Category: News

One of the pre-tournament favorites was knocked out of the World Baseball Classic on Wednesday night, as the Dominican Republic lost 5-2 to Puerto Rico, eliminating them from pool play.

The final out came courtesy of a strikeout, as Mets star closer Edwin Diaz painted the upper inside corner to punch Puerto Rico’s ticket to the quarterfinals. The celebration began immediately on the field, but disaster struck when the jumping circle of Puerto Rican players stopped suddenly after Diaz fell to the ground holding his right knee.

It was hard to see exactly what happens, but you can see Diaz, in the middle of the circle, suddenly ends up on the ground. His teammate immediately called to the dugout for medical assistance, as he grabbed at his right knee in pain, and he was unable to walk off the field under his own power.

After initial efforts to help or carry him off the field, they eventually took him off in a wheelchair as the elation over beating their rivals quickly became concern for their star closer, with Mets fans looking on in horror as they saw their season flash before their eyes.

Diaz was a sensation in New York a year ago, with his Narcos walkout becoming a rallying cry for the Mets, as he gave up just nine earned runs in 61 appearances, including 32 saves. Now, they’ll wait for the update on Diaz, but it certainly seems as if, at the least, they’ll have to start the season without their closer.

Rumors are swirling around whether Sabrina Carpenter is dating Shawn Mendes. Charlie Puth is five months removed from dismissing rumors that he was collaborating with Taylor Swift.

Tonight, March 15, Carpenter suspended belief around her real-life romantic status, and Puth confirmed a collaboration with Carpenter — not Swift — with a TikTok. Puth posted the 13-second snippet with the simple caption, “3.31 @sabrinacarpenter @danandshay.”

In the presumed teaser of their upcoming single’s video, Carpenter and Puth are at a candlelit table and playing a game of Operation. Carpenter successfully pries out the heart. She holds it up to Puth, who says, “I always knew you had a tiny, tiny heart.” Piano kicks in, and the clip cuts out just as Carpenter and Puth kiss.

Puth had teased “the start of something special” was coming tonight earlier in the day on Twitter, while Carpenter promoted Emails I Can’t Send Fwd:, an extended version of her July 2022 album, out this Friday, March 17.

Carpenter is also enjoying the popularity of “Nonsense,” her Emails I Can’t Send track that peaked at No. 43 this week on Billboard‘s Radio Songs chart and peaked at No. 56 on the publication’s coveted Hot 100 in early February.

Puth all but reintroduced himself with his self-titled third studio album from last October. Uproxx’s review of Charlie touted it as a long-overdue departure from perfectly packaged pop made for mass consumption and Puth’s official arrival as a relatable pop star with lived experience to back up his melodic ear worms.

We’ll see what sort of inevitable radio candy Carpenter and Puth (and Dan And Shay?) have on tap on March 31.

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

Marjorie Taylor Greene seems to bring chaos wherever she goes, and alas she happens to be in Congress. The MAGA lawmaker who thinks the ladies of The View want to kill her had a big day Wednesday, whether it was blurting out classified intel during a committee hearing or, during the same session, freaking out over a bomb that decidedly wasn’t.

During the meeting Greene grilled Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz about what she heard was an explosive found on the Southern border. She even tweeted a picture of it, though it looked less like an incendiary and more like a pear or something of similar shape wrapped in duct tape.

“Explosive found by Border Patrol Agents Jan 17th,” Greene tweeted. “Not only are the Cartels murdering Americans everyday [sic] through drugs and crime, but now they are planting bombs on our land in our country. Our US military needs to take action against the Mexican Cartels. End this Cartel led war against America!”

Alas, it turned out to be sand wrapped in duct tape.

Greene was corrected by, of all people, a Fox News correspondent. Reporter Bill Melugin revealed that he had spoken with a Customs and Border Protection official, who told him not only was it not dangerous, it was just dirt. Ortiz himself confirmed it was banal.

That wasn’t good enough for Greene, who tweeted at Ortiz that “several Border Patrol agents are saying it was some sort of [improvised explosive device].” She added, “I’m just explaining what I was told today.”

It’s not clear who she spoke with, but sometimes sand wrapped in duct tape is just sand wrapped in duct tape.

(Via Mediaite)

The Memphis Grizzlies have become one of the NBA’s top villains, as their constant trash talk and physical play (that some opponents say crosses the line into being dirty) has earned them quite the reputation around the league.

On Wednesday, the Grizzlies saw a player get ejected for a low blow for the second time this season, as Desmond Bane joined Dillon Brooks in earning an early exit for taking a swing at an opponent’s groin. While Brooks’ punch to Donovan Mitchell’s nuts sparked a fight, Bane’s was more along the lines of something we see on occasion from guards, as he swung his arm between Kevin Love’s legs as he hedged high to defend a pick-and-roll, delivering a low blow that would make Ric Flair proud.

The reverse angle is likely the one that led to the ejection, as you can see more how he swing through on Love.

It is a direct hit on Love, who folds up upon impact and leaves his feet completely, and not a wise move from Bane, who had 11 points before getting tossed, serving as Memphis’ most dangerous perimeter scorer with Ja Morant still suspended. His ejection seemed to ensure there wouldn’t be a miraculous comeback happening for the Grizzlies, which found themselves down 28 after three quarters, as they figure to give up part of their one-game advantage on the Kings for the 2-seed.

Last month, the Portland Trail Blazers were stranded on a plane for seven hours because a snowstorm prevented them from traveling to Sacramento for their game against the Kings. Blazers All-Star point guard Damian Lillard made the most of the undoubtedly annoying delay by freestyle rapping over GloRilla and Cardi B’s “Tomorrow 2” beat.

Smino recently found himself in the same situation.

Last Friday, March 10, the Luv 4 Rent artist posted his “Wyoming (Freestyle)” along with a video. The YouTube description explains, “My bus got caught inna ice storm near Wyoming so we said f*ck it and made this.”

Smino’s bars are equal parts clever (“Back when wins ain’t come with so many bruises / Back when trends wasn’t topics, we just doin’ sh*t / Knew I was on sh*t / I could rhyme it down to the oranges”) and literal (“Look up, it’s snowing in Wyoming”).

The nearly three-minute video sees Smino smoking in his stranded bus, vibing on the sidewalk, and recording in his hotel room.

Smino is currently on the Luv Is 4Ever Tour with JID. Uproxx reviewed their back-to-back nights at the Hollywood Palladium and applauded their oozing star power — “They both exude charm and charisma and polished, carefully practiced skill” — which can be felt from Smino even within the confines of an impromptu, unassuming moment like “Wyoming (Freestyle).”

The Luv Is 4Ever Tour is in Toronto tonight (March 15) before hitting Detroit on Friday, March 17, weaving through Chicago on March 21, and wrapping up in Nashville on March 29.

See the full remaining tour schedule below, and watch Smino’s “Wyoming (Freestyle)” above.

Last month, Feist announced the album Multitudes, following a string of intimate 2021 performances under the same name. Following the 2017 album Pleasure, Multitudes has four singles out: “Hiding Out In The Open,” “Love Who We Are Meant To,” “In Lightning,” and now, the newest one, “Borrow Trouble.”

“‘Borrow Trouble’ caused some trouble in trying to finish the recording,” Leslie Feist shared in a statement. “It began as a contemplative acoustic morality tale and shape-shifted itself into the sound of trouble itself. It’s a mess that holds its own logic. It’s the convincing cacophony that thoughts can be. It saws away at you until your overwhelm pops an air supply in the form of another idea, a solution that starts with accepting there’s no such thing as perfection.”

She continued: “Mike Mills (the filmmaker) directed me deeper into the tangle, insisted I play drums ‘because you’re not a drummer!,’ and Amir Yaghmai brought the fist pumping drone of violins. Early on, when I was writing it Charles Spearin said, ‘Yah but what does borrowing trouble mean?’ And I said, ‘It’s an expression from the old days.’ May as well let the song explain, like I’m doing now.”

Watch the video for “Borrow Trouble” above.

Multitudes is out 4/14 via Interscope. Find more information here.

Next month, Dead Oceans artist Fenne Lily will release her album Big Picture, which she describes as “my attempt at bringing some kind of order to the disaster that was 2020.” “Lights Light Up” was a bewitching lead single, followed by the release of “Dawncolored House.” Now, she’s back with the unveiling of the meditative track “In My Own Time.”

“This song’s about the weight of stasis — about time moving too quickly and too slowly and every mistake feeling both permanent and inconsequential,” she said in a statement. “When it came to writing this video concept, I wanted it to reflect the twisted aspects of a love that’s found in the midst of chaos, and the subsequent feeling of being inanimate in your own story. All that, in the style of Terminator 2.”

Her vocals are intimate against breezy acoustic guitars, and her lyricism is as relatable and sharp: “Sometimes I feel like I’m just killing time here / Or maybe it’s killing me,” she sings. It leads up to endearing ending lines that stick with you: “Write me a love song make it all rhyme / Hold me up sometimes we’ll be just fine.”

Listen to “In My Own Time” above.

Big Picture arrives 4/14 via Dead Oceans. Find more information here.

Logic was the subject of debate last week after sharing his cover of Ice Cube’s “It Was A Good Day.” A lot of people tore it to shreds, but one TikTok user wanted “a whole album of covers like this” from Logic.

The multiplatinum rapper and best-selling author responded, “It’s funny that you should say that because I thought about doing that. Wouldn’t that be cool? Everybody’s all pissed off at me because I did a f*cking Ice Cube cover. Meanwhile, I texted Ice Cube, and he’s like, ‘Man, keep doing you, brother!’ Who gives a f*ck?! But you know what would be great? You’re right. I should do a whole f*cking album.”

But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. It hasn’t even been a month since Logic dropped his latest album (and debut album as an independent artist), College Park,

Yesterday, March 14, he dropped the video for College Park track “Shimmy” featuring Joey Badass, and it’s further confirmation that Logic does not care about any negative feedback. (Although, he previously shared important and poignant perspective on cyberbullying.)

In the JT Clemente-directed video, Logic and Joey are seemingly having the time of their lives in the studio — accented by animation from Tristan Zammit.

“F*ck how you feel, I’m breakin’ the seal,” Logic spits. “Just got out my deal, I’m keepin’ it real.” The hook doubles down on his joyous, wealthy position: “Shimmy, shimmy, yeah, b*tch, I get money like ODB / Shimmy, shimmy, yeah, I’m finally eatin’ good, no EBT.” Joey also flexes by calling himself “Himothy” and reflecting on his hard-fought climb “from EBT to BET.”

Earlier this month, Logic announced his College Park Tour with Juicy J. See those dates below, and watch the “Shimmy” video above.

The Golden State Warriors picked up a pair of very important wins over the weekend, beating the Bucks and Suns at home, as they continue to have the highest variance between home and away record of any team in the NBA.

Those wins pulled the Warriors even with the Clippers for fifth in the West, and on Wednesday they will travel to L.A. to face those very Clippers in what could be a very important game for seeding. Unfortunately for Golden State, they’ll play that game without veteran forward Andre Iguodala, who they announced would be out indefinitely after he has surgery to repair a fractured wrist.

The injury occurred in the blowout of the Suns, where Iguodala played 16 minutes and scored six points, as he’s had to become a rotation piece again, averaging 14 minutes per game over the past five games in Andrew Wiggins’ continued absence. The highlight of the night for Iguodala was a reverse dunk (whether this was the culprit for his injury or not is unknown), but that may end up being the last one we see from the former Finals MVP.

While he wasn’t initially expected to be a particularly important on-court piece this season, the Warriors will now be extremely thin on the wing without Wiggins or Iguodala, who figures to be out for an extended period after surgery.

Jamie Lee Curtis has an Oscar now, and that’s great for the longtime scream queen and always welcome screen presence. Hers was one of seven trophies earned for Everything Everywhere All at Once, which went from sleeper hit to becoming a semi-unlikely awards season behemoth. Where to put it, though? Well, she found a perfect place.

As caught by Entertainment Weekly, three days after winning her Oscar, the actress shared an image on Instagram of her latest win sitting beside two other recent gets. One was her Screen Actors Guild award. The other was an Everything Everywhere prop she got to take home, namely the butt plug-shaped trophy her character got for being “Auditor of the Year.”

The award had a brief but fun role in the film. During one of the fights with Michelle Yeoh’s Evelyn Wang, one minion winds up inadvertently launching himself upon the unfortunately shaped trinket.

Curtis is really enjoying her fancy new trophy. She recently told Today that, in support of her trans daughter, she’s refusing to give her Oscar a gender.

“I’m having them be a they/them. I’m going to just call them them,” Curtis said. “They/them, and they are doing great, they’re settling in, and I just, in my life, I never saw it in a million years that I’d have this couple days, and I’m very moved by the whole thing.”

So congrats on the trio of trophies. Few others can say they scored two acting awards plus a butt plug.

(Via EW)