The Greatest American Band Debate: Booker T. and the M.G.'s

SeedSing is filled with music lovers. We can not agree on who is the best band from the States. The Greatest American Band Debate will be a regular feature where we discuss and compare bands who started in the good old USA. If you have any suggestions of bands we should debate Contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

Today for the greatest American band debate I'm going to nominate the first, and possibly only, all instrumental band. Instrumental music can be a hard sell for a lot of people, but these guys did it funky with a ton of soul and made it very enjoyable. Of course I'm talking about Booker T and the MG's.

Chances are even if you don't think you know who Booker T and the MG's are, or one of their songs, you've heard them before. They have been around forever, still performing today, albeit very limited and not the same guys that started the group, and their sound has been used by very famous singers. They were one of the first backing bands that went out and did their own thing and garnered a good amount of success doing it.

Booker T and the MG's formed in the early 60's in Tennessee. They helped shaped, and probably pioneered, the "Memphis sound". They were the funkiest backing band that I have ever heard. Booker T Jones was the organist and piano player, Steve Cooper was on guitar, Lewie Steinberg played bass and Al Jackson was the drummer. After forming, they quickly became the house band for Stax Records. They performed with legendary singers like Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Bill Withers, Sam and Dave, Carla and Rufus Thomas and Albert King. Basically, any big time artist that Stax had, they wanted Booker T and the MG's to be their backing band. They have had to played on hundreds upon hundreds of hits when you look at those musicians that they performed with. Songs like "Walkin the Dog", "Hold On, I'm Comin", "Soul Man" and "Try a Little Tenderness", just to name a few, they were the ones bringing the music to the lyrics. Those are mega hits that not only soul music fans know and love, but just fans of music adore. "Soul Man" and "Hold On, I'm Comin" really show you Booker T and the MG's signature soul/funk/rock sound. Great guitar, followed by great bass and thumping drums and then the cherry on the top that is Booker T's exceptional piano playing. They could even do slower stuff like "Try a little Tenderness", but they had to throw their sound in to make it a little funky and have a touch of rock and roll. When that song jumps up in tempo, I get goosebumps listening to it. It's a perfect song that perfectly showcases not only Otis Redding, but mainly Booker T and the MG's.

The band would also record and release their own material while still performing with these uber famous singers. They have put out a ton of their own stuff, but their biggest hit has to be "Green Onions". Believe me, you know this song. The first place I heard "Green Onions" was in the movie "The Sandlot". I was in fifth grade, my dad took me out of school early to see this baseball movie, and while the movie is one of my all time favorites, with the scenes of the kids playing being phenomenal, I kept asking my dad about "that one song that had no words". I couldn't shake that song. I loved it as a 10 year old and I still love it now. "Green Onions" is the personification of the "Memphis sound" and, more importantly, perfectly sums up the greatness that is Booker T and the MG's. The organ and the drum that starts is awesome. Then, the simple guitar riff, that is just chords, absolutely wonderful. Then, Booker T really shines on the organ, playing the most distinct notes anyone has ever heard. I guarantee you know the song when you hear that organ in the first verse. The guitar keeps adding reverb and gets a bit more complicated throughout the three minute song. Then, it's back to organ, with a downright funky bass line being played. The drums, keeping perfect beat the whole time, are just incredible. When I hear this song, I can't help but dance or move my feet or bob my head to it. It's a classic.

Now, "Green Onions" isn't their only hit as a band, they also have the song "Time is Tight". This song features the great organ by Booker T, but the other musicians shine just as bright. The guitar is just as front and center as the organ and it's awesome. The solos are fantastic. The drums are great, this time, not just keeping time, but playing awesome fills and having a very full sound. The bass is just as good. It's minimal, but it is necessary and it is good. I know bass always gets a bad rap and people make fun of bass players, but in a soul/R&B/funk group, bass is very important. It keeps time, just like the drums do. They have many other hit songs, but these are the two that everyone, even if they think they don't know them, know these songs. Hell, "Green Onions" is a staple in most movies and on a lot of TV shows.

Booker T and the MG's are owed a great debt by many musicians, especially ones that fancy themselves funk musicians. Without what these guys did, we may have never gotten that funky soul sound that they brought to the listening public. They are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but I feel like they're a very underrated band. They are all extremely technically skilled musicians that all the big names in soul music wanted to be their backing band. Booker T and the MG's, in my opinion, are the best backing band of all time. I know people will throw out singers and musicians from the movie "20 Feet From Stardom" or the band from "Standing in the Shadows of Motown", but for my taste, it gets no better than Booker T and the MG's. These guys created a sound that was all their own. They are inventors and masters of their craft. They still perform today, with mainly new members, but Booker T is still there hammering away at his organ, and that's all that matters. As long as he is still around, the MG's will continue to be a great band.

Here's to you Booker T and the MG's, you guys are pioneers.

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He feel bad for being mean to the bassist from his high school rock band. The dude kept good time. Hear all about the glory days of The Redshirt Freshmen by following Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Day After: Nevada Edition - Part 2

See you in 2020 Nevada

We need to talk about Donald Trump.

Yesterday the Republicans had their caucus in Nevada, and Trump demolished the rest of the GOP field. Again. The New York City businessman, and a formerly registered Democratic Party voter, won his third primary contest out of four. The only loss, a very close second place finish, came in an Iowa caucus marred by dirty campaign tactics employed by  the campaign of Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio continued his streak of being the runner -up, and the aforementioned Cruz is starting to fall further behind. Ohio Governor John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson continued their quest for irrelevance in the 2016 presidential primary. Donald Trump won, it is time to start calling him the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party. We need to accept this and move on.

The establishment of the Republican party is not quite ready to anoint Mr. Trump just yet. The narrative being fed to the lapdogs in the media is that Nevada, and the caucus system itself, usually has low voter turnout numbers. In reality the state actually had a record breaking night with the number of registered Republicans who voted in the caucus. Another excuse the DC republicans are floating out is that Trump does not have broad appeal. The reality is that more evangelicals voted for Trump than Cruz, more identified "very conservative" voters went for Trump than any other candidate. In fact Donald Trump won all but two counties in the Silver State (Ted Cruz won the two counties). With the Nevada caucus ending the crucial first four states of the primary calendar, Donald Trump is in a position that history says he will be the nominee. No amount of spin from frustrated Republicans can change the facts of the past.  

Somehow it still feels like the Donald Trump campaign is still a joke and will not be the GOP Presidential candidate. Is the narrative coming from the national media actually true? Will Trump falter on Super Tuesday? Many, including us here at SeedSing, have been dismissing Donald Trump since it was alleged that he paid actors to show up for his pep rally announcing his candidacy for the Republican nomination. Since that announcement, Mr. Trump has made one outrageous remark after another to make it look like his campaign was going to be finished quickly. Early in the campaign, Trump's top campaign adviser quit (or was fired, who knows).  His entire platform is filled with racism and hate.  He is incredibly ill informed on religion and American sports heroes. To the dismay of many Republicans, Trump called the last elected GOP president a failure. Each of these missteps has only seemed to strengthen Donald Trumps hold on the plurality of Republican primary voters. Even if he continues his public missteps before Super Tuesday, Trump will probably still come out on top. This does not feel real.

What Donald Trump's success is really showing us is that the Republican Party is not about governance, it is about anger. The entire party is throwing a temper tantrum over President Obama's Constitutionally mandated duties. The rise of Trump has embraced the idea of anger, and the Republican voters have fallen in line. The idea of "Constitutional Conservatives" is false. The idea that the Republicans want to govern is laughable. Donald Trump knows that the voters are not interested in moving America forward. He is the only candidate that has been truthful about what most Republicans want, and he has been awarded with one victory after another. The Republican party is invested in an antiquated and exclusionary philosophy. Donald Trump is the hero of this type of thinking.  Good governance is not the concern, fear of change is. That is why he is winning.

It is long past time to accept the legitimacy of Donald Trump as a candidate for President of the United States. Senators Rubio and Cruz may try and claim to be the true Republican, but the voters have emphatically said their flag bearing is the New York City businessman. The primary season has kicked into full gear, and no one has been able to slow down Donald Trump, including Mr. Trump himself. Once the voting ends next week on Super Tuesday, Trump could be close to securing the GOP nomination. He is already leading in the polls for most of the eleven states that will vote on March 1st. It is time to take Donald Trump seriously. We may be stuck with him until November 8th, or longer.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing. This primary season he really wants you to vote yes and like SeedSing on Facebook.

The Winners and Losers Stay the Same After the NBA Trade Deadline

Everyone kept the hands they were dealt

The NBA trade deadline has come and gone in the last week. I know that other writers write an immediate winners and losers article only minutes after the deadline happens. Me personally, I need time to think about what happened and all the player movement. I don't think you can honestly say who won or lost a trade the moment after it happens unless it's something huge. For example, when Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups were traded to New York for basically nothing, the Knicks were clear winners, although they've only won one playoff series since Carmelo has been in New York. I agree more with a writer like Zach Lowe, my favorite NBA writer, that you need almost a full year or even two before you can really pick any winners or losers from the trade deadline. But, for the sake of argument, I will do my best to pick some teams that "won" the deadline, and who "lost" the deadline.

First of all, there were none of the big name moves that I and a lot of other sports writers thought would happen. I was certain that Al Horford was going to be a Celtic, I thought Jeff Teague would be gone, I was almost 100 percent certain that Dwight Howard would be anywhere but Houston and I figured LeBron would get his way and the Cavs would dump Kevin Love. None of those guys moved. I was even pretty sure that the Clippers would deal Blake Griffin because they are playing so well without him and he is a locker room problem, but no movement for Griffin. With that being said, the big names usually don't move at the trade deadline. Very rarely do we see superstars change teams with less than 30 games to go in the regular season. Why change chemistry now with so little time left in the season? By this point, we pretty much know who is going to be in the playoffs and who is going to be in the lottery. The big name guys get dealt in the offseason, right after the free agency dust settles. I do fully expect guys like Horford, Howard, Teague and Griffin to be on new teams starting next season. Hell, if the Knicks don't get any better, I wouldn't be shocked to see Carmelo get traded to a contender, The Knicks are going to go to a youth movement led by Kristaps Porzingis, and Carmelo will be 33 going into next season. the Knicks are no longer his team. And, depending on how the Cavs do, I think they will get swept in the Finals, or even beaten by Toronto in the Eastern Finals, Kevin Love could have a new team next year, if LeBron the GM gets his way.

This trade deadline featured no real superstars or team changing players. The best players that got traded were Tobias Harris to Detroit and Jeff Green to the Clippers. Those are not guys to build a team around. In Jeff Green's case, he is a good player that has a ton of upside, but he has also been traded four times in his short career. That's not a look that a player should strive for. He started his career in OKC and didn't get the minutes he needed and couldn't grow as a player. He was traded to Boston, were he would look like an all star one night and look like a 12th man the next night. He was then shipped to Memphis, were he played his best basketball, but that's not saying much. Sure, he was a decent slasher, but he missed more open jumpers than he made and he was wildly inconsistent on defense. Now, he is on the Clippers, where he is expected to take on the load until Blake Griffin comes back. I know LA fans and LA sports writers think this is a good trade, but I disagree. Green, while being a great talent, has never lived up to his high praise when he was a rookie. He is wildly inconsistent and he is not the game changer that fans and sports writers in LA think he can be. The only good that came from this trade was the Clippers unloading Lance Stephenson. The Clippers are the 4 seed right now, and they will stay there, Jeff Green will not help them leap frog the Thunder or the Spurs and no one is going to catch the Warriors. The Pistons getting Tobias Harris was a pretty good move for them. I like this trade a hell of a lot more than the Jeff Green move. Tobias Harris wasn't being used properly in Orlando and I think, with a coach like Stan Van Gundy, he will thrive alongside Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson. I don't like that they had to give up Brandon Jennings, who I really, really like, but he is coming off a torn ACL and the Pistons gave Reggie Jackson a lot of money this offseason. They have moved on from Brandon Jennings. This move will firmly put the Pistons in a good playoff position, especially in the East, and Harris could help them make some early round noise.

Other than those two guys, the next biggest name to move was Markieff Morris, who was traded from Phoenix to Washington. I don't really know where he fits in DC and this felt like a desperate move by a very desperate team. Morris is a very good basketball player, but he is also a whiner and can be a malcontent. Look at all the stuff he did in Phoenix after they traded his brother. The front office in Phoenix definitely deserves blame for being shady and trading his brother after they both took discounts to play together, but the NBA is a business and shady stuff happens in business all the time. I don't see Markieff Morris making the Wizards a legit threat. John Wall deserves better help than that. Other than these three, guys like Randy Foye, who is having one of his worst statistical years, got traded from Denver to OKC for DJ Augustin. I don't think either team really gained or lost anything from this trade. The Cavs acquired Channing Frye, but he will not push them over the edge. He will not stretch the Warriors or Spurs as much as people may think. And the Bulls shipped Kirk Hinrich over to Atlanta. This trade would have been good about 6 or 7 years ago, now, who cares.

If I were to pick a "winner" from this trade deadline, I think it is pretty clear that it's the Detroit Pistons. They got a proven scorer in Harris and, if he is willing to be coached up a bit, he can turn himself into a pretty good all around NBA player. Harris next to Drummond is a pretty good and formidable front court. Phoenix, while a total disaster in every other aspect of an NBA team, at least got rid of an unhappy player that was causing problems and they got a first round pick out of him, so they may be a slight winner, and that's the only time they will be called winners this year.

As far as "losers" go, no real team did anything that will help or hurt them with player acquistions, so the only "losers" I can find are, we, the fans. Now, we should know by now that the big names get moved in the offseason, but I expected at least one big time star to get traded. Why didn't the Rockets dump Dwight Howard? Was the asking price too high, or did no one want him? I know he's a free agent this summer, but why not rent him for 30 games? All credit to Bill Simmons, why didn't the Trailblazers try and get him to help them in their playoff run? He could have helped them, and he always seems to show up and play good basketball in the playoffs and they would only have to deal with him for 30 games and they could let him walk this offseason, no problem. Or, why didn't the Celtics do something? I have read they tried, but they couldn't pull anything off. They have the most assets and Danny Ainge has been chasing a star for three years now. I thought they could have gotten Horford, Love or Blake Griffin, but they got none of them. Where we sit now, they are a three seed in the East, but with their rag tag roster, they will not beat Cleveland or Toronto. Had they added a star, I wouldn't say the same thing. And, the Knicks were quiet, but they have no assets and it would have taken them moving a big name to get another big name. Phil Jackson wasn't going to do that and had they tried to trade Carmelo, he has a no trade clause and he could have voided any trade he wanted.

This was a very uneventful and very quiet trade deadline, but they have been for the last four years. There a no real winners and losers because we just don't know how these things will pan out. Look for this summer time to be very busy with lots of big named guys finding new homes. Summer is where the action will take place.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He is practicing being all excited for the trade deadline as a basketball writer, and then being disappointed as a fan. Ty is on twitter, go follow him @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: You Should be Listening to the Podcast "High and Mighty"

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture.  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known.

I've been on the hunt for a new podcast to listen to lately. I still have my standards like "Comedy Bang! Bang!", "How Did This Get Made", "The Bill Simmons Podcast" and "Sklarbro Country". Those are all great and I look forward to them every week, but I was in need of something new. I generally go for comedy podcasts, I do like a good NBA or something like "Serial", but comedy is where it's at for me.

Through listening and a little research, I found out that Jon Gabrus, an actor and comedian that I really enjoy, has his own podcast on the Headgum Network called "High and Mighty". For those of you not familiar with Jon Gabrus, he's appeared on "Comedy Bang! Bang!" a bunch, very recently in fact, as Geno the Intern. He is also on a lot of MTV talking heads shows like "Wild N Out" and "Guy Code". He's been on a lot of the VH1 talking head shows as well and he's had bit parts in quite a bit of movies and TV shows. In fact, he has a newer movie out on iTunes and On Demand called "4th Man Out", that I've heard some pretty good things about.

Odds are, you know who Jon Gabrus is, you just don't know it. People who listen to the specific podcasts I mentioned definitely know him and others, I'm sure you've seen him in something recently. Anyway, I really enjoy when I see that he is going to be on a new episode of "Comedy Bang! Bang!' as Geno. He's funny, crass, rude and great throughout the entirety of the episode. You can tell that even Scott Aukerman loves having him appear on the show because he is laughing throughout. So, when I found out that he had his own podcast, I was intrigued. I didn't know if it would be characters, just an interview show, if it would be improv, the possibilities were endless given his background and his group of comedian and actor friends.

After a few recent listens of "High and Mighty" that the podcast is an interview show, but it is so much more than just an interview show. Marc Maron has the market cornered on straight up one on one interviews as far as podcasting goes, and he's great at it. But, what makes Jon Gabrus' "High and Mighty" so great, at least for me is, he is a younger guy. I believe he is right around my age(33), and I can relate to the stories he and his guests, that are relatively the same age, talk about. The first episode I came across was entitled "Being Fat" with Nick Mundy and Mike Mitchell. For those of you that don't know, Jon Gabrus, Nick Mundy and Mike Mitchell are bigger guys. So am I. People who read my blogs already know that I enjoy Mike Mitchell and his work with the Birthday Boys and his podcast with Nick Wiger, "Doughboys", so the fact that he was a guest on the first episode I listened to was an added bonus. What made this episode great for me was the fact that being a bigger guy myself, so I related to almost 100 percent of what they talked about. When they talked about hitting on girls and how tough it is for chubby guys, I myself had many problems hitting on girls I liked while in high school because I was chunky. Mundy and Gabrus are both married and they both marveled at the fact that they could get such beautiful women to marry them. Me too. I don't know how I convinced my smoking hot wife to marry me, but I'm glad I did. All three of them have big bushy beards, and anyone that has read the site knows that I myself am a bearded fellow, but they all have beards for the same reason I do, laziness and a hatred for shaving. This was a perfect gateway episode for me because I related to everything and it featured two comedians that I really like. Even in the following episode, entitled "Wrasslin" with Matt McCarthy, a sport I have never watched or participated in, I was enamored by the conversation. You could really tell that these two were big time wrestling fans and that they still genuinely love pro wrestling. I liked their insight and their vast knowledge of wrestling old and new. That's the sign of a good podcast, when I don't care for the subject matter, but the conversation is so good, it pulls me in. He followed that episode up with one entitled "Badasses" with Outlook of the Poet(Ben Rodgers and Gavin Speiler). The topic was supposed to be about how they want to be badasses, which they do touch on, but you learn so much more about these three, like their early improv days, their dad issues and their love for action movies. The conversation can literally go anywhere it wants and that's awesome. The most recent episode of "High and Mighty" was about swimming with Anders Holm from "Wolkaholics", "How to Be Single", "Top Five" and many, many other things. Did they talk about all that stuff, yes, but barely. Instead, they had an in depth discussion about swimming and the commitment that it takes. I learned that Anders Holm was such a good swimmer, he got a scholarship to swim at the University of Wisconsin and that he still swims, now it's just for fun, to this day.

The great thing about "High and Mighty" is we always learn something new about Jon Gabrus. One thing I really like that he does on the show, he asks people to give him a 5 star review on iTunes and then to roast him in the comment section and he reads it on the next episode. So, people actually do this and he actually reads the awful things they say about him. It can vary anywhere from him being ugly and fat, to him just not being funny. But, the most common complaint is that he talks too much about himself and his "glory" days. Isn't that what podcasting is for though? People podcast just so they can hear themselves talk and so they can spread their point of view to the world via a free forum. I love that he hijacks the conversation and talks more than anyone else. It's his show and he can do whatever he wants. I know that I talk a whole hell of a lot more on "The X Milennial Man" podcast than RD does. I like to hear the sound of my own voice, just like Jon Gabrus.

I have only listened to the four most recent episodes of "High and Mighty", the podcast has a back catalog totaling 29 episodes. I will go back and listen to the older ones soon. He has had Eugene Cordero on a bunch to talk fitness and I want to hear those conversations because Cordero got in crazy shape and I'd like to know how he did that. Also, some of his early episodes are basically reviews of old action movies that he does with his friends. Those I will definitely go back and listen to. I like to hear people from my generation talk about movies like "Blood Sport" and "Predator".

I'm very happy that I have jumped aboard the "High and Mighty" bandwagon. This is a perfect podcast that appeals to the things that I like and can relate to. Keep doing what you're doing Jon Gabrus because it' awesome. I can't wait until Thursday for the new episode.

You can find "High and Mighty" right here.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the more talkative other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He may be a bigger man, but he is half the bigger man he was two years ago. We are proud of you Ty. Show your support for him by pushing the follow button on Ty's twitter @tykulik.

The Day After: Nevada and South Carolina Edition

We know that you just voted, but South Carolina and Nevada are just not rid of us yet

Now the muddy waters are starting to clear. The Democrats of Nevada gathered and had their caucus. The Republicans of South Carolina voted their individual minds. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton started to take full control of their respective party's primary. Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio are starting to fall further out of the race. John Kasich and Ben Carson should have followed Jeb Bush out of the door. The end of February looks like the end of the 2016 Presidential primary. March will bring about the beginning of the 2016 Presidential election. Clinton vs. Trump. Who would have picked that?

The Nevada caucus became part of the national political scene in 2008. Many Democratic party leaders thought that the non diverse mostly white populations of Iowa and New Hampshire were not very representative of 21st century America. Nevada dropped their primary system and implemented a caucus. The date of the contest was also moved in order to be closer to the historically significant Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary. In the two contested Nevada caucus (2008 and 2016) the winner has been Hillary Clinton, and the margin has been small.  Then Senator Clinton pulled out a razor thin victory against eventual nominee Barack Obama in 2008 and manged to defeat Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders by a few percentage points last night.

Like the Iowa caucus, Hillary Clinton's ground game seemed to bring her campaign the victory that was expected. What was once again unexpected was just how close Bernie Sanders came to taking the victory. The Clinton campaign has won two out of three primary contests, is poised to crush the Sanders campaign in the South Carolina primary, and still has very large cash reserves. With all of these advantages, Hillary Clinton is the forgone conclusion to win the Democratic party's Presidential nomination, but the Bernie Sanders campaign seems to be sticking around much longer than expected. The resilience of the Sanders campaign is fed by two key factors.

The first reason Hillary Clinton has not closed out the nomination is the fact that Bernie Sanders is the only other credible choice in the Democratic Party. His message and campaign platform gets a lot of attention, but the true reason he is still involved is that no one else legitimately challenged Hillary Clinton. The idea behind the primary process is for the voters to choose the best candidate. When there are only two choices, the lesser one will look stronger than they actually are. Many people voting for Bernie Sanders are actually voting against Hillary Clinton. There is a negligible amount of people voting for Clinton who are mainly against the Sanders campaign. The Hillary Clinton supporters are loyal and will carry her to the eventual nomination.

The second reason Bernie Sanders is still a credible candidate is because the national media so badly wants a horse race that they prop up Sanders campaign and make it look stronger than it actually is. The media has had an ugly, and misogynistic, vendetta against Hillary Clinton since the early 1990's. In order to be "fair and balanced", the political media gives voice to the ugliest voices in American society. The way Sanders near losses are covered make it look like Hillary Clinton is failing again. The press has it's personally created narrative out in the public discourse, and they have the stories that the media wishes to cover.

Speaking of the ugly voices of American society, the Republican South Carolina primary went exactly as predicted. Texas Senator Ted Cruz tried to out mud sling his opponents, but Donald Trump's hate speech won over the Palmetto state voters. Many in the political press corps thought when Trump criticized former President George W. Bush for September 11th that his chances would dwindle. The consensus was that the Republicans in South Carolina loved the former President, and Trump had finally gone to far. Candidate Jeb Bush even brought his brother out on the campaign trail to hopefully gain some support because W was so beloved. Donald Trump took just under 33% of the vote, Jeb Bush took under 8% and promptly dropped out of the 2016 Republican Presidential contest. 

The big discussion coming out after South Carolina is how the Republican party will nominate one of three men, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, or Marco Rubio. Trump seems to be to far ahead, and gaining momentum. Who would have guessed that? Senators Cruz and Rubio are the only people who have been able to mount any kind of campaign against Trump. The established Republican Party has thrown in with the inept, and bad campaigner that is Marco Rubio. The Cruz campaign is being kept alive by tea party zealots and dirty tricks. Either Rubio or Cruz will falter and fall out in the next few weeks. If Ted Cruz leaves first, Trump will coast to the nomination. The Cruz supporters hate the D.C. republicans, and Rubio is the current champion of that group. If Rubio continues to fall flat on the campaign trail, Trump and Cruz will started slinging acres worth of mud at each other's campaign. Donald Trump has spent his entire career destroying people. Ted Cruz will be no match for Trump's onslaught. Donald Trump will win the Republican Presidential nomination.

The end of February traditionally brings the near end of the Presidential primary process. 2016 does not look like it will be any different. Hillary Clinton may not seem like a candidate in control of her destiny, but she is. Donald Trump's campaign may still be unbelievable, but he is on the path to victory. The parties will be switching up states this week with the Democrats in South Carolina having their primary and the Republicans in Nevada will caucus. Will Clinton and Trump come out further ahead? Will Cruz or Rubio began their exit plan? Will anybody pay any attention to the single digit support John Kasich and Ben Carson will recieve? The biggest question is what are the Republicans going to do when Donald Trump is their nominee? It will be an election for the ages.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head editor for SeedSing. Every morning he wakes up, reads the news, and goes back to sleep hoping the Trump campaign is just a weird dream. It is not a dream. Show your liking of SeedSing over at our Facebook page.

Ty's Mount Rushmore of Sports Greats

I was also quite the athlete back in 1760's

Much like my previous Mount Rushmore of Comedians blog I did a few weeks ago, today I'm going to do something similar, but I'm going to talk about my four sports idols. I'm going to do one player from baseball, basketball, football and college football. College basketball, with the lone exception of the Fab five, whom I love, no one single player has left a lasting impression on me. Same with hockey, which I know absolutely nothing about and soccer, which I also know nothing about. I know how to play both sports, but I never really watched hockey or soccer on a regular basis. In fact, I never watched hockey or soccer ever, they just aren't my thing. But, basketball, baseball, football and college football are my thing. I love all four of them and there has definitely been multiple players that have left long lasting impressions on me. It was really tough for me to pick out four single players, but I trudged through and figured it out.

Are you ready? Here it goes. 

Let's start with major league baseball. So, my favorite player of all time is Jackie Robinson, but I never saw him play. I was born in 1982 and all I know about Jackie Robinson is the history and how truly great of a player he was. But I was around and I watched Tony Gwynn play a ton of baseball. I am a Cardinals fan, but I'm a bigger Tony Gwynn fan. He is the best hitter that I have ever watched. His approach at the plate was like no one else. He had 20/10 vision and he could literally see the seams on the ball, making it easy for him to pick what pitch was coming at him. He could spot a 90 mile per hour fast ball as easily as he could spot a 75 mile an hour curveball. He regularly hit .350 to .375 every season he played. He even flirted with .400 many times during his career. You could also mark it down in pen that he would get, at least, 200 hits every season. He was a pretty decent outfielder as well. He was great at tracking fly balls and he had a pretty above average arm. Sure, he played right field, but in the pros, right field is just as tough as any other outfield position. When I got to see Tony Gwynn play live it was always a teaching moment for my father, who was also my little league coach. He had me watch Tony Gwynn more than any other baseball player I can remember. My dad used to tell me how great of a hitter he was and that it was important for me to watch how he played the game. Tony Gwynn was the consummate pro. He never got involved in off field stuff and he was always looked at as a great teammate and a great player. Tony Gwynn is in my personal top ten of all time great baseball players. He doesn't get the credit he deserves, but he is an all time great, no matter what anyone says.

When it comes to basketball, the best player and my favorite player is Charles Barkley. I know this is a departure from the soft spoken and humble Tony Gwynn, but I love Charles Barkley and I've tried to model my game after him since I was 10 years old. He is an undersized, a little overweight power forward that rebounded and scored with the best of them. When he came in the league with the 76ers, when they were actually competent, he got to learn from the great Daryl Dawkins. That was a great mentor for him to have. Then, when he ended up in Phoenix, his career took off. This was when I really started to love the way Barkley played. He was brash, he was arrogant, but he was great. His matchups with the Bulls and Michael Jordan were epic. They would trade points and the games were always close, but he could never get over the hump. That was not for lack of effort, the Bulls were just the better team. Charles Barkley became a legit star when he was in Phoenix. While he was a Sun, that was when he did his whole "I'm not a role model" campaign for Nike. While that commercial made my friends dislike Barkley more than they already did, my love for him grew from there. This was the one time in my life that I can say that I liked the arrogance that an athlete was putting out there, and even though he didn't want to be a role model, he became an even bigger role model to me. I even love him now on his NBA show on TNT. He is the best basketball commentator on the best pre and post game basketball show on TV right now. Not only did I love Barkley as a player, but I like him even more as a TV personality. It gets no better than Charles Barkley for me.

When it comes to NFL football, I'm going to go back to a player with humility and who was/is very humble. The best offensive football player that I have ever watched, and he is one of my all time favorite players, is Barry Sanders. When I was a kid, I was still a Packers fan, but I loved watching Barry Sanders more than any player the Packers threw out there. Barry Sanders was the most athletic and the most graceful athlete, with Bo Jackson maybe being the lone exception and challenger, that I have ever watched. Barry Sanders made a three yard run more exciting than anyone else going for a 90 yard TD run. He would be stopped behind the line for a 6 yard loss, break multiple tackles and make multiple moves, run up field and get 3 yards and it was thrilling. When Sanders was in his prime, he was the Lions offense. Sure, they had Herman Moore and Scott Mitchell, but who really remembers those two guys? That Lions team was all about Barry Sanders. He never had the help he needed, but he made the Lions a perennial playoff team and guided them to at least 10 wins a year. I would stop everything I was doing, be it playing outside or playing video games or playing baseball, basketball or football with my friends, whenever Barry Sanders was on. He was must watch TV. And talk about being a humble pro. He never celebrated or did dances or put the spotlight on himself. He'd get a thirty yard gain and walk back to the huddle and get ready for the next play. He'd score a TD and he'd hand the ball to the officials and high five his teammates. He was the epitome of how to play the game and act like you've been there before. I love Barry Sanders. The day he retired, at the absolute prime of his career, I was shocked. I thought it was a joke or a hoax. He couldn't really be leaving football, he was just about to break the all time rushing record and he was the best in the game. But, he really walked away, never to return. I give him credit now, walking away without any serious injuries and his mind still fully intact, but at the time, I was upset. I felt robbed of seeing, at least, 10 more years of great football from Barry Sanders. But, he did the right thing for himself and his family and I understand that now. Barry Sanders in the greatest running back of all time, in my opinion.

Now, we get to my absolute favorite sport and my absolute, unquestioned favorite player of all time. The sport is college football and the player is Charles Woodson. I've written a whole lot on the site about Woodson, but he is the greatest football player I've ever seen, especially when he was at Michigan. I have a ton of all time favorite Wolverines. Guys like David Harris, Jarret Irons, Anthony Thomas, Tim Biakabutuku, Brian Griese, Marlin Jackson, Mercury Hayes, Tai Streets, I could go on and on and on, but no one is better than Charles Woodson. He was the best. His covering skills are unmatched. Teams purposefully threw away from him because he could pick off anything. Go back and look at that interception he had at Michigan State, the one handed one, it's incredible. While he was a lock down corner, he was also an electrifying kick returner and receiver. He could take a punt to the house at any time, look at the 1996 game against OSU, and he was a great over the middle receiver, look at that 96 OSU game again or earlier that season against PSU. He was just phenomenal. He is also the only primarily defensive player to win the Heisman. The day he won the Heisman, Michigan basketball, led by Louis Bullock and Robert Traylor, upset number one Duke and it was my birthday. It was a great birthday and a great day to be a Wolverines fan. Charles Woodson was also just a good guy. He was a great teammate, a great player and a great representative of Michigan football. He is the best defensive football player that I've ever seen and when he was starring at Michigan, that's when my true love for them really, truly started. Charles Woodson was the catalyst. I love absolutely everything about Charles Woodson. Of the four athletes I've mentioned, Woodson is number one and the first face that would get carved into my personal Mount Rushmore.

So there you have it, my Mount Rushmore of pro and college athletes. There's a lot of other people I could have mentioned, but these are the four that stood out to me. These are the four best, and my favorite, athletes in what I consider the four major sports.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. Do you like reading about Ty's Mount Rushmore of Athletes, well you can listen to him tell his stories on the X Millennial Man. Make sure you give it a listen and rate us on iTunes. When you are done listening, read more from Ty on twitter @tykulik.

It is Time to Talk About What Peyton Manning has Done Wrong

Being a shill for bad pizza is one of many alleged crimes Peyton Manning should answer for.

Around this time last year, one or two weeks after the Super Bowl 49, all I heard about on ESPN and all other sports media shows was "deflategate". These outlets couldn't talk about this non story enough. ESPN itself has multiple channels that have sports programming 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and I'd venture to say that at least 10 to 12 hours, passed around all their channels, ran some kind of story related to "deflategate".

For those of you that forgot, "deflategate" centered around some under inflated footballs in a game that the Patriots won 45-7 over the Colts. I've written a bunch of stuff on this non story. It's stupid and pointless and it gives people another reason to hate on the Patriots. "Deflategate" is the most nonsensical story I've ever heard. Is it morally and ethically wrong? Yes. But, is it cheating? Absolutely not. Not even close. Go ask anyone QB out there and they will all say that they like to have the balls a specific way. When Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon was asked about this, he said he always had the ball boys take a little air out of the ball for an easier grip. When Aaron Rodgers was asked about this, he said he likes the balls to be over inflated to give him a better grip. Basically, any QB will do anything to gain an advantage. "Deflategate" is akin to watering down base paths in baseball, or using a certain basketball in a certain arena. It's morally wrong, but people tend to look the other way. Who really cares and who really thinks that under inflated footballs helped the Patriots win? No one that has some sense and intelligence.

So, I figured that this year, with the recent allegations and new stories coming out involving Peyton Manning and sexual assault and having HGH delivered to his home, that ESPN would be all over this. These are actual real news stories involving another Hall of Fame QB also coming off a Super Bowl win. These allegations are much, much more serious than some under inflated footballs. I mean, we are talking assaulting a female staffer while a student at Tennessee and the HGH thing, that is steroids. With how much time is being dedicated to getting rid of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs, I figured both these stories would be plastered all over all sports media.

Well, that is unfortunately not the case. I turned on ESPN the other day when "NFL Live" was on because I naturally assumed that they would talk about these allegations and nothing else. I was very wrong. Not only did they not talk about it, they didn't even bring it up. Instead, they focused the entire hour long show on potential free agents at the tight end position. That's right, they figured that potential free agent tight ends were more important to talk about than two major stories involving an extremely high profile player. Could ESPN be anymore in the bag for Peyton Manning and the Manning family? They are just as bad as Jim Nantz when it comes to the blinders they put on whenever someone bad mouths "The Sheriff". It is appalling that they refuse to talk about these terrible, sometimes heinous accusations being brought up. When Nantz was asked, prior to the Super Bowl, why he doesn't talk about the HGH allegations, he blew it off and called it a "non story". This coming from the same guy that chastised Tom Brady last year for some under inflated footballs. Talk about a double standard. When ESPN finally did get an interview with Manning himself about the HGH, it was a total puff piece and they did not press him one single time. They basically told him that he was right and sided with him, claiming that the people accusing him where just jealous of his fame and success. This is the same network that ran, and still runs stories on "deflategate". It's sickening that they continue to defend Manning and his family when someone in his home is getting HGH sent to them. That is a performance enhancing drug and those are supposed to be illegal. I guarantee if Tom Brady, or any Patriot for that matter, had been accused of using HGH, ESPN would have been all over it, calling them liars and cheaters. But, they won't do that to the great Peyton Manning. They assumed, how could someone so wholesome cheat? Why would he do that? He would never under inflate footballs.

Well, thanks to the New York Daily News, once again no ESPN involvement, we come to find out that Peyton Manning may not be as wholesome as we portray him to be. A story was released last week claiming that while he was enrolled at Tennessee, he shoved his naked butt, testicles and penis into the face of a female trainer. When she brought this crime, yes that is a crime, to the higher ups at Tennessee, they blew her off, basically telling her that a student athlete was more important than her dignity. Then, after Tennessee paid this lady off and she moved on to do many great things as a trainer, including working with Olympians, the Manning family wrote a book and destroyed this ladies credibility. She couldn't get a job anywhere because everyone believed the "wholesome" Peyton Manning over her. Why would he lie and why would his family and the University of Tennessee lie about this? Well, as I just mentioned, what he supposedly did is a crime. You cannot force your genitalia in someone's face. What the New York Daily News story reported was, he shoved his genitalia into her face when she was occupied helping someone else. This is a very vile, very disgusting thing for a person to do. I know the Manning defenders will say that he was a kid and kids do stupid things, but this goes beyond stupid, this is disturbing. I was a kid once too, and I never thought to jam my business into anyone's face. Not ever. That takes a special kind of disturbed person. Then, to trash this lady in a book, how classless and guilty does that make one look? If I believed him before, I definitely don't believe him or his dad now. To publicly go after someone like that, that is an admission of guilt. Trying to make someone else look bad for your past childish and abusive behavior, another admission of guilt in my opinion. 

I have not heard anyone at ESPN once talk about this. The only hint of anyone talking about it was on "PTI" and all Wilbon and Kornheiser said is, "he has to speak about these allegations". They didn't attack him the way they attacked the "deflategate" stuff last year. The only people I've heard talk about these allegations are, the aforementioned New York Daily News, a great twitter follow @SportsTalkVM and the wonderful Deadspin. They are the only people that have come out and chastised this childish, abusive and criminal behavior that Peyton Manning showed while at Tennessee and while in the NFL. ESPN won't touch this story with a ten foot pole because they are afraid that they may piss off a powerful football family, but it is in their business to talk about these heinous crimes because that's what good sports journalists do. They don't hide from major stories involving major stars. They sure as hell didn't hold back from attacking Tom Brady, Bill Belichek and the entire New England Patriots franchise when they may or may not have under inflated footballs. So, why do they just stand on the sidelines and give the Manning family a free pass? Are they in bed with Papa John's too? If they are, get out of that relationship because Papa John is a monster and his pizza stinks. Are they afraid of Roger Goodell and the NFL? Yes, they one hundred percent are afraid of that and that sucks because it is really cheapening their own product.

That brings me to what I really think is the problem, and that is the fact that ESPN is hiring unqualified yes men and women to be their anchors and broadcasters. Their bosses, the NFL included, tells them to jump and they ask, how high. They are brain washed people that are terrible at their jobs. These crimes that Manning is being accused of should be talked about a whole hell of a lot more, but until ESPN hires some competent people, I will continue to go to much better news sources like the New York Daily News, @SportsTalkVM and Deadspin. At least they have the guts and the know how to attack this cheater and sexual assaulter.

Screw you Peyton Manning, you are the Bill Cosby of the NFL.

Ty 

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

The Greatest American Band Debate: The Avett Brothers

SeedSing is filled with music lovers. We can not agree on who is the best band from the States. The Greatest American Band Debate will be a regular feature where we discuss and compare bands who started in the good old USA. If you have any suggestions of bands we should debate Contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

For the greatest American band debate today I'm going to nominate one of my personal favorite folk rock groups. The band I'm going to talk about today is the Avett Brothers.

The Avett Brothers are a four piece with the "Brothers" part being banjo player and co lead vocalist, Scott Avett and lead guitar and co lead vocalist, Seth Avett. The rest of the band is bass player, both upright and electric, Bob Crawford and they have a cello player named Joe Kwon. They have other musicians sit in on drums and piano from time to time, but those are the four main guys.

I was introduced to this band about 7 or 8 years ago via an article in "Rolling Stone" I read. They had just started to work with Rick Rubin and I pretty much like anyone that brings Rick Rubin on to work with them. This was kind of a departure for Rubin, but he had been doing mainly rap for awhile when he found the Avett Brothers. He worked with Johnny Cash and he was doing some other stuff with rock bands as well as working with Jay Z and many other rappers, but he had never really produced any folk music, at least not to my knowledge (ed note: He did also work with The Dixie Chicks, I guess they are folk-like). All I needed to see was that this band personally asked Rubin to come in and produce their record. I was going to listen no matter what.

That Rubin produced album was "I And Love And You". This is an absolutely phenomenal album. It was a great way for me to be introduced to their sound. This record is perfection. The way they mix folk and rock is just incredible. They also do beautiful slow songs and when they rock, they really bring it. The opening track, "I And Love And You" is one of the most bittersweet songs ever. They talk about falling out of love with their partner and saying that those three words are very hard to say. The piano they use, as it builds and builds, is downright beautiful. The louder the piano gets, the more pain they sing with and it's awesome. It is a great song. But, when you have had all the sadness you think you can endure, they hit you with a great love song, "January Wedding". This is a great, great first dance song, especially if you have a wedding in the month of January. "January Wedding" features some excellent solo banjo playing from Scott Avett and beautiful vocals from Seth Avett. Another great song. Then, they hit you with a rock song. The song "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise" is a great rock song. It starts out slower, like a folk song, but when they hit the bridge and then the third verse, it turns into a straight up rock song, with loud drums, banjo and guitar. They also up their vocals and knock it out of the park. The rest of "I And Love And You" is a great example of how to mix rock with folk and Rubin is at the top of his game producing this album. I could write a whole piece just on this record, but they have a lot of other music that is equally great.

After listening to "I And Love And You" on repeat for about 6 months, I decide it was time to dig into their older stuff, the stuff that is mainly folk music. I went out and bought "Four Thieves Gone: The Robbinsvile Sessions", "Emotionalism", "Country Was", "Mignonette" and "A Carolina Jubilee" and listened to them all almost immediately, one right after the other. "Country Was" and "A Carolina Jubilee" are very similar, in the fact that they are straight up folk records. Sure, they rock out on some songs, but it's all acoustic and it's all great. There are some classic Avett Brothers songs on these records like "Love Like the Movies", saying that movie love is fake, and I agree, "Pretty Girl From Raleigh", which finds them opining an old love and "I Killed Sally's Lover" which is a dark song, but the tone is upbeat. All great, early songs from the Avett Brothers.

Then I listened to "Four Thieves Gone: The Robinsville Sessions". This record, in my opinion, is a masterpiece. This album showed the band stretching what I thought was folk music, and had them exploring rock, and on one song, Scott Avett is almost rapping. It's a really good album. Go listen to songs like "Colrshow" to hear them rock out and yell sing lyrics awesomely or "Matrimony" which is about the plight of marriage, but there precision on vocals and instruments is on full display. Some other great songs are "Four Thieves Gone", which has them back to their roots with a ballady, slower folk song or "Pretend Love", which is a great mixture of rock and folk. My favorite track is the opening song, "Talk On Indolence". This song perfectly captures the bands love for folk and rock and both brothers vocals are just excellent.

"Four Thieves Gone" is so great. I didn't think that they could get better on the other albums I had, but, I was floored by what I heard on "Mignonette" and "Emotionalism". Both of these albums show real growth and exploration from this awesome band. On "Mignonette", we get some classic Avett Brothers tunes like "Swept Away", just an absolutely beautiful love song, "The New Love Song", which shows that this band is really unsure that they have ever truly been in love, you can really hear the hurt in this song, "Letter to a Pretty Girl", which has them, once again, opining for a lost love and "Salvation song", that is so good, it should be gospel. "Mignonette" is a really good album. But, "Emotionalism" is better. On "Emotionalism", we get great songs like "Paranoia in B-Flat Major", which is one Avett Brothers song that every fan knows and they play it at most live shows. There's also the beautifully heart breaking song "The Ballad of Love and Hate", which has hate being a jerk, but love loving everything about hate, no matter what. A great folk/rock song on this album is "Pretty Girl From Chile" which has a lady read an old love letter right in the middle of the song, then they proceed to rock for the rest of the song. "Hand Me Down Tune" is a great, slower folk song that is about the love of old music. It's awesome.

I was now hooked on Avett Brothers music. I was ready for their next record to come out because I needed new Avett Brothers music. They released "The Carpenter" in 2012 and I adore this album. It is one great song after another. "Once and Future Carpenter" is a typical folk song made great by this band. "Live and Die", which some of you may know from a GAP ad a couple of years ago, is a really sad song about death, but made upbeat by the vocals and instruments. "Pretty Girl From Michigan" is a great throwback Avett Brothers song that has them rocking and being very folksy at the same time. "Down With the Shine" is a perfect folk song. The instruments are great and when Scott Avett and Seth Avett trade off on vocals, I love every second of it. "Geraldine" is a very short, but very awesome rock song. Great electric guitars and great, very fast vocals. "Paul Newman vs. The Demons" starts off as a rock song and continues to rock harder through all 4 minutes and 43 seconds. It's the first straight forward rock song from the Avett Brothers and they crush it.

Then, one year later they released "Magpie and the Dandelion". This album is great, but it's not as great as their other stuff. I like that they take a ton of chances on this album and play a lot of electric instruments, and it is still very good, it's just not up to par with the other stuff I've mentioned today. Still good and worth a listen for fans though.

Other than what I've mentioned above, the Avett Brothers have a lot of EPs and they have put out three live albums and one live DVD. It's all great. The EPs are very early so they are mainly folk with some country splashed in. The live stuff is great. I've seen them live three times and every time they are awesome. They have a great energy that they bring to their live shows and when they slow it down, their ballads are beautifully done. Go see them if you want to experience a great, high energy live show.

I'm very excited to see what the Avett Brothers have in store for the near future. They are a great band that has put out a ton of music, but they are still fairly young and they have a lot of music ahead of them. I adore the Avett Brothers and they belong in this conversation. I know they lean more folk, but they are one of America's greatest bands.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He liked to strum the banjo on his front porch, but had to stop because the neighbors that it was creepy. Make sure you follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Dwight Howard Deserves Better Than the Rockets

Where does it say these numbers will win an NBA title?

With the NBA trade deadline this Thursday, one name is being thrown around and it's a forgone conclusion that Dwight Howard is going to be traded from Houston to any number of teams. Boston, Atlanta and Toronto have all been brought up as potential landing spots. If you watch ESPN or Fox Sports News or any number of sports media outlets, they are all saying the same thing about Dwight Howard. He's a malcontent, he complains too much, he can't coexist with another star, he's too much of a diva, he's lost his dominant form from five years ago, basically he is the problem they all say. This was the case when he left Orlando in free agency. He didn't like Stan Van Gundy and he quit playing mid way through his last season. He then signed with the Lakers and his one season there was an absolute train wreck. He didn't like playing with Kobe Bryant, coaching was sub par at best and he looked genuinely unhappy that whole season.

Then the big blockbuster deal when he joined the Rockets. He was the missing piece that this team needed, or so it was thought. His first year there, they did okay, but they bowed out of the first round of the playoffs to a Thunder team that didn't have Russell Westbrook. Then, he missed the majority of the first half of last season due to many injuries. The Rockets played surprisingly well in his absence, with James Harden coming on very strong, heavily involved in the MVP race. In fact, Harden was the players choice for MVP last year. But, when they needed Dwight Howard the most, he came up pretty big for the team. He was a key cog in their run to the Western Conference Finals last year. In their three game win streak to complete their comeback against the Clippers, it was Howard, not Harden, that made the difference. He was a force on defense. He was rebounding at an extremely high rate and he was getting whatever he wanted in the post. He made DeAndre Jordan look like a rookie at times during that series. He seemed to be regaining his dominating form.

Then, this past offseason happened. James Harden decided partying and dating a Kardashian was more important than staying in playing shape. Dwight Howard seemed disinterested in even playing basketball. The Rockets traded for Ty Lawson, a deal I still very much liked at the time, but he was coming off multiple DWI and DUI offenses. Basically, this team was in the news for all the wrong reasons. The season started and they limped out of the gate. The Rockets started 4-7 and fired Kevin McHale, a move I still disagree with. Sure, it's up to the coach to come up with a good game plan and the Rockets had little to no interest in playing defense, but the players also have to be invested in getting better and staying in shape. It was clear that Harden and Howard had not done their job. But, instead of taking it on themselves, Harden and Howard blamed coaching, thus the firing of Kevin McHale happened. But, JB Bickerstaff is not the answer at head coach, and to his credit, he was put in a terrible situation. He said it himself, and I couldn't agree more, he is coaching a "broken team".

So now, sitting at 27-28 coming out of the All Star break, the Rockets are looking to make deals, although I think it's a moot point. This team, if they make the playoffs, will be out in the first round. There were reports last week saying that both Harden and Howard met late into the night with GM Daryl Morey, but I believe Harden was the only player present at that meeting. I truly believe he told Morey that it was him or Howard, that one of them has to go.

Now we get to the part where I actually defend Dwight Howard, something I never thought I would say. Sure, Howard is whiny and arrogant and self righteous, but he can still be dominant if put in the right situation. The way the Rockets run their offense is terrible for a big man like Howard. They give the ball to Harden at the top of the key, he dribbles for 15-20 seconds, then he either jacks up a contested three, or he tries to drive to the basket to draw a foul. I don't see how anyone, with Harden being the exception, would like playing in that type of offense. The Rockets are boring and they are predictable. And when you are a big man, you need touches to stay motivated. I don't care if it's just an easy dump pass to him in the high post and he kicks it back out, at least he got his hands on the ball during that possession. It's asking an awful lot, to tell your big man, hey we need you to play hovering defense, rebound at a very high rate and hustle down on offense, but there's only a 25 percent chance you will touch the ball. Any big man would laugh in the coaches face if they asked them to do that. I don't think that Howard is the real problem and I don't think getting rid of him will solve all their problems.

In my opinion, the two main problems on the Rockets are Harden and, way more importantly, Daryl Morey. Harden has been a diva since his last year in OKC. He didn't show up in the finals and when they didn't offer him a max contract, he said he felt disrespected and left in a huff. The Thunder, when healthy, are a much better team without Harden, no matter what Bill Simmons says (he does seem to have had a change of heart). And the fact that he wanted to make his "brand" bigger this offseason, that that was more important than staying in shape, tells me a lot about James Harden the player and person. He really screwed this team this offseason and he's screwing them over during the season.

Forget about the players, Daryl Morey and his analytic nonsense have been the main culprit that has caused this mess in Houston. He thought pairing a three point shooting, ball dominant two guard and a ball dominant, really good rebounding center would work because the numbers told him so. Numbers were wrong. He took a chance on Ty Lawson, even though they already have Patrick Beverly, because the numbers said having two point guards would make them more explosive. Numbers were wrong. He thought firing McHale would solve problems because McHale wasn't taking his analytics serious and that JB Bickerstaff, according to the numbers, would turn this team around. Numbers were wrong. This whole craze of analytics and numbers is about as useful as "moneyball" was in baseball. Sure, you will have a decent regular season, making the playoffs regularly, but, how many World Series have the Oakland A's won since Billy Beane took over as GM? Zero, that's how many. In fact, I don't even think they've made an ALCS in his time. The way to build a team is through developing draft picks and pairing veterans that know how to play the game. This numbers nonsense needs to go. The Warriors and Spurs don't use analytics, they just develop players and win titles.

So yes, if the Rockets do trade Dwight Howard, I hope it comes back to haunt them. I hope he gets on a team that feeds him the ball and I hope he dunks it all over James Harden and Daryl Morey and I hope he laughs while he's doing it. I cannot believe that I defended Dwight Howard, but all the problems with the Rockets don't solely lie on him. James Harden and Daryl Morey deserve the majority of the blame.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. The numbers tell him that it is time to stop watching the Rockets. Ty is on twitter, go follow him @tykulik.

Welcome Back NBA Dunk Contest

Practicing for the 2025 dunk contest

This past Saturday, I witnessed one of the greatest dunk contests I have ever seen. The dunk contest has fallen pretty far the past decade. It was long and boring. Contestants got as many tries as they needed, dragging the contest past the two hour mark, easily. The contestants weren't that good either. Sure, you'd get a Blake Griffin, although I think he's very overrated, or a John Wall or even a Dwight Howard, but for the most part, we got guys like Nate Robinson and Terrence Ross. These guys are all phenomenal athletes and freakishly athletic, but we didn't get the stars that the fans wanted.

Back in the 80's, 90's and early 2000's, we got the biggest stars to compete in the dunk contest. Guys like Larry Nance, Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins and Vince Carter, just to name a few, regularly competed in the dunk contest. Those were some of the best competitions. The coin flip showdown between Jordan and Dominique was so, so incredible, even though Dominique got totally screwed out of the win. When Dr. J was in the contest, he was doing things no one at the time was doing. I didn't see that one live, obviously, but the videos of his dunks are awesome. When Larry Nance was in, he looked like he was floating through the air. It was majestic. Then, in 2000, I witnessed what I consider to be the greatest dunk contest ever. I don't remember the other contestants, but I sure as hell remember Vince Carter. He did some of the most incredible, mouth agape dunks I'd ever seen. The "hand in the cookie jar dunk", going between his legs on a bounce pass, throwing it off the side of the backboard, I mean, it was just insanely athletic and so impressive. I remember sharing his sentiment, after doing the windmill off the side of the backboard, that the contest was over. You could see him mouthing the words, "it's over", and he was 100 percent correct. He absolutely dominated that dunk contest. The fact that I don't even remember his competitors shows you how incredible his dunks were. After that contest, I was sure that the dunk contest was going to be as great every year. I was very wrong.

The All Star weekend dunk contest became boring, as I said before. Too long and no stars. Some will tell me that the Blake Griffin contest, when he dunked over a car, was exciting. I say you are wrong. Who cares that he jumped over a car. It would've been impressive if he dunked over the top of the car, but he went over the front hood. I bet the majority of NBA players can do that exact dunk with no problem. The Blake Griffin hype was at it's peak then, and his dunk was way overblown. Like I said, he is overrated. Some will also throw out the Nate Robinson back to back wins, but those were incredibly boring and his dunks were not even close to what Spud Webb did when he won. Spud Webb only had three chances to do his dunks. I believe that Nate Robinson, whom I enjoy, went on for almost thirty minutes before throwing down one impressive dunk. He had unlimited time and attempts. You give any NBA player that much time, they will come up with something great. Other people may even think that the Dwight Howard win was impressive, but he barely did anything. Also, he's a 7 footer, he better damn well do something impressive. But, he didn't really do anything impressive at all, unless you count wearing a Superman cape as impressive, I don't. So, yeah, the dunk contest was in a real rut.

Last season Zach Lavine of the Minnesota Timberwolves, made it kind of exciting. The pool of contestants still wasn't that good, but the highlights the next day of what Lavine did had me and a lot of others intrigued. He did some really cool stuff that kind of hearkened back to the good old days of the contest. Then came this past Saturday night. The contestants, once again, weren't household names, but two of the four are big time jumpers. Hardcore fans of the NBA know all the contestants and know that Zach Lavine and Aaron Gordon are world class leapers. They can "jump out of the gym". The other two contestants, Will Barton and Andre Drummond are decent athletes too. Barton is a freakishly good jumper. No one knows him because he plays very sporadically on a pretty bad Denver Nuggets team, but he can jump. Andre Drummond is an All Star, but he's not known for his dunking ability. He's a rebounder and defender. Both Barton and Drummond failed to impress, but Barton not doing well was the only shock to me. Drummond didn't belong in this contest. Then, Lavine and Gordon owned the rest of the night. Aaron Gordon went first and his first attempt was awesome. He soared through the air and completed a bounce pass between the legs windmill. It was awesome. Then, Zach Lavine did a 360 windmill, behind the back reverse dunk. It was something I'd never seen before and I was hooked. They traded one awesome dunk after another. Gordon brought out the Magic mascot and did a between the legs grab off the mascot's head dunk. Awesome. Lavine then proceeded to catch an alley oop from the free throw line dunk. Phenomenal. Then, Aaron Gordon did the best dunk I'd seen since Vince Carter. Using his mascot again, he took the ball off his head again, but then he put the ball underneath his legs and reverse slammed the ball. It was the best dunk I have ever seen. Go watch it right now, it is so cool. Then, Lavine did some more stuff from the free throw line, including a windmill from the free throw line. That takes so much leaping ability and so much athleticism and Lavine made it look easy. The two of them traded 50's from there on out, until Lavine finally won in a dunk off. Watch the whole duel, it is awesome.

This was the best dunk contest since 2000 and probably the best dunk contest of all time. Aaron Gordon and Zach Lavine brought it back from the dead. The dunk contest was appointment TV when I was a teenager, then it was really bad for a decade plus, but if it continues to be anywhere close to where Saturday night was in the future, I will be in front of my TV every All Star weekend to see the dunk contest. It was that awesome.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He once saw the head editor to an epic double jump dunk. It is a slam dunk to follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Next Supreme Court Justice Should Be Named Obama

Welcome home Mr. President

With the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the time has come for President Barack Obama to make his third selection for the highest court in the land. Those Republicans who want to block the President's constitutional duty must not be as true to the US Constitution as they claim to be. If you are truly a "strict constructionist" then you can not believe politics takes precedent over the founding document. Maybe these so called "Constitution Conservatives" are really just a bunch of partisan hacks. The GOP Presidential field, and the elected republicans in D.C., really seem to think that the Constitution is not that valuable in governing the nation. It seems that they are all unfit to represent the people since there is no guiding document of law that the GOP believes in. We deserve people who believe in the Constitution to lead our government. The Republican Party has once again put their personal partisan politics ahead of settled law.

Antonin Scalia served on the US Supreme Court for nearly three decades. He was instrumental in giving voice to modern conservative philosophy. He was also instrumental in being the voice of exclusion to many US citizens. He did not want the US to confront climate change because he was not a scientist. He used antiquated, and hateful, religious views to deny rights to gays and lesbians. He believed that high money donors had more right in swaying political elections than people who were not quite as wealthy. He, along with four other Supreme Court Justices, stopped a legally mandated recount in the state of Florida during the 2000 Presidential Election. There was no legal, or constitutional, reason to stop the recount, yet Antonin Scalia felt like his personal political views took precedent over the law of the land. If you look at the Bush v. Gore decision, Justice Scalia and the majority say that their decision can not be used as precedent for any future similar cases. It is obvious that the conservatives on the court wanted to Bush to win, even if he had not. Antonin Scalia was  the voice of the Supreme Court for an ideology that is living in the past. This is a philosophy that is doomed to be on the wrong side of history. The views Antonin Scalia brought the the US Supreme Court will be judged in the same ways the views of Henry Billings Brown (Plessy v. Ferguson) and Roger B Taney (Dred Scott v. Sandford). They will be judged poorly.

With the death of any high profile figure the media and public at large want to wait in passing judgement on that person's life. That is moronic. When someone like an Antonin Scalia passes, his work should be on display. It is naive, and insulting, to try and forget what harm Justice Scalia has brought to many Americans. We should never sweep under the rug the vile decisions of any person, much less a public figure. We need to remember but we do not need to dwell that long on the unfortunate tenure of Antonin Scalia, we need to look towards the future. The thing we should be focusing on is who will be the new justice of the US Supreme Court. That person should be named Obama.

First Lady Michelle Obama is an accomplished attorney. She has all the academic credentials the US Senate looks for in a Supreme Court nominee. She has a long paper trail and was a very successful lawyer before moving to the White House. Michelle Obama has a bright mind, and quick wit. She would be a huge asset to the high court. The problem is that the partisan hacks in the US Senate would lose their minds in trying to tear down a woman who is vastly more qualified than they are. No person deserves the vitriol, misogyny and racism that would be hurled at the First Lady by the Senate and the national media. She does not deserve the hassle. Someone else in her house is more than ready to take these anti-constitutionalists head on.

While Michelle Obama would be the best choice to fill the Supreme Court vacancy, there is another White House resident who could truly make history by being appointed to the high court. President Barack Obama has the resume to be the next justice of the United States Supreme Court. He is a constitutional scholar, former Illinois State Senator, US Senator, and two term President. He has the education, experience, and thirst to serve his country. Never before in the history of the United States have we had the opportunity to fill a Supreme Court vacancy with someone so qualified. The American voters have twice elected Obama by  large margins. The public will and the resume makes is a no-brainer that President Obama should be the next Associate Justice.

There is the issue of President Obama being the sitting President. Could he actually nominate himself? The easy fix is for Obama to step down from the Presidency and let Vice President Joe Biden take the office for the remainder of the term. It would be a great way to honor Joe Biden for all of his decades of public service. The new President Biden could then nominate former President Barack Obama. Easy fix.

Now the US Senate would have their nomination, and the confirmation process can begin. We all know that having Barack Obama in front of a Republican dominated senate would not be an easy confirmation process. The obstructionists in the Senate would use the hearings to try and legislate the entire Obama Presidency. It would be a huge and pointless circus. There would be a zero percent chance that a vote would be taken on Obama's nomination within the year. The timing should not matter because the Senate Republicans have already said they are going to disregard their Constitutional mandate and will not allow a Supreme Court nominee a confirmation vote until a new president is inaugurated.

Why not let Obama go through the hearings with no hope of confirmation this year? Because this will absolutely destroy any Republican effort to take the White House and will severely hurt their down ticket races. The public will get a full view of the fringes in the GOP, and how they control the entire party. The Presidential field will be consumed by the confirmation process. President Obama is still way more popular than any national Republican figure. The attacks coming from the Senate, Fox News, Right Wing radio, and the GOP Presidential hopefuls will drive many voters away. The Democratic party can use the obstruction of the Republicans as further proof of the party who currently controls congress can not govern at all. Once the election is over, and the Republican have suffered their losses, the next President can go ahead and resubmit Barack Obama as a nominee for the Supreme Court. The next President will be a Democrat after the lunacy the country will see from a Republican party who spits on the true intentions of the US Constitution. It will be a cake walk for the Democratic party.

The passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was quite a shock, and a great loss for his family and supporters. The loss of the strongest conservative on the high court is a huge advantage to the Democratic Party. The President has the Constitutional duty to appoint a replacement. The Senate has a constitutional duty to vet and confirm this nominee. The first family has two members who could fill this vacancy magnificently. The GOP will continue to disrespect the US Constitution in order to serve an outdated political philosophy no matter who gets nominated. Barack Obama could once and for all fully expose the Republican Party hypocrisy by being put forward as the next Justice of the US Supreme Court. He would once again make history, and help the Democratic Parties electoral chances in 2016 more than he has in the previous eight years. It will be one of the biggest political fights in US history. Let Obama use his skill to once again frustrate and annoy the GOP. It is going to be epic.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing. He originally was going to suggest his other host of the X Millennial Man be the next Supreme Court Justice. Ty said he was to busy complaining about his least favorite sports teams. Nominate yourself for great internet commentary by writing for SeedSing.

Mid Season Checkup on Ty's NBA Predictions.

Ty's picks are actually in better shape than the hoop.

Now that we have made it to the All Star break in the NBA, I want to go back and look at my giant, 10 day NBA preview I did before the season and see how it looks now. I did get some things wrong, we all do, and I will address those first, but I feel like I picked the top teams pretty well, with one exception.

So, before I pat myself on the back, let's get to the stuff I was off base on. First of all, I was way off on the New Orleans Pelicans, the Dallas Mavericks, the Portland Trailblazers, the Houston Rockets, the Washington Wizards and the Milwaukee Bucks. In the case of the Pelicans, I thought they'd be much, much better than they've shown this season. Sure, they've suffered a plethora of injuries, but they just don't look like that good of a team right now. I watched them play the OKC Thunder last night and they got blown out. The game wasn't even competitive mid way through the third quarter. Sure, they didn't have Eric Gordon and Tyreke Evans, but they still have Anthony Davis, my preseason MVP and Defensive Player of the Year winner. Davis has looked good, but he was supposed to look great. He was supposed to be the new face of the NBA. He hasn't shown that he is ready to take the next step, but he still has time. This is a lost year for the Pelicans. Too many injuries and a terrible start doomed them. They should blow it up and try to get a decent pick to add next to Davis.

I also thought that the Bucks would be a much better team than they are right now. They haven't really had to deal with any injuries, they just can't play competent defense and they have no go to scorer. Giannis Antentekoumpo has not taken the leap he was expected to take, becoming kind of a nuisance. Jabari Parker has not lived up to the hype that he can be a top tier scorer and he plays no defense whatsoever. The Greg Monroe signing has been an absolute disaster and their back court is mediocre at best. They have looked pretty awful this year. They already had their highlight of their season, when they ended Golden State's perfect start.

The Washington Wizards can't stay healthy and they can't get John Wall any kind of significant help. Wall is a star. He is one of, if not the, top point guard in the NBA, but he has no help at all. Bradley Beal was supposed to be his wingman, but he can't stay healthy and when he is in there, he's been ice cold from the field. Marcin Gortat looks slow and is not scoring like he did a year ago. Nene looks disinterested and I wouldn't be surprised if he gets traded. Otto Porter Jr has been hit or miss and other than those guys, they have very average NBA players. But, it all really boils down to piss poor coaching from Randy Whitman. The fact he still has a job is ridiculous. He is the one wasting John Wall's talent. I feel bad for John Wall because he's a really great basketball player.

The Houston Rockets have been a mess from the start of preseason. James Harden decided he'd rather party than stay in shape. Dwight Howard can't get touches, but he also mopes and complains more than any NBA player I've ever watched. The trade for Ty Lawson, which I loved, has been a complete disaster. And this team, as a whole, plays absolutely no defense. The offense they run is equally terrible. I swear, they tell Harden to dribble for 20 seconds, then either shoot a 3 or try to drive to draw a foul. It's atrocious. They fired their coach after 11 games, but they haven't been any better since letting McHale go. As was reported last night, this is truly "a broken team".

Now, to get away from teams I thought would be good that aren't so good to teams that I expected to take a step back, but are playing much better than I thought. First, the Trailblazers. They traded away 4/5 of their starting lineup and made some interesting offseason moves, but damn it if it isn't kind of working for them. They lost LaMarcus Aldridge, Robin Lopez, Wes Matthews and Nic Batum, but still find themselves in the playoff race. If they do end up making the playoffs, it will be as an eight seed and they will get crushed by Golden State, but I thought there was no way they'd win more than 25 games this year. Damien Lillard really is that good.

The other team that I kind of crapped on, thought they were too old and that they missed out on some key free agency moves, the Dallas Mavericks, have been very competitive. Dirk is still Dirk. He is still getting 18 to 20 points per game and his jump shot is still unguardable. Wes Matthews, their only free agent signing after the DeAndre Jordan fiasco, has been great, coming off a torn ACL. He has actually looked really good, considering his injury. Chandler Parsons has been okay, he just does what he does, and that's enough for this team. But, Deron Williams has been rejuvenated by his move to Dallas. He was done in Brooklyn. His career seemed to be over, but he has played some pretty good basketball since joining the Mavericks, much to mine, and everyone else's surprise. He looks like a decent NBA point guard again. You have also got to give a lot of love to Rick Carlisle for the job he's doing with this team. He is a top of the line NBA coach. .

Now, let's get to the stuff I was on the mark with in my preseason preview. Golden State and San Antonio have been great. Golden State, whom I've written about a couple of times already, has been historically great. They are the most fun to watch NBA team that I've ever seen. Steph Curry is the best player in the NBA, no questions about it, and they also have Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes, Andrew Bogut and Andre Igoudala, and I could name a lot more. They are so, so good.

The Spurs are right there as well. The Aldridge signing has been great and Aldridge has taken very easily to playing the "Spurs Way". David West, who they signed for the veterans minimum, has been a great addition as well. Then they still have Kawhi Leonard, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli. I know Ginobli just recently got hurt, but they can plug Patty Mills, Danny Green, or anyone on their bench to take over until Ginobli returns. Sure, they got blown out by the Warriors recently, but the Spurs save their best for the playoffs. I still really like the Spurs to compete for the title this year.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been pretty good as well, yet no one is really talking about them. They won their 40th game last night and Kevin Durant looks like he is 100 percent back. To go along with Durant, Russell Westbrook is still doing all the great and reckless things he does on the court, but he's found a way for it to help his team this year. Serge Ibaka is still one of the top rim protector and he has increased his range all the way out to the three point line. Steven Adams is the new Bill Laimbeer and the rest of the team knows their place. Andre Roberson is a lock down defender, DJ Augustin and Cameron Payne are strictly there to give Westbrook short breaks. Enes Kanter is instant offense off the bench and Dion Waiters, when he is on, can score in bunches. OKC is lurking and I wouldn't want to play them in the playoffs if I were either San Antonio or Golden State.

In the East, there are two teams and that is it. The Cavs, another team I've written plenty about, is the best team in the East, but they have a problem with their roster and since they fired David Blatt, Tyronn Lue hasn't really set the NBA coaching world on fire. I wouldn't be surprised if they make some moves, trading guys like Kevin Love, Timofey Mozgov and/or Tristan Thompson or Anderson Varajo and bringing in more shooters, but it won't matter, they will still lose in the Finals. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving are great, but then you have guys like JR Smith, Iman Shumpert, Matthew Dellavedova and James Jones that are playing critical minutes in the playoffs. LeBron the GM needs to make better player personnel decisions and sign good NBA players, not his buddies.

The other team from the East that is setting the world on fire completely took me by surprise. I thought the Toronto Raptors would be good, but not this good. DeMr DeRozan and Kyle Lowry are playing All Star level basketball, although Lowry is the only one that made the team. Jonas Valenciunas is becoming that rebounder and low post scorer that they need him to be. Corey Joseph has been awesome since he signed there this offseason, scoring points and playing good defense. DeMarre Carroll, who's been out with an injury, looked just as good as he did last year in Atlanta, playing lock down defense and hitting open shots. The Raptors have been a whole hell of a lot better than I thought they would be, especially after their rough finish in the playoffs last year, and they look like a real threat to the Cavs. I would love if the Raptors faced the Cavs in the East Finals, swept them and then get crushed by either OKC, Golden State or San Antonio. That would be hilarious to me because it would freak out David Silver and make the fans in Cleveland that much more miserable. I really, really like Toronto.

As far as award predictions, Steph Curry is the MVP. I picked Anthony Davis, but it's Curry. Emmanuel Mudiay, my preseason rookie of the year, has been hurt and can't shoot, so I will now go with Karl Anthony Towns. He is a star in the making. Kawhi Leonard is hands down the Defensive Player of the Year and Gregg Popovich has to be coach of the year. You can't give it to Steve Kerr, and Adam Silver doesn't have the cojanes to give it to Luke Walton, so it's Poppovich.

To close it all out, at the All Star break, my finals prediction is going to be Golden State and Cleveland. I know I picked San Antonio and Cleveland, and that could still happen, but Golden State is something special this year. Not only will Golden State repeat, probably sweeping the Cavs out of the Finals, but I think they will break the single season record of wins. In 1996 the Bulls finished 72-10 and I think the Warriors will finish this season at 74-8, besting them by two games. The Warriors are that good and they will finish their historic season with a second straight NBA title.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He really wanted an all Canada final of the Raptors and the Grizzlies, but then he realized that Memphis is not in Canada. He also realized their are no Grizzlies in Tennessee, no lakes in LA, and definitely no Jazz in Salt Lake City. The NBA is weird. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest Television Ever: "The Simpsons" Best Episode, Ever

For our greatest television debate I'm going to talk about my favorite episode of my favorite TV show. By now, everyone knows that I'm a huge fan of "The Simpsons". I've written about the show a lot so far, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Not only am I going to write about it today, but I will have many posts in the future that will be "Simpsons" centric. That show is the best and I can't say enough great things about it. Just for today I want to tell you all about the most perfect episode of "The Simpsons". This episode is "The Simpsons" at it's absolute best. The episode I'm going to talk about today is "Behind the Laughter", the season 11 finale.

This is their parody of all the "Behind the Music" stuff that VH1 did, but "The Simpsons" do it ten thousand times better. I absolutely love that they took something that is very popular, yet very depressing, and made it hilarious. It is just a perfect episode. The episode opens just like any other "Behind the Music" episode does, with the announcers voice over, explaining the Simpson family humble beginning, even stating that they are from Iowa. It's your typical "Simpsons" episode, Bart is being a terror, Lisa is being shunned, Maggie is being Maggie, Marge is questioning, yet still supporting Homer, and Homer, he brings up the fact that "there aren't any families like ours on TV". Marge then says to the filmographer, "So I told him, piss or get off the pot", where the voice over guy responds, "and piss, he did". This leads us into Homer's pilot episode for his show, "My Funny Family". It's ridiculous, of course. Homer is inviting his boss, played by Bart, over for dinner, he gets a stain on his clothes and he overloads the washing machine with way too much detergent. His catchphrase for his show is "Mamma Mia!", which when he's saying it, he grabs his cheeks, a la Kevin McCallister in "Home Alone". When the washing machine is overflowing, even Maggie does the hands to the cheeks implying that she's saying "Mamma Mia!". Bart is your typical over the top boss, constantly yelling at Homer. Even though he brings this pilot to many TV offices, places like NBC, CBS and even Telemundo, the only one that bites is Fox. I love this because only "The Simpsons" can constantly rag on the network that their show is on and get away with it. Imagine if "Friends" tried to do something like that to NBC when it was on. They would have pulled it in a heart beat. While filming later episodes of the show, Homer is caught strangling Bart, because that's what Homer does, and the people filming and the network execs that are present love it. They tell Homer that he should do this in every episode and he does. After this, as Homer puts it, "horrific act of child abuse", the show becomes a huge hit. The Simpson family is making so much money, Marge exclaims, "we were using 20 dollar bills as toilet paper, and toilet paper as dog toilet paper". There's another scene of their house being flooded by a big dump truck that has the word CAVIAR in big bold letters on the side and another dump truck with the words TOAST POINTS dumping all this into their living room. The family starts to get so famous, they begin merchandising everything, including diaphragms with Marge's face on them. They also start a music career, with their hit song, that sweeps the Grammy's that year, "Simpson Family Boogie". They naturally follow that hit up with a holiday themed album, entitled "Simpson Christmas Boogie", also a huge hit. But, with all the success, fame and money, trouble found them.

See, that is what is so great about this episode, they perfectly ape the ridiculousness that is "Behind the Music". Bart becomes kind of the spoiled bad boy type. He is a parody of a Corey Feldman or MaCauly Caulkin. He's showing up late to couch gags, he's making terrible movies because he has "fair weathered fans to feed" and he even gets himself kicked out as a judge of a beauty contest. He has to go away at some point, and his good friend Richie Rich fills in for his role. Lisa is so upset at what her family has become, she writes a tell all book. She complains that Homer makes her work too much and is giving her anti growth pills. She spills everything on Bart and complains about Marge phoning in some episodes. Marge is just upset that her family is falling apart and she wants everyone to just be nice to one another again. But Homer has the best bad luck. He buys MC Hammer's old house, smashes out the HAMMERTIME written on the front gate and changes it to HOMERTIME, but he's found to be a big time tax evader and he gets everything repossessed. He has also developed a terrible painkiller addiction from doing all his own stunts. He says during this segment, "the stunts were like a drug to me, but what was more like a drug, was the drugs". That's exceptional writing. After he gets clean, he has to take on some pretty awful acting jobs after that, just to pay the taxman. He plays the role of "landlord" in "RENT", and as he tells it, I literally chewed the scenery and holds up a piece of the set that has literal bite marks out of it. Bart goes on to replace Lorenzo Lamas in a "Renegades" remake and that's a disaster. Marge has her own one woman show that she has to perform in dingy bars. And Lisa, she is still spilling the beans on the family to anyone that will listen.

One of my absolute favorite parts is when they sit down to a Thanksgiving meal together. Everyone has brought their own lawyer, and Lisa's lawyer is the biggest badass of them all, yelling "That is assault!", at Marge after she bad mouths Lisa for writing a tell all book. Homer has one of the best lines here too, saying, "it was the best Thanksgiving ever. The emotional distress was terrible, but the gravy", then he does his drooling noise. They split after this. Bart goes to rehab to get his life back together, Lisa goes off and does her own thing, Marge continues her one woman show and Homer finds a new passion, dusting and cleaning sound mixing boards. Then, an awards show hosted by Willie Nelson individually invites the whole family, each member separately, and that's the first time they'd been on stage together in a long time. They begin to sing a song, which turns into a fight, but then Willie Nelson saves the day. He explains that the award show is fake, much to the dismay of a Woody Allen type character, and it was just a rouse to get the family back together again. They relent after they hear the entire crowd chant "HUG! HUG! HUG!", and they go back to normal. They begin shooting the show again, just like they originally had it planned. The episode closes with the family by an editing board, the voice over guy saying that there will be many more "Simpsons" episodes to come, and we hear Homer say, "this will be the last season".

From start to finish, this is, in my opinion, the most perfect episode of "The Simpsons". There is not one dull moment and everything about it is absolutely hilarious. "Behind the Laughter" took me by surprise, but I will still watch it anytime it's on FXX, or whenever I put on my season 11 DVD. When I watch the DVD, I watch that episode at least 5 or 6 times. I love it.

"Behind the Laughter" is not just the best "Simpsons" episode ever, it is the best episode of any TV show, ever.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. With over 500 episodes, Ty has a couple years worth of Simpson's related tv articles to still write. Make sure you are one of Ty's follows on twitter to hear his true thoughts @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Eric B and Rakim

SeedSing is filled with music lovers. We can not agree on who is the best band from the States. The Greatest American Band Debate will be a regular feature where we discuss and compare bands who started in the good old USA. If you have any suggestions of bands we should debate Contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

For the greatest American band debate, I'm going to get back to a band, although it's a duo, and I'm going to get back to rap. The band I'm going to nominate today is Eric B and Rakim.

Eric B and Rakim may be the most influential rap group of all time, even more so than Sugarhill Gang. Eric B and Rakim proved that you could make great music with only two guys. I know that I nominate and talk about a lot of two piece bands, the White Stripes, Ratatat, Run the Jewels and the Black Keys to name a few, but, at the very least, there would be no Run the Jewels if not for Eric B and Rakim. They are the quintessential two piece rap group. They had a short, but very prolific run in the music industry.

The duo exploded on the scene very early on, only a few years after rap became a big thing. Their first record, "Paid in Full", was released in 1987 and it was a hit. It was helped by the huge single "Eric B For President".  According to Wikipedia, this album, although rushed to release, influenced huge hip hop stars like Run DMC, KRS-One and Chuck D. This record showed the world that smooth, yet profound flow of Eric B. It also introduced us to the wizardry that was Rakim. He was a master of making beats and could write the hell out of a song. So could Eric B. He was a lyrical master. The song "Eric B For President" is a master class of rhyming and flowing that hip hop artists nowadays owe a huge debt to. Without this song's structure, a lot of famous rappers wouldn't have a clue at how to put their flows to a beat. "Eric B For President" laid the groundwork for modern hip hop cadence.

After the release and success of "Paid in Full", they signed a deal with MCA. They were now with a huge label and expectations were high, and they did not disappoint. Their second album is one of the all time greatest albums. In 1988 they released "Follow the Leader". This record is a masterpiece. The title track, "Follow the Leader" is epic. The song has a great beat, great lyrics and the message is fantastic. They basically shouted to the hip hop world that they were the leaders of the movement, and it's hard to argue with them. No one, at that time, was even close to how awesome Eric B and Rakim were. They owned the throne of hip hop. "Lyrics of Fury" is another classic. This song is another example at how great of an emcee Eric B was/is. He is a lyrical genius. And the way he raps on "Lyrics of Fury", watch out because he destroys the song. It's an incredible rap song. "Microphone Fiend" is another great track on this record. I love this song and it was introduced to me through Rage Against the Machine, a band I've already written about, but Eric B and Rakim's original version is the best. I love the angst and anger that this song brings and I love that, instead of fiending for drugs or money or violence, Eric B wants only a microphone. That's what he's fiending for and I love it. He needs that microphone to spit his lyrics out to the world and we, the audience, need it as well. It's my favorite song from the entire Eric B and Rakim songbook. The rest of that record is just as phenomenal, but those are the three standouts. The fact that it took so long to be acclaimed, it didn't get good early reviews and it wasn't until the late 90's and early 2000's that it became a classic, is shocking. the first time I heard this record, as a 20 year old, it immediately blew me away. I love this album.

In 1990 they released their third album, "Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em". it was okay, but it doesn't get the critical or commercial acclaim that their first two albums eventually got. The record is still really good. Songs like "Set 'Em Straight", "Untouchables" and the title track, "Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em" are all classic Eric B and Rakim and they all still, 100 percent old up as all time great hip hop songs. This album was also the first album to get a 5 mic rating in "Source" magazine. That's a huge honor and they were the first to earn it. This is a good album.

They released their final album as a duo in 1991 called "Don't Sweat the Technique". This was just another example of their awesomeness. They weren't getting along great in the studio, but they still made a very good album. Two of the songs on the record were also used in two big time movies in the early 90's. The song "What's on Your Mind" appeared in "House Party 2" and they recorded the theme song to the very underrated movie, "Juice". Both of those movies were huge at the time. "House Party 2" doesn't really hold up, but "Juice" is just as good now as it was in 1991. They broke up shortly after this album's release and they both did solo and side projects, but they never hit the same nerve as they did when they recorded together.

Eric B and Rakim were on the ballot for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but they didn't make it on their first try. That's insane to me because I believe they are the most influential rap group of all time. Eric B's writing and rhyming laid out the example of what a true emcee should sound and rap like, and Rakim's ear for looping and beat making is second to none. They belong and deserve to be in the Hall of Fame much more than some of the bands that are already in there. Eric B and Rakim are one of the best rap groups of all time and they are definitely the best rap duo of all time. They belong in this discussion for all the reasons I laid out.

Eric B for president indeed.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host for the X Millennial Man podcast. He is constantly fiending for the mic, but Ty only talks and does not rap. Yet. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Day After: New Hampshire Edition

Here they come Nevada and South Carolina

Well, that is finally out of the way. The New Hampshire primary has cleared up the entire 2016 Presidential campaign. Donald Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders will get to face off in November for the White House. The internet and national media won, their chosen candidates have emerged victorious. This circus is finally over. Will you "feel the Bern" or is it more important to "Make America Great Again". November 8th will be here before you know it. Let the national campaign begins.

Once again, I wish this was true. New Hampshire tried to clear things up way more than the Iowa Caucus. The first in the nation primary has always been the freal true test of determining who can win their respective parties nomination. Iowa is all about a candidate's ground game. Fringe candidates, especially Republicans, can use local political bosses to help sway voters away from their personal choices. The Iowa Caucus is all about the work a candidate puts in on the ground. The New Hampshire Primary allows people to vote their own preferences. Party bosses can not look you in the face and make a person change their vote. The mob can not sway the individual. In 1988 then New Hampshire Governor John H. Sununu famously said "The people of Iowa pick corn, the people of New Hampshire pick Presidents". History has mostly proven Governor Sununu's words.

So that means Donald Trump will win the Republican nomination? Today is the first day that I actually started to accept the fact that Trump may incredibly be in this race until the very end. I have never believed in Trump's viability as a credible candidate for the U.S. Presidency. He does not represent the presented core philosophy of the GOP. He does however represent the ugly hate and class warfare cultivated by the Republican intelligentsia. Donald Trump is more like the zealots of the party who get relegated to being the Vice Presidential nominee (i.e. Sarah Palin, Paul Ryan and Dick Cheney).  The National Republican Committee has been very successful at getting rid of the most unelectable members of their field in years past. The Bachmanns, Santorums, Jindels, and Huckabees may have been treated as credible candidates by the incompetent media, but the less offensive John McCains and Mitt Romneys would always comfortable win out and become the party's nominee. The New Hampshire Primary is where the accepted candidate of the National Republican establishment would take control and coast to the eventual nomination. Donald Trump is not the accepted national establishment candidate. He should have stumbled in the face of the moderate Republican hopefuls.  Trump just destroyed the RNC's saviors. 

But what about John Kasich you ask? He is the RNC's hero who will slay the evil Donald Trump. That is the latest narrative of this unpredictable primary season. The national Republicans are so desperate for a "moderate" candidate that they keep promoting anyone not named Trump or Cruz. Last week, after a third place finish in Iowa, it was Florida Senator Marco Rubio. The short time in the spotlight did not do Rubio any favors. He was horrible. When the people of New Hampshire voted, Rubio was not their choice. Now with a surprising second place finish in the Granite State, the RNC will rally around Ohio Governor Kasich as their chosen one. I hate to close down this new love fest for the Ohio Governor, but John Kasich got less than 16% of the total vote. He did come in second, but it was a far distant second. If we want to anoint Kasich as a viable alternative to Trump, then you need to also consider Senator Ted Cruz and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Their margin of defeat is a whole lot closer to John Kasich than Kasich's margin of defeat is to Donald Trump. I would also argue that Trump supporters second choice for President would be Ted Cruz and vice-versa. Looking at the New Hampshire results that way gives the Trump / Cruz block just under 50% of the vote. Add in other non establishment candidates like former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and the established RNC friendly candidates polled below 50%. John Kasich, along with the rest of the "acceptable" republicans lost, and they lost bad.

So what about the nomination for the Democratic Party. It looks like Bernie Sanders, right? Not exactly. The Democratic Party's New Hampshire results were not surprising. Ever since Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders entered the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination, most people expected him to easily win the Granite State. It seems like the Hillary Clinton campaign did not even put up a fight in New Hampshire, and this allowed Sanders to have a decisive victory in the primary. The Clinton campaign has seemingly unlimited resources, the near full support of the Democratic Party establishment, and a lot of states yet to vote. They did not waste time, money, or talent where they did not need to. Senator Sanders has been using his cult of personality to get great press coverage, and make the Clinton campaign sweat. That will be coming to an end very soon. The Nevada Caucus and the South Carolina primary will truly show if the Bernie Sanders campaign has any credibility. Both of those states look to be easy wins for Hillary Clinton, but Iowa also looked to be an easy win. With the money and effort saved by not contesting New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton looks like she will still easily win the Democratic Party's Presidential nomination. It was fun having Bernie Sanders around, and he brought up some important issue, but the ride may have ended in the Granite State.

That is what everything looks like on the day after New Hampshire. Donald Trump is starting to pull away and unbelievably become a major parties nominee for President. I know the establishment of the Republican Party has to be scared. I also have a feeling  that the RNC is considering some radical steps to protect their overall electoral chances in 2016. I would not be surprised if some people of influence in the Republican Party supported a third party candidate. The Democratic Party did not change course at all due to the results in New Hampshire. Senator Bernie Sanders had a nice little win, and Hillary Clinton is ready to start dominating the primary process with Nevada and South Carolina on the horizon. I may not "feel the Bern", but just yesterday I was telling people Donald Trump has zero chance to be a nominee for President of the United States. Maybe in two weeks I will have a new outlook for the Independent Senator from The Green Mountain State. I doubt it, but you never know. See you in a few weeks.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing. He encourages your voice and donations to keep SeedSing free from big money influence. Follow us on twitter and make sure to like us on Facebook.

Ty Really Dislikes the Smell of "Entourage The Movie"

This is the only action you should take when presented with "Entourage The Movie"

Every year around this time HBO gets some of the "bigger" movies that were in the theaters less than one year ago. One such movie that I came across last night was "The Entourage Movie".

So, let's get this out of the way right off the top, I loved the first three seasons of that show. That was appointment viewing TV. I loved the concept, I thought the actors were funny, and who was better than Ari Gold? No one, that's who. Then, the show became pretty stale and very repetitive. I also grew up and realized that the show just wasn't as good as I previously thought it to be. I was in my mid twenties by season four, and I realized that this was a fantasy show. This was Mark Wahlberg's life and only Mark Wahlberg can relate to his own life. The show became immediately unrelatable by season four. I didn't care about Vinny getting the role  in the fake Aquaman movie. I didn't care about E becoming a manager. I didn't care about Johnny Drama doing whatever stupid shit he was already doing and I never truly cared about Turtle at all. He was the worst of the four main actors. He had no reason to be there, other than the fact that he was the chubby friend that they could make fun of, that's it.

Although my love for "Entourage had passe, I'd be lying if I didn't say that my curiosity for the movie was peaked when I saw that it was on HBO last night. So, I decided that I would give the movie a try. Why not I figured, maybe it would be kitschy and maybe after all these years, they'd be in on the joke of how ridiculous the idea for this show really is.

Then, the movie started.

Just to let everyone know, I made it through 20 minutes before I gave up on this horrible piece of garbage that these actors, directors, writers and producers made. I cannot believe that all the people involved truly thought that they put out a good piece of work. They had to know it was really, really bad, right? I hope so, but I'm not that sure.

The movie opened with Vinny on a yacht in Ibiza, Spain, so super relatable to anyone watching in their Saint Louis homes. I kid. Of course they have the obligatory shot of many topless young ladies and Johnny Drama speaks the first line of dialogue, and it's the trashiest piece of writing that I've ever heard. He speaks the line, after seeing all the beautiful young ladies on the yacht, "I'm going to have to jerk it at least once before we get to the boat". Yeah, you read that right and yeah, that made the final cut of the movie. From there on out, at least the 20 minutes I watched, was the most homophobic, mimisogynistic and the worst kind of "bro" type dialogue that has ever been on screen. It was appalling at how terrible and how awful all the dialogue and acting in this movie was. It was so, so bad. Some of the misogyny that was portrayed was pretty absurd. All the fellas are sitting down at a breakfast, or some stupid shit, and Eric has to leave to go meet his new girlfriend for breakfast, but all the guys complain that he is "pussy whipped" and ask "why won't you introduce us to this new girlfriend? Is it because she is fat? HAHAHAHA". I mean, come on, do a rewrite before putting this stuff in the ether. Some more misogyny all dealt with Vinny Chase. He gets all the girls and he "hits it and quits it", or so they say. He was married for 9 days, but they all knew that wouldn't last and when asked if they broke it off on good terms, Vinny tells them "yeah, and then we banged one more time for good measure". That is just absolutely awful writing. As I said, how does all this stuff make the final edit. Who are they appealing to with this awful dialogue. The only people who saw this and liked it, in my opinion, has to be frat boys, because frat boys are stupid.

The homophobia was also very, very strong in this movie. They are constantly making jokes at Turtle's expense, because of all the weight loss, that he now must "be gay" because of how he looks. They use the word "gay" so much in the opening act, I was offended. I jut don't get, in the 21st century, why we think we are so advanced as a society, yet this word still gets used in a negative way. The word "gay" means happy, but these script writers clearly have no idea. They use it so derogatory, it was one of, if not the, main reason I quit watching after 20 minutes. The scene where Lloyd shows up and is on the phone with Ari is so offensive, I'm surprised GLAAD hasn't come out against this movie. They may have, but I've heard nothing about it. This movie is offensive.

Moving on to the acting, it is some of the worst I've seen. Adrian Grenier as Vinny Chase is about as vapid as they come. Grenier is supposed to be this guy who cares about Earth and seems to have some kind of truly good feelings, but he is so bad in this role. He has these empty stares and he delivers lines so poorly, it feels like he is reading off cue cards. Being the "star" of this movie, he fails horribly. The guy that plays Eric is about as douchey as they come. He's supposed to be the anti Ari Gold, but he is just as bad, but not as good at his job. He is forever skirting the issue and passing the buck and he never seems to truly care about throwing himself into his new job as Vinny's manager. He is also a complete dick head to the women in his life in this movie. Eric is an awful human being. Jerry Ferrara as Turtle is about as pointless as they come. He is only there now so they can make skinny jokes about him to replace the fat ones from the TV show. You could remove Turtle from this movie and not miss a beat. It would still be awful, but Turtle is about as unimportant as they come. Jeremy Piven is fine as Ari God, but I feel like Ari is just Jeremy Piven in real life. He seems like an asshole that would constantly berate people that don't seem as important to him as they may be. He is a dick head and it's easy to portray that in a dumbass movie like this.

Then there's Kevin Dillon as Johnny Drama. Johnny Drama is the worst human being in the history of the world. He is rude, crude, ignorant and dumb as hell. He is also homophobic, the biggest chauvinist and the "bro-iest" of all the bros in this movie. Don't forget that he is probably close to his 50's in this movie when you watch it(Don't watch it). Kevin Dillon, at least in my opinion, is doing his best Andrew Dice Clay impression, but that would be a slight to Andrew Dice Clay. The Diceman, yeah I said it, at least had his moment and has been decent in some recent things he's done. Kevin Dillon is just a shitty actor and this performance reaffirms this ten fold.

"Entourage The Movie" is one of the most offensive things I've ever seen and I cannot believe that it got made, that it made millions of dollars and that some dumbass critics actually gave it a good review. This movie is absolute garbage, and I gathered that after only 20 minutes.

"Entourage The Movie" stinks.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host for the X Millennial Man podcast. He figures if "Entourage" gets a movie, where in the hell is the big screen adaptation of "Even Stevens". Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Denver's Defense Would not Allow Peyton Manning to Lose the Super Bowl

It was better to shut your eyes than to watch the offense in Super Bowl 50

Last night Super Bowl 50 was played and once again, my prediction was wrong. 

Sorry Carolina Panthers fans for jinxing your team.

I, along with almost every other sports prognosticators, was certain that Carolina would win. I thought it was going to be close, but I thought Carolina, and more importantly Cam Newton, would be able to pull through in the clutch. Carolina has the better athletes and the better team, at least that's what I thought.

I did not think that Denver's defense would live up to the moment once again. They harassed Tom Brady all game during the AFC title game and they did the same thing to Cam Newton last night in the Super Bowl. This is what took me by surprise. Constantly getting pressure on Tom Brady seemed easy. New England's offensive line was atrocious all season, Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola weren't 100 percent and Tom Brady is a very immobile QB. I assumed Cam Newton would be able to evade pressure pretty easily last night. I was extremely wrong. Newton's line gave him plenty of time, but all his receivers were blanketed all game and he held the ball much to long. Also, Damarcus Ware and Von Miller were getting to him fairly regularly.

This just wasn't the game that I thought it would be. It was one of the worst offensive performances by two teams, in any football game, let alone the Super Bowl, that I have ever witnessed. I assumed the Broncos would stall on offense most of the game. Peyton Manning is past his prime, their run game has been hit or miss all season and their receivers routinely drop passes. Carolina though, they have been running rough shot through good defenses in the regular season and the playoffs. They seemed to score at least 30 points every game. They don't have the best receivers in the NFL, not by a long shot and their running game is sub par, but they have the best QB in the NFL. Cam Newton won the MVP. I just figured he would will this team to a victory, like he has all season long. But, as I mentioned before, the Broncos defense made his life miserable all game. They constantly hit him. On designed QB runs, Denver always had two or three guys gang tackling Newton. They didn't give Newton's favorite target and safety blanket, Greg Olsen, any space. I think he only had two catches the entire game. What it all boils down to, Carolina laid an egg on offense, but I think it was due to how great of a defense Denver had this year. Everyone, myself included, kind of thought that Denver's defense was okay, but if they had to face a mobile QB like Newton, they'd be exposed. My belief in Cam Newton was so strong, I just assumed he would find a way to win this game for his team. But, that Denver defense just wouldn't allow it.

This brings me to my main point today, this 2015-2016 Denver defense is the greatest defense that I've ever watched. I know Seattle had a great defense, that destroyed pretty much the same Broncos team in Super Bowl 48, but they don't even come close to how great this Denver defense was this year, especially in the playoffs. The Ravens had a really good defense the year they won the title, but I feel like their numbers were inflated by playing a much inferior Giants team in their Super Bowl win. Some other teams in recent history have had good defenses, the Ravens again when they beat the 49ers, The Colts team that beat the Bears, hell, even the Packers defense when they beat the Steelers was in the top 10 of the league, but none of them compare to Denver. Now, I was only 3 years old and I only know them from stories and old NFL Films shows on ESPN, but I feel like this Denver defense is right up there with the 1985 Bears defense. You know the one I'm talking about, the one with William "The Refrigerator" Perry, Ron Rivera, coach of the Panthers last night, Richard Dent and Mike Singletary, among many others. They are the supposed "greatest defense" of all time. Now, this may be blasphemy, or just my age, but I feel like this Broncos defense is a better defense than the 85 Bears.

Hear me out Generation Xers and Baby Boomers.

The 85 Bears were dominant, but they had a very competent offense to go along with their legendary defense. Sure, Jim McMahon is not the best QB to play in the NFL, but at that time, he was better than Peyton Manning was last night. They also had Walter Payton. No way are CJ Anderson and Ronnie Hillman even close to being on Walter Payton's planet. They had good receivers and tight ends that weren't used a lot, but they didn't need to be because they had Walter god damn Payton. This Broncos defense had to win games for them this year. Sure, if the 85 Bears offense gave their defense 14, it was a done deal, but for this Broncos team to win, they needed scores from their defense, because their offense sure as hell wasn't performing at any level. Peyton Manning is an all time great, but near the end of that game, while it was still a one score game at 16-10, Gary Kubiak and the offensive staff of the Broncos did not trust him to throw the ball. They would rather run it three times, gain 6 or 7 yards and punt it away and let their defense do their magnificent work. And that defense delivered with flying colors.

Anytime Carolina looked like they may grab some kind of moment, Denver would come up with a sack, a fumble of a tipped pass on third down to force a punt. They did this all throughout the playoffs. When the Steelers had the ball, driving to salt the game away, boom, fumble recovered by Denver that leads to a game winning field goal. Two weeks ago against the Patriots, they made Brady look like a mediocre QB and shut all their weapons down. Sure, Gronk had over 100 yards receiving, but 90 of that came on two plays. Denver won that game because of their shut down defense. And then last night, against the best offense, by a wide margin, in the NFL, they held them to 10 points and just barely over 200 yards total offense. They even scored a TD for the team on a strip sack. Von Miller and Damarcus Ware looked like the future Hall of Famers that they will be all game last night, especially Miller. Miller had 6 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles, the first leading to a TD. He was a man amongst boys last night. He's a free agent going onto this off season and his performance last night is going to make him a very, very rich man. I was so glad that they gave him the Super Bowl MVP too.

I was petrified, literally, that they'd give it to Peyton Manning because that's what jackasses like Phil Simms and especially Jim Nantz and the majority of the people watching last night wanted to happen. They so badly wanted Manning to be the guy to will this team to the win, but he did next to nothing in the game. He was under 50 percent completion, he passes looked slow and downright bad, he had happy feet all night and he looked scared. His team didn't even have faith in him to throw in the 4th quarter, as I said before. The run game wasn't really there either, so CJ Anderson and Ronnie Hillman were out of the MVP talk quick. But, the deserving player got it. Von Miller and the Broncos defense won that Super Bowl, no ifs ands or buts about it.

This game will go down as one of the most ugly offensive performances of all time, but that Broncos defense is legit. To me, they are the greatest defense of all time. But, the unfortunate thing, no one will remember them because this was probably Peyton Manning's last game. That's all the sports media will remember and that is a travesty. We just witnessed the greatest defensive playoff run of all time, but the casual fan will only remember it being Peyton's last game. That is a shame. The true football fan will realize we just witnessed greatness, but that's only about 25 percent of the population.

So yeah, good for you Peyton, you were part of the team that may go down as having the best defense of all time, but no one will remember how truly remarkable this defense was because you were on that team and you are the "star" player. But, I say congrats to the Denver defense. You guys were the ones that made this Super Bowl win possible and I will remember this game for your dominating performance. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He wants to welcome Peyton Manning to the club of bad quarterbacks on winning Super Bowl teams. Trent Dilfer and Jeff Hostetler will pour you a drink. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Millennial Memories From a Decade Plus Worth of Super Bowls

Many of our memories are of the food being better than the game.

With Super Bowl 50 just around the corner, I want to look back at some Super Bowl memories that I have had over the past decade plus. I've watched a lot of football in that period of time and I have some good and not so good memories of Super Bowl's past. I know that I wouldn't get the exact Super Bowl number, so I will just describe some teams and some of the games that I remember and I'm sure that most people would be able to pick the game I'm talking about. First, I want to go back to the early to mid nineties. Those Super Bowl's are some of my very first memories of realizing that this is a big game. I don't so much remember the games, but I remember moments and, more importantly, teams.

First of all, I was a big time band wagon fan when I was a child. Whichever team won the Super Bowl, that was my favorite team and the team I remember being on the bandwagon for the Dallas Cowboys of the mid 90's. Looking back on it now, I despise this team, but when I was a kid, they were the champs, so I rooted for the champs. If I could go back in time, I'd yell at the young me for being a fan of this team. They were so arrogant and so flamboyant, and as I've gotten older, I'm all about "acting like you've been there before". I don't need flash, just score a TD, give the ball to the ref and go to the sideline. That's why I like Barry Sanders so much. That Cowboys team though, save for Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith, were all about flash. I loved it as a kid, but as an adult, I don't care for it. But, that Cowboys team, for a young football fan, was so easy to like and say you were a fan.

The team I should have stuck up for back then was the Buffalo Bills. They played the game the way it was supposed to be played, but added that up tempo, no huddle offense. They were a ton of fun to watch and I liked Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas just as much, if not more, than Aikman and Smith. The Bills also had one of my all time favorite players, Bruce Smith. But, they couldn't get over the hump, especially against the Cowboys. The Bills were the only team to make four straight Super Bowls, and they lost all four of them, three via blowouts. Everyone remembers Scott Norwood and wide right, but what I remember most about those Bills-Cowboys Super Bowls, was Don Beebe chasing down Leon Lett and striping the ball out of his hands. That game was an absolute blow out, but Beebe still wouldn't throw in the towel and after chasing Lett down and stripping the ball, John Madden said something that I will never forget, "Don Beebee is the fastest white guy in the NFL". At the time, I thought it was weird and if a commentator said something like that now, it would be a huge deal all over the internets.

Moving on to more modern Super Bowl memories, I remember when the Rams won their Super Bowl while in Saint Louis. They had one of the best offenses in the history of the NFL and I thought that they were going to crush the Tennessee Titans, but that didn't happen. Now, the Rams won, but it was a low scoring slug fest type of game with Mike Jones tackling Kevin Dyson at the one yard line to preserve the win for the Rams. It was their defense, not their historically great offense, that won that game for them. Then, when they played the New England Patriots, led by backup QB Tom Brady, the next year, it was a foregone conclusion that the Rams would win again. They had the much better team and much better players. Then, the game happened and the Patriots won on a last second field goal. People will look back at that game and say that the Patriots only won because of "spygate", but Bill Belichek outcoached Mike Martz and no matter how much "spygate" may have helped them, the Patriots played a much better game and Martz sorely underused his best offensive weapon, Marshall Faulk. That Super Bowl was a great example of one coach being prepared and the other coach being very under prepared. That 's why the Patriots won.

And thus, began the dominating run of the Patriots. Sure, teams like Pittsburgh and my Green Bay Packers and the Seahawks and the Colts have won Super Bowls in this time, but the one consistent team has been the Patriots. They have played in 11 of the last 15 AFC championship games and they've been to 6 Super Bowls, winning four of them. I already talked about them beating the Rams. They've also beaten the Eagles in a Super Bowl. That Eagles team had Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens, but that wasn't enough to beat the Patriots. What I remember most about that Super Bowl was McNabb barfing in the huddle and Owens making great catches and then excuses for why it wasn't his, but everyone else's fault, that the Eagles got beat. I remember their Super Bowl win over the Carolina Panthers. The Patriots should have won that game going away, but Tom Brady threw one of the worst interceptions I've ever seen with a 14 point lead and the Panthers came all the way back to tie the game. Then, their kicker kicks the ball out of bounds, gives the Patriots excellent field position, and they win by a field goal once again. Then, their two losses to the Giants. One, they were undefeated and favored by 10 plus points. There was no way they were losing that game. But, the Giants constantly harassed Brady and they couldn't get their offense rolling. They still had a chance to win, but Eli Manning chucked the ball up in the air, after evading multiple sack attempts, and David Tyree made the best, and his last, catch I've ever seen. He pinned that ball to his helmet and the Giants went on to win by a field goal. Their second loss to the Giants also came down to one team dropping a pass, the Patriots and Wes Welker, and the other team making a miraculous catch, the Giants and Mario Manningham. That drop that Welker had was crushing. Had he caught that ball, the Patriots could have easily salted the clock away. But, that catch by Manningham, on a terrible throw from Eli Manning, was humongous and that kept the game winning drive alive. The Patriots played in last years Super Bowl, and they should have lost, until Pete Carroll and his offensive staff made the worst play call of all time. Why on earth they did not give that ball to Marshawn Lynch on the one yard line is still extremely baffling. But, Brady did pick apart the "legion of boom" and put his team in position to win, as he always does.

Now, I'm by no means a Patriots fan. I'm indifferent when it comes to them, but they have been the one team that has always been there at the end. Like I said, they've been in 11 AFC title games in 15 years, and they've won more tan half of them. This is why they're so prevalent in my recent Super Bowl memories, I will never forget the Packers win over the Steelers, but I can't help but notice how the Patriots are always in it until the very end. They're the most dominating team I've watched and that is why they are the team and they've played in the Super Bowls games that I remember most.

With all that being said, I hope we get a good, memorable game on Sunday so I can start making new memories about a new team, be it Carolina or Denver.

I think it will be Carolina.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. Do you love reading about his memories, well tomorrow you can hear him tell the stories on the X Millennial Man podcast. Read more from Ty by following him on twitter @tykulik.

Martin Shkreli is the Hero America Deserves

This is the normal physical reaction when one hears the words "Martin Shkreli"

The internet's latest ragefest is all about "pharma-bro" Martin Shkreli. According to the masses Mr. Shkreli is an abomination of a human being with no empathy and a total disregard for a civilized society. He is a spoiled punk brat who uses his influence to make money off of the backs of the less fortunate. He has no remorse. He has no compassion. He is a monster. Martin Shkreli is so bad, that our incompetent elected officials in Washington D.C. are being seen as the sympathetic party when it comes to Mr Shkreli's testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. When one person can make the idiots in Congress looks good, that person deserves to be demonized.

I am not here to demonize Martin Shkreli, I am here to praise him. I in no way support the idea of jacking up the price of a life saving drug in order to make another billion. That is monsterous. The question I have is what law did he break (there is the securities fraud issue, but he has not been convicted of anything)? The press likes to focus on the obscene mark-up on the life saving drug Daraprim. By raising the price 5556% ($13.50 a dose to $750.00 a dose) Mr. Shkreli put lives in danger. Daraprim is used to treat infections in HIV positive patients, and is used globally to treat and prevent malaria. The World Health Organization lists the drug as an essential medicine. This mark-up on a life saving drug, coupled with Martin Shkreli's arrogance, has made the former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO a popular target for people fed up with corporate greed. The problem is that by raising the price on Daraprim, Mr. Shkreli did not break the law. He embraced a culture that is encouraged by our government and society as a whole. Plus, Martin Shkreli is not the first person to do this.

The practice of pharma companies buying generic drugs and radically raising their prices is not new. Do you know anyone with asthma? There is a very good chance that the asthmatic person uses an inhaler with the drug Albuterol sulfate. This is a life saving medicine for a very treatable illness. In 2013 Albuterol sulfate was $11 a dose. Six months later the price had gone up to $434 a dose, an increase of 4014%. Where was the public outrage towards the pharma companies? The drug was another off patent drug, but the delivery system (inhaler) needed to be redesigned because of new government regulations. The Pharma companies knew the inhalers would be protected by patents, so they jacked up the price of Albuterol to make some extra money (Mother Jones has a nice article describing the situation). I never remember seeing congress scolding at the CEO responsible for this greed?

There are many more drugs, ones not owned by Turing Pharmaceuticals, that have had their prices skyrocket. In 2014 Representative Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) and Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) launched a Congressional investigation into the skyrocketing cost of generic drugs. They put together a list of drugs that have recently seen a drastic increase in cost (see the list) and tried to get answers from the pharma companies. There were no answers, there was no public outcry, there was no congressional investigation, there was no prosecution, and there was no change in the laws to make this practice illegal.. These pharma companies were just doing what the United States government allows them to do. 

Now the government wants to get serious because Martin Shkreli is an unlikable fellow. The Republicans (you know the free market guys) and Democrats decide to use Mr. Shkreli as their scapegoat for their own incompetence. They have no case. Representative Cummings  stupidly decided to attack Mr. Shkreli because of the purchase by the former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO of the one of a kind Wu-Tang Clan album. If I had a few billion dollars I would have bought the Wu-Tang Clan album, they are one of the greatest american bands ever. What is the point of attacking the man for having great taste in music. That whole tirade by Representative Cummings proves that the government is showboating. Those Representatives created this America, Martin Shkreli is just getting rich off of their incompetence.

It is also amusing that all the supposed free market Republicans want to attack Mr. Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals for the price gouge. These bozos have been defending corporate greed for decades. Why are we not yelling at the health insurance companies who are making money off of people getting sick? They set arbitrary prices all the time just to make a few extra billion. The same charlatans in Congress who got mad at Mr. Shkreli will turn around and praise government welfare queens like Jamie Diamon and other business leaders who depend on bailouts. The only reason Congress decided to grill Martin Shkreli is because the internet is mad at him. There is nothing that can be done to stop him. Well the government could try to pass some laws to make this practice illegal, but that will never happen. The Republicans and Democrats alike would never upset their big money donors, no matter how many people need to suffer. 

Martin Shkreli is an american hero. He is the embodiment of the modern American dream. Born to immigrants who worked as janitors, Martin Shkreli made his way in the world be exploiting our inhumane economic culture. We celebrate these people as geniuses. America deserves Martin Shkreli. He is the hero we deserve. He got rich with shady legal practices, he increases his wealth with inhuman actions, and he smirks his way through life. He is a modern American creation. Plus he is also quite aware that Congress is full of imbeciles. While kids are getting poisoned in Flint, Michigan, through the direct fault of the government, the US Congress wants to scold a successful business man. That is the mark of a house led by imbeciles. Thanks you American hero Martin Shkreli for speaking the truth.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing. Do you want to sing the praises of the downtrodden? Come write for us.  

The Greatest Television Ever: "Undeclared"

Getting back to our debate about great TV shows, TV moments and seasons of certain shows, I'm going to talk about one of my favorite shows that only got one short, 17 episode season, but it was a phenomenal season and very memorable. The show I'm going to talk about today is "Undeclared".

"Undeclared" is one of the best, most underrated shows of all time. It was so far ahead of it's time and anyone that watched the show, and spent at least one semester in college, could relate to it 100 percent. "Undeclared" is the best representation of everyone's freshman year in college. Every topic they covered in their lone season, every college student went through one way or another. It was that relatable.

Take their pilot episode. Steven(Jay Baruchel), meets his roommates, Ron(Seth Rogen), Lloyd(Charlie Hunnam) and Marshall(Tim Sharpp) and they are stand offish at first because that's how 18 year olds act when they first meet. It doesn't help that Steven's dad, played by Loudon Wainwright, won't leave his side because he's depressed about his divorce and the fact that his son his going away to college. Steven also meets Lizzie(Carla Gallo) and he's immediately smitten. He was a nerdy high school kid that never really had any girlfriends, so he figures college is the perfect chance to change his image. He wants to be a cool guy now and he tries this on Lizzie, and it works. She sleeps with him that night, but we come to find out later that she has an older boyfriend, played by Jason Segel, that lives back home. Lizzie only slept with Steven because she was fighting with her boyfriend, and she wanted to get revenge. Steven thinks that they are now a couple, but after many conversations with his roommates, he comes to realize that he was just a pawn and that Lizzie wasn't going to leave her boyfriend. This is a great representation of all the things that could go wrong on your first day of college. Crazy stuff can happen that will forever alter your life.

We also meet Lizzie's roommate in the pilot, Rachel(Monica Keena), and she's one of the first characters I'd ever seen on TV that showed the same type of anxiety that I had when I went away to college. She was frightened, lonely and missed her high school friends and her family. I personally related to all of that. Now, Monica found ways to deal with her anxiety and her character only grew from there. I wimped out and left college after one semester.

That first episode had it all. It one hundred percent got the first day of college correct. I was hooked. Look at some of those names I mentioned too. People like Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogen, Charlie Hunnam and Jason Segel were all still relative unknowns while on this show. Now, most of them have had very successful careers, especially Rogen and Segel.

Back to some of the themes in the episodes that epitomize freshman year of college. There's an episode where Steven decides he wants to join a fraternity and he is put through hell, only to get his revenge on the president of the frat, played by Samm Levine. This episode was great. They made Steven do some stupid, childish things that no person should be made to so, but that's what dumbass fraternity guys do. Steven gets fed up, and with the constant urging from his roommates to not even join the frat, Steven and his roommates come up with a plan to make the president of the frat do the same stupid stuff. And, after they catch him and try to force him to eat an entire jar of pickles, he relents and says that all the frat stuff is stupid and lets Steven walk with no consequences. Or, there's the episode centered around Marshall's crush on Monica. Monica is so sweet and nice, but she is oblivious to Marshall's feelings and after she finally realizes this, it's too late to tell him she just wants to be friends, Marshall is in too deep and he will always love Monica. She doesn't reciprocate the feelings, but they stay friends throughout the show's run. We could talk about any episode with Lloyd and how he is a total ladies man and the envy of his roommates, but how not every girl is receptive to his moves. He has the smooth English accent, and while it works on most ladies, there is an episode where it totally backfires and he has to lick his wounds and realize that he may not be the ladies man he has made himself out to be. The character of Lloyd is a perfect portrayal of the student that comes from overseas and thinks they are the coolest guy, but they are just like every one else in college, just trying to find their way. They also have run ins with RA's, they go to a live Adam Sandler show and then get to hang out with him and his crew afterward, they have dorm parties and they talk and deal with the good and the bad like any real life college student would.

"Undeclared" is excellent. This show also had some huge guest stars. Some were recurring, others may have been on only once or twice. I just mentioned Adam Sandler, but some other guests were Jenna Fischer as a badass sorority girl, Amy Poehler as an over sexualized RA obsessed with Lloyd, Fred Willard as a professor that's lost his love for teaching, Will Ferrell as a Ritalin dealer that also has answer keys to finals and Martin Starr as Steven's super nerdy high school best friend. This was another Judd Apatow show that Fox gave up on way too early, much like "Freaks and Geeks". Apatow had a knack for grabbing these certain moments in young kids lives and portraying them perfectly for the TV viewing public. He hasn't made many great movies lately, but I will always be thankful to him for creating "Freaks and Geeks" and, more importantly for me, "Undeclared".

If you haven't watched "Undeclared", go back and check it out. I believe it may be streaming on Netflix (ed note: It unfortunately left Netflix late last year). and it is well worth your time. You'll thank me after you watch it, I promise you that, especially if you spent at least one semester in college. It is very, very relatable and extremely well made.

I will always have a spot in my heart for the great "Undeclared".

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He left college because they had no major for podcasting, since the term and technology was yet to be invented. You must absolutely follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.