Winners and Losers: Race Walking Becomes Mainstream
HBO and surging Tweeter Raj come up with killer replies, Jacksonville overpays for Nick Foles, and more Winners and Losers from the last week in popular culture
The Internet moves at Ludicrous Speed, and it’s easy to miss out on the latest developments in popular culture. Therefore, the entire UNPLUGG’D Staff will be doing a weekly roundup in determining who “won” and “lost” the week. We only ask that you don’t take us too seriously — we can’t really quantify our metrics, and if we could, we would be stuck with the same winner every week:
Let’s begin!
Winner: This Toy Story Recreation of ‘The Lob’
Nathan Graber-Lipperman: I got some hate from ‘The Unplugg’d Staff’ for claiming this thing is both hilarious and a piece of art.
Here’s the thing: Toy Story is one of the greatest movie franchises of all time. ‘The Lob’ is quietly going down as one of the most legendary sports photos of all time, a photo that came to define a new generation of NBA basketball where superstars now have the capability to form super teams.
Loser: Mr. Potato Head
NGL: Sure, Buzz Lightyear can fly to infinity and beyond. Apparently, he’s a pretty good dunker too. Yet for every posterizer, there has to be a posterizee; in this case, Mr. Potato Head won’t be hearing the end of it for a long, long time.
Winner: Race Walking
Andrew Fenichel: ICYMI — race walking is legit. I mean REALLY legit. Just look at this tweet from Darren Rovell:
The cutoff for the race walking Olympics is a 7:24 mile pace. I was a varsity cross country runner and pretty fast under five miles. However, I ran a half marathon over the summer in an hour and 38 minutes — a pace of 7:29 minute miles. And that was me RUNNING! Race walking is so ridiculously insane that you gotta respect it. Race walking is a winner. [insert mic drop]
Loser: Jacksonville Jaguars
Jack Lido: I like Nick Foles. His magical playoff run was absolutely awesome, though Philadelphia and its fans were unbearable to me for a while. However, Nick Foles is not worth 4 years and $88 Million.
Is he worth more than Tom Brady, who is getting paid $15 million per year? Is he worth more than J.J. Watt, who is raking in $17 million per year? Foles has more guaranteed money owed to him than Antonio Brown, Jason Kelce and Chris Long combined. I’m not an Econ student, but that seems like a steep bill for Jacksonville.
Winner: Raj
Karim Noorani: Bear with me for this story. I see a tweet about Kylie Jenner becoming the first ‘self-made’ billionaire and of course look through the comments section. Lucky me stumbles upon a reply from Chateau Marmont hotel, who serve a lot of rich people in Hollywood, saying “ I don’t think anyone who has stayed here regularly since they were 7 could be considered self made.”
That’s an absolute roast attributed to an unknown twitter user named Raj, who then follows up this:
I’m not hating on Kylie Jenner. I’m just happy Raj is finally standing up for himself. Raj, wherever you are, I’m proud of you. 👊
Winner: HBO
NGL: Look, does HBO know that I’ve been using my brother’s friend’s little brother’s account to watch Game of Thrones for the last six years? Absolutely. Have they done anything about it? Not really, no.
Let’s be real, with the way in which GoT has become a worldwide cultural phenomenon, HBO doesn’t need every single individual to subscribe to their platform in order to generate revenue — even multi-millionaire Greek Freaks! With one tweet from Giannis, though, HBO a) got even more people to talk about Thrones and b) got to up their hilarious brand personality.
That’s a winner in my book.
Who do you think won and lost the past week in popular culture? Tweet at us @unplugg_d and reply in the comment section below to discuss!
