Category: News

Instant replay has become a double-edged sword for sports leagues, as what was supposed to alleviate officiating controversies in a quest to get key calls late in games right has led to just as many controversies over replay rulings. That plays out in a number of ways, from replay changing how calls are made at a fundamental level late in games to restrictions on what officials can look at keeping them from making obvious call changes.

An example of that came during the Western Conference Finals this past NBA season, when Kyrie Irving clearly fouled Jaden McDaniels to cause him to lose the ball out of bounds. Initially, this was called Minnesota ball, but Dallas challenged it and it was overturned to be Mavs ball because it did in fact touch McDaniels last and the referees could not hand out a foul on review. It was an example of how replay can be taken advantage of because of the restrictions in place, and the NBA went into this offseason looking to close that loophole.

As a result, the league announced on Tuesday that when replaying who touched the ball last on an out of bounds call on a Coach’s Challenge, officials can now call a foul if that’s what caused the ball to go out of bounds.

Under the new rule, if instant replay of an out-of-bounds violation is triggered by a Coach’s Challenge, the on-court officials and Replay Center will be able to review the video to determine whether a foul proximate to the violation should have been called. The factors that will be considered in determining whether a prior uncalled foul is proximate to the out-of-bounds violation are below:

Whether the players involved in the uncalled foul are the same or different players than the ones involved in the out-of-bounds violation under review.
The distance between the uncalled foul and the out-of-bounds violation under review.
The time elapsed between the uncalled foul and the out-of-bounds violation under review.

It’s important to note that this is only an expansion on the Coach’s Challenge, not when officials go over to the monitor themselves in the final two minutes. The goal is to close up the loophole that Dallas took advantage of, but as is always the case in these situations, this only further opens up the possibility for issues. It’s a mortal lock that at some point this season, officials will trigger a review in the final two minutes to figure out an out of bounds call and there will be an obvious foul that they cannot overturn because it was not a Coach’s Challenge.

The cardinal rule of replay review in sports is that the best intentions always will go array, and while I more than understand why the NBA wanted to close that loophole, they’re only going to end up having people wondering why (and getting mad) this isn’t something that can be fixed in any review situation.

Fasten your seatbelts and pop a Dramamine, Nicki Minaj has chimed in on the discourse of the day: Why Lil Wayne isn’t headlining Super Bowl LIX’s halftime show. And, in typical Nicki fashion, her rant on Twitter (which we are never going to call “X”) turned out to be a wild ride.

First things first: I think we are all well aware of why Ms. Minaj would take this so personally. Without Wayne, her rap career very probably would have stalled out long before a “Super Bass” or “Starships,” let alone a “Super Freaky Girl” or “Say So” remix. And then, there’s her intriguing, seemingly one-sided feud with Jay-Z, the founder of Roc Nation, which books the Super Bowl halftime show.

But normally, Nicki reserves this level of unhinged for her beefs with other female rappers, like Latto and Megan Thee Stallion, so it’s kind of fascinating to see her go off like this on someone else’s behalf for once. Here’s what she said:

Denying a young black man what he rightfully put into this game for no other reason but your ego. Your hatred for BIRDMAN, Drake & Nicki got you punishing Lil Wayne?!?!!! LIL WAYNE!!!!!!!!!! THE GOAT?!!!!!!!!!!! Nola what’s good?!!!!!! Eminem stood firm on having 50Cent come out. A white man. Sh*t sad. House N***ER TINGZ. but it’s GOOD FI DEM!!!!!!! No loyalty ? Welp. then n****z will keep son’ing you!!!!!

Another tweet with a political bent:

One nigga took a knee

The other nigga took the bag.

He gon get you “n***ers” in line every fkng time

So… There’s a lot to unpack here. Jay-Z and Roc Nation did sign their deal with the NFL to be the official music partner for the Super Bowl after Colin Kaepernick’s controversial anthem protests. This was something that rightly rubbed a lot of hip-hop fans the wrong way, suggesting that Jay valued the money and platform much more than pursuing meaningful social change. Now, he did secure financial commitments from the NFL for social justice programs, but as with any incremental change, that’s never going to be quite enough for the “burn it all down” crowd.

But to suggest that Lil Wayne is somehow a revolutionary or that booking Kendrick Lamar is a sellout move made to appeal to white people is… WOW.

She’s still going, by the way:

God forbid if Wayne was to leave this earth right now, the culture would be in mourning. That’s why so many ppl keep saying to give our legends their flowers while they are still around to smell them. Sitting around all day playing games with ppl life & legacy. God ain’t sleep. Gee Roberson you will learn that, too.

For those who don’t know, Gee Roberson is the co-CEO of Blueprint Group, which has had a hand in managing the careers of several high profile artists, including Young Money’s roster with Drake, Wayne, and Nicki, although they parted ways with Nicki some time ago. However, he cut his teeth at Jay’s Roc-A-Fella Records a decade before; it seems Nicki is suggesting that he prioritized his relationship with Jay over those with his more recent charges. She, again, has a bit of a point about giving legends flowers while they’re still around, something hip-hop still struggles with. That’s not the same thing as booking him to perform the biggest corporate event of the year when he’s repeatedly proven that would be a bit of a bad bet this year alone.

When Nicki received pushback for her initial tweets and also she accused blogs covering the Super Bowl selection of being paid off (her go-to accusation, although I personally have never seen any of that money), she doubled down, railing in a follow-up tweet:

God will punish you. Mark my words.
The man that has not only pushed his pen the hardest, but gave the game more than 1 hip hop ICON as well on his watch? Represent the RAP game?!?!! The best RAPPER don’t represent the RAP GAME well enough 4u? Black ppl. Wow. If this don’t hurt your heart to read, it will one day. Look @ how our legends keep being treated. After they’ve given so much to us. Who are you?!!!! You GOD?!?!!!!! Judgmental swine DELETE!!!!!!! lol you will regret tweeting this. Life is funny that way. Don’t you dare turn your nose up @ Lil Wayne you dick munchin bozo.

She seemingly failed to notice all the tweets pointing out how the Super Bowl halftime show has only been headlined by a local act from the host city four times in the event’s 57-year history, but that’s Nicki for you. She’ll tell you a joke, but she won’t tell you a lie — just be real wrong, real loud, for most of a day.

Clearly, George R.R. Martin has been going through some stuff.

I realize that this might seem like an understatement for those who have followed Martin’s literary tribulations over the years. Ideally, this should have culminated with him missing the date where he told readers to imprison him for not finishing Winds of Winter. Martin, however, still finds himself entirely torn between the art of putting words on paper and seeing those words realized on the TV screen. Distractions abound. It happens.

On the bright side, these diversions have led Martin to help bring AMC’s impeccable crime thriller, Dark Winds, to the world. On a darker note, Martin recently admitted (in an 1,800+ word rant) his severe disappointment in HBO’s House of the Dragon “Blood and Cheese” episode for omitting a character who Martin insisted is central to the emotional thrust of significant events to come. Martin then dropped some spoilers while concluding that showrunner Ryan Condal’s “outline for season 3” would spawn “toxic butterflies,” and something then prompted Martin to delete the rant (a post that was so jam packed that Daemon spending an entire season pouting through hallucinations somehow didn’t make his frustration short list).

Less than a week later, Martin is back with an additional lengthy post that can be summarized with his Live Journal-style “Current Mood: stressed”:

This follows Martin never mentioning the words “House of the Dragon” while admitting that certain unpleasant TV business was leaving him “between fury and despair” and unable to sleep:

Writing came hard, and though I did produce some new pages on both THE WINDS OF WINTER (yes) and BLOOD & FIRE (the sequel to FIRE & BLOOD, the second part of my Targaryen history), I would have liked to turn out a lot more. My various television projects ate up most of those months. Some of that was pleasant (DARK WINDS, and THE HEDGE KNIGHT), most of it was not. The stress kept mounting, the news went from bad to worse to worst, my mood seemed to swing between fury and despair, and at night I tossed and turned when I should have been sleeping. When I did sleep, well, my dreams were none too pleasant either.

Additionally, Martin describes how he was “so stressed out” about his mounting tasks that he nearly skipped this year’s Worldcon in Glasgow, but the event (although it gave him Covid) was “a blessing, balm for my bruised soul.” Yet his “stress came rushing back” upon returning, and although he did manage to write some Winds of Winter pages, “my problems… were still waiting for me.”

Martin does not allude to his deleted blog post, but he previously went in so hard with his “Butterfly Effect” argument that it seems obvious what he’s still discussing. Meanwhile, HBO has acknowledged GRRM’s HotD criticism with a statement via Deadline:

“There are few greater fans of George R.R. Martin and his book Fire & Blood than the creative team on House of the Dragon, both in production and at HBO. Commonly, when adapting a book for the screen, with its own format and limitations, the showrunner ultimately is required to make difficult choices about the characters and stories the audience will follow. We believe that Ryan Condal and his team have done an extraordinary job and the millions of fans the series has amassed over the first two seasons will continue to enjoy it.”

(Via George R.R. Martin’s Not-A-Blog)

The Linda Lindas have a new album, No Obligation, on the way, but despite the title, they do have a few things to do. For one, they’ve got to hype up the album, which they did today (September 10) by unveiling the project’s title track.

The band says of the song in a statement, “Eloise wrote this ripper because we won’t adhere to what anyone else thinks we should sound like or who they think we are. We don’t make music out of obligation — we make music out of love. And we’re so grateful for all of the opportunities music has given us, like going to Japan and making this video with a team including Naoko from Shonen Knife! Enjoy.”

A press release previously relayed that the band’s upcoming album “further advances their unironic, joyful, and exciting trajectory of mashing up LA punk with post punk, garage rock, power pop, new wave, and rock en español.” It also says the project was recorded “during spring breaks, winter breaks, and long weekends,” since three of the band members are either in middle or high school,” over the past two years.

Watch the “No Obligation” video above.

No Obligation is out 10/11 via Epitaph. Find more information here.

Sorry Rihanna… Jimmy Eat World is headlining the Super Bowl halftime show!

Could you imagine that? If, instead of the thrilling performance we got in 2023, we got an aging pop-punk band whose peak of popularity came a decade and half before? According to some music and sports fans on social media, that’s exactly what should have happened.

In case you’ve missed the kerfuffle over the upcoming Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show in 2025, here’s a quick recap: Kendrick Lamar is headlining, but some folks are big mad it isn’t Lil Wayne, because the Super Bowl is being held in Wayne’s hometown, New Orleans.

That’s the general idea of the outcry of the past couple of days, but in fact, the discourse has gotten… shall we say, a little more salty than the subject warrants — and also, a bit unhinged. Cam’ron and Mase are sharing conspiracy theories on their show, Nicki Minaj is crashing out on Twitter, Boosie is involved… it’s kind of a lot.

Especially when you consider one simple fact that none of these people appear to be considering: The Super Bowl has only had a hometown act as the headliner a handful of times in the whole history of the Super Bowl Halftime Show. There is no tradition being stepped on here; hometown acts don’t headline the Super Bowl.

Hell, hometown teams rarely even play in the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl Halftime Show has never been the hometown celebration people are trying to make it out to be online. And if it was, there are artists from New Orleans that would be a far safer bet for the NFL.

Leaving aside Lil Wayne’s wild card status — he’s known for frequent show cancelations, sometimes right in the middle of a performance, while other times delivering some half-hearted renditions of fan faves and even admitting that he forgets his own lyrics — someone like Jon Batiste, a native of Metairie, Louisiana, would be a far more likely choice.

He’s got multigenerational appeal, his image and music are as non-threatening and party-ready as it gets, and he’s an Album Of The Year Grammy Award winner, who has composed for Disney, directed the music for late-night TV, and helps curate the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. He’s a showbiz superathlete.

Looking around the league, if hometown performers were actually a tradition, you’d have to go back and rewrite several of the most memorable performances of the last 30 years. Michael Jackson? Not from Los Angeles. Prince? Not from Miami. BEYONCÉ (you have to say it like Tiffany Pollard)??? Not from New Orleans (although her mama from Louisiana).

Even in the past half-decade, you’d have to replace Shakira and Jennifer Lopez with Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine (who previously performed in 1999, one of the only four hometown headliners at the Super Bowl), The Weeknd with Outlaws (basically the only non-metal band on the Tampa music acts Wiki page with any level of mainstream notoriety), Usher with Ne-Yo, and Rihanna with, yes, Jimmy Eat World. No offense to these alternatives, but you get the drift: The stage demands an equal level of popularity and a reliable selection of absolutely massive hits.

And look, we all loved seeing Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg rock out for their hometown crowd in LA in 2022, but keep in mind that these two are 30 years deep in careers that comprise at least three of the most pivotal records in hip-hop’s history, a branding empire encompassing everything from cooking shows with Martha Stewart to on-site Olympics coverage, and more identity changes than Spider-Man in the ’90s.

They also had to bring a slew of fellow stars, from 50 Cent and Eminem to Mary J. Blige and, yes, Kendrick Lamar to expand their show’s appeal past California hip-hop heads in their ’50s. Because, yes, there are stadiums with 50,000 people to entertain, but the Super Bowl is a national event, averaging well over 120 million viewers. Those 50,000 attendees — many of whom aren’t even from the host cities in the first place — are a drop in the bucket compared to all the viewers tuning in at home.

So, yes, the NFL has greater priorities than simply paying homage to host cities’ hometown heroes. The whole reason the halftime show exists in its current form is because someone figured out pop stars keep viewers from changing the channel better than marching bands. So while it’ll be nice if Lil Wayne or Juvenile or Trombone Shorty or Big Freedia pop out during Kendrick’s set, Kendrick is headlining for a whole lot of good reasons — none of which were ever hometown pride.

Sophie Allison is ending 2024 and starting 2025 in a major way: Her album Evergreen drops in October, and she announced today (September 10) that’s she’s going on a massive tour in 2025. Tickets for the tour, which runs from January to May, go on sale on September 13 at 10 a.m. local time. Find more information here.

Allison says of the new song, “‘Driver’ is a love song that’s really about someone being there for you in spite of your shortcomings. It’s more light hearted than some of the other songs I’ve put out this year, using my distractedness as a bit of a punchline.”

Listen to “Driver” above and find Soccer Mommy’s upcoming tour dates below.

Soccer Mommy’s 2025 Tour Dates

09/13/2024 — Nashville, TN @ Musician’s Corner
09/28/2024 — New York, NY @ All Things Go Festival
09/29/2024 — Washington, DC @ All Things Go Festival
10/12/2024 — Little Rock, AR @ Hillcrest Harvest Fest
01/22/2025 — Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse *
01/23/2025 — Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel *
01/24/2025 — Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle *
01/25/2025 — Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer *
01/27/2025 — Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club *
01/30/2025 — Brooklyn, NYC @ Brooklyn Steel *
02/02/2025 — Montreal, QC @ Théâtre Beanfield ^
02/04/2025 — Toronto, ON @ The Concert Hall ^
02/05/2025 — Detroit, MI @ The Majestic Theatre ^
02/06/2025 — Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall ^
02/08/2025 — Louisville, KY @ Headliners Music Hall ^
02/18/2025 — Birmingham, AL @ Saturn %
02/19/2025 — New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina’s %
02/20/2025 — Dallas, TX @ The Studio at The Factory %
02/21/2025 — Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall %
02/22/2025 — Austin, TX @ Radio/East %
02/24/2025 — Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf %
02/25/2025 — Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre %
02/27/2025 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern %
02/28/2025 — San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore %
03/03/2025 — Seattle, WA @ The Showbox %
03/04/2025 — Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre %
03/05/2025 — Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom %
03/07/2025 — Boise, ID @ Treefort Music Hall %
03/08/2025 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot %
03/10/2025 — Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre %
03/12/2025 — Kansas City, MO @ The Truman %
03/13/2025 — Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue %
03/14/2025 — St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall %
03/15/2025 — Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl %
04/26/2025 — Lisbon, PT @ Lisboa ao Vivo
04/27/2025 — Madrid, ES @ Sala Copernico
04/28/2025 — Barcelona, ES @ Sala Apolo 2
04/30/2025 — Zurich, CH @ Papiersaal
05/01/2025 — Fribourg, CH @ Fri-Son
05/02/2025 — Milan, IT @ Legend
05/03/2025 — Munich, DE @ Ampere
05/04/2025 — Cologne, DE @ Artheater
05/06/2025 — Brighton, UK @ Chalk
05/07/2025 — Bristol, UK @ SWX
05/08/2025 — London, UK @ Hackney Church
05/09/2025 — Leeds, UK @ Project House
05/11/2025 — Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street
05/13/2025 — Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 TV Studio
05/14/2025 — Manchester, UK @ New Century Hall
05/16/2025 — Paris, FR @ Le Trabendo
05/17/2025 — Amsterdam, NL @ London Calling Festival
05/20/2025 — Hamburg, DE @ Nochtspeicher
05/21/2025 — Berlin, DE @ Lido
05/22/2025 — Warszawa, PL @ Klub Hybrydy

* with L’Rain
^ with Tomberlin
% with Hana Vu

Evergreen is out 10/25 via Loma Vista Recordings. Find more information here.

Jeff Teague’s Club 520 Podcast is easily the best NBA player podcast at giving us extremely funny stories. Teague’s willingness to talk about anything that happened in his career honestly has given us gems about shoving LeBron James into the crowd, getting barked at by Kevin Garnett, and the Pacers locker room laughing about Paul George’s Gatorade commercial after he missed a last second shot in the playoffs.

Most recently, Teague and the crew welcomed DeMarcus Cousins to the podcast and we learned that the legendary meme of Karl-Anthony Towns trying to post-up an unimpressed Boogie exists because of Teague. As Jeff explained, he was getting into it with Cousins and told KAT to “bust his ass”, which is why Boogie was being so over-the-top in that moment as KAT tried his best to bully through him.

As Teague’s co-hosts lose it learning he was behind that meme, Cousins notes, “it’s always Jeff, dawg!” The good news is, Towns even finds the meme “hilarious”, as he explained last year to Paul George on Podcast P, but knowing that the reason Boogie was being that defiant towards KAT posting up is Jeff Teague wouldn’t stop talking shit makes it even funnier.

When you go to a movie theater these days, you want to be totally immersed in the experience. You can’t just sit and watch a movie anymore, you need to surround yourself with tie-ins and novelty popcorn buckets and spend $9.99 on an Alien: Romulus gauntlet just to prove you know movies better than your friends. It’s just the way it works now, sorry! But even that isn’t enough anymore, now that the Sandworm Slayer has arrived.

The Sandworm Slayer (not a Dune reference, though it could be) is AMC’s latest creation in order to promote Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. The vibrant 24-ounce cocktail is made with blue and black raspberry juice and “premium vodka,” topped with sour gummy worms. It is, essentially, a boozy Beetle Juice.

It’s almost as if AMC took two of Timothée Chalamet’s biggest attributes (worms and candy) and decided to go with it. Which could work…only it cost a whopping $31 according to some moviegoers.

The Hollywood Reporter did some digging and found that the drink is available for purchase for $21 at 92% of AMC locations, though local liquor laws vary depending on where you are.

If that’s too much money for some juice but you still want to support Tim Burton’s little projects, there’s another premium drink offering! Fanta has a new Beetlejuice-inspired flavor, Haunted Apple, along with some limited edition cans. A 12-pack is only $29.99! Apparently, inflation is big in the afterlife, too.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Rachel Yoder’s Nightbitch took the book club circuit by storm in 2021 for understandable reason. The story’s feminist take on suburban, stay-at-home motherhood is a scathing and brutally funny one that was theoretically ripe for adaptation, even if filming practicalities might have sounded insurmountable. The idea of a Mother (Amy Adams) believing that she’s turning into a canine — and as the logline reveals, she “slowly embraces the feral power deeply rooted in motherhood” while running with the dogs and terrorizing cats — sounds too camp to pull off onscreen. And that tricky balance for this surreal dark comedy was confirmed in recent a trailer that didn’t exactly hit the mark:

To complicate matters, much of the discourse seems to be based upon the idea that Adams is chasing an Oscar win with this role after scoring six nominations over the years. The Sharp Objects actress, for her part, attended the TIFF premiere of the movie while telling Indiewire that she isn’t currently focused on whether she’s nominated for awards (“it’s not something I think about…”) but wouldn’t be mad if it helps the movie grow an audience (“I’m always happy if a film connects in a way that increases exposure for the film”).

The film, which stars Scoot McNairy (Halt and Catch Fire, Narcos: Mexico) and is directed and written by Marielle Heller (“A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood”), debuted at TIFF this week, and the below critic reactions urge people to lose the trailer because it’s reportedly not an accurate representation of the film. There’s even a comparison to The Substance:

Globe & Mail‘s Barry Hertz:

“NIGHTBITCH: Ignore the terrible trailer, this is a fantastic showcase for Amy Adams, who gets her … meatiest … role since THE MASTER… Shares much more in common with THE SUBSTANCE than I think anyone anticipated.”

Next Best Picture’s Matt Neglia:

NIGHTBITCH is so much better than the trailer would lead you to believe. Marielle Heller continues her streak of offering insight and nuance into the human condition, in this case, motherhood, in a way that feels deeply empathetic. Amy Adams walks a tightrope, fully selling the character’s internal struggle while exuding the warmth needed to be a good mom, all while nailing the comedic timing. Consistently funny and razor-sharp. If anything, I wish it went darker.

Critic Will Martinez:

Nightbitch is so much better than that trailer suggests. An insightful, amusing, and ultimately heartfelt look into motherhood. It is also a fabulous showcase for one of our greatest living actresses as Amy Adams totally crushes it. Another winner for Marielle Heller.

The Oscar Expert blog:

“Wipe the Nightbitch trailer from your brain. It’s a cathartic, insightful, and refreshingly philosophical take on how mothers cope…”

Nightbitch arrives in theaters on December 6.

Chappell Roan has been outspoken about the pressures of being famous. The “Pink Pony Club” singer called out certain fans for their “creepy,” “f*cking weird,” and at times “stalker vibes,” and she recently stated her desire to “draw lines and set boundaries.” A lot of fellow musicians — especially fellow female musicians — can relate.

According to Rolling Stone, Billie Eilish has been “keeping tabs” on Roan, while Paramore’s Hayley Williams direct messaged her, Muna hosted her for dinner, Lorde gave her a “helpful list of things to do at an airport to fly under the radar,” and Lady Gaga passed along her phone number. Two-thirds of Boygenius (Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker) got coffee with Roan and the other third (Phoebe Bridgers) came over to her place to hang and bond over how fan behavior has become increasingly “abusive and violent.”

But it’s Mitski — who unfortunately knows a thing or two about dealing with over-the-line fans — who was the most direct. In an email to Roan, she wrote, “I just wanted to humbly welcome you to the shittiest exclusive club in the world, the club where strangers think you belong to them and they find and harass your family members.”

Roan appreciates the advice she’s received. “I’m not trying to name-drop. I’m trying to tell you there are girls who are good people, who are helping other girls out,” she shared. “I’m name-dropping them because people just need to know that people are good people.”