GoneTrending

On Dec. 15, the NBA and NBPA hold a “mutual opt-out date” for their current collective bargaining agreement. If that opt-out is exercised, one critical part of the new CBA will be maintaining or amending the league’s Draft eligibility age, which is currently 19.

According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania,”the league and NBPA are expected to agree on moving the age eligibility for the NBA Draft from 19 years old to 18, clearing the way for the return of high school players who want to make the leap to the NBA.” Back in 2005, the draft age limit was moved from 18 to 19. Charania noted this change could become reality as soon as the 2024 Draft.

Among other potential alterations in a new CBA is “discussing measures to allow players to cite mental health issues as an ailment similar to physical injury,” according to Charania. Last season, Brooklyn Nets All-Star Ben Simmons missed the entire year, in part because he was not mentally ready to play. Simmons filed a grievance against the Philadelphia 76ers in April to accrue much of the salary initially withheld from him and settled for an undisclosed amount in August.

Both of these changes seem rather significant. Lowering the Draft eligibility age might notably increase the player pool for any given year, while adding greater priority on mental health is a vital step forward in further removing the stigma of mental health afflictions.

Only one person will receive a suspension for the brawl that occurred on Sunday afternoon between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New Orleans Saints. The NFL announced on Monday that Tampa Bay’s star wide receiver, Mike Evans, will be suspended for one game without play after his unsportsmanlike conduct and unnecessary roughness penalties that sparked the fracas.

At one point during the game, which the Bucs won 20-10, the Saints defense got off the field after an incomplete pass on third down, which led to New Orleans corner Marshon Lattimore jawing with Tom Brady and Leonard Fournette. Evans saw this, ran onto the field, and leveled Lattimore, which led to the two teams getting into it with one another. Evans and Lattimore were kicked out of the game, and now, Evans will not play on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.

“After a play had ended, you were walking toward your sidelines,” NFL VP of Football Operations Jon Runyan wrote in a letter to Evans. “When you noticed your teammates engaged in a confrontation with Saints’ players, you ran toward that area on the field and violently threw your body into and struck an unsuspecting opponent who was part of that confrontation. You knocked your opponent to the ground and a melee ensued involving players from both teams. Your aggressive conduct could have caused serious injury to your opponent and clearly does not reflect the high standards of sportsmanship expected of a professional.”

Adam Schefter of ESPN noted that the remainder of the penalties that will be handed out will come in the form of fines to other players.

Yesterday, a video surfaced of a security guard at Lady Gaga’s Miami stop on her Chromatica Ball tour who just… didn’t get the memo. As ticketholders moved through the hallway, so did the drag queen Penelopy Jean, who dressed up as the Mother Monster. The resemblance between Jean and Gaga was so uncanny that the security guard tried to shield other audience members from interacting.

Jean tells others who were filming in the crowd, “I’m a drag queen,” before turning around to the security guard and making it clear. “I’m not Lady Gaga,” Jean said.

As the guard turns to walk away, he does a confused double take. “Oh sh*t,” he responds.

Jean’s profile name lists her as “Dollar Tree Gaga,” and she is from Brazil. Some suggested she should’ve gone backstage with the security guard, until Jean responded to another user that “it was getting scary actually.”

Under the post, fans shared videos of meeting Jean in other cities, including at Gaga’s Enigma residency in Vegas. “You looked identical to her! I had to do a double take when I first saw you last night. Fabulous x 1000!!” another Miami attendee replied.

Following the viral video, Gaga’s Little Monster fandom hilariously reacting with memes of their own, and some just of the security guard’s puzzled face upon the revelation. View some of the posts below.

Emoni Bates, the former top high school basketball recruit who transferred from Memphis to Eastern Michigan this offseason, was arrested on Sunday night in Superior Township, Mich. and charged with a pair of felonies related to the possession of a firearm. The news was first reported by WXYZ in Detroit and later confirmed by 247Sports.

According to WXYZ, Bates, who is 18, was pulled over for allegedly failing to stop at an intersection. The authorities claim that Bates’ vehicle was searched, which led to the discovery of a firearm and Bates being taken into custody. He’s been charged with carrying a concealed weapon and altering ID marks on a weapon, both of which are felonies.

Pete Thamel of ESPN spoke to Bates’ lawyer, Steve Haney, who claims that the Ypsilanti native was driving a car that he borrowed from someone else.

Bates made headlines this year when he left Memphis to return to his hometown and suit up for Eastern Michigan. He previously committed to Michigan State before deciding to open up his recruitment and join Penny Hardaway’s squad, but after an injury-filled campaign that led to him never really getting off the ground, Bates decided to transfer back home. He was ineligible to enter the 2022 NBA Draft as he was too young.

Piers Morgan couldn’t resist taking a shot at Meghan Markle during Fox News coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral. The British TV personality has a sordid history of constantly criticizing Markle, which may or may not have to do with the fact the she once ghosted him ages ago. Morgan’s obsession came roaring back on Monday as he was joined by Sharon Osbourne in a segment entirely devoted to bashing Markle’s presence at the funeral.

Osbourne famously left The Talk after her former colleagues took issue with her defending Morgan’s attacks on Prince Harry and Markle’s Oprah interview where the couple detailed alleged racism in the Royal Family. Naturally, Morgan and Osbourne went back to that well.

Via Mediaite:

“Of course, the whole racist thing was atrocious. And it is like, if you were going to talk about it, then say who said it and what they did say, but the thing is you can’t believe anything after that interview because of the 17 lies that were told,” Osbourne said.

Morgan argued the royal family is “of course” not racist and said he finds it “quite hard to forgive” her past criticisms of the family, even in a time of mourning.

But Morgan and Osbourne’s comments didn’t stop there. They blasted Markle for attending the funeral after “attacking the royal family and the monarchy.”

“When I see her at all these events this week, I think a lot of British people find it very hard to stomach because they think, well, you made the queen’s so difficult the last two years of her life,” Morgan said. To which Osbourne added, “At a time when she should have had peace.”

Considering Morgan’s well-known obsession with Markle, the British TV personality was dragged on social media for using the Queen’s funeral to air his petty grievances. He could’ve just ignored Markle’s presence, but clearly, that’s not how Piers rolls.

You can some of the reactions below:

(Via Mediaite)

(Spoilers for The Karate Kid spinoff Cobra Kai will be found below.)

The fifth season of Cobra Kai (which still has the “Eye of the Tiger”) landed on September 9, and already, eager fans have gobbled up every episode and want more. Season 6 hasn’t formally been announced yet, but surely, Netflix knows (even with their current subscriber woes) that keeping this audience happy is something that they’ll wanna invest in for the future. Yet the streaming service is keeping things close to their sleeves for now on a formal announcement, which probably will come after some consideration. After all, Seasons 4 and 5 shot nearly back-to-back, so firing production back up will require a few more pulled levers than these last two rounds.

Let’s talk about where things stand, though. We recently spoke with Thomas Ian Griffith, who made it pretty clear that Terry Silver’s return was planned out as a two-season arc, and Season 5 ended with his arrest, leaving little possibility that we’ll see him again due to the way that his story ended. Whereas the main springing-off point for a Season 6 appears to be John Kreese (who has more work to do) springing himself from the joint. This actually appears to be the biggest unresolved arc, so it’s no wonder that Jacob Bertrand (who portrays Hawk) recently joked with us about his related Season 6 dream:

“Oh my god. I want there to be a Season 6 so bad. This is my dream, that I somehow am linked up with Kreese, fresh out of prison. We start some illegal ring of some sort, and I go back to the bad side. I’m kidding, but I think it would be so cool if we got a Season 6, and we actually got to go to some crazy world tournament. And actually go to Brazil or something and not like it have it be, ‘Oh we’re in Brazil! But it’s really just a basement studio in Atlanta.’”

There’s also plenty of story to be told on how Johnny Lawrence handles his impending fatherhood, and if he makes up for the sh*t job that he (until recently) did with Robby. In addition, the Kenny character would be worth a followup to see how he handles the fall of Terry Silver, and heck, let’s even here more about Anthony LaRusso, who’s still not a fantastic character but did pitch in to help take down Evil with his tech prowess.

As far as timing goes, if we see Season 6, there’s little way to guess a release date. The show’s been on a pretty tight production ship by releasing two seasons within a year, but getting things rolling again will be more difficult. And not only that, but there are surely growth spurts involved, so all of that will have to be taken into consideration on whether to continue for a full-on ensemble season, but perhaps there are other plans? Ralph Macchio recently expressed hopes for movies to round out this franchise, but whatever happens, hopefully, we’ll find out more news soon.

Netflix’s ‘Cobra Kai’ is currently streaming the first five seasons on Netflix.

Regardless of where you live, late summer and early fall is a great time of year. You probably don’t mind bringing your favorite light sweaters out of storage, you might even tolerate pumpkin spice, and, at the very least, you look forward to drinking gallons of beer and gorging on German food at an Oktoberfest celebration.

Technically, the official celebration in Munich takes place from September 7 through October 3, but lucky for you, there are numerous great Oktoberfest-centered events right here in the USA. Keep scrolling to see 10 of our favorites (including, naturally, the aforementioned giant event in Germany). For many of the others, there’s still time to plan a road trip. We’d drive a few hours for beer and brats, wouldn’t you?

Mt. Angel Oktoberfest – Mt. Angel, Oregon (September 16-19)

Not only is this a massive Oktoberfest celebration, but it’s also the largest folk festival in the Northwest. Located in Mt. Angel, Oregon, you’ll feel like you’re really in Germany as you visit the entertainment, food, and drink pavilions known as the Biergarten, Weingarten, and Alpinegarten. There’s even a smaller venue called Hopfengarten where you can sample beer from smaller, local breweries. Don’t forget to check out the Glockenspiel that explains the history of the town each hour.

Trapp Family Lodge Oktoberfest – Stowe, Vermont (September 17)

Stowe, Vermont is home to the 13th annual Trapp Family Lodge Oktoberfest. If you didn’t know already, the reason this festival (and the brewery where it’s located) sounds familiar is that it’s the same family made famous in the musical The Sound of Music. This festival is held every year at the von Trapp Brewing Bierhall and features both German and Austrian beers, live music, and countless mouthwatering German and Austrian food items.

The Denver Oktoberfest – Denver (September 16-18 and September 23-25)

If you’ve ever been to the Great American Beer Festival, you know the folks in Denver know how to throw a beer-fueled celebration. Well, the city has been throwing its annual Oktoberfest festival for almost 50 years. On top of the expected vast beer and food selections, this event also includes fan favorite events like keg bowling, stein hoisting, a costume contest, and the “Long Dog Derby,” featuring an always entertaining dachshund race.

America’s Oktoberfest Zinzinnati – Cincinnati (September 16-18)

The largest Oktoberfest celebration in the US takes place in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Started in 1974, it’s expected to draw more than 700,000 people this year. It all begins with the yearly “Running of the Wieners,” a race featuring 100 dachshunds dressed up as sausages. It’s a beer and food lover’s dream with the likes of strudel, soft pretzels, bratwurst, and all the beer you can drink.

Big Bear Lake Oktoberfest – Big Bear Lake, California (Weekends from September 10-November 5)

If you find yourself near the mountains of Southern California, you’d be remiss if you didn’t take in the Big Bear Lake Oktoberfest when it kicks off on September 17. Held for the last 52 years, it’s an idyllic, nature-filled setting to enjoy polka, brats, and a frosty, giant beer stein (or three). The event is home to four different beer gardens and two full-service bars, as well as music venues, and traditional pretzels, sausages, and various other foods and drinks.

Samuel Adams Octoberfest – Boston (September 23-25)

Samuel Adams makes one of the most popular Oktoberfest-style beers in America so it’s no surprise to the iconic brewery throws a festival to celebrate it (and many other beers) in Boston each year. In true Boston fashion, on top of stein hoisting contests, live music, and special beer releases, there’s a cavalcade of food trucks including Cousins Maine Lobster Food Truck. Beer and lobster rolls, what could be better?

Oktoberfest USA – La Crosse, Wisconsin (September 29-October 1)

Even if you know very little about Wisconsin, you probably know that they make great beer and comforting food. The longest-running Oktoberfest celebration in the Midwest, this event has been held in La Crosse, Wisconsin since 1961. Featuring local, national, and global beer offerings including New Glarus, Surly, Founders, Spaten, and countless more, all the traditional German food you can imagine, and contests like stein races, barrel roll, grain toss, stein holding, and of course the tapping of the Samuel Adams Golden Keg, this is a can’t-miss event.

Leavenworth Oktoberfest – Wenatchee, Wisconsin (September 30-October 1, October 7-8, and October 14-15)

Usually held in the Bavarian-style village of the same name, this year’s Leavenworth Oktoberfest is being held in nearby picturesque Wenatchee, Washington at the Town Toyota Center. It all starts with the ceremonial tapping of the keg. But this is the Oktoberfest event for music fans as it features bands all day long along with authentic Oktoberfest beer, bratwurst, pork ribs, and other delicious food.

Four Peaks Oktoberfest – Phoenix, Arizona (October 7-9)

This year marks the 49th anniversary of the Phoenix area’s Four Peaks Oktoberfest. This is the premiere beer and food-fueled Oktoberfest celebration in the Southwest and even has a full carnival with rides and games, multiple music stages, dachshund races, random polka dancing, and all the Oompa music you can tolerate. Also, if you can manage to keep your beer and brats down, you can run in the event’s 10K, 5K, or one mile “Oktoberfest Runnin’ for the Brats.”

Oktoberfest – Munich, Germany (September 17-October 3)

Obviously, if you’re going to visit one Oktoberfest celebration, make it the official one. Though if you haven’t already purchased tickets for this epic beer-fueled event, you’re probably not going to now. This 16-day festival begins on September 17 and features more German beer than you could ever imagine, giant pretzels, sausages, and a lot of lederhosen. It’s by far the biggest and longest celebration in the world.

After re-introducing the cage match concept of two rings under one steel cage with two teams competing in the brutal match during his run atop NXT, Triple H is bringing WarGames back to the main roster, he announced during an interview with The Ringer.

“We’ll have a men’s WarGames match and a women’s WarGames match. The tradition of the Survivor Series has ebbed and flowed and changed slightly over time, but this will be similar to that,” Triple H said, per The Ringer. “This will not be Raw versus SmackDown. It will be much more story-line driven. I still look at it as a traditional component to Survivor Series in there because it’s large teams of people competing. We just upped the ante a little bit with WarGames and made it evolve.”

While AEW’s iteration follows the aptly-named Blood and Guts, Triple H sees WWE’s WarGames following the standard he established during his run with NXT, saying that while WWE did feature bleeding for a long period of time, the organization has “change that practice” and it would be “irresponsible to go back.”

WarGames will make its modern day return on November 26, when Survivor Series takes place from Boston at the TD Garden.

This article originally appeared on 04.25.22

A new trend in treasure hunting called magnet fishing has blown up over the past two years, evidenced by an explosion of YouTube channels covering the hobby. Magnet fishing is a pretty simple activity. Hobbyists attach high-powered magnets to strong ropes, drop them into waterways and see what they attract.

The hobby has caught the attention of law enforcement and government agencies because urban waterways are a popular place for criminals to drop weapons and stolen items after committing a crime. In 2019, a magnet fisherman in Michigan pulled up an antique World War I mortar grenade and the bomb squad had to be called out to investigate.

Fifteen-year-old George Tindale and his dad, Kevin, 52, of Grantham, Lincolnshire in the U.K., made an incredible find earlier this month when they used two magnets to pull up a safe that had been submerged in the River Witham.

George has a popular magnet fishing YouTube channel called “Magnetic G.”

After the father-and-son duo pulled the safe out of the murky depths, they cracked it open with a crowbar and found about $2,500 Australian dollars (US$1,800), a shotgun certificate and credit cards that expired in 2004. The Tindales used the name found on the cards to find the safe’s owner, Rob Everett.

Everett’s safe was stolen during an office robbery in 2000 and then dumped into the river. “I remember at the time, they smashed into a cabinet to get to the safe,” Everett said, according to The Daily Mail. “I was just upset that there was a nice pen on my desk, a Montblanc that was never recovered.”

The safe was stolen in the year 2000 nn#magnetfishinghttps://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/teenager-finds-safe-containing-thousands-of-dollars-9250637/u00a0u2026

— Grantham Journal (@Grantham Journal)
1650615191

The robber, who was a teenage boy, was apprehended soon after the crime because he left behind a cap with his name stitched inside.

The father and son met up with Everett to return his stolen money and the businessman gave George a small reward for his honesty. He also offered him an internship because of the math skills he displayed in the YouTube video when he counted the Australian dollars. “What’s good about it is, I run a wealth management company and… I’d love him to work for us,” Everett said.

Although the safe saga began with a robbery 22 years ago, its conclusion has left Everett with more faith in humanity.

“I was just amazed that they’d been able to track me down,” he said. “There are some really nice and good people in this world. They could have kept the money, they could have said they attempted to get hold of me.”

“There’s a big lesson there. It teaches George that doing good and being honest and giving back is actually more rewarding than taking,” Everett added.

Treasure hunting isn’t the only allure of the hobby for George. His mother says the hobby has taught him a lot about water pollution and its effects on local wildlife. “George is very environmentally conscious. He always has been since primary school,” she said. “When he first started to do this, he was after treasure. Everything ends up in the rivers and canals.”

This article originally appeared on 04.22.22

We’ve seen some moving [Fill in the country]’s Got Talent stories before, but a recent viral audition absolutely requires a tissue warning. I tried to steel myself in preparation when I saw the “Admit it, we were *all* in tears after this” caption on the Facebook share of it, but I failed.

In a video that’s been shared more than 95,000 times, the “Britain’s Got Talent” audition shows two tiny little girls onstage with their grandmother. They introduce themselves as “Cally” (age 4) and “Savannah” (age 3) and “Nanny” (their “daddy’s mummy”) then the girls share that they are there to surprise their dad.

Dad—also known as Nick Edwards—is sitting in the audience. He thought the family was there to watch the audition on a fun outing; he had no idea that they had arranged a surprise audition for him, so when his girls and mom showed up on stage, he wondered what was going on.

A “Britain’s Got Talent” spokesperson explained to the Daily Mail how they got Edwards mic’d up without giving away the surprise.

“When Nick entered the Palladium auditorium during ‘BGT’ auditions, he was approached to be part of our ‘gogglebox’ audience and told he would be mic’d up so we could capture his reactions throughout the day as he sat in the audience,” they said. “He was totally unsuspecting. We did this so we could mic him up without him suspecting a thing.”

As Edwards tried to figure out what his mom and daughters were doing on stage, Edwards’ mother explained to the judges and the audience that he sings a special song to his girls. She said they wanted him to come up and sing it. Naturally, not being prepared for an audition, Edwards was stunned. But the judges sent him backstage to “grab a glass of water” so he could compose himself and get ready.

“They gave me some time to warm up—about 45 minutes in total,” Edwards told This Morning. “They gave me my guitar my family brought down on the day, they [producers] said this is the song we want you to sing because we’d seen it on your Instagram.”

The song is an emotional doozy, especially if you’re a parent. “It’s a song I’ve felt quite attached to so I sing it a lot around the house,” Edwards told the judges before he started to sing. Once you hear it, you’ll see why he joked about trying to keep from crying while he sang it.

Lovely voice. Beautiful song. Adorable little girls. Not a dry eye in the house.

Tissue, seriously. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The fact that Edwards was able to pull off that audition with less than an hour of preparation was quite impressive. He told This Morning what he was thinking during that prep time.

“If I go out I’ve got two options here, I either go out and try to own it or I come out and it all crumbles…” he said. “The whole thing just went so quickly. I do remember playing and in a way my fingers started to get a bit jelly, I remember thinking ‘this is going to be a big moment for you.’ I don’t want to stuff it up.”

Stuff it up he did not. What a lovely performance, and what lucky little girls to have a daddy who shares his love for them in such a beautiful and creative way.