In 2022, The Black Keys dropped their critically acclaimed album, Dropout Boogie. Instead of taking a much-deserved break, following their even busier 2023, the group is prepping to release another full-length project. On January 12, The Black Keys announced a new album, Ohio Players, and shared the lead single “Beautiful People (Stay High).”
The record is a retro offering from the group, teasing that they’re returning to their roots, as their album’s title suggests. “Time I’ve been gone / I’ve been strugglin’ alone / Keepin’ all of my demons to myself / I’m saving my grace for that heavenly place / To the sun, I will sing you my song / Never coming back down / All of those beautiful people,” sings Dan Auerbach.
As if the new project wasn’t enough, The Black Keys will debut their Jeff Dupre-directed documentary, This Is A Film About The Black Keys, in March at the SXSW festival. The film is described, “From a jamming session in a basement in Akron, Ohio, to rock’ n’ roll super-stardom. They barely knew each other when they made their first recordings, yet quickly realized they shared a powerful musical connection and a drive to succeed.”
Listen to “Beautiful People (Stay High)” above.
This Is A Film About The Black Keys will debut at the 2o24 SXSW Festival. Find more information here.
Ohio Players is out 4/5 via Nonesuch. Find more information here.
Innovation is a constant pressure that all our favorite fast food chains face. It’s led to some great food — Chipotle’s guajillo steak and Shake Shack’s Spicy Shackmeister come to mind. These were menu options that were available for a limited time and never joined the permanent menus of their respective restaurants. But to make room for new dishes like these, sometimes a few fan favorites get the axe.
It’s not always a bad thing as often these decisions are made based on sales. If no one is really ordering this stuff who is it hurting?
But sometimes a fast food chain will get rid of a cult favorite and replace it with something similar but not nearly as good. And sometimes fast food restaurants just make weird decisions that are likely linked to supply chain issues, like Taco Bell getting rid of the Mexican Pizza or Wendy’s ditching the spicy nuggets, both of which are back on the menu permanently because fans demanded they be. We shouldn’t have to beg for our favorites but this is the reality of fast food, unfortunately.
While we’re glad to see our favorites make a comeback, for every returning champ there are about two or three dishes that become lost forever to the sands of time. To shine a light on these delicious dishes that are being forgotten, we’ve decided to collect a few of our favorites from recent memories. Hopefully, with enough noise, we can bring some of these back!
Let’s take a stroll down memory lane.
Arby’s — Potato Cakes
Arby
Why We Miss It:
I mean Potato Cakes — do we really need to say more? Additional potato recipes on a menu are always a good thing and potato cakes were essentially giant super thick hashbrowns. The dish was a glob of shredded potato shaped into a thick triangular piece, and fried. They were crunchy, buttery, and delicious.
Unfortunately, Arby’s has replaced the potato cakes with crinkle-cut fries, a decision that no one is happy about. Why would you ever order crinkle-cut fries when you could have curly fries? You never ran into this problem with Potato Cakes because they were entirely their own type of thing.
The Bottom Line:
We rate the chance of the potato cakes coming back high considering the dish has so many fans.
Burger King — The Ch’King Sandwich
Burger King
Why We Miss It:
While researching for this article I cruised through a lot of internet forums and articles about discontinued BK fare, and one item kept coming up again and again. No, not the Ch’King sandwich, I’m talking about crown-shaped nuggets, to which I have to ask: what the f*ck is wrong with all of you?
Crown-shaped nuggets don’t taste any different from BK’s regular nuggets, which is widely agreed to be terrible. What does the shape matter?
Anyway, a couple of years back BK launched the Ch’King sandwich in response to Popeyes, and it was actually pretty good. It was hand-breaded on site, juicy, crispy, and huge. It wasn’t Popeyes-level good, but it was a damn fine chicken sandwich and one of BK’s best menu items. And then the brand thought the effort they were putting into this sandwich was too laborious, so they simplified the recipe and launched it as the “Crispy Chicken Sandwich.”
The sandwich isn’t as good as its predecessor. BK had one good thing going for it, and it dropped the ball.
The Bottom Line:
Bring back the Ch’King sandwich!
Chipotle— Pollo Asado
Chipotle
Why We Miss It:
In 2022 Chipotle spent most of the year testing out new protein options, all of them were delicious but none were quite as good as the pollo asado. The pollo asado was juicy and tender with citrus top notes over a body of oregano, pepper, and earthy achiote. It was legitimately one of the best protein options you could order at Chipotle while it was on the menu and a significant improvement over Chipotle’s usual chicken option.
The Bottom Line:
Please bring the Pollo Asado back Chipotle, or at the very least, spend 2024 giving us more new protein options.
KFC — Potato Wedges
KFC
Why We Miss It:
This one hurts. KFC’s Potato Wedges were unique, they were one of the only wedges in the fast food landscape and they were seasoned with the same blend of seasonings that make up KFC’s Original Recipe chicken. The wedges were tender, crispy in all the right places, and had a wonderful complex flavor that combined various spices and fluffy buttery potato flavor.
I love KFC’s OG recipe, I think it’s the best thing the brand has going for it, but unfortunately, KFC ditched the wedges and replaced them with its Secret Recipe Fries. The move isn’t a total loss because the Secret Recipe Fries are also pretty tasty, but they come across as less unique. KFC’s potato wedges made the brand different, and in our opinion, they should embrace that.
Fast food brands should spend more time setting themselves apart from the competition. The Secret Recipe Fries are nobody’s favorite, but the potato wedges might’ve been!
The Bottom Line:
The less unique KFC’s menu gets, the less interesting.
Jack in the Box — Mozzarella Sticks (Mid 2000’s Era)
Dane Rivera
Why We Miss It:
Mozzarella Sticks are always appearing and disappearing from Jack in the Box’s menu (just last year they came back for a limited time), and each time the recipe is slightly tweaked. I’ll take any Mozzarella Sticks I can get, but if Jack in the Box wants to be known as the fast food place with the best sides, they’ll bring back this specific formulation of Mozzarella Sticks.
And no, I promise you, nostalgia isn’t what makes me pine for the days of Mid-00s fried cheese, I remember exactly what made these mozzarella sticks stand out! The breading was seasoned with a mix of Italian herbs and red pepper flakes. Those red pepper flakes added the subtlest hit of spice to every bite, which paired excellently with the marinara sauce. Red pepper flakes in mozzarella sticks are an anomaly, but one that I will never forget.
The Bottom Line:
Jack in the Box, you nailed mozzarella sticks in the past and we know you can do it again.
McDonald’s — Chicken Selects
Wikipedia
Why We Miss It:
There was a time when McDonald’s had chicken tenders on the menu. They were a nice alternative to the nuggets, offering less processed meat and a crispy exterior that was seasoned heavily with black pepper. Unfortunately, McDonald’s has continued to simplify its menu over the years, ditching these chicken tenders, salads entirely, snack wraps, and so many others.
The Bottom Line:
Stop experimenting with celebrity meals and Grimace milkshakes and please just give us chicken tenders back!
McDonald’s — Chocolate Dipped Cones
McDonald
Why We Miss It:
“I’m sorry the ice cream machine isn’t working right now” is a sentence we’ve all heard at least once at McDonald’s. So I get it, McDonald’s seems to have a lot of issues with its ice cream, so they probably dropped the dipped cone because it was too much of a hassle but, come on, who doesn’t love a dipped cone?
Dipping your soft-serve vanilla ice cream in some warm fudge is a surefire way to turn a delicious snack into a mind-blowing one.
The Bottom Line:
Getting dessert at McDonald’s is a real toss-up. Never count on it.
Popeyes — Chocolate Beignets
Popeyes
Why We Miss It:
Were Popeyes Chocolate Beignets as good as the real thing? Not a f*cking chance, but come one, these were fried pieces of dough, dusted in powdered sugar, and filled with Hershey’s chocolate — they may have not been the real thing, but they were a delicious dessert option at a chain that has too few.
They’ve since been replaced with the strawberry biscuit, which is so dry that it should be considered a choking hazard.
The Bottom Line:
I’ll take poorly dusted chocolate-filled beignets any day over Popeyes’ other dessert options.
Shake Shack —Spicy Shackmeister
Shake Shack
Why We Miss It:
While we legitimately like every selection on this list and would like to see them return to menus at least for a limited time, none of these items are essential, except for Shake Shack’s Spicy Shackmeister. Released last September, for four months, this wasn’t just Shake Shack’s best cheeseburger, it was the best cheeseburger you could buy in all of fast food.
The build consisted of a smashed patty dusted with hot spices, American cheese, a layer of fried onions, Shake sauce, and cherry peppers. Each bite was a blast of spicy savory flavors that was so good it led us to name Shake Shack the best fast food brand of 2023 in our annual Golden Bag Awards.
The Bottom Line:
This one feels like a true loss. Shake Shack has the capability of making the best fast food cheeseburger and it’s just choosing not to.
Taco Bell — The Meximelt
Taco Bell
Why We Miss It:
A lot of dishes deserve to be here but considering Taco Bell makes a habit of bringing back fan favorites for a limited time, we’re going to refrain from listing them all. Just last year Taco Bell brought back the Volcano Burrito, the Mexican Pizza (permanently), the Enchirito, The Double Decker Taco, and wings, just to name a few, and each of these options was great.
But one dish Taco Bell hasn’t brought back yet is the legendary Meximelt.
The Meximelt consisted of a soft flour tortilla stuffed with ground beef, pico de gallo, and a three-cheese blend, toasted in a cool little machine they had at all locations. Yes, that’s essentially just a quesadilla, but the flavor can’t be denied. It’s so good that we have been making our own version (it’s better) and while this dish is possible to hack at Taco Bell, doing so can be pricier than necessary.
The Bottom Line:
Come on Taco Bell, you’ve brought everything else back, it’s time to bring back the Meximelt.
Wendy’s — Hot Honey Chicken Sandwich
Wendy
Why We Miss It:
Wendy’s is at its best when it turns the decadent food meter to 10, and no chicken sandwich has ever been as decadent as the Hot Honey. The sandwich featured a spicy fried chicken filet topped with pepper jack cheese, bacon, a habanero-based honey sauce, and crunchy dill pickle chips. The way the flavors hit the palate was magic, a mix of complex spicy sensations, audible crunchiness, and an ever-shifting flavor that bounced between smokey, tangy, and wonderfully savory.
We never assumed this one was going to be permanent, but we’re waiting with bated breath for the day Wendy’s brings this back.
The Bottom Line:
The most under-discussed chicken sandwich in fast food history. This thing rocked.
“The severity of the allegations cast a shadow over the artist — and over the awards show that recognized him,”The Hollywood Reporterexclusively reports this morning, January 12. “Diddy’s representative told THR that he won’t attend the Feb. 4 Grammys. Everyone nominated for a Grammy is invited to the show, and the Academy revealed in a Dec. 11 statement to RadarOnline that it is ‘taking this matter very seriously and we are in the process of evaluating it with the time and care that it deserves.’”
The 2024 Grammys will be hosted by Trevor Noah at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 4. The ceremony will broadcast live on CBS and stream on Paramount+.
Has anyone asked Tom Cruise for his thoughts on Reacher? Someone really should (and then ask him to send me a Christmas cake). The actor played him in two movies, Jack Reacher and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, and while they’re entertaining, the One True Reacher wasn’t found until Alan Ritchson was cast as the crowbar fighter in Amazon Prime Video’s Reacher.
If you’re interested in looking like Reacher, first off, good luck. You can add the muscles, but not the height (sorry, Tom). It’s also a lot of hard work: Ritchson told Men’s Journal that he was “grinding it out five days a week for the eight months that we had to prep.” But if you’re serious, F45 Mill Hill trainer and owner Reiss Mogilner gave some suggestions to GQ. There’s useful tips about sticking to a balanced, muscle-building diet (“Ensuring an ample supply of essential amino acids from protein sources is imperative for optimal muscle repair and growth”) and doing compound exercises, like squats and deadlift.
Mogilner (who hasn’t worked with Ritchson personally) also suggested a fitness routine. “Perform three to four sets of 8 to 12 reps of the exercises below twice a week, gradually increasing the weights to challenge the muscles over time,” he said. The exercises are deadlifts, bench press, overheard press, lateral pulldowns, and lateral raises. You can see the full conditioning here. Follow it, and before long, you’ll be fighting a guy named Sasquatch in a bar.
This video will help, too.
The latest episode of Reacher season two debuted on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, January 12th.
Not everyone needs to be a method actor (we don’t have to get into that now) but it’s assumed that most actors have at least some inkling of how to do whatever job they are pretending to do. In Jason Statham’s case, the man signed on as the titular keeper of the bees in The Beekeeper, and subsequently began beekeeping. Now he’s in it for the long haul.
Director David Ayer confirmed that the bee stunts were legit, and Statham got really into beekeeping to prepare for the role. “In the opening, Jason’s pulling out the comb, and smoking the hive, and doing all the processes. That’s real. The bees are real. He learned how to do all of that,” Ayer recently told EW. “It’s interesting, because we see him as this rough punch-up guy, and yet he got the zen of it — he really embraced the zen of beekeeping.” There is something particularly menacing about hundreds of tiny flying beings with razor-sharp butts out to get you. But for Statham, it’s real. And he welcomes it!
Even though The Beekeeperreally does have bees, their presence is more of a metaphor, Ayer explained. “The idea of The Beekeeper is that there’s this secret society that monitors what’s going on in our societies and then can step in and intervene when the system can’t take care of itself.” And when the system can’t take care of itself, Statham arrives.
It seems like the bees trusted Statham, as he did not get stung, unlike the rest of the crew. “Jason did not get stung,” Ayer continued. “I got stung a bunch of times because I was operating camera, getting all these tight shots of bees, the hero bee-shots, and I was wearing black socks. I learned that bees will attack black cloth because they think that it’s a bear. [Laughs] And so that’s why the beekeepers wear these white suits.”
Of course, if he really was committed to his work, Statham would use this approach with all of his projects. Why didn’t he volunteer to swim with sharks while filming Meg 2? That would really show us.
The coming of age era known as your twenties are a time for experimentation, branching out, learning about different aspects of yourself, and of course, having stupid fun.
Of course, every generation‘s definition of fun varies. Just what might Gen Zers, those who navigated their teenhood through TikTok and basically came of drinking age during a global pandemic, do to elicit feelings of fun?
Thirty-two year old (read: millennial) Ashley Tea wondered this very thing. In a video that went viral on TikTok, she shared “I genuinely think millennials got to have a way better time than Gen Z does.”
Tea then reminisced about her own experience of being “an emo kid in 2005,” going out to clubs, bars and restaurants with her friends having a “fun, great, trashy” time.
That simply wouldn’t be financially feasible in today’s economic landscape, Tea noted, leaving her “mystified” as to how today’s college age adults might enjoy themselves.
So again, Tea posed the question: “ it’s a Friday night, a Saturday night…What do do? Where do you go?”
Thousands responded to Tea’s question, and their answers were…illuminating, to say the least—and certainly different than how she spent her early 20s.
For starters, Tea’s joke about “Gen Zers not having any fun at all” rang true for many people of that age group.
“As a 23 year old: I don’t have any fun, hope that helps!” quipped one person.
Another joked, “sometimes I sit outside if I’m feeling extra.”
One obvious factor behind this is finances. With everything being far more expensive, many Gen Zer’s simply cannot afford to have a social life that resembles earlier generations.
“As a 21 year old, the economy makes it difficult to have fun that way, I work 40 hours weekly and I’m either too tired or can’t afford it,” one person wrote.
Another reason, which isn’t maybe as obvious, is surveillance. Tea noted that a lot of young people said that since either “parents can track their phones everywhere” they are deterred from doing things that could get them into trouble. Perhaps that’s a win for safety, but there is something to be said about excessive levels of control.
Then of course there’s the pandemic, which sucked the fun out of everything big time.
“I got ROBBED of my early 20s bs COVID started when I was 22 😭 Nwo things are normal but all the good bars and clubs in my area didn’t survive the lockdown,” one person wrote.
Plus a lack of third spaces to gather, leaving very little options beside staying home and scrolling on TikTok.
However, it’s not all gloom and doom, Tea discovered.
Plus, when Gen Zers do actually have fun, it tends to lean towards more wholesome activities, like house parties (sometimes even themes house parties) and crocheting. Lots and lots crocheting apparently.
So maybe things look quite a bit different for this generation. That’s not entirely a good or bad thing. And it’s definitely to be expected in some ways. The struggle of rising costs and limited opportunities to form connections and have fun are undeniably issues that must be addressed. But the fact that Gen Zers are leaning into their creativity is worth noting too. And it makes it clear that even though it might not look like it, there is still fun to be had.
What started out as a lighthearted class presentation quickly turned into a fabulous humanities lesson for all.
A teacher under the pseudonym Larry Lexicon has 1.8 million followers on TikTok, where they tune in to catch the funny-yet-inspirational interactions Lexicon has with his students.
Recently, Lexicon had his class rolling with his meticulously crafted PowerPoint explaining what certain Gen Z words mean.
“All year long I’ve been listening to you and making a list, which I’ve compiled here for you — the Gen Z Term Dictionary,” he told the class, saying that they should speak up if anything was inaccurate.
Here’s what he came up with.
He took “bruh,” (aka the “staple of their generation”) to simply be the alternative for “bro,” except that “bruh!” can also be used as an exclamation. That was correct.
Although the word “Rizz,” was fairly new to him, he also correctly guessed that this was short for “charisma,” and thus refers to someone who has the ability to charm.
“You can use it in all kinds of ways. Like I’m the Rizzard of Oz!” he joked.
“Bussin” he took to mean that something was good, particularly food. Also correct. He even knew that “bussin’ bussin’” meant that something was really good. Clearly, Lexicon had done his homework.
However, a few people pointed out in the comments that many terms have roots in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE). So in his third TikTok, Lexicon chose to make some revisions, and explained to the class why those revisions were important.
“I know you think you came up with a lot of these words, but you didn’t, and they’ve been around for a long time,” Lexicon said, noting how parts of AAVE language are at first “looked down upon by society as uneducated or thuggish” yet nonetheless sneak into daily vocabulary through pop culture.
“What happens is it makes its way into like, white suburbia, and you get a middle-aged dorky white dude mislabeling it just for a whole generation as a term dictionary,” he said. “And it ends up erasing the importance of it.”
Lexicon then admitted that it was a mistake made by his own ignorance, which was okay, because he was able to take feedback, learn and act on it to grow.
“Being ignorant’s OK, but being willfully ignorant and not doing anything about it — not so OK.”
Viewers who have been following Lexicon’s series applauded him for taking the time to make even a silly little powerpoint into an important conversation for everyone involved.
“I love how you’re learning it and then teaching it! This is education!” one person wrote.
“The fact that you came back and showed HOW TO LEARN and that it’s OK NOT TO KNOW but not ok to be willfully ignorant,” added another.
“This is a hell of an example for your students,” read the top comment.
In case you’re curious, here are all the words gathered so far for the newly re-titled “AAVE-inspired Gen Z term dictionary.”
“Delulu”— delusional.
“Eepy”— really sleepy.
“Be so for real”— “Are you serious?”
“Witerawy”— “Literally,” but with emphasis.
“Baddie” — “A pretty girl, typically very curvy and independent.” But can also be a guy.
“Gyatt” — A substitute for “gosh darn!” typically used in response to seeing a baddie.
“Getting sturdy” — A dance usually used when winning, kind of like a touchdown dance.
“Bet” — Another way of saying “OK” or “alright.” Likely a shortened version of “you bet.”
“Slaps” — a verb for when a song is really good. Or food. Maybe? Debate’s still out on that one
“Cap” — A lie.
“No cap” — The truth.
“On god”— undeniable truth.
Lexicon plans to add new words each week throughout the remaining weeks of school. If you’d like to follow along, he can be found on TikTok.
There’s a fine line between a unique name and one that sets kids up for a lifetime of ridicule.
On the one hand, maybe it shouldn’t matter what other people think, and parents should pick a name that suits their preferences, consequences be damned. On the other hand, their kid might not appreciate that kind of bravery after enduring years of bullying during childhood, followed constant confusion at Starbucks and truly unenviable work emails once they’re adults.
And this chapter of parenting can be a little stressful—even more stressful if neither partner can agree on a name they both like.
This was the case for a husband who absolutely hated a name his wife so eagerly wished to give their unborn son. But rather than follow the popular “one no, two yeses” rule of baby-naming, where both parents must agree on the name chosen for a child, the wife instead went full steam ahead with her idea.
According to the husband’s account on Reddit, here’s what happened:
“Me (25m) and my wife (23f) are having our first child together. She is currently 9 months pregnant and could give birth anytime in the next couple of weeks. The only major fight we have had throughout her pregnancy happened a couple days ago, and it was about what we were going to name our kid.”
“It all started when we found out the gender of the baby,” he continued. “After we found out we were having a boy we sat down together and made a list. Almost all of the names she suggested were normal, until the one that caused me to write this post. She suggested we name our son Mune.”
Mune. Like…dune an “m?” Or like “mun?” “Moon?” “Money?” “Mew-nay?” So many questions.
“She told me the name was from this movie she watched when she was younger and that it always stuck with her,” the husband explained, saying that when he told her it felt a “little out there” and was worried their son might get made fun of.
After a little back and forth, the couple agreed to take the name Mune off the list. Or so the dad-to-be thought.
“Later on in her pregnancy her mom decided to throw a baby shower as it was her first grandchild. It was fine for the most part until we started to open the gifts. Most of them were normal baby things like diapers and bottles, until we got to her mom’s gift. My wife opened the gift bag and pulled out a blue handmade blanket. It seemed normal enough at first until my wife unfolded it and low and behold there was the name Mune written on the blanket,” he wrote.
The man had tried to keep cool until after the party was over. However, when he confronted his wife about it, all hell seemed to break loose.
“She got defensive and told me that it was a good name and that I was overreacting about it,” he concluded. “I brought up the earlier points and told her it was a stupid name for a kid and if she wanted to name something Mune so bad she could use the name for a dog. She got upset and called her mom to come get her. After she left she called me and told me she wouldn’t be coming back for a while. Everyone I’ve talked to about this has said I’m not the asshole, but now that my wife has been gone and I’ve been thinking about it I feel like I could have handled the situation better.”
Yikes.
While the husband might have regretted his actions, public opinion overwhelmingly sided with him.
One mom wrote, “Naming a baby is a 2 yes or 1 no situation. You do not name a child something your partner does not agree with. You find a compromise. This is the start of many necessary compromises in life and it is a total AH move to unilaterally decide on a child’s name despite your partner’s misgivings…She is absolutely not mature enough for motherhood if she can not find a reasonable compromise on this.”
Another added “this is a child, not a goldfish. There are consequences and repercussions to choosing a name that is very unusual to begin with…. To go behind the other parent’s back and tell a grandparent what the name is going to be, that is unacceptable.”
Others noted how the wife and her mom “pulled a power play,” which “in itself is an a**hole move.” In addition, many pointed out that running away from the conflict (leaving to go to mom’s house) might have not been the best way to handle the situation.
“Leaving so she doesn’t have to face the argument is actually a form of abuse if it happens a lot,” one person commented. “She may just have baby brain and be overreacting due to hormones, but that is red flag behavior of it can’t be dismissed for reasons beyond her control.
And if there’s any doubt as to just how damaging weird name can be, take it from this person:
“My name has prevented me from doing anything that would have my name called out in a crowd of people. Never tried sports. Military was a no go. I don’t even want to apply for higher positions at work because I don’t want to have meetings in closed rooms where people might call my name.
“…Being forced to grow up with a weird name discouraged me from a lot of things and I began resenting my parents for thinking they were being creative. I had to live with it through grade school and high school. The ridicule didn’t end until the damage was already done.”
Raising a kid together is full of making compromises, prioritizing healthy communication, and honoring commitments, none of which are easy 100 percent of the time. But if couples can’t learn how to navigate these issues, then disagreeing on names is the least of their problems. We can all agree that parenting as true partners means men often need to step up their games. But it takes two for parenting to truly flourish and that includes respect your partner and making choices that are good for the entire family. Together.
The college football world got some shocking news earlier this week when it was reported that legendary Alabama coach Nick Saban would retire. The greatest college football coach of all time, Saban left a pair of gigantic shoes to fill, as he’s led the Crimson Tide to consistent heights that no one in the country has been able to match ever since he took over in Tuscaloosa.
On Friday, we learned which coach is going to attempt to fill those shoes: Washington’s Kalen DeBoer. According to Mark Schlabach and Chris Low of ESPN, DeBoer entered into negotiations with Alabama over a deal to make him Saban’s successor, and not long after that, Peter Thamel of ESPN reported that DeBoer was on the cusp of getting the most highly-regarded gig on the market this offseason.
Sources: Washington’s Kalen DeBoer is on the cusp of getting the Alabama job. Finality expected soon. https://t.co/rfKHLqr8yy
Thamel went on to report that Washington pushed to make a major financial commitment to DeBoer if he turned down the Crimson Tide.
Washington made a strong push to keep Kalen DeBoer, attempting to make him one of the country’s Top 10 coaches, per sources. They offered to double his current base of $4.2 million (before bonuses). https://t.co/B5D5rDXC5g
DeBoer has rocketed into college football coaching superstardom in recent months. While he had remarkable success as the head coach at NAIA school Sioux Falls from 2005-09 — he went 67-3 and won a trio of national titles — he didn’t get his first FBS gig until 2020, when he took over Fresno State. DeBoer went 12-6 at that stop before becoming the head coach of Washington in 2022, where he’s accrued a 25-3 mark. In his career as a head coach across those three stops, DeBoer has accrued a 104-12 record.
Last season, DeBoer led the Huskies to a 14-1 mark, Pac-12 conference championship, and a win in the College Football Playoff semifinals over Texas. While Washington came up short in the national championship game against Michigan, the win in the Sugar Bowl marked the first time the Huskies won a New Year’s 6 bowl since 2000.
Prior to DeBoer getting hired, multiple coaches who were linked with the Alabama job to one extent or another — Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian, Florida State’s Mike Norvell — issued public statements indicating that they would stay at their current schools. It is unclear if this impacted the Crimson Tide’s search for a Saban successor, or if DeBoer was their top option all along.
Fans of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer can finally watch his award-winning historical biopic the way he truly intended: on Peacock’s streaming service.
Universal’s summer blockbuster starring Cillian Murphy as the “father of the atomic bomb” lingered in theaters for months, eventually amassing a staggering box office haul before its window closed. From there, the film was available to buy in physical form as per Nolan’s preference. But, with awards season heating up, the studio likely wants to drum up support and excitement for its Oscar contender which is why the film is finally finding its streaming home on Peacock.
Oppenheimer is set to begin streaming exclusively on the platform on February 16th, just a month before the Academy Awards take place. And, once fans have watched (or likely re-watched) Murphy and company build a mass weapon of destruction on their small screens, they can take in the rest of Nolan’s prolific filmography. That’s because a large swath of the director’s work is also coming to Peacock beginning February 1st. Audiences can stream films like Dunkirk, Inception, Memento, and Nolan’s Batman trilogy on the platform at the start of the month. Obviously, Nolan would want you to own physical copies of these works of art but as long as you’re appreciating Alden Ehrenreich’s masterclass in petty one-liners somehow, that counts as a win for cinema.
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Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
