Thoughts on the 2022 NBA Trade Deadline

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

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

Okay, not for the other trades.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ty

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

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An Ode to Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips

I consider myself pretty well versed when it comes to snacking. I love food. Always have and I always will. It is the best. It is good for comfort, for life, for the good and bad moments, for sporting events, for everything really. I do eat too much food, but that is neither here nor there. But one food I have been reintroducing to my diet is potato chips.

Let’s discuss.

I have read, and talked to a ton of runners, and they sing the praises of chips. They give you carbs, salt and help you continue to move for longer distances. And I love all chips, with dill pickle and ketchup flavor as the lone exceptions. A nice classic original, fantastic and salty. Cheddar and sour cream, a great combination. BBQ chips are sweet and spicy and great. Jalapeno adds a wonderful kick that I adore. Sweet Hawaiian Onion is so, so, so good. And all Doritos, especially cool ranch, they are the bomb. I even love a good Frito, Cheetos and definitely Takis. They are great. But it has come to my attention recently that Salt and Vinegar is the best chip flavor.

I don't have any science to back this up, except my tastebuds, but that helps me confirm that Salt and Vinegar rules. And it is across all brands of chips. I love Lay's version. Pringles make an excellent salt and vinegar. Cape Cod is crunchy and delicious and very flavorful. Hell, even Benton's Brand from Aldi are a total slam dunk. In fact the Benton's may be the best because they have the most dust, or flavoring, on the chip and the salt and vinegar taste really comes out. It is a make you pucker type taste. It is so awesome. I have eaten a small bowl with my lunch for the past couple of days, and it has been a delight. The mixture of salt and vinegar is just so tasty. It adds so much to my hot dogs or brats or whatever meat and cheese addition I have every day for lunch. It is the perfect compliment to the rest of my relatively low carb lunch.

Using these chips as fuel for a run, that takes it to a whole other level. As a runner, a distance runner at that, we are told to eat and drink, especially during anything over a half marathon. You need fuel to keep going. If you don't eat or drink anything your body will just stop doing what it has been trained to do. So I use Tailwind as my race drink and Nuun as a post race drink. Tailwind is filled with carbs and salt and electrolytes. It is like a healthy Gatorade. Nuun is a great post race drink, with its effervescence and sweet taste. And when it comes to food, I usually go for sweets too. I need the sugar. I love a good pack of gummy bears, Oreos, peanut butter filled pretzels, granola, and any kind of sweet food. But when it comes to salty, I find it hard to choke down most anything except for salt and vinegar chips. Straight up pretzels become too chalky. Burritos are too filling. Any sandwich that is not a PB&J, forget it. But salt and vinegar chips totally knock it out of the park. They make me salivate, which makes me drink more. I love the taste, so it is easier for me to choke them down. I like the grease. And I am a big, big fan of the extra salt they provide along with my Tailwind and salt in the sweet food. I have found myself gravitating more to the chips when doing a race at the aid stations. I also pack myself some to put in my pack or in my pocket. They are just too perfect.

For these reasons, and many, many others, Salt and Vinegar is hands down the best flavor potato chip. It is perfect. I dare you to eat one and not become addicted. They are that good.

Ty

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

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Better Never Than Late on "Magic Mike"

This past Friday for date night my wife chose the movie "Magic Mike". I have never seen the movie before. She said she may or may not have, she could not fully remember. She did say that she thought she might have watched it at a party with all ladies, but she could not fully remember. We figured Friday night was as good a time as any, so we watched it on HBO Max. It was free, so that was nice too.

This was not the movie that I expected. I assumed it was going to be a good, energetic and fast paced movie about strippers. And coming off "Zola", which is a tremendous movie, I assumed I was in for another solid viewing. Well, it was not for me. And it had nothing to do with the fact that it was about male strippers. In fact the best parts of the movie, the parts I enjoyed was when they were at the strip club. They did not show any nudity, and seeing the way these actors danced and grabbed the attendants was pretty cool, but also stripping, of any kind, makes me uncomfortable. But there were only a few moments in the movie where they talked about stripping or did their thing. The other part of the movie, about 60 percent of it, was all the story developing and the lives of the characters. And it was mad boring. There was only so much I could watch of Channing Tatum going to work at his construction job. I also did not care, at all, about the relationship he built with his buddy's sister. It was pretty dull. The stuff with his buddy, played by Alex Ptefyer, was pretty blah as well. I read that the two of them did not get along on set, I have read quite a few things about Ptefyer being a headache, and that totally showed on screen. They truly seemed to hate one another, even though they were supposed to be friends. I also found all of the scenes outside of the random clubs to be super boring. Even when you get a glimpse into how Tatum gets people to come to the club, to see him work outside of work, it just simply had no oomph. It was very blah.

Honestly, the only stuff that worked was the club, and a few of the guys who worked there. I will give Tatum credit, even if I was not into the movie, you can see that this dude can act. He did a very solid job of being, basically himself. This may have been his first time taking a real shot at doing drama, and he did a good job. Joe Mangiello was funny and goofy, as his character should have been. Anyone called "Big Dick Rick" should never, ever take themselves seriously. And he did not take it too seriously. Ptefyer was lame, but I do not like that dude. Matt Bomer and the other dude I did not recognize were fine as side characters. But Matthew McCanoughey was the draw. He was having the best time in this role, and it showed. He was out there. He was wild. He was silly. And it was perfect. He was so wild and crazy, and much like Tatum, I feel like he did a good job of basically playing himself.

All in all the movie just did not work for me. It was too much Steven Soderbergh. He is a very, very good director. But this movie just seems like it is not something he should do. He is much better at doing harder drama, and when it comes to comedy, he should just stick with "Ocean's 11". "Magic Mike" is just not what I thought it was going to be. It wasn't the fun and silly movie I was hoping for. It took itself way, way too seriously. I do not get the hype around this movie, but that is just my opinion. I'd pass if you haven't seen it yet.

Ty

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

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The Drama at Michigan Football is Not Over

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ty

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

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I Have Zero Excitement for the 2022 Winter Olympics

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

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

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

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

Ty

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

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Snow Ice Cream Does Not Suck

In Saint Louis we have gotten a good amount of snow the past two days. It was supposed to hit on Wednesday, but we seem to have gotten the brunt of it today. If I had to guess I'd say we are between six and eight inches, which is a good amount in the county. Hell, people went out on Tuesday and bought up the bread, milk and eggs. I have never understood that phenomenon here, but that is what people in Saint Louis have done with the mere threat of snow all 39 of my years living here. And I have mentioned before on this site that my love of snow stopped when my son started school. Snow is a nuisance, it makes travel tough, they cancel school with just the threat of snow and it makes for a horrible mess about two days after it falls. In no time it will be in the mid 40's here and there will be discolored snow mounds and slush everywhere. It will be gross.

There is one thing I forgot about, until this afternoon. We got a good amount of snow, like I mentioned, and there were fresh powdery mounds on our table out back. It looked pristine. It was white and fluffy and looked like snow off of a postcard from the mountains. After taking my kids sledding, both of them noticed the snow and asked if we could make ice cream. I have not eaten or made snow ice cream in years. I have a very vague recollection that my wife and kids did it last year, but who knows anymore. So when they mentioned it today I figured, why not. Let's do it. We are truly running out of things to do since my son hurt his wrist sledding and playing snow football with me and a buddy yesterday. My daughter is also very small, so she doesn't like to be out too long. So, as I said, I am truly looking for any little thing to do to pass the time until they open schools back up. That activity was making snow ice cream.

The task is simple enough too, as I am sure most of you know. I asked them what kind they wanted to make and they both said, "just do whatever is easiest". I adore my kids. So we got a bowl and filled it with snow, added some milk, sugar and vanilla extract and I let them stir until everything was combined. I took a taste and it immediately took me back to childhood. It was like eating the past. It was good, but so, so, so sugary. I spooned it out for my kids and they were in heaven. They kept saying how tasty it was. They mentioned that they disagreed with my salt take. They were eating it up. At one point my son told me he loved it and said, "I forgot how good plain vanilla ice cream tastes". My daughter was quiet and simply eating. That is a telltale sign that she is truly enjoying what she is tasting at the moment. She actually just finished her small bowl a minute ago, walked up to me and said, "THAT WAS SOOOOOO GOOD!". I love when she does that. But I had forgotten how something so simple and easy can be so good for my kids. I also really enjoyed that it was an activity they brought up that we could all do together. Even my wife ducked out of a meeting to ask the kids if they liked it, and to take a small taste herself.

So there are some good things about the snow I guess. It can look pretty at times. And I do prefer colder weather. But snow ice cream may be the best thing that comes from all of this. I am sure we will make some more, as it is supposed to snow for a few more hours before tapering off. And I cannot wait to try it with chocolate sauce or honey or some other wild concoction we all come up with. Snow ice cream is the goods.

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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Better Late Than Never On "American Pickle"

Continuing with the Seth Rogen talk, after reading his book I decided I wanted to see "An American Pickle". He mentioned filming the movie in the book, he talked about its release coinciding with the pandemic and I had remembered seeing the trailer and wanting to see it. So for date night last week that is the movie my wife and I watched. It was streaming on HBO Max and it was 90 minutes long. It was perfect.

I really liked this movie. For those that do not know, "An American Pickle" is about a man who falls in a pickle barrel in the early 1900's and somehow stays preserved until the barrel is opened 100 years later. Herschel, who is one of the characters Rogen plays, finds himself in modern day Brooklyn and he wants to reconnect with family. There is one great grandson left, Ben, the other character Rogen plays, and they connect after doctors and scientists deem Herschel fit to leave. From there on out the movie has very funny and very sweet jokes about family. There is also a nice little rivalry that starts to brew between the two when they have a falling out. I enjoyed seeing Rogen kind of stretch his acting chops a bit on this one. First off, he plays two roles and the two characters share quite a bit of screen time. I was fascinated by how well the directors and animators were able to pull this off. It looked as real as it could have. They nailed it. Rogen also shows some depth doing some more dramatic things in this movie. He has been in other drama movies, stuff like the Steve Jobs movie and "50/50", but he is barely in the movie or used as comic relief. In "An American Pickle" he stars in two roles and does the drama really well. I also liked the way they weaved family and love in the movie. That is really the sticking point of the whole thing in my opinion. Herschel wants to reconnect and learn all he can but Ben is not very keen on doing such. He is more reserved and quiet and keeps his feelings to himself. Herschel does get him to open up, but it takes some doing. When Ben finally does open up, great things happen. And there were other people in the movie with bit roles. I saw Jorma Taccone, but this was all about Rogen. He is the star. He is the draw. He is why people were tuning in to watch. He nailed it, as I have already said. I really liked how he embodied Herschel, accent and all. He went for it, and to me, he nailed it. But I also liked what he did with Ben. Ben was a modern day hipster, and Rogen really portrayed that very well, but he was never over the top or douchey about it. He was a mild mannered hipster. And the run time, the 90 minutes I mentioned before, that was the exact right amount. The movie was short and sweet and to the point. That is how I like to consume my movies nowadays.

I highly recommend "an American Pickle". It is a bit different from Rogen's normal movies, but I always like when an actor takes a chance and does something out of their comfort zone. It is an added bonus when they nail it. Check this movie out.

Ty

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

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Ty Reads Seth Rogan's "Yearbook"

Over the holidays I got a good amount of books. I have been trying to read more in 2022. I want to be off my phone more, and reading seems like a better way to distract myself than just scrolling on my phone. When I got COVID I went through a couple of older books that I had been putting off, and I fell back in love with reading. When I got out of quarantine the very first book I read was Seth Rogen's new book, "Yearbook".

To be honest I didn't even know that Rogen had written or was even writing a book. I am a big fan of his, I see on his social media that he makes vases and such, but I never saw anything about a book. Then some other people I know who know I like him mentioned that I should check out his book. Being told about this is what gave me the impetus to ask for the book for Xmas. And I read it and finished it very quickly because I very much enjoyed the book.

This book was perfect for someone like me. As I said before, I am a fan. Then we have the fact that a ton of strangers have come to me in many random places and told me that I look and sound like Rogen. I take that as a humongous compliment. I'm also the same age as Rogen, so a lot of the stuff he wrote about were very common to me. I feel like I am the target audience for this book. And it worked. As I said, I loved the book. It was such an easy and good read. There are times when I forget how famous Seth Rogen truly is. I guess, at least to me, Rogen has never come as an uber famous out there type of guy. He works, but he is never really out there doing any crazy stuff or things that the tabloids jump all over. He seems to live a relatively quiet life, but he happens to know super famous people. This was made clear to me while reading the book.

I will not spoil too much, but there are some big names. He talks about introducing Eminem and Dr Dre at the Grammys. He mentions a meeting he and Judd Apatow had with Tom Cruise during all the crazy Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise stuff. He talks about a night on the town that Rogen, his wife and Steve Wozniak and his wife had going to the Magic Castle. He mentions meeting with some very high up government while making the movie "The Interview". That was another thing I really dug about the book. I like hearing inside scoop on movies being made. It is even better when the movies the person is talking about are movies I truly enjoy. I loved reading all about the making of "The Interview". It was fascinating. I also liked hearing how long it took them to get "Superbad" made. The stuff with Apatow and "Knocked Up" was pretty neat. I like any unheard info I can get on "This is the End", which is one of my personal favorite movies.

The thing that made this book truly stand out was the personal stories. It was sweet to hear about him meeting and dating his wife. It was also hilarious. I really enjoyed getting to know more about his parents and how cool they seem. I really liked hearing about the summer camps and the trials and tribulations that happened. And even though I do not do drugs, it was pretty enlightening to hear about the many, many drugs that Rogen has done. I thought it was truly educational to hear him recollect the times doing them, and what he learned about doing them. It was awesome.

I highly recommend checking this book out, especially if you are a fan like me. "Yearbook" is a wonderful read and I think you would enjoy it as much as I did.

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 the 2022 AFC and NFC Title Games

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ty

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

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Chili Has No Need for Beans

Today I am coming at you with a semi hot take on food. I have done this from time to time on the site and have gotten a little bit of a reaction from some people online and in my home. My hot take for the day today is, chili is better with no beans in it.

I have felt this way for quite some time, but the chili that I made for dinner last night, and finished for lunch today, made me fully realize this. I know there are other people in my family who feel the same way, namely my dad. He has actually said this for a while now. He will change his order if the place we are ordering from has beans in the chili. And there are a very few chilis out there with beans that are good, most notably the veggie chili at the excellent local diner Morning Glory. But I feel like it is a fact that all meat chili is the way to go.

The chili I made yesterday has no beans because it is low carb, and I try to eat as low carb as possible for my three meals a day. And it is a pretty simple chili to make. It has 2 1/2 lbs of ground beef, a red onion, celery, jalapenos and all the other seasonings that go into your regular chili. But instead of straight up chili powder I used chipotle chili powder. I also put the chili in the crockpot after browning the beef and let all the veggies and seasonings and meat marinade for eight hours. It made for an excellent tasting chili goop. It almost had more of a sloppy joe feel than a chili. But damn if it wasn't tasty as hell.

No beans isn't just the chili that I make at home. There are a few restaurants in town, mostly steak houses, that have no bean chili and it is always a great surprise. My eyes light up. When we would go to restaurants, even if I was not craving chili, I would order it just to taste it. The chili at Skyline in Ohio, while using cinnamon, has no beans and it is really awesome, especially on hot dogs and pasta. There is a hot dog spot in Saint Louis called Steve's Hot Dogs, and when they make a chili dog they use no bean chili. It makes the chili dog that much better. It is like the Skyline chili dog but with a way better tasting frank and chili. In fact, if any hot dog place uses beans in their chili I will not order chili dogs.

It is not that I dislike beans. I think they are great. They are an excellent source of protein. I know people who choose to not eat meat love beans, as they should. But for a meat eater such as myself, the beans add too much starch to a chili. It almost takes away from the flavor of the chili. I feel like the beans soak up all the good seasoning and juice. That is what I want the meat to do in a chili. I want the meat to bathe in the juice and add even more flavor. It makes for an excellent meal.

All meat chili is the way to go if you are a meat eater and you want a hot side dish, or even if you want it as a main dish. It makes for a filling and delicious tasting meal. At least that is how I feel.

Ty

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

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Ja Morant Deserves Some NBA MVP Love

I need to talk about the awesomeness Ja Morant.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "Grand Crew"

Back when RD and I did the what we are looking forward to pod for this year we talked about TV. One of those shows started in early December, as an early premiere, but the series did not officially start until this month. That show is "Grand Crew", and it is really good so far.

They have done six episodes so far, they have ten ordered, and each one has gotten better and better. When they did the first two episodes back in December they were good, but looked like they needed a little work. As with all pilots, they usually start slow. "Grand Crew" was no different. But unlike other shows, "Grand Crew" has blasted away as one of the best new shows on TV in some time.

First and foremost, the cast is incredible. They have wonderful chemistry. They play off one another. They play their characters to perfection. They are so goddamn good. The cast is led, in my opinion, by Nicole Beyer. She is so, so, so good in her role. She is funny and smart. She likes to hook up with dudes, but she always finds a silver lining. She is the funniest, looks the best and just crushes her role. She is so good. So is Echo Kellum. He is the first billed in the credits, so I guess he is the "star" of the show. He is almost as amazing as Beyer. He is the typical lover boy. He wants to find love. He loves romantic comedies and tries to live his life as if he is in one. Kellum is really good at portraying this, and he does a good amount of lifting. Carl Tart is hilarious. I am a big time fan of his as you all know. I love that he is getting a real shot to star on a network sitcom and he is crushing right now. Every time he goes off on a rant on the show I find myself rolling on the floor with laughter. He is so good at controlling the room and owning the scenes he is in. Aaron Jennings is the responsible working one of the group, but he has his comedic moments as well. There was an earlier episode where he thinks he is going to get a promotion, but they are just using him because he is a minority. This was some heavy stuff, but Jennings did a great job making it real yet comical at the same time. The most recent episode, where he is learning chess, is a great masterclass in subtle comedy from Jennings. Grasie Mercedes was an excellent addition. It appeared as if she was going to be a love interest, but they scrapped that and it has worked perfectly. She fits in seamlessly with the rest of the cast. And then we have Justin Cunningham. He is the married one, the settled down one, the one who may or may not have kids and he is so good. He is so funny and relatable. I see a lot of myself in him. My wife and I have said multiple times that he and his wife are us. I love the way he plays his role. The cast is wonderful. They have the same chemistry that the cast of "Happy Endings" had, and that is one of my all time favorite shows. And like I said before, they seem to be finding their groove. They have the relationships all figured out. They are connecting on all fronts. Everything they are doing is working right now. I laugh out loud while watching and none of it is forced.

I hope this show gets its due. I do not want it to leave after three seasons. They have a great thing going, and if they keep up at this pace, "Grand Crew" can become a mainstay. It is that good. Check this show out if you have not yet. It is more than worth your time, even if you just watch it to see this amazing cast. "Grand Crew" is excellent.

Ty

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

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There are No Small Parts, Just Great Side Characters Like Stevie Janowski on "Eastbound and Down"

I am currently on my third rewatch of "Eastbound and Down". The show still rules if you were wondering. It is as funny and crazy and wild and nuts as anything McBride, Jody Hill and David Gordon Green have been known to do. What I have noticed more lately though on this watch is how great Steve Little is as Stevie Janowski.

For those that may not know, Little's character is a pathetic former high school mate of McBride's character Kenny Powers. As they got older Janowski became a teacher at the school where Powers ended up working and then became his personal assistant during Powers' comeback to baseball. And he nails his role. At first Janowski seems pretty meek and pretty okay with where his life has taken him. He is okay to be a teacher, he is fine being alone and he seems good with his lot in life. But then Kenny comes back to town and he starts to change. He follows Kenny around everywhere and basically makes himself his assistant. He dresses like Kenny, he acts like Kenny, he curses like Kenny, he tries to party like Kenny, and it is all so pathetic and sad and funny and Little totally nails it. In the first season, seeing him go from meek to sidekick to asshole was pretty amazing. His acting is a masterclass in how to be an also ran, how to cowtail to someone who you think may be better than you. He also totally nails being an obsessed fan of a fallen professional athlete. Janowski still thinks Kenny is rich and famous and important. There are only two people that think this, Powers and Janowski. I love the way Little shows all this during season one. When he starts to dress in all black, it is hilariously sad. When Kenny says he is going to have to let him go, and Janowski starts to cry and complain, it is perfect for his character. When he shows up with the steroids at the pitching contest, it is weirdly sweet, but also super upsetting when he tells Kenny he has never left him. And when he leaves North Carolina, and leaves Stevie behind, he is more upset than anyone else. He is more upset than Kenny's ex-girlfriend, his brother, his in-laws and nieces and nephews, Stevie is the most upset. And when he follows him to Mexico in season two, following his credit card statements, of which Kenny stole, that just takes his character to a whole other sad and depressing level. And Little totally crushes it. He is so good at being Kenny's butler. He does everything he asks of him, with no questions. Kenny shoots him, and Stevie does nothing. Kenny puts him on a truck back to America and Stevie finds a way back to the baseball stadium. And when Kenny then blames him for not being there to support him, Stevie apologizes to him. He is so invested in being Kenny's friend that he will stop at nothing to get him on his side. It is completely pathetic, and I think that is exactly what they wanted with this role. I read that he is really the only person not in the tight knit group that created this show that they kept around because he liked them and they liked him. I also read that he based his character on people he knew from his high school, and truth be told, he does a great job representing former high schoolers everywhere. It is simply perfect.

Steve Little has done a whole lot of stuff, way more than I thought while looking him up for this blog. But Stevie Janowski on "Eastbound and Down" may be the best thing he has done to date. I'm sure he will continue to work, and that's great for him. I just do not know that he will ever top this role. And that is a great, great thing.

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 the 2022 NFL Playoffs

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

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

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

I am going to save the Packer game for last.

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

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

Now for the Packers-49ers.

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

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

Ty

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

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Thoughts on the Future of Michigan Football

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ty

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

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Ty Watches "Zola"

Yesterday I was flipping through the channels and I happened upon the movie "Zola". I had heard of this movie, but hadn't seen it yet. I also read that it was a pretty good movie. A lot of publications had it on their best of lists, the actors were getting high praise, Janicza Bravo, who I am already a fan of, was getting just due for a good job directing it and I had some free time so I watched it.

I loved it. This is a very good movie. All the praise is very due. I was enamored by this movie. I could not take my eyes off the screen. I needed to know what was going to happen. I was all in. For those that may not know, "Zola" is a movie about a Twitter thread from a dancer about a crazy few days and nights in Florida. Getting a little deeper into the movie, the Twitter thread is about one dancer being conned by another dancer to do some crazy stuff that she definitely did not sign up for.

The two stars of the movie, Taylour Paige and Riley Keough were exceptional. There were other actors in the movie, and they did a good job, but Paige and Keough are the reason to see this movie. They play the dancers. Keough is repugnant in this role, as she is supposed to be. She is a white girl that wants to be black. I read some stuff about how she was kind of uncomfortable doing the voice she uses in the movie, but that Bravo told her that is exactly what she wanted her to do. Her character is supposed to be the villain. She is supposed to be gross and disliked and have zero redeeming qualities. Even when there were times I may have felt bad for her character, she would do something that would immediately pull me back into simply disliking her. I realize that the fact that I was actively rooting against her means Keough did a great job. There is one moment in particular, where she tells her side of the story, that is amazing film making, and it made me loathe her even more. But Paige, my goodness did she carry this movie. She is Zola. She is the person that did the Twitter thread on which the movie is based. To open the movie with her meeting Keough and stating, "you want to hear a story about me and this bitch falling out", I was hooked. I needed to know this story and I needed to hear Paige as Zola tell the story. The way she embodied the character, the way she acted, the cool and calm she portrayed, the easy going demeanor, it was all perfect. She did such a great job as the only real adult in this movie. She owns every scene. She commands the viewers attention. It is a powerhouse performance from beginning to end. It was awesome. These two actors did a masterful job.

I was also super impressed with Bravo's direction. She shot the movie almost like a fairy tale, the craziest, messiest and grossest fairy tale ever. Some of the shots, for example, the beginning after the two meet, they are putting their makeup on to get ready to dance and Bravo has them in a fully mirrored room with haunting music playing while they stare at each other getting ready. I don't know why, but that resonated with me big time. I also enjoyed that, every time someone says a line that was an actual tweet, the bird noise comes up whenever you put out a tweet. It is a nod to let you know that it is a real thing that came from a real person's phone. It made for an even wilder viewing experience. I also appreciated that the movie was a quick 90 minutes. No muss, no fuss. There are no meandering or pointless scenes or shots. Everything that is in the movie is needed to push the narrative forward.

I cannot recommend this movie enough. It is a crazy story that actually happened, and the actors portraying the real life people did an exceptional job. Check out "Zola". It is worth your time.

Ty

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

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Tales of Watching a Live NBA Game During the Pandemic

I spent this past weekend in Memphis with my dad and son. My son got tickets to a Bulls-Grizzlies for Christmas, and this was the weekend we went. It was fun too. What I want to talk to you all about today is the experience of going inside an arena during a wave of this seemingly never ending pandemic. But first I want to talk about some other stuff I noticed while in Memphis.

First off, the hotel was clean, well managed, got things when we needed them and pretty much every attendant was masked when walking around the main area of the hotel. I felt comfortable, especially after my dad and I sanitized and cleaned every handle and highly touched surface in the room. We also ordered all of our food to go, ate it in the room and did not have to step inside a restaurant while we were there. It was nice.

When we walked around the downtown area, we wore our masks, and I would have to estimate about 80 percent of the people we saw had masks on as well. I was pleasantly surprised. This is on me. I figured that we were going to be in the South, I see people in Saint Louis not following masking rules and that it would be a free for all. It was the opposite. There were more people wearing masks than were not. And if someone did not have one on, a store clerk would hand them one and they would put it on, no questions asked. It was great. I was stoked. And the local coffee shop we found and frequented had excellent coffee, service and also high masking standards. To see that in a college town was icing on the cake.

Monday was game day. That was the reason for being there. This is what it was all leading to. We decided to get downtown at noon for a 2:30pm game. We figured we could go to the fan shop, get our concessions and find our seats before there were a ton of people. It worked. We got into the arena around 12:30 and my son and I did a little shopping. Since his birthday is coming up I told him I would buy him one thing, no jerseys since they were far too expensive. After about a half an hour he found a shirt and we bought it. It was contactless pay, every worker had a mask on, some were gloved and it felt safe. The other customers gave space, we found it easy to maneuver the shop and I felt okay. Then we found our seats with relative ease. They were great seats. And for about an hour, no one else sat by us. This was my time to get the concessions for my son and I. I figured if we could eat before other people came, it would be easiest. And it was. We ate our nachos, drank our water and shared some popcorn, with no one else in sight. It was great. After we were done, we cleaned up and put our masks back on. By the way, we were wearing the KF94 masks, and I highly recommend those. They have the feel of a KN95, but they, for me, fit better. It was tight on my face and it left a little room so my glasses did not fog up.

About 15 minutes before tip, the arena was about half full. I was hoping this would be the case for the whole game. It was not. Maybe five minutes before introductions more people came in. In about five minutes time the arena was about 85 to 90 percent full. This was when my anxiety went up. My ticks came out. I was clearing my throat a lot and twisting my head from side to side. I did my methods to calm my nerves, but they were still pretty high. I made sure we all kept our masks on tight to our faces, and just rolled with it. It did help to see about 65 to 70 percent of the crowd with masks on. Unfortunately the people sitting next to me and my dad did not have masks on, or if they did, they wore them around their chin. Not to be deterred, we put my son between us, and I turned my body towards him so I could protect him the most. And we made damn sure we kept our masks on the whole game.

When the game started something shifted in me. I was still nervous and ticking, but when incredible plays happened, I cheered. When good passes were made, I cheered. When my son had a question I was quick with an answer. When the PA asked the crowd to get loud and stand up, I did. I found myself getting lost in the game action. I was masked obviously, but the game was making me cheer loud. It was kind of neat to see a live game. I have not been to a live game or concert or anything like that in two years. This is because of the pandemic, but also because I have actively chosen not to go. But this was for my son. My dad and I hatched this plan before Omicron was on the radar. We have all gotten our shots, done what we have been informed to do by doctors and scientists and my dad and I have extra antibodies after getting COVID ourselves. I even asked my doctor about going, and he said that, as long as I wore my mask and followed the rules, I should be okay. And now that I am two days removed from going, I am glad that I went and did this thing with my son and dad. I was nervous being in an arena, but I got through it. My dad had a good time watching a live game mainly because he was excited to see his grandson see a live game. And my son, he was eating up every single second. He has not stopped talking about the game since we left the arena at 5:15 Monday night. He is already an excitable, talkative kid, and this game has only multiplied that ten times.

So while I would not recommend doing this unless you go about like we did, I had fun. It was a memory that I will never, ever forget. The look on my son's face was more than worth the trip. He was on cloud 9. It was amazing. And I want to give the FedEx Forum their due. They did an excellent job trying to get as many people as they possibly could to follow the rules, and they did their job. My hat is off to them. And to the city of Memphis as well. Thank you for the hospitality and for wearing masks when they were supposed to. This was a good trip and a trip to see how something I used to do all the time without a second thought would feel now that I haven't done it in two years due to the pandemic. It was a nice experience.

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

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Ty Watches "The Eternals"

Last Friday for date night my wife picked "Eternals". It was finally streaming, we both wanted to watch it, we are both Marvel fans and we figured if we started it early enough, we could watch it all in one sitting. We started it at 6:30pm our time, sent the kids downstairs and we were able to finish it in one sitting.

As I have been saying since 2022 started, I am being more hopeful this year, but man did I not like this movie much at all. It definitely had some solid parts. There was stuff that made me laugh. My son had to explain a few things, and when he did, I liked some of what I was seeing. I thoroughly enjoyed, spoiler alert, the mid credits scene with Harry Styles. I thought Kumail, the deaf lady and Brian Tyree Henry did a very good job in their roles. And it was visually beautiful. But this movie was boring. Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek are barely in it. And Jolie's character had this cool glitch, but it was seemingly resolved with no real reason. I like the idea of giving no names, or up and coming names a shot, but when you throw Jolie and Hayek on posters, I was under the notion that they would be in the movie much more.

This movie did not feel like a Marvel movie. My wife and I almost simultaneously said it felt like a DC movie. Marvel movies are bright and fun and funny, even when they are bad. DC movies, even when they are good, are dour, sad affairs. That was what "Eternals" felt like to me. It was almost exclusively at night. And when it wasn't, the fight scenes were in the woods or in the clouds. Even the final battle was surrounded by erupting volcanoes which obscured a lot of my viewing experience. The villain was weird. There were absurd guitar riffs that seemed out of place. All of that stuff, the darkness and the crummy 80's esque hair metal music was so akin to what DC does. I mentioned a few times to my wife that this was more boring than "Thor 2", which is saying something when talking about Marvel movies.

What made me most annoyed, not even annoyed just kind of bummed out, the actors, minus the three I mentioned did not do great with the source material. The leading actors, Sersi and Ikaris, were way to melodramatic for these roles. I get they are supposed to be gods, but they were far too doom and gloom. They never seemed to have fun. Jon Snow, I do not know the actors names, sorry, was also barely in the movie, and he just seemed stuffed in for future "Eternals" movies. Everyone else treated the movie like it was a hard drama. I wanted so badly to have more Kumail in the movie because he was the only one that felt like he knew he was in a Marvel movie. He and Tyree Henry as well. They both had a good time with their roles. But not everyone else. And while I really enjoy Chloe Zao, "Nomadland" is amazing, she just does not seem to be a superhero movie director. And that is fine. She just took the material way, way, way too seriously. Superhero movies, for me, need to be like "Thor 3" or "Black Panther". Those movies are simply having a good time, with some little elements of drama. "Eternals" just took itself way too seriously and it made for a convoluted and dull movie. It simply wasn't for me.

Maybe I am not smart enough or I do not get what they were trying to do, but I did not like "Eternals". Oh well, maybe the second one will be more fun. I will be sitting here being hopeful.

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 Classic: What MLK Day Means to Me

This article was originally posted on January 18th, 2020

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, I want to talk about his importance to me, and his influence on me.

Last year I talked about how we could really use someone like him in our lives right now. I still firmly believe that, but with a new administration coming in, one that will listen to people, that will hold people accountable, one that is diverse, I think MLK would have been somewhat pleased with where we will stand on January 20th. I'm sure he would want more changes, we all do, but the people who will be entrenched in their jobs soon enough are a diverse group, more diverse than ever in fact. But back to my point for today. MLK was a big, big influence on me. I, like most others, did not learn of him until elementary school, but my learning did not stop there. I have studied the man. I watched all his speeches. I have seen movies and documentaries on him. I have been to Memphis, been to the Civil Rights Museum and have seen where his life was tragically cut short. MLK was not someone I learned about and then forgot. He has stayed with me. More importantly though, his message has stayed with me.

My parents instilled it in me, I tell my kids everyday to not judge a person by how they look, I try to teach the kids I coach things MLK said and did. He is a part of my life, by choice. I know his I Have a Dream speech is the most famous, but it is for a reason. When he says that he "has a dream that his four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character", it still moves me. It still resonates with me. It is how I live my life. I do not judge anyone before I get to know them personally, if it gets there. I will not move to one side of the street or another because of the person that is coming towards me. My inflection and tone of my voice does not change no matter who I am talking to. I find it crass and ignorant to do "impressions" of other people from other races. All this, and so much more, where instilled by MLK, and my folks. My parents grew up in the 60's. They were there for MLK's speeches, peaceful protests and his unfortunate assassination. I feel like, much as he had an impact on me, he had one on both of my parents. They raised not only me to be the type of person I am today, but my three other brothers also. We are all very accepting, loving people. We never just judge someone and move on. We give the benefit of the doubt more times than not. I think a big part of that is because of my folks, and how they experienced MLK's life. Heck, if it weren't for both of them, I would not have been able to go to the Civil Rights Museum, or the hotel where he was killed. They had me do that because they knew it would be a great thing for me, and also a way for them to remember the oppression and the past. I am forever grateful to my parents for teaching me young, and continuing to do it even today, in my late 30's.

This year though, and really the past four years, have made me want to be as much like MLK as I can be. The past four years have been a total mess. This country has become scary racist. There are a lot of people that do and say bad things that are in positions of power. I decided this year, well in November of 2020, to get involved. I phone banked for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. I participated in Black Lives Matter marches, and have done as much as I can for that movement. I am giving my time to talk to people, be it via email or phone, about how important it is, especially right now, to understand this movement, and where it is coming from. I don't know that I would be doing all these things without my parents, or maybe even more importantly, the lessons I have learned from Dr. King. He has helped to shape my activism, my want to help others and my belief that we should not judge people by how they look.

Dr. King was a great man who was taken from us far too soon. He did so much, and could have done so much more. I am forever grateful for him, and his message and the way he fought peacefully for what he believed in. Happy MLK Day everyone. This is as important a holiday as we have in America. Cherish this day.

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.

The Annex in Webster Groves Rules

Today my kids and I were finally able to see my folks again. I have cleared all my protocols, my folks had COVID as well, they got it before I did, and since they are older they did the full ten days and cleared their protocols yesterday. My dad and I hadn't been out for coffee in two weeks, my kids are off school for the day and both my parents have not seen them for two weeks, so we decided we were all comfortable to see each other again.

It was great. I really missed both of them, and when we got over there it was like nothing had changed. My mom took the kids to play in the basement of their home and my dad and I were left to chat about sports and other stuff we like to talk about.

After being there for about an hour, my dad and I decided we wanted to go pick up some coffee, do our usual thing. We were both pleasantly surprised when my mom and kids said they wanted to come with us. It was great. So all five of us piled in my car and drove to a newish coffee shop in Webster Groves here in Missouri called The Annex. My dad and I have gotten coffee here before, but my kids and my mom have not checked it out yet. And instead of just grabbing coffee and leaving, we decided to do a little shopping. That is what makes this newer coffee shop so damn cool. There is a typical coffee shop area, but they also have a sandwich shop inside that has fresh local ingredients. They also have shelves, a la a grocery store, that has some really cool products to buy. They also have neat little candies and homemade pastries and other sweets. There is also a cold juice bar that has some of the best juice I've ever had. This place may look small from the outside, but when you get into the building, it seems vast. It was also very easy to spread out, and we all had some form of a N95 or KN94 mask on. Needless to say, we felt pretty safe. Doing this shopping felt really good too. My kids were literally kids in a candy store when they went to the candy section of the "grocery area". They had all kinds of neat, organic and original candy. They had stuff ranging from Rose suckers to honey foam. They also had homemade jellies and gummies. My kids were both enamored with the old school rainbow sucker. That is what they got. And when I grabbed it to buy it for them, the ingredients made me feel like a not so bad dad for buying them one each. They then went to the juice bar spot and found a little section with multiple milk selections. It was crazy to see all the different kinds of milk they had, all of which are organic and locally made. My daughter got chocolate milk, which was incredible and my son got Orange Cream milk which tasted like a creamsicle. It was amazing. I decided I wanted to grab some black licorice from England and a cold brew. The licorice was nice, but that cold brew was outstanding. It was woody yet smooth. The addition of cream only made it taste better and go down smoother. I did not even need to add any sweetener because it tasted so good without it. I'd have to say, second only to Sump, this is the best cold brew I have had. I drank it pretty fast, and to me that is a sign of a great coffee. My dad got himself an Americano and my mom got a homemade croissant and a chai latte. My dad is a coffee aficionado and he had glowing words for the Americano. He seemed pretty stoked to drink it. My mom, who never finishes a drink, had most of that chai latte down when we left their house, and we took all this back to their house after ordering. To me that means she really enjoyed her drink. When we left her house she hadn't tried the croissant yet, but she told me she was saving it because she knew it was going to be great. It looked excellent. It looked buttery and flaky and absolutely delicious.

My dad and I are always on the hunt for new and interesting coffee shops. And luckily we just happened upon The Annex about a month or two ago, and now my kids and my mom have also given it the thumbs up. I cannot recommend this place enough. It is a hidden gem, but will not be for long, so get in there while you can before it has a line out of the door. It is totally worth the price for the excellent coffee, the kick ass store, the cool lunch counter and the juice bar. The Annex rules.

Ty

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

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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