Duke is Going to Win and That Makes Me Sick

I'd really like to do a deep dive into the men's final four today. I would love to break down each team, give reasons as to why I think each could win, what it would take for some upsets, how we got to where we are today and why I think Kansas should be the odds on favorite. I wish that were the case. I wish it were that easy. It is not that easy.

After another weekend of watching games and listening to talking heads and seeing how everything is being called, I think we all know what the outcome is going to be. I mean, CBS, the NCAA, the powers that be in men's college basketball, and a big chunk of the viewing audience wants to see Coach K and Duke win it all. It is his last season. He has been doing a season-long curtain call. The moment he announced he was retiring at the end of this season, I think we all could have foreseen what was going to come. Add on the fact that Duke has yet another great group of five star players on the team, it seems to be a foregone conclusion that they are going to win it all this year.

Also they have the refs completely in their pocket. It is more clear this tournament than in any previous tournament. I watched the Duke-Texas Tech game. I saw Tech jump out to a big double digit lead, only to see it fall off after Duke got every call they could ever want. When that game ended Duke had shot 18 free throws to Tech's 8. So do not tell me that the refs are not doing what they can to make sure Coach K gets this chip. And just doing a bit of a dive on the free throw disparity for Duke, they shot 18 to Arkansas' 11. Against Michigan State, Duke had 21 free throw attempts to MSU's 12. Round 1 was the only close one, Duke had 9 to Cal State Fullerton's 8, but that game was done long before the refs needed to get involved. For those of you doing some quick math, Duke has shot 66 free throws. Their opponents have shot 29. They have double the attempts. I do not care what anyone says, that helps Duke way, way more than their opponents. We also have video evidence of Coach K yukking it up with officials on the sideline and the refs are right there laughing with him. They could not be more overt with their showing of love towards him.

Regardless of what you hear all the time, Coach K is not some kind of pillar of college sports. I have said many times he is a more successful John Calipari. He is just as smarmy and gross. He is a salesman. He is doing things under the table. He chides other teams players when Duke gets beat. He constantly gripes. He, for sure, gave Zion Williamson a good chunk of money to go to Duke. He griped about "one and done", and they became the master of "one and done". I loathe Coach K. And I know that I am not alone. Duke is a great college basketball team, but they are also so easy to root against. They are the Yankees and Patriots of men's college basketball. No one takes anyone that lives outside of North Carolina seriously if they say they are a Duke fan. I know a TON of people who claim to be Duke fans, but only one, a former neighbor of mine, is a true Duke fan. The rest are bandwagon fans. My son is the definition of a Duke fan. He did not care one bit about basketball a year ago. Now he is fully in, and he loves Duke. That is because every time he watches a game all the talking heads talk about what a "great program" they have and how "Coach K is a molder of young men". It drives me nuts. And you better believe I have let my son know how much I despise Duke.

With all this being said, and me going full vitriol and anger this morning, this is my men's final four preview. Duke will win. They will win with ease. If they are ever down in crunch time, the refs and the NCAA will find a way to make it look like they are making a "miraculous" comeback. The tournament is a TV show. Don't forget that. And if this TV show can get Duke to win it all in Coach K's final year, you better damn well believe they will pull out all the stops to make sure that is what will happen. So good job to Villanova, Kansas and UNC for getting this far. But Duke is going to win. I just feel it in my bones.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

Gonzaga Once Again Proved That They Are Overrated

I think we are at a point where we can consider Gonzaga’s men’s basketball team a bit overrated.

I watched the games last night, obviously I focused mostly on the Villanova-Michigan game, but I flipped back and forth to the other games. Gonzaga-Arkansas started about a half an hour earlier than Michigan, so the later it got it that game, I paid a little closer attention. Gonzaga never seemed energized last night. From what I saw, I told my dad this, they looked like they thought they could just walk in the gym and win. Arkansas clearly had other plans. Arkansas looked ready to pounce. They also played like they had nothing to lose, which was true. Had they gotten beaten, people would have said of course. But, now that they won, they are the talk of the tournament. They earned the praise.

This seems to happen every single year with Gonzaga. They have wonderful teams that win in the high 20’s and only get beat once or twice during the regular season. They pull in top recruits every year. With the transfer portal as big as it is, they always seem to pull a few good dudes from there too. I’ve said it many times, Gonzaga is not Cinderella. They are a blue blood. They are a college basketball powerhouse. But they cannot find a way to win on the biggest stage. I assumed they had everything they needed to finally win a title this year. They got the top recruit. They got one of the top transfers. They had depth and experience. They played a tough non conference schedule. They played fast, good defense and could shoot from all five positions. But, again, they faltered on a big stage. This happened last season. They needed a miracle from Jalen Suggs in their final four game against UCLA just to make it to the title game. They then proceeded to get crushed by Baylor. But we can go all the way back to 2009 if you really want to take a deep dive. That year they made it to the Elite Eight, only to get beat by 21 to UNC. In 2010, Syracuse beat them by 22 in the Sweet Sixteen. 2011, BYU beat them in the second round by 22. In 2014 Arizona beat them by 23 in the second round. They got back to the Elite Eight in 2015, only to have Duke beat them by 13. In 2017 they made the title game for the first time, but UNC beat them by 6. They also barely beat a low seeded South Carolina team to make it to the title game. Then in 2018 FSU manhandled in the Sweet Sixteen. And Texas Tech took care of them in the Final Four in 2019.

This seems to be the way it is for Gonzaga. They have these great regular season teams, but they always find someway to fall short. And it’s not like they are losing close, heartbreaking games. They usually get destroyed on their way out. Even last night, while the Arkansas win was only by 6 on paper, it may as well have been 10-15. They just had no oomph. And I kind of like Gonzaga. I think Mark Few is a good coach. I grew my hair out like Adam Morrison back when I had hair. I loved Jalen Suggs’ one season there. That Nembhard kid is legit. Chet Holmgren is going to be a top 3 pick. But this team always finds a way to disappoint during March Madness. If I were a true fan, if this was how Michigan basketball performed every season, it would be so maddening.

I’m sure Gonzaga will be highly regarded again next season. I’m sure they’ll be a preseason top 5 team. I’m sure they’ll get top recruits and transfers. But I will not let them fool me again when I fill out my bracket. I promise that. It’s a bummer, but that’s the way it is. Until next season for Gonzaga yet again. Oh boy.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

The Big 10 is Doing Just Fine in this Year's Tournament

I spent the last four days watching college basketball, like many other people did. And it was great. There were a ton of close games, there were some blowouts and there were a ton of upsets. I feel like this tournament has had the most upsets ever. It has been crazy. And fun. I've loved watching it. I usually get bored by the middle of day four, but I was all in last night watching TCU and Arizona play a hell of a game.

When I woke up this morning to update my bracket and check the times for the Sweet Sixteen games I was met with an abundance of stories about how poorly the Big 10 has played in the tourney. Everyone is shitting on the Big 10 in fact. I went to SI.com, Bleacher Report, ESPN, all the big publications, and every headline had the Big 10 as the biggest "flop". Journalists and talking heads were destroying the conference. They were having a field day. And when I checked the bracket, only two of the nine teams were left, Purdue and Michigan. So yeah, that is a bummer. But I also took a closer look this morning at matchups and how I personally thought this was going to go.

First off, I am a believer in Purdue. I have them in the final four. I like that team. So to see them here was not a surprise. Michigan, on the other hand, that one has shocked me. That is my team, but I did not expect them to be here. I picked them to beat Colorado State, but I was high on Tennessee. I assumed they would eat their lunch. I had Tennessee in it until they met up with Houston. I am surprised, but also very happy Michigan is here.

As for the seven teams that are done now, there is only one, maybe two teams, I would consider it a "flop". Wisconsin is the main team in this category. They should be in the Sweet Sixteen. They struggled, but ended up pulling away from Colgate in round one. They were gifted Iowa State in round two, but Iowa State showed up and Wisconsin did not. They did not have the refs in their pocket, they missed too many shots and they reverted to the team I thought they would be in the preseason. And Iowa is the other "flop" from the Big 10. They were red hot coming into the tourney, they have a lottery pick on their team and they looked like they could make a deep run. They were a very popular final four pick from their region. But they blew it, and the refs missed a big time call. They never seemed into the game against Richmond, and it cost them. They blew a golden opportunity this season. Outside those teams though, none of the other losses are all that surprising. Indiana won their first four game to play Saint Mary's. But Saint Mary's is a better and deeper team. They won that game with ease, as expected. Michigan State won a close game against Davidson, and then got beat by second seeded Duke in Coach K's last tournament. Illinois got by a very good Chattanooga team, but they were stifled by a much better, and older, Houston team. That Houston team is legit. The University of Ohio State beat everyone's favorite recent Cinderella, Loyola-Chicago in round one, but were downed by a very good Villanova team. They are a two seed. I mean, I get that every Big Ten team that played yesterday, with Purdue being the lone exception, got beat, but it wasn't shocking, outside of Wisconsin. In fact, it was expected. The same thing happened on Saturday as well, except Michigan seemed to stun everyone, including me.

I would think, if the "experts" want to go after a power five conference, and call it a "flop", why not put that on the SEC. They got five teams in, most of them seeded 4 or higher, and they only have one team left. LSU fired their coach right before the tourney, then got beat by Iowa State. Alabama got trounced by Notre Dame. Auburn was absolutely manhandled by Miami last night. That game was never really close. Tennessee, everyone's darling, including mine, was beat by Michigan. People were arguing that Tennessee could be a number 1 seed. And then we have the Kentucky game in round one. I had them in the final four. So did my dad. I know a ton of people who had them in the championship. They were beaten by Saint Peter's, a 15 seed, who is now in the Sweet Sixteen. The only SEC team that is still alive is Arkansas, and they looked real ragged against New Mexico State. That was only one game, but it was a slop fest.

I guess people like to rag on the Big 10 because it is easy and they have not won a men's college basketball title in forever. But I would also think these "experts" would do some research before declaring them a "fraud" or a "flop" of a conference. The Big 10 is tough. There is a reason they got nine teams in the field this year. It is, by no means, a bad conference. The matchups were weird, they favored some other teams and what happened was what a ton of people figured would happen. The simple fact is, the Big 10 has as many teams left as the Pac 12 and Big East. They only have one less than the ACC and Big 12. And they have one more team left than the "mighty" SEC. The bad talk on the Big 10 is just a bit overblown at this point. Maybe all these "hot takes" need to stop and some research needs to be done. That is all I ask as a fan of a Big 10 team. Just put a little time into something before blurting it out of typing it into Twitter or Facebook. Just calm down a bit.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

Ty Watches Day One of the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament

I spent the majority of my day watching the men's NCAA basketball tournament opening round, and it was glorious. I do not have some kind of list, or a group of losers and winners, or who upped their draft value for you all today. Quite the opposite in fact. I want to talk about the pure joy and agony and fun I had watching games, and seeing the return of fans to March Madness.

The day started at 11:15am for me, as that was when Michigan tipped off. They struggled in the first half, turned it on in the second half and pulled away for a 12 point win to advance. I was stoked. I was also surprised to continuously hear how the tourney started off with an upset. All the stuff I read favored Michigan, and most pundits picked Michigan. But where the seeding landed, it was, technically, an upset. Michigan was an 11 and Colorado State was a 6. This is one of the things I love most about March Madness, the upsets, and there were plenty yesterday.

After the Michigan game I went on a run and recorded a podcast, but all the while I was checking scores. I kept looking in on Boise State and Memphis. I like Memphis and Penny Hardaway, so I was pulling for them, and they won. Baylor had no problem with the 16 seed they played. I was big on South Dakota State, but Providence proved why they were the Big East regular season champs, and locked the Jackrabbits up. Michigan's next opponent, Tennessee, cruised to a win in round one. I suggest people go look up the highlight reel play by their point guard as well.

During the Tennessee game we had our first big time upset of the day. Richmond beat Iowa. Iowa came in red hot, winning the Big 10 tourney, but Richmond scrapped and clawed, and with a little help from the officials, they pulled off the win. Being a fan of a Big 10 team I was bummed for the conference. But, I despise Iowa, so it wasn't all bad. And that video of the Richmond head coach's son in awe, that was incredible. That is what makes March Madness so wonderful and fun and agonizing.

In other games, Gonzaga struggled for a half, but woke up and won with ease. UNC demolished Marquette. It was dope to see a blue blood like UNC win that big in the tourney.

The night games were the best of the day. I had a track club meeting, but as soon as I got home I turned on the TV and watched games until I went to bed. Saint Mary's-Indiana was the only blowout too, making the games even better. New Mexico State beat UCONN. Their two guard scored 37 and was letting UCONN know it. This was a classic 12 over 5 upset we get every year in the tourney. Creighton made a big comeback and won in OT. They had a big run to tie it in the first half, and a big run to close it out in OT. Vermont and Arkansas went back and forth. That was a fun, up and down the floor game. Murray State and San Francisco was a joy to behold. This was, probably, the best offensive game of the day. Both teams were hitting tough shot after tough shot. It was dope. KU did what they were supposed to do. Akron gave UCLA all they could handle. UCLA did not look loose like they did last year, and Akron struck, they just could not hold on in the end.

The game of the night, and the whole day for that matter, was St Peter's and Kentucky. This was back and forth. There were a tremendous amount of lead changes. I do not think any team held a double digit lead. The stars for each team showed out. But in the end, due to Kentucky's lack of making free throws, St Peter's pulled the upset. A 15 seed beat a 2. It barely happens, but it did last night. And while it crushed my bracket, I do not care one bit. This is what I love about March Madness. These teams going out there and giving it their all. Both teams left it all on the floor. And seeing the fans reaction, that was priceless. The camera would cut to Kentucky fans and they were crying. Then they'd cut to St Peter's fans and they were euphoric. This is what makes this tournament the absolute best.

College sports has its problems, but they got this one right. March Madness is a perfect sporting event. It has everything a sports fan could ever want. It is the purest form of competition and it is a total blast to watch. I will jump up and down and yell at the TV, and the teams playing, I have zero allegiance to whatsoever. That is why I love the tourney so much. And after two years of no fans, it is kind of cool to see people cheering their teams on in person. It adds so much. I hope the rest of the tourney lives up to day one. It will be tough to do, but if any sporting competition can do it, this is the one. I love March Madness. This truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

The Lakers are Not a Good Basketball Team

Prior to the start of this NBA season I wrote my big preview where I rank all the teams. I had the Lakers near the top, somewhere within the top 10 I believe. I had faith that they were going to be a good regular season team, then due to the age on their roster, they would tire out and fall in the second round of the playoffs. I assumed with guys like AD, Carmelo, Russ and Dwight Howard, they would win somewhere between 45-50 games. I think I had them as a 3 or 4 seed.

Well, the Lakers have not been a good regular season team. Where we sit right now, with about 15 games left, the Lakers are 11 games under .500 with a record of 29-40. I read a stat this morning that said, "when LeBron doesn't score 50 points, the Lakers are 0-9 since the all star break". That is brutal. This team looks like they have straight up quit on the season. I watched a bit of the Toronto game the other night, and that thing was never in doubt. It got so bad that on one particular defensive possession, the Raptors were able to get to the basket unimpeded while the Lakers pointed and yelled at one another. In that same game, LeBron blasted a ball off of Scottie Barnes' face. Last night, they were playing so bad that Pat Beverly openly called them trash and held his nose as if to say they were playing so bad that it smelled inside the arena. The Timberwolves are having a good season, but they won by 20, over a LeBron James led team.

It has just not been happening for the Lakers all year. There has never been a moment watching them this season where I thought that they had it figured out. LeBron can only do so much, and while it is a ton, he is old and getting older. Anthony Davis is never healthy. Even when he plays he looks hurt. And all that shit he talked about Phoenix, that is ridiculous nonsense coming from a guy that is barely ever on the floor. Russell Westbrook has been a disaster. I love Russ too. He is my guy. But the fit on this Lakers team is just not there. He is not great without the ball in his hands, and asking him to be a spot up shooter is taking away everything that has made him so wonderful as a basketball player. Carmelo Anthony has been a zero for this team. When the Rockets beat the Lakers the other night, Jalen Green was asked by a reporter what the game plan was in the second half, and he said, "attack Melo". I mean, that speaks volumes. They have since cut DeAndre Jordan, but who cares. Dwight Howard barely plays. Austin Reaves is an okay shooter, but he is not going to win them any games. Stanley Johnson has played better, but nowhere near the lottery pick he was. And Malik Monk does not get enough touches. Also, Frank Vogel has made some head scratching coaching decisions this year. And when this team did nothing at the trade deadline, that was a sign to me that they were going to go in the tank. The front office essentially told LeBron and Klutch Sports, this is the team you wanted, so this is the team you are going to finish the season with.

That brings up another thing that bugs me as a basketball fan and a LeBron fan. I adore LeBron. I think he is the second greatest player of all time. I bought into the hype when he was a senior in high school. I was all in. But this is the team he wanted, the team he assembled, and now he is openly complaining to the media that it is not his fault this team is so bad? That is nuts. They could have had Buddy Hield, but LeBron wanted Russ. They could have kept Alex Caruso, but the front office wouldn't pay him and they went with Carmelo. They brought Dwight back and signed Deandre Jordan because he and LeBron have a friendship. Malik Monk and Kendrick Nunn are Klutch clients I believe, so signing them wasn't even a second thought. This is just a very, very poorly constructed basketball team. They are too old. They have too many guys that need the ball in their hands to be effective. Their star big man cannot stay on the floor. They play poor defense. Everyone gives into whatever LeBron tells them to do.

The Lakers are a mess, hell, a tire fire. They might sneak into the play-in, but I would not be shocked if they get shellacked by the Pelicans or Timberwolves or, hell, even Portland. This has been a mess of a year for LeBron and the Lakers. And all this finger pointing needs to be directed at themselves. The media didn't bring this team together, LeBron and the front office did. The media isn't forcing Westbrook to airball wide open threes. The media didn't injure AD. The media is not the reason Melo has never been a good defensive player. It is the players and the people in charge. But man oh man is this team bad. And it is wild to see a LeBron led team give up before the season is even over. I hope they haven't, and they can still make a run to get in the playoffs. But the way they have looked since the all star break tells a story of a team quitting, or not even trying. That bums me out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

Ty's 2022 Men's College Basketball Tournament Preview

The men's and women's NCAA basketball brackets are out now. I am going to do my men's preview today, but I do want it to be known that I am super stoked and ready to root for Michigan's women's team, who got a 3 seed and host two games. Go Blue! But how I will do my preview today, I will pick the four winners of each region, a surprise team in each region, the title game matchup, winner and the player of the tournament. As for "snubs" or whatever, I do think Texas A&M deserved to get in after they made a run to the SEC title game and I do think Tennessee should have been a 2 and not a 3. Other than that, it seems like the committee got something right for once in their lives. You can disagree with me, but this definitely seems like the proper 68 teams to have in the tourney this season. Anyway, let's get to it.

I'll start in the West, which has the overall number 1 seed, Gonzaga. The Zags are no longer Cinderella. They are the best team in college basketball. They have been all year. They have two guys that could win player of the year. They played a tougher out of conference schedule. They are built for March. And I do think they will roll to the final four in this region. The only real threat I could see is maybe Duke or Texas Tech. Duke is very good, they have beaten Gonzaga once already this year, but they are young and they have yet to put together a real full game. Tech is old and rugged, but they will not be able to slow down the Zgas, or even if they do, the Zags can run their offense in the half court through Drew Timme, and they will be just fine. The Zags will also have a tough second round matchup with either Boise State or Memphis, but they should get through that pretty unscathed. As far as my "sleeper" team, I have to go with Davidson. They can score in bunches, are older and are a pretty well oiled machine. I think they will get by Michigan State in round one, give Duke a scare, and if they win that game, I could see them play Gonzaga in the Elite Eight before their season ends.

Onto the East. Baylor is the number 1 seed here. While not the elite level team they were last year, they are still very good and play very good defense. Unfortunately their lack of outside shooting will be the downfall in their effort to win back to back titles. I love Saint Mary's here. They are so solid, play very well on both ends of the floor and beat Gonzaga once and took them to the wire a second time. I also really like Kentucky. John Calipari has a great collection of older and younger talent. Oscar Tshibewe is going to win player of the year, and he deserves it. TyTy Washington is a very good floor general. They have shooting and play good defense. But I think this is where the Big 10 gets a final four team. I have faith, maybe too much, in Purdue. They seemingly have everything you could want in a college team. Depth, size, scoring from everywhere. Purdue is good, and I have them making it out of the East. As for my "sleeper", I like Murray State to win their opener, and put a very real scare into Kentucky before bowing out.

Now let's go to the Midwest. Kansas is the 1, and they should get to the final four with almost as much ease as I expect Gonzaga to out West. Kansas is so good, so deep, so talented, they have it all. They also have an awesome coaching staff. This KU team, on paper, is too good to sabotage itself. I do like Auburn, although I despise their coach. Jabari Smith could be the number one pick in the upcoming draft, and Walker Kessler may be the best transfer in the nation. They also have good guards on this team. Iowa is red hot coming into the tourney, and Keegan Murray is playing like a lottery pick. Wisconsin has kind of fluttered near the end, but Johnny Davis is amazing. And USC has size and length everywhere on the floor. But KU is the team to beat here. They should coast to the final four. As for my "sleeper" here, I have South Dakota State. They lead the country in scoring, they make a ton of threes and they have incredible camaraderie. They are a very, very good mid-major, and they can make a push to the Sweet Sixteen and it would not surprise me.

Finally, we have the South. Arizona is the 1 here, and they have come out of nowhere to win 31 games and coast into the tournament. They also won the Pac 12 tourney. They also have a few pros on their team. They are really, really good. They also got a very tough draw. Villanova is the 2, and they are as solid as they come. Tennessee is the 3, and they had a shot to be a number 1 seed in some brackets. Illinois is the 4 and they have one of the biggest, and most skilled big men I have ever watched. And Houston is a 5, and they are so, so, so good. I'd love to pick another Big 10 team, but I do not have that much faith in Illinois unfortunately. But, kind of out of the box, but not really, I like Houston to make a run to the final four. They just seem due. Kelvin Sampson has rebuilt that program and they have been knocking on the door the past couple of years. As for my "sleeper", I have Chattanooga. They are built like a power 5 team that just happens to play in a mid-major conference. I do think they will beat Illinois in round one and they will be the only real scare Houston gets before they make their run. And, I would be remiss if I did not talk about Michigan getting the 11 seed here. I am stunned they got in. I am even more shocked they do not have to play a first four game. They have been wildly consistent all season, yet they are in the dance. And I could even see them winning their first game against Colorado State. They actually kind of matchup well with that team. I think they will get hammered by Tennessee if they win that first game. But it would be exactly how their up and down season should, and most likely will end.

So, my final four is Gonzaga, Purdue, Kansas and Houston. That is two power 5 teams and two mid-majors, although I think we all can agree that Gonzaga is a legit title contender. They should be the favorites. As for my title game, I am going with Gonzaga and Kansas. They have just looked and felt like the two best teams all year. As for the winner, this is the year that the Zags will finally break through and win it all. They are too talented and too well coached not to. I also think they learned a lot from getting annihilated by Baylor last season. As for the player of the tournament, I will go with presumed number 1 pick Chet Holmgen. I have a feeling he will bust out in a big way.

There you have it, my NCAA men's basketball tournament preview. As I say every year, take this with a big grain of salt. The games start in a few days, and I cannot wait. Happy March Madness everyone.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

Ben Simmons is Soft

I was really hoping that I was going to get to see the debut of Ben Simmons this season tonight when the Nets play the 76ers. Unfortunately, he has been ruled out with a "back injury". Earlier this week he also filed a grievance against the 76ers organization. And, as of this morning, he was apparently harassed outside of his hotel room in Philadelphia. There is a ton of stuff to unpack here, but the one thing this truly screams to me, Ben Simmons is soft.

First off, Philly fans need to chill the hell out. Without Simmons this team would not have risen as fast as they did. Sure he is a very bad shooter, but what he does on the defensive end of the floor is amazing. He is one of the premiere defenders in the league. He can guard all five positions. He helped push that team to the one seed last season and he was crucial to them going down in the bubble when he got hurt. Simmons did some good things while in Philly. I know the fans are mad at him, or whatever, but they have to admit that he was a crucial player up until this season.

This offseason, and where we are now has really shown me a lot, mainly the fact that he is, as I said before, soft. Something went haywire in his brain during the conference finals last season, and instead of owning up to it and making a real effort to get better, he went on the defensive and blamed everyone but himself. I don't blame Doc Rivers for saying he did not know if Simmons could be the point guard of a title contender. He was asked a question in the heat of the moment and he answered truthfully. Rivers messed up by saying he never said that, but, again, I do not disagree with his original statement. I also do not blame Joel Embiid for questioning Simmons' heart and effort. Embiid, when healthy, is a legit MVP candidate. I'd vote for him this season for sure. He has more than proved that this is his team, especially this season with Simmons not playing. The 76ers are the two or three seed in the East, Embiid has kept them afloat, and now that he has Harden as a willing and capable teammate, he looks so much better. Embiid is the 76ers guy. Simmons was never going to be the 76ers guy. I think he knew that, and so did his agency, and that was why, instead of just taking the much deserved heat, he went on the defensive and refused to play until he was traded.

Then we had the video of him reporting to practice, but not paying any attention. He was on his phone, he was not doing drills and he looked like he quit. Then he said he had mental issues to work out. I will never question anyone who says they have mental stuff to work out. I have lived every day of my life with real bad OCD and anxiety. I have been taking medication for 20 plus years now because of my mental stuff. But Simmons seems to be using it as a crutch. Philly's front office offered to get him help, and he refused. He would then go out and do things that people with real mental issues just do not do. I hope he is seeing someone now to get real help, but I also think this was another way to deflect the attention off of his selfishness.

When he was finally traded, he never did what a lot of players do now by saying goodbye to the city that drafted him. He did the opposite. He filed a grievance against the team. He is making it all about him yet again. He is acting like a selfish, spoiled, soft little baby. He has always been coddled, and now that he is a professional, and that stuff doesn't fly as well, he is reverting back to tendencies you see from spoiled little kids. He got his way. He got what he wanted. The Nets are even letting him sit out the game in Philly tonight because we all know Simmons is deathly afraid to go out there and make a mistake. They can say it is injury related all they want, but he is scared. Go and watch what Stephen A Smith had to say about him. I'm not a Smith guy, but he knows Philly sports from covering them for years, and he was right on the money in his assessment of Simmons at the moment. He has wasted a year of his prime to "prove a point". Yet we do not know what type of player we will see when he comes back. Will he still be an incredible defensive player? Can he run the fast break? How will he play with sharp shooters surrounding him? What is going to happen in the playoffs when teams start daring him to shoot, or start intentionally fouling him to put him at the line? How is his mentality going to hold up to that much pressure? There are far, far too many questions right now.

I used to like Simmons. I thought it was rad to see a 6'10 guy run the point. But I have lost any respect I used to have for him after seeing his attitude and reaction to the dreadful playoff performance last season. It is never his fault, he puts the blame on everyone else. He is soft. He is coddled. And he may be done as a prime time NBA player. I guess we will have to wait until he is less scared to see if he can still play this game at the highest level. That is a real shame.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

Let's Talk About Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson

Two big time QB's made big decisions on their future yesterday. It is time to discuss.

First I want to talk about that punk Aaron Rodgers. He completely fleeced the Packers. He acted like a malcontent, a whiner, he played awful in their playoff game and he moaned and groaned about "cancel culture" and "the woke media" all season long. He openly lied to the media, he used meaningless words prior to the year, and when he got caught, he went on defense. He never directly answered any questions about his blatant lying, he yelled at anyone that disagreed with him and he acted like a spoiled child. But the Packers gave into his childish behavior and awarded him a humongous extension.

Rodgers is going to sign a four year 200 million dollar deal. This is asinine to me. He is too old, on the wrong side of his prime, not the reason why the Packers are in contention anymore and has handcuffed the future of the team. This is akin to when the Lakers gave Kobe Bryant a big extension when he was old and coming off a torn ACL. While I do not think the Packers will fade as fast as that Lakers team, I do not have a good feeling about this deal for the future of the Packers. But the people who make the decisions in Green Bay gave that malcontent exactly what he wanted in the end.

This is a classic example of a spoiled rotten kid getting his way. I would never buy one of my kids a toy if they acted like Rodgers did at all last season. They would be grounded and told what they did was selfish and wrong. They would have to own up to their mistakes. But Green Bay just rewarded his bad behavior because they are afraid of being a basement dweller for a few seasons.

I really despise this deal. I wish the Packers would have just moved on. I would really like to say I am going to switch allegiances, but I am so far in the bag for this team, so I honestly do not know who I will root for this upcoming NFL season. At least I still have the Wolverines to root for in college football.

Not to be outdone, the Seahawks made a tremendously big trade later in the day after the Packers gave Rodgers his new deal. Seattle traded Russell Wilson to the Broncos for Drew Lock, Noah Fant, Shelby Harris and five draft picks. The Broncos get Wilson and a fourth round pick. Wow.

It was no secret that the Broncos were in the market for an upgrade at the QB position. They were hot on Aaron Rodgers. I heard they were going to trade up in the draft to take a QB. I heard they were going to get involved with some backups on other teams. In the end though, they ended up with Wilson, which is a homerun.

I have made no bones about my dislike for Wilson, but he is a damn good QB. The only reason the Seahawks were relevant after their couple of Super Bowl appearances was the play of Wilson. He was the engine that ran that offense. He had no o line help, and not a very good run game behind him, yet he put up incredible stats, and until last season, had the Seahawks in, or in the hunt for the playoffs every season. He is the type of QB that can truly make a team better by simply being on the roster. He has more than earned his spot among the top five QB's in the NFL. He is very, very good. And I do think he will help the Broncos mightily on the offensive side of the ball. He has some good young weapons on the outside, and a solid running back by committee group in the backfield. The Broncos o line is far superior to anything the Seahawks ever had while Wilson was there. The Broncos also hired Nathinel Hackett, who was the Packers offensive coordinator, and he has a good mind for running a modern NFL offense. Where the trade doesn't help is the Broncos defense. They need to get better on that side of the ball, but their offense is in very capable hands now.

The Seahawks were able to get a fortune for Wilson, and that should help their rebuild go much faster. I was never a believer in Drew Lock, so if I were the Seahawks, I'd use one of those picks on a QB to build around. I do really like the addition of Fant. He is a great pass catching tight end, and putting him next to DK Metcalf will cause matchup nightmares for opponents. I know nothing of the other guy in the trade. But that amount of picks, that is how to rebuild fast in the NFL. The Seahawks have an OKC Thunder amount of picks. They will be able to take a lot of swings, and a good amount of those will mostly hit.

I feel like both teams got a very solid deal in this trade. I think the Broncos immediately become a playoff contender and the Seahawks will be able to keep some continuity and rebuild much faster than other teams. So while I loathe the Rodgers extension, I like the trade between the Seahawks and Broncos.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Ty Watches the 2022 NBA All Star Weekend

Let's talk about the NBA all star weekend now. I

want to get the boring or not so good things out of the way first. The celebrity game was so bad that I tuned out after a few minutes. My son stayed with it a bit longer, but even though he is ten and currently obsessed with basketball, turned it off before halftime. He came upstairs in our house and exclaimed, "what a terrible game that was". Again, he is ten. The one cool thing is my wife knew about the MVP of the game, Alex Toussaint, because she rides a Peloton and does some of his classes. Other than that, it was rough stuff. And then we have the dunk contest. This year was real bad. So was last year. The past two dunk contests have reminded me of the post Vince Carter, pre Zach Lavine and Aaron Gordon dunk contests. There were way too many misses, way too many free attempts, dunks that were amazing, but not as great as some other things I have seen and it took far too long. Go look up the picture of Shaq watching the dunk contest this year and that sums it up perfectly. It was bad. I was also very confused by the skills competition. I usually like this portion of the weekend, but the scoring was weird, the teams were off and it was all around confusing. I did like the passing thing and the obstacle course, but the half court shot was not needed, and the shooting from different areas for different amounts of points, I could have done without that. But it was dope to see Evan Mobley and Darius Garland perform really well.

Let's get to some of the better aspects of the weekend. Even though the top 75 draft was like watching paint dry, it was rad to hear former greats talk about other greats and what made them so great. Dominique Wilkins messed up by not picking Jordan first overall, but that is besides the point. It was neat to hear them all go into great detail about what made these players so great. I also liked the three point contest. The three point contest can drag from time to time, but seeing Karl Anthony Towns go far, and then win it all, that was pretty great. The other competitors did solid, but KAT crushed, and it was dope to see a big man win it for once. I also liked the new format of the rising stars game. It was a neat way to switch it up a bit. Change can be good, and this was a very solid change and I hope they continue to roll with it this way going forward.

Finally we have the actual game. The closer to the whole weekend. The game itself was kind of blah for the entirety of the first half. There was no defense, tons of scoring and dunks galore. I did love the dunks. It was incredible to see these guys do some amazing athletic feats. I especially loved seeing Ja Morant do two 360 dunks. It was also amazing to watch Steph hit eight threes in the first half. Steph usually does not bring it in all star games. But I think the fact that he has been in a minor slump for a bit, and that the Cleveland crowd booed him, he decided he was going to bring it. He hit eight more threes in the second half and made a two pointer and ended the night with 50. Giannis also scored 30. LeBron was in the mid 20's. There were a lot of points being scored by the biggest names in the league right now. It was wild. And then, with the Elam Ending in place, that makes the final quarter so much fun to watch. It was a nail biter, each team traded baskets and the ending was almost too perfect. LeBron hit a fadeaway jumper, in Cleveland, after making comments about how he was not closing the door on returning there to end his career. It was awesome.

The NBA all star weekend has some things they need to work out, namely the dunk contest, but the game, especially with the Elam Ending, has been really fun for the last three seasons.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

Juwan Howard Should Be Severely Punished, Not Fired, for His Actions

The NBA all star weekend will have to wait until tomorrow. Today I have to talk about the unfortunate incident that happened at the end of the Wisconsin-Michigan basketball game yesterday.

This was a somewhat easy win for Wisconsin, with Michigan going ice cold in the second half. Wisconsin won, won with ease and put a dent into Michigan's tournament hopes. Near the end of the game Wisconsin called a timeout, up 14 points, while Michigan still had a few starters in, and they were pressing, with about 10 seconds left in the game. I feel like both head coaches made a mistake here. Michigan should not have been pressing. They were down, they had no chance to win and the starters should have been out. Wisconsin had the win in hand, they could have let the clock run and there was no need to even worry about using a pointless timeout that late in the game. None of this is against the actual rules, but it is part of the unwritten rules in the world of sports. Each coach made multiple unwritten rule mistakes.

During the handshakes at the end of the game, which I was totally happy not having last season due to COVID, Juwan Howard tried to quickly walk past Greg Gard to avoid letting his temper get the best of him. Howard was, for some reason, fuming about the late timeout. And I guess when Howard walked by Gard he said, "I will remember this shit". That was not needed. But Gard grabbed Howard, I guess to try and explain. Again, that was not needed. Things just escalated from there. When Gard grabbed at Howard and stopped him, Howard went off. He started to yell and grab at Gard and the other Wisconsin coaches. It got to the point where the players got involved. People were gathering in a big circle and yelling at one another. At one point Howard open palm slapped a Wisconsin assistant coach. Then players, pretty much all Michigan players, threw punches. Howard had to be pulled back by some of his players. Moussa Dibate and Terrance Williams threw hands. The players and coaches all moved the big circle back and forth, and things were eventually settled.

After the game each coach gave their side of the story and every single website and sports app in the world had their own personal take. I sat and stewed in it for a while. At first I just kind of forgot about it. Then I thought some more about it. Then I slept on it. And then my dad and I texted about it this morning.

I believe that there needs to be punishment handed down, and it needs to be stern. After the football offseason and this basketball incident, Warde Manuel, Michigan's AD, needs to flex his muscles. It has not been great to be a Michigan fan the past couple months, what with Harbaugh openly flirting with the NFL, the basketball team struggling and now this post game handshake incident. Howard needs to be suspended, maybe for the rest of the season, including the Big Ten tournament, and any postseason tournament they may get invited to. Howard also needs to feel the punishment in his wallet. The fine should be pretty significant. I'm thinking, at the low end, at least 20,000 dollars. My dad also brought up that maybe they should send Howard to anger management, I hadn't thought of that, but it seems like a good idea, being this is not the first time Howard has gotten physical with another coach. Whatever it may be, the punishment needs to leave a mark.

As for the people saying Howard should be fired, that is nonsense. These things do happen, and this is not even close to the worst thing that has happened on a college basketball floor. Let us not forget about Bobby Knight throwing a chair or grabbing a player by the throat. Or the time Coach K openly chastised Dillon Brooks for shooting a late 3 in a tournament game that ended Duke's season. We have all the off field stuff with Iowa football last season, and Kirk Ferentz did not even miss a game. Howard putting his hands on another coach is very, very wrong, and needs to be addressed. But there is no world in which he deserves to lose his job. He is having a rough year, he let his emotions get the best of him and he will most likely pay a heavy price. But lose his job? Come on. That is too, too far. But he does deserve a swift and painful punishment. This is also a chance for Warde Manuel to hit the reset button and show the coaches of the sports teams that they work for him, not the other way around.

Yesterday was a bad game marred with a horrible on court incident involving the head coach of the basketball team. Now we wait to see what Howard's punishment will actually be.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

Zion is Hurt Again and That Sucks

It looks as if Zion Williamson is going to miss all of the 21-22 NBA season. It is being reported that he may need a second surgery on his ankle, or some lower body part needed to play basketball at a high level.

This really bums me out. I am trying to be more upbeat this year, but after hearing this news the other day, I have to talk about it. I like Zion. I am not a Duke fan, but I watched them play when Zion was there. I am not a New Orleans Pelicans fan, but I watched when Zion was playing. But now, with multiple injuries and missing time here and there and having his minutes restricted when he was playing, it just seems like Zion is going to go down as one of the biggest what ifs in the history of the NBA.

There are some reports saying that he might not need the surgery, that it is too soon to tell, but come on, we have seen this story before. And that is what scares me most about this new report. Zion was THE can't miss prospect when he entered the draft three years ago. He was supposed to be the most sure pick since LeBron. He was going to save the Pelicans, being that they had just traded Anthony Davis to the Lakers. Teaming him up with Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart was going to make this one of the most fun teams to watch in the NBA for years to come. Hell, I was laughed at and chastised by RD for ranking Ja Morant ahead of Zion in my pre draft write up that year. Who is laughing now RD? HAHAHAHAHA. But I digress. I bought into the Zion hype. I am super pumped that Morant is as great as he is this early in his career, but I looked at the possibility of him and Zion being the next 1-2 punch in the league. It was going to be super dope to see these two extremely skilled and hyper athletic athletes go head to head for years and years to come. But while Ja has stayed relatively healthy, the same cannot be said for Zion. His rookie year he played in only 24 games. Those 24 games were spellbounding, with some nutjobs claiming he should be ROTY, clearly Ja deserved and won it. But he looked great. But he was also playing garbage time for a team well out of the playoff race by then. He missed far too much time, and we should have seen that as a sign. But in the 2020 season he played in 61 games. He seemed like he was in decent shape. He was playing the point at times for the Pelicans. He was putting up double doubles with ease. It looked like we were going to get the greatness we all expected.

Then the pandemic hit. There was a two month layoff. And when the NBA decided to do the bubble, Zion looked disinterested and out of shape. Something seemed off. The Pelicans could have made the playoffs, but they went home after eight subpar games. Then talks started that he was unhappy, that he was going to ask for a trade, that he wanted to be in a bigger market. But then when the season started, Zion was hurt again. He was going to miss a few weeks. The few weeks turned into a month. Then came a surgery that has kept him out. There were also some photos surfacing of him shooting around before a game, and he looked big. I get that people can doctor photos, and I do not like my picture taken, but Zion has always been a big dude, and he looked real big in these photos. That was the one knock on him coming into the NBA, that he was going to have to lose weight. And it seems like he has not taken on that role yet. I get it. I'm a big guy too, and food is delicious, but I am not a professional athlete who has gobs of money at my disposal and can hire people to help keep me in shape. Yet I have found ways to lose weight and keep it off. To this point in the season, Zion has played zero games. And with this new news it seems like he is going to miss the entirety of the regular season. And I think fans and other people involved with the NBA are starting to move on.

I hope I am wrong and I hope he comes back stronger than ever next year. But we are in year three and he has only played 85 career games. That scares me. I cannot imagine how scared Pelicans fans and their front office are right now. I hope the news is wrong. I hope he does not have to get surgery, or if he does, it is very minor. I hope he comes back and is as ferocious a dunker and rebounder as he was before. I want the best for him because, as a selfish NBA fan, I want to see him dominate. But at this rate it seems more likely that he retires sooner than expected and we talk about Zion as what could have been. That would stink. I hope I am wrong.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

Ty Watches the 2022 Super Bowl

I watched the Super Bowl last night, obviously, and I was happy that we got yet another close, down to the wire playoff game. As I say all the time now, the NFL is gross and disgusting and abhorrent and racist, but damn if these playoffs weren't fun as hell. I wait until the playoffs to watch the NFL regularly, and I was very, very pleased with the outcome this season. Going into the Super Bowl, I was not a fan of either team, but I do not actively dislike either team. Each team has dudes I like and dislike. Each team is kind of fun in their own way. Each team has some solid dudes on the team. So watching the game last night, it was fun to see a good game and not have any real stakes involved. I was simply watching as a fan of football. And the game itself did not disappoint.

In the first quarter it looked like the Rams might run away with the game. They scored an easy TD on their first drive, and OBJ had a dope ass TD celebration. I'm not a big fan of celebrations, but when OBJ busted out the moonwalk a smile came across my face. The Bengals answered with a field goal. But just a few drives later the Rams scored yet again, with Matt Stafford hitting a wide open Cooper Kupp in the endzone to push the lead to 13-3. The Rams did miss the extra point, but it seemed like they had all the momentum. But then the Bengals did what they have done all playoffs. They put together a real solid drive. They mixed the pass and the run. Joe Burrow found guys open. Joe Mixon was hitting holes. JaMarr Chase and Tyler Boyd found open spots in the zone defense. And then they ran a trick play, a running back toss pass, and Mixon hit Tee Higgins in the back of the endzone. We had a game. They went to half with the Rams up 13-10.

The halftime was everything I hoped it would be. I am 39 years old, I have listened to hip hop since I was 10, so this halftime show, I feel, was made for someone like me. Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg opened with their classic hits. I was already on board. Then Mary J Blige came out and busted some of her classics. Then we got my favorite, Kendrick Lamar, and he was the cream of the crop for me. And then we got Eminem and Dre doing their thing. It was rad. They crushed. I loved that Eminem took a knee while Dre played piano. When they all joined the middle stage to close the show, I was extremely happy with what I just witnessed. It was one of the best halftime shows I have seen, It kept my attention and I was fully enthralled the entire time. It ruled. Then the second half started.

The Bengals came out and scored on, I believe, the very first play from scrimmage. Burrow hit a wide open Tee Higgins for a 75 yard TD. The replay showed Higgins getting away with an incidental facemask, and he waltzed into the endzone. The Bengals had the lead. They had turned the tide. They would go on to intercept Stafford about two plays later, and they looked like they were going to go up double figures. The Rams defense had other plans. This was when they started to attack the O line and Burrow. They stopped the Bengals on three straight plays and held them to a field goal. That was a big boost for them at that moment. The Bengals could have been up 24-13, but the Rams held strong and it was only a 20-13 lead. Both offenses kind of stalled out for a bit, with the Rams able to muster a field goal to make the score 20-16. The fourth quarter was very fun. There was only one score, but the stakes made each possession fun to watch. The Bengals would drive, but stall. The same could be said about the Rams. There were punts, but with each drop back or run, it felt like something big could happen. With about six minutes left the Rams had the ball and they were down 4. They proceeded to march down the field. I was actually frustrated with the Bengals because they were not really guarding Cooper Kupp, and with OBJ out, the Rams were force feeding Kupp the ball. They abandoned the run and it seemed like Stafford was told to only throw to Kupp. And it worked. They got down in the red zone and this was when the refs decided to get involved. They made a very bad pass interference call on a third and goal. They then called bad offsetting penalties. Then they penalized the Bengals again for a very minor PI call. It was rough to see the refs decide, this late in the game, that it was time to get involved. They let them play until that moment. After the third straight penalty, Stafford dropped back on second and goal and connected with Kupp yet again to take the lead. It was a good throw and an even better catch. It was wild. But the Bengals did have time and two timeouts. They got the ball and made their move to midfield. With under a minute left Burrow connected with Boyd for a 9 yard gain. They ran on second and 1 and got stopped. They then went out of shotgun and ran again and Aaron Donald stuffed the running back. On fourth down, with a short yard needed, I figured they would try the QB sneak. I understand their O line is bad, but I figured they could get the three necessary feet easily. Instead they went in shotgun and called a pass play. And of course Aaron Donald grabbed Burrow and forced him to make a wild throw that fell incomplete.

The game was over. The Rams were the champ. They sacked Burrow seven times. They got the stops when they needed to. They brought in and signed all kinds of big name guys. Cooper Kupp was the rightful MVP. It worked. The Rams turned into the Yankees, and this season it paid off. My hat is off to them. It is also off to the Bengals. These teams more than earned their spot in the Super Bowl, and they played a great game on the biggest stage. I had a blast watching the game, and with the added awesomeness of that halftime show, this was a very good game. Congrats to the Rams, and hopefully we will see both of these continue to be contenders for the next couple of seasons because they are both fun teams. With all this being said, this was a good close to the football season. Now we wait until the fall for more.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Seedsing's Super Bowl 56 Predictions

Who Dey

The Super Bowl is two days away, and I am kind of excited. As I have said before, the NFL is abhorrent, but these playoffs have been an absolute blast. There have been upsets, super close finishes, many overtime games and two new teams.

I did not see the Bengals or the Rams being here, but hey, that is why you play the games. The Rams seem like less of a surprise, but the Bengals are way, way more fun. They are young, confident, fun and easy to root for. The Rams are a team that has bought and paid for super star players. They are in it to win it this year. They are the Yankees of the NFL. I am actively rooting for the Bengals. I want them to win. I want my nephew to feel the euphoria, I want long suffering Bengals fans to gloat, I want to see Joe Burrow and JaMarr Chase win the damn thing, I just want the Bengals to win. But I am a little nervous that it might not happen.

When looking at these two teams they could not be more different. The Rams, as previously stated, were built to compete right away. They have the big names. They have the "sexy" head coach. They got a legit QB. They have a solid defense. They play modern football. The Bengals are different. They are young, They are inexperienced. They did not expect to be here. They are essentially playing with house money. They are fun.

The Rams are favored, and they should be, but do not get it twisted, the Bengals earned this spot. But the Rams seemed destined to win this game. Matthew Stafford is playing the best football of his career this season. He has been on the mark. He is in control of the offense. He is getting a world of help from his O line, Cam Akers, Sony Michel, Tyelr Higbee, Cooper Kuup and Odell Beckham Jr. He had one of the greatest to play in Detroit when they drafted Calvin Johnson, but this is the best collection of offensive talent he has been around. And the Rams defense may be even better. Aaron Donald is the best D lineman in the league. Hell, he may be the best player in the NFL. He is going to be a hall of famer, and he is the GOAT D lineman right now. They were able to trade for Von Miller, and that has only cemented this team as quite possibly the best pass rushing team in the league. And then they have Jalen Ramsey in the secondary to absolutely lock down the other team's best receiver. They have dudes all over the field that just know what they are doing, and they do it at a very, very high level.

The Bengals have some of the best young talent. Joe Burrow is the future at QB. He will be the face of the league at some point. JaMarr Chase has shut everyone up, including me, and is the best young receiver in the game. Teaming him up with Burrow was genius. They have a ton of options out of the backfield. They are a good offense that can be explosive. Just ask the Chiefs. The defense does not have any big name players, but they do their job to near perfection when their backs are against the wall. They shut down Mahomes in the second half and overtime. They would not let Ryan Tannehill or Derrick Henry go off. They have done what is necessary to keep them in games, and eventually win them. But their O line is a disaster. The Tennessee Titans sacked Burrow nine times a few weeks ago and the Chiefs were able to get to Burrow quickly. The Rams pass rush is much better than the Chiefs. I fear that Burrow will be running for his life on Sunday. The Rams also have a better coach. Sean McVay has been to a Super Bowl. He got owned, but it seems like he has adjusted. Zac Taylor is a nice story, but he is not the reason the Bengals are winning games. He isn't some genius play caller. The Bengals are here because of Burrow, Chase and their D coordinator.

For those reasons that is why I think the Rams will win. The game will be close, maybe even go into overtime. That is how these playoffs have been. But because the Rams have a ferocious pass rush, the super star names and a much better head coach, I think they will win. If you want a final score I will say, let's see, 21-17. And I think someone not on offense will be the MVP. I will go with Von Miller to get his second one in this game. With all that, I do want to say, one more time, go Bengals. But I just have a gut feeling the Rams will pull it out. I hope I'm wrong, but I just think the talent is a hair better in LA. Enjoy the game everyone.

Ty

Another view

I’m here in Cincinnati so I will pick the Bengals to win, but this is not a homer pick. Here is what the Bengals will do on Sunday to secure their first Super Bowl title.

The defense will let LA score in the first half, they will shut them down in the second half.

Burrow and company will not get much done in the first half, they will get a lot done in the second half.

The Bengals will keep it close and drain the clock in the second half with their running game.

The Rams will throw a killer interception in late in the fourth quarter

A field goal with no time left will win the game.

I know this will happen because that is how the Bengals got here. Patience and no mistakes. Plus the Bengals are way cooler.

Who Dey

RD Kulik

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Thoughts on the 2022 NBA Trade Deadline

The NBA trade deadline has come and gone, and there were a ton of moves. There were big moves, small moves, lateral moves, all of the moves you could want as an NBA fan that looks forward to the trade deadline. This was a big day, with some big lead up trades, and I am here to give you some of my thoughts on the day.

Let's get the biggie out of the way first. James Harden was traded to the 76ers for Ben Simmons. I did not think this was going to happen. I assumed both teams were just playing chicken with one another and they would strike up a deal in the offseason. But it happened. Ben Simmons will be back, he will be playing and he is on a team that suits his abilities as an NBA player. Joining him in Brooklyn are Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and some picks. The Nets get defensive help with Simmons, an extra shooter in Curry and a backup big man in Drummond. The 76ers get, what I assume will be, a motivated James Harden who will totally spread the floor for Embiid. He is going to give Embiid so much more freedom, he will bring some much needed outside shooting to the 76ers and he can play the point with ease. They also get Paul Milsap, who has proven he can be a nice fit with a contender. I think the 76ers got the better end of the deal, but Brooklyn got some help as well. This deal works for both teams. Now I am interested in seeing how these guys look when playing real games. The 76ers are still a top threat in the East, and if the Nets can get healthy, and Kyrie can stop being such an asshole, they could find their way back into the top 4 or 5.

Okay, not for the other trades.

The Spurs acquired Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford and a pick in exchange for Derrick White to the Celtics. This is a very ho hum trade to me. White brings youth and a willingness to pass to Boston. The Spurs are not great, but they add more youth with Langford, and who knows what Richardson will bring. I think they just want the picks.

There was a four team trade with the Kings getting Donte DiVincenzo, Trey Lyles and Josh Jackson, the Bucks got Serge Ibaka and picks, the Clippers got Rodney Hood and Semi Ojele and the Pistons got Marvin Bagley Jr. The Bucks got the best of this deal in my opinion. Serge Ibaka is almost the same as when they got PJ Tucker last year. They also get future picks. The Kings got a piece in DiVincenzo, but the other guys feel like throw ins. I do not know what the Clippers are doing. And Detroit might get a motivated Bagley out of this. He has wanted out of Sacramento for so long, and now he got his wish. He should get a ton more shots too.

Orlando got Bol Bol, Pj Dozier and some picks. They sent over a second round pick to Boston. The only thing I like about this trade is the fact that Bol Bol should actually get real playing time in Orlando.

The Raptors traded Goran Dragic and a pick to the Spurs for Thad Young, Drew Eubanks and a pick. Dragic will be bought out, and the rest of this trade is very blah.

I was kind of shocked at first when I saw that Kristaps Porzingis was traded to the Wizards for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans. The experiment is over in Dallas. Luka Doncic will like having a few new creators. And Washington can pair Brad Beal with KP. Maybe that will work.

The Wizards also traded Aaron Holiday to the Suns, with no other reporting yet, and Montrezl Harrell to the Hornets for Vernon Carey and Ish Smith. The Harrell deal is great for Charlotte. They did not have to give up too much, and they got a tough, hard nosed defender and rebounder who will play hard every night.

The Suns will reunite with Torrey Craig after sending Jalen Smith and a future pick to Indiana. With Craig and Holiday the Suns just bolstered their bench.

The Pelicans made a kind of big trade a few days back when they got CJ McCollum. The Pelicans also acquired Larry Nance Jr and Tony Snell. They traded Josh Hart, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Tomas Satoransky to Portland. There are also future picks. The Pelicans are clearly trying to make the play in. Portland, I don't really know what they are doing, other than actively trying to get Dame to leave so they can rebuild.

Alexander-Walker moved again, to Utah. Utah also got Juancho Hernangomez.

The Blazers got Joe Ingles, who is out for the season and Elijah Hughes. The Spurs, the third team in the deal, got Satoransky and a second round pick. This trade is all very blah, but I say again, what in the hell is Portland doing?

The Kings also made a bigger move a few days back when they traded Tyrese Haliburton, Tristan Thompson and Buddy Hield to Indiana for Sabonis, Juston Holiday and Jeremy Lamb. The Kings gave up way too soon on Haliburton, who is going to be a star. Sabonis is good, a proven all star, but I would much rather have Haliburton right now. And I do not get why they let Hield go as well. He may not be shooting as well this season, but he can still be lethal. This was a confusing one for me.

The Cavs got Caris Levert from Indy and they gave up an injured Ricky Rubio and three draft picks. It is a big deal, but I like Levert's fit with Cleveland. He can help them stay in the playoff hunt.

The Clippers did acquire Norman Powell and Robert Covington from the Blazers for Eric Bledsoe, Justise Winslow and Keon Johnson. This trade makes a little bit of sense for the Clippers. And, yet again, is baffling coming from Portland.

I also just saw that Houston got Dennis Schroder, Enes Freedom, who they will waive and Bruno Fernando from Boston. In return Boston brings back Daniel Thies. This trade is a wash.

That seems like most of the deals, and with it being nearly an hour since the deadline passed, there should not be anymore movement until we get to the buyout market. But like I said at the top, this deadline was fun and full of movement. The Simmons for Harden trade is the headline. But there are some other moves that will shape the rest of the season, and that is exactly why

I love the NBA trade deadline. Now we will wait for all these moves to be made official, and after that, I am stoked to watch these guys playing for their new teams. It should be a blast.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

The Drama at Michigan Football is Not Over

Now that I have had time to kind of think about it, and after the turnover, which there may still be more of, I want to talk about Jim Harbaugh yet again.

Last week I was pretty frustrated with Harbaugh. Honestly there were times where I just wished he left and let Michigan football move on. Then I would settle down, try to figure out who they would get, and I would usually end up back at the fact that I wanted him to stay.

Well, after a long interview with Minnesota, and no offer being given, Harbaugh announced he was returning to Michigan and that this would be the last time he would entertain NFL offers. That remains to be seen, but at the time he said it, I kind of believed it. Michigan had already lost Mike MacDonald to the NFL, but I figured he was more of a rental from Jim's older brother. If he did good, he did great, he was going to be offered an NFL job. That was a given in my mind. But I figured no big deal, Michigan would lose maybe one or two coaches and keep the rest of the staff as together as possible.

Then yesterday came the big bomb. Josh Gattis, the Broyles award winner as the best assistant in college football, signed on with the Miami Hurricanes with the same job. I was pretty floored. Then I read about the "leaked text" to "a few offensive players", and I was an angry fan. I did not go online and gripe about it right away though. I sat with it. I do not know what happened behind closed doors. I am not privy to anything the coaches go through at Michigan. So, as someone that is not involved in any way, I think Gattis was upset that he was not the front runner to take over if Harbaugh left for the NFL. I wanted him if Harbaugh left, I read that some in the administration wanted him and I figured he was already the head coach in waiting. I guess he did not see it that way, and maybe he was not the front runner, so he left. He made a lateral move. I hope it works for him, I really like Josh Gattis. But I also do not like the way he left. I get hurt feelings and all, but to "leak messages", I have never been a fan of that tactic. It is a very high school move. But, best of luck to Gattis anyway.

I have also read that a certain other assistant, Mike Hart, is none too pleased with how Harbaugh handled this whole NFL interview. I get it. Harbaugh left everyone in the dark, and then just walked back like nothing happened. I am bummed on losing both coordinators, but I will be super duper bummed if Mike Hart leaves. He is a Michigan guy. He is one of their greatest players ever. He completely revamped the running game. The running backs looked like classic Michigan, and that is all due to Hart's coaching. I do not want to lose him and I hope the coaches and admin left are doing everything they can to keep him.

I also hope they are doing the same with guys like Matt Weiss, Sherrone Moore, George Helow, Steve Clinkscale and the rest of the current staff. I do not want any "splashy" hire or big name to replace the guys who left. Hire from within the program. Please. Try to keep some continuity. Keep this young, good and energetic staff as together as they possibly can right now.

Which leads me to Jim Harbaugh. Like I said, a week ago it was one day of wanting him to leave, only to have a completely different outlook the next day. But sitting in this, seeing the coordinators leave, hearing others may want out and contemplating what players may or may not transfer, I think Harbaugh might be getting a big time dose of medicine. It was clear he was doing what he wanted to do, when he wanted to do it, how he wanted to do it and he could have cared less about Michigan, the assistant coaches and the administration. He held them out to dry so he could go and chase a few NFL jobs. I said to both my wife and dad, about the only two people that will listen to me on this subject, that Harbaugh was handling all of these things the exact wrong way. You do not go out all blatant about interviewing for NFL jobs. You do not act flippant when reporters are asking questions. You should be in contact with the people who are currently on your staff. Harbaugh handled all of this like a spoiled child. He only thought about his interests and now has more overturn on his staff than he anticipated when he came back to Michigan.

All of that being said, I am happy he is back. I am glad that he is still coaching at Michigan. I said I believe him when he says he is done looking into the NFL. I feel like he will be able to keep Michigan competitive. He will have to make some new hires. He will have to tamp down the anger and frustration and anxiety that is going on with the staff and players. But I believe that he can do it, or do it enough that it does not affect the team too much. I'm still annoyed with how he handled this situation. I may be even a little angry still. But I am happy he is back as the head coach. I do believe that things will be okay in the long run. And I believe that he will have to eat a ton of crow and have a real talk with the players and the staff. But I think everything will be okay. Or at least, I hope everything will be okay. We will see.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

I Have Zero Excitement for the 2022 Winter Olympics

I woke up around 8 this morning and rolled over to check my phone. That is my routine. I usually have a few texts and some Bleacher Report updates. This morning it was pretty much all Bleacher Report. The NBA trade deadline is approaching, the All Star game is coming up, the college and NFL coaching carousel is somehow still happening, no worries, I will be talking about Jim Harbaugh next week, and then there was a ton of winter olympics updates.

I remember this summer being so heavily invested in the summer olympics. It dominated the upstairs TV in my house. I have talked at length on the pod and the site about how much the summer games took over. It was awesome. Unfortunately that did not happen this time around, and I don't really know why. I like snowboarding. I think figure skating is like watching art. I have said in the past how Olympic hockey is the only hockey I would consider watching. There are cool winter games. But I have had the exact opposite reaction. I have zero desire to watch the winter games. I have been so consumed with taking my kids sledding, making hot cocoa, making chili, watching old episodes of "The Simpsons" with my son, doing art work with my daughter and hanging with my wife at night. The kids have had three straight snow days(they could have totally gone to school today by the way). And the idea of watching the winter games has been a non starter. I just do not have the desire or will. I am not even remotely excited to watch. I do not have that oomph that the summer games provided. I would not be shocked if I do not watch any event. My wife and I had a shot last night too. We were flipping the channels and saw curling was on. I always used to watch this sport because it is truly fascinating. But instead of watching a few curls, or whatever they call it, I changed the channel and watched an episode of "The Office". And it was after Steve Carrell had left. That sentence speaks volumes to me.

I have been thinking about why I am so reluctant to watch all day today, and I think I may have a few answers. For one, it is so cold and snowy in Saint Louis that I am sick and tired of looking at snow. This has nothing to do with the games, but the idea of watching people do stuff in the snow, after it has dumped snow all over us, I just do not want to deal with it. I also think that, since the summer games were pushed a year due to the pandemic, the summer games were so much more abnormal. These winter games are going on as scheduled. Sure they are not allowing any fans, but I have seen enough sporting events in the past two days with no fans to know what that feels like now. The fact that this is happening when it is supposed to just makes me feel less inclined to watch. There are also less sports that I truly care about. There is no basketball in the winter games. There is no football in any Olympic games. There is no baseball. I like to watch ping pong, and none of that is going on now. I love track and field events. They are nonexistent. If I really look at any similarities between the two, snowboarding is kind of like skateboarding, and speed skating is as close to a track event as we will get. And unfortunately, for me, those 2 are not nearly as exciting as skateboarding and track events. I may end up checking out some figure skating, for the art, and hockey, just because, but I wouldn't count on it.

I, for some reason, just do not have it in me to care about the winter games. I wish that were not the case. But when I woke up this morning and saw that the winter olympics had started, it was met with a yawn. And that bummed me out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Ty Watches the 2022 AFC and NFC Title Games

I got a couple of Seth Rogen pieces I will be doing tomorrow and Wednesday but I have to talk about the NFC and AFC title games.

Once again the despicable NFL gave us some wonderful and exciting games yesterday. I think they have been fun for me because I have no rooting interest. I am a Packers fan as you all know, but screw Aaron Rodgers and I am glad that he played like garbage and they got beat right away. But sitting down yesterday after running with my buddy, I assumed we would not get games anywhere near as close as last week. Those games seemed too good to be surpassed. But the NFL gave us two absolutely wonderful and down to the wire conference title games.

The day started off with the AFC game. This was an interesting one for me to watch. My brother, his wife and, most importantly, his son, have adopted the Bengals because they live in Cincinnati. Then we have the Chiefs, and because of Stan Kroenke's punkass, more on him in a bit, people in Saint Louis have adopted the Chiefs because, technically, they are based in Missouri. But, again, I have no allegiance to either team. If the Bengals won, great for my family. If the Chiefs won, great for my friends that are fans. But truth be told, I was pulling for the Bengals. I want my nephew to be happy. I like Joe Burrow. I am a big time JaMarr Chase fan, just go back and read my pre draft stuff on him. I like the young up and coming team. And it is not like I dislike the Chiefs, they are in it all the time, and they will continue to be as long as Patrick Mahomes is their QB.

The game did start off looking like the Chiefs were going to cruise to the Super Bowl. They were up 14-3 after the first quarter and 21-3 at halftime. They were doing all the right things. But then the Bengals woke up. Burrow started to make plays. Tee Higgins was getting open. Their defense was stepping up and shutting down KC. It was amazing to see them come all the way back to tie the game. But when they went ahead by only a field goal with about seven minutes left, I was nervous that that was far too much time for Mahomes. And at first it looked like he was going to make them pay. The Chiefs cruised up the field and got it into the red zone with ease. It looked like the game was a done deal. But then Mahomes made some of the worst decisions I have ever seen him make as a pro. I said at one point to my son, "it looks like Mahomes is point shaving". He did not get the reference, but he knew it meant Mahomes was not playing well. The Chiefs settled for a field goal to go into overtime and they even won the toss. But then Mahomes threw an awful pass that got picked and the Bengals easily moved the ball into the red zone and their rookie kicker nailed a field goal to win it and send the Bengals to the Super Bowl. I immediately texted my brother. I was shocked in a good way. Again, I am not a fan, but I was excited for this young team to break through. It was nice to see. This is a big deal for a franchise that has not done much in close to thirty years.

Then we had the nightcap of San Francisco and the Rams.

First off, I don't really like either of these teams. Ever since I was a kid I disliked the 49ers. They always beat the teams I liked. They were the Patriots before the Patriots. And recently, I do not like their "star" players. Joey Bosa is a racist asshole. Jimmy Garroppollo is supremely overrated. Fred Warner is dirty. Kyle Shanahan is a bro in every sense of the word. I just do not like that team. The Rams, well, I do not like them because their owner is a piece of trash. He is maniacal and greedy and only does stuff that will better himself and no one else. He stole the Rams from Saint Louis and never made qualms about it. He is despicable and incapable of acting like a regular human being. That being said, I do like some of their star guys. Odell Beckham may talk a lot, but when he backs it up, he backs it up. Aaron Donald is a beast. Cooper Kuup seems like a genuinely good dude. And Von Miller is one of my favorite NFL players ever. So I was kind of rooting for the Rams. But they started off pretty listless. They scored first, but the 49ers put up 17 unanswered points and looked like they controlled the game. The Rams kind of woke up late in the third when Stafford hit Kuup for a TD to cut the 49ers lead to 3. The Rams immediately got the ball back and tied the game. The 49ers got the ball and some people thought that "Jimmy G" was going to lead them to a game winning drive. Instead he threw a terrible pass that was easily picked off. Again, Jimmy Garroppollo did what Jimmy Garroppollo does. He is not the closer people make him out to be. He was riding an excellent defense and a superb performance from Deebo Samuel, who is awesome. The Rams drained the clock and kicked an easy field goal to win the game. It was fitting for both teams. Also, maybe Kyle Shanahan is a tiny bit overrated. I'm just saying.

So now we have a Rams-Bengals Super Bowl, and I'm pretty stoked about it. I will do a full preview the week before the game. And I am hoping the Super Bowl is as competitive and close as most of the NFL playoffs have been lately. Fingers crossed.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Ja Morant Deserves Some NBA MVP Love

I need to talk about the awesomeness Ja Morant.

Draymond Green said it first. Then I saw him play live. Then he went for 41 last night in a win over the Spurs. He is the second leading vote getter in the West for the all star game. He is the leader for the current 3rd seed in the West, and the team with the third best overall record in the NBA. I think it is high time that Ja Morant starts getting some love in the MVP chat.

I do not know what else he has to do to get higher in the race. I was looking at NBA.com's MVP ladder last night and Ja was in 10th place. He was behind guys like Rudy Gobert, Luka Doncic, Chris Paul and DeMar DeRozan. All of these guys are great players, but I do not think that they are currently better than Morant. I just saw Morant and DeRozan go head to head. DeRozan was great, probably the only Bull that showed up. He had 24 points and led that team from start to finish. But in the very same game Morant also had 24 points. He also had 3 assists, 4 rebounds, a 360 layup, an even better hand switch layup and a win. He led the Grizzlies to a very convincing win. Gobert is great defensively, but he is not the offensive threat he once was, and now he has COVID and missed a ton of previous games with an injury.

I know that every single analytic, nerd, white NBA writer wants to put Doncic on some kind of rooftop. They all want to give him the MVP so bad they will look past all of his screw ups. Morant has simply been a better player and teammate this year. Doncic came in out of shape, Morant looks as good as ever. Doncic has missed multiple games due to injury and COVID. Yes, Morant did miss time with an injury, but since he is in shape, he was back to full speed much faster than Doncic. I'd also much rather have Morant right now.

Chris Paul might be the best modern day guard, but he is nowhere near as athletic and fast as Ja. Sure the Suns have the best record in basketball, but CP3 has guys like Devin Booker, Mikail Bridges and Deandre Ayton, not to forget Jae Crowder and Cam Johnson at his disposal. Ja has good teammates, guys like Jaren Jackson Jr and Desmond Bane, but they are not on the level of CP3's teammates. Not yet at least. And I can see why Joel Embiid is ahead of Ja right now. Embiid is established and he is having one of the best seasons ever for a big man. I also get why Nikola Jokic, who I cannot stand by the way, and Giannis are ahead of him. They are putting up better stats right now. But Ja should only be behind those three right now. Hell, I might push him ahead of Jokic due to team record and only have Giannis and Embiid ahead of him.

Here are the facts, where we sit right now Ja is averaging nearly 26 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists a game. He is shooting 49 percent from the field and 36 percent from three. He also gets 1 steal a game. His points per game average is good enough for 10th in the league. He's 14th in assists and 60th in rebounding(he is only 6'3 and weighs 175 lbs). He also has the 8th best PER in the league, which is basically a stat that shows how crucial you are being on the floor and your team winning. Ja Morant is making that leap from young star to future face of the league. Morant is more fun than Doncic, less whiny too. He is more athletic than DeRozan, and younger. He is probably the best teammate in all of the league. And he seems to love playing in Memphis, a small market team.

I already adore Ja Morant and I think he will be a future MVP. I just want the rest of the NBA audience to appreciate his greatness like I do. I'm glad he is on the Kia Ladder, he just needs to be much higher than 10th. Ja Morant is a stud, and he is more than backing that up with his play this year.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

Ty Watches the 2022 NFL Playoffs

I waited until the right time to start watching the NFL. I feel like the NFL is abhorrent. I understand that I love college football, and I cannot fully explain why I can look beyond all of its horribleness, but the NFL is just out there with all of its awfulness. The league is racist, dirty, implores injured players to continue playing, the commissioner is an idiot, it is all bad. The NFL makes me sick. But I do watch come playoff time. Again, I understand that makes me a hypocrite, but I watch. I just do.

Having said all that, this weekend was dope as hell. The games were amazing. I love that we have new blood in the conference finals. I love a good majority of the star players that are left. And the games were competitive and fun as hell. My dad, my son and I watched last weekend in Memphis and most of those games were straight up blowouts. Not this weekend.

The weekend started off with the Bengals and Titans. This game was low scoring yet totally in the balance the whole time. I love that the Bengals won on a walk off field goal. It is rad to see this young team with young stars getting this far this fast. Also, this game proved my point that the Titans were a paper tiger. They are the weakest number 1 seed that I can remember.

I am going to save the Packer game for last.

Yesterday, both games were fantastic. When the Rams got out to a big lead, I was watching with my son and he kept saying that the game was over. I told him that you cannot count out Tampa and Tom Brady. And of course they made a comeback. Hell, they tied the game with 45 seconds left, and I assumed that meant that Tom Brady would find a way to win the game. Well, the Rams, and Tampa's secondary for that matter, had other ideas. How Cooper Kuup got that wide open, that late in a tied game, I will never, ever know. But he did and the Rams kicked a game winning field goal to advance. After dispatching the Cardinals with ease, I think a game like this was what this Rams team needed.

Not to be outdone, the Bills and Chiefs played a great offensive feast for the eyes. Josh Allen, whom I loathe, and Patrick Mahomes traded barbs. This was literally a "last team with the ball" type game. And unfortunately for the Bills, they let Travis Kelce get open near the end of the fourth to set up a field goal try, and then let Patrick Mahomes march down the field, and throw an easy 8 yard TD pass to Kelce to win the game. This was the most exciting game of the weekend for me. It was incredible.

Now for the Packers-49ers.

This was a bad, bad game. Both offenses were inept. Both QB's stunk. Both coaches had awful, terrible game plans. It was horrible weather. It was all gross. Which should have played into Green Bay's hands. Aaron Rodgers decided otherwise. For someone who many claim is the MVP, he was dreadful. Of course I was rooting for Green Bay, but I took some joy in seeing Rodgers struggle mightily. He is an arrogant, egotistical, maniacal and lunatic of a person. He blames everyone except himself. He puts all the bad on others and takes all the accolades. He complains about "cancel culture". He takes medical advice from Joe Rogan. He acts like he knows more than doctors and scientists. He is a liar and a horrible role model. And, just on the surface, has a dumbass hairdo. And he got exactly what someone like him deserves. He was bad. He missed throws all night. He held onto the ball far too long. He took too many sacks. He looked uninterested and cold. And he played as bad as I have ever seen him. Ten points. That is all the Packers could muster on offense. After running up and down the field against the league all season, all they could get was 10 points. And it is all on Rodgers. The Packers defense played well. They did what they had to do. They only gave up 6 points. The 49ers TD was a special teams TD. It was a blocked punt returned for a TD. They made Jimmy Garroppollo look like, well, Jimmy Garroppollo. They stopped the run and they forced them to kick field goals. And sure, the Packers special teams had that awful play, but I do not blame this game on them. I will give credit to the 49ers defense and special teams, but this game was on Rodgers, and he blew it. I cannot believe how bad he played, how atrocious he looked and how much joy I took in seeing him do all that. I wasn't upset or mad when the Packers got beat. I actually felt like some kind of karma was being dished out to an awful person who deserves awful things.

Congrats to the 49ers on taking advantage of horrendous QB play. And congrats to the Bengals, Rams and Chiefs. I am rooting for the Chiefs because they are close to Saint Louis, but honestly it would be dope to see the Bengals and Rams play in the Super Bowl. The only team left that I am not a fan of is San Francisco, but I do not openly loathe them like I do the Cowboys or Aaron Rodgers. Any of these four teams, I would be fine with them winning it all. Now let's just hope this weekend's games are half as fun.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Thoughts on the Future of Michigan Football

I have been avoiding writing about Jim Harbaugh because, quite frankly, I do not want him to leave Michigan. I was not a fan when they hired him over seven years ago, assuming he would leave after four years as he did at every other stop. I also was sick of hearing about him going back to the NFL after every season. At the end of Michigan football's season the rumors would inevitably start. It was always announced that he was a "front runner" or "was gauging interest" or "going to be interviewed", only to be squashed by Harbaugh himself within a week or two. But that hasn't happened this time around. Harbaugh has only come out once to talk about it, and he all but confirmed he was going to listen to NFL teams if they come calling. And by all accounts, the NFL has come calling.

Now, take this as you will, but I have no idea how real the reports are. There seem to be differing reports within minutes of one another. The football team has had only one decommitment and the assistant coaches are going on business as usual. As is Harbaugh. He is out there recruiting, lifting weights in a high school gym and taking pictures with recruits and their families. But with every passing day, with no real comments coming from Harbaugh, with those in the know saying they are being left in the dark, it just seems like he is going to jump to the NFL, and most likely he will do it as soon as the Las Vegas Raiders offer him the job, which I expect them to do by the end of this month. And that will hurt.

Again, I did not want him in the first place, but I have grown to like him. He has been a winning coach since he took over, save for 2020. This team won the Big 10 this year. They went to the CFP. They finally beat the university of Ohio State. But it has been so much more than that. When he took over this team was a mess. They went on to win nine games, including their bowl game, in his first season. The second year they were one inch away from the Big 10 title game and Jabrill Peppers was a Heisman finalist. They "slumped" to eight wins in year 3, but they had a ferocious defense and they played hard. Also, John O'Korn was their QB. Take that as you will. After that, prior to this season, they were a perennial top 20 team, they played hard, they won nine or ten games and played in some solid bowl games.

2020 was a lost year, and then we had this year. I mentioned all the accolades before, but forgot that he hired a new, young, exciting coaching staff. They also had another Heisman finalist, Aidan Hutchinson. The team looked like a modern college football team. They were making big plays, big stops, winning big games and seemed to be having fun doing it. Anytime televised games were on and the camera would pan to Harbaugh, he was as engaged, excited and smiling more than I have seen him in his time as the head coach at Michigan. And he is building on that. That is why I do not want him to leave. He has said that he "would do this job for free", that "this is my dream job", " that he loves this team". So why leave now? I guess he wants to challenge himself at the highest level. I think maybe he thinks this is as good as it will get for him at Michigan. Maybe he just wants to stop recruiting all the time. Maybe he is sick of selling Michigan to 17 and 18 year old kids. There are plenty of reasons why, but I just do not want him to go now. I want him to stay.

Truth is I want there to be continuity. You look at all these consistently great college teams, Alabama, the university of Ohio State, Clemson, Georgia, they all have had the same head coach seemingly forever. That is what I want from Michigan. I miss the Lloyd Carr days. That was a reassuring time.

With that being said, if/when Harbaugh jets to the NFL, I hope Michigan stays within the program when hiring the new head coach. I have seen some names floated, namely Matt Campbell, and I do not want that. That means a whole new staff and a full on rebuild. But if the team were to hire, say Mike Hart or, my personal choice, Josh Gattis, they could keep the entire staff in place. Hell, I'd take Sheronne Moore as the next head coach at Michigan. Look at what he did with that offensive line this past season. I just do not want Michigan to go big name shopping for the next head coach if Harbaugh bolts. Stay in house. Keep the staff and team as fully operational as possible. If Harbaugh does bounce, I do not want to go through what Oklahoma fans just did with Lincoln Riley this offseason. I'd prefer they just hire Gattis, who is coming off winning assistant of the year, and move on. But I truly hope Harbaugh just stays and continues returning Michigan to its place as a perennial power.

I will have my fingers crossed until all of this is resolved. Go Blue.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.