Daily Dose: 1/9/17
Cristiano Ronaldo completes his magical year
4:30 PMOn Sunday, I did a whole ton of radio. The Morning Roast started (yay), and then Domonique Foxworth and I hosted NFL Nation at night. It’s been a really long week already.
Meryl Streep got on stage Sunday night and delivered a speech for the ages. She basically told all of America that our current political and socioeconomic state is completely unreasonable and we know it and should be doing something about it. It was truly classic and directly addressed the man headed into the White House. It was easily the hit of the night outside, of course, Donald Glover shouting out Migos. That was tremendous.
Remember when Kim Kardashian got robbed? That was hectic. Kanye West stormed off stage, she left social media, some people didn’t even believe it was real, and in general, it kind of tore their family apart which is sad. Well, the Paris police have finally apprehended some suspects, and they have a rather long list. Seventeen total people have been apprehended for their roles in the Fashion Week heist, so that appears to be a good thing.
When some New York Giants players decided to get on a boat, you could say they sank their season. Fairly or not, the criticism that came when some of the team decided to vacation in Miami on an off day before a playoff game and document it caught up with them as they lost to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. Odell Beckham Jr. said he didn’t think it affected his play, but he had a pretty tough game, and Eli Manning isn’t afraid to point that out.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the best men’s soccer player in the world. At least, according to FIFA. The Real Madrid star was awarded the best player over Lionel Messi, a decision that doesn’t shock many considering the year he’s had. Let’s not forget that Portugal also won the European Championships, which is likely what tipped the scales in this year’s vote. I mean, they’re basically 1 and 1a at any given moment, so the trophies don’t really matter anyway.
Free Food
Coffee Break: My favorite music platform is SoundCloud, just because it feels the most natural to me. There’s no real way for me to explain it other than that, so it really bums me out to hear that in a world with Apple and Spotify, SoundCloud can barely keep afloat.
Snack Time: It appears we’ve gotten to the point where “the talk” isn’t good enough for black families. There’s an actual school of thought for how to deal with the police. This is really sad.
Dessert: This is easily the funniest thing I’ve read all year.
Daily Dose
Daily Dose: 1/6/17
Michelle Obama delivers her final speech from the White House
3:00 PMThis weekend is a big one for us. Domonique Foxworth, Mina Kimes and I are hosting a new ESPN Radio show called The Morning Roast. It airs on Sundays from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. EST. Tune in, kiddos!
President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s departure has us in our feelings. Not because of any specific policies or anything like that. I’ve said this before, but they were just such a fun family and represented this nation in a way that the rest of the world respected so much. Anyways, the first lady spoke Friday for the last time in public as a resident of the White House. She is a legit incredible inspiration.
The N-word is not funny when white people say it. The N-word has multiple contexts when black people say it. This is plainly how it is. But if you misspell the word “bigger” in a tweet and it gets public, you’re in for all the jokes. You see, “B” is right next to “N” on the keyboard, so don’t make that mistake yourself. These jokes are freaking hilarious though, if you’re allowed to laugh at them. If not, too bad! Deal with it. Don’t even type it. We see you.
Remember when “intelligence” was a thing that was seen and not heard? You know, when the secrets of the United States’ entire military operations weren’t a matter of public, high school gossip style record? Remember that? Well, that’s gone now. To the point that when president-elect Donald Trump is getting a security briefing, the whole world has to know, just in case they want to try to hack said meeting. In all seriousness, there’s an intel briefing Friday. And, it appears to be a scene.
If you haven’t been paying attention, the Milwaukee Bucks are wilding on people. Giannis Antetokounmpo is the best player in the NBA’s Eastern Conference not named LeBron James, but they don’t seem to be able to rise up and really scare anyone from a record standpoint. They’re just a highlight machine at this point. But they’re still just 18-16. But look, Antetokounmpo makes them a League Pass MVP. Anyway, there’s a good team there, really.
Free Food
Coffee Break: If you don’t remember Rosey Grier, you might soon. The former Los Angeles Rams defensive end, who was part of the Fearsome Foursome, says he might run for governor of California. If you’re wondering, he’s a Trump-supporting Republican.
Snack Time: I absolutely love DJ Shadow. I also really like Run The Jewels. So, you can guess how I feel about Shadow The Jewels. Excellent start to the weekend.
Dessert: Anderson .Paak and Pharrell together? Yes. Please.
NBA
NBA releases 2017 All-Star uniforms
It’s Adidas’ last year with the league before Nike takes over
Allow members of Basketball Twitter to design the NBA All-Star uniforms and have fans vote on one. But that would be too democratic.
— Marc Griffin (@montrealmarc) January 5, 2017
Them NBA All-Star uniforms look like they on sale at a random rack in Marshall's or TJ Maxx.
— #PlayoffPelicans 🦅 SWEEP (4-0) (@MichaelHJordan) January 5, 2017
Adidas did not end its run with the NBA’s uniforms well, according to many. Nike will take over the contract for the league’s apparel, which means we have one last season to endure what the German company wanted to do for All-Star Weekend. It’s also worth noting that jersey sponsorships are coming next season, so keep that in mind.
Ostensibly, there’s no clear link to what most of us think of New Orleans. Nor is there any reference to why the game is there to begin with, which is because the league pulled out of Charlotte, North Carolina, following the fallout from the bathroom law in North Carolina. However, the uniforms do pay homage to The Big Easy.
My only gripe about the #NBAAllStar jerseys are they're just not New Orleans-Ish…
— CK (29-53) (@_CK2K) January 5, 2017
The 2003 NBA All Star jerseys were always my favorite. I remember Missy Elliot was wearing one on her MTV cribs episode haha
— Ned Slanders (@NikeTys0n) January 5, 2017
“The carbon and red Western Conference, and light granite and blue Eastern Conference uniforms incorporate aged metal treatment across the jersey font outlines and Adidas logo, as a nod to the French-inspired ironwork displayed throughout the city of New Orleans,” the company said in a press release.
But in general, these things are so difficult to get right. The warmups always look better than the uniforms themselves. And nothing works better than letting players wear their own jerseys, but those days are over.
NBA All Star Uniforms are uglyyy 🙄🙄🤢
— Naaaaaaaa Naaaaa 💙🧞♀️ 𓋹 (@AYoNaNa2PreTTY) January 5, 2017
I don't know why everybody on Twitter is complaining about the #NBAAllStar 🏀 jerseys. They look fine to me.
— Charles Thompson (@cathompson) January 5, 2017
Here are some more shots of the gear.
The 66th NBA All-Star Game is Sunday, Feb. 19.
Daily Dose
Daily Dose: 1/5/17
Charleston, South Carolina, shooting victims’ families speak out in court
1:30 PMOur managing editor at The Undefeated, Raina Kelley, took part in a Vanity Fair story titled The Greatest Media Mysteries Of 2017, and talked about protests. Check it out here!
Dylann Roof’s life is in the hands of a South Carolina jury. After being convicted of killing nine people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, he’s decided to try to defend himself during the sentencing portion of his trial. He’s not even allowing his mental state to be considered as part of the case. This is presumably because he actually wants to die, and will likely be executed if he appears to be remorseless. The families of the victims are telling their stories in court.
Donald Trump really is determined to make his mark on America. It’s not enough for him to simply be in the office and enjoy the spoils of the presidency. He’s literally going to try to undo everything that’s already been done, just to say he did. Now, it’s causing him problems with the intelligence community, which is understandably concerned about his ties to Russia. The president-elect says he’s considering a plan to overhaul our top agencies. Yikes.
Fake news, as a concept, is a tricky one. Because, technically, “fake news” doesn’t mean anything and doesn’t aptly describe the actual problem and harmfulness. Because it’s propaganda, in fact, that spreads misinformation that can hurt people. It’s not The Onion. But how do you fix that? It feels like we’re back in the era of the internet where people literally believe everything, just because it’s there. Trying to fact-check this stuff is just a total crap shoot.
Wale debuted a new song on First Take this week, with Lil Wayne. Then he dropped a song called Smile, in which he made reference to Tomi Lahren, the conservative TV host from The Blaze. You might recall that she had a sit-down with Comedy Central’s Trevor Noah, who apparently risked it all and shot his shot, cupcakes style, with her afterward. Anyway, she thought she’d try to clapback at Wale. It didn’t go well at all.
Free Food
Coffee Break: Megyn Kelly is headed from Fox News to NBC News soon. And though she did publicly feud with our new president-elect at a debate, it doesn’t mean she hasn’t been on the wrong side of history before. It should be noted what her career has previously show us.
Snack Time: Curren$y and Freddie Gibbs have worked together in the past, and this week they announced they’ll be doing an entire EP together. Cool. But how Freddie Gibbs actually did it is better.
Dessert: Nicki Minaj is back on the market, it appears.
Daily Dose
Daily Dose: 1/4/17
Omarosa Manigault will be working in the Trump White House
2:23 PMHappy Wednesday, kiddos. It’s a dreary one here in D.C., so let’s get this moving. I think I might go see Fences tonight.
You know Omarosa Manigault, right? The woman from The Apprentice who got famous after being on the show, then ran the reality star circuit for a while before disappearing from the public eye? That one. Well, she’s of course back on the scene now that Donald Trump has been elected, and what you might not know is that now that she’s been hired to his staff. It won’t be the first White House she’s worked for, sort of. She once was working for Al Gore, when Bill Clinton was in office.
One of the funniest things in 2017 so far happened in Los Angeles. The famed Hollywood sign in California was vandalized, and made to appear to read “Hollyweed,” which, by any reasonable metric, is just plain funny. It actually wasn’t the first time it happened, but the fact that someone did it on New Year’s Eve and that Facebook Live streamed the repair process is hilarious. Anyways, these are the guys that claim they did it.
Kim Kardashian is back, y’all. It’s been a rough couple of months for the most famous person in America’s favorite television family. There was the Paris robbery incident, then her husband went a bit wild and put their whole home life on blast. But, let’s be clear. We’ve missed Kim. And don’t come at me acting like this isn’t news. There’s one thing that’s harder to do than anything else: getting people to like you. She’s great at it. She’s better than you at it. Her social media game pops.
By and large, bowl games are a mixed bag. The experiences are so varied, whether you’re attending, playing or just watching on television, and what they mean to each person is completely different. But if we’re to glean anything from them, they are a reasonably decent indicator of what certain conferences are all about. This year, the Atlantic Coast Conference is doing it very, very big. And if Clemson wins it all, it’ll be the best conference bowl year ever.
Free Food
Coffee Break: You know what it’s like to shop while black. Typically, someone comes up to you with WAAAY too much customer service, or they hide in the corner and watch you, if they’re suspicious. At Versace, they were far more open about it, using so-called code words. Nice try.
Snack Time: I don’t keep up with rap beefs with any regularity, but I do check in if required. And this situation between Soulja Boy and Chris Brown might the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.
Dessert: Ivanka Trump is moving in down the block from the Obamas. There goes the neighborhood.