Category: News

This article originally appeared on 10.30.19

Cats can sometimes come off like aloof jerks. Their love often seems conditional. But turns out they actually love you more than they let on. Your cat might shoot you a stone-cold stare every time you pet it, but it actually harbors warm feelings underneath. And it’s not just because you feed it.

A study conducted by researchers at Oregon State University found that cats form “secure attachments” to their owners, meaning cats feel a sense of security from their owners. It’s not dissimilar from dogs and babies. The findings were published in Current Biology.

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The researchers studied 108 cats (70 adult cats, 38 kittens) and their owners using a test developed in the 1970s to study bonding between parents and infants. “We took [attachment styles] from other previous studies and just thought, ‘Do cats actually fit these different styles or not?'” lead study author Kristyn Vitale told NBC News.

The cat was placed in a room with its owner for two minutes, then the owner left for two minutes. The owner returned for two more minutes to determine the attachment the cat had for its owner. Of the 70 cats, 64.3% of cats showed signs of “secure attachment,” which means that they trust that their owner will take care of their needs. They felt safe exploring their surroundings, as well. “The characteristics of a secure cat, for example, [are] greeting their owner and then going back to what they were doing,” Vitale told NBC News. “That’s how a secure human also behaves.”

The other cats showed “insecure attachment,” which means they appeared to have anxiety or fear towards their owners. They either ignored their owners completely when they returned, or clung to them. Other signs included twitching their tails and licking their lips. By comparison, similar research found that 65% of children and 58% of dogs demonstrated secure attachment to their caregivers. There’s a better chance that your cat feels more secure around you than your dog, even though your dog is all up in your business all the time.

Vitale says that it’s important for owners to think about how much their cats rely on them for a sense of security. “When they’re in a stressful situation, how they’re behaving can actually have a direct impact on their cats’ behavior. Cats that are insecure can be likely to run and hide or seem to act aloof,” she said. “There’s long been a biased way of thinking that all cats behave in this way. But the majority of cats use their owner as a source of security.”

This wasn’t the only time researchers were able to crack the thoughts behind your cat’s icy gaze. In 2017, researchers at the Oregon State University found that cats prefer socializing with people to food. This is not a joke. Cats were given a choice of stimuli to see what they preferred. A majority of cats went for hanging out with humans first, then food.

All these years, we’ve been thinking about cats wrong. It’s not that your cat doesn’t love you. Your cat just has a very different way of showing you it loves you. It might not even look like love. Sometimes it looks like pee on your favorite sweater. But that’s love. Really, it is.

Gerard Butler stands out as a rare exception. Almost everything happening to movies today in the way the trends are going, almost have to be followed by, “except for Gerard Butler movies.” There are no action movies anymore, except for Gerard Butler movies. Everything is just superhero movies, except for Gerard Butler movies. They sure don’t make movies like that anymore, except for Gerard Butler movies And Butler seems pretty aware of this, even joking that Plane is his last movie ever (it is not) and that you’ll only find him on the streamers now (you will not).

Butler’s latest movie, Plane, is getting a lot of attention for its “to the point” title. In fact, it did briefly have a longer title, The Plane, until Butler nixed the “the,” returning it to Plane. Butler says anytime the title of his movie has changed, the movie has bombed. So now he has a strict rule about title changes. The thing is, Butler knows what he’s doing. More people should listen to Gerard Butler. (More on that in a second.)

In Plane, Butler plays Brodie Torrance, a great airline pilot who has been demoted to unappealing routes because of an altercation with an unruly passenger. Caught in a terrible storm, Brodie has to land his airliner on an uncharted island in which its residents are in the middle of a civil war. Things keep getting worse and worse for Brodie Torrance has he fights to keep his passengers alive.

Before this interview, I reread a 2018 interview I did with Butler, just to make sure I don’t ask anything similar. What struck me was how it started. Butler was telling me about how many times he had to shake hands that day. Then, in all seriousness, lamented how its no wonder why we have pandemics. Again, this was 2018. Anyway, we should all be listening to Gerard Butler.

Last time we met, in 2018, after we shook hands, you used hand sanitizer and were talking about how many hands you have to shake. I said I was on your side on this, then you said, “If somebody said how do we make sure that we have pandemics? What kind of greeting involved sharing?”

I said that? Oh my God. I’m so glad you told me that. That’s kind of weird.

It is weird. But you called it.

But now I suddenly feel responsible for COVID itself.

No, you were warning everyone.

Good warning. Nobody listened. You’ve got to get more people to read your interviews. We could have changed the planet.

That’s going to be the headline, “More people should listen to Gerard Butler.”

[Laughs] And you!

No, no, you were laying it all out. Then you had a story about a guy picking his nose.

Oh, I told you about the guy we were all with? There was a crowd of us, and I watched him pick his nose! And my friend is going, “Oh, that’s disgusting.” And then at the end, he comes up and shakes all our hands.

Now that guy, he’s probably somewhat responsible for what happened.

I think he’s the one. I wonder if he remembers. He’s like sitting back in London going, “That was me.”

I have to say, I had so much fun watching this. I have a feeling you know how fun this is.

Yeah. So to me, I’ve now been to a few screenings and I’ve heard of other screenings and there’s nothing better. By the way, I’ve had the opposite, where you go to a screening and it’s lethargic. And you can tell, “Okay, this movie’s not really working.” This movie really works.

It does.

People come out going, “That was fun. Oh, I was in the edge of my seat.” It’s moving. It’s at times heartbreaking. It’s funny, it’s scary. It’s a ride.

I have a statement to make about Brodie Torrance.

Okay.

I’ve been thinking this through since I saw it … this man is a hero.

[Laughs] You’re good. That’s how I review movies, “It was good. He was a hero.” And then I read an actual review, and I’m like, “Oh my God, that’s brilliant.”

That’s my whole review, “This man is a hero.”

This man is a hero. Yeah, I guess he is, but what I love about him is that he makes mistakes. He’s not perfect. He has to make some judgment calls. His passions get the most of them sometimes. But, yeah, I feel like what I love about these movies is the audience can climb into that. He’s not a superhero. Because in that way, it’s still a fun hero, but you’re not a superhero.

Well, to that point, this movie is a throwback. It’s got the ’90s action movie vibe. They used to make movies like this all the time, but they don’t anymore.

Well, it’s funny because Robert Downey Jr. wrote me the nicest email after Olympus Has Fallen. This is the same vibe. He’s like, “We need more of these movies.” These are the movies, when I was in New York as a kid, and people would shout at the screen and throw things and be like, “No!,” and applaud and cheer. And I think that’s what this movie is, it’s a throwback to that, where literally you’re in the energy of the group and everybody’s either terrified or cheering you on.

Speaking of cheering moments, in Plane you literally fly a plane into a bad guy.

That was my moment! By the way, I created that, just to let you know.

Wait. You did?

I just want everybody to know that, that was my moment. Although I’m sure a lot of people will be like, “Are you kidding me, that’s ridiculous.”

No, it’s not. It’s incredible.

But it’s that great!

So you brought up that idea? You said, “We have to fly a plane into a bad guy?”

Absolutely. Yeah, and it was something I had to pitched to everybody. I sometimes think I prefer that, prefer it to the performance. I love developing scripts. I love being able to put into big ideas, the small ideas, and think of them from an actor’s point of view. What are those magical moments? What are the challenges that we can put in? What are the surprising bonding moments, twists, and turns? But then the bigger moments, always, I’m all about that. You know, realize you can take it anywhere. I can take this anywhere! You make it as crazy or as weird, but then the challenge is, always, but how in that moment do you make it believable? Even if the audience is, oh, that’s crazy, but if they’re in it, they’re with you.

When did you, or somebody else, decide to drop the “The” in the title from The Plane to just Plane? Because that title is getting a lot of attention.

Okay… I’m taking responsibility for that, too. Because some people said it was a working title and I never look at a movie like that. I’m very superstitious because any movie that I’ve made that they changed the title on us has always failed. There’s been three now, haven’t done well. And I’ve sat there listening to them…

What’s an example?

[Laughs] I’m not going to give you an example right now.

Okay.

I don’t want to crap on any of my movies or hurt any people’s feelings. But there are three in particular. And that was part of my argument on the phone. To be honest, it was Plane, but then on the script and on the call sheet, it suddenly became The Plane. And that was part of what people were arguing against. And I said, “Guys, it was never The Plane. It was Plane. And then I think some people love it, some people hate it. I love the simplicity of the title. [Butler turns around, smiles, and points at a giant picture of a plane.]

Yeah, there it is.

It’s like Flight. It’s like Airplane!, Airport, Volcano, Twister.

I just watched Airport for the first time this week…

Oh wow.

I’m all in on this genre right now.

Absolutely, man. They’re fun. There are reasons that they’ve survived. There are reasons that audiences come out. It’s like you say, it’s a throwback to the ’90s movies where you’re just like, “Come on!” One other thing I got to say about the movie is it has a lot of elements in it. It’s a drama, it’s an action movie, there’s survival elements, it’s a disaster movie.

Why do you seem to be one of the very few actors who are immune to the way movies seem to be going down the road they’re going these days? Even Greenland, which came out in the worst of circumstances, late 2020, that movie made money. You seem immune to all of this.

Yeah, that movie killed it. Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know if I got lucky? Because it’s true. It’s like we’re all in some ways warriors going through a field and you see people fall by the way, and you also see a certain movie fall by the wayside. And I feel like I’m making a last stand for this kind of movie. It’s not the only kind of movie I make, but I love them. And by the way, they’re not for everybody, but they’re for so many people. And when you’re walking down the street and people go off, “Oh my God, I love this, I love this,” you see how enjoyable it is.

And when they do make them, it’s a lot of the streamers. And they’re just not as fun to watch. It’s fun to be with other people when you fly a plane into a bad guy.

I couldn’t agree more. There’s nothing better. And I think that’s what people are realizing as they come back after COVID, how much they actually missed that cinematic experience. And I think some people were taken it for granted until it disappeared…

Well, that’s why I asked the question. Because things did change. You seem immune to this. I look around, you’re one of the last people standing who can get an action movie that’s not Marvel or Avatar made. It did have an impact. You have to be a little bit worried about it…

Yeah, I’m not. Listen…

Not this movie specifically, but just the way things are going.

Yes. Yeah. That is a concern, but I’m not big enough in myself to change the way things are going. You just got to adapt to the times. [Laughs jokingly] What I’m saying is you’re only going to see me from now on on Netflix, Amazon, and Apple TV. This is the last movie I’m ever making. No, I have another one coming out, Kandahar.

I’m assuming you’re going to take credit for this too, but was this the movie you’re finally like, “This character is going to be Scottish”?

No, by the way. No. Actually, I’m not taking credit for that. I hadn’t done a movie in Scottish for years. I think it was like 10 years, I hadn’t been able to do a Scottish accent. And now I’ve done two or three in a row. And there’s definitely something, a relief, when I can do it in my own. I don’t have to worry about the accent. At first I didn’t want to. Sometimes I go, “No, it should be American.” And then I’m like, “You know what? Actually, this could be super cool for this guy to be.” There’s a lot of elements that feel very Scottish in him. He has that passion.

He does.

He’s very stubborn and he’s strong and he’s tough, but this is not his arena. You sometimes question, is he actually going to help people or is he going to get everybody killed? He has the right intentions and he’s really trying his best. He’s trying to be a leader. There’s a lot of pressure on him, but sometimes they’re so screwed in this situation that it feels, whichever way he goes, people are going to die.

‘Plane’ opens in theaters on January 13th. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

Cardi B is making her second appearance in a Super Bowl commercial and this time, she’s bringing her husband Offset along with her. The pair has always been very publicly romantic, sharing a wealth of videos and photos about their daily life and giving each other extravagant gifts, so it’s only right that the commercial in question is Valentine’s Day-themed, according to TMZ. They shot the ad over the holidays with a small crew, but according to TMZ’s infamous and eerily accurate sources, the scale will go much bigger by the time the spot airs on Super Bowl Sunday.

They also didn’t bring their kids along, so the ad is expected to be more romantic in nature than family-oriented (although it is for McDonald’s and will air during the biggest sporting event of the yea, so it probably won’t be as risque as some of their couples content). The timing of the ad’s air date is also quite opportune, given that the Super Bowl will take place just two days before Valentine’s Day on February 12.

As noted by TMZ, it was at the Super Bowl in 2017 that Cardi and Offset first went public as a couple, making this something of a full-circle moment for them. Cardi also starred in her first Super Bowl ad in 2019, after her song “I Like It” was used to promote Pepsi alongside Lil Jon, Steve Carrell, and more.

It looks like we almost got a collaboration between two music icons. Today, Page Six reported that Beyoncé and Britney Spears had a collaboration planned. According to the publication, Bey reached out to Spears to appear in a new music video. Unfortunately, the collaboration did not come to fruition.

Both Spears and Beyoncé came up together around the same time. Destiny’s Child self-titled debut album dropped in 1998 and Spears’ debut album, …Baby One More Time came out a year later. Still, the only collaboration the two have on record is a 2004 Pepsi commercial, which also featured Pink, in which the three pop icons covered Queen’s “We Will Rock You.”

Three years prior, both Spears and Beyoncé appeared in Austin Powers In Goldmember.

In recent years, both artists have shown nothing but love to each other. In a 2016 interview with NME (per Digital Spy), Spears shared some kind words about Bey’s album, Lemonade.

“Generally, I like songs that are bit different and I like moody stuff,” Spears said. “There are moments where you feel the light, airy Beyoncé, but most of the time it almost feels like a therapy album. I respect that.”

A year before, Bey and her husband Jay-Z were spotted at Spears’ Vegas residency, according to People.

Representatives for Beyoncé and Spears did not immediately return our request for comment regarding the rumored collaboration.

Georgia put the biggest beatdown in bowl game history on TCU on Monday night, in what just happened to also be the National Championship — with the team literally eating hot wings on the sideline during the game cause it was such a blowout.

The Dawgs’ 65-7 win was never in doubt, as Georgia took and early 10-0 lead and, after TCU made it 10-7, never looked back. The first failed offensive drive for Georgia didn’t come until the opening drive of the second half, and aside from the one coverage bust that set up the Horned Frogs deep in the red zone, the defense played a nearly flawless game.

It was a comprehensive destruction as Georgia cemented itself as college football’s new power program. What was noticeable throughout the postgame interviews on the field was how every single Bulldog player had bought into the idea that no one had believed in them and they had to summit the mountain again to prove the doubters wrong. We also got a glimpse at how Kirby Smart goes about creating that edge when a recording of his pregame speech hit social media, and while it is extremely NSFW, it also might get you ready to run through a wall on this Tuesday afternoon.

“Trust your preparation. Your ass has prepared for this sh*t for f*cking 365 days, I think about them f*ckers in that locker room, think about getting our opportunity, all the sh*t you went through this week to get ready for this game, now you pay the price. You go out there with energy, enthusiasm. Ain’t nobody with room to be cautious. Ain’t nobody with room to be nervous about sh*t. Go out here and f*ck their ass up. Don’t think about scoreboard. Don’t think about sh*t. You think about knocking the sh*t out of ‘em. Did you hear what Fox(?) said about you Monday? I sat in that f*cking meeting, I said I want to play right then. Tore your sh*t up out here two years ago. F*cked your sh*t up. Goddamn pride and joy tells me you f*cked these guys up. You go play the right way. You play the right way. You knock their ass over. You stay off the f*cking ground. You tackle the f*cking man with the ball. This sh*t’s easy. Look at the right sh*t. Punish their ass on offense and kick their ass on special teams, guys. It’s about who the f*ck we are. I believe in you. Let’s go kick some…[team starts cheering]”

The message certainly got through as I think the best description of what the Dawgs did to the Horned Frogs would be “f*cked their ass up,” as requested by Kirby.

Mercury Prize-winning Scottish trio Young Fathers dropped what seems to be the last single off their forthcoming studio album, Heavy Heavy. However, the band consisting of musicians Alloysious Massaquoi, Kayus Bankole, and G. Hastings shouldn’t be toyed around with musically as their song by that name may suggest.

Sonically, the trio has rejected the idea of sonic boundaries in past single releases, “I Saw,” “Tell Somebody,” and “Geronimo,” and that tradition extends to their new single, “Rice.” As the group prepares for their album’s release next month, the song is the final appetizer before the full entree is served. The band paints a gutwrenching piece of spiritual yearning in just under three minutes.

Opening with the lines, “When it’s coming / I’ll be running / You’ll be doomed in 9th / We are mining / I am golden / You’re not finding what we’re holding,” it is difficult to shake the idea that something learner at play here in this thing called life.

Another set of standout lyrics in the song comes in the stanza, “I need to bide my time until I’m home again / Fill these boots to feel my soul and say / Buy more drugs to feel that love again / Kill them slow they reap, I sow amen.” This confession of both situational observations and internal self-reflection is jarring yet profoundly poetic.

The inspiration behind the track’s title comes near the song’s end in the lines, “Leave ’em out in the open / Put it all on the line / I need to catch more fish baby / I need to eat more rice.” Rice, in this context, serves a dual meaning. First, in the literal sense, a grain, but also in the spiritual sense. Many cultures view rice as a sign of nutrition and sustenance.

In a statement released about what fans can expect from their album, Kayus replied, “[Heavy Heavy] could be a mood, or it could describe the smoothed granite of bass that supports the sound, or it could be a nod to the natural progression of boys to grown men and the inevitable toll of living, a joyous burden, relationships, family, the natural momentum of a group that has been around long enough to witness massive changes.”

Listen to the whole song above.

Heavy Heavy is out on 02/02/2023 via Ninja Tune. Pre-order it here.

Thanks to his role in Top Gun: Maverick and his work in the critically-acclaimed new film, Devotion, Glen Powell has quickly become a rising star in Hollywood who will soon have his pick of projects to choose from. But if you ask Powell what he’s most jazzed about, the answer is simple: Captain Planet.

Back in 2018, the writer/actor collaborated with Leonardo DiCaprio to get a live-action adaptation of the classic ’90s cartoon going at Paramount. However, the project was ultimately scrapped, but according to Powell, the eco protector may soar again at a different studio, and both he and DiCaprio are eager to make it happen. Via Entertainment Tonight:

Powell shared an update, noting that the status of the film will depend on the ongoing Warner Bros. shakeup and “where all the superhero stuff kind of lands there.”

“I think those conversations will be happening shortly,” he noted. “I know DiCaprio is super passionate about it. I’m super passionate about it. I think it could be great… I want that one to work. I’d love to play that superhero.”

Should Captain Planet not take pollution down to zero at Warner Bros. Discovery, Powell will presumably have other chances to tackle the superhero genre. Since Top Gun: Maverick‘s success, he’s been fancast as Cyclops and Hal Jordan (a.k.a. Green Lantern), but he’s quick to point out that he hasn’t had any official discussions for any comic book films. Yet.

“It takes a long time to navigate this town,” Powell told ET. “So for anyone to be like, ‘Oh, he’d be great in this role,’ it’s humbling, it’s great.”

(Via Entertainment Tonight)

Last year, How I Met Your Father became part of Hulu’s venture into spinoffs after the success that How I Met Your Mother had in the mid-2000s. The original series was one of those rare shows that, despite being well-loved by your parents, was actually a solid sitcom! It makes sense that Hulu would want to replicate this for the next generation of pub-dwelling New Yorkers (who may or may not have hated the finale).

While it took a little time and momentum to get going, How I Met Your Father actually became a stable hit with its own storylines and frequent callbacks to the original series, but not too many. Plus, it gave Hilary Duff an opportunity to live out her squashed Lizzie McGuire dreams, and that makes it all worth it.

The series stars Duff as Sophie, a woman recounting to her son how she met his father in 2022, with the older Sophie voiced by Kim Cattrall. Along with a cast of 30-something millennials, Sophie and her pals try to make it in New York by dating and drunkenly playing board games. Who can’t relate?! The series also stars Chris Lowell, Francia Raisa, Suraj Sharma and even Josh Peck and Leighton Meester make appearances, along with John Corbett as a new love interest. They really know their audience here.

According to the official description:

Sophie and her close group of friends take on changes to their careers and love lives as they stumble into their 30’s. Figuring out life through trial and error isn’t easy, but there’s nothing you can’t get through with friendship and plenty of laughs.

Season two will premiere on January 23rd on Hulu. Check out the trailer above.

Jamal Crawford made a career out of being an elite sixth-man, and that even translated to his second career in TV, where he spent last year doing some guest work on TNT’s Tuesday studio show. Now, though, Crawford is part of TNT’s full-time starting lineup on Tuesday nights, joining Adam Lefkoe, Candace Parker, and Shaquille O’Neal by filling the seat vacated by Dwyane Wade.

As Crawford explains it, TV wasn’t where he expected to be after his playing career ended, as his initial focus was pursuing a front office or coaching role, but after spending time with NBA TV, TNT, and on HooperVision with Quentin Richardson, he officially has “gotten bit by the bug” and is all-in on being in front of the camera. Ahead of the season premiere of TNT’s Tuesday night coverage this week, Crawford spoke with Dime over the phone about joining the TNT family, his excitement to be on the desk full-time, as well as thoughts about this season — from the individual scoring explosion to the Nets turnaround and more.

As you get ready to start the Tuesday night TNT season, what was last year like for you getting to join that desk on a guest basis? And what are you most excited for coming into the season full time on the TNT desk?

It was really cool for me as a guest because obviously the show is so popular, everybody watches it. So just to get a chance to have an opportunity like that as a guest was really cool. Being around everybody there and then kind of graduating to this point and being blessed enough to get this opportunity to make it home base and be a regular is even more fun. Because now when you go as a guest, you don’t want to over-talk or step anybody’s toes, you know, and you’re just kind of doing your role and doing your job. Now you’re like, I’m doing my role as well, but I’m kind of part of the family and I think that brings a different comfort level.

Whether it’s Inside, whether it’s the Tuesday show, that comfort level is something that that I think the TNT broadcast really wants to show and that family thing comes through. What is your relationship been like with Adam and Candace and Shaq, building to this moment and getting a chance to spend more time with them and get to know them on and off set?

Yeah, I’m so excited because I was truly a fan. Anybody who knows me knows I’m a basketball junkie. So I was really fans of all of them, you know, even before doing guest work. So to get a chance to know them a lot more over the last year, you know with Shaq obviously, Shaq’s one on one, right. Like he’s Shaq, his name says it all. So you know loving Shaq and getting to know him more over the last year and the kind of person he is. And then Lefkoe I was already a fan of, because he’s done such great work. I’ve always loved how he kind of point guards and setting everything up just as a fan and watching him closely and how he does things and goes about his business. He has a certain coolness to him. And Candace is a one of one in her own right as well. I’ve gotten a chance to work with her a lot the last couple of months. We did a lot of work together on Center Court (on NBATV) pretty much every week, the last couple of months and just getting to know her off screen as well. So super, super, super excited, even more excited than I was when I knew I’d be doing it because now I have a real relationship with all of them. I think the chemistry will kind of shine through.

What are the things that you’ve learned in your time between when you stopped playing and now and that transition into broadcasting? Is there anything that surprised you about you know, getting into this world or what have been the biggest lessons that you think you’ve learned, whether it’s Center Court whether it’s the the League Pass games with Q Rich. What are the things that you’ve learned over the past few years in this broadcasting world?

That I’ve gotten bit by the bug, to be honest with you. I didn’t know this would be my future. When I was stepping away from the game, or starting to think about other things as far as not playing, it was more on the front office side. That was actually my only focus. You know, I got offers for both that and coaching, and actually turned ’em down and Q Rich kind of got me in this space. He was my introduction to the space. So I have to give him a big shout out because without him saying, ‘hey man, you’d be good, do this HooperVision with me,’ and that’s kind of how it started. And then guest work and getting bit by the bug. I didn’t know I would enjoy it this much. So this is something I’m really taking the passion to as far as talking the game. I always talked the game. I’ve had camps, I’ve talked with my friends and barbershop talk, but to do it at this level with the world watching, I never knew that I would enjoy it this much. And now I want to be really good at it because I’m really into it.

What is it about talking ball, especially when you get on the desk with somebody like Shaq with somebody like Candace and you know two legends in the game and getting to to swap stories and get their perspective and share your perspective. What is it about that that so special? Because it seems like it would be just such a cool opportunity.

It’s such a cool thing because we all have different perspectives. Right? We all you know have a ton of experience around the game but we all see it from a different lens or we may articulate it from a different lens. And I think there’s something out there for every fan base to gear towards. It may be Candace’s point, it may be Shaq’s point, it may be Lefkoe’s point, it may be something I say that sticks with them. So you have these four different views, and you may agree with us one day or agree with a certain person one day, but then be like, nah I’m not feeling what that person said right there. You know, today they were talking crazy, and that’s what’s so good about it because it’s unscripted. We don’t know what each other’s gonna say, we’re just going off of our feel and our experience and that’s what’s really cool about the Turner and TNT family.

Shifting to what we’ve seen this season. We’ve seen some some crazy offensive individual performances and team performances, obviously led by Donovan Mitchell going for 71 the other night. What are you seeing about the talent level in the league particularly as as offensive playmakers that’s allowing for us to see so many 50-point games, 60-point games and obviously the 71 point point game?

Yeah, let me make a disclaimer by saying obviously the talent is really really great, and it’s exciting and it’s fun to see all these numbers. But on the flip side, I think it’s easier to score right now, to be honest with yaou. Just the way the game is called, the amount of threes that are being put up. I think it’s easier to score, but it’s fun to watch because now you truly can see the best of any person’s game right. Like before you have people who had a ton of game who may have been stifled by a system or stifled by where the league was. But now you’re seeing everybody at their max potential right and that’s what’s really cool about it because you can see these guys have these explosive performances. And we don’t know what’s coming next, to see 50 point games this often, nad to see Donovan get 71 is just like wow, right? He’s not just getting 71, he’s getting 71 and 11 assists and 8 rebounds, like it’s like everything souped up. But it’s fun to watch because you just don’t know what’s gonna happen.

Yeah. You mention the league and the shifts that we’ve seen in how it’s called but also how it’s played. I mean, every team can run a small ball lineup now and the spacing is crazy. You were in the league to see a lot of that shift. You were you were there in the early 2000s and everything was really condensed and then you saw everything starting to get spaced out. When you take a step back, is it kind of crazy to see where the league has gone just in the last 20 years or so?

Yes, it absolutely is. If you think about it, an off the dribble three-pointer was considered the worst shot in basketball. Like no, there’s 22 on the clock you can get that shot anytime. Now, the off the dribble three, if you can shoot that shot, make it a weapon. You’re probably a franchise guy now because you can shoot that shot off the dribble, you’re Dame Lillard or Steph Curry or any of these guys — Trae Young, Luka. Now you’re considered one of the biggest weapons, so to see that change for me personally, because I was a guard who did it early. It was frowned upon and I was sitting on the bench if I did it once, right. To see that change for me is probably the most dramatic thing of all.

Yeah. We’ve also seen the season that it feels like it’s pretty wide open. Early on it looked like Boston was maybe going to kind of run away with the East but they’ve come back a bit. What’s your feeling on where the league is at right now as far as the team dynamics and how we don’t seem to have a clear favorite at this moment? And does that make it more exciting as we get into the second half of the season?

Yeah, for me it makes it a lot more exciting because all these teams truly believe they can win, right? If they believe that, then they’re going to work towards that. They’re going to hold each other accountable to a way like, no we’re supposed to be winning these games and if they’re all doing that, the league will be better off for it. Because you’ll have instead of, you know, we always say there’s five or six teams that we believe can win it, now there might be 12 team that believe they can win it. And that’s almost damn near half the league, right, so if they are right there saying we believe we can win it if we make this move or we do this and we stay injury free. That’s what makes the league great because you don’t know, it’s almost like March Madness. There’s not a favorite, anything can happen. And that’s really cool because it brings the consumer and it brings the fan in. If you’re a fan rooting for one of these teams, you believe your team can win it, so you may root that much harder. So I love seeing it because it’s gonna up the whole level of the league, especially coming down the stretch of the season.

Are there any teams that you look at right now that maybe got off to a little slower start but but that you think can be in that contender range coming up as as we get to the playoff push?

Yeah, Brooklyn. I’ve been big on Brooklyn going into the season so even when they went through the roughest stretch right I was — you can go back and look on the GameTime and Center Courts — I was like I still believe in Brooklyn. So I didn’t know they would win like 20 straight but I thought they would be formidable come playoff time and I really believe now they have the right mix. I believe they made some changes. They gave themselves to the team I think from top to bottom right so you can feel that you can see it but I think they’re still like a backup big away from really being a true contender.

I’m sure you’ve been in a position where you’ve been on a team where there’s been a coaching change, and for a team like Brooklyn, what does that do and how can that kind of galvanize a group? When you get a coaching change you can get somebody that maybe has a different voice that connects with guys a little bit better. Like how does that change? Cause I think as a fan or as somebody who’s not been in a locker room, it can be tough to kind of understand exactly what a coaching change can do. But how can changing that voice and getting the right voice in charge really change a team’s trajectory on a season?

Well, when it’s used the right way like how Brooklyn’s using it, it can be like getting a max player or two. Because this is so dramatic because now guys are like so into it. Even the guys who aren’t playing are like, you know what, this assistant coach may have been my development guy or the guy helping me. Even though he’s not playing me, I believe in him. I know what he’s about. I spent more time with him one on one, so I’m rooting for him. And I know you know if he sees me preparing the way I prepare and he believes in me like I think he does, he’ll give me an opportunity at some point. So it changes everything, especially when it goes good. You know we see changes that haven’t done anything, or they went backwards. But to see a change that’s dramatic and I’ve always had a high regard for Jacque Vaughn. Like I played one game for him. Literally, the only coach ever played one game for, in the bubble, and I wish I could have played more. I was like man, this guy he just gets on every level like he gets it and I just really took him. And I’ve had 20 coaches, right, and some of them are Hall of Famers. But that guy he’s the one guy I wish I could play for. I just loved his makeup and everything he stood for.

Absolutely. And then we’ve had some teams that haven’t necessarily done what we thought they would do. I think Minnesota is one of standouts, there may be starting to find a little something. What does it take in a locker room to turn around the season when you get off to a start that that’s way worse than the expectations were? Like, what has to happen to get a group back on track and how difficult is that when it feels like nothing’s quite going right?

Right. Sometimes you need that trade to shake up things and bring new energy into life. Right? It’s like making a trade sometimes if it’s used in the right way and it works out, mid-season especially, it can give a whole new life. Remember that team in Milwaukee when I think they were struggling kind of up and down and here comes Gary Payton all of a sudden. Now you pair him with Sam Cassell. Now they take off right and they had start having success and now Sam Cassell has more bounce in his step. You know, sometimes the trade can do it and sometimes it’s just the mental reset if a trade’s not there. Like, how bad do we want it? Forget what’s happened, let’s go be the team we thought we’d be coming out of training camp. So it just depends on the leadership and really giving into each other and getting into each other and wanting to be successful for your teammates not for you, so to speak. Those types of things I think can change the course of the season.

John Mayer recently opened up about the loss of his friend, comedian Bob Saget, on the first anniversary of his passing. The singer shared a sweet photo of Saget at an airport to Instagram on Monday, along with an emotional caption.

“One year ago today, we lost Bob Saget. I loved that guy. I love saying ‘I loved that guy,’” Mayer wrote. “Soon after he left us, I couldn’t finish those three words without falling apart, but now I say it with all the simplicity and complexity that love itself entails.”

“I knew he was otherworldly while he was here,” He continued. “Every moment we spent together was the stuff of Old Hollywood Magic, of dinners and drinks and stories and laughs and memories you knew were cutting deep grooves into your soul as the lathe was turning. Grief is a journey, and it’s a profound trip that someone you lose takes as well; they leave the space around you and slowly climb a staircase to find a space within you.”

Saget and Mayer had been friends for a long time after he reached out to the musician in 2006 about performing at a benefit. Mayer also went on to do a stand-up comedy set with his pal.

“He’s such a great guy. He’s such a good friend,” Saget said, via CheatSheet. “He’s just one of my dearest friends. I’m very lucky.”

Following Saget’s sudden passing last year, Mayer even helped his friend’s wife, Kelly Rizzo, and encouraged fans to donate to the Scleroderma Research Foundation — a nonprofit that Saget frequently supported.