Category: Viral

AEW held its latest pay-per-view event, Double or Nothing, at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville on Sunday night. Well, that’s not totally right — one match, a Stadium Stampede match between The Pinnacle and The Inner Circle, took place at TIAA Bank Field, which is also in Jacksonville and is home to the Jaguars.

It’s been a busy couple of months for the Jags, which hired first-time NFL head coach Urban Meyer to man the ship, drafted Clemson standout Trevor Lawrence No. 1 overall to be the new franchise quarterback, and signed Tim Tebow to play tight end, for some reason. Since AEW is using their home field for a match, they were able to get in on the fun.

One spot involved Chris Jericho and MJF stumbling into a room where Meyer and assistant head coach/inside linebacker coach Charlie Strong were chilling out. Upon their arrival, Strong and Meyer gave Y2J some footballs and a computer to use against MJF. There was some other scrapping — all while Meyer and Strong watched — and eventually, Jericho got MJF in a chair and threw him into another room, which drew a “holy sh*t” out of Meyer.

Jags fans will hope that this is not the most exciting thing that happens involving their football team in the year 2021. Anyway, hopefully whatever was written on that whiteboard wasn’t important.

The Brooklyn Nets knocked off the Boston Celtics on Sunday night in Beantown. The Nets’ showed off their high-powered offense en route to a 141-126 win in TD Garden, giving them a 3-1 lead in the series as things shift back to Brooklyn for Game 5.

In the aftermath, all of the attention has been on one incident in particular. A Celtics fan opted to throw a bottle of water at Nets star and former Boston standout Kyrie Irving as the team was making its way to the locker room. It narrowly missed Irving’s head, and after the game, Irving and Kevin Durant both commented on the situation, with Durant saying the dude (who, it must he said, has been arrested and now faces a lifetime ban from the arena) who threw the bottle needs to “grow the f*ck up.”

Unsurprisingly, this got under the skin of Charles Barkley, who commented on the incident during halftime of the Clippers-Mavericks game.

“Look at that little punk ass,” Barkley said as footage aired of the fan getting arrested. “Just take him downstairs, let Kyrie handle that.”

Now, Irving is one of the most graceful and mild-mannered people in the NBA, so he almost certainly would not do what Barkley implied here if presented the opportunity. But Barkley is right that this is the lowest of low moves by the fan in question, and he will end up facing serious consequences as a result.

The final episode of Mare of Easttown was a solid hour of twists and personal trauma, which should not have been a huge shock to any of us, mostly because the first six hours of the series were also filled with twists and personal trauma. The confession from Billy Ross seemed suspect from the jump, for a handful of reasons, the biggest one being that the show had too much time left to fill to wrap up its WhoDunnitAndWhy that cleanly. Something else was always coming. It was just a matter of what that was. And guess what: it was devastating, too. Surprise!

Two notes before we get into discussing the business of it all:

• Even though the show was relentlessly bleak and sad straight up through the final minutes, it was kind of nice to have a show we all watched together and speculated about, especially given how many of the quote-unquote big shows of the last year were dumped as full seasons on streaming platforms and therefore impossible to talk about together in any sort of structured format
• What I’m going to do here is rank the twists that happened in the finale, not necessarily by what was most shocking as much as by what I felt was most noteworthy or important given the events leading up to them

This is all art, not science. It’s not even really art, now that I think about it. It’s not art or science. But we sure are doing it anyway. Here we go. Spoilers ahead, obviously.

8. John was DJ’s father

One of the most important lessons you can learn in life is to not be the guy who shouts “I TOLD YOU SO” when you get something right. It is not a great look, in general, and it is not very chill, and so I will not be engaging in any of that kind of behavior now that we all know John was the father of Erin’s child. I may, possibly, drop a link to an unidentified article I may or may not have put together last week, but that’s all. I know. I’m sorry. I never said I learned the lesson, just that it’s important.

But anyway, yes, this was the first big twist of the episode, the reveal that the picture from the cliffhanger depicted a sleeping John in bed with Erin. It’s not like I decoded the Voynich manuscript by figuring it out. The show was winking pretty hard at us in the previous episode. Between Billy getting suspiciously extra annoyed about John’s repeated avoidance of consequences, and the urgency in the Chief’s eyes when he told anyone who would listen to get Mare on the phone, and the thing with the near-Fredoing of Billy at the lake, I mean… yeah. Didn’t take a ton of clairvoyance to put this one together.

And let’s focus for a second on John. What a putz. What an ass. Fathered the kid with an underage Erin and was prepared to dump the blame for the baby and the murder on his failson brother, and then was prepared to kill Billy at the first sign of wavering. Even the thing where he copped to the murder to protect his family was kind of weak because, like, buddy, that is the absolute least you can do at this point. Get him outta here.

7. Mare kind of got her life together?

There was growth here. Baby steps. And given everything Mare went through before and during the time period depicted on the show (dead son, dead partner who she wanted to smooch a little, murder investigation that destroyed her best friend’s family, teen daughter who got drunk and then got real honest about things, custody battle with the mother of her grandson that included planting drugs on a recovering addict, taken off the big case for being a loose cannon, etc.), baby steps count for something.

And most of it was done by letting go. Siobhan left for college, Richard left for a new teaching gig, Carrie came clean about using again and Mare thawed a bit toward her. It all led to her finally going up into that attic. It’s good. It’s not great, for sure, because nothing on this show worked out great for anyone, but it’s good. Growth is good. Ideally, you can grow in your own life without going through… all of the stuff I listed in the parenthetical earlier, but still. Baby steps.

6. Old Man Carroll was the owner of the mysterious murder weapon

Love this guy. Favorite character on the show, no contest. First, he blurts out the secret about his fling with Helen in front of half the town, which was delightful if only for the little showcase of embarrassment and horror that Jean Smart got to put on in its aftermath. Then, this week, he reveals that the gun he keeps in his shed just mysteriously went missing the night of a very prominent local murder, all casual-like, to the degree he named it third on the list of items that have gone missing lately, right behind his Eagles Super Bowl cup and a really good pizza slicer. Terrific television character. Make a whole spinoff about his missing football cup.

Also: On a show littered with glorious Philly/Delco-accented pronunciation (“overdose” = eau-ver-deause; “hoagie” = heaugie; “call him on the phone” = CallimOnnaFeaun), it is incredible to me that it took them this long to drop a good “Iggles” instead of Eagles. I’m glad they snuck one in, I guess, but if this series had been a truly accurate depiction of southeastern Pennsylvania, at least 60 percent of all the conversations would have been about — or veered toward at some point — the 2018 Super Bowl. They can fix it in the spinoff about the cup. I am barely joking.

5. Richard was just, like, a good dude

Unbelievable. Shocking to me on a very deep level. It shouldn’t be at this point, if I’m being honest with myself, because the series at no point gave any real indication that Richard was anything other than a sweet man with crippling writer’s block and a fabulous head of hair, but still, I repeat: You simply cannot have a more suspicious character on paper than “roving handsome college professor played by Guy Pearce who shows up in a small town right around when a teenage girl is found dead in the woods.” I’m still convinced he is guilty of some horrifying act that the show just never got around to discussing.

In fact, I’m extra convinced now that I know he drives a Jaguar. I don’t know why. But I am. His whole aura screams “has skeletons in his closet that he hides by jumping from town-to-town before people start poking around.” I don’t like him. It’s to the point that when this happened…

… I was rooting for him to crash his Jag into every single one of the parked cars on the street. Just scrape them all and mangle his paint job. I bet he stole Old Man Carroll’s Eagles cup. It’s probably in the trunk. Screw him.

4. Dylan had nothing to do with any of it

What’s interesting here is that Dylan’s apparent innocence means two things:

• His alibi of “I was driving around by myself smoking pot at 2 a.m. the night my ex was murdered, after me and my new girlfriend catfished and ambushed her” was legitimate, which is hilarious
• The whole thing with him terrorizing and basically threatening to kill Jess in the previous episode was just because the journal-burning looked sketchy in hindsight, which is also hilarious because Jess hanging on to the picture of Erin and John is one of the main reasons Dylan was fully cleared

My money had been on Dylan blackmailing the real father. I was sure he was involved somehow. But it turns out he’s just a garden variety local dirtbag, not a murderous dirtbag. I regret the error.

3. Erin got double-catfished the night she died

Poor Erin. The last night of the girl’s life was spent getting catfished back-to-back, first by Brianna and Dylan with the whole “secret admirer who wants to see her dance” thing, and then by Ryan when she was trying to meet with John. Just a heartbreaking punctuation mark on a heartbreaking life, complete with a crappy dad and crappy ex and a crappy dude who took advantage of all of that and left her with a baby to raise herself. It’s a huge bummer to think about, all the way around. Let’s move on!

2. Ryan killed Erin

Here’s a question: When did you know it was Ryan who killed Erin? Not when you suspected, or when you developed a hunch. When you honestly, truly knew. Because I want to sit here and tell you I knew before the show spelled it out. I want to tell you I was sure when Old Man Carroll told Mare that Ryan had access to the shed that contained the same kind of gun that was used to kill Erin. But the truth is that I wasn’t 100 percent sure until I saw the look on his face in the screencap up there, right before he tore off over the fence.

I think I just didn’t want it to be him. I was hoping someone stole his key, or someone else took the gun after he grabbed it, or something. He’s another one like Erin who was betrayed by the adults in his life and is now paying the consequences for the terrible decisions all of it led to. Another huge bummer! Let’s try to find a silver lining here…

Hmm.

Hmmmmmmm.

He is pretty good at climbing fences, I guess? Can’t take that one away from him.

1. Loriiiiiiiiiiiiii

Let’s look at what Lori is dealing with by the end of the season:

• Her repeatedly unfaithful husband is in jail for fathering a child with an underage girl and covering up her murder
• Her son is in juvy for killing the girl her husband had the affair with
• Her best friend was the one who sent both of them to prison
• She’s now raising the child her husband had with the teenage girl her son murdered

What a lay-up line of misery. I feel so bad for her, even knowing that she was helping to cover it up at the end, even after watching her let her son confess to premeditated murder without an attorney in the room. (Come on, Lori!) If there is a second go-round with this show, if they listen to me and do a full seven-episode examination of who took the Eagles cup and why, I hope it starts with Lori and Mare on a beach in Hawaii sipping umbrella drinks and building sandcastles with the small children they are now both raising alone. Those two need a vacation desperately. Mare of Lahaina. It could work.

Kyrie Irving has been the center of attention for Boston Celtics fans so far this postseason, and that derision turned dangerous on Sunday night after a Game 4 loss at TD Garden. A fan threw a bottle at Irving as he left the floor, drawing the attention of Nets players and staff as they were walking off after the 141-point outing put Brooklyn on the brink of a series win against the Celtics.

Some people speculated wildly about why the person threw the bottle and who it was, with images of someone being escorted out of the seating bowl in a Kevin Garnett jersey making the rounds on social media in the aftermath. There was also a video of Irving greeting teammates at halfcourt after the game, appearing to intentionally step on the face of the Celtics logo.

If that’s an intentional slight at the Celtics and all the storied history Irving failed to add to in his time in Boston, well, so be it. That’s apparently what Celtics fans are upset about in the first place when it comes to the Nets star. Still, there’s no excuse to throw a projectile at a human being for simply walking off the floor. And Irving’s comments in postgame were reflective of that, comparing the way some fans see players as “being treated like you’re in a human zoo.”

But perhaps the most astute comments in postgame came from Kevin Durant, who said after a week of demeaning fan behavior in venues across the NBA that fan behavior like that simply cannot be tolerated.

“Your mother wouldn’t be proud of you throwing water bottles at basketball players. Grow the f*ck up and enjoy the game,” Durant said in postgame on Sunday night. “It’s bigger than you.”

That’s certainly true, though this one particular fan in Boston certainly did their best to make themselves a story along with another Celtics loss. Reports emerged late Sunday night that the fan in question had been arrested, so they certainly succeeded in making a name for themselves here. Just for all the wrong reasons.

Boston Celtics fans were the talk of the NBA for much of last week, as their return in full throat at TD Garden with Kyrie Irving taking the floor with the Brooklyn Nets was highly anticipated. Much of that anticipation wasn’t for very great reasons, and after a Game 4 loss on Sunday night, we saw more unfortunate fan behavior from fans on Causeway Street.

Boston, sans Kemba Walker and Robert Williams, struggled to keep pace with a fully-optimized Nets team, falling further behind in the series after a 141-126 Game 4 loss at the Garden to put the Celtics on the brink of elimination. After the game, and after a week of discussions about racist and abusive behavior from fans in Boston and across the NBA, cameras caught a water bottle thrown at Irving’s head as he left the Garden floor.

The bottle appears to have missed Irving, but both the TV broadcast and other Nets players and staff leaving the floor immediately took notice of the bottle and, hopefully, the person who threw it. Throwing anything at a player is grounds for an ejection from a venue at the very least, and given the attention Irving’s return to Boston after a tumultuous tenure with the Celtics, this is absolutely unacceptable.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is a wildly underrated holiday classic, which is to say that it doesn’t get its own channel for 24 hours straight on a major holiday. But it should, and perhaps Emma Stone recreating one of its iconic moments on live TV will do something to move the needle toward a more just world.

Stone appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote Cruella on Thursday night, and part of the remote interview featured her coaching Kimmel through recreating a scene from Planes, Trains and Automobiles. The bit, which takes place at an airport with a harried Steve Martin trying to get back to Chicago for Thanksgiving. The John Hughes film features a standout performance from John Candy, but Martin losing it on a rental car agent in St. Louis is one of the iconic moments most remembered from the film.

It’s this rant Stone apparently knows by heart, an expletive-filled list of cars Martin’s character is willing to pay for in order to get back to Chicago in time for the holidays after a long series of mix-ups has left him at wit’s end. It’s especially funny considering that Stone was apparently eight when she first learned to use all those f-bombs, but the movie clearly left an impact on her.

Stone’s rant went a bit viral in its own right, but on Twitter it was Martin who hesitatingly called himself “honored” that Stone knew the whole thing.

Hollywood can’t help itself when it comes to sequels, so if Martin ever were interested we now know at least one person who would love to get involved in following up the 80s Hughes classic.

The Inside the NBA guys don’t always disagree with one another. This is part of what has made it such a successful show over the years — not only are there heated discussions by the various members of the show, but it never seems like it is forced, which can happen really easily in the embrace debate-era of sports punditry.

Our latest example of this came on Sunday night at halftime of the game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Boston Celtics. After watching Nets guard James Harden score 17 first-half points as part of a 73-point half for Brooklyn, Charles Barkley heaped praise on Harden, calling him “the best 1-on-1 player I may have ever seen.” Shaquille O’Neal very much did not like this, to the point that he dang near walked off the set entirely.

Now, Barkley made sure to say he does not think Harden is a better basketball player than Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, but that did not seem to deter Shaq. The thing that helps Barkley’s case is that he based it in the variety of ways Harden can score — shooting threes, getting to the rim — and praised him for his knowledge of how games are called, both of which are extremely fair points.

Still, Shaq did not enjoy this, and Kenny Smith almost joined him in leaving the set altogether. But Ernie Johnson told both of them that they only had one more segment left, so cooler heads eventually prevailed.

The Los Angeles Lakers can breathe a small sigh of relief. According to multiple media reports, Anthony Davis managed to avoid a serious injury when he went down with a groin strain on Sunday afternoon against the Phoenix Suns, although it is unknown if he’ll be healthy in time to suit up for Game 5 on Tuesday.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Davis will be out on a day-to-day basis following the injury.

Considering what Davis being hurt for an extended period of time would mean for the team — both during these playoffs and with next season beginning on time in October — avoiding anything serious is gigantic. Having said that, L.A. has a job to do against the Suns, which looked fantastic once Davis went out of Game 4 en route to a win.

That’s where the worse news comes in: Both Charania and Wojnarowski report that it is not clear whether or not Davis will be healthy enough to take the floor for Game 5 on Tuesday evening in Phoenix.

The Lakers lost on Sunday, 100-92, and while Davis struggled when he was on the floor, his lack of presence for the second half was noticeable. Now, he’s in a race against the clock to get his body to a place where he’ll be able to play and be effective in Game 5.

HBO Max won big on its Friends reunion, getting huge ratings and a lot of attention from the streaming audience over the last week. But despite all its star power — both in the six cast members and various appearances from Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and others — the special initially failed to capture the internet’s attention in a major way: it failed to spark a significant meme.

That changed this weekend, however, as a still image from the special and one of the former Friends got a lot of attention on social media. In a very, very specific way. The Friend in question is Joey, or more specifically Matt LeBlanc. Many online couldn’t help but notice a particular position he took while sitting on the couch in some scenes, including when the group was back in a recreation of the original set playing a trivia game.

For many, he seemed like an adult at a family party. More specifically for a large group, an Irish uncle at a family gathering. Which is why that image was soon used as a meme on social media, with people adding “Irish uncle” sayings and phrases to make a very specific meme format go viral.

There were a lot of dads and uncles described here.

A lot of other people, many who do not have Irish uncles, also found the photo very relatable.

It was a very loving meme, all things considered. And after watching him for years on TV, who wouldn’t want LeBlanc to be part of the family?

Chris Paul came up huge in Game 4 of the Phoenix Suns’ series against the Los Angeles Lakers. Despite a shoulder injury that has limited his ability to put his fingerprints all over a game in the unique way that he does, Paul was excellent, leading the team with 18 points, nine assists, three rebounds, and three steals en route to a 100-92 win. With the victory, Phoenix tied the series up at two games a piece and took back homecourt advantage from L.A.

As for why Paul played so well, it turns out a potential reason was the most powerful motivating force that Paul can channel into greatness: spite. After the game, Paul spoke to Rachel Nichols of ESPN and revealed that Suns head coach Monty Williams told him that the team planned to sit him for the game due to his pesky shoulder. Paul, in turn, responded in the most Chris Paul way imagineable.

“Met with coach before the game, told me he was gonna sit me,” Paul said. “Told me he was gonna sit me tonight. I told him, ‘Hell naw, just give me a couple minutes, see what I can do.’”

The series very much is not won yet for the Suns, but if this is how Paul is going to react to being told he’s being held out due to his bad shoulder, perhaps Williams should tell him this before every game.