Category: News

Week 18 had a lot of implications all over the world of football, but in Las Vegas there were three very interested observers in this weekend’s action as the Circa Survivor Contest — with a $6.1 million prize — had three contestants left. All three picked different teams to win, with one on the Jaguars, who pulled out a miracle on Saturday to lock that bettor into at least a $2 million share, another on the Seahawks, who faced the Rams needing a win to keep playoff hopes alive in Seattle in the afternoon window, and one brave soul who backed Sam Ehlinger and the Colts against the Texans.

If you would like to see the pain of losing out on at least a $2 million (possibly $3 million, if Seattle had lost) payday on a 4th-and-20 heave, here it is.

That man, named Mike Barth, explained his decision to take the Colts over the Jaguars (who won Saturday) and Vikings (who rolled the Bears on Sunday) who were also available to him.

If there were ever an instance of overthinking it, this might be it. Having Jacksonville wouldn’t have been fun, so I don’t blame him on that point, but considering the Bears were going to start Nathan Peterman, taking the Vikings, even if they rest everyone in the second half, would’ve been far more palatable to the Colts if it were my money. In any case, Indianapolis was still in control late and it required two miracles from the Texans, who should’ve been trying to lose so they’d get the top pick, to have a chance to win the game on their final drive, with a 4th-and-20 touchdown going through the hands of a Colts defender for a Houston touchdown and then Davis Mills successfully converted a two-point conversion.

He handled this far better than I would’ve, as I’d have been losing my mind and possibly throwing things. Hopefully he had a healthy hedge on the Texans moneyline that eased the pain, but this is about as brutal as it gets with that much on the line. That is, in fact, a bad beat, Scott Van Pelt.

While much of the NFL world was focused on the battles for playoff positions and seeding in Week 18, those in Houston and Chicago were focused on the battle for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Houston’s path was simple, as a loss would lock up the worst record in the league and give them the first overall selection and, presumably, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young. Chicago needed a loss against Minnesota and a Houston win over Indianapolis, which was starting Sam Ehlinger and is coached by Jeff Saturday, thus very much in play for the top pick. The Bears got the first part of that equation done in style, as Nathan Peterman and Tim Boyle combined to put up 13 points in a 29-13 loss that was never in doubt, falling to 3-14 on the year.

In Indy, we were treated to a wild game between two teams with a combined six wins, as the Texans jumped in front by double digits early, saw Ehlinger lead a comeback to go up 31-24, and then had Davis Mills complete two ridiculous fourth down passes on Houston’s final drive. The first was a 4th and 12 dart down the sideline to keep their chances at a win alive, and the second was a 4th and 20 heave to the end zone that, somehow, the Colts whiffed on.

The Colts apparently didn’t watch enough NFL Primetime back in the day, because Tom Jackson always told us to “KNOCK IT DOWN!” Then, the Texans went for two because who wants overtime, and Mills again found a receiver in the end zone to put Houston up 32-31.

Ehlinger could only get the Colts to just shy of midfield before time ran out on their effort at a game-winning drive, locking up the No. 1 pick for the Bears and dropping Houston, at 3-13-1, to the second overall pick. That means the Bears figure to be open for business, shopping the top pick to quarterback starved teams (including, possibly, the Texans), as they know Justin Fields is their guy and will be looking to add multiple picks so they can bolster their roster and address a number of needs.

It’s been over a decade since Kendrick Lamar dropped his second studio album, good kid, m.A.A.d city. The album, released in 2012, debuted at No.2 on the Billboard 200 chart. The Compton rapper was nominated for five Grammys following the album’s release, cementing him as one of his generation’s most influential hip-hop artists.

Since releasing GKMC, Lamar’s star has risen to unimaginable heights, with platinum albums and many accolades, including a Pulitzer Prize for his 2017 album, DAMN. Today, the “Alright” rapper continues to make history. Most recently, GKMC became the first hip-hop studio album to spend 10 years on the Billboard chart — an incredible feat.

“Kung-Fu Kenny” recently celebrated the album’s 10th anniversary during a stop on his The Big Steppers Tour stop at Accor Arena in Paris this past October.

The concert, which was livesteamed in conjunction with Amazon, featured sets from pgLang’s Tanna Leone and Grammy Award-winning recording artist Baby Keem, who is also Lamar’s cousin. The enigmatic rapper’s stage show followed the release of his fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, which was released in May 2022. The project served as the rapper’s first body of work since releasing 2017’s DAMN., and it debuted at No.1 atop the Billboard 200.

GloRilla‘s meteoric rise to fame hasn’t been easy. The Memphis rapper has been open about her journey to where she is today. Last month, a funny clip of the rapper working the drive-thru at a fast-food restaurant resurfaced. Recently, another clip turned up. It was an older interview with the Grammy nominee in which she revealed that she had been in jail for nearly three years for the unlikeliest crime: stealing cereal.

In May 2022, following the release of her mega-hit “F.N.F,” the CMG rapper chatted with social media comedian Funny Marco on his YouTube series about the journey to her success. Throughout the hilarious conversation, she opens up about what led her into rap, her “rachet a** friends,” and more.

However, there was one moment when things got a little intense. Marco boldly asked the “Tomorrow 2” about her criminal past, including a situation where she was arrested and jailed for stealing cereal out of a K-Mart, to which she replied, “yes.”

Since then, the rapper has come a long way. Big Glo snatched two of the hottest songs last year with “F.N.F,” earning a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Performance, and “Tomorrow 2” featuring Cardi B. She’s also released her debut album, Anyways Life’s Great… and recently made her debut performance at the 2022 American Music Awards alongside Cardi B.

Check out the full video below.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Warning: This post contains a massive spoiler for the Bond movie No Time to Die.

It’s been a year since Daniel Craig’s James Bond died. What’s more, it’s been over three years since Craig last played England’s most famous fictitious spy, having wrapped his final day in the fall of 2019. Even before Craig was done playing him for good, there’s been breathless talk about who will be his replacement. Will we get the first non-white 007? Will he not even be a he? But right now it’s looking like producer Barbara Broccoli and company may go a more traditional route after all.

As per Puck News, the franchise’s producers recently met with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who broke through as the lead in the Kick-Ass films, briefly played Pietro Maximoff for the MCU, scored a Golden Globe for Nocturnal Animals, and more recently appeared in Tenet and Bullet Train. The meeting, Puck News’ Matthew Belloni claimed, “went well.” He also called him a “great actor, British, fits the younger direction the Broccolis want to go, accomplished but not particularly famous.”

This is, of course, hearsay, and what’s more, Broccoli said they’re still a ways off from even shooting the next film. Last summer she said they were “at least two years” away from principal photography. They could go with Taylor-Johnson, who would be yet another handsome Brit in a franchise that has mostly stuck with actors from the U.K. (The exception is George Lazenby, an Aussie, who only stuck around for 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.)

In the meantime, Taylor-Johnson will soon be returning to Marvel as the lead in this fall’s Kraven the Hunter. But he may soon have to learn to like his martinis not stirred but, as it were, shaken.

(Via Puck News)

LeBron James took umbrage with the way an interview he gave to Sam Amick of The Athletic was presented to the masses. In a tweet on Sunday morning, Amick spoke to James in the aftermath of the Los Angeles Lakers’ 136-134 win over the Sacramento Kings, the team’s fifth win in a row, in which James was asked about the fact that the front office has yet to move their 2027 and 2029 first-round NBA Draft picks for more immediate help.

“Y’all know what the f*ck should be happening,” James said. “I don’t need to talk.”

Amick’s tweet said the interview included James’ “waning patience,” and in a series of tweets on Sunday afternoon, James said that his patience is not waning and that “you make it sound like I’m frustrated when I’m really not. I told you over and over, my job is focused on the guys in the locker room, my job isn’t the roster.”

https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1612172265197559811

While James did say that “I worry about who’s in the locker room” and that “I can’t do nobody else’s job,” it is tricky to read him saying “y’all know what the f*ck should be happening” as anything other than his belief that the Lakers should make a trade in the present. But then again, winning cures all ails, and L.A. is currently tied for the longest winning streak in the league despite Anthony Davis being sidelined with an injury, so maybe James is willing to be patient and ride this wave right now.

The Saints and Panthers had nothing to play for but pride on Sunday, as the two teams were eliminated from playoff contention a week ago when the Bucs beat Carolina to wrap up the NFC South.

However, it was still a divisional game and players know every week is important to put something good on tape, particularly heading into the offseason where many players face uncertain futures. As such, tensions were still high and in the early third quarter, a little kerfuffle broke out after a Panthers run play to D’Onta Foreman, as he and Saints lineman Marcus Davenport started jawing, with the two eventually exchanging slaps — Davenport first, with Foreman returning fire as refs tried to separate the two.

The referees had a long discussion, with the league office in New York also weighing in, and both players were ejected for the slap fight, ending their seasons about 90 minutes sooner than expected.

It’s certainly not the best way to end your season, particularly having to pay a fine after your last game of the year, but Davenport and Freeman will get to be the first done with their postgame shower and head into the offseason a bit sooner than the rest of their teammates.

No NFL team has ever had to deal with the emotions the Buffalo Bills have this week after seeing Damar Hamlin collapse on the field in Cincinnati, requiring CPR on the field to restore his heartbeat. After that game was cancelled, the Bills were solely focused on the health of their teammate, waiting and praying for some kind of positive update after the terrifying scene on Monday night.

Happily, those positive updates came rolling in late this week, as Hamlin improved dramatically, first starting to show signs of being neurologically intact, then being able to ask who won the game, and eventually having his breathing tube removed so he could FaceTime with his teammates this weekend and post updates on social media. All of that built up to an unbelievable atmosphere in Orchard Park, NY for the Bills’ Week 18 game against the Patriots on Sunday, where the 2-seed would be theirs with a win, but more importantly they could pay tribute to and celebrate the positive updates on Damar Hamlin.

The team all had patches with Hamlin’s No. 3 on their uniforms, and the stadium erupted before the game to give a standing ovation when asked to show Hamlin how much he is loved in Buffalo.

After all of that, it was time for kickoff, which produced an all-time moment when Nyheim Hines took the opening kick all the way for a touchdown, sending the Bills crowd (and Hamlin watching from the hospital) into a frenzy.

It’s as cool a moment as you can get in sports, and an incredible way for the game to start. The Bills sideline was almost in disbelief at what Hines had pulled off given the moment and the emotion was overwhelming, as Hamlin was still very clearly front of mind for all of his teammates.

(SPOILERS for this week’s BMF episode will be found below.)

BMF fans were in for a long-awaited treat this weekend as the show finally returned for its second season. The season two premiere arrived a little over a year after the show’s inaugural season came to an end in the fall of 2021. Season one concluded with the deaths of Kato and Lamar (or so we thought) as well as Meech and Terry’s split which the former continuing in the game while the latter resorted to a car-ride service with his father Charles. There’s a whole lot in store for season two, and with that, comes some changes to the weekly schedule of new episodes for BMF.

If you recall from season one, new episodes of BMF came out Sunday at midnight on the STARZ app before being available to watch on the STARZ channel at 8 PM EST. For season two, BMF has shifted new episodes to premiere on Fridays under the same release plan: the new episode is available to watch on the STARZ app Friday at midnight before it premieres on the channel that same day at 8 PM EST. This gives viewers the chance to watch an episode or two during the weekend before the responsibilities of the work week pull them away from the TV screens.

The first episode of season two premiered on Friday (January 6), and it’s available to watch on the STARZ app. You can also check out our recap of that episode here.

Howard Stern and Donald Trump used to be buds. They were two powerful, cocky New York guys who liked to publicly talk about sex and how successful they were (or, in Trump’s case, how successful he claimed to be). Then the big guy had to go and run for president. Stern, who describes himself as a “normal conservative,” has never shied away from trashing the stupid, destructive turn Trump’s life took. It’s frankly unbelievable that the infamously thin-skinned Trump hasn’t returned fire more often, though that’s what he did on Saturday.

“I have been noticing the fact that Howard Stern’s show has gone to Hell, and so few people are listening—Used to be great, now it rates less than fair,” Trump wrote on his rinky-dink Twitter clone. “It’s a sad thing to watch. When he loved ‘Trump,’ it was ‘hot,’ when he decided to go with Crooked Hillary, his ratings world collapsed. Can’t believe they pay him so much money, but I hope he gets it!”

Stern doesn’t just go after Trump. He’s no fan of his supporters either, or what’s left of them these days. Last fall he called the MAGA crowd a “nation of nincompoops,” saying, “Their freedoms have never really been threatened and they have no idea what it would be like to live under a different type of system other than democracy. And they don’t get it. They are morons. They think somehow that the world would be better under a guy like Trump.”

He then offered some advice to put things in perspective: “You should go live in Russia, all you f*ckers out there.”

Trump’s not doing so hot these days, but he is still technically running for president, even if it seems like he’s not. Will Stern make good on a threat he made in 2021 and run against him in 2024? Wilder things have happened.

(Via Mediaite)