Brazilian star Vinícius Júnior took to social media to cry for help and protest against the inhuman treatment that he has received from Spanish fans. The 22 year old who plays for Real Madrid has been subject to multiple racist incidents in recent months and nothing has been done about it.
Brazil Switches Off Christ The Redeemer Lights
Spanish football fans made an effigy of Vinícius Júnior with the number 20 on it and hanged the effigy outside the Real Madrid office. He was also subject to racist chants of ‘Vinícius is a monkey’ by Valencia fans when the Real Madrid bus showed up at their stadium before the game could start.
Vinícius Júnior has been subject to 9 different incidents of racism and so have many other black players who play in the La Liga. Vinícius said he was unhappy that the La Liga did not put more pressure on the Spanish Football Federation to take more action as they had the option to cancel a game due to racism incidents but have never done that so far.
Brazil’s President sent a strong message to Spain to act more and switched off the lights at the famous Chris the Redeemer status to show support for Vinícius Júnior. Spanish police immediately acted and arrested 7 individuals tied to racism incidents against Vinícius.
Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas got axed after the Leafs failed to make it past the second round playoffs. There was a lot of controversy surrounding his sacking because President Brendan Shanahan told fans after the Leafs exit that he was considering having Dubas around for the next season.
Dubas Explains Sacking On Twitter In Brief
Just a few days later, Shanahan decided that it was time to let Kyle Dubas go and get a new GM to lead the Leafs for the upcoming season. Shanahan did not allow Dubas to speak to the press nor did he provide any clear information as to what went wrong and why he changed his mind on Dubas.
Dubas served as assistant GM with the Maple Leafs from 2014 and would take on the GM role from 2018. Dubas took to Twitter on May 23 to shed more light on his departure.
Dubas said that while he revaluated his future with the Leafs and had discussions with his family, he found out that the Leafs decided to go in a different direction. Dubas did not mention any of his interactions with Shanahan but did thank all the other players, coaches and staff who worked with him over the years.
NBA fans witnessed a somber Lebron James after the LA Lakers were eliminated from the playoffs by the Denver Nuggets. James put on a fantastic performance in the 4th game of the series and scored 40 points but it wasn’t good enough as the Nuggets swept the Lakers 4-0.
James To Consider His Future And Make Decision
Whenever he was asked in the past about his future in the NBA, Lebron James was always confident of playing on as he made it clear his goal was to play in the same team with his son Bronny James.
The 38 year old did not give reporters the usual answer after the loss to the Nuggets and said that he needed time to contemplate his future in the NBA. James said that at this stage in his career he is only playing to win NBA Championships and if he cannot do that anymore, he needed to revaluate his future.
James has a contract with the Lakers that extends to the 24-25 season and if he continues to play till the end of the contract, he will have a chance to play with his son Bronny. We don’t expect James to retire immediately as he is still one of the best players in the game.
Professional Fighters League (PFL) was the only MMA promotion likely to sign ex-UFC heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou after the UFC dropped him and Bellator, ONE and BKFC pulled out.
MMA and Boxing Contract For Ngannou
Ngannou and the PFL have confirmed that they have entered into an exclusive contract that will allow Ngannou to box under the PFL banner, fight in MMA and also become the new Chairman of Africa for the PFL.
Ngannou said that it was easy to sign with the PFL because they did not look at him as just an MMA fighter but as a partner who was bringing a lot to the table. Ngannou is expected to first box in the PFL in 2023 and then have his first PFL MMA fight in 2024.
One reason other MMA promotions did not want to sign Ngannou was because they felt he was making too many demands and wanted control over how an MMA promotion ran their operations. The PFL were willing to agree to Ngannou’s demands which is evidenced by the fact that they will now let him run PFL Africa’s operations as their new chairman!
Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds and his partner the Remington Group were initially considered strong contenders to be the next owners of the NHL franchise- Ottawa Senators. However, Reynolds and the Remington Group dropped out of the race and as a result, it a new favorite has emerged.
First Nations of Canada In The Running
American rapper Snoop Dogg had earlier announced that he had partnered with Neko Sparks to make a bid for the Ottawa Senators. Snoop has now told his social media fans that their bid to acquire the Senators has been further strengthened with the First Nations of Canada joining their partnership deal.
Snoop welcomed First Nations of Canada and said that their partnership will offer an equity stake for local Indigenous communities. The Senators are estimated to be worth around $800 million and latest reports suggest a total of four bids have been sent to the Senators with one of those bids estimated to be around $1 billion.
Snoop did not provide any information as to what amount was their bid to acquire the Senators. Some of the other bids came from Steve Apostolopoulos who is from Toronto, Jeffrey and Michael Kimel; and Michael Andlauer.