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The top young knockout artist in all of boxing is at it again. Edgar Berlanga, a 23-year-old Brooklyn native, fought Ulises Sierra on Saturday night in Las Vegas in the undercard of the Shakur Stevenson-Toka Kahn Clary bill. Berlanga stepped into the ring looking to pick up a Round 1 knockout for the 16th time in his career. The thing that makes this so impressive is that this was the 16th professional fight Berlanga’s ever faced.

The past isn’t always a good indicator of the future, but in the case of Berlanga-Sierra, it was. The super middleweight fight did not get out of the first round, as Berlanga dropped Sierra three times to earn a first round TKO. Berlanga threw bomb after bomb during the bout, with the finishing sequence coming via a left hook to the side of Sierra’s head and a right that caught Sierra right between the eyes.

At 2:41, this was nearly the longest fight of Berlanga’s professional career — he needed 2:45 to knock out Cesar Nunez at the end of 2019. The longest Round 1 KO streak to start a career is 21 by Ali Raymi, so while he’s climbing the ladder, he still has a bit of a way to go. Still, if The Chosen One keeps it up, he just might be able to break that record.

LSU and Florida met on Saturday night in a makeup of a game postponed from earlier in the season due to COVID-19, and with the Gators locked into the SEC Championship game and the Tigers backing up a title run with one of the worst seasons in recent memory in Baton Rouge, few expected this game to get too weird.

However, in the fog in Gainesville, that was exactly what happened as the two teams were tied at 34-34 with just over two minutes to play following a Florida field goal drive. Overtime or a Florida walkoff win looked like the most likely possibilities as with 1:51 to play, the Tigers were stopped on third down and seemed in need of a punt. However, defensive back Marco Wilson decided it’d be a good idea to pick up the LSU player’s shoe and huck it downfield, which was not subtle at all and drew a flag for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

That resulted in one of the funniest penalty calls from a referee that you’ll ever see.

Naturally, following the penalty, LSU, suddenly blessed with new life, pushed the ball into Florida territory and set Cade York up with a 57-yard field goal attempt. LSU was without timeouts and was going to need to run a scramble drill to get the kick team onto the field and get the field goal attempt off before the clock went off, but the Gators called timeout with 21 seconds left to give them a chance to answer a make — or have great field position on a miss. York came out and banged it through with no trouble.

Florida would drive it to the LSU 34 and set up their own game-tying attempt, but Evan McPherson just pulled the 51-yard kick wide left by inches, giving the Tigers a rather stunning upset win and taking the Gators out of playoff contention.

To add to the insult of losing at home just before the SEC Championship game, the Gators got to see LSU’s kicker taunt them on their home field with a Gator Chomp.

The long, weird road LaMelo Ball took to becoming an NBA player came to an end on Saturday night. Ball and the Charlotte Hornets took the floor for a preseason game against the Toronto Raptors, and the No. 3 pick came off the bench in what was certainly an up-and-down performance. The down stemmed from his scoring — Ball had zero points in 16 minutes on 0-for-5 shooting.
His scoring was always going to be something that took some time. The stuff that Ball can do, though, that got him drafted so high was also on display. The 6’8 guard ripped down 10 rebounds, the most among everyone who appeared in the game. And like his older brother Lonzo, LaMelo’s got unreal feel for the game, which meant that he was able to produce a handful of highlight-reel passes that sometimes led to assists.

Ball only had four assists on the night, but as you can see in the above video, some of the passes he busted out speak to the basketball IQ that you just do not see out of 19 year olds. There are going to be plenty of growing pains for both Ball and the Hornets throughout this season, but the highs are going to be quite high, and at the very least, Twitter will end up being abuzz with their highlights on a near-nightly basis.

As for the game, Charlotte was unable to kick off its preseason with a win. Toronto came out on top, 111-100, behind 16 points off the bench by Matt Thomas.

Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, and the results of that election will be made official on Monday when the Electoral College votes in the manner a record-shattering number of Americans determined back in November. It’s all pretty cut and dry, despite the sputtering and nonsensical legal battles Trump has lost in several states at at the Supreme Court.

Despite that, Trump has continue to rage against his dying chances of crying fraud and then throwing out millions of legally cast votes. And that’s caused a number of his most faithful supporters to descend once again on Washington D.C. for a rally in support of Trump somehow remaining president despite, well, reality getting in the way.

The MyPillow guy was there spouting a completely nonsensical conspiracy theory, as he is wont to do. And the latest bit character from the Trump circus, former Rudy Giuliani voter fraud witness Melissa Cerone, was also there. Perhaps better known as the “wine lady” because many people thought she showed up drunk to the hearing where she baselessly claimed all kinds of fraud and conspiracies, Cerone has found herself parodied and lampooned in the days since she and Giuliani went viral in Michigan.

And Saturday, she was at it again, though she had much less to say as much as she just wanted to get a nice shot for her Instagram feed. Mostly, it seems she just wanted to complain about what’s happened to her as much as Trump losing the election.

The things that have been said to me have been terrible,” she said, getting a “we love you” chant from the crowd in return.

“I will not give up this fight. I will keep exposing the fraud that I saw. And we will win this,” Carone said, appearing to read notes off of her phone. “We will take it back. This was a stolen election.”

There really wasn’t much of interest she said, as like many Trump supporters in his cult of personality their platform can be summed up in a number of baseless claims and hot takes. “Donald Trump is the best president we’ve ever had,” she said, for example. There are also, apparently, nameless senators trying to tear her down?

“I will not stand down to these senators,” Carone said, sounding remarkably like a Cecily Strong impression of, well, herself. “I won’t.”

Finally, though, her speech ended the way all great orators conclude their remarks: by asking everyone to say ‘cheese.’

“I want to get a picture with everyone,” she said. “Can you put your flags up?”

It probably won’t be enough to get on SNL again, but at least it’ll get some likes on Parler.

Juicy J is undoubtedly a legend in the rap game for what’s been two careers in one thanks to his time with Three 6 Mafia and his solo career which launched in 2013 with Stay Trippy. Through it all, the Memphis rapper has given fans an assortment of classic records over the years. A key part of Juicy J’s career has been his producer tag ad-libs, which help add life and energy to his songs.

Speaking about that producer tag, he revealed that Logic helped create it. The Memphis rapper called Logic his “best friend” in a recent interview with HipHopDX before explaining how the No Pressure helped create the tag.

“We hang out all the time. We was in the studio and he was just talking,” Juicy J said. “He’s like, ‘Man, what did Juicy J say? Shut the f*ck up.’ We was just being funny. And I said, ‘Hey.’ I stopped it. I told the engineer, ‘You recorded that?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah,’ I said, ‘Man, I’m using that as my producer tag because that sh*t is hard. You talking is.’” He added, “We didn’t say, ‘Hey, Logic, go in the studio, I mean go in the booth and do this.’ He just said it and it was recording.”

He went on to say that Logic was surprised that Juicy J used the tag. “He say he didn’t think I was serious,” the Memphis rapper said. “He said, ‘When you said you was going to use that as a tag, I didn’t think you was serious.’ He’s like, ‘Man, that sh*t sound hard. I’m hearing my voice every f*cking where.”‘

The news comes after Juicy J and Logic connect for their “1995” video.

[via HipHopDX]

Nobody likes to lose a paying gig, least of all actors working on one of the most popular shows on television. However, being killed off is one of the hazards of working on The Walking Dead, which has killed off more characters than almost any show in television history. “No one is safe,” the show’s creator, Robert Kirkman, has often warned, and that has proven to be true even for some of the most show’s longest-running and most popular characters. More than 25 “series regulars” have been killed off in 10 seasons, not to mention numerous other recurring characters. Some actors have left the show of their own volition (Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira, whose characters are both still alive) and some knew from the beginning that when they’d be killed off (Jon Bernthal, Scott Green),

The deaths of some other characters, however, not only came as a surprise to the actors but left some of them less than pleased with the circumstances surrounding their death. Though they obviously knew coming in that they could die at any time, they still felt burned by their exits.

Here are five such examples:

5. Laura (Lindsley Register)

Register is an example of one of those recurring characters who managed to rack up 20 episodes of the series, and although few people knew her character’s name by the end, everyone probably recognized her face. She was a high-ranking member of Negan’s Saviors before being absorbed by the Alexandrians, and she was killed by Beta in a clash that left her with a broken neck. It wasn’t clear, however, that she had died until she appeared in the In Memoriam section on The Talking Dead. Register revealed that she was “disappointed” she didn’t get to have another confrontation with Negan, but she said she was “thrilled” to die while fighting one of the show’s best villains, Beta. Fans were upset about Laura’s exist, and Register clearly appreciated how upset they were that she’d been killed off, retweeting some of their tweets, like these two:

4. Jesus (Tom Payne)

Jesus’ death, which came during the ninth midseason finale and coincided with the introduction of the Whisperers, was one of the show’s better kills, in part because it was so surprising. No one saw it coming because Tom Payne’s character still figured into the comic series. Payne, who has since gone on to star in the Fox series Prodigal Son, wasn’t upset about being killed off. He thought that The Walking Dead did him dirty by not taking better advantage of him while he was on the show. “I was kind of frustrated with what I had gotten to do on the show and I was kind of a bit bored with it,” Payne said of his role as Jesus. “If I wasn’t being given anything, I was kind of ready to go.” Instead of being disappointed by his death, Tom Payne was relieved.

3. Madison Clark (Kim Dickens)

One of the most surprising deaths in all 17 seasons of The Walking Dead universe was the exit of Kim Dickens’ character, Madison, in the fourth midseason finale of Fear the Walking Dead. No one, it seems, was more surprised by it than Kim Dickens herself. She was the nominal lead of the series, and while she took her exit well, her statements over the years have made it obvious that it wasn’t her decision and she wasn’t that pleased with it. “They saw my disappointment,” Dickens said of her reaction when she was told she’d be killed off. “They saw what I disagreed with about it.” She said that the decision “shocking to me and it was disappointing. It was heartbreaking.” The one upside, however, is that the Fear producers are now open to the possibility of bringing Madison back, and apparently, there are even discussions of that.

2. Andrea (Laurie Holden)

One character who exited The Walking Dead many, many seasons ahead of schedule was Laurie Holden’s Andrea, who was killed off at the end of season three. Unfortunately for Holden, her death became practically a necessity for the series, after the character assassination the writers pulled on Andrea, which turned TWD fans against her so harshly that they had to kill her off. It wasn’t that Holden had an issue with her death itself; she thought that showrunner Glen Mazzara did her character dirty long before she died. “I think the departure from book Andrea to the screen was a mistake. I mean, it’s not like I couldn’t pull it off. I think the whole stuff that they wrote about Andrea and the Governor was complete and utter nonsense. I did the best that I could to tell that narrative and to justify it where Andrea kept her heart.”

In fact, Laurie Holden had an eight-year deal on the series, but in spite of that, she learned the night before that she was being killed off. “I got the call at 10 o’ clock the night before, while I was shooting, from the showrunner who is no longer a part of The Walking Dead, saying that they couldn’t write the episode and that he was killing my character. So, we all got the script, [and] everybody on the set was sobbing. I felt like I got shot. None of it was supposed to happen the way it did.”

1. Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs)

No one got done dirty worse than Carl Grimes, who was supposed to make it to the end of the series, but who inexplicably was killed off in a painfully anticlimactic fashion in the eighth season. It’s still not entirely clear why Carl was killed off the series, except that then showrunner Scott Gimple thought it might inject some juice into the flagging ratings. Riggs took it hard, saying that it was “devastating” to lose something that was such “a huge part of his life,” but he was much kinder than his own father, who reacted with anger. “Watching Gimple fire my son 2 weeks before his 18th birthday after telling him they wanted him for the next 3 years was disappointing. I never trusted Gimple or AMC but Chandler did. I know how much it hurt him.”

For his part, while Riggs has spoken about his exit numerous times over the years, he has since taken responsibility for his exit, blaming his own poor performance (“I sucked when it mattered”), and often making fun of himself.
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James Harden wants out of Houston, and according to reports, four teams are on his list of places where he’d like to go. The Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers have been known for some time, and recently, it was reported that Harden expanded his list to include the Milwaukee Bucks and the Miami Heat.

All of these spots would be interesting to one extent or another, but Miami is particularly curious, because they have been viewed as a team that’s trying to maintain as much flexibility as possible for the 2021 offseason, which is expected to have a loaded offseason class. Players like Harden don’t come available all that often, though, and according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, the former MVP’s interest in Miami is reciprocated.

The Heat would have interest in Harden if the Rockets decide to trade him, according to the source. At this point, Houston has displayed no particular interest in granting his trade request.

Mapping out a package for Harden from Miami isn’t too hard, at least in terms of identifying a headliner. It stands to reason that the Heat would have to include 20-year-old breakout star Tyler Herro, and although there had been reports that the former Kentucky sharpshooter would not be included in any deal, Jackson says that’s not the case.

But the source disputed any suggestion that Heat guard Tyler Herro would be untouchable in such a deal. Though the Heat loves Herro, the source advised against any conclusion that he wouldn’t be made available in a Harden deal if serious talks eventually happen. He would be in play.

The rest of a deal is a little tricker, and depending on what other teams could offer up, there’s a chance Miami just does not have the pieces — both in terms of players and future draft picks — to pull this off. But if they decide to get in on the fun, it appears that Herro would be put on the table.

The Handmaid’s Tale is coming back with a fourth season on Hulu that has already been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and this week brought news that there will also be a Season 5. But apparently that’s a whole lot more clear than what actually will happen to the characters on the show and the fraught fictional world they inhabit.

Showrunner and creator Bruce Miller told The Hollywood Reporter on the heels of Hulu’s announcement of a fifth season of the show that getting back to filming amid the pandemic, though things are decidedly different. Miller said the script has changed, and the scope of what the show can do with filming along with other factors has impacted what will actually happen on the show.

“We’re still shooting, kind of in the middle of the season,” says Miller. “We planned out the whole season, started filming, and then had to stop … everything from locations, to number of people in scenes, to traveling actors, all that stuff had a huge impact on our story, just because it has to, and honestly, we’re in a situation where we have to make do with what we can get our hands on. In the end, it was surmountable, and I think we’re making an excellent show, and I’m really proud of what we’re doing, but it was hard, and it continues to be hard.”

Though Miller did not commit to whether this would be the end of the show after Season 5, he did admit he had “very different ideas before the pandemic” and the show would likely “reassess” where it’s headed after Season 4 is done. Which also means, well, he doesn’t know what’s going to happen to Gilead and June and the rest of the characters. Which is why he wouldn’t recommend thinking too much about it yourselves while you wait.

“I know where I am in the story, and I do feel like we’re kind of reaching kind of a pivot point, but whether that’s the end or not, I don’t know,” Miller tells The Hollywood Reporter in an exclusive first interview about the season five renewal. “It just feels like it’s a good time to reassess what you were thinking, just because the story world has opened up because the real world has changed so much.”

Miller said “don’t try to guess at all” when it comes to even what the show’s fourth season will hold, and the full interview has lots of details about Elizabeth Moss directing three episodes and just how different the show will look after the great escape the final episode of Season 3 gave fans. Things are certainly changing in the fictional world Miller has built for TV, and it seems even those in charge of it aren’t sure where things will go next.

[via THR]

Just like they’ve done for many nights this year, Verzuz was prepared to hold another battle on Saturday night, this time between Keyshia Cole and Ashanti. When the matchup between the two songstresses was announced fans of both voiced their excitement on social media, but unfortunately the battle may have to wait as a positive COVID-19 test for Ashanti may put the battle on hold.

The singer shared a message on Instagram that read, “Hey y’all I can’t believe I’m saying this but I testing positive for COVID-19.” She added, “I’m actually down o do the verzuz from my house… we’re trying to figure it all out!!!”

Verzuz has yet to confirm that Saturday’s battle can take place in separate locations due to Ashanti’s positive test. Keyshia and Ashanti’s battle would have occurred early a month after Gucci Mane and Jeezy came together for a Verzuz of their own last month. The battle took place in Atlanta’s Magic City and found the two rappers putting aside their differences to celebrate their music and impact over the last fifteen years. Despite a collection of tense moments that filled the battle, Gucci Mane and Jeezy ended their beef and closed the battle by performing their lone collaboration, “So Icy” together.

In addition to the news on Keyshia and Ashanti, a report arrived last week that the next Verzuz battle would take place between Lil Kim and Foxy Brown. Brown’s brother, Gavin Marchand, revealed the news in a Clubhouse but shortly after Swizz Beatz announced that the battle between the two was unconfirmed.

The latest episode of The Mandalorian gave fans a lot less Baby Yoda Grogu and a lot more wardrobe changes for its titular character. Spoilers ahead if you haven’t streamed it yet, but there was also a sly reference to the Mike Judge cinematic universe that wasn’t quite as viral as a tiny force-sensitive creature, but certainly had fans talking on social media.

The seventh episode of Season 2 had our hero swapping Mandalorian armor for something a bit more Imperial, then actually revealing his face when things got tight on Morak. But it also brought with it the return of Bill Burr, which is apparently as close to Boston as the Star Wars universe will get anytime soon.

Din Djarin and Burr’s Migs Mayfeld get into a tight spot with some Imperial officers on a refinery near the episode’s end, and before they eventually shoot their way out of the predicament Mayfield actually tried to talk his way out by saying they needed to fill out some “TPS reports.” Perhaps that’s a real thing somewhere in the deep well of Star Wars lore, current canon or otherwise. And though it quickly earned a place in the fan-run Wookieepedia, a lot of sharp fans thought it was actually a reference to Mike Judge’s cult classic Office Space.

In the 1999 film starring Ron Livingston and Jennifer Aniston about committing financial crimes amid the mundanity of corporate life, the film’s protagonist, Peter Gibbons, is hounded by several bosses (including Gary Cole) about an office rule involving TPS reports. The scene is one of the film’s most famous, an example of how dreadfully dull and pedantic the modern workplace can often be. The phrase “TPS reports” has become one of the most enduring jokes from the film in the two decades since its release, which is why many fans were convinced it wasn’t a coincidence, but an Office Space reference, when Burr’s Mayfeld mentioned them.

That meant a lot of fans taking their thoughts, and Mandalorian/Office Space photo edits, to Twitter.

Inevitably, that put Grogu in the office setting answering to Bill Lumburgh.

Some wondered if it was a line Burr ad libbed or something that was actually in the script.

Either way, the TPS report is officially part of Star Wars lore. Hopefully those stuck filling them out use the right cover letter. And maybe got out of that refinery alive after Mando and Migs were done with it.