Cavs vs 76ers Behind the Box Score: Eleven in a row
February 2, 2015LeBron on Johnny Manziel: “I want him to get better”
February 3, 2015Happy Tuesday WFNY!
Hopefully everyone has recovered from watching the most blown Super Bowl of my lifetime (and maybe ever, but I don’t know). This Super Bowl was…not for me. Two of my absolute least favorite coaches in the NFL are Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll. I dislike Belichick mostly out of petty jealousy and a burning rage over the idea that the Browns once employed the guy who turned out to be one of the absolute greatest coaches and cheaters (referring to Spy Gate here, not the deflated footballs thing) in the NFL. I dislike Carroll for so many reasons I can’t even begin to mention them here, but his smugness is at the top of the list. I love confidence in sports, but I loathe smugness. There is a difference.
Anyway, I watched the game wanting both teams to somehow lose. But as the game went on, I found myself rooting for Tom Brady. Why? I guess because I love greatness in sports. I have no inherent fondness for Tiger Woods, but you better believe I am rooting for him to win every single major. I grew up hating Michael Jordan with a passion, but by the end of his career, I found myself rooting for him to beat the Jazz. I’m just a fan of greatness in sports, and Tom Brady has now reached a level where he belongs in the pantheon of all time greatest QBs right beside Joe Montana. In fact, if you want to be honest, I think you could argue Brady has done more with less than Montana did. Those Niners’ offenses were stacked with guys like Jerry Rice, Roger Craig, Tom Rathman, Dwight Clark, John Taylor, Brent Jones. Tom Brady doesn’t have near the same resume of players surrounding him on offense.
But beside just rooting for greatness, I found myself rooting against the Seahawks almost more than anything. I don’t find anything appealing about their whole shtick and attitude. I don’t find Richard Sherman endearing, I find him annoying. Russell Wilson played for Wisconsin, so, end of story there1. While I love watching Marshawn Lynch play football, his off the field persona is wearing thin.
So yeah, I didn’t enjoy the teams in the Super Bowl, but I loved the game itself. Any Super Bowl that comes down to a final drive is awesome in my book. This was a very well played game and extremely exciting. And yeah, I loved the look on the cocky Seahawks players’ faces when they lost. When you run your mouth and act the way that team does, you have to also accept that fans like myself are going to take special joy in watching you lose. It goes with the territory. But the Seahawks need not fret. That team is still loaded with talent and very well coached. They’re not going anywhere any time soon.
*****
Speaking of the Super Bowl…
Are you guys familiar with Breaking Madden? I wasn’t. But I laughed harder at this article than anything I’ve read in a very long time.
Basically, they went in and customized both teams in the Super Bowl in the latest version of the Madden NFL video game series. They made the Seahawks as small, talentless, and dumb as they could. And they made the Patriots as big, athletic, talented, and smart as possible. Then they had the teams play each other. And hilarity ensued.
*****
More Super Bowl related stuff
I already mentioned that I’m kind of tired of Marshawn Lynch’s off field stuff. I get that it’s dumb that the league makes him talk to the media when he doesn’t want to. But Lynch manages to make it an even bigger spectacle than it otherwise would be with the way he treats the media sessions.
But having said that, I loved this piece when Conan O’Brien had Lynch and Gronk on to play each other in Mortal Kombat. This video is great!
(Viewer warning, the video game being played has extremely graphic violence)
Lynch is obviously a very funny guy and has an engaging personality. It’s too bad he doesn’t let people see more of it.
*****
This is how basketball should be covered
We really don’t get enough of this kind of coverage of basketball. The game of basketball is an intimate sport. The court is small, the fans sit right on the court, the players freely talk to one another, to coaches, to fans. But often, a lot of that communication is withheld from us fans via the filter of media coverage.
Which is why I absolutely loved this piece that William Bohl wrote for Fear The Sword. Bohl was covering the Cavs-Wolves game and he reported on the sights and sounds from the emotional game. There was some good stuff about Kevin Love’s return in there, but my favorite story was this:
Speaking of great communication… during a pair of Gorgui Dieng free throws near the end of the first quarter, LeBron James was standing near the Wolves bench chatting with Flip Saunders. I have no idea how the conversation started, but I clearly heard how it ended: LeBron telling the Wolves coach, “Next time down, me and Tristan are running a side pick and roll. Just so you know.” Tristan heard it, glanced over, and cackled from his spot along the lane. After Thompson rebounded Dieng’s missed second free throw, the Cavs came down… and that’s exactly what they did. It ended with LeBron reversing the ball to an open Iman Shumpert for a three.
This is the kind of behind the scenes stuff that happens in the NBA. The game within the game, if you will. And we miss almost all of it as fans. It’s great when we get to read reports like this.
*****
Ohio music is still killing it in 2015
I know I just talked about Ohio music last week, but this week I got a new LP in the mail and this album completely blew me away.
Lamont “Bim” Thomas is something of an underground punk rock legend in both Columbus and Cleveland. Bim played in some great bands in Columbus back in the 80s and 90s, and now he is based out of Cleveland and has been releasing a string of amazing solo albums under the name Obnox. And last week he put out his latest album, “Boogalou Reed” on 12XU Records.
Bim Thomas is more than just a punk legend, though. He’s an artist who is trying desperately to stand for something. An ideal, a principle, a rock and roll morality, if you will. His music reaches beyond simple lofi garage punk. He’s trying to bring a universal feeling through his music, as evidenced by this interview he gave with Noisey:
You mentioned that the new record is expanding stylistically to engage with broader audiences. Is that something that you are doing intentionally, or has it just become the natural progression?
It’s basically anything going on in my surroundings at the time. It’s not necessarily some kind of biographical thing, but it is just the way the streets are treating me at any given time. You know what I mean? I hear things out in the streets, I see certain stuff going down and it’ll inspire me. I’m just talking about life. You know, I hear some records when I have no idea what a dude is talking about. I just try and keep my shit a little more human. I’m not censoring or pigeonholing myself into any subject matter to sing about. A lot of it is just me trying to represent as young, black, and gifted. What that is like being surrounded by, you know, white punks. Everybody’s like, “Why’s everything gotta be black and white?” but look on the fucking TV. Look at all the clickbait you’re reading right now. The whole damn country is about to burn down, and I’ve been trying to get you on to this shit for twenty years. They’re talking about the police, I’m talking about, “We need to get together and try to understand one another.” So here’s the soundtrack for your life. White cats can get into it. Hip-hop niggas can get into it. Punks can get into it. Indie rock dude, he’s already in. Noiseheads. It’s all in there: stand up, stand tall, hold your head up. Self-worth, at a time where people will tell you, “You ain’t shit.”
This is so much why I was drawn so heavily to punk music as a young kid and why I continue to listen to it today. I encourage anyone who loves rock and roll music with heart, soul, and grit to check out this album. It’s Obnox’s finest release yet.
*****
That’s all for me this week. I hope everyone has a great week!
- Look, I’m an Ohio State alum who twice had to watch Wisconsin celebrate in the Shoe while I was a student, so cut me some slack here [↩]
73 Comments
But to answer the questions in any serious manner would be acquiescing to a league that already treats its players as replaceable cogs.
You can dislike it. I just disagree that Lynch is doing this to build his brand. He has been around a while and has never shown himself to be an attention seeking hot dog. That it has made him into a cult, anti-hero was an unintended consequence imo.
If I recall wasn’t there some kind of issue with him and the team? Knowing what we know about him now I have to believe there was some kind of clash. I also think Buffalo drafted someone who they thought would come in and replace Lynch. It still hasn’t happened.
“Cuz he win, he’s good looking and has a supermodel wife. Wait, I get it now lol.
Oh and how about he took less to stay with the Patriots so they could sign guys. Take a look at his contracts compared to other QBs and see if there isn’t a difference. Now being married to Gisele who makes 2x as much definitely helps but still.
CJ Spiller, probably. I think Lynch may have been dinged up at the time, but I can’t remember honestly. But I sort of remember some issue that probably scared us away (other than the fact that he is good).
I apologize if I insinuated that you said any of that, I truly didn’t mean to. I’m just saying that I don’t mind if he wants to be a goofball in front of the camera since the NFL is compelling him to be there, considering all of the positives that he brings to a team.
Good old fashioned jealousy. Brady actually seems like he’s not a complete jerk, which is saying something for a world class athlete types.
Lynch had some injury concerns and was always thought of as an enigmatic guy who many did not believe could reach his potential (hovered around 4YPC early in his career).
Many of us liked him, but we had a HC at the time that spent his first year getting rid of all enigmatic personalities from the team and we were not about to add one despite the change at GM.
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Boldin was less defensible though because he fit that particular HC’s vision for what a WR should be perfectly and was also incredibly talented and tough. I do not understand why the NFL did not have a bigger market for him when he was traded.
Yea I think so I just seem to remember the Browns needed a back and I liked the way Lynch ran. I also thought the asking price was cheap. I had no idea he’d turn into Beast Mode but I did want him.
I wanted Boldin and I know I posted it here. He was an absolute perfect fit.
I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this one. I wonder how much awareness he has drawn to his Beast Mode brand through all this? I’m sure Skittles is loving it, too.
That’s fair. I would never tell anyone else how they should feel about it. For me, I’m just tired of the act, that’s all.
We all wanted Boldin. I think he was one of the few “we gotta get this guy” candidates that was unanimous (or very close to unanimous).
I’m just saying – if you’re trying to build up your brand to make money, there’s probably better ways to do it than getting fined $150K.
Probably so but like other have said the Browns have made it a customary practice to not go out and get anyone who can actually help. Which brings me to my yearly cry for them to friggin’ do something in free agency. Heck I make the same plea to every Cleveland team and so far only the Cavaliers have made me wet my pants in glee!
It’s pretty disgraceful that he’s so cavalier by wasting money like that though. Larry Foote just called him out on Twitter for it and basically said he’s sending a bad message to kids/fans who follow him.
Cost of 30second Superbowl ad = $4.5mil
Cost of weeklong conversation bringing up brand = $150K
I think he’s doing a pretty good job as far as marketing and finance go here. Also, I would not be surprised if Skittles picked up the fine tab for him.
I forgot: everyone here is way more cynical than me.
🙂
I didn’t think that was being cynical. I actually think it’s being cynical to assume that he’s throwing away that money rather than investing it in both his brand (Beast Mode) and endorsement partner (Skittles).
them shoes fittin’ real good
Haha, I guess that’s true. But in all honesty, I really didn’t think this was an outrageous point of view. I feel like it’s pretty transparent what he’s doing. But perhaps I really am just cynical. Do cynics ever truly know that they are cynics?
One play not really brought up was the non call on NE on the second to last possession by Seattle. They had a reciever running a crossing route and he probably had an easy 20-30 yards of open space and his defender fell down, but on his way down, swiped the feet out from under the Seattle WR. I think that would have made a big diff, because it would have eating more clock instead of 3 and out, and it would have set the possibility of a punt inside the 10, with less time, and the potential for a FG. Instead, it was a 3 and out punt with 7 min left.
yes, that was a huge non-call.