Ty Listens to Kendrick Lamar's "Damn"

What should be to no one's surprise, Kendrick Lamar has done it yet again.

I heard rumblings about a week or so ago that he was putting out another new record so shortly after "To Pimp A Butterfly" and "Untitled, Unmastered". It was proven to be true when his new record, "Damn" was officially released today. I bought it as soon as I woke up, as I have done with all of his records, and I have already listened to it all the way through twice.

I have to say, I really enjoy this album. This is the first album that feels like you can just sit and vibe out to. All his other records are tremendous and wonderful and very, very insightful. Lamar has proven himself the best writer in hip hop since Jay Z, and now, I think he has surpassed him.

After I bought "Damn" this morning, I found an hour to myself, my wife is off work for the day, to listen to it from start to finish while doing some chores here and there, so the kids didn't have to hear it. They cannot listen to this record, just like every other Kendrick Lamar album. Then, when my kids retired to their room for naps, I went to work out, and that was when I really dug into the record. It was just me, my headphones, the pavement and Kendrick Lamar. I got to really focus.

What I really enjoy about "Damn" though, while it is still incredibly introspective, it is easily his most "fun" record. Now, it is not fun in the way that Puff Daddy or any other "party" rappers from the early to mid nineties. It is fun more so in the way that Jay Z was having fun on "The Black Album", or how Run the Jewels have fun on all three of their records.

This record has it all. Like I said, it is deep. The intro is sad and terrifying. Then, the album slips into an almost R&B/funk type record with Kendrick rapping over the beats. It was so different from what I have come to expect from him, but I found myself really enjoying it. I like when artists take a shot at something different, and when they hit, it is even better. Then, the record reverts into a straight up rap record with some big time bass thumping beats. These songs were perfect running songs. Being able to pound the pavement to every bass beat is exactly what I look for when listening to an album that I use for working out. The song "Loyalty" is so prefect for that. "Humble" is another track that made me feel like I could an extra mile or two. "XXX" is kind of a blend of bass and R&B, and it is tremendous.

Look, what it comes down to for me, I am a fan of Kendrick Lamar's just like I'm a fan of Run the Jewels. He would have to do something truly awful, Macklemore awful, for me to not like whatever it was/is. "Damn" just proves tenfold that Lamar is so gifted as a rapper and a writer. The fact that he can put out 3 records in less than 2 years is incredibly impressive. The fact that all 3 records are totally different from each other and successful proves that he may be the best solo rapper in the game right now. Scratch that, he is the best solo rapper right now. He has taken over that throne from Jay Z.

Looking at just the current hip[ hop scene, Kendrick Lamar is so much better than anyone right now, especially Drake. The fact that each of them have a newer record out now, and that Lamar's is so much better is proof enough. Add on "To Pimp A Butterfly" and "Untitled, Unmastered", and he is so much further ahead and so much more prolific than Drake could ever imagine being. While Drake is out there being a front runner for whoever is the best team in college football, basketball and the NBA at the current moment, Kendrick Lamar just keeps getting better and better at rapping and writing. Kendrick Lamar cares more about his craft than most musicians in any genre of music, and "Damn" further hammers home this point. If you ask me, there is no debate about who is a better emcee. It is Kendrick Lamar by a million miles. Lamar is so god damn good and can do any style of rap better than anyone.

I will be listening to "Damn" for a long time now. It will be spliced between listens of "RTJ 3" and "Awaken! My Love" for the next couple of months. There is another rumor floating now that he may release even more music on Sunday, I cannot think of a better way to celebrate Easter, which is a hilarious farcical holiday anyway, than more Kendrick Lamar. Until then, I will be listening to "Damn" over and over again, and you should too. This record is phenomenal.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Ha has yet to pick up the new Drake record. Ty is just not in the mood to hear sub-par rymes where Drake bashes the mentally ill.

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The SeedSing 2017 NBA Playoffs Preview

As I promised earlier this week on the podcast, today, I have my NBA playoff preview. The reason it has taken me so long is because the playoffs weren't fully set until last night. Sorry Miami Heat, you guys really turned it around after starting 11-30, but that poor start killed you guys, and the terrible Chicago Bulls took your spot. So, with this preview I will go round by round and matchup by matchup. I will give 3 or 4 sentences, unless I get really fired up for a series, and I will pick a winner all the way to the title. At the end of this piece I will pick a winner, and I will give you final winners for every big award. So, lets get to it.

I'm going to start with the Eastern Conference. Our 1-8 matchup is Boston-Chicago. I'd be a very teeny tiny bit nervous if I were a Celtic fan. There is something to Rajon Rondo wanting revenge, Dwayne Wade is always great in the playoffs and Jimmy Butler is the best player on either team that will take the floor. That being said, Boston has a much better coach and a much, much better team, by far. Brad Stevens will coach circles around Fred Hoiberg, Isaish Thomas will score at will, and I have the Celtics finally winning their first series under Stevens in 5 easy games.

The 2-7 matchup has the Cavs facing off against the Pacers. I was so incredibly high on the Pacers before the year but, they never found a rhythm and the team was never cohesive. Paul George has been playing great as of late, and Myles Turner has only gotten better and better, but the Pacers are not much of a threat, especially to the Cavs, even with their defensive deficiencies as of late. George will try to make things interesting, but LeBron James will shut him down, and unfortunately for the Pacers, they have no one else. I have the Cavs in 5.

The 3-6 matchup is going to be awesome. Toronto is at full strength and playing pretty well. Milwaukee is super young, but they are fun and they are long and they have Giannis. Milwaukee can make this a series. Like I said, they have length everywhere on the floor and will give DeRozan, Lowry and Ibaka headaches, but Toronto is a seasoned playoff team and I think Dwayne Casey is a very good coach. He will make the difference, and I have Toronto advancing in 6 games, but those 6 games will be a load of fun. Look out for Milwaukee next year though.

The 4-5 could be a good matchup according to some, but not me. I feel like Washington is going to obliterate Atlanta. Washington is better at every position, in my opinion, on the floor. Wall is much better than Schroder, Beal is better than any 2 guard the Hawks have, and the Wizards front court is better than the Hawks, including Paul Milsap. This is going to be the only first round sweep in the East. Washington should, and will, crush Atlanta.

On to the second round for the East.

The first matchup we have is Boston-Washington. I am/will be so pumped when this matchup comes to fruition. These teams genuinely hate each other, and we don't have many more rivalries like this in professional sports. I think this will be a hard fought, rough and tumble series. But, when I sit down and really think about it, I am going with the Wizards in 7. The Celtics have the better coach in Stevens, but the Wizards have better players and the Celtics won't be able to hide their flaws. Thomas cannot guard Otto Porter, John Wall or Bradley Beal and the Celtics frontline is no match for the Wizards.

The other matchup is a rematch of last year's Eastern Conference Finals, with the Cavs facing the Raptors. I really, really have been trying to convince myself that the Raptors can beat the Cavs in a series. The Cavs stink on defense, and that greatly favors guys like DeRozan, Lowry and Ibaka. The Raptors also seem tougher than the Cavs. I'd much rather have guys like Ibaka, Jonas Valenciunas and PJ Tucker than Tristan Thompson, Kevin Love and whoever in the hell else the Cavs put out there. But, LeBron James is the best player in the world. He showed that he can single handily win series for this team. But, is he tired? Are Kyrie and Love tired? A lot of these guys haven't played this much basketball over three years in their whole lives. With all this being said, I'll go with Cleveland in 7. LeBron is just too damn good, and he will find a way to get his team back to the East Finals.

That gives us Cleveland-Washington in the Eastern Conference Finals. Here comes my hottest take of all time. I think the Wizards will win this series in 6 games. The Wizards are the Cavs biggest threat and nightmare in the East. I also don't think the Cavs can just turn on the switch. I think the guys not named LeBron James on the Cavs roster are tired and that will show in the East Finals. I also love the way Wall and Beal and Porter Jr have played all season long. So, I have the Wizards representing the East in the Finals. That is my big time hot take for the East. The Cavs will not make it to a third straight Finals.

Lets move to the West, the far superior conference, now. The 1-8 matchup is Golden State-Portland. I know Damian Lillard has been on record saying that the Blazers will win in 6 games. That is great that he has that much confidence in his team, but sorry to say Dame, the Blazers are getting swept. The Warriors have everyone back, and they won't even break a sweat in this first round series. Warriors in 4.

The 2-7 matchup has San Antonio-Memphis. I love Memphis with the grit and grind. I love guys like Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, Tony Allen and Vince Carter. Those guys aren't nearly enough to stop the Spurs. Kawhi is on a mission. Danny Green is a great defender and 3 point shooter. LaMarcus Aldridge is quietly very decent. Pau Gasol has been fine, when healthy. And, the Spurs are coached by the best coach in the NBA. Memphis will try all their tricks, but it won't matter, Spurs in 4.

The 3-6 is the best matchup in the entire first round. We get OKC-Houston. I CANNOT wait to watch Harden and Westbrook trade blows and try to one up each other. It will be fast and ferocious, up and down basketball. I wouldn't be shocked if each team is in the 100's for every game. I think this will be a very competitive series, and both main guys will want to prove why they should be the MVP. But, in the end, the Rockets roster is better and deeper, and I think they will win in 7. This series is going to be must watch basketball, and I'm so excited to see these 2 teams play.

For the 4-5 matchup. we get a sneaky good series between Utah and the Clippers. This is going to be a very underrated and dare I say, very competitive series. The Clippers have home court, and that will be a big, big deal for them. I love the head to head matchups in this series too. I think Rudy Gobert will cancel out DeAndre Jordan and Gordon Hayward will do the same with Blake Griffin, but no one on Utah is close to Chris Paul, and that will be the difference. I see this series going 7, if the Clippers can stay healthy. I think they will win because they have the best player in Chris Paul. The two teams styles couldn't be more different, but I think this will be a very good, hard fought 7 game series.

Lets move to the second round.

The first matchup is Golden State-Clippers. I think we all know how this will end. Not only do the Warriors own the Clippers on the floor, but they also own their minds. The Warriors not only crush them physically, they do the same to them mentally. The Clippers just cannot beat the Warriors. Again, the Warriors sweep their way to the West Finals. The other matchup features San Antonio and Houston. This is where Houston's run of scoring in the high 100's stop. The Spurs defense is too good and plays with too much pride to let the Rockets shoot open three after open three. The Rockets will still jack up 30 threes a game, but the Spurs will defend them. And, the Rockets have no one that can stop Kawhi. James Harden doesn't play defense, Patrick Beverly is too small and slow, Sam Dekker is too slow, Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson think defense is optional and Trevor Ariza is not the defender he once was. The Spurs front court is far superior as well. I think the Rockets will get a game, possibly 2, but the Spurs will advance to face the Warriors in the West Finals.

So, we have the 2 best teams in all of the NBA facing off in the West Finals. This will be the only time the Warriors break a sweat, but I see them winning in 5. The Spurs have too much pride to get swept, but they will only win one game. The Warriors will be like a machine by this point, and most importantly of all, they should be at full health. Kawhi can only guard one guy, and the Warriors will use whoever Kawhi isn't guarding. The Warriors will represent the West in the Finals.

Instead of the rubber match between Cleveland and Golden State, I have Golden State facing Washington. Golden State will crush the Wizards, if my prediction is correct. Golden State would crush anyone, but they will absolutely destroy the Wizards. John Wall will be great, but Steph will cancel him out, and Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and, Kevin Durant especially, will be out for blood. This will be an easy sweep for Golden State. Golden State will be your 2017 NBA champions, and they will do it by going 16-1. They are just too damn good.

As far as the awards go, first off, I hate that the NBA is waiting to give them out until a month after the season ends. That is so dumb. Anyway, I have Russell Westbrook as MVP. I think I have made that very, very clear. Defensive Player of the Year should always be Kawhi, but Draymond Green will win it this year. Coach of the Year, which should always be Poppovich, will go to Mike D'Antoni. Most Improved Player should be Giannis Antentekoumpo. He is an incredible talent and he will be a force for the rest of his career. As for Rookie of the Year, Embiid would have gotten it if he played 40 plus games, but he only played 31. So, I guess I'd give it to Embiid's teammate, Dario Saric. He stepped up when he needed to, and he and Embiid are the future for the 76ers.

There you have it, my 2017 NBA playoff preview and prediction and all my awards predictions. You read it correctly, a Washington vs. Golden State finals. I cannot wait for Saturday for these games to start. Lets get to it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. When Washington makes the finals, Ty is going to celebrate by doing the Dougie. Does that make Ty a non-profesional? 

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RIP Charlie Murphy

I finally got a chance to sit down and take a breath today in between feeding my kids and cleaning my house, and god damn if the news wasn't disheartening once again this year. No, I'm not talking about our abomination of a "government", and their many stupid actions, I'm talking about the loss of another actor/comedian/writer that has been a part of my life since I was 11 years old. Today we lost the great Charlie Murphy.

Charlie Murphy was a tremendous comedic actor, if he was in the correct role. Most of my generation knows of Charlie Murphy from his real Hollywood stories that he did on "Chapelle's Show". That will be his great legacy, and those stories are wonderfully absurd, hilarious, and most important of all, true. The stuff he says in those stories, and the things that happened are now part of our society's vernacular. I say, "cocaine is a hell of a drug", all the time. I don't do drugs of any kind, but that quote is so memorable, and came to us courtesy of Charlie Murphy's story about hanging out with Rick James. I used to try the, "what did the 5 fingers say to the face" joke all the time, but always chickened out when it came to its conclusion. His story about Prince being a great basketball player put me into the deepest wormhole I've ever gone on in the internet. And, when I finished my research, it was all true. Prince was an all state point guard in high school. But, I also walk around and say, "Game, Blouses" whenever I win anything. The player haters ball on "Chapelle's Show" was another big time hit for him. It was a perfect showcase for his brash sense of humor.

The stuff he did on "Chapelle's Show" will be his lasting legacy for sure, but he did so much more, at least in my life. As I said at the top, I remember the name Charlie Murphy being mentioned to me as an 11 year old. My father went on a trip for work, and when he returned home, he told me and all my brothers about this great movie he saw called "CB4". The movie starred Chris Rock as a wannabe gangster rapper who steals his identity from Charlie Murphy's Gusto. "CB4" is one of the greatest movies ever made, it is wonderful satire, and Charlie Murphy is one of the main reasons that movie is such a classic, at least in my home. He is so gritty, yet hilarious in that movie. He trades comedic scenes with Chris Rock, who is an all time great comedian/comic actor, with ease. The stuff with the car chase and in the club is classic satire comedy of real and wannabe gangsters. I was 11, and I thought it was funny even though I didn't get it. I watched "CB4" again around the holiday's, I got it as a gift, and now that I get the jokes, I loved the movie, and Charlie Murphy's performance, that much more.

After seeing "CB4", I, like most people, continued to follow Chris Rock, but Charlie Murphy was always on my radar. Yes, he is Eddie Murphy's brother, but he was so much more than just a famous person's sibling.

Following "CB4", I saw Charlie Murphy pop up in things like "The Players Club". That is by no means a great movie, but Murphy is very good in his minimal role. Then the "Chapelle Show" became the enormous hit that it was, and that opened up so many more chances at good roles for Murphy. He was great as a thief/criminal in the terrible movie "King's Ransom". But, his role was what got me through that movie, and it was simply because he was in that movie as to why I watched it. He was tremendous in the very underrated movie "Roll Bounce". That is a great movie about roller skating, but it is touching and funny, and Murphy is excellent as Victor, the garbage man. He then played a bunch of bit roles in low budget movies, but he was still steadily working, which is an accomplishment in and of itself. Most actors would do anything to be a working actor, and Murphy made it to that level.

Murphy then found a second life as a voice actor. He was the voice of Ed Wuncler III in one of my favorite cartoons, "The Boondocks". It was a great fit, and Murphy nailed that character that I had read in the comics and they now turned into a cartoon character. Whenever I go back and read old "Boondocks" comics, I always picture Murphy as the voice. He did some more voice acting, 2 episodes worth for Adult Swim's "Black Dynamite" cartoon series. Again, it was the perfect fit for him. He was in every single episode of another Adult Swim show, "Black Jesus", and he, and that whole series for that matter, were phenomenal. That was a very good show, and Murphy excelled.

So, yes, he got famous first for being Eddie Murphy's brother. Then, he went out on his own and was tremendous in "CB4". Then, he became himself with all the success and wonderful things he did on "Chapelle's Show", which led to him becoming a steady working actor. He had a great career.

What makes his untimely death so sad for me, I did not even know he was sick. I had no idea he had leukemia. This is a very sad day. Charlie Murphy meant a lot to me in what I looked for in a comedic actor. He kind of shaped my taste for what I look for when I watch comedies. He will forever be remembered, at least by me, as Gusto. And for that I am forever grateful to Charlie Murphy. This death, as a fan, really shook me up.

Rest In Peace Charlie Murphy. Now you can tell your hilarious and true stories wherever you are right now. You will be greatly missed.

Ty

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

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Everyone Needs to Accept the Fact that Russell Westbrook is the NBA MVP

Westbrook at least will get our MVP Award for his season

The other day James Harden was asked how he felt about all the talk of Russell Westbrook being the new front runner for the MVP. It seemed like a fine question. Westbrook was/has been on a tear lately, putting up monster numbers and single handily winning games for the Thunder. I said on Facebook, and to anyone that would listen, after he put up his third 50 point triple double of the year, breaking Oscar Robertson's record of triple doubles in a season and beating, and eliminating, Denver from the playoffs on a last second three the other night that he wrapped up the MVP, in my opinion. Harden's team won that night too, and he put up a triple double as well, I think his 12th of the season, I'm not sure, and when asked the question Harden said, "I thought the MVP was all about winning games".

That is a very fine, and maybe even true statement in past seasons. I don't think anyone would argue that Steph deserved his 2 straight MVP's the last 2 seasons after leading the best team in basketball, but this year is different. First off, Harden was kind of miffed at the question. It was a fine question, and reasonable, as I have already stated. It is not like the reporter said that Harden wasn't deserving, he just asked what he thought of Westbrook possibly taking the lead. Then, Harden's answer, while plausible, does not justify why he should win the MVP. I've gone on record twice on this site now that if I had a vote, it would easily go to Westbrook, with Harden being a distant second. The Thunder lost KD and they are still a playoff team. They will not get to 50 wins, but they have 46 right now, and I did not think that they'd win more than 42 or 43 games. They are the 6th seed in the West. Westbrook is the Thunder's only option as well.

I think it's hilarious that reporters like Bill Simmons, who has done nothing but trash the Thunder since they traded Harden, try to justify that the Thunder's roster is just as good, if not better than the Rockets. Well, it is not. Westbrook has guys like Doug McDermott, Victor Oladipo, Steven Adams, Andre Roberson and Taj Gibson as crucial guys. Harden has Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson, Lou Williams. Clint Capela, Sam Dekker and Nene on their roster, and they got rid of Dwight Howard. Harden has so many better shooters around him than Westbrook does. And while Gibson and Adams are tough, Capela is more athletic than Adams and Nene is tougher than Gibson. The Rockets roster is much, much better than the Thunder. So Bill Simmons, stop with the whole, the Thunder aren't as bad as some think. You thought they were going to stink, and Westbrook is proving you wrong. Stop bashing the Thunder.

Also, Simmons is the main guy that says this as well, that he thinks averaging a triple double is not that impressive. I could not believe him when he said this. If Westbrook were a Celtic doing this, he would only say glowing things about his play and demand that he was the MVP, even if the Celtics had the same record as the Thunder. Averaging a triple double is wildly impressive, especially in the modern NBA. Bill Simmons needs to get off ripping on the Thunder because it has become tired and hackey, just like his now cancelled TV show. 

Lets get back to Harden's comments from the other night. He said the MVP is all about wins. Okay, than by his logic, he should finish, at best, third in the overall MVP vote behind anyone of the 5 starters on the Warriors and Kawhi Leonard on the Spurs. Both those teams have more wins, 7 more for the Spurs and 12 more for the Warriors, than the Rockets do. So, if we go by that logic, the voting in Harden's theory would be something like Curry/Klay/Draymond/KD number one, Kawhi 2, then himself. So, even his own theory blew up in his face. Also, teams like the Celtics only have 2 less wins, the Cavs are sitting players left and right, and they only have 4 less wins, as do the Clippers and Jazz. All these teams are 50 plus win teams. So, if he wants to do the math, the best he can finish is third. I mean, I have him second behind Westbrook, but if he wants to talk about wins being all that matters, than my vote would be KD 1, and he has only played in 60 games, Kawhi 2, then Harden. Harden's "logic" makes no sense. Also, both KD and Kawhi are one million times the defender that Harden could ever dream of being. I mean if we are going off wins for the MVP, it should be my preseason pick, Kawhi, by a landslide. He is the best defender, hands down, in the league and he has upped his scoring a lot. He is the best Spur since Tim Duncan, and I think he has a real shot at being better overall.

Anyway, I just do not see a just world where Westbrook is not the MVP this year. What he has done is anything beyond what anyone imagined, Westbrook included, in their wildest dreams. The Thunder are not a bad team, but no one else on that team is any real threat, yet they have still managed to get in the playoffs and be a well above .500 team after losing the third best player in the NBA. When the Cavs lost LeBron the first time, the next season they won 19 games. Look at how bad the Lakers have been since Kobe got hurt, then retired. The Celtics were dreadful after they traded away Paul Pierce and KG and Ray Allen left. The Suns have been horrendous since Isiah Thomas and Goran Dragic got traded. It took the Jazz forever to rebound when they let Deron Williams leave in free agency. The Nuggets haven't been good since Carmelo was traded. So, the fact that the Thunder are this good the year that KD left them high and dry is more than enough for me to give Westbrook the vote. The triple doubles, playing in every game, winning in the high 40's and going out and giving his all every night is just icing on the cake.

I'm sorry James Harden, but just like 2 years ago, when Curry beat you out for the MVP, the same should happen again this season, and Westbrook should win the MVP over you. No matter how many more wins the Rockets may have than the Thunder. A side note, I cannot wait for the Rockets-Thunder first round matchup coming in the next week. It should be epic.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He once averaged a triple double for a rec league season. Double digit turnovers, shots that were blocked, and somehow ten or more fouls a game. 

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

Better Late than Never on "Rogue One"

SPOILER ALERT - "Rogue One" has been out for a while, and people have talked about it for months. This article will also talk about major plot points in the movie. You have been warned. 

In what is becoming a never ending quest, I'm not saying that to complain by the way, my wife and I just recently watched "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story". I have been on this quest to see every "Star Wars" related movie since my daughter was born over a year and a half ago. "Rogue One" was currently the only one I hadn't seen. I wanted to go to the theaters, but it gets harder and harder the older my kids get. So, I bought it the day that it came out on DVD and Blu-Ray. My wife and I sat down last Thursday night, we were warned by several people to not let our 5 year old watch it, andfinally watched it.

The 2 of us could not have had completely different reactions to the movie. While I enjoyed the darkness and war story undertones set in a "Star Wars" universe, my wife said she was bored and would have just rather watched "The Force Awakens" or any of the other "Star Wars" movies, except for the prequels. When we finished, I told her I loved it, and that was when she dropped that hot take on me. I asked her why she did not like the movie and why would she rather watch the other stuff in the "Star Wars" cannon? She told me that she likes the other movies because they are more fun, have funnier scenes and she enjoys the fun and very fast paced atmosphere that George Lucas and JJ Abrams created with the original, and new, "Star Wars" movies. I get this argument.

There are definitely moments in "Rogue One" that could be deemed boring and or hyper violent, but my take on "Rogue One" was that is was a movie about war, it just happened to have "Star Wars" in the title. Had this just been a straight up movie about combat, and they used real weapons instead of blasters and everything we have become accustomed to in "Star Wars", I think it would have been considered an excellent movie about the brutality of war. Do not get it twisted, "Rogue One" is a very, very brutal movie. There is a happy ending, if you want that, but everyone, spoiler alert, dies. The only dude left standing in the end was Darth Vader. Sure, there was that very odd, yet cool scene with a CGI Carrie Fisher, RIP, but Vader is the only guy left standing to move on to the Death Star.

"Rogue One" erased all the bad stuff that the prequels did with Darth Vader, and restored him to the truly badass villain that he is meant to be. When he shows up in the middle of the movie and chokes out Ben Mendelsohn's character with the force, I got goosebumps watching that scene. Then, the last scene with him, again, spoiler alert, was horrifying. RD told me this, and I totally agree with him, that last scene with Vader is a straight up horror movie. It was so intense and scary and all the screams from the guys getting done in by Vader was terrifying.

Where my wife wasn't all that crazy about all the new characters introduced in "Rogue One", I liked them all. We both agreed that Chirrut Imwe, the blind guy with the awesome karate skills that thought he was like a Jedi, was the best new character, but we also liked his buddy, Baze Malbus, with the big armored suit and enormous blaster. They were both very badass. Riz Ahmed, as Bodhi Rook, the pilot that was captured by Forrest Whittaker's squad, was kind of a traitor, but he pulled through when he was needed. That dude is a very good actor. Speaking of Forrest Whittaker, his character, Saw Gerrera was awesome, and his death scene was brutal. Sorry for all the spoilers, but the movie has been out for awhile now. Diego Luna was very good in his role as Cassian Andor. I liked how he was a no nonsense badass that always seemed to do what was best for his people. Felicity Jones was incredible as Jyn Erso, the lead in the movie. I love that "Star Wars" is giving all the hero roles to females lately. It is a very nice change of pace. Jones was great throughout and I bought her as much as I did Daisy Ridley in "The Force Awakens".

I really enjoyed everything about "Rogue One". I really like war movies, and "Rogue One" is a movie about war. There are a few "Star Wars" call backs. There is Darth Vader obviously, but R2D2 and C3PO show up. There are Mon Calamari soldiers, like Admiral Ackbar, that help out the rebellion. There is the rebellion. And there's the Death Star. But, other than that, this was a brutal, violent movie about how tough war can be.

I get my wife's criticism. She likes to watch movies for fun that move seamlessly from one scene to another. When she watches a movie she wants to escape and just enjoy herself for 2 hours and not have to think. Me, I like movies that set up for big, big battle scenes. I mean, there are a lot of minor fight scenes here and there in the first 90 minutes. The one that immediately comes to mind for me was when the blind dude takes out about a dozen Storm Troopers, then his buddy finishes off the rest of them. But, the last 30 minutes is an incredible battle scene that is also tragic and horrifying. It was such a great final battle to what I consider a very good movie. The topping was that final battle scene with Darth Vader. It was so horrifying, but also very, very incredible.

So, while my wife wasn't the biggest fan of "Rogue One", I enjoyed the hell out of it. It doesn't rank up there with " A New Hope" or "The Empire Strikes Back", or even "The Force Awakens", but I do like it more than "Return of the Jedi", and all three of the terrible prequels. It was a hit for me. If you like war movies, I think you will definitely enjoy "Rogue One". I thought it was great.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is glad his son did not see the last Vader scene in the movie. Ty does not want his son trying to slice the dog up with a fake lightsaber while he throws the dog on the ceiling. 

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War is a Drug for the Media, and We Will Suffer the Side Effects

This will not make you feel good

SeedSing is proud to offer voices to anyone who has something to say. Sometimes these voices can only use crude language to express their ideas. Sometimes these vulgar voices come from the head editor. This following article is rated R for adult language and extreme anger. Get your ideas heard by writing for SeedSing

When President Trump was lobbing missiles at Syria, I wrote about the possibility of two new wars the American people are going to be forced to endure. I urged all of us to ignore the media's love of war. I asked us all to remember all the times that the media worked with the White House and sold false information to the American people. I hoped that the media would not be so craven again and be the mouthpiece for another quagmire.

I hoped.

Goddamnit.

Fareed Zakaria on CNN when asked what changed for Trump after the Syrian missile strikes. Trump "became President of the United States"

Brian Williams on MSNBC, quoting Leonard Cohen, "I am guided by the beauty of our weapons". Williams also described the missile strikes as "beautiful" a few more times.

Chris Matthews on MSNBC, "I thought if there was a way for him to kill the narrative that he’s in bed with Putin, it would be this"

Retired Major General James Marks on CNN, "My point is, this not like Kentucky basketball, one and done. This is the start of a series of operations."

The lapdogs at Fox News "Trump is the best. It is Obama's fault. We have no brains." (not an actual quote, but pretty close).

It goes on and on.

What the fuck is wrong with the media? Do these morons have no conscience? While the missiles were exploding in Syrian soil, the news media was having an orgasm about the awesomeness that President Donald Trump suddenly ascended to. It was predictable, comical, and infuriating. The media went out of their way to claim the greatness of Trump because he told Russia about his incoming missile strike, then launched his missiles, talked tough on national tv, and then did nothing else. The media got their high with "beautiful" explosions, and forgot about being defenders of truth. It was a fucking joke.

It adds even more to this shit sundae that disgraced journalists like Zakaria and Williams are out there falling all over themselves to praise Trump for his pointless military strike. Both journalists. No, not journalists. Liars. Why are these liars still considered credible newsmen?

 Why?

Fareed Zakaria has been caught plagiarizing other people's work numerous times. Brian WIlliams lost his NBC News head anchor job because he could not stop lying about his helicopter in Iraq being brought down by enemy fire (it never happened). These self centered hacks still get to keep their jobs as opinion leaders in our news, and they have gone out of their way to drag America into another military quagmire. It is a fucking disgrace.

The retired generals explaining war to the American Plebeians equally piss me off to no end. When Retired Major General Marks tried to be funny by comparing our military strikes to Kentucky Wildcat basketball, I did not laugh, I was fucking terrified. These asshat former military people on tv were the same ones claiming with certainty that the Iraq war would be easy. Using their long distinguished military career as their expertise, these retired generals sold Americans on a destructive lie. And they are fucking doing it again. Being in the military does not make you an expert on every war. Being a retired military person, and being excited about sending more troops to their death for a lie, that makes you fucking war criminal in my book. Your goddamn jokes about "one and done" is not funny. Shut the fuck up.

Then we have Fox fucking News. The imbeciles at the Republican state media do not know how to actually report news. They never have. That craptastic network exists only to bring America down. Shitbags like Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity would be crying their eyes out for the lost British tea if it were 1773. These fuckers exist to only make old, out of touch, white people feel good about their misogyny and racism. There is no value whatsoever in what ever comes out of Bill O'Reilly's or Sean Hannity's mouth. The rest of Fox News follows the lead of O'Reilly and Hannity until we reach the bottom of human conversation with the dipshits on Fox and Friends, President Trump's favorite show. With the absolute lack of integrity, and the pure hatred for what America is, it is no surprise that Fox News would be all in with anything President Trump does. Especially the un-Constitutional warmongering of the Syrian strikes. That is the type of shit that gets Fox News all kinds of excited.

It is a wildly excepted fact that Fox News does not give a shit about American lives. They count on scared white people, and shocked liberal gawkers, for their ratings. And you know what, scared white people, and always ready to be outraged liberal gawkers, watch cable news. For years we have heard that Fox News has the best ratings, for cable news that it is. In response to this pointless bit of information, the CNN's and MSNBC's decided to chase Fox News for ratings, and in the process the entire news industry gave up their souls. The reason CNN keeps a plagiarizer like Fareed Zakaria employed is because of ratings. Liar Brian Williams gets to keep being a "newsman" because scared white people liked him when he did the nightly news. Truth and professionalism have no seat at the modern American news table. Self serving gluttons like Fareed Zakaria and Brian Williams need to hog the table with greedy retired military personal and the slime at Fox News. The truth, and the American people, do not rate in a world where ratings are the only thing that matter. It is why we have some real shitty news coverage here in the US. It is why the smart people look to Al Jazeera and the BBC.

The fucking union of the press and the President is going to cause a lot of problems. People are going to die, especially a lot of "beautiful children". Regions of the world will be destabilized. American troops are going to come home with a long list of medical and psychological problems. But none of that matters to the for profit American news industry. They will have their ratings, and their "beautiful" weapons. That is the only thing those inhuman fuckers care about. 

So from here on out we have the narcissists in the media feeding the uber-narcissist Commander in Chief. President Trump now knows that when he starts a war, the media will call him a strong President. The only way the press, and the President, can get what they want is through war, and now we have war. Trump is happy because he is getting the positive coverage he has craved for decades. The media is happy because they have explosions and death to talk about on an hourly basis. It is like a goddamn Michael Bay movie, flashy with no fucking substance. It is a drug, and the drug of war is working its way once again through our government and our media.

Fuck.

RD

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He did not even get into hos thoughts on North Korea. Come back soon and he lose his fucking mind on that issue.

Sorry for the language mom.

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Let Me Respectfully Explain Why Tony Romo is the Most Overrated NFL Player Ever

Artist interpretation of Ty reading another Romo love piece on ESPN and Bleacher Report

Tony Romo has mercifully retired from the NFL. I cannot think of a more overrated QB in the history of the NFL than Romo. If he had played for any other team not named the Cowboys, his retirement would have been last minute news on ESPN, Bleacher Report and any other sports publication, website or TV show. If he had spent his 14 year career all with the Chiefs, no one would be opining for the days of Tony Romo's greatness. Did I mention that he is overrated.

There are 2 things I remember most from Romo's incredibly average career. First, he choked in the very few big games that he was the Cowboys starting QB. When all they needed was a field goal to beat the Seahawks, Romo muffed the snap. Whenever he was in a playoff game, he seemed to always throw a crushing interception or give the ball back to the opponent by taking a bad sack or throwing the ball away. Whenever the Cowboys had a chance at the end of the regular season to win their porous division and go to the playoffs, he was on the losing side more than the winning side. He could not utilize awesome play makers like Dez Bryant, Terell Owens, Darren McFadden or seemingly any halfway decent running back they had. Remember when DeMarco Murray was a Cowboy? He was great, but they wanted Romo more than him and let Murray walk in free agency. I'd much rather have Murray. The only guy that Romo seemed to use properly was Jason Witten, but they never had the same relationship a QB and tight end like Phil Rivers and Antonio Gates or Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski or Matt Ryan and Tony Gonzalez had. Witten and Romo were fine, but I'd much rather have the three combos I just mentioned much more than Romo and Witten.

Tony Romo was never a clutch player is what I'm getting at. Sure, he put up big stats, but when you are barely in the playoffs, never made a NFC title game, let alone a Super Bowl, and never seemed to win more than 8 games a year, I don't have much respect for those numbers. He'll go down as the Cowboys leader in yards and TD's, but he is still behind Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach, guys who have long retired, in the most important category, wins. Wins are all that matter. If Tom Brady didn't have the Super Bowl wins, who cares about his numbers. Same thing for Aaron Rodgers, and he's only won one Super Bowl. The fact that some sports reporters put Tony Romo's name in the same breath as those guys is ludicrous.

Romo, if I had to do a list, wouldn't even make my top ten, hell, probably top 20, of all QB's currently in the league. To show you how much I disrespect Tony Romo, I'd rather take a chance on a guy like Jay Cutler, who I loathe, or Trevor Siemian, who should be, at best, a third string QB. Romo is not a hall of famer or an all time great. He was a very average QB that just happened to be on the Cowboys.

This leads me to the second thing I will remember about Romo's career, he was just a handsome dude, not a great QB. Again I will go at ESPN for this. They publicized who he was dating and married to because they couldn't talk about him winning Super Bowl's. I remember when he dated Jessica Simpson, when she was still relevant, and that's all ESPN talked about. You know why that's all the talked about? Well, it was because the Cowboys were too busy going 6-10, 7-9 and 8-8 and sitting home for the playoffs. But, ESPN is so star obsessed, they felt they still had to talk about Tony god damn Romo. I do not care who these athletes date or are married to. That doesn't make me like or dislike them more or less. Who they date and marry is their personal business. But, since the Cowboys were pretty much irrelevant for 14 years, that's all these major companies could do to keep the Cowboys in their news feed. It's sad if you really think about it. 

Therein lies why I think Tony Romo is massively overrated. Those are the 2 biggest things I will remember from his 14 years in the NFL, his constant choking and who his girlfriends were. Also, why did the Giants receivers, who went on that trip to Miami before playing the Packers get blasted by the media, but no one said a word when Romo and Witten did the exact same thing a few years earlier during one of the few seasons the Cowboys made the playoffs? The media skewered the Giants players, but they applauded Romo for getting away from all the distraction. That is a real crock and shame on those same people for doing that.

Also, no disrespect to Dak Prescott, but if Tony Romo is an all timer and a hall of famer, how'd he get beat out by a fourth round rookie? I know he got hurt in a preseason game, but when he was back healthy he did not get his starting job back. Imagine if that same thing happened to Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton or Russell Wilson. If those dudes get injured, doesn't matter how good the team is playing, once they're healthy, they are the starter, and no one bats an eye.

Just so am making opinion clear, I do not think Tony Romo belongs in the hall of fame, he is not even in the top 50 of greatest QB's of all time. He will always be remembered as a choker who the media covered for and he is more known for who he dated than his playing days. I also don't think he is going to be some great announcer, as some others do. Enjoy your retirement you overrated hack of an NFL QB. You will not be missed.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. The head editor usually defends Tony Romo. Why? Because he is so handsome.

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Beware the Drumbeat of War

Do not listen

The United States is at war again, and this new war will once again be fought in two different nations. Word is coming out of Washington DC right now that says the US is conducting bombing strikes in Syria. At the same time, President Trump, with a lot of help from the media, is getting Americans excited about military action against North Korea. Regardless of what we hear, US military involvement is still continuing in Afghanistan and Iraq. With these new conflicts, the American people will now have to sacrifice more blood to fight a battle on four fronts. We can accept this.

The case for war in Syria intensified this week after the world learned of the horrible chemical attacks that killed 70 people. The images were horrifying. Many people on the left and right sides of the political spectrum condemned the attack and said the US should respond in some way. President Trump promised that he would do something, and bombing the civil war torn nation seems to be his first shot. 

The situation in Syria has been terrible for over six years. The pictures the world saw this week are part of a mosaic that goes back to the beginning of the crisis. President Trump, and the Republican War Hawks, did not care when dead children were washing up on Mediterranean beaches. They did not care when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was using chemical weapons on his own people for years. Now they care. Why?

The reason the United States had not earlier engaged in any major military action in Syria is because of Russia. President Vladimir Putin is allied with al-Assad, and any aggression towards the Syrian government could intensify problems with the Russians. Leave Syria alone, make Russia happy. This is the way politics has worked for all of civilized history. It is not kind, but it has kept the world out of many bloody global conflicts. Thinking people understand this trade off. 

Now things seem different. President Trump appears to be very eager to get involved in war with Syria. The propaganda says that relations with Russia do not seem to matter, because the United States cannot sit by as innocent Syrians are being gassed, even if we have sat by for the last six years. The media is playing up all the worst actions of the al-Assad government to get Americans fired up for war. Liberals on social media are crying out to save the children. War in Syria is going to happen. Again, why?

Donald Trump has not had the best start to his Presidency. The only time the media has been complimentary to Trump was when at an address to Congress, the President honored the widow of a recently killed Navy Seal. The DC pundits rushed to their twitter accounts, and cable news panel shows, to gush about Donald Trump being Presidential. With that event, Donald Trump learned that the media will support him if he goes to war. Trump desperately wants the media to like him. Since that moment in the US Capitol, President Trump has been looking to get involved in any military action, and the media has been banging the drum for the President.

The bombs being dropped in Syria were not the beginning of the drum beat. Terrible, fear mongering, stories about North Korea have been featured on all of the media for months now. Right wing thought leaders like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh have been talking about the terrible things North Korea could do to Hawaii. Their stories of potential terror line up exactly with what the White House has been pushing. Even left leaning news organizations like The Huffington Post and Vox have been writing articles about the foreignness, and evil, of North Korea. The case for war in North Korea has been presented to the American people long before any action in Syria. Because the drum beat for war in North Korea has been going on longer, and getting louder, many Americans will not be surprised when the fighting starts.

The media has a long, and dark, history of getting Americans on board with pointless wars the White House wants to engage in. The Spanish American War is most known for the term Yellow Journalism. The reporting of lies concerning the Gulf of Tonkin assured US involvement in Vietnam. More recently, the cheerleading by all of the media to get the United States in a second war with Saddam Hussein and Iraq has had horrible consequences to our military and national budget. Now the press, all of the press, is feeding the American people information so we can get on board with two new wars in Syria and North Korea.

The geopolitical consequences of unilateral, plus Great Britain, action in Syria and North Korea is dire. Russia may not do anything directly to the US, but they will continue to act in a way detrimental for NATO and the United States. China will probably not go to war with the United States, but they will continue to develop their markets and strategic partnerships in a way that harms the US economy. The weakening of US global influence that started with our ill conceived wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is only going to continue with our ill conceived aggression in Syria and North Korea. You will not read about that in any of the professional media, left or right wing. We will say it, war is not good for the United States.

We need to ignore the banging drums. These wars only exist as a way for the media and President Trump to get along, and start making money together. The DC pundits desperately want to legitimize Trump, that is dangerous. The President desperately wants favorable coverage from the press, that is narcissistic. Glenn Beck and Vox only want more internet traffic, that is unAmerican. These entities may not think they are causing harm, but they are. The lives that will be lost in these pointless conflicts will not affect the President, members of Congress, or anyone in the media. The people who beat the drums for war have no consequences. The call for war is about ego and money for the President and the media. We can not let them get away with this, again.

RD

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. We desperately want to know why you think war is needed right now.  Come tell us. 

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Ty Watches "Bar Rescue": Desi Romano's Edition

This past Sunday "Bar Rescue" got back to its usual form. The episode the week before, with Big Mike's Sports Bar and Grill, was moving and very different from anything I have come to expect. While that was a very nice change of pace, I was happy to see it get back to its roots.

Taffer and crew traveled to New Orleans once again, but the bar was not in trouble due to a massive flood of epic proportions. This bar was failing because of the ownership and staff. You know, typical "Bar Rescue" type stuff. The bar is called Desi Romano's, and I will say right at the top, Taffer could not and did not change the name. It was named after the owner, and to Taffer's credit, when the bar has a historical or meaningful name, he does not change it.

This bar was like most other bars on the show. At first, they were making tons and tons of cash. They were making so much money, they couldn't count it fast enough. Then, the bad stuff happened. In this bar's case, the owner Desi had a stroke. This was very unfortunate and it happened at the worst possible time. Desi was ready to hand the bar over to his daughter, but she needed lots and lots of training. She is very young and inexperienced, but he wanted to keep the bar in the family, which is very understandable. So, Desi has the stroke, and he misses 3 plus months of work. He had to get his life back together. During that 3 month period, the bar took an enormous tumble. The staff started to take major advantage of Laura, Desi's daughter. She could not run the bar properly yet, and the staff knew it. A bunch of the bartenders and the head chef started to run their own bar tabs. The bar also was becoming neglected. The staff didn't clean as much and they did not restock liquor and food kind of took a back seat. When Desi was healthy enough, he came back, but he more so came to his bar to drink and berate his daughter, along with the entire staff.

When Taffer and crew showed up to the bar to watch from their van on the monitors to see how poorly the bar was being run, the main thing that stuck out to them, and me for that matter, was that Desi just got more and more hammered as the night wore on. Taffer sent in his spies, who were former bar owners that had their bar rescued and were now thriving, and what they saw from the inside was even worse. The bartenders couldn't make a simple drink, and a New Orleans staple, the Hurricane. The bartender told them she had no idea how to make one, and instead offered to make him a margarita. When they tasted the margarita, both spies said it was terrible. The other spy ordered a rum and coke, seems simple enough, and he said that it was watered down and gross. When they ordered food, they ordered what the menu said was "Award Winning Mac and Cheese". Well, this did not look like halfway decent, and definitely not award winning, mac and cheese. It looked awful and that was confirmed by both the spies.

All the while this stuff was going on, Desi was having beer after beer and shot after shot. When Taffer finally decided to enter the bar it took him over 3 tries to get Desi's attention. When Desi finally acknowledged Taffer was there, he called him Tom. His first name is Jon. All of us know this. But, Desi was so wasted he couldn't even say his first name. While Taffer was berating him, Desi would go back and forth between yelling and asking for help. He couldn't figure out what he wanted because he was so inebriated. It was a mess. It started out funny, but soon became sad. Desi clearly has an alcohol problem and his daughter was very worried about him. After Taffer had enough, he walked out to Desi yelling at him to not leave, then giving him the finger.

Taffer, of course, came back the next day, and Desi showed up sober. He even stated that he did not remember what happened the night before and that he was very embarrassed. It is always nice to see an owner own up to his or her bullshit on this show. Taffer and crew immediately got to training after Taffer let Desi and his daughter know how much money their staff had run up on their bar tabs. The first few were average, right around 50 or 60 dollars, but then they got to the head chef. Her bar tab was 2,000 dollars. That is a whole lot of alcohol that she had not paid for in three months.

After this was all resolved the real training started. The staff was not prepared for the simplest of tasks and you could see it weighing on Taffer's experts. Stress test came and it was a nightmare. They had no system in place that was any good, and Desi and his daughter could not run the bar. No one was getting drinks and food was getting cold in the window. It was a typical stress test nightmare. After seeing how far behind they were, Taffer's experts decided it would be best to make the menu as simple as possible. During this training session, Taffer and his construction crew got to fixing the bar up.

With the new, easier menu and the bar being all gussied up, Taffer was ready for Desi and his crew to see their new bar. The name was the same, but the inside was totally different. There were new POS systems, new décor, new bar tops and stools, new pool tables, charging docks at the bar. Basically, the inside looked brand new, and everyone loved it. It was one of Taffer's better efforts I must say.

During re launch, everything ran smooth and Desi Romano's looked to be getting back to its money making ways. The staff was better, the kitchen staff was firing on all cylinders and Desi and his daughter were doing everything right. Taffer left feeling he had done all he could. During the 6 week check up, the bar sales were up 12 percent and the staff no longer had open bar tabs. Desi Romano's looked to be slowly, but surely getting back on its feet.

This was another run of the mill "Bar Rescue" , and I loved it. This Sunday they are doing another back to the bar thing, so I won't review that, but in 2 weeks there will be a new episode and I will be back to review that one. Come back then for your next "Bar Rescue" update.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He was relieved when he found out the bar was not serving Mac's Famous Mac and Cheese. Poor dog.

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Ty's Preview of the 2017 MLB Season

In response to RD's MLB preview, I have my own that I will do today. Now, as I say a lot, RD is the resident MLB expert here at SeedSing. I know enough, but my interest and expertise lies more so in football and basketball, both college and pros. RD knows his baseball. I loved playing baseball, but watching it, no way. I do not get involved until the playoffs, and unless the Cardinals are in, I could care less. I watched last year because it was historic, but for the most part, baseball season comes and goes with a very soft whimper for me. My NBA playoff preview coming in about 10 days will be way more in depth than my MLB preview, but I still enjoy doing these preseason looks ahead. I will say, I was right all year long about the Cubs last year too. I know that I'm not alone in that fact, but still, I picked them all year long, and they won it all. So, maybe I know more than I think I actually do. Anyway, lets get to it.

I'll start with the American League first. In the AL East pretty much everyone is picking Boston, and so am I. They added Chris Sale to an already loaded pitching staff. They have a great lineup as well that is also very young and has many good years ahead of them. They will miss David Ortiz, but not as much as some think. I know RD picked the Yankees, but their starting rotation is trash and I'm not as high on their lineup. The Orioles are who they will always be under Buck Showalter. They will compete and blow it in big games. Manny Macahdo is awesome though. Toronto is fine, but they have very average starting pitching and their lineup gets older every year. Tampa is back to being a bottom feeder. Boston all the way in the East.

The AL Central will be absolutely dominated by the Indians. They are the best team by a mile in the division, and I look for them to win a lot of games this year. I do not think 100 is out of the question. They have a great pitching staff, the best bullpen in baseball and a very awesome small ball lineup. The rest of the Central is average. Detroit still has Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera, but they aren't the horses they were 3 and 4 years ago. Minnesota and the White Sox are so young and inexperienced, but they both could be fun to watch. They are like the Timberwolves of MLB. The Royals are kind of confounding to me. They have some good pitching, they lost Ventura to a tragic death this offseason though. Maybe that will add to how they play this year. They also have a good lineup and are only one year removed from being in the World Series, and winning it. I think they will play better this year, but they aren't as good as the Indians.

The AL West is a 2 team race. I know RD called the Mariners always overrated, but I am fully on their bandwagon. They have a great pitching staff and an awesome lineup led by Robinson Cano. I think this is the year they can finally push through and live up to very high expectations. The team that may have something to say about that is the Astros. They took a little slide back last year, but that team is still young, and those young guys now have a full year under their belts and I think that will greatly benefit them. I have seen some websites claim the Angels are back, I don't think so. Mike Trout is a once in a generation talent, but when he's surrounded by guys well past their prime it doesn't matter. They'll be lucky to reach .500. Texas is the definition of an overachiever, but this year it won't matter because the Astros and Mariners are much better than them. All that needs to be said about the A's is that they stink. I'm picking the Mariners to finally win this division.

So, we have Boston, Cleveland and Seattle as my division winners in the AL. My 2 Wild Card teams will be Houston and Detroit.

Now, the National League.

The NL East is Washington, then everyone else. The Nationals are loaded. Bryce Harper is going to have a monster year. They are a lot like the Mariners, but with better, younger players. The Mets have a great rotation, but they lack any type of threat in their lineup and I just don't believe in them. I know RD said the Braves will be a surprise team, but I think that his love for Brandon Phillips (ed note: Dat Dude BP for life) has clouded how bad this team truly is. The Braves are rebuilding and I do not think they are ready to threaten any team in their division. The Phillies are worse off than the Braves. They are just as bad as the A's. Miami has talent, they too lost a pitcher due to a horrific accident. They have a monster hitter in Stanton, and Ichiro is still plugging away, but this team is a few players away from truly competing. They will be at least .500, but no threat to the Nationals. The Nationals are the clear cut favorites in the East.

The NL Central is much like the East. The Cubs are the best team by a whole lot. They did lose a few players this offseason, but they still have the best starting rotation in baseball and a killer lineup. They also get Kyle Schwarber back for a full year too. And the signing of Wade Davis was tremendous for their bullpen. The Cardinals will always be around an 85 win team, but they aren't ready to compete with the Cubs yet. I love the Dexter Fowler signing. He is my immediate favorite baseball player. He adds much needed speed to this lineup. Other than Fowler and Molina, this lineup is filled with young guys and guys past their prime. Their rotation is average as well. I love Carlos Martinez, but Wainwright is old, Wacha has never found his form from a few years ago and Lance Lynn is unreliable and oft injured. The Pirates stumbled last year, and who knows what will happen with Andrew McCutcheon. I think the Pirates would be best suited trading him to a contender, and if they do that, they will stink. If they keep McCutcheon, they will be a .500 team. The Brewers are better than last year, but not by much. They have no real pitching and when Ryan Braun is your offense, ouch. The Reds, sorry RD, are really, really bad. They will be lucky to win 60 games this year. The Cubs will walk with this division.

The NL West has the next 2 best teams in baseball behind the Cubs and Indians in the Giants and Dodgers. The Dodgers have a great rotation, led by Clayton Kershaw, who finally looked good in the playoffs last year, and they have an awesome lineup. They also have money coming out of their ears to spend on whoever they choose to go after. The Giants play baseball the way it is meant to be played. They small ball you to death and out pitch you all the time. They are a really, really good baseball team. Bruce Bochy is an incredibly underrated coach, especially for a guy that is a multiple World Series champ. San Diego and Colorado stink. The Padres are a mess and the front office looks like it has no clue how to run a team. The Rockies have some decent guys, and I have heard about some stud pitcher they have, but they are still a ways away from competing. They will play in a lot of 13-10 games that they will get beat in. The Diamondbacks, and more importantly, Zack Greinke, look lost. They have a good lineup on paper, and Greinke should be an ace, but they looked dreadful last year. I wonder if they just don't have what it takes to compete. We will have to see. With all that being said, I'll take the Giants to win a close race with the Dodgers in the West.

So that leaves us with the Nationals, Cubs and Giants as my division winners. My 2 Wild Cards are Saint Louis and Los Angeles.

Here is how the playoffs will shake out. The ALCS will feature Cleveland taking on Boston, and once again, I see Terry Francona sticking it to his old team and sweeping them out of the playoffs on his way to a second straight World Series appearance. They remind so much of a better version of the Royals a few years back that went to 2 straight World Series. In the NLCS, the Nationals, despite Dusty Baker, will take down the Cubs. It is just too hard to repeat these days. Look at the Warriors last year in the NBA Finals. But, this is where the comparison for the Indians and Royals stops for me. Whereas the Royals won in their second attempt, I think the Nationals win beat the Indians in a very hard fought 7 game series. It won't top last year, there is nothing that literally could top last year, but it will still be very well played. The Nationals will be your 2017 World champs.

As far as MVP and things of that nature go, I will pick Mike Trout in the AL because no one is a better baseball player than him anywhere, and Bryce Harper, who will have a humongous bounce back year, in the NL. They are the 2 best players, Mike Trout is better, and they will continue to win MVP awards. My coaches of the year will be Terry Francona in the AL and Dusty Baker in the NL. The Cy Young awards will go to Clayton Kershaw in the NL and Chris Sale in the AL. When it's this easy to pick award winners, these certain people must be doing something right, right?

So there you have it, my 2017 MLB preview. Let's see if I'm as right this year as I was last year. And I ask RD one more time, the Atlanta Braves? Really (ed note: just watch)?

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is like every other spoiled Cardinals fan and thinks 85 wins is a disappointing season. Cincinnati would be dancing in the street if the Reds won 85 games.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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

The 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Final Sucked for so Many Reasons

Only six short months until we can see the superstar refs again.

Last night was one of the worst NCAA championship games that I have ever witnessed. Last year's game was going to be impossible to match, or even top, but last night was an absolute disaster. I figured that we had the 2 best teams playing each other in UNC and Gonzaga. They both were one seeds, they both spent the whole season in the top ten of every poll, they both have first team All Americans, I mean, both teams had it all. They even have guys that will most definitely play at the next level. But what was put on that court last night was hot stinky garbage.

Now, I am nowhere near the players that all these kids are, but boy oh boy did they play dreadful for as good as they should have been. UNC could not make an open three to save their lives. When all was said and done, I think they went something like 5 of 26 from three. Gonzaga, on the other hand, could not make an inside shot with the exception of Nigel Williams-Goss. Their big guy from Poland missed one lay up and close range hook shot after another. Near the end of the game he looked scared and completely out of the flow of the game. There were maybe one or two good plays, but for the most part, this was probably the sloppiest title game I've seen, and I'm including when UConn beat Kentucky in 2011. That game was bad, but last night was much, much worse.

To compound how horrific this game was, the refs must have had a meeting before hand and said that they were the stars of the night and the crowd was there to see them because they called one of the worst games in the history of college basketball. During the second half, neither team could get into any flow, if they were ever able to, because the refs seemingly called a foul on every play. During the broadcast I heard Grant Hill say, with about 10 minutes left in the second half, that the refs had called 21 fouls in the half alone. 21 fouls in 10 minutes of basketball is an absolute joke. Refs are starting to get way too big headed, thinking that they are just as big of stars as the kids playing. No one, I repeat, no one likes refs and we do not want to see you guys control the flow of the game. The way they called the game last night was fishy and terrible. These are supposed to be the best of the best in the men's college game. These refs get vetted all season long and at the end of the year the NCAA picks who they deem the 3 best refs for the Final Four and the title game. Well, this must be the worst class of refs they have ever had because if these were the best, we are in trouble. Refs should never ever be what people are talking about most after a title game.

The refs were not one sided bad either. Both teams have legitimate complaints about bad calls, non calls and way too many video reviews. I am not a fan of either team, but for all the Gonzaga people out there focusing on when Kennedy Meeks had his left hand on the ball and his right hand out of bounds, he was 100 percent out of bounds and Gonzaga should have gotten the ball, UNC got just as screwed in an earlier possession. One of Gonzaga's guards threw up an air balled three that went directly out of bounds and the refs said it was blocked by the UNC defender. Well, when CBS ran the replay, the UNC kid was nowhere near the ball. The refs didn't even review this even though they reviewed almost every other play last night. Gonzaga got the ball back and hit a three to take the lead on the very next possession. It was equally crummy on both sides. The refs were absolutely atrocious last night. I'm talking Tim Donaghy, Kings-Lakers early 2000's bad last night.

In what seemed like the cherry on the terrible sundae last night was Joel Berry being named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. I know he hit one big three late in the title game, but he missed so many more easy shots ever since UNC's game against Arkansas in the second round. I know he got hurt, but he was still out there playing and playing very poorly. On a very odd flagrant one call against Gonzaga last night, Berry went to the line for 2 free throws with no one around him and he bricked both of them. He did not play well. I do not care that he scored in double figures in the last three games, he had to take copious amounts of bad shots to get to his 16, 17 and 18 points, and he was dreadful all over the floor. I'm still a bit shocked that he won MOP. I would have given it to Kennedy Meeks for his Final Four game. Berry winning MOP was almost fitting for how bad this game was.

Finally, I do not think this banner will be hanging in Chapel Hill that long anyway. They have 20 plus years of academic fraud, or as Jim Nantz would say, "swirling innuendo", that they are going to get sanctioned to high hell for soon. RD beat me to the tweet last night, but I will say it again for him today, congrats on your soon to be vacated title UNC.

This was an epically bad title game and it should have been so much better. Where last year's game had me excited for college basketball, this year's game just made me realize why men's college basketball is going further and further in the toilet. What a sorry excuse of a title game. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He had to write about the title game because the head editor was so disgusted with the crappy basketball that he switched over and watched Deadpool for the tenth time.

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The SeedSing 2017 Major League Baseball Preview

Baseball season is once again upon us. No more football or college basketball to distract us. Hockey and the NBA are getting ready for their postseasons. Baseball's half year hold on us begins this week. We are talking baseball, competitive baseball. What will the season hold? Will the Chicago Cubs break their zero years curse and finally win it all again? Can the Indians get back to the Fall Classic and get that last damn out to end their own title misery? How will the 2017 Major League Baseball season play out? Here at SeedSing we have all the answers to your specific questions, and a few predictions. Get your bets ready.

Who is going to replace Boston as the AL East champs?

The Eastern division of the American League is going to feature the best races of the entire season. Most of the other divisions have a clear leader, not the AL East. Four of the five teams, if not all five, have the potential to end 2017 with 81 or more wins. It is going to be tough to come out on top in the AL East.

The Boston Red Sox, last year's division winners, added the best available veteran pitcher of the off season when they signed Chris Sale. Last year the Red Sox brought in David Price, the best available veteran pitcher of 2015. The Boston pitching staff will be one of the best in the MLB, and their lineup is still one of the deepest in all of baseball.

Unfortunately, superstar David Ortiz retired and will not be there to provide some dramatic 9th inning wins for the Red Sox this year. Ace pitcher Price is also battling injury, and has not been that great in the playoffs. The Red Sox will make the playoffs, they depth will carry them, but they will not be champions.

The AL East will return to the New York Yankees. The Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays will put up a fight, but the Yankees will turn them all away. The Bronx Bombers overachieved last year, and they will make the next step in 2017. Their starting pitching is not that good, but the bullpen and lineup are some of the best in the majors. The Yankees will fix the pitching and win the AL east with about 90 wins.

Will there be any other competitive divisions in baseball this year?

Only the NL West, and that is just a two team race.

The AL Central will easily be won by the Cleveland Indians again.

The AL West is going to be a runaway for the Houston Astros. They will get back to what them great in 2014, and no one will catch them. Not even the perennially overrated Seattle Mariners and the perennially overachieving Texas Rangers.

The NL East is going to be won by the Washington Nationals, with the New York Mets 20 games behind.

The NL Central will be dominated by the Chicago Cubs, more on them in a bit.

The NL West will have an interesting race between the San Francisco Giants and LA Dodgers. The Dodgers have all the money in the world, and still the best pitcher in baseball with Clayton Kershaw. The Giants have a battle tested veteran team, the best manager in baseball, and the second best pitcher in the game with Madison Bumgarner. The Giants will win a very close AL West division race.

With only one, or two, great division races this year, what is there to look forward to?

The wildcard races are going to be crazy, and one or more will need an extra game to determine the winners.

The NL is loaded with great teams. The Mets, Cardinals, Pirates, Marlins, Braves, and Diamondbacks all have a chance to win over 85 games and take one of the two wildcard spots. With the right trade, and a bit of luck, any of these squads could be a spoiler to the big dogs in the senior circuit.

The AL is not as competitive, but the teams in AL East along with the Royals (one year removed from winning the World Series), the Tigers, and the Rangers have chance to play October baseball. Once you get in the playoffs, who knows what will happen. The Wild Card races will make the regualr season worth watching all the way to the last game.

What teams have absolutely no hope in 2017?

The NL may have the best teams, but it also has the worst.

The Cincinnati Reds need to rebuild. Joey Votto is still great, and Billy Hamilton is fast, but the Reds have nothing else. Their best players not named Votto, who are not great to begin with, are injured. The Reds are going to provide easy wins for the NL Central, and the rest of their opponents, in 2017.

The San Diego Padres may be even worse than the Reds. There is not a Joey Votto to keep the Padres in the national conversation. San Diego doesn't even have interesting assets to trade. They, along with the Reds, will lose over 100 games. 

Speaking of bad teams, will Joey Votto and Mike Trout be able to escape their terrible situations?

No

The Angles will not be as bad as the Reds, but Mike Trout will be as stuck as Joey Votto will be. These players are incredible talents, and it would require something ridiculous for their respective teams to give these great players away. Plus, Joey Votto makes a whole lot of money. It seems like Votto, the Ted Williams of our generation, and Trout, the Mickey Mantle, will be stuck with sub .500 teams in 2017.

What will be the biggest surprises of 2017?

The Atlanta Braves will be a lot better than most people expect. The team ended 2016 with a bunch of momentum. The rebuilding effort seems to be ready for the next step. The Braves also added some veteran leadership by acquiring second baseman Brandon Phillips from the Reds. Do not be surprised if the Braves are in Wild Card contention in late September.

The Royals and the Pirates are going to be sneaky good in 2017. Both teams suffered through big injuries in 2016. With healthy squads, Kansas City and Pittsburgh will return to the playoffs.

The St. Louis Cardinals will win close to 100 games, but the Cubs will win over 110 games in 2017. The Cubs may even break the MLB record for wins. They are really good.

So, What will the 2017 MLB Playoffs look like?

After 162, or 163, games, the division winners and wild cards will look like this.

                  AL East -           New York Yankees      NL East -           Washington Nationals

                  AL Central -      Cleveland Indians        NL Central -      Chicago Cubs

                  AL West -          Houston Astros           NL West -          San Francisco Giants

                  AL Wild Cards - Kansas City Royals     NL Wild Cards - St. Louis Cardinals

                                              Boston Red Sox                                    Pittsburgh Pirates 

The ALCS will come down to a Cleveland Indians team looking for redemption, and a New York Yankee squad looking to return to dominance. Unfortunately for the Baby Bombers, Terry Francona and the Tribe are just way too loaded. Cleveland will win the ALCS in 5 games.

The NL playoffs will see an epic upset when the St. Louis Cardinals take down their hated rivals the Chicago Cubs in an incredible Divisional Playoff 5 game series. This will pit the Cards against the Washington Nationals, and resurgent NL MVP Bryce Harper, in the NLCS. In an anticlimactic battle, Dusty Baker's Nationals will win the NL Pennant in a four game sweep.

In a world where the Cubs win a championship, Clemson beats Alabama, the Cavaliers beat the Warriors, Mississippi State beats UConn, and the Atlanta Falcons give up a 25 point lead to the New England Patriots, Dusty Baker will win a few playoff series and get the Washington Nationals to the World Series. The fairy tale will end when Dusty's boys face the better manager in Terry Francona, and the better team in the Cleveland Indians. The Tribe will have their redemption and win the World Series in 5 games. Another curse broken.

Enjoy the 2017 Major League Baseball season.

RD

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He copied and pasted his playoff teams from last year and only changed two names. Is MLB becoming as predictable as the NBA?  Come tell us. 

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

The Men's Final Four was Sloppy, the Women's Final Four was Historic

The men's NCAA title game is tonight. The 2 Final Four games had the outcomes that I thought, but they did not play out like I thought.

South Carolina made their game very interesting in the last 8 minutes when they went on a 16-0 run to take a lead. But, Gonzaga prevailed and they got away with a 4 point win to advance to tonight's title game. Great run by South Carolina, but the better team won, and won rightfully so. There were no questionable calls on either team and the right team won.

UNC won, but I thought they were going to blow out Oregon. That was not the case, but this was not as good a game as some may have said or written about since Saturday. This was a sloppy game by both teams, with the lone exception being Kennedy Meeks. Meeks was incredible in this game, even with the 2 late missed free throws. But, UNC tried everything to blow this game, Oregon just never really took advantage of their many chances. I thought these were the 2 better teams, but South Carolina-Gonzaga was a much better played game.

Also, Jim Nantz and the CBS crew continues to make one dumb comment after another. By now you all know what I'm talking about. Nantz said during the telecast that he was pleased at how UNC was playing despite all the "swirling innuendo about academic fraud" that is going on right now. For the record, this is not "swirling innuendo". There is a full blown investigation going on by the NCAA right now, and if I had to guess, they will get this title taken away if they win. They have committed some kind of serious academic fraud, I believe their football program is involved as well, and I wouldn't be shocked if in a year or two the NCAA puts the hammer down on UNC.

All this being said, this was the title game I predicted in last Monday's blog, and I'm not changing my mind now. I still think UNC will win a close game. They got beat in brutal fashion last year, and I see them redeeming themselves this year. Justin Jackson or Kennedy Meeks will win Most Outstanding Player as well.

But, I want to get to what I really want to talk about today. I was channel surfing Friday night. I watched the majority of the OKC-San Antonio game and was waiting for the Golden State-Houston game. During these 2 games the women's Final Four was going on. South Carolina pretty easily advanced against Stanford, and ESPN2 had the perfect time slot for UCONN-Mississippi State game, right around a 7:30pm tip time. I did not watch any of the first half, but my phone buzzed when the game went into halftime and UCONN was down 8. My interest was piqued, but I figured the Huskies would come out in the second half and dominate. It is UCONN women's basketball and they are the greatest college sports program ever.

I had kind of spaced about the game while watching OKC blow a 20 point lead, but with about 5 minutes left in the third quarter, I saw that UCONN had tied it up at 40. I thought they'd go on their run from there and blow this team away that they beat by 60 points in last year's tournament. So I put my focus back on OKC-San Antonio. 

About 10 minutes later my phone buzzed again and said that UCONN was trailing by 3 with about 4 minutes left in the game. At this point I gave up on OKC-San Antonio, the Spurs were putting the finishing touches on their comeback, and I flipped over for the last 4 minutes of UCONN-MSU. This was the first women's game I have watched in over 2 years. I was in shock at how well MSU was playing this seemingly indestructible UCONN team. MSU's point guard was running their offense to perfection. They kept letting the shot clock get down to 5 seconds before even attempting a shot. They also have a center on their team that is 6'7. UCONN's biggest player is only 5'11. I do not care how tenacious or tough a defender you are, an 8 inch height difference is nearly impossible to overcome. To make matters worse for UCONN, all their forwards and centers were in foul trouble from trying to stop the 6'7 girl (her name is Teaira McCowan), so they had to resort to going for steals on entry passes. It worked a few times, but more times than naught, they missed and McCowan had an easy layup.

During the final four minutes it was all back and forth. UCONN at one point went up 3 with about 2 minutes left, and for the third time I assumed they'd pull away and win. Well, MSU responded with their own 4-0 run to retake the lead. During the last few seconds of the fourth quarter MSU had a lead but there was an odd flagrant one called on MSU that let UCONN tie the game. MSU had the ball with a chance to win, but the pass in the post was stolen and the game went into overtime.

For the fourth, and final time, I assumed UCONN would pull away on overtime. Well, MSU had other plans. They kept playing slow, stilted offense and it completely threw UCONN off their game. With about 18 seconds left UCONN had the ball with the game tied at 64. I assumed, as did the 3 announcers, that they would hold the ball for the final shot. Well, one of their new star players decided to drive and was out of control trying to draw a foul and lost the ball out of bounds. No foul was called because there was none and MSU got the ball back with 12 seconds left. As the point guard for MSU dribbled down the floor, she was the smallest player on the court by far, I sat and waited to see what she would do. With less than 2 seconds on the clock she pulled up from the elbow and hit all net as the buzzer sounded. Her name is Morgan William. 

With that UCONN's 111 game win streak was over. They hadn't been beaten in 865 days. They had won four straight national titles. This was their 10th straight Final Four. It all ended on a beautiful mid range jumper from the smallest, yet most determined player on the floor. I was in shock. I sat there in awe with my mouth wide open. I know all streaks must end, but this was a team that hadn't lost a game in almost 3 years. It was an incredible run, and if they had to lose a game, this was probably the only way it was going to happen. MSU played brilliantly, UCONN did not play well, and it still took an overtime buzzer beater for UCONN to get taken down.

Unfortunately for MSU they got beat in the women's title game last night by South Carolina, but they did something historic just 2 days before that. I wish they won the national title to make it fully complete. But, they will always go down as the team that beat the greatest college sports program ever.

What UCONN women's basketball has done, and did, is unequaled in any other college sport, be it men's or women's. Their streak was more impressive than UCLA's 88 game win streak, Oklahoma football's 48 game win streak, anything Kentucky or UNC has done in college basketball, anything Texas, Michigan, Notre Dame, Miami, Florida, all the big time college football programs have ever done.

This is also the greatest upset of all time. I said in our men's tournament preview that if UCONN got beat by anyone in the women's tournament I'd be shocked, and I am still a little shook by what happened Friday night. MSU beating UCONN was bigger than Appalachian State beating Michigan in football or Clemson beating Alabama in football this year or when Villanova beat the Pat Ewing led Georgetown Hoyas or when NC State beat Houston. Name any upset and this one is bigger than all of them by a wide, wide margin. 

So even though they did not win the national title, I still want to congratulate MSU on their historic win last Friday night. I will never ever forget the buzzer beater that I witnessed in real time. It was incredible.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. If the Men's college game continues to suck, he is switching over to Women's basketball. Miss St center Teaira McCowan is only a sophomore. No one and done in Women's basketball, so we get to see her tall magnificence for a few more years.

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If You Do Not Think Russell Westbrook is the MVP, You Have Lost Your Damn Mind

You say that Westbrook is not the MVP. What the hell is wrong with you?

The other night Russell Westbrook had just an incredible performance against the Magic. I know it was the Magic, but still, 13 rebounds, 11 assists and 57 points.

57 POINTS!

That's the most in a triple double ever, which Westbrook now has 38. Westbrook has been putting on a show all year long. I had very little faith that the Thunder would be any good going into this season. I figure they'd be a playoff team, but it would be fringe and they'd be an easy out.

Well, with Westbrook completely running the show, the Thunder have been very competitive. They have clinched a playoff spot, and they could climb as high as the 4 or 5 seed in the West. This is all due to Westbrook's play this season. The fact that he will, I'm calling it now, average a triple double is amazing. No one since Oscar Robertson has done this, and most thought it would never happen again. I remember people joking that he'd do it, but no one believed it. It is happening now. Throughout this whole season he has been a one man wrecking crew, physically winning and willing his team game after game.

With this being said, why is he not the favorite to win MVP? Not only do people with votes say he's not a shoo in, a lot don't have him in their top 3. That's insane. James Harden seems to be the favorite, and he's had an incredible year, but he has a much better supporting cast and coach. Harden has been great after a tough season last year, but I'd have him second behind Westbrook. LeBron James has gotten a lot of love, but the Cavs have been horrendous lately, and James sits out too many games to be eligible, in my opinion. Kawhi Leonard, my preseason pick, has had his moments, but he's not quite at that level yet. He's fantastic, but he's not an MVP right now.

It's basically those 4 guys, and how most sports writers have Harden ahead of Westbrook is just wrong. MVP stands for Most Valuable Player. Take Harden off the Rockets and they would be bad, but I'd still pencil them down for 30-35 wins. They'd be a lot like the Magic or the Heat. Take James off the Cavs, but keep Love there, they'd still be a playoff team in the East. Take Kawhi off the Spurs, I'm sure they'd still be awesome because they're the Spurs. But, take Westbrook off OKC, they're as bad as the Nets, 76ers and Lakers. No disrespect to guys like Victor Oladipo, Steven Adams and Andre Roberson, but without Westbrook, this team would be lucky to win 15 games. That screams MVP to me. The fact that he averages 30 points while averaging a triple double is equally impressive. He is their one and only threat. And with teams game planning strictly for him, he is still putting up ridiculous numbers and his team is a playoff team.

Unfortunately for Westbrook, I don't think he'll win MVP. Voters seem to have already made up their minds on Harden because his team will have 4 or 5 more wins. That's a shame. Russell Westbrook is the MVP. He is far and away the most valuable guy to his team. This team lost KD and they are still a playoff team and a threat to win a series. That is all due to Westbrook. If I had a vote it would go to Westbrook and Westbrook alone. He has been nothing short of incredible and reliable and insanely durable this year.

Russell Westbrook is the MVP, whether the voters give it to him or not. He definitely deserves this award.

Ty

Ty Listens to the Shins "Heartworms"

Almost 3 weeks ago The Shins released their newest record "Heartworms". I've put off a review until now because I really wanted to give it a good amount of listens.

I'm a Shins fan. I, like most people, first heard of them when they were heavily featured in trailers and on the soundtrack to the movie "Garden State". By the way, that movie does not hold up well. It is melodrama at its worst. Anyway, that is where my love for the Shins began. I know there are people that knew of them well before, but for the most of us, the "Garden State" soundtrack was our entryway into their music.

I loved what I heard from the band. I had never heard pop/alternative music that sounded like the Shins. It was sad and slow, almost folksy, but then they'd play something very upbeat and fun. I liked the change of pace that it brought to the pop/alternative genre. I also really enjoy James Mercer. I have heard and read a lot of stories about how he is a total pain in the ass to work and play music with, but the end result, for the most part, is very good.

After seeing "Garden State" I of course went out and bought "Oh, Inverted World". I loved it too. It had that blend I mentioned earlier that I like, and the record as a whole is very good. One day when I get back to my greatest American band debate, the Shins will be one of the first bands I write about.

After "Oh, Inverted World", I got to listen to "Cutes Too Narrow". It sounded a lot like "Oh, Inverted World", but had a bit more pep in its step. It was fun and more and more people began to become Shins fans. I listened to this record on repeat. After that record was when the stories of working with Mercer became more and more prevalent. He always seemed to be switching and or firing band members because he personally did not like them.

It didn't seem to matter because when the Shins released their next record, "Wincing the Night Away", it was the best they have ever sounded, in my opinion. I saw them live while touring this record. This was the most rock and roll they sounded, and it hit me right where I needed to be hit. The song "Sea Legs" off that record is my favorite Shins song by a quarter mile. Richard Swift was part of the band during this record and tour, and he made them sound so god damn good.

This was when my fandom for the Shins was at its peak. Mercer broke off and did some great work with bands like Modest Mouse and some other indie alternative groups, but his best non Shins stuff was when he teamed up with Danger Mouse and they formed Broken Bells. This was where Mercer started to take more chances with vocals and try new things with instruments. Broken Bells is incredible. That is another band I will bring up during greatest American band stuff.

In between the 2 Broken Bells records, the Shins released another album, "Port of Morrow", and I loved it because it sounded like Broken Bells as a full band. That record really came and went with a whimper though, which was surprising to me.

So, when I heard they were releasing a new record this year, my interest was piqued. Having listened to "Heartworms" multiple times now, I come away feeling full, but not satisfied. The record is good. It sounds like newer Shins, which is my favorite style of Shins, but it all sounds too familiar. The stuff he does with Danger Mouse and Broken Bells I thought would influence this record, and while there are hints of it here and there, it is not on as much as it should be. The music is great. James Mercer is great. The band is very good. But, it all just kind of sounds similar to "Wincing the Night Away" and "Port of Morrow". That is not a bad thing, I have mentioned how much I like both of those records, I just wanted the band to try something different.

The Black Keys and yes they are my favorite band, and I won't say bad things about them, at least try and make their music sound different on each record. They always try something new. Same can be said for other bands I like with multiple albums like Run the Jewels, Chance the Rapper and Childish Gambino. I mean, look at what Childish Gambino did on his last album. It is a total departure, and that album rules. Even a band like RTJ, who are straight forward rap, take lots of chances doing different things on each of their three records.

I guess I am kind of just a lukewarm fan of this new Shins album. I really like the first track, but after that, it all just kind of blends together. The record is fine, don't get me wrong, I just wanted to hear something a bit different from a band that I have become a very big fan of. I still recommend the record for fans. I mean, it's a Shins record and it sounds like one. That being said, maybe on their next record Mercer will try some more falsetto singing and the band will take some far out chances as far as instrumentation.

I'd give "Heartworms" a B-, but it could have easily been an A. There is always the next record.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He likes to feel full after music. Sometimes he wants to be full of steak and brussels sprouts and not just day old pizza (which is still pretty good). This record was day old pizza.

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Ty Watches "Love" Season 2

ed note: Ty Watched season 1. Read about it here.

Recently I finished season 2 of "Love" on Netflix, and I really enjoyed myself while watching it. I really liked that it picked right up where season one ended. I will do little to no spoilers today, so anyone who hasn't seen it yet should be fine reading this.

Where we left Gus(Paul Rust) and Mickey(Gillian Jacobs) were outside a gas station where Gus was buying snacks. Mickey lays it all out for him and tells him all of her secrets. She says that she wants to take a year off from dating and get her life together. Gus proceeds to kiss her, and that is where season 2 starts.

I really like this show. A lot of people will say "Master of None" is the better romantic comedy show on Netflix, and while I really like it, I think "Love" is much better. "Love" doesn't take itself as serious as "Master of None" seems to. I also prefer the leads in "Love" to the leads in "Master of None". I love Aziz Ansari's stand up, and his phenomenal role in "Parks and Rec", but for a sitcom type show lead, I, for some reason, prefer Paul Rust. He is way goofier and way less self serious. As far as the female leads, I will take Gillian Jacobs any day over Noel Wells. She's a much better actress and way, way funnier than Wells. She is just more fun to watch act. People are trying to compare these shows, I chose not to. These are 2 different style shows. "Love" is much more of a straight forward comedy and "Master of None" borders on the dramedy line. I like both shows a lot, but, as previously stated, I prefer my comedy as goofy and straight up, therefore I prefer "Love". That is where the comparison stops for me.

Anyway, season 2 of "Love" follows a couple of months between Gus and Mickey. Mickey doesn't want to date anyone, but her addiction to love gives in. Not only is she an alcoholic and drug addict, but she is also a sex and love addict. She really, truly seems to very much like Gus. Gus is different from any guy that she has dated before. Gus is polite. Gus is nice and complimentary to her. Gus tries hard because he feels that he doesn't deserve someone like her. Gus, at least on the surface, seems to be a great guy. But, he is a little overbearing. He can be complimentary, but also condescending. He waits until the last minute to explode on Mickey when he is upset with her. Mickey, to her credit is trying to get her life together. As I said, she is involved in all the addiction programs. She actually takes her job seriously this time around. She wants to better herself. She doesn't want to give in to Gus, but she likes him so much that she gives it a try. But, she too has her flaws. She flakes out a lot on friends and family. She rants and raves about Gus a lot. She feels that she can give relationship advice, even though she clearly doesn't know what she is doing in that aspect of her life. That is what I like about the 2 main characters, they have flaws. Neither is right or wrong with their decisions. There is some great back and forth this whole season between Gus and Mickey. The creators and writers, including Paul Rust and his wife Lesley Arfin, really did an excellent job portraying relationships in your early thirties during this season.

While Rust and Jacobs are the clear stars of the show, the supporting actors were used excellently, and frequently, this season. Claudia O'Dougherty, who plays Mickey's roommate, was great this season. She is funny, quirky and plays her role as fish out of water so great. She is the best supporting actor in the whole show by far. Mike Mitchell, of "Doughboys" and "Birthday Boys" fame, was used a lot more this season, and he had a creepy and weird story arc, but it was perfect for him. Judd Apatow's daughter Maude, who plays the actress that Gus teaches, had a much bigger role and she can really act. The people who work on the show "Wichita", the show where Gus works, weren't used as much, but when they were, they were really funny. Brett Gelman is awesome in his few and far between scenes that he gets this season. Bobby Lee is really funny in his minimal role. Gus' friends, the guys and girls that make up theme songs for movies that don't have theme songs, where really good as well. Everyone in the show is great.

I cannot say enough nice things about "Love". I think it is the best Netflix show, and I am way into a lot of Netflix shows. Paul Rust has found a perfect place for him to shine as a writer and actor. Lesley Arfin is a tremendous comedy writer. Gillian Jacobs crushes her role on the show. All the supporting actors I mentioned are fantastic. Watch this show. I know you will love it as much as I do. I saw that they are filming a season 3 and I cannot wait until it comes back on. "Love" is great, and it is one of the best comedies on any type of television right now. Check it out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. If Ty watches a bunch of Netflix shows, where is his review for Voltron: Legendary Defender? That show rules. 

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Ty Watches "Bar Rescue": Big Mike's Sports Bar and Grill

This week's episode of "Bar Rescue" was so much different from anything I have ever seen on the show before. They have done rescues of bars that have been damaged before, they did one in the Northeast after they had their big storm, but this one was just different. This was the first ever episode I have seen where I was legitimately moved by what happened over the course of 44 minutes. I literally thought I was going to shed a tear or two, and I do not cry at anything, except Pixar movies.

For this rescue, Taffer and crew go to a bar in a small town in Louisiana called Big Mike's Sports Bar and Grill. This town just three months ago was absolutely destroyed by a horrific storm. During the cold open they were flashing stats of the storm, and some of the things I remember where, there was 2.3 billion dollars worth of damage, they said there was more rain and flooding than Hurricane Katrina and that 90 percent of the businesses in the town had still not re opened and may never open again. Right off the bat the music was sad and the announcer's voice reflected that sadness.

When we finally get to meet Big Mike, who seems to be one hell of a nice guy, he tells of the terrifying tale of what has happened to him and his family since the storm. Big Mike, and his wife Jocelyn, are being interviewed and they show pictures of the damage to their house first. It is absolutely wrecked. They needed to have, pretty much, their entire home fixed due to flood damage. They show pictures of their children sitting on cars that are in 4 feet of flood water. It was so goddamn sad. Big Mike has a water damage stain on one of his walls and shows the viewing audience that the water got as high as 64 inches in their home. That is almost 5 and a half feet. That is so scary.

Taffer comes by himself to talk to Mike and Jocelyn about the bar and their home and their lives afterward. When he shows up they tell him that before the storm, Big Mike's was the place to be in this town. During LSU games on Saturday and Saints games on Sunday the bar was packed to the rafters. People would come in after sporting events, have kids parties there, basically anything that a restaurant and bar could handle, Big Mike's handled and then some. They were making almost 2 million dollars a year, and they deserved every cent of that. Jocelyn and Mike where hard working, nice people that their employees and their neighbors and the town loved. Hearing all this almost brought Taffer to tears. That was crazy. When they showed him where they were living while their home and bar was under construction, I got even sadder. They were living in a mobile home and their daughters were living in a different mobile home. They were separated because they did not have the space to live together. The kids were older, teenagers I believe, but still, that would be very hard. I cannot imagine not living with my kids.

At this point I found out that Jon Taffer is a dad. I never knew that. He told them that he has a 28 year old daughter. I was floored. But he sympathized with them not being with their kids. This was the point where Taffer promised them that he would fix up the bar in a week, they were told it would take up to 6 months to get the bar up and running.

Taffer brought Jocelyn and Mike out of the bar after he had them show him around and at this point we see the entire town there ready to help anyway they can. Again, I almost shed a tear. There was so much crying I could not help myself. Taffer brings in his best construction crew to get to work, and while they are getting the bar ready, he has 2 experts, one of which was McCargo, get the staff ready at a different bar that was back up and running. This staff had not worked in a bar or restaurant for about 3 months, so they were rusty. But, following the theme of this very off the cuff episode, the experts and Taffer never demeaned the staff, instead they encouraged them the entire time. Sure, he told them they needed to speed up and shake off the rust, but he never called one person a failure or told them that they were letting their loved ones down. The training was all very civil and respectful. McCargo helped out the kitchen staff with a big smile. The mixology expert was always complimentary, even in his criticism. It was a very nice change of pace.

There was one point during the training and construction where it looked like Taffer's construction crew may not get all the work done. This was a 10,000 square foot bar and restaurant. This place was big and needed a ton of work.

At another point, Deuce McCallister, formerly of the New Orleans Saints, showed up to lend his support and help any way he could. This whole town was coming together to get this well known and loved establishment back up and running.

After working throughout the day and night the construction crew got the job done. I would usually have a snarky comment about this, but this was such a touching episode, I'm not going to say anything mean. When the staff and Jocelyn and Mike see what the bar looks like, they cannot stop crying tears upon tears of joy. The place looked spectacular. This was the best rescue they have ever done in my opinion.

They kept the name too, thank goodness. While looking around at everything, the television crew kept showing old pictures with all the flood damage next to the new look of the bar. It was amazing. When Taffer sat the staff down, he showed them a video of the bar owners that he helped get back on their feet in the Northeast, and they donated 10,000 dollars to Jocelyn and Mike to get another trailer for their daughters to live in while they house got fixed up. Again, I was just about to cry until I realized that I was watching "Bar Rescue".

During the re-opening, everything, thankfully, went so smooth and the staff crushed it. I was so, so happy that these people were getting back on their feet. Taffer left the enormous bar to a great ovation. It was well deserved.

When they did the 6 week checkup, Big Mike's was doing great. They were recording record sales and their house was nearing completion for the family to move back in. This was, I kid you not, the best episode I have ever seen of "Bar Rescue". It was so different from the norm, but it was incredibly touching and moving and I was taken aback at how sweet these people on the show can be. I loved this episode so much. I actually wish more were like this, but "Bar Rescue" has made its dime on trashy people. But, this was such a great change of pace and I applaud them for doing something like this.

An episode like this of "Bar Rescue" makes me like this show so much more than I thought ever possible. Thank you for this "Bar Rescue" and Spike TV. You guys did a tremendous job on this episode.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. If Taffer and the crew ever make us shed a tear for a run down super trashy strip club, they deserve a goddamn Nobel Prize. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Ty Gets Ready to Watch the Final Four

The 2017 Final Four is set. We have UNC and Gonzaga, the 1 seeds, Oregon, the 3 seed that hasn't been this far since 1939, and the Cinderella 7 seed, South Carolina. I don't think a lot of people predicted this. In fact, on my Tournament Challenge app, a stat popped up that said only 657 out of 17 million plus entries correctly predicted the Final Four. That comes out to 0.003 percent of entrants that got it right. That is crazy.

With all this being said, I do like the matchups and the teams. But, before I jump into my predictions I want to touch on the last 4 days of the tournament. All the crazy things that led to these teams being the teams left standing.

The tournament picked back up last Thursday. As you all know by now, Oregon beat Michigan in a great game. Gonzaga and West Virginia played one of the sloppiest, foul ridden, terribly run offensive games that I have witnessed. There were 50 plus fouls called, a combined 61 free throws shot and missed after missed opportunity by both teams. In the end Gonzaga won late when WVU ran the worst 3 offensive plays to close out a game ever. Later that evening, KU demolished Purdue. Purdue kept it close for a half, then KU bulldozed them. Frank Mason, Devonte Graham and Josh Jackson looked unbeatable. The last game of the evening was incredible, and in a pretty big upset, Xavier beat Arizona in the final minute. Arizona showed its youth and Sean Miller reared his ugly head, and Xavier just kept plugging away until it took the lead for good with 40 seconds left. Xavier played with so much more heart and they deserved that win.

The next night had some marquee matchups, and only one of the games really lived up to the hype. Earlier in the evening, South Carolina laid waste to Baylor. Baylor looked like Baylor and South Carolina took advantage. Is Scott Drew a good coach? Maybe, but this team always chokes in March. The UNC-Butler game had potential to be close, especially with how UNC played against Arkansas, but UNC came out scorching hot, and rode a great first half to an easy 12 point win. The game that was supposed to be the game of the night, UCLA-Kentucky, was good, but not great. Kentucky played incredible defense. De'Aaron Fox was ridiculously great. Malik Monk did his thing. I was shocked at how nonchalant, and seemingly uninterested both UCLA and Lonzo Ball looked in this game. TJ Leaf also played really bad. These are 2 projected first round picks, with Ball being considered number 1 or 2 overall. He showed little to no effort, and Fox absolutely crushed him all night long. To no one's surprise, Ball immediately declared for the draft, but man oh man did he look really terrible. And TJ Leaf, he was a complete no show. He couldn't keep up with Kentucky's big men and they destroyed him all night long. The game was good for awhile, but with about 11 minutes left in the second half, there was no doubt that Kentucky was moving on. The game of the night was Wisconsin-Florida. Florida seemed to have the game put away, but Wisconsin came up with big plays and an incredible shot at the end of the game to tie it up and push it to overtime. But, after making that shot, the Wisconsin kid showboated, and I said to my television, with no one else in the room, you will regret that. Well, with under 10 seconds left, one of Florida's guards went the length of the floor with his team down 2, and took almost the exact same shot as the Wisconsin kid, but this time, it was a game winner. The Florida kid hit all net. That game was truly great, especially the last 5 minutes of regulation and all of overtime.

Then we had 8. 

On Saturday we had KU-Oregon and Gonzaga-Xavier. Gonzaga-Xavier was a blowout from the tap. They crushed them the whole time. Gonzaga actually looked like the team that only got beat once all year. People may say that they got to play an 11 seed, but Xavier blew away FSU, a 3 seed, and beat Arizona, a 2 seed, and Gonzaga absolutely destroyed them. They won by 24 points, and it wasn't that close. I thought this would happen. What happened in the KU-Oregon game though, I did not expect. With the way KU hammered Purdue, and how Oregon had to come back against Michigan, I just naturally assumed that KU would continue their destruction. Well, Frank Mason did his thing, but no one else showed up for KU. Graham was an 0 fer from the filed. Josh Jackson was very mediocre. The Myhkulik kid was non existent. Bill Self was out coached. They just played terribly, and Oregon played great, especially their big men. They had one forward that had 11 points, 12 rebounds and 8 blocks. That is a phenomenal stat line. He single handily shut down everyone but Frank Mason. Oregon looked very, very good in this game.

So Saturday's games were both blowouts and gave us half of the Final Four. Sunday's games were much better. We started off with South Carolina-Florida. Florida looked like the better team in the first half, holding a 7 point lead, but South Carolina came out firing away and hitting shots in the second half. Sindarius Thornwell is a tremendous college basketball player. He is awesome and he kept this run going for South Carolina. They had a 4 point lead for pretty much the last 4 minutes, and they pulled away at the very end and won by 7 points. I'm still in shock that South Carolina, a team that has never been to the Final Four, is there. It's crazy. Congrats to them. To finish out the weekend, we had a great, great game between Kentucky and UNC. UNC looked like they had control in the first half, putting Kentucky's young stars in early foul trouble. But, Kentucky fought its way back, took a five point lead with about 3 and a half minutes left, but then UNC went on a 10-0 run to take a 5 point lead themselves. Then things that crazy. UNC pushed the lead to 7, but then Kentucky started to finally hit threes and with about 14 seconds left Malik Monk hit an incredible three to tie the game. The shot was awesome. But, instead of taking a timeout, UNC pushed the ball up the court and passed to this bench guy who hit a jumper with 0.3 seconds left. Kentucky never got another shot off. This was a great way to end the weekend. This game was flat out awesome. It had everything you could want out of an NCAA tournament game.

Now we have the four. Next Saturday Gonzaga will face South Carolina and UNC will face Oregon. South Carolina is on a magical run, but Gonzaga finally looked like the team we have all been waiting to see. I think this game will be very competitive, but I see Gonzaga ending South Carolina's magical run. I remember about 10 or 11 years back when George Mason was an 11 seed and on a similar run all the way to the Final Four, and it all came crashing down in their matchup. That is what I see happening here. It will be highly contested, but I just think that Gonzaga is a better team, and they should win. Oregon-UNC will be a blowout. I know that a lot of people are saying that Oregon is the team that no one wants to play, but UNC is a much, much better team with much better depth and equal size and skill from their big men. I think UNC will demolish them. Great for Oregon that they beat KU, but UNC is, I just have a feeling, going to throttle them. They passed their toughest test and came out of the South region as the Final Four recipient. I just do not see how they don't hammer Oregon.

That will give us a Gonzaga-UNC title game, and I think UNC will make up for what happened last year and win the title. It may be taken away in a few years, what with all the allegations coming at UNC athletics, but I see them beating Gonzaga in a very good, not as good as last year, but still highly contested game. It will come down to the final couple of minutes, but I see UNC winning it in the end. I think Justin Jackson will win MOP because he is the guy that most people know of on UNC. He has also had a very solid tournament run.

This is how I saw the past weekend, and how I see the Final Four playing out. I'm excited for next Saturday. This has been an entertaining tournament thus far. Hopefully that continues this weekend.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Where is Ty's sense of loyalty? He picked Oregon at the beginning of the season. Why bail on the Ducks when they are closer than most people imagined. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Despite the Ending, Michigan Basketball Had an Incredible Run

It was a big thumbs up to the way the last month of the Wolverine's season

I know earlier this week I said that I do not like to do quick takes hours after a basketball game, but after watching Michigan get beat by Oregon, I'm changing my stance on that rule.

Earlier this year I wrote that I had given up on the Wolverines men's basketball team. At that point they were 14-9 and looked to be going down. From then on out, they finished the season 12-3. They beat some decent teams during that 15 game stretch. At times they looked bad, at times they looked really good. But, for the most part, they made me eat my words, and I loved it. There is nothing I love more than when my team proves me wrong and makes me look stupid because it means that they are winning, which is what the Wolverines basketball team did. Finishing up the regular season, they had that brutal loss to Northwestern on the final play, then crushed Nebraska in Lincoln during the final regular season game. The Big Ten tournament was next. I had little hope. I assumed, with the 8th seed in the conference overall, they'd squeak by Illinois, then get crushed by Purdue.

Well, before they even got to Washington D.C, they had a plane wreck. Luckily no one was hurt, the plane never took off due to mechanical issues, so thank goodness for that. But, the team had a meeting to decide if they even wanted to travel to D.C. for the tournament. One of the guys most vocal about not wanting to go was Derrick Walton Jr. I was right there with him. I didn't think they needed to risk the trip. I figured they were already firmly in the NCAA tournament, regardless of how they played in the Big Ten tournament. They finished the season at 20-11, 20 wins in a major conference is the magical number for me, and if they had to forfeit the first round, so what, they are 20-12, still in the NCAA tournament easily. But, the majority of the other players said they still wanted to go, so they went.

They arrived in D.C. for their first round game at 7 in the morning and tipped at 11am. They were so scattered they didn't even have their game jerseys. They had to play in practice jerseys. So know I was thinking, okay they made the trip, but I did not expect them to win. After all they went through, it was a reasonable thought.

Well, as we all know by now, not only did Michigan win their first game over Illinois, they won the next three over Purdue, Minnesota and Wisconsin, easily beating all of them with the lone exception of Purdue. I was stoked by this. This team I had given up on a few months back was playing inspired basketball on both ends of the floor and they were winning, which was most important. They looked so good in the Big Ten tournament, they upped their seed from a projected 9 or 10 to a 7. I thought they should have, and could have, gotten a 6 seed.

Going into the NCAA tournament I predicted on the podcast that Michigan would get bounced by Oklahoma State in the first round. Well, they proved me wrong once again, hitting 16 threes, 11 in the second half, and winning a great game 92-91, with Derrick Walton Jr, the guy who did not want to fly to D.C., leading the way. In fact, Walton Jr was playing possessed after they landed in D.C. He was awesome and he looked like the leader I expected to see all year.

In their second round game they were facing the second seeded Louisville Cardinals. Louisville is hyper athletic, a great rebounding and shot blocking team and has length everywhere on the floor. Well, Louisville shut down Michigan's outside game, but Moe Wagner and DJ Wilson were doing business on the interior. Walton Jr, and even Zak Irvin, were hitting big mid range shots and highly contested lay ups. Wagner was great against Louisville. He had 26 points, a good amount of rebounds and was making big shot after big shot and the right cuts to the rim at the perfect times. DJ Wilson was tough on the interior and hit 4 of the most clutch free throws I have seen. Michigan beat Louisville. The did it. They won back my confidence and I was rooting for them just as hard as I root for their football team. Those that know me well know how bold of a statement that is.

So, tonight, this will go up Friday, but I'm writing it a mere hour after watching the game, I figured the Wolverines were going to win. I thought they matched up great with Oregon especially with Boucher being out, and I just figured this ride was going to continue.

Well, they came out flat. They weren't hitting shots and their bigs looked a little timid. But, Oregon wasn't doing much better. Both teams came out flat. Michigan could not knock down a three. Oregon was getting to the rim, but they were either getting fouled or missing bunnies. It was sloppy. The second half wasn't much better, but it was more exciting. Every time Oregon would get a 5 or 6 point lead, Michigan would go on a 6-0 or 7-0 run to take the lead. This all happened late in the second half too. I really got my hopes up when Michigan took a three point lead with just over a minute left in the game. This is what they did in their first two tournament games, so I figured with the ride they were currently on, they would finish it off.

Oregon had other things in mind. They kept attacking the rim, and much to my surprise and chagrin, they started to grab offensive rebounds which is Michigan's Achilles heel. Oregon took a 1 point lead with 14 seconds left and Michigan got the ball and had a chance. The right guy took the shot, Walton Jr, but it was short, hit the front rim and the run was over. Michigan got beat.

Their run was over.

I was shocked. I just assumed they were going to win because that is what they did for 6 straight games. But, alas it was not meant to be I suppose.

With all this being said though, I want to thank this team for making me a believer again. I was frustrated when they were 14-9, but they figured it our and turned it around. I was never one of those that said maybe Beilien's time was done. He's done a wonderful job at Michigan. Good thing about this team though, they have a lot of talent retuning. I do not see anyone going pro early. So that means that Moe Wagner, DJ Wilson, Duncan Robinson and Muhammed Ali Abdur Rahkman will be back. They also have Xavier Simpson who got some decent minutes this year. Jon Teske is another big man, a 7 footer, they will use next year. They have a few decent incoming freshman that should be good. I have hope now. I will not miss Zak Irvin or Mark Donnal. Both guys regressed from where they were 2 or 3 years ago. Donnal got flat out beat out for the starting spot by Wagner before the season. And Zak Irvin, while he had his moments, he was horrific on defense and he got worse every year from his freshman season to now. Yes he could score, but for every 3 or reverse lay up he made, there was a missed defensive assignment, a poor block out that involved an offensive rebound, an air balled three, just too many bad moments compared to the good ones.

But I will greatly miss Derrick Walton Jr. Not just for the recent run, which I think will give his a legit shot to make an NBA team, but for four years he was Mr. Reliable. He was always in the right place at the right time making the proper choice. He was a great leader and the reason they turned it around this year. He didn't want to go out with a whimper, he wanted to go out with a bang, and boy he did just that. I wish nothing but the best for Derrick Walton Jr. He was a better point guard for Michigan than both Darius Miles and Trey Burke. Yeah, I said it. He was clutch and you could always count on him. If they needed a big shot, a defensive stop, a great pass to a cutter, a big time free throw, anything and everything that was asked of him, he did it.

So, yes Michigan got beat, but let us not forget that they weren't even considered a tournament team a month and a half ago. Then, the plane incident. Then the run in the Big Ten tournament. Then three great games in the NCAA tournament. This team turned me around. I know care a lot about Michigan basketball. That's not to say I didn't care as much before, but now they are the only team I will openly root for in men's college basketball. I've rooted for UNLV, Connecticut and Kansas on many different occasions, but those days are done. It is just like college football for me now. Michigan is the one and only team that I truly care about. Thank you 2016-17 Michigan men's basketball for making me a believer again.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He was wondering why no one named Logan has recently played for the Wolverines. That would be awesome. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Someone Needs to Remind Me Why Donald Trump was Elected President

I have a question

Being an internet journalist, and being very serious about SeedSing's duties to the good reading public, I feel like I need to make something crystal clear. Donald Trump lost the popular vote in the 2016 Presidential election by almost three million legitimate votes. The only voter fraud being prosecuted currently is against Republicans, like the GOP chairperson in Colorado. We should assume if you take out all the Republican voter fraud, Trump lost by a whole lot more than 3 million votes. Yes Donald Trump is President of the United States, but not because the majority of Americans want him to be. The sycophants at Fox News, his loud supporters on social media, the insignificant lords of talk radio, and the alt right may have gotten their wish with a Trump Presidency. I accept that. But why did Trump get elected? What has he, and the Republican majority in DC, done?

Most recently, the Republicans failed to do what they said they were going to do. There was a scheduled vote in the US House of Representatives on Thursday, March 23rd, 2017 to begin the process to repeal the Affordable Care Act and implement the GOP drafted American Health Care Act. The vote was canceled because Speaker Paul Ryan knew that he did not have the 215 votes he needed to pass the legislation. Something the Republicans, and Speaker Ryan, have been running on for years has failed due to people in their own party. Speaker Ryan does not need any Democratic votes on the American Health Care Act, yet he is still short of support. Repeal and replace has started with a big fat failure for the Republican majority 

President Trump, who was sold to the American public as some kind of awesome deal maker, was dispatched to Capitol Hill this week to work his deal making magic. He threatened members of his party with electoral losses, tried to work changes into the law to appease one group, and sent his White House minions out to the press to say everything will work out. No deal was made. President Trump failed.

The myth of Donald Trump, the best deal maker of all time, has been proven to be nothing but pointless bragging from an overexposed blowhard. Before the election, the X Millennial Man talked about their world's history with Donald Trump. He was a joke in the 1980's, disappeared in the 1990's, and was resurrected in the early 21st century with no substance. The only people who believed in Trump's business genius were either working for the marketing department of NBC, or they were people who had no intellectual curiosity when it came to basic business success. To everyone else, the President's failure on making a deal with the American Health Care Act was sad and predictable.

There was also the myth of Donald Trump "draining the swamp" of DC and returning the American government back to the American people. Who the hell still believes this garbage? His cabinet is filled with idealogues who care more about their failed philosophies than they care about making America great again for all Americans. While they cut taxes on the highest earners, Trump's White House is making sure that student loan borrowers are being harshly punished with outrageous late fees, that PBS is defunded, that women's health is being made more expensive, and that Meals on Wheels is nothing but a memory of an America that cared about it's most vulnerable citizens.  It sure looks like President Trump was lying when he said he wanted to drain the swamp.

At a typical Trump rally, the candidate would highlight the unsubstantiated claims of Hillary Clinton's corruption. Many of his supporters would chant "lock her up". New Jersey Governor Chris Christie held a mock prosecution of the Democratic nominee at the Republican Convention. Trump himself even said that Clinton would be in jail if he was President. The American people were being presented with a choice of Hillary Clinton, a self serving corrupt President, or Donald Trump, a man who is clean as a baby's fresh bottom.

A funny thing has happened in the first two months of the Trump Presidency. He and his administration are as filthy as baby who just dropped a big bomb in their diaper. The FBI was forced to admit that they are currently investigating Russian collusion with the Trump campaign. Michael Flynn, the National Security Adviser for a few weeks, is a registered foreign agent. Former campaign manager Paul Manafort was paid millions of dollars by a Russian oligarch to influence US feelings towards the Russian government. While the Trump supporters were screaming for Hillary Clinton to be in jail because of alleged crime, there is actual proof of Trump surrogates working for the will of Vladimir Putin and the Russian state. If it was not for the spineless majority party in Congress, there would be an independent prosecutor assigned to find out if our President is being influenced by a foreign government. 

There are so many other incidents in the early weeks of the trump Presidency that should put all Americans on alert to how un-Presidential this man really is. The unnecessary, and sad, lying that comes directly out of President Trump's mouth. His inauguration was not as well attended as the two previous ones, yet he decided to exposes his smallness, and his inability to tell the truth, by claiming that his inauguration was the best attended ever. The accusations of wrong doing from the British intelligence services show that Trump is oblivious to how his lies can do actual damage to longstanding international relations. The wire "tapps" (I prefer the questionable spelling of the US President) comments, and directly accusing the previous President of dirty tricks, is not only pathetic, but it is extremely scary. The fact that it has been proven that Trump lied about these "tapps", and the press has not constantly called him out on it, says more about the terrible establishment media than it says about the President's inability to be truthful.

With all of this being said, and this is just the tip of a terrible iceberg, why the hell did people want Trump to be the President? Did the 46% who voted for him just want a Republican in the White House so Paul Ryan could finally pass his agenda? How is that working out for you?

Did they hate Hillary? Why? People tell me it is not because of misogyny, then what is it? I already addressed the corruption, and did not even bother with the conflicts of interest. The only logical reason is that the 3 million less who voted for Trump did not want a woman to be President.

Was it a hatred for Obama? What do you have to hate. Bush's wars are still going on, Guantanamo Bay is still open, the stock market is in record territory. It cannot be because of the former President's race, at least that is what I keep hearing. 

The fact is that the early days of Trump Presidency have not been good, and they are only getting worse. In the days after the 2016 election, the liberal elites who work in the media based on the coasts claimed we need to reach out to the middle American disaffected voter who reluctantly supported Trump. We need to figure out why they voted for the New York businessman over the career politician. We needed to find out where the Democratic Party went wrong.  We do not need to reach out to them and find non-existent answers to these questions. There should be only one question to the minority of people who voted for Trump. In what reality is President Donald Trump a good thing?

RD

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Do you still have hope for President Donald Trump?  Come tell us. 

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