The Philippine Blu Boys ended their opening round assignment without a victory after a 6-1 loss to the Czech Republic in the Men’s Softball World Cup in Auckland, New Zealand. Pitcher Reagan Parco gave up four runs in the second inning which the Blu Boys never recovered from as they finished dead last in Group […]

The post Blu Boys left to salvage pride in placement round appeared first on Inquirer Sports.

Coach Frankie Lim must be thanking his lucky stars with the way NLEX’s fortunes have suddenly changed following another comeback win that kept its quarterfinal chances alive in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup. “Pumapalag pa (We’re still fighting),” Lim said after a 92-81 win on Wednesday that came despite an 18-point halftime deficit allowed the Road […]

The post Late swing of fortunes gives NLEX a little hope appeared first on Inquirer Sports.

The national cage program has been making big strides of late, and naturally, its leaders are hoping to make greater ones—especially with the Fiba (International Basketball Federation) World Cup drawing closer. Just weeks removed from a breakthrough sweep of an Asian Qualifying window, and days after Justin Brownlee’s naturalization bid hurdled the House of Representatives, […]

The post Gilas targets US, Euro camps leading to main event appeared first on Inquirer Sports.

There were so many reasons for Ateneo to feel grateful on Wednesday night. The Blue Eagles returned to a familiar roost entering the Final Four and also bought themselves extra time to get Ange Kouame fit as a fiddle in time for the semifinal wars. They will now make sure to capitalize on those blessings. […]

The post Blue Eagles take No. 1 seed, sends Final 4 foes into knockout duel appeared first on Inquirer Sports.

Two US senators are demanding answers from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding anti-bot laws, following the recent controversy around Taylor Swift tickets.

Earlier this month, Ticketmaster announced the cancellation of the general ticket sale for Swift’s 2023 North American tour due to “extraordinarily high demand” and “insufficient remaining ticket inventory”. It came after many customers experienced technical issues while attempting to access Ticketmaster’s pre-sale for ‘The Eras Tour’, including lengthy wait times and website outages.

It later emerged that online bots were also a factor in why many fans couldn’t access the website.

Ticketmaster subsequently issued an apology to those who had a “terrible experience” in navigating its website, writing: “We strive to make ticket buying as easy as possible for fans.”

Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal and Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn have now sent a letter, seen by Billboard, to the FTC’s chair Lina Khan to address the saga, asking for the organisation to provide “information about the steps” it’s taking to “combat the use and operation of bots in the online ticket marketplace”.

The letter reads: “Recently, several high profile incidents arose where consumers encountered serious difficulties purchasing tickets through online ticket vendors, including Ticketmaster and AXS. While bots may not be the only reason for these problems, which Congress is evaluating, fighting bots is an important step in reducing consumer costs in the online ticketing industry.”

They added: “[G]iven the numerous high-profile incidents in the online ticket marketplace, it would be helpful to understand how the FTC intends to act to address such conduct going forward.”

Taylor Swift performs live in 2022. CREDIT: Terry Wyatt/Getty Images

In the letter, Blumenthal and Blackburn refer to 2016’s Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, which was established to crack down on the use of illegal bots that can acquire hundreds of thousands of tickets before fans can buy them.

The law prohibits “the circumvention” of security and access measures used by online ticket sellers, and bans the selling of any tickets “obtained through a circumvention violation”.

The BOTS Act also enables the FTC and state attorneys general to “enforce violations as unfair and deceptive practices”.

The two senators have asked the FTC if there are any obstacles preventing them from exercising its authority under the BOTS Act, and have also asked if there are any solutions Congress need to consider in conjunction with the Act.

They also highlighted bot-related problems surrounding ticket sales for Adele, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Blake Shelton.

The letter from Blumenthal and Blackburn comes after it was announced recently that Congress will be holding a hearing on Ticketmaster over the Swift ticket controversy.

The hearing was confirmed by Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is chair of the panel.

“The high fees, site disruptions and cancellations that customers experienced shows how Ticketmaster’s dominant market position means the company does not face any pressure to continually innovate and improve,” Klobuchar said.

“We will hold a hearing on how consolidation in the live entertainment and ticketing industry harms customers and artists alike.”

Swift herself responded to fans following the saga. “Well. It goes without saying that I’m extremely protective of my fans,” she began in a message via Instagram.

“We’ve been doing this for decades together and over the years, I’ve brought so many elements of my career in house. I’ve done this SPECIFICALLY to improve the quality of my fans’ experience by doing it myself with my team who care as much about my fans as I do. It’s really difficult to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse.”

Read her full statement here.

The post US senators want to enforce better anti-bot laws following Taylor Swift ticket controversy appeared first on NME.

Acts including Ed Sheeran, Shania Twain and Lewis Capaldi have shared their Spotify Wrapped lists for 2022.

The team that handles Sheeran’s social media accounts tweeted that he “was the top UK artist globally this year – thanks for listening” alongside a screenshot of the stats. He was top artist for more than 4million Spotify users, and his most-shared lyric was from his ‘x’ album song, ‘Photograph’.

Capaldi, meanwhile, was shocked to learn that he enjoyed 1billion streams in 2022. He wrote: “1 BILLION?!?! how is that actually possible?? thank u all so so so very much, i am one truly humbled king x”

Twain wrote that she was thankful for her 43.6million total listeners across the year. “Thank you for spending so much time with me this year,” she wrote, adding that her new album is released in 2023. “Queen Of Me comes out next year – reckon we can double it?”

Spotify Wrapped is here! Ed was the top UK artist globally this year – thanks for listening #SpotifyWrapped pic.twitter.com/ki982FABAf

— Ed Sheeran HQ (@edsheeran) November 30, 2022

1 BILLION?!?!

how is that actually possible?? thank u all so so so very much, i am one truly humbled king x #SpotifyWrapped @Spotify pic.twitter.com/LkHDGGTTP2

— Lewis Capaldi (@LewisCapaldi) November 30, 2022

43.6million gorgeous listeners!! Thank you for spending so much time with me this year… Queen Of Me comes out next year – reckon we can double it? @Spotify #SpotifyWrapped https://t.co/jGqMZbECDT pic.twitter.com/SCtoz7vIYC

— Shania Twain (@ShaniaTwain) November 30, 2022

Other Spotify Wrapped lists have been shared by musicians including the team behind the late George Michael as well as lists from Lil Baby, Biig Piig and others. See those below.

Elsewhere, some acts were keen to share their own Spotify Wrapped lists for the music they’d been listening to personally over the course of 2022.

Mxmtoon shared a screenshot that revealed Rina Sawayama to be her top artist, with songs by Lizzo, Phoebe Bridgers and Maggie Rogers reaching her Top Five. She wrote: “my Spotify wrapped just yelled “GAY” at me.”

my Spotify wrapped just yelled “GAY” at me pic.twitter.com/csOicB4oNE

— maia (@mxmtoon) November 30, 2022

My Spotify wrapped is broken pic.twitter.com/r20inPvNz5

— kennybeats (@kennybeats) November 30, 2022

Kenny Beats joked that his Spotify Wrapped was “broken”. He shared an image of the line, “I take the condom off and drunk my nut, it’s delicious“, which appeared to be an incorrectly generated lyric from his 2019 Zack Fox collaboration, ‘Jesus Is the One (I Got Depression)’.

Thank you lovelies @Spotify #SpotifyWrapped pic.twitter.com/Cdlo0kwryG

— George Michael Official (@GeorgeMOfficial) November 30, 2022

The official launch of Spotify Wrapped 2022 happened earlier today (November 20), revealing the most streamed artists and songs in the UK and worldwide and allowing listeners to discover theirs.

The annual list, which was teased yesterday (November 29) and also allows fans to discover their own top lists from the year, has Taylor Swift as the most streamed artist in the UK, with Bad Bunny taking the global title for the record-breaking third year in a row.

you lot are mad ily#SpotifyWrapped pic.twitter.com/UQvfC4fzKa

— Biig Piig (@BiigPiigMusic) November 30, 2022

#SpotifyWrapped : Lil Baby was the 6th most streamed male artist in 2022 in the US on Spotify pic.twitter.com/JShkZVFRfq

— Lil Baby Szn (@LilBabySZN) November 30, 2022

@CherLloyd has a message for those of us that had her in our Top Artists on this years #SpotifyWrapped! pic.twitter.com/ar1EyQlbAJ

— Cher Lloyd Charts (@cherlloydchart) November 30, 2022

C’est La Vie! Thank you so much for all your love and support this year! @SpotifyUK #SpotifyWrapped wow!@edelelynch @lindsayarmaou @sinocarroll @Keavylynch pic.twitter.com/zaJgGsND8L

— OfficialBWitched (@BwitchedReunion) November 30, 2022

Fans can explore their own Spotify Wrapped experience and lists here.

Joining Swift in the list of most streamed artists in the UK is Drake at Number Two, with Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles, Kanye West, The Weeknd, Dave, Eminem, Arctic Monkeys and D-Block Europe.

Styles also tops the most streamed song of 2022 on Spotify in the UK with ‘As It Was’, while with Glass Animals‘ ‘Heat Waves’ in second. The same two songs are at the top of both the global and United States lists.

Others in the top UK songs list are Dave’s ‘Starlight’ and Kate Bush‘s resurgent ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’, alongside Sam Fender‘s ‘Seventeen Going Under’ (Number Five), Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shivers’ and ‘Bad Habits’ (Number Seven and Eight respectively) and Aitch‘s Ashanti-featuring ‘Baby’.

On the top UK albums list, Harry Styles’ ‘Harry’s House’ leads the way, with Ed Sheeran’s ‘=’, Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ and Olivia Rodrigo‘s ‘Sour’ also in the Top Five.

The post Ed Sheeran, Shania Twain and Lewis Capaldi and more acts share their Spotify Wrapped 2022 lists appeared first on NME.

Michael Jordan’s imprint on both the game and sneaker culture as a whole has long been cemented. With his on-court performance line reaching its 37th iteration alongside collaborative works between Travis Scott, Dior and Off-White, getting your hands on the latter will prove to be quite the hunt if your pockets are deep enough, while holding a pair of Jordan’s game-work kicks remains a near-impossible task. So when an originally crafted pair from His Ainress’ days in the synonymous Chicago red comes around, it becomes quite the spectacle.

Such is true with the latest sneaker auction from Christie’s, as a game-worn pair of the Air Jordan 1 High “Chicago” from 1985 is currently being auctioned off.

Carol Couch, who was gifted the pair by the late Jerry Sloan – longtime head coach of the Utah Jazz and the first Bulls player to have their jersey retired – was the former owner of The Judge Cafe in downtown Salt Lake City. Throughout the decades, local Jazz players and visiting teams made it a tradition to sit down at the restaurant and in return, leave a game-worn pair of kicks for Couch to display above the counter. From John Stockton to Karl Malone to Dell Curry, Nancy Lieberman and Jason Kidd, Couch began auctioning off the pairs to help underprivileged children in the area after the Cafe closed its doors in 2004.

Amidst all the giant-sizing and scuffed up pairs, the AJ 1’s from Jordan’s rookie year were kept stowed away, now arising on the market after being given to her grandson.

Coding on the inside tags of the silhouette estimates the pair’s production date to be between January and February of his rookie season, further denoting its construction as a player sample in the “Tong Yong” factory. In line with the six-time champion’s personal sizing, the left foot is a size 13 whereas the right resides at 13.5. A MEARS LOA evaluation notes moderate game-wear, with visible light black scuffs at the exterior and inner heel alongside a compressed left toe and heels.

For an up-close look at the game-worn pair, enjoy detailed imagery below alongside the auction at Christies.com starting at $150,000 USD.

For current Jordan Brand offerings, the Air Jordan 11 “Cherry” is set to release next Saturday, December 10th.

© Sneaker News, 2022.
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