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Jarren Durran had the crowd roaring as he nailed a massive two-run homer that led the American League to pull off a 5-3 victory over the National League in the 94th MLB All-Star Game. The Boston outfielder delivered a promising performance for the ages as he immediately clinched the MVP award in the Midsummer Classic to conclude the massive finish that many fans have waited for.

Duran slugged that homer in the fifth inning of the game, with the Globe Life Field fans staggered as the ball went up 413 feet to give the American League a 5-3 lead that would end up being the final score of the game. The All-Star Game was filled with impressive performances, but no one can deny the fact that Duran’s own game-winner shadowed what could have been a career night for multiple stars.

The victory gives the American League their 48th win in the All-Star Game. AL leads the series with a 48-44-2 record, with a 388-380 advantage on the run. The National League still holds the longest winning streak of 11 games, which spanned from the 1972 edition to 1982. On top of that, this edition of the All-Star Game marks the lowest number of attending fans with 39,343 total attendance, the lowest in the past three editions.

Duran Making History in the ASG

Duran took home the Ted Williams All-Star Game MVP award thanks to that go-ahead two-run homer in the fifth inning of the game, and it was clearly a play to remember as he became the first Red Sox player to hit a homer in the ASG since Adrián González in 2011. At the age of 27, Duran also became the youngest player in the Midsummer Classic to pull off a home run since Fred Lynn delivered the same feat, also at the age of 27.

On top of that, Duran also joins an elite company of Red Sox players who have won the All-Star Game MVP. The former Red Sox winners include outfielder J.D. Drew (‘08), right-hander Pedro Martinez (1999), right-hander Roger Clemens (‘86) and outfielder Carl Yastrzemski (‘70).

Duran’s historic feat in the game also sets him apart from the rest of the pack. It cannot be denied that he is making waves in the 2024 season, and fans can be sure to look out for more impressive strides considering that he has found ways to shine bright on the big stage.

A Great Run for Duran and the Red Sox

Duran and the Red Sox have enjoyed a promising campaign this season, and the season has been quite fun to watch with the outfielder thriving well in the game. As of the time of writing, Boston has a 53-42 record and has enjoyed a 20-8 run to claim the third spot in the American League wild card spot as of the time of writing. It is expected that Duran will come up with some interesting waves in the game after winning the All-Star MVP award, which is something that he’s been looking forward to since being named an All-Star in the game.

At this point, the Red Sox are expecting to come up with a promising pace in the game, and it does seem that the elite performance from the All-Star Game by Duran can set the tone for the squad’s campaign for the rest of the season.

Torey Krug has been one of the best players for the St. Louis Blues, and yet the team is expected to miss his services to begin the 2024-25 season with the defenseman rumored to be diagnosed with pre-arthritic changes in his left ankle, which resulted from a bone fracture sustained earlier in his NHL career. This means that the star is expected to come up with some interesting recovery process in the game if he is going to play in the next campaign.

At the age of 33, Krug has already sustained an injury in the previous offseason and has missed some crucial games with different injuries in his first three campaigns with the Blues. While he has already agreed to waive his no-trade clause with the Blues, it does seem that Krug won’t be likely traded to another team especially if he is confirmed to have a long-term injury that would keep him out of the picture for a while.

This injury sets big expectations for the Blues considering that they finished just below the eighth seed in the Western Conference with a 43-33 record, which sees them two games behind the qualifying spot for the previous playoff spot. Losing one of their top stars mean that the team will have to work with what they have.

An Unsure Injury for Krug

Krug will undergo a rehab that is slated to take place for six to eight weeks – which will likely hit the schedule for the Blues’ training camp. For now, the Blues have listed him as out indefinitely, which means that he won’t be joining the roster for the coming games, and it might stay that way if the injury is perceived to be a critical injury that will need a whole season of recovery.

So far, the Blues claimed that the condition is a “cumulative result of a bone fracture suffered earlier in his playing career.” Krug has played a total of 77 games in the 2023-24 season, which was his highest total of games played since the 2016-17 season – which was a run with the Boston Celtics.

The 13-year veteran is known well for being one of the best scorers in the game and has only been limited by tough injuries so far. In the last two seasons, Krug has been a combined -57 since going +34 in his first two campaigns with the Blues.

Not a Good Look for the Blues

The Blues will have to wait for the actual evaluation of Krug’s status in the game. Should Krug be out for the entire season, this leaves St. Louis with just eight defensemen to start the season, led by Colton Parayko, Nick Leddy, Justin Faulk, Suter, Scott Perunovich, Tyler Tucker, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, and Matthew Kessel. It is worth noting that the Blues still look to be in fine shape without Krug in terms of depth, so they won’t need to really replace him right away.

The last two seasons have been quite tough for the Blues so far. They have not qualified for the playoffs so far after making it to the postseason since the 2018-19 campaign. Since winning the Stanley Cup Final in the 2019 edition, nothing has worked well for the Blues with a lot of poor performances and injuries to their tough stars, and Krug’s status is no different so far.

July 17, 2024 – Monday night’s winning Powerball numbers were 9, 31, 39, 40, and 45, with a Powerball of 23. The Power Play was 3X. No winners have come forward since last Saturday’s draw.

However, based on lottery calculations, the winner of Saturday’s jackpot might get a $31 million cash out after taxes. The estimated $65 million jackpot continues to stay on as a coveted prize.

Playing the Powerball

A $2 Powerball ticket can be purchased at your local grocery store, petrol station, or convenience store. In some states, it's even possible to purchase tickets online.

To play, you have to write a total of six digits on your ticket. The numerals 1 through 69 will be represented by five white balls. The Powerball has a single red number between 1 and 26.

To increase your chances of winning and up the payouts for all prizes other than the jackpot, you can add a $1 "Power Play". Here, winnings can be multiplied by 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X, or 10X. You can also choose a "Quick Pick" option, where a cashier produces a Powerball ticket with numbers produced by a computer.

Powerball draws take place thrice a week, every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday evenings at 10:59 pm. If no one wins the jackpot, the monetary prize will rise by millions.

The Las Vegas shooting massacre in early October, 2017, struck a chord in the hearts of both Las Vegas residents and visitors, and they have now banded together to create a memorial dedicated to the victims of the attack, named the Forever One Memorial. The memorial has just been approved by the Clark County Commission, and it will be on the former site of the Harvest festival shooting and will consist of a plaza, a tower, and 58 candles representing those who died in the attack's aftermath.

On Tuesday, the Clark County Commission took a significant step towards commemorating the lives lost in the tragic mass shooting on the 1st of October, 2017, at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, by awarding a $1 million endowment to the Vegas Strong Fund. This funding will support the creation of the "Forever One Memorial," intended to honor the victims of the horrific event on the Las Vegas Strip.

A tragic event that will be commemorated and remembered

A model of the memorial, displayed at the Clark County Government Center, provides a glimpse into what will soon be constructed at the site of the 2017 tragedy. This substantial grant will cover the administrative and design services necessary to bring the memorial to fruition.

The Commissioner of the Clark County Commision, Jim Gibson, remarked, "We have a beautiful concept for a memorial, and now a critical phase of work is underway that will lay the foundation for a community-wide fundraising effort to build a project that will serve as a lasting tribute to those whose lives were lost and for all whose lives have been forever changed as a result of the events of that evening."

The memorial is planned to be erected just at the southern portion of Mandalay Bay, the location from which Stephen Paddock fired several rounds from an automatic weapon from Room 32 - 134. The devastating attack resulted in the deaths of 60 concertgoers and left countless others traumatized. Paddock later took his own life.

MGM Resorts' generous donation and the organization dedicated to those who lost their lives

MGM Resorts sold the Las Vegas Village, the area that hosted the Route 91 Harvest Festival, to the Three Affiliated Tribes under the banner of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in 2022. Nevertheless, MGM Resorts generously donated two acres of the 15-acre site for the construction of the memorial. The design, conceptualized by JCJ Architecture, received approval from the County Commission in September of 2023.

"For close to seven years, the Vegas Strong Fund has been devoted to standing by those affected by the tragic events of 1 October," stated Jan Jones-Blackhurst, the chair of the Vegas Strong Fund's board of directors. He added that they are honored to now embark on a new chapter of a healing journey with the permanent memorial that will be created.

The memorial, set to be built at the festival site's northeast corner off Giles Street and Reno Avenue, will feature several poignant elements. These elements include a community plaza, tower of light, and 58 upright candles representing the victims who died immediately following the shooting.

A symbolic memorial

The Forever One Memorial symbolizes the ongoing efforts to support and remember the victims and survivors of the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting. It serves as a testament to the strength and resilience of the Las Vegas community, which continues to heal and rebuild in the wake of the tragedy.

As the project moves forward, the grant from the Clark County Commission will be instrumental in ensuring that the memorial becomes a reality. This funding marks the beginning of a broader community-wide fundraising initiative aimed at completing the memorial and providing a space for reflection, remembrance, and healing.

The Los Angeles Kings have made a major move to extend one of their rising stars in the squad by inking a new deal with Quinton Byfield. The forward is now slated to play for the Kings in the next five seasons after signing a five-year, $31.25 million deal that would see the Kings armed with a promising rising star.

Byfield was one of the standouts in the 2023-24 season, and it cannot be denied that the Kings need his impressive scoring if they are going to come up with a deep playoff run. Los Angeles is a team that has been grinding its path to the top of the Western Conference in the past few years, and they have ended up landing a first-round exit in the previous Stanley Cup Final. With a reliable star in Byfield, the team might just have a promising centerpiece to look out for.

Selected second overall in the 2020 NHL Draft, Byfield has enjoyed a rise to prominence with the Kings in the previous season, and it cannot be denied that he has seen some massive strides at the same time, which led to the well-deserved extension that he signed with the team.

LA Takes a Gamble on Byfield

Initially, Byfield was a restricted free agent in the offseason, and the team went on to offer him a bigger deal with the hopes of expanding his role with the team after center Pierre-Luc Dubois took over his wing spot in the previous season before finally trading the latter and moving Byfield back once more.

“We are extremely excited to reach an agreement that will allow Quinton to continue to grow with the Kings for the next five years,” Kings general manager Rob Blake said. “Since selecting him in 2020, Quinton has demonstrated his commitment to getting better on and off the ice each day.”

The Kings have made it to the playoffs for the last three seasons, only to fall short and be knocked out by the Edmonton Oilers in the first round time and time again. Byfield will be the fifth Kings forward and eighth player with an average annual salary above $5 million next season, and it is expected that he will be a key player in the next campaign once more.

A Season to Remember for Byfield

At the age of 21, Quinton Byfield became the first Kings player to tally a 20-goal season since Anze Kopitar pulled off the same feat in the 2007-08 season. The forward finished with 20 goals and 35 assists in just 80 games, marking all career-highs in those categories and making his impressive run in the recent Stanley Cup Playoffs.

In the 2023 season, Byfield was already a top performer with his impressive stretch that featured a 40-point performance in 48 games, including a pair of goal-of-the-year candidates at the time. Last season, he finished with a career-best 14 points on the power play and scored four game-winning goals while finishing with a plus-19 rating. That says a lot about the value he has on the rink, which ultimately led to his re-signing with the Kings.

It cannot be denied that Byfield is slowly developing into a star at this point, and Los Angeles may just have had their biggest piece in the game now more than ever for five more years.

The Cincinnati Bengals have struggled to meet expectations in their games last season after they finished with a 9-8 record with Joe Burrow sitting it out after playing only 10 games, which many led to believe as the collapse of the club. Now that he’s healthy and ready to roll, it seems that Burrow seeks a massive comeback that would put him back into MVP discussions in the long run.

The Bengals were two wins away from securing a wild-card spot in the 2024 NFL Playoffs last season, and it cannot be denied that Burrow’s injury has played a huge role in the team’s collapse, which seems to be the big talk of expectations in the coming campaign. The Bengals are hyped to reclaim their place in the NFL next season, especially with the AFC North having no clear dominant team aside from the Kansas City Chiefs.

Confidence is never an issue for the Bengals, and it is easy to say that Burrow’s unwavering desire to win a championship will play a huge role in the team’s hopes of making a splash in the coming season.

Burrow’s Desire to Prove People Wrong

Of course, injuries means that you won’t get a chance to be the MVP talks, let alone be hyped for a chance at a championship. But with the Bengals falling to the division cellar, it is only quite fitting that Burrow will need to work hard in order to prove his worth with the critics and elevate the Bengals’ chances of winning the Super Bowl in the 2024 season as well.

"That's what happens when you get hurt," Burrow said. "You don't play football, people forget about you. ... I love the spot I'm in. ... You're not out there, people aren't watching you, then there's nothing to talk about. So I'm gonna give people something to talk about this year. I'm excited."

Burrow benefitted well from the extra recovery time that he has by the end of the 2023 season. He successfully rehabbed from a wrist surgery, and that seems to be a promising look given how the Bengals really need him to come back into the fold now more than ever. Prior to his injury, Burrow was a promising signal-caller in the game and is considered one of the best in his position.

Health in Best Consideration

Of course, injuries means that you may no longer play at a high level like you used to. For Burrow, 18 games is too much and it can be a massive difference between being healthy for the whole season and not being able to play in the playoffs. Fatigue is a massive factor in the NFL, and it means that Burrow has to capitalize on every turn if he will have to play at a high level.

“Got to have two bye weeks," Burrow said. "I think it would be cool to do a normal bye week schedule that it is now, have it spread out, but then like Week 13 do the Pro Bowl break where you're doing like the 7-on-7 and all the skills challenges like the NBA does because I think that would get more ratings for the Pro Bowl. Then, it would also give everybody that bye week going into like the last six games of the year.”

Injuries have definitely forced Burrow to be more careful about his game and find out what he can maximize to be able to play at a high level for his team. With the NFL lobbying a possible shift to an 18-game season, the Bengals star is sure to advocate a way to play through it all and still be available for his team.

July 16, 2024 – PokerStars held a $1 million guaranteed progressive knockout tournament with a $215 buy-in and special edition Sunday Million this past weekend. Since the 2024 European Championships final was held while many elite pros were still in Las Vegas for the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP), such an event was not without major risk. Any concerns about an overlay were allayed, though, when 5,451 entries yielded a prize pool that broke the guarantee ($1,090,200).

Through a PokerNews campaign, tickets were won by fifty of the participants. A few days before this significant event, the PokerNews-only freeroll event took place where the event runner gave away 50x $215 seats thanks to the cooperation between PokerStars and PokerNews.

Six ticket winners cashed in the PokerStars Sunday Million Special Edition, sharing $545,100. Notably, Lithuania's "peledziukas17" finished 37th, earning $2,550, while Canada's "Azzurro550" secured 10th place, winning $6,663 including bounties. These players turned free tickets into impressive prizes, demonstrating the potential value of such promotions. Stay tuned for more opportunities like this in the future.

Brazil Dominates

Six of the nine finalists being Brazilian, the final table represented Brazil through and through. Aside from "marllonpinto," who came in ninth place with $9,474, every candidate received payments totaling five figures. Brazilians faced off against "prOvinzia1" from Poland and "EDY14101" from Andorra with four players remaining. "prOvinzia1" placed fourth with $36,164, while "EDY14101" secured the third place finish with $46,445, guaranteeing the victory of a Brazilian.

With the exception of the two tournaments mentioned above, "RicoMinibAby" emerged victorious on PokerStars this weekend, taking home $24,177 after winning the $1,050 Sunday High Roller PKO.

Veterans Simon "C. Darwin2" Mattsson and Peter "Belebasci" Traply also emerged victorious; the latter most likely did it while supporting fellow Swede Niklas Astedt in the 2024 WSOP Main Event.