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Which Former NBA Player Is Now On The USA Beach Volleyball Team?

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If you’re an NBA fan who spends some time watching men’s beach volleyball during the Paris Olympics, you may notice a familiar face wearing the red, white, and blue. The United States, which has not won a medal in men’s beach volleyball since 2008, is going into battle this year with 36-year-old Chase Budinger on one of the two teams that qualified for the competition.

Basketball fans will remember Budinger as a hyper-athletic wing who went in the second round of the 2009 NBA Draft after a productive career at Arizona. He suited up for four teams in his NBA career — Houston, Minnesota, Indiana, and Phoenix — before spending a season with Spanish side Baskonia. And one of the high points of his basketball playing career highlighted his remarkable athleticism, as he nearly won the 2012 Slam Dunk Contest.

Budinger retired in 2017, but instead of ending his athletic career altogether, he decided to become a professional volleyball player. A California native and the national player of the year as a senior at La Costa Canyon High School, Budinger had the pedigree to return to the sport, but it’s still not something you see every day.

“I kind of wanted to enjoy being home and enjoy not traveling as much. And there was just a lot of little aspects of my life during that time where I wanted to mostly just stay,” Budinger told Anthony Gharib of ESPN. “That’s ultimately why I switched sports. … I kind of just wanted a different lifestyle change.”

After making his debut on the AVP tour in 2018, Budinger has managed to establish himself as one of the best beach volleyball players in the United States — FIVB has the team of Budinger and Miles Evans ranked as the 13th-best men’s beach volleyball tandem in the world. And back in June, it was announced that Budinger and Evans were one of the two teams that the U.S. would send to Paris as part of its men’s volleyball contingent.

Budinger and Evans have three games in group play on July 29, July 30, and August 2. For information on how to watch, click here.

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A’ja Wilson Talks Aces, Pettiness, Her Handshake With Kate Martin, And Leveling Up Once Again

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A’ja Wilson had just finished Team USA practice ahead of the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game and rushed to the Phoenix Convention Center. She wore black cargo pants — A’ja-ified by her stylist, who cut off one leg to mimic the one leg sleeve Wilson wears while playing — and a necklace with her A’One logo. She politely asked for a mini fan to set on her chair, but not because she’s a diva. “Sorry, I’m exhausted,” Wilson said.

How could she not be?

Wilson’s Las Vegas Aces are reigning back-to-back champions and, at 16-8, have a three-peat within grasp. During the offseason, Wilson became an instant New York Times best-selling author with “Dear Black Girls” and had Tom Brady gushing about her for the Time 2024 Most Influential People list. Once the 2024 WNBA season began in May, Wilson showed she had yet another gear of greatness.

Wilson leads the WNBA in points per game (27.2), rebounds per game (12), and blocks per game (2.9). The six-time All-Star, two-time WNBA MVP, and two-time Defensive Player Of The Year set the WNBA all-time record for most consecutive 25-point regular-season games (eight) and had six straight such games entering the All-Star break. Although, 2024 WNBA All-Star Weekend was not a break.

Between preparing for the 2024 Paris Olympics with Team USA, Wilson made time for the fans at Starry’s activation for WNBA Live in the Phoenix Convention Center. She was then courtside to support her peers at the 2024 Starry 3-Point Contest and Kia Skills Challenge.

“Starry just hits different when it comes to just wanting to uplift others and making sure that we’re seen,” the 2018 No. 1 overall pick said. “As an athlete, particularly as a woman in basketball, it’s kind of hard to be seen, in some cases. But Starry invests in me, and I’m always happy that I can be there.”

Through it all, Wilson oozed more charisma than even her 6’4 frame could hope to contain. She sat down with DIME to discuss her upcoming Nike A’One signature shoe, her Finding Nemo handshake with Aces rookie Kate Martin, and the possibility of leading the Aces to a three-peat during her most excellent season yet.

I love how you own your pettiness because we are all petty. It’s just a matter of who admits it and who doesn’t.

[Laughs] For sure.

This spring, when the timeline was blowing up with complaints that you didn’t have a Nike signature shoe, did you have to fight urges to be petty because you knew that they didn’t know what you had coming in the A’One?

One hundred percent. I feel like keeping my shoe in was probably the hardest secret I had to keep. Particularly because it was so many people that had something to say, and sometimes, people just swear that they know everything, and they don’t. And so, it was very hard for me to keep my inner pettiness in because I wanted to tell people off every single time. But what is delayed is not denied, and I was so glad that I was able to showcase it the way that I wanted to showcase it. Everyone can now understand that, yes, there’s a shoe coming in 2025.

You’re aware that people call you the best player in the world because you are. But I loved how emotional you were in expressing that you’d rather be known as the best person and teammate. What is your love language with your teammates?

Celebrating them. I feel like celebrating them either as words of affirmation or just making sure that they know that they’re not alone. I think that’s the biggest message that I continue to push to them is knowing that we all are fighting battles. It’s a little hard coming into work some days because you’ve just not got it. Life be lifin’. But at the end of the day, knowing that I always have their backs, knowing that I need the best out of them, no matter what, and I don’t care if that’s on the basketball court or just as a person and as a character. That’s something that I really like to voice, so they stick with me through the highs and lows — the cuss-outs and the soft talks. That’s what makes us who we are.

What is your favorite characteristic of the Aces this season?

Oh, man. Our fight through adversity, I feel like that normally comes in the Septembers and Octobers, but we had to fight our way through in May, and I think I never saw that out of our team before. That was the biggest characteristic that I saw. I was like, ‘Oh no, we got some fight in us early,’ and I never seen that before.

Would you rather have a pretty bucket or a physical bucket?

Give me a pretty bucket.

It might be unwise to use my time on this, but how did the Finding Nemo handshake with Kate Martin originate?

[Laughs] I don’t know. I always forget how young Kate is, so I really didn’t know if she knew Finding Nemo. It’s weird because some of these 2000s babies don’t have a clue about some things. And it’s funny. It came across my timeline one time, and I was just like, I love this handshake. Let’s do it. And Kate is someone on the team that is always down for a good time, and I love her for that. She respects it, and I respect her for that. That’s when we dove into it, and then it just started growing. We didn’t think people were going to catch onto it, so it was pretty cool.

What has been your favorite random spotting of your signature one leg sleeve?

It’s funny. My agent, actually — I don’t know if she was watching a college game or an AAU game, but she took a picture, and literally, nine out of the 10 players on the court had one leg sleeve. I was just like, wow, that is amazing. Coming from me, who wore that leg sleeve in training camp because my leg was literally not working. For legit reasons. Now, it is just being an aesthetic and something that people just kind of rock with because it’s cute. That moment I was like, Oh, wow, this is real.

You are penning a masterpiece this season. What is allowing you to play so freely?

I feel like it’s just one of those things where — it’s actually my phone’s screensaver. Kobe [Bryant] said, “Rest at the end, not in the middle.” And that is something that I really approached this year with. I kind of had a chip on my shoulder. When I got that fourth-place vote [for 2023 WNBA MVP], I was like, ‘Oh, I have work to do.’ I just keep telling myself, “Rest at the end, not in the middle.” I just keep playing, and I keep pushing through. Trying to push through these walls, so that I can push through ’em for my teammates so they know that they can push through ’em. That’s what’s making me play at this level, and I’m having so much fun doing it.

The trick of that is you’re a world-class competitor, so I’m presuming that there will never be the end. You will always be in the middle.

Exactly. Always. It’s kind of reverse psychology. I’m telling myself there’s an end, but I’m like, nah.

You’ve experienced the sweet sensation of becoming a champion more than most people, but would a three-peat be different?

A three-peat probably would be different because that’s rare. It’s not a lot of three-peat teams out here, so just to have our name in that space, it would definitely hit different.

Here’s another random question. What is a small thing that recently reminded you of your grandmother? I love the story you tell about your statue on the University of South Carolina campus, and it’s extra significant because your grandmother wasn’t allowed to walk on the same campus once upon a time.

Actually, when I was putting on my clothes today. I was putting on my clothes, and my grandma was always like, ‘Pack some underwear.’ She always packed up these little things that you’re going to need, and I’ve been rushing all day. I was like, ‘Where is my underwear?!’ And then I realized I packed some. It was one of those moments where I’m like, ‘Ah, my grandma’s always looking out for me.’

You’re packing for the Olympics, and in the spirit of the 2024 Paris Olympics, what is your “Hang It In The Louvre” moment? A snapshot from your basketball life that you would like to be displayed and preserved forever?

That’s a good one. I think actually Nike probably used it. It was a shot of me during my 53-point game [last August], and it was just me doing a layup. I was just like, Ooh, hang it! Hang it! That is beautiful.

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Is ‘In A Violent Nature’ Getting A Sequel?

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It’s been a strong year for horror, and it’s not even spooky season yet. 2024 has seen the release of Late Night With the Devil, Immaculate, Abigail, Longlegs, The First Omen, Oddity, and In A Violent Nature, which turned a clever premise — what if a slasher movie was from the POV of the killer? — and an endorsement from Stephen King into a strong box office performance.

Strong enough to earn a sequel, in fact.

IFC Films and Shudder announced that a sequel for In a Violent Nature is in the “early stages of development,” according to Variety. “The news came during the ‘The Bold Voice of Contemporary Horror’ panel at San Diego Comic-Con, where Johnny himself stopped by to freak out the audience.” (Johnny is the name of the killer, although it would be funny if some random guy named Johnny showed up and started weirding people out.)

In a Violent Nature demonstrated that there continues to be a yearning for new perspectives in the horror landscape,” AMC Film Group head Scott Shooman said in a statement. “We knew immediately that this distinctive take on the slasher would enthrall fans and are glad to see the community embrace a new slasher icon in Johnny. With the sequel, we aim to prove that Johnny can be bigger, meaner, and his kills can only get more impressive.”

This time, he walks even slower!

In a Violent Nature 2 does not currently have a release date.

(Via Variety)

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The 10 Best Summer Olympic Sports, Ranked

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The Summer Olympics officially began on Friday. Over the last few days, we’ve gotten a chance to watch some of the very best athletes in the world do their thing, and it’s been a reminder that few things are better than when the world comes together once every four years to celebrate the best of the best as they compete at the highest level.

In 2024, 32 sports are going to be on the bill, including an Olympic debutant in breaking. Watching a sport at the Olympics is obviously special, as you’re watching the very best athletes in that sport raise their games just a little bit more, but there are some that end up being appointment television. To celebrate that, we looked at the 10 best sports that you can watch at the Summer Olympics.

10. Rugby

Watching rugby is usually pretty cool, but watching rugby sevens at the Olympics really rocks. The games are lightning quick, the players are flying around because of how fine the margins can be, and few things are better than when a rugby player gets that little bit of daylight and takes off. An example:

Terrific stuff.

9. Basketball

I am incredibly biased, but watching the American women roll through the rest of the world always rocks. Plus, the addition of 3×3 means there’s something new and interesting, and the American edge in the sport isn’t as pronounced there — the women narrowly won gold in 2020, while the men didn’t even qualify. Add in that the rest of the world is rapidly catching up to the U.S. in the men’s competition, and basketball at the Olympics really has to be on this list.

8. Water Polo

Have you ever spoken to someone who plays (or played) water polo? Every time I have, they make it sound like the least enjoyable experience of all time. “Yeah, the opponents are basically trying to drown you, and you get punched underneath the surface of the water, and you get cut up by people, and also you’re doing an insane amount of high-intensity swimming.” Anyway, it’s very fun to watch and incredibly intense.

7. Volleyball

Both beach and indoor volleyball go in here. Indoor volleyball is obviously very cool, it’s so fast and watching how high volleyball players jump never ceases to amaze me. Beach feels like a completely different sport, as the athletes somehow overcome how hard running and jumping on sand can be to outlast another team of two people.

6. Handball

I have no idea why handball isn’t more popular, since it’s basically water polo on land mixed with basketball. It’s cool as hell, and every Olympics, I go in not knowing anything and get so compelled by how much fun the game is that I make it a point to learn as much as I can before group play ends. This is a crucial aspect of the experience of watching any sport that you don’t usually watch at the Olympics.

5. Women’s Soccer

Women’s soccer and not soccer in general is an important caveat here, because the men’s tournament has an age limit on its players (u-23s, along with three overage players, which means you get a few well-known players, but nothing like the World Cup). The women’s tournament, however, does not have this limitation, meaning everyone is bringing their big guns and you get some absolutely incredible football. There’s tension and stakes that always exist during a major soccer tournament — one of the best sporting events I’ve ever seen was a USWNT vs. Canada game at the 2012 Olympics — on top of the obvious levels of quality that come from bringing the very best players in the world.

4. Wrestling

There’s no better battle of wills at the Olympics than wrestling, whether it’s freestyle or Greco-Roman. It’s a 1-on-1 sport, it’s intense as all hell, and there’s so much variety in how you experience it based on weight classes and how wrestlers approach each opponent — some try to accrue as many points as possible, others believe their best chance to win involves getting a single takedown and then playing defense for the remainder of the match.

3. Artistic Gymnastics

In my eyes, the top-3 are all interchangeable based on the year — sometimes, there is nothing better at the Olympics than watching gymnastics, other times, the sports I put over it are better. Regardless, gymnastics rocks, as the drama that comes from one athlete setting the bar in a given event and everyone else having to try and clear it never fails to disappoint. Plus the sheer amount of variety that you get from one event to the next is really compelling, particularly when the buzz fills the arena because someone who is especially good at, like, vault is about to go.

2. Swimming

If I was going totally off of personal preference, swimming would be my No. 1 by some distance, because I was in high school when this happened, and all of us place an outsized emphasis on stuff that happened when we were in high school. But at the same time, when you get a good race in the pool, there’s just nothing better. The way that tension builds while swimmers are on the block, that final 50 meters when at least two competitors are neck-and-neck, the fact that you can get this moment no matter the stroke or the distance in a given race (non-Katie Ledecky division, of course), it’s all terrific.

1. Track and Field

The way track and field at the Olympics has led to stars becoming household names — Usain Bolt, Florence Griffith Joyner, Mo Farah, countless others — never ceases to amaze me, as everyone seems to lock in when they have the chance to witness greatness in this sport in a way that no other sport can match. There’s something about the spectacle of track and field at the very highest level that is untouchable, and when a big race is about to happen, you can feel the buzz in the arena radiating to every corner of the world. That applies to the field events, as well, because when someone has to put up a world record in the shot put or the pole vault to surpass the person sitting in first and win a gold medal, you can’t help but hold your breath. I, for one, am very excited to park myself on the couch and watch a lot of track and field this summer.

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Everything We Know About The Future Of ‘Inside The NBA’ After Turner Lost NBA Media Rights

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The NBA’s new media rights deal has become official, and three networks are going to broadcast games going forward: ESPN, NBC, and Amazon. This, unfortunately, means that the league’s partnership with Turner that dates back to 1989 is coming to an end — there have been reports that Warner Bros. Discovery’s exclusive broadcasting window came and went, and while they had the ability to match and expressed its intention to do so, the league announced on Wednesday afternoon that their bid was unsuccessful.

Basketball fans want to know what this means for the future of Inside the NBA, the legendary studio show that has turned into an institution in the sport. Famously, Charles Barkley has cracked a few jokes (and been brutally honest) about how the show could be coming to an end, but that was before we got official word of what’s happening.

Now that we know for sure that Turner is losing its broadcast rights, we decided to take a look at what all four members of the Inside the NBA crew have said (and what has been reported) about the future.

Charles Barkley

As of right now, the only person whose future we know for sure is Barkley. He already had the ability to opt out of his deal if Turner lost the NBA, but Barkley said during the NBA Finals that he plans on retiring after the 2024-25 season, regardless of what happens with the network.

“I just want to say thank you to my entire NBA family,” Barkley said. “I love you guys. There’s been a lot of noise around our network the last few months, and I just want to say, I talked to all the other networks, but I ain’t going nowhere other than TNT. But, I have made the decision myself, no matter what happens, next year is going to be my last year on television.”

Now, this news was greeted with some skepticism — Draymond Green, for example, doesn’t think Barkley is going to retire. And while Barkley previously has said he’s had conversations with other networks and decided to say no to all of them, he cracked the door open early last week, dependent on whether Turner gives him all the money he’s owed.

Although he said a huge offer wouldn’t change his mind and that he wouldn’t feel comfortable working for anyone but Turner, it sure seems like Chuck could, indeed, be on the free agent block next summer.

Ernie Johnson

While Barkley is the face of Inside the NBA, Johnson very well might be the face of Turner Sports, as you can see him wearing a ton of different hats on NBA, MLB, and college basketball broadcasts. He’s the single-best studio host in the game, and that might not just be for sports — can you think of, say, a news or entertainment show host who is better than Ernie Johnson? Because I cannot.

A Sports Business Journal report indicated that Johnson isn’t going to go anywhere. And in a recent conversation between Barkley and Dan Patrick, it was made pretty clear that Johnson is going to stick around in some capacity no matter what.

Of course, we have not heard directly from Johnson on this one, so we’ll have to wait and see. But considering his ties to the network, it’s nearly impossible to imagine him doing anything else until he calls it a career.

Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith

Neither guy has said anything about what their futures hold, although that aforementioned Sports Business Journal report indicated that Shaq might not do TV due to how busy he keeps himself with business opportunities. Still, we’ll keep you posted on what either dude says if they get asked, because it would really stink for either to be totally out of a job once next season ends.

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All The Best New Music From This Week That You Need To Hear

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Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw Ice Spice launch her long-awaited debut album and Drake continuing to resurface after the Kendrick Lamar feud. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters.

Ice Spice and Travis Scott — “Oh Shhh…”

Is Ice Spice an album artist? In the most technical sense, yes, in that she just released her debut album, Y2K!. Among the project’s highlights is the Travis Scott collaboration “Oh Shhh…” and its twerk-heavy video.

Gordo and Drake — “Sideways”

Now that the Drake and Kendrick Lamar feud has simmered down, the former has returned to making songs not about the latter. Drake has popped up to deliver a handful of features in recent weeks, the latest being a pair of them for longtime collaborator Gordo (formerly known as DJ Carnage).

Lil Yachty and Ian — “Hate Me”

Yachty has been as busy as anybody this year, and he’s still going: Last week, he linked up with Ian on “Hate Me.” Yachty is clearly a fan of the 19-year-old Dallas rapper and Ian makes it clear why on the new collab.

Post Malone — “Guy For That” Feat. Luke Combs

The collaborations just keep coming, both in terms of this week’s new music rundown and Malone’s recent happenings. Malone has been successfully diving into the world of country music and he’s gotten some help from the genre’s biggest stars, the latest of them being Luke Combs on the barbecue-ready country-pop single “Guy For That.”

Halsey — “Lucky”

Halsey is all in on 1990s/2000s nostalgia with her new single “Lucky,” which samples both Britney Spears and Monica. Of course, she got Spears’ blessing.

DJ Premier, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, and Big Sean — “Ya Don’t Stop”

Premier has worked with essentially everybody in hip-hop over the decades, so it’s not surprising that he can get Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, and Big Sean to all hop on the same track with “Ya Don’t Stop,”

Saleka — “Divine” Feat. Kid Cudi

Saleka stars in her father’s (M. Night Shyamalan) new movie Trap, as a larger-than-life pop star. She has prior experience as a musical artist and sounds fantastic alongside Kid Cudi on the soundtrack cut “Divine.”

Ravyn Lenae — “One Wish” Feat. Childish Gambino

Lenae is moving her way up in the R&B world and it certainly doesn’t hurt to have Childish Gambino on her side, especially since “One Wish” will likely end up being one of Donald Glover’s final Gambino songs as he retires the name. Make no mistake, though: This is Lenae’s song and she sounds like a champ on the soulful tune.

Cordae — “Saturday Mornings” Feat. Lil Wayne

Cordae has kept busy since his 2022 album From A Birds Eye View (he became a dad, for example). His latest offering is the Lil Wayne team-up “Saturday Mornings,” which sees him and Wayne trading bars over a soulful sample.

Fuerza Regida — “Pero No Te Enamores”

Regional Mexican band Fuerza Regida have become stars in recent years, and the band’s Jesús Ortiz Paz recently told Uproxx, “It feels dope as hell being part of this Mexican corrido genre. Being one of the pioneers and still being the ones pushing out this music to the world, it feels great.”

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‘The Beast Within’: Everything To Know So Far About The Kit Harington Werewolf Movie

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Horror movies over the last few years have definitely leaned into the futuristic technology side of things, but whatever happened to a good, old-fashioned monster? Werewolves had their Hollywood heyday back in the ’40s and ’50s, and then eventually they became less scary and more…goofy. But it’s time to be scared of werewolves again, because there are enough robots out there hunting us. Thankfully, there is a werewolf film right around the corner.

The Beast Within (formerly titled What Remains Of Us) is the upcoming werewolf horror flick starring noted wolf lover Kit Harrington as a father who attempts to protect his young daughter from himself. The movie is the narrative feature debut of documentary filmmaker Alexander J. Farrell. Farrell said making this movie was not “only about capturing a dark, disturbing, yet very real narrative but it also marked the culmination of years spent chasing a dream,” he posted on Instagram in 2023. “I am so incredibly proud of the movie that so many of us set out to make and am so incredibly excited for all of you to witness it on the big screen next year.”

Here is everything you need to know about The Beast Within.

Plot

The story follows Willow, a young girl who lives in an isolated cabin with her mother and father, who mysteriously disappear some nights. Willow begins to investigate her father’s strange behavior, and uncovers some unsettling secrets about their family. Here is the official plot synopsis:

After a series of strange events leads her to question her family’s isolated life on a fortified compound deep in the English wilds, 10-year-old Willow follows her parents on one of their secret late-night treks to the heart of the ancient forest. But upon witnessing her father undergo a terrible transformation, she too becomes ensnared by the dark ancestral secret they’ve tried so desperately to conceal.

Cast

Kit Harington leads the movie as the father with a dark and hairy secret. Farrell called Harington “a director’s dream, kind, patient and just so deeply connected and transformative.” Ashleigh Cummings, Caoilinn Springall, Ian Giles, and James Cosmo also star. Of the cast, Farrell said, “Their performances all breathed life into a story that has lived in my heart for so long.”

Release Date

The movie hit theaters on July 26th. Unfortunately, that was the same day as blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine, so the choice is yours.

Trailer

Check out the trailer below:

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Is Lady Gaga Engaged?

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Lady Gaga had a major weekend in Paris. She performed during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics, she teased some new music, and she apparently shared some major romantic news with the world.

Is Lady Gaga Engaged?

It appears so.

In a video posted on TikTok yesterday (July 28) by French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, he and Gaga share a hug in the audience of an Olympic swimming event. After a bit of chatting, Gaga introduces Attal to Michael Polansky, calling him “my fiancé Michael.”

@gabriel_attal

Thank you Lady Gaga for your stunning performance at the opening ceremony. It was breathtaking. 🤩🫶

♬ son original – Gabriel Attal

In February 2020, Gaga went Instagram-official with Polansky. In an interview from that April, Gaga called him “the love of my life.”

Meanwhile, Gaga said of her performance of Renée “Zizi” Jeanmaire’s “Mon Truc En Plumes,” “I feel so completely grateful to have been asked to open the Paris @Olympics 2024 this year. I am also humbled to be asked by the Olympics organizing committee to sing such a special French song–a song to honor the French people and their tremendous history of art, music, and theatre. […] Although I am not a French artist, I have always felt a very special connection with French people and singing French music — I wanted nothing more than to create a performance that would warm the heart of France, celebrate French art and music, and on such a momentous occasion remind everyone of one of the most magical cities on earth — Paris.”

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How To Watch And Stream The USA Women’s Basketball Olympics Opener Against Japan

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A day after the USA men’s basketball team dominated Serbia to make an emphatic statement about their status as the gold medal favorites, the USA women’s squad will get the chance to do the same.

There is maybe no more dominant force in all of sports than the USA women’s basketball team, as they’ve won 55 consecutive games at the Olympics, good for seven straight gold medals. This year’s squad looks equally terrifying, as they boast 12 of the best players on the planet and bludgeoned Germany to the tune of an 84-57 win in their lone non-WNBA All-Star Game tune-up before arriving in Paris.

The Americans are led by A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart in the frontcourt, who present opposing teams with little in the way of good options for slowing them down with their combination of size and skill. While those two take central focus, there are some varying subplots on this roster, most notably Diana Taurasi’s quest for an outrageous sixth gold medal. There’s also the guard rotation, which features Chelsea Gray, Jewell Loyd, Sabrina Ionescu, Jackie Young, Kahleah Copper, and Kelsey Plum all vying for minutes.

We will get our first look at this squad in the Olympics on Monday afternoon, as they take on Japan to open group stage action in Lille, France.

How To Watch

Date: Monday, July 29
Time: 3:00 p.m. ET
TV Network: USA
Streaming: Peacock

The last time the two teams played on the Olympics stage, Team USA beat Japan in the gold medal game in Tokyo in 2021. This year, they’ll start their bid for another gold with Japan, before facing Belgium and Germany to round out group stage action this week.

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Lady Gaga Performs ‘A Few Seconds’ Of Her New Album After Performing At The Olympics

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Lady Gaga‘s weekend in Paris was spent performing at the Olympics opening ceremony, revealing her engagement to Michael Polansky, and playing snippets from her new album. Forget Emily, make the show Stefani In Paris.

In an Instagram Story on Sunday, Gaga teased a first listen to LG7, as fans have been calling it, her first album since 2020’s Chromatica. “I’m so deeply touched by my French fans this week outside the hotel,” she wrote, according to Billboard. “I’m gonna come out and say goodbye tonight with a few seconds of #LG7.” She did just that. It’s tough to make out the lyrics over the screaming fans, but from the sound of the overwhelming bass, this sounds like a club-ready album to dance to. You can watch the fan-shot videos below.

Back in May, Gaga teased LG7 in an interview with Access Hollywood. “I have written so many songs, I’ve been producing so many songs, and it’s nothing like anything that I’ve ever made before,” the Joker: Folie à Deux star said. “I love to break genre and I love to explore music. There’s something really beautiful about knowing that you will be loved no matter what you do.” She added, “Something I’m definitely exploring right now is sort of the art of intensity and I think that the art of intensity actually began during this tour. But I’m not done with it yet.”