From another season with NBA King LeBron James to the return of gymnastics royalty, here's what's happening in entertainment.
The King's Return
The 2023 ESPY Awards went down in Los Angeles last night and, as expected, it was a star-studded affair that paid tribute to the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team, honored Damar Hamlin and the Buffalo Bills medical crew that saved his life, and included a major announcement from LeBron James.
After receiving the award for Best Record-Breaking Performance, honoring the NBA star's rise to all-time leading scorer, he confirmed that he will be returning to the floor for his 21st season.
"I love this game. I love the game of basketball," he said. "I don't care how many more points I score or what I can or cannot do on the floor. The real question for me is 'Can I play without cheating this game?' The day I can't give the game everything on the floor is the day I'll be done. Lucky for you guys, that day is not today."
James confirmed that he has "a lot left" in the tank so we should expect to see him playing for years to come.
Fresh off of her first U.S national title win in the 100 meter final last weekend, Sha'Carri Richardson questioned why she was not invited to this year's ESPY Awards.
"The ESPYS invited me when my life was in shambles as if I was a charity case. The disrespect that track & field receives in the USA alone is nasty. Half of the athletes there now could not do what we do on our WORST day," she said in a tweet.
Richardson was referring to her 2021 season, when she won the 100 meter final to advance to the Tokyo Olympics, but was later disqualified after testing positive for marijuana. In recent weeks, she has been campaigning for track and field sprinters to unionize to address low pay and called for a meeting of athletes ahead of the national competition. It is likely she sought to use the ESPYs platform to bring even more attention to her cause – particularly as she continues to dominate in the sport.
Olympic gold medal gymnast Gabby Douglas has announced she's ready to get back into competition.
Douglas' last competition was the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. After that, she announced she was stepping back to focus on her mental health. In 2017 the world learned about the abuse many top gymnasts, including Douglas, suffered while in the care of USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar.
Former teammates Simone Biles and Suni Lee have also indicated they want to compete in Paris, so a reunion of heavy-hitters could be on the horizon.
With the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing rapidly approaching, clouds of controversy continue to swirl around China's treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority population, its surveillance state, and security for visiting athletes. Phelim Kine, China correspondent for Politico, joined Cheddar to break down the big storylines surrounding the Beijing Games and highlight what he saw as the complete disregard by top corporate sponsors like P&G, Airbnb, Intel, Visa, and Coca-Cola, for the controversies. "They spend $100 million for every Olympics that they sponsor, and they have frankly shown absolute willful indifference to any type of entreaty to essentially be more vocal about their concerns about human rights in China," he said. Kine also touched on the data privacy fears for athletes as visiting contingents are being told to carry burner phones to avoid security risks.
NFL games continue to be among some of the highest-rated programs on television. In 2021, viewership jumped 10 percent from the previous year to an average of 17.1 million as the league debuted its first 18-week season after running on a 16-week schedule since 1978. Fans — and team owners — welcomed the change with open arms, but a vocal percentage of players were not as ecstatic (despite the union signing off). Those who were against adding games cited health and safety concerns as their main reason. While the extended season means fatter pockets for the league, the opposition asks: is it worth the risk? Cheddar's JD Durkin breaks it all down.
With the Australian Open set to begin on Monday, Novak Djokovic is once again being threatened with deportation from Australia after his visa was briefly reinstated and revoked again over alleged discrepancies. Djokovic’s team will sit for an Immigration hearing on Saturday.
Decorated skier Lindsey Vonn did not hold back when touching on mental health in "Rise," her new memoir. "My mental health is definitely part of my story," she said. "Now I'm just thankful that this conversation is so much more talked about — Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, Kevin Love, Michael Phelps, all have been outspoken about it." She noted that she felt happy that readers, particularly kids, get to see a vulnerable side to her in the book. The gold medalist also went on to note what she's most looking forward to watching in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
It was 'game on' for sports bettors in the state of New York, as mobile betting kicked off on four major betting operating platforms Saturday. This comes at an exciting time for sports fans with some of the biggest NFL games of the season right around the corner. Cam Rogers - Host of Lock It In with Cam Rogers, Betting Analyst at the Bleav Podcast Network joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Former wide receiver for the New York Giants, Victor Cruz has partnered with Krystal Restaurants, a popular burger chain in the South, to bring the franchise to his home state of New Jersey. Cruz and Alice Crowder, CMO of Krystal Restaurants, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the venture. The five new locations will be known as "Victor Cruz's Krystal," decked out with memorabilia from his football career, with the former player explaining how "hands-on" he plans on being. "You never know, OK? You might walk in and Victor Cruz will be flipping a burger back there, and you might be getting it directly from the source," he said.
Max Bichsel, vice president at Gambling.com Group joins Cheddar News to talk about the growing sports betting industry, New York legalizing mobile betting, and 2022 predictions for the sector.
Cody Roark, NFL analyst at Pro Football Network joins Cheddar News to talk about NFL playoff predictions and which teams have a shot at the Super Bowl.
