In September 2024 NFL AD Kendrick Lamar as a half -time artist at Super Bowl 59The 37-year-old rapper stands in front of a colossal American flag and feeds footballs in a machine that starts the balls for broad recipients.

“Will you pull up? I hope it, ”he says, and puts his upcoming appearance One of the largest phases on this planetWhere the cultural missions could be as high because the sporty. “Wear your best dress, even for those who watch from home.”

The casual but impressive scene was the classic Kendrick.

As a world-famous Grammy and Pulitzer Prize excellent artistLamar is in its own league. His unshakable criticisms of racist injustice, systemic inequality and exploitation of black culture have made him a cross -border artist and cultural visionary.

My work examines how breed and racism are constructed, represented and challenged in mass media. Especially in news, music and sport. I believe the complicated history of the NFL with social justice makes participation much more essential.

Since a discography is expansive enough to deepen the temporal restrictions of the Sunday game, I’m excited to see whether Lamar will interweave his lyrical masterpieces for a performance that maintains the viewers.

Sports, politics and counter -reactions

Sport has at all times been politicalDespite the persistent calls to maintain politics away from sport.

The tradition of playing the National anthem Before Sporting event is just an example: the song is rooted in war sizes and serves as a call to patriotism.

Then there are unsightened protests by players and fans. Whenever skilled athletes come into the strikeIt is political. When fans develop banners It is political to support the Palestinians.

Out of Tommie Smith and John Carlos' fist understanding At the 1968 Olympic Games in solidarity with black communities through the civil rights movement Muhammad Ali's refusal to fight within the Vietnam WarTo Colin Kaepernick's knees to protest against the brutality of the policeAthletes have long used their platforms to query injustices and to query norms.

However, protests often lead against setbacks, and the NFL by accident tried to speeches political speeches.

Kaepernick's protests triggered a national debate concerning the ideas of patriotism and the adequacy of the protest on the sphere. At the identical time NFL owner seemed effectively to place it on the black list From the league.

Nick Bosa, a defensive end with the 49s, was taken for a nice Violation of a rule that prohibit players From wearing clothes that convey “personal news” when he his six is ​​worn During a postgame interview in 2024. In the meantime, NFL owners have the NFL owners donated hundreds of thousands of presidential campaignsWith most of those contributions too Republican candidates.

An artist and activist

The Super Bowl half -time show has long been greater than only a musical interlude. It's a stage where cultural and political currents come together.

While Beyoncés appear 2016 In addition to the headliner Bruno Mars, she paid homage to the Black Panthers, Malcolm X and the Black Lives Matt movement. U2S act During the 2002 Super Bowl, a moment of collective grief and hope for a rustic offered a rustic that was still tumbling from the terrorist attacks on September eleventh. In recent times, Dr. Dre's 2022 service celebrated Hip-hop climb From a marginalized genre to a dominant cultural force. Eminem, who also participated on this service, put a knee on the stage to criticize the treatment of black athletes and activists through the NFL.

For me, Lamar's Super Bowl symbols a broader settlement with how the NFL deals with the strain between politics and company entertainment.

This is because Kendrick Lamar's art is greater than just music. It's activism.

From his Grammy price-crowned album “To secure a butterfly“To the raw, introspective, album awarded with the Pulitzer Prize” “DAMNED.“Lamar consistently confronted with topics of systemic oppression, racist injustice and black life in America.

Tracks like “DNA.”Are unapologist celebrations of blackness and generation resilience:

 I got loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA
 Quarter piece, got war and peace inside my DNA
 I got power, poison, pain and joy inside my DNA
 I got hustle, though, ambition flow inside my DNA

“The blackish berry”Deals with the complexity of black identity and the confronted systemic racism:

  I said they treat me like a slave, cah me Black
  Woi, we feel whole heap of pain cah we Black
  And man a say they put me inna chains cah we Black

And “XXX.”Confronts greed, violence and hypocrisy within the core of American life.

  Hail Mary, Jesus and Joseph
  The great American flag
  Is wrapped and dragged with explosives
  Compulsive disorder, little kids
  Barricaded blocks and borders, look what you taught us
  It's murder on my street
  Your street, back streets, Wall Street

In contrast to many mainstream artists, Lamar seems to have mastered the sensitive balance between business success and politically charged content. His genius lies in his ability to put in writing songs This transcends breed, gender and sophistication.

At a time when the nation deals with efforts Reduction of diversity, justice and inclusion practicesPresent And as an organization power It stays deactivated, conversations about breed and inequality remain within the foreground.

Lamar has never hesitated to confront unpleasant truths through his music. He has a novel opportunity to merge art, activism and a criticism of the nation. I assume that this moment won’t be an exception.

Will you pull up I’ll.

Refugee TikTok fled by the tens of millions to RedNote, a Chinese app, in response to the TikTok ban that went into effect on January 19, 2025. The company Quit the app just before midnight on January 18th.

With cat memes, shared jokes concerning the ban, and honest conversations about normally avoided topics, former TikTokers and RedNote natives are bridging the years of digital divide between the U.S. and China. This spontaneous convergence is harking back to the Internet's original dream of a worldwide village. It is a beacon of hope for connection and communication in a divided world.

I’m a researcher who studies Chinese and transnational digital media. I’m also a Chinese living within the USA. I actually have been a RedNote user since 2014.

On Tuesday morning, January 14, 2025, my usual RedNote morning scroll revealed a modified “For You” page. Among my typical TV drama, celebrity and makeup content got here recent posts from self-proclaimed “TikTok refugees” with US IP addresses. As I scrolled further, the advice algorithm flooded my feed with increasingly of those posts from recent US users trying to rebuild their community on RedNote.

Rapid influx

The phenomenon exploded rapidly: inside 24 hours, the hashtag #TikTok Refugee# on RedNote had collected 36.2 million views and sparked tens of millions of discussions. RedNote took first place in Apple's App Store free app charts.

According to those TikTok refugees with the Jan. 19, 2025, Board of Directors threatensUsers feared losing not only their platform access but in addition their content Income streams in addition to.

Instead of switching to US-based alternatives like Metas Instagram or X, they decided to flee to a different Chinese platform Protest against it US tech giants they blamed Lobbying for the ban. Her platform of alternative was RedNote.

This unexpected change mostly stems from TikTok influencers like @whattheish I like to recommend RedNote as the brand new TikTok. Given that the Douyin app is China's version of TikTok, the move to RedNote could appear surprising. However, most other Chinese apps, including Douyin, are only available in Chinese app stores and require Chinese phone numbers to register. RedNote is exclusively accessible to users outside of China through app stores in various regions, without the necessity for a Chinese phone number.

Instead of separating users by geographic region with different versions, as TikTok's parent company ByteDance Ltd. has done, RedNote – called Xiaohongshu in Chinese – offers access to the identical platform worldwide. ByteDance is predicated in China but has launched TikTok as a US subsidiary in 2015. TikTok partnered with Oracle in 2022 to process Americans' user data Address data security concerns. In contrast, RedNote owner is Xingyin Information Technology Ltd a Shanghai-based company and thus stays free from direct US supervision.

RedNote's global accessibility

This global accessibility is according to Xiaohongshu's original vision. The name Little Red Book – its literal English translation – often leads people within the West to this Draw parallels to Mao's revolutionary textsuggesting a communist focus. But the true demands of the platform couldn’t be more different.

The app, created in 2013was created with a more bourgeois orientation. The app's founders, Qu Fang and Mao Wenchao, met while shopping In the US, they positioned Xiaohongshu as a platform that mixes social media, lifestyle content and e-commerce about global travel and shopping.

Although RedNote has evolved to appeal to a broader demographic, its primary user base stays international students, overseas Chinese communities, and international travelers. The name illustrates the platform's promise to be a “red” – meaning “popular” in Chinese – guide to foreign travel and shopping. It acts as each a travel bible for Chinese tourists and a fashion curator of glamorous foreign lifestyles.

The app has been instrumental in transforming lesser-known places to Chinese tourist destinations. It turned Düsseldorf into a destination for foodies for Chinese tourists in 2023 and illuminated trendy scenes and public toilets in Paris through the 2024 Olympics.

For me, as a Chinese native living abroad, RedNote has grow to be an important each day platform to go looking reviews, share life moments, and stay connected with Chinese communities. Even before the influx of TikTok refugees, Xiaohongshu had attracted users from Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and other Chinese-speaking communities.

From memes to open dialogues

I nervously lurked within the discussion sections, alert for possible tensions and conflicts between TikTok refugees and RedNote natives, or “red yams” as they call themselves. But the primary encounters were surprisingly heartwarming and playful.

Following word of mouth, TikTok newbies began posting cat pictures as their first step after opening recent accounts. They jokingly call it paying their cat tax. Chinese RedNote users responded with compliments or by sharing their very own cat photos in return. This is how they broke the ice despite language and cultural barriers.

When TikTok refugees posted ideas without pets, RedNote users responded with a meme: a cat with a gun and the caption, “Hello, I'm a spy. Show me your cat.” That joke quickly caught on. “Chinese spy” soon became one other way of claiming “Chinese friend.” TikTok refugees even asked, “Do you want to be my Chinese spy?” as a playful conversation starter.

Both groups ridiculed the TikTok ban with cute memes and funny jokes. They scoffed that the ban turns privacy issues into outdated narratives of Cold War rivalry and espionage, reasonably than treating them as common challenges of the digital age that each one people face together.

After these greetings, RedNote natives and TikTok refugees ceaselessly exchanged questions on various topics. Some of those topics fearful me because they might easily result in interruptions in conversation. For example, a TikTok refugee asked about LGBTQ life in China, and a RedNote native asked about incomes within the United States.

But reasonably than creating unpleasant tensions as feared, this exchange led to meaningful dialogue. Chinese users explained their questions on US income: They were curious because Chinese “American dreamers” – Chinese individuals who discuss moving to the US – often paint an exaggerated picture of American salaries and living standards. Americans were surprised to learn that while same-sex marriage stays illegal in China, town of Chengdu is taken into account “the”gay capital.”

Let's remember the lost promise of the Internet

As I documented these interactions, they grew and developed. What began as text discussions evolved into livestreamed conversations. This rare moment of direct interaction between American and Chinese social media users shows that they aren’t as different as they may have thought. Online, they shared the identical interests: cute memes, “Thirst traps” and funny comments. Offline, they need to struggle with similar problems day-after-day to make ends meet.

How could this end? Will the TikTok refugees leave once their enthusiasm wanes, or will regulators on each side step in? As someone who has spent years researching U.S.-China media exchanges, I’m struck by the importance of this moment, temporary as it could be. This represents a meaningful reconnection between U.S. and Chinese web users after years of digital separation.

This separation was caused and reinforced by Google's retreat from China, China's Great Firewall and the US forced the separation of ByteDance's US and Chinese platforms. In addition, digital platforms and advice algorithms are increasingly trapping people in their very own situation Information bubbles.

For me, this moment is harking back to the utopian vision that was once shared California's Internet Pioneers And Chinese technology innovators and adopters: digital now and global village.

It can be a vivid spot within the cloud of world divisions. Even in a world increasingly fractured by platforms, misinformation and political divisions, unexpected connections can still emerge. Seemingly inconceivable linguistic, cultural and digital barriers may be overcome when people treat one another with respect, sincerity and a touch of humor – and maybe with the assistance of AI translators.

SAN FRANCISCO – Draymond Green didn’t mind Microphones picked him up yells at teammate Buddy Hield to carry on – “Wake up the (expletive) or sit down with the (expletive)!” – within the Warriors' 109-105 victory over Phoenix on Saturday night.

The message was vital in that moment, and saying something along with your chest, as Green often does, weakens your point by backing away.

“Microphones are catching everything today, but I don’t care,” Green said at the rostrum after the sport. “Because everything I say, I say directly into the microphone. I don't care. It was necessary.”

Green's request got here after a 24-second violation that required Green to choose up a grenade at the top of the possession. Hield missed a read on a post pass, botching Golden State's set.

In the sport, Hield went scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting and at times appeared to let his shooting issues leak into his defense.

Hield, a brand new warrior, was mixed. He scores a minimum of 18 points in games and the Warriors are 8-0. They are 3-10 when he finishes in single digits.

Enter Green's admonition.

“We need Buddy Hield to play great, we need Buddy Hield to make shots,” Green said. “And we have all the confidence in the world that Buddy is going to make shots. But we have a post feed, you have a 6 foot tall guy on you? Get the ball here. It's easy. We are 16-15. We don't love that. So we just keep doing the same thing and sit back, “Oh, at some point this will change.” Or can we make a change?

“I know what it looks like when you win. I know what it takes to win. So, as a leader, it's up to you to figure out what it takes to help this team. If that means coming into contact with a guy every now and then, if that’s like screaming, then do that.”

Green and Hield have only been teammates for 31 games. The four-time champion said he’s attempting to determine what makes Hield tick. This requires trying out different leadership styles. On Saturday night, he broke out the “wake the (expletive) method.”

“You have to try different methods,” Green said. “Some people – Jonathan Kuminga, I go to them and say, 'This is what you have to do, look at it like this and do it.' If I yell at him, I don't think he will. He won't listen. He'll get out of here. Steph, sometimes I go to him, sometimes I yell at him. He responds to both.”

Green learned from Michigan State University head coach Tom Izzo that leadership requires a sensitivity to each individual. Personal communication with everyone adds up to a total.

“If you think that you're going to steer a team, you're an idiot – you’ve to steer individuals who make up a team,” Green said. “Leading someone doesn’t look like leading the next guy. You have to find out what makes guys tick, what gets a guy going. I’m still figuring it out.”

Green said he and Hield went back and forth after his profanities, which he welcomed. This type of conversation is normal on a basketball court. Healthy even.

It's important to be someone who can receive a screaming message, Green said. He noted that he doesn't have a problem with Dennis Schroder – who joined the team just two weeks ago – attacking him recently. The same goes for Kyle Anderson.

Green has always been a vocal leader, and it hasn't always worked out for him. His infamous bench fight with Kevin Durant in 2018 earned him a suspension and caused tension within the team. He I called recently Jordan Poole's punch was “one in every of my biggest failures as a vet.”

But Green is widely regarded as an excellent teammate. He is an Xs and O expert, a competitive beast and an organizational pillar. Coach Steve Kerr has raved about Green's influence, especially this year.

In the third quarter against the Suns, he was just trying to get through to Hield.

“To approach Buddy the way I did, we needed that in that moment,” Green said. “We’re flat, we just turned the ball over. Include.”

The overall goal is to create a culture of accountability. At the beginning of this season Kerr said The nice thing about coaching Curry is that “he lets me yell at him.” During a timeout against Boston, Kerr tagged Curry for a careless turnover. Curry later said he just desired to be coached like everyone else.

When players like Green and Curry are okay with getting knocked out, the remaining of the locker room notices.

Including Hield.

“I happened to play a lot of championship basketball, a lot of meaningful basketball,” Green said. “Buddy hasn’t had the opportunity to play much meaningful basketball in this league. Guess what? It's our job to make sure he understands what that means. And if people don't like it, then so be it. That’s why they don’t have four championships and I do.”

Originally published: December 29, 2024 at 6:50 am PST

Celebrities born on today: Jeremy Strong, 46; Annie Lennox, 70; CCH Pounder, 72; Sissy Spacek, 75.

Happy Birthday: Set Sail; Now it's your turn to devote yourself to the leisure activities you wish to pursue. So take off your shoes, get able to live within the moment and revel in what life has to supply. Allow your creative mind to flow and your desire for change will lead you in a direction that provides excitement, imagination and a path to emotional bliss. Be passionate and embrace the long run with vigor and vigor. Their numbers are 12, 20, 24, 26, 35, 41, 47.

Aries (March 21-April 19): Engage in last-minute preparations or activities that require strength and intelligence, and avoid emotional chaos and interference from someone who at all times scares you. Take a deep breath, keep your thoughts to yourself and concentrate on what you wish to achieve. Choose peace over discord. 3 stars

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Call in your reserves to aid you push forward. Simplicity, preparation and coordination will aid you achieve your goal and have enough time to gather your thoughts and compose yourself before engaging in what might be stressful situations with friends, colleagues or relations. Protect yourself from insults and injuries. 3 stars

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Slow down, take precautions, and choose what feels best and most appropriate for you. Refuse to get stuck in another person's dilemma or tackle responsibilities that don't belong to you. Be gracious but blunt; Offer sound suggestions, not practical help. and keep moving forward. 3 stars

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Don't reveal your secrets. The more mysterious you’re, the better it’s to go about your enterprise without having to tackle more responsibility. Focus on the way you make a living and manage your money, and don't let anyone inform you something that doesn't suit your lifestyle. 5 stars

LEO (July 23-August 22): Preparation will prevent anxiety attributable to people asking too many questions or expecting an excessive amount of from you. Channel your energy into something physical, not something thought-provoking, and you’ll discover inner peace and self-satisfaction. Be open and let someone you’re keen on know the way much you care about them. 2 stars

VIRGO (August 23-September 22): Don't say anything that might entangle you in other people's plans. Make your preferences clear and avoid entering into a situation where you’re feeling obligated to follow the gang. A change of plan will work to your advantage should you react quickly. Do what’s best for you. 4 stars

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Take your seat and showcase what you’ve to supply. How you behave at gatherings affects how others react. Don't leave anything to probability. Avoid engaging in changes or situations that lead to shared expenses or joint ventures. Stay alone and stay on top of things. 3 stars

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Maintain balance, integrity and honor no matter how others react. Don't let anyone lead you right into a pointless argument that may result in division and anger. Refuse to make changes that usually are not in your best interest. Be kind, but know when to say no. Discipline and patience will likely be required. 3 stars

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21): Take advantage of all the things that comes your way. Increase your pace and bask in activities that keep you busy and out of trouble. Don't argue about something you possibly can't do anything about. Invest your time and energy in calming your soul and keeping your family members secure. 3 stars

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Stay on the appropriate path no matter what others want. You owe it to yourself to do what’s best for you and never worry about what others want. Acknowledge other people's desires and offer suggestions, but refuse to tackle problems that usually are not your personal. 4 stars

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Take a moment to think and make a plan, then get to work and keep going until you're joyful with the outcomes. Your ability to get things together will captivate viewers and put you within the position when someone needs help. A brand new look boosts your confidence. 2 stars

PISCES (February 19-March 20): Stay tuned; Temptation will likely be in every single place, and you need to be steadfast in your refusal. A conversation makes you query the selections you’ve made. Don't consider all the things you hear or think that the grass is greener elsewhere. Change only what’s vital and avoid debt and stress. 5 stars

Birthday Girl: You are outspoken, thoughtful and chronic. You are ambitious and steadfast.

1 star: avoid conflict; Work behind the scenes. 2 stars: You can achieve something, but don't depend on others. 3 stars: Focus and you’ll achieve your goals. 4 stars: High goals; start latest projects. 5 stars: Nothing can stop you; Get gold.

Visit Eugenialast.com or follow Eugenia on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn.

PARIS – The ball bounced off the ring five times.

Five!

Stephen Curry broke freed from Joel Embiid's brick-house block late within the fourth quarter, Serbian guard Ognjen Dobrić bumped into the wall like he was Wile E. Coyote and fell to the ground, and the best shooter of all time fired a shot from above which may as well have landed on a craps table.

With just 144 seconds left on this FIBA-style game where the clock isn’t any one's friend, the ball dropped through the web, giving Team USA its first lead since midway through the primary quarter. Eventually, Team USA pulled off one of the impressive comebacks of all time, in some way overcoming a 17-point deficit against Serbia (95-91) and heading to the Olympic gold medal game against France. At some point, we'll truly appreciate how close this team – with names like LeBron James, Curry, Kevin Durant and so many other all-time talents on board – got here to a level of infamy that might have surpassed the 2004 team that took bronze in Athens and, in consequence, sparked a reckoning inside the national program.

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) 8 August 2024

Phew.

I truthfully don't know what else to say.

When covering international tournaments just like the Olympics, one in all the things that’s off-putting is the support some non-American media outlets show for his or her respective teams, which is, to be honest, quite off-putting. Some reporters cheer on the press, which is taken into account taboo within the United States, and others even shout derogatory things about American players like Joel Embiid (true story).

But once you watch these Americans push themselves to the limit, and anticipate the form of criticism they'll get from people like me after they miss, you’ve to secretly hope that shots like Curry's late three-pointer fall. That dynamic just doesn't exist within the NBA; it comes from knowing one group of individuals so a lot better than the remainder. And when Curry did his job, stealing Bogdan Bogdanović's pass and running coast-to-coast for a left-to-right layup that put Team USA up 91-86 with 1:01 to go, you felt relieved that the Golden State Warriors star had finally had his moment in his first Summer Games.

As Steve Kerr, the US team's coach, said afterward, Curry gave the impression of a player who applied pressure from the beginning. He scored in single digits in three of the US team's 4 Olympic Games and averaged 7.3 points in the primary 4 games. The only highlight of his first Olympic experience was the friendly against Serbia on July 17, by which he scored 24 points.

That was child's play in comparison with this one. Curry was knocked out and scored 36 points while making 12 of his 19 shots and sinking nine of his 14 threes.

Do how again and again in his entire profession he made that many 3-pointers on 14 or fewer attempts? Nine, in keeping with Stathead.comand that features a total of 1,103 games between the regular season and the playoffs (0.8 percent of the time). As a reminder, these games are 40 minutes long, not the 48-minute affairs we see within the NBA. The proven fact that it happened in a game where Team USA so desperately needed a basketball hero made it all of the more epic.

“There have been moments over the last few weeks where I thought (Curry) was working too hard,” said Kerr, the Warriors coach who has witnessed Curry's success up close for a decade. “He's just so dedicated, constantly working so hard on his game. We all know who he is, what he does, and I almost wanted to tell him, 'Hey, take a day off,' but that's just not him. He works so hard, and with the work he's put in over the last few weeks, he's pushed himself into this game tonight.”

Curry, the 36-year-old who was in a position to fully enjoy this Olympic experience even off the bottom, stressed that the partitions weren’t getting any closer.

“I didn't feel any pressure at all because we were winning every game by … 15, 20 points,” he said. “I know I affect the game in a different way. But tonight, about two minutes in, we realized I was being eyed, that they were playing a different type of defense against us. Obviously, they were scoring an insane amount of goals on the other end, so you just keep going and get lost in the moment.

“It will depend on what the sport requires. I shot 3 times last game (in a win over Brazil) and I didn't wish to force it because that wasn't what the sport required. That's the fantastic thing about Team USA and FIBA ​​and this whole experience. Every game was for another person.”

When you hear Curry's side of the story, you realize that this role represents a huge adjustment for him. While he was shooting just 35.7 percent of his shots from the field and 25 percent of his threes (5 of 20) before the Serbia game, he was also averaging just seven shots per game. That context, the fact that this team makes it so difficult for so many great players to find a way, like they do with their NBA teams, is often forgotten in the discussion.

“I haven't had many opportunities,” Curry said candidly. “I haven't shot well all tournament, but that doesn't diminish my confidence to seize the moment.”

And he did.

When one of the greatest basketball games of all time was over, James – who was part of the 2004 team that the USA Basketball program would rather forget – threw the ball in the air and looked down to see Curry waiting to embrace him with unbridled joy. It was a surreal scene in every way, the sight of these two NBA rivals sharing a kind of memory that no one could have imagined when their Cavs and Warriors teams battled each other in the Finals all those years ago.

GO DEEPER

LeBron James and Steph Curry harbored a “healthy grudge” – Olympic Games offer something new

So I asked James, “How does this game rank in terms of pure emotion?”

“I mean, it's right up there,” said James, the four-time champion and Los Angeles Lakers star whose triple-double (16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists) played a big part in the win. “I mean, I'm 39 years old and I'm going into my twenty second season. I don't know the way many more opportunities or moments like this I'm going to get to compete for something big and play in big games.”

This game was beyond great. It was downright magical, with all this history woven between key players who fell on the track for their national pride. Just listen to Kevin Durant, the Phoenix Suns star who won two championships with Curry in Golden State, sound like he'd never experienced anything like it.

“Steph, man, that was a godlike performance,” said Durant, who forced Bogdanović into a crucial backcourt violation with 1:34 left and hit a nasty jump shot with 34 seconds left that put Team USA ahead 93-89. “Damn, (Curry) was tough. It felt like he'd been struggling all tournament, and we at all times said every night (every game) it could possibly be anyone else. And tonight he presented himself in a way that, man…”

Durant was almost speechless.

“One shot after one other, stealing a ball after which ending with a layup,” he said. “He was in every single place tonight. It was probably the greatest games I've ever seen from him.”

Required reading

Julien Bernard had a dream homecoming on Friday. During the time trial of the seventh stage of the Tour de France, which took place in Bernard's home region of Burgundy, the French cyclist enjoyed the passion of his home crowd and gave his wife and son a warm hug.

Because he stopped his ride to kiss his family, Bernard was fined 200 Swiss francs ($223) by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), which deemed his behavior “inappropriate or inappropriate behavior during the race and damaging to the image of the sport.”

The kiss – which was met with thunderous applause from his lots of of cheering fans on site – got here in a cinematic moment as Bernard raced up a steep hill with one arm raised within the air and his family and friends crowded along the route, patting him on the back, waving signs and playing instruments.

In the center of the group was his radiant wife, carrying their son.

Fantastic scenes for Julien Bernard with incredible fan support and a stop together with his family through the time trial.#TDF2024 : Peacock pic.twitter.com/FjIhSOWtjx

— NBC Sports Cycling (@NBCSCycling) July 5, 2024

On social media, Bernard took the fantastic as a joke.

“I'm sorry, UCI, for damaging the image of the sport,” Bernard wrote on X. “But I'm ready to pay 200 (francs) every day and relive this moment.”

Belgian Remco Evenepoel ultimately won the hilly 23.5 km (14.6 mile) stage.

Bernard's time of 32:03 was the 61st fastest time of the stage. His Lidl-Trek teammate Giulio Ciccone finished the stage in 31:19, placing forty first.

Another Lidl-Trek teammate, Toms Skujins, reacted to Bernard's fantastic with similar sarcastic bewilderment.

UCI does UCI things
pic.twitter.com/VFrIDWYL2I

— Toms Skujiņš (@Tomashuuns) July 5, 2024

“I knew my wife and my friends had done something on the climb and I was looking forward to seeing them,” Bernard said in an interview after the attempt, later adding: “I wanted to enjoy every second with my boyfriend and family. It was a dream moment for me.”

“In a time trial you have time to have fun. These are the moments that make me want to keep going and ride my bike.”

Required reading

“Pictures or it didn’t happen” has its price

Select the vacation elements which can be vital to you