Politics
Yahoo News
President Trump celebrates the passage of the Tax Cuts Act with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, and Vice President Mike Pence. Among the many services George Washington did his country, we can be grateful he chose to be called “President of the United States,” because if then-Vice President John Adams had had his way, we might have to address Donald Trump as “His Elective Majesty.” Sycophancy is part of the job description of a vice president, of course, but Adams surely had nothing on Mike Pence, who at a celebratory Cabinet meeting last month delivered a three-minute homage to His Elective Majesty that, by the Washington Post’s count, paid tribute to Trump’s leadership, abilities and accomplishments, on average, every 12 seconds. Modesty isn’t a trait often ascribed to presidents, or to Trump personally, but watching him lap up this Niagara of praise, I couldn’t help wonder, Doesn’t he see through this BS?
ATLANTA — In the two hours before the national championship kicked off, wind whipped rain through the streets of downtown Atlanta. Several dozen protesters posted up in front of CNN’s world headquarters, chanting and holding sopping-wet posters. Not far away, several thousand fans shivered in the rain, waiting in lines long enough to virtually encircle Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The cause of both their circumstances, President Donald Trump, arrived on the scene shortly before 7 p.m. Eastern, and some fans — who had been forced to wait for well over an hour in the rain — weren’t happy:
They locked down @MBStadium for @realDonaldTrump an hour ago and myself and a thousand fans have been waiting in the rain to get in. Let’s just say there were plenty of boos when Trump arrived pic.twitter.com/6XIr8YO5gO — Andy Scholes (@AndyScholesCNN) January 8, 2018
The Secret Service had locked down all routes around the stadium, and tightly controlled all entrances, as is standard procedure for any president. But that wasn’t much comfort for the fans who waited in lines that stretched for as much as a quarter-mile. Decked in every possible combination of red and black, houndstooth for the ‘Bama fans and bulldog caricatures for the Georgia ones, fans dealt with the delays as best they could: some with blank looks, some with cheers, and some with streams of profanity. None moved the line any faster.
[Yahoo Store: Get your Alabama Crimson Tide championship gear right here!]
A Mercedes Benz Stadium official confirmed to Yahoo Sports that Gate 1, one of the key entrance points into the stadium, was shut down for 45 minutes because of the president’s arrival at an adjacent entrance, forcing fans to go to much smaller gates. The ripple effect of the shutdown meant that waits at one gate just 20 minutes before kickoff were as long as 25 minutes, while another gate had almost no wait at all…but fans didn’t want to risk leaving one and possibly end up in an even longer line. (Average wait time for a similar-sized crowd to get into Falcons games, per stadium officials, is four to five minutes per gate.)
Story Continues
All along the line, T-shirt sellers, cooler-toting salesmen, and ticket scalpers darted in and out, hustling and peddling. Get-in price for tickets was in the range of $800 for standing room and as low as $1,100 an hour before the game — if, that is, the tickets were legit. T-shirt salesmen, meanwhile, slung T-shirts that ranged from defiant (“[Female dog] I’m from the Dirty South”) to profane (“Hell [expletive]-ing Yeah”) to clearly unlicensed (“ROLE TIDE ROLE”). And for 10 bucks, any of them could have been yours.
Half a mile away, in front of CNN’s headquarters, about 50 to 75 protesters chanted in the downpour. Whether you see them as the fearless resistance or annoying sore losers probably depends on how you voted in November 2016, and the protesters heard a bit of both as they chanted, “Donald Trump has got to go! Hey, hey! Ho, ho!” and “No! More! Trump! No! More! Trump!”
Off in the distance, you could hear the strains of “Semi-Charmed Life” and “Centuries,” and on the other side of a window at McCormick & Schmick’s, Charles Barkley sat with a private party and cast an occasional eye at the protests. A giant inflatable beer bottle and Dunkin Donuts coffee cup didn’t exactly add to the political atmosphere.
Most of the passing fans were less interested in civic debate than they were in getting somewhere dry, but a few decided to engage. The results were, shall we say, somewhat less dignified than Ciceronian debate.
“You must be poor!” shouted one fan in response to the chants.
“White privilege [posterior body part]!” a protester shot back.
“Put away your [expletive] signs!” another fan shouted, and the protesters began doing just that, mainly because the rain had washed them into running-ink rags.
“I wonder how many of these guys are going to give back their thousand-dollar tax breaks,” one guy called out, and, apparently not getting the reception he wanted, tried the same line another ten yards down the street.
On the edges of the protest zone, an individual of indeterminate gender, sporting a pinched face and a swept-up hairdo that looked remarkably like Trump’s, edged up with a leer to anyone observing the protests. “Are you ready for your selfie?” not-Trump purred. No one seemed inclined to take not-Trump up on his/her offer.
As the rain continued to fall on the ever-more-impatient fans, the enterprising not-Trump, the scalpers, and the T-shirt sellers moved on, undeterred, each on the make, each looking for another target in the downpour. As metaphors for present-day America go, it wasn’t a bad one.
Once Trump was inside, lines shortened considerably, and fans flowed into the stadium. By the time Trump walked onto the field prior to the national anthem, nearly the entire stadium had filled up. And the reception was … well, you can hear for yourself.
Trump takes the field …. pic.twitter.com/rvN9qd0Vru — Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) January 9, 2018
The anthem, delivered by local favorites the Zac Brown Band, played with no protests, and the president joined in:
Donald Trump looked like he was struggling with the words on the National Anthem for a min there pic.twitter.com/0q03Vt4w3e — gifdsports (@gifdsports) January 9, 2018
All in all, another day in 2018 America.
More from Yahoo Sports:
• Alabama benches QB JalenHurts for freshman backup
• ’F— Trump yelled in tunnel as Alabama hit field
• Lane Kiffin tweets frustration with Alabama’s playcalling
• Governor Rick Scott declares UCF as national champs…in Florida
____
Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.
In the annals of college football’s national championship game, few backup quarterbacks have accomplished what true freshman Tua Tagovailoa did Monday night. Following a scoreless first half in the College Football Playoff National Championship against Georgia, Alabama head coach Nick Saban boldly benched starting quarterback Jalen Hurts and inserted Tagovailoa. It may have been the best adjustment of his coaching career.
Who is the backup quarterback with the tongue-twister of a last name that replaced Hurts at halftime? In a way he was the likeliest of unlikely heroes. Alabama fans anticipated Tagovailoa assuming the starting job as early as next season, but few thought he’d be thrown into the College Football Playoff fire and remain cool.
Alabama has a freshman quarterback from Hawaii, and at least one fan is concerned pic.twitter.com/uKxTpVz1hm — Ben Reiter (@BenReiter) September 13, 2017
Hailing from the same Saint Louis School in Honolulu that Marcus Mariota starred at, Alabama was an unconventional choice for Tagovailoa, who is a protégé of the Tennessee Titans quarterback. Off the mainland of the United States, Tagovailoa’s legendary play reached Tim Tebow status in the peripherals of the prep football world.
The Tebow similarities include their devout devotion to Christianity. One of the reasons Tagovailoa committed Alabama was due to Tuscaloosa’s evangelical community. During his official visit, Tagovailoa attended service at Church of the Highlands in Tuscaloosa and joined the megachurch in 2017.
[Yahoo Store: Get your Alabama Crimson Tide championship gear right here!]
On the prep gridiron, he scored nine touchdowns in a single game and by the time he’d graduated, he was the state’s career passing yardage leader. Once exposed to the highest caliber of prep competition, Tagovailoa proved his talent was more than apocryphal by earning MVP honors at the 2016 Elite 11 quarterback camp and prompted then-Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin to compare him to Steve Young.
Story Continues
Standing at a modest 6-foot-1, the lefty signal caller began nipping at Hurts’ heels the moment he arrived on campus as an early enrollee last January. During the spring game in March, Tagovailoa dazzled by throwing for 313 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. However, during the regular season, Tagovailoa saw action only in spot duty. Yet, his escapability and accuracy on the run were immediately apparent.
Entering the national championship game, Tagovailoa had completed 35 of his 53 attempts for eight touchdowns and a single interception. However, his heroism in the national championship will elevate him to a new echelon of national prominence.
After going three-and-out on his first possession, Tagovailoa marched Alabama down the field and punctuated it with a touchdown pass to Gerald Ruggs III. The drive was highlighted by his Houdini-like 9-yard run on a third-and-7.
On a fourth-and-4, with 3:49 remaining, Tagovailoa rolled left and delivered a laser strike to Calvin Ridley that knotted the score up at 20 apiece. Tagovailoa proceeded to move the ball down to the Georgia 25, where kicker Andy Pappanastos shanked the potential game-winning kick as time in regulation expired.
However, his inexperience nearly did Alabama in on its overtime possession. After Georgia kicker Rodrigo Blankenship pushed a kick straight through the uprights, Tagovailoa attempted to escape the Bulldogs pass rush and was sacked for a 16-yard loss.
On second-and-26, Tagovailoa looked off a safety and found freshman receiver Devonta Smith streaking down the left sideline. His pass was a perfect dime into Smith’s arms as he loped into the end zone to ensure Alabama’s fifth national championship in nine years. However, because of Tagovailoa, this version of Alabama has a heartwarming Cinderella story instead of their typical role as cold, ruthless juggernaut.
Tua Tagovailoa wasn’t settling for a field goal again. Instant classic. #NationalChampionship pic.twitter.com/fd6AaaRrzr — The Ledge (@TheLedgeSports) January 9, 2018
More from Yahoo Sports:
• Alabama stuns Georgia in overtime 26-23 to win national title
• How ‘Hawaiian Tebow’ Tua Tagovailoa became an Alabama legend
• Alabama wins national title over Georgia: Sports world reacts
• Alabama OL Bradley Bozeman wins title, immediately proposes to girlfriend
• Controversial missed calls helped Alabama’s comeback over Georgia
• Protests, long lines, cheers and boos greet Trump at championship game
– – – – – – –
DJ Dunson is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at dunsnchecksin@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or Facebook.
You will be shocked (shocked!) to learn that the Ball family’s Big Baller Brand received an ‘F’ rating from the Better Business Bureau — the worst mark possible from the 106-year-old marketplace watchdog.
After receiving more than 30 formal complaints and 40-plus negative customer reviews against precisely zero positive or neutral reviews, Better Business Bureau of Central California CEO Blair Looney revealed to TMZ Sports that the organization reached out to Big Baller Brand twice over the past two months to “resolve these issues on behalf of the consumers” and received no response.
“This is very definitely substandard normal business practices for anybody,” Looney told TMZ Sports.
LaVar Ball, the braggadocious father of Los Angeles Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball, launched Big Baller Brand in April 2017, sporting the “BBB” logo on apparel in almost every interview he’s conducted since. The company made headlines in May, when it launched a signature shoe for Lonzo at a cost of $495.
LaVar responded to the Better Business Bureau’s rating in a text to ESPN:
“Better Business Bureau is as outdated as the Yellow Pages. Who cares about them? Tell them that Yelp! has replaced the Better Business Bureau. We honestly thought the Better Business Bureau was out of business. The new BBB stands for the Big Baller Brand.”
There is no Big Baller Brand listing on Yelp!
Many complaints to the Better Business Bureau suggest customers have not received orders and can’t contact Big Baller Brand directly, despite having been charged for merchandise. Others complained about incorrect or partial orders, postage labels with tracking numbers that don’t reflect a shipment and discontinued merchandise being replaced with alternative items with no option for a refund.
“Holidays always slows shipping,” LaVar added to ESPN. “But we stay on top of customer service. It’s probably Nike and Adidas complaining about not getting their Big Baller Brand merchandise.”
Story Continues
LaVar sought partnerships with Nike, Adidas and Under Armour for Big Baller Brand on behalf of Lonzo, but all three companies were reportedly unwilling to meet his 10-year, $1 billion asking price.
Big Baller Brand’s website has a “contact us” form in lieu of an email address or phone number. Many reviews complained of receiving repeated generic emails about company growth in response. The number listed for Big Baller Brand on the Better Business Bureau’s website returns this message: “You have reached the mailbox of 909-241-4472. Sorry, that mailbox is full. Thank you for calling. Goodbye.”
P.S. This is the message you receive when you call Big Baller Brand: “Sorry, that mailbox is full. Thank you for calling. Goodbye.” Seems pretty legit. pic.twitter.com/AqJCxFp66Y — Ben Rohrbach (@brohrbach) January 8, 2018
Here are a handful of excerpts from the reviews and complaints:
• Nov. 25, 2017: “This company does not offer refunds. I purchased two items and was told there would be a 1-2 week delay. I have been waiting six weeks now, and when I asked why it was taking so long, I was called a ‘small baller.’ At this point I believe they have decided to steal my money.”
• Nov. 27, 2017: The quality of the shirt I purchased was very poor. I followed washing instructions and the shirt [shrank] considerably … from an adult medium to a youth 10-12. The website doesn’t discuss return policy nor returns email complaints. I don’t believe in paying $65 for a shirt to be worn once.”
• Dec. 6, 2017: “This is stealing!! This company should be ashamed of themselves. GROW UP AND HANDLE YOUR BUSINESS!!!!!!!!!!! THIS COMPANY SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN.”
• Dec. 8, 2017: “I purchased a pair of the Big Baller Brand ZO2 WET AUTOGRAPH shoes that were advertised as Limited Availability. … The purchase is nearly $2000 … and the Big Baller Brand company has had my money for six months. My problem is that they are replacing the shoe I purchased with a different one and they are no longer limited availability since they’re still for sale on their site.”
• Dec. 20, 2017: “I’m beyond frustrated, and I absolutely will NEVER order from this company again. Their lack of professionalism is ridiculous. My son is [a] devoted fan, and this is the one gift that he was looking forward to this holiday season. It absolutely breaks my heart that I would invest my money into something only to be let down. … I would NEVER recommend them to anyone.”
• Dec. 28, 2017: “HORRIBLE! I ordered some merchandise on 12-6-17. NO updates, no order confirmation, no status. I’ve sent several emails to the ‘contact us’ page and I get nothing but a generic email. I finally had to report the charge as fraudulent and disputed the credit card charge. Three weeks this company has my money, and they cannot even provide me a courtesy of a response. DO NOT buy from this crappy site, come to think of it. It’s the DAD who runs it. NO WONDER, he’s busy saving his other criminal son instead of tending to his business. GLAD Better Bus Bureau listed the address and phone number. I intend to call and drive to CHINO HILLS tomorrow. Loser company!”
Only 10 of the 32 “closed complaints” against Big Baller Brand from the past few months listed on the Better Business Bureau’s website are qualified as resolved to the customer’s satisfaction — fewer than the 12 customers who received no response to a Better Business Bureau complaint from the company.
It is unclear whether a number of the complaints and negative reviews have been resolved in the months and days since they were published online. However, if claims are true that the company is charging customers, sending false tracking labels and failing to respond to inquiries about fraudulent business practices, it would not be surprising if legal action is taken against the Ball family as a result.
– – – – – – –
Ben Rohrbach is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
More from Yahoo Sports:
• Chris Mannix: Lakers’ nightmare scenario becoming a reality
• NFL investigating Panthers after ugly Newton hit
• Alleged NFL bully accused of using racial slurs
