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For 31 years, Jim Nantz has been the voice of the men’s Final Four on CBS (and Turner), but this year will be his final one, as the legendary play-by-play man will make his homecoming to Houston his last time on the call with Bill Raftery and Grant Hill.

Nantz confirmed to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post that he will make his 32nd Final Four on the call his last one, ceding the lead play-by-play role in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament to Ian Eagle after this season.

“I’ve been very fortunate,” Nantz said. “I’m going to take Brent’s torch and pass it on to Ian. I’ve had the greatest seat in the house and it’s time for someone else to do it.”

Nantz cites his desire to spend more time with his children as the reason for stepping out of the March Madness booth, as he stays plenty busy with NFL and CBS’ coverage of the PGA Tour — where he will continue. However, an interesting wrinkle is that Nantz will still go to the Final Four and act as the trophy presenter, he just won’t call the games and will instead enjoy them from the stands.

“I would like to sit in the stands for the great majority of the game with my kids,” Nantz said. “And tell them that their dad used to call this game. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me for a few minutes, I’ve got to go down to the floor and give the trophy away.’ That will be a lot of fun.”

Not a bad gig if you can get it.

As for Eagle, he has plenty of tournament experience himself, works with Hill and Raftery during the college hoops season, and is a fan favorite, so him being selected as the successor to Nantz is of little surprise and also figures to be met with support.

It’ll be a bit odd in 2024 when we aren’t greeted to the Final Four with a “Hello, friends,” but sometimes it’s important to also know when to say goodbye.

Kanye West has lost a number of business partners in recent weeks as he has gone on numerous public anti-Semitic rants. This includes his bank, JP Morgan, and talent agency, CAA, cutting ties in the last two weeks.

In the NBA world, LeBron James’ The Shop had to scrap an episode with West after he continued with his attempts to spread hate speech — why they kept him booked in the first place is an entirely different question. Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown is signed to West’s marketing agency, Donda Sports, and was asked on Monday by Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe whether he would remain with the agency and for a statement on West’s recent comments.

Brown said he doesn’t “condone any hurt, harm, or danger toward any group of people or individuals whatsoever,” but said he will remain with Donda Sports and tried to separate the agency from West. As for his personal relationship with West, he offered this statement to Washburn about why he will continue to offer “unconditional love” to West.

“He’s someone who’s obviously dealing with a lot of adversity that’s in front of him right now and everybody can see it and it’s public. But a lot of people in the world are dealing with adversity and things that are going on that’s in front of them and they need help. It’s a lot going on right now.”

“It’s tough to speak on because everybody is going to form their own opinions about what you have to say, but I look at people that I’ve been around, family, friends that you love,” he said. “To me, it’s unconditional. To me, as they’re working through problems, we’re working through it in unison.

“I don’t agree with everything that everybody does. Like I said, I don’t stand for any hurt, harm, or danger toward anybody, but sometimes people need unconditional love and help to get them through the situation.”

Brown doesn’t provide any specifics on the “adversity” that’s in front of West, which seems to all be self-inflicted by doubling and tripling down on spewing hate speech, and one could argue that what West needs is people who love him to call him out for being in the wrong rather than insist he’s just going through something and trying to brush it aside.

Today McDonald’s announced that its seasonal sandwich, the McRib is returning to the menu on October 31st, but in the same tweet announcing the return, the Golden Arches also revealed that this time it’ll be the sandwich’s “farewell tour.”

Generally, the McRib hits menus in late fall — because nothing says ‘autumn’ like processed meat with fake bones molded into the shape of some ribs right? — but this announcement is a bit surprising. Is McDonald’s actually going to ditch the McRib for good?

Before you start hyperventilating, relax, because there is a high chance we’ll see the McRib again. According to McDonald’s corporate website, it seems like the McRib is just going to be taking a bit of a break after three consecutive years of hitting menus nationwide between fall and winter. This isn’t the first time the McRib has gone on an extended break either, the McRib wasn’t available nationwide between 2012 and 2020, though it did appear in a more limited capacity.

“Like any true farewell tour, we’re hoping this isn’t a ‘goodbye’ but a ‘see you later.’ Because as our McRibs Stans have experienced time and time again: you never know when — or if — the McRib is coming back,” says the Mcdonald’s website.

So the McRib going on a farewell tour means just about as much as Jay-Z announcing he’s going into retirement. It’s just a thing being said to move more product. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that McDonald’s isn’t planning on actually axing the McRib considering they released an NFT of the product last year and have been selling the sandwich off and on for over 40 years. Clearly, McDonald’s is following Taco Bell which also has a habit of ditching fan favorites only to bring them back again and again.

Here is how people responded to the stunt on Twitter.

Responses seem to be mixed but hopefully, it’s given McDonald’s some insight into fan favorites that have yet to make a return. Also, here is to hoping McDonald’s never brings back the living horror that is Mac Tonight.

On Monday, the world lost a longtime staple of television, film, and social media: Leslie Jordan, the diminutive performer whose exuberance and Southern drawl made him a favorite regular of the screen. He was 67.

Jordan’s life came to a sudden conclusion: As per The New York Times, Jordan crashed his BMW into a building in Los Angeles after suffering what’s been called a medical emergency. Details on what befell him have yet to be made public.

Before he took a bus out west to L.A., Jordan wasn’t sure what to do with his life. His tiny frame led him to become a jockey in his 20s. He eventually gave that up, pursued a theater degree, then redirected his life to performing. He started in commercials before landing a flurry of guest spots on shows like The Fall Guy, Murphy Brown, and Newhart. He became a recurring figure on the early ‘90s D.C. show Hearts Afire, alongside John Ritter, Markie Post, and a pre-fame Billy Bob Thornton. He also made a welcome appearance on American Horror Story.

It was perhaps his 17 appearances on Will & Grace, the pioneering sitcom featuring an out gay co-protagonist, for which he’s best known. He won an Emmy in 2006 for playing Beverley Leslie, the sardonic socialite who stole scenes.

But Jordan’s biggest hit may have been what amounted to one-man shows. During the height of the pandemic, quarantining in Tennessee near his family, he began posting quickie videos on Instagram, showing him doing silly things, like twirling with a baton. The world needed distractions and Jordan did just that. Soon he’d amassed millions of followers, turning him into the star he’d always wanted to be.

Jordan’s sudden passing prompted an avalanche of tributes, from fans and colleagues alike. Many who worked with him over the years — he amassed some 130-plus credits starting in the mid-‘80s — publicly mourned his passing.

Some made sure to commemorate his pandemic videos.

Rest in peace, Leslie Jordan.

(Via NYT)

The rumor mill is abuzz with speculation that Travis Scott has been stepping out on Kylie Jenner, but Travis made it a point to shut it all down in no uncertain terms. According to E! News, an Instagram model by the name of Rojean Kar shared a video of Travis from the set of a shoot, prompting Travis to react on his own account.

“It’s a lot of weird sh*t going on,” he wrote. “An uninvited person was sneaking photos on, what was supposed to be, a closed set while I was directing a video. I’m saying this for the last time. I don’t know this person. I’ve never been with this person. So please stop with the continuous cyber games and the fictional storytelling.”

Kar returned fire on her account, writing, “Saying you don’t know me and you’ve never once been with me when you’ve definitely been with me, when f*cking everybody’s seen you with me, when I have pictures and videos of you with me, come on. Come on, Sir. This Valentine’s Day, I saw you. I ran out the door and you had every single girl I know blowing me up, like, ‘Trav’s asking for you, come back.’ Are we pretending that didn’t happen too? Like, come on. You cheat on that bitch every single f*cking night. The whole f*cking city sees it.”

Travis had a response to that as well, posting a photo of a dinner table covered in a festive spread and writing, “If u wasn’t at this table on V day then u wasn’t with me.”

Of course, there will always be fans who will keep speculating about any potential infidelity but until there’s solid evidence, it’s probably best to consign this one to the realm of rumor.

At some point this season, likely in February (health-pending), LeBron James will break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time NBA scoring record of 38,387 points. It will be the latest accomplishment by James and another accolade in his favor in the never-ending GOAT debate, but an interesting subplot to it all is that there likely won’t be a grand passing of the torch moment from one of the all-time Laker greats to the current top star in L.A.

As LeBron stated bluntly prior to the season, there is “no relationship” between he and Abdul-Jabbar.

As Magic Johnson laid out on Club Shay Shay with Shannon Sharpe, Kareem probably won’t be too celebratory when it happens. When Sharpe asked what how Kareem will take it, Magic noted simply, “not well,” which sent Sharpe into hysterics, but the two then get into discussing why that is.

Kareem has held that record for a long time, and as Magic explains, it’s not one he probably ever thought he’d lose. This isn’t to say Kareem won’t offer a cordial statement congratulating LeBron, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for him to be on hand like Reggie Miller and Ray Allen for Stephen Curry breaking the all-time three-pointer record, holding a special ceremony on the court.

It’s honestly understandable why Kareem wouldn’t exactly be thrilled to be pushed down to No. 2, because as Sharpe says, they don’t talk about No. 2 all that often. While Abdul-Jabbar rarely features into most GOAT debates, his spot on top of the all-time scoring list was one of the great notches in his favor, with that gone, it’s fair that he might have some fear his place in the game’s history won’t be as prominent as we grow further and further away from his playing career.

Wheel of Fortune doesn’t always get the attention its brainer sister show Jeopardy! does, but when it does, it’s usually not flattering. It only makes the news if contestants catastrophically flub one of their typically easy puzzles, or if its longtime, Pat Sajak, does something weird, like pose for a picture with MAGA menace Marjorie Taylor Greene. Speaking of Sajak, on a recent episode, his banter went to some, well, very odd places.

It was actually an installment of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, which has already resulted in some top shelf Snoop Dogg content. This time Sajak was shooting the stuff with Good Charlotte singer Joel Madden, as one does. Sajak asked him something he probably should have Googled before they started taping, namely if he’s still hosting the show tattoo show Ink Master. He is, but that only prompted Sajak to blurt out a joke about his co-host Vanna White — or at least we hope it’s a joke.

“I was going to have a little tattoo of Vanna put on my chest, but I didn’t,” Sajak cracked (or not?). A cut to White showed her laughing.

But Sajak wasn’t done. After Madden quipped, “It’s never too late!”, Sajak added, “I was afraid it would take away from my nipple ring.”

Madden was quick with a response, joking, “I think it would actually compliment the nipple rings, Pat.”

Anyway, does Pat Sajak have a nipple ring? And is he actually planning on getting his coworker tatted near to it? Stranger things have happened and game show hosts are infamously strange people. So while it seems unlikely that the host of Wheel of Fortune has a body piercing (or more than one?), if he does then you probably don’t want to know about it.

(Via Fox News)

It’s a new day and that means there are new bourbon whiskeys on the shelf. The rate of new bourbons hitting shelves all around America is pretty much non-stop this time of year, so much that it’s almost impossible to keep up with. But that’s where we come in. Folks, it’s time for another brand-new bourbon blind taste test (a BNBBTT, if you will).

Below, I’ve compiled nine bourbons that basically just came out (or the 2022 edition that just came out). Some of these are so new that you might not even be able to find them outside of the distillery bottle shop yet. All of that aside, there are some exciting new bourbons hitting shelves right now. Bourbons cut with New York City’s famed water, grain-to-glass crafties, and even a brand-new Basil Hayden are all in the mix.

For the ranking of these whiskeys, I’m keeping it very simple. Is it well made? How good does it taste? And do I want to actually drink the stuff (besides just taste it for work)?

Our lineup today is:

• Horse Soldier Reserve Barrel Strength Bourbon Whiskey
• Filibuster Distillery Bottled-in-Bond Virginia Straight Bourbon Whiskeys Aged 5 Years
• Noble Oak Double Oak Bourbon
• Jefferson’s Ocean Aged At Sea New York Edition
• Samuel Maverick Private Reserve Texas Straight Bourbon Whiskey
• Penelope Valencia
• Shortbarrel Toasted 101
• Lil’ Guero Aged 7 Years Bourbon Whiskey
• Basil Hayden Red Wine Cask Finish

Let’s dive in and rank some new bourbons!

Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months

• We Blind Tasted A Whole Bunch Of $30-60 Bourbons To See If Any Could Beat Weller
• We Put A Whole Bunch Of Bourbons To A Giant Blind Test And Discovered Some Absolute Gems
• We Blind Tasted Classic Bourbons And Were Shocked By The Winner
• The Best-Known Basic Bottles Of Bourbon, Blind Tasted And Ranked
• All The Double Gold-Winning Straight Bourbons From This Year’s San Francisco World Spirits Competition

Part 1: The Tasting

Taste 1

Tasting Notes:

There’s a mild crafty, sweet grain nose that opens toward a pile of freshly chopped firewood, lemon pepper, creamy vanilla-laced honey, winter spices, and Kiwi boot soap. The palate has a hint of caramel malts next to Vanilla Coke, a buttery and spiced apple pie with plenty of brown sugar, and a hint of ginger next to some orange blossoms in the background. The end is solid with a spicy warmth next to more of that dry firewood and a smidge of sweet oatmeal cookies.

This is a very nice sip of bourbon that leans pretty crafty, but not overly so. There’s depth here that feels nice on the palate.

Taste 2

Tasting Notes:

The nose opens with a waft of old porch wicker next to floral honey, burnt orange, black tea leaves, and a classic sense of woody cherry and vanilla. The palate creams the honey while adding in soft oak and cherry pie filling with a hint of vanilla malt next to mulled wine spices — heavy with star anise, clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon with a pinch of mace or cardamom. The end has a dark chocolate-covered espresso bean vibe that leads to a mild dried cranberry note next to a strawberry-rhubarb-walnut crumble with a scoop of vanilla malted ice cream that finished back at the old porch wicker braided with dark cherry tobacco and dry cedar bark.

This is a hell of a pour. It felt both classic and fresh at the same time. It has serious depth and really enticed me back for more.

Taste 3

Tasting Notes:

There’s a hint of cherry and vanilla cream with a honeyed sweetness on the nose that’s countered by mild winter spices. The palate is light but full of dark cherry and chocolate next to raisins and maybe some Mounds bar vibes. The end has a touch of old leather and cherry bark with a hint of tinniness to it.

This was moseying along nicely until the finish. It just didn’t land for me.

Taste 4

Tasting Notes:

There’s a nice sense of soft caramel chews on the nose with a dash of cigar tobacco and old humidors next to old leather cloves, burnt orange, and a hint of saline. The palate leans into brash winter spices with spicy and woody cinnamon, fresh nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and a hint of cardamom next to lush crème brûlée with a hint of that cigar vibe. The end stays strong with the spices and tobacco next to a soft vanilla creaminess and slightly salted pasta water finish.

This was interesting. I don’t that I’ve ever had a whiskey that was so obviously proofed that worked so well. That saline/salted pasta water vibe just works.

Taste 5

Tasting Notes:

There’s a clear sense of a very crafty bourbon on the nose with big grain notes leading to molasses-filled bran muffins and raw oatmeal cookie dough with plenty of vanilla extract. The palate has a similar vibe but layers in pecan waffles with high-fructose pancake syrup, more vanilla, and sweet cornbread. The end has a hint of mineral water next to caramel candy and more of that bran muffin.

This is very crafty and grainy. It was tasty but not amazingly so.

Taste 6

Tasting Notes:

There’s a light sense of burnt orange and cinnamon toast on the nose that leads to a hint of cherry vanilla cream soda with chocolate chip cookies cut with orange zest. That orange zest turns into chunky orange marmalade on the palate over buttery southern biscuits, woody mulled wine spices, wet brown sugar, and oily vanilla pods. The end has a nice bitterness to it tied to the orange rinds and seeds with a hint of orange blossom next to salted dark chocolate.

This is really freakin’ tasty. It’s very orange-forward but it balances that note with complementary flavors throughout. It all makes sense on the palate and it’s kind of fun.

Taste 7

Tasting Notes:

There’s a classic nose with dark cherry and maple syrup countered by Almond Joy, salted apple chips, and a hint of old oak staves in a musty old rickhouse. The palate has a sense of pecan waffles and cinnamon toast next to Honey Nut Cheerios, vanilla cream, and burnt orange. The end has a peach pie vibe with plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg next to dark cherry tobacco dipped in buttery dark chocolate tobacco.

This was a nice pour.

Taste 8

Tasting Notes:

This is another classic nose full of maple syrup over pecan waffles, dried cherries, salted caramel, meaty dates, old leather, and singed cedar with a hint of old musk lurking in the background of the nose. The palate has a hint of caramel next to vanilla malt with dates, prunes, and raisins leading to dark chocolate-covered dried cranberries with a hint of spiced tobacco. That spiced tobacco mingles with old leather and cedar on the back end.

This was solid and very enticing. It hit every note clearly and deeply.

Taste 9

Tasting Notes:

There’s a hint of orange zest on the nose with sour mulled wine spices — star anise, cardamom, cinnamon — next to Cherry Coke and vanilla cake with white frosting. The palate is soft yet creamy with a nutty spiced cake vibe next to zucchini bread with a dollop of butter next to tart dried berries dipped in brandy with a hint of dark cacao in the background. The end is pretty short (low-proofed) and finishes with a sense of old oak staves soaked in sour red wine with a dash of burnt orange and dried winter spice rounding things out.

This was pretty nice overall and had a nice depth, albeit very low-proofed.

Part 2: The Ranking

9. Noble Oak Double Oak Bourbon — Taste 3

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $36

The Whiskey:

Noble Oak is an Ohio bourbon sourced from MGP. The whiskey is aged in new oak for a spell. Then sherry staves are added to the barrels to create this unique dram. Moreover, for each bottle sold, Noble Oak plants a tree. So far, they’ve planted over 750,000 trees and counting.

Bottom Line:

This was really nice right up until the finish. That tinniness was a little off-putting.

8. Samuel Maverick Private Reserve Texas Straight Bourbon Whiskey — Taste 5

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $75

The Whiskey:

This grain-to-glass Texas whiskey is made from select Texas-grown corn, rye, and barley that’s distilled and aged on-site in the historic Lockwood National Bank building. After four years, seven 30-gallon barrels were picked and blended for this small-batch expression.

Bottom Line:

This was very crafty with those huge sweet grainy notes. That said, that’s the vibe of a lot of new craft bourbon right now. I’m not quite sold… yet.

7. Basil Hayden Red Wine Cask Finish — Taste 9

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $60

The Whiskey:

Freddie Noe — Beam’s eighth-generation Master Distiller — created this expression by blending classic Basil Hayden with bourbon partially aged in California red wine casks. The resulting batch is then proofed down and bottled.

Bottom Line:

This is where things get fun. This has no business being as good as it is for an 80-proof whiskey. It’s deep and fun. That said, I think I’d focus on using this in cocktails more than as a sipper.

6. Jefferson’s Ocean Aged At Sea New York Edition — Taste 4

ABV: 49%

Average Price: $99

The Whiskey:

This version of Jefferson’s famed Oceans Series sailed through the North Sea, around Europe, along the Atlantic Seaboard, and through the Panama Canal before ending up in New York City. Once there, the whiskey was batched and proofed down with New York City’s famed water (which is unfiltered and from closer to the Catskills).

Bottom Line:

This is a very niche expression. This was pretty good whiskey overall. I can’t say that the NYC proofing water made that much difference, but this definitely had its own feel to it with that saline minerality. All of that said, I’d likely use this more for a Manhattan than anything else.

5. Shortbarrel Toasted 101 — Taste 7

ABV: 50.5%

Average Price: $80

The Whiskey:

This Kentucky whiskey is aged through a few years before it’s vatted and re-barreled into new toasted oak barrels. After 21 days, those barrels are blended and the juice is just kissed with water before bottling.

Bottom Line:

This was a little fruity but ultimately really nice overall. I think it’d make either a solid cocktail bourbon or a perfectly suitable on-the-rocks sipper.

4. Horse Soldier Reserve Barrel Strength Bourbon Whiskey — Taste 1

ABV: 60.25%

Average Price: $98

The Whiskey:

The bourbon in this bottle was contract distilled in Ohio at Middlewest (but it’s now being made in Kentucky too). The juice is a wheated bourbon that spent eight years mellowing before bottling. Each barrel was hand-picked before being married into a barrel strength expression that’s bottled as-is.

Bottom Line:

This was a really solid pour of bourbon. It had a hint of that grainy craftiness but was otherwise a classic bourbon. In the end, the high ABVs did make this feel like a great cocktail candidate that needed a couple of rocks as a sipper.

3. Lil’ Guero Aged 7 Years Bourbon Whiskey — Taste 8

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $100

The Whiskey:

This small batch from Savage & Cooke out in California is made from an MGP of Indiana 7-year-old high-rye bourbon. Master Distiller Jordan Via hand picks only 38 barrels for this blend and then cuts that juice with Alexander Valley spring water before bottling.

Bottom Line:

This was just good bourbon. It felt like a solid sipper all around, even neat. I’d be willing to bet this also makes one hell of a Manhattan or Sazerac too.

2. Penelope Valencia — Taste 6

ABV: 49%

Average Price: $83

The Whiskey:

This bourbon starts off as Penelope’s beloved and much-lauded four-grain bourbon. That whiskey is then re-barreled into Spanish Vino de Naranja casks from Valencia before small batching, proofing, and bottling.

Bottom Line:

This was a great whiskey all around. It’s a wonderful sipper and I can see it really popping in an old fashioned. It also gave me a chance to use one of my favorite memes from The Simpsons.

1. Filibuster Distillery Bottled-in-Bond Virginia Straight Bourbon Whiskey Aged 5 Years — Taste 2

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $90

The Whiskey:

This Virginias whiskey is a grain-to-glass experience. The juice is made from locally-grown grains — 70% corn, 20% rye, and 10% malted barley — and local spring water in the Shenandoah Valley. After five years of mellowing in Appalachia, a small bundle of barrels are batched and proofed to 100 proof before bottling.

Bottom Line:

This was really solid. It has serious depth and felt like a truly classic bourbon whiskey from the jump. This was the one I actually wanted to drink after all of this.

Part 3: Final Thoughts

Well, that was a surprise. A whiskey brand I’d never even heard of before this month came out on top. That’s the great thing about these blinds — you never know what hidden gem you might find.

Pontificating aside, the Filibuster Bottled-In-Bond bourbon was really solid. It just hit every note so well while offering a truly classic vibe. As for the rest, the only one I didn’t care for was the Noble Oak because of the finish. The rest were all solid with the Basil Hayden Red Wine Cask finish being the biggest surprise — it still has no business being that deep with only 40 percent ABV.

If you can’t find the Filibuster, then Penelope Valencia is the play if you’re looking for something new right now. Lil’ Guero and Horse Soldier are also easy wins as well.

As it stands, we’re halfway to finding out who will fill out the roster for Jeopardy‘s Tournament of Champions. This year, the show added a wrinkle to deciding just who should play in the annual invitational: bringing back a slew of non-winners to get another shot at glory. Two players will advance from the Second Chance Tournament into the Tournament of Champions, which starts on Halloween night.

Friday’s airing brought one side of that bracket to a finish, as Jessica Stephens cruised to a victory in the Week One final. The victory was impressive: not only did Stephens outlast some strong players, she managed to do it in runaway fashion. And as the Jeopardy! YouTube channel pointed out in a video on Monday, the win makes a bit of Jeopardy! history dating back to her first appearance on the show.

The Second Chance Tournament is full of almost-winners for one reason or another. But Stephens had a unique distinction: her Season 38 performance came against 38-day champion Matt Amodio and the man who ended his run, Jonathan Fisher. Stephens was just $200 off the lead headed into Final Jeopardy and finished in second place, ahead of Amodio, in the game. But Fisher won, the first of his 11 game streak that earned himself a spot in the Tournament of Champions, too.

Stephens punching her ticket, then, marks the first time a regular season trio of contestants have all qualified for the Tournament of Champions. Put it this way: contestants can only appear in regular season matches once, and while a 5+ game winner could lose to another contestant who also makes the Tournament of Champions, there’s always a third contestant playing just one match and going home. Except, well, Stephens, which makes that first matchup quite a heavyweight battle to say the least. And, as Stephens explained, certainly put her a bit more at ease when it came to the Second Chance Tournament.

“The fact that I played against two super champions in that first game… it felt familiar this time to play against such great former contestants,” Stephens told Jeopardy’s website. “I’m still surprised [because] when I said that I would love to see Jonathan and Matt again I was joking.”

Amodio, Amy Schneider and Mattea Roach will certainly be some of the big favorites heading into the actual Tournament of Champions next week, but if you’re looking for a dark horse to keep an eye on, you could certainly do worse than Stephens right now.

As House of the Dragon has proven over the past several weeks, Game of Thrones fever is still burning strong. And, now, comes word that a town in Texas has taken that fever to a whole new level by naming several of its streets after the hit HBO series. In 2020, a new subdivision in Hausman, Texas called Archer Oaks went ahead with its Game of Thrones theme even after the series finale did not get the warmest reception. Heck, even Maisie Williams has recently admitted that the show fell off, and her character, Arya Stark, had one of the better endings.

However, Archer Oaks remained undeterred and pulled the trigger on three street names: Westeros Path, Arya Way, and Needle Creek. Fittingly, the last two intersect each other as Arya famously carried her sword Needle throughout most of the series.

As for how you get to just name streets after badass dragon shows, it turns out the trick is making sure you weren’t beat to the punch in the same county. After that, fire away. Via MySA:

Isaac Gonzales, a consultant with Chesmar Homes, told MySA that the staff developing the subdivision are big fans of the series, which led the team to name several streets in honor of GOT. Ximena Copa-Wiggins, the public relations manager for the city’s development services, told MySA they don’t come up with names in subdivisions. Developers do have to check to see if their street names don’t duplicate others. In this case, she said no other streets in Bexar County were named like the ones in Archer Oaks.

Of course, the big question is whether there was a Daenerys Drive in the works only to be pulled after the finale hit when she went got all… genocide-y.

(Via MySA)