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The buzz Around Simone Biles’ 2023 Return Is Papable.

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HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – If you exclude the wedding band, Simone Biles could have been born in 2019. Or 2016. Or 2014.

Many years before Tokyo. Many years before the “twisties.” close before her two-year hiatus, the gymnastics star took a step back, looked closely at her record-breaking career, and concluded she wasn’t done. Still.

On the eve of the U.S. Classic, she stepped onto the floor at NOW Arena, her first competition since winning bronze on the balance beam at the postponed 2020 Olympics, a medal she described as “among the sweetest she’s ever earned.”

She was giggling with her teammates. There she was, jogging, stretching, flipping, and occasionally twisting, with the effortless elegance that the seven-time Olympic medalist possessed when she was at her best.

Those heady days may be coming to an end. Biles is now 26 and in a different stage of her life. In April, she married Green Bay Packers defensive back Jonathan Owens. Her Instagram page mostly comprises pictures of the house they’re building, her dogs, her friends, and very little of the sport she’s helped to redefine.

The specifics of her return following an eventful two weeks at the Tokyo Games, where she removed herself from various competitions while battling a mental block (“the twisties”), have been kept under wraps. The announcement that she would compete on Saturday came from USA Gymnastics, not one of her social media platforms or a T.V. network.

There was no film team following her around. There will be no opening up the gym her family owns north of Houston to the public. There’s a sense that this is more personal for Biles than the build-up to Tokyo.

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If you excluded the wedding band, Simone Biles could have been born in 2019. Or 2016. Or 2014.

Nonetheless, the excitement around her comeback is evident. A few hundred fans paid $25 each to watch Biles practice, which is unusual for a modestly attended competition. As of Friday afternoon, the average secondary market ticket price for Saturday night’s evening session featuring Biles and 2020 Olympic champion Suni Lee went up to $400 because whatever seats were available when Biles officially entered the meet vanished within hours.

When she finished an act, yells of “Simone!” rang out around the arena. When she landed her third attempt at a double-pike vault — effectively two backflips with her hands clasped just above her knees — there was a burst of applause, even though she over-rotated a little and went off the back of the mat.

Following that, she approached a sea of cameras and announced, “Welcome to our vlog,” as she walked into the World Championships Centre with several teammates. Rather than pausing to converse, she chuckled and continued on her way, determined to let her actions — at least at this stage in her return — speak louder than her words.

And those actions indicate she is determined to reclaim her position atop the sport but with some changes to accommodate the new point system and to make her as comfortable as possible, both psychologically and physically.

While her coach, Cecile Landi, emphasized that Biles can perform “everything” she’s done before, the Amanar vault, which needs her to twist 2 1/2 times in midair — the same vault that went sideways in Tokyo, forcing her to withdraw — is gone. She’s also not completing her famous double-twisting double backflip beam dismount right now, though it could be because the risk isn’t worth it under the current code.

And to think that Biles didn’t commit to gymnastics until after her wedding in late April. Her workouts have become more efficient, emphasizing quality rather than quantity.

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Simone Biles could have been born in 2019 if you excluded the wedding band. Or 2016. Or 2014.

“We wouldn’t be here if we had seen any hesitation (from her),” Landi explained. “It is her desire to be here. We were there for her. We can see it. So long as she says she’s fine, we’re going to keep going.”

Biles dazzled in an internal competition at a U.S. national team training last month, but things will be different under the lights on Saturday.

The landings will be difficult. The results will be recorded. Ratings are expected to rise as admirers and the curious tune in to witness how Biles reacts to being in the spotlight, which she had masterfully commanded until that bizarre night at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre two summers ago.

While the rest of the world may wonder if Biles will be thinking about Tokyo as she stands atop the vault runway, it’s more likely that she’ll think about the next 10 seconds rather than the last couple of years.

Alicia Sacramone Quinn is the strategy lead for the United States’ top women’s program. She was an Olympian fifteen years ago, though errors in two events in the team final contributed to the Americans winning silver rather than gold.

It didn’t deter her. She competed for four more years, making the 2011 world championship team before withdrawing due to injury.

Quinn understands the story of a gymnast regarded as the greatest of all time. She’s also not concerned that it will consume Biles when she salutes the judges and leaps onto the uneven bars on Saturday night.

“You have to kind of train yourself to get out of that mindset,” Quinn explained. “You’re like, ‘I can’t change what happened in the past, so I’m just going to look to the future and try to do my best.'”

SOURCE – (AP)

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Jason Kelce Smashes Football Fan’s Phone

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Jason Kelce Smashes College Football Fan's Phone

Retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce destroyed a Penn State football fan’s phone after the alleged heckler called his brother, Travis Kelce, a fag.

In now-viral footage published on X (previously Twitter) on Saturday, Nov. 2, the retired Philadelphia Eagles great was seen accompanied by football fans outside Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa., for the Penn State-Ohio State game.

As the individual capturing the tape lifted a fist to Jason, 36, and called his name for a fist bump, another man nearby hurled the homophobic slur at the retired Philadelphia Eagles star.

Hey, Kelce. How does it feel that your brother is a queer dating Taylor Swift?” the man questioned, referring to Travis, 34, who has been seeing Swift since 2023. Jason turned around seconds later, snatched the man’s phone, and crushed it to the ground.

“Looked like a Penn State student was getting in Kelce’s face for no reason,” the original X user who submitted the video remarked. “Wild scene in State College.”

Additional footage on X shows Jason smashing the phone on asphalt before picking it up and walking away. The phone’s owner, wearing a Penn State hoodie at the time of the incident, was shown in many videos strolling closely behind Jason and recording him before the conflict occurred.

Another footage published on X, which appears to have been filmed after Jason shattered the man’s phone, showed the hooded Penn State supporter trudging through a mob to pick up his phone off the ground.

“Give me my phone, bro,” he seemed to say to Jason.

The NFL alum seized the gadget first, then stood in front of the man and asked, “Who’s the fag now?” Others appeared to interfere.

The incident occurred while Jason was at Beaver Stadium for an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay. The Ohio State Buckeyes won Saturday’s game 20-13 over the Penn State Nittany Lions.

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Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold

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Shaun White, the Olympic snowboarding champion, already has an impressive medal tally, but his surprise proposal to Nina Dobrev deserves a gold medal.

On Wednesday, the couple announced their engagement on Instagram. Dobrev posted photographs of the two hugging under an arch of white roses and showing off her five-carat Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring.

“RIP boyfriend, hello fiancé,” Dobrev said in the caption.

However, the photographs only tell half the tale, as Shaun devised an elaborate plan to surprise Dobrev with his proposal.

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Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold

According to a Vogue interview published Wednesday, Shaun said he assembled a team of people from the couple’s inner circle and Vogue personnel to trick Dobrev into thinking she had been invited to an intimate dinner party with Anna Wintour.

White claimed that his publicist emailed Dobrev a forged invitation to the event, which was scheduled to take place at the Golden Swan in New York City.

Dobrev accepted the invitation, joking that Shaun made it “look so legitimate.”

He even asked Dobrev’s stylist to outfit her in Chanel for the event.

Dobrev said she recognized what was happening when she entered the venue and saw White standing beneath the flowery arch.

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Shaun’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold

“I went into shock,” Dobrev admitted, later adding that White “said all the right things” before she agreed.

According to the publication, after Shaun proposed, the couple partied into the early morning hours with close friends and relatives.

“Best night of my life,” Shaun captioned his Instagram story on Wednesday.

The duo first became romantically involved in 2020, and they have since publicly recorded their relationship, globe vacations, and White’s Olympic farewell on social media.

SOURCE  | CNN

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Hollywood Actress Teri Garr Passes Away at 79

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Hollywood Actress Teri Garr Passes Away at 79
Teri Garr, known for her roles in classics like "Young Frankenstein" and "Tootsie," has passed away at 79.

Hollywood actress Teri Garr, known for her roles in classics like “Young Frankenstein” and “Tootsie,” has passed away at 79. She died Tuesday of multiple sclerosis “surrounded by family and friends,” said publicist Heidi Schaeffer.

Admirers took to social media in her honor, with writer-director Paul Feig calling her “truly one of my comedy heroes. I couldn’t have loved her more” and screenwriter Cinco Paul saying: “Never the star, but always shining. She made everything she was in better.”

Throughout her career, the performer, often known as Terri, Terry, or Terry Ann, seemed destined for show business from a young age.

Her father was Eddie Garr, a well-known vaudeville comic, and her mother was Phyllis Lind, one of the original high-kicking Rockettes at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Their daughter began dancing classes at six and was performing with the San Francisco and Los Angeles ballet companies by age fourteen.

She was 16 years old when she joined the road crew of “West Side Story” in Los Angeles, and she began starring in small roles in films as early as 1963.

In an interview from 1988, she described how she landed the role in “West Side Story.” After being rejected at her initial audition, she returned the following day dressed differently and was accepted.

Teri Garr, a comedian

Teri Garr then found steady work as a movie dancer, appearing in the chorus of nine Elvis Presley films, including “Viva Las Vegas,” “Roustabout,” and “Clambake.”

She has also appeared on various television shows, including “Star Trek,” “Dr. Kildare,” and “Batman,” and was a featured dancer on the rock ‘n’ roll music show “Shindig,” the rock concert performance “T.A.M.I.,” and a cast member of “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.”

Her breakthrough role was as Gene Hackman’s girlfriend in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 thriller The Conversation. This led to an interview with Mel Brooks, who offered her the Gene Wilder’s German lab assistant role in Young Frankenstein if she could speak with a German accent.

“Cher had this German woman, Renata, making wigs, so I got the accent from her,” Garr once said.

The film established her as a great comic performer, with New Yorker film writer Pauline Kael calling her “the funniest neurotic dizzy dame on screen.”

Her big smile and off-center appeal helped her land roles in “Oh, God!” with George Burns and John Denver, “Mr. Mom” (as Michael Keaton’s wife), and “Tootsie,” in which she played the girlfriend who loses Dustin Hoffman to Jessica Lange and discovers he has dressed up as a woman to revive his career.

 A gift for spontaneous humor

Teri Garr, best known for comedy, has shown in films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Black Stallion, and The Escape Artist that she can also tackle drama.

She had a gift for spontaneous humor, frequently playing David Letterman’s foil during early guest appearances on N.B.C.’s “Late Night With David Letterman”.

Her appearances grew so frequent, and the pair’s good-natured bickering so convincing that rumors of romantic involvement circulated for a while. Years later, Letterman acknowledged those early appearances with helping the program become a success.

During those years, Garr began to experience “a little beeping or ticking” in her right leg. It started in 1983 and expanded to her right arm, but she thought she could handle it. By 1999, her symptoms had gotten so bad that she saw a doctor and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

After disclosing her diagnosis, Garr became a spokesman for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, giving hilarious remarks at events in the United States and Canada.

Source: AP

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