimentation.
We’ve spent two-plus years indoors. This summer, it’s time to get outside and play with fire this summer!
The Francis Mallmann episode of Chef’s Table on Netflix uniquely captures the spirit of cooking with fire. Check the trailer below for some visual inspiration:
If you’re ready to venture into these rough and tricky waters, I’ve laid out everything you need to get started, below. I began using these methods years ago, well before quarantines and restrictions, and have leaned into them the past several seasons — creating food experiences and long-lunches for my pop-up – Open Fire Co – in both Australia and New Orleans.
PART I — FIRE
Jess Kearney
The boss is the fire. After years of cooking over an open flame, I’ve come to understand it is the fire that decides when food is finished, when it needs a little longer, and when it desires a blood sacrifice. In traditional BBQ in the US, the person looking after the fire is a position low on the ladder of the staff. “Pit B*tch” is the colloquial term often associated with it. On my crew, the fire manager is the most experienced of us in curating the balance between heat, flame, smoke, and source. This individual is communicating all day with the fire. Since there is no backup plan, the fire must be tended to with diligence and respect. For getting started, you likely won’t be doing big open-air fires. The best way to start is either with a small campfire or a charcoal grill (parrilla) that can contain your coals.
I like to use dried hardwood more than lump hardwood charcoal, just as personal preference. The best practice for wood logs is to build a separate “mother” fire. This is a campfire that will burn down the logs until they are hot enough for you to use them to cook. When they’re black and roughly 50%+ red with coal and ash you transfer them into your cooking fire. Conversely, if a log in your cooking fire is in danger of going out, returning it to the mother fire for several minutes can reignite it.
The goal of your cooking fire – whether on the ground, on an iron plate or in a parrilla – is to have fairly even, long-lasting heat. If it’s consistent throughout, you can move your food closer or further away depending on how long you need to cook it without hyper-focusing on the exact temperature. The weather can vary significantly from one day to the next, so I try not to over-analyze it. If you’re cooking in the summer in Louisiana, as I sometimes do, the 100+ heat will help you cook the food. In the winter, the cold air will fight you.
The general rule is if you can hold your hand over the flame for 5 seconds, that’s medium heat.
PART II — WOOD
Jess Kearney
Folks often ask what is my preferred wood. After all, in closed chambered barbeque, the wood imparts considerable flavor to the end product. I usually go with pecan, living in the South. In open-air cooking, my answer is a bit different. I’m after the driest, reasonably dense wood I can get. It could be hickory, oak, or pecan. In Australia, I used red gum, ironbark, or even dry stringybark on occasion. I just want it dry enough that it can stay smoky for hours on end. This is because the flavor I’m after is the campfire-like smoke itself, not the wood. There’s nothing worse than having even slightly wet wood go out time after time when it gets spread out.
All to say, there is no need to break the bank when you’re just getting started. The kiln-dried wood at your hardware store should suffice as you get your bearings. On a big hanging BBQ event day, I use 160 kilos but you can use as little as 2-3kg if just cooking a couple of steaks for the family.
PART III — EQUIPMENT
I started out with one of those suburban backyard firepits that you see at Lowe’s and a couple of replacement Weber cast iron grill racks that I set up on bricks (although they have sleeker ones now). This, combined with your regular arsenal of grill gear (tongs, fire gloves, etc) is more than enough to get you started. There are options to go fancier (like a half oil drum). If you want to campfire cook and hang food above the fire, get star pickets from the hardware store and some garden hooks to build a trapeze above your campfire. Here are some other unexpected things I’ve found useful.
A large cast-iron pan and/or camp stove are indispensable. I love Staub cast iron because they have stackable pots and the ridges on the underside of the lids helps keep moisture in. Though I’m a sucker for enameled cast iron, getting matte black is probably best for direct fire.
Welding gloves. Sometimes you have to pick up a flaming hot log and put it in just the right place. Baking gloves will not do. Insulated, leather gloves are the only way.
Metal shovel. For moving around ash, coals, logs, and burning things.
A massive cutting board. If you cook a lamb leg, you want all the space you can get.
Stainless steel wire, wire cutters, pliers, stainless garden hooks, stainless screw loops, hammer, twine, and general tools for manipulating racks, grills, food suspension, etc.
Extra replacement grills and grill brushes.
Old newspapers, tumbleweeds, and kindling for fire lighting.
PART IV — RECIPES
Jess Kearney
The best part of fire cooking is experimentation, so I’m not going to overload you but there are a couple of classics to get you started.
4-Hour Chicken:
Chicken over the fire is a treasure and perhaps one the items that’s as good the next day as it is day of. All that smoky goodness just shines.
Brine your chicken for at least 6 hours completely submerged in brine (3:1 at least water to salt ratio, mustard seeds, black pepper, bay leaf).
On the day you’re serving it, rinse and dry chicken, stick half a lemon in the cavity, and then truss it using directions from my guy AZ.
Next, cover it in olive oil and your choice of spice blend.
When your fire is hot enough that you can hold your hand over it for 10-15 seconds or less, place your chicken hang above it using your star picket trapeze, twine, and a garden hook.
Start with the chicken breast side to the fire for 1 hour, then flip it to the back for another hour and each side for 1 hour each.
After four hours with consistent heat, check internal temperature with meat thermometer (or, if you feel confident, rip off a leg). If you need some extra time you can hang it from the top or bottom to give it some more eat.
Morrón con Huevo:
These bell pepper egg “boats” are a common sight at Argentine parrilladas. My BBQ partner Santi is from Mercedes, Argentina and takes special care to select four bulb capsicums so they lay evenly when cut in half.
Halve each bell pepper lengthwise, through the stem. Carefully remove the seeds and ribs without piercing the flesh.
Cook the pepper face down (so the boat is upside down) on your grill until the bell is warm and the rim starts to blacken.
Flip the pepper and crack one egg into each, yolk remaining intact. Cook them until the egg whites are cooked through, roughly 15 to minutes.
Top each with a piece of goat cheese, hot sauce or chimichurri and serve.
*this recipe appears in one of my cookbooks: the World Sauces Cookbooks, as does a recipe for chimichurri.
Lamb Leg:
Out of all of the variety of foods that one can smoke above a fire, nothing takes the smoke quite like lamb. This is one of the stalwarts of my fire-based cuisine. The most important part is ordering meat. A good butcher makes all the difference in sourcing and quality, which is essential for something as delicate as fire cooking.
In New Orleans, my butcher is Piece of Meat. I usually ask for a whole leg – meaning the chump (rump) and shank on. I also request for them to not touch the shank or knuckle (including the tendon) so there’s a natural loop from where to hang a S-hook. As well, I make sure they leave ALL the fat on, this is important as many butchers in the US will trim the fat (I sometimes get a chuckle from Leigh Ann at PoM because it means she doesn’t have to do much).
NOTE: what you’re looking for is #4800 on this chart.
One reason this is a great recipe to begin learning is the rump, fat and bone will protect the rest of the leg from burning. So even if you char or overcook it, the rest of the leg will still be perfect. And you’ll find some folks love that crispy burned part (or use it to make a banging stock). When the leg is finished you’ll have a range from cooked to rare, something smoky for everyone.
Cover your 3-4kg leg lightly with olive oil as a binder and salt, pepper and any of your favorite spice rubs.
Prepare a salmuera of water, salt (1:1), pepper, olive oil, crushed garlic, lemon, and herbs. Use a rosemary bundle to dip into the salmuera and brush on the lamb as it cooks (every hour or so).
When your coals are hot and even, using an S-hook hang your leg from the knuckle a couple feet over the fire.
Monitor the leg throughout, placing your hand on the side of the shank to make sure its getting heat.
Allow the lamb leg to hang for at least four hours, up to six. The longer it stays the more smoke it will absorb so feel free to move it up and down depending on conditions eg heat, wind.
When the internal temperature of the leg about mid-way up is 130-degrees it will be medium-rare. Note: NOT the bottom as that will not be a good indicator of the whole leg.
Take the leg off the hang and grill each side on a grate or on the coals themselves for several minutes each side.*
Let the leg rest 10 minutes, carve and serve.
*Another method is to truss the leg and hang it for a while knuckle down. It’s not my preference but can have the advantage of a more even cook.
PART V — SAFETY
When cooking with open flames, you don’t have the guardrails often associated or assumed with barbeque. Your normal store-bought charcoal briquettes are chemically pressed to be uniform. Wood or lump hardwood charcoal is not uniform. Split wood especially can spark and send burning pieces into the surrounding area with even a small gust of wind. One should always take – at a minimum – the safety protocols associated with an open campfire. In the days leading up to an event for Open Fire Co, we always check the weather conditions.
Here are some other tips to keep you and your environment safe.
Check local fire management services websites to see if they’ve issued any fire warnings.
If planning a ground fire, call the local fire department to check on the regulations in your community.
If you can, build fire near water: streams, rivers, lakes, or even the ocean.
Have fire suppression methods at the ready: decently pressurized garden hose, buckets of sand, water bins.
On the day, clear the ground of bramble, twigs, dry grass, tinder, and anything that could spark.
Fill a large bin with water (also helps with periodically washing equipment). Be careful of wind strength and direction, particularly around forests. Having bags of sand on hand helps with containment.
Have a fire extinguisher present and on hand (small versions can be bought at many hardware stores).
Once you are done for the day, completely put out the coals with the hose.
As always, leave places better than you found them.
Remember, there is no food worth cooking in dangerous conditions. If you are not completely comfortable with suppressing your fire, you should wait or work with someone who is.
PART VI — WHO TO FOLLOW TO LEARN MORE
Up until now, many who are keen on open-fire cooking most certainly can trace their interest back to that Francis Mallmann episode of Chef’s Table. He is the North Star of Argentine-style open-fire cooking. His new book is veggie and vegan-focused and offers some great insight. Here are some more folks to keep an eye on:
Lennox Hastie wrote perhaps the most comprehensive book on the technical aspects of fire cooking (including at what heats different woods burn). His restaurant Firedoor in Sydney doesn’t use electricity to cook.
Bente Grysbaek is a Danish fire cook living in Australia whose Instagram is filled with creative and wilderness-inspired setups. She’s the head chef at Pope Joan in Melbourne.
Kaelah James is a wild food cook from New Zealand and her Instagram page Kaelah’s Wild Kai Kitchen is absolutely wild and fun.
Steven Rinella of Meat Eater is a master of campfire cooking game meats and fish. Additionally, his book The Meateater has butchering tips and recipes.
Jaret Foster and Mona Johnson of Tournant PDX are a great follow for elevated and cinematic fire events in the Pacific Northwest.
Derek Wolf’s Instagram and blog Over the Fire Cooking has daily recipes and tons of fire cooking ideas, especially using a variety of equipment.
Pip Sumbak of Pip’s Plate is an Australian fire cook who is a master of barrel cooking and who uses Pacific Rim flavors and recipes.
I’m Mark C Stevens, my pop-up is Open Fire Co based in New Orleans and Byron Bay, Australia. My books (on spices and sauces, respectively) are found here.
“It’s almost as if Twitter employees lifted a broad anti-conservative, anti-Trump shadow ban, which we all knew was taking place anyway, in an effort to cover their tracks before the new boss takes over,” Fox News “talk show host” Sean Hannity theorized. “Now, Twitter claims that there’s nothing nefarious at play here, but they’ve said that all before.”
Hannity, of course, provided no tangible evidence, unlike Caroline Orr Bueno, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Maryland, who found that “conservatives added followers because people responded to the Musk news by joining Twitter, creating new accounts, or logging into old accounts that were long dormant.” There’s “no evidence of shadow ban” at play here, according to PolitiFact.
The Joe Rogan Experience host claims he’s gained 900,000 followers since the Musk news (there’s a 78 percent chance that Musk News will compete with CNN in five years) broke. He credits the increase to Twitter doing “something different.” Rogan’s guest, Feminist Current founder Meghan Murphy, agreed that he had been placed in a “box.”
“Well, Megyn Kelly said the same thing. Did you hear her say that?” Murphy said. “She gained a ton, like a hundred thousand or I don’t remember the number, but something’s going on, a lot. Like, it was really noticeable. And so she was like, I’m pretty sure Twitter was… messing around with my account.”
Rogan added, “I think there’s something — something was going on. I mean, I’m just guessing the other option could be the bots that I’ve gained 900,000 bots, but it’s like every time I look, it’s like another a hundred thousand, it’s crazy!”
Whether you credit it to Tyler The Creator, Brockhampton’s Kevin Abstract, or Lil Nas X, the floodgates have opened. Back in the 2000s, every publication that covered hip-hop seemed to have run a “Is Rap Ready For Gay Rappers?” piece and in 2022, the answer is a resounding “yaaasss” — although some institutions are clearly still behind the times.
In addition to the breakout of unapologetically out queer rappers like Lil Nas X, the doors have been opened for contemporaries such as Saucy Santana, who dropped his “Booty” video with Latto today, and Kidd Kenn, who also shared the video for his new single, “Body,” after performing the song for UPROXX Sessions last month.
At just 19 years old, Kenn has already accomplished plenty and is poised for his own takeover in 2022. Signed to Def Jam, the Chicago rapper has already turned heads at the 2021 BET Hip-Hop Awards Cypher, collaborated with fan favorites like Saucy Santana and Rico Nasty, and has performed at Pride events all over the country. His songs have also been synced for commercials for the likes of Target (“Good Day”), Apple (“Moves”), and Madden 22 (“Get Lit”). “Body,” meanwhile, is exactly what its title suggests: a body-positive single encouraging confidence and self-celebration. It’s rap for the next generation, less concerned with street cred than self-love, which is something much more valuable.
A prevailing refrain of the playoffs in recent years is the importance of versatility. The constant desire to deem one style or team-building approach as the new wave surfed toward success is overwhelmingly incorrect.
Many paths lead to a title, not the most recent one that everyone may suddenly campaign or intend to emulate. Regardless of the philosophy, though, versatility is imperative. Holstering counters and adjustments when opponents reduce the magnitude of one strength or leading scheme can be the lifeblood of a profitable playoff run.
Achieving said versatility stems from rostering personnel who touts a multifaceted skill-set that empowers them to shapeshift across game-plans. You require different players to win in different settings. The Boston Celtics and their fearsome, league-leading defense are versatile.
Their two foremost creators, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, are distinct in their scoring ethos. Their big man rotation of Al Horford, Robert Williams III, and Grant Williams share only a few two-way qualities (though, Horford and Williams crossover somewhat, I suppose) — Robert Williams is especially contrasting among the three.
Yet the guard tandem of Marcus Smart and Derrick White enjoy significant overlap on both sides of the ball. They bring duplicative versatility and it’s helping power Boston toward a championship with particular utility in these Finals.
Smart, of course, is the Defensive Player of the Year, a 6’4 bulldozer who casts his shadow seemingly wherever necessary on defense. Although his offense toggles among maddening, spellbinding, and reliable, he’s an integral secondary and connective ball-handler.
White, meanwhile, is more delicate in his defensive approach, weaving around defenders as though he lets out an “excuse me” before doing so, only to always be fastened at his assignment’s hip. Every rotation is punctually fluid, fitting into Boston’s switch-heavy defense founded on timing.
Like Smart, he’s similarly a mercurial shooter who can get downhill and create for others, even if plagued by indecision at times. But instead, Smart’s bruising, shoulder-in-your-sternum slashing is replaced by methodical probing.
The abundance of their chief skills may be seen as a luxury, yet it’s not. Boston needs this, especially against the Golden State Warriors. Defensively, Smart and White’s most prominent communal ability is their screen navigation. In this series, the Warriors’ most popular form of offense for their top initiators, Stephen Curry and Jordan Poole, has been a high ball-screen, which the Celtics are typically answering with some form of drop coverage.
Ideally, Boston intends to dissuade the pull-up 3s and direct those dudes inside the arc. Curry’s certainly enjoyed some unbothered, off-the-bounce triples and is jiving as a scorer (31.3 points per game on 64.1 percent true shooting).
In general, though, Smart and White’s knack for limiting airspace on and off the ball around picks is contributing to Golden State’s offense failing to replicate its exploits of the first three rounds. Poole’s hesitancy to let it fly around screens stems, in part, from Smart and White’s unnerving auras. Even Curry’s occasionally been deterred by their expertise.
After slapping down a playoff-best 116.1 offensive rating in the lead-up to the Finals, the Warriors’ offensive rating is at 110.5 over the past three outings. At all times, the Celtics keep a premier screen navigator on the floor; sometimes, they maintain two. Aside from playing someone for an entire game, few teams can boast that, especially ones that surround them with other All-Defensive talent. I’m not sure any other club in the league can currently, at least in tenable lineups, which is part of what renders this duo sensationally paramount.
Boston enjoys the flexibility of playing one or both without submarining their lineups. It’s an absolute rarity to pair non-All-Star, exceptional perimeter defenders who aren’t deadeye shooters and see the score trend in your favor. During the regular season, per Cleaning The Glass, the Celtics posted a net rating of plus-2.6 with both of them on the floor (685 possessions). In 484 playoff possessions, they have a plus-4.5 net rating with them. When only Smart is out there, Boston’s net rating has been plus-10.9 (regular season) and plus-3.9 (postseason). With White, those marks are plus-20.2 and plus-9.5, respectively.
Smart and White paper over their roller-coaster jumpers by serving as delightful linking players. Third and fourth options who are entrusted to put the ball on the deck and back up such credence is a necessary windfall for the composition of the Celtics’ roster. However, that sort of dynamic is a scarcity, let alone ones who craft the defensive signature they do.
Tatum and Brown are the ones predominantly tilting defenses. If a shot isn’t available for them once they do, another handler who makes dependable decisions is always present as an outlet. Smart is a bridge of a player whose rise in on-ball prominence was a key part of Boston’s offensive turnaround this season. Another version, albeit to a lesser degree, was something for which the Celtics could seamlessly find a purpose. White’s driving, hasty passing and proclivity to expose ill-equipped assignments as a scorer are all characteristics in line with Smart.
Boston staggers Tatum and Brown to ensure one is constantly playing. It does the same with Smart and White, who are offensive complements and defensive figureheads for the team’s stars. Usually, White replaces Tatum in the first quarter. Throughout this series, that’s diverted Smart off of Curry and into a roamer role, which is better suited for him to coordinate everything for the defense, where he’s masterful. It’s much harder to do so when you’re chasing a historic superstar around the hardwood.
White’s status enables Smart’s defensive malleability to flourish, just as their collective presence does for this Celtics squad. Superstardom isn’t the proper label for these two, but the concept of their coexistence feels about as remarkable as superstars are.
Cash, whose real name is Tristian Hamilton, was shot at about 5:30 this morning along with an unidentified woman while sitting in a vehicle in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood. Another car pulled up alongside them and an unidentified man stepped out and fired multiple times before getting back into the car and speeding away. While Cash was hit several times in the body, the 29-year-old woman was also shot in the left arm and upper back. Cash was transported to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead. The woman was also admitted to the hospital in serious condition.
Two years ago, another member of the “Fly Boy Gang,” FBG Duck, was also killed in an especially violent shooting in the Gold Coast neighborhood by four masked shooters, who left 38 bullet casings behind. According to Chicago Sun-Times, four members of a street gang faction were charged with his murder. FBG Cash denied involvement in the murder in a YouTube video. Police are still investigating today’s shooting.
LeVar Burton dropped by The View on Thursday where he was greeted with an overwhelming standing ovation by the audience who was palpably thrilled to have the iconic TV personality in the studio. The crowd was so pumped that Ana Navarro couldn’t help but quip that she hopes the “people at Jeopardy!” are watching.
As a beloved fixture in children’s television thanks to his work on Reading Rainbow, which is featured in a new documentary, Burton was asked his thoughts on the recent increase in banned books as conservative groups target “critical race theory” and LGBTQ representation. A fired up Burton called it exactly as he sees it. Via The Wrap:
“Bulls—,” he replied bluntly. “I’ll be absolutely candid and honest, it’s embarrassing that we are banning books in this country, in this culture, in this day and age. We have this aversion in this country to knowing about our past. And anything that is unpleasant, we don’t want to do deal with.”
Burton then added that, just because something’s unpleasant, doesn’t mean it should be ignored. In fact, ignoring it only allows it to persist.
“This is not going away. Nothing goes away, especially if you ignore it,” he added. “So read the books they’re banning. That’s where the good stuff is. If they don’t want you to read it, there’s a reason why.”
Despite The View censors working quickly to bleep the word “bullsh*t” for daytime audiences, Burton quickly started trending on Twitter as some people couldn’t believe his choice of words. However, he stood by his remarks later that evening.
“I said what I meant and I meant what I said!” Burton tweeted along with a clip of the now viral moment.
While others clutched their pearls over Burton saying a “bad word,” others rushed to his defense and said the iconic TV personality was right on the money. Even Wonder Woman jumped in.
LeVar Burton rules! Banning books is bullshit, man! It’s just bullshit. https://t.co/XeknEtNlkQ
— Benjamin Ahr Harrison (@BenjaminAhr) June 10, 2022
I’ll save you a click. @levarburton, the man who helped millions of kids learn to read, described the current efforts of book banning as “bullsh*t.” That’s it. That’s the “scandal.” He spoke honestly on @TheView about an issue that he cares about. And he was 100% right. https://t.co/7hx4ieWOKu
Levar Burton literally inspired me to read as a young boy, when almost no one else did. He taught me to explore, challenge and question norms, and he made it fun. This cat’s a legend. We need more of this. https://t.co/zSnsnbg0Bg
The SUN makes it sound as if @levarburton misspoke or embarrassed himself. The man—who has spent his life making the world better, one children’s book at a time—called banning books for children “bullshit.” Because it’s bullshit. That’s not a blunder. It’s a fact. pic.twitter.com/6mb26zluBH
Remember “The Middle,” the classic 2001 Jimmy Eat World single that was top-5 in the US? That was an era-defining song, for sure, but it’s also not completely representative of the band, as since then, they’ve continued to consistently pump out well-received albums. Their latest was 2019’s Surviving and now they’re at the start of a new chapter, opting to self-release new music instead of being tied to a label. (More accurately, new music comes out via their own Exotic Location Recordings, which has co-released their last few albums.)
All of that is to say that today, the band has a new single, “Something Loud,” a straightforward and melodic emo-rocker that sounds both fresh and (this is a compliment) like it could have been made at any time in the past 20 years.
The band’s Jim Adkins says of how the song was inspired by the feverishly anticipated When We Were Young festival, “While I thought I made the most of the early band days, I realize now I missed some stuff. You’re in such a hurry to grow out of the formidable years. Like sh*t-togetherness is going to magically arrive when you hit some age you thought ‘grownups’ were. Yeah, it doesn’t work that way. But maybe the thing age and experience do reveal is that pivotal moments are hard to grasp when you are in them.”
Listen to “Something Loud” above and find the band’s upcoming tour dates below (all of which are with Charly Bliss). Also revisit our ranking of the group’s best songs here.
09/08 — Cleveland, OH @ Rock Hall Live
09/09 — Columbus, OH @ KEMBA Live!
09/10 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Four Chord Music Festival
09/11 — Detroit, MI @ Saint Andrew’s Hall
09/13 — Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
09/14 — Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater
09/16 — St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
09/18 — Chicago, IL @ RiotFest
09/20 — Richmond, VA @ The National
09/21 — Wantagh, NY @ Mulcahy’s Pub and Concert Hall
09/23 — Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom
09/24 — Providence, RI @ The Strand Theatre
09/25 — New Haven, CT @ Toad’s Place
09/26 — Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
09/28 — Albany, NY @ Empire Live
09/29 — Toronto, ON @ History
10/01 — Ocean City, MD @ Oceans Calling
10/22 — Las Vegas, NV @ When We Were Young
10/23 — Las Vegas, NV @ When We Were Young
10/29 — Las Vegas, NV @ When We Were Young
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