Fiji trounces Great Britain for Rugby Gold Medal: Olympics Update

From: Speed o Rex

 Rugby made its exciting return to the Olympics this year, and the Rugby-crazed country of Fiji made a fitting recipient of the gold medal.   

 For a country of less than a million people, a gold medal in a team sport is a huge deal!

  Semi-finals

     Fiji 20, Japan 5

     Great Britain 7, South Africa 5

Finals

Fiji 43, Great Britain 7

Recap
Fiji claim historic gold medal 


  ... plus Fiji team captain Jerry Tuwai and teammates basking in glory.

Happy Birthday today August 15th

Ben Affleck turns 44 today.
From: Favorite Hunks & Other Things

Commentator Who Couldn’t Handle Gay Kisses ALSO Slams Tennis Player As ‘Not Macho’

From: Queerty

So far, the Olympics have mostly been super fun — but at times, they’ve exposed how much times have changed in the last few years, and how poorly sports reporters have kept up with them.

You’ve probably seen some of the sexist and racist coverage that’s come out of the event — one medal-winner was only identified by her husband’s name, another was referred to only by her race in a headline.

And now, a BBC commentator is being called out for a borderline-homophobic, machismo-dripping comment on a tennis match. British player Andy Murray cried when he won a victory over an Argentinian player last night. BBC commentator Paul Hand couldn’t bear the sight of it.

“We’ve had macho tennis, but not a macho response, right?” he said. Oh, lord. Can you imagine being as delicate and hysterical as Paul Hand? If the sight of another man crying makes him nervous, he must truly be dealing with some troubling personal issues.

His comments touched off a firestorm of complaints on Twitter, and eventually the BBC non-pologized that his comments were “ill-judged.” But the more important question is: is Paul Hand getting counseling for his obvious emotional problems?

This isn’t the first time he’s had a misstep at the Olympics. Just a few days ago, he freaked out at the idea of two men kissing, when a stadium kiss-camera was making the rounds. He was narrating how the couples were embracing or not embracing, and said “it’s lovely to watch” about straight couples. After some time, he added, “let’s hope they don’t go on two blokes next to each other.”

Let’s hope not, because apparently Paul Hand’s manhood can’t survive the idea that gay people exist.

These irritating behaviors might’ve been shrugged off a few years ago, but the internet’s helped us become more aware of how unfair it is to treat people this way.

An Earnest Plea For Men’s Synchronized Swimming At The Olympics

Just think of the speedos!
From: NewNowNext

 Though men are currently barred from competing in synchronized swimming at the Olympics, a new ad from online shorts vendor Chubbies gives us a peek into what a men’s team might look like.

The tongue-in-cheek spot shows a group of guys executing a number of difficult moves in perfect synchronicity, including pizza-eating, beer-chugging and, of course, office-working, all while decked out in American flag speedos.

While these tricks are certainly not regulation, the boys at Chubbies pull them off with their signature bro-y charm.

IOC Condemns Daily Beast’s Olympic Grindr Article, Says Writer Sent Home

A spokesman for the Olympics says Nico Hines is no longer in Rio.
From: NewNowNext

 The International Olympic Committee condemned the Daily Beast article baiting gay athletes as “simply unacceptable” and indicated the writer, Nico Hines, is no longer in Rio.

“We understand the organization concerned recalled the journalist after complaints and withdrew the story,” an IOC spokesperson told Outsports.

 In his post, Hines used Grindr and Jack’d to connect with gay Olympians, even though he is a married heterosexual.

“The concept for the piece was to see how dating and hook-up apps were being used in Rio by athletes,” wrote DB editor in chief John Avlon in an editor’s note added later. “It just so happened that Nico had many more responses on Grindr than apps that cater mostly to straight people, and so he wrote about that.”

But, as many pointed out, Hines included specific information that could identify the athletes he communicated with, including some from countries that outlaw homosexuality.

At first the Daily Beast edited the article to remove details, but after a firestorm of criticism from activists, athletes and LGBT groups—many of whom called for the IOC to revoke Hines’ credentials—the site took the article down and replaced it with an editor’s note.

“Our initial reaction was that the entire removal of the piece was not necessary. We were wrong. We’re sorry.”

“Our hope is that removing an article that is in conflict with both our values and what we aspire to as journalists will demonstrate how seriously we take our error,” the note read. “We screwed up. We will do better.”

It’s not clear what Hines’ future will be with the Daily Beast—he has not addressed the issue publicly and his Twitter has been idle since the article went live.

“Saturday Night Live” Promotes Gay Comedian Chris Kelly To Head Writer

Kelly's co-head writer Sarah Schneider is the show's first female head writer since 2008.
From: NewNowNext

A shakeup at Saturday Night Live could mean higher-brow comedy in seasons to come, as NBC has confirmed seasoned writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider have been promoted to co-head writers for the iconic show’s upcoming 42nd season.

Variety calls the move “a dramatic change in tone to better fit with a younger, modern audiences” in light of the recent firings of Jay Pharoah, Taran Killam, and Jon Rudnitsky, a trio that specialized in the kind of “toxic bro humor” SNL devolved into these last couple years.

Together, Kelly and Schneider are responsible for some of the more hilarious sketches since they joined the show in 2011, like “The Beygency,” “Back Home Ballers,” the Emmy-nominated “(Do It On My) Twin Bed,” “Bern Your Enthusiasm,” and “Bar Talk” with Hillary Clinton.

In a 2015 interview with Splitsider, the duo explained how they first met on the set of a CollegeHumor video in 2011, and how they’ve used each other to spin pure comedy gold ever since.

“The first year [working on SNL], I would kind of write from a place of fear,” said Kelly. “I would be like,’What do I do? What do I write? What will they like? What will the show want? What will make the audience laugh? What isn’t stupid? What won’t get me fired?'”

“And then I started to slowly write for what would make Sarah laugh and then what would make us laugh in the room — you know, what would we like — and I think it’s so much better once you have a friend where you’re like ’Okay, what do we like?’…It kind of helps you not write from a place of fear — it helps you write more from a place of joy.”

Saturday Night Live season 42 premieres this fall. 

Prep yourself with some of Kelly and Schneider’s more hilarious work below:

Abs, hugs and asses: Bromance at the Olympics

Seeing athletes show affection never gets old.
From: OutSports

 One of the coolest things about the Olympics is seeing athletes show emotion, especially affection in an arena that is acceptable to men. It's a bromance novel every four years.

It's also great to see some of the athletes better assets, often hidden underneath their uniforms — namely their abs. And finally, a parting shot that shows what all that rowing does to build one's glutes.

 Bromance

Canada's Gavin Schmitt (L) embraces Canada's Tyler Sanders after they won the men's qualifying volleyball match between the USA and Canada 

(Photo by Pedro UgarteAFP/Getty Images)

 Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy celebrates winning gold with Gabriele Detti of Italy, who won bronze in the Men's 1500m Freestyle Final

(Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images) 

 Jack Laugher, left, and Chris Mears of Great Britain celebrate winning the Men's Diving Synchronized 3m Springboard Final. 

(Photo by Adam Pretty/Getty Images) 

 Gabriel Jesus (right) of Brazil celebrates with teammate Neymar his goal against Denmark. 

(Photo by Nelson Almeida/AFP/Getty Images)

 Diego Hypólito (right) and Arthur Mariano  of Brazil celebrate winning silver and bronze respectively after the Men's Floor Exercise Final

(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images) 

 Silver medalist Chase Kalisz of the United States and gold medal medalist Kosuke Hagino of Japan embrace during the medal ceremony for the Final of the Men's 400m Individual Medley

(Photo by Adam Pretty/Getty Images)

Marc López of Spain and Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrate victory in their men's doubles semifinal. 

(Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

 South Africa's Tim Agaba (right) embraces South Africa's Kwagga Smith after victory in the mens rugby sevens bronze medal match between Japan and South Africa. 

(Photo byJohn MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images)

 Kazakhstan's Dmitriy Balandin (L) celebrates with third placed Russia's Anton Chupkov after he won the Men's 200m Breaststroke Final. (Photo by Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images)

 Junghwan Kim of S. Korea (right) embraces Nikolay Kovalev of Russia following the men's individual sabre quarterfinal. 

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

 Moises Duque of Brazil and Carlin Isles of the United States embrace after the Men's Placing 9-12, Match in rugby. 

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

 Abs

Floor exercise silver medalist Diego Hypólito (bottom) and bronze medalist Arthur Mariano
(From Mariano's Instagram)

 Brazilian gymnast Francisco Barreto Júnior 

(From Baretto's Instagram)

Max Whitlock, British gymnast, who won two gold medals in Rio on Sunday. 

(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images). 

    Italy's Fabio Basile, gold medalist in men's 66kg judo. 

(Photo by Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)

 South Korea judo athletes, from left, Gwak Dong-han, Lee Seung-su, An Chang-rim, An Baul, and Kim Won Jin.

 (Via Instagram)

 Bronze medalists Are Strandli (left) and Kristoffer Brun of Norway in the Lightweight Men's Double Sculls. 

(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Asses

Openly gay New Zealand Olympic rower Robbie Manson (left) with his brother Karl, also a rower. The photo has the caption: "@warwick_rowers eat your heart out! #kiwirowers #nakedrowers #nzscenery #thatviewthough"

(From Robbie Manson's Instagram).

#THINKIN

Happy Birthday today August 15th

From: Favorite Hunks & Other Things

Happy 44th to actor Ben Affleck!

Favorite Pic of the Day for August 15, 2015

From: Favorite Hunks & Other Things

Ruben M by Covetimage

Favorite Sport of the Day: August 15, 2008

Water Polo
From: Favorite Hunks & Other Things

 Some of my favorites from the US Olympic Team

 Brian Alexander

Genai Kerr

Merrill Moses

Peter Hudnut

Rick Merlo

Tony Azevedo