Daily Dose
Daily Dose: 10/13/16
Russell Westbrook thinks the ‘selfless’ Warriors are ‘cute’
1:00 PMIn my 23 years of life, I’ve never seen a professional Washington, D.C., sports team advance to the final four of anything. Thursday night, the Washington Nationals will face the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. If they win, they’ll be one of four teams left chasing the World Series. Hope they don’t blow it.
Accusations of sexual assault have been made against Donald Trump. The jarring comments about women Trump made during a 2005 conversation with Billy Bush, and his recent defense of those comments as “locker room talk,” have given a few women the courage to speak out against Trump, based on past experiences they say they had with the Republican presidential nominee. A People magazine reporter alleges she was physically attacked by Trump, also in 2005, while two other women have claimed he inappropriately touched them. ABC News’ David Caplan and Meaghan Keneally report.
Can Donald Trump still win, though? It’s been quite the week for him, and quite the campaign, if we’re being honest. It seems like every day some of his dirty laundry gets aired, which makes some think, “Should this guy really lead our country?” But obviously Trump still has a plethora of supporters, though he remains down in the polls. According to FiveThirtyEight, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is leading by about 7 percentage points in the polls. Is there precedent for a comeback? Harry Enten has the answer.
A cop’s decision to pull out a gun has always terrified and fascinated me. My dad is a retired cop, and based on the relations police have had this past year with African-Americans, I asked him in July what’s the proper way — by the textbook, at least — to handle a high-pressure situation. He provided some interesting insight, unlike anything we’ve heard from the officers who’ve taken the lives of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and others. As we learned, there’s no single answer to the question, “When should cops go for their guns?” VICE‘s Robin Washington provides his take.
We’re definitely here for this Russell Westbrook-Kevin Durant beef. Remember when Durant left the Oklahoma City Thunder last summer in free agency and decided to join the Golden State Warriors — the same the team that knocked the Thunder out of the 2016 NBA playoffs? Well, that didn’t sit too well with Westbrook, Durant’s former Thunder teammate. Durant’s recent comment that the loaded Warriors squad is “selfless” also didn’t sit well with Westbrook. His response? “Cute.” ESPN’s Royce Young reports.
Free food
Coffee Break: Ever since Trump made his “locker room talk” comment, reporters around the country have been asking professional athletes for their thoughts about the validity of the statement. On Tuesday, LeBron James and Tom Brady were the latest to get questioned, and they had very different responses.
Snack Time: A man in the U.K. has been chasing down killer clowns while dressed as Batman. He’s the hero the world both deserves and needs right now, tbh.
Dessert: There’s a new “joggling” world record holder.
NFL
Colin Kaepernick set to start Sunday
So, that’s five more minutes of that game you’ll tune into than usual
5:15 PM Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers speaks to media during a press conference after a 31-21 preseason win over the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium on Sept. 1, 2016, in San Diego. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) Harry How/Getty Images
Under normal circumstances, another 1 p.m. EST Sunday game between two teams with a collective record of 6-6 doesn’t exactly move the needle in the NFL. But now that San Francisco head coach Chip Kelly has announced that Colin Kaepernick will be starting the game, the San Francisco 49ers-Buffalo Bills tilt is one of the more intriguing matchups of the weekend.
Of course, not a day goes by in which someone doesn’t have something to say about the quarterback’s choice to kneel during the national anthem. To say that it’s become a global story is a drastic understatement, as his protest has sparked quite the movement across all of sports and elsewhere. If you haven’t been keeping up, the two latest people of import to drop in on the matter are boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Really.
In an interview with Tha Boxing Voice podcast, the noted critical thinker came in hot with his take. “I’m here to say all lives matter,” Mayweather noted. He went on to say that Kaepernick is an opportunist. “Kaepernick needs to try and get the starting job. Stand up and get the starting job. That’s what he needs to focus on.” Mind you, those comments were made two days ago, so we’ll cut him some slack.
As for The Notorious R.B.G., she found herself in this discussion courtesy of Katie Couric. Speaking to Yahoo, she said that she found the protests “really dumb” among other things. Not exactly what you’d expect to hear out of someone appointed to figure out where certain things lie along the line of constitutionality, but whatever.
Obviously, Kaepernick will be kneeling for the anthem. Unless he throws everyone a huge curveball and trolls his whole team by just saying that he was only doing it to get the starting job. In all seriousness though, it will be interesting to see if Kaepernick is any good at football anymore. He didn’t need to play another down for his legacy to be cemented in the NFL.
Long story short, outside of fantasy interests, that game Sunday in Orchard Park, New York, just went from afterthought to must-watch. At least until kickoff.
Daily Dose
Daily Dose: 10/11/16
David Ortiz’s career comes to a soft close
12:26 PMHope everyone had a good Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Personally, I talked to Sports Illustrated‘s Richard Deitsch about The Undefeated and the general state of affairs in sports media these days. Check it out here or here.
Today’s the big day. President Barack Obama will be at North Carolina A&T University today for a television special set to air Tuesday on ESPN at 10 p.m. EST. It’ll be the second time that the president has joined The Undefeated in a town hall context, and Tuesday night he’ll discuss the My Brother’s Keeper initiative and the role of historically black college and universities in today’s society from Greensboro. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the state, the effects of Hurricane Matthew still have full towns underwater. ABC News reports.
Of course, Donald Trump is still trying to punch his way out of a corner. Ever since that video of him announcing his proclivity for sexual assault went public, the Republican presidential nominee has been scrambling to spin those comments as “locker room talk,” as if that somehow makes it OK. On Monday night in Pennsylvania, he turned the focus of his message back on to the Clinton family. It should be noted that Bill Clinton and Donald are the same age. And after Sunday’s debate, The Donald is basically riding solo in his party, ABC News’ Rick Klein reports.
This clown nonsense must come to an end. Good, hardworking clowns are getting a bad name and losing business right when they need it most. Look, whether or not people actually do have fears of clowns or just what, the type of people who want to capitalize on said fears are sick. Dozens of states have reported sightings, which, again, is just such a strange thing to say. Clowns aren’t an endangered species. That said, this latest footage of a clown hitching a ride on the back of a city bus in Detroit is very odd.
It was an awkward night in Boston. The final game of David Ortiz’s career ended in rather tame fashion, with the Boston Red Sox bowing out meekly to the Cleveland Indians in a sweep of the American League Division Series. The crazy thing is, Ortiz had one of the best seasons of his career, but that team couldn’t find a way to crack the shell of a team that was only two games above .500 against teams outside of its division. Anyway, ESPN’s Scott Lauber was at Fenway Park to describe the somber scene.
Free Food
Coffee Break: Things are officially at worst-case scenario phase for Samsung Galaxy Note 7 owners. Not only are your phones blowing up and keeping you off planes, the company has officially announced that it is not only halting production, but you should probably just turn your phone off forever.
Snack Time: Thanksgiving at the Knowles house is going to be a fun one. Both Beyoncé and Solange have hit No. 1 on the charts with their albums this year, which is just plain tremendous on every level. Good for them.
Dessert: There’s a new Jordan 3 colorway dropping this week. And it’s nothing short of superclean.
Daily Dose
Daily Dose: 10/7/16
Tiger Woods thinks he has a comeback in him
4:30 AMI went to South By South Lawn on Monday. Today’s Friday. Here’s how it went.
Florida is effectively under water. Hurricane Matthew touched down last night, causing all sorts of damage all the way up the coast to North Carolina. Nearly a million people have lost power and that’s just in this country. In Haiti, things are much worse. Hundreds of people are dead on the island nation, which can’t ever seem to catch a break when it comes to natural disasters. Maybe that should tell you something about the scientific realities of climate change, but that’s a discussion for another time. ABC News reports on the latest.
You probably think you’re a pretty smart person, right? You read articles on the internet. You mix in a book every once in a while, and when it comes to rudimentary math, you’ve got it together. The thing is, though, with so many different flows of information coming our way, we feel that receiving more information means that by definition we are more informed. Which, in an argument of semantics, gets messy, but whatever. A new study shows however, that Americans thinking they’re so smart is actually more of a problem. FiveThirtyEight’s What’s The Point pod discusses.
These creepy clown stories are bizarre on multiple levels. No. 1, you have to wonder why anyone is actually afraid of clowns in a literal sense. But secondly, what kind of person decides that clown terrorism as a copycat crime is a good life choice? Lastly, for people who literally are clowns, who do not specialize in scaring people, these stories are a problem, because no one wants to hire them anymore. And Halloween is busy season for them. VICE’s Sean Neumann breaks down this issue.
I refuse to believe that Tiger Woods can resurrect his career. Look, the man made golf interesting to me for longer than a decade, which is saying a lot. His body broke down however, and his life fell apart, too. After that initial 2009 Thanksgiving Day incident, I thought it was obvious that he would never win another major. Many people thought he had a comeback in him, but that never really panned out, and watching him struggle was really tough. Now, he says he can do it again, and has committed to tournament next week, ESPN’s Bob Harig reports.
Free Food
Coffee Break: Alicia Keys has a lot of nerve. She just released a song called Blended Family with A$AP Rocky that honors non-nuclear situations. Mind you, at one point, the way she acquired her blend was by breaking up Swizz Beatz’s marriage and then having a baby with him. But, celebrate away!
Snack Time: Watching Wiz Khalifa smoke weed with regular people, as in people whom we don’t know will always make me laugh. Here, he’s doing it with Conan O’Brien and playing video games.
Dessert: Do you need a value add for Solange’s new album? Here you go.