Latest news with #Ewoks
New York Times
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
In 2025 FCS football, the Dakotas or everybody else? Plus CFB news
Until Saturday Newsletter 🏈 | This is The Athletic's college football newsletter. Sign up here to receive Until Saturday directly in your inbox. Today in college football news, 'Return of the Jedi' might be the funniest post-'Andor' rewatch of all. With everything that's been sacrificed and everything at stake, your plan is to … demonstrate some sick backflips in front of Jabba? Everyone here, except the warrior-hearted Ewoks, would drive Luthen berserk. Around this time each year, every college football outlet begins some sort of season preview series, and Until Saturday is no exception. There will be no consistent outline to these, and if I were to start handing out superlative categories, I'd forget to do them at some point. I do not have any Phil Steele-style acronyms yet, but maybe I'll invent some. We're just gonna wing it. Let's start it off by going a little broader than just FBS, even though there isn't exactly space to dig into each Division III conference's 2025 schedule. (Then again, this parenthetical is now the newsletter's third mention this year of Middlebury College.) Just to have it all in one place, here are the defending champs in these NCAA levels — and as you can see, repeats would not be shocking: Beyond the who's-gonna-win basics, though: Considering the amount of national attention usually paid to college sports outside of Division I's upper levels, it feels urgent to check in on the big-picture status of small schools in The NIL And Portal Era. So I asked a couple-ish questions to Matt Brown (no relation to The Athletic's Matt Brown, though they have hung out at Big Ten media days, per sources), the proprietor of Extra Points, an excellent newsletter digging into loads of off-field stories about college sports from the NAIA on up. (This includes Matt's extensive coverage of the video game.) Over the past five years or so, how has life generally changed for athletic directors in levels outside of FBS? Matt: 'Being a small-school AD has always been a tough gig, because smaller staff sizes require you to be more involved in everything from fundraising to hiring and coach development. In the NIL era, the job had become even harder — because now you have to pretend you have the donor support to justify a meaningful collective, and your players can leave faster. That isn't to say it's all bad, but a lot of folks aren't sleeping as well as they used to.' What about when it comes to football in particular? 'The thing that's tougher about football is that the roster is so much larger. If a third of your basketball roster transfers, that really sucks, but that's four people. In football, that's like 28 dudes, people who then have to be replaced during a very truncated recruiting cycle. That puts even more pressure on your coaches and donors, and makes sustaining success much harder. Winning the league is awesome, but if it means seven of your starters bounce for the ACC, it takes a toll on everybody.' If you had to take either The Dakotas or Everybody Else to win the FCS title this year: Who ya got? 'Few people have ever gone broke betting on the Dakotas to win a national title.' Hey, follow Matt on Bluesky here. Poll time! Same question for you: Dakotas or non-Dakotas for this season's FCS title? As for me and my house, once again we will ride with the pride of the beautiful Big Sky Conference, the Montana State Bobcats, who fell just short of the title in Frisco, Texas last year. They're No. 2 behind NDSU in the early FCS top 25s by Hero Sports and Flo Football, with 2023 champ South Dakota State and the rapidly emerging South Dakota right behind. (North Dakota unleaded is currently the local straggler.) Up next week: Conference USA and the MAC. 🎮 Who's gonna be the first College Football 26 team you try out? Fifteen recommendations here. (In Dynasty Mode, I'm eying either Pitbull Stadium's FIU or Missouri State, likely the weaker of the two FBS newcomers, as my fixer-upper. Delaware, you're too powerful to be considered.) ⏰ 'Three-fourths of the players taken in the draft over the last five years played for only one college program. That number, however, is decreasing.' Manny Navarro with lots of things 2020s NFL Drafts can teach us about modern college football. Advertisement 🐶 'We thought we were on the same page. What was that?' The Big Ten and SEC: currently the dogs that both caught the same car, by Ralph Russo. 💎 Texas Tech softball pitcher NiJaree Canady, a legit breakout star. Final game of the Women's College World Series against Texas is tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. 📰 Legal news: Remember a few months ago, when CFB social media erupted for a few hours with stories of UNLV allegedly being unable to actually pay new head coach Dan Mullen's contract? Not quite, per AD Erick Harper in our new story on the Rebels: 'Harper responded (to a question) that the school had the funds to pay the first two years of Mullen's contract, then watched national reports fixate on that answer as an implication that the school had promised Mullen more than it could afford to pay over the final three years. 'Harper shoulders the blame for not being more direct in his explanation, saying he has 'zero fear' the athletic department will have trouble fulfilling any coaching contracts on the books. '… 'What was missed is the fact I said, 'and we also generate ticket sales, donor contributions, multimedia rights partners with Learfield, all those self-generated revenues that pay for salaries.'' UNLV, long considered college football's biggest sleeping giant outside the power conferences, has been in a lot of news over the last year. Plenty more in that story, along with all the details about the Rebels' geography that make you wonder all over again: Why has this football program so rarely succeeded? Thank you for reading, as always, and hit me up at untilsaturday@ 📫 Love Until Saturday? Check out The Athletic's other newsletters.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Jimmy Kimmel Jokes Elon Musk Left Trump for His Real Job, ‘Destroying Companies and Inseminating Every Woman in Sight
Jimmy Kimmel was 'happy to share some good news from Washington for a change' during his monologue on Thursday's 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' — Elon Musk stepping away from his role in the Trump administration. 'We got a message from Elon Musk, an important message, it said, 'as my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,'' Kimmel explained. 'Hey, you know what, spending, that's great, we're just happy your time as a special government employee has come to an end.' 'We're thankful. We are glad you're gone,' he added. 'Elon had a remarkable 130-day stint in government. He came, he chainsawed, we bled, he left,' Kimmel continued, referencing Musk's appearance at CPAC earlier this year. 'When he started, he promised to save us a trillion dollars. Now he says DOGE will probably only save about 160 billion dollars. whereas most everyone else says he probably cost us hundreds of billions of dollars,' Kimmel went on. 'Officials from the IRS alone estimate his cuts to that agency will result in a minimum of $500 billion in uncollected taxes this year.' 'But here's the thing, politics isn't about money, it's not about success, it's not about failure, it's about the lives of the civil servants you destroy along the way. That's what's most important,' the ABC host joked. 'And Elon promised that DOGE's work will go on… similar to how the Empire continued killing Ewoks after The Emperor died.' 'Now that he's out of Washington, Elon can return to his primary job, which is destroying companies and inseminating every woman in sight.' Watch the whole monologue below: The post Jimmy Kimmel Jokes Elon Musk Left Trump for His Real Job, 'Destroying Companies and Inseminating Every Woman in Sight | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
Time of India
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Star Wars Day: From Baby Yoda to R2-D2 – the cutest characters of the Star Wars franchise
There's a reason George Lucas filled his galaxy far, far away with teddy bears, rolling droids, and fish-nuns: even Jedi can't resist a good 'aww.' And as the Force flows through empires and rebellions, lightsabers and Sith Lords, there remains an unsung current — the irresistible power of cuteness. Because, let's face it, the reason many millennials stayed loyal to Star Wars wasn't just the Force…it was fur, beeps, and baby eyes. So this May the Fourth, we skip the chosen ones and the high ground. We're not here for galactic politics or midichlorian counts. We're diving lightspeed into the soft power that holds the galaxy together — the ten cutest characters in Star Wars, ranked by their ability to melt hearts faster than Anakin fell to the Dark Side. 1. Grogu ( Baby Yoda ): The God of Merch Let's start with the obvious. Grogu — or, as capitalism still insists, Baby Yoda — is a biological weapon of mass adoration. Green, wrinkly, and functionally mute, he's the lovechild of Kermit the Frog and a Tamagotchi. With every side glance, soup sip, or Force-nap, he weaponises innocence. If Luke Skywalker brought balance to the Force, Grogu brought balance to Disney's quarterly revenue. This isn't a character. It's a serotonin factory. 2. BB-8 : R2-D2 , But Built for Tinder R2-D2 walked so BB-8 could roll — literally. He's a beach ball with anxiety, but somehow cooler than most humans. When he gave Finn a thumbs-up with his lighter, a million fanfics were born. BB-8 doesn't speak a word of Basic, yet we know exactly what he means. He's the only droid that could ghost you and still be forgiven. That's not software — that's charisma. 3. Porgs : Puffins on Space Crack The Porgs were born when the Last Jedi team couldn't CGI out native puffins from the set — and instead leaned in. The result? Squishy, squeaky void-faces that scream like they've just seen their cousins roasted by Chewbacca (because…they did). They don't do much, they don't say anything, but they exist to be stared at. They are what happens when a Furby and a panic attack make a baby. And we love them for it. 4. Ewoks : Teddy Bears with Grenades Before Grogu, there was Wicket W. Warrick. The original merch-bait, the Ewoks were George Lucas's masterstroke: how do you make mass murder adorable? Easy — dress it in fur and give it a spear. These homicidal build-a-bears took down an empire with tree trunks and rope. They are the embodiment of 'Don't judge a book by its cover.' Or maybe: 'Do — but know the book has a trapdoor and will eat you.' 5. R2-D2: The OG Sassbot R2-D2 is the Beyoncé of droids. He's been electrocuted, set on fire, and nearly barbecued by Jabba — yet he rolls on, throwing shade in binary and fixing plot holes with a beep. He's the only character to survive all trilogies without a character arc — because he doesn't need one. He's perfect as he is. Short, sassy, loyal, and 100% done with everyone's drama. If cuteness had a blue shell, it would be R2. 6. Babu Frik : The Tiny Techbro 'HEY HEY!' That's it. That's the moment he became a star. At 9 inches tall, Babu Frik is proof that Star Wars occasionally lets chaos reign. He's a droid mechanic with the voice of a blender and the soul of your drunk uncle. He fixes C-3PO and steals the film — in under three minutes. Legend. 7. Loth-Cats: If Your Pet Could Kill You Straight out of Star Wars Rebels, these feline fiends are both cuddly and slightly homicidal — in other words, they're cats. But in space. Which makes them cooler. Their big ears, twitchy tails, and occasional savage tendencies make them a fan-favourite among people who pretend they don't like cats but secretly watch 'cat vibing to techno' videos at 2AM. They don't talk. They don't care. They are the Force. 'Star Wars: Visions Volume 2' Trailer: Cynthia Erivo and David Diggs starrer 'Star Wars: Visions Volume 2' Official Trailer 8. Jawas: Gremlins in Hoodies Imagine your neighbourhood tech reseller was 3 feet tall, wore a hoodie, and could dismantle your Wi-Fi router while laughing in vowels. That's a Jawa. These desert-dwelling kleptos make up for what they lack in height with sheer audacity. They don't speak English, but they know the universal language of 'mine now.' Their glowing eyes peer into your soul. And into your hard drive. 9. Tauntauns: The Cold Boys You thought Han slicing one open to keep Luke warm was traumatic? Yes. But rewind 10 minutes, and you'll realise that Tauntauns are giant, slightly dumb llamas on cocaine. Their bleats are iconic. Their eyes scream 'I didn't ask to be in this movie.' And yet, they're lovable — loyal steeds in the tundra of Hoth who just want a nap and maybe fewer rebels riding them into battle. 10. Caretakers: Nun-Fish with Attitude From the sacred island of Ahch-To, the caretakers are part nun, part fish, and fully done with your Jedi nonsense. They clean up after Rey, sigh dramatically, and side-eye like they invented it. They're like your grandmother if she lived in a stone hut and judged you for swinging lightsabers near her pottery. Pure vibes. No dialogue. Maximum passive-aggression. The Cute Side of the Force In a universe where planets explode and Sith Lords throw tantrums in capes, the cute ones remind us what's at stake. The soul of Star Wars isn't just in prophecy or power — it's in the beeps, blinks, and baby ears. Because long before we debate canon or complain about Snoke's skincare routine, we first fell in love with a green puppet on Dagobah who couldn't speak proper English but spoke to our hearts. And in that moment, we were all Porgs. Happy Star Wars Day . May the adorable be with you.
