Martin Lawrence Talks 'Bad Boys 3'

Last night on Conan, Martin Lawrence indicated that things are actually moving on with Bad Boys 3: “I just talked to Jerry Bruckheimer yesterday and he said it's real, they’re working on the script. They’re getting close to this, and it all looks good.” That sound pretty affirmative, considering Bad Boys 3 has been happening (and then not happening) for several years now — it was reported in 2009 that Peter Craig (The Town) was "working on the script." 

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Movie Set For July 2016 Release

I still love the pink power ranger.... #90s

If this summer’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot wasn’t enough to whet your 90’s nostalgia appetite, a second course is just a year and a half away. Lionsgate has announced that it will release the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers movie on July 22, 2016.

Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller (Thor) wrote the script based on a story by Robert Orci (Star Trek) that reinvents the tale of ordinary high school kids who possess the power to save the world. The color-coordinated crime fighters first jump-kicked into the national consciousness with a 1993 Fox Kids TV series, and just two years later Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie hit screens.

Oakland Raiders Have League Support To Find New Stadium

Raiders and Rams will both be back in LA by 2018... #donedeal 

  by Vincent Frank

This is likely going to be a weekly story around the Bay Area until the Oakland Raiders decide to either stay in Northern California or relocate. According to Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle, Raiders owner Mark Davis is apparently ramping up efforts to relocate the franchise. 

Raiders owner Mark Davis is stepping up his efforts to find a new stadium elsewhere. And it appears he has the NFL’s support, according to league sources.

The premise of this report is an indication from people close to the situation that there has been no progress in talks between the Raiders and the city of Oakland. Tafur goes on conclude that there will not be any further lease-extension negotiations between the Raiders and O.co Coliseum, which expires at the end of this season.

This comes on the heels of Raiders officials, Davis included, meeting with the powers to be in San Antonio back in July. While some have concluded that the visit was nothing more than a ploy to ramp up negotiations in Oakland, this latest news that Davis isn’t interested in an extension at O.co could very well tell us a different story.

In reality, a relocation to San Antonio is extremely unlikely at this point. Instead, the idea of the Raiders moving back to Los Angeles seems to be gaining steam. They practiced this week with the Dallas Cowboys in Southern California, at which point Davis spoke to reporters with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and mogul Michael Ovitz, who is a proponent of the Raiders moving to Los Angeles and has a stadium model already set forth.

The possibility of a new stadium being bult in Oakland just isn’t there right now. As Tafur reported, Oakland Councilman Larry Reid indicated that a $600 million funding gap existed for a football-only stadium in the city.

So here we are, one step closer to the Raiders moving out of Oakland. And it could very well happen following the upcoming 2014 season. If so, an announcement of some sort would have to be made within the next few months in order for the logistics to work out.

 Yardbarker | Source

Kansas City Chiefs Buddy Up To Local Tribes

by Barry Petchesky

Whether it be for self-preservation or just out of an admirable instinct to do the right thing, the Kansas City Chiefs are making a concerted effort to solicit local Native groups' input into their pageantry and traditions. What a concept.

The Chiefs' moves, chronicled in this Kansas City Star piece (via PFT), are obviously being made in the context of the disaster that is Washington's relationships with tribal groups, which tend to be either adversarial or financially beneficial. But this isn't nearly the same situation; "Chiefs" isn't in itself an offensive word. It's a title, not a dictionary-defined slur based on skin color. But to get out in front of any potential backlash over the use of Native imagery, team executives meeting with local groups to get a sense of potential concerns before they become national issues.

Sometimes it's just as simple as asking for advice:

At the risk of oversimplifying a complicated and sensitive issue, there's a worthwhile example with the war drum used by the Chiefs at home games.

There's a chance you haven't given that drum a second thought. The Chiefs brought it back when "opening" the renovated stadium four years ago as part of a challenge from Donovan to reconnect with some old traditions. As it turned out, they found the actual drum used at Municipal Stadium. They've had celebrities like George Brett and Tom Watson bang the drum to get fans going on game day.

Well, the war drum represents something very different than crowd hype to a lot of American Indians. The Chiefs didn't mean to offend anyone with this, of course. They just didn't know. They could have used some guidance, and this is one of the points [president of the American Indian Center of the Great Plains John] Learned made to [Chiefs president Mark] Donovan and [VP of business operations Bill] Chapin.

"I told Mark, 'I could've helped you with this,'" Learned says.

Learned suggested the Chiefs go to a local tribe, with respect, and ask for a real drum to be made. Bring that drum to Arrowhead. Have a blessing. Show your fans this is something very sacred to Indians. Help them understand why you're doing this. Have men from the tribe come in and play a real hymn and sing.

"I think a lot of Natives would embrace that, because you came to us and asked a good way of doing it and your fans would learn something," Learned says. "We would like to teach about our culture. The Chiefs have the opportunity to teach this, and everybody wins. … The Chiefs are making money off Native American icons. So, yes, it's a two-way street."

Be more like the Blackhawks! Be less like Dan Snyder. (This is good advice in general.) Cultural appropriation isn't inherently bad, but it tends to be when it's done unilaterally and without even the most basic effort to make sure you have things right.

NBA Extends All Star Break To A Week

NBA players, particularly the ones that get into the All-Star Game, have asked for this for a while — a longer mid-season break to rest their bodies and recharge for the home stretch and the playoffs.

They got it.

As has been rumored, there will be a week-long All-Star break around the mid-season game in New York this year with a break from Feb. 12-19, the NBA revealed when it released the schedule Wednesday afternoon. Most teams and players will have a little more than that, eight or nine days off around the Feb. 15 All-Star Game in New York.

If you think that means things will be quiet around the NBA guess again — that is the time of the trade deadline. That’s what everybody really wants to talk about in February anyway, now there just won’t be any of those pesky games to get in the way of trade rumors.

The longer break is something a lot of coaches and players wanted. NBA players union president Chris Paul specifically had talked about. Players voted in by fans or picked by coaches complained they really didn’t get time off — they would play Wednesday or Thursday, fly to the city of the game, have mandatory events Friday, Saturday and the game Sunday, then fly back Monday for a Tuesday game (or at least practice). More than the physical side of it, there was a feeling there was no mental break. 

Now everybody gets a week to let the bumps and bruises of the season heal for a week, preparing for the stretch drive.

The league is considering this an experiment — they will try it for a year and go from there.

This is something the players have wanted, but if you think the owners aren’t going to bring it up and ask for a little something back during the next CBA negotiations you haven’t been paying attention.

Source 

ESPN Suspends Max Kellerman For Talking About Ray Rice And Domestic Abuse

by Sean Newell

According to the New York Daily News, ESPN has suspended Max Kellerman from his ESPN radio and SportsNation duties until next Thursday because he spoke on-air about his experience with domestic abuse while discussing Ray Rice's own experience.

Much like with Stephen A. Smith, ESPN never says the word "suspension," but it's clearly the case.

ESPN would neither confirm nor deny Kellerman's suspension. In a statement issued Friday afternoon and ESPN spokesman said: "Max Kellerman will return to ESPN-LA Radio and 'SportsNation' on Thursday."

On Monday, nearly a week after Stephen A. was suspended, Kellerman was on the "Mason & Ireland" show—a lead-in to his own on ESPN-LA—and discussed battering his then-fiancée and now wife of 20 years. He told a story where they both got drunk, she slapped him, and he slapped her back. It was briefly available on a podcast, but was later pulled from the site.

On Friday, ESPN suspended Kellerman, but not because he admitted to hitting his partner. He was suspended because ESPN higher-ups wanted to avoid this kind of discussion on the air, and specifically told on-air talent to tread carefully.

Industry sources said while the content of his story was disturbing, the suspension was all about Kellerman, who once worked for ESPN New York Radio, not adhering to ESPN brass' warning concerning the Rice topic being a highly sensitive one. "My understanding is that it was part of a larger conversation ESPN had with all its on-air people," a radio industry source said. "Kellerman obviously didn't pay attention."

While the topic became even more charged after Smith's remarks and suspension, ESPN personalities were warned to measure and consider their commentary as soon as Rice's two game suspension was handed down by commissioner Roger Goodell.

So Kellerman either ignored the directive altogether or measured and considered his story and decided it was OK to discuss. ESPN, then, is suspending him for insubordination and not necessarily because he said something offensive.

Of further note, that directive to "measure and consider their commentary" as soon as Goodell suspended Rice is curious. Was that specifically meant to address commentary on domestic violence, or did it also apply to commentary on the NFL's reaction to domestic violence?

ESPN suspends Max Kellerman for inappropriate conversation on Ravens RB Ray Rice and domestic violence [NYDN]

Ranking College Football’s 15 Most Difficult Schedules In 2014

 

by Matt Lombardi, Yardbarker.com

Given both the postseason structure and the fact that not all conferences are created equal, it’s often very hard to predict which college football teams are going to put together championship-caliber seasons. A team’s schedule, whether fans like it or not, can be the difference between playing for a national title and playing in a second or third-tier bowl game.

But how difficult a team’s schedule is can be a double-edge sword. A year ago, Auburn was selected to play in the BCS National Championship Game over Michigan State because it was perceived to have won a league that featured better opponents. Florida State was selected because the Seminoles did not lose a game on their slate – but many would argue that they weren’t challenged nearly as often as many other top teams.

So in short, you typically either need to run the table against a weak schedule or post a one-loss campaign against a difficult schedule to be given the chance to play for it all. The 15 teams on the list below would all probably be awarded a spot in the inaugural College Football Playoff if they were somehow able to pull the latter off.

Full Slideshow | Yardbarker.com

The Trill Life.com College Football Top 25 Preseason Rankings

1. Florida State

2. Auburn

3. Alabama

4. Oregon

5. UCLA

6. Ohio State

7. Baylor

8. Oklahoma

9. Michigan State

10. Georgia

11. LSU

12. South Carolina

13. Wisconsin

14. Stanford

15. Notre Dame

16. USC

17. TCU

18. Ole Miss

19. Texas

20. Oklahoma State

21. Tennessee

22. Texas A&M

23. Arizona

24. Marshall

25. Washington

Power Five Conferences Seperate Themselves From NCAA

Seismic changes could be on the horizon for college sports. The NCAA Board of Directors voted Thursday to grant the five power conferences the ability to write many of their own rules separate from those put in place by the NCAA. Under the new system, the so-called “Power Five” (the Big 10, Big 12, ACC, SEC and Pac-12) can vote to deviate from many of the NCAA’s long-standing regulations, including “cost-of attendance” stipends for student-athletes (up to $5,000), guaranteed scholarships, rules regarding player-agent interaction and more. 

Representatives from these leagues have until Oct. 1 to submit a “wish list of issues” they would like to decide on autonomously. “I am immensely proud of the work done by the membership,” NCAA president Mark Emmert said, via The Associated Press. “The new governance model represents a compromise on all sides that will better serve our members and, most importantly, our student-athletes. 

These changes will help all our schools better support the young people who come to college to play sports while earning a degree.” Sixty-five schools make up the Power Five, which also now will have greater voting power on general NCAA issues. The new legislation, which encompasses all sports, can be overriden if 75 non-power conference schools — a group that includes the remaining FBS conferences, all FCS conferences and all non-football-playing conferences — vote against it within 60 days.

Source

The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story First Trailer

In June 2014, BuzzFeed broke the news that Lifetime was producing a behind-the-scenes, tell-all movie about Saved by the Bell, and now we’ve got an exclusive early sneak peek at the super-dramatic film. 

Starring Dylan Everett as Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Sam Kindseth as Dustin Diamond, Julian Works as Mario Lopez, Alyssa Lynch as Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Tiera Skovbye as Elizabeth Berkley, and Taylor Russell McKenzie as Lark Voorhies, the sneak peek takes the audience behind-the-scenes at a photo shoot for SBTB, where the long-rumored rifts between all the actors come to light oh-so-spectacularly.

The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story 

Airs Sept. 1 at 9 p.m. on Lifetime.

‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ Moves to March 2016

From AP Reports.

 Warner Bros.’ “Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice” has moved up from May 6, 2016 to March 25, 2016.

The film stars Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill with Zack Snyder directing. The film was planned to go up against “Captain America 3″ but instead will move up more than a month to avoid the confrontation

The move makes sense seeing that more and more big projects are opening in the month of March. “The Hunger Games” and “Captain America: Winter Soldier” both launched in March to great results as have several Snyder films including “300.” The film is currently filming in Detroit as has for the past two months and has more than enough time to make the March 25 deadline

Players Disappointing At Training Camp

By: Michael Conroy/Associated Press 

NFL teams expect their players to bring their A-games when they report to their respective training camps in July. For some players, such as Indianapolis Colts free-agent addition Hakeem Nicks, that has not been the case.

Offseason analyses of players typically come in a glass half full, as every team and each fanbase expects their players to be as good as they can possibly be. Training camp, however, brings a different reality, as many players quickly fall behind expectations and cause concern for their franchises.

Except in the cases of season-ending injuries, it’s too early to write off any NFL player from performing well in 2014. With four preseason games ahead for every team, there’s still plenty of time for rookies and veterans alike to develop and improve.

That said, the following eight players need to elevate their levels of play as soon as possible. While all of these players came into training camp expected to play significant roles, each of them is at risk of being shuffled out of the lineup thanks to early struggles this summer.

 Begin Slideshow (Bleacher Report)

Study Shows Most Hated Teams For Each State/Region