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If there is one thing — one thing! — you would assume a Major League Baseball pitcher could do pretty reliably, it is throw a ball to a catcher. They don’t necessarily have to do it well, relative to other Major League-level pitchers, but theoretically, these are folks who have done this hundreds of thousands of times in their life and they should be able to do this in their sleep.

And yet, the Seattle Mariners exist. The M’s traveled to northeast Ohio to take on the Cleveland Indians on Saturday night, and despite a good outing by Yusei Kikuchi, the team looked primed to head to extra after the bullpen couldn’t take them home. Paul Sewald came in during the bottom of the 10th inning, and after allowing a Amed Rosario single, the team opted to intentionally walk Jose Ramirez to load up the bases and have force outs everywhere.

And then, Harold Ramirez stepped to the dish and hits a lazy grounder to Sewald. All he had to do was get the force out at home and OH MY DEAR GOD HOW?

The Indians came out on top as a result of this, 5-4. This is a one-in-a-million circumstance, but unfortunately for the Mariners, that meant being on the opposite end of a walk-off.

The Phillie Phanatic has garnered a reputation for being one of the biggest jerks in all of sports, at least among the world of mascots. This isn’t a dig — the Phanatic’s job is to get Phillies fans fired up during games and is really, really good at doing it at the expense of the opposing team.

The latest example of this came on Saturday when the New York Yankees traveled down to the City of Brotherly Love. At one point, the Phanatic placed a Yankees helmet on the ground while Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” played and proceeded to smash it to a bunch of little pieces.

At this point, the camera cut to Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who had a look on his face that made it seem like he was prepared to go fight a mascot.

Now, as a Yankees fan and a former intern in the Phillies minor league system who had to follow the Phanatic around for a game, I am uniquely positioned to find a middle ground here. Giancarlo, please don’t fight the mascot. Phanatic, please do not destroy a Yankees helmet, in large part because having to clean that up is probably a pain in the neck. Now please, hug it out, fellas.

After the unexpected death of Tom Petty a few years ago, fans and the music industry alike have fought to preserve his incredible legacy and influence on the world. Our own critic Steven Hyden ranked the best songs from the legend late last year, and now a new reimagining called Angel Dreams is planned to mark the 25th anniversary of The Heartbreakers 1996 album, Songs And Music From The Motion Picture “She’s The One.” Available in limited edition cobalt blue vinyl or the standard black vinyl, the blue edition is out today, June 12, aka Record Store Day, and the classic black will arrive on July 2nd.

Angel Dreams is presented as a continued celebration of Petty’s prolific Wildflowers era combined with the songs and music from She’s The One. The formal new title, Angel Dream (Songs And Music From The Motion Picture “She’s The One”) is a nod to the opening track, “Angel Dream (No. 2),” which has been released to streaming services as a preview, and you can hear it above. Petty’s longtime engineer and co-producer Ryan Ulyate worked on remixes of the reissue with Petty before his passing, and his daughter Adria Petty and wife Dana Petty also worked to help arrange details for the release, including finding the cover art. Check that out below along with a full tracklist of the songs.

Angel Dream (Songs And Music From The Motion Picture “She’s The One”) tracklist:

Side 1:
1. “Angel Dream (No. 2)”
2. “Grew Up Fast”
3. “Change The Locks”
4. “Zero From Outer Space”
5. “Asshole”

Side 2:
6. “One of Life’s Little Mysteries”
7. “Walls (No. 3)”
8. “Thirteen Days”
9. “105 Degrees”
10. “Climb That Hill”
11. “Supernatural Radio (Extended Version)”
12. “French Disconnection”

Pre-order the album here.

Plans for Bruce Springsteen to return to Broadway are well underway, and rumors about his plans for a 2022 tour (possibly with The E Street Band) has also been happily received by fans. What was even better was when Bruce called into the Sirius XM’s E Street Radio to give more updates on what he’s been up to recently. He told the show’s hosts Jim Rotolo and Dave Marsh about plans for a tour with the band, casually confirming that rumor, before dropping a bomb about a new collaboration that will have indie rock fans thrilled — he’s working with The Killers.

“It’s [Brandon Flowers] and I with the band, we have done something that is going to come out soon, in a week or so,” Springsteen said. “I’ve been staying busy.” He also mentioned working with another big name, this one more in his own generation, John Mellencamp. “I worked on three songs on John’s album and I spent some time in Indiana with him,” Springsteen said. “I love John a lot. He’s a great songwriter and I have become very close [with him] and had a lot of fun with him. I sang a little bit on his record.”

Maybe that song with Bleachers helped The Boss realize that milennial rockers love working with him? Keep an eye out for Brandon and Bruce, coming your way soon.

Sharing a new single featuring St. Panther today, McClenney is gearing up to release his new full-length project, On A Virgo Mind later this summer on August 13. Releasing the album fully independently, this 26-year-old producer and songwriter is known for his work shaping the sound of Black alternative R&B by collaborating with artists like Jamila Woods, Chika, H.E.R., Khalid and more. Actually, McClenney was a collaborator on the breakout hit that put Khalid on the map, “Location,” which was also Grammy-nominated.

Focusing back on his own solo work, McClenney has earned the co-sign of music industry titan Quincy Jones, and worked tirelessly to help change outdated, coded language in the Grammys that incorrectly labeled Black music categories. He co-authored the proposal that advocated for the organization to remove “urban” from their categories and swap in more descriptive labels like “melodic rap.” Separately, he also co-authored a proposal that expanded the global music categories.

This week’s taste of his forthcoming album is more effortless grooving from the self-described “creative Black mind,” and prominently features St. Panther, aka Irvine born producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Daniela Bojorges-Giraldo. Check out the song below and hear some of his older work above with the “Give Me Time” video. Keep an eye out for more updates on the new full-length from McClenney coming very soon.

Ubisoft revealed they are currently working on the next entry in their Avatar series, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. The announcement was made during June 12’s Ubisoft Forward E3 conference after years of rumors that a sequel to 2009’s James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game was in the works. While the cinematic trailer didn’t show much in the way of gameplay or narrative, it looks as if the upcoming game will be a first-person action-adventure game set in a stunning, open-world Pandora.

According to publisher Ubisoft’s description listed underneath the game’s trailer on YouTube, in “this new, standalone story, [you] play as a Na’vi and embark on a journey across the Western Frontier, a never-before-seen part of Pandora.” Players can expect to “explore a living and reactive world inhabited by unique creatures and new characters, and push back the formidable RDA forces that threaten it.”

In addition, the description stated the game is coming exclusively to next generation consoles, PC, Stadia, and Lun. This is largely due to the engine the game is being developed on. Massive Studios, the developer of Frontiers of Pandora, is utilizing Ubisoft’s Snowdrop engine to create the game. It’s worth noting this powerful engine is the same one the studios are using for the studio’s upcoming Star Wars game which, unfortunately, has not yet been formally revealed.

It’s also interesting that the first game in the series, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game, featured voice acting from Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, and Giovanni Ribisi. While it has been over a decade since that project, there’s always the chance they might return for the upcoming sequel. At the time, not much else is known about the project, but here are a few standout images from the game to tide you over and get you hyped.

Willow Smith has always been stood out in a crowd. The singer’s breakout single, “Whip My Hair,” which she dropped at the young age of 10, was proof of this. Now Smith, who is months away from turning 21, continues to be loud and proud. A little over a month ago, she teamed up with Travis Barker for their first collaboration, “Transparent Soul.” The track arrived with a raucous video that captured the two acts rocking out during an underground show. It was clear that Smith is well into the rock stage of her career — though some don’t approve.

During a recent interview for V Magazine, Smith spoke about her love for the genre and how it was received by her peers in school. “…Being a Black woman in the metal crowd is very, very different on top of the pressures that the music industry puts on you,” Smith said to Alexis White, of metal core band Straight Line Stitch. “Now, it’s like an added pressure of the metal culture, the metal world, and just rock in general. I used to get bullied in school for listening to Paramore and My Chemical Romance.” White responded, “Yeah, there’s a lot of, ‘Hey, you’re Black. You’re not supposed to listen to that.’”

Smith replied back, “Exactly! And it’s not okay. Just through the music that I’m putting out right now and the representation that I can bring to the mix, I just hope that the Black girls who are listening to my music and listening to this album see that there’s more of us out there.” She added, “It’s a real thing, you’re not alone. You’re not the only Black girl who wishes she could flip her hair to the side, and wear black eyeliner, you know what I mean?”

Smith also spoke about her upcoming album and how it will contain many more guest acts, like Avril Lavigne, than her previous record, 2020’s The Anxiety.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle was one of the biggest surprises in gaming back in 2017. The tactical XCOM like shooter caught everyone off guard because nobody expected it to be as fun as it was. Mario is known for platforming and spin-offs while the Rabbids are a wacky group infamous for mini-game collections. Them combining to form one of the best tactics games on the Nintendo Switch wasn’t expected, although it was a welcome surprise.

Their crossover together was so well done that everyone finished it asking for more. On Saturday during the Ubisoft Forward event, people got their wish, as Mario + Rabbids Spark of Hope was shown to the world. It featured Mario and the Rabbids landing a spaceship, only to come across what appears to be zombified enemies. Good thing they have Rosalina Rabbid around, because this time, they need to save the galaxy.

Fans of the first game will be happy to see that the gameplay looks to be very similar, but with some expanded features to differentiate movement between cover. A welcome addition, because one of the best parts of the first game was the movement in combat scenarios.

It’s honestly a bit of a surprise to see Mario + Rabbids getting a sequel. While Kingdom Battle was really fun, it felt like they had done the most they could possibly do with that formula. Clearly, the developers at Ubisoft believed differently, although it will never stop being a surprise that the success of Mario + Rabbids didn’t lead to a trend of tactical shooter spin-offs. The formula works really well and this game is proof that with the right amount of charm any genre of game can fit into any universe.

Unfortunately, this was just a cinematic teaser, so we’re gonna have to wait until 2022 to see what a Mario + Rabbids sequel will look like.

A member of the Philadelphia 76ers’ rotation is headed to the sidelines for a few weeks. Starting wing Danny Green suffered a calf injury during the team’s Game 3 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night, and while he did eventually rejoin the team on the bench, he did so while wearing a walking boot on his right leg.

Now, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that Green has suffered a calf strain, and while he has a chance at returning later in the postseason, the veteran is slated to miss the next 2-3 weeks.

Philly looked in control against the Hawks despite Green’s absence, so it’s certainly possible for them to get past Atlanta despite not having his services. But with a gigantic matchup potentially looming in the conference finals against either the Nets or the Bucks, not having Green would be a critical blow, as his defense and perimeter shooting are important pieces to the puzzle for the Sixers. Both series in the East will be wrapped up no later than next Sunday.

An offseason acquisition, Green has averaged 9.5 points and 1.3 steals in 28 minutes per game for the Sixers. He started all 69 regular season games in which he appeared and connected on 40.5 percent of his attempts from three.

It’s been a while since America had a good old fashioned evolution battle. The last significant bout involving the scientific theory was in the mid-aughts, when religious groups tried to float an idea called “intelligent design,” which was effectively laughed out of existence. But someone’s trying to make scientific illiteracy a thing again, and that person is — of course — Marjorie Taylor Greene.

According to Axios, the relentlessly controversial congresswoman went on Real America’s Voice, the podcast hosted by Steve Bannon. Greene is infamous for believing in nonsense. She claims she’s no longer a follower of QAnon, floated something about Jewish space lasers, and seems to think June 31 is a real date. But a thoroughly vetted scientific theory about the origin of species, first postulated by Charles Darwin and buttressed by over a century-and-a-half of exploration — for her, that’s a bridge too far.

Greene and Bannon — who has his own wacko beliefs — were discussing some different deranged theories about how COVID-19 first began. One unproven theory posits that it was created in a Wuhan lab. Some people throw in a line about American funding being involved. Greene speculated that it could have been a scientific breakthrough gone awry, calling it a “bioweapon” and that scientists were trying to “experiment with like some sort of Dr. Frankenstein experiments.”

Bannon, perhaps wondering about her scientific bona fides, then interrupted her, asking if she believes that species evolve. She did not.

“I don’t believe in evolution,” Greene told the former Trump aide. “I believe in God.” She added, “I don’t believe in that type of so-called science.”

This should surprise no one. People who believe in weird things tend not to believe in issues that experts agree is real, from biological evolution to climate change. So, in a sense, perhaps this is not news,

(Via Axios)