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Earlier this week, all signs began pointing to Dec. 22 as, quite easily, the most likely start date for the 2020-21 NBA season. Still, there was a proposal targeting Jan. 18 as an alternative, with members of the NBPA set to vote on the next step some time this week. On Thursday evening, that vote reportedly took place and, in the end, the players voted to move ahead with the Dec. 22 proposal that includes a 72-game season.

The NBPA confirmed the tentative agreement shortly after the initial reports emerged.

It is crucial to note that nothing is official at this juncture, as the NBA and the NBPA still must agree on financial terms for next season and beyond. In addition, COVID-19 protocols will be of great importance, both for scheduling and general operations for a season that is now set to begin in fewer than two months.

Per Shams Charania of The Athletic, the salary cap for 2020-21 is expected to land at $109 million, with ongoing discussions on the potential for a two percent minimum when it comes to the annual growth of that figure. Teams desperately need salary cap details in preparation for the NBA Draft, scheduled for Nov. 18, and at the moment, a moratorium remains in place for transactions, in part due to financial uncertainty. Free agency, meanwhile, will begin “as soon as possible” as teams need to set rosters and have players in cities for camp on Dec. 1.

Earlier in the week, it was reported that the NBA had proposed a new offer that would reduce the amount players were asked to put in escrow to 18 percent for just two years — previous reports suggested over 20 percent and three years could be asked for — as it seemed owners wanted to really make a big push for the December start date and the players apparently felt that was as good of a deal as they could ask for.

Though this result was widely expected for quite some time, reality now sets in across basketball circles. The endless draft cycle will conclude in the coming days but, from there, the league transitions to warp speed, with free agency, training camp, a (shortened) preseason slate and regular season games, all before Christmas arrives. Still, the schedule was a looming topic across the basketball landscape and, barring a drastic change, Dec. 22 is the date to circle.

Nearly a year ago, Kanye West took over the Hollywood Bowl to hold his Nebuchadnezzar opera show. It was held shortly after he delivered his Jesus Is King project, a release that kicked off his dive into the world of gospel music. The opera show was disappointing to fans who attended, as it started two hours behind schedule and lasted only 50 minutes. Now, less than three weeks from the one-year anniversary of the show, West is facing a lawsuit from the opera staffers for unpaid wages.

According to legal documents obtained by Complex, the opera staffers claimed that they were not adequately compensated for their contribution to their Nebuchadnezzar show. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit include background actors and a hairstylist who claims she was supposed to receive $550 for two days of work. The hairstylist said after four months they received a $530 check and allegedly she was charged a $20 wire fee to get the payment. Other workers on the opera set said they were also charged the $20 fee, which apparently is a violation of California’s labor code.

“The defendants oversaw, controlled and ran the production, and the aggrieved employees worked many hours on the production and were not timely paid for their work, or paid at all,” a document from the lawsuit reads. “In addition, Defendants misclassified Plaintiffs and Aggrieved Employees as independent contractors as no deductions were made for payroll taxes.”

The plaintiffs are hoping to receive “unpaid wages, continuing wages, damages, civil penalties, statutory penalties and attorney’s fees and costs.”

(via Complex)

Joining the likes of Austin City Limits, Rolling Loud, Appleville, Save Our Stages, and more, Gucci has announced a virtual film and fashion festival, entitled Guccifest, to take place later this month. Among the many high-profile names they invited to appear at the festival, Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, and Florence The Machine are among the highlight names that viewers can expect to see at Guccifest. The festival announcement did not reveal whether Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, Florence The Machine, and other acts would perform or appear as models during the festival.

According to the Guccifest announcement, the festival will feature a collection of short films that will celebrate 15 independent young designers and their creations. The event will also be used to reveal Alessandro Michele’s latest Gucci “Ouverture of Something that Never Ended” collection.

In addition to the Guccifest appearance, Billie Eilish also revealed that she would release new music in November, a track that will hopefully be played at the festival if the pop singer gives a performance. Harry Styles is coming off a new video for his Fine Line introduction track, “Golden,” as well as his first No. 1 single with “Watermelon Sugar.” Florence The Machine’s addition to the Guccifest will hopefully lead to new releases from the band as they have not released an album since 2018’s High Hopes.

You can check out the announcement above and additional info here.

Hello, college football fans. If you were unaware, former Ole Miss, Auburn, Texas Tech, and Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville is headed to the United States Senate. As a Senator, not as a tourist or anything. No, seriously!

Tuberville, a Republican, entered the political arena in 2018 when he moved to Alabama with the intention of running for Senate. That race occurred on Tuesday, and based on current projections, Tuberville is going to beat Democratic incumbent Doug Jones, and while there is speculation that Jones may have a role in a potential Joe Biden administration in his future, Tuberville, a vocal Donald Trump supporter, believes that Biden should not make it into the White House.

Tuberville sent out a tweet on Thursday evening that inaccurately described what is occurring as legally cast mail-in votes are counted and show Biden eating into Trump’s lead in two crucial swing states, Georgia and Pennsylvania.

CNN’s Daniel Dale, who is known for his fact checks, called this “the single worst football analogy I’ve ever seen.” One of Dale’s colleagues, Jake Tapper, decided to go a different direction, reminding Tuberville of his final year as the head coach at Auburn — and just to hammer it home, followed with another tweet about an Auburn loss to LSU where they blew an 11-point halftime lead.

The Alabama game in question saw the Tigers lose, 36-0, and saw Auburn gain 170 yards of total offense. Tuberville resigned a little more than a week after the loss.

On the field, the 2020 NFL season has been reasonably kind to Jon Gruden and the Las Vegas Raiders. In the team’s first season in their new home city, the Raiders have a 4-3 record that includes victories over Super Bowl contenders like the Kansas City Chiefs and New Orleans Saints. However, the Raiders have run into controversy off the field, including an early-season incident in which 10 players were fined for violating COVID-19 protocols and another instance in which Gruden was fined for not wearing a mask on the sideline.

On Thursday, things reportedly escalated for the Raiders, as Charles Robinson of Yahoo reports Las Vegas will be fined and docked a draft pick for further violations.

As Robinson notes, the punishment increases in severity due to the franchise’s situation as a repeat offender. Quite honestly, that makes sense through the prism of the NFL needing to maintain order surrounding the virus and, in advance of Week 9, more than one-third of the league’s franchises faced some sort of COVID-19 roster fallout.

It remains to be seen as to what the impact of these sanctions might be for the Raiders. Still, losing a draft pick is another level from simply taking money out of the pockets of (very) rich individuals, and Las Vegas might also be on increasingly thin ice should additional issues arise.

The longest year on record got longer this week as election day in America did not see a clear winner determined between Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the days following the end of voting. Trump’s initial leads in some states seems to be slipping away as mail-in ballots are being counted, and misinformation from the president about the legitimacy of the election has complicated things considerably.

One of the surprise swing states still uncounted as of Thursday evening was Nevada, a state won by Hillary Clinton in 2016 and that initially looked good for Joe Biden on election night. But as Georgia, Pennsylvania Arizona and even Alaska also worked through their ballot backlogs and remained uncalled among most news organizations, people grew increasingly frustrated with the slow progress Nevada made in the hours following election day.

While some counties in Georgia and Pennsylvania worked through the night to count ballots, things seemed to be developing slowly out west. An afternoon press conference revealed things may not be wrapped up in Nevada anytime soon to give anyone clarity on the matter. And with not much else to do other than wait for results and worry, many people took to creating memes poking fun at how slowly Nevada counted its outstanding ballots.

Even The Bachelorette took some heat on Thursday because of Nevada.

Counting ballots in any election is a complicated and deliberate process, especially in a year where a pandemic has made voting increasingly more complicated and potentially dangerous. But the memes certainly came a lot faster than the results on Thursday. At least it was a welcome distraction from refreshing websites and watching TV for the actual results.

Donald Trump finally spoke to the American people on Thursday as his voting leads dwindled in several states and the 2002 presidential election hung in the balance. But what he said was so dishonest and flatly wrong that most television networks either cut in to correct misinformation about the election or stopped airing his statement outright.

Trump addressed the media shortly after 6:30 eastern time on Thursday, the first time he spoke since an early Wednesday morning rally at the White House where he falsely claimed victory in both several states and the election itself well before the result was certain. As of Thursday, it still wasn’t, though as mail-in votes were counted things were trending toward a Joe Biden victory in several states.

Which perhaps is why Trump claimed a vast conspiracy against him and baselessly accused voting fraud in several states like Pennsylvania, while still insisting votes be counted in places like Arizona where he appears to be gaining on Biden’s lead. The press conference was either interrupted or stopped altogether, though notably CNN aired it uninterrupted and in its entirety.

CNN’s Daniel Dale called the press conference the “most dishonest” one Trump had ever given since he announced he was running for president.

And afterward, Jake Tapper called Trump “pathetic” twice and called it a sad day for America, as his White House press conference was deemed a direct attack on democracy and the election process that’s still incomplete and with a winner undetermined.

“What a sad night for the United States of America to hear their president falsely accuse people of trying to steal the election. To try to attack democracy like that with his feast of falsehoods. Lie after lie after lie about the election being stolen. No evidence of what he had to say, just smears of vote counting in state after state,” Tapper said. “When he wins a state, it’s legitimate. When he loses a state, it’s that it’s being stolen from him. It’s not true, it’s ugly. It’s, frankly, pathetic.”

The CNN host continued, but perhaps it was Anderson Cooper who had the most biting line about Trump in the immediate aftermath of his speech.

“I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like this from a president of the United States,” Cooper said afterward, noting that Trump had zero evidence of the fraud and offered a misleading and outright incorrect assessment of how elections work.

While he spoke disparagingly about the assembled media and claimed a vast conspiracy against him, this photograph perhaps best captured the mood of the press conference.

As of Thursday night, the election’s results remained unclear. But Trump’s statement sounded like that of a frustrated man unable to come to terms with the reality of the results to come, leaving America in an uncertain place in what’s been an increasingly long year.

Imgur user SunofAbyss is getting a lot of love online for a text exchange he had with his daughter. The exchange proved he’s the king of dad jokes, has excellent taste in cookies, and knows the importance of being in healthy relationships.

Oh yeah, he handled his daughter coming out of the closet perfectly.

Dad began the conversation by bringing up a topic that would be difficult for some fathers — his daughter joined GSA.

Gay–Straight Alliance or Gender-Sexuality Alliance is a student-led or community-based organization found in schools that provides a safe and supportive environment for LGBT children, teenagers, and youth as well as their allies

But instead of having a heavy conversation about sexuality, this dad had fun with the big revelation by confusing it with another organization a younger girl may join.

via SunofAbyss / Imgur

via SunofAbyss / Imgur

Dad has the perfect response to his daughter being uncomfortable coming out to him.

via SunofAbyss / Imgur

Then, he brings up a simple, but important point about relationships.

via SunofAbyss / Imgur

Finally, the topic returns to what’s really important: cookies.

via SunofAbyss / Imgur

via SunofAbyss / Imgur

via SunofAbyss / Imgur

The post received some funny responses, although most people just wanted to talk about their favorite Girl Scout cookies.

“This is absolutely disgusting and these people should both be ashamed of themselves! The peanut butter sandwiches are the best cookies,” — seiken82.

“Honestly, this is my stance as well. Don’t give a damn who you bring home, just don’t date jackasses and jerkwards,” — GCRust.

“If you don’t bring cookies you’re not allowed to lesbian. Got it,” — thedownvotefairyisahorriblespecies.

Now, some people may see the dad’s flippant response as a missed opportunity for an important conversation about sexuality. However, according to Psychology Today, he did a great job at giving both of them space to think about the big revelation and return to it at a later time.

“Ask for time to take the news in before you express anything but love,” Kathy McCoy Ph.D. writes. “If you find yourself grief-stricken and shocked, try to express love for your adult child while asking for time to pull your thoughts together. It’s better to ask for time than to blurt out comments or questions that are hurtful.”

It seems as though this dad wasn’t shocked by the revelation but he gave his daughter, who was clearly uncomfortable, the time to get her head and heart around the news.

The dad also made a great point about relationships by saying he doesn’t mind the gender of who she dates, he just wants to be sure that they aren’t a “jerk.” Because that’s when dads have to step in and do their jobs.

Four years ago, no one would have expected that Georgia would be a battleground state in the 2020 presidential election.

Well, not no one. Stacey Abrams not only saw it coming, she played a big role in making it happen.

The former member of the Georgia state legislature became the first Black American woman to run for governor of a state under a major party in 2018. She lost to Republican Brian Kemp by just 1.5% in a hotly contested election. Kemp, who was Georgia’s Secretary of State at the time, has been accused of engaging in voter suppression, making it harder for minorities in the state exercise their right to vote. Abrams refused to officially concede the election, claiming that Kemp had a conflict of interest as the person in charge of his own election.

After the gubernatorial race came to close, Abrams took the issue of voter suppression on with gusto. She had already spent years advocating for voter rights as a lawyer and lawmaker and continued the effort by founding an organization called Fair Fight that focuses on funding and training people to protect the vote in 20 battleground states, with a special emphasis on her home state of Georgia.

One of the main strategies Abrams has engaged in is getting enough voters registered and motivated to turn out on election days any voter suppression tactics that might be employed would be unsuccessful due to sheer numbers.

“Our goal through Fair Fight and Fair Fight 2020 is to ensure that people know about the obstacles that are being placed in their way, but (are encouraged to) vote in even larger numbers to overwhelm the intention of the system,” Abrams told USA TODAY.

According to USA Today, Democrats had seen potential in Georgia’s changing demographics. The city of Atlanta, in particular, has drawn a more educated workforce from around the country, which also includes potentially younger Asian, Black and Latino voters. Other counties that were once Republican strongholds have also become more diverse, opening the door to Democrats, who tend to draw more non-white support than Republicans.

Abrams’ focus on getting those voters registered and ready to show up at the polls has paid off. A reliably red state for decades, Georgia is now in play. But it’s not just as simple as getting people to the polls. Abrams has a deep pool of historical knowledge and a keen understanding of the systems in place that make it harder for people to exercise their civic duty.

In an interview with Ezra Klein at Vox, Abrams explained that there is no Constitutional right to vote.

“The reality is that the right to vote does not exist as an affirmative opportunity,” she said. “What does exist in the Constitution is the delegation of authority for the administration of elections to states, which sounds very benign until you realize that for most of American history, voter suppression has been almost entirely the construct of states.

What the Voting Rights Act did in 1965 was shatter the impermeable nature of states to say who could and could not vote. The Voting Rights Act said you could not use race — and, by 1975, that you could not use language — as a way to preclude access to the right to vote. It said that states could not take proactive steps to block the right to vote through poll taxes, literacy tests, closing of polling places — any action that would interfere with the right of people of color, or people who spoke English as a second language, to vote. In states that had a long and storied history of blocking the right to vote, no new voting laws could be countenanced without having the Department of Justice approve.”

The Voting Rights Act helped get the U.S. to a place where we elected our first Black president in 2008 and again in 2012. Then, in 2013, it was gutted by a Supreme Court case that essentially removed the rule that states had to get their voter rules approved by the federal government.

“That was essentially a get out of jail free card for states that wanted to discriminate; what was different this time is that it was no longer relegated to those states that participated in voter suppression through Jim Crow,” said Abrams.

“You had a proliferation across the country of voter suppression techniques that had been prohibited clearly by the Voting Rights Act. That’s why you saw the rapid shutdown of polling places. That’s why you saw the expansion of restrictive voter ID laws. That’s why in 2020, we are seeing so many cases that essentially challenge state laws designed to restrict who has access to the right to vote.”

Thanks to Abrams’ efforts—among others—to ensure that more Americans have their voices heard at the ballot box, Georgia may end up turning blue. In the very least, it’s now a solid purple, which is a huge accomplishment for those who have worked so hard to enfranchise voters.

Thank you, Stacey Abrams, and all the other warriors fighting for voter protection, for carrying America to the finish line of this hard-fought race.

You might assume that the chilly November weather, when winter beers start to flourish, isn’t right for the citrus, resinous, floral notes of your favorite IPAs. But beer has always been like Walt Whitman — it contains multitudes. Who says you can’t savor a slightly bitter West Coast IPA or a hazy New England-style juice bomb on a crisp fall day? Not us!

In fact, IPAs might just be the perfect seasonal choice for anyone who isn’t ready to admit that it’s getting dark at 5 p.m. these days. Or those of us who want to wait until at least Thanksgiving before the barrel-aged stouts and rich, chocolatey porters start flowing. And especially the lucky few who live where the temperature never dives below 60.

In our unending quest to make your selection process easier every time you hit the beer aisle, we asked a handful of our favorite bartenders to tell us their go-to IPAs to drink this November. Check out their answers below!

Sierra Nevada Celebration

Seth Falvo, bartender at The Hotel Zamora in St. Pete Beach, Florida

Sierra Nevada Celebration IPA is perfect for fall. Brewed in honor of the hop harvest, the sweet malty base contrasts beautifully with the layers of citrus and pine provided by the hops. Plus, it’s widely available — making it a great last-minute six-pack to pick up from the gas station on your way to Thanksgiving dinner.

Dock Street King Juice

Alex Clark, bartender at Square 1682 in Philadelphia

I definitely recommend the King Juice from Dock Street Brewery. This beer is brewed right up the street from my house in South Philly and it’s one of my favorites to pick up. It’s a hazy double IPA and comes in around 8.5% ABV, so you really only need to have one or two, and the flavors and hops that come out in this beer are truly amazing.

This is about as “juicy” as an IPA can get, so it stays true to the name.

Elysian Contact Haze

De’Ann Wellwerts, beverage director at City Works Eatery & Pour House in Pittsburgh

Elysian Contact Haze. This is a very mild hazy IPA. It has such a refreshing taste with a bright citrus flavor, a pronounced hop scent without being too bitter. This is a year-round beer, but I think this is a great option for the fall, since I enjoy so many heavier darker beers, this can bring some lightness and a summery feel even in the cold winter.

Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere

Roberto Berdecia, bartender at La Factoria in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest is a perfect fall beer. It’s brewed in celebration of the seasonal hop harvest. It’s a wet hop IPA, bursting with floral and piney hop flavors perfect for crisp November days.

Earthbound Thai Basil IPA

Andy Printy, beverage director at Chao Baan in St. Louis

Earthbound Brewery in St. Louis now has their Thai Basil IPA. It has loads of Thai basil for an herbaceous front that balances out with jaggery date syrup and that dry-hopped goodness.

Darwin Juicy Dayze

Hayden Miller, head bartender at Bodega Taqueria y Tequila in Miami

Juicy Dayze is another new classic from Darwin Brewing. The can says it all — with its heady logo and description: fruit juice, citrus, and stone fruit. Just tart enough and the hops make it an easy rider. Perfect for all those moments missing a beer.

Peak Autumn IPA

Can Coskunkal, director of operations at Street Guys Hospitality in Washington, DC

Peak Autumn IPA is pretty good and specially crafted for this time of year. Peachy, citrusy, and easy on the palate in the not-so-cold fall season.

Toppling Goliath King Sue

Michaela Todd-Milner, general manager of Coastal County Brewing Company in Pensacola, Florida

The best new IPA that I’ve had this year is probably — and it is new to my region — Toppling Goliath King Sue. This double IPA is massively citrusy and just delightful. It has a punch in the ABV department but is still crushable or ready to just be enjoyed by a fire.

Writer’s Picks:

Cigar City Fancy Papers

You probably already know that the humid, hot summer days are perfect for hazy IPAs. Well, so are the dry, chilly fall days. Made with Strata, Sabro, and Idaho 7 hops, this pick is a sweet and juicy. A nice respite from the dark winter days ahead.

Founders All Day IPA

If you’re looking for a great, refreshing IPA to drink in between your 12 percent ABV bourbon barrel-aged stouts this fall, make it a Founders All Day IPA. It might only be 4.7 percent ABV, but it’s complex, fresh, and filled with bright hop flavors.

Troegs Perpetual IPA

This 7.5 percent offering checks all of the IPA boxes. It’s dry-hopped and a great mix of fresh, juicy fruit flavors along with bitter, resinous hops. A great back porch sipper on a cool-but-not-bone-cold November night.