In case you missed it, there was a big game at Rihanna’s concert on February 12. It was a historic game all around, but one history-making element was that it was the first Super Bowl where brothers played against each other.
Jason and Travis Kelce are NFL players for two different teams; Jason plays for the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis plays for the Kansas City Chiefs. Jason won the 2018 Super Bowl with the Eagles, but in the 2023 sibling Super Bowl match-up, Travis took home the ring.
There was bound to be some rivalry between the two leading up to and during the game, but who are we kidding? They’re siblings, so the Super Bowl likely wasn’t their first run-in with rivalry. In fact, Travis, the younger Kelce, revealed on their podcast “New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce” that he was pretty jealous of his older brother’s accomplishments growing up.
“You had just been AP, music man, getting hit up by Ivy League schools. ‘I’m going to go walk on and be a freaking superhero.’ Oh, you are. And then you get a scholarship and you made mom and dad’s life that much easier. Then you get drafted. Then you win a Super Bowl. It was just like, Travis (makes noise with his mouth),” the younger Kelce said in a clip shared to TikTok.
Pretty sure most siblings have been in Travis’s shoes. It seems like most families have one child that just knocks it out of the park no matter what they try to do, and the other siblings are left feeling a bit like they’re standing in the shadows. But Jason wanted to make sure Travis knew the immense emotion he felt watching him win the Super Bowl.
“It’s better in some ways because you’re watching a loved one accomplish their dreams,” Jason told his brother.
The conversation was such a great display of sportsmanship and brotherly love that you can’t help but to smile throughout the whole video.
“It’s better in some ways because you’re watching a loved one accomplish their dreams” The Kelces spoke about what it meant to watch their brother win the Super Bowl ❤️
The NBA is getting ready to negotiate its new media rights deal, and while Disney (ESPN/ABC) and Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT) have exclusive negotiation windows through April 2024 to extend their packages, other potential suitors for NBA broadcasts are starting to line up.
While Disney is expected to retain a strong package, there’s a bit more mystery around WBD and what they’ll do — although re-signing the entire Inside the NBA crew longterm is a bit of an indication they’ll look to stay in the NBA business. As such, there’s a real possibility of the first major shakeup to the NBA rights package in 20 years, and it’s a bit fitting that one of the leading contenders is the network that used to carry the league’s premier games.
According to CNBC, NBC is looking to add the NBA back to its portfolio on NBC Sports, seeking a package that includes playoff games.
NBCUniversal executives have informed the NBA of their interest, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. NBC Sports wants a package that would include playoff games to air on NBC’s broadcast network, two of the people said. Some regular season games could be exclusive to NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock. The NBA could also decide to force media companies to simulcast all games on streaming to increase reach, the people said.
Apple and Amazon have also expressed interest to the NBA in buying carved-out streaming packages, said people familiar with the matter. Amazon currently has a deal with the NBA allowing it to stream games in Brazil.
NBC currently only has the NFL on Sunday Night Football among the Big Four men’s sports leagues, with golf, Premier League soccer, and the Olympics as their other main properties. Getting back into NBA broadcasting would be a hefty commitment, and it’ll be interesting to see if the NBA feels there’s enough value in taking a broadcast deal that allows for streaming exclusive games. This is a long way out and far from a certainty, but fans of the 90s NBA will certainly have positive association with the NBA on NBC and the possible return of Roundball Rock.
In short: Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-basketball.
The streaming question is also one that is particularly interesting going into these negotiations, as Adam Silver has voiced his concerns with the current state of regional sports networks and the blackout policy. I think ideally, the NBA would love to include their League Pass product and restructure its blackout rules, not unlike how Apple TV+ took over Major League Soccer’s broadcast rights. The difference, of course, is that the NBA is a much bigger product and it’d probably be a much bigger fight with RSNs to change contracts, but it is an intriguing possibility.
Last year, Snail Mail announced the Valentine Fest, a five-night concert experience curated by Lindsey Jordan herself.
“It’s been almost five years since I’ve played my hometown,” she said about Baltimore, MD in a statement. The lineup was a secret until recently, and it exceeded expectations, featuring artists like Soccer Mommy (who she sang with at the Pavement exhibition), Mac DeMarco (who she released a silly song with the other month), Waxahatchee, Mannequin Pussy, and more.
As the festival continues to flourish, the pleasant surprises during the event have been plentiful. For instance, one of the encore songs on Saturday night (February 11) was Snail Mail’s cover of Avril Lavigne’s “I’m With You” alongside Soccer Mommy. The rose-filled performance was met with many woos from the audience recognizing the classic. The nostalgia is palpable as everyone sings along; it was definitely a highlight of the night.
The Valentine Fest takes place from February 10 through February 14, with a different roster of performers each night to keep things exciting and mysterious for the concertgoers. We’ll see who else joins the stage in the coming days; there are sure to be more memorable moments.
Watch Snail Mail and Soccer Mommy cover “I’m With You” by Avril Lavigne above.
George Santos isn’t just a serial fabulist who’s lied about some veryoddthings; his campaign finances are also super sketchy. For the last few weeks, people have been struggling to sort out the mess that is the newly sworn-in GOP lawmaker’s financial records. Among the many red flags is this one: There are hundreds of thousands of dollars in unexplained spending, which no proof of where they went or for what.
A new report from The New York Times highlights a mysterious $365,399.08, about 12 percent of the campaign’s total reported expenses. There are no recipients or receipts for these expenditures. For context, Santos’ fellow New York House members failed to itemize between zero and 2 percent of their expenses.
The report highlights other eyebrow-raising behavior. Several donors told NYT that the Santos campaign had misrepresented how much they’d given. Ditto other Republican candidates who had received donations from him. What’s more, the campaign has amended its filings a whopping 36 times. Some of those times, some payments had suddenly gone up or simply disappeared.
Whether the discrepancies are mere sloppiness or something more underhanded is up in the air. One discovery feels more like the latter: There are a slew of payments for exactly $199.99, a mere two cents below the point where they’d have to provide receipts. Some of these payments were added to older spending reports, but none of them had any description beyond the date they were made.
Whatever the explanation, lawyers are having a bear of a time sifting through the wreckage of Santos’ campaign finances, with one telling NYT they’re “all over the place and do not make any sense.” He added, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Trugoy The Dove’s passing has continued to send chills throughout the hip-hop community. As one of the founding members of the legendary rap trio De La Soul, his artistry has had a significant impact on today’s newer acts as well as many of his peers. Multi-hyphenated talent Common was among his peers inspired by his lyrical abilities.
Devastated by the news of Trugoy’s passing, Common took to social media to share a touching tribute for his late friend. The activist opened the tribute by recounting their initial meeting, writing, “It was around 88’ when one of my best friends brought back a Red Alert tape from NYC. On it was a song called “Plug Tunin” from a group called De La Soul. It was one of the most innovative, fresh, unique songs & sounds I had ever heard. This group would then drop their album ‘3 Feet High And Rising,’ and it changed my life. They would become one of my favorite groups of all time and one of the greatest groups of all time. One of MCs was Trugoy, the Dove who I would get to know as Dave. All I needed to hear was his flow on Afro Connection at the Hi 5 to know he was one of our greatest innovators and stylish with a way with words MCs that hip hop had never seen or heard.”
Common then went on to talk about the first time working with the group, “In 96, De La would give me one of the greatest gifts of my life when they featured me on their song the ‘Bizness’ (which I believe Dave produced). They changed my life again! They took me in to live with them in Long Island (forever Love to Maseo and Tina).”
The actor then closed with how over the years, the pair had become more than just collaborators but family, “The way Pos, Maseo, Dave treated me was like a brother. They took me on tour with them. It was my first trip to London. Just being on a song with De La gave me a stamp of the highest level. And during that process, I formed a real friendship and brotherhood with each member, including Dave, who would show me dope indie movies like ‘kids’ and take me to get the Jamaican patties out in Long Island,” adding, “I studied Dave and his creativity and how he worked and functioned. I actually bit one of his nicknames and made it a song. The Sun God. The truth is he has been one of the greatest influences and inspirations in my life. I will miss you, brother. You are loved beyond words, and I am praying for all of your family, which is our family. Love you, Dave! GOD Bless your Soul.”
Common wasn’t the only musician to take to social media after discovering the news. Pharrell, Quest Love, LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes, Chuck D, Erick Sermon, 9th Wonder, Redman, and more have also shared posts honoring Trugoy.
Pierre Ferrand/Maison Surrene/Hennessy/Dudognon/istock/Uproxx
Valentine’s Day is a perfect time for warming, aged spirits. And while you can’t go wrong with the tried and true bourbon, rye, and single malt Scotch that likely already adorn your liquor cabinet shelves en masse, sometimes it’s great to have a silky, sultry change of pace to sip on this (made up but still hot) holiday.
That means cognac. You know, the warming brandy variation that comes from the Cognac region (and a few surrounding areas) in France. And while we know we enjoy a nice snifter of cognac on a cold winter night, which bottle to actually crack open for a smooth V-day is a little more difficult.
Brittany Horsey, mixologist at The Bellmoor Inn and Spa in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware prefers the mellow, sweet, easy-sipping flavor of Courvoisier.
“It’s easy to sip with no burn like some cognacs, it is my go-to for a nice sippy drink. I prefer straight for a cozy warm feeling by the fire pit.”
While we agree with Horsey’s pick, we’re also open to other options as well. That’s why we turned to some other professionals for help. We asked a handful of well-known mixologists and bartenders to tell us the best cognacs to drink this Valentine’s Day. Keep scrolling to see all of their picks.
Dudognon 10 Year Reserve. This Grande Champagne cognac is made by an independent producer and the brandy is approachable. The name is fun to say and it’s imported by the GOAT Charles Neal.
Tasting Notes:
Flavors of dried citrus peel, light vanilla notes, and a dry finish make this a memorable, wintry cognac.
My go-to Cognac in winter is Sazerac de Forge Cognac, it is warm and sweet, and easy to drink. I can sip it on a sniffer or mix it in either a hot or cold cocktail.
Tasting Notes:
I get notes of sweet grapes, raisins, and light oak. It’s a complex, easy-drinking cognac that you’ll want to always have on hand, especially Valentine’s.
Kelt Tour de Monde XO
Kelt
Mikee Hardison, bartender at American Barrel in Columbia, Tennessee
Kelt Tour de Monde XO Cognac. Not only is it a great spirit aged to XO they also sail it around the world in oak barrels for a truly authentic cognac experience.
Tasting Notes:
Bringing it back to the days before bottling was done in France so those light briny, maritime flavors shine in the finish.
H By Hine
Hine
Roberto Cibrian Stockbridge, USBG Bartender in Boston
H by Hine. A great cognac for mixing. Bold enough to not get lost in a cocktail, while still being smooth and floral. Essentially all you could ever want in a cocktail cognac.
Tasting Notes:
Flavors of honey, caramel, dried fruits, toasted marshmallows, and gentle floral flavors make this a unique sipper.
One of the best cognacs to be sipping this winter is Hennessy VSOP. It’s a great progression for those who enjoy drinking American whiskey like rye or bourbon.
Tasting Notes:
This is a great winter cognac because of its soothing texture that coats the palate with lingering notes of baked fruits and brown sugar.
Hardy VSOP. I like this one, as it is still one of the few family-owned Cognac producers out there. Hardy drinks easy and I feel it is far superior than anything else out there.
Tasting Notes:
Leather, fruit, and slight caramel flavors are a delicious combination, and yet the overall balance of the three makes the Hardy VSOP the best around.
Maison Surrenne Petite Champagne
Maison Surrenne
Sean Pantazi, director of beverage at The Ritz-Carlton in Lake Tahoe, California
It is my opinion that there is no better Cognac House than that of one of the largest remaining family-producers; Maison Surrenne. Their Petite Champagne is an incredible bargain, but if you can get your hands on the Tonneau No. 1 with an average age of blended cognacs being 150 years old, get it. I have also had the luxury of enjoying one of the finest liquids ever put into a bottle, that being the Maison Surrenne Cask 356. This one cannot be improved upon in any way.
Tasting Notes:
A complex flavor palate is highlighted by flavors of dried fruits, caramel, almond cookies, and rich oak.
My go-to is the Hine Rare VSOP. It represents a very high-quality cognac for not a whole lot of money. It’s great for making cocktails and adding a bit of elegance to drinks.
Tasting Notes:
It has floral notes, walnuts, and apricots on the nose. The palate is all fruit, vanilla beans, and creamy caramel.
Hennessy XO. Deep and powerful, the eaux-de-vie of this Hennessy X.O cognac are aged in young barrels and marked out by their power and energy, but also by their capacity to achieve a great roundness through time.
Tasting Notes:
The palate is warmly embraced by flavors of candied fruit. It has the well-rounded flavor of rich, dark chocolate. Perfect to create any drinks during winter and easy to smoke and have great balance on the flavor profile.
Pierre Ferrand 1840
Pierre Ferrand
Linda Garcia, bartender at Tiki Chick in New York City
Pierre Ferrand 1840 is a great and affordable cognac. Smooth enough to sip on its own or mix in a brandy Alexander with an abv of 45% to keep you warm during the chilly months.
Tasting Notes:
This memorable cognac is loaded with flavors of tobacco, baking spices, and pear. It’s reasonably priced and incredibly warming.
Remy Martin 1738
Remy Martin
Hakon Bream, restaurant and bar manager for Hotel San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo, California
Remy Martin 1738 cognac has a deep amber hue and bold allspice and caramel aromas. This cognac is the perfect middle ground between Remy’s VSOP and XO cognacs in both taste and price.
Tasting Notes:
Notes of butterscotch and spicy fruits lead to a smooth finish with oak and dark chocolate.
Frapin 1270
Frapin
Javelle Taft, head bartender at Death & Co in New York City
I’ve leaned into family-owned Frapin 1270 cognac from the Grand Champagne region. I’ve mixed this up with sazerac variations and French 75 riffs. It’s a must-have for the winter months.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is honeyed with hints of a floral bouquet. The taste is luscious berries with traces of raisin and cocoa.
Luckily, they might not have to. In a new interview with Ensemble Magazine, the “Royals” performer said the new LP is in the making and discussed how it’s been. “It has taken me quite a while [to start working on it],” she said. “I mean, I do just take a long time… I do a lot of research, I write a lot down.”
She continued, “Sort of a big chunk of work before I actually start writing music. So yeah, that’s been a really big part of it. It’s been super exciting, and I feel excited about what’s coming.”
As for the wait, she explained, “You know, it’s my intention, it’s always my intention, to move as quickly as I f*cking can, and then that ends up taking different forms. But this one, I really am trying to. I don’t want to wait, you know, so take from that what you will.” She added, “Anything could happen. Let’s see!”
We’ll never tell you what beer to drink at a particular time of year because there’s a place for every style, regardless of the weather outside. But we’re definitely partial to stouts during the frigid (often frosty) winter months. And we mean all stouts — Irish dry stouts, milk stouts, oatmeal stouts, imperial stouts, and barrel-aged bangers.
We can’t get enough of the warming, roasty, chocolate-filled style. Particularly during those short, frigid February days.
This is why we keep a few stocked all winter long. Those heavily invested in the beer world are no different from us, so we asked a handful of well-known craft beer experts, brewers, and beer professionals to tell us the one stout they always have in the fridge. Keep reading to see all of their picks!
Sometimes you have to go with a classic: the Guinness Foreign Extra Stout is the stout I cut my teeth on as a young pup. It was one of the beers that opened my eyes to the universe of flavors beer can have.
Tasting Notes:
Smooth, dark, slightly sweet yet slightly tart. The aroma and flavors of of freshly ground medium roast coffee.
I like to stock Allagash North Sky. This is a Belgian perspective on classic stout flavors, and I think the phenolic yeast character pairs very well with roast and light bitterness.
Tasting Notes:
This Belgian-inspired stout is filled with flavors like dried fruits, roasted malts, chocolate, and coffee.
Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout is a beer I always keep in my fridge. A classic style with dark roasted malts that is silky, smooth, complex, and has a bittersweet finish.
Tasting Notes:
The palate is loaded with flavors like dark chocolate, barley, roasted malts, and sweet caramel. The finish is slightly bitter and totally pleasing.
Always is a stretch, but Beamish is nostalgic for me and when I see it, I’ll grab some. Decades ago, when we were lucky enough to be in a huge liquor store, we’d explore beers by country. Germany was always fun, but dry stouts were another big attraction. Beamish became our favorite and a regular pick up.
Tasting Notes:
Chocolate, roasted malts, vanilla, and a nice, dry finish. It’s difficult to beat the appeal of a Beamish if you can find it outside of Ireland.
I sat on some cans of Only Beginnings, the collaboration between Highland Park Brewery and Firestone this year and started drinking them recently. A hefty and roasty 12.5% ABV stout with vanilla and Amburana wood.
Tasting Notes:
This was a great cold-weather camping beer – well balanced dodging the total melted ice cream body that’s in fashion lately, with great hop presence and cinnamon cereal sweetness from the Amburana.
Obsidian Stout from Deschutes in Oregon is always a go-to for me. A moderate ABV makes it so you can enjoy a couple and its available just about everywhere. It’s just a classic, well-made stout.
Tasting Notes:
Notes of bitter dark chocolate, caramel, dark roast coffee, and a hint of smoke are balanced by a generous hopping rate to keep any sweetness in check.
Central Waters Black Gold
Central Waters
Garth E. Beyer, certified Cicerone and owner and founder of Garth’s Brew Bar in Madison, Wisconsin
The one stout I keep stocked in my fridge is Black Gold by Central Waters because you never know when you’ll need to open a beer for a celebration, or a friend drops by to split something, or you get invited to a bottle share.
Tasting Notes:
It’s boozy. It’s chocolatey. It’s just a damn fantastic blend of barrel flavors and malt artistry in a bomber bottle.
A stout that I always keep stocked in my fridge is Campfire Stout by High Water Brewery. It’s actually brewed with molasses and graham crackers and tastes as close to a s’more in beer form as possible. It’s a great beer to have on hand, especially during the winter months.
Tasting Notes:
In the simplest terms, it tastes like s’mores. With its notes of graham cracker, dark chocolate, and roasted malts, it reminds me of hanging around the fire camping with friends.
North Coast Old Rasputin. Everything you could want in a Russian Imperial Stout, nothing more. Old Rasputin is loaded with aromas of dark chocolate and roasted malts.
Tasting Notes:
The flavor balances more roast, espresso, and dark fruity malty sweetness. It’s full-bodied and finishes slightly bitter. I like it best on nitro.
I only keep our stout stocked in the fridge. But, if I had to pick another great stout, I’d go with Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout. I would order that out at a bar if I were ordering a stout. It’s creamy, roasty, and surprisingly easy to drink.
Tasting Notes:
It starts with a nose of dark chocolate and vanilla beans and moves into a creamy palate of even more chocolate, vanilla, and roasted malts.
Donald Trump loves fewer things more than pelting his many enemies with childish nicknames, but the first one he came up with for Ron DeSantis was a stinker. “Ron DeSanctimonious” doesn’t roll off the tongue like “Crooked Hillary” or “Sleepy Joe.” (Then again, at least it’s not racist.) On Sunday, though, The New York Times reported that he was trying out some new ones for the Florida governor. And one of them was pretty good, if pretty mean: “Meatball Ron,” an apparent dig at his figure. Alas, it appears he’s denying they’re real.
“All of the Fake News is reporting that I spend large amounts of my time coming up with a good ‘nickname’ for Ron DeSanctimonious, who is obviously going to give the presidential ‘thing’ a shot,” Trump wrote on his rinky-dink Twitter clone. “They are all 100% wrong, I don’t even think about it — A very unimportant subject to me!!!”
It’s hard to believe Trump doesn’t spend at least some of his time thinking up immature nicknames for people he doesn’t like. That includes DeSantis, his biggest potential 2024 Republican rival (who’s probably not ready for Trump’s wrath). What’s more, why would he deny “Meatball Ron”? It’s a hall-of-famer. Perhaps he realized it was pretty rich, even for him, to make jokes about someone’s weight given that he’s no Adonis either. Still, maybe he’ll start using it anyway, at least once he realizes he can do much, much better than “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
In news that should surprise no one, Steve Bannon — the right-wing conspiracy theorist who helped put Donald Trump in office — is a cheapskate.
According to a report from The Daily Beast, the former Breitbart co-founder owes possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars to members of his legal team representing him in recent federal and state investigations. Bannon’s been facing criminal charges in multiple cases over his alleged misuse of donations to a GoFundMe campaign intended to raise money to build a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Prosecutors have accused Bannon of money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud which is why the FBI arrested him in 2020 — as he was vacationing on a Chinese billionaire’s yacht.
His legal team was instrumental in ensuring Bannon stayed out of prison and got a pardon from Trump while he was still in office, which is why insiders close to the racist demagogue are confused as to why he’d skimp on paying his own lawyers.
Bannon’s refusal to fully pay his bills has stunned some of his close advisers who’ve stuck around for years.
“I don’t have any reason to believe he doesn’t have money,” one associate said.
After all, Bannon is a former Goldman Sachs investment banker, co-founded the right-wing news website Breitbart, made tens of millions off the iconic sitcom Seinfeld, and hangs out with Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui. In fact, he was relaxing, reading a book on Wengui’s yacht just off the coast of Westbrook, Connecticut when he was arrested by FBI special agents in August 2020.
Bannon reportedly owes his longtime New York attorney Robert Costello more than $100,000 while his other lawyers, Evan Corcoran and David Schoen have either quit filing motions in his defense or asked to be removed from his counsel altogether. Bannon’s legal dine-and-dash is especially bizarre given the fact that he’s currently still under the microscope for his role in the Jan. 6th insurrection and he desperately needs representation if he hopes to win an appeal of a previous conviction relating to the House Oversight Committee’s investigation.
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