‘VIP' bettors say sportsbooks keep them playing, no matter the cost
Also in attendance at the famed French Quarter haunt that night: hundreds of indistinguishable sports fans who had earned their way in by virtue of their status with the sports betting company. They were DraftKings' 'VIPs.'
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Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
BROADCAST BIAS: ABC compares Sydney Sweeney ad to Nazis as networks go nuts about her ‘genes'
The typical time that broadcast networks report on the advertising world is just before Super Bowl Sunday, to give viewers an advance peek at what companies will be shelling out millions to display. The clothing company American Eagle just scored a marketing coup with ad with White actress Sydney Sweeney making a sly joke about her "genes" and her jeans. "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color," cooed the actress. "My jeans are blue." This quickly spurred outrage from purple-haired TikTokers and leftist websites complaining about "centering Whiteness" and "fascist propaganda." On Tuesday, July 29, ABC's "Good Morning America First Look" was already employing the word "backlash." Anchor Rhiannon Ally began: "Time to check the pulse, we begin with the backlash over a new ad campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney." Co-anchor Andrew Dymburt added "in one ad, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed actress talks about genes as in DNA being passed down from her parents." Then Ally lowered the boom: "The play on words is being compared to Nazi propaganda with racial undertones." Robin Landa, a professor of advertising at Kean University in New Jersey, brought the leftist theme: "The pun 'good genes' activates a troubling historical association for this country. The American Eugenics Movement and its prime between 1900 and 1940 weaponized the idea of good genes just to justify White supremacism." In other interviews, Landa took the eugenics thing to its illogical conclusion, that one could suspect the American Eagle company was not just promoting "White genetic superiority," but a movement that "enabled the forced sterilization of marginalized groups." Most people just saw them selling their jeans as sexy. At least Dymburt suggested the backlash wasn't economic: "Despite that backlash, American Eagle stock has been soaring." But was there any serious "backlash" beyond the Left? cited anonymous sources inside American Eagle claiming "the ad campaign is creating tremendous buzz and their independent polling shows the vast majority of folks — around 70% — find the commercial appealing." On the CBS News streaming channel, business reporter Jo Ling Kent relayed "American Eagle's new ad campaign, featuring actress Sydney Sweeney, is coming under fire for what was supposed to be a clever play on words." It couldn't be "clever"? Did this company know and expect that purple-haired leftists would cry Nazi and that would lead to an avalanche of social-media impressions and debates? It's hard to argue they stumbled into this, not knowing what a blonde, White actress using wordplay about "genes" could cause. On NPR's "Morning Edition" on Wednesday, co-host Steve Inskeep discussed the Sweeney ads with Metaforce marketing guru Allen Adamson. Inskeep explained "There was some social media commentary. 'Oh, there's something racist about this.' And I get that, I understand people raising that. But I think there's also something real here — isn't it? — in that advertisers do think about the race and ethnicity, the look of the people they choose to pitch their products to us." Adamson claimed: "For years, the tide was flowing in a different direction. There was a pressure on advertisers to diversify, to show people in ads that usually were not shown in ads because that was unusual. All the ads had a sort of 'Leave It to Beaver' old-fashioned look." The 'Beaver' line is overdoing it, but advertisers after the George Floyd riots absolutely worked hard to diversify the actors in their ads. It's not offensively "woke" to have minorities of all kinds selling you Eggo waffles or McDonald's burgers. That's all still too capitalist for the left-wingers. But having a White actress joke about race clearly grabbed attention. On the CBS News streaming channel, business reporter Jo Ling Kent relayed "American Eagle's new ad campaign, featuring actress Sydney Sweeney, is coming under fire for what was supposed to be a clever play on words." It couldn't be "clever"? The NPR anchor suggested Trump was part of the formula: "So if people were going for diversity in past years, are advertisers going for some other look now that the politics of the country are a little different?" Adamson said yes, because "advertising needs to disrupt the norm." On Wednesday night's "Late Show" on CBS, Stephen Colbert actually hinted that the leftist backlash was a little strident. "Some people look at this and they're seeing something sinister, saying that the genes-jeans denim wordplay in an ad featuring a White blond woman means American Eagle could be promoting eugenics, White supremacy and Nazi propaganda. That might be a bit of an overreaction — although Hitler did briefly model for Mein Kampfort Fit Jeans." Colbert added: "How do you say 'badonk' in German?" The broadcast networks didn't launch too heavily into this ad campaign, perhaps suspicious of being part of a sneaky advertising plot, as Brian Stelter tried to call it a "nontroversy." Sometimes, an ad for jeans is all about selling jeans.
Chicago Tribune
18 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Marv Levy looks forward to celebrate turning 100 at Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio
Marv Levy is realizing among the advantages of turning 100 is no longer having to fudge his age. 'Well, I'd prefer to be turning 25, to tell you the truth,' the Pro Football Hall of Fame coach said, with a laugh, his distinct booming voice resonating over the phone from his hometown of Chicago last week. Acknowledging his age is actually a switch for Levy. It wasn't until years after landing the Buffalo Bills head coaching job in 1986 when it was revealed how Levy shaved three years off his age out of fear NFL teams wouldn't hire a 61-year-old. 'But no, I'm very appreciative,' Levy said of his milestone birthday, which is on Sunday. 'I've been very fortunate with all the people I've associated with, including my dear wife Frannie and my daughter Kimberly.' And many of those associates — family, friends, former players, coaches and executives — will all be on hand in Canton, Ohio, on Friday, when the Hall of Fame hosts a party to celebrate Levy's 100th birthday. He'll be arriving in first class, with officials hiring what Levy called 'a special vehicle' to make the six-hour drive. 'I'm overwhelmingly complimented. It'll be fun to see so many of my former cohorts and enemies,' he said, laughing. The list is large, in part because there'll be plenty of Hall of Famers already there, as his birthday coincides with the annual induction festivities. This year's class features Antonio Gates, Jared Allen, Eric Allen, and Sterling Sharpe. Among those making the trip specifically for Levy include former players, staff, and Mary Wilson, the wife of late Bills Hall of Fame owner Ralph Wilson. 'How could you miss it? I love him so much,' Wilson said. 'What a gentlemen. He's so gracious and I admire him. I'm so happy he had this wonderful relationship with Ralph, and I'm just thrilled I can be there.' Levy's career dates to coaching football and basketball at Country Day School in St. Louis, Missouri, in the early 1950s, before moving on to the college ranks with stops at New Mexico, California and William & Mary. And while he moved on to the pros and won two Grey Cup titles with the CFL Montreal Alouettes in the 1970s, Levy's claim to greatness began with his arrival in Buffalo. It was during his 12-year stint when Levy made a lasting impression for overseeing a star-studded Jim Kelly-led team to eight playoff appearances and four consecutive Super Bowl berths, all ending in losses. 'Fortitude and resilience. He preached that continually,' said Hall of Fame executive Bill Polian, the Bills GM who hired Levy. 'That message among the many that he delivered sunk in. His sense of humor and his eloquence just captured everybody from the day he walked into the meeting room.' Levy's more memorable messages included citing Winston Churchill by saying, 'When you're going through hell, keep on going.' And his most famous line, which became the title of his autobiography and a rallying cry for the Bills and their small-market fans was: 'Where else would you rather be than right here, right now.' Author, poet and avid history buff, Levy can lay claim to having seen plenty of history over the past century as someone who served in the Army Air Corps during World War II and had a front row seat in seeing the NFL become North America's dominant sports league. His first NFL break came as a 'kicking teams' coach with Philadelphia in 1969, and he spent five seasons as the Kansas City Chiefs head coach. After retiring in Buffalo following the 1997 season, he returned to the Bills for a two-year stint as GM in 2006, with Ralph Wilson referring to the then-octogenarians as 'the two golden boys,' and Levy calling himself 'an 80-year-old rookie.' Levy has outlived many of his contemporaries, from coach George Allen, whom he worked under in Washington, to AFC East rival Don Shula. He's among the few Cubs fans who can boast outlasting the team's World Series drought in attending their Game 7 loss in 1945, before celebrating their World Series return and title in 2016. The one thing missing is a Super Bowl title for his beloved Bills, who have returned to prominence under coach Sean McDermott and quarterback Josh Allen. Levy likes Buffalo's chances this season, and stays in touch with McDermott, a former William & Mary player. 'I'll take any advice he wants to give me. It's been huge,' McDermott said. 'It's one of the great honors of coaching the Buffalo Bills is to follow a coach like Marv Levy.' This will be Levy's first trip to Canton in two years, when at 98, he insisted on leading the seven-block Hall of Fame Walk. He was ready to make the walk back before being coaxed into a golf cart. And Levy has an agenda upon his return in resuming his campaign for former Bills special teams star Steve Tasker's induction. 'Marv's a hall of famer in every sense of the word. He's a hall of fame human being and a hall of fame coach,' Tasker said. 'And if his campaign to get me in the hall of fame keeps him alive, I hope I never get in.' Hall of Fame historian Joe Horrigan is from Buffalo and described Levy's era as uplifting for turning around a losing franchise and spurring a Rust Belt community struggling through an economic downturn. 'To see the legacy he has left just makes you feel good to be there,' Horrigan said of celebrating Levy's birthday. 'You know, there's no place I'd rather be than right there, right then.' Levy is humbled by the attention, grateful people are still interested in his story, and ended the phone call with a familiar farewell: 'Go Bills.'
New York Post
21 hours ago
- New York Post
Chiefs' Chris Jones reveals marriage hopes after ugly breakup with longtime girlfriend
Chiefs star Chris Jones seems to be looking for love a few months after news of his messy split from longtime girlfriend Sheawna Weathersby broke. In a recent video taken at Chiefs training camp, players were asked to share one thing on their bucket list that they haven't completed yet, with the six-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle zoning in on matters of the heart. 'I just wanna be married, I just wanna be loved,' Jones said in a TikTok shared this week by the Chiefs' official account. Advertisement The comments made by Jones come four months after Weathersby accused the three-time Super Bowl champ of cheating in an Instagram post, saying she ended their nine-year relationship 'months ago.' 'I'm choosing to focus on the positive as I close this chapter on a 9-year relationship. Ultimately Chris' infidelity with the woman he's recently been pictured with led to my decision to end our relationship months ago,' Weathersby wrote in March, seemingly referring to multiple reports that claimed Jones posted a photo of himself with a woman licking his face via Instagram before deactivating his account. Advertisement 4 Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones said he wants to be married in a video shared by the team on TikTok during training camp. TikTok/Chiefs 'This is especially troubling given her history of harassment, stalking and disrespect towards me, including constantly calling and messaging me and my close friends from text free apps and fake Instagram pages. This behavior has forced me to change my number and has forced Chris to ask her multiple times to please leave me alone and respect our coparenting dynamic.' Jones, 31, did not address the infidelity allegations. 4 Sheawna Weathersby the ex-girlfriend of Chris Jones. Instagram/Sheawna Weathersby Advertisement In January, the All-Pro lineman said he was single in a series of tweets. Weathersby was a staple at Chiefs games and forged friendships with the team's WAGs, including Taylor Swift, who's dating Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce. 4 Taylor Swift and Sheawna Weathersby at Chiefs game in fall 2024. Instagram/Taylor Swift and Sheawna Weathersby Jones and Weathersby share two children, Christopher Jones II, 6, and Carson Dakota, 2. Advertisement They had been together since at least November 2015, according to an anniversary post, months before he was selected No. 37 overall by the Chiefs in the 2016 NFL Draft. 4 Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones (95) runs drills during training camp at Missouri Western State University on July 22, 2025. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect Jones recorded 75 pressures, 29 quarterback hits and 10.5 sacks in 16 games last season. He signed a five-year, $158.75 million extension with $101 million in guarantees in March 2024.
