We All Have Something to Do Tomorrow

Tomorrow is a very, very important day. Tomorrow will tell me, and a bunch of others I'm sure, where we stand as a country. Are some people really this racist? Are some people too far gone? Do we not have morals or ethics? Do people actually care? Do people want change? Will we ever see a way out of this pandemic? There are these questions, and about a billion more that we should get some answers to. But the way to get the answers some want, that I want, is to vote.

Voting is the best way to fight the system. I know a lot of people will read this and tell me, you're a dyed in the wool Democrat, how are you fighting? I'm fighting because we are so far gone from the country we were four years ago. I look at life now and compare it to 2016, and man it is bleak. It's not so bleak for me personally, but as a country, we are in a bad, bad place. We are in the midst of a pandemic with no end in sight. We are more than broke. We are divided. We pass judgements based on people's political beliefs without even knowing them. This is all due to the current "government" we have in the White House.

The current regime does not care about anyone but themselves and their wallets. They want division. They want to stay rich, break the law and tear away so many things that made us better from 2000 to 2016. In those 16 years we made advancements. Gay marriage became legal. Healthcare became affordable. Trans people had rights. Wars weren't as prevalent. Both parties worked together. Things were, on the surface, fine. I have my problems with George W Bush, and I know people have their issues with Barack Obama, who I absolutely adore, but all in all, things weren't this bad. Since 2016 things have gotten markedly worse. Things have essentially crumbled. Businesses are filing for bankruptcy daily. Poor people are only getting poorer. Families are being torn apart because of a stupid border issue. The people in power want to rip away affordable healthcare. We are in a horrific pandemic. My kids just went back to in person learning a few weeks ago, but they have to learn a whole new set of rules. I know other places aren't allowing kids back until the new year. Sports have no fans, and some have been outright canceled for the year. I don't feel safe going to restaurants, movie theaters or playgrounds. To see friends and family, on the very rare occasion that I do, I wear a mask.

This is a nightmare. We are living in the darkest timeline. And for those who think it can't get worse, it can get much, much worse. The best way to combat that, in my opinion, is to vote. There has been an enormous amount of early voters, which is great. Personally, I'm going to my polling place when it opens tomorrow at 6am. I prefer to vote in person. But now is the time. If you have a mail in ballot, and you haven't mailed it, go drop it off in person at your polling place. If you go to vote in person, and there is a line, wait. They cannot kick you out of line, even if it gets past closing time. If you are there before, you get to vote. It is your duty, and the law. Don't let people bully or harass you in the lines. Some may want to try intimidation, ignore them. They are not the law, and they cannot stop you from voting. There will be obstacles, and it may get frustrating, especially if you have to wait, but just think how good it will feel when you cast your ballot. Go out tomorrow and exercise your right to vote. Don't sit this election out. Make sure your voice is heard. Also, look into the local people and amendments in your town. Those issues are just as important to vote for.

I will not be writing tomorrow because I want everyone to go out and vote. I don't want someone to read a sports story of mine tomorrow and forget to vote. This is too important a moment to not speak your mind and vote. Go vote. Ignore any and all of the early polls and numbers. We were all duped in 2016, so make sure you vote no matter what you read or hear. This is it. This is the time. Please vote. Please.

Ty

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

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Everything That is Wrong With Trevor Lawernce's COVID-19 Diagnosis

Earlier this week the Big Ten had to cancel a game due to a COVID outbreak, and yesterday, Trevor Lawrence tested positive and will miss Clemson's game against Boston College tomorrow.

This is not the trend that the NCAA was hoping for when they pushed ahead for a season this fall. I have mentioned how they could survive if it were smaller schools having to push games around, or outright cancel them, and how if the players weren't "stars", it wouldn't really be a problem. But now the NCAA is having to deal with big name schools and prospects. Notre Dame and Florida have had to postpone games due to outbreaks. Wisconsin is now added to that list, and I am sure there are a good number of more high profile schools coming down the pipe. And while these schools have had to pause their seasons, no real super duper star player has tested positive. Notre Dame's QB didn’t test positive, that we know. Wisconsin's freshman QB did, but he isn't a top tier guy yet. Florida didn't release the names of the players that tested positive, so that means we don't know if their QB or stud tight end got it. And with coaches getting it, like Dan Mullen and Paul Chryst, I do not count Nick Saban because that whole situation is fishy to me, that doesn't really matter because they have so many assistant coaches that can take over if needed. But when a player of Trevor Lawrence's caliber gets it, and has to miss a guy, that should frighten everyone involved with college football. He is the Heisman front runner. He is the star player of the number one team in the country. He was very vocal about wanting to play. He has been on fire. And he is, if he leaves Clemson after this year, going to be the number one pick in the 2021 NFL draft. So the fact that he tested positive twice, that Clemson couldn't find some way to keep it quiet or cover it up, that he is missing a nationally televised game, this is all big news, and it is not good news.

Clemson will most likely beat Boston College tomorrow. They have a backup that was a highly rated recruit, and he does have game snaps due to all the blowouts, but that will not be the topic of conversation going into the game tomorrow. It will all be about Lawrence. I'm sure they will try and figure out how he got it, when he got it and how soon he will be able to return. The return, I bet, will be the biggest topic on all the pregame shows. The ACC has a ten day sit out policy for any kid that tests positive. And you may read this and say, okay, he will miss two games, but it is Clemson, they should roll. Again, I'm sure they will with BC, but they have the game of the week, and season, next Saturday when they face Notre Dame.

At the time I'm writing this those are the 1st and 3rd rated teams in the country. It will almost assuredly be a primetime night game. It will have as many eyeballs on it as possible. But, if Lawrence tested positive on Wednesday, and then again on Thursday, that would mean that the tenth day would fall on the night of that game. What will TV and the NCAA do if he isn't better? What if his "mild symptoms" get worse during the week? What if he tests positive again? What if he breaks quarantine because he thinks he feels okay enough to go out? Or what if Clemson's game this weekend is too close for comfort, and Dabo wants his prize recruit to come back before he is healthy and ready?

That, and the TV stuff, is what scares me most. Nick Saban wasn't supposed to coach last weekend against Georgia, but by some miracle, he tested negative when he needed to. This meant CBS could run their regular show and Alabama fans could see their coach on the sidelines, and everyone forgot about it. Again, he is a coach, and he has no other prospects. He is the GOAT college coach and he clearly doesn't want to return to the NFL. His career is set. Trevor Lawrence is about to get seriously paid, he is about to be in the NFL, and while he hasn't really needed for anything in his life, he won't have to ever again after he is drafted. But what if this lingers? How will that affect him in the long? What about how the coaches handle this? Dabo Swinney is all about winning, and doing it at any cost. I wouldn't be shocked at all if he rushes Lawrence back for their next game.

This is all very bad. And I fear it will be handled even worse by every adult in the room. This was my biggest worry for a college football season, and NFL for that matter, that these star players would get COVID and miss time, and possibly damage their future. It sucks way more for college kids because, for the naïve, they don't get paid a dime. I hope Clemson and Trevor Lawrence and the NCAA do the right thing, but they have shown too many times before that they won't, and that they don't care about these kids. This was the worst thing that could have happened for Clemson and college football, and I am curious and pessimistic that they will handle it the right way. This is a real bummer.

Ty

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

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Ty Watches "The Eric Andre Show" Season Five Premiere

This past Saturday the season five premiere of "The Eric Andre Show" was on, and it was awesome, and weird and crazy and nutso and wild and what I have come to love and expect from his humor. I have been a fan of this show since a buddy of mine told me to watch it about five years ago. He knows that I like odd, weird humor, and he figured I'd like this different take on a talk show. He was right. I have watched every season of this show multiple times. When the pandemic first started, I ripped through the fourth season twice, and it took me about three weeks to do it. That is another thing I like about the show, it is twelve minutes long. It is an Adult Swim show, and the majority of their shows are weird and short. You can rip off five to six episodes in an hour. I love it. I had been anticipating the fifth season since I saw some ads for it appear on social media about a month or so ago.

One thing I really like, Andre sports a new hairdo and outfit each season. This season he is bald and wearing a full white suit. Hannibal Burress, his co host, calls him out on this, and Andre says he is doing a Vin Diesel thing this season. That made me laugh pretty hard. I also liked, in the premiere, there were two episodes, when Andre was going to do his monologue, he had people carry him on a pillow to the mic and proceeded to do some Street Fighter moves on them after they set him down. Buress called him out on this, and Andre said he was doing it for "opulence". That was the perfect word to use to describe what he was doing at that moment. Buress yelled at him, and made fun of him the whole monologue, and it was great. It was like slipping into some clean sheets. It made me comfortable to see this all again, especially now. From there on out, for both episodes, Andre tormented his guests and did cut away skits that made me laugh.

The first episode had Judy Greer and Adam Rippon as guests. Greer seemed freaked out the whole time, and Burress and Andre seemed to push her to the brink. They had errant hot dogs hit the set, Andre showed a video of his cleaning lady and asked her if she "ever punished herself". It was hilarious. With Rippon, Andre had a stagehand under the chair he sat on, and he had that stage hand continue to grab at him and scare him. Again, hilarious. With his cut aways, he did the Ranch guy, always a homerun, and played a UPS guy that had what seemed like a real rat on his shoulder and walked around the subway "looking for its owner". The musical guest was Anderson .Paak, who Andre had chugging a six pack and playing the drums. He called him Anderson 6 .Paak. I really liked it. This set the tone perfectly.

The second episode featured Burress actually quitting. The fans, we all knew this was coming and I was curious to see how they would do it. It was simple enough, with Buress simply saying, "I quit" and walking off stage. Not to be deterred, Andre took one of Buress' nose hairs, which he plucked and cloned him. His clone turned out a little wacky, and they called him Blanninbal Burress. The guests were a rapper named Saweetie, who they tormented by making the stage move without her knowing, and Shanola Hampton, who they raised in a chair and walked her around the room, like Bar Mitzvah style. They also scared her by making Andre literally fly when she gave him a high five. As for the pre taped segments, They did an ad for a psychoactive drug that "tastes like real lemon and lime" and Andre revised his Sprite daredevil guy. Both of these were funny and very well done. The episode ended with Andre's American Rap Ninja Warrior, where he takes lesser known rappers and makes them do a weird obstacle course while blindfolded. It was pretty damn funny.

I am glad that this show is back. I need this weird and wild humor in my life right now. It gave me twenty minutes of solid laughs. I am looking forward to the rest of the season, and I am pretty certain I will rewatch it the moment it is over. Hell, I have already watched the first two episodes multiple times. "The Eric Andre Show" is great, and I am stoked that it is back. Watch it.

Ty

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

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The Big Ten is Screwed

I was going to write about the season five premiere of "The Eric Andre Show" today, but it will have to wait another day due to some sports news I saw this afternoon.

The Big Ten, after one week of games being played, already have to cancel a game. I read at the beginning of the week that the Wisconsin freshman QB, who looked dynamite against Illinois last Friday, tested positive twice for COVID. The backup QB did too. Then today Wisconsin confirmed that twelve people within the program, including the head coach, have tested positive. They now have to pause all activities for at least seven days, and the players who tested positive may have to sit upwards of twenty-one days.

The Big Ten was very stringent in the protocols to follow if/when positive tests came out, and the players are hit hardest by this. The rule was stated at the beginning that, if a player tests positive more than once, they have to sit out three weeks. It makes sense to me, it seems like that was a big deal in the restart of the season and we all knew it would come to this, just maybe not this early. But, with the Big Ten waiting so long to start its fall season, this leaves no room for making the game up. The Big Ten has a strict eight week conference only schedule, with the ninth week having the top two teams from each division playing for the Big Ten title, and the rest of the teams playing an extra game for bowl positioning. The caveat, for the time being, Wisconsin and Nebraska will only play eight games, at the most. The rest of the conference, if there are no more outbreaks, I doubt it, will all play one extra game.

Nebraska didn't really have a shot at the CFP, but Wisconsin might have. Nebraska got crushed last week, and they were more than likely going to get beat this Saturday after seeing what Wisconsin did to Illinois, whose defense is much better than Nebraska's. They were staring down an 0-2 start. But I do feel a little bad for Nebraska because they were one of the first schools in the conference to push back against the original cancellation of the season. They were so primed to play that they took a case to court, and they had ideas to play as an independent for this season. Now they have to miss a game because Wisconsin has an outbreak. That seems unfair to them. But this is what the Big Ten will look like all year. The more outbreaks amongst the conference, the more cancellations. They have a set date to finish the year, December 12th, and they are sticking to it. That may mean that some teams will play 7, 8 or 9 games. Or, at this rate, some teams may only play 5 or 6 games.

As for Wisconsin, this stinks on so many levels for them, as a football team. This freshman QB looks like the real deal. He only had one incompletion. He and Justin Fields, who is a legit Heisman contender, had almost identical stats. Now he has COVID, as does his backup and upwards of ten or eleven more players. That is brutal. First of all, this virus has proven it is rough, add on the missed games and practices, and it is like a lost season for these kids. As for the team, this is even more brutal because, as I said, Wisconsin had some real playoff aspirations. They looked like they had opened the offense. The defense shut down Illinois. They pretty much had this Nebraska game in the bag, and more than likely they would have been heading to Ann Arbor in two weeks 3-0, and probably favored in that game. Now they have to miss a full game. The players who have COVID will have to miss, at least, two games. The coaches are going to miss a full week, at the very least, of practice during the season.

This is a blow to the program for this very odd season. But, and I say this again and again and again, how did the players and coaches get COVID, and were they not following safety protocols? I know the University of Wisconsin has seen a surge in positive COVID cases due to parties on campus. Were these players at said parties? Were they not wearing masks? Were they not social distancing? No one knows except the people involved. But more likely than not, if I were a betting man, I'd say that they were going to parties because they are young college athletes who are always the big men on campus. Wisconsin loves their football, and the players are treated like royalty. So the dumb actions of a few are screwing this team and their chances at playing in a big bowl game, or even the CFP.

I fear that this is just the start. I know some universities have already had outbreaks. The university of Ohio State, Rutgers, Michigan State and Penn State all had to pause football activities once already due to outbreaks. Iowa did as well, and they have the whole racial injustice issue going on. The University of Michigan currently has its dormitory residents on stay at home orders. It just feels like things will get much worse before they get better. I would hope that this will be a wake up call for the other members of the Big Ten because any stoppage screws these teams from any major bowl games or the playoff. I wish that were the case, but time will tell. Again, these are young kids that are treated better, and they get invited to everything. If there were ever a season or a year to skip those parties, and just hang out at home, this is the year and the season.

The Big Ten better wake up and take this seriously, or else they will be shut out of any important postseason play. 

Ty

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

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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

Ty Watches "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm"

I, like most of the rest of the country, watched "Borat 2" this past Friday.

Right off the bat, this was a solid sequel. It wasn't as good as the original, most sequels aren't, but it achieved its main goal. There are parts of the US that are as terrifying as anywhere else in the world, and Sacha Baron Cohen, as Borat, proved that yet again. In fact, while this movie is a comedy in genre, I view it almost like a horror film. The people not named Borat, Tutar and 3 other ladies, legitimately have me worried about the country I live in. This was as eye opening as the first "Borat" movie, but in so many different ways, and in a very new, very racist light.

The main plot of the movie is simple. Borat is in prison for the first movie, he is let out to give a present to the current "government", to get in their good graces, things go awry and we meet some truly awful, awful people. The "present" is supposed to be a very popular monkey from Kazakhstan that is a movie star. Unfortunately for Borat, his daughter hides away in the cargo, eats the monkey, and then she becomes the "present". It is as simple as that. But, it just got worse and worse and worse from there. Again, I liked the movie, but the people we meet in it, with three exceptions, are the worst people I can imagine. When Borat realizes he has to give his daughter as a gift, this is when things get nuts. The first person we meet that is horrendous is an Instagram "influencer". I never understood that "job", but this lady seems to make money off of it. But the way she talks to Tutar, Borat's daughter, it is so demeaning and so misogynistic. She tells Tutar, "women have to be more submissive", or, "we kind of have to let the men do everything". It is pretty demeaning. The actress that plays Tutar does a great job of egging her on, trying to get more from her, and the other stuff she says is truly embarrassing. That lady should be ashamed of herself, for real. There is a preacher they meet later on, and Borat tries to get him to "get a baby out of her", "that he put in her". The "baby" is a plastic toy from a cupcake, but they don't tell the religious guy that. They make it seem like he actually put a baby in her. They try to get this monster to help them out, but he refuses to do anything, and says something along the lines of, "it doesn't matter how the baby got there, now we are here". Again, when these words came out of his mouth, I was stunned that someone could be that ignorant and stupid and disgusting.

It only gets worse from there. Tutar leaves Borat to be a journalist. We then cut to the US when the pandemic first hit. This is when the movie gets truly scary. Borat finds a few guys that let him stay in their home during the beginning of quarantine. The stuff that comes out of these guys mouths, on film, is some of the most vile and hurtful and horrible things I have ever heard. They say they are "sad" that "unfortunately democrats have the same rights as us". I mean, we are all people. Jesus Christ why is it that hard for people to see. They read QAnon constantly. They call the pandemic and COVID a hoax. It is really bad. It gets even worse when they go to an anti mask rally. This was the second scariest moment in the movie. Borat changes his outfit because he has to hide out. He proceeds to sing a song that the crowd sings along with, which is one of the most heinous songs I have ever heard. The lyrics are truly, truly horrifying. I don't even want to repeat them on my blog because I fear it will put me on some weird list. While singing the song, the cameraman cuts to maskless people in the crowd standing too close to one another, people holding AR 15's for some unknown reason and racist assholes doing the Nazi heil sign. I was so upset it made my stomach hurt. And this wasn't the worst thing in the movie. T

he worst thing happened next. Tutar gets a job doing fake journalism for conservative nutjobs. She is so beloved by these maniacs that believe what she is doing is real, she gets a one on one interview with Rudy Guiliani. He is a real, real, real dirtbag. I don't know if anyone has had such a hard fall as he has. He was considered an okay person after 9/11, and now here we are. He starts the interview off calling Tutar "sweetie" and "honey". Tutar is supposed to be 15 years old by the way. From there Tutar kind of sees how far she can go. She keeps laughing and touching his knee. Meanwhile, Guiliani is drinking a scotch, not wearing a mask and openly coughing while stating that "we've done a great job containing this virus". There is so much wrong with everything that is going on in this short little segment. He's openly drinking hard alcohol with a 15 year old. If you are not in someone's bubble, please, please, please wear a mask. The coughing, to me, is a clear sign that he has some form of COVID. And the statement is patently false. We have lost far too many lives, and still counting, because of the current "government's" lack of doing anything, and thinking this virus would "just go away". It is all wrong. From there, Borat storms in, pretending to be a boom mic guy, and messes up the interview. Tutar takes him to the back, and tells him she is fine. Then Tutar escorts Guiliani to her room in the hotel to "have some drinks". Then, in a wildly disgusting, disturbing and telling moment, Guiliani lays on his back and looks to be unzipping his pants. Borat storms in in a thong and bikini underwear and tells him to take him instead. He says that Tutar is too old for him, again, she is 15, and tries to get him to take him. Of course Guiliani takes offense to this and tries to make Borat look like the bad guy. Borat is not. He saved the actress that plays Tutar, although I am sure she would have saved herself too. This is, by far, the most heinous and gross and disturbing thing I have seen in a movie in quite some time. If it weren't for the babysitter and the two Jewish ladies in the movie, there would be no redeeming characters. They are the soul of the movie.

I recommend watching this movie if only to see how truly terrifying some people in this country can be. It is startling and upsetting, but this is who we need to fight and vote out of office. These people are monsters and just outright awful, and "Borat 2" proves that tenfold. We live in a weird and scary world, and this movie shows that. Now is the time to revolt and vote. Please vote. 

Ty

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

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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

How Should I Feel About Michigan Football Being Back

I watched the entirety of my first college football game this past Saturday night. I haven't been watching much because of the pandemic, the use of these kids as pawns for the universities, the fact that the NCAA is corrupt, that there are no fans and it is eerie and because the Big Ten had not started.

Well that changed on Saturday. The Big Ten kicked off their shortened season. I am surprised that I only watched one full game, and the end of another, waiting for the Michigan game. I figured I would tune in to the other Big Ten games, but I really didn't. I did other things. I hung out with my family in the morning. I ran to the store to get some essentials. I went for a run by myself. I did what I have been doing all fall pretty much. But I knew that Michigan was going to kick off at 6:30pm my time, and I knew I would watch. I also knew that my mom and dad would come over, they have been a part of our little bubble this whole pandemic, and that my dad and I cannot resist watching Michigan. So, we tuned in to the end of the PSU-Indiana game, which was, given the circumstances, a pretty exciting game, and waited for Michigan to start. Before the game I did not have the usual feelings I have had every year since I became obsessed with the Wolverines. I wasn't waiting all day, I found things to do. My mind wasn't focused on who was going to play, and what the team may look like. I didn't have that usual pit in my stomach right before kickoff. I was relaxed enough to eat eight big chicken wings and a full size salad we ordered from a local pizza joint. That never really happened before for me. And I should be happy about that. I should feel like there has been some kind of growth and maturity that has come with age. But really, it was the fact that this season is, and will continue to be, so very weird.

The pregame ramp up seemed familiar, and when I saw the Wolverines warming up, it looked normal enough. There is hardly anyone in the stadium an hour prior to most games, so it didn't seem different at first. But then the game started. This was when it felt odd. There were less than 600 fans in attendance. This is a good thing too. I'm not complaining, or comparing it to a Marlins game. The Big Ten has strict fan attendance rules, and they are only allowing certain people to watch the games live. But this meant you could hear everything that was being said on the field. I could hear QB's make checks, players talk to one another and the hits were crisp. It was surreal. Usually the crowd drowns that out, but not on Saturday night. I will say, the fans in attendance were fully masked, and seemed to be following the proper safety protocols. The coaches were as well. There were only a few times I said aloud, "why isn't that coach wearing his mask?". Both head coaches were masked the whole game, only flipping it off to bark out instructions, which I thought was good. As for the game on the field, both teams were missing starters, Minnesota was missing more, but it was not what I expected. I thought this was going to be a hard nosed, low scoring defensive affair. It was not. Minnesota blocked a punt and scored in under 3 minutes. Michigan answered with a 70 yard TD run on the very next play. Then Michigan got a strip sack for a score right after that. From there on out, it was an offensive battle. Michigan had 35 points at half, which was wild. Joe Milton looked solid and in control, the run game was good and very, very deep, the young receivers and skill players did well and it was clear that Minnesota missed their starters much more than Michigan did.

When it was all said and done, Michigan won 49-24. They got a solid road win against a ranked opponent when a lot of people picked against Michigan. It was nice to see them play again too. I had resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to see them play until next fall, and this was a nice surprise. And I did have times where I cheered long runs and defensive stops and was happy that they won going away. But it was weird. I felt icky at times watching the game. I am worried for the kids and I hope they continue to follow proper protocols. I will continue to watch because I love Michigan, but this is going to be as weird a season as I have ever witnessed. I'm glad they won, and I hope they get to play with few, possibly no, postponements, but time will tell. Either way, glad they won, but it was a very bizarre experience. This is like nothing I have seen, or even my dad for that matter.

This will be an odd year for sure.

Ty

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

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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

Ty's 2020 Big Ten Football Preview

The Big Ten starts, I believe, their fall football season tonight.

I am pretty conflicted about this. I haven't watched much college football, even less NFL, and with COVID cases surging in the Midwest right now, I don't think it is the safest thing to do. But they are barreling ahead and getting it started. They are doing an eight game abbreviated season, with the possibility of a ninth game. This affords them the chance to make the playoff, if they have little to no problems finishing the season. I think they will run into problems, every conference playing currently has had stops and cancellations and postponements, and the NFL has been even worse. But, I will watch, at the very least, Michigan. I am an addict, I love their football team and, while it is easy for me to skip a Clemson or Alabama game, I just can't do that with the Wolverines. And to be fully transparent, I will watch other Big Ten games. This is the conference I have grown up with, and I watch it more than any other. I will miss the freedom I have found myself having on Saturday's now, at least for the next eight Saturday's, but I know I will tune in when Michigan is on. That is who I am.

With all this being said, I am going to do a 2020 version of my preseason preview of the Big Ten. I will not go through each team, and give them sentences and where I think they will fall. I will give you all a general view of how I see the Big Ten season unfolding, and end it with some predictions, including the conference champ. Let's get to it. Right off the bat, I do think the Big Ten will run into issues with postponements. Some of the teams, if not all, will have some kind of outbreak, and they will have to shut it down for a week or two. We have seen it at small programs, and much bigger ones, namely Notre Dame and Florida. It is definitely going to happen in the Big Ten. That is how this has worked all college football season so far, and the Big Ten is not immune.

The university of Ohio State should roll. They have the easiest schedule in the conference. I'm not joking. They do not play anyone tough, at all. You can throw out Penn State or Michigan at me, and I'd counter with, PSU is missing their top running back and best defender, and Michigan has almost an entire new offense, and secondary. If the university of Ohio State doesn't go undefeated, it would be a major, major letdown from them. They have the best players in the league, and they were given as cupcake a schedule as a team can get in this weird season.

I think Michigan will be mediocre, but I do love that they are starting Joe Milton at QB. My dad has been high on him since day one, and I have become a fan over the past year. He is going to be good, but he will have some not so good moments. They also have an entire new receiving corps, save for Ronnie Bell. They also have four new offensive line starters. They also have an entire new secondary. The players are good, they just haven't played much, and Michigan has one of the harder schedules in the conference. I think, at best they are a 5-3 team, but they look more like 4-4 to me. I also think this is the time that Michigan fans should get really worried that Harbaugh might jump back to the NFL. I hope he doesn't, but you never really know what he is going to do. He is a great coach, he has made the Wolverines so much better than they were prior to him, and I'd hope he would stay because he is the king in Ann Arbor, but I just have this odd feeling he will seriously consider jumping.

Wisconsin and Penn State will be solid six or seven win teams, but they will not compete for the playoff. PSU doesn't have their top back, best defensive player, and they really kind of tumbled near the end of last season. I don't trust their pass game, and I think the odd season we have will hamper their offense. Wisconsin will plug in some other running back that will go for 1200 to 1500 yards, and their O line will be solid, but their passing game is super suspect, and I think they lost a good chunk of their defense.

Minnesota will be solid. They lost a ton, but they have their QB and one of their best receivers back. I am curious to see if last year was an anomaly, or a sign of things to come. There is always a team that explodes for one season, then crashes back to Earth. I think Minnesota is good enough to be an upper tier Big Ten team, but I want to see it first. They should have an explosive offense though.

Iowa has so many problems within the program that I don't see how that doesn't affect them on the field. Former players are calling for Kirk Ferentz to be fired. That has got to weigh on them. By the way, if all the stories coming out of Iowa are true, he has to be fired immediately. That is some heinous stuff.

Outside those teams, it is all kind of blended. Purdue was helped with Rondale Moore opting back in, but who else do they have? Northwestern has more stories about kids opting out than playing. What is going on in Lincoln? Is Scott Frost a good coach? Are they going to figure it out defensively? Who knows. Michigan State has a new coach and a whole new system, and they have problems within their program as well. Indiana will always be a tough out because that is the nature of their team. And the rest, Illinois, Maryland and Rutgers, they all have holes, but also some good guys and will play some fun games, but probably not win too many of them.

I think it goes without saying that I have the university of Ohio State winning the conference again, and they should do it going away. I also think Justin Fields will be the Big Ten player of the season. They should dominate. Outside of that, I am excited to see Joe Milton, Minnesota will be pretty good and PSU and Wisconsin will be better than average. Let's get to it, I guess. 

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "American Utopia"

Yesterday I had the chance to sit down, uninterrupted for two hours, and watch "American Utopia". This is the new concert movie from David Byrne and directed by Spike Lee. It was his short run Broadway show in fact, and it was absolutely amazing. I was totally blown away by the entire thing. I was excited to watch, and when it started, that excitement jumped to a 10.

The opening of “American Utopia”, with Byrne holding a fake brain and singing the song "Here", was pretty god damn cool. The song, and the prop, were a perfect way to open this show. From there on out, Byrne and his band went on to crush the entire set. The spectacle of it all, the band, the music, the message, the way the message was put out there, Byrne interacting with the audience, it all worked out to perfection. I used to attend many live shows, and I still did up until February of this year, and I have never seen something like this. This was so over the top, but in the best possible way. I absolutely loved the way they did the lights, the shadows, everything was done up so well. I loved hearing the songs I have gotten to know off of "American Utopia" in the recent months. As you all know, I am a late comer to David Byrne and Talking Heads. I am catching up during the pandemic, especially when I go running. So seeing this now, for me, was perfect timing. It has all these songs that I am growing to love, and understand more, on a daily basis. The version they play of "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)", which is my current favorite Talking Heads song, was so cool. I was dancing on my couch while they played it. "I Zimbra" was rad. The way they performed it, it was so cool to hear all the isolated instruments. "I Should Watch TV" was quite possibly the coolest thing I have ever seen on TV, or in person for that matter, ever. That was done so well, and when Byrne crashes through the chains, and the stage goes to black, damn that was awesome. "I Dance Like This" was really well choreographed. The way the entire band moved in sync, and danced their hearts out, it was really neat. "Everyday is a Miracle" was pretty brilliant, and I was pretty moved by Byrne's performance. I really enjoyed when Byrne talked about the Detroit Choir doing a version of his song, "Everybody's Coming to My House", and making it a totally different song without changing anything. I also liked why his version is much sadder than the Detroit Choir's version. It was also great to hear the Choir's version during the end credits. "Once in a Lifetime" was really exceptional because Byrne recreated a lot of the dancing he did on "Stop Making Sense". I liked that. "Burning Down the House" sounded as full as ever, and when the whole band came together, my goodness was that amazing. The song that moved me to tear up, literally, was their version of the great Janelle Monae song "Hell You Talmbout". To listen to the full band play and sing the song, then say the names of the too many murdered African American people, with their pictures placed in the movie, was heartbreaking and moving and made me want to go and start a revolution. This was simply put, a perfect representation of this important song. And closing the show with "Road to Nowhere", walking into the crowd and singing and playing, it made me miss live shows.

"American Utopia" really had everything I wanted. It was great music. Byrne discussed important, pressing issues, like climate change and voting, amongst other things. The band was incredible, and to see them perform all these songs was truly exceptional. These people are amazing musicians and performers. And it made me miss live music, which is what I look for now when I watch concert movies. Spike Lee's directing was top notch also. Lee can do no wrong. If he doesn't win an Oscar this year, for this or "Da 5 Bloods", it would be very disappointing. I highly, highly recommend everyone watch this movie. It is great music, it is timely, it is important and it rules.

Seriously, go watch this immediately.

Ty

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

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The Joys of Virtual Running

During this pandemic, and who knows when, or even if, it will end, running has been my therapy, besides when I do teleconferences with my actual therapist. Running has become a big part of my life. It was becoming big even before the pandemic. Running was a tool to lose weight at first, but now I legitimately enjoy it. I like going out to run pretty much any distance. It’s good to get away. It’s a relief. It’s a workout. I feel better during and after my runs. It’s great.

I was worried when the pandemic started because every race I signed up for was getting canceled. I’d get emails everyday with a new postponement or cancellation. This bummed me out. I didn’t know what I would do, or if this would quell any momentum I had gained since I started running about five years ago. Then virtual races became a thing. I didn’t really know what these virtual races entailed, or how to even do one. So I kind of stayed away at first. I took refunds when I could from canceled races, and the ones that were postponed, I deferred to whenever they would be safe to do in person. For the first couple months of quarantine running became just exercise again. That’s all well and good, and I was still getting out there, but I missed the race aspect of it. I didn’t miss the SWAG or the food, I missed the competition.

I’m a competitive person by nature. I’ve played sports my whole life, and competition has always driven me. I was never one to place in the top 50 of the races I ran, but I usually shot for the middle, and would usually land there. Sometimes I’d be closer to back, but in a few shorter races, I’d get myself into the top 20 or 30. I had talked to a few people, fellow runners, who had done some of the virtual races, and they spoke glowingly about them. Kirk, a sometimes contributor, was the first person I talked to because he was doing a 1000k virtual race pretty much as soon as the pandemic started. He told me it gave him a push to get out and run. He also said that he would take pictures and log miles into a system that kept count and let him know how much he had left. Before we started running together again, we took about three months off, talking on phone while we ran instead of in person masked, like we do now, we would talk while he logged miles. This got me even more intrigued with virtual races.

About a month after Kirk started his 1000k, I noticed that the state I live in, Missouri, was doing a similar thing. They had an online virtual endurance challenge, with the sign up money going to a good cause. I signed up for the 250 mile portion of it, and started in June. I realized quickly how much more this was pushing me to run. I was starting to log a good amount of miles in a short amount of time. I put in over 100 miles in the first month. I had until the end of the summer to do the 250 miles. I thought I’d cruise. Then the endurance challenge site said that you could upgrade for a small charge, so I went up to 500 miles. I wasn’t ready for a 1000k, but I figured I could do 500, which I did. That was the first virtual race I did. Since then I’ve signed up for more than a dozen. I’ve done a bunch of virtual 5k’s for many different good causes. I’ve done a few for BLM, for voters rights, for LGBTQ causes, and they’ve been great. I’ve also done a few virtual 10k’s, one of which I did get some cool University of Michigan SWAG. This past weekend I ran a virtual half marathon for GO! Saint Louis, a great local running company. I’ve also signed up for a virtual turkey trot and am contemplating doing another virtual BLM race coming up in Saint Louis. So, for a skeptic like I was, the virtual race option has been a very solid holding spot until I feel safe enough to do an actual in person race. Actually, the first in person race I have scheduled, that I will do if it happens, is in early December. But for now, I am enjoying the virtual option. It keeps me motivated and I have found myself doing longer distances than I thought in faster times than I was last year. I actually shaved about ten minutes off of my half marathon from last year.

Running is great therapy, and virtual races are great for keeping me competitive. If you’re still on the fence about virtual races, I recommend trying one out, especially if you can find an endurance option. They’re pretty cool.

Ty

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

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Go Check Out The Air Fryer Guy

During this current time we are living in I have been finding certain things that will let me forget, and put a smile on my face. I can't find much of this on Facebook or Twitter. Those are absolute minefields, and understandably so.

The well know n issue with social media is that everyone has an opinion, and they have no filter, or nothing stopping them it appears. Those websites are filled with so many mean and hateful things right now, I have only gone on there the past month to post my blog or to post pictures of my kids. It has been great for my mental health, and I highly recommend other people, people who know who they are voting for, who know that scientists and doctors are right and we should wear masks when in public with other people outside our personal bubbles, and you just want a break, do the same. It is awesome. I still find myself looking at Instagram though. It hasn't gotten too nuts over there, and the fact that people can post mini videos now, it is cool to see some old stand up, or clips from live podcast shows from last year. I also like Instagram because I like what people call "food porn". I like to look at delicious food, and since I am on a pretty strict diet right now, the "food porn" is kind of my way of scratching that itch.

One day when I was browsing the food stuff on Instagram, I came across a person that calls themselves the "Air Fryer Guy". We have an air fryer in our home, and I love that thing. I make chicken wings in it all the time. I made some last night in fact, and they were great. I have also made other chicken dishes and I have done a good amount of low carb stuff in our air fryer, that is the diet I am on, low carb and high fat. Our air fryer is great for that. So when I saw this "Air Fryer Guy", I was intrigued. I didn't really know what to expect, but I saw some people commenting how funny, but also that his recipes, at least some of them, are pretty good. I clicked on his page, and for the next hour I found myself cracking up, watching this gentleman cook every manner of food in his air fryer, all the while singing songs about what he was cooking. I thought it was great. I was pretty much on board from the jump.

The first video I saw was him doing a breakfast hack in his air fryer. With my kids back in school, I find myself having to make a quick breakfast, so I was intrigued by the video. The food was super simple, a piece of bread, an egg and a slice of bacon. But, while he is putting together the food, he started to sing, and I loved it, and thought it was hilarious. He was singing, "when you've got no time in the morning/and you want to make a beautiful breakfast/just put these things in the air fryer/and out comes a beautiful breakfast". That is it, that is the song. I should also mention, he is Australian, I believe. So he has the accent, he is singing a funny little jingle and he is cooking food in an item I use all the time. I also tried this hack with some low carb bread, and it is solid. I didn't sing the song, but I was definitely humming it in my head when I cooked it.

From there I watched pretty much every other video he has on his page, and I find most of them funny, and fun. He is a solid singer. He makes up goofy, but decent lyrics. He does videos where there is no singing, but like little sketches involving his air fryer. I showed the video to my wife and kids, and while my wife thought it was okay, my kids LOVE them, especially my daughter. She wants to listen to the songs all the time. She also likes when I try his recipes. We have done his cookie cake one. I made the cookie cake, and my daughter sang the song while I did. She and my son went on to devour the cookie cake. I have made his crispy pepperoni and cheese, the pepperoni wasn't that good, but the crispy cheese, that is now a snack staple my for me. There are other things we will try in the future, but for the time being, we like to watch the videos and sing along. I have videos of my daughter doing them acapella. My son will sing them time to time. My wife and I walk around the house saying "AIR FRYER" in our best accents we can muster. The songs are total ear worms, but I like them very, very much. He also has his own Spotify station, which we listened to on the way to school this morning.

The Air Fryer Guy is funny, he makes good videos and he is a solid singer with some solid recipes. I recommend people check him out if they want an escape or have an air fryer and are looking for new things to make in it. The videos, for the most part, also deliver some okay looking food. This guy is funny, he has a niche and is rolling with it and it is just nice to see someone do something different right now. Check him out. You will most likely enjoy yourself. 

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "Holy Calamavote"

I watched the Run the Jewels show that they did on Adult Swim this weekend, "Holy Calamavote", this afternoon, and it was amazing.

This was the first, and only time, they will perform this album live this year. They had a planned tour, supporting Rage Against the Machine, but the pandemic put a total halt to that. I read things where RTJ was trying to do something like this, a live performance, but didn't have a platform, or felt comfortable enough to do it. Then Adult Swim and Ben and Jerry's got involved, and they had their chance. They got tested, quarantined for the allotted time, and were able to pull off this show. They also wanted it to be important, to take a stance and help people, and they used the platform to urge people to go out and vote. This show was put together to promote voting. They mentioned time and again how important it is, especially this year, to go out and vote. Our vote is our weapon, and that is the only way we can make things change. They put that front and center.

As for the performance, I mean come on, these guys are at the top of the game right now. They are the best rap group, and best overall group, making music right now. Not only is the music good, it is well made, important, personal and an absolute reflection of the world we live in right now. I have sung the praises of this most recent RTJ record to the high hills. This is the record of the year by a mile, and this performance only further proved that. They were awesome. The visuals were amazing. The guest list was top notch. And seeing Killer Mike and El-P perform this record live, it was so god damn amazing and impressive. They did each song, in order, from the new record. Eric Andre hosted the show, and they would cut to him from time to time, but this was all about RTJ and their music. All the songs were great, and hearing them live just adds so much more to the listening experience. DJ Nice was on stage with them during "Ooh LA LA". That was pretty cool. A famous Atlanta DJ came out and scratched during a song. Gangsta Boo came out during "Walking in the Snow", and that was a transcendent performance. I mean, the song started with that heavy guitar, and El did his verse, and then it was Killer Mike's turn. He smashed the first part, and when he got to the "I can't breath" part, the whole stage and group went silent, and then Killer Mike ended that verse acapella. It was powerful and moving and made me listen more than I ever had before to what he is saying in what I consider to be the song of the year, and possibly the generation. It was an astonishing performance. They did "JU$T" after that, and Pharrell and Zack de la Rocha did their spots. Josh Homme and Mavis Staples appeared on screen for the song they are featured on as well. Staples' voice was beautiful and haunting. They ended the show with "A Few Words for the Firing Squad", and to see the two of them bear their souls was so, so great. It was such a moving and cool and fierce and awesome and perfect way to present that song. When they were nearing the end, when the song is all horns, both members expressed the importance of voting and using our voices this election. Then El-P formed a fist and Killer Mike formed a gun to make the RTJ symbol, and the lights were on their hands only. It was so god damn cool. They proceeded to leave the stage with the secret ending that shows up at the end of "Firing Squad", and El grabbed his stuff, and both he and Killer Mike put on a mask and drove off in Killer Mike's car. They came back on to again express the importance of voting. It was truly wonderful. The show was cool, the visuals added so much, El-P and Killer Mike are damn fine performers, their music is important , the people filming were masked and kept their distance, all the while getting amazing shots, it was simply perfect.

I loved this so very much. It gave me so much of what I have missed this year. I got to see my favorite band perform live. I was moved to vote more so than I already am. I have even more respect for Michael Render and Jamie Melina, which I didn't know was possible. I got to vibe out to the best record of the year. And they did it all for a great cause. I highly recommend this special for everyone. It is available to watch everywhere, it is as live as we will get this year and it is the best music you will hear all year. Please watch and make a plan to vote. 

Ty

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

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Is Le'Veon Bell Still Worth the Attention

Yesterday, a few days after being released by the Jets, Le’Veon Bell signed with the Chiefs.

On paper this is a solid signing. He is a decent enough back still, doesn't have as many miles on him as he maybe should, and he wanted out of a bad situation and ended up in a great situation. This also adds, in theory, a ton more firepower to an already loaded offense. I don't exactly know how Bell will fit in, and the rookie they have, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, has been really solid so far, but if you can get Bell on a deal like the Chiefs did, why not take a half a year chance on him. So kudos to the Chiefs for taking a chance on a guy that can make them even more lethal than they already are. But, has anyone in a long time had further of a fall than Bell did after sitting out a whole year due to contract stuff?

For those that may not know, Bell sat out an entire year because he felt he was underpaid and overused. In both cases he was right, at the time. And, I agreed with his decision. He was making the best decision for himself, the team was essentially abusing him and running backs' shelf lives in the NFL are so short now, why not get paid the most you can when you can? Bell made the correct financial decision. But, was it the right career move? That is a loaded question. Bell did get paid, eventually. He also sat out a whole year of his prime. This was good and bad. It was good because it helped him preserve his body and possibly prolong his career. It hurt because he was one of the best, if not the best overall back in the league at the time, and he took off a full season. He just sat there and waited. Pittsburgh was never going to trade him or pay him that year, and they found a suitable player to take over, James Connor. The Steelers called his bluff, and unfortunately for Bell, he did not win. They eventually traded him to the Jets, and the Jets paid him. They gave him pretty much what he wanted, and it all seemed rosy at first. I remember people praising the deal, and people saying this was going to put them over the top, and that they could contend soon. I even liked the move at the time.

Then the Jets hired Adam Gase as head coach, and it all went down from there. The two of them did not get along. They constantly butted heads and aired stuff publicly. Gase told the media that everyone except Sam Darnold was available for trades last year, and this rubbed Bell the wrong way. And then Bell's play on the field suffered. He did nothing, at all, for the Jets. I don't know if it was play calling, if he lost a step, if he didn't try because he disliked the coach and already got paid, but the Jets version of Le’Veon Bell was so far removed from the Pittsburgh version. He was a forgettable player. I honestly forgot he was still playing until the Jets released him. I did see that they were trying to trade him, but they couldn't even get a 7th round pick for him. Then he had a list of teams that he would play for, but some, including the 49ers, said stuff like, "we are good with our guys". Bell wasn't even wanted now. And whenever a player puts out a list of teams they will play for, that is a sign to me that they are grasping at straws, trying to stay relevant. When Bell whittled his "list" to three teams, some reporter noted it was the Jets next three opponents. That is such a childish move in my book. And now that he has signed with the Chiefs, I just kind of shrug my shoulders.

I know it looks good on paper, but what really is he going to bring them? He isn't the runner he used to be, he is not as good a pass catcher, and the Chiefs already have better, younger talent at the position. This kind of feels like late Lesean McCoy. McCoy was supposed to be the "guy" for Buffalo, but he just kind of faded. The Bills went with the younger players, and they were better, and stayed healthy. I kind of see that happening with Bell. I think he will come in this season, not do much, Edwards-Helaire will cement his spot as the number one back and Bell will be gone as soon as the season is over, looking for another new team.

I feel for Bell because I fully supported and understood why he sat out a year. But his bluff was called, and more than answered, and now he is a nomadic, has been running back. He had those early good years, but now, he just seems like a guy that will take one year deals, until he is out of the league in the next two to three years. At least he got his though. That cannot be taken away from him. 

Ty

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

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"Not Another Teen Movie" is Still a Classic Spoof Movie

Lately I have found myself rewatching old comedies, or as Netflix puts it, "late night comedies". I like these type of movies because they are just dumb and fun and a breeze to watch. They are usually under 90 minutes too, which is a total bonus in my book. And by "old", I am not talking Chaplin, or "Dr. Strangelove", but stuff like "Dazed and Confused" or "Orgazmo" or "Half Baked". I'm talking about late 90's and early to mid 2000's movies.

One that I recently revisited I was hesitant on because I truly like this movie, and I was certain that it was going to be problematic and not hold up. The movie is "Not Another Teen Movie". I have revisited some of the movies they spoof, like "American Pie" and "She's All That", and those movies are problematic and do not hold up. I wrote a whole thing about how truly awful "American Pie" now is, seeing it with adult eyes.

I am here to say that "Not Another Teen Movie" totally holds up. It is funny, the movies they spoof, the spoofing is perfect and it is meant to be bad because the movies they make fun of are truly awful. When I turned it on the other day, I was immediately brought back to the first time I saw it, and laughing as hard this time as the first time. It is, for me, the best spoof movie since "Airplane". None of the other spoof movies, like the whole "Scary Movie" franchise, or movies like "Date Movie" or any of those hold a candle to "Not Another Teen Movie". What "NATM" does better than any of the other recent movies like it, they got good actors who had a good time and looked like they enjoyed what they were doing. This was Chris Evans first major movie role, and he is great. He is so perfect as the jock guy that turns it around. He spoofs that character, which is so prevalent in every teen movie. But what Evans does so well, he makes the jokes, and they all land. When he is walking through the hall and everyone is throwing underwear at him, and a guy throws a pair, this could have been such a bad and mean joke, but the way Evans played it, it totally lands. Outside Evans, the rest of the cast is really good too. Chyler Leigh, as the geeky girl with glasses that suddenly becomes cute when she takes her glasses off, she is pitch perfect. Jaime Pressly as the mean girl, she was born to play that role comedically. Eric Christian Olsen as the best friend of Evans, but also his foil, this kid is so perfect for these types of roles. He is funny and goofy and seems to love doing comedy. The side characters stand out too. Mia Kirshner as Evans' sister, playing the Sarah Michelle Gellar character from "Cruel Intentions", is so funny and so disgusting, on purpose. Deon Richmond as the lone black guy, simply pure and perfect. Damn he is funny in this movie. And Eric Jungman as the best friend in love with Janey, playing the Ducky role, awesome, Ron Lester reprising his role from "Varsity Blues", but playing it for laughs, perfect, and Cody McMains as the young high schooler who just wants to hook up with a girl, he is one of the best. "NATM" just works on every single level. It makes inappropriate jokes, but it is on purpose, and it works. The way they intertwine so many different teen movies, yet still make the story work, it is one of the best. The actors are really, really solid. The direction is good. And all the inside jokes, be it from calling the high school John Hughes High School to the cheerleaders ripping off the dance moves to all the football jokes, and everything else, it just works.

I love this movie, and I am happy that it holds up. If you haven't seen it, and are looking for something light and fun, I highly recommend checking out "Not Another Teen Movie". It is really good, thank goodness. 

Ty

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

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Thoughts on the Transition from Online to In School Learning

In keeping up with how the school year is going in Saint Louis, today my son returned to in person learning. My daughter went back two weeks ago, to pre k, and my son returned to his third grade classroom today.

It has been seven months since he was in an actual classroom. He went to summer camp, but that was all outdoors, and masked. He played two baseball games before his season was postponed, then ultimately canceled. He has started to play flag football at a local sports spot, also masked. But today is the first day since March that he will be around more than two of his friends. His classroom is full, a little too full if you ask me, of kids his age. He is in one of the three rooms that has in person learning, filled with about 18 kids and one teacher. Now, they are masked, they are being taught the correct way to wash hands, they have assigned seats and assigned lunch time, as well as recess, and they have to follow every safety protocol. I will say, while the state of Missouri hasn't been doing great with curbing COVID, the city and county of Saint Louis have actually done a good job. The state is up 20 percent, but the city and county are down 7 percent. We have mask mandates and the mass majority of people are following the simple rules without throwing a fit. That is why my son and daughter are able to return to their classrooms. The people in charge out here, Democrats, have listened to doctors and scientists, and we have done a solid job of slowing the spread. I do understand that at any moment both kids could be home due to an outbreak. But for the time being, they are in class because we listened to the right people, didn't turn it political and are doing the right things.

I will say that it wasn't euphoric or joyful like I had thought it would be when I dropped my son off this morning. I had been saying that I wanted my kids back in school when it was safe. I mentioned during the summer that I hoped they would be able to start in late August as they intended to. Even when they announced they would be online for the first quarter, I still had hope that they would be able to attend in person earlier than expected. I had all these ideals, that if it were safe, they would both be in school, and that it would be great. I am happy for the kids because they are getting some much needed socialization, quality teaching and a safe place to play, but I miss them. I miss my daughter for those three hours she is in school. I am really, really missing my son too. As I write this, while he was learning virtually, he would usually come and hang out and do his writing assignments while I write my blog. He isn't here right now, and that is weird for me. When I dropped him off, the car was too quiet. Lunch was just me, my wife and daughter. I missed my son being there with us to say some random nonsense that always makes us laugh. Miles is fun to be around, and I guess it took a global pandemic, and school being closed for four months to in person learning, for me to appreciate that about him. I've always known he was fun to be around, and have relished this time we have gotten to spend together, but now that he is back in school, I miss it, and him.

I am happy for him though. Miles is a social butterfly, and he has taken this pandemic hard. We went a few months without seeing anyone. It was just the four of us. Then we added my folks and my wife's mom. Then we added my wife's step mom, brother and dad. And then we let him see two friends. That was it. For seven months, my son, who just wants to talk and play and be around people, only got to see, outside of me, his mom and sister, eight total people. He was excited, but also nervous this morning too. I am sure that the moment he walked into class, and realized that it was similar to last year, with obvious new safety protocols in place, he was fine. I am sure he is happy to be around the friends he has made the past four years in his school. I know he is having fun being able to see his teacher in person, and not on a screen. And I say again, I know that this can be taken away at any moment, and he knows this too. But, for the time being, he is happy, my wife and I feel like he is in the second safest place he can be, our home being first, and he is getting some much needed socialization that he has been craving for seven months now. I hope it works out, and I hope it stays safe. That is up to us, to the school and to the administrators, but they have shown tenfold that they are listening to the right people and doing the right, smart and safe thing.

I miss my son, but I am happy for him. Now lets see what happens from here. 

Ty

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

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Tom Herman is the Problem at Texas

I know it may seem trite and gripey and me just flat out complaining, and also pointless given where we are as a country, a complete and utter mess, but why are no people in the sports media right now thrashing Tom Herman for underachieving at Texas?

Ever since Herman took over for Charlie Strong, who is a fine coach and never got a fair shot there, everyone expected him to bring Texas football back. He was supposed to be the savior. He was a successful coordinator at the University of Ohio State, he did a wonderful job at, I believe it was Houston, and he parlayed that into becoming the head coach at a major, historic football university. But every year since he has been there he has, for all intents and purposes, not done any better than Charlie Strong did. Texas always seems to show up in the preseason top 10 since Herman took over, and they always seem to be totally out of the top 25, or in the mid 20's after four weeks. I fully understand that this year is way, way different than any other college football season in over 100 years, and there are many excuses to go around, but this happened last year at Texas. It also happened the year before that. And Herman's first year, they struggled to make a bowl, and barely beat Missouri. Herman has not been the savior.

I get that these things take time too. He has to recruit his players, install his system and get players and boosters to buy in. But that all seemed to happen, at least behind the scenes. But every year Texas loses early on to a team that has no real business being on the same field with them. The past two seasons it was Maryland. Maryland is a middling Big Ten team, but they put it on Texas two years in a row, one of the games being in Texas. Texas also got beat by LSU, also in Texas, last season. Now, LSU did go on to win the title, and Joe Burrow won the Heisman, but this was before we knew what LSU was to become last year. Then this year they have struggled mightily in their last three games. They needed overtime to beat a not very good Texas Tech school. They also gave up 56 points to Tech. Tech only scored 17 last week at Iowa State. Then TCU beat them. TCU is okay, but they aren't the world beaters they were a few years back. And last weekend they needed a miracle comeback, aided by refs miscues, just to get to overtime with a 1-2 Oklahoma team, and they still got beat in the 4th overtime, again surrendering over 50 points. Texas now sits at 2-2 and out of the rankings yet again. But when I check sports news, which is the only way I am currently keeping my sanity, no one is calling for Herman to be fired, calling him a bad coach, saying he isn't fit for the job. It seems like most people are making excuses for him still, in year four.

Now, I am a tried and true Michigan fan and the media has been trashing Jim Harbaugh from day one. Maybe I notice this more because I read mostly Big Ten sites and news, but even on a ESPN or Bleacher Report of Sports Illustrated, Harbaugh is always dragged through the mud when the Wolverines play like Texas does. So why does a guy like Herman get a pass, but Harbaugh gets roasted constantly? Herman isn't quiet. He is quite loud and quite the trash talker. But the big media outlets call him "fiery" for this. Harbaugh does the same thing, and he is labeled "crazy". I don't get it. Also, Harbaugh took over a much worse off Michigan team, and has turned them into an okay team. They have won 10 games three times, 8 another and 9 last year. Texas was better off than Michigan when Herman took over. Charlie Strong may not have won enough games to keep his job and make the boosters happy, but he could recruit. And they were still going to bowl games. Herman had a team, he just had to mold it. Harbaugh had a defense, but he had to totally retool an offense that had zero identity. But when the Wolverines and Harbaugh needed overtime to beat Army last year, the media dragged him and Shea Patterson. Texas needed overtime to beat a much worse Tech team this year, and the media called it "gutsy". Michigan hasn't beaten the University of Ohio State in a decade, and the media never lets me or the rest of the Michigan fanbase forget that. But how many times has Texas beat Oklahoma in that time? Three times, only once under Herman, and all three were considered "upsets". But because Oklahoma doesn't blow them out, the media seems to give Herman a pass. All the while, people like Paul Finebaum and Lee Corso go on TV and roast the hell out of Harbaugh every year. I know this sounds whiny and I'm being a huge fan boy right now, but the media, especially the big time companies, are supposed to be unbiased and rip everyone equally. The fact that Herman gets a pass, but Harbaugh gets dragged is so far beyond me. I would much, much rather have Jim Harbaugh as my team's head coach, and I wasn't fully on board when they hired him. But at least he has made Michigan semi relevant, if not a title contender.

Texas is, quite possibly, the most overrated college football team in the country, and I think a lot of that has to do with the media's unrequited love for Tom Herman. I don't know, it just seems a little ridiculous that Herman gets a pass and Harbaugh doesn't. That's my opinion. 

Ty

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

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Congrats to the Lakers and the NBA

The NBA proved they could finish the season during a global pandemic, and they did it perfectly.

The Lakers wrapped up their 17th title, although some of those came when they were in Minneapolis, but whatever, with a dominant game six win last night. From the second quarter on, the Lakers left no doubt that they were the best team in the NBA this year. I will fully eat crow and admit I was completely wrong about them. When I did my preseason ratings, which seems like decades ago, I had them as the number seven seed in the West. Then during the restart, I picked them to make the West Finals, but I had the Clippers winning. I wasn't high on their bench, I thought that Anthony Davis wouldn't stay healthy all season, I thought Frank Vogel was a lame duck hire and I thought, very stupidly, that LeBron had lost a step. Now, he is still not, nor will he ever be as great as Michael Jordan, but he is firmly the second greatest player of all time. I have Jordan ahead of him because he never left or formed any "super team". The guys he played with were better because of Jordan, and grew with Jordan. Dennis Rodman isn't Anthony Davis or even Kevin Love. Scottie Pippen isn't as great as Davis, and Dwyane Wade was a better offensive player. Jordan did it himself. He wanted to beat the best, not play with the best. But I was very wrong on LeBron being a step slow this season. He came out on fire, played committed defense most of the year and really handled the duties of a point guard perfectly. He orchestrated their offense great. And AD, he is a truly athletic unicorn. He is as smooth as KD, blocks shots like Hakeem and cuts to the rim like Barkley. AD is awesome. He is James best teammate ever, full stop. He was great in this series too. Some people were griping about his lack of scoring, but he more than made up for it on defense. He got into the Heat's heads, and he made these guys take extremely hard shots. He was amazing. The bench, mainly Rajon Rondo, showed up when they needed to. Rondo was outstanding everywhere. He did all the things in the playoffs that make him a great player, dare I say a hall of fame player. Alex Caruso was doing the little things. He plays solid defense and he cuts when he needs to. Danny Green may have missed a big shot in game five, and wasn't shooting good at all during the playoffs, played good defense and made solid plays when he passed the ball. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope played D and hit threes. Even Dwight Howard did all the little things asked of him to help this team win. And while I know that Erik Spoelstra is a far better coach, Frank Vogel did a solid job of letting his stars do their thing. He stayed out of the way, and that is exactly what he needed to do. He was a figurehead, and that is it. The Lakers won, and they deserved to win. They were the best team this year, they proved it time and time again, and they are the rightful champs.

As for the NBA, and the "bubble", this literally couldn't have gone any better. They had 22 teams show up right in the midst of a global pandemic in a hotspot in Florida. They had some teams there for a month, others for two and the final four teams spent four months there. They provided entertainment, they provided food, they had dedicated staff, doctors, trainers and hotel employees, they had COVID testers, they had a solid set of rules, and it all worked. There were zero positive COVID tests the whole time the teams and players and staff were there. That is truly amazing. Look at what the MLB, and now college football and NFL are going through. They can't go a week without a positive test. The NBA lasted over three months without one. It worked and it paid off. The basketball didn't suffer at all. The games were competitive, they were fast paced, the scores were high, it was way better than I thought. If you didn't know, you would have no idea that these guys were in limbo for almost three months, not knowing if they were going to play again or not.

Then we had the police brutality issue, where a white police officer shot another unarmed black man who was doing nothing wrong. I will say it forever, defund the police. The shooting of Jacob Blake almost stopped all of the playoffs. There was a league wide strike. Some teams, including the Lakers, were ready to go home that night. But Adam Silver listened to the players, met their demands and made a plan, and they were able to continue. They were able to finish. I loved in the bubble that the players were able to speak their minds, and talk about social and political things. I adore that players used their platforms to talk about such things, and not focus on solely basketball. That was so awesome and so great and prolific. That was, outside of the games, my favorite thing about the bubble. I love that players spoke their minds, urged people to vote, told people in their team's hometown to make changes. Hopefully this continues the movement in our country that I feel is happening now. We are fed up, and the NBA players in the bubble echoed that sentiment. I have always loved the NBA, and I always will. But what they did in Orlando, how they pulled it off and how they used the platform, it has made me even more of a fan. I am so happy to call myself an NBA fan. I am so happy they achieved their goal. I am happy that they let their voices be heard. I'm happy no one got COVID. And I am happy that the best team, in the end, won the title.

Congrats to the Lakers, to LeBron, to AD, to Adam Silver and to the NBA. This was a historic finish to a very odd and long 2019-20 NBA season. You guys did it, and you did it the best. I am more proud to be an NBA fan than I am to be an American., The NBA is a much better place than our country, and the bubble proved that. Congrats to all involved. You guys did it. 

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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Ty's Favorite Michigan Football Games: October 27th, 2019

It’s Friday, so that means yet another classic Michigan Wolverines football fave from me. I’ve skewed with some “older” games lately. I will go back to that when I get closer to the end of the college football season, whenever that may be this year. But today I’m going back to last year.

Last season Michigan was supposed to be great. They were supposed to be a playoff contender. They were supposed to be the team to beat in the Big Ten. They had everyone back and they hired Josh Gattis to get the offense to play fast and loose. Well, that didn’t happen, at least until this game. Michigan started slow. They trailed in their first game against Middle Tennessee, before pulling away late. They needed trick plays and overtime to beat Army. They got crushed when they went up to Madison to play Wisconsin, and before making it a game late, Penn State dominated most of that game on their way to a 7 point win. Michigan struggled coming into this game.

The date was October 27th, it was last year and their opponent was Notre Dame. Notre Dame was higher ranked, their one loss was to a very good Georgia team, they had a more explosive offense, and they had all the momentum. Michigan, as I mentioned before, was struggling. They definitely showed signs of life late in the PSU game, and I hoped it was a sign of things to come. But still, they hadn’t looked right on offense, the defense was on the field too much and Shea Patterson was not playing well. Notre Dame was even favored in this game, and it was in Ann Arbor. Pretty much every show and publication and website picked Notre Dame to win. I remember vividly the guys on CBS laughing at the thought that Michigan could win this game. And right as the game was going to start, a night game mind you, rain started to pour down. This made me even more nervous than normal. This meant Michigan was going to have to run, and not fumble chances away, which was a problem. It also meant that any of the confidence Patterson gained at the end of the PSU game throwing the ball was all but gone. The rain was so heavy that I’m sure the ball felt like a greased pig. I was left to myself to watch the game as well. My wife doesn’t like watching Michigan games with me, and my dad was on a plane flying home from California with my mom. So it was just me.

I sat down for kickoff, and what I watched was so surprising, but in a good way. Michigan came out like a house on fire on offense, and it was all the run game. The O line was making humongous holes, and Zach Charbonnet and Hassan Haskins were gouging Notre Dame’s defense with long runs. The score was only 3-0 going into the second quarter, but Michigan seemed so damn determined to prove everyone wrong. They scored two TD’s in the second quarter, both on the ground. The run game couldn’t be stopped. As for Michigan’s defense, they came to play as well. They were forcing so many three and outs. They pressured the QB all half. They would not let them run the ball. It was glorious. But, I was still a little leery because it was such a dominant half, but they only led by 17. Notre Dame was then gifted a TD when it appeared the QB was intercepted, but the refs called a phantom pass interference to overturn the pick. This was the only time I was really worried. Notre Dame cut the lead to 10, the rain was letting up, and to this point, Michigan had trouble keeping leads. I was also yelling at the TV loud enough that my wife has to tell me to calm down. That all went away pretty quick. Michigan got the ball back and went right down the field to push the lead back to 17. The defense and run game totally took over from here. Notre Dame did score one more useless TD, but not before Michigan scored 21 more points. Michigan totally took over. Hassan Haskins ripped his way through the Notre Dame defense for 149 yards on 20 carries, 7 yards a carry. Charbonnet had 74 yards on 15 carries and 2 TD’s. Tru Wilson went for 40 plus rush yards and a TD. Even Christian Turner got some run in, gaining 31 yards on 4 carries. All told, Michigan gained 303 yards on 53 carries. That’s exactly what I want in a game with weather like they had. They controlled the ball and ran for a ton of yards. Michigan did throw two TD’s, but they only attempted fourteen total passes. As a team they were 8 of 14 for 134 passing yards. Not great, but needed in bad weather. On the other side, Michigan’s defense dominated. Notre Dame attempted 29 passes, completing 11 of them for 133 yards. One less than Michigan on more than double the attempts. On the ground, Notre Dame ran for 47 net yards on 31 attempts. Michigan ran for nearly 8 times as many yards. But the most important thing, and crucial thing in bad weather games, Notre Dame lost 2 fumbles, where Michigan had 0 turnovers. They protected the ball all night in heavy rain and wind. That was nice.

At the end of the night, after Michigan won 45-14, it was great for me to see all these “experts” have to eat crow. Michigan dominated this game and proved that Notre Dame was not a top 10 team, and not the playoff contender many thought they were. This was a great watch for me because Michigan won, won big and beat a big time rival. It was one of those cleansing games I’ve mentioned before. This was a nice recent memory of a great, and big, Michigan win for me. This one was nice for many reasons, but mainly because it reminded me that Michigan, and Jim Harbaugh, can win big games from time to time, and they can do it in an old school way if the weather makes it necessary. This was a good one.

Ty

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

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The Differing Perspectives of a Five and Seventy Year Old

Today is my father’s birthday, you’ve all heard him on the podcast way back when we first started, and yesterday was my daughter’s birthday. They both hit what I deem to be “milestone” birthdays. Let’s talk about it.

My dad is now 70. That’s a good amount of time. He’s seen a lot. He was in the Navy, he’s traveled everywhere, he worked at Boeing, he’s done so many things. He’s also the person I aspire to be. I look up to my dad. I always have, and I always will. He’s the best, hands down. He is my idol. He is my role model. My daughter turned 5. That may not seem like a “milestone” birthday, but to me it is. She will be a kindergartner next year. She will have a full school day. I’ve been with her her whole life. I was deep into being a stay at home dad when she was born, and I still claim that as my current job, because that’s what I am. And with the pandemic, the time I spend with her had tripled. We are basically best friends at this point. I see her more than anyone else in my home, including my wife and son. But next year, hopefully, she will be in school full time, as will my son, and my wife will be back to work in an office in some capacity. The house will be empty, and that will be odd for me. It will also be a big adjustment for her. But she’s, in her own words, “tiny but mighty”. She’s a tough little cookie, and there’s no doubt that she’ll handle being in school full time much better than I will, at least at first.

Anyway, since these two people are so important to me, and are at milestone ages, I wanted to try a little experiment with them. I decided to ask them both the same five questions to see what they said, or how they answered it. I knew the answers would be very different, but that was the fun of this whole thing. I wanted answers from someone who’s been around for awhile, and from someone who’s still very, very young. The questions are, on the surface level, simple. I needed to make them that way so my 5 year old’s head didn’t explode. But the answers were as different, and telling, as I hoped. So let’s get to these questions.

Number one was easy, but again, the answers were pretty much what I expected. I asked them each their favorite movie. My dad picked “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. This makes so much sense. In 1977, he was 27, and science fiction was a fairly new premise. He loves science fiction, the cast is amazing and the movie is a classic. He likes this movie so much he visited some places where it was filmed. My daughter picked the “My Little Pony Movie”. Of course. She loves the brightness, the music, she knows the characters and she adores the songs. I know the soundtrack because we listen to it so much. After she answered she asked if we could watch it again, and I am sure we will this weekend. These answers were great.

Question two, favorite tv show. With my dad I didn’t really know where he would go, and quite frankly, I was stunned. He picked “SNL”. But after thinking about it, it makes sense. This is another show that premiered when he was in his 20’s, it was new and different and funny and satirical. It all makes sense after you get to know my dad. And I know for a fact that he still watches “SNL” to this day. My daughter picked “Ryan’s World”, much to my chagrin. But she does adore this show. The kid just opens toys and goofs around with his folks, but it gets her undivided attention. I think that is a lot of what her generation looks for. There needs to be toys and fast cuts and lots of colors and kid jokes. That’s exactly what this show is. It’s a YouTube show that is now a worldwide phenomenon. That’s how her generation consumes pop culture. So it makes sense.

Question three, favorite thing about school. My dad said the teachers that actually cared. He told me it might not make sense, but I totally get it. There are some teachers who really don’t care. Some just do the job and go on to the next class. But the ones that care, they get remembered forever. I have teachers like this. And to know my dad does too is oddly comforting to me. It means that I’m not alone, that I am more like my dad than I already thought. It also shows that, when you get far enough removed from school, the teachers you remember are the ones that cared, that loved the job and that stood out. His answer was pretty cool to me. My daughter’s favorite thing, she’s in her last year of pre k, snack time. Again, it shows her age, the age difference and what is important when you are a kid compared to an adult. Snack time for her is great. She gets a break, she gets some food and she gets to goof with her little friends. I’m sure that will change over time, but to get this answer from her, compared to my dad’s answer, is a perfect correlation between the ages, and the lives they’ve lived to this point.

Question four was my “deep” one. I asked them both the one thing they’d change in the world if they could. My dad said he’d want to abolish the electoral college. I couldn’t agree with him more. With what happened in 2016, the very real threat of it happening again next month, and where we are as a country, the electoral college needs to go. It’s an archaic way of giving some very unqualified people a very powerful job. If we really are a democracy, the popular vote should be what matters. The governments job is to serve the people, so it should be up to the people who gets these high profile government jobs. I totally get this coming from my dad. My daughter said, in no certain words, she wishes she could love her mom more. Both my kids are mommas kids. They love their mom. I’m the hard ass disciplinarian, and she’s the nice one. I say no, and she says yes more. She’s also so much better equipped at doing the girly stuff I’m not proficient at yet. I can’t braid hair or paint nails. I’m learning, but I’m not nearly as good as mom according to my daughter. I do love this answer though because it’s so sweet and innocent and cute. It’s pretty perfect.

The final question, outside of family, what’s the one thing you love. My dad said friendships. I asked him to explain. He said that the friends he still has, the new ones and the ones that have stuck for a long time, it’s because they’ve always supported him. They’ve been there for good and bad. They’ve been there to help him in hard times and been there to cheer him on for the good times. Again, this makes sense with his age. He’s been through a lot, and the friends that have stuck it out with him are true friends. People come and go, but the ones that stay, they’re important. My daughter’s answer, her birthday. Total prisoner of the moment, but she’s a 5 year old, and she just had a birthday and got gifts. That was her second answer when I asks her why her birthday, the gifts, in particular, her spa kit. And isn’t they just totally what you’d expect from a 5 year old? Of course her birthday is the best. Not only does she get new toys and things, she is doted on more than normal. She’s the star of the show, and she loves that. I thought this was a neat little experience, and I think it shows a big difference in kids versus adults.

This was fun, and something I will continue to explore. Anyway, happiest of birthdays to my dad and my daughter. I love you both and I’m so excited for more birthdays to come.

Ty

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

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RIP Eddie Van Halen

Too many people are dying right now. This year has been awful, and it just continues. The pandemic has taken 215,000 plus, and counting. And people who are relatively young, in their 60’s, are going rapidly too.

Most notably, Eddie Van Halen passed yesterday after a nearly decade long battle with cancer. That seems to be what gets the “older” people right now if they do not get COVID, of if they get it and recover. I never listened to Van Halen. I obviously know of them, but to me they were more of a band that the people I hang out with made fun of. It never had to do with Eddie Van Halen himself though. The jokes were always at the expense of Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth. They were always too much. But, the songs I know, the ones everyone knows, the guitar always stood out. The guitar is also the best part of “Beat It”, the song from Michael Jackson. All of that was Eddie Van Halen. He was a tremendous, virtuosic guitar player. He was one of a kind. He made hair metal, at least for me, listenable. If there was a way to single out his playing, I would have been the biggest Van Halen fan in the world. The things he did on a guitar where akin to what Jimmy Page did with Led Zeppelin. Now in no world is Van Halen even close to a band like Led Zeppelin. But, Eddie Van Halen was just as good a guitarist as Jimmy Page. He was also up there with other greats. I can look past what genre of music he played and appreciate how skilled and inventive and simply amazing he was as a guitar player. He is the Jimmy Page or Jimi Hendrix or Son House of hair metal. He is the one guy that everyone singles out as the “best” guitar player in his era. Sure the music was goofy and not for me, but Eddie Van Halen was great. He did things on the guitar I never heard, and no one else can duplicate.

I remember being at a Widespread Panic concert years ago with my oldest brother, and during set break they played the first Van Halen record. I was bad mouthing it because I recognized David Lee Roth’s voice. But my brother told me to get that out of my head and try to focus on the guitar player. I scoffed, not knowing too much about Eddie Van Halen at the time. But once I got where my brother was trying to get me to go, it hit me. The guitar was astounding. It was heavy, but technically precise. The fact that he could play so fast, yet make it look effortless was more than enough for me to admit this guy was awesome. I went home after that show and tried to find clips of just Eddie Van Halen playing the guitar. No accompaniment, just him. The stuff I saw on YouTube blew me away. He played better than Steve Vai. He shredded better than Slash. He picked at the guitar like a modern day Django Reinhart. From that moment on I never underestimated Eddie Van Halen. I still wasn’t a fan of his band, and they sure made it difficult with all the fighting and bickering they did, but I found myself liking and appreciating Eddie Van Halen. When I found out he did the guitar on “Beat It”, my fandom of him grew. He proved he could do other music.

Eddie Van Halen is one of the greatest guitar players to ever grace this Earth. It sucks that he’s gone, but we do have his music for the rest of our lifetime. Even for someone like me, someone who doesn’t like the band he is associated with, I can get down with Eddie Van Halen the guitar player. He was taken too soon, and he’s another decent person we’ve lost again in 2020. Rest In Peace good sir. I hope you and Prince are shredding wherever you are right now.

Ty

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

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The Texans Finally Did the Right Thing

The Texans finally did it. All it took was a plethora of terrible trades, mostly bad draft decisions, star players turning on him and an 0-4 start, but they finally fired Bill O’Brien. In fact they relived him of all duties he held, effective immediately. When they fired him, they made sure it was well known that it was then and there. No waiting until the end of the year, no third or fourth chance, nothing. He, as of last night, is unemployed.

Now, as far as O’Brien’s on field coaching, he’s not good, but he’s not terrible. The Texans did make the playoffs pretty regularly, and they even won a game in the playoffs once in awhile. Yes, the division is not good, the Colts had to deal with Andrew Luck suddenly retiring and Jacksonville’s epic collapse after an AFC title appearance. O’Brien also had a hand in drafting Deshaun Watson. Yes, he mortgaged the future by trading many, many picks, but still, they got Watson. As far as the on field play, it wasn’t too bad. Watson masked a lot of the problems, but still, they had an okay enough offense to win nine games a season. But everything kind of came to a head this off-season. They traded Deandre Hopkins for peanuts. Apparently Hopkins and O’Brien didn’t get along, and since he had GM responsibilities, O’Brien chose himself and his priority over what was best for his team. He offloaded his young star QB’s best weapon because they didn’t like one another. There’s been so many of these stories in the past, star player doesn’t like coach, but it usually solves itself, or the coach goes. It’s almost never coach over player. But most coaches don’t have GM authority, or if they do, it doesn’t work. O’Brien was clearly in the latter. Beside the Hopkins trade, O’Brien had many mishaps. He did get Watson, but mortgaged the future of the team. He never drafted or developed O line to help the franchise QB. They took on too many “project” players. They never really added to the defense. They let Jadaveon Clowney leave in free agency.

This is all on O’Brien. He can be blamed for this. Back to the Hopkins trade. As I said, they got peanuts. They got some late round picks and David Johnson. No disrespect to Johnson, but he was a one season wonder, and then his leg exploded the following season. He’s not the guy he was that one year, and he will never be again. Hopkins on the other hand is young and awesome. He is currently crushing it in Arizona. The Cardinals may not be the best team, but they’re better than the Texans currently. But with all the turnover, the fights and the mishandling in the front office, it just felt like a matter of when, not if, O’Brien would be fired.

Then the Texans started the year the way they’ve started it. They’ve looked anemic on offense. They can’t protect Watson, the receivers get zero separation and the run game is non existent. The defense, it’s below average. JJ Watt is overrated and always hurt. Whitney Mercilus is hurt. They haven’t replaced Clowney. Their secondary is shotty. And again, this can all be placed on O’Brien. He took on all these extra roles, and when you take on too much, it’s hard to do any of them adequately. He made bad decisions as a GM, and the on field play was starting to really suffer from his poor play calling. He also let his feelings get involved, and that cannot happen in the NFL.

O’Brien has struck me as a guy that has failed up. He was on a good staff in New England when he got the Penn State job. He was fine there, but they were never a true threat. He then got this Texans job, and soon enough he became the GM, as well as the head coach and was given full authority for the most part. He didn’t do that good enough, and now he’s out of all of those jobs. I don’t know where he goes from here. I mean, he had all this power, so what will he look for in a new job if he’s offered one? I don’t think an NFL team will hire him, at least not as a head coach. He could get a coordinator job, but not a head coaching job. He should not get a front office or GM job ever again. This was where he messed up the most. As far as college, will he go back? Will he take less money? Will he go to a lower tier school? I don’t know. I don’t think a big time program will hire him. He wasn’t hyper competitive at PSU. He didn’t win any titles wasn’t in contention. I don’t know how many big schools will have an opening either. This is tricky because of the pandemic, and how rough this last image of him is going to be. If I had to guess, I’d say he takes a coordinator job. I don’t think he’ll want to go back to college, but I don’t think an NFL team will give him the top job.

Hey, at least Texans fans don’t have to deal with O’Brien’s idiocy anymore. That’s their silver lining.

Ty

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

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