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Some people might not remember this, but there was a time when Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski did not play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. All jokes aside, it was a big deal when the pair left the New England Patriots and decided to head to the NFC — Brady went to Tampa in free agency, while Gronkowski retired before deciding to come back and help his quarterback win a Super Bowl.

As it turns out, the pair had the chance to stay in the AFC, although not with the Patriots or the team that famously tried to lure Brady, the Miami Dolphins. Dana White appeared on UFC 278 With The Gronks on ESPN+ and dropped a bombshell: He personally was involved in getting the pair to the Las Vegas Raiders, which nearly happened until then-coach Jon Gruden decided he was against it.

“I worked to put that deal together for Brady and Gronk to come to the Raiders,” White claimed. “And it was almost a done deal, and at the last minute, Gruden blew the deal up and said that he didn’t want them, and all hell broke loose, man. It was crazy, and Brady was already looking at houses, and it wans’t being said yet that Gronk was coming. So Las Vegas would have had Brady and Gronk the year that the Bucs won the Super Bowl, except Gruden blew the deal up.”

White said he was never going to tell that story, while Gronkowski said that this was “exactly what happened and you told the story.” Still, Gronkowski said that he was happy the pair opted to go to Tampa, because everything worked out for him and Brady in the end.

A number of NBA stars headed to Seattle on Saturday night to participate in The CrawsOver, an annual pro-am put on by Pacific Northwest legend Jamal Crawford. While some of the biggest players in the league right now who are from the area showed up, a trio of dudes decided to show Crawford and the fans some love by making a cameo: LeBron James, Jayson Tatum, and Aaron Gordon.

But unfortunately for those in attendance and those who tried to play, the game was unable to go beyond the second quarter. According to multiple folks in attendance, the sheer amount of people packed into the gym caused it to be so humid in the building that condensation built up on the floor, making it unsafe to play.

Prior to the game getting called, the two teams broke down like this: The home side featured James, Tatum, Dejounte Murray, and recent draft pick MarJon Beauchamp. They went up against Gordon, Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren, Tari Eason, and Isaiah Thomas. There was one unfortunate moment early on in the game, as Holmgren rolled his ankle and eventually called it a night while trying to slow down James in transition.

But despite that rough moment, the little bits of the game that were able to take place served as a chance to celebrate basketball in a city that had an NBA team taken from it years ago. Guys like James, Tatum, and Thomas looked like they had a blast in this sort of environment, while the fans reciprocated that by cheering on everything they did.

The moment that appeared to lead to the game ending came when Beauchamp went up for an uncontested dunk but could not get his feet under him, leading to Crawford deciding it couldn’t go on any longer.

It’s too bad that the game wasn’t able to go on for longer, let alone finish, even if we did get a moment between Banchero and Murray that might have squashed their recent beef. Here’s hoping the NBA returns to Seattle sooner than later so the fans in the city get the chance to see these guys more frequently.

One of the strangest beefs to pop up during the 2022 NBA offseason is between Paolo Banchero, the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic, and Dejounte Murray, the former San Antonio Spurs All-Star who got traded to the Atlanta Hawks this offseason. The duo, both of whom are from the Pacific Northwest, played at Jamal Crawford’s The CrawsOver earlier this summer, where Murray got Banchero with some trickery.

After the game, the pair went back-and-forth on their Instagram Stories, with Murray saying that he’s “lost all respect” for someone who “made it and changed.” Fast forward to Saturday evening, and the two went up against one another at Crawford’s event once again, this time with some star-studded running mates.

Early on in the game, Banchero got the chance to go at Murray, with the crowd rising to their feet to celebrate the occasion. It didn’t end with anyone getting one over on anyone else — Murray got called for a foul while Banchero hit the ground — but in a cool moment of sportsmanship, Murray helped Banchero up and the pair exchanged a hug.

At the very least, the crowd seemed to appreciate this moment between the pair of local dudes who made it to the league. Here’s to hoping that the two are on good terms now.

Things have gone cold on the Donovan Mitchell trade front. While the New York Knicks reportedly very much want to acquire the Utah Jazz star, the team has not met Utah’s reported gigantic asking price for the All-Star guard and Empire State native.

One of the big questions has been whether or not former top-3 pick R.J. Barrett will be moved in the deal, because while he might be New York’s top prospect among its collection of young players, the former Duke standout is extension eligible and might be a bit ahead of of Utah’s timeline considering the potential scope of this rebuild.

As such, the player who has most frequently been mentioned as the potential headliner of the deal from New York’s perspective is second-year guard Quentin Grimes, but according to a new report from Marc Berman of the New York Post, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau might have some reservations about moving on from the 2021 first-round pick, who is likewise coveted by the Jazz.

There is belief around the league Thibodeau would prefer to give up Barrett in a deal than shooting guard Quentin Grimes, who is coming off a solid rookie year, and a summer league in which he looked quicker and more sculpted. Grimes is a better defender and 3-point shooter than Barrett.

Ainge is hot to acquire Grimes for his Jazz rebuilding plan. One individual believes Grimes would likely be amenable to joining Utah since a Brunson-Mitchell backcourt would be a roadblock to ever becoming a Knicks starter. Grimes is a Houston native who played part of his college career at Kansas.

Grimes was one of the top performers at Summer League this year after averaging six points in 17.1 minutes per game as a rookie.

Right now in my apartment sits something that, to be completely honest, I never thought I would have: an arcade machine for NBA Jam. But this machine doesn’t only have NBA Jam on it — there is also NBA Jam: Tournament Edition, and the not as well-known but just as fun NBA Hangtime. Arcade 1 Up, a development studio known for creating home editions of popular arcade machines, has taken all three games and combined them to form NBA Jam: Shaq Edition. It turns out Shaq is a huge fan of NBA Jam, so Arcade 1 Up partnered with him to put his name on the machine.

As for the machine itself, it’s kind of difficult to review a game that everyone knows is great. Everyone loves NBA Jam and its sequels, so me telling you that all three games on here are fun would be stating the obvious. Let’s instead focus on what this machine offers and if it’s worth the pricey $700 tag for your home.

NBA Jam: Shaq Edition is designed for the at-home experience. That means you’re not going to find very many of this specific machine at many of the Barcades that are popping up all over the place right now. It also means there are some really fun perks that only an at-home machine is going to offer owners, such as the ability to connect to Wi-Fi and play against other machines online. It’s a really simple process to connect, but finding games is a little difficult because not everyone out there possesses one of these machines.

The real fun of the machine, and all arcade machines, still comes from playing shoulder to shoulder against your friends. That experience was recreated perfectly and this edition of the machine, in particular, offers a few extra perks to make it more fun for owners. For example, you can turn on bighead mode straight from the main menu, adjust the difficulty, and many classic cheats are still within the game. Want to unlock a few secret characters? This definitely is not a link to a whole bunch of them. Everyone knows cheats are part of what makes classic games fun and it was absolutely the correct decision to keep them as part of the experience.

On the downside, the process of putting it together was a lengthy one and a second person is essentially required. The box the machine came in was extremely heavy and the instructions for putting it together were entirely image based. Also, it didn’t come with any hardware, so make sure you have a basic toolkit on hand. Also, as mentioned earlier, a $700 price tag is a lot for what really comes down to three arcade games. This is a big ask for anyone who is not a huge fan of NBA Jam and also has the money to throw around.

At the end of the day, it’s a great machine and if you are someone who is capable of buying this, then it’s a definite recommendation. You can even argue that it’s a must-have for fans of the NBA Jam franchise, but at the end of the day, it’s a total novelty purchase. If you’re like me and have always wanted an NBA Jam machine, then this is definitely the one to get. Everyone else, go find a friend who has it and mooch off them. After all, arcade machines are best when played with friends.

Kanye West can be nitpicky when working on an album; we know this after Donda got delayed many times. But producer Mike Dean, in a recent conversation with Nile Rodgers for Deep Hidden Meaning Radio, revealed that the rapper/producer scrapped a whole album’s worth of material while working on Ye.

When asked if Kanye is precious about his parts in productions, Dean answered, “You can’t be. You’d get your feelings hurt like every day. Especially working with Kanye or Travis [Scott], where sh*t changes and everything’s real malleable.

“‘Til it’s over, anything can happen, especially Kanye,” he continued. “In Wyoming, for the Ye album, we had 10 songs, I guess. And we were trying to do a seven-song album. I came in one day and he’d erased the whole board and said, ‘We’re starting over.’”

Kanye has been making lots of headlines recently, especially with Kid Cudi refusing to denounce his beef with him. “With all due respect, I’m not Drake, who’s about to take a picture with him next week and be friends again, and their beef is squashed,” he said. “That’s not me. What I say, I mean. I will be done with you. It’s gonna take a motherf*cking miracle for me and that man to be friends again. I don’t see it happening. He gon’ have to become a monk.”

Listen to the conversation below with Mike Dean below.

Mark Zuckerberg may have helped invent social media as we know it, but that doesn’t him from being dragged online. Like Jack Dorsey, he’s a frequent figure of mockery. Last week, he inadvertently threw some red meat to the Internet hounds, posting an impossibly crude image, including a boyish avatar, from the metaverse he’s been trying to foist on a so-far resistant world. After it was met with heaps of mockery, Zuckerberg quickly rushed out a replacement.

Admittedly, it’s an improvement. Where the first avatar drew comparisons to the Miis on Nintendo Wii — which is to say, technology from over 15 years ago — the new one is more detailed and professional looking, giving the Facebook co-creator a more realistic animated look. In a post on Facebook, Zuckerberg even acknowledged the blowback, writing that “the photo I posted earlier this week was pretty basic,” claiming “it was taken very quickly to celebrate our launch.” (The image commemorated the launching of Horizon Worlds, Meta’s VR game, in the U.K. and Spain.)

Alas, even the Horizon Worlds launch was an agent of chaos, with developers neglecting to translate it into Spanish for Spanish players. Whoops! The slip-ups have only served to remind people that Zuckerberg has poured billions and billions into this metaverse mishegoss. And honestly, even the newer avatar looks like it could have come from the Bush II years. Then again, unlike some old colleagues, at least he hasn’t started a cover band.

(Via Insider)

Since it was announced, the Marvel show She-Hulk: Attorney at Law has earned inevitable comparisons to another show about a single female lawyer: Ally McBeal, the late ‘90s/early aughts hit starring Calista Flockhart. There’s been vague reboot talk for ages, including earlier this year. But perhaps the debut of a superhero spin on the same general premise has caused such efforts to be fast-tracked.

Sources tell Deadline the ABC is in “early development” of a new take on the legal comedy-drama. Flockhart has reportedly been approached about reprising her role, but it sounds like it won’t be a straight revival. Instead, it will follow “a young Black woman who joins the law firm from the original series (or its current incarnation) straight out of law school. The young woman is believed to be the daughter of Ally McBeal’s (Flockhart) D.A. roommate Renée Raddick, who was played by Lisa Nicole Carson on the mothership series.”

So if it’s centered around a new character, with good ol’ Ally as a supporting player, will it still be called Ally McBeal? And will they bring back to Dancing Baby or Robert Downey Jr.? Whatever happens to it, it may fulfill a wish the original show’s creator, David E. Kelly, made clear when discussing a possible reboot back in 2018, who said it should be done not by him but by a woman. Lo and behold, the revival is said to be written and directed by Karin Gist, of Girlfriends, Revenge, Mixed-ish, and the new Mike Tyson series Mike.

(Via Deadline)

Gorillaz played a set at All Points East in London last night, August 19, where they debuted a new song with Tame Impala and Bootie Brown called “New Gold.” Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn introduced it by saying, “It’s kind of a mad song, to be honest with you,” and then welcomed Tame Impala and Bootie Brown, making the crowd roar. The trippy track is an eclectic, exuberant journey, as Gorillaz songs often are, but even moreso with the different collaborators.

In 2020, Albarn discussed plans for a Gorillaz movie. “Well, we are supposed to be making a film while we’re doing season two [of ‘Song Machine’]. We signed contracts, we’ve begun scripts and stuff,” he said. “Making an animated film that’s kind of abstract is quite a big risk for a movie studio because they’re very expensive. If you’re telling a slightly obtuse, weird story that only sometimes makes any sense, it’s quite difficult. That’s what we’ve discovered. But we will do it, we are doing it. I see a lot of people doing animated videos these days but I don’t think they really touch the quality of ours. We’re more in the world of Studio Ghibli.”

Watch the performance of “New Gold” above and pre-save it here.

Gorillaz is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Meta has spent the last few years working to get more into video games. It started this with the launch of Facebook Gaming back in 2018, it bought Oculus so it would have naming rights on the Oculus Quest VR headset, and even its recent emphasis on the “Metaverse” is, in a way, another avenue to get into video games. An example of this is the late-2021 release of Horizon Worlds, a virtual reality game for the Oculus set in the “metaverse.” It’s basically their answer to the extremely popular VRChat that almost everyone with a VR headset has played before.

Of course, to build up a large platform, Meta needs a large user base and there’s no better way to do that than offer the game all over the world. Earlier this week, Meta announced that it would be launching Horizon Worlds in France and Spain. There was one very important detail though that anyone reading the announcement probably thought was odd, and it’s that the game would be in English only.

Today, Mark Zuckerberg announced we’re making Horizon Worlds available to people aged 18 or older in France and Spain in English only. This is part of our ongoing plan to roll Horizon Worlds out to more people in Europe this year.

Even if there are plenty of people in France and Spain perfectly capable of playing a game that is English only, all the people who do not speak the language or aren’t fluent enough to play a game in English pretty much can’t play the game or have to ignore all the in-game instructions and tutorials. According to Gizmodo writer Jody Serrano, there is a horrible attempt at mixing Spanish and English within the game that leads to confusion for everyone.

“Things get worse when once you actually enter the game. Some sections offer a mix of Spanish and English, while others offer bad Spanish translations that even Spanish speakers like me can’t understand.”

Serrano goes on to explain the multiple ways that they mistranslated English words into Spanish and even went so far as to point out that Google Translate does a better job than the official in-game translation attempts. This is all a reminder of how important having an actual localization team is when shipping a game overseas, something Meta seems to have not placed much value in.