Cape Cod Shark-Attack Victim “Punched” Shark to Escape, Making Dane Cook Proud

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William Lytton, of Scarsdale, N.Y., is seated in a wheelchair while taking a break from physical therapy at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, in Boston, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, while recovering from a shark attack. Lytton suffered deep puncture wounds to his leg and torso after being attacked by a shark on Aug. 15, 2018 while swimming off a beach, in Truro, Mass. Lytton injured a tendon in his arm while fighting off the shark. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Photo credit: Steven Senne/Associated Press

TRURO, Mass. — The man bitten by a shark off Cape Cod this month said on Tuesday he escaped by punching the powerful predator in the gills after it clamped down on his leg.

In his first interview since the Aug. 15 attack , William Lytton said he’d been swimming in about “8 to 10 feet” (2.4 to 3 meters) of water off Truro, Massachusetts, when he felt an incredible pain shoot through his left leg and quickly realized he was being attacked by a shark.

The 61-year-old neurologist from Scarsdale, New York, said he gave the animal a strong smack in the gills with his left hand, a move that likely saved his life but also resulted in some torn tendons. He now sports an arm cast as well as bandages and a brace around most of his left leg.

“I initially was terrified, but, really, there was no time to think,” he said, recounting the ordeal following a physical therapy session at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, where he’s been since Sunday. “It doesn’t feel like I did anything heroic. A lot of this was luck.”

What a legend.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock recently, you know that going to the beach down the Cape this summer has been more dangerous than wearing a Big Papi jersey in the Bronx. There have been shark sightings up the wazz this year, from Nauset all the way up to Plymouth, and one man, William Lytton, almost lost his life after being attacked by one in Truro just a few weeks ago.

But now we get the full story: A 61-year-old man goes toe-to-toe with the world’s most fearsome predator, and not only comes out alive but made the jabroni shark swim away after one solid throw of the hand. (Jason Statham, eat your heart out.)

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Look, Lytton is not the first man to pull off the feat; this scenario has happened elsewhere before, as evidenced by the once-great Dane Cook back in 2003:

(I’m sure if the Massachusetts-native heard this story, he was grinning from ear to ear with his 19-year-old girlfriend, who was FOUR at the time this bit came out. Not trying to be judgmental here, and best of luck to the seemingly happy couple, but that’s just kinda crazy to think about.)

But let’s not take Mr. Lytton’s tale as a solid reason to start jumping back in the water again. The guy still almost died, had six surgeries (and likely needs even more plus weeks of rehab), and still GOT BITTEN BY A SHARK.

I know many people out there have the whole “please, it happens to like 1 in every kajillion people in the water” mentality, but I’m not taking any chances. Every time we’re at the beach, my girlfriend and I have a Mexican stand-off, where I stay on the sand and hyperventilate as I watch her swim around blissfully in the ocean. I may go out to the waist, but that water line isn’t touching the nipples or neck. No way, Jose.

So, once again, kudos to Mr. Lytton on a pretty legendary story and what will hopefully be a full recovery. But sharks are still sharks, people. Let’s not get too cocky here.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Production Put on Ice; Is Marvel’s Future in Trouble?

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Esquire – In the wake of the Mike Cernovich-engineered firing of Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, production has halted on the third film in the series. Preproduction crewmembers were let go and instructed to seek new work, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

One person characterized the production hold as temporary and more of a “regrouping” as Marvel and Disney look for a filmmaker to take on the third installment of a franchise that has grossed over $1.6 billion and made stars out of Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista and Zoe Saldana. “The timeline has been pushed out,” says a source. Disney never set a release date for Guardians 3.

OK, I think everyone just needs to stay the hell off Twitter. (And, as evidenced by Red’s most recent piece about J.D. Martinez, maybe Instagram, too.)

For those who aren’t up to speed: At the end of July, James Gunn, director and co-writer of the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies, was fired by Disney (which owns Marvel Entertainment) after a series of offensive tweets from his Twitter account, which were posted a decade ago, were discovered by The Daily Caller.

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Upon first hearing the news, many people were outraged that Gunn would be punished for something he wrote almost 10 years ago. And before actually reading what he wrote, I’ll admit I was in that camp, too.

To be entirely honest, though, I’m now kind of on Disney’s side, as the things he said were just gross and not even remotely funny. (You can find the actual tweets by doing a simple Google search.) Gunn’s “apology” basically said that while he was sorry, he was simply trying to be a “provocateur” and make a name for himself through crass humor. Maybe, just maybe, that excuse could have worked for a 20-year-old avant-garde comedian, but dude you were like 42 at the time and made multiple references to violating young boys. The fuck?

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The star-studded cast of the franchise made an effort to save Gunn about a week later via an “open letter” to fans, stating that while they were “not here to defend” the offensive material Gunn was still a good guy and deserves his job back. But it was to no avail, as Disney pretty much immediately stated they’re most likely not bringing him back.

But I’m not here to debate the character of James Gunn. I’m here to discuss the fact that news broke this week that the third installment of the Guardians franchise is now on hold until further notice and what that means for the MCU going forward.

First and foremost, the Guardians movies are the friggin’ balls. Whether you’re a casual comic-book movie fan or a die-hard Marvel nerd, each of the first two movies were an extremely fun and fun-ny experience for pretty much everyone. In fact, they were two of the MCU’s biggest hits ever, with both Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 sitting comfortably within the top 10 in terms of the studio’s highest-grossing films of all time (h/t Entertainment Weekly).

The films provided a nice little career bump to already moderate-to-mega stars like Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Chris Pratt, and Zoe Saldana. Even more importantly, they introduced us to the wonders of Dave Bautista as an actor. (If you don’t agree that Drax is the best character in the series, and quite possibly the entire MCU overall, we might have problems. The guy is a freakin’ gem.) And above all, it provided the MCU with a nice boost in the middle of what was, in my opinion, a bit of a lackluster Phase 2.

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Seriously, he’s the best.

And that relates exactly to my next point: If Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is tabled for too long, or if a suitable replacement isn’t found for Gunn, what else does Marvel have in the arsenal for the long-term?

OK, sure, quite possibly the most important movie Marvel will ever make comes out next year, when we finally get to see the second part of the Infinity War story line. And, yes, Black Panther, which came out at the beginning of 2018, has technically been it’s most successful movie to date. Also, Spider-Man: Homecoming was pretty solid, too.

OK FINE. But what’s next?

Captain Marvel, starring Academy-award winning actress Brie Larson, definitely has some potential, and I’m actually pretty excited to see it next March. We also already know that Spider-Man: Far From Home is scheduled for a 2019 release as well. But after that it’s a bunch of “maybes” and “well, I guess we could do another Doctor Strange” chatter. (Please don’t, Marvel.)

The route most people are expecting Marvel to take would be to continue pumping everything into the Black Panther franchise, which seems like a pretty obvious move. I was a big fan of T’Challa and crew (especially Okoye, who is an absolute BEAST and has already become one of my favorite MCU characters), and I totally get it.

BUT let’s also not forget that sometimes when movies run too hot the first time around, oftentimes their respective sequels just can’t live up to the hype. The very same can be said for Spider-Man, but at least Marvel knows he has a much larger and more seasoned fan-base from which to draw a crowd.

A Black Widow movie has also been rumored, which could be cool. But after that nobody seems to know what Marvel plans to do after the Avengers finally hang ’em up for good.

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Will Natasha finally get her own solo movie?

To be fair, regardless of what happens down the line Marvel has had a pretty impressive run since their first foray into the movie industry back in 2008 with Iron Man. Very few studios, if any, can claim to have had as much success as the MCU has had over an entire lifetime, let alone its first decade. And if the MCU ultimately begins to fade into obscurity in the mid-2020s, I don’t think Feige & Co. should necessarily go home hanging their heads.

However, it will be interesting to see how they handle the situation with the Guardians franchise going forward as well as how they plan to keep the entire studio chugging along in the future. With a still-pretty-peeved cast – as evidenced by Bautista’s threat to ask Disney to release him from his contract if they don’t use Gunn’s script for the third movie – let’s hope it doesn’t get too difficult.

For now, we’ll all just need to continue to sit back and enjoy the ride for as long as we possibly can.

Robert Kraft Keeps His Stake in DraftKings as They Transition to Sports Book. Umm, Why Wouldn’t He?

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ESPN – Two prominent NFL owners have a stake in a bookmaker as the first season with expanded legal sports betting in the U.S. gets ready to kick off.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones have retained their investments in DraftKings, sources confirmed to ESPN, even as the company has shifted some of its focus from daily fantasy to traditional sports betting.

Umm yea, no kidding. Robert Kraft is no dummy. He realizes that his family stands to potentially make more money with DraftKings and legalized gambling than they could ever hope to make running a football team. While some want to straddle the fence as gambling is seen as “seedy” it is actually on the verge of being legalized in every state in the country. I can literally see the Everett casino being built from my office window in Boston.

“The NFL has been a staunch opponent of sports betting for decades and remains concerned about its impact on the integrity of the game. The NFL fought New Jersey’s efforts to offer Las Vegas-style sports betting all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

…..because they weren’t getting a cut of the action. The NFL was more than happy to promote and advertise “fake” gambling in the form of fantasy football over the past 15 years because it drove billions of dollars back into the NFL.

Now? Like a bookie, they want the juice on the action.

So for Kraft or Jerry Jones to cut bait now, just because DraftKings changed their position (and millions of dollars of lawyer fees arguing) from “We are NOT gambling” to now saying “um forget all that, we are NOW a sports book” is crazy. DK is going to only become exponentially more valuable with the influx of legalized gambling and I can imagine Kraft didn’t just buy a handful of shares. A guy like that jumped in with both feet and realizes how much money his family could earn in the long run. Thats a smart guy right there.

Also, I will never forget the look of disappointment in Papa Giorgi’s eyes when I told him that Robert Kraft did not actually earn his fortune running the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese empire, rather he made his money in paper products. It was like telling a kid theres no Santa Claus.

JD Martinez in Hot Water for an Old Instagram Post Quoting Hitler

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Boston Herald – Welcome, Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez, to the ever-expanding list of professional athletes whose social-media posts have been dug up, dusted off and placed on a pedestal for a fresh round of public examination. The problem this time is that we aren’t wringing our hands over decaying tweets from silly, uninformed teenagers who just happen to have ripened into big-league baseball players.

This time it’s an old Instagram post from a grown-up J.D. Martinez that uses Adolf Hitler to make a point about the evils of gun control. He posted it on Jan. 10, 2013. He was 25 years old, and soon to begin his third major-league season. It began making the rounds on Twitter on Sunday night, an old post with a fresh coat of paint and millions of new eyes.

The Instagram post includes a photo of Hitler with this quote, purportedly from Hitler in 1933: “To conquer a nation, First disarm it’s (sic) citizens.”  Martinez added his own commentary to the post: “This is why I always stay strapped! #thetruth”

Notttt a great look for Just Dingers Martinez here. I’m honestly surprised this hasn’t gotten more attention as it seems people have been tweeting about it for the past couple of days. Steve Buckley wrote about it in the Herald yesterday though, ripping JD, quite eloquently, for his abysmal knowledge of history.

“By almost all accounts, Hitler never uttered the words that were attributed to him in the Instagram post. He did, in the 1940s, make a comment that “the most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to permit the conquered eastern peoples to have arms.”

Hitler was referring to parts of Eastern Europe and Russia that he had already conquered, not to 1933 Germany. Applying the quote to 1933 suggests that Hitler and his thugs never would have come to power if only German citizens, Jews especially, had been able to use their guns to wipe out all the Nazis.

Crippled by economic chaos and a stunning loss of identity following World War I, Germans were left wanting for someone they believed could guide them out of the abyss. Along came Hitler, and millions of Germans were attracted to his message. They were not under gunpoint when they cheered Hitler at all those rallies.”

Now I despise the people that call for a guy’s job because of something he tweeted when he was 15 like we’ve seen time and time again and most recently with former top Red Sox prospect and current White Sox pitcher Michael Kopech. Are you really going to hold a guy to a joke he made before he could drive?

This JD IG is from when he was 25 though, which is a full blown adult. I’m not saying he needs to be placed on waivers, but its just a shocking lack of judgement from an adult let alone a professional athlete.

I’m sure the post is meant to be tongue in cheek, but Hitler is really one of the few things you should probably steer clear of. It’s why every athlete needs an “E” from Entourage to double check everything in their lives. A quick “hey you think I should gram this Hitler quote?” would have been shot down by anyone with a working brain.

So no, nobody needs to lose their job, but…

Alex Cora should just leave a history book in JD’s locker this week. No need to publicly flog the guy for an IG post, but probably a good opportunity to learn from a mistake and educate himself.

But Seriously, Have People Been Paying Attention to Kyrie Irving’s Shoe Game?

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I have become fascinated with sneaker culture over the past couple of years, mainly with the supply and demand of hot new releases. It started with Yeezys. Despite the fact that the majority of Kanye’s clothing line is essentially Derelicte; a fashion, a way of life inspired by the very homeless, the vagrants, the crack whores that make this wonderful city so unique.

Despite that, Yeezy sneakers are actually fire flames. At least the Yeezy Boosts…some of the other Yeezy sneakers look like they came out of the Steph Curry “Dad has to mow the Lawn 7’s” batch.

Kanye releases his sneakers a few times a year with enough to supply to nearly outfit a small high school. AKA not many. So its damn near impossible to get the shoes unless you buy on the secondary market for an exorbitant mark up, which I refuse to do. Defeats the purpose. It’s basically become a game. Find all the retailers that are going to have any Yeezys, what online outlets will have them, what contests you can enter, and then when Saturday morning arrives, open up 2 laptops, 2 iPhones, and a tablet and enter the online waiting room. I have yet to actually get past that goddamn waiting room to, ya know, buy a pair. But hey thats half the fun, battling the bots and other sneaker nerds to try and score some rare sneakers.

*whispers* I’ll see you September 21st

ANYWAYS, back to the blog about Kyrie and the hot, hot, heat he’s been wearing recently.

An injured man does not walk around with custom Lucky Charms sneakers. No this is the move of a man so cocky, so confident, he is just counting the days until the season starts so he can resume his reign as commander of the only NBA team that can legitimately claim “I got next.”

Only an asshole would sell shoes based on a children’s cereal out of the standard orange box by the way. Nay, you need something a little more elaborate than that.

The man legitimately released a “Cereal Pack” of sneakers with other kinds of breakfast snacks like Cinnamon Toast Crunch as the inspiration.

Hell, if you wanna go really meta, Kyrie even dropped his own Kix kicks.

Gotta have your Wheaties too, kids.

This is actually a sequel to some of the Celtics specific sneakers Kyrie was rocking last season.

So keep doing your thing Kyrie, and if you’re feeling generous The 300s is not against accepting donations in the form of shoes, because as the wise Deion Sanders once said:

Power Wins BIG3 Basketball Championship; Big Baby Gets Another Ring

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A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece on my experience at the BIG3 Basketball Tournament, when the still infantile league made its way to TD Garden for a one-night showing on August 3, and the overall verdict was a “thumbs up.”

(Seriously, though, if you’re a long-time NBA fan be sure to click the link above for some highlights and a nice trip down memory lane.)

As I said in the article, it was an entertaining night of basketball for a cheap price, and there were some pretty impressive performances across the board – including ones from former Celtics like Nate Robinson and Glen “Big Baby” Davis.

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On Friday night, Big Baby’s season ended on an even more impressive note, as his team Power won the league championship by beating 3’s Company 51-43.

Former Clippers and Warriors star Corey Maggette led the way for Power, as he scored 27 of the team’s 51 points on the night to go along with six rebounds. (I’m actually not surprised at all. I was SUPER bummed when Maggette sat out the night in Boston on August 3, because he was honestly one of the players I was most excited about seeing. I guess he sure as hell made up for it in this one, though.)

The 8 Best Players in Los Angeles Clippers History

Real talk: Maggette was nasty in his prime.

Big Baby was the only other player on the team to score in double-digits on the night, finishing with 10 points, one board, one block, and one steal.

Andre Emmett, whom I selected as one of my “All-Mattes BIG3 Super Squad” starters a month ago, made my pick look completely justified by putting up 24 points, 10 rebounds, and two assists, and it was his string of buckets toward the end of the game which finally made it a close contest. That is, until “Cat” Mobley iced away the game for Power, nailing one of his signature silky-smooth, fade-away jumpers for the win.

Other former NBA players like Quentin Richardson, Drew Gooden, Dahntay Jones, and Jason Maxiell played in the game as well.

Will this be the first thing mentioned around the water cooler on Monday? Probably not. Does anyone else you’ll hear from today even know the BIG3 championship took place on Friday night? Again, doubt it.

But then again, maybe they do…

Per Deadline.com, the BIG3 championship finished with some pretty decent ratings on Friday night. FS1 has already been carrying the action all season long, and it will most likely expand even more upon its coverage in 2019. While it still certainly has a long way to go, perhaps with more and more former NBA stars signing on (COME ON, KOBE! PLEASEEEEEE) we could see the league’s popularity increase significantly in due time.

Also particularly noteworthy is the fact that Nancy Lieberman, who currently serves as the head coach for Power, became the first woman ever to win a title in a men’s professional basketball league. This is after she already became just the second woman ever to become an NBA head coach when she joined the Sacramento Kings – for whom she still serves an assistant – back in 2015. Hats off to her and her continued ascension up the ranks.

For those looking to join in on the fun, you’ll have to wait until next year when the BIG3 tips off for its third season early next summer. In the meantime, be sure to keep checking in with The 300s for all basketball-related news, BIG3 and NBA included.

Eric Decker Announces Retirement. Who is Going to Catch Passes for the Patriots?

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Okay, now I’m officially nervous. Eric Decker announced his retirement last night and posted the following message on Instagram.

All training camp and preseason I’ve been saying don’t worry about the receiver depth and that the Patriots will figure out a way to patch everything together for the first month until Julian Edelman returns. Then Malcolm Mitchell got cut. Then Jordan Matthews got cut. Then Kenny Britt got cut. Then Eric Decker retired.

Shit.

People obviously weren’t as high on Decker as I was, but I viewed him as a proven veteran who could catch the ball, no more no less. He definitely struggled in his short stint with the Patriots though as he was dropping lots of passes.

I still think Decker would have been able to right the ship. Maybe he’s not blowing by guys off the line anymore, but you don’t just lose the ability to catch the ball overnight. And for a guy that had four 80+ catch seasons I would have given him the benefit of the doubt. But maybe the Pats saw the writing on the wall. With all the drops it looked like Decker may have been on the outside looking in on Brady’s circle of trust. Once that happens its hard to get back in.

Former players were saying that Decker was thinking too much as he was trying to digest the Patriots playbook and was thinking more about where he was supposed to be rather than just catching the ball. Well it would seem like Belichick was over it and was going to cut Decker, but gave him the option to “go out on his own terms” and retire instead, which is exactly what Decker did.

Well now the Patriots receiving corps looks like this:

  • Chris Hogan
  • Phillip Dorsett
  • Cordarrelle Patterson
  • Braxton Berrios
  • Devin Lucien
  • Riley McCarron
  • Paul Turner (aka Paul Turner the IT Guy, or “something called Paul Turner” as Big Jim Murray nicknamed him)
  • Matthew Slater

That is not exactly confidence inspiring. And no, bringing in Dez Bryant is not the solution here, but hell if I know what that answer is.

Not all these guys are even a lock to make the roster and Doug Kyed over at NESN thinks the Pats might only keep 4 receivers total, which includes special teams captain Matthew Slater, and just try to stay above water until Edelman returns from suspension.

I can’t say I’m okay with the Pats slotting in Matthew Slater as the No. 4 WR as we’ve all seen what Slater can(not) do as a pure receiver.

The Pats may just lean on the deep RB group that they have, but even half of those guys are dealing with injuries. Rex Burkhead has missed some time with a tear in his knee, although reports have said he’ll be able to play through it. First round pick Sony Michel remains sidelined with his own knee injury too. Suddenly the RB depth isn’t what it appeared to be a few weeks ago.

Belichick and co. seem to like what they have at the TE position with Rob Gronkowski, Dwayne Allen, and Jacob Hollister has made headlines this preseason for his play. So the Madden expert that I am would not be surprised to see a lot of James White screens and 2 and 3TE sets to start the season for the Patriots.

I honestly doubt the Pats bring in anyone from the FA scrap heap at this point in the season. They’re more likely to see who may be available on the trade block as they did last year with Phillip Dorsett. The hot rumor this past week has the Patriots eyeing Denver’s Demaryius Targaryen, er, Thomas. I would be fine with that if the price is right, plus he’s a big dude at 6’3″, but at $8.5M I can’t see Belichick taking that on as is.

We’ll see what the Patriots do, but either way its time to start battening down the hatches as the regular season kicks off Sunday, Sept. 9th at 1 pm.

The Falcons Continue Their Assault on Overpriced Concessions With $5 Craft Beers

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ESPN – After peeling back prices on some of their most popular items last year to unprecedented levels, the Atlanta Falcons are ready to shock the sports world again with a $5 craft beer.

The Falcons will sell the $5 craft beers at their regular-season games — starting Sept. 16 against the Panthers — and any home playoff games. The craft beer price, along with all other concession prices, will remain the same next February when Atlanta hosts Super Bowl LIII at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, despite the traditionally elevated concession prices at Super Bowls.

God bless Arthur Blank. We may have dropped years worth of 28-3 jokes on you and your franchise, but goddamn if the man doesn’t know how to please a broke cheap football fan.

Last year the Falcons made waves for slashing all their concessions prices to absurdly cheap levels, comparatively speaking. While having much lower prices than their peers, the Falcons are saying they did more business so it seems to be worth their while. Now they’re doubling down on that and will be selling craft beers for $5 a pop. That is insane.

When I go to games at Fenway, I go to the last beer vendor by the bleachers, which the same woman has worked at every game I’ve been to in the last decade, just so I can get the sweet sweet deal of a tallboy can for $11.50 instead of $10.50 for a 12 ounce Bud Light.

True story: I’m a huge craft beer guy. I never thought I’d turn into the beer snob, but here we are. My dad never drank anything, literally anything, other than Bud Light cans. So I was always a Bud Light guy, when I could spring for it, or some cheaper light beer like Busch when I wanted to get blind drunk for $22 bucks.

With the explosion of craft beer and breweries being the only bar I can actually bring my dog to without getting the cops called on me, I gradually started drinking more and more obscure shit.

Started with IPAs, dipped into Sours, discovered that Double and Triple IPAs are a thing and before we know it I’m three sheets to the wind off a handful of beers.

Downside to all of these mega alcoholic brews though is the fact that they are expensive as shit. College me would slap 29-year-old me in the fucking face if he witnessed what I did at the packy yesterday. Saw the brand new Nightshift Double IPA (I’m on the email list NBD) at the packy and audibly gasped when I read the price tag for a 4-pack of tallboys.

$18 dollars.  Eighteen Dollars for FOUR beers.

You’re goddamn right I bought those beers.

And now we sit here going through bank statements and credit card receipts wondering where all my money goes saying things like “well if I cancel Netflix and my car insurance I should be able to cover rent this month.”

Fucking millennials, man.

Foot Locker Continues to Dominate With This New Jayson Tatum Commercial

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First off, this commercial is a cold reminder that the Celtics’ future First Team All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum was born in NINETEEN NINETY EIGHT! Thats 1998 for those of you that never got through hooked on phonics.

Around the time I graduated from college I started realizing that the professional athletes I was rooting for were quickly becoming younger than me, I had crossed that final frontier. Which is also probably a legit reason for why I LOVE aging veterans, especially 41-year-old quarterbacks playing at an MVP level.

Well now Tatum, a guy that I have like 9 years on, is a slap in the face to the memory of my youth. This kid missed Dunkaroos, Beanie Babies, Nintendo 64,Tamagotchis, dial-up internet, Pokemon. The man missed POKEMON. My brain can’t even comprehend that level of FOMO.

So this commercial is another slam dunk for Foot Locker as they continue to be the most underrated shoe brand in America. Nike is sexy, Adidas has Yeezys, but Foot Locker always entertains the hell out of me.

Roll the highlights!

NBA Considers Three Rule Changes for 2018-19, and It’s All About the Offense, Baby

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Image result for nba shot clock

Bleacher Report – The NBA is reportedly exploring potential rule changes involving the shot clock and foul calls that would trigger a replay review.

Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the NBA competition committee is recommending resetting the shot clock to 14 seconds after offensive rebounds and expanding the definition of what constitutes a “hostile act” for the purpose of replay review. 

Wojnarowski added the NBA board of governors is likely to pass the rule changes at their meetings on Sept. 20-21 before going to the teams for approval. The measures will need two-thirds of the owners to approve in order to pass. 

Unlike the NFL, which has faced a lot of backlash for many of the rule changes they’ve implemented lately, what the NBA is trying to do here makes a lot of sense.

It’s pretty clear that the changes are being proposed in an effort to increase pace of play and promote more scoring chances for both teams on the floor each night.

First and foremost, decreasing the shot clock from 24 to 14 seconds after an offensive rebound should actually increase the amount of total shot attempts per game. Some may think that less time on the clock means less opportunity to take a shot, but in reality it’ll force teams to hoist it up more quickly, ultimately causing for more changes in possession and more opportunity for both sides to score the ball.

It’ll also force some of the old-school teams (i.e. San Antonio, Memphis) to get away from the traditional half-court style of play that seems to be becoming more and more extinct with each passing year. The NBA has been embracing the run-and-gun, fast-paced style of play for quite some time now, and teams that don’t start getting with the program are soon going to be left in the dust. Teams now need players at pretty much every position who can get out and run in transition (a la Golden State, Philadelphia, New Orleans, the Lakers), and who also display the ability to quickly adapt to abrupt changes in play. This rule change would only enhance the advantage those teams currently have.

tom cruise maverick GIF by Top 100 Movie Quotes of All Time

The rule is already in place in both the G League and the WNBA, and the NBA did actually experiment with the rule already in this year’s Summer League. Apparently the league was pleased with the results.

The expansion of what constitutes a clear-path foul will also only further aid transitional offense. No longer will the defender need to be between the offensive player and the basket to be in violation, as now the rule will penalize defenses from stopping the fast-break altogether. Per Wojnarowski:

Under the changes to the clear-path rule, a clear path to the basket would be in play in these three instances:

• “A personal foul is committed on any offensive player during his team’s transition scoring opportunity.”

• “When the foul occurs, the ball is ahead of the tip of the circle in the backcourt, no defensive player is ahead of the offensive player with the scoring opportunity and that offensive player is in control of the ball or a pass to him has been released.”

• “The defensive foul deprives the offensive team of a transition scoring opportunity.”

Finally, the league also wants to expand what constitutes a “hostile act” to now explicitly include interactions with referees and fans, instead of only concerning the players on the court. (I guess, even after all these years, the “Malice at the Palace” still weighs heavy on the mind of some NBA execs.)

My reaction to the news basically amounts to this:

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Do I think it’s going to significantly increase the score of each game? I mean, I guess we might actually see the average total score in a typical game go up a few notches. But does it really matter? Teams are already putting up ungodly offensive numbers every night, and I don’t think the Steph Currys or James Hardens of the world need more opportunity for extra buckets.

But if the goal is to promote pace of play and a more exciting product that keeps fans on the edge of their seats all game rather than being bogged down by sometimes painfully dull half-court, turtle-paced offenses then I guess that’s fine. (This ain’t Saturday morning pickup ball at the Y, people.)

We’ll likely have the official word on all three proposed changes by early October at the latest. For now, stay tuned.