The Big Baller Banned from ESPN

The Big Baller Banned from ESPN

NBA

by | Jun 25, 2019 | NBA

Yet again, Lavar Ball has stirred up controversy in the media. The Big Baller Brand CEO has ruffled some feathers due to a response he gave to a question asked to him by Molly Qerim on ESPN’s First Take.

Many have sided with Molly Qerim in that Lavar’s comments were inappropriate. Others have sided with Lavar in his argument that he meant nothing sexually suggestive in his comments. Molly Qerim publicly addressed Lavar’s comments on TMZ.  She said that she had no say on if Lavar Ball would be banned from coming back on ESPN’s shows as a guest and that it was “above her paygrade”. Lavar publicly addressed his comments saying “I don’t even have to respond to that on the fact that I meant no sexual intent. Nothing on the fact that ‘switch gears’ means change topics to me. Her mind in the gutter if she think of something else. Only time I hit on her is if she’s breaking in my house, and I mistake her for the boogeyman.”

Richard Deitsch of The Athletic reported that an ESPN spokesmen responded that there are “no plans moving forward” when asked if they would use Lavar as an on-air guest, an on-the-record source for digital, or a background source for ESPN.

Image result for dez bryant

Recently, NFL Star Wide Receiver Dez Bryant, commented on the situation via Twitter. He tweeted at Molly Qerim “I’m late but I just seen the ESPN video of you and Lavar Ball… just being real.. you owe that man an apology straight up… I didn’t even sense foul play from him… you dramatically overreacted.. mature women like Doris Burke need those jobs.”

It’s still unsure if Lavar Ball is banned from ESPN indefinitely. Jalen Rose took to Instagram live to address the situation briefly. He responded to accusations that him and Molly got Lavar banned by saying, “we work there we don’t own the company, this man has two professional sons you don’t think he’s going to be back on television with an opinion?”

Jun 25, 2019 No Comments
Fantasy Football 2019-2020: Sleepers and Busts

Fantasy Football 2019-2020: Sleepers and Busts

NFL

by | Jun 21, 2019 | NFL

Sleepers and Busts Fantasy Football 2019-2020

Sleepers and Busts, two of the most important terms in the Fantasy Football community. Sleepers can propel you to a long playoff run while just one or two busts can turn your season on its head. Here are some of the guys I think you should take a risk on later in the draft, as well as some guys that are too risky to select early.

Sleepers:

Mecole Hardman WR/KC

Coming out of Georgia, Hardman is an enticing prospect in an amazing offense. His potential is somewhat dependent on the availability of Tyreek Hill. Although it looks as though Hill will be playing in 2019, Hardman has incredible big play potential that could see him action early in the 2019 campaign. He has a significant chance to outplay Sammy Watkins and feature as the 2nd wideout.

James Washington WR/PIT

With the departure of Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster is set to lead the Steelers in targets. But don’t forget Big Ben loves having a second receiver in the mix. Look for Washington to grab that spot as WR2 for the high powered Pittsburgh offense.

Devin Singletary RB/BUF

With LeSean McCoy aging and facing nagging injuries throughout the last few seasons, Singletary seems primed to get a shot at some major playtime in his rookie season. Although the Bills offense is quite unpredictable as of now, Singletary will no doubt have a role.

Ronald Jones III RB/TB

After an underwhelming rookie season, many people forget that the Bucs used a 2nd round pick of Jones III in 2018. The Bucs didn’t add any other Running Backs this offseason so they must still believe in him. Certainly a nice buy-low prospect in this years draft.

Kalen Ballage RB/MIA

Ballage is heading to Miami where Kenyon Drake is set to be the lead back. The intriguing proposition here is that Drake has never been an every down type of back, totaling an average of only 126.5 carries over the last two seasons. This could change due to the departure of Frank Gore, but nevertheless, Ballage has upside in the later rounds.

Busts:

Jordan Howard RB/PHI

Coming from a run heavy offense in Chicago, Howard now calls Philly home. With Carson Wentz at full health Howard should definitely get his chances near the end zone, but Doug Peterson has shown that he likes to run a backfield by committee, a death sentence for fantasy owners.

Sammy Watkins WR/KC

Playing in one of the best offenses in the league, Watkins still seemed to be an afterthought for most of last year. Yes, he only played 10 games but injuries always seem to keep him off the field at some point throughout the long NFL season. Hold off on selecting Watkins until the later rounds.

Lamar Miller RB/HOU

Over the last three seasons, Miller has seen his fair share of workload. Even with an average of 239 carries per season over the last three, Miller has only averaged 6 TDs per year. It wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see D’Onta Foreman capture the starting role at some point this year.

Leonard Fournette RB/JAX

Fournette is undoubtedly a tremendous talent and athlete, but a combination of injuries and team circumstances makes his outlook more unknown. The Jaguars hired John DePhilippo as their new OC, paired with new QB Nick Foles to revitalize their passing game. DePhilippo is known for heavy passing schemes, which comes at the expense of Fournette.

Emmanuel Sanders WR/DEN

A 32 year old receiver coming off of an Achilles tear is a scary sight. Factor this into the emergence of young talented WRs on Denver such as Courtland Sutton and DaeSean Hamilton and you can see why Sanders may not be worthy of an early round pick in 2019.

 

Jun 21, 2019 No Comments
MTV’s original reality show is back, The Real World: Atlanta is brought to viewers in a new way

MTV’s original reality show is back, The Real World: Atlanta is brought to viewers in a new way

Featured

by | Jun 21, 2019 | Featured

The growth of streaming series is at an all-time high with services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. Network MTV has moved its 33rd season of  “The Real World”  from television to the internet, exclusively available on Facebook Watch. The premise of the show is still the same, seven very diverse humans coexisting in the same house. So what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real.

As many networks offer the ability to view their dense catalog of the show through an app, the introduction of using Facebook Watch as a platform is genius. We live in an age whenever a new, beloved, or even hated series airs it tends to trend of social media platforms like Facebook/Twitter. The hive of people following the series is able to connect with a community of fans and share thoughts on episodes in real time as the show airs.

Now the genius part of putting a series like “The Real World” on Facebook is people can comment in real time while watching the episode with the housemates. For the first time in the shows history housemates have access to their personal cell phone, so fans can follow each individual’s Snapchat, Instagram, facebook, or twitter and get a feed of what’s going down in the house in real time. 

So let’s meet this diverse cast:

Slide 1

Meagan Melancon, 23 a deeply religious, conservative sports journalist from Baton Rouge, LA.

Slide 2

Dondre Randolph, 25 a pansexual, who’s a staunch conservative and Trump supporter from Huston, Texas.

Slide 4

Justin Blu, 26 is an activist and a graduate student of African American Studies from Atlanta, Georgia. His never dated outside his race and questions whether interracial marriages are good for the Black community. He considers himself a mentor to other young people.

Slide 3

Clint Wright, 28 a muscular influencer who loves to post shirtless selfies. Clint lives on his family’s farm in Potterville, Michigan.  His longing for what’s beyond the farm is why he went on the Real World.

Slide 5

Yasmin Almokhamad also known as Yassa , 27 a multimedia artist. She’s half Armenian, half Syrian and was raised as both Christian and Muslim. Despite her upbringing is identified as Queer and seems to be constantly amused by what’s unfolding around her.

Slide 7

Arely Avitua, 21 is a DACA recipient and mother at the age of 17, missing out on her teen years she believes this experience is an opportunity for her to go wild. Arely lives in constant fear that the DACA program could end, sending her back to Mexico and hopes to bring attention to the flaws of the program.

Slide 6

Tovah Marx, 26 a social worker from Scottdale, Arizona. She recently got out of an emotionally abusive relationship but is still looking for love.

The first episode starts like any season with the introduction to the housemates, from their different backgrounds like region, race, religion, and upbringing audience can quickly tell that there will be housemates bumping heads. When Dondre asked Justin his thoughts on the Colin Kaepernick situation every white person left the room and each minority stayed, viewers would soon find out that Tovah and Meagan didn’t comment because they felt they had no right to comment on black issues. This was an effort to stay PC (politically correct) but this experience will put every housemate in an uncomfortable conversation as they try to understand someone else’s situation.    

You can catch new episodes of “The Real Word: Atlanta” on Facebook Watch with new content drops daily, Monday through Thursday.

Jun 21, 2019 No Comments
Dame Lillard and Marvin Bagley III Battle For Rap Supremacy

Dame Lillard and Marvin Bagley III Battle For Rap Supremacy

Featured

by | Jun 21, 2019 | Featured, NBA

Though the NBA season has come to a close and the draft has been settled the offseason drama has just started. While on First Take Thursday with Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman, Marvin Bagley–the Sacramento Kings Center and number 2 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft–simply responded to questions of his rap ability. Kellerman asked if he was better than Damian Lillard (to which any sensible rapper would respond yes–why would you admit to being lesser?) and if he would battle Lillard on the set of First Take. The exchange went like this:

Max Kellerman: Roy Jones, who was a colleague of mine at HBO Boxing, played me a clip of you freestyling in the hallway. And it has been my opinion since then that the best MC in the NBA is either you or Damian Lillard. But who is the best MC in the NBA?

Marvin Bagley III: Man, me. Me. Man, I love music. I love music. So, I’m gonna go with myself.

MK: Would you ever battle Damian Lillard?

MBIII: Yeah. For sure.

Harmless enough, right? Dame immediately took to Twitter to announce that he wanted all the smoke. Bagley fired the first shots with a track “No Debate,” a laudable effort over excellent production but with only light shots at the Second Team All-NBA guard. Bagley is a fine lyricist but much like his effort on the defensive end he could still use a bit of work.

But as we saw this postseason, Dame is no stranger to quieting the doubters, within hours Dame Dolla dropped a freestyle entitled “MARVINNNNNN???” over Drake’s Pusha T diss track “Duppy Freestyle,” filled with both insight and insults, Dame drained bucket after bucket on the young King in embarrassing fashion. 

Virtually everyone on Twitter, even the notoriously grumpy Joe Budden, decided Dame won the battle. However that wasn’t enough for the Portland Trailblazers star, just hours after that freestyle Dolla came through once again with a 40 foot bomb to end it all called “Bye Bye” using his own iconic series winner as the single art.

To add insult(s) to injury, this time he did it over Drake’s “Back to Back” instrumental hitting Bagley with a double dose of Frizzy. Lillard’s second round of roasting was cruel and unnecessary like dunking in the last seconds of an already decided game. Now Bagley’s only choice is to dunk on Lillard during the regular season or start rap beef with Max Kellerman for putting him in this position. 

Jun 21, 2019 No Comments
Notable NBA Free Agents 2019 Part 3 of 3

Notable NBA Free Agents 2019 Part 3 of 3

NBA

by | Jun 21, 2019 | NBA

 

 

 

 

 

Similarly to the Milwaukee Bucks, the Philadelphia 76ers made in early exit in the 2019 Playoffs also losing to the Toronto Raptors in a pivotal game 7. That being said, the 76ers made an extensive amount of trades that currently fill out this roster. From big names such as Jimmy Butler and quite literally “big names” like Boban Marjanovic, the 76ers had a roster that seemed suited for a deep playoff run. However, at this time, many of the big names acquired throughout the course of the season find themselves wondering where they will end up in 2020. Marjanovic, Butler, and Tobias Harris are only a few out of the twelve players on the 76ers roster that are listed as Unrestricted Free Agents this offseason. Marjanovic is one of the few that seeks to stay with Philadelphia, while Butler and Harris may be projected to explore their options this offseason. Lakers’ Guard Josh Hart stated that it’d be “cool” if the Lakers developed a superteam, with Butler and Irving joining the team. There were initial reports of Butler potentially heading to Dallas, but realized there would be some form of difficulty between Butler and face of the new face of the organization Luka Doncic. Tobias Harris has little rumors flying around the media compared to Butler, but reports have shown that the Brooklyn Nets have showed interest in Harris, as they were also a team removed from the playoffs in the first round against the 76ers.

The San Antonio Spurs were the other half of the Kawhi Leonard trade, receiving Raptors SG Demar DeRozan. They made an early exit in the Playoffs against the Denver Nuggets in a 7-game series. Out of the entire Spurs roster, 6 players are becoming Free Agents, but perhaps the biggest name out of that group is Rudy Gay. Gay has always been known as a solid wing player throughout his career ever since he came into the league with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2006 after being traded from the Houston Rockets. There have been multiple reports from the Spurs organization that they do in fact want Rudy back in a Spurs uniform, stating that he played a key role this past season. There is a large chance that Gay stays with the Spurs, but it is unclear of what his intentions are this offseason.

At the time of this article being written, the Raptors are up against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals 3-1. If the Raptors manage to pull off a win at home, they will win the NBA Championship for the first time all at the same time it being their first time in the Finals at all. Win or lose this NBA Finals, this team must be considered one of the best teams in the league this year. The trade between the Spurs and the Raptors had a lot of fans wondering who got the better end of that deal, but a this point that is left for another discussion. What is up for discussion, however, is the big names in Toronto that will be Free Agents, NBA Champions or not. Recently acquire Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard, and Marc Gasol were all players that were all acquired within the past year. But it is also true that these contracts will be up at the end of this season. Despite his experience and veteran presence on a team, Green has no real rumors going around in terms of Free Agency, which makes sense since all eyes around the series they are in rather than where he will be in months to come. This can also be said for Marc Gasol, minus the amount of Playoff experience he has in comparison to teammate Danny Green. However, the same cannot be said for starting SF for the Raptors, Kawhi Leonard. Teams around the league, both players and staff are watching the NBA Finals to of course see who wins the championship, but to also watch one of the biggest Free Agents this offseason next to Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis. Leonard is referred to as a priority to several other teams around the league, the Clippers, Lakers, and Knicks to name a few. If the Raptors do win the championship this year, it is less likely to see Leonard exploring his options this offseason. At this point, only time may tell where we may see Kawhi in 2020.

 

Jun 21, 2019 No Comments