Category: News

Alabama running back Najee Harris is preparing for an appearance in the Rose Bowl, and on the way in he’s been asked about what inspires him. Well, Harris is one of the rare male athletes who is open in his admiration for women in the sports world, and he used his spotlight to praise soccer star Megan Rapinoe. Harris said he admires Rapinoe for her activism, for putting up with the double standards facing women in sports, oh, and for her great taste in music.

Harris kicks off his response by noting that Rapinoe listens to fallen rap legend Nipsey Hussle — just like him — and that’s just the first on a list of things he admires. “She’s from California first of all and she listens to Nipsey,” Harris begins. “Nipsey Hussle. He’s like one of my favorite rappers too. She gave a shout out to him.” Harris is referring to Rapinoe using a quote from Nipsey to celebrate the USWNT world cup win last year with these lines from his song “Hussle & Motivate” in an Instagram post: “Ain’t really trip on the credit, I just paid all of my dues / I just respected the game, now my name all in the news / Trippin’ on all of my moves, quote me on this, got a lot more to prove.”

Harris goes on to praise her feminism and standing up for the pay gap. Watch more of his praise above, and check out her appreciative response below.

Entering Wednesday night there were two undefeated teams remaining in the NBA: the Atlanta Hawks and the Orlando Magic, just like everyone predicted. One of those was in action, as the Hawks made the trek to Brooklyn for the first of two straight games against the Nets at the Barclays Center in a game that many had circled for their Wednesday night viewing as it’d be the first real test for the Hawks.

What resulted was an offensive exhibition by both teams — and, in turn, some disastrous defensive efforts from each — as they put on quite the show in what ended up being a 145-141 Nets victory. The Hawks took the early advantage thanks in part to an ice cold shooting start from Kyrie Irving (and to a slightly lesser degree, Kevin Durant), but by the end of the first quarter it was 41-38 Hawks and the writing was on the wall for the shootout that was to come.

Four Hawks finished with more than 20 points on the night, as Trae Young and John Collins each had 30-point double-doubles (Young with 11 assists and Collins with 10 boards) and Bogdan Bogdanovic and Cam Reddish chipped in a combined 42 points. Young, as has been the case all season, did much of his damage at the free throw line where he was 14-of-16, once again showing his mastery in the art of foul drawing, particularly after Atlanta found itself in the bonus midway through the fourth quarter. What was most impressive was his facilitating, though, as his fruitful partnership with Collins paved the way for some great looks for the Hawks big man.

Bogdanovic caught fire from distance early, as he went 6-for-11 from the three-point line as the Hawks offense continued rolling along as the best and most efficient unit in the league.

However, despite the poor start, when it came to the fourth quarter it was the KD and Kyrie show at Barclays as they simply overwhelmed the Hawks who never were able to put enough distance between themselves and the Nets early on — thanks in large part to a monstrous effort from the Brooklyn bench, which had four players in double figures. Thanks to that bench effort to keep Brooklyn attached, once the stars showed up down the stretch Atlanta just couldn’t quite keep up with their shot-making.

Irving and Durant combined for 33 points in the fourth quarter, as their barrage of individual creation was just too much for the Hawks defense to handle.

The play where Irving split the Hawks pick-and-roll coverage and sent Collins to the floor was truly sensational, and their ability to take over games is what makes this Nets team so dangerous. For Atlanta, they hung with the Nets throughout and even had a wide open corner three from De’Andre Hunter to tie the game at 137 that rattled out and all but spelled the end of their hopes. They are early enough along in their growth as a team that moral victories are indeed a thing, and this game, one in which people wanted to see if they were for real, certainly counts as that.

The chief concern for Atlanta, of course, is the defense and that’s going to be the story of their season, particularly in games where they go small with Collins playing the 5 as they did quite often in this one. Brooklyn likewise has defensive issues to clean up, they just have Durant and Irving to create down the stretch to cover up those errors a touch better than the Hawks — who saw Danilo Gallinari exit early in the game with a sprained ankle that certainly impacted their rotation.

We’ll get to see these two play each other once again on Friday and it might be foolish to expect another offensive display like this one, but with the talent on both rosters, one has to figure there will be plenty of fireworks once again.

Within the past couple of months, a number of well-known names in the music world revealed that they’ve tested positive for COVID-19. Now another act has unfortunately joined the list: West Coast producer Mustard, who shared the sad news with his fan base in a post to his Instagram story, writing, simply, “Tested positive for covid send a prayer up for ya boy.”

Mustard’s diagnosis comes after two other names in the music world, Jeremih and Ashanti, came down with the still rampaging coronavirus. The former left the music world extremely worried, as his symptoms were severe enough to land him right in the ICU. Thankfully, after spending a week in the ICU, Jeremih was moved to the normal ward before he was discharged at the beginning of December. He shared a message that read in part, “I would like to thank all my fans and people around the world who prayed for me. I’m getting stronger everyday, and look forward to spending time with my sons.” Ashanti’s diagnosis, on the other hand, came just hours before her scheduled Verzuz battle with Keyshia Cole.

As for Mustard, here’s hoping his illness is mild and that he makes a speedy recovery.

The Buffalo Bills will allow some fans to attend their first home playoff game since 1996, which will be played on either Jan. 9 or 10. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that 6,772 fans would be allowed into Bills Stadium for the game, stressing the need for continued health and safety precautions as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. During the 2020 regular season, Bills games had been closed to fans as part of New York state’s COVID-19 protocols regarding professional sports.

Fans in attendance will need to register a negative COVID-19 test before being allowed to enter the stadium, and the team will work with New York state’s Department of Health to conduct contact tracing afterward. Fans will also be socially distanced throughout the stadium and required to wear face masks. Other precautions include staggered entry times, cashless transactions, mandatory mask wearing and no tailgating. Fans who fail to comply will be ejected.

Several NFL teams have allowed fans this season at a reduced capacity, including the Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

According to Pro Football Reference, Buffalo’s last home playoff game was a 27-30 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in a Wild Card game on Dec. 28, 1996. At the press conference on Wednesday, Cuomo was joined by Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula, who underscored the importance of limiting the spread of COVID-19 while also welcoming the support of their team’s fans.

“We know that the fans have been waiting 25 years to be able to attend a playoff game and we are so excited to be able to allow the limited amount of fans that we can,” Kim Pegula said. “I want to just say that we are so hopeful that there will be many more games that all fans can attend. For us to do that […] we all need to be safe starting today even beyond the game.”

“Remember, our objective here is to support our team in as many ways as we can,” fellow Bills owner Terry Pegula said. “And I ask them to be safe, be smart, and most importantly be loud.”

Cuomo said he also plans to attend the game.

“They have captured a certain energy and charisma that is effective,” Cuomo said at the press conference. “We really have to take this seriously. We really don’t want the fact that the Bills are in the playoffs to be a negative in terms of COVID.”

Western New York has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. On Wednesday, the Erie County Department of Health announced 554 new confirmed coronavirus cases with a daily positivity rate of 6.4%. The seven-day moving average of newly reported cases, which helps smooth out irregularities in data reporting, is also 6.4%. Total cases through Dec. 29 in the region are now up to 40,463.

The Bills (12-3) defeated the New England Patriots (6-9) on Monday to lock up the AFC East division title for the first time since 1995 and depending on how this week and the next work out, they could end up hosting more than one playoff game. If the Bills advance to host a divisional round game, fans also will be permitted to attend.

Eminem’s beef with Benzino dates back to the beginning of the century, when the Boston native and former co-owner of The Source magazine gave the Detroit rapper’s 2000 album, The Marshall Mathers LP, a rating of 2 out of 5 mics.The two thus began a long-lasting beef that continues more than 20 years later. Indeed, Benzino recently dissed Eminem and his fans.

Last month, Benzino began his attacks against the rapper’s fans in a tweet, writing, “Face it stans y’all will always be hip hop goofiest most out of touch fan base,” before calling them, “straight bozos.” He also stood firm on his The Marshall Mathers LP rating in a recent appearance on the podcast FlipDaScript, where he claimed that listeners were only impressed by the album because Eminem is White. Soon enough, Royce Da 5’9″ — who has frequently collaborated with Eminem during their friendship — stepped in to defend him with a series of posts on social media.

instagram.com/p/CJaEYdipj7Z/?utm_source=ig_embed

It began with an Instagram post that featured a shirtless Benzino and a caption that read, “I don’t want no problems with you Mr 5 mics in the source.” Royzo added, “The streets know You dangerous when you desperate so Ain’t no telling what lengths you’re willing to elevate this misunderstanding to so put your shell back on and go do karate with the rest of the ninja turtles.”

He then moved on to Twitter. “I can’t wait till Benzino get on Clubhouse,” Royce wrote, referring to the voice-based app. “A Front row seat to the most obligatory pseudo toxic masculine tough guy talk the world has ever seen. Please Clap for this hoe ass n**** so he can try to move on. He stuck in 06.”

As expected, Benzino caught wind of Royce’s comments and responded with a series of his own tweets, all of which were eventually deleted, but not before Royce could screenshot one of them.

In one of the tweets, Benzino asked for a Verzuz battle between the two rappers after he proclaimed that Royce’s catalog was the best of the two. But Royce did not take the bait, instead sharing a third reply in the form of an Instagram post. “This muf*ka dun challenged me to a Verzuz battle… He prefaced this with ‘My Catalogue,’” the post read. “Challenge not accepted but big props to I see booty I see Booty.”

You can read the exchanged between the rappers in the tweets above and watch the FlipDaScript podcast here.

Ken Jennings is a rock star — the one officially (more or less) determined the greatest Jeopardy! contestant of all time. Earlier this year he even defeated his closest competition, namely James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter. But he’s also human, and he’s also on Twitter. And when you’re both of those things, there’s a good chance you’ve said some pretty dumb things, in public.

On Wednesday, the penultimate day of this historically crappy year, the popular know-it-all — who will soon host some Jeopardy! episodes in the wake of Alex Trebek’s passing — decided to make amends over some unfortunate tweets he let loose in a different time. One of the, from 2014, found him making this joke: “Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair.” He’s apologized for it before, back in 2018. But it resurfaced last month, and though Jennings deleted it, he thought it best to own ot it up rather than bury his past.

“I just wanted to own up to the fact that over the years on Twitter, I’ve definitely tweeted some unartful and insensitive things,” Jennings wrote in what proved to be a Twitter thread. He continued:

“Sometimes they worked as jokes in my head and I was dismayed to see how they read on screen. In the past, I’d usually leave bad tweets up just so they could be dunked on. At least that way they could lead to smart replies and even advocacy. Deleting them felt like whitewashing a mistake.

“But I think that practice may have given the impression I stand by every failed joke I’ve ever posted here. Not at all!” he continued. “Sometimes I said dumb things in a dumb way and I want to apologize to people who were (rightfully!) offended. It wasn’t my intention to hurt anyone, but that doesn’t matter: I screwed up, and I’m truly sorry. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that we should be kinder to one another. I look forward to heading into 2021 with that in mind.”

Though Jennings is, again, hosting certain upcoming episodes, no full-time Jeopardy! replacement has been named after Trebek’s passing in November.

(Via EW)

The biggest issue for the Portland Trail Blazers this past calendar year has been their inability to keep everyone healthy at the same time long enough to get their bearings and establish some cohesion as a unit. They’ve suffered through a variety of injuries at the most inopportune times, but such are the realities of NBA basketball.

Fourth-year forward Zach Collins has been bit particularly hard by the injury bug. Last year, in just the third game of the regular season, Collins suffered a shoulder injury that kept him sidelined for the remainder of the season. He returned for the Blazers’ run through the seeding games in the Orlando Bubble, but went down with an ankle injury during the play-in game against the Grizzlies that required surgery.

Collins was progressing and was hopeful for a return sometime in January, but it appears he re-aggravated the injury at some point in recent weeks, requiring a second procedure that could potentially require him to miss the remainder of the season.

Via Jamie Hudson of NBC Sports Northwest:

But just as the rehab seemed to be going well at the start of the 2020-21 season, things changed.

As Collins began ramping up his workouts, the setback likely occurred.

It appears the earliest Collins could return after undergoing a surgery like this would be in the final weeks of the regular season or postseason, but the team and Collins will likely be very cautious.

It’s a devastating development for both Collins and the Blazers, who were hoping to return to full strength this season and find out what they’re capable of when fully healthy. Both Rodney Hood and Jusuf Nurkic are back in the lineup and continuing to work their way back to form, but the progress has been incremental.

The Blazers dropped their opener against the Jazz, but are now 2-1 after wins against the Rockets and the defending champion Lakers. They square off against the Clippers on Wednesday night at Staples Center.

(NBC Sports Northwest)

Justin Bieber has been having a very productive 2020, pandemic be damned.

Releasing a new album, Changes this spring before the world was put on hold due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19, Justin has followed up that record with a string of new singles that are more than just impressive — they’re self-reflective. On the joyous, gospel-infused “Holy,” with Chance The Rapper, he celebrates his new marriage to Hailey Baldwin, and on the more sorrowful “Lonely,” with Benny Blanco, he looks back on just how much celebrity impacted his childhood. Both are great examples of Bieber doing what he does best, speaking plainly about what’s important to him and how he’s been hurt in the past.

A few weeks ago, he released more new music, a collaboration with Shawn Mendes on the gloomy track “Monster” that’s part of Shawn’s new album, Wonder, and according to a social media post today, he has yet another new song on the way. Planning to perform at the virtual New Year’s Eve event, Bieber let fans know that he’d be debuting a new single called “Anyone” during the show tomorrow night.

And of course, eagle-eyed Justin fans remembered that back in April, he discussed recording the song and found the clip:

Tune in tomorrow to see where this song fits in with his other new material.

2020 was terrible on the whole, and as such finding positive things to look back on at the end of the year when we’re all in a reflective mood can be pretty tough. The pandemic has wreaked havoc on every aspect of life, pushing sports well to the periphery in terms of importance for so many.

Even when sports came back after coming to a halt in March, it wasn’t the helpful distraction from the world so many hoped it would be, as the very nature of putting on sporting events in a pandemic requires constant reminders in the form of masks, distancing, and empty arenas and stadiums. For that reason, my choice for the best sports moment of 2020 doesn’t have anything to do with something that happened during play, but the thing that has, genuinely, brought me joy over and over, every time I think about it.

Yes, I am talking about Robbie Anderson of the Carolina Panthers seeing their mascot, Sir Purr, who is very clearly a panther, dancing in the stands at a game and asking his fellow receivers, “What’s that bear doin?”

The entire exchange is sensational. From the confusion of his teammates as to the “bear” Anderson was referring to, to Anderson’s objection to the idea that anyone would actually walk up to that mascot and say, “What’s up, Sir Purr?” The best part though is the matter-of-factness that D.J. Moore has in saying “that’s his name!”

I have recounted this exchange a ridiculous number of times since September. If I see a mascot on TV, I instinctively turn to my fiancée and say, “what’s that bear doin?” For everything that’s happened in sports this season, this is likely the thing that will stick with me more than anything that happened on a field or court. That might say more about me than this moment, but I can assure you, I’ll be saying “what’s that bear doin” for years and I want to just thank Robbie Anderson for that gift.

Since none of us can leave our houses and most entertainment events have been canceled due to the pandemic, SNL has been an even more important part of our cultural sanity than usual. The show recently pulled off a killer parody of Eminem’s iconic “Stan” — with Pete Davidson rapping his own take on the classic — and apparently, Marshall Mathers himself was quite impressed with it.

Although, at first he was unsure. In an interview with Zane Lowe he said that reading the rap on paper it was unclear how it would play out, but in the end, the sketch came off “actually really good.” “I remember they sent me the lyrics to it and I was reading them on paper and I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know if this is going to be that good,’” he began. “And then the weight, when he said it, I was like, ‘Holy sh-t.’ He said it so good that he sold every single thing. You can’t… First of all, everybody’s raps look terrible on paper, right? Because you don’t necessarily know unless you’re a rapper yourself. You don’t necessarily know where… Even if you are, you don’t know where they’re going to hit the beat at, what pocket they’re going to choose. Yeah. And he was in a ill pocket. He was like, he was kind of going and he’d go a little faster and then he kind of slowed down so you could catch what he just said the first time you hear it. Yeah. His delivery was for sure really on point because it was not what I expected when I saw it. I was like, ‘Man, this is actually really good.’ The whole thing was great.”

Good enough that Em himself cameoed in the sketch at the very end. Check it out below if you need a refresher.