Atlanta Braves superstar outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. returned to the lineup for the first time after he tore his ACL last season in the team’s 2-1 loss to the San Diego Padres on Friday night at Truist Park.
Acuna, 27, looked like he hadn’t skipped a beat. On the first pitch he saw from San Diego Padres starter Nick Pivetta, the 2023 NL MVP demolished it 467 feet for a towering solo home run.
Acuna said he "had a feeling" he might do something special in his return.
Padres third baseman Manny Machado broke a 1-1 tie in the ninth inning with a solo home run off Raisel Iglesias to give the Padres a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish.
The loss drops the Braves to 24-26, who are still looking to rebound after an 0-7 start. The team hopes the return of Acuna can help spur them back into postseason contention.
"He’s one of those players that you better not go get a beer or whatever, because you might miss something really cool, you know?" Braves manager Brian Snitker said.
"I mean, he’s that type of force, I think, in the game. I think he’s going to energize everybody. Gonna energize the fans. Gonna energize his teammates."
"It's huge," third baseman Austin Riley said of Acuna’s return. "The talent is there. The energy he brings, having Ronald up there at the top of the lineup. ... he can change a game at any point."
The Braves and the Padres will play the second game of their three-game series on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. ET.
Former NFL player Ryan Clark issued an apology to Robert Griffin III for bringing his wife into a debate about Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark earlier this week.
Griffin said in a social media post that Reese "hates" Clark. Following the post, Clark suggested that RG3 is "not having conversations at home about what Black women have to endure in this country," considering his wife is White.
"All of it started over an Angel Reese take that he felt was a sports take that I didn't feel that way about. I felt it was away from the court, I felt it was away from basketball . . ." Clark said in a recent YouTube post. "I took a take that was personal to another person and made it personal to myself, and I shouldn't have done that."
Clark admitted his personal feelings and seemingly prior beef with Griffin "played a part in how I felt."
"I wanted to defend a young Black woman, which ended up being an attack on him, he felt, or at least he said, an attack on his family. And that was never the case, or never the intent, of mine," Clark said.
"She should not have been brought up in me trying to make a point about how having Black women close to you, and the things that you learn from them, can help you in the way that you approach and speak to and about them. She didn’t need to be the illustration of that. I can speak positively about what they are without making the insinuation that it’s something that non-Black women don’t do well…
"To Grete, I was out of line. I was out of bounds. I apologize. To all the people who don’t like RG’s take or takes or the way that he moves, or even if you just, in this conversation, take my side and want to support me, leave his family alone… Families should be off limits. I started that by bringing her into it. I see that. No matter what my intent was, the impact was different. If I had to do it all over again, I would do it a different way."
Clark made the comment while calling out Griffin for boarding "the hate train" after Reese's scuffle with Clark over the weekend, while making Clark "heroic."
Sage Steele, who, like Griffin, is a former ESPN colleague, called Clark's words toward Griffin "classless, divisive, gross, (and) unnecessary." Steele and Clark have had issues in the past, even getting to a point where Clark asked producers to have someone other than Steele host a segment following previous comments she had made about former president Barack Obama.
The E-4B "Nightwatch" is also known as the "doomsday plane."
Justin Oakes/US Air Force
The E-4B "Nightwatch" is nicknamed the "doomsday plane" because it can survive a nuclear attack.
In the event of nuclear war, it would serve as the US military's command and control center.
It is the US Air Force's most expensive plane to operate, at $159,529 per hour.
Air Force One is known as the "flying Oval Office," but there's another lesser-known presidential plane that can operate as a "flying war room": the E-4B "Nightwatch."
Nicknamed the "doomsday plane" for its ability to survive a nuclear blast, the E-4B is designed to protect the president and other senior officials and function as a military command center in worst-case scenarios. It also transports the Secretary of Defense on international trips.
Many of the E-4B's features are classified, but the US Air Force has shared some glimpses into its capabilities. Take a look inside the top-secret aircraft.
The E-4B "Nightwatch" is a militarized version of a Boeing 747-200.
A US Air Force E-4B "Nightwatch" plane.
Fabrizio Gandolfo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
The US Air Force's fleet of four E-4Bs comprises the National Airborne Operations Center at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska.
It costs $159,529 per hour to operate, making it the Air Force's most expensive plane.
An E-4B at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.
US Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jacob Skovo
Each E-4B costs $223.2 million to build, according to the US Air Force.
A standard crew consists of 60 people with 15 different specialties.
An E-4B simulator training mission.
US Strategic Command
In 2022, the Air Force debuted a $9.5 million E-4B simulator to train pilots, flight engineers, and other crew members to operate the aircraft, according to the US Strategic Command.
The E-4B can refuel while in flight, allowing it to fly for several days at a time.
An E-4B can refuel in flight.
US Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Codie Trimble
The E-4B can fly for 12 hours straight without refueling.
Its communications technology is kept in a bulge on top of the plane called the ray dome.
An E-4B aircraft on the tarmac at Travis Air Force Base, California, September 11, 2017.
US Air Force/Louis Briscese
The E-4B possesses more communications capabilities than Air Force One with around 67 satellite dishes and antennas in the ray dome.
The plane's exterior also features thermal and nuclear shielding, and its electrical system can withstand electromagnetic pulses.
The plane's main deck features six functional areas.
Then-Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper met with reporters on board an E-4B in 2019.
DoD photo by US Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith
The layout includes a command room, conference room, briefing room, operations team work area, communications room, and a rest area, according to the US Air Force.
The plane can seat up to 112 people.
In the briefing room, officials update members of the press and conduct meetings with staff.
Then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter met with members of the press while traveling to Europe in 2015.
Master Sgt. Adrian Cadiz/US Secretary of Defense
The E-4B isn't just a "doomsday plane." The Secretary of Defense occasionally uses it to travel overseas and hold press briefings.
Located in the center of the plane, the battle staff room is where officers would gather to strategize in a national emergency.
The battle staff room on board an E-4B.
Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo/US Secretary of Defense
In the event of a nuclear attack or other apocalyptic scenario, the president, secretary of defense, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff would use the plane as a secure command and control center similar to the Pentagon.
The rest area has 18 crew bunks, while the Secretary of Defense occupies private quarters on international trips.
The private quarters on the E-4B.
Lance Cheung/US Air Force photo
The Secretary of Defense's private quarters are furnished with a bunk and a desk with chairs.
The E-4B is staffed and on alert 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
E-4B crew members carry out simulated alert missions.
US Air Force photo by Lance Cheung
At least one E-4B has been on continuous alert since 1975, ready to deploy at a moment's notice.
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Pamela Anderson is probably always going to be known for playing lifeguard C.J. Parker for five seasons on Baywatch during the ’90s. The images of Anderson in Baywatch‘s famous red swimwear are also what helped her became an icon.
That’s been both a curse and a blessing for Anderson, who never fully shed her reputation for being a sex symbol. It’s also what made Anderson the perfect choice to take the lead in Gia Coppola‘s The Last Showgirl.
There are also some unmistakable parallels between Anderson and her character, Shelly Gardner, as she faces the end of the long-running revue that defined her career.
The Last Showgirl didn’t get a lot of love during the awards season earlier this year, but that should change now that the film is available to stream. It’s Watch With Us‘ pick for the one Hulu movie that you have to watch in May 2025.
Most of the roles Anderson played early in her career revolved around her physical attributes rather than the intangibles that she offers as a performer. If you ever had any doubts about her talent, Anderson dispels them in The Last Showgirl with by far the best performance she’s ever given. For three decades, Shelly (Anderson) was one of the leading showgirls in a Las Vegas show called Le Razzle Dazzle. Once Shelly learns the show is ending, she has no backup plan, and her future suddenly becomes very frightening to her.
Anderson is very relatable as she conveys Shelly’s fear of a life without the thing that defined her. But that isn’t the full extent of Anderson’s range in the film. Shelly is also seen in her lowest moments feeling despair and anger. To cope with the loss of a career that defined her identity, she’s engaged in a certain amount of wishful thinking that doesn’t reflect the reality of her situation. Shelly seems broken, but that only makes Anderson’s performance more compelling.
The Supporting Cast Helps Carry the Weight of the Story
Anderson does a lot of the heavy lifting with her performance, but she doesn’t carry the film alone. Coppola surrounded her with a veteran cast that includes Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista and Kiernan Shipka. Curtis plays a character named Annette who has fallen even further than Shelly. Annette was kicked out of the revue years earlier over her age, and she barely gets by as a cocktail waitress while battling a gambling addiction. She’s a cautionary tale for Shelly about what the next chapter of her life may hold for her.
Bautista embraces his dramatic side with his character, Eddie, a man who has largely escaped the consequences of his choices. His connection with Shelly is revealed in the film, but she’s also deeply resentful that Eddie gets to keep his job with the new revue while she’s essentially being cut loose. Bautista strikes the right balance of showing some sympathy towards Shelly, a desire to remain friends with her and harboring some anger over the personal issues that link them together.
The Last Showgirl Isn’t Afraid to Show Shelly’s Flaws
RoadsideFlix/YouTube
Perhaps it’s a good thing that Hulu waited until after Mother’s Day to drop The Last Showgirl, because Shelly’s greatest failing is as a mother and a surrogate mother. Billie Lourd — the daughter of Hollywood legend Carrie Fisher — was an inspired choice to play Shelly’s daughter, Hannah Gardner. Hannah’s relationship with her mother is very strained in the movie, because she feels that Shelly always loved the show more than her own child. And she’s not wrong.
Shipka and Brenda Song play two of the younger showgirls, Jodie and Mary-Anne, who regard Shelly as a mother figure. And she constantly lets them down even after they lend her moral support. There are also scenes in the movie where Shelly treats the two younger women so poorly that it risks turning the audience against her.
The film is ultimately better because it embraces Shelly’s character flaws. She’s perfectly imperfect as a mom, mentor and friend, and Anderson commands the screen when she gets to show off Shelly’s darker impulses.
Bill Belichick went viral in November 2023 after appearing shirtless on doorbell camera footage outside a home.
The video resurfaced shortly after rumors of Belichick's later confirmed relationship with Jordon Hudson began. Reports originally stated that the home belonged to Hudson.
But according to Pablo Torre, it was actually an AirBnB in Winthrop, Mass., and he had the couple who owned the home on his show to speak about the shock when they realized that the eight-time Super Bowl champion was on their doorstep.
"We saw the Ring video in the morning, not knowing who this was," the woman, who opted to stay anonymous, said, "but it was an older gentleman with a very young woman who checked in the night before."
The woman's husband then butted in, bringing up his wife's concerns about this mysterious man.
"She’s said, ‘She’s with this creepy old guy.' She thought her relative or a drug dealer was the first thing because of the age discrepancy. Remember you went, ‘Must be a freaking coke dealer.’ I was like, ‘What? Come on.
"So that was her first reaction. And then I start looking [and] I’m like, ‘That does look like Belichick!’"
The owners of the home said Hudson had booked the stay. They added they had invited her to play golf, and that she had replied that she preferred a "men's senior shaft."
"I didn't think anything of it at the time," the woman said.
Belichick and Hudson's relationship was confirmed, but reports have said they began dating in early 2022. It's been rumored that they met on an airplane the year before.
Hudson recently ripped Torre for "factually incorrect, slanderous, defamatory and targeted" reporting.
Torre previously reported that Hudson had been banned from the University of North Carolina football complex earlier in May. However, the university released a statement denying that report shortly after Torre's report came out.
The 73-year-old and 24-year-old made their relationship public last year. And Hudson gained more notoriety last month when she interrupted a CBS interview with Belichick.
Fox News' Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
For a limited time, Apple is offering new Apple Card users a special sign up bonus through Nike. Now through June 15th, users can receive $150 in cash back after spending over $150 on Nike purchases in the first 30 days of account opening.
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