Hearts are heavy in Brooklyn as news sweeps the small Iowa community that a body believed to be Mollie Tibbetts’ has been found. Des Moines Register
BROOKLYN, Ia. — Rob Tibbetts called upon a devastated community and family to come together in honoring his daughter, who was found dead after more than a month of intense national attention surrounding her disappearance.
“Today, we need to turn the page. We’re at the end of a long ordeal,” he said. “But we need to turn toward life — Mollie’s life — because Mollie’s nobody’s victim. Mollie’s my hero.”
Rob Tibbetts delivered an emotional eulogy Sunday afternoon to a crowd of more than 1,200 inside the gymnasium at Brooklyn-Guernsey-Malcom High School, a short walk from where she lived with her mother and two brothers.
“The person best equipped to help us through this is Mollie,” he said. “So let’s try to do what Mollie would do. Let’s say what Mollie would say.”
Rob Tibbetts said he wanted to honor his daughter by “celebrating something wonderful.” So he called for a couple in the packed gymnasium to stand up and be recognized — they had just been married the day before. The crowd enthusiastically applauded.
“That felt good. That’s what Mollie would have done,” he said. “Let’s try one more. Let’s hear it for the Bears football team — for their first win.”
The crowd applauded again inside the gym that’s decorated with banners celebrating the school’s conference and state championships.
Tibbetts, a 20-year-old University of Iowa student, was found dead Tuesday after more than a month of relentless attention on her July 18 disappearance.
Rob Tibbetts thanked the many volunteers, law enforcement officers and the media for assisting in the search for his daughter. While it wasn’t the return home he had hoped for, the weeks of coverage allowed many across the globe to get to know his daughter, he said.
“You want to know why there’s been such an outpouring?” he said. “It’s because we see ourselves in Mollie.”
Davenport Bishop Thomas Zinkula led a Mass of the Resurrection for Tibbetts. Rev. Corey Close, the pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Brooklyn, delivered a homily.
The gym was outfitted with a makeshift altar, covered in a simple white cloth. Three of Tibbetts’ senior portraits were displayed at the front of the gym. No casket or urn was present.
An hour before the Mass was set to begin, dozens of vehicles filled the parking lot of the school where Tibbetts graduated in 2017. Hundreds had already found seats in the school’s gymnasium. Law enforcement guided traffic outside.
In previous interviews with the Des Moines Register, Tibbetts’ family and friends said she demonstrated a desire to help others, a natural ability to work with children and a gift for making anyone feel like the most important person in a room — because she genuinely believed they were.
Those closest to Tibbetts described her nurturing character and nodded in approval at her decision to study psychology at the University of Iowa, a career path they said was an obvious match. In her obituary, her family said she aspired to be a child psychologist and work with children with mental health issues.
“Mollie loved life,” family members said in her obituary, noting she left behind more than 30 relatives and the “love of her life,” Dalton Jack, and his family. “Her passion for it radiated from those beautiful brown eyes and the smile that she was so quick to share with everyone she met.”
Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24, of rural Poweshiek County, was charged with first-degree murder after he led investigators to Tibbetts’ body on Tuesday, authorities said. Her body was found in a secluded part of a farm field near Guernsey.
Federal officials have maintained Rivera was living in the U.S. without authorization, fueling debate about immigration laws among politicians and citizens. He is being held at the Poweshiek County Jail on a $5 million bond.
Tibbetts’ death was ruled a homicide. The state medical examiner said she died from “multiple sharp force injuries.”
In lieu of flowers, the family asked that memorial contributions be sent to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, mailed in care of Smith Funeral Home at P.O. Box 368, Grinnell, Iowa 50112.
The Brooklyn community gathered Friday night to watch their football team defeat Lisbon in what some hope is a step toward healing for the town. Brian Powers, bpowers@dmreg.com
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The man, who was identified by Atlanta Police officer Lisa Bender as Anthony Charles Thomas Maxwell, 26, apparently wanted an up-close and personal look at the first family of hip-hop.
The Carters were walking off the stage after they brought the house down with “Apes—” at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium when Maxwell jumped on the stage, wearing a white jersey. He approached Jay-Z and made contact with him, Bender said.
He didn’t get too far: Backup dancers and security guards jumped to restrain the overzealous fan.
USA TODAY has reached out to the couple’s representatives for comment.
Here’s how the moment unfolded:
The tour issued a statement to multiple outlets, including CNN and E! News: “At the end of last night’s show, we had an intoxicated male enter the stage. At this point, we had a controlled evacuation of all crew on the stage in order to safely defuse the situation.”
One concertgoer tweeted: “The fight at the end!!! I need help dissecting this!!!”
Beyonce’s spokeswoman Yvette Noel-Schure said the singer and Jay-Z were unharmed.
“Thank you to all the fans for your concern. They are fine and looking forward to the show tomorrow,” Noel-Schure wrote on Instagram, along with a picture of the couple onstage.
Maxwell was treated for minor injuries and issued a citation for disorderly conduct before being released, Bender said. However, police have added a charge of simple battery.
Beyonce and Jay-Z are set to hit the stage in Atlanta again Sunday night. Let’s hope this concert has a different ending.
George Bates was GB’s joint top scorer with 17 points
Great Britain men’s wheelchair basketball team created history with victory over the USA in the final of the World Championship in Hamburg.
The GB team claimed a 79-62 win over the Rio Paralympic champions for their first global gold medal.
George Bates and Harry Brown led the GB scoring with 17 points apiece.
“From the build-up we were confident we could win this tournament,” Brown told BBC Sport.
“All the pressure was on the USA today. We knew if we played our game we would come out on top.”
The sides had met in the pool stage with the USA winning 66-59, but the GB players were confident they could turn the tables in the final.
There was never more than a basket or two in it in the opening quarter and in a tough, physical encounter, GB led by eight points in the second quarter – 38-30 – before the USA brought it back to 38-33 at the interval.
GB continued to maintain their advantage with coach Haj Bhania showing faith in his starting five of Brown, captain Phil Pratt, Gregg Warburton, Lee Manning and Simon Brown while Bates also came in to make a big impact in the second half.
They held firm and pulled away in the latter stages to spark scenes of jubilation among the players and fans.
Warburton was later named as the most valuable player of the tournament – a huge honour for the 21-year-old from Leigh who took up the sport as a 10-year-old.
“This is the start of something great,” added Pratt.
“I’ve just played against Matt Scott and Steve Sterio who were among my idols growing up – I watched hours of clips of them and now I have played against them and beaten them in a World Championship final. It is ridiculous.
“We have been working hard to get to this stage and the belief in the team has been so high. We definitely believed we could win.
“This is the first time we have ever been in this situation. We aren’t the underdogs anymore and we will now have a different mindset as we build towards Tokyo.”
GB lost 56-40 to the Netherlands in the women’s final on Saturday.
Co-captain Helen Freeman, who was a star performer in the historic semi-final win over Germany, was named on the women’s All-Star team.
Named for French racing driver Alberto Divo, Bugatti’s latest sports car was revealed this week as an ultra-ultra super sports car.
The Divo — not to be confused with the French automaker’s $3 million Chiron — is a lighter sports car (77 pounds to be exact) with a subtly different look and improved cooling system. The brakes are cooled from four different air flows keeping tire temperature optimal for speed racing. With lightweight tires, less compartment space, and a carbon fiber cover, it’s a nimbler sports car.
These improvements come at a cost: The Divo is a $5.8 million supercar and all 40 vehicles have already sold to previous Chiron customers — it went fast.
The Divo is supposed to be a nimble race car.
Bugatti president Stephan Winkelmann said in a statement about the reveal on Friday, “the Divo is made for corners” and windier roads. It’s supposed to be more agile than the Chiron, but that agility comes with a cost: It’s slower. The max speed is 236 mph while the Chiron can hit more than 260 mph. What a slow-poke.
Luxury seats for a ultra-luxurious ride.
The turquoise blue on the car was made just for the Divo and is appropriately named “Divo Racing Blue.”
Four people are dead after a male gunman, who died at the scene, opened fire on Sunday in Jacksonville, Florida, multiple outlets report.
The number of fatalities was reported Sunday by CNN, WTKR, and News4Jax.
In a live broadcast streamed on the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook page, Sheriff Mike Williams said there were “no outstanding suspects” aside from the one he confirmed died at the scene. Williams revealed that they would be releasing other details in the coming hours.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the shooting — which unfolded at the GLHF Game Bar inside the Jacksonville Landing shopping and dining complex, during EA Sports’ Madden NFL 19 championship gaming series — saw “multiple fatalities” with “many transported” to hospitals.
“One suspect is dead at the scene, unknown at this time if we have a second suspect,” another tweet read. “Searches are being conducted.”
A series of 12 gunshots was heard on the tournament’s Twitch live stream, where a voice could be heard saying, “Oh, f—, what’d he shoot me with?” and others screamed.
Memorial Hospital spokesman Pete Moberg told CNN that at least three patients transported there were in stable condition, while tournament participant Ryan Alemon told the outlet, according to The New York Times, that he observed “at least six bodies” of shooting victims “on the floor.”
The sheriff’s office urged individuals at Jacksonville Landing to call 911 if they were “hiding in locked areas” around the Landing.
“We ask you to stay calm, stay where you are hiding,” they wrote. “SWAT is doing a methodical search inside The Landing. We will get to you. Please don’t come running out.”
Wrote one tournament participant, 19-year-old Drini Gjoka, on Twitter, “The tourney just got shot up. [I’m leaving] and never coming back.” He added in separate tweets, “I am literally so lucky. The bullet hit my thumb,” and “Worst day of my life.”
“Our player was shot in the thumb. We’re getting him medical attention and seeking further details,” compLexity founder and CEO Jason Lake tweeted of Gjoka. “We will update from the @compLexity Twitter as we learn more. Very upsetting. We need to do better by our players and fans.”
According to The New York Times, the Twitch video disappeared after a red laser dot could be seen on one of the players’ chests and the words “Oh my God” were commented over and over again.
“Is there a shooting?” the NYT reports that one viewer asked while another said, “That’s a gun.”
Video games that are broadcast live on the internet were thrown into the national spotlight Sunday when a gunman opened fire during a “Madden” gaming tournament in Jacksonville, Florida, that fans were watching online.
Broadcasting these types of events on platforms such as Twitch and YouTube has become extremely popular as interest in competitive video games, also known as esports, has surged in recent years.
Fans can watch Twitch streams from their phone, computer, tablet or video game console, such as Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation 4. As with other live-streaming services, viewers can also comment on the streams to interact with the broadcasters and other watchers in real time.
About 380 million people worldwide are expected to watch esports in 2018, including 165 million enthusiasts, according to gaming research firm Newzoo.
Footage apparently showing the live feed of Sunday’s Jacksonville tournament hit social media following the incident. The sound of multiple gunshots and chaos could be heard on the video, though the shooter was not visible.
What are video game tournaments?
Video game tournaments are similar to other sporting events where players gather to compete. Many popular games, including “Fortnite,” “Call of Duty” and “Overwatch,” have tournaments, sometimes run by the game publishers themselves and other times run by individual stores, gaming communities or locations like the game bar in Jacksonville.
Sports games such as “Madden,” “FIFA” and “NBA 2K” are particularly popular for tournaments, as gamers can take their favorite sports teams and try to prove they are the best at their virtual craft.
Who can attend these tournaments and where are they held?
These tournaments are generally open to the public. Some are free to attend, while others charge a fee for tickets. They take place at various locations, including bars, gaming shops and even public libraries.
Tournament details are often shared online and can be found on social media networks such as Facebook.
Larger events, such as those for “League of Legends” playoffs and championships, even take place in stadiums such as New York’s Madison Square Garden and Los Angeles’ Staples Center. Thousands of fans pay for tickets to watch these events live and in person. Some 18,000 people filled MSG for two straight nights in 2016, paying between $46 and $61 to attend.
How are these events viewed remotely?
As the gaming community has grown in prominence online, many of these tournaments, particularly smaller ones, also stream their events for free using Twitch or YouTube.
How much money is involved in esports and live video game tournaments?
The amount of money involved varies.
For some of the larger, more professional tournaments, purses for winning can reach millions of dollars. Other, much smaller events pay out much less, such as hundreds of dollars in cash or even just $25 Visa gift cards.
Sunday’s Jacksonville event, the “Southeast Qualifier” for Electronic Arts’ official “Madden 19 Classic” tournament, was the first round of an event that runs until the second week of October. The winner of the overall tournament was set to receive a cash prize of $25,000.
The global esports market is expected to top $905 million in 2018, up 38 percent from 2017, according to Newzoo.
WASHINGTON – Amid the weekend’s outpouring of tributes to Sen. John McCain, President Donald Trump’s brief, 21-word tweet spoke volumes.
Since the start of his presidential campaign in 2015, when he said McCain’s more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam didn’t make him a war hero, Trump hasn’t liked McCain. “I like people who weren’t captured,” he said then.
The feeling was mutual. McCain complained in 2015 that Trump “fired up the crazies” in his home state of Arizona over illegal immigration. A month before the election, McCain withdrew his support after Trump was caught on tape speaking in lewd fashion about assaulting women.
Over the years, Trump called McCain “very weak” on immigration, “foul-mouthed” and “a dummy.” McCain has referred to the president as “poorly informed,” “impulsive” and a proponent of “spurious, half-baked nationalism.”
Any hope of rapprochement was dashed last year when McCain cast the deciding vote against the president’s plan to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law. Trump regularly castigated the senator at political rallies after that, imitating McCain’s famous thumbs-down vote.
In recent months, the enmity between the two Republicans only intensified. McCain decided Trump should not be invited to his funeral, where Obama and former President George W. Bush are expected to speak, according to The New York Times.
When Trump met with and praised Russian President Vladimir Putin in July, even inviting him to the White House, McCain had had enough. He called it “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.”
“The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naivete, egotism, false equivalence and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate,” McCain said at the time.
Just two weeks ago, Trump signed a defense authorization bill named for McCain without uttering the senator’s name. He had criticized McCain’s leadership on veterans issues.
Trump’s tweet Saturday said: “My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!” There was no comment on McCain the war hero, six-term senator or presidential nominee.
My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!
On Sunday, the only way to read Trump’s mind on McCain was by omission. Flags over the White House were lowered to half-staff but without any proclamation. No formal statement about McCain’s death was delivered.
Instead, the president tweeted about the strong economy and retweeted his disdain for the Justice Department, the FBI and his attorney general, Jeff Sessions. Then he went to his golf club in Sterling, Virginia.
The reactions from others in the administration were warmer toward McCain, who died Saturday at 81 after a year-long battle with brain cancer.
“Our thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathy to the McCain Family. Thank you Senator McCain for your service to the nation,” first lady Melania Trump tweeted.
“Karen and I send our deepest condolences to Cindy and the entire McCain family on the passing of Senator John McCain. We honor his lifetime of service to this nation in our military and in public life. His family and friends will be in our prayers. God bless John McCain,” Vice President Pence tweeted.
McCain, known for his fierce independence and willingness to reach across the aisle, earned praise immediately after his death from former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, and Republican and Democratic congressional leaders alike.
“John McCain was a man of deep conviction and a patriot of the highest order,” said Bush, who defeated McCain to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2000. “He was a public servant in the finest traditions of our country. And to me, he was a friend whom I’ll deeply miss.”
Obama, who defeated McCain for the presidency eight years later, said: “Few of us have been tested the way John once was or required to show the kind of courage that he did. But all of us can aspire to the courage to put the greater good above our own. At John’s best, he showed us what that means.”
Premier League champions Manchester City were held by Wolves at Molineux, Unai Emery recorded his first win as Arsenal manager condemning West Ham to a third straight loss, Mohamed Salah scored the only goal as Liverpool beat Brighton, and Fulham scored four against Burnley to secure a first win since gaining promotion back to the Premier League.
Chelsea and Watford maintained their winning starts with victories over Crystal Palace and Newcastle respectively, while 10-man Huddersfield held on for a point against Cardiff.
But who did enough to make my team of the week? Read my selections and then pick your own XI.
Garth’s team of the week
Goalkeeper – Rui Patricio
Rui Patricio: The saves that denied Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus were excellent but how Rui Patricio managed to push Raheem Sterling’s cracking shot on to the bar I will never know.
And how on earth did referee Martin Atkinson refuse to award Manchester City’s David Silva a penalty kick? You occasionally see games that make you wonder what exactly the referee saw at the time.
As far as I was concerned, Ruben Neves practically assaulted Silva in the penalty area. Penalty or not, without the heroics of home keeper Patricio it’s the Wolves who would have found themselves on the end of a mauling.
Did you know? Rui Patricio made five saves against Manchester City, compared with just one in his previous game against Leicester.
Defenders – Trent Alexander-Arnold, Aymeric Laporte, Harry Maguire, Ryan Bertrand
Trent Alexander-Arnold: This lad gets better every time I see him. Against a dogged Brighton, the Liverpool and England full-back showed a maturity well beyond his years.
I was surprised to see Arnold standing on his own ready to take the free-kick that hit the bar while Mohamed Salah and James Milner stood and watched.
Alexander-Arnold is a defender who loves to play forward, not square or back, because he’s not afraid and has the talent to do it. But the moment of the match for me was the 40-yard pass to the feet of Salah on the other side of the pitch. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. What a ball.
Did you know? Trent Alexander-Arnold completed five open-play crosses – no Liverpool player made more.
Aymeric Laporte: This was a game that Manchester City should have won comfortably and to Wolves’ credit the Midlanders made the champions work like dogs just to get a point.
City’s equaliser was down to Aymeric Laporte, whose bullet header was unstoppable. From the moment Ilkay Gundogan delivered the set-piece Laporte never took his eyes off the ball until he had thundered it past Patricio.
It needed something a bit special to get past the Wolves goalkeeper with the form he was in.
Did you know? Aymeric Laporte scored his first goal for Manchester City in any competition and his first in the top five European leagues in 37 games, since scoring for Athletic Bilbao against Villarreal in April 2017.
Harry Maguire: It was only a matter of time before Harry Maguire got into my team of the week. The former Sheffield United and Hull centre-back had a super World Cup for England and the player has not allowed a scintilla of speculation linking him with a move to Manchester United to affect his game.
He was as solid as a rock for Leicester against Southampton in defence but probably the most unlikely person on the pitch to get the Foxes’ winner in open play – and that’s what he did.
Precisely what this victory meant for Leicester’s manager Claude Puel on his return to St Mary’s – having been unceremoniously booted out of the club – is anyone’s guess, but I bet he slept well.
Did you know? Harry Maguire made a total of 10 clearances against Southampton – the highest in Leicester City’s team.
Ryan Bertrand: In a better team Ryan Bertrand would almost certainly have gone to the World Cup with England. There’s no doubt about the lad’s ability.
His magnificently struck goal against Leicester was testimony to that. Few full-backs in the country can strike a ball like that. What a pity his Southampton team-mate ruined it all with a dive Olympian Tom Daley would have enjoyed.
John Moss was absolutely right to send off Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg for a second yellow card for being so galactically stupid and I just hope that Ryan Bertrand told Hojbjerg so in the dressing room afterwards. More about dressing room culture in The Crooks of the Matter below.
Did you know? Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand netted his first Premier League goal in 43 appearances, since scoring against Chelsea in April 2017.
Midfielders – Jean Michael Seri, James Milner, Marcos Alonso
Jean Michael Seri: If ever Fulham needed a boost then Jean Michael Seri’s fourth-minute blockbuster was it. The Ivorian’s strike flew past Joe Hart like a rocket.
The last I heard, this was a player we all thought was going to Barcelona, so I’m not entirely sure how he ended up at Craven Cottage. But with goals like this, who cares?
As for Burnley, this is the second time they have lost having played midweek in Europe. At the end of last season I told Sean Dyche to play the kids in the Europa qualifying rounds but he looks like he’s taking these games far too seriously. Ditch this tournament before the proper draw takes place in Monaco and you get caught up in all that glamour.
Did you know? Jean Michael Seri scored his first Fulham goal with his first shot on target in the Premier League.
James Milner: I feel compelled to include James Milner among my selection because if I don’t he will continue to be overlooked for those who are more skilful, excellent finishers or those who simply have a better day.
What you get with Milner is nothing special but you do get a wonderful level of consistency. In fact Milner is almost always a candidate for my team most weeks, such are his performances.
The way the Liverpool captain pounced on Brighton’s Yves Bissouma was reminiscent of a cobra and with a bite to match. Brighton’s error cost them the fixture. The way Leon Balogun gave Bissouma the ball in such a difficult position with his back to the play lacked any thought or consideration for his team-mate.
Did you know? James Milner completed 69 passes in the opposition half – more than any of his team-mates.
Marcos Alonso: When Marcos Alonso takes to the field he almost always affects the game. If he’s not scoring goals then he’s making them.
Against Newcastle this very elegant player did both. This is the second consecutive week Alonso has starred for Chelsea in a run of games that has seen the Blues unbeaten with maximum points.
As for Rafael Benitez and Newcastle – the limited resources at the Spaniard’s disposal at St James’ Park raise the question: is this really the place for him?
Did you know? Marcos Alonso covered 11.39km against Newcastle – only team-mate Jorginho covered more distance.
Forwards – Eden Hazard, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Roberto Pereyra
Eden Hazard: The penalty given by referee Paul Tierney was debatable but there is nothing debatable about the man who took the spot-kick, or his performance. Eden Hazard strolled through this game and was head and shoulders above everybody else on the pitch.
The Belgium international seems to have been given the freedom to do whatever he likes under Maurizio Sarri. Not so under Mourinho or Conte. Both Sarri’s predecessors had volatile temperaments and fragile relationships with Hazard.
For all of football’s rhetoric about sports science, fitness and the tactics of the modern game, there’s one thing that will never change. Managers need to take care of their best players or their best players will eventually desert them.
Did you know? Eden Hazard has now scored seven Premier League goals against Newcastle – he has not scored more against any other team (also has seven v West Brom).
Aleksandar Mitrovic: What a fantastic purchase Aleksandar Mitrovic is proving to be for Fulham. The Serbian international left Newcastle with his tail between his legs and a big question mark about his ability to cope in the Premier league.
I must say, I saw Mitrovic play at the Cottage in the opening game of the season against Crystal Palace and I wouldn’t have paid £22 for him never mind £22m.
But since his arrival in London from St James’ Park he has not stopped scoring and may be the catalyst to Fulham’s survival in the Premier League. I still have my doubts about his ability to star in the top flight, but what a start!
Did you know? Aleksandar Mitrovic has scored 15 league goals since his Fulham debut in February – the Serb is matched only by Mohamed Salah in the same period across the top four tiers of English football.
Roberto Pereyra: This was a spiteful game and I was amazed I didn’t see players sent off. One of the few bright moments in this rather vindictive affair was the ability of Roberto Pereyra and his brilliantly taken goal.
The Watford winger has scored three goals this season and there look to be more in the bag. But what was referee Anthony Taylor thinking by ignoring Etienne Capoue’s appalling tackle on Wilfried Zaha?
What’s worse, Taylor then insists on booking Zaha for cleanly winning the ball a few minutes afterwards. Watford won this game comfortably in the end but not before they targeted Zaha and bullied Palace into submission. No thanks to Taylor.
Did you know? Roberto Pereyra has been directly involved in seven of Watford’s past 11 goals in the Premier League, scoring six and assisting another.
Now it’s your turn
You’ve seen my picks this week. But who would you go for?
The Crooks of the Matter
I have been watching the fly-on-the-wall documentary about Manchester City’s title-winning season and, I must say, it’s been absolutely riveting.
I spent a good deal of my early life in football dressing rooms and they are not for the faint-hearted. In fact the day I retired I went to great lengths not to go anywhere near another one for a very simple reason – if you are not a member or part of the team you have no business being in the room at all.
To be given an opportunity to see what goes on in a modern-day dressing room, its facilities, equipment, the science, not to mention the methods adopted for a modern generation of players, is as fascinating to me as it gets.
So I am immensely grateful (and so should the viewing public be) to get a glimpse of what happens during the most intense moments, not just in a Premier League dressing room but the dressing room of the champions. These glimpses might be commonplace in in the USA but they are not to be taken for granted here.
I remember seeing a similar documentary some years ago when my dear friend and contemporary Peter Reid, during his successful managerial spell at Sunderland, gave a camera crew total access.
I remember thinking at the time, has Reidy gone mad? It’s one thing having your mistakes choreographed in front of a football crowd but it’s something entirely different when those mistakes are highlighted in living colour in front of a watching nation. It takes a very special individual with a lot of courage and self-belief to do that.
My admiration for Peter grew after his moment in the spotlight and the same is true of City boss Pep Guardiola. That Jose Mourinho has seen fit to be so dismissive of the documentary is hardly surprising. The programme was showing all who wanted to watch just how badly Mourinho and Manchester United had just had their backsides kicked.
Manchester City beat their neighbours and fiercest rivals by a staggering 19 points, so to call the documentary ‘classless’ was in itself misjudged and ill-timed, and made Mourinho look tawdry.
The reality is Guardiola has taken football to another level and Mourinho is desperately struggling to come to terms with that fact.
Chaos erupted at an esports tournament in Jacksonville, Florida on Sunday when a mass shooting ended with multiple fatalities and many more injured.
Word of the shooting first emerged on Twitch, from a live feed of the Madden NFL 19 Classic qualifier at Jacksonville’s GLHF GameBar. In the disturbing audio-only account, rapid bursts of gunfire are heard multiple times over the shouts of attendees.
As of Sunday afternoon, four are dead and “several others” are injured, according to a local report from News 4 Jacksonville. The shooter hasn’t yet been identified, but police confirm that there are “no outstanding suspects” and the scene is now “secure.”
Steven “SteveyJ” Javaruski, a pro Madden player who was participating in the event and witnessed the shooting, told the Los Angeles Timesthat the shooter was a competitor who had lost. He added that he witnessed a number of deaths, including the shooter, who he said killed himself.
Mashable has not been able to verify these details independently, but Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams confirmed at 4:30 p.m. ET that the gunman, a white male, is dead.
The wounded victims have been taken to Memorial Hospital, where three victims were in stable condition, and UF Health Medical Center, where one person with serious injuries and five more in good condition.
A number of tournament participants have taken to Twitter in the hours since the shooting to speak out about what happened.
Me and my gf are ok everyone and out of the Jville area. This is absolutely sickening. Please pray for the madden players right now injured during the shooting. Shit like this really makes you rethink your actions and the way you live. For sure gunna be some changes going forward
Reached for comment, Madden publisher Electronic Arts shared the following statement with Mashable: “We are aware of an incident at a sanctioned Madden Championship Series competition in Jacksonville. We are working with authorities to gather facts at this stage. This is a horrible situation, and our deepest sympathies go out to all involved.”
Local news notes that Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams will be addressing the situation in a press conference later on Sunday. We’ll update this story as more details emerge.
UPDATED Aug. 26, 2018 5:00 p.m. ET with additional details from Jacksonville police and social media.
Neil Simon, the prolific playwright whose Broadway hits included the newlyweds-in-Manhattan romp Barefoot in the Park, the prototypical bromance The Odd Couple, and the autobiographical Brighton Beach Memoirs, died Saturday night in New York City of complications from pneumonia, his publicist announced. He was 91.
A native of the Bronx, Simon launched his career scripting variety shows for the likes of Sid Caesar and Jerry Lewis. He amassed an impressive collection of screenplays including The Out-of-Towners, The Heartbreak Kid, and The Goodbye Girl (one of the five films he wrote for his second wife, Marsha Mason). And he authored two memoirs, Rewrites and The Play Goes On. But if you had asked the born-and-bred New Yorker to list his occupation on, say, a resume, it would have read “Broadway playwright.”
Simon hadn’t written a new play since 2003’s Rose’s Dilemma, a forgettable work now better remembered for the offstage kerfuffle between Simon and star Mary Tyler Moore, who quit during previews after he sent her a note telling her, essentially, to learn her lines or leave. (“I realize now that my mind was working differently being on dialysis,” he explained toThe New York Times in 2004, on the mend after a kidney transplant. The donor was Simon’s friend and longtime publicist, Bill Evans.) Still, the playwright really only began to slow down once he hit 70; even then, he brought three plays — 1997’s underrated Proposals (his Chekhovian ode to the courtship of his first wife, Joan Baim), 2000’s Paris-set Dinner Party, and 2001’s theatrical valentine 45 Seconds From Broadway — to the Great White Way.
None were particularly well-received, and after early-’90s disappointments like Jake’s Women, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, and a musicalization of The Goodbye Girl, many simply deemed Simon out of fashion.
Of course, it’s always been fashionable to call Simon unfashionable. (And not just because he wrote his plays on yellow legal pads and typewriters.) He wrote domestic comedies, with simple settings, populated by middle-class characters — and he wrote a lot of them. “Critically, the thinking seems to be that if you write too many hits, they can’t be that good,” he once said. He had his first hit in 1961 with Come Blow Your Horn, which he said took “a year to write and two and a half years to rewrite.” His next was 1963’s Barefoot in the Park, featuring a fresh-faced Robert Redford, and in 1965, he struck gold with his most famous work, The Odd Couple (though not as much gold as he should have — he sold the film rights to Paramount and never earned a nickel from the 1970-75 TV series).
For a long while, it seemed like every season brought another Simon play: The Star-Spangled Girl (1966), Plaza Suite (1968), The Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1969), The Gingerbread Lady (1970), The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1971), The Sunshine Boys (1972), The Good Doctor (1973), God’s Favorite (1974), California Suite (1976), Chapter Two (1977). Between churning out comedies, he also served as librettist on the musicals Little Me (1962), Sweet Charity (1966), Promises, Promises (1968), and They’re Playing Our Song (1979). Most were hits, some were misses, but they all contributed to Simon’s status as the undisputed king of the Broadway comedy. “The truth is, there isn’t a single joke I ever heard in my life that I can remember,” he confessed in the first chapter of Rewrites. “This, coming from the man most critics have dubbed ‘The King of theOne-Liners.’”
But Simon’s best work is arguably also his darkest: his semi-autobiographical coming-of-age comedies Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983), Biloxi Blues (1985), and Broadway Bound (1986). A few months after the debut of Memoirs — which featured a star-making performance by a young Matthew Broderick — the Alvin Theatre where the show was playing was rechristened the Neil Simon Theatre. And in 1993, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Lost in Yonkers, his tender tale of a mentally impaired woman, her brutal German mother, and their extended family; it was Simon’s all-time favorite, “the most honest play I’ve ever written.”
Simon is survived by his wife, the actress Elaine Joyce Simon, whom he married in 1999, as well as two daughters, three grandchildren, and one great-grandson.
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