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In 1993, a brand-new Lexus GS 300 was the height of luxury — at least, it was in the mind of Jay-Z, who was still about three years away from his big break. It figured so prominently into his dreams of wealth that he rapped about it multiple times early in his career — notably on songs like “Can I Live” and “Dead Presidents II,” and later nostalgically on “Empire State Of Mind.”

Now, that car has been added to the Brooklyn Public Library’s The Book of HOV exhibit, bringing his early fascination with the vehicle somewhat full circle (I mean, it’s a thirty-year-old luxury car from when “luxury” meant “it has power windows.” You never thought Toyota would take it this far).

The exhibit has been such a resounding success that its run has been extended per Roc Nation CEO Desiree Perez, who said, “The response to The Book Of HOV has been overwhelming, so we’re excited to extend the exhibit to December to ensure new and returning attendees can have enough opportunities to fully immerse themselves into the experience.”

According to Lexus Advertising & Media Senior Manager Mia Phillips, “The vehicle display is recognition of the mutual respect and admiration between Lexus and Jay-Z, whose brilliance and contributions to culture extend far beyond hip-hop.”

In other news, Jay’s hitting Atlantic City for a 007-themed blackjack tournament later this month, and is producing a new Netflix movie, The Book Of Clarence for 2024.

For more information check out the official site.

Drake‘s new album For All The Dogs was rumored to come out last month and then it didn’t. It’s now slated for release September 22, and the anticipation is only building.

Fans want to know who’s on the album. Wednesday (September 13), the rapper teased a new single with SZA with an Instagram post. Lil Yachty spoke about working on the record. Thursday (September 14), Drake began teasing the track “IDGAF,” with features Yeat. Nicki Minaj has confirmed that she’ll be on the album, as well as Bad Bunny.

About the album, Lil Yachty explained, “It sounds current, you know? It sounds very current,” he said. “It’s interesting, it’s coming together a lot better than I thought when I — I just had a talk with him a couple days ago in Vancouver and I was like, ‘Man…’ I was a little worried, ’cause I have a lot of the songs, I don’t have all of ’em, I have a lot of ’em though. And I was just like, ‘Man, I just don’t know if it’s — how are you gon’ put this together? Because it’s a lot of great songs but they don’t really — in my brain, I was like, they didn’t really sound together. And then we had a talk about it and he explained to me his thought process about it. And we drove somewhere, we drove to that video shoot which was like an hour away, and we listened to it, and it makes sense now.”

Apple TV+ is doing its part to corner the market on coveted adaptations these days, and the streamer managed to pull off a swift adaptation of Bonnie Garmus’ bestselling novel, Lessons In Chemistry, for a limited series starring Brie Larson. Garmus became an overnight “a literary rock star” at age 66 and has been hailed as not only penning an impressive debut novel but also the biggest debut novel of 2022, so there’s certainly a built-in audience waiting to stream the subversive story when it arrives in October.

Larson portrays Elizabeth Zott, a brilliant chemist who’s on the verge of a major breakthrough when she ends up being fired for a double standard. She makes an unexpected career change and finds herself with a high-profile new platform, where she can not only host a cooking show but sandwich in other nuggets of wisdom as well. From the synopsis:

Set in the early 1950s, “Lessons in Chemistry” follows Elizabeth Zott (played by Brie Larson), whose dream of being a scientist is put on hold in a patriarchal society. When Elizabeth finds herself fired from her lab, she accepts a job as a host on a TV cooking show, and sets out to teach a nation of overlooked housewives — and the men who are suddenly listening — a lot more than recipes.

Apple TV+’s Lessons In Chemistry co-stars Lewis Pullman, Aja Naomi King, Kevin Sussman, Stephanie Koenig, Thomas Mann, and Patrick Walker. The limited series debuts with two episodes on October 13 and weekly Friday episodes to follow.

This January, Coco Jones expressed gratitude about the twists and turns of her career in an interview with Uproxx.

“I think what helped me to overall just take a breath and let things be is understanding that my journey has never worked out in the specific ways that I wanted it to — always better,” the What I Didn’t Tell You artist said. “Better in ways that I would have never known to pray for.”

And now, her fans can say the same thing about her headlining North American What I Didn’t Tell You Tour.

“I heard y’all requests & made it happen!” Jones wrote to X (formerly known as Twitter) and Instagram Stories on Wednesday, September 13. “Leg 2 of the What I Didn’t Tell You Tour is official with new dates & new cities.”

The second US leg is scheduled to start on October 23 at Theatre Of The Living Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and stretch across 11 cities before the November 12 finale in Houston, Texas. Ticketing information can be found here.

Prepare for Jones’ What I Didn’t Tell You Tour Part II by studying the setlist from her first leg, and check out all of her new dates below.

10/23 — Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre Of The Living Arts
10/24 — Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre
10/26 — Washington, DC @ The Fillmore Silver Spring
10/29 — Atlanta, GA @ One Music Fest
10/31 — Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live!
11/01 — Richmond, VA @ The National
11/03 — Charlotte, NC @ The Underground
11/04 — Greensboro, NC @ AT&T State University
11/06 – Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe At Old National Centre
11/07 — Cleveland, OH @ House Of Blues
11/09 — St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall
11/12 — Houston, TX @ Honeyland Festival

The backlash hasn’t made Drew Barrymore rethink her decision to bring back The Drew Barrymore Show during the Writers Guild of America strike. But maybe Bill Maher doing the same thing with Real Time will.

Maher revealed on Wednesday that Real Time is coming back, “sans writers or writing.” He wrote on X, “It has been five months, and it is time to bring people back to work. The writers have important issues that I sympathize with, and hope they are addressed to their satisfaction, but they are not the only people with issues, problems, and concerns.” Maher admitted that the writers-less version of the HBO series “will not be as good as our normal show, full stop,” but “the heart of the show is an off-the-cuff panel discussion that aims to cut through the bullsh*t and predictable partisanship, and that will continue.”

It sounds like this version of Real Time will be pure, uncut Maher, who Norm MacDonald once memorably called “maybe the unfunniest person I’ve ever encountered.” That comes from a 2015 Hollywood Reporter interview with the late, great comedian, which was resurfaced by writer Sean O’Connor after Maher stopped talking about masturbation long enough to criticize the “kooky” demands of the striking writers. Here are his full comments on Maher:

“I find him completely unfunny. Like, maybe the unfunniest person I’ve ever encountered that’s called a comedian. I like his show because of the arguing back and forth, and he knows a lot about politics. But the worst is when he forces you to sit on the panel while he does his New Rules, which are just a bunch of jokes. And you have to sit there, a foot from the dude with a camera in your face. You’d think he would just excuse them, but no, you have to sit there and watch.”

God I miss Norm.

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

Back in August, it was reported that NSYNC would reunite for a new song for the movie Trolls Band Together, in which the group’s Justin Timberlake of course stars as Branch. Now, we know for sure: The song, the first new musical release from the band since 2002, has been officially announced and some of it can be heard in a new trailer for the movie. It’s called “Better Place.”

This reveal comes right after the band popped up at the 2023 MTV VMAs this past weekend. They presented Taylor Swift a Best Pop Award for her song “Anti-Hero,” and she seemed absolutely over the moon that the group was there.

Earlier this year, Lance Bass spoke about assumptions people might have about how the band members are doing financially, saying, “We were famous, but we were not rich,” adding, “I made way more money after NSYNC than I did during NSYNC.” The reason? He said the band’s late manager Lou Pearlman “took the majority of our stuff.” He added, “And the record label too. Horrible, horrible deals.” Bass noted, though, “To do that with those guys, it was incredible, and you had some of the best experiences ever. I mean, obviously changed my life, led me to so many things I wanted to do in life.”

Check out the trailer above.

Gareth Bale’s bonafides in the world of football are well-established. Bale, who announced his retirement from his primary sport in January of 2023, established himself as one of the most dynamic players in the world during his time with Tottenham, won the Champions League five times and La Liga three times as a member of Real Madrid, and is very high on the list of the greatest Welsh footballers to ever live. The final two acts of his career involved leading Los Angeles Football Club to the first MLS Cup in club history and playing an integral role in getting Wales to its first World Cup appearance since 1958, where he scored the team’s only goal of the tournament via a penalty against the United States.

Performing in a sport at such a high level requires an outlet, and for Bale, that came in the form of golf. While his love of the sport made headlines during his time in Madrid — he was once, for example, at the center of controversy after his Welsh teammates grabbed a customized flag for him to celebrate their Euro 2020 qualification that read “WALES. GOLF. REAL MADRID.” across the top and “IN THAT ORDER” on the bottom — Bale doesn’t hesitate to speak glowingly about his love of golf to this day. And now that passion has led to him entering the world of golf video games, as the one-time talismanic winger is the latest non-golfer to appear in PGA Tour 2K23 as a playable character.

In conjunction with the news, Uproxx Sports caught up with Bale to discuss his love of the game, how golf helped him during his footballing career, playing in MLS, the Wales-USMNT game at the 2023 World Cup, and much more.

I want to start by asking about PGA Tour 2K23. How did that arrangement come about?

I think everybody knows how much I love golf and [I’m] always trying to promote the game and try and grow it in any way, shape, or form I can. And then obviously, I think there’s been a few celebrities, sports stars in the game, and obviously got approached, kind of a cool thing to happen to see yourself in a golf game. Normally, I’m used to seeing myself in a football game. But yeah, it’s quite cool to be in a game that you have a great hobby for, you have a great love for, and you love playing. So it was quite a cool, cool thing to happen.

And I know you’re very good golfer, and we’ll get to that in a second, but were you ever a big golf video game guy? Or did you prefer to play in real life?

No, I used to play quite a bit — actually, when I was younger, I used to play only on the golf games. So obviously, the old Tiger Woods game and stuff like that. So, I remember a couple of times, trying to call in sick so I didn’t have to go to school. And I used to try and trick my mum, because I was on tour in career mode in Tiger Woods. So, I’ve always loved playing the video game, and then obviously as I got older, around 19 or 20, I started playing golf actually on the course.

I want to ask about the process of getting added to the game, like all the capturing stuff. Is that a similar experience to you when you’ve been added to FIFA games in the past?

Yeah, kind of a similar experience. It was cool coming here today and having all the cameras and doing the funny facial expressions, because obviously, I think in golf, you see a face a lot more closely. It’s a lot more individualized and FIFA is a bit more from a distance, and you only really see yourself in a celebration. It was a cool experience, pulling the funny faces and getting the features and stuff like that. So yeah, had a good bit of fun doing that.

So where does this love of golf come from?

I couldn’t really pinpoint one thing where it came from. But I think, no matter who you speak to, everyone wishes they took up golf earlier. I’m the same — I only started playing properly, maybe when I was about 19 or 20, and I think just being in football with the stresses, with the pressures, being able to … you’re in that cauldron, and everyone’s always talking about you, or they’re putting the pressure on you to play and this, that, or the other.

Being able to go on a golf course, having that peace and quiet, having that bit of enjoyment with your friends or whether you’re on your own, just being away from the hustle and bustle of life, of the stresses of the job, really appealed to me as well. And it definitely helped me during my career to have those times away from your sport, away from everything that’s going on. You’re just able to have a bit of fun with your friends or yourself and battle the course. I just feel like it really did help, I think, with my mental health more than anything, being able to go out there and enjoy myself and get away from everything.

I’m fascinated in the relationship that high-level athletes in other sports have with golf — there’s you, there’s Michael Jordan, there’s Harry Kane, there’s Josh Allen. Do you think that being able to get away but still scratch that competitive itch is really that important for athletes in team sports?

One-hundred percent. There’s no better adrenaline than hitting a birdie putt, hitting a good drive, hitting a wedge shots close, you really do get the competitive juices going and they really do give you that little kick of adrenaline. So, even though it’s maybe not in front of thousands, you really do feel the buzz and the kickoff playing with your friends, beating your friends — not even for money, just for the bragging rights. I think there’s no other sport that you can play against any kind of standard of player and make it an even game. I think that’s what makes it even more special, to be able to play with a lot wider variety of people.

I saw that you played a Pro-Am at Pebble Beach this year. Is that something that, if your schedule allows, you’d love to do more of those kinds of things?

Yeah, definitely. I’ve never done anything like that before, so going into it was a bit of a daunting experience and I hadn’t played too much golf going into it. In an ideal world, I would have had a three or four week kind of training camp, practice sessions going on, but that wasn’t the case.

But yeah, I really looked forward to going there and I absolutely loved it. Honestly, my goal for the week was not to kill anybody with a golf ball. I successfully did that and I made the cut. And I had a great time with with my professional, Joseph Bramlett, who was an incredible guy, made me feel so welcoming, and he played absolute incredible that week as well. So yeah, I loved it, and like I said, I would love to do more of those things in the future, because they were really fun. Obviously being able to see what the pros go through, in their kind of zone where they have to get in the zone for their sports, and obviously looking at what I did with mine, it was quite cool to see how they go about things, how focused they are, how much time they take on each shot, and really what they speak about, how they think going around the course, which I think definitely will help my game moving forward.

You know what it’s like to be a pro athlete going up against an amateur and what that entails. When you got to be on the other side of that — and you kind of touched on that — what’s the difference between a pro golfer and a really, really good amateur golfer like yourself?

There’s a big difference, don’t get me wrong. But they really just think their way around the course, they don’t make those silly mistakes, when they hit a bad shot, they hit a bad shot into the correct spot, they just get up and down from everywhere. The focus they have, you can see it in their eyes, they’re just so focused with every shot. I feel like, for example, with me, an amateur, I can easily hit a couple of good shots and think I’m better than I am, and then come crumbling back down to earth, and then I have to grind again. So, just seeing, I guess, the practice they put in, obviously they put themselves in position where they’re gonna keep playing while not making too many mistakes. Something now that I would love to do more that I have the time is to practice and try and get better and try to achieve a better handicap.

Let’s talk about football. You are an all time great over in Europe, you came over to the United States. And I’d love to know, what were your perceptions of football in the United States and how did coming over here and playing for LAFC change that one way or the other?

Obviously, I had a great career in Europe and I’m very fortunate and very blessed to have been able to play for so long and achieve so many things. Coming over was something that, w come over on preseason most years and were able to play against MLS teams and I saw how much it progressed over the years, and something that always I wanted to do and wanted to try. And I think when the opportunity arose, it was something that me and my family really were looking forward to doing, and I think we felt like if I could help grow the game in any way, shape, or form over here by just attracting more eyeballs on the TV, and more kids, and maybe kids out here really love the Premier League and they know who I am, so get them even more to football.

It was more of an all-around thing and something that I wanted to experience, and I really do think the league is going in the right direction. I think, obviously, it still has some way to go to catch up with European leagues, but it is definitely going in the right direction. The facilities are better, the stadiums are better, the travel is now better. It was an amazing experience and one that I never regretted for a second coming over, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time here.

Yeah, I was going to say, I think when decorated players come over to the United States to play in MLS, I think people just assume that they go through the motions. But when I watched you play, it seemed like you had a blast out there.

Yeah, definitely. I felt like I still had something to give, otherwise, I wouldn’t have come over. I wouldn’t have come over just to see my career out. I wanted to come over, I wanted to win a trophy, I wanted to do as much as I could for LAFC and was fortunate enough to play a few games and score some really important goals and win some great titles. Yeah, obviously win LAFC’s first MLS Cup will always be special to me, be special to them. And I guess we can always have each other to look back on in history books now, which is such a cool thing to have.

You obviously follow that up by your first World Cup game, which was against the United States. And I’d love to know what stuck out about them in that game, because I thought they had a really great first half and then you guys took control from them and we saw their their youth and naivety a little bit.

Yeah, definitely. We played against the United States a few times before and they’ve always been a good team. But I think really at that moment, they surprised us, how good they were, how well-organized, the style of football they played. And in the first half, yeah, we felt like we couldn’t really get a kick of the ball, we were in wrong positions. I think we played bad, and the U.S. played really good. So, it did feel like a very difficult first half. But I think obviously, using our experience, we’re able to come out in the second half and yeah, we’ve been in situations before, we know how to turn games around, and I think we came strong on in the second half. Obviously tied the game up, if anyone was probably gonna go on to win, it would have been us.

Agreed.

I think a draw was probably a fair result overall. It was a great game, and it was great to be a part of in terms of, it was history, playing in the first World Cup game in 64 years.

Did you joke around with Kellyn Acosta for that tactical foul, because everyone I know was very happy that he did that.

It was quite funny, because after the game, our manager, Steve Cherundolo of LAFC, messaged us “Kellyn, that’s probably the best yellow card you’ve ever gotten your life.” I wasn’t too pleased, because I felt like I had a very good chance of scoring. But yeah, if I was in the same position, I would be fouling exactly the same. So it was a great foul, but I would have loved the opportunity to try and win the game. But, you can look back on that and laugh.

Sexyy Red will embarking on her Hood Hottest Princess Tour next month, but first, the St. Louis rapper took a trip down memory lane with Montreality.

In a 13-minute video posted to YouTube on Tuesday, September 12, Sexyy Red recalled her childhood, even reluctantly reliving her terrible prom and more fondly remembering a unique romantic gesture.

“I spent a lot on my dress,” she said. “I ran for prom queen. I didn’t win because I was bad, and they tried to make me write an essay to let me run. I was bad. I was getting suspended and stuff, skipping school. I wasn’t doing no work, for real, and then I tried to come run for prom. They was like, ‘You ain’t even been here! How you trying to run?’ […] When I did go, the dress that I got made, it was so ugly. I was crying the day of prom. The lady thought she did that. She showed me the dress. I just started crying. I’m like, ‘This ugly!’ And I spent hella money on that sh*t.”

Treating herself didn’t work out for Sexyy Red, but high school wasn’t all for naught. Her first boyfriend’s unconventional efforts weren’t in vain, as she credited him as responsible for “the most romantic thing somebody did for me”:

“It was Valentine’s Day — I’ll never forget. He robbed somebody and gave me the money and gave me the belt he stole, and it was just so sweet because he was out of breath and stuff. He was like, ‘Here, I just got this for you.’ I was like, ‘Ah! So sweet! Thank you!’ ‘Cause nobody never did nothing like that for me. He stole for me, so I’m like, ‘You did that for me? Really?’

I was 15. It was my first boyfriend, and it was the first time somebody had ever got me a gift or tried to do something for me. And I know he didn’t have it, so the fact that you still made a way and you did what you had to do, that was nice. And it was only $13, but it was nice. And it was a fake Gucci belt!”

Elsewhere in the interview, Red discussed Facebook (surprisingly, her preferred social media), love, “Pound Town,” superpowers, tattoos, toxic traits, and a message to the youth. Watch it above.

Olivia Rodrigo unleashed her sophomore album Guts last week. She gave a fiery performance at the MTV VMAs and announced a highly anticipated world tour. A major part of her appeal is her ability to mesh pop with rock, and in her interview with Rolling Stone she divulged who her favorite band is at the moment.

“I have been listening to so much Rage Against The Machine this year,” she said. “That’s my favorite band right now. I would just play it over and over again on my way to and from the studio. I want to go to the Rock Hall Of Fame so bad because they’re getting inducted.”

She has to miss it because of “some immovable schedule conflict.” “I am literally going to cry myself to sleep about it,” she added.

Tom Morello reacted with a tweet: “Who would have guessed?”

Elsewhere in her Rolling Stone interview, she acknowledged the issues with song credits. “I was a little caught off guard,” she said about Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Josh Farro being added as writers on the Sour hit “Good 4 U.” She continued, “At the time, it was very confusing, and I was green and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Is that the phrase? It’s not something that I was super involved in. It was more team-on-team. So, I wouldn’t be the best person to ask.”

Guts is out now via Geffen. Find more information here.

Every offseason, the NFL puts out an official ranking of 100 players, regardless of position, based on a vote by players around the league. In 2023, no wide receiver was ranked more highly than Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings, who came in as the second-best player in the league behind only Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

It’s quite the honor for Jefferson, who is entering this season with the hopes of achieving his short-term goal (winning a Super Bowl) on the road towards his long-term goal (getting enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame when his career comes to an end). But before he started the journey that is the 2023 NFL season, the All-Pro wide receiver decided to try his hand at something new: rapping.

Jefferson teamed up with London on da Track to create an new song for Under Armour around its recently-renewed “Protect This House” slogan. While Jefferson is more well-known for doing incredible things on the football field, this gave him an opportunity to try something new, as the rollout will include a hero film that took place in his hometown of Saint Rose, La., and at Destrehan High School, where Jefferson spent his high school years.

“Protect This House is iconic,” Jefferson said in a statement. “It means a lot to me to be part of it with Under Armour and work with London on da Track, one of the top producers in the world, to record a custom version of the chant that captures what I’m about and will hopefully get a new generation of athletes hyped up. Music and football are so connected — this is a perfect combination of the two and something I’m very excited about.”

In the lead-up to the release and prior to the Vikings’ season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Uproxx Sports caught up with Jefferson to discuss everything he had going on off the field, the upcoming NFL season, and more.

I want to talk about what you got going on with Under Armour, how did this come about?

Well, first of all, to have been with Under Armour since I’ve been in the league, they’ve been phenomenal with just having the right stuff for me, on and off the field, having me comfortable with the things that I wear. The relationship has been great, as well. So now, to renew my deal and to have a new set of years that I’m looking forward to is definitely going to be exciting, and I can’t wait for what we have in store for the future.

But with the commercial, it was amazing to be a part of it, just to have it back in my hometown, to have it with London on da Track, and to just be a part of this whole campaign, it was something that was interesting to be a part of and I was definitely excited to have some of my younger guys be a part of it, and to experience a commercial, what I go through.

I was gonna say, it seemed like the ad and even before that, getting to record the music, all of that, it seemed like you had a blast.

For sure. I mean, something that I’m not accustomed to, something I’m not used to being a part of, and especially being with someone that has been with so many different artists and did so many different tracks. So, it was crazy to see how it normally goes and how he put things together, mix things up. It was something that I definitely learned from and I was glad to be a part of it and see it for the first time.

So now that you’ve done this, are there any guys in sports — in the NFL or the NBA — that maybe you want to collaborate with on a track someday?

Damian Lillard definitely be spittin’. So, whenever Dame wanna let me know whenever to holla at him and get on a track, we definitely could do it.

So let’s talk a little football. Just generally, how’s your offseason been?

It’s been great. Dealing with all the endorsement deals, have done this commercial, it was definitely a great offseason. Exploring the world a little bit and enjoying my off time from football, and also working to towards a bigger and better goal for this upcoming season. So, it was definitely something I was excited about. This whole offseason was to travel and to see the see the world and it was a great adventure.

You say something bigger and better this season, what are you working towards?

Super Bowl, like normal, but it’s something that is more focused on. It’s not about the individual goals, not about what I do for myself, it’s about the team, it’s about getting that Super Bowl and getting to the Hall of Fame status. That’s something that I want to do at the end of my career. And of course, it doesn’t happen now. But I can definitely get ready for it in the future just by having better play, keeping up the performance that I’ve been having since I stepped foot into the league. Just maintaining my body throughout the years.

I feel like in seeing people talk about football this year, we’ve gotten to a point where you’re viewed as the clear cut, no doubt, best wide receiver in the NFL. Do you feel like you are or do you feel like you’re still constantly working towards that?

I feel like everyone doesn’t believe that. And that’s what keeps me motivated to try to prove people wrong. I want to be the clear number one, just like a LeBron James, he’s the clear number one best player in the world. Michael Jordan is the clear, best player in the world. So, that’s something that I want to be a part of, and have my name in that conversation. So, it’s just about proving everybody wrong and keeping that chip on my shoulder to keep me motivated.

The funny thing is for me, one and two for the best wide receivers in the league just happened to have been teammates in college. How would you and Ja’Marr push each other in practice at LSU every day, and even though you’re not teammate, do you still feel like you two are pushing each other every day?

At LSU, just being side by side with one another, we’re always competing with one another, we’re always trying to outdo one another, just try to perform better and outperform one another. So, it always was a competitive thing with us, we always used to bet on who would get the most yards or who would get the most touchdowns or who would have the better one hander. That definitely kept us motivated to try to be better than one another, and to see it now coming on into the league, and it’s just seeing we’re still on top.

I definitely can remember us looking at film of NFL receivers like, “man, we could do the same thing, we can do the same exact thing.” And so happened, as soon as we touched foot into league, we went crazy. So, it goes to show you the amount of talent that we had on that team, and of course, still today, we still call each other, still nitpick on the things that we do. We call each other if we’re seeing that opponent and they’ve seen them already. We’re brothers at the end of the day and we’re always rooting for each other.

Let’s talk about the Vikings for a sec — 13-4, won the NFC North, got to the playoffs for the first time in your career. How have you guys built on all of that this offseason?

Well, first of all, it’s hard to go 13-4 with a first-year head coach, with a whole new offense, a whole new coaching staff. It’s definitely something that’s difficult to do. So, we’re not far from reaching where we need to go and where we would like to be. So, it’s just fixing the little things that we felt that we needed to fix in the offseason by picking up people, training people, getting new deals and new opportunities to really better our team. So, it’s definitely great to see, the comfortability that Kirk has in the second year offense, and in me, KJ, Jordan Addison, and the rest of the guys that we have on the team. I’m definitely excited to see how we do this season.

I wanted to ask about Jordan. He’s a big name from college, got brought into that wide receiver room, what has stuck out about him through camp and during the preseason?

He’s definitely smooth, he has great transition on all his routes, and he knows football, he’s a smart guy, he doesn’t really talk much, but he lets his play do the talking. So, he’s definitely confident in his play style, and we’re always telling him, he doesn’t really need to fill in a major role, we just need you to be you and to let the game come to you as it would normally. Don’t let the NFL or the bright lights really affect your playstyle or how you normally play the game. So, it’s really just trying to have him as comfortable as possible, not trying to let the lights really get too bright for him and letting everybody’s expectations of what role he is filling really get too high for him.

I haven’t gotten to check out that Quarterback show yet, but everyone I know who has seen it talks about Kirk and his personality. Have you seen it and are you glad people are seeing that side of Kirk?

For sure. Yeah, I definitely watched the show. I was glad that they did the show on Kirk, just to see Kirk’s personality, how Kirk acts throughout the season, the difficulties that he goes through throughout the whole season. It’s definitely tough, people get to see why they’re the highest paid in the league. Just to see the difficulty, the difficult things that they have to go through — learning the plays, having to recall the plays, and having to deal with the grown big men rushing after him every single play. So, it definitely was a great series and glad that they got to see how Kirk really acts.