Coming off a walkthrough on Monday, the New England Patriots turned the tempo and intensity up a notch on Tuesday. The two-hour session behind Gillette Stadium was the most competitive so far this training camp, and quite an eventful one.
To recap the action, please head over to the latest version of our Patriots training camp notebook. For who caught our eye, please keep reading.
WR Kayshon Boutte: Boutte continues to make big plays on a daily basis. On Tuesday, his biggest moment came when he caught a deep touchdown from Drake Maye during 11-on-11s. Lining up in his typical spot as an X-receiver, the fourth-year man was able to get a step on safety Kevin Byard on a go route and showed some tremendous ball tracking and concentration skills to complete the over-the-shoulder catch for a score of 40-plus yards.
It was not Boutte's only reception on the day. He also caught a throw from Maye over the middle during 7-on-7s and added pair of catches when backup Tommy DeVito targeted him on out routes. It was an active day for a player who, through four practices, has been New England's most impactful wide receiver.
QB Drake Maye: The Patriots' quarterback started a bit slowly and his connection with A.J. Brown remains a work in progress, but he overall had a good day — an encouraging development after struggling with accuracy during the last full-speed practice on Sunday. Maye got into a rhythm during 11-on-11s, finding Boutte on his long touchdowns and also connecting with Hunter Henry and Rhamondre Stevenson for long completions.

#maye #Patriots #boutte #please

This season will see a new version of Aston Villa under Unai Emery.
A 4-2 defeat to Real Sociedad on Tuesday will irritate their perfectionist head coach, but there is plenty of time for him to fine-tune the Europa League holders before the start of the new campaign.
With Brian Madjo, George Hemmings, Modou Cisse all likely to feature in the squad going forward there was still plenty to build on from the encounter against the La Liga side.
The display of teenage striker Madjo was one.
Villa are still awaiting the outcome of their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) as they try to register the England Under-17 international, who joined from Metz for £10m in January and does not turn 18 until January next year.

#still #aston

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Pirates fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
We have an interesting question for you this week. We are asking you to take a Pittsburgh Pirates player from the last 25 years and add them to this year's roster. The only catch is that our content management system only allows for six answers, so you are beholden to the six players that I selected.
Andrew McCutchen (MVP Version)
2013 NL MVP
Five straight All-Star selections

#only #pittsburgh

EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings have suspended defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander for three weeks without pay following a drunken driving charge for an incident earlier this year.
The Vikings announced the punishment Tuesday as they began training camp. Alexander's suspension began Friday and will be in effect until Aug. 13, two days before their first preseason game at the New York Giants.
"I take full responsibility for the situation I put myself in and apologize for not meeting the mark," Alexander said in a statement released by the Vikings. "I know it's unacceptable. I understand the suspension and am committed to learning from the matter and ensuring I come back a better version of myself."
Alexander, who was also given the ****** le of defensive passing game coordinator, was hired in February to replace Daronte Jones, who became defensive coordinator of the Washington Commanders.
According to Hennepin County court records, Alexander pled guilty July 16 to a gross misdemeanor charge of third degree driving while impaired for refusal to submit to a chemical test. A fourth degree driving while impaired charge was dismissed. He was sentenced to 48 hours of community service, placed on two years of unsupervised probation and fined $603.

#defensive #began #suspension #coordinator

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's 'Double Nickel' plan would freeze property taxes at 55, saving roughly 3.3 million homeowners $950 a year.
No-income-tax states like Florida and Tennessee are most likely to adopt similar policies, while high-tax states like New Jersey may pursue means-tested versions.
Homeowners near 55 should check existing county exemptions they may already qualify for and file appraisal protests before any new legislation passes.
Two retirees, same $1 million, same 4% rule, buy one finished with $1.4 million, the other hit $0 in 12 years. Our free reader guide explains the flaw that separated them, and the income-first method built to avoid it.
Texas is floating a proposal that could reshape how millions of homeowners think about turning 55. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick's "Double Nickel" plan would drop the qualifying age for a homestead property-tax freeze from 65 to 55, giving eligible homeowners an extra decade of protection from rising tax bills. The idea is being studied ahead of the 2027 legislative session in a state where property taxes supply 40.7% of state and local tax revenue and the effective rate on owner-occupied homes is 1.40%. That raises a fair question for homeowners elsewhere: Could this spread?

#million #double

A version of this article originally appeared in Quartz's members-only Weekend Brief newsletter. Quartz members get access to exclusive newsletters and more. Sign up here.
A few years ago, the closest most people could get to a buzzy, private company like **** eX was reading about it in the news.
Not anymore. In 2026, there are more ways in, and George got tired of just reading about it.
"I like tech, I like **** e," he said.
The Los Angeles-based entertainment professional, who asked to use a pseudonym, put $150,000 into a **** eX special purpose vehicle (SPV) on Hiive, a marketplace that sells accredited investors access to private companies. He added $45,000 into xAI, which later got folded into the **** eX position. By the start of July, the stake was worth $750,000. It's still locked up, with Hiive telling him they're still working out when that ends.

#members #still #brief

When the New York Jets acquired Geno Smith this offseason, the conversation immediately shifted to the quarterback. Would they get the version who revitalized his career in Seattle Seahawks? Or would they inherit the one who struggled with turnovers during his lone season with the Las Vegas Raiders?
Those are fair questions. They just may not be the most important ones. As training camp opens, the Jets' ceiling on offense could depend less on which version of Smith takes the field and more on how offensive coordinator Frank Reich builds the offensive attack around him.
Quarterbacks often receive the credit when an offense succeeds and the blame when it doesn't. While that's part of playing the position, football has repeatedly shown that coaching, scheme and supporting talent can dramatically influence a quarterback's production.
So, here's where Reich enters the picture. The veteran coach inherits an offense featuring an experienced quarterback, a dynamic running back in Breece Hall, an emerging No. 1 receiver in Garrett Wilson and a pair of intriguing young tight ends in Kenyon Sadiq and Mason Taylor. The offensive line also appears more stable than it has in recent years, giving Reich more flexibility than many first-year coordinators enjoy.
The challenge isn't **** embling talent. It's finding the best way to maximize it.

#offensive #version #geno

Our ***** ysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here.
Management attributed strong top and bottom-line growth to aggressive new account wins and share gains rather than market recovery, which remains largely absent.
The Paint Stores Group outperformance was driven by Protective and Marine momentum in data centers and semiconductor infrastructure, offsetting persistent weakness in new residential markets.
Commercial segment gains are the result of a 24-month targeted strategy to capture market share in an underlying environment that remains soft.
Performance Coatings growth across all regions was led by heavy equipment and packaging, specifically benefiting from customer conversions to BPA-free solutions.

#Growth #Share #management #paint

Few things in life are certain beyond death, taxes, and Tadej Pogacar winning the Tour de France. This year's Grande Boucle went almost entirely as expected, offering few real surprises or diversions from the status quo, as the marauding Slovenian won another five stages en route to his record-equalling fifth ****** le.
His place in the pantheon of greats had already been cemented and there are few superlatives left to describe his grip on the sport. He is now equal with cycling legends in the form of Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain on five wins; his 26 stage wins leave him nine off the record of Mark Cavendish, who will be wishing he'd postponed retirement by another year or two.
There could have been more had Pogacar not opted to babysit young teammate Isaac del Toro to a stage win, third place on the podium, and the best young rider's jersey too. Pogacar is able to win at will but sometimes seems happier in the role of world's most powerful domestique; perhaps the only thing holding him back from an unprecedented sixth ****** le is whether he can muster the enthusiasm for it. At 27, he is younger than all of his fellow five-time winners were and will be in his prime for a while yet.
But while the Pogacar era looks set to continue for some time, the post-Pogacar era already looks to be one to savour. Those left cold by the two-time world champion's iron grip on the sport can set a reminder to tune in in a couple of seasons' time, or perhaps as early as this autumn's Vuelta, should Pogacar skip it – as expected – to target a third rainbow jersey.
Pogacar seemed to enjoy helping del Toro as much if not more than winning stages (AP)

#pogacar

Global equities ended last week little changed in local currency and up 0.6% in sterling terms. This continued the choppy pattern of recent weeks with markets currently down 1.5-2% from their peak in early June. The US underperformed with a gain of 0.3% in sterling terms while the UK and emerging markets were both up around 1.3%.
Meanwhile, government bonds in the US and UK both lost 0.5% with yields re-testing their highs in early May. 10-year UK gilt yields tested 5.1% while US yields reached 4.7%, before retreating a bit.
The war with Iran was centre stage with renewed attacks by both sides and Trump once again upping his threats. The new ingredient this time was that concerns were not limited to the Strait of Hormuz but extended to the Bab El Mandeb Strait with the Houthis exchanging blows with Saudi Arabia and threatening to close the waterway.
The importance of this new chokepoint is two-fold. First, it threatens Saudi's ability to divert via its pipeline a good part of its oil production to the Red Sea rather than the Strait of Hormuz. Second, it poses a threat to container traffic more generally which use the Suez Canal to avoid a long and costly diversion around the African coast.
Oil duly moved back up to $100 per barrel mid-week from a low of close to $70pb all of three weeks ago. But it is back down to $88pb this morning as negotiations between the US and Iran started up once again over the weekend, easing fears of a major escalation. However, this morning, Iran said it is not seeking new peace talks, so the confusion continues.
Even so, the fact remains that Trump appears to have chickened out yet again – be it because the hike in oil prices has pushed US gasoline prices back above $4 per gallon, the rise in US Treasury yields has caused concerns or because, as has been reported, the US lacks the necessary munitions.

#strait #back #sterling

Every ball counts. It is a slogan made for The Hundred competition - the pyrotechnic-charged, music-pumping version of cricket bankrolled by billionaires.
It is a world away from what you get on the fringes of the professional game, where first-class cricket meets well-manicured English village grounds that so often host second XI matches.
At least, you would think so.
For some, playing for the 'twos' is a tightrope cricketing existence and a last shot at trying to make it as a professional. Every ball really could count.
But unlike The Hundred, where top earner Harry Brook will pocket £465,000 for a month's work, some second XI players on trial runs with County Championship sides are rocking up to play in matches on the UK daily minimum wage of just over £100, with a little more on top for expenses.

#matches

Glasgow hosts a slimmed-down version of the Commonwealth Games as athletes from 74 nations and territories compete for gold in the Scottish city.
Glasgow stepped in after the Australian state of Victoria backed out three years ago due to the cost of hosting the Games.
The 10-sport programme, including six Para sports, will feature athletics, gymnastics, cycling and swimming - and will take place across four Glasgow venues.
The 11,000-spectator Scotstoun Stadium will stage the athletics as well as the biggest home star of the Games, new mile world record holder Josh Kerr.
The Games will be shown live across TNT Sports and HBO Max, rather than on the BBC or terrestrial television.

#across #para

A single first RMD can push a retiree two IRMAA brackets higher, jumping Medicare Part B premiums from $203 to $406 per month.
IRMAA brackets work as cliffs, meaning that crossing a threshold by even $1 triggers the full surcharge for the entire year based on income from two years prior.
Qualified Charitable Distributions and pre-RMD Roth conversions are the primary tools retirees use to reduce IRMAA exposure before distributions begin.
Two retirees, same $1 million, same 4% rule, buy one finished with $1.4 million, the other hit $0 in 12 years. Our free reader guide explains the flaw that separated them, and the income-first method built to avoid it.
The standard 2026 Medicare Part B premium is $202.90 a month, up from $185.00 in 2025, and for most beneficiaries, that number is the whole story. For a retiree who took his first Required Minimum Distribution in December and watched it land on top of his other income, the figure that arrived from Social Security was different: $405.80 a month. Same coverage, same doctors, two brackets higher on the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount schedule.

#first #part

Chris Paul recalls the shock he felt from Victor Wembanyama's past as an academy player originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
During one year with the San Antonio Spurs, Chris Paul became a valuable mentor for his younger teammates. He was by far the oldest player on the roster, so he was naturally the leader the players turned to for advice.
The biggest beneficiaries of that were the youngsters from the 2024-25 Spurs team: Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle. In fact, Wembanyama always hung out with Paul, as they even went to France to train. Wemby himself told Paul about his past as an academy player, which left Paul gobsmacked.
As a player who grew up in the United States, Paul had an established path to the NBA. That is playing through high school, getting recruited to play college basketball, and then getting drafted to the NBA. That has been a long-standing path to the league, but the rise of international players has shown there are other ways to reach the NBA.
For a long time, European players have made their way to becoming top players by grinding it out in the EuroLeague and other leagues around the world. In recent years, many European players have gone through the academy system, which helps develop younger athletes to become the best versions of themselves.

#players

The San Diego Padres are conducting an exercise in "pitching chaos," and it's something of a last ditch effort. It's the ultimate version of desperation, perhaps, but it's also all they have.
Their most recent predecessors in this are the Detroit Tigers, who did it back to 2024, and they used an two-man rotation along with an ****** ortment of pitching flotsam and jetsam to make the postseason.
"I think they showed it's possible to do," said manager Craig Stammen, who actually opened a handful of games for the Padres earlier this decade, in a piece written by Dennis Lin of The Athletic. "Will we try to replicate that? Maybe some version of that, on some nights."
The Padres' pair of starters is Michael King and Walker Buehler, and Buehler has had more than his share of shaky outings. Bullpen coach Ben Fritz basically pre-scripts most of the games together with pitching coach Ruben Niebla, and they're hunting matchups while trying to limit exposure.
"Looking at personnel, looking at who you have and how we maximize our chances, we'd be foolish to not try something different," Fritz said.

#pitching #looking #games #diego

A white wedding dress isn't always the first choice for brides: Several stars have taken a less traditional route for their wedding look, opting instead for a black outfit.
Chloë Sevigny first wed her husband, Siniša Mačković, in a black midi dress for their civil ceremony in 2020, before hosting a larger celebration two years later. Meanwhile, Shenae Grimes-Beech intentionally chose a black ballgown for her 2013 wedding to Josh Beech to showcase an elevated version of her everyday style.
Sarah Jessica Parker picked a black wedding dress when she married Matthew Broderick in 1997. While the iconic gown sparked a bridal trend, the **** and the City actress told Marie Claire in 2006 that she chose black to draw attention away from herself.
"I was too embarrassed to get married in white, and both Matthew and I were reluctant to have people pay so much attention to us," she said. "Which is ridiculous, because that's when you can relish the attention, when it's natural."
Here are eight celebrities who wore black wedding dresses.

#dress #married

Kelly Ripa playfully teased her husband, Mark Consuelos, after recalling a hilarious anecdote during the July 24 episode of LIVE! The couple discussed a time when they visited their daughter, Lola, at summer camp in Maine.
The ABC host shared that parents were asked to join their children in the camp's "snake lake." "I keep going back to the time Lola was at summer camp," said Kelly.
"You had to be the swim parent to get in the snake lake. Cause there were snakes in the lake, and I simply refused. And all the other moms refused too. And we were like, look, look, we've done everything else for this camp, 'You're getting in the lake.'"
The couple couldn't contain their laughter (ABC)
Mark then shared his version of events. "So, yeah, it was all the dads did this. All the dads did this with their kids, when we went to visit Lola in Maine, and I had been racing on a bike team for a couple years at that point. And so my legs were bigger, like your quads just get big," he explained.

#couple

Call it a B-spec, call it a heavily revised AMR26, call it whatever you want – what Aston Martin rolled out at the Hungaroring for the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix is, by any reasonable engineering standard, a new Formula 1 car. Sixteen separate components were declared upgraded, mechanics broke FIA curfew to get both cars fitted in time, and the team reportedly flew spare parts to Budapest just to guarantee Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll could each run the full package. That is not a development update. That is a rebuild.
The backstory is by now well-documented and not particularly flattering. Adrian Newey didn't get serious work underway on the AMR26 until mid-March 2025, and the wind tunnel didn't see a model until mid-April – three months behind rivals who were already deep into the new regulatory cycle. The car that arrived at pre-season testing in Barcelona was overweight, paddock insiders estimated by somewhere between 10 and 15 kilograms, maybe more, and the Honda power unit was generating vibrations severe enough to rattle onboard cameras loose and leave Alonso and Stroll visibly fighting the steering wheel.
At the Australian opener, Alonso qualified 2.462 seconds off the pace. Both cars retired when the vibrations damaged the battery systems. It went largely sideways from there – one point across the opening ten rounds, tenth of eleven teams in the constructors' standings, behind only the expansion Cadillac outfit.
The nose is the clearest sign of how deep the changes go. Where the original AMR26 carried a wide, blunt front structure, the Hungary version features a noticeably thinner, more tapered profile – the kind of slender nose Newey has favoured since his early Red Bull years. That change alone cascades through the entire front end: new uprights, revised aerodynamic ducting, changed actuator mounting, and a completely reworked front wing with reshaped endplates. Per Newey, the forward section of the chassis was lightened to the point that it required a full re-homologation and fresh crash testing – which, depending on your definition, crosses the threshold from upgrade to new car.
Newey himself occupies both sides of that argument simultaneously. "The main structural elements remain the same – the chassis and gearbox architecture don't fundamentally change – but we've taken weight out of both, which required re-homologating and crash testing the forward chassis," he said. So: same architecture, new crash test. Make of that what you will.

#call #stroll

Barcelona have largely not had to enter the transfer window to sign superstars in recent seasons, due to the immense talent coming through La Masia.
Although the club also had their hands tied by their financial situation, it coincided with one of the best golden generations the academy has produced.
Among the flag-bearers of this golden generation is Marc Bernal. He is increasingly being viewed as one of Barcelona's most important long-term projects.
There is growing belief inside the club that the teenage midfielder can become the natural successor in the holding role that has lacked a permanent owner since Sergio Busquets left.
According to SPORT, Bernal is regarded as Barcelona's version of Rodri, a midfielder capable of controlling games from the base of midfield and becoming the foundation of both Barça and Spain for years to come.

#bernal #golden #although #busquets

Key takeaway: The Columbus, Ohio, company completed the Cadence system conversion in late June, which should serve as a springboard to higher growth in the third and fourth quarters, executives said.
Supporting data: The conversion gives Huntington much more control over and insight into more than 1.4 million deposit accounts acquired from Cadence.
Expert quote: "This was the largest conversion we've ever done. It was the fastest we've ever done, and it was the best we've done, at least in my tenure." — Huntington Chairman and CEO Steve Steinour
While higher funding costs left their mark on Huntington Bancshares' second-quarter results, the Columbus, Ohio-based company is forecasting a strong finish to 2026 now that its most recent merger-related conversion is complete.
Business should pick up in the third quarter before peaking during the final three months of 2026, Chief Financial Officer Zach Wasserman said Thursday on a conference call with **** ysts.

#conversion #huntington #we 've

In this episode of Behind the Ticker, Brad Roth, CIO of Thor Financial Technologies, chats with Young Jae Lee, Senior Investment Manager at Pictet ******* et Management about what traditional emerging market ETFs capture, what they don't, and why the Pictet Emerging Markets Rising Economies ETF (RISE) offers true diversification.
Prefer to watch this conversation? You can do that here or on our YouTube channel.
Emerging markets ETFs are secretly tech bets. The top five holdings in the MSCI EM benchmark mirror the top five in the S&P 500 almost sector-for-sector. Buy traditional EM ETFs and you're really just doubling down on the same tech risk.
Pictet's new ETF, RISE, kicks out the biggest names in EM. It excludes Korea, Taiwan, and China entirely, even though those three countries make up more than 70% of the standard benchmark. The bet: real emerging-market exposure means growing working-age populations, not aging economies riding on legacy index weight.
Demographics are EM's version of AI. Borrowing from the Solow Growth Model, Young Jae Lee argues population growth is what actually drives GDP in developing markets like India, Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico. That demographic engine deserves the same portfolio spotlight in EM allocations that AI gets in US ones.

#traditional #market

LeBron James, as you would expect for one of the greatest athletes in history, had a long list of options this summer.
In Cleveland, he had a play for the romantics. It was a return home to where it started, a return home to where he won his most historically significant ****** le, a guaranteed victory lap no matter what happened in his final year(s) with the Cavaliers.
In Miami, he had familiarity. This was the only place where he had won multiple ****** les, in a market that isn't quite as challenging to its stars, with a lead star in Giannis who could lead the team himself.
Even in Golden State, where he'd have to convince longtime rival fans to embrace him as Steph Curry's partner, there would be no real burden of expectation. The prospect of LeBron with the Warriors had been referred to as an NBA version of the Expendables — a box office draw with familiar faces, but removed from the primes of all involved.
"There were only three real choices," a source familiar with LeBron's thinking told PHLY on Friday night. "The draw of Golden State was just about how fun it would be to play with Steph and Dray."

#lebron #golden #real

Tonight's A's starter is 28-year-old lefty Jacob Lopez. He throws a low-90s fastball, a slider, cutter, change and sinker. When he fools hitters, he's good at minimizing hard contact, but he doesn't fool them often enough and he walks a lotta guys, which equals a 6.64 ERA (and 5.77 FIP) for this season.
The reasons the A's left Oakland are complex, but here's the very simple version: John Fisher is a useless failson s**theap who wants as much public money as he can possibly get, because he sucks.
The slightly longer version? The Oakland Coliseum was an old-ish building in poor repair (several instances of raw sewage in the dugouts, a much cuter invasion of feral cats), and — more importantly — featured very little in the way of luxury/premium seating. The team had wanted a new building since at least 2001, and had floated the idea of leaving the city altogether but staying in the Bay Area. A notion of moving to San Jose (40 miles away) was nixed by the Giants, who had territorial rights there; one of moving to to Fremont (25 miles away) was nixed by the city of Fremont.
The A's signed a 10-year lease renewal in 2014, with the understanding that the team would seek a new stadium in the same county as Oakland. The team proposed several dumb, greedy ideas which were shot down, and eventually useless failson Fisher got his heart set on part of Oakland's Howard Terminal. The city was half willing to work with him on that one, since they had their own ideas about redeveloping the area, but there were significant problems including interference with other industries, infrastructure costs, environmental concerns, inevitable sea level rise, and so on.
Still, when the city and the team were only about $100 million apart on a $12 billion project, the deal fell apart in 2023. Useless failson Fisher announced he would be moving the team to Las Vegas. There's lots of details behind this, but the best explanation came from the then-mayor's chief of staff: "I don't think he [Fisher] got cold feet. I think he got an accountant."

#oakland #city #useless #fremont

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., came under fire after claiming the House-passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would "merge parts of our military with the Israel Defense Forces," drawing accusations that she distorted what the legislation actually does.
The fight centers on Section 219 of the House-passed National Defense Authorization Act, a provision that calls for deeper U.S.-Israel defense integration through expanded cooperation on military technology, supply chains, research, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and joint exercises.
On Wednesday, the House passed its version of the FY2027 NDAA in a 219-206 vote, leaving Section 219 intact.
But ahead of the vote, Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X that the NDAA "includes a provision to merge parts of our military with the IDF."
The Us-israel Strategic Alliance – Partnership, Not Charity

#passed #national #authorization

No, Caitlin Clark is not in the 2026 WNBA 3-point contest.
The Indiana Fever star was not among the participants the league announced Tuesday, July 21 for Friday's contest at All-Star weekend in Chicago. Clark declined her invitation, USA TODAY first reported. No reason was given.
Clark was not the only player to decline. Minnesota's Kayla McBride also turned down an invitation, according to ESPN.
Reigning champion Sabrina Ionescu is also not taking part, saying she was not invited. The New York Liberty star's 37-point round remains the highest score in the event's history, including the NBA version.
Clark will still be in the main event on Saturday, July 25. She drew 1,023,321 fan votes, second-most in the league, and will captain Team Spoon, named after Hall of Famer Teresa Weatherspoon, in the All-Star Game at 8:30 p.m. ET at the United Center.

#clark #star #july #contest

Editor's note: Get live updates on LeBron James joining the Philadelphia 76ers here.
Having LeBron James as a teammate must feel like winning the lottery.
Philadelphia 76ers guard VJ Edgecombe seemed pretty stoked after the NBA's all-time scorer announced he was joining the team with a two-year, $8 million contract on Friday, July 24.
Edgecombe, who won the Rising Stars Challenge MVP award at this year's NBA All-Star festivities, posted the celebration to his Instagram stories shortly after the news broke. He shared a photo of himself holding his hand to his head looking up at the camera smiling in the same way as James' famous "Smiling through it all! Can't believe this my life" Instagram story.
After James made the original post in 2018, the pool photo and caption instantly became a meme. His son Bryce also posted a version of the photo in 2024.

#Instagram

The Boston Celtics Las Vegas Summer League team was better than you think. Or at least that is the point of view of the hosts of the "First to the Floor" podcast, Jake Issenberg, Ben Vallis, and Wayne Spooney, who took some time on a recent episode of their show to take a look back at the Sin City Celtics and what they managed to put together in the NBA's annual summer exhibition series.
They get into the pleasant surprises of rookies Chris Cenac Jr. and Dillon Mitchell, as well as the bigger role taken on by second-year forward Hugo Gonzalez. They even get into some of the deeper cuts of the unsigned standouts with the Summer Celtics.
Take a look at the clip embedded below to hear what they had to say about why this version of the Sin City Celtics was better than their final record might have made you think.
Listen to "Havlicek Stole the Pod" on:
Blue Wire: https://tiny.ee/CdKp

#celtics

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson's ranking in the NFL Network list of the league's top 100 players caught the eye of head coach Jesse Minter.
Jackson is ranked 69th on the list, which is compiled by a vote of players. Jackson was No. 2 on 2025's list and the two-time MVP’s drop was noticed by plenty of other people as well.
During an appearance on the team's The Lounge podcast, Minter said that he had an "interesting back and forth" with the quarterback about a ranking that he feels is at odds with how things actually look on the field.
"Look, there may not even be one other player in the league better than Lamar, yet alone 68 players in the league better than Lamar," Minter said. "When you have one year where he dealt with a little bit of injury and the team [missed the playoffs], certain players they hold onto that and certain players they give them the benefit of the doubt. This guy is a multi-MVP winner, has transcended the quarterback position. He knows how I feel about him. I guess I don't put too much stock into what the list looks like."
Minter said he doesn't think Jackson puts much stock into the rankings either and suggested the quarterback just focus on being himself because he has "proven over time that the best version is the best player in the league." If he makes the case for that again in 2026, Minter's first season in Baltimore should play out pretty well.

#list #jackson #ranking

With the IBF world light-middleweight ******* le in his possession, Josh Kelly feels "it's a different version of me" since he dethroned Bakhram Murtazaliev as he promised to "put on a show" in his maiden defence against Caoimhin Agyarko on Saturday.
Kelly had to bide his time for his opportunity, but the silky 32-year-old from Sunderland grabbed it with both hands with a majority points decision verdict against the Russian in January, improving to 18 wins with one defeat and one draw.
In some ways, 29-year-old Belfast challenger Agyarko has followed a similar path, enjoying big promotional backing in spells under the Queensberry and Matchroom banners, but was cut adrift by the latter following what was then a career-best win over Troy Williamson in 2023.
Both men will walk to the ring in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on the undercard of Anthony Joshua's heavyweight return against Kristian Prenga fully aware of how tough it has been to get to this stage.
Kelly, who had to rebuild from a 2021 defeat by David Avanesyan, has rattled off eight successful wins, culminating in his ******* le victory over Murtazaliev in Newcastle, dropping the champion in the fourth before coming through a late storm and surviving his own 11th-round trip to the canvas.

#year #wins #defeat #caoimhin

SPY's 8.82% early-2026 slide let IRA holders convert shares at a lower taxable value, sheltering the entire rebound inside a Roth permanently.
Filling the 22% bracket during a dip and paying conversion taxes from a taxable account moves every share into the Roth intact.
Since 2018, conversions cannot be undone, and large ones can trigger IRMAA surcharges or push long-term capital gains into a higher rate.
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If you have a traditional IRA or an old 401(k), the IRS runs a quiet sale every time the market dips. It is baked into how the tax code prices a Roth conversion: you pay ordinary income tax on the dollar value of what you move, on the day you move it. When your portfolio is down, that bill shrinks even though your share count does not.

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