Month: July 2022

When Zion Williamson has been on the court for the New Orleans Pelicans, he has been nothing short of a sensation, getting to and dominating at the rim at a rate we’ve not seen since prime Shaq — which is impressive given Williamson stands just 6’6.

However, staying on the floor has been an issue, as he’s played in just 85 career games across three seasons, including missing the entirety of last year with a foot injury. There has been concern within New Orleans that Williamson’s weight has at the least exacerbated some of his injury issues, and when they inked him to a new 5-year max extension to keep him with the Pelicans long-term, that was addressed in writing.

Per Christian Clark of NOLA.com, Williamson will have regular weigh-ins with the Pelicans throughout his contract, and stay below a target number with his weight and body fat percentage.

According to league sources, Williamson’s contract stipulates that he will have weigh-ins periodically throughout the entirety of his new deal. The sum of his weight and body fat percentage must be below 295. If it is not, the amount of guaranteed money in Williamson’s contract can be reduced.

Williamson is naturally a very big man, and he’s currently listed at 284 pounds, which means his body fat percentage would need to be 10 percent or less to hit this benchmark at his listed weight. The star reportedly topped 300 pounds last year when he arrived in camp while rehabbing his foot injury, and that seems to have served as the impetus for the clause in his new deal to ensure that he stays in shape for the entirety of his contract, or risk losing some of his guarantee.

Now, the only way the Pelicans would ever trigger that clause is if Williamson is unable to play and is not hitting these benchmarks. If he creeps above that threshold but is playing and playing well, they wouldn’t ever take away money from him, but it does provide them a bit of insurance for if injuries persist and weight plays a role in them. The Pelicans and Williamson will hope this clause is never talked about beyond this offseason, because the only way it comes up is if something’s gone wrong.

The good news is that Williamson’s foot has looked fully healthy in social media updates we’ve seen of the star on court this summer, and he’s also shown off the work he’s been doing in the weight room as well as on the court to be in top shape as he gets ready for a big season in New Orleans with a team that reached the playoffs without him last year.

House Of The Dragon will get its long-awaited debut next month on HBO, though many fans seem unsure of if the show will live up to Game Of Thrones’ enormous hype. The series has been in the works since before Game Of Thrones even ended, so the stakes are high for both fans and HBO.

One of Dragon’s stars Gavin Spokes, who plays Lord Lyonel Strong, believes that the series won’t be for everybody. “Some are going to love, and some are going to hate [it],” Spokes told People while at the premiere of the new series. “You can’t please all the people all the time,” Spokes explained. “I think we have just tried to put as much work and love into it as we can. If people aren’t gonna like it then that’s their opinion.” This seems to be the common mantra that the show’s cast and crew are going with.

Despite the hesitation that some fans may feel, Spokes says the show does a great job of bringing you into the Game Of Thrones world we all know and love. “It’s not a green screen. They built a full castle,” he added. “[Series co-creator Ryan Condal] was showing me around, like this is the chamber, and I said, ‘Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to buy a castle?’ They built a whole castle north of London, and it’s extraordinary. And then extras arrive in beautiful costumes and amazing props, and you are sitting in Westeros.”

With the new set comes the new and mysterious new characters that will each get their own backstory as the show develops, something that Spokes says is one of the most exciting parts of the series. “I don’t want to sound derogatory to Thrones at all because I thought it was an incredible series,” Spokes said. “But there’s a slow build in [House Of The Dragon]. And it’s deliberate. Particularly to find out about who those characters really are.”

Considering the events of House take place a few hundred years before our familiar friends in Game Of Thrones, fans might get some fun ancestorial backstories of their favorite GoT characters. Or perhaps it will exist all on its own, as a separate entity from its predecessor. Only time will tell!

House Of The Dragon will premiere August 21st on HBO and HBO Max.

(Via People)

A few years ago, a young man named Decoldest Crawford became a favorite of college football fans when he started to emerge on the recruiting circuit because of his objectively incredible name.

The wide receiver out of Shreveport, Louisiana is now a member of Scott Frost’s Nebraska Cornhuskers squad, signing earlier this year as a 3-star, and is entering his freshman season with the team. In the new and exciting world of Name, Image, and Likeness deals in college athletics, Decoldest’s name provided him a unique lane to find some sponsorship deals in the Nebraska area. The best of those is with SOS Heating and Cooling in Omaha, where Decoldest is now telling Huskers fans where they can find the coldest HVAC company in Nebraska.

Some things are just meant to be, and a man named Decoldest doing local TV and print ads for an air conditioning company is written in the stars. For starters, good for Decoldest for capitalizing on the ability to ink an NIL deal, but also good on SOS for recognizing an opportunity to get their name out there and make a buzz with one of the best NIL deals we’ve seen so far in the first year-plus of college athletes finding endorsement deals.

I also am excited for what could be a new golden age of low-budget local television commercials, now featuring college athletes. I’m particularly a fan of Decoldest’s red t-shirt that just has the number 1 on it, because it’s way too much for actual Nebraska licensing, but you get the idea here. As someone who grew up in Wolfman and Donna country, I’m thrilled that we might get back to our roots of semi-awkward commercials that end with “and tell them [insert college athlete] sent you.”

Oh, Goop. She’s something else, and her latest adventure will make you roll your eyes as hard as you’d expect when it comes to her. The topic of the day is nepotism, and Gwyneth Paltrow is arguing that even though she grew up monied and privileged, that her circumstances were actually rough because she was expected to be great. Let’s back up for a moment with an example.

I’m pretty sure that if you or I decided to fashion and name a candle in tribute to our private parts, we wouldn’t automatically get a pass. And if these candles exploded for any reason, this would not be tolerated, no ma’am. Gwyneth, on the other hand, gets to peddle her strange “aspirational” products and act in the occasional movie and earn a lot of money to pose in sweaters, and she walks off with millions.

Yet Bruce Paltrow and Blythe Danner’s daughter truly believes that she’s had to work incredibly hard, much harder than civilians. In a visit with Hailey Bieber (daughter of Stephen Baldwin), for the Who’s in my Bathroom? YouTube series, Goop attempts to make her case. Via E! Online

“As the child of someone, you get access other people don’t have, so the playing field is not level in that way. However, I really do feel that once your foot is in the door, which you unfairly got in, then you almost have to work twice as hard and be twice as good. Because people are ready to pull you down and say ‘You don’t belong there’ or ‘You are only there because of your dad or your mom.’”

Hailey didn’t argue with her and even seemed to agree, but then again, neither she nor Gwyneth really know anything different than their own experience. Yet to argue that privileged life is tough is a little rich in a time when people are struggling to avoid skyrocketing rents and gasoline. Maybe reel it in a little bit? Then again, this is a person who took the Food Stamp Challenge and largely blew it stocking up on limes. Priorities!

(Via E! Online)

Despite the 9/11 terrorist attacks happening two decades ago, and in his own city, Donald Trump still can’t figure out who’s responsible for them. The twice-impeached president recently made the gobsmacking decision to host the controversial Saudi-backed LIV Golf series at his Bedminster course this week despite currently being under investigation for launching his own attack on America with the Jan. 6th insurrection. But, instead of playing dumb Trump doubled down on his defense of the tournament’s Saudi sponsors.

“They’ve been friends of mine for a long time,” Trump told reporters at the tournament. “They’ve invested in many companies and, frankly, what they’re doing for golf is so great. Nobody ever knew there was going to be a gold rush like this.”

The Saudi golf league is being touted as an alternative to the PGA tour, something Trump also talked about, but while the money seems to be a big factor in players (and Trump) making the switch to this new league, Trump pretty much refused to hold his “friends” accountable for their role in the 9/11 attacks which is the reason so many families of the victims are protesting the tour.

“Nobody’s gotten to the bottom of 9/11, unfortunately. And they should have,” Trump continued. “As to the maniacs that did that horrible thing to our city, to the country, to the world. So nobody’s really been there, but I can tell you that there are a lot of really great people that are out here today, and we’re gonna have a lot of fun, and we’re going to celebrate. Money’s going to charity, a lot of money’s going to charity, and you have really the best players in the world.”

He had a similar, nonsensical response when The Wall Street Journal quizzed him on the ethics of hosting the tour too.

“I don’t know much about the 9/11 families, I don’t know what is the relationship to this, and their very strong feelings, and I can understand their feelings,” Trump said. “I can’t really comment on that because I don’t know exactly what they’re saying, and what they’re saying who did what.”

It’s a truly bizarre explanation that’s even more puzzling when you remember what Trump had to say about the Saudi’s involvement in 9/11 during his 2016 presidential run. Back then, Trump fought against the Republican party’s insistence that the attacks were orchestrated by Al-Qaeda forces with help from Iraq, telling supporters “It wasn’t the Iraqis that knocked down the World Trade Center. You may find it’s the Saudis, okay?”

In fact, 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals and our government suspected members of Saudi Arabia’s government of helping to facilitate the attacks on the World Trade Center. So, in a way, Trump was right — which you’d think he’d still be shouting from the rooftops 20 years later — but it sounds like a good-paying day on the green is enough to get him to switch allegiances and have selective amnesia about one of the worst days in America’s history.

(Via Mediaite)

Donald Trump bullied his way into Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, but that was still a more pleasant experience than what happened on The Wolf of Wall Street set.

In an interview with the Independent, Cristin Milioti was asked about the scene in Martin Scorsese’s 2012 film where her character, Teresa, slaps her husband Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) after she catches him cheating on her with Naomi (Margot Robbie). “That was a wild night. We shot from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. and we did that scene over and over and over,” the Palm Springs star said, including a “bunch” of takes where she accidentally slapped DiCaprio. Milioti wishes she could have slapped a set visitor, too.

“I just kind of slapped the hell out of him for 12 hours. I always had a real attachment to that scene, because you get to see this character, who has swallowed a lot of her feelings down, really get to let loose.” The scene was shot outside Trump Tower, and yes, he did make an appearance. “Ugh,” sighs Milioti. “He crashed the set and he was a complete and utter buffoon, as we all know.” She doesn’t want to give him any more airtime than that.

Trump is the kind of guy who sees chest-thumping capitalist scumbag Jordan as the hero of The Wolf of Wall Street. Basically, he’s the worst person you went to college with (except for the whole “billionaire former-president” thing.)

Milioti’s new show, The Resort, is out now on Peacock.

(Via the Independent)

Jon Stewart continued his campaign against Republican senators who voted against a veterans healthcare bill by calling them out on during an interview with the ultra-conservative Newsmax network. Shortly after his fiery speech on the steps of the U.S. Capitol building, Stewart conducted an interview with anchor Shaun Kraisman where the former Daily Show host explained why the Republican objections to the Honor Our PACT Act make no sense and reek of hypocrisy.

“So the Republicans, when you say what you said, they do not support veterans. The Republicans push back saying there is unrelated spending within this,” Kraisman said.

“It’s not, it’s just not true,” Stewart responded. He added, “The bill itself is incredibly detailed and prescriptive about what it’s for. It’s about treating and preventing the different conditions that veterans are coming home with, including cancers and chronic bronchiolitis, and all these other issues from their exposures in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

According to Stewart, the Republicans objection to the bill creating a “slush fund” for veterans healthcare shouldn’t be an issue because they have absolutely zero problems with a slush fund for weapons or other military spending. Via Mediaite:

“They don’t support the troops. They support the war machine. And that’s got to stop,” Stewart continued.

“The value in the U.S. military isn’t in the toys. It’s not in the hardware. It’s not in the tanks. It’s in the men and women. And until they start supporting them in the manner that they purport to online. Yeah. They are hypocrites,” Stewart concluded.

The comedian’s remarks for Newsmax were notably less profane than his speech on the Capitol steps where he called Republicans “motherf*ckers” for killing the bill that had previously received bipartisan support. “If this is America First, America is f*cked,” a defiant Stewart told a throng of reporters and passersby.

(Via Newsmax)

Krysten Ritter has already starred in several acclaimed TV universes. She got her big break (pun not intended) on Breaking Bad, before becoming Marvel’s superhero-turned-investigator Jessica Jones. And real fans know that Don’t Trust The B**** In Apartment 23 was canceled much too soon. Now, Ritter is returning to AMC as a part of the new Orphan Black spinoff series.

Orphan Black: Echoes is a spinoff of the popular BBC sci-fi series that starred Emmy-winner-turned She-Hulk Tatiana Maslany and ran for five seasons. According to the official synopsis, Echoes follows a group of women as they “weave their way into each other’s lives and embark on a thrilling journey, unravelling the mystery of their identity and uncovering a wrenching story of love and betrayal.”

Ritter will join the show as Lucy, a woman with an “unimaginable” origin story who tries to make her way in the world, and perhaps face off against many clones of herself. This will mark Ritter’s return to television since reprising her role as Jessica Jones in 2017’s The Defenders.

John Fawcett, the co-creator of the original series, will direct and executive produce the 10-episode series alongside Anna Fishko, creator, writer, and showrunner of the upcoming series, which is slated for a 2023 release on AMC+.

(Via Deadline)

It’s been a big year for outfield blunders in Major League Baseball, and more specifically, the American League East division. The Boston Red Sox have twice had outfielders lose fly balls in the lights, once for a two-run triple and once for an inside the park grand slam, but they got some company on Thursday courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Trey Mancini — in what very well could’ve been the last home at-bat of his Orioles career, as his name has been swirling in trade rumors for some time — hit a fly ball to right field that should have been the second out of the bottom of the eighth, with Baltimore clinging to a one-run lead. Instead, it became an inside the park home run after Josh Lowe couldn’t track the ball in the Baltimore daytime sky, and had it bounce off of his eye, shooting into the corner and allowing Mancini, who isn’t exactly the fastest guy in baseball, to touch ’em all to push the lead to 3-0.

That 3-0 lead ended up being the final score in another Orioles win as they are rather stunningly hanging around the wild card race in the AL. Hopefully Lowe is alright, because that’s quite the knock take to the face, but it’s pretty wild how often we’ve seen guys losing baseballs in the sky this season, resulting in catastrophe.

Doja Cat is one of the best singers we have, as she has proven on successful hits like “Kiss Me More” and the No. 1 single “Say So.” What she has also shown, though, is that the instrument is a voice, and even if you have the finest one in the world, if you use it poorly, it’s going to sound bad.

During an Instagram Live broadcast yesterday, Doja took a minute to sing a cover of Lady Gaga’s “Shallow.” She turned in a truly horrendous rendition of the song, shrieking her way through the song on a couple different occasions. That was intentional and for comedic effect, of course, and Gaga herself got in on the joke, too: In the comments of a TikTok repost of the video, Gaga wrote, “LADY THATS A SERVE.”

This isn’t the only recent comedic, Gaga-adjacent moment: Last month, Leslie Jordan, one of Gaga’s co-stars in American Horror Story: Roanoke, spoke about how he thought Gaga was an extra the first time he met her on set. Meanwhile, Doja is fresh off a mini scandal: Stranger Things actor Noah Schnapp shared screenshots of a private conversation between him and Doja about Joseph Quinn, so Doja called him out and some didn’t like how Doja handled the whole situation.