Category: Worldwide

Bowl season, like every season in these trying times, has been weird. The Rose Bowl was played in Texas, away from its California home for the first time since World War II. Other things have been weird, too, but the silly season that strange bowl names and odd matchups usually conjures certainly feels different this year. Which perhaps is why it’s so satisfying to see a punter do his best to find order in a scene of chaos.

That’s what we got on Saturday in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, as Kentucky’s punter somehow made the best of an awful situation on special teams against NC State. Kentucky senior punter Max Duffy is one of 19 players on the Ray Guy watchlist for the best punter in college football, and he made a strong case that he’s also one of the smartest in football.

Early in the second quarter on Saturday, Duffy lined up to punt and saw a strong rush from the Wolfpack that all but blew up his timing to get the punt off. Instead of panicking, however, the wily senior made the rusher miss, then threaded the needle through other blockers and would-be punt blockers to get off a kick just before chaos struck.

It’s a pretty remarkable play when you consider just how much special teams is about timing. We’ve seen kickers get their flow interrupted and all hell breaks loose, especially when a punter’s rhythm is interrupted. But Duffy, who kicks Aussie-style, was smart enough to abort his first punt attempt, then find space to get another off before the several defenders around him could converge to block that kick.

Kentucky’s Twitter account even made a very clever meme of Duffy to celebrate the play.

We’ll see if Duffy takes home the Ray Guy Award later this month, but even though the voting has already taken place it’s certainly a highlight-reel play made by a punter well deserving of some praise.

03 Greedo is currently in prison serving a 20-year sentence on drug and firearm charges. The rapper has only completed two years of this sentence, but in that time he’s received a healthy dose of love and support from the hip-hop community, something he could use after this latest news: His team announced on his Instagram page that he contracted COVID-19 while in prison. “Please keep, 03 Greedo in your prayers,” the post reads. “He just tested positive for COVID. He is doing well. Currently he is having flu like symptoms. Thank you!”

03 Greedo is just the latest name from the music world to contract the virus. West Coast producer Mustard revealed earlier this week that he too had contracted it. So did Ashanti, which forced her to postpone her Verzuz battle with Keyshia Cole. Prior to that, Jeremih’s family and friends revealed he too tested positive. The singer’s symptoms became so bad that he was forced to spend some time at a Chicago ICU.

Hopefully, 03 Greedo can steer through the symptoms of COVID-19 and recover without any health scares. Once he recovers, fans can expect more music from him, as a slew of projects were on the docket when his sentence began.His last full-length effort was August’s Load It Up, Vol. 1, which was produced entirely by LA native Ron-Ron.

For more than four years, Jack Harlow has been inching closer and closer towards mainstream success, thanks to mixtapes he’s released annually since 2016. His breakout moment finally came in 2020 with the single “What’s Poppin,” a track that gave him the green light to step forward with his debut album, which became That’s What They All Say. One of the highlights came with “Luv Is Dro,” featuring Bryson Tiller and the late Static Major. In a recent interview with HipHopDX, Jack Harlow explained how the collaboration came to be.

“Static’s widow hit me a couple of years ago and invited me over to listen to some music and I just chose that one,” Harlow said. “We sat on it for two years trying to get it right and get Bryson on it. He ended up loving it and wanting to do it.” The “Tyler Herro” rapper then explained that after receiving Static’s vocals and sending the track to Tiller for him to hear, the Trapsoul singer told him not to release the track without a verse from him, which Tiller took his time to perfect.

“He was blown away when I sent it to him. Bryson wouldn’t let me drop it without him, but he was taking f*cking forever with it,” Harlow said. “He was working on his album, so that was part of the reason. But the other reason is he’s a slow guy. He takes his time with everything.” Finally, Tiller sent him the long-awaited verse, and for Harlow, the track was a great moment, bringing together some of Louisville’s most popular names.

“Getting to do that record for Kentucky is huge,” he said. “To have two of my idols on there with me? Bryson came out when I was in high school, and I had his notifications turned on. I was trying to go to the shows because I was a fan.” He then spoke about Bryson specifically, saying, “The fact that Bryson did this for me and it’s the second feature he’s done for me. Bryson’s a legend of mine, and he is in a lot of people’s eyes.” Harlow then shifted his attention to Static and what the song means to him and Louisville. “And then, Static Major, rest in peace. He was before both of us and just set this standard of excellence, soul, and certain energy from the city that made it seem like it was possible. It’s huge, bro. I can’t describe it. This song is something I can hang my hat on for the rest of my life. It’s already a classic where I’m from.”

(via HipHopDX)

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

Trevor Lawrence’s decorated collegiate career might have come to an end on Friday night. While nothing is official until he says so, it is believed that Lawrence will punch his ticket to Jacksonville as soon as possible by entering the 2021 NFL Draft, where he will go No. 1 overall. That decision is coming a little sooner than expected, though, as Clemson got rocked by Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl, 49-28.

Lawrence played well — 33-for-48, 400 yards, two touchdowns, one interception, and a rushing touchdown — but it was nowhere near enough to withstand a record-setting night by opposing gunslinger Justin Fields, who threw for six scores on the vaunted Tiger defense. Now, for the second time in his collegiate career, Lawrence lost, and the NFL appears to be in his future.

The good news is he already has a pro’s ability to interact with the media. Lawrence made the executive decision to grow out his mustache, and in an unfortunate turn of events for one reporter on his postgame media call, that lip sweater got critiqued by someone who forgot to hit mute.

Lawrence, to his credit, was cool, calm, and collected here, and instead of letting frustrations from the evening boil over, he handled this well. And for reporters everywhere, let this be a lesson: Don’t say stuff on a call that you’d feel bad about if you didn’t mute your phone.

Donald Trump seems to be going through some things. The outgoing president — who has yet to formally concede an election he lost almost two months ago — whimsically bailed on the White House holiday party, which was populated by maskless (and, alas, Trump-less) revelers. And on New Year’s Eve, he did the same thing, stranding supporters who’d paid four figures for his end-of-2020 soiree with the likes of Rudy Giuliani, Vanilla Ice, and much-hated Beach Boys member Mike Love.

As per CNN, Trump made the last-minute decision to leave Mar-a-Lago, his lavish home base in Florida, return to Washington, possibly the spend more time trying to clumsily overturn the election (and avoid an avalanche of legal and economic woes). That meant people who paid top dollar to hang with him instead had to brush shoulders with Trump family members, including sons Donald Jr. and Eric, as well as associates like Rudy Giuliani and media cheerleaders like Jeanine Pirro.

And there was music. Granted, few name performers would ever perform for Trump, so the event had to contend with has-beens, like Vanilla Ice and Berlin, the one-hit wonders responsible for the Top Gun staple “Take My Breath Away.” The Beach Boys were there, too — or at least Mike Love, the group’s most controversial member, who gained legal rights to the band’s name years ago, despite outcry from other surviving members Brian Wilson and Al Jardine.

Few wore masks and there was no social distancing.

Some 500 tickets were sold for this year’s event — a bit less than in previous years, but not by much. Bookings escalated when it appeared Trump would be in attendance. Then, on Wednesday, he reported he was bailing. Early in the pandemic, another Mar-a-Lago event, celebrating the birthday of Jr.’s girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, became a COVID-19 spreader.

(Via CNN)

A few weeks after dissing Snoop Dogg on “Zeus,” off the deluxe version of his new album Music To Be Murdered By – Side B, Eminem stopped by Shade 45 to explain why he took shots at the Long Beach rapper. “I probably could’ve gotten past the whole tone and everything,” Eminem said in response to Snoop’s July appearance on The Breakfast Club where he said the Detroit rapper was not in his top 10 greatest rappers of all-time list. “But it was the last statement where he said, ‘Far as music I can live without, I can live without that sh*t.’” He added, “Now you’re being disrespectful. It just caught me off-guard.” Once Snoop caught wind of Eminem’s comments, he took to Instagram to respond and send a small warning to the Detroit rapper.

Snoop made his statement in the comments section of an Instagram post from an Eminem fan account. “Pray I don’t answer that soft ass Sh*t,” Snoop wrote, beside a trio of laughing emojis. Whether Snoop will use a project of his own to further address Eminem’s diss remains to be seen. He is in fact working on a new album, entitled Take It From A G, which he originally said would arrive in December. However, the month came and went without the album, so we can assume it will drop at some point in 2021.

This May will mark four years since Paramore shared her full-length album After Laughter. Since then, the band has been rather quiet, although lead vocalist Hayley Williams did release her solo album Petals Of Armor. While the group has never hinted at a break-up, some are still worried a split could happen. But recently Williams publicly shot that idea down.

On New Year’s Day, Williams shared some articles about Petals Of Armor, which prompted one person to reply, “Omg I thought paramore was breaking up.” The singer then offered a curt reponse: “lol y’all been worried about that too long. aint happening.”

Worries about a Paramore split seem a bit far-fetched, especially considering Williams spoke about Paramore’s sixth album and the idea of a breakup back in May, during an interview with NME. “We’ve found ourselves listening to a lot of older music that we grew up being inspired by… That excitement and curiosity that keeps us a band,” she said. “We won’t let it happen unless we think it’s the coolest thing in the world, I mean, Paramore’s my favorite band. How dare I ever ruin it?”

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

Talk about a long goodbye: Netflix gave plenty of advance warning that The Office — at least at one point the most streamed show on their platform — would one day be leaving its coffers. It was a whole year and a half, in fact — plenty of time for people to steel themselves for the loss of one of the most watchable (and rewatchable) shows ever made. That didn’t make it any easier. (Nor did Peacock dropping a never-before-seen cold open.) Even with plenty of time to prepare themselves, to make amends, even to sign up with Peacock, its new home, Office bingers woke up on January 1 as beside themselves as they would have been had it been suddenly yanked without warning.

Again, it’s not like The Office is gone forever. It’s just on a relatively new streamer that has entered an already crowded field. Peacock is the brainchild of NBC-Universal, and when it launched in mid-August, it had to contend with such relative newbies as CBS All Access and HBO Max. It wasn’t even on Roku right off the bat! (Though that mistake has since been corrected.) And while the show’s legions of fans will surely add yet another streamer to their monthly bills, it’s not the same as idly firing up Netflix and plowing through a barrage of 20-some minute episodes. Here’s some more people grieving over having to get another streaming service just to watch Michael Scott and company:

One of college football’s most prestigious programs has a coaching vacancy, although it looks like it may be filled rather quickly. The University of Texas announced on Saturday morning that head football coach Tom Herman, who the university hired to much fanfare prior to the 2017 season, is out of a job. As the university explained in a statement, Herman’s ouster comes following an evaluation of the football program, which went 7-3 this year and won the Alamo Bowl, and a determination that a coaching change is needed “to get us on track to achieving our ambitious goals.”

Shortly after, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte released a statement of his own regarding the decision.

The decision to move on will come at quite the hefty price tag.

Herman got the job following two years at Houston, where he went 22-4 and helped the Cougars win the Peach Bowl in his first season. His decision to make the jump to Austin seemed like the kind of move that could have breathed new life into a program that has not come close to its national title aspirations in recent years, but for the most part, things just did not work out. Herman went 32-18 in four years with a 22-13 record in conference play and only made one New Year’s Six Bowl.

As for where the school will go now, Chip Brown of Horns247 reports that they already have Herman’s replacement lined up. The school will reportedly bring Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian on board as its next coach.

While highly-regarded as an offensive coordinator for years, Sarkisian’s head coaching tenure has not been particularly successful. He spent five years at Washington, going 34-29, before jumping to USC in 2014. He led the Trojans to a 9-4 record in his first year, but stepped away from the program five games into his second year and was ultimately fired amid struggles with a drinking program. Since then, he has spent two stints in Tuscaloosa with two years as the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons sandwiched in between.

Last summer, Nicki Minaj sent people into a frenzy after she announced she was pregnant with her first child. Just two months later, the Queens rapper gave birth to a boy. In the following months, Nicki has been pretty tight-lipped about her child, only making public a picture of the baby’s foot. That changed Saturday when she posted the first full picture of her baby boy.

The insanely cute picture finds him relaxing in a button-up and jeans as he stares innocently into the camera. Nicki shared the image on Instagram where she wished fans a happy new year and thanked them for their love and support throughout her pregnancy and first months of motherhood.

#PapaBear thank you so very much for choosing me to be your mama… Wishing you guys a happy & prosperous New Year. Thank you for your love & support throughout this journey. It’s meant so much to me. Becoming a mom is by far the most fulfilling job I’ve ever taken on. Sending love to all the superhero mothers out there. Big hugs to all the women who have been pregnant during this challenging time.

Nicki shared the image after she gushed over motherhood, gifts from Ariana Grande, and advice from Ciara in a recent Q&A session with her followers on Twitter.