Tuesday cannon fodder: Ant-Man, Shakira, and Gritty walk into a bar

England

Two West Ham fans arrested on suspicion of making homophobic gestures
The pair are accused of making the signals towards traveling Brighton & Hove Albion supporters. Brighton and Hove have one of the largest LGBTQ communities in the United Kingdom. This isn’t even the first instance THIS SEASON of homophobia directed at their supporters. It’s vile and it has no place in a football ground or in society. If the allegations are true, lifetime bans are in order. We have to get hate out of football.

Matt Le Tissier thinks VAR brings ‘fairness to football’
That’s, uh, definitely one way to look at how VAR has fared in the Premier League so far. The article has a much longer interview of the former Southampton star and is quite interesting.

Other Football

The USWNT is training its youth and senior players together
SBNation and All for 11’s Kim McCauley spoke to several people in the USWNT hierarchy, including new GM Kate Markgraf, about why they mix age groups and about her plans to hold at least one all-ages training camp this year.

Is Kylian Mbappé unhappy at PSG?
The superstar had a disagreement and was visibly unhappy when manager Thomas Tuchel took him off at the weekend. To be honest, I think it’s much ado about nothing. The article is rife with speculation about the influence that Neymar may or may not be having on the French striker. I do think that Mbappé will move on from PSG sooner rather than later, however.

Super Bowl

An illustrated history of Super Bowl halftime shows
This is a pretty cool walk down memory lane of who performed when. Unfortunately it doesn’t have video of the performances. Fortunately, YouTube does.

LeSean McCoy’s son was unimpressed with Paul Rudd
Chiefs’ superfan Rudd played Ant-Man in the Marvel movies. McCoy said his son loved the movies. The video in the link says otherwise.

Shakira’s meme-worthy tongue movement at the Super Bowl has an interesting meaning
If you are online at all, you’ve probably seen the video. From the Washington Post, “to those familiar with Middle Eastern culture, the sound was akin to a traditional Arabic expression of joy and celebration called a zaghrouta. It was also interpreted as a reference to the world-famous Carnaval de Barranquilla, which is held in Shakira’s hometown in Colombia.”

What do the Chiefs in 2020 have in common with the 1948 Michigan Wolverines?
That strange goal-line play where everyone in the Chiefs backfield pirouetted pre-snap was discovered by Andy Reid and his offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy in an extremely grainy video of the ‘48 Rose Bowl against USC. Pretty cool.

Hockey

Gritty cleared of all charges
Yes, that Gritty. The Flyers mascot. A 13-year old boy and his father accused the mascot of sucker-punching the teenager at a season ticket holders’ event. After an investigation, the Philadelphia police department concluded the claim had no merit.

Other Stuff

Baltimore County, MD hasn’t recycled glass in 7 years
According to a report in the Baltimore Sun, the county “encountered technical and financial limitations” that forced them to start throwing away recycled glass. The county still lists glass as an accepted material and has been reluctant to inform people of the change because they don’t want to derail people’s recycling habits for other materials.