“I kind of stepped off the back of the mound after one of my pitches,” Bieber said. “I wasn’t able to totally look up and see everything because there was so much going on, but I heard everything and soaked it all in. I can’t really thank the fans (enough) for creating that moment for me and making it so special.” MORE: Cleveland thrives with All-Star spotlight It was a night of poignant moments for Cleveland pitchers past and present....

At 17-1, they have the best combined record for two opponents this late in the season since the 1970 merger. But the Colts' 39-33 win over the Broncos on Oct. 20 is evidence that the Broncos and Chiefs might be more smoke and mirrors than we want to admit. That was the only game either has played, of 18 total, against a team currently with a winning record. Their combined record against winning teams this season is 0-1....

The business backlash is largely against Republicans who objected to President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. More than 140 conservative members of Congress voted against the Democrats during last week’s certification. Since then, companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield and Marriot International announced they will not give money to those who supported efforts to disrupt the electoral process. “While a contrast of ideas, ideological differences and partisanship are all part of our politics, weakening our political system and eroding public confidence in it must never be,” Blue Cross Blue Shield President and CEO Kim Keck said in a statement....

Based on Shinichirō Watanabe’s sci-fi classic of the same name, the show follows the adventures of bounty hunters Spike Spiegel (John Cho), Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir), and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda). And the streaming platform has now shared a teaser trailer for the show ahead of an official trailer, which will be released next week. The clip is titled “Lost Session” and gives a first look at the gun-totting trio in all their glory as they chase bounties together across the galaxy....

There’s always talk about a dream slam-dunk competition. A dream 3-point contest would be so much more entertaining. Who would make the eight-person field? Who would win it all? Here are the contestants in our “Dream 3-Point Contest.” Ray Allen Credentials: Allen is the all-time leader in 3-point field goals (2,973), and he shot 40 percent behind the arc for his career. Why he would win it: He got game, right?...

Because of this unique criterion, players whose teams did not win the Stanley Cup are considered, though the Conn Smythe has only been awarded to players on non-Cup winning teams five times: Roger Crozier (Red Wings, 1966), Glenn Hall (Blues, 1968), Reggie Leach (Flyers, 1976), Ron Hextall (Flyers, 1987) and Jean-Sebastien Giguere (2003, Mighty Ducks). MORE: Must-see Stanley Cup Final photos | Sean Gentille’s Stanley Cup road trip | Blackhawks build dynasty | Buy Blackhawks championship gear...

According to the criminal complaint, Glenn Allen Brooks of Huntington Beach, California, allegedly “boasted of his active participation” in the riots and “sent photos of his attendance at the Capitol to the church text group.” This information was provided to the FBI by an unidentified witness who the complaint said was member of the same church prayer text group as Brooks. The photo reportedly included “other people at the riots/protest and a selfie photo of himself inside the Capitol....

The specifics on Iverson’s post-basketball existence have, rarely, been great. There have been problems with his family, and problems with alcohol and problems — enormous, shadow-throwing, life-swallowing problems — with money. Much has been written about it, including a book by Kent Babb of The Washington Post. Iverson’s life, for too much of the time since he left the NBA, has been ugly. MORE: Is Iverson’s No. 3 the most iconic jersey in Philadelphia?...

With Ohio’s primary a week away, Senate candidate Josh Mandel is scheduled to make multiple campaign stops over the weekend. Cruz is continuing to stump for Mandel even after Trump later gave his coveted endorsement to former writer and venture capitalist J.D. Vance. Following the caustic 2016 election, Cruz became a staunch ally of Trump, raising questions why the Texas Republican is bucking the former president in the key race....

Posted to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge Facebook page on August 2, the video, which the agency credited Penni Phillips of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for taking, racked up more than 600,000 views. You can view the video here. Laura Bonneau, the visitor services manager for Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, told Newsweek in an email that alligators are “experts at blending in.” “An American Alligator wades through shallow water covered in duckweed, eventually becoming almost completely camouflaged in green,” read the video’s caption....

The Bayern Munich right back is unavailable indefinitely due to “mild” myocarditis that developed as a result of a recent bout with COVID-19. That left him off the squad for this week’s three World Cup qualifiers, and Canada was without its most recognizable star. Instead, he allowed fans to join him in rooting on the team as he watched the match like one of them, taking to Twitch to enjoy the proceedings....

My only point is: there is a difference between a record of performance that is based upon talent and not based upon name. That is why, frankly, all this discussion about being George Bush’s son, can he do the job, doesn’t bother me in the least. It’s just part of the background noise. My father was the guy, a great World War II hero, who was branded a wimp at one time....

As most Angolans sink deeper and deeper into poverty, the conspicuous consumption of the small minority of Angolans who are making money seems to grow more extreme. Inside Luanda nightclubs like Kaos, Bahia and Havana, it is easy to forget you are in an African country at all–especially one where there are almost 2 million internally displaced people, where child malnutrition is at its highest rate in 25 years and where the unemployment rate is said to be hovering at about 80 percent....

The big media companies will likely get some help from the FCC, which is expected to jettison prohibitions that now curtail single ownership of TV and radio stations and newspapers in a town or city. Protesters argue that media empires reduce the diversity of sources for news, information and entertainment. Why fear consolidation? Just look, they say, at Rupert Murdoch, whose unabashed political leanings are on display on Fox News Channel....

Atom Egoyan’s strange, provocative B_The Adjuster_b seems to transpire in a limbo between reality and fantasy, where questions of identity become slippery. Noah Render (Elias Koteas) is an insurance adjuster who plays savior to men and women whose lives have been uprooted by tragedy. His clients look to him for comfort, sexual and otherwise, and he obliges them all, losing his own identity in the process. Noah’s wife, Hera (Arsinee Khanjian), is a censor for the Canadian government, who spends her days watching pornographic films which she secretly videotapes for her sister-but not for the purpose of titillation....

Yet as soon as their honeymoon in Jamaica begins, Rita does not act like herself. She adopts a hearty tourist swagger, loses her social conscience, gives up drinking and salt, and astonishes Peter by announcing she wants to have a baby-just what she’d said she didn’t want. Who the hell is this stranger he’s just married? Anyone who’s seen Craig Lucas’s Prelude to a Kiss onstage knows the supernatural answer....

The Bush administration is itching to get rid of Saddam Hussein. The Kurds, too, would like him wiped out. So, of late, Washington and the mountain warriors of northern Iraq have learned to work together. But there is a paradox in this alliance: right now, with Saddam in place, the Kurds have de facto independence; without him, their chances of staying independent are very slim. The neighbors of de facto Kurdistan–Iran, Turkey and, to a lesser extent, Syria-would be hostile, fearing its impact on their own restive Kurdish populations, challenging its borders, coveting its oil....

America has now fought its sixth significant war since the battleship Maine blew up (by accident, it now seems) in Havana harbor in 1898. The war with Spain and two world wars and Korea and Vietnam and the Gulf War are only America’s largest combat experiences since the explosion in the Maine. That explosion showered sparks on the dry tinder of American nationalism and detonated the “splendid little war” that made a president of the Rough Rider of San Juan Hill....

A Certified Important Book you still haven’t read: I haven’t read most of them. The Qur’an might take the prize, though. It’s hard to think of a more important book these days. A book you would like to share with your children: I have a small library of books about circumcision, which, when the time comes—that is, when I suddenly find myself with a lot of explaining to do—I will defer to....

But as smart as you are, you still need a “leading” analyst like me to help you make sense of the year that’s about to start. That’s why I have always dedicated my last column of the year to a preview of the big stories that are certain to dominate the news next year. Full disclosure: My predictions are not always accurate. Sure, I correctly divined that Bill and Hillary Clinton would spend exactly zero nights in the same bed in 2003 (that was easy), but my assertion last year that Vice President Dick Cheney would resign to join an all-nude auto-body shop has, alas, proven inaccurate (so far)....