The SeedSing 2016 Year in Pop Culture: The Best, and Worst, in Sports

Continuing my best of lists of 2016 today, I'm going to count down the top 5 sports moments of the year. This has been a year of some big, monumental sports moments. Lots of stuff has happened in 2016 in major professional sports. Many "curses" were broke, some big names traded teams, there was some incredible displays of athleticism and so much more. Enough chat, lets get to it.

At number 5, I have the 2016 NBA dunk contest during All Star weekend. The dunk contest had been in the toilet for over a decade plus, until this year. The last great dunk contest I remember was when Vince Carter was with the Raptors and did some of the most impressive dunks I had ever seen live. I'm a little too young to remember when Jordan dunked from the foul line, or when Dominique Wilkins should have beaten Jordan in a great dunk contest. I was not alive when Dr. J was showing the world how athletic basketball players can be at the professional level. I barely remember Spud Webb winning, but I have seen the highlight tape a thousand times. But, after the Vince Carter show, I tuned in to every dunk contest from there on out, and they were all terrible. There were too many missed dunks. It is supposed to be a "side show" of sorts, but some contests took that concept way too far. The best players, and dunkers for that matter, were not participating. I did not, and still don't, think that Blake Griffin's dunk over the front of a car was all that impressive. It was just flat out bad, and boring. Then, last year, both Zach Lavine and Aaron Gordon showed up. The contest wasn't great in 2015, but Lavine and Gordon were. Then, this year, they went to a whole new level. It was a total, anything you can do, I can do better, contest. Gordon would jump over a mascot, put the ball under his legs and do a reverse jam. To top that, Lavine took off from the foul line, put the ball between his legs and jammed it with ease. It was a thing of beauty to watch in real time. I wrote about this dunk contest earlier this year, claiming that it was back, and I cannot stop thinking about how truly awesome, and athletic it was. I know that this is a total niche thing for a rabid NBA fan like myself, but there is no doubt in my mind that the 2016 dunk contest is easily one of the top 5 sports moments of the year.

At number 4, I have the epic ass whoopings that both, Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps put on their opponents in the Rio Olympics. They were astounding to watch. Look, I do not care about swimming, unless Michael Phelps and the Olympics are involved. When Phelps is competing, I want to watch. I even named him my top athlete of the 21st century. He is undeniably the greatest champion in pro sports. He competes at the highest level sport, and dominates. When he wins, because he pretty much always does, it is a shock if he doesn't blow out his competition, and we are talking about Olympians here. These are the best of the best in the whole world, and Phelps dominates them all. The same can be said for Usain Bolt. He is the greatest sprinter ever. What he has/is doing in sprinting, at his age, is beyond incredible. This guy doesn't only win, but he blows away his competition, and he does it in style. This year, when he looked back at his opponents in one of his final races, with a smile on his face, shows you how truly dominant he is. He does wonders on a track. If he is not on your relay team, forget about winning gold, you are going for silver. Same thing if it is a solo race, and Bolt is there. He is going to win, and he is going to beat your ass while doing it. These are easily the 2 best Olympians of my lifetime, and maybe of all time, and they showed that ten fold in Rio this year.

At number 3, I have Kevin Durant signing with the Golden State Warriors this offseason. When he did that, it shifted the entire balance of the NBA. Before, when he was still in OKC, there were 4, possibly 5 teams, that had a realistic chance at winning the title. But, when KD decided on July 4th that he was going to Golden State, that trimmed an already small list from 5 to 2. But, honestly, if the Warriors do not win the title this year, it will be a failed season. When KD signed, the Warriors immediately had the greatest spacing ever. They can put him, Curry and Thompson on the floor, and good luck guarding that. People said, well they lost all their rebounders and rim protectors to get him. So what, they got Kevin freaking Durant! And, they still have Draymond Green, who can rebound and defend 4 and 5's with relative ease, even though he is maybe 6'8. Big deal that they lost Andrew Bogut, Harrison Barnes and Mareese Speights, they got KD. They also got Zaza Pachulia and David West, so they did not really lose all that much. Look, as I write this, the Warriors are far and away the best team in the NBA, and they haven't completely figured out how to play together. Some may say, well the Cavs just beat them on Christmas, but the Cavs gave that game their best effort, still needed help from the refs, have Steph go ice cold, and they still needed a last second shot from Irving to win. This Warriors team is the greatest collection of shooters that I have ever seen. It is cute when people say that the Clippers, Spurs and Cavs can beat this team, but if they play to their full potential, the Warriors should breeze to a title this year, and that all happened when KD signed that contract.

At number 2, I have the aforementioned Cavs coming back, down 3-1 to the Warriors, to win the NBA title. LeBron brought a championship back to Cleveland after a 60 plus year drought. Sure, they needed help from the refs, and for Curry and Thompson to play very average basketball, but what that team, and more importantly, what LeBron and Kyrie Irving did in games 5, 6 and 7, was incredible. They both played perfect basketball. Even guys like JR Smith and Kevin Love showed up in big moments. Smith hit some humongous, crucial threes. Kevin Love turned into a rebounding machine, and played some great help defense on a very important possession in a pivotal moment of game 7 against Curry. This comeback was amazing. Kyrie Irving was unconscious and unstoppable on offense and LeBron proved, that when he turns it on, he is unstoppable and the best player by a mile in the NBA. This was a big, big deal, and it only took LeBron 2 years to accomplish this lifelong goal. What a moment for the Cavs and the city of Cleveland.

But, all this stuff pales in comparison to what happened in the MLB this year. There is no sports moment, no matter what people may say, bigger than the Cubs winning the 2016 World Series. They ended a 108 year drought. It took them extra innings, a coach trying to blow the game, but a team of young guys that would not let this team lose. There was even a rain delay in that epic game 7, adding more historical meaning to one of the greatest baseball games ever played. I am not the biggest baseball fan in the world, but even I tuned in, after the 6th inning, to watch this game. But, the Cubs, much like the Cavs, had to come back from a 3-1 deficit. This was so much bigger than the Cavs deficit though for the Cubs. The Cubs were the best team, bar none, in the MLB. The Cavs were expected to lose, but the Cubs, they were the odds-on favorites all year to win the World Series. They had to have an epic comeback to fulfill their potential, and they did it. And, even though I'm a lifelong Cardinals fan, it was not that hard to root for the Cubs this year. They have a likeable team. This will change in a year or two, because this Cubs team is going to be great for a long time, but this year, they were kind of hard to root against. The Cubs ending a 108 year drought is, far and away, the biggest sports moments this year, and will be for quite some time. It was epic and it was, as much as it pains me to write this, kind of cool to see them win. Good for you Cubs.

As far as the worst moments in sports this year, all the abuse and violence that pro athletes are being accused, and convicted of, is just dreadful. These guys, and girls, are deplorable human beings that think it is okay to bully and put hands on people that are weaker and smaller than them. Be it Adrian Peterson, Richie Incognito, the Giants douchebag kicker, Hope Solo, anyone that has done it before and continues to do it now, makes me hate watching sports news because this domestic abuse is happening way too much, and it is getting scary. These people need help. They need to be suspended, or even better, kicked out of their pro leagues to teach them some kind of lesson. It is even happening at the college level. Look no further than what happened at Baylor this year. All this stuff is gross, disturbing and upsetting. It is becoming way too common, and it needs to stop now. It makes me upset, and makes me dislike people like Roger Goodell and Mark Emmert, the head of the NCAA, that let these things happen all the time with little to no punishment, more than I already do. Stop the hate and the violence.

That's it for today, come back for my final best of 2016 list tomorrow.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. His number one sports moment for 2017 will be when Urban Meyer leaves Ohio State because he has a health issue named Jim Harbaugh. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Let's make the Olympic Games Great Again

Every four years, this should be the most interesting field of play

SeedSing is proud to offer voices from all over the globe. Today we present a guest post from Olympic enthusiast and top notch idea man Jon C. Get your ideas heard by writing for SeedSing

I love the Olympics. I very clearly remember watching the primetime coverage with my parents when I was a young child. I remember Carl Lewis sprinting and jumping to 9 gold medals, Eddie the Eagle plunging down the 90-meter ski jump at 60 mph and sticking the landing, and Michael Johnson wearing his golden shoes to the 200 and 400 meter gold medals. Even today I watch about 16 hours of coverage each day during the Olympic fortnight.

As one of the biggest fans of the Olympics, I believe I’ve earned the right to speak out on my biggest criticism of the world’s greatest sporting event. The Olympics should only include sports where winning the gold medal is the pinnacle of the sport. Compare the Wikipedia pages of Andre Agassi and Michael Phelps. Agassi’s page prominently lists his Grand Slam record, then other tournaments, and the last entry is his gold medal win in singles. Michael Phelps’s page prominently displays his Olympic record before all the other championships. Did you know Roger Federer has an Olympic gold medal in doubles? No, you didn’t, because nobody cares. The Olympics is cheapened by the inclusion of sports where the Olympics just becomes an optional part of the summer circuit.  This is evident by the number of professional golfers that decided to skip the Olympics with the cop-out over concerns about the Zika virus.

The inclusion of a sport to the Olympics should be based on the following simple poll question to the competitors:  What international competition would you most prefer to win? Professional soccer players would prefer to win the World Cup, tennis players Wimbledon or the other majors, and for golfers the Masters or British Open, but far down on the list is the Olympics. I include the phrase “international competition” because the NBA Championships and the Stanley Cup present a gray area where athletes from around the world would pick a national championship as the preferred event. Hockey is an iconic Olympic event and must be included. International interest and participation in the NBA has made Olympic basketball a staple.

The Olympics are for athletes that dedicate themselves to sports that are interesting to watch once every four years. I get really excited about watching bobsled, rowing, and weightlifting, but that enthusiasm can’t be maintained year after year. That’s what is so great about the Olympics; it doesn’t outstay it’s welcome. After watching 2 days of bobsled, the amount of time it takes for me to be excited to watch it again is about four years. The Olympics are also for quirky sports like handball, which I can only imagine was invented by a bored Danish gym teacher that had a couple lacrosse goals, a volleyball and came up with a game where no one except the goalie can be inside the basketball three point line. But the games are fun and close-scoring, and it doesn’t take long before you start yelling at your TV, “Feed the pivot, feed the pivot!”

The Olympic games don’t need superstars like Rory McIlroy or Serena Williams to make it relevant, the Olympics makes its own superstars like Usain Bolt. Serena gets to shine four times a year. Over the next two weeks lets focus on the athletes that only get to shine once every four years.

Jon C

About the Author:

Jon C. used to be cool and drive a V8 Audi. Now he drives a mini-van and is not cool.

NBC Hates the Olympics and they Hate You

We gave up on the audience years ago

The Olympics still hold some magic. Here at SeedSing we have talked about the games on our X Millennial Man Podcast. Guest contributor Jon C wrote a piece talking about his excitement about certain sporting events every four years. The Olympics should be must watch television in the United States. Being an American, we can see our athletes compete in nearly every event, and many times will medal in these events. Shooting, cycling, fencing, rowing are all sports not usually associated with American dominance, yet all of them have seen Team USA get a medal. The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro seems to be an event of peace, understanding, and sports. It seems to be a really cool thing.

I have to say that the Rio Olympics seem like a cool thing because the only way someone living in the United States can watch the games is through the channels of the National Broadcasting Company. Since the Athens games in 2004, NBC has been using a number of their cable outlets ,and the internet, to produce nearly twenty four hours of coverage during the Olympic games. All those channels and full days coverage. There should be no need for only tape delayed events. The 2000 Sydney games were almost entirely tape delayed, but the coverage was only on NBC's main station and not on any cable outlets. With major time delays in Athens, and again Beijing in 2008, NBC has presented a tape delayed package of the marquee events, in spite of having more channels and internet streaming. Sports like gymnastics, track and field, and swimming were shown to the American audience exclusively in prime time. This practice continued with the 2012 London games due to the five hour or more time difference between Britain and the United States. The last time someone in the United States was able to watch the games big events live were during the 1996 Athens games that took place in the United States.

It has been twenty years since someone living in the most powerful nation in the world could watch their Women's Gymnastics team perform live. In 1996 the ability to stream video over the internet was not readily available, twenty years on and it is easy to see live video from one's phone. NBC has gone to great lengths to make sure an American spectator can only see the Olympics when NBC thinks you should see the Olympics. Thanks to the global community of social media, any result in Rio is reported live. US Gymnast Simone Biles dominant gold medal win in the all around was broadcast to most of the globe immediately. The American audience had to wait eight hours until they could see the history making performance. When the results were posted to twitter, anyone in the USA who wanted to watch the performance was greeted with a message that the video was blocked in their region. NBC has usurped the government of the United States and is having video blocked from the citizens of the most powerful nation on earth. That is not good.

What is particularly galling about the 2016 Olympic tape delay is that host city Rio de Janeiro is only one hour ahead of the US eastern time zone. During the 1996 Atlanta games, people in Chicago were one hour behind the games, and NBC still showed the events live. The practice of tape delaying the games has been around since the games have been televised. In the 1980 Lake Placid New York Winter Olympics, the famous Miracle on Ice game was played in the afternoon, but ABC did not show the game until prime time. The difference between 1980 and 2016 is the ease of seeing things live in today's world. NBC does recognize the will of the people by allowing one to watch many events live via the NBC Olympics website. You will use your probably capped bandwidth and be at the mercy of your internet connection. Also being that NBC is owned by cable giant Comcast, the only way to access this live stream is to be a cable subscriber. Sorry cord cutters, only tape delays for you.

Putting aside the access of watching the games, NBC's coverage of the Rio Olympics has been insulting and generally terrible. Starting with the Opening Ceremonies, NBC once again let out of touch Matt Lauer and Meridith Vieria, and new comer Hoda Kotb, emcee the events for American audiences. Never mind that Lauer and Vieria were widely panned by media critics for their insulting, mildly racist, and dumb commentary during the 2008 and 2012 opening ceremonies. The 2016 edition was even worse. The veiled racism was present when Vieria referred to the Portuguese conquest of Brazil as immigration, Lauer referring as the Cayman Islands as a good place to holiday, or Kotb's groan inducing joke about the country of Djibouti. The trio more than lived up to the idea of the ugly American by constantly referencing Team USA. The opening ceremonies are supposed to be about the world coming together for two weeks of peace and sports competition. NBC and their commentators were presenting one hour tape delayed footage of Americans in Ralph Lauren between their eight hundred commercial breaks.

The awfulness of Lauer, Vieria, and Kotb extended to the people employed by NBC to provide commentary during the actual events. Early in the games, NBC swimming analyst Dan Hicks loudly proclaimed the husband, and coach, of dominant Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu was the "man responsible" for the swimmers world record victory. Social media rightfully shamed Hicks. Longtime Gymanastics announcer Al Trautwig felt like it was important to point out that the adoptive parents of multiple gold medalist Simone Biles are not her real parents. The coverage of out gay and lesbian athletes has been insulting in that NBC refuses to talk about it. British swimming medalist Tom Daley is engaged to Oscar winning writer Dustin Lance Black, yet no camera close ups and human interest stories from NBC. Brazilian Beach Volleyball player Larissa Franca embraced her wife after a win, and NBC commentator Chris Marlowe felt like he should point out that Franca was hugging her husband. It is 2016, and this is what NBC sports employees are saying.

NBC and their Olympic team does not care if the audience is being insulted. The opening ceremony coverage has been widely criticized, yet no response from NBC. Vieria and Lauer were already insulting to the world two times before, why would Comcast care if they are idiots a third time. Hick's "man responsible" remarks were defended until a day later, then NBC issued a weak apology. Since those remarks, every race Hosszu has competed in, her husband has been prominent in NBC's coverage. The only time we saw Michael Phelps "man responsible" coach was on the final night of swimming. Trautwig decided to dig in and defend his comments about Biles parents, until he was finally forced to apologize because of the large backlash. People have rightfully pointed out the poor coverage, and NBC has stood by their terrible announcers. Comcast has been on the side of their ignorant coverage more than they have been on the side of the audience. 

NBC does not care about the audience, in fact they are openly hostile to the American viewer. Their marketing team has already blamed women for the networks terrible coverage. NBC thinks people want a packaged story, and not the tales being told through the competition. In 2012, the network was so invested in American gymnast Jordyn Wieber that when she did not win the individual all around gold, the network still focused on her. The actual gold medal winner was fellow American Gabby Douglas, the first African-American woman to ever win the all around gymnastics gold. NBC was set on making Wieber focal point, and win or lose she was still the main attraction. The endless commercials prove that the the non people corporations mean so much more than the eyeballs of actual human-American.

The spirit of the Olympics itself is another part of the games being ruined by NBC. One of the best parts of the opening ceremonies is the march of nations. For almost two hours, half of which was commercials, Lauer, Vieria, and Kotb spent most of their focus only on Team USA. The parade of nations is a great time to learn about the culture and history of unknown parts of the world. NBC thinks this is a non marketable distraction. There is a team made up of refugees. NBC has devoted less than five minutes of coverage to this incredible team. One of their athletes, Yusra Mardini, helped push a boat filled with refugees across the Aegean Sea, that is an inspiring story. A North Korean and South Korean gymnast posed for a selfie together, no NBC coverage. Comedy site Cracked spent more time than Comcast on these brave young women. The spirit of the Olympics is strong, in spite of NBC's best efforts.

The Olympic games have many, many problems. With the corruption of the bidding process, the bankrupting of nations, the constant cheating, the games always have a dark cloud hanging over the events. The little hope and excitement that still exists in the games is being put to the side in order for NBC to please corporate sponsor, and the network's out of touch media personalities. Unfortunately, Comcast has the rights to the summer and winter games until 2032. The only way to escape the idiocy of NBC's coverage, and truly feel the spirit of the games is to watch the Olympics in another country. Who is up for a road trip to Canada in 2018 to watch the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in their pure, and not, stupid glory? I will hold a seat at the bar.

RD

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is going to need some money for his 2018 trip to Canada. Help him out by supporting SeedSing.

The USA Men's Basketball Team may not be a Dream Team, but it will Still Easily Win the Gold in Rio

If Rio can build the rims, the US will dominate them.

Last night, and last week for that matter, Team USA basketball kicked off their preliminary games, en route to the 2016 Rio Olympics. I have watched both games, the first against Argentina and the second against China, and if they do not breeze to the gold medal, it will be a total and utter embarrassment.

I know the US doesn't have guys like LeBron James, Steph Curry, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Anthony Davis and Kawhi Leonard, amongst other stars, but they still have Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Boogie Cousins, Kyrie Irving and a plethora of other future and current NBA all stars. The US is not hurting for talent when it comes to Olympic basketball. Sure, other foreign teams have some former and current pros, but it is nothing like what the US has. When they played Argentina the other night, I noticed that Manu Ginobli was playing. He is a great NBA player, and a possible hall of famer, but his best days were 4, or even 5 years ago. He is not the threat he once was to US basketball during Olympic competition. I didn't recognize anyone else playing for Argentina. When they played China last night, I saw one guy that looked familiar to me, but had it not been for NBATV, I would have not remembered that he played in the NBA for a few years. I don't even remember his name, and I just watched the game last night.

That US / China game last night was a complete bore to watch. I usually enjoy a good blowout, it makes the game that much less intense, but this was an absolute drubbing. Team USA won by 49 points, and it wasn't even that close. Team USA didn't shoot the three particularly well, but they didn't have to because they got to the basket at will, and China may be the worst shooting team in the entire Olympic field. They have size, but they cannot make a shot from 16 feet and out. And then, this happened to both Argentina and China, they have no one, and I mean NO ONE, that can guard players like KD, Draymond, Kyrie Irving or Boogie Cousins. KD, who is essentially a guard, is 7 feet tall. He can shoot over some of the best defenders in the world that are taller than him. I saw one play in the Argentina game where a guy under 6 feet was matched up with him on a switch and KD backed him down, and decided to shoot a fade away. The Argentine defender had no chance, and KD was laughing as he walked back down the court. Draymond is a total harbinger to what a lot of the international players see. He stands at 6'9, but he rebounds and defends like a center, and he can run the point. He will lead this team in assists one game, rebounds the next, drop a triple double in the third game, and for the hell of it, he may lead them in scoring in the gold medal game. Kyrie Irving is so much faster and such a better ball handler than any of his competition will have ever seen. He will get to the basket with little to no resistance and, now that he has a jumper, he will be able to shake bigger defenders for some of the most wide open jump shots anyone will have ever seen. Boogie Cousins is an absolute beast on the low block, and none of the international players will be able to contend with his size, his shockingly fast feet, his beautiful footwork in the post and he will out rebound anyone that comes his way. He may be a hot head, but he has seemed to have been able to keep a cool head in international competition.

After those guys, the US can throw Klay Thompson out there. He will lock down anyone on defense and he can shoot and drive with the best of them. They can throw Harrison Barnes at anyone. He is young, fast, plays defense and can get to the basket with ease. Jimmy Butler is on the team. He is another great defender that can score at the basket with some of the greatest players in the world. DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry come off the bench. They can both catch fire at any moment, and with the three point line being closer, they can score in bunches very, very quickly. Paul George is back. He is another threat outside or inside on offense, and he is a very good defender.

The only 2 guys that won't really scare anyone will be DeAndre Jordan and Carmelo Anthony. Carmelo, while he plays very well in the Olympics, is old, plays no defense and only wants to shoot threes. He's on this team because he is never going to win an NBA title, so at least, he will have a few gold medals when he retires. DeAndre Jordan is only on this team because they need at least 2 big men. He is an average defender and rebounder for his size. He is a terrible shooter and free throw shooter. He is a very sub par passer. All he is good for is alley oops, that's it.

Team USA, as I stated at the top, should breeze to a gold medal. I think there are only two teams that may give them a bit of a hard time, and by hard time I mean, Team USA will only win by 15 or 20 points, are Spain and France. Spain has been a thorn in the US side since the 21st century, but a lot of their players are older and breaking down. Sure, they have the Gasol brothers, but Pau Gasol is about a million years old and Marc Gasol, he is coming off an injury that ended his season. I'm not even one hundred percent sure he is playing in these Olympics. France has some solid, current NBA players, but 2 of the three "stars" are very old and getting slower. Tony Parker is the point guard, and while he is great, he is not ready to guard Kyrie Irving, DeMar DeRozan or Klay Thompson. And Thompson himself can lock him down on defense. Boris Diaw is one of the best passers in the league, and he may be the only guy that can guard Draymond in all of the Olympics, but he will be tasked with having to guard Boogie Cousins and being the guy that switches in pick and rolls onto KD, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, basically, any outside threat Team USA has, and they have a lot. Diaw is a very smart and capable defender, but he won't be able to get to that gear that he will need to, to keep up with those guys. Rudy Gobert is the wild card for France. He is an excellent rim protector and rebounder and a very capable low post scorer. He is also very young. But, how many block shot attempts is he really going to get when France and the US meet? I'm sure the coaching staff for Team USA will put together a game plan that all but eliminates the threat that Gobert brings, and I'm sure it will work. When you have the shooters that Team USA has, it is damn near impossible to stop them.

USA will, or at least should, win the gold medal and every game should be at least a 20 point margin of victory. I think a lot of summer league and D League teams would put up a better fight than some of the international competition will bring. This is going to be a bloodbath and one of the easiest gold medals the US will win in the upcoming Olympics. This is no 1992 "Dream Team", but it is nice to know that when 2/3 of the biggest stars in the game pull out of the Olympics, we can still field a team that is more than capable of breezing its way to a gold. I'll be watching every single blowout that I can, and if the US lets any team closer than 10 points, I would consider that a bummer. They should, and most likely will, crush everybody in Rio.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is sad that they could not find room for Christian Laettner on the team to bring back at least one Dream Teamer. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.