Debbie Wasserman Schultz's Empire of Dirt

Time for some rehab on DNC HQ

Current Democratic National Committee chairwomen Debbie Wasserman Schultz is not a very popular person these days. Vermont Senator, and current candidate for President of the United States, Bernie Sanders has endorsed the challenger in the Florida Congresswoman's Democratic primary. Most of the reports surrounding her tenure as the DNC chairwoman have not been flattering. The Democratic party has lost an extraordinary amount of down ticket races since the chairwoman took over the DNC. Many of the millennial voters who identify as Democrats view her unfavorably. Even Bill Moyers, a highly respected member of the Democratic Party intelligentsia, has repeatedly called on the chairwoman to resign. With so much discord, and an awful electoral track record, what kind of influence can Debbie Wasserman Shultz have in the 2016 election?

To the dismay of many democrats, Chairwoman Wasserman Schultz is one of the most powerful people in the current election cycle. Her influence has already helped steer the party in helping to make Hillary Clinton the party's Presidential nominee. During the early days of the 2016 primary season, Wasserman Schultz worked to get the number of Democratic Presidential Candidate debates very limited. Many political insiders felt that the debates hurt Clinton in the 2008 primaries. By reducing the number of debates, many felt that the DNC was trying to save Secretary Clinton from making any mistakes that could alienate Democratic Party voters. In one of the first DNC sponsored debates, Clinton did slip up by blindly defending Wall Street when the she was questioned about her ties to big money. This early slip up has stayed with Clinton the entire primary season. Any more debates would lead to more slip ups. 

Once the DNC and Chair Wasserman Schultz were called out on their obvious tactics to help Secretary Clinton, more debates were added. These new debates were scheduled at times not known for being friendly to television audiences. The Chairwoman was called out again for being biased towards the Clinton campaign, and once again the DNC was losing support of many Democratic voters.

Chair Wasserman Schultz influence is strongest through the use of party money and the superdelegates. The Democratic Party has used superdelegates, party insiders who get a vote at the convention to elect a Presidential candidate, since 1980. In 2008 Senator Clinton was trying to use superdelegates as a tool to give her campaign a narrow victory in the primary. At the same time Senator Obama was collecting more state primary wins and talking about the will of the people. Once Senator Obama had a majority of voters, the superdelegates were obliged to switch their support. Wasserman Schultz was a co chair to the 2008 Clinton campaign, and in 2016 the use of superdelegates is once again a key Clinton strategy. Senator Sanders won over 60% of the vote in the New Hampshire primary, yet all six of the state's superdelegates have pledged their support for Clinton. Why would these Democratic party insiders go against a large majority of their own voters?

Money is almost always the answer to why someone would do something against their own people. Under Chair Wasserman Schultz, the DNC has been virtual bankrupt. The chairwoman seems more interested in raising money for her own campaign, which she always wins with relative ease, than she does with raising money for the national party.  The only thing seemingly keeping the DNC financially afloat is the influx of money coming from the Clinton campaign's victory fund. The use of a victory fund means a candidate can pool large amounts of money from a single donor. No more separate checks for the primary, party, and general election. The victory fund allows these high dollar donors to write one big check. Secretary Clinton created a victory fund in conjunction with the DNC. The money raised is then distributed by the DNC to state party leaders. The large majority of these state leaders have pledged their support to the Clinton campaign. The New Hampshire Democratic party received $124,000 from the Clinton / DNC victory fund. Senator Sanders, like President Obama in 2008, does not a victory fund in conjunction with the DNC.

The undemocratic methods being employed by Chairwoman Wasserman Schultz is not the only reason many in the Democratic party want her to resign. The horrible record of getting democrats elected around the country has been a mighty thorn in the chairwoman's side. Since 2011, Democrats have lost an incredible amount of ground in municipal, state, and congressional races. The Ohio Problem has become a national problem under the leadership of Debbie Wasserman Schultz. What used to be seen as unelectable candidates, such as Matt Bevin in Kentucky, have been winning races because the incompetence at the DNC. The Democratic party is not embracing a new and young generation of leaders. The current practices of the DNC are turning off the next generation of voters. The Democratic Party is facing an extinction event thanks to Chairwoman Wasserman Schultz.

Under the leadership of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic Party has a name, and no real substance. The Democratic Party is an empire of dirt. It is time to rebuild with new, younger, and inspired leadership. This new leadership needs to embrace a whole country approach to the Democratic Party. The President can not make any real change without a Congress of like minded people. The Supreme Court will not be full unless the majority is run by grown ups who understand how the process works. The States will only thrive when their citizens are put ahead of out of state rich donors. Chairwoman Wasserman Schultz has watched the party decay. It is time for her to go so new leaders can build a better, more inclusive, future.

RD

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Are you running for office? Let SeedSing tell your story.

Last Generation Gamer: NBA Jam

Last Generation Gamer is Seed Sings way of reflecting on the greatest video games that were released before the current gen systems.  These are not necessarily reviews.  Let's look at these thoughts as a walk down memory lane.  If you have any ideas for Last Generation Gamer contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

Today I'm going to talk about what I consider to be the greatest sports video game of all time. Now, first off, I do not play a whole lot of video games. When it comes to non sports games, I played stuff like Crash Bandicoot, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario Brothers and fighting games(i.e., Streetfighter, Tyson's Punchout and Tekken).But, I used to play mainly sports games when I played video games. Tecmo Bowl was the very first football video game I played and fell in love with. Then, Madden came out and that was the greatest thing ever. I'm not a hockey or soccer fan, but I played a ton of Blades of Steel and Fifa on any system I could. I'm not a golfer, but I love me some Wii golf. I played a lot of baseball games on various systems. I loved all the EA baseball games that were released for the Xbox and PlayStation. I was a huge fan of early baseball games like RBI Baseball and the Ken Griffey Jr baseball game for the Nintendo.

Then, I found basketball video games and college football. First of all, this was the hardest part when I was debating the best sports game of all time in my head the other day. I loved, and was pretty damn good at, NCAA Football for the PlayStation and the Xbox. That was my jam. I figured that game out pretty early on and I was dominant. Just ask our editor RD about my acumen at NCAA Football (Ed note: Ty has a cheat code). He has thrown more than one controller at me during games. NCAA Football was the best, until they discontinued the making of the game. That broke my heart. I've heard rumors that they may bring it back, and I hope they do, but I deeply miss that game. That was the one game I would buy on the day it came out. NCAA Football was so much more important to me than games like Halo or World of Warcraft, or whatever other shooter or strategy games that came out that my friends played.

NCAA Football was great, but not the best. I have, for the most part  liked every basketball video game I have played. I love basketball, so it's a natural fit for me. I played a ton of Bird vs. Magic whenever I could get on the Nintendo at home. I adored the game Double Dribble. As I got older I got really into the Streetball series of games they made. RD and I had crazy, epic battles, that where even, at those Streetball games. Those games were a ton of fun. I play, very occasionally, maybe once or twice a year, the NBA2K games. Those are fun, but they are a bit harder than some of the other games I mentioned. But, the game that I keep going back to and continue to play, wherever I can find it, be it my Xbox or my iPhone, is NBA Jam.

NBA Jam is the greatest sports video game that has ever existed. NBA Jam was a genius moment by the creators of that game. I love that it is a 2 on 2 battle with the best players on each team, except for the Bulls. Michael Jordan wouldn't appear on the game because he had his own game, but that is negligent, because NBA Jam still ruled. I remember when it first came out, I was always, and only, the Supersonics. I found out that I could play a video game with my favorite team, with my two favorite players, and I was immediately hooked. The fact that I could be Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp was heaven to me. I would run up and down the court with Payton, freeing space for Kemp, throw Kemp an alley oop, and he would do the most fantastical slam dunk that I could ever dream up. Kemp would grab the ball, put it between his legs, go around his back, put it through his legs and jam it home. And I would do that 50 times a game.

I was pretty damn good with Kemp, Payton and the Sonics, especially when Kemp would catch fire. Everyone that has played the game knows what catching fire means. You make three shots in a row, without the other team making a basket, you are on fire. Being on fire meant that you could make a jumper from almost anywhere on the floor, or if you chose to dunk, you could do things like multiple flips and jump so much higher than anyone trying to defend you. When I would catch fire, I jacked up so many threes from near half court, and they were all cash. When I chose to dunk, it was the best. Catching fire on NBA Jam is the best power up or boost that any video game has ever created.

I played NBA Jam a lot in the 90's on Super Nintendo. When I wasn't the Sonics, I would pick other teams with one small, fast guard and one big leaper that was just as good at blocking shots as they were at dunking. The Magic were great for this with Penny Hardaway and Shaq. You could run with the Knicks with Ewing and John Starks. The Houston Rockets, with Kenny Smith and Hakeem Olajuwon was nearly unstoppable. The 90's era NBA was great for NBA Jam. The teams worked perfectly.

When I went to high school and college, I lost touch with the game. The NBA went through a lull in the early 2000's, and the game wouldn't have been as fun. This also coincided with the 3 or 4 years I stopped watching the NBA because it just wasn't that good. But, as recent as 5 or 6 years ago, I rediscovered NBA Jam while searching for old school games on my iPhone, and I instantly fell back in love. I was also getting heavily back into the NBA at this time as well, so it was kismet. I downloaded the game and I've been playing it ever since. It's really cool with the updated teams and rosters. Now, the best teams are the Warriors, Thunder, Cavs, the Heat and the Spurs. You can run with Curry and Thompson, shoot the lights out from three, especially when you catch fire. The Cavs have LeBron, and he is the greatest player on Earth. Put him with Kyrie Irving and you get that great dual threat of an awesome dunker and blocker with the quick footed, decent enough shooting guard. The Heat have Dwayne Wade and Bosh, pre injury. That gives you two very good shooters, one great defender and Wade gets to the basket with ease on the game. The Spurs have any number of players you could imagine. You can run with Duncan and Parker or LMA and Kawhi or Ginobli and Duncan, basically, the Spurs are really great in the newer NBA Jam. My team is the Thunder. As I said above, I was a Sonics fan, so when they moved to OKC, I followed them. Now, I can play NBA Jam and run with Durant and Westbrook. Durant has a great jump, good for blocking shots and dunking. He can also shoot from outside. Kevin Durant may be the best all around player not named LeBron on the game. Then, you get the fastest player in the NBA, Russell Westbrook, who is also a very good defender in the game. I love running with the Thunder and I have won many virtual titles with them.

What it all comes down to, NBA Jam was the perfect creation for all NBA fans out there. The game isn't that hard to figure out and you don't have to worry about a 5 man team. You get to choose just your two favorite players from your team. It's a perfect sports world. The graphics and the gameplay, as far as sports games goes, is second to none. NBA Jam is at the top of the mountain as far as sports video games, or for that matter, just video games goes. NBA Jam is the best and I'm so glad that they keep making it and keep updating it. I love this game and I will always love this game. Thank you for all the fun you have provided me NBA Jam.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. When he could not be the Sonics, Ty would settle for playing as Bill Clinton. Make sure you follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Hiring Jeff Hornacek is Phil Jackson's Latest Bad Decision

Another roll of the dice from Phil Jackson

The New York Knicks have reportedly hired Jeff Hornacek as their next head coach. This is an uninspiring hire, in my opinion. What has Hornacek done to deserve this job? Yes, he took a Phoenix Suns team two years ago that was going to tank and had them on the verge of nearly making the playoffs, but look at what happened after they traded away Goran Dragic and Marcus Morris and injuries beset that team. Look at how poorly prepared and how poorly they played this season. They went all in on trying to sign LaMarcus Aldridge, missed out on that, then still tried to cobble together a team that would fight for a 7 or 8 seed in the West. They went out and signed Tyson Chandler to help lure LMA to Phoenix, but that didn't work and they were left with only Chandler. I love Tyson Chandler. He is one of my all time favorite players. I love the tenacity with which he rebounds, plays defense and throws the ball down, but he is old, especially in basketball terms, and his prime is way past him. His prime past his last year in Dallas. I firmly believe that Chandler has a real shot at the hall of fame, but his playing days are all but over, and that pains me. So, to have Chandler as your back up plan to missing out on LMA, that's not great. This isn't to say that signing Chandler was all Hornacek's idea, the front office deserves equal, if not more, blame, but Hornacek still liked the signing enough to agree to it.

Then, the front office broke up the Morris twins. It's been widely talked about that they play best when they are on the same team, but the NBA is a business and trades happen. The fact that it's a business still didn't deter Markieff Morris from acting childish. He was a headache the moment they traded his brother. He said that he would never play in a Suns uniform again before last season started. Then, the season came and he wasn't getting paid, so he stepped back on the court, but he was a malcontent, hell bent on getting traded. He got his wish, but that made the Suns even worse. The head coach of an NBA team is supposed to be able to deal with stuff like this and get the best out of his players. Hornacek did the opposite. He looked defeated the moment Markeiff came back and constantly let his coach have it during timeouts on national TV. There are so many moments from last season where you can see Markieff Morris either yelling, or just plain not listening when Hornacek is talking. He lost control of one of his better players.

Things got even worse in Phoenix when all the injuries happened. Brandon Knight missed more than half the season. Eric Bledsoe was in and out of the lineup. Tyson Chandler was non existent by the middle of the season. This team was a shell of it self before the all star break. They were starting guys like Jon Luer by the middle of the year. Once again, this falls on the front office and the coach. Injuries happen and teams learn to deal and adapt. Last season the Thunder only had Kevin Durant for 22 games, but they still won 45 games. The Cavs lost both Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving during the playoffs and they still made the finals. Steph Curry has only played in half the Warriors playoff games, but they are in the conference finals. I know, these are elite teams, but even some lower level teams, the Chicago Bulls for one, have dealt with tons of injuries and they are still somewhat competitive. This did not happen with the Suns. They went into full on tank mode. Hornacek also didn't really help develop his younger big men. Alex Len was a lottery pick three years ago, but he still looks uncomfortable and slow in the NBA. And now, Len is all they have in the low post. The only player on the Suns last year that looked half way decent was 19 year old rookie Devin Booker. Booker is a lights out shooter and looks like he could be a 20 point per game scorer for the length of his career. But, he didn't really start showing true signs of lighting it up until they had let Hornacek go. Booker is also still very green on defense. He has a long way to go before he is a good two way player.

Why did the Knicks, and mainly Phil Jackson, decide that Hornacek was the right guy for their open head coaching job? What has he proved? Did they see something that I didn't see? Are they looking past everything I just mentioned above? Or, has Phil Jackson just totally checked out?

I think Phil Jackson has checked out. I think he figured that Horancek was a "big enough" name to calm his fan base down, but true Knicks fans should not be happy with this hire. Hornacek runs a fast paced, guard heavy offense. Where does that leave guys like Robin Lopez, Derrick Williams and their rookie sensation, Kristaps Porzingis? Porzingis may be the only one who will make the transition, but it will be tough. Then, the guards he is relying upon to run this offense are guys like Sasha Vuvajic, Langston Galloway and Carmelo Anthony. Vuvajic does not belong in the league. He is old, slow and cannot shoot or play defense. Langston Galloway peaked two seasons ago as a rookie on one of the worst Knicks teams ever.

That leaves us with Carmelo Anthony. While he may be one of the better scorers of all time, he has zero interest in playing defense or passing the ball. He is more concerned with his brand as well. And, he is old and way, way, way past his prime. The Knicks would be better off trading him, but that leaves the Knicks roster as bare as the Suns and Hornacek has already proven he can't do much with a mediocre roster. Carmelo is also a very strong personality and we all saw how Hornacek clashes with strong personalities.

What this all boils down to is the fact that Phil Jackson has done much more bad than good since taking that job with the Knicks. He gave Anthony the huge contract. He hired Derek Fisher and then fired him one and a half seasons later. He bad mouthed the selection of Porzingis. He clearly would much rather be in LA, but he chooses to mope and complain in New York and no one will call him on his BS. Well, I'm calling him out. Phil Jackson, you have made one terrible choice after another. Your work in New York is uninspired and crummy and you just gave the head coaching keys to another incapable former player. I do not like this hiring one bit, but Phil Jackson is to blame way more than Jeff Hornacek will be after the Knicks, once again, finish well below .500, out of playoffs and Carmelo Anthony shoots well below 40 percent from the field. Phil Jackson is keeping this once proud franchise, the one he played for, in the gutter of the NBA. The Knicks are a joke and a whipping boy and it is because of the poor decisions that Phil Jackson continues to make. It is sad.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. After the disasters of Isiah Thomas and now Phil Jackson, Ty is wondering when the gypsy curse will be lifted off of the New York Knicks front office. Ty is on twitter and you should follow him @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Widespread Panic

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

For the greatest American band debate today, I'm going to dip my toes into the jam band scene. Full disclosure, I went through about a decade long jam music obsession, but that time has passed me by now. I can sit through a 2 hour show, at most, now. I do not have the patience I once held for jam music. Also, the band I will be talking about today has put out a lot of very good records, but their studio music is not why I am nominating them, it is for their live performances. They have been on the road for nearly 30 years now and have built a rabid fan base that will follow them from city to city to see them play live. They are in this discussion for the live shows, the touring and the massive fan base they have created, not for studio work. The band I'm going to nominate today is Widespread Panic.

The band Widespread Panic was discussed on the podcast before when I interviewed another brother of mine, Seth, and we talked about his idea of the greatest American bands. Seth is one of the rabid fans that I just spoke of earlier. I was a very big fan for a long time too. Widespread Panic made their name through word of mouth and talk at live shows. They didn't get played on the radio unless it was in their hometown of Athens, Georgia. They weren't widely known to the pop or even rock music listening circles. They didn't have their music videos played on MTV or MTV 2 or even VH1. Widespread was, at least when I heard of them, a band that friends who had seen them play live told you that you had to listen to. I was exposed to them by Seth and my other brother Ross while going through my jam band phase. I had listened to bands like String Cheese Incident, Yonder Mountain String Band, Leftover Salmon and Keller Williams, just to name a few, but none held a candle to when I first heard Widespread Panic. My oldest brother played a live CD of theirs and I was absolutely blown away. They did things that other jam bands didn't do. They played old blues songs. They played old rock songs. They played old funk and R&B songs. Their originals were also fantastic and had their particular sound.

What separated Widespread Panic from other jam bands was the structure behind their epic jams. The jams didn't just go aimlessly in any direction, there was always a flow. They seemed to have their jams almost timed out, they worked that well. Fans knew when it was going to be a certain member of the band's turn to rock out. We knew when the drums would take over for 8 minutes. We anticipated the wonderfully fantastic guitar solos that JB and Mikey would perform. We knew that there was going to be a moment when Schools, the bass player, was going to shine. It all had a specific structure. That's what drew me to this band in the first place. Leftover Salmon and String Cheese Incident never seemed to have this structure. They played like a poor man's Grateful Dead, and you all know how I feel about Grateful Dead. Their jams were misplaced and misconstrued and unstructured. It was like all the worst things about experimental jazz. But, Widespread Panic did not do that. They always made sure the jam portion flowed within the song and they were always very easily able to return to the bare bones of whatever song they would be performing. This was a very big deal to me back then.

Widespread's live shows were also a thing of beauty. This was the closest I have ever been to that "community" feel that longtime concert goers speak of. Everyone had their place at these shows and everyone was welcome. I'm a jock and a non drinker or smoker of anything, be it tobacco or drugs, but I was never looked at as a square or a narc, I was accepted by these people. They knew that I was there to enjoy the music and they loved that. Sure, I'd venture a guess to say that about 90 to 95 percent of the crowd was stoned, but there was that 5 percent that was just like me, but we were all welcomed with open arms because the music and the show brought us together. Widespread even had tents at their live shows where all the sober people could hang out. I made a lot of concert friends at those shows in those tents. But, we didn't just stay in our tents, we mingled with everyone because everyone was accepted. That is one of the greatest aspects of a live Widespread show, the togetherness of it all. Then, the band would be on stage just absolutely killing it. They would play so many songs and the show would last for 3 to 3 and a half, and sometimes even 4 hours. They were the first band I ever saw live that did an intermission. Usually, after the first drum jam, they'd break for about 45 minutes, this would be 90 minutes into the show, then they'd come back out and play another 90 minutes or 2 hours. It was long, but it was epic and for jam fans, it was the best.

I've seen Widespread Panic at festivals and at outdoor venues like the crummy Riverport here in Saint Louis and the crowd would be very hyped. But, nothing compared to the few times I saw them at the Fox, my favorite concert venue in Saint Louis. The Fox is an old, very nice, very well established venue with a ton of history and beautiful art work everywhere you look. Most of the shows I've seen at the Fox are sit down, respectable shows, but something about Widespread just makes the fans want to get up and move. The Fox was as raucous as I have ever seen it, and it was great. Nobody was sitting in their seats, we were all dancing. I'm pretty quiet and calm at shows, generally I just want to watch the musicians perform, but even I was moving my feet and arms and every other body part because I was into the music. Those shows at the Fox were some of the best that I have ever seen.

Widespread is also the band I have seen the most live. I have seen them 10 times. It was during my jam phase, but I still remember how great and inviting and cool and awesome those shows were. I wouldn't go see them again, but I'm glad I got to see them and I wouldn't change a thing from the past. I have great memories from those shows. I got to go see them in Red Rocks when my brother Seth still lived in Colorado. That place is Mecca for concert goers. Every person that loves live music needs to see a show there, it will change your life. They played everything at those shows too. Their originals are always great, but the covers, those were dynamite. They did some of the best Talking Heads, Bill Withers, Curtis Mayfield and, my favorite, Robert Johnson covers I have ever heard. They put their unique spin while sticking as close to the source material as possible. The covers were my favorite part of those live shows.

While that jam phase has passed, I still have great memories and I still think Widespread Panic is one of the greatest American bands of all time. As I said before, they have studio albums, but to get the real experience, you have to see them live. Seth told me recently that they aren't going to tour for awhile, but they have said that before and they come back and they sound better than ever. If you like jam music, you have to see Widespread Panic. But, if you are just a casual fan of music, I'd still recommend checking them out because they are truly one of America's greatest bands.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He once attended a jam concert and 30 minutes in realized that he had stumbled upon an Insane Clown Posse show. Ty has never been to a jam concert since. There is this thing called twitter, and Ty is on it. Go follow him @tykulik.

Will No Nonsense Nick Saban Take the Cowards Way Out?

Make a choice coach.

Late last night, or depending on how you look at it, early this morning, two Alabama football players were arrested on drug and weapons charges. This isn't the first or the last time this has and will happen at Alabama, but one of the players figures to be a key cog on this years team. In fact, he is a projected starter, preseason All American and will be a first round pick in next years draft. That players name is Cam Robinson and he is a starting offensive lineman on the team, left tackle if I remember correctly. The other player, Hootie Jones, is a back up safety that was expected to compete for a starting job this fall. Jones would, or will, be in the rotation come this fall, but his name doesn't resonate unless you are an Alabama fan or a crazy college football fan, such as myself. Cam Robinson is the big name that is involved in this whole story.

So, first things first, the drug charges. It was weed, and it is a throw away. We as a country just need to decriminalize weed ASAP. It is not a gateway drug. It doesn't cause many ill effects. It just makes you hungry. Now, I'm not a smoker myself, but I know people that enjoy weed and they are very great, very nice, very fun people to be around. They show no signs of being deviants or criminals. They just like to get stoned. The weed charge is dumb and I could care less that these two 20 year olds were getting high.

The weapons, that's another story. I'm very anti gun. I think guns are incredibly dangerous when in the wrong hands. Guns are made to kill or seriously injure people. They are not toys. They are real things that cause real problems. This is where I start to get angry and curious as to what the mighty Nick Saban is going to do. The Jones kid, I wouldn't be surprised if he is kicked off the team, winds up at some junior college and in two years is making his way into the league. Saban will say goodbye to him, but he will catch on elsewhere and, if he is smart and lucky, he will turn his life around and stop playing with guns. Jones will be an afterthought.

The question is what will Saban do with his preseason All American, his QB's blindside blocker, his captain of his enormous offensive line, his next future first round pick? Will he suspend him? Will he make him miss games and practices? Will he cut this kid loose? This is the same head coach that came out and blasted the NCAA for allowing Jim Harbaugh to run satellite camps, stating it was bad for the kids. Will he do what is right for this kid and teach him a lesson, or will he give Robinson a slap on the wrist and only make him miss a few summer practices? If history has taught us anything, I can almost guarantee that Saban lets Robinson slide. Sure, he will make a big deal about giving him a "suspension", something like missing some summer workout sessions, but I would be willing to bet a lot of money that Robinson will be on the starting offensive line when Alabama kicks it's season off in early September. Saban will say he has learned his lesson and that he is a changed kid, But let's be serious, if Robinson were a back up, like Hootie Jones, he'd be kicked off the team. But, since Robinson has all the preseason accolades and acclaim, Saban will, once again, contradict himself and let this kid play. Robinson will not miss a single second of game action.

These kids, and I will assume Robinson was the ringleader, were found with unlicensed weapons in the car. That is a felony. They also had all the weed, but that is a ridiculous charge and hopefully the police let that slide and only focus on the guns. So, why do two twenty year olds need unlicensed firearms? That's one of two main questions, the other being, what will Saban do, but I'm pretty sure I've already answered that and I will answer it some more in my conclusion. I just don't get why these young kids think it's necessary or cool to have guns. There is nothing cool about that at all. Also, they are division one football players, I'm sure they could win any fight physically if need be. They are big dudes that no one would mess with anyway. Some will say, what if someone else pulls a gun on them, and that is a valid point, but that doesn't happen nearly as much as some stupid accident involving guns. I choose to believe that these kids had guns for recreation purposes and not for safety. That's when guns become scary and when something unfortunate happens. These children, and yes they are children, do not need guns ever. They weren't hunting or going to a shooting range or on a skeet shooting team, they had unlicensed guns. They were clearly trying to be cool. They were being idiots. They were acting like spoiled rotten college kids that think they are above the law. They were being stupid.

Now, it's up to Nick Saban. The mighty Nick Saban. The same guy that channels like ESPN and Fox Sports lavish praise on for his take no crap attitude. The guy that challenged Jim Harbaugh(and lost I might add, the ban on satellite camps was lifted). The guy that wins titles. The guy that never cheats, ha ha ha, that sentence was almost impossible to finish writing. What will he do? As I said above, I think the back up safety, Hootie Jones, he will be gone. Jones will be the casualty from this story so ESPN can talk about what a great leader Saban is, you know, typical ESPN bullshit reporting. But, Cam Robinson will see little to no discipline. He is a big time player and Saban is too afraid to really stick it to important players on his team. He has a fear of his fan base turning on him, so he will do nothing to truly discipline Robinson.

Therein lies the main problem. College sports are a business and becoming a joke, if you are a pro level prospect. The kids that are going to go to the next level can get away with almost anything. If you are a good athlete, you are above the law, at least according to coaches like Nick Saban. This is a travesty. This Robinson kid, and Jones for that matter, should face felony charges, but they won't because they are good football players. Something very similar to this happened to former Missouri QB, Matty Mauk. He was caught on camera snorting cocaine, and it was only until he was deemed not as good a player anymore that he was cut. But, don't cry for him because he will be back on a football field next season at Eastern Kentucky because they still believe in him. No wonder athletes have god complexes with the way they are treated. Matty Mauk should be in jail and Cam Robinson and Hootie Jones should be going to court for a felony weapons charge, but since they are good at football, they get fourth, fifth and sixth chances. That stinks. It's funny how this stuff all seems to happen in the SEC. I guess football players are truly above the law in that sham of a conference. Shame on Alabama, Nick Saban, Cam Robinson, Hootie Jones, ESPN, Fox Sports and college football retroactively for the way they will sweep this very big charge under the rug and not talk or report on it. Everyone involved is guilty, but I put the most guilt on Nick Saban.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He longs for the day when we hold the adult coaches more responsible than the children that play for them. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

"Captain America: Civil War" is Another Home Run from Marvel

It may all look alike, but some film is better than others.

I was finally able to see "Captain America: Civil War" this past weekend. Now, before I get into my review, I just wanted everyone to know that it is going to be filled with spoilers. So, if you haven't seen the movie yet, and you plan on seeing it, DO NOT READ PAST THIS SENTENCE, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

Let's get to it.

I loved this movie. Once again, Marvel absolutely hit it out of the park. They are in a wonderful, amazing, creative movie making groove right now. They do action, drama, comedy and anything else you expect to see in a superhero movie absolutely perfectly. "Captain America: Civil War" starts out with a flashback to 1991, with Winter Soldier executing an assassin he was assigned to. He does his job and he leaves no physical evidence, or so he thinks. We then flash to present day and Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, Falcon and Captain America in another country, trying to stop a crime from happening. They are doing their job very well, as they always do, but when the fight nears the end, Captain America is fighting Crossbones, they hit a big hiccup. Crossbones is willing to blow himself up because it will also kill Captain America. Right before the bomb goes off, Scarlet Witch uses her powers to put Crossbones in a bubble so the bomb only affects him. Her plan works until she starts to float Crossbones in the air. While mid air, Scarlet Witch throws Crossbones into a hospital, and the whole wing of the hospital blows up.

Many people are now upset with the Avengers. People on the news are bringing up all the destruction that happens when they come in to save the day. I have to say, it's a justifiable complaint. Sure, they defeated Loki in "The Avengers", but they also destroyed New York City, killing thousands of innocent people in the process. Yeah, they stopped Ultron in the next movie, but they also destroyed an entire town in Russia. Basically, they do as much damage compared to the good they do. The US government wants the Avengers to register. They are, technically, weapons, so the government wants to make sure that they are only used for good and in a controlled environment. Iron Man, Vision and Black Widow are immediately on board. Captain America, Scarlet Witch and Falcon are hesitant.

During their discussion, Captain receives a message that his former girlfriend, Agent Carter has passed. He rushes away to the funeral in London, with Falcon by his side. Black Widow goes to an African country to sign the bill and give her rights to the government, but while there, the building where they are holding the event gets blown up by what everyone assumes is the Winter Soldier. They have pictures of him and his face is plastered all over the papers. Also, he wouldn't remember if he did it or not because his mind is controlled by Hydra. He's an easy target. Captain doesn't think he did it because he has always believed that the Winter Soldier is not his old friend, Bucky Barnes. Bucky is a good guy, so he thinks that he can make the Winter Soldier realize that he is his old friend. This is where my distaste for Captain America reappeared. He is so blinded by his friendship, he doesn't care who he takes down or hurts, as long as he can convince Bucky that they are old friends. Captain America is a selfish asshole.

In the aftermath of the bombing, Iron Man is on a crusade to get all the Avengers to sign because it is the right thing to do. I totally agree with Iron Man. But, Captain, once again blinded by his friendship, refuses to sign and decides he is going to go against his government, if you'll remember, the government created him, and go off the reservation to find out who really bombed the embassy.

This is where we meet Helmut Zemo. He is a bad dude. He is a manipulator. He can pull strings. And he is obsessed with finding out why the Winter Soldier does what he does. He also wants to destroy the Avengers. Zemo is a very, very bad guy. Captain believes that Zemo is the one behind the bombing and he starts to assemble a team to stop him.

Iron Man also starts to assemble a team to stop Captain from making a careless and stupid mistake. Captain gets Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye and Ant Man to fight on his side. Iron Man gets War Machine, Black Widow, the awesome and super cool Black Panther, there will be more on him in a minute, and Spiderman. Black Panther shows up earlier in a chase scene between him, Captain and the Winter Soldier. Black Panther's dad was killed in the bombing and he is out for vengeance, mainly after Winter Soldier. Black Panther is kick ass. Iron Man also goes to Queens to recruit a very young Peter Parker and their back and forth is great. Almost like a father son relationship.

When the two sides meet at an airport hangar to fight, it was breathtaking. To see that many superheroes, in one spot, using their specific powers against each other, it is so awesome. The fights are so even and so incredibly shot. When Ant Man turns into Giant Man, I lost my shit. It was so cool. Eventually, they all realize that they are too even, so Captain and Winter Soldier retreat to a plane to go after Zemo. They look to be stopped when Black Widow appears and Black Panther is attacking from the back, but black Widow stuns Black Panther enough to let Captain fly away. Black Widow and Captain will always be friends, no matter what. Once Captain and Winter Soldier get away, Iron Man and War Machine go after them. Iron Man notices Falcon is about to attack them and he calls on Vision to get rid of him. Vision shoots a ray at Falcon, but he side steps in and it hits War Machine, making him tumble to the ground. He is hit and paralyzed. Iron Man is crushed and pissed.

When the big battle is over everyone that was on Captain's side, except for Captain and Winter Soldier, are put in jail. Ant Man is used to it, so it doesn't bother him. Hawkeye is pissed at Iron Man because he just retired, but Captain needed him, so he came to help out and ended up in jail. Iron Man lets him know that he made the choice to side with Captain and he knew the consequences. I agree with Iron Man. Falcon is really pissed at Iron Man, but he also tells him everything he knows about Zemo and where Captain is headed. Iron Man takes this new found knowledge and looks into Zemo. He realizes that Captain is right and goes to Siberia to help Captain and Winter Soldier. It seems like everything is back to normal. Iron Man shows up and says that Falcon told him everything and that he wants to help. The three of them enter a building filled with other "Winter Soldiers". Black Panther is also seen lurking quietly in the shadows. It appears that Zemo is looking to build a super army of Winter Soldiers, and when they finally find him, he has shot and killed all the soldiers and is hiding behind thick glass. Zemo explains that he does not wish to hurt the Avengers himself, he wants them to hurt each other. Here he reveals a video from 1991. It's the video of the Winter Soldier executing his hit. We come to realize that he was told to kill Iron Man's parents and he did it with no regard or change of expression on his face. Winter Soldier is a stone cold killer. We also come to realize that Captain knew this all along and did not tell Iron Man. Captain, once again is being a selfish asshole. He chose to keep this horrible secret from Iron Man because he knew that Iron Man would be, rightfully so, pissed and want to get revenge.

This is the start of one of the best fight scenes, possibly the best, in any superhero movie ever. Iron Man, Winter Soldier and Captain trading blows is absolutely wonderful and must see. It is a tremendous piece of film making. Iron Man eventually is able to rip Winter Soldier's metal arm off, but Captain is able to lodge his shield into Iron Man's chest piece that helps him live. Iron Man stops fighting and Captain takes winter Soldier away to help fix his arm. Meanwhile, Black Panther finds Zemo and we get to hear why Zemo is doing what he's done the whole movie. Zemo lost his entire family when the Avengers defeated Ultron. it happened in his hometown and he lost everything. Throughout the movie he is listening to a phone message because it is the last thing he has from family. It's his last memory. After explaining all this to Black Panther, he tries to shoot himself, but Black Panther stops him and says that the world is not done punishing him. Near the end we see Zemo is in a very high security prison, but has a smile on his face, he clearly has something planned. Iron Man is helping War Machine walk again with prosthetic legs he created for him. Vision is hanging out at the Avenger complex with his sweater vest combo on. and the people on Captain's side are still locked up. Captain sends some bullshit letter to Iron Man "explaining" why he did what he did and we see Falcon smiling while the letter is being read because Captain has shown up at the prison to get his friends out. End credits.

As I said, I loved, loved, loved this movie. I thoroughly hate Captain America now. He is a selfish prick that only cares about his one friend, who is a brutal murderer. He is way too single minded and he is nuisance. I fully side with Iron Man, He did what was best and right for the people he cared most about. He didn't just single out one person, he wants everyone to be safe. "Captain America: Civil War" is a tremendous movie that everyone should go see. It is a masterpiece.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He was trying to get in and see Batman v Superman, but since it was sold out he settled for Captain America: Civil War. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Donald Trump and the End of a Center Right Nation

Our political compass has no direction

No matter how many times the political experts predicted the end of Donald Trump (see the many, many times I have said so) , the New York businessman is going to be the Republican nominee for President in the 2016 national election. This means we will have six more months of Donald Trump and his great ideas to make America great again. Six more months of the national press treating these ideas as credible ones. Six more months of the liberal pundits on HBO and Comedy Central being apoplectic about Trump's ideas.  We have six more months of Donald Trump's Republican Party. A party that can in no way claim to be conservative or center right. The days of a center right nation are gone.

Shortly after the election of Barack Obama as President in 2008, the professional media class started to use the term "center right". Center right meant that Americans did not fully subscribe to the ideals of the far right or far left, but sat somewhere in the middle. Americans sat in the middle, but were leaning more to conservative ideas. The media class thought that Americans were moving away from supporting social safety programs, moving towards national defense, and wanted to slow down on changing excepted social norms. The term center right was used to make it look like the country still believed in the brand of conservatism that President Reagan and Bush II practiced. Barack Obama may have been elected President, by a very large margin, but the country was not willing to embrace the Democratic party's plans to implement health care reform and to scale down on military intervention around the world. 

The media was invested in the idea of the United States being a center right nation because of the disaster that was the George W. Bush presidency. By the end of 2008 the US was mired in an endless war with no real purpose, an economy that had crippled the middle class, and public confidence that was at an all time low. The media of the early 2000's was built to cater to Bush and the conservatism of John Boehner, Paul Ryan, and Mitch McConnell. The tea party had not been given a national platform in 2008. Fox News gained strength in the first part of the 21st century because they embraced the notion of being the "news channel" for the right. The other media outlets quickly raced away from journalism and into republican propaganda to try and catch ratings on the coat tails of Fox News. NBC, CBS, and ABC used their nightly newscast to gin up support for the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Journalism was replaced by ratings friendly war mongering. The same "fair and balanced" media were also defending the destructive economic ideas of the republican party. Story after story of a booming housing market were being fed to the Americans, while no one was talking about the obvious coming collapse. Vice President Dick Cheney made secret deals with the energy industry, there were no investigative stories until after 2008. The media was an accomplice to the bad policies of the Bush administration, and they wanted to cover their own rear ends. Saying America is a center right nation took the blame off of the media, and put the blame on the voters.

The idea of America being a center right nation was wrong in 2008, and it is wrong today. The Republican party may hold the US House of Representatives and the Senate, but that has more to do with shady manipulation of the electoral process and general incompetence of the Democratic Party. In 2008 and 2012, President Barack Obama easily beat his republican challengers. Neither of those races was even close. Obama still won with the media allowing the right wing to paint the President as a foreign born communist who hates America. Rights for the LGBTQ community have grown at a fast, and much needed, rate. The press keeps giving the bigoted side a voice, but the large majority of Americans are on the correct side of history. Hillary Clinton is having trouble sealing the deal on the 2012 Democratic Presidential nomination because most Americans are not supportive of protecting the wealthiest of our citizens at the expense of everyone else. The media has tried to marginalize Senator Bernie Sanders, yet here in the middle of May and Clinton is still not the nominee. America was not center right in 2008, and we have been moving further and further left since then.

Now that Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican Presidential Nominee, the center right lie can finally be buried on the ash heap of history. The story surrounding Trump's ascension has centered around how much everyone got the New York businessman's rise so wrong. Even liberal darlings like Nate Silver and the people at fivethirtyeight.com have egg on their face. The real story should not be how wrong everyone was, but how in the world did the Republican party nominate someone who has held mostly Democratic Party ideas his entire life. Trump has a history of being pro-choice, pro raising taxes on the wealthy, and pro healthcare reform. The Paul Ryan's and Mitch McConnell's of the Republican party have used their entire careers railing against these ideals. Ohio Governor John Kasich could only win one state, and rarely broke 10% of the vote in any other state. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, the poster boy of Republican obstructionism, only gained traction in the primaries once he was deemed the true Republican alternative to Donald Trump. No one in the classically defined Republican establishment could take Trump down. One could say that Trump's win in the 2016 Republican primary means that the GOP is becoming a center left party.

The rise of Trump is unfortunately not the rise of a center left Republican party. In hindsight it is very easy to see how Donald Trump was able to beat the rest of the Republican field. The blind hatred of the GOP towards Obama and the Democratic Party has created a lot of tiny fractures in the national Republican party. The tea party was built on blind racism. Radio and television personalities like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity demanded purity in the philosophies of elected republican officials. The right wing worship of the founding fathers (most of them were slave holders) and the original Constitution (where African-Americans were counted as 3/5ths of a person) started to show the party as being unreasonable and not have the ability to properly govern in the 21st century. The national identity of the Republican Party was split into many pieces. The fiscal conservatives never found their candidate, and that hurt voting. Kasich, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush could never gain any unified support. The religious conservatives had incompetent buffoons as their choices. Former Governors Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee, and former Senator Rick Santorum were so idiotic even the media could not shield them. Ted Cruz was hated by most of his party, Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson were so bad that they helped bring the GOP brand further into the dirt. The only unique option int he filed was Donald Trump. His persona appealed to the angry white man. His ideas fueled the racist, misogynists, and bigots, in the Republican party. Donald Trump was the only Republican in the field that had a voting block to himself. This voting block turned out in high numbers, and Trump was able to survive the cage match that was the 2016 Republican Presidential Primary. His victory is actually quite easy to understand, now.

A minority of the Republican Party was able to nominate a life long Democrat to be their 2016 Presidential candidate. White male christian persecution complex has replaced conservative social and economic philosophy in the GOP. Donald Trump may be a Republican now, but many of his ideas lean to the left. The professional media created Donald Trump, and helped destroy their own narrative of a center right nation. For better or worse, America is stuck with Donald Trump and his new Republican Party. For at least six more months.

RD

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing. Hear RD and Ty talk about Trump and the 2016 Presidential election on the latest episode of the X Millennial Man. 

Old NBA Players Need to Let the Warriors Play on the Lawn

Get rid of those peaches and Curry could still hit over 50% of his shots

Tracy McGrady, former NBA allstar, said on a recent episode of ESPN's "The Jump" that, Steph Curry being the first unanimous MVP just shows you how "watered down" the league has become. I've got a lot of problems with that statement.

First off, I love McGrady, the basketball player. He was explosive, athletic, a good jump shooter and one of the few prep to pros that had a very good, perhaps hall of fame career. But, why did he feel the need or urge to say this? Why condemn the greatest shooter of all time? Why do all the retired pros seem to hate this specific Warriors team? It doesn't begin and end with McGrady's criticism, many other hall of famers and legends have been very dismissive of this Warriors team and of Steph Curry. Oscar Robertson, possibly the greatest point guard of all time and the only player to ever average a triple double over a full season, doesn't think that they are as good as we all think they are. He seems to think, that had this team played during his era, they would have been average at best. I love you Oscar Robertson, but come on. This Warriors team is historically great. Scottie Pippen is another hall of famer that has brushed this team to the side, saying, that the 1995-96 Bulls would have swept them out of the playoffs. At least he put them in the playoffs, but a sweep, get out of here. The Warriors would win at least one game because Curry would put in 40 and Thompson would put in another 30 and Draymond is a more athletic version of Dennis Rodman, and he can score. No way a sweep happens. Sure, put Jordan on Curry, he'd have a tough time, but he would still make some shots. And yes, you could put Pippen on Thompson, but he would still find a way to get to the rim and that would open up driving lanes. But, who is going to guard Draymond Green, Andrew Bogut, Shaun Livingston, Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, I mean, this Warriors team is loaded with depth, something the 95-96 Bulls didn't really have . So no, no way would it be a sweep. And Bill Wennington chiming in, echoing what Pippen said, shut your god damn mouth Bill Wennington. You were lucky to even be a part of such a great team. The Bulls could have, and did, see Luc Longley, win with basically anyone playing center. Hell, I could have played center on that Bulls team and they would have still been great. Bill Wennington is a blow hard. Screw him. He isn't 1/10 the player Bogut is, so he can shut the hell up.

Then there is my all time favorite basketball player. A man I adore and have tried to model my rec league game after. A player I have looked up to since I was in the 5th grade, Charles Barkley. He has not had one single nice thing to say about this Warriors team or Steph Curry. He has been anti Warriors since they ran through the playoffs and won a title last season. He said they didn't really earn the title because they didn't have to face anyone that was great or at full strength. I disagree strongly with that. He said that a jump shooting team could never have long term success in the NBA. The numbers clearly prove him wrong. He said that Curry was too little and too oft injured and would have never made it in his day. Well, Curry is lighting the league up now, and when he comes back from injuries, he looks even stronger and better, which I thought was impossible. The only reason he wouldn't have made it in the NBA in the 90's was because of how dirty and aggressive it was. I look back at 90's basketball, which I loved, my Sonics were legit, but it was brutal. There isn't a whole lot of highlights, unless you single out Jordan, unless it is a hard foul or some kind of brawl. The most "important" moments that are shown on highlight reels from the 90's is stuff like the big fight the Knicks and Heat had, when Jeff Van Gundy grabbed hold of Alonzo Mourning's leg. Or when Barkley got into it with any number of big time players. Or when John Stockton would set a screen and knee someone in the crotch. The list could go on and on and on with all the dirty stuff that went down in the NBA in the 90's, so yeah, maybe Barkley is right on Curry getting roughed up during his era. He was also on "PTI" recently and he said the only way that he would put this years Warriors team, the team that won 73 regular season games, in the annals of historically great teams, is if they win the title. That's fair, but he said they would only be the fourth best team of all time. He had the 96 Bulls, the 86 Celtics and some other team I can't remember ahead of this Warriors team. That's insane! They are historically the greatest regular season team of all time, statically too! They won 73 games! That will never happen again! I love you Charles Barkley, but you are wrong on this one.

The Warriors are a really, really great team. Hell, even LeBron James is trying to poke holes in this team because they are the talk of the league and not him. He said Curry deserved the MVP, but then posed the idea that the MVP isn't based on stats, but one players ability to make a team overachieve, as if to say, he obviously thinks he should be the MVP. Get the hell out of here with that nonsense. The older LeBron gets, the more crazy and more entitled and more prima donna he gets. LeBron is one of the greatest players of all time, but he is a spoiled rotten little brat. The attention isn't on him for once, so instead of using that as motivation, he complains to the media about what a real MVP means. What a punk. He is clearly an only child and he has clearly never been pushed aside like this on a basketball court. Get used to it LeBron, the Warriors are younger and better than you and the Cavs and it's going to be this way for a long time.

All this brings me back to McGrady's watered down quote. The league is not watered down. The NBA is as good as it has ever been right now. The games are exciting. The players are exciting. The players are relatable. The NBA is experiencing a huge boom right now and I think the retired players are a bit jealous. LeBron is jealous too. They all want to chime in with their two cents, but the fact remains, we will never know who would win or who could have also been unanimous MVP choices because all these players bitching and moaning are done playing or selfish assholes. The facts are there. The Warriors have the greatest regular season record of all time, no matter what Oscar Robertson, Tracy McGrady, Bill Wennington, Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley or LeBron James says or thinks. Curry is, and will always be known as, the first ever unanimous MVP. No comments or jealously can take that away from him. The retired players need to let it go and get over it. I'm sick and tired of the whole, "back in my day" crap. Things evolve and change, it's a way of life. You can take it as it is, or you can complain. I choose to admire the Warriors and Steph Curry, it's way more fun.

One last thing, a lot of the retirees complaining about the Warriors and Steph Curry are all time greats, but I haven't heard the GOAT, Michael Jordan,say one bad thing or suggest that his teams would have beaten up this Warriors team. That's the true sign of a champion, he doesn't need to say things, he just does them. I wish these guys would take another lesson from Jordan and keep their mouths shut. One can dream.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. When he and the head editor play basketball, the game is quite dirty. They are both big, hairy, and sweat a lot. That is the recipe for smelly dirt. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Comedian Kyle Kinane Tried Out Some New Live Material and it Was Great

The Second most important tool for good stand up comedy.

Last night I saw comedian Kyle Kinane at the Ready Room in Saint Louis and he was great. I've been a fan of his for awhile now and last night was the first time I've seen him live. I've watched his specials, I enjoy his bit role on the highly underrated and very funny television show, "Those Who Can't" and I like his many podcast appearances, so I was predestined to like his stand up.

Kinane controlled the stage for his almost 90 minute set. Headliners usually do about 45 minutes to an hour, for fear of getting stale, but Kinane's 90 minute set never once felt boring or slow. Kinane was working on new material, he has another special coming up, and I love hearing all new material. He says that he didn't want to repeat anything from his last live show in Saint Louis, and talking to some people who saw him last time, it was all, for the most part, new. That's great. His material is always a bit blue, but he wasn't as blue as I was expecting last night. He did make a joke about a guy wearing a shirt with a very dirty saying on it, but that was about as dirty as he got. Kinane looks so comfortable on stage, even though he made many references to how uncomfortable and how weird his job is. He is a comic and he makes money doing that. It's weird, but when you are as good as Kinane, you deserve to make a living doing that. He bounced around a lot during his set, but there was always a through line or segue that made everything make sense. His bit about getting gout and then getting a physical was dynamite. It was thoughtful, reflective and hilarious. When he talks about the doctor being so smooth when doing the physical, I was in tears laughing. His freaky Friday bit was great as well. He imagined what it would be like to switch places with a semi truck driver during rush hour and a Benihana chef. Both were great. I could picture someone freaking out in both scenarios and he brought that to life excellently, especially the Benihana chef. When he talked about flipping the shrimp in his hat, once again, tears from laughing.

His very new material was equally as good, even when he didn't think so. At one point he said a joke, it didn't land great, he acknowledged that and completely saved it with a great tag. When he said he had some weird jokes, I found them more funny than weird. He covered a lot of different topics throughout the night. I mentioned the freaky Friday and the doctor, but he also talked history, self diagnosing, touring the Midwest during tornado season, living in LA, still wearing skater shoes, even though they have orthopedic inserts, among many other things.

Kinane was on stage for an hour and a half, but it never felt long or boring. It was straight up funny. Kyle Kinane is a very good stand up that puts on a very good live show. He's funny, engaging, a good writer and appeals to young and old alike. I went with my father and he laughed as much as I did. This was a very good show. I'm glad I bought the tickets and I now get to check another comedian off my bucket list. Go see Kyle Kinane if he comes to your town. I guarantee you will enjoy yourself and have a very good laugh.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Are you a band that does comedy or a comedian that does music, or the other way around, contact us and Ty will check out your show. Ty has his very own twitter, go follow him @tykulik.

Relive, and Debate, Great Music with "The Rap Yearbook"

Time to download the book about all of our favorite downloaded songs

I just finished another book by another former Grantland writer, and, once again, I really enjoyed it. I just recently finished and reviewed the very excellent "Boys Among Men: The Preps to Pro Generation that Changed the NBA" by Jonathan Abrams. So, naturally I figured another Grantland writer would have an equally as good book. The book I chose was "The Rap Yearbook" by Shea Serrano.

"The Rap Yearbook" was given to me as a gift, and I was putting off reading it until I caught up on some other reading, but boy am I glad that I read this book. It is widely known that I'm a big hip hop fan. I've written about a lot of hip hop groups and have been listening to hip hop for many, many years. This book is a great read about the most important, not best, rap songs from the years 1979 to 2014. It was absolutely fascinating. Serrano is just around my age, so we have very similar taste in older hip hop, but very different taste in more recent hip hop.

Serrano picked the most important song for each year, so it wasn't necessarily the best. It was the most important/influential song during it's particular year. The early years are easy to agree with. In 1979 he has Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight". Obvious choice. Some other obvious choices that are very hard to disagree with, 1980 Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks", 1982 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's "The Message", 1987 Eric B and Rakim's "Paid in Full", 1988 N.W.A's "Straight Outta Compton", basically all the late 80's, early 90's stuff is easily and correctly chosen. He also writes a few paragraphs as to why the song is the most important. He points out what the song is about, why it's important, the influence it had, the message it sends, Serrano pretty much breaks down every legit reason why the particular song is the song of the year.

The author and I definitely differ when it comes to 21st century hip hop, and that makes this book great. Serrano seems to think that more popular artist put out more significant songs. I understand why he thinks this. The more popular the artist, the more people it reaches, thus making it more important. I just prefer more underground, lesser known hip hop artists. That's my particular taste. I'd rather listen to Murs or Mr. Lif or Dilated Peoples than Kanye or Drake or, god help me, Macklemore. But, as I said above, I totally understand why he picks those people. Serrano may like more lesser known artists too, but that would not make for a good book for more than half the hip hop listening community. So, in the 21st century, he picks some songs that I disagree with. In 2005, he picks Kanye West's "Gold digger". Yeah, it's a popular song, with a very good beat, but I don't think any song featuring an actor, Jamie Foxx, should be considered. Also, the song is very misogynistic. But, I don't know what I would put in it's place. That's where Serrano has me beat. Serrano also picks other stuff I don't agree with in the 2000's. Stuff like 2008 Lil Wayne's "A Milli". It's a fine song, but Lil Wayne had peaked already by that time and he was definitely on a down swing. It felt more like a lifetime achievement to put him in this book. For 2009 he picked Drake's "Best I Ever Had". Drake is a terrible rapper and an even worse bandwagon sports fan. Drake stinks, his music stinks and he will be irrelevant in about 5 years. Drake does not belong in this book. For 2012, he picks Macklemore's "Same Love". Sure, the song has a very good message, but it is not a good rap song. Macklemore is the biggest poser in the history of music. He is worse than Elvis. He calls himself independent, but he does nation wide commercials and carries himself like a jackass. "Same Love" is important, but not because of Macklemore and I'm sure there is much better, much more important songs from 2012. Macklemore, in my opinion, is as bad as Drake. They are corporate rappers that make corporate, shitty rap music. For 2013 and 2014 Serrano picked two songs I didn't recognize. For 2013 he picked Big Sean's "Control" and it wasn't until I read why he picked it that it was the coming out party for Kendrick Lamar. Personally, he could've picked any song from Lamar's debut album, "good kid, m.A.A.d city" as the most important song of 2013 and it would have been a better choice. In 2014 he picked a song I never heard of by Rich Homie Quan and Young Thug called "Lifestyle". His reasoning was more about the emergence and weirdness of Young Thug than the music. Ok by me.

Another thing that makes "The Rap Yearbook" a great book is the collaborations. In each chapter, Serrano brings a fellow writer or friend in and they give their rebuttal to what should be the song of the year. So, we get at least two different perspectives in each chapter. Serrano isn't married to his choice and that makes him a wonderfully gifted writer. He wants outsiders points of view and ideas. He's open to hearing why he is wrong and why someone else is right. I love that.

"The Rap Yearbook" is a must read for all fans of rap music and music in general. It's fascinating and it brings you back to that time in your life. I knew exactly where I was when I first heard his 1999 choice, Eminem's "My Name Is". I can picture 16 year old me bobbing my head to his 1998 pick, DMX's "Ruff Ryder's Anthem". I vividly remember arguing with friends and family that Jay Z was the clear winner in his beef with Nas, and Serrano picked "Takeover" vs. "Ether" for his 2001 songs. This book is wonderful. Go out, buy it and read it. You won't be disappointed.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is sorry to tell the head editor that 3rd Bass did not make the book. The head editor gave Ty the gas face. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: Jon Lajoie's song "Stay at Home Dad" is True to Life

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.

A couple of weeks back I wrote about a band called Wolfie's Just Fine. I really liked their new album and I put a full review on the site. As I mentioned in that blog, the lead singer is actor/musician/comedian Jon Lajoie. I'm a big Lajoie fan.

After listening to Wolfie's Just Fine new album on repeat for a couple of weeks, I decided I wanted to revisit Lajoie's comedy music. I own all of his music, but, my absolute favorite song is called "Stay At Home Dad". Now, most of you know that I am a stay at home dad, as I have written a piece about it and I have recorded a podcast about it. So, being that I'm a stay at home dad and a Lajoie fan, I wanted to really dig deep into the song and see how closely Lajoie's comedic version is to my real life. I'm going to break down the song, analyzing each lyric, don't worry, the song is short, and I will also break down the chorus, comparing it to my life.

Let's go.

The song opens with the chorus. The chorus is as follows, "I'm a stay at home dad/ I'm on paternity leave/ I'm a stay at home dad/ It's just the baby and me/ I'm a stay at home dad/ While my wife's at work/ I got a bottle in my hand and spit up on my shirt". So, yes, I too am a stay at home dad, obviously. That's an easy comparison. But, I am not on paternity leave. I was with our first kid, and it was great. It was so nice to be at home with my wife after we had our son. Now, with my daughter, I am the stay at home parent, so no paternity leave. It's just my straight up job. Which leads me to, "it's just the baby and me". Two days a week, my four year old is at school, so it is just the baby and me. I truly enjoy these days. This is when I really learn what my daughter likes and dislikes. This is also how we get on a schedule. The one on one time you get with kids is crucial. I got that with my son and now, I'm getting it with my daughter. Then, my wife does go to work, five days a week, 8 hours a day. She leaves the house at 7am and she doesn't get home until 4. So, another thing I relate to. And then there's the bottle in my hand and the inevitable spit up on my shirt or burp cloth. My daughter tends to wake up about an hour after my wife leaves and that's when I make my daughter's breakfast, which includes a 6 ounce bottle of formula. Sometimes, she eats it all, other times, she just wants the food and a little formula, but spit up is always the recurring theme. I have spit up on not only my shirt, but it's on my pants, socks and burp cloth. My baby loves to spit up. Lajoie nails this part. He is one hundred percent right about this. so, that's the chorus. It comes up a couple of times in the song later, but I just hashed it all out here, so I won't have to do it again. I will say though, for the most part, Lajoie is about 90 to 95 percent correct with all the stuff he says about being a stay at home dad. The only part that isn't that similar anymore is the paternity leave thing, but that's it.

Then, the first verse. It goes as follows, "baby wakes up around 5am/ kicking and screaming until his face turns red/ he usually tends to calm down once he's fed/ I give his bottle my wife gets out of bed". Okay, first off, I already said my baby sleeps until about 8 am my time. so, thankfully I don't have to deal with the 5am wake up call, but I think this makes me an anomaly. Most kids do get up very early, but my kids are pretty decent sleepers. Now, that's not to say that I haven't had early wake up calls, but it's not an everyday occurrence. The kicking and screaming only happens about 50 percent of the time. Some mornings I catch her before she starts to really freak out, but other days, it is the kicking and screaming and the red face. This definitely has happened to me on more than one occurrence. And yes, once I feed my daughter, and my son was the exact same, they immediately calm down after they get that first sip from their bottle. the crying stops and everything goes back to being calm and quiet. My wife is already on her way to work when I feed her, so she has been out of bed for awhile prior to the first feeding. This verse is very different from my everyday life, but I bet most stay at home parents deal with Lajoie's version much more so than my version. My kids are decent sleepers and my wife leaves before they wake up.

Then the second verse goes, " cook my wife breakfast while she's getting ready/ uh oh uh oh someone's diaper is smelly/ uh oh uh oh it leaked all over his belly/ uh oh uh oh it looks like mustard and jelly". So, all of this has, and will continue to happen to me, unitl my daughter is out of diapers. Also, my wife takes breakfast to work or makes her own breakfast. She is a much better cook than I will ever be. But, the smelly diaper, the leaky diaper, the mustard and jelly look of a leaky diaper, it's all true and it has all happened to me about a dozen times. My life very much mimics this verse, minus the cooking breakfast, to a T.

This verse is followed by, " kiss my wife good bye while I clean up his bum bum/ it's time for his bath/ this is going to be fun fun/ I try not to get soap in his eye/ he really doesn't like it, it makes him cry". Yes, a good bye kiss happens every morning, but not while I'm changing a diaper. But, after a leaky diaper, there is always a bath. My daughter loves baths. She soaks it all in. She doesn't even care about getting soap in her eye. We also buy the tear free shampoo too. So, this verse is different from my life. But, as I have said before, I'm in the minority. I'm sure a lot more parents deal with what Lajoie has to say, I just don't. I'm lucky I suppose.

The next part of the song goes, " but if he cries I've got a trick/ I make funny noises with my mouth like this/ goo goo ga ga ga/ then we play peekaboo/ it makes him laugh". When my daughter cries I do all the same stuff and more. I make funny noises. I make her laugh. We play peekaboo a ton. She loves it all and I do it all. Totally parallels my real life. Then we get the chorus. It's the same, with a few changes. He mentions he likes his job a lot. I do as well. He mentions that it's a full time job. It sure as hell is. He mentions having an afternoon snack and watching shows during afternoon naps. That's when I watch movies and my shows and when I eat lunch. So, spot on.

The final verse has the lyrics, " if I have to run errands I take the van/ strap him in his car seat/ and take the baby bag/ I always make sure his seat is well strapped in/ my baby's security is important/ groceries, pay some bills, visit grandma/ but I have to be back by 4 o' clock/ so I can prepare supper while I watch "Oprah"/ what sounds good tonight, maybe some pasta/ and a Caesar salad, my wife likes that/ 5 o' clock is the time she gets back/ she asks me how my day was I say not bad/ it's all in a days work as a stay at home dad". So, the errands. My life is running errands and I always take the SUV. I always make sure my daughter is comfortable and safe in her seat. I NEVER leave the house without my diaper bag. So far, 100 percent correct. We visit my kids grandparents all the time and we always make sure we make it home before my wife gets home so my kids can wind down. However, I do not prepare supper or watch "Oprah". I'm not a good cook, see above, and I don't care for afternoon talk shows. My wife gets home an hour earlier, but still pretty much the same. We always ask each other about our days and we always seem to say the same thing, it's a days work. This verse is pretty much one hundred percent straight on. It is a near perfect representation of my life.

The ending is the chorus as well, with some extra stuff added in. Lajoie mentions he gets high on baby hugs and watches movies and shows with the kids. I do both of these things, but my favorite Disney movie is the "Lion King", not the "Lion King 2". Then he finishes it off by repeating, "that's right I take care of my children" over and over again.

This song is almost the perfect representation of my daily life. I think about 75 to 80 percent of it is an exact parallel of my daily life. Lajoie is a genius comedian and song writer and "Stay At Home Dad" is his piece de resistance. It's an excellent, and very true, song.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He does not need "Oprah" in his day, he already has Ina. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

"A Moon Shaped Pool" is Further Proof that Radiohead is the Best Band in the World

Make your ears, heart, and mind happy with some good music

News alert, Radiohead released a new album yesterday. I bought it, but I waited until today to listen to it, and it is incredible, just like everything else Radiohead does. The record, "A Moon Shaped Pool" shows the growth and the same experimentation that the band has done since they busted out on the scene in the 90's. The record has rock, ethereal music, slow songs, touching songs, basically, it has everything we expect and love from Radiohead.

I know that there are other guys in the band, but Radiohead is really all about Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood. They are the two geniuses behind this wonderful band. Yorke is the eccentric, yet super talented front man that does a little bit of everything. Greenwood is the genius that writes and sonically puts all the music together. "A Moon Shaped Pool" has their separate genius on full display. Yoke croons and masterfully sings his way through the entire 11 song album. Greenwood's touch and elegance is all over the place in the music. Johnny Greenwood may be the greatest and most interesting person currently working in music. He is a true genius. You have to look no further than the second track on the album, "Daydreaming", to hear and realize how awesome Greenwood is. The song reminds me a lot of the slower stuff that was on "Kid A", but this song sounds a bit more grown up and put together with a purpose. I love the slower, weirder stuff on "Kid A", but it seems slapdash and spackled together. It's weird for the sake of weird. But on "Daydreaming", the weirdness and the etherealness has a real place in the song. It's structured and so well put together. The song has a base, verse, chorus, verse, but Greenwood has his trademark sound, and it is incredible.

The rest of the album is just as good. The opener, "Burn the Witch", is what a band like U2 strives to sound like, but they can't get there. Radiohead out does U2 on a song that sounds like U2. It's a great way to start out the new album. Yorke sings the hell out of it and the band sounds great. The third track, "Decks Dark" is currently my favorite song. It has acoustic guitar at the beginning, with slower singing, and it builds and only gets a lot better from there. Yorke absolutely crushes this song. It sounds like something off "The Bends", but it is better. They have some longer songs, a la stuff on "Kid A" or "OK Computer", like "Ful Stop", "The Numbers" and "Present Tense" that are great as well. As I've said, they sound grown up and mature on this record. You can tell they worked very, very hard on this record. These three songs are really good too. Sometimes slower, more musically charged Radiohead songs can feel a bit like a chore, but not on this record. They all fit in perfectly and they are perfectly placed on the record. They are all in the exact right spot. One of these will follow a faster or sweeter song and it's excellent placement. The last two tracks on the album are dynamite. Track 10, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief" has an incredibly long title and it is an incredibly awesome song. Yorke, once again, sings perfectly. He has that lower, almost scary type voice that gets louder and nicer as the tune goes on. The music accompanying him is just as good. There's great guitar, drums, bass and whatever the hell else Radiohead wants to do because they are the best. The song builds and builds and it is quite fantastic. The closer, "True Loves Waits" is absolutely beautiful and kind of sad. Yorke croons and moans and wails his way through the song and it is magical. His voice portrays love, hurt and pain so well. You can sympathize with him so easily. He makes you feel his hurt and his pain and we all can relate. The music is quiet, but just as important as Yorke's vocals. It is all so perfectly made and perfectly recorded by the perfect band.

Obviously, I love this record and I love this band. We all knew that something was coming when Radiohead went off all of social media one day before the announcement of the record, and I couldn't be happier with the outcome of their one day hiatus from social media. Radiohead can do no wrong, in my opinion. They are, and always will be, the perfect band. They are timeless. They make some of the best music that have ever been written and released. They are geniuses. And they know exactly how to market and promote themselves in the new digital age. They were one of the first, if not the first, band that let people decide what they wanted to pay for a record when they released "In Rainbows", and now, they can release a record on a Saturday, on Mother's Day, and it will be the talk of the internet for the next 7 days. They are awesome.

To all the people, the hipsters that is, complaining that Radiohead is "overrated" or "need to stop making music" or "old", shut up. This band is the best and we should be lucky that they are still creating some of the best music ever for us to listen to. The hipsters complaining about Radiohead are the same assholes that wear skinny jeans, collect vinyl, wax their mustaches and work in coffee houses that only do slow drip or French press coffee. These hipsters are the problem and they are the main ones complaining about a new Radiohead album. Get over yourself and start dressing more normal and stop judging me because I'm an unabashed fan of Radiohead. I will buy all their records, no matter how many they release and I'm sure I will love them all. These are the same people that still badmouth "The Simpsons" and complain about not having enough room to ride their unicycles because of people driving their cars. So, don't listen to the hipsters, listen to me and buy this new Radiohead album, it is awesome.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He may have a big bushy beard, but he is no hipster. Make sure you follow all of Ty's non-hipster thoughts on twitter @tykulik.

The Rockets and Kings are Coachless and Uncoachable

If this was on fire, it would represent the Rockets and Kings

As it happens every NBA season around this time, coaches are being fired and hired. It always goes on during the playoffs and, more often than not, it's usually smaller named coaches taking jobs. Guys like Kenny Atkinson taking the Nets job or Earl Watson taking the Suns job. See, not that big of names. Sure, Thibodeau took the Timberwolves job and, to a much lesser extent, Scott Brooks took the Wizards job, but that's about as splashy as it gets this time of year. And yeah, Luke Walton took the Lakers job, which is a potential disaster worse than taking the Knicks job, but most teams wait until after the playoffs, or during the finals to really get into their head coaching search.

Two such teams currently searching for a coach that I want to talk about today are the Rockets and the Kings. Let's tackle the Rockets first. This team is an absolute dumpster fire. This team has absolutely no chemistry. James Harden is becoming a world class prima donna. Dwight Howard needs to leave that team as fast as possible, and, he's not really that good anymore. The other starters, guys like Terrence Ross, Corey Brewer, Patrick Beverly and Donatas Montejunas need to try their best and get out of there because Harden is no fun to play basketball with. Also, Daryl Morey needs to be let go. He put this team together through analytics nonsense and they are a complete mess because of him. Morey was the one that figured pairing Howard and Harden was a good idea. This was the guy, and I totally agreed with him at the time, that thought bringing in Ty Lawson was a good idea. This is the guy who trades away picks and young players with the "win now" attitude and it has not worked out. Sure, they miraculously made the Western Finals last year, after the Clippers epic collapse, but they got outworked, outplayed and outclassed by the Warriors. And the true James Harden showed up. The guy that shrinks the bigger the moment gets. The Rockets are a total mess. Even their interim coach, JB Bickerstaff said he'd rather be an assistant than the head coach of this team. Bickerstaff has been with this team for a long time, got his chance to be the head coach after they fired Kevin McHale 11 games into the season, and he looked and acted like he hated every single second of it. I would too if I were him. The coach of the Rockets is basically just a figure head that has to deal with players that aren't as good as they may think. Nowhere is it truer than the NBA where the coach, for all intents and purposes, doesn't matter. The only coaches that demand the respect and attention of their players are Gregg Poppovich and Steve Kerr, other than that, none of you guys really matter. If I were a coach at any level, be it high school, college or the pros, I would not touch that Rockets job with a ten foot pole. They are going to lose a lot of players, mainly Dwight Howard, and the new coach will have to deal with all the nonsense that comes with James Harden. Harden is uncoachable and that team is going to get blown up. The Rockets will be a rebuilding project, and an established coach will not touch that job. The Rockets may have to dip into the college ranks and we all saw how well that worked out for Fred Hoiberg and Billy Donovan. Sure, Donovan won 55 games, but he has Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant at his disposal and his "coaching" didn't really play any part in their success. And Hoiberg, the Bulls, with all the talent in the world, didn't even make the playoffs in the East. So, good luck to whichever low end NBA assistant or college coach that takes that Rockets job, it's going to be tough.

Then, there is the Kings vacant head coaching job. They have reached out to some big name guys. Guys like Kevin McHale, Mark Jackson and Stan Van Gundy, but they all seem to be turning the job down, and they all seem to turn it down for one reason. That one reason is Boogie Cousins. First of all, I love Boogie Cousins the player. I think he is a wonderfully skilled big man. He can play in the low post and run the floor with equal success. He is definitely a once in a lifetime good to great low post player, but he clearly has a very bad attitude problem and he is un coachable. Not one single coach that he has had in the NBA seems to last longer than one and a half season. Hell, if he had stayed at Kentucky more than one year, I bet he and Calipari would have ended up having problems. Calipari may be the one guy that can coach him, but he isn't leaving Kentucky for a NBA rebuilding job, so those rumors need to stop. I love love love Boogie Cousins, but I totally understand why all these coaches are turning down the job. I mean, George Karl, who made it work with strong personalities like Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton, couldn't reach Cousins. From the start, Cousins did not like Karl. Before they even met, he was down on Karl for some past accusations. It was a broken marriage from the jump. There have been other head coaches, but the only one that seemed to work, Mike Malone, was inexplicably fired after one season and 11 games into his second season. Malone was making it work, but Cousins went down with an injury and the Kings lost a couple of games in a row. That was enough, according to the front office, to fire him. It was a joke that Malone got fired so quickly when it seemed he was turning that team around. But, that's another problem with this franchise. The front office thinks that the team is better than it actually is. Vivek, the new owner, is an idiot. He is the one pulling the trigger so quick on coaches. He is the one that keeps drafting players that play the same position over and over again. One year he takes Ben McLemore, the next year he takes Nick Stauskas. One year he drafts Boogie Cousins. A couple of years later, he takes Willie Cauley-Stein. Vivek also said, on live national television, he wanted his team to play five on four so they could get quick fast break points because that's what his fifth grade daughters team did, and they were good. He compared an NBA team to a fifth grade basketball team. That's insane. No coach worth their mustard should touch this job with a ten foot pole as well. The Kings are a mess akin with the Rockets. The only selling point in the Kings favor is the fact that they will get a decent draft pick, but who really cares, that's just more rebuilding.

These two jobs are not good jobs. I don't think anyone with any sense is wiling to take either one of these jobs because these jobs are a stomping ground. There is no success to be had at either spot. Yes, the Rockets have James Harden, but he plays no defense, he is a ball hog, he holds the ball for 20 of the 24 second shot clock and he is a prima donna. The Rockets won't have much else going into next season. And yeah, the Kings have Boogie and Rondo, but what coach in their right mind really wants to deal with those two headaches. As I said, I love Cousins, but I would not want to deal with Rondo at all. He is past his prime and he may be a crazy person and he is too big a headache.

While other teams will fill their vacancies with relative ease, I think the Rockets and the Kings will have a long, tiring and troubling time trying to fill their head coaching jobs. Both teams are dumpster fires and no coach with a good head on their shoulders will give those jobs a second chance. Those jobs will be filled by lower level assistants, college coaches, or more likely, a crazy person.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He coaches pre K basketball and is ready to be called up by the Kings or Rockets. He fully expects to be fired in less than a year, like any other big time NBA coach would be. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: Michael Rapaport is one of the best, and hardest working, entertainers out there.

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 I'm going to give love to another actor/director that seemed to be forgotten, but has now reappeared and is doing some great work. That actor/director I'm speaking of is Michael Rapaport.

This comes about because yesterday, on the Bill Simmons podcast, Rapaport was the guest, for the third time already, and I loved every single second. He is just an angry, yet jovial dude and I love to hear him talk about everything from music to movies to sports, mainly basketball. He is a huge basketball fan and he is extremely knowledgeable on the NBA, especially his beloved Knicks. He knows their history inside and out. He is so passionate about his team. He said on the podcast, that it is nothing but gray skies right now for the Knicks.

That's something I really like about him. He isn't a delusional Knicks fan that thinks, "this is the year we turn it around", every year, he knows that this is a very dark time for his team. They have no picks in the upcoming draft. They will be hard pressed to bring in any big time free agents, unless they trade Carmelo. They are trying to decide between Kurt Rambis and David Blatt as their next head coach. Why is this even a question? Hire Blatt. Rambis is incompetent and has proven that every time he gets a head coaching job. Blatt was in the wrong situation at the wrong time in Cleveland, and he still took that team to the finals last year. Rappaport said the exact same thing. He doesn't see the need for Phil Jackson to interview anyone else if Blatt is available. I couldn't agree more with him, obviously.

This past Tuesday, and the two other times before, he has expounded his vast knowledge of the Knicks and the NBA, and I agree with almost everything he says. I agree that the Knicks are going to be an also ran for the next three, four or even five years. I agree that the NBA is in a golden age, but it will be bad in a couple of years because of the "one and dones", he said this the last time he was on the podcast. I agree that the Knicks of the 90's were incredibly dominant, but also underachievers, because they never won a title with Ewing, Mark Jackson and John Starks. I agree with him when he says he wants the Cavs to lose the finals again because LeBron is kind of becoming whiny since he isn't the top story in the NBA anymore, it's the Warriors. I agree when he says that Russell Westbrook is a lunatic on the floor. I agree that he says there will never be another player like Kevin Durant, a guy that's 7 feet tall and can handle and shoot like a guard. Rapaport is very, very smart when it comes to all things NBA.

Rapaport's hobbies and the things that he likes goes beyond just the NBA. He is a successful podcast host himself. His podcast is very popular and he gets some big time people to appear. He was/is a very decent actor. I personally think that he is a really good actor that can play many different roles and genres. For example, look at his role in "Next Friday", next to "Cop Land". "Next Friday" he had such a throw away part, but he nailed it. He was a mildly racist mailman delivering mail to Craig's uncle's house in the suburbs. Rapaport was surprised to see a young black man answer the door and he acted like a guy that doesn't think he is racist, but there is definitely some racism in him. He was rude and ignorant and funny. And Ice Cube played off of him perfectly. "Next Friday" isn't good or bad, it's just blah, but that one scene with Rapaport and Cube is very funny and worth your time. In "Cop Land", he played a young, out of his league cop. He got to act with Harvey Keitel, who is a wonderful and legendary actor. I feel like Rapaport one hundred percent held his own. He also got to act with Sylvester Stallone in that movie as well. "Cop Land" is star studded and Rapaport does an excellent job among all the big time stars in that movie. But, nothing compares to how awesome he was in the wildly underrated "Beautiful Girls". First of all, that movie is so good and it totally holds up. The list of actors and actresses in that movie is incredible and Rapaport is so damn good in the movie. He gets to act opposite Mira Sorvino and Uma Thurman and he does a wonderful job. If you haven't seen "Beautiful Girls", do yourself a favor and watch it because it is great.

He is also a pretty good actor on the small screen too. He plays a cop a lot, he kind of looks like one, in shows like "Public Morals" and "Justified", and he is very good, but nothing compares to his outstanding, one episode feature he did on the last season of "Louie". He was so god damn good as a down on his luck security guard. He was kind of a downer and a mean guy that punched people and talked over people all the time, but it was because he was a lonely guy. His character was even more lonely than Louis CK. He was such a wannabe and such a meathead, but he was also, to be frank, a loser. Louie always wanted to be left alone, and he could be a jerk about it sometimes, but in this episode with Rapaport, you side with Louie. Louie shouldn't have to hang out with someone always talking over him, punching him and taking him to a basketball game that he doesn't want to go to, no one should have to go through all of that. But, at the end, when he loses his gun and Louie eventually finds it, his cries of agony turn into cries of joy and Rapaport is so awesome in this tiny role. He should have been nominated for an Emmy for that one episode.

Recently, Rapaport has taken his talents to directing with a ton of success. He directed a great "30 For 30" about the Big East at it's height. It is an awesome documentary and one of "30 For 30"'s best efforts. But, nothing will ever compare to the wonderful work he did on the Tribe Called Quest documentary, "Beats, Rhymes and Life, The Trails and Tribulations of A Tribe Called Quest". That doc is a masterpiece about one of the greatest hip hop groups of all time. Rapaport told every side of every story. He gave everyone a voice, even Jarobi and Ali Shaheed Mohammed. That movie is absolutely awesome. It's even more timely and wonderful and sad due to the untimely death of Phife Dawg. That was the last we really ever saw of Phife at his healthiest. It will go down as classic now that Phife has passed away. Rapaport was clearly a fan, but he wasn't afraid to talk about and bring up the bad stuff that happened to everyone in ATCQ. It's his best work by far.

I'm a big, big fan of most of Rapaport's work. I know he may come off as coarse, but if you actually listen to him, I think you will feel the same way as I do. Rapaport is a wonderful actor, director and a great, and very knowledgeable sports fan, especially when it comes to basketball. I'm a fan.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He agrees with almost everything Rapaport says about the Knicks, except for the fact they will be bad for four to five years. They will be bad for decades. Ty is on twitter, go follow him @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Soundgarden

For the greatest American band debate today I'm going to take my first, but definitely not last, plunge into grunge music. There is a lot of influential grunge bands out there and the first one I want to highlight is Soundgarden.

Now, let's get this right out of the way at the start, I did not listen to Soundgarden until much, much later in my life. I mean, they had been broken up, reunited and broken up again before I came to their music. When they first hit the music scene, they were not anywhere near my radar. I was listening to more hip hop and comedy records when Soundgarden made their first appearance. But, as I got older, in my late 20's, I "rediscovered" Soundgardean and, my god were they incredible.

The stuff I heard sounded like grunge mixed with psychedelic music. It was intense and weird, but it was also really good and very interesting. I obviously remember "Black Hole Sun", but to be quite frank, that video scared the hell out of me. All those weird, melting faces with permanent smiles, it was terrifying. But, listening to the song as an adult, it is incredible. I love that a song like that got so much airplay and so much face time on MTV and popular radio stations. That is a dark and depressing song, but it sounds catchy, so the people at those radio stations and at MTV deemed it okay enough to be played. The song is basically about an apocalypse of sorts. Lyrics like, "black hole sun, won't you come and wash away the rain", I mean, that is some depressing stuff. Or, you get stuff like "boiling heat, summer stench, beneath the black the sky looks dead" and that is immediately followed by, "call my name through the cream and I'll hear you scream again". Those are some of the darkest lyrics I had ever heard on pop radio and MTV. This song is about death and decay, but it's got Chris Cornell's unique voice and the band wailing away on their instruments to perfection, and it sounded oddly upbeat. This was a great way to get airplay back in the 90's. You could write dark and depressing stuff, but if it sounded nice, filled with major chords and a kick ass guitar solo, you got airplay. And Soundgarden did it all so well on "Black Hole Sun". Now, in my 30's, not only do I really like the song, but I also LOVE the video. It is so weird and bizarre, but it is perfect for what that song is about.

Soundgarden isn't just about "Black Hole Sun" and Chris Cornell, not by a long shot. First of all, the band behind Cornell is dynamite. Matt Cameron is a very good drummer. They've had five or six different bass players that are all very good, Cornell, while being lead vocalist, also played guitar, but then there is Kim Thayil on lead guitar. Thayil is a master guitar player. The way he used effects and distortion and reverb was quintessential 90's grunge and he was damn good too. He was a joy to watch play. He would whip his incredibly long hair while thrashing away on his guitar. Some of his solos are some of the best that I have ever heard. Thayil was, and still is, one of the greatest rock guitar players of all time. In fact, I personally think Thayil is a much better guitar player than a guy like Slash, but he doesn't get the acclaim. That's a shame. Go back and only listen to Thayil and be amazed at how wonderful and unique and awesome his work is on guitar. Thayil is a legend. Chris Cornell has his place, but I think he is a bit overrated as a singer and guitar player. He got very lucky to be in a band with Thayil. But, without his unique vocals, Soundgarden may have never hit the big time. Cornell has gone on to do other things, but nothing comes close to comparing his work in Soundgarden. The band that he and the members of Rage Against the Machine, minus Zack De La Rocha, started, Audioslave, is a joke. Don't listen to Audioslave. Listen to Rage or Soundgarden. They are both far superior. 

Then there is the actual music. I have mentioned and talked about "Black Hole Sun", but that whole album, "Superunknown" is awesome. It was their fourth album, but it is the one that put them on the map and it is the only one of their albums that really needs to be mentioned. "Superunknown" is incredible. It perfectly melded grunge with rock and had elements of psychedelic music as well. We have the aforementioned "Black Hole Sun", but there is also some great songs like, "Spoonman", "The Day I Tried to Live", "My Wave" and "Fell on Black Days". All these songs are dark and depressing and beautiful. The musicianship is incredible. These guys know how to play and play very well together. I know I said before that I'm not a big fan of Cornell's, but his vocals are perfect on this album for this genre of music. As I said before, I came to this band very late in my life, but this album one hundred percent holds up. They made some records before, and even 2 after "Superunknown", but we don't even need to touch on those because "Superunknown" is so great and such a perfect representation of grunge and 90's popular music. I'm serious, go back and listen to that record and you will be transported to wherever you where in that time of your life. I hear it now and I think back to hearing it for the first time and not understanding it and being scared by it. I was too young to get it when it first came out in 1994. But, 22 years later, I understand and recognize how truly great that record is. That album gave the whole world Soundgarden. Before then, the only people who knew of them where people that lived in Seattle and big time grunge nerds that needed to listen to every grunge band. "Superunkown" unleashed this incredible band for everyone to hear. It is truly one album that allows me to put this band in this conversation. Most of the other bands I have written about have multiple albums that makes it easier to put in the debate, but Soundgarden, while having 6 full EP's, only really needs just this one, and it's more than enough to put them up for greatest American band.

I'm a pretty big Soundgarden fan now. They have tried to make it work recently, but they will never be as good as they were in 1994. They came along at the exact right time for them and they grabbed their chance and ran with it. I really enjoy Soundgarden, especially Thayil, and you really only need to hear "Superunknown" and I think you will agree with me.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Have you missed any of our previous Greatest American Bands? You can find them all right here. Ty has a twitter, go follow him @tykulik.

The Core of the LA Clippers is not the Core of a Champion

This here has the core of a champion

I have heard multiple reports lately that Doc Rivers wants to keep the core of the LA Clippers together for one more year to give his team one more shot at a title. He says his "core", but he really means Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. The only other players that are even decent on that team anymore are JJ Redick and Jamal Crawford, but they don't really make up the "core" that Rivers is talking about. I think he should keep them together too because I think it will be another catastrophic failure by the Clippers. They will not get out of the second round, hell they'd be hard pressed to even make the playoffs, if he keeps this group together.

Being the Clippers hater that I am, that's why I think he should keep it together. Let's break it down even further as to why a hater like me would love this, but a Clippers fan might not be so happy. First off, there is Chris Paul. Chris Paul is a great point guard, perhaps one of the greatest of all time. Now, I still think he is incredibly dirty and very whiny, but he is a damn good basketball player. But, he will also be turning 32 next season and he has been in the league for over a decade now. He has gotten very lucky with injuries, up until this last playoff run, and has logged a ton of minutes. He continues to play at a very high level, but father time is undefeated. The problem with a point guard, I heard and totally agree with Howard Beck who said this, that they don't slowly break down, they just all of the sudden break down. Look at a guy like Ty Lawson. Two years ago he was the hottest commodity on the free market. Everybody wanted him. Then, he went to Houston and completely fell off a cliff. He was dumped by the Rockets, signed with Indiana and barely played. He was one of the top players just two short years ago, now, he'll be lucky if he gets signed by any NBA team this offseason. I could see something very similar happen to Chris Paul. I don't think his fall off will be as big as Lawson's was, but I still see him falling out of the top players in the NBA. He will still be a good point guard, but he won't be as dominant as he has been. He is getting older and the older he gets, the more whiny and the more dirty he becomes. He's also a HUGE headache as a teammate. I don't think anyone on the Clippers legitimately likes playing basketball with Chris Paul. It's never his fault and no one plays to his personal expectations. His time is quickly coming to an end.

Then, we have Blake Griffin. You remember him right? He's the guy that repeatedly punched a staff member until he broke his hand. He also has a very bad quad problem that he is dealing with. He also seems to have lost some of his explosiveness. He doesn't seem to trust the Clippers training staff. He, much like the majority of the roster, doesn't seem to enjoy playing basketball with Chris Paul. He also cannot be on the court in crucial moments with DeAndre Jordan, they don't coexist well at all. He's also extremely overrated. Every analyst or writer I hear or read seems to think he is a top five player in the NBA and that he is some sort of superior play maker. I don't see it. He's an okay passer, but he is the definition of a "ball stopper" on offense. He gets it in the high or low post and he only looks for his shot, unless he can make a pass that will make the ESPN top ten highlight that night. He is a ball hog that no one talks about. His mid range jumper is also very mediocre and looks so gross. Griffin is not the great player that people make him out to be. He's good, but he is losing a step and he is a terrible teammate. I know I'd hate to play with him and I think a lot of other players feel the same. He is also a deranged man child for what he did to that staff member. Let us not forget how horrendous and heinous that whole situation was. He punched someone so much, in the face, that he broke his own hand. That is insane and wrong on so many levels. I truly do not like Blake Griffin the person or the player. I hope his personal hype train is over.

Then we have DeAndre Jordan. This is the same guy that welched on a deal with Dallas because he wanted to return to the Clippers. He had the chance to be the man in Dallas, I know they still have Dirk and Dirk is still great, but it was going to be Jordan's team. They were going to build around him. But, after this first round of the playoffs, I'd be breathing a sigh of relief if I were Dallas that we didn't sign him. Chris Paul and Blake Griffin both went down with playoff ending injuries, so the team was Jordan's. They didn't win another game in the series. The Clippers, with Jordan being the focal point, looked as bad as the Grizzlies. They didn't know where to go, what plays to run or, if they ran a play, they couldn't finish it off. DeAndre Jordan may be one of the most over hyped and over paid players in the league. I also don't buy the whole defensive stopper and rebounding machine thing. He is very mediocre on defense, barely getting one block a game, and yes, he has high rebounding numbers, but it's all long rebounds and nothing really on the offensive boards. I much rather have a guy like Hassan Whiteside or Bismarck Biyombo than DeAndre Jordan. Those guys play formidable defense and they are ferocious rebounders. I don't care about all the alley oops, it doesn't matter when you get bounced in the first or second round of the playoffs every year how great the oops look, you are still a sub par franchise. DeAndre Jordan got his chance to shut people like me up, the non believers, when Griffin and Paul went down, but he did the opposite. He gave up and looked disinterested in the last two games against the Trailblazers. Mason Plumlee and Moe Harkless and Ed Davis looked so much better than Deandre Jordan did.

Doc Rivers also wants to keep the bench players I mentioned, they are not that great. Sure, JJ Redick is a good shooter, but when he has to guard a good player, he gets eaten alive. I also feel like he'd rather get more tattoos and style his hair real nice than work on his game. He's also old in basketball terms. Jamal Crawford is only good for instant offense off the bench. He is a liability on defense and he is not a good ball handler. Austin Rivers is a joke of an NBA player. Cole Aldrich is inexplicably still under contract and still plays decent minutes and he is garbage. Paul Pierce needs to retire. I like Pierce a lot, but he has lost way more than just one step and he cannot score like he used to. His time has most assuredly passed. Jeff Green is so inconsistent and he has been that way his whole career. I don't think anything is going to change by now, he is the player he is going to be for the rest of his NBA career. Besides these guys, who cares who else is on the roster.

This team needs to be blown up, but the Clipper hater in me would love to see Doc Rivers try and make it work for one more year. They won't beat the Warriors, the Spurs or the Thunder, if Durant resigns. They will, at best, be the fourth seed once again in the West with this same team. For my sake, do it Rivers, bring this team back so I can watch and laugh as you fail to get out of the second round. But, for the NBA's sake and the sake of my non hater side, blow it up and start over. The Clippers have gone as far as they can with this team. They are not, and never will be, championship caliber with this roster.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. His love of the game is stronger than the will to watch the Clippers fail, again. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Laremy Tunsil and the Clown Show at ESPN

Artist rendering of draft meeting at ESPN

So, I had the weekend to think about it and I'm now going to give my take on the Laremy Tunsil slide in last week's draft. As you may know by now, Tunsil was the only player in this draft that I had any expectations for. I figured that he was the most ready and best prepared to be a pro football player. The whole bong gas mask and text message debacle between him and his coach have not changed my view on Tunsil, the player. I still think that he is going to be an all pro caliber offensive lineman that will be a quality to great starter for many years in the pros. He is a humongous road grater, and smoking weed and getting 300 bucks from a coach does not deter my views on that.

Do you know some other players that slid in the draft because of off field weed issues, Warren Sapp and Randy Moss. Sapp had a much similar slide to Tunsil. Sapp was projected as a top five pick, but then some people said he was a weed smoker and he failed a drug test prior to the draft. So, instead of being picked very early, he slid to the middle of the first round, 13 if I remember correctly, same as Tunsil. I think both Sapp and the Buccaneers were extremely thrilled and couldn't have cared less about him smoking pot. Sapp was an all time great defensive lineman, who put in work, and is now a hall of famer. Randy Moss had an even bigger tumble after a failed drug test, and many people letting the NFL know that he liked to get high. Moss slid all the way out of the top ten, teens and ended up in the 20's, 22 if I remember correctly, to the Vikings. Remember his rookie year? Remember his time in New England? Remember his career? Sure, he could be a headache, but he too put in work and he was dominate. Moss may be the best deep ball threat the NFL has ever had. Moss made Daunte Culpepper a pro bowl QB. Moss revived Randall Cunningham's career. Moss was part of the last decent Oakland Raiders team. Moss and Tom Brady were one of the most lethal threats of all time. So, yeah, I don't think Randy Moss' affection to marijuana really made him any less great at football. He too, if he isn't already, is a hall of famer.

So, if I were a betting man, I'd say that Tunsil will have a career that will be at least comparable to a long time starter in the NFL, with Warren Sapp on offense being his best case scenario. I don't care at all about the video that surfaced and the text thread that surfaced, it was the timing and the way the "experts" at ESPN and the NFL Network handled the whole situation. The NFL Network did a "better" job, kind of burying the story and not making it out to be a humongous deal. But, ESPN took the exact opposite direction. They talked this story to death. They showed the video over and over and over again. They constantly put the text thread on TV for all to see. They continually questioned Tunsil's maturity with how he handled the situation. And, do you know who they blamed? They put it all on Laremy Tunsil. They didn't say one bad thing about Ole Miss, or any of the adults that were involved in this whole thing. Yes, Tunsil is now a professional, but I feel like he handled this whole thing as well as one could imagine. He didn't deny or confirm anything. He didn't blame anyone but himself. He owned up to his mistakes. Yes, he said he took money from a coach at Ole Miss, but I didn't read that as him passing the blame, I read it as him telling what he believed to be the truth.

ESPN did not see it that way. This further makes me so sure about the demise of this network that I wrote about last week. They had their "experts" bad mouthing Tunsil left and right. Chris Berman called him out as being immature. Trent Dilfer, who is reportedly leaving ESPN, said he didn't seem ready for professional life. Jon Gruden, who if you aren't a QB, he doesn't care about you, said that he wouldn't have picked him at all, which is insane. But, the most repulsive and sorry excuse for a reporter was that dip shit Todd McShay. McShay basically said that, since he told the truth, he clearly wasn't ready to be a pro. He said that his people didn't have him well enough prepared to handle a press conference of this magnitude. He called him immature. All of this because Tunsil told the truth. McShay seems to think that, if you come out and tell the truth, you are unprepared to be a pro football player. He'd rather Tunsil lied than said anything at all. This is absolutely terrible "reporting" and "journalism" from a guy that is clearly an amateur, AKA, the future of ESPN. This makes McShay look like the complete and udder moron that is most definitely is.

Naturally, Roger Goodell had to give his two cents. He said, and I quote, "this is what makes the draft so exciting. It's unpredictable". What a god damn idiot. I'm sure that Tunsil was thrilled and excited that every time he got passed on, he lost another million dollars. I'm sure he was so happy with the "unpredictableness" that cost him over 6 million dollars. I'm sure his family loved it as well, seeing one of their loved ones suffering and having a panic attack. God, Roger Goodell is such an idiot. Why is he not fired yet?

I don't understand the personal attack on Tunsil from ESPN basically. He's a kid. I know he's a pro, and stuff like this shouldn't happen, but they spent a thousand more minutes on this than they did on D'Angelo Russell secretly filming a teammate. They have not once talked about all the Peyton Manning allegations. They spend little to no time on the fact that last years number one pick, Jameis Winston, had many, many more criminal charges before last years draft. They barely, if ever, blame that piece of garbage Johnny Manziel for all the crazy stuff he does everyday. Basically, ESPN will only talk about Tunsil's "immaturity" and "deflategate".

ESPN sucks.

Really quick, why is no one going after Ole Miss? They have clearly done something wrong and possibly illegal, according to the NCAA. The bong gas mask thing isn't their fault, that's just a dumb kid making a very dumb decision and letting someone film it. Also, why was there a confederate flag in the background during that video? That's terrifying. And no one is talking about that either. But, clearly Ole Miss was giving a player money, and that is against the rules. That is not allowed, but apparently, they were giving Tunsil's family money every year that he was playing football there. Also, they got really good, really fast. And it was all of the sudden. One day Ole miss was an also ran, the next, they were pulling in five stars and competing in the hyper competitive SEC. Ole Miss has clearly broken several rules, but don't go to ESPN for any coverage of that because they feel the need to scold Laremy Tunsil some more. This is a joke.

So, I think, after all of this, Tunsil is still going to be a very good to great pro player. I think he has handled this whole thing the best way he knew how and he did a decent job. I'm not too worried about his love for pot because I think he will put in the necessary work to be a good pro, much like Sapp and Moss. ESPN and their panel of "experts" are the bad guys here. They are terrible "journalists" and "reporters". They clearly have no clue what they are doing and they are a mess. Just remember how ESPN, Mel Kiper, Jon Gruden, Trent Dilfer, Chris Berman, Todd McShay and Roger Goodell treated Tunsil when we look at him in five years. Tunsil will be an all pro and all the stooges at ESPN will either be fired, the network will be gone, or they will all have moved on to some lower level of the sports journalism world. I guarantee it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He remembers the golden years of ESPN, back when Chris Berman stuck out as being the lone idiot in the crowd. Now Berman blends in with the rest. Ty is on twitter and you should follow him @tykulik.

May Day - International Workers Day, the Celebration of Spring, and SeedSing's birthday

May is the time to blossom

And so it began.

May 1st will always represent the launch of SeedSing as a website. I wanted to use the internationally recognized Workers Holiday as the marking point for what we are trying to accomplish here at the website. May 1st is also widely associated with the celebration of spring. Festivals dating back to the Roman Republic era have been celebrated on the 1st day of this fifth month. SeedSing exists to give voice to the worker and to celebrate the blossoming of new ideas. We are happy to celebrate this May Day with you, and we want to celebrate our own first year of existence.

Having spent the last year working on SeedSing, I have learned a lot. There are the practical skills I have picked up; things like editing an article, which I still have a lot to learn about, creating a podcast, again still a lot to learn, and the overall joys of the day to day work making sure people's ideas are presented in an informative and entertaining fashion. Contributors like Tina S, Kirk Aug, and especially Ty have made this endeavour exciting and fulfilling at the same time. SeedSing would not exist without their ideas, and I can not thank them enough for everything they have contributed to this project. The guest contributors, some known and some unknown, have also been an incredibly valuable addition to the conversation we are having. With one year down, we are excited to keep the ball rolling.

So what is the purpose of SeedSing? We live in a world where ideas are being monopolized by the wealthy and connected elite. Ideas are not commodities, they are the only thing we collectively share. Here at SeedSing we want to let the people take back their rights to having thoughts. We want to give you a voice. The global community is in trouble. The top capital owners have used the media and government to solidify their power. SeedSing is the people's fortress where we can speak freely, and start to fix the world being destroyed by the top 1%. That is the purpose of SeedSing.

Fixing the world through our ideas does not have to be gloomy. Our culture and entertainment is where are voices can be strongest. The writing here at SeedSing concerning pop culture has been our most popular content. We do not discuss the same old baby boomer culture that seems to always overshadow whatever new and exciting is happening. Topics such as who is the Greatest American Band, or what new unknown entertainment you should enjoy, is where SeedSing is leading the way to reclaim pop culture from the baby boomers. Add your voice and let our culture flourish, not decay under the old ways.

The X Millennial Man Podcast has been another avenue where our seeds have been allowed to sing. Most of our discussions have revolved around the pop culture of our respective generations but there have been times that the X Millennial Man has tackled issues outside of the entertainment world. Kirk and Ty discussed their experiences as stay at home dads, Tina S interviewed her mother (a baby boomer) and Tina's friend (Generation X) on their experiences as immigrants to the United States, and RD used the handwritten notes of his deceased grandfather to learn about where RD's family originated from. These are the stories we do not hear in the regular media. Podcasting has been the common persons greatest weapon against a professional media who exists to solidify the status quo. SeedSing and the X Millennial Man will continue to be the voice of people.

Where do we go in our second year?  We continue moving forward. SeedSing is growing, but we need your help. This is a project funded by the money and efforts of a very small group of people. Your help is always appreciated. How can you help? We want your voice. Tell us your thoughts. If you want to write, we want to publish your ideas. If you have an idea, but are not comfortable with writing, tell us your thoughts and one of our regular contributors will put together a piece. If you are not a writer, but still want to support SeedSing - financial support is always a nice thing. Other ways to help us out is to follow SeedSing on twitter, @seedsing.rdk, and to like us on Facebook. We are excited about are second year, and we are even more excited about your continued support of SeedSing.

Happy May Day, International Workers Day, and happy 1st birthday SeedSing. Come on in and join us. Allow your seed to sing and take root. You only have your ideas to set free.

RD

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

The Final Days of ESPN

ESPN headquarters circa 2020

I think I need to take a moment today to talk about the mass exodus that is happening at ESPN right now.

I've been known to bash on ESPN on this site, but that's because they are an incompetent network that hires stupid people. They also act like they are the biggest and best thing since sliced bread. That was true about 25 years ago, but times have changed and ESPN refuses to keep up with that. They have barely changed anything about themselves since the internet has basically taken over the world. The only big difference that I have noticed, yes I still watch, but it's an anger watch, is the new set. They also have people hosting their own versions of "SportsCenter", but it's still pretty much the same. The higher ups at the company are either oblivious, or they just don't care, about the changing culture.

Nowadays, almost everything is done on the internet. I wouldn't be able to write if it weren't for the internet. In fact, a lot of people wouldn't have made it without the internet. But, ESPN doesn't seem to care. I wonder if they think it is a fad, or something that will just disappear. Sorry to break the news, but being the millennial writer and podcaster on this site, the internet is no fad and it will only continue to get bigger and bigger. I can't even fathom what it will be like when my kids are my age.

That's another thing, ESPN refuses to get with the times, what with live streaming now. Hell, if I want to watch a Michigan football, basketball or even a baseball game, I can see it in real time on the BTN2Go app. ESPN claims to have a live stream, but you have to pay for the stream, or they just have the "live" stream that is just some random person writing down what happens on each play, waiting what seems like an hour to write it, and the game is so far behind when they finally give you the info. For example, after my daughter was born, I had to watch a Michigan-Northwestern football game on my phone and I started with the ESPN "live stream". It was incredibly bad. I was getting zero updates. I couldn't find out which team had the ball or what they were doing. My dad asked me how the game was going and I could not give him a proper answer. After dealing with this nonsense for almost a half an hour, my older brother told me to go to the BTN2Go app. I downloaded it, searched the game, found it immediately, and was even able to watch it on my iPhone in a hospital room. Side note, Michigan thumped Northwestern that day. When I finally got to see the game, the first quarter was just about over and they were up 21-0. So, why does a channel, BTN, that has only been around for about 15 years have a better app and better internet capabilities that a company, ESPN, that's been around for 35 plus years? That is absolutely insane.

I think the "talent" at ESPN is starting to realize that the company will not get with the times and they have no chance of advancing any further than they already have. Sure, they fired Bill Simmons after he deservedly crushed Roger Goodell, but I guarantee that, had HBO came in and made an offer before he was let go, he would have left in a heart beat. Simmons outgrew that place, so instead of letting him leave on his own terms, they decided they would save face and fire him. That completely backfired on ESPN. Simmons has throngs of fans, me included, that will follow him to whatever network he goes to. They also decided, after letting Simmons go, it was time to shut down Grantland. Another huge mistake from ESPN. They lost a ton of great writers after doing this. Most of those writers are back with Simmons now. Grantland was huge for ESPN, but they wanted to rid themselves of everything Bill Simmons, and that was idiotic. Simmons and his staff write for the younger generation and, as I've said, we will follow him and his writers anywhere. I'm pumped for his show on HBO, I'm an avid listener of his podcast and I have subscribed to and follow The Ringer, his new site, on Twitter. 

Then, there was the news that Mike Tirico was leaving to go to NBC. This is a huge problem for ESPN. While Mike Tirico may not be the nicest, most pleasant person to be around, he was a crucial member of their staff. He was the co anchor on "Monday Night Football". He called big time college football games. He called NBA games. He was huge in college basketball. I mean, the guy is a jack of all trades. And the people at ESPN just lost him. I was legitimately shocked when I read that he was leaving. I don't know who they will replace him with, but I will bet it will someone who is incredibly under qualified.

Hell, they are even losing "journalist" that are not even mediocre, they are terrible. Last year they lost the racist piece of human garbage, Colin Cowherd. And now, the most moronic, nonsensical, I think I'm right because I'm the loudest, idiot Skip Bayless is leaving to join Cowherd at Fox Sports. This gives me a newfound hatred for Fox Sports, but damn, they can't even keep terrible people over at ESPN. Skip Bayless is a flat out dummy. The guy says some of the dumbest things I've ever heard on TV. Some, wait, everything he says is filled with stupidity and an arrogance that he should never, ever have. He is so dumb and so out of his mind. This is a guy that has said that Tim Tebow is an all time great QB, if you need a reference at how truly moronic he is. But, he too is leaving ESPN. I cannot believe they couldn't keep him on board. I wouldn't be shocked if the equally stupid and equally loud Stephen A Smith is the next to go. Yeah, they let Lou Holtz go, but he is about a million years old, so not a very big deal. Sure, they let Mark May go a year ago, but he is so much better off where he is now. They let Robert Smith go, but he was pretty good on TV and I'm sure he will find a job soon. And, after repeated racial slurs and racially insensitive things he put on the internet, they finally let Curt Schilling go.

Therein lies a huge problem for ESPN. If you bad mouth the NFL, a la Bill Simmons calling out Goodell, you get fired immediately. But, it took Schilling being incredibly racist, homophobic and mysoginistic many times before they actually fired him. Bill Simmons says one bad thing about the NFL, boom, he's gone. But, it's not until Schilling takes the side of the backwards ass people in North Carolina, he agreed with them that transgender people shouldn't be able to use the bathroom with the gender they now identify with, to fire him. Schilling is a horrible excuse for a human being. It's a travesty that it took ESPN that long to fire him. And what a crock from people that claim to be forward thinking.

It's just a matter of time now before everyone leaves ESPN, or they just shut down because they refuse to keep up with the change in the world. ESPN is an inept network and that ineptness will soon catch up to them.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He does not remember the early days of ESPN, but he sure remembers the last days. The network ended in 2006 if he recalls correctly. Ty is on the internet, follow him on twitter @tykulik.

The Arcs are Currently Touring, and You Need to See Them Live.

There was a lot more going on than a guitar and drums.

Last night my brother and I went to see the Arcs at the Pageant here in Saint Louis, and it was a very good show. The Arcs is Black Keys front man and lead guitarist Dan Auerbach's side project. I've written about them a couple of times on the site before, but last night was the first time I had seen them live. They were very good.

The band was very tight and you could tell that they enjoy playing music with one another. Auerbach seemed a bit more relaxed on stage as well. Not that he isn't relaxed with the Black Keys, he just exerts so much energy when performing live with the Black Keys because they are a two piece band. The Arcs, on the other hand, they had Auerbach on lead vocals and lead guitar, they had a bass player, a piano/saxophone player, a guy that doubled as a drummer and rhythm guitar player and Richard Swift playing drums as well as keyboards and a beat machine. They also had their openers, an all female mariachi band, come on and do background vocals and play some instruments on a few songs. This was a full band. I absolutely adore the sound and the show that is the Black Keys, I love two piece bands, but it's nice to see Auerbach venture out with a full band, and it sounds good. He also didn't look extremely exhausted at the end of the show last night, much like he does after a Black Keys show.

The Arcs are a very good band and they proved that last night with this show. They opened with "Velvet Ditch", which is a slower burning, almost psychedelic rock song and they crushed it. I knew I was in for a good 90 minutes after they opened the show so well. they went on to play 14 more songs, but not everything was off their album, which was nice. The majority of the show was from "Yours Dreamily", but they also did a new song, a few covers and they played the excellent "Lake Superior".

"Lake Superior" was written after they saw the Netflix show "Making A Murderer", and it's about the unjust way these people were treated and later convicted of a crime they may not have done. The song is eerie, but the melody and the music is upbeat in a weird way. I was very happy to hear them play this song live. I loved it when it came out, I listen to it on my iPod all the time, so it was great to get to hear it live.

The covers were old timey tunes. They played the Temptations "Smiling Faces Sometimes", The Blue Rondos "Little Baby" and they closed the night with Gary "U.S" Bonds "I Wanna Holler". Each song was great and they put their sound on each one. "Smiling Faces Sometimes" was slowed a bit and made a little more psychedelic, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Auerbach's solo's were clutch on this song. "Little Baby" was played just like the old time tune it is and I loved that. They played the sped up time signature, they sang it like the original band and the female mariachi backing band sounded really good on this song. Closing the show with a cover is always a little suspect to me, but they did and excellent job with "I Wanna Holler". It was a good choice by the band to play a song that is similar to their sound already and they did a great job covering it.

They played a newer song that they recently wrote called "Maybe I'm the Only One For Me". It was a very good, slow song. I liked the lyrics and the music. There was some great reverb from the guitar, the drums were slowed down to an excellent groove and Auerbach's vocals were awesome. They played a couple of other tunes that I'm not too familiar with. Right after "Velvet Ditch", they played "Bad Girl". This was a good, slower song, that had Auerbach using his newfound falsetto voice. It was trippy, but good. Right after that they played "Keep On Dreamin", which I think might be on the album, but I'm not 100 percent sure. It was good too though. Very good guitar and very good drums on the song. I liked it a lot. Their other encore song was a song called "Eyez". I think the Arcs were trying out a lot of newer material and that makes me happy. I like that they are giving the crowds at these shows a chance to hear stuff they've been working on. I liked this song too. It had a 50's sound to it, but spliced with their sound meaning, distorted guitars and loud drums. It was pretty good. 

The rest of the show featured songs off their record. They played, "Put a Flower In Your Pocket", "Pistol Made of Bones", "Stay In My Corner", "Chains of Love", "The Arc", "Cold Companion" and "Outta My Mind". I'm already a huge fan of "Put A Flower in Your Pocket", so to hear it live was a delight. They played it excellently and they even had the weird, choppy effect that starts on the song on the record while they played it live. Auerbach's vocals really shine on that song as well. "Pistol Made of Bones" is my sons favorite song and I got to say, they played it really well. Once again, great vocals and guitar from Auerbach, but the drums, with the loud splash when they sing, "I was shot!", was fantastic. "Stay in My Corner" was sweet and pretty and the solo was very well played. They even had a nice floral arrangement as their lights for this song. It was beautiful visually and sonically. "Chains of Love" was where the female mariachi band got their moment to shine. They got to sing the chorus and the added lines and they sounded great. Really excellent guitar on this one as well. "The Arc" and "Cold Companion" both sounded very similar, but very good. They sound alike on the record and the live show wasn't very different. Don't get me wrong, I loved hearing them both, they just sounded kind of the same. And "Outta My Mind" was great. It's a good song to begin with, but hearing it live and seeing the weird clips they added in the background made it that much better. It was done very well.

I knew going in that I was going to enjoy myself last night. I'm an unapologetic Black Keys fan, so anything that Dan Auerbach or Patrick Carney do outside of that, I'm probably going to enjoy and the Arcs, well I enjoy them quite a bit. It was a fun, fast in a good way and well done show. I liked it being in a smaller venue with a smaller crowd too, more intimate that way. The Arcs are a great band and they deliver when it comes to a live show. If they are coming close to your town, I highly recommend checking them out because you will have a good time. It was a very, very good show last night.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He would love to talk about your show in St. Louis. If you are a musician, comedian, or something in between, let us know and Ty will come to your show. Also make sure you follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.