Earlier in April, it was announced that the schedule for golf’s major championships would shift, with The Masters moving to November and The Open Championship cancelled entirely for 2020. With that in mind, the first event firmly scheduled on the PGA Tour calendar was the PGA Championship from Aug. 6-9 at TPC Harding Park but, on Tuesday evening, word surfaced from Golf Digest that there are plans in the works to resume the PGA Tour season beginning on June 11 with the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth.

The reporting indicates that fans will not be permitted to attend the proceedings, and “other early tournaments also are expected to be played without spectators.” According to the report, discussions “remain ongoing and fluid” but, if all goes according to the latest talks, the season would continue with the Travelers Championship from June 25-28 and proceed from there with what amounts to a full schedule through the season’s first (rescheduled) major in August.

To this point, nothing has been officially announced by the PGA Tour but, if this comes to fruition, it could be potentially represent the first major sports league to resume regularly scheduled play in the United States — UFC is currently working towards a hopeful May 9 fight card. In some ways, golf would be a logical choice given the individual nature of the sport and the potential for social distancing, to the point where many courses across the country remain open for play at this juncture. Still, it is another thing entirely for the tour to sanction full-scale events, even without spectators, and many details will need to be sorted before this can happen.

Many are looking for a light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to the absence of live sports, though, and it appears that golf could be on its way back at the highest levels by June.

View Entire Post ›

Earlier today, all the buzz about Playboi Carti surrounded his bad behavior during a recent traffic stop-turned-arrest earlier this month. Now, all thoughts of his legal run-in with the Clayton County Sheriffs Department may way be forgotten and wiped away — at least in the minds of fans — after the Atlanta-based rapper posted the cover art from Whole Lotta Red, his long-awaited follow-up to 2018’s Die Lit, on his social media accounts.

The posts came without warning or even context late Tuesday (April 14) afternoon. Carti’s Twitter hasn’t been active since July of 2019 (simpler times, man), while he’s only sporadically updated his Instagram feed for the past several months, with a month-long delay since his most recent post and a two-month gap until the next one before that. Fans have eagerly awaited the follow-up to Die Lit almost since it released but were forced to settle for a handful of features, including one on Tyler The Creator’s Grammy-winning 2019 album Igor, and another on Drake’s upcoming, as-yet-untitled project.

Carti’s upcoming album still doesn’t have a release date but given his close friend Lil Uzi Vert’s penchant for dropping entire projects out of the sky without warning, fans of the “Magnolia” rapper should stay tuned to his social channels for more updates.

Check out the cover artwork for Whole Lotta Red above.

TMZ reports that YNW Melly’s recent request for early release was denied by a judge. The rapper’s attorney, Bradford Cohen, requested the release earlier this month in documents stating that the Florida rapper had contracted coronavirus and was experiencing severe symptoms, including body aches, headaches, and weight loss down to just 114 lbs. Melly is currently incarcerated in the Broward County Jail awaiting trial for two charges of first-degree murder.

However, the judge in his case denied the request, countering that the rapper would be able to receive special medical treatment in the Broward County Jail if need be by requesting it from the Broward Sheriff’s Office. Melly’s lawyer had initially argued that “the jail is just ill-prepared if his diagnosis takes a turn for the worse,” writing that the facility lacked equipment such as “masks or cleaning supplies that would be beneficial regarding his recovery.”

Meanwhile, the families of Melly’s alleged murder victims — two other rappers associated with Melly’s YNW crew — opposed his release despite his diagnosis, writing in separate statements from their respective attorneys. The family of Christopher Thomas Jr. wrote, “We oppose the release of Jamell Demons (YNW Melly), as is explained in the Motion… We again ask the public to be sensitive of the victims here. They lost children.” Meanwhile, Anthony Williams’ family lawyer expressed sympathy but said, “While our firm and the family of Anthony Williams’ sympathize with anyone affected by COVID-19, we do not believe this justifies pretrial release.”

Read TMZ’s original report here.

As WWE makes headlines with their “essential” live television shows and Vince McMahon’s addition to President Donald Trump’s task force to restart the U.S. economy, All Elite Wrestling has been on a production hiatus, with material pre-taped for Dynamite through May, without several of the company’s top stars. Today on Twitter, AEW confirmed that the company’s next live show will be the Double or Nothing pay-per-view on May 23.

AEW’s official account tweeted that though DON 2020 will go on, it won’t be at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, which is currently closed. The company didn’t reveal where the PPV will take place, stating that “Additional details related to DOUBLE OR NOTHING, which was initially scheduled to be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, will be revealed in the weeks ahead with features of the event itself ultimately being determined by the latest guidance of national and global health authorities.”

People who bought tickets to DON can get “a refund via point of purchase or have their original ticket valid for admission” to the next Double or Nothing in front of an audience, which is scheduled for May 29, 2021, at the MGM Grand. Tickets are also being refunded to the May 27 episode of Dynamite in Las Vegas.

At this point, the two biggest wrestling pay-per-view events scheduled for next month, AEW Double or Nothing and WWE Money In The Bank, are still set to take place, despite neither having access to its original venue.

View Entire Post ›

With production on Jeopardy! effectively shuttered until the COVID-19 pandemic is at bay, it’s only a matter of time until fans of the show are faced with a long period of reruns. Once the backlog of filmed episodes run out we won’t see a lot from Alex Trebek and company, which is why any good news from the 79-year-old host of the beloved trivia show is encouraged.

That news came on Tuesday, as we learned that Trebek wrote a book that’s coming out later this summer. According to the Associated Press, Trebek will release a memoir on July 21, shortly before his 80th birthday. Entitled “The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life,” the book will be published by Simon and Schuster and features “illuminating personal anecdotes” among other thoughts about Jeopardy!, life and, hopefully, Lizzo.

According to the publisher, the longtime “Jeopardy!” host will share “Illuminating personal anecdotes” along with thoughts on everything from his favorite guests to spirituality and philanthropy.

“I want people to know a little more about the person they have been cheering on for the past year,” Trebek writes in his book.

It’s welcome news for Jeopardy! fans who may want anything Jeopardy!-related while they self-quarantine. And that Trebek has been busy despite batteling Stage IV pancreatic cancer is a hopeful sign that things are going well and he’s finding success with treatment.

Trebek is one of the most beloved game show hosts of all time, and his involvement on the show is tantamount to its success. There’s certainly a market for hearing what he has to say about pretty much anything, and we all need some good news to look forward to this summer.

View Entire Post ›

Austin Monfort was hanging out at Gilley’s — a famous country music bar — in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 30, 2017, when he saw Chantal Melanson on the dance floor. He approached her and she made fun of him for not wearing cowboy boots.

Both were in Vegas for the Route 91 Harvest, a three-day country music festival from September 29 to October 1, 2017.

The two began chatting and realized there was some chemistry. “It just felt like we knew each other forever. We went to grab a bite after the bar and exchanged numbers,” Chantal told Metro.

The next day, Chantal texted Austin and they met up at the festival. The two found a spot near the stage and danced the day away with Austin’s friends.

At 10 pm, as Jason Aldean performed on stage, Stephen Paddock opened fire on the concert from his hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel.

“We thought it was fireworks at the beginning since all big concerts usually have some kind of fireworks, however when it wasn’t stopping, everyone dropped to the ground,” Chantal told Metro.

“We were on the ground across from each other so we both were looking at each other. We stayed on the ground for a while and the shots were not stopping,” she said.

“Everyone ran in different directions but Austin stayed with me and we ran together. We ran across the entire festival grounds stopping a few times to get shelter,” she added.

Fifty-nine of the festival-goers died in the shooting and 869 of the 22,000 attendees were injured. Paddock died by suicide in his hotel room.

Chantal and Austin jumped in a taxi to get to safety and saw a woman limping towards them who had been shot in the leg and the stomach. So they drove with her to the hospital.

“We stayed in the hospital overnight due to lockdown and Austin never left my side,” Chantal said. “He held me throughout the night and kept me safe. After what we had just gone through, he was my safe place.”

After the tragedy, Austin returned to his home in California and Chantal flew back to Canada, but they talked with each other every day through Facetime and quickly fell in love.

Their relationship helped them get through the trauma of living through the shooting. “We’ve dealt with everything by focusing on the positive,” Chantal said. “There was a reason we met when we did. We needed each other in this chaos.”

Six weeks later, Austin flew up to Canada to see Chantal. “And we never spent more than six weeks apart either me going to California or him Canada,” she said.

After eighteen months together Austin proposed to Chantal in Laguna Beach, California.

“He brought me to our favorite beach and there was no one around. It was perfect,” Chantal said. “His heart was beating out of his chest when he gave me a hug and he got down on one knee and proposed, followed by a beautiful three-course meal.”

Austin wore cowboy boots for the occasion as a nod to their first conversation.

For immigration reasons, Austin and Chantal had a quick courthouse wedding on November 1, 2019, but they plan to have a big celebration for both of their families soon. The couple hoped to get married in Vegas on May 8, but that’s been postponed due to coronavirus.

“It’s been a bit stressful as so much planning has gone into it with my whole family living in Canada and his California,” Chantal said.

“Okay, but hear me out: Ew.” —Me trying to reason with the directors of these films.

View Entire Post ›