Category: Worldwide

Halftime of the WNBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas brought the Three-Point Contest, which is always one of the highlights of both the NBA and WNBA All-Star festivities, and Wednesday night was no exception. Jonquel Jones, Allie Quigley, Sami Whitcomb, and Jewell Loyd were the four contestants and all of them put on a show, headlined in the first round by a sensational performance from Jones, as the 6’6 center flaunted her shooting touch with 27 points to book a trip to the final round.

Whitcomb posted 26 points to apply pressure to the two-time champion of the contest, Allie Quigley of the Chicago Sky, and she managed to answer with 27 points, advancing to the finals against Jones on the final moneyball of the last rack. In the finals, Jones got off to a slower start but caught fire when she needed to on the moneyball rack and hitting one of the Dew Zone three-pointers to put up a more than respectable 24, but when Quigley got it going it was just automatic as she ran away on the final rack to beat Jones with 27 and earn her third Three-Point Contest crown.

Watching an elite shooter get into a rhythm is one of the most beautiful things in basketball, and once Quigley locked in it seemed like everything was falling. Jones’ reaction while watching Quigley mow down the moneyball rack was especially great, as she could just see the Three-Point title slipping away from her, with nothing she could do about it. Quigley’s wife, fellow Sky teammate and WNBA All-Star Courtney Vandersloot, was especially fired up after the win, producing a tremendous reaction.

It was a very fun contest, per usual, and provided some terrific late drama in both rounds, with Quigley showing why she’s considered one of (if not THE) WNBA’s best shooters in the process, while Jones turned heads with her shooting prowess from the center position.

USA Basketball’s quest for a fourth straight men’s basketball gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics hasn’t gotten off to the best start, as Team USA lost its first two exhibition games to Nigeria and Australia before finally righting the ship against Argentina on Tuesday night. There was the obvious caveat for the Americans that they were without three members of the Olympic roster, as Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton, and Devin Booker are all currently playing in the NBA Finals.

Those three will join the squad once either the Bucks or Suns have won the NBA championship, but it’s possible that another player might have to be added to the fold. On Wednesday night, Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic broke news that Bradley Beal had entered health and safety protocols (with no word on the specifics of what that exactly means), leaving his status for the Tokyo Games in question.

Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press confirmed that report, while making sure to note nothing is definitive regarding his status for Tokyo.

Losing Beal would obviously be a significant blow for Team USA, particularly since the three guards coming in from the Finals will have missed camp and will be on tired legs as they arrive to the team. For Beal, it would be a gutting way to miss the Olympics, as he spoke with us recently about how excited and honored he was to join such an elite group who have played on the USA Olympic roster. Hopefully he is able to clear protocols and produce the needed negative tests to rejoin the team and make the trip to Tokyo, but it’s an unfortunate situation that will have to be monitored over the next week-plus.

Conan Gray‘s latest single, “People Watching,” was co-written with Julia Michaels and Dan Nigro — yes that Dan Nigro — and you can hear it above. Following the same pattern of his story-song cadence, Gray explores what it feels like to see other people fall in and out of love while remaining outside of the relationship format, safe from the turmoil, but also removed from the intimacy.

Here’s what Conan had to say about the new song:

“’People Watching’ is for all my fellow lonely people who wonder what it’s like to be deeply in love. I’ve never dated anyone in my entire life, so I’ve spent so many years of my life watching perfect couples sit in cafes and share coffee, whispering sweet nothings to each other. I can’t help but fantasize about what it must be like to feel that emotion. There’s nothing I love more than watching them exist in their little world, where seemingly nobody else exists to them. The song’s lyrics are things I’ve eavesdropped off of times I used to spend people watching at the cafe in college. Studying them living their lives lets me live vicariously through them, in a way.”

This track follows up his other recent new song, “Astronomy,” which reveals a slightly slower side of the rising pop star. Hear “People Watching” above and keep an eye out for a new video coming later this week.

Teachers may be educating the future of America, but they are often underpaid, underappreciated, and overworked.

Julie Marburger, a sixth-grade teacher at Cedar Creek Intermediate School in Texas, went viral after she aired her frustrations with students, parents, and administrators on Facebook. The post was later deleted.

I left work early today after an incident with a parent left me unable emotionally to continue for the day. I have already made the decision to leave teaching at the end of this year, and today, I don’t know if I will make it even that long. Parents have become far too disrespectful, and their children are even worse. Administration always seems to err on the side of keeping the parent happy, which leaves me with no way to do the job I was hired to do…teach kids.

I am including photos that I took in my classroom over the past two days. This is how my classroom regularly looks after my students spend all day there. Keep in mind that many of the items damaged or destroyed by my students are my personal possessions or I purchased myself, because I have NO classroom budget. I have finally had enough of the disregard for personal and school property and am drawing a line in the sand on a myriad of behaviors that I am through tolerating. Unfortunately, one parent today thought it was wrong of me to hold her son accountable for his behavior and decided to very rudely tell me so, in front of her son.

Marburger included these photos of her classroom in disarray, including torn up text books, broken bookshelves, and a piece of chewed-up gum stuck to a window.

via Facebook/Julie Marburger

via Facebook/Julie Marburger

via Facebook/Julie Marburger

via Facebook/Julie Marburger

via Facebook/Julie Marburger

via Facebook/Julie Marburger

via Facebook/Julie Marburger

Report cards come out later this week, and I have nearly half of my students failing due to multiple (8-10) missing assignments. Most of these students and their parents haven’t seemed to care about this over the past three months, though weekly reports go out, emails have been sent and phone calls have been attempted.

But now I’m probably going to spend my entire week next week fielding calls and emails from irate parents, wanting to know why I failed their kid. My administrator will demand an explanation of why I let so many fail without giving them support, even though I’ve done practically everything short of doing the work for them. And behavior in my class will deteriorate even more. I am expecting this, because it is what has happened at the end of every other term thus far.

Marburger explained that it was her dream to be a teacher, but in just two short years, the job has beaten her down so much that she is ready to call it quits.

In the end, Marburger offered a little advice to parents:

People absolutely HAVE to stop coddling and enabling their children. It’s a problem that’s going to spread through our society like wildfire. It’s not fair to society, and more importantly, is not fair to the children to teach them this is okay. It will not serve them towards a successful and happy life.

Many will say I shouldn’t be posting such things on social media…that I should promote education and be positive. But I don’t care anymore. Any passion for this work I once had has been wrung completely out of me. Maybe I can be the voice of reason. THIS HAS TO STOP.

Before it was deleted, Marburger’s Facebook post was shared over 350,000 times, and garnered tons of support from fellow educators who sympathize with her position.

“This is exactly why my wife walked away from finishing her teaching degree. You’ll have my respect if you take a stand and tell your administration that you aren’t coming back tomorrow or ever again. Someone has to draw the line and start making the statement that spineless administrators are going to have to stop kissing entitled parents asses,” wrote one person.

“I’m with you girl. You read my mind. I was in the exact same shoes yesterday. I left in tears too and most kids saw me. Many of them were sympathetic but some cheered and said they were happy i was leaving as I walked by crying. I, like you spend about 20 hours outside my contract time a week doing everything I can to be the best teacher possible and spend hundreds of dollars out of my own pocket every year to have the supplies I need to give these kids the best educational experience possible,” posted another.

“I thought I could make it another 7 weeks,” the posted continued. “But after yesterday I’m not sure. I’m taking today and tomorrow off to figure out my options. I’ll keep you in my prayers. Please do the same for me!”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) released a new proposal on Wednesday to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act.

The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act would decriminalize marijuana federally and regulate it like alcohol and tobacco. The wide-ranging proposal has elements that are designed to appeal to both Democrats and Republicans.

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The proposal has provisions that are crucial to progressives. It expunges all federal non-violent cannabis offenses and offers grant programs to help those who’ve been hurt by the war on drugs. States that want to be eligible for grant funding must also create an automatic expungement program for prior cannabis offenses.

The bill also caters to Republicans by promoting states’ rights. It allows them to make their own independent cannabis laws, even if that means prohibiting possession and production.

Currently, 18 states have full weed legalization, and 37 allow for medical use.

Nearly 70% support legalizing marijuana

The overwhelming majority of Americans live in states where marijuana’s le… https://t.co/OpM4ymJ4yh

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer)
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The rules would also make it easier for cannabis companies to run a legitimate business by allowing them to access the banking system, apply for loans, and get listed on stock exchanges.

The proposed legislation looks to regulate and tax an industry that is projected to be worth over $100 billion in annual sales by 2030. Legislators propose an introductory 10% tax on products that would rise to 25% after five years.

“By ending the failed federal prohibition of cannabis, the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act will ensure that Americans—especially Black and Brown Americans—no longer have to fear arrest or be barred from public housing or federal financial aid for higher education for using cannabis in states where it’s legal,” the senators write in the draft.

“State-compliant cannabis businesses will finally be treated like other businesses and allowed access to essential financial services, like bank accounts and loans. Medical research will no longer be stifled,” the statement continued.

via Lindsay Fox / Flickr

The proposal shouldn’t have any problems gaining the support of the average American. A Pew Research poll from 2019 found that 67% of Americans support legalizing marijuana. However, that sentiment isn’t mirrored in the Republican Senate.

Senators Steve Daines (R-MT) oand Mike Rounds (R-SD) are opposed to federal legalization although their states have legalized weed for recreational use. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) are open to federal decriminalization if it allows states to choose their own policies.

Going forward, Schumer, Wyden, and Booker’s offices are openly looking for comments from the public, lawmakers, the cannabis industry, and law enforcement agencies, until September 1.

“We’d certainly listen to some suggestions if that’ll bring more people on board,” Schumer said in a statement. “That is not to say we’re going to throw overboard things like expungement of records — very important to us — and other things like that, just ’cause some people don’t like it.”

Once upon a time, MTV delivered exclusive tours of homes owned by some of the biggest names in the entertainment world. The series Cribs debuted in 2000 and in just five year, the show had visited the properties of nearly 200 musicians, actors, and athletes. (The one with Mariah Carey was the series’ most-watched episode.) While the show was placed into syndication in 2008, Cribs has debuted a number of new episodes over the years through platforms like CMT and Snapchat. Now, more the two decades after its initial premiere, new episodes of the show are set to return to MTV this summer.

The new episodes are set to premiere on MTV starting on Wednesday, August 11 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT. The 30-minute episodes will allow viewers to get an exclusive look at the homes of celebrities like Big Sean, Rick Ross, Tinashe, and JoJo Siwa. Other names like Nick Young, Tia Mowry, Marsai Martin, Scott Disick, Martha Stewart, Jordyn Woods, and Kathy Griffin will also open their doors for MTV’s cameras.

“Cribs didn’t simply introduce the celebreality genre, it created a blueprint for how we engage on social media,” Nina L. Diaz, President of Content and Chief Creative Officer, MTV Entertainment Group, said. “We are thrilled to usher in a new era of this iconic franchise for audiences around the world.”

You can watch a trailer for the upcoming episodes above.

If you’re a Republican lawmaker under investigation for criminal activity, there’s always an at least temporary solution: ignore and distract. The same day that Matt Gaetz — who the FBI are examining for human trafficking — tried to become the face of the #FreeBritney movement, Lindsey Graham, who in February was part of a probe into the GOP’s attempt to influence Georgia’s election last November, had an even more random idea: come to the aid of Chick-fil-A.

On Wednesday, the South Carolina senator seized upon a Fox News report, which revealed that almost 200 students at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana signed an open letter, calling on the school to stop the friend chicken chain from opening a brick-and-mortar on their campus. Their reason? The company infamously donates to what the letter deemed “queerphobic” causes.

Well, Graham wasn’t having it. “I have always thought @NotreDame was one of the greatest universities in America, if not the world,” Graham wrote on Twitter. “It’s disappointing to hear some ND students and faculty want to ban Chick-fil-A from doing business on campus because they disagree with the values held by the Chick-fil-A founders.”

Graham, who spends his days doing things like robotically discussing how much he misses the 45th president, promised action. “I want everyone in South Carolina and across America to know I have Chick fil-A’s back,” he said, referring to something happening many states away from the one he represents. “I hope we don’t have to, but I will go to war for the principles Chick fil-A stands for. Great food. Great service. Great values. God bless Chick fil-A!”

It was a leftfield outburst, and it left a lot of people scratching their heads. Some wondered if the company was one of his biggest donors or something.

Some wondered what exactly he could even do.

And others wondered if he, as a lawmaker presiding over a country in turmoil, has more important things to do.

Now, if Graham had said he’d go to war for Popeyes, the superior chicken chain, that’d be another story.

The 2021 WNBA All-Star Game brought a different format than we are used to, as the WNBA All-Stars went up against Team USA in their first exhibition game before they head off to Tokyo. It’s an exciting format if for no other reason than it allows some players who felt they should’ve made the USA squad to show why USA Basketball made a mistake not taking them to Tokyo, and the early results of the first half have been a highly competitive game with a bit more juice than most All-Star Games have.

However, oddsmakers didn’t really account for that when they initially posted the point total for the game, and the result was historic line movement the likes of which Vegas rarely, if ever, sees. When Circa posted the total on Wednesday morning it sat at 248.5. When the game tipped, that total had plummeted 53 points to 195.5. That isn’t the type of movement you see just from steam or sharps going after an inflated number, and Circa’s oddsmaker, Matt Metcalf, took the blame for what became a Vegas-wide issue, as he told ESPN’s David Purdum.

Rushing, Metcalf said he looked at the total points scored in the previous all-star games and landed on 248.5 as the opening number for this year’s game.

“At worst, I don’t think this was more than 15 points off. That’s as bad as I think it could be,” Metcalf said. “I didn’t think it would be the worst number ever.”

Metcalf said he didn’t take into account that WNBA all-stars were facing the U.S. women’s national team, which is tuning up for the Olympics and expected to take the game more seriously than traditional high-scoring all-star games that are often played with reduced intensity and lackadaisical defense.

Other books quickly matched Circa’s number — which got as high as 252 after a bet on the Over shortly after posting — and from there the line moved significantly over the course of the day, finally settling under 200. It is as wild a sportsbook story as you’ll ever see, and the books are lucky that it didn’t attract attention earlier than it did, as the book director at the Westgate SuperBook said they actually had more money on the Over, even considering they missed the opening number by 54 points.

It is a reminder that, even for the pros, there are sports where they simply aren’t quite as dialed in on because the handle doesn’t dictate that they need to be. That is one of the reasons the WNBA is a favorite for some pro sports bettors, who often find significant edges on lines and totals with systems that are more in tuned with what’s going on in the league than the books, where the WNBA can be an afterthought — as evidenced by a hurried together total for the All-Star Game.

Given that the halftime score was 44-43, it’s safe to say the line movement was more than worthy.

When USA Basketball announced the 12-woman roster for the Tokyo Olympics, the one name missing that stunned everyone was Nneka Ogwumike. The Sparks star had been a leader for the USA women in recent years, including earning MVP honors at the Olympic qualifying tournament in 2020, but was left off the roster with the apparent reasoning being her knee injury that figured to keep her out until right around the start of USA Basketball camp.

However, others pointed to it as the latest evidence of the politics of USA hoops that had led to the likes of Candace Parker being left of the 2016 team that went to Rio (Parker even called it “bullsh*t” Nneka had been left off the roster), and promises being made but not kept for some of the country’s brightest young stars. Ogwumike joined her sisters, Erica and Chiney, in petitioning FIBA to be a part of the Nigerian Olympic squad after being left off the USA roster, hoping to get to fulfill her Olympic dream alongside both of her sisters.

On Wednesday night, just as the WNBA All-Star Game tipped off in Las Vegas between the All-Stars and Team USA, word emerged from ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Mechelle Voepel that Nneka’s petition had been denied by FIBA.

Former WNBA MVP Nneka Ogwumike was notified by FIBA that her petition to play for her native Nigeria in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics was denied due to “substantial involvement” of more than 10 years with Team USA, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.

Per the report, Ogwumike will look to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration in Sport, which could allow her either to play while awaiting a hearing or get an expedited decision that could allow her to play in the Olympics. Chiney was approved to play as a naturalized player, but that ruling also will be appealed as it allows for just one player per roster to have that status and could impact someone else on Nigeria’s squad — Erica Ogwumike was fully cleared to play for Nigeria with no restrictions or stipulations.

It’s unfortunate that FIBA decided this way, as it hinders one of the best players in the world from competing at the Olympics, even considering she’s played for Team USA a significant number of times. One would think the point of that rule is to keep players from abandoning their national squads in order to play for a different team, when in this case it’s the other way around. Ogwumike was left off the USA roster despite that experience and having played so much for them, and if there’s another avenue for her to be able to compete in the Olympics, FIBA should be looking to help facilitate that rather than denying it.

Britney Spears has spent almost a year trying to end her conservatorship, or least removing her father from controlling it. While the battle continues, Britney took a moment to show love to the #FreeBritney movement as it helped bring the latest chapter in the court battle to the national spotlight.

“It’s because of them I am here today,” the singer reportedly said about the #FreeBritney movement in court on Wednesday. “It’s because of them I have the f*cking strength to speak up against my family who have silenced me for years.” She added, “The people who f*cking work for me even tried to sue my fans. MY fans, ma’am, NOT theirs.”

During a court hearing at the end of last month, she described the conservatorship as “abusive” and an arrangement that restricted her from enjoying the lifestyle she wanted. “I’ve been in denial,” she admitted during the hearing. “I’ve been in shock. I am traumatized. I just want my life back.”

The pop star also reportedly asked a judge to consider pressing charges against her father. “I’m here to get rid of my dad and charge him with conservatorship abuse,” she said, according to NBC News, adding that “this conservatorship has allowed my dad to ruin my life.” During the hearing, Britney also reportedly held back tears while telling a judge that Jamie would not allow her to drink coffee or take vitamins, which she described as “f*cking cruelty.” She added, “Their goal was to make me feel crazy and I’m not. And that’s not OK.”