GoneTrending

Look, pickings have gotten a little slim in the Bub. Teams and players have departed, are probably right this second departing, naturally lowering the available output and leaving those that are left in what is, unfortunately (for this column) a perpetually “LOCKED IN (steam-nose emoji, steam-nose emoji, steam-nose emoji)” state. That’s ok, because scouring is a job best left to those with the tendencies of steel wool, yours truly included. I will be here until the final bell tolls in Disney, which is probably like a conductor Mickey wailing on a locomotive horn, seeing this thing to its natural conclusion — NBA Summer Vacation Watch.

But right, right, let’s not get too excited or ahead of ourselves, I suppose we have a Finals to get through first.

Jimmy Butler

Butler, who has been handing it to the Milwaukee Bucks all week with a cheeky wink, probably chugging coffee, and refusing to be reunited with his family, took a rare moment (probably literally five minutes, maybe) of downtime this week to watch a match of his beloved PSG. Did Jimmy bring this big red pillow and his own soccer, sorry, football into the Bub? Certainly hope so.

Rating: Do you see what is just to the right of him there? That’s a Big Face coffee, $20.

Jaylen Brown

Brown enjoyed a morning beverage that Jimmy Butler DID NOT make, unfortunately, but you can’t hold it against him.

Rating: Well probably Jimmy Butler would.

Donovan Mitchell

Dearly departed (from Orlando) Mitchell got in one last ice bath across from his pal, Jaylen Brown, and used the time to huck ice cubes at him.

Rating: Glad it’s raining so nobody can see us all crying.

Fred VanVleet

Family arrived to the Bub this week and none made a bigger, sobbing splash than Fred VanVleet’s. His daughter, Sanaa, went hurtling down her dad’s hotel hallway into his waiting arms while Fred Jr. hung back only long enough to assertively announce, “I love you dada!” and tear your heart in two. The foursome spent some Q (as in cute and quality) T together that day.

But when it got down to game time Sanaa took on assistant coaching duties in Raptors Game 2 against the Celtics, I just hope she is promoted for Game 3, because we could all use her encouraging yet no BS style in crunch time.

Rating: Probably the only two Raptors fans not crippled by anxiety at present time.

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Giannis was also joined in the Bubble this week by a discerning baby coach, his son Liam and partner Mariah. The two sat courtside for the Bucks Game 1 against the Heat, Liam thoughtfully gumming his fingers as he drummed up some new offence generating strategies for Coach Bud.

Rating: I think he’s translating box-and-1 with his repeated low-five hand slapping and I strongly agree this is something the Bucks should look at for Game 3.

LeBron James

As the Lakers wait to enter the second round they have taken on an internal Madden tournament. They ripped through the first rounds and James lost to Markieff Morris, he wasn’t really letting it get to him though because he has largely been spending his time preparing for Round 2 by smoking cigars alone.

Bringing in Dime’s resident golf and cigar expert, Robby Kalland, for his thoughts here:

I can’t tell exactly what cigar we’re working with here, but I can’t imagine LeBron smokes anything but the best (the tight, even burn on the ash is a good indicator here). There are few better ways to unwind and center the mind than a cigar alone at dusk. It will put you in a very meditative state and calm the nerves. I strongly, strongly recommend it if you are so inclined. Also, the cigar selfie mid-puff is a sure-fire way to look cool. A+ work from LeBron here.

Rating: Mostly I like the hoodie matching the pastel peach walls of the hotel at sunset, that is an immaculate eye for detail and what makes James one of the greatest to ever do it (“it” being play basketball, sit outside smoking a cigar alone at sunset, etc).

Dion Waiters

After ripping through the entirety of Game of Thrones, Waiters moved on to a Criterion Classic, Fifth Element.

Rating: Much better ending, that’s for sure.

Serge Ibaka

Ibaka took care of himself as well as Raptors fans following Toronto’s Game 1 loss to Boston. He gave his back some attention and he gave us a photo to gaze upon that aptly summarizes our mood for all time should this series not be turned around.

Rating: Not sure anyone’s face has ever looked as good at Ibaka’s squished and framed through a massage table’s headrest, upside down, gravity working hard against it.

Tacko Fall, Enes Kanter and Jaylen Brown

Kanter and Brown continued Fall’s swim lessons this week, carefully cradling all 7’4” of Fall, along with the helping and lessened hands of underwater gravity, as he kicked across the 4ft shallow end of the pool and into your heart.

Rating: Fall’s smile as he nears a wall he could probably have reached by the mid-point of his swim?

Luka Doncic

Doncic left the Bubble this week and also left us a clue/promise of how he’s going to enter next season — headfirst and flying or treating the floor like it is of no concern to his mortal body.

Rating: Really however you want to interpret it is fine.

Meyers Leonard

We’ve got a real deal review of Big Face Coffee on our hands here, folks! Well, slightly biased as Meyers Leonard has found a leader and inspiration in Butler, but less fraudulent than a Google review of Baskin Robbins by a bot that raves about hot and fresh food options. I think this looks like an Americano for Leonard, but then all sizes are the same price ($20) and all ostensibly come in the same cups which, did Butler bring these in with him? Like he anticipated setting up his empire as he tore another (#1 seed in the east the Milwaukee Bucks) down?

Rating: Inconclusive, more reviews needed.

Norman Powell

In some unfortunate decision-making by the league, pets were NOT part of the family members allowed into Disney. Powell, who owns two pomskis named Apollo and Odin, quietly lamented the continued separation from his very supportive and tiny dudes.

Rating: Whoever is taking care of them is making sure these guys get their grooming in though because there is no such thing as quarantine hair here. Whew. Gorgeous.

Evan Fournier

Fournier is OUT, like out-out. Not just from the Bubble with the Magic’s elimination, but the country. Fournier travelled back to France and did so with his extremely fluffy dog in tow. The two waited patiently by their gate to board, shared a meal and some moments in first class, wistfully gazing out the window at the clouds and ocean whipping by below.

Rating: Gracious of Fournier’s dog to emotionally support us all, just by viewing these photos.

Since schools shut down last spring, throwing teachers and students into the deep end of virtual teaching literally overnight, questions about how school was going to work in the fall have abounded. And as hopes of a normal school year have been dashed by continuing viral spread and a rising death toll through the summer, schools have had to scramble to figure out the best way to safely meet everyone’s needs.

It’s a bit of an impossible task all around. No one envies those having to make the hard decisions—especially with heated opinions being thrown at them from all sides. There is no way to make everyone happy, and there’s really no way to do school “well” in the middle of a deadly pandemic.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t laugh at the absurdity of the whole back-to-school mess. After all, if we don’t laugh, we’ll cry.

---

Dena Blizzard of One Funny Mother shared a parody video of a school administrator explaining the “simple hybrid model” for pandemic schooling, and oh my word, does it ever nail what parents are experiencing across the country.

It just gets better and better, doesn’t it? I have friends with kids all over the U.S., and so many are so confused about how school is working for their children—and are only more confused by the hundreds of emails from their school districts. It doesn’t help that even if a school district has a clear plan, if that plan involves kids physically attending school in any capacity, there are necessary contingency plans in place for if or when an outbreak occurs.

Parents want simple plans, as do teachers and administrators, but there’s simply nothing simple about making school work in a pandemic. So we can laugh or we can cry. (Or maybe a little of both—that seems to be the healthiest choice.)

If you’re like me and you’d never heard of Adam Trent before seeing this story, you may want to pencil in some time to check out his other videos after this. Like so many of us, the illusionist is finding ways to fill the time during coronavirus lockdown. But what makes this video different is that Trent’s kind but simple gesture had the unintended consequence of literally changing one man’s life for the better.

And it all started with a simple game of trivia and a few envelopes.

As the delivery man is preparing to leave, Trent opens his front door and asks if the man will stick around to play a game, telling him he can keep the contents of various envelopes taped to the wall … if he answers the question on each envelope correctly.

---

Understandably a little suspicious, the delivery man agrees to the premise. And it turns out he’s pretty good at trivia! Some of the questions are deceptively simple, such as “how many points is a touchdown in football?”

And then there are other more challenging ones, like name the capital of Florida. It’s a question that if you know it, it’s incredibly obvious. And if you don’t, well you might feel a bit silly for not memorizing your state capitals. But the delivery guy nails every question, impressing Trent. Until he doesn’t.

It’s the final question — another of those “incredibly easy if you know it and impossible if you don’t” ones that is entirely out of this guy’s demographic: Name two members of the former boy band N’Sync.

Trent lets the doorman off the hook and gives him all the envelopes. It turns out that each one contains different denominations of cash: $20, $5 and $1. At the end, turning emotional, the delivery guy reveals that the small amount of cash made the difference in him being able to pay rent.

Obviously moved, Trent gives him the final N’Sync envelope, which contains the largest cash amount: $100. Speechless, the doorman turns away, kneels and the video cuts out.

It was an incredibly classy move by Trent. Yes, we’re all entertained by the fun trivia and it’s hard to not be hit by the feels at the end. Of course, we’ve seen enough seemingly heartwarming stories to realize there are often system problems on full display. In this case, why does a man hustling at his job have to win a random trivia game to pay his rent? It’s a little dystopian if you stop to think about it. And that’s why we’ll give Trent more credit for not making the video about himself. There’s no cheesy moment where Trent flips the camera around, no soapbox moment of lecturing us all about economics and no attempt to push out his social media channels, or whatever it is that so-called influencers are up to these days.

It’s simply a human to human moment. Honestly, seeing these two men interact is itself special during the middle of a pandemic and a hugely divisive election season. The fact that it ends in a sweet moment that brings real, if temporary, change to one person’s life just makes it all the better.

Here we are in the third of four weeks in which only one of the Wednesday Night Wrestling shows actually airs on Wednesday. First AEW Dynamite got moved around due to TNT’s NBA coverage, and now NXT is spending two weeks on Tuesday due to USA’s coverage of the NHL. Rumors have also started that NXT might move to Tuesdays for good, and I promise if that happens I will split this column up and start covering these shows separately. But for now, welcome to Wednesday Night’s Alright (plus sometimes other nights, too) on Uproxx Sports.

Nefarious Heel Behavior: Doctor Britt Baker DMD

The All-Out PPV is this Saturday, and Tony Schiavone was trying to interview Big Swole about what kind of match she wants to have with Britt Baker there, when Britt interrupted first by having Rebel deliver a pizza to Tony during the interview. Then while Swole was laughing like “Oh come on, a pizza? And do you think we can’t recognize Rebel?” Britt attacked Swole from behind, driving her face into the pizza and then putting her in the Lockjaw hold.

Everybody loves a wrestler revealing that they’re healed from an injury by attacking someone, and Britt pulls it off perfectly here. Nobody knows what a Tooth & Nail Match is, but this segment made me excited to watch it no matter what it is. Of course, then they revealed that it’s going to be on the pre-show, even though they’ve been building to it for literally months. So that’s a shame. But this segment was still great.

Runners Up

The Young Bucks continue to be jerks, going as far as pouring a beer over an Adam Page fan’s head this week. I’m coming around to believing that they’re evolving into heels on purpose, with Hangman being set up to become a babyface loner, but it could still go either way. I’m not entirely sure that Kenny Omega and the Bucks, as real-life teetotalers, understand that although being an obnoxious drunk is a heel trait, drinking casually is a babyface trait. And while standing up to that obnoxious drunk might be something a babyface would do, telling your friend who enjoys a couple of drinks every week that he’s a worthless alcoholic just because you disagree with his choices is absolutely what heels would do.

MJF gave out this week’s most brutal beating, attacking Jon Moxley with a fury we’ve never seen from him before as the show drew to a close. But I have to say, I’m not wild about that from MJF. I like Maxwell as an obnoxious rich kid who occasionally punches somebody in the face with his big-ass ring on, and I don’t need him to be as brutal and hardcore as Moxley. I understand the thinking that they want him to look like a credible threat for All Out, but shouldn’t MJF be a threat by being sneaky and paying bigger guys to interfere for him? Not everybody needs to be an undershirt-clad brawler.

Lingering Problems: Some Of These Booking Decisions

The prelude to MJF beating up Jon Moxley was Moxley beating up MJF’s lawyer, Mark Sterling, in a match that went on for a while without ever seeming like a real wrestling match, and for some reason held the Main Event slot on this go-home show. I get that Moxley is the top guy, but a match like this makes no sense in the Main Event. Even one of the multi-man tag matches would have fit in the slot better—at least the guys in those matches are pro wrestlers both in and out of character.

Runners Up

And then there’s NXT. They’d never put somebody who can’t wrestle in the Main Event (or even someone like Mark Sterling, who can wrestle but is playing a character who can’t). What NXT is more likely to do is put four of their very best wrestlers in that Main Event, and then give it the entire second hour of the show and end it without a proper winner.

In the Fatal Four-Way Iron Man Match for the NXT Championship, everybody had one fall apiece until the very end, when Finn Bálor and Adam Cole each scored an additional fall and tied. William Regal came out and announced that they’ll have a one-on-one match to one fall next week, and honestly my first thought was relief that at least Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa were knocked out, because as much affection as I have for those guys, I’m still burnt out on long dramatic matches involving them. Then I realized that line of thinking was silly, because why did Gargano and Ciampa have to be in this match either? If you wanted to get to Finn Bálor versus Adam Cole, you could have just done that match this week.

I realize the answer is “Ratings,” but I don’t accept that. Once you’ve gotten me to watch the show, I still reserve the right to expect it not to leave me unsatisfied.

Best Promo: Jon Moxley

This was honestly not a strong week for promos, but you can always count on Jon Moxley to be good at talking. I really enjoyed his casual dismissal of MJF as a threat. I suppose the lesson is supposed to be that Jon was wrong to be so dismissive, since MJF then beat the crap out of him, but I don’t really accept that, for reasons I explained above. Based on all of MJF’s previous behavior, and his likely future behavior now that this one episode is over, Jon was absolutely right.

Runners Up

On NXT, Tegan Nox and Candice LeRae both talked separately about their friendship, which was good character stuff without having the shape of traditional wrestling promos. I do wonder, though, if all this talk of Tegan and Candice being former best friends is making Tegan’s former former best friend, Dakota Kai, jealous.

Back on AEW, Jericho cut another promo on Orange Cassidy. No Jericho promo is ever exactly bad, but we sure have heard a lot of them in this feud.

AEW also did a segment meant to build to Saturday’s Casino Battle Royale, and boy was it a mess. They basically put every heel manager and their guys in the ring at the same time, and then they all stepped on each other’s lines and generally seemed confused about what was going on. Eddie Kingston is one of the best promos working, but you put him in the ring with a bunch of 70-year-olds and there’s only so much he can do.

Best Match: Thunder Rosa vs Serena Deeb

You could have given me a hundred tries last week, and I wouldn’t have guessed that Serena Deeb would be in this week’s best match. For that matter, I probably couldn’t have guessed which show she’d be on either. But she was Thunder Rosa’s opponent on AEW, to get everyone hyped for Rosa’s match with Hikaru Shida at All Out.

You could tell this was a really good women’s match because Jim Ross kept saying things like “Believe it or not this is actually technically a very good wrestling match, folks!” I like Jim Ross. He’s a genuine legend. But honestly? It might be about time to let him retire for a least weekly commentary. Replace him with Veda Scott if you can. Then AEW will start sounding more like the future and less like the past.

Anyway, commentary aside this match was so great that a lot of smart marks on the internet have been saying it was too good—that Rosa should have squashed Deeb to make her look strong going into her fight with the Champ. I don’t really agree with that. I think showing what Thunder Rosa can do is more important than making her look so powerful that there’s barely a match.

Also, cards on the table, I’m holding out hope that AEW might hire Serena Deeb full-time, which would be all the more reason to give her some offense. I’d like to see Deeb stay in AEW, not just as a wrestler, but in a backstage role working with the women’s division. We all know that AEW’s women need some time and attention, and as the only female coach to have had a full-time position at the WWE Performance Center and not work there currently, Serena might be the perfect person for the job.

Runners Up

NXT opened with a really fun six-man street fight, with Breezango and Isaiah “Swerve” Scott taking on Legado Del Fantasma. It’s weird seeing that sort of match open a weekly TV show, but these guys gave it there all, and Tyler Breeze wielding a fire extinguisher is an image that will stay with me.

There were several matches this week that felt like they could have been great if they had more time. Bronson Reed versus Timothy Thatcher was one of those, although it became all about Reed’s feud with Austin Theory. The match that opened Dynamite, between Best Friends and Proud & Powerful, had a similar vibe.

And then there was that Four-Way Iron Man Match on NXT, which I really wanted to like. There were some great spots in it, but that ending was a problem. Plus, honestly, somebody needs to explain to NXT and AEW that match length is not the ticket to quality.

That’s all for this week. I’ll have a review of AEW All Out on Monday, and then be back next Thursday to talk about Tuesday and Wednesday one more time.

This bonus episode of the Frotcast is now live on Patreon. To hear it, sign up on Patreon at Patreon.com/Frotcast. I promise, you won’t regret it! Or maybe you will. Hell, I don’t know. Honestly, who can say these days.

Greetings, Frotcast faithful. Sick-skel and G-Bert (aka Vince Mancini and Matt Lieb) return this week to discuss the latest Bill & Ted movie, Bill & Ted Face The Music. To this reviewer’s mind, the best thing about the original Bill & Ted was the implication (tongue-in-cheek, I believe) that a shopping mall in San Dimas, California was the culmination of human achievement up until that point. In Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, all the great men and women of history travel through time to marvel at various aspects of the San Dimas mall circa 1989. That’s a funny idea!

Meanwhile, the most interesting thing about a Bill & Ted installment in 2020 is the realization that virtually all of the cultural touchstones of the original — Val-speak, glam metal, two-hand tapping guitar licks, the suburbs of LA as a center for culture, shopping malls — have since turned out to be, to varying degrees, dead ends. Bill & Ted are almost a perfect anachronism. Rather than take on any of that, Bill & Ted Face The Music basically says “hey, what if 50-year-old Bill and Ted were exactly like teenage Bill and Ted? And also they had teenage daughters who were exactly (inexplicably) like 1989 Bill and Ted? And one of them wore a rashguard that looks like a Crown Royal sack?”

That… seems like a missed opportunity? Which is why part of me hates it. And yet it turns out to be a reasonably tolerable movie. Why? We answer that question and more, including our favorite Chadwick Boseman movies, on this week’s Frotcast. You’ll definitely want to check this one out, and as always, we bid you a most heartfelt “no refunds.”

EMAIL us at [email protected], leave us a voicemail at 415-275-0030.

SUBSCRIBE to the Frotcast on iTunes.

SUPPORT at Patreon.com/Frotcast. You can add the bonus feed to regular podcast app!

The “Ice Bucket Challenge” took over the internet in 2014 and 2015. The viral stunt involved a bucket of ice-cold water being dumped over someone’s head to promote awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Everyone took part, including the Game of Thrones cast, Rihanna, and Kermit the Frog; even President Obama got involved, although he declined the challenge and instead donated to charity. It’s easy to look back at that simpler time and 1) wish you had a time machine to warn everyone about 2020, and 2) wonder why the Ice Bucket Challenge was so popular, but it raised a ton of money for research, and may have helped fund a breakthrough.

NBC News reports that an “experimental medication may slow the progression of [ALS], researchers reported Wednesday. The research was supported in part by donations from the Ice Bucket Challenge, the social media sensation that raised more than $200 million worldwide.” The medication isn’t a cure for the neurological disorder, but “it may help slow the inexorable disability caused by ALS, which rapidly destroys the nerve cells that control the muscles that allow us to move, speak, eat, and even breathe.”

“The Ice Bucket Challenge was an important turning point in the fight against ALS,” Dr. Sabrina Paganoni, a neuromuscular specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS, said. “It put ALS on the map and raised awareness of the disease and attracted more investigators and investment to the research.”

For that, we have R2-D2 and Katy Perry on a pirate ship to thank. The researchers and scientists working countless hours to find a cure for a devastating disease, too. But mostly R2-D2.

(Via NBC News)

In a video by Now This, Father James Martin explains how people who claim to be pro-life are actually only supporting one type of life, the unborn child, while so many others also need help.

Father Martin is an American Jesuit priest, writer, and editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America. He was appointed as a consultant to the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communications by Pope Francis in 2017.

“Some people believe that being pro-life means being someone who reverences the unborn child in the womb, and that’s true, and I do. But to be truly pro-life means to reverence all human life,” he says in the video.

---

Father Martin then discusses all of the lives that pro-life people should value as well: The “Black man or woman fearing for their lives,” “the refugee or migrant who are desperate to save the lives of their children,” “the LGBT teen who is tempted to take their life because of bullying, harassment or violence.”

The priest also explains that some people who’ve been cast away by society such as the homeless and death row inmates are lives worthy of saving as well.

“All these lives are precious, scared, and holy,” the Father continues. “And all these issues — racism, refugees, homelessness, LGBT issues, the death penalty — are also life and death issues.”

If you’ve been one of the brave folks who took a long road trip or (gasp!) a plane flight this summer, you probably reacquainted yourself with the strange phenomenon known as the return-trip effect.

It’s the feeling that the trip coming home was shorter than the outbound journey, although they actually took the same amount of time.

This feeling is so universal that it was even felt by Alan Bean in 1969 when he went to the moon as the lunar modular pilot on Apollo 12. “Returning from the moon seemed much shorter,” Bean said.

---

The common reason given for the return-trip effect is that the journey home is less novel because we’ve already seen the remarkable sights on the way to the destination. Niels van de Ven, a psychologist at Tilburg University in the Netherlands believed the recognition of landmarks, “might help to increase the feeling of speed, of how fast you travel.”

So van de Ven and his team set out to test that theory. One experiment they did was conducted on people riding bikes to a fair. He asked each person to ride the same way to the fair and then split up the bikers for the return trip.

The researchers asked one group to take the same route back that they took to the fair, and another to take a different route of the same distance.

If the familiarity explanation for the return-trip effect was correct, then the group that took a different route home would report that it felt like it took the same amount time as the journey to the fair.

But both groups reported that the journey home felt faster. So the researchers settled on a new hypothesis: the feeling of length is related to our expectations.

“Often we see that people are too optimistic when they start to travel,” van de Ven said according to NPR. So when people begin their outbound trip it feels like it takes longer because of the excitement.

On the return home, the optimism is replaced by the pessimism that accompanies taking a long journey. “So you start the return journey, and you think, ‘Wow, this is going to take a long time.'”

“It’s really all about your expectations — what you think coming in,” Michael Roy, a psychologist at Elizabethtown College and a co-author of the study, told NPR.

Psychologist Richard Block believes that it’s all about focus and situation.

“When you have a destination you want to be there on time,” Block said. “But when you go back home (return trip) it does not matter that much. Thus, when you are going there, your attention is more focused on the target and not distracted.” In this case, being distracted makes the trip seem shorter.

In the report, the authors pin the phenomenon down to our personal expectations.

“Instead, the return trip effect is likely due to a violation of expectations,” the report reads. “Participants felt that the initial trip took longer than they had expected. In response, they likely lengthened their expectations for the return trip. In comparison with this longer expected duration, the return trip felt short.”

The study just goes to show how our attitudes can affect our very perception of reality, in this case, time. So the next question the researchers people should tackle is: does time fly when we’re having fun? From this research, it seems the opposite may be true.

Whiskey doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, we’d argue that some of the best whiskey out there is actually very affordable. The best cheap whiskey on the shelf generally hits in the $15 to $30 range and, more often than not, is full of great flavors. This is especially true of the best cheap bourbons since they don’t have to travel overseas to get to your home bar.

So, what makes a good cheap whiskey? That’s simple. Does it taste good to you? Then that’s enough. Look, you spend $100 on a bottle of whiskey. No one’s stopping you from doing that. But, for that same $100 bill, you can buy five, maybe even six bottles of perfectly passable every-day-drinking whiskeys. We’ll let you do the math on that.

To find out what the masses think are the best cheap whiskeys on the shelf today, we went over to Ranker to see what the people had to say. A clear top ten emerged that represents a solid list of whiskeys. Are these the best whiskeys overall? No. Maybe. Kind of. There are certainly some tasty crowd-pleasers on this list and that’s enough.

10. Four Roses

ABV: 40%
Distillery: Four Roses Distillery Lawrenceburg, KY (Kirin Brewing)
Average Price: $20

The Whiskey:

We’re big fans of Four Roses around here. Their standard bourbon is a blend of the distillery’s ten unique mash bills (one high rye, one low rye, and each with five unique yeast strains used). The sip carries the essence of the distillery in the bottle.

Tasting Notes:

We luckily just got to taste this one live. Check it out here. This is a light and fruity bourbon up top. That sweet fruit carries through with hints of classic bourbon vanilla and a touch of oak. Overall, it’s light and accessible in all the best ways.

Bottom Line:

This is a solid cocktail mixer.

9. Jim Beam

ABV: 40%
Distillery: Jim Beam Distillery, Clermont, KY (Beam Suntory)
Average Price: $18

The Whiskey:

Jim Beam is the classic (and ubiquitous) dram all standard bourbons are measured against. The juice is a classic mix of corn, rye, and malted barley that’s aged for four years before blending, cutting down to proof, and bottling.

Tasting Notes:

Caramel, corn, vanilla, and fruit lead the way. The bourbon is classic for a reason after all. The sip is touched by an echo of oak as the vanilla and caramel take center stage. There’s a mild spice with a fairground caramel corn sweetness on the short end.

Bottom Line:

Mix it, shoot it, drink it on the rocks.

8. Jack Daniel’s

ABV: 40%
Distillery: Jack Daniel’s Distillery, Lynchburg, TN (Brown-Forman)
Average Price: $25

The Whiskey:

Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey is another stone-cold classic. Frank Sinatra was buried with the stuff because he loved it so much. Rock stars have been swigging from bottles of Jack since there were rock stars. The Tennessee whiskey has an extra layer of refinement thanks to the Lincoln County Process of sugar maple charcoal filtration, making it a bit more refined than a standard Kentucky bourbon.

Tasting Notes:

Banana and oak greet you. Vanilla arrives next with a hint of dark spice and little tart apple. The banana is ever-present as the oak, spice, and vanilla fades away semi-slowly.

Bottom Line:

This is Jack Daniel’s, no one can tell you how to drink your JD.

7. Crown Royal

ABV: 40%
Distillery: Crown Royal Distillery, Gimli, MB (Diageo)
Average Price: $28

The Whiskey:

This iconic Canadian whisky is a powerhouse. The juice is a blend of 50 different whiskies with varying grain mash bills, aging times, and even oak it’s aged in. The result is a focused look at what Canadian whisky can be when blended just right.

Tasting Notes:

Maple syrup, oak, and vanilla mingle upfront. The syrup leans into grape pancake syrup territory as mild hints of powdery spices ping throughout the taste. The end is short, full of oak and fruit, and satisfying.

Bottom Line:

This works well as a highball or as a cocktail base.

6. Knob Creek

ABV: 50%
Distillery: Jim Beam Distillery, Clermont, KY (Beam Suntory)
Average Price: $35

The Whiskey:

Jim Beam spread its wings a bit back in the early 1990s with their Small Batch Collection. This — along with Basil Hayden, Booker’s, and Baker’s — helped reinvigorate the brand. The juice in the bottle is small-batched from barrels that average nine-years in age.

Tasting Notes:

Classic bourbon vanilla is present alongside hints of worn leather, buttermilk biscuit dripping with honey, and a sprinkling of orange zest. The peppery spice is a nice accent for the caramel corn bourbon-y aspect with a bit of tart apple crispness. The oak and spice linger the longest as the sip fades away while warming you up.

Bottom Line:

This is perfectly suited for a highball or over the rocks. But don’t sleep on using it in a Manhattan either.

5. Jameson

ABV: 40%
Distillery: New Midleton Distillery, County Cork
Average Price: $30

The Whiskey:

You kind of can’t go wrong with a bottle of Jameson on the shelf. The Irish tipple is a blend of pot still and grain whiskeys that are aged in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks for varying amounts of time. The final result is a workhorse whiskey that works in any application.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a grassiness that leads toward a honey sweetness and apple tartness. Expect a hint of nuttiness next to the grass as citrus notes kick in next to a dusting of cinnamon. The oak, spice, fruit, and grassiness fade away fairly quickly, leaving you wanting another sip.

Bottom Line:

Jameson and ginger with a lime twist is a classic. But, this one also works fine in a highball or on the rocks in a pinch.

4. Wild Turkey

ABV: 40.5%
Distillery: Wild Turkey Distillery, Lawrenceburg, KY (Campari)
Average Price: $20

The Whiskey:

This bourbon is made for the mixing crowd. The mash has a fair amount of rye in there, adding texture and depth. The juice is aged for around six to eight years before blending and being brought down to the unique 81 proof.

Tasting Notes:

Stone fruit, popped corn, and vanilla open this one up. There’s a mix of Christmas spices next to apple pie with a nice, buttery crust. The sharp spices and mild oak carry the sip to a velvety end with more of the sweet corn and fruit lasting until the last moment.

Bottom Line:

Use this in your next old fashioned, Sazerac, or boulevardier.

3. Evan Williams

ABV: 43%
Distillery: Heaven Hill Distillery, Louisville, KY
Average Price: $15

The Whiskey:

This label has gained massive popularity since it became the go-to rail bourbon at many a bar around the nation. The classic juice is aged between four and seven years before it’s blended, cut to proof, and then bottled.

Tasting Notes:

It’s kind of like walking through a fairground and smelling the kettle corn popping and the caramel apples drying in the sun. The tartness of the apples mingles with the sweetness of the caramel with hints of vanilla, oak, and spice peeking in. The warm end fades quickly with a slight sweetness lingering.

Bottom Line:

It’s the perfect beer back shot or mixer with cola, ginger, or whatever you dig.

2. Buffalo Trace

ABV: 45%
Distillery: Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, KY (Sazerac)
Average Price: $30

The Whiskey:

Buffalo Trace is an award-winning bourbon from one of the biggest distilleries in Kentucky right now. This bottle was crafted to be an example of the great work Buffalo Trace does with its premier brands. The low-rye mash bill leans into the softness of the Kentucky limestone water the region is famous for.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a crafted feel to this sip as vanilla and molasses dance up top with a hint of fresh mint. Rich and buttery toffee mingles with hints of mild spice, dark berries, and plenty of oak. The sip’s softness takes hold as the oak, fruit, and spice fade, leaving you with a warming sense of comfort.

Bottom Line:

Use it however you see fit.

1. Maker’s Mark

ABV: 45%
Distillery: Maker’s Mark Distillery, Loretto, KY (Beam Suntory)
Average Price: $30

The Whiskey:

This is another classic Kentucky bourbon that leans into the world of wheated bourbons. The mash bill chucks the usual rye and replaces it with red winter wheat. The juice is then aged for six to seven years and then blended, cut down to proof, and then bottled before the famous red wax seal is applied.

Tasting Notes:

Crème brûlée cut with pods of vanilla beans rings loudest with a sense of dark spices drawing you in. There’s a crusty bread flourish that counterpoints the rich and velvety vanilla pudding edge. The sip lingers with a mild spice, a bit of oak, and a wisp of fresh mint as it slowly fades away.

Bottom Line:

This is the perfect cocktail base that works on the rocks or in a highball just as well.

Wednesday night’s NBA action saw a pair of wild finishes with some controversial officiating mixed in. Game 7 of the Rockets-Thunder series left Chris Paul upset with Scott Foster’s officiating — most notably a delay of game he was assessed — but the first game featured the most debate about calls on the floor that determined the outcome.

The last minute of the Bucks-Heat Game 2 was wild, with questionable calls and no-calls that culminated in Jimmy Butler hitting a game-winning free throw with 0.0 on the clock. The final four possessions saw Butler get trapped in the corner with no foul called for contact, turning and throwing the ball back to his own basket (with his foot hitting out of bounds before he let go of the ball), which led to a Brook Lopez layup to cut the lead to two.

After splitting free throws, the Bucks got the ball to Khris Middleton who got three free throws of his own on a foul called on Goran Dragic, which was a very close call that Doris Burke disagreed vehemently with on the broadcast. Middleton hit all three free throws to tie it, but Butler earned his last two free throws on a similarly questionable foul on Giannis Antetokounmpo who touched him on the side after the ball was released but before Butler landed.

The calls left a bad taste in the mouths of many, including players watching from home or their hotel room, but on Thursday, the league confirmed those two plays were called correctly — and three mistakes were made on the Butler trap play that preceded them.

The gripe, I think, for most was the soft nature of both fouls given the situation, as both were minor contact that sometimes is let go. Still, that the Butler trap play had three errors — a foul, George Hill touching the ball while out of bounds, and then Butler stepping out of bounds — it all should have been negated. If there is good news to all of this, there wasn’t one call that was wrong and another right that effected the outcome, because the only missed calls would’ve led to a likely Heat win anyways.