With some nifty funk backing them, the boys (well, silhouettes of them, anyway) were transported back to the ’70s. Feel the groove. SN POWER RANKINGS: Cubs land in top five What’s that? You need to see the actual dancers getting down in the ‘pen? Here you go: The Cubs’ production was a lot hipper than the team’s manager, Joe Maddon, dropping references to ’70s NBA stars Nate “Tiny” Archibald and Norm Van Lier this weekend to describe second baseman Javy Baez’s play....

On Saturday, Arrieta showed the Pirates why he’s a threat at the plate, in addition to the mound. Facing a 2-2 count, Arrieta crushed a pitch from Ivan Nova into the first row of the left field bleachers, tying the game 2-2. It was his fifth career home run, all of which have come since 2015. He has the second-most home runs by a pitcher over the last three seasons, behind only the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner, who has hit 10....

After the Cubs’ 7-3 win over the White Sox on Wednesday — which included five home runs in the first four innings — Maddon said he couldn’t believe the way the ball is jumping off the bat in baseball today. “I don’t know what I’m witnessing, but the way the ball is coming off the bat right now is extraterrestrial,” Maddon told reporters (via NBC Sports Chicago). “It’s an E....

Contreras, pinch-hitting in the bottom of the sixth against the Pirates Sunday, blasted a 401-foot home run off an 81-mph changeup from reliever A.J. Schugel for the first two RBIs of his big league career. MORE: MLB’s worst fielders | Kid gives little girl game ball, melts hearts Contreras joined Jim Bullinger (1992) as the only Cubs to hit a homer on the first career pitch they see. The catcher prospect also joins an impressive list of Cubs accomplishments in their debut games....

In his first at bat, Bryant swung three times and struck out. His second at bat? He saw more than three pitches…but he still struck out. His third at bat? He struck out again. Oof. Following his third strikeout, a Cubs fan had a very audible message for the rookie. This Cubs fan wasn’t the only one to poke fun at Bryant. Twitter had fun as well. Bryant may be a great player, but his debut hasn’t been one to remember....

The Cubs, four wins from the pennant in 2015, are set up to contend for years to come, and what should unsettle the rest of baseball is that they still have room to improve. MORE: Top 15 remaining free agents | Winter meetings winners and losers The infield is set with Rizzo, free agent signee Ben Zobrist, Addison Russell and Rookie of the Year Kris Bryant. As things set up right now, Kyle Schwarber is in left field, with Heyward in center and Jorge Soler in right....

Renteria was given a three-year contract, with club options for 2017 and 2018. Terms were not disclosed. He has spent the last six seasons in San Diego, the last three as bench coach. Renteria has also coached in the Florida Marlins organization and in March managed Mexico in the World Baseball Classic. He replaces Dale Sveum, who was fired after two losing seasons. The Cubs were 127-197 under Sveum and finished in last place in the National League Central Division for the first time in seven years....

Miller, who used to command the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, took over responsibility for Iraq’s 14 military-run prisons last month after allegations of abuse perpetrated by U.S. military personnel triggered no less than five separate investigations. But it’ll take a lot more to remove the stain of Iraq’s current prison abuse scandal. Many Iraqis shudder at the words “Abu Ghraib.” It was Saddam Hussein’s most notorious prison, symbol of a regime so vast and so opaque that Iraqis are still sorting out whose corpses wound up in mass graves, and who simply disappeared....

“Without state and local funding, the vaccine distribution will be delayed,” Cuomo wrote in his two-paged letter to the president. “You will be held accountable for that delay, which will lead to more deaths and make the federal vaccine program a debacle.” Cuomo noted that time is running short and Congress needed to act on a COVID-19 bill in the next 48 hours. He then called on Trump to sway Republican lawmakers to support the bill and said “Senator McConnell is irrelevant....

Thompson, returning after a one-game absence to attend his grandfather's funeral in the Bahamas, scored 23 of his 27 points in the second half and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 11.1 seconds remaining to lift the Warriors to a 113-112 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night. Stephen Curry led all scorers with 37 points for the Warriors, who rallied from an 18-point deficit midway through the third quarter to snap a two-game skid....

Mat Weber shared the video of the incident, which took place at a Walmart store in Arden, North Carolina, on his Facebook account last week. In the brief clip, a white man in a red shirt is seen shoving a young employee, who is then led away by another worker. The video has been viewed more than 400,000 times since it was posted last Tuesday. Weber told Newsweek the yellow badge the employee was wearing indicated he is a minor....

A record 166.3 million Americans were expected to shop in person or online between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). That is 8 million more people than last year and the NRF’s highest estimate since it began tracking data in 2017. Americans are especially eager to take advantage of shopping deals as inflation eats at their holiday budgets. A CNBC/Survey Monkey poll found that 67 percent of shoppers are worried about affording holiday items because of inflation, while 69 percent said the possibility of a global recession forced them to consider cutting back....

While some critics may liken online education to “fast food” learning, more than 1.4 million people now get at least part of their education on the Internet. According to InterEd, a company that advises universities on new educational technology, 75 percent of all colleges and universities now offer some type of online course. But why on PDAs, which lag behind the efficiency and cost effectiveness of textbooks? Proponents argue that more options are better than fewer....

Cybermen: Cellular-phonetoting bureaucrats (Sunday Times of London) Cyberwonk: Technology nerd (Washington Times) Cybercrime: Cracking secret codes for computers, cellular phones, etc. (NEWSWEEK) Cybrarians: Librarians who use computers (Forbes) Cyber-paranoid: Afraid of technology (New York Times) Cybersex: Steamy computer bulletin-board exchanges (Chicago Tribune) Cybergasm: See “cybersex” (Cleveland Plain Dealer) title: “Cybertedium” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-15” author: “Fay Rogers” Cybermen: Cellular-phonetoting bureaucrats (Sunday Times of London) Cyberwonk: Technology nerd (Washington Times)...

“I don’t want to get into my personal life right now,” Young said on Wednesday a little more than an hour before the Lakers played the Heat. “I think it is best if me and D’Angelo handled the situation we had in a private manner, outside the media.” MORE: Watch the video | Greatest Lakers of all time It was the briefest of statements, and Young did not take questions, though he looked plaintively at the gathered reporters as if all he wanted was to get back to the usual banter that has been part of his NBA charm....

Maybe that explains why he made the statement he made Tuesday, just several days after his third-ranked Tigers were routed at home, 51-14, to No. 5 Florida State. MORE: FSU states case for No. 1 | Top 10 QB performances | Midseason awards Swinney said that after watching film that if the two teams played 10 times, “We’d probably win five, they’d probably win five.” He said that the Seminoles were a great football team....

In the video, which has over 321,000 views, Prince Fredrick, the black and tan short-haired dachshund, can be seen splashing around in the hot tub, a cooling treat in the hot Australian summer sun. His owner can be heard asking, “You want me to help you out?” as Fredrick climbs out, shakes himself off and then leaps back into the water with apparent glee. The video is accompanied by the caption, “Prince Fredrick constantly pretends he wants to get out and then jumps straight back in....

In a now-viral post, u/Subject-Hospital-493 has received more than 19,200 upvotes as he turned to the internet to explain he is “at a loss.” He wrote that his 17-year-old son “has no interest in anything beyond his computer.” In 2021, a youth organization called Junior Achievement surveyed 1,002 teens aged 16 and 17. The results found 90 percent of respondents had plans to attend college after high school. Explaining his story, the Redditor explained he has three children aged 17, 15, and 10....

In a post shared on Reddit’s Am I The A****** (AITA), user 62826g said: “My wife and I have a son ([17-year-old male]) together. 16 years ago I was drunk and I slept with another woman, which resulted in another child ([16-year-old female]). My wife forgave me but she made it clear that she doesn’t want to be anywhere near my daughter.” The daughter was recently invited to a family gathering and was meant to arrive with one of her two uncles....