If the first two weeks of the girls basketball season are any indication, Lisle is well-prepared for Illinois Central Eight Conference play to start Monday night in Peotone.
The Lions used an 11-0 first-quarter run to pull away from Westmont for a 61-34 nonconference victory at Westmont on Saturday. They are 6-0 so far this season.
Emma Rossin's floater from the right side of the basket with 2:17 left in the first quarter lifted the Lisle lead into double digits, and the Lions steadily built on that margin from there. By halftime Lisle led 31-14.
"It made everybody feel really good," said Lisle junior guard Abby Casmer. "Obviously, we didn't feel like we needed to sag off a little bit. We still needed to push. But it gave us a little positive influence, I guess. It made us want to go harder and keep going."
Lisle built that lead by driving the lane early and either getting to the basket or drawing a foul.
"It's just something our team does really well is driving hard," Casmer said. "We work on it all the time."
Lisle drew two quick fouls on Westmont junior guard Megan Thompson, forcing her to the bench for most of the first quarter.
"If that doesn't happen, who knows how this game goes," Lisle coach Nick Balaban said. "Especially the way she played in that fourth quarter."
"She's our leader, she's our captain, she carries the team," Westmont coach Julie Jurasits added. "That was tough. Right now we're just waiting to see who is going to step up next. We're still trying to figure it out as a team."
Thompson still finished with a game-best 21 points and 12 rebounds for Westmont (0-5).
Even with the big lead, Lisle didn't consider the game out of reach until the final few minutes.
"I've learned when you play Westmont it's a rivalry game," Balaban said. "It's one of those games you'd better be prepared to play, and they've got probably one of the best players in the area in Thompson. There have been times where we were better than them and they beat us, and there have been times where they were better than us and we beat them. So it's the type of game that you can't overlook. And so far our players have been really good enough to know you can't take anybody for granted."
Casmer led the Lions with 16 points, and sophomore Emma Webb and junior Hannah Baur each scored 11.
Vin Diesel and his #DadBod have a busy schedule ahead. He just wrapped Fast & Furious 9, which was the longest filming shoot of his career so far. It really did seem to go on forever! He's "immensely proud" of the results, though, which we'll see in May 2020. Now he's ready for more action in his other major franchises roles -- including Xander Cage, Richard B. Riddick, Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Bloodshot, and maybe more from Kaulder of The Last Witch Hunter.
Vin Diesel took advantage of the Thanksgiving holidays to give thanks for his family and fans and career so far. He updated everyone on what's next for him -- via a shirtless workout photo (because of course):
Let's break down what should be coming next for this action hero.
• Bloodshot - release date: February 21, 2020. Bloodshotrecently shared its first trailer, and we should be hearing a lot more about the Valiant Comics superhero pretty soon. Vin Diesel has the lead role as Ray Garrison/Bloodshot, with co-stars including Eiza González, Sam Heughan, Toby Kebbell, and Guy Pearce. If the movie ends up doing well, I'm sure they'll talk about a sequel.
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - release date: Unconfirmed date in 2022. He is Groot. Groot will return with the gang when James Gunn's third Guardians movie heads to the MCU. When will that be? It was supposed to be in 2020, but Disney fired Gunn and before they rehired him he signed up to make DC's The Suicide Squad. So he's busy with that now at the end of 2019 and he'll start Guardians 3 when that's done.
• Riddick 4 - release date - ??? Vin Diesel has been talking about a fourth Riddick film for a while, and earlier this year he shared a video showing off a script titled Riddick 4 Furya:
There's also been talk about a Riddickspinoff TV series called Merc City. Riddick 4 will follow Pitch Black, The Chronicles of Riddick, and Riddick, which came out in 2013.
• xXx 4 - release date - ??? XXX: Return of Xander Cage came out in 2017 as the third movie in the franchise. Vin Diesel is moving forward with a fourth film, and this time last year Deadline reported that actor Jay Chou and actress Zoe Zhang were cast for xXx 4. Earlier this year, Diesel asked fans who else should join the next xXx movie and got some wild responses.
• Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 - release dates: December 17, 2021 and December 22, 2023. Apparently Vin Diesel has a role in James Cameron's Avatar sequels? I guess? Cameron has up to Avatar 5 planned with release dates, but Avatar 4 and 5 depend on the success of Avatar 2 and 3. Those first two sequels were filmed at the same time, and they just wrapped for 2019. It may be a while before we see a trailer and hear anything about Diesel's role.
• The Last Witch Hunter 2 - release date: ??? Not sure what's going on here, but shortly before The Last Witch Hunter came out in 2015, Vin Diesel posted to Facebook that Universal wanted him to commit and block out time to film the sequel. That was four years ago, and the movie didn't make a ton of money on its release -- $147 million worldwide, with only $27.3M from the domestic box office. But if he's bringing it up now, maybe there are still discussions going on for the future of Witch Hunter. There are only about 9 million streaming services available if they decide to go that route. Just saying.
So that's a lot. I'm excited to see Fast & Furious 9. I'm all aboard that hype train, which will also lead to Fast & Furious 10. Not 100% sure I'm ready for everything else yet -- except for Guardians 3, of course -- so we wait and see. Keep up with everything heading to the big screen next year with our 2020 movie release date schedule.
Vin Diesel is showing off his hard work in the gym and on the set of Fast & Furious 9 all while pausing to reflect on his blessings during Thanksgiving. The 52-year-old took to Instagram to share a shirtless photo of himself at the gym, writing in the caption about all the hard work he put in on set of the ninth Fast & Furious film.
"After the longest filming shoot of my career with Fast 9... A film I am so immensely proud of," Diesel captioned the photo. "Before entering the next character and film project... so much to be excited about... Fast continuation, Xander Cage, Riddick... Groot. Not to mention the possibilities of Witch Hunter and the follow up to Bloodshot.
He continued, "Before all the press that coincides with the release of the various pictures next year. I must take a minute to center. To celebrate the wonderful family I have been blessed with. So grateful for the Holidays. Perfect timing I might add. Hahaha."
He added a string of hashtags, including "holiday season," "grateful," "blessed" and "dad bod."
Fans took to the comments section to gush over the movie star's ripped physique, with many leaving heart-eye emojis.
"Looking good Vin!!!" one Instagram user wrote.
"Getting in shape Vin," another said. "Looking forward to the next Riddick."
"Keep up the great work my man," another said.
"I’m so very happy for you and all of your accomplishments! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family Vin! And one more thing..... that is Sooo NOT a Dadbod! [laughing out loud]," another joked.
Diesel has been documenting the film production process as well as his progress in the gym, including a video of himself using an ab wheel while tearing the name of one of his Fast 9 co-stars. He said he was thinking about putting out a remix of one of the new cast member's famous songs but wasn't sure if it was too personal. He then proceeded to do a few ab well rollouts.
One of the new faces in the Fast & Furious franchise is Cardi B, who Diesel revealed in October from the set of the film. The rapper admitted she was exhausted as she appeared alongside the actor in an Instagram video taken in the midst of filming, but couldn't be happier to have joined the cast in a yet-to-be revealed character.
“Day 86 here on the set of Fast 9,” Diesel says in the video. “I know I’m exhausted. I literally — we all gave every single thing we could for this movie. Put it all on the table. Put it all out there.”
“I’m tired,” Cardi chimes in. “But I can’t wait. I ain’t gonna front, I think this is gonna be the best one.”
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TAMPA — The state of NFL football in Florida is bleak. All three Sunshine State teams on pace for losing seasons with home attendance that ranks in the lower third.
The Dolphins were heading for the No. 1 overall pick at this time last month. Now at 2-9, they’re one of several really bad teams and no longer on pace for the No. 1 overall pick. (Thanks, Bengals.) Still, they’ve used trades to accumulate 14 draft picks for 2020.
Long-suffering Bucs fans are looking at another losing season. As the Bucs head to Jacksonville this Sunday, they aim to win consecutive games for the first time this season. Another offseason full of questions — none bigger than quarterback Jameis Winston’s future — looms ahead.
But the most unenviable situation resides in Jacksonville.
The Jaguars like the Bucs at 4-7, but they’ve lost three straight games to division opponents by an average of 22 points. That slide had Tom Coughlin at a podium this week pleading with fans to attend Sunday’s game at TIAA Bank Stadium.
This may sound familiar to Bucs fans, but the Jaguars haven’t played a home game in more than a month. They lost to the Texans in London on Nov. 3 and then following a bye week, they lost consecutive games to the Colts and Titans.
“We need you very badly,” pleaded Coughlin, the former Jaguars and Giants head coach and Jacksonville’s current executive vice president of football operations. “In my opinion, we’ve been on the road for three straight weeks and it hasn’t been pretty. We need to get home. We need to get our whole thing going in our stadium and our support from everyone.
"It's not a time to duck your head, stick your head in the sand," Coughlin added. "We all know what the circumstances are, but these are young men. They know when they're being supported and when some extension of love is being sent their way, and they will respond. So, we all need to do this.”
Could Bucs defensive tackle Vita Vea’s TD be the start of something big? https://t.co/VfkWjRX7w1
It’s a dramatic fall for a team that was one quarter away from going to the Super Bowl two years ago. The Jaguars led the 2017 AFC title game 17-10 entering the fourth quarter at New England.
They’ve since lost 18 of 27. They cut ties with franchise quarterback Blake Bortles after posting the NFL’s second-worst scoring offense in 2018.
“They were there, within a quarter [of the Super Bowl],” Bucs coach Bruce Arians said. “And you lose a player or two, some injuries happen, you switch quarterbacks and you’re starting over. The chemistry is not the same. I don’t call it chemistry. I call it accountability. You bring in new guys that might not fit the culture and it’s a big change.”
Jaguars owner Shahid Khan said he wouldn’t stand for another season like 2018. The team signed former Super Bowl MVP quarterback Nick Foles, who was injured in Week 1 and didn’t return until Nov. 17. Rookie Gardner Minshew, a sixth-round pick, took over, set off a mustache craze in Jacksonville and went 4-4.
But over that span, the team’s best defensive player, cornerback Jalen Ramsey, demanded a trade and was dealt to the Rams for two first-round picks and a fourth-rounder.
“I think a lot of people that keep going back (to 2017) because we haven’t played well, they go back to that year where we did play well,” head coach Doug Marrone said. “That’s one thing about the NFL, it’s a league that changes, maybe for the exception of one team in the AFC East. Everyone else, they go through some tough changes.”
The Jaguars have trailed three straight games by one score, only to be outscored a combined 52-8 in third quarters. Over that stretch, they’ve surrendered 233 yards rushing per game.
“Not everything’s beautiful,” Foles said. "This is a game. But it’s also a lot of people’s livelihood, and there’s a lot of fans that are passionate about us and support the Jaguars. So, we have a lot of work ahead of us to get to where we want to be.”
The Jaguars rank 28th in the league in attendance, averaging just 60,236 announced fans a game. (The Bucs are 30th at a 51,354.)
But this week, and through the remainder of the season, the Jaguars have a lot to play for, including their jobs.
“We have five games to go and then there will certainly be an evaluation of every one of us,” Coughlin said. "... Everyone has a lot to prove.”
The Glazers' top objective when hiring recent coaches, @NFLSTROUD writes: make Jameis Winston a franchise quarterback and somehow all the other problems on the team will cosmetically disappear. And how's that working out? @Buccaneershttps://t.co/aBY69rsKOA
Hi and welcome to Five Weeknight Dishes. I know some people feel like they never want to eat again after Thanksgiving. That, frankly, has not been my experience. I love a next-day turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce. Leftover stuffing is a perfect food. Once, even though I had half a pie left on the counter, I went the extra mile to secure a mondo ice cream-and-pie mashup from an amazing ice cream shop the day after Thanksgiving, a remainder that some wrongdoer had neglected to pick up.
However, while I am happy to eat after Thanksgiving, I am not terribly happy to cook. So this week’s newsletter is inspired by Melissa Clark’s column from a few weeks back about Thanksgiving side strategies: Make them way in advance, she says, or make them way last-minute. The recipes below are either great to cook ahead for the week, a little more slowly than is our typical speed (or even done in a slow cooker), or can be executed very quickly. As always, I’m at dearemily@nytimes.com, and I love to hear from you.
Here are five dishes for the week:
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Sarah DiGregorio’s white chicken chili.Credit...Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: LIza Jernow.
This relatively light, bright chili kindly comes with instructions for both the slow cooker and stovetop, and you can make it on Sunday and eat it all week. Or just imagine the joy you would feel if you opened the freezer and saw a big container of this, jauntily labeled CHIX CHILI. So much joy!
Looks fancy; takes 15 minutes. You can play around with the flavors in this delicious and flexible recipe as long as you keep the butter and timing intact. Swap out the orange for lemon or lime, the mint for parsley or cilantro, you get the idea. The salad is optional, but a nice thing to do.
If you want your friends, partner or children to worship you, this would be a good place to start. Make ahead, put a pan in your fridge or freezer, then bake at will.
Universally beloved and pretty much disaster-proof. Make this pasta, plus a filling vegetable or two, and you’re done. (If you want something nearly as easy but slightly more sophisticated, try this creamy turmeric pasta instead, especially if you have leftover shallots and heavy cream from Thanksgiving.)
This recipe also comes with slow-cooker instructions, but it’s very easy to adapt for the stove (and it’d be pretty fast-cooking, too): Use a Dutch oven or other deep pot rather than a skillet, brown the sausage directly in that vessel, and then proceed, adding the lentils to the pot and letting them simmer there till done, about 40 minutes. I haven’t tried it but I bet faux-meat substitutes for the sausage would work well here, F.Y.I.
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Brisbane's players are being told it's up to them to find the spark to end their run of slow A-League starts.
The Roar host Central Coast at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday as the only team in the competition yet to score in the first half of a match in 2019-20.
Their solitary win against Melbourne City a fortnight ago was a 4-3 comeback after being 2-0 down at the break.
And it seems last weekend's loss to Wellington, where the previously winless Phoenix used Steven Taylor's 10th minute opener to set them on their way to a 2-1 win, was the final straw for Roar coach Robbie Fowler.
"Let's face it, it's taken us to a go a goal down, two goals down before we start," Fowler said.
"That can't happen all the time. We know we need to do better in certain areas and that's one of them.
"A lot of it is the players. We can give them as much motivational talk as we want, as much tactics as we want but as soon as they cross over the white line on to the pitch then it's up to them."
The Roar have just one win and two draws from six matches so far but Saturday's game will be just their second at Suncorp Stadium this season.
Defender Scott Neville accepts Fowler's challenge and is hopeful a return to Suncorp will be the moment the Roar find their form.
"We need to start bright and we need to start sharp," Neville said.
"Hopefully this can be the game which really kickstarts our season and propels us into the new year."
The Mariners, who haven't beaten the Roar in their past 15 A-League encounters, head north buoyed by their first clean sheet in 39 A-League matches in their 1-0 win over Western United last weekend.
New recruit Jair won't travel as he builds up his match fitness but otherwise the Mariners head to Brisbane with an unchanged squad while the Roar are are also untroubled by injury.
KEY MATCH STATS
* Brisbane haven't lost in their past 15 A-League matches against the Mariners, winning 11 and drawing four of those games.
* Central Coast will be looking to keep back-to-back clean sheets for the first time in the A-League since November 2017 following last weekend's 1-0 win over Western United.
* Brisbane are the only team in the competition without a first half goal, with their 0-0 draw against Western Sydney the only match they haven't trailed in so far this season.
The Cowboys aren’t getting off to a slow start today.
They opened the game with a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. It was their second opening drive touchdown of the season.
Jason Witten caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Dez Bryant. It was Witten’s first score since Week Two, and tied him with Bob Hayes for the second-most career receiving touchdowns in team history.
Witten has 71 career receiving touchdowns, two behind the Cowboys’ all-time leader, Dez Bryant.
Prescott went 4-for-4 for 51 yards on the drive. Amari Cooper, who was shut out for the first time in his short Cowboys’ career, caught passes for 23 yards on the opening drive.
He drew an illegal contact penalty on Tre'Davious White that wiped out an interception. Jordan Phillips had an unnecessary roughness penalty in the drive, too.
Vin reflected on the franchise's ninth addition in a post on Instagram, telling fans that Fast 9 had been "the longest filming shoot" of his career. "[There's] so much to be excited about," he said.
Ahead of Thanksgiving, the action hero admitted that he was feeling "so grateful" for the holidays and the chance to take a rare break before he entered his "next chapter" in life – a chapter which, we'll all agree, sounds like a busy one.
Alongside a photo of his so-called "dad bod", Diesel reeled off his upcoming commitments, promising yet more Fast & Furious fun and the return of Xander Cage and Groot: "After the longest filming shoot of my career with Fast 9... A film I am so immensely proud of. Before entering the next character and film project... so much to be excited about...
"Fast continuation, Xander Cage, Riddick... Groot. Not to mention the possibilities of Witch Hunter and the follow up to Bloodshot. Before all the press that coincides with the release of the various pictures next year. I must take a minute to center.
"To celebrate the wonderful family I have been blessed with. So grateful for the Holidays. Perfect timing I might add. Hahaha."
And we're not surprised Vin is calling Fast 9 one of the most tiring gigs of his career, as the film's director Justin Lin recently revealed it was "by far the most ambitious of the series".
Marking the end of filming earlier this month, Lin told fans: "This is by far the most ambitious film of the series and I am forever grateful to our amazing crew from London, Edinburgh, Tbilisi (Georgia), Phuket & Krabi (Thailand), and Los Angeles."
Fast & Furious 9 will be released in UK cinemas on May 22, 2020.
Fast & Furious 8-Film Collection DVD (1-8 Box Set) [2017]
Water is always wet, the sky is blue, and you can bet that there will always be a Fast and Furiousmovie on the way as sure as the sun will shine tomorrow. The Hollywood franchise has become synonymous with modern action movies and its films span nearly two decades of human history now. That makes it one of the longest-running film series in Hollywood.
Suffice to say, people probably want more of it, the countless billions of dollars it brings and the countless fans say so. Just as there exists an actual (and casual) fanbase for Fast and Furious memes, so too exist memes that poke fun at the films' conventions and usual tropes, many of which are recycled trademarks. So if you're not fed up with Fast and Furious just yet, here are 10 hilarious memes that words cannot contain.
10 DON'T GIVE ELON MUSK ANY IDEAS...
Gear shifting, no other action movie franchise has made such a mundane driving action more intense. In fact, you can frequently see the protagonists of any Fast and Furious movie twiddling with the shift stick like it's an arcade joystick, which leads us to believe that their cars are from the future, most likely prototypes of Elon Musk's supercars in the near future.
By default, most racing cars only have a healthy maximum of 8 forward gears. Any more than that and you're probably driving a rocket ship to Mars or got swindled by a car dealership into buying a car with bogus gearboxes because you're bald and like to wear tight shirts.
9 'STOP?' WHAT'S THAT WORD?
There are only so many different variations of movie names available, especially if you only have two words to work with, "fast" or "furious." Numbers do make things easier but then people will probably get intimidated at the fact that they made nearly 10 of these movies already. Thankfully, you don't have to watch the previous ones to get what's going on.
Heck, you don't even have to listen to the dialogue. All you have to do is to shut your brain off for a few minutes until the next action or racing scene kicks in. Now, by the looks of it, the Fast and Furious franchise is not about to slow down or stop anytime soon with the titularly ninth movie coming next year.
8 The Perils Of Going TOO Fast
It's no secret that being bald makes you look tougher, just take a look at Walter White from Breaking Bad...or Mr. Clean. Still, those guys have reasons for being bald, the men of the Fast and Furious franchise simply don't. Hence, let's just chalk it up to male pattern baldness associated with car speeds past 150 mph. The faster you go, the balder you get.
Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) is an exception, as he's the prettiest face in the original film so he can't go bald. However, having a head full of hair makes him (or anyone, really) stand out like a sore thumb, however.
7 EH, JUST SHAVE THE WHOLE THING OFF
By far the most dramatic and sincerely heartfelt scene in the Fast and Furious movies is Brian O'Conner parting ways with Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel). This served as a tribute and nod to Paul Walker, who had passed away during the filming for Furious 7. Needless to say, it was one of those few rare meaningful film sequences in the franchise, especially if you've been keeping track of the two since The Fast and the Furious (2001).
Needless to say, it's a sure way to get grown men crying, even those who are bald and like to look tough. It has also launched a thousand memes that are unrelated to the franchise but somehow best explain certain situations. That haircut looks painful, though.
6 OLD MAN DOM
Fun fact: Vin Diesel is now 52-years-old. A few more years and he might actually look like that picture above. Anyway, Fast & Furious 50 might be a joke but at this rate, it might eventually become a reality. They just have to keep cranking more Fast and Furious films every six months or so and we'll get there eventually.
Jokes, aside, this might actually be a great idea. It would have been a symbolic and awesome way to end the Fast and Furious franchise, with an old Dom Toretto who no longer has any friends and is alone in the world, haunted by the bald ghosts of his past and is on a forever search for the missing rims on his phased-out Dodge Charger. Plus, his mumble growls will also make more sense.
5 ONWARD TO THE MULTIVERSE!
Looks like space is the final frontier after all, though "final" might be an overstatement. After all, if you make more than 10 movies about fast cars and short tempers and even shorter hairstyles, you're bound to run out of roads on Earth where asphalt wheels are viable.
So, the franchise now turns its gaze to outer space. How will they handle it, you ask? By defying physics as always! Get ready to see a Subaru drifting on an international space station's solar panels or a rocket drag race to see who gets to the moon first with nitro and V8 engines only.
4 LESS FAST, MORE FURIOUS
You usually don't have to wonder why the Fast and Furious franchise is successful. A quick look at its posters and you'll be able to deduce it; a combination of cars, hot babes, muscle mass, and guns are a winning formula to rake in a dominantly male audience.
It's too bad the franchise drifted away from the street racing aspect of the first three films and gravitated more towards guns and over-the-top action sequences, along with the frequent dash of global terror conspiracies, secret agents, and incompetent military factions. It doesn't get crazier than that.
3 NITROUS NOT INCLUDED
Speaking of cars and racing, you'll find that automobiles are more disposable than underwear in the Fast and Furious films. Most cars will end up either totaled, crushed, or stolen. That's probably why they're not worth much in the films and why they're being given like pancakes to the current protagonist.
In fact, the only car which a protagonist had to work for was the first film's 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse, although this was back in the day when Fast and Furiouswas about racing. In reality, the racing car alone would have made the jobless protagonists broke.
2 LOOKS LIKE A JOB FOR MICHAEL BAY
Well, the filmmakers did mention the prospect of outer space for the franchise, so why not go ham and let sanity go entirely? We're talking about adding in aliens, time travel, and last but not least, dinosaurs who can outrun a grand tourer...because gas got a little too expensive in the near future and dinosaurs make for good drifters.
In any case, who could say no to Vin Diesel riding and racing with "Hero T-Rex." By the way, that "T" stands for testosterone, something Michael Bay will excessively lend to the production if he ever gets a hold of the Fast and Furious franchise.
1 NEARLY THERE...
Calm down and take a seat, they're not casting Matt Damon, nor Hugh Jackman, nor are they bringing back Paul Walker's ghost in Fast & Furious 9, that's merely a fan-made poster full of wishful thinking. With Fast & Furious 9 fast approaching in 2020, however, we just can't help but wonder what's in store for the 10th installment.
Since there was a Fast 5, it stands within reason that the 10th installment should be called Fast 10, just think of all the puns and dad jokes you could come up with such a movie title. We probably don't have to wait too long for that.
