There are few things fans hate more than when their team’s kicker strolls out on the field and an announcer starts to talk about whatever streak of made kicks they are on.
While play-by-play announcers at every level will insist the announcer’s jinx doesn’t exist, citing the thousands of kicks where they list off a kicker’s stats that go through, it feels like key misses are often preceded by a discussion of a kicker’s streak of perfection. On Thanksgiving in Detroit, Jim Nantz tried to laugh in the face of the fates, directly calling out the announcer’s jinx as not real as Lions kicker Michael Badgley strolled out for a 29-yard attempt, looking to remain perfect on the season.
Naturally, he hooked the kick wide left to the delight of Tony Romo, who instructed Lions fans to direct all anger to Nantz for not only hitting Badgley with the announcer’s jinx but also daring to say it didn’t exist.
It feels fitting that this would happen to the Lions, a team that seemingly knows no bounds when it comes to finding new ways to lose games in painful ways. A missed 29-yard field goal certainly could loom large against Josh Allen and the Bills, but Detroit did bounce back to score a go-ahead touchdown (and make a two-point conversion) to go up three in the fourth quarter as they look to overcome Nantz’s hex.
For the second time in two seasons, Patrick Beverley will serve a suspension for shoving a member of the Phoenix Suns in the back. During the fourth quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ recent game against the Suns, Beverley shoved Deandre Ayton while Phoenix’s starting center stood over one of his teammates, Austin Reaves. Beverley was ejected from the game, which the Suns would go on to win.
On Thursday afternoon, the NBA announced that Beverley received a three-game suspension in the aftermath of the incident. As the league noted in its release announcing the suspension, this wasn’t just because of his shove on Ayton, saying that “the suspension was based in part on Beverley’s history of unsportsmanlike acts.”
Because of the suspension, Beverley will miss the Lakers’ games against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday and Saturday, along with the team’s game against the Indiana Pacers on Monday. He’s slated to return on Wednesday, when the team will play host to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Back in 2021, Beverley shoved Suns guard Chris Paul from behind in what ended up being the final game of the playoff series between Phoenix and his former team, the Los Angeles Clippers. As a result, he received a one-game suspension, which he served at the start of the 2021-22 season as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
If you were to look at Megan Montgomery’s Instagram account, you’d see a beautiful, smiling woman in the prime of her life, her youth and fitness the envy of women the world over. You’d even see some photos of her with her husband (#datenight), with comments saying things like “Aww, gorgeous couple!”
But beneath her picture perfect feed was the story of a woman in an abusive relationship with her husband—one that would start with his arrest shortly after they got married, and end 10 months later with him shooting her to death in a parking lot.
In a Facebook post, one of the people who was out with Megan the night of her murder detailed how her estranged husband had come to their table, put his hand on her neck and shoulder, and escorted her out of the building.
She went with him willingly, but anyone familiar with abusive relationships knows that “willingly” is a subjective term. He had reportedly threatened mass violence before. Perhaps she was trying to protect the people she was with. Perhaps staying felt more dangerous to her than going with him.
The couple reportedly had a volatile relationship from the start, and at one point both had restraining orders against the other. Regardless, she was killed by the man who had claimed to love her, an ex-cop who had been arrested for domestic violence and had bailed out multiple times prior to that evening.
Feminist News wrote the gist of Megan’s story on Facebook, sharing photos from the couple’s wedding to illustrate how invisible domestic violence can be to those outside of it. “THIS is the face of domestic violence,” they wrote.
But what was perhaps most striking about the post was the deluge of comments from women describing their own experiences with domestic violence. Comment after comment explaining how a partner always made them think the abuse was their fault, how restraining orders were repeatedly violated, how they were charmed and loved into questioning whether the verbal abuse or physical violence was really that bad. Story after story of how they didn’t see it coming, how slowly and insidiously it escalated, how terrifying it was to try to leave.
Those of us who have not been in abusive relationships don’t always understand why people don’t leave them. But the dynamics of abuse—the emotional manipulation, the gaslighting, the self-esteem destruction, the fear and shame—are well documented.
Unfortunately, those dynamics can prove deadly. Domestic violence murders have been on the rise in recent years, going up 19% between 2014 and 2017. And sadly, our justice system does not protect domestic violence survivors as well as it should.
Part of the challenge of prosecuting in domestic violence cases is that victims are not always willing to cooperate, either out of fear or shame or embarrassment, or unhealthy loyalty. According to some estimates, domestic violence victims recant their testimony up to 70% of the time. That’s why some are pushing for evidence-based prosecution without requiring victim testimony, much like we try murder cases.
But some, like University of Maryland law professor Leah Goodmark, argue that pushing for more law enforcement hasn’t proven to reduce domestic violence rates. Addressing issues of poverty, childhood trauma, attitudes toward gender equality, and other risk factors for domestic violence may be more effective by stopping violence before it starts.
While abuse happens to both men and women, women are more likely to be victims and much more likely to be murdered by a partner. Thankfully, there are many resources for domestic violence survivors to seek help, whether you’re trying to determine if your relationship is abusive or trying to figure out if, when, and how to leave. The National Domestic Violence Hotline (www.thehotline.org or call 1−800−799−7233) has a wealth of information on domestic violence and what to do about it. The website even has a live chat where you can get your questions answered and receive assistance making a safety plan for you and your family.
If you are afraid of your partner or other loved one, there’s something wrong. No one should live in fear of the people who are supposed to love them the most.
Basketball great Michael Jordan made himself a global household name with his seemingly superhuman slam dunks and uncanny ability to score under pressure.
Now, 16 years into his retirement, his name is associated with something completely different—a medical clinic for uninsured and underinsured people in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Jordan, who grew up in North Carolina and now owns the Charlotte Hornets NBA team, spoke at the opening of the $7 million Novant Health Michael Jordan Family Medical Clinic, the first of two clinics for low-income families he is funding.
With tears streaming down his face, Jordan praised the community the clinic will serve, telling the crowd, “This is a very emotional thing for me to be able to give back to a community that has supported me over the years, from when I was playing the game of basketball, to now when I’m a part of this community.”
The clinic, which has 12 exam rooms, an x-ray room, and a space for physical therapy, is located in a lower-income area of Charlotte and will provide affordable primary and preventative care services to people with insufficient or no insurance. A study by Harvard University and UC Berkeley in 2014 ranked Charlotte dead last out of 50 large cities for social and economic mobility for children born into poverty, so this clinic fills a vital need for affordable medical care. The clinic will also staff a social worker and offer behavioral and social support services.
Jordan announced that the second clinic was already underway. According to a press release from Novant, over five years the clinics “are projected to care for nearly 35,000 children and adults who do not currently have access to primary and preventive care or who use the emergency room for non-urgent medical needs.”
Jordan vowed that these clinics were not one-time contributions to the community, saying, “This is just the start of a battle of being able to touch as many people as we can.”
Watch Jordan speak from the heart at the opening of the clinic:
When Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi both landed their high jumps at 2.37 meters, they were in the battle for Olympic gold. But when both jumpers missed the next mark—the Olympic record of 2.39 meters—three times each, they were officially tied for first place.
In such a tie, the athletes would usually do a “jump-off” to determine who wins gold and who wins silver. But as the official began to explain the options to Barshim and Tamberi, Barshim asked, “Can we have two golds?”
“It’s possible,” the official responded. “It depends, if you both decide…” And before he’d even told them how sharing the gold would work, the two jumpers looked at each other, nodded, and then launched into a wholesome and joyful celebration guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.
Just watch:
NO ONE celebrates like the Italians do. #TokyoOlympicspic.twitter.com/DcUcBFEZjE
(If you are unable to view the video above, check it out on NBC’s YouTube channel here.)
The two jumpers have been competing against one another for more than a decade and are friends on and off the field, so getting to share the gold is a win-win—literally—for both of them. It’s also a historic choice. According to the BBC, the last time competing track and field Olympians shared the gold medal podium was in 1912.
The friendship and camaraderie between the two athletes are palpable and their immediate decision to share the gold truly embodies the Olympic spirit.
“I look at him, he looks at me, and we know it,” Barshim said, according to the CBC. “We just look at each other and we know, that is it, it is done. There is no need.”
“He is one of my best friends,” he added, “not only on the track, but outside the track. We work together. This is a dream come true. It is the true spirit, the sportsman spirit, and we are here delivering this message.”
Barshim was the silver medalist in the event in the Rio 2016 Olympics, and Tamberi suffered a career-threatening injury prior to those games, which took him out of medal contention.
“After my injuries, I just wanted to come back,” Tamberi told CNN. “But now I have this gold, it’s incredible. I dreamed of this so many times. I was told in 2016 just before Rio, there was a risk I wouldn’t be able to compete anymore. It’s been a long journey.”
What a beautiful display of sportsmanship, excellence, and genuine human connection. This is what the Olympics are all about. Love to see it.
Why should a superintendent get a raise while teachers in the same district struggling to make ends meet see their paychecks flatline — year after year after year?
Teacher Deyshia Hargrave begged the question. Minutes later, she was handcuffed and placed in the backseat of a cop car.
The scene was captured below by YouTube user Chris Rosa, who attended a board meeting for Vermilion Parish Schools in Louisiana.
You can watch Hargrave begin speaking about 33 seconds in. The situation starts becoming contentious around 6:35 minutes. Hargrave is arrested at 8:35, and then walked outside in handcuffs and placed in the back of police vehicle.
Teacher Deyshia Hargrave was questioning the school board how they can vote to give the superintendent a raise when school employees have not gotten a raise …
“We work very hard with very little to maintain the salaries that we have,” Hargrave, who teaches middle school language arts, said during a public comment portion of the meeting, stating that she’s seen classroom sizes balloon during her time at the school with no increased compensation. “We’re meeting those goals, while someone in that position of leadership [the superintendent] is getting raise? It’s a sad, sad day to be a teacher in Vermilion Parish.”
According to comments Hargrave made to BuzzFeed News, she believes Superintendent Jerome Puyau was already making $110,000 before the board voted to give him a raise of $38,000. The raise alone is roughly the salary of “a teacher, or two cafeteria workers, or two janitors,” Hargrave told the outlet.
After Hargrave spoke out again later in the meeting, a city marshal on duty asked her to leave — even though the school board was still addressing her.
“You’re going to leave, or I’m going to remove you,” the officer told her, as seen in the video. Many people in attendance seemed shocked. “Are you serious?” someone asked, aghast, in the crowd.
Hargrave leaves the room, followed by the officer. But moments later, someone chimed in, “he’s putting her in handcuffs” — and the room erupts in disarray.
“I am not [resisting], you just pushed me to the floor!” Hargrave is heard screaming at the officer, as he forcibly removes her down the hallway and out the building in handcuffs. “Sir, hold on! I am way smaller than you!”
Teacher removed from Vermilion school board meeting in handcuffs
According to KATV News, Hargrave was booked in the city jail for resisting an officer — a fact that left many commenters online flabbergasted. School officials are reportedly not pressing charges. “Umm … what charges could they possibly make?” one Redditor noted.
With help from the Reddit community, Rosa’s video has gone viral, garnering more than 600,000 views in less than 24 hours. Clearly, Hargrave’s earnest question about inequality in our education system — met with a grotesque abuse of power — has clearly touched a nerve with people across the country.
“I don’t know how this teacher could have been more polite and patient in her earnest desire to find out why the superintendent deserves a raise while the teachers work harder with less,” YouTube commenter Scott Wells chimed in. “She continued to press because they refused to come up with an answer. Seems like a good question to me.”
Anyone using the Mexico City Metro recently may have spotted an … odd seat on the train, a seat quite unlike the rest.
Instead of a back, the seat’s plastic was molded into a person’s protruding torso. And instead of a flat bottom for sitting, the seat took on the form of that person’s thighs and penis.
Obviously, it wasn’t the most comfortable — or preferred — seat on the train for riders.
Above the seat was a sign declaring the seat “for men only.”
Another sign on the floor, legible once a person was sitting in the chair, reads (translated from Spanish): “It’s annoying to sit here, but doesn’t compare to the sexual violence women suffer on their daily trips.”
Watch a video of confused, amused, and offended passengers experiencing the seat below:
The campaign, #NoEsDeHombres, was launched by U.N. Women and authorities in Mexico City to educate men on the seriousness of sexual assault on public transit.
Mexico’s capital has a bad reputation when it comes to women’s safety, the BBC reported. A global 2014 study found Mexico City was the worst in the world in terms of verbal and physical harassment experienced on public transit.
But harassment is a problem on virtually every major city transit system — including in the U.S. Last year, a survey of Washington, D.C., transit riders found 1 in 5 users had experienced sexual harassment during their commutes, with 28% of that figure reporting having been inappropriately touched or assaulted. As you could have guessed, women were nearly three times as likely as men to experience harassment, the survey found.
Maybe a seat like this for men should be on every city train from here on out.
As their name suggests, anti-homeless spikes are intended to keep homeless people away.
They’ll usually crop up in areas where a homeless person might find some quiet away from the hustle and bustle, or a spot that’s relatively well-sheltered from the elements.
In January 2017, spikes like these appeared outside the Pall Mall Court in Manchester, England. And many people were not happy about it.
u201cOutrage as metal spikes appear outside Manchester building to u2018stop homeless people sleeping roughu2019 https://t.co/bRWlnHazuBu201d
“This is not the answer to rough sleeping,” Pat Karney, Manchester council spokesman, told the Manchester Evening News of the spikes. “It’s demeaning in that way.”
One of those unhappy people was a local woman named Jennie Platt. The Manchester mom — who called the spikes “a Scroogey thing to do” — wasn’t about to let the heartless act fly.
As Mashable reported, Platt and her kids decided to give the spikes a more comfortable upgrade.
Platt — with help from her 10- and 11-year-old sons, along with a few of their rugby teammates — covered the spikes with cushions and pillows.
“The building owners are treating human beings like pigeons,” Platt told the BBC, noting she woke up “with a right bee in [her] bonnet” after learning the news and decided she needed to do something.
Link to Twitter where what Platt and her sons did can be seen below:
u201cWe’ll cover your spikes with cushions n& pillows & throws & sheetsncos your spikes don’t fix the problemnfor those forced on the streetsu201d
“It’s a spot where people can keep warm and sheltered,” explained Platt. “People don’t need to be that mean.”
The spikes are right outside Pall Mall Medical, a healthcare facility that rents out a space in the court, which said it had nothing to do with their installment. GVA, the company that manages the building, declined to comment to the Manchester Evening News.
Update Feb. 7, 2017: The spikes have been removed by the building’s owner after public outcry, the Manchester Evening News reported.
Unfortunately, the anti-homeless renovation in Manchester is indicative of a larger issue that doesn’t stop at spikes.
Governments and businesses alike have sneakily built up anti-homeless infrastructure in urban spaces all around the world.
If you’ve been to Tokyo, you may have noticed “dangerously slippery” benches designed specifically to be uncomfortable, warding off anyone who wants to rest more than a few moments.
In places like Salt Lake City and Lincoln, Nebraska, you might come across benches with vertical slats between the seats, made to deter anyone from lying down.
A man saws at an armrest in Toulouse, France, in 2006 in protest of the mistreatment of homeless people.
THIS IMAGE IF YOU’D LIKE TO ADD TO THE STORY CAN BE FOUND ON THE GETTY IMAGES!!!!!!!!!!
This type of urban planning pushes the problem of chronic homelessness aside without helping to provide a solution.
Shooing away homeless people by building slippery benches, installing excessive armrests, and adding spikes to sidewalks doesn’t mean homeless people disappear. It means the most vulnerable among us — many who struggle with mental illness or are living on the street because they can’t stay at a shelter — are left unwelcome in larger and larger spaces within our communities. This type of heartless infrastructure only exacerbates the problem.
Instead of hoping homeless people disappear, we should focus our attention on ideas that help them in the long run.
Beyond supporting your local homeless shelter by volunteering and donating, you can rally your representatives to join the fight. For example, Housing First — a strategy that provides people with a home quickly and unconditionally, then gives them the resources they need to stand on their own (like help with addiction or career services) — is a model that’s been proven to work in several cities and states. Make sure the leaders in your area know you care about this issue and want funding for local initiatives, like Housing First, that make a big difference.
Platt realizes her efforts may be short-lived. But as more people notice her deed, she hopes it will change hearts and minds.
“I know [the cushions] won’t last and I know they’ll get wet,” she said. “But the people who manage that building need to know how to treat people.”
Early season college basketball is wildly unpredictable, and as such we get to see some incredible upsets as top teams are still getting their bearings in the first month of the season. On Thursday, No. 3 Kansas appeared as though they might be the latest highly ranked casualty of the early college hoops season until Bobby Pettiford saved the day in the final second of overtime.
Trailing 68-67, Kansas was struggling to get a decent shot off so Zach Clemence just threw up a deep three that went begging, with the rebound being tipped up in the air and Pettiford somehow able to corral the ball and throw up a scooping layup on the fly to beat the buzzer for a game-winner and keep Kansas undefeated on the early season.
It’s a brutal way to lose for Wisconsin, which saw a Kansas three force overtime at the end of regulation and then again couldn’t get the stop they needed in OT to beat the Jayhawks. For Kansas, it’s a gutty win and Pettiford gets to be the hero in the Bahamas, as years of training playing 21 on the playground with tips pays off in a huge moment for the Jayhawks, as his acrobatic finish off a loose rebound got them to the Battle 4 Atlantis final.
After spending years in the New Orleans DIY scene, four-piece collective Special Interest are back with a newly inked deal with Rough Trade and a message of endurance we all need to hear at the moment. On their third studio album Endure, the band manage to translate the feeling of a connection and rough and sweaty mosh pit into sound. With tracks like the dark and moody “Herman’s House” and the euphoric club banger “Midnight Legend,” the band expertly blend art-rock, house, and hardcore influences to create a unique and enthralling sound.
To celebrate the release of Endure and their ongoing tour, band members Alli Logout, Maria Elena, Nathan Cassiani, and Ruth Mascelli sat down with Uproxx to talk Liz Phair, a rock ‘n roll animal sanctuary, and making a mean carbonara dish in our latest Q&A.
What are four words you would use to describe your music?
Mascelli: Urgent, heartfelt, noisey, groovy.
It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?
Logout: Those influential f*ggots from the swamp that made music to move me through the exact social and ecological circumstances we are experiencing right now.
What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?
Cassiani: Barcelona. An equal balance of how good our set was and how much I love the city.
Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?
Logout: Friends. Everyone just needs someone to support and listen to them. We would have stopped years ago if our friends weren’t by our side
Where did you eat the best meal of your life?
Cassiani: As a band? Maybe when the label took us to our first Michelin-starred restaurant in San Francisco.
What album do you know every word to?
Mascelli:Exile In Guyville.
What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?
Logout: ESG At San Francisco pride in like 2014 or something.
What is the best outfit for performing and why?
Elena: The key is maximum impact and minimal space taken in luggage — so i go latex or leather bra.
Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?
Cassiani:Amanda Lear has a great Insta. She’s a real renaissance woman.
What’s your most frequently played song in the van on tour?
Elena: “Malibu” by Hole.
What’s the last thing you Googled?
Elena: Info about the Carolee Schneemann exhibit in London… which we missed. Here’s the info so you don’t:
Carolee Schneemann: Body Politics
Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK
8 September 2022 – 8 January 2023
What album makes for the perfect gift?
Elena: Any album that is meaningful to your relationship with someone! So if I was getting an album for my bandmates it would be William Basinski’s Disintegration Loops because we saw 15 minutes of his set at Pitchfork London before we had to go sound check and we all ascended and were heartbroken we had to leave. If I was getting a record for someone I didn’t know well I’d go for a mood-setting soundtrack or compilation — I’m really into the Dark Entries compilation Back Up: Mexican Techno Pop 1980-1989. And there’s always Endure…
Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?
Elena: A rock ‘n roll animal sanctuary in Idaho.
What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?
Cassiani: I have a cute tiger that Sue Jeiven gave me about 10 years ago in NYC. It’s not that deep, I just always wanted a tattoo from her! And I don’t regret it like I regret a lot of my tattoos…
What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?
Mascelli: George Michael, Donna Summer, Lipps Inc. Also love when a nasty classic rock station hits its stride.
What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?
Mascelli: I can’t pick just one thing but I’m pretty fearful of asking for help in geney and am consistently surprised by how my friends come through when I really need something.
What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?
Mascelli: Whatever it is my 18-year-old self wouldn’t have listened to it anyways.
What’s the last show you went to?
Mascelli: Just saw Crack Cloud tear it up in Belgium.
What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?
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