Category: News

The Celtics are in the process of finalizing a deal to bring Nets assistant (and former assistant with the Spurs and Sixers) Ime Udoka to Boston to be their next head coach after Brad Stevens moved into running the team’s front office. It is a move that didn’t surprise many as Udoka has been considered a future head coach in the NBA for a number of years now.

While not surprising, it is still good to see because there are not enough Black head coaches in the NBA as, prior to Udoka’s hiring, there were just seven Black head coaches. That the first of the seven current job openings went to a Black coach was a significant deal, but it was not an historic moment for the Celtics franchise that had the first Black head coach in league history when Bill Russell coached the team and won its most recent title with Doc Rivers at the helm of the franchise.

However, that didn’t stop ESPN’s Jay Williams from firing off this tweet that was later deleted on Wednesday morning.

Again, there’s plenty of reason to celebrate a young Black coach who has more than paid his dues getting a head coaching opportunity, but this was just flatly false. On Wednesday night, many hours later, Williams produced one of the all-time “I got hacked” excuses in Twitter apology history.

One of three things happened here: Williams is desperately trying to cover for an embarrassing tweet, Williams has someone who handles his social media who made a very embarrassing tweet and has since been dismissed, or there is the world’s weirdest Twitter hacker who is hacking into famous people’s accounts, not to post something crazy or vulgar, but just to fire off bad and wrong takes that are plausible enough to be real.

I will let you decide which of those seems most likely, but his excuse didn’t pass the smell test for anyone on Twitter.

5. He was almost a rabbit named Mr. Needlemouse.

According to Blake J. Harris’ book Console Wars, before settling on making Sonic a hedgehog, the protagonist of Sega’s work-in-progress was a rabbit able to pick up items with his ears named, yes, Mr. Needlemouse. The concept proved too hard for Sega to program with the current hardware, so they eventually decided to move onto something that could curl up into a ball, and thus Sonic was born.

4. He was influenced by quite the cast of characters.

It might not come as a huge surprise that Sonic‘s artist, Naoto Ohshima, borrowed from Mickey Mouse and Felix the Cat’s designs to create a character that would appeal to children, Western audiences, and have some serious mascot power — something Sega needed. You can pretty clearly see the influence in Sonic’s head, which resembles Felix’s, and in his Mickey Mouse-like body. However, the rest of Sonic’s influences are pretty absurd. According to an article published in Retro Gamer back in 2003, his “can-do attitude” was inspired by former-president Bill Clinton, while his style was pulled from Michael Jackson’s “Bad” music video. Lastly, Ohshima used Santa Claus’ red and white coloring for greater familiarity with youngsters.

3. Dr. Eggman was originally supposed to be a hero.

The earliest sketches of Dr. Robotnik aka Dr. Eggman depict him as a caricature of former-president Theodore Roosevelt in pajamas. In the Sonic Bible, an internal document created by Sega in 1991, it was revealed the studio intended to make him a hero and friend of Sonic’s named Dr. Kintobar who, through an unfortunate experiment with some Chaos Emeralds and an egg, turned into the notorious Dr. Eggman.

2. Sonic’s scrapped backstory is WILD.

In the non-fiction novel Console Wars, Sega shared with author Harris their intention to create a “cool and edgy” character to help keep Sega popular. Keeping in line with that mission, Sonic’s original backstory was a bit intense. Sonic was originally intended to be the leader of a rock band featuring a parakeet, monkey, rabbit, crocodile, and… breakdancer? In addition, he also had a human, Jessica Rabbit-esque girlfriend named Madonna. In an article with Famitsu, Ohshima said some elements of Madonna were passed onto none other than Sonic character Amy Rose.

1. He’s a bigger deal than most folks realize.

While Mario might forever hold the title as the most iconic character in gaming, Sonic isn’t that far behind. According to an archived 1UP article, in 1992, more children ages 6 to 11 were able to recognize Sonic than Mickey Mouse. In 1993, Sonic became the first video game character to have a balloon float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

On Wednesday, and for the first time in her 13-year conservatorship, Britney Spears directly addressed a judge in court. In her message, she asked that the court arrangement, which she claims has restricted her freedom, be terminated. This comes after months of court battles from the singer and her legal team as well as added attention to the case thanks to the documentary Framing Brintey Spears, plus the second wave of the #FreeBritney movement. Spears was very vocal during the hearing and gave several reasons as to why the conservatorship should come to an end. One example came when the singer revealed her conservators would not allow her to have a baby.

“All I want is to own my money … and for this to end … and for my boyfriend to be able to f*cking drive me in his car,” she said, according to the Rolling Stone. “And honestly … I want to be able to sue my family … I have an IUD in my body right now that won’t let me have a baby and my conservators won’t let me go to the doctor to take it out. I wanna be able to get married and have a baby.”

In regards to the overall conservatorship, Brintey said, “I’ve been in denial. I’ve been in shock. I am traumatized. I just want my life back.” She also requested to have the conservatorship end “without having to be evaluated.”

A little after 7:30 on Tuesday night, Los Angeles County Sheriffs received multiple reports about a herd of cows running through the streets of Pico Rivera, a city 11 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

This Twitter video does a perfect job of encapsulating the surprise residents felt when they saw 40 cows running through their quiet suburban neighborhood.

Cows spotted on Beverly Road and Beverly Blvd. Lmao! #PicoRivera. https://t.co/2VDny7wBay

— The Sons of Pico Rivera (@tehsonsofpico)
1624419543.0

“They went into somebody’s yard,” the shocked woman exclaims as another bystander follows the cows yelling, “Mooo!” while capturing the bizarre scene on his phone.

The cows bolted out of a meat-packing plant after someone accidentally left a gate open. The cows ran through yards and tore through chain-link fences but luckily there weren’t any serious injuries.

One cow charged a family of four, knocking them to the ground. They were taken to the hospital and treated for minor injuries. Unfortunately, the cow was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy to prevent further harm.

Authorities brought in a team of experienced ranchers and police on horseback to attempt to corral the cows. “Once they start running, they get scared, they get anxious, and they just don’t want to stop running,” one rancher said. “So, you’ve got to give them the time and the proper procedures for how to capture them.”

Most of the cows were corralled on a cul-de-sac while the ranchers and police worked to pick up the remaining strays. One ranger attempted to lasso a cow, but was dragged “a couple hundred feet” by the animal because it was “too heavy.”

One resident noted that the sheriff’s cars were following the cows side-by-side “like they’re a bunch of presidents or something.”

Most of the cows were herded into trailers about three hours after the initial reports. But one wily cow kept authorities busy until somewhere around 11:00 pm. In the end, the 39 surviving cows were returned safely to the meat processing plant.

The sad part about the story is that even though 39 made it back to the meat-packing plant safely, they won’t be safe for too long. The stampede out of the plant was most likely the last chance at freedom for the animals before they were slaughtered.

“All I know is that they were running for their lives and they are probably free for the very first time and anybody would want to escape,” witness Ginger Gaxiola told KABC.

PETA issued a statement regarding the incident.

“PETA wishes the cows who escaped from a slaughterhouse into a Pico Rivera, California, neighborhood on Tuesday had made it to freedom, something they fought hard to gain, instead of being rounded up and returned to the slaughterhouse or — in one cow’s case — being shot on the scene by law enforcement,” a statement said.

Cows escape slaughterhouse in Pico Rivera; 1 shot by deputies working to round them up

www.youtube.com

Thousands of small businesses all over the country suffered a huge blow as a result of the pandemic. Some made it through; others were forced to close their doors. Now that the world is inching closer and closer to normal, J Balvin is doing what he can to lend a helping hand to Latinx-owned small businesses, thanks to a new campaign with UPS.

The Latin singer and the shipping company joined forces for the Proudly Unstoppable campaign. The announcement came with the release of “Juntos Imparables,” a new song the singer shared with the hopes of inspiring “people to work together and support their local businesses,” as he told Billboard. As for the new campaign, the singer said, “My early days in music felt very comparable to getting a small business off the ground, so I know what it means to start from scratch and chase your dreams.”

He added, “UPS is doing so much to help small businesses handle their logistics and grow. As individuals, we can only do so much but if we work together with our people, we’re unstoppable.”

In addition to the new song, UPS debuted a bilingual limited edition box series named “Challenges Are Our Fire,” designed by Mexican graphic designer and illustrator Luis Pinto. The series comes with 650,000 UPS medium-sized Express boxes and envelopes. UPS will also donate $150,000 to the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) in order to give small businesses that were affected by the pandemic the financial support they need.

You can listen to J Balvin’s new song in the video above.

Welcome to SNX DLX, our weekly roundup of the best sneaker drops of the week. We’ve got a lighter list this time around and — (semi) shockingly — this is our only SNX of the year to not contain a single Air Jordan. Nike has spent the first six months of 2021 dropping fire Jordan after fire Jordan so there’s something bittersweet about not seeing the sneaker appear on the list this week. That isn’t to say Nike doesn’t have anything to offer, the brand seems to have made the pivot from Jordans to Dunks. Considering both silhouettes are dope, we’re all for it.

Elsewhere on the list, we’ve got the latest New Balance collaboration from Salehe Bembury, a new entry in Kanye’s Yeezy Mono Series, and a Happy Gilmore Adidas UltraBOOST. Let’s get into it!

Nike Dunk Low Animal Pack

Nike just has a way with taking something cheesy, like animal prints, and making them essential — they do it with chameleon and elephant print on the Jordan 2 and 3, and this week they’ve made cheetah and zebra print work on the almighty Dunk low. The brand is able to make this work by taking a subtle approach to the print, neither the Cheetah or Zebra really resemble the coats of each respective animal.

The Cheetah sports an earthy combination of tan spotted suede panels over an ecru leather base with a deep chocolate swoosh while the Zebra features the same construction with black leather and charcoal-stripped suede paneling with a cool-toned white swoosh. Both are dope, but if I had to pick one, I’m going Cheetah… for summer, at least. I’ll rock the Zebras in winter. I want both.

The Nike Dunk Animal Pack is out now for a retail price of $110. Pick up a pair at aftermarket sites like StockX.

Yeezy 350 Mono Cinder

Last week we were graced with a triple Yeezy drop in the 350 Boost V2 Mono Mist, Mono Clay, and Mono Ice, which utilized a new slimmed-down mesh construction that revealed the sneaker’s skeletal structure. It was a dope drop, but if you missed out on copping even one of the three, you probably feeling pretty burned right now. So you’ll be happy to hear that this week brings yet another colorway in the Mono series, the all-black Mono Cinder.

The darkest sneaker in the original Mono drop was the Mist, which featured a smog-like grey colorway, so if you were hoping for a moodier and darker option, the Cinder definitely ticks that box. As with the original set of sneakers, Adidas suggests you order a size-up on this model, as the new mesh upper provides a tighter fit.

The Yeezy 350 Mono Cinder is set to drop on June 24th for a retail price of $220. Pick up a pair at GOAT or Flight Club.

Nike Dunk Low University Blue

We’re definitely in the Summer of the Dunk as Nike just can’t seem to stop itself from dropping new colorways of the silhouette on a weekly basis. If they keep dropping dope stuff, we’ll be here to catch it! There isn’t much we can say about the Dunk Low University Blue, it features a simple colorway of white leather with University Blue paneling and woven Nike branding on the heel with a nylon tongue.

It’s your standard Dunk affair, available in one of Nike’s greatest color combinations. An instant classic.

The Nike Dunk Low University Blue is set to drop on June 24th for a retail price of $100. Pick up a pair at GOAT.

Salehe Bembury x New Balance 2002R Water Be The Guide

Salehe Bembury, probably the sneaker world’s current dopest designer, has once again linked up with New Balance to deliver a new iteration of the 2002R silhouette. Featuring an upper of blue fuzzy suede panels over an open-hole mesh base, the 2002R Water Be The Guide features leather detailing, a NERGY foam midsole, and a shearling New Balance “N” logo at the midfoot.

The design was inspired by water, which I guess we can see, but the design is giving us more trail vibes than ocean. Either way, it’s dope so who are we to complain about concepts?

The Salehe Bembury x New Balance 2002R Water Be The Guide is set to drop on June 25th for a retail price of $149.99. Pick up a pair exclusively at New Balance.

Extra Butter x Adidas Happy Gilmore Collection

For whatever reason, golf wear is having its moment in streetwear right now, and while we don’t love that, it’s hard to deny the appeal of this sneaker collaboration between Adidas and New York City retailer Extra Butter that pays homage to one of the greatest golf movies (sort of) of all time, Happy Gilmore. Launching alongside a matching apparel collection, which inspired by the film’s three main characters, Chubbs, Shooter, and Happy, the highlight of the collection is definitely the Shooter series, which features a t-shirt, two-pieces of headwear, a dope Shooter McGavin-inspired jacket, and a pair of yellow and white Adidas UltraBOOST 1.0.

The UltraBOOST features special golf tee pickets at the three stripes, with a mixed mesh and suede upper, with insole imagery of Shooter McGavin and an overall clean aesthetic that looks dope on its own without the Happy Gilmore tie in.

This is the sort of collaboration we like to see, one that stands on its own outside of its movie-tie-in concept.

The Extra Butter x Adidas x Happy Gilmore Collection is set to drop on June 25th for a yet-to-be-announced price. Pick up a pair exclusively at Extra Butter.

Dr. Martens x A Bathing Ape x Mastermind Japan 1461 Oxford

Dr. Martens is bringing in two legendary Japanese brands, BAPE, and Mastermind, to reimagine the Doc’s 1461 Oxford boot. Featuring BAPE’s iconic shark mouth graphic and Mastermind’s equally notable skull-and-crossbones print, each side of this 1461 is printed to rep both brands. Other details include a triple-branded dog dag, sock liner, and lace charms. The low-cut shoe leather boot features a translucent black midsole and patent leather construction.

The Dr. Martens x A Bathing Ape x Mastermind Japan 1461 Oxford is set to drop on June 26th for a retail price of $230. Pick up a pair at the Dr. Martens webstore.

Nike WMNS Dunk High Crimson Tint

Closing out our list this week is the WMNS-size exclusive Dunk High Crimson Tint. We weren’t kidding about this being the Summer of the Dunk, and had this not been a high-top Dunk, I would’ve been more than willing to say it’s even better than this week’s University Blue colorway. The Crimson Tint features leather construction with peach overlays and a sleek wraparound swoosh. Another easy win from Nike.

The WMNS Dunk High Crimson Tint is set to drop on June 26th for a retail price of $110. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.

Disclaimer: While all of the products recommended here were chosen independently by our editorial staff, Uproxx may receive payment to direct readers to certain retail vendors who are offering these products for purchase.

Subscribing to a streamer is all well and good, but how are you going to watch it? That’s the problem that plagued Amazon Fire TV users, at least if they wanted to watch Peacock, NBCUniversal’s contribution to already too vast streaming landscape. The service debuted almost a year ago, and all that time it’s been AWOL from one of the modern world’s major media players.

But according to Variety, that, finally, is changing. The two companies have belatedly worked out a deal, and starting Thursday, June 24, those who’ve chosen Amazon’s media player will be able to stream The Office, Modern Family, a large smattering of SNL, the Jurassic Park movies, Paddington, Howard the Duck, and whatever other random shows and movies that lurk on the service. (If you want to catch up with Columbo, you’ll have less than a week, as it’s set to vamoose from Peacock at month’s end.)

Peacock was also slow to hook up with Roku, the other major media player, with whom they inked only in September — some two months into their existence. Still, they did better than HBO Max, who went nearly six months without a Roku deal. So, Amazon Fire TV users, very soon you’ll be able to have at Peacock, and with plenty of time before they start airing the Olympics — perhaps the reason NBCUniversal finally agreed to a deal.

(Via Variety)

Britney Spears’ conservatorship has been an interest magnet in recent months since the Framing Britney Spears documentary brought to light the intense level of scrutiny the former pop princess endured relatively early in her life and career. Today, Spears made her first on-record comments about the situation during a remote hearing covered by The New York Times, calling the conservatorship “abusive” and advocating for an unconditional end to it.

“I’ve been in denial,” she admitted. “I’ve been in shock. I am traumatized. I just want my life back.” She said that she wants the conservatorship to end “without having to be evaluated.” These comments surfaced after another Times report that she had been trying to end the conservatorship for nearly a decade. According to records, Spears “expressed serious opposition to the conservatorship earlier and more often than had previously been known.” Earlier this year, she intimated that she won’t return to performing until her father steps down as her conservator, reiterating the sentiment again during an Instagram Live session.

Fortunately for Spears, she has her share of supporters which include pop queen Cher, who promised to try to help in response to a #FreeBritney supporter on Twitter, and Britney’s boyfriend Sam Asghari, who posted a photo of himself in a “Free Britney” T-shirt on Instagram in solidarity.

The controversy over critical race theory seems to have hit a fever pitch in the U.S.

Critical race theory (CRT) has been around for decades (the American Bar Association has a nice synopsis of it here). As with any academic theory, it’s complex, but in a nutshell, CRT examines how the social construct of race impacts the laws and institutions of our society. But recently, as Americans reckon more fully with the legacy of racism in our national story, the entire idea of CRT has become a political football, scapegoat, diversion, and bogeyman, depending on who’s discussing it.

There’s a lot of confusion in this discourse about what CRT is, as well as where and how it’s actually being taught, and some of that confusion has spilled into the U.S military.

Defense Secretary Austin was questioned at a House Armed Services Committee meeting today about CRT being taught in U.S. military academies. Representative Mike Waltz (FL-R), a former Green Beret, cited a letter he’d received from a superintendent at West Point about CRT materials being used in one class, as well as a workshop on “Understanding White Rage” that 100 cadets were taking. Representative Matt Gaetz asked Austin about it as well.

General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the highest-ranking military officer in the U.S., was offered a few minutes to respond at the end of the session. And his rational, reasonable, level-headed thoughts were a breath of fresh air.

Watch General Milley share his thoughts:

General Mark Milley hits back at uproar over critical race theory

www.youtube.com

Here’s the transcript of his speech:

“First of all, on the issue of critical race theory, etc. I’ll obviously have to get much smarter on whatever the theory is. But I do think it’s important, actually, for those of us in uniform to be open-minded and be widely read. And the United States Military Academy is a university, and it is important that we train and we understand. And I want to understand ‘white rage.” I’m white, and I want to understand it.

So, what is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America? What caused that? I want to find that out. I want to maintain an open mind here, and I do want to analyze it. It’s important that we understand that. Because our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and guardians—they come from the American people. So it is important that the leaders, now and in the future, do understand it.

I’ve read Mao Tse Tung. I’ve read Karl Marx. I’ve read Lenin. That doesn’t make me a communist. So what is wrong with understanding—having some situational understanding—about the country for which we are here to defend?

I personally find it offensive that we are accusing the United States military, our general officers, our commissioned and non-commissioned officers, of being quote ‘woke’ or something else because we’re studying some theories that are out there. That was started at Harvard Law School years ago, and it proposed that there are laws in the United States, antebellum laws prior to the Civil War, that led to a power differential with African-Americans that were three-quarters of a human being when this country was formed. And then we had a Civil War and Emancipation Proclamation to change it. And then we brought it up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964—it took another 100 years to change that.

So look, I do want to know. And I respect your service, and you and I are both Green Berets. But I want to know. And it matters to our military and the discipline and cohesion of this military.

And I thank you for the opportunity to make a comment on that.”

Well said, General Milley.

Ever since November, president-turned-failed blogger Donald Trump has been pushing baseless accusations of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. Even Ivanka and Jared are reportedly sick of hearing about it. This probably won’t stop him, but a Republican-led investigation in Michigan — one of the main places he’s accused of helping “steal” his election — has released their conclusion. And it turns out they found bupkis.

As per CNN, a report, again conducted by Republicans, concluded there was “no evidence of widespread or systematic fraud” in November. Among the wild claims they debunked included, as per CNN: “that deceased people or non-residents voted in the election, voting tabulators were compromised, ballots were harvested, ballots were ‘dumped’ at the TCF Center in Detroit, and votes for Trump in Antrim County were switched.” Also proven false: that former Michigan residents had also voted.

There were, however, some instances of voting irregularities. They go as follows:

According to the report, there were two cases in Wayne County where an individual appeared to have voted but was deceased. One was a clerical error in which a 118-year-old man shared an identical name with his son. The other was a 92-year-old woman who died days before the election.

The report emerged after Michigan Republicans proposed bills to overhaul the state’s election laws, including requiring IDs and restricting hours for dropping off ballots. (Governor Gretchen Whitmer is expected to veto them.) It also dropped the day after a Democrat-led attempt to push back against such measures was filibustered by Senate Republicans. The latter claim they’re simply trying to protect the integrity of elections; the latter accuse them of simply trying to limit the number of people who can vote after a record turn-out.

But the Michigan Republicans who conducted the investigation did not take it lightly, nor were they amused by the baseless claims former president Donald J. Trump, as well as a large number of his party, continue to make.

“Further, the Committee is appalled at what can only be deduced as a willful ignorance or avoidance of this proof perpetuated by some leading such speculation,” the report read, adding, “The Committee strongly recommends citizens use a critical eye and ear toward those who have pushed demonstrably false theories for their own personal gain.”

(Via CNN)