RIP Jim Redmond, Great Sports Dad

Jim Redmond passed away today at the age of 81. Outside of learning that Jim was a West Indian immigrant to the United Kingdom, I know exactly one thing about his life and that is I why I am memorializing Jim Redmond today.

During the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games, the British track team had some hope in the 400 meter race. Runner Derek Redmond had one a few medals in international competition and had posted the fastest time in his 400 meter heat. In the semifinal heat Derek came around the last turn and pulled up with a leg injury. Derek had torn his hamstring. Medical officials started to make their way to assist Derek off the track, but the runner wanted to finish. In agonizing pain, Derek hobbled his way to the finish line. It did not look like he was going to make it. Through the crowd on the track came Derek’s father Jim. He put his arm around his son and helped him finish his first, and last, Olympic race. Take a look for yourself.

Jim Redmond was not trying to be a hero, he was being a dad. He was there for his son all of his life encouraging and coaching. He was there at the beginning, and he made sure in worst sports moment of his son’s life, Jim was going to be there to pick him up. By being a dad, Jim Redmond gave us a moment of pure awe.

Recently my father in law passed away. He was my wife’s dad and my son’s grandfather. Over the last few weeks I have thought about how he supported his daughter, encouraged my son, and accepted me as an equal. My father in law, like Jim Redmond, was not an extraordinary man, he was one of the greatest men to ever live. In front of the public eye, or away from it, these men were great because they embodied the idea of being a dad. That is why I celebrate them today.

Rest in piece Jim Redmond. You set the bar for what it means to be a dad. Thank you.

RD

RD is the founder and Head 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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2021 Top Five - Sports

Today I am wrapping up my best of 2021 lists. I always save sports for last because I love them so much. It is one of my favorite things in the world. There was a lot that I had to leave off my list as well. The return of fans, Shoehai Otahni and Vlad Guerrero Jr, the Cardinals massive win streak, Deion Sanders getting the top recruit in the country to commit to Jackson State, Urban Meyer's punkass getting fired, the college football coaching carousel, all of that stuff, and so much more could have easily made my list. But I think I got it paired down to what I consider the five best sports moments of 2021. Let's get to it.

At five I have the Summer Olympics. All of it. There isn't one event that I want to focus on or anything like that. It was all so good. Simone Biles was amazing, both on and off the gymnastics field or court or board. The skateboarding was kickass. Basketball was fun. Table tennis was oddly interesting. The races were incredible, especially the marathon. The stuff beforehand, the rooms and what not, that was all great. The swimming was phenomenal. I let myself get fully engrossed in the Summer Olympics, and it was awesome. I think it may be a mixture of the pandemic, the fact it was pushed to this past summer and how competitive all the games were, but it all worked so well for me as a sports fan. I also think this may have made me an Olympic fan for life. I am stoked for the Winter Olympics, and you better believe I will be watching the Summer Games in 2024.

Coming in at number four I have the Name Image Likeness bill. This is a humongous deal. We can already see the positive ramifications of the NIL. These college athletes are finally getting paid if the university they attend uses any of the three things in the NIL. And it is all across NCAA sports. It isn't just basketball or football like a lot of naysayers predicted. I have read that all kinds of college athletes are making bank from the NIL. It also isn't just making the stars of their teams money. One of Michigan's bench players on their men's basketball team makes more NIL money than any other player. He barely plays, but he has a massive Tik Tok following. And even the stars, they are cashing checks. One of Michigan's starting running backs gave over 10 grand in gift bags to a local community center. Another Michigan player donated a ton of his NIL money to the Oxford school. Players outside of Michigan are doing the same, I just notice Michigan because that is the team I follow. I also love the NIL because college coaches, who make millions upon millions of dollars, are so up in arms about their players getting paid. It is so hypocritical, but I find it so funny. That is the good thing about the NIL. It is changing the college game, which was sorely needed.

At number three I have the Milwaukee Bucks winning the 2021 NBA title, but more so, Giannis' performance in game 6. I was stoked that a Midwest team won the title. I love that it was Milwaukee because my father has been a long suffering fan of theirs. And I adore Giannis the player and person. He is so wholesome. He seems genuine. He clearly knows how lucky he is in his life. He gives back to family and his community. And that performance he had in the game 6 clincher, that was amazing. He refused to be beaten that night. He scored 50 points. He grabbed double figure rebounds. He made his free throws. He had chase down blocks. He made Phoenix's best offensive players uncomfortable all night long. Every time it seemed like Phoenix may take the game, Giannis did something to turn the tide back to the Bucks. It was an amazing performance. It was one I was glad I watched in real time. I will never forget watching that game. It was that fantastic of a performance. One for the record books.

At number two I have the 2021 Michigan football season. I had little expectations for this team. I believe I picked them to finish 7-5, but it seemed more likely they would go 6-6. I did not know what to expect from all the new hires and I had little expectations for the offense. Well, they proved me, and a whole lot of other people wrong. From the start of the season they had an edge. They played very sound, very fast defense. Their run game was simply amazing. When they had to pass, they did what was needed, with some big plays added in from time to time. Josh Gattis took control of the offense and won assistant of the year. The offensive staff was totally overhauled and it worked. Outside Gattis, Mike Hart changed the run game, Sherrone Moore had the O line playing exceptionally well and the younger staff changed the whole offensive dynamic. The defense had even more of an overhaul, and they were amazing all year. They shut teams down and forced most of them to be one dimensional. They also beat the university of Ohio State for the first time in their last eight tries. I was ecstatic at that outcome. They also won the Big Ten title for the first time in 17 years. They are also in the CFP for the first time since its introduction. Jim Harbaugh won the AP coach of the year and Aidan Hutchinson was a Heisman finalist. This team exceeded all of my wildest dreams. I am so excited to watch them in the CFP in 2 weeks, although I am so very nervous as always. Had someone told me that Michigan football would win 12 games, beat the university of Ohio State by 15, win the Big 10 and play in the CFP before the season, I would have laughed in their face. Well here we are now, and all of that stuff is true. What a season.

And at number one, this is a personal feat for me, I finished my first full marathon this year. I have been working up to that distance for awhile. I have been training for longer distances for a long time. I actually had one planned for the summer, but I got injured. I was devastated when the doctor told me I couldn't run that race. But instead of wallowing, I amped up my training after I healed. I then signed up, along with my buddy Kirk, for a trail marathon(Kirk did a 50k). And the day of the race came and I was nervous as hell. It was a looped race, so I knew I would have my own personal aid stations, but still, nerves were high. It got bad enough that I wanted to quit after 18 miles. I felt awful. But the great people involved with the STL Track Club calmed me down, helped me get over the pain and frustration, gave me some sugar and I went back out for that final loop. As I got closer and closer to the finish line, my emotions took over. I could not believe that I was about to finish a full marathon. I was going to do something that seemed impossible a decade before. And now I have already signed up for a few other marathons. I am returning to run the same marathon in October of 2022, but I may up it to a 50k, who knows. But the fact that I ran a full marathon, that I finished it, that I had the support of Kirk and the STL Track Club and that I am contemplating doing more of them, that is an achievement I will never forget for the rest of my life.

Okay, that wraps up my best of 2021 lists. I love doing these lists and I would love to hear from the readers about some of their favorite things in 2021. Have a good and safe Holiday and a Happy New Year.

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 2020 Olympics

With the Olympics all wrapped up I want to talk about my experience watching this year.

I never pay too much attention to the Olympics if I am being honest with myself. I watch basketball in the summer games, I like gymnastics because the people are so athletic and more recently I have gotten into track and field, pretty much since I became a runner. It is the same with the winter Olympics. I watch very few sports with snowboarding and skiing being the lone exceptions. But this year I found myself super into the Olympics.

I turned it on from day one and it was on pretty much everyday until the games wrapped up. I found myself really into swimming early on. Then I was devouring skateboarding, which was rad. I watched fencing and table tennis on a different day. I got super into highboard and synchronized diving. I was watching water polo. I followed the men's and women's gymnastics teams. I watched more volleyball than I have ever seen. I watched basketball, more on that later, because I love it so much. I'd say I tuned in to about 85-90 percent of the competitions. I do not know why either. It wasn't the lack of fans because I saw that in the NBA bubble and most pro sports last year. I seemed to latch on early this year and that seemed to be the key.

I think another reason why this resonated so much was because I did not think it was going to happen. I thought that the organizers were going to pull the plug at the last minute because of rising COVID cases all over the world. But when they started, I watched and watched and watched. I think it hit me so well this year because of the lack of sports in summer. I like baseball, but not MLB. I'm not a soccer fan. And there are only so many articles I can read on college football teams opening their fall camps. So these Olympics hit me at the exact right time. We also got some really interesting and neat personal athlete stories. I followed Simone Biles every step. I side with her and I am so happy that she took care of mental state over everything else. The super young skateboarders were so cool and seemed so thrilled to be in the Olympics. The diver from Britain that also knits was one of my favorite people in the games. There was the Cambodia gentleman who was adopted by an American man who was a diver and that story was so heartwarming. Seeing Katie Ledecky do what she does and then laugh at reporters when they asked if she was going to retire was stupendous. Watching Team USA baseball and softball come so close to gold was pretty amazing. Table tennis has some wild competitors and they are as focused as any other athlete I have ever seen. There was that crazy last second wrestling move that won gold. The marathon was astounding to watch. Seeing Alyson Felix become the most decorated female track runner was super impressive. Seeing all the field events and being blown away by what the athletes did will always stay with me. I was hooked.

With all these sports it should be no surprise that basketball was my big time winner. The women's team dominated like they do. They are so much further ahead than any other country in basketball. The viral picture of Diana Taurasi holding the ball up high and laughing in the gold medal game is so pure and so cool. Seeing Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe embrace after Bird won her fourth gold medal was joyous. The women's basketball team rules. And so does the men's team. I was hard on them after France beat them in league play. I was worried. I did not think they had it in them to turn it around. I was getting annoyed at the complaints. Then they found their groove. When they came out and demolished Iran they looked like a different team. They were more confident and better coached. They started to coalesce. KD turned it on and became unstoppable. Bam Adebayp became a defensive force. Draymond Green looked more like himself. Jayson Tatum and Damian Lillard started to hit big shots. Jrue Holiday was the backcourt stopper they needed. Devin Booker and Khris Middleton were knockdown shooters. It all started to groove. They still had moments of concern, mainly letting teams stay in games a bit too long, but in the end they always pulled away. After dismantling Iran they beat the Czech and cruised by Spain. I was nervous for Australia, but they made easy work of them. Then it was France again for gold. The game was tighter than I wanted it to be, but in the end they won. KD became the men's all time leading scorer and Team USA won gold for the fourth straight time. I was wrong to doubt them and I'm glad they got the gold.

This was a good Olympics. I liked the stuff I watched and was floored by how much of it I was into and willing to watch. My hat is off to the people who put it all together . This could have been a disaster, and it is not without its bad moments, but they were able to get it done and accomplish a major feat.

Ty

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

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It Does Not Look Good For Team USA Basketball

I think it is time to start worrying about Team USA winning any medal at the Olympics this year.

I got up early yesterday to watch Olympic basketball. I love basketball, and if it is on and I am up I will watch. I particularly like Olympic basketball because of the different rules. They play by FIBA rules and that means they can play a bit rougher, faster and pull rebounds off the rim, even if the ball looks like it is going in. I would love for the NBA and college basketball to adopt some of these rules. The best thing about Olympic basketball is the fact that the games are done within two hours. It is close to perfect.

So I got out of bed to watch Team USA. I saw the exhibition games and kind of shrugged off the losses to Nigeria and Australia. They rebounded nicely against Argentina and Spain, and I even went on the pod and said they should be a lock to win gold. Even without guys like LeBron and AD and Steph, they still have KD, Dame, Tatum, Draymond Green and Bam Adebayo, to name a few. Most of the twelve guys on the team are super stars and some of the best players in the world. I know that other countries are catching up, but still, the overall talent on Team USA's roster is chock full of upper tier NBA talent. Look at a team like Slovenia for example. They have Luka Doncic, and a bunch of dudes I have never heard of before. Spain has Ricky Rubio and the Gasol brothers, then a bunch of dudes that had a cup of coffee in the league. Nigeria has some young NBA talent, but no one that really even starts on an NBA team. Australia has a really good group of players, a lot of which are in the NBA still, but none of them are even close to being the best players on their teams. And France has some good dudes, namely Rudy Gobert, but again, Team USA, on paper, has way, way better talent.

I saved France for last because that is who beat Team USA yesterday. The USA came out strong, led by double figures at one point, and then totally melted down. They couldn't hit the ocean. They couldn't get a stop. They kept making stupid fouls. KD fouled out of the game, and only scored ten points. Team USA was an absolute mess in the second half, and France jumped all over them. Rudy Gobert was stifling them at the rim. Evan Fournier could not be stopped. All the other guys on France's roster did what they were told to do, and France came away with a fairly easy 83-76 win. After the game Evan Fournier said that Team USA is a great collection of talent, but they can be beaten as a team.

Therein lies the problem with USA basketball at the moment. We are entitled. We are egotistical. We think we can just walk on the floor and win because our jersey says USA across the front. That isn't the case anymore. Evan Fournier is right. This current USA team is not very good. They are constantly complaining to the refs which is causing them to get beat on defense. These guys are so used to getting minor calls that when it doesn't happen in the Olympics, they get flustered and instead of getting back, they gripe. That needs to stop. Another alarming thing I saw was Jrue Holiday was the leading scorer and about the only guy that played good defense. I love Jrue Holiday, but he just came off the Finals, had no practice with the team and he should not be the leading scorer on a team that has KD, Dame, Tatum and Devin Booker. Hell, his teammate Khris Middleton would be a better top scoring option on this team. Then, after Fournier's comments, Dame came out and said that these guys play differently when they are playing for their home country. That may be true, but I do not think it is a bad thing. They are playing pridefully and they want to represent their home country. That is what I want out of Team USA. Look at when Carmelo played for Team USA. He was instant offense off the bench. When LeBron did it he did what was asked of him. Same with Kobe. Michael Jordan played total shut down defense on the Dream Team. Those guys did what was needed because they realized the collection of talent they had around them. They didn't need to be the top scorer or rebounder or shoot a million free throws. They found a way to mesh.

And now some of the current players are complaining, anonymously, about having to run the Spurs offense. Greg Poppovich is Team USA's head coach, so he is going to instill the offense he has run for almost 3 decades now. And you know what, that offense works. Pop is the greatest NBA coach of all time. He knows how to utilize the talents of everyone on his teams. He has won so many rings. The Spurs are always in playoff contention. So why would running his offense be a problem? I think it has to do with ball movement. The Spurs are the best passing team of all time. I'm not saying that these players don't pass, but the offenses they run in the NBA are built around them. KD goes one on one most of the time with the Nets. Same with Tatum. Damian Lillard is the face of the Trailblazers offense. Draymond Green is, maybe, the only guy on this team that is a willing passer. That needs to change. They don't need to complain about the offense being run. That is an excuse.

The simple fact is Team USA is not playing good basketball right now, the world has caught up to them and they are finding ways to make it seem like it is not their fault. It is though. Something has to change. They need to get their act together. If they don't they could wind up not winning a medal at all. France, Nigeria and Australia all exposed this iteration of Team USA. The playbook is out on how to beat them and how to get in their heads. I hope they get it together soon. But if they don't this team is going to be coming home from Tokyo early and empty handed. I still have faith that they can right the ship, but that faith is a mere flicker. KD is my main hope for a turnaround, but that will only happen if he starts to make shots. I hope he does or this team is done.

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 Does Not Watch the Winter Olympics

I finally sat down and watched some figure skating with my wife the other night. See, I forgot that the Winter Olympics were currently going on. I probably should have mentioned that first. But, that’s my topic for the day. I’m pretty sure that I don’t really care about the Olympics anymore. I can’t really put my finger on why, but I do have some theories.

First one, I don’t know that I ever really cared about either the Summer or Winter Olympics. I do enjoy the racing and basketball in the Summer Olympics, but nothing really in the Winter Games. I have never liked or cared about hockey for personal reasons. I was never rich enough to be a skier or snowboarder, so I put that out of my mind. Figure skating is an art form, but I just don’t care about it. Speed skating is wannabe running events. Also, I can’t ice or roller skate, so that definitely adds to my dislike of anything skating. I do think stuff like luge and bobsled is kind of cool, but that is more of a, “maybe something brutal will happen” type idea, and that is wrong. So with the Winter Olympics, I usually stay away. If the only thing I’m looking forward to is an accident, I shouldn’t be watching.

I also think that the Winter Games is for rich people. As I have said, I’m not a rich person. I never have been, and most likely, I never will be. So the events, which are clearly made for rich people, were things I never did as a child. We would vacation in ski towns in Michigan when I was a kid, but I spent my time in the lodge or hiking and climbing bluffs. I would sled, but no skiing or snowboarding. It is just not my thing.

Another theory I have about my distaste of the Winter Olympics is, I don’t know many other people that are into it. I do know a few people, and shouts out to you few that like the games, but they are far and few between. I’ll talk to friends, family, other people I coach with, and when the Winter Olympics have been brought up recently, every conversation was met with a blank stare or a shrug. It just doesn’t really appeal to us. The kids I coach with are young, so I thought they may be into it, but they like football, basketball or baseball. The Olympics are way down their list. My family has never really been into the Olympics. My dad and I like basketball in the Summer games, I know RD likes the racing, but that is about it. I’ve asked my other brothers if they watch, and they only say they watch it for distraction, or the noise. They never really pay any attention to it. I called RD the other day and he said figure skating was on, but he was playing Zelda or some shit. He wasn’t focused on the Olympics at all. As far as other friends, most people I hang out with on a regular basis aren’t big sports fans. My friends outside of work are big into music and movies. That is why I hang out with them. I can talk about things other than sports with them, which is refreshing, and needed for me personally.

My final theory, and I know that RD has talked about this at length, the coverage when I do watch is horrendous. It ranks right up there with Cris Collinsworth calling football, or ESPN’s coverage of anything. The coverage on NBC is filled with fan boy idiots that have no clue, especially now that Bob Costas is gone. He was the only good thing about their coverage. Now that he’s gone, it is truly awful. When the figure skating was on in my house the other night I was embarrassed for the people announcing it because it was so bad. Maybe they’ll address this problem, but probably not. I think NBC thinks they have good people doing an okay job. Well, I’m sorry to say, they are not very good at what they do.

These are just some theories I wanted to put out there. The Olympics have never really appealed to me, but the Winter Olympics that are currently going on have just hammered home my distaste. It’s boring, poorly covered and not appealing to anyone who is middle class or lower. The Winter Olympics have jumped the shark, in my opinion.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He tried snowboarding one time. He got about ten feet up on the tow rope and gave up on the sport.

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NBC Hates the Olympics and they Hate You

We gave up on the audience years ago

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RD

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ty

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

"Cool Runnings" is Still a Great Movie

I'm getting shivers just looking at the flag

A few weeks ago I was channel surfing and I came across the movie "Cool Runnings". When I was a kid, this was one of, if not the, best movies I had watched. I loved everything about this movie as a 10 or 11 year old. It had sports. It had comedy. And it was Jamaican. I love all things Jamaican. I love the flag, Rastafarianism, the accents, the people, everything. A a place that can give me all those things plus being the hometown of Bob Marley, I will forever be grateful to Jamaica. Then, they gave us the movie "Cool Runnings". Well, at least the setting.

 "Cool Runnings" is about the first Jamaican bobsled team that qualified for the 1988 Winter Olympics. It was a Disney movie that starred John Candy and lesser known actors at the time. The bobsledders were played by Leon, Doug E Doug, Malik Yoba and Rawle D Lewis. The only one of the bobsledders I even recognized back then was Leon. As I stated above, the child me adored this movie. When it came on the other day, my kids were in their rooms and I had an hour or two to kill, so I decided to see if the movie still held up.

Boy, does it hold up and then some! I was just as enamored as I was when I was a young kid. I hung on every important moment of the movie. I felt bad for Derise Bannick, Yul Brener and Junior Bevil when they all got tripped up trying to qualify for the 100 meter dash to go to the summer Olympics. I felt terrible for Junior Bevil(Rawle D Lewis) because he was the one that caused them to all trip and miss their chance at the summer Olympics. I felt bad for Yul Brener(Malik Yoba) because he thought that was his one chance to get out of Jamaica, which is all he wanted. But, I felt the worst for Derise Bannick(Leon) because he was the fastest man in Jamaica, and it was a foregone conclusion that he would be going to the Olympics. The character that I didn't feel bad for, at least at the beginning, was Sanka Cofee(Doug E Doug). He was the goofball in the movie. He provided the comic relief. But, he was also pivotal in them starting a bobsled team. When we first meet Sanka, he is doing a push car derby race, and he is the self proclaimed best push car derby driver in all of Jamaica, so he kind of knows how to bobsled, even though he doesn't really know that yet.

After the trials, and the tripping, Derise is determined to get a second chance at the Olympics. He was in the, I don't know if it's a senator, or a mayor, or whatever, but it was some big time person, office asking for a re race. He doesn't get this wish granted, but he does see a picture of his father with some white dude and he asks the big wig who that guy is in the picture with his father. We come to learn that that man's name is Irv Blitzer(John Candy). Blitzer was an Olympian himself, as a bobsledder, and he wanted to get Derise's father to try it out because he thought that sprinters would make for great bobsledders. The elder Bannick had zero interest, but Derise, he was onboard with anything that would get him into the Olympics.

From then on we get a lot of clichés and troupes from Disney movies. There's classic stuff like, Jamaican's don't like the cold, so why would they want to do a winter sport. The whole town, including Blitzer, thinks Derise is crazy. The guy's that all miss out on the Olympics are, conveniently the only ones that stick around to stay on the team. Sanka wants nothing to do with it, but because he is best friends with Derise, his mind is easily changed. We have the training montage. We have the Olympic committee constantly changing rules because they don't want the Jamaicans there. We have the bad guy team from Swiss. We have the fights. We have a cheating scandal, because what would an Olympic movie be if it didn't have a cheating scandal. And we have the Jamaicans not only qualifying, but winning the hearts of the entire city of Calgary, Canada.

I know, it all sounds cliché, and it shouldn't work, but it just, somehow works. The actors, who are all Americans, and I'm pretty sure they are all New Yorkers, totally pull off the accents and make me believe that they were born and bred in Jamaica. This is one of John Candy's best, most understated roles of his very underrated career. The bad guy from the Swiss team is the best kind of sports bad guy. The Jamaicans really did face obstacles from the IOC because the IOC is just as corrupt as FIFA. Everything about this movie works. It never feels schmaltzy. Nothing feels shoehorned in. The actors are great. The directing was great. The script was great. The movie was just flat out great. I'm glad I sat down and watched it again, and I'm glad it still holds a very special place in my heart. Even my wife watched it with me the other day, that's right people, it was on again just a few days later, and she found herself enjoying it as well.

"Cool Runnings" is awesome and I cannot recommend it enough. If you are my age, or for that fact, older or younger than me, watch this movie again because I guarantee that you will love it. "Cool Runnings" is, and always will be, incredible.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He was a neighborhood champion in the four man saucer sled race when he was a young lad. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Muhammad Ali: The Greatest of All Time

 kakisky via morguefile.com

Over this past weekend, we lost another legend. This time, this was a larger than life legend. I have written too much about death since this website started a little over a year ago, but this person deserves the spot light for all the important things he did in his 74 years. Yes, Daryl Dawkins, Moses Malone and Phife were all very important to me, and many others, but they are not nearly as important, influential and world renowned as the great Muhammad Ali.

I'm not going to sit here and mark off all the important fights he won, we all know about that. Hell, even people that don't really watch or know too terribly much about boxing know that Ali was a great champion. His fights were epic, and that is one of the reasons he is a hero of mine, but he was so much more than just his boxing career. Ali was a trailblazer. He was the antithesis of a yes man. He was the worlds best showman. He was the first person I ever heard of when people talked about athletes making their name their brand. He was a fighter, and that means so much more than just a boxer. He was groundbreaking. He was everything that everyone should strive to be. Sure, he ruffled some feathers, but not everyone will be universally liked, but damned if he wasn't universally respected.

Ali stood for so much more than just boxing. He changed religions right after he had just burst onto the scene as a prize fighter. Back then, that was a no no. People did not like change in the 60's, especially coming from a brash, African American boxer. But, Ali owned it and then some. He didn't care what anyone thought of him. He was who he was, and that's all that mattered. He was boisterous back in the 60's. No one had seen anyone that acted like that back then. Some athletes may have had bravado, but they kept it to themselves. Not Ali, he let it fly openly and often. If he were to come around today, he would be a "viral sensation", but he didn't need any stupid gimmicks like that. He was great no matter what. Also, to convert to Islam, that took balls. But, he didn't just do it to do it, he committed 100 percent. He preached and believed everything he read and said. I LOVE that about Ali. People now only look at Islam as a bad thing, but Islam is all about love and respect, not hate. That is what guys like Ali preached.

Now, back to his boisterous behavior. He didn't care the situation or the circumstance, he was going to say what was on his mind. No matter who took offense to it, Ali didn't care. Again, I LOVE that about him. He would talk a huge game, but he always backed it up. He also never backed away or down from the comments or speeches he made. He fully, 100 percent believed everything he said, and he was right about 99 percent of the time. There was no one better at spreading the word of Islam, prepping for a big fight, trash talking before a big fight or giving a very un-politically correct response whenever he would be questioned on political topics. Ali was a genius. Ali was well read and well spoken. Ali knew what he was going to say before he said it. He didn't speak out of turn or say ignorant things, everything was done with a purpose. That is what made him so great.

When Muhammad Ali's career ended, he didn't fade into oblivion, or make grills or tried to fight well after his prime, he became a spokesman for many, many things. He was the one that people came to to preach the word of Islam when the attacks of September 11th happened. He gave a heartfelt and moving speech on what Islam really means on ESPN at the height of his Parkinson's. He was violently shaking and could barely open his eyes, but the words he spoke were moving and poignant. Go back and watch that interview and I guarantee that you will respect him even more than you did before. He also lit the torch at the Olympics, also while his Parkinson's was very bad. He took that torch, ran the best that he could, and lit it to signify the start of the games. It was incredibly moving. I still get chills thinking about it today. That was such a huge moment in sports history that kind of gets overlooked now. Ali is the biggest and best athlete of all time, but no one talks about this huge moment at the Olympics. Well, it needs to be brought up more.

Life after boxing also included many run ins with many other famous athletes and people of note and they all came away saying pretty much the same thing. When they met Ali, they knew they were in the room with greatness. People like Kareem Abdul Jabaar, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Prince, any of the Presidents, kings and queens from all countries, they all knew that they were sitting and talking with the greatest. They were all star struck. Ali was never star struck because he was the biggest star of them all. He was a pioneer. He brought boxing, Islam, selling your brand, being proud of who you are and where you came from to the masses. Without Ali, we may have not gotten these type of things, or even worse, it would have been some asshole that we attribute this all too. We are very lucky that we all got to witness his greatness.

I never got to see an Ali fight in real time, but I got to see him be a political hero and just an overall hero. I will greatly miss you Muhammed Ali. You are the best athlete that has ever graced the Earth. You are the best show man as well. And you were a great person. I hope that wherever you are right now, you are floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee. RIP Champ.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.