The Mass Effectuniverse is full of interesting characters and factions, but few are as memorable and unsettling as Cerberus. Unlike the Reapers, who are a major, overwhelming threat, or the Collectors, who are temporary, Cerberus represents a continuous and hidden danger that arises from twisted human ambition. While other enemies have been defeated or disappeared, Cerberus has shown itself to be a resilient organization, especially under the leadership of the Illusive Man.
Their ability to adapt and survive through wars and investigations highlights a strong ideology that goes beyond any single person. They aren’t just after power; they genuinely believe in humanity’s place in the universe and are willing to use brutal methods to secure it. This strong belief and their decentralized structure make Cerberus a perfect enemy to bring back in Mass Effect 5. Their story isn’t finished and leaves room for a new, frightening development.
Cerberus Operates In Cells, So Even If The Head Is Gone, They’re Fine
Illusive Man’s Death Means Nothing
In Mass Effect, Cerberus is strong not just because of its resources or technology, but because of its decentralized command structure. While the Illusive Man was the main public figure and the mastermind behind it, the organization was made up of independent groups, each with its own leaders and goals. While that seems silly, it’s the best way to operate a group that wouldn’t fall if the Illusive Man was taken out.
While not much has been revealed about Mass Effect 5, recent fan speculation could be great news for the latest entry of the beloved sci-fi series.
This makes Cerberus very resilient and allows them to remain a constant threat, ready to come back at any time. A great example of this is Shepard’s team in Mass Effect 2. Shepard handled the crew and how missions were handled. He operated as a cell in Cerberus, which meant they could still go after their goal to destroy the Collectors even if they lost contact with the Illusive Man. They also had no idea what other cells were doing. That’s why it didn’t matter that the Illusive Man died in Mass Effect 3.
This setup meant that even if their founder was lost, the organization wouldn’t completely fall apart. Each group often got orders from their leaders instead of the Illusive Man directly. This compartmentalization protected the organization from major disruptions; if one group was discovered or taken down, others could still operate without issues. The beliefs and goals lived on in the individual groups, not just under the guidance of one person.
The Money Didn’t Come From The Illusive Man
Cerberus Has Deep Pockets
In Mass Effect, the Illusive Man was Cerberus’ clever and influential leader, but the organization’s finances didn’t depend solely on his wealth or power. Instead, Cerberus had a complicated mix of funding sources that ensured it could survive and thrive. Rich supporters, many of whom were connected to the military and major industries, regularly provided significant money and resources because they believed in Cerberus’ mission. They trusted that the Illusive Man’s leadership would help put humanity in a dominant position in the galaxy.
Additionally, Cerberus operated several front companies that helped hide its financial activities, allowing them to discreetly gather money for their secret operations. Some legitimate and some not, these businesses provided a steady income that didn’t rely on the Illusive Man’s personal wealth. This variety of funding sources allowed Cerberus to keep going, acquire new technology, and maintain its operations, even if it lost its top leader. As a result, the organization remained a powerful player in the galaxy.
The Indoctrination Theory isn’t currently canon, but making it the true ending for Mass Effect 3 could be beneficial for setting up Mass Effect 5.
Cerberus likely didn’t lose much money from the assault by Shepard in Mass Effect 3. Many believe in Cerberus’ mission and can use other fronts to donate to the cause. The collection of money is not going to stop just because the main base was taken down, and money keeps every organization alive.
Cerberus Wasn’t Here To Hunt Reapers In Mass Effect
Humanity First, At Any Cost
There is a prominent view of Cerberus as just a group focused on fighting the Reapers. That is a big misunderstanding of their true goals. Cerberus didn’t start because they wanted to help the galaxy or work together to stop the Reapers. Instead, they wanted to raise humanity to a position of power in the galaxy. While the Reapers play a significant role in the Mass Effect trilogy, Cerberus sees them more as an obstacle to overcome or to control in their quest for human dominance.
At its core, Cerberus is all about promoting human superiority and is willing to cross any moral or ethical line to achieve that, making it one of Mass Effect‘s most evil organizations. They don’t see the Reapers as enemies to be fought alongside other species but rather as a means to help humanity gain control. This shows that Cerberus’s purpose goes beyond just battling threats like the Reapers.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is frequently derided, but it introduced some mechanical changes that the series’ next game would be wise to adopt.
Even with the Reapers gone, Cerberus remains a significant and dangerous force. The group can move on and find other ways to make sure humanity stays on top at the cost of alien races. This makes Cerberus a perfect villain in a Mass Effect story. Their ambition doesn’t fade without the Reapers; it just changes how they pursue their goals.
Cerberus Has Everything They Need To Be A Huge Mass Effect 5 Villain
They Can Come Back For The Next Game
Cerberus has the potential to be a major villain in Mass Effect 5, even without the Illusive Man. Although he was the main face of the organization, he planned for Cerberus to go on without him. The group has many different branches, each with its own goals and leaders, meaning they can still function independently. They’re loosely connected by a shared belief system, which makes it hard to eliminate them completely.
The Illusive Man probably had backup plans for what would happen if he died, possibly even several people ready to step in and keep things running smoothly. This isn’t just about one strong leader; it’s a movement. Their ability to bounce back is thanks to their advanced technology, gained through unethical experiments involving Reaper and Collector tech, which gives them a strong military advantage over other groups in the galaxy.
With their tech and numerous operatives working separately, Cerberus could easily return as a powerful threat in the next chapter of Mass Effect. What’s worse is that with a new leader, Cerberus could be even deadlier, as the Illusive Man was smart enough to keep the organization from destroying others at its own cost, which made it less dangerous than it could have been. Still, maybe another leader wouldn’t be above that.
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Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
Released
May 14, 2021
Developer(s)
BioWare
Publisher(s)
Electronic Arts
Engine
Unreal Engine 4
ESRB
M for Mature: Blood, Drug Reference, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol, Violence
When Anthony Davis described watching the flames approaching his family home, he didn’t sound like a star player on the Lakers.
He sounded like a concerned father.
When JJ Redick recalled Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul of the San Antonio Spurs presenting his sons with autographed game-worn jerseys to rebuild memorabilia collections that were lost in the Palisades fire, he didn’t sound like the coach of one of Los Angeles’ signature franchises.
The players and coaches didn’t talk about a return to normalcy because they knew there were people for whom life would never be normal again. They knew how powerless they were against this force of nature, Davis speaking about joy that sports can generate, only to add an important qualifier: “Even if it’s temporary.”
They wanted this night to mean something, but what?
“Win, lose, draw, this game is over and everything’s still going on in the world,” Davis said. “Bittersweet in a sense because we still have people who are dealing with real-life situations and we get to go out here and play basketball.”
Davis recounted what it was like first hearing about the Palisades fire when the Lakers were on the road for a game against the Dallas Mavericks.
He said he thought about his wife and children and “you start freaking out.”
Davis said he heard about Redick’s rental home burning down.
“Then my wife started telling me about some of my daughter’s classmates, their families losing homes. And my daughter, where she goes [to] ride horses was gone. And some of my son’s classmates and how their houses are gone. Started getting tough, started getting emotional.”
Davis later saw the Palisades fire close in on his home. He and his family evacuated.
“Obviously, a tough time for our city,” Davis said. “One thing we found out through the course of COVID is that sports kind of brings joy back to people, even if it’s temporary.”
Redick shared a similar wish.
Of how the Lakers players and staffers supported him after his home was incinerated, Redick said, “There’s real strength in that. And that’s the sort of receiving strength. Then it’s our job to go give strength and give hope and give joy.”
He also received support from Paul, his former teammate on the Clippers who he said was in his “inner-inner circle of brothers.” Redick revealed he received a call from Paul before their game on Monday.
Paul told him he and Wembanyama would give his sons their jerseys “whether you win or we win.” Paul kept his promise. When the Spurs completed their 126-102 victory over the Lakers, Paul walked over to the courtside seats occupied by 10-year-old Knox and 8-year-old Kai, with the 7-foot-3 Wembanyama a couple of giraffe-length strides behind them.
“He’s well aware they’re huge NBA fans,” Redick said. “I ran a podcast out of my home for two years and all the players would come though and they would get either a jersey or a card signed. They had a collection of jerseys and cards and they lost all of that.”
Paul said he considered Redick to be a part of his family. He said of Redick’s children, “I remember when those kids were born. I can’t imagine what it’s been like for them.”
The Spurs were also affected by the fires, as they arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday for two games against the Lakers, the first of which was scheduled on Saturday and was postponed. They switched hotels because of the Palisades fire.
“We can definitely feel it’s a stressful time,” Wembanyama said. “You can feel a lot of people are directly impacted by it.”
Paul was one of them.
The 39-year-old’s family continues to live in Los Angeles and was forced to evacuate from their home.
He said his family was “well,” in part because he happened to be back in town.
“The way God works sometimes,” he said.
Paul’s extended family who lives in the area?
“It’s been a tough week or so.” Paul said.
Paul and Davis shared their admiration for first responders, with Davis saying Lakers players have talked about inviting some of them to Crypto.com Arena to watch games from a suite.
However, Davis cautioned, “The fight isn’t over.”
“I’m sure as you all know,” Paul said, “we’re all getting ready for the winds to pick up again.”
Chris Herring, ESPN Senior WriterJan 13, 2025, 11:42 PM ET
NEW YORK — The New York Knicks scored 119 points and shot efficiently — 50% from the field and 40% from the 3-point stripe. They even managed to get to the line 11 more times than the Detroit Pistons.
But in the end, none of those things were enough as the Knicks fell 124-119 to the red-hot Pistons on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
The game, which marked the halfway point of the regular season for New York, was the kind of contest the defense-first Knicks were used to winning in previous years. But they couldn’t come up with stops late and gave up back-to-back shots on identical plays, both of which resulted in wide-open corner 3s from Detroit’s Malik Beasley in the closing moments.
“We’re losing games I feel like we shouldn’t be losing,” wing Josh Hart said in the locker room after the defeat. “We’ve got to start figuring it out. We’re halfway through. There’s nothing we can do about the first half now. But if we want to be the team we’re trying to be at the end of the season, we need to start correcting stuff now.”
Hart’s comments make it seem like the third-place Knicks, at 26-15, are vastly underperforming relative to expectations. But it’s actually the best mark they’ve had under coach Tom Thibodeau at this point in a campaign. Last season, they were 24-17. In 2022-23, they were 22-19, and in 2021-22, the Knicks were 20-21. So there’s an argument to be made that this is progress.
Thibodeau himself said Monday after the loss that clear progress has been made since the team’s slow start. The club caught fire in December, reeling off nine wins in a row at one point, and it has one of the league’s best scoring duos in Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.
But on some level, that’s what’s noteworthy: The team’s identity — once perhaps the NBA’s most physical, grind-it-out unit — now frequently finds itself in shootouts like Monday’s loss. And the Knicks, who are tied for second in offense but rank just 15th in defense, sometimes can’t get enough stops to close the deal. It’s an unusual problem for a Thibodeau-coached team to have.
Pistons star Cade Cunningham, who had just seven points in the first half after being saddled with foul trouble, exploded for 29 points in the second half. In the third period alone, he had 18. That was why New York aggressively sought to trap him twice in the closing moments, only for Cunningham to unload the ball to Tim Hardaway Jr., who then found an open Beasley on back-to-back possessions to close the game out.
Yes, it was just one contest, against a resurgent Pistons unit that has won 10 of 12, no less. And it was the second end of a back-to-back for the Knicks, who’d taken apart the Bucks a night earlier. But it’s abundantly clear what New York needs to tighten up as it heads into its second half.
“Defensively, we’ve got to be better,” Hart said. “We’ve just got to be better there.”
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — When the inaugural season of TGL launched at the SoFi Center last week, Ireland’s Shane Lowry forgot to bring a tee to the hitting area to hit the first drive in the history of the tech-infused golf league.
It was one of the lighter moments in TGL’s opening night, which for all intents and purposes delivered what had been promised: team golf being played on the largest simulator in the world in a state-of-the-art facility.
TGL figures to get even more eyeballs Tuesday night, when Tiger Woods and his Jupiter Links GC squad take on Collin Morikawa and the Los Angeles Golf Club (7 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+).
The opening night was the culmination of more than eight years of work by TMRW Sports CEO Mike McCarley, Woods, Rory McIlroy and others in getting TGL off the ground.
McCarley spent more than two decades as an NBC Sports executive, first focusing on “Sunday Night Football” and the Olympics, and then was president of Golf Channel and head of the network’s golf coverage from 2011 to 2021.
It was during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that McCarley first came up with the idea of launching golf as a team sport.
“What you found yourself doing in the four years in between Olympics is spending a lot of time with various sports because they want to find out how they could better present themselves on TV four years later,” McCarley said. “You’re helping them find little things that a sport can do better on TV.”
While leading NBC’s golf coverage, McCarley realized that U.S. Opens played on the West Coast — in prime time on the East Coast — were TV ratings bonanzas, and team events such as the Presidents Cup, Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup created more drama and tension than individual stroke-play tournaments.
“They’re on a team, so they’re having more conversations with each other,” McCarley said. “They’re having real reactions with each other that they wouldn’t have in an individual event. The team nature of it and the prime-time piece of it intensifies the drama.”
In 2020, McCarley set out to create a golf environment that “feels a little bit like gladiators walking into the Coliseum, and a little bit more of a pressure cooker because there’s a shot clock.”
McCarley’s first TGL pitch was made to the Maximus of men’s professional golf, 15-time major champion Woods, in December 2020. McCarley had tossed around the idea with Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, and longtime business partner and friend, Rob McNamara.
McCarley knew that Woods used a golf simulator at his home to help prepare for tournaments throughout his PGA Tour career, so Woods was at least familiar with the technology.
Another factor in his favor: Tiger had played in the PGA Tour’s Skins Game six times in his career, and he’d appeared in the first two versions of The Match, another made-for-TV competition.
“There was definitely an order to it,” McCarley said. “First go to Tiger, then Rory, then the PGA Tour, and that was kind of always in my mind.”
With Woods on board, McCarley had a phone call with McIlroy in January 2021. A few years earlier, they had worked together in launching GolfPass, a membership program that combined instruction, entertainment and digital media.
McCarley had talked often with McIlroy and his manager, Sean O’Flaherty, about “embracing technology to kind of create this digital future for golf.”
“I knew that Rory was halfway there in his mind,” McCarley said. “In the phone call, we weren’t even very far into it, and he’s like, ‘I don’t even know what this is yet, and I’m ready to say yes, because it’s kind of hitting on so many themes.'”
McCarley’s final hurdle was getting the PGA Tour’s blessing to allow its members to compete in the TGL. He met with commissioner Jay Monahan in April 2021. At the time, there had been only speculation that two-time Open Championship winner Greg Norman was attempting to launch a rival breakaway circuit. It would be another 14 months until LIV Golf staged its first tournament in London, in which Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and other former PGA Tour members competed.
McCarley assured Monahan that TGL events would be early-week events that wouldn’t conflict with his circuit’s tournaments. The PGA Tour signed off on releases for its members to compete in TGL, which it didn’t do for LIV Golf, and became a TGL partner.
According to McCarley, the PGA Tour’s help was instrumental in developing TGL’s technology because it supplied his company with historical Shotlink data that helped “make sure that we’re one standard deviation away from all the most common misses.”
“Using a lot of the historical data helped us develop some of the very basic early renderings and schematics that we could hand off to architects and other technologists,” McCarley said.
BY OCTOBER 2022, TMRW Sports had a full swing simulator and virtual green installed in a warehouse at its headquarters in Winter Park, Florida. A trip to Stockholm, Sweden, the next month would kick TGL into high gear.
Andrew Macaulay, the then-chief technology officer at Topgolf Entertainment Group, hung white material to act as temporary screen at an indoor golf range in Stockholm and rented a projector for the week. McCarley and other TGL employees watched on Zoom as a Swedish long-drive champion hit shots into the screen from 35 yards away. There were people from 16 different time zones from New Zealand to Hawai’i on the videoconference.
Then McCarley and Scott Armstrong, TMRW Sports’ vice president for competition technology and operations, flew to Sweden to see the setup in person. Macaulay even arranged for sand to be dumped in the middle of the driving range so McCarley and Armstrong could see how bunker shots would be tracked on the simulator.
“There were a lot of discussions, PowerPoint slides, back-of-the-napkin [ideas] and all the usual stuff,” Macaulay said. “But no one up to that point had actually created a really quick prototype in real life for him, which is what we did to try to convince him that our idea was the way to go.”
Macaulay was hired as TMRW Sports’ chief technology officer in December 2022. He and others went to work in developing the technology for the largest golf simulator in the world, and a state-of-the-art short game course to complement it.
There was plenty of trial and error in the beginning. Initially, TGL toyed with the idea of using natural grass on its GreenZone short game area. Their idea was ambitious: nearly 600 actuators would morph the green’s topography between holes, ensuring that each putting surface would be unique. TGL brought in a truckload of Tahoma 31 bermuda grass, which was first created by Oklahoma State University scientists, from a sod farm that also supplies playing fields to the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs.
“We were concerned about water penetration to the electronics,” said Tanner Coffman, TGL’s director of turf management. “The turf for a football field we were using was fine, but I think when we got down to a really closely mown putting green, it would have cracked over time.”
Instead, TGL elected to use synthetic turf on the GreenZone, which was another technological challenge because it wanted to ensure that golf balls would still bounce and spin like they would on natural grass. TGL designers later decided to put the green on a moving turntable, which added another layer of variety for matches.
Armstrong spent time at short-game instructor Dave Pelz’s backyard at his home in Austin, Texas, where two acres of synthetic grass cover his practice grounds that include reproductions of the 12th green at Augusta National Golf Club, Road Hole at St. Andrews in Scotland, No. 17 island hole at TPC Sawgrass and other iconic holes from around the world.
TGL developers went through hundreds of combinations of materials that would replace the dirt and organic matter found under actual putting greens, before finally settling on seven layers of foam, rubber and plexiglass. Macaulay declined to say exactly what’s under the synthetic turf because TGL has a pending patent on it.
“We’ve created something that didn’t exist before, which is a green that is both receptive to pitch and chip shots,” Macaulay said. “When that ball bounces and rolls, it behaves very similarly to a real green and it putts true. If you were to want a putting green for your backyard, chances are you’d only get one or the other.”
TGL broke ground on a stadium with a domed roof on the campus of Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, in February 2023.
WHILE THE STADIUM was being built, Armstrong and others went to work on developing how TGL matches would be played. They knew they wanted to use a shot clock to speed up play in a two-hour match, but they weren’t sure exactly how it would work. The first competition test match took place at Fairway Social, a restaurant and sports bar with a simulator and putting green in Alpharetta, Georgia. The second test match came two months later at Interlachen Country Club in Winter Park.
“It was more going from the practice green to the range to just kind of see the flow,” McCarley said. “When we introduced the shot clock on the practice green, we realized the shot clock was definitely going to have an impact.”
In May 2023, TMRW Sports moved into the first TGL Innovation Lab at Stage 25 on a backlot of Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. Soon, the world’s largest golf simulator screen, 60 feet by 30 feet, and a putting surface, 40 feet by 30 feet, were installed. A month later, competition test matches took place, using real grass for tee and fairway shots and sand for bunker shots.
Former PGA Tour pro Roberto Castro helped organize a group of highly skilled golfers to play test matches at the Innovation Lab. More than 100 golfers would participate in more than 200 matches.
“The good thing about South Florida is there’s no shortage of really good golfers — professionals, club professionals, college players and so on,” Macaulay said. “Our testing has a lot of facets to it, and we needed some people who could approximate what the best players in the world could do and what lines they would take.”
TGL hired three golf course design companies (Agustín Pizá, Beau Welling and Nicklaus Design) to create 30 original holes. TGL said they were “inspired by authentic golf landscapes such as links, canyons, coastal, deserts and tropical settings.” Working in a virtual world allowed the designers to build holes that were out of the ordinary as well.
The par-4 “Flex” is nestled on an active volcano, and “The Spear” has a floating tee box, landing area and GreenZone.
“There’s a certain geometry to golf,” said Welling, whose firm designed the PGA Frisco course in Texas and Pelican Golf Club in Florida, among others. “There’s a certain dispersion that these guys hit golf balls. You’re trying to replicate risk and reward and the choices and all the golf architecture sort of concepts.”
Designing golf holes for a virtual course was different from anything Welling had done before. He found that incorporating trees was more difficult than expected, but there was also more freedom to be creative because he didn’t have to worry about building an actual bridge to get golfers over a large body of water, canyon or lava.
Another advantage in working in a virtual world: Welling didn’t have to actually move dirt to make changes to the holes. It took only three or four keystrokes to make even dramatic alterations.
“I think what’s cool is that you can go do whatever you want in many, many ways,” Welling said. “There’s parts that are the same, but then there’s things that are radically different, in that you don’t have constraints that you would have in the real world.”
Because TGL’s six teams represent cities or geographical areas, including Boston, Los Angeles and New York, Welling considered designing holes through Central Park, down Wall Street and over the Boston Harbor. He ended up shelving the idea for the first year but might bring it back in future seasons.
“Trying to accurately model and represent an urban landscape or skyscape turned out to be hard, or more than we wanted to bite off from a modeling standpoint,” Welling said. “I think it’s a cool mix of holes. But I’m also excited about where we will go from here. What else could be done? Just like anything that is technologically based, 2.0 has got an opportunity to do things that 1.0 didn’t.”
At the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta in August 2022, McCarley and McIlroy announced the formation of TMRW Sports and released renderings of what the TGL experience would look like. They said their first season would tee off in January 2024.
At the time of the announcement, the PGA Tour was in the middle of an all-out competition with LIV Golf for the best players in the world. In addition to Johnson and Mickelson, other major champions such as Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith and others had jumped to the Saudi Arabian-financed circuit. Monahan suspended the golfers from the PGA Tour when they competed in their first LIV Golf events without a conflicting-event media release.
Only three weeks earlier, 11 PGA Tour members sued the tour in federal court, challenging their suspensions and fines and claiming the PGA Tour was a monopoly. Three golfers — Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones — unsuccessfully sought a temporary restraining order to play in the FedEx Cup playoffs.
On Aug. 16, 2022, Woods and McIlroy led a players-only meeting at the BMW Championship in Wilmington, Delaware, where details were finalized for a new PGA Tour schedule that would include eight tournaments with increased prize money in an attempt to keep the best golfers on the tour.
AROUND 6 A.M. ET on Nov. 15, 2023, as construction of TGL’s stadium had reached the back nine, McCarley was working out at a gym when he was told that a portion of the domed roof had deflated. A storm blew through later that day, tearing the heavy canvas roof from the system of cables that supported it. Everything inside was left susceptible to rain and wind.
TGL’s inaugural season was supposed to start in 55 days on Jan. 9, 2024.
“It became obvious that the damage was going to be a lot worse than what I was originally told,” McCarley said. “By the end of that day, we knew the date that we had picked was no longer reasonable.”
After consulting with team owners, sponsors and ESPN executives, McCarley decided to push the first season back nearly a year. He considered a delayed start later that fall, but ultimately chose to stick to the original premise of “not just avoiding football, but using football as a way to promote golf in prime time.”
TGL went back to the drawing board and decided to build a steel-structured arena with a traditional roof. About 1,500 fans would be wrapped around the playing area in the nearly 250,000-square foot arena.
“The first time I heard the words ‘blessing in disguise’ was from Tiger Woods, and [the delay] allowed us to do a lot of things that may have had to wait until Season 2,” McCarley said. “From a tech standpoint, it gave our teams more time to kind of build their community and market and promote having the lab in Palm Beach. It gave the players more time to come in and test and give us feedback.
“That blessing in disguise is probably an apt description because there are a lot of things that were improved with the benefit of time.”
While TGL’s core technology was already in place, the extra year allowed for refinement of the holes. At least one hole was completely redesigned, and others had significant alterations after test matches.
The new steel roof allowed for other improvements as well. A crane was added that allows Coffman to change out the 2,000-pound turf trays that are used for tee shots and shots out of the rough. The sod is grown on top of plastic, and every square inch weighs about 18 pounds.
Golfers warm up on the grass boxes before matches, and Coffman has about 15 minutes to replace the turf trays before the opening shots on live TV. TGL has a turf farm in the parking lot outside SoFi Center.
“The idea started out years ago as potentially a cart with a crane arm that could drive out there and pick them up,” Coffman said. “As a grass guy, I don’t like anything driving on the grass. I don’t like heavy machinery going across the grass, moving things, and so the only other option was to kind of drop it from the ceiling.”
THE BAY GOLF CLUB, led by Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg and former U.S. Open winner Wyndham Clark, defeated New York Golf Club 9-2 in the inaugural match. The match was decided when Ireland’s Shane Lowry took down Rickie Fowler in singles on the par-5 10th. The teams completed the final five holes because overall holes won and lost are among the tiebreakers for the seasonlong SoFi Cup points race.
“No sports fan ever wants to see a blowout and have it end early,” McCarley said. “Everyone wants everything to go down to the wire. Golf is no different than a good football or basketball game. But I think the feedback that we’ve received, especially from the players, has been fantastic.”
From Macaulay’s view point, the opening match was a success because the technology worked without a hitch. There are 73 camera sources capturing the action at SoFi Center, including 20 robotic ones. There are six Full Swing monitors at both the front and back tee boxes, and six additional ones below a slope closer to the screen. Drones are also flying overhead during the match.
“There were no technical issues at all,” Macaulay said. “There were no operator issues. It’s not just servers and computers running. There’s a team of experts that we’ve trained through all these hundreds of practice matches to operate the simulator, the scoring system and the shot clock. I was very happy, but there’s no resting on laurels.”
The opening match drew nearly a million viewers, an average of 919,000, on ESPN, according to Nielsen numbers last week, per Front Office Sports. It had a larger audience than any LIV Golf broadcast on The CW in 2023 and 2024, and the PGA Tour’s opener, The Sentry, in Hawai’i earlier this month.
With Woods playing for the first time Tuesday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN), the audience figures to spike. Maintaining interest over the course of the season will be the key for TGL.
TGL is already tossing around the idea of a virtual golf league involving players from the LPGA. There could be numerous iterations — perhaps even a battle between golfers from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf if the sport’s great divide ends.
“I think the competitive nature of this will tighten up as the season goes on,” McCarley said. “I think the product for the players or the fans is going to improve and look a little bit different in January to when it ends in March. If we’re doing our jobs right, we’re making small changes along the way.”
Jessica Simpson and husband Eric Johnson are separating after 10 years of marriage.
“Eric and I have been living separately navigating a painful situation in our marriage,” the “I Wanna Love You Forever” singer said Tuesday in a statement to The Times.
Simpson and the former NFL tight end got engaged in 2010 after six months of dating then wed in Santa Barbara in 2014 after welcoming their first two children together. They have three children: Maxwell “Maxi” Drew, 12; Ace Knute, 11; and Birdie Mae, 5.
“Our children come first, and we are focusing on what is best for them. We are grateful for all of the love and support that has been coming our way, and appreciate privacy right now as we work through this as a family,” the fashion designer said.
It is unclear whether plans to file for divorce are underway, and a representative for the singer declined to comment further. People first reported the split Monday.
Both Simpson and Johnson were married once before. The “Irresistible” and “I Think I’m in Love With You” singer was previously wed to singer Nick Lachey from 2002 to 2006. Johnson, who played for the San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints, was married to teacher Keri D’Angelo from 2005 to 2010.
The split comes as rumors of a breakup heightened in November after Simpson and Johnson were spotted without their wedding rings. Simpson also teased a “comeback” in November, confirming that she was back in a studio in Nashville.
“This comeback is personal, it’s an apology to myself for putting up with everything I did not deserve,” the “Open Book” author wrote on Instagram at the time.
Last week, Simpson was among the thousands of Angelenos whose homes were evacuated during the historic wildfires scorching Los Angeles County.
“We stayed as long as we could,” she wrote Thursday on Instagram, accompanying the post with a photo of her Hidden Hills home with smoke from the Kenneth fire billowing behind it. Simpson bought the 11,000-square-foot home, which boasts six bedrooms and 10 baths, from Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne for $11.5 million in 2013.
The Kenneth fire, which burned a little more than 1,000 acres in the hills north of Calabasas, was fully contained over the weekend. A 33-year-old man was arrested last week by LAPD officers after he was seen attempting to spark a fire in the same vicinity.
BossMan Dlow’s 2024 was filled with back to back hits, and he ended the year with the album, ‘Dlow Curry.’ The rapper shares how he plans to tour ‘Dlow Curry,’ his secret to creating hits, why he felt the need to create “The Biggest Pt. 2” and more!
Kyle Denis:
What’s up y’all it’s Kyle Denis, staff writer at Billboard, and I am here with Big Za himself, BossMan DLow, how are you doing today my guy?
BossMan Dlow”
Chilling bro, chilling, for sure.
How’s that New York weather treating you?
I ain’t going to lie, cold. Cold at first. I’m straight now.
You know, it’s been a very, very productive year for you. Talk to us a little bit about “The Biggest Pt. 2.” How did that song come together? And why did you think “The Biggest” needed a sequel?
I don’t know, bro, I forgot how I even heard that beat. Man, I don’t know, but it came on. I just, you know, I felt the vibe to the beat.
It woke up something in you.
Yeah, it woke me up. So I went in there, because you know I don’t write. I just go in there and just go off the tone, so when I sat down I was like “Got her lookin’ at me like/ ‘Bae, you the biggest’” I just ended up calling it that for real for real That’s how it went.
You’ve had a crazy run of hits this year, “Get In With Me,” “Mr Pot Scraper,” “Talk My Sh*t,” “Shake Dat A**” “2 Slippery,” “SportsCenter.” I could keep going. Did any of those surprise you by how big they became?
All of them to be real.
Yeah?
How big “”Get In With Me” was kind of that was the most shocking one because it was like, I put that song to the side.
Everyone in the UK is being urged to do three things at home this winter as flu cases surge.
Hospital admissions for people with flu were averaging 5,408 every day in the first week of January, including 256 in critical care, according to NHS England figures.
Health experts have warned that the strain of flu in circulation at the moment is putting more than three times as many people into hospital compared to this time last year, and flu positivity levels still remain high.
As the virus continues to spread, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is urging people to take three measures at home to help prevent further transmission.
Flu is spread through the air and by contact with contaminated surfaces or objects, so the UKHSA says it is vital to follow three basic rules of good hygiene to protect yourself and others from infection. These include:
The UKHSA says: “Coughing and sneezing increases the number of particles released by a person, the distance the particles travel and the time they stay in the air. If an infected person coughs or sneezes without covering their nose and mouth, it will significantly increase the risk of infecting others around them. By covering your nose and mouth, you will reduce the spread of particles carrying the virus.
“Cover your mouth and nose with disposable tissues when you cough or sneeze. Put used tissues in a bin and immediately wash your hands or use hand sanitiser. If you do not have a tissue, cough or sneeze into the crook of your elbow, not into your hand.”
It’s also important to wash your hands after touching surfaces as they could be contaminated with viruses and germs, which can then enter your body if you touch your eyes, nose or mouth.
Washing your hands removes viruses and germs making it less likely you’ll be infected if you touch your face, and using soap and water is the most effective way to clean your hands.
In addition to regular washing throughout the day, you should wash your hands after coughing, sneezing and blowing your nose, before eating or handling food, after touching surfaces touched by others, and when returning home.
It’s also important to clean and disinfect surfaces in your home as they can be contaminated when people touch, cough, talk or breathe over them. Cleaning should be carried out often with particular attention to surfaces like handles, light switches, work surfaces and remote controls, as these are touched a lot.
After an all-time great season of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, we’re very much looking forward to the Season 5 reunion! We’ll have to wait a few more weeks for it to air. Luckily, Bravo gave us a sneak peek at the RHOSLC ladies’ reunion looks. For this year’s theme, the ladies brought it back to the season premiere’s Besos party. That meant romantic shades of red, pink, and merlot. We’re definitely in love with some of these looks, but others? We’ll save our kisses. Here’s our ranking, from best to worst dressed.
Bronwyn Newport
Photo Credit: Clifton Prescod/Bravo
Bronwyn Newport continues to raise the bar when it comes to RHOSLC fashion! Considering her looks all season long, our expectations were high, and she exceeded them. This Carolina Herrera gown was originally made for Karlie Kloss at the 2021 Met Gala. Bronwyn loved the look so much, she bought it from designer Wes Gordon’s archives, and had it tailored specially for her. Don’t forget, Bronwyn pays designers!
As always, Bronwyn put a lot of thought into her ensemble. She wrote on Instagram, “The dress on the Met Gala carpet was meant to symbolize America’s flower, the rose at the In America: A Lexicon of Fashion event.” For the reunion, “it was a symbol of my hope for blossoming friendships in future after watching myself throughout the season, as long as we can all get past each other’s thorns!” She also referenced that heart coat, adding, “I also wanted to bookend my first season the way I started it… in big red shoulders!”
For fashion fans who love the Met Gala, wearing and owning the couture is a dream. The fact that Bronwyn actually did so is a major power move. There’s a reason the popular newbie instantly joined the ranks of Bravo-style icons!
Angie K is RHOSLC’s Greek Goddess who will boast, “I think I look like a mother.” For the Season 5 reunion, she looks as pretty as a princess. In fact, she told Bravo she was going for a “splash of princess, and maybe a little queen.” As well as a “feminine, soft, doll-like vibe.”
Another goal with her Season 5 reunion look was to show off her “versatility.” Angie’s been killing the fashion game all season long. From her confessional looks to her vacay ensembles to her signature giant sunglasses. Even when she’s dressed over-the-top in Greek flags at a Milwaukee basketball game, her outfits bring us joy.
Her (low-body count) hair is amazing, as always. As she told Bravo, “I wanted the dress and hair to be timeless and elegant.” She nailed it on all counts. This Oscar de la Renta dress really is classically elegant. I’m sure we’ll love it even more as time passes.
Mary Cosby
Photo Credit: Clifton Prescod/Bravo
Mary Cosby has a very strong sense of personal style. It’s what she bonded with Bronwyn over when they first met. However, Bronwyn’s hot dog outfit was even a little too much for her. As for Mary’s reunion dress, this is couture, not a costume.
Much like her bestie Angie, Mary looks very regal, in a gown fit for a queen. Not everyone is able to pull off a dress with gold feather details. But it’s the type of unexpected, slightly eclectic detail that is so perfectly Mary. She also loves a statement necklace, and the big, bold, gold collar works great here. I would say this is one of her best outfits on the show, a perfect way to cap off her best season yet.
Whitney Rose
Photo Credit: Clifton Prescod/Bravo
Last year, Whitney Rose was definitely worst dressed at the reunion. So this year, she gets extra points for the most improved. I’d go so far as to call this her best reunion look yet. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but the strapless number is perfectly sexy and sleek. She accessorized with her controversial jewelry line PRISM but kept those pieces simple. That was the right move. as it lets the dress take center stage.
You can tell how confident she feels in this dress as well. Describing what she was going for, Salt Lake’s wild rose said, “Looks don’t lie.” In this photo, it looks more like she’s thinking, “if looks could kill.”
Heather Gay
Photo Credit: Clifton Prescod/Bravo
I can see others ranking this Heather Gay reunion look, which she called “Good Time Girl goes Glam,” higher on the list. It’s simple and elegant and fits like a glove. But when I first saw this, my initial reaction was deja vu. As in, I literally went back to make sure it was not the same dress she wore to last year’s reunion. It’s not, but it’s a little too similar for my taste. It’s also giving bridesmaid more than Real Housewives. She still looks great, but she can do better considering her RHOSLC fashion. I’m personally hoping she takes a bit of a risk for the Season 6 reunion!
Britani Bateman
Photo Credit: Clifton Prescod/Bravo
Before her first reunion, Britani Bateman got a hair makeover. RHOSLC’s polarizing “friend of” left the salon with a brighter blonde hue. This blingy, bold dress certainly matches that! As a friend of, she won’t be on stage for the whole reunion. But with this dress, she’s ensured that, when she does appear, all eyes will be on her!
Forever a theater kid, Britani named Glinda from Wicked as her inspiration for this look. Personally, I see that more with Angie K’s look than I do with this glitzy dress. But Britani looks happy with her choice. It’s not my favorite dress of the bunch, but it’s memorable and fun. Honestly, she did better on her first reunion than most of the OGs did back in Season 1…
Meredith Marks
Photo Credit: Clifton Prescod/Bravo
Meredith Marks wore an ensemble designed by her son Brooks. She accessorized with her own “Stardust jewelry collection which was modeled after the stars and the sky at night in Park City.” The shoes and dress were inspired by that collection. No one can accuse Meredith of failing to self-promote!
In theory, Park City’s night sky sounds like a great inspiration for a RHOSLC reunion look. But the actual ensemble isn’t wowing me. It looks both mother-of-the-bride and like a sexy Mrs. Claus costume. Neither vibe really goes for a Real Housewives reunion that was essentially Valentine’s themed. The dress does look better without the bolero. And her face card never declines. But unfortunately, Meredith’s streak of subpar reunion looks continues for the fifth season in a row.
Lisa Barlow
Photo Credit: Clifton Prescod/Bravo
On the other hand, Lisa Barlow usually wins best dressed at the RHOSLC reunions. Alas, this is a bit of a fashion fall from grace for our Baby Gorgeous. Lisa threw the Besos party that started off the season, but this number feels all wrong for the theme! The dark purple shade is, dare I say it, a little drab. The fringe should be a fun detail. She tried to play it up on TikTok. But instead, it just looks heavy.
Reunion looks should be fun, but when I see this dress I wonder, why so serious? I know sleek, straight hair with a center part is Lisa’s signature, but maybe a different style could’ve added some oomph? Overall, I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.
Jeopardy!‘s Second Chance champion and fan-favorite Drew Goins is reflecting on what it’s really like filming an episode of the long-running game show behind the scenes, and one of his ad-break rituals may surprise some.
According to Goins, what you see is what you get when it comes to Jeopardy! as he says, “I was surprised how little TV magic there is. There’s nothing about Jeopardy! that feels misleading. The show breaks where the commercial breaks in taping. They go up there and they’re not talking about Eggland’s best eggs, but you do have five minutes, and Ken takes some questions from the audience,” he adds.
Among one of Goins’ go-to moves during those all-important ad breaks was exercise. “You get a chance to stretch,” he notes, adding, “I kind of became notorious for using the breaks to do calisthenics right there on the stage.”
Jeopardy!, Inc.
So, what exactly did those calisthenics entail? “I do air squats and toe touches and just shake my arms all around. By the end of it, people on the crew were copying me and mocking me,” Goins teases.
And while those moments during the ads allowed Goins to reset a little bit between buzzing in on clues, he acknowledges that when filming, “The pacing that you see is exactly the pacing that happens. The clues that you see are the clues that happen. It just feels appropriately Jeopardy! in the subject matter, but very honest.”
In regard, to the topic, Goins references another hit competition: CBS‘sSurvivor. “I think of other shows where so much of it is the magic, right? I think about Survivor, which I adore. Obviously, there have to be cameras all over the place, but you think of them as on this deserted island where there’s nobody but them, right? When I went on Jeopardy!, I was like, wow, this is exactly what it’s like on TV.”
“There’s no surprise here, so the lack of surprise was a surprise if that makes sense,” Goins concludes. But you can find out for yourself by applying to play the game show yourself. What do you think of Goins’ little ad break routine? Sound off in the comments section, and stay tuned for his return in the Champions Wildcard.
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