Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, who retired in 2016 as a five-time NBA champion and the fourth-leading scorer in league history with 33,643 points, was among five people killed Sunday in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif. He was 41.

Bryant was said to have been travelling with at least three other people in his private helicopter when a fire broke out. Five people are confirmed dead and the cause of the crash is under investigation.

Think we need to make it clear this won't be the place to shit on anyone who has passed. Because that's definitely going to happen.

Think we need to make it clear this won't be the place to shit on anyone who has passed. Because that's definitely going to happen.

Thank you!

Christopher Tolkien, who played a major role protecting the legacy of his father's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, has died. He was 95.

The Tolkien Society and publisher HarperCollins UK confirmed Tolkien's death. The Centre Hospitalier de la Dracénie, a hospital in southern France, said the son of author J.R.R. Tolkien died there Thursday.

Tolkien's life work was closely identified with that of his father, J.R.R. Tolkien.

The writer's youngest son, he helped edit and publish much of his father's writings after the science fiction and fantasy master died in 1973.

Among the books he worked on were The Silmarillion, The Children Of Hurin, and other texts that flesh out the complex world his father created. He also drew the original maps that adorned the three Lord of the Rings books — The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King — when they were published in the 1950s.

Tolkien Society chairman Shaun Gunner said "millions of people around the world will be forever grateful to Christopher for bringing us" so many of his father's literary works.

"Christopher's commitment to his father's works have seen dozens of publications released, and his own work as an academic in Oxford demonstrates his ability and skill as a scholar," he said.

"We have lost a titan and he will be sorely missed."

He said: "They gutted the book, making it an action movie for 15-25 year-olds."

He added: "Tolkien has become a monster, devoured by his popularity and absorbed by the absurdity of the time.

"The gap that has widened between the beauty, the seriousness of the work, and what it has become, all of this is beyond me.

"Such a degree of commercialization reduces to nothing the aesthetic and philosophical scope of this creation. I only have one solution left: turn my head."

About 150,000 people died yesterday... the same will happen today.

John Andretti, NASCAR driver and nephew of Mario Andretti, dies from colon cancer

NASCAR driver John Andretti, a nephew of racing legend Mario Andretti, has died from colon cancer, according to a tweet from Andretti Autosport.
John Andretti was 56.

Statement on the passing of John Andretti #CheckItForAndretti pic.twitter.com/ku3gX2neOq
— Andretti Autosport (@FollowAndretti) January 30, 2020

"We will forever carry with us John's genuine spirit of helping others first and himself second," Andretti Autosport said.
Andretti raced all types of cars, but spent the most time in NASCAR's top series, running 393 races. He won twice, in the 1997 summer race at Daytona International Speedway and in 1999 at Martinsville, Virginia, winning for Petty Enterprises.

Andretti's father is Aldo Andretti, the twin brother of 1969 Indianapolis 500 winner Mario Andretti. Mario Andretti was the only driver to win NASCAR's Daytona 500, the Formula One driver's championship and the Indy 500 during his career.

John Andretti raced 12 times at the Indy 500, and in 1994 he raced there and in a NASCAR event that night. He was the first driver to pull off the feat.
He announced in 2017 he had stage 4 colon cancer, NASCAR.com reported.

Think we need to make it clear this won't be the place to shit on anyone who has passed. Because that's definitely going to happen.