HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Tim Clayton – Corbis / Getty Managing mental health in the public eye is a complicated feat on its own. Throw in being a highly revered Black athlete like Naomi Osaka and it turns into a media circus. Recently, the tennis superstar announced she’s opting not to participate in another sports event, giving her an added couple of weeks to chill out before heading to one of the highly anticipated tournaments of the season. According to ET Online, Osaka withdrew from the Berlin WTA 5000 tournament just weeks after pulling out of the French Open, all to keep her mental health in check. “We have received notification Naomi Osaka cannot start in Berlin. After consulting her management, she will take a break,” Berlin event organizers said in a statement. From the ...
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Wheaties / General Mills The late Muhammad Ali is largely considered by anyone with eyes to be the greatest boxer to ever live. Wheaties, currently celebrating 100 years in existence, has unveiled its limited-edition Century Box Series and the first cover athlete to be featured is none other than The Louisville Lip, The People’s Champion, The Greatest Of All Time, Muhammad Ali. This past Tuesday (June 8), Wheaties unveiled the first of its Century Box Series with Ali on the cover, which features him in all his fighting glory. Ali’s signature is also present on the box, with wording suggesting that there will be more champions to get featured as Wheaties continues to celebrate its centennial. Beginning in June, folks who want to snag a box of the Century B...
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Jamie Squire / Getty It’s way past time to add Simone Biles to the Sports Mount Rushmore, which already includes Tom Brady, Michael Phelps, Serena Williams, and Michael Jordan or Lebron James (choose one). The four-time Olympic champion has collected another gymnastic Infinity Stone claiming her 7th straight U.S. national title, the most of any American woman. The 24-year-old won with a two-day score of 119.650 score, claiming titles on the all-around, balance beam, vault, and floor exercise event. She scored nearly five more points than the runner-up Sunisa Lee. “I feel like I did try to enjoy it because it could be one of my last championships that I’ll attend,” Biles told Olympics.com. “But it’s also the road to Tokyo, and after this we have tria...
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Norm Hall / Getty An Arizona Diamondbacks broadcaster is in hot water after an attempted joke about a New York Mets pitcher Marcus Stroman’s durag failed to land. The insensitive quip instead came off as culturally out of touch and arguably racist. During Tuesday’s game (June 1) between the Diamondbacks and the Mets, a close up camera shot showed Stroman on the mound with a durag peeking out from underneath his baseball cap during the 4th inning. Arizona announcer Bob Brenley’s noticed the ethnic headwear, which prompted his caucazoid instincts to suddenly kick in saying: “Pretty sure that’s the same du-rag that Tom Seaver used to wear when he pitched for the Mets.” Stroman was not asked about the comment in his postgame but he has addressed the mat...
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Tim Clayton – Corbis / Getty Naomi Osaka entered the French Open tournament as one of the favorites to win it all despite heavy competition from the likes of Serena Williams and current No. 1 player Ashleigh Barty. Citing mental health concerns, Osaka has withdrawn from the tournament after she was faced with expulsion from the tournament and hit with a $15,000 fine. Osaka, 23, won her first-round match in the tournament against Patricia Maria Țig. Osaka was slated to take on Ana Bogdan in the second round but after skipping the mandatory postgame press conferences, all four major tournament bodies issued a statement saying that she could face harsher penalties or be booted from the WTA tour for failing to meet the obligations. Via a lengthy statement pos...
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz83 Connecticut Sun head coach and general manager Curt Miller learned the hard way that Las Vegas Aces hooper Liz Cambage is not the one to be played with. Miller earned himself a one-game suspension and a fine from the WNBA after making a disparaging comment about Cambage. During Sunday’s (May 23) game against the Las Vegas Aces, while trying to get a call from the referee, Miller said, “Come on, she’s 300 pounds.” referring to Aces superstar. In an email sent to the HuffPost, the WNBA revealed that Miller was slapped with a $10,000 fine and suspended for one game for his remarks. Before the league took action, Cambage — who doesn’t bite her tongue for anyone — hopped on Instagram after the game to call out Miller, wh...
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty J. Cole living out his hoop dreams isn’t sitting well with everyone. It hasn’t been two weeks since J. Cole made his season debut in the BAL (Basketball Africa League), and while the Hip-Hop community is locked in and wants to see Cole get buckets, there is one player who is not feeling his presence. Terrell Stoglin, who hoops for the AS Salé basketball club in the league and is the only player to drop 40 points in a game, spoke with ESPN about Cole being in the BAL and didn’t mince his words saying Cole’s skills were “average,” at best and that he was taken an opportunity away from players who deserve the BAL look. “I think there’s a negative and a positive [to Cole’s presence],” Stoglin said to ESPN. “The negative part of it is: I th...
Switzerland side Grasshopper Club Zurich have appointed former Super Eagles midfielder Seyi Olofinjana as the new technical director. The 40-year-old was most recently a loan manager at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Olofinjana will take over the position of Technical Director at the Grasshopper Club Zurich with immediate effect and will be responsible for sports. He is taking over the position of interim sports director from Jimmy Berisha, who is stepping back into his role as Managing Director. ”Olofinjana was active in his career as a player for Stoke City, Hull City and the Wolverhampton Wanderers, among others. After his active career, he worked for the Wolverhampton Wanderers in various positions. Most recently, he worked as a loan manager,” reads a statement on the club website. “Olofinja...
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Tom Williams / Getty Charlamagne Tha God decided to give his infamous “Donkey of the Day” award to himself. On Monday (Mar 24), Charlamagne revealed his decision after explaining to listeners that the reason was due to him “going too far” when touching on the fellow South Carolina native, Kwame Brown’s, personal life; before adding that he was urged by mutual associates to publicly apologize to Brown. “I’m sure I caused pain for not only Kwame Brown but for his family—‘specially, his family in my hometown of Moncks Corner, South Carolina. You know how I know? Because I spoke to a few of them,” he said around the clip’s 1:30 minute mark. “I was apologizing for triggering them.” Charlemagne’s apology comes a few days after the former shock-jock turned menta...
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Daniel Boczarski / Getty Lakers superstar LeBron James dodged a COVID-19 violation with the NBA after haters tried to call him out for partying with his famous friends at an event for his tequila brand last week. The four-time league champion was one of many celebrities who attended a gathering last Monday to celebrate his latest business venture, Lobos Tequilla. High notables seen at the launch include Drake, Michael B. Jordan, Damson Idris, Quavo, and Kelly Rowland. His agent Rich Paul and legendary photographer and Roc Nation executive Lenny “Lenny S.” Santiago arranged the event. James kept a low profile and didn’t post photos from the party on his social media, but that didn’t stop Drake or Lenny S. from showing off the images on Instagra...
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: DEAN BLOTTO GRAY / Courtesy of Burton There are some out there who still front on snowboarding like it’s not a sport to take seriously, or that Black people won’t get into it. That viewpoint ignores the fact that snowboarding and Hip-hop have been a winning combination before, with Naughty By Nature’s “Feel Me Flow” video from 1995 as a major example as MTV showcased the sport before ESPN picked up the baton with their X-Games. Hip-Hop’s impact on the sport can be seen in figures such as Shaun White, who holds the most Olympic gold medals for the sport and Chloe Kim, the youngest woman to ever win an Olympic gold medal. More importantly, there have been notable Black figures holding it down as snowboarders from back then such as Russel Winfield, Keir Dill...
Barely three months to Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the Minister of Youth and Sports Federation, Chief Sunday Dare, has dissolved all the boards of 31 National Sports Federations and set up caretaker committees to run the fairs of the federation. This was disclosed in a press statement on Friday in Abuja. Minister said the dissolution of boards of Federations was inline with the Olympic Charter which stipulates a four year tenure for all Sports Federations Boards, “In keeping with the Olympic Charter which stipulates a 4 year tenure for all Sports Federations Boards, the tenure of the National Olympic Sports Federations in Nigeria have come to an end. There is a need for a transition from the old Boards to the new one. “Within the last 4 years, a few of the National Sports Federations Boards ...