Tag: Explainers

A beginner’s guide to the 2021 Indy 500, one of the biggest races in the world

Everything you need to know before the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.

The Indianapolis 500 is one of the biggest — and this writer would argue the best — motor sports events in the world. And the 105th running of it is Sunday, May 30.

But with all the drivers and teams and traditions and rules and stats, there’s a lot to keep track of, and that can be especially challenging for casual or novel fans trying to keep pace with diehard ones on race day.

That’s OK because we’re here to help with a guide to the 2021 Indy 500, which could be useful if you’re a casual fan trying to brush up on what’s going on before Sunday’s race or if you’re totally new to this and are just trying to sound like you know what you’re talking about among people who do.

So here’s everything you need to know ahead of the 2021 Indy 500.

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6 things NASCAR fans should know about the newly unveiled Next Gen car

NASCAR and its manufacturers unveiled their new Next Gen car, set to debut in 2022.

After years of planning, production and anticipation, NASCAR and it’s manufacturers — Toyota, Chevrolet and Ford — unveiled their Next Gen car on Wednesday. After being pushed back a year because of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the car is set to make its NASCAR Cup Series debut with the 2022 season-opening Daytona 500.

The development of the Next Gen car has been a collaborative effort between NASCAR and its manufacturers, and it’s designed to be more cost effective for teams, to be safer for drivers and to more closely resemble the products sold to the general public, compared with the current Generation 6 car. And, of course, this car is supposed to intensify the quality of racing.

“It accelerates quick, it stops quicker, it turns quicker, it’s nimble,” Kurt Busch said after testing the car at Charlotte Motor Speedway in November.

“I don’t want to use the word ‘steroids’ – it’s just the car is more effective, and the car is more sensitive to changes and to feel. … You feel everything more vividly.”

In February, NASCAR announced the development of the Next Gen car was complete, and teams are expected to be able to begin building their new cars in the coming weeks.

Here are six things NASCAR fans should know about the new car.

New episodes of The Sneak: The Disappearance of Mario Rossi are out now

NASCAR announced its new All-Star Race format, and fans are extremely confused

Wait, what?

The NASCAR All-Star Race, a mid-season exhibition event, is getting a bit of a makeover this year, and after the governing body announced the new format Wednesday, many fans are extremely confused. And understandably so.

After moving the All-Star Race from Charlotte Motor Speedway to Bristol Motor Speedway last season for COVID-19-related reasons, the race will be held for the first time at Texas Motor Speedway this season on June 13.

NASCAR shared the format for the 100-lap exhibition race on the 1.5-mile track, and there are several changes — though the race winner will continue to receive a $1 million check at the end, but still no points toward the driver standings.

The basics of those changes include the race being broken down into six stages, or rounds, with the field being inverted before the start of multiple some of them. The first four rounds are 15 laps each, the fifth round is 30 laps and the final round is a 10-lap shootout for the checkered flag, and only green-flag laps will count toward the total.

Here’s NASCAR’s complete explanation of the format:

  • The race will feature six rounds, totaling 100 laps.
  • Starting lineup for Round 1 will be determined via random draw.
  • Rounds 1 through 4 will be 15 laps each; Round 5 will be 30 laps; the Final Round will feature a 10-lap shootout.
  • At the beginning of Round 2, the field will be inverted via random draw (minimum of eight/maximum of 12) live on FS1.
  • The round 2 random draw will also be seen live by fans attending the race on Big Hoss TV.
  • Before the start of Round 3, the entire field will be inverted.
  • At the beginning of Round 4, the field will be inverted via random draw (minimum of eight/maximum of 12).
  • Starting positions for Round 5 will consist of the cumulative finish from Rounds 1-4. The lowest cumulative finisher starts on the pole, second-lowest starts second, and so forth. All cars must enter pit road for a mandatory four-tire pit stop during Round 5.
  • The starting positions in the Final Round are set by finishing positions of Round 5.
  • Only green flag laps will count in the NASCAR All-Star race.
  • The fastest team on pit road during the mandatory pit stop will earn $100,000.
  • The race winner will be awarded $1,000,000.

Maybe this will produce incredible racing, and fans will love it. But on the surface right now, this format is pretty absurd and unnecessarily complicated.  It feels even too gimmicky for the All-Star Race.

If it still doesn’t make a ton of sense, here’s Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage explaining it to FOX Sports:

For the All-Star Race, not every driver in the field is eligible. But luckily, the ways drivers can qualify have remained the same: Points race winners in 2020 or 2021, previous All-Star Race winners currently competing full time and previous Cup Series champions currently competing full time.

There are currently 17 eligible drivers: Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Cole Custer, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, Ryan Newman and Martin Truex Jr.

More could be added to this list depending on the winners of the next six races leading up to the All-Star break.

Drivers will also still be able to qualify for the All-Star Race via the All-Star Open, which will happen just before the main event. The Open is divided into three stages (20 laps, 20 laps, 10 laps), and the winner of each stage will transfer into the All-Star Race, as will the winner of the fan vote.

However, fans still have an awful lot of jokes and questions about the general format of the actual All-Star Race, and, with so many moving pieces, the biggest one seems to be: Why?

New episodes of The Sneak: The Disappearance of Mario Rossi are out now

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The Super League, explained: Why a new European tournament has soccer fans so furious

Everything you need to know to understand the formation of The Super League.

Welcome to For The Win Explains, our little feature where we get you caught up on things going on in the world. Let’s get you in the know on The Super League in Europe, and how some people believe it will be the death of soccer as we know it.

So what’s all this hubbub about?

The formation of “The Super League” in European soccer.

Sounds impressive.

Well, sure. Sort of.

What is it?

Basically, 12 of the biggest soccer clubs in Europe have agreed to form their own, special tournament, which will essentially act as a replacement for the current Champions League.

Wait I thought it was a league. It’s a tournament?

It’s basically a mini league that will play during the middle of the week during the regular soccer season. But the “league” is group style play which leads to a knockout tournament, so in essence it acts like a big tournament.

Who’s in it?

Twelve teams in total from England, Italy, and Spain. The list includes: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, AC Milan, and Juventus, among others.

Why’d they go and do this?

Well, for one, they get to control who makes the tournament. In the current system, the teams who make the Champions League get there by their performance. If you finish as the winner of a smaller European club league, or you get one of the top spots in one of the bigger leagues, you make the Champions League.

That won’t happen anymore. With The Super League, the same 12 (for now … it could grow) mega clubs will make the tournament every year, no matter what.

Will the teams still play in their regular leagues?

Yes. In theory. Unless the leagues kick them out, but that would be unlikely. These are the biggest clubs in the world, so, like, the Premier League is hugely incentivized NOT to kick out Manchester United and Liverpool. They bring in too much money and attention.

So, who cares? Why are people so upset?

Well, at best, this upsets tradition. At worst, this will destroy European soccer as we know it.

Whoa. That seems dramatic. 

Sure, but this is all about incentives and financial realities. Currently, European soccer exists in more or less a free market. That can mean some clubs spend a ton more, but it’s also a true free market in that any European club could, in theory, get to the biggest competition in the continent. Spend wisely, win your games, and a small club like Leicester City, for example, can improbably win the Premier League and make the Champions League.

With The Super League, that can’t happen. Middle-tier clubs can’t make the tournament because the same teams will be in the tournament every year, no matter what.

So if you make the big European tournament every year no matter what, why would you try in your regular league?

Excellent question! It’s unclear why you would! Basically, it appears that the biggest clubs are using their popularity to fundamentally change the system so that they automatically get the huge TV payouts and prestige of European soccer every year, without having to, you know, actually win every year.

In the statement about the formation of the league, they’re already floating language that would suggest an American-style salary cap to limit spending of the teams in The Super League as well. This all seems like a way for the top clubs to ensure that they get the most profits every single year, without having to spend as much money to compete against every team out there.

So Arsenal’s American owner Stan Kroenke, who has famously made a nice chunk of change owning a Rams team that spent a decade going 7-9 before abandoning its city and moving to Los Angeles, can now be (in theory) as cheap as he’d like to be building Arsenal’s roster every year, because he can sleep easy knowing that he’s making The Super League every year no matter what.

Did any big clubs refuse to go along with this?

Yep. PSG in France and Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, and others in Germany refused to join for now. So this is all leading to a big battle between UEFA, who runs the Champions League, and the new Super League.

A battle?

Yeah. UEFA has said it will ban any players from these teams from playing in international competitions that they oversee, like the EURO tournament. So if a guy plays for Real Madrid, for example, he might not be able to play for his country in a UEFA match. It’s going to get ugly.

Are lawyers going to get involved?

Buddy, like you wouldn’t believe.

How do players feel about all this? 

A couple have spoken out, but all of them should be upset. If The Super League implements a salary cap like they’re hinting at, and smaller clubs have less incentive to spend because they can’t make the big European tournament anyway, this, in theory, all means more money for the owners and less money for the players.

So what happens now?

It’s possible this is all a very elaborate power play to get UEFA to change the Champions League so that it guarantees most of these teams are in it every year, but who knows? Regardless, we’re going to get a legal battle of some sort. This is going to get hairy.

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What is a catch in the NFL? A breakdown of the rule for 2021 playoffs

A quick explainer of the NFL catch rule for the 2021 playoffs.

It’s the 2021 playoffs, and plenty of folks are turning into the sport for the first time this season. If you’re a fan of the Browns, maybe it’s been a while since you’ve gotten to watch your favorite team in the playoffs.

So, some of you might need a brief refresher on the rules of the game. We’re going to be going through a few of these in this series, but let’s start off with a good one, a simple question that’s really, really, hard to answer: What is a catch? 

While that question can be very difficult to answer, the three main components are this:

  1. A player must “secure control of the ball” before the ball touches the ground (though it can touch the ground if it’s secure in the hands)
  2. The player must touch both feet or any part of his body other than his hands inbounds (this is different than college rules, which only requires one foot)
  3. The player must, after the first two parts of this, perform “any act common to the game.” This can be running, juking, securing the ball, whatever. This is sometimes called a “football move.”

The third one is where things get a bit hairy, because even if a player manages to catch a ball and get both feet inbounds, if he then immediately hits the ground and the ball pops out, it’s ruled incomplete … and not a fumble.

If he performs “any act common to the game” — runs, jukes, whatever, and then the ball pops out … it will be considered a fumble.

If you want to get really into the nitty gritty, here’s the full Rule 8, Section 1, Articles 3-4 in the league’s rule book.

A player who makes a catch may advance the ball. A forward pass is complete (by the offense) or intercepted (by the defense) in the field of play, at the sideline, or in the end zone if a player, who is inbounds:

  1. secures control of the ball in his hands or arms prior to the ball touching the ground; and
  2. touches the ground inbounds with both feet or with any part of his body other than his hands; and
  3. after (a) and (b) have been fulfilled, performs any act common to the game (e.g., tuck the ball away, extend it forward, take an additional step, turn upfield, or avoid or ward off an opponent), or he maintains control of the ball long enough to do so. 

Notes:

  • Movement of the ball does not automatically result in loss of control.
  • If a player, who satisfied (a) and (b), but has not satisfied (c), contacts the ground and loses control of the ball, it is an incomplete pass if the ball hits the ground before he regains control, or if he regains control out of bounds
  • A receiver is considered a player in a defenseless posture throughout the entire process of the catch and until the player is capable of avoiding or warding off the impending contact of an opponent.
  • If a pass is caught simultaneously by two eligible opponents, and both players retain it, the ball belongs to the passers. It is not a simultaneous catch if a player gains control first and an opponent subsequently gains joint control. If the ball is muffed after simultaneous touching by two such players, all the players of the passing team become eligible to catch the loose ball.
  • If a player, who is in possession of the ball, is held up and carried out of bounds by an opponent before both feet or any part of his body other than his hands touches the ground inbounds, it is a completed or intercepted pass. It is not necessary for the player to maintain control of the ball when he lands out of bounds.

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How to find your 2020 Spotify Wrapped playlist and your top songs of the year

Want your own Spotify Wrapped? We’ve got you covered on how to find it through the app or web browser.

Each year Spotify crunches its data for every user and spits out “Wrapped” — a personalized look back at all the songs you listened to and albums you loved. Want to find yours? We got you covered.

While in previous years you’ve been able to access your Wrapped information through a web browser, this year is a little different. While Spotify does still have a website with information on how the world listened this year, to find your personalized Wrapped, you’ll need to go to the mobile app.

Once in the Spotify mobile app, tap the home button at the bottom. Then you should see a 2020 Wrapped icon, as well as a playlist for Your Top Songs of 2020.

Not seeing it? You can also search “2020 Wrapped” in the app and it will show up as a genre you can click on. Then you’ll get taken here:

Tap the “See How You Listened in 2020” icon, and it will play a slideshow that will walk you through your top songs, your top artists, your favorite genres, and how many new artists you tried out this year. At the end, it provides sharing links for you to share your Wrapped to your social media of choice.

That’s it. Enjoy!

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What is All Soul’s Day? The holiday, explained

Understanding All Souls’ Day, which falls on November 2nd of this year.

Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world.

Today is All Souls’ Day, and for those of us outside of the Catholic faith, you might be asking the question: Say, what is All Souls Day?

All Souls’ Day is a Christian holiday, sometimes referred to as Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, which allows practitioners to say prayers for the departed.

Often people light candles and pray for souls they believe may be trapped in purgatory. The holiday has many different traditions around the globe, depending on both country and faith.

It is connected to the Mexican holiday of The Day of the Dead, by the way. That holiday, which allows families to come together to pray for those departed, begins on All Saints’ Day (November 1st) and concludes on All Souls’ Day (November 2).

Now you know. Go forth and celebrate as you see fit.

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Kanye West’s bizarre ‘campaign rally,’ explained

Kanye West says he is running for president, and he launched his campaign with a bizarre, uncomfortable rally.

Welcome to FTW Explains: a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world.

Kanye West held his first campaign rally for his (maybe serious) run for the United States presidency this week. It quickly went off the rails, and arguably had more people worried about his mental health than seriously considering him as a candidate for the highest office in the land.

It was bombastic, strange, and very Kanye, in the worst sort of way. If you’re just coming into this story, you probably have a lot of questions. We will try to answer them here.

Who is this now?

Kanye West, the producer and rapper who’s made some of the best music of the last few decades by, like, anyone. We ranked all of his songs a few years back. He’s got really good songs!

Why is he holding a campaign rally?

West says he’s running for president.

Like, the actual president?

Yes.

Oh.

Yeah.

What are his … politics?

They’re a bit all over the place, as you might imagine. West has gone from famously decrying George W. Bush for not caring about Black people in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, to being a pretty vocal supporter of Donald Trump. He’s now saying he’s his own man.

As to his specific policies, uh, honestly I feel a bit gross getting into them, because it’s clear this man is going through something right now, or just using a platform to drum up interest in his new album.

But to give you a taste: “Harriet Tubman actually never freed the slaves, she just had the slaves go work for other white people” is a thing he said, along with suggesting marijuana should be free, and that there should be no more Plan B contraceptive, instead Plan A, which apparently is a plan to give every person who has a child $1 million. (Not a bad idea, tbh.)

So what was this rally?

It was him kicking off his presidential campaign. He wore a bulletproof vest and talked for a while, to some cheers and a whole lot of boos. It appeared most of the people there were there to gawk at the stunt as opposed to, you know, support him for president.

So is this all just a stunt?

Most likely. West announced he was running for president a few weeks ago, but then a spokesperson said he wasn’t running due to not getting organized enough to get on the ballot in a lot of states.

Then West said he was running again. So, I have no idea.

He has a new album coming out?

Yes. He’s sworn this isn’t just a publicity stunt for the new album, but, you know, he also said that marijuana should be free for everyone, so how seriously you take him is up to you. There are parts of this whole thing that are worrying, however.

What’s worrying about it?

West has been very vocal about his mental health issues in the past, openly discussing them in his music, and for him to now launch a presidential bid in which he’s openly getting emotional and throwing pretty out-there ideas into the world is worrying.

It suggests, to some, that this isn’t a marketing stunt, or an earnest run for president, but rather a guy with some issues who clearly isn’t being held in check or helped by the people around him. I have no idea, and can’t speculate, but it’s all kind of sad and worrying.

Could he actually influence the election?

I sincerely doubt it. Suggesting, as some on the right wing have, that Kanye West would split the Black vote and take votes away from Biden is about as disrespectful as you can be to Black voters in this country. I’d say West might steal some of the Idiot Vote from who knows who, or the “I was just going to write in Mickey Mouse” Vote, but I don’t think that’s a major part of the electorate.

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Fornite’s ‘The Device’ event — and why so many people are furious about it — explained

Fortnite servers filled up in one minute — 30 minutes before scheduled start — locking out fans who’d waited for weeks for the live event.

On Monday, Epic Games’ online multiplayer game Fortnite finally released teaser footage of Chapter 2, Season 3 of the game: “The Device.” The event drew outrage from fans who couldn’t take in the event live due to limited server space.

If the above sentences may as well have been written in German to you, you’re in luck: We’ve got you covered.

Let’s dive into the event, what happened, why some fans are so mad, and what the fallout from this is expected to be. Actually, before we get into all that, we’ll start at the basic stuff. Let’s get you caught up.

So what is this now?

Fortnite is an online multiplayer video game that’s immensely popular with gamers of all ages, as well as Drake.

The game has several different ways to play, including a 100-person “Battle Royale” where you go up against 99 other people online in what’s essentially a shoot-em-up free-for-all.

To keep the game fresh, Fortnite periodically introduces new seasons and chapters to change up the map and introduce new elements to the game. “The Device” was the event celebrating the launch of Chapter 2, Season 3.

Uh…what?

A popular video game was showing off a new map to its fans.

Got it. So what’s the issue?

“The Device” event had already been delayed three times, so fans were pretty antsy about finally seeing the new look of the game they love. The event was slated to start at 2 p.m. yesterday, but Epic Games told fans to show up at 1:30.

By 1:31, the servers were completely full and they couldn’t get anyone else in.

So it’s like tickets to a concert sold out.

Exactly! But unlike a concert venue, there isn’t any, like, fire code limiting capacity for the people who should be able to attend one of these events. Really, the only thing limiting the size of this event is the server space that Epic is willing to commit to it.

They committed enough server space for it all to fill up in one minute.

So fans are mad.

Yep. And it’s not just totally sour grapes — Epic has shown it can get the server space to put on massive events. For a Travis Scott event they streamed, they handled massive numbers.

For this event, they either didn’t fully anticipate the demand or weren’t willing to fork over money for the additional servers, and so fans are peeved.

Hm. Interesting.

Yeah. They’ve got a point. But then again, the whole video was up on YouTube very shortly after the event.

So the people were just mad they had to wait a few minutes to watch something that’s on a computer anyway?

Listen, you said it. Not me.

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The spamming of police and right-wing hashtags by K-pop stans, explained

Explaining the bizarre deployment of K-pop stans, who are overwhelming pro-police and right wing hashtags.

Welcome to FTW Explains: a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world.

This week we saw massive protests across the country in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, who died after a police officer in Minneapolis sustained pressure to Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes. The officer, Derek Chauvin, has now been arrested on third-degree murder charges.

One of the more bizarre subplots of the week has been the activation of K-pop stans on the internet for progressive causes during the protests. The story is very of the internet and a bit confusing even for people who spend Way Too Much Time Online, so we’re here to explain it all for you.

Let’s dive in:

OK, so who is involved here?

K-pop stans.

What is K-pop? And actually, uh, what are stans?

K-pop is shorthand for a genre of popular music based in South Korea. Stans = devoted fans. The name which is derived in part from an Eminem song about a fan who crosses the line into obsession.

K-pop stans are devoted fans of pop bands in the genre such as BTS or BLACKPINK.

K-pop stans have gotten known in internet circles for peculiar, some might argue aggressive ways of expressing their extreme fandom. One way they show their devotion to these bands is by taking over hashtags and posting dozens, if not hundreds, of videos and GIFs of the bands, even if the hashtag is completely unrelated to the band itself, or even K-pop generally.

Got it. What does any of this have to do with the protests?

Some members of the K-pop community have basically chosen to weaponize their intense, collective fan power to overwhelm hashtags that are typically reserved for content that is either pro-police or pro-right wing.

They’ve also started inundating apps that were built by police departments to allow citizens to report crimes.

What do you mean by “overwhelm” and “inundate?”

Basically, a hashtag is only as effective as the content that is organized under it. We saw unintended consequences of that very this this week with the #BlackoutTuesday movement that saw the #blacklivesmatter hashtag, which normally serves as a way for protestors to communicate and share information, overwhelmed with all black squares. Anyone who usually used the hashtag to keep informed on the movement couldn’t use it — there were just black squares everywhere.

K-pop fans have taken that power to the other side. Hashtags or apps that authorities may try to use to track protestors is now unusable, as it’s just packed to the gills with videos of Korean pop stars or memes.

Where have they deployed their spamming?

One place they activated was against the Kirkland, Washington police department, which asked users to use the hashtag #calmkirkland to report incidents “related to public rioting or looting.”

This is just a glimpse at posts tagged with the #calmkirkland hashtag on Wednesday morning:

K-pop fans have also inundated the #bluelivesmatter hashtag, as well as an online portal the Grand Rapids police department set up to report picture or video evidence of “unrest.”

This all seems very complicated and confusing.

Welcome to 2020!

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