Month: March 2021

With the men’s and women’s NCAA tournament kicking off this weekend in their respective bubble-type environments, there was a great deal of excitement in the college basketball world. But that excitement quickly turned sour when it emerged that there was a gross disparity in the quality of the women’s facilities in San Antonio compared to their male counterparts in Indianapolis.

A photo showing the women’s weight room went viral on Thursday, sparking widespread backlash, as their meager equipment paled in comparison to the full workout facilities that the men were afforded. The NCAA subsequently released a statement claiming that there was lack of space for those accommodations, an argument that was quickly rebuffed by Oregon’s Sedona Prince, who took to TikTok to show video evidence of unused space.

Amid the backlash, several sporting goods companies have pledged to donate equipment to the women in San Antonio, including Dick’s Sporting Goods, Tonal, and Orangetheory.

@NCAA Our teammates have worked quickly to get truckloads of fitness equipment ready to send to the women’s @ncaawbb @marchmadness bubble – we are standing by to deliver it and have your facility outfitted within hours! Let’s make this happen. pic.twitter.com/6QJJjrrDgx

— DICK’S Sporting Goods (@DICKS) March 19, 2021

. @sedonaprince_ This is ridiculous. Let’s one up them. We’re sending 10 Tonal Smart Gyms that will arrive in San Antonio tomorrow for all of the players. Please DM us for next steps.

Good luck to all of the @marchmadness teams! https://t.co/3JqLO4SQ1t

— Tonal (@tonal) March 19, 2021

Orangetheory will make its studios available for private sessions with any team, or we will bring water rowers and a full range of floor and weight equipment to any central location. We want to help. DM & tell us how. @sabrina_i2 @CoachWillRU @mollyhc @ChantelJennings @AJ_McCord pic.twitter.com/bwAKExq1FA

— Orangetheory Fitness (@orangetheory) March 19, 2021

These are incredible gestures on the part of these businesses to step up and do the right thing, but it speaks to just how far we still have to go to reach some semblance of equality, not just in sports, but in the world at large.

It’s hard to imagine there being a bigger upset during the 2021 NCAA Tournament than Oral Roberts shocking Ohio State on Friday afternoon. The Summit League champions needed overtime to get the job done, but despite being 16.5-point underdogs, the Golden Eagles managed to pick up a 75-72 win to become the ninth 15-seed in Tournament history to knock off a No. 2.

In the immediate aftermath, plenty of people decided to get jokes off at the Buckeyes’ expense, something that invariably happens whenever a loss of this magnitude happens in the Tournament. It took a minute for Kevin Harlan to get in on the fun, but his time to shine came during Oklahoma State’s win over Liberty a little later in the day.

Harlan read a recap of the day’s events and found a subtle way to get in on the fun. See if you can catch it at first glance:

Did you notice it? Go back and watch once again, we’ll regroup in a second.

[twiddles thumbs for a sec]

As anyone who has ever interacted with any Buckeye fan knows, the school likes to refer to itself as THE Ohio State University. Harlan, deciding to have a little fun with this, shouted out THE Oral Roberts University for their win. We have a feeling that Golden Eagles fans are going to run with this one for a while, and well, we can’t blame them.

Ever since R&B sister duo Chloe x Halle released their breathtaking sophomore Ungodly Hour, the two have taken the music industry by storm. They’ve graced countless late-night talk shows with captivating performances, and were even nominated for three Grammy Awards for Best R&B Song, Best Traditional R&B Performance, and Best R&B Performance. Though they didn’t end up taking home any awards, it still gave the young singers a healthy signal boost. Now returning with new music, the sister duo share a moving cover of “Georgia On My Mind.”

Chloe x Halle’s rendition of the classic ballad puts their powerful vocals on full display. The song was originally recorded to feature in an ESPN commercial ahead of the Masters Tournament, which takes place in Georgia.

In a statement, Chloe x Halle shared their excitement about the cover: “We are happy to be given the opportunity to record our version of the timeless ‘Georgia On My Mind’ for the Masters Tournament.”

Ahead of the release of “Georgia On My Mind,” Chloe x Halle decided to revisit some of their old music. Because they still can’t tour behind Ungodly Hour, the sister duo decided to revamp it instead. Offering a new take on a deluxe album, Chloe x Halle dropped the “Chrome Edition” of Ungodly Hour, which featured two news songs.

Listen to Chloe x Halle’s “Georgia On My Mind” cover above.

If you have four hours to spare, this weekend might be a good time to compare the original Justice League to Zack Snyder’s extended cut of the film that just premiered on HBO Max. There’s a lot to discuss about what changed and all the footage that was added, including some reshoots that early critics have said just doesn’t look right. But the first thing people have seemed to notice about Zack Snyder’s Justice League is that the R-rated film is considerably more violent than the original.

According to Snyder, though, that’s entirely the point. According to the extended cut’s director (spoilers ahead), the added blood and gore highlight the thematic differences about his sense that the film’s heroes are god-like saviors of mortal man. But there’s also an essence of his “creative freedom” in making an R-rated superhero movie that he felt he needed to explore.

Variety shared quotes from Snyder and highlighted a difference many saw in the two films: a scene where Wonder Woman foils a bank robbery now has the bad guys hitting a wall hard, with noticeable blood left on the wall and some more overt signs of serious injury to those involved.

Snyder wanted to push the envelope. “It’s a pure exercise in creative freedom,” the director told Variety this week about the Snyder cut of “Justice League.” Similar to the “Ultimate Edition” of Snyder’s 2016 film “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” which was also R-rated for a digital and home video release only, Snyder says knowing his film would be streaming on HBO Max freed him from having to make his “Justice League” work for a PG-13 rating.

“Let’s just do it the exact way we would if there was no ratings board,” he said of his team’s thinking. “Let’s not use any second guessing. Let’s just do it the way we think is the coolest. That was the philosophical approach.”

That scene in particular sparked a debate on social media about whether it was right for the character to have killed anyone in the first place, with its defenders saying Wonder Woman isn’t on the Batman character arc of not killing. In any event, it seems there are some serious reasons for Snyder to include more blood and gore beyond it just looking cooler in a movie.

“I always feel that the consequence is important to me, that there’s real stakes,” Snyder said. “It still is abstract, you know. These are gods fighting men. Which is also part of the point. We can’t really fight them. Humans can’t really fight them.”

Vanity Fair had a much longer analysis of the big differences with the two cuts, including a lengthy explanation of the film’s now-extended epilogue. Interestingly, there are some limitations that DC ended up putting on Snyder, not in the level of violence but who could appear in the film, especially in the epilogue. But as far as blood on the walls, it’s clear that Snyder got what he wanted in his four-hour epic.

In the last few weeks, everyone from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to toilet paper brand Charmin have been talking about NFTs. NFTs, which stand for Non-fungible tokens, are a way for creators to make a profit off their digital content using blockchain technology. Several musicians have already gotten a jump start on the trend, and Rico Nasty is now the latest.

On Friday, Rico Nasty announced that she’ll be teaming up with her “OHFR?” video creator Don Allen III to sell artwork from the video as an NFT. Not only will the owner of the NFT get to boast ownership of the clip, but they’ll also receive the authenticated physical hammer seen in the video, signed by the rapper herself.

Rico Nasty isn’t the first musician to join the NFT marketplace. Grimes was one of the first to sell her artwork as an NFT, raking in $6 million in just one day. Diplo, Halsey, and Post Malone have also recently sold NFTs.

The NFT will be made available for bidding on SuperRare starting March 22 at 9 am EST, followed up by a conversation with Rico Nasty on Clubhouse. Join the discussion here and watch Rico Nasty’s “OHFR?” video above.

Nightmare Vacation is out now via Atlantic/Sugar Trap. Get it here.

Rico Nasty is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Wheel of Fortune highlights are always hit and miss, but this one is decidedly feel-good in every way. The syndicated game show is often in the news for flubs or major mistakes from contestants and even its host, but Thursday’s episode saw a contestant win big and donate the money to a good cause.

Scott Kollbrenner was the big winner on Thursday, taking home $45,000 and getting a spot in the bonus round to win even more. What happened next was good enough to have the show set off confetti cannons, so you know it was a good day at the wheel.

Let’s see if you can play along with Scott here, who did a nice job of revealing a good set of letters here to get it right on the first guess.

Scott nailed “flowing white gown” right away, and the $100,000 card caused the confetti to fall for a bit of celebration. But the good vibes weren’t done there, as he later told the show that he planned to donate whatever he won after taxes to some very good causes.

Kollbrenner appeared on Good Morning America on Friday to explain why he decided to donate the money, saying it was a decision he made even before he had a prize purse to give away.

“It’s been a dark time, and when I went on the show I was doing it for the fun of it,” he said. “And I said to my wife as I went on ‘If I do OK here, anything I get let’s give it to charity. We’re very fortunate, let’s see if we can’t support some others who aren’t as fortunate as we are.’”

It’s a lovely gesture for sure, and one that will be remembered in show lore for some time. Interestingly, he said only people working on the show and his wife knew that he planned to donate the money, so everyone else in his life was in for a big surprise when they saw the confetti fall when the show finally aired.

Up until Friday, Saweetie and Quavo were one of the music industry’s favorite couples. Back in October, Quavo revealed that he had first slid into her DM’s with a simple snowflake emoji, which prompted weeks of memes and fans gushing over their relationship. But it looks as though things have now come to an end. Saweetie announced that the couple had broken up Friday, and Quavo has now made his first statement about the split.

Saweetie took to Twitter to make the announcement, hinting that the main reason for their breakup was because Quavo had been unfaithful to her during their three-year relationship. “I’m single. I’ve endured too much betrayal and hurt behind the scenes for a false narrative to be circulating that degrades my character,” she wrote. “Presents don’t band aid scars and the love isn’t real when the intimacy is given to other women.”

Quavo has now broken his silence and is denying Saweetie’s allegations that he cheated. “I know you want to make this into a show so I’ll play my part just this one time,” he wrote in a tweet. “I don’t normally put my business out there, especially my personal life. I feel the need to address this so there are no false narratives.”

The rapper continued, taking aim at Saweetie’s character: “I had love for you and disappointed you did all that. You are not the woman I thought you were,” he wrote. “I wish you nothing but the best.”

According to Saweetie, though, she’s remaining unbothered. After announcing their breakup, the rapper said she had “emotionally checked out a long time ago” and is now ready for her “new chapter of elevation.”

Saweetie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Marjorie Taylor Greene thinks that everyone is out to get her, and when it comes to some House Democrats that’s actually true. But those in the lower house of Congress aren’t actually responsible for her perceived internet persecution. That, as it turns out, was a mistake on Twitter’s part.

The social network became the focus of the QAnon-loving Georgia representative’s ire on Friday when she was apparently locked out of her Twitter account. Greene, who had all her power to serve on committees revoked and has become something of a one-woman culture war in Washington for a variety of reasons, assumed that Democrats were somehow to blame for her inability to post.

According to reports Greene posted on her still-active Parler account that she had been banned from Twitter. But according to a Vice story on Friday, Twitter reversed the ban and said in a statement that the action was a mistake.

“We use a combination of technology and human review to enforce the Twitter Rules across the service,” a company spokesperson said. “In this case, our automated systems took enforcement action on the account referenced in error. This action has been reversed, and access to the account has been reinstated.”

That didn’t stop Greene from posting, on Twitter, that she was “suspended” for 12 hours and openly wondering if there was a vast conspiracy against her that extended to her social media platforms.

It’s just the latest instance of Greene making herself a story while not actually doing much by the way of legislation. Which perhaps is why some House Democrats are working to expel her from the governing body in the first place.

When Max first arrived at the Susquehanna SPCA shelter, the workers didn’t think he’d stay long. The 5-year-old pit bull terrier mix was sweet and friendly—which ironically led to a longer than normal stay. As of March 3, he had been at the shelter for 444 days.

“When he came here, we thought he would find his home easily because he is such a nice guy,” executive director Stacie Haynes told Fox 5 News. “Turns out, he just kept getting looked over and he wasn’t on our radar as an urgent dog to get out because he is just so sweet.”

Max stepped into the limelight recently when Haynes swapped places with the dog for a day in an effort to raise awareness about the shelter and educate people about what life is like for a shelter dog. Max got to hang out in Haynes’s office and even wore a tie for the day, while Haynes did her work on Max’s bed in his kennel (with an occasional bathroom break, some enrichment activities, and people walking by to check her out, she said).

Haynes told WBGN that Max didn’t really know life outside the shelter, having been there so long.

“He’s a very good boy. He’s very friendly, he comes up to the kennel wagging his tail,” said Haynes. “He just wants to be your friend.”

However, shelter life is generally hard on dogs, as they’re constantly trying to protect their space from different people coming through. “You’re constantly trying to make sure you’re safe,” said Haynes.

Dogs often become anxious when they’re sheltered too long, always on alert and prone to panic. But Max’s response was different. The longer he stayed, the more he became depressed and lethargic, sometimes staring at a wall.

Haynes said the 444 minutes she spent in the kennel gave her an extra dose of empathy for Max. Shelters provide a wonderful service, giving animals food and a place to live while trying to find them permanent arrangements, but they aren’t meant to be long-term.

“Time feels like it’s stood still. It has gone very, very slowly. I can understand why Max is staring at the wall. I found myself sitting here trying to count the links of the chain link,” Haynes said of her time in the kennel.

The dog-director day swap got the attention of local news agencies, which led Ed Panus of Moravia, New York to come to the shelter to meet Max. Panus said he felt an instant connection with the doggo.

“I noticed he was almost like the dog I had that passed away here at the end of last year,” Panus told WBNG News 12.

So after 450 days living at the Susquehanna SPCA and four months at a different shelter before that, Max has finally found his forever home with Panus.

The shelter had said that when Max was adopted, they would help provide a behavioral specialist to ease him through the transition from shelter life to home life. So far, so good it seems. Panus said Max immediately made himself at home, even jumping right into Panus’s human bed.

Congratulations Ed and Max! Hope you both enjoy your new life together.

The search for an Indiana basketball coach has involved a whole lot of folks speculating that Boston Celtics head coach and Hoosier State native Brad Stevens potentially coming home. Despite the fact that Stevens said earlier this week that he had no interest in replacing Archie Miller, rumors have circulated for days that he is the name that folks in Bloomington want more than any.

In response, Stevens has apparently decided to come out far more forcefully than he did earlier in the week. During his pregame press availability before the Celtics took on the Sacramento Kings, Stevens once again said he has no interest in leaving the NBA for the Big Ten.

And then, in an attempt to show his Boston credibility, Stevens gave a quote that does seem to indicate he is not going anywhere any time soon.

If I may editorialize for a moment, I never imagined that a person would be so eager to shoot down job rumors that they would say they eat food from Dunkin’ Donuts (no disrespect to Dunkin’) and root for the New England Patriots. But hey, it’s pretty evident that these rumors have bugged Stevens and he wanted to shoot this down as forcefully as possible. Plus as an added bonus, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN has his back here.