Noah Cumberland has been named the Round 20 NAB Rising Star nominee.
Cumberland kicked a game-high five goals on Sunday, leading Richmond to a come-from-behind victory against the Brisbane Lions.
The young forward was a shining light for the Tigers, kicking the club’s first three goals of the match.
His last two were spectacular: a Goal of the Year contender then a 50-meter goal to bring the margin within five points.
With less than a minute left, Cumberland smothered Daniel McStay’s kick, causing a turnover that lead to the match-sealing Tom Lynch goal and kept Richmond’s finals hopes alive.
Senior coach Damian Hardwick was impressed with the 21-year-old’s performance.
“That first goal he kicked where I think he ran through three players, I thought he was Leigh Matthews there for a minute bursting through the pack,” Hardwick said.
“[Cumberland] has been incredible since he’s come in. He came in a little bit raw, he’s put the work in, he’s self-driven, he’s responsible for his own development of him and that to me is the mark of him as a player.
“He was always a beast of a player, athletic traits, but probably like most Queensland kids a little bit slow in the general footy IQ stuff, but he has worked incredibly hard on that part of the game.
“He’s diligent, he’s got his notepad, he does the work, he watches tape and he just loves it.”
Cumberland has played five AFL games and kicked 11 goals, including a three-goal haul against North Melbourne in Round 18.
He’s averaging 2.2 goals, 5.4 score involvements and 2.8 tackles per game.
Cumberland was drafted through the Brisbane Lions Academy with the 43rd pick in the 2019 NAB AFL Draft.
He played his junior football at Maroochydore Junior Australian Football Club in the South East Queensland Juniors (SEQJ).
Returning from a ruptured ACL in his maiden season, Cumberland excited fans in the VFL in 2021 – highlighted with a five-goal 20 disposals performance against Collingwood.
Cumberland was delisted at the end of the 2021 Toyota Premiership Season, but was reinstated a month later via the 2022 Rookie Draft.
He made his debut in Round 11 this year against the Sydney Swans.
As researchers try to piece together Carl Webb’s life, it has been revealed his older brother — who bore a striking resemblance to the Somerton Man — died a prisoner of war.
Key points:
Researchers have named the Somerton Man as Carl Webb
A military photo of his brother Roy has a strong resemblance to the Somerton Man
He also had the same eye color as the Somerton Man
Last week, University of Adelaide researcher Derek Abbott made a breakthrough in the case that has baffled detectives for decades, identifying the mysterious Somerton Man as Melbourne electrical engineer Carl “Charles” Webb.
Carl Webb’s birth certificate shows he was born on November 16, 1905, in Footscray and had five older siblings named Russell, Freda, Gladys, Doris and Roy.
According to his service record, held by the National Archives of Australia, Roy Webb enlisted in the Australian military in July 1940 and served in the 2/29th Battalion.
The man dubbed the “Somerton Man” was found dead on an Adelaide beach in 1948.
He became one of the many causalities of World War II in 1943.
When he joined the army, he was 35 years old, living in Carnegie with his wife Ruby and working as a “car driver”.
His record states he disembarked in Singapore on August 23, 1941, and was reported missing in February 1942 before being confirmed as a prisoner of war in Malaya in September 1943.
Roy Webb’s will, which is included in the archives, was witnessed by his sister Freda Keane and her husband Gerald Keane, of East Brunswick, Victoria, in 1940.
“T Keane” was found printed on some of the Somerton Man’s personal belongings. (Supplied: Derek Abbott)
Gerald Keane’s full name was Thomas Gerald Keane and the Somerton Man was found with “T Keane” printed on his tie.
Keane was also found printed on other personal items in a suitcase that was uncovered in the cloakroom of the Adelaide Railway Station in January 1949.
It had been checked in the day before an unidentified man’s body was discovered on Somerton Beach in January 1948, and police suspected it belonged to him.
Professor Abbott believes Carl Webb’s clothes were hand-me-downs from his brother-in-law, who lived just 20 minutes’ drive from his home in Melbourne.
Mystery has surrounded the identity of the Somerton Man for decades. (Supplied: Derek Abbott)
Professor Abbott said the photo of Roy Webb in his service record revealed a resemblance between the two brothers.
“It appears to be a reasonable resemblance,” he said.
“The general shape of the face is the same, the hair line is the same.”
Roy Webb’s eye color is listed as hazel, the same as The Somerton Man’s.
Wednesday is your chance to ask the experts how they cracked the Somerton Man case — and why it has attracted so much attention. Join our live Q&A blog from 12pm AEST.
In what appears to be a first-of-its-kind case, a veteran Minnesota pharmacist went on trial Monday accused of violating the civil rights of a mother of five by refusing to fill her prescription for emergency contraception.
Andrea Anderson, according to a civil lawsuit filed under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, sought the morning-after pill Ella in January 2019 at the only pharmacy in her hometown, McGregor (population 391), after a condom broke during sex.
“She acted quickly because any delay in obtaining emergency contraception increases the risk of pregnancy,” the complaint states.
But George Badeaux, who had been dispensing drugs from the McGregor Thrifty White pharmacy for several decades, refused to fill Anderson’s prescription, claiming it would violate his “beliefs,” according to the complaint.
“Badeaux informed her that there would be another pharmacist working the next day, who might be willing to fill the medication but that he could not guarantee that they would help,” the complaint states.
Badeaux also warned Anderson against trying to get the prescription filled at a Shopko pharmacy in a nearby town and refused to tell her where else she could try, as required by state law, the complaint states.
Another pharmacist at a CVS in the city of Aitkin also blocked Anderson from getting the prescription filled. She wound up traveling 100 miles round trip, “while a massive snowstorm was headed to central Minnesota,” to get the prescription filled at Walgreens in Brainerd, according to the complaint.
Anderson is seeking unspecified damages and wants an injunction requiring Badeaux and the drugstore he works for to follow state law, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, including issues related to pregnancy and childbirth.
Thrifty White Pharmacy.Google Maps
The Badeaux trial, which began with jury selection Monday, comes as the once-dormant debate over contraception was rekindledafter the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade—and by prominent lawmakers like Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who openly questioned the constitutionality of birth control.
Last week, the US House passed a bill that would guarantee the right to contraception under federal law.
Anderson is being represented by lawyers from Gender Justice, which is based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Neither her lawyers nor Badeaux’s representatives are commenting on the case.
A spokeswoman for Gender Justice said the Anderson case appears to be the first in the country brought to trial by a woman who was refused contraception.
Originally, Anderson’s lawsuit included CVS as a defendant.
In court papers, Anderson said that after she was rebuffed by Badeaux, she called the CVS in Aitkin, where a female technician told her she couldn’t fill her prescription and falsely told her she wouldn’t be able to get it filled in. Brainerd, either.
Anderson and CVS reached a settlement before the case went to trial, and she received unspecified compensation, court records revealed.
NBC News asked CVS for the details of the settlement and to see whether the technician faced any discipline, but it hasn’t heard back from the pharmaceutical giant.
After Anderson got her prescription filled, she called the Thrifty White pharmacy and complained about how Badeaux treated her to owner Matt Hutera, court papers show.
Badeaux has refused to fill prescriptions for contraceptives at least three other times because he believes they cause abortions, the papers show. He said he objected to dispensing Ella, saying it could possibly prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus.
“It is similar to removing all care from a newborn child by throwing it out the backdoor into the woods,” he said in a court filing.
But Ella doesn’t induce abortions. It is a prescription drug that prevents a woman from becoming pregnant in the first place when it is taken within five days of unprotected sex, according to the manufacturer.
“If an individual is already pregnant, meaning that fertilized egg has implanted in their uterus, emergency contraception ‘Will not stop or harm the pregnancy,’” Anderson’s lawyers said in their complaint.
Aitkin County District Judge David Hermerding has already ruled that Badeaux can’t raise federal constitutional issues such as freedom of religion at the trial, although he will be allowed to explain his beliefs to the jury.
“The issue for the jury is not defendant’s constitutional rights,” the judge wrote. “It is whether he deliberately misled, obfuscated and blocked Ms. Anderson’s path to obtaining Ella.”
While debate rages about the costs of canceling restaurant reservations in Australia, it seems policies around the world – and not just the country – differ. So we thought we’d take a bit of a look at what’s going on here and how it stacks up to international cancellation and refund policies.
For the last few days, we’ve been hearing about the consternation being caused by local restaurants cracking down on last-minute cancellations and no-shows. fine diner Brae at Birregurra was dragged into the spotlight when its cancellation policy was misreported in the news, while Dee Dee on 3AW chatted with OpenTable’s Jason Yeung about how cancellation policies impact restaurants.
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What is clear is that with the rising costs of overheads, ingredients and a labor shortage, not to mention the lingering impacts of the pandemic period, hospitality venues have been hard hit. The result is some of these devastating cost spikes need to be passed onto the consumer if businesses are to survive.
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Cancellations and no-shows cost restaurants money. (iStock)
This is playing out in menu prices rising, but is also showing up in cancellation policies, particularly for restaurants that don’t reply on walk-in dining. If a restaurant is the kind of place where customers need to book in advance to make sure they secure a table, there is a certain amount of admin associated with that, as well as a table being taken ‘off the market’ for other diners and impacting the ordering stock and managing of staff.
Plenty of high-end restaurants include a booking fee or a pay-upfront policy, and have various refund policies in place for late cancellations and no-shows.
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Cancellations are often fully refunded if they are within a certain timeframe – this might be something like within 72 or 24 hours. Sometimes customers are charged a set cancellation fee or a percentage of the overall cost if they cancel within this time frame, but before they may not be charged at all.
It varies from venue to venue, and a phone call to cancel a booking means they might be able to rebook the table. The more notice they have for this, the more likely they will be able to fill the spot, particularly if they have a wait list of customers.
Plenty of high-end restaurants include a booking fee or a pay-upfront policy. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
A no-show, on the other hand, might mean staff were allocated for the night and certain preparations will have been made at the venue. Depending on the restaurant, there will be costs involved in this, and with all the current pressures they are simply not as able to absorb the costs – so charging a sum for a no-show discourages people from booking multiple restaurants to simply secure a spot and then ignoring the bookings on the day.
Barring very specific circumstances that would stop you calling to make a cancellation, it seems like a simple way to encourage people to make a call to cancel a booking and put that table back on the market.
Consumer Affairs Victoria advises restaurants to have clear terms and conditions for customers detailing any cancellation policy and charges. A quick internet search or a look at your chosen restaurant’s website will usually clue you in on the venue’s cancellation policy and applicable charges.
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While Brae has been in the papers recently for its cancellation policy, the venue’s terms and conditions have always been clear on its website, and given it is a destination venue clients travel to reach, it makes sense last-minute cancellations would incur a cost, as the tables may not easily be rebooked, which is a cost to the venue.
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The restaurant even shared its policy – accounting for pandemic cancellations – on social media to make it clear, stating COVID cancellations resulting from government restrictions would not incur any costs. Otherwise, full payment is made before the sitting and a 50 per cent charge applies to cancellations less than seven days out.
Over at Quayarguably Sydney’s most famous restaurant, bookings are made well in advance and again incur costs for cancellations, clearly outlined on the website.
For non-special event days, it states: “Credit card details are required to secure all reservations at Quay. Should you cancel your reservation within 72 hours of the arrival time or fail to show for the booking, a cancellation charge of $280 per person will be incurred. Please contact us on (02) 9251 5600 or [email protected] to make any amendments to your reservation.”
It’s simple, to the point, and makes sense to avoid unwarranted costs to the venue. It’s also not uncommon internationally for destination restaurants to have similar policies in place.
For sometime world number one restaurant Noma in Denmark, the cancellation policy is varied for cancellations inside and outside of the country. Either way, the cancellation charges are clear on their website.
“If you are traveling from outside of Denmark, we have extended our cancellation policy to 21 days (ie to cancel with a full refund, we must be notified of a cancellation 21 days before the date of your reservation). In the event of cancellation , please note that the 2.5% administration fee is non-refundable,” it states.
“This extended notice period will give our team the best possible chance to refill any seats affected by continued travel disruptions.”
Within Denmark, cancellations made 10 business days prior to the booking receive a full refund. But after that timeframe payments are non-refundable.
Some internationally-acclaimed restaurants take this a step further, with venues like the US’s acclaimed The French Laundry reportedly requiring full payment for a booking up front, with no cancellation refunds available.
This restaurant has a coveted release of reservations. If you’re lucky enough to get one then it’s been likened to buying a concert ticket; you can pass the booking onto someone else, but you cannot cancel. Reportedly there is a fair bit of bidding and swapping of these bookings online, which sounds exciting.
But the cancellation policy is entirely at the discretion of the venue or venue group, and examples like Hakkasan exist, where there is no charge at all for any cancellation, even on the day of the booking.
In this instance the group has a number of acclaimed restaurants around the globe — including London, Las Vegas and Dubai — and no fee is charged at any of them for a cancellation at any time. However, a $25 per person fee is charged for a no-show.
Now, these restaurants all have international reputations and reservations that are highly sought after. But what of the smaller restaurants in Australia that don’t have huge reputations? Surely they should be able to charge too for cancellations, given that as smaller venues they may well be even less likely to absorb the costs associated with unfilled seats when cancellations are made at short notice or bookings simply do not turn up?
If we want our restaurants to thrive and survive, not only do we need to accept that there are costs involved here, we need to support it and abide by cancellation policies.
We’ve heard it argued that unforeseen circumstances like a flight being canceled means missing a restaurant reservation or having to cancel. Of course that is an unforeseen and unfortunate circumstance, but why should the restaurant have to foot the bill for that? We don’t expect the airline to.
It’s really simple math, if the costs of everything keeps escalating and there are costs incurred when reservations are made and not honored at restaurants, then a venue needs to recoup some of that cost.
These are businesses and they are already facing unprecedented challenges. Booking cancellations and no-shows don’t need to be one of them.
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Tigers half Jock Madden has dismissed rumors linking him with a move to Penrith and says Luke Brooks’ future plans won’t affect his decision making when his contract expires at the end of the season.
The 22-year-old has been in and out of the team for the past two years but has a clean run in the No.7 jersey with Brooks set to miss the rest of the season with a calf injury.
Madden was the perfect foil for Adam Doueihi on Saturday night when the Tigers shocked the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium, and it’s no coincidence he’s been involved in their two highest scores of the season against Brisbane and the Bulldogs back in round 11 when they scored 36 points .
But Madden is off-contract and there’s no guarantee he’ll stay at the club that handed him his NRL debut, especially after incoming coach Tim Sheens said he wanted Brooks to sign on beyond next year.
“Not at all,” Madden replied when asked if the Brooks news would affect his plans for the future.
“I’m just worrying about my role this weekend for the team.
“I’m just taking it one week at a time and purely focusing on the Knights.
“That’s my manager’s role. I’m just focused on this week and I’ll leave the off-field stuff to my manager.”
The next five weeks can be seen as an audition for Madden, who made the move to the Tigers from Newcastle where he played his junior footy.
His control is exactly what Doueihi needs to play his natural game at five-eighth, and Madden’s own form will only blossom if he’s given the opportunity to keep working under Tigers great Benji Marshall, who will become the coach in 2025.
“You can think of it like that way (an audition), but I’m just purely focused on a week-by-week thing. I’m trying not to get too far ahead of myself,” Madden said.
“When I signed down here at the Tigers, I thought it would be a really good experience for me to learn under Brooksy, Benji, Robbie Farah and Josh Reynolds.
“We had a lot of really experienced players here who played at the highest level. I thought it was a good opportunity to grow my game here.
“I’ve done a lot of work with Benji. My first two years here were with him and I’ve always stayed in contact with him.”
Madden will again get the opportunity to steer the side around the park against the Knights on Sunday, but he’ll have to step up with Jackson Hastings out for the rest of the season with a broken ankle.
Winger Ken Maumalo described Hastings as the “glue in the middle” that holds the team together but backed Madden to shine with the added responsibility.
“Ever since I got here, I knew he was a talent,” Maumalo said.
“The way he trains and the way he carries himself is testament to his character. He just needs an opportunity, and he’s got it now. I know he’s going to grab it with both hands.”
Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda and one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, has been killed in a US drone strike in Kabul.
The 71-year-old was largely considered the brains behind the notorious terrorist group and its vision for attacking the West — including the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which catapulted al-Qaeda from relative obscurity to a household name in the United States.
President Biden said in an address to the nation Monday that Zawahiri’s death — after he evaded capture for decades — sent a clear message: “No matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out.”
Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda leader, killed at 71
The strike is the latest successful US operation against al-Qaeda and Islamic State leaders. Biden said Zawahiri’s death should help ensure Afghanistan can no longer “become a terrorist safe haven” and a “launching pad” for attacks against the United States.
Security experts say the operation demonstrates that the United States is still able to carry out precision strikes in Afghanistan after last year’s withdrawal of troops on the ground. On the other hand, it also highlights the Taliban’s apparent willingness to accommodate al-Qaeda operations in the region.
Here’s a look at what Zawahiri’s death means for al-Qaeda.
When was al-Qaeda founded?
Al-Qaeda grew out of battlefield bonds forged in the Afghan insurgency against the Soviet Union, which was redirected toward fighting the West.
The group, founded in 1988 by Osama bin Laden, attracted disaffected recruits who opposed American support for Israel and Middle Eastern dictatorships.
When the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 1996, it gave al-Qaeda the sanctuary that enabled it to run training camps and plot attacks, including 9/11.
The world 9/11 created: A weakened, yet enduring, al-Qaeda menace
What was Ayman al-Zawahiri’s role in al-Qaeda?
Americans knew him as al-Qaeda’s No. 2 leader, the bespectacled, bushy-bearded deputy to bin Laden. In reality, longtime observers say, he provided the ideological direction, while bin Laden was the public face of the terrorist group.
Zawahiri merged his Egyptian militant group with al-Qaeda in the 1990s. For decades, he served as “the mastermind behind attacks against Americans,” Biden said Monday — including the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, which killed 17 American sailors and wounded dozens more, and the bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed hundreds and injured scores.
“To kill Americans and their allies — civilian and military — is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in every country in which it is possible to do it,” Zawahiri wrote in a 1998 screed.
After al-Qaeda’s forced retreat from its base in Afghanistan in early 2002, it was largely Zawahiri who led the group’s resurgence in the lawless tribal region across the border in Pakistan, The Washington Post wrote in an obituary Monday.
What happened to al-Qaeda after bin Laden was killed?
When bin Laden was killed in 2011, his No. 2, Zawahiri, took over as leader.
Although he was the intellectual force behind the terrorist movement, some experts say Zawahiri lacked bin Laden’s charisma. He remained as a figurehead but failed to prevent the splintering of the Islamist movement in Syria and other conflict zones after 2011.
His grip over a sprawling network of affiliates across Africa, Asia and the Middle East was weakened. The Islamic State terrorist group, which grew out of al-Qaeda’s Iraqi affiliate, sought to position itself as a more ruthless alternative.
What is ISIS-K? Here’s what the Taliban takeover means for al-Qaeda and the Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate.
In his later years, Zawahiri largely shied from public view, presiding over al-Qaeda at a time of decline, with most of the group’s founding figures dead or in hiding.
At the time of the US withdrawal last August, analysts described al-Qaeda in Afghanistan as “a skeleton of its former self,” after two decades of conflict and counterterrorism operations. A United Nations report in July estimated there were up to 400 al-Qaeda fighters remaining in Afghanistan.
Some security experts feared an al-Qaeda reboot under the Taliban. At the time of his death, US intelligence indicated that Zawahiri, rather than hiding, was living with his family in downtown Kabul in a high-security residential district where many senior Taliban figures reside.
What will happen to al-Qaeda now?
Analysts say that in the past, al-Qaeda has adjusted to the loss of leaders, with new figures emerging in their place. Today, though, the group is splintered, with branches and affiliates spanning the globe from West Africa to India. The question remains whether those groups will focus on local conflicts or coalesce for more global ambitions.
Charles Lister, a terrorism expert at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, said al-Qaeda “now faces an acute succession crisis.” Senior leader Saif al-Adel is technically the next in line to take the helm, but he is based in Iran, which has caused affiliates to question his credibility in the past, Lister wrote Monday. His potential ascension of him could be the “death knell” for al-Qaeda’s aspirations as a global organization as affiliates deepen their independence from the group, Lister said.
Al-Qaeda hasn’t carried out any major terrorist attacks in the United States or Europe in recent years, following bombings that killed 52 people in London in 2005. Some attackers were inspired by al-Qaeda, such as a Saudi military trainee who killed three American sailors at a US base in Florida in December 2019. A knife-wielding assailant who fatally stabbed a man and a woman in an attack near London Bridge that same year had previously been a member of an al-Qaeda-inspired cell.
Claire Parker and Joby Warrick contributed to this report.
Close to half of Australian home owners are under mortgage stress, with data showing 45 per cent of households are spending more than they are earning.
The news comes as the Reserve Bank on Tuesday raised the national interest rate to 1.85 per cent.
The decision to lift the cash rate by 50 basis points was the fourth consecutive month of rate rises by the RBA and has millions of homeowners across Australia feeling the pressure as they brace for their own interest rates to continue to rise.
Close to half of Australian home owners are under mortgage stress, with data showing 45 per cent of households are spending more than they are earning. (Nine)
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“If households are under water, in other words, if they’re spending more than they’re earning, we categorize them in a stressed state,” said Martin North of Digital Finance Analytics.
North crunched the numbers for A Current Affair and showed the most mortgage stressed postcode in the country is Chipping Norton in New South Wales, with 12,713 households in a stressed state.
It’s followed by Tapping in Western Australia with 10,918 households deemed stressed, Narre Warren South in Victoria with 10,307, and in Queensland, Toowoomba tops the list with 10,040 households.
Paralowie in South Australia has 6870 households with mortgage stress, while Riverside in Tasmania has 5141.
Amaroo in the ACT has 3,998 households with mortgage stress, and Stuart in the Northern Territory has 2,167.
“If you go back a couple of decades, we had around 10 or 15 per cent of households in mortgage stress,” North said.
“Before the global financial crisis we got to about 32 per cent of households.
“But then it accelerated during COVID and now we’ve hit a really remarkable level.”
According to the data, Australia’s first home owners are the demographic most at risk.
“First home buyers are actually the highest proportion of households in mortgage stress at the moment,” North said.
“That’s because they’ve got the biggest mortgages and they’ve got the least buffers.
Tash Alabakov is excitedly awaiting the completion of her new build, but has already seen repayments rise before she even has the keys.
“I keep getting new mail saying your repayments are now this, your repayments are now this,” Alabakov told A Current Affair.
“I’m not at the stage where I have to do my full repayments yet, I’m paying just interest only while my build is being completed,” she said, noting that the rising cost of everyday items were also causing her financial strain .
Tash Alabakov is excitedly awaiting the completion of her new build, but has already seen repayments rise before she even has the keys. (Nine)
“A lot of my wage is going to go to repayments and that’s before any bills, water, rates, phone bill, food, petrol.
“There’s nothing I can do from an employment standpoint except to get a second job for weekends if I want to make a bit more money.”
For home owners feeling the pressure, experts say there are options to avoid defaulting on your loan.
“Breathe and do a simple budget to ensure you can allocate all your essential expenses,” said Shungu Patiska, a financial counselor with the National Debt Helpline.
“Once you’ve done that, speak to your creditors and ask for assistance such as repayment holidays.”
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Yot was bedlam. Unlike any moment the city had been seen in more than a decade. When Kevin Durant, then playing for the reigning champion Golden State Warriors, came out onto the hardwood at KeyArena in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle on 5 October 2018, you couldn’t hear yourself shout in ecstasy. You could only hear the roar of the whole crowd, which included many Seattle luminaries, from Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson to the rapper Macklemore, deafening and raucous all at eleven.
why? Because Durant came out ahead of that preseason NBA game wearing a forest-green Shawn KempsweaterNo 40. It was a reminder that the city has not had an NBA team since the SuperSonics left town for Oklahoma City (where they became the Thunder) in 2008.
“It was just a great moment,” northwest-native and longtime ESPN SportsCenter host Kenny Mayne, who was in attendance that night, tells the Guardian. “To give recognition to Seattle basketball, and the fact that so many of us had missed it.”
To date, the city of Seattle has not hosted an NBA game in 14 years – save the Durant/Shawn Kemp jersey night in 2018. That game pitted the Warriors and Durant, who was also the last Sonics’ first-round draft pick to ever play in the city, against the Sacramento Kings. It was a fitting contest given that the Kings were inches away from relocating to Seattle in the 2010s.
In truth, the 2018 preseason game was almost cruel for Seattle’s basketball fans. At least, it would have been had the city not been so joyous and enthusiastic, starved for NBA attention. “It’s a basketball city,” Durant said after that reply. But Durant’s statement may have taken some by surprise. To basketball city? Seattle?
To tech city, sure. Coffee and grunge music, yes. Sir Mix A Lot and the Space Needle, of course. But basketball? That’s the overview of New York City, right? Well, not entirely.
On 3 October this year, the NBA will return to Seattle for another preseason game. It will feature the Los Angeles Clippers (owned by a former Seattleite, Microsoft billionaire Steve Balmer) and the Portland Trailblazers (the only current Pacific Northwest team), and will most likely sell out. Perhaps Portland star Damian Lillard will come out in a No 20 Gary Payton Sonics jersey! Either way, locals will be thrilled.
The game will take place in the newly renovated Climate Pledge Arena (formerly KeyArena), a 17,500-seat venue perfect for hoops. When the Sonics left for OKC, the argument was that the city’s facilities weren’t modern enough. Now, as Mayne puts it, “[the NBA] certainly can’t complain about the facilities at this point.”
Seattle, which is home to nearly 750,000 people (and 4 million in the surrounding area), is well-positioned to support professional sports. This year saw the NHL expand and bring in the Kraken. Though new to the league, the Kraken were No 14 (of 32) in attendance, averaging 17,151 fans per home game. In addition, ever since the Seahawks and the “Legion of Boom” won the Super Bowl in 2014, football has felt like a religion in town. The Sounders, Seattle’s MLS team, have won titles and set attendance records. And the Mariners, the local Major League Baseball team, recently enjoyed a 14-game winning streak. Indeed, Seattle is a sports city, too.
And as rumors continue to swirl about a possible NBA expansion, with Seattle and Las Vegas on the tips of insiders’ tongues (like that of NBA podcaster and author, Bill Simmons), it’s worth remembering just how much of a basketball city Seattle really is . While NBA commissioner Adam Silver has thrown cold water on those rumours, perhaps for simple negotiating purposes, they nonetheless persist. (Seattle has been involved in many bargaining rumors before.)
While today’s Seattle may not be an NBA city, it is a basketball city. That reality begins first and foremost with the WNBA’s Seattle Storm. The franchise, which didn’t leave with the Sonics for OKC thanks to its hometown owners, Force 10 Hoops, has won four WNBA titles (2004, 2010, 2018, 2020), with legend Sue Bird running point. The team boasts three of the league’s top-25 players, according to ESPN, from Bird to Jewell Loyd to former MVP Breanna Stewart. The squad is also one of – if not the most-socially conscious in professional sports. And though Bird recently announced her upcoming retirement from her, her presence from her will be felt both in Seattle and beyond for years.
Alongside Bird on the list of Seattle hoops emissaries is Jamal Crawford. Not only did Crawford have a distinguished NBA career (and now post-career), he is an ambassador for Seattle basketball. Crawford runs the annual local pro-am, The CrawsOver, which brings local talent together with local legends, and even Hall of Fame players such as the late Kobe Bryant, to play games in the summer for fans. Crawford, who took over the pro-am from another area standout, Doug Christie, helped guide the city’s best and brightest during his 20-year NBA career, which included three Sixth Man of the Year Awards. Local NBA stars (and CrawsOver alums) like Michael Porter Jr, Dejounte Murray, Isaiah Thomas, Brandon Roy and Nate Robinson owe a debt to Crawford’s stewardship.
“A lot of this is home-grown through people like Jamal throwing his pro-am,” says Mayne, who remembers going to Sonics games in the late 60s and seeing visitors like Wilt Chamberlain and later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. “Part of it, with the loss of the Sonics, I think everybody has assumed a little bit of responsibility to put your hand up and say, ‘Look at us, we play pretty good ball up here.’”
But Crawford owes a lot to the people who came before him, too, from Christie to 2011 NBA champion Jason Terry, to SuperSonics standouts like Kemp, Payton and Detlef Schrempf. And later, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and 2001 NBA Slam Dunk contest victor, Desmond Mason. Speaking of the Sonics, the squad has an illustrious hoops pedigree. The NBA team, which kicked off its first season 55 years ago in 1967, won the NBA title in 1979 and later played in the NBA finals against Michael Jordan in 1996, losing in six hard-fought games. Sadly, for locals, the team was sold in 2006, by then-owner and Starbucks co-founder Howard Schultz to Oklahoma-native Clay Bennett, who moved the team to OKC in 2008. Schultz later called it one of the biggest mistakes of his life of him
“The Sonics were my childhood,” hooper-turned-musician, Cedric Walker, tells the Guardian. “To watch your childhood get shipped off to another city, it sucked.”
For the Seattle born-and-raised Walker, 33, who was introduced to the game in elementary school by his mother Gaynell, a now-retired public-school educator, the Sonics were his inspiration. As a teen, I have starred at Summit High School. And Walker and his mother would go to Sonics games during the week, sometimes sitting in the nosebleeds, catching a glimpse of the Payton/Kemp-era squad. He remembers attending the playoffs against the Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz, the “electric” crowds.
Walker remembers the protests in town as word spread regarding the Sonics’ likely departure, fans hoping to keep their cherished home team. “Seattle is one of the best basketball towns in the country,” Walker says. “We just had the No 1 pick in the NBA draft [Paolo Banchero]. We have a rich basketball history, dating back to the 70s. Even though the team doesn’t exist anymore, I’m pretty sure we have more playoff appearances than some still in the league.”
Perhaps the biggest feather in Seattle’s basketball cap, however, is its association with the great Bill Russell, who died on Sunday. The centerpiece of the original Boston Celtic dynasty, Russell boasted more championship rings than fingers (11) and after his stint as a player/coach for the C’s in the late 1960s, Russell migrated to the Pacific Northwest to helm the young SuperSonics as the team’s Coach from 1973-1977. Russell, the namesake of the NBA Finals MVP trophy, lived in the area until his death.
But it’s not just the professionals. In Seattle, the roots of the game go deeper, from high school through college. Christie, Crawford and Murray are graduates of Rainier Beach High School, a perennial Washington state champion located in the south-end of the city. Smack-dab in the center of town, there’s Garfield High School, which graduated Roy. There’s O’Dea High School, which produced the No 1 pick in the 2022 draft, Banchero (now also a CrawsOver album).
Even prominent local musicians have gotten into the mix. Pearl Jam originally named itself Mookie Blaylock after the former New Jersey Nets All-Star point guard. In 2009, Seattle’s Grammy-nominated rock group, Band of Horses, released a popular song, Detlef Schrempf. Macklemore’s recent music video features Crawford and Thomas hooping. And the Grammy Award-winning rapper (and Garfield High School alum) Ishmael Butler was a Division-1 baller under accomplished coach John Calipari at UMass.
Perhaps, too, given Kevin Durant’s recent trade request to get out of his obligations with the Brooklyn Nets, the “Slim Reaper” will again become the face of the Seattle SuperSonics and fast-track expansion (maybe one day he’ll suit up against to LeBron James-led Vegas team). Now, that would really be cause for unabashed applause.
A group of campers have been left shocked after waking to find a giant crocodile outside their caravan in a popular Darwin camping spot.
Campers at the aptly named Dundee Beach Holiday Park were woken up by yelling after a 2.5 meter crocodile sauntered to the bottom of one family’s caravan steps.
“They didn’t know what was going on at first because they were asleep, they thought what was all this commotion outside and people talking right outside their van and they went to come outside and we yelled don’t come out there’s a croc, “Witness Nyomi Hogan said.
The crocodile was found near a carvan at Dundee Beach Holiday Park (9News)
Fishing guide Kurt Williamson managed to trap the beast before rangers were able to remove it.
It’s the first time a crocodile has been spotted at the campsite.
“First time for me and for the other guys on the croc team finding one in the middle of a caravan park,” ranger Jaylan Marshall said.
Some brave campers managed to trap the reptile. (9News)
“In the middle of the Dundee it’s pretty uncommon it’s never happened before that we know of.
“With the dogs and the food from the barbeques and everything like that, the smells would sort of entice him to come in as well.”
The crocodile measured up to 2.5 meters. (9News)
As dry season comes to an end, the rangers have warned tourists to stay “crocwise” and vigilant when visiting the Territory.
“Even if the water does look very tempting especially at this time of year you still have to be very vigilant with these guys hanging around,” Marshall said.
The humid weather in the Bay Area during the past few days may have felt like being transported to Hawaii.
A few factors are combining forces to bring muggy weather to California: monsoonal moisture, remnants of a weakening tropical storm and a low-pressure system over the Pacific Ocean.
“We’ve been getting a little bit over the Bay Area — nothing like they have over southeast California, where they’ve had a lot of flash flood warnings [and] road washouts,” said Brian Garcia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Bay Area office.
California and the southwestern United States are in the midst of monsoon season. But the effects of monsoons can range from light drizzles to lightning-packed thunderstorms.
“A monsoon is a pattern of wind and rainfall that usually spans a very large part of a continent — or even an entire continent,” said William Boos, an atmospheric scientist at UC Berkeley.
Tropical moisture ahead of Frank (left) ⛈️ and monsoon moisture (right) ️⛈️ making rounds over the Golden State this afternoon.
Models trending towards more widespread showers for the Bay Area this week as Frank dies and its remnants drift northward. #CaWxpic.twitter.com/LJfZ4Sn0OX
This sticky summer weather is set to persist through the week.
On tap Wednesday and Thursday, the Bay Area and Central Coast could see more light rain showers and high humidity levels. Toward the end of the weekend, residents can expect clearer skies as the muggy weather pattern fades away.
Large, dark storm clouds linger over San Francisco as seen from the waterfront of the Emeryville Marina in Emeryville, Calif. Monday, Aug. 1, 2022.
Jessica Christian/The Chronicle
The humidity could return again, though, as monsoons can persist for months.
“Monsoons, in general, are created by intense sunlight supplying energy to land and the atmosphere during summer,” said Boos. “That creates these large continental-scale circulations.”
In North America, this atmospheric circulation can transport moist air over the Gulf of California inland to the Desert Southwest, including California.
In the Bay Area and Central Coast, the monsoon system has meant light showers and soupy feeling weather. From Sunday through Monday afternoon, rainfall totals ranged from a few hundredths to nearly a tenth of an inch from Santa Rosa to Santa Cruz.
the humidity woke me up at 5am. I thought I was in Florida at first.
But in Southern California and Nevada impacts have been severe. Torrential downpours and flash floods forced the closure of roads in and out of Death Valley National Park.
In this photo released by the National Park Service, is the damaged intersection of Kelbacker Road and Mojave Road in the Mojave National Preserve, Calif., Sunday, July 31, 2022. Roads in and out of Death Valley National Park were closed after lanes mud and debris inundated lanes during weekend flash floods in eastern California, western Nevada and northern Arizona. Storm cells dumped localized heavy rain across the region, prompting closures of highways and campgrounds. (National Park Service via AP)
Associated Press
On top of the monsoon system moving through California, the remnants of Tropical Storm Frank, moving off the Pacific coast of Mexico, are also providing additional moisture. A low-pressure system over the Pacific Ocean that is spinning counterclockwise is only adding moisture to the mix.
This low-pressure system is essentially funneling moisture from the tropical storm and monsoon northward, Garcia said.
One concern with the current weather system is the possibility of storms and—more worryingly—lightning. Lightning strikes could potentially ignite dry vegetation and kick off wildfires.
In far Northern California and Southern Oregon where the McKinney Fire is burning, the same monsoon system kicked off new fire starts over the weekend, with hundreds of lightning bolts touching down.
The Bay Area has fared better, unlike in August 2020, when the historic lightning complex fires broke out across the region.
“So far, we haven’t seen any significant lightning with the showers that have been going through,” Garcia said.
Jack Lee (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected]
