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Stephen Gostkowski entered Monday night as the fifth most accurate kicker in NFL history — although, despite what Steve Levy said on the broadcast, he’s almost assuredly not a Hall of Famer. By the end of the night, he had seen his make percentage take a hit as the former Patriot missed three field goals (one right, one left, and one blocked) and an extra point in his debut for the Tennessee Titans in Denver, becoming the first kicker to do so in his debut with a new NFL team since 1968.

It was a dreadful night for Gostkowski and it looked like his kicking woes might end up costing Tennessee an opening night win after the Broncos took a 14-13 lead in the fourth quarter on a Melvin Gordon touchdown, and a successful PAT of their own. However, as the football gods would have it, some bizarre clock management down the stretch by both teams put the game’s fate on the right foot of Gostkowski in the final minute of play.

The Titans drove down the field methodically, milking the clock for all it was worth with quick passes and handoffs to Derrick Henry. By the time they got inside the 10, they tossed a fade that just missed on third-and-1, leaving 20 seconds on the clock for Gostkowski to seal the deal one way or the other. Naturally, in the midst of his worst night as a professional, Gostkowski powered through the chip shot and handed Tennessee an opening night win.

It was a cool redemption story, but the Titans certainly have some decisions to make going forward with a kicking situation that is apparently just as shaky as it was a year ago when they were a disaster in that area as well. For the Broncos, it was a mind-numbing clock management decision from Vic Fangio, who ended the game with two timeouts in his pocket and a Hail Mary attempt that never crossed the 40. Even icing Gostkowski, who to that point was clearly in his head, would’ve made sense. Instead, Denver starts another season with a loss as Fangio’s tenure has not produced the best fourth quarter performances — or offensive effort.

For the third time in as many years, ESPN entered the NFL season with a new crew in the Monday Night Football booth, and, hopefully, that streak ends this year.

Steve Levy, Louis Riddick, and Brian Griese weren’t necessarily ESPN’s first choices, as the Worldwide Leader reportedly chased big names again, most notably their white whale, Peyton Manning, and a reported offer to NBC to send Al Michaels back to Monday nights. However, while they had to shift to Plan B it has likely created the best product they’ve had in a long time, as the group was sharp, informative, and insightful in their first game together — the bright spot in a game that was otherwise a slog between the Titans and Broncos.

It wasn’t a major surprise that this was a solid broadcast, as Levy is the consummate professional, calling everything from college football to the XFL for ESPN in recent years. Griese has always been sharp in the booth on college football games, while Riddick emerged as a star on ESPN’s studio shows. However, the question was how they’d mesh as a group, given that’s been an issue in the post-Gruden era for the Monday Night Football booth. We got an emphatic answer on Monday night, as they were smooth, didn’t step over each other, and provided terrific insight into the game.

What made them so good is the interplay between Riddick and Griese, two brilliant football minds who were quick to point out things they saw on the field and explain why that led to what happened on that play. It was incredibly refreshing to hear that level of football conversation on a broadcast, as they managed to thread the needle of getting into coverages, alignments, schemes, and play design without it feeling like they were either talking down to the viewer or speaking at too high of a level for a more casual fan to understand.

It’s the hardest thing to do on a broadcast, point out what you see and explain it in a concise and efficient manner to allow you to get to the next play, but they did it expertly. Griese’s booth experience was clear as he often took hold of the telestrator immediately after plays to break down plays quickly, and Riddick’s insight was sharp and on time when it was his turn to dissect a play. They seemed to thrive off of being able to hold a conversation about these things with one another, bouncing off the other and letting it facilitate better, more thorough analysis than what is often possible in a two-man booth.

For Levy’s part, he was exactly what those two needed. As he told me during the XFL season when they were experimenting with more on-field sound on the broadcast, his job was simple: call the action and get out of the way as the coaches, players, and his partner Greg McElroy broke things down. On Monday, that ethos paid dividends as he didn’t try to interject himself too much in the conversation between Riddick and Griese, letting the experts explain the action, teeing them up on talking points, and kept the broadcast moving.

There were hiccups at times, as happens, with some confusion about things happening on the field, but for the most part it was a great opening broadcast, certainly as good as ESPN could’ve hoped for and was refreshing to see as a viewer. As the season wears on, it only figures to get better, and hopefully this is the last booth shake up we see for some time because this group has the goods.

We’re less than two months away from what may be the most important election not only in American history but possibly in world history, in species history. And one of the far too many issues piling onto our already sky high anxiety is this: The current head of the United States Postal Service appears to be cool with it not working during an election that may be largely done by mail. While public servants have yet to fix it, celebrities have stepped up to the plate. First, John Ratzenberger, aka Cheers’ noble mailman Cliff Clavin, came up with an idea. Now so have Larry David and Jon Hamm.

Actually, it was really Hamm’s idea, which David attempted to make worse. Earlier this year, the Mad Men star appeared on an episode of the most recent season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. The two made a perhaps unexpectedly dynamic duo, so they tried it again for Sunday’s viral voting outing, “#VOMO: Vote or Miss Out.”

Hamm’s pitch to try and save the election? A stamp with his face on it. “I did the math and if half of all Americans buy one sheet of stamps we could raise like a billion and a half dollars, save the U.S. Postal Service and everybody could vote safely,” Hamm told David over a Skype session. “You gotta figure a lotta ladies want to lick this face. Maybe some guys, too, I dunno!”

Instead of simply egging Hamm on, David tried to join in. He volunteered to do his own set of stamps bearing his own likeness. But Hamm questioned the efficacy of this idea. “I don’t think that’s a lickable face,” Hamm told David.

David disagreed. He figured his target audience was “Jewish women over 60.” So Hamm summoned one up: Susie Essman, aka Curb’s Susie Green, “Larry”’s sometime nemesis and constant vocal critic.

“Nobody wants to lick your face,” Essman told. “I wouldn’t lick your face if it was covered in chocolate ice cream!” Things then devolved further into Curb territory, a noble idea turning into a session about licking Larry David’s face. But hey, given the severity of this year’s election, whatever works!

When I read the description of Good Joe Bell, which is playing this week at the Toronto International Film Festival, I found myself feeling that little twinge of dread in the back of my head. Based on a true story, the idea of Mark Wahlberg (who I do like as an actor) playing the role of a man who lost his son to suicide, then decides to walk across the country to bring awareness to gay rights and bullying, as something that could, let’s say, go amiss. At least, my concern was this could wind up being a movie that would be filled with rousing speeches and scenes ready-made to be submitted to the Academy Awards nominating committee. What’s remarkable about Good Joe Bell is Wahlberg plays the role in such a nuanced way, by the end of the movie you want that rousing speech. But it never comes.

Over the last five years, the only non-comedy Mark Wahlberg has starred in that wasn’t directed by Peter Berg is 2017’s All the Money in the World. Since 2013, Wahblerg and Berg have teamed up for four films, which started with the blockbuster Lone Survivor, then each after saw diminishing returns in box office and quality. (Though, I still think Wahlberg was terrific in Deepwater Horizon. Look, I get it, they like working together. But it was well past due for Wahlberg to try something different where he’s not just on cruise control. And Wahlberg finds that with Reinaldo Marcus Green’s Good Joe Bell (Wahlberg is also a producer).

Wahlberg plays the title character, as we meet he and his son, Jadin (Reid Miller), walking along the highway in some sort desperate attempt to raise awareness against bullying. I say “desperate” because Joe seems desperate. Even the conversations he has with his son early on in the film are just conversations with himself. Joe’s not delusional – when asked about his son he fully admits his son is dead – but, again, he’s desperate. He doesn’t even seem to know what this walk across the country is even supposed to accomplish, or if he’s doing the right thing being away from his wife and younger son, but he has to do something. People who know the real-life story know this story ends in heartbreak, so it’s not a movie that follows the beats a viewer might be expecting. The movie feels unstructured, but in a way that represents what Joe is going through.

This might be the most understated performance of Wahlberg’s career. I kept waiting for the moment when he’d unleash on someone … the big grandiose speech. Maybe it would be the two men in the diner who make the homophobic slur at something they see on the diner’s television. Maybe it would be the bullies who taunted Jadin to the point he’d take his own life. Maybe it would be himself, for not grasping what his son was going through. But it never comes. Joe just keeps walking – and talking about what happened to his son to anyone who will listen. It’s all the more heartbreaking because the movie (and real-life) doesn’t let Joe have peace. There’s no big moment. It all feels so futile and sad. It’s just a dad who misses his son and nothing he can do will bring him back. This is certainly not a satisfying movie, but it’s not supposed to be.

It’s also not lost on me that Wahlberg is a devout Catholic and, it seems, a fairly conservative guy. At least as much that he’s denounced his own role in what still might be his best film, Boogie Nights. So it is, if nothing else, pretty interesting to see him in a roll where not only is he advocating for gay rights, but he’s putting churches on blast for both being judgmental of the LGBTQ community and the Catholic church specifically for years and years of abuse against young children. On the surface, it just doesn’t seem like a role Wahlberg would even consider. Not that he condones any of this, but my experience with devout Catholics (I come from a Catholic family) is they just don’t like talking about any of this. So I am curious how Wahlberg wound up producing this film and playing this role. Maybe it was an easy decision? Maybe it required some soul searching. But he’s never done anything quite like it. (Though, in Deepwater Horizon, there’s a pretty magnificent scene near the end where Wahlberg just looks emotionally spent and it’s some of the best acting he’s done to that point.) And this is a side of Wahlberg I really like. I hope he explores this side of his persona more and more as he goes on. Good Joe Bell is a huge surprise.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

There’s been a lot of big news lately, but arguably as big as this: On Saturday, Chris Evans seemed to accidentally share a picture of his schlong. Granted, it could have been anyone’s, although most people leaped to the assumption that what they were gendering at was indeed (Captain) America’s penis. While Evans has laid low since the inciting incident, on Monday he finally broke his silence with a pretty great — and pretty useful — Twitter post.

“Now that I have your attention,” Evans posted, followed by two embarrassed emoticons. He then relayed his main message: “VOTE Nov 3rd!!!”

Mind you, technically Evans neither confirmed nor denied the veracity of aforementioned trouser snake. He could very well have simply been caught with pictures of the wang of another. Maybe he’d been watching some pornographic motion picture spectacular, and he’d just happened to pause on an erect monster hog.

In any case, it’s good to see Evans — who’s received tongue-in-cheek comfort from MCU colleague Mark Ruffalo and his very own brother — putting the fracas to good use. What better way to get ahead of a nude picture scandal then by changing the subject to the election that very well may dictate the future of all of our lives? We salute you, and that.

Anyone who expected that Carole Baskin’s maiden episode of Dancing with the Stars would be free of any Tiger King-esque drama were left sorely disappointed. During one of the commercial breaks, an ad played starring the family of Don Lewis, Baskin’s missing former husband. It’s been claimed, notably by Baskin’s arch-nemesis Joe Exotic, that Baskin herself played a hand in his disappearance. And while the ad didn’t explicitly accuse her of foul play, its appearance was certainly meant to be a boss move.

The ad was first reported hours before it aired Monday night, with TMZ breaking the news. Sure enough, in between some huffing by Baskin and others, the commercial played, featuring three of his daughters pleading with the nation, hoping that someone, anyone would come forward with information about their father’s appearance. They were joined by Anne McQueen, Lewis’ former assistant, and the family lawyer, John M. Phillips.

“Don Lewis mysteriously disappeared in 1997. His family deserves answers. They deserve justice,” Phillips told the nation. He added, drawing the line at an outright accusation, “Do you know who did this or if Carole Baskin is involved?” They then mentioned a $100,000 reward and a tip line.

At the time of his disappearance in late August of 1997, Lewis left behind over $5 million in assets. One of the episodes of Tiger King, the Netflix documentary series that took the nation by storm in the early days of the American wing of the pandemic, delves into his vanishing, and features Joe Exotic, aka Joseph Allen Schreibvogel, alleging, without hard evidence, Baskin’s involvement. Baskin has denied the accusations.

(Via TMZ)

Longsuffering Kanye West fans who have patiently awaited the arrival of a followup to 2019’s Jesus Is King just got some bad news: The mercurial producer just said he refuses to release any new music until he’s “done” with his current record contracts. As usual, he made this ominous pronouncement via his new favorite form of communication: His often bewildering Twitter page.

“I’m not putting no more music out till I’m done with my contract with Sony and Universal,” he wrote. Just in case anyone thought he wasn’t being completely serious, he added, “On God … in Jesus name … come and get me.” Kanye has been locked in a contract dispute for some time, alleging his current deal with EMI (under the Universal Music Group) won’t allow him to retire in 2019. In 2020, the two parties apparently reached a settlement, but it seems he still has a bone or two to pick.

Of course, that was only the beginning of his rant, as he was just getting warmed up for the main event: Taking shots at two of his erstwhile proteges, Drake and J. Cole. While he’s been engaged in a passive-aggressive tet-a-tet with the “Laugh Now Cry Later” rapper from Canada, he never did get around to responding to J. Cole, whose fan-favorite single “False Prophets” is widely believed to be a criticism of Kanye’s hard left turn into radical conservatism.

“I need a publicly apology from J Cole and Drake to start with immediately,” he wrote. In his defense, he called himself “Nat Turner,” evoking the leader of an 1831 slave revolt which killed at least 50 white slaveowners before being put down a few days later. “I’m fighting for us,” he insisted, despite every appearance from the last several years to the contrary. Kanye is currently running for President backed by Trump-supporting Republicans using false names on petitions for several states’ ballots. While he and Trump maintain that this isn’t being done to siphon votes from Joe Biden in the 2020 Presidential election, very few people believe them.

Check out Kanye’s latest rant above.

Over the summer, actor Ray Fisher made public allegations involving abuse he said he experienced while shooting the DCEU ensemble film Justice League. Fisher played Cyborg, and though you’ll be seeing far more of his work in the looming “Snyder Cut,” it was during the extensive reshoots, handled by replacement director Joss Whedon, that some stuff allegedly went down. Since then, Fisher has had some beef with DCEU parent company Warner Bros., but now another League-r has his back: resident Aquaman Jason Momoa.

In a post on Instagram, Momoa claimed Fisher wasn’t the only one who was pushed around on the reshoots. “THIS SHIT HAS TO STOP AND NEEDS TO BE LOOKED AT @ray8fisher AND EVERYONE ELSE WHO EXPERIENCED WHAT HAPPEN UNDER THE WATCH OF @wbpictures NEEDS PROPER INVESTIGATION,” Momoa wrote. He continued:

I just think it’s fucked up that people released a fake Frosty announcement without my permission to try to distract from Ray Fisher speaking up about the shitty way we were treated on Justice League reshoots. Serious stuff went down. It needs to be investigated and people need to be held accountable.

Fisher hasn’t been able to make specific allegations widely known yet, and it appears Momoa is following suit. Earlier in September, Warner Bros. seemed to step up their fight with Fisher, causing him to push back in kind, calling what he saw as their “desperate and scattershot attempt to discredit me.” But now, at least, he’s not alone.

(Via IndieWire)

After back-to-back wins in Games 3 and 4, the L.A. Clippers assumed total control in a best-of-seven clash against the Denver Nuggets. From there, Doc Rivers’ team led by 15 points in the second half of Game 5, only to see the Nuggets rise up to stay alive. Finally, the Clippers led by a whopping 19 points after halftime in Game 6 before succumbing yet again to a Denver team that clicked at just the right time.

In the hours after a second straight collapse, much has been said about the Clippers and their second-half issues but, on the day before Game 7, Rivers spoke to the media on Monday and downplayed any thought of an overarching issue. Rivers said, “there’s no secret like potion that something happened,” before shedding light on some defensive issues. From there, the championship-winning head coach focused on foul issues on the perimeter and, particularly, with Paul George.

“PG can’t get in foul trouble,” Rivers said, via ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. “I think he’s been in foul trouble at least two, maybe three of the games, and at times he’s not even guarding one of your key guys. We’ve just got to keep him on the floor.”

George managed to play 42 minutes in Game 5 and 39 minutes in Game 6, indicating that foul trouble didn’t keep him off the floor for large swaths of time. Still, George has had at least four fouls in three straight games and, if nothing else, it is difficult for a star-level player to fight defensively at the highest level when also worried about foul issues.

Rivers did continue, though, and he expanded beyond George.

“The foul trouble by our guards, they have been very hurtful in this series, and not just the last two games. We’ve got to keep our guards on the floor, because if we don’t, we’ve got to go to lineups defensively that are not desirable.”

Perhaps more so than George, Patrick Beverley is a player to focus on with regard to foul issues. He fouled out in only 18 minutes of court time in Game 6 and, prior to that, Beverley accumulated eight fouls in 50 combined minutes between Games 4 and 5. For good measure, the always high-strung Beverley was ejected after only 15 minutes of play in a Game 2 loss, and he had five personal fouls when he was disqualified.

All told, Rivers is right to point out that there isn’t a magic potion to fix things, nor a solitary issue for the Clippers. Yes, it would be great to keep Beverley on the court, as he is one of the better options against Jamal Murray. It would also be ideal to have George free to play aggressive defense, and there are countless factors in play.

Lineups without George and/or Beverley are defensively flammable, and that should certainly be acknowledged when contributing to back-to-back hiccups against the Nuggets. Still, the Clippers simply must be better defensively on the whole, with L.A. allowing an almost inconceivable 139.4 offensive rating for the Nuggets in the second half of the last two games. That is an unacceptable baseline, regardless of which players are on the floor and how many fouls they are carrying.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on America’s health and economy. There’s no way to take the loss of over 180,000 people and 20 million jobs and spin it into a positive.

However, if there are any lessons we can take from past tragedies, it’s the importance of finding some rays of hope to illuminate our way through the darkness.

Earlier in the spring, there was a significant drop in pollution, giving us a glimpse into what a cleaner world might look like. For many, the lockdown was an opportunity to spend more time with their immediate families and pay more attention to what really matters.

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A lot of people saved money during quarantine by avoiding huge bar tabs and expensive vacations.

Let’s face it, the quarantine was also a great excuse to avoid seeing the family members and acquaintances we normally dread.

All in all, a new poll finds that two-thirds of Americans say quarantine actually made them a better person.

The poll of 2,000 Americans over age 21 looked at the positive changes we’ve made and lessons learned from the past few months. It found that lockdown helped a majority of people re-prioritize their lives for the better.

The poll was conducted by Coravin and OnePoll.

Some respondents say that the quarantine gave them the time and flexibility to engage in new hobbies. Thirty-five percent of respondents say they hope to continue these hobbies after quarantine is over.,

The change in professional behaviors over the past few months inspired 27% of Americans to pursue a better work-life balance coming out of quarantine.

Being apart from those we are close to also gave people a new appreciation for their friends and families. Going forward, 46% want to spend more quality time with loved ones, and 38% plan to create more meaningful relationships.

“Quarantine has given us unprecedented time to explore and try new things both personally and with our loved ones,” Coravin CEO Chris Ladd said. “It’s forced us to be creative in how we remain connected when we are physically distant. And it’s created an environment where virtual events like wine tastings have flourished, introducing a broader audience to experiences they might not have had in person. We expect these new approaches to last well after ‘normal’ returns.”

Being stuck in lockdown for months on end made many of us long for life’s simple pleasures that we previously took for granted.

Here’s a list of the top things people no longer take for granted according to the survey.

Spending quality time in person with family or friends 52.28%

Hugs 41.23%

Traveling to new destinations 32.53%

A relaxing walk in the park 31.99%

Shopping in a store 31.73%

A date night at a restaurant 31.39%

Extended family gatherings 30.86%

Attending events in person 28.92%

Stopping for a cup of coffee on my way to work 25.90%

Meeting new people 25.70%

Weekly coffee dates with friends 24.36

Post-work happy hour 23.69%

Chatting with co-workers during lunch 23.56%

Having a quiet weekend at home be out of the ordinary 22.96%

An afternoon at the beach 22.36%

Sending my children off to school in the morning 21.49%

Attending sporting events 21.22%

Wandering through a bookstore 20.68%

Watching my kids’ sporting events 18.14%

Hitting the gym 17.54%

Dropping my kids off at playdates 16.06%

Unfortunately, it appears as though the United States will be on lockdown for the foreseeable future. But that gives us the opportunity to work on self-improvement and foster an attitude of gratitude and appreciation.

A great way to get started on self-improvement during lockdown is to make a list of the hobbies we’d like to get into or skills we’d like to learn. A list can also be helpful to remember the things that we’ve missed during lockdown so we can enjoy life when it lifts.