The NFL has Some Pleasant Surprise Teams, and Some Unpleasant Quarterback Play

Yesterday was the first Sunday I have had off from coaching in awhile. So, I chose to watch the NFL all day. I usually only get to see the late afternoon games, which I watch, but yesterday, it was all day. Starting at noon until 7pm, I did not turn off the "Red Zone Network". I would get up and do things here and there, but it was NFL all day. There were some big things that I noticed while watching.

First off, the Rams and the Jaguars are good. I said it, and I do not feel weird about it. The Rams hammered the Giants. They put up 51 points. Their offense is very good. Their defense is just as good too. I'm shocked at how much better they are after firing Jeff Fisher. Good on you Sean McVay. While the Jaguars aren't as good as the Rams, their defense is amazing. They get after it. They were all over the Bengals yesterday. I know the Bengals aren't very good, but the Jaguars completely shut them down, especially after AJ Green let his frustrations boil over and started a fight with Jalen Ramsey. They could both win their divisions.

As much as I hate to admit it, the Cowboys looked very good too. They ran and passed and totally shut down the Chiefs. I do not know when Elliot is going to get suspended, if at all, but with him in there, they are dangerous. Also, Dak Prescott has proven that he is not a one year fluke. He has complete control of that offense and is a perfect fit. Their defense is playing way above their potential too. The only team better than them is in their division, the Eagles. They looked awesome yesterday. Carson Wentz is a legit MVP front runner. With Ajayi now, and Blount and Smallwood and Clement, they have probably the best backfield in the league. Alshon Jeffrey has been great all year. And their defense, they can shut a team down.

The Saints also looked very solid. Drew Brees had his typical 250 plus pass yards and a few TD's. But, he now has a running game. Mark Ingram has really settled into his role. Alvin Kamara is so good. That is frightening. This run game, added to Brees' ability to run that offense, they will be a tough out in the playoffs.

As far as some teams that did not impress me, first off, the Bengals. I already mentioned them in regards to the Jaguars. Andy Dalton is horrid. They cannot run the ball. And even without Leonard Fournette, the Bengals couldn't even stop Blake Bortles. This has to be the end of Dalton and Marvin Lewis.

The Giants stink. Eli Manning is toast. They have no receivers except for Evan Ingram. They do not have a run game. Their defense stinks. Their coach is a lame duck, and he is bad.

The Buccaneers are done as well. They looked so bad against the Saints. They could not do anything except start fights. They are so bad on both sides of the ball, and I'm embarrassed that I let them pull me in. I thought they were going to be decent this year.

The Ravens are really bad, especially Joe Flacco. I mean, he looks totally disengaged. It seems like he could care less what happens on Sundays. They can't really do much of anything on offense. Their defense is still kind of solid, but the offense seems to go three and out way too often.

I think a lot of people, myself included, may have overrated the Chiefs. They looked lost against the Cowboys yesterday. Save for that ridiculous check down hail mary that resulted in a score for Tyreek Hill, they couldn't muster much of any offense. They have dropped their last 3 of 4, and when they have to play good teams, they seem to get shut down pretty easily.

I know the Cardinals won, but I did not think they looked very good. Everyone was jumping on the Adrian Peterson bandwagon, and he went for 90 some odd yards, but it was tough for him against a very bad 49ers team. They have no one, outside of Larry Fitzgerald, that is any threat on offense. And I know Drew Stanton threw 2 TD's yesterday, but he is not very good, at all.

My main take away from yesterday was how horrible the overall QB play is. You all know that I am a big time fan of Colin Kaepernick. He belongs in the NFL. More importantly, he belongs on the Texans. After Deshaun Watson went down, I thought they'd sign him for sure. He has the same skill set, and he has been to the playoffs multiple times, and has been to a Super Bowl. But no, they went back to Tom freaking Savage. He went a "blistering" 16 of 35 for under 200 yards and one TD. Their defense scored their other TD. Oh, did I forget to mention the Texans opponent? It was the Indianapolis Colts. You know that juggernaut, right? I mean, that is embarrassing. Tom Savage is horrific. So is TJ Yates. If they bring in Kaepernick, this team still has a shot at the playoffs. If they stick with Savage, or any other QB currently on their roster, good luck winning 7 games. They looked so bad on offense yesterday. Like, really bad. Like, Browns bad.

All day long, for the most part, the QB's that are currently starting for some teams is a joke. There are exceptions. Dak Prescott, Alex Smith, Jared Goff, Drew Brees, hell even Blake Bortles and Jacoby Brissett, had good days. But, I also had to watch guys like CJ Beathard, Andy Dalton, Jay Cutler, Brock Osweiler, Drew Stanton, Eli Manning and Joe Flacco. All of these guys are really, really bad. Some of it is youth, some of it is age, but they do not belong on any team as a starting QB. The most glaring 2 though, Manning and Flacco. I already ran down the problems with Flacco. The Ravens need to move on from him. He is only hurting that team. But Eli Manning, what happened? He was never great, at least in my opinion. He was never the reason the Giants won 2 Super Bowls, he just happened to be the QB. He has always been a very inconsistent QB. But yesterday, and this whole season for that matter, he has looked atrocious. The Giants clearly need to blow it up. They are 1-7. They have no run game. Odell Beckham is out. Their defense is awful. But, the biggest problem, outside their coaching staff, is Eli Manning. He is done. He doesn't have it anymore. He looks worse than his brother did in his last year. He cannot hack it anymore. The Rams exposed every single flaw that he has. He needs to be benched, or even better, cut, and let the Giants start all over. He is so bad.

That was my biggest takeaway from a day filled with watching the NFL. Eli is done, so is Flacco, and if the Texans want any chance to make the playoffs, they need to go out and sign Colin Kaepernick.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. The last time he saw quarterback play that was this bad is when he and the head editor last played NCAA Football on the X-Box. The head editor was picked off 8 times.

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Bad Pizza Maker Papa John also Happens to be a Bad Person

This pizza does not look good, and we would still eat it before anything from Papa John's

Papa John is an idiot.

I have never liked his pizza for one. It is gross and just kind of sad. Any other big time chain, the Dominoes, Pizza Huts, Little Caesar's, all the chain places, they are much, much better than Papa John's pizza. Awhile back I also found out some personal things about Papa John, and that made me dislike him even more. He is an ultra conservative. He donated money to this current "administration". He is cruel to his employees. He only cares about his pockets and his shareholders pockets. Basically, he is a garbage human being. Also, his commercials are stupid. The people in them try way, way too hard. I am one of the few people who do not care for Peyton Manning, the actor. I didn't care for him as a football player either, and he is also a garbage person supposedly. But, I do not find him funny or charming or anything that he does behind or on camera. He is boring. He's not as boring as Eli, but he is boring. I also do not think JJ Watt is much of an actor. He needs to stick to football and raising money for hurricane relief. These are the 2 guys I saw most in Papa John's commercials.

Papa John is also totally in bed with the NFL owners. There are many pictures of him sidling up to douchebags like Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft. And these monsters even look a bit uncomfortable taking pictures with him. Papa John is a guy that got lucky and made mass produced pizza that some people like.

But, people haven't been buying his pizza much lately. I know that we stopped buying Papa John's over a year ago. I won't eat it due to his politics, and my wife doesn't really like the taste. Even my kids, who have no discernible taste buds at all, think the pizza there is not very good. When we get massed produced pizza, we go for Dominoes. Also, we have places here in Saint Louis like Imo's and Cecil Whittakers. They make the best Saint Louis style pizza.

In an attempt to make himself an even worse human being, Papa John said that his pizza sales are down due to the NFL protests. What an asshole. How dare he claim that guys protesting a social injustice is the cause of his shitty pizza not selling. He claims that people aren't watching the NFL because of the protests, and that has affected sales of pizza on Sunday's.

Time for some real talk. The NFL ratings have been steadily dropping for about 3 years now. With the invention of the "Red Zone Network", people do not have to watch only one game. There is also multiple NFL packages that people can buy where they can watch the only team/teams they want to watch. And some people would rather just be out doing things on a Sunday afternoon now.

Also, who orders pizza for lunch on a Sunday from Papa John's? Not anyone that I want to associate with, I'll tell you that much. That is way too heavy a lunch. And as I keep saying, the pizza is horrible. Also, if I am watching the Sunday night game, I do not want pizza. My wife likes to make a big meal for the whole family, so that is what we eat on Sunday nights. I'm sure there are a lot of other families that do the exact same thing. So no, the protests have nothing to do with your sales tanking Papa John. You make a bad product. People have found cheaper, better, and sometimes, healthier options than your trash pizza. Like I said before, if we go massive chain, noting is better than Dominoes in my house. Sales of frozen pizzas have probably spiked too. I know I buy a few each week so we have them in our house.

This claim by Papa John was just a way to keep his garbage name in the news. He just wants the attention. He is a puppet for the GOP. He thinks his words hold more weight than they actually do. Nobody cares what you say Papa John. I loved all the backlash your punk ass got after making this asinine comment. Even Digornio Pizza owned you on Twitter. Little Caesar's crushed you. Pizza Hut came out and said their sales are just fine. Dominoes didn't even bother with a response.

Face the facts Papa John, no one likes you or your pizza. You are a heartless, soulless puppet. You are a shill. You are no better than a used car salesman. You are loathsome. I hope your sales continue to drop and that you continue to lose more and more money because you did not come by it honestly. Shut your mouth and try and make a better product. Don't blame pro athletes that have a conscience.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He knows the Papa John has a last name. We think it rymes with shit-head, we refused to even look it up. 

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An Adult Person Should Stay Far Away from Hostess Fried Pies

This pie here, it is good for all ages

I was driving home from one of my rec league basketball games the other night and I needed to stop for gas. After my games I am usually pretty hungry, even if I have already had dinner. So, when I have an opportunity to get a snack at a gas station, I take it. I do not indulge myself so much since I lost a good amount of weight about 3 and a half years ago, and have been able to keep most of it off. So, when I have an opportunity to eat something that is trash for me, I take it. I had just played a game, and I was running around all day, I figured I had earned something disgustingly unhealthy.

As I roamed the aisles after filling up my car, I came across Hostess fried pies. I used to love these things. I ate them all the time as a kid, and when I got a bit older, I would eat 3 or 4 a month. I only liked 2 flavors, chocolate and lemon. These were the best because they had no real fruit in them. Hostess made other flavors of these fried pies, but they were fruit flavored pies with, what one might assume, actual fruit. The apple pie had apples in it, the cherry had cherries, and so on and so forth. I do not like real pies with fruit in them, so naturally, I went for the fried ones that had zero fruit in them.

The first time I had a Hostess fried pie I had the lemon. It was amazing. It was so sugary and sweet, and that crust, man did I love it. The crust was soft, but it was also covered in a sugar glaze. I could not wait to eat the end pieces. I saved those for last because they were my favorite. After having this lemon fried pie I did not think there was a better snack out there. I used to devour them. I'd get them at the store, buy them at school, and anytime I was at a 7-11, I'd opt for the pie over a Slurpee. There was so much sugar and so many additives and so much fake stuff in this snack. That was what made it so god damn delicious. I remember my mouth puckering when I'd eat it, and after I finished it, I remember all the grit from all that sugar. That was all the Hostess lemon fried pie was. It was essentially 1 pound of straight sugar.

Then, one magical day, I saw that they had a chocolate fried pie. I was over the moon. Just when I didn't think they could outdo themselves, Hostess replaced the lemon filling with chocolate. It was a miracle. And when I had my first chocolate fried pie, it was like eating a gourmet meal. This was even better than the lemon because it wasn't as tart. This was like eating a jelly filled donut except the crust was better, and instead of jelly, it was chocolate pudding. It was the absolute best. I ate the chocolate pies much more than the lemon pies. It got to the point where I was bummed out if my only option was lemon.

Getting back to the other night, I saw these magical pies once again. At first glance all I saw was apple and cherry. But, as I dug a little deeper, there it was, a Hostess chocolate fried pie. I grabbed it and might as well have ran up to the counter to pay for it. I was so excited about eating it I started to unwrap it before I even got back to my car.

As I took the first bite all the great memories I just laid out for everyone started to flood back. It was so good. Nothing had changed. But, as I ate more of the fried chocolate pie, I started to feel sick. I couldn't even finish half of it. It was way, way too sweet. The chocolate filling coated my entire mouth, but not in a good way. The crust was ridiculously sweet. It actually made my skin tingle and I swear my hands were shaking. I had to stop eating this thing immediately for fear that I may be getting diabetes. I did not remember this treat being so sweet, but damn, was it ever sweet. I was pretty upset. How could something I loved so much as a kid, and even a teenager, be so bad now?

Then, once I actually thought about it for awhile, I remembered that I am an adult man. Grown people aren't supposed to eat this garbage. This is a snack no one should eat, except for maybe young kids with incredible metabolism. Young kids can burn this off in a few hours. People my age, it takes days, possibly, a full week. I felt sick the rest of the night. I never came close to throwing up, I just felt off all night. I hoped a good night's sleep would cure what ailed me, but that wasn't the case. I kept getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and I just couldn't sleep solidly. And the next day, I still felt off. I felt sluggish, tired and just flat out lazy. I didn't want to eat any other food either. It was so upsetting.

The moral of the story, now I know that Hostess fried pies aren't for me. Maybe my son or daughter will like them. They are only 5 and 2, so they are still young enough that it shouldn't make them sick. But I urge anyone who is in their mid 30's, stay far, far away from the fried pies. They will only make you regret your decision to try them again. I know because I just went through that pain.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He does not realize that the McDonald's in Hawaii still serves fried apple pies. Those are great fro any age.

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The NFL Trade Deadline was Actually Interesting This Year

The NFL trade deadline came and went yesterday, and boy did we have some big time names change teams. I was kind of shocked at the trades that kept scrolling on my phone yesterday. The contenders got better, and the not contenders got some picks. I want to break down the big trades and how I see this shaping up for the second half of the season today.

First off, we have the Jimmy Garropolo trade to the 49ers for a second round pick. This was surprising to me. I wasn't shocked that the Patriots moved Garropolo, I was confused by what they got in return. I thought that they would get a pick, but I also thought they would try and get a defensive player to help them out. All the 49ers had to give up was an early second round pick. Now, the Patriots could still make some offseason moves with this pick, but to get no defensive help, that was baffling. They could have gotten someone from the 49ers unit to help them out. They should have asked for a linebacker to replace Donta Hightower, or a D lineman to add depth, or a corner that can actually cover. They got none of those. And today, since they had no backup QB, they went and signed Brian Hoyer. Why not Kaepernick?! Why in the hell do teams keep giving Brian Hoyer a god damn job?! He is dreadful. Looking at this trade from the 49ers side, they finally have a solid QB. The 2 games that Garropolo started last year, he looked pretty competent. We will see how he does away from the Patriots, but Kyle Shanahan has proven to be a very good QB coach, and I think he has someone that can become an upper tier QB. But, for this season, I do not see Garropolo leading this team to anymore than 2, maybe 3 wins. They really have no threats running or catching the ball. Also, I do not know how the O line will hold up. This is a good start in rebuilding a team, but it will be of no consequence for the second half of this season. I also like this deal because it totally screws over the highly overrated Kirk Cousins. But that is a personal thing for me.

I was absolutely stunned when I saw that Jay Ajayi was traded. I was even more stunned by what the Dolphins got in return, only a 4th round pick. I know that Ajayi was unhappy with his lack of touches, and he was becoming a problem in the locker room, and he may or may not have knee issues, but only a fourth rounder in return? Wow. Ajayi is now joining a very solid running team, with a very good O line. He will bring speed and explosion to the Eagles. Legarette Blount is the big bruiser, and I think he will be fine sharing carries. Wendell Smallwood has been a surprise, and he is pretty solid, but I'd rather have Ajayi if pressed. He, if healthy, brings an entire new dimension to a team that sits atop the NFL right now. While they may not be highly explosive passing the ball, even though Alshon Jeffrey has been great, having this three headed monster in the backfield will be a headache for opposing defenses. Also, they will be able to chew up the clock. I love this move for the Eagles. I do not know what in the hell the Dolphins are doing. But hey, this was the team that went out and signed Jay Cutler this offseason. They cannot be trusted to make good decisions anymore. This feels like a throw in the towel move by them.

The Seahawks went out and finally tried to shore up one side of their offensive line and traded Jeremy Lane for Duane Brown. Duane Brown is a very, very solid left tackle. He can block, and when engaged, he can be great. He has only played one game this season, he was holding out for a contract, so that may slow him down a bit. But, once he gets going, he will be the one and only O lineman that will protect Russell Wilson. That is the down side for the Seahawks in this deal. Duane Brown is only one guy. The offensive line is composed of 5 guys. I still do not trust the other four, but the left tackle spot is on lock now. The Texans got a pretty good safety in return. Jeremy Lane is probably the only guy in the Seahawks secondary that they didn't mind parting ways with. With that being said, he is pretty solid. He can cover and he can hit. He will bring the Texans a toughness that they are lacking in their secondary. This is a very good trade for both teams. I do think it moves the needle a bit more for the Seahawks, but the this could help the Texans push for the title in their god awful division, or a wild card spot. Their offense is set, and adding Lane will help their defense.

When I thought all the madness was done, the Panthers astonished me by trading Kelvin Benjamin to the Bills for a 3rd and 7th round pick. I was floored by this. Benjamin seemed to be finally figuring it out. He was becoming the big time red zone threat that most thought he would be when he came into the league. He is 6'6, his destiny is to be a serious red zone target. Now, the Panthers let that go for 2 picks, none of which are a first, or even a second rounder. That is ridiculous. I think Benjamin will help out the Bills, and more importantly, Tyrod Taylor, a ton. Taylor doesn't have any big time pass catcher, and now, I think he does. The Bills already have a great run game and solid defense, but now they have a big time target at receiver. They are 5-2, and already a tough out for all their opponents. Now, with Benjamin, opposing coaches have to game plan not only for their run game, but also their pass game. This is a solid, solid move for them. The Panthers, I look at this trade like I do with Ajayi to the Eagles. What in the world are the Panthers doing?! They are still in position to compete for a division title and a playoff spot, and they are going to let one of their top receivers go? That is crazy to me. I know they have Devin Funchess, and some rumors are swirling that this trade will push Christian McCaffery to being a full time wide out, but I'd rather have Funchess and Benjamin than Funchess and McCaffery. At least Benjamin, when healthy, put up solid numbers.

The best, and fairest trade was Brown for Lane. All the other trades, Garropolo, Ajayi and Benjamin, they make no sense to me. I may be wrong on the Garropolo trade because the Patriots will most likely do something with that pick. But, the other 2 trades, the Dolphins and Panthers seem to have no idea what they are doing. The Ajayi trade is another death knell in this season for the Dolphins. And, the Benjamin trade to Buffalo makes the Bills better, and really, really hurts the Panthers. I'm excited to see these guys play for their new squads, and for some, it could change their season drastically. This was one of the most fun NFL trade deadlines that I can ever remember. The NFL needed something like this, because it has been a pretty rough year from many different angles. Now someone just needs to sign Colin Kaepernick.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He was going to talk about the AJ McCarron non-trade, but why point out the ineptness of the Bengals and Browns once again.

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"Get Out" and "The Cabin in the Woods" Should be on Your Halloween Movie Watching List

I am not a fan of Halloween as you all know by now. I don't like being scared, I don't like dressing up, I eat too much candy, I grew tired of trick or treating by the time I was 10, I just don't enjoy the day. I also loathe the puns, as I stated on a podcast last year, and still complain about it to this day. Stop with the "spooktacular" bull shit. That's not a word. Every holiday does this, but for some reason, Halloween puns really bug me.

With all this being said, I do love movies and TV shows. Just listen to our recent podcast about great Halloween TV shows. These are fun shows for me, especially when they are of the comedy variety. So, for today, since it is Halloween, and we didn't touch on movies in our recent podcast, I'm going to give you 2 movies that I think are perfect Halloween movies to watch tonight.

The first movie I just saw recently. By recently, I mean a week ago. My wife and I just watched "Get Out", and that movie is incredible. What makes it a great Halloween movie you ask? Well, for one, it is horrifying. It is scary, but not "The Shining" scary. "Get Out" is a slow burn. There are very few shock scares too. You know what shock scares are. It is when something jumps into frame and loud music plays. "Get Out" has one, maybe 2 moments like this. "Get Out" doesn't have to go for cheap scares. The movie's premise is scary enough. I mean, white people taking the brains out of hip, young black people, spoiler alert, that is frightening. But, "Get Out" has comedic moments, it has action, it is very well written, incredibly acted and perfectly directed by Jordan Peele. It isn't just a straight up horror movie. Lil Rel Howery plays the main character's best friend, and the scenes of him figuring out what is going on with his buddy's girlfriend and family, it is very funny. Also, the scene where he shows up at the police station to tell the cops what is going on, and they all laugh at him, just perfect comedy. The final scene, where Daniel Kaluuya escapes the house and fights off the whole family, it has as much action as "Die Hard" does. It is awesome, and exciting. "Get Out" has it all. It is not only a great Halloween movie, it is a great any day, any time movie. I'm mad at myself that I waited so long to see it, but now that I have, I'm so happy. This movie stayed with me for days too. I kept thinking about it over a week after I had watched it. That is the sign of a quality movie.

The other movie is a bit older, not too much, but so awesome and so off the beaten path. Everyone needs to see this movie. The movie is "The Cabin in the Woods". Funny thing about the 2 movies I mentioned today, Bradley Whitford is in both of them. That dude is a good actor. Anyway, "The Cabin in the Woods" is very scary, but it is also hilarious. This movie takes on the trope of 5 friends going on a trip to a creepy cabin. It is in the same vain as an "Evil Dead", if you will. But, "The Cabin in the Woods" had a lot more money put into it than "Evil Dead". I only saw "TCITW" after hearing a ton of people talk about it on podcasts, and in general conversation with friends. I also heard that Chris Hemsworth was in it, and I am a fan of his. I avoided it because I thought it was a straight forward horror movie, but was assured that I would enjoy it, and that it was like nothing I had ever seen. Those people were right. "TCITW" is very different from a classical horror movie. The movie has scares and it very gory, but I would consider this more a comedy with horror elements. I personally think it is funnier than "Evil Dead", or any other horror movie that tries to go full comedy. The kids in the movie are hilarious. The stuff they go through is crazy, wacky, bizarre, but above all else, funny. The way that some of the characters meet their fate is downright laugh out loud funny, especially Hemsworth's character. Then you have the people who put these kids in this situation. I already mentioned Bradley Whitford, but there is also Sigourney Weaver, in one of her most underrated roles, and Richard Jenkins, who is an amazing actor. They are so god damn good, and very funny in this movie. As I said, "TCITW" is unlike anything you will ever see. It is so different and bizarre and scary, but most of all, funny. 

So, while I may not be a fan of actual Halloween, I do enjoy movies and TV shows, and "Get Out" and "The Cabin in the Woods" are 2 incredibly solid choices if you are looking for great movies, that also may up your heart rate a bit. Go check both of these movies out. I think you will really like them, especially during Halloween.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He also recommends watching "Young Sheldon" if you need a good scare. The fact that the show exists is one of the most frightening things ever.

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The "Monster Mash" is a Bright Spot in the Halloween Season

Even the Fremont Troll is in for the "Monster Mash"

Happy Halloween. Please enjoy this post from holidays past. The article was originally posted on October 31st, 2016.

I'm not the biggest fan of Halloween. I think that I've made that pretty clear on this website and podcast. Halloween died for me the day my parents told me, at 13, that I was too old to go trick or treating anymore. I couldn't argue with them, they were right. Who was I fooling by going out there with my football jersey on, that's right, it was my jersey, not some NFL or college players jersey, and trying to get free candy from strangers. It felt weird doing that, as a teenager. I've also never been one for dressing up, be it in costume, for a party, a funeral, a wedding, basically any fancy occasion. I like to wear t shirts and jeans, cargo shorts or athletic shorts. That is what is most comfortable, so that is what I feel like I should wear. So, the idea of putting on a costume or makeup or both, that is unappealing to me. Since 13, I have not been a fan of this "holiday". I also don't like being spooked, I hate scary movies, I don't like haunted houses and the puns made around this time of year are atrocious. Even with 2 small children, I still do not get into the spirit. Call me a curmudgeon, an old man, an angry old man, whatever, I just do not get excited for Halloween. I do go out and trick or treat with my children, I'm not a monster, but I'm always happy when it is over.

But, there is one thing, and probably the only thing, that I do like about Halloween. I like, neigh, I LOVE the song "Monster Mash" by Bobby Pickett. First off, I love the 50's/60's music sound. I love how genuine and nice and kind of dirty that it can get. I'm a big Buddy Holly fan. I love all the old time blues guys, think Robert Johnson. I'm just a big fan of that older sound of music. "Monster Mash" is the perfect representation of the goofy, yet extremely catchy sound of the 50's/60's rock/pop music.

The song is hilarious first off. The singer sings the song in a very deep, trying to sound scary but not pulling it off, voice that is unforgettable. The song also has background singers doing some of the best background work in spoof music history. The "ooh ah ooh"'s that sprinkle that song and the hushed vocals during the chorus are glorious. The music is trying to be spooky, but it comes off kooky, in the best possible way. The instruments and sounds are great. The bubbling cauldron at the beginning is great. Then, it's your typical 4/4 groove with 3 chords. The "Monster Mash", in its simplicity, is so much better than any Ramones song ever, and I will debate anyone for the length of time why I'm right about this.

Then there are the lyrics, my goodness, what a hilariously ridiculous song. Pickett sets the table beautifully from the start. He paints a very real depiction of a goofy Halloween story. The first line, "I was working in the lab, late one night/when my eyes beheld an eerie sight/for my monster from my slab began to rise/and suddenly to my surprise". Perfect. He is a mad scientist that had a late night, and Frankenstein I'm going to assume, awakes from his slumber. But, instead of attacking this scientist, the chorus lets us know that Frankenstein just wants to do the monster mash. They never tell us how to do the monster mash, but we do know that it is a graveyard smash, so I guess all the monsters at the graveyard can really boogie, but they can only do the monster mash. In the second verse, Pickett talks about how all the ghouls and monsters and vampires and the like come to him to get a jolt so they too can do the monster mash. It is so silly, yet so damn catchy. I'm humming it in my head as I type this. Then, after all the monsters get their jolt, they all proceed, along with Frankenstein, to do the monster mash, and we are led to believe that it is still a graveyard smash. In the third verse, we hear that every monster is there, including, the Wolfman, zombies, Dracula, and even Dracula's son. This dance has turned this graveyard into party central. And now, not only are they dancing the monster mash, they are singing it as well. These monsters are having the time of their lives, thanks to the monster mash. But, in a stunning twist during the fourth verse, Dracula wants to know why no one is doing the Translyvania Twist? Well Dracula, I'd like to know as well, and Pickett explains why in the next verse. The other monsters let him know that this is a strictly monster mash party, and at the next party they have, they will all gladly do the Translyvania Twist. Instead of getting angry and biting necks, Dracula is cool with this arrangement and goes back to the party. The "Monster Mash" ends with it's unforgettable chorus, and the song is over.

I really do truly love this song. I love the goofiness, the music, the vocals, everything. I think this song is great. It is an undeniable classic as well. Everyone spoofs it to. From the "Comedy Bang! Bang!" podcast to "The Simpsons", someone somewhere has a "Monster Mash" spoof that they are waiting to unleash. So, while Halloween may not be for me, at least I'll always have the "Monster Mash" to get me through it. Thanks Bobby Pickett.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is not quite as high on the sequel to "The Monster Mash", the unfortunate "Monster Swim". Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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The Monsters Live on Charlie Brown's Street

Give this as a treat on Halloween and expect it to go through your window as a trick

Happy Halloween. Please enjoy this post from holidays past. The article was originally posted on October 31st, 2015.

Today is Halloween.

I expected that many of you already know this. Ty has talked about what he  likes about Halloween (The Simpsons) and what he generally dislikes (everything else). We even had a great conversation about the good and bad on Halloween (beer good, puns bad). What I think many people can agree with is that the entertainment around the spookiest of holidays is pretty darn good. I may not like haunted houses, but they are very impressive pieces of theater. Cracked.com writer Adam Tod Brown does a much better job describing the experience of haunted houses better than I could (read his latest piece on an intense experience). The best horror and slasher movies tend to be campy, innovative, or just plain scary. It is a genre that covers all of the human emotional spectrum. Television also gets in the Halloween act, and there have been some timeless television mined out of the spirit of All Hallows Eve.

In my humble opinion there is not a better, or more timeless, piece of Halloween entertainment than "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown". First airing in 1966, this special has been going strong for almost 50 years now. I always feel like the fall / winter holiday season has started when I see Linus and Lucy Van Pelt come out their front door and the Vince Guaraldi Sextet breaks into the jazz number "Linus and Lucy". That is the sound of the holidays to me, and I hate jazz. The characters set the mood with very little dialogue. In the first five minutes you get Lucy being snobby, Linus being emotional, Snoopy being innovative, and Charlie Brown being put upon. The animation and artwork are magnificent. You can easily see that it is fall in this community. The colors give off a feeling of briskness. During the Snoopy - Red Baron sequences the art work starts to resemble surrealistic paintings. Watching "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" is like taking a stroll through the best art museums of the world.

The actual story is as timeless as the animation. Linus has an incredible belief that all the other kids ridicule him for. Linus does not waver from his belief, coming back stronger after his eventually disappointment. Sally has a crush and just wants to be with her beloved, but even she demands justice (restitution) when the night was taken away by a crazy belief. Snoopy's imagination is educational (look up all the spots he walks through in France during World War I), and exciting. The kids may be mean to each other, especially Charlie Brown, but they still all do everything together.

The kids are definitely cruel to poor Charles, but the adults in this town are psychopaths. I know the adults never appear as main characters in the Peanuts universe, but the actions attributed the grown ups paints a picture of horrible people. Who in their rational thinking mind would give a kid a rock on Halloween? If that had been me, the rock would have gone through the givers window. What gets me is that Charlie Brown did not just get one rock, he got a bag full of them. The adults all decided to pick on this one, bald, chubby, little kid. Charlie Brown may not be good with scissors, but he still deserves some candy. Give him the Mounds bar or Whoppers, or even candy corn. 

Surprisingly this is not the cruelest thing done by the adults in "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown". The Van Pelt parents not only let their young son go hang out in a pumpkin patch on Halloween night, in Minnesota no less, they leave him there all night. Lucy has her alarm set for 4:00am to get her shivering little brother and put him to bed. Were the Van Pelts too drunk and could not be woken up? Were they still out drinking? Monsters, the whole lot of them.

"It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" is the greatest piece of Halloween entertainment ever created. I hope your holiday festivities include a viewing of this classic. It has everything one wants in Halloween entertainment. The joy of the children, the imagination of the creative, the belief in mystical creature, and the terror of a group of adult monsters. Do not miss or you will have just wait till next year. You and Linus will just be waiting for the Great Pumpkin.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head editor for SeedSing. While he was writing this piece his wife used RD's bald head as a model for her pumpkin carving. Good grief. Come tell us what holiday entertainment is the best by writing for SeedSing.

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The SeedSing 2017 NFL Midseason Redo

Just like I did with the mid point of the NCAA football season last week, this week, after tonight we will be at the mid point, I'm going to do a checkup and redo of my preseason NFL picks. I'll do the division winners and wild card teams, the MVP, rookie of the year on offense and defense, coach of the year and my Super Bowl matchup and champs. I've got a TON to change due to injuries and some surprises. Some stuff I got right, but some stuff I got very, very wrong.

Okay, lets start with the AFC. First off, I do not know who is the best team in the AFC. One week I think it is the Patriots, then the Steelers, hell, I have even considered the Bills as one of the best teams in this conference. It is so out of whack. Anyway, the AFC East is all about the Patriots and the Bills. The Dolphins stink. They are 4-3, better than I thought, but none of that has to do with Cutler, who is out with an injury of course, and they just got their asses whooped by the Ravens last Thursday night. I believe the final score was 40-0. The Dolphins are horrendous. The Jets are much, much, much better than I thought they'd be. I was one of the people that considered picking them to go 0-16. This was when I thought Christian Hackenberg was going to be their starting QB, but they went to Josh McCown, and he has been surprisingly decent. The Jets are still pretty awful, but they are 3-5, and surpassed my expectations of their entire win total in 8 games. Todd Bowles has proven to be a very competent, and good, NFL head coach, given the roster he had to work with coming into this year. The Patriots are a very shaky 6-2 team right now. The offense is fine, but they may be losing Chris Hogan, and they already lost Julian Edelman. They do have a stable of running backs, and they will find some fine receivers and they have Tom Brady and a solid O line. The Patriots problem lies within their defense. Their defense is horrid. Yeah, they stopped Matt Ryan, but every QB prior to that was shredding them. They also have a bad run defense. They are bad on that side of the ball. Maybe they will get some new bodies, but right now, they are bad on defense. The Bills are one of my biggest surprises. I did not think they would be good, but they play incredibly sound defense, and they know their limitations on offense. Tyrod Taylor has been great. LeSean McCoy has been great. Their O line is very good. And their defense is stout. If their offense gives them 20 points, they will win. The Bills are 5-2, and I could see them winning 10 or 11 games. But, I am still going to go with the Patriots to win this division, but barely.

The Chiefs will win the AFC West unless they absolutely blow it. They have cooled off since their 5-0 start, but the rest of the division is not that good. Also, the Chiefs are playing better offense and their defense is very good, even without Eric Berry. The Raiders stink. They were my, along with a ton of people, pick to take a big leap. They have not. Derek Carr is playing timid. Amari Cooper is dropping the ball all the time. They have no run game. And their defense stinks. They'll be lucky to win 7 games. The Broncos are atrocious on offense. Trevor Siemian is not a starting QB. Neither is Paxton Lynch and anyone else they may have on their roster. They could go out and sign Colin Kaepernick, which would be an ideal fit, but they won't, unfortunately. The Broncos defense is really good, as always, and Von Miller is so good, but the defense is wasted by their horrid offense. As stated, Siemian stinks. He cannot get the ball to Thomas or Sanders in stride. They can't really run either because everyone is stacking the box and daring them to throw. 8-8 seems like their destiny. The Chargers have played better since beating the Giants, but they are no better than 7-9 to me. Phil Rivers is too old, they have no go to receiver and they do not give Melvin Gordon the ball enough. They have a good, young defense, which I do like. The Chargers need to retool their offense, but their defense is set. The Chiefs should easily win the West.

The AFC North is an absolute joke outside of the Steelers. The Steelers look to be finally figuring it out, and that should scare teams. They have Brown, Smith-Schuster and LeVeon Bell. As long as they lean on those guys, and not Ben Roesthilberger, the Steelers will be just fine. Their defense has been great too. The Ravens are so bad on offense, and I know they just had 2 pick sixes, but their defense is not what it once was. Joe Flacco is going to probably miss some time and Ryan Mallett is their backup. Yikes. The Bengals stink. Andy Dalton is bad. AJ Green is not getting enough targets. Their three running backs are not that good. Their defense is old, but still dirty. Maybe this is the year the front office finally gives up on Marvin Lewis and Andy Dalton. And then we have the Browns. The Browns are an absolute mess. That is all that needs to be said. Steelers are the easy pick for this division.

The AFC South is very close, but the teams all have big time flaws. The Jaguars have a very good defense. A top notch defense. They've had 2 games where they have sacked the opposing QB 10 times. That is amazing. Their problem, Blake Bortles. He is awful. They have Fournette, and when he isn't hurt, he carries that offense. But, when they have to rely on Bortles, it is a disaster. The Texans have Deshaun Watson and he is amazing. They also have DeAndre Hopkins and he is amazing. They have a very explosive offense. They lost JJ Watt and Whitney Mercilus on defense, but they still have Jadaveon Clowney, but not much more. They also have Bill O'Brien and their horribly racist owner, which is their downfall. The Titans are the most inconsistent team in the NFL. They are not grinding games out like they should, but no one is blowing them out either. They just cannot put together a complete game. That will be their downfall. Then we have the Colts. The Colts stink. The Colts are almost as big a mess as the Browns. They should shelve Luck for the rest of the year and try and get a high draft pick. That is their best case scenario. If I had to pick a division winner right now, I guess I'd take the Jaguars, but I have zero confidence in that pick.

So the AFC playoff teams would be the Patriots, Steelers, Chiefs and Jaguars as the division winners, and my 2 wild card, the Bills and, I guess, the Broncos. I'll take the Patriots and Steelers in the AFC title game, and give me the Steelers to outscore the Patriots and make the Super Bowl.

Now for the NFC. Lets start with the NFC East because they have the best team, record wise, in the NFL right now. The Eagles have a strangle hold on this division. They are 3 games up with 8 left to play. Carson Wentz has looked great. They have a solid run game. Alshon Jeffrey has been a great addition. They have a very solid defense. They should coast to the title. The Cowboys are playing better as of late, but the last 2 wins came at San Francisco, and a depleted Washington team. Ezekial Elliot will probably not serve any of his suspension this season, so that helps them. Dak Prescott has been very solid flowing up a very impressive rookie year. Dez Bryant has been fine as their number one wide out. Jason Witten is showing wear and tear finally. Their O line is still very good. Their defense is suspect to me. They have not really faced a tough opponent, outside of Green Bay when Rodgers was healthy, so I want to see this defense stop a quality team. All 4 of the Cowboys wins have come against teams at or below .500. I do not buy them yet. Washington is very poorly coached. Jay Gruden looks so lost out there. Kirk Cousins hasn't been All Pro caliber this year either. They do not have a run game. Their receivers are very average. And while I love Vernon Davis, he is pretty old now. Their defense is very good, but they spend so much time on the field due to their lackluster offense. That hurts teams. The Giants are so, so, so bad. They are bad on every level. I picked this team to win this division, but I was clearly wrong. Their O line is awful. Eli Manning is terrible. They have no run game. and now that Beckham is done for the year, they have no on to catch the ball. The Giants may not win another game all year. The Eagles will coast.

The NFC West is surprisingly decent. Well, I should say, the Seahawks are very good, but so are the Rams. I do not think anyone saw this coming from the Rams. They play very sound defense, which keeps them in games all the time. But their offense has been a big time surprise. I knew Todd Gurley was good, and he is finally showing that again this year. But, who saw this upgrade from Jared Goff, Sammy Watkins and Cooper Kupp? No one. And if you say you did, you are  a god damn liar. Good for Sean McVay, and maybe this team will push for a playoff spot. The Seahawks are good, as always. Their defense is still top notch. They did get roasted by a rookie yesterday, but other than that game, they have put the clamps on pretty much every opponent. Oh, and Sheldon Richardson is starting to wreak havoc. That's scary. The offense goes as Russell Wilson goes. Their run game and O line might be the worst in the NFL though. But, they have deep threats all over the field, and Jimmy Graham looks pretty good again. The O line and lack of a running game may doom this team though. The 49ers are in full rebuild mode, and after playing very hard the first 5 games, they have been destroyed the last three. This is looking like 2-3 years before this team is even close to being .500 and competent. They need pretty much everything. The Arizona Cardinals, my dark horse, has been bad, and now filled with injuries. David Johnson went out week one. Carson Palmer week 6. They traded for Adrian Peterson, but he is well past his prime. Their defense has not looked good, and I'm just waiting for the inevitable Tyrann Mathieu injury. Larry Fitzgerald deserves better than this. I know he wants to stay with one team his whole career, but now is the time to trade him to a real contender so he has one last shot at winning a ring. The Cardinals need to start thinking about a full rebuild. I have the Seahawks winning this division, but the Rams will fight.

The NFC North is now the Vikings to lose after Aaron Rodgers was lost for the year due to a broken collarbone. I know that the Packers say he could be back, but do not rush him back. Save him for next year. I also know that I picked the Packers to win the Super Bowl this year. Well, that will not happen now. Brett Hundley is not being given a fair shot. McCarthy is way too scared to open up the playbook for him. I still think they should go after Kaepernick too. Randall Cobb, Jordy Nelson, Davante Adams, they are all great, but only with Rodgers at QB. They will not see the kind of passes they usually see until next year. Ty Montgomery has been okay as a full time running back, but he gets hurt way too much. I do really like this Aaron Jones kid though. He has been a revelation. Martellus Bennett hasn't lived up to my expectations, but he is still a quality tight end. The defense is not where I thought it would be right now either. They still give up way too many chunk plays, and they have a hard time getting opposing teams off the field on third down. This is a lost year for Green Bay. The Vikings have one of the best defenses in all of football. That will easily carry them to 10 wins. What has been surprising is how decent their offense has been. They extend drives, they run the ball well, and Case Keenum has looked average, which is good for him, this year. The Vikings are good. The Bears have a really good defense, shockingly, and 2 great running backs. What they don't have is a confident QB and they have no receivers. Trubisky has looked very, very below average since he became the starter. And the receiving corps, I cannot name one guy off the top of my head. I also do not think John Foxx wants to be there. The Bears defense will keep them in games, but they are no more than a 5 or 6 win team. The Lions are exactly what I thought they were going into this year. They have some explosive plays on offense, but they can never seem to finish off drives. They also don't have any real solid running backs. It is not like they like to run anyway. They have okay receivers, but no one that scares any corner like Calvin Johnson did. They will be a tough win for teams, but they look like a 7-9 team. The Vikings will run away with the North.

The NFC South is bad, and I thought it was going to be the best division in the NFL. The Saints are the leaders right now, and I do not think they have looked as great as some others do. They finally have a run though. Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara have been so good for them. Getting rid of Adrian Peterson was also a great move. But, Drew Brees and this group of receivers are not putting up the numbers that I thought they would. Some of that is due to their much improved run game, some due to old age. The Saints also have a very opportunistic defense now, which they have never really had. They are much better than I thought they would be. The rest of the South is a mess. The Panthers look so bad on offense. Cam Newton looks off. They are trying way too hard to get McCaffery the ball. Kelvin Benjamin and Devin Funchess are fine, but not world beaters. Their defense is very average too. Luke Keuchly got another concussion. They can stop the run, but struggle at stopping the pass. What hurts them most though is self inflicted wounds. Just look at their recent game against the Bears. Two pick sixes, and they got beat by a team that threw the ball 7 times. The Panthers are going nowhere fast. The Falcons seem to have major Super Bowl hangover. They are not nearly as explosive on offense as last year. They do not run the ball enough. Matt Ryan is reverting back to being a mid tier QB. Julio Jones cannot get enough touches. They are basic on offense. Their defense is okay, but not elite. They just do not look like the same team I watched last year. And then there is the Buccaneers. I loved this team going into this year. I thought they had the goods on both sides of the ball to take a big leap. Well, their offense is bad. Jameis Winston seems to have regressed, and he is hurt. Doug Martin a middle of the road running back. Mike Evans can't get open. Desean Jackson is not being used correctly. Same with OJ Howard. The defense is incredibly mediocre. They don't do anything that wows anyone or jumps off the page. They are 2-5, and with no bye week, they will be lucky to finish with 6 wins. The Saints will win this division because they are the only team in it that plays competent football.

So my NFC playoff teams are, the Eagles, Seahawks, Vikings and Saints as the division winners, and my 2 wild card teams are the Rams and, I guess the Cowboys. The NFC title game will be the Seahawks and the Eagles, and I am going with the Eagles to go to the Super Bowl.

I cannot tell you how much I would loathe watching the Super Bowl I picked. I despise both the Steelers and the Eagles. My Super Bowl winner will have to be the Steelers. They have the talent and experience. Ugh, I feel gross now.

As far as award winners, my MVP, Carson Wentz. I'd love to go Deshaun Watson, but they won't give it to a rookie. My offensive rookie of the year is Deshaun Watson though. He is also my offensive player of the year. My defensive rookie of the year, I guess TJ Watt because the voters do love the Watt family for some reason. My defensive player of the year, and I am going to go out on a limb here, but anyone from the Jaguars D line. They have 2 games with 10 sacks like is said earlier! That's amazing! Coach of the year will be Doug Pederson because he will get to the Super Bowl in the super watered down NFC.

Okay, there's my midseason NFL redo. Hopefully Carson Wentz doesn't get hurt like David Johnson did. And lets also hope that the second half of the NFL is much better than the first half of the year. And also, can Colin Kaepernick please get signed already. Enough is enough.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He literally vomited in his own mouth when he wrote down the Super Bowl Pick. All Pennsalvania is not what he wanted.

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Let Me Calmly Explain Why Bob McNair is a Terrible Person

Keep on taking a knee

Screw you Bob McNair. Screw you you racist asshole. Screw you you fascist pig. Screw you you pile of human garbage. Screw you.

For those of you that do not know who Bob McNair is, he is the owner of the Houston Texans. Yesterday he said, talking about the flag protests in the NFL, "the inmates are running the prison". Think about that for a minute. A rich, white business man, who I am pretty sure supports the current people in our "government", called the players he has had a part in drafting and signing "inmates". I mean, what the hell! This is flat out insane and incredibly racist and horribly rude and just wrong on so many levels. Anyone, and I mean ANYONE that thinks this is okay, you are the problem in this country.

This is abhorrent.

This is wrong.

This is terrifying.

I mean, it is 2017, and a rich white guy thinks that it is okay to call professional football players "inmates". The majority of NFL players have degrees. They went to 4, sometimes 5 years of college. A ton of them provide community service and visit hospitals, government buildings, police stations, anywhere and everywhere they are asked to go. Young children look up to these guys. A lot of kids emulate these professional football players because they want to be like them when they grow up. But, to someone like Bob McNair, they are "inmates". This is troubling. He said this because he believes this. This is not one of those situations where he misspoke. He said exactly the quote I mentioned. There is no way of saying the media spun this, he said it, and he knows it. Today he made some half assed apology, but I do not buy it, and I'm positive he doesn't either. Bob McNair is a racist, plain and simple.

Bob McNair is like the vast majority of NFL owners. He is right up there with Jerry Jones and the owner of the Carolina Panthers and Robert Kraft. They do not look at the players as people, they look at them as property. This is not the 19th century. These players are people with functioning brains that think for themselves. These owners do not own the players, they own the team. This is just ludicrous. The fact that he thinks guys like Deshaun Watson, Lamar Miller, Whitney Mercilus, DeAndre Hopkins, JJ Watt, Jadaveon Clowney, all of whom have participated in a protest, and basically every player on the team, is an "inmate" is appalling. Look at all the great things that these guys have done for Houston, especially after the hurricane. JJ Watt raised over 37 million dollars for hurricane relief, but to Bob McNair, he is an "inmate". Deshaun Watson gave his first game check to employees at the stadium that had their homes effected by the hurricanes, but to Bob McNair, he is an "inmate". DeAndre Hopkins has played his heart out and stuck with this team through thick and thin, never complaining once to the front office, but to Bob McNair, he is an "inmate". Lamar Miller came to this team for a second chance, has used the most of it, been a consummate professional, but to Bob McNair, he is an "inmate". Whitney Mercilus was an All Big Ten player and for academics, has been an excellent D lineman and plays hard all the time, but to Bob McNair, he is an "inmate". Jadeveon Clowney has fought through harsh criticism from the outside media, fought through injuries, but the last season and a half has been an absolute terror on the field, that has only gotten better every year, but to Bob McNair, he is an "inmate". I mean, I could go on and on and on with this Texans roster that is filled with mostly decent human beings, but Bob McNair thinks they are all "inmates". Absolutely ridiculous.

Also, these players that protest are more American than their cowardly asshole of an owner. I'm sure he was a draft dodger. I'm sure he only cares about himself and his bank account. I'm sure he hates himself. I'm sure he is a total dickhead to be around. I'm sure he is the worst, and his only "friends" are these other racist and fascist owners in the NFL. I just read that DeAndre Hopkins skipped practice today after hearing the quote, and I hope many, many more players follow his lead. These players are people too. I cannot stress that enough.

So for some dickhead owner that knows nothing about football to call the players "inmates", I say one final time, as loudly as I can, SCREW YOU YOU RACIST ASSHOLE! I hope, although I do not think it will happen, that Bob McNair gets reprimanded and black balled from the league for these horrific comments. He should be fined and banned from any and all NFL activities for, at least, the rest of this season. I hope he is forced to sell the team, because if I were a Texans player right now, I would not want anything to do with this stupid and mean and racist owner. Bob McNair is a pig and I hope he gets all the bad things coming his way that he deserves. He is the problem, not his players. The fact that he thought it was okay to say what he said is so troubling and so upsetting. This is a very, very bad look for the Texans and the NFL. Now lets see how Roger Goodell handles it. Hopefully he does the right thing.

Ty

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

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Ty Watches the New "Duck Tales"

In August I came home from basketball one evening and my wife and kids were watching "Duck Tales". I naturally assumed that is was the old version, the one I watched as a kid, but was surprised to find out that this classic show was being rebooted. I was a little hesitant at first. As I already stated, the original was a classic. But then my wife told me who was involved with the new version. I was then on board.

First, it is a Disney XD show, and for the most part, they do good TV shows. Disney XD is not your typical children's show network. They make stuff that parents enjoy watching too. Then my wife told me who was in the cast and I was for sure on board. The voices of Huey, Dewey and Louie are Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz and Bobby Monihan. I love Danny Pudi. He is pretty good in everything he does, and he was phenomenal as Abed on one of my favorite shows, "Community". I love love love Ben Schwartz. Everything he does, I am a fan of. I also love that he loves basketball. Ben Schwartz is amazing. He is great in movies and TV shows, most notably "Parks and Rec" as Jean Ralhpio. That role is second to none, and only someone like Ben Schwartz could have pulled it off. Bobby Monihan was the only reason I held on to watching "SNL" as long as I did. I loved every character he played on that show, especially Drunk Uncle. I also loved his bit parts in movies and other TV shows he was in that I saw. His animated show on FX, "Chozen", has to be one of the most underrated and hilarious shows I have ever watched. This new version of "Duck Tales" nailed it with casting the three main characters. They also nailed it with the rest of the casting. Scrooge is voiced by David Tennant. I do not watch the show "Dr. Who", but I know that it has a rabid fan base, and he played Dr. Who. He is perfectly cast, what with the English accent and all. Launchpad McQuack is voiced by Beck Bennett. He is one of the decent current "SNL" cast members, and he has had funny turns on shows like "Ghosted", and I'm sure he is going to start doing more and more big time things. Kate Micucci, who I adore, is the voice of Webbigail, and she brings the perfect energy to this role. Then as you go down the line of people who have showed up in some of the 8 new episodes names like, Jim Rash, Margo Martindale, Josh Brener, Kimiko Glenn and Marc Evan Jackson, all have done voice work. That is a who's who of improv comedy people and good character actor people. I love that the creators of this new version of the show are using not as well known, more up and coming people to do the voices of these classic characters.

When you get passed the names on the show, the episodes are really well done. The animation is wonderful, the stories are well written and well acted and all the people involved are giving it their best shot. The show can be dark sometimes, which I enjoy too. For example, Josh Brener shows up as a tech wiz who is only fleecing people so he can become a billionaire. He actually gets kidnapped by a super strong, easily annoyed bald eagle during the episode. The darkness come when Huey realizes that Brener's character is a phony and is so upset with himself that he looked up to a creep like him. That is dark for a kids show. Of course they played it for laughs, but I loved that the writers went there. In that same episode, Scrooge and a cousin of his plot against Brener, and that got dark too. There is an earlier episode when Huey, Dewey and Louis go out on a boating trip and leave Webbigail behind. She thinks she is making a new friend when she meets someone by the pier, but this person is just trying to get close to Scrooge to get his money. Again, that is some dark stuff for a show made for kids.

For as hesitant as I was about a reboot I have got to say, I enjoy the hell out of this new version of "Duck Tales". It is funny, dark, witty and made for both adults and kids to enjoy. I don't usually like the shows my kids watch, they don't like when I watch "PTI" either, but "Duck Tales" is a ton of fun. I love the theme song as much as my son does too. When we walk to school we will bust into singing it out of nowhere. I highly recommend anyone with kids that wants to watch a show that would appeal to them as well to check out this new "Duck Tales". A new episode comes out every Friday I believe, but you can also watch it On Demand. That is how we do it. Check this new "Duck Tales" out if you haven't already. I'm pretty sure you'll like it as much as me, my wife and my kids do.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is wondering if these improv comics do these new "Duck Tales" cartoons live. That must be tough on the animators.

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Better Late than Never on "The Big Sick"

I am finally getting caught up on TV shows and movies that I have meant to see, and I finally saw one of the movies that I really wanted to see it the theaters. That movie is "The Big Sick".  

I am a big Kumail Nanjiani fan. I love him as Dinesh on "Silicon Valley", I love his bit roles in some good and not so good movies and I have been a fan of his standup from day one. When I heard about this movie that he and his wife wrote, loosely based on their relationship, I was intrigued. Then, the movie got big time buzz when it was screened at a bunch of different festivals. Everyone was saying that they loved it. The movie sold after the Sundance Film Festival I believe, for somewhere in the 12 million dollar range. That is enormous for a movie that is basically an independent movie. This made me want to see the movie even more. Then the critical buzz came, and it was nothing but shine. Pretty much every critic found something to like about this movie. I do not usually care what critics say, but when a movie gets somewhere in the high 90's percent critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes, that makes me think it is a movie worth checking out. I could not see it in the theaters, family and kid stuff got in the way. But, I finally saw it when it was released on DVD and Blu-Ray.

This movie is everything that the critics and the fans said it was. I love this movie so much. It is so touching and funny and sad and just perfect. This is a true star turning role for Kumail Nanjiani. He owns this movie. He is playing himself, but he brings such great emotion, perfect comic timing and just controls everything that this movie is supposed to be. It helps that he co wrote it, but damn it, was he great. Zoe Kazan, playing his now wife Emily, is just as good. She could have come off as a clichéd type love interest, but she is not. She is just as powerful and moving and funny, all the way up to when she is put in a coma. For those of you that don't know, Kumail met his wife Emily at a comedy club, they struck up a romance, broke up due to cultural stuff and then she got sick and was put in a medically induced coma. That is what "The Big Sick" is about. I'll touch more on the plot in a moment. Ray Romano and Holly Hunter are tremendous as Emily's folks. Holly Hunter is the fiery southerner who will do anything to get her daughter healthy. Ray Romano is great as the quieter, but can also be fiery, dad that has a troubled past. They are tremendous actors to begin with, and that shows in this movie. Kumail's family, Anupam Kher plays his dad and Zenobia Shroff plays his mom and Adeel Akhtar play his brother, are all wonderful. Every time that Kumail's mom brings an Indian woman over to meet Kumail, it is funny and awkward. Kumail's dad is a bit softer on him, but he still wants his son to be a faithful Muslim. Kumail's brother is hilarious. Every line he talks is so funny and witty and just perfect. As far as the other standouts from the movie, I love Aidy Bryant, Bo Burnham and Kurt Brauholer. They all play Kumail's friends that perform at stand up clubs in Chicago, in hopes of getting into the Montreal Comedy Festival. They each bring a different character to their roles, and they all nail it. Kurt Brauholer is truly wonderful as the comic that just shouldn't be doing standup.

Getting to the plot, "The Big Sick" is a great, modern love story about family and culture. It is amazing to me that people from Pakistan still believe in arraigned marriage. It was amazing to see Kumail express to his parents how he thinks this is not for him. To watch their disappointment, but then acceptance, is truly wonderful. To see the beginning, middle, break and reuniting of Kumail and Emily is so great, sad, funny and perfect. This movie perfectly captures what a new romance for people in their mid to late 20's is about. The stuff in the hospital, and at Emily and Kumail's apartments, with Kumail and Emily's parents is just awesome. Their distance, then getting close to each other is so great. Watching a boyfriend and the girlfriend's parents going through this horrific event is masterfully done in this movie.

"The Big Sick" is amazing. I really think everyone should see it. It is a movie that could have been ripe with clichés, but Emily Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani and Michael Showalter, the director, wouldn't allow that to happen. They are too talented for that. This movie is really, really good and my only gripe, I wish I had seen it sooner. I hope this brings on bigger and better things for Kumail, I guess it has, he just hosted "SNL", and Emily Gordon, because they deserve it. Watch this movie, it is a must see.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He had some cultural differences when he was dating his wife. She came from a culture where she was good looking, and he came from one where he was ugly. They worked their way through the differences.

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Ty Listens to Beck's New Album "Colors"

Time to take a little break from sports and get back to other pop culture things for awhile. Today I want to review Beck's new album, "Colors". I have been waiting for this record since I saw Beck live over a year ago. He played a few of the songs live, teased the crowd that the record was coming soon, but much to mine and my brother's surprise, nothing came out for weeks. Weeks turned into months. Then Beck finally announced that the record was on hold due to some mixing and song choice stuff. So the wait continued. Finally, Beck announced that his record was going to come out on October 13th. I was still leery because this was a "Friday the 13th" day, but thankfully the record was released. I listened to it immediately, of course.

At first listen I was very happy with what I heard, but a tinge of disappointment hit me for some reason. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I had heard some people say that "Colors" was his funkiest record since "Midnite Vultures", but that was false praise. Maybe it is my unconditional love for "Midnite Vultures", and it will be nearly impossible for any Beck record to reach the love I have for that album, but I definitely do not think "Colors" is anywhere near "Midnite Vultures". So, the record was at an unfair disadvantage right off the bat. But, I kept listening. It is Beck, so I am not going to write it off after one listen. The more I listen to it, the more I begin to really enjoy it.

I think "Colors", while not "Midnite Vultures", is a nice change of pace from his last record, "Morning Phase". This is what Beck does. He changes the style/genre on every other album. He is incredibly versatile as a musician, and that is what I love about him. So, after getting over my comparison to "Midnite Vultures", and just taking "Colors" for what it is, a pop record, I have grown to like it more and more, as I said before. The record is fun. The songs blend seamlessly. Each song is more fun than the next. Beck and his band sound like they had a blast recording this record. With "Morning Phase" he went straight folk, and the songs were pretty sad, but with "Colors", it is all fun.

I love the first track, the title track, "Colors". It opens with a bang. It is a poppy blast of a song. I love to listen to it while I walk home from taking my son to school, or when I work out. In fact, this whole record is great for working out. The next four songs are very solid pop songs. "Seventh Heaven" is fun, with a great chorus. "I'm So Free" is one of the "slower" songs, but still pretty poppy and pretty good. I love the song "Dear Life". I love the piano. It is awesome. It ranks right up there with the all time great piano stuff Beck does. The song is the perfect running song too. "No Distraction" is a good change of pace. It is a bit more up tempo pop song. The next 2 songs are the "hits" from the record that he played live when I saw him. "Dreams" is a whimsical song that is so awesomely produced. The sounds and the instruments and the lyrics are just perfect. "Wow" is a hit. This is classic Beck. This is the funkiest, coolest and most like rap music song on the record. When he says, "jujitsu, coming at girl with a Lamborghini shitzu", I love it every time. We blast this song in my car. My son loves to sing the chorus. My daughter tells me, "it's our song daddy". Even my wife, who is a Beck skeptic, thinks "Wow" is great. This song is awesome. It is the best song on the record. The last 3 songs are a great way to close out a very good album. "Up All Night" is another fun, fast paced pop song. "Square One" is about as straight forward a song as one will ever get from Beck. It is actually kind of nice to hear him do a paint by the numbers pop song. The closer, "Fix Me" is truly wonderful. This song sounds like it could have been on "Morning Phase", but it is such a perfect fit to close out "Colors". Beck sings the song beautifully, and it is just a nice ending to a solid record.

Look, the wait made my anticipation go through the roof. That is unfair to a musician that constantly comes through no matter what. Beck has never put out a record that isn't well thought out and one that he hasn't worked incredibly hard on. You cannot say that about a lot of musicians that have reached his level of stardom. It was also unfair of whatever reviewer called it a modern day "Midnite Vultures". Nothing will ever be as good as that record. But, for what "Colors" is, a pop record, it is one of the better ones out there right now. This record proves how versatile Beck is, and how he still is making great music 20 plus years into an extraordinary career from one of the best/weirdest/most influential musicians of the 20th century. "Colors" only gets better the more you listen to it. That is the sign of a very good album. I highly recommend it to everyone that loves good music.  

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is just part of "silver foxes looking for romance in the chain-smoke Kansas flash dance ass pants."

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Take a Step Back Wolverine Fans / Haters and Chill Out About Jim Harbaugh

Artist depiction of Ty hearing people talk about Michigan football

Saturday night I watched the Penn State-Michigan game because I watch every Michigan game. I'm a lifelong super fan as you all know by now. College football season is my favorite sports time of the year, and it gets no better than watching Michigan football for me. They are not always the best team, but they are my team and I will follow them to the ends of the world.

With that being said, Saturday night was rough. I knew Michigan's offense was bad, but this was, quite possibly, one of the worst performances I have seen from their defense. I was leaning on that defense to keep this game within reach. That didn't happen. They just could not stop anything Penn State did. Penn State ran and passed at will. It was tough, and I was frustrated after the game. John O'Korn played a better than he has since the Purdue game, but it still wasn't good enough. Their run game in the second half was non existent. Their O line could not block. And the defense, as I have already said, got shredded.

With all of this being said, and watching Michigan get trashed, people who claim to be "true" Michigan fans need to chill out with the skepticism of Jim Harbaugh and his coaching staff. I just do not get these people attacking him on a daily basis now. I was one of the very few people that did not want Michigan to go after Harbaugh, for fear that he would leave after 3 or 4 years, which he still may do. But, he has, for the exception of 2 games, has this team ready to compete and play every Saturday. This team is up almost all the time. Harbaugh inherited a team that was so poorly coached by Brady Hoke that I expected them to win maybe 6 games in his first year. He won 10, counting their bowl game. They would have won 11 if not for a muffed punt against Michigan State, who was a playoff team that year. His second year there, still with mostly Hoke recruits, he had them in the playoff conversation all year. Even after they blew that game at Iowa, they still had a shot. Sure, they got screwed at the University of Ohio State, but they still played in a New Years Six bowl, and would have won if Jabrill Peppers had played. Harbaugh and his staff also turned Peppers into a Heisman finalist. They also turned Wilton Speight into a legit Big Ten QB. They made Jake Butt an even better tight end. Jehu Chesson and Amara Darboh both became NFL draft picks after 2 years under Harbaugh and his staff. The defense only got better, even after DJ Durkin left to coach Maryland. I loved the hiring of Don Brown, and even after Saturday's performance, I am still a big Don Brown fan. So the backlash, the hate, the scorn, the questioning from all kinds of places need to stop.

David Pollack was one of the first people to call him out after this year's Michigan State game, saying he was very bad against rivals. This is the same David Pollack that thinks women shouldn't be allowed to be football broadcasters and play by play callers. So whatever he says, I brush it aside because he is a chauvinist pig. Screw him.

Paul Finebaum has been Harbaugh's biggest critic for three years now, but he is a total douchebag moron, so who in the hell cares what he says. He is always making some hot take, or claiming he is going to leave for the pros because he "can't hack it in the college game". I ask Paul Finebaum though, how many college football teams have you coached? Even better, how much football have you played in your life? Also, how is your alma mater, Tennessee, doing at football right now? You happy with Butch Jones? At least Michigan is relevant. How relevant is Tennessee now? So whatever Finebaum says, just brush it aside. He is ESPN's newer version of Skip Bayless, who is a racist moron.

Then I saw an article this morning saying that, over the past 11 games, Butch Jones and Jim Harbaugh have the same record. So the hell what? That has absolutely nothing to do with their coaching abilities. They just happen to have the same record, over 11 games, but I would venture a guess that Michigan has played much, much better teams. Also, Michigan, with 2 exceptions, does not get blown out or make bone headed, late game decisions like a Butch Jones coached team does. Again, that "stat" is nonsense.

To bring it all home though, for these idiots calling out Harbaugh and his staff, do you really want to go back to the days of Rich Rod or Brady Hoke or even, end of his career Lloyd Carr? First, Lloyd Carr was an amazing Michigan coach. He won a national title and was always ranked and always won, at least, 8 games a year. But, near the end, the college game, what with the spread offense and utilizing speed over size, had passed him by. His time was up, and he walked away. But Rich Rod and Hoke turned this program into a very mediocre program. Rich Rod came in, tried to change the whole culture, into a spread option team, and it was a disaster from day one. Big time players transferred and we were left with undersized guys that were ill fit at their positions. Remember Steven Threet and Nick Sheridan? How about Tate Forcier? Those Michigan teams were horrendous. They were disgusting to watch on offense, and they couldn't really stop anyone on defense. In Rich Rod's first year he went 3-9. He followed that up with a 5-7, then a 7-6. Then, he was fired, with just cause. His record in three years was 15-22. He also had a horrific Big Ten record. The team was in the tank, and they went out, after trying very hard to get Harbaugh and Les Miles, who both turned them down, brought back a former D line coach, Brady Hoke. In his first year he seemed like the perfect fit. Michigan went 11-2 and won the Sugar Bowl. Denard Robinson was great. Their defense was much better. Then, in Hoke's second year, Robinson got hurt and they had to turn to Devin Gardner. Gardner was fine, the defense was getting even better, but they stumbled to an 8-5 finish. They couldn't close out games, and the defense spent way too much time on the field. In Hoke's third year Gardner fell apart, got hurt, Hoke left a concussed Shane Morris in a game, the offense was completely stagnant and they limped to a 5-7 finish. I saw their last win that year live, at Northwestern, and that game should have been the last that Hoke coached. That game was atrocious, and they won. Hoke was fired, due to a decline in wins every year, and the Shane Morris incident, and his record after 3 full seasons was 24-14. He had a decent record, but the team was regressing and getting worse every year. He clearly did not have what it takes to be the coach of a big time program. Also, that Shane Morris incident will stay with me forever. That was a horrific thing to watch.

After Hoke was gone, Michigan, with an new AD, went out and did everything they could to get their man, Jim Harbaugh. And, after a few weeks of speculation, Harbaugh took the job. As I said, I was a skeptic, but I was also a bit excited. Hoke did not leave the cupboard bare, especially on defense, and with Harbaugh's reputation as a motivator, I was curious to see how he was going to do with these players. He has also been given carte blanche to basically do whatever he wants, within the NCAA rules. They opened his first year at Utah, and even while taking a loss, I was optimistic that this team could be decent. They ended up finishing the regular season at 9-3, with the only losses being to a very good Utah team, the muffed punt game and getting blown out by a very good University of Ohio State team. They then hammered Florida in their bowl game to finish up at 10-3. That was much more than I expected. Than we had last year. They jumped out to 9-0, blew a very close and ugly game to Iowa, then Speight got hurt, and then they got screwed by the refs at the University of Ohio State. They finished the regular season at 10-2, and made the Sugar Bowl. Speight played that game hurt, Jake Butt tore his ACL in the first quarter and Jabrill Peppers didn't play. They still had a chance to beat FSU, but they couldn't finish them off. They ended that season with an identical record to Harbaugh's first year, 10-3. It was a "frustrating" year, but I was happy to be back to expecting great things from Michigan football.

Coming into this year, losing 17 starters total, I was very interested to see how they would play. They opened by hammering Florida, but they did not look good on offense. They actually had 2 defensive touchdowns in that game. The defense looked great. In fact, the defense has looked really good all the way up until last Saturday. They have shut down everyone, even Michigan State, except for Penn State, who is really good by the way.

But, after getting blown out, people are all up in arms, and they are taking aim at Harbaugh and staff. Where we sit today, they are outside the top 25, as they should be, and they are 5-2. So, through 2 and a half seasons, Harbaugh's record at Michigan right now is 25-8. He has surpassed Hoke midway through his third season. He surpassed Rich Rod's win total midway through his second year. And this year, this team is so very, very young. The critics want to come at Harbaugh because he is a big personality, but why aren't these same people, the Paul Finebaum's or David Pollack's of the world, coming at Jimbo Fisher or Ed Orgeron or Dabo Swinney or even, Butch Jones. FSU was preseason number 3 and they are 2-4 right now. They say, "they are down to their second team QB and they have played a hard schedule". Michigan is on their second string QB, and they too have played a hard schedule, including 4 road games. Ed Orgeron may have turned LSU around lately, but they barely beat Syracuse and got beat at home by Troy. Why aren't these "experts" calling for his head. Dabo Swinney won the title last year, but his team got beat at Syracuse in their last game. They say, "well, he lost his star QB", but so has Michigan. Butch Jones has become a joke, but I never ever hear Paul Finebaum truly bad mouth him the way he attacks Harbaugh. Finebaum is so in the bag for ESPN and the SEC, it is disturbing. What about Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma? His team started out hot, but the same week Harbaugh was getting trashed  for getting beat by MSU in a rain storm, Oklahoma got beat by Iowa State, who was a 30 plus point underdog. The game was in Norman too. Also, Oklahoma hasn't looked great the past 2 weeks against Texas and Kansas State. Where is the Lincoln Riley scorn? How about Tom Hermann at Texas? All these guys give him a pass because it is his first year, but Texas is 3-4 and they are as abysmal as Michigan is on offense. What about USC's head coach. They got beat by more than Michigan did, yet all the talk on ESPN, Bleacher Report, whatever sports program or magazine or website you read has only Michigan getting crushed stories. USC has been just as inconsistent as Michigan has been, but they don't get the hate that Michigan does.

I know that Harbaugh is a big personality, as I have already said, and is a big name, but Michigan fans, and the media, need to chill out. He is doing very good things with this team, and I think, maybe even next year, this team will be back to being contenders, as long as this staff sticks around. And as far as the media goes, all they do now is hot takes. We are talking about people who continue to allow Lavar Ball on TV. These are the same people that suspend Jemel Hill when all she was doing was using free speech. These are the same people that just want clicks on their websites. I'm still fully on board with Harbaugh, and remember, I was one of the very few who did not want Michigan to hire him. The rest of the season is going to be frustrating. Hell, Rutgers is coming to Ann Arbor on a 2 game win streak, Minnesota has a good defense, Illinois always plays them tough, they have to play Wisconsin in Camp Randall and there is always the University of Ohio State to end up the year. But, hang in there. Hopefully Harbaugh sticks around, goes either 7-5 or 8-4 this year, then comes in next year with a team that should be back to winning double digit games.

This is just my long winded way of saying chill out. Things will be just fine in Ann Arbor, and Jim Harbaugh is the right man for the job.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He recently saw the power of Michigan's offense live. It was dreadful.

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The SeedSing 2017 Wild Guesses about Men's College Basketball

Due to my NCAA football mid season redo, and the horror that was the Arby's "venison" sandwich, I forgot to do my men's NCAA basketball preview. I usually like to finish off my NBA countdown and predictions with a quick look at the upcoming NCAA men's basketball season. Other things got in the way, but I am here today to, as I have done the last 2 years a wild shot in the dark at who will be the best in men's college basketball.

Two things real quick before I get into it though. First, UCONN women's team will rebound from that shocking defeat to Mississippi State in last year's final four, and destroy everyone on their way back to being the preeminent women's NCAA basketball program. Second, I still very much dislike the "one and done" culture that has taken over men's college basketball. I have to take wild shots because I do not know the majority of the players that are on the big time teams. Every year, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, Arizona, they all have 4 or 5 new guys that I have never heard of, I do not watch high school sports because I am an adult, yet they are all at the top of the rankings. There is also this FBI investigation that is currently going on has put an even bigger wrench in my knowledge of men's college basketball. Had this not been let out to the public, Louisville would be one of the teams I expect to make a deep tournament run. Now, they are going to be trash and not do anything of note this year. Arizona is involved in this case. I'm sure Kansas and any other Adidas school may have to come forth and admit some kind of wrong doing. Also, UNC got very, very, very lucky that they did not get in any trouble for academic fraud. I still do not buy the fact that the investigation found no real wrong doings, but for now, they are out of trouble. Had they gotten in trouble, it would have made my preseason preview that much more difficult. Okay, all the house cleaning is out of the way, lets get to my 2017-18 men's college basketball preseason preview.

I'm not going to go conference by conference, instead I'm going to use the preseason USA Today Top 25 and talk about the teams on their list, and some possible surprises. I will also, as I always do, talk the most about the Big Ten. At the end I will have my final four team, my title game matchup and my national title winner. I will also take a guess at Player of the Year.

At number one, USA Today has Duke. Surprise surprise. I guess they got the number one overall high school player to commit there, and that pushed them to number one overall. I do not know who else they have, with one exception, Grayson Allen. Screw Grayson Allen and any fan of his. The kid is not that good at basketball, and he is a dirty jerk of a player. I'm sure Duke will be very good, they always are, but I will continue to root actively against them.

The rest of the top 10 has Michigan State, Kansas, Kentucky, Arizona, Villanova, Florida, Wichita State, UNC and West Virginia. I'll give one or 2 quick observations on each team. Michigan State had a "down" year for them last year going 20-15, but Miles Bridges, one player I do know, is back, and this team looks to be loaded again. Tom Izzo has a very good team this year. Kansas has a slew of great freshman coming in, but they also have a few upperclassmen that will be their most important players, and they will most likely blow a tournament game like they do every year. Kentucky is reloaded with 5 or 6 new freshman that will run this team and they will continue to be a top seed and may make a final four push this year. Arizona has some returning key players and some great incoming freshman. The problem, they are coached by Sean Miller. He will inevitably screw this team up in important games. I know next to nothing about Villanova, with the exception that they won the title 2 years ago. I believe all those guys are gone, but maybe they have some good to great players that have been waiting their turn and they will shine. Florida had a great tourney run last year, won some good games and they return a good amount of those kids. The Gators could be a "threat" to Kentucky in the SEC. Wichita State always has upperclassmen, and they play great team basketball. Their coach is a total dickhead, but he knows how to coach college basketball. UNC is the defending champs, but they lost a good amount of key players, but I am sure they have someone ready to take their spots. They also skated away from further NCAA sanctions, so I am sure they will continue to reload every year. Finishing up the top 10 we have West Virginia. West Virginia plays tremendous defense. They frustrate you with their press and they have some upperclassmen that are crucial. Unfortunately, Bobby Huggins is a known choker, and I do not see that changing this year.

The rest of the poll has, from 11-25, USC, Miami, Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Minnesota, Louisville, Xavier, UCLA, Gonzaga, Northwestern, Purdue, Saint Mary's, Seton Hall, Baylor and Alabama. Okay, first off, why is USC so high? Is it because to the coach from that Florida school that had one decent tournament run? Also, they will be getting in major trouble from this FBI investigation. Miami is always competent and always competitive. I get this ranking. Cincinnati has a good coach and they play good, sound defense. They should be in the top 10 in my opinion. Notre Dame has a decent basketball program, but this feels like a year they may be down. They lost some good players last season. Minnesota was a revelation last year. Will they continue to be good, or will they look like the team that Middle Tennessee beat in the first round of the tournament? Time will tell. Why is Louisville ranked? Pitino is gone, Donovan Mitchell is gone, and anyone that wants to be scouted and play deep into March will probably transfer. This team is a mess. Xavier is another team that always plays tough and deserves to be in the top 25. They will be good. UCLA lost pretty much everyone of note from last year, and I think Steve Alford is incredibly overrated as a coach. Gonzaga was in the title game last year, and I know they lost 3 guys that were crucial to their success, but this seems to low for them. They are a legit contender now, and to have them in the low teens is a slap in the face. Please stop with all the Northwestern basketball love. I swear if they become a "Darling" like their football team, I'm going to lose my god damn mind. They played great last year, won a tournament game in their first ever tournament appearance, but that is as good as it will get for them. Northwestern is okay, but not preseason ranked good. Purdue feels like they should be higher than this. They should be ahead of Northwestern and UCLA at least. I know they lost Caleb Swanigan, but this team has been pretty decent under Matt Painter, and I think they will be good again this year. I don't know anything about Saint Mary's except that they play in the same conference as  Gonzaga. I'm sure they are good, but I'm also sure Gonzaga will own them. I had to double check when I saw Seton Hall in the preseason rankings. They haven't had expectations since I was a kid. I know they have some good big guy, but lets see how they do now that people expect them to win. Screw Baylor sports. I hope they lose every game just like their football team. And Alabama? Really? I did not know they had a team that was preseason ranking worthy. Maybe they got some good recruit or something, I don't know.

A few teams I was surprised to not see ranked are Missouri, Wisconsin, Butler, Virginia and Texas A&M. Missouri has a new coach, a monster recruiting class and could be very good. I know they have been bad for a few years, but a change at the top and the kids they have coming in, it wouldn't shock me to see them win 20 plus games this year. Wisconsin is always good. I know that Bronson Koenig and Nigel Hayes are gone, but, as much as I may dislike this team, do not ever count out the Badgers. Butler isn't the same as they were with Brad Stevens, but they are still a quality team that won a tournament game last year if I'm not mistaken. Virginia has been very solid and a lock top 25 team the past few years. I guess they lost some guys and they bowed out of the tournament quick last year. And Texas A&M, while not great, has a few good guys on that team, and they are big. Also, where the hell is South Carolina? Didn't they make the final four last year? Who cares that Sindarius Thornwell is gone. Kentucky loses guys every year, and every year they are a preseason top 10 team. Maybe South Carolina deserves that attention. I know DJ Wilson went pro and Mark Donnal left, and Zak Irvin and Derrick Walton Jr graduated, but I think Michigan will still be scrappy this year. They got Mo Wagner back. Muhammed Ali Abdur Rahkman is going to be running the show. Duncan Robinson can shoot threes. The grad transfer from Ohio is supposed to be good and Charles Matthews, the transfer from Kentucky, has supposedly been the best player in practice. It may take some time, but I'm done counting out a John Beilein coached team. Also, where is Oregon? Are Dillon Brooks and Jordan Bell that big of departures that this team can't regroup and put up a fight in the Pac 12? What about Maryland? They have a good team. Why is everyone so up on the ACC and SEC, but down on the Big Ten? Some of these unranked teams could surprise people this year. If I had to pick one, and you're welcome RD and Ross, I think Missouri has a shot to be really, really good this year.

As far as my final four in the preseason, lets go with, Duke, Kentucky, Wichita State and Michigan State. They all seem to be pretty good. As far as the title game, lets say Duke and Michigan State. And for the champs, I have the Big Ten ending their very long drought, with Michigan State winning it all. They also have my preseason player of the year, Miles Bridges. A bunch of people knocked him for coming back, but I think it will do him a world of good, and he will be a much better basketball player for it.

That's it for my 2017-18 men's college basketball preseason preview. Again, most of this is wild guesses, but I am excited to watch how the season unfolds.

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. 

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2017 Midseason College Football Redo

After recovering from the horror that was Arby's "venison" sandwich reveal, I am ready to do my mid season NCAA football checkup. I'll do it just like I did my preseason preview, complete with updated conference winners, my 4 playoff teams and my new Heisman winner. I'll also pick my national title game and winner. Here we go.

I'll start with the ACC. FSU took an enormous blow in week one. First off, they faced Alabama. That was a mistake. Alabama crushed them. Second, they lost their starting QB, and my preseason Heisman winner, Deondre Francois in that game. Their season was doomed from the start. Not only did I predict them to win the ACC, I predicted them to win the title. They are 2-3 today. They are not winning the title. Clemson seemed like the next logical choice, after crushing three seemingly quality opponents already this season, but they just got upended by Syracuse. They can still go to the playoff, they only dropped 5 spots in the AP poll, but a loss to Syracuse is pretty brutal. Also, their offense is not that great. They have a great, great defense, but their offense could be their downfall. I was definitely off on both NC State and Miami. Miami is good. They have a great offense, even after losing their starting running back. They put up tons of yards and points. They also have a quality defense. They look good. NC State has blown me away. They are a very good football team. I thought, especially after going down week one to South Carolina, they would be a 7 or 8 win team, but they have done nothing but win since that first game. They have a good offense and a good defense. They won't be in the playoff, but they are still very good and will play in a very good bowl game. Outside of these teams, the ACC is very meh. Virginia Tech is ranked, but I have not watched one second of them this year. I know they have a pretty good freshman QB, and I'm sure they have a good defense, but they are no real national threat. Louisville has fallen and may not get up. They have no defense whatsoever. They are horrendous on that side of the ball. Lamar Jackson has been pretty good this year, but he cannot win games alone anymore, and Louisville's opponents have figured that out. Boston College, Pitt, Syracuse, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Virginia all have 4 or 5 wins, but they are of no consequence. And UNC is horrendous. The ACC is not nearly as good as last year. I still think Clemson will find a way to win the conference, their defense is that good, but I wouldn't be shocked if Miami takes the crown from them.

The SEC is better than I anticipated, but I still think it is the most overrated conference in college football. ESPN is so up the SEC's butt, it is distracting. Watching teams from the conference reveals nothing more to me than how much more dominate Alabama is than every other team in the SEC. Alabama is clearly the best team in the SEC, and the country. They are so, so good. LSU stumbled out of the gate, but they seemed to have righted the ship a touch. They beat Florida in Gainesville and just knocked off Auburn at home. But, a team with Ed Orgeron as head coach and Danny Etling at QB is not a title contending team. They will finish with 8 or 9 wins, but that is it. Also, where in the world has Derius Guice been all year? He has not put up the numbers I expected. Auburn is fine, but they have no passing game at all. That came back to bite them last week, and when they play quality opponents, the lack of a passing game with kill them. Georgia has looked very, very good. The only caution I have with them, the best team they have beaten all year is Notre Dame. Notre Dame is much better this year than last year, but that is the "best" team Georgia has faced, and they barely beat them. They have been crushing shitty opponents, but their schedule is about to get much tougher. Florida is tough to watch. They look so unprepared for every game. Texas A&M has kind of recovered after blowing the opening game against UCLA, but I do not see them finishing any better than 8-4. I do like their new QB though. Kentucky and Mississippi State are okay, but when they play real teams, they get beat. Vanderbilt looked like they may be good, then Alabama came in town and ruined their season. They have not been the same since that game. Ole Miss stinks. Missouri is horrid. Arkansas is trash. South Carolina is average. And then there is Tennessee. Man do the Volunteers, and more importantly, Butch Jones, stink. This team has never lived up to the hype, and the fact that Jones is still there is laughable. After Alabama crushes them this weekend, I'd be shocked if he is not fired. Alabama is going to coast to the SEC crown again. They are the Golden State Warriors of college football.

The Pac 12's best chance at getting a playoff team ended after last weekend. Washington and Washington State were both top 10 going into last week and they both proceeded to get beaten by mediocre conference opponents. Washington State got hammered by Cal. Cal had come into the game on a 3 game skid and proceeded to crush Washington State by 34 points. It was brutal. Washington could only muster one touchdown, late in the fourth quarter, against one of the worst defenses in all of college football, Arizona State. Washington lost any reputation they may have built up with that egg of a game. I guess USC is still alive for a playoff spot, but they have not lived up to the hype that some were giving them this preseason. They struggled with Western Michigan. They needed overtime to beat Texas. They lost to Washington State. And last week, they were down 14 at halftime to Utah, and they needed a stop on a 2 point conversion for the win. Their game in South Bend this weekend will tell me all I need to know about them. Stanford, my preseason Pac 12 champs, have already lost 2 games. They do not have a shot at the playoff anymore, but they seem to have righted the ship, returning to the top 25 2 weeks ago, and Bryce Love is an amazing running back. People need to seek this kid out. He averages over 10 yards a rush. That is amazing. Outside these 4 teams, every other Pac 12 team is very average. Oregon is great at running the ball, but they lost their starting QB and their defense is atrocious. Arizona puts up points, but they give up almost as many points. Arizona State is really bad on defense. Cal seems to think they are a run and shoot offense, except their QB is very mediocre. They too have a bad defense. Oregon State's coach quit halfway through the season. UCLA has Josh Rosen and nothing else. Utah is okay, but 9 wins seems preordained. Colorado has been very shaky. The Pac 12 is going to miss out on the playoff this year. They just don't have the teams to push for a spot, unless USC finishes the rest of the season undefeated. To the shock of some, I'm sticking with Stanford. I know USC has beaten them once, but I think Stanford redeems themselves in the Pac 12 title game.

The Big 12 may get left out of the playoff too. Their best shot now seems to be TCU. I do not trust TCU. They have won a ton of close games this year, but those wins came against Arkansas and West Virginia. West Virginia isn't terrible, but Arkansas is. I also do not trust Kenny Hill. He throws way too many picks. I also do not think their defense is as good as it has played so far. They are destined to blow a game pretty soon. Oklahoma seemed like a lock, then the Iowa State game happened. After beating the University of Ohio State I thought they'd roll through the rest of the season and be an easy playoff pick. Well, Iowa State beat them in Norman. Then they struggled mightily with Texas. Their defense is filled with holes. They may get tripped up again before the Big 12 title game. Oklahoma State had a golden opportunity this season, but they blew it early on when they lost to TCU. Oklahoma State is still technically alive, but they need to win every game from here on out, and they need to win convincingly. I do not think they have the defense to do that. Texas is not that good. Tom Hermann has not worked his magic in year one. Their offense is very blah and their defense, while better, is still pretty rough. West Virginia has an okay offense, but I just do not buy them as more than a 7 or 8 win team. Iowa State has that one signature win over Oklahoma, but they are not very good either. I believe where we sit today they are 4-3. Texas Tech is the same Texas Tech every year. They got fat on cupcake non conference opponents, got into the top 25, then gave up a million yards and blew a lead against West Virginia last week. Kansas State is very clearly in a transition year. And KU and Baylor may as well fold up shop for the rest of this season. I do love that Baylor is as bad as they are. They deserve to be winless. The Big 12 will come down to TCU and Oklahoma, and I will go ahead and go with Oklahoma since I do not trust TCU one bit.

The Big 10 is murky. This is my conference. This is the conference I pay the most attention to, and, as angry as this makes me, it will come down to the University of Ohio State and Penn State. I do need to say, the fact that Penn State is still allowed to play football, and looked at as a redemption story by networks like ESPN, is appalling. What they covered up for a couple decades under Joe Paterno is absolutely horrifying and disgusting and they should have gotten the death penalty. That being said, they have played much better this year than I thought they would. They have well exceeded my expectations. They have a great offense and a very good defense. The university of Ohio State, after taking that early loss to Oklahoma, has been quietly playing very good football since then. They have been obliterating opponents. I still do not think JT Barrett is a quality QB, but they have 2 great running backs and their defense is legit. My team, the Michigan Wolverines, have been very frustrating to watch all year. They might be the shakiest 5-1 team in the country right now. Their defense is very, very good. It's the fastest Michigan defense I have ever seen in fact. But, their offense is an absolute train wreck. They don't block well. The running backs, with Karan Higdon being the lone exception, have been wildly disappointing. The receivers are dropping passes left and right. And their QB play has been downright awful. John O'Korn has looked terrible and it's not like Wilton Speight was lighting the world on fire when he was out there. This team has a real problem on their hands with how bad this offense is. I expected them to be a double digit win team, but after seeing them in person last week, and looking at their remaining schedule, they look more like a 7 or 8 win team. Their defense is legit, but they spend too much time on the field, and their offense is just atrocious. Michigan State has been surprisingly competent this year. They have a good defense. Their offense leaves a lot to be desired too, but their defense is legit. Their downfall, they play in too many close games. That will come back to bite them soon. Wisconsin is undefeated and doing exactly what you'd expect them to do. They play stout defense, run all over teams and win by double digits almost all the time. Their QB isn't great, but name one Wisconsin QB that was great in college. Purdue has surprised me this year. They aren't great, but they aren't the laughingstock they have been for close to a decade now. They are a solid 7 win team this year. Iowa is very blah, but blah is good for them. They will most assuredly go 7-5, be in tight games all year and even win one or two that they shouldn't. Indiana is better, but they aren't as explosive as they used to be on offense. They have a better defense, but they still have gaping holes, especially on their D line. Minnesota is average. It may take PJ Fleck a year or 2, but right now, they are just average. They have a good defense, but not a very good offense. Northwestern, a ton of people's preseason Big 10 dark horse, has been very inconsistent. One week they look good, the next they look bad. 6-6 or 7-5 is clearly their destination. Maryland, after opening the year with a win at Texas, has lost 2 QB's and they are still pretty bad on defense. They started out 2-0, but have since gone 1-3. DJ Durkin has made them a bit better, but losing 2 QB's has been brutal to this team. Nebraska is bad. They got owned by the University of Ohio State last week. Oregon scored 35 on them in a half. And earlier this year, Northern Illinois got 2 pick sixes and beat them in Lincoln. Maybe Mike Riley isn't the right fit there. And Illinois and Rutgers are dreadful. Rutgers has gotten "better", meaning they finally beat a division one team for the first time in 2 calendar years. That team you ask? The Fighting Illini of Illinois. Illinois has fallen on very hard times. I liked the hiring of Lovie Smith, but he looks like he hates coaching college football, and Illinois is just flat out bad. The Big Ten is all about 2 teams, maybe three with Wisconsin being the clear favorite in the West Division. But, in reality, it is all about Penn State and the University of Ohio State. I'll go with the University of Ohio State. While I hate them, they have been lights out since the Oklahoma game.

As far as teams outside "power 5" conferences, USF and UCF have been great. They are both undefeated and blowing away their opponents. I figured USF would do this, but props to UCF. Two years ago they didn't win a game, now they are a top 25 team, undefeated and crushing everyone they play. Neither will go to the playoff, but they both might go undefeated. Memphis and Navy have been pretty good too. But, they both already have one loss, so a New Years Day bowl is their best bet. No one else outside the "power 5" has really impressed me except these 4 schools.

As far as the playoff goes, I have, in order of 1-4, Alabama, Penn State, Clemson and the University of Ohio State. That's right, I have 2 Big Ten teams. Sorry Wisconsin, but which ever team comes out of the Big Ten East is going to crush you in the Big Ten title game. As far as the title game matchup, I have Alabama facing the University of Ohio State, and I have Alabama absolutely demolishing them. The score will be something like 35-10 or 27-0. Alabama is just too good. And my Heisman winner, I'm going Bryce Love from Stanford. He is doing what Lamar Jackson did last year and putting up ridiculous video game type numbers, and I do not see him slowing down the rest of the year. I could see him rushing for 2,000 plus yards this year.

Okay, there you have my midseason NCAA football check up. I'm excited to see how the rest of the year plays out, and I wish Michigan wasn't so frustrating to watch. Anyway, enjoy the rest of the season.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He did go to beautiful Bloomington Indiana last week to watch his beloved Wolverines pull out an overtime win over the Hoosiers. It was maddening. 

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Venison Sandwiches at Arby's? Please God No.

It could be worse. We could be at Arby's.

I was going to do my mid season NCAA football review today, with new predictions and everything, but I saw something so horrifying while driving, it needs to be talked about. We are nearing Halloween too, so it is perfect timing.

While doing some work and running some errands with my daughter this morning I happened upon an Arby's. Now, for those of you that do not know me, I LOATHE Arby's. Part of it is due to the fact that I was born and raised in Saint Louis, and we have Lion's Choice. For those outside Saint Louis, Lion's Choice is the greatest fast food roast beef in the world. They cook it a perfect medium rare, their seasoning is second to none and the bread is amazing. I cannot forget about their excellent condiments too. Their BBQ sauce is tangy and sweet and goes perfectly with their beef. Their horseradish, my god is it amazing. It is just the right blend of spice and flavor. Mixing those 2 on one of their world class roast beef sandwiches is what a perfect bite tastes like. It is magical. Then we have their au jus for dipping the sandwich in. Their au jus is so good, when I'm done with my sandwich, if I have any au jus left over, I drink it. I'm not kidding. Getting away from their sandwich, their fries are my favorite fast food fries ever too. They are soft and perfectly salted and I love everything about them. I will dip the fries in the BBQ sauce and horseradish I have already talked about, but they added a new chipotle ranch dipping sauce a few years ago. It is wonderful. It is so good on their excellent fries. Basically, Lion's Choice is the best fast food, not only in Saint Louis, but quite possibly in the world. So the fact that Arby's thinks they can come to Saint Louis and steal Lion's Choice's thunder, get the hell out of here. Arby's will always be so much worse than Lion's Choice. In fact, Arby's might be the worst fast food chain in all of the world. So that is what makes what I saw this morning even more frightening.

While driving to get my oil changed, I drove by an Arby's near the place I go to get my oil changed, and saw their marquee with the words, "Venison sandwiches this Saturday only". I was absolutely horrified. I mean, I enjoy venison jerky and venison steaks, but I enjoy it when it has been hunted by my uncle, and he makes it himself. I will also eat a venison steak if I am at a fancy steak house and that is one of their specialties. Any other time I see venison on a menu, or it is offered to me by someone I barely know, I say no thank you. What Arby's is doing though, making venison sandwiches, is a crime against humanity. Arby's cannot even get the roast beef sandwich right. My father and I both, on separate, multiple occasions, before I knew better, have gotten Arby's and, either gotten sick or just didn't eat the sandwich because it had an awkward tint or smell. I stopped after the second time I went to Arby's and got physically sick from their disgusting food. My dad tried a few more times, but he came home one night with some Arby's, opened his sandwich, and the stench was unbearable. Something went horribly wrong in the car ride from Arby's to our house. We both stopped immediately afterward. It helped that we knew we had Lion's Choice to go back to as well. But this venison thing is just wrong on every level. I will not believe it, unless I see it, that this will be some big deal. I do not imagine this Arby's near my home will have some crazy long lines for people clamoring for a venison sandwich from freaking Arby's. This Arby's is never busy in fact, and I do not think this one day promotion of a venison sandwich will change anything at all.

Also, imagine how awful that "sandwich" is going to taste. Venison is not a meat that you can mass produce like a fast food chain needs. It just doesn't work. The "venison" that Arby's will have is going to be inedible in my opinion. It will be too chewy, too grimy and, since it is coming from an Arby's, most likely low grade. I was in shock and horror when I saw this. This is one of those things that just should not be. Arby's is disgusting, and the fact that they are trying to sell venison makes it even worse. This is going to end very, very badly for Arby's, and anyone that has the guts to try this abomination. I imagine a ton of people not really enjoying this "sandwich". For their sake I hope Arby's doesn't have to do a Chipotle, another fast food chain I am not fond of, type shut down for awhile.

Please people, I implore you, stay far, far away from this particular Arby's in Saint Louis this Saturday. Do yourselves a favor and go enjoy a far superior roast beef sandwich from Lion's Choice. I promise you, it is the best decision you can make.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is an expert in all regional cuisine. Check out what he said about Cincinnati Chili.

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Ty's 2017-2018 NBA Preview: Playoffs and Award Predictions

With the 2017-18 NBA season kicking off tonight, god am I excited, I have one final preseason piece for everyone. As I promised yesterday, today I have all of my predictions. This will include my playoff teams from each conference, plus the playoff teams if they went with the 16 best records, the conference finals, the NBA finals, and all the award winners, including finals MVP. Anyway, lets get to it.

First off, I want to do the playoff teams from each conference. I will write them in order, counting from 1-8. I'll start with the East because it is so much easier than the West. The East is a joke. It was so damn easy to pick the 8 teams. So, I have Cleveland, Boston, Washington, Milwaukee, Toronto, Miami, Charlotte and Detroit ever so slightly over the 76ers. I have no faith in Detroit, I believe they were in the 20's in my countdown, but they are a better bet for the playoffs, in my opinion, this year than Philadelphia. But, it doesn't really matter. It is going to be Cleveland going to the finals. They will face either Boston or Washington in the East finals, but do not count out Milwaukee. I really feel like Giannis Antentekoumpo can will this team to some playoff wins, and I would not be totally shocked if the Bucks make the East finals. But, again, Cleveland will win the East with relative ease. They may have gotten older, but they have a better roster than any other team in the East, and they still have LeBron James. All that dude does is go to finals, and sometimes win them.

As far as the West, the 4 teams at the top were easy, but then it gets really difficult. There are about 7 teams vying for the 4 final spots in the West. As far as the seeds go, I have Golden State, OKC, Houston, San Antonio, Denver, Minnesota, New Orleans and Portland. This leaves out Memphis and the Clippers. Both teams have the talent to get to the playoffs, but I see too many things getting in their way. Memphis has no one outside of Mike Conley Jr and Marc Gasol. The Clippers best players are bound to get hurt. Danilo Gallinari is already hurt. Blake Griffin will get hurt. Patrick Beverly is bound to miss time. It always happens to the Clippers, so I do not see that changing at all this year. And while I think the Utah Jazz will play great defense, and really push for a playoff spot, the West is too good and they will miss out barely. As frustrating as it is to write, the Warriors will easily get to the Finals for a fourth straight time. They may go undefeated again on their way back to the Finals. As far as their Western Conference Finals opponent, I have them facing OKC. I am not too sure why, maybe I just want the Thunder to face KD, but I feel like, once the Thunder's big three figure it out, they are going to be very, very good. Chris Paul and James Harden will choke, they always do. The Spurs do not have enough behind Kawhi and LaMarcus Aldridge to really push. And the four other teams, the Warriors would dominate.

So we will have the inevitable Cleveland-Golden State finals for the fourth straight year. The funny thing too, even with my top 16 teams, which I will get to in a moment, I'd still have the Cavs and Warriors in the Finals. As far as just getting the top 16 teams in the playoffs, leaving the conferences and division winners and all that nonsense out, just flat out taking the 16 teams with the best records, I'd have, in order, Golden State, Boston, OKC, Houston, San Antonio, Cleveland, Washington, Denver, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Toronto, Miami, New Orleans, Portland, Utah and Charlotte. So, that gives 9 West teams and 7 East teams. I really struggled with figuring out who the 16th seed would have been. I went with Charlotte, but I really thought long and hard about the Clippers, again, I remembered their poor health and lack of any kind of solid guards, and Memphis, but I remembered they only have 2 great players, and a bunch of mediocre role players. But again, even with Cleveland being the team with the 6th best record, they would still face off with Golden State in the Finals. Both outcomes reveal the same result for me.

So, as far as the champ, it is the Warriors. They are going to easily win the Finals once again. They are too good and too loaded. They could even take some injuries to key guys, and they'd still walk to the title. The Warriors are too god damn good to be beaten. If they do not win the Finals I'd be shocked. They are that great. In fact, I think the Warriors will win 70 plus games during the season, and go undefeated in the playoffs and completely sweep their way to a title. The Warriors will be your 2018 NBA champs.

As far as award winners goes, lets start with the smaller ones first. For sixth man of the year, I'll go with Tristan Thompson. He has totally embraced his move to the bench, and I think he is going to be great off the bench for the Cavs. He is a perfect energy guy, and I think he will destroy second unit centers. I suppose 6th man of the year is probably the "smallest" award the NBA has. Now for the "big" ones. For coach of the year I have Jason Kidd. I love what the Bucks have going, and much to my surprise, a lot of that has to do with Kidd's direction. He has turned himself into a solid NBA coach, and with the way the Bucks are rising, I see Kidd getting another award to add to his trophy case. For rookie of the year I have Dennis Smith Jr. I love everything that Smith Jr has going for him. He is hyper athletic, he has great teammates, he will run the pick and roll to perfection with guys like Nerlens Noel and Dirk Nowitzki, and he is going to put up gaudy numbers because he will given the keys to the Mavericks offense. He is in an ideal situation for a rookie, and he has something to prove after "dropping" to 9th in the draft. For defensive player of the year I have Rudy Gobert. There is no better rim protector in the NBA, and he will be the best defender on one of the best defensive teams in the NBA. For Finals MVP I have Steph Curry finally getting his. He has won 2 regular season MVP's and 2 titles, but he hasn't gotten that Finals MVP yet. That changes this year. It is his turn after Andre Iguodala winning the first, and KD winning last year. And the final, and most important award, the regular season MVP, I have Kevin Durant. He is going to go off this year, and with a full season, a title and a finals MVP under his belt, he is going to win his second regular season MVP. I was going to go with LeBron, but I just feel like KD is going to tear the league apart this year. Hopefully this doesn't spell doom for him, seeing as David Johnson and Deondre Francois, my preseason NFL MVP and preseason Heisman winner, both went down with season ending injuries in week one of the NFL and college football seasons. I don't think anything bad will happen to KD though. He has suffered through enough injuries.

Anyway, I am so excited to watch the NBA kick off tonight. This is my favorite time of the year because now I have college football, the NFL and now, the NBA. There will always be some kind of sports event that I love on during almost every day of the week. What a great time to be a sports fan. Enjoy the NBA season everyone, and thanks for reading my preseason countdown and picks. I'm sure I'll have many pieces during and after the season, but this is how I see everything just a few hours before the actual season tips off. I cannot wait.

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. 

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

Ty's 2017-2018 NBA Preview: The Golden State Warriors

We've reached the final day of my 2017-18 NBA countdown. I'll give you my number 1 team today, along with all the reasons why they are the best team in the upcoming season. There will be one more preseason NBA piece, tomorrow, with all my postseason picks, award winners and the champ, spoiler alert, it is my number one team. But for today, I want to focus solely on my number one team. Are you ready for it?

It's the Golden State Warriors.

I know, shocking right? Who would have predicted that me, along with EVERY other NBA writer, would have picked this real life cheat code to be my/their preseason number 1 team. The Warriors literally have it all. In actuality, they are like teams 1-10 for me. That is how far ahead of the rest of the NBA they are. It is kind of a drag in a way because there is no real uncertainty. That is one of the things that makes sports so great, the drama. But the Warriors have erased all of that. I should say, an injury can, and does happen, see the Packers and Aaron Rodgers yesterday, more on that later this week. But, if everyone stays healthy, how does this team not win 68-72 games during the regular season and roll through the playoffs and finals once again? They are completely stacked. They have the three best shooters in the game right now, and the best shooter ever. Steph Curry is amazing. He can hit from anywhere on the floor. Literally ANYWHERE. His range knows no limits. And he is so deadly accurate. I've never seen a guy that can stop on a dime in transition, pull up from 4 or 5 feet beyond three, and I expect it to go in. He is truly the most gifted shooter ever. He is also not terrible on defense anymore. He doesn't have to be hidden that much. He is also just as good, if not better, than Kyrie as far as ball handling goes. Curry is great.

Then there is Kevin Durant. There was no reason for him to go there last year. He was already on a great team, but he wanted a ring, he chased it, and he got it. I don't want to hear bull shit excuses like, he didn't like playing with Russ, or he wanted a change of scenery, or he wanted to go somewhere that moved the ball around. All of that is just excuses for him chasing rings. But you know what, I am over that now. He got what he wanted, but he also earned it last year. He was the best player during the finals for the Warriors last year. He gave them the added shooting that they wanted, not needed. He is also an incredibly long and athletic defender. He is a great finisher at the rim, and he can be unselfish if he wants to. So, people need to quit making excuses for why KD joined the Warriors, and just accept that he is a front runner who also happens to be awesome at basketball.

Then we have Klay Thompson, the kind of forgotten man on this team. Klay is an amazing shooter, who when he gets hot, he cannot be cooled off. He can score 60 any given night. He is an amazing catch and shoot player. He is also a better defender than he is at offense. He played incredible defense on Kyrie the last three years. The common fan may not have noticed, what with Kyrie going for almost 30 every night, but Klay made him work extra hard for those points. The dude is as lock down as they get, with Kawhi being the only better defender in the NBA. Klay is extremely important to this team's success.

Draymond Green has turned himself into an exceptional basketball player. I always disliked him in college, he was a Michigan State player, but I respected the hell out of his game. He was a nuisance, and that is meant as a compliment. I never understood why he lasted until the second round, and I thought the Warriors got a steal when they drafted him. And, as we all see now, they got the steal of a lifetime. Draymond is an amazing Swiss army knife player. He can defend all 5 positions. I didn't think it was possible, but he can. I've watched him do it in a single game. He is so excellent at making the right decision nearly every time on defense. It is a thing of wonder to watch. He has turned himself into a quality offensive player too. He can go inside on smaller guys and take the bigger guys out of the paint. He even has a respectable three point shot now. Like I said before, I may not like him, but I respect his game, and how much better he has gotten every year.

Most will say that is "all the Warriors have", which is more than enough to beat every team in the NBA. I'd take those 4 to play any team's best 5 and still win. But, they have good to great players that fit into their positions with the team perfectly. Zaza Pachulia may be a big uncoordinated oaf, but he brings toughness and rebounding to this team, a skill they need. I will go to my grave thinking his closeout on Kawhi was dirty, but he does all the dirty work this team needs. Same thing goes for David West, except he has a bit of an offensive game. West is big, tough and can stretch defenders out to the free throw line. Javal McGee has turned himself an awesome energy guy. He is so much of a better fit in that role than a guy like Anderson Varejo was 2 years ago. McGee has always been extremely talented, and now, he is in a perfect situation for his skills. Patrick McCaw got some real good playoff experience last year, and I only see him getting better from here on out. He is going to be a great second unit guy for the Warriors who will only further their lead on the rest of the NBA. Shaun Livingston is such a good second unit point guard. He is so much taller and better than the guys he faces too. He has carved out a very nice career for someone that people thought was done after his brutal injury. He has accepted his NBA role to perfection. Same thing can be said for Andre Iguodala. He was once a guy that was "the guy" on a very good 76ers team. Then he came to Golden State, was relegated to being a sixth man, accepted that, and became an even better NBA player. He is the third best defender on a team filled with great defenders. He can also score from everywhere on the floor. He could have taken more money from a ton of different teams this offseason, but he knows where to go to get his rings. I am so impressed by a player like Iguodala. He is great. I am a big, big fan of the Warriors signing Nick Young. He may be brash, arrogant and cocky, but the dude can score. He will go to this team, think he is the best shooter out there, and it will work because he will be a second unit/instant offense player in Golden State. The coaching staff will use him to perfection because they know how to put players on their roster in the best positions to show their talents. The Warriors also absolutely fleeced the Bulls by trading them cash for Jordan Bell. Jordan Bell is the PERFECT player for this team. He is a young, energetic, rebounding and shot blocking rookie that doesn't really care about scoring. He is the younger version of Draymond Green.

Look, it is no secret that the Warriors are easily the best team in the NBA. They should, and will, win the title again. And probably every year that this core stays together. They are too good. As I said before, it is a drag because it takes out the suspense. But, more power to them for stacking the deck. If you have the money, go out and get the best players. Why wouldn't you want to win every year? It is fun to be on top. But, while I appreciate their excellence, I'm still a bit bummed. They will continue to win and win again. These other teams, the Rockets, Thunder, Cavs, Celtics, any team that has tried to go out and sign or trade for big stars, it doesn't matter. None of the other 29 teams in the NBA are one tenth as good as the Warriors.

There you have it, my 2017-18 NBA countdown. Come back tomorrow for all my predictions.

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. 

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

Throwing rocks, bombs, and nukes: The death of the old internet.

Recently a member of the SeedSing team was subject to some internet harassment. This got us all thinking about this old post. We feel like these thoughts are still as valid now as they were way back then. The post originally appeared July 22nd, 2015. Tell us your thoughts.

It has been a bad year for Reddit.

And a less than stellar month for Gawker.

And a very bad week for Ashley Madison.

Let us first take a look at the failure of Reddit. I love Reddit. It is part of the daily news dump into my brain. I am one of the millions of people who visit Reddit every single day, sometimes more than once a day. The idea of uncensored non-professional content was a revelation. I could not get enough of the raw content Reddit had to offer. Then I got older, and the ugliness of Reddit was turning me away. The horribleness of the MRA's , racists, and generally despicable people were the main focus of the site. The statistics would show how insignificant these loser subreddits actually were. The problem is these miserable people had social media, and a broken media, to advance their cause. Whenever Reddit would try to reign in the most awful people, the awful people would revolt under the claim of free speech. Gamergate gained its legs from  Reddit. That alone is Reddit's greatest failure.

Once Reddit tried to reign in the ugly minority, it had failed. The exit of Ellen Pao was the end of any future for the site. The fact that she tried to monetize the site by tamping down the worst parts of humanity should have been seen as an evolution of Reddit. Instead it was seen as a ploy (by a woman) to silence idiots. Reddit was for the worst of us. That was the lesson we all learned.

Gawker wanted to be the new media. Journalism without influence. I love that ideal. The idea that newsmaker should be part of news creation is idiotic. Influence has destroyed our modern media. I do not care to hear what the policy maker thinks, I want to know how the average person is affected by the policy maker. Fox News raced to the bottom through influence journalism, and all the networks followed. Gawker was going to be different.

So what the hell happened. Well, Gawker decided to be a celebrity (or celebrity connected) scandal tabloid institution. The problem is TMZ already filled that void. Gawker wants to be TMZ, while they trash on entities that are like TMZ. Celebrity gay shaming became a primary part of Gawker (and its other sites). The goal of being new media, but the reality of being a middle school boy, will be the sites undoing.

I absolutely love the Ashley Madison hack story. The hackers do not care about cheating idiots.  I do not really care about the weird sexual fantasy's of rich people who want to cheat (well I am kind of curious). The hackers are going after Ashley Madison because of their false claims of anonymity. What is so great about this story is that Ashley Madison will go down because of their own greed. 

That is why the old internet is dying, greed. Ashley Madison promised anonymity, and the ability to delete your existence (for a price). The problem is they never deleted anyone from their own servers. Credit card numbers, addresses, names, all of these important pieces of information people wanted to be anonymous were still part of Ashley Madison's data stores. The old internet relied upon financial information, and clicks. Reddit quietly embraced its horrible side because of web traffic. Gawker fell to the tabloid side of journalism because of eyeballs. Users want truth, justice, and financial security. The websites that claim to offer these things failed because of personal greed.

This is the end of the anonymous, self righteous, and asshole internet. Good riddance. I created SeedSing as a place for discussion that centers around what we can do to make a better tomorrow. Will we fall into the same trap as Reddit, Gawker, and Ashley Madison? Absolutely not. SeedSing will not cater to hateful people. The money we make goes to the contributors (after small expenses to keep the site running).

People have ideas, people have solutions, people have ambition. The new web will be contributor based with a focus on problem solving. The days of clickbait, endless surveys, and required personal financial information are over. We do not need your email, we need your thoughts. Society is in a bad state, something needs to change. We need to embrace new culture. We need to embrace new technology. We need to embrace new politics. 

There are many problems created by antiquated backward thinking. Our politics is messed up because of this. Our view of sports is suffering because of this. Our drug policy is messed up because of this. Let the internet of the past die. It is time for the 21st century to take hold.

Let your seed sing and take root. We can change the world.

RD Kulik

RD is the founder of SeedSing. He is interested in making things better. Join his cause.

Ty's 2017-2018 NBA Preview: Celtics, Spurs, Cavs

Day 9 of my NBA countdown.

At number 4 I have the Boston Celtics. First and foremost, I believe that the Celtics might be the most overrated team in all of the NBA. But they are playing great in the preseason you say. They traded for Kyrie Irving and signed Gordon Hayward you say. They have a great coach you say. All of that is good and well, and I clearly think they will be a good team, I have them at fourth overall, but I do not buy the hype that they will dethrone the Cavs and beat the Warriors. First off, Kyrie is an otherworldly scorer. I have never seen someone in my generation that can slip and dive through cracks and spin the ball off the backboard perfectly and score almost every time. If his shot gets blocked, I am surprised. He is also a decent outside shooter. Kyrie is a wizard with the ball too. He is one of the best ball handlers I have ever watched. His offense is not debatable. Where he struggles is defense. He doesn't seem to care about that side of the ball. He will try from time to time, but I feel like he is always looking to see what he can do on offense. He is always thinking ahead, but not always in the best way. Kyrie will do wonderful things during the regular season, but come playoff time, he will learn the harsh reality of not playing with LeBron. I have a very hot take on the other "big" free agent signing the Celtics had this offseason. I do not think Gordon Hayward is a top 20 player in the NBA. He is good, but a guy to build a franchise around, no way. Joe Johnson was better in the playoffs last year than Hayward. Same thing for Gobert. George Hill going out hurt them more than if Hayward had gotten hurt. Hayward couldn't do anything against the Warriors. Dante Exum looked better at times than Hayward did. Hayward is a fine 4th or 5th option, but a franchise leader, no. I'm excited for guys like Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown finally getting a chance to start. Brown is an explosive athlete who will only get better with the extended playing time. Smart is an awesome defender, he lost weight this offseason and he appears to have found his college stroke from three. Al Horford is a fine forward. Nothing more nothing less. Marcus Morris is a solid player, but I'd much rather have Avery Bradley, who they traded for Morris. Bradley is a better shooter and defender. Aron Baynes does nothing to move the needle for me. He is big, a decent rebounder and an okay defender, but he hasn't been that good since he left San Antonio. Jayson Tatum appears to be a legit scorer, but I look at him like I do Kyle Kuzma. I want to see Tatum do it against the best the NBA has to offer before I anoint him the next great scorer in the league. Terry Rozier is a very good instant offense guy and he has earned his shot at 20 plus minutes a game. I do really like the Semi Ojelaye pick. That dude is big and strong and can shoot. Much like the hype that the Lakers and 76ers are getting, I say temper the expectations with the Celtics. They will be a very good regular season team, but they have 4 new starters and it will take awhile before they mesh. Also, we will finally get to see how good of a coach Brad Stevens truly is. He now has super star players, so lets see how he handles the egos.

At number 3 I have the San Antonio Spurs. I know, they are old and hurt and don't have anyone besides Kawhi Leonard. Well, that was good for 61 wins last year. I'm done counting this team out. They have the best coach in all of the NBA history. Yeah, I said it. And they have Kawhi. Kawhi Leonard is an amazing basketball player. The things he does on defense are downright amazing, and he has turned himself into a great offensive player. He is a guy you can rely on now. LaMarcus Aldridge has been a disaster since signing there. That much is true. But, he had a conversation with Poppovich, and by all accounts they aired everything out. Maybe this will help Aldridge accept his role on this team and he will play better. We will see. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli are ancient in NBA terms, but Ginobli came up big in the playoffs last year, and Parker can still run the offense pretty well. Patty Mills is a very underrated, very good basketball player. He plays the way the Spurs play, and it is a thing of beauty. Pau Gasol is back, and while he was a bit down last year, I think he could have a much better season this year. He is no Tim Duncan, no one is, but if he can replicate some of his numbers, he will be worth every penny. Danny Green is a very good three point shooter and a great defender. I love Dejounte Murray. He is long and lean and athletic. He is so wiry and he is a great future replacement for Parker in a year or 2. They signed Rudy Gay. I'm kind of blah on this signing. But, if/when he comes back, I think he will be a decent addition. He can still score, and with some coaching from a great staff, I see Gay fully buying in. Kyle Anderson has been biding his time, and now, I think he is ready to take that next step to being a 20 minute a night guy for this team. The Spurs never have the biggest names, Kawhi being the lone exception, but as I said at the top, I'm done saying that this team is done. Poppovich is the best NBA coach ever, and as long as he is there, the Spurs will be in my top 5.

The final team for today, coming in at number 2, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Sorry LeBron, but you will finish second once again. But, LeBron is the best player in the game. Whatever team he is on, they will be either number 2 or 3 on my list. LeBron has more than lived up to the hype when he was drafted and he is just an incredible basketball player, and an even better person. LeBron James is all around amazing. The Cavs did lose Kyrie, and they replaced him with Derrick Rose. Yikes. Rose is not the player he once was. I'm curious to see how he reacts to playing with a guy like LeBron. Rose has always been "the guy", but not anymore. I know that, the Cavs know that and most of the media knows that, but I do not think Derrick Rose does yet. Dwayne Wade is back with his buddy, and he is one of the best 2 guards ever, but he is old, often injured and only plays about 50-60 games a year. He has also been a non factor in the playoffs the past couple years. They traded Kyrie for Isaish Thomas and Jae Crowder. Thomas is a great, great scorer, but he is an awful defender and he is hurt and will miss a ton of time this year. I am a big Jae Crowder fan. He has turned himself into a very quality NBA player. He can hit the open three and he is immediately the Cavs best defender. Kevin Love is going to be playing the 5, but I feel like Love is half the player he used to be. He shoots from outside way, way too much and he isn't the great rebounder he was in Minnesota. He will help stretch the floor, but other than that, what does he do? Tristan Thompson is now the sixth man, and he seems to be taking it in stride. I think this will be great for him because he will be able to come in, grab boards, hustle and get put backs. This is an ideal fit for him. JR Smith has ben pushed to the bench, and he isn't happy and I totally agree with him. Right now in their careers, I'd rather have JR Smith on the floor in crunch time that Wade. I never thought I'd ever say that, but I honestly feel that way. Smith has made a ton of clutch shots lately for this team, and being pushed to the bench so Wade can start next to LeBron is pretty crummy. Kyle Korver and Iman Shumpert are of no consequence to this team. Korver was horrendous in the Finals last year, and Shumpert was even worse. The Cavs drank the Jeff Green kool aid, and I would be shocked if he is still getting minutes halfway into the season. I'd be more shocked if he were still on the Cavs by midseason. Richard Jefferson is there, but he is more known for his podcast now than as a player. Same thing for Channing Frye. And why did they sign Jose Calderon? Don't they already have enough guards? The Cavs are great because LeBron is a once in a lifetime player. They will be able to easily coast through the East, and even though they got older this offseason, they will walk to the Finals, only to get beaten by my, and almost everyone else's number 1 team, which you will have to wait until Monday for.

Come back next week to see who it is, if you haven't already figured it 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. 

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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