Latest news with #Marcello
USA Today
14 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Where CBS Sports ranks Alabama football's strength of schedule entering 2025 season
The 2025 Alabama football schedule is largely unchanged from a season ago. The Crimson Tide are less than a month out from their season opener, and while Florida State is a new addition to Alabama's schedule, facing Mike Norvell's team isn't as daunting a task as Texas and Ohio State will have when they square off on Aug. 30. Even so, Alabama won't have the luxury of a glorified warm-up scrimmage akin to last year's Week 1 opponent (Western Kentucky). In SEC play, the opponents are the same for all 16 teams as a year ago. The only difference is home vs. away. In Alabama's case, the Crimson Tide will face Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina and Auburn on the road and welcome Vanderbilt, Tennessee, LSU and Oklahoma to Tuscaloosa. Likewise, the Wisconsin Badgers visit Bryant-Denny Stadium in Week 3 after Alabama played at Camp Randall last season. Strength of schedule is annually the top metric used when it comes to determining the College Football Playoff field. Alabama benefited significantly from that metric over Florida State in 2023 and over Ohio State in 2017 (despite howls of protest from many national sportswriters). With Week 1 just 30 days away, CBS Sports has attempted to rank all 16 SEC schools' strength of schedule from the toughest to the least challenging. In his 2025 schedule rankings Thursday, analyst Brandon Marcello put the Crimson Tide near the middle of the pack, giving them the 10th toughest strength of schedule in the SEC. Marcello said: "It's difficult to get a read on Florida State, but opening the season against a team of unknown talent is going to come with a learning curve. Road trips to Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina await later in the year. The good news is LSU, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Oklahoma are coming to Tuscaloosa." Marcello pointed to the potential slips-ups in Alabama's schedule, pointing to the month-long stretch where the Tide will face Georgia, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Tennessee and South Carolina -- five straight Saturdays without a bye. "The schedule sets up for a bounce-back year and CFP appearance," Marcello continued, "but there are pitfalls, particularly with Vanderbilt -- which upset then-No. 1 Alabama last season -- the week after the road trip to Georgia and subsequent games against Missouri (road), Tennessee and South Carolina (road) without a bye week." Marcello ranked Vanderbilt with the toughest schedule in the SEC, followed by Mississippi State. Conversely, he awarded Missouri with the least challenging slate, followed by Tennessee. Alabama's season opener against FSU in Tallahassee is set for 2:30 p.m. CT on Aug. 30. The game will be televised on ABC. Alabama football schedule 2025 Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama Crimson Tide news, notes and opinions.
USA Today
3 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Oklahoma Sooners don't have the toughest schedule in the SEC per CBS Sports
There's a lot of optimism about the Oklahoma Sooners as they get set to start fall camp on Wednesday. But there's also the reality of the schedule. It's one of the toughest schedules in the country based on the metrics. The Oklahoma Sooners face nine teams inside the top 25 of ESPN's Football Power Index in 2025. The Sooners' schedule opens with FCS Illinois State, but then Oklahoma welcomes the Michigan Wolverines to town for a critical nonconference game. Oklahoma plays four of the top contenders to win the SEC in 2025 in Texas, South Carolina, Alabama, and LSU. There's no doubt it's a tough schedule, but not the toughest in the SEC, according to CBS Sports' Brandon Marcello. Marcello had the Sooners' slate ranked as the fourth most difficult schedule in the SEC in 2025. The Sooners came in behind Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, and Arkansas and sat just one spot in front of the Florida Gators. Oklahoma plays Temple before they play Auburn and has a bye week before they travel to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama. The Sooners play Kent State before facing the Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl. The Sooners have a tough four-game stretch that starts with Texas and a road trip to South Carolina. They'll then take on Ole Miss before traveling to Knoxville to play the Tennessee Volunteers. OU's second bye week offers a bit of a reprieve, but then Oklahoma takes on Alabama, Missouri, and LSU to close the regular season. If there's one thing that the Sooners have going for them, it's that Michigan, Texas, Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Missouri will all have a new starting quarterback. Of that group, only Auburn's Jackson Arnold and Tennessee's Joey Aguilar have significant starting experience at the collegiate level. Oklahoma only faces two quarterbacks in LaNorris Sellers and Garrett Nussmeier, who started for their teams in 2024. Quarterback turnover doesn't guarantee the Sooners anything, but in a year where Oklahoma will have a good defense, facing some inexperienced quarterbacks along the way should make the schedule a little more manageable. Brent Venables believes the Sooners will rise to the occassion, regardless of the perceived difficulty of the schedule. 'We've got a lot to prove, and I like that," Venables said. "We know what our team is capable of. There's no game on our schedule that we can't win.' It's a huge season for Oklahoma, coming off of a 6-7 season in 2024. If they've made improvements along the offensive line and have better injury luck, there's no reason why the Sooners can't compete in the SEC. Oklahoma Sooners 2025 Football Schedule Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on X @john9williams.
New Statesman
25-06-2025
- Politics
- New Statesman
These disability benefit cuts are about to bury Labour
Photo by'Vote against this bill and we will call an election and lose to Reform, or vote for the bill and lose the next election to Reform.' That is the gambit reportedly being pushed in front of Labour MPs by the whip's office this week; with Liz Kendall's disability benefit slashing bill heading towards its second reading on the 1st of July. With the brave resignation of former Shadow Disability Minister Vicky Foxcroft last Thursday the Parliamentary Labour Party might finally wake up to the implications of what they're being asked to do. So, like a gangster coming-to dangled over the edge of a bridge, hearing the river flowing below, looking down to realise Kendall has doused their shoes in cement; Labour MPs have found a terrible realisation setting in. My early career was spent in housing and homelessness. As I read through the details of the bill I found myself making a mental checklist of the people I helped as an outreach worker for Headway and other organisations. Wondering who would lose out under the new rules. Society's ignored; a scary and inconvenient reminder of the fragility of life. People that, in the coming months, will be thrust into the spotlight as the cuts began to bite. Graeme, a Tower Hamlets resident who had been set upon by a group of men with baseball bats in his early twenties and suffered extreme concussion. Graeme had become forgetful as a result of his injuries. His flat's walls covered with notes to remind him to do basic chores and tasks. Aged only 33, he wore a sanitary pad due to the incontinence that was the legacy of his broken nerves and synapses. He would spend his benefit on trips to Headway with his father that were his only monthly opportunity to safely leave the house. Marcello, who had been in a motorcycle accident in his youth and now lived in a mouse-infested flat in the Isle Of Dogs with his profoundly autistic older brother. Marcello who would emit a scream every time he stood up and leant on a broken spine. A laborious process that took several minutes of rocking back and forth and culminated in a pain so powerful that it penetrated a prescription of sedative medications longer than my forearm. His benefit spent on a cleaner and one day, he hoped, cooking lessons. Valdas, who had been in an industrial accident after moving to the UK and who gleefully showed me the tiny keyboard he had bought with his benefit to teach himself piano. Who two months after our first meeting I received a suicidal call from and found with two concerned friends keeping vigil. Laying on his sofa, deep in a trench of mood disordered despair resulting from his head injury. I remembered my first job at Washington Galleries. The one that brought me into the labour movement as a teenager; processing miners claims as part of the Coal Health Compensation Schemes brought in by Blair. Learning how just how many of the old men in the miners cottages down the road in Shiney Row were ruined by Vibration White Finger and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. A relic of a different era when Labour still felt some need to show that it felt affinity with working class life. These are the people that Labour pretends will be brought back into the workforce quickly enough to justify the paltry twelve weeks grace they will be given when the bill is passed. People that will have to cut down to bare essentials and will visit food banks in their thousands when this imaginary explosion of jobs in the most economically depressed parts of Britain inevitably doesn't happen. My examples are from working in London but the biggest victims of the policy will be in the parts of the UK already devastated by deindustrialisation and poverty. Places that should find Labour an instinctive ally. The Red Wall of the North East and North West that delivered a victory to Boris Johnson and then to Kier Starmer is set to see the most hurt. Easington, the former colliery town in Durham where Billy Elliot was filmed and that has a child poverty rate over 40%, is the worst per-head loser in England. There, the community will lose an estimated £24 million in income from disability benefits. That is money that will not be spent in shops, public transport and services. What will the vast slashing of money be replaced with that Labour has planned for Easington? nothing. The former coal town typifies the abject cruelty of Kendall's bill. The typical loser will be a man over 40, not yet retired, dealing with a chronic pain condition of the muscles or skeleton, living in a part of Britain that has been ripped to shreds by globalisation. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe The word 'change' that accompanied a grey photograph of Starmer in the 2024 manifesto has been thoroughly undermined. This is the same subtly sociopathic politics that has typified Britain for a generation – where the 'left behind' areas whose industry built Britain and who were then discarded in favour of London's finance sector are seen as an unfortunate drag on society. Something that politicians wish would just go away. Kendall's bill is another of many attempts at holding down the pillow on the patient's face, hoping to hear the ECG chirp to a flatline. But Labour is more likely murder itself, as anyone looking at the claimant numbers in each parliamentary seat will know. In May, 36 Labour MPs sent a letter of support to Kendall. None of this mostly new to parliament collection of Oxbridge graduates, consultants, multiple-landlords, lobbyists and NGO staff have worked the kind of role that would leave them with broken knees and painful spines by 50. Many have the kind of majority that almost guarantees this will be their only term in parliament and so have little to lose themselves. But even those signatories with larger majorities will see themselves and long-serving party colleagues ejected from the House Of Commons should the bill pass. In May the journalist Chaminda Jayanetti compared the number of affected PIP claimants in each seat to the majority of each parliamentarian. Presuming, of course, that this group voted in its entirety in 2024, and that the longstanding 'disability vote gap' of 6.2% is removed – something entirely plausible when so many will feel the cuts so profoundly. The electoral picture generated is dire for Labour. Subtract the affected PIP claimant number from the total number of votes in each constituency and Labour loses more than 50 MPs. Aforementioned signatories like Danny Beales, Jim Dickson and David Pinto-Duschinksy go. Big public names like Wes Streeting and Jess Phillips go, too. But imagine a scenario where the PIP claimant takes two family members or friends into the 'not-voting Labour' column. Family and friends that have seen someone close to them lose out in such a visceral and obvious way. Suddenly it becomes clear that this bill represents the Labour right's parliamentary sojourners tying themselves to their colleagues and leaping into the abyss. In this scenario almost 230 Labour MPs lose their seats: Ed Miliband is gone. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson also goes. The bill's chief proponents in the media, like Wolverhampton South East's Pat Mcfadden and Swansea MP Torsten Bell (whose think tank Resolution Foundation once railed against the same cuts under the Conservatives) are both also gone. Of course, in this plausible scenario, Liz Kendall also loses her seat. Perhaps she and her colleagues see this as a price worth paying to cut disability benefit. Labour MPs need to ask themselves whether they agree, before the horror stories that will inevitably come from this bill start to make headlines. [See also: Keir Starmer's Labour Party can't survive another crisis.] Related
Daily Mail
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Lily Collins looks as chic as ever in a fitted midi dress as she films scenes for fifth season of Emily in Paris
Lily Collins looked as chic as ever as she filmed scenes for fifth season of Emily in Paris in the French capital on Wednesday. The actress, 36, who plays marketing executive Emily Cooper, was spotted strolling through town in a fitted midi dress. She teamed the floral number with a pair of chunky black heels and accessorised with quirky angular sunglasses. Lily was joined on set by a man who carried a tan leather briefcase with the pair seen walking down the street. The upcoming series will see Emily juggle her potential new life in Rome and her past life in Paris. Emily was left with a decision at the end of series four, as she was offered the position of the lead of the Italian Agence Grateau office. Despite falling in love with Paris and the agency, Emily admitted she was tempted by a new life - with a new man - in Rome. Fans will remember Emily and Gabriel's (Lucas Bravo) romance fell apart after they finally tried to make a go of their relationship after he broke off his relationship with Camille. Following a fake pregnancy scandal, Camille revealed she wasn't actually expecting and Emily and Gabriel tried to work out a romantic future. However, it wasn't meant to be for the star-crossed lovers who were unable to work out their differences and she was pushed into the arms of Marcello, after they met on the slopes of Megève, when she was abandoned at the top of a slope by Gabriel. They crossed paths again at a polo match in Paris and they enjoyed a night out together in the city, which lasted until the following morning when he asked her to come and visit him in Rome. Emily followed her heart and travelled to meet Marcello, where she was also tasked with acquiring his family's business by her boss Sylvie. However, Emily was reluctant to mix business with pleasure. The pair hit a stumbling block when he learned of her plans to try and secure a professional relationship with his family, who owned a luxury cashmere company, but they eventually managed to iron their issues out. At this point, Gabriel had a candid conversation with Alfie (Lucien Laviscount), who urged him to try and win Emily back, despite previously being romantically involved with her himself. Lily was joined on set by a man who carried a tan leather briefcase with the pair seen walking down the street But despite dashing to Rome with the hope of reuniting, Emily was nowhere to be seen as she enjoyed her romantic day out with Marcello. Speaking about the upcoming series, Lucas said: 'I think Gabriel realized that he doesn't want to let Emily go so easily, and he might have made a big mistake. 'They certainly had a big fight and a cooling-off period. But I think he realized that by the end of the season, that there's something that he doesn't want to let Emily go. 'I don't know what that means. Doesn't necessarily mean they're going to be together instantly or ever. I don't know, but I think he feels there's unfinished business with the two of them.' However, there is hope for the couple as according to creator Darren Star, the season is not fully moving to Rome. He told Deadline: 'She didn't change her Instagram handle to Emily in Rome. She is working in Rome sometimes. Sylvie's company has an office in Rome. 'Emily's getting that on its feet. I don't necessarily think that it means a permanent — in my mind, it's definitely not a permanent — move to Rome. We're not leaving Paris.' The series is expected to air towards the end of this year, but one of the main characters has revealed they won't be returning. Camille Razat, 31, who plays Camille in the romantic comedy-drama - took to Instagram to reveal the shocking news with an emotional goodbye post after fans fumed at bosses for 'destroying the character'. Camille has played Emily's pal and love rival in the show since the programme hit the streaming service back in 2020. Now, after five years on our screens as Camille, the actress is ready to move on. Sharing various snaps from her time on the show, she wrote: 'After an incredible journey, I've made the decision to step away from Emily in Paris. 'It has been a truly wonderful experience, one filled with growth, creativity, and unforgettable memories. 'I'm deeply grateful to @starmandarren and the entire team at @netflix and @paramountpics for their trust and for giving me the opportunity to bring Camille to life and leaving the door open for her return, as she will always be a part of Emily In Paris world. 'This character has meant a lot to me, and I feel that her storyline has naturally come to an end. It felt like the right moment to explore new horizons.' She added: 'I've recently wrapped two series: Nero for Netflix and the Lost Station Girls for Disney+. I'm also excited to share that I've launched my own production company, @tazar_production. 'We mainly produce music videos and short films for now, but we're currently developing our first feature film, something I'm truly passionate about and excited to grow. 'I leave the show with nothing but love and admiration for the cast, crew, and fans who have supported us along the way. Thank you for the beautiful ride.' Her fans and co-stars rushed to the comments section to share their support. Lily said: 'Love you sister. It's been a wild ride and an absolute pleasure. You're a rockstar. So proud of you.' Philippine Beaulieu added: 'You'll be so missed ma chérie Frenchie!!!' Lucien wrote: 'From day one you've been my rider on this show. Your passion for story telling, your dark sense of humour, your unwavering ability to stay true to yourself, when everything's pushing you in a different direction. 'You're special Camille and I feel absolutely honoured to of been able to dance with you these past seasons. Keep on shining. 'I'm going to miss laughing with you. I'm cheering you on in everything you do.' Emily In Paris premiered on Netflix in October 2020. The synopsis on the streaming service reads: 'New passions. New fashions. New Emily? 'A plucky American marketing whiz spreads her wings in life and love after landing her dream job in Paris.' The show, created by Star, has had 40 episodes run over four seasons. It stars the likes of Lily, Philippine, Ashley Park, Lucas, Samuel Arnold, Bruno Gouery, William Abadie and Lucien.
San Francisco Chronicle
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Review: S.F. Opera's ‘La Bohème' will make you feel all the emotions
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll want to see it again. Giacomo Puccini's 'La Bohème,' the most-performed and quite possibly the most-loved opera in the standard repertory, has opened San Francisco Opera's summer season with a bang. Under the baton of guest conductor Ramón Tebar, with snappy work by revival director Katherine M. Carter, this production at the War Memorial Opera House comes about as close to musical and dramatic perfection as you can get. Each of the singers in the cast has real star quality — more on that in a bit. Just as importantly, they form a superb ensemble with the split-second timing of great comedians. Sure, there are big, famous arias, but the effectiveness of 'La Bohème' depends on swift movement from incident to incident. During the opening-night performance on Tuesday, June 3, Tebar's flexible, generous conducting matched that timing and gave this sophisticated score, full of complex tempo and metrical changes, cohesion and tremendous momentum. Add in the magnificent playing of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, performing despite unresolved labor negotiations, and the evening was sheer magic. The basic story is uncomplicated: Boy (the poet Rodolfo) meets girl (the seamstress Mimì). They fall in love. She dies of tuberculosis, an incurable scourge in the 19th century. (If this sounds familiar, Verdi's 'La Traviata,' also a great repertory staple, has a similar trajectory, though a vastly different emotional profile.) In tenor Pene Pati and soprano Karen Chia-ling Ho, the company has an ideal pair of leads. Pati's natural charm and beautiful, easy sound light up everything he does — he was an adorable Nemorino in 2023's ' The Elixir of Love. ' Meanwhile, Ho's shyness and fragility at her character's first entrance on Tuesday grew into real strength over the course of the opera, supported by her big, dark and beautifully controlled voice. There was real chemistry between the two, and you could believe that they'd fallen in love over a lost key only minutes after meeting. That's the baseline drama in the opera: Will Mimì live or die? Will she and Rodolfo stay together or be driven apart by illness? The story of the painter Marcello (baritone Lucas Meachem) and sometime kept woman Musetta (soprano Andrea Carroll in a sparkling and very funny company debut) runs parallel. The couples pair off, split up, come together again. Meachem and Carroll made their characters' love and affection perfectly clear, as well as the fact that the emotional cycle is likely to repeat indefinitely. This Marcello can barely bring himself to curse at Musetta wandering off with a new man at the close of Act 3, an interesting and persuasive dramatic choice emphasizing their hopeless love for each other. Carroll's Musetta might be a bit of a witch ('Strega!' as Marcello shouts), but she's as kindly toward Mimì as Meachem's warmhearted and enormously sympathetic Marcello is toward Rodolfo. Rounding out the cast of bohemians are the philosopher Colline and the musician Schaunard. Romanian bass Bogdan Talos, in his company debut, sang Colline's aria to his old coat, about to be sold to buy medicine for the dying Mimì, with poignant, heart-wrenching intimacy. Baritone Samuel Kidd, a current Adler Fellow, integrated Schaunard seamlessly into the antics, projecting enormous sorrow even as he turns his back on the fading Mimì. Bass-baritone Dale Travis was riotous as the landlord Benoit, outwitted by the bohemians when he tries to collect overdue rent, and as Alcindoro, Musetta's hapless admirer — roles Travis has played numerous times at the Opera. Members of the San Francisco Girls and Boys Choruses enlivened the Act 2 Latin Quarter scene with enthusiastic acting and accurate singing, and the Opera Chorus brought its customary excellence to many moments. David Farley's efficient production design allows easy transitions from the bohemians' garret to different places around Paris. The main dwelling, modeled on the works of painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, nonetheless seems a bit drab for a 19th century artist's studio. Regardless, Carter's direction brings a wealth of vivid interactions to crowd scenes and among the principals. Eight performances remain, divided between the opening-night singers and an enticing alternate cast for Rodolfo, Mimì, Marcello and Musetta. For a great afternoon or evening, get out your handkerchiefs and get yourself to the War Memorial Opera House.
