The Greatest American Band Debate: N.W.A.

Getting back to the greatest American band debate for me today, I'm going to dip back in the world of rap and nominate N.W.A.

N.W.A. are one of the most influential bands of all time. Their members were creators of an all new genre of rap music. They, for all intents and purposes, created listenable gangster rap. Their music wasn't just for the people from Compton, it was for everyone everywhere in the US. They made gangster rap accessible. Sure, people that lived in the suburbs of Missouri, Michigan and Tennessee didn't want to visit Compton, but N.W.A painted such a clear picture through their words, you knew what they were talking about, or you at least had your own idea.

What makes N.W.A. even better, they did all of this on one album. The group only released one full length record, but that record is so influential. Sure, they released other albums under the name N.W.A, but nothing compares to the magnitude of "Straight Outta Compton". That album is an absolute masterpiece. As I said, it gave the entire world a view of the gangster lifestyle and how tough it was to be a young, black man in the ghetto. I have not spent one single second in a ghetto, but this album gives me a vision of a horrible, scary and ruthless place. They do such a great job of portraying this. The album is also full of all time hits. Songs like "Straight Outta Compton", "Boyz in the Hood", "F&^k tha Police" and "Express Yourself" are absolutely phenomenal. When you open the album with "Straight Outta Compton", it lets you know and hear how great the members of this group truly were. Ice Cube explodes on the record, rapping with a vicious and ferocious rhyme scheme and it is awesome. He rips apart the lyrics and just crushes his verses throughout the whole song. When you hear the first lyrics, I get goosebumps and I'm ready to hear one of the greatest rap songs of all time. Dr. Dre kills it on the production and scratching of this song. He was/is truly a musical genius. He was pretty much the catalyst for this group to get started and you can hear his influence on this track. Eazy E is incredible, as he is on all of their songs. He has that high pitched, almost whiny cadence, but damn, it is infectious and he is a master on the mic. I really like his voice and I still haven't heard anyone like him to this day. "Straight Outta Compton" is the most perfect gateway song to the world of N.W.A. It tells you almost everything you need to know about this band.

Right after "Straight Outta Compton", we get what may be their most popular and most recognizable song, "F&*K tha Police". This track is a masterpiece. This song came from all the abuse that the members took from the police in Compton and, once again, they paint a very real picture that almost everyone can imagine, but not relate to. I've been harassed by the police before, in my teen years I had dreads and listened to a ton of Bob Marley, but I never experienced anything they rap about on the song. Once again, Ice Cube is at the forefront of this track and, once again, he is truly killing it. Ice Cube, who is very famous, and I will touch on that in a bit, but he is the most underrated person in N.W.A. He is just as important as Dr. Dre and Eazy E, but not everyone talks about him the same way they do about the others. On "F&*k tha Police", he comes out and calls the police racist and points out that, since they have authority, they choose to only go after minorities. His words and his lyricism are timeless and incredible. This song is so true and so bleak and so heart breaking, but it is so good. I, much like every fan of N.W.A, love this song.

"Express Yourself" is Dr. Dre at his best. He didn't rap a whole lot when he was in N.W.A, but his producing and beat making are top notch and this track is a primary example of his genius. He samples an old funk/rock song, that goes by the same name, and puts the emcees, Eazy E, Ice Cube and MC Ren, on full display. "Express Yourself" has one of the best beats in all of rap music and it is 100 percent due to Dr. Dre. It is a really, really good song.

Then, there's Eazy E's introduction to the world on "Boyz in the Hood". This song introduced us to the tiny, whiny, but super infectious cadence of Eazy E. When he starts rapping on "Boyz in the Hood", I can't help but rap along with him. When he starts out, "rolling down the street in my 6 4", I know that I'm in for a great time, accompanied by Eazy E's super unique style of rapping. This song is so great and Eazy E is so great. I love that he was a dope dealer, was friends with Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, and they just threw him on a track, and he absolutely killed it. I love that song.

N.W.A is one of the greatest rap groups of all time. Hell, they are one of the greatest groups of all time. They gave us gangster rap. They made it accessible for everyone. They painted a real picture of how tough it is to be young and black in the ghetto. They are pioneers and they did it on one record. Imagine what they would have become had Eazy E not gotten sick with AIDS. Eazy E was a great rapper, but he needed those other guys with him. He was the guy that bank rolled the group in their early years, but he became a star while recording with N.W.A. MC Ren was a very good rapper and was a perfect fit in N.W.A. He had a hard edge to his voice and was a great counter to the style of Eazy E. He has done some other stuff, like creating his own label, but he is most famous for his work in N.W.A. DJ Yella was a great DJ, but he pales in comparison to Dr. Dre. He's done other stuff, most notably with the group the Wrecking Crew, with Dr. Dre, but he will also be best known for his work in N.W.A.

Dr. Dre is ultra famous. I think we all know that. He was the driving force behind N.W.A and he was easily one of the harder workers and that shows in his later work. After leaving N.W.A, he and Suge Knight founded Death Row Records. In doing this, he discovered and helped some of the best talent to ever rap. He introduced the world to Snoop Dog on "Nuthin But a G Thang" on his classic record "The Chronic". Snoop was a very little known rapper until he met Dr. Dre and then he absolutely blew up. Dr. Dre also worked a ton with Tupac while both were on Death Row Records. They recorded some of the best rap songs of all time, most notably, "California Love". After leaving Death Row, he started his own label, Aftermath, and he has achieved great success. He discovered guys like Eminem and 50 Cent, just to name a few. Dr. Dre also created his own line of headphones, Beats by Dre, that have taken over the world. His hard work has paid off, and then some.

Then, there's Ice Cube. He left N.W.A after recording "Straight Outta Compton", due to not getting what he deserved, and went on to have an incredible solo career. He released many great solo records that went platinum a bunch of times. He solidified himself as a great rapper, but more so, a great lyricist and writer. He had a knack and a way with words that was incredible. He is a genius. He also has expanded into the world of acting with great success. He had a star making turn in "Boys in the Hood". He wrote and starred in every version of "Friday". Two of the three of those are very good, especially the first one. He has done some not so great stuff, but he usually delivers in the movies he has bit parts in. Just reference his small role in both "Jump Street" movies. He is hilarious and does a great job. So, yeah I'll deal with an "Are We There Yet" or a "Ride Along" if I can get a "Friday" or a "21 Jump Street". He has become a major, major ultra famous star in music, television and movies.

N.W.A. was incredible and they belong in the conversation. Side note, the movie "Straight Outta Compton", that came out last year, is so good and a great representation of what this group went through and how they dealt with their problems. It's a really good movie. I love N.W.A and I know a lot of people do too. They were great.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He thinks N.W.A. is 1000 times more deserving to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame than KISS. Gene Simmons has no idea what real rock music is. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Roger Goodell Should be Suspended Forever because of "Deflategate"

Please no. Not this story again.

I cannot believe that I have to talk about this again, but a grand jury re suspended Tom Brady for god damn "deflategate" the first four games of next season.

Now, before I get into the meat of this blog, I do not think he will miss any games once again, just like last year. But Jesus Christ, why will this stupid ass story not die? I mean, it's some under inflated footballs. Who in the hell cares about this besides the Ravens, Colts and Satan, AKA Roger Goodell? Why is this such a big deal that they have dragged it out for two years now? Why are they trying to have Brady miss four games for something that is so inconsequential? I know it seems like I'm a Patriots defender, but I could care les about them. I just think this is the most asinine thing that the NFL cannot let go. 

I have talked about deflategate many times before on this site, the NFL has much, much bigger fish to fry than some under inflated footballs 2 years ago. Sure, they suspended Adrian Peterson for a whole year, after he ruthlessly whipped his four year old child with a switch and then showed zero sympathy for what he did, but reinstated him last season and he was praised for his effort. He was looked at as a victim after he brutally whipped a four year old. That's appalling. Yeah, Richie Incognito missed a whole season after bullying someone to the point where they contemplated suicide, but he was let back in the league last year and now, he is going to keep a huge contract. He was also a pro bowler and no one has said anything bad about the terrible, awful thing he did to his former teammate. Oh, he is still a huge asshole too. That still hasn't changed, but don't tell that to Roger Goodell, he just wants to praise his return to the league. Greg Hardy is still in the NFL. He beats his girlfriends, fights his teammates, lies on TV about beating women, but he only had to miss 6 games last year, and I bet someone will sign him this offseason. And Roger Goodell will not blink an eye. Ray Rice is still out of the league, but it's not because there is video evidence of him knocking his soon to be wife unconscious, it's because he is, in NFL terms, over the hill. He is past his prime. I'm sure Goodell wants him back in the league so he can praise his "comeback", a la Peterson. The NFL also has young players, still to hit their prime, retiring from the league. They have a huge problem with their concussion protocol and players are dropping like flies, but that doesn't faze Goodell.

In fact, none of the stuff I have just laid out for you guys matters nearly as much as some under inflated footballs. That is the worst possible thing that any football player could do, if you ask Goodell. Who cares if players beat children or girlfriends or their wives, who cares if there is a big bullying problem going on with each team, who cares about players fighting each other on and off the field, who cares that there is a big steroid problem going on that no one is talking about. None of this compares to a player gaining a home field advantage. Yes, I've said it before and I'll say it again, under inflating footballs is unethical, but it's no worse than watering base paths in baseball. Every player and every team will try to gain a home field advantage any way possible. I'd much rather have a player on my team that wants some footballs slightly under inflated than a player that physically abuses women and children. I'd rather have the under inflaters than a bully. I'd rather have under inflaters than a steroid user. Basically, I'd rather have a player looking to gain a home filed advantage other than a player that physically or emotionally or verbally abuses other people.

This whole story is so ridiculous. I just don't understand why Roger Goodell won't let this go. He lost this case once, and I can almost guarantee that he will lose again and he will look like a total jack ass once again. He is really up a creek because he will not let "deflategate" go. He is so eager and so willing to put everything else aside so he can make the "golden boy" QB of the most dominating franchise in the 21st century in the NFL miss four games of a 16 game season. He is willing to allow abusers and bullies to miss zero time, or cut their suspensions in half so he can attack Tom Brady and the Patriots. And, much like most of the Patriot's opponents, Goodell is probably going to lose. This is almost an un winnable battle because it is such a dumb thing to take to court.

That's another thing, why is this subject being brought to the supreme court? Don't they have way bigger and way more important things to deal with? You know, things like murder, robbery, money laundering, etc. that are much more important than some under inflated footballs. And why did they uphold a suspension that got dismissed over a year ago? What kind of legitimate judge gives two shits about "deflategate"? This is such a non story, that if I were a judge, I would laugh in the face of Goodell and his cronies if they presented this to me and I would kick them out of my office.

Therein lies the main problem with this whole thing, Roger Goodell is an idiot, a sore loser, a person that is unable to let it go when he is wrong and he is trying to kill the US' most popular sport. He clearly doesn't realize that he has bigger problems to deal with. Either that, or he is so oblivious and blinded by his hatred for Tom Brady that he doesn't care about the other problems, and that makes him an even bigger idiot than I previously thought. He is a sore loser. The fact that he is still bringing this thing up and still trying to get Brady suspended means he cannot handle the fact that he was told he was wrong and his proposed suspension was thrown out over a year ago. Most people move on from things, but not a sore loser like Roger Goodell. He is as bad as Donald Trump. When they are told no or that they are wrong, they filter that out and only hear what they want to hear.

Then there is Goodell's quest to take down the NFL. I don't understand why the commissioner of the most popular sport in the US is so hell bent on corrupting and corroding the product. The NFL is so popular and watched by millions, but Goodell's quest to suspend Brady and ignore the abuse, bullying, concussions and every other problem with the NFL is turning a lot of people sour on the NFL. Less and less parents are letting kids play football because they see a commissioner more concerned with suspending a guy that may or may not have had some footballs under inflated and doesn't care about the concussion and abuse problems in the league. Goodell is killing this league and until they fire that incompetent ass, the NFL will continue to suffer.

Scientists have also proven that "deflategate" is pretty much impossible. The balls would have deflated because of the drastic change in temperature and the air in Massachusetts that day. As I stated at the top, the only people that still care about this are the Colts, Ravens and, of course, Roger Goodell.

This story needs to die, but until those three, and mainly Goodell, continue to bring it up, it will, unfortunately, never go away. This is stupid, pointless and ridiculous. I HATE you Roger Goodell and I cannot wait for your dumbass to be fired. The NFL would be so much better off without you trying to ruin the game. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He once tried to underinflate some baseballs, but the only result was a bunch of broken basketball pump needles. Help Ty inflate his twitter following by following him @tykulik.

Better Late Than Never to Catch Up and Enjoy the Great "Orphan Black"

Dolly would have loved the show about other clones

My wife and I just recently got caught up on the television show "Orphan Black". The show is absolutely phenomenal. They do action, suspense, drama and even a little comedy to perfection. There is some of the best action sequences I've ever seen on TV on the show. Car chases, shootouts, fights, every action thing you could want, they deliver. The show is also very quiet in their suspense. That's how I like my suspense. Quiet moments that build and deliver. It's perfect. Even the few moments of comedy are gold. Every time they throw a joke in there, or even a whole scene based on comedy, it works.

Fans already know how good of a show "Orphan Black" is. It's currently airing it's fourth season on BBC America, they're only two episodes in, with the third coming this Thursday. But, my blog today will focus on how great of an actress and the many, many roles that Tatiana Maslany plays and portrays on "Orphan Black". Everyone on the show is wonderful, but Maslany does all the heavy lifting, and then some. She is a powerhouse, and she should be so much more well known than she actually is. In fact, I only knew her as the doctor that played Tom Haverford's girlfriend for a couple of episodes on "Parks and Rec" before I started watching "Orphan Black". She is incredible on the show.

So, as most of you know, if you watch the show, it's all about clones. There's a lot of science talk and romance talk and all the stuff I mentioned before, but the bare bones of the show deals with all these clones. And they are all played by Maslany. In the very first episode, we meet Sarah Manning. She is kind of a street punk that steals from people. She's basically a petty thief. Then, one night she sees a lady step in front of a train and take her own life. This is all shocking to her, but what is more shocking, after she takes her wallet, the lady who just committed suicide looks exactly like her. We go down a rabbit hole from here for the next three seasons. We meet so many other clones throughout the course of each season. There's Sarah Manning, the aforementioned petty thief and mom. Clones are not supposed to be able to bear children, but she did. She is an anomaly in the world this show has created. It's pretty cool that she is the "indestructible" one. She is also the most simple, but in a good way, looking one. She is what Maslany would be, if she were English, minus the stealing. Manning is my favorite clone. But, we also get a housewife in Canada named Alison. She is bored and tired and fed up with her husband and suburban lifestyle, until she finds out that she is a clone. She also looks like a housewife. She has very sharp bangs and dresses like a mom. Lots of sweaters and pleated pants. But, Alison also has a drinking problem and she is a pill dealer. Alison comes on strong at first, but you grow to really like her in the middle of season two. Alison is my wife's favorite. Then there's the dread head, glasses wearing scientist, Cosima. She is the most down to Earth one. She is cool and hip and very well read and incredibly smart. She helps all her "sisters" understand what is going on and why they are clones. She is also very sick and needs to find help anyway possible. Cosima is the clone that I would hang out with and want to be friends with. She is very, very cool. And then there's Helena. She is the Russian bad ass of the crew. She is a stone cold murderer, but she might be the most sympathetic character of all the clones. She had a miserable childhood. She has brutally murdered hundreds of people. Sarah, spoiler alert, tried to kill her in season one. She gets caught up in a weird religion that's a mix of Mormon and Catholic. She gets thrown in a war prison. I mean, Helena has it rough. But, she is a fighter and she fights for the ones she truly loves. She grows to love her "sestras" and she becomes a huge part of the show and a pretty big deal in seasons two and three. Helena has seen and been through some pretty gruesome things, but she is an excellent character. Sarah is my favorite, but Helena is the best clone, and it's not even close. There have been some other clones as well. There's the leader of DYAD, the science company that controls the clones, Rachel. She is pretty mean, but she also has to deal with some rough stuff. There's another German/Russian clone that gets shot when she and Sarah are trying to escape. There's a ditsy spa worker named Crystal they introduced in season three. And I'm sure there's many more to come.

Sarah, Cosima, Alison and Helena are the main ones, with a decent amount of Rachel thrown in there. And, they are all played by Maslany. I cannot imagine how tough that must be. She has to know different dialects. She has to walk and carry herself differently with each character. She has to give each clone their own persona. She has to memorize the most lines. She has to spend more time in make up than anyone else on the show. She has to spend the most time filming. And she is absolutely fantastic at doing all of this. She is just an absolute treasure and this show lets her showcase her incredible talent. It is no surprise that I enjoy strong female leads and "Orphan Black" is right up there with Furiosa in "Mad Max: Fury Road". Maslany, much like Theron, is the driving force and everything revolves around her. I love it. One of the best things about all the clones she plays, they all look similar, but they are all extremely different. That's a testament to how well Maslany does all of these roles.

I love "Orphan Black" and I love Maslany's acting on the show. Like I said before, everyone on the show is great, but they all pale in comparison to the absolute top notch work from Tatiana Maslany. It's a powerhouse role. Everyone should watch "Orphan Black" and be amazed at the great work Maslany and everyone involved does.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. His love of female action heroes started when his three older brothers forced him to watch Aliens on repeat for days. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Greatest American Band Debate: Any Band that Prince Was In Part I - The Revolution

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

Dig if you will Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, sitting alone playing the piano. He is working through the construction of his groundbreaking opera The Magic Flute. Later in the week he invites friends over to his home, and Mozart plays through the entirety of his masterpiece, just the man and his piano. The assembled guest would probably have been blown away. The master, his music, and his piano. Once the last key has been struck, Mozart would tell the guests that his music can only truly be appreciated with a variety of people playing various music instruments together. There needs to be a variety of vocals to complement the complex score. Mozart is a genius, but his genius can best be experienced with a band working in concert with the creator. Every great artist has become transcendent with their often forgotten bands who elevate the music to its true greatness.

The death of Prince has rekindled an intense interest in the artist's incredible music. With a catalog that starts in the late 1970's and ends late last year, Prince left a musically legacy that has very few peers. This legacy began in Minneapolis Minnesota when a very young Prince was gathering friends together to perform music that had never been heard in human history. The loose group of friends, later known as The Revolution, would play clubs in the twin cities creating what would be known as the Minneapolis Sound. Hit songs like  Controversy, 1999, and Little Red Corvette were not directly credited to the Revolution, yet the band members were instrumental in crafting these hits. It would be a few more years until the general public was fully aware of The Revolution.

In 1984 the film and album Purple Rain hit America. The music on Purple Rain is some of the most famous pop music to have ever been made. Songs like When Doves Cry, Lets Go Crazy, I Would Die for U, and Purple Rain have more than stood the test of time. The members of the Revolution not only contributed to the album, but they also played fictional versions of themselves in the film. Wendy Melvoin on guitar and vocals, Brown Mark on bass guitar and vocals, Lisa Coleman on keyboards, piano, and vocals, Matt "Doctor: Fink on keyboards and vocals, and Bobby Z. on drums - this was the most famous, and prolific, version of the Revolution. Coleman, Fink, Mark, and Z were with the band at the beginning, but the addition Wendy Melvoin catapulted the Revolution's sound.

After the success of Purple Rain, Prince would continue to expand the Revolution with members from other bands. Morris Day's band The Time and Sheila E's The Counter-Revolution would add members to the Revolution's line up. The albums Around the World in a Day and  Parade added more hits with songs like Raspberry Beret and Kiss. The band also released a live album in 1985 simply titled Prince and the Revolution: Live. 

Each new hit single also brought a new music video to the young, and still music video playing, MTV. The Revolution was becoming instantly recognizable outside of their iconic leader. Everyone started to know why Matt Fink was called Doctor Fink. Former band mate Dez Dickerson face and voice was instantly recognizable because of 1999. The many videos for the hits off of Purple Rain heavily featured the band with scenes from the movie. Prince, along with his band, had conquered everything music had to offer.

In 1986 Prince and the Revolution started to plan out and record the double LP Dream Factory. The band was having a lot of trouble getting along. Many members were frustrated with how big the Revolution was becoming due to all the new additions. Lisa Coleman and Wendy Melvoin quit due to not be able to get along with Prince. The duo has had an extremely successful career post Revolution. Brown Mark left after one of the bands tours and went on to become a producer. Bobby Z was replaced by Sheila E on drums and went on to release a solo album in 1989. Matt Fink stayed with the band until it's eventual dissolution 1991 and has gone on to make music for video games and work at K-Tel Records. The final Revolution album Dream Factory was never released. 

In the early to mid 1980's no body was making music as innovative and exciting as the Revolution. Many people to this day credit these hits solely to Prince. The artist that Prince was has no equal. His genius left an unmatched mark on music. Like Mozart that genius needed input, and talent, of others who were singularly talented. The Revolution could match Prince's genius and create incredible music. Dearly beloved. we are gathered together to celebrate The Revolution. When you listen to their contribution to Prince's genius, you will go crazy.

RD

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is nowhere near done with highlighting the greatness of Prince. Next up - The New Power Generation. Do you have a Prince band, or any other band, to praise? Come write for SeedSing. 

"Hell's Kitchen" is Still Trashy, and Still Awesome

I have seen this donkey make a better risotto than the "Hell's Kitchen" chefs

I watch a lot of cooking shows. I've blogged about some, Ina Garten's and "Top Chef" to name a few. But, my wife and I have recently been watching the trashiest, sleaziest and downright most hilarious cooking competition show I think has ever been created. We have been watching "Hell's Kitchen" on demand.

We have caught up on all our regular shows, so when we eat dinner we like to watch something light. We found "Hell's Kitchen" on Fox on demand, and we have fallen back in love with the show. We used to watch it when it was first on TV, maybe 7 or 8 years ago, but we didn't enjoy or understand the campiness of it back then. Now, we cannot get enough of the camp. Gordon Ramsey, who is a world renowned chef and restaurant owner has to be in on the joke that this show is. I love Gordon Ramsey. He is a very loud and boisterous guy, but even he has to know how ridiculous "Hell's Kitchen" truly is. I've ragged on "Top Chef" before, and I don't usually care for cooking competition shows, but at least most of the chefs on other shows are James Beard winners or nominees, or they have their own restaurants, or they're executive chefs, basically, they are well established.

What makes "Hell's Kitchen" so great is the contestants are competing to become a head chef at one of Ramsey's throw away restaurants in Las Vegas. They don't win money or a spread in a cooking magazine, they just get to go work long, tedious hours at a new, fancier restaurant than they worked at before, and it's in Las Vegas. That's so hilarious to me. What puts "Hell's Kitchen" over the top is the contestants. They are the most ignorant, grossest, shady, back stabbing, ugly in personality people that the executives at Fox could find. They are all line cooks for the most part. Now, I'm not denigrating line cooks, I tried it and I failed tremendously, but line cook is just one step above dishwasher in the restaurant industry. I know "Top Chef" is pompous and pretentious, but they wouldn't take a line cook if that was the last chef available. Hell, most cooking competition shows on the Food Network or the Cooking Channel would never take a line cook. They all want well established chefs that know what in the hell they are doing and chefs that can create new, exciting dishes.

That's another thing that I think is funny about "Hell's Kitchen", they still have the exact same menu as when my wife and I first watched it almost a decade ago. We turned it on the other night and I said, "I wonder if they are still making beef wellington", and wouldn't you know it, Chef Ramsey was yelling at someone for under cooking a beef wellington! I was cracking up! This caused my wife to say, "well, I bet they don't do snapper or risotto anymore, I'm sure they've gotten better fish and newer appetizers". Nope. The chefs are still under cooking risotto and burning the skin on snapper. The only thing they have really mixed up or done differently is the challenges. Sometimes, with the newer challenges, the chefs get to be a tad creative, but these chefs are so green, they never stray to far, and they end up doing something safe and easy.

The "chefs" are the absolute best. As I stated before, they are gross, both inside and out, but mainly on the inside. Even the "nice" people are total assholes. There is one nice guy, I think his name is Jarrad, and he just totally screwed over his only friend in the competition recently. The things these people say, on national television mind you, is appalling. They are constantly cursing each other out, constantly back stabbing one another, constantly blaming one another and never taking blame when they are clearly at fault. It's a whole show of people saying, "I did this because so and so was screwing up on something else, so I only messed up because this other person messed up. It's not my fault Chef Ramsey". A bunch of spineless competitors. The men on this show are the worst representation of meat heads that I've seen on TV. There was one guy in this particular season, his name is Frank, who always bad mouthed and talked down to any female competitor. He said, on way more than one occasion, "this is why you can't have women in the kitchen. They're terrible listeners and impossible to work with". I mean, how crazy and how sexist is that?! And Fox put in on the air! WTF! The women are not much better though, They talk behind each others backs. I've seen two girls get into a fist fight on the show. I've seen girls spit into another girls face. It's just all around gross, from both the men and the women.

This show is entertaining as hell. You know why it's entertaining? It's not the chefs and it's not the competition and it's not the back stabbing and double crossing, it's Chef Ramsey. He is so god damn good on the show. He knows that these chefs are the bottom of the barrel and he treats them that way. But, he also gives the winners of the challenges, and the whole thing, some very great gifts. Stuff I would love to have, he hands over with a smile. But, he also yells and berates and screams and calls people failures and tells them he's ready for them to quit at the drop of the hat. You under cook a wellington, Chef Ramsey will call you a donkey. You don't have his veggies ready in time, he calls you an imbecile. You burn his fish, he will curse you out. He has no patience for slacking chefs, yet he takes on a dozen of them each season of this show. I don't know that any winner of "Hell's Kitchen" has gone on to be a famous chef or restaurant owner. I haven't dug that deep. But, I know Chef Ramsey will keep doing this show because it's easy money for him.

I'm glad my wife and I rediscovered this ridiculous cooking show. It's fun to watch and make fun of and I don't have to take it seriously. Go watch "Hell's Kitchen" if you like trashy reality show, because it's one of the best.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He never heard of Beef Weelington until "Hell's Kitchen". Ty is not interested in food that fance people ate 100 years ago. Ty is on twitter, go follow him @tykulik.

Prince is Immortal

Prince dead at 57

I was doing some research for an article this afternoon and happened upon the Huffington Post. The top headline, with a breaking news alarm, was that musical legend Prince had died. I thought the story was fake. Immediately I went out to search for the truth. I found the truth, and then my heart sank.

I love Prince. He and I were both born in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. When the movie Purple Rain was released on VHS, my older brother and I rented it and watched it eight consecutive times. When I got a CD player, the Hits 1 and 2 were some of the first pieces of music I purchased from Columbia House. In college my friends and I held numerous viewings of Purple Rain followed by a party set to the music of Prince. One of the greatest concerts I have ever seen was Prince rocking for hours. The usually horrible Super Bowl halftime show was absolutely owned by Prince.  His music is always playing in my world. The song "Purple Rain" is the greatest song ever. Working out, anything from the Revolution Days is in my ears. Relaxing, I love the music he has released in the 21st century. Late night in bed, tunes from the New Power Generation and symbol years always gets me in the mood. I really, really love Prince.

Today Prince left us. When Elvis and John Lennon died, the baby boomers lost an icon. Today the greatest artist of Generation X was taken too soon. Prince may have been part of the baby boomer generation, but he belonged to Generation X. He did not look or act like the artist of our parents generation. He was a musical and performance genius. His look and sound were unlike anything else. Once he became famous, Prince railed against an old and corrupt music business. He was the voice of ownership for any artist who creates. Prince made an impact on the world by not being like everyone else before him. He was a creator, not a follower.

Most people mourning Prince keep talking about his hit music from the 1980's. That is because this was the music that made Generation X love music. Prince's lyrics moved an entire age group into puberty. His performances inspired awe and imagination. His persona gave us a living avatar of sexiness. Now Prince is gone.

As I personally reflected on how Prince influenced myself and all of Generation X, I started to realize how selfish I was acting. Prince's greatness is not just for me and my fellow generation, Prince is timeless. Justin Timberlake said that Prince is not once in a lifetime, he is a once in forever (I am paraphrasing). I read those words and came to the realization that Prince is not gone. Prince will live forever.

Any artist will have their work outlive them, but Prince as a person is still alive. His music will never know a time or generation. His performances will spark imagination until the end of time. His fight for artist ownership rights will assure us that new and innovative music will always be with us. Prince did not just leave us a catalog of incredible music, he assured us a legacy of creation. This legacy named Prince will outlive us.

The news of Prince's passing has made me incredibly sad. I will not get any new music from my favorite artist. I will not be able to watch live one of the greatest guitar players rock out for hours. Yet I am strangely happy. What Prince did with his 57 years, and incredible talent, is make sure that the next Prince has a chance. He made sure that the next genius can be defined on his or her own terms. Prince is forever.

RD

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the host of the X Millennial Man Podcast

The Browns and Titans have Already made their Teams Better

The future looks bright in Cleveland and Nashville. Time to break out the shades.

The NFL draft starts next week. There has been a lot of movement in the two weeks prior to this years draft, a lot more than usual.

Last week the Titans traded the number one overall pick to the LA Rams (one more time I want to say SCREW YOU STAN KROENKE). They moved back in the first round and they also acquired a ton of other picks in this year and future drafts. I thought this was unusual, but the Rams just moved back to LA and they want to make a splash. It still doesn't make a lot of sense to me, and Tennessee got a much better deal out of it, but, sometimes weird stuff like this happens prior to the draft.

Then, just a couple of days ago, the Cleveland Browns traded the number two overall pick to the Eagles, again for a bunch of later and future draft picks. This really piqued my interest. Cleveland has been a gutter team ever since returning to the NFL in the early 90's. They have had about a million different players start at QB, and since they've blown every QB draft choice, they haven't really panned out so well with other position draft picks. Guys like Trent Richardson, Joe Thomas and Josh Gordon have not been that good since they entered the league. So, I assumed, like everyone else, they would stick with this pick and draft another QB. I know they signed Robert Griffin, but he simply cannot stay healthy. I also heard a lot about how there were three QB's in the upcoming draft that could be franchise players. So, Cleveland keeping the second pick just made sense to me.  Why would they trade this pick? Do they not like the QB's as much as other teams do? Do they think they can get someone later and have them sit behind Griffin for a couple of years? I have a million more questions, but these three will have to suffice for now.

Question one, why trade the pick? I think they like the idea of having multiple choices and not having to reach for a QB so early in the draft. This is actually a pretty smart idea by a front office that has seemed incompetent at times. Stockpile picks and draft players in the later rounds. Players picked in the later rounds seem to be more successful in the future than a lot of the first rounders. So, good, savvy move by the Browns.

Question two, do they not like the QB's available in round one as much as other teams do? I don't think its' just the QB's, I think this whole draft is pretty weak. This is actually, the main point of the blog today. After these two trades occurred, I did some of my own research about the draft because I think both Mel Kiper Jr and Todd McShay are morons. They're glorified, wannabe head coaches that have nothing but free time and they sit around and watch game film as if they are involved with an actual NFL franchise. Both of those guys are absolute jokes and they work for ESPN. It's a double whammy of idiocy. So, since I am just as qualified as both McShay and Kiper Jr, I looked into the draft class, and as I said before, it is not great. Sure, there's some good, quality guys that could be starters and even pro bowlers, but there is no franchise changing player out there. There's not one player that makes me think that they can turn one of the teams picking early in to immediate contenders. In fact, there hasn't been many transformative players since Cam Newton was picked first overall four years ago. But this draft class, oof, it's mediocre.

The QB's that every "expert" are high on, I don't see all that much from. Jared Goff is tall and has a good arm, but he's skinny, played in an offense that allowed him to throw a lot and he was still average and he did not lead Cal to more than 8 victories while he was there. He's about as good as Jay Cutler. Carson Wentz, the hottest name in the draft right now, played 1-AA college football, so he wasn't playing the toughest competition and he is a bit undersized. He did win a bunch in college, but so did Joe Flacco. Yeah, Flacco was the QB of a Super Bowl winning team, but that team won with defense, not because of Flacco. Wentz's name and stock will never be higher, but I'm not as impressed as others seem to be. The other notable first round QB is Paxton Lynch. Yeah, he started really strong and yeah, Memphis beat Ole Miss early in the year, but when that team needed him to lead the most, they folded. I would not draft him until the third or fourth round.

It's not just the QB's that don't impress me, it's most of the class. There's Ezekiel Elliot, who was great in college, but so was Melvin Gordon and he looked not so great his rookie year. I think Elliot is a lot like Gordon. It will be tough sledding for the first few years. On the defensive side of the ball, there's guys like Jalen Ramsey, Joey Bosa, Myles Jack, Vernan Hargreaves and Shaq Lawson. None of these guys really jump out as stars to me. Jalen Ramsey is big and fast, but he also gets beat deep sometimes. Bosa is tough to block, but he'd rather get high that work on his game. Myles Jack was injured all of last year and he kind of comes off as a spoiled brat. Hargreaves was torched by Michigan and Jake Rudock in the Citrus Bowl. That should scare a lot of teams away. Shaq Lawson is fast, but he is very undersized. None of these guys project as a Charles Woodson or a Bruce Smith. They all seem more like situational type players that will look good at times, but will also look mediocre most times. Even the offensive line players, usually the easiest ones to predict future success, look suspect with one exception. That exception is Laremy Tunsil. He is going to be a very, very good offensive lineman in the NFL. He has the size, strength, footwork and ability to put it all together. Everyone else in this draft is very ho hum to me. I don't see any great players, except for Tunsil. This is the biggest reason I think the Browns and Titans traded out of the top two spots. There's no pressure from the fan base to take a QB that early. The Titans already have a good, young QB in Marcus Mariota and the Browns, they have time to put a team together. Robert Griffin is not going to turn that team around.

Which brings us to my third question for the Browns, are they willing to draft a QB in the later rounds and let him sit behind Griffin for a couple of years? Absolutely. They have nothing but time. They can wait because that team is a total pile of garbage. The fans have no expectations for this team to be any good for awhile now. They can take someone and stash him on the bench and let him learn the system. They got rid of Johnny Manziel, who is a locker room cancer and just an all around garbage person, so the young QB they draft will not have to listen to his whining and complaining. And the Titans, they can draft a ton of other weapons with all the picks they stockpiled to help out Mariota in a year or two.

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but the Titans and the Browns front offices both did a very good job, getting these deals done. The Eagles and the Rams on the other hand, they made very poor choices. I'm sure the Rams will take Goff and I'm sure they'll go 6-10 or 7-9 like they do every year and their offense will be inept. Poor Todd Gurley. He has to deal with this shotty offense. He is the only real playmaker and Goff will not make any team fear the pass. Everyone will load the box against the Rams. And I'm sure the Eagles will take Wentz, which will piss off Sam Bradford, but the inevitable moment he gets injured, Wentz will be thrown into the fire. That's not how you want to bring a young QB along in the NFL. This draft is crummy and I don't get all the hype surrounding the QB's and the two big trades.

On a more serious not, I just want to say Rest In Peace to Prince. I heard the news that he died at the age of 57 today. I don't know too much about Prince, other than the fact that he is an exceptional guitar player and that he has written some of the best pop songs of all time. He voice just wasn't for me. But, I know our head editor, RD, is a huge fan of his and I know he will put together a much better, much more touching piece than I could ever write for you guys. You will be missed Prince and the cool people in the world need to quit dying.

Also, Rest In Peace to Pearl Washington. Many of you may not know who he was, but he is one of the all time great college basketball players. He played for Syracuse during the time when the Big East was the best and most competitive conference in the sport and Pearl Washington was the best player. He combined street ball with college ball and shined. He was an all time great. We lost two great people this week and that stinks. Rest In Peace Pearl Washington and Prince. You both will be missed by a lot of people.

Ty

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

Tom Thibodeau Took the Wrong Head Coaching Job

The sign Tom Thibodeau should have heeded in Minneapolis 

The Minnesota Timberwolves announced earlier today that they are finalizing a deal to hire Tom Thibodeau as the coach and the president of basketball operations. Now, I think Thibodeau is a good, possibly even a great head coach, but I don't like him taking over this team and I don't like that they made him the president. Sure, it seems nice on paper, and I'm sure Timberwolves fans will be jumping for joy, but he puts players to work. He grinds every last ounce he can get out of his players, but with a roster this young, I don't know how that will work.

Thibodeau achieved pretty good success with the Bulls, even taking them to a conference finals once, but those teams, by that time of year, were spent. Thibs worked them, maybe, a bit too hard. These guys are pro athletes and they should be used to a heavy workload, but Thibs can push a bit too far. Derrick Rose was great when the Bulls hired Thibs. He won an MVP one year, but his body has completely broken down on him. I'm not saying that it's all Thibodeau's fault, but if he let him rest a bit more and gave him a few off days, maybe he wouldn't be as frail as he is now. Joakim Noah was a beast defensively and on the boards during Thibodeau's first year. He was even being mentioned as a possible MVP candidate himself, but his body has worn down too. He barely played last year or this year. Jimmy Butler is a star in the making, but Thibs never let him run the show, and he too has started to get injured. All of this simply cannot be a coincidence. Yes, the Bulls letting him go was one of the dumber decisions last offseason, I mean look at how bad they played this year, but Thibodeau seems like a coach that will wear out his welcome in three or four years. The Bulls also had a roster of veterans when Thibodeau came in. They knew what it took to be NBA players. They knew the dedication and work it took when he was hired.

This Minnesota team is very talented, but they are also very, very young. Rick Rubio is considered the veteran and he is in his mid twenties. The players on this team, guys like Andrew Wiggins, Karl Anthony-Towns and Zach Lavine, among others, look like they may have what it takes to succeed, but I worry about the amount of pressure that Thibodeau will put on them. Don't get it twisted, I don't want these players to be treated with kid gloves, but they also shouldn't be treated like freshman on a JV or varsity team in high school. Coaches make so much less than players in the pros, so if Thibodeau comes in and punishes some of these young guys, they can walk after their contract is up. That would be a disaster for Minnesota. I really, really like this Timberwolves team. As I already said, they are loaded with young talent. Wiggins looks to be a perennial all star. Towns can be the next Anthony Davis. Lavine can sky out of the gym and Rubio is very crafty with the ball. But, what if Thibodeau rears his ugly head and over works these guys? That would be dreadful.

In today's NBA, guys leave when they don't like their current situation or they get a coach fired. That's what happened to Thibodeau when Chicago let him go. That's what happened to David Blatt when the Cavs fired him. That's what happened to Scott Brooks in OKC. It happens all the time now. Chicago grew tired of a very stressful workload. LeBron didn't want Blatt to be the coach anymore. Scott Brooks couldn't utilize two of the five best players in the NBA properly. Coaches today get let go for miniscule details.

Another question, why would Thibodeau want this particular job? He clearly had choices. He was the hottest commodity in the coaching market by far. He could have went anywhere with a vacant head coaching job that he wanted. Hell, I bet some teams with a head coach would have fired their current coach and taken him. I'm looking at you Memphis. But, he has chosen the Timberwolves. That is puzzling to me. Thibodeau seems like the type that wants to win right away. That's how it was when he took the Chicago job and that's how it was when he was an assistant on Doc Rivers staff in Boston. Those teams where built to compete and win right away. This Timberwolves team though, they seem content to be mediocre for the next couple of years and then try to make a free agency splash. I don't think that will work for Thibodeau's demeanor. Like I said, I love watching this team, but they are not ready to compete for anything, especially in the West, for at least two years. How is that going to make Thibodeau feel? What is he going to be thinking when he is in year three of his five year deal and the Timberwolves are at home during the playoffs for the 13 or 14th straight year? He seems like the kind of guy where something like that would drive him insane. It just doesn't make sense to me at all.

I feel like there were two better options for Thibodeau to take over as head coach. I already mentioned one, and that's Memphis. They are staggering right now. Yes, they have lost a ton of players to injury and yes, they look absolutely dreadful in the playoffs right now, but their roster, when fully healthy, is pretty good. They also have the look and feel of a Thibs team. I know they have a coach, Dave Joeger, but they are looking for any reason to get rid of him. Had they had a shot at Thibodeau, I bet they would have taken it. The roster is good, as I said above, too. They have Mike Conley Jr, who is a free agent, but hiring Thibodeau would keep him in Memphis I bet, and he is a good, gritty point guard. They have Marc Gasol, who is a younger, better version of his brother, whom Thibodeau coached for one year in Chicago. They have some decent vets that play gritty defense and get good shots at the wing. Guys like Matt Barnes and Tony Allen, who Thibodeau coached while at Boston. The Memphis roster just seems like a Thibodeau roster and I think, had they tried, they could have hired him.

The one team with a head coaching vacancy that would be perfect for Thibodeau is the Washington Wizards. This is clearly a veteran laden team in need of a defensive minded coach. Two years ago they were on their way to a conference finals until John Wall broke his hand. This year, they forgot how to play defense and where terribly coached and stunk it up. Tom Thibodeau could have done wonders with the Wizards. They have all the pieces, they just need a good, hard nosed coach. That's Tom Thibodeau. He could have done for John Wall what he did for Derrick Rose. He could have turned Bradley Beal into a poor man's Jimmy Butler. His bigs, Marcin Gortat and Nene, I feel like they would thrive with a coach like him. Otto Porter Jr is already better than Mike Dunleavy Jr. And, all these guys are multi year vets. They wouldn't mind being whipped into shape by a tougher coach. The Wizards made the most sense to me of any team. But, he has apparently chosen a reclamation project in the West. I think it will be very tough sledding for him, and I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't last his entire reported contract.

I know a lot of basketball people will disagree with me, but I think, both Thibodeau and the Timberwolves, have made a not so good decision. Hopefully they prove me wrong because I like Thibodeau and I love this Timberwolves team, but I don't think that will happen.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is thinking all about coaches while the useless first round of the NBA playoffs commence. That is the type of guy he is. It is your destiny to follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Luke Walton Needs to Stay Far, Far Away from the Knicks

If you approach the Knicks, you will get burned

It has come up in sports news lately that the New York Knicks are going to try to hire Golden State assistant coach Luke Walton as their new head coach. I've actually heard that it's down to Walton and Kurt Rambis.

First off, Kurt Rambis should never, ever, ever be a head coach in the NBA. He's shown, with the multiple chances he's had, that he is not a competent head coach. He makes one baffling decision after another. He's incompetent. He was a good player, but he is a terrible coach. Luke Walton proved that he can take an already established, great roster of players and win a ton of games. It happened at the beginning of this season when Steve Kerr had such bad back problems he couldn't coach the team. They gave that duty over to Walton and he shined. Sure, he looked good, even great at times as the "head coach", but I think I could do pretty well with guys like Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and on and on. That roster is absolutely loaded. It wouldn't be that tough to take the plays and pointers that Kerr already has in place and tell the players to continue to do that. It worked so well last year that they won a title. So yeah, the Warriors won their first 27 games and started out incredibly hot with Walton as the head coach, but I think any of those assistants would have been equally as successful.

Now, that's not to say that Walton won't be a good head coach in the future, but I don't think the Knicks is where he should get his feet wet. That team is a dumpster fire being run by an incompetent front office and a GM, Phil Jackson, that clearly doesn't want to be there. They also have a pretty bare cupboard when it comes to future draft picks and young players on their roster. Yeah, Porzingis looks to be pretty good, and I am a fan, but who do they have, that's young and ready to compete and keep that team stable for the next couple of years? They do have Robin Lopez, but big men break down quick in the NBA. Just look at Roy Hibbert. Jerian Grant is young and an explosive athlete, but he is wildly inconsistent. Other than those guys, the roster is old and ready to break down and filled with mid level role players at best. Guys like Tony Wroten, Jose Calderon, Aaron Affalo, Derrick Williams, Sasha Vujacic, Kyle O'Quinn and Langston Galloway are not near the players, nor will they ever be, the caliber of the role players on the Warriors bench.

There is one huge problem with the Knicks roster. The star player is a 31 year old, broken down ball hog that's more interested in his brand that winning titles, Carmelo Anthony. I loved Anthony when he was playing in Denver. He was a great scorer, a competent defender and a decent teammate, for the most part. But, since joining the Knicks, he seems to only want to gripe about the team, the coaches and the surrounding players. He openly opines to play with stars. He had that chance this offseason when he could have signed with the Bulls, but he chose the money and resigned a max deal with the Knicks. His contract is almost as bad as the one Kobe Bryant signed two years ago with the Lakers. Now, Anthony just complains and misses way too many games to injury. His prime is most likely over.

So, I ask, why would Walton want to start his head coaching career with the Knicks? Sure, it's a humongous market, I think LA is the only other city that rivals New York, but that means expectations are through the roof, no matter how poorly constructed the team is. The roster leaves so much to be desired. And even if he is given three years, that team is still five or six years away, even in the East, from being a legit playoff contender. I just don't think it would be a good fit for Walton. He does know the triangle from his days of playing for Phil Jackson in LA, but the roster in LA back then was so much better than this Knicks roster. The current roster has proven the past two years that they cannot properly run the triangle. It doesn't work for this team. The triangle is also a pretty ancient offense in the new NBA. Everybody wants to run and gun, but the triangle is built on slowing the game down and using your big men. I like the triangle, but it's not good for the current state of the NBA. It's too complicated and too slow. It also kind of stinks that their only decent young player is still getting his feet wet and did hit the rookie wall near the end of the season. Porzingis is good, but he still has a ways to go before he is a multi all star. I keep saying it, but the roster is not good and I think it would be a bad decision by Walton to take the job.

I also don't think that he will take the Knicks job. I think he will stick around Golden State a couple more years and wait for the perfect opportunity and good enough roster, much like Steve Kerr did. Kerr could have taken the Knicks job two years ago, but he weighed all of his options, realized that the Knicks job and team was a dumpster fire and told his former coach thanks but no thanks and took the Warriors job. The Warriors were a better team that played great defense. They just needed an offensive minded coach, and that's Kerr's forte. Mark Jackson did a very good job turning that team around, but he couldn't get them over the hump on offense. Kerr came in, realized how great Curry was, and gave him the greenlight and Curry's star was born. He won the title last year with the Warriors, as I said earlier, if you forgot. Had he taken the Knicks job, he would have been lucky to be a .500 team and the Warriors may not have turned into the juggernaut that they are now. But, Kerr waited and picked properly. He didn't just take an open job in a big market, he went somewhere he knew he could win and win now.

I hope Walton does the same thing and, as I said before, I think he will. If he takes the Knicks job, he will be looking for a new job in 3 years. But, if he waits and finds the right team, maybe the Pelicans or the Timberwolves or the Bulls in a couple of years, when the younger players get older and better and those teams bring in good free agents, he can take one of those jobs. That's what his mentor Kerr did and I think that's what Walton should and will do.

Don't take the Knicks job Luke Walton, you will be miserable. As the old saying goes, "good things come to those who wait".

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is available, and willing, to coach the Knicks if they run out of options. The best way to find Ty is to follow him on twitter @tykulik.

You and Your Kids Should watch "Wally Kazaam"

No invaders, no dragons, no trolls. No I'm serious, those things terrify me

I've noticed recently that my blog I did on the children's show "PJ Masks" has been getting read a lot and there has even been some comments. There's one good one, but for the most part, people seem to think that I don't have an imagination. While that may be true when it comes to "PJ Masks", I mean, why are there no parents involved anywhere, It's insane, but, I do like a couple of shows that my four year old watches. I loved "Yo Gabba Gabba". I thought that show was super weird and really cool. I loved the lessons it taught and I thoroughly enjoyed all the musicians and bands that would make guest appearances. I also like older kids shows like "Sesame Street". Basically, I like shows that teach children some kind of practical skill that they will need when they start school. All "PJ Masks" teaches is to not go against your friends wishes. It's a veiled, and very poor attempt at lesson learning if you ask me. That show is lazy.

There is one children's show that I want to point out, that my four year old still watches and loves, that I too love, "Wally Kazaam". "Wally Kazaam" has about one thousand times more imagination than any episode of "PJ Masks", and they teach your children how to sound out letters and, eventually, how to spell. From watching "Wally Kazaam", my son knows the sound to every letter in the alphabet and he is even in the very early stages of spelling. He can spell his name, and with a little help, he can spell easy words like cat and dog. Some of that has come from my wife and I helping him and some has come from school, but a lot of it has come from "Wally Kazaam". My son gets amped when he hears the theme song for the show, and I do to. I know that both him and I are going to enjoy ourselves for the next 25 minutes, much more so than an episode of "PJ Masks". Where my son likes the colors and the animation and the goofy way the characters talk, I enjoy the joke writing and the story telling on the show.

First of all, we know we are in a fantasy world the moment the show opens on a troll finding a magical stick that helps him spell. "Wally Kazaam" doesn't try to hide that it's a possible real world situation, the kids are supposed to be real kids on "PJ Masks", they are openly letting you know that this is a cartoon. The main character is Wally Trollman, the troll with the magic stick that helps them spell and get out of sticky situations. But, we also get some great tertiary characters. Characters like Norvel, Wally's pet dinosaur. There's also Gina Giant, Wally's friend that is literally a giant, and she is the nicest person in the fake universe they've created. There's Ogre Doug, a big, but very friendly ogre that helps out the crew. There's a little singing fairy named Libby Lightsprite that is adorable. There's Stan, the old swamp creature that dislikes anything that's clean. He will only take mud baths to give you some perspective.

There are a lot of great characters on "Wally Kazaam, but the best character not named Wally is the wonderful Bob Goblin. Bob Goblin is the troublemaker, but he is also a good guy. He will get the crew in trouble, or try to get things from them, but in the end, he just wants to be part of the group, and like the good trolls and ogres and fairies and giants that they are, they always find a place for Bob Goblin. Bob Goblin is also always the best character in the episodes that feature him. There's been one when he wants to be in a rock band, but Libby Lightsprite loses her singing voice, due to something Bob goblin did, so they have to go through all these loopholes that Bob Goblin has setup, to get her voice back. They get through everything, with the help of Bob Goblin, and at the end of the episode, Bob Goblin gets a great drum solo. I love it. My favorite Bob Goblin episode is when he takes over the castle that Wally made out of magic for Norvel. He kind of walks in, plays with everything, then claims the castle as his own. It's so funny and so well animated and so well written. The episode centers around sharing and the way they talk about it, it's magnificent. The lessons learned and the spelling that goes along with the episode is great. But, the highlight is the song that Bob Goblin and Wally sing about the castle. It's so catchy, so imaginative and so well sung by the voice actors. To this day, I still walk around the house singing the song. My wife does too. So does my son. We all adore the song. I believe it's called "My Friend the King", and it's supposed to be about Norvel, but Bob Goblin turns it into his song. Wally sings about building the castle, loading it with pillows and toys for Norvel and letting Norvel stay there. But, after Bob Goblin takes over, he turns every chorus into his song. Wally will sing, then Bob Goblin will come in with the best line in a children's song, "no invaders, no dragons, no trolls". He doesn't want Gina Giant, the invader, Norvel, the dragon and Wally, the troll to get in. The end of the song even has Bob Goblin saying "and no cakes", because Wally thought he could trick him by giving him sweets, but Bob Goblin does not fall for it. As with most kids shows, they resolve the conflict and everyone gets to play and live in the castle.

Basically, "Wally Kazaam" is, by far, the best, most innovative and most imaginative children's show since "Yo Gabba Gabba". It's also the best written. It's so much better than "Paw Patrol", "Blaze and the Monster Machines" and, of course, "PJ Masks". So no, I'm not some curmudgeon with no sense of imagination or whimsy or wonder, I have all of that ten fold. I just prefer kids shows that don't talk down to the adults watching with their children and "Wally Kazaam" does not do that. The creators and writers of that show speak to both children and adults alike. I will take "Wally Kazaam" any day before I watch another episode of "PJ Masks".

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Does Ty lack imagination, you ask? Find out for yourself by following him on twitter @tykulik.

The Days After: I Give Up

In the beginning I had a plan to look at every single Presidential primary / caucus result and try to use my education and work experience to give the good people out there on the internet my own personal views of what the results meant. Things were going well for a while, and then the mid-March primaries made me lose interest in the whole process. Why? Because it is an incredibly undemocratic, hateful, and pointless exercise. So today I decided that the primaries do not deserve any more of my attention, because they do not respect the will of the people. Recapping the days after countless show elections, I give up. 

Elections are incredibly important. When people do not show up to vote, the results can be disastrous. No matter how toxic the process has become, we must get out and vote. Your town council decides how safe, clean, and valuable your neighborhood is. Many neighborhoods do not even offer recycling because their local officials would rather not deal with the expense and hassle of trying to clean up the planet. Your school board is directly responsible for determining how your children, and all of their friends, will be educated. Science teachers around the country are being forced to give lip service to non-science because of uninformed religious zealots being elected to the school board. Most of our judges are elected and not appointed. These judges are being swayed by private interest to send more people to jail. These jails are constantly being sold off to private companies because the governors we elect need to plug gaps in their respective state budgets. Access to good healthcare is being dictated by members of your state legislature. Most of these state lawmakers have more extreme views than anyone we see on the Sunday morning political shows. What I am saying is that elections are extremely important. You should always get out and vote.

The highest voter turnout is always during the US Presidential election. I have personally never thought the election of the President of the United States is that big of a deal. My ambivalence to the Presidency is probably directly related to the men who have held the office in my lifetime. Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush I, Bill Clinton, George Bush II, and Barack Obama - that is a pretty mediocre run of Presidents. Ford pardoned Nixon and told America that the President is above the law. Carter was listless and allowed his opposition to weaken his Presidency, Reagan destroyed the economy, bankrupted social security, ignored the AIDS crisis, and represented only the rich and religious interests in the country. Bush I started the destabilization of the Middle East. Clinton embraced republican economic ideals and weakened the social safety net for our most vulnerable citizens. Bush II was one of the top five worst presidents in US history represented by his disastrous foreign and economic policy decisions. Obama has been filled with empty promises and policies that only go half way in addressing our true problems. This run of Presidents is comparable to the weak, ineffectual, and political hacks that occupied the White House during Reconstruction (without looking it up on the internet, try and name three Presidents in order between Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, not a memorable group). Why should I care about who is the President, when ever single man who has been in office the last forty years has been there to represent a very small group of rich political donors. Every four years I vote for the President, and it is the least important vote I cast.

The 2016 election has already been one for the history books. We may have the first woman to sit on top of the ticket for one of the two major political parties (we will). The first candidate of Hispanic descent could be the nominee for the Republican party. The first Jewish presidential nominee. The first brokered convention in generations. There is a lot of history being made, too bad the people making the history are uninspiring and self serving. The modern media, and the two major political parties, have given the American people the most deplorable slate of Presidential candidates.

The Republican Party has little to no chance to ever win another national election with the current state of their party. Decades after Richard Nixon's southern strategy, the Republican Party has enhanced their platform of fear and hatred. Anytime there is a push to suppress voter turnout, it is the Republicans. Any effort to redraw congressional district lines into a gerrymandered atrocity, it is always the republicans. Blame the poor or a minority group for all of America's problems, you better believe the Republican Party is creating the talking points. The modern Republican Party has been built to not grow voters, and to make sure that voting is as undemocratic as possible. The nation has taken notice of how unamerican the Republican Party has been when it comes to elections.

The three remaining Republican Presidential candidates perfectly represent a party of feudal lords. Ohio Governor John Kasich, the moderate according to the national press, embraces all the bad ideas of the GOP. Under his leadership Ohio has added a lot of low paying jobs, and lost a whole lot of jobs with good pay and benefits. The religious right, with the help of Kasich, has put Ohio near the bottom of the country when it comes to women's health. The public education system is being gutted by "moderate" Kasich so his charter school donors can get rich off of the taxpayers. Bad businessman Donald Trump is filled with hate and has no meaningful ideas to actually make America great again. His campaign has been an embarrassment to the entire country. The press keeps egging Trump on because they care about money and have killed the concept of journalism. Texas Senator Ted Cruz is a crazy person, surrounded by crazy people, and has some very antiquated crazy ideas. People like Glenn Beck paint Cruz as some kind of religious savior, and Cruz plays the part. The Texas Senator is so ineffectual and unpopular that a large majority of his own colleagues refuse to endorse Cruz for the Republican nomination. All three of these bozos can not win a national election, no matter how bad the Democratic nominee is.

Speaking of how bad the Democratic nominee will be, Senator Sanders and former Secretary of State Clinton have their own laundry basket full of issues. Bernie Sanders has captured a lot of the millennial imagination, but that really doesn't matter when half of the millennials will not even vote in the election. What really bothers me about Sanders is that the Vermont Senator is not even a member of the Democratic Party. It seems to me that Sanders is using the infrastructure of the Democratic Party for his own personal gain. With Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee has thrown all of their resources behind a candidate who has economic values equal to those in the Republican Party. Under a President Clinton, Wall Street will continue to run unregulated. When the big banks sink the economy again, Hillary Clinton will make sure that US taxpayers bail out the 1% again. It continues to trouble me that scandal and bad PR follows the Clinton's everywhere they go. Benghazi may be a show trial, but it never ends. Hillary's hubris keeps it around. Former President Bill Clinton whitesplaining his administrations horrible record on race and crime, that is another unfortunate event that seems to keep happening.  A Hillary Clinton Presidency would be a whole lot of the same we have seen the last 25 years. Endless war in the Middle East, Wall Street giveaways, and weakening of the social safety net. That sure looks like Democratic Party values.

In my eyes we have five self absorbed, power hungry rich people fighting with each other to win the pageant called the US Presidency. Like a beauty pageant, the US election is not be decided by the American people, it is being decided by a select group of judges. On the Democratic Party side we have the super delegates. Hillary Clinton only needs to win a few states, not even half, and the super delegates will giver her the Democratic Party nomination over Bernie Sanders. In Wyoming, Senator Sanders won over 50% of the popular vote and still only took under 40% of the states delegates. DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz has altered the rules constantly to only favor Clinton. The Democratic Party does not care at all about the voice of the people, they only care about the rich and connected. 

Somehow the Republican Party is a bigger undemocratic mess than the Democrats. Donald Trump is a horrible choice for President, but so is the rest of the field. RNC chairman Reince Priebus and the Tea Party created this fractured hateful Republican Party to win local races, and now their hate is on full display for the nation. By making your base feel like they are always under attack from terrorists, minorities, the poor, social justice warriors, children, martians, whoever, then your base will flock to biggest strongman. Kasich is not filled with enough pure hate, Cruz is a creepy fellow with very few friends, someone had to lead the angry white man. Trump is a master of marketing, and he knew that his hate filled rhetoric would inspire the very vocal persons who believe in white christian male victimhood. These people demand someone pay for their insecurities, Donald Trump has promised them restitution. No wonder they are so upset that the RNC has tried to remove Donald Trump from the Republican field. The Republican Party has been advocating Trumps positions on immigration and women's health for decades, they just soften the hate with terms like conservative principles. The base has rejected these code words and wants action. Trump promises action, and the establishment is now trying to silence the voice of the people. Trump is the reflection in the mirror of the modern Republican Party, and the party does not like what they see.

The candidates all stink. None of them care about actually fixing anything. Sanders may want to deregulate the big banks, but he still believes guns deserve more protection than people. Clinton could break the gender barrier, but she will bend over backwards to protect the richest Americans. Kasich may not seem crazy, but embraces all the same backward ideas of his colleagues. Trump may be a true outsider, but he wants to make sure we are a country of hate and fear. Cruz is, well there really is not anything nice I can say about Ted Cruz. His children are adorable, there I said something nice. The brokered Republican Convention may bring a new, or old, face to the race. It doesn't matter, the next President will be another in a long line of political hacks who care very little for the problems facing our nation.

So I give up. The Republican and Democratic Parties refuse to let the people have a say. The fact that we keep talking about super delegates and brokered conventions means that the primary elections of 2016 mean nothing to the political party elites. The election of our next President does not need the will of the people. Why should I care what the RNC and DNC think, they do not care about me. No more primary updates, it has been over a month since the last one. I have nothing more to say on a process that deserves no more words. We will continue to talk politics here at SeedSing. Our goal is to give the non wealthy and connected a voice. I am not going to waste time on the primary dog and pony show. I give up. We will talk about this electoral mess when the mud clears, or when the mud consumes us all. 

Please do not forget to vote. Our voices will only gain meaning, and the political parties will lose their power, if we ALL vote in EVERY election. Get out and vote.

RD Kulik

RD  is the Head editor at SeedSing and the host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He may think the US President is pointless, but every other race needs your attention. Donate to the National Campaign Training Committee today and support your local candidates.

Cloves and Fedoras: Har Mar Superstar's "Best Summer Ever" Belongs on Your Playlist

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.

Today an album came out that I have been waiting for over a year now. Har Mar Superstar released his newest album this morning, "Best Summer Ever", and it is weird and great and different and awesome and like nothing and everything of his that I own.

I own all his albums as Har Mar. He's gone by other names and been in different bands, Calvin Crime is probably the best known, but for me, I love his Har Mar persona the best. The music he makes as Har Mar is, by far, my favorite. His early stuff was more poppy, but he put his slant on it. It was goofy, but catchy as hell. He has some great, funny early records. Songs like "Even Gangsters Want To Cuddle Me", "DUI" and "EZ Pass" are wonderfully delightful pop songs. They're upbeat, catchy, funny and Har Mar has a very good voice for pop music. Even his cover of "Alone Again, Naturally", on one of his first albums, is great. He does a very good service to the song.

Then, a little over a year ago, he released one of the best records I had ever heard, "Bye Bye 17". That album is absolutely phenomenal. Every song on it is great. That was the album that introduced me to Har Mar. I first knew of him through his old podcast, "Nocturnal Emotions", and through that was how I found out he was a singer, songwriter and musician. I should have known because the theme song for the podcast was awesome and it was him singing it. Then, during an ad read on his podcast, he mentioned he had a new album coming out, that was "Bye Bye 17", and he would play a snippet of the single, "Lady, You Shot Me". That song is a classic throwback R&B song, and Har Mar nailed it. The rest of that album is much of the same. It's very old school R&B sung by a chubby, balding white dude that looks like Ron Jeremy, and it is so awesome. He portrayed himself as a sex symbol, and me being a bit overweight and chunky, I loved his confidence. Even my wife, who when I showed her his picture was dumbfounded, said she likes the confidence with which he carries himself and she too loves his voice. "Bye Bye 17" was a revelation and it opened the door to me to get all his old records.

As I stated, the early stuff is poppy and "Bye Bye17" is R&B, so I was on pins and needles when I found out he was recording a new record. I didn't know what to expect. So, when I woke up this morning, the first thing I did, after feeding my children, was buy "Best Summer Ever". As I sat down to breakfast I turned the album on. When myself and my kids are eating breakfast, we tend to listen to music in the morning as opposed to watching TV or just sitting in silence. My 4 year old loves to have dance parties in the morning and my 6 month old likes the sound of music, it calms her body. So, I decided we would listen to Har Mar's new record. I put it on and was immediately intrigued by how different it sounded from any of his old records. The opening track, "I Hope", is a short, new wave rock song. It sounded like something Duran Duran or The Cars would have released during the beginning of the new wave phenomenon. I was shook at how good and how weird it sounded. Har Mar's voice was deeper and different from before. It almost seems like he is taking music seriously, not that he didn't before, but this album is devoid of funny lyrics, it's a straight up new wave album, and I love it. After "I Hope", there was one great song after another. I particularly enjoy songs like "Anybody's Game", "Haircut" and "It Was Only Dancing(Sex)". They all have that new wave sound. You know what I'm talking about. There's a synthesizer, muffled, reverberated vocals and gruff guitars. The band sounds so tight on this album and these three songs really show it. To hear Har Mar sing with different vocal stylings is so awesome. He nailed the pop and R&B, and now he nails the new wave sound. His voice is so great on this whole record. He does do some R&B type songs on this record. The one that instantly comes to mind is the albums closer, "Confidence". It's actually a mix of new wave, R&B and 50's style love song. It's so good. He also does a one minute long acoustic tune that's dynamite called "My Radiator". It's a totally different change of pace from the rest of the album, but it totally works. He even has a punkish song called "Famous Last Words" on this album. He plays power chords and yell sings the lyrics, and much like the rest of the album, the song is wonderful.

Obviously, I really, really enjoy this album. It's so different from what I'm used to, but that is a sign of an artist growing and experimenting, and we all know that I like when the bands and musicians I listen to try new stuff. Going back to the dance parties my four year old likes to have for a minute. He got up from his seat at the breakfast table this morning and told me he needed to dance because "this music is really neat". That's a great endorsement if you ask me.

Har Mar did it once again. He made yet another great album. I don't understand why he isn't more well known, but hey, I'll gladly continue to pay 12 bucks to see him in smaller clubs. That's how I like my live music and that's exactly what I will be doing in less than a month now when he comes to play the Firebird here in Saint Louis. I cannot wait to see him play these new songs live.

If you're a fan of Har Mar's, buy "Best Summer Ever" because its' great and it shows growth. It's a really good album and hopefully it will start to get him the recognition he deserves. I highly recommend it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Are you an artist who will be performing in St. Louis this year? Contact Ty and he will review your show. The best place to find Ty is on twitter @tykulik.

"Boys Among Men" is a Must Read for Any NBA Fan

With the Season over, it is time to download and read about the NBA

Before I get started with my blog today, I need to touch on Kobe's last game last night. Yes, he scored 60 points and yes, the Lakers won, but stop with the love. First of all, he had to take 50 shots to get there! Let me repeat that, 50 SHOTS! That is way, way too many shots. He also shot 22 of 50, which looks nice at 44%, but still, 50 shots, come on. Also, the Warriors broke the single regular season record for wins last night, but you wouldn't know that if you turned on any TV sports show today because they are all only talking about Bryant. The Warriors won 73 games! My god, that's wildly impressive, but no one is talking about it. Good for you Kobe, you scored 60 points in your finale, but it took you 50 shots and your team won 17 games all year. Bravo. Now go away and never return. Okay, that's out of the way.

I just recently finished one of the best books that I have ever read. I'm not much of a reader, so for me to buy and finish a book in less than 2 weeks is a big deal. This book is absolutely phenomenal and it has a great subject matter. The book is called "Boys Among Men" and it's about the prep to pro generation that took over the NBA from 1995-2005.

This was such a fascinating read. I'm a huge NBA fan and I became a huge NBA fan right around this wave of high schoolers forgoing college and declaring for the draft at 18. One of the best things about this book was the fact that the author, former Grantland contributor and all around awesome NBA writer, Jonathan Abrams, not only focused on the successful ones that did it, but he dedicated equal time to some that barely, or never, spent any time in the NBA.

I knew that I was going to like this book from the very first page because the book opened on Kevin Garnett and his ascension to the top of the high school basketball player rankings. Abrams did talk about Moses Malone, Daryl Dawkins and a relative unknown prep to pro player from the 70's, Bill Willoughby, but the first chapter was pretty much all about Garnett. I'm a huge Kevin Garnett fan. I've been a fan of his his entire career and I respect the hell out of him. This book did not make my fandom waver one bit. He was a down on his luck, quiet kid that just wanted to blend in. He ran into academic and, unlawfully accused, police action, so his decision was pretty much assumed the moment he moved to Chicago to finish his high school career. He was going to go pro, it was just a matter of where he would be drafted and how he would be brought along. I loved the stories that were told about the back and forth between Kevin McHale, the Timberwolves coach at the time, and Flip Saunders, the GM, about whether to take Garnett or not. It was fascinating. As I said, I was immediately on board. It didn't even matter that the next chapter was solely focused on Kobe Bryant.

I've made it very well known about how I feel about him, and this book did not change my mind either. Her has been, and will always be, a dick. This book told that story very well. But, when the first two players since Moses Malone to go straight from high school to the pros are Bryant and Garnett, it seems like everyone is going to be a star, but that is not quite the case. Sure, Abrams talks about guys who had pretty decent, long lasting, even multi all star appearances NBA careers like, Jermaine O'Neal and Tracy McGrady, but he also brings up the guys that weren't ready and needed college, or just proper role models in their life. Guys like Korleone Young, Robert Swift, Jonathan Bender, Lenny Cooke, Jeremy Tyler and Leon Smith. Some of the stories from these guys are downright depressing and riddled with one bad decision after another. Some you will feel sorry for, others, you will think, they were too young and made dumb decisions, because every 18 year old makes dumb decisions. The stories about Lenny Cooke and Leon Smith are so sad because you can easily predict what will happen, and what happens is very depressing. Abrams even focuses on guys that had decent careers after starting out very tough. We get great stories on Kwame Brown, Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler and Monta Ellis. Sure, they had a very tough start to their careers, but they kept with it, got better, made millions of dollars and carved out a niche for themselves to make it in the league. Some of their stories are downright uplifting.

The book closes with Leon Smith's story, but prior to that, we get the LeBron James story, and you may not believe it now, but at one point in his high school career, he wasn't looked at as the best high school player in the country. It's pretty cool to read about a very young LeBron James. Abrams also touches on Sonny Vacaro and the shoe industry that he helped build and also talks about how shady some of the things that Vacaro, Reebok, Adidas and Nike did to these young kids after some got some shine and fame.

"Boys Among Men" is a great book and a must read for every hard core NBA fan out there. Hell, I think even bandwagon NBA fans would enjoy this book. This was a fascinating time in the NBA and it lasted for one full decade and Abrams captures that exceptionally. I highly recommend you check out "Boys Among Men".

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He went out last night in his rec league basketball game and dropped 100 points on 100 shots, so his percentage is still better than Kobe's. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik. 

Thank God the Kobe Era is Over

Tomorrow the Sun will rise on a better NBA

Ed Note: Check out Ty's initial reaction when Kobe announced he was going to retire.

Tonight marks the final game in the 18 year career of Kobe Bryant. Now, I'm not going to shower him with praise and talk about how great of a player he was, I'm going to do quite the opposite in fact. You may or may not have heard me already bash him on the mini podcast this morning, but in this blog, I'm going to really roast him.

Let's get the very few nice things I have to say about him out of the way first. Yes, he was a great scorer, top five all time perhaps. Sure, he won 5 championships. Yes, he was a multi all star and all NBA performer. And yes, he stuck with one team his entire career.

Now, thankfully that's all out of the way. I feel kind of dirty for saying anything nice at all, but it beared noting.

Time for the very long list of things I dislike about him and why I think he is one of the most overrated super stars of my generation. Let's start at the beginning. He declared for the draft straight out of high school the year after Kevin Garnett. First of all, I think he was mad that someone got to do that before him, but Garnett is one year older, so there was nothing he could do about that. But, it was the way he declared that has me dislike him right from the start. Bryant is only 4 years older than me, so when he declared, I was 14. The arrogance and cockiness with which he announced his decision was downright absurd. He acted like he was the best thing since sliced bread. Wearing sunglasses in doors and smiling like an asshole the whole time. What a douchebag. When Garnett declared, he seemed humble and happy at the opportunity. Not Bryant, he was cocky from the beginning.

Then, to have his agent tell teams he wouldn't work out for them, I mean, who in the hell does he think he is? He was an 18 year old that hadn't really done anything of note against any real competition. There is no way I would have drafted him based on that alone, but I would never draft a teenager, that's just me.

Then, the shadiness that went into him being drafted by Charlotte, then traded to the Lakers was beyond belief. If this kid was so good, how come 12 teams passed on him in the draft? The people who think that the draft lottery is fixed should definitely look at this moment as one of the catalysts.

Then, he gets in the league and is immediately upset at his lack of playing time on a perennial playoff contending LA Lakers team. I ask again, who in the hell did he think he was at 18? Veterans are going to get the minutes over a teenager on a good team. That's the way it has always been.

Then, when he did get his chance, he was a ball hog and a very porous shooter. He never looked for the open man, he only looked for his shot. He didn't care how the play was drawn up, he only cared if he got the shot. So, he was a terrible teammate from the moment he was drafted into the NBA.

Then, he did put in work to become a good scorer, but he didn't really focus on much else. I don't care what anyone at ESPN, Bleacher Report or Sports Illustrated says, he was not the leader and not the reason those Laker teams won titles. Had they not went out and acquired Shaq, and let Kobe be the leader, they would have been lucky to be a playoff team. Shaq made them a dominant force. But, was that good enough for Kobe, to be a multiple title winner? Of course not, because he was not the focal point of that team. The offense ran through Shaq and Kobe hated that. How selfish do you have to be, that you feud with, probably, the best center to ever play basketball? Why not just be happy to be the number two option on a perennial title contender? Kobe got dealt the best hand he could have ever imagined when the Lakers signed Shaq, but instead of being happy, he decided he wanted to feud. Kobe could never get along with Shaq, and that's a shame. As I stated, he was mad that Shaq was the man, but he also couldn't deal with the fact that everyone liked and knew that Shaq was a better player and teammate. This also drove him nuts, which, in turn, drove me nuts. He would openly complain about Shaq and Phil Jackson to the media. He would drag their names through the mud at any and every opportunity he got. What a childish act. Even when Bryant was accused of sexual assault, which I will touch on in a bit, he tried to turn the tables and say that Shaq fooled around too. Basically, he was DeAngelo Russell in the early 21st century. I mean, what a jerkoff.

Then, the front office gave in to their bratty, whiny star and traded Shaq away. Now, Kobe was the focal point of the team and guess what, the Lakers were mediocre at best. Sure, they'd win 43 or 44 games, but they never seemed to get out of the first round. Bryant proved he could not lead a team, no matter how many shots he took. But, some people will say, he won a title after Shaq left, but I will say, he didn't win until he got Pau Gasol, another top tier center. Bryant himself cannot lead a team to titles, he needs at least one other superstar. You know who never needed another star player to win titles, Michael Jordan. And, don't give me that whole Scottie Pippen is an all time great bull shit. Pippen, in the lone season where he was the main man on the Bulls, he sat out crucial moments in critical playoff games and the Bulls were very mediocre. Pippen may be the luckiest player to ever play in the NBA. Jordan was, and will always be, the GOAT. Kobe Bryant isn't a tenth of the player that Jordan was. Hell, I'd take Jordan right now before I'd take Kobe.

Then, after fracturing another relationship with another all star, Gasol left and the Lakers returned to mediocrity.

Then, the injuries started to pile up.

Then, the tanking began.

Then instead of taking a back seat to the new, younger nucleus, Bryant decided he needed to sign a two year extension that paid him 20 million a year. How did he expect to get this money and to get back to the playoffs, I will never know. He single handily crippled the Lakers franchise with this abomination of a contract. The Lakers couldn't go out and get the high profile player that Bryant needed if they wanted to compete again because Bryant's contract ate up all the extra cap space they might have had. They could get meetings, but they couldn't sign anyone worth noting. Yeah, they got Steve Nash, who was on the very back end of his career and rarely played, and yeah they got Dwight Howard, but he and Bryant feuded because Bryant seems to hate big men, but those teams were never very good.

Then, after Nash retired and Howard signed with the Rockets, the Lakers went into full tank mode, but they were still being led by Bryant. They tried to win again by drafting young talent, and boy has that planned completely backfired. Julius Randle broke his leg during his very first game as a rookie. We all know what's going on with DeAngelo Russell now. And who are they going to take this year? Either Ben Simmons, who may or may not be a head case, no one seems to know, or Brandon Ingram, who is good, but needs to gain weight and put in a lot of time to get used to the long NBA season. This team is a dumpster fire and it's because of Kobe Bryant. He is also, according to stats, which I don't usually care about, the worst shooter in the entire NBA this, his final season. And oh yeah, the Lakers are 16-65 at the moment. Tell me the last team led by Jordan that was under .500? None.

I cannot wait for tonight's game to be over so I can stop hearing about "Kobe's Farewell Tour". He stinks now and his team is historically bad. They are irrelevant. In a season where the Warriors should be the one and only story, Kobe Bryant has found a way to take that from them. He is selfish in every aspect of his life. The Warriors should be the top story on every sports news station, but when I turned on ESPN this morning, they were talking about Kobe's last game. They felt that a 16-65 Lakers team playing a 40-41 Utah Jazz team was a bigger story than the Warriors going for 73 wins tonight. What a crock of shit.

Bryant's terribleness goes beyond the court into his real life as well. As I said earlier, he was accused of sexual assault. First off, what kind of monster physically forces themselves on an unwilling person? The scum of the Earth only does stuff like that. Then, he admitted to having relations with this woman, but assured the media that it was consensual. Even if it was consensual, he was married at the time. So, that makes him a double scum bag. He allegedly forces himself on this woman and he is cheating on his wife at the same time. He is a real piece of human garbage. I know people will say stuff like, that's the past and he's made up for that, but you know who will never forget that day? The lady he may have forced himself on. She will always remember that, and that will always haunt her. He is also a terrible role model for his young teammates and young kids in general. He doesn't lead a team so much as he berates people who won't do things his way. He is, and always will be, selfish. He thinks his way is right, even though his way is ball hogging and yelling. I don't know of many athletes that get better or try harder when they get berated. That's not a quality teaching method.

Plus I cannot stand this whole "Kobe's Farewell Tour" and the #ThanksKobe bull shit. This farewell tour has been a giant jerk off session for his massive ego. He goes into visiting arenas, shoots 3 for 30, and visiting players shower praise on him. What a crock. He is way past his prime and he should have retired 5 years ago. Great players like Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, LeBron James, they are all stroking his ego even more, telling him what a role model he's been to them. Bull shit. You guys would have been just fine had he been a run of the mill NBA player. Don't give in and tell him he is great, that's what he wants to hear. I also don't buy that he is some kind of nice person now either. He always has been and always will be a selfish asshole that only worries about how he looks. I guarantee if it were LeBron James and not Kobe Bryant retiring, Bryant wouldn't say one nice thing about James. He would not even open his mouth.

So, instead of lavishing him with praise like most other publications and websites will be, I'm going to say screw you Kobe Bryant. You have always been an ass, and you will always be an ass. You're an ungrateful piss ant that has never been satisfied with having the finest things in your life. You're a curmudgeon. You're a whiner. You're way past your prime. And you are no role model to me or my family. I'm glad I won't have to hear from you anymore after tonight. Good riddance and I hope you never resurface on a basketball court or an arena or on a television broadcast of any kind. I don't want to see your face or your overbite anymore. Goodbye forever.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Do you have passion like Ty? Come write for us. Also make sure you follow Ty on twitter @tykulik. 

Cloves and Fedoras: Listen and Enjoy Wolfie's Just Fine Debut Album "I Remember But Then I Forgot"

Last week the band Wolfie's Just Fine released their debut album, "I Remembered But Then I Forgot", and it is really good. Now, for those of you that haven't heard of Wolfie's Just Fine, I bet most of you know their lead singer and guitar player, Jon Lajoie.

Lajoie is a comedian and actor from Canada. He has had small parts in movies and TV shows, but he is best known for playing the role of Taco on "The League". He and Rafi(Jason Mantzoukas) were my personal favorite characters on the show. Taco was the younger, stoner brother of Kevin(Steve Ranizzissi). He was always broke, but coming up with new business ventures. Anytime Lajoie was on, it was bound to be hilarious. He also has released solo, comedy music records under his own name. I own these albums as well. I bought them after I heard him sing on "The League". I thought the stuff he did on the show was funny, and the albums are just the same. It's goofy music. He sings folk, rock, pop and rap songs, but they are all very vulgar and very hilarious. He has some great songs on his first couple of solo records. Some of my favorites are "Stay At Home Dad", a Rage Against the Machineesque rock song about changing diapers, feeding his baby and making dinner for the family. He also has a folksy tune about the horrifying "2 Girls One Cup" video, where he almost makes it a love song. It's disgusting and terrifying and awful, but damn it's catchy. He has a fake, almost comically bad rap song called "Show Me Your Genitals", that is exactly what you think it's about. The way Lajoie raps the song is great and very funny. Basically, all his early music and his YouTube channel is based on comedy. He doesn't take himself too seriously, and I like that.

About a month ago, I had heard rumors that he was going to make a "real" album. No jokes, very little swear words and have a real, straight up folk band backing him up. I was intrigued. This wasn't the same feeling I experienced with Donald Glover when I found out he was a rapper who went by Childish Gambino. I thought he would be jokey, but he is a straight up rapper, and he is very good. The feeling I had when hearing that Lajoie was going to put out a real folk album was gloom. I didn't know if it would work. His comedy stuff is so funny and plays to his persona so well, I didn't want him to stray from that.

Then, about 2 or 3 weeks ago, Lajoie released the first single from Wolfie's Just Fine, "It's a Job", and I listened with caution. Instead of the gloom I initially felt, I immediately loved the song. His voice was a perfect fit for this style and genre of music. The backing band was great, never playing too loudly or too softly, they hit the sweet spot. I don't know why I had the gloom feeling at first, because a lot of his comedy music is folk based. So, instead of being dirty or gross, he just wrote and sang regular old folk songs and the single is awesome.

The album came out last Friday and I bought it that day. I have listened to the album three full times now, and it gets better and better to me every time. I love Lajoie's voice on every song. I love the band on every song. I love the lyrics and I love the music. I genuinely love this entire album. It's all folk, but the band does both slow and upbeat folk songs. It's really good guys.

Besides, "It's a Job", there are some other great songs like "I Forgot", "Todd and Janelle", "Never Me", "Marie-Eve" and "Running From My Savior". "I Forgot" is one of the slower folk songs, with a great guitar riff and great lyrics. The song slow burns and the riff running through the whole song is wonderful. It's a beautifully slow, throw back folk song. "Todd and Janelle" is a great, faster love song about two people that don't seem to really like each other. It's the only song with swear words on it, but it's not to shock, it's needed to explain the relationship between the two title characters. The music is faster, with a great drum groove. I didn't like the song at first, but on the third listen, I was on board and it's one of my favorite tunes on the whole record. "Never Me" has a great piano groove and awesome vocals from Lajoie. The song is very Billy Joel esque, but in a good way. I don't care for Joel personally, but I do enjoy his faster piano music and this is Lajoie's best interpretation of a good Billy Joel song. It's one of the more fun songs on the record. "Marie-Eve" is a wonderful love song. It's all the best things about old school folk stuffed into one 3 minute song. This song could have easily been written and sung by a young Bob Dylan. I wouldn't have been surprised had it been on the soundtrack for "Inside Llewyn Davis" had it been released at the time. I love this song. It's probably my favorite song on the whole record. The closer, "Running From My Savior" is so good and kind of boastful. It's a very good mix of rock and folk, definitely leaning more folk, and it finds Lajoie calling himself a God at the end of the song and during the chorus. I like that he can still be boastful, even when making a legit album. It also doesn't hurt that the song is very well written and very well played by the band.

I love this whole album, obviously. I hope Lajoie continues to do both styles of music. I still really enjoy his comedy music, but I really, really like this new direction he has taken. As I've written many times before, it's nice when musicians and singers take chances, and this is a huge risk taken by Lajoie, that totally pays off. I hope this album gets Lajoie noticed and recognized more in the music business. He's a well known actor by now, but he needs to be more well known as a musician.

Remember when listening to Wolfie's Just Fine, if you are already a Lajoie fan, it is not comedy, it is legit music. Don't expect jokes. But, I think if you are a true fan of his, you will really enjoy this album and really like this direction he is moving in. I love the band and I love the album. Go check it out if you are already a fan of Lajoie's, but also check it out if you are a fan of folk music. It's worth a listen, and I think all fans will really like it. I know that I do.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is getting more and more interested in the world of comedy - music fusion. His most anticipated film of 2016 fits this bill. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Michigan's Satellite Camp Upset the Wrong Group of Crybabies

The look the NCAA gave to Jim Harbaugh

As was expected, last Friday the stupid NCAA, and their equally stupid president, Mark Emmert, deemed the satellite camps that Jim Harbaugh was running illegal. They didn't really give a quality reason, but at this point, why would we expect a good answer from the corrupt NCAA. All they and Emmert had to was get some big named SEC, ACC and other Big Ten, high profile coaches, to complain that this was "unfair". They didn't think of it, so it had to be unfair, right? The NCAA's rule book is so thick and filled with some of the dumbest, most inexplicable rules, these satellite camps had to be illegal? Wrong to both of those questions.

There was no rule saying that coaches couldn't hold camps like this over spring break. If the players wanted to give up their free time and the coaches wanted to give up their free time, they were allowed to do that. It lasted for two years. After this second one was completed, these big name coaches came out and started to complain. Guys like Will Muschamp thought it was unfair. Gus Malzahn chimed in with his two cents. Even Big Ten colleagues, like the two biggest douchebags in the conference, Urban Meyer and Mark Dantonio, first complained, then decided that they wanted to bring their players to a camp like this. So, they didn't like it at first, but when they found that they could recruit in the South, in the offseason, they wanted to come aboard. What a bunch of lemmings.

None of these coaches voices mattered. It wasn't until early last week when Satan himself, Nick Saban, came out and said he thought that theses camps were illegal and unfair. As soon as I read that Saban was upset with what Harbaugh was doing, I knew these satellite camps had little to no time left. That was all the NCAA and Mark Emmert needed to hear. The NCAA and Emmert do not want to upset the "mighty" SEC and the "mighty" Nick Saban and their partner in crime, ESPN. These three were the loudest, biggest whiners and dissenters when talking about these camps. Mike Wilbon would openly berate Jim Harbaugh on "PTI" for, "taking these kids away from their families to work on Spring Break". I would always think to myself, had Pat Fitzgerald come up with this idea, he would never be this clever or innovative because he is an idiot, Wilbon would love this idea. But, since it came from a coach at Michigan, he was opposed. Speaking to Nick Saban complaining about this, he is just jealous that he didn't think of it first. He would have abused this to no end, had he set up satellite camps in the Midwest and the North, to recruit and make his team even better. And, the NCAA would have praised him for doing it. He would have done it year round as well. Harbaugh only did it for one week of the spring. Saban would be doing right now, had he thought of it first.

Yes, I'm a Michigan fan, we all know this by now, but I truly believe that what Harbaugh has done, in less than 2 years, has the "mighty" Nick Saban worried. Saban is a great college coach, but he has never really been challenged by anyone at the college level. People usually cower in fear of him. He is a bully to his players, his staff and sports writers, but they never challenge him. But, Harbaugh is openly going after him now, specifically setting these camps up in his territory and I think that has scared him. That's why he came out and condemned the camps. This is the first time since he rejoined the college ranks that he has been challenged by another coach and he is scared. He knew that if he ran to the NCAA and Emmert and complained, they would bow to his request. That is the move of a coward. The SEC is filled with cowards that are terrified of being challenged by an outsider. That is why guys like Muschamp and Malzone complained too. They are scared, especially Muschamp after what the Wolverines did to his "vaunted" defense in the Citrus Bowl this year. Then, to have coaches in your own conference complain, I mean, what a dick move.

I expected this from Urban Meyer because he only knows how to cheat the system. He illegally recruits and passes players with poor grades and lets players with multiple arrests continue to play with no repercussions. He is a world class cheater, so naturally he'd be upset that Harbaugh found a perfectly legal way to recruit in the South, in the offseason. But Dantonio complaining, that is straight up sour grapes. He is as bad a curmudgeon as Saban, but not nearly as good a coach and doesn't hold the levity that Saban has with the NCAA. He is a whiner and complainer and thinks he is way better than he truly is. He has gotten very lucky the past couple of seasons, and looked what happened when his team got in the playoff last year. I believe they got beat 1,000-0. He is not an upper echelon coach, no matter what he thinks and may say. He missed his best, and probably only chance, to win a title last year.

What it all boils down to, the NCAA and Mark Emmert are spineless and they couldn't care less about what these student athletes, whom they make millions upon millions of dollars on, choose to do with their free time. The NCAA wants to now control how these kids spend their free time. This is one of the biggest crocks in the decision making history of the corrupt NCAA. Why would they care about these kids all of the sudden? That was the reasoning, that these kids needed to have some free time away from their sport, but when do they ever really have free time? I've known people that play college sports, and no matter what level of competition, be it division 1 or division 3, they all let me know that it was a full time, year round job. They were either in the weight room, the film room, study hall or had a meeting with their coaches all school year and during the summer. I knew people that lived in the town where they played collegiately in the summer because that's what the coaches wanted them to do. So, no this has nothing to do with the NCAA suddenly worrying about these kids free time or their spring break, they weren't making any money off of the camps and the "almighty" Nick Saban was unhappy with the camps.

The NCAA, the SEC, Urban Meyer, Mark Dantonio and, most importantly, Mark Emmert are so gutless and so jealous and just out right ridiculous in deeming these camps illegal. Decisions like this are why people HATE the NCAA and why we all think the NCAA is corrupt. If they can't make money off of something, they will deem illegal and that is the biggest problem. Yes, I'm pissed that Harbaugh found a legal loophole to recruit the best players to come and play at Michigan, but I'm more pissed at the NCAA for giving in to some whiny, bratty coaches that were jealous that they didn't think of it first.

What a crock.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is angry that he has to be angry about college football in the spring. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty's MLB Season Preview

Here comes Ty to the plate

RD did the heavy lifting for me this week, previewing the already started MLB season. This is his territory when it comes to sports. He knows and he loves baseball more than anyone that I know. Me, I know and love baseball too, but I don't particularly care to start really paying attention until the playoffs. The season is way, way too long for one. Each team plays 162 regular season games. That's insane. I feel like the NBA has way too many regular season games and they only play 82. Almost half of what MLB plays. The season lasts almost 7 months. Ridiculous. So yeah, this early, I don't watch too closely. NBA playoffs are right around the corner and the summer time is when I catch up on some TV and movies I may have missed during the fall and winter. But, I still know enough about baseball to give my take as to how I see the season and the playoffs playing out. My preview won't be as in depth, but I wanted to let you all know how I thought the season would play out and who will win the World Series.

Let's go.

Instead of going division by division, I just want to pick who I think will win and why. First off, I'll do the American League. Before I get this all started, I think the AL is in a slight decline right now. Yeah, the Royals won last year, but they played the Mets and the Mets played out of their minds down the stretch. The AL reminds me a lot of the Eastern Conference in the NBA. So, I think the Toronto Blue Jays will win the AL East. They are one of, if not the, best teams in baseball. Yeah, they lost David Price, but he was not good in the playoffs and I don't think him not being on the team will matter all that much. They still have a good staff and a great lineup. They will hit a lot of home runs and they will shut a lot of teams down on defense. I love the Blue Jays and I love the way they play. Kansas City will win the AL Central, but it will be close. I think Cleveland, not Detroit, will be the biggest threat. This division is pretty good when you look at it. The Royals are the defending champs, the Tigers have Miguel Cabrera and a decent pitching staff, Cleveland has a great small ball lineup and Corey Kluber, who may be the best pitcher in baseball that no one knows and Minnesota and the White Sox both have decent, young players. The Royals will win the division because they have the experience and they have the best pitching staff and the best lineup. They are becoming great again and I enjoy when small market teams beat up on the big market teams. The AL West, on the other hand, is pretty terrible with 2 exceptions, the Astros and the Rangers. The Rangers have the lineup, but the Astros also have a good lineup and they have a much better pitching staff, led by reigning Cy Young winner, Dallas Kuechel. The Angels are getting older and not better. I feel bad for Mike Trout, because he is great, but that team has overpaid for aging stars for much too long and it's crippled the future of the team. The A's are just bad. And every year the Mariners are supposed to turn it around, but they never do. I do like the Rangers in this division. I know the Astros have a better pitching staff, but the Rangers will hit a lot of home runs and it is dreadful to play there in the summer time. They may be the only team in pro baseball with a true home field advantage and that will help them win the division title. So, that leaves me with two wild cards. I'm going to pick Cleveland and Houston. I really like both those teams. For the ALCS, I think it will be Houston and Toronto, and I think Toronto will go to the AL pennant, with relative ease. This, RD and I agree on.

One different thing I want to do is pick a team that will be a "bust" in each league. My "bust" for the AL is the Boston Red Sox. Sure, they got David Price, but what else do they have anywhere on the field or in the pitching staff? Not too much. Hanley Ramirez is a mess. Pablo Sandoval got beat out by some random dude, and then there is really nothing else to brag about. The Red Sox are not as good as some will lead you to believe. Don't let the Price signing fool you.

In the National League, we will start with the East. The NL East is about as bad as the AL West. There is only two decent teams and they are the Washington Nationals and the New York Mets. Sure, the Mets are the reigning NLCS champs, but they got very hot and very lucky at the exact right time last year. That won't happen again. They have a great staff and they will finish above .500, but the Nationals are going to walk with this division. They are constant underachievers, but Bryce Harper will not let this team take a tumble again. They also have a great pitching staff and a pretty decent lineup around Harper. They finally, and mercifully, fired Matt Williams and made a great hire with Dusty Baker. They will win the division and may win 100 plus games. There is no need to even mention the 3 other teams in this division because they are terrible. The NL Central will be highly competitive once again. It's a three team race with the Cubs, the Pirates and the Cardinals. The Reds and the Brewers are both going through rebuilds and they won't be a factor. What has been a division owned by the Cardinals lately, will change this year. The Cardinals lost a lot from last years team and they didn't so much in free agency. Oh, they got older too. This will most likely be a step back year for them. By step back year, I think they will only win 86 or 87 games. But, the Pirates and the Cubs will be legit. The Pirates have a very good pitching staff and a great lineup, led by one of my favorite and one of the best, and most underrated superstars in Andrew McCutcheon. He's awesome and the Pirates are really good. But, the Cubs are definitely on the rise. I hate to admit this, because I'm a lifelong Cardinals fan, but the Cubs crushed us in the playoffs last year, and they only got much, much better this offseason. They locked up Rizzo and Bryant. They signed Jon Lester last year. They lured Jason Heyward away from the Cardinals to only boost their already potent outfield. And they signed a bunch of other great role players. This could be the year that the Cubs finally break the curse. They are, on paper, the best team in baseball right now, and it's not really that close. They will win the Central and they will win more than 100 games doing it. I don't want to hear whiny Cubs fans trying to tamper expectations either. You guys are the best team and you better damn well prove that. No more excuses for them. It's an even year, so the San Francisco Giants should easily win the NL West, right? Well, I think they will win, but the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers, and maybe even the Padres, will give them a run for their money. Yes, the Giants signed two big time free agent pitchers, but the Diamondbacks got Zack Greinke and they still have Paul Goldschimdt. The Dodgers did lose Greinke, but they still have Clayton Kershaw, and he's a great regular season pitcher. The Dodgers also have a very good lineup, but they are starting to become the NL's version of the Angels. Lots of big names, but nothing to show for it. The Padres have a very decent lineup, but their pitching leaves a lot to be desired. I still think they will be, at least, a .500 team. The Diamondbacks will be the Giants main competition, but they are still a pitcher and an offensive weapon away from truly competing. I really love their signing of Greinke though. The Giants will win the West, but look out for the Diamondbacks in a year or two. So, that leaves us with the NL wildcards. This time around, the Central will only send two teams to the playoffs because I think the Pirates and the Mets will win the two remaining spots. That's right, no St. Louis and no Dodgers. They're both old, but they will both reload and be back on top soon enough. I think the NLCS will be the Cubs and the Nationals. I think this is a very interesting matchup because the Cubs are, right now, where the Nationals were two years ago. The Cubs are the new darlings and almost everyone is picking them. I'm no exception and I think the Cubs will pull it out in seven games and play the Blue Jays in the World Series.

Now, if the Cubs don't win the World Series this year, when will they? They have the best team in baseball, I cannot stress that enough. They should easily beat the Blue Jays in the World Series. As much as I hate to write it, the Cubs should, and will, win the World Series this year. They will break the curse and they will make me not watch "Sportscenter" and fast forward through a ton of "PTI" segments for the next couple of years. The Cubs will win and the sports media will be insufferable in their non stop coverage. It will be so much worse than when the Red Sox won in 2004.

My "bust" from the NL is the Cardinals. They are always good, but they will take a step back. They do have a very good pitching staff, but it's older and Adam Wainwright is coming off a torn ACL. Their lineup will not strike fear in any opponent either. They have no heavy hitters and they have players that get behind in the count way too often, I'm looking at you Matt Carpenter. Stop taking so many pitches and getting behind so early in the count. It's frustrating to watch. The Cardinals will step back and not be as good as they have been the past decade plus. It's due.

As I do with all my other previews, I will also give award predictions. The AL Cy Young will, once again, go to Kuechel. He is a beast. The MVP will be someone from the Royals, probably either Mike Moustakas or Lorenzo Cain. The manager of the year will be Terry Francona. In the NL, the Cy Young will go to Zack Greinke, the MVP, in a surprise to some, Paul Goldschmidt and the manager of the year has to be Joe Maddon.

So, there's my take on the baseball season. Sit back, because there is still a long time to go and I know RD will have something to say about my pick to win the World Series.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. The head editor is not currently speaking to Ty. The Cubs? Really? Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Jerry Sloan is One of the All Time Greatest NBA Coaches

With the news yesterday that former player and coach, Jerry Sloan, is now suffering from Parkinson's disease and early on set dementia, I found myself profoundly upset. I didn't expect this reaction to come from me. When he was coaching the Utah Jazz in the early to mid nineties, I disliked everything about that team. The Jazz were the only team that I disliked more than the Bulls back then.

To give you a point of reference as to where I was in my life at that time, I was a middle school aged child that was a Seattle Supersonics fan. So, naturally, I really, for lack of a better word, hated the Jazz because the Sonics couldn't beat them and I hated the Bulls because, when the Sonics finally beat the Jazz, they ran into the vaunted Bulls teams of the mid nineties. The Jazz and the Bulls exemplified two great, but two very irritating teams to a younger me. In fact, looking back at that time in my life, I think I disliked the Jazz even more than the Bulls.

The Jazz were led by Karl Malone and John Stockton. These two were world class butt heads in my opinion. I still believe that Stockton is the dirtiest player of all time in the NBA and Malone was so arrogant, it drove me nuts. They were coached by Jerry Sloan. As a young kid, he was the leader of this horrible dictatorship that they had going on in Utah. He put those guys out there and he coached them to play dirty, in my opinion at that time. Now, this blog isn't just to bust on the Jazz, but all this is needed to get to the main point. I'm not here to rip apart a guy that is very ill. I promise, I'll get to the good stuff soon, but this preamble is very necessary.

As I keep saying, I did not like this team or their coach when I was a child. I guess a better way to put it would be, I didn't appreciate or understand the game of basketball back then as much as I do now. Looking back at it now, the coaching and the ability to get the best out of the players you have on your roster was done masterfully by Jerry Sloan. Look, all of us, when we were pre teens, hated these teams that our team couldn't beat. We didn't understand the nuance and the spectacular coaching it took to get players that weren't as athletic or as gifted to play better and to game plan better. That all goes back to coaching.

I still, in my 30's, don't care for John Stockton or Karl Malone, but, damn, do I respect the hell out of Jerry Sloan. This didn't just come up yesterday when the news was announced, I've been on the Jerry Sloan bandwagon ever since he led a Jazz team led by Deron Williams to multiple payoff appearances. Those teams, in the early 2000's, had no business even being relevant, but, once again, Jerry Sloan got the best out of a mostly mediocre roster. I mean, look at what happened to Deron Williams when he left the Jazz for a max contract in New Jersey, his career imploded. I feel like a lot of that has to do with coaching. Williams left a great coach to get paid and to play for an inferior coach.

A couple of years after Williams left, Sloan retired. When he retired, much like I felt yesterday, I was stunned and a bit upset. I was sad that an all time great coach was leaving the NBA. There were, and still are, so few great coaches left and when Sloan retired, there was one less great coach. As I started to gain more knowledge of the game and the wit and will it takes to be a coach, that's when I earned respect for Sloan. Granted, this all came after he retired, but looking back, he was a great motivator and a great coach. To will teams with guys like Byron Russell, Jeff Hornacek, Tom Chambers and Mark Eaton to 50 plus win seasons and two finals appearances is incredible. Sure, he had two hall of famers in Stockton and Malone, but basketball is a 5 player team sport and no matter if you have two hall of famers, you have to get the other three starters and the bench players to be equally invested and Sloan excelled at that. He drew up some of the greatest pick and roll plays when he had Stockton and Malone. Those plays were deadly. Teams knew they were coming, but they still couldn't stop it because it was so well run and drawn up. Coaches still use his pick and roll philosophy today. It has lasted decades.

Jerry Sloan's best teams were the Stockton and Malone teams, but as I said before, he also led teams with players like the aforementioned Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko to 50 win seasons and multiple playoff appearances. They still ran the pick and roll, with Williams and Boozer, and while it may not have been as devastating, it still worked. It was a thing of beauty to watch when the Jazz would run their pick and roll. Go back and watch some footage of the play, it's wonderful. He continued to coach all the way until 2011 and he was still as fiery and competitive as he was when he was a player and very early in his coaching career. That's another thing that I respected later on about Sloan. He was so competitive and fiery, he would run up and down the court and constantly argue with the officials to stick up for his players. He'd get so fired up at times, it looked like he wanted to be on the court. I didn't like it as a child, but I love it as an adult. So, when he left in 2011, I was shocked, as I said earlier, and he left to little fanfare. He just resigned and was gone. Rumors would pop up occasionally that he may come back and coach again, but they never materialized. I feel like that's a good thing. He did such a good job and stuck with one team his whole career. I like that he left and didn't try to get back in the game, a la Phil Jackson and his current deconstruction of the Knicks.

This news yesterday though, it stinks. Sloan is an all time great, a hall of famer, and now he is suffering from not one, but two horrible, life threatening diseases. I've seen, first hand, what dementia can do to someone and it's not pretty. To throw Parkinson's on top of that, that is a bummer. I hate that an all time great like Sloan has to suffer like this. His body and his mind will soon deteriorate and he won't remember his great career, but fans of the NBA will always remember how great he was. Sloan is a once in a lifetime coach. He was Gregg Poppovich before Gregg Poppovich. He was the surly genius that all other coaches feared. I hope Sloan can somehow get better and live some sort of a normal life, but I just don't see that happening. It's unfortunate. I don't want to lose another NBA legend. We've already lost Daryl Dawkins and Moses Malone, please don't take another NBA legend from us way too soon.

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: We Miss Deadboy and the Elephantmen and also Ben Kweller

Instead of singling out one band for the greatest American band debate today, I want to talk about one band and one musician, that I'm a huge fan of both, that just kind of disappeared in the last five or six years. I was very high on both when they released new records, but one day, they both just vanished. I still listen to them in my car, but there has been no new music, at least to the best of my knowledge, from these two in a long time. This won't be like one of my previous blogs when I talked about bands I used to like, like Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals and the White Stripes, who I don't care for anymore. And it will not be like another blog when I wrote about bands on the cusp of greatness, like Alabama Shakes and Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears. These two each had potential, but they just up and vanished and I have been craving new music from each of them, but I don't know that it will ever happen again.

First, I'm going to address the band. The band that I'm talking about is Deadboy and the Elephantmen. This band was, and is still, great. This was a two piece band, consisting of guitar and drums. They came out in the early to mid 2000's and really used the two piece phenomenon to their advantage. The White Stripes and the Black Keys both started to gain notoriety in the mid 2000's , and a lot of 2 piece bands starting showing up. I listened to most of them, but besides the Black Keys, Deadboy and the Elephantmen really stuck with me. I really enjoyed their sound. It was one guy and one girl. They did the White Stripes thing, the guy playing guitar and being the lead singer and the girl on drums. They did branch out a bit, letting the lady do lead vocals on some songs. They sounded awesome together.

You may be reading this and saying that you have never heard of this band, but I know that you know at least one of their songs. The song that introduced me to this bad was called "Stop, I'm Already Dead". This song was played a ton, and it is still being played. In fact, it's the opening theme song to the show "I Zombie". It was a great, hard rocking song. They sounded a bit like early Black Keys, so I was on board. I loved the single, and I bought the whole album almost immediately. The rest of the record is fantastic. They play mostly rock songs, but there is also some slower, ballady type stuff on the record. I was really intrigued by their sound and I thought that they could take it in all kinds of different directions. I listened to the record on repeat for a long time. I figured they'd be coming out with new stuff soon because their debut album was awesome.

Eight or nine years later, and there is nothing. I don't know if I missed new material or if they just stopped after one record. I really liked this band a lot and I was hoping for a lot of records from them over the next decade. That unfortunately hasn't happened and I don't know what happened to them. I love and miss Deadboy and the Elephantmen. I truly expected great things from them, but I guess I will have to settle for their one record. At least it is a very good, very solid album.

The next person was one of my favorites. He's a solo artist and he is extremely talented. There were rumors that he'd play every instrument on the recordings of his records. His concert is one that RD and I have mentioned on the podcast a couple of times. That artist is Ben Kweller.

Straight out of high school, I loved Ben Kweller. I saw the video for "Wasted and Ready", and I was enamored. Kweller perfectly blended the lines of rock, pop, and even threw some punk in there for good measure. He also knew how to write a beautiful, acoustic love song. This dude was awesome. His first album, "Sha Sha", is about 35 minutes of some of the best rock/pop music that has ever been released. Every song on the record is awesome. The aforementioned "Wasted and Ready", "How it Should Be", "Family Tree" and "Lizzy" are all great and they are all mixed genres. This album was crucial listening in my town house for me and my roommates, one of which was RD. I was hooked on Ben Kweller after this. Just two years later, he released "On My Way". It wasn't as good as "Sha Sha", but I still loved it. This record was more love songs and more ballads, but, as I just said, it was great. I listened to it, and learned a lot of it on guitar, in about 2 weeks. Kweller was still big in my life as an early 20 year old. I anxiously awaited his next album, and two more years later, he released his self titled album. This was good, but it was a bit of a letdown for me personally. There wasn't much growth. He was really honing in on the pop/rock, and I had heard the same thing for two straight records. I still listened to the album, but I wanted something different from Kweller.

With his next album, I got exactly what I wanted. A lot of people aren't huge fans of "Changing Horses", but I think it is wonderful. I wanted different and "Changing Horses" is just that. This record is pure folk. Kweller wrote and plays everything on this album. He can write one hell of a folk song and he is masterful on slide guitar. I loved this departure from the norm. It was a breath of fresh air. He showed me, and his fans, that he could do something different. He didn't just have to write pop songs, he could really branch out. I think this record is a classic, but a lot of his fans will disagree.

I was hoping Kweller would take more chances. But in 2012, he released "Go Fly A Kite", and it was back to his pop roots. It's still good, but after the masterful "Changing Horses", I couldn't help but feel let down. The best thing about "Go Fly A Kite" was the fact that he released the tablature for the whole album. This made it even easier to learn his songs from this album on guitar. But, since then, Kweller has not released any music. It's been four years now, and I don't know if he quit making music, if he got bored of making music, or if he just wanted to focus on being a dad and husband, but I miss his music. I still have all his albums, but "Changing Horses" and "Sha Sha" are the two I listen to the most. Hopefully, he will return to making music, but you never know, and four years is a long layoff for someone that is not that famous.

I loved, and still love both Ben Kweller and Deadboy and the Elephantmen, I just wish they kept making more music. They were both unique and interesting in their own ways and I could only imagine how much better and more experimental they could have gotten, had they continued to make music. I miss you guys and I hope you reunite, Deadboy and the Elephantmen, and I hope you get the urge to write and record more, Ben Kweller, because the music business and the fans miss you.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Did you know Ty likes guitar music? He even has a favorite kind of guitar. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Villanova and UNC Represent how Great College Basketball can Be

Time to clean out the gym and wait till next year

What a great ending to what has been a very uneven men's college basketball season last night. That game was absolutely incredible. It was close all the way through. Both of the teams belonged in the title game. The older players were the ones who came through biggest in the end. The coaches traded jabs like prize fighters. The players traded jabs as well too. I was enamored with how well this game was played last night. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen, especially the last minute of the game. It was incredible.

Sure, there were mistakes made by each team, but watch any NBA game and you will see some mistakes and lapses of judgement. Basketball is a fun, but can be frustrating game at times, and even the pros make mistakes. The mistakes made in the title game were non factors in the final outcome. Even the refs, some Carolina fans might not agree with me, stayed out of the way and let the players play last night.

I have been very hard on men's college basketball, but this game hearkened back to the good old days of NCAA title games. First of all, we had two traditional power house programs playing for the title. I do like some of the smaller, non power 5 teams, like Gonzaga and Butler, but I'd much rather watch traditional teams play for the championship. We got North Carolina, who besides Kentucky, may be the most prestigious men's college basketball team, and Villanova who was once upon a time a Big East powerhouse, when the Big East still mattered, and it was tremendous. It was the highest level of college basketball you could get. Each team was senior, or at least upperclassmen, laden. There were some sophomores and freshman, but it was the upperclassmen who were the important players. Guys like Marcus Paige, Brice Johnson, Kennedy Meeks, Ryan Arcidianoco, Daniel Ochefu, Josh Hart and, the hero, Kris Jenkins, all played huge roles and they are all either juniors or seniors. They clearly knew how to play basketball with one another and it showed. This game was so much better than last years freshman laden Duke team versus the slower, plodding Wisconsin team. Sure, Wisconsin had seniors, but they were slow and methodical, in the worst possible way. Duke was good, but I didn't care about that game like I cared about this game. I had no skin in this game either. Last year, I rooted against Duke, this year, I just wanted a good game. I'm not a fan or a hater of either UNC or Villanova, like I said, I just wanted a good game and boy did I get exactly that.

This game was great from the tip. Both teams shot lights out in the first half. Every time UNC would make a shot, Villanova countered with a shot of their own. Carolina would hit a three, Villanova would come down and either, make a three themselves or hit a layup and get a turnover on defense and score quickly again. UNC looked as if they would pull away late in the first half though. They hit three straight threes and built their lead to 7 points with about a minute left in the half, but Villanova, as they've done all tournament, kept their composure, got a late steal on defense, converted that into a jump shot and cut the lead to 5 going into the locker room. Although they were down five, they seemed to have stolen momentum and they looked confident going in down 5. I figured UNC would start to flex their muscles in the second half and feed their big men, but they missed a ton of mismatches, and the guards started shooting three after three, but they went ice cold. Villanova just kept chipping away at the lead until they tied it at 46 with about 8 minutes left. From then on out, Villanova seemed to take control of the game. UNC's poor shooting continued and Villanova built their lead to as much as 10 with about 4 minutes left. I thought they were going to put it away, but UNC actually started driving the lane and their big men started to get easy buckets. They cut it to 4 with about 2 minutes left and this is when the game got really good. Scratch that, this is when the game became a classic. Villanova, who has great free throw shooters, missed some crucial free throws and UNC got it down to two. Villanova then made 1 of 2 free throws and UNC gathered the rebound and called a timeout, down three with 13 seconds left. I assumed that they were done. They hadn't been shooting well anywhere on the floor in the second half and I just figured their time was up. It looked that way with about 8 seconds left when Ochefu dove to steal a pass to Marcus Paige. Ochefu missed the steal and Paige lifted to shoot, but Arcidianoco ran out to defend, causing Paige to adjust his shot. No way it was going in I figured. No way Paige was going to make a double clutch, long three point attempt to tie the game. But, I'll be damned if he didn't hit anything but the bottom of the net. He made that shot look easy. The UNC bench and crowd was going nuts, figuring they pushed this game into overtime. Instead of folding, like a lot of teams would have, Villanova had one timeout left and drew up one of the great plays in tournament history. I also remember looking at my TV screen and seeing that 4.7 seconds were left. I said, out loud to myself, "that's a lot of time, they can get a good shot". Then, they ran this wonderful, classic play. The ball was passed in to Arcidianoco, he sped up the court drew two defenders, passed to a wide open Kris Jenkins and he released the ball. Looking at it, in real time, I thought that it looked decent, but it may pull a bit to the right. Well, as we all know this morning, the shot went in, the confetti fell, the Villanova players rushed the court and the title game was over, just like that. It was incredible.

Like I said, I had no skin in this game, but I jumped out of my couch and proclaimed, "I can't believe that went in! What a game!". I was so fired up, I had to calm down before going to bed last night. This was an incredibly well played and extremely exciting basketball game. This was the most perfect ending the NCAA could have hoped for after how bad the men's game has become in the "one and done " era. I know it's heartbreaking to be a UNC fan this morning, but you have to admit, this was a great, all time classic game. I know heartache when it comes to sports too. I'm a Michigan Wolverines fan and you have to look no further than this past seasons botched punt against MSU, so I do know what I'm talking about when it comes to brutal losses. It sucks now UNC fans, but it will get better. You have an all time great basketball program. The feeling should be the polar opposite if you are a Villanova fan. You should be ecstatic. You should be on cloud nine. You should be thankful to whomever or whatever you believe because your team is the national champions. You guys are the best team in men's college basketball and you won in spectacular fashion. You should, and I know you are, elated, and you will be until next season starts. Villanova is on top of the world right now.

I enjoyed every single second of this basketball game last night. The two best teams were there and they delivered. I'm sorry that I was tough on both of these teams entering this tournament. They both proved me wrong. This was classic and I'm so glad I got to see it in real time. Perfect ending to the men's college basketball season. Now, hopefully I get to see Warriors-Spurs in the NBA playoffs this year because that is the only thing, basketball wise, that will come close to what I witnessed last night. What a great, great game.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Watching a buzzer beater to win the championship ranks right up there with a good bacon double cheeseburger in Ty's world. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.