firehose

lastrealindians:

Assimilation Aesthetic, By Ruth Hopkins

…And Native appropriation continues to evolve in ever more bizarre ‘fashion.’

Apparently putting scantily clad white women in warbonnets is losing its shock value, because designers are moving into a new phase of cultural assassination, in hopes of making genocide doubly lucrative.

Imagine my horror this morning, upon discovering Ralph Lauren’s latest venture. Let’s call it Assimiliation Era Chic.

Old portraits of Native men from the Allotment and Assimilation Era (1887–1943) are displayed like cover models among Ralph Lauren’s latest line for the 2014 Holiday season. I did a double take for an instant, because one of the men pictured looked like my ancestor.

Mr. Lauren, you can’t hide behind words like ‘vintage inspired’ and ‘rustic’ anymore. It’s plain to see that you’re right back in your comfort zone; the one where Natives are oppressed, voiceless, and extinct, to be used at your leisure to feed the beast that is pop culture consumerism and line your silken pockets.

You see, Ralph Lauren is a repeat offender. He’s been unapologetically making bank off American Indians for years. Just last Spring, we collectively cringed at Ralph Lauren shirts brandishing skulls bedecked in warbonnets, and lest we forget, old Ralphy welcomed Oprah herself into his tipi festooned RL Ranch back in 2012. He seeks to champion classic Americana. Fine. So be it. But, there’s one problem. We aren’t your token Indians.

Stop trying to put a price tag on our heritage and sell us, and make a mockery of the genocide our Native ancestors suffered at the hands of your forefathers, by forcing them to represent you just to boost holiday sales.

Mr. Lauren, these stylish Native men in your pictures are not your employees, nor your slaves. They lived. They have names. They come from a proud lineage of Native peoples older than America. Each warrior pictured is someone’s grandfather, and I guarantee they suffered mightily just to survive the genocidal holocaust European invaders inflicted upon them. Why do they look so stoic? They were brave Native warriors who witnessed the massacre of innocents, had their lands stolen from them, and faced an uncertain future after the Federal government broke every treaty they ever made with Native nations in this country. They were fighting for the survival of our kind.

What many people alive today fail to realize is Natives of the Assimilation Era wore western clothes because they were forced to do so. We were hunted by cavalry soldiers and made to give up our freedom and live on reservations. Our culture and language was ripped from us. Our ceremonies and religious practices were declared illegal. My own father and uncles, who were torn from their mother’s embrace and put in boarding school, were mercilessly beaten for speaking their Native tongue. They didn’t want to wear itchy woolen vests and tight narrow shoes made for white children. They had no choice. The fashion Ralph Lauren glorifies arose from oppression.

READ THE REST HERE: http://lastrealindians.com/assimilation-aesthetic-by-ruth-hopkins/

When asked last year about the prospect of her son Jeb running for president, former first lady Barbara Bush responded that “…we’ve had enough Bushes.”

Apparently not.

On Dec. 16, former Florida governor Jeb Bush announced that he was “actively exploring” running for president, becoming the highest profile Republican to make such an announcement about 2016.

Jeb is now the favorite of “establishment” Republicans hoping for a more moderate standard-bearer to face off with likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

If he were to win, Jeb would restore the reign of one of the great dynasties in American politics. Their line reaches back from Jeb’s grandfather, Connecticut senator Prescott Sheldon Bush, through his father, George H.W. Bush—known in the family alternatively as “Poppy Bush” or “41” (i.e., America’s 41st president)—and on to his elder brother, George W. Bush—“W” or “43”.

The Bush dynasty has been a microcosm of the connections and contradictions of the Republican elite: Poppy’s Kennebunkport retreat vs. W’s Crawford ranch; Poppy’s WWII-hero status vs. W’s Vietnam service at home in the Air National Guard; the conversion from Poppy’s Waspy stoicism to W’s Evangelical fervor and “gut” leadership; and a family fortune made both on Wall Street and in Big Oil brought to bear in Washington.

Jeb’s history makes the clan even more complicated. Long-thought to be Poppy’s favored son, he was passed over when W ran for president. His base of power in Florida has left his politics more moderate than W’s Texas roots. His marriage to an immigrant from Mexico saw him convert to Catholicism.

And yet every dynasty needs an opposing one. Enter the Clintons.

If the Bushes were born into the elite, the Clintons fought their way up.

Bill Clinton grew up poor in Arkansas before making his way to Georgetown, a Rhodes Scholarship, and Yale Law School on talent.

Hillary Rodham Clinton had a middle class upbringing in Illinois, before going onto Wellesley and Yale Law herself.

Fate struck at the law library when, catching his repeated glances, Hillary approached Bill saying, “Look, if you’re going to keep staring at me and I’m going to keep staring back, I think we should at least know each other.”
What Bill would later call a “two-fer” was formed as power couple.

But the power within the pair has reversed over time.

After starting a prominent career in Washington—she was on the House Judiciary’s impeachment proceedings against president Nixon—Hillary left the Capitol to follow Bill’s political ambitions in Arkansas. She came back to Washington as arguably the most powerful First Lady since Eleanor Roosevelt.

She has since formed her own political career, as senator, as presidential candidate, and as secretary of state—even as Bill has made a new career as a post-president at the Clinton Foundation. And is now the presumptive Democratic front-runner—even as she has yet to officially declare.

So what would a Jeb Bush-Hillary Clinton race look like?

Ironically, both face challenges that mirror the other’s—not least in their need to distinguish themselves from their predecessors.

Hillary would have to simultaneously set herself apart both from president Clinton and president Obama—who have come, in their own way, to represent the moderate and liberal wings of the Democratic party. She would also be running against the backdrop of an increasingly populist Democratic base—just witness the rise of “Ready for Warren” PAC to counter “Ready for Hillary.”

Yet, Clinton also has incredible strengths as a candidate. With vast experience both in domestic and foreign policy—in the executive branch, in Congress, and at the state level—Clinton would have the strongest policy background of any candidate from either party in recent memory. Despite a campaign that fell by a razor-thin margin in 2008 to Barack Obama, she is a formidable campaigner with deep ties to key Democratic constituencies including women, hispanics, and Jews. She has also effectively built strong ties to both the business and labor communities.

Jeb, likewise, has to distinguish himself from his father and his brother—who represent successive generations of the old Republican establishment—even as he has to contend with a now stridently conservative Republican base.

And while Hillary is by no means assured of coming out of the primary, Jeb faces an even more fractured Republican side.

Yet, Jeb’s presence has already considerably narrowed the space for other moderates like Mitt Romney and Chris Christie. He has also torpedoed the prospects of fellow Floridian Marco Rubio. He is sure to face a challenge from libertarian Rand Paul and from any number of Tea Partiers—but Jeb’s entrance may also impede other governors like Wisconsin’s Scott Walker. Jeb is also sure to be a favorite for GOP money looking for a safe bet.

If both Jeb and Hillary make it out of the primary, who holds the advantage?

For now, the polling favors Clinton. In an early December poll, Hillary got a net favorable rating of 52% compared to 32% for Jeb.

History may also be on her side. Her husband beat Jeb’s father in 1992 by a margin of 370 to 168 electoral votes.

Clinton should also be able to run on both the current strengthening economy—and the memory of a Clinton economy that significantly outperformed that of either Bush.

November 2016 is a long way off. The election will be fought in battleground states, like Florida, where lines are being drawn amidst a shifting landscape. Just this week Hillary came out in support of Obama’s Cuba opening, which she has reportedly long backed—even as Jeb strongly criticized the move.

And the race is only beginning.

Follow Ari on Twitter@amratner. We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com.

notmyvirginears:

shhhhhhh…IT goat knows what to do when the servers go down

submitted by OPBGuy to PortlandJobs
[link] [3 comments]

Uber, the popular ride-hailing service, regularly spars with regulators. But on Thursday, the company seems to have found common ground with lawmakers in at least one city.

“You’ve got to — got to — be prepared for his head-butts and high-fives, because they are coming... You’ve got to brace yourself. It doesn’t look like much coming at you but it’s intense. If he throws the ball 50 yards and you run 50 yards and score, he’s going to run all 50 yards and head-butt the hell out of you.”

Better support services can encourage more students to speak out — and that increases the number of reported assaults on campus.

geekgirlsmash:

(x)

undoherdamage:

I was looking up Snowpiercer stuff and this one site was like “based on your browsing history you may also like” and recommended The Polar Express

They’re basically the same right

chrissamnee:

kristaferanka:

As seen on USAtoday, here is the new design for Jessica Drew that I did.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2014/12/18/spider-woman-new-costume-exclusive/20574271/

Oooooh, that’s fuggin’ SMART!!

Nebraska and Oklahoma challenged neighboring Colorado's recreational marijuana laws in the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday amid complaints its pot was seeping across their borders, and Colorado vowed to defend its laws.

Reddit introduces its equity plan: a digital currency divided equally amongst all active users.

We have seen Johnny Manziel extend plays for several seconds. In this episode of Breaking Madden, we ask him to do so for an eternity.

I spent most of this episode trying to decide what the hell I was going to do with Johnny Manziel. My original premise wasn't as captivating as I'd hoped, and, appropriately enough, I scrambled. Week 16 of Breaking Madden was a lot like Manziel's debut as starter of the Cleveland Browns: rife with missed opportunities, ideas that didn't pan out, and eventual defeat. In the end, I threw the artificial notions of "goals" and "success" out the window, and let Johnny Football do what he probably wanted to do all along.

In the end, I am perfectly fine with that. This episode of Breaking Madden is about Johnny Manziel extending the play, as he is famous for doing. He can stretch out a single play for an entire minute. An entire quarter. Forever, in fact:

Music: "Johnny Strikes Up The Band" by Warren Zevon

What's the longest play in the history of American football? Even the plays that feel like an eternity, the very longest, most tortured Hail Marys, the zig-zaggiest interception returns through dense thickets of inept tackling, never last longer than 20 or 30 seconds.

I want Johnny Manziel to extend a play for so long that time no longer matters. The field will be his, to do with as any man with a plot of land might do. Till the soil and grow corn. Build a cabin. Hang a portrait of ducks flying over a pond. Choose bath towels that match the tiles. Pour a mug of coffee and hobble with morning legs to the porch; sit and enjoy the sun as it floats over the tree line. Build a future, Johnny.

I am here to help, and so are 19 of my friends. Please welcome the newest members of the Browns, and their Week 16 opponents, the Carolina Panthers.

As usual, I found them on Twitter. I asked y'all:

if you would like to be in the next Breaking Madden, please tell me about the biggest waste of time you have ever experienced

— Jon Bois (@jon_bois) December 12, 2014

As per usual, the responses were a riot. There are stories of Y2K doomsday predictions, two-month-long trips home from Kuwait, seven-hour drives that ended in a breakup, and, simply, "law school." You can read them all here.

BREAKING MADDEN ROSTER CUTS: WEEK 16.

In order to help give Johnny all the time he would ever want, our six newest Browns make up the offensive line. They are as large as I could make them, and rate a perfect 99/99 in every rating category. As you've probably already guessed, the new Panthers are the polar opposite: five feet tall, 160 pounds, and 0/99 in every conceivable skill.

That explains this, I guess.

In Madden, the most lethal ratings cocktail usually involves an Awareness level of 0/99. Johnson, number 4, is actually just being completely oblivious, but I see a guy bailing from a shitty party.

This behavior might seem strange to a lot of people, but know that within our society, there is a subset of us who have no issue with throwing on a coat, heading to a bar or a party or something, putting two feet in the door, and peacing out after two minutes. Maybe you spot your ex or something. Personally, if I bail immediately, it's almost certainly because it's an absurdly loud, crowded bar. It's hell. Eking out barely enough room to stand, holding a drink with a T-rex arm, shouting every line of conversation, and hearing maybe 70 percent of what the other person says: this is my Kryptonite. I love a chill bar, and I like a moderately busy bar. But put me in some generic Irish bar at 11 p.m. on a Saturday night and I turn into Sean Connery from Finding Forrester when the kid tries to take him to a Knicks game. I'm perpetually bug-eyed and sneering and all I want to do is go home and ghostwrite your term paper.

My original idea was to keep Johnny scrambling in the pocket for as long as it took for the game clock to hit zero. And with a little practice, I could do this reliably. Trust me, it's not really worth your time to watch that in its entirety. But as we've seen previously in Breaking Madden, if a play lasts long enough, the game's AI totally runs out of stuff to do.

After a few minutes, Johnny's offensive line stopped blocking for him. In fact, they stopped playing football entirely. Look at 'em! Even as Johnny scrambles for dear life right in front of them, they go into "video game bad guy guard" mode. For them, the play is over, and I get it. Props to the artificial intelligence for even finding two minutes' worth of stuff to do, because that's about minute and 50 seconds of content that virtually nobody would ever see.

Check out the daps between the Browns' No. 75 and the Panthers' No. 6. Pretty good.

Unfortunately, from a big-picture perspective, this scenario didn't turn out to be very inspiring. Johnny held the ball for 10 or 15 minutes, the Panthers' offense did their thing, and the Browns lost 21-0. Shrug.

So I put both teams in the Super Bowl. I was hoping to take control of both teams, prevent either team from ever scoring, and poke a little at the game's overtime construct. In the postseason, of course, teams play as many overtime periods as they need to break the tie. Maybe if I necessitate enough overtimes, I'll expose some kind of glitch! Maybe the game will be over, and without a winner, the Super Bowl trophy will float around, held up by an invisible person! Something?

No, nothing. Madden executed the overtime system without incident. This episode of Breaking Madden still lacked meaning, although a couple funny things had happened along the way.

I finally appreciated the power of audibles in this game. The game allows us to change a guy's individual assignment; among other things, it lets us assign a guy to man coverage. All 11 men on the field can be put on man, and all can be put on the same man. This is something I plan on exploring/exploiting in greater depth in the future, because that shit is a riot.

Players who are seven feet tall and 400 pounds, of course, hit very hard. They're elements of nature. If it's decided that they're going somewhere, they are going to that place, no matter what is in the way. Even if that thing is their quarterback. With limited protocol to work from, these linemen would sometimes just kind of bunch up in a cluster around Johnny, representing a terrifying amount of potential energy. At random, that could transform into kinetic energy, and there was nothing to be done about that.

I wasn't even touching the controller here. Johnny just got caught up in the wave and shoved nine yards upfield.

By this point, I'd spent an irresponsible amount of time in search of some sort of purpose to this experiment. Maybe there wasn't. Maybe there was nothing to say, maybe this episode really was simply, "grown man plays a video game like he's 10 years old and strange things happen."

I took the Browns and Panthers to the practice field, a place unbound by clocks or downs or any such thing. I could spot the ball wherever I wanted, and instantly repeat any play I wanted. Remember what I said about audibles? Those can also be used to drop literally any player into zone coverage, even the linemen. So I did that, and I found something like an atomic clock: a thing that would degrade, but very, very slowly, across an immeasurably large plot of time.

Sometimes, after five or 10 minutes, one of the players would seemingly grow fed up with his stupid assignment. Defying my instructions and the game's instructions, he would drop out of coverage and make a beeline toward Johnny.

And Roman Harper took the hard road, too. For reasons I can't explain, my offensive line would sometimes line up in single file right in front of me. Rather than run around them, Roman just barreled through and took them head-on. He was pissed off. That is my explanation.

Ten minutes passed. Twenty. Thirty. The system began to slow down, one component at a time. Madden was becoming an old grandfather clock, and we had lost its winder key. It struck noon at 1:06, and by tea time, it was bedtime.

Some, like Mr. Harper there, fell into an alternative plane of time. Others went out like a lamp.

They're still observing, craning their necks, looking around, but they are otherwise frozen. The longer a play ran on, the more this tended to happen.

And even now, like Johnny Manziel eluding a half-dozen Alabama linemen, I was desperate to reach some kind of conclusion. To add to this, my heart was filled with regret: at one point, Johnny was standing still at his opponent's 20. Think the Matt Stafford Incident, but twice as amazing: he was sandwiched by a couple of his own giant blockers, got squeezed a little, and then, POWWWW. Johnny flew into the air like he'd stepped on a land mine, and was catapulted 30 yards in the air. He hit the cone at the corner of the end zone, so it even counted as a touchdown. The first-ever 20-yard flying-man touchdown.

I went to the replay. The play had run on too long. Madden had stopped collecting replay data. I missed it. It was one of the funniest Madden moments I had ever seen, and I missed it. You would have laughed your ass off, I promise you, and it feels criminal not to be able to share it. I am so sorry to have let y'all down.

And shortly after that, it occurred to me that no point needed to be made, no goal attained. Perhaps, just as Johnny sometimes appears to extend a play for the sake of doing so, it's fine to simply wind a clock, sit quietly, and watch it die.

I decided that Johnny would spend an afternoon in Scrambling Quarterback Heaven. For as long, at least, as something so beautiful could last:

Music: "Prince Johnny" by St. Vincent

Click here for many more adventures in Breaking Madden.

This is an extremely good idea:

For five hours, commercial-free, on Christmas morning, LHN will run footage of Bevo roaming his ranch. I'm not making that up.

— Mike Finger (@mikefinger) December 18, 2014

Funny you should ask! Yes, LHN confirms there will be a "festive holiday music playlist." RT @RifleJohn: hopefully playing some music?

— Mike Finger (@mikefinger) December 18, 2014

Yo, why not? People watch a log burn on TV, so why not an actual living thing? What do steer do all day? Let's find out! Will Bevo eat grass? Probably! Order pizza? Who knows!? Will he do a backflip? Probably not!

Every team should do this. Let's see Smokey hang out for a whole morning. I want to watch Big Red feast on puppies for five uninterrupted hours on Christmas. MAKE IT HAPPEN.

Leon Washington put the Titans ahead early with a short touchdown catch, then found a special someone in the crowd for the football donation:

That's his son! Very sweet, although he doesn't look that thrilled about it. I guess when your dad works at a football office, you get a little tired of him bringing home all those footballs. At least this one's special.

(h/t Fansided GIF)

Odds are this is a plant and not an actual Titans fan, but here's Mr. Jaxson de Ville doing some cake-facing:

Kinda violent from the Jags mascot, but at least he's not attacking himself -- we got a little worried about his increasingly masochistic bets during the 2013 season.

Meanwhile, Jaxson wasted a perfectly good cake. Damn shame.

The Saints are in control, and the Falcons are motivated to pull off a road upset. Whatever the outcome, it will have major implications for the postseason within the division.

The NFC South is up for grabs, and both the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints are in the mix to claim the division title. For Atlanta to overtake the division-leading Saints, it must win this matchup and defeat the Carolina Panthers in Week 17. Winning the NFC South is the only way either team will make the playoffs, so this game figures to have all the intensity of a game played in January.

The Falcons (5-9) are struggling with injuries among several key players, but none is more notable than the hip ailment plaguing superstar wideout Julio Jones. The receiver was forced out of action in a Dec. 8 game against the Green Bay Packers and missed the Week 15 tilt against the Pittsburgh Steelers. In Jones' absence, Harry Douglas had a breakout game against Pittsburgh with 10 catches for 131 yards.

On the other sideline, the Saints (6-8) are coming off a 31-15 thrashing of the hapless Chicago Bears on Dec. 15. They'll look to ride that momentum with a victory on Sunday. That, plus a Panthers loss, would clinch the division for New Orleans.

Last time these two rivals played, the Falcons won in overtime. However, that was all the way back in Week 1 and in Atlanta. This time around, the oddsmakers like the Saints at the Superdome. According to OddsShark, they're 7-point home favorites with the over-under set at 56 in what could be a high-scoring affair.

Experts agree that the Saints should have the edge in this one. It's a landslide at ESPN, whose crew of 13 are all picking the home squad. CBS Sports' eight-man team chose New Orleans by a 7-1 margin.

Here at SB Nation, New Orleans was the near-unanimous pick, with all but one expert on the panel going the Saints' way:

	Ryan Van Bibber	Stephen White	Joel Thorman	David Fucillo	Danny Kelly	PFT Commenter	Matt Ufford	OddsShark Computer
ATL @ NO	ATL	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO

CA: Most polluted cities; LA: Highest murder rate; MA: Worst Happy Hours; ME: Fewest heliports; OR: Most prescription painkiller abuse; TX: Fewest high school graduates per capita; VT: Most illicit drug use; WA: Worst at loving Justin Bieber (by far the lowest per-capita Facebook likes for the pop star at 6.82%);

6 p.m.: Head to Ye Old College Inn for some grub. Brees usually goes with his wife or a few of his Saints offensive linemen buddies. “It’s authentic New Orleans food on the healthier side,” says Brees. His favorite is the duck appetizer. “It’s not on the menu, but they always have it.” The redfish or black trout (with crab meat on top) are Brees’s go-to dishes, but if you’re splurging, he highly suggests the Chicken Fried Steak Po-Boy. “It’s the one place — and my favorite place — to get it. It’s the greatest thing in the world.” // 7:30 p.m.: Because New Orleans is more than just food, drinks, and jazz, a walk down Royal Street is a must. “It’s all antique shops and art shops. It gives you the vibe of the French Quarter.” Brees says it’s great for window shopping, but you’ll also want to go back for some retail therapy on the weekend. “Definitely go back there during the daytime,” recommends Brees. “You’re able to appreciate the architecture.” // 8 p.m.: After dining and strolling, it’s time to sing and dance off some calories at Preservation Hall. “Trombone Shorty is one of our local musicians who’s known around the country and the world. He’s one of our favorites,” says Brees. “If he’s playing, we want to go see him.” There are typically three performances — and it’s always a cool mix, since there’s no formal audition process to play at the venue. Instead, traditional Jazz musicians are invited to “rehearsal sessions” at the gallery to jam. // 10:30 p.m.: Before heading home, make your last stop of the night the original Café Du Monde for some of its famous beignets. It’s been in business since 1862 and is now, conveniently, open 24 hours a day. “That place is legendary,” says Brees, who estimates that he could down a dozen of its powdered sugar sweets with his wife. “That’s a good late night snack.”

Sunday, the 6-8 Saints and 5-8 Falcons will play in a game that may well determine who wins the NFC South. Neither team deserves this. So Ryan Nanni and Jon Bois fired up Madden, coached these teams, and tried to run them into the ground.

We're playing Madden NFL 15. Ryan Nanni is coaching the New Orleans Saints. Jon Bois is coaching the Atlanta Falcons. Both of us are trying to lose, although we're employing different losing strategies:

• Ryan has actually printed out a script of 70 offensive plays to blindly run in consecutive order. He literally printed out the list of plays on actual sheets of paper with a real printer, because he lives in the year 1996.
• Jon is calling plays from his gut, and is utilizing audibles to their worst-most potential. Among other things, he will drop all 11 players, including the defensive line, into man coverage. They will all cover the same man.

We've edited the results down to 13 of the worst minutes. As we play, we stumble upon a number of epiphanies, such as:

• Falcons coach Mike Smith refrigerates his table salt!
• Falcons coach Mike Smith saves the crust from his pizza and wears it as a belt!
• GL Man is either a goal-line formation play or a reclusive author everyone pretends to have read!
• Sean Hannity is a Tolkien villain!

You don't have to pay anything now. If you view this video, a $500 charge will be added to your next Internet bill. Enjoy!

For more Madden nonsense, you might want to check out Jon's feature, Breaking Madden.

The word "losing" isn't in Jim Harbaugh's vocabulary, not by a long shot. If you need more proof then look no further than this story about the 49ers head coach by MLive.com, which details his unique laser tag tactics.

For instance, one of the activities at Harbaugh's recent bachelor party (he's been married twice) was laser tag. Everyone signed up for a name on an electronic scoresheet. He chose "Captain Comeback," an homage to his playing days as an NFL quarterback. And from there, everyone went to work.

Everything is pretty normal so far. Not a bad nickname for laser tag. So, what's the problem?

Harbaugh won. Because he always wins. But upon further examination of where each person's shots came from, it became clear why he won in such a landslide.

"All his shots came against this 10-year-old kid," laughs Eric Bakhtiari, who played for Harbaugh in college and in the NFL with the 49ers. "He just sat there, hunting this 10-year-old kid so he could win.

Harbaugh cared so much about winning that a 50-year-old man hunted and (virtually) murdered a 10-year-old child. That's dedication.

"(He's crazy), but in the best way possible. I mean, hey, Steve Jobs was crazy, too."

Definitely a Michigan man.

Bowl season officially kicks off with a Sun Belt vs. Mountain West battle.

The first game of bowl season is finally here, and Louisiana-Lafayette meets Nevada in the New Orleans Bowl late Saturday morning. The Ragin' Cajuns have won the New Orleans Bowl every year under fourth-year head coach Mark Hudspeth, and will try to do so again against the Wolf Pack.

Louisiana-Lafayette started the season 1-3 with non-conference blowout losses to Louisiana Tech, Ole Miss and Boise State, but rebounded strong once conference play came around. The Ragin' Cajuns put together a 7-1 record against Sun Belt competition, most notably beating Texas State, Arkansas State and South Alabama in a tough three-game stretch. Their lone conference loss came to Appalachian State, costing them a share of the Sun Belt title.

Nevada is back in the postseason for the first time under Brian Polian -- the school went 4-8 last year, but seven wins in 2014 marked its spot in the New Orleans Bowl. The Wolf Pack's season was even better than the record shows: All five of their losses came against Power 5 competition or the top of the Mountain West (Arizona, Boise State, Colorado State, Air Force and Fresno State) with all but one (Fresno State) by one possession. Nevada recorded solid wins over Washington State, BYU and San Diego State, and will try to add to its resume with a win here.

How to watch, listen, and stream

Game time: 11 a.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Radio: Here's a list of affiliates for Louisiana-Lafayette. Here's one for Nevada.

Online streaming: WatchESPN.

The numbers

Rankings and records: Neither team is ranked. Louisiana Lafayette went 8-4 this season, and Nevada was 7-5. The Wolf Pack won the only game between the two schools back in 1995.

Vegas: Nevada opened as one-point favorites. The over/under is set at 61.5.

Weather forecast: High of 64 with possible rain.

Two things at stake

With a win, the Ragin' Cajuns would finish 9-4 for the fourth straight season under Hudspeth.

After mixed results through two years under Polian, a win for Nevada would signal an upward trajectory.

One big matchup

Louisiana-Lafayette rushing offense vs. Nevada rushing defense. The Ragin' Cajuns found much of their offensive success on the ground this season, averaging 5.5 yards per carry and scoring 31 of their 45 offensive touchdowns on rushing plays. They're led by Elijah McGuire (7.8 yards per carry, 14 touchdowns) and Alonzo Harris (4.6 yards per carry, 12 touchdowns), but quarterback Terrance Broadway is also a mobile threat.

Further reading

For more on Louisiana-Lafayette and the rest of the Sun Belt, head over to Underdog Dynasty. For coverage of Nevada and the rest of the Mountain West Conference, check out Mountain West Connection.

Listen to Lin's full comment below.

Kobe Bryant didn't have his best game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday. Bryant was hassled into a 3-for-15 shooting night by Oklahoma City's team of long, athletic defenders, finishing the game with just nine points. Bryant had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but his pull-up jumper clanked off the rim. The Thunder won, 104-103, without Kevin Durant.

After the game, Lakers point guard Jeremy Lin — who scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting — offered some interesting comments on the night's final possession:

Jeremy Lin on Kobe's final shot: "I like game-winners too. I would like to shoot some. But I get it."

— Baxter Holmes (@BaxterHolmes) December 20, 2014

You can see Lin's entire comment here:

The Lakers play the Kings on Sunday.

Lillard scored 43 points as Portland handed San Antonio their second triple-overtime loss of the week, plus three other things we learned Friday night.

The Portland Trail Blazers were trailing the San Antonio Spurs at the end of regulation. Damian Lillard saved the day. They were down again at the end of overtime. Lillard once again was the savior. They were trailing again in the second overtime and he did the same thing. In the third overtime, he took over, and that's when the Blazers finished off the Spurs and picked up a big win in San Antonio, 129-119.

Lillard had a career-high 43 points, 26 of which came in the fourth quarter and three overtimes. He added seven assists and five rebounds as well, but it was his clutch play in the closing stages of the game that was most impressive. Lillard scored the Blazers' final eight points in regulation, including a driving layup with 1.7 seconds left to send the game to overtime.

The Spurs scored the first six points of overtime, but Lillard and Portland answered. The point guard hit a three with 13.6 seconds left to send the game to another overtime. There, the Spurs scored the first six points again. But once again, the Blazers fought back, sparked by a slicing dunk from Lillard. In the final overtime, Lillard put on even more of a show.

Lillard scored nine in the Blazers' 11-0 run to start the final extra period. And unlike the Spurs, they didn't let go of the lead. It was a huge win for the Blazers, who are now 21-6 and have the third best record in the West. The NBA currently has a ridiculous crop of amazing point guards. Lillard is one of the best. And it's almost impossible to decide who is the best with names like Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Stephen Curry, John Wall, Mike Conley, Rajon Rondo, Kyrie Irving and Kyle Lowry.

The defending NBA champions, meanwhile, are 17-10 and have lost three in a row and are 5-6 in their last 11 games. They're 0-4 in overtime this year and suffered their second triple-overtime loss in three days. Tim Duncan was phenomenal once again, scoring 32 points and grabbing 10 rebounds with Tony Parker sitting out with a hamstring strain. Danny Green scored 27 and had 10 rebounds while shooting 6-9 from beyond the arc.

Portland has beaten the defending champs twice this season after bowing out the Spurs in the 2014 playoffs. Lillard was a star for Portland, but the rest of the team was up to the task as well. LeMarcus Aldridge had 32 points and 16 rebounds to answer Duncan's big night. After last year's trip to the second round of the playoffs, this year's Portland team is a threat to make it even further.

3 other things we learned

The Grizzlies' win over the Spurs took quite a bit out of them. Unlike San Antonio, Memphis didn't put up much of a fight against the Chicago Bulls without Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson, losing 103-97. The Grizzlies had a subpar night on the offensive side of the court, shooting just 39.4 percent from the field and dishing out just 12 assists -- down from 17.5 per game this season. Jimmy Butler was fantastic for the Bulls, scoring 31 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while Joakim Noah had 10 points and 13 rebounds. Nikola Mirotec was also fantastic, netting 27 points. In the battle of Gasol brothers, neither Marc nor Pau stood out. Pau Gasol had six points and 11 rebounds for the winning team and Marc Gasol had 13 points and 10 rebounds.

John Wall keeps on helping the Wizards win. Lillard may have had the most eye-opening night in the NBA, but Wall and the Wizards continue to win games and assert themselves as a contender in the Eastern Conference. They won a tight battle over the Heat, 105-103. Wall had 20 points and 10 assists to lead the Wizards to their sixth straight win. They've won 11 of 12 games. Wall was the star, but Bradley Beal's steal with 3.8 seconds left on an errant Dwyane Wade pass sealed the win for Washington.

The Celtics won their first game without Rajon Rondo. While most are focused on how Rondo and the Mavericks will mesh, the Celtics looked great in their first game without their star. Granted, it was against the Timberwolves, but a balanced attack led to an efficient night for Boston, who won 114-98. Six Celtics scored in double figures, with Kelly Olynyk leading the way off the bench with 21. And -- even with Rondo gone -- the Celtics dished out 29 assists. They shot 56.5 percent from the floor.

Play of the night

James Johnson had a pretty nice dunk over Andre Drummond when the Toronto Raptors beat the Detroit Pistons, 110-100. Johnson's explanation sums it up quite well: "That was nasty, right? I cocked that joint back and banged on him." Drummond didn't take too kindly to it, he tried to start a fight. He checked Johnson shortly after, sending him to the floor and starting a small scuffle. It was an ugly moment in an already ugly season for the Pistons, who just keep on losing. One of the most amazing parts of the Pistons' season is that it appears they aren't trying to tank. It's quite impressive how they keep losing so badly.

4 fun things

Dion Waiters hit LeBron James in the face with a ball.

Ever wondered what it would look like if a regular person tried to make a shot from down low in the NBA? Marc Gasol showed us.

Rondo's introduction as a Dallas Maverick had an awkward moment.

Video games aren't that real: A Houston TV station used a video game avatar for a photo of a traded player.

Scores

Jazz 101, Magic 94 (SLC Dunk recap | Orlando Pinstriped Post recap)

Hornets 109, 76ers 91 (At the Hive recap | Liberty Ballers recap)

Celtics 114, Timberwolves 98 (Celtics Blog recap | Canis Hoopus recap)

Raptors 110, Pistons 100 (Raptors HQ recap | Detroit Bad Boys recap)

Cavaliers 95, Nets 91 (Fear the Sword recap | Nets Daily recap)

Wizards 105, Heat 103 (Bullets Forever recap | Hot Hot Hoops recap)

Trail Blazers 129, Spurs 119 (Blazers Edge recap | Pounding the Rock recap)

Bulls 103, Grizzlies 97 (Blog a Bull recap | Grizzly Bear Blues recap)

Nuggets 109, Clippers 106 (Clips Nation recap | Denver Stiffs recap)

Thunder 104, Lakers 103 (Welcome to Loud City recap | Silver Screen and Roll recap)

Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes threatened a legal battle if GOP Sen. Rand Paul tries to get his name on the ballot in 2016 in both his race for re-election and in the race for president. “The law is clear,” Ms. Grimes told WHAS-11. “You can’t be on the ballot twice for two offices.”