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There will be a new national champion in the world of men’s college basketball. The Kansas Jayhawks took on the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday evening in the Round of 32 in the West Region, and despite trailing by as many as 12 points in the second half, Eric Musselman’s squad took down the defending champions, 72-71.

It was a gutsy performance by the Razorbacks, as the backcourt duo of Davonte Davis and Ricky Council IV combined to score 46 points and Council came up huge from the line down the stretch, as he hit five free throws in the remaining 30 seconds to ice things. The win makes it three years in a row that Arkansas has made it to at least the Sweet 16 under Musselman, and because the team is an 8-seed, this is the lowest seed of the bunch.

Musselman was unsurprisingly fired up over the win, which he took to another level by sprinting over to the Razorback faithful, ripping his shirt off, waving it around over his head, and leading them in a quick “Woo Pig Sooie.”

The NCAA Tournament does some pretty incredible things to people. Musselman and the rest of the Razorbacks will have to wait until tomorrow to see who they’re going to play, as the team will take on the winner of the 4-5 matchup between UConn and Saint Mary’s.

The Minnesota Timberwolves will not have the services of Anthony Edwards for an undetermined period of time. According to head coach Chris Finch, Edwards is out indefinitely after suffering an ankle injury in the first quarter of Friday night’s 139-131 double overtime loss to Chicago Bulls.

Edwards suffered the injury while jumping and throwing a pass, and when he came down, the All-Star guard rolled his ankle and was in considerable pain. He needed help getting into the locker room, and by the time he reemerged on the bench, Edwards had his right foot in a boot. Finch said that Edwards continues to be in a boot.

With a calf injury holding Karl-Anthony Towns out since the end of November, an extended Edwards absence would be the worst-case scenario for a Minnesota team that is right in the middle of the playoff hunt in the Western Conference. The Wolves are in eighth place in the West with a 35-36 record. The team is one game behind the Dallas Mavericks for the 6-seed, but they’re also only one games up on the Utah Jazz, which are currently the first team out of the postseason picture.

Edwards is averaging 24.7 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.6 steals in 36 minutes per game.

Revival shows are all the rage these days, and it wasn’t long before someone resurrected Willow, the cult fantasy from the ‘80s. The Ron Howard adventure wasn’t a hit when it was released, but it gained traction on home video, making it all the more apropos that it would re-materialize on the small screen. Alas, just like its predecessor, it faced a grim future: Last week it was cancelled after only one season. But things don’t die in the world of content, and its showrunner isn’t giving up on it.

Jon Kasdan — who collaborated with his filmmaking legend father Lawrence on Solo: A Star Wars Story, and who has a credit on the forthcoming fifth Indiana Jones — took to Twitter days after the show’s axing to offer some hope for its fans. While he acknowledges the show was indeed given the boot, he claims that no one, not even Lucasfilm staffers, would say the show only lasted one season.

Kasdan claimed the “less splashy” version of what went down with Willow was that the cast and crew were released from their contracts so they wouldn’t have to wait around for another season, which may take awhile, if it happens at all. He cites at least one cast member, Nellie Andreeva, who plays Mims, who’s already taken another gig.

Besides, as he points out, for complicated reasons, “production of streaming shows is slowing down across the entire industry.” That’s one reason why Willow, Kasdan acknowledged, “won’t resume filming in the next 12 months.”

That said, Kasdan is cautiously optimistic for Volume II. “Three weeks ago,” he wrote, “we got a third season of Party Down, 13 years after season two. Between season 2 and 3 of Atlanta? 4 years. Curb Your Enthusiasm seasons 8 and 9 had a hiatus of 6 years.”

Disney was apparently a bit meddling during production of Willow, but when or if ever they greenlight Volume II, Kasdan will be ready. A bunch of scripts are already done, and he even has plans for Volume III. He promises the next season “is all about courage, desire, acceptance and the comedy and beauty to be found in even the darkest places and moments.” So you might be seeing Warwick Davis’ now-grizzled titular hero.

(Via The AV Club)

Charles Barkley‘s stint at the desk for NCAA Tournament games apparently involves moonlighting as a food critic. During halftime of Saturday afternoon’s 4-5 matchup in the East Region between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Duke Blue Devils, Barkley revealed the most correct take that he has ever had in his life: Uncrustables are good.

“One of the greatest things ever created was those Uncrustables,” Barkley said.

Clark Kellogg was very glad Barkley said this, which is the exact opposite of how he felt about Barkley’s story on Friday about showering in his full uniform when he was in college. Apparently, Greg Gumbel turned him into a big Uncrustables guy, as he did not grow up liking peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

“Oh my goodness, I didn’t discover those until very late in life,” Kellogg said of a thing that is in every grocery store. “I didn’t like peanut butter and jelly growing up, and then this dude told me about ’em, Greg told me about ’em, and I keep ’em stacked in the freezer at home.”

There is no word on where the fellas stand on other quick meals that you can stash in your freezer, like Hot Pockets or those microwavable pretzels that are really good.

NLE Choppa is clearing the air on recent rumors.

According to TMZ, Choppa’s latest single, “Mo Up Front,” was supposed to play in a commercial accompanying Powerade’s “What 50% More Means” campaign, which heavily featured Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies. The commercials was reportedly set to air during the NCAA March Madness.

However, the commercial was reportedly pulled after Morant shared a video of him waving a gun on Instagram live.

Despite the whole ordeal, TMZ is reporting that he and Morant still maintain a close relationship. Today (March 18), Choppa took to his Instagram story to address previous reports that he had lost the deal with Powerade.

According to the Memphis rapper, the commercial was, in fact, not pulled, but actually redone.

“Ja ain’t block a blessing,” Choppa said, “what’s meant to shine will shine. The commercial was recreated and is live now.”

He continued, offering words of support for Morant.

“He’s all good and is still learning,” he said, “he’ll come back better than before.”

Next month, Choppa will release his much-anticipated album, Cottonwood 2, which will feature “Mo Up Front,” “Champions,” and the Rose Royce-sampling “Do It Again.”

Cottonwood 2 is out 4/14 via Warner Records. Find more information here.

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

In the internet era, the idea of personal privacy is all but a myth. With a few keystrokes just about anyone can get your home address, phone number, email, age and the names of your family members. The fact that this information is readily available puts us all in the dangerous position of being the victim of fraud, stalking and violence.

What makes the situation even worse is that our information was put online without any of our consent.

The good news is that Google just made a big change that gives us all a little more control over our personal information. On April 27, the company announced it will allow anyone to request removals of their personal information from its Search feature.

“Open access to information is a key goal of Search, but so is empowering people with the tools they need to protect themselves and keep their sensitive, personally identifiable information private. That’s why we’re updating our policies to help people take more control of their online presence in Search,” Michelle Chang, Google’s Global Policy Lead for Search, announced on the company’s blog.

“[T]he internet is always evolving—with information popping up in unexpected places and being used in new ways—so our policies and protections need to evolve, too,” Chang continued.

The new policy also allows people to request the removal of personal information in Search that could be used for financial fraud such as log-in credentials or account numbers.

Hereu2019s how you can remove your phone number, email and other personal information from Google search results.https://cnet.co/3y6utEa

— CNET (@CNET)
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Although Google’s new policy is a step in the right direction, it doesn’t cure the problem altogether. “It’s important to remember that removing content from Google Search won’t remove it from the internet, which is why you may wish to contact the hosting site directly, if you’re comfortable doing so,” Chang said.

Do you have any personal information that pops up in Google Search that you’d like to have removed? Visit the topic’s support page, scroll down and click the “Start removal request” link. As you follow the prompts you will be able to specify the personal information that shows up in Search and will be asked to share a list of relevant search terms, such as your full name, maiden name and nickname. You’ll also be able to share supplemental details before submitting the request.

After your request is submitted, you should receive an email from Google confirming the request was received. It’s unclear how long the removal process will take.

Google’s new policy changes come during a surge in online fraud. The Federal Trade Commission reported that consumers lost $5.8 billion to scammers in 2021, a jump of 70% from the previous year.

A big portion of fraud is committed through online scams as well as identity theft and telephone solicitations.

In an attempt to give the FTC more power to fight back against fraud, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, chair of the Commerce Committee, will introduce legislation this week to make it easier for the Committee to sue deceptive companies and scammers.

“If the FTC remains disarmed of this critical authority, millions of consumers and small businesses who’ve been scammed, swindled, or locked out of competitive marketplaces will never be made whole,” Cantwell said in a statement.

This article originally appeared on 05.03.22

Writing a book is no easy task, even for adult professional writers. Many would-be authors dream of a day when their work can be found on library shelves, unsure if it will ever come.

But for 8-year-old Dillon Helbig, that day has already arrived—in truly unconventional fashion—thanks to his own determination to make it happen.

Dillon wrote his 81-page graphic novel, “The Adventures of Dillon Helbig’s Crismis” (written by “Dillon His Self”) in a hardcover journal with colored pencils over the course of a few days. He even put a label on the back of the book that reads “Made in Idho” [sic] and put an illustrated spine label on it as well. Then, without telling anyone, he brought it to his local library in Boise, Idaho, and slipped it in among the books in the children’s section.

The library Facebook page shared that it had officially added the book to the collection at the branch, writing, “Imagine our surprise yesterday when Dillon’s mom called to tell us that her son had authored an entire book, shelved it at the Lake Hazel Branch, then announced to his family later that he had written a book and it could be checked out at the library.”

The library also announced that Dillon’s book had won the first-ever Whoodini Award for Best Young Novelist—an award created in his honor.

Dillon told local news station KTVB that the book features him, his mom, Santa, a bomb, a portal and a giant carnivorous turkey. Because of course.

“I’ve been wanting to put a book in the library since I was five,” Dillon told the station. Nearly half his life, in other words.

Dillon said there were a lot of librarians he had to sneak past with his book to surreptitiously put it on the shelf, but he did it.

“I’ll always be sneaky, like how I get chocolate,” he explained. Classic.

The adults on every front handled this kid’s creativity and determination the best possible way. His mom called the library to let them know the book was there so it wouldn’t get lost or taken. And rather than just returning the book, the librarians actually put it into circulation.

“His parents were worried we would find his book and we would get rid of it,” Lake Hazel Branch Library manager Alex Hartman told KTVB. “Which was an unfounded fear because if there’s ever a place a book would be safe, it would be here.”

The librarians loved Dillon’s book.

“It deserves a spot on our library shelves,” said Hartman. “It’s a good story.”

At the time of this local news report, the book had a handful of people in line to check it out. But The New York Times reports that as of the end of January, the waiting list has grown to a whopping 56 people. If each person kept the book for the maximum four-week checkout period it would take four years to get to the people at the bottom of the list.

The experience has made Dillon decide to become an author, his mom said, and he even has some career goals laid out.

“I’m going to stop writing when I’m 40,” Dillon said. After that, he will switch to game creation. In the meantime, he has a sequel to his first novel in the works.

“My next book is going to be called ‘The Jacket-Eating Closet,’” he said, “based on actual events.”

Amazing. Kudos to Dillon for following his dream and making it happen, kudos to his mom for encouraging him and kudos to the librarians who saw an opportunity to support a child’s creativity and ran with it.

This article originally appeared on 09.13.22

Jimmy Butler‘s taste in music goes far beyond his well-documented love of country. In the aftermath of a recent 126-114 overtime loss to the Orlando Magic, Nick Friedell wrote a story for ESPN that went through Butler’s postgame routine on the night, which included sitting in the Miami Heat locker room and blasting Nickelback at full volume, all while he “sang every word to each song.”

Butler is known for being a different breed of cat, so when this little anecdote hit the internet in the aftermath of the story getting published, plenty of folks on Twitter enjoyed having a laugh over this detail. But as it turns out, this got onto the radars of a certain Canadian rock band that is going on tour a little later this year, and on their official Twitter account, they let Butler know that he is allowed to join them if he’d like.

There is no word on whether or not Butler will take them up on this offer. It is important to stress that it’s unclear if this means Butler can attend a show and possibly get some VIP treatment, or if he’s allowed to come up on stage and sing along with them. Perhaps this is obvious to everyone else but me, but in fairness, I never made it as a wise man.

Brian Cox is one who rarely holds his tongue. His memoir includes him trashing everyone from Steven Seagal to Quentin Tarantino and Johnny Depp. His Succession son Jeremy Strong knows full well what he thinks of his approach to acting. But is he the kind of person who tells people to “f*ck off” with the same frequency as Logan Roy? He is not. And now that he’s done with the show, he won’t even miss saying that.

In a new interview with Variety, the legendary Scottish actor — who finally achieved household name status as Succession’s tyrannical paterfamilias — echoed statements by other actors, like some of the Stranger Things cast, who are glad their shows are coming to an end.

“American series live well past their sellout date: This one won’t do that. HBO would love us to go for as long as Game of Thrones, but thank God it won’t happen,” he said. “I would find it hard-going to be saying ‘f*ck off’ to people for the next 10 years, although it’s the nicest thing to say to someone. You can actually say how you feel.”

Cox wasn’t even sentimental when the show wrapped. “I felt nothing when I played the last scene [on ‘Succession’]. Nothing! It was the last scene, finito.” He even teased the ending. “Logan absolutely gets what he needs. That’s the great thing about the show. He gets peace, which is good.”

Succession returns for its fourth and final season on March 26 on HBO and HBO Max.

(Via Variety)

Singer and founding Parliament-Funkadelic member Clarence Eugene “Fuzzy” Haskins is dead at 81. The news arrived today from Fuzzy’s Parliament bandmate George Clinton, who took to Instagram to honor the late artist.

“We are saddened to announce the passing of an original Parliament-Funkadelic member, Clarence Eugene “Fuzzy” Haskins (born June 8, 1941-March 17th, 2023),” read the post’s caption.

Fuzzy and Clinton first began working together in 1960, when Fuzzy become part of Clinton’s Doo Wop group, The Parliaments. Parliament later evolved into Parliament-Funkadelic in the ’70s, however, in 1976, he parted ways with the group due to financial and management differences. Still, Clinton still considered him family, according to Clinton’s website.

At the time of writing, a cause of death had not yet been reported. Several musicians have taken to social media to pay tribute to Fuzzy.

“Rest In Funkentelechy my brother,” said Questlove of The Roots.

“Prayer’s going out to Clarence ‘Fuzzys’ Haskins family & friends.,” said his P-Funk bandmate Bootsy Collins. “We lost his frequency today. 3-17- 23. He was an original Parliament/Funkadelic inducted in the RHOF. We will miss u my friend, bandmate & Soul brother! Thx u for ur guidance in my pup year’s. Bootsy baby!!”

In 1997, Fuzzy was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. The organization posted a tribute from their Twitter account recalling his legacy.

“As P-Funk pushed boundaries further and further on classic albums like Mothership Connection and Maggot Brain and set a futuristic pace for Black music,” they said. “Haskins kept things connected to their street corner harmony roots.”