Daily Dose
Daily Dose: 10/17/17
The NBA is back, kiddos
2:30 PMToday’s another television day, but a special one. The NBA returns Tuesday night, so Around The Horn should be a fun one today. Tune in at 5 p.m. on ESPN if you want to see me break out my fall wardrobe.
NBA DAY!!!!! pic.twitter.com/PIb6ukw7yB
— 𝕂𝕠𝕗𝕚𝕖 (@KofieYeboah) October 17, 2017
Hip-hop is vital lifeblood in America. Today, its creation and existence are being celebrated at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and if you want to follow that, make sure to hit up the hashtag #hiphophistory. But for as much as it might be the driving force in my life, what it has created has certainly taken away from other things. In the pop culture sphere, from a musical standpoint, the evolution of the rap game basically put rhythm and blues music under. Not just because of popularity. Because of the music itself.
Colin Kaepernick just might have himself a case. Why? Because the president of the United States of America loves to tweet. It sounds complicated, but in short, because of the collective bargaining agreement, Kap’s lawyers could argue that because Trump has such an influence over the league, he deserves damages. This is fascinating because if it does end up that he wins money for not being signed, it’ll be because the very guy who thinks he should have gotten “fired” (FIRED!) did a little too much.
By all accounts, this should be Kevin Durant’s year. He’s the NBA Finals MVP. He’s an NBA champion. It’s his second year with his new squad. Of course, if you looked at his new sneakers, you’d think he still had something to prove, but for the most part, he’s just the man. Whether or not he’s the best player in the NBA at this point is almost immaterial. The other thing he’s expanding is his empire. While we think of LeBron James as the business mogul, KD has things he likes off the court too. Here’s a great, long read about it.
Cooler heads have prevailed regarding the national anthem. At NCAA Division III Albright College, three players were dismissed from the football team for kneeling during the national anthem. To be clear, it technically happened because there was some sort of agreement between the captain’s council not to do this and they violated it. But it’s also an example of people at small schools taking themselves WAAY too seriously in general. Those three players have now been invited back to the squad.
Free Food
Coffee Break: Speaking of the NBA, the athletes deal with a lot of nonsense. Because everyone thinks they can play basketball, dudes in the association get challenged more than others. Sure enough, some YouTuber thought going one-on-one against the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown was a good idea. He was very wrong.
NSFW: Jaylen Brown took on YouTuber @trevsteedy in 1-on-1, and it went pretty much how you'd expect pic.twitter.com/8YkLzSdOe7
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) October 16, 2017
Snack Time: Some of you might not know this, but Lil Jon isn’t all about just getting crunk for no reason. He’s recently started a primary school in Ghana, which seems like a fulfilling effort.
Dessert: If you’re really into Mac computers, get this candle. Also, it got an update recently too.
Daily Dose
Daily Dose: 10/16/17
Marvel unveils new ‘Black Panther’ trailer
- What up, gang? Hope your weekends went well.
https://twitter.com/AsteadWesley/status/919929025115705344
The new trailer for Black Panther is pretty incredible. As a matter of course, this film is already one of the most hyped of 2018, and with each new piece of footage that drops, the streets get even more needy. Chadwick Boseman and company set the internet on fire on Monday, yours truly included. Here are the details, but let me just say this: the handshake. THE DAP GAME. I’m going to be using that handshake until I die. And aside from the unabashed blackness of this film and its cast, it looks like a genuinely great film to come.
The fallout from Harvey Weinstein’s ouster has been widespread. Aside from all the big-name Hollywood stars we’ve heard come out with stories of sexual harassment and assault, a more populist social media movement to highlight the problems has been sparked on social media. The #MeToo hashtag has been a way for women to note that they have been victims, thus pointing out exactly how widespread this issue is. Actress Alyssa Milano was one of the first to share it, and countless others have since joined in to share their pain.
My sister is a vegan. For lack of a better term, it’s a whole thing. Because if you’re willing to eat every meal inside your house, or have the money to be perusing random eateries at all hours of the day looking for things to eat, that life ain’t easy. But, as time goes on, the eating-out option tends to grow in variety and availability. Meaning, if you really wanted to find a vegan spot to spend most of your time and energy, you certainly could. That said, vegan joints are still a tad quirky. This story interviewing vegan restaurant workers about vegans is hilarious.
The NBA starts Tuesday. In case you missed it, it was quite the offseason in these streets, meaning that Tuesday’s game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics is going to be nothing short of fantastic. More personally, I’m excited that my Washington Wizards are back on the court, having had an offseason with little to no drama, outside of an injury. The Golden State Warriors are obviously the Vegas favorite to win the championship, but you never know, y’all. The Spurs are outchea trying to sign a contract extension for LaMarcus Aldridge, so it’s a whole new world.
Free Food
Coffee Break: Look, some criminals are stupid, while others just choose to use their talents for unorthodox things, which not many of us can necessarily appreciate. One such individual is this guy in Texas, who for the better part of a decade was hijacking fajita deliveries from a restaurant. What a dude.
Snack Time: So, Jussie Smollett appeared as Langston Hughes in the movie Marshall. Apparently he liked the role so much that they’re making an entire other movie with the same cast.
Dessert: Do you need a life coach? The Rock should do just fine.
Daily Dose
Daily Dose: 10/13/17
Jacksonville Jaguars owners calls POTUS a divider
5:13 PMWell, Thursday was another radio day and it was a fun one, up until the baseball game, that is. We did it live from Bluejacket, a brewery in D.C., near Nationals Park. Friday I’ll be on Around The Horn. Didn’t win Thursday, tho.
Ya #MCM think this is deep pic.twitter.com/iRZxTCdTE3
— d. Watkins (@dwatkinsworld) October 12, 2017
If you’re poor, your life just got harder. President Donald Trump is cutting back health care subsidies for low-income people, which feels like a move simply designed to stick it to anyone who wanted to believe that actually helping Americans was a reasonable way to operate. Basically, it means that far fewer people can afford to be insured now, and that, in turn, means that more people will die. Why this is happening, no one seems to know. But, POTUS is soldiering on with it nonetheless.
Gambling is addictive. This is a fact of life that’s ruined men’s lives, careers and families. So, when you live your whole life with tales of gambling gone wrong and romanticized stories of folks who got to the top then it all came crashing down, you might want to avoid the act all together. This goes for many things that were once at the top of the food chain in the American consumer model. Cars, houses, you name it. And when those industries fail, we blame millennials. And now, you guessed it, millennials are killing the lottery.
Shahid Khan is not afraid to speak his mind. The Jacksonville Jaguars owner, who had previously tried to buy the then-St. Louis Rams, was speaking about his fellow owners at an executive conference this week and let a couple of things fly. When the topic changed to the president, Khan referred to him as a divider, which is an interesting thing to do, considering where the league is on the whole with the administration. What’s interesting is that he actually donated $1M to Trump’s inauguration effort, too.
So, the NBA is garbage. That’s according to Michael Jordan. Yes, that one, the one who owns the Charlotte Bobcats. In an interview with Cigar Aficionado, which on its own is genuinely awesome, the Chicago Bulls legend said that 28 out of 30 teams in the league are garbage. Presumably, the two non-garbage teams he’s talking about are the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Mind you, he doesn’t own either of those teams, meaning he’s calling his own team garbage. Jordan is such a savage.
Free Food
Coffee Break: We’ve all seen Get Out. We all understand just how intense, brilliant and forward-thinking the film truly was. This is the kind of thing that is discussed at length in movie classes. Now, imagine you’re sitting in class, discussing this film and boom, Jordan Peele walks in. Yeah, that actually happened.
Snack Time: If you’re important, you have official portraits commissioned. And when you’re superimportant, the Smithsonian does it. So, guess who’s getting some new portraits? Correct: the Obamas.
Dessert: Go ahead and get your weekend started with Gucci Mane’s new album, Mr. Davis, his second of 2017.
Daily Dose
Daily Dose: 10/12/17
Jason Momoa makes flippant comment about rape
1:34 PMAll right, kiddos, big day in these streets. I’ll be doing Around The Horn on Thursday afternoon at 5 p.m. on ESPN, then hosting #TheRightTime on ESPN Radio from 4-7:30 p.m. EST. And I’ll be stressing about Nats baseball all day, starting now.
Hi. pic.twitter.com/qwb4J3LHIe
— roxane gay (@rgay) October 11, 2017
Black people are genius. No, really. The 2017 MacArthur Foundation grant winners list was released this week, and there are six of us on there. Njideka Akunyili Crosby is an artist based in Chicago. Tyshawn Sorey is a musician working out of Connecticut. Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times has a reputation that speaks for itself in this line of work. Jesmyn Ward is a writer in New Orleans. Dawoud Bey is a Chicago photographer. But my favorite person on the list is Rhiannon Giddens, who makes some of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard.
Keep telling me that the vestiges of slavery aren’t still alive in America. The way that our prison system is set up in certain states, that’s basically what prisoners are used as, and government officials have no problem letting that fact be known to the world. They’re borderline proud of it and have based their entire budgets around the existence of unpaid labor from people in jail. And in private practice, people are still trying to use black folks as slaves to run their business. All of this is so sickening.
WATCH.
In 38 seconds Steve Prattor, Sheriff of Caddo Parish in Louisiana, tells you why he REALLY likes keeping "good" Black men in jail. pic.twitter.com/7YtxixE1rU
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) October 12, 2017
Y’all need to get your man Jason Momoa. You know him, the actor whose Instagram page gets everybody tingling inside and who has starred in various movies in which he plays fantasy superhero types of all breeds. He’s Hawaiian and a dreamboat. He’s also got some really problematic views on rape and sexual assault that he made plain to the world on a panel. I obviously don’t know that guy, and everyone on that panel probably does, but how someone says that and you don’t get up and leave is just beyond me. This is not OK.
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Alex Morgan might be woke? If nothing else, she at least understands what her place as a white woman in America affords her after she found herself dealing with authorities at Walt Disney World. The story is that the U.S. women’s national soccer team player was there with her crew and things got a little loose in terms of the partying. But footage of her encounter with authorities was published, and at one point, with what she believes to be unfair treatment. She says matter of factly that she “can’t imagine what black people go through.” All righty, then.
Free Food
Coffee Break: If you don’t know what a bodega cat is, you probably haven’t lived in New York. Bodegas are a vital part of the ecosystem. And because the internet is amazing, there are social media accounts that document their lives. The person who does it is a national treasure. Read this interview.
Snack Time: YouTube is glorious. We all know that. But can you imagine a world in which there was a reasonable competitor? And who do you think could mount such an effort? Amazon, of course.
Dessert: Watch this. That is all.